DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.67375#0053
FROM FREDERICK II. TO CHARLES V.
31
under Ladislaus were captured, but he escaped to San Ger-
mane. Had Louis restrained his own desire and that of
his men for plunder, and pursued his rival, he would have
gained a complete victory; but so eager were his troops for
money that they thought of nothing else, and even sold
their arms.
While his enemies were thus engaged in pillage, Ladis-
laus occupied, with his troops, all possible avenues to
Naples; and Louis of Anjou, although the victor in the
famous battle of Rocca Secca, was in reality defeated as
to the main object of the war, and, being forced to withdraw
his army, left Ladislaus to make the real conquest and
become the master of the Papal States. When Ladislaus
learned that his enemies were actually in retreat, he said:
“The day after my defeat, my kingdom and my person
were equally in the power of my enemies; the next day
my person was safe, but they were still, if they chose,
masters of my kingdom; the third day all the fruits of
their victory were lost.”
Ladislaus now employed Sforza to compel Pope John,
who had made himself hated by his cruelty, to fly from
the sacred city. The Pope appealed to the Empire north
of the Alps for aid; and shortly after, Sigismund, the
brother of Wenceslaus, who had been deposed, was made
King of the Romans. The enemies of Ladislaus looked to
this new monarch for revenge on Naples, because Charles
of Durazzo had attempted to seize the crown of Hungary,
which Sigismund inherited by the right of his wife, Mary,
the daughter of Louis the Great, of Hungary.
But Sigismund was more occupied with his desire and
determination to end the scandals in the Church than with
his private schemes ; and as Ladislaus died in 1414, — it is
said by poison, — he escaped the punishment which Pope
John had hoped to see inflicted on him. In the following
year, at the Great Council at Constance, Martin V. was
31
under Ladislaus were captured, but he escaped to San Ger-
mane. Had Louis restrained his own desire and that of
his men for plunder, and pursued his rival, he would have
gained a complete victory; but so eager were his troops for
money that they thought of nothing else, and even sold
their arms.
While his enemies were thus engaged in pillage, Ladis-
laus occupied, with his troops, all possible avenues to
Naples; and Louis of Anjou, although the victor in the
famous battle of Rocca Secca, was in reality defeated as
to the main object of the war, and, being forced to withdraw
his army, left Ladislaus to make the real conquest and
become the master of the Papal States. When Ladislaus
learned that his enemies were actually in retreat, he said:
“The day after my defeat, my kingdom and my person
were equally in the power of my enemies; the next day
my person was safe, but they were still, if they chose,
masters of my kingdom; the third day all the fruits of
their victory were lost.”
Ladislaus now employed Sforza to compel Pope John,
who had made himself hated by his cruelty, to fly from
the sacred city. The Pope appealed to the Empire north
of the Alps for aid; and shortly after, Sigismund, the
brother of Wenceslaus, who had been deposed, was made
King of the Romans. The enemies of Ladislaus looked to
this new monarch for revenge on Naples, because Charles
of Durazzo had attempted to seize the crown of Hungary,
which Sigismund inherited by the right of his wife, Mary,
the daughter of Louis the Great, of Hungary.
But Sigismund was more occupied with his desire and
determination to end the scandals in the Church than with
his private schemes ; and as Ladislaus died in 1414, — it is
said by poison, — he escaped the punishment which Pope
John had hoped to see inflicted on him. In the following
year, at the Great Council at Constance, Martin V. was