Lectures on Modern History - Faculty of Social Sciences

<strong>Lectures</strong> on Modern History/33money and money’s worth; whereas spiritual office obtained in that waywas ipso facto void.The advent of the French, heralded by the passionate eloquence ofSavonarola, was also hailed by Florence and its dependencies, in theirimpatience of the Medicean rule, now that it had dropped from the handsof the illustrious Lorenzo into those of his less competent son. LodovicoSforza, the Regent of Milan, was also among those who called in theFrench, as he had a family quarrel with Naples. His father, Francesco,the most successful of the Condottieri, who acquired the Milanese bymarriage with a Visconti, is known by that significant saying: “MayGod defend me from my friends. From my enemies I can defend myself.”As the Duke of Orleans also descended from the Visconti, Lodovicowished to divert the French to the more alluring prospect of Naples.In September 1494 Charles VIII invaded Italy by the Mont Genevre,with an army equal to his immediate purpose. His horsemen still displayedthe medieval armour, wrought by the artistic craftsmen of theRenaissance. They were followed by artillery, the newer arm which, inanother generation, swept the steel-clad knight away. French infantrywas not thought so well of. But the Swiss had become, in their warswith Burgundy, the most renowned of all foot-soldiers. They were unskilledin manoeuvres; but their pikemen, charging in dense masses,proved irresistible on many Italian fields; until it was discovered thatthey would serve for money on either side, and that when opposed totheir countrymen they refused to fight. At Pavia they were cut down bythe Spaniards and their fame began to wane. They were Germans, hatingAustria, and their fidelity to the golden lilies is one of the constantfacts of French history, under the Swiss guard and the white flag vanishedtogether, in July 1830.Charles reached Naples early in 1495, having had no resistance toovercome, but having accomplished nothing, and having manifested nodistinct purpose on his way, when he found himself, for a moment, masterof Florence and of Rome. The deliverance of Constantinople was anidea that occurred inevitably to a man of enterprise who was in possessionof Southern Italy. It was the advanced post of Europe against theEast, of Christendom against Islam; the proper rendezvous of Crusaders;the source of supplies; the refuge of squadrons needing to refit. TheSultan was not an overwhelming warrior, like his father; he had not, likeSelim, his successor, control of the entire East, and he was held in checkby the existence of his brother, whom Charles took with him, on leaving