Henri II: His Court and Times by H Noel Williams Read Free Book Online

However,
Charles V had other views. He was set upon the capture ofMarseilles — the half-way house between Genoa and Barcelona
— which would convert the Gulf of Lions into a Spanish lake
and definitely transfer the sea-power on the Mediterranean
from France to Spain; 19 and Pescara, who had been associated
with Bourbon, and the Spanish officers refused their consent
to his project, and insisted on his undertaking the conquest
of Provence.
    With the exception of Aix, whose defence was protracted
for over a month, most of the Provençal towns opened their
gates after scarcely a show of resistance, and on August 19
the Imperialists laid siege to Marseilles. The ramparts were
ill-fitted to withstand artillery; the inhabitants, in common
with all the Provençals, bore no very high reputation for
courage; 20 and
Bourbon declared that "three cannon-shots
would so astonish the good citizens that they would come
with halters round their necks to bring him the keys of their
town." His calculations were grievously at fault, for the
"good citizens" of Marseilles offered an heroic resistance, 21 and when a breach had been made in the ramparts, threw
up with astonishing rapidity a formidable earthwork, which
was called
"le rempart des dames,"
since all the women in the
town had assisted in its construction. A Spanish squadron
which was blockading the port was defeated by the French
fleet under the famous naval
condottiere
Andrea Doria, then
in the service of France, who was thus able to throw provisions
into Marseilles; while the investing army, whose supplies
reached them with difficulty, suffered severe privations.
Finally, towards the end of September, the inactivity of the
Emperor and Henry VIII — the one through lack of means,
the other through lack of will — for Wolsey was already
negotiating with France — enabled François to assemble at
Avignon a formidable army for the relief of the town, upon
which the Imperialists raised the siege and retreated into Italy.
    Emboldened by the retirement of the enemy, François
determined to make another descent into the Milanese andrevenge in person the reverses of Lautrec and Bonnivet and
the invasion to which his realm had just been exposed, by the
splendour of a conquest which he believed to be certain, and
which he intended should be permanent. His most experienced
generals, who had begun to entertain an almost superstitious
dread of Italy, and to regard it as a tomb in which
successive French armies were destined to be swallowed up, 22 endeavoured to dissuade him from undertaking a campaign so
late in the year. But he would hear of no delay, and, early in
October, having nominated his mother Regent, at the head of
40,000 men, who included the flower of the French nobility,
he marched rapidly through Dauphiné and over Mont-Genèvre
into Italy, with the intention of cutting off the retreating
Imperialists from Lombardy.
    In this he all but succeeded; indeed, he entered Milan by
the western gate as Bourbon and Pescara retired through the
eastern and fell back on Lodi. Here Pescara entrenched
himself in a strong position, in order to defend the line of the
Adda; while Bourbon hastened into Germany to raise a force
of mercenaries. Pescara's troops were worn out with sickness
and privation; they had received no pay for months, and were
utterly discouraged; and if François had attacked the disorganised
army before Bourbon could return, he would
probably have broken it up beyond all hope of rally. Instead
of doing so, however, he laid siege to Pavia, which blocked
the road from Milan southwards, and into which Pescara in
his retreat had thrown a force of some 6,000 men, under
Antonio de Leyva, a brave and capable officer. The King's
decision has been severely condemned by French historians;
but, as Mr. Armstrong points out in his admirable monograph
on Charles V, it was not unreasonable. "The garrison," he
says, "was mainly German, and was thought unlikely to hold
out without its pay;