contingency of each party was settled at five thousand horse and twenty thousand foot. It was further stipulated that all potentates and states that might be desirous of entering into the league should be admitted; and as the confederates acknowledged they had reason to expect that the pope would become a party, they declared him principal and chief of the league. Such were the avowed and ostensible objects of this alliance; but by a separate article, (a) it was further agreed, that endeavours should be used for disengaging such of the Swiss cantons as were in alliance with France from the interests of that crown; and it was aslo settled what amount each of the allies should pay towards the pensions which should be distributed among the Swiss, as well to the public as to private persons.(b) The consequences which Leo expected from this formidable combination were however frustrated by the instability or duplicity of

the

(a) Supplem. au Corps. Diplomat. tom. iii. par i. p.

47.

(b) The proportions of the kings of England and Spain were fixed at fifteen thousand gold florins each, and Maximilian was to discharge the stipulations already entered into by him with the Swiss in this respect. Supp. au Corps Diplomat. ut sup.

CHA P.

XIV.

A. D. 1516.

A. Et. 41.

A. Pont. IV.

XIV.

CHAP. the emperor elect; who at the same instant that he was negotiating the treaty of London, availed himself of the opportunity afforded him of becoming a party to that of Noyon, which was intended as a definitive arrangement of the affairs of Italy. In consequence of this treaty the city of Verona was again surrendered to the Venetians. A further agreement was soon afterwards concluded between the Venetian senate and the emperor elect, which terminated for a time the other objects of their dispute. On the twenty-ninth day of November, in the same year, Francis I. concluded the memorable treaty of Fribourg with the Swiss cantons, known by the name of the perpetual alliance, which has been the foundation of the close connexion that has since subsisted between the two countries.(a) By these alliances the peace of Europe was guaranteed by its most powerful sovereigns; and Leo was compelled to be a reluctant spectator of that tranquillity which he had certainly, on this occasion, done all in his power to prevent.

A. D. 1516. A. Pont. IV.

A. Et. 41.

It

(a) Muratori, Annali d'Ital. x. 130. Ligue de Cambr.

liv. v. ii. 561.

X IV.

A. D. 1516.
A. Æt. 41.

Motives of

It would, however, be unjust to the cha- CHAP. racter of the pontiff to conclude that he was averse to the repose of Italy. On the contrary, there was perhaps no object that he had more A. Pont. IV. at heart; but this repose he conceived to be ill-secured whilst the northern and southern the pope states of that country were held by two powerfor opposful foreign potentates, whose dissensions or ing the ge neral paci whose closer alliance might equally prove fication. fatal to the rest. This, therefore, was not such a peace as Leo wished to see effected; and if he did not manifest his open disapprobation, it was only because he was for the present precluded from all means of interrupting it with any hopes of success. Nor can it be denied, that in this respect he manifested a regard for the true interests of his country, and a degree of political sagacity which does credit to his discernment; subsequent events having sufficiently demonstrated, that the apprehensions of the pontiff for the safety and repose of Italy were too well founded; that country having soon after his death, exhibited scenes of contention and of carnage between the rival monarchs of France and of Spain, yet more horrible than any that had before occurred; and the city of Rome itself having become the prey of a horde of Christian barbarians, who sacked

XIV.

CHAP. sacked it with circumstances of ferocious cruelty scarcely to be parallelled in the history of A. D. 1516. mankind.(a)

A. Et. 41.

A Pont. V.

.The exiled

vers his dominions.

One of the immediate consequences of the geduke of Ur- neral pacification was the disbanding of a great bino reco. number of the Italian Condottieri; who being now out of employment, were ready to engage in any enterprise which might afford them emolument or support. Availing himself of this circumstance and of the pecuniary aid of his father-in-law the marquis of Mantua, the exiled duke of Urbino had begun to collect a military force for the purpose of attempting the recovery of his dominions.(b) In the month of January, 1517, he assembled his troops, which then amounted to five thousand Spanish infantry, most of whom had been employed in the defence of Verona, three thousand Italian stipendiaries, and fifteen hundred horse commanded by Federigo Gonzago lord

of

1517.

(a) A succinct account of these shocking transactions may be found in Robertson's History of Charles V. book iv. vol. ii. p. 286.

(b) Muratori, Annali d' Italia, x. 131. Leoni, vita di Fr. Maria duca d'Urbino, lib. ii. p. 198.

of Bozzolo, who avowed a mortal enmity to Lorenzo de' Medici on account of a personal affront which he had received from him. With this army the exiled duke began his march; having, as a justification of his conduct, addressed a letter to the college of cardinals, in which he declares himself a faithful and obedient son of the church; complains of the unexampled severity with which he had been treated; asserts that he had not only been pursued with all the violence of ecclesiastical censures, but that his life had been frequently attempted, both by poison and by force; and disavows any intention of disturbing the states of the church further than might be necessary to the recovery of his just rights.(a) He then took the route of Romagna, and arriving at Cesena passed the river Savio under the walls of that place, without interruption from Lorenzo de' Medici, who was then with a considerable force within the city. The rapidity of his movements anticipated the vigilance of the papal commanders. A few fortresses of little

(a) This letter, which is well written, and may be considered as the manifesto of the duke, has been preserved by Leoni, and may be found in the Appendix, No. CXXXVIII.

XIV.

A. D. 1517.

A. Et. 42.

4. Pont. V.