[1] In the early years of the 16th Century, the leading powers of Europe including the Holy Roman Empire, Spain, and France all had an interest in the territories that today constitute Italy.

[2] For Pope Julius II, the leader of the Roman Catholic Church and the ruler of the Papal States, the presence of foreign powers in Italy represented a significant problem as he planned to make the Papacy the arbiter of the Italian Wars.

[a] Another issue, and more immediate after the occupation in Romagna of Rimini, Faenza, and Cervia, was the dominance of Venice: Julius felt that the Papal States could prosper as a buffer between two foreign powers if it could grow and maintain its possessions in central Italy.

[4] As a result, on 25 March 1509, Julius joined the leading European powers in the League of Cambrai which had as its expressed purpose the partition of the possessions of the Republic of Venice.

When that did not work, Julius let the Venetian military revitalize and supplemented that force by entering into a five-year alliance with the Swiss guard mercenaries.

In response, Chaumont, the Grand Master of Milan, marched a French force in October toward Bologna, the northern headquarters of the Papal States.

In addition to his failure to secure Ferrara, other affairs for Julius would not go well in early 1511 as the French attacked and captured Bologna on 23 May 1511 and retook Mirandola a few days later.