510 ALBERT OF BRANDENBURG, METZ, 1552. XDP out against them like a bear robbed of her whelps* ; and they smote him, smiting and wounding him†; and they took him alive, and strangers spoiled his labor at that time, and many of his people were slain with the edge of the sword; and the rest turned their backs, and fled for their lives; and the merchants also, and the Jews who were there, they gave up for a spoil; and in a little moment they spoiled their curtains in that night, and so the city belonged unto the captains of the king; and they fortified it, and put a garrison therein. And this was told unto Don Ferrante, who was yet at Volpian; and it grieved him much. 1300. And God sent an evil spirit between King Henry and the Marquess Albert¶, who also acted treacherously against the king, and went from him unto the emperor; and the emperor made peace with him, and made a covenant with him; and the camp of the emperor increased much. And the Lord hardened his heart, and he went to fight against Metz**, the city which is on the borders of Lorrainett; and besieged it many days. And the emperor took silver and gold in * 2 Sam. xvii. 8. Prov. xvii. 12. Ps. cix. 11. .וולפיאן || מים ** +1 Kings xx. 37. § Comp. Jer. iv. 20. Judg. ix. 23. לורינה ++ קמב THE EMPEROR BESIEGES METZ, 1552. 511 abundance, to fight against France in those days. 1301. And the war was strong against Metz, and in Picardy*; and the hosts of Queen Maria, the emperor's sister, destroyed every good piece of land†, and all the open cities they set on fire, and took also the city of Hesdint, which is nigh to Peronne§. And King Henry armed his trained servants||, and sent them forth; and they went on their journeys until they reached Hesdin; and they besieged it, and cast up a bank against it. And in troublous times, the men of the queen delivered it into their hand on the twenty-fourth day of the tenth month. And he sent them on their way free; and it has belonged unto King Henry until this day. And the hosts of the king in the cities of Flanders, which belonged unto Queen Maria, filled their hand also; and the cry of that desolate land went up toward heaven. 1302. In those days, the hosts of the emperor besieged Metz, and those that were numbered of them, were about one hundred and fifty thousand. [] And they cast up a trench against it, and threw down its strong walls to the ground; and the earth shook at the voice of the battering-rams. And in the midst thereof were about ten thousand [קמב] ובפיקארדיאה * † 2 Ki. iii. 19. 25. , Peronne in Picardy. אידין ! || Gen. xiv. 14. 512 GUISE DEFENDS METZ, 1552. קמב men, and Monseigneur de Guise* was head over them. And they went out against them from the city daily, and joined battle with them, and returned again into the city; and the French were not afraid of them; and they fortified themselves, and builded a second wall within. And the fame of them went throughout all the earth. And the men of the emperor became weary of their livest, because of the terrible cold, and the sore famine in the camp, and there died of them about thirty thousand men. And also upon the horses was the hand of the Lord‡, and there died also of them by the cold, and for want of all things, about three thousand. And the emperor came into the camp, and they that were left cried unto him, "Alas!" And he commanded, and they departed from it on the twenty-eighth day of the month of December; and they drew back. And they gathered themselves into the fenced cities which were round about it, and were quiet there. 1303. And Don Ferrante, the chief of the emperor's host, journeyed to march unto Alba on the nineteenth day of the month of December, and with him were about ten thousand men. And he brought the rams also out to convey them thither; but he repented on the road, and he led the people + Gen. xxvii. 46. .ומונסיניור די גישה * Comp. Exod. ix. 3. קמב SPANIARDS SMITTEN, JAN. 1553. 513 about by the way of San Damiano*, and encamped against it, and cast up a bank against it, and they set up against it round about eighteen rams, and cast the walls thereof to the ground, and the earth shook at their voice. And they cast against it about two thousand iron balls; but they were not afraid of them, and fortified themselves yet more. And from Alba also, about two hundred men, clothed in coats of mail, were sent thither to help them; and they came into the city with a high hand. And it grieved Don Ferrante much. And when he saw that he prevailed not against itt, he commanded, and they undermined it; and those who were within, countermined also from within. And they took one of the men who were in the mines, and the governor of the city asked him of the matters of Don Ferrante and about his communication. And the man told him concerning the things whereof he had asked him. And he made supplication unto him, and the governor of the city had compassion upon him, and they gave him gain of moneys, and sent him on his way. And day by day the men of the city went out against them suddenly, and slew some of them with the edge of the sword. And the men of Don Ferrante were Comp. Exod. xiii. 17, 18. † 2 Kings ix. 11. VOL. II. L L + Gen. xxxii. 25 (26). § Jud. v. 19. 514 ALBA, VILLA NUOVA, CISTERNA, 1553. pp קמב grieved because of them, and because of the terrible cold. And they became tired of abiding there, therefore they went away from it on the sixteenth day of the month of January with shame. And in their haste they left there the provision also. And the men of the city went out, and carried them into the city, and gave thanks unto God. And about five hundred men died in the camp of Don Ferrante in that war. 1304. And it came to pass, as they journeyedt, that the men of Alba, and the men of Villa Nuovat, and the men of Cisterna§, and the men of San Damiano, pursued after them, and smote the hindmost of them, even all that were feeble behind them. And they returned unto Asti**, and remained quietly thereft. And the Lord humbled the hosts of the emperor before the hosts of the king in those days. And they gathered themselves into the fenced cities, and fortified themselves there. 1305. And the viceroy of the emperor journeyed from Naples, to go to war against the lords of Siena and it came to pass, when he was at Exod. i. 12. + Gen. xi. 2. .ציסטירנה $ ווילה נובה ! .סאן דאמיאן || .אסטי ** ¶ Deut. xxv. 18. ++ Comp. Jud. xviii. 7. |