ITALY. 



359 



tion of the commerce formerly carried on ; ind the ba- 

 rons, incensed by the tyranny of Alphonzo, duke of 

 Calibria, having revolted, were assisted by Innocent. 

 But Ferdinand, having secured the friendship of Lo- 

 renzo di Medici and Ludovico Sforza, sent his son 

 against Rome. The papal troops were defeated, and a 

 peace was granted to the pope, by the intercession of 

 Ferdinand ami Isabella of Arragon and Castile. The 

 Neapolitan barons, though concluded in the treaty, fell 

 victims to the perfidy of Ferdincnd. 



Innocent now courted the favour of Lorenzo, on 

 whose son John, (afterwards Leo X.) he conferred a 

 cardinal's hat, though at that time only eight years old. 

 The reign of this pontiff presents little more that is in- 

 teresting, except the greatness of Lorenzo di Medici, 

 for which we must refer our readers to the interesting 

 work of Mr. Roscoe. That illustrious statesmen died 

 in his 41th year, beloved and lamented by his country- 

 men. His death was followed by that of Innocent, 

 wh >, on his death-bed, permitted his son to plunder 

 the public treasury. His vices, however, were made 

 to appear venial, when compared with the atrocities of 

 Roderigo Borgia, who succeeded him by the name of 

 Alexander VI. This pontiff united in his own person 

 all the vices of which former popes either were accused 

 or were guilty ; and the elevation of Borgia continues, 

 to our own days, lasting (tain on the Romish church. 

 The authority of Ludovico Sforza still continued para- 

 mount at Milan, notwithstanding the majority and mar- 

 riage of his nephew ; but his ambition was still unsa- 

 tisfied. The strict union which subsisted between Pe- 

 ter, son of Lorenzo di Medici, and Ferdinand of Na- 

 ples, thwarted hi* views ; and this feeling, heightened 

 by hit jealousy of Isabella, duchess of Milan, his niece, 

 who was the daughter of Alphonzo, duke of Calabria, 

 urged him to the desperate step of inviting Charles 

 VI 1 1. of France to assert his claims to the crown of 

 Naples. This young and ambitious prince eagerly 

 embraced the opportunity afforded him, and, entering 

 Italy by the Alp* of Savor, arrived at Arti, where he 

 was se ic<l with the small-pox, and remained for a 

 month in extreme danger. Having then proceeded 

 into the Milanese, he was joined by Ludovico Sforza, 

 who accompanied him for a few days, but retired to 

 Milan on the death of the duke, his nephew : an event 

 ascribed to notion administered by Ludovico; whose 

 rori'lu, t, i:; ir:|iri-<iiiinj tl.r <liii-h<- .!; I her in. '.in: x,, :!i 

 anil iiMru-ln'.iy *-inntn thr title of <luk<-, evrt.vnly 



_':\< |ir,,'ii!, :,'y !,> thr -ll-pl. i.'Il. 



the entry of Charles into Tuscany, Peter di Me- 

 dici in vain attempted to reconcile himself to him ; 

 and the Florentines, incited by the opposite party, is- 

 sued a decree of banishment against the Medici ; and 

 the king of France entered Florence with the pomp of 

 conqueror. His entry into Rome was no lr< trium- 

 phant ; and Alexander, who at first shut himself up in 

 the cattle of St. Angelo, was forced to accede to a trea- 

 ty dictated by Charles. A considerable change had 

 now taken place at Naples. A few months before the 

 invasion of Charles, Ferdinand, now in his seventieth 

 year, died, and was succeeded by Alphonzo II. ; but 

 that prince, whom the approach of the French affected 

 with a degree of terror approaching to frenzy, resigned 

 hi* crown in favour of bis ton Ferdinand, and r< 

 to monastery at Mea*ina, where he <li<l not long sur- 

 vive. The young king made an attempt to defend 

 Naples ; but Charles (who now, for the first time, waa 

 obliged to draw his sword,) easily overpowered him, 

 and forced "him to retire to the isle of Ischia, and Na- 



ples received the French monarch. The example of History, 

 the capital was speedily followed ; and, of all the cities """"Y""" ' 

 in the kingdom, brindisi alone retained its allegiance 

 to Ferdinand. Such were the results of the expedition 

 of Charles, and all this was achieved with astonishing 

 rapidity. It was in the end of summer 1494 that the 

 French army marched from Lyons, and on the 25th 

 February following, Charles made his entry into Na- 

 ples, and in a few weeks after completed the conquest 

 of the kingdom. No sooner were the Italian pott-n- 

 tates recovered from the surprise and panic occasioned 

 by this rapid conquest, than a league was formed by 

 the Venetians, the pope, and the duke of Ferrara, 

 against Charles. This alliance was also joined by the 

 perfidious Sforza, who began to fear that Charles would 

 support the claims of the duke of Orleans to the duchy 

 of Milan, in right of his grandmother Valentina Vis- 

 conti. 



On receiving the accounts of this confederation, to Return of 

 which were also joined the emperor Maximilian, his Charles. 

 son the archduke Philip, and Ferdinand of Spain, 

 Charles recrossed the Alps with equal rapidity, and 

 the troops left by him at Naples were soon expelled by 

 Ferdinand II.; w,hose return the Neapolitans, heartily 

 weary even of the short rule of the French, hailed with 

 acclamations. The death of this young prince soon 

 followed, and his uncle Frederic became his successor. 

 In the mean time, Sforza, by his pride and ambition, 

 had excited the hatred of all the neighbouring states, 

 and especially of the Venetians and Florentines, and the 

 duke of Orleans now openly asserted his rights. But 

 the declining health of the king of France, for a while 

 delayed any active measures ; and on the death of that \. D. 1493. 

 monarch, the duke of Orleans, who succeeded him by 

 the name of Louis XII. was for some time too much en- 

 gaged by his domestic concerns to engage in Italian 

 affairs. At length, an army of 30,000 Frvnch, led by 

 Louis of Luxemburg, James Trivulzio, and Robert 

 Stuart, Lord d'Aubigny, entered the Milanese, and, 

 Ix-ing joined by the Venetians, were joyfully received at 

 Milan, where Louis for three months resided, and waa 

 acknowledged duko of Milan. On his return to France, 

 however, Sforza, who had retired into Tyrol, again re- 

 occupied Milan at the head of 15,000 Swiss; but these 

 soldiers, when opposed, at the siege of Novarro, to 

 their countrymen in the French service, were persua- 

 ded by the latter to desert the service of a traitor and 

 assassin ; and Ludovico Sforza, attempting to escape in Captivity of 

 disguise, was taken and delivered to Louis, by whose Ludovico 

 order he was confined in the castle of Loches, in Ton- Sforza. 

 raine, where he remained till his death, ten years after. 

 In the mean time, Cirsar Borgia, by a scries of the 

 most detestable perfidies, bad made himself master of 

 Romagna, and had now turned his views to the con- 

 quest of Florence ; when a considerable check was gi- 

 ven to the career of his ambition by the death of his 

 father Alexander VI. whose infamous conduct had alie- A. D. 1503. 

 nated the minds of the Christian world from the head 

 of the church. 



Pius III. his successor, only lived twenty-six days; 

 and Juliano delta Renere, one of the nephews of Six- 

 tu< IV. was raised to the pontificate by the name of Ju- Pontificate 

 lius II. At the same time, the archduke Philip conclu- of Julius II. 

 ded a treaty with Louis, in the name of his father-in- 

 law Ferdinand of Spain, by which it was agreed, that 

 the kingdom of Naples should be divided between them; 

 as Frederic of Naples had already abdicated, and recei- 

 ved a pecuniary compensation, and a retreat in Anjou, 

 from Louis. The treacherous Ferdinand, however, 



