The emperor, when he heard of this sudden retreat of the French, thought he had already conquered them, and, crossing the Adda, marched his army toward Milan, and fixed his quarters near to Marignano. You may easily imagine how much the burghers of Milan were now alarmed,—for the constable had one of the suburbs burnt, to prevent the enemy from fortifying it.
A few days after, the duke of Bourbon sent presents of cloths of gold, and of silk, to the principal leaders of the Swiss, to hasten their march, which had the desired effect,—and they soon appeared before the castle, wherein they were joyfully received by the constable. He had immediately Milan strengthened with ditches and outworks, so that it was much stronger than ever. The emperor advanced with his army, now very numerous, before the walls, and saluted them with a large train of artillery, which was as boldly returned from the ramparts by the garrison.
THE EMPEROR MAXIMILIAN, FINDING THAT HE COULD NOT SUCCEED IN HIS ATTEMPT ON MILAN, MARCHES AWAY.
The emperor was much surprised that his army should be in the utmost distress for provision, as he expected that Milan would have opened its gates on his appearing before them, according to the promises he had received from Galeas Visconti: but just the contrary happened; and as he had heard of the reinforcements the French had obtained, and felt how much his own army suffered from want of provision, and also that he had now no great quantity of english angels, he retreated toward Bergamo, and summoned that town to surrender. The inhabitants, perceiving that no succours could be expected from Milan, raised a sum of money among themselves, and offered it to the emperor, on his marching away. He thence retreated toward Lodi, plundered and burnt great part of the town, and put to death many of the inhabitants, which was a great pity.
The duke of Bourbon followed close on the rear of the emperor's army, when skirmishes frequently happened, to the loss of the imperialists in killed and wounded. Maximilian, finding his situation become disagreeable, went away under pretence that the death of the king of Hungary was the cause of his sudden departure, leaving his army in a very doubtful state, which then was broken up, and the men retreated to their homes.
The emperor, however, pocketed fifty thousand angels the king of England had sent to his aid, thinking that he was in the quiet possession of the Milanese,—but he was far enough from it.
About this time, the king of France sent some of the gentlemen of his bedchamber to assist the duke of Bourbon in managing the affairs of the Milanese.