After the siege of Novara was dropped and Milan occupied it (late 1495), after the French King and his retinue, as well as their auxiliaries and hangers-on, all returned over the Alps early in the winter, there still remained many pockets of French troops and factions throughout the Italian peninsula. The King of Naples, now Ferrandino, after feeling a bit more secure, duly made the trek to Venice in order to thank them for their efforts. Pietro Bembo also tells us, it was in order to ask them to increase their efforts as much work remained to be done.
Cities and towns all across Italy would ask for help in the new year of 1496, take matters into their own hands, supply troops, victuals, stradiots and cavalry, in various efforts toward reclaiming locales that were previously taken by the French. These efforts, in what seemed to be a constant trouble and tumble of turbulence, required a vast host of varied skills, (not least) in decisive leadership out in the field. In his serial fashion, with the story of the fight for Pisan independence as just one example, Bembo again and again points out the Venetian successes, their leaders, the captains, their prizes, rewards and for some, their demise.
Examples of such locales in Bembo's telling seem to be nearly falling over themselves in capitulation to Aragon and sometimes Venetian nominal rule. A miscellany of towns fall before the eyes with the names of certain captains reappearing again as well. When the French on duty in Naples heard that their King had quit Italy, those stationed to protect Castel Capuano in that city asked permission to leave. These subsequently left in sixteen boats from Naples and retreated to the island of Megaride and Castell dell'Ovo on the edge of the city in the gulf of Naples. King Ferrandino left his current fleet at anchor just off Baiae a few miles west. When Capua, Aversa and Nola heard about this, they sent word they would return to being ruled by the House of Aragon. [iii,4]
Meanwhile on the eastern edge of Italy, Antonio Grimani had arrived in Apulia where Brindisi gave themselves up to this Venetian captain. Bembo tells us the locals there were 'happy to surrender', and asked him to send the flag of the Venetian Republic up the pole. Sometimes it wasn't so easy and there was a fight. In Apulia, Grimani waited for the Senate to send and receive word from their allies and the soveriegns in Spain as they were 'preparing a fleet there'. [iii,5] Then, Grimani received word to take the French out of Monopoli twenty-five miles up the coast from Brindisi.
Twenty galleys, a merchant ship with cannon, stadiots and cavalry were under Grimani's command, and one Pietro Bembo was one of his captains. [iii,6] After a couple of days with much fierce fighting (including Bembo getting shot by an iron ball), the town was taken and the city plundered. But to show his goodwill, for those days, Grimani sold various properties that were seized back to their owners, when they could be found, 'giving them plenty of time to pay'. [iii,7]
Leaving a certain Niccolo Corner as governor in Monopoli, and sending Alessandro de Pesaro to govern Polignano, Grimani himself went to relieve Manfredonia from occupation by the French. The people there had already fought back against the French occupiers and had driven them into their strongholds. Grimani told the people they should surrender to Ferrandino but, as Bembo tells us, they said they would rather surrender to Grimani. The French agreed to submit to protection under Grimani and left, with Federico, Ferrandino's uncle, assuming control. The French in Trani, midway between Manfredonia and Bari did the same. [iii,8]
When the Senate in Venice heard that Ferrandino had retaken Naples, they sent word to Grimani to stop taking French held towns. But, on request from Pope Alexander, they asked Grimani to send ships to Naples to help reassert control there. Struck with a gastric disorder in Manfredonia, Grimani got the ships ready and putting the proveditor Girolamo Contarini in charge, ordered them to sail to Naples. He himself left to recuperate in Corfu. [iii,9]
Meanwhile, Faenza had been petitioning the Senate for protection since the heir there was under age. Faenza, just west of Ravenna and northwest of Forli, lay on the heavily trafficked eastern route and felt very insecure beset by that season's exiles. Quickly, Bernardo Contarini went and routed the insurgents and left Domenico Trevisan there to support and protect the young Manfredi heir. [iii,19]
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from Pietro Bembo: History of Venice; edited and translated by Robert W Ulery, Jr.; in english and latin, The I Tatti Renaissance Library; The President and Fellows of Harvard College, USA 2007
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