The
War of the Mantuan Succession (1628–31) was a peripheral part of the
Thirty Years' War. Its
casus belli was the extinction of the direct male line of the
House of Gonzaga in December 1627. Brothers
Francesco IV (1612),
Ferdinando (1612–26) and
Vincenzo II (1626–27), the last three dukes of
Mantua from the direct line, had all died leaving no legitimate heirs. The war, fought among the backers of rival claimants, pitted France against the
Habsburgs in a contest for control of northern Italy.