Louis XII Conquers Northern Italy

King Louis XII of France ascended the throne in 1498 and renewed French ambitions in Italy, asserting a dynastic claim to the Duchy of Milan through his Visconti grandmother. Continuing the Italian Wars begun by his predecessor Charles VIII, he invaded Lombardy in 1499 and 1500, capturing Milan and expelling its ruler, Ludovico Sforza, to establish French control over much of northern Italy.

Louis then turned toward the Kingdom of Naples in the south. By the secret Treaty of Granada in 1500, he agreed with Ferdinand of Aragon to partition Naples between France and Spain. French and Spanish forces overran the kingdom in 1501, and Louis took the title King of Naples, with the arrangement receiving recognition from the Borgia pope Alexander VI.

The partition soon collapsed into war between the former allies, and Spanish victories in 1503 drove the French out of Naples entirely. France's hold on the north, however, was acknowledged for a time, including by the Holy Roman Emperor-elect Maximilian I. The struggles of Louis XII formed part of the long Italian Wars in which France, Spain, and the Empire contested control of the peninsula.