his preparations, the Spanish general coolly waited the assault of the French. The duke of Nemours had marshalled his forces in a very different order. He distributed them into three battles or divisions, stationing his heavy horse, composing altogether, as Gonsalvo declared, "the finest body of cavalry seen for many years in Italy," under the command of Louis d'Ars, on the right. The second and centre division, formed somewhat in the rear of the right, was made up of the Swiss and Gascon infantry, headed by the brave Chandieu; and his left, consisting chiefly of his light cavalry, and drawn up, like the last, somewhat in the rear of the preceding, was intrusted to Alègre." 20 It was within half an hour of sunset when the duke de Nemours gave orders for the attack, and, putting himself at the head of the gendarmerie on the right, spurred at full gallop against the Spanish left. The hostile armies were nearly equal, amounting to between six and seven thousand men each. The French were superior in the number and condition of their cavalry, rising to a third of their whole force; while Gonsalvo's strength lay chiefly in his infantry, which had acquired a lesson of tactics under him that raised it to a level with the best in Europe. As the French advanced, the guns on the Spanish left poured a lively fire into their ranks, when, a spark accidentally communicating with the magazine of powder, the whole blew up with a tremendous explosion. The Spaniards were filled with consternation; but 20 Chrónica del Gran Capitan, cap. 76.-Giovio, Vitæ Illust. Viro rum, fol. 253-255.-Ulloa, Vita di Carlo V., fol. 17 Gonsalvo, converting the misfortune into a lucky omen, called out, "Courage, soldiers! these are the beacon-lights of victory! We have no need of our guns at close quarters." In the mean time, the French van under Nemours, advancing rapidly under the dark clouds of smoke which rolled heavily over the field, were unexpectedly brought up by the deep trench, of whose existence they were unapprised. Some of the horse were precipitated into it, and all received a sudden check, until Nemours, finding it impossible to force the works in this quarter, rode along their front in search of some practicable passage. In doing this, he necessarily exposed his flank to the fatal aim of the Spanish arquebusiers. A shot from one of them took effect on the unfortunate young nobleman, and he fell, mortally wounded, from his saddle. At this juncture, the Swiss and Gascon infantry, briskly moving up to second the attack of the now disordered horse, arrived before the intrenchments. Undismayed by this formidable barrier, their commander, Chandieu, made the most desperate attempts to force a passage; but the loose earth freshly turned up afforded no hold to the feet, and his men were compelled to recoil from the dense array of German pikes which bristled over the summit of the breastwork. Chandieu, their leader, made every effort to rally and bring them back to the charge, but, in the act of doing this, was hit by a ball, which stretched him lifeless in the ditch; his burnished arms, and the snow-white plumes above his helmet, making him a conspicuous mark for the enemy. All was now confusion. The Spanish arquebusiers, screened by their defences, poured a galling fire into the dense masses of the enemy, who were mingled together indiscriminately, horse and foot, while, the leaders being down, no one seemed capable of bringing them to order. At this critical moment, Gonsalvo, whose eagle eye took in the operations of the whole field, ordered a general charge along the line; and the Spaniards, leaping their intrenchments, descended with the fury of an avalanche on their foes, whose wavering columns, completely broken by the violence of the shock, were seized with a panic, and fled, scarcely offering any resistance. Louis d'Ars, at the head of such of the men-at-arms as could follow him, went off in one direction, and Ives d'Alègre, with his light cavalry, which had hardly come into action, in another; thus fully verifying the ominous prediction of his commander. The slaughter fell most heavily on the Swiss and Gascon foot, whom the cavalry under Mendoza and Pedro de la Paz rode down and cut to pieces without sparing, till the shades of evening shielded them at length from their pitiless pursuers. 21 Prospero Colonna pushed on to the French encampment, where he found the tables in the duke's tent spread for his evening repast, of which the Italian general and his followers did not fail to make good account, a trifling incident, that well illustrates the sudden reverses of war. a Chrónica del Gran Capitan, cap. 75.-Garnier, Hist. de France, tom. v. pp. 396, 397.-Fleurange, Mémoires, chap. 5, apud Petitot, Collection des Mémoires, tom. xvi.-Giovio, Vitæ Illust. Virorum, ubi sup.-Guicciardini, Istoria, tom. i. pp. 303, 304.-St. Gelais, Hist. de Louys XII., pp. 171, 172.-Brantôme, Euvres, tom. ii. disc. 8. |