The king continued at Asti for some time. The wines in Italy were sour this year, and therefore not at all agreeable to the French, any more than the excessive heat of the atmosphere. The Lord Ludovic and his wife came with a numerous retinue to wait on his majesty; they staid there two days, and then removed to a castle called Annone, about a league from Asti, belonging to the duchy of Milan, to which place the king’s council resorted to him daily. King Alphonso had two armies in the field, one in Romagna, towards Ferrara, under the command of his son; who was attended by the Lord Virgil Ursini[271], the Count de Pittelhane[272], and the Lord John James di Trivulce[273], who at this time is in our interest. To face this body of forces, there was the Lord d’Aubigny[274] on the king’s side, a wise man and a brave officer, and with him at least two hundred French men-at-arms, and five hundred Italians in the king’s service, commanded by the Count di Cajazzo above-mentioned, as an officer under the Lord Ludovic: he was in great alarm for this brigade, for if it had been defeated, we should have retired, and have left him to shift for himself; and the enemy had a strong party in the duchy of Milan. The other army, which was commanded by Don Frederick, King Alphonso’s brother, was at sea, and the fleet that had this body of forces on board lay off Pisa and Leghorn (for the Florentines espoused their interest), and with it a certain number of galleys, commanded by Breto di Flisco[275], and other officers of Genoa, by whose assistance they were in hopes of making themselves masters of that city; and they missed it but narrowly. They landed some thousand men at Specie and Rapalo[276], and had they not met with a timely opposition, it is probable they would have carried their point; but that very day, or the next, the Duke of Orleans arrived there with some ships, a good number of galleys, and one great galeass, which was mine, and commanded by Albert Mely. The duke and chief persons of the army were on board my galeass, with several great pieces of cannon (for she was very strong); and getting as near the shore as possible, they cannonaded the enemy so briskly with their great guns (which till that time were unknown in Italy), that they beat them from their post, and landed what soldiers they had in their ships. And from Genoa, where the whole army lay, there came by land a considerable body of Swiss, commanded by the bailiff of Dijon.[277] There were other reinforcements also sent from the Duke of Milan, under the command of Lord John Lewis di Flisco[278], brother to the above-mentioned Breto, and the Lord John Adorni[279]; but these were not in the engagement, yet they did their duty, and held several passes with great courage and resolution. In short, when joined by these reinforcements, our army attacked and utterly defeated the enemy, of whom about a hundred or six-score were killed in the pursuit, and about eight or ten taken