DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.42861#0157
FRANCESCO AND CHARLES VIII. 123
or wherever I may be, I hear continually songs and
praises of the great deeds and splendid victory of
Your Highness, in defeating and driving out the
French, and delivering all Italy from their barbarous
hands. I also hear of the great glory and honours
which are justly paid you by all the powers of
Italy.”1
Francesco himself had little time to spare, and in a
short letter of the 28th of August he tells his wife
that he is continually on horseback day and night,
and wonders that his strength holds out, but asks
her to send him some playing-cards, that he may
occasionally distract his thoughts with a game of
scartino. Besides the task of directing military
operations, he had great difficulty in keeping peace
between the Italians and Germans, who were con-
tinually quarrelling, and in a sudden brawl which
he describes to Isabella, as many as one hundred and
twenty men were slain.
When at length Novara surrendered and a treaty
of peace was concluded between the Duke of Milan
and the French king, Francesco Gonzaga paid a visit
to Charles VIII. at Vercelli, and came away much
pleased with the courtesy shown him and the splendid
horses with which the king presented him. The
Mantuan singers who were sent to serenade His
Majesty told the Marchesa how eagerly the king
had questioned them about her appearance and the
gems she wore, and how anxious he was to make the
acquaintance of this brilliant and fascinating lady of
whom he had heard so much. This exchange of
courtesies between the French monarch and the
Marquis did not altogether please the Venetian
1 Luzio in Arch. St. It., 1890.
or wherever I may be, I hear continually songs and
praises of the great deeds and splendid victory of
Your Highness, in defeating and driving out the
French, and delivering all Italy from their barbarous
hands. I also hear of the great glory and honours
which are justly paid you by all the powers of
Italy.”1
Francesco himself had little time to spare, and in a
short letter of the 28th of August he tells his wife
that he is continually on horseback day and night,
and wonders that his strength holds out, but asks
her to send him some playing-cards, that he may
occasionally distract his thoughts with a game of
scartino. Besides the task of directing military
operations, he had great difficulty in keeping peace
between the Italians and Germans, who were con-
tinually quarrelling, and in a sudden brawl which
he describes to Isabella, as many as one hundred and
twenty men were slain.
When at length Novara surrendered and a treaty
of peace was concluded between the Duke of Milan
and the French king, Francesco Gonzaga paid a visit
to Charles VIII. at Vercelli, and came away much
pleased with the courtesy shown him and the splendid
horses with which the king presented him. The
Mantuan singers who were sent to serenade His
Majesty told the Marchesa how eagerly the king
had questioned them about her appearance and the
gems she wore, and how anxious he was to make the
acquaintance of this brilliant and fascinating lady of
whom he had heard so much. This exchange of
courtesies between the French monarch and the
Marquis did not altogether please the Venetian
1 Luzio in Arch. St. It., 1890.