Italy
The Papal States in the 15th Century
At the opening of the fifteenth century the Papal States consisted of not fewer than sixty-three papal vicariates. Boniface IX had made most of these subject to his authority, but this would not last. While the papal schism was ended in 1416, it was now Naples that was the source of disruption. As the fight over control of Naples (between Aragon and France) developed, powerful families were developing at Ferrara (the Este), Rimini (the Malatesta), and Urbino (the Montefeltro). To these must be added the Orsini at Rome itself, whose power extended all the way to Taranto, where one of the family ruled as its Prince. Moreover, the early 15th century saw the development of condotierri in the Papal States such as Braccio da Montone and Muzio Attendeolo Sforza. These generals became powers in their own right, as their loyalty or disloyalty could change the outcome of a war.
In 1416 one might seriously wonder if the Papal States would not dissolve altogether. Into these scene came Pope Martin V, elected in 1417. A member of the powerful Colonna family, he deserves much credit for being able to hold papal authority together and keep it from further deterioration. Disorder returned for a time with Pope Eugenius IV, to such an extent that he had to leave Rome in 1434, not to return until 1442. He was able to return only because of the support of one of the greatest of the Italian mercenaries, Francesco Sforza. This in turn meant that papal policy within the States was subordinated to the ambitions of Sforza. He used the Papal States as a base of operations for his actions in northern Italy.
This theme continued into the 1460s. No pope could even begin to impose order in the Papal States because powerful outside forces found numerous reasons to meddle, and the great princes of Urbino, Ferrara and Rimini found numerous reasons to participate in the meddling. The picture improved little over the balance of the century as Rome went through a series of popes who each were more concerned to use the papacy to further the interests of their own family than they were in any other programme. This included ruling the Papal States. If control of this or that town was important in the sense of granting a fief to a nephew, then a pope might pursue that course doggedly. If it were not important, the pope would happily grant whatever rights that lord wished (in exchange for money, naturally). In short, the Papal States had become a sort of hunting ground where the pope was simply one more of the hunters.
This context is important to keep in mind when we come to the invasion of Italy by King Charles VIII of France in 1494. The papacy was still intimately bound up with Naples, and was deeply entangled in Milan as well. The Papal States were little more than a necessary avenue to Naples, its princes little more than junior associates.