had gone no further with the king. However, notwithstanding the king’s orders to the contrary, he was so pleased with the honour of having Novara delivered into his hands (which was but ten leagues from Milan) that he could not contain himself, but entered it in a triumphal manner; and the whole city, both Guelphs and Gibellines, received him with all imaginable demonstrations of joy; and the Marchioness of Montferrat was a great instrument in carrying out the plot. The castle held out two or three days; but if in the meanwhile he had gone or sent to Milan, where his party was strong, he would have been received with more joy (as I have been told by many great persons of that duchy) than ever greeted him at his own castle at Blois; and during the first three days he might have done it with ease, for the Duke of Milan’s forces were at Annone, near Asti, when Novara was surprised, and came not up till four days after; but perhaps he durst not rely upon the information he received. CH. V.—How King Charles crossed several dangerous Passages over the Mountains between Pisa and Sarzana; and how the Germans burned Pontremoli.—1495. From Siena the king was come to Pisa, as you have already heard, and from Pisa he marched to Lucca, where he was well received by the townsfolk, and stayed with them two days; and from thence he went to Pietrasanta, where Monsieur Entragues was governor; and neither he himself, nor any that were about him, had the least fear or apprehension of the enemy. Yet he found great difficulty in his march over the mountains betwixt Lucca and that place, where there were several passes very easy to have been defended by small bodies of foot; but the confederates were not assembled as yet. Not far from Pietrasanta, on one side there is the pass of Seierre, or Salto della Cerva, and on the other that of Roctaillé, or Rotaio, with a deep marsh at the foot of it, over which we were forced to march upon a causeway, as if it had been through a standing pool. This was the pass of which I had heard so much, and which I dreaded more than all the rest between Pisa and Pontremoli; for a small body of troops, with a cart overturned in the midst of it, and two pieces of cannon, would have stopped our passage, and left our army helpless. From Pietrasanta the king marched to Sarzana, where the Cardinal of St. Peter ad Vincula met him, and offered (if he pleased to send some of his forces thither) to make Genoa revolt to him. This proposal was referred to a council of officers, of whom I was one, and it was concluded by all that it should not be attempted; for if the king got the victory, Genoa would surrender of course; and if he lost the battle, it would do him no good; and this was the first time we ever heard fighting mentioned. Our resolution was reported to the king; but for all that, he sent thither the Lord de Bresse (since Duke of Savoy), the Lord de Beaumont de Polignac[409], my brother-in-law, and the Lord d’Aubijoux[410], of the