ROME, PAPAL STATES ~ JUNE 1509
The new Pope of Rome, Julius II, sits in a gilded throne surrounded by his cardinals, all in red, while his recently-formed Swiss Guard stand silent in the doorways, wearing plate armour on their torso, half-helms on their heads, and slashed yellow-red-blue tricolour trousers, with a short-sword on their hips and a halberd in their hands.
Seated closest to Pope Julius is Cardinal Francesco Alidosi, one of his favourites but little liked by anyone else. Another Cardinal, Georges d’Amboise, has merrily delivered the latest update on the French Army. The Venetian Republic’s mercenary army, shattered and decimated at Agnadello, has retreated all the way back to their lagoon city, allowing the French to march unopposed as far east as Brescia and Cremona. Cardinal d’Amboise, a close confidante of the French King Louis and in favour with the Pope as well, had helped with the formation of the anti-Venetian League, and was quick to frame events as a great victory for the League. However, Pope Julius does not quite share his excitement. As the Pope sees it, the French have benefited disproportionately from the League alliance and the Venetian collapse. With Venice sufficiently humbled, it’s now King Louis who’s getting too big for his boots.
PADUA, REPUBLIC OF VENICE ~ JUNE 1509
The city of Padua lies just inland of the Venetian Lagoon, close to the very heart of the Republic. However, the defeat at Agnadello has left the Venetians without a land army to protect their cities, even this close to home. Seizing the opportunity, Maximilian Habsburg moves quickly to pick at the bones of Venice’s possessions. The big cities of Verona, Vicenza, and Padua have been left unguarded, and the Holy Roman Empire has swooped in to claim them.
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An Imperial emissary arrives at the city of Padua. He is flanked by two Landsknecht bodyguards, in typically ludicrous garb, one carrying a Zweihänder (a massive, two-handed greatsword), the other a halberd. Both have at their sides the shortsword called a Katzbalger, a sturdy little blade with a distinctive s-shaped hand-guard, the Lansknecht’s signature weapon. The Imperial emissary has come to tell the locals that Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian Habsburg considers these lands to be part of the Empire. They can submit to imperial control now or be taken over by force. The Paduans meet to discuss their response to the Imperial emissary. Some of them saw with their own eyes when Pitigliano and the ragged remains of his army arrived at the city just a few days after their defeat at Agnadello, the French Army not far behind them, scouring the land like gallic locusts. They also watched as Pitigliano and his condottieri departed for Venice, leaving Padua to fend for themselves. They would rather have Pitigliano and the Venetians return and continue to be a vassal to the Republic, but any hope of that is distant at best. Reluctantly, the Paduans agree to accept their new Imperial overlords.