ABSTRACT
D uring the W ar o f the Spanish Succession in Italy (1701-13), Italian states passively w atched the com bats from the sidelines, with the notable exception of P iedm ont. T here was m uch at stake for all o f them . Italian fief-holders and princes alike had to choose betw een a large Bourbon arm y in the Po valley, and their Im perial H absburg suzerain who could deprive them o f their title for rebellion. M ost fief-holders had to declare themselves before it was clear which side would prevail. Some noble families solved the dilem m a by having m em bers fight for each side, so tha t whichever side won the war, their family’s fortune would be safe.1 O thers were tied by sentim ent and by interest to one o f the com peting powers. H ouses with ancient ties to Spain, like the D oria and Spinola of G enoa, declared for Philip V and lost. Duke Ferdinando Carlo of M antua chose the F rench alliance in 1681 w hen he sold Casale M onferrato to Louis X IV , and appreciated the ‘subsidies’ from Paris thereafter. By a secret treaty o f Febru ary 1701, the duke let B ourbon troops enter his capital on the fiction of force majeure, and with French subsidies provided a few thousand soldiers for the com m on cause. M an tuan troops saw' m uch action, bu t were never considered reliable. After 1704 they fell under the control o f the French com m ander V endom e, with the duke a simple spectator.2 For his loyalty, the duke’s possessions becam e the battleground betw een Bourbon and H absburg forces until Prince Eugene’s victory' at T u rin in 1706.3 Ferdinando Carlo chose the wrong side and the em peror deprived the G onzaga dynasty o f the state it had ruled since the M iddle Ages.
