OF the divers mischances and grievous perils which befell Cornelio for the love of his lady.
AMONG those Lombard fugitives who came on to Mantua after the famous defeat of the Swiss at Melegnano[1] was Messer Cornelio. With myself he took up his abode in that city. It is a pleasure to me, having all good cause for it, to speak of him as a most noble and gallant young gentleman of about four-and-twenty, tall, well-made, and of great strength and comeliness. He had his full share of virtues; while, in the gifts of fortune, he was passing rich. His mother, who lived in Milan, and took the utmost pains to save his patrimony intact, always sent him all that he needed, so that he could keep a house in Mantua, and was well
- ↑ The battle of Marignano, fought on September 13, 1515, when Francis I. completely routed the Switzers, and in fact decided the fate of the Duchy of Milan, which Maximilian Sforza had so miserably governed. Marshal Trivulzio termed it "a combat of giants," in which the very flower of the French nobility took part.
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