Series 3 > Letters of James the Fourth, 1505-1513

LETTERS OF JAMES IV
xlvii
now that its subjects had learned their lesson : on Febru¬
ary 28, 1510, he announced to James 1 that the cities in
the Romagna formerly held by Venice had been restored
to him, and that he had now lifted the ban of excommuni¬
cation and taken the Republic into his favour, being con¬
fident that its maritime strength would enable it to render
most valuable service to the cause of Christendom. James
must have received shortly afterwards the news of the
death of the Count of Pitigliano, Captain-General of the
Venetian forces, and, if the reports of Badoer, the Venetian
agent in London, are to be believed,2 was fired with the
ambition to succeed him, and lead the combined forces of
Scotland and Venice against the Turk. Nothing came of
the proposal; on September 9, 1510, Badoer was informed
by the Doge and Senate of Venice that, at the request of
the Pope, they had released the Marquis of Mantua,
Gonfalonier of the Church, and made him their Captain-
General.3
Another and more serious blow to his hopes of leading,
or taking a prominent part in, a Crusade against the Infidel
was dealt by the news which Louis sent him in August 1510,4
that Pope Julius, not content to make peace with the
Venetians, had instigated them to join with the Papal
troops in attacking the French base at Genoa and in invad¬
ing the territories of the friendly Duke of Ferrara. He had
also succeeded in wrecking the alliance between Louis and
the Swiss, and he might have added, had diverted 10,000
Swiss mercenaries, the most formidable infantry in Europe,
from the French service into his own. It was clear to
Louis that the Pope meant to undermine both his temporal
and his spiritual authority ; Louis therefore proposed to
convoke an assembly of the notables of his kingdom—to
which James would be invited—to take the necessary
measures against this unwarranted aggression.
Louis did not exaggerate : he had roused an implacable
antagonist, determined by fair means or foul, by open
1 No. 300.
3 Brodie, 570 ; Cal. Ven. II, No. 81.
No. 320.