Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. III.djvu/70

44 44 ITALIAN WARS. July 12. PART Stern resolve, the calm, unflinching endurance, '. — which distinguished the Spanish soldier.'^ canosf ^^^ °^ ^^^^ ^^'^^ operations of the French viceroy 15 02. was the siege of Canosa, a stronglj fortified place west of Barleta, garrisoned bj six hundred picked men under the engineer Pedro Navarro. The de- fence of the place justified the reputation of this gallant soldier. He beat off two successive assaults of the enemy, led on by Bayard, La Palice, and the flower of their chivalry. He had prepared to sustain a third, resolved to bury himself under the ruins of the town rather than surrender. But Gon- salvo, unable to relieve it, commanded him to make the best terms he could, saying "the place was of far less value, than the lives of the brave men who defended it." Navarro found no difficulty in ob- taining an honorable capitulation; and the little garrison, dwindled to one third of its original num- ber, marched out through the enemy's camp, with colors flying and music playing, as if in derision of the powerful force it had so nobly kept at bay."' After the capture of Canosa, D'Aubigny, whose misunderstanding with Nemours still continued, 16 Giovio, VitEe Illust. Virorum, p. 237. — Guicciardini, Tstoria, lib. 5, pp. 282, 283. — Garibay, Compen- dio, torn. ii. lib. 19, cap. 14. — Pe- ter Martyr, Opus Epist., epist. 249. — Bernaldez, Reyes Calolicos, MS., cap. 1G8. 17 Cbronioa del Gran Capitan, cap. 47. — Zurita, Hist, del Rey Hernando, torn. i. lib. 4, cap. 09. — Giovio, Vitae Ilkist. Virorum, torn. i. p. 241. — D'Auton, part. 2, chap. il. — Peter Martyr, Opus Epist., epist. 247. Martyr says, that the Spaniards marched through the enemy's camp, shouting " Espafia, Espaila, viva Espaila !" (ubi supra.) Their gal- lantry in the defence of Canosa elicits a hearty cuiogium from Jean D'Auton, the loyal historiographer of Louis XII. " Je ne veux done par ma Chronique mettre les biens- faicts dcs Espaignols en oubly, niais dire que pour vertueuse de- fence, doibuent auoir louange hon- norablc." Hist, de Louys XU,, chap. 11.