He married Beatrice, Countess of Provence and Forcalquier, and died on
the 7th of January, 1295. He was invested with the kingdom of Sicily by
Pope Clement IV., who charged him to conquer it, which he did, after a
severe struggle with Manfred and Conradin, the legitimate possessors of
the crown. But his reign was of short duration: the Sicilian Vespers
overthrew his tyranny in 1282, and separated the kingdom of Sicily from
that of Naples.
[202] Charles II., son of Charles I., King of Sicily, was a prisoner in
the hands of the Sicilians at the period of his father’s death in 1285.
He was set at liberty in 1288, in pursuance of a treaty by which he
acknowledged the separation and independence of the two crowns of Naples
and Sicily; but Pope Nicholas IV., by whose influence the treaty was
made, broke it, released Charles from his oath, and authorised him to
begin the war anew. This war, which lasted twenty-four years, occupied
without lustre the whole reign of Charles II. He died on the 5th of May,
1309.
[203] Louis Malet, Lord of Graville, and one of the king’s chamberlains,
was appointed Admiral of France in 1486, and resigned that post in favour
of his son-in-law, Charles d’Amboise, Lord of Chaumont, in 1508. He died
on the 30th of October, 1516, aged seventy-eight years.
[204] The Duke of Lorraine made a written promise to the Duke and Duchess
of Bourbon, dated at Bar, on the 29th of September, 1484, that he would
support the young king.
[205] Louis d’Orleans, son of Charles, Duke of Orleans, and Mary of
Cleves, succeeded to the throne of France in 1498, under the title of
Louis XII. He was born on the 27th of June, 1462; crowned on the 27th
of May, 1498; and died on the 1st of January, 1514. He was the chief
opponent to the Duchess of Bourbon’s claim to the Regency, during the
minority of Charles VIII.
[206] This revolt broke out on the 25th of October, 1485.—SISMONDI, xi.
265.
[207] See note, Vol. I. p. 313.
[208] Gian Battista Cibo, Cardinal of Melfi, was elected Pope on the 29th
of August, 1484, and assumed the title of Innocent VIII. At the time of
his elevation to the supremacy he was about fifty-five years of age, and
had several natural children. He was quite as corrupt as his predecessor,
Sixtus IV., but endued with far less talent and energy. He married his
son, Franceschetto Cibo, to a daughter of Lorenzo de’ Medici; and this
alliance afterwards procured to his posterity the duchy of Massa-Carrara.
In 1489 he gave a cardinal’s hat to Giovanni de’ Medici, afterwards Leo
X. By venality in the distribution of justice, by monopoly, and by the
ignorance and carelessness of his administration, he brought Rome into a
state of poverty and humiliation previously unexampled. He died on the
25th of July, 1492, the most despised, but not the most detested, of the
Popes who had yet filled the chair of St. Peter.
[209] Giuliano della Rovere, Cardinal of St. Peter ad Vincula, and
Bishop of Avignon, was elected Pope on the 1st of November, 1503, under
the title of Julius II. Although violent and irascible, he had a strong
sense of his duty as a pontiff and as an Italian. He was determined
on preserving the States of the Church intact for his successors. He
rejected all nepotism, all aggrandisement of his family; and would have
accused himself of unpardonable weakness if he had suffered others to
usurp what he refused to give his family. With these motives, he made
his tiara a helmet and his crosier a sword. After having driven the
French out of Italy, and restored the Medici at Florence, he died of
an inflammatory disease on the 21st of February, 1513. See his life in
RANKE’S _History of the Popes_, in BOHN’S _Standard Library_.
[210] Peace was concluded on the 11th of August, 1486.
[211] In contempt of his plighted word, Ferdinand ordered the arrest of
the Princes of Altamura and Bisignano, and of several other gentlemen,
who were immediately put to death, and their bodies sewn up in sacks, and
thrown into the sea.—SISMONDI, xi. 278.
[212] Antonio de Sanseverino, Count of Marsico and Prince of Salerno, was
Grand Admiral of Naples in 1477, and died in 1497.
[213] Girolamo de Sanseverino, Count of Tricario and Prince of
Bisignano, was Grand Chamberlain to Ferdinand I. King of Naples. He was
treacherously murdered by order of his sovereign in 1487.
[214] Gian Galeazzo Sforza succeeded to the dukedom of Milan on the
assassination of his father, and died in 1494, at the age of twenty-five.
He was succeeded by his uncle Ludovic the Moor, who was probably the
cause of his death.
[215] Gian Galeazzo Visconti became Lord of Milan in 1378, on the death
of his father Galeazzo. In 1395 he obtained from the Emperor Wenceslaus a
diploma creating him Duke of Milan; and by a subsequent imperial diploma
the boundaries of his duchy were defined, and made to include twenty-five
towns, from Verona and Vicenza on the east to Alessandria and Tortona on
the west. In 1402 he was only waiting for the surrender of Florence to
declare himself King of Italy, when he died suddenly of the plague.
[216] Galeazzo Maria Sforza, son of the eminent Francesco Sforza,
succeeded his father as Duke of Milan in 1466. Ten years afterwards, on
the 26th December, 1476, he was assassinated in a solemn procession, and
in his ducal robes, as he was entering the Church of St. Stefano.
[217] Bona of Savoy assumed the regency of the dukedom on the death of
her husband.
[218] Cecco or Francesco Simoneta was a native of Calabria, whose
integrity and activity had recommended him to the patronage of Duke
Francesco Sforza. He afterwards became prime minister of Duke Galeazzo
Maria. On the 11th of September, 1479, he was arrested and conveyed to
the Castle of Pavia, where he was beheaded on the 30th of October, 1480.
He was brother to Giovanni Simoneta, whose elegant Latin history of the
life of Francesco Sforza is one of the best records of the transactions
of that period.
[219] These were Sforza, Duke of Bari, Ludovic the Moor, Ottaviano, and
Ascanio. Ottaviano soon after perished in attempting to cross the river
Adde.
[220] Ludovico Maria Sforza, surnamed the Moor, was the second son of
Francesco Sforza. He became Duke of Milan on the death of his nephew Gian
Galeazzo Sforza, in 1494; and he died on the 16th of June, 1508.
[221] Roberto di Sanseverino, Count of Cajazzo, and Lieutenant-general of
the armies of Italy.
[222] Antonio Tassini, a Ferrarese, Chamberlain to Galeazzo Maria, Duke
of Milan.
[223] Gian Galeazzo, mentioned in a previous note; and Hermes, who, after
his brother’s death, went to reside in Germany.
[224] They were conveyed to this castle in November, 1480, after the
banishment of Antonio Tassini.
[225] Gian Francesco Pallavicini, one of the young duke’s lieutenants.
[226] Filippo Eustachio of Pavia, who was created a knight by the young
Duke of Milan on Christmas-day in the year 1480.
[227] The young duke was declared of full age on the 7th of
October, 1480; and the duchess left Milan on the 2nd of November
following.—SISMONDI, xi. 174.
[228] He was declared a rebel on the 27th of January, 1482; and in
the month of March following, the Venetians appointed him their
Lieutenant-general.
[229] Galeazzo di Sanseverino married Bianca, a natural daughter of
Ludovico Sforza. He was killed in the battle of Pavia, in February, 1524.
[230] Gian Francesco di Sanseverino, Count of Cajazzo, died on the 7th of
September, 1502. He and his brother entered the service of the Duke of
Milan in 1483.
[231] This was probably written in 1497.
[232] Instead of Sanseverino we should here read Sforza; for Roberto di
Sanseverino’s mother was Lisa Attendolo, a natural daughter of Muzio
Attendolo, the father of Francesco Sforza, Duke of Milan. See note,
Vol. I. p. 52.
[233] Isabella, daughter of Alphonso II., King of Naples. She died in
1524.
[234] Ludovico Terzago, a secretary and relative of Ludovico Sforza, was
sent by him to Pavia, where he was long kept a prisoner, and eventually
starved to death, according to popular rumour.—CORIO p. 880.
[235] A plot against Ludovic was to have broken out on the 7th of
December, 1485; among the conspirators were two brothers of Captain
Eustachio.—CORIO p. 866.
[236] The duchy of Milan was then a fief of the empire.
[237] Beatrice d’Este was married to Ludovico Sforza on the 18th of
January, 1491; and died on the 2nd of January, 1497. She was the daughter
of Hercules d’Este, Duke of Ferrara, who succeeded his brother Borso in
1471.
[238] By a treaty dated on the 7th of August, 1484.—SISMONDI, xi. 243.
[239] Rovigo, the chief town of the Polesina, surrendered to the
Venetians on the 17th of August, 1482.
[240] Badia, a small town to the west of Rovigo, and near the right bank
of the Adige.
[241] Pope Sixtus IV.
[242] The arrival of Charles VIII. in Italy, and his early successes, so
terrified Alphonso, that he abdicated the crown in favour of his son.
[243] Carlo Balbiano, Count of Belgioioso.
[244] Galeazzo Visconti was one of those Milanese nobles who nominated
Ludovic the Moor, Duke of Milan, in 1494, to the prejudice of Francesco
Sforza.
[245] In 1478 the Genoese revolted from Milan, proclaimed their
independence, and elected Baptista Fregosi as their doge; but in 1487
they were again reduced to subjection to the dukes of Milan.
[246] Perron de Bachi, son of Berthol de Bachi, one of the equerries of
Louis, King of Naples.
[247] This treaty was dated at Senlis, on the 23rd of May, 1493. It is
printed at the end of this chapter.
[248] At Frankfort, on the 22nd of July, 1489.
[249] Margaret was then thirteen years old.
[250] Anne, Duchess of Bretagne, was born on the 26th of January, 1476;
in 1490 she was married by proxy to the Archduke Maximilian; but,
preferring Charles VIII., she was married to him on the 6th of December,
1491; she became a widow in April, 1497, and on the 8th of January
following she married Louis XII., her deceased husband’s successor on the
throne of France. She died on the 9th of January, 1574.
[251] It is evident, from contemporary documents, that the emperor was
really making preparations for war with the King of France on account of
this twofold insult to his family.—See DUPONT, iii. 360.
[252] Arras was taken by the Burgundians on the 5th of November, 1492.
They had recovered St. Omer on the 11th of February, 1488.—MOLINET, iii.
447.
[253] These sons were Charles Orlando, born on the 10th of October,
1492, and died on the 6th of December, 1495; Charles, born on the 8th of
September, 1496, and died on the 2nd of October following; and Francis,
who lived only a few days.—ANSELME, i. 125.
[254] John, Infante of Castille, died on the 4th of October, 1497. See
note, Vol. I. p. 394.
[255] Bianca Maria, widow of Philibert I., Duke of Savoy, after twelve
years’ widowhood, married the King of the Romans on the 16th of March,
1494, and died on the 31st of December, 1510.
[256] Muzio Attendolo, surnamed Sforza, was born at Cotignola,
in Romagna, on the 28th of May, 1369. At first distinguished for
prodigious strength of body and undaunted bravery, he soon became
equally distinguished in military tactics, and was one of the greatest
condottieri of the fourteenth century. He died on the 4th of January,
1424.
[257] Bianca Maria Visconti married Francesco Sforza on the 28th of
October, 1441, and died on the 23rd of October, 1469, it is believed of
poison.
[258] Stephen de Vesc and Briçonnet.
[259] The Emperor Bajazet II.
[260] The treaty of peace concluded in 1478 between the Sublime Porte,
Ferdinand of Arragon, and the King of Hungary, enabled Mahomet II. to
concentrate all his forces against the Venetians. The republic in vain
attempted to enter into negociations. Mahomet, certain of the success
of his arms, refused to treat unless Scutari were surrendered to him,
and, without waiting for any answer to this proposition, marched into
Albania. On the 8th of June, 1478, he laid siege to Scutari; and on the
26th of January, 1479, the town and its territory were ceded to him
by the Venetians. This Scutari must not be confounded with the suburb
of Constantinople, which bears the same name: it is a large town, the
capital of a pashalic in Northern Albania.
[261] The title of the Venetians to the kingdom of Cyprus rested on the
following grounds. Catharine Cornaro, the sister of Marco Cornaro, a
Venetian gentleman, had married Jacopo de Lusignan, King of Cyprus, on
condition that the republic of Venice should adopt her as a daughter.
Two years after his marriage, on the 6th of June, 1473, the King of
Cyprus died, leaving his widow pregnant of a son, who died in infancy.
The Venetians thus became guardians of the kingdom, and soon rendered
themselves odious to the Cypriotes, who made several attempts to shake
off their yoke, but in vain. In consequence of these revolts and of a
report that the queen was about to contract a new marriage, the Venetians
resolved to take full possession of Cyprus: they accordingly declared
that, by the decease of the heir to the crown, the queen had inherited
the rights of her son, and that the republic in its turn would succeed to
the rights of the queen, as she was a daughter of St. Mark. This decision
was conveyed to Catherine, with orders that she should come at once to
Venice, and deliver up the reins of government into the hands of the
Venetians. She obeyed; and on the 26th of February, 1489, the standard of
St. Mark floated over the palace of Famagosta and all the fortresses of
the island.—SISMONDI, x. 398.
[262] In return for certain assistance which they promised him, Ferdinand
II. made over the towns of Otranto, Brindisi, Trani, Monopoli, and
Puglinano to the Venetians.—SISMONDI, xii. 386.
[263] He was twenty-four years old at this time.—See note, p. 94.
[264] Roderic Borgia, a native of Valencia in Spain, was elected
Pope under the title of Alexander VI., on the 11th of August, 1492,
and died on the 18th of August, 1502. He was a monster of profligacy
and wickedness, and has been well called by Roscoe “the scourge of
Christendom, and the opprobrium of the human race.”
[265] Asti, a city of Piedmont, about twenty-six miles east of Turin.
Charles VIII. arrived there on Tuesday, the 9th of September, 1494. Suza
is also a Piedmontese town, at the junction of the two routes across the
Alps by Mont Cenis and Geneva.
[266] The king reached Turin on the 5th of September.
[267] Bianca de Montferrat married Charles I. Duke of Savoy, in 1485;
became a widow on the 13th of March, 1489; and died on the 31st of March,
1509.
[268] William VI., Marquis of Montferrat, succeeded his brother, John
IV., in 1464, and died on the 28th of February, 1483.
[269] Casale, a city of Piedmont, on the right bank of the Po,
thirty-eight miles east of Turin.
[270] Mary, daughter of Stephen, despot of Servia, married Boniface IV.,
Marquis of Montferrat, on the 17th of October, 1485; became a widow in
1493; and died in 1495.—See _infrà_, Book VIII. Chap. xvi.
[271] Virgilio Orsini, Count of Tagliacozzo, Lord of Bracciano, and
constable of the kingdom of Naples.
[272] Niccolo Orsini, Count of Nola and Pitigliano.
[273] Gian Giacopo Trivulzio, surnamed the Great, Marquis of Vigevano and
Duke of Musocci. He was afterwards created a marshal of France.
[274] Beraut Stuart, Lord of Aubigny, and a Knight of the Order of St.
Michael, was one of the numerous gentlemen of Scottish descent then in
the service of the King of France. Charles VIII. subsequently created
him Count of Arci, Marquis of Squilazzo, and constable of the kingdom of
Naples. He died in 1504.
[275] Obietto de Fieschi, who died at Verceil on the 25th of August,
1497.—FEDERICI, 78.
[276] La Spezzia, a maritime town in the Sardinian dominions, at the head
of the Bay of Spezzia, in the Gulf of Genoa. Rapalo, another Sardinian
seaport, fifteen miles east of Genoa.
[277] Antoine de Bessey, Baron of Trichastel, and Bailiff of Dijon.
[278] Giovanni Ludovico de Fieschi, brother of Obietto.
[279] Giovanni Adorni, brother of Agostino, at that time Governor of
Genoa.—GUICCIARDINI, i. 164.
[280] Giovanni Fregosi, natural son of Cardinal Paolo Fregosi.
[281] Paolo Fregosi, Archbishop of Genoa, filled the office of doge of
that city several times between the years 1462 and 1488; he was created a
cardinal by Pope Sixtus IV. in 1480, and died on the 2nd of March, 1498.
[282] Gentile Becchi, the tutor of the sons of Cosmo de Medici, was
appointed Bishop of Arezzo on the 21st of October, 1473, and died in 1497.
[283] Piero Soderini was appointed Gonfalonier of Florence in 1502, and
died on the 13th of June, 1522.
[284] Thomas Portinari was agent to Lorenzo de Medici at Bruges, where he
kept a bank.—SISMONDI, xi. 80. He is often mentioned in Rymer as having
money transactions with Edward IV.
[285] See Book VI. Chap. iv. The allusion here is manifestly to the
conspiracy of the Pazzi.
[286] Pietro de Gino Capponi, created Gonfalonier of Florence in
1493.—GAMURRINI, ii. 471.
[287] The treaty was made in March, 1480.—SISMONDI, xi. 185.
[288] The Emperor Bajazet.
[289] As the descendant of Louis, Duke of Orleans, who had married
Valentina, daughter of Gian Galeazzo, Duke of Milan, during the reign of
Charles VI.
[290] Charles VIII. entered Pavia on the 14th of October, 1494.
[291] The king arrived in Piacenza on the 18th of October.
[292] The Duke of Milan died on the 22nd of October.
[293] Forli, the chief town of the Legazione di Forli, a province of the
Papal States.
[294] Catherine Sforza, equally celebrated for her courage and her
beauty. See Notes, Book VI. Chap. iv.
[295] Mordano, in the county of Imola, all the inhabitants of which were
put to the sword.—SISMONDI, xii. 163.
[296] Cesena, a pretty town in the province of Forli, near the foot of
the Apennines.
[297] The Guelphs and the Ghibellines were two factions that began in
Italy in the reign of the Emperor Frederic II. The former espoused the
pope’s interest, and the latter that of the emperor.
[298] On the 9th of November, 1494.
[299] In 1399.
[300] The Florentines became masters of Pisa on the 9th of October, 1406.
[301] The Venetians conquered Padua on the 17th of November, 1405.
[302] Jean Rabot, knight, Lord of Uppi, and a man of great influence with
Charles VIII.
[303] In 1496.
[304] The king remained six days in Pisa, and entered Florence on the
17th of November, 1494.
[305] Giacopo de Nerli, gonfalonier of one of the city
companies.—SISMONDI, xii. 147.
[306] Paolo Orsini, Marquis of Tripalda, and Lord of Lomentana; he was
strangled, by order of Cæsar Borgia, on the 18th of January, 1503. His
sister, Clarissa Orsini, was the mother of Pietro de’ Medici.
[307] Paolo Antonio Soderini, born in 1448, was appointed one of the
Council of Ten in 1494, and Gonfalonier of Justice in 1497. He was
afterwards sent as ambassador to Venice, with Giambattista Ridolfi as his
colleague.
[308] Cosmo de Medici had greatly encouraged and assisted his friend
Francesco Sforza in subjugating Milan and its territory, saying “it
was far better to have a powerful friend for one’s neighbour than a
formidable foe.”—See MACHIAVELLI’S _History of Florence_, p. 284.
[309] The unicorn’s horn was highly valued in the middle ages, because
it was believed to possess the power of detecting poison in meat and
drink. Cuvier is of opinion that the animal whose horn was supposed to be
endowed with this precious quality was the _Oryx_, or Egyptian antelope,
which is remarkable for its long, straight, and tapering horns.
[310] This treaty was published in the Cathedral of Florence during the
celebration of mass on the 26th of November, 1494. It was at one time
very near being broken off; for Charles at first insisted on conditions
disgraceful to the Florentines, which his secretary read as his
ultimatum. But the gonfalonier Pietro Capponi suddenly snatched the paper
from the secretary’s hand, and, tearing it up, exclaimed, “Well, if it be
thus, sound your trumpets, and we will ring our bells!” This energetic
movement daunted the French king, who at once abated his pretensions, and
peace was concluded.—SISMONDI, xii. 168.
[311] Charles VIII. entered Siena on the 2nd of December, and reached
Viterbo on the 10th of the same month.
[312] Charles, Count of Auguillara, a natural son of Virgilio Orsini.
[313] Cardinal Julian della Rovere surrendered Ostia to the Papal troops
on the 23rd of April, 1494, and fled into France.—SISMONDI, xii. 116.
[314] Ascanio Sforza, born on the 3rd of March, 1445, was appointed
Bishop of Pavia in 1479, and elected cardinal on the 6th of March, 1484.
Having taken an active part in the election of Alexander VI. to the
Popedom, he was appointed vice-chancellor by that pontiff; and he died at
Rome on the 28th of March, 1505.
[315] The families of Luz and Grammont were celebrated in Navarre for
their long-continued rivalry. The Houcs and Caballans were two factions
which arose in the Netherlands about the middle of the fourteenth century.
[316] The Colonne became enemies to the French in 1495.
[317] Louis de Villeneuve, Lord of Serenon, and Marquis of Trans, in
Provence.
[318] Louis de Luxembourg, Prince of Altramura, Duke of Andria and
Venusia, Count of Ligny, and Governor of Picardy; afterwards Lord High
Chamberlain to Louis XII.
[319] Yves, Baron of Alegre, and captain of the hundred gentlemen of the
king’s household.
[320] Prospero Colonna, Duke of Traetta, and Count of Fondi; Fabrizio
Colonna, Duke of Pagliano and Tagliacozzo, Constable of Naples, and
cousin-german to Prospero; Giovanni Colonna, brother of Prospero, created
a cardinal on the 15th of May, 1480.—IMHOFF, 218, 219, 222.
[321] Genzano, a town in the Papal States.—SISMONDI, xii. 182.
[322] Louis II., Lord of La Tremouille, Viscount of Thouars, and Prince
of Talmont, surnamed the _Chevalier sans reproche_; created Governor
of Burgundy and Admiral of Guienne in 1502; and killed in the battle
of Pavia, on the 24th of February, 1524. The estates of this nobleman
had been conferred on Commines by Louis XI., and a full account of the
law-suits which arose from this gift will be found in the “Life of
Commines,” prefixed to the first volume of this edition of his Memoirs.
[323] Jean de Ganay, Lord of Persan, appointed Fourth President of the
Parliament of Paris in 1490, First President in 1505, and Chancellor of
France in 1507. He died at Blois in 1512.—ANSELME, vi. 442.
[324] Denis Bidault, notary and secretary of the king, was appointed
Receiver-General of the Finances in 1481, and President-Clerk of the
Chamber of Accounts in Paris in 1495. He died on the 18th of June, 1506.
[325] Rodolph, son of Ludovic III., Duke of Mantua; born in 1451, and
killed in the battle of Fornovo, on the 6th of July, 1495.
[326] Galeotto Pic de la Mirandola, brother-in-law of Rodolph of Mantua.
[327] Gasparo, surnamed Fracasso de Sanseverino, son of Robert Count of
Cajazzo.
[328] Nepi, or Nepete, a small town about twenty-six miles from Rome.
[329] Charles VIII entered Rome on the 31st of December, 1494.
[330] Marino de Marzano, Prince of Rossano, and Duke of Sessa, who had
married Eleanor, a natural daughter of Alphonso I, King of Naples, sided
with John, Duke of Anjou, in 1459, against his brother-in-law, Ferdinand
I, whom the Duke of Anjou was striving to deprive of the crown of Naples.
He was declared a rebel in 1460, but made his peace in 1462, on condition
that his son should marry Ferdinand’s daughter. Regardless of his oath,
however, Ferdinand imprisoned Marino in the castle of Naples in 1464; and
after twenty-two years’ captivity he was put to a violent death in 1486.
[331] Giambattista de Marzano, son of the preceding, was born in 1459,
and betrothed to Beatrice, the daughter of Ferdinand I., in 1462; but
Ferdinand broke off the match, and married his daughter to Matthias, King
of Hungary. In 1464 Marzano was sent to join his father in prison, and
remained a captive until the arrival of Charles VIII. at Naples in 1495,
when he was liberated by Ferdinand II.
[332] Pietro Giovanni Paolo Cantelini, Duke of Sora, and Count of Popoli,
was one of the barons who revolted from Ferdinand in favour of the
Duke of Anjou, and was forced to surrender when the duke abandoned his
pretensions to the kingdom of Naples. According to some authorities, he
succeeded in making his escape, and baffling the vengeance of Ferdinand.
[333] Jacopo Piccinino, a celebrated condottiere, served the Duke of
Anjou against Ferdinand, who afterwards appeared to have forgotten the
offence, for he gave him the command of the armies of his kingdom, and
the principality of Sulmona, and other estates. After his marriage to
Drusiana, a natural daughter of Francesco Sforza, Ferdinand invited
Piccinino to return to Naples, which he did, in the capacity of an
ambassador from the Duke of Milan. Ferdinand entertained him nobly for
twenty-seven days, at the end of which he ordered him to be arrested,
thrown into a dungeon, and put to death.—SISMONDI, x. 267.
[334] _Bracceschi_, the partisans of Braccio de Montone, a celebrated
condottiere captain, long the rival in renown of Sforza Attendolo.
[335] Niccolo Piccinino was the favourite pupil of Braccio, and succeeded
to the command of his party at his death.
[336] Ferdinand I. died in 1494; Alphonso II. in 1495; and Ferdinand II.
in 1496. See previous notes.
[337] Alphonso V., surnamed the Wise, King of Arragon, who inherited the
throne of Naples from Queen Joanna in 1420, and left it to his bastard
son.
[338] Lenglet says it was a book written by St. Cotade, Bishop of
Tarentum.
[339] Camillo Pandone, Viceroy of Apulia daring the reign of Ferdinand
II.; killed in an encounter with the French in 1495.
[340] On the 25th of January, 1494.
[341] Joanna, daughter of John II., King of Arragon, was married to
Ferdinand I., King of Naples, in 1476, and died on the 9th of January,
1517.
[342] Mazzara, a large town on the sea-coast, in the province of
Trapani.—GUAZZO, 80.
[343] He was crowned King of Naples in 1495. He reigned but six or seven
years before he was dethroned; after which he retired into France, where
he died.
[344] San Germano, fifteen miles from the frontier of Naples.
[345] The Garigliano.
[346] Raimond Perauld, a native of Surgères in Saintonge, became
successively Bishop of Saintes, and Bishop of Gurce, in Germany; he was
made a cardinal by Pope Alexander VI. in 1494, and died at Viterbo on the
5th of November, 1505.—AUBERY, ii. 629.
[347] Jean de Vilhères, Bishop of Lombez, and Abbot of St. Denis,
was created a cardinal in 1493, and died on the 6th of August,
1499.—DESCAUSSET, 145.
[348] Federigo de Sanseverino, fourth son of Robert Count of Cajazzo, was
made a cardinal in 1489, and died on the 7th of August, 1516.—AUBERY, ii.
600.
[349] Giambattista Savelli, a noble Roman, was made a cardinal on the
15th of May, 1480, and died on the 18th of September, 1498.—AUBERY, ii.
518.
[350] Dated on the 15th of January, 1495.
[351] Zizim. See note, p. 67. of this volume.
[352] Cæsar Borgia, a natural son of Pope Alexander VI., was created a
cardinal on the 20th of September, 1493. He resigned his hat in 1498,
in the hope of making a great marriage; and received the titles of Duke
of Romagna in Italy, and Valentinois in France. He died on the 12th of
March, 1507, having crowded into a comparatively short life all the worst
crimes of which human nature is capable.
[353] Philippe de Luxembourg, Bishop of Térouenne and Mans, was created a
cardinal on the 27th of January, 1497, and died on the 2nd of June, 1519.
[354] On the 28th of January, 1495.
[355] The Duke of Milan.
[356] On the 11th of February, 1495.
[357] Alfonso de Avalos, Marquis of Pescara, and Lord Chamberlain to
Ferdinand I., King of Naples.
[358] Louis D’Armagnac, Duke of Nemours and Count of Guise, afterwards
appointed Viceroy of Naples; killed in the battle of Cerignola, on the
28th of April, 1503.—ANSELME, iii. 429.
[359] John, Lord of Rieux and Rochefort, Count of Harcourt, and Marshal
of Bretagne, born on the 27th of June, 1447, and died on the 9th of
February, 1518.
[360] On the 14th of February, 1495.
[361] On the 19th of February, 1495.
[362] On Sunday, the 22nd of February, 1495.
[363] François d’Alegre, Count of Joigny, Baron of Viteaux, and Lord of
Precy, was Grand Master of the Woods and Forests of France in 1498.
[364] Trojanus Caracciolo, in whose favour the dukedom of Melfi was
erected into a principality.
[365] Francesco Orsini, Duke of Gravina, strangled, by order of Cæsar
Borgia, on the 18th of January, 1503.—SISMONDI, xiii. 182.
[366] Giovanni della Rovere, Duke of Sora and Acri, and Prefect of Rome,
died in 1501.
[367] The Caldoreschi, or members of the Caldora family.
[368] Probably Poggio Reale, a palace near Naples, which Charles VIII.
frequently visited.
[369] Avlona, or Valona, a town in Albania, situated on the headland
known as Cape Linguetta, in the Adriatic Sea.
[370] Paolo Angelo, Archbishop of Durazzo, a native of Drivasto in
Albania, and a friend and councillor of Scanderbeg.—HAMMER, iii. 123.
[371] George Castriota, surnamed Iskender-beg, or the Lord Alexander, was
an Albanian prince, celebrated for his heroic warfare against the Turks.
He was born in 1404, and died in 1467. His death was soon followed by the
entire submission of Albania to the Turkish yoke.
[372] Probably Thomas Palæologus, son of the Emperor Manuel, and brother
of Constantine Dragases, the last Emperor of Constantinople.
[373] Constantine Aranito, of the family of the Comneni, and uncle to
Mary Duchess of Montferrat.
[374] George, son of Stracimer Balch, Prince of Scutari, gave that town
to the Venetians in 1394.—MURATORI, xxii. 762.
[375] Croia, in Albania, was given to the Venetians by Scanderbeg, and
surrendered to Mahomet II. on the 15th of June, 1478. Scutari was ceded
by treaty on the 26th of January, 1479.—HAMMER, iii. 227.
[376] Small vessels corresponding with our modern brigantines.
[377] The Podestà was the civil governor of the town; the captain the
military commandant.
[378] The Brenta.
[379] Agostino Barberigo, elected Doge on the 30th of August, 1486, held
the office for fifteen years.
[380] In 1496 Ferdinand II. gave the towns of Otranto, Brindisi, Trani,
Monopoli, and Pulignano to the Venetians as security for a debt of
200,000 ducats which he owed them. But all the Venetian possessions in
the kingdom of Naples were restored to Ferdinand the Catholic in 1509.
[381] The king left Asti on the 6th of October, 1494.
[382] Ulrich von Lichtenstein, Bishop of Trent, who died on the 16th of
September, 1505.
[383] Lorenzo Suarez de Mendoza y Figueroa.—SISMONDI, xii. 266.
[384] Antonio Trivulzio, created a cardinal in 1500, died on the 18th of
March, 1508.—IMHOFF, 86.
[385] Francesco Bernardo Visconti, elected a ducal councillor in 1484.
[386] On the 13th of March, 1495.
[387] On the 31st of March, 1495.—SISMONDI, xii. 270.
[388] A sort of vessels with sails and oars, much used in the
Mediterranean.
[389] Gilbert de Bourbon, Count of Montpensier, Archduke of Sessa, and
Viceroy of Naples. He died at Pozzuolo on the 5th of October, 1496.
[390] Antoine de Ville, Lord of Domjulien, and Duke of Sant’ Angelo in
the kingdom of Naples, died at Naples in 1504.
[391] Gabriel de Montfaucon, knight, Bailiff of Meaux, councillor
and chamberlain to the King of France, and lieutenant of the hundred
gentlemen-at-arms of the royal household.
[392] Guillaume de Villeneufve, knight, councillor and steward to King
Charles VIII., has left an account of his master’s wars in Italy,
in which he states that, being left with forty men to guard Trani,
thirty-two of his party were suborned by Don Frederic to deliver up the
castle. Villeneufve was kept four months in the galleys; after which he
was confined for eight months in the Castel Nuovo at Naples, and released
on the 7th of August, 1496.
[393] George de Sully, Lord of Cors and Romefort.
[394] Claude de Lenoncourt, Lord of Harouel, and Bailiff of Vitry from
1483 to 1497.
[395] Garcin d’Aguerre, Lord of Aubenton.
[396] He left Naples on the 20th of May, 1495, and entered Rome on the
1st of June following.
[397] The king reached Sienna on Saturday, the 13th of June, 1495.
[398] It is so in all the French copies; but certainly it should be Mont
Vieil, in Italian Monte Vecchio, which is a certain treasure set apart by
the Venetians for the payment of interest due to the ancient creditors of
their republic, as appears by the book of Donato Gianotti.
[399] Gaucher de Dinteville, Lord of Chenets, and Bailiff of Troyes.
[400] He entered Pisa on Saturday, June 20. 1495.
[401] Girolamo Savonarola, a Dominican monk of Ferrara, arrived on
foot at Florence in the year 1489, and lodged in the convent of St.
Mark. He began immediately to preach there, from profound conviction
on his own part, and with a talent equal to his energy, against the
scandalous abuses which had been introduced into the Church of Rome, and
against the criminal usurpations in the State, which had deprived the
citizens of their just rights. On the expulsion of Piero de’ Medici,
in 1494, he became the leader of the democratic party, which was for a
time successful. Savonarola’s influence was now very great; for he was
looked upon by his party as a kind of prophet and supreme judge. But
the opposition were not idle; they represented him to the people as an
impostor, and accused him of heresy at Rome. Pope Alexander VI. summoned
him to appear before him, and, in default, excommunicated him. After
a long contest, in the course of which Savonarola completely lost his
credit with the populace, a party of his enemies entered the convent
of St. Mark by force, and dragged him to prison. He was tried before a
mixed lay and ecclesiastical commission appointed by Alexander VI., and
condemned to death. On the 23rd of May, 1498, he was burnt alive in the
public square of Florence.
[402] Jean François de Cardonne, councillor and Chief Steward to King
Charles VIII.
[403] Charles Orlando, born on the 10th of October, 1492, and died on the
6th of December, 1495.
[404] Elsewhere called the General Brissonet.
[405] Louis de Salazar, Lord of Asnoi.
[406] Robert de Balsac, Lord of Entragues.
[407] Antoine de Luxembourg, Bastard of Brienne, son of Antoine de
Luxembourg, Count of Roussy, and nephew of the Count de Ligny.
[408] Novara opened its gates to the Duke of Orleans on the 11th of June,
1495.
[409] John de Polignac, Lord of Beaumont and Randan. He married Jeanne de
Chambes, eldest sister of Helene de Chambes, wife of Philip de Commines.
[410] Hugh d’Amboise, Baron of Aubijoux, brother to the famous Cardinal
George d’Amboise. He was killed in the battle of Marignan, in 1515.
[411] Mortara and Correano.—GUAZZO, 160.
[412] Candes, a small town in the Department of Indre-et-Loire.
[413] See Chapter V., p. 196.
[414] Spanish light horse, so called from the _jennets_ which they
rode.—See BRANTÔME, i. 213.
[415] Florimont Robertet, a native of Montbrison, was Secretary of State
under Kings Charles VIII., Louis XII., and Francis I.
[416] Bernardino de Montone, a Venetian condottiere, and grandson of the
celebrated Braccio de Montone.
[417] Bourdonnasses were hollow lances, curiously painted, and used in
Italy by the men-at-arms, in tournaments.
[418] Annibale de Bentivoglio, who had been created Gonfalonier of
Justice on the 1st of November, 1489.
[419] “The French,” says Mr. Prescott, “in artillery, were at this time
in advance of the Italians, perhaps of every nation in Europe. The
Italians, indeed, were so exceedingly defective in this department that
their best field-pieces consisted of small copper tubes covered with
wood and hides. They were mounted on unwieldy carriages drawn by oxen,
and followed by waggons loaded with stone balls. These guns were worked
so awkwardly, that the besieged, says Guicciardini, had time between
the discharges to repair the mischief inflicted by them.... The French,
on the other hand, were provided with a beautiful train of ordnance,
consisting of bronze cannon about eight feet in length, and many
smaller pieces. They were lightly mounted, drawn by horses, and easily
kept pace with the rapid movements of the army. They discharged iron
balls, and were served with admirable skill, intimidating their enemies
by the rapidity and accuracy of their fire, and easily demolishing
their fortifications, which were constructed with little strength or
science.”—_History of Ferdinand and Isabella_, vol. ii. p. 259.
[420] The Swiss mercenaries were the finest infantry of that age, and, by
their defeat of the Burgundian chivalry at Granson and Morat, had fully
demonstrated the superiority of infantry in battle. Their organisation is
thus described by Mr. Prescott: “The Swiss were formed into battalions,
varying from 3000 to 8000 men each. They wore little defensive armour,
and their principal weapon was the pike, eighteen feet long. Formed
into these solid battalions, which, bristling with spears all around,
received the technical appellation of the _hedgehog_, they presented an
invulnerable front on every quarter. In the level field, with free scope
allowed for action, they bore down all opposition, and received unshaken
the most desperate charges of the steel-clad cavalry on their terrible
array of pikes. They were too unwieldy, however, for rapid or complicated
manœuvres; and they were easily disconcerted by any unforeseen impediment
or irregularity of the ground.”—_History of Ferdinand and Isabella_, vol.
ii. p. 258.
[421] Engilbert de Cleves, Count of Auxerre, and afterwards Count of
Nevers and Eu, became a naturalised Frenchman in 1486, married Charlotte
de Bourbon, and died on the 21st of November, 1506.
[422] Louis de Menton, Lord of Lornay, captain of the king’s hundred
Swiss guards, and Master of the Horse to the Queen.
[423] Matthew, surnamed the Great Bastard of Bourbon, was a natural son
of John II., Duke of Bourbon. On his return from Italy he was created
Admiral and Governor of Guienne and Picardy; and he died in 1505.
[424] Philippe du Moulin, Knight, is mentioned as one of the members of
the king’s council.
[425] Robinet de Framezelles was lieutenant to the Duke of Orleans at the
capture of Novara in 1495.
[426] Part of the king’s guard, who received _twenty crowns_ a month,
whence the name.
[427] See Book VI. Chap. 5. for an account of this battle.
[428] Gabriel de la Boudinière.—DUPONT, ii. 478.
[429] This is not Reggio in Calabria, but another city of the same name
in the dukedom of Modena, fifteen miles from Parma.
[430] Gasparo, surnamed Fracasso de San Severino.
[431] Generally known as Nice. Charles VIII. arrived there on Monday,
July 13. 1495.
[432] Charles VIII. arrived at Turin, on Thursday, July 30. 1495.
[433] Louis Aleman, Knight, Lord of Arbent and Mornay, was long in the
service of Charles, Duke of Burgundy; but having sold the Castle of Jou,
of which he was governor, to Louis XI. for 14,000 crowns, he transferred
his allegiance to the French King, from whom he received considerable
preferment. Guicciardini speaks of him as “uomo bellicoso ma non
esperimentato.”
[434] Ponza, a rocky island off the coast of Naples, 35 miles south-west
of Gaeta.
[435] Porto-Longone, near Piombino.
[436] Charles John Amadeus, born on the 24th of June, 1488, succeeded his
father in 1489, and died on the 16th of April, 1496.
[437] Robert de la Marck, Duke of Bouillon, and Lord of Sedan.
[438] Jacques de Hangest, Lord of Genlis, and councillor and chamberlain
to the king. After his deliverance from Naples, he went on a pilgrimage
to Jerusalem, and on his return he was sent on an embassy to Charles,
Archduke of Austria, in 1514.
[439] Ferdinand re-entered Naples on the 7th of July, 1495. The story
of his recovery of his capital is thus told by Mr. Prescott:—“King
Ferdinand, having gained new confidence from his experience of the
favourable dispositions existing towards him in Calabria, and relying
on a similar feeling of loyalty in his capital, determined to hazard a
bold stroke for its recovery. He accordingly embarked at Messina, with
a handful of troops only, on board the fleet of the Spanish admiral,
Requesens. It amounted in all to eighty vessels, most of them of
inconsiderable size. With this armament, which, notwithstanding its
formidable show, carried little effective force for land operations,
the adventurous young monarch appeared off the harbour of Naples before
the end of June, 1495. The Duke of Montpensier at that time garrisoned
Naples with 6000 French troops. On the appearance of the Spanish navy,
he marched out to prevent Ferdinand’s landing, leaving a few only of
his soldiers to keep the city in awe. But he had scarcely quitted it
before the inhabitants, who had waited with impatience an opportunity
for throwing off the yoke, sounded the tocsin, and rising in arms
through every part of the city, and massacring the feeble remains of the
garrison, shut the gates against him; while Ferdinand, who had succeeded
in drawing off the French commander in another direction, no sooner
presented himself before the walls, than he was received with transports
of joy by the enthusiastic people.
“The French, however, though excluded from the city, by making a circuit
effected an entrance into the fortresses which commanded it. From these
posts Montpensier sorely annoyed the town, making frequent attacks on it,
day and night, at the head of his gendarmerie, until they were at length
checked in every direction by barricades, which the citizens hastily
constructed with waggons, casks of stones, bags of sand, and whatever
came most readily to hand. At the same time the windows, balconies, and
house-tops were crowded with combatants, who poured down such a deadly
shower of missiles on the heads of the French as finally compelled them
to take shelter in their defences. Montpensier was now closely besieged,
till at length reduced by famine, he was compelled to capitulate.
Before the time prescribed for his surrender had arrived, however, he
effected his escape at night, by water, to Salerno, at the head of
twenty-five hundred men. The remaining garrison, with the fortresses,
submitted to the victorious Ferdinand, at the beginning of the following
year.”—_History of Ferdinand and Isabella_, vol. ii. pp. 288-290.
[440] Chieri, a pleasant little Sardinian town, about eight miles
south-east of Turin.
[441] Called by Molinet (iii. 438.) “George Obestain, a native of Trent,
in Germany.” It seems probable that he was a member of the Styrian
family of Herberstein, one of whom greatly distinguished himself in the
wars against the Turks, in 1509. The Landsknechts were the heavy German
infantry.
[442] Vercelli is sixteen miles south-west of Novara.
[443] George d’Amboise, afterwards a cardinal, and chief minister of
state to Louis XII. from 1498 to 1509. He died at Lyons, on the 25th of
May, 1510.
[444] The Cardinal of St. Malo, and the Archbishop of Rouen.
[445] By his wife, Gabrielle de Bourbon, who was a daughter of the Count
de Montpensier.
[446] François de Bourbon, Count of Vendôme, born in 1470, died on the
3rd of October, 1495.
[447] Albertino Boschetto.—GUAZZO, p. 218.
[448] According to Guicciardini (i. 336.) his name was Bernardo Contarino.
[449] This is the Herberstein mentioned in a previous note, whose name is
thus Italianised by Guicciardini also.
[450] Louis de Rohan, Lord of Montauban and Remefort.
[451] Jacques de Vendôme, Prince of Chabanois, and Vidame of Chartres.
[452] Dated at Vercelli, on the 10th of October, 1495.
[453] By a treaty made with them in 1474.—LENGLET, iii. 369.
[454] The king arrived at Trino on Sunday, the 11th of October, 1495.
[455] Bobbio, the chief town of the province of that name in the
Sardinian territories.
[456] Charles VIII. refused to consent to this proposition, regarding
such precautions as an insult to his honour.—GUICCIARDINI, i. 350.
[457] The king arrived at Chieri on Sunday, the 18th of October, 1495.
[458] Tarento surrendered to Frederic King of Naples, in 1496.
[459] Rigault Doreille, Knight, Lord of Villeneuve, was steward in
ordinary to Louis XI. and Charles VIII. He was appointed Bailiff of
Chartres in 1496, and died on the 15th of September, 1517.
[460] The king started from Grenoble on the 13th of August, 1494, and
arrived in that town on his return, on the 27th of October, 1495.
[461] He died on the 6th of December, 1495.
[462] He was born on the 27th of June, 1462.
[463] The Praguerie. See Book VI. chap. 12.
[464] See Book I. chap. 10.
[465] The reference is here to Boccaccio’s treatise, “De Casibus virorum
et fœminarum illustrium,” of which two French translations existed at the
time when Commines wrote.
[466] See Book VIII. Chap. 15.
[467] See Book VII. Chap. 11.
[468] The Bastard of Roussi, one of the lieutenants of the Lord
d’Entragues, sold Sarzana to the Luccese for 30,000 florins.—SISMONDI,
xii. 379.
[469] For twenty four thousand florins.—SISMONDI, xii. 379.
[470] Clara de Gonzaga.
[471] The Venetians were forced to surrender all these towns to Ferdinand
the Catholic in 1509, after the bloody battle of Agradel, which utterly
broke their power.
[472] Atella, a town of the kingdom of Naples, lies intrenched among the
Apennines, on the western border of the Basilicate. It is situated in a
broad valley encompassed by a lofty amphitheatre of hill, through which
flows a little river, tributary to the Ofanto, and watering the town.
[473] Du Bos similarly discriminates between the character of the German
_Landsknechts_ and the Swiss. He says: “The Lansquenets were, generally
speaking, much better made men, and much better looking in their armour,
than the Swiss infantry; but they were incapable of discipline. Unlike
the Swiss, they paid no obedience to their commanders, and had no
friendship for their comrades.”—LIGUE DE CAMBRAY, vol. i. p. 66.
[474] The capitulation was signed at Atella on the 21st of July, 1496.
The terms were soon arranged with the King of Naples, who had no desire
but to rid his country of the invaders. It was agreed that if the French
commander did not receive assistance in thirty days, he should evacuate
Atella, and cause every place holding under him in the kingdom of Naples,
with all its artillery, to be surrendered to King Ferdinand, and that,
on these conditions, his soldiers should be furnished with vessels to
transport them back to France; that the foreign mercenaries should be
permitted to return to their own homes; and that a general amnesty should
be extended to such Neapolitans as returned to their allegiance in
fifteen days. The reproach which Commines casts on the authors of this
treaty is certainly unmerited, and comes with an ill grace from a court
which was wasting in riotous indulgence the very resources indispensable
to the brave and loyal subjects who were endeavouring to maintain its
honour in a foreign land.
[475] In the eleventh book of his history.
[476] Gian Giordano Orsini, Lord of Bracciano.
[477] Carlo Orsini, Count of Anguillara.
[478] The misfortunes of the French, after the surrender of Atella, are
thus described by Mr. Prescott: “Unfortunately Montpensier was unable to
enforce the full performance of his own treaty: as many of the French
refused to deliver up the places entrusted to them, under the pretence
that their authority was derived not from the viceroy but from the king
himself. During the discussion of this point, the French troops were
removed to Baiæ and Pozzuolo and the adjacent places on the coast. The
unhealthiness of the situation, together with that of the autumnal
season and an intemperate indulgence in fruit and wine, soon brought on
an epidemic among the soldiers, which swept them off in great numbers.
The gallant Montpensier was one of the first victims. He refused the
earnest solicitations of his brother-in-law, the Marquis of Mantua, to
quit his unfortunate companions, and retire to a place of safety in the
interior. The shore was literally strewed with the bodies of the dying
and the dead. Of the whole number of Frenchmen, amounting to not less
than five thousand, who marched out of Atella, not more than five hundred
ever reached their native country. The Swiss and other mercenaries were
scarcely more fortunate. ‘They made their way back as they could, through
Italy,’ says Giovio, ‘in the most deplorable state of destitution and
suffering; the gaze of all, and a sad example of the caprice of fortune.’
Such was the miserable fate of that brilliant and formidable army which,
scarcely two years before, had poured down on the fair fields of Italy
in all the insolence of expected conquest.”—_History of Ferdinand and
Isabella_, vol. ii. p. 300.
[479] Ferdinand died on the 7th of September, 1496, in the twenty-eighth
year of his age, and second of his reign. He was the fifth monarch who,
in the brief compass of three years, had sat on the disastrous throne of
Naples.
[480] See Book VII. Chap. 3.
[481] Giovanni della Rovere, Duke of Sora. See Book VII. Chap. 16.
[482] Baptista Fregosi was raised to the dignity of Doge of Genoa in
1478. Under the pretext that he was plotting the subjection of Genoa to
the Emperor, his uncle, Cardinal Fregosi, in concert with Lazaro Doria,
arrested him, and procured his banishment, in 1483.—SISMONDI, xi. 287.
[483] Louis Malet. See Book VII. Chap. 1.
[484] Virgil was of this opinion, as appears by the following lines:—
“Ast, ubi digressum Siculæ te admoverit oræ
Ventus, et angusti rarescent lustra pelori;
Læva tibi tellus, et longo læva petantur
Æquora circuitu: dextrum fuge littus et undas
Hæc loca, vi quondam et vasta convulsa ruina
(Tantum ævi longinqua valet mutare vetustas)
Dissiluisse ferunt: cum protinus utraque tellus
Una foret, venit medio vi pontus, et undis
Hesperium Siculo latus abscidit: arvaque et urbes
Littore diductas, angusto interluit æstu.”
VIRG. _Æneid._ III. 410-419.
[485] Guichard d’Albon, Lord of Saint-André and Oulches, was
lieutenant-general for the king in Languedoc in the year 1496, and became
Bailiff of Montferrand in 1498.
[486] Salces, a village in the department of the Pyrenées Orientales,
and formerly the key of Roussillon. The strong castle of Salces was
garrisoned by the Spaniards in July, 1495, and from it they made frequent
incursions upon the territories of Narbonne and Carcassonne during the
ensuing winter.
[487] On Friday, the 8th of October, 1496.
[488] Don Diego de Azevedo.
[489] Guillaume de Poitiers, Lord of Clerieu, and titular Marquis of
Cotron in Calabria.
[490] “The Spanish writers,” says Mr. Prescott, “impute the first
suggestion of this project for the conquest and division of the kingdom
of Naples by the combined powers of France and Spain, to the French,
who, they say, went so far as to specify the details of the partition
subsequently adopted; according to which the two Calabrias were assigned
to Spain. However this may be, there is little doubt that Ferdinand had
long entertained the idea of asserting his claim at some time or other to
the crown of Naples. The accession of Frederic, in particular, had given
great umbrage to the Spanish monarch; and the Castilian envoy, Garcilasso
de la Vega, agreeably to the instructions of his court, urged Alexander
the Sixth to withhold the investiture of the kingdom from Frederic, but
unavailingly, as the Pope’s interests were too closely connected by
marriage with those of the royal family of Naples.”—_History of Ferdinand
and Isabella_, vol. ii. p. 311.
[491] This truce was signed on the 5th of March, 1497, and was to last
until the end of October in that year.—SISMONDI, xii. 444.
[492] Arthur, son of King Henry VII. of England, was born on the 20th
of September, 1486, and married to Catherine of Arragon on the 12th of
November, 1501. But a few months after his marriage the young prince
sickened and died, and his widow was contracted to his brother Henry,
afterwards Henry VIII.
[493] Alphonso, son of John II., King of Portugal, was born on the 18th
of May, 1475, and married to Isabella of Castile in 1490. He died of a
fall from his horse in the following year, and his widow married Emanuel,
his successor on the throne.
[494] This was the Infanta Maria, who married her brother-in-law, Emanuel
of Portugal, after the death of her sister Isabella. The fourth daughter
of Ferdinand and Isabella was named Juana, and married Philip, Archduke
of Austria, in 1496.
[495] On the 4th of October, 1497, in the twentieth year of his age.
[496] Maximilian I., afterwards emperor.
[497] Philip I., Archduke of Austria.
[498] Alexander VI.
[499] Emanuel, surnamed the Fortunate, was the son of Ferdinand, Duke of
Viseo. He succeeded his cousin, John II., on the throne of Portugal in
1495, and died on the 13th of December, 1521.
[500] This is a mistake. Eleanor of Portugal was the daughter of
Ferdinand, Duke of Viseo; but it was Ferdinand, Duke of Braganza, who was
beheaded by order of John II. in 1483, on the charge of having revealed
secrets of state.
[501] James of Portugal, Duke of Viseo, having conspired against John II.
was stabbed by him on the 23rd of August, 1484.
[502] George, son of John II. and Anne de Mendoza. His father wished
to legitimate him in order to leave him the crown; but the Pope
interposed, at the request of Queen Eleanor, and George was made Duke of
Aveiro.—ANSELME, i. 668.
[503] This child, whose birth had cost so dear, was born on the 23rd
of August, 1498, and received the name of Miguel, in honour of the
saint on whose day he first saw the light. He died on the 19th of July,
1500.—ANSELME, i. 602.
[504] Jean de Rely, a native of Arras, was made Bishop of Angers on the
1st of December, 1491, and died at Saumur on the 27th of March, 1498.
[505] By letters dated on the 30th of December, 1497.
[506] See Book VIII. Chap. 3.
[507] Charles VIII. died on the 7th of April, and Savonarola on the 23rd
of May.
[508] Friar Francis of Apulia, of the Order of Minor Observantines. His
challenge to Savonarola was in these terms: “I know,” he said, “I am a
sinner; I have not the presumption to perform miracles: nevertheless, let
a fire be lighted, and I am ready to enter it with him. I am certain of
perishing, but Christian charity teaches me not to withhold my life if,
in sacrificing it, I might precipitate into hell an heresiarch, who has
already drawn down into it so many souls.”—SISMONDI, xii. 461.
[509] Friar Domenico Buonvicino.
[510] Friar Andrea Rondinelli.
[511] On the 17th of April, in the public square of Florence.
[512] These were Domenico Buonvicino and Silvestro Maruffi.
[513] Francesco Valori had been chief gonfalonier of the city during the
preceding year.
[514] On the 23rd of May, 1498.
[515] The corpse was conveyed from Amboise on the 17th of April.
[516] He was consecrated and crowned at Rheims by Cardinal Briçonnet, on
the 27th of May, 1498.—ANSELME, i. 127.
[517] Thomas, the son of Edward Talbot of Lancashire, apprehended King
Henry VI. as he sat at dinner at Waddington Hall in Cleatherwood, in
Lancashire; and, forgetting all respect due to so great a prince, like a
common malefactor, with his legs tied under his horse’s belly, guarded
him up towards London. By the way the earl of Warwick met him, who
arrested him, and taking off his gilt spurs, led him prisoner to the
Tower.—_Old note._
[518] The battle was not fought at St Albans, but at Wakefield in
Yorkshire, on the 30th of December, 1460, in which the Duke of York was
killed, and afterwards had his head cut off, and by way of derision a
crown of paper, not of straw, as our author writes, set upon it, and
presented to Queen Margaret, who not long after sent it with the heads of
other lords to be fixed upon poles over the gate of the city of York. The
person that committed this ungenerous action was the Lord Clifford, who,
after the battle of Wakefield, in cold blood murdered the young Earl of
Rutland, the Duke of York’s third son.—_Old note._
[519] One of the chief officers of the Chancery of France, who examines
all letters-patent, &c., before they pass the seals.
[520] Civil officers, having the same power and authority in Paris as an
alderman has in London, there being one to every ward.
[521] Certain officers or magistrates in Paris, somewhat like our
aldermen’s deputies in London.