and offices were conferred upon two or three Frenchmen, and all the stores of provision in the castle of Naples (which were found to be very considerable upon the taking of it) were given to any man that asked, with the king’s knowledge and consent. During these transactions the Germans capitulated, and delivered up the castle, keeping all the goods that were in it (to a vast value) for themselves. Another castle, called Castel del Ovo, was taken by storm; by which it may be perceived that what was done was not done so much by the conduct or dexterity of the agents, as by the providence of God; but the great faults that were committed were the works of men puffed up by vain glory, and unwilling to acknowledge from whence their success and honour proceeded; and their misfortune was the pure product of their own depraved nature and experience: so that their fortune changed as suddenly and visibly as the day rises in Norway or Iceland, where the days in summer are longer than in other parts, and one day is scarce ended until within a quarter of an hour before the next begins to dawn. In the same manner a wise man might have observed the face of their good fortune after, and that enterprise miscarry (which, if had been ascribed to the true manager of it), would have contributed mightily to the honour and advantage of all Christendom. For the Turkish empire would have been as easily shaken as Alphonso’s kingdom; for the emperor is still alive, and is a man of no reputation or courage, and his brother was in our king’s hands (though he lived but a few days after the Cardinal of Valentia made his escape, and was supposed to have been poisoned), and the sultan dreaded him above all persons in the world. Besides, in the very heart of his empire there were thousands of Christians ready to take up arms; and from Otranto to Valona[369] is not above sixty miles, and from Valona to Constantinople about eighteen days’ journey, as I have been informed by men who have often travelled between those places, and in all the way there are not above two or three strong towns, the rest having been dismantled. The countries that lie between are Albania, Sclavonia, and Greece, all of them very populous, and acquainted with the fame and character of our king by their correspondents in Venice and Apulia, to whom they wrote constantly, and awaited only their directions to rebel. The king sent thither to them the Archbishop of Durazzo[370], who was an Albanian born; and, discoursing with multitudes of the children and grandchildren of several great lords, descendants of Scanderbeg[371], one son of the Emperor of Constantinople[372] several of the nephews of the Lord Constantine[373] (at present Governor of Montferrat), and some nephews or cousins to the King of Servia, he found them all inclinable to revolt. In Thessaly above five thousand men would have appeared, and Scutari and Croia would have been surprised by means of the Lord