This was agreed to, and the next morning a trumpeter was sent forth from the citadel, who marched down to the first rampart of the enemy where the Doge, Messire Andrea Gritti, and his captains came to meet him.  The trumpeter asked if he might enter the town, but was told that he might say what he liked to those present who had the authority to answer him.  Then he gave his message, saying that if they would give up the city they should all be free to go forth and their lives would be safe, but if it were taken by assault they would probably all be killed.

The answer they gave was to bid him return, for the town belonged to the Republic of Venice, and so would remain, and they would take good care that no Frenchman should ever set foot within.

The trumpeter brought back his answer, and when it was heard, there was no more delay for the men were already in battle order.

“Well, gentlemen, we must all do our best....  Let us march,” said Gaston de Foix, Duc de Nemours, “in the name of God and my lord St. Denis.”  Drums, trumpets, and bugles sounded an alarm.  The enemy replied with a burst of artillery, and the attacking party from the citadel began their descent down the hill, where the ground was very slippery, for there had been rain in the night.  The general and many other knights took off their broad, plated shoes to gain a firmer hold with the felt slippers worn under the armour, for no one wished to be left behind.  At the first rampart there was a fierce conflict, for it was splendidly defended, and while the Good Knight’s company cried “Bayard!  Bayard!  France!” the enemy replied with “Marco!  Marco!” making so much noise as to drown the sound of the hand-guns.  The Doge, Andrea Gritti, encouraged his followers by saying to them in the Italian tongue:  “Hold firm, my friends, the French will soon be tired, and if we can defeat this Bayard, the others will never come on.”

But in spite of all his encouragement his men began to give way, and seeing this the Good Knight cried:  “Push on, push on, comrades!  It is ours; only march forward and we have won.”  He himself was the first to enter and cross the rampart with about a thousand men following after him, and so with much fighting the first fort was taken with great loss of life to the defenders.

But in the very moment of victory the Good Knight was wounded, receiving the blow of a pike in his thigh, which entered in so deeply that the iron was broken and remained in the wound.  He believed himself stricken to death from the pain he suffered, and turning to his friend, the lord of Molart, he said:  “Companion, advance with your men, the city is gained; but I can go no further for I am dying.”  He was losing so much blood that he felt he must either die without confession, or else permit two of his archers to carry him out of the melee and do their best to staunch the wound.