MOCENIGO, Andrea.
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Bellum Cameracense. First edition of this history of the War of the League of Cambrai (1508-1516), fought by an alliance of European powers against the Republic of Venice. An important source on early modern global military history, the book describes a "world at war" (q7 recto), including references to America and the Portuguese expansion in India.The league was formed by Pope Julius II, the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I, King Louis XII of France, King Ferdinand II of Aragon, and several Italian city-states. Following Venice's defeat by the French at Agnadello, a new alliance was formed by the Pope to expel the French from northern Italy. The French eventually won at Marignano in 1515. Mocenigo's account of the war, one of the earliest, begins with a history of Venice, followed by the author's critique to Venice's policy of mainland expansion adopted in the 15th century, which ultimately led to the war of the League of Cambrai. In Book IV, Mocenigo interrupts the narration on Venetian politics to provide some information on the wider historical context: "because at the time the whole world was at war, it seems necessary to briefly describe the places of the world, and what peoples were fighting against each other" (r2 verso). In this excursus, Mocenigo describes the distances between key regions of the world to give the reader a sense of its dimensions. Then, he notes: "The vastness of the world does not seem enough to our kings. We went past the Columns of Hercules with a
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