Two Italian Saints Against A Sirocco Of Steel

The siege of Padua, 1509

After defeat by a Holy Roman force at the Battle of Agnadello, the Venetians fled to their swamps, leaving the rest of the Serene Republic to be overrun. It seemed that the French King, Louis XII, had won the great Italian victory his Milanese allies wanted.

Venice was a potent sea power, but hardly a major land entity until 1405, when they captured the…