GONSALVO DE CORDOVA GONZAGA 99 secretary, he conducted the secret negotiation with the Moorish monarch, Abdallah or Boab- dil, which resulted in the capitulation of Gra- nada. In 1495 he was sent with a small squad- ron against the French who had invaded the kingdom of Naples. He landed at Messina, and thence crossed over to the mainland. In his first battle at Seminara, fought against his advice, he was defeated, but his desperate valor saved the army from destruction and King Ferdinand from capture. His subsequent oper- ations were so successful that by the end of 1496 the French, who a year before had pos- sessed the whole kingdom, yielded up their last fortress, and withdrew to their own country. At the request of the pope, he then laid siege to Ostia, which was held by a formidable band of freebooters, and carried it by storm. On his return to Naples the king gave him the title of duke of St. Angelo, with an estate contain- ing 3,000 vassals. In the beginning of 1500 he was called into the field to suppress a sudden insurrection of the Moors of the Alpujarras. In May of the same year he sailed from Malaga in command of an army of 4,600 men, designed to protect Naples, which the French were pre- paring to invade a second time. In Septem- ber, in conjunction with a Venetian fleet, he laid siege to the almost impregnable fortress of St. George in Cephalonia, and the place was carried by assault in January, 1501. Gonsalvo sailed thence to Sicily, where he was waited on by an embassy from the Venetian senate bring- ing him magnificent presents. Meanwhile, by a secret treaty, Louis XII. of France and Fer- dinand of Spain had agreed to divide Naples between them. Gonsalvo was appointed lieu- tenant general of the Spanish portion, which he overran and conquered in less than a month, except Taranto, which capitulated after a long siege, March 1, 1502. The French and Span- iards speedily quarrelled about their bounda- ries in Naples, and in July their dispute broke into open hostilities. Gonsalvo, whose force was much inferior to that of the French, threw himself into the fortified seaport of Barletta on the Adriatic. Here, from July, 1502, to April, 1503, he sustained one of the most memor- able sieges in history, conducted by the duke of Nemours and the chevalier Bayard. Hav- ing at length received by sea a small reenforce- ment, the Great Captain on April 28 broke forth from Barletta, gave battle to the French, and defeated them, with the slaughter of half their army, the loss of all their artillery and baggage, and most of their colors. This victory decided the war, and in a few weeks all the fortresses held by the French were taken or surrendered, with the exception of Gaeta, into which the remnant of the French army had thrown themselves. A long siege ensued, which gave time to Louis XII. to despatch into Italy one of the finest armies that France had ever sent into the field. Gonsalvo met the French on the Garigliano, near Gaeta, defeated them in several encounters, and on Dec. 29, 1503, routed them totally with great slaughter. This defeat put an end to the French attempt to conquer Naples. Gaeta surrendered Jan. 1, 1504, and by a treaty, Feb. 11, peace was re- stored between France and Spain, the latter power retaining Naples. Gonsalvo remained in Naples, ruling the kingdom as viceroy till 1507, when Ferdinand, suspecting that he meant to make himself independent, recalled him to Spain. Soon after his arrival there he retired to his estates near Loja, where he lived in -great magnificence. In 1512 the French again made head in Italy, and Ferdinand called upon Gonsalvo to take command of an army for the protection of Naples ; and when it be- came known that he was to command, nearly all the nobles of Spain volunteered. This en- thusiasm so augmented Ferdinand's distrust that he countermanded his orders, and directed Gonsalvo to disband his levies. Three years later Gonsalvo was attacked by a quartan fever, and removed to his palace in Granada, in hopes that the climate of that city would benefit his health ; but he died shortly after his arrival there. His remains were laid in a sumptuous mausoleum in a chapel of the church of St. Ger6nimo. GONZAGA, a town of Italy, in the province and 15 m. S. of the city of Mantua ; pop. about 15,000. It was formerly fortified, and is cele- brated for its old castle, the cradle of the Gon- zaga family. Silk is manufactured here. GONZAGi, an ancient Italian family which ruled over Mantua from 1328 to 1707. Its founder was Ludovico I. (died in 1360), and his successors branched off into several lines, promi- nent among which were those of the dukes of Nevers and of Guastalla. Some of the rulers of Mantua were distinguished patrons of letters and art, and made their court one of the most brilliant in Italy. They intermarried with the Medici and the Estes, and a number of the ladies, especially Cecilia (born about 1424) and Lucrezia (died 1576), were renowned for learn- ing. Besides Ludovico III. (1444-'78), sur- named the Turk for fighting the Mussulmans, there were other gallant warriors in the family, and particularly Francesco II. (1484-1519) and Vincenzo I. (1587-1611) ; and celebrated as a cardinal from 1561 till his death (1566) was Francesco Gonzaga. On the extinction of the elder branch after the death of Vincenzo II. (1627), a war for the succession to the do- minion of Mantua and other territories result- ed in favor of Charles I., duke of Nevers. His daughter Maria became queen of Poland, and another daughter, Anna, wife of the count palatine Edward. The beauty and wit of the latter made her conspicuous in Paris at the court of Anne of Austria, and her memoirs were published in 1686. Charles IV., the last duke of Mantua (died in 1708), was dispos- sessed in 1707 by Austria for having sided with France in the war of the Spanish succession, Savoy taking Montferrat. A collateral branch of the family still exists, the head of which
