On 31 August 1515 the recently crowned king of France, François I, at the head of an army which had just crossed down into Italy, halted at Bufalora, 50 kilometres south of Milan. Standing between the king and his objective was the ruler of the Duchy, Massimiliano Sforza, and an army whose core was made up of 12,000–15,000 Swiss infantry. François had not neglected diplomatic efforts to gain Milan, and his agents had been in negotiations with the leaders of the Swiss since late August. Already 5,000 Swiss from Fribourg and Berne had accepted French terms and marched out of the Milanese. On 9 September a treaty was agreed by which the rest of the Swiss troops would accept 1 million écus to abandon the territories they occupied in the Milanese and their military contract with Sforza. Expecting merely to settle the details of the treaty, François and his army of around 30,000 men, together with the best artillery in Europe, moved to Marignano, where they established a well-fortified encampment. While this was going on, the Swiss debated what to do next. Half those present voted to accept the French offer and return home, but others from the eastern cantons argued that they were bound to honour their contract with Sforza.