of Piedmont, the Republics of Venice and Florence, and the Papal
States. There were also several petty states which were always more or
less dependent on some one of the greater powers. Unfortunately for
themselves, there was little sympathy or unity among the Italian States;
and the nations around were constantly stirring up strife between them,
or invading the peninsula for the sake of conquest. So it was that for a
long time Italy was the field on which the contests of Europe were
waged.

It was during this period--when the French, the Spanish, the Germans,
and the Italian States were variously pitted against one another, and
variously allied--that Bayard made his name forever an emblem of
chivalry. In those days "king" stood for "country" in the mind of the
loyal knight; and in following his king on whatever fantastic campaign,
Bayard believed that he was only performing his sacred duty to his
beloved France.

He served successively under three sovereigns--Charles VIII., Louis
XII., and Francis I.,--and distinguished himself in Italy, Spain, and
France, holding his own against Italian, Spaniard, German, and Briton
alike.

"I hope one day to be worthy the name of soldier," was the chevalier's
modest, yet truly exalted, ambition; and he proved unquestionably his
right to the title in his very first campaign. Bayard's first service
was with Charles VIII., when that king invaded Italy and conquered the
Kingdom of Naples.

The young chevalier, though then only eighteen years of age, and slender
and boyish in appearance, soon became the admiration of even old and
experienced warriors. Wherever there was hottest fighting--wherever
there was greatest danger--there was this black-eyed, fair-haired youth.
And there was hardly an engagement with the enemy which was not
signalized by some brilliant feat of the young knight's.

After conquering the Kingdom of Naples and leaving there the larger part
of the French army to maintain his sovereignty, King Charles returned
to France at the head of only a small force. But his exodus from Italy
was not so easy as his invasion into that country had been. The Pope,
the Doge of Venice, the Duke of Milan, and other Italian princes, had
formed a league against the ambitious Charles, and had gathered a large
army in northern Italy to cut off his return to France.

As King Charles advanced to within a few miles of Fornovo, the allies
unexpectedly descended on him with a force six time