When he returned to Venice, the state received their captain with all honors, and displayed unusual pomp in his admission to the audience of the Council.

But no sooner had their velvet clutches closed upon him, than they threw him into prison, instituted a secret impeachment of his conduct, and on May 5, 1432, led him out with his mouth gagged, to execution on the Piazza.

No reason was assigned for this judicial murder.

Had Carmagnuola been convicted of treason?
Was he being punished for his ill success in the campaign of the preceding years?
The Republic of Venice, by the secrecy in which she enveloped this dark act of vengeance, sought to inspire the whole body of her officials with vague alarm.
[1] Such an act of violence, however consistent with the morality of a Cesare Borgia, a Venetian Republic, or a Duke of Milan, would have been directly opposed to the code of honor in use among Condottieri.
Nothing, indeed, is more singular among the contradictions of this period than the humanity in the field displayed by hired captains.
War was made less on adverse armies than on the population of provinces.

The adventurers respected each other's lives, and treated each other with courtesy.