[A Popular History of France From The Earliest Times by Francois Pierre Guillaume Guizot]@TWC D-Link bookA Popular History of France From The Earliest Times CHAPTER XXVII 17/115
himself, who had counted upon the assistance of his cousin the King of Arragon against the French invasion. Great was his consternation when he heard that the ambassadors of France and Spain had proclaimed at Rome the alliance between their masters.
At the first rumor of this news, Gonzalvo of Cordova, whether sincerely or not, treated it as a calumny; but, so soon as its certainty was made public, he accepted it without hesitation, and took, equally with the French, the offensive against the king, already dethroned by the pope, and very near being so by the two sovereigns who had made alliance for the purpose of sharing between them the spoil they should get from him. Capua capitulated, and was nevertheless plundered and laid waste.
A French fleet, commanded by Philip de Ravenstein, arrived off Naples when D'Aubigny was already master of it.
The unhappy King Frederick took refuge in the island of Ischia; and, unable to bear the idea of seeking an asylum in Spain with his cousin who had betrayed him so shamefully, he begged the French admiral himself to advise him in his adversity.
"As enemies that have the advantage should show humanity to the afflicted," Ravenstein sent word to him, "he would willingly advise him as to his affairs; according to his advice, the best thing would be to surrender and place himself in the hands of the King of France, and submit to his good pleasure; he would find him so wise, and so debonnair, and so accommodating, that he would be bound to be content.
<<Back Index Next>> D-Link book Top TWC mobile books
|