victory. Small and puny though he was, he fought like a lion, and seemed
quite inspired by the ardour of combat. The "French fury," _la furia
Francese_, became a proverb among the Italians. Charles neglected,
however, to send any supplies or reinforcements to the garrisons he had
left behind him in Naples, and they all perished under want, sickness,
and the sword of the Spaniards. He was meditating another expedition,
when he struck his head against the top of a doorway, and died in 1498.


2. Campaign of Louis XII.--His cousin, _Louis XII._, married his
widow, and thus prevented Brittany from again parting from the crown.
Louis not only succeeded to the Angevin right to Naples, but through his
grandmother he viewed himself as heir of Milan. She was Valentina
Visconti, wife to that Duke of Orleans who had been murdered by John the
Fearless. Louis himself never advanced further than to Milan, whose
surrender made him master of Lombardy, which he held for the greater
part of his reign. But after a while the Spanish king, Ferdinand, agreed
with him to throw over the cause of the unfortunate royal family of
Naples, and divide that kingdom between them. Louis XII. sent a
brilliant army to take possession of his share, but the bounds of each
portion had not been defined, and the French and Spanish troops began a
war even while their kings were still treating with one another. The
individual French knights did brilliant exploits, for indeed it was the
time of the chief blossom of fanciful chivalry, a knight of Dauphiné,
named Bayard, called the Fearless and Stainless Knight, and honoured by
friend and foe; but the Spaniards were under Gonzalo de Cordova, called
the Great Captain, and after the battles of Cerignola and the Garigliano
drove the French out of the kingdom of Naples, though the war continued
in Lombardy.