his accustomed loyalty hastened to perform. He instantly put at the
disposal of Caesar three hundred lances under the command of Yves
d'Alegre, and four thousand Swiss under the command of the bailiff of
Dijon, as a help in his work of reducing the Vicars of the Church.

We must now explain to our readers who these new personages were whom we
introduce upon the scene by the above name.

During the eternal wars of Guelphs and Ghibelines and the long exile of
the popes at Avignon, most of the towns and fortresses of the Romagna
had been usurped by petty tyrants, who for the most part hard received
from the Empire the investiture of their new possessions; but ever since
German influence had retired beyond the Alps, and the popes had again
made Rome the centre of the Christian world, all the small princes,
robbed of their original protector, had rallied round the papal see, and
received at the hands of the pope a new investiture, and now they paid
annual dues, for which they received the particular title of duke,
count, or lord, and the general name of Vicar of the Church.

It had been no difficult matter for Alexander, scrupulously examining
the actions and behaviour of these gentlemen during the seven years that
had elapsed since he was exalted to St. Peter's throne, to find in the
conduct of each one of them something that could be called an infraction
of the treaty made between vassals and suzerain; accordingly he brought
forward his complaints at a tribunal established for the purpose, and
obtained sentence from the judges to the effect that the vicars of the
Church, having failed to fulfil the conditions of their investiture,
were despoiled of their domains, which would again become the property
of the Holy See. As the pope was now dealing with men against whom
it was easier to pass a sentence than to get it carried out, he had
nominated as captain-general the new Duke of Valentinois, who was
commissioned to recover the territories for his own benefit. The lords
in question were the Malatesti of Rimini, the Sforza of Pesaro, the
Manfredi of Faenza, the Riarii of Imola and Farli, the Variani of
Camerina, the Montefeltri of Urbino, and the Caetani of Sermoneta.

But the Duke of Valentinois, eager to keep as warm as possible his
great friendship with his ally and relative Louis XII, was, as we know,
staying with him at Milan so long as he remained there, where, after a
month's occupation, the king retraced his steps