He asked Lautrec to reinforce him with only two hundred infantry. Of the eight vessels under his command, that is, the Capitana, Pellegrina, Donzella, Sirena, Fortuna, Mora, Padrona and Signora, he sent the three last under the command of Nicolò Lomellino out to sea as if they wished to escape, with orders, however, to turn about, and, driving down before the wind, attack the enemy in the rear. Filippino with the remaining five vessels awaited the assault of Moncada, who, trusting to the strength of his fleet and the bravery of his captains, confidently looked for a signal victory. The galley of the viceroy closed with the Capitana, the flag-ship of Doria, who, firing his basilisk, small cannon and falconets, raked the Spanish vessel from prow to poop with such fatal accuracy that forty armed men were killed, among whom were the bravest barons of the kingdom, Leo Tassino, a nobleman of Ferrara, Luigi Cosmano a famous musician, Don Pietro di Cardona and many others. The batteries of Moncada replied but did little damage to the Genoese. The Gobba, the galley of Sicames and that of Don Bernardo were more fortunate. They closed with the Pellegrina and the Donzella and the Spanish soldiers boarded without difficulty. The Perpugnana and the Calabrese cannonaded the Sirena until she was forced to surrender. Doria had now lost three galleys, the Capitana and the Fortuna were in imminent danger of being boarded, not being able to sustain the attacks of six galleys and fifteen smaller vessels whose grappling irons were seizing them on every side. Everything looked propitious for Moncada and victory seemed secure to him, when the three galleys which Doria had sent to sea turned their prows and bore down swiftly before the wind. At close quarters, they poured in a terrible fire which dismasted the Spanish vessels and strewed their decks with the dead. The viceroy himself while standing upon the quarter deck of his vessel with his sword in one hand, and rotella in the other, animating his crews, was wounded in his right arm by an arquebus, his left thigh was broken by a falconet and he fell among his men mowed down under the fire-balls and showers of stones poured in by the Genoese. Having captured the flag-ship of the viceroy, Lomellino assailed the Gobba. Here more than a hundred arquebusiers were killed, Cæsar Fieramosca lost his life and Giustiniano was wounded and lost his galley. Filippino Doria now released from their chains the convicts and the Turkish slaves with a promise of liberty and sent them to recover the Donzella, which they soon accomplished. They attacked the Pellegrina and the Sirena with such fury that the Perpugnana and Calabrese, seeing further defence useless, turned their prows and sailed away seaward. The brigantines were reduced to helpless wrecks and the remainder of the Spanish vessels found it impossible to continue the conflict. The marquis of Vasto and Ascanio Fieramosca, after having displayed a most admirable courage, seeing their galleys reduced to a sinking condition, Gerolamo da Trani killed, their captains wounded, their soldiers shattered and pounded by stones and half consumed by fire, gracefully surrendered to Nicolò Lomellino who was already at close quarters with the Mora. Sicames and Don Bernardo Vallamarino, fighting to the last, were killed and their ships sunk. All the lancers were killed, but their leader Corradino escaped with the galley Perpugnana. The killed amounted to more than a thousand and the prisoners were much more numerous. Among the latter, the ancient chronicles enumerate the marquis Vasto, Ascanio Fieramosca, the Prince of Salerno, the marquis Santa Croce, Fabrizio Giustiniano, and other illustrious barons and famous warriors.
This action was fought on the 28th of April, 1528. It was not long after this signal victory so fatal to the imperial power and counted so honourable to the name of Doria—though it was fought by his lieutenant Filippino—that Andrea changed sides and enlisted under the very power he had conquered.
History has not yet given a satisfactory account of the motives which led Doria, hitherto a violent enemy of Cæsar, to desert the standard of France and offer his sword to Spain. It was a desertion fruitful of numberless misfortunes as we shall show in the progress of this work. It is certain that this change contributed more largely than anything else to alter the fortunes of Italy, and to reduce her to slavery under the empire. It induced both peoples and princes to submit to the Spanish power, Luigi Alamanni, seduced by the influence of Andrea, adopted that policy, though he was one of the warmest friends of liberty, and he attempted to persuade the Florentines to ally themselves with Cæsar. The unfortunate patriot suffered for his delusion. The people hearing the rumour that he advocated such opinions compelled him to seek personal safety in exile from Florence.
Returning to the question, we mention first the reasons put forward by the historians for the justification of Doria. They tell us that France had not paid him according to her promises; that Frances I. took away from him the prince of Orange whom Doria had captured, thus defrauding the Admiral of the twenty thousand ducats of ransom; that the king sought to get possession of the marquises Vasto and Colonna with a like motive; that this monarch granted favours in prejudice of Genoese rights to rebellious Savona; and that a rumour ran of the king’s having given this city in feud to Montmorency.
However, Doria was blamed (according to the testimony of Varchi,) by the greater part of the Italians, and many accused him of desertion and treason. They said that his conduct was not dictated by his resentment at the liberty of Savona, or the slavery of Genoa, which he himself enslaved, but rather by his boundless appetite for wealth and honours. Some affirm that Giovanni Battista Lasagna, whom Doria had sent to Paris to treat for the recovery of Savona, informed him that the king’s council had determined to deprive him, not only of his prisoners, but also of his own life, and that this information led him to enlist under Cæsar. Others, on the contrary, say that the king of France having heard that Doria intended to abandon his service, sent to him Pierfrancesco di Noceto, Count of Pontremoli and his esquire, to dissuade him from that design and to promise payment of the ransom of Orange and other prisoners as well as the Admiral’s personal salary. It is difficult to arrive at the truth when testimony is so conflicting. One fact only is unquestioned: that before the last day of the month of June, the period at which his contract with France would expire, he mounted his galley and repaired to Lerici.
At Lerici, Filippino, having abandoned the blockade of Naples, joined him, and by the good offices of the marquis Vasto he opened negociations with Cæsar and entered into the service of Spain, sending back to Francis the decorations of the order of St. Michael with which that monarch had honoured him. This desertion to the imperial party gave to Charles V. (as Segni has sensibly said) the victory in the Italian strife.[14]
While these events were passing, there were secret and public consultations in Genoa, for the purpose of quieting the political factions, uniting the citizens and organizing the civil government on a better basis. The chief honours of this undertaking belong to Ottaviano Fregoso, who in 1520 was engaged in these efforts, acting with Raphael Ponzoni. For the time these praiseworthy designs were unsuccessful, because Federico Fregoso, archbishop of Salerno and brother of the Doge, opposed the project with all his ingenuity and power,[15] going so far as to drive out from the Cathedral of San Lorenzo those citizens who had assembled to promote concord. The difficult task was resumed in 1528, and, amidst the horrors of a pestilence which was mowing down the population, a union was effected without the coöperation of Doria, though it is now clearly proved that even France counselled the measure. On the 12th of December, Doria, contrary to the general wish of the citizens, including his own relations who were open partisans of France, presented himself before Genoa, landed his mariners and without bloodshed liberated the city from the control of the small French garrison.[16]
It is painful to see this brave Admiral selling his sword now to the Pope, now to Naples, now to France, and finally to Spain! It is painful to see him becoming the ally of foreign oppressors who sought to subdue our peoples and engulf Italy. History must pronounce him more fortunate than great. In truth, most of his undertakings were singularly successful; but his attempts to capture the famous corsair Chisr, better known under the name of Barbarossa, who was governing Algiers for Selim with the title of Begherbeg, were not crowned with success. Indeed, a rumour ran that between these two lords of the main there was a secret contract that they should never meet in pitched battles. It is certain that Doria conducted his war upon his rival with much coldness and rather as a neutral than as an enemy. He permitted the pirate to escape at Prevesa (1539), when he had the power to destroy his fleet.
This failure of Doria left the fierce corsair to spread the terror of his name for many years along the Italian coasts, particularly in the kingdom of Naples, where he had already carried desolation and ruin, devoting to fire and pillage Noceto, Sperlunga and Fondi. He had been attracted thither by the beauty of Giulia Gonzaga, who narrowly escaped his hands by fleeing in her night dress, accompanied only by a single page. The poor page suffered most, for she caused him to be stabbed because he had that night either seen or dared too much.
Doria is also accused of having used every means to excite the Turks against Venice; and this Republic, through his plotting, was assailed in her Greek possessions. Doria, by refusing to unite his forces to those of the Pope and the Venitians, incurred the responsibility for the capture of seven thousand Christians at the siege of Corfu, the pillage of the Ionian Islands and of Dalmatia. Having become a blind devotee of Spain, whose rule in the Peninsula he wished to strengthen, he refused to fight at Prevesa, because the Venitians had declined to receive his Bisogni on board their galleys; or, which amounts to the same thing, in order to let a flood of Turks overwhelm Venice and render her submissive to the yoke of Spain. All parties accused him of having promoted the ruin of Christians by the very means to which they looked for salvation.