Chapter 44

CHAPTER VII

Christendom alarmed by the progress of the Turks--The Turks routed
before Belgrade--Description of a remarkable hurricane--War
against the Genoese and Gismondo Malatesti--Genoa submits to the
king of France--Death of Alfonso king of Naples--Succeeded by his
son Ferrando--The pope designs to give the kingdom of Naples to
his nephew Piero Lodovico Borgia--Eulogy of Pius II.--Disturbances
in Genoa between John of Anjou and the Fregosi--The Fregosi
subdued--John attacks the kingdom of Naples--Ferrando king of
Naples routed--Ferrando reinstated--The Genoese cast off the
French yoke--John of Anjou routed in the kingdom of Naples.

The pope, though anxious to restrain Jacopo Piccinino, did not neglect
to make provision for the defense of Christendom, which seemed in
danger from the Turks. He sent ambassadors and preachers into every
Christian country, to exhort princes and people to arm in defense of
their religion, and with their persons and property to contribute to
the enterprise against the common enemy. In Florence, large sums were
raised, and many citizens bore the mark of a red cross upon their
dress to intimate their readiness to become soldiers of the faith.
Solemn processions were made, and nothing was neglected either in
public or private, to show their willingness to be among the most
forward to assist the enterprise with money, counsel, or men. But the
eagerness for this crusade was somewhat abated, by learning that the
Turkish army, being at the siege of Belgrade, a strong city and
fortress in Hungary, upon the banks of the Danube, had been routed and
the emperor wounded; so that the alarm felt by the pope and all
Christendom, on the loss of Constantinople, having ceased to operate,
they proceeded with deliberately with their preparations for war; and
in Hungary their zeal was cooled through the death of Giovanni Corvini
the Waiwode, who commanded the Hungarian forces on that memorable
occasion, and fell in the battle.

To return to the affairs of Italy. In the year 1456, the disturbances
occasioned by Jacopo Piccinino having subsided, and human weapons laid
aside, the heavens seemed to make war against the earth; dreadful
tempestuous winds then occurring, which produced effects unprecedented
in Tuscany, and which to posterity will appear marvelous and
unaccountable. On the twenty-fourth of August, about an hour before
daybreak, there arose from the Adriatic near Ancona, a whirlwind,
which crossing from east to west, again reached the sea near Pisa,
accompanied by thick clouds, and the most intense and impenetrable
darkness, covering a breadth of about two miles in the direction of
its course. Under some natural or supernatural influence, this vast
and overcharged