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War of the Mantuan Succession
Part of Thirty Years War
Date 1628-1631 Location Europe: Northern Italy Result French victory
Combatants
France	Holy Roman Empire Spain Duchy of Savoy
Commanders
Cardinal Richelieu Charles, Duke of Nevers	Gonzalo de Córdoba Charles Emmanuel I, Duke of Savoy Count of Collalto

The War of the Mantuan Succession (1628-1631) was a peripheral part of Thirty Years' War. Its casus belli lay in competition after the extinction of the main male line of the House of Gonzaga in December 1627. Brothers Francesco IV (1612), Ferdinando (1612-1626), and Vincenzo II (1626-1627), the last three dukes of Gonzaga, had all died leaving no legitimate heirs. The war, fought among the backers of rival claimants, pitted France against the Habsburgs in a contest for control of northern Italy.

Contents 1 Background 2 The claimants, and their supporters 3 Conflict 4 The Peace of Regensburg (1630) 5 The Treaty of Cherasco (1631) 6 Notes 7 See also 8 References

Mantua is the ancestral city where the male line of the House of Gonzaga ruled, first as marquesses, then after 1540 as dukes, in vassalage to the Holy Roman Empire.

Monferrato is a region in eastern Piedmont that was an imperial fief since the eleventh or twelfth century. It was a duchy since 1574. The Gonzagas had received Monferrato as dowry from the wife of duke Frederick II Gonzaga.

On September 22, 1612, Francis IV, Duke of Mantua and Monferrato died at the age of 26. His death occurred only a couple of months after the death of his father Vincent I, Duke of Mantua. He left only one surviving heiress to the throne, three-year old daughter Maria of Mantua. Francis IV also had two younger brothers, both cardinals of the Church and consecrated priests. However, both siblings of Francis could not marry and were not eligible to succeed the throne.

Yet, Francis' two brothers, Ferdinando I (1587-1626) and Vincenzo II (1594-1627), eventually became Dukes of Mantua. Despite both of them being married via "ecclesiastical revisions," neither produced any legitimate children. The real problem erupted when Vincenzo II died on December 26, 1627 at the age of 33, the same day when his niece Maria's marriage with Charles de Nevers was celebrated. Charles de Nevers was the eldest son and heir of Charles, Duke of Nevers, Rethel and Mayenne. Moreover, he was the head of the junior branch of the House of Gonzaga, and after Vincenzo II, the male heir of the Duchy of Mantua.

Charles de Nevers was the closest legitimate heir in a strictly male succession^[1] because he was a son of Luigi (Louis), the brother of the late Duke Vincenzo II's grandfather (see below for family tree). Luigi had been naturalized French as Louis about 1550, and had married the heiress of the Duchies of Rethel and Nevers in 1566. For the French Crown, Charles Gonzaga-Nevers, duc de Nevers, was thus an acceptable successor to the Duchy of Mantua. He arrived in Mantua in January of 1628 and proclaimed himself ruler.

There were two rival claimants. One was Charles Emmanuel I, Duke of Savoy, whose daughter Margerita had married Francesco IV. Their son had died of smallpox in infancy in 1612 but their elder daughter Maria (1612-1660) was married to Charles de Nevers, December 24, 1627, to strengthen their claim. Charles Emmanuel's claim on Monferrat was based on his daughter's right on the Marquessate of Montferrat because it had been historically inherited by females since Margherita Paleologa in 1540.

The other claimant was Ferrante II, Duke of Guastalla, a distant Gonzaga cousin who voiced his claim but did not immediately place troops on the field. But Emperor Ferdinand II was at the time married to Eleanor of Mantua the elder (1598-1655), sister of the three most recent Dukes of Mantua. He attempted to reattach the Duchy of Mantua to the Holy Roman Empire and so practically disinherit the French branch of House of Gonzaga (and female heiress). His intentions included to put a yet more junior Gonzaga branch, that of Ferrante II, Marquess of Guastalla to succeed. Guastalla was in the Spanish-Imperial camp.

With the ongoing Thirty Years War affecting the alliances, Charles Emmanuel found support with the Habsburgs, who controlled Milan. The resulting French-Habsburg war over the succession was just one of many theatres of the Thirty Years War, fought all over Europe.

The initial attempt of Don Gonzalo Fernandez de Córdoba, Spanish governor of Milan, and Charles-Emmanuel was to partition the Mantuan-Montferrat patrimony, which lay to east and to west of Milan. The Spanish minister supported the Guastalla claimant in Mantua, as the weaker of two neighbors, and the Savoy claimant in Montferrat, the lesser of the territories. Friction between the confederates ensued, when Charles-Emmanuel moved his troops into more territory than had been agreed upon, laying siege to the town of Casale, capital of Montferrat.

The French, though Louis XIII of France and Cardinal Richelieu were concerned at home with Huguenot uprisings in Languedoc after the fall of La Rochelle in 1628, sent forces to relieve Casale near the border with Milanese territory, besieged by a Habsburg army from Milan.^[2] The French forces crossed the Alps in March 1629, forced Susa in Piedmont, on March 6, delivered the siege of Casale on March 18 and took the fortress of Pignerol on March 30. In April, the Treaty of Susa was signed with the Duke of Savoy, whereupon they returned to France, leaving behind a small garrison. The papal envoy in negotiations at Casale was Jules Mazarin.

Emperor Ferdinand II's forces under Ramboldo, Count of Collalto invaded the Grisons and Valtelline. The governor was recalled from Milan,^[3] followed by the insults of the citizens, for bread had been scarce for months. The following winter, Milan was devastated by the bubonic plague introduced by the armies, which has been vividly described by Manzoni^[4]

Later in 1629, Emperor Ferdinand II sent a Landsknecht army to besiege Mantua, Charles left without the promised support from Louis XIII of France. The siege lasted until July 1630, when the city, already struck by a plague, was brutally sacked by troops led by Aldringen and Gallas. But the Emperor did not succeed in Mantua. Due to developments in Germany, Swedes were warring, he was forced to return his attention to the principal theatre of the big war.

The French first agreed to the Peace of Regensburg (or the Treaty of Ratisbonne), which was negotiated by French representatives Father Joseph and Nicolas Brûlart de Sillery. The accord was signed on October 13, 1630, which provided favorable terms to French interests in Italy despite their military setbacks. Specifically, the French were allowed to maintain their garrison in Grisons. The accord also confirmed Charles Gonzaga-Nevers as Duke of Mantua and Marquess of Monterrat in exchange for minor concessions to Charles Emmanuel of Savoy Ferrante of Guastalla. The Habsburgs would on their side reduce their number of troops in the region. The treaty was seen as so unfavorable to the Spanish since the Spanish prime minister, Olivares, considered it no different than a surrender.

The treaty did, however, contain a troublesome clause. It included an agreement whereby the French were not permitted to established alliances in Germany against the Holy Roman Emperor in power. This clause placed France on the sidelines of the ongoing conflict. Louis XIII of France refused to accept this, and the Austrians found themselves with a continued war and with diminished forces in the area. The new forces sent south of the Alps were to be sorely missed when Swedish forces under Gustavus II Adolphus invaded from the north.

The Italian peace was eventually made with the Treaty of Cherasco on June 19, 1631. France, who in 1629 had taken Savoy, followed by the capture of Pinerolo in Piedmont the following year, renounced all conquests in Italy. Charles Gonzaga-Nevers was confirmed to Mantua and Montferrat, with concessions to the claimants: Vittorio Amedeo I of Savoy, who had succeeded his father after Charles Emmanuel's sudden death, gained Trino and Alba in Montferrat, while Cesare II of Guastalla, Ferrante's son, was given Luzzara and Reggiolo. Later it was discovered that by a secret treaty with Vittorio Amedeo, Pinerolo was surrendered to France.

1. ^ Whether the inheritance could pass through a female was in debate.
2. ^ Richelieu's address to the King, December 1628.
3. ^ His replacement was Ambrogio, marques di Spinola.
4. ^ Alessandro Manzoni's I Promessi Sposi (1842) Chapter XXVII contains a lightly ironic capsule account of the War of the Mantuan Succession, as background to his narration, continued, as a further digression, in Chapter XXVIII and culminating in his famous description of the bubonic plague which the German army brought to Milan, in Chapter XXXI.

• Counts and Dukes of Nevers
• House of Gonzaga
• List of treaties
• Rulers of Mantua
• Rulers of Montferrat

• Map of the Territories Involved
• Chronology: Louis XIII (1610-1643)