Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. III.djvu/71

45 RESOLUTION OF THE SPANIARDS. 45 was despatched with a small force into the south, chapter XI to overrun the two Calabrias. The viceroy, in the '- — mean while, having fruitlessly attempted the reduc- tion of several strong places held by the Spaniards in the neighbourhood of Barleta, endeavoured to straiten the garrison there by desolating the sur- rounding country, and sweeping off the flocks and herds which grazed in its fertile pastures. The Spaniards, however, did not remain idle within their defences, but, sallying out in small detachments, occasionally retrieved the spoil from the hands of the enemy, or annoyed him with desultory attacks, ambuscades, and other irregular movements of guer- rilla warfare, in which the French were compara- tively unpractised.'^ The war now began to assume many of the ro- chivalrous cj •' character of mantic features of that of Granada. The knights "=^'*- on both sides, not content with the usual military rencontres, defied one another to jousts and tour- neys, eager to establish their prowess in the noble exercises of chivalry. One of the most remarkable of these meetings took place between eleven Span- ish and as many French knights, in consequence of some disparaging remarks of the latter on the cavalry of their enemies, which they affirmed infe- rior to their own. The Venetians gave the parties a fair field of combat in the neutral territory under their own walls of Trani. A gallant array of well- armed knights of both nations guarded the lists, and maintained the order of the fight. On the ap- is Bernaldez, lleyes Catolicos, Carlo V., fol. 10. — Chronica del MS., cap. 169. — tJlloa, Vita di Gran Capitan, cap. 66.