The War of the League of Cambrai, also known by its second stage as the War of the Holy League, was fought from December 1508 to December 1516, as part of the wider Italian Wars of 1494–1559. The main participants of the war, who fought for its entire duration, were France, the Holy Roman Empire, the Papal States, and the Republic of Venice; they were joined at various times by nearly every significant power in Western Europe, including Spain, England, the Duchy of Milan, the Republic of Florence, the Duchy of Ferrara, and the Swiss.
The war was preceded by the Italienzug of Maximilian I, King of the Romans, who crossed into Venetian territory in February 1508 with the imperial army on the way to be crowned Holy Roman Emperor by the pope in Rome. Meanwhile, Pope Julius II, intending to curb Venetian influence in northern Italy, brought together the League of Cambrai, an anti-Venetian alliance consisting of him, Maximilian I, Louis XII of France, and Ferdinand II of Aragon, which was formally concluded in December 1508. Although the League was initially successful, later frictions between Julius and Louis culminated in the pope abandoning the League in 1510 and allying himself with Venice against France.
