How did the fact that other countries in Europe had strong rulers affect Italy's fate? Compare and contrast the king of Spain's treatment of Italy with that of the king of France.

Because Italy was mostly divided into strong and independent city states it had a very special status throughout the renaissance period. The individual city states were able to conduct trade with other nations independently of each other. Here, different kings had different notions on how their relationship with Italy should be; which was best seen exactly in the way how the king of Spain and king of France treated the city states and Italy as a whole.