In 1536, Charles went to war with the French king Francis I for control of northern Italy (the Italian War of 1536–38). Charles asked Mary to raise money and conscripts from the Dutch provinces. In late March 1537, Mary declared a levy of 1.2 million guilders and an army of 30,000 conscripts along with munitions and artillery. Flanders would have to pay a third of the money (400,000 guilders); Ghent was asked to contribute 56,000. Ghent was already deep in debt due to fines imposed by its rulers in the previous century.