War of the Mantuan Succession
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The War of the Mantuan Succession (1628-1631) was a peripheral part of Thirty Years' War. It ensued technically from the extinction of the main male line of the House of Gonzaga in December 1627. Brothers Francesco IV (1612), Ferdinando (1612-1626), and Vincenzo II (1626-1627) were the last three dukes of Gonzaga that had all died leaving no legitimate heirs. The war, overall, pitted France against the Habsburgs and was fought for control of northern Italy.
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[edit] Background
Mantua is the ancestral city where the male line of the House of Gonzaga first ruled as marquesses. Since 1540, the Gonzagas ruled the city as dukes in vassalage to the Holy Roman Empire.
Monferrato is a region in eastern Piedmont that was an imperial fief since the 11th century or 12th century. It was a duchy since 1574 and had been inherited by female royalty several times. The Gonzagas had received Monferrato from the wife of Duke Frederick II.
On September 22, 1612, Francis IV, Duke of Mantua and Monferrato died at the age of 26. His death occurred only a couple of months after the death of his father Vincent I, Duke of Mantua. He left only one surviving heiress to the throne, three-year old daughter Maria of Mantua. Francis IV also had two younger brothers, both cardinals of the Church and consecrated priests. However, both siblings of Francis could not marry and were not eligible to succeed the throne.
Yet, Francis' two brothers, Ferdinand I (1587-1626) and Vincent II (1594-1627), eventually became Dukes of Mantua. Despite both of them being married via "ecclesiastical revisions," neither produced any legitimate children. The real problem erupted when Vincent II died on December 26, 1627 at the age of 33, the same day when his niece Maria's marriage with Charles de Nevers was celebrated. Charles de Nevers was the eldest son and heir of Charles, Duke of Nevers, Rethel and Mayenne. Moreover, he was the head of the junior branch of the House of Gonzaga, and after Vincent II, the male heir of the Duchy of Mantua.
[edit] The claimants, and their supporters
The closest legitimate heir in a strictly male succession[1] was Carlo (Charles) Gonzaga, a son of Luigi (Louis), the brother of the late Duke Vincenzo's grandfather (see below for family tree). Luigi had been naturalized French as Louis about 1550, and had married the heiress of the Duchies of Rethel and Nevers in 1566. For the French Crown, Charles Gonzaga-Nevers, duc de Nevers, was thus an acceptable successor to the Duchy of Mantua. He arrived in Mantua in January of 1628 and proclaimed himself ruler.
There were two rival claimants, Carlo Emanuele, Duke of Savoy, whose daughter Margerita had married Francesco IV,[2]and a distant Gonzaga cousin, Ferrante II, Duke of Guastalla, who voiced his claim but did not immediately place troops on the field. Carlo Emanuele's claim was based on his descent from Francesco III of Mantua, who had inherited the Marquessate of Montferrat from his mother, Margherita Paleologa, in 1540. With the ongoing Thirty Years War affecting the alliances, Carlo Emanuele found support with the Habsburgs, who controlled Milan. The resulting French-Habsburg ar over the succession was just one of many theatres of the Thirty Years War, fought all over Europe.
[edit] Conflict
Emperor Ferdinand II was at the time married to Eleanor of Mantua the elder (1598-1655), sister of the three most recent Dukes of Mantua (their marriage remained childless). He attemped to reattach the Duchy of Mantua to the Holy Roman Empire and so practically disinherit the French branch of House of Gonzaga (and female heiress). His intentions included to put a yet more junior Gonzaga branch, that of Ferdinand II, Marquess of Guastalla to succeed. Guastalla was in the Spanish-Imperial camp.
Duke Charles of Nevers and his son were supported by France which regarded Habsburg circling against its allies and dependants as a mortal danger.
The Habsburg camp has also rallied Charles Emmanuel I, Duke of Savoy to their cause, and he wanted to gain Montferrine lands to Savoyard monarchy. Charles Emmanuel was the maternal grandfather of young Maria and father of Dowager Duchess Margaret. He tried to utilize that to his advantage.
In 1628, Charles-Emmanuel conquered Montferrat with aid of Spanish troops, and blocked Charles to the town of Casale. Louis XIII of France and Cardinal Richelieu passed the Alps with an army, directly from the siege of La Rochelle and forced Susa, in Piedmont, on March 6, 1629. On March 18, they delivered the siege of Casale and took the fortress of Pignerol on March 30, 1630. In April, the Treaty of Susa was signed with the Duke of Savoy.
The Emperor did not succeed in Mantua. Due to developments in Germany, Swedes were warring, he was forced to return his attention to the principal theatre of the big war.
On April 6, 1631, by the Treaty of Cherasco, Emperor recognized Nevers as possessor of Mantua and a part of Montferrat. Savoy received a part of Montferrat. France got to occupy Pignerol, a strategically important location which gave them a port to the valley of Po.
[edit] The Peace of Regensburg (1630)
The initial attempt of Don Gonzalo Fernandez de Córdoba, Spanish governor of Milan, and Carlo Emanuele was to partition the Mantuan-Montferrat patrimony, which lay to east and to west of Milan. The Spanish minister supported the Guastalla claimant in Mantua, as the weaker of two neighbors, and the Savoy claimant in Montferrat, the lesser of the territories. Friction between the confederates ensued, when Carlo Emanuele moved his troops into more territory than had been agreed upon. The French, though Richelieu was concerned at home with Huguenot uprisings in Languedoc after the fall of La Rochelle in 1628, sent forces to relieve Casale near the border with Milanese territory, besieged by a Habsburg army from Milan.[3] The French forces entered in March 1629, and after an encounter with the Savoyard forces, came to an agreement that put joint pressure on Cordoba to withdraw from the siege of Casale, whereupon they returned to France, leaving behind a small garrison. The papal envoy in negotiations at Casale was Jules Mazarin. Ferrante's forces under the conte di Collalto invaded the Grisons and Valtelline. The governor was recalled from Milan,[4] followed by the insults of the citizens, for bread had been scarce for months. The year's campaign culminated in Spanish and Austrian troops sacking Mantua in July 1629. The following winter, Milan was devastated by the bubonic plague introduced by the armies, which has been vividly described by Manzoni[5] The French first agreed to the Peace of Regensburg (or the Treaty of Ratisbonne), which was negotiated by French representatives Father Joseph and Brûlart de Sillery. The accord was signed on October 13, 1630, which provided favorable terms to French interests in Italy despite their military setbacks. Specifically, the French were allowed to maintain their garrisson in Grisons. The accord also confirmed Carlo Gonzaga-Nevers as Duke of Mantua and Marquess of Monterrat in exchange for minor concessions to the Carlo Emanuele and Ferrante, Duke of Guastalla. The Habsburgs would on their side reduce their number of troops in the region. The treaty was seen as so unfavorable to the Spanish since the Spanish prime minister, Olivares, considered it no different than a surrender.
The treaty did, however, contain a troublesome clause. It included an agreement whereby the French were not permitted to established alliances in Germany against the Holy Roman Emperor in power. This clause placed France on the sidelines of the ongoing conflict. Louis XIII of France refused to accept this, and the Austrians found themselves with a continued war and with diminished forces in the area. The new forces sent south of the Alps were to be sorely missed when Swedish forces under Gustavus II Adolphus invaded from the north.
[edit] The Treaty of Cherasco (1631)
The Italian peace was eventually made with the Treaty of Cherasco on June 19, 1631. France, who in 1629 had taken Savoy, followed by the capture of Pinerolo in Piedmont the following year, renounced all conquests in Italy. Carlo was confirmed to Mantua and Montferrat, with concessions to the claimants: Vittorio Amedeo I of Savoy gained Trino and Alba in Montferrat, while Cesare II of Guastalla was given Luzzara and Reggiolo. Later it was discovered that by a secret treaty with Vittorio Amedeo, Pinerolo was surrendered to France.
[edit] Notes
- ^ Whether the inheritance could pass through a female was in debate.
- ^ Their son had died of smallpox in infancy in 1612 but their elder daughter Maria (1612-1660) was married to Carlo Gonzaga, December 24, 1627, to strengthen their claim [1].
- ^ Richelieu's address to the King, December 1628.
- ^ His replacement was Ambrogio, marques di Spinola.
- ^ Alessandro Manzoni's I Promessi Sposi (1842) Chapter XXVII contains a lightly ironic capsule account of the War of the Mantuan Succession, as background to his narration, continued, as a further digression, in Chapter XXVIII and culminating in his famous description of the bubonic plague which the German army brought to Milan, in Chapter XXXI.
[edit] See also
- House of Gonzaga: Gonzaga family tree
- Counts and Dukes of Nevers
- Rulers of Mantua
- Rulers of Montferrat
