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Italian Wars: Quick Facts

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The Information Architects of Encyclopaedia Britannica

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Facts

Date 1494 - 1559
Location Italy
Participants France • Spain

Key People

Painting by Jakob Seisenegger showing Emperor Charles V in ornate Renaissance attire standing beside a large hunting dog, with a green curtain in the background.
Charles V
Holy Roman emperor
Francis I
Francis I
king of France
Maximilian I
Maximilian I
Holy Roman emperor
Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, 3rd duke de Alba, oil painting by Sir Antony More, 1549; in the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Brussels.
Fernando Álvarez de Toledo y Pimentel, 3 duque de Alba
Spanish soldier and statesman
Ludovico Sforza
Ludovico Sforza
duke of Milan
Louis XII, portrait by Jean Perreal; in Windsor Castle, New Windsor, Berkshire
Louis XII
king of France
Andrea Doria, detail of a portrait by Sebastiano del Piombo; in the Doria Palace, Rome.
Andrea Doria
Genoese statesman
default image
Charles III, 8th duke de Bourbon
French constable
Anne, Duke de Montmorency, drawing by the school of Clouet, c. 1560; in the Musée Condé, Chantilly, France
Anne, duke de Montmorency
French noble
Pierre Terrail, seigneur de Bayard, engraving by P. Mariette, 16th century.
Pierre Terrail, seigneur de Bayard
French soldier
default image
Claude de Lorraine, 1st duke de Guise
French noble
Charles VIII
Charles VIII
king of France
Fernández de Córdoba, Gonzalo
Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba
Spanish military commander
default image
Fernando Francesco de Avalos, marquis di Pescara
Italian military commander
Giovanni de' Medici
Giovanni de’ Medici
Italian leader
Monluc, engraving
Blaise de Lasseran-Massencôme, seigneur de Monluc
French soldier
default image
Philippe de Chabot, seigneur de Brion
French admiral
D'Amboise, detail of an engraving by an unknown artist
Georges d’Amboise
French cardinal and minister of state
Frundsberg, Georg von
Georg von Frundsberg
German military officer
Emmanuel Philibert, detail of a portrait by G. Vighi; in the Pinacoteca, Turin, Italy
Emmanuel Philibert
duke of Savoy