n the year 1499 Daoud Pasha, Admiralissimo to Bajazet, the successor to
Mahomet II., defeated Antonio Grimani the Venetian admiral in that combat
known to the Republic as "La deplorabile battaglia del Zonchio." The
populace of Venice demanded that Grimani should be instantly beheaded, but
he not only escaped their vengeance but lived to be nominated as Doge
on June 6th, 1521, at the age of eighty-seven: certainly a curious record
for an unsuccessful admiral of that date.

In 1500 was formed the "Alliance of Christian Princes" at the initiative of
the Borgia Pope Alexander VII. Louis XII., King of France, and Ferdinand V.
of Spain announced their adherence to this effort against the Turk, and
Pierre D'Aubusson, the veteran Grand Master of the Knights of Saint John,
was nominated as Captain-General of the Christian armies. For the purposes
of this war the admiral of the Papal galleys in the Mediterranean, Lodovico
del Mosca, purchased from Ferdinand, King of Naples, all his artillery, of
which a description is given by the Padre Alberto Guglielmotti, a Dominican
friar, author of a work entitled, "La Guerra dei Pirati e la Marina
Pontifica dal 1500 al 1560 A.D." "There were thirty-six great bombards,
with eighty carts pertaining to them; some drawn by horses, some drawn by
buffaloes harnessed singly, or two, four, or even six together; two waggons
laden with arquebuses for ships' boats; nine with about forty smaller
bombards (_bombardelles_) placed three, four, or even six on each waggon;
twelve with ordinary pieces of artillery; as many more for the service of
twelve big guns; thirty-seven carts of iron balls; three with gunpowder;
and finally five laden with nitre, darts, and bullets. Splendid artillery
of most excellent workmanship and great power escorted by two thousand men
under arms, without mentioning the companies who marched before and after
each waggon."

The French king had prepared a fleet and army under Count Philip of
Ravenstein; the Spaniards were under the command of Gonsalvo de Cordoba,
the "Great Captain." The history of the "Alliance of Christian Princes" is
illustrative of the methods of those potentates at that time. After one or
two unimportant skirmishes with the Turks, in which no great harm was done
on either side, the French and Spaniards joined together, and seized the
Kingdom of Naples: the prudent king of this territory, having sold his
artillery to Lodovico del Mosca, did not await the coming