In the spring of 1507, Maximilian I, King of the Romans, was getting ready to pass into Italy for the sake of being finally crowned emperor by the Pope and, in particular, of settling matters with Louis XII, King of France, over the Duchy of Milan, to which both monarchs claimed rights and which the French had seized in 1499. To that purpose, he asked the Venetians for leave to pass through their dominion and invited them to make an alliance with him against the French. Should they refuse his offer, he threatened to find an agreement with Louis at their expense. The French King, in turn, invoked the existing alliance with the Venetians, urged them to oppose the coming of Maximilian, and offered a new alliance and the assistance of all his forces. The Venetians thus found themselves in a very delicate position, as reflected in the debate below. On the one hand, they were afraid to deny Maximilian a passage because this entailed the risk of being the first to be attacked by him; on the other hand, they were reluctant to grant it because this would offend the French king. In which case, it would be dangerous not to declare themselves openly for the Emperor, for Louis would then be their bitter enemy and Maximilian, having obtained nothing more than free passage, would not be much obliged to them. The Venetian predicament can be better understood by looking at the broad picture.

Since the first French invasion of 1494, Venice had managed gradually to expand her dominions in Italy. In exchange for her support for the restoration of the King of Naples, overthrown by the French in 1495, Venice occupied a number of ports in Apulia, which were now claimed back by the Spanish, the new lords of Naples. In 1499, in cooperation with the French, the Venetians seized a portion of the Duchy of Milan – the city of Cremona and the Ghiaradadda (see the previous debate), only to realise how dangerous it was to have the French king as a neighbour.