Treaty of Granada, 11 November 1500

The Treaty of Granada (11 November 1500) was an agreement between Louis XII of France and Ferdinand II of Aragon to split the Kingdom of Naples between them. At the time Naples was ruled by Frederick IV, a member of a minor branch of the royal family of Aragon (descended from an illegitimate son of Alfonso V of Aragon).

Louis's predecessor Charles VIII had attempted to invade Naples in 1494-95 (First Italian War/ Italian War of Charles VIII). He had conquered the kingdom with some ease, but most of the Italian powers, supported by Ferdinand II of Aragon, had allied against him and he had been forced to retreat. The troops he left behind in Naples were defeated with the help of Spanish troops send by Ferdinand II, and the exiled Ferdinand II of Naples was restored. He died soon afterwards and was succeeded by his uncle Frederick IV.

The treaty was officially drawn up in response to a perceived Ottoman threat to Naples, but the real motive behind it was Louis's desire to press his family's claim to Naples, which came from previous Angevin rulers of the kingdom. Ferdinand's motive was probably a desire to avoid having the French as close neighbours to his kingdom of Sicily.

Under the terms of the agreement France got the northern parts of the kingdom -  the Abruzzi (the northern-most part of the kingdom, on the Adriatic coast around Pescara), Naples and Gaeta on the west coast and the Terra di Lavoro (the area around Gaeta)

Spain was to get the southern parts of the kingdom - Apulia (the heal of Italy) and Calabria (the toe of Italy).

Some areas weren't mentioned in the agreement. The main areas missed out were the Basilicate, which sits between Apulia and Calabria and a line of provinces that ran across the peninsula between the French and Spanish areas - the Principato Citra on the west coast south-east of Naples, the Principato Ultra inland (around but not including Benevento, which was a Papal city) and the Capitanata, on the Adriatic coast between the Abruzzi and Apulia (the Foggia area). The Capitanata would prove to be the most divisive area, which provided much of the food for the Abruzzi and was part of a system of long distance movement of flocks.

The Allies easily conquered the Kingdom of Naples in the summer of 1501, although Taranto didn't surrender to the Spanish until March 1502. Soon afterwards the allies began to fall out over their shares of the spoils and war between them broke out in July 1502 (Second Italian War/ Italian War of Louis XII).

How to cite this article: Rickard, J (14 November 2014), Treaty of Granada, 11 November 1500 , http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/treaty_granada_1500.html

Help - F.A.Q. - Contact Us - Search - Recent - About Us - Privacy