efore Belgrade--Description of a remarkable hurricane--War against
the Genoese and Gismondo Malatesti--Genoa submits to the king
of France--Death of Alfonso king of Naples--Succeeded by his son
Ferrando--The pope designs to give the kingdom of Naples to his nephew
Piero Lodovico Borgia--Eulogy of Pius II.--Disturbances in Genoa between
John of Anjou and the Fregosi--The Fregosi subdued--John attacks
the kingdom of Naples--Ferrando king of Naples routed--Ferrando
reinstated--The Genoese cast off the French yoke--John of Anjou routed
in the kingdom of Naples.

The pope, though anxious to restrain Jacopo Piccinino, did not neglect
to make provision for the defense of Christendom, which seemed in danger
from the Turks. He sent ambassadors and preachers into every Christian
country, to exhort princes and people to arm in defense of their
religion, and with their persons and property to contribute to the
enterprise against the common enemy. In Florence, large sums were
raised, and many citizens bore the mark of a red cross upon their dress
to intimate their readiness to become soldiers of the faith. Solemn
processions were made, and nothing was neglected either in public or
private, to show their willingness to be among the most forward to
assist the enterprise with money, counsel, or men. But the eagerness
for this crusade was somewhat abated, by learning that the Turkish army,
being at the siege of Belgrade, a strong city and fortress in Hungary,
upon the banks of the Danube, had been routed and the emperor wounded;
so that the alarm felt by the pope and all Christendom, on the loss
of Constantinople, having ceased to operate, they proceeded with
deliberately with their preparations for war; and in Hungary their
zeal was cooled through the death of Giovanni Corvini the Waiwode, who
commanded the Hungarian forces on that memorable occasion, and fell in
the battle.

To return to the affairs of Italy. In the year 1456, the disturbances
occasioned by Jacopo Piccinino having subsided, and human weapons
laid aside, the heavens seemed to make war against the earth; dreadful
tempestuous winds then occurring, which produced effects unprecedented
in Tuscany, and which to posterity will appear marvelous and
unaccountable. On the twenty-fourth of August, about an hour before
daybreak, there arose from the Adriatic near Ancona, a whirlwind, which
crossing from east to west, again reached the sea near Pisa, accompanied
by thick clouds,