influence of the Medici. A great protest was raised in that city against tyranny, vice, and luxury by Girolamo Savonarola, a Dominican monk who began to preach in 1489. The worldliness of the Church, the usurpations of the few, and the vices of society, gave him plenty of subjects for his sermons. His followers, who professed repentance, were called Piagnoni, the “Weepers." Like some other reformers, he was of an highly nervous temperament, and thought that he had special revelations. In the smaller sovereignties which existed throughout Italy, and especially in Romagna, tyranny and vice assumed their worst forms, and crimes too foul even to name needlessly were daily practised by Tyrants who held themselves above public opinion.

15. The French invited into Italy.-Lorenzo de' Medici died in 1492. He left three sons-Pietro, who succeeded to his power in Florence; Giovanni, who had been made a Cardinal at the age of fourteen, and who became Leo the Tenth; and Giuliano. The next year Pope Innocent the Eighth was succeeded by Roderigo Borgia, who took the name of Alexander the Sixth. This Pope gained his election by open bribery, and used his power to forward the ambitious schemes of his children; of whom the two most celebrated were called Cæsar and Lucrezia. He was shameless in his vices and greedy in his ambition; false in his friendship and cruel in his hatred. His industry and political ability, and the wealth, beauty, and utter want of conscience of his children, made the Borgias powerful to work wickedness. Pietro de Medici, instead of following his father's politics and trying to keep an even balance of power in Italy, threw himself into the hands of King Ferdinand. In alliance with the King he thwarted the plans both of Ludovico Sforza and the Pope. This alliance alarmed Ludovico, for the friendship of the Medici had hitherto upheld him in his schemes, and he was afraid lest Alfonso should take up the cause of his son-in-law

the dispossessed Duke. He therefore made alliance with the Pope and the Venetians for their mutual support. But at the same time he was well aware that the interests of both his allies were different from his own, and was not satisfied with their promises; and to make himself safe he sent to Charles the Eighth of France, and invited him to invade the kingdom of Naples. The claim which King Charles put forward to that throne was derived, such as it was, from the House of Anjou. René the First had left the County of Provence, his dominions in France, and his claim on Naples, to his nephew Charles of Maine, and he, dying without children, left them to Lewis the Eleventh, King of France. When Charles succeeded his father Lewis, René the Second Duke of Lorraine, the grandson of René the First claimed to succeed to his grandfather's dominions and titles. His claim to Provence, which Beatrice had brought to her husband Charles of Anjou, was disallowed, and it was declared that both Charles the First and his son had laid down by will that the kingdom of Sicily should not be parted from the county of Provence. The island of Sicily had been lost by Charles the First to the Aragonese; the rest of the kingdom of Sicily, Sicily on this side the Faro, or the kingdom of Naples, remained under his family for two hundred years. It was then won by Alfonso of Aragon, who left it to his son Ferdinand. Charles the Eighth therefore claimed Naples as the representative of the Angevin house. Lewis the Eleventh had always kept aloof from Italian affairs, and had parted with his rights over Genoa to Francesco Sforza; but his son was dazzled by the brilliant hopes which Ludovico held out to him. He was to conquer Naples with ease, he was thence to cross to Greece, to drive the Turks before him, to retake New Rome from the Infidels, and win back the Holy Sepulchre. He was to be a second Charles the Great, and to perform exploits which would be glorious

to God as well as to himself. Many of his wisest counsellors tried to dissuade him from engaging in such a costly enterprise, but he would not hear them.

CHAPTER VII.

ITALY INVADED.

Preparations for the invasion of Italy (1)—difference between French and Italian warfare (2)—Charles enters Italy; the death of the Duke of Milan (3)—Pietro de' Medici gives up Pisa and other strong places to Charles, and flies from Florence (4)—King Alfonso abdicates; Naples conquered (5)—Ludovico Duke of Milan turns against the French and forms a league against them; Charles leaves Naples (6)—wins the battle of Fornovo, but his plans end in failure (7)—the Florentines alienated from France by the refusal of Charles to give up Pisa; war with Pisa; preaching of Fra Girolamo Savonarola (8)—his ordeal and death (9)— Lewis XII. conquers Milan (10)—but is outwitted by the Spaniards, who conquer Naples (11)—the exploits of Cæsar Borgia (12)—the fall of Genoa and Pisa (13)—the League of Cambray against Venice (14)-Pope Julius deserts the League and forms the Holy League to drive the French out of Italy (15)—the return of the Medici to Florence (16)—summary (17).

1. Preparations for Invasion.-The coming of the French into Italy was the beginning of great changes. From that time Italy became first the victim of the attacks of foreign powers-then the battle-field on which foreign sovereigns fought out their quarrels-then the slave of foreign conquerors—until in our own day she regained her unity and her freedom. When King Ferdinand knew that Ludovico had invited the French to invade his kingdom, he was very much frightened; for his people hated him, and were strongly

inclined to welcome the French. He therefore made an alliance with the Pope, and promised that he would forward his plans for his children's aggrandizement. He also tried to make terms with Ludovico, but he was not successful. Ludovico deceived him and his allies, the Pope and Pietro de' Medici, for he was anxious not to come to an open quarrel until he was quite sure of the French king's help. The aim of Ludovico was to become Duke of Milan, and it was for this reason that he had invited the French; for he knew that the King of Naples would not willingly allow his grandson to be deposed. Ludovico already had the power of Duke, and he now purchased the title from Maximilian the King of the Romans, for Milan was a fief of the Empire. He did not openly take this title as yet, because he was afraid to provoke the King of Naples, and because he knew that he was much disliked by the Milanese. The Duchy of Milan was a rich and powerful State, but was heavily burdened by taxation, and Ludovico's ambitious schemes made the burden heavier than it had been before, so that the people were ready to revolt. Meanwhile King Charles made treaties of peace with King Henry the Eighth of England, with Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain, and with the King of the Romans and his son the Archduke Philip, so that he might leave peace behind him when he crossed the Alps. He delayed the expedition, and seemed for a long time unable to make up his mind; for a great many of his advisers opposed it, some because they knew how unwise the plan was, and some because they wished to please Lewis Duke of Orleans. The Duke claimed the Duchy of Milan as the representative of the Visconti in right of his grandmother Valentina, and he was therefore anxious to thwart the hopes of Ludovico. In the beginning of 1494 King Ferdinand died, and was succeeded by his son Alfonso. This was a great misfortune for Italy, for Ferdinand would have done anything to avoid the war;

but Alfonso was more haughty and obstinate, and was more hated than his father had been, for some of Ferdinand's worst deeds were put down to his son's advice. The new King made alliance with the Pope, and they both joined in inviting the Sultan Bajazet the Second to attack the French, and told him of the King's design against Constantinople; but the Sultan did not think much of such a far-off danger, and would not help them. Meanwhile Charles spent very large sums of money in building a fleet at Genoa, and hiring troops from the Confederates or Swiss, and other German mercenaries, and fitting out his army in Dauphiny. These expenses quite emptied his treasury, and his courtiers borrowed largely from the Bank of Genoa and from Ludovico to enable them to carry on their preparations.

2. Italian and French Warfare.-The French army which was gathering together at Vienne was very different in its strength, its order, and its mode of warfare to any of the armies of Italy. The French cavalry was made up of Lances, each composed of a man-at-arms who was fully armed, and his three or four attendants. These men-at-arms were all Frenchmen, and their officers were for the most part of noble birth; but the troops belonged to the King and not to their officers, and were paid by him. They and their horses were splendidly equipped; they were well paid and under good discipline. The great strength of the French infantry lay in the Swiss mercenaries, who were also in the King's pay. The Italian troops were subjects of different states; they followed their own captains, and were paid by them. The state which was at war engaged the different captains, and only had power over their men through them, so that there was a great lack of union and order in their armies. The Italian infantry used to fight in small detached bodies, but the Swiss of the French army formed solid squares, against