De Comines remarks on the imprudence of the allies, who allowed Charles to advance as far as Fornovo, when it was their obvious policy to have established themselves in the village and so have caught the French troops in a trap.  It was a Sunday when the French marched down upon Fornovo.  Before them spread the plain of Lombardy, and beyond it the white crests of the Alps.  ‘We were,’ says De Comines, ’in a valley between two little mountain flanks, and in that valley ran a river which could easily be forded on foot, except when it is swelled with sudden rains.  The whole valley was a bed of gravel and big stones, very difficult for horses, about a quarter of a league in breadth, and on the right bank lodged our enemies.’  Any one who has visited Fornovo can understand the situation of the two armies.  Charles occupied the village on the right bank of the Taro.  On the same bank, extending downward toward the plain, lay the host of the allies; and in order that Charles should escape them, it was necessary that he should cross the Taro, just below its junction with the Ceno, and reach Lombardy by marching in a parallel line with his foes.

All through the night of Sunday it thundered and rained incessantly; so that on the Monday morning the Taro was considerably swollen.  At seven o’clock the King sent for De Comines, who found him already armed and mounted on the finest horse he had ever seen.  The name of this charger was Savoy.  He was black, one-eyed, and of middling height; and to his great courage, as we shall see, Charles owed life upon that day.  The French army, ready for the march, now took to the gravelly bed of the Taro, passing the river at a distance of about a quarter of a league from the allies.  As the French left Fornovo, the light cavalry of their enemies entered the village and began to attack the baggage.  At the same time the Marquis of Mantua, with the flower of his men-at-arms, crossed the Taro and harassed the rear of the French host; while raids from the right bank to the left were constantly being made by sharpshooters and flying squadrons.  ’At this moment,’ says De Comines, ’not a single man of us could have escaped if our ranks had once been broken.’  The French army was divided into three main bodies.  The vanguard consisted of some 350 men-at-arms, 3000 Switzers, 300 archers of the Guard, a few mounted crossbow-men, and the artillery.  Next came the Battle, and after this the rearguard.  At the time when the Marquis of Mantua made his attack, the French rearguard had not yet crossed the river.  Charles quitted the van, put himself at the head of his chivalry, and charged the Italian horsemen, driving them back, some to the village and others to their camp.  De Comines observes, that had the Italian knights been supported in this passage of arms by the light cavalry of the Venetian force, called Stradiots, the French must have been outnumbered, thrown into confusion, and defeated.  As it was, these Stradiots were engaged