difficulty, to find their passage barred by the confederates on the Emilian
plain near the village of Fornovo.

[Illustration: Battle of Forvono.]

Never was battle more fiercely contested than on that Monday, 6th July,
when the French succeeded in breaking through the host of their enemies.
The actual fighting lasted little more than an hour, amid a scene of the
wildest confusion, which was increased by a storm of thunder and lightning,
with rain falling in torrents. We are told that Bayard, the Good Knight,
who had accompanied the King through the whole campaign, distinguished
himself in the first charge at the head of de Ligny's company, and had two
horses killed under him, then continued fighting on foot, and in the thick
of the battle he took the standard of the horsemen opposing him, and
covered himself with glory. The King, hearing afterwards of his gallant
deed, sent him a present of five hundred crowns. Charles could appreciate a
kindred spirit as he too fought with splendid courage on that eventful day.
The French camp, with all its rich treasures of armour, gorgeous clothing,
rare tapestries and plate, was looted; but Charles VIII. and the greater
part of his army, with all the artillery, made good their passage through
an overwhelming host of foes and raised the siege of Novara, where Lodovico
Sforza was besieging the Duke of Orleans.

The French King was soon to receive news of the defeat and destruction of
the small army he had left to hold Naples, and the death of the gallant
Viceroy, Gilbert de Montpensier. Such was the sad ending of the first of
those glorious and fatal expeditions to Italy, in which four kings wasted
in vain so much treasure and so many precious lives. Charles VIII. did not
long survive this bitter disappointment. He died at Amboise on 7th April
1498, at the age of twenty-eight. As he left no children he was succeeded