Abstract: The Italian Wars, also known as the Habsburg-Valois Wars, were the most significant and defining conflict in Europe during the late medieval to early modern period. This paper will examine the Italian Wars offering a critical re-evaluation of the conflict as the key event which exerted influence beyond Italy as a pan-European cultural movement and shaped politics, diplomacy, dynasties and reimagined Italian peninsula.

Presenter: Darius von Güttner Sporzyński is a historian of Europe with a particular interest in cultural aspects of transmission of ideas and identity. He is the General Editor of Brepols’ series “East Central Europe”. His publications cover diverse aspects of history from the Middle Ages to early modern and the modern eras. His examination of the early onset of the Valois-Habsburg conflict in sixteenth-century Italy cantered on Isabella d'Aragona, an early modern dynast born into the House of Aragon of Naples, who later became Duchess of Milan by marriage and ruled in her own right as Duchess of Bari.

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