Prospero Colonna was surprised at dinner, and would have defended himself, but when he saw that defence was hopeless he yielded himself most reluctantly to this Bayard, whom he had vowed “that he would catch like a pigeon in a cage.”  As he cursed his ill-fortune in having been thus taken by surprise, instead of meeting the French in the open field, the Good Knight with his usual courteous chivalry tried to comfort him, saying:  “My lord Prospero, it is the fortune of war!  You lose now, and will win next time!  As for meeting us in the open field, it would be a great pleasure to us French, for if you knew our men when they are roused to battle you would not find it easy to escape....”  The Italian lord replied coldly:  “In any case I should have been glad to have the chance of meeting!”

Besides Colonna, several great captains were taken prisoners, and the place was found to be full of rich spoils, gold and silver plate, splendid equipments, and above all in value, six or seven hundred valuable horses.  Unfortunately for the French they were not able to carry away all this, for news arrived of the approach of the Swiss troop which had been summoned; indeed they entered Villafranca at one gate as the French rode out with their prisoners on the other side, but there could be no pursuit as the Swiss were all on foot.

The chief military advantage of this wonderful raid was that it kept all these Italian horsemen away from the coming battle at Marignano.

Francis I. was delighted to hear of Bayard’s success, and finding that the Swiss were retreating towards Milan he followed in pursuit of them, took Novara on the way, and advanced with his army as far as Marignano.

A terrible melee followed, for as the light failed confusion increased.  We hear of a most striking adventure which befell the Good Knight Bayard late in the evening.  His horse had been killed under him, and the second which he mounted became so frantic when his master charged the Swiss lances that he broke his bridle and dashed into the midst of the enemy until he became entangled in the vines trained from tree to tree.  Bayard kept his presence of mind, and in order to escape instant death, slipped gently from his horse, cast off his helmet and the thigh-pieces of his armour, and then managed to creep on hands and knees along a ditch until he reached his own people.  The first man he met was the Duke of Lorraine, who was much surprised to see him on foot, and at once gave him a wonderful horse which had once belonged to the Good Knight himself, and had been left for dead on the field of Ravenna, but was found next day and brought back to Bayard, who cured him.  This was a most unexpected piece of good fortune, and he was able to borrow a helmet from another friend and so return to the fight, which continued for a while by moonlight.