The French passed the Alps at Mount Cenis; and as their success depended on despatch, they advanced with the greatest diligence. Pescara, who had been obliged to take a longer and more difficult route by Monaco and Final, was soon informed of their intention; and being sensible that nothing but the presence of his troops could save the Milanese, marched with such rapidity, that he reached Alva on the same day that the French arrived at Vercelli. Francis, instructed by Bonnivet’s error in the former campaign, advanced directly towards Milan, where the unexpected approach of an enemy so powerful occasioned such a consternation and disorder, that although Pescara entered the city with some of his best troops, he found that the defence of it could not be undertaken with any probability of success; and having thrown a garrison into the citadel, retired through one gate, while the French were admitted at another.

These brisk motions of the French monarch disconcerted all the schemes of defence which the Imperialists had formed. Never, indeed, did generals attempt to oppose a formidable invasion under such circumstances of disadvantage. Though Charles possessed dominions more extensive than any other prince in Europe, and had, at this time, no other army but that which was employed in Lombardy, which did not amount to sixteen thousand men, his prerogative in all his different states was so limited, and his subjects, without whose consent he could raise no taxes, discovered such unwillingness to burden themselves with new or extraordinary impositions, that even this small body of troops was in want of pay, of ammunition, of provisions, and of clothing. In such a situation, it required all the wisdom of Lannoy, the intrepidity of Pescara, and the implacable resentment of Bourbon, to preserve them from sinking under despair, and to inspire them with resolution to attempt, or sagacity to discover, what was essential to their safety. To the efforts of their genius, and the activity of their zeal, the emperor was more indebted for the preservation of his Italian dominions than to his own power. Lannoy, by mortgaging the revenues of Naples, procured some money, which was immediately applied towards providing the army with whatever was most necessary. Pescara, who was beloved and almost adored by the Spanish troops, exhorted them to show the world, by their engaging to serve the emperor in that dangerous exigency, without making any immediate demand of pay, that they were animated with sentiments of honor very different from those of mercenary soldiers; to which proposition that gallant body of men, with an unexampled generosity, gave their consent. Bourbon having raised a considerable sum by pawning his jewels, set out for Germany, where his influence was great, that by his presence he might hasten the levying of troops for the Imperial service.

Francis, by a fatal error, allowed the emperor's generals time to derive advantage from all these operations. Instead of pursuing the enemy, who retired to Lodi on the Adda, an untenable post, which Pescara had resolved to abandon on the approach of the French, he, in compliance with the opinion of Bonnivet, though contrary to that of his other generals, laid siege to Pavia on the Tesino [Oct. 281], a town, indeed, of great im­portance, the possession of which would have opened to him all the fertile country lying on the banks of that river. But the fortifications of the place were strong; it was dangerous to undertake a difficult siege, at so late a season; and the Imperial generals, sensible of its consequence, had thrown into the town a garrison composed of six thousand veterans, under the command of Antonio de Leyva, an officer of high rank, of great experience, of a patient but enterprising courage, fertile in resources, ambitious of distinguishing himself, and capable, for that reason, as well as from his having been long accustomed both to obey and to command, of suffering or performing anything in order to procure success.

Francis prosecuted the siege with obstinacy equal to the rashness with which he had undertaken it. During three months everything known to the engineers of that age, or that could be effected by the valor of his troops, was attempted, in order to reduce the place; while Lannoy and Pescara, unable to obstruct his operations, were obliged to remain in such an ignominious state of inaction, that a pasquinade was published at Rome, offering a reward to any person who could find the Imperial army, lost in the month of October in the mountains between France and Lombardy, and which had not been heard of since that time.

Leyva, well acquainted with the difficulties under which his countrymen labored, and the impossibility of their facing, in the field, such a powerful army as formed the siege of Pavia, placed his only hopes of safety in his own vigilance and valor. The efforts of both were extraordinary, and in proportion to the importance of the place, with the defence of which he was entrusted. He interrupted the approaches of the French by frequent and furious sallies. Behind the breaches made by their artillery, he erected new works, which appeared to be scarcely inferior in strength to the original fortifications. He repulsed the besiegers in all their assaults; and by his own example, brought not only the garrison, but the inhabitants, to bear the most severe fatigues, and to encounter the greatest dangers without murmuring. The rigor of the season conspired with his endeavors in retarding the progress of the French. Francis attempting to become master of the town, by diverting the course of the Tesino, which is its chief defence on one side, a sudden inundation of the river destroyed, in one day, the labor of many weeks, and swept away all the mounds which his army had raised with infinite toil, as well as at great expense.

Notwithstanding the slow progress of the besiegers, and the glory which Leyva acquired by his gallant defence, it was not doubted but that the town would at last be obliged to surrender. The pope, who already considered the French arms as superior in Italy, became impatient to disengage himself from his connections with the emperor, of whose designs he was extremely jealous, and to enter into terms of friendship with Francis. As Clement’s timid and cautious temper rendered him incapable of following the bold plan which Leo had formed, of delivering Italy from the yoke of both the rivals, he returned to the more obvious and practicable scheme of employing the power of the one to balance and to restrain that of the other. For this reason, he did not dissemble his satisfaction at seeing the French king recover Milan, as he hoped that the dread of such a neighbor would be some check upon the emperor’s ambition, which no power in Italy was now able to control. He labored hard to bring about a peace that would secure Francis in the possession of his new conquests; and as Charles, who was always inflexible in the prosecution of his schemes, rejected the proposition with disdain, and with bitter exclamations against the pope, by whose persuasions, while cardinal de Medici, he had been induced to invade the Milanese, Clement immediately concluded a treaty of neutrality with the king of France, in which the republic of Florence was included.

Francis having by this transaction deprived the emperor of his two most powerful allies, and at the same time having secured a passage for his own troops through their territories, formed a scheme of attacking the kingdom of Naples, hoping either to overrun that country, which was left altogether without defence, or that at least such an unexpected invasion would oblige the viceroy to recall part of the Imperial army out of the Milanese; for this purpose he ordered six thousand men to march under the command of John Stuart duke of Albany. But Pescara foreseeing that the effect of this diversion would depend entirely upon the operations of the armies in the Milanese, persuaded Lannoy to disregard Albany's motions and to bend his whole force against the king himself, so that Francis not only weakened his army very unseasonably by this great detachment, but incurred the reproach of engaging too rashly in chimerical and extravagant projects.

By this time the garrison of Pavia was reduced to extremity; their ammunition and provisions began to fail; the Germans, of whom it was chiefly composed, having received no pay for seven months, threatened to deliver the town into the enemy’s hands, and could hardly be restrained from mutiny by all Leyva’s address and authority. The Imperial generals, who were no strangers to his situation, saw the necessity of marching without loss of time to his relief [1525]. This they had now in their power: twelve thousand Germans, whom the zeal and activity of Bourbon taught to move with unusual rapidity, had entered Lombardy under his command, and rendered the Imperial army nearly equal to that of the French, greatly diminished by the absence of the body under Albany, as well as by the fatigues of the siege, and the rigor of the season. But the more their troops increased in number, the more sensibly did the Imperialists feel the distress arising from want of money. Far from having funds for paying a powerful army, they had scarcely what was sufficient for defraying the charges of conducting their artillery, and of carrying their ammunition and provisions. The abilities of the generals, however, supplied every defect. By their own example, as well as by magnificent promises in name of the emperor, they prevailed on the troops o all the different nations which composed their army, to take the field without pay; they engaged to lead them directly towards the enemy; and flattered them with the certain prospect of victory, which would at once enrich them with such royal spoils as would be an ample reward for all their services. The soldiers, sensible that, by quitting the army, they would forfeit the great arrears due to them, and eager to get possession of the promised treasures, demanded a battle with all the impatience of adventurers, who fight only for plunder.

The Imperial generals, without suffering the ardor of their troops to cool, advanced immediately toward the French camp [Feb. 3]. On the first intelligence of their approach, Francis called a council of war, to deliberate what course he ought to take. All his officers of greatest experience were unanimous in advising him to retire, and to decline a battle with an enemy who courted it from despair. The Imperialists, they observed, would either be obliged in a few weeks to disband an army, which they were unable to pay, and which they kept together only by the hope of plunder; or the soldiers, enraged at the non-performance of the promises to which they had trusted, would rise in some furious mutiny which would allow their generals to think of nothing but their own safety; that, meanwhile, he might encamp in some strong post, and waiting in safety the arrival of flesh troops from France and Switzerland, might, before the end of Spring, take possession of all the Milanese, without danger or bloodshed. But in opposition to them, Bonnivet, whose destiny it was to give counsels fatal to France during the whole campaign, represented the ignominy that it would reflect on their sovereign, if he should abandon a siege which he had prosecuted so long, or turn his hack before an enemy to whom he was still superior in number; and insisted on the necessity of fighting the Imperialists rather than relinquish an undertaking, on the success of which the king’s future fame depended. Unfortunately, Francis's notions of honor were delicate to an excess that bordered on what was romantic. Having often said that he would take Pavia, or perish in the attempt, he thought himself bound not to depart from that resolution; and rather than expose himself to the slightest imputation, he chose to forego all the advantages which were the certain consequences of a retreat, and determined to wait for the Imperialists before the walls of Pavia.

The Imperial generals found the French so strongly entrenched, that notwithstanding the powerful motives which urged them on, they hesitated long before they ventured to attack them; but at last the necessities of the besieged, and the murmurs of their own soldiers, obliged them to put everything to hazard.

Never did armies engage with greater ardor, or with a higher opinion of the importance of the battle which they were going to fight [Feb. 24]; never were troops more strongly animated with emulation, national antipathy, mutual resentment, and all the passions which inspire obstinate bravery. On the one hand, a gallant young monarch, seconded by a generous nobility, and followed by subjects to whose natural impetuosity, indignation at the opposition which they had encountered, added new force, contended for victory and honor. On the other side, troops more completely disciplined, and conducted by generals of greater abilities, fought from necessity, with courage heightened by despair. The Imperialists, however, were unable to resist the first efforts of the French valor, and their firmest battalions began to give way.

But the fortune of the day was quickly changed. The Swiss in the service of France, unmindful of the reputation of their country for fidelity and martial glory, abandoned their post in a cowardly manner. Leyva, with his garrison, sallied out and attacked the rear of the French, during the heat of the action, with such fury as threw them into confusion; and Pescara falling on their cavalry with the Imperial horse, among whom he had prudently intermingled a considerable number of Spanish foot, armed with the heavy muskets then in use, broke this formidable body by an unusual method of attack, against which they were wholly unprovided.

The rout became universal; and resistance ceased in almost every part, but where the king was in person, who fought now, not for fame or victory, but for safety. Though wounded in several places, and thrown from his horse, which was killed under him, Francis defended himself on foot with an heroic courage. Many of his bravest officers gathering round him, and endeavoring to save his life at the expense of their own, fell at his feet. Among these was Bonnivet, the author of this great calamity, who alone died unlamented. The king, exhausted with fatigue, and scarcely capable of further resistance, was left almost alone, exposed to the fury of some Spanish soldiers, strangers to his rank, and enraged at his obstinacy. At that moment came up Pomperant, a French gentleman, who had entered together with Bourbon into the emperor’s service, and placing himself by the side of the monarch against whom he had rebelled, assisted in protecting him from the violence of the soldiers; at the same time beseeching him to surrender to Bourbon, who was not far distant. Imminent as the danger was which now surrounded Francis, he rejected with indignation the thoughts of an action which would have afforded such matter of triumph to his traitorous subject; and calling for Lannoy, who happened likewise to be near at hand, gave up his sword to him, which he, kneeling to kiss the king’s hand, received with profound respect; and taking his own sword from his side, presented it to him, saying, “That it did not become so great a monarch to remain disarmed in the presence of one of the emperor’s subjects”.

Ten thousand men fell on this day, one of the most fatal France had ever seen. Among these were many noblemen of the highest distinction, who chose rather to perish than to turn their backs with dishonor. Not a few were taken prisoners, of whom the most illustrious was Henry d’Albret, the unfortunate king of Navarre. A small body of the rear­guard made its escape, under the command of the duke of Alençon; the feeble garrison of Milan, on the first news of the defeat, retired without being pursued, by another road; and in two weeks after the battle, not a Frenchman remained in Italy.

Lannoy, though he treated Francis with all the outward marks of honor due to his rank and character, guarded him with the utmost attention. He was solicitous, not only to prevent any possibility of his escaping, but afraid that his own troops might seize his person, and detain it as the best security for the payment of their arrears. In order to provide against both these dangers, he conducted Francis the day after the battle, to the strong castle of Pizzichitone near Cremona, committing him to the custody of Don Ferdinand Alarcon, general of the Spanish infantry, an officer of great bravery and of strict honor, but remarkable for that severe and scrupulous vigilance which such a trust required.

 

THE TREATY OF MADRID