pleaded humbly for their lives, which could make no difference now the
battle was won. Bayard let them go, little knowing that they had done to
death his dear lord and beloved friend, Gaston de Foix.

The Good Knight wrote to his uncle on April 14, 1512:


"Sir, if our King has gained the battle I vow to you that we poor gentlemen
have lost it; for while we were away in pursuit of the enemy ... my lord
of Nemours ... was killed and never was there such grief and lamentation
as overwhelms our camp, for we seem to have lost everything. If our dear
lord had lived to his full age (he was but twenty-four) he would have
surpassed all other princes, and his memory would have endured so long as
the world shall last.... Sir, yesterday morning the body of my lord
(Gaston de Foix, Duc de Nemours) was borne to Milan with the greatest
honour we could devise, with two hundred men-at-arms, the many banners
taken in this battle carried trailing on the ground before his body, with
his own standards triumphantly floating behind him.... We have lost many
other great captains, and amongst them my friend Jacob of the German
foot-soldiers ... and I assure you that for a hundred years the kingdom of
France will not recover from our loss....--Your humble servitor, BAYARD."

The brilliant victory won outside the walls of Ravenna was the last
successful engagement of the French army which, threatened on every side,
was soon "to melt away like mist flying before the wind." The day after the
battle Ravenna was pillaged by the French adventurers and "landsknechte"
with the usual unfortunate result, that they forsook their masters and
returned home with their booty.

This gallant young prince was indeed a terrible loss both to his friends