DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.42861#0337
CHAPTER XVII
1507—1508
Louis XII. invites Francesco Gonzaga to help him in the siege of
Genoa—Visit of Isabella to Milan—Fetes in the Castello—
Isabella’s correspondence with Elisabetta Gonzaga—Her
intended journey to France—Death and funeral of the Duke
of Urbino—Visit of Duke Francesco Maria to Mantua—Birth
of Isabella’s youngest daughter—Murder of Ercole Strozzi,
and death of Niccolo da Correggio—Rivalry of Isabella and
Lucrezia Borgia.
Early in April 1507, Louis XII. entered Italy with
a large army, and invited the Marquis of Mantua to
help him in quelling a rebellion which had broken
out in Genoa, and was secretly supported by
Machiavelli and the Florentines. Francesco gladly
accepted the king’s proposal, and distinguished
himself greatly in the siege of Genoa. After the
surrender of that city he entered Milan in triumph
with Louis, who appointed him Grand Master of the
Order of St. Michel, and expressed so earnest a wish
to make the Marchesa’s acquaintance that Francesco
sent an express courier to beg his wife to come to
Milan at once. Isabella set out immediately with
her little son Federico, now a child of seven, and
travelled by Lodi to Milan. Once more she saw the
beautiful city which she had known so well in the
reign of her brother-in-law, the unhappy Duke who
languished in the dungeon of Loches, and with that
strange forgetfulness of the past which marked the
295
1507—1508
Louis XII. invites Francesco Gonzaga to help him in the siege of
Genoa—Visit of Isabella to Milan—Fetes in the Castello—
Isabella’s correspondence with Elisabetta Gonzaga—Her
intended journey to France—Death and funeral of the Duke
of Urbino—Visit of Duke Francesco Maria to Mantua—Birth
of Isabella’s youngest daughter—Murder of Ercole Strozzi,
and death of Niccolo da Correggio—Rivalry of Isabella and
Lucrezia Borgia.
Early in April 1507, Louis XII. entered Italy with
a large army, and invited the Marquis of Mantua to
help him in quelling a rebellion which had broken
out in Genoa, and was secretly supported by
Machiavelli and the Florentines. Francesco gladly
accepted the king’s proposal, and distinguished
himself greatly in the siege of Genoa. After the
surrender of that city he entered Milan in triumph
with Louis, who appointed him Grand Master of the
Order of St. Michel, and expressed so earnest a wish
to make the Marchesa’s acquaintance that Francesco
sent an express courier to beg his wife to come to
Milan at once. Isabella set out immediately with
her little son Federico, now a child of seven, and
travelled by Lodi to Milan. Once more she saw the
beautiful city which she had known so well in the
reign of her brother-in-law, the unhappy Duke who
languished in the dungeon of Loches, and with that
strange forgetfulness of the past which marked the
295