III. THE CONSIDERATIONS WHICH DETERMINED 

 THE ALLIANCE 



The negotiations for the marriage of Lionel with Violante 

 were perhaps begun by Amedeo, Count of Savoy.^ Cordey, 

 referring to the cession of three towns to Amedeo by Galeazzo 

 on Nov. 22, 1366, adds: 'C'etait peut-etre un encouragement, 



^ See p. 34. De Sade says (p. 720) that the English in Galeazzo's 

 pay suggested the idea of the alHance, and helped him to secure it, and 

 Rosmini (DeW Istoria di Milano 2. 1 19-120) speaks of 'quest' alleanza 

 segnatamente da Galeazzo contratta per conciliarsi I'affetto, e valersi 

 deir opera della famosa compagnia degl' Inglesi condotta da Giovanni 

 Aucud'; to a similar effect Sismondi, Fr., 7. 21-2; Leo 3. 318. It is no 

 doubt true that the relations of Hawkwood and Bernabo began as early 

 as the summer of 1365 (Temple-Leader and Marcotti, Sir John Hawk- 

 wood, p. 47), and very likely the success of the English in their recent 

 wars may have inspired a wholesome respect in the breasts of the Vis- 

 conti. We have only to think of Poitiers (1356) and the Peace of 

 Bretigny (1360), for instance. The ransom required for the release of 

 King John has the credit of having brought to pass the marriage of 

 Gian Galeazzo to Isabella of France (cf. below, pp. 36, 49), which cost 

 Galeazzo 600,000 florins (Korting, p. 349; Lavisse 4.^ 159-160; Dela- 

 chenal 2. 231-7), Piacenza alone paying 25,000 of this amount (R. I. S. 

 16. 512). 



In 1361 Petrarch was sent to Paris to condole with King John on his 

 misfortunes and to return a ring which he had lost at the battle of 

 Poitiers, and which had been redeemed by the Visconti (Mezieres, 

 Petrarque, p. 322). This mission caused him to realize the power of the 

 English, as is apparent from a letter written not long afterwards (Fam. 

 22. 14) : 



'When I was in my teens the English were considered the least 

 courageous of all the barbarians [Corio, p. 462, calls the English 

 'questi Barbari'], but now this most warlike people have so fre- 

 quently and unexpectedly defeated the French, long famous for 

 military exploits though they had been, that they who had shown 

 themselves no match for even the contemptible Scots [Bannockburn, 

 1314; Berwick, 1318] have so wasted the whole realm with fire and 

 sword — not to speak of the ill- fortune of the French king [John], 

 which I can not call to mind without a sigh — that, when I lately 

 made a journey thither on public business, I could hardly persuade 

 myself that I was looking at the same kingdom. Everywhere was 

 solitude, devastation, and sadness; everywhere fields untilled and 

 neglected; everywhere houses in ruins and abandoned, save as they 



