The Italian peninsula in the 1490’s consisted of more than a dozen states, ranging from small duchies to the kingdom of Naples. These had traditionally fought among themselves in forming varying patterns of alliance and with varying degrees of support from the Spanish, French, or imperial crowns. The major states in Italy were, from north to south, Milan, Venice, Florence, the Papal States and Naples. The Peace of Lodi (1454) effectively pacified these states among themselves for nearly forty years. The deaths of the Florentine leader Lorenzo de’ Medici in 1492, the Aragonese King Ferrante I of Naples in 1494, and the suspicious death of the heir to the Milanese duchy, Gian Galeazzo Maria Sforza, and usurpation of his seat by his uncle Ludovico Sforza (‘il Moro) upset the balance of powers. The French king Charles VIII, who had an Angevin dynastic claim to Naples’ throne, was urged to press this by Sforza, who was himself being threatened by Naples, Florence, and the Papacy. Charles was encouraged by Italian exiles at his court, who saw an invasion of Italy as an opportunity for disorder back home, and their return.
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