Vita Caroli
An Alliance with the Papal Legate
The father secures a vital alliance with the Cardinal of Ostia, who provides troops and money against their shared enemies.
After this our father went to Bologna to the Cardinal of Ostia, Bertrand by name, then legate a latere of the Apostolic See in Lombardy, who in those days governed the city of Bologna and several others as well — namely Piacenza, Ravenna, all of Romandiola, and the March of Ancona — and he negotiated with him, so that the cardinal himself allied himself with us and became the enemy of our enemies; for he had also previously been an enemy of the governor of Ferrara on account of the cause of Holy Church and his own, and since the governor had allied himself with our enemies, the cardinal was ready to bring aid both to us and to the governor for his own sake. And the aforementioned cardinal gave us aid in troops and money, and the aforementioned legate positioned an army and camp against the enemies in those days in the suburbs of the city of Ferrara, whose captain was afterwards the Count of Rimini.
Besieged in Cremona
Left with only twenty men in a ruined Cremona, the narrator endures isolation as enemies fortify and the Po is blockaded.
At last, that same summer after Pentecost, our father gathered a great army and sent us ahead into the city of Cremona from Parma across the Po, with five hundred armed men, whom he had sent before the fortress of Piczignito, which had rebelled against us and against the city of his Cremonese diocese, and it stood there serving the Pavians and the Milanese. And we had remained in Cremona with barely twenty armed men. Then suddenly the enemy fortified themselves, and their numbers grew daily, so that those who were before the fortress dug ditches around themselves, waiting for our aid. At that time the Mantuans and the Ferrarese suddenly sent their ships into the Po before Cremona and sank every vessel in the Po throughout the Cremonese territory, so that our father with all his people could not come to our aid nor send any messenger, because all the ships and mills had been sunk and withdrawn. And we ourselves, being in the city of Cremona when we were so few, were in ruin — both the city and its people daily — on account of the open countryside, because the city in those times was, as it were, desolate on account of the wars.
Deliverance Through Enemy Dissension
When all seems lost, God grants grace: enemies turn on each other, the father crosses the Po, and the combined army advances in strength.
And when we were in great distress—because neither could our father come to our aid, nor we his, nor either of us help those who were encamped before the castle—a dissension broke out among our enemies who had besieged the aforesaid city on the Po River, so that they turned on each other and beat one another, and each went his own way. After this, our father came from Parma with his army over the Po River and ordered ships to be dragged out from the depths of the river, and so he crossed over by ferry with a small company into the city of Cremona. And the following day, with the armies gathered together, we advanced to the relief of those who were before the castle of Piczignitonis. And we were so greatly strengthened by the grace of God that we were stronger than all our enemies; for we numbered three thousand men in armor. And after we realized that we would accomplish nothing before the aforesaid castle, we decided to proceed to the relief of the castle of Pavia, which was mentioned earlier.
The Fraudulent Truce and Its Cost
Enemies deceive with false truces; the fortress of Pavia is lost, funds are exhausted, and the proverb 'Delay harms those who are ready' is fulfilled.
Because the enemies foresaw this, they sent their counselors and negotiated fraudulently with our father, and they entered into truces with him on this condition: that he would withdraw from the fields, and that the fortress of Pavia, being supplied with provisions during the time of the truces, would not be hindered by the enemies — all of which they assured him with many fine and flattering words, promising him great things. And so we pulled back from the fields, distributing our troops through their cities and strongholds. After this, the enemies did not keep the truces or agreements at all, and so the fortress of Pavia was lost, because the enemies did not allow it to be supplied with provisions, as they had promised. And so our father, with his troops, came up short in money and expenses because of their flattering words and false promises. And with winter now upon them, they couldn't remain in the fields. And so the proverb proved true in our experience: 'Delay harms those who are ready.'
The Legate's Army Destroyed
The allied cities crush the legate's camp at Ferrara, killing and drowning his troops and ending his ability to hold the field.
At that time, the people of Ferrara, Verona, Mantua, and Milan, now fortified, captured the legate's captain — the count of Rimini — as he lay encamped in the suburbs of Ferrara, killed many of his troops and drowned others in the Po, and crushed the army so badly that the legate never recovered, nor could he hold the fields against the enemies any longer, right up until his expulsion from the country.
Surrendering the Homeland
With funds exhausted and war unsustainable, the father entrusts his cities to local families and resolves the fate of Lucca through counsel.
At last, when our father saw that his funds were running out and that he couldn't carry on the war, he decided to leave his homeland and hand it over to the local people and the leading men of the cities — namely, Parma to the Rubeis family, Reggio to the Fuliano family, Modena to the Piis family, and Cremona to the Punczonibus family — all of whom had given these cities into our father's power, and he intended to give those same cities back to them. As for Lucca, he wanted to sell it to the Florentines, but relying on the advice of our counselors and his own, he entrusted it instead to the Rubeis family, to whom he had already entrusted Parma.
Read the original Latin
Post hec pater noster ivit Bononiam ad Hostiensem cardinalem nomine Beltrandum, tunc legatum a latere sedis apostolice in Lombardia, qui temporibus illis regebat civitatem Bononiensem et alias plures, videlicet Placenciam, Ravennam et totam Romandiolam ac marchiam Anchonitanam, et tractavit cum eo, quod ipse confederatus est nobiscum et factus est inimicus nostrorum inimicorum; nam et ante erat inimicus gubernatoris Ferrariensis propter causam ecclesie sancte et suam, qui cum inimicis confederatus erat, paratus in adiutorium ipsis et ipsi sibi. Et dedit nobis prefatus cardinalis auxilium gencium et pecuniarum, posuitque prefatus legatus exercitum et castra contra hostes temporibus illis in suburbiis civitatis Ferrariensis, quorum capitaneus fuit postea comes de Ariminiaco.
Demum eadem estate post pentecosten congregavit pater noster magnum exercitum et premisit nos in civitatem Cremonensem de Parma ultra Padum cum quingentis galeatis, quos misit ante castrum Piczignitonis, quod rebellaverat contra nos et contra civitatem sue diocesis Cremonensis et astabat deserviendo Papiensibus et Mediolanensibus. Et remanseramus in Cremona vix cum viginti galeatis. Tunc repente fortificati sunt inimici, et augebatur numerus cottidie, ita quod illi, qui erant ante castrum, muniverunt se fossatis, auxilium nostrum exspectantes. Illo tempore subito Mantuani et Ferrarienses miserunt naves suas in Padum ante Cremonam et submerserunt omnes naves in Pado territorii Cremonensis, ita ut pater noster cum tota gente sua non poterat nobis venire in auxilium nec mittere aliquem nuncium, quia omnes naves et molendina submerserant et se receperant. Et nos ipsi in civitate Cremonensi existentes cum ita paucis eramus in perdicione et civitatis et personarum cottidie propter latitudinem, quia civitas temporibus illis propter guerras erat quasi desolata.
Et cum essemus in magna tristicia constituti, quia nec pater nobis nec nos patri nec uterque nostrum illis, qui iacebant ante castrum, possemus succurrere, facta est dissensio inter inimicos nostros, qui civitatem predictam obsederant in fluvio Pado, ita quod se verberantes invicem reversi sunt unusquisque ad propria. Rescito isto pater noster venit de Parma cum exercitu suo super flumen Padi et mandavit extrahi naves de profundo fluvii et sic transfretavit cum paucis in civitatem Cremonam. Et sequenti die coadunatis exercitibus processimus in subvencionem illis, qui erant ante castrum Piczignitonis. Et tantum fuimus per dei graciam fortificati, quod forciores eramus omnibus nostris inimicis; eramus enim in numero tria milia galeatorum. Et postquam percepimus, quod coram dicto castro nichil proficeremus, voluimus procedere in succursum castro Papiensi, de quo ante mencio facta est.
Quod presencientes inimici miserunt consiliarios suos et fraudulenter cum patre nostro tractaverunt et cum eo treugas inierunt tali modo: quod de campis cederet et castrum Papiense victualibus treugarum tempore fultum quod per inimicos non impediretur assecurantes, per pulchra et blanda verba multa eidem promittentes. Sicque de campis recessimus gentes nostras per civitates et loca sua distribuentes. Post hec inimici treugas seu pacta minime tenuerunt, et sic perditum fuit castrum Papiense, quia non permiserunt ipsum inimici fulcire victualibus, prout promiserant. Sicque pater noster cum gentibus suis propter blanda verba et falsa promissa in pecuniis et expensis defecerunt. Hieme vero superveniente nec in campis stare poterant. Et sic proverbium in nobis claruit: Nocuit differe paratis.
Illo autem tempore Ferrarienses, Veronenses et Mantuani ac Mediolanenses fortificati captivaverunt capitaneum legati comitem de Ariminiaco in suburbiis Ferrarie iacentem et multos de exercitu occiderunt et alios submerserunt in Pado, et exercitum in tantum afflixerunt, quod legatus amplius non recuperavit nec campos adversus inimicos amplius habere valuit usque ad expulsionem eiusdem de patria.
Demum videns pater noster, quod expense sibi deficerent et quod guerram ferre non valeret, disposuit recedere de patria et eam terrigenis et maioribus civitatum relinquere, videlicet Parmam illis de Rubeis, Regium illis de Fuliano, Mutinam illis de Piis, Cremonam illis de Punczonibus, qui omnes has civitates patri nostro in potestatem dederant, voluitque eis easdem reddere. Luccam autem voluit vendere Florentinis, sed fretus nostro ac suorum consiliariorum consilio commisit eandem illis de Rubeis, quibus Parmam commiserat.
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