FOOTNOTES
[1] Guicciardini, Istoria, tom. iii. lib. 5, p. 257, ed. Milano, 1803.— Zurita, Anales, tom. vi. lib. 6, cap. 7, 9, et alibi.
[2] Dumont, Corps Diplomatique, tom. iv. part. 1, no. 30.—Flassan, Diplomatie Française, tom. i. pp. 282, 283.
[3] Guicciardini, Istoria, tom. iv. p. 78.
[4] Flassan, Diplomatie Française, tom. i. lib. 2, p. 283.—Dumont, Corps Diplomatique, tom. iv. part 1, no. 52.
[5] This argument, used by Machiavelli against Louis's rupture with Venice, applies with more or less force to all the other allies. Opere, Il Principe, cap. 3.
[6] Du Bos, Ligue de Cambray, tom. i. pp. 66, 67.—Ulloa, Vita di Carlo V., fol. 36, 37. Guicciardini, Istoria, tom. iv. p. 141.—Bembo, Istoria Viniziana, tom. ii. lib. 7.
[7] See a liberal extract from this harangue, apud Daru, Hist. de Venise, tom. iii. liv. 23,—also apud Du Bos, Ligue de Cambray, tom. i. p. 240 et seq.—The old poet, Jean Marot, sums up the sins of the republic in the following verse:
"Autre Dieu n'ont que l'or, c'est leur créance."
Oeuvres de Clément Marot, avec les Ouvrages de Jean Marot, (La Haye, 1731,) tom. v. p. 71.
[8] See the undisguised satisfaction, with which Martyr, a Milanese, predicts (Opus Epist., epist. 410), and Guicciardini, a Florentine, records the humiliation of Venice. (Istoria, lib. 4, p. 137.) The arrogance of the rival republic does not escape the satirical lash of Machiavelli;
"San Marco, impetuoso ed importuno,
Credendosi haver sempre il vento in poppa,
Non si curu di rovinare ognuno;
Ne vidde come la potenza troppa
Era nociva."
Dell' Asino d'Oro, cap. 5.
[9] Mariana, Hist. de España, lib. 29, cap. 15.—Ammirato, Istorie Florentine, tom. iii. lib. 28, p. 286.—Peter Martyr, Opus Epist., epist. 423.
Louis XII. was in alliance with Florence, but insisted on 100,000 ducats as the price of his acquiescence in her recovery of Pisa. Ferdinand, or rather his general, Gonsalvo de Cordova, had taken Pisa under his protection, and the king insisted on 50,000 ducats for his abandonment of her. This honorable transaction resulted in the payment of the respective amounts to the royal jobbers; the 50,000 excess of Louis's portion being kept a profound secret from Ferdinand, who was made to believe by the parties that his ally received only a like sum with himself. Guicciardini, Istoria, tom. iv. pp. 78, 80, 156, 157.
[10] Mémoires de Bayard, chap. 30.—Fleurange, Mémoires, chap. 8.— Guicciardini, Istoria, tom. iv. p. 183.
Jean Marot describes the execution in the following cool and summary style.
"Ce chastelain de là, aussi le capitaine,
Pour la derrision et response vilaine
Qu'ils firent au hérault, furent pris et sanglez
Puis devant tout le monde pendus et estranglez."
Oeuvres, tom. v. p. 158.
[11] The fullest account, probably, of the action is in the "Voyage de Venise" of Jean Marot. (Oeuvres, tom. v. pp. 124-139.) This pioneer of French song, since eclipsed by his more polished son, accompanied his master, Louis XII., on his Italian expedition, as his poet chronicler; and the subject has elicited occasionally some sparks of poetic fire, though struck out with a rude hand. The poem is so conscientious in its facts and dates, that it is commended by a French critic as the most exact record of the Italian campaign. Ibid. Remarques, p. 16.
[12] Foreign historians impute this measure to the former motive, the Venetians to the latter. The cool and deliberate conduct of this government, from which all passion, to use the language of the abbé Du Bos, seems to have been banished, may authorize our acquiescence in the statement most flattering to the national vanity. See the discussion apud Ligue de Cambray, pp. 126 et seq.
[13] Bernaldez, Reyes Católicos, MS., cap. 221.—Fleurange, Mémoires, chap. 7.—Peter Martyr, Opus Epist., epist. 416.—Guicciardini, Istoria, tom. iv. pp. 178, 179, 190, 191; tom. v. pp. 71, 82-86.—Bembo, Istoria Viniziana, lib. 7, 9, 10.
[14] Opus Epist., epist. 465.-Mémoires de Bayard, chap. 46.—Fleurange, Mémoires, chap. 26.—Bernaldez, Reyes Católicos, MS., cap. 225.
[14] Istoria, lib. 9, p. 135.—Carbajal, Anales, MS., año 1511.— Bernaldez, Reyes Católicos, MS., cap. 225.—Peter Martyr, Opus Epist., epist. 465.
Machiavelli's friend Vettori, in one of his letters, speaks of the Catholic king as the principal author of the new coalition against France, and notices three hundred lances which he furnished the pope in advance, for this purpose. (Machiavelli, Opere, Lettere Famigliari, no. 8.) He does not seem to understand that these lances were part of the services due for the fief of Naples. The letter above quoted of Martyr, a more competent and unsuspicious authority, shows Ferdinand's sincere aversion to a rupture with Louis at the present juncture; and a subsequent passage of the same epistle shows him too much in earnest in his dissuasives, to be open to the charge of insincerity. "Ut mitibus verbis ipsum, Reginam ejus uxorem, ut consiliarios omnes Cabanillas alloquatur, ut agant apud regem suum de pace, dat in frequentibus mandatis." Peter Martyr, Opus Epist., ubi supra.—See further, epist. 454.
[15] Peter Martyr, Opus Epist., no. 441.—Mariana, Hist. de España, tom. ii. lib. 29, cap. 24.—Giovio, Vitae Illust. Virorum, p. 164.—Sandoval, Hist. del Emp. Carlos V., tom. i. p. 18.
The act of investiture was dated July 3d, 1510. In the following August, the pontiff remitted the feudal services for the annual tribute of a white palfrey, and the aid of 300 lances when the estates of the church should be invaded. (Zurita, Anales, tom. vi. lib. 9, cap. 11.) The pope had hitherto refused the investiture, except on the most exorbitant terms; which so much disgusted Ferdinand, that he passed by Ostia on his return from Naples, without condescending to meet his Holiness, who was waiting there for a personal interview with him. Peter Martyr, Opus Epist., epist. 353.—Guicciardini, Istoria, tom. iv. p. 73.
[16] Guicciardini, Istoria, tom. v. lib. 10, p. 207.—Mariana, Hist. de España, tom. ii. lib. 30, cap. 5.—Rymer, Foedera, tom. xiii. pp. 305-308.
[17] Guicciardini, Istoria, tom., v. lib. 10, p. 208.—Bembo, Istoria Viniziana, tom. ii. lib. 12.—Mariana, Hist. de España, tom. ii. lib. 30, cap. 5, 14.—Peter Martyr, Opus Epist., epist. 483.
Vettori, it seems, gave credence to the same suggestion. "Spagna ha sempre amato assai questo suo Vicerè, e per errore che abbia fatto non l'ha gustigato, ma più presto fatto più grande, e si può pensare, come molti dicono, che sia suo figlio, e che abbia in pensiero lasciarlo Re di Napoli." Machiavelli, Opere, let. di 16 Maggio, 1514.
According to Aleson, the king would have appointed Navarro to the post of commander-in-chief, had not his low birth disqualified him for it in the eyes of the allies. Annales de Navarra, tom. v. lib. 35, cap. 12.
[18] Bernaldez, Reyes Católicos, MS., cap. 230, 231.—Guicciardini,
Istoria, tom. v. lib. 10, pp. 260-272.—Giovio, Vita Leonis X., apud Vitae
Illust. Virorum, lib. 2, pp. 37, 38.—Mémoires de Bayard, chap. 48.—
Fleurange, Mémoires, chap. 26-28.
[19] Ariosto introduces the bloody rout of Ravenna among the visions of Melissa; in which the courtly prophetess (or rather poet) predicts the glories of the house of Este.
"Nuoteranno i destrier fino alla pancia
Nel sangue uman per tutta la campagna;
Ch' a seppellire il popol verrâ inanco
Tedesco, Ispano, Greco, Italo, e Franco."
Orlando Furioso, canto 3, st. 55.
[20] Brantôme, Vies des Hommes Illustres, disc. 6.—Guicciardini, Istoria, tom. v. lib. 10, pp. 290-305.—Bernaldez, Reyes Católicos, MS., cap. 231, 233.—Mémoires de Bayard, chap. 54.—Du Bellay, Mémoires, apud Petitot, Collection des Mémoires, tom. xvii. p. 234.—Fleurange, Mémoires, chap. 29, 30.—Bembo, Istoria Viniziana, tom. ii. lib. 12.
Machiavelli does justice to the gallantry of this valiant corps, whose conduct on this occasion furnishes him with a pertinent illustration, in estimating the comparative value of the Spanish, or rather Roman arms, and the German. Opere, tom. iv., Arte della Guerra, lib. 2, p. 67.
[21] Mémoires de Bayard, chap. 54.—Guicciardini, Istoria, tom. v. lib. 10, pp. 306-309.—Peter Martyr, epist. 483.—Brantôme, Vies des Hommes Illustres, disc. 24.
The best, that is, the most perspicuous and animated description of the fight of Ravenna, among contemporary writers, will be found in Guicciardini (ubi supra); among the modern, in Sismondi, (Républiques Italiennes, tom. xiv. chap. 109,) an author, who has the rare merit of combining profound philosophical analysis with the superficial and picturesque graces of narrative.
[22] "Le foudre de l'Italie." (Gaillard, Rivalité, tom. iv. p. 391.)— light authority, I acknowledge, even for a sobriquet.
[23] One example may suffice, occurring in the war of the League, in 1510. When Vicenza was taken by the Imperialists, a number of the inhabitants, amounting to one, or, according to some accounts, six thousand, took refuge in a neighboring grotto, with their wives and children, comprehending many of the principal families of the place. A French officer, detecting their retreat, caused a heap of faggots to be piled up at the mouth of the cavern and set on fire. Out of the whole number of fugitives only one escaped with life; and the blackened and convulsed appearance of the bodies showed too plainly the cruel agonies of suffocation. (Mémoires de Bayard, chap. 40.—Bembo, Istoria Viniziana, tom. ii. lib. 10.) Bayard executed two of the authors of this diabolical act on the spot. But the "chevalier sans reproche" was an exception to, rather than an example of, the prevalent spirit of the age.
[24] Guicciardini, Istoria, tom. v. lib. 10, pp. 310-312, 322, 323.— Chrónica del Gran Capitan, lib. 3, cap. 7.—Mariana, Hist. de España, tom. ii. lib. 30, cap. 9.—Giovio, Vita Magni Gonsalvi, lib. 3, p. 288.— Carbajal, Anales, MS., año 1512.—See also Lettera di Vettori, Maggio 16, 1514, apud Machiavelli, Opere.
[25] Dumont, Corps Diplomatique, tom. iv. p. 137.
He had become a party to it as early as November 17, of the preceding year; he deferred its publication, however, until he had received the last instalment of a subsidy, that Louis XII. was to pay him for the maintenance of peace. (Rymer, Foedera, tom. xiii. pp. 311-323.—Sismondi, Hist. des Français, tom. xv. p. 385.) Even the chivalrous Harry the Eighth could not escape the trickish spirit of the age.
[26] Guicciardini, Istoria, tom. v. lib. 10, p. 320.
[27] Mémoires de Bayard, chap. 55.—Fleurange, Mémoires, chap. 31.— Ferreras, Hist. d'Espagne, tom. viii. pp. 380, 381.—Guicciardini, Istoria, tom. v. lib. 10, pp. 335, 336.—Zurita, Anales, tom. vi; lib. 10, cap, 20.
[28] Zurita, Anales, tom. vi. lib. 10, cap. 44-48.—Guicciardini, Istoria, tom. vi. lib. 11, p. 52.
Martyr reports a conversation that he had with the Venetian minister in
Spain, touching this business. Opus Epist., epist. 520.
[29] Dumont, Corps Diplomatique, tom. iv. part. 1, no. 86.
[30] Guicciardini, Istoria, tom. vi. lib. 11, pp. 101-138.—Peter Martyr, Opus Epist., epist. 523.—Mariana, Hist. de España, tom. ii. lib. 30, cap. 21.—Fleurange, Mémoires, chap. 36, 37.—Also an original letter of King Ferdinand to Archbishop Deza, apud Bernaldez, Reyes Católicos, MS., cap. 242.
Alviano died a little more than a year after this defeat, at sixty years of age. He was so much beloved by the soldiery, that they refused to be separated from his remains, which were borne at the head of the army for some weeks after his death. They were finally laid in the church of St. Stephen in Venice; and the senate, with more gratitude than is usually conceded to republics, settled an honorable pension on his family.
[31] Daru, Hist. de Venise, tom. iii. pp. 615, 616.