READING HALL

THE DOORS OF WISDOM

A HISTORY OF MODERN EUROPE : A.D. 1453-1900

CHAPTER VII

FROM THE LEAGUE OF CAMBRAY IN 1508 TO THE DEATH OF JULIUS II IN 1513

When the Venetians were at length tardily convinced of the reality of the League of Cambray, they endeavored to detach some of the members from it; but in this they were unsuccessful, as well as in their attempts to obtain assistance from England and the Ottoman Porte. Their own resources, however, enabled them to assemble a considerable army on the banks of the Oglio, consisting of about 30,000 foot and 12,000 horse, under two Orsini; the veteran Count Pitigliano, with Alviano, a bastard of the same house, as second in command; with whom were joined Andrew Gritti and George Cornaro, as proveditori. In the spring Louis had dispatched a herald to declare war against the Venetians, and about the same time, Julius launched against them a bull of excommunication, filled with the bitterest reproaches; to which the Venetians replied by a manifesto equally abusive, and, as usual, they appealed from the Pope to the expected General Council.

In April Louis passed the Alps at the head of an army somewhat inferior in force to that of the Venetians. He had crossed the Adda, and was marching along its banks, when, at a bend of the river, the hostile armies suddenly found themselves in presence. A battle ensued, May 14th 1509, which has been called by the French the Battle of Agnadello, and by the Italians, the Battle of Vaila, or of the Ghiara d'Adda. On this day the French van was led by Chaumont d'Amboise and Marshal Jacob Trivulzio; Louis himself commanded the main body, while La Palisse and the Duke of Longueville brought up the rear-guard. The Venetian army was also on the march, and Pitigliano, whom the senate had ordered to avoid a battle, had passed with the van to the spot where the encounter took place. Alviano, with his division, had therefore to sustain the whole shock of battle: and though he made a brave resistance, his troops were cut down or dispersed, and he himself made prisoner. This victory enabled Louis to take possession of the whole of the Ghiara d'Adda. Crema was sold to him by the treacherous Venetian governor, Concino Benzone; Cremona, Bergamo, and Brescia also opened their gates. Peschiara, one of the few places that resisted, was taken by assault; when Louis, with an inhumanity which does not seem to belong to his character, caused its brave defender, Andrew de Riva, and his son, to be hanged from the battlements, and the garrison to be put to the sword.

Louis had now achieved the conquest of all the territory assigned to him by the Treaty of Cambray—namely, as far as the Mincio; he therefore halted his victorious army, and left the emperor to achieve his part by reducing the places east of that boundary. He delivered to Maximilian’s ambassador the keys of Verona, Vicenza, and Padua, which the inhabitants had sent to him in token of their submission; and after making a triumphant entry into Milan, he dismissed a great part of his army, and returned into France. Meanwhile, the papal army, under the command of Francis Maria della Rovere, a nephew of the Pope, had entered Romagna, all the towns of which, except Ravenna, were soon reduced. Alfonso d'Este, Duke of Ferrara, and the Marquis of Mantua, who had also joined the League, had succeeded in capturing several places. Although Ferdinand of Spain had ratified the Treaty of Cambray, he had no intention of carrying it out, beyond the recovery of his Neapolitan towns. Before the commencement of hostilities he had assured the Venetians that he had only entered into that part of the Treaty which related to the Turks; that he was ignorant of Louis's motives in attacking them, and that he would use for them his good offices with that monarch. He took, at first, no part in the war in Upper Italy, but he sent a body of Spaniards to lay siege to Trani. It was late before the Emperor Maximilian appeared in the field. While the King of France was gathering his forces, he had assembled a diet at Worms, to whom he submitted the plan of the League, and demanded their support. This, however, was not only refused by the diet, but they even accompanied their refusal with reproaches and complaints. Maximilian retorted with truth and vigor, though without effect, in a celebrated apology; and he found himself compelled to resort to his hereditary dominions in order to levy an army. It was not till three weeks after the battle of Agnadello that he appeared at Trent, with one thousand horse, and eight companies of infantry, for he had been delayed in raising even this small force, till he had received some money which he had borrowed from the King of England, and from his other allies; and he was further detained in Trent till he should receive some auxiliaries raised by his daughter Margaret.

After the defeat of Agnadello, the situation of Venice seemed desperate. A great part of the remnant of her army under Pitigliano had dispersed; the rest, almost in a state of revolt, had retired to Mestre, on the Lagoon. It was under these circumstances that the Venetians issued the celebrated decree, by which they released all their Italian subjects from their allegiance; and thus, by an act by some attributed to fear and despair, by others to a refined and subtle policy, stripped themselves of what their enemies were seeking, and reduced their empire to the islands which had been its cradle. They also abandoned to Ferdinand the seaport towns which they held in Apulia, and sent ambassadors to make the most humble submissions to the Pope and to the Emperor. 

Julius at first received the ambassadors with haughtiness, and prescribed some very insulting conditions; though, at the same time, he held out the hope that he would not be inexorable. Antonio Giustiniani, the ambassador dispatched by the proud aristocracy of Venice to Maximilian, is represented by some authors as making on his knees a most humiliating address to the Emperor; and he is said to have carried with him a carte blanche, on which Maximilian might write his own conditions. It is, at all events, certain that Venice made very humble submissions, and even offered to pay the Emperor and his successors a yearly tribute of 500 pounds of gold; but Maximilian, whose chivalrous and romantic temper had been charmed by the magnanimity of Louis, in abstaining from all encroachment on his possessions, had resolved to adhere to the French alliance; and he had even burnt his Red Book, in which were recorded all the injuries that he had ever received from France. He was not yet, however, in a position even to occupy the towns that had voluntarily surrendered, except with very inadequate forces; for Padua itself, though, from its vicinity to Venice, the most exposed to danger, he could spare only about 800 German troops. The lower classes in that city were favorably disposed towards the Venetians, who, encouraged by the absence of the French army, and by the apparent weakness of the Emperor, permitted Andrew Gritti to retake Padua, which he captured by surprise, July 17th, 1509; upon which, all the surrounding territory declared in favor of the Venetians. This was the first symptom that Venice was beginning to revive, and it was followed by a few more successes.

The peasants of North Italy, ruined and incensed by the ravages of the French and Germans, supplied numerous willing recruits to her army, whose ranks were also swelled by the garrisons recalled from the towns in Romagna and Apulia, which had been abandoned to the Pope and the King of Aragon, as well as by the enlistment of fresh Albanians and Dalmatians; and Pitigliano thus again found himself at the head of a very considerable force. On the other hand, Maximilian’s troops were also at last beginning to assemble on the frontier. The loss of Padua made him reflect with shame on his inactivity, and he resolved to wipe out the disgrace by recovering that city. His generals, Rodolph of Anhalt, the Duke of Brunswick, and Christopher Frangipani, a Hungarian, marched into the Friuli and Istria, where they took several places. In the war in these districts the Germans are said to have committed the most horrible cruelties, and to have hunted out with dogs the women and children who had hidden themselves in the cornfields.

Maximilian, after ravaging the country round Padua, established his head-quarters before the gate of Portello, September 10th 1509. The Venetians, sensible of the importance of Padua, had thrown their whole army into that place. At the instance of the Doge, Leonard Loredano, two of his sons, followed by 100 foot soldiers, raised at their own expense, joined the garrison and this animating example was followed by 166 nobles, each with a train proportioned to his means; though, by the customs of Venice, those of gentle blood served only in the fleet. Thither, also, resorted all the peasants of the surrounding district, with their herds and flocks; and that vast but deserted city received, without inconvenience, within its walls, a multitude amounting to five times its usual population.

Maximilian’s army consisted of some 40,000 men, with 200 guns—a larger force than had for centuries been employed in any siege. All the parties to the League of Cambray were represented there by at least a small body of troops, which consisted of Germans, Italians, Spaniards, and French; but of the last there were only 500 lances, under La Palisse, and 200 gentlemen volunteers. During this siege, Maximilian gave signal proofs of bravery, activity, and intelligence; he was constantly present at the post of danger, and displayed all those military qualities which made him beloved by his soldiery. Practicable breaches were soon made in the walls, and two assaults were delivered, but repulsed. In the last, the Imperialists had succeeded in establishing themselves on the bastion: but at this moment the Venetians blew up the works, which they had undermined; a great part of the victors were hurled into the air, and the remainder, in this moment of consternation, were charged by the Venetians, and driven from every post.

Staggered by this obstinate defense, and foreseeing that he should soon be without the means to pay or feed his army, Maximilian now proposed to La Palisse that before the breach could be repaired by the garrison, the French gendarmerie should dismount, and, with the German lansquenets, try the fortune of another assault. But the Chevalier Bayard declared that, however poor he might be, he was still a gentleman, and would not degrade himself by fighting on foot with lansquenets; and this feeling was shared by La Palisse and the rest of the French knights. They offered, however, if the German nobles would dismount, to show them the way to the breach; but this was declined, on the ground of its being derogatory to gentlemen to fight except on horseback. Maximilian, whose patience was soon exhausted, now hastily quitted the camp, and instructed his lieutenants to raise the siege (Oct. 3rd); and a few days after he dismissed the greater part of his army. The Venetians now speedily recovered Vicenza, Bassano, Feltre, Cividale, Monselice, the Polesine of Rovigo, and other places; and they attempted to punish the Duke of Ferrara for the part he had taken against them; but the fleet which they fitted out on the Po for that purpose, was almost destroyed by Alphonso’s artillery.

THE POPE PARDONS THE VENETIANS. 

Early in 1510, the Venetians effected a reconciliation with Pope Julius II, whose jealousy of Louis had been recently increased by a quarrel respecting the investiture of a new bishop of Avignon. Julius had also conceived a supreme contempt for the Emperor, from his poverty and ill-concerted enterprises; and he was alarmed by Maximilian’s offer to place Verona in the hands of Louis, for a loan of 50,000 ducats. The Pope had never desired the success of the League of Cambray, except so far as his own interests were concerned; and as the Venetians had ordered the governor of Ravenna to admit the papal troops, and had instructed their Doge to address a humble letter to Julius, he began to listen to their protestations of repentance. He admitted their envoys to an audience (Feb. 24th), and in spite of the remonstrances of the French and imperial ambassadors, removed the interdict which he had fulminated against Venice. The ecclesiastical punishments imposed by the worldly pontiff were but light. The only penitence enjoined was that the Venetian deputies should pay a visit to the seven magnificent Basilica of Rome; and the strokes of the rod, usually inflicted by the Pope and cardinals on the excommunicated, during the reading of the Miserere, were in this instance omitted from the ceremony of absolution. On the other hand, the Venetians were required no longer to dispose of ecclesiastical benefices, except such as were subject to lay patronage; to refer all cases relating to ecclesiastical jurisdiction to Rome; to forbear from exacting any contributions from the property of the Church; and to renounce all pretension to the territory of the Holy See. But the two articles most reluctantly conceded by that haughty republic were, the renunciation of their right to have a vidôme at Ferrara, and the allowing to the Pope’s subjects the free navigation of the Adriatic.

All the objects of the Pope in organizing the League of Cambray were now accomplished: the Venetians had been humbled, the towns claimed by the Holy See wrested from them, and Julius was at liberty to apply himself to the second and more arduous project, formed by his enterprising mind—that of driving all foreigners from Italy. Of these foreigners the King of France was the most powerful and the most dreaded, and it was against him that the Pope’s machinations were first directed. Without reflecting on the dangers which might arise from the Spanish dominion in Naples, and that it was for the interest of Central Italy to balance one foreign domination against the other, he formed the plan of making one the instrument for the other's expulsion. He therefore endeavored to bring about a peace between the Emperor and the Venetians, and to detach the Duke of Ferrara from the League; and in order to embarrass Louis in his foreign relations, he attempted to incite England, as well as the Swiss, against him. But of these four projects only the last succeeded. Neither Maximilian nor Alphonso d'Este was prepared to renounce the alliance of Louis; and even the youthful Henry VIII, who had succeeded to the throne of England, on the death of his father, April 21st 1509, at first resisted all the blandishments of Julius. The vanity of Henry, who pretended to be at once a theologian and a warrior, was, indeed, flattered when Pope Julius seemed to constitute him the arbiter of the disputes arising out of the League of Cambray. The Pope and his clergy succeeded in making him believe that peace had been granted to the Venetians chiefly through his intercession; and at Easter, 1510, Julius sent him the golden rose, which the Holy See annually presents to the sovereign on whose assistance she most relies. But Henry adhered to the counsels of his dying father. In March 1510 he had confirmed the treaty of Naples with Louis XII; he had previously renewed the alliance with the Emperor; and in May he concluded a defensive treaty with Ferdinand of Aragon.

JULIUS II GAINS THE SWISS

Julius was successful only in his negotiations with the Swiss, with whom Louis had imprudently quarreled. The Swiss had sent the French king an insolent message, ascribing all his late victories to their assistance, and demanding an increase of the yearly payment; and he had returned a haughty answer to these, as he termed them, “wretched mountaineers”. This disposed the Swiss to listen to the Pope’s agent, Matthew Schinner, Bishop of Sion, or Sitten, in the Valais, a man of low origin, but considerable learning, who was a determined enemy of the French, and had long directed his sermons with considerable success against the practice of foreign enlistment. Julius, when he heard of the French king’s quarrel with the Swiss, summoned Schinner to Rome, who, dazzled with the prospect of a cardinal's hat, which was actually conferred upon him in the following year, seemed to forget all his former scruples on the subject of mercenary service. Provided with a considerable sum of money, as well as large bundles of indulgences, the Bishop of Sion, after his return, easily persuaded his countrymen to enter into an alliance with the Pope for a term of five years. They engaged not to form any connection that might be prejudicial to Rome, to oppose all the Pope's enemies, and to supply him with 6000 or more chosen troops whenever they might be wanted; and Julius promised in return an equivalent payment and his spiritual protection. This was a great victory. The Swiss, formerly the instruments of transmontane violence, were now converted into soldiers of the Holy See, and champions of Italian independence.

The death of the Cardinal d'Amboise, who expired May 25th 1510, was another event favorable to the Pope. D'Amboise was the first of those cardinals who, uniting with that dignity the office of prime minister, have played so great a part in the history of the French monarchy; for though Cardinals Balue and Briçonnet had been members of the council, they did not enjoy the high post and influence of D'Amboise; and as he united with that post the power of papal legate, which the court of Rome was afraid to withdraw from him, he exercised an almost absolute authority over the church in France and Northern Italy. “God be praised”, exclaimed Julius, when he heard of his former rival’s death, “at length I am the only Pope!” Though D'Amboise had been the principal agent in the ill-considered policy of France with regard to Italy, his death did not appease the Pope’s jealousy of the French court, while it deprived Louis of a minister whose zeal and energy could not be replaced. Julius now redoubled his intrigues against Louis, and in particular he sought to form a closer connection with Ferdinand of Aragon. In order to bind that monarch to his interests, the Pope at length granted him the long-withheld investiture of Naples (July 3rd 1510), besides releasing him from that part of his marriage contract with Germaine de Foix, by which half Naples was to revert to the French crown, in case his consort should die without issue. The Pontiff soon after remitted the feudal services due for Naples for the annual tribute of a white palfrey, and the aid of 300 lances, in case the States of the Church should be invaded. By these means he assured the neutrality of Ferdinand, if not his immediate cooperation.

The intractability of the Duke of Ferrara, before adverted to, was the immediate cause, or at all events the pretext, for an open breach between the Pope and the King of France. Alphonso was the only feudatory of the Church whom Julius had spared; he had interfered for him with the Venetians, had prevented them from attacking him during the winter, and had procured for him the restoration of the town of Comacchio. On all these grounds, Julius considered himself entitled to the gratitude of the Duke; and his anger therefore was extreme when he found that Alphonso was implicitly guided by the counsels of Louis. As this conduct, however, could not be made any just cause of quarrel, Julius sought to create one. He forbade the Duke to manufacture salt at Comacchio, to the detriment of the pontifical salt works at Cervia; he demanded the surrender of those castles in Romagna which Lucretia Borgia had brought to Alphonso as part of her dowry, and which he contended were the property of the Holy See; and he also required that the impost paid by Ferrara should be increased from 100 florins to 4000 annually. These unjust demands were resisted by Alphonso. Louis XII, who wished to preserve his influence in Ferrara, without breaking altogether with the haughty and violent pontiff, had some months been attempting to effect a reconciliation between Julius and Alphonso, when suddenly the Pope dismissed the ambassadors of Louis, as well as those of the Duke, and called upon Alphonso to renounce his adherence to France (July 1510).

At this time the allied French and Imperial army had penetrated as far as Monselice; for while the Pope was hatching these intrigues, Louis and the Emperor were carrying on the war in Northern Italy, though without much vigor. Yet the diet summoned by Maximilian to meet at Augsburg in the spring had proved more than usually compliant. The Pope’s nuncios who appeared at that assembly made great efforts to reconcile Maximilian with the Venetians, and endeavored to inspire the States with a mistrust of the unnatural alliance between the Emperor and France; but their representations were so successfully combated by Hélian, Louis’ envoy, that the nuncios were even dismissed from Augsburg, and a considerable supply voted to Maximilian. At this diet were renewed the Gravamina, or complaints of the German nation against the Papal See, which since the Council of Constance had been so often brought forward.

The Emperor’s inimical relation to the Pope at this period inclined him to listen to these representations; and he appears even to have sent to France for a copy of the Pragmatic Sanction, with a view to draw up some similar regulations for the protection of Germany against papal oppression—a step, however, which led to no practical result. Maximilian’s temper, at once hasty and procrastinating, and his love of show and magnificence, led him to fritter away the funds at his disposal for the conduct of the war. His want of means to maintain Verona in an efficient state of defense had led him to pledge that city to the French for 60,000 ducats; yet the chronicles represent him as spending at this very time enormous sums at Augsburg in hunting parties, balls, banquets, and masquerades; and he is said to have appeared at a tourney with the Elector Frederic of Saxony, in a suit of armor worth 200,000 florins.

In the month of April, however, he dispatched 1000 horse and 8000 foot, under the command of the Prince of Anhalt, to Verona, where they were soon joined by Chaumont d'Amboise, Viceroy of Milan, and John James Trivulzio, with 1500 lances, 3000 light cavalry, 10,000 infantry, and a large train of artillery. The Duke of Ferrara also came to the aid of the allies with a considerable force. Offensive operations were now resumed against Venice, under the Prince of Anhalt, as Commander-in-chief. The death of the Count of Pitigliano, in the preceding February, had deprived the Republic of an experienced and skillful commander, and his place had been supplied by John Paul Baglione of Perugia. The Venetian army, which consisted of only 800 men-at-arms, 4000 light horse and Stradiots, and 8000 foot, not being strong enough to oppose the advance of the allied French and imperial army, retired to a strong position between the rivers Brenta, Brentella, and Bacchiglione. Vicenza was thus exposed to the fury of the allies, the German portion of whom were enraged by its revolt in the preceding autumn; and when the citizens sent to deprecate the wrath of the Prince of Anhalt, he at once told them that he meant to make them a memorable example of the punishment due to rebellion. The citizens balked the fury and cupidity of the Germans by transporting their women and children, as well as the most valuable part of their property, to Padua, whither also they retired themselves on the approach of the enemy; but a portion of them, together with the peasantry of the surrounding country, were not so fortunate. These unhappy people, to the number of 6000, had taken refuge in a vast cavern in the mountains of Vicenza, called the Grotto of Masano, or Longara; and L'Hérisson, a captain of French adventurers, finding it impossible to force a passage through the narrow, dark, and tortuous entrance of the cave, filled the opening with faggots, which he set on fire, and thus smothered all who were within! One young man alone escaped, who, by being placed near a crevice in the rock, had obtained a scanty supply of air!

THE DUKE OF FERRARA EXCOMMUNICATED. 

From Vicenza the allies proceeded to take Porto Legnano, a place deemed almost impregnable, whence, after almost cutting to pieces the Turco-Venetian cavalry, they laid siege, as before said, to Monselice. That place yielded to the Imperial arms, after an obstinate resistance; but this was the term of the success of the allies, for the plots of Julius were now ready to explode. While they were engaged in this siege, the Pope declared war against the Duke of Ferrara, a papal army under Julius's nephew, the Duke of Urbino, invaded Alphonso’s territories, and took Massa de Lombardi, Bagnacavallo, Lugo, and other places, including Modena, which the Duke of Ferrara held as a fief of the empire. The Pope excommunicated Alphonso, August 9th, denouncing him in the most dreadful terms as a son of perdition, releasing his subjects from their allegiance, and his soldiers from their oath of fidelity; at the same time a papal fleet and army attacked Genoa, while a large body of Swiss in the Pope’s pay threatened Milan, and compelled Chaumont to hasten to its defense.

Deprived of the support of Chaumont and Alphonso, the German army was no longer able to make head against the Venetians. Maximilian had neither appeared in person, nor had he remitted the necessary funds for the pay of the troops, whose ranks were consequently thinned by desertion, while they compensated themselves for their arrears and short commons by plundering. Verona was pillaged thrice in one week. The Germans now began to retreat, followed closely by the Venetians, who recovered, one after another, Vicenza, Asolo, Marostica, the Polesine of Rovigo, and other places; but failed in an attempt upon Verona.

The designs of Julius against the French, though well-conceived, were not attended with success. The attempt to excite a rebellion against them in Genoa, and to assist it with the papal and Venetian arms, proved a failure. A papal army, under Mark Antony Colonna, crossed the Magra, occupied Spezia, and advanced towards Genoa, and at the same time a Venetian squadron, after taking Sestri and Chiavaro, appeared off the port. But the call to liberty met with no response from the Genoese, and both fleet and army were obliged to retire. The invasion of the Milanese by the Swiss was equally unsuccessful. A large body of them, indeed, entered that duchy early in September, by Bellinzona; but unprovided with cavalry, artillery, or pontoons for passing the numerous rivers, and being harassed by the gens-d’armes and light infantry of Chaumont, they suddenly returned into their own country, without having taken one place, or fought a single battle.

COUNCIL OF TOURS. TREATY OF BLOIS.

Louis XII was much embarrassed by the attitude assumed by the Pope towards the Duke of Ferrara, whom Louis was bound by treaty to protect; yet being naturally scrupulous in matters of religion, he hesitated to levy open war on Christ's vicar upon earth. These scruples were increased by his consort, Anne of Brittany, whose superstitious terror deprecated, with tears and entreaties, all hostilities against the holy father; and D'Amboise was no longer there to fortify the King with his energy and decision. Louis recollected, however, his late minister’s project of an ecclesiastical council, and he resolved to relieve himself of his perplexity by assembling the French clergy, and submitting the case to their decision. A national council was accordingly assembled at Tours early in September (1510), the majority of whom declared the King justified in making war upon the Pope in defense of himself and his allies, and pronounced, beforehand, all papal censures that might be fulminated in consequence to be null and void. The council further decided that the Pope should be required to put an end to the hostilities which he had commenced, and to call a general council in conformity with the decrees of the Council of Basle; and in case he should refuse to summon such a council, the Emperor and other Christian princes were to be requested to take the work in hand. Thus the Gallicanism which D'Amboise had fostered in the French church was still alive. Matthew Lang, bishop of Gurk, Maximilian’s secretary, who arrived at Tours towards the close of the council, approved of all their resolutions, and promised to send a deputation of German bishops to Lyon, in which city the council was to reassemble by adjournment, March 1st 1511. Lang, however, was not in earnest about a reformation of the Church; all he wanted was the assistance of the French to recover certain portions of Northern Italy; and with this view, a fresh treaty was concluded at Blois, between Maximilian and Louis, November 17th 1510, by which the Emperor engaged to enter Italy in the ensuing spring, with an army of 3000 horse and 10,000 foot, while Louis was to assist him with a subsidy of 100,000 ducats, and a force of 1200 lances and 8000 infantry.

The failure of the attempts upon Genoa, and of the Swiss invasion, had only served to inflame the ardor of Julius II; and being still further irritated by the Council of Tours, he haughtily rejected all the propositions of France for a separate peace, although Louis, still moved apparently by a superstitious compunction, plainly intimated that he would be willing to abandon the Duke of Ferrara. Julius was resolved, with the assistance of the Venetians to reduce the Duke of Ferrara under direct obedience to the Church; and, with this view, having dispatched his army to the banks of the Po, he himself entered Bologna with his court, towards the end of September. Here he fell dangerously ill, and while he lay upon a sick bed, he very narrowly escaped being carried off by the French. Chaumont, at the instigation of the Bentivoglios, who represented to him the weakness of the papal force at Bologna, advanced by a rapid march to within a few miles of that city (Oct. 12), and there was nothing apparently to prevent him from entering it on the morrow. In this desperate conjuncture, Julius alone preserved his presence of mind. His cardinals and court were in an agony of terror, the people of Bologna declined to take up arms in the Pope’s defense, and even the Imperial, Spanish, and English ambassadors pressed him to enter into negotiations with Chaumont. Julius outwardly complied, and selected as his negotiator Gian Francesco Pico, Count of Mirandola. But the Pope only intended to amuse Chaumont. He knew that the Venetian army was advancing towards Bologna, and that he might hourly expect 300 men-at-arms, whom Ferdinand was bound to furnish as feudatory of Naples. To quicken the Venetians, he dispatched a message to their camp at Stellata, that if he did not receive reinforcements before the following evening, he should make peace with the French. This had the desired effect. By the evening of October 13th, 600 light horse, and a corps of Turkish cavalry, in the service of Venice, had entered Bologna, while a body of Stradiots and the expected Spanish contingents were just at hand. Thus was presented the singular spectacle of a Pope defended by a body of Infidels from the arms of the most Christian King! Julius now changed his tone; Chaumont, finding himself the weaker party, slowly withdrew his army; while the vexation of Julius, that his generals had not pursued and destroyed it, occasioned such a paroxysm of his disorder that his life was despaired of.

THE POPE BESIEGES MIRANDOLA. 

Julius had not yet recovered, when, amidst the snows and ice of a rigorous winter, he resolved on besieging Mirandola in person. This fortress and Concordia formed the principality of the family of the Pichi. Count Luigi Pico of Mirandola had married a daughter of Marshal Trivulzio, who being left a widow, had placed her residence in the hands of the French; whilst the Count Gian Francesco, who also claimed the inheritance, was entirely devoted to the Pope. The progress of his army was too slow for the impatient Julius. Concordia was not taken till the middle of December; his troops were four days before Mirandola without firing a shot. The fiery Pope accused his generals, including his own nephew, the Duke of Urbino, either of incapacity or perfidy, and, accompanied by three cardinals, he caused himself to be carried in a litter to the camp of the besieging army; where he took up his residence in the cottage of a peasant, within range of the enemy’s artillery, and employed himself in directing the works, placing his guns in battery, and hastening their fire. Armed with cuirass and helmet, he constantly showed himself on horseback to his troops, animating them with the hopes of plunder, and sharing all the counsels, fatigues, and dangers of the siege. In one of the excursions which he was accustomed to make in the neighborhood, he was near falling into the hands of Bayard, who had laid an ambuscade for him; and he with difficulty escaped into the castle of San Felice by jumping out of his litter, and helping to raise the drawbridge with his own hand. At length, a practicable breach having been made in the walls of Mirandola, which a hard frost enabled the besiegers to approach by crossing the moat on the ice, the garrison were forced to capitulate, Jan. 20th 1511.

There had been some difficulty to dissuade the Pope from sacking the place, which, too impatient to wait till the gates were opened, he entered by a ladder at the breach. After the capture of Mirandola, Julius and the Venetians again directed their whole attention towards Ferrara, and they attempted to take the castle of La Bastia, on the Lower Po, in order to deprive the city of its supply of provisions; but their army was surprised by Duke Alphonso, according to a plan suggested to him by Bayard, and they suffered such severe loss that they were compelled to abandon the siege of Ferrara.

CONGRESS AT BOLOGNA

The death of Chaumont d'Amboise, the French commander (Feb. 11th 1511), who was succeeded by Marshal Trivulzio, allowed a short interval of repose, which was employed in negotiations. Resentment against the Venetians had induced Maximilian to adhere to the French alliance with a constancy quite foreign to his character, and he warmly adopted all Louis's projects against the Pope, and for a reform of the Church in head and members. In a circular addressed to the German States he had denounced, in language which might almost have become a future disciple of Luther, the troubles and disorders occasioned by the papal government; he complained of the enormous sums continually extorted by the See of Rome from Germany, which, instead of being employed in the service of God, were perverted to the purposes of luxury and ambition; and he concluded by declaring his intention to call a general council, as the only permanent and effectual remedy for these abuses: but a synod of German bishops, whom he assembled at Augsburg, proved less compliant than the French prelates, and they firmly resisted the proposal for a general council, as calculated to produce a schism in the Church. This opposition induced the Emperor to listen to the King of Aragon, who persuaded him to secure the conquests he had already made in Italy, and perhaps also his further claims, by a treaty of peace. Maximilian accordingly commissioned his secretary, the Bishop of Gurk, to open a congress at Mantua, to which the Pope, the Kings of France and Aragon, and the Venetians were invited to send ambassadors. The Emperor could not have entrusted his affairs to worse hands than those of his secretary, whose pride and arrogance totally disqualified him for a diplomatist. It was with difficulty that the Spanish ambassador could persuade him to pay a visit to Julius, who was now at Ravenna; a mark of deference and respect which the Pontiff might naturally expect from a bishop sent to negotiate with him. Julius himself, however, bent on gaining the imperial plenipotentiary, stood not on etiquette, but met the bishop half-way, at Bologna. It was plain from the first that Julius entered into these negotiations with no sincere desire of a peace with France, but merely with a view to detach Maximilian from his alliance with that country. Before he left Ferrara he created eight cardinals, including Matthew Schinner, telling the Sacred College that he reserved a ninth in pectore; a bait plainly held out for the Bishop of Gurk. But the haughtiness of that prelate stood in his own way as well as his master’s. Having assumed the title of lieutenant of the Emperor, Lang entered Bologna with an almost imperial magnificence: at the Pope’s reception he insolently required that the Venetian ambassador, as the enemy of his master, should retire from the audience chamber; and he afterwards declared in full Consistory that he would treat on no other conditions than the relinquishment by the Venetians of all they had ever usurped from the Austrian domains or the territories of the empire. He refused to transact business with anybody but the Pope himself; and when Julius once deputed three cardinals to confer with him, he appointed three of his gentlemen to meet them. Nothing but hatred of the French could have induced the haughty Pontiff to submit to the insolence of the imperial envoy. With regard to the objects of the congress, nothing could be effected. Louis XII, though he sent the Bishop of Paris to Bologna as his ambassador, had from the first regarded the assembly as a mere snare; and the only feeling with which it inspired him was alarm at this symptom of defection in Maximilian. It was soon evident that neither the differences between the Emperor and Venice, nor those between the Pope, the King of France, and the Duke of Ferrara were yet capable of peaceable adjustment; and after a stormy interview with Julius, the Bishop of Gurk suddenly quitted Bologna, April 25th 1511.

Upon the failure of the congress hostilities were resumed. Trivulzio, now Viceroy of Milan, had in his army two young captains, who afterwards acquired great renown: Gaston de Foix, Duke of Nemours, nephew to Louis XII by his sister Mary of Orleans; and George von Frunsberg, a German knight, who had joined the French with 2500 lansquenets. At the first movements of Trivulzio, Julius II was seized with an unaccountable panic; and after a formal rhetorical address to the Bolognese senate, in which he recommended them to provide for their own safety, he hastily set off for Ravenna, leaving Francesco Alidosio, Cardinal of Pavia, in command at Bologna, with the title of Legate. But the Cardinal himself, alarmed at the insubordination displayed by the Bolognese, fled a few days afterwards in all haste to Imola; and when his flight was known, the citizens admitted the Bentivoglios, whom Trivulzio had sent forwards with 100 French lances (May 22nd). The Duke of Urbino, who was encamped with his army under the walls of Bologna, no sooner heard of the Legate's flight, and the insurrection of the citizens, than he also was panic-stricken, and though the night was far advanced, gave the signal for retreat, which soon became a disorderly flight. The papal army was set upon both by the citizens and the peasants from the mountains; while the French gens d’armes joined in the pursuit, and captured without a blow so large a number of beasts of burthen, that they gave this rout the name of the Journée des âniers, or battle of the ass-drivers. The papal army lost its standard, besides a great many other colors, and twenty-six pieces of cannon.

Julius II was inconsolable for the loss of Bologna, an acquisition which he had regarded as the chief glory of his pontificate: and his regret was still more embittered by the conduct of the inconstant and ungrateful Bolognese, who, though they had flattered him during his residence among them, now pulled down and broke in pieces with every mark of contempt his bronze colossal statue, one of the noblest works of Michael Angelo Buonarotti. Both the Duke of Urbino and the Cardinal of Pavia repaired to Ravenna to justify themselves before the Pope; mutual recriminations ensued between them; and the Duke, stung with jealousy and anger at the hold which Alidosio still retained on the confidence and affection of Julius, openly assassinated him with his own hand in the midst of his guards, as he was on his way to dine at the papal palace. This outrageous act on the part of his nephew wounded the Pope so deeply, that he quitted Ravenna the same day, and returned to Rome overwhelmed with grief. The Duke of Urbino was sentenced to be deprived of all his offices; but the sentence was never carried into execution; and in two or three months he received a pardon, and recovered his former influence.

Julius’ misfortunes at this period were aggravated by the news that in many of the Italian cities proclamations were posted up for the assembly of a general council at Pisa, on September 1st, before which he himself was cited to appear. It had been established by the Council of Constance, that a general council should be held every ten years, and Julius himself had sworn at his consecration to call one; but he neglected all the representations which the Emperor and the King of France addressed to him for that purpose, and those sovereigns had therefore resolved to call a council by their own power and authority. In this course they were supported by the adjourned synod of French prelates at Lyon, as well as by five refractory cardinals, who, suspecting that one of their colleagues had been poisoned at Ancona by the Pope’s orders, had retired from Rome to Milan, where they put themselves at the head of the French or opposition party. In truth, however, Julius II had little to apprehend from this blow, which he parried by a counter one. In July he issued a Bull for the holding of a council at St. John Lateran, April 19th 1512, which assembly, having the sanction of papal authority, would of course be regarded by the orthodox as the only genuine one.

Although the victory at Bologna seemed to leave the Pope at the mercy of France, yet Louis XII, instead of following up his advantages, no sooner heard of that affair, than he directed Trivulzio to withdraw into the Milanese. He, as well as his consort Anne, who governed him, was seized with remorse at making war upon the Church; he forbade all public rejoicings for his victory; he declared his readiness to humiliate himself for the sake of peace, and to ask pardon of the Pope; and he resolved to limit his attacks upon the Holy Father to the peaceful and legitimate operations of the council. But the demands of Julius rose in proportion to the submission of Louis; it was soon plain that nothing would satisfy him but the ruin of the Duke of Ferrara, and the expulsion of the French from Italy; with the view of effecting which projects he had entered into negotiations with Ferdinand of Aragon, Henry VIII of England, and the Swiss. But before we relate their result, we must take a brief retrospect of Spanish history.

RETROSPECT OF SPANISH HISTORY. 

After Ferdinand’s resumption of the regency of Castile, the domestic history of Spain presents but little of importance. Guided by the counsels of his great minister, Cardinal Ximenes, his civil rule on the whole was moderate and equitable, though chequered with a few severities necessary to subdue the spirit of the haughty grandees of Castile. But the fiery enthusiasm of Ximenes could not submit to complete inactivity. His zeal for the Catholic faith incited him to lay plans for a crusade in Palestine, which however were diverted into a safer channel. Since the conquest of Granada, the Moslems of Africa had infested the coasts of Spain, and in 1509 Ximenes persuaded Ferdinand to fit out an expedition for the conquest of Oran, the command of which, Gonsalvo of Cordova lying under the King’s displeasure, was given to the celebrated engineer, Count Pedro Navarro. Ximenes himself accompanied the expedition, and his conduct, which literally displayed the church militant, might emulate the deeds of his spiritual father, Pope Julius II. Clad in his ecclesiastical robes, but with sword in hand, he appeared at the head of the army; before him rode a Franciscan monk, bearing as a standard the massy silver cross of Toledo; and he was surrounded by a troop of other Franciscans girt with scimitars over the frock of their order. Oran was taken on the first assault. 

It was firmly believed by the Spaniards, and was attested by four eye­witnesses of character and learning, as well as by a host of others, that Joshua's miracle was repeated on this occasion, and the sun arrested four hours in his course for the convenience of the Christians! Yet Navarro, a plain soldier, seems not to have highly valued these supernatural powers, and after the fall of Oran gave the cardinal a plain intimation that he would do better to confine himself to his own profession and return home. Ximenes was urged in the same direction by a letter of the King’s, which accidentally fell into his hands, and which plainly showed that his selfish and ungrateful master was contriving his ruin during his absence. The cardinal found good reason to suspect that Ferdinand meant to deprive him of the archbishopric of Toledo in favor of his own natural son, Alphonso of Aragon; and therefore, after providing for the wants of the army for several months, he returned in a quiet and unostentatious manner to Spain. Here his energy took another direction. He employed himself in promoting the welfare of the university which he had recently founded at Alcala de Henares, and in superintending the preparation of his famous polyglot Complutensian Bible. The cardinal's literary tastes, however, were quite subordinate to his catholic enthusiasm, and in 1499 he had shown himself a complete Vandal by burning many valuable Arabian books. After the departure of Ximenes, Navarro extended his conquests in Africa. Bugia, Algiers, and several other cities submitted to his arms, the crowning glory of which was the capture of Tripoli, July 26th 1510, after a bloody and obstinate defense. In the following month a terrible defeat in the island of Gelves put a stop to Navarro’s progress, who soon after returned to Spain; but the conquests made on the coast of Africa were held during a long period by the Spanish Crown.

Jealousy of the French had now determined the Catholic monarch to take an active part against them, and after the capture of Bologna, Ferdinand dispatched Navarro, with a chosen body of Spanish infantry, into North Italy. Yet, had not Ferdinand’s character been well known, the nature of his intercourse with the French Court was calculated to disarm all suspicion. The remonstrances which he addressed to Louis XII respecting his aggressions on the Church were couched in the mildest and most fraternal language; while, true to his policy of covering every political design with the mantle of religion, he pretended that the preparations which he was making both by sea and land were only designed to spread the banner of the cross in Africa. But Louis had reason to know his royal brother better. “I”, he exclaimed, “am the Saracen against whom these armaments are directed”.

The suspicions of the French King were well founded. On October 4th 1511, the alliance called the Holy League, was concluded by the Pope, King Ferdinand, and the Venetian Republic. Its professed object was the protection of the Church, menaced by the council, or rather conciliabulum of Pisa; and Ferdinand talked much of the necessity of saving Rome from the hands of the French, in order to preserve the liberty of Italy, and even of Europe. There were two other parties to this league, who, for the present, remained in the background: the Emperor Maximilian and Henry VIII of England. Margaret, in her cabinet at Brussels, had long been scheming a reconciliation between her father and Ferdinand, and the union of both with England, in order to overwhelm France; but before the French successes at Bologna, the Catholic King appears to have hung back, owing to the little love he bore to his Flemish grandson and heir, the Archduke Charles. Bambridge, Cardinal-Archbishop of York, the English ambassador at Rome, had assisted in negotiating the league. The vanity of Henry VIII seems to have been tickled with the idea of becoming the head of that holy confederation, as well as with the promised title of “Most Christian King”, of which, in his favor, Louis XII was to be deprived. Ferdinand soon afterwards dazzled his vain-glorious son-in-law—for Henry had consummated his marriage with Catherine of Spain in the June following his accession—with the prospect of reconquering Guienne. This enterprise would serve the purposes of the Holy League by creating a diversion of the French arms; and by a treaty between Ferdinand and Henry, November 17th 1511, it was agreed that the former should furnish 9,000 men, the latter 6,500, to carry out the enterprise. The Catholic King's real object in this treaty we shall presently see; meanwhile, it was kept secret till Henry should have received another installment of the pension payable by France, under the treaty of Etaples. Maximilian's accession to the league was, as we have said, also kept secret, till his defection from France was declared at an unexpected and fatal moment, on the eve of the battle of Ravenna, in the following year. The army of the Holy League was to be commanded by Don Raymond de Cardona, Viceroy of Naples, a man of polished and agreeable manners, but of no military experience, whom the rough old Pope nicknamed “Lady Cardona”.

The Council of Pisa, although summoned for September 1st, did not meet till November 1st. After the publication of the Holy League, the Pope had deprived the refractory cardinals of their dignity, and excommunicated them as schismatics (Oct. 24th); and he also laid an interdict on the Florentines, for having permitted the obnoxious council to meet in their town of Pisa. The assembly consisted only of four cardinals, and a few French and Milanese prelates, who were protected by a guard of 150 French archers. The clergy and populace of Pisa received them with marks of the greatest aversion, and after a short residence, the assembled fathers eagerly seized the occasion of a quarrel which arose between some of their domestics and the townspeople, to quit Pisa and adjourn to Milan. But it is hardly necessary to detail the subsequent proceedings of an assembly which was never seriously regarded, even by those who summoned it, and which Louis himself characterized as a comedy.

Meanwhile the Emperor Maximilian still adhered, in appearance, to the alliance with France. After the failure of the congress at Bologna, he had leagued himself more closely than ever with Louis, and they had secretly agreed to divide Italy between them, France was to content herself with the Milanese, Mantua, Ferrara, and Florence, whilst the Emperor was to have Venice, with its dependencies, together with Home and the Papal States. Maximilian’s projects were always on a scale of magnificence which formed an absurd contrast with his means to execute them. He dreamt of nothing less than marching to Rome, and restoring to the German empire all the prerogatives formerly exercised by Charlemagne or Otho the Great. With restless activity, he showed himself by turns at Innsbruck, at Trent, at Bruneck; he negotiated alternately with France, the Pope, and the Venetians; sometimes he seemed to threaten an immediate descent upon Italy, and as suddenly withdrew to attend a hunting-party. The illness of the Pope at the time fixed for the opening of the Council of Pisa had inspired him with a singular idea. He resolved to become a candidate for the tiara; sent 300,000 ducats, which he had raised by pawning to the Fuggers the imperial jewels and mantle, to the Bishop of Gurk, at Rome, to buy the votes of the cardinals; and, in anticipation of uniting the empire and pontificate, assumed, like the Roman Emperors, the title of Pontifex Maximus! Thus, as a modern historian has observed, the princes of that period seemed to have exchanged parts. Maximilian wished to be a pope and saint, and Louis XII was holding a council; while the Pope himself, aping the name and deeds of the greatest of the Caesars, and covering his white hairs with a helmet, led a body of old priests under the cannon’s mouth.

CAMPAIGN IN ITALY. 

In November many thousand Swiss, in the pay of Venice and the Pope, descended from the St. Gothard with the standard under which they had defeated the Duke of Burgundy, and another bearing in large golden letters the boastful inscription, Domatores principum, Amatores justitia, Defensores santa Romana Ecclesia; and they advanced to the very gates of Milan; Gaston de Foix, now viceroy of the Milanese, retreating before them by the advice of Trivulzio. The garrison of Milan consisted only of about 300 gens d’armes and 2000 foot; but the Swiss were totally destitute both of the skill and means for attacking towns, and they shortly after withdrew by way of Como, not without suspicion of having been bribed by the French.

The armies of the Pope and of the King of Aragon united at Imola in December. The Papal army was commanded by the Cardinal John de Medici, the Duke of Urbino having refused to serve under the Spanish viceroy Cardona, who was generalissimo. Navarro, captain-general of the Spanish infantry, which was at that period chiefly composed of Mussulmans, had been dispatched, as we have said, against the possessions of the Duke of Ferrara, and succeeded in reducing all the fortresses south of the Po. The fact that the poet Ariosto was an eyewitness of these obscure combats, which he has illustrated by his verses, lends them an interest they would not otherwise possess. The most ardent desire of the Pope was to recover Bologna, before which the allied army sat down January 26th 1512. The French on their side attached the highest importance to the preservation of that city, both as a military position and a point of honor; and Louis had declared that he would defend it as if it were Paris itself. He had provided the Duke of Nemours with all the money, and reinforced him with all the troops, he could collect, including his own Maison, or house-hold troops. They could not have been entrusted to more competent hands. In a short career of two months, Gaston revealed to France the true secret of its military power,—the capacity of its infantry to perform marches of extraordinary rapidity. The maxim of Marshal Saxe, that battles are gained not with the hands, but with the feet, was never more strikingly illustrated than by the operations of this youthful commander. The allies had already made a practicable breach in the walls of Bologna, when the Duke of Nemours hastened to Finale, whence, during a tempestuous night of wind and snow, he succeeded in throwing himself into Bologna, with 1300 lances, and 14,000 infantry, without meeting a single vidette or sentry (February 5th). Don Raymond de Cardona immediately raised the siege, and retired to Imola.

Gaston was deterred from pursuing the enemy by news which arrived from Lombardy. Brescia and Bergamo, revolted at the cruelty and brutality of the French garrisons, had admitted the Venetians with cries of Viva San Marco! and it was to be feared that this success might invite a new invasion of the Swiss. Gaston now made even a more extraordinary march than his former one. Leaving 300 lances and 4000 foot in Bologna, he quitted that city with the rest of his army, February 8th, and appeared before Brescia on the 16th, after attacking with his cavalry and defeating on the way, near Isola della Scala, the Venetian division under Baglione. This immense distance, therefore, was accomplished in eight days, in spite of broken roads and overflowed rivers. On the day of the affair with Baglione, who had no notion that the enemy was near, Gaston’s cavalry is said by an eyewitness to have marched fifty miles without drawing bridle. The battle was fought at four o'clock in the morning, by the light of the stars and the snow. Brescia was taken by assault, to which Gaston mounted with bare feet, on account of the slippery nature of the soil. It was here that Bayard received a wound, which was at first thought mortal. The inhabitants made an obstinate defense, for which they suffered by a general massacre, and a sack accompanied with the most horrible outrages, which lasted a week. Brescia was the richest city of Lombardy after Milan. The plunder was estimated at three million crowns; but this sack contributed much to ruin the French army, as a great part of the soldiers returned home to enjoy their booty. Bergamo submitted, and escaped with a fine of 20,000 ducats.

This campaign of a fortnight, in which Bologna had been rescued, the Venetians defeated, and Brescia and Bergamo recovered, is perhaps one of the most extraordinary on record, and spread the fame of the Duke of Nemours over all Europe. But, in spite of this brilliant success, the French cause in Italy seemed anything but promising. The Spanish army was untouched; the Swiss turned a deaf ear to the tardy and repentant overtures of Louis; the King of England had thrown off the mask and declared war; while Maximilian was evidently preparing to join the enemy. Louis began to perceive the machinations of Margaret, and felt the necessity for striking a speedy and decisive blow. He seemed suddenly to have emancipated himself from his own bigotry and the influence of his consort; the Pope was attacked by pamphleteers and openly ridiculed on the Paris stage by the Enfans sans souci; nay, a medal was even struck with the legend Perdam Babylonis Nomen, a name for the holy see which has hardly been surpassed in the vocabulary of subsequent reformers. Gaston was instructed to deliver a decisive battle, after which he was to march to Home, dictate a peace, and depose the Pope. These proceedings were to be authorized by a Legate dispatched from the Council of Pisa at Milan, who was to accompany the army.

DEATH OF GASTON DE FOIX.

Instructions of this nature exactly suited the taste of the young hero to whom they were addressed. Towards the end of March Gaston set out with his army for Finale, in the Modenese, having been joined by the Duke of Ferrara with his troops, and especially with that celebrated artillery, the best in Europe, to which Alphonso devoted so much attention. Gaston directed his march on Ravenna, and Don Raymond de Cardona, whose army was inferior in force, retired before him, maneuvering in order to avoid a battle. At length Gaston found himself shut in between Ravenna and the camp of the allies, which was on the banks of the Ronco, about three miles from the city; provisions and forage began to fail, and to add to his embarrassment, a message arrived at this deceive moment that Maximilian had concluded a ten months' truce with the Venetians, and had recalled, on pain of death to their leaders, the German lansquenets serving in Gaston's army, in number about 5000 men. Jacob Empser, one of their commanders, to whom the letter was delivered, being a great friend of Bayard's and a devoted servant of Louis, engaged indeed to keep the order secret: but, as fresh commands of the same tenor might speedily arrive, it became necessary to act with promptness and decision. 

On April 9th a terrible assault was delivered on Ravenna, which failed from the breach not being sufficiently practicable. Gaston now determined to storm the enemy's position on the Ronco, and on the 11th orders were given to cross that river. Gaston had put on a rich and heavy armor, with embroideries bearing the arms of Navarre, to which kingdom he pretended; he regarded the Spaniards as personal enemies who kept him out of that inheritance, and he had left his right arm bare to the elbow in the hope of bathing it in their blood. The battle began by a dreadful cannonade of three hours. The French army was drawn up in the form of a crescent, and Alphonso’s artillery being stationed at the extremity of the left wing, kept up a tremendous crossfire, which carried off whole ranks of the enemy. At length, however, both armies became tired of this distant butchery; the signal was given to charge; Gaston himself led the French men-at-arms, and ran his lance through an Italian cavalier; and after a short but terrible encounter the Spanish and Papal cavalry were overthrown. Cardona and Carvajal, who commanded the rearguard, retired too early for their honor, and were escorted from the field by Antonio de Leyva, then a young subaltern, who afterwards acquired so much renown in the wars of Italy. Fabrizio Colonna, already a distinguished Italian general, the young Marquis of Pescara, a Neapolitan, whose fame was yet to be achieved, and the Cardinal John de Medici, were taken prisoners; and the latter, who had retained his sacerdotal habit in the midst of the fray, was conducted before the Cardinal of San Severino, the legate of the conciliabilum of Pisa. The struggle, which was not so soon decided between the infantry, served to display the relative merits of the Spanish foot and the German lansquenets. The latter, like the Grecian phalanx, were armed with spears of an enormous length, and fought in close column; the former, furnished like the Roman legionaries with a short sword and buckler, again established the superiority of that weapon. The Spaniards, protected by their defensive armor, insinuated themselves between the ranks of the Germans, whose unwieldy lances became useless at close quarters, and they would have been cut to pieces had they not been rescued by the French cavalry. The Spanish infantry was broken, and Pedro Navarro made prisoner; but a considerable body of them was retiring in good order, when Gaston, irritated at the carnage which they had made, and forgetting his duty as general, charged them at the head of a few gens d'armes, and he was struck from his horse by a Spanish soldier. In vain his cousin Lautrec exclaimed, “Spare his life! it is our viceroy, the brother of your queen”; Gaston fell, pierced with twenty wounds, and Lautrec shared the same fate.

Thus died Gaston de Foix, Duke of Nemours, at the early age of twenty-three, who in the course of a few months had achieved the most brilliant military reputation, and acquired the surname of the “Thunderbolt of Italy”. His victory was indeed complete, but it was counterbalanced by his death. “Would to God”, exclaimed the weeping Louis, “that I had lost all Italy, and that Gaston and those who fell with him were safe!” The consternation of the allies amounted almost to a panic. Ravenna was taken the next day while treating for a capitulation, and was sacked with the greatest brutality; Imola, Forli, Rimini, all Romagna, hastened to submit to La Palisse, who now assumed the command, and to the Cardinal of San Severino, who received the keys of the surrendered towns in the name of the Council of Pisa; terror reigned at Rome, and even the stout heart of Julius himself was so shaken that he at first agreed to receive the conditions of peace proposed by Louis XII before the battle. Ferdinand displayed the extent of his consternation by ordering Gonsalvo de Cordova to prepare for a campaign in Italy. But, in fact, the victory of Ravenna proved fatal to the French themselves. The soldiers were disheartened by the loss of Gaston; the officers were divided; San Severino disputed the command with La Palisse; the Duke of Ferrara, who had refused it, returned home, released his prisoner, Fabrizzio Colonna, and endeavored to make his peace with the Pope; Maximilian withdrew his lansquenets, and the Swiss were preparing for a fresh descent into Lombardy. Under these circumstances, La Palisse was obliged to retire into the Milanese, and Julius II regained his wonted courage. On May 3rd, three weeks after the battle, he opened the Council of the Lateran, which, at the first session, was attended by eighty-four prelates from Italy, Spain, England, and Hungary. The Cardinal of York, as well as an Aragonese cardinal, dissuaded him from accepting the proposals of France, and Julius readily yielded to counsels which he had himself suggested. The towns evacuated by the French were immediately occupied by Papal troops, and Bologna itself, the object of so much anxiety, was again wrested from the Bentivogli. Meanwhile Cardinal Schinner had agreed with the Emperor and the Pope to restore Maximilian Sforza, eldest son of Louis the Moor, to the ducal throne of Milan. Instructed by their previous miscarriages, the Swiss now resolved to supply themselves with cavalry and artillery from the Venetians, and with this view they pressed to the eastward through Coire and Chiavenna, as well as through Trent, into the territory of Verona. La Palisse was compelled to retire before them as far as Pavia, and Maximilian Sforza was everywhere proclaimed with enthusiasm. The Cardinal John de Medici profited by the confusion of this retreat to make his escape; the fathers composing the Council of Pisa fled from Milan at the approach of the Swiss; and the Italians signalized their hatred of the French by massacring all they could lay hands on.

The Swiss and Venetians soon appeared before Pavia, and, after a bloody engagement, La Palisse was forced to evacuate that place and retreat into France. At the end of June, less than three months after the victory of Ravenna, Louis XII possessed in Lombardy little more than Brescia, Peschiera, and Crema, and the citadels of Milan, Cremona, and Novara. But the success of the Holy League produced in it those dissensions which invariably attend such confederations. The grasping Julius, on pretense that Parma and Piacenza had at one period formed part of the Exarchate of Ravenna, proceeded to occupy those cities, in violation of the claims of the new Duke of Milan, as well as those of the Emperor, to the whole of Lombardy. The Pope, at the intercession of Fabricius Colonna and his powerful family, and of the Catholic King, consented to pardon the Duke of Ferrara, after he had submitted to a suitable humiliation; and six cardinals were appointed to arrange with him the terms of his pacification. But what was the surprise of Alphonso a few days after, to hear that the Pope was resolved to claim the whole Ferrarese for the Holy See; that he must content himself with the County of Asti in exchange; and that the Duke of Urbino had actually occupied some of his towns! Julius was prepared to extort his demands by keeping Alphonso a prisoner at Rome; and Fabricius and M. A. Colonna were obliged to secure his return to his dominions by forcing the Papal guard at the gate of S. Giovanni.

Maximilian, as grasping, and still more capricious than Julius, although now confederated with the Venetians, would not relinquish his pretensions to their continental territories. Raymond de Cardona was immediately to lead his army into Lombardy, in order that he might have more influence on the distribution of the territories occupied by the Holy League, as well as to feed his army at the expense of that country, which Ferdinand assigned to them in place of pay. The Swiss, after restoring the Duke of Milan, continued to levy contributions on his subjects, and, on their return, permanently occupied the Valteline, Locarno, and Chiavenna; while the Venetians were making some fruitless attempts on Brescia and Crema, without the participation of their allies. All parties complained of one another; on one point only were they agreed—the necessity of punishing Florence, although the only crime that could be alleged against that state was a too timid and vacillating policy.

AFFAIRS OF FLORENCE.

A republic had continued to exist at Florence, since the death of Savonarola; and Soderini, who had been one of the chief supporters of that reformer, enjoyed the supreme direction of its affairs, having been elected Gonfalonier for life. Although during the Holy League Soderini observed a strict neutrality, Julius could not pardon his partiality for France, and still less his having given a safe conduct to the five refractory cardinals who had lent their names and authority to the Council of Pisa. The Pope had even incited a Florentine citizen, Prinzivalle della Stufa, to assassinate Soderini, but the conspiracy was discovered and frustrated. After the triumph of the Holy League, the ruin of Florence was resolved on by the resentment of Julius, the intrigues of the Medici, and the cupidity of the generals of the allies.

A congress had been opened at Mantua, for the purpose of arranging a general pacification, to which John Victor Soderini, a jurisconsult, and brother of the gonfalonier, was dispatched to watch over the interests of Florence, and procure her admission into the treaty. There was nothing that the Holy League was more in want of than money. The Bishop of Gurk offered the Florentines the imperial protection in consideration of a sum of 403000 florins. Soderini hesitated, and the republic was lost. Julian de Medici, third son of Lorenzo the Magnificent, who had also appeared at the congress, hinted that, if the armies of the League were in want of money, they could more readily procure it from the Medici than from the popular party at Florence. The argument was irresistible. The congress ordered Don Raymond de Cardona, with the Spanish army, accompanied by the Cardinal John de Medici, to march upon Florence and change the government.

The Spaniards, crossing the Apennines, approached Florence by Barberino and Prato. The latter place was taken by assault, August 30th, when a general massacre and pillage ensued, accompanied with atrocities which surpassed even those committed at Brescia and Ravenna. Meanwhile the Florentines were deliberating on the proposition of Cardona, who had demanded the banishment of the Gonfalonier Soderini, and the restoration of the Medici, not, however, as princes, but simply as private citizens. The Grand Council consented to the latter demand, on condition that the Gonfalonier should remain at the head of the republic, and that no changes should be made in their laws and government. But after the capture of Prato Cardona raised his terms, and demanded in addition a large sum of money. The barbarities perpetrated at Prato had filled the Florentines with consternation: the Gonfalonier himself could not conceal his terror, and offered to abdicate. In this conjuncture, the revolution which restored the Medici was accomplished by a literary society of some thirty young men, who were accustomed to assemble in the gardens of Bernardo Ruccellai, and who had previously been in secret correspondence with Julian de Medici. On the morning of the 31st of August the conspirators proceeded to the Public Palace, seized the Gonfalonier Soderini, carried him off to the house of Paul Vettori, on the Quay of the Arno, and having assembled the government, compelled them to depose Soderini. Ambassadors were then dispatched to Cardona, to accept the terms already named; the money payment being fixed at 80,000 florins for the Spanish army, 40,000 for the Emperor, and 20,000 for Cardona himself.

Cardinal John de Medici, although the eldest surviving son of Lorenzo the Magnificent, did not desire for himself the headship of the Florentine state; his views were directed to the Papacy, which he obtained in the following year. But in spite of the terms of the capitulation, he wished to procure for his brother Julian the supreme power at Florence. Julian entered the city before his condemnation had been reversed (September 2nd); and the measures which he first concerted with the Albizzi, now his own partisans, were of a sufficiently mild and liberal character. But on the 14th the Cardinal, who had hitherto remained at Prato, entered Florence with a large military escort, and took possession of the palace of the Medici. On the next day he proceeded to the Public Palace; and, having intimidated the government, and summoned what was called a parliament, or assembly of the people, which was composed in reality of his own creatures and soldiers, he established, in place of the former constitutional government, a narrow oligarchy, which subsisted till the expulsion of the Medici in 1527.

It was soon discovered that Julian had not energy enough to curb the turbulent democracy of Florence; and after the elevation of Cardinal John de Medici to the papal throne, he resigned his authority to his nephew Lorenzo, took up his residence at Rome, and was appointed Captain-General of the Church. Under Lorenzo the Florentine government became a perfect despotism. On the other hand, Genoa recovered her liberty, if the various phases of sedition and anarchy which characterized that republic deserve the sacred name. The exile Giano Fregoso, being sent thither by the allies, raised an insurrection, drove out the French, and was elected doge (June 29th).

Laden with the booty of Tuscany, Cardona directed his march into Lombardy, where he took possession of several towns and fortresses. A secret jealousy reigned among all the members of the League. The Pope, to strengthen himself with the Emperor, gave a cardinal's hat to his secretary, the Bishop of Gurk; and he offered the Venetians to mediate a peace for them with Maximilian; but as they were informed of his secret league with the Emperor, they began to think of an alliance with Louis XII.

FERDINAND’S DESIGNS ON NAVARRE.

Both Ferdinand of Aragon and his son-in-law Henry VIII were very dissatisfied with the Pope’s alliance with Maximilian. Ferdinand’s attention, however, was at this moment engrossed with his domestic policy, and he was endeavoring to add the kingdom of Navarre to his dominions. After Eleanor’s brief reign, to which we have already adverted, the blood-stained scepter of Navarre passed to her grandson Phoebus, 1479, who, however, lived only four years, and was succeeded by his sister Catherine. Ferdinand and Isabella endeavored to effect a marriage between Catherine and their own heir; but this scheme was frustrated by Magdalen, the queen-mother, a sister of Louis XI of France, who brought about a match between her daughter and John d'Albret, a French noble­man who had large possessions on the borders of Navarre (1485). Nevertheless the Kings of Spain supported Catherine and her husband against her uncle John de Foix, viscount of Narbonne, who pretended to the Navarese crown on the ground that it was limited to male heirs; and after the death of John, the alliance with Spain was drawn still closer by the avowed purpose of Louis XII to support his nephew, Gaston de Foix, in the claims of his father. After the fall of that young hero at Ravenna, his pretensions to the throne of Navarre devolved to his sister, Germaine de Foix, the second wife of King Ferdinand, an event which entirely altered the relations between the courts of Spain and Navarre. Ferdinand had now an interest in supporting the claims of the house of Foix-Narbonne; and Catherine, who distrusted him, dispatched in May 1512, plenipotentiaries to the French court to negotiate a treaty of alliance. John d’Albret, Catherine’s husband, was a careless, easy prince, who hated show and ceremony; he heard every day two or three masses, dined with anybody who would invite him, attended every village festival, and danced in public with the wives and daughters of his peasantry and citizens. In vain Louis XII advised him to be on his guard against Ferdinand; John continued his easy course of life, while the storm preparing for him was ready to burst over his head.

We have already adverted to the alliance between Ferdinand of Aragon and his son-in-law, Henry VIII, for the avowed purpose of invading Guienne. Henry communicated that project to his parliament in February, 1512; and he represented that his views in creating this diversion were also to oblige Louis to dissolve the council of Pisa, and to restore Bologna to the Holy See; and the English parliament is said to have been seduced by a timely present from the Pope. A vessel laden with Greek wines and southern fruits displayed, for the first time, the pontifical standard in the Thames, and the English senators, corrupted by the distribution of these delicacies, are represented as voting, in consequence, liberal supplies for an object so foreign to their interests! We may with more probability ascribe these grants to the favor which a war with France still found in the minds of the English people. But from this purpose the English forces were diverted by the duplicity of the wily Ferdinand. Having sent his own vessels to convey the English army, near 10,000 strong, for a pretended expedition against Bayonne, Ferdinand caused it to be landed at Passages, in Guipuzcoa, June 8th; and he then represented to the Marquis of Dorset, the English commander, that it would first of all be necessary to occupy the kingdom of Navarre, as the inclinations of its sovereigns could not be trusted. King John, indeed, soon afterwards concluded, at Blois (July 17th), a treaty with Louis XII, one stipulation of which was that neither nation should allow the enemies of the other to pass through its dominions; and the King of Navarre further pledged himself to declare war against the English assembled at Guipuzcoa.

Dorset was not slow to perceive the real drift of Ferdinand's policy, the nature of his relations with Navarre, and the reasons why he had carried the English to Spain, and dissuaded them from making a direct attack upon France; and he consequently declined to exceed his instructions by entering upon a war with the Navarrese. The mere presence of the English army, however, assisted the designs of the Catholic King, by overawing his opponents. Ferdinand, who was aided by the Navarrese faction of the Beaumonts, to which his general, the Duke of Alva belonged, ordered his army to invade Navarre. The pretexts which he alleged for this act were that the Navarrese; sovereigns had refused his demands that they should accede to the Holy League, grant him a free passage through their dominions, and guarantee their neutrality by delivering to him six of their principal fortresses. Another ground adduced breathed all the hypocrisy of Ferdinand. In joining Louis the Navarrese sovereigns had recognized the council of Pisa, and were therefore comprised in the excommunication fulminated against its adherents, which involved the deprivation of their dominions! In fact, Ferdinand, in letters written during this period, attributes his unjust and ambitious aggression to a desire of extirpating “the accursed schism”, and saw in the rapid success which attended his arms, the miraculous interposition of Providence.

King John retired before the Spaniards to Lumbier, and, after in vain invoking the assistance of the French, took refuge with his family in France; while Alva, who found but small resistance, subdued nearly the whole of Upper Navarre in less than a fortnight. He even penetrated into Lower Navarre, but, not meeting with the support which he expected from the English, was obliged to retire before the Duke of Longueville and the French troops, the veterans of Italy, under La Palisse. Alva threw himself into Pampeluna, which he succeeded in defending. The Marquis of Dorset, who loudly complained, and not without reason, that his master had been duped, re-embarked his forces in October, and returned to England without having had an opportunity to strike a single blow against the French. Ferdinand affected to assume that he was the injured party in this transaction, “which”, he observes in one of his letters, “touches me most deeply, for the stain it leaves upon the honor of the most serene King, my son-in-law, and the glory of the English nation, so distinguished in times past for high and chivalrous enterprise”. The policy of the Catholic King was, however, crowned with substantial success, as we shall here relate by anticipation. In the following year, he effected at Orthes a year’s truce with Louis XII (April 1st, 1513), by which Louis sacrificed his ally, the King of Navarre, and afterwards, by renewing the truce, allowed Ferdinand permanently to settle himself in his new conquest. The States of Navarre had previously taken the oath of allegiance to Ferdinand as their King: and on the 10th of June 1515, Navarre was incorporated into the kingdom of Castile by the solemn act of the Cortes. The dominions of John d'Albret and Catherine were now reduced to the little territory of Béarn, but they still retained the title of sovereigns of Navarre.

Pope Julius II had expired before Ferdinand consummated his treachery-towards the Holy League by the truce of Orthes. Julius was still occupied with his favorite scheme of expelling the “barbarians” from Italy, as well as with his plans for extending the domains of the Church, when he was attacked by a slow fever and dysentery, which after a few days proved fatal (Feb. 21st, 1513). He was a Pontiff, observes Guicciardini, worthy of imperishable glory had he worn any other crown than the tiara: and certainly the idea of making the papacy the instrument of Italian liberation was a grand one, however incompatible with the proper vocation of the Holy See. We now see the same instrument employed by a feebler Pontiff to obstruct the consummation of Italian freedom. Julius must be regarded as the founder of the States of the Church, which for the most part had been acquired by Caesar Borgia to gratify his own selfish ambition. Machiavelli has observed that, before the time of Julius, the most insignificant baron despised the Papal power, of which subsequently even the King of France stood in awe. Julius II was economical, and even miserly, in his way of life, confining the expenses of his household to 1500 ducats a month, so that, in spite of his constant wars, he left a considerable sum in his treasury. Yet, as a ruler, all his ideas were on a gigantic scale. It was he that resumed the building of St. Peters, in which, and other architectural designs, he found in Michael Angelo Buonarotti a genius of kindred vastness to assist him. One of the last acts of Julius II was to deprive Louis XII of the title of “Very Christian”, and to transfer it to Henry VIII by a decree of the Lateran Council; and at the same time he issued a Bull laying the kingdom of France, with the exception of Bretagne, under an Interdict.

CHAPTER VIII

THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE OCEAN NAVIGATION AND DISCOVERY OF THE NEW WORLD. ORIGIN OF EMBASSIES. PROGRESS OF THE ART OF WAR