DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.67375#0126
88
NAPLES AND ITS ENVIRONS.
he enlisted men, prepared vessels, and even took away the
artillery of San Lorenzo. All prisoners and banditti were
offered pardon if they would enlist in the service of the
Duke, and 14,000 soldiers and sailors were ready for his
work when he commenced negotiations with the Pope rela-
tive to marching his army across Lombardy. Meantime
he had stationed twenty galleons and other vessels in the
Neapolitan harbors, and yet he continued his friendly rela-
tions with the representative of Venice, who did not leave
the court of Naples.
A naval conflict soon raged between Naples and Venice,
and Ossuna’s anxiety can scarcely be exaggerated when he
perceived that he had overstepped the bounds of his author-
ity. He was not an autocrat at Madrid as at Naples, and
Spain did not desire a war with Italy. De Reumont
says : —
“It was a critical moment for Ossuna. He saw his daring
plans thwarted; he felt how tottering was his position at
Naples; his preparations had swallowed up vast sums of
money; the land groaned under the burden of quartered sol-
diers ; the foreign troops, especially the Walloons, occasioned
daily bloody quarrels by their want of discipline. All the pub-
lic works were at a standstill, the treasury empty, even the
artillery concealed in the Sicilian fortresses was sold. Envoys
from the nobility and from the town were gone to Madrid to
allege their complaints against the viceroy. He had tried first
to prevent and then to weaken their complaints, but failed in
both cases; then the idea seemed to occur to him of making
himself an independent ruler of Naples. He tried to make
himself a party among the common people of Naples, and
he succeeded. • . .
“ The noblemen who had any influence with the better part
of the people did their possible to keep the peace and preserve
the allegiance due to their monarch; but the state of things
was extremely critical, and a general terror prevailed that the
city would be pillaged.”
NAPLES AND ITS ENVIRONS.
he enlisted men, prepared vessels, and even took away the
artillery of San Lorenzo. All prisoners and banditti were
offered pardon if they would enlist in the service of the
Duke, and 14,000 soldiers and sailors were ready for his
work when he commenced negotiations with the Pope rela-
tive to marching his army across Lombardy. Meantime
he had stationed twenty galleons and other vessels in the
Neapolitan harbors, and yet he continued his friendly rela-
tions with the representative of Venice, who did not leave
the court of Naples.
A naval conflict soon raged between Naples and Venice,
and Ossuna’s anxiety can scarcely be exaggerated when he
perceived that he had overstepped the bounds of his author-
ity. He was not an autocrat at Madrid as at Naples, and
Spain did not desire a war with Italy. De Reumont
says : —
“It was a critical moment for Ossuna. He saw his daring
plans thwarted; he felt how tottering was his position at
Naples; his preparations had swallowed up vast sums of
money; the land groaned under the burden of quartered sol-
diers ; the foreign troops, especially the Walloons, occasioned
daily bloody quarrels by their want of discipline. All the pub-
lic works were at a standstill, the treasury empty, even the
artillery concealed in the Sicilian fortresses was sold. Envoys
from the nobility and from the town were gone to Madrid to
allege their complaints against the viceroy. He had tried first
to prevent and then to weaken their complaints, but failed in
both cases; then the idea seemed to occur to him of making
himself an independent ruler of Naples. He tried to make
himself a party among the common people of Naples, and
he succeeded. • . .
“ The noblemen who had any influence with the better part
of the people did their possible to keep the peace and preserve
the allegiance due to their monarch; but the state of things
was extremely critical, and a general terror prevailed that the
city would be pillaged.”