36 " ITALIAN WARS. PART on these as forming an integral part of its own '- — moietj. The French had no ground whatever for contesting the possession of the Capitanate, the first of these provinces, and by far the most impor- tant, on account of the tolls paid by the numerous flocks which descended every winter into its shel- tered valleys from the snow-covered mountains of Abruzzo.^ There was more uncertainty to which of the parties the two other provinces were meant to be assigned. It is scarcely possible that lan- guage so loose, in a matter requiring mathematical precision, should have been unintentional. Before Gonsalvo de Cordova had completed the conquest of the southern moiety of the kingdom, and while lying before Tarento, he received intelli- gence of the occupation by the French of several places, both in the Capitanate and Basilicate. He detached a body of troops for the protection of these countries, and, after the surrender of Tarento, marched towards the north to cover them wnth his whole army. As he was not in a condition for immediate hostilities, however, he entered into ne- gotiations, which, if attended with no other advan- tage, would at least gain him time.^ 15 02. The pretensions of the two parties, as might have
- " ^* been expected, were too irreconcilable to admit of
- The provision of the partition See the treaty apud Diimont, Corps
treaty, that the Spaniards should Diplomatique, lorn. iii. pp. 445, collect the tolls paid hy the flocks 446. on their descent from the French ^ Ziuita, Hist, del Rey Hernan- districl of Ahruzzo into the Cap- do, tom. i. lib. 4, cap. 52. — Mari- itanale, is conclusive evidence of ana, Hist, de Espana, tom. ii. lib. the intention of the contracting par- 27, cap. 12. — Ulloa, Vila di Carlo ties to assign the latter to Spain. V., fol. 10.
