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The History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella The Catholic, V3

W >> William H. Prescott >> The History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella The Catholic, V3




One of the first operations of the French viceroy was the siege of Canosa,
a strongly fortified place west of Barleta, garrisoned by six hundred
picked men under the engineer Pedro Navarro. The defence of the place
justified the reputation of this gallant soldier. He beat off two
successive assaults of the enemy, led on by Bayard, La Palice, and the
flower of their chivalry. He had prepared to sustain a third, resolved to
bury himself under the ruins of the town rather than surrender. But
Gonsalvo, unable to relieve it, commanded him to make the best terms he
could, saying, "the place was of far less value, than the lives of the
brave men who defended it." Navarro found no difficulty in obtaining an
honorable capitulation; and the little garrison, dwindled to one-third of
its original number, marched out through the enemy's camp, with colors
flying and music playing, as if in derision of the powerful force it had
so nobly kept at bay. [17]

After the capture of Canosa, D'Aubigny, whose misunderstanding with
Nemours still continued, was despatched with a small force into the south,
to overrun the two Calabrias. The viceroy, in the mean while, having
fruitlessly attempted the reduction of several strong places held by the
Spaniards in the neighborhood of Barleta, endeavored to straiten the
garrison there by desolating the surrounding country, and sweeping off the
flocks and herds which grazed in its fertile pastures. The Spaniards,
however, did not remain idle within their defences, but, sallying out in
small detachments, occasionally retrieved the spoil from the hands of the
enemy, or annoyed him with desultory attacks, ambuscades, and other
irregular movements of _guerrilla_ warfare, in which the French were
comparatively unpractised. [18]

The war now began to assume many of the romantic features of that of
Granada. The knights on both sides, not content with the usual military
rencontres, defied one another to jousts and tourneys, eager to establish
their prowess in the noble exercises of chivalry. One of the most
remarkable of these meetings took place between eleven Spanish and as many
French knights, in consequence of some disparaging remarks of the latter
on the cavalry of their enemies, which they affirmed inferior to their
own. The Venetians gave the parties a fair field of combat in the neutral
territory under their own walls of Trani. A gallant array of well-armed
knights of both nations guarded the lists, and maintained the order of the
fight. On the appointed day, the champions appeared in the field, armed at
all points, with horses richly caparisoned, and barbed or covered with
steel panoply like their masters. The roofs and battlements of Trani were
covered with spectators, while the lists were thronged with the French and
Spanish chivalry, each staking in some degree the national honor on the
issue of the contest. Among the Castilians were Diego de Paredes and Diego
de Vera, while the good knight Bayard was most conspicuous on the other
side.

As the trumpets sounded the appointed signal, the hostile parties rushed
to the encounter. Three Spaniards were borne from their saddles by the
rudeness of the shock, and four of their antagonists' horses slain. The
fight, which began at ten in the morning, was not to be protracted beyond
sunset. Long before that hour, all the French save two, one of them the
chevalier Bayard, had been dismounted, and their horses, at which the
Spaniards had aimed more than at the riders, disabled or slain. The
Spaniards, seven of whom were still on horseback, pressed hard on their
adversaries, leaving little doubt of the fortune of the day. The latter,
however, intrenching themselves behind the carcasses of their dead horses,
made good their defence against the Spaniards, who in vain tried to spur
their terrified steeds over the barrier. In this way the fight was
protracted till sunset; and, as both parties continued to keep possession
of the field, the palm of victory was adjudged to neither, while both were
pronounced to have demeaned themselves like good and valiant knights. [19]

The tourney being ended, the combatants met in the centre of the lists,
and embraced each other in the true companionship of chivalry, "making
good cheer together," says an old chronicler, before they separated. The
Great Captain was not satisfied with the issue of the fight. "We have, at
least," said one of his champions, "disproved the taunt of the Frenchmen,
and shown ourselves as good horsemen as they." "I sent you for better,"
coldly retorted Gonsalvo. [20]

A more tragic termination befell a combat _à l'outrance_ between the
chevalier Bayard and a Spanish cavalier, named Alonso de Sotomayor, who
had accused the former of uncourteous treatment of him, while his
prisoner. Bayard denied the charge, and defied the Spaniard to prove it in
single fight, on horse or on foot, as he best liked. Sotomayor, aware of
his antagonist's uncommon horsemanship, preferred the latter alternative.

At the day and hour appointed, the two knights entered the lists, armed
with sword and dagger, and sheathed in complete harness; although, with a
degree of temerity unusual in these, combats, they wore their visors up.
Both combatants knelt down in silent prayer for a few moments, and then
rising and crossing themselves, advanced straight against each other; "the
good knight Bayard," says Brantôme, "moving as light of step, as if he
were going to lead some fair lady down the dance."

The Spaniard was of a large and powerful frame, and endeavored to crush
his enemy by weight of blows, or to close with him and bring him to the
ground. The latter, naturally inferior in strength, was rendered still
weaker by a fever, from which he had not entirely recovered. He was more
light and agile than his adversary, however, and superior dexterity
enabled him not only to parry his enemy's strokes, but to deal him
occasionally one of his own, while he sorely distressed him by the
rapidity of his movements. At length, as the Spaniard was somewhat thrown
off his balance by an ill-directed blow, Bayard struck him so sharply on
the gorget, that it gave way, and the sword entered his throat. Furious
with the agony of the wound, Sotomayor collected all his strength for the
last struggle, and, grasping his antagonist in his arms, they both rolled
in the dust together. Before either could extricate himself, the quick-
eyed Bayard, who had retained his poniard in his left hand during the
whole combat, while the Spaniard's had remained in his belt, drove the
steel with such convulsive strength under his enemy's eye, that it pierced
quite through the brain. After the judges had awarded the honors of the
day to Bayard, the minstrels as usual began to pour forth triumphant
strains in praise of the victor; but the good knight commanded them to
desist, and, having first prostrated himself on his knees in gratitude for
his victory, walked slowly out of the lists, expressing a wish that the
combat had had a different termination, so that his honor had been saved.
[2]

In these jousts and tourneys, described with sufficient prolixity, but in
a truly heart-stirring tone, by the chroniclers of the day, we may discern
the last gleam of the light of chivalry, which illumined the darkness of
the Middle Ages; and, although rough in comparison with the pastimes of
more polished times, they called forth such displays of magnificence,
courtesy, and knightly honor, as throw something like the grace of
civilization over the ferocious features of the age.

While the Spaniards, cooped up within the old town of Barleta, sought to
vary the monotony of their existence by these chivalrous exercises, or an
occasional foray into the neighboring country, they suffered greatly from
the want of military stores, food, clothing, and the most common
necessaries of life. It seemed as if their master had abandoned them to
their fate on this forlorn outpost, without a struggle in their behalf.
[22] How different from the parental care with which Isabella watched over
the welfare of her soldiers in the long war of Granada! The queen appears
to have taken no part in the management of these wars, which,
notwithstanding the number of her own immediate subjects embarked in them,
she probably regarded, from the first, as appertaining to Aragon, as
exclusively as the conquests in the New World did to Castile. Indeed,
whatever degree of interest she may have felt in their success, the
declining state of her health at this period would not have allowed her to
take any part in the conduct of them.

Gonsalvo was not wanting to himself in this trying emergency, and his
noble spirit seemed to rise as all outward and visible resources failed.
He cheered his troops with promises of speedy relief, talking confidently
of the supplies of grain he expected from Sicily, and the men and money he
was to receive from Spain and Venice. He contrived, too, says Giovio, that
a report should get abroad, that a ponderous coffer lying in his apartment
was filled with gold, which he could draw upon in the last extremity. The
old campaigners, indeed, according to the same authority, shook their
heads at these and other agreeable fictions of their general, with a very
skeptical air. They derived some confirmation, however, from the arrival
soon after of a Sicilian bark, laden with corn, and another from Venice
with various serviceable stores and wearing apparel, which Gonsalvo bought
on his own credit and that of his principal officers, and distributed
gratuitously among his destitute soldiers. [23]

At this time he received the unwelcome tidings that a small force which
had been sent from Spain to his assistance, under Don Manuel de Benavides,
and which had effected a junction with one much larger from Sicily under
Hugo de Cardona, was surprised by D'Aubigny near Terranova, and totally
defeated. This disaster was followed by the reduction of all Calabria,
which the latter general, at the head of his French and Scottish
gendarmerie, rode over from one extremity to the other without opposition.
[24]

The prospect now grew darker and darker around the little garrison of
Barleta. The discomfiture of Benavides excluded hopes of relief in that
direction. The gradual occupation of most of the strong places in Apulia
by the duke of Nemours cut off all communication with the neighboring
country; and a French fleet cruising in the Adriatic rendered the arrival
of further stores and reinforcements extremely precarious. Gonsalvo,
however, maintained the same unruffled cheerfulness as before, and
endeavored to infuse it into the hearts of others. He perfectly understood
the character of his countrymen, knew all their resources, and tried to
rouse every latent principle of honor, loyalty, pride, and national
feeling; and such was the authority which he acquired over their minds,
and so deep the affection which he inspired, by the amenity of his manners
and the generosity of his disposition, that not a murmur or symptom of
insubordination escaped them during the whole of this long and painful
siege. But neither the excellence of his troops, nor the resources of his
own genius, would have been sufficient to extricate Gonsalvo from the
difficulties of his situation, without the most flagrant errors on the
part of his opponent. The Spanish general, who understood the character of
the French commander perfectly well, lay patiently awaiting his
opportunity, like a skilful fencer, ready to make a decisive thrust at the
first vulnerable point that should be presented. Such an occasion at
length offered itself early in the following year. [25]

The French, no less weary than their adversaries of their long inaction,
sallied out from Canosa, where the viceroy had established his
headquarters, and, crossing the Ofanto, marched up directly under the
walls of Barleta, with the intention of drawing out the garrison from the
"old den," as they called it, and deciding the quarrel in a pitched
battle. The duke of Nemours, accordingly, having taken up his position,
sent a trumpet into the place to defy the Great Captain to the encounter;
but the latter returned for answer, that "he was accustomed to choose his
own place and time for fighting, and would thank the French general to
wait till his men found time to shoe their horses, and burnish up their
arms." At length, Nemours, after remaining some days, and finding there
was no chance of decoying his wily foe from his defences, broke up his
camp and retired, satisfied with the empty honors of his gasconade.

No sooner had he fairly turned his back, than Gonsalvo, whose soldiers had
been restrained with difficulty from sallying out on their insolent foe,
ordered the whole strength of his cavalry under the command of Diego de
Mendoza, flanked by two corps of infantry, to issue forth and pursue the
French. Mendoza executed these orders so promptly that he brought up his
horse, which were somewhat in advance of the foot, on the rear-guard of
the French, before it had got many miles from Barleta. The latter
instantly halted to receive the charge of the Spaniards, and, after a
lively skirmish of no great duration, Mendoza retreated, followed by the
incautious enemy, who, in consequence of their irregular and straggling
march, were detached from the main body of their army. In the mean time,
the advancing columns of the Spanish infantry, which had now come up with
the retreating horse, unexpectedly closing on the enemy's flanks, threw
them into some disorder, which became complete when the flying cavalry of
the Spaniards, suddenly wheeling round in the rapid style of the Moorish
tactics, charged them boldly in front. All was now confusion. Some made
resistance, but most sought only to escape; a few effected it, but the
greater part of those who did not fall on the field were carried prisoners
to Barleta; where Mendoza found the Great Captain with his whole army
drawn up under the walls in order of battle, ready to support him in
person, if necessary. The whole affair passed so expeditiously, that the
viceroy, who, as has been said, conducted his retreat in a most disorderly
manner, and in fact had already dispersed several battalions of his
infantry to the different towns from which he had drawn them, knew nothing
of the rencontre, till his men were securely lodged within the walls of
Barleta. [26]

The arrival of a Venetian trader at this time, with a cargo of grain,
brought temporary relief to the pressing necessities of the garrison. [27]
This was followed by the welcome intelligence of the total discomfiture of
the French fleet under M. de Préjan by the Spanish admiral Lezcano, in an
action off Otranto, which consequently left the seas open for the supplies
daily expected from Sicily. Fortune seemed now in the giving vein; for in
a few days a convoy of seven transports from that island, laden with
grain, meat, and other stores, came safe into Barleta, and supplied
abundant means for recruiting the health and spirits of its famished
inmates. [28]

Thus restored, the Spaniards began to look forward with eager confidence
to the achievement of some new enterprise. The temerity of the viceroy
soon afforded an opportunity. The people of Castellaneta, a town near
Tarento, were driven by the insolent and licentious behavior of the French
garrison to betray the place into the hands of the Spaniards. The duke of
Nemours, enraged at this defection, prepared to march at once with his
whole force, and take signal vengeance on the devoted little town; and
this, notwithstanding the remonstrances of his officers against a step
which must inevitably expose the unprotected garrisons in the neighborhood
to the assault of their vigilant enemy in Barleta. The event justified
these apprehensions. [29]

No sooner had Gonsalvo learned the departure of Nemours on a distant
expedition, than he resolved at once to make an attack on the town of
Ruvo, about twelve miles distant, and defended by the brave La Palice,
with a corps of three hundred French lances, and as many foot. With his
usual promptness, the Spanish general quitted the walls of Barleta the
same night on which he received the news, taking with him his whole
effective force, amounting to about three thousand infantry and one
thousand light and heavy-armed horse. So few, indeed, remained to guard
the city, that he thought it prudent to take some of the principal
inhabitants as hostages to insure its fidelity in his absence.

At break of day, the little army arrived before Ruvo. Gonsalvo immediately
opened a lively cannonade on the old ramparts, which in less than four
hours effected a considerable breach. He then led his men to the assault,
taking charge himself of those who were to storm the breach, while another
division, armed with ladders for scaling the walls, was intrusted to the
adventurous cavalier Diego de Paredes.

The assailants experienced more resolute resistance than they had
anticipated from the inconsiderable number of the garrison. La Palice,
throwing himself into the breach with his iron band of dismounted
gendarmes, drove back the Spaniards as often as they attempted to set foot
on the broken ramparts; while the Gascon archery showered down volleys of
arrows thick as hail, from the battlements, on the exposed persons of the
assailants. The latter, however, soon rallied under the eye of their
general, and returned with fresh fury to the charge, until the
overwhelming tide of numbers bore down all opposition, and they poured in
through the breach and over the walls with irresistible fury. The brave
little garrison were driven before them; still, however, occasionally
making fight in the streets and houses. Their intrepid young commander, La
Palice, retreated facing the enemy, who pressed thick and close upon him,
till, his further progress being arrested by a wall, he placed his back
against it, and kept them at bay, making a wide circle around him with the
deadly sweep of his battle-axe. But the odds were too much for him; and at
length, after repeated wounds, having been brought to the ground by a deep
cut in the head, he was made prisoner; not, however, before he had flung
his sword far over the heads of the assailants, disdaining, in the true
spirit of a knight-errant, to yield it to the rabble around him. [30]

All resistance was now at an end. The women of the place had fled, like so
many frightened deer, to one of the principal churches; and Gonsalvo, with
more humanity than was usual in these barbarous wars, placed a guard over
their persons, which effectually secured them from the insults of the
soldiery. After a short time spent in gathering up the booty and securing
his prisoners, the Spanish general, having achieved the object of his
expedition, set out on his homeward march, and arrived without
interruption at Barleta.

The duke of Nemours had scarcely appeared before Castellaneta, before he
received tidings of the attack on Ruvo. He put himself, without losing a
moment, at the head of his gendarmes, supported by the Swiss pikemen,
hoping to reach the beleaguered town in time to raise the siege. Great was
his astonishment, therefore, on arriving before it, to find no trace of an
enemy, except the ensigns of Spain unfurled from the deserted battlements.
Mortified and dejected, be made no further attempt to recover
Castellaneta, but silently drew off to hide his chagrin in the walls of
Canosa. [31]

Among the prisoners were several persons of distinguished rank. Gonsalvo
treated them with his usual courtesy, and especially La Palice, whom he
provided with his own surgeon and all the appliances for rendering his
situation as comfortable as possible. For the common file, however, he
showed no such sympathy; but condemned them all to serve in the Spanish
admiral's galleys, where they continued to the close of the campaign. An
unfortunate misunderstanding had long subsisted between the French and
Spanish commanders respecting the ransom and exchange of prisoners; and
Gonsalvo was probably led to this severe measure, so different from his
usual clemency, by an unwillingness to encumber himself with a superfluous
population in the besieged city. [32] But, in truth, such a proceeding,
however offensive to humanity, was not at all repugnant to the haughty
spirit of chivalry, which, reserving its courtesies exclusively for those
of gentle blood and high degree, cared little for the inferior orders,
whether soldier or peasant, whom it abandoned without remorse to all the
caprices and cruelties of military license.

The capture of Ruvo was attended with important consequences to the
Spaniards. Besides the valuable booty of clothes, jewels, and money, they
brought back with them nearly a thousand horses, which furnished Gonsalvo
with the means of augmenting his cavalry, the small number of which had
hitherto materially crippled his operations. He accordingly selected seven
hundred of his best troops and mounted them on the French horses; thus
providing himself with a corps, burning with zeal to approve itself worthy
of the distinguished honor conferred on it. [33]

A few weeks after, the general received an important accession of strength
from the arrival of two thousand German mercenaries, which Don Juan
Manuel, the Spanish minister at the Austrian court, had been permitted to
raise in the emperor's dominions. This event determined the Great Captain
on a step which he had been some time meditating. The new levies placed
him in a condition for assuming the offensive. His stock of provisions,
moreover, already much reduced, would be obviously insufficient long to
maintain his increased numbers. He resolved, therefore, to sally out of
the old walls of Barleta, and, availing himself of the high spirits in
which the late successes had put his troops, to bring the enemy at once to
battle. [34]


FOOTNOTES

[1] Peter Martyr, in a letter written from Venice, while detained there on
his way to Alexandria, speaks of the efforts made by the French emissaries
to induce the republic to break with Spain, and support their master in
his designs on Naples. "Adsunt namque a Ludovico rege Gallorum oratores,
qui omni nixu conantur a vobis Venetorum animos avertere. Fremere dentibus
aiunt oratorem primarium Gallum, quia nequeat per Venetorum suffragia
consequi, ut aperte vobis hostilitatem edicant, utque velint Gallis regno
Parthenopeo contra vestra praesidia ferre suppetias." The letter is dated
October 1st, 1501. Opus Epist., epist. 231.

[2] Martyr, after noticing the grounds of the partition treaty, comments
with his usual shrewdness on the politic views of the Spanish sovereigns.
"Facilius namque se sperant, eam partem, quam sibi Galli sortiti sunt,
habituros aliquando, quam si universum regnum occuparint." Opus Epist.,
epist. 218.

[3] The Italian historians, who have investigated the subject with some
parade of erudition, treat it so vaguely, as to leave it after all nearly
as perplexed as they found it. Giovio includes the Capitanate in Apulia,
according to the ancient division; Guicciardini, according to the modern;
and the Spanish historian Mariana, according to both. The last writer, it
may be observed, discusses the matter with equal learning and candor, and
more perspicuity than either of the preceding. He admits reasonable
grounds for doubt to which moiety of the kingdom the Basilicate and
Principalities should be assigned. Mariana, Hist. de España, tom. ii. p.
670.--Guicciardini, Istoria, tom. i. lib. 5, pp. 274, 275.--Giovio, Vita
Magni Gonsalvi, lib. 1, pp. 234, 235.

[4] The provision of the partition treaty, that the Spaniards should
collect the tolls paid by the flocks on their descent from the French
district of Abruzzo into the Capitanate, is conclusive evidence of the
intention of the contracting parties to assign the latter to Spain. See
the treaty apud Dumont, Corps Diplomatique, tom. in. pp. 445, 446.

[5] Zurita, Hist. del Rey Hernando, tom, i. lib. 4, cap. 52.--Mariana,
Hist. de España, tom. ii, lib. 27, cap. 12.--Ulloa, Vita di Carlo V., fol.
10.

[6] D'Auton, Hist. de Louys XII., part. 2, chap. 3-7.--Zurita, Hist. del
Rey Hernando, tom. i. lib. 4, cap. 60, 62, 64, 65.--Giovio, Vitae Illust.
Virorum, tom. i. p. 236.--Giannone, Istoria di Napoli, lib. 29, cap. 4.

Bernaldez states, that the Great Captain, finding his conference with the
French general ineffectual, proposed to the latter to decide the quarrel
between their respective nations by single combat. (Reyes Católicos, MS.,
cap. 167.) We should require some other authority, however, than that of
the good Curate to vouch for this romantic flight, so entirely out of
keeping with the Spanish general's character, in which prudence was
probably the most conspicuous attribute.

[7] Daru, Hist. de Venise, tom. iii. p. 345.--Bembo, Istoria Viniziana,
tom. i. lib. 6.--Peter Martyr, Opus Epist., epist. 238, 240, 252.--This
may appear strange, considering that Lorenzo Suarez de la Vega was there,
a person of whom Gonzalo de Oviedo writes, "Fué gentil caballero, é sabio,
é de gran prudencia; ***** muy entendido é de mucho reposo é honesto é
afable é de linda conversarcion;" and again more explicitly, "Embaxador á
Venecia, en el qual oficio sirvio muy bien, é como prudente varon."
(Quincuagenas, MS., bat. 1, quinc. 3, dial. 44.) Martyr admits his
prudence, but objects his ignorance of Latin, a deficiency, however
heinous in the worthy tutor's eyes, probably of no rare occurrence among
the elder Castilian nobles.

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