crown, the Venetian army under l'Alviano defeated him in the valley of Cadoro, and took from him Trieste and other places. The Venetian territory now stretched from Aquileia to the Adda, and southward to Ravenna and Rimini. It took in Friuli, the coast of Dalmatia, some islands of the Archipelago, Cyprus, Crete, some points of Peloponnesus, and some towns in the kingdom of Naples which had been pledged by Ferdinand the Second. In 1508, by a secret treaty formed at Cambray, a league was formed, against Venice, by the King of the Romans, the Pope, the Kings of France and Spain, the Dukes of Savoy and Ferrara, and the Marquess of Mantua. Each of these was to receive some part of her territory. The King of the Romans claimed Padua, Vicenza, and Verona, as fiefs of the Empire which Venice had seized after the defeat and death of her great enemy Francesco da Carrara. As head of the house of Austria, he claimed Treviso and Friuli. The Pope was to have the cities of the Romagna, and the King of Spain the cities which Venice had taken in his kingdom of Naples. King Lewis was to have the old boundary of the Duchy of Milan restored. Ferrara and Mantua were to be freed from all Venetian sovereignty, and the Duke of Savoy was promised the island of Cyprus. In 1509 war was declared, and King Lewis crossed the Adda, and utterly defeated the army of the Republic at Agnadello, and soon conquered the dependencies of the old Duchy. Meanwhile the Pope regained the cities of the Romagna; the Duke of Brunswick overran Friuli; and the Italian allies were equally successful. Venice seemed on the point of ruin; she gave up her possessions in North Italy, and ordered her officers to quit Vicenza, Verona, and Padua. The Venetian State in Italy was thus reduced to the islands on which it had first been founded. Within the city the Senate was in fear of an insurrection, for the people at large were justly angry at being shut out by the nobles from all share in the govern

ment. But before long the tide turned. The slothfulness of Maximilian was the first cause of the success of the Venetians. They surprised and took Padua. Maximilian laid siege to the city with a very large army. If he had taken it, Venice would have been lost. He was forced to raise the siege, and thus lost all influence for the future in Italy, and all chance of the Imperial crown. The Kings of France and Spain had gained all that they wanted. Pope Julius, who had attacked the Venetians both with spiritual and carnal weapons, with excommunication and with an army, now began to fear lest the power of Venice should be brought so low that she would never again be able to check the advance of foreign invaders, as she had done when King Charles had taken Naples.

15. The Holy League. The invasion of the territory of Venice caused fearful suffering in the north and east of Italy. Pope Julius, though he was violent and ambitious, hated to see his country exposed to the fierceness of the French and Spaniards, and the brutality of the Germans. He formed the noble design of driving the Barbarians out of Italy. In 1510 he absolved the Venetians, and began a series of intrigues which broke up the League of Cambray. He determined first of all to attack the French, for he had several causes of quarrel with Lewis. The Pope began the war in alliance with the Swiss and the Venetians. The Swiss invaded the Duchy of Milan, but retreated before the French, and the army of the Pope and the Venetians was obliged to retreat before Gianiacopo da Triulzi, who took Bologna, and brought back the Bentivogli, who had been overthrown by Cæsar Borgia. Thus the Pope was unsuccessful, and King Lewis, in revenge for his attack upon him, prevailed on some of the Cardinals to call a General Council. This Council was to judge of and condemn the Pope's conduct, and the King fixed upon Pisa as the place of meeting. The

Council was very thinly attended, and the Florentines did not welcome the few Cardinals and Bishops who came to it; for they were angry because King Lewis had fixed on a place in their dominions, which might bring them into some danger. The clergy of the metropolitan church would not let the Bishops use their church, nor lend them any things which they needed for the celebration of the mass. One day a soldier of the French guard grossly insulted a woman in a public place, near to the Church of San Michele, where the Council sat. The bystanders began to abuse him, and a number of his comrades and some servants of the Bishops came to help him. Then several of the Pisans and Florentines ran to the place, and a fierce street fight began, one party calling out France, and the other Marzocco, a marble Lion, which sits before the Palazzo of Florence. The Cardinals were so frightened at the noise that they decided to move the Council to Milan. Even in Milan, although the city belonged to the French, the people cursed the Bishops in the streets, because they were bringing schism into the Church, and bloodshed into the land. Pope Julius, to meet this attack upon himself, persuaded Ferdinand of Aragon to join himself with him and the Venetians in the Holy League, to mantain the unity of the Church, and to drive the French out of Italy. The Pope also persuaded King Henry the Eighth of England and Ferdinand of Aragon to attack France, and bribed the King of the Romans to make peace with the Venetians. The allied armies closely besieged Bologna; but Gaston de Foix, the nephew of King Lewis, relieved the city, and forced the besiegers to retreat. The Venetians meanwhile recovered Brescia and Bergamo, but Gaston retook Brescia by storm. His soldiers pillaged the city for seven days, and slaughtered the inhabitants. But, in spite of these successes, King Lewis was placed in a great strait by the powers which the Pope had arrayed against

him, and he therefore instructed Gaston to force the allies to a pitched battle. The French general brought this about on April 11, 1512, before the walls of Ravenna. The Pope's army was led by Fabrizio Colonna, and the Spaniards by Raymond de Cardona, the Viceroy of Naples. The battle was fought with great fierceness on both sides, but the French were at last left masters of the field. A large number of the allies were slain, and many of their leaders taken prisoners. Amongst these prisoners was the Cardinal Giovanni de' Medici, the second son of Lorenzo the Magnificent, who had been given a seat in the Sacred College by Pope Innocent the Eighth. But the French bought their victory very dearly, for their general, the young Gaston de Foix, Duke of Nemours, was slain in the battle, and with him passed away the vigour of the French army, which had already suffered from the effects of pillage and excess. The position of King Lewis was very critical, for the King of England was making repeated expeditions against the French coast, and Ferdinand had conquered Navarre. Maximilian now joined the League, and allowed twenty thousand Swiss in the pay of the allies to descend on the Duchy of Milan. The French were driven out of the Duchy, and the Swiss poured into Lombardy in great numbers. The Confederates of the Old League seized on Lugano, and the Three Leagues of the Grisons seized on the Valtellina and Chiavenna. They soon afterwards proclaimed as Duke Massimiliano Sforza, the son of Ludovico. The Pope regained Bologna and Ferrara, and also managed to seize Parma and Piacenza. Genoa revolted, and only two or three castles were left to King Lewis of all the territory which he had conquered so quickly.

16. The Return of the Medici.—During the war of the Holy League Florence had refused to break with King Lewis, and had maintained a strict neutrality. When the

French were driven out of Italy, the allies held a Congress, at Mantua, and there it was determined to make the Florentines change their policy, depose their Gonfaloniere Pietro Soderini, who favoured the French, and receive back the Medici. Giuliano de' Medici, the brother of the Cardinal Giovanni, pointed out the advantage it would be to the allies, if Florence were handed over to his family, which had suffered such wrongs from the French. The allies agreed to do as he and the Pope wished, and the Viceroy Raymond de Cardona, was sent against the Florentines. When he had come near the city he sent to propose that the Gonfaloniere should have his office taken from him, and that the Medici should be received into the city as private persons. The Great Council determined to agree to admit the Medici as was proposed, but the Florentines said that, if the Gonfaloniere were turned out of office, the way would be open for the Medici to become masters of the city, and therefore they refused the Viceroy's first proposal. Then the Viceroy advanced to the little town of Prato, which was defended so feebly that it was easily taken by storm on August 29, 1512. The town was given over to the soldiers. The sack lasted more or less for twenty-one days, and during this time at least two thousand, and some say more than twice that number, were killed by the conquerors, and many dreadful cruelties and other deeds of wickedness were done by them. The Florentines were much alarmed by this sad disaster, and some young noblemen, who were in favour of the Medici, took advantage of it to forward their schemes. Paolo Vettori, Bartolomeo Valori, Antonfrancesco degli Albizzi, two of the Rucellai, and some others, entered the palace and forced the Gonfaloniere to leave the city. Messengers were sent to Don Raymond, who promised on behalf of the city that the Florentines would join the league against France, and pay a large sum