Fortifications and statecraft of the Gonzaga, 1530-1630

The Gonzaga of Mantua and Montferrat are one of the best studied princely families of early modern Europe. Yet previous scholarship has concentrated almost exclusively on the family's patronage of Renaissance and Baroque artists and musicians. The roots of Gonzaga power, their military acumen and political independence, have not been adequately discussed. In fact, the Gonzaga were considerable captains and very able politicians: their state survived not on the sufferance of the greater powers (the King of Spain, the King of France, the Emperor) but because of the real military power the Gonzaga could marshal in defense of their interests and territories. In the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, Gonzaga military preparedness depended on two world-class fortification complexes, at Mantua in the Duchy of Mantua and at Casale in the Duchy of Montferrat. These fortresses construction (at Mantua from the 1520s, at Casale from the 1560s), and their use in war, demonstrate the real political independence of the Gonzaga. The success of the Gonzaga in holding off the combined forces of the King of Spain and the Emperor during the War of the Mantuan Succession (1628-1630) suggests that fortifications such as those of the Gonzaga eroded the power of the King of Spain in Italy over the course of the sixteenth century.;Military historians have long considered a transformation in the art of war in Europe between 1500 and 1800 as a watershed in the history of Europe and even the world. This transformation is known as the early modern military revolution. An important component of this revolution was the development of new techniques of fortification design. Previous research had suggested that this new type of fortification design was so expensive that only the largest and wealthiest states could afford fortresses of the most modern pattern. However, the example of the Gonzaga shows that smaller states could not only participate in the rush to build modern fortifications, but could also lead the way. The fortifications of the Gonzaga, particularly at Montferrat, were as sophisticated and as modern as any in Europe.