The XI. 1552. Charles resolved to hazard a general assault, in spite of all B OOK the remonstrances of his generals against the imprudence of attacking a numerous garrison, conducted and animated by the most gallant of the French nobility, with an army weakened by diseases, and disheartened with ill success. Duke of Guise, suspecting the Emperor's intentions from the extraordinary movements which he observed in the enemy's camp, ordered all his troops to their respective posts. They appeared immediately on the walls, and behind the breaches, with such a determined countenance, so eager for the com. bat, and so well prepared to give the assailants a warm reception, that the Imperialists, instead of advancing to the charge when the word of command was given, stood motionless in a timid dejected silence. The Emperor perceiving that he could not trust troops whose spirits were so much broken, retired abruptly to his quarters, complaining that he was now deserted by his soldiers, who deserved no longer the name of menf. ror chan. ges the attack. DEEPLY as this behaviour of his troops mortified and af- The empefected Charles, he would not hear of abandoning the siege, though he saw the necessity of changing the method of at- method of tack. He suspended the fury of his batteries, and proposed to proceed by the more secure but tedious method of sapping. But as it still continued to rain or to snow almost incessantly, such as were employed in this service endured incredible hardships: and the Duke of Guise, whose industry was not inferior to his valour, discovering all their mines, counter-worked them, and prevented their effect. At last, Charles finding it impossible to contend any longer with the severity of the season, and with enemies whom he could. neither overpower by force, nor subdue by art, while at the same time a contagious distemper raged among his troops, and cut off daily great numbers of the officers as well as soldiers, yielded to the solicitations of his generals, who conjured him to save the remains of his army by a timely retreat: "Fortune," says he, "I now perceive, resembles other females, and chooses to confer her favours on young men, while she turns her back on those who are advanced in years." f Thuan. 397. BOOK 1552. Dec. 26. Obliged to raise the siege. of the French. UPON this he gave orders immediately to raise the siege, and submitted to the disgrace of abandoning the enterprise, after having continued fifty-six days before the town, during which time he had lost upwards of thirty thousand men, who died of diseases, or were killed by the enemy. The Duke of Guise, as soon as he perceived the intention of the Imperialists, sent out several bodies both of cavalry and infantry to infest their rear, to pick up stragglers, and to seize every opportunity of attacking them with advantage. Such was the confusion with which they made their retreat, that the French might have harassed them in the most cruel Ruin of the manner. But when they sallied out, a spectacle presented Imperial army, and itself to their view, which extinguished at once all hostile humanity rage, and melted them into tenderness and compassion. The Imperial camp was filled with the sick and wounded, with the dead and the dying. In all the different roads by which the army retired, numbers were found, who, having made. an effort to escape, beyond their strength, were left, when they could go no farther, to perish without assistance. This they received from their enemies, and were indebted to them for all the kind offices which their friends had not the power to perform. The Duke of Guise immediately ordered proper refreshments for such as were dying of hunger; he appointed surgeons to attend the sick and wounded; he removed such as could bear it into the adjacent villages; and those who would have suffered by being carried so far, he admitted into the hospitals which he had fitted up in the city. for his own soldiers. As soon as they recovered, he sent them home under an escort of soldiers, and with money to bear their charges. By these acts of humanity, which were uncommon in that age, when war was carried on with greater rancour and ferocity than at present, the Duke of Guise. completed the fame which he had acquired by his gallant and successful defence of Metz, and engaged those whom he had vanquished to vie with his own countrymen in extolling his name 8. g Sleid. 375. Thuan. lib. xi. 389, &c. Pere Daniel, Hist. de France, tom. iii. 392. Pere Daniel's account of this siege is taken from the journal of the Sieur de Salignac, who was present. Natal. Comit. Hist. 129. XI. emperor's To these calamities in Germany, were added such unfor- B O O K tunate events in Italy, as rendered this the most disastrous year in the Emperor's life. During his residence at Vil- 1552. lach, Charles had applied to Cosmo di Medici for the loan Bad situaof two hundred thousand crowns. But his credit at that tion of the time was so low, that in order to obtain this inconsiderable affairs in sum, he was obliged to put him in possession of the princi- Italy. pality of Piombino, and by giving up that, he lost the footing which he had hitherto maintained in Tuscany, and enabled Cosmo to assume, for the future, the tone and deportment of a Prince altogether independent. Much about the time that his indigence constrained him to part with this valuable territory, he lost Siena, which was of still greater consequence, through the ill-conduct of Don Diego de Mendoza h of Siena. SIENA, like most of the great cities in Italy, had long en- The revolt joyed a republican government, under the protection of the Empire; but being torn in pieces by the dissentions between the nobility and the people, which divided all the Italian commonwealths, the faction of the people, which gained the ascendant, besought the Emperor to become the guardian of the administration which they had established, and admitted into their city a small body of Spanish soldiers, whom he had sent to countenance the execution of the laws, and to preserve tranquillity among them. The command of these troops was given to Mendoza, at that time ambassador for the Emperor at Rome, who persuaded the credulous. multitude, that it was necessary for their security against any future attempt of the nobles, to allow him to build a citadel in Siena; and as he flattered himself that by means of this fortress he might render the Emperor master of the city, he pushed on the works with all possible dispatch. But he threw off the mask too soon. Before the fortifications were completed, he began to indulge his natural haughtiness and severity of temper, and to treat the citizens with great insolence. At the same time the soldiers in garrison being paid as irregularly as the Emperor's troops usually were, BOOK lived almost at discretion upon the inhabitants, and were guilty of many acts of licence and oppression. XI. 1552. The Sie nese court ance of France. THESE injuries awakened the Sienese to a sense of their the assist- danger. As they saw the necessity of exerting themselves, while the unfinished fortifications of the citadel left them any hopes of success, they applied to the French ambassador at Rome, who readily promised them his master's protection and assistance. At the same time forgetting their domestic animosities when such a mortal blow was aimed at the liberty and existence of the republic, they sent agents to the exiled nobles, and invited them to concur with them in saving their country from the servitude with which it was threatened. As there was not a moment to lose, measures were concerted speedily, but with great prudence; and were executed with equal vigour. The citizens rose suddenly in arms; the exiles flocked into the town from different parts with all their partisans, and what troops they could draw together; and several bodies of mercenaries in the pay of France appeared to support them. The Spaniards, though surprised, and much inferior in number, defended themselves with great courage; but seeing no prospect of relief, and having no hopes of maintaining their station long in a half-finished fortress, they soon gave it up. The Sienese, with the utmost alacrity, levelled it with the ground, that no monument might remain of that odious structure, which had been raised in order to enslave them. At the same time renouncing all connexion with the Emperor, they sent ambassadors to thank the King of France as the restorer of their liberty, and to entreat that he would secure to them the perpetual enjoyment of that blessing, by continuing his protection to their republic. Descent of the Turks To these misfortunes, one still more fatal had almost sucin the king. ceeded. The severe administration of Don Pedro de Todom of Na- ledo, viceroy of Naples, having filled that kingdom with ples. murmuring and disaffection, the Prince of Salerno, the head of the mal-contents, had fled to the court of France, where i Pecci Memorie de Siena, vol. iii. p. 230. 261. Thuan. 375. 377, &c. Paruta Hist. Venet. 267. Mem. de Ribier, 424, &c. XI. 1552. all who bore ill-will to the Emperor or his ministers were B OOK sure of finding protection and assistance. That nobleman, in the usual style of exiles, boasting much of the number and power of his partisans, and of his great influence with them, prevailed on Henry to think of invading Naples, from an expectation of being joined by all those with whom the Prince of Salerno held correspondence, or who were dissatisfied with Toledo's government. But though the first hint of this enterprise was suggested by the Prince of Salerno, Henry did not choose that its success should entirely depend upon his being able to fulfil the promises which he had made. He applied for aid to Solyman, whom he courted, after his father's example, as his most vigorous auxiliary against the Emperor, and solicited him to second his operations, by sending a powerful fleet into the Mediterranean. It was not difficult to obtain what he requested of the Sultan, who, at this time, was highly incensed against the house of Austria, on account of the proceedings in Hungary. He ordered an hundred and fifty ships to be equipped, that they might sail towards the coast of Naples, at whatever time Henry should name, and might co-operate with the French troops in their attempts upon that kingdom. The command of this fleet was given to the corsair Dragut, an officer trained up under Barbarossa, and scarcely inferior to his master in courage, in talents, or in good fortune. He appeared on the coast of Calabria at the time which had been agreed on, landed at several places, plundered and burnt several villages; and at last, casting anchor in the bay of Naples, filled that city with consternation. But as the French fleet, detained by some accident, which the contemporary historians have not explained, did not join the Turks according to concert, they, after waiting twenty days, without hearing any tidings of it, set sail for Constantinople, and thus delivered the viceroy of Naples from the terror of an invasion which he was not in a condition to have resisted *. 1553. As the French had never given so severe a check to the Emperor in any former campaign, they expressed immode- The emperor sensibly k Thuan. 375. 380. Mem. de Ribier, ii. 403. Gianone. |