“He met the confederations of Campbell and Alpine, who were also on the march, at Earnford and defeated them in a singularly long and sanguineous battle. But his was a Pyrrhic victory, and before his messengers had had time to reach Edinburgh with news of his triumph, his mauled and battered army had been almost extirpated at the hands of Eannruig of Macintosh and Clan Chattan, who had been marching a few days behind the Campbells and Siol Alpine. Then the Highlanders marched on to Edinburgh.
“The city had been stripped of garrison and many guns to strengthen Ailpein’s venture and, on sight of the Highland army, threw open the gates. Ailpein had fallen on the field of the second battle, so Eannruig quickly wedded Ailpein’s sister, Catriona Stewart, assumed himself the royal patronymic, and the overawed remnant of the Council of Nobles declared him lawful successor and crowned him.
That, Bass, is why the Highlanders showed such loyalty to the former and the present King of Scotland—Alexander and James descend not from Lowland Stewarts but from Highland Macintoshes.
“But back to Francois of France, He had arranged t wedding and an alliance with the Venetians, who had recently gobbled up Milan and were casting acquisitive eyes upon the Piedmont of Savoy. What Venice lacked in lands and troops, she more than made up in money and her powerful fleets. In the opening contest of the War of the Three Marriages, the Aragonese fleet was decisively defeated by a Venetian fleet commanded by the Doge, Francois’s new father-in-law, Angelo di Pola, Shortly, the Aragonese had been driven from the sea, their very ports and coasts were being raided or threatened, and a growing army of mercenaries was pressing upon the eastern border of Savoy, While the western marches of that state watched the steady buildup of the French.
“But before Francois could send the word to march on Savoy, he was himself invaded by the combined armies of Ar-agon-Navarre and Aquitaine, all captained by Duke Henry Tudor, so Francois felt compelled to strip the Savoyard border and apply those troops where he really needed them.
“Meanwhile, the Venetians, flushed with victories and cocksure, had tied up one of their fleets in a siege of Genoa—an ally of Savoy, whose own fleet was busy conquering some islands somewhere in the Aegean—the second to maintain her trade routes, and the third to harry Aragon and either stop or pursue and try to capture any ship bearing the flag of England or Burgundy.
“Inevitably the Venetians fired on one ship too many. Arthur and his father-in-law assembled their own fleet and set sail for the Mediterranean, where they not only soundly defeated the Third Venetian Fleet, but mauled the First so badly that the survivors raised the siege of Genoa and limped home. Upon that note, the Burgundians besieged Marseilles and the English, after annihilating the French Mediterranean Fleet in a great sea battle off the lies d’ Hybres, besieged Toulon.
“On land, however, things were not progressing so welL Duke Henry, though brave as his father, was impetuous, as his father never was. He never in his short life lost a battle, true, but then few of his victories were ever clear-cut and his losses were usually heavy, ruinously heavy. And the Venetians and their mercenaries were finding Savoy a very tough nut to crack, without the other jaw of the pincers—France— to apply pressure; moreover, the Genoese fleet—recalled at the onset of the siege—had broken off its Aegean operations and was harrying Venice’s Adriatic ports and sea routes and had seized the island of Corfu.
“The Florentines, who had never made a secret their unease at the Venetian conquest of Milan, were actively aiding, abetting and arming a force of Milanese exiles. King John of Naples took opportunity of the chaotic conditions to wrest the ports of Otranto and Ragusa and the island of La-gosta from Venetian control, whereupon the Genoese ceded Corfu to him, thus freeing ships and men for more and wider privateering against Venetian ships.”
“And what,” asked Foster, “was Rome doing all this time, Hal?”
The Archbishop smiled. “What Rome always does when these kinds of war flare up, Bass—observing, warning all of the implicit neutrality of the Church, her clergy and her properties. That and making a few fortunes selling sacred powder to everyone with the gold to buy it.