Background[edit]

When elected pope in 1503, Pope Julius II promised under oath to convoke a gener
al council; however, as time passed, his promise was not fulfilled.[1]
The Republic of Venice had encroached papal rights in Venetian territories by fi
lling vacant episcopal sees independent of the pope, subjected clergy to secular
tribunals, and disregarded the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of Julius II in othe
r ways. In 1509, Julius II joined the League of Cambrai, a coalition to restore
recent continental conquests by Venice to their original owners. Then, also in 1
509, Julius II censured Venice with an interdict and deployed Papal States' armi
es into Venice occupied Romagna. Venice suffered a complete defeat at the Battle
of Agnadello on 14 May 1509, against the combined forces of the League of Cambr
ai. In 1510, Venice negotiated with Julius II, who withdrew from the League of C
ambrai and removed the censure, after Venice agreed to, among other terms: to re
turn disputed towns in Romagna; to renounce their claims to fill vacant benefice
s; to acknowledge jurisdiction of ecclesiastical tribunals over clergy and immun
ities of the clergy, including exemption from taxes; to revoke all unauthorized
treaties made with towns in the Papal States; to abandon appeal to a future gene
ral council against the papal bans; and to concede free navigation of the Adriat
ic Sea to Papal States subjects.[2][3]
The first stages of conflict between the Papal States and France began in 1510.
King Louis XII of France demanded that the Republic of Florence should definitel
y declare its allegiance. Declaring allegiance to France would expose Florence t
o an immediate attack and alienate citizens who dreaded a conflict with the head
of the Church. Florence was full of antagonistic parties and irreconcilable int
erests; in order to gain time, it sent Niccolo Machiavelli on a diplomatic missi
on to France in July 1510, where he found Louis XII eager for war and inclined t
owards the idea of a general council to depose Julius II.[4]
Julius II was a soldier and his goal was to free the entire Italian Peninsula fr
om subjection by foreign powers.[2] But, only Venice and the Old Swiss Confedera
cy were ready to field armies against the French. Julius II began hostilities by
deposing and excommunicating his vassal, Alfonso I d'Este, Duke of Ferrara, who
supported France. Louis XII retaliated by convoking a synod of French bishops,
at Tours in September 1510, which judged that the pope had no right to make war
upon a foreign prince, and, in case he should undertake such a war, the foreign
prince had the right to invade the Papal States and to withdraw his subjects fro
m their obedience to the pope. The synod also threatened Julius II with a genera
l council. Julius II ignored the French synod, and again assumed personal comman
d of the army in Northern Italy. At Bologna he became dangerously ill in August
1510, but recovered. In October he negotiated an anti-French alliance. In the be
ginning the alliance included only the Papal States, Venice, and Spain, but Engl
and joined in November and was soon followed by the emperor and by Switzerland.
Papal States marched against Mirandola which was captured on 20 January 1511. On
23 May 1511 contingents of the French army captured Bologna from the papal troo
ps and reinstated Annibale II Bentivoglio.[2]
Under the leadership of Gaston of Foix, Duke of Nemours, the French were at firs
t successful, but after his death they yielded to the superior forces of the Lea
gue, and, after being defeated in the Battle of Ravenna in 1512, they retreated
beyond the Alps. Bologna again submitted to Julius II and the cities of Parma, R
eggio, and Piacenza were added to the Papal States.[2]