At last, the Bastard of Naples decided on his course of action; and summoned the Neapolitan nobles, demanding their acceptance of him as their king. He made no claim upon the kingdoms of Aragon, Valencia, and Catalonia, in Spain; nor upon Sardinia, the Balearic Islands, and Sicily, which King Don Alonso had left by will to his own brother, King Don Juan of Navarre: but for the crown of Naples and the Sovereignty of the Order of the Stola, which his father had founded, he was prepared to fight. Further, in defence of his right, he appealed from the Pope to a General Council—a stupid enough proceeding, but one of the customs peculiar to aggrieved personages of the Borgian Era. Incidentally, it may be mentioned that the Lord Calixtus P.P. III, was not the only disputant of Don Ferrando’s claim. Even supposing that the right of King Réné of Anjou were set aside, he had a third rival in the shape of his cousin Don Carlos of Biana, son of King Don Juan of Navarre. The Pope knew well that, though He might disturb the peace of Italy, He, single-handed, could not hope to triumph in a war with Naples; and He, therefore, tried to win over Don Francesco Sforza-Visconti, Duke of Milan, who, after the Cardinal of Siena, was the greatest and most far-seeing statesman of his time. Duke Francesco answered shortly and sharply, that the Neapolitan Succession had been settled by the Lord Nicholas P.P. V to the satisfaction of all Italian princes, and that he intended to fight for King Don Ferrando I. sooner than see his country devastated by civil war. This last bitter disappointment caused the collapse of the Pope’s health. With the summer heat plague appeared in Rome. The Lord Calixtus P.P. III lay in the throes of fever; and Orsini took up arms against all Catalans in open war. Of the Pontifical Nephews the layman showed the white feather; the stalwart cardinals were staunch. Don Pedro Luis de Lançol y Borja, as Prefect of Rome, sold the Mola of Hadrian to the Sacred College for two and twenty thousand ducats; and fled from the city, escorted by his Catalans. The Cardinal of Venice helped him to a boat on Tiber, by which means, owing to the darkness of the night, he reached Civita Vecchia in safety, having avoided Orsini who watched for him at the gates of Rome. On the 26th of September, says Lo Spondano, suddenly he died. * * * * *