Ferrante Gonzaga e Charles Cossé de Brissac. Denaro 'reputatione' e strategia di logoramento nella guerra franco-asburgica per il Piemonte (1551-1554)

This essay is focused on the struggle for supremacy in Piedmont between 1536 and 1559: the military competition between two of the most famous and highly-regarded generals of the time, Ferrante Gonzaga and Charles Cossé de Brissac, works as the most useful instrument to understand linkages between modern warfare and European renaissance society. As chief commanders respectively of the Imperial and French army, the two officers' aim was first to collect the indispensable resources and save them in order to resist an enduring war of attrition. This evidence forces any to consider them much more than battle-winners. They were also skilful politicians. They were able to link to their cause all the subjects (cities, nobles and bankers) able to contribute to the military effort. That was a consequence of the structural incapacity of the newly-born European States to deal with modern warfare in a centralized manner, because of the lack of resources.