War of Urbino

War of Urbino
	Part of theItalian Wars
Date	January–September 1517
Location	Duchy of Urbino,Italy
Result	Negotiated peace
Belligerents
Duchy of Urbino; Republic of Venice;	Papal States;
Commanders and leaders
Francesco Maria I; FedericoGonzaga;	Pope Leo X; Francesco del Monte; Lorenzo de' Medici; Renzo da Ceri;

TheWar of Urbino(January–September 1517) was a secondary episode of theItalian Wars.

The conflict ensued after the end of theWar of the League of Cambrai(1508–16), whenFrancesco Maria I della Roveredecided to take advantage of the situation to recover theDuchy of Urbino,from which he had been ousted in the previous year by troops of thePapal States.

In early 1517 he presented himself under the walls ofVeronato hire the troops which had besieged the city, now to be returned to theRepublic of Venice.Della Rovere set off with an army of some 5,000 infantry and 1,000 horses which he entrusted to FedericoGonzaga,lord ofBozzolo,reaching the walls ofUrbinoon 23 January 1517.

He defeated thePapal condottiero Francesco del Monteand entered the city hailed by the population.

Pope Leo Xreacted by hastily hiring an army of 10,000 troops underLorenzo II de' Medici,Renzo da Ceri,Giulio Vitelli,andGuido Rangoniand sent it against Urbino. Lorenzo was wounded by a bullet from anarquebuson April 4 during the siege of theMondolfocastle, and returned to Tuscany. He was replaced byCardinal Bibbiena.Cardinal Bibbiena, however, was unable to control the troops and suffered a defeat atMonte Imperialewith significant losses. Ultimately, he was forced to retreat toPesaro.

The war was, however, ended by the lack of money of Francesco Maria della Rovere, who soon found himself unable to pay the troops hired at Verona. After some unfruitful ravages inTuscanyandUmbria,he began to seek for a diplomatic settlement with the pope. In September they signed a treaty by which della Rovere was relieved of all ecclesiastical censures and was left free to retreat to Mantua with all his artillery, as well as the rich library collected in Urbino by the former dukeFederico III da Montefeltro.

The war saw the first appearance ofGiovanni dalle Bande Nereon the battlefield.

References

Rendina, Claudio (1994).I capitani di ventura.Newton Compton.