The Musso War (or War of Musso) was an armed conflict between the federation of the

Three Leagues The Three Leagues, sometimes referred to as Raetia, was the alliance of 1471 of the League of God's House, the League of the Ten Jurisdictions, and the Grey League, leading eventually to the formation of the Swiss canton of Graubünden (Griso ...

(german: Drei Bünde), which functioned as an associate state of the

Old Swiss Confederacy The Old Swiss Confederacy or Swiss Confederacy (Modern German: ; historically , after the Reformation also , "Confederation of the Swiss") was a loose confederation of independent small states (, German or In the charters of the 14th century ...

, and the

Duchy of Milan The Duchy of Milan ( it, Ducato di Milano; lmo, Ducaa de Milan) was a state in northern Italy, created in 1395 by Gian Galeazzo Visconti, then the lord of Milan, and a member of the important Visconti of Milan, Visconti family, which had been r ...

early in the 16th century. The conflict took place in two phases, the First Musso War (1524–26) and the Second Musso War (1531–32). The Milanese reeve of

Como Como (, ; lmo, Còmm, label=Comasco , or ; lat, Novum Comum; rm, Com; french: Côme) is a city and ''comune'' in Lombardy, Italy. It is the administrative capital of the Province of Como. Its proximity to Lake Como and to the Alps has m ...

Gian Giacomo Medici 250px, Gian Giacomo Medici, ''Il Medeghino'', in a 16th-century engraving Gian Giacomo Medici (25 January 1498 – 8 November 1555) was an Italian condottiero who became a noted Spanish general, Duke of Marignano and Marquess of Musso and Lecco i ...

, who resided in castle of

Musso Munawar Musso (1897, in Kediri, East Java – Madiun, on 31 October 1948) was a leader of the Communist Party of Indonesia and one of the key figures in the 1948 Madiun affair. Biography Early life Musso was born Munawar Musso in 1897, Pagu, ...

, had been raiding the valley of

Chiavenna Chiavenna ( lmo, Ciavèna ; la, Clavenna; rm, Clavenna or ''Claven''; archaic german: Cläven or ''Kleven'') is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Sondrio in the northern Italian region of Lombardy. It is the centre of the Alpine ...

since 1521. In 1524, in alliance with the

Prince-Bishopric of Chur The Prince-Bishopric of Chur (german: Hochstift Chur, Fürstbistum Chur, Bistum Chur) was an ecclesiastical principality of the Holy Roman Empire, and had Imperial immediacy. The Prince-Bishopric of Chur controlled contiguous land from the city o ...

, he attempted to conquer the Three Leagues. In 1525 his forces were defeated at the Battle of Morbegno but he remained in control of Chiavenna. Following the battle, the Three Leagues sent a delegation headed by Gian Travers to negotiate a peace treaty with the city of Milan. However, while en route they were captured and imprisoned by Medici in September 1525. Due to religious conflicts following the

Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and i ...

, neither the Swiss Confederation nor the Three Leagues were able to move quickly to free the prisoners. In the spring of 1526 a Three Leagues delegation, with the support of France and Venice, were finally able to secure the release of the prisoners, but only after paying a ransom and giving the Tre Pievi or three communes at the north end of

Lake Como Lake Como ( it, Lago di Como , ; lmo, label= Western Lombard, Lagh de Còmm , ''Cómm'' or ''Cùmm'' ), also known as Lario (; after the la, Larius Lacus), is a lake of glacial origin in Lombardy, Italy. It has an area of , making it the thi ...

to Medici. Due to the weak 1526 treaty, in 1531 Milan attacked again, capturing Morbegno and defeating the League forces in the area. The Three Leagues called the

for help, calling in duties of a defence alliance concluded earlier. Due to the religious conflicts in the Confederation only the

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

cantons supported the Three Leagues, while the Catholic cantons insisted that any help was dependent on the Leagues converting back to the old faith. The Protestant and League forces were able to drive the Milanese out of the

Valtellina Valtellina or the Valtelline (occasionally spelled as two words in English: Val Telline; rm, Vuclina (); lmo, Valtelina or ; german: Veltlin; it, Valtellina) is a valley in the Lombardy region of northern Italy, bordering Switzerland. Tod ...

. In a peace treaty concluded the next year, Chiavenna and the Valtellina were granted to the Three Leagues; only the ''tre pievi'' came under the supervision of Milan. The refusal of the

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

cantons to support the Three Leagues in these skirmishes was taken by the Swiss canton of

Zürich , neighboring_municipalities = Adliswil, Dübendorf, Fällanden, Kilchberg, Maur, Oberengstringen, Opfikon, Regensdorf, Rümlang, Schlieren, Stallikon, Uitikon, Urdorf, Wallisellen, Zollikon , twintowns = Kunming, San Francisco Zü ...

as the reason to start the

second war of Kappel The Second War of Kappel (german: Zweiter Kappelerkrieg) was an armed conflict in 1531 between the Catholic and the Protestant cantons of the Old Swiss Confederacy during the Reformation in Switzerland. Cause The tensions between the two par ...

. The Catholic cantons would emerge victorious from that war and even gain the majority in the confederacy's federal assembly, the ''

Tagsatzung The Federal Diet of Switzerland (german: Tagsatzung, ; french: Diète fédérale; it, Dieta federale) was the legislative and executive council of the Old Swiss Confederacy and existed in various forms from the beginnings of Swiss independen ...

'', with far-reaching consequences for the confederacy. In 1527, Gian Travers wrote an epic account of the war in Romansh verse, ''Chanzun da la guerra dalg Chiastè d'Müs'' ("Song of the War of the Castle of Musso").Robert Henry Billigmeier, ''A Crisis in Swiss Pluralism: The Romansh and Their Relations with the German- and Italian-Swiss in the Perspective of a Millennium'' (Mouton, 1979), pp. 56–57.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Musso War Military history of Switzerland Grisons 1520s conflicts 1530s conflicts Wars involving the Duchy of Milan 16th century in the Old Swiss Confederacy 1520s in the Holy Roman Empire 1530s in the Holy Roman Empire

See also

References