ABSTRACT
Even after the defeat in Naples, France would still be seen as the strongest power in Italy. Rather than banding together against Louis, as they had done against Charles VIII, the Italian states tended to call on the king for his protection and intervention. His European rivals, Ferdinand and Maximilian would be increasingly drawn into the Italian arena. A new pope, Julius II, who as Cardinal Giuliano della Rovere had already had an active role in the wars, would become the driving force of a coalition that would expel the French from Italy. But before that happened, Louis would spearhead a coalition against Venice, the League of Cambrai, one of the gravest threats the republic would ever face.
