The War of the League of Cambrai was a major conflict in the Italian Wars, occuring from 1508 to 1516. The principal participants of the war were France, the Papal States, and the Republic of Venice. Pope Julius II had intended that the war would curb Venetian influence in northern Italy, and had, to this end, created the League of Cambrai (named after Cambrai, where the negotiations took place), an alliance against the Republic that included, besides himself, Louis XII of France, Emperor Maximilian I, and Ferdinand I of Spain. Although the League was initially successful, friction between Julius and Louis caused it to collapse by 1510; Julius then allied himself with Venice against France. The Veneto-Papal alliance eventually expanded into the Holy League, which drove the French from Italy in 1512; disagreements about the division of the spoils, however, led Venice to abandon the alliance in favor of one with France. Under the leadership of Francis I, who had succeeded Louis to the throne, the French and Venetians would, through their victory at Marignano in 1515, regain the territory they had lost; the treaties of Noyon and Brussels, which ended the war the next year, would essentially return the map of Italy to the status quo of 1508.

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_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1301: The Árpád dynasty in Hungary ended. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arpads)

1639: The Fundamental Orders, the first written constitution that created a government, was adopted in Connecticut. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fundamental_Orders_of_Connecticut)

1954: Joe DiMaggio married Marilyn Monroe. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_DiMaggio)

1972: Queen Margrethe II, the current monarch of Denmark, ascended to the throne under a new act of succession. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margrethe_II_of_Denmark)

2004: The national flag of Georgia, the so-called Five Cross Flag, was restored to official use after a hiatus of some 500 years. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Georgia_%28country%29)

_____________________ Wikiquote of the day:

"Not one of us knows what effect his life produces, and what he gives to others; that is hidden from us and must remain so, though we are often allowed to see some little fraction of it, so that we may not lose courage." -- Albert Schweitzer (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Albert_Schweitzer)