The War of the Mantuan Succession (1628–1631) was a conflict related to the Thirty Years' War and was caused by the death in December 1627 of Vincenzo II, the last male heir in the direct line of the House of Gonzaga and the ruler of the duchies of Mantua and Montferrat. Those territories were key to control of the Spanish Road, an overland route that allowed Habsburg Spain to move recruits and supplies from Italy to their army in Flanders. The result was a proxy war between France, which supported the French-born Duke of Nevers, and Spain, which backed a distant cousin, the Duke of Guastalla.
Vincenco II, whose death in December 1627 sparked the war
French chief minister Cardinal Richelieu; the war ultimately proved a major foreign policy success for France
Siege of Casale Monferrato, 1630
Gonzalo Andrés Domingo Fernández de Córdoba was one of the main Spanish military leaders during the Eighty Years' War, Thirty Years' War, and the War of the Mantuan Succession.
Don Goncalo Fernandes de Cordva - Series: Equestrian Portraits of Generals in the Thirty Years War