1508 - Political Events

Political Events

Maximilian I assumes the title of Roman Emperor Elect February 4 at Trent, and Pope Julius II confirms the fact that the German king shall hereafter automatically become Holy Roman Emperor. Maximilian has set out for Rome, the Venetians have refused to let him pass through their territories, he attacks the Venetians, but he signs a truce when he finds that the war is not popular with the southern German cities.

The former duke of Milan Ludovico Sforza dies in a subterranean dungeon at the castle of Loches in Touraine May 27 at age 55, having made several fruitless efforts to escape; his sister-in-law Isabella d'Este tries to send her son Federico, now 8, to safety in Genoa (she has remained at Milan despite Ludovico's urgings that she leave). France's Louis XII seizes the youth and does not allow him to return to his mother; when Louis leaves Milan for France November 7 he takes Federico with him.

Persia's Shiite Safavid shah Ismail I enters Baghdad October 21 at the head of a Kizilbash Turkman army, drives out the Purnak governor, places his chief of staff in charge of the city, and moves south against the Mushasha (but see 1534).

Pope Julius II forms the Holy League of Cambrai December 10 to recover from Venice the papal lands that the Venetians have taken on the Adriatic. France's Louis XII and Aragon's Ferdinand II join the League, expecting to obtain territory themselves, as do the Hungarians, the Savoyards, and the Ferrarese (see 1509).

A Portuguese fleet under the command of Lourenço d'Almeida defeats an Arab fleet from Malacca but Almeida is trapped by an Egyptian armada off Chaul on the coast of India and dies of wounds received in battle (see 1509). Traveler Ludovico di Varthema has resumed Christianity (see 1505), joined the Portuguese garrison at Cannanore, and fought in several engagements; sponsored by the navigator Tristan da Cunha, he has been knighted by the viceroy Francisco d'Almeida and served for 18 months as Portuguese factor at Cochin.