Leo's position with reference to Francis I. was in many respects embarrassing, and the defence of his policy, elaborately undertaken by Roscoe, has established the writer's bias rather than the Pontiff's rectitude. That monarch was steadily pursuing those schemes upon the Milanese which Leo had the year before suggested to his predecessor; and the amicable relations established with the Medici by Giuliano's marriage gave him additional reason to rely upon the Pontiff's support in the struggle which must follow his descent upon Italy. But to restrain the French beyond their Alpine barrier was the favourite, as well as the natural policy of his Holiness, and it was that which tended most to the security of his brother's newly-acquired Lombard sovereignty. He therefore, in July, after some months of anxious vacillation, avowed his adherence to the league of the Emperor with the Kings of England and of Spain, to which Florence, Milan, and the Swiss were parties. Yet he was far from hearty in the cause, and, during the brief campaign which succeeded the arrival of a French army in Lombardy, the ecclesiastical contingent limited their efforts to watching the safety of Parma and Piacenza. Nor did the other allies show much more zeal, excepting the Swiss, whose impetuous valour brought on the pitched battle of Marignano on the 13th of September, and lost them the prestige which had stamped their infantry as invincible. The costly victory there gained by the French was speedily followed by a surrender of his claims upon Milan by Duke Maximiliano Sforza, who was content to enjoy for the remainder of his life a home and pension provided by his conqueror.[*261] [Footnote *261: The defeat of the Swiss at Marignano opened the way for the long fight between Francis I. and Charles V. It decided many things--the future of monarchy in Europe, for instance, as well as the fate of the republican army "so long invincible in Italy." Cf. CREIGHTON, _op. cit._, vol. V., p. 243. "What will become of us," said Leo to Giorgi, the Venetian Ambassador, who brought him the news of the defeat--"and of you?" "We will put ourselves in the hands of the Most Christian King," he added, "and will implore his mercy." Cf. the _Relazioni Venete_, 2nd series, vol. III., p. 44, quoted by Creighton, who, as always, takes the view of a statesman, and not merely that of a scholar. Sforza surrendered Milan on October 4th. The Pope signed terms with Francis October 13th, 1515. The Pope was then in Viterbo, which he left for Bologna in November, coming to Florence on the last day of that month. In December he was back in Bologna to meet Francis. He returned to Florence and left for Rome on February 19th, 1516.]