The proceedings between the allies were kept so secret that the Venetian ambassador, Antonio Condelmerio, who had followed the Cardinal of Amboise to Cambray, had no idea of the real facts, and even wrote to the republic that they could rely more than ever on Louis XII.'s friendship and support. At last the allies announced their intention of uniting to make war upon the Infidels, and tried to pick a quarrel with the Venetians by reproaching them with placing obstacles in the way of their carrying out this holy object, which, they said, obliged them to force the Venetians to restore what they had usurped, for the glory and good of Christianity. On April 16th, 1509, the French herald formally declared war to the Venetians, in terms which, as the Doge Leonardo Loredan remarked, were 'fitting rather to be used against Saracens and Turks, than made to a most Christian republic.' The French vanguard had already begun hostilities on the previous day. Pope Julius followed on the 22nd, and Louis XII. crossed the Alps with a large army and arrived at Milan. On the 14th of May 1509 the battle of Agnadel was fought, which broke the power of Venice and decided the fate of the war, victory being with the French. In writing to inform Margaret of the battle of Agnadel, Maximilian says: 'Our ambassador, Adrian de Burgo, who was present at this victory, writes that he has seen quite four thousand dead. Through other letters from France we hear that there are from ten to twelve thousand men either dead or taken prisoners, and that our said brother and cousin (Louis XII.) has taken forty pieces of artillery. We also hear that the Venetians were twenty thousand strong, and the French force rather stronger.' So far the emperor had not taken an active part in the great struggle. The low state of his finances and the war with Gueldres had kept him in the Netherlands. On March 31st the States met at Antwerp and had voted a subsidy of 500,000 crowns as a gift to Maximilian and the Archduke Charles in acknowledgment of the services rendered by the former in defence of the country and in concluding the Peace of Cambray. At the same time a sum of sixty thousand pounds was voted for the Archduchess Margaret in recognition of the trouble she had taken in arranging the peace.