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DESPATCH OF SER BENEDETTO TREVISANO, ENVOY OF VENICE AT THE COURT OF LOUIS XII., DETAILING THE ENTRY INTO LYONS OF LUDOVICO DUKE OF MILAN, THE 2nd OF MAY, 1500

Most serene Prince and excellent Lord [Doge],

THIS day, at half-past four o'clock, the Lord Louis was brought into the city in the following manner. First, there came twelve town serjeants on foot, who prevented the very dense crowd from shouting; next the governor of the city with the provost-marshal on horseback, followed by a hundred archers of the King's guard; after them the Lord Louis, dressed in a vest of black camelot with black boots, and a cap of black cloth which he held almost constantly in his hand. He kept looking around him, and seemed anxious to appear unmoved by this great reverse of fortune. Although he had been shaved this morning his face did not evince health, and his arms, hands, and all his person trembled. Immediately near him was the captain of the King's archer guard, followed by another hundred archers, and thus was he led through the town to the castle, which stands on a mount, where he will remain well watched and guarded for the next eight days, until the completion of the iron cage, which will be his constant night chamber. The said cage is very strong; its irons are bound with wood, and the metal is so tempered that if forcibly touched by a file, or any other instrument, it would instantly fire the wood. I must not omit to tell you that I being with the Spanish minister at a window by which the Lord Louis had to pass, the said Lord, on having the Spanish envoy pointed out to him, raised his cap, and then being told that your Serenity's ambassador was likewise there, he stopped and made a sign that he wished to speak, but I did not move. And the captain of archers who was near him cried, "Let us get on! let us get on!" but afterwards reported to the King's majesty that the Lord Louis then said, "Go tell him that I made not my reverence to him; he is of an evil race, devoid of faith," &c. I replied that I should have considered myself disgraced, not honoured, by any demonstration of goodwill from such a one. I afterwards went to the King's majesty at his palace, and mentioned having seen the Lord Louis pass, and I found there many other lords and nobles, who said some one thing some another concerning Il Moro. The King told me he had determined on not sending him to Loches, as he at first said, because he was in the habit of going thither himself at certain seasons of the year to hunt, and was averse to seeing his captive, but should have him taken to Selys in Berri, about two leagues from Bourges, where there is a very strong castle with wider moats than those at the citadel of Milan, and full of water. This place is in the centre of France, and its warder will be a former captain of his Majesty's archers when Duke of Orleans, with a company of most faithful persons, all brought up under his Majesty.

On dismounting from his mule, the Lord Louis was carried like a sack into the castle, for he cannot walk a step without assistance, and all think his days must be few. I humbly commend myself to your Serenity. From Lyons, the 2nd of May, 1500.

Bentus Trivisanus, Eques, Orator.