e,
in the presence of Vera and Gherardi, took oath upon the Gospels of
allegiance to Cesare and his descendants for ever.

In the Consistory of June 25 of that year the French and Spanish
ambassadors came formally to notify the Holy Father of the treaty of
Granada, entered into in the previous November by Louis XII of the one
part, and Ferdinand and Isabella of the other, concerning the conquest
and division of the Kingdom of Naples. The rival claimants had come to
a compromise by virtue of which they were to undertake together the
conquest and thereafter share the spoil--Naples and the Abruzzi going to
France, and Calabria and Puglia to Spain.

Alexander immediately published his Bull declaring Federigo of Naples
deposed for disobedience to the Church, and for having called the Turk
to his aid, either of which charges it would have taxed Alexander's
ingenuity--vast though it was--convincingly to have established; or,
being established, to censure when all the facts were considered.
The charges were no better than pretexts for the spoliation of the
unfortunate king who, in the matter of his daughter's alliance with
Cesare, had conceived that he might flout the Borgias with impunity.

On June 28 d'Aubigny left Rome with the French troops, accompanied by
the bulk of the considerable army with which Cesare supported his French
ally, besides 1,000 foot raised by the Pope and a condotta of 100 lances
under Morgante Baglioni. As the troops defiled before the Castle of
Sant' Angelo they received the apostolic benediction from the Pope, who
stood on the lower ramparts of the fortress.

Cesare himself cannot have followed to join the army until after July
10, for as late as that date there is an edict indited by him against
all who should offer injury to his Romagna officers. At about the same
time that he quitted Rome to ride after the French, Gonsalo de Cordoba
landed a Spanish army in Calabria, and the days of the Aragon dominion
in Naples were numbered.

King Federigo prepared to face the foe. Whilst himself remaining in
Naples with Prospero Colonna, he sent the bulk of his forces to Capua
under Fabrizio Colonna and Count Rinuccio Marciano--the brother of that
Marciano whom Vitelli had put to death in Tuscany.

Ravaging the territory and forcing its strongholds as they came, the
allies were under the walls of Capua within three weeks of setting out;
but on July 17, when within two miles of the town, they were met by si