The French Descent into Renaissance Italy, 1494-95

'The book..provides rich material for a new synthesis, and indeed will nourish scholarship across a far broader front than the expedition itself. Its value as a research tool is enhanced by the substantial appendix containing a catalogue of Ilardi's microfilm collection of Renaissance diplomatic documents at Yale, which constitutes in its own right a superb guide to the major Italian archives.' Parergon, Vol. 16, No. 1

David Abulafia, Cambridge University, UK

Contents: Introduction; from Ferrante I to Charles VIII, David Abulafia; The distant origins of the Italian wars: political relations between France and Italy in the 14th and 15th centuries, Georges Peyronnet; The Angevin bid for Naples, 1380-1480, Alan Ryder; The inception of the reign of King Ferrante I of Naples: the events of summer 1458 in the light of documentation from Milan, David Abulafia; Towards the Tragedia d'Italia: Ferrante and Galeazzo Maria Sforza: friendly enemies and hostile allies, Vincent Ilardi; Between Milan and Naples: Ippolita Maria Sforza, duchess of Calabria, Evelyn S.Welch; The politics of protection in late 15th- century Italy: Florence and the failed Sienese exiles' plot of May 1485, Humfrey Butters; Personalities and pressures: Italian involvement in the French invasion of 1494, Michael Mallett; Court and household in Ferrara, 1494, Trevor Dean; The Romagna campaign of 1494: a significant military encounter, Cecil H. Clough; Francesco II Gonzaga, marquis of Mantua, 'Liberator of Italy', David Chambers; Political and cultural implications of secret diplomacy: Commynes and Ferrara in the light of unpublished documents, JoA"l Blanchard; The Roman barons and the French descent into Italy, Christine Shaw; Castles and cannon in the Naples campaign of 1494-95, Simon Pepper; Venice, the French invasion and the Apulian ports, Carol Kidwell; 'Il semble que ce soit lA un vrai Paradis terrestre': Charles VIII's conquest of Naples and the French Renaissance, A. V. Antonovics; Insititutional and social continuities in the kingdom of Naples between 1443 and 1528, Eleni Sakellariou; Machiavelli, italianitA and the French invasion of 1494, David Laven; 'Traitres Lombardi': the expedition of Charles VIII in the Lombard sources up to the mid-16th century, Paolo Margaroli; Milan in the face of the Italian wars (1494-1535): between the crisis of the state and the affirmation of urban autonomy, Giorgio Chittolini; Appendix: Index of