Page:Outlines of European History.djvu/668

 570 Outlines of European History Attitude of the Pope Charles VIII leaves Italy unconquered Results of Charles's expedition The next power with which Charles had to deal was the Pope, who ruled over the states of the Church. The Pope was greatly perturbed when he realized that the French army was upon him. He naturally dreaded to have a foreign power in control of southern Italy just as his predecessors had dreaded the efforts of the Hohenstaufen to add Naples to their empire. He was unable, however, to oppose the French and they proceeded on their way. The success of the French king seemed marvelous, for even Naples speedily fell into his hands. But he and his troops were demoralized by the wines and other pleasures of the South, and meanwhile his enemies at last began to form a combination against him. Ferdinand of Aragon was fearful lest he might lose Sicily, and Emperor Maximilian objected to having the French control Italy. Charles's situation became so dangerous that he may well have thought himself fortunate, at the close of 1495, to escape, with the loss of only a single batde, from the country he had hoped to conquer. The results of Charles VIII 's expedition appear at first sight trivial ; in reality they were momentous. In the first place, it was now clear to Europe that the Italians had no real national feeling, however much they might despise the " barbarians " who lived north of the Alps. From this time down to the latter half of the nineteenth century, Italy was dominated by foreign nations, especially Spain and Austria. In the second place, the French learned to admire the art and culture of Italy (section 97). The nobles began to change their feudal castles, which since the invention of gunpowder were no longer im- pregnable, into luxurious palaces and country houses. The new scholarship of Italy also took root and flourished not only in France but in England and Germany as well, and Greek began to be studied outside of Italy. Consequently, just as Italy was becoming, politically, the victim of foreign aggressions, it was also losing, never to regain, that intellectual leadership which it had enjoyed since the revival of interest in Latin and Greek literature.