The Treaty of Lodi, or Peace of Lodi, was a peace agreement to put an end to the Wars in Lombardy between the

Venetian Republic The Republic of Venice, officially the Most Serene Republic of Venice and traditionally known as La Serenissima, was a sovereign state and Maritime republics, maritime republic with its capital in Venice. Founded, according to tradition, in 697 ...

and the

Duchy of Milan The Duchy of 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 ruling the city since 1277. At that time, ...

, signed in the city of Lodi on 9 April 1454. The historical relevance of the treaty lies in having guaranteed the Italian Peninsula 40 years of stable peace, consequently favoring the artistic and literary flowering of the

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

Political background

After the death of the Duke of Milan

Filippo Maria Visconti Filippo Maria Visconti (3 September 1392 – 13 August 1447) was the duke of Duchy of Milan, Milan from 1412 to 1447. Reports stated that he was "paranoid", but "shrewd as a ruler." He went to war in the 1420s with Romagna, Republic of Florenc ...

in 1447, the

Golden Ambrosian Republic The Golden Ambrosian Republic (; ; 1447–1450) was a short-lived republic founded in Milan by members of the University of Pavia with popular support, during the first phase of the Milanese War of Succession. With the aid of Francesco Sforza th ...

was proclaimed in Milan. The rulers decided to entrust the defense of the newborn state to Francesco I Sforza. The latter, after three years, proclaimed himself duke of Milan. In fact, for some time Venice had not abandoned its ambitions to expand into

Lombardy The Lombardy Region (; ) is an administrative regions of Italy, region of Italy that covers ; it is located in northern Italy and has a population of about 10 million people, constituting more than one-sixth of Italy's population. Lombardy is ...

and thus forged an alliance with

Alfonso V of Aragon Alfonso the Magnanimous (Alfons el Magnànim in Catalan language, Catalan) (139627 June 1458) was King of Aragon and King of Sicily (as Alfons V) and the ruler of the Crown of Aragon from 1416 and King of Naples (as Alfons I) from 1442 until his ...

, king of Naples, and the emperor Frederick III of Habsburg, against Francesco Sforza and his allies. But the

fall of Constantinople The Fall of Constantinople, also known as the Conquest of Constantinople, was the capture of Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine Empire by the Ottoman Empire. The city was captured on 29 May 1453 as part of the culmination of a 55-da ...

endangered the safety of the Venetian possessions in the

Aegean Sea The Aegean Sea is an elongated embayment of the Mediterranean Sea between Europe and Asia. It is located between the Balkans and Anatolia, and covers an area of some . In the north, the Aegean is connected to the Marmara Sea, which in turn con ...

, so the Serenissima decided to put an end to its wars in the peninsula.

The treaty

Venice and Milan concluded the final peace on April 9, 1454 at the residence of Francesco Sforza in Lodi. The Venetian signatories were Simone da Camerino and Paolo Barbo. The treaty was ratified by the most powerful Italian states, first of all Florentine Republic, which had sided with Milan thanks to the long-standing relationship between

Cosimo de' Medici Cosimo di Giovanni de' Medici (27 September 1389 – 1 August 1464) was an Italian banker and politician who established the House of Medici, Medici family as effective rulers of Florence during much of the Italian Renaissance. His power derive ...

and Francesco Sforza. After the treaty, Northern Italy was practically divided between the two states, despite the fact that some other powers persisted: the

House of Savoy The House of Savoy (, ) is a royal house (formally a dynasty) of Franco-Italian origin that was established in 1003 in the historical region of Savoy, which was originally part of the Kingdom of Burgundy and now lies mostly within southeastern F ...

, the

Republic of Genoa The Republic of Genoa ( ; ; ) was a medieval and early modern Maritime republics, maritime republic from the years 1099 to 1797 in Liguria on the northwestern Italy, Italian coast. During the Late Middle Ages, it was a major commercial power in ...

, the

House of Gonzaga The House of Gonzaga (, ) is an Italian princely family that ruled Mantua in Lombardy, northern Italy from 1328 to 1708 (first as a captaincy-general, then Margraviate of Mantua, margraviate, and finally Duchy of Mantua, duchy). They also ruled M ...

and the

House of Este The House of Este ( , , ) is a European dynasty of North Italian origin whose members ruled parts of Italy and Germany for many centuries. The original House of Este's elder branch, which is known as the House of Welf, included dukes of Bavaria ...

. It also established the succession of Francesco Sforza to the Duchy of Milan, the movement of the frontier between the aforementioned states on the Adda river, the affixing of border signs along the entire demarcation line and the beginning of the

Italic League The Italic League or Most Holy League was an international agreement concluded in Venice on 30 August 1454, between the Papal States, the Republic of Venice, the Duchy of Milan, the Republic of Florence, and the Kingdom of Naples, following the Tr ...

. The lands of Asola, Lonato and Peschiera came under the dominion of the Venetian Republic, disappointing the expectations of the Gonzagas, who had always aimed for these places.

Historical significance of the treaty

The importance of the Treaty of Lodi consists in having given the peninsula a new political-institutional structure which - by limiting the particular ambitions of the various states - ensured a balance of power for 40 years and the development of the

. Some scholars have argued that the treaty provided a proto- Westphalian model of an inter-city-state system (as opposed to an inter-''nation-state'' system) following a century of warfare in Northern Italy. The Treaty functioned to temporarily institutionalize a regional balance of power in which outright warfare gave way to diplomacy. Lorenzo the Magnificent - in the second part of the fifteenth century - became the guarantor of this political equilibrium, implementing his famous "equilibrium policy".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lodi, Treaty of Italian Renaissance 1454 in Europe 1450s treaties Lodi Treaties of the Kingdom of Naples Treaties of the Republic of Florence 15th century in the Kingdom of Naples 15th century in the Republic of Florence Treaties of the Republic of Venice 15th century in the Republic of Venice 15th century in the Duchy of Milan

Political background

The treaty

Historical significance of the treaty

See also

Further reading

References