ABSTRACT
King Charles VIII’s long march from Lyons to Naples and his long retreat back again is one of the key events in European history. It marked the end of an era and the beginning of another, the end of the independence of the separate states of Italy in which the Renaissance had flowered and the beginning of the domination of Italy by foreign powers and the ravaging of Italy by French, German, Spanish and Swiss troops. Gian Galeazzo was the titular Duke of Milan, a weak-minded young man who had never been interested in anything except dogs and horses. He had been content enough to let his uncle Lodovico rule the duchy, but now he was dying and he worried that Lodovico would usurp the ducal throne from his infant son. To make it all the more embarrassing, Gian Galeazzo and Charles were first cousins. Their mothers were sisters, princesses of the House of Savoy.
