Europe in the Sixteenth Century 1494-1598 Part 6

After three hours' furious cannonade, the impatience of the cavalry of the League, and of the French and German infantry, could no longer be restrained, and while the former charged the French cavalry, which stood opposite to it, the latter attacked the Spanish foot. Thus cavalry was opposed to cavalry, and infantry to infantry. In the shock which followed, the French horse under Ives d'Allegre, after half-an-hour's struggle, carried all before them; but their foot, with the German lansquenets, in spite of heroic efforts, found the position too strong, and were already being driven back, when a detachment of their horse, returning from the charge, took the infantry of the League in flank. The French and German infantry now rallied, and forcing their opponents back, finally drove them from their camp. The battle was already won, when Gaston, attempting to check the retreat of some two thousand Spanish footmen, rashly threw himself across their path, followed by a handful of men-at-arms. Though unhorsed he still fought on, 'rivalling the feats of Roland at Roncesvalles,' till at last he fell pierced by wounds. Thus ended the most b.l.o.o.d.y battle of the war, which had lasted from 8 A.M. to 4 P.M.

The graphic account, given by the biographer of Bayard, helps us best to realise its peculiar character. The shock of the men-at-arms, the thrust of pike and short sword, the arquebuses and 'hacquebutes,' or mounted arquebuses, belong to the Middle Age, but the efficiency of the guns reminds us that we are on the threshold of the sixteenth century.

The victory lay with the French. Pedro Navarra, one of the best of the Spanish generals, the young Marquis of Pescara, and the Cardinal de Medici, legate of the Pope, soon to become Pope Leo X. himself, were prisoners. 'The Spanish loss was such that an hundred years could not repair it,' and Ravenna at once surrendered. Yet, never was victory more dearly bought, or more useless. Though the Spanish troops had suffered most, the losses amongst the officers were more severe on the side of the French and Germans, and many a knight who had distinguished himself in Italy had bit the dust. More serious still was Gaston's death. Had he lived, he might have pressed on to Rome, and brought the Pope at once to terms. His death, however, caused delay, and delay was ruinous. The cruelty of the French had made them hated by the Italians; the richness of the booty, at Brescia and Ravenna, demoralised the troops, and many returned to France.

| Maximilian and the Swiss join the Holy League.

| The French recross the Alps.

Maximilian had come to terms with the League just before the battle, but too late to prevent his lansquenets from taking part and rendering most efficient help to the French. Now, in hopes of securing the Milanese for himself, or for his grandson Charles, he recalled his troops and openly broke with France. Deprived of their support, the French could hardly keep the field. It was, however, at the hands of the Swiss that they were to be driven across the Alps. In the previous wars, these mercenary mountaineers had been of the greatest service to Louis; but the cantons had been alienated by his refusal to increase the subsidy, and still more by his stopping their trade with the Milanese, whence they drew their corn and wine and oil. A strong anti-French party accordingly arose in Switzerland, headed by Mathias Schinner, Bishop of the Valais, the implacable enemy of France, and, in May 1512, a Swiss army poured down on Milan. La Palice, who, on the death of Gaston, had succeeded to the command, felt too weak to resist them with an army deprived of the German contingent, and demoralised by its excesses. He accordingly withdrew to Pavia. Trivulzio, the governor of Milan, followed him, and shortly afterwards the French recrossed the Mont Cenis. With the exception of the castle of Milan, and a few others, their conquests rapidly melted away. Genoa drove out the French and elected Giano Fregoso as its doge. All the Romagna returned to the obedience of the Pope. The Duke of Ferrara indeed held out, but lost Reggio. Bologna was regained, and even Parma and Piacenza seized, while Julius claimed all the territory south of the Po.

| The Medici restored to Florence. Sept. 1, 1512.

In August 1512, representatives of the League met in congress at Mantua. Florence first demanded their attention. Since the death of Savonarola, the position of that republic had been most weak.

The const.i.tution established in 1494 had not worked well. It was too oligarchical to be popular, while the partisans of the exiled Medici did all they could to discredit it. In 1502, to strengthen the executive, the office of Gonfalonier had been made a life appointment, and Piero Soderini had been elected; in 1506, at the suggestion of Machiavelli, a militia had been formed. But these measures did not mend matters much. The long struggle to regain Pisa, which was only ended in 1509, exhausted the revenues of the state, and the intrigues of the Medici grew more active. Clinging to the French alliance, the city had refused the offers of the League; yet, in the pursuit of a policy of feeble neutrality, had given no help to Louis XII., when help might have saved him. Her turn was now to come. The confederates demanded that Soderini should retire from office, and that the Medici should be allowed to return as private citizens. The Florentines agreed to admit the Medici, but, over-confident in their new-formed militia, declined to depose Soderini. Accordingly, on August 12, 1512, Raymond de Cardona attacked the town of Prato, which lay a few miles to the north of Florence. The militia, although far more numerous than their enemies, did not justify the confidence which had been placed in them, and fled as soon as a breach was made; possibly there was treachery within the walls. In any case, the Spaniards entered the town without further opposition, and put it to the sack with such brutality that the memories of it are said to have disturbed the last moments of Giovanni, the future Pope, Leo X. This cruelty at least did its work. Soderini, an amiable though weak man, whose 'silly soul' the indignant epitaph of Machiavelli sentences to the limbo of infants, at once resigned rather than expose Florence to further woes; and, on September 1, the Cardinal Giovanni entered Florence. The Medici[23] returned nominally as private citizens, but the const.i.tution of 1494 was swept away, and the government, restored as it had been under Lorenzo, was completely under their control.

Although the revolution was effected with moderation, the partisans of the old government naturally lost office. Machiavelli, who had been secretary to the Council of Ten (Dieci di Liberta e Pace), and who had taken an active part in the diplomacy of the republic, was driven from public life, and devoted himself to writing _The Prince_, and _The Discourses_,[24] the former of which treatises has given him such an unenviable notoriety. The city under its new rulers abandoned the French alliance and joined the League.

| Milan granted to Maximilian Sforza. Dec. 29, 1512.

The confederates then turned to the question of Milan. Maximilian was eager to secure this for his grandson Charles. But he was not acceptable to the Pope, the Venetians, or the Swiss, or even to Ferdinand. All dreaded the addition of the Milanese to the vast possessions present and reversionary of the young prince. Finally, it was agreed to recall Maximilian, the son of Ludovico il Moro, who had since his father's fall been brought up in the imperial court.

On the 29th of December, Maximilian received the keys from the Swiss and entered the city. In return, 'their puppet duke' ceded to the confederates the Val Maggia, Locarno, and Lugano; and to their allies, the Rhaetian League (later the canton of the Grisons), Chiavenna, Bormio, and the Valtelline. This, added to the Val Leventina, acquired 1440, and to Bellinzona, granted by Louis XII. in 1503, gave the Swiss, and their allies, complete command over four of the most important pa.s.ses of the Alps, the St. Gothard, the Splugen, the Maloia, and the Bernina, and extended their territory to the Italian lakes of Como, Lugano, and Maggiore.[25] Thus at the close of the year 1512, the Medici and the Sforza found themselves again in power as they had been at the invasion of Charles VIII.

| Ferdinand conquers Spanish Navarre. July 1513.

Meanwhile France had been threatened by a joint attack on Guienne--on the part of Ferdinand and Henry VIII. The English indeed landed at Bayonne, but fortunately for Louis, the attention of Ferdinand was called off to Navarre. That kingdom, which sat astride of the Pyrenees, was at this moment under the rule of Catherine de Foix and her husband, the Frenchman, John d'Albret. But her t.i.tle had always been disputed by the younger line, represented by Gaston de Foix, the nephew of Louis XII. On his death at the battle of Ravenna, his claims pa.s.sed to his sister Germaine, wife of Ferdinand, and these Ferdinand now proceeded to press. Catherine, the reigning queen, no longer afraid of France, sought the alliance of Louis XII. This gave Ferdinand the pretext he sought. He demanded a pa.s.sage through Navarre for his attack on France, and on being refused, invaded the little kingdom. He was supported by a powerful faction, headed by the Beaumonts. The timid John fled. 'Wert thou queen and I king, the realm would not be thus lost,' said Catherine, but was forced to follow her cowardly husband, and, by the end of July, Ferdinand occupied all the territory on the Spanish side of the mountains. That portion of the country which lay on the French slope of the Pyrenees, continued an independent kingdom, to be absorbed into France in the sixteenth century, by the accession of Henry of Navarre to the French crown. The English, irritated at Ferdinand's failure to co-operate with them, and attacked by disease, due to the hot climate, the incessant rain, and the heavy wine of the South in which they indulged too freely, withdrew from Bayonne, and France was relieved from immediate danger on that side.

| Break-up of the Holy League.

| Death of Julius II. Feb. 20, 1513.

At the beginning of the year 1513, it was pretty evident that the Holy League would not last. The Venetians, finding that the Emperor was coveting the share of their territory originally meted out to him by the League of Cambray, were looking again to France. At this moment, Julius II., one of the chief movers in that League, pa.s.sed away. The objects of this 'fiery personality' had been: first to conquer the Romagna, and establish the papal dominion there on a sound footing; secondly, if possible, to free Italy from the foreigner. Of these, the first had been the dominant aim, and he had attained it. 'For good or for ill, Julius is the founder of the Papal States.' We may deplore the secularising influence of the temporal dominion on the spiritual character of the Papacy, but at least the scheme of Julius is infinitely preferable to that of Alexander VI. Alexander had tried to establish his family; Julius won territories for the Papal See.

But in gaining this, his primary aim, he sacrificed his second. By the League of Cambray, he finally destroyed the political life of Italy, and called the foreigner to his aid; and, when, in the Holy League, he attempted to undo the work, and to drive the French, the chief instruments of his previous policy, across the Alps, he found that he could only do so at the price of changing masters. In his last days, indeed, he hoped to reconcile Maximilian by some small concessions, and then, with the help of the Venetians and the Swiss, to drive the Spaniards from the peninsula. But the dream was an idle one. Julius had riveted the chains of Italian slavery, and done much to advance the power of that formidable Austro-Spanish House which was shortly to become so dangerous a menace to Europe, and to control the destinies of Italy till our own day. None the less, the name of Pope Julius will always live as the founder of the Papal States, as the last representative of that great semi-political, semi-religious Church, whose claims to universal supremacy over western Christendom were on the point of being overthrown; as the patron of Bramante, Michael Angelo, and Raphael, the authors of those supreme efforts of Renaissance art, the Cathedral of St. Peter,[26] and the frescoes of the Sistine Chapel, and of the Vatican.

| Election of Leo X. March 11, 1513.

Of all the schemes of Julius II., few had more influence on the immediate history of Italy and of the Papacy than the restoration of the Medici to Florence. He had been led to it by the obstinate adherence of the republic to Louis XII. But the policy was a mistaken one. The republic was weak and could not have had much influence, whereas, under the Medici, allied as they were with Spain, Florence was likely to become formidable again. Julius, however, could hardly have foreseen that a family, which had only just been restored from exile, would furnish his successor on the papal throne; for the election of the young Cardinal Giovanni de' Medici--he was only thirty-eight--surprised every one.

Giovanni, the second son of Lorenzo the Magnificent, appointed a cardinal before he was a man, had indeed shown himself a capable politician by the leading part he had taken in the restoration of his family to Florence. He was not, however, otherwise noteworthy, and his election was due mainly to the desire of the young cardinals for some rest after the political activity of the pontificates of Alexander VI. and Julius II. This they hoped to gain by the election of the pleasure-loving Medici, who represented the Renaissance in its shallower aspects, loved magnificence, and dallied with literature and art; but had no serious purpose in life beyond a desire to establish his family at Florence, and, for the rest, to be ever on the winning side.

| Treaty of Mechlin. April 5, 1513.

But though, by the death of Julius II., the Holy League was robbed of its most earnest member, the change of Popes did not for the moment improve the prospects of peace. On the one hand France and Venice, united by common interest, formed an alliance; on the other, the young Henry VIII. of England and his ambitious minister Wolsey, anxious to win a place in European counsels, pined for a new league of part.i.tion against France. This was signed at Mechlin, in April, between Maximilian, Henry VIII., Leo. X., and Ferdinand; although the last named was at the same moment making a secret treaty with the French King.

| Battle of Novara. June 6, 1513.

Threatened thus on all sides, France seemed likely to be overwhelmed.

In Italy, her attempt to reconquer the Milanese, by the aid of the Venetians, was foiled by the disastrous battle of Novara. Here the Swiss, who looked upon Maximilian Sforza as their _protege_, without cavalry or artillery, decisively defeated a French army three times as numerous as themselves, and well provided with both guns and horse.

| Battle of Guinnegate. Aug. 16.

| Flodden. Sept. 9.

Meanwhile Henry VIII., with the needy Maximilian in his pay, invaded France; laid siege to Terouenne; put a French relieving force to flight at Guinnegate with such ease, as to earn for the combat the name of 'the Battle of the Spurs'; and took Terouenne and Tournay. In September, the Swiss actually invaded France and extorted a treaty from Louis XII. In the same month, James IV. of Scotland, as he sought to make a diversion in favour of his French ally, lost the flower of the Scottish n.o.bility, and his own life, on the field of Flodden.

| France once more saved by dissensions of her foes.

| Ferdinand, the Pope, and Henry VIII. are reconciled to | France.

It looked as if France, the country which at first had gained most from the part.i.tion of Venice, was likely to be part.i.tioned herself.

But, as ever, the mutual jealousies of the European powers prevented any lasting combination. Neither Ferdinand nor Leo X. wished to see France too weak. Leo thought that his own interests and those of his family would be best secured by balancing the powers of Spain and France in Italy, and hoped to secure French a.s.sistance for his scheme of establishing Giuliano his brother in Naples. He accordingly became reconciled to the French King, and pardoned the French cardinals, who had taken part in the schismatic council of Pisa (November, 1513). Ferdinand was above all things anxious to prevent the undue aggrandis.e.m.e.nt of the House of Hapsburg. He had already made a secret treaty with Louis, and he now intrigued to detach the Emperor from the English alliance. Henry was determined not to be thus left in the lurch. He was irritated at the treachery of Ferdinand, and the incurable shiftiness of Maximilian, 'the man of few pence,' who would do anything to gain a little money, and accordingly made his own peace with Louis (August, 1514). It was agreed that his sister Mary, who had just been betrothed to Charles, the grandson of Maximilian, should marry the French King. The disparity in their ages was serious. The bridegroom was a widower of fifty-two, and Mary was but sixteen. But the scruples of the maiden were overcome by the promise that, if she would this time sacrifice herself to her brother's interests, she should next time follow her own inclinations; and peace was concluded between France and England. Thus France escaped from her danger, and England, under the guidance of Wolsey, had secured for herself an influential position in Europe.

Of the folly of Louis' Italian policy, there cannot be a doubt.

His three capital errors are thus described by Machiavelli: 'He increased the power of the Church; he called the Spaniards into Italy, a foreigner as puissant as himself; he ruined the power of the Venetians, his best allies.'

The mutual jealousies of the other powers, indeed, saved France itself from dismemberment. But her resources were terribly strained; Spain had seized half of Navarre; Tournay had been lost to England; and the attempt to hold Italy had only proved the truth of the adage that 'Italy is the grave of the French.'

| Louis XII. succeeded by Francis I. Jan. 1515.

Had Louis lived, Europe might possibly have had peace. But the unfortunate man succ.u.mbed in three months in his attempt to play the bridegroom, 'dining at eight when he was accustomed to dine at midday, and retiring to bed at midnight when he was wont to sleep at six,'

and was succeeded by his ambitious cousin, Francis of Angouleme, who had, in 1514, married the king's daughter, Claude, heiress through her mother to the Duchy of Brittany.

| Francis determines to invade Italy. His treaties with | Venice, England, and Charles.

The young king, now in his twenty-first year, is thus described by Sir Robert Wingfield, the amba.s.sador of Henry VIII. at the court of Maximilian: 'He is mighty insatiable, always reading or talking of such enterprises as whet and inflame himself and his hearers. His common saying is, that his trust is, that by his valour and industry the things which have been lost and lettyn by his ign.o.ble predecessors shall be recovered, and that the monarchy of Christendom shall rest under the banner of France as it was wont to do.' Encouraged by his mother, Louise of Savoy, who was bent on the exaltation of her 'Caesar,' he was no sooner on the throne than he resolved to plunge into Italy and wipe out the disgrace of Novara. In the spring and summer, he renewed the treaties with Henry VIII. and Venice, and concluded an alliance with the young Charles, who, although only fifteen, had just been called to a.s.sume the government of the Netherlands, and who, under the guidance of Croy, the Lord of Chievres, had adopted a conciliatory att.i.tude towards France. Francis also hoped to gain the support of Leo X. In February, he sanctioned the marriage of Giuliano de' Medici, the brother of the Pope, with Philiberta of Savoy, sister of his mother Louise, and held out hopes of some day establishing him in Naples.

| Counter-League against France.

| Francis crosses the Alps, Aug. 1515. Victory of | Marignano, Sept. 13.

The fickle Pontiff, however, was as usual playing double, and in the same month joined the counter-league against France, which was composed of the Emperor, Ferdinand, Florence, the Duke of Milan, and the Swiss. Had the allies been united it might have gone ill for Francis, but they were bent on their own interests, and divided their forces. Francis, finding that the outlet of the pa.s.ses of the Mont Cenis and Mont Genevre were guarded by the Swiss, pushed his way across the Alps by the Col de l'Argentiere, a new and difficult route, and reached Saluzzo unmolested. He then surprised Prospero Colonna, who commanded the Milanese forces at Villafranca, and completely turned the position of the Swiss at Susa. The Swiss dropped back on Milan, and the French advanced to Marignano, a place between Piacenza and Milan. Here, late on a September afternoon, they were attacked by the Swiss. The intrepid mountaineers had been stirred by the eloquence of Mathias Schinner, the Cardinal of Sion, the life-long enemy of the French. With only a few Milanese cavalry to support them, and scarcely any guns, they trusted to the weight of their famous phalanx, and push of pike. The French they despised as 'hares in armour.' Disenc.u.mbered of their caps, and with bare feet to give themselves firmer footing, they dashed upon the enemy, hoping to repeat the exploit of Novara. But they underrated their opponents, who were led by the flower of French chivalry, the Constable of Bourbon, La Palice, the Chevalier Bayard, Robert de la Marck, the son of the 'devil of the Ardennes,' himself dubbed 'L'Aventureur,'

and the Milanese, Trivulzio, who had fought in seventeen pitched battles. Pedro Navarra, the Spanish general of artillery, was also there. He had been made prisoner at the battle of Ravenna, and since the n.i.g.g.ardly Ferdinand had refused to pay his ransom, he had taken service with the French.

The struggle which ensued was declared by Trivulzio to be a battle of giants, compared with which, all that he had ever been engaged in were but child's-play. When darkness came upon the combatants, they lay down to sleep 'within cast of a tennis ball of each other.' With the dawn the combat was renewed, and continued till midday. The Swiss had divided their forces in an attempt on the rear-guard, when d'Alviano attacked them in the rear with the Venetian contingents. This decided the matter, and Francis, knighted on the battlefield by the Chevalier Bayard, remained the master of the field. Yet though defeated, the Swiss retreated in good order, bearing their wounded with them.

| Results of the victory.

The battle of Marignano gave Milan to the French. Maximilian Sforza abdicated his dukedom, which he had held for three years, and died some years after, a pensioner in France. By his victory, Francis shattered the military prestige of the Swiss, who had of late deemed themselves invincible, commanded the destinies of Lombardy, and 'tamed and corrected princes.' Never again did these mercenaries exercise an independent influence in Italy. Thus Francis had attained at one stroke the pinnacle of military glory, and, had he pressed his advantage, might have reduced the Pope and regained the kingdom of Naples. But for this he was not prepared, and, contrary to expectation, the battle for a moment promoted the cause of peace.

Leo, eager to join the winning cause, hastened to come to terms. He ceded Parma and Piacenza, while Francis promised to support Lorenzo in Florence, and to sanction the papal attack on the Duchy of Urbino, whence Francesco della Rovere, the Duke, was driven. A short time afterwards, Francis gave Lorenzo a wife connected with the royal family, Madeleine de la Tour d'Auvergne.

| The Concordat of Bologna. Aug. 1516.

Having thus settled their political affairs, Pope and King proceeded, by the concordat of Bologna, to share between them the liberties of the Gallican Church. The traditional privileges of the Church of France had been confirmed and extended by Charles VII. in the Pragmatic Sanction of Bourges (1439). By it, the free election to bishoprics and abbacies had been secured to the chapters; the papal claims to first-fruits had been rejected, as well as the right to nominate to benefices by way of 'reservations' and 'expectancies'; appeals to Rome had been restricted, and the superiority of General Councils over the Pope had been declared. The independence thus gained by the Church of France had been distasteful, not only to the Pope, but to Louis XI. himself, who had attempted, though unsuccessfully, to repeal the Pragmatic Sanction. Now Francis had his opportunity, and was met half-way by Leo X. The Concordat of Bologna restrained indeed the appeals to Rome, and declared papal 'reservations' and 'expectative graces' abolished. But it restored the first-fruits to the Pope, omitted the a.s.sertion of the superiority of General Councils over the Pope, and gave to the King the right of nomination to bishoprics and archbishoprics, subject only to the papal confirmation and inst.i.tution. A few years later, the King gained the same privilege with regard to the abbots of French monasteries. This serious attack on the const.i.tutional liberties of the Church of France met with resolute opposition from the 'Parlement' and the University of Paris.

But the 'Parlement,' after an ineffectual resistance, was forced to register it _de expressimo mandato regis_, the University was overawed by royal threats, and the Concordat became the law of France.

Henceforth the French Church became the servant of King and Pope. The power, which the crown obtained by control of these nominations, may be estimated by remembering that in France at that time there existed ten archbishoprics, eighty-three bishoprics, and five hundred and twenty-seven abbacies. This right of nomination was almost exclusively exercised in favour of men of n.o.ble birth. Hence the mischievous distinction between the higher clergy who were n.o.bles, and, for the most part, courtiers, and the _cures_, who were not. Under these circ.u.mstances, the position of the Church formed a counterpart to the social condition of the country, with its sharp and disastrous division between the n.o.ble and the _roturier_. On the other hand, the right of veto enjoyed by the Pope on the royal nominations caused the higher clergy and the aspirants for office to look to him. Thus the Church of France, once the most independent of the European churches, became one of the most servile and ultramontane, whilst its rulers lost all touch with the middle cla.s.ses.

| Death of Ferdinand the Catholic, Jan. 23, 1516.

| Charles, King of Spain.

Meanwhile, the triumph of Francis materially influenced the policy of Ferdinand. Since the death of the Archduke Philip, the King of Spain had been jealous of his grandson Charles. He feared lest he might reclaim the regency of Castile, and disliked the prospect of his eventually joining Austria, the Netherlands, and Spain under one rule. His hostility even led him to entertain serious thoughts of dividing his inheritance on his death between Charles and his brother Ferdinand. Now, fearing that France might become too powerful, he changed his will and bequeathed all to Charles. In January, 1516, the wily old diplomatist, who had so adroitly schemed to establish his undivided authority in Spain, and to balance the powers of Europe, died, and Charles found himself, at the age of sixteen, the ruler of Spain, the Netherlands, the kingdoms of Naples and Sicily, and the New World.