A Popular History of France from the Earliest Times, Volume 4 eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 572 pages of information about A Popular History of France from the Earliest Times, Volume 4.

A Popular History of France from the Earliest Times, Volume 4 eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 572 pages of information about A Popular History of France from the Earliest Times, Volume 4.
after telling him what he meant to do, had added, “I know through one of my servants that the French have said that I retired from Provence shamefully.  I remained there a space of three months and eight days, waiting for battle.  I hope to give the world to know that I have no fear of King Francis, for, please God, we shall place ourselves so close together that we shall have great trouble to get disentangled without battle, and I shall so do that neither he nor they who have held such talk about me shall say that I was afraid of being there.”  The situation was from that moment changed.  The French army found themselves squeezed between the fortress which would not surrender and the imperial army which was coming to relieve it.  Things, however, remained stationary for three weeks.  Francis I. intrenched himself strongly in his camp, which the Imperialists could not attack without great risk of unsuccess.  “Pavia is doomed to fall,” wrote Francis to his mother the regent on the 3d of February, “if they do not reenforce it somehow; and they are beating about to make it hold on to the last gasp, which, I think, will not be long now, for it is more than a month since those inside have had no wine to drink and neither meat nor cheese to eat; they are short of powder even.”  Antony de Leyva gave notice to the Imperialists that the town was not in a condition for further resistance.  On the other hand, if the imperial army put off fighting, they could not help breaking up; they had exhausted their victuals, and the leaders their money; they were keeping the field without receiving pay, and were subsisting, so to speak, without resources.  The prudent Marquis of Pescara himself was for bringing on a battle, which was indispensable.  “A hundred years in the field,” said he, in the words of an old Italian proverb, “are better than one day of fighting, for one may lose in a doubtful melley what one was certain of winning by skilful manoeuvres; but when one can no longer keep the field, one must risk a battle, so as not to give the enemy the victory without a fight.”  The same question was being discussed in the French camp.  The veteran captains, La Tremoille and Chabannes, were of opinion that by remaining in the strong position in which they were encamped they would conquer without fighting.  Bonnivet and De Montmorency were of the contrary opinion.  “We French,” said Bonnivet, “have not been wont to make war by means of military artifices, but handsomely and openly, especially when we have at our head a valiant king, who is enough to make the veriest dastards fight.  Our kings bring victory with them, as our little king Charles VIII. did at the Taro, our king Louis XII. at Agnadello, and our king who is here present at Melegnano.”  Francis I. was not the man to hold out against such sentiments and such precedents; and he decided to accept battle as soon as it should be offered him.  The imperial leaders, at a council held on the 23d of February, determined to offer it next day.  Bourbon vigorously supported the opinion of Pescara.

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A Popular History of France from the Earliest Times, Volume 4 from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.