On Wednesday, the 7th of October, the bishop of Sion arrived at Vercelli, with a body of Swiss, horse and foot, and others from the German allies of the king, for his better security. The king thanked the bishop for his friendship, and grandly feasted him and the troops he had brought. The next day, ambassadors came to the king from Ludovico of Milan and the Venetians, and earnestly demanded a treaty, having witnessed the strength of the king, and the enterprising courage of his troops,-when a treaty was agreed to, on much better terms than they deserved. On Saturday, the 10th of October, the king heard mass in the church of the Cordeliers in Vercelli, adjoining his lodgings; and, after his dinner, he proceeded to Trino, where he halted until the 15th of October, when he went to Crescentino, and from this place, by many days' march, arrived at Grenoble, passing through the following towns: Sillans, Sessia*, Turin, Quiers, Rivoli, Suza, Briançon, Notre-Damed'Embrun, Savines, Saint Eusèbe, La Meure †, and Tault near to Grenoble. He arrived at Grenoble about vespers, on the 27th of October; and all ranks of people went out in procession, and made another public entry for him on his return from the campaign of Italy. The king, being unwell, remained in Grenoble until the 3rd of November, when he set out for Lyon, passing through the towns of St. Rambert, where he stayed some days, Sillans, La Côte St. André, and Chatonay,-from which last place he advanced nearer to Lyon, where he slept. On Saturday the 7th of November, having dined at Venisseu, he proceeded to Lyon, whence all the churchmen came out in grand procession, dressed in their robes and bearing relics, to meet and welcome him on his return from Italy. He made a public entry into Lyon, as king of Jerusalem, Naples, and Sicily, attended by all the municipal officers and persons of rank in that town, handsomely dressed. He was conducted triumphantly through the streets, accompanied by the nobles and captains, who were looked at with pleasure in consequence of the noble victory they had gained over such superior numbers. The streets and squares were hung with tapestries: bonfires and mysteries were exhibited in all the open spaces through which the king passed, in his way to the archbishop's palace, that had been prepared for his lodgings. Here the queen and the duchess of Bourbon, his sister, were waiting, with many noble ladies and damsels, impatient to receive him; and, indeed, he was deserving of such eagerness.

The king held most sumptuous jousts at three different places in Lyon: at La Grenette in front of the convent of Cordeliers, in the Juerie, and before the palace: at all of them, he was foremost to offer himself, and performed many gallant feats with lance and sword, on horseback and on foot, as did several others of the French lords. In memory of these jousts, three stone columns were erected,—and to this day there exist the Latin verses that were inscribed on them, for king Charles was the principal tenant of the lists.

Prior to the expedition to Naples, the king had the body of the seraphic doctor, St. Bonaventure, raised with great pomp from his tomb in the church of the Cordeliers,—and the duke and duchess of Bourbon had his shrine afterward covered with plates of silver. The king, at the same time, founded the convent of the Cordeliers of the Observance in the city of Lyon, which is become a place of much devotion. When the king had staid some days in Lyon, he resolved to pursue his journey, to pay his devotions at the abbey of St. Denis, and return thence to Amboise,-which he did, as shall be hereafter related. In the year 1496, the son of the king of Spain died ‡,-and the same year died the duke of Savoy §, who was said, by those lately returned from Italy, to have poisoned the whole country of Piedmont.

Sessia. Q. Borgo de Sessia?

La Meure. Q. La Meyrie? in the election of Grenoble.

Prince John, to whom the unfortunate Margaret of Austria was betrothed after her rejection by Charles VIII.

§ Charles John Amadeus, commonly called Charles the Second, duke of Savoy, died this year at the tender age of eight years. The suspicion of poisoning the waters, which is nowhere that I can find alluded to by Guicciar

dini, probably refers to his successor Philip count of Bresse, who died the year following, just at the time that he had intended to leave the party of the king of France and embrace that of the confederates. Philip had three sons; Philibert II., who succeeded him, and died in 1504, without issue by Margaret of Austria his wife; Charles III.; and Philip duke of Nemours. Louisa, who married Charles count of Angoulesme, and is so celebrated in history as the mother of Francis I., was one of his daughters.

VOL. II.

I I

CHAPTER CCXI.-THE KING OF FRANCE GOES TO ST. DENIS.-HE RETURNS TO AMBOISE, AND THERE SUDDENLY DIES OF A FIT OF APOPLEXY.

WHEN king Charles had made some stay in Lyon, and had witnessed the tilts and tournaments that had been performed at Moulins, in the Bourbonnois, he proceeded to the abbey of St. Denis, to accomplish the vow of pilgrimage he had made, and to offer up his thanksgivings to God for the brilliant victories he had obtained over his enemies, and for the successful issue of his expedition to Naples. He went likewise to St. Denis, to replace the blessed bodies of the holy martyrs who repose there, that had been taken down from their niches when the king set out on his Italian expedition. It is an ancient and praiseworthy custom, that when the most Christian kings of France undertake any foreign expedition in person, they supplicate the aid and intercession of the glorious martyr St. Denis and his companions St. Rusticus and St. Eleutherus. The shrines of these saints are, in consequence, taken down from their niches on the king's quitting his kingdom, and deposited in a private part of the church. These holy bodies, thus deposited, cannot be replaced in their former situations until the king shall return to St. Denis from his foreign expedition, whether it had been for conquest or pleasure.

CHARLES VIII. CAUSING THE SHRINES OF ST. DENIS, ST. RUSTICUS, AND ST. ELEUTHERUS, TO BE REPLACED IN THEIR RESPECTIVE NICHES IN THE CHURCH OF ST. DENIS. Designed from contemporary authorities.

King Charles, therefore, having been victorious throughout Italy, followed the pious custom of his ancestors the kings of France. He made a devout pilgrimage to St. Denis,and the shrines of the martyrs were by him replaced in their several niches, in the presence of the great barons of France. The king would neither pass nor repass through Paris on this pilgrimage, for reasons that moved him so to do, but which I omit, to avoid prolixity. For this cause, when he left St. Denis, he took his road through St. Antoine-des-Champs,

thence over Le Pont-de-Chalenton*, and through Beauce, straight to the castle of Amboise, where he found the queen and many lords and ladies of his noble blood. there by the inhabitants with the utmost joy and honour.

He was received

He had not been long at Amboise before he heard of the treachery of the Neapolitans, and the death of the noble Gilbert lord of Montpensiert. The remaining captains, unable to support themselves in Naples after his loss, returned home as well as they could; for those traitors of Lombardy and Naples had suddenly risen in rebellion,—and they could not possibly receive succours in time from France, had they attempted to hold out against them, from the great distance. King Charles made preparations to avenge himself on them for their treachery and infidelity, but he had over-exerted himself in his late expedition. His constitution, which was naturally feeble, became daily worse: whence it happened, that as he was walking one day in a gallery of the castle of Amboise with the queen, and amusing himself by looking at some tennis-players, he was suddenly seized with a fit, and died shortly after, in the twenty-eighth year of his age, and in the month of April in the year 1497. May God have mercy on his soul!

CHAPTER CCXII.-OF THE FUNERAL SERVICES PERFORMED FOR KING CHARLES VIII. OF FRANCE, AT AMBOISE, PARIS, AND ST. DENIS.

AFTER the decease of king Charles VIII., whose soul may God pardon! a very solemn funeral service was performed at Amboise, in the church of St. Florent, by the reverend cardinal the lord John Peraule‡, assisted by many prelates, great lords, and other persons. There were immense numbers of tapers and torches, and great alms were distributed. When this service was over, the king's heart was carried for interment to the church of NotreDame-de-Clery, near to that of his late father. The body, with the representation of his figure over it, was borne in sorrowful pomp to the church of Our Lady in the Fields, in the suburbs of Paris, where it was watched all night by some of his most confidential friends. On the morrow morning, a grand procession came out of Paris, consisting of all the clergy with their crosses, the four orders of mendicant friars, the members of the court of parliament and of the other courts of justice, the provosts, sheriffs, and inhabitants dressed in mourning, to the church of Our Lady in the Fields,-where were waiting the great lords, officers, pages of honour, and others, to the number of more than seven thousand persons, clad in mourning, with hoods,—and, according to the usual ceremony, conducted the body to the cathedral-church of Our Lady in Paris. There were four hundred torches, ornamented with escutcheons of three flowers de luce, carried by four hundred poor men, dressed in black cloaks and hoods. A solemn funeral service was performed in the church of Notre-Dame; after which the body was carried with the same ceremonies through Paris to the abbey of St. Denis, where another service was solemnly performed for the deceased, and presents of money given to all the assistants in making the offerings at the mass, and great alms distributed to the poor.

When the accustomed ceremonies had been finished, the body of king Charles was interred in the sepulchre that had been prepared for him; after which there was a grand dinner given to all the assistants in honour of the late king, to whose soul may God graciously grant his pardon! Amen.

Pont de Chalenton. Q. Charenton?

This prince, by his wife Clara Gonzaga, left issue,1. Louis count of Montpensier, who died in 1501. 2. Charles, who married Susanna, daughter and heiress of Peter II. duke of Bourbon, was made constable of France in 1515, was afterwards condemned for treason, and was

killed in the imperial service at the siege of Rome in 1527. 3. Francis duke of Chatelherault, died 1515. 4. Louisa, lady of Chavigny. 5. Reparata, married to Anthony duke of Lorraine. Neither of the sous left any issue surviving. Raymond Perault, bishop of Saintes, cardinal in 1493, died in 1505.

CHAPTER CCXIII.-OF KING LOUIS THE TWELFTH.

On the 23rd of May, in the year 1498, Louis duke of Orleans, son to the late duke Charles, was consecrated king of France, in the same manner as his predecessors had been, in the cathedral of Rheims. He was the twelfth who had borne the name of Louis, and the fifty-fifth king of France. At this ceremony at Rheims were the twelve peers of France, or their substitutes. For the duke of Burgundy appeared the duke of Alençon; for the duke of Normandy, the duke of Lorraine; for the duke of Guienne, the duke of Bourbon ; for the earl of Flanders, the lord de Ravenstein; for the earl of Champagne, the lord Angillebert of Cleves; for the earl of Toulouse, the lord of Foix. Almost the whole of the French nobility were present at the ceremony, which was solemnized in the usual mode to that of former kings, by the cardinal of St. Malo, archbishop of Rheims.

Immediately after, the king made knights of his order of St. Michael the lord de Taillebourg, the lord des Pierres, lord de la Gruture, the lord de Clerieux. He created also knights to the amount of four-score; among whom were the lord de Myolans, sir Claude de Mont-l'Or lord of Château-neuf, de Salazuit, and others, too numerous to name. When these things were done, the king ordered preparations for his entry into Paris. On the 1st of July, the king was crowned in the church of St. Denis, after the manner of his predecessors, kings of France. On the morrow he made a triumphant entry into Paris, and supped at the palace. When all these solemnities were ended, each person withdrew to different places, as ordered by the king. The first who made any opposition to him was the lord de Vergy; but the war was soon ended in Burgundy.

The duke de Valentinois, said to be the son of pope Alexander VII.* arrived at Lyon on the 18th of October, and made his public entry into that city. The king had given him the county of Valentinoist,—and he was now come to France to conclude his marriage with the daughter of the lord d'Albret. This duke was also a cardinal; but he had left that dignity behind him, and appeared in secular clothes with the utmost pomp and grandeur. The 2d and 3d of December, the wind was so high at Lyon that the greatest alarm was caused by it; and the custodium, in which the hosts were kept, on the high altar, in the church of the Cordeliers, was burst open, owing to a broken pane in the window, and the sacred wafers blown all about the church, to the great scandal of devout persons. It happened somewhat before eight o'clock in the morning.

This year, the king gave the princess Jane of France the duchy of Berry; and, for the benefit of the realm, he espoused, by a dispensation from pope Alexander VII. the widowed queen of France, Anne of Brittany, which was of the greatest public utility. In the course of this year 1499, the head of St. Bonaventure was deposited, in a very rich shrine of silver, in the church of the Cordeliers at Lyon; and a most solemn procession was made on the occasion by the friars of the convent. On the 10th of June, in this year, the king made his public entry into Lyon, which was very magnificent. The streets were hung with tapestries, and many fine mysteries were represented in the squares. He was very anxious to recover possession of the Milanese, and had sent thither a large army, which, within fifteen days, reconquered Milan, on the 4th of September. Duke Ludovico was in the town, and narrowly escaped being taken, by quitting the place in disguise. The town of Alexandriadella-Paglia§, having shown much hatred to the French, was plundered, and the greater part of it destroyed.

When the king heard of the capture of Milan, he left Lyon, giving orders to the lord de Bersac to destroy all the benches and awnings before the doors in that city. He made his public entry into Milan, and regulated its government. On the Friday before All-souls-day, in this year, the bridge of Notre-Dame, at Paris, fell down, which was a heavy loss;

This was the notorious Cæsar Borgia,-a worthy son of so worthy a father!

Valentinois, a county on the Rhône: Valence is the capital.

those who, to obtain her, were forced to be divorced. Charles VIII. was betrothed to Margaret of Flanders, and Louis XII. was married to the daughter of Louis XI. § Alexandria-della-Paglia,—is about thirty-eight miles

Her fate seems to have destined her to marry from Milan.

and the king sent thither John de Doyac to superintend the immediate construction of another.

The year 1500 was a grand year of jubilee at Rome, celebrated by pope Alexander VII., and attended by great numbers. There would have been more, if, on the 3rd of January, duke Ludovico Sforza had not, in person, regained Milan, by the aid of a considerable body of Germans. He won the town through the treason of the inhabitants, who surrendered themselves to him; but the French fought valiantly, and kept possession of the castle, whence they battered the town. Several Frenchmen, going to the jubilee at Rome, were murdered at the inns on the road,-which being discovered, justice was done on the perpetrators by burning their houses, with their inhabitants, to serve for examples to all others. The duke of Milan, Ludovico Sforza, gave a ducat to every one who brought him the head of a Frenchman. The count Gayache* and his wife now came to France; he was brother to the late Galeas Visconti.

On the 19th of March in this year, the qu en of France made a second public entry into Lyon, the streets being hung with tapestry, and several beautiful mysteries represented. About eight days after, a number of prisoners of war were brought before the king at Lyon, for having broken their oaths, at which the public greatly murmured.

CHAPTER CCXIV.-DUKE LUDOVICO SFORZA IS MADE PRISONER BEFORE NOVARA, AND CARRIED TO FRANCE.

ON Thursday before Palm-Sunday, the French in Italy acted with such vigour that duke Ludovico fled from Novara with one hundred horse, abandoning his army and artillery in that town. When the French captains approached, a Burgundian leader, called the captain of the Yotiers, came out of Novara and surrendered himself and men to them. The bailiff of Dijon went into Novara to practise with the Swiss in the pay of the duke of Milan (about four thousand in all), who only asked for payment of what was due to them. In regard to the Lansquenets, they knew not how to act; for the Swiss in the king's service would not show them any mercy, although their captains did all they could that matters might be settled without effusion of blood. There were in Novara twenty thousand combatants; eight thousand Lansquenets, four thousand Swiss, eight hundred Burgundians, and the rest Lombards. In addition to these, a reinforcement of fifteen hundred men were on their march to join them, and within a mile of Vercelli, not including those in Vigeuet.

Shortly after, Ludovico returned and marched his army out of Novara, and encamped them near to the French; but God, knowing the usurpation and wickedness of Ludovico, inspired the French with courage to defend themselves, when attacked by him. Notwithstanding the duke of Milan thought himself certain of destroying the French, the matter ended without blood being spilt, and without a battle. It was said, that the Lansquenets refused to fight against their countrymen; and likewise, that the duke had not paid his men their arrears, which made them unwilling to serve him. On the other hand, the French were determined on battle; but when they marched to charge the Milanese army, it surrendered to them without striking a blow. The duke of Milan, observing this, disguised himself in the frock of a Cordelier monk, and, by mixing with his men, thought to escape; but the lord de Ligny and the lord de la Trimouille made such good arrangements with their army, it was impossible; for they ordered the whole of the Milanese force to pass under the pikes, so that the duke was discovered, made prisoner, and put under the guard of the French in Novara, which place had thrown open its gates. The lord Jean Jacques‡ was

*Q. Count of Cajazzo? He was of the family of the San Severini, and connected by marriage with the house of Sforza, but not, that I can find, with that of Visconti. +Vigeue. Q. Vigevano?

The lord Jean Jacques. Trivulce, a Milanese, marquis of Vigevano, governor of Milan, captain of one hundred Lombardy men-at-arms and of two hundred archers, king's lieutenant of the French armies in Italy. He was pre

sent at the battles of Foronuovo and Aignadello, and held great and honourable employments under Charles VIII., Louis XII., and François I. He was made marshal of France in 1500, died in 1518. He was uncle to Theodore Trivulce, governor also of Milan, and marshal of France. See BRANTOME, vol. ii. des Vies des Hommes illustres étrangers.