The manuscript diary of the patrician Girolamo Priuli reveals the hidden background of one of the decisive events in the contest between Venice and the great European coalition of Cambrai. The defeat of Agnadello in May 1509 shattered the armies of the republic and threatened the metropolis itself with conquest. One after another the towns of the Veneto voluntarily opened their gates to the invaders, and finally, early in June, Padua fell to the Austrian emperor. Only five weeks after this culminating disaster, however, the Venetians recaptured the city by a sudden coup and so changed the course of the war. When the allies of Cambrai failed to regain Padua by a prolonged siege, the League broke up, and Venice could deal with each of its enemies in turn. By 1515, the republic was able to make peace with its dominions nearly intact.