Hey everyone! I am writing a historical fiction novel that takes place in Siena, Italy. It starts in 1522 and spans several years. I haven't been able to find that much good information about the political and military field of that time, and was wondering if anyone knew of good books or sources that could give me some info about the 1520s and the war at that point? My book involves a legion of Elites (basically trained assassins and spies working for the Italian army), and I am needing to come up with missions for them (for spying as well as assassinations and other such things) that actually could have happened back then. Any ideas, or at least suggestions for locations/people involved?? I will also have several larger battles included in there (whole army movements and all that), as well as a direct confrontation with the king of France, and I want to be as accurate as I can. ANY information welcome, since I have only really been able to read what I've found online, which isn't much at all!! seems most articles basically skip over 1523 and 1524 except for the major battles. Thank you!
It's a pretty unknown subject. But a fascinating one.
One thing to bear in mind is that there is no such thing as "the Italian Army" at this stage in history. Or such a thing as "Italy" as a country. The north was divided in a ton of independent city-states, many of whom were republics. In the middle you had Rome and the Papal States, which as the name suggests were ruled by the Pope. And in the south you had the Kingdom of Naples, which also included most of the southern half of the peninsula. Much of the early fighting in the Italian Wars was over Naples, though the northern city-states also got heavily involved.
Siena was an independent republic at this time, but the Italian Wars and the battle of Marciano put an end to that in 1555. A bit after your period, but perhaps a suitably dramatic backdrop. You should definitely work in the rivalry between Florence and Siena. The de Medici family, who ruled Florence and would eventually destroy Siena, have all the makings of great villains.
There wasn't really any such thing as legions of military assassins and spies either, but what you DID have was the condottieri, independent mercenary-captains with private armies who did much of the fighting on all sides, often changing sides and exerting immense influence. (The name means "contractor," and that's what they were: military contractors.) Cool subjects to write about. They operated both on land and sea. Look into Andrea Doria sometimes, one of my favourite colourful characters of the period, albeit Genoese.
Anyway, books!
Thomas Arnold's The Renaissance at war should provide a very readable and not too difficult introduction to warfare in this period in general, which should prove helpful.
The Italian Wars 1494-1559: War, State and Society in Early Modern Europe should give you a lot of very solid information on the nitty-gritty details of the conflict. It has a lot of focus on all the battles and events that your online sources gloss over, though it's not as good on politics.
I also recommend finding some books on the politics of the day, as well as some on daily life, culture, etc, but I don't actually have a bibliography on that handy like I do on the military history. The links I gave you go to Worldcat, which should help you find nearby libraries that have the books in question. You can buy them too, but buying history books gets expensive fast.