War of Naples, 1501–1504

In 1500 Louis XII of France and Ferdinand II of Aragon agreed to partition the Kingdom of Naples. French and Spanish armies initially cooperated in the conquest, but disputes over the division soon turned the former allies against one another.

Spanish commanders, most notably Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba, defeated the French in a series of campaigns that left Spain in control of Naples by 1504.

This context supports fiction about Louis XII, Ferdinand of Aragon, secret diplomacy, the end of chivalric assumptions and the struggle for southern Italy.