`But I am not desolated by such events, which, after all, provide exhilarating entertainment for the Bolognese people.

The marchesa replied: `… so pleased with how things worked out in promise of Sigismund's loyalty to you, which I must approach,, indirectly inasmuch as he is off fighting some war with Venice. I am proud of the way you have handled the mess in Bologna. Malatesta must be some kind of religious fanatic. You must find Giacomo Isolano, the doctor of learning who has such a stinking breath on him that you'd better keep the windows open when you meet. Promise him a cardinal's hat if he can overthrow Cassolini's government in Bologna. Isolano has the mobility on his side and it is a certainty that the fools who have taken over have already abused their power. I agree that Minultulus is a good choice for legate, but he must work closely as a check on Isolano. But that is just the side show. You must get on with the war against Ladislas.

`There will be no help available for your war from the Duke of Burgundy or from Sigismund: Until Sigismund's war with Venice is over he will be helpless. He is not a serious man. His mind is continually peeking into mirrors. He preens disgustingly, singing of what a great boy he is, then tripping over his own feet as he chases women. As for your good friend Burgundy, he is nineteen and just married. Nothing will prise him out of the bride and pull him off to war.

`It appears that there may be peace between the Teutonic order and the Poles. Both sides are winded and need a long rest.

`Maria Giovanna writes to say that the Florentines are disgusted with the way the Duke of Anjou manages wars, which means they are fearful that they will have to pay for all the troops, but in any event they have no interest in seeking any kind of French rule in Italy. They are about to make a separate peace with Ladislas and will withdraw from their alliance with you and the duke, taking Siena with them. You will have to dig in your heels The duke is penniless. I recommend that you order taxes be increased immediately in Savoy, Portugal and the islands of the Aegean, which have been taxed too lightly in recent years.

'Each moment I hear a step outside this house, or a horse galloping up to it, my heart leaps into my throat because I am sure it is a courier bringing me news of you, recreating you before me in, an unsatisfactory way but it is the only way we will have until I can get, my business over, and return to your arms. I throb and burn everywhere upon me, thinking of you encircling me and possessing me. Please, Cossa, keep me in your heart.'

He thought of her, active and vengeful thoughts, but at, night when he slept he dreamed of Catherine Visconti, alive and carnal and possessed by her appetites for him. When he awoke he wanted to return to her, but she was gone. He had only the marchesa.

39

Ladislas told his military staff before battle that they were lucky that Paolo Orsini was the senior-general facing them. `For in that way,' he said, `no one can get hurt.'

Ladislas was an unstable, red-haired man of whom it was said that he maintained such a costly show of arms because he was an arrant coward. He was also an eccentric womanizer, who often left the battlefield with armed guards, to cover some woman his agents had rounded up after the previous day's fighting. He was keen on very stupid, tiny women who would name the children he gave them after him, as they were told to do:

`It is the feast of the Blessed Maria di Giorgio,' he told his staff officers, `and the false pope, John, is probably out blessing the battle standards to give them into the charge of Paolo Orsini, who makes war as if he had contracted to mend a road. Last year, the only time he ever worked for me, he told me he took pride in fighting battles without the loss of a single soldier on either side.' The officers roared with laughter. `Three years ago he stopped French troops from following up a strong advantage, telling them that it is not the Italian custom to kill too many of the enemy. The way he looks at it is: the more men who survive, the longer he will be able to hire them out to war.

`Nonetheless,' Arrigo, Count Cipriani, said, `we still face Sforza and he is the most formidable condottieri general I ever care to oppose.'

`Sforza will be facing you, my dear Count.'

`By 'God, Sforza' has terrible eyes,' the constable, Alberico da Barbiano, said.

`It is a sight defect,' Ladislas answered. `Anyway, we are in hilly country and they will come at us around the Pontine marshes towards Terracina. They will camp near Ceprano, on the bank of the Garigliano, which will be swollen with the spring foods. The river washes the base of the mountain, below a village called Roccasecca which has a citadel. That is where my headquarters will be. We'll fight on the inner side of the river. Sforza will press the attack, but Orsini will be exhorting the troops to avoid a battle and eventually, because his money is running out, the duke will listen to Sforza.' Roccasecca was strategically placed between Rome and Naples, near Cassino. Whichever side won here would win the other's capital city.

At vespers, when the 15,000 Neapolitan soldiers were eating their evening meal, the Duke of Anjou led his army across the river and fell upon the enemy. Louis de Logny led the van; the Marquise de Controne and the Seneschal of Eu led the troops which came in at the -flanks. They made a total surprise amid the pitched tents and the gold and silver plate laid out in banquet; for Ladislas, who was frightstruck.

Hastily, his bodyguard fell into the ruse which had saved him more than once. Six men were dressed and armed identically in the costume and weapons of the king, a breastplate under each royal blue coat worked with golden lilies, and a golden helmet. The king placed Count Arrigo Cipriani in charge of this unit to ensure displays of his honour and bravery, and sent them out into different parts of the fray while he changed with frantic haste into the dress of a slatternly camp follower.

A desperate hand-to-hand struggle went on for more than an hour before the Neapolitans lost heart and fled. The slaughter of horse and foot was great. Pope Gregory's legate to Naples was captured. So were the Counts of Carrara, Cipriani, Arpino, Celano, Loreto and others; in all, ten counts, many other nobles and hundreds of other men were taken prisoner and held for ransom.

By the time the dust had settled, Ladislas had made it to the castle of Roccasecca, which stood on a height above its village. He was powerless. The Duke of Anjou and the papacy of John XXIII had won a great battle. French and Italian troops were pillaging. Much gold and silver plate was captured and the soldiers were rich from the 30,000 horses they took. The battle standards of Ladislas and Gregory were sent to Pope John in Rome. Cossa rejoiced. The war was finished. Louis, Duke of Anjou, would now be King of Naples. Cossa ordered a great procession to assemble and make its way across the city and back again; he himself, the sacred college, prelates, deacons and prebendaries took part, dragging the enemy standards through the mud of the streets of Rome while the people shouted, `Long live the sovereign pontiff! Long live the King of the Sicilies!'

Even as His Holiness distributed his blessings of peace upon the multitude, while rejoicings were at their fullest, news came that Ladislas and a greater part of his troops had escaped the army of the Duke of Anjou and that the great victory had been totally reversed… Cossa went insane with rage as he was forced to mount a horse in mid-procession to rush back to the Vatican and the fortress of Sant Angelo.

It was pathetic. Had the ducal troops followed up their victory at Roccasecca, they could have captured Ladislas and overrun his kingdom. The war would have been over. Sforza had been in the first wave, then had returned to repair his army while Paolo Orsini came up with fresh troops. Orsini refused to call his men away from the pillaging to pursue the Neapolitans. Orsini, general contractor for the day labourers called condottieri, did not wish to see either Ladislas or the duke so well off that they could do, without his contracting services.