Venice saw itself at the center of the wheels of change. Again it was a New Year. Again for her, age old matters quickly came to a head and seemingly all at once.
Over the winter, Venice had decided to let certain select outside forces weigh in to help at finding some way out of the numerous escalating problems. One of these, the ongoing war over Pisa, had found at last old foes (like France, like Ercole d'Este) who were grudgingly accepted as potential allies in certain circles in the city, as several other options seeking an agreeable resolution to that mess had failed.
But there was news again that the new French King might come to take Milan. Meanwhile, messages from farther abroad allowed Andrea Gritti and another set of new ambassadors to begin to shine. The sultan at Constantinople Gritti said in code was preparing a new fleet. If that wasn't bad enough, the crowd had gathered several times in January and February, demanding to pull money out of the Garzoni bank in the heart of Venice. These tumults would set the tone of the city thru spring and into summer and beyond. 1499 would be a disaster for the City of the Sea in many ways.
Since the French had duly left Italy some years earlier under the previous king, the remaining forces had continued to ply their trade of conflict against each other for the mastery (or mere protection) of Pisa, this most sought after pawn. Florence missed her revenues as protector of Pisa's fantastic established port of Livorno. Venice sought to protect the city from any other force besides themselves or (they would say), the Pisans from holding it. And not least, Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milan thought that if he might not gain it for himself today, or on the morrow, he at least had to keep Venice from gaining control of it. In addition to the various mercenaries that Venice and Milan had been using, La Serenissima at last agreed to see if the Duke of Ferrara, Ercole d'Este could help.
Though a chief antagonist of Venice at times, the honorable Duke, had the reputation also for fair dealing throughout this war. Certainly his was far better now as compared with the reputation of Ludovico of Milan, and though related to him by marriage (his wife was the Duke's daughter), yet it was agreed in Venice to see what Ferrara could accomplish.
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Notes:
Bembo on d'Este: Bembo, iv 59, Discussions, responses: 60-1
Guicciardini on proposals by d'Este and agreements: ii, pp. 296-312 [in the edition described here] .
Ambassadors sent to the new French King Louis XII reported back. They were working on a new alliance. Bembo iv, 54-6, 57
Ludovico in Milan said to be sceptical of Venetian double-dealing: Bembo iv, 58
Letters from Andrea Gritti in Constantinople warning the sultan was building a fleet. Some snippets will have to do.[Sanudo, 2:292; 2:372; 2:559; Bembo iv, 50-3]
Meanwhile, threats from the East changed everything in the negotiations between France and Venice and, according to Bembo, convinced Louis XII to forego payment by Venice of the 1800 pounds of gold the king of France wanted in exchange for an alliance with them over the dispute with Milan and Pisa.
When the French began to arrive, and Venice's mercenary forces began to wheel about in the neighborhood of Milan, Ludovico's family fled first and then the Duke, Ludovico il Moro, did as well, along with his court (including famed inventor Leonardo da Vinci and math protege Luca Pacioli) by early 1499.
