Meanwhile the Cardinal-Admiral was in the Ægean. Being neither hero nor enthusiast he merely cruised from place to place, making a show of activity, capturing a few unimportant islands from the Muslim Infidel, relieving the necessities of the Knights of Rhodes. His sole object was to avoid that judicial inquiry with which the Cardinal-Nephews had threatened him; and hence he showed himself as but a perfunctory crusader. In fact, his influence was bad; for by giving the Ægean islanders the notion that Rome was their defender, he lulled them into false security and destroyed their self-reliance. The plight of Eastern Christendom became more hopeless. Only the Holiness of the Pope, of all the Western powers, took any practical measures. France promised, but failed to keep her word, and would not pay the tithe. The Duke of Burgundy collected the tithe, and kept it. Norway, Denmark, and Portugal sat still. The Duke of Milan and the Republic of Venice disregarded the Pope’s entreaties. The Signoria of Florence refused to help Him. A few of the Italian barons, tyrants of petty fiefs, provided him with money and men. The Republic of Genoa was loyal; and, in return, the strenuous Lord Calixtus P.P. III protected Genoese colonies on the Black Sea littoral, and conferred honours on her nobles. The dark outlook momentarily was lightened by a victory over the Muslim fleet, in which five and twenty galleys became a Christian spoil. It must be recorded that it was solely the determination, foresight, and energy, with which the aged Pontiff in Rome personally directed naval movements, which inspired His sailors to achieve this triumph. Had the Cardinal-Admiral Scarampi been endowed with the plenary authority which he had desired, very much less enterprising and successful would have been the policy of the papal fleet. There can be no doubt but that German captiousness prevented the accomplishment of the Pope’s designs for the protection of the Oriental Christians. Skanderbeg had but a handful of huszars wherewith to oppose the Muslim Infidel. And there was no encouragement for him; for the apathy of Caesar and the Powers prevented him from following up his victories. The King of Naples was as a thorn in the Pope’s eye. He had hoped for better things of His old patron who had brought Him to Italy; and He was bitterly enraged by King Don Alonso’s treachery in sending the fleet, which, though constructed in the port of Naples, had been paid for with papal gold, to carry on a private quarrel with a Christian Power, the Republic of Genoa, at the very moment when Christendom was in the direst peril from the Infidel. The forbearance of the Lord Calixtus P.P. III ended there, as far as Naples was concerned. Henceforward He relentlessly opposed the policy of King Don Alonso, especially his scheme for an alliance with Milan by which he hoped to make doubly sure the succession of the Bastard Ferrando, whose legitimation had been recognised by two preceding Pontiffs.