During the late 15th Century reign of Charles VIII and Anne of Brittany, Chateau d’Amboise and Château de Plessis-lèz-Tours, their castles on the Loire river, were host to master manuscript illuminators, poets, and musicians.

It was also a time of territorial warfare. From the Loire Valley in 1494, Charles and his 25,000 man French Army marched through the Mont-Genevre Pass into Italy with the intention of claiming Naples. Supported by family lineage and an invitation from the Duke of Milan, Charles advanced across the Apennine Mountains to La Spezia, where his Army obtained 40 historically significant cannons that with long bronze barrels discharged iron balls capable of knocking down city walls. This narrative, which calls attention to the passage of the French Army through the Apennines, does not continue to follow King Charles in his terrifying artillery--driven conquest of Florence and Naples. Victory was short lived, and in Charles' hasty retreat, the Apennines were again host to the unwelcome French Army.

Charles died a few years later in an accident on his way to a tennis match. During her marriage to his successor Louis XII, Anne of Brittany commissioned Les Grandes Heures d'Anne de Bretagne, an extraordinary book of hours, illuminated by master miniaturist, Jean Bourdichon.

Meanwhile, her new husband probably passed through the Apennines when he invaded Italy, conquered Milan, and in 1501 was crowned King of Naples -- until three years later Spanish military forces compelled his withdrawal.