The Duke returns to his state--His struggle with the
usurper--His victory at Montebartolo.
Meanwhile the fatal wars originating in the League of Cambray were
finally concluded, by a treaty offensive and defensive, between the
young monarchs of France and Spain, guaranteeing their respective
Italian possessions, which was signed at Nogon on the 13th of August,
and was followed by that of London on the 29th of October, to which
the Pope, the Emperor, Charles V., and Henry VIII., were parties.
A general pacification having been thus obtained, Francesco Maria
was further than ever from assistance in recovering his rights,
yet the moment seemed not unfavourable for a single-handed attempt
at asserting them. The numerous condottieri of all nations, thus
thrown loose without prospect of new occupation, offered him their
services on very easy terms, preferring employment on the credit
of eventual pay, with the chance of interim pillage, to a life of
listless beggary. The French and Venetians secretly favoured any
adventure which should rid their territories of such odious inmates,
and the Duke found no great difficulty in mustering, by the beginning
of the year, three thousand eight hundred infantry and six hundred
light horse. He placed the latter under his wife's cousin, Federigo
Gonzaga, Marquis of Bozzolo, a young man who singularly mingled
the staid wisdom of a veteran commander with the jovial manners of
a free companion, and was thus equally the confidential adviser
of his general, and the idol of his men. He had also become a
personal enemy of Lorenzo, from having been deprived by him of the
command committed to him by Giuliano de' Medici. This motley army
was composed of tried soldiers, but was deficient in the material
for a sustained campaign, notwithstanding the Duke's great exertions
and sacrifices, by borrowing money at all hands, and by selling his
wife's valuables, to provide for it the most necessary munitions.
Before taking the field, he, on the 17th of January, addressed to
the Sacred College, and publicly placarded, this earnest protest and
vindication of his measures, which, although prolix, is an important
manifesto.
"Most reverend and respected Lords: I have ever flattered
myself that the long persecutions, which exposed me to so
many perils, have not lost me your Reverences' favour,
nor rendered you personally hostile to me; indeed, I
feel assured that you have always looked upon me with
compassion, and pitied my misfortunes. Nor did I enjoy,
amid such adversities, any consolation more efficacious
than my conviction that your Sacred College considers me in
nowise worthy of such persecutions. But, as I always have
been, am, and shall through life continue, your most humble
and obedient servant, I hold myself bound to account to
you for every action, and to defend myself from whatever
imputations my enemies may have made to your very reverend
Lordships, in whom repose all my hopes of protection.
"I presume that you have heard of my new enterprise against
my own state, dictated, not by any desire to disturb,
embarrass, or molest the interests of the Church, but
rather by a wish to commit my life upon the hazard of the
war, trusting that God will so direct its issue as that
my innocence, so known to his divine providence, may be
equally manifested to all the world. And in this assurance
I proceed, not rashly or presumptuously, but aware that
neither my resources, which are at present next to nothing,
nor those of the most potent monarch, would suffice to
resist the might of his Holiness, supported as he is by
all the sovereigns and powers of Christendom; relying,
moreover, on Almighty God, the King of kings, who can, and,
as I hope, will, aid and defend me in this calamity, since
He, to whom the hearts of men are open, knows that I have
no other expedient left for my peace or life itself. After
having betaken myself to the illustrious Lord Marquis, my
father-in-law, at Mantua, and placed myself in a sort of
voluntary imprisonment; after having lost my fortresses,
and nearly all my worldly possessions; and having even
made up my mind to promise his Holiness not to make any
attempt upon my state, or disturb his nephew, to whom he
had given it,--my sole wish being to live; still, so far
from obtaining a relaxation of the censures, other and
harsher interdicts were constantly issued against me, with
positive injunctions to my distinguished father-in-law not
to harbour me in his territory. Nay, I daily discover plots
against my life by poison or the dagger; which, however, I
attribute not to my Lord his Holiness, convinced that his
clemency and goodness are irreconcilable with so ardent a
thirst for my blood, and such perfidious ingratitude for
the numberless benefits which, setting aside more remote
recollections, he and all his house received from myself,
when in straits similar to what I now endure, but rather to
my enemies, who, in effecting my ruin, bring infamy upon
his Holiness, and think thus to force me to flee for my
life into Turkey.
"Compelled, then, by these considerations, I have set
forward towards my own home, in the belief that, even
should my death ensue, infamy never can; and in the
conviction that, if it was right for his Holiness, whilst
living as a cardinal in honour and dignity, to occasion
the cruel sack of Prato, in order to regain those rights
of citizenship from which he had been outlawed, it will be
far more justifiable in me, an outlaw, not from one city,
but from all Christendom, and deprived, not merely of my
temporal dignities, but almost of the means of subsistence,
the sacraments of the Church, and the intercourse of
mankind, by a persecution which directs at once temporal
and spiritual weapons against my station, life, and
soul;--it will, I say, be justifiable for me to attempt
my restoration to the state, of which, in the opinion of
my own people, and of all men except his Holiness, I am
the legitimate sovereign. I therefore supplicate your
most reverend Lordships, by the pity due to such as have
blamelessly fallen into misfortune, that you will deign to
afford me protection, falling upon some means or expedient
for mitigating the Pontiff's feelings; seeing I cannot but
think that your influence, his own natural goodness, and my
innocence must break down that obduracy which the unjust
lips and guileful tongues of my adversaries have raised
towards me in the mind of his Holiness; for, to regain
his favour, there is no submission or endurable penance
that I would refuse. And, should I not be deemed worthy of
such compassion, you, my very reverend Lords, may at least
condescend in silence to favour my cause with your best
wishes and thoughts, and efficiently to recommend me to
the unfailing bounty and justice of God. If my success be
as signal as I hope, I shall stand indebted to your most
reverend Lordships, believing that the Almighty has heard
your reasonable desires, and extended his protection to me
through your merits. Or, on the other hand, should my puny
force not be overborne by the weight of the papal power,
backed by spiritual weapons, it will be a palpable miracle,
and proof sufficient that my innocence, though on earth
condemned by men, will be cleared in Heaven by a higher
and more equitable Judge. And so, ever kissing humbly your
Reverences' hands, I commend myself to your favour. From
Sermene, the 17th of January, 1517."
The narrative of Giraldi[269] is a safe authority as to many details
of this enterprise, his uncle Benedetto having been an officer much
in the Duke's confidence. We, therefore, venture to extract the
harangue which he puts into the mouth of Francesco Maria, before
marching from Sermene, not, of course, as his verbatim address to his
followers, but as containing the understanding on both sides of their
respective obligations.
[Footnote 269: Vat. Ottob. MSS. No. 3153, f. 115.]
"'Soldiers and Comrades, I have assembled you here, in
order that you may fully learn my mind and intentions, and
that I may know yours. I therefore acquaint you that I have
arranged with your leaders, who have promised, and bound
themselves by articles, to accompany me into my state of
Urbino, and to re-establish me in my home, and to maintain
me there during life, indifferent to pay or remuneration
beyond such as I may be able to give,--I confiding to them
my state and person, in reliance upon your good faith. I
now wish to know if you are all agreed to follow me in this
enterprise; and, should this be your pleasure, I desire
from you an oath never to abandon me on any contingency
that may occur, and that, in case of being forced to
quit me by the pressure of events without completing our
undertaking, you will oblige yourselves to return to this
place as a rendezvous, and, further, that you shall not
desert me for any offers or bribes of the enemy. Avowing to
you at the same time that, at this moment, I have not above
a ducat a-piece to give you, I nevertheless feel confident
our gains will be great, unless fortune be more than
adverse; and I promise that all the booty will be yours,
and that I shall be your comrade, never sparing my life
while it lasts. If you accept these my terms, you must all
swear to observe them; otherwise I shall not move from this
territory of my brother-in-law.' Whereupon they all, with
extended hands, took an oath never to abandon him during
life; and so they set forth in the name of God, on the 17th
of January, led by Federigo di Bozzolo."
The Pontiff was taken at unawares, for, believing his enemy utterly
crushed, he made light of such warnings as had reached him of a
contemplated movement against the duchy; but now that the expedition
was matured, he knew well the slight hold which the usurper had upon
the affections of his nominal subjects. Nor was he more at ease as to
the inclinations of his new allies in Lombardy, whose stipendiaries
had thus suddenly turned their arms against him. His anxiety was in
no way diminished by the representations of his confidential friend
Bibbiena, who, actuated perhaps by some lurking kindness for the
house of Urbino, urged him to abandon the Borgian policy he had in
hand, until such persuasions were silenced by the threatened poignard
of Lorenzo. Ere effectual precautions could be adopted in Romagna,
Francesco Maria had rallied round him eight thousand infantry and
fifteen hundred horse, most of them veterans, and with these he
marched about the middle of January. Passing Rimini, where his
rival lay "sorely perplexed and bewildered" (to use the phrase of
Minio, the Venetian envoy), he advanced under every discouragement
of an inclement season, his men wading through snow to the middle,
and swimming frequent-swollen torrents. From the secrecy of his
preparations and the poverty of his resources, his commissariat was
altogether inadequate; but, on reaching his frontier, the refusal of
Gradara to submit afforded his men an excuse for compensating their
privations by its sack.
His subjects had been prepared by emissaries for a general revolt.
On the 1st of February, Count Carlo Gabrielli raised the cry of
"Feltro! Feltro!" at Gubbio, and it was enthusiastically responded
to through the smaller towns. On the 5th, the Duke was within a few
miles of Urbino, then held by Bishop Vitelli, with a garrison of
two thousand men, who, distrusting the inhabitants, summoned their
militia to muster at S. Bernardino, and closed the gates as soon as
the city had thus been cleared of its able-bodied men, refusing to
readmit them on pain of instant death. The excluded citizens vented
their indignation at this trick, in threats and abuse of the garrison
from under the very walls, which at length provoked a sortie of
four hundred infantry in order to disperse them. At this juncture,
a squadron of one hundred cavalry, sent on by Francesco Maria under
Benedetto Giraldi of Mondolfo, for the purpose of supporting the
expected rising in his favour, arrived three miles below Urbino, and,
whilst breathing their horses, heard that the enemy were abroad.
Benedetto immediately left his little force in charge of his brother
Annibale, and rode on with but five officers to reconnoitre. The
adventure which followed, equally worthy of a bold knight-errant and
a Christian soldier, must be told as in the Dialogue of his nephew
Tranquillo. "Coming suddenly upon the detachment, about half a mile
from the town, Benedetto exclaimed, 'Look there! as these are the
first of our master's foes we have fallen in with, it would surely be
a shame to let them get back to the city without a taste of us: I am
therefore resolved to make a dash at them, and if you will follow me,
by God's grace we shall have the first victory.' This said, he rushed
into the midst of them, with vizor up and lance in rest, overthrowing
many by the shock. His weapon having broken, he performed prodigies
with his sword, and, aided by his followers, who had not shrunk
from his summons, the enemy's leaders were slain, and their whole
battalion dispersed in panic through the fields, where most of them
were put to death by the excluded townsfolk, who had mustered at
the first alarm. I, too, came up with our squadron, in time to cut
off a good many of them; but I had little cause to congratulate
myself upon that success, for, passing near my brother [Benedetto],
he said to me, 'Annibale, I am killed.' Whereupon, looking towards
him, I observed a cut in his face, and told him to fear nothing, as
face wounds were not mortal; but he replied, 'It's worse than that,
for I am run through the body by a pike.' At these words my heart
seemed riven asunder; yet, in order not to alarm him, I desired him
to cheer up, and commend himself to God Almighty, and to the most
glorious Mother of the Saviour, and to vow his armour and horse to
Loreto, adding that I too would offer a housing worth twenty-five
ducats. 'I am content,' answered he, 'to give this horse, a gallant
Turkish charger bestowed upon me by the Marquis of Mantua, along
with these arms; but I have only one favour to ask of the Saviour
of mankind, which is, that he will permit me to live long enough to
confess myself.' As he said this an Observantine friar, who had on
former occasions confessed him, came up, and, after thanking God
for having heard his prayer, he summoned the monk, and returning
to Cavallino confessed himself. There being no surgeon at hand, a
gentleman of Mantua named Stigino cleansed the wound by suction, and
ascertained that the bowels were not pierced, which afforded me much
hope. I sent for many surgeons. The first that arrived was Maccione
of Fossombrone, who dressed the wound with charmed bandages, a thing
that much displeased my brother; and for conscience-sake he refused
to be doctored in that way, until persuaded by a friar, who assured
him there was no sin, seeing that there had been no diabolical
incantation used; and, being told of numerous miracles effected by
these cloths, he submitted to them, and ere long was restored to
health."
The sally-party from the garrison having been repulsed by Giraldi's
squadron, aided by a considerable force from Gubbio, Fossombrone,
and Sinigaglia, which just then most opportunely appeared, they
found little safety by returning to quarters. The citizens still
within the walls rushed to arms, even the women and children showered
missiles on the retreating soldiery, and the Bishop, dispirited by
the disaster, capitulated next day. But being seized with a panic,
his garrison withdrew ere their safe-conduct was signed, and were
beset by the infuriated troops and inhabitants, who attacked them on
every side with arms, bludgeons, and stones, slaying or capturing
them to a man. The Duke thus entered his capital, and was welcomed
with demonstrations of joy, only equalled by those which, fourteen
years before, had hailed his uncle's return in similar circumstances.
As it was no easy task to restrain an army so composed from reaping
the spoils of victory in a way opposite to wishes and the interests
of Francesco Maria, he lost no time in employing them against Fano,
a town which, not belonging to his state, might with less scruple
be abandoned to plunder. The assault, however, miscarried through
Maldonato, a Spanish captain, whose treasonable correspondence with
Rome began already to be intercepted, and was ere long exposed.
After this check, the troops were dispersed among the villages,
until the inclement weather should pass; their head-quarters were at
Montebaroccio, a very strong position midway between the upper part
of the duchy, which acknowledged its legitimate sovereign, and the
cities of Pesaro, Fano, and Sinigaglia, which were garrisoned by the
ecclesiastical troops.
Meanwhile the Pope, trusting to time more than the sword for ridding
him of an enemy destitute of all resources, had directed his nephew
to leave them an open field, until his preparations for their
destruction should be complete. He hastily called upon the Emperor
and the Kings of France and Spain for assistance, whilst Lorenzo was
mustering the ecclesiastical and Florentine militia, under Guido
Rangone of Modena, Renzo da Ceri, and Vitello Vitelli. No expense
was spared from the papal treasury to raise an overwhelming force,
and Lorenzo borrowed 50,000 golden florins from his fellow-citizens.
Charles contributed four hundred Neapolitan lances, and Francis
promised three hundred more, on condition of the surrender by Leo
of Modena to his ally the Duke of Ferrara. By these means was
levied an army of fifteen to eighteen thousand infantry, a thousand
men-at-arms, and at least as many light cavalry, with fourteen pieces
of artillery.
The Lord of Urbino appears to have looked without reason for
reinforcements from Venice,[*270] but Minio mentions that his army
now consisted of twelve thousand foot, and that he had received a
money subsidy from an unknown quarter, probably his father-in-law,
the Marquis of Mantua. Yet his position was in all respects critical.
In an enterprise depending on prompt success, each hour lost was the
enemy's gain. His present life of bootless and bootyless inaction
disgusted his Spaniards, who not only murmured, but, unmindful of
their vow of service, began to desert to the ecclesiastical camp,
attracted by superior pay. Worst of all, the enthusiasm that had
enabled Guidobaldo to win back his state for a brief interval,
now languished in the cause of his nephew, whose coup-de-main
had failed, and whose resources were inadequate to a prolonged
struggle, the burden whereof must fall upon his loyal subjects. In
these circumstances, he resorted to an expedient which relieved the
dull incidents of a petty campaign by one of a novel and romantic
character. Hoping to bring the war to a speedy issue, he sent Suares
de Lione, a Spanish officer, and his own Secretary, Orazio Florido,
with the following instructions, and message to his adversary:--
"As it is creditable to a prince warring for any cause,
to endeavour that his object should be effected with the
least bloodshed and injury to the country, especially
if it be his intention to become its sovereign, and as
I conceive that the Lord Lorenzo must share in this
sentiment, I have devised an expedient most convenient
to both of us. For if he desire the acquisition of this
state as ardently as appears from the late and present
campaign, he will be delighted to satisfy that longing
promptly, and without further burden to its inhabitants, by
putting to the test his own bravery and that of his troops.
I therefore empower you, Captain Suares and Orazio, to
challenge him forthwith to combat in any place he likes;
four thousand men against four thousand, or three, two, or
one thousand, or five hundred, or one hundred, or twenty,
or four, or any smaller number he may choose, provided he
and I are included,--all to be on foot, with the usual arms
of infantry; or lastly, if he will fight me alone with the
readiest arms, so much the better, that thus, by the death
or imprisonment of one of us, the victor may obtain the
most satisfactory solution of his wishes, and relieve the
lingering suspense of not a few.
"Relying on the courage of his Lordship, and many about
him of not less honourable pretensions, that these so
reasonable proposals will be received with pleasure, I
shall await your return, promptly to prepare for whatever
alternative he may accede to. I limit the answer to three
days; adding that, if he prefer fighting in considerable
numbers, he may do so with three hundred picked men of the
light cavalry, armed with lance, sword poignard, and mace.
Or, if none of the aforesaid conditions please him, which
I cannot believe possible, remember to offer that, if he
will engage with these three hundred light horse, and all
my infantry, he may have the advantage of five hundred or
a thousand foot beyond what I can bring into the field,
equally armed. And the present memorandum you will deliver
into his Lordship's hands."[271]
[Footnote *270: It was against Venice that Leo had first, in March,
1517, tried to get help.]
[Footnote 271: Vat. Urb. MSS. No. 1023, f. 141. It has been printed
by Leone, p. 222.]
This step, natural to a gallant soldier of almost desperate fortunes,
with neither means nor inducement for a prolonged struggle, could
have no recommendation for his opponent, now at the head of an
overwhelming force, backed by the papal treasury and the united
arms of most European powers. Lorenzo felt nettled at a proposal
which it would have been folly to accept, but which could scarcely
be declined without incurring a slur; and, after answering that he
could entertain no such cartel until his challenger had evacuated
those places which he had forcibly seized, his temper showed itself
by arresting its bearers, notwithstanding their safe-conduct.
The Spaniard was speedily released; but the secretary was sent
to Volterra or Rome, to be disposed of by the Pope, where, with
revolting treachery and meanness, he was subjected to imprisonment
and torture, in the hope of drawing from him the secrets of his
master, whose vigorous resistance Leo strongly suspected to be backed
by the French monarch.
The war was now carried on by manoeuvres and skirmishes, which have
no interest beyond the light they throw on the spirit of this unequal
contest. Among the reinforcements that flocked to the papal standard
was an undisciplined band which crossed the Apennines from Tuscany,
carrying fire and sword through the highlands of Montefeltro. The
Duke was unable to leave the low country exposed by marching in
person to the relief of his faithful mountaineers, but sent into
these defiles a squadron of light horse, who, falling upon the rabble
at unawares, amply avenged their excesses. On the 25th of March, the
inhabitants of Montebaroccio, having voluntarily admitted a body
of papal troops, were visited by severe retribution as a warning
to others; the place was sacked and burned by the Spaniards, seven
hundred men and fifty old women being put to the sword,--a repulsive
comment upon the Duke's boast, that though the walls of his towns
were held for others, the hearts they contained were all his own.
These partial successes turned the tide of feeling somewhat more
favourably for the della Rovere cause, and we learn from the Minio
despatches, that the war, unpopular at Rome from the first, now
occasioned great anxiety to the government, from the difficulty in
raising funds to continue it. The Pope retired frequently to his
villa at La Magliana, less from the love of field sports, than to
indulge his chagrin.[*272] Such were his straits for money, that he
deposited jewels in pawn with the Cardinal Riario, for a loan of 7000
ducats. This sum, with 5000 more, having been despatched to Pesaro
in a convoy of waggons, was captured by the Duke, and along with it
were found certain letters, written in name of his Holiness, advising
Lorenzo, in the event of any suspicion attaching to the Gascons in
his service, either to ship them at once for Lombardy, or to have
them summarily massacred. These missives, having been circulated
in the ecclesiastical camp, occasioned a prodigious ferment, and
it was with the utmost difficulty that Lorenzo, by denying their
authenticity, induced the French troops to remain under his command,
until an opportunity offered of conciliating them by the plunder of
Sta. Costanza.
[Footnote *272: "Gli pareva gran vergogna della Chiesa che ad un
duchetto basti l'animo di fare questa novità; e il papa tremeva, ed
era quasi fuor di sè." Cf. GIORGI, _Relazioni Venete_, 2nd
series, vol. III., p. 47.]
After many complicated movements in the lower valley of the Metauro,
attended with no decided advantage, and important only as having
enabled the youthful Giovanni de' Medici to flesh that sword which
soon after won him the laurels of a bright but brief career, the
papal army sat down before Mondolfo. The resistance of that small
town was encouraged by the state of the besiegers, and embittered by
their savage reputation. The Minio despatches of this date represent
them as suffering from a scarcity of provisions and a dearth of bread
and wine, adding that "the captured castles envy the dead, by reason
of the cruelties practised on the survivors." Its garrison consisted
of two hundred Spaniards and three hundred militia, so determinedly
supported by the inhabitants, that breaches opened during the day
were made up before morning, mines were met by counter-excavations,
and subterranean galleries were often scenes of death-struggles.
Provoked by this obstinacy, Lorenzo swore never to raise the siege
until he had razed the place to its foundations, put the males to the
sword, and handed over the women to the Devil's service. But in the
end of March, a few days after he had uttered this savage bravado,
his own career was arrested. Whilst, with more bravery than prudence,
he served a battery in the dress of a common soldier, a Spaniard, to
whom his person was known, marked him from the walls, and shot him as
he leaned upon a cannon to take aim. The ball took effect above the
left ear; and the wound extended down his neck to the shoulder.[273]
He was removed to Ancona, and for above a week continued in extreme
danger, refusing to be trepanned; but by the end of the month his
convalescence was complete.
[Footnote 273: This account is adopted by Leone, p. 230, by Sismondi,
and by Centenelle, Vat. Urb. MSS. No. 907. Baldi (Vat. Urb. MSS.
No. 906) and Guicciardini say that Lorenzo, having undergone much
personal fatigue at the battery, was walking away to repose himself
in a sheltered spot, when a bullet from the walls hit him on the
head, grazing his skull to the nape of the neck.]
The Pontiff "evinced extreme grief" at so untoward an accession to
the mishaps of this ill-advised and unlucky campaign. It had hitherto
been conducted by Renzo da Ceri and Vitellozzo Vitelli, who were
supposed to thwart the usurper from an apprehension that he might
become another Cesare Borgia. The Cardinal de' Medici, however,
attributed these successive miscarriages to the incapacity of Renzi,
and seriously complained to the Venetian envoy that, in consequence
of his reputation in the Signory's service, "we engaged him for this
undertaking, and don't perceive that he has effected anything. While
he commanded a small infantry force, he appeared never to be idle for
a day, yet, since he has been at the head of an entire army, he has
contrived to demean himself very ill, and to show that he is not a
man of great exploits." It will be curious to find this very officer
afterwards employed by the Cardinal when Pope, and fully bearing out
the mean opinion here expressed of him, when his present impugner had
the folly to instruct him with the defence of Rome itself.
Neither the dissatisfaction of his subjects nor the coldness of his
allies inclined Leo to abandon an enterprise which exhausted his
resources and bathed Italy in civil blood. Thundering forth a new
and more severe excommunication against Francesco Maria and his
abettors, he, on the 30th of March, despatched a cardinal legate to
the camp, under whose command things went from bad to worse. The
defence of Mondolfo was protracted with extraordinary resolution.
Even after a large space of wall had been thrown down by two mines,
the besiegers were kept at bay during ten hours of hard fighting,
whilst the women supplied missiles and coppers of boiling water, and
the priests, waving aloft their crucifixes, mingled absolution of
the dying with prayers for the survivors. This vain struggle against
fearful odds ended in an ill-observed capitulation, in defiance
of which the town was sacked and set on fire. Two incidents may
illustrate the undisciplined state of the troops. Before entering
the place, two Spanish and a Ferrarese soldier agreed to share
equally their respective booty. Whilst the Italian fought, his
comrades were plundering, and eventually refused to divide the spoil
according to stipulation, an evasion in which they were backed by
their countrymen. The Ferrarese, with permission of his officers,
challenged his faithless partners, and a ring, or rather square,
having been cleared, by tying together eight pikes, he sprang into
it, armed but with sword and half-shield, offering to fight them
both at once, a proposal which they prudently evaded by surrendering
a just portion of their plunder. After the town had capitulated, "a
wrangle arose between an Italian and a German about a flagon of wine,
the former raising the shout of 'Italy! Italy!' the latter responding
'Germany! Germany!' Whereupon the infantry came to blows, and many
were killed on either side; and when, at the peril of his life, the
right reverend Cardinal had well nigh quelled the fray, an Italian
struck a German captain on the head with his musket and killed
him. This made the fight rage fiercer than ever, and the Spaniards
having sided with the Germans, the Italians were routed, and all
their quarters pillaged, including those of Signor Troilo Savello.
The army remains divided and dispersed; most of the Italians are
departed, whilst the infantry have betaken themselves towards Fano,
and continue thus separated." It is curious to detect in these and
similar incidents[274] an undercurrent of national feeling, during
that dreary age when the Peninsula was torn into sections by communal
policy and dynastic ambition. Had that cry of _Italia! Italia!_ been
then raised by her leading spirits, with earnest good faith, apart
from individual ends, how different had been her after fate and
present attitude!
[Footnote 274: See above, p. 325.]
The legate, who thus, with difficulty and personal danger, averted
a general massacre, was the Cardinal Bibbiena, not de' Medici, as
accidentally misstated by Roscoe. After long employing his diplomatic
talents against his former friend, the Lord of Urbino, he now
compassed his final ruin by exertions of the camp, for which he was
less qualified. The mutinous _mêlée_ which he had witnessed prepared
him for the discovery, that moneys raised by extraordinary exertions
were ill-spent upon an army "thrice as numerous on pay-day as in
action." It was, therefore, to the commissariat and finance that
his chief attention was given; but, warned by the recent explosion
of national antipathies, he separated the quarrelsome soldiery in
various cantonments around Pesaro. The Italians garrisoned the
city and Rimini, the Spaniards were encamped on the adjoining
Monte Bartolo, the Germans lay on the middle of that hill around
the Imperiale palace, the Corsi (Dalmatians) occupied the foot of
it, and the Gascons bivouacked on the adjacent plain. The last of
these were in very bad repute at Rome; and finding themselves kept
for several weeks in that exposed situation, many deserted to the
della Rovere camp at Ginestreto, near Montebaroccio. After letting
slip an apparently favourable opportunity for striking a blow at
these disorganised troops, Francesco Maria subsequently did so by a
surprise, which we shall narrate in his own words, addressed next
morning to the Duchess.
"To the most illustrious Lady, my Consort, my lady Eleonora
di Gonzaga, Duchess of Urbino, &c.
"Most illustrious Lady, my Consort,
"Since the enemy took the field I have often wished to come
to action, and have used my ingenuity for this object,
little heeding their superiority to my brave band, both
in men-at-arms and in infantry, but all to no purpose.
At length, finding that his Reverence the Legate, Renzo
di Ceri, Vitelli, and their other principal leaders had
retired into Pesaro, with a host of men-at-arms, whilst
about three thousand foot, with the light horse and
the Gascon wings, lay on the road to Fano, the Spanish
lansquenets and the Corsi, to the number of at least six
thousand, being quartered in the Imperiale, there seemed a
chance of having at them. Accordingly, at half-past eleven
o'clock last night, on ascertaining their position, and the
most effective mode of attacking it, I advanced at the head
of my infantry and a detachment of cavalry. After passing
the Foglia, I sent the latter to a certain spot in the
plain, and, leading the rest by the hill-side to the summit
of the Imperiale, I charged the enemy about two hours after
daybreak, and, by God's grace and the gallantry of my men,
routed them ere they could form, killing, and taking many.
So sudden and vigorous was our onset over the rocks on the
seashore, that they were unable to gain their houses; and,
as we drove them with great loss over the hill, they were
intercepted below by my cavalry, so that between the two
few escaped. Some of the officers made their way into the
church of S. Bartolo, and into the palace of the Imperiale,
where they attempted to fortify themselves, but with a few
of my people I soon captured them all. We followed the
fugitives with great slaughter to the very gates of Pesaro,
the garrison of which, at least five thousand strong, would
neither support nor admit them, whilst the Gascons, though
witnessing the rout and drawn up in battle array, equally
withheld succour. Thus, without loss, we remained masters
of their camp, their colours, many prisoners, and all their
officers but two who were killed; and I, having taken up my
quarters here, hasten to inform your Excellency of these
particulars.
"But I must not omit to tell your Ladyship how, three days
since, as Signor Troilo Savello, on his march from Rome
with fifteen hundred foot and some horse, was avoiding the
outpost at Sassoferrato, and attacking my castle of Sta.
Abonda, he was routed and rifled by a couple of hundred
infantry and a few cavalry from my garrison at Pergola, and
scarcely escaped being himself taken. In Montefeltro, too,
several incursions of the Florentines have been repulsed;
and between Massa and Lamole seven hundred of them, who had
taken post on a hill and in a very strong pass, were well
beaten and driven out of it by a hundred of my people.
"I wished to give your Ladyship all these particulars,
that you may share with me the encouragement they afford
us. The favour which God has this morning vouchsafed us,
and for which our gratitude is due, gives me hope that
the justice of my cause will be daily advanced by new
successes; and so to your Ladyship do I commend myself:
from my joyous camp near Genestreto, 6 May, 1517.
"_Consors_, FRANCISCUS MARIA DUX URBINI, &c. _ac
Alme Urbis Prefectus._"[275]
[Footnote 275: Vat. Urb. MSS., No. 1023, art. vi.]
To this spirited despatch little remains to be added. The assailants
ascended from the Rimini side, leaving below a strong body of horse
to cut off the fugitives. The troops being discouraged by the absence
of Maldonato's Spaniards, who had straggled behind, and by the late
hour at which, owing to blunders of their guides, they reached the
mountain, the Duke encouraged them with assurances that the chances
of success were greatest after daybreak, as the sentinels would
be less on the alert; and for an omen of victory, and a badge to
distinguish them from the enemy, he desired them to twine oak twigs,
emblematic of his name, round their headgear. He led their file in
person; and after a complete victory was left with eight hundred
prisoners on his hands, besides the entire camp equipage and much
booty. Next day the Gascons, who had not shared in the rout, came
over in a body to Francesco Maria, headed by Monsieur d'Ambras, who
returned to the court of Francis I., after publicly declaring that
he would no longer permit his men to be sacrificed by officers that
could neither protect them nor annoy their enemy, but would leave
them under a prince whose tactics and discipline were a pattern even
to his foes. This secession did not, however, prevent his master
bolstering up the papal policy by loans of 100,000 livres Tournois
to Lorenzo, and half that sum to the Pontiff, a course condemned by
Sismondi in his French history.