Bayard: the Good Knight Without Fear and Without Reproach

greatly lamented by her husband and mourned by all her people. The next notable event was the marriage of the Prince

oor 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 a

, where the descent is made by Susa, and the other was by the Mont Genèvre. Bourbon, however, heard of a new way by the Col d'Argentière, 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 horsemen was awaiting the descent of the

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 f

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 o

undred archers; a bow-shot behind him Bayard would follow with one hundred men-at-arm

, unless the others were able to fly over the mountains. As he was returning from Mass, other spies came up to him with the news: "My lord, I have seen close by more than a thousand French horsemen, and they are coming to

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 th

naged 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

n 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

e, 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 bee

l raid was that it kept all these Italian hor

the Swiss were retreating towards Milan he followed in pursuit of them,

d 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,

ithin 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 o

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 thro

ing Charles de Bourbon as his Lieutenant-General, went to meet Pope Leo X. at Bologna and soon after returned to

ho had used every effort to obtain this honour himself; and the rivalry then started continued all his life. As Mézières was in danger of being attacked, Franci

til the French army should be made up to its full strength and reach the frontier, where the Germans had ar

k 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, s

r Meuse and from the land. Count Sickingen had about fifteen thousand men, and the other captain, Count Nassau, more than twenty thousand. A herald was sent to Bayard to point out to him that he could not

his 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

nd 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 all

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

d 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

s profession he was certainly always chosen when

brilliant deeds had awakened, he was also in disgrace on account of his warm friendship for Charl

ng 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 allo

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 enemie

f 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, a

ite shirt 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 Biagrasso.

o 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 pass this barrier we are done for. I pray you, retire with your men, keep close together and march straight for Biagrasso, while I remain with the horsemen to protect your rear. We must leave the enemy our bagga

ainst 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 passed over to the service of Charles V., and was now in command of the Spanish army. It was he who urged the

ked 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

, 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 miserico

ould 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 c

ayard was wounded and in mortal agony. The same feeling was shared by his enemies, for to them the name of Bayard repres

I had been wounded nigh unto death if only you were in health again and my prisoner; for then I could have shown you how highly I esteem your splendid prowess and valour ... since I first made acquaintance with arms I have never heard of any knight who even approached you in every virtue of chivalry

ony. A stately tent was spread out above him to protect him from the weather, and he was laid at rest beneath it with the gentlest care. He asked for a priest, to who

arried to the church, where solemn services were held for him during

e of Grenoble was reached, and here all the nobles of Dauphiné and the people of the city were gathered to do honour to their beloved hero when the last s