Chapter III - "il Magnifico"
"If you only notice human proceedings, you may observe that all who attain great power and riches, make use of either force or fraud; and what they have acquired either by deceit or violence, in order to conceal the disgraceful methods of attainment, they endeavor to sanctify with the false title of honest gains."
-Machiavelli
Giancarlo's Reforms
Throughout the 1480s, Giancarlo Tempesta reformed finance and industry in Florence, introducing standardized weights and units of measurement. He also greatly expanded the road network throughout the Republic, most importantly building the "La Strada per l'Adriatico", a wide, flat highway with regularly posted guards, going from Pisa, through Florence and Bologna, to Ravenna.
In Italian politics, Giancarlo severed Florence's alliances with Luigi d'Este, Duke of Modena and Count of Ferrara. Instead, he complemented the economic alliance with Genoa by signing an a military one as well. In 1489, Giancarlo finally achieved international recognition of his father's conquests: the Holy Roman Empire officially recognized Florence's rights to Romagna and placed the province under Imperial jurisdiction.
Most importantly, he developed Florence's first semi-professional citizen army, instituting yearly mandatory military instruction for all able-bodied men between the ages of 15 and 35. By 1492 the Republic's army, when called into service, was only the fifth largest in Italy, but it was the most advanced and well-trained.
The Nine Years' War for Urbino
Giancarlo's army reforms proved critical, when in 1492 the King of Naples declared war on the Duchy of Urbino, starting the Nine Years' War for Urbino.
The Nine Years' War for Urbino were 3 seperate conflicts, each starting almost as soon as the previous one had begun, by different Italian states invading the Duchy of Urbino.
By the end of the War, the Republic of Florence emerged as the predominant Italian rival of Venice for power and influence in Italy.
Naples Invades Urbino
King Francesco of Naples was deeply insulted by the Montefeltro Duke of Urbino when he refused to marry the King's daughter. Francesco had had his eye on the Duchy for quite some time, and used the incident as a flimsy excuse to start a war.
Giancarlo, like his father before him, organized a League for the defense of Urbino, including the Dukes of Milan and Savoy, the Republics of Genoa and Venice, and Pope Iulius II.
Hearing reports of Florentine, Mlianese, and Venetian armies heading to defend the city of Urbino, the King turned south and defeated the Papal army. His 18,000 men then laid siege to Rome as the Genoese and Venetian fleets defeated the main Neapolitan fleet in the Straits of Messina.
Venice and Urbino refused to aid the Pope, and it was decided for the combined force to march into northern Naples and besiege L'Aquila.
After 111 days, the city's garrison fell and upon hearing the news, the other towns of the province of Abruzzi surrendered to the forces of the League.
Giancarlo and the Duke of Milan then marched on Naples itself, forcing King Francesco to call off the siege of Rome. The two armies met outside the walls of Naples and fought for three days. On the fourth day, the reinforced Papal army approached the King from the rear. Suffering huge numbers of casualties, the King surrendered. As part of the terms of peace, the province of Abruzzi remained occupied by the Republic of Florence, to provide "a safe buffer" for the Duke of Urbino.
The Fall of Rome
Pope Iulius II declared the terms of the peace treaty "blasphemous" and accused Giancarlo of "bloody conquest, falsely disguised as defense". Calling on all good Catholics to Crusade against Urbino and Florence, the Papal army crossed the peninsula into the duchy in December of 1492.
The Pope's allies abandoned him, decrying the mad aggression of 'His Holiness'. Giancarlo held the rest of the League together.
The Pope's army was crushed and he fled back to Rome. Florentine and Venetian forces marched on the city and laid siege to it for over 3 years.
The Pope secluded himself in the Vatican and refused to see reason. When the walls of Rome finally fell, the Pope's forces refused to surrender and fought to death, led by the Pope himself. The war-weary soldiers overran the city, slaughtering the city's garrison, Iulius II included.
With the death of the Pope, Giancarlo's troops occupied the city and the surrounding Papal lands. Declaring the Papacy to be "banned from Italy", he paid for the Curia to board a ship bound for France and Avignon.
Duke Giancarlo il Magnifico
A year later, the Duke of Urbino died in a hunting accident. His nephew ascended the throne, but was opposed by Giancarlo. Giancarlo claimed the old Duke had bequeathed the throne to him, in gratitude for saving the Duchy from the clutches of Kings and Popes.
Giancarlo managed to produce several documents, appearing to have been written by the Duke in the previous year, detailing his intent to grant his lands and title to Giancarlo. Historians have since proved most of these documents to be fake.
Nevertheless, the forgeries were convincing enough that Giancarlo's allies upheld his claims, and demanded the new Duke abdicate in favor of the Medici. The Duke refused, and in the spring of 1499, Giancarlo led his army into the Duchy, intent on claiming his "inheritance".
The Duke of Savoy came to Urbino's defense. The Doge of Venice declared Giancarlo a 'tyrant and monster of the worst kind', but the Most Serene Republic was too busy fighting the Turks to become involved.
Urbino was no match for the growing Republic's forces and their leader. Urbino fell early in 1500, and Giancarlo proclaimed himself Duke.
Torino and Nice fell to Milan in 1501, and Savoy was forced to recognize Giancarlo as Duke of Urbino.
From then on, Giancarlo Tempesta de Medici was known as "Giancarlo il Magnifico". Giancarlo now controlled the Republic of Florence which occupied Rome and much of central Italy, and personally ruled Urbino as a Duke.
Florence and the Italian states, 1501