But you must know that that brigade which charged the king was warmly pursued; for all of us made after them: some of them fled to the village from whence we were come, others made at the top of their speed to their camp, and all of us after them: only the king stayed behind with some of his troops, and put himself in no little danger by doing so. One of the first men of the enemy who was slain was the Lord Rodolph of Mantua, the marquis’s uncle (who was to have sent orders to the Lord Anthony of Urbino, when it was time for him to advance), for they thought the battle would have lasted a long while, according to the custom of Italy; and the Lord Anthony excused himself upon that score, but I believe he saw nothing to encourage him to advance. We had a great number of grooms and servants with our waggons, who flocked about the Italian men-at-arms, when they were dismounted, and knocked most of them on the head. The greatest part of them had their hatchets (which they cut their wood with) in their hands, and with them they broke up their head-pieces, and then knocked out their brains; otherwise they could not easily have killed them, they were so very well armed; and to be sure there were three or four of our men to attack one man-at-arms. The long swords also which our archers and servants wore did very good execution. The king continued on the ground where he had been charged, declaring that he would neither follow the chase nor retire to our vanguard, which was at too far a distance. He had appointed seven or eight young gentlemen to attend constantly about him. He had escaped very well the first charge, considering how near he was to the enemy; for within twenty paces of him the bastard of Bourbon was taken prisoner and carried off to their camp. CH. XII.—Consequences of the Victory gained by the French at Fornovo; and the Danger to which King Charles VIII. found himself exposed.—1495.