Mantuan Succession, War of the 1628-31

between the Spanish and Austrian Hapsburgs on one side and France on the other (each side advanced its own pretenders to the throne of the Italian duchy of Mantua and the marquessate of Monferrato); a war for dominance in northern Italy; part of the Thirty Years’ War of 1618-48.

After the duke of Mantua, Vincenzo II Gonzaga (in late 1627), died and left no direct heirs, representatives of lateral lines of the Gonzaga family came forward as pretenders to the throne of Mantua and Monferrato; among them were Charles I, duke of Nevers (the French candidate), and Ferdinand II, prince of Guastalla (the Hapsburg candidate), as well as Charles Emmanuel I, duke of Savoy (with whom Spain concluded a treaty concerning the partition of Monferrato). In early 1628, Savoy and Spanish troops occupied Monferrato, and Charles of Nevers occupied Mantua. In March 1629, French troops invaded the possessions of the duke of Savoy and compelled him to make an alliance with France. In July 1630, imperial (Hapsburg) troops took Mantua after a lengthy siege and forced Charles of Nevers to capitulate. The city suffered brutal destruction. However, French diplomacy succeeded in consolidating the duke of Nevers’ possession of the Mantuan duchies and also in obtaining from the duke of Savoy (with whom a secret treaty was concluded) the city of Pinerolo and the military highway leading to it, important to the French as a staging area on the way to Italy (the Treaty of Regensburg of October 1630 and the treaty signed at Cherasco in 1631). The outcome of the War of the Mantuan Succession strengthened the international position of France.