s treaty the two kings were sharing their conquests
beforehand: Louis would be master of Naples, of the town of Lavore and
the Abruzzi, and would bear the title of King of Naples and Jerusalem;
Ferdinand reserved for his own share Apulia and Calabria, with the title
of Duke of these provinces; both were to receive the investiture from
the pope and to hold them of him. This partition was all the more likely
to be made, in fact, because Frederic, supposing all the time that
Ferdinand was his good and faithful friend, would open the gates of
his towns, only to receive into his fortresses conquerors and masters
instead of allies. All this perhaps was not very loyal conduct on the
part of a king who had so long desired and had just now received the
surname of Catholic, but it mattered little to Louis, who profited by
treasonable acts he did not have to share.

The French army, which the Duke of Valentinois had just joined,
consisted of 1000 lances, 4000 Swiss, and 6000 Gascons and adventurers;
further, Philip of Rabenstein was bringing by sea six Breton and
Provencal vessels, and three Genoese caracks, carrying 6500 invaders.

Against this mighty host the King of Naples had only 700 men-at-arms,
600 light horse, and 6000 infantry under the command of the Colonna,
whom he had taken into his pay after they were exiled by the pope from
the States of the Church; but he was counting on Gonsalvo of Cordova,
who was to join him at Gaeta, and to whom he had confidingly opened all
his fortresses in Calabria.

But the feeling of safety inspired by Frederic's faithless ally was
not destined to endure long: on their arrival at Rome, the French and
Spanish ambassadors presented to the pope the treaty signed at Grenada
on the 11th of November, 1500, between Louis XII and Ferdinand the
Catholic, a treaty which up, to that time had been secret. Alexander,
foreseeing the probable future, had, by the death of Alfonso, loosened
all the bonds that attached him to the house of Aragon, and then
began by making some difficulty about it. It was demonstrated that the
arrangement had only been undertaken to provide the Christian princes
with another weapon for attacking the Ottoman Empire, and before
this consideration, one may readily suppose, all the pope's scruples
vanished; on the 25th of June, therefore, it was decided to call a
consistory which was to declare Frederic deposed from the throne of
Naples. When Frederic heard all at once that the