[VICID] The Holy League

The name given to a number of European alliances formed during the 15th Century , 16th Century , and 17th Century . The Holy League of 1495 was forged between the Habsburg Emperor Maximilian I, Pope Alexander VI, Spain, Venice, Milan, and ultimately England to protect Italy from French ascendancy. The League of 1511–13 was organized by Pope Julius II, and included Henry VIII of England, Spain, Venice, the Habsburg Empire, and Switzerland. The Holy League of 1526 was formed against the Emperor Charles V of Spain by France, the Papacy, England, Venice, and Milan. In

1571 an alliance was formed between Venice, Spain, and the Papacy to counter Turkish supremacy in the E Mediterranean. The League’s fleet commanded by Don John of Austria smashed the Turks at Lepanto in the same year, before disagreements divided the Allies; by 1573 Spain continued the struggle alone. The French Holy League of 1576, also known as the Catholic League, was led by the Guise faction during the French Wars of Religion. Henry III ordered its dissolution in 1577, but it was revived in 1584 to play a major part in the War of the Three Henrys (1585–9). The Holy League of 1609 was a military alliance of the German Catholic princes, formed at the start of the Jülich Succession (1606–14). During most of the Thirty Years War (1618–38) its forces served the imperial cause.

In 1683 a Holy League was formed against Ottoman Turkey following the Imperial repossession of Vienna, consisting of Poland, the Habsburg Empire, Venice, and the Papacy. Pope Innocent XI planned further crusades in Hungary, Greece, and Moldavia; the latter failed (1686), but after several years’ fighting (1683–99) the League recovered most of Hungary for the Habsburgs.