His army increased at every step. He fell fiercely
upon the invaders, routed them everywhere, drove them from the duchy,
and recovered his country and his capital as rapidly as he had lost
them. One fortress only the French maintained. The intrepid Chevalier De
Bayard, _the knight without fear and without reproach_, threw himself
into the citadel of Novarra, and held out against all the efforts of
Ludovico, awaiting the succor which he was sure would come from his
powerful sovereign the King of France.
CHAPTER VI.
MAXIMILIAN I.
From 1500 to 1519.
Base Treachery of the Swiss Soldiers.--Perfidy of Ferdinand of
Arragon.--Appeals by Superstition.--Coalition with Spain.--The League of
Cambray.--Infamy of the Pope.--The Kings's Apology.--Failure of the
Plot.--Germany Aroused.--Confidence of Maximilian.--Longings for the
Pontifical Chair.--Maximilian Bribed.--Leo X.--Dawning Prosperity.--
Matrimonial Projects.--Commencement of the War of Reformation.--Sickness
of Maximilian.--His Last Directions.--His Death.--The Standard by which
his Character is to be Judged.
Louis XII., stung by the disgrace of his speedy expulsion from Milan,
immediately raised another army of five thousand horse and fifteen
thousand foot to recover his lost plunder.
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