ABSTRACT
The Italian Wars lasted for more than sixty years – two to three generations – and it is inconceivable that such a dynamic society would have remained static for that length of time, even without their disruptive influence. The war in Piedmont bore hardest on the west of the duchy of Milan, where the troops were concentrated. If the soldiers went unpaid, they could go on the rampage, as did the mutinous Spanish who in June and July 1537 occupied Valenza, assaulted Tortona and devastated the Alessandrino. When the French were at war with Venice during the War of the League of Cambrai, trade with areas under French control ceased. Trade with southern Germany was dependent on the grant of safe conducts by Maximilian, and even if he granted them, they would not necessarily be honoured; in 1513 he ordered the closure of all the passes over the mountains.
