ABSTRACT
Although in 1495-96 Venice did more than any Italian state to free Italy of foreign invaders she was, nevertheless, not entirely blameless for their presence. In 1483 and in 1484, when she was deserted by the pope on whose behalf, ostensibly, she was waging war against Ferrara, Naples and Milan, she had urged the Duke of Lorraine, whom she sometimes employed as a condottiere, to assert the Angevin claim to Naples and the Duke of Orleans to press his to Milan. I Then, when the French threat from Charles VIII, to whom the Angevin claim had reverted, became palpable, Venice proclaimed her neutrality.z As Ludovico i1 Moro told Charles VIII when they met in Asti in 1494, there are three major powers in Italy, the papacy, Milan and Venice. The first two support you and Venice will not budge. Your success is assured.3
