IV


Leonardo Loredano had meantime been elected Doge in succession to
the deceased Agostino Barbarigo. Spanish interests in the kingdom of
Naples were seriously compromised, and the diligence of the French
envoys threatened to win Venice from the neutral policy the Republic
had adopted and convert it into an ally of Louis XII.

On June 30th, Peter Martyr landed in Venice and immediately sought
audience of the new Doge, to whom he repeated the message he had
delivered a few months before to the Senate. Perceiving the headway
made by French influence, he wrote to Spain, explaining the situation
and urging the sovereigns immediately to despatch an embassy to
counteract the mischievous activity of the French. He offered, as
an alternative, to himself assume the negotiations if the requisite
instructions were sent to him. King Ferdinand ignored the proffer of
service, but, acting upon the information sent him, entrusted the
business to Lorenzo Suarez de Figueroa, who had been his ambassador
in Venice in 1495. Zealous for his adopted country and, possibly,
overconfident in consequence of his easy success in Egypt, Peter
Martyr did not wait for the credentials he had solicited but made the
mistake of treating affairs for which he had received no mandate. The
French envoys were quick to detect his opposition, and as prompt to
take advantage of the false position in which the diplomatic
novice had unwarily placed himself. His unaccredited presence and
officiousness in the capital of the Doges were made to appear both
offensive and ridiculous. The adherents of the French party denounced