Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. III.djvu/382

356 CONQUEST OF NAVARRE. PART out waiting for orders ; " a proceeding," says Ferdi- nand in one of his letters, which " touches me most deeply, from the stain it leaves on the honor of the most serene king my son-in-law, and the glory of the English nation, so distinguished in times past for high and chivalrous emprize." ^^ oiscomfi- The duke of Alva, thus unsupported, was no ture of the ' rl ' French. match for the French under Longueville, strength- ened, moreover, by the veteran corps returned from Italy, with the brave La Palice. Indeed, he nar- rowly escaped being hemmed in between the two armies, and only succeeded in anticipating by a few hours the movements of La Palice, so as to make good his retreat through the pass of Roncesvalles, and throw himself into PampelonaJ^ Hither he was speedily followed by the French general, ac- companied by Jean d'Albret. On the 27th of No- vember, the besiegers made a desperate, though ineffectual assault on the city, which was repeated with equal ill fortune on the two following days. The beleaguering forces, in the mean time, were straitened for provisions ; and at length, after a siege of some weeks, on learning the arrival of fresh reinforcements under the duke of Najara,'^ they broke up their encampment, and withdrew across 16 See the kind's third letter to to these military exploits of the Deza, Losrofio, November 12th, duke, in his second eclotrue. apud Bernaldez, Reyes Catolicos, » Con mas iiustre nombre los nrneses MS., cap. 23fi. — Mariana, Hist, de >le los neros Franceses nbollavo." Espana, torn. ii. lib. 30, cap. 12. — °"'> ^'^- '^^ "errera, p. 505. Lebrija, De Bello Navariensi, lib. ^^ Such was the power of the old 1, cap. 7. — Peter Martyr, Opus duke of Najara, that he brouaht Epist., epist. 499. — Herbert, Life into the field on this occasion 1100 of Henry VHI., p. 24. — Holiii- horse and 3000 foot, raised and shed, Chronicles, p. 571. equipped on iiis own estates. Peter " Garcilasso de la Vega alludes Martyr, Opus Epist., epist. 507.