be begun between our king and the House of Arragon; hoping it would not be brought to a conclusion so soon as it was, and that it would only weaken the power of their enemies and not utterly destroy them: and then (let what would happen) one side or the other would give them towns in Apulia (which borders upon their gulf) in order to have their assistance: and so it happened[262], but they had like to have been mistaken in their reckoning. Besides, they thought to have transacted affairs so secretly, that nobody could have accused them of inviting our king into Italy, since they had neither given him counsel nor assistance, as appeared to the world by their answer to Peron de Basche. In the year 1493, the king advanced to Lyons, to examine into his affairs; but nobody ever imagined he would have passed the mountains himself. He was met there by the Lord Galeas di St. Severino, brother to the Count di Cajazzo, with a numerous retinue, on the part of the Lord Ludovic, whose lieutenant and chief minister he was. He brought with him arms, and abundance of fine horses trained on purpose for tournaments. He tilted very well himself, for he was young and a fine gentleman; and the king entertained him with great honour and good cheer, and made him a knight of his own order; after which he returned into Italy, but the Count de Bellejoyeuse still stayed with the king to promote his expedition. By this time a great army was preparing at Genoa, where the Lord d’Urfé, master of the horse, and several others, were negotiating the king’s affairs. At length, about the beginning of August, in that year, the king removed to Vienne in Dauphiny, and the nobility of Genoa resorted to him daily. The king also sent to Genoa at that time Louis, Duke of Orleans, now King of France, a young prince, and very handsome, but much addicted to his pleasures: of him enough has been said in these Memoirs. It was the opinion of everybody at that time, that he was to conduct the army by sea; and that it was to be embarked and landed in the kingdom of Naples, by the assistance and direction of the banished princes of Salerno and Bisignano, whom we have mentioned before. They had gotten fourteen great ships, besides several galleys and galleons, ready at Genoa; and the king was as much obeyed in those parts as at Paris, for the city belonged to the state of Milan, where the Lord Ludovic governed, without any competitor but the duke his nephew’s wife, daughter to King Alphonso (for at that time his father King Ferrand was dead). But the poor lady had no great power, since the king’s army was ready to march, and her husband was a weak prince, and discovered whatever she said to his uncle, who had already caused a messenger to be drowned whom she had sent to her father.