As during the War of the League of Cambrai, the fortified city-state of Mirandola had again allied with France. Like his predecessor Julius II had made in 1510, pope Julius III in 1551 sent against it an army under generals Camillo Orsini and Alessandro Vitelleschi, along with his nephew, Giovanni Battista del Monte, who later proved an inept of military matters. Despite the alliance with the Spanish emperor Charles V and his imperial support, the siege dragged on for months due to rivalry between the papal commanders. Differently from the 1510 siege, the ditches did not get iced, and sallies from besieged knights hampered communications between the four forts built by the besiegers around the citadel.