ABSTRACT

The series of wars between 1494 and 1559 are among the most complex in modern European history, due mainly to the number of participants, the willingness of many of the smaller states to change sides after a round of intricate diplomacy and the widespread use of mercenary troops. The wars can be divided into two broad phases. Between 1494 and 1516 they were confined largely to Italy and were concerned with the acquisition of territory. Between 1522 and 1559 they spread into other parts of Europe and the Mediterranean and became a life and death struggle between the Valois Kings of France and the Habsburg ruler of Austria and Spain. The expanding scope of the wars was due to the fruition of Maximilian I's marriage alliances which, by conferring enormous areas of territory on Charles V, intensified French fears of encirclement.