every step. He fell fiercely
upon the invaders, routed them everywhere, drove them from the duchy,
and recovered his country and his capital as rapidly as he had lost
them. One fortress only the French maintained. The intrepid Chevalier De
Bayard, _the knight without fear and without reproach_, threw himself
into the citadel of Novarra, and held out against all the efforts of
Ludovico, awaiting the succor which he was sure would come from his
powerful sovereign the King of France.

CHAPTER VI.

MAXIMILIAN I.

From 1500 to 1519.

Base Treachery of the Swiss Soldiers.--Perfidy of Ferdinand of
Arragon.--Appeals by Superstition.--Coalition with Spain.--The League of
Cambray.--Infamy of the Pope.--The Kings's Apology.--Failure of the
Plot.--Germany Aroused.--Confidence of Maximilian.--Longings for the
Pontifical Chair.--Maximilian Bribed.--Leo X.--Dawning Prosperity.--
Matrimonial Projects.--Commencement of the War of Reformation.--Sickness
of Maximilian.--His Last Directions.--His Death.--The Standard by which
his Character is to be Judged.

Louis XII., stung by the disgrace of his speedy expulsion from Milan,
immediately raised another army of five thousand horse and fifteen
thousand foot to recover his lost plunder. He also sent to Switzerland
to hire troops, and without difficulty engaged ten thousand men to meet,
on the plains of Milan, the six thousand of their brethren whom Ludovico
had hired, to hew each other to pieces for the miserable pittance of a
few pennies a day. But Louis XII. was as great in diplomacy as in war.
He sent secret emissaries to the Swiss in the camp of Ludovico, offering
them larger wages if they would abandon the service of Ludovico and
return home. They promptly closed the bargain, unfurled the banner of
mutiny, and informed the Duke of Milan that they could not, in
conscience, fight against their own brethren. The duke was in despair.
He plead even with tears that they would not abandon him. All was in
vain. They not only commenced their march home, but basely betrayed the
duke to the French. He was taken prisoner by Louis, carried to France
and for five years was kept in rigorous confinement in the strong
fortresses of the kingdom. Afterward, through the intercession of
Maximilian, he was allowed a little more freedom. He was, however, kept
in captivity until he died in the year 1510. Ludovico merits no
commiseration. He was as perfidious and unprincipled as any of his
assail