shut himself up in the Castello Nuovo: Charles, at the battle of Fornovo the same day, was forced to abandon his rich baggage train laden with booty from Naples and return to France. Expected reinforcements never arrived in Naples. Vesc, with the viceroy M. de Montpensier and the rest of the French who remained, embarked in a small flotilla laden with booty and artillery for Salerno on 25 October, leaving Naples to the Neapolitans and Ferdinand. In March 1496 he was sent back to France to organize rescue efforts, loading the contents of a warehouse of butin sacré et profane. In May he was once again with the young king, who was already planning a return engagement. Vesc was reimbursed for his expenses defending Gaeta and placed in charge of sending required materials to the garrisons, who were being forced out of one fortress after another in the Kingdom of Naples. Gaeta, the last French toehold in the Regno, capitulated, 19 November 1497, and the last of the expedition was over, an expense of two and a half million francs. Vesc continued to be enthusiastic about a return to Italy, but the royal council was against it. In February 1498 a treaty reassigned Naples to the Aragonese. In April Charles VIII died. Étienne de Vesc was retained in his posts of concierge du Palais and Sénéchal of Beaucaire by Louis XII. In September Vesc was charged with negotiations with the Republic of Venice, and he contributed a fully fitted-out galleass for Louis XII's brief expedition to Naples. His magnificent late Gothic tomb is to be found in the church of Caromb, Drôme. See also Italian Wars Notes External links Jean Gallian, Histoire de Caromb: Caromb sous les Vesc Source for information in this article. Much information about de Vesc (under the name of "Stephen de Vers") in: 1440s births 1501 deaths Medieval French nobility 15th-century French people 16th-century French people