hom were in constant communication with their kinsmen at the
Milanese court. At the same time, Charles VIII.'s brother-in-law and
cousin, Louis, Duke of Orleans, a valiant and ambitious prince just
thirty years of age, who had inherited the Lombard town of Asti from his
grandmother, Valentina Visconti, and claimed the Duchy of Milan in right
of his descent from the Visconti dukes, rejoiced at the prospect of
advancing his pretensions against the rival House of Sforza.

Already more than one invitation to cross the Alps had reached the
young French king from Italy. In January, 1484, when Venice was waging a
desperate war against Milan and Naples, Antonio Loredano was sent to the
French court with secret instructions to remind Charles VIII., who had
just succeeded his father, Louis XI., that the kingdom of Naples had
formerly belonged to his family, and that, besides occupying a throne to
which he had no right, Ferrante of Aragon had instigated Lodovico Sforza
to usurp the crown of Milan. The Venetian envoy was further desired to
inform the Duke of Orleans that Lodovico evidently intended to make
himself Duke of Milan in his nephew's stead, and to point out that Louis
could not find a better moment than this, to assert his own claim to the
duchy of his Visconti ancestors.

"Say all you can to instigate the Duke of Orleans to undertake this
enterprise," were the secret instructions of the Ten, "and tell the
French that if they wish to dethrone the tyrant Ferrante and seize
Naples, they will never have a better opportunity."[17]

A month later the Venetian Government sent another message to Louis of
Orleans, urging him to invade Milan, and offering him the help of their
forces. The duke was by no means averse to the suggestion, but Anne de
Beaujeu, who governed France during her brother's minority, wisely
declined to meddle in the quarrels of Italian States, and by August
peace had been concluded between Venice and Milan.

Five years afterwards Pope Innocent VIII., having quarrelled with King
Ferrante, invited Charles VIII. to invade Naples, and offered him the
investiture of this important fief of the Church. But at that time the
French monarch had no leisure to think of a foreign expedition. He was
already engaged in war with Maximilian, King of the Romans, and in a
fierce quarrel with the States of Brittany over the regency of that
province during the minority of young Duchess Anne, the betrothed bride
of the future E