Bayard: the Good Knight Without Fear and Without Reproach Part 7

"I am the Captain Bayard and I also yield myself to you," was the reply.

"Take my sword, and I pray you let me go with you." So he was taken to the English camp and well treated by the gentleman in his tent; but on the fifth day Bayard said to him: "Sir, I should like to return to my own camp for I grow weary of this." "But we have said nothing about your ransom,"

exclaimed the other. "My ransom?" said the Good Knight. "But what about yours, for you were my prisoner first? We will fight out the matter, if you like." But the gentleman had heard of Bayard's fame and was by no means anxious to fight, surprised as he was at this new point of view. But he was a courteous gentleman, and offered to abide by the decision of the captains. Meantime the rumour spread that the great Bayard was in the camp, and there was much excitement. The Emperor Maximilian sent for him and feasted him well, expressing great delight at meeting him again. After much pleasant talk he remarked: "In the days when we fought together it seems to me that we were told Bayard never fled." "If I had fled, sire, I should not be here now," he replied.

Presently the King of England arrived and desired that the Good Knight might be presented to him, as he had always wished to make his acquaintance.

Then they began to talk about the French defeat, and both Henry and Maximilian made some severe remarks, upon which the Good Knight exclaimed: "Upon my soul! the French men-at-arms were in no wise to blame, for they had express commands from their captains not to fight, because our force was not to be compared with yours, for we had neither foot-soldiers nor artillery. And indeed, high and n.o.ble lords, you must know that the n.o.bility of France is famous throughout the world. I do not speak of myself."

"Indeed, my lord of Bayard," said the King of England, "if all were like you I should soon have to raise the siege of this town. But now you are a prisoner." "I do not own to it, sire, and I will appeal to the Emperor and yourself." He then told the whole story in the presence of the gentleman with whom he had the adventure, and who answered for the truth of it. The Emperor and the King looked at each other, and Maximilian spoke first, saying that Bayard was not a prisoner, but rather the other knight; still, all things considered, he thought that they were quits, and that the Good Knight might depart when it seemed well to the King of England. To this suggestion Henry VIII. agreed, but required that Bayard should give his word to remain for six weeks without bearing arms, after which time he could return to his company. Meantime he should be free to visit all the towns of Flanders. For this gracious permission the Good Knight humbly thanked both the princes, and took leave of them after a few days, during which he was treated with great honour. Henry VIII. made secret proposals to Bayard that he should enter into his service, offering him high position and great possessions. But this was labour lost, for, as the chronicler says, "he was a most loyal Frenchman."

Therouanne, whose walls had been constantly bombarded with much destruction, was soon compelled by famine to capitulate. The garrison were to march out freely, with all their arms and armour; but the fortifications were destroyed and the town partly burnt.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FRANCIS _the_ FIRST KING _of_ FRANCE _from the portrait by t.i.tian Vecelli_.]

CHAPTER IX

The next year, 1514, brought many changes in France. First came the death of the good Queen Anne of Brittany, who was greatly lamented by her husband and mourned by all her people. The next notable event was the marriage of the Princess Claude, her daughter, to the young Duke of Angouleme, who was to succeed to the throne under the name of Francis I.

He had not long to wait for his inheritance as Louis XII., having made an alliance with England, was induced for political reasons to marry the Princess Mary, sister of Henry VIII. The poor King was already in ill-health, and he only survived his wedding three months, dying on New Year's day, 1515. He had a splendid funeral at St. Denis, which was scarcely over before all the great n.o.bles of the realm put off their mourning and hastened in splendid magnificence to Rheims to the coronation of the new King, Francis I., a gay and handsome youth of twenty.

The young King at once set about carrying out the desire of his heart--the conquest of Milan. Charles de Bourbon was made Constable of France, and a great army was collected at Gren.o.ble. But secret news was received that the Swiss were guarding on the other side the only pa.s.ses which were then thought possible for the crossing of armies. One was the Mont Cenis, where the descent is made by Susa, and the other was by the Mont Genevre.

Bourbon, however, heard of a new way by the Col d'Argentiere, and meantime sent several French generals and the Chevalier Bayard to cross the mountains by the Col de Cabre and make a sudden raid upon Prospero Colonna, who with a band of Italian hors.e.m.e.n was awaiting the descent of the French army into Piedmont. The gallant little company rode across the rocky Col, where cavalry had never pa.s.sed before, descended by Droniez into the plain of Piedmont, crossed the Po at a ford, where they had to swim their horses, inquired at the Castle of Carmagnola and found that Prospero Colonna and his company had left barely a quarter of an hour before.

The captains considered what they should do: some were for advancing, others hesitated, for if Colonna had any suspicion of their plan he would call the Swiss to his help, for there was a large force in the neighbourhood. It was Bayard who settled the question by saying: "Since we have come thus far, my advice is that we continue the pursuit, and if we come across them in the plain, it will be a pity if some of them do not fall into our hands."

All cried that he was quite right, and that they must start as soon as possible, but first it would be well if some one were sent on in advance, in disguise, to find out the exact position of the enemy. This duty was given to the lord of Moretto, who carried out the inquiry very quickly, bringing back word that Colonna and his escort were preparing to dine at Villafranca in full security.

They next settled the order of their match: Humbercourt was to go in front with one hundred archers; a bow-shot behind him Bayard would follow with one hundred men-at-arms, and then Chabannes de la Palisse and d'Aubigny would bring up the rest of their men.

Prospero Colonna had good spies, and he heard from them as he was going to Ma.s.s at Villafranca that the French were in the fields in great numbers. He replied that he was quite sure it could only be Bayard and his company, unless the others were able to fly over the mountains. As he was returning from Ma.s.s, other spies came up to him with the news: "My lord, I have seen close by more than a thousand French hors.e.m.e.n, and they are coming to find you here." He was a little taken aback, and turned to one of his gentlemen, to whom he said: "Take twenty hors.e.m.e.n and go along the road to Carmagnola for two or three miles, and see if there is anything to alarm us."

All the same he commanded the Marshal of his bands to have the trumpet sounded, and to start for Pignerol, where he would follow when he had eaten a mouthful. Meantime the French were marching forward in haste, and were about a mile and a half from Villafranca, when, coming out of a little wood, they met the scouts sent by the lord Prospero to find them. When these caught sight of the approaching enemy they turned straight round and galloped off as hard as they could go. The lord of Humbercourt and his archers pursued them at full speed, sending word to Bayard to make haste.

The French knights rode at such a pace that they reached the gate of the town at the same time as the Italians, and with their cry of "France!

France!" they managed to keep the gate open until the arrival of the Good Knight and the rest of their company, when after some sharp fighting it was strongly held. They also secured the other gate of the town, but two Albanians managed to escape and carry news of the disaster to a company of four thousand Swiss about three miles off.

Prospero Colonna was surprised at dinner, and would have defended himself, but when he saw that defence was hopeless he yielded himself most reluctantly to this Bayard, whom he had vowed "that he would catch like a pigeon in a cage." As he cursed his ill-fortune in having been thus taken by surprise, instead of meeting the French in the open field, the Good Knight with his usual courteous chivalry tried to comfort him, saying: "My lord Prospero, it is the fortune of war! You lose now, and will win next time! As for meeting us in the open field, it would be a great pleasure to us French, for if you knew our men when they are roused to battle you would not find it easy to escape...." The Italian lord replied coldly: "In any case I should have been glad to have the chance of meeting!"

Besides Colonna, several great captains were taken prisoners, and the place was found to be full of rich spoils, gold and silver plate, splendid equipments, and above all in value, six or seven hundred valuable horses.

Unfortunately for the French they were not able to carry away all this, for news arrived of the approach of the Swiss troop which had been summoned; indeed they entered Villafranca at one gate as the French rode out with their prisoners on the other side, but there could be no pursuit as the Swiss were all on foot.

The chief military advantage of this wonderful raid was that it kept all these Italian hors.e.m.e.n away from the coming battle at Marignano.

Francis I. was delighted to hear of Bayard's success, and finding that the Swiss were retreating towards Milan he followed in pursuit of them, took Novara on the way, and advanced with his army as far as Marignano.

A terrible melee followed, for as the light failed confusion increased. We hear of a most striking adventure which befell the Good Knight Bayard late in the evening. His horse had been killed under him, and the second which he mounted became so frantic when his master charged the Swiss lances that he broke his bridle and dashed into the midst of the enemy until he became entangled in the vines trained from tree to tree. Bayard kept his presence of mind, and in order to escape instant death, slipped gently from his horse, cast off his helmet and the thigh-pieces of his armour, and then managed to creep on hands and knees along a ditch until he reached his own people. The first man he met was the Duke of Lorraine, who was much surprised to see him on foot, and at once gave him a wonderful horse which had once belonged to the Good Knight himself, and had been left for dead on the field of Ravenna, but was found next day and brought back to Bayard, who cured him. This was a most unexpected piece of good fortune, and he was able to borrow a helmet from another friend and so return to the fight, which continued for a while by moonlight.

We have a vivid account of the weird and strange night which followed, when the trumpets of France sounded the retreat and the Swiss blew their cowhorns, as is their custom, and the two armies, with neither ditch nor hedge between them, awaited the coming day within a stone's-throw of each other. Those who were mounted sat on their horses with only such food or drink as they chanced to have with them ... "and it is the firm belief that no man slept during all those hours." In the King's letter to his mother, Louise of Savoie, he says "that he remained on horseback with his helmet on, until he was compelled to rest for a while on a gun-carriage, under the care of an Italian trumpeter ... when the young King asked for water, it could only be obtained from the ditch close by."

When the morning broke, the battle began again with fresh vigour on both sides; thousands of brave men fell, and the n.o.blest names of France were amongst the slain on that fatal field. In the end the victory remained with the French, and the survivors of the vanquished Swiss retreated in good order, for the King, who never knew when he might need their services, gave orders that they were not to be pursued. When all was over, on the Friday evening, Francis I., who had fought throughout with gallant spirit and valour, requested the honour of knighthood from the n.o.ble Bayard. In this the young King showed his just appreciation of his most gallant subject, the very flower of French chivalry, the hero of so many battles.

The French army now continued its victorious march to Milan, which surrendered at once, and the King, after leaving Charles de Bourbon as his Lieutenant-General, went to meet Pope Leo X. at Bologna and soon after returned to his own land. Bayard was left in Milan and did good service when it was attacked later by the Emperor Maximilian.

In 1519 the Emperor Maximilian died, and was succeeded in his dominions by his grandson, Charles V., already King of Spain. It was a great blow to Francis I., who had used every effort to obtain this honour himself; and the rivalry then started continued all his life. As Mezieres was in danger of being attacked, Francis I. immediately issued orders that Bayard should be sent to defend it, as there was no man in his kingdom he would sooner trust for so important an enterprise.

This city was of immense importance at that moment, if it could be held against the might of the Emperor until the French army should be made up to its full strength and reach the frontier, where the Germans had arrived, commanded by two great captains, the Count of Na.s.sau and the famous _condottiere_, Franz von Sickingen.

Bayard most gladly obeyed the King's command and lost no time in making his way to Mezieres with certain young n.o.bles, amongst whom was the young lord Montmorency, and with a goodly company of men-at-arms. When he arrived he found the place in a very poor condition to stand a siege, and he at once set to work with his usual enthusiasm to improve the fortifications. He worked himself as hard as any day labourer to encourage the others, and there was never a man-at-arms or a foot-soldier who did not eagerly follow his example. The Good Knight would say to them: "It shall not be our fault if this place is taken, seeing what a fine company we are. Why, if we had to defend a field with only a four-foot ditch round it, we would fight a whole day before we should be beaten. But, thank G.o.d, here we have ditches, walls, and ramparts, and I believe that before the enemy enters many of their men will sleep in those ditches."

In short, such was the magic of his eloquence, that all his men thought they were in the strongest place in the world. This was soon put to the test when it was besieged on two sides, from beyond the River Meuse and from the land. Count Sickingen had about fifteen thousand men, and the other captain, Count Na.s.sau, more than twenty thousand. A herald was sent to Bayard to point out to him that he could not hold Mezieres against their arms, that it would be a pity for so great and famous a knight to be taken by a.s.sault, and that they would give him excellent terms. And much more of the same flattering nature.

When the Good Knight had heard all the herald had to say, he asked no man's advice, but replied with a smile: "My friend, I am surprised at these gracious messages from your masters, whom I do not know. Herald, you will return and say to them that as the King has done me the honour to trust me, I hope with G.o.d's help to keep this frontier town so long that your captains will be more tired of besieging it than I shall to be besieged...." Then the herald was well feasted and sent away. He bore to the camp the Good Knight's reply, which was by no means pleasant to my lords, and there was present a captain who had seen service under Bayard in Italy. He a.s.sured the company that so long as the Good Knight was alive they would never enter into Mezieres; that when cowards fought under him they became brave men, and that all his company would die with him at the breach before the enemy set foot in the town ... and that his mere presence was of more value than two thousand men....

This was not pleasant to hear, and the Emperor's captains made a furious attack with their artillery on the ramparts, which continued during four days. The Good Knight noticed that special damage was done to the walls from the camp of Count Sickingen, and considered by what means he could be induced to go back the other side of the river. So he wrote a letter to the lord Robert de la Marck, who was at Sedan, in which he hinted at a rumour he had heard that the Count might be persuaded to become an ally of the King of France. Bayard added that he desired nothing more, but Sickingen must lose no time, for his camp would soon be hemmed in by the approaching Swiss and by a sortie well timed from the town. This information was to be kept quite private....

The letter was written giving other particulars, and was then given to a peasant with a crown and the order to take it at once to Sedan from the Captain Bayard. The good man set off with it, but, as Bayard had foreseen, he had not gone far before he was taken and gave up the letter to save his life. This message greatly troubled Count Sickingen, who was already suspicious of the other general, and was not slow to imagine that he had been betrayed and left in the post of danger. The more he thought of it the more his rage increased, and at last he gave orders to sound the retreat and cross the river, to the dismay and indignation of Count Na.s.sau, who saw that this was practically raising the siege. Angry messages pa.s.sed between the two generals, until at length they were on the point of actual fighting.

The Good Knight had been watching all this from the ramparts to his great amus.e.m.e.nt, and he now thought it time to add to the confusion by a well-aimed attack of artillery, which so added to the nervous alarms of the besiegers that next morning they packed up their tents and camp equipment, and the two Counts went off in different directions, while it was a long time before they became friends again. Thus it was that Bayard kept at bay the overwhelming forces of the enemy for three weeks, until the King of France himself arrived with a great army. We see how it was that enemies of the Good Knight could never get over a kind of supernatural terror both of his splendid valour and his endless resources. King Francis sent for Bayard to his camp, and on his way thither the indomitable captain retook the town of Mouzon. He was received with the greatest honour by the King, who bestowed on him the famous order of St. Michael and the command of a hundred men-at-arms. He also made many promises of future greatness, and both he and his mother, the Queen Louise, praised Bayard to the skies. But, unfortunately, the only results of all this praise were a few empty honours and an immense amount of jealousy and ill-feeling amongst the courtiers.

Indeed, we find that after this time Bayard never had any important charge given to him, and never attained the position, which he so richly deserved, of commander in time of war. It is very interesting to notice that the "Loyal Servitor"--that faithful chronicler who followed Bayard through all his campaigns, and probably often wrote at his dictation--never allows us to suspect that the Good Knight felt any bitterness at this neglect. Not one word of complaint is ever heard; he never murmured, he asked for nothing; his only anxiety was to serve his country and his king.

If Bayard was not rewarded with the prizes of his profession he was certainly always chosen when any dangerous or wearisome business was on hand.

The Good Knight was not recalled to Court, and it is supposed that, besides the jealousy which his brilliant deeds had awakened, he was also in disgrace on account of his warm friends.h.i.+p for Charles de Bourbon, who was now being driven to despair and ruin through the hatred of Louise de Savoie.

Bayard having been made lieutenant of the Governor of Dauphine in 1515, it was easy to keep him at a distance from Paris at his post, and with his keen and devoted interest in all matters that concerned his country, these years in a far-off province were a veritable exile. Several of his letters written during this period have been preserved, and we have also a friendly note from the King, written in December 1523, when he had settled to make another expedition to Italy to recover his former conquests there and to restore his prestige. It is evidently written in answer to an urgent appeal from Bayard to be allowed to join him, and, probably in a moment of impulse, he warmly agrees to employ his bravest captain; but, alas for France! it was not to be in the position of command and responsibility which his splendid talents and courage demanded. It was to be his last expedition, with a hero's death as his only guerdon.

In the beginning of the year 1524 the King of France sent an army into Italy under the command of the lord of Bonnivet, his admiral, who had no qualifications for his high post beyond personal courage. He was a man of narrow views, wilful and obstinate, and from these faults in a commander-in-chief great disasters followed. A strong Imperial party, supported by Charles de Bourbon and Giovanni dei Medici, held the city of Milan, and the French camp was at a little town called Biagra.s.so, when Bonnivet said to the Good Knight: "My lord Bayard, you must go to Rebec with two hundred men-at-arms and the foot-soldiers of de Lorges, and so find out what is going on in Milan and check the arrival of their provisions." Now the Good Knight never murmured at any command given him, but he saw at once what a wild and foolish scheme this was, and replied: "My lord, the half of our army would scarcely be sufficient to defend that village, placed where it is. I know our enemies, they are brave and vigilant, and you are sending me to certain shame; I pray you therefore, my lord, that you consider the matter well." But the Admiral persisted that it would be all right, for not a mouse could leave Milan without his hearing of it, until, much against his own judgment, Bayard set forth with the men given to him. But he only took two of his own horses, for his mules and the rest of his train he sent to Novara, as though foreseeing the loss of all he had with him.

When he had reached this village of Rebec he considered how he could fortify it; but there was no means of doing so except by putting up a few barriers, for it could be entered on every side. The Good Knight wrote to Bonnivet several times, pointing out what a dangerous place it was and that he must have reinforcements if he was to hold it long, but he received no answer. Meantime the enemy in Milan had learnt through spies that the Good Knight was at Rebec with a small company, and greatly rejoiced, for it was decided to go and surprise him by night. This was exactly what Bayard feared, and he always placed half his men on the watch, and himself remained on the look-out for several nights, until he fell ill and was compelled to remain in his chamber. However, he ordered the captains who were with him to keep a good watch on all sides, and they went, or pretended to do so, until there came on a little rain, which sent them all back except a few archers.

It was this very time which the Spaniards and Italians had chosen for their attack. They marched on through the night, which was very dark, and in order to recognise each other they all wore a white s.h.i.+rt over their armour. When they arrived near the village they were amazed to see no one, and began to fear that the Good Knight had heard of their enterprise and had retired to Biagra.s.so. A hundred steps farther on they came upon the few poor archers on the watch, who fled, crying, "Alarm! Alarm!" But they were so hotly pursued that the foe was at the barriers as soon as they were.

The Good Knight, who in such danger never slept without his steel gauntlets and thigh-pieces, with his cuira.s.s by his side, was soon armed, and mounted his horse, which was already saddled. Then, with five or six of his own men-at-arms, he rode straight to the barrier, and was joined by de Lorges and some of his foot-soldiers, who made a good fight. The village was already surrounded, and eager search was made for Bayard, who was the sole object of the expedition, and there was much shouting and confusion.

When the Good Knight at the barrier heard the drums of the enemy's foot-soldiers, he said to the Captain Lorges: "My friend, if they pa.s.s this barrier we are done for. I pray you, retire with your men, keep close together and march straight for Biagra.s.so, while I remain with the hors.e.m.e.n to protect your rear. We must leave the enemy our baggage, but let us save the men." Lorges at once obeyed, and the retreat was carried out so cleverly that not ten men we're lost. The Emperor's people were still seeking for the Good Knight when he had already reached Biagra.s.so and spoken his mind to the Admiral. Bayard was quite broken-hearted at the misfortune which had befallen him, although it was certainly not his fault, but there is more chance in war than in anything else.

Still, there was more than chance in these disasters of the French in Italy. They had quite miscalculated the strength of their enemies, amongst whom was now the famous general, Charles de Bourbon, late Constable of France. The young French King, at a time when Spain, England, and Italy were all against him, had most unwisely deprived Bourbon of the whole of his vast estates by means of a legal quibble; and his greatest subject, driven to desperation by this ungrateful treatment, had pa.s.sed over to the service of Charles V., and was now in command of the Spanish army. It was he who urged the immediate pursuit of the French when Bonnivet, discouraged by ill success and sickness in his camp, retreated from his strong position at Biagra.s.so. He made one blunder after another, for now that it was too late he sent a messenger to raise a levy of six thousand Swiss to join him by way of Ivria.

According to his usual gallant custom, as the army retired with forced marches towards the Alps, Bayard took command of the rear-guard, and as the Spaniards followed day by day he bore all the brunt of the constant skirmis.h.i.+ng which took place. It was a most perilous office, for the enemy was well provided with artillery, and when the Good Knight made a gallant charge with his company and drove back the men-at-arms, he would be attacked by a shower of stones from the arquebusiers. He seemed to bear a charmed life, though ever in the post of danger, for others were wounded or killed while he escaped unhurt until a certain fatal day when the retreating French army had reached the valley of the Sesia beyond Novara.

Here it was that Bonnivet saw his expected troop of Swiss allies on the opposite bank of the river, and at once sent word to them to cross over and join him. But what was his dismay when the Swiss captains replied that the King of France had not paid them or kept his word, and they had come to fetch away their comrades who were in the French army. Worse still, when this became known, all the Swiss mercenaries in his camp rose in open rebellion against Bonnivet, and lost no time in crossing the river, overjoyed to leave a losing cause and go back to their homes with so good an excuse.

The unfortunate French commander was in despair and hoping to hide the catastrophe from the pursuing enemy, he ordered a brisk skirmish, in which he took part with plenty of courage and was severely wounded in the arm.

The Good Knight Bayard did prodigies of valour, driving back a whole company of arquebusiers, but in the moment of triumph he was struck by the stone from an arquebus and received mortal injury. Raising the hilt of his sword in the sign of the cross, he cried aloud: "Miserere mei, Deus secundum magnam misericordiam tuam!" He refused to be taken away, saying that he had never turned his back on his enemy, and his faithful steward Jacques Jeffrey and his squire lifted him from his horse and placed him with his back to a tree, still facing the foe with a brave countenance.

We have a most pathetic and touching account of this last scene, in which the Good Knight without Fear and without Reproach died as he had lived, bearing himself with humble devotion towards G.o.d and loving care and thought towards all men. His friends would have borne him away, but he implored them to leave him and seek their own safety, for he was in such terrible pain that he could not endure to be moved. He sent his last salutations to the King his master, and to all his companions, and took an affectionate leave of his heart-broken friends, who obeyed his command, all but the one faithful attendant who remained with him to the end. This was his steward, Jacques Jeffrey, and we are told of the poor man's grief and despair, while his master sought to comfort him with brave and n.o.ble words.

"Jacques, my friend, cease your lament, for it is the will of G.o.d to take me away from this world where by His grace I have long dwelt and received more good things and honours than I deserve. The only regret that I have in dying is that I have failed in my duty ... and I pray my Creator in His infinite mercy to have pity on my poor soul...."

Nothing could exceed the consternation and sorrow which spread through the French camp when the news reached them that Bayard was wounded and in mortal agony. The same feeling was shared by his enemies, for to them the name of Bayard represented the most perfect knight in all the world, the pattern of chivalry whom every true man sought to imitate from afar.