XIII. A. D. 1515, A. Et. 40. A. Pont. III. Francis gave orders that three solemn masses CHAP. should be performed, one to return thanks to God for the victory, another for the souls of those who were slain in battle, and a third to supplicate the restoration of peace. He also directed that a chapel should be built adjacent to the field of battle, as a testimony of his gratitude and a permanent memorial of his success. Surrender No sooner was the event of the battle of Marignano known at Milan, than the duke of Milan. Maximilian Sforza, accompanied by his general Giovanni Gonzaga and his chancellor and confidential adviser Morone, shut himself up in the castle, which was strongly fortified and gar risoned by a considerable body of Swiss, Italian, and Spanish, soldiers. The inhabitants of Milan, deprived of all means of defence, sent deputies to the king to testify their entire submission to his authority; but Francis refused to enter the city, conceiving that it would be derogatory from his honour to take up his residence in a place, the fortress of which was yet held by his enemies. (a) Operations were therefore instantly commenced against the castle (a) Ligue de Cambray, liv. v. ii. 504. XIII. CHAP. castle under the directions of Pietro Navarro, who promised to reduce it in less than a month; but although he was successful in destroying a part of the fortifications, it is probable that the task which he had undertaken would have required considerable time, had not the assailants found means to open a negotiation with the principal advisers of the duke. Influenced by the treacherous recommendation or the dastardly apprehensions of Morone, the duke was induced to listen to terms of accommodation, by which he agreed, not only to surrender the fortress of Milan, and that of Cremona, which was yet held by his friends, but also to relinquish for ever the sovereignty of Milan and its dependent states. As a compensation for these concessions, Francis agreed to use his influence with the pope to appoint Maximilian a cardinal, with ecclesiastical preferments and benefices to the annual amount of thirty-six thousand livres, promising to pay him in the mean time a pension to the like amount, and also to advance him within the space of two years ninety-four thousand livres to be disposed of at his own pleasure. A provision was also made for the other members of the house of Sforza, and Morone, who negotiated the treaty, stipulated that he should himself enjoy the rank of a senator of Milan, A. D. 1515. A. Pont. III, A. t. 40. XIII. A. D. 1515. A. t. 40. A. Pont. III, with the office of master of requests of the CHAP. hotel to the king.(a) Thus terminated the brief government of Maximilian Sforza; without his having, by his misfortunes, excited in others the sensations. of sympathy or regret which usually accompany those who suddenly fall from high rank into the mediocrity of private life. The only observation recorded of him upon this occasion, is an expression of his satisfaction on being at length freed from the tyranny of the Swiss, the persecution of the emperor elect, and the deceit of Ferdinand of Aragon ;(b) a remark which is no proof of that want of intellect which has been imputed to him, but which on the contrary shews that he had compared the advantages of sovereignty with the inconveniences and dan, gers that attend it, and had reconciled himself to that destiny which it was no longer in his power to resist. The cautious pontiff, who had waited only to observe from what quarter the wind of fortune would blow, no sooner found that the French monarch had defeated the Swiss and subjugated (a) This treaty is published by Lünig, God. Ital. Di. plomat, i. 523. (b) Guicciard, lib. xii. ii, 105. Leo X. forms an al, liance with Francis I, XIII. CHAP. subjugated the state of Milan, than he exert ed all the means in his power to obtain the favour and secure the alliance of the con A. D. 1515. A. EL 40. A. Pont. III. queror. Had he stood in need of an apo logy to his allies for this apparent versatility, he might have found it in the temporizing negotiations of the Swiss before the engagement and their speedy desertion after it; in the hesitating conduct of the viceroy Cardona, and the total inattention of the emperor elect to the interests of the league; but it is probable that he was much more anxious to excuse himself to the king for the apparent opposition which he had manifested to his views, than to his allies for his dereliction of a cause which was now become hopeless. He did not however on this emergency omit the usual forms of exhorting his associates to bear their misfortunes with constancy and to repair them by their courage; but whilst he thus endeavoured to support a consistency of conduct in the eyes of the world, he had already engaged the duke of Savoy to unite his efforts with those of his envoy, Lodovico Canossa, to effect an alliance with the king. In truth, the situation of the pope was such as would not admit of longer delay. Already the king had given orders to construct a bridge over the Po for proceeding to the attack of Parma XIII. A. At. 40. A. Pont. III. Parma and Piacenza; and although a venera- CHAP. tion for the Roman see might prevent him from attacking the ecclesiastical dominions, A. D. 1515, this sentiment did not apply to the state of Florence, which had taken a decided and hostile part against his arms. Fortunately however for the pope, the king was not averse to a reconciliation, which, whilst it relieved him from those spiritual censures that had occasioned such anxiety and humiliation to his predecessor, might be of essential service to him in securing the possession of his newly acquired dominions. A negotiation was accordingly opened, when it was proposed that the pope and the king should mutually assist each other in the defence of their respective dominions; that the king should take under his protection the state of Florence and the family of Medici, particularly Giuliano the brother and Lorenzo the nephew of the pontiff, and should maintain to them and their descendants the authority which they enjoyed in the Florentine state. In return for these favours it was proposed, that the pope should surrender to the king the cities of Parma and Piacenza; the king promising in return, that his subjects in Milan should be obliged to purchase their salt from the ecclesiastical states. It had also been proposed that the duke |