OF THE LEAGUE OF CAMBRAY, FORMED BY THE CARDINAL OF AMBOISE, BETWEEN THE POPE, THE EMPEROR MAXIMILIAN, THE KING OF FRANCE, AND THE KING OF SPAIN, AGAINST THE VENETIANS.—THE KING OF FRANCE DEFEATS THE VENETIANS AT AGNADELLO.
The king of France, about this time, through the means of the cardinal of Amboise, concluded a treaty at Cambray between the pope, the emperor, the king of Spain, and the lady Margaret, governess of the low countries. This treaty, although of no long duration, was the cause of the deaths of two hundred thousand men, as you will hereafter see, through the treachery of the confederates, in various battles and engagements that took place; and what is worse, we of the present time, unless God shall be pleased to apply a remedy, are still suffering from the effects of this unfortunate treaty.
The king thought to obtain by it a lasting peace and alliance with the adjoining princes; but he was deceived, as was apparent at the time of the affair of Peschiera, against the Venetians; for he alone, of all the confederates, took the field, crossed the Alps, and advanced to Milan. He thence marched his army, and what is worthy of remark, had all the bridges broken down he passed over, to show that flight would be needless. His first conquest was the castle of Trevi. He then marched his army to Peschiera, near to which was Agnadello, where the battle was fought. Five days after the camp had been formed at Peschiera, the Venetian army was attacked, and completely routed, chiefly by the great exertions of the lord of Bourbon, who fought manfully: there was great slaughter. The confederates never thought that this could have been accomplished by the french army alone. Indeed the Venetians would not believe it until the count de Pitigliano, who had fled with the reserve, convinced them of its truth. This battle took place on the 14th of May, just six days after the king arrived in the camp, and it was certainly very fortunate. Thus the war lasted but five days; for after such a victory, there was nothing to prevent the king obtaining all his demands.
I repeat, that this success was very fortunate, considering how advantageously the enemy were posted, the number of strong places in their possession, and the strength of their armies; for they had enow to oppose the confederates in the field and to guard their strong holds. In their camp were more than seventeen hundred men at arms, light cavalry to the amount of nine thousand five hundred, and twenty-two thousand infantry well armed, with twenty pieces of large artillery, much superior to what the king had, and also the best captains in all Italy to command this army, particularly sir Bartholomew d'Alviano, the chief, taken prisoner as he was rallying a body of infantry.
Numbers of the most renowned of the venetian captains were made prisoners this day, and sent to different strong castles in France,—their banners to the church of St Denis. Not more than two hundred were slain of the king's army, while full fifteen thousand fell on the side of the enemy. After the battle, the king ordered the dead to be buried, and a chapel to be erected on the spot, endowed sufficiently for the celebration of daily masses for the souls of those who had died in a state of grace. It was not long afterward before those towns which the Venetians had usurped surrendered to the king's obedience,—such as Bergamo, Brescia, Crema, Cremona, that had formed part of the duchy of Milan.
The pope, in like manner, recovered those places that had been taken from the church, namely, Ravenna, Imola, Faienza, and Forli. The emperor Maximilian regained from the Venetians his towns of Verona, Vicenza, and Padua,—but this last he did not keep long. Whether through negligence or fear, he had never dared to come to the king's camp, notwithstanding his repeated promises: the king, however, gave him a large body of men, under the command of the lord de la Palisse, to regain the city of Padua,—and it was long besieged, but nothing effectual was done at last.
The king of Spain also regained the towns of Brundusium, Tarentum, and others, of which the Venetians had possessed themselves.
When all this had been done through the fortunate victory of the king of France, who had supported the pope like a true son of the church, and had so essentially served him in the restoration of Bologna by the expulsion of Bentivoglio, and in various other ways,—notwithstanding all these proofs of his friendship, pope Julius, at the instigation of the Venetians and others, formed an alliance against him, and, having joined his arms with those of Venice, took Udina and Mirandola; which last he restored to John Franciscus Picus, who styled himself the true lord of it.