Changes

The French army marched through Italy with only minimal resistance. The invasion had a profound impact on Italian society and politics. The invasion of Charles VII changed the development of Italy and can be considered one of the primary reasons the Renaissance ended. The French Invasion was to lead to a series of wars that greatly weakened the Italian City-States, prompted a greater role for Spain in the peninsula , and eventually led to the domination of Italy by the Spanish Monarchy.

Charles VII 's invasion was a failure and it achieved nothing. However, it is of great historic historical significance because it ushered in an unprecedented period of warfare in Italy. The Italian Wars or the Hapsburg-Valois Wars, after the two Royal families who fought for control of Italy , disturbed the peace of Italy for several decades. The invasion of 1494 was to start a series of wars that only ended in 1559. The period was not one of constant warfare but war and violence became ingrained in Italian life now. The main protagonists in the Wars were the French, led by the Valois Kings and the Hapsburg, first the Emperor Maximillian I and later Charles V. After the partition of the Hapsburg Empire, the Spanish Hapsburg’s sought to dominate Italy.

The invasion of Charles VII was the first of the so-called Italian Wars. There were to be in total eight more major wars in the Peninsula in the period after Charles VIII 's retreat. In the 63 years from 1494 to 1559, there were only 19 years of peace in Italy , and even in these years, there were smaller localized conflicts. These wars devastated the peninsula and they did great damage to the economy and society. The nature of warfare in this period was particularly brutal. The respective armies would often massacre entire populations. They would regularly engage in widespread looting and robbery. The local civilian populations suffered considerably. The scale of the suffering can be best seen in the Sack of Rome.

In the 1490s, after the French invaded Italy, to conquer the kingdom of Naples, the Hapsburg dynasty denied the French any role in Italy. The Hapsburgs decided that France threatened their interests not only in the Peninsula but in the entire Mediterranean.<ref> Burke, Peter. The Italian Renaissance: Culture and Society in Italy (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1999), p. 6</ref> Charles V adopted a very aggressive strategy against the French and he inflicted a series of defeats, such as that at Pavia on the French Monarch.<ref> Konstam, Angus. <i>[https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1855325047/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1855325047&linkCode=as2&tag=dailyh0c-20&linkId=722b9678304745c9a2d38bb6183bd36c Pavia 1525: The Climax of the Italian Wars]</i> (Oxford: Osprey Publishing, 1996), p. 113, 117</ref>. After the abdication of Charles V and the partition of the Hapsburgs realms the Italian states came under the direct and indirect control of the Spanish Empire, then at its zenith. The Spanish directly controlled the Kingdom of Naples, Sicily, Sardinia , and the Duchy of Milan and they could influence the internal affairs of technically independent city-states such as Florence. Only Venice could withstand the Spanish and remained remain independent.  The Spanish control lead to a loss of political and individual freedom and this dealt a blow to the Renaissance as increasingly artists and thinkers were unable to create the works they wanted or to freely express their own ideas and opinions. In the territories that they controlled they introduced the Inquisition and freedom of thought and expression was much reduced. Increasingly artists played it safe and only worked on religious subjects especially in Spanish-controlled areas. The Papacy increasingly dependent on the Spanish encouraged the other City-States to allow the Inquisition to operate in their jurisdictions.<ref>Guicciardini, p 156</ref>. However, Venice emerged as one area where artists could still work on secular subjects and experiment with a new style, as evident in the works of Titian. The invasion of Charles VIII inadvertently led to the Hapsburg domination of Italy and their rule, created an environment that eventually led to the end of the cultural flourishing that was the Renaissance.<ref> Burkhardt, Jacob, <i>The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy</i> (Penguin, London, 1993), p. 67, 145</ref>  ====Conclusion====The Invasion of Italy by France in 1494 was to usher in a new era. One that was marked by war and political turmoil. The wars caused great economic disruption and led to a reduction in the amount of patronage available to artists and this resulted in a decline in the arts in Italian society. The wars that resulted from Charles VIII resulted in a change in the balance of power of Italy which ultimately led to the Spanish domination of the area. They championed the Counter-Reformation in the country and this led to a society that was increasingly intolerant of difference and innovation and this helped to end the Renaissance.  Instead of looking to the classics for inspiration, increasingly artists and writers were drawn to religious subjects. The psychological impact of the decades of war resulted in a growing cultural pessimism about the nature of man and society and this did much to undermine the values that allowed the arts and culture to flourish in the period 1350-1550. The invasion of Italy by the French monarch began a series of events that greatly contributed to the end of perhaps one of the most brilliant epochs in human history.  ====References====<references/>