The retreat of the French from Italy did not start out that way. Leaving Rome, Pope Alexander at first asked the king to come visit him in Orvieto, away from the city, and then in Viterbo, and then as far as Perugia, up in the mountains. This drew the King's van north.
A further, later delay in nearby Siena, also probably in June, slowed everything down again. To King Charles' credit, he walked away from the prospect of his eager young cousin Ligni, a French prince ruling Siena as a favour for the French King. Then there was the additional heart-rending pleas of those in Pisa who wanted French protection, as well as the contrary Florentine contingents. Then the slow trip over the Apennines at last brought them above and then along the small river Taro, 30 km southwest of Parma, near Fornovo. The French goal, according to Guicciardini, was still Asti, where they had encamped the prior September. First they had to ford this smaller stream, the Taro in the summer when it would be lowest, and then head roughly west to Parma, and Piacenza, and then straight west past Tortona, south of the Po.
Along the way, those troops garrisoned on the coast southeast of Genoa near Sarzanello were ordered to cross the mtns to join the main body of troops. All but those in Ostia did so. Troops had also been sent west to board the fleet sent to pick up troops that remained along the coast. The King sent Cardinal della Rovere farther south, to Ostia, to help protect his interests there, as the most direct port to Rome. The main mass of the army were sent north and over the mountains where it was at least cooler if more arduous.
But on the fifth of July, the scouts for the King found a large mass of troops north of the Taro, and the Apennines, near Fornovo. There was a large contingent of Stradiotti, mercenary Albanians sent by Venice and their leaders. There were even a great many Milanese forces in the plain whose messengers said that in no way could the French army pass there. The Duke of Milan, Ludovico Sforza had been the French ally this entire time, effectively inviting King Charles to Italy in the first place. Charles sent a letter to meet with the Venetian proveditors who were on the field, but then afterward that night failed to meet with them.
All night the discussions on both sides went on and on. The camp of the Italian allies was dug in, as they had been there over a week. A storm with thunder and rain soured the French mood, even to become more fearful and uncertain in the weather and its greater difficulties, Guicciardini would say. In the morning, the French advanced across the river and so did the Italian allies to attack their flank. The battle continued all day with bravery and losses on both sides. Both sides took credit for winning.
But then the next day when embassies were sent by both sides, the Italian allies were said to insist that the French could not pass there and must stay on the west side of the Taro and south of the Po. Over the next several days, the French did and began moving west, not approaching Parma, but keeping to the high road to Piacenza. After eight to twelve additional days, the King at last reached Asti. The allies pursued them closely until reaching Tortona.
By this time news had been coming in that Naples was in the hands of the sons of Aragon again, the French fleet on the western shore was dashed, and French forces were fleeing the once secure Genoa. A siege on the French garrison under the Duke of Orleans' command at Navara, west of Milan, had begun as well. This was seen as a kind of rear guard to the masses of under-provisioned and weakened French troops gathering in the plain south and west of there. King Charles moved again to Turin to be in better communications with Novara as the siege there wore on. The King did not feel safe with enemies at his back attacking French troops at Novara and sought a final peace deal.
It was Ludovico Sforza who set their demands to the King alongside the Italian allies in nearby Vercelli. Guicciardini gives us the contrary opinions of King Charles' ministers, including that of the Prince of Orange, the Duke of Orleans and Monsieur de Tremouille. These discussions and arrangements would continue all summer. It was in October, Guicciardini tells us that the French King returned at last to France. There were other forms of fallout following the French retreat. In Forli, the captain-guard of Countess Caterina was struck down. In Florence, letters from Rome helped renew the tumult there.
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