by Galeazzo di
Sanseverino, who looked his best that day, clad in French attire as a
knight of the Order of St. Michel--for which, we are told, he was
sharply reprimanded by the duke--followed by the flower of Milanese
chivalry, bearing in their midst the ducal banner with the figure of a
Moor, holding an eagle in one hand and strangling a dragon with the
other. After Messer Galeaz came his brothers, Antonio Maria and
Fracassa, "_ce tres-beau et tres-gracieux gendarme_," as Commines calls
him, each leading his own squadron; and finally the German infantry,
consisting of some five or six thousand men.

"It was indeed," writes the Neapolitan scholar, Jacopo d'Atri, who was
in attendance on his master, the Marquis of Mantua, "a stupendous sight,
and all who were present say that since the days of the Romans, so vast
and well-disciplined an army has never been seen." And the Marquis of
Mantua, in his letters, never ceased to regret his wife's absence,
telling her that she had missed the grandest sight in the world, a thing
the like of which she would never see again.

The only drawback to the day's success was an accident which befell the
duke's horse, who stumbled and fell as Lodovico passed along the lines,
throwing his rider to the ground, and soiling his rich clothes in the
mud. "This," remarks the chronicler who tells the story, "was held to be
an evil omen, and was remembered afterwards by many who were present
that day." After this review, the duke and duchess returned to Vigevano,
and the siege of Novara was prosecuted with fresh vigour. In vain Louis
of Orleans and his famished soldiers looked out for the French army that
was to bring them relief. King Charles had gone to visit his ally the
Duchess of Savoy at Turin, and was consoling himself for the toil and
disappointments of the campaign by making love to fair Anna Solieri in
the neighbouring town of Chieri. Since his reduced forces were unequal
to the task of facing the army of the league and relieving Novara, he
sent the bailiff of Dijon to raise a body of twelve thousand Swiss in
the Cantons friendly to France, and decided to await their arrival
before he took active measures.

Meanwhile he and most of his followers were thoroughly tired of warfare,
and the queen never ceased imploring him to return home. The French
supplies of men and money were exhausted, and when Charles sent home for
reinforcements, Anne of Brittany replied that there were no Frenchmen