The history of the popes, from the close of the middle ages : drawn ...

THE " MUSSO WAR.' 7I
however, had not got the necessary force to compel the Cas-
tellan of Musso to relinquish his possessions. He was still
less able to do so when Gian Giacomo found a powerful inter-
cessor in Duke Charles III. of Savoy, who succeeded, in
January, 1531, on the basis of the status quo, in arranging a
temporary peace between Gian Giacomo and Francesco Sforza.^
The Castellan of Musso soon showed that his bold and
ambitious spirit was still unbroken. The aggravation of the
differences between the Catholics and those of the new religion
in Switzerland offered him a favourable opportunity for
angling in troubled waters. The celebrated " Musso War,"
a prelude to the " Kappel War," began in March, 1531."
In this enterprise Gian Giacomo had only his own personal
ends in view, which he cleverly sought to disguise under the
pretence of religious zeal. He assured the Emperor, the Pope,
and the Italian princes that his intention was to subdue the
Swiss, who were hostile to the Italians and steeped in abomin-
able heresies. Gian Angelo, who, after the failure at Bologna,
had left the Curia, was actively working in the same sense,
and was now serving his brother as chancellor.^ All efforts,
however, to interest the Pope and the Catholic powers in the
struggle in Switzerland were unavailing. The Duke of Milan
even made common cause with the inhabitants of the Grisons
and accepted, by the treaty of May 7th, 1531, the command in
the war, and especially of the seige of Musso. ^,
In spite of this
the experienced condottiere was able to hold his own until
the following year, and it was only when the mission of Gian
Angelo, in the winter of 1531, to the conference at Baden, had
broken down, that no choice remained to him but to accept
the hard conditions of peace laid down by the conqueror. Gian
^ See SusTA, loc. cit., 17.
2 Cf. Zeller-Werdmuller, Der Krieg gegen den Tyrannen
von Musso, Zurich, 1883 ;
IV. (1862) ;
{1893) ;
Joller in the Kath. Scheitzer Blattern,
GniNZONiin Bollett. stor. d. Svizz. ItaL, XV., 140 seq.
Weiss, loc. cit. where there are further hterary statements.
^ CJ. SusTA, Pius IV., 17 seq.
* See Eidgenossische Abschiede, IV., ib, 977, 563 seq. ; Giussani
II Forte di Fuentes, 365 seq., Como, 1905.