On the entry of Charles into Tuscany, Peter di Medici in vain attempted to reconcile himself to him; and the Florentines, incited by the opposite party, issued a decree of banishment against the Medici ; and the king of France entered Florence with the pomp of a conqueror. His en try into Rome was no less triumphant ; and Alexander, who at first shut himself up in the castle of St. Angelo, was forced to accede to a treaty dictated by Charles. A consi derable change had now taken place at Naples. A few months before the invasion of Charles, Ferdinand, now in his seventieth year, died, and was succeeded by Alphonzo II. ; but that prince, whom the approach of the French affected with a degree of terror approaching to frenzy, re signed his crown in favour of his son Ferdinand, and retired to a monastery at Messina, where he did not long survive. The young king made an attempt to defend Naples; but Charles (who now, for the first time, was obliged to draw his sword) easily overpowered him, and forced him to re tire to the isle of Ischia, and Naples received the French monarch. The example of the capital was speedily fol lowed ; and, of all the cities in the kingdom, Brindisi alone retained its allegiance to Ferdinand. Such were the re sults of the expedition of Charles, and all this was achieved with astonishing rapidity. It was in the end of summer 1494 that the French army marched from Lyons, arid on the 25th February following, Charles made his entry into Naples, and in a few weeks after completed the conquest of the kingdom. No sooner were the Italian potentates re covered from the surprise and panic occasioned by this rapid conquest, than a league was formed by the Venetians, the pope, and the duke of Ferrara, against Charles. This alliance was also joined by the perfidious Sforza, who be gan to fear that Charles would support the claims of the duke of Orleans to the duchy of Milan, in right of his grandmother Valentina Visconti.
On receiving the accounts of this confederation, to which were also joined the emperor Maximilian, his son the arch duke Philip, and Ferdinand of Spain, Charles recrossed the Alps with equal rapidity, and the troops left by him at Na ples were soon expelled by Ferdinand II.; whose return the Neapolitans, heartily weary even of the short rule of the French, hailed with acclamations. The death of this young prince soon followed, and his uncle Frederic became his successor. In the mean time, Sforza, by his pride and ambition, had excited the hatred of all the neighbouring states, and especially of the Venetians and Florentines, and the duke of Orleans now openly asserted his rights. But the declining health of the king of France, for a while de layed any active measures ; and on the death of that mo narch, the duke of Orleans, who succeeded him by the name of Louis XII. was for some time too much engaged by his domestic concerns to engage in Italian affairs. At length, an army of 30,000 French, led by Louis of Luxem bourg, James Trivulzio, and Robert Stuart, Lord d'Aubig ny, entered the Milanese, and, being joined by the Vene tians, were joy fully received at Milan, where Louis for three months resided, and was acknowledged duke of Mi lan. On his return to France, however, Sforza, who had retired into Tyrol, again reoccupied Milan at the head of 15,000 Swiss ; but these Soldiers, when opposed, at the siege of N'ovarro, to their countrymen in the French ser vice, were persuaded by the latter to desert the service of a traitor and assassin ; and Ludovico Sforza, attempting to escape in disguise, was taken and delivered to Louis, by whose order he was confined in the castle of in Touraine, where he remained till his death, ten years after.
In the mean time, Cesar Borgia, by a series of the most detestable perfidies, had made himself master of Romagna, and had now turned his views to the conquest of Florence ; when a considerable check was given to the career of his ambition by the death of his father Alexander VI. whose infamous conduct had alienated the minds of the Christian world from the head of the church.
Pius III. his successor, only lived twenty-six days; and Juliano della Renere, one of the nephews of Sixtus IV. was raised to the pontificate by the name of Julius II. At the same time, the archduke Philip concluded a treaty with Louis, in the name of his father-in-law Ferdinand of Spain, by which it was agreed, that the kingdom of Naples should be divided between them, as Frederic of Naples had al ready abdicated, and received a pecuniary compensation, and a retreat in Anjou, from Louis. The treacherous Fer dinand, however, only waited till the arrival of the troops sent by the emperor to his assistance ; and his general Gon salvo de Cordova then attacked the French troops of the duke of Nemours at Cerignola, and completely defeated and expelled them from Naples. Louis' declining health put a stop to his plans of invading Spain in revenge ; and the Spaniards, on the conclusion of a peace, remained in possession of Naples. Louis, however, conferred on Fran cis, count of Angouleme, the hand of his daughter Claude, which had before been promised to Charles prince of Spain, son of the late archduke Philip of Austria ; and a founda tion was thus laid for the personal hostility of these distin guished princes. The pope having now succeeded in over throwing the power of Borgia in Romagna, still found a check to his ambition, in the cities possessed in that court ' try by the Venetians. The wealth and ambition of t;.at republic had been long objects of jealousy to the otlici states of Europe; the emperor Maximilian was actually engaged in a war with it ; and the intrigues of the pope soon produced the League of Cambray, in which the kings of France and Spain joined themselves to the confederacy. The duke of Ferrara, and the marquess of Mantua, em braced with eagerness the opportunity of throwing off the yoke; and, after considerable delay, Charles VIII. duke of Savoy, also joined the alliance. The first conflict was de cisive, and the defeat at Ghiana d'Adda placed the Vene tians at the mercy of the confederates ; but, fortunately for them, the seeds of discord were already sown among these ill-assorted allies. Julius especially, having now recovered the whole of Romagna, and whose ambition now embraced a wider field, exerted himself to bring about a peace; and the Venetian republic, though stript of its conquests, was left inviolate.