58 ITALIAN WARS. PART soldiery. After a short time spent in gathering up '- — the booty and securing his prisoners, the Spanish general, having achieved the object of his expedi- tion, set out on his homevv^ard march, and arrived without interruption at Barleta. The duke of Nemours had scarcely appeared before Castellaneta, before he received tidings of the attack on Ruvo. He put himself, without losing a moment, at the head of his gendarmes, supported by the Swiss pikemen, hoping to reach the be- leaguered town in time to raise the siege. Great was his astonishment, therefore, on arriving before it, to find no trace of an enemy, except the ensigns of Spain unfurled from the deserted battlements. Mortified and dejected, he made no further attempt to recover Castellaneta, but silently drew off to hide his chagrin in the walls of Canosa.^^ me^nrofVhe Amoug thc prisoucrs were several persons of dis- tinguished rank. Gonsalvo treated them with his usual courtesy, and especially La Palice, whom he provided with his own surgeon and all the appli- ances for rendering his situation as comfortable as possible. For the common file, however, he show- ed no such sympathy ; but condemned them all to serve in the Spanish admiral's galleys, where they continued to the close of the campaign. An un- fortunate misunderstanding had long subsisted between the French and Spanish commanders respecting the ransom and exchange of prisoners ; and Gonsalvo was probably led to this severe meas- 31 Bernaldez, Reyes Cat61icos, Carlo V., fol. 16. — Chronica del MS., ubi supra. — Lflloa, Vita di Gran Capitan, cap. 72 prisoners.
