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XIII.

CHAP. duct of the pope, in his negotiations with the king of France, and which has been considered as the manifesto of that monarch against Leo X.(a) it may be remarked, that if it was written to prevail upon Leo to interpose his authority for the protection of Fregoso, it was ill calculated to effect its purpose; if it was addressed to the pontiff afterwards, it was an ungrateful return for a magnanimous and unmerited favour; and that at whatever time it was produced (if indeed such a document ever existed) its application was equally insolent and absurd; the connexion between Leo X. and Francis I. bearing no similarity to that which subsisted between Fregoso and the pontiff, who had invested him with that very authority which he had endeavoured to pervert to purposes the most opposite to those for which it had been intrusted to him.

A. D. 1515. A. Pont. III.

A. Et. 40.

Preparati

ons of Francis I. for at

tacking the Milanese.

As soon as the intentions of the pope were known, Francis I. thought proper to dispense with the pretexts under which he had made such formidable preparations, and to avow his purpose of attempting to recover the states of

Milan.

(a) Ligue de Cambr. liv. iv. ii. 413. Guicciard. lib. xii. ii. 87.

.

Milan. If we compare the measures adopted by CHAP.

XIII.

Francis on this occasion with those of Charles
VIII. about twenty years before, we shall
be led to conclude, that of all the objects which
at that time engaged the attention of mankind,
the destructive science of war had made the
most rapid progress. In fact, the commence-
ment of the modern system of warfare is to be
referred to this period, when the disorderly
bodies of mercenary troops, dependent on their
own particular leader and armed in various
modes, gave way to regular levies duly disci-
plined, and to those immense trains of artillery
which have ever since been found the most ef-
fectual implements of destruction.
In pre-
paring to carry his arms beyond the Alps, it
was, however, necessary that Francis should
first provide for his security at home. The
province of Gascony was threatened by Ferdi-
nand of Aragon, and that of Burgundy by the
Helvetic states. For the defence of the for-
mer he dispatched the Sieur de Lautrec, with
five hundred lances and about five thousand
infantry, whilst la Tremouille hastened to
vence with a considerable body of troops to
prevent the incursions of the Swiss.(a) The

army

(a) Muratori, Annali d' Italia, x. 111.

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A. D. 1515. A. Pont. III.

A. t. 40.

CHAP.

XIII.

A. D. 1515. A. Pont. III.

A. Et. 40.

army destined for the expedition to Milan is said to have consisted of four thousand lances, being double the number retained in the service of Louis XII. and which may be computed, with their usual attendants, at twenty thousand cavalry; but the accuracy of this statement has been questioned, and it is probable the number employed in this service did not greatly exceed half that amount.(a) To these were added several large bodies of infantry, as well Germans as French, amounting in the whole to upwards of thirty thousand men,' and a much more formidable train of artillery than had ever before been collected. On arriving in the Lionnese, where they were directed to assemble, they were also joined by Pietro Navarro at the head of ten thousand Biscayans, or Basque infantry, whom he had raised rather by the credit of his military reputation, than by the influence of his rank or his pecuniary resources. This celebrated officer, who had long held a conspicuous command in the Spanish army, after having been made

(a) Muratori, Annali d' Ital. x. 111. But according to the enumeration of Guicciardini, the forces of Francis I. amounted to upwards of 50,000 men. Hist. d' Ital. lib.

xii. ii. 88.

XIII.

made a prisoner at the battle of Ravenna, had CHAP. remained in confinement; his captor having demanded as his ransom twenty thousand gold crowns, which his avaricious sovereign had refused to pay. On the accession of Francis to the throne he found Navarro languishing in prison, and being pleased with the opportunity of attaching such a man to his interests, he paid his ransom and gave him the command of a troop of Biscayans, his countrymen. Navarro, although of mean extraction, had a sense of honour and fidelity, the criterion of an elevated mind. Before he would accept the bounty of the king, he again addressed himself to his former sovereign, once more entreating to be liberated and replaced in his former employ. On the reiterated refusal of Ferdinand, Navarro transmitted to him a resignation of all the grants which had been made to him as a reward for his services, and took an oath of allegiance to the French monarch, to whom his talents and experience were of singular service, and to whom he ever afterwards retained an unshaken fidelity.(a)

Nor were the allied powers remiss in

VOL. III.

D

(a) Ligue de Cambr. liv. iv. ii. 407.

pre

paring

A. D. 1515.

A. Et. 40.

A. Pont. III.

XIII.

A. Et. 40.

A. Pont. III.

CHAP. paring for the defence of Italy. The movement of troops throughout the whole of that A. D. 1515. Country far exceeded any recent example. After having reduced Fregoso doge of Genoa to obedience, Prospero Colonna, at the head of the Milanese forces, hastened into Piedmont to oppose the entrance of the French. The viceroy Cardona with upwards of twelve thousand Spaniards directed his march towards Vicenza, then occupied by the Venetian general d'Alviano; who not being prepared to contend with so great a force, retired in haste to the Brentel; in consequence of which Vicenza was plundered and its stores of provisions sent to Verona. The Swiss, pouring down in large bodies from the mountains, had increased their army to upwards of thirty thousand men. Another body of Milanese was stationed at Gremona to repress the depredations of Renzo da Ceri, who from his fortress at Crema continued to harrass the surrounding country, At the same time, the pope dispatched his brother Giuliano, as general of the church, at the head of three thousand Roman cavalry and a considerable body of infantry, to Bologna, whilst Lorenzo de' Medici, as general of the Florentine republic, with two thousand horse and six thousand foot, took his station in the vicinity of Piacenza.(a)

Forces of the allies.

The

(a) Muratori, Annali d'Ital. x. 112. Leoni, in his

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