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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




While this dispute was going on, Gonsalvo gained time for making the
necessary disposition of his troops. In the centre he placed his German
auxiliaries, armed with their long pikes, and on each wing the Spanish
infantry under the command of Pedro Navarro, Diego de Paredes, Pizarro,
and other illustrious captains. The defence of the artillery was committed
to the left wing. A considerable body of men-at-arms, including those
recently equipped from the spoils of Ruvo, was drawn up within the
intrenchments, in a quarter affording a convenient opening for a sally,
and placed under the orders of Mendoza and Fabrizio Colonna, whose brother
Prospero and Pedro de la Paz took charge of the light cavalry, which was
posted without the lines to annoy the advance of the enemy, and act on any
point, as occasion might require. Having completed his preparations, the
Spanish general coolly waited the assault of the French.

The duke of Nemours had marshalled his forces in a very different order.
He distributed them into three battles or divisions, stationing his heavy
horse, composing altogether, as Gonsalvo declared, "the finest body of
cavalry seen for many years in Italy," under the command of Louis d'Ars,
on the right. The second and centre division, formed somewhat in the rear
of the right, was made up of the Swiss and Gascon infantry, headed by the
brave Chandieu; and his left, consisting chiefly of his light cavalry, and
drawn up, like the last, somewhat in the rear of the preceding, was
intrusted to Allègre. [19]

It was within half an hour of sunset when the duke de Nemours gave orders
for the attack, and, putting himself at the head of the gendarmerie on the
right, spurred at full gallop against the Spanish left. The hostile armies
were nearly equal, amounting to between six and seven thousand men each.
The French were superior in the number and condition of their cavalry,
rising to a third of their whole force; while Gonsalvo's strength lay
chiefly in his infantry, which had acquired a lesson of tactics under him,
that raised it to a level with the best in Europe.

As the French advanced, the guns on the Spanish left poured a lively fire
into their ranks, when, a spark accidentally communicating with the
magazine of powder, the whole blew up with a tremendous explosion. The
Spaniards were filled with consternation; but Gonsalvo, converting the
misfortune into a lucky omen, called out, "Courage, soldiers, these are
the beacon lights of victory! We have no need of our guns at close
quarters."

In the mean time, the French van under Nemours, advancing rapidly under
the dark clouds of smoke, which rolled heavily over the field, were
unexpectedly brought up by the deep trench, of whose existence they were
unapprised. Some of the horse were precipitated into it, and all received
a sudden check, until Nemours, finding it impossible to force the works in
this quarter, rode along their front in search of some practicable
passage. In doing this, he necessarily exposed his flank to the fatal aim
of the Spanish arquebusiers. A shot from one of them took effect on the
unfortunate young nobleman, and he fell mortally wounded from his saddle.

At this juncture, the Swiss and Gascon infantry, briskly moving up to
second the attack of the now disordered horse, arrived before the
intrenchments. Undismayed by this formidable barrier, their commander,
Chandieu, made the most desperate attempts to force a passage; but the
loose earth freshly turned up afforded no hold to the feet, and his men
were compelled to recoil from the dense array of German pikes, which
bristled over the summit of the breastwork. Chandieu, their leader, made
every effort to rally and bring them back to the charge; but, in the act
of doing this, was hit by a ball, which stretched him lifeless in the
ditch; his burnished arms, and the snow-white plumes above his helmet,
making him a conspicuous mark for the enemy.

All was now confusion. The Spanish arquebusiers, screened by their
defences, poured a galling fire into the dense masses of the enemy, who
were mingled together indiscriminately, horse and foot, while, the leaders
being down, no one seemed capable of bringing them to order. At this
critical moment, Gonsalvo, whose eagle eye took in the whole operations of
the field, ordered a general charge along the line; and the Spaniards,
leaping their intrenchments, descended with the fury of an avalanche on
their foes, whose wavering columns, completely broken by the violence of
the shock, were seized with a panic, and fled, scarcely offering any
resistance. Louis d'Ars, at the head of such of the men-at-arms as could
follow him, went off in one direction, and Ives d'Allègre, with his light
cavalry, which had hardly come into action, in another; thus fully
verifying the ominous prediction of his commander. The slaughter fell most
heavily on the Swiss and Gascon foot, whom the cavalry under Mendoza and
Pedro de la Paz rode down and cut to pieces without sparing, till the
shades of evening shielded them at length from their pitiless pursuers.
[20]

Prospero Colonna pushed on to the French encampment, where he found the
tables in the duke's tent spread for his evening repast; of which the
Italian general and his followers did not fail to make good account. A
trifling incident, that well illustrates the sudden reverses of war.

The Great Captain passed the night on the field of battle, which, on the
following morning, presented a ghastly spectacle of the dying and the
dead. More than three thousand French are computed by the best accounts to
have fallen. The loss of the Spaniards, covered as they were by their
defences, was inconsiderable. [21] All the enemy's artillery, consisting
of thirteen pieces, his baggage, and most of his colors fell into their
hands. Never was there a more complete victory, achieved too within the
space of little more than an hour. The body of the unfortunate Nemours,
which was recognized by one of his pages from the rings on the fingers,
was found under a heap of slain, much disfigured. It appeared that he had
received three several wounds, disproving, if need were, by his honorable
death the injurious taunts of Allègre. Gonsalvo was affected even to tears
at beholding the mutilated remains of his young and gallant adversary,
who, whatever judgment may be formed of his capacity as a leader, was
allowed to have all the qualities which belong to a true knight. With him
perished the last scion of the illustrious house of Armagnac. Gonsalvo
ordered his remains to be conveyed to Barleta, where they were laid in the
cemetery of the convent of St. Francis, with all the honors due to his
high station. [22]

The Spanish commander lost no time in following up his blow, well aware
that it is quite as difficult to improve a victory as to win one. The
French had rushed into battle with too much precipitation to agree on any
plan of operations, or any point on which to rally in case of defeat. They
accordingly scattered in different directions, and Pedro de la Paz was
despatched in pursuit of Louis d'Ars, who threw himself into Venosa, [23]
where he kept the enemy at bay for many months longer. Paredes kept close
on the scent of Allègre, who, finding the gates shut against him wherever
he passed, at length took shelter in Gaeta on the extreme point of the
Neapolitan territory. There he endeavored to rally the scattered relics of
the field of Cerignola, and to establish a strong position, from which the
French, when strengthened by fresh supplies from home, might recommence
operations for the recovery of the kingdom.

The day after the battle of Cerignola the Spaniards received tidings of
another victory, scarcely less important, gained over the French in
Calabria, the preceding week. [24] The army sent out under Portocarrero
had reached that coast early in March; but, soon after its arrival, its
gallant commander fell ill and died. [25] The dying general named Don
Fernando de Andrada as his successor; and this officer, combining his
forces with those before in the country under Cardona and Benavides,
encountered the French commander D'Aubigny in a pitched battle, not far
from Seminara, on Friday, the 21st of April. It was near the same spot on
which the latter had twice beaten the Spaniards. But the star of France
was on the wane; and the gallant old officer had the mortification to see
his little corps of veterans completely routed after a sharp engagement of
less than an hour, while he himself was retrieved with difficulty from the
hands of the enemy by the valor of his Scottish guard. [26]

The Great Captain and his army, highly elated with the news of this
fortunate event, which annihilated the French power in Calabria, began
their march on Naples; Fabrizio Colonna having been first detached into
the Abruzzi to receive the submission of the people in that quarter. The
tidings of the victory had spread far and wide; and, as Gonsalvo's army
advanced, they beheld the ensigns of Aragon floating from the battlements
of the towns upon their route, while the inhabitants came forth to greet
the conqueror, eager to testify their devotion to the Spanish cause. The
army halted at Benevento; and the general sent his summons to the city of
Naples, inviting it in the most courteous terms to resume its ancient
allegiance to the legitimate branch of Aragon. It was hardly to be
expected, that the allegiance of a people, who had so long seen their
country set up as a mere stake for political gamesters, should sit very
closely upon them, or that they should care to peril their lives on the
transfer of a crown which had shifted on the heads of half a dozen
proprietors in as many successive years. [27] With the same ductile
enthusiasm, therefore, with which they greeted the accession of Charles
the Eighth or Louis the Twelfth, they now welcomed the restoration of the
ancient dynasty of Aragon; and deputies from the principal nobility and
citizens waited on the Great Captain at Acerra, where they tendered him
the keys of the city, and requested the confirmation of their rights and
privileges.

Gonsalvo, having promised this in the name of his royal master, on the
following morning, the 14th of May, 1503, made his entrance in great state
into the capital, leaving his army without the walls. He was escorted by
the military of the city under a royal canopy borne by the deputies. The
streets were strewed with flowers, the edifices decorated with appropriate
emblems and devices, and wreathed with banners emblazoned with the united
arms of Aragon and Naples. As he passed along, the city rung with the
acclamations of countless multitudes who thronged the streets; while every
window and housetop was filled with spectators, eager to behold the man,
who, with scarcely any other resources than those of his own genius, had
so long defied, and at length completely foiled, the power of France.

On the following day a deputation of the nobility and people waited on the
Great Captain at his quarters, and tendered him the usual oaths of
allegiance for his master, King Ferdinand, whose accession finally closed
the series of revolutions which had so long agitated this unhappy country.
[28]

The city of Naples was commanded by two strong fortresses still held by
the French, which, being well victualled and supplied with ammunition,
showed no disposition to surrender. The Great Captain determined,
therefore, to reserve a small corps for their reduction, while he sent
forward the main body of his army to besiege Gaeta. But the Spanish
infantry refused to march until the heavy arrears, suffered to accumulate
through the negligence of the government, were discharged; and Gonsalvo,
afraid of awakening the mutinous spirit which he had once found it so
difficult to quell, was obliged to content himself with sending forward
his cavalry and German levies, and to permit the infantry to take up its
quarters in the capital, under strict orders to respect the persons and
property of the citizens.

He now lost no time in pressing the siege of the French fortresses, whose
impregnable situation might have derided the efforts of the most
formidable enemy in the ancient state of military science. But the
reduction of these places was intrusted to Pedro Navarro, the celebrated
engineer, whose improvements in the art of mining have gained him the
popular reputation of being its inventor, and who displayed such
unprecedented skill on this occasion, as makes it a memorable epoch in the
annals of war. [29]

Under his directions, the small tower of St. Vincenzo having been first
reduced by a furious cannonade, a mine was run under the outer defences of
the great fortress called Castel Nuovo. On the 21st of May, the mine was
sprung; a passage was opened over the prostrate ramparts, and the
assailants, rushing in with Gonsalvo and Navarro at their head, before the
garrison had time to secure the drawbridge, applied their ladders to the
walls of the castle, and succeeded in carrying the place by escalade,
after a desperate struggle, in which the greater part of the French were
slaughtered. An immense booty was found in the castle. The Angevin party
had made it a place of deposit for their most valuable effects, gold,
jewels, plate, and other treasures, which, together with its well-stored
magazines of grain and ammunition, became the indiscriminate spoil of the
victors. As some of these, however, complained of not getting their share
of the plunder, Gonsalvo, giving full scope in the exultation of the
moment to military license, called out gayly, "Make amends for it, then,
by what you can find in my quarters!" The words were not uttered to deaf
ears. The mob of soldiery rushed to the splendid palace of the Angevin
prince of Salerno, then occupied by the Great Captain, and in a moment its
sumptuous furniture, paintings, and other costly decorations, together
with the contents of its generous cellar, were seized and appropriated
without ceremony by the invaders, who thus indemnified themselves at their
general's expense for the remissness of government.

After some weeks of protracted operations, the remaining fortress, Castel
d'Uovo, as it was called, opened its gates to Navarro; and a French fleet,
coming into the harbor, had the mortification to find itself fired on from
the walls of the place it was intended to relieve. Before this event,
Gonsalvo, having obtained funds from Spain for paying off his men, quitted
the capital and directed his march on Gaeta. The important results of his
victories were now fully disclosed. D'Aubigny, with the wreck of the
forces escaped from Seminara, had surrendered. The two Abruzzi, the
Capitanate, all the Basilicate, except Venosa, still held by Louis d'Ars,
and indeed every considerable place in the kingdom, had tendered its
submission, with the exception of Gaeta. Summoning, therefore, to his aid
Andrada, Navarro, and his other officers, the Great Captain resolved to
concentrate all his strength on this point, designing to press the siege,
and thus exterminate at a blow the feeble remains of the French power in
Italy. The enterprise was attended with more difficulty than he had
anticipated. [30]


FOOTNOTES

[1] Carbajal, Anales, MS., año 1500.--Sandoval, Hist. del Emp. Carlos V.,
tom. i. p. 2.

The queen expressed herself in the language of Scripture. "Sora cecidit
super Mathiam," in allusion to the circumstance of Charles being born on
that saint's day; a day which, if we are to believe Garibay, was fortunate
to him through the whole course of his life. Compendio, tom. ii. lib. 19,
cap. 9.

[2] Charles VIII., Louis's predecessor, had contrived to secure the hand
of Anne of Bretagne, notwithstanding she was already married by proxy to
Philip's father, the emperor Maximilian; and this, too, in contempt of his
own engagements to Margaret, the emperor's daughter, to whom he had been
affianced from her infancy. This twofold insult, which sunk deep into the
heart of Maximilian, seems to have made no impression on the volatile
spirits of his son.

[3] Mariana, Hist. de España, lib. 27, cap. 11.--St. Gelais describes the
cordial reception of Philip and Joanna by the Court at Blois, where he was
probably present himself. The historian shows his own opinion of the
effect produced on their young minds by these flattering attentions, by
remarking, "Le roy leur monstra si très grand semblant d'amour, que par
noblesse et honesteté de coeur _il les obligeoit envers luy de leur en
souvenir toute leur vie_." Hist. de Louys. XII., pp. 164, 165.

In passing through Paris, Philip took his seat in parliament as peer of
France, and subsequently did homage to Louis XII., as his suzerain for his
estates in Flanders; an acknowledgment of inferiority not at all palatable
to the Spanish historians, who insist with much satisfaction on the
haughty refusal of his wife, the archduchess, to take part in the
ceremony. Zurita, Anales, tom. v. lib. 4, cap. 55.--Carbajal, Anales, MS.,
año 1502.--Abarca, Reyes de Aragon, tom. ii. rey 30, cap. 13, sec. 1.--
Dumont, Corps Diplomatique, tom. iv. part. 1, p. 17.

[4] Carbajal, Anales, MS., año 1501.--Sandoval, Hist. del Emp. Carlos V.,
tom. i. p. 5.

[5] Zurita, Anales, tom. v. lib. 4, cap. 55.--Ferreras, Hist. d'Espagne,
tom. viii. p. 220.

This extreme simplicity of attire, in which Zurita discerns "the modesty
of the times," was enforced by laws, the policy of which, whatever be
thought of their moral import, may well be doubted in an economical view.
I shall have occasion to draw the reader's attention to them hereafter.

[6] The writ is dated at Llerena, March 8. It was extracted by Marina from
the archives of Toledo, Teoría, tom. ii. p. 18.

[7] It is remarkable that the Aragonese writers, generally so inquisitive
on all points touching the constitutional history of their country, should
have omitted to notice the grounds on which the cortes thought proper to
reverse its former decision in the analogous case of the infanta Isabella.
There seems to have been even less reason for departing from ancient usage
in the present instance, since Joanna had a son, to whom the cortes might
lawfully have tendered its oath of recognition; for a female, although
excluded from the throne in her own person, was regarded as competent to
transmit the title unimpaired to her male heirs. Blancas suggests no
explanation of the affair, (Coronaciones, lib. 3, cap. 20, and
Commentarii, pp. 274, 511,) and Zurita quietly dismisses it with the
remark, that "there was some opposition raised, but _the king had managed
it so discreetly beforehand_, that there was not the same difficulty as
formerly." (Hist. del Rey Hernando, tom. i. lib. 5, cap. 5.) It is curious
to see with what effrontery the prothonotary of the cortes, in the desire
to varnish over the departure from constitutional precedent, declares, in
the opening address, "the princess Joanna, true and lawful heir to the
crown, to whom, in default of male heirs, the usage and law of the land
require the oath of allegiance." Coronaciones, ubi supra.

[8] Carbajal, Anales, MS., año 1500.--Abarca, Reyes de Aragon, tom. ii.
rey 30, cap. 12, sec. 6.--Robles, Vita de Ximenez, p. 126.--Garibay,
Compendio, tom. ii. lib. 19, cap. 14.--Sandoval, Hist. del Emp. Carlos V.,
tom. i. p. 5.

Petronilla, the only female who ever sat, in her own right, on the throne
of Aragon, never received the homage of cortes as heir apparent; the
custom not having been established at that time, the middle of the twelfth
century. (Zurita, Anales, tom. v. lib. 5, cap. 5.) Blancas has described
the ceremony of Joanna's recognition with quite as much circumstantiality
as the novelty of the case could warrant. Coronaciones, lib. 3, cap. 20.

[9] "Simplex est foemina," says Martyr, speaking of Joanna, "licet a tantâ
muliere progenita." Opus Epist., epist. 250.

[10] Peter Martyr, Opus Epist., ubi supra.--Zurita, Anales, tom. v. lib.
5, cap. 10.--Gomez, De Rebus Gestis, fol. 44.--Carbajal, Anales, MS., año
1502.

[11] Such manifest partiality for the French court and manners was shown
by Philip and his Flemish followers, that the Spaniards very generally
believed the latter were in the pay of Louis XII. See Gomez, De Rebus
Gestis, fol. 44.--Zurita, Anales, tom. v. lib. 5, cap. 23.--Peter Martyr,
Opus Epist., epist. 253.--Lanuza, Historias, cap. 16.

[12] Zurita, Anales, tom. v. lib. 5, cap. 10.--Abarca, Reyes de Aragon,
tom. ii. rey 30, cap. 13, sec. 2.--Garibay, Compendio, tom. ii. lib. 19,
cap. 15.--D'Auton, Hist. de Louys XII., part. 1, chap. 32.

[13] Zurita, Hist. del Rey Hernando, tom. i. lib. 5, cap. 23.--St. Gelais,
Hist. de Louys XII., pp. 170, 171.--Claude de Seyssel, Histoire de Louys
XII., (Paris, 1615,) p. 108.--Abarca, Reyes de Aragon, tom. ii. rey 30,
cap. 13, sec. 3.--Mariana, Hist. de España, tom. ii. pp. 690, 691.--
Lanuza, Historias, tom. i. cap. 16.

Some of the French historians speak of two agents besides Philip employed
in the negotiations. Father Boyl is the only one named by the Spanish
writers, as regularly commissioned for the purpose, although it is not
improbable that Gralla, the resident minister at Louis's court, took part
in the discussions.

[14] See the treaty, apud Dumont, Corps Diplomatique, tom. iv. pp. 27-29.

[15] Abarca, Reyes de Aragon, tom. ii. rey 30, cap. 33, sec. 3.--Giannone,
Istoria di Napoli, lib. 29, cap. 4.--St. Gelais, Hist. de Louys XII., p.
171.--Buonaccorsi, Diario, p. 75.--D'Auton, Hist. de Louys XII., part. 2,
chap. 32.

According to the Aragonese historians, Ferdinand, on the archduke's
departure, informed Gonsalvo of the intended negotiations with France,
cautioning the general at the same time not to heed any instructions of
the archduke till confirmed by him. This circumstance the French writers
regard as unequivocal proof of the king's insincerity in entering into the
negotiation. It wears this aspect at first, certainly; but, on a nearer
view, admits of a very different construction. Ferdinand had no confidence
in the discretion of his envoy, whom, if we are to believe the Spanish
writers, he employed in the affair more from accident than choice; and,
notwithstanding the full powers intrusted to him, he did not consider
himself bound to recognize the validity of any treaty which the other
should sign, until first ratified by himself. With these views, founded on
principles now universally recognized in European diplomacy, it was
natural to caution his general against any unauthorized interference on
the part of his envoy, which the rash and presumptuous character of the
latter, acting, moreover, under an undue influence of the French monarch,
gave him good reason to fear.

As to the Great Captain, who has borne a liberal share of censure on this
occasion, it is not easy to see how he could have acted otherwise than he
did, even in the event of no special instructions from Ferdinand. For he
would scarcely have been justified in abandoning a sure prospect of
advantage on the authority of one, the validity of whose powers he could
not determine, and which, in fact, do not appear to have warranted such
interference. The only authority he knew, was that from which he held his
commission, and to which he was responsible for the faithful discharge of
it.

[16] Neither Polybius (lib. 3, sec. 24 et seq.) nor Livy, (Hist., lib. 22,
cap. 43-50,) who give the most circumstantial narratives of the battle,
are precise enough to enable us to ascertain the exact spot in which it
was fought. Strabo, in his topographical notices of this part of Italy,
briefly alludes to "the affair of Cannae" (_ta peri Kannas_), without
any description of the scene of action. (Geog., lib. 6, p. 285.) Cluverius
fixes the site of the ancient Cannae on the right bank of the Anfidus, the
modern Ofanto, between three and four miles below Canusium; and notices
the modern hamlet of nearly the same name, Canne, where common tradition
recognizes the ruins of the ancient town. (Italia Antiqua, lib. 4, cap.
12, sec. 8.) D'Anville makes no difficulty in identifying these two,
(Géographie Ancienne Abrégée, tom. i. p. 208,) having laid down the
ancient town in his maps in the direct line, and about midway, between
Barleta and Cerignola.

[17] Giovio, Vitae Illust. Virorum, fol. 253-255.--Guicciardini, Istoria,
lib. 5, p. 303.--Chrónica del Gran Capitan, cap. 75, 76.--Zurita, Anales,
tom. v. lib. 5, cap. 27.--Peter Martyr, Opus Epist., epist. 256.--Ulloa,
Vita di Carlo V., fol. 16, 17.

Giovio says, that he had heard Fabrizio Colonna remark more than once, in
allusion to the intrenchments at the base of the hill, "that the victory
was owing, not to the skill of the commander, nor the valor of the troops,
but to a mound and a ditch." This ancient mode of securing a position,
which had fallen into disuse, was revived after this, according to the
same author, and came into general practice among the best captains of the
age. Ubi supra.

[18] Brantôme, Oeuvres, tom. ii. disc. 8.--Garnier, Histoire de France,
(Paris, 1783-8,) tom. v. pp. 395, 396.--Gaillard, Rivalité, tom. iv. p.
244.--St. Gelais, Hist. de Louys XII., p. 171.

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