Italian Wars: History of the Habsburg-Valois Wars during the 16th Century

The Kingdom of Naples in the south represented one of the most coveted prizes in Italy, as it controlled vast agricultural lands and strategic ports while generating substantial revenues that could fund military campaigns throughout the Mediterranean. The Aragonese dynasty that ruled Naples faced persistent challenges to their legitimacy from French claimants who argued that the Angevin house had never properly relinquished their rights to the southern Italian kingdom. This dynastic dispute provided the legal pretext for French intervention, though the real motivations were clearly strategic and economic rather than merely genealogical. The weakness of the Neapolitan monarchy and its dependence on Spanish support made it vulnerable to foreign conquest while ensuring that any conflict over Naples would necessarily involve the major European powers.

The Duchy of Milan represented another crucial strategic prize, controlling as it did the routes between northern Europe and the Mediterranean while generating enormous wealth from its textile industries and agricultural production.