It will be useful, at this point, to recapitulate the net results of Charles’s administration of Italian affairs in 1530.  The kingdom of the Two Sicilies, with the Island of Sardinia and the Duchy of Milan, became Spanish provinces, and were ruled henceforth by viceroys.  The House of Este was confirmed in the Duchy of Ferrara, including Modena and Reggio.  The Duchies of Savoy and Mantua and the Marquisate of Montferrat, which had espoused the Spanish cause, were undisturbed.  Genoa and Siena, both of them avowed allies of Spain, the former under Spanish protection, the latter subject to Spanish coercion, remained with the name and empty privileges of republics.  Venice had made her peace with Spain, and though she was still strong enough to pursue an independent policy, she showed as yet no inclination, and had, indeed, no power, to stir up enemies against the Spanish autocrat.  The Duchy of Urbino, recognized by Rome and subservient to Spanish influence, was permitted to exist.  The Papacy once more assumed a haughty tone, relying on the firm alliance struck with Spain.  This league, as years went by, was destined to grow still closer, still more fruitful of results.

Florence alone had been excepted from the articles of peace.  It was still enduring the horrors of the memorable siege when Clement left Bologna at the end of May.  The last hero of the republic, Francesco Ferrucci, fell fighting at Gavignana on August 2.  Their general, Malatesta Baglioni, broke his faith with the citizens.  Finally, on August 12, the town capitulated.  Alessandro de’Medici, who had received the title of Duke of Florence from Charles at Bologna, took up his residence there in July, 1531, and held the State by help of Spanish mercenaries under the command of Alessandro Vitelli.  When he was murdered by his cousin in 1537, Cosimo de’Medici, the scion of another branch of the ruling family, was appointed Duke.  Charles V. recognized his title, and Cosimo soon showed that he was determined to be master in his own duchy.  He crushed the exiled party of Filippo Strozzi, who attempted a revolution of the State, exterminated its leaders, and contrived to rid himself of the powerful adherents who had placed him on the throne.  But he remained a subservient though not very willing ally of Spain; and when he expelled Alessandro Vitelli from the fortress that commanded Florence, he admitted a Spaniard, Don Juan de Luna, in his stead.  During the petty wars of 1552-56 which Henri II. carried on with Charles V. in Italy, Siena attempted to shake off the yoke of a Spanish garrison established there in 1547 under the command of Don Hurtado de Mendoza.  The citizens appealed to France, who sent them the great Marshal, Piero Strozzi, brother of Cosimo’s vanquished enemy Filippo.  Cosimo through these years supported the Spanish cause with troops and money, hoping to guide events in his own interest.  At length, by the aid of Gian Giacomo Medici, sprung from an obscure Milanese family, who had been trained in the Spanish methods of warfare, he succeeded in subduing Siena.  He now reaped the fruits of his Spanish policy.  In 1557 Philip II. conceded the Sienese territory, reserving only its forts, to the Duke of Florence, who in 1569 obtained the title of Grand Duke of Tuscany from Pope Pius V. This title was confirmed by the Empire in 1575 to his son Francesco.