Page:Readings in European History Vol 2.djvu/58

 20 Readings in European History this time. 1 For though the lord of Lautrec had gone to take the sum agreed upon 2 to the village of Galeazzo (near Milan), the cardinal preached so eloquently to the Swiss on a Thursday at evening, and recalled so many things to their minds, that they rushed forth like wild men from Milan and cast themselves upon the camp of the king of France. The constable Bourbon, who commanded the advance guard, immediately brought his troops into order and noti- fied the king, who was just sitting down to supper: he left his supper and went straight against the enemy, who were already engaging in skirmishes, which went on for some time before the real fight began. The king of France had a great number of pikemen who attempted, in a fit of fool- hardiness, to cross a ditch in order to come at the Swiss, who let seven or eight ranks advance and then threw them- selves forward in such a way that those who had already crossed the ditch were hurled back into it, and the pikemen were thereby thrown into great consternation. If it had not been for the lord of Guise, — who fought marvelously and was left on the field for dead, — the duke of Bourbon, the constable, the gentle count of St. Pol, the Good Chevalier, and many others, who opposed themselves to this body of Swiss, there would have been a great disaster, for it was already night, and the night feels no shame. Bravery of But by evening the soldiers of the advance guard had Francis. broken the ranks of the Swiss, some two thousand of whom started to pass in front of the king, who recklessly charged them. There was a sharp combat, in which the king's per- son was in great danger, for a great hole was made in his 1 The Swiss were wont to hire themselves out as mercenary soldiers, and were in great repute on account of their bravery. Louis XII had some years earlier refused to employ them on the terms they demanded, and had alienated their leader, Matthew Schinner, bishop of Sion, by declining to give him a pension. Francis I, after Marignano, made a treaty with them which was observed until the opening of the French Revolution. 2 The Swiss had been offered 700,000 crowns if they would return to their country and leave Milan to the French.