made by him on France were provocative rather than conciliatory. He offered the Duchy of Milan not to the Duke of Orleans but to Charles, Duke of Angoulême, with the hand of Christina of Denmark, requiring in return the support of France in the matter of the General Council, against the Turks, and in particular against Barbarossa, for the recognition of Ferdinand's election, for the subjection of Hungary, against Henry VIII, and even in Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. Even Milan was not to be unconditionally given, for the Emperor was to retain the chief places under his own captains and the Duke of Angoulême was to be deposited in his hands. The position of Charles was strengthened on the one hand by the death of his aunt, Queen Catharine, January 7, 1536, and on the other hand by the attitude of the Bavarian Dukes, who for dynastic reasons now turned more definitely to the imperial side. The Pope maintained neutrality, and his help could only be expected for France if the guilt of aggression could be fastened on the Emperor.
The duchy of Savoy, during the campaigns of the first war, had been at the disposal of the French, and opened for them the easiest path to Italy. But the settlement after the Peace of Cambray had brought the weak Duke Charles III into the imperial defensive league, and his marriage with Beatrice of Portugal, in 1521, followed by the marriage of the Emperor with her sister in 1526, formed a permanent link. The first step therefore towards Italy required the subjection or adhesion of Savoy, and the somewhat fanciful claims which the King of France put forward to a part of the ducal inheritance can only be regarded as a cover for attack or a pretext for coercion. Charles III was the weaker at this moment since he had been at war since 1530 with his city of Geneva; and early in the year 1536 his hopes of recovering the town were shattered by an expedition of Bern and the Swiss Protestants, which relieved Geneva and overran the territory of Lausanne and the Pays de Vaud. In March, 1536, the French invaded Savoy, and, in spite of the obstinate resistance of its inhabitants, conquered the whole of Savoy, and occupied Turin. The remainder of the fortified places in Piedmont were seized by order of de Leyva from Milan, to prevent their falling into the hands of the French.
Meanwhile since his landing in Sicily, August 17, 1535, Charles had been devoting his attention to his southern kingdoms. Sicily he now visited for the first time, and he spent ten weeks in considering propositions of reform laid before him by the Parliament, and in inspecting the country. Thence he passed into Italy, leaving Ferrante da Gonzaga as Viceroy in Sicily, and reached Naples on November 25. Here Pedro di Toledo had been Viceroy since 1532, and had given himself to the restoration of order, the improvement of the city, and the re-establishment and extension of the royal power. An attempt which was made to induce Charles to remove him only resulted in strengthening his position, for it soon appeared that the charges against him arose from the stern
