atient firmness of the
Spanish troops and the persistent vigor of their captain. Gonzalvo was
getting ready to sally from Barletta and take the offensive against the
French when he heard that a treaty signed at Lyons on the 5th of April,
1503, between the Kings of Spain and France, made a change in the
position, reciprocally, of the two sovereigns, and must suspend the
military operations of their generals within the kingdom of Naples.
"The French general declared his readiness to obey his king," says
Guicciardini; "but the Spanish, whether it were that he felt sure of
victory or that he had received private instructions on that point, said
that he could not stop the war without express orders from his king."
And sallying forthwith from Barletta, he gained, on the 28th of April,
1503, at Cerignola, a small town of Puglia, a signal victory over the
French commanded by the Duke of Nemours, who, together with three
thousand men of his army, was killed in action. The very day after his
success Gonzalvo heard that a Spanish corps, lately disembarked in
Calabria, had also beaten, on the 21st of April, at Seminara, a French
corps commanded by D'Aubigny. The great captain was as eager to profit
by victory as he had been patient in waiting for a chance of it. He
marched rapidly on Naples, and entered it on the 14th of May, almost
without resistance; and the two forts defending the city, the Castel
Nuovo and the Castel dell' Uovo surrendered, one on the 11th of June and
the other on the 1st of July. The capital of the kingdom having thus
fallen into the hands of the Spaniards, Capua and Aversa followed its
example. Gaeta was the only important place which still held out for the
French, and contained a garrison capable of defending it; and thither the
remnant of the troops beaten at Seminara and at Cerignola had retired.
Louis XII. hastened to levy and send to Italy, under the command of Louis
de la Tremoille, a fresh army for the purpose of relieving Gaeta and
recovering Naples; but at Parma La Tremoille fell ill, "so crushed by his
malady and so despairing of life," says his chronicler, John Bouchet,
"that the physicians sent word to the king that it was impossible in the
way of nature to recover him, and that without the divine assistance he
could not get well." The command devolved upon the Marquis of Mantua,
who marched on Gaeta. He found Gonzalvo of Cordova posted with his army
on the left bank of the Garigliano, eithe