Soon after this treaty, the states general were assem bled at Tours. One of their first acts was, to bestow on Louis the title of Father of his people. Their next was to repair a fault that their sovereign had committed. He had promised his eldest daughter in marriage to Charles of Austria, afterwards so well known under the name of Charles V. and along with her part of the French terri tories. To this promise, the assembly objected most strongly, urging that the king had no right to give away any portion of the French territory. Influenced by their reasons or remonstrances, he recalled his promise, and his daughter espoused Francis, Count of Angouleme, heir ap parent of the throne.
In 1507, the city of Genoa, which was then dependent on Milan, revolted from the French. Louis resolved im mediately to crush the insurgents ; and for this purpose, he assembled a numerous and formidable army, forced the passes which the Genoese had occupied, and stormed their entrenchments. He then entered Genoa in triumph. But in the midst of his success, his natural mildness of temper was conspicuous, for he put to death only two of the insur gents, and levied a fine upon the city.
At this period, no monarchy in Europe was more proud than the republic of Venice ; while their wealth, acquired by commerce, excited the envy and jealousy of all their neighbours. Pope Julius II. in particular, regarded this state with peculiar enmity ; and influenced by this motive, he laid the foundation of the famouS league of Cambray, This league was composed of the Pope, the Emperor, the King of France, and the King of Spain. Louis was in duced to join in it, from the belief that the Venetians had contributed to his loss of the kingdom of Naples ; but true policy should have kept under such a motive for going to war with the Venetians, as they were the only state beyond the Alps, on whose alliance he could depend. The Pope contented himself with issuing his anathemas against Ve nice; and afterwards repenting of the alliance which he had formed, he offered to make peace with the Venetians, if they would give up to him two places, that formerly be longed to the church. This condition the republic de cidedly refused. Louis seemed most in earnest of all the confederates : he assembled a large army, and put him self at the head of it. He even crossed the Alps ; those barriers which had seldom been passed, without calamity, by the sovereigns of France. The valour of his troops, animated by the example of their monarch, triumphed over every obstacle. In the battle of Ghiarrada, the Vene tians were defeated with the loss of 8000 men. The Pope now was active for his own benefit ; immediately seizing all the towns which the republic possessed in the eccle siastical territories. Ferdinand, on his part, reannexed Calabria to his Neapolitan dominions. At the same time, the city of Venice itself was threatened by the armies of Maximilian and Louis; and the absolute ruin of the re public seemed near at hand, when the confederates began to quarrel with each other. The senate of Venice lost
no time in profiting by this circumstance, and, by well termed concessions to Ferdinand and the Pope, dissolved the confederacy.
Julius H. now projected a more arduous and extensive undertaking than the humiliation or conquest of the re public of Venice,—he hoped, by his efforts, to expel every foreign power from Italy ; and his first efforts were direct ed again the French, against whom he declared war, in vading the duchy of Ferrara, and laying siege to Aliran dola. At first the King of France was disposed to behold with contempt these efforts of the Pope. Perhaps he was restrained by religious feelings towards the head of the church ; but at length, A. D. 1511, he ordered his troops to repel the invasion of Julius, and even to penetrate into the Roman territories. Julius was soon under the necessity of retracing his steps, when the French general was suddenly seized with a mortal distemper, which gave Julius a temporary respite and advantage ; but another commander having been appointed, he was again pressed so closely, that he was under well-grounded apprehensions, that it was the intention of Louis to depose him from his holy dignity. To this extremity the French monarch might probably have pushed him, had not his queen interceded and saved his iloliness.
Julius, in return for this clemency, displayed only in creased bitterness and enmity against France, which he hoped to render efficient, by forming a new confederacy, called the Holy League. The principal parties of this con federacy against France were, Ferdinand, the Swiss, and the Venetians. At first their armies were successful ; but the valour and skill of Gaston de Foix, a name celebrated among heroes, retrieved the affairs of France. This gene ral, after relieving Bologna and Brescia, and defeating the Venetians with a very inferior force, laid siege to Ravenna, with the professed object of compelling or in ducing the army of the confederates to give him battle. The two armies were nearly equal in numbers, being about 20,000 each. The battle was long and obstinate. The French were victorious, but their victory cost them the life of Gaston. The day was already gained, when he 'received information that a body of 4000 Spaniards still maintained their ground : anxious to render his victory complete, he rushed forward to the charge, with about 20 gentlemen ; his horse was killed under him, and he him self, after fraying fought with the greatest courage, fell, pierced with wounds. The death of this hero was a fatal blow to the French, for they soon afterwards lost all the places which they possessed in Italy ; their generals did not agree with each other ; the king was without money ; the confederates were much superior ; and there was no alternative left, but to evacuate the country.