THE WESTER.l\J MEDITERRANEAl\' Kll\'CDOMS 1200-1!100Yet the price of friendship for Florence was open papal
enmity after years of tension beneath the surface; this break
culminated in 1482-84 in an ugly war between Naples, Flor-
ence and Milan on the one hand and Venice and the pap-
acy on the other over control of Ferrara, a territory that had
long been a focus of disagreement between the north Ital-
ian states. The conflict further generated discord within the
Neapolitan kingdom, resulting in the outbreak of a second
baronial revolt in 1485-86, directed in large measure against
royal attempts to rein in the power of the nobility.'' Duke
Alfonso of Calabria, the heir to the throne, was credited
with plans to break the power of the nobility by establishing
direct royal control over a great swathe of territory around
Naples. Ferrante and his son had broken with the policy of
King Alfonso, who had accepted the need to compromise
with baronial aspirations to local autonomy, partly so as to
raise funds for his ambitious adventures elsewhere in Italy and
the Mediterranean; Ferrante, whose resource base extended
no further than the shores of his Neapolitan kingdom, saw
in the development of the towns and the creation of new
alliances with the merchant elite an alternative support for
the crown's authority. Indeed, the experience of his first years
as king suggested that the barons could never be a reliable
source of political support. The barons looked in vain for a
new king; but Rene was dead and the French monarchy as
yet uninterested. Yet there were still Angevin shadows over
the Regno: the father of the new pope, Innocent VIII, had
actually fought for Rene of Anjou against the Aragonese;
Innocent now eagerly supported the rebels.'~ Ferrante had
been right that the stability of his own lands depended on
the wider stability of the Italian peninsula. It was the papacy
- C. Porzio, La congiura dei Baroni (various editions since 1586: Naples,
1964, Milan, 1965, Venosa, 1989, etc.). For external effects, see
Butters, 'Florence, Milan and the Barons' War (1485-1486)', pp.
281-308; H. Butters, 'Politics and diplomacv in late Quattrocento
Italy: the case of the Barons' War (1485-1486)', in P. Denley, C.
Elam, eds., Florence and Italy. Renaissance Studies in honour of Nicolai
Rumnstein (London, 1988), pp. 13-31; see also P.C. Clarke, The Sodnini
and the JWedici. Power and jwtronage in ftfiemth-cmtury Florence (Oxford,
1991). - E. Pontieri, Venezia e il wnflitto Ira Ferrante I d:4.ragona e Innocrnzo VIII
(Naples, 1969), reprinting material published in the Archivio storico
jm· le province napolPtane in 1966-67.