Before many years were passed, the unity of the Church of the West was broken by the Reformation. It was inevitable that the religious and the political questions should become involved. The struggle for supremacy in Europe, the internal politics of the several kingdoms, were deeply affected by the religious issues. The web of European complications became more confused than ever, and, if the interest of the period before us is thus enhanced, its difficulty is certainly increased. Into it all the problems of the Middle Age became absorbed, and out of it Modern Europe was to arise. CHAPTER I THE ITALIAN WARS, 1494-1518 Political condition of France--Regency of Anne of Beaujeu--The Italian Expedition--Political Condition of Italy--Charles attacks Naples--League of Venice--Battle of Fornovo--Retreat and Death of Charles VIII.--Savonarola--Home Policy of Louis XII.--Louis attacks Milan--Treaty of Granada and attack on Naples--Quarrel between Louis and Ferdinand--Battles of Seminara, Cerignola, and Garigliano--French driven from Naples--Alexander VI. and Cæsar Borgia--League of Cambray--Battle of Agnadello--The Holy League--Battle of Ravenna--French driven from Italy--Medici restored to Florence, and Maximilian Sforza to Milan--Conquest of Spanish Navarre--Break-up of Holy League--Louis XII. succeeded by Francis I.--Battle of Marignano--Concordat of Bologna--Treaties of Noyon and London--Causes of decline of Venice. § 1. _The Expedition of Charles VIII._ At the date of the Italian expedition, Charles VIII. had been eleven years on the throne of France. The monarchy to which he succeeded was, perhaps, less controlled by constitutional checks than any other in Europe. The crown had earned popularity as the leader in the struggle against the English--a struggle which had created the French nation; and as the patron of the middle classes against the feudal nobles. The Estates-General, the deliberative assembly of the kingdom, had never succeeded in vindicating its claims. The class divisions which divided it, as they did the people, had prevented united action. The third estate did not adequately represent the middle classes; the knights of the shire, those valuable representatives of the country districts, who had formed the backbone of the English House of Commons, did not exist. With these defects, the Estates-General had failed to secure the command of the purse, or to control the legislation and administration of the country. All power accordingly lay with the Royal Council, a body of royal nominees who issued ordinances and levied taxes at their will, so long as they did not entrench on the privileges of the nobility to be free from all direct taxation beyond their feudal dues.