THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA RIVERSIDE Ex Libris ; C. K. OGDEN THE WAR OF FREDERICK L AGAINST THE COMMUNES OF LOMBARDY. HISTORY WAR OF FREDERICK I AGAINST THE COMMUNES OF LOMBARDY. BY GIOVANNI BATTISTA TESTA i/' of Trino, KNIGHT OF THE ORDERS OF SS. MAURICE AND LAZARUS AND OF THE CROWN OF ITALY AND CORRESPONDING MEMBER OF THE ROYAL DELEGATION FOR THE STUDY OF THE NATIONAL HISTORY. A TRANSLATION FROM THE ITALIAN, REVISED BY THE AUTHOR. LONDON : SMITH, ELDER, & CO., 15 WATERLOO PLACE. 1877. [All rights reserved.} TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE W. E. GLADSTONE. To YOU do I dedicate this work, in which I have undertaken to nar- rate the rise of Italian liberty, in order to have an opportunity of expressing to you the high opinion which I formed of the goodness and greatness of your soul, when, with that grave moderation which adds grace and authority to truth, you undertook to make known to all the good in Christendom, with how great injustice so many Italians are kept shut up in the wretchedness of the Neapolitan prisons ; men to whose charge no offence can be laid, excepting that, by reason of the unhappy condition of the times, they have failed in their attempt to recover for their country that liberty which in the Middle Ages appeared with such glory in Italy, as the dawn of the present civilisation of Europe. Your name, now one of the first in this kingdom, will never cease to be loved and honoured by Italians, until love of justice, and compassion for the unfortunate who have deserved well of their country, no longer find a place amongst the virtues which exalt human nature. Be pleased to have regard, most of all, to the spirit in which 1 send you this offering of respect and gratitude. Receive it kindly, were it only for this, that it comes to you attended by fervent prayers, which I shall never cease to offer up to the Great Source of every good, that upon you, and upon this your land, in which for so many many years I have found a safe abiding-place, and kindnesses not a few, He may long shower every blessing. G. B. TESTA. DONCASTER : May 24, 1853. CONTENTS. PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. PART THE FIRST. CHAPTER I. PAGE 1. How civilisation, having put an end to barbarian invasions, works for the regeneration of the peoples .... 3 2. How, when the laws no longer availed the degenerate Romans, the barbarians came to destroy them ; and from these sprang better inhabitants ........ 6 3. Scope of the work. Summary of this Discourse ... 9 4. Rule of the Carlovingians 10 5. Reign of Berenger. Low condition of Italy. Remnant of muni- cipal privileges in the cities. First signs of improvement . 1 1 6. Reigns of Louis, Rodolf, Hugh, and Lothaire .... 14 7. Reign of Berenger II. 16 CHAPTER II. 1. Reign of Otho I. Progress of civilisation amongst the inhabitants of the cities. Otho's liberality towards the Communes . 17 2. Reign of Otho II. Movement towards liberty in the Communes 19 3. Examples of this in the vicissitudes of Milan .... 20 4. Reign of Otho III. The innovations in the cities are repressed. Resolute character of these peoples 22 5. Of the Church of Milan, and its Archbishop .... 23 6. Of the Iron Crown . 25 CHAPTER III. 1. Rivalry between Ardoin and Henry II 28 2. Of the power of the Bishops 28 3. Rivalry between Milan and Pavia. Burning of Pavia . . 29 4. Reign and death of Ardoin. Wars of Arnulf II., Archbishop of Milan . .. . 31 viii CONTENTS. 5. Of the other peoples of Italy 32 6. Election of Conrad the Salic in Germany. Many princes refuse the Crown of Italy 3 2 7. Wonderful effect of prophecy in the year 1000 .... 34 8. Conrad acknowledged King in Italy. Why the cities refused the King a palace within their walls . . . . -35 9. Conrad crowned King and Emperor. His memorable Diet . 36 CHAPTER IV. 1. Character of Heribert, and his wars 38 2. Sedition of the vavassins against the vavasours, and of the vavasours against the Archbishop 38 3. The Archbishop's imprisonment. His escape. Siege of Milan . 39 4. The Archbishop's plot against Conrad. Conrad stirs up war against him in Lombardy ....... 40 5. Heribert invents the Carroccio. Description of it . . .41 6. Death of Conrad. The Archbishop goes into Germany to Henry III. Origin of the Order of the Umiliati .... 42 7. Discords in Lombardy during the absence of Henry III. Condi- tion of Milan. War between the nobles and the people . 43 8. The Archbishop's authority insufficient to reconcile them . 44 9. The nobles make a treacherous peace with the people. Death of Heribert and of Lanzone. Cruelties of the nobles . . 45 10. Henry III. in Italy. He is crowned Emperor. His decree con- cerning the election of the Popes 45 11. Death of Henry III. His little authority in Italy . . .46 CHAPTER V. 1. Reign of Henry IV. Causes of discord between him and the Church. Why the Lombard cities followed at first the party of the King 48 2. What assistance he received from them against Hildebrand and the Countess Matilda 49 3. How the Countess Matilda restored her party, and induced the Lombard cities to make a League with her against Henry . 50 4. Divorce of Matilda and Guelf V. Death of Conrad . . .50 5. The French Crusaders drive the anti-Pope out of Rome, and the Emperor out of Italy. Death of the Emperor . . . 51 6. Discords in Milan in the time of Henry IV., concerning the marriage of the clergy . . . . . . . .52 7. Good effect of the Crusades in Lombardy. Use of surnames, and of armorial bearings . . . . . . . 53 8. Prosperous condition of the cities in the time of Henry V. . -55 9. War in Lombardy during the absence of Henry V. . . . 55 10. Whimsical customs of these peoples in time of war . . .56 11. Henry V. in Italy. His cruelties. Imprisonment of Pascal II. 57 12. Condition of Bologna. Its University. Origin of the statutes of the cities f . . .58 CONTENTS. ix CHAPTER VI. PAGE 1. Destruction of Lodi. Discords in Milan Co 2. Death of the Countess Matilda. Her testament in favour of the Church. The Emperor takes possession of her inheritance . 61 3. War between Milan and Como. Destruction of Como . . 62 4. Calixtus II. Agreement concerning the investitures. Honorius II. Death of Henry V 66 5. Election of Lothaire. Rivalry of Conrad. Wars in Lombardy. Schism of Anacletus ........ 67 6. Roger is made King of Apulia. Effect of the rivalry for the Empire, and of the schism 68 7. Council of Pisa. Character of St. Bernard. His great au- thority 70 8. Insurrection of the Milanese against their Archbishop. They invite Bernard to reconcile them with the Pope and with the Emperor 71 9. Coming of Lothaire into Italy. His victories and death . . 72 10. Election of Conrad III. He takes the Cross. Condition of the peoples of Lombardy, Tuscany, and Romagna. State of Rome, and of Roger. Death of Conrad III. . ... 75 PART THE SECOND. CHAPTER I. 1. Of the qualities of heroic times. How they died away in Lom- bardy 81 2. Dante's testimony as to these times in Italy .... 83 3. An inclination for war proper to heroic times. Why the Lombards did not make a League against the Emperors . . . -85 4. Of the character of the Lombards of this period ... 87 5. Of the liberation of the slaves 92 6. Of the possession of the lands 94 7. Of the government of the Lombard Communes . . . .96 CHAPTER II. 1. Of Italian architecture 99 2. Of public worship and parochial institutions .... 102 3. Of the Italian language and poetry . . . . .105 4. Causes of the decadence after the Peace of Constance. Conclu- sion . .iii CONTENTS. HISTORY OF THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. BOOK I. 1 152. PAGE 1. Death of Conrad III 119 2. Character of Frederick 1 119 3. His election 120 4. His proceedings in Germany. Agreement with the Pope. Pro- mises to the Sicilian exiles .121 1153- 5. Diet in Constance. Complaints of two Lodigians to the King, His commands to the Milanese by Sicherius . . .122 6. Terror of the Lodigians at the news 123 7. Fury of the Milanese against Sicherius, and their threats against the Lodigians .124 8. Indignation of the King. Other complaints against the Milanese 124 9. Repentance of the Milanese. Frederick rejects their gifts. His preparations for going down into Italy 125 10. War between Milan and Pavia 126 1154. 11. Descent of Frederick into Italy. Diet of Roncaglia. Descrip- tion of the Camp 126 12. Muster of the vassals. The Marquis of Montferrat . . .127 13. Complaints of the Communes, especially of Lodi and Como, against the Milanese 128 14. Reply of the Milanese Consuls. Sentence of the King . .129 15. Frederick's departure for Piedmont. His cruelties . . .130 16. Unworthy behaviour of the Milanese towards their Consuls, and towards the inhabitants of Rosate 17. Frederick's further cruelties ....... 1 8. Adrian IV. Arnold of Brescia. William King of Sicily . 19. Frederick burns Chieri and Asti 20. Siege, surrender, and destruction of Tortona .... 21. Generous reception of the Tortonese in Milan. 22. Triumph of Frederick in Pavia. His march towards Rome 23. Capture and burning of Arnold of Brescia .... 24. Ceremonial misunderstanding between the Pope and the King . 25. Embassy of the Romans to Frederick. His answer 26. Coronation of Frederick 27. Tumultuous rising of the Romans. Slaughter made amongst them by the Emperor 143 28. Pestilence in the German host. Its departure from Rome . .144 $9. Frederick destroys Spoleto. He moves towards Ancona . 145 CONTENTS. xi I' AC P. 30. His jealousy of the Greek Emperor 145 31. He is compelled by the pestilence to disband the army. His return towards Verona 146 32. Treacherous device against him on the Adige. He re-enters Germany 146 33. Rebuilding of Tortona 147 BOOK II. 1155 TO 1157. 1. Condition of the Milanese 150 2. Of the walls of Maximian 1 50 3. Of still more ancient walls 151 4. Growth of Milan 152 5. New fortifications. Of Maestro Guglielmo Guintellino . .152 6. Alliances of the Milanese 1 54 7. Of the Commune of Vercelli 155 8. Of the origin of the Marquises of Montferrat . . . 159 9. Of the Marquis William I V 162 10. Wars of the Milanese with their neighbours . . . .163 11. Of the Counts of Biandrate . . . . . . .164 12. War against Pavia 166 13. Surrender of Pavia 166 14. Injustice towards the Lodigians 168 15. Guido defends the Lodigians 170 16. Of the Mandelli 173 17. Reply of Tazio dei Mandelli 173 1 8. Oppression of the Lodigians 174 BOOK III. 1157. 1. Hindrances in the way of Frederick's return .... 177 2. The Pope's League with Manuel 177 3. William defeats the Greeks, and makes peace with the Pope . 178 4. Beginning of discord between Frederick and the Pope . .180 5. Fruitless mediation of the Bishops of Germany . . . 181 1158. 6. Frederick's precursors in Italy 182 7. The Pope's reconciliation with Frederick 183 8. Frederick's second expedition . . . . . . .184 9. Frederick's military regulations . . ; . . .185 10. Citation and condemnation of the Milanese . . . .186 11. Frederick crosses the Adda 188 12. Frederick founds New Lodi 190 13. Attack of Ekeberto 190 14. Frederick arrives under Milan . . . . . .191 Xll CONTENTS. 15. Death of Tazio dei Mandelli 193 16. Attack upon the Postern of Tosa 194 17. Attack upon the Postern of Butinego 195 1 8. Taking of the Roman Arch 195 19. Cruelties practised during this siege . ..... 198 20. Surrender of Milan 199 21. Convention of the surrender 203 BOOK IV. 1. Frederick grants leave of absence to part of the army . . 207 2. Rising of Verona and Ferrara 207 3. Diet of Roncaglia 208 4. Of the Podestas 210 5. The Genoese reject the new laws of Roncaglia . . . .212 6. Fresh tumults in Lombardy 214 1159. 7. Rising of Milan 215 8. Diet at Antimiaco 216 9. New differences with the Pope . . . . . . .217 10. Diet in Bologna 218 11. Taking of Trezzo 220 12. Discomfitures of the Milanese 221 13. Attempts against Frederick's life 223 14. Defeat of the Brescians ........ 224 15. The Cremonese encamp under Crema ...... 224 16. Defeat of the Milanese at Cavagnara 225 17. Frederick goes to the siege of Crema ...... 227 18. Cruelties in the Imperial camp 230 19. Repulse of the first attack 231 20. Frederick's atrocious cruelty ....... 232 BOOK V. 1. Hatred of the peoples against Frederick 235 2. League between Milan, Brescia, Piacenza, and the Pope. . 235 3. Death of Adrian. Double election to the Pontifical See . . 236 4. Attempt against the Castle of Manerbio 237 5. Repulse of the second attack upon Crema ... . . . 238 6. Marchisio's treachery 239 1160. 7. General assault 240 8. Surrender of Crema ......... 243 9. Council of the schismatics in Pavia 245 10. The Pope excommunicates Frederick and his adherents . . 246 11. Attempt of the Milanese against Lodi . . . .... 247 12. Frederick declines battle at- San Romano , 249 CONTENTS. xiii PAGE 13. Battle between the Milanese and Lodigians at the Villa Cornelia 250 14. Siege of Lodi 251 15. Battle of Carcano 253 1 6. Surprise and rout of some Cremonese and Lodigians _. . 256 17. Great fire in Milan . . . 258 1 8. Frederick's attempts against Piacenza 259 19. Capture of Bagnagatta 260 20. Skirmish at Doveria 261 21. Apologetic digression 262 BOOK VI. 1161. 1. Surprise and defeat of some Lodigians in a wood . . . 266 2. Siege of the Castle of Castiglione 266 3. Defeat of the Lodigians 268 4. Arrival of the army of Germany 268 5. Second siege and blockade of Milan 270 6. Second Council of the schismatics, in Lodi . . . .271 7. Cruelties of Frederick 272 8. Inroad of the Piacentines on the Lodigian territory . . 272 9. Rigorous measures of the Consuls in Milan 273 10. Battle of Cerro 274 11. Devastations and cruelties around Milan 276 12. Last inroad of the Milanese on the Lodigian territory . . 277 1162. 13. The Milanese offer to surrender 278 14. Surrender of Milan 280 15. Destruction of Milan 282 16. Noble behaviour of the Canons of the Basilica of St. Ambrose 288 17. Frederick holds his triumph in Pavia 289 BOOK VII. 1. Surrender of Brescia and Piacenza 292 2. Submission of Pisa and Genoa 293 3. Reorganisation of the Lombard cities 293 4. Submission of Bologna, of Turisendo, and of the rest of the country ........... 294 5. Frederick goes into Burgundy. His vain attempts to hoodwink the King of France 296 6. New measures of precaution in Italy 297 7. Condition of the Milanese in the villages 297 1163. 8. Bad treatment of the Milanese 299 9. Frederick's return into Italy 301 xiv CONTENTS. PAGE 10. Translation of the body of S. Bassiano 3 01 11. Second destruction of Tortona 3 2 12. Frederick liberates the Milanese hostages 3 2 13. The Milanese supplicants at Vigentino 34 14. The Chancellor takes away the relics of the Three Magi . . 305 15. Frederick's agreement with the Genoese and Pisans . . 306 1164. 1 6. Movements in the march of Verona 36 17. Frederick's difficulties in Italy and Germany .... 308 1 8. Embassy of the Lombards to the Veronese 3 1Q 19. Frederick flies from the Veronese army 3 11 20. Wisdom of the Veronese League 3 1 2 21. New provisions of Frederick to win back some of the Com- munes 3 J 3 22. Frederick crowns Barasone King of Sardinia . . . -315 BOOK VIII. 1165. 1. Tyranny of the prefects in Lombardy 317 2. The Pope's return into Italy 320 3. Proceedings of the Veronese League 321 1 1 66. 4. Frederick's return into Italy 321 5. Disagreement at this point in the accounts of contemporary historians . ........ 322 6. Frederick's bad strategy in this expedition 323 1167. 7. Frederick goes with the army into Romagna .... 324 8. Of the secret plottings of the Lombards 326 9. Tradition concerning Friar James, the Cross-bearer . . 327 10. Diet of the Lombards at Pontida 328 11. Speech of Pinamonte dei Vimercati 328 12. Terror in the Milanese villages 333 13. Return of the Milanese into their city 335 14. The Lodigians refuse to join the League 336 15. War against the Lodigians 339 1 6. Praise due to the Lodigians 340 17. Taking of Trezzo 341 1 8. Frederick at the siege of Ancona 342 BOOK IX. 1. Inconstancy of the Romans 344 2. Defeat of the Romans at Tusculum 345 CONTENTS. xv PAGE 3. Effects of the defeat at Tusculum 347 4. Frederick attacks Rome 348 5. Frederick's artful proposal of peace 350 6. Pestilence in Rome 351 7. Frederick's return to Pavia 352 8. Progress of the League .... ... 354 9. Return of Galdino della Sala, as Archbishop, to Milan . . 355 10. First form of the League 357 1168 TO 1174. 1 1. Frederick flies from Italy 360 12. Destruction of Biandrate 362 13. Obizzo Malaspina joins the League 365 14. Founding of Alessandria 366 15. Increase of the League 368 16. War of the Marquis of Montferrat against the Vercellese . . 368 17. Zeal of the Lombards to restore themselves .... 370 BOOK X. 1. Hostilities of the Romans against the Pope, and with their neighbours ... 376 2. Negociations of the Greek Emperor 376 3. Frederick's simulated peace negociations with the Pope . . 377 4. Wars and discords in other parts of Italy .... 379 5. Arrival of Christian of Mentz 380 6. Diet of the League in Modena 382 7. Siege of Ancona . 383 1174. 8. Frederick's descent into Italy 392 9. Surrender of Asti 393 10. Siege of Alessandria 394 1175- 11. Frederick's perfidy 397 12. Peace negociations . 398 13. The Consuls of Cremona suspected and punished . . . 400 14. The Chancellor attacks the Bolognese 400 15. Frederick's firmness in his low fortune 401 16. His device to gain time 403 17. Institution of the Bishopric of Alessandria 405 1 8. Departure of Henry the Lion 406 BOOK XI. 1176. 1. Arming of the Lombards 408 2. Death of the Archbishop Galdino 409 xvi CONTENTS. PAGK 3. Sad condition of Frederick in Pavia 410 4. Arrival of the army of Germany . . . . . .411 5. Battle of Legnano 411 6. Decree of the Milanese for this victory 417 7. Legend concerning this victory . . . . . . .417 8. Frederick, in Pavia, resolves upon peace 419 9. Private peace between the Empire and the Church . . .421 10. Defection of several Communes 422 1 1. Consternation of the Confederates, and of the Pope . . . 423 1177. 12. Arrival of the Pope at Venice 424 13. Difficulty in the choice of a place for the Congress . . . 425 14. The Pope goes to Ferrara, and proposes Venice . . . 425 15. The Congress is opened in Venice 427 16. The Congress is disturbed 433 17. The Barons insist upon peace 434 1 8. Frederick consents to a peace with the Church, and a truce with the Communes ......... 435 19. Frederick ratifies the treaty in Venice 436 20. Disloyalty of Frederick 437 21. Moderation and charity of the Pope 438 22. Other desertions from the League 438 23. New policy of Frederick 440 1183. 24. Frederick consents to a peace with the Communes . . .441 25. Conclusion 443 INDEX 445 Errata. Page 17, line i6,for Almerano > T 7> !?, ,, Monferrat ,, 20, margin, ,, Examples 50, line 8, VI. 58, 27, ,, Lombardy J 33> .. 34, Tenaro ad Aleram Montferra Example. IV. Italy. Tanaro. '43, 35, ., about in the church ; read about, admiring the beauty of that sacred nlace 145, last line, Paleologus read Palaeologus. 162, line 31, ,, second younger, Alexius II. '64, 5, on at a distance of seven miles from 23. ,, 34, ,, at in 207, 22, ,, Corradodi Maze read Conrad di Mazze. 2 8, 37, put a colon after Bologna, and delete the comma between Martino and Gossia "5, ,, 27, for Manfreda read Manfredi. 259, margin, Frederick Frederick's. JV, '"feltl, 277, line 21, ,, Xl*_ul*lf^n ,, i- l CUCI 11.K S. ,, the provisions read provisions. 315, margin, Barosone Barasone. 317, line 24, Cmmbac . Grumbac. 364, 33, ,, Sigonio , Sigonius. 360, 18, 372, iQ, ,, the glorious ,, Giordana , a glorious. , Giordano. 395, ,, 2, ,, Tenaro , Tanaro. 4'8, ,, 6, ,, Contemporary , .the. ,, 410, ,, o, ,, v^oniemporary , tne. 422, lines 27, 28, for abandoned their cause read made peace with the Emperor. DISCOURSE ON THE ORIGIN OF THE LIBERTY OF THE COMMUNES OF LOMBARDY PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. PART FIRST. CHAPTER I. I. SOME, who think it possible from the study of the distant HOW civiii- past to forecast the vicissitudes of the future, are of opinion f atl ? n - r f f having put that a nation, when it has become debased and enslaved, can an end to never return to a condition of civilisation and freedom, until invasions, it has first recovered simple and virtuous habits; and that the )h rl re f< e- likeliest means of such a recovery, more effectual than any Deration .. . , , ..... . of the seventy of its laws or change in its institutions, is the invasion peoples. of some barbarous people ; who, bringing with them wild hardihood and ignorance of vice, sweep away in part by the very rush of victory the cowardice of the vanquished, and aftenvards, by living amongst them, communicate valour and simplicity to those who remain ; so that when the two nations are blended together, there arises from them a new generation, which, if it should come to be established under a good and free government, will have virtue in itself to maintain it. In proof of this, they cite the example of Rome, and the origin of the republics which flourished in the Middle Ages in Lombardy ; for this opinion of theirs is entirely founded upon the vicissitudes of ancient nations. In fact, amongst the nations of modern times, although there are not wanting those whose corruptions require some remedy, there is not one which continues in a state so rude and wild that it could easily be moved in a mass from its place, and brought to renew, by the hardy simplicity of its customs, the social condition of another. Men, being now 4 PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. PART I. everywhere engaged in agriculture and the arts, have fixed habitations, and, with a settled mode of life, have acquired habits of industry ; so that each can improve himself and his condition upon his native soil ; and afterwards, as they are made more free, and provident, and intelligent by the existing civilisation, which consents not to the sloth and slavery of ancient times, wherever the population becomes too numerous, those who are unwilling to endure hard cir- cumstances any longer in their native land, gradually go forth from it of their own accord, and each takes his way towards whatever region he prefers, in search of some good place to dwell in, which may become for him and his a new and happy country. Hence we no longer sec, as in barbarous times, whole nations breaking forth to occupy the la.nds of others by the mere right of the stronger, for that super- abundant population, which used formerly to transport itself from one part of the world to another with such tumultuous destruction, now disperses itself almost imperceptibly, and to the manifest advantage both of the place in which it goes to dwell and of that from whence it departs. It seems but right that I should here briefly advert to two chief characteristics of this European civilisation, in virtue of which, having now put an end to barbarian invasions, it is becoming, more and more, so different from that of ancient times, and is working so powerfully for the regeneration and prosperity of the peoples ; although, by reason of the diver- sities of government and of national character, its doctrines and ameliorations are not yet everywhere received with the same degree of favour and goodwill. First may be noticed that which it derives from the know- ledge of the various sciences connected with the arts, both liberal and mechanical, now not only more than ever widely diffused, but zealously employed, less in exercising the mind with speculative notions, and amusing it with barren con- templations, than in facilitating human industry, and increas- ing the resources and conveniences of life. And it owes the other to the greatly increased influence that has been exercised by evangelical truth, since it began to be again proclaimed in its original simplicity and purity. By means of the first, innumerable ingenious contrivances CHAP. I. PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. 5 are provided for the use of man, and his toils and privations are diminished ; so that in countries where, through the bounty of heaven, those sciences flourish most, the trades- man, the artisan, the poor husbandman even, can give some rest to his horny hands, enlarge his mind by the use of instructive books, and educate himself for a useful and dignified course of life. And this reacts for good even upon those who enjoy the advantages of rank and fortune ; for it behoves them, by blamelessness of life and by sound learning, to keep well in advance, lest the sons of toil who come behind should stealthily gain upon them in the career of intellect and of honour, and so, outstripped at last, they should fall with shame from their nobility. And by means of the second, or of those reforms which will ever shed a glory on the history of the sixteenth century, every earthly intervention being removed, as far as is per- mitted, from between God and man, the human conscience attains to a clearer view of the Pattern of all perfection ; and the more it is exercised in those truths which lead to final salvation, the more it is purified and enlightened ; so that being made more tender, quick, and faithful, it watches over the government, not only of the actions but of the thoughts ; and thus the man becomes, not outwardly only, but truly and inwardly, conformed to that great Pattern. Hence it is that since the Reformation, the superstitions which so saddened mankind having gradually passed away, even in places which showed themselves most fiercely opposed to that change, there is diffused over all Europe a purer morality, which ministers to the reason and the faith of man a more sin- cere and more earnest solicitude to learn and to know ' the things which belong unto his peace.' Modern civilisation, promoted chiefly by these two good influences, is progressing throughout its whole extent towards a condition which seems to possess, as far as anything human can, an inherent principle of stability, in that by the wise and salutary redresses of every day, man and his affairs are daily renewed ; and if, now and then, this civilisation is in some parts disturbed and interrupted, in no long time the obstacle is overcome, and it resumes its wonted course ; so that, considered as a whole, it appears that it has never receded. 6 PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. PART i. In fact, we see the European nations not only firmly settled, each within its own boundaries, and every one ready to imitate any other which gives proofs of wiser legislation and shows clearer signs of well-regulated liberty, but also vicing with one another in the rapid interchange of com- modities, inventions, and knowledge of every kind ; through which animated intercourse their affairs are now so closely bound together, that it seems as if the time must come, if it is not come already, when prosperity and the guardianship of it will be shared in common by the whole of Europe. Such, then, being the course of human civilisation, the opinion referred to above will not be found true, excepting with regard to ancient nations, or at least to those on the very borders of pagan antiquity, which, having little of the knowledge and none of the holy correctives that abound in our Christian time, and being only sustained by a virtue which never sufficed to restore them, were pressed upon by barbaric force, and constantly liable to terrible overthrows ; such as those which Italy underwent again and again, from the invasion of the barbarians to the resurrection of liberty in Lombardy. 2. Rome, having still, in the time of the first Brutus, a rustic population, uncontaminated by vice and luxury, was able, after she had expelled her kings and gained new laws and institutions, to maintain her liberty, to defend herself and her possessions against powerful neighbours, and to prosper. But when, along with her triumphs, the gold and the vices of the conquered nations entered her gates, and ancestral honours, and the statues which arose in their vestibules, took the place of virtue amongst the patricians, and the whole nation showed itself more desirous of ease and pleasure than of liberty, neither the rigour of the Censorian laws, nor the cutting off of the tyrant by the second Brutus, availed, I say not to bring her back to the integrity and liberty of early times, but even to support her so far as to prevent her from becoming a prey to the worst of tyrannies. Hence, everything being turned upside down, the Roman people were seen rapidly falling from that greatness to which the worth and valour of many centuries had raised them, defiled with as many vices as they had been adorned with CHAP. i. PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. 7 virtues in their rising days ; and whereas they once knew how to live honourably in poverty, and to conquer and subdue brave kings and powerful republics, afterwards, having lost their liberty, they accounted it their chief glory to sit down in idleness amidst their ill-gotten wealth, to flatter their lords, and to retain with difficulty the acquisitions made by their ancestors. In the solitudes of the country, now portioned out into vast estates and useless pleasure-grounds, amidst the squalor and misery of slaves, the only tillers of that soil which once was cultivated by the hands of consuls, a few patricians, who cared nothing for the commonwealth, lived in lazy luxury, and, without leaving any memory of themselves behind, con- sumed by sloth or smitten by the fierce hands of the Caesars, fell ingloriously upon the ashes of those whose names they had dishonoured ; for if peace was enjoyed and sometimes glory won in the time of the Empire, it was to be attributed to the reigning Emperor, and partly also to the terror still inspired by the ancient Latin eagles. Therefore, amidst this vice and luxury, for a while with arms, and afterwards, when all respect for the laws was gone, with gold, they warded off the barbarous hordes, which, stung by wrongs and urged by want, continually raged upon the frontier. But as the Empire grew daily weaker, the courage and hope of those nations rose at last so high that, no longer satisfied with receiving tribute, they resolved to take possession of the land and of the men that sent it; justly arguing that a people which would stoop to the meanness of purchasing their forbearance could have little to oppose to their arms. From very ancient times a tradition had been current amongst the Romans, that when one of their kings was digging the foundations of the Capitol, the god Terminus, though one of the minor deities, refused to yield his place to Jove himself ; and the augurs, drawing a good omen from the obstinacy of the god, declared that the boundaries of the Roman power would never recede. The moderation and courage with which the people conducted themselves at home and abroad had long given fulfilment to this prophecy, but now, when those virtues had passed away from amongst them, it at last began to be falsified. Some of those nations, then, leaving the forests and 8 PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. PART I marshy deserts of the North, where the supply of food was almost always too scanty for the population, poured themselves down into Italy, and gave the whole land to fire and sword. But who can describe their cruel use of victory, and the wretched condition of the vanquished ? Houses and cities changed masters, or were razed to the ground ; the country was laid desolate, and the landmarks were removed at will ; churches and cloisters were broken into, their precious things stolen, and their relics scattered and profaned ; the monuments of art, the works of ancient genius, were shattered, buried, or carried away ; a wretched multitude of women, children, and old men, whom the conqueror had rejected as unfit for servi- tude, without home, without any resting-place, went wander- ing about in misery; and names and language, and laws and customs were all corrupted and changed. But out of this bloody confusion, destroyer of all order in things and amongst men, there arose, nevertheless, in the course of time, some good ; for the invasion of these barbarians, putting an end alike to the luxurious haughtiness of the patricians and the base dependence of the common people, struck at the root of many vices in Italy ; in the midst of which, after so much evil was swept away, and the tameness of the vanquished was blended with the ferocity of the conquerors, there sprang up, from that mixed blood, a race more hardy and more innocent, which, after a long course of wars and vicissitudes, the germ of virtue being still alive within it, was able to fill her cities with noble citizens, and to make her glad and prosperous again with wealth and liberty. I say, after a long course of wars and vicissitudes, for many and very mighty were the nations that came down, almost pressing one upon another, into the plains of Italy, so that those who had first spoiled and slain the degenerate Romans were themselves assailed and scattered by new invaders ; a most cruel struggle, in which everything, but slavery, was long made uncertain. Had that part of Italy which was occupied by Theodoric, and after him by the Lombards, been permitted to retain the laws and institutions which they established there, not only would the people, growing more deeply attached to them from age to age, have brought them, with the aid of time, to greater perfection, but the country, becoming gradually united under CHAP. i. PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. 9 their influence, might have risen to the power and enduring dignity of a great kingdom. But from the suppositions that we form at will concerning things gone by we can make out anything we please ; it is unprofitable, therefore, and fallacious to dwell on such contingencies. He who traces up events to their origin, meditates upon them with an honest mind, and expounds their consequences with an ardent love of truth ; he, if he writes, gives by his history instruction and delight ; for our pleasure in history arises just from this, that, knowing that what has been may to some extent occur again, we are glad to seek in the proceedings of others a rule for our own. 3. Now, seeing in the old histories that the cities of Scope of Venice, of Lombardy, and of the March of Treviso were the simumry first to reconstitute themselves under free governments, and of this . ,. discourse. that amongst the wars that they sustained they signalised themselves in none so much as in that against Frederick I., in Lombardy, the desire occurred to me to gather together the records which are to be found of that war in the works of various authors, and compose a narrative of the deeds that were done by those republics in defence of their privileges against that Emperor, down to the Peace of Constance. But, because that contest was closely connected with former events in the history of those peoples, I have resolved, in order that its causes and its nature may be better understood, to prefix to my work a brief discourse on the origin and progress of their power and liberty. Arduous is the task of extracting truth from so remote an antiquity, and the more so, because, by chance or malice, many of the writings of those times have been destroyed ; so that there can be various opinions con- cerning them ; but if I here present with modesty that which I have gathered from the works of many respectable writers, who can reprove me ? It does not seem necessary to cite my authority at every step, for, as I shall certainly tell nothing that has not been told by others, he who may think me mis- taken in the interpretation or connection of any passage knows where to find it already. I say, then, that from the beginning of the twelfth century many cities in Lombardy possessed a republican form of government ; yet they had not rejected the sovereignty of the Emperor, but only the authority of his officials, whom he io PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. PART i. sent to them with the title, for the most part, of Counts. They desired to be governed by magistrates chosen by themselves. But such changes took place amongst them gradually, and in different degrees in different cities ; they were not introduced with the distinct and general consent of the Emperors ; neither after they had made their appearance in the cities did they everywhere receive their sanction. In fact, the Emperors, en- gaged in the wars and the factions of Germany, often involved in quarrels with the Popes, and sometimes brought low by their excommunications, were unable to withstand these innova- tions effectually in their beginnings and check their progress ; whilst the cities, taking their non-interference for a tacit consent, and constantly availing themselves of their weakness, increased their territory and their liberty by expelling the urban Counts, who ruled them in the Emperor's name, and attacking, one after another, the rural Counts, who had usurped their territory, destroying their castles, and forcing them to become citizens ; and afterwards, as custom in political affairs acquires the force of law, they thought, when they saw themselves grown wealthy and powerful, that they had thus obtained a right to maintain the form of government under which they had prospered so much ; whereas the Emperors, although they sometimes found themselves compelled to recognise it, and to grant the cities ample privileges, always, whenever they had leisure and opportunity, endeavoured everywhere to abolish it, and to bring them all back again into their former subjection. Hence it is that in their contests, and treaties of agreement, the cities always laid most stress upon their good and lawful customs, and made it their chief object to have them acknow- ledged and confirmed. Of many things, however, which are mentioned in the ancient charters we cannot, at this distance of time, understand the full meaning and importance. And that these republics thus arose, and that for these causes they were afterwards contended with, can only be known and proved by examining, in the old histories, the public documents which, one after another, they left behind them, and which, like way-marks, show the stages of their progress and the course of human civilisation. 4. Let it, then, be permitted me to rehearse from afar the times and the fortunes of that land, and to say that Charle- CHAP. I. PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. u magne, by abolishing in Lombardy the government of its kings, deprived it, although he erected the Kingdom of Italy there, of union, power, and dignity ; for, under the rule to which he subjected it, it was governed rather as a province than as a kingdom ; and, amidst the shameful and wicked dissensions of his house, the provinces fell too much under the sway of the Dukes and Marquises, men so powerful that they after- wards aspired to the throne; the principal cities, under that of the Bishops, who, after the example of those in France, were beginning to assume more authority than became them in temporal matters ; and the other cities, under that of the Counts ; in whose territories the monks and Barons, as men who well knew how to make the most of the services which they rendered to their rulers, began, the former to acquire lands, immunities, and all kinds of privileges ; and the latter to build castles and fortresses : through which things the power of the Crown was so much weakened that, at the end of seventy-three years which, with the exception of the reign of Louis II., were years of uninterrupted confusion and disgrace Charles the Fat, the last of the line, had already lost all authority in Italy, when, by the transalpine Barons, he was solemnly de- posed from the Imperial throne. 5. The Carlovingians having passed away, two dukes, Reign of Berenger of Friuli and Guido of Spoleto, by contending for LovToon- the kingdom, increased the distraction and misery of the land ; and afterwards, in the reign of Berenger, there came from the Remnant T 1 i- i /- TT i-i-i of munici- North an invading host of Hungarians, by which he was pal privi- fiercely defeated ; and from the South, to complete the confu- ^cities sion, another of the Saracens ; both of which, bent rather upon F j r . st si e ns ... . ., of improve spoiling than upon conquering the country, went about pil- ment. laging from one place to another. Perhaps Italy was never in so abject and wretched a condition as now, when all kinds of wrongs and atrocities could be committed against- her with impunity. Her cities were thinly populated, and poor ; the houses were for the most part of wood, and roofed, nearly all of them, with straw or shingles, which made them an easy prey to the ravages of fire ; they had no walls or ditches round about them, for the people who had conquered them of old, accustomed to live in the open deserts of the North, held walled cities in abhorrence, and had accordingly dismantled 12 PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. PART i. them, and forbidden their fortifications to be restored without the express permission of the king. The country was unculti- vated and desolate, and encumbered with woods and great forests, the haunts of outlaws and wild beasts, and useless but as chases for the nobles ; the roads were broken up and neglected, and infested with robbers, so that there could be little or no commercial intercourse. The rivers and torrents, no longer kept within their courses by the care of man, over- flowed from time to time, and poured themselves over the country ; so that, stagnating in the lower grounds, they had turned them into vast pestiferous swamps ; and, raising here and there the level of the soil with their mud, had covered the pastures and the ancient face of the land. The country-people were rude and ignorant, and being, for the most part, slaves, they tilled in sullen apathy that soil whose produce was for others. Thus all human industry was at an end, and no one as yet had a country ; for the Barons, who held the fortresses, and whose retainers formed the bulk of the king's army, kept shut up each within his castle, full of envy and hatred against his neighbour, and caring nothing for the kingdom, and so allowed those hordes of barbarians to overrun and plunder, for many years, the whole of Italy. In this time of destruction, the people, who dwelt in places unprovided with any means of defence, seeing themselves continually pillaged and ruined, at last began to think of taking measures for their protection ; and the kings, having no reason to object to this, willingly gave permission to the cities, to the boroughs, and also to the monasteries, to surround themselves with ditches, walls, and towers ; within the shelter of which these men, although they had as yet but little valour, and were still rude and abject in their ways, began, being now made more secure and wealthy, and urged by the spur of neces- sity, to busy themselves about the rudiments of both civil and military affairs ; and those of them especially who were chosen to be aldermen (scabini) grew daily more acute and intelligent through their intercourse with the Counts and Viscounts. Moreover, the towns of Italy, accustomed .of old to the enjoyment of those institutions and privileges which they possessed in the time of the Roman Republic and under the Emperors, whether as municipalities, or as colonies, or as CHAP. i. PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. 13 allied cities, had never, at any time, not even when they fell under the dominion of the barbarians, entirely lost their ancient form of self-government. For Theodoric, familiar from his youth with Roman civilisation, endeavoured, in settling and governing the peoples he had subdued, to retain as much of its fair order as seemed to him capable of receiving the graft of his barbarous customs. True it is that the Longobards, having a purpose directly contrary to that of Theodoric, overturned everything in Italy, and introduced a new kind of government and new laws, with new names for the magistrates and offices, which changes were for the most part maintained there by the Frank and German Emperors ; but nevertheless, on con- sidering the laws of these very times, with regard to which history is incommunicative and obscure, it will be seen that mention is made therein of magistrates, such as the aldermen (scabini), regularly chosen by the people, as also of the obli- gation laid upon the cities of repairing the walls, the public buildings, the palace of the king, the roads, and the bridges; and when we remember, in addition to this, that in those days the people had a voice and a part in the election to ecclesias- tical dignities and the administration of the churches, it will not seem unreasonable to conclude that they would never have been able to fulfil all that was thus required of them, if there had not been in every city some kind of council and magistracy, which apportioned and regulated these burdens and public duties ; and that, the cities of Italy, therefore, even when they had been so miserably ravaged by the barbarians, must have still preserved the privilege of forming a corporate body, retaining something of their ancient municipal govern- ment, with the right of possessing land and of levying rates and tolls, without which they -could not possibly have dis- charged the obligations imposed upon them by the sovereign authority. The monks, bound by the institutes of their primitive discipline to spend their lives in loneliness and toil, were the first to go forth into the more solitary and desolate parts of the country, where, finding, perhaps, the wild nature of such solitudes favourable to contempt of the world and to holy thought, they founded their habitations, and began, little by little, to cultivate the land around them, all the while singing 14 PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. PART I. their psalms and hymns ; and no one can deny that, at this period of their history, they were worthy of respect and gratitude. After this the people began to acquire greater skill in agriculture and in other arts ; and labour, when it had a sure and adequate reward, seemed easier and more inviting. An opening was made for the stagnant waters, which were led through channels to the rivers, and these, through em- bankments, to the sea ; the swamps were entered and ditches dug, by which the higher lands, called afterwards Polcsini. JDossi, or Correggi, were drained and made healthy ; the forests were felled, and the land where they stood was dug over (roncossi) ; whence many places still retain the name of Ronco, or Roncaglia. From all this toil arose wealth ; and as that which comes of agriculture is honourable, and favourable to the domestic virtues, its possessors were en- couraged, by their present moderate prosperity, to aspire to further advancement. Thus, with the slow but sure increase of the comforts and conveniences of life, there was also a steady growth of intelligence and general culture amongst the people. 6. But the Barons, who had tasted in those days the plea- sure of ruling, had now hit upon the device of endeavouring to have two kings at a time, that they might bridle the one with the fear of the other, and be free from the power of either. Hence the perfidious dealings, wars, and rivalries, first of Louis, King of Provence, and then of Rodolf of Burgundy, who were successively invited by them to deprive Berenger of the crown ; hence, also, the cruel death of Berenger, a prince distinguished above any other of his time for piety, clemency, and valour. And they did not suffer Rodolf to reign in peace or long, for, being very soon tired of him, they called in against him Hugh, Count of Provence, who, how- ever, having taken possession of the kingdom, taught by the fate of his predecessors to mistrust their fidelity, soon began to rule them with a firmer hand ; and afterwards, when, by his marriage with the notorious Marozia, he had grown so powerful that he seemed to command the whole of Italy, he became haughty, avaricious, and very cruel. Then the Barons, true to their propensity, turned again to Rodolf, and afterwards sent an offer of the crown to Arnulf, Duke of CHAP. i. PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. 15 Bavaria ; but Hugh freed himself from the first, by ceding to him some lands in Provence, and from the second, by a victorious battle. Being now without a rival, and made still more suspicious and tyrannical by their insidious dealings and rebellions, he fiercely punished them ; there were few of Italian blood whom he left in possession of their dignities or even alive ; dukes, marquises, bishops, counts, he cast down one after another, and filled their places with Burgundians, with his fellow-countrymen, and with the sons of his concu- bines. The day of retribution was come for those restless, ambitious feudatories, and for twenty years of his reign he kept them so humbled and afflicted, that they did not even dare to utter a complaint ; and had his stern disposition been inherited by his son, they would hardly, in his time, have risen again. But Lothaire, whom Hugh had associated with him in the kingdom, greatly lamented his tyranny ; and finding that he designed the death of Berenger, Marquis of Ivrea, he gave him warning ; whereupon the Marquis, flying into Germany, received from Otho of Saxony, the German king, not only an asylum but the means of raising an army, with which to come down into Italy for vengeance, and, as it proved, for the crown. For when he appeared upon the frontier the whole country rose in his favour ; and the Arch- bishop of Milan and the Barons, having received him as a deliverer, were just about to crown him, when the young king Lothaire made his appearance in the Diet, and by his winning presence and good deserts, and the gratitude which Berenger could not, without manifest indecency, refuse him, obtained for his father and himself a prolongation of their reign. But this proved rather nominal than real, for everything was treated of and concluded by the Marquis with sovereign authority. Hugh, therefore, soon became disgusted with that throne, and, leaving it to Lothaire, took the abundant treasure that he had accumulated against a reverse of fortune, and departed, very rich, into his native Provence, which he had left as a poor count, and there, in less than three years, he died. Then Berenger, fearing that Lothaire, now that his tyrannical father was no more, would obtain still greater favour in the sight of the people, and so deprive him of the sceptre, poisoned the young king ; and, ascending the throne, endeavoured, in 16 PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. PART i. order to confirm himself upon it, to bring about a union be- tween his own son and Adelaide, the widow of Lothaire, a princess who was greatly beloved in her lifetime for her beauty and virtue, and was aftenvards worshipped as a saint at the Roman altars. On her steadfast rejection of that proposal, the tyrant cast her into prison ; from whence, how- ever, she found means of escape, and fled for refuge to the fortress of Canossa, where she awaited and obtained, from Otho, King of Germany, liberation from her distress and happier and more illustrious espousals. 7. This Marquis, made king, soon, by IMS cruelty and in- justice, and the pride and licentiousness of Guilla, his wife, incurred the deep hatred of the Barons, who now, whilst con- sulting to get rid of him, began to see that their kings, when Italians or resident in Italy, however weakened by the rivalries in which they contrived to involve them, never failed, with what little authority they might still possess, or even by their mere presence, to make themselves odious and intolerable to them. And since, moreover, in consequence of the harsh and cruel policy of Hugh, not one amongst themselves was in a condition to rise against Berenger in open rebellion, they came to the conclusion that it would be better for the state and for their own designs to have a foreign king, who, possessing great dominions elsewhere, would not keep them constantly in awe by his presence, but, satisfied with the tribute, and with the festive honours they would pay him when he came amongst them, would be less watchful over them, and less jealous of those lordly prerogatives which all of them, to the prejudice of the crown, had usurped in their provinces and estates for generations. Therefore, encouraged also by Pope John XII., who was indignant because of the violence and rapacity of Berenger in ecclesiastical matters, they invited to avenge and to govern them Otho of Saxony, on whom the possession of the crown of Germany, by reason of the ancient union of the two kingdoms, seemed to confer a kind of claim, if not to rule over Italy, at least to protect her. CHAP. ii. PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. 17 CHAPTER II. i. OTHO, having received this invitation, which so well Reign of accorded with his desires, came down with all speed into Italy, prog ress O f liberated Adelaide, and made her his wife ; and, having soon civilisation i 11-1 111 /-T-, amongst brought to nothing the kingdom and the house of Berenger, the inhabi- was crowned at Milan with the Iron, and at Rome with the Ss. fthe Imperial crown ; so restoring the Western Empire to a O th 's H- ' berahty to- splendour equal, if not superior, to that which it had received wards the from Charlemagne. Then, after he had obtained peaceable m ues. possession of Italy, he replaced several ancient Marquisates by new ones, with which he invested persons allied to him in blood and sincerely well-affected towards him ; as, for example, Henry of Bavaria, his brother, with that of Verona andFriuli ; Oberto, a nobleman who had rendered him important aid against Berenger, with that of Este ; Alberto Azzone, to whom Adelaide had fled for refuge in Canossa, with that of Modena and Reggio ; and Almerano, his son-in-law, it is said, with that of Monferrat ; whereby he not only secured for himself an open road into Italy, and confirmed his power there, but bound it again with new and stronger bonds in subjection to Germany ; so that from this time began that fatal custom by which the elected kings of Germany were understood to be lawfully called to the Kingdom of Italy and to the Empire ; hardly any part in the matter remaining to Milan and to Rome, but the mere ceremony of the inauguration. But amidst so many contentions and rivalries, so many convulsions and changes in the kingdom, by which the proud heads of the nobles were smitten and laid low, the cities, just because they were not yet in a condition to take any active part in that ambitious strife, had been able to afford, within the humble and secret enclosure of their walls, a convenient and secure abiding-place, wherein the people, grown wealthier C 1 8 PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. PART i. and more attached to them, and divesting themselves more and more every day of their indolence and rudeness, were gradually acquiring the habits and feelings of citizens, and growing bolder and more expert both in military and political affairs ; and although, through the overbearing power and ambition of the Barons, they had lost their territory, as the king his power (for every one of them had seen it occupied, little by little, and divided into many domains, and daily bristling more and more with fortresses and towers), still, even by reason of that castled pride which ever frowned around their walls, they had been forced to become more united, vigilant, and warlike, so that they seemed to Otho worthy of a larger share in the administration of their Communes ; for, whether he wished, by fostering their power and liberty, to form a counterpoise to the disorders and intrigues of those unbridled Barons (and perhaps also of the Bishops, under whose name many of the cities were governed, and whose influence, through their wealth and authority, had now become very great), or was moved entirely by the inclination of his magnanimous soul, and that generous confidence in the people which is implanted by nature in a kind-hearted soldier, certain it is that he allowed the government and management of the cities to pass into the hands of magistrates chosen by the people, retaining, however, the Counts and other officers amongst them, who, as representatives of his supremacy, were to receive the oath of allegiance and to administer justice and the affairs of war. This existence of two different jurisdictions in the same city, exercised by different magistrates (all of whom, however, derived their authority, more or less directly, from the Emperor), is regarded by many only as a fatal source of discord and dis- order ; but to me it appears, that by causing a great number of citizens to be exercised in honourable duties, it gave birth also to a consciousness of dignity, and to a more ardent affection for that commonwealth, in which everyone had something to preserve ; and that by keeping the one set constantly watched by the other it tended to preserve the liberty of all. And if it gave rise to disputes amongst the magistrates and quarrels amongst the people, we must consider the condition of those times, and then see what better kind of CHAP. ii. PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. 19 government could be given to men just issuing out of bar- barism, which, like this, should not repress them too much, and yet should not suffer them to run recklessly into licence, the sure precursor of worse slavery ; for these were men who only amidst the shocks of conflict and of opposition to the ambitious designs of others could become high-spirited and warlike ; and then, as they afterwards did, independent and glorious. A remarkable and ever-memorable epoch was this, for now it was that the Councils were established, and the municipal statutes, in the use of which they learnt to cherish thoughts of obtaining greater liberty ; for which also the times were propitious to them ; since during the brief and troubled reign of Otho II. and the minority and long absence of Otho III. they enjoyed a continuance, actual if not designed, of the favour and liberality which they had expressly received from the first Otho, whose reign was always remembered amongst the Italians with affection and gratitude. 2. There was seen, in fact, in the reign of Otho II. a stir Reign of amongst the peoples, an evident movement towards hide- Movement pendence ; for there were now in the cities many families of towards J liberty in rank and wealth, closely allied with one another, whose chiefs, the Com- strong, like the venerable founders of the earliest social life, in the possession of large estates and the affection and support of numerous kinsmen, had already begun, in the rustic simplicity of those times, to handle public matters in the same free and dignified manner in which they were ac- customed to manage their own affairs ; and when their numbers increased, the cities appeared to consist of confede- rations of such families ; and, as if they had been no longer under any subjection, and had resolved, in all their concerns, to follow not so much the laws as their own discretion, and to avenge offences, not by the sentences of the Imperial officials, but by their own power, they fortified their houses like castles in the cities. And certainly when they built those fortresses they were thinking, rather than of domestic comforts and enjoyments, of the fury of civil broils, and the means of defence and security amidst them. They lived, in truth, amidst terrible discords and dangers, the very thought of which is enough to make their softly-reared descendants shudder. Yet often, as we learn from ancient chronicles, 20 PRELIMINA R Y DISCO URSE. PART I. whole cities, laying aside their arms and animosities, were moved to grief and penitence ; the most distinguished citizens, wrapt in their mantles, wept at the doors of the churches, and made peace with one another in the market-places ; and those who had slain each other's kinsmen lived afterwards within the same walls in peace ; for, being truly brave, they were not ashamed to show themselves humble and penitent in the presence of their adversaries ; and as they loved their country, they feared God, and held all their religious institu- tions in high regard ; for a popular government can never take root and endure where virtue is not ; and virtue is never thoroughly sincere and generous but when it is animated and sustained by a deep sense of religion. Moreover, the ardour of these incessant emulations and contests kept their courage alive, and gave them strength and hardihood the natural reward of activity, as liberty is of valour. But indeed from their habitations, just as from the nest we know the bird, we can well infer their disposition, their character, and the tumults and cruel chances of their lives. They laid the foundations deep, and strengthened these and the corner-stones with buttresses ; the walls were massive, the windows barred with iron ; the doors groaned heavily upon great hinges ; and always high above the house arose the tower, from which, as in time great numbers were erected, the cities, and Italy itself, obtained the epithet of ' turretted.' 3. I would here illustrate what has been said by facts ; and for this the glories of the Milanese may best avail me, because we have fuller records of this people than of any other, and from it, which, on account both of the extent and fertility of its territory and of its strength and courage, was the first in Lombardy, all the rest received in after times, when friends and allies, example, aid, and boldness to be free ; and, when hostile, most terrible beatings and discom- fitures ; so that it was called their Hammer. The Milanese in these days were disaffected towards their governor, Bonicio Scrosato, who had been appointed over them by Otho I., because he and his sons had always shown themselves harsh and overbearing towards the commoners, from whom they themselves had sprung ; and towards some of the nobles, with whom they wanted to ingratiate themselves, extremely CHAP. ii. PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. 21 bland and partial. Now, when in time the Archbishopric became vacant, a dignity which, according to ancient custom, ought to have been conferred by the election of the people and clergy, Bonicio contrived, by means of large gifts, to obtain it from the Emperor, Otho II., for Landolfo, his son ; and, after fiercely attacking the people, who refused to accept such a prelate, and slaying some of them, he put him into possession of it. But this so greatly increased the detestation in which he was held, that one Mantegaccio, a servant of his, certain of satisfying the general desire, stabbed him in his bed, to which atrocity the people consented ; and afterwards, rising up in indignation against Landolfo, who was not only giving many of the lands of the Church in fee to his brothers, but was using influence with the Emperor to have one of them, Reginald, made governor in his father's stead, they drove him and his brothers, and all their party, out of the city. Then it was that, having openly set at nought the Imperial authority, the city established itself under a popular government, at the head of which were placed certain magis- trates, who, from a remembrance of the glory and liberty of ancient times, were called Consuls, But the Archbishop, with those nobles who had followed him, and on whom, to keep them faithful to him, he was bestowing, by base and illegal investiture, the lands of the Church, took up arms and joined battle with the Milanese in the field of Carbonara, where he was fiercely defeated and put to flight. Being thus still in exile, he entered into communication with the nobles who remained in the city, and at last succeeded by their means in effecting his return ; after which, as the reward of theii service, he divided amongst them the tithes, and granted them many dignities at a quit-rent and lands in fee, and they were called Capitani delta Plebe (Captains of the People). But perceiving after a while that by alienating so many possessions of his see, and diminishing its wealth and dignity, he had incurred much popular hatred and contempt, he resolved, by way of remedy, to divide the gain and the reproach amongst many, and caused the Capitani to grant part of the lands he had given them to other citizens on feudal tenures, for which these were afterwards called Vavasours. This is the first in- surrection of the Milanese of which we have any record in 22 PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. PART I. which, having cast off for the time their obedience to the Imperial officers, they divided themselves into two parties, noble and plebeian. But the means that were taken to appease it, being mean and wicked on the part of the Arch- bishop, treacherous and greedy on that of the nobles, instead of reuniting those citizens, served only to sow amongst them the seeds of hatred and of long and fatal dissensions. 4. But these tumults, as also those in the other cities of Lombardy (for at this time they were nearly all of them dis- turbed by popular commotions), were outwardly stilled by the coming of Otho III. ; and the people, although many new thoughts and desires were beginning to stir within them, settled themselves down before him in their ancient order. For it must not be too hastily inferred, from the innovations which they effected in their tumultuous risings, that the authority of the Emperors was already extinct amongst them ; on the contrary, as will be seen afterwards, whenever the Emperors came into Italy with a good army, they always re- pressed amongst them the stirrings of liberty, and caused them to fall back again into their former subjection. We shall see them, in fact, for a long time, passing from liberty to dependence, and from dependence to liberty, and changing the form and the name of their government and magistrates, according to the power of the Emperors, the degree of union amongst themselves, and the chances of fortune. But the longing for a better condition, which was very strong and constant in the rude simplicity of their hearts, made them resolute, indefatigable, always ready to seize any opportunity of renewing the struggle ; and the Church being in those days not seldom rent by schisms, the taking part in these and fighting for religion encouraged them in their persistency ; and the rapacity also and licence of the foreign soldiers, ever greedy and unbridled, even when they came as friends, so wrought upon them that, having learnt to identify the liberty of their country with the fruits of their fields, the honour of their daughters, the chastity of their wives, and, in short, with all that they held dear, they abhorred, not the dominion only, but the presence, and even the very name, of the foreigner. For perhaps it is true that men (especially after they have passed the brief and precious period of their rude primitive CHAP. II. PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. 23 condition), when they are not disturbed in their religious opinions, and have wherewithal to satisfy 'their natural wants and pleasures, care little for liberty, or contend for it only with secret sighs and such-like vanities. To what purpose ? Living, do they not make their very lamentations base and contemptible by continuing in slavery ? And when they are dead, who will honour or remember their tombs ? Infinite are the errors of desire ; but that professed desire of liberty, unseconded by any valiant deed, is, perhaps, the false assump- tion of a virtue. I say this, because we can often better appreciate the value of a thing by comparing it with its opposite. 5. But I return to the Milanese ; and because their great- Of the ness was chiefly originated and promoted by the prerogatives Milan and of their Archbishop, amongst which that of crowning, and so f sn ^ rch ' in a manner constituting, the King of Italy, raised him in wealth and splendour above every other prelate of the Roman Church, and his city above every other city of Lombardy in power and pride, by a brief account of these ancient matters I shall shed light upon many events of later times. The prelates of greatest dignity in the ancient hierarchy, next after the Pontiff of Rome, were the Patriarch of Aquileia, the Archbishop of Ravenna, and the Archbishop of Milan. It is said that the Church of Milan was founded by St. Barnabas ; it is certain that it owed its chief aggrandisement, and the splendour which distinguished it from all other churches, to St. Ambrose, who, having come to Milan in the time of Valentin ian as a magistrate, was by the people made Bishop also, and as such was able to exalt it by the ordination of many inferior dignitaries, and by obtaining supremacy for it over all the Bishops of Lombardy, of whom those of Vercelli, Novara, Lodi, Tortona, Asti, Turin, Aosta, Aqui, and Genoa sat in the Councils on his right hand, and those of Brescia, Bergamo, Cremona, Luni, Ivrea, Alba, Savona, Ventimiglia, and Albenga on his left This church received from St. Ambrose a peculiar liturgy, which was always much loved and venerated by the Milanese, and continued longer in use than any of those which anciently prevailed in other churches of the West. To the singing in divine service, which was then artless and rude, St. Ambrose, 24 PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. PARTI taking for models the ancient melodies still current in his time, the last echoes of the civilisation of distant ages, imparted a more regular rhythm ; which, when reduced by St. Gregory to the grave simplicity of tone that best accords with the majesty of worship, obtained the name of Canto fermo ; and afterwards becoming richer, more elaborate, and easier to learn through the many ingenious inventions of Guido d'Arezzo, who of all men in the middle ages had the clearest insight into the mysteries of harmony, was brought by degrees to the perfection of modern counterpoint. Thus, that service of song, which once burst forth spontaneously from the people, modulated only by the impulses of their hearts, and which, at its best, was nothing more than the sweet melody of many voices singing in unison, came at last to be the wonderful effect of deep and severe mathematical calcu- lation ; whence in our days, by the mingled sound of many voices, trained to sing together in different parts, there is pro- duced a harmony never heard by the ancients, and which of all delightful things most enraptures and contents the soul. St. Ambrose also composed prayers for his church and hymns ; amongst others, according to popular belief, that most sublime and majestic one, the Te Deum, which is now familiar and dear to the whole of Western Christendom. It is said that his clergy were not forbidden to marry. Hence an opinion prevailed that this church, according to the ancient statutes, ought not to be entirely subject to that of Rome ; indeed, in 845, I know not why, it separated from it altogether, and did not return to obedience for more than 200 years. The Archbishop of Milan, like every other bishop, was elected anciently by the clergy and people of the diocese ; in after times this custom fell into disuse, and he was elected by the Kings and Emperors ; but with liberty the right of election returned to the people. This, however, was always peculiar to him, that he was consecrated, with the consent of the Pope, by his suffragans ; and that the pallium, for which the others went to Rome, was sent for him to Milan : a privilege of which the people were almost more proud and jealous than the Archbishops themselves. In ancient times his authority over his cathedral city was perhaps more princely than that of any other bishop ; and over the numerous CHAP. ii. PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. 25 castles and feudal possessions with which the piety of the Emperors, and especially of Otho I., had enriched his church, it was absolute. The very servants of his house, like those of a prince, enjoyed, in right of their offices, lands and revenues in fee ; and thus, through the pomp of such wealth and power, everything seemed subject to him. It is said, however, that he divided the government with twelve Consuls, taken from the nobility, and exercised the right, which be- longed to him as Count, of administering justice, through a Viscount, who, in public ceremonies, walked before him, hold- ing a naked sword ; whence many families, retaining the name longer than the office, bore afterwards the surname of Vis-conti. But the authority of the Archbishop varied with the times ; it was great under the kings, less during the republic ; at no time, however, can I discover its exact limits, if indeed it was ever defined by written law. Certain it is that when the absence of the kings, the good understanding of the people with the nobles, and liberty had brought the public affairs into the hands of the Consuls and to the decision of popular parlamenti, the Archbishop, as happened also to the other bishops of Lombardy, came in time to be rather revered in his city than obeyed ; and, after all his power and authority had thus passed to the people, he rarely appeared in the Councils, and seldom, and then but as a mere formality, gave his sanction to the public decrees. 6. Wide and vast, however, as were the jurisdiction and of the iron the wealth of the Milanese Church, and splendid as was the C magnificence with which St. Ambrose and those who came after him adorned it, it would never have caused that people to increase and prosper so greatly under its shadow, but for the high privilege conferred in the days of Queen Theodolind upon its prelate, of being the keeper and the giver of the Iron Crown, with which he seemed afterwards almost to dispose of the kingdom. It is said that Pope Gregory, to show his gratitude to this Queen (a woman of great worth, and so zealous towards the Church of Rome that she constantly exerted all her power to extirpate the sect of the Arians in Lombardy, and to restore and sustain the dignity of the Milanese Archbishop, which, in consequence of that divergence of religious opinion, was not a little lowered and obscured), 26 PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. PARTI. decreed, at her request, that in every vacancy of the throne the Archbishop of Milan within fourteen days should assemble the Parliament (in which his own suffragans, both in number and authority, greatly preponderated over the other nobles of the realm), and with the aid of its counsel should elect a king, and crown him with the Iron Crown. This crown was of gold, but from an iron circlet that it had within it it was called iron. The Queen, having afterwards built a magnifi- cent palace in Monza, and near it a cathedral, which she was pleased to dedicate to the name of John the Baptist, a saint held in great veneration by the Lombards, commanded that this crown should be kept there, and that with it the future kings of Lombardy should be crowned. The ceremony of the coronation was one of great solemnity ; and as it seems to me to present a lively picture of the simplicity of those early times, when the voice of the people was asked and attended to in affairs of state, even in the midst of the rites of religion, I will briefly describe it. The Bishops went for the King, and led him from the palace into the cathedral, before the high altar ; where the Archbishop, after several prayers, turned to the people, and asked them in a loud voice if they would submit themselves to that king and faithfully obey him. And when the people with acclamations, had responded yes, then the Archbishop anointed the King with holy oil on his head, his breast, his shoulders, and the joints of his arms, praying to God that He would give him strength and wisdom in his wars and in his government, and satisfy and bless him with children. After this he girded him with the sword ; and having adorned him with the bracelets, the robe, the ring, and the sceptre, he set the Iron Crown upon his head, and led him through the choir and up to the throne, where he gave him the kiss of peace, and then went back to celebrate divine service. Some writers say that Charlemagne, after he had taken possession of Lombardy and expelled its kings, was not only himself crowned at Monza according to these ancient rites, but, foreseeing that the people he had subdued, accus- tomed to have kings of their own and to participate in their wealth and splendour, would ill endure the rule of a foreign king and their own exclusion from office and dignity, wisely ordained that his successors also should go into Lombardy to CHAP. ii. PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. 27 receive this crown, as their lawful title to the kingdom. By which visit they would have an opportunity of seeing the land ; and the people, by the appearance of royalty amongst them, and the favours and privileges which would be conferred by the king on so great an occasion, would be led to regard themselves rather as a loyal than a conquered nation, and to render obedience with a more willing mind. In like manner, after the Empire had passed from the Franks to the Germans, the kings, who had already received the Silver Crown in Aix- la-Chapelle from the Archbishop of Mentz, still came, accord- ing to this ancient custom, into Italy to receive the Iron Crown from the Milanese Archbishop in Monza, and after- wards the golden that is, the Imperial Crown from the Pope in Rome ; and then they were made and called Emperors. For which cause the Milanese Archbishops, as those who in the vacancies and frequent rivalries of the Empire had occa- sion to present themselves with this crown before the new prince, and, when his accession seemed still doubtful, to establish him upon the throne, rose, by the honours and privileges with which they were rewarded, to such authority and pre-eminence, that they thought it a small thing to dispute precedence with the Archbishop of Ravenna ; and hesitated not to declare the election and coronation of the king, when accomplished without their sanction and ministry, illegal and void. Of this presumption on their part I shall now relate that instance which occurred in the beginning of the eleventh century, a time which brings me back to the chronological order of this discourse. 2 8 PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. PARTI. CHAPTER III. 1. WHEN, by the death of Otho TTL, the line of Saxon tween Emperors had become extinct, and Henry Duke of Bavaria, after some contention, had been elected to the throne of Germany, Ardoin Marquis of Ivrea, the most powerful of the Italian Marquises, not doubting that the Bavarian, according to the custom of the Othos, would arrogate that of Italy also, assembled the Parliament of the kingdom at Pavia, wherein, having shown how by the extinction of the house of Saxony every bond of subjection on their part and of union between the two kingdoms was broken, he set forth so forcibly the evils of a foreign rule, its present ignominy, and its fatal future, that he was himself by that assembly elected king, and crowned. But the Milanese Archbishop, Arnulf II., on arriving after this event from Constantinople, whither he had been sent ambassador, was so indignant to find that it had taken place without his sanction, that if he did not, as some aver, reassemble the Parliament and depose him, certain it is that he never ceased to employ against him both intrigues and force, until at last, to the fatal injury of Italy, he saw him hurled from the throne, and the German King, Henry II., established in his stead. But during the elections and contests of the rival princes, and the reign of the victor, two noteworthy things became apparent. 2. The first was, that the Bishops of Lombardy had now become more powerful than the Barons, a fact which was thus to be accounted for, that in the stormy course of so many wars and changes, not a few of the Barons, obliged to take part in them, had been either wholly or, as was oftener the case, partially deprived by the rival victors of their provinces, lands, and dignities ; from the division of which arose the rural Counts ; and others had been arbitrarily dispossessed of CHAP. in. PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. 29 them by the kings, for their feudal lands and dignities were not yet, as they became in the time of Conrad the Salic, hereditary by law. Whereas the Bishops, every one of them, from piety or from ambition, had been seeking on every side lands, donations, and privileges for their churches ; and having thus acquired abundant wealth, which, by force of law and by reason of the general reverence for their sacred office, was less subject to the chances of fortune, and always kept entire and increasing through a long course of succession, they were found at this time to have risen to such a height of power that, emboldened also and supported by the prerogatives of the Milanese Archbishop, they seemed to dispose of the kingdom. 3. The other was, that many cities, especially Milan and Rivalry Pavia, had become so free and powerful that they were able MiianT to take part in the wars of the rival princes, as Milan did for g^nlin Henry, and Pavia for Ardoin ; those two cities being glad, Pavia. perhaps, to give vent in this way to the envy and fierce animosity which neighbourhood and ancient jealousy had engendered and kept alive between them ; an animosity so fierce, that even before they had the right of making war it had often driven them to take arms against each other ; and when with liberty they acquired this right, then that ill-will, arraying itself in municipal pride, urged them on still more furiously, finding constant excuses for fighting, now about the boundaries, now about the use of the irrigating waters ; and seeming to spring up in their breasts more fiercely every season, and to grow like the grass in their blood-stained fields, and be as perpetual as the flow of their river. We shall see them, in fact, cruelly destroying year by year each other's crops, burning each other's houses, plotting against each other's lives and liberties, summoning for each other's de- struction great hosts of foreigners, foes to civilisation and to the Italian name, and kindling the flame of war in every part of Lombardy, bringing it and themselves to the very brink of ruin. For such were these two cities, that the one could not endure to be an inferior, and the other scorned to acknowledge her as an equal. And now the rivalry between the two kings gave them a welcome opportunity of passing from hatred to mortal conflict. 30 PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. PARTI. Yet that the Pavese opposed in Henry not only the friend of the Milanese, but also the foreign lord, they gave, on the very day they saw him crowned, so signal a proof, that the fame of their daring was not surpassed by that of the cruel punish- ment it brought upon them. Towards the evening of that day a quarrel arose between some Pavese and Germans, and at the noise, slight at first, citizens ran to citizens and soldiers to soldiers with loud cries and threats ; next came blows and wounds, the fray increased, and the citizens prevailed over the Germans, and, closely pursuing them, drove them out of the gates ; then, lest they should return with aid from those en- camped without, they barricaded the streets, and, having taken the walls, ran to attack the king in his palace. Heribert, Archbishop of Cologne, taking too much upon himself, came forth to address them, but was soon driven back by a shower of dirt and stones. The contest raged throughout that night, the citizens assaulting the palace, and trying every means to force an entrance ; the king and his guards doing their best to repulse them. But on the return of day, the Germans out- side, aware of the king's danger, and unable to come to his assistance, because the streets were closed, and from the houses came a storm of arrows and stones and whatever else fury put into the hands of the people, set fire to the place on every side ; so that there presently arose great flames, which, fanned by the wind and gliding swiftly from house to house, soon wrapped the whole city and the palace itself in one fierce conflagration and consumed them. The Germans, meantime, taking advantage of the confusion, made a great slaughter of the citizens, and rescued their king. It was perhaps on this occasion that the Pavese expelled from their city the Count of the Palace. The office of this Count was introduced into Italy by Charlemagne ; and his successors, as also the Emperors of Germany, had always maintained it there in great state. The urban Counts, for the most part, were the administrators of justice in the cities, the Dukes and Marquises in the provinces and marches ; the royal messengers, with an authority temporary, indeed, but superior to theirs, went about all over the land to inquire, without suspicion of partiality, whether justice was duly administered to the people. But the Count of the Palace CHAP. in. PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. 31 was the chief judge in the kingdom ; to him appeal could be made against the sentences of the counts, dukes, and marquises, and even of the royal messengers, and through him alone could any cause be brought before the King. As vicegerent of the King of Italy, he resided in Pavia. Driven thence, he retired to Lumello ; but after the Pavese had recovered their liberty and their territory, and taken posses- sion of that town also, they compelled him to become a citizen and a subject. His office having thus passed away, there arose in its stead the less illustrious and important one of the Provincial Counts Palatine. 4. The Pavese, after Henry's departure, rebuilt their Reign and houses ; and, cursing the barbarians and all who supported Ardoin ' them, devoted themselves more than ever to the cause of y ars f T Arnult II., Ardoin, who, when he knew that Henry had re-entered Archbishop Germany, came forth from his marquisate to reign ; and if, during the ten years' absence of his rival, he acquired but a small part of the kingdom, and ruled even that with but little authority, it is to be attributed in some measure to his own haughty and passionate temper, and to the mischievous ambition of the Barons, who preferred a foreign and distant to a national and resident king ; but chiefly to the power and arrogance of Arnulf II., Archbishop of Milan, who, when Henry had returned into Italy for the Imperial Crown, and restored his party in Lombardy, became so proud and powerful, that after Ardoin, that unhappy prince, who yet was an Italian by birth and a valiant man, weary of life and of the ingratitude of his people, had retired into a monastery, and was perhaps already in the tomb, he went with a great army to besiege Asti, because Oldorico, Ardoin's uncle, had been made without his consent Bishop of that city, and had afterwards gone for his consecration to Rome ; and as soon as he had him and his brother, who was the head of the great house of Susa, in his hands, he sentenced them to come and do penance before the altar of St. Ambrose in Milan, walking barefoot for the last three miles, and carrying, the Bishop a book, and the Marquis a dog ; a not unusual kind of punish- ment in ancient times for contumacious nobles. This done, that Archbishop marched with the Milanese militia to subdue Hugh and Berenger, two powerful Counts, who were commit- 32 PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. PART i. ting all kinds of violence and plunder in the valley of Mercuriola, where they had their fiefs and castles ; and having overcome them, adjudged, with the King's consent, their lands and rights to his church. Then, because the Cremonese had taken part with those noble robbers, he went to besiege Cremona, which he took and made subject to his see, and placed therein the family of Doaria, on which he bestowed so many privileges, that in time they became like princes there. According to some historians, the war against the Counts, the siege of Cremona, and the favour shown to the house of Doaria are to be ascribed, not to Arnulf, but to his successor, Heribert d'Intimiano. Be that as it may, we find in the fact the first sign of the recovery, by the destruction of the rural Counts, of the lost territory of the cities. 5. I make no mention, it will be observed, of the tumults in Rome and in other parts of Italy ; nor yet of the condition of the peoples who dwelt upon her coasts, who had all at this time attained to greater liberty than these my inland Lombards. For it is certain that the losses, toils, and dangers which seamen suffer from the winds and waves, are far less adverse to the wealth and dignity of man than the humiliation and subjection imposed upon husbandmen by the presence and control of their masters. I will just name, however, the war which the Pisans, in 1004, without the stimulus and pretext afforded by royal rivalries, waged with the Lucchese, because it is the earliest instance on record of two mediaeval Italian cities going to war with one another of their own impulse and counsel ; and when the first in the career of in- dependence are pointed out, the eye and the mind are led on to those which follow. 6. On the death of Henry II., in 1024, the Diet of the Princes and Bishops of Germany elected as his successor Conrad the Salic, Duke of Franconia ; the Italian nobles invited to that congress having arrived too late to take part in the election. Now, during his reign it appeared still more plainly how much the Barons of Italy had lost credit and influence, not only in the cities, as in Milan, Pavia, Lodi, Como, Cremona, Crema, and Brescia which, by popular movements, were constantly becoming more and more in- dependent-- but also amongst foreign princes. For these CHAP. in. PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. 33 Barons, foreseeing that Conrad, according to the custom of the Kings of Germany, would soon come down to receive the crowns of the kingdom and of the Empire, either because this presumptuous German haughtiness offended them, or because they were unwilling to have anyone set over them who would reign without a rival, held many councils amongst themselves, and secret communications with foreign princes, to find another king ; and, after having vainly offered the Italian crown to Robert, King of France, they turned to William Duke of Aquitaine, who, although pleased with so great an offer, wisely resolved, before accepting it, and so entering the lists against the King of Germany, to repair secretly to Italy, in order to learn upon the spot the real disposition of the people, and to acquaint himself with the motives of those who had invited him. He came, then, and soon discovered that those Barons had turned to him more out of spite and envy than from a generous national pride ; that their agreement amongst themselves and fidelity to him would be alike doubtful ; and that in the cities there was now but little obedience or love for the royal name ; wherefore, remembering the virtues of Ardoin and his reign, the deser- tion which he underwent, and his unhappy fate, he decided to refuse that invitation, feeling that it would be inexpedient and rash to undertake, in the face of German rivalry, to govern a nation so fickle and ambitious. A refusal which, if it does not attest the pusillanimity of the invited prince, shows clearly the bad condition of the gift, and of those who offered it. The truth is, that the laws and form of govern- ment were fast disappearing amidst the new customs of that municipal liberty which had arisen and prospered in the days of the Othos ; and that the Barons, who ought to have been the firmest pillars of the state, having now, by their divisions, become weak and contemptible, had permitted a new form of government to be initiated in the cities ; which, gradually increasing, had made a progress that to their eyes was as yet almost imperceptible, although in time it overwhelmed them, and proved fatal to their order. But the foreign prince, who had hoped to find in Italy a kingdom well-ordered and strong in every part, saw at a D 34 PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. PART i. glance, wherever he went, its weakness and confusion, and how in the midst of these were arising customs, laws, and institutions opposed to kingly rule ; and therefore, as a wise man, he let it alone, knowing how dangerous it is, especially for a new king, to resist the course of human civilisation. No such considerations, however, deterred the Kings of Germany, for, regarding the Kingdom of Italy as their own, they had always the will and the intention, if not the power, to beat down every obstacle to their authority there, and to re-establish their complete dominion over it. Wonder- 7- The innovations which were now taking place amongst ful effect of these peoples, and their progress towards civilisation, were prophecy _ r in the year partly the result of that joyous activity which had suddenly inspired them in the beginning of the eleventh century, when the prolonged existence of the world had at last dispelled that deep, universal anxiety and trembling of heart, to which at the close of the century preceding they had too credulously abandoned themselves ; believing, as through a misinterpre- tation of the Scriptures it was preached to them, that at that time the heavens and the earth, and all the works therein, would be dissolved by fire, and rapidly pass away. Perhaps we can never fully comprehend what joy, what gladness and exultation were called forth by that dawn, which issuing from the last night of the year one thousand, though it did but fulfil, with its cheering beams, its wonted kindly office to the earth, came virtually to announce to the fear-stricken nations that it was not as yet the will of God to bring destruction upon the world by that fire, unto which, in the secret of His justice, are reserved all things corruptible. But to this the histories bear witness, as a wonderful fact, that these men, as soon as they were comforted by the light of the eleventh century, seemed to rise from death to life, and, with a fervour and facility almost beyond belief, emerged from their rude and barbarous state, and reconstituted themselves in new and fairer forms of civilisation. And this, by a rare felicity, came to pass, first of all, under the beautiful sky that covers the land of Italy ; which land, after the year one thousand, had two centuries illuminated with such original splendour, that they will always be worthy of admiration, and of the study CHAP. ni. PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. 35 of those who find profit and delight in investigating the first beginnings of the political and social order of our times. 8. Meanwhile, Heribert, Archbishop of Milan, per- Conrad ceiving that all the negotiations to find Italy a king who i e dgeT should not also be King of Germany had come to nothing, ^" g m resolved to put an end to that unsettled state of things ; and Why the i 1 cities re- in order to have the honour and advantage of the first saluta- fused the tion, betook himself to Conrad, who was then in Constance, ^\e. was graciously received by him, and promised him the Iron within the Crown. This step of his determined the minds of many ; so that the Barons and the cities, laying aside all other designs and machinations, immediately sent their ambassadors to Conrad. The Pavese themselves, who, on the death of Henry II., had destroyed the royal palace, which after the burning of their city he had compelled them to rebuild, sent, like the rest, a legation to him, to do him homage and to seek his favour ; but, as their recent proceedings were neither forgotten nor forgiven, their ambassadors met with a bad reception, and were dismissed with a command to rebuild the royal palace within their walls again as before. To this the Pavese objected then, for the same reasons which afterwards induced the other peoples of Italy, when they had further withdrawn themselves from under the Imperial yoke, to refuse openly to grant the Emperors a residence within their walls, or to allow the German soldiery to enter into their gates ; seeing that they feared, and not without cause, that if ever they should give admittance to those unruly forces their new institutions would be over- thrown at a blow, and they themselves maltreated. And it appears that in time the Emperors became content to have a habitation provided for them and for their troops out- side the cities, and to enter them for the purpose of conduct- ing negotiations with but a modest retinue ; influenced not only by the determination of the people, but by what they knew themselves, from sad experience, of the quarrelsome and brutal nature of their own followers ; for these, bent always, even in time of peace, on revelry and licentious- ness in the cities, often gave rise to great tumults and fights with the inhabitants ; ending in plunder, massacre, and conflagrations ; all of which had not a little increased 36 PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. PART I amongst the Italians the odium and the infamy of the German name. 9. Conrad, then, having come into Italy in 1026, received from Heribert the Iron Crown ; and, in return, conferred upon him, amongst other favours, the prerogative of giving the Bishop of Lodi, whom he already consecrated, the investiture, that is, the ring and the pastoral staff; whereby the election to that see, contrary to the will and the dignity of that people and to ecclesiastical discipline, was put into the hands of the Archbishop, in consequence of which the Milanese and the Lodigians became perpetual enemies, and the latter, as will be seen, were afterwards cruelly vanquished and dispersed. Then, finding that the Pavese refused, not only to rebuild the palace but to receive him into their city, he devastated their territory. After which he held a Diet at Roncaglia, memorable for the enactment made in it with regard to succession in military benefices. These, although not yet hereditary by law in the families of those invested with them, were gradually becoming so by custom ; insomuch that whenever nobles were dispossessed of them by the king, or inferior vassals by the nobles, they seemed to suffer grievous wrong. Great disorders were thus occasioned in the country, and troubles and sudden poverty in families ; and, by reason of the shortness and uncertainty of possession, little interest was felt in the cultivation of the fields. Conrad, therefore, to prevent these evils, issued a law by which the military benefices, that is, the fiefs, were made hereditary in the male line ; and the nobles were expressly forbidden to deprive their vassals of the fiefs they held under them, except by the sentence of their peers : an enactment of great wisdom and utility for those times, for these men, when they were better secured in the possession of their estates, managed them with greater affection and care ; and families grew wealthier and lasted longer in the land. After this Conrad proceeded towards Rome for the Imperial Crown ; and at Ravenna the Germans came to blows with the inhabitants, and a great part of the city was burnt to the ground. It was after his arrival in Rome, and at the time of the coronation, that the Milanese Archbishop took precedence of the Archbishop of Ravenna ; whereupon there arose a great tumult between the followers CHAP. in. PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. 37 of the two prelates ; and Conrad, willing to gratify the former, said that it was only right that he who had consecrated him king should present him to the Pope to be made Emperor. As in going to Rome, so also in returning, he attacked many Barons, punished them, and made them subject and obedient ; and having afterwards renewed the war against the Pavese, he so thoroughly humbled them that even they had at last to yield him entire obedience. This done, he returned into his own land, leaving the Archbishop of Milan the most powerful man in Lombardy. PRELIMINAR Y DISCO URSE. PART I. CHAPTER IV. 1. THIS, as I have said, was Hcribcrt d'Intimiano, who, Archbishop though he was, had availed himself of the liberty accorded to the clergy of the Ambrosian Church, and was married. He was a man of great valour, but bore himself proudly and passionately both in church and in camp, where- by he occasioned many tumults in Milan, and wars with the neighbouring cities. Now, in these days, on the death of the Bishop of Lodi, he sent, in the exercise of his new preroga- tive, a cardinal of his own church as his successor (for the principal churches, such as the Milanese, had anciently their cardinals, like the Church of Rome) ; and because the Lo- digians contemptuously slighted a bishop in whose election they had had no part, he made war upon them, and took their castles, and shut them up so closely in their city that they were forced at last to smother their deep resentment against him, and, almost as his subjects, to receive his bishop. After this he went into the territory of Asti, and took the Castle of Monforte, in which a great number of Manicheans had found refuge ; and as many of these as refused to abjure their doctrines, he caused to be burnt alive. Then he went with a strong army beyond the Alps, to assist the Emperor in taking possession of the kingdom of Burgundy ; and after his return, accustomed to war, to command, and to success, he drew to himself everything in Lombardy ; and became especially harsh and overbearing towards those who held courts, lands, and castles under him in fee, who were called vavasours. 2. This encouraged the vavassins to attempt innovations on their part also against the vavasours, who were their feudal lords ; for the vavassins, who, with the help of their serfs, tilled the fields, held their lands of the vavasours by nearly the same tenure as that by which the vavasours held theirs of the CHAP. iv. PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. 39 dukes, marquises, counts, bishops, or abbots, who, as nobles against the of the first rank, were the immediate feudatories of the king, bishop. Great confusion then arose in Lombardy, for these were not the kind of men to brook injustice and oppression ; and now that they knew themselves protected by the law of Conrad, all seigneurial arrogance seemed odious and intolerable to them. But whether or not the vavasours were able to repulse their vavassins, and to reduce them to their former condition, certain it is that they were afterwards themselves deprived of their fiefs and honours by Heribert, against whom they had conspired ; and having also, after several fights, been expelled from the city, they went all together to a castle which stood in the plain between Milan and Lodi, and which, as it was built upon an artificial mound, was called, in the speech of those times, La Motta. There they entered into communication with the Lodigians, still brooding over their recent wrongs, and with the peoples of Seprio and Martesana, and with some other vavasours, who, like them- selves, were discontented with their lords, and thus succeeded in gathering together a considerable army ; after which, joining battle with the forces of the Archbishop in Campo Malo, they thoroughly defeated them, him they put to flight, and the Bishop of Asti, who fought under his banner, they slew. 3. Then Heribert had recourse to the Emperor, who, The Arch- however, on coming into Italy, in the Diet which he held at uliprison- Pavia, either because he had by this time ascertained that ment - Hls * escape. the Archbishop's proceedings were tyrannical, or because he Siege of found that, presuming too much upon his services, he was becoming troublesome and wanting in respect towards himself, not only deprived him of the prerogative he had conferred upon him with regard to the Church of Lodi, but made him prisoner, and committed him to the custody of the Patriarch of Aquileia and of Conrad Duke of Carinthia, who led him away to a castle not far from Piacenza. And on being after- wards informed that the Bishops of Vercelli, Cremona, and Piacenza had in like manner oppressed their peoples by their harsh and despotic government, indignant at this sacerdotal pride, he cast them also into prison, and presently, without the formality of a trial, sent them into Germany. But the Milanese, when they heard of the disgrace and imprisonment 46 PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. PART i. of their Archbishop, whose haughtiness, being adorned by many virtues, did not prevent him from being greatly esteemed and beloved in his own city, were filled with grief and in- dignation, and, ceasing from all quarrels amongst themselves, sent hostages to the Emperor, beseeching that he might be restored to them. This was denied ; but presently Heribert, having besotted his guards with wine, made his escape to his people, who received him with extreme delight, and afterwards defended him against the Emperor with the greatest zeal and constancy. For Conrad soon came to besiege their city ; and, finding that he could not take it, began to devastate their terri- tory. But it is said that at the end of a fortnight, on the Day of Pentecost, 1037, the sky of Lombardy was suddenly over- spread with very black clouds, and a blast of wind smote the German tents so furiously that it beat them all down and rolled them one upon another on the ground ; and so heavy was the storm of rain and hail, and so tremendous the roar of the thunder, and so frequent and terrible were the lightnings which struck the camp, that a very great number of men, and the greater part of the horses, perished there. Certain it is that the next day, when everyone in the army was still amazed and terrified, the Emperor raised that fatal siege, and retired to Cremona. But the Milanese, ascribing the deliverance of their city to St. Ambrose, said afterwards that he, their venerable Patron, was seen amidst the fury of the storrn descending from heaven in wrath, darting on the German camp glances of holy indignation, and brandishing over it a naked sword. This I relate, as I shall always do any similar thing that I may meet with, because, even in the traditions received amongst these people he who is not given to deride the reli- gious opinions of others may find an indication of their religious feeling, and of the love they bore their city ; for dear indeed must they have held that place, which they thus honestly thought worthy of the peculiar care of heaven. 4. From Cremona the Emperor went to Parma, and there a ^ so ^' s Germans had a fight with the inhabitants, and many were slain on either side. Part of the city was burnt in the confusion ; and Conrad, displeased that the insolence of his 11 followers had met with a repulse, caused a great piece of the dy. wa jj J.Q ^ c p u n ec j down. Whereupon Heribert, with the con- CHAP. iv. PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. 41 nivance of several of the Lombard bishops and princes, to whom the proceedings of Conrad seemed unworthy and ty- rannical, resolved to deprive him of the kingdom, and sent a secret embassy to offer it to Odo, Count of Champagne, once Conrad's rival for the kingdom of Burgundy. But that Count, meanwhile, was slain by the Duke of Lorraine, and the Arch- bishop's ambassadors, on their way home, were arrested by order of the Marchioness of Susa, and sent to the Emperor, who threw them into prison, and, to avenge himself of Heri- bert, created another Archbishop of Milan. To no purpose, however ; for Heribert, although the Emperor, before leaving Italy, stirred up against him many of the princes and bishops of Lombardy, lost neither his own courage nor the support of his people, but, roused by his wrongs and his danger to still greater energy and daring, armed the Milanese militias, and went forth to subdue the forces of his rival ; to whom nothing resulted from his acceptance of that dignity, but the loss of his property and of his honour. 5. It was on the occasion of this war that Heribert, per- Heribert haps in imitation of the holy Ark of the Hebrews, invented Carroccio. 6 the Carroccio, and brought it into the field, that his people, Description in fighting the battles of their Commonwealth, might fight also in defence of a sacred thing, which, owing its being and its importance to municipal pride and to religion, could never, but with sacrilegious infamy, be abandoned to the foe. After this every city of Lombardy, seeing how greatly it roused the warlike enthusiasm of the people, came in time to have its own Carroccio ; each city, however, slightly varying its form, and giving it whatever colour best suited its banner. I will here describe that of Milan, although many things with which it is said to have been already adorned appear to me to have been added at a later period, because they indicate such an enjoyment and pomp of liberty as at this time did not exist. Be that as it may, the Carroccio was a four-wheeled car, higher and larger than those in ordinary use, and carrying a large altar, overspread with a red carpet, which, being of ample size, covered with its border all the car as far down as the wheels. In the middle of the altar, and painted the same colour, was a flagstaff, on the top of which was seen a golden globe and cross ; and from this staff, to which it was PRELIM IN A R Y DISCO URSE. PART I. attached by costly cords, waved the banner of the Commune, which bore a red cross on a white field. By the side of this was sometimes placed another banner, on which was the effigy of St. Ambrose. The car was drawn by four pairs of oxen, all of the same size and colour, whose housings were red on the right side and white on the left. The Carroccio had its com- pany, which was composed of the bravest and noblest of the citizens ; and in order that its captain might command the greater respect and obedience, he was always chosen as the one amongst them all of greatest valour and of noblest birth. He had a public stipend, and to him were solemnly presented the cuirass and the golden-belted sword. Eight trumpeters stood upon the car in front, and as many soldiers behind. Now, when it was decreed in the general council that the people should go forth with the Carroccio to war (for other- wise it was not lawful to array it and take it out of the city), a priest, who was specially entrusted with the care of it, fol- lowed it into the field, and celebrated divine service before its altar every day ; whilst, as the whole army stood facing it, every man, in the fervour of prayer, felt his soul filled with holy ardour, which gave him strength and confidence for victory ; and all thus inspired with courage turned to charge against the foe. And if ever they chanced to be overcome and pur- sued, they fled to one spot only, to that divine altar, to re- cover breath and vigour ; and thence, when they had set them- selves in order, they rushed again, fiercer than ever, into the battle. 6. With this Carroccio, then, for the first time, went Heribert to the war ; during which, after many fights and various changes of fortune, when at last the two armies were standing face to face, on the point of engaging in a bloody and decisive battle, they received the news of Conrad's death. Then a murmur, a sudden confusion, arose in the camp of the enemy, for Henry III., who had now succeeded to the throne, was known to be well inclined towards Heribert ; wherefore every leader, as if with Conrad the sole occasion of that war had passed away, drew off his troops from the field ; and pre- sently the whole army was disbanded and dispersed. Heribert, thus delivered from the peril of that war, betook himself into Germany to Henry, who, as one who had never entirely CHAP. iv. PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. 43 approved of his father's proceedings, especially of his having, without a trial, condemned to exile the three bishops of Lombardy, was not slow, when Heribert, as if exonerating himself, had set forth to him, in the presence of the nobles of his court, the grounds of the controversy with his father, to show himself fully satisfied ; and not only received the Arch- bishop into favour, but also set at liberty all the Milanese whom Conrad had kept prisoners in Germany, and gave them permission to return home. These, when they again beheld the sky of Italy, eager to fulfil the vow which, yearning for their native land, they had made in the days of their captivity, clothed themselves, with deep humility and gratitude, in white garments ; dedicated themselves and whatever they had to the service of God and of the poor ; and, renouncing the world and all its cares, spent their lives thenceforwards in poverty and retirement ; for which they were afterwards called Umiliati. In these originated the monastic order of that name, which helped so much in later times to improve and propagate in Italy the art of weaving wool and gold and silver cloth, whereby Italian commerce was greatly extended and enriched. But, as in process of time many corruptions crept into this order, in 1568, when some of its members had been found guilty of offences against Cardinal Borromeo, it was dissolved and abolished by Pope Pius V. 7. For the first six years of his reign, Henry III., engaged Discords in -iiT-,1- ITT Lombardy in wars with the Bohemians and Hungarians, was unable to during the come down into Italy ; and in the time of his absence, many H^nry*!!!. tumults and innovations took place in the Lombard cities, Cond ' tlon r 'of Milan. especially in Milan. The city of Milan was divided at that War be- time into six tribes, which took their names from its six gates : nobles and the Vercellina, the Ticinese, the Roman, the East, the New, the P e P le - and the Comense Gates. The principal men in the tribes were the Captains (Capitani} and the Vavasours. According to some writers the former held their fiefs and dignities imme- diately from the king, and the latter theirs from the Arch- bishop. Many of them had been rural Counts, who, now that the city was beginning to recover its territory, were forced to dwell within the walls. Collectively they were called Milites. Great was their number, and approved their valour, and J4 PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. PART i. eminent were their services to the Commune, for by them the city seemed to be ennobled ; and the cavalry, which was the chief strength in those wars, was almost entirely composed of them. These men, then, whom we shall henceforth call nobles, and who had already much power in the government of the city, not only aspired to more, but even ventured to assume that all the seigneurial rights which the Dukes had formerly possessed there had now passed to them. Hence, not having any war in those days to spend their fierceness in, and taking advantage of the Archbishop's absence in Germany, they began to behave themselves proudly in the tribes, and, accord- ing to the custom of those ancient Dukes, to claim as their own the property of every citizen who died without an heir ; thus setting at nought the rights and authority both of the King and of the Archbishop, who before long returned from Germany, Count of the city. At last the people, unable to endure such tyranny, flew tumultuously to arms, and con- spiring, not only for their own defence, but for the extermina- tion of that patrician pride, formed a Council to manage their affairs, and placed at the head of their army Lanzone della Corte, who, although himself a noble, so heartily detested the proceedings of his peers, that he consented to become the leader of the people ; and soon began to oppose the nobles vigorously, fighting against them with fire and sword, and destroying their houses and their towers, until they were all driven out of Milan. 8. On this Heribert, finding that he had no longer suffi- cient authority to compose those discords, and feeling that ^ e cou ^ not we ^ ta ^ e P art m them, because, if justice and victory were with the people, his own interests, and perhaps his sympathies also, were with the nobles, many of whom were his vassals, retired as a neutral to Monza. But the exiled nobles, having armed their rural tenants, and drawn over to their cause the peoples of Seprio and of Martesana, presently came against Milan ; and, not being strong enough to re-enter it, fortified themselves in six villages around the walls, from which they sallied forth every day, and endeavoured to cut off its supplies. At last, at the end of three years, Lanzone, perceiving that the people, now wearied and ex- hausted by these incessant attacks and by the shortness of CHAP. iv. PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. 45 provisions, would not be able to hold out much longer, went into Germany to ask the aid of the King. These popular tumults and wars in Lombardy were a great vexation to Henry ; nevertheless, because he believed from report that the Archbishop was the chief cause of the Milanese discords, he promised to come and deliver the people from that siege, as soon as they should have sworn allegiance to him, and have agreed to receive four thousand Germans into the city ; well pleased that recourse had at last been had to that authority, which hitherto in their tumults they had all of them despised. 9. Lanzone, on his return to Milan, encouraged the people The nobles with the hope of this succour ; but, wisely considering that if ^eaclierous ever the King should be allowed to establish himself in the p , eace W1 . th the people. city with so strong a force, he would soon reduce it to complete Death of subjection, he presently went forth to confer with the nobles ; andYan- and showing them how, through their unjust and arrogant Q^^g of dealings, the city was about to lose its freedom and become a the nobles. prey to the Imperial officials, brought them, as it appeared, to a better state of mind ; for, dissembling every thought of revenge, with seeming meekness and benignity they made a covenant of peace with the people ; and, all need of German aid being thus removed, were re-admitted into the city, where, through the influence of their rank and wealth, they soon began to recover their power and insolence ; and when Heribert died, and they were thus relieved from the respect which, ill as he had been obeyed, had never ceased to be felt for that great man, they at last let loose the fury which raged within them, athirst for vengeance and for gold ; and, having apprehended Lanzone della Corte, they caused him to be put to death in the ancient tower of the Moriggi ; then, having seized upon the government of the city, they issued two decrees ; the first of which was, that no man of the house of della Corte should be allowed to dwell in the city or territory of Milan ; and the second, that to a noble the penalty for slaying a commoner should be a small fine, sette lire e nn soldo di terzuoli ; and, under shelter of this law, many commoners were pitilessly slain. 10. For which cause the people chose another leader, to Henry in. keep them united, as Lanzone had done, and to defend them He is* from the cruelty and injustice of the nobles. Amidst these con- crowned 4 6 PRELIM IN A R Y DISCO URSE. PART I. tentions they were called upon to elect a successor to Heribert. The people proposed four candidates, the nobles one ; and the King, who had to choose the Archbishop from amongst those proposed, chose the candidate of the nobles, Guido da Vellate. On this such scorn and indignation seized the people, that when Guido came for the first time to celebrate divine service in St. Ambrose's, rising with one accord, and drawing with them all the clergy, they went out of the church, leaving the Archbishop alone at the altar ; and they never afterwards missed an opportunity of insulting him. But the coming of Henry III. to Milan composed these discords for a while ; he received the Iron Crown from Guido, and then took his journey towards Rome, where he unmade three popes, who, in the great corruption of the Church, had obtained that dignity by simony ; caused to be elected Clement II., by whom he was afterwards crowned Emperor ; and decreed that for the future no pope should be elected or consecrated without his approval ; for the clergy and people of Rome, to the great scandal and detriment of the Church, were then in the habit of selling the pontifical see to the highest bidder. In accord- ance with this he elected or nominated all the Popes, without any opposition, as long as he lived, which was to the time of Victor II. ii. This Emperor was respected for his beneficence and liberality, but little obeyed in Italy ; where during his reign the Imperial authority almost ceased to appear, except in the act of alienating its rights, for money or some other consider- ation, in favour of the Bishops and of the Communes. In the time of his absence, he conceded to the Bishops of Asti and Bergamo the temporal government of their cities ; and on coming into Italy, gave the Bishop of Parma the title and dignity of Count, with the rights of fodcrum and mansiona- ticum ; and conferred on the Bishop of Padua the right of coining money, which bore upon one side his name and image, and on the other a representation of the city. He granted permission to the Bishop and citizens of Modena to rebuild and enlarge their city, and to fortify it with ditch, walls, and towers, and confirmed their ancient customs. He had many troubles from his desire to reform the clergy, who in those days were polluted with incontinence and simony ; and was CHAP. IV. PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. 47 often at strife, first with Boniface, Marquis or Duke of Tuscany, father of the famous Countess Matilda, and afterwards with Godfrey, Duke of Lorraine, who, having married Beatrice, the widow of Boniface, had grown so rich and powerful as to be suspected of aspiring to the throne of Italy ; and that he himself had no great power in that land may be inferred from the fact, that once, when by an extraordinary tax he had raised a sum of money from the March of Verona, Duke Guelf, the Governor of that March, compelled him to return it. He died in 1056, leaving behind him one son, Henry IV., still a child, whom he had already caused to be elected as his successor, and whom, in dying, he anxiously commended to the princes of the Empire and to the Church of Rome ; for already were seen rising and gathering over Italy and Germany the clouds of that fierce tempest which, afterwards, bursting forth upon those countries, threw everything into confusion, and, having bereft the Emperor of his crown, hurried him, before his time, into the grave. 48 PRELIMINARY />ISCOL'RSE. PART I. CHAPTER V. Reign of I. HENRY IV. exhibited, in early life, a wild and wayward disposition, inclined to licentiousness ; yet he was afterwards discord be- humane and magnanimous as a ruler, and skilful and very tween him ,11- and the valiant in war ; but, thwarted by destiny or over-matched Why C the by tne difficulties of the times, he was always unfortunate citiesof an( j unhappy. The very dissensions which arose in Ger- Lombardy rrj J followed at many with regard to his education, and in the course of it, party of the vitiated his youth; and seemed to give him a bad example, and incline him, even had other incentives been wanting, to persevere in those still greater ones in which he was after- wards involved with the Court of Rome. For with this, during his minority, arose the controversy concerning the election of the Pope ; Nicholas II., on coming to the pontificate, having, at the suggestion of Hildebrand, who, though as yet but a cardinal, seemed already to rule the whole Church at his will, made a decree, whereby, in opposition to that of Henry III., he restored the right of electing the Pope to the cardinals, people, and clergy of Rome ; by reason of which the Court of Germany nominated two anti-Popes, first Cadalaus, and after him Gibertus. Together with this sprang up also the quarrel about the investitures of ecclesiastical benefices, the cession of which was required by the Popes of the Emperors, on the ground that in the Imperial court the highest dignities of the Church were sold for money, and to unworthy persons. By these things the rights and pretensions of the two courts became so hopelessly entangled, and men's minds so much embittered, that when Henry IV., having attained his majority, assumed the reins of government, he had to sustain, in Italy, most formidable contests with the Roman pontiffs, who were aided, first by Duke Godfrey and afterwards by the Countess Matilda ; and, in Germany, the rivalry of Rudolf of Bavaria ; and then the rebellion of his own sons, by the CHAP. v. PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. 49 younger of whom, with equal treason and impiety, he was at last hurled from the throne. But as the Popes of that time had undertaken the reform of the Ambrosian Church, where- by they had very greatly offended both the clergy and the people of Lombardy, the Lombard cities, amidst all this con- fusion, although many tumults arose amongst them, in the heat of which they paid little or no regard to the royal officials, adhered at first to the cause of the King, following, in the schism by which the Church was rent, first Cadalaus and afterwards Gibertus, who were both, as has been said, made Popes by Henry's party. 2. These peoples, in truth, left uncontrolled during his what minority, and accustomed during the troubles and weakness ^'received of his reign to manage their affairs in their own way (espe- from them cially the Milanese, who, when not at war with the Pavese, Hiidc- were always at strife amongst themselves, either about the t h e reforms which were being attempted amongst their clergy or ^"lida 5 about the rivalries of their Archbishops), lent him an assist- ance which seemed to proceed rather from the fidelity or spontaneous goodwill of allies, than from the duty and obedi- ence of subjects. For when Henry, struck down and over- whelmed by his cruel fortune, went to Canossa to submit to that severe and public penance which is remembered in our days rather to the reproach of him who imposed than of him who endured it, the Lombards, who understood much better than the Germans how to deal with the pretensions of the Popes, openly censured his proceeding, and even threatened to abandon him, as one who knew not how to maintain the dignity of a king. Taking heart at this outburst of their noble pride, he went back into Germany, recruited his forces, and extinguished his rival, Rudolf ; whilst the Lombards, in his absence, defeated the troops of the Countess Matilda. On returning into Italy he received great assistance from these peoples in harassing and subduing the party of Hilde- brand, who was at last driven from Rome, and died in exile, under the protection of a prince who had not long before been excommunicated by him, namely, of Guiscard, the chief of those Normans who had by this time taken Apulia and Calabria from the Greeks, Salerno and Benevento from the Lombard princes, and Sicily from the Saracens ; and who, to E PRELIM IN A R Y DISCO URSE. PART I. How the Countess Matilda re- stored her party, and induced the Lombard cities to make a league with her against Henry. Divorce of Matilda and Guelf V. Death of Conrad. aggrandise themselves, were wont to be now the allies and now the enemies of the supreme pontiffs, just as their power or that of the Emperors obtained the ascendency in Italy. 3. After this, for some time, things went on prosperously with Henry ; but the Countess Matilda, retaining in her ad- verse fortune her steadfastness of purpose and deceitful arts, just stooped to accept a champion, rather than a husband, in the person of Guelf V., son of Guelf VI., Duke of Bavaria, and then, with the power of her father-in-law and husband, not only contrived to excite new disturbances in Germany, and to revive her party and that of the new Pope, Urban II., in Italy, but also, by the wiles of an impious policy, succeeded in stirring up against Henry his own son, Conrad ; and having caused this prince to be crowned King of Italy by An- selmo da Rho, the Milanese Archbishop, who had abandoned the Gibertine faction, she induced the cities of Milan, Lodi, Cremona, and Piacenza to make a league with her against the Emperor for twenty years. This, which was a very heavy blow to Henry's party, is noteworthy as being the first league ever openly entered into by these peoples against the Emperor ; on which account it is asserted by many, that out of the confusion and weakness of this reign arose the be- ginnings of liberty and independence in the Lombard cities. 4. When, then, Matilda saw her party restored and her- self reinstated in all her dominions, as much by the aid she received indirectly from the war which the Normans were waging against Henry as by the effect of her marriage and the reputation of the young king Conrad, she began, as a woman whose ambitious heart knew no dearer delight than to seek, amidst intrigues and ceaseless discords, occasions of adding to her fame and power she began, I say, to perceive that her authority in Italy would be much more arbitrary and absolute if she could get rid of her husband and of the young king. Guelf must have cared very little for such a wife as he had in her, elderly, proud, and contentious ; yet, as in leading her to the altar he had set his heart upon her great inheritance, when now, by the separation which ensued between them, and by her having, as was well known, made the Church her heir, he saw himself deprived of it and put to shame, he was filled with indignation, and both he and his father in their wrath CHAP. v. PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. 51 went over to the side of Henry. But Conrad, who had nothing to sustain him on the throne but the support of this countess, felt when that failed him that all was lost, and re- tired in disgrace to Florence, where, not without suspicion of poison, he presently died ; having gained by his rebellion nothing but infamy, embittered by the consciousness of his sin, and by the knowledge that his younger brother, after- wards Henry V., had been elected in his stead as his father's associate and successor. 5. About this time (1095) Urban II. had begun to preach The French the Crusade, first in Piacenza and then in Clermont ; and when drh-tftiie 5 a very great number of Crusaders, led by French princes, were anti-Pope passing through Italy, bound for the Holy Land, the Pope Rome, and had no difficulty in engaging those arms, which had been pero/out grasped at his instigation, to do him service on the way ; with f Iu l ly ' f these, therefore, he drove out of Rome the anti-Pope, Giber- the Em- tus, and utterly overthrew the forces and the party of the Emperor in Italy ; whereupon Henry, now grown old, and weary of so many troubles, retired into Germany, resolved to give peace, as far as in him lay, to his kingdoms and to the Church ; and also, if necessary, to abdicate in favour of his son. But it was decreed that this unfortunate monarch should experience, before his death, the ingratitude and enmity of all belonging to him, for that very son, for whom he was disposed to do so much, offended because the Empire was not, as he had expected, immediately ceded to him, and urged on, per- haps, by Pascal II., who had now succeeded Urban in the pon- tifical see, rebelled against his father, and, casting aside that filial piety which the laws of God and man require to be always shown towards a parent, caused him to be stripped of the ensigns of his dignity, and suffered grief, neglect, and misery to consume the little remnant of his life. So that Henry, if in his youth he had fallen into many grievous sins, was afterwards visited by a punishment than which none more sad and painful was ever experienced by any- father upon earth, being doomed, in the decline of his years and fortune, to see himself deserted, conspired against, and warred upon by his own children. Moreover, he died excommunicated, and for five years after his death was denied the rites of sepulture. PRELIM IN A R Y DISCO URSK. PART I. Discords in Milan in the time of Henry IV. concerning the mar- riage of the clergy. 6. I have already mentioned the civil wars of the Milanese ; and now, to explain further the elements of their discords (passing over those which arose from the rivalries of their Archbishops), it must be told that in the beginning of the reign of Henry IV. the Milanese, having marched against the people of Pavia, inflicted upon them so heavy a defeat that the spot where it took place was called ever afterwards the Field of the Dead. But this war ended, civil strife was re- newed in Milan concerning the marriage of the clergy; for the Roman pontiffs, whilst under the pretence of extirpating heresy they were seeking to deprive the Emperors of the in- vestitures, had also taken upon them to prohibit marriage to the Lombard clergy, who, in accordance with the laws of the Ambrosian Church, had been hitherto allowed to marry. Nicholas II. sent to them Peter Damiano, a man greatly famed in those days for his wisdom and sanctity, who, however, though zealously seconded by Arialdo, a deacon of the Milanese Church, and Erembaldo Cotta, a man of great authority in the city, found it a most difficult matter to convince either the clergy or the Archbishop that as long as they retained their wives they were living in error and in sin. Nor was this ob- stinacy on their part to be ascribed solely to their own attach- ments to the comforts of domestic life, for the greater part of the people themselves fiercely opposed this doctrine, and rose tumultuously whenever it was preached, both because it offended against the rights and customs of the Ambrosian Church, and because they thought that if corruptions existed amongst the priests, this was not the proper remedy. For they had a deep-rooted conviction that the affections and duties of a husband and father, so far from unfitting a man for devotion and ministerial labours, served rather to incline him to religious thought, and to keep him within the bounds of a sober and virtuous life ; whereas, it was said, if men, when devoted to the service of the Church, should be compelled to live in celibacy, deprived of the corrective in- fluences of those holy domestic affections since it could not be supposed that all would have sufficient strength and con- stancy of will to mortify the vigour of the body by austerities, and to control, by the aid of meditation and of prayer, that natural impulse which more or less moves every man to love CHAP. v. PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. 53 it would come to pass that some of them, yielding to the seductions of their own hearts, would fall into evil and un- lawful practices, grievous scandals would arise, and families would lose their peace and honour. Such were the views of one party ; another, however, could see nothing in the mar- riages of the clergy but the lasciviousness and scandal of con- cubinage ; and held that they were bound to follow always and in everything the decrees of the Roman pontiffs. Thus a long, fierce contest raged amongst the Milanese, which, finding fuel also in the rancour of more ancient discords and in the contentions of their rival Archbishops, broke out every now and then into a bloody fight ; until at last, the Emperor's party having grown feeble, and the Archbishop Ansel mo da Rho having abandoned the Gibertine faction, the Milanese became reunited against Henry ; whereupon the Ambrosian Church returned to entire subjection to the Church of Rome, and its clergy had to renounce their wives, accepting even in this respect the Roman customs and discipline. 7. Much was done towards quieting these dissensions, and Good effect all others in Lombardy, by Urban II., who, when he began, crusades as has been said, to stir up Christendom by his preaching to in Lom - bardy. deliver Jerusalem from the infidels, found in Lombardy so Use of sur- ardent a response, that from its many cities came count- armorial 1 less multitudes of all ranks and ages, carrying the banners of beann s s - their communes, which now bore the effigy of the Cross, singing hymns and war-songs, and giving themselves up as unreser- vedly to that enterprise, as if nothing else in the world could any more concern them. Thus those wars in Palestine, which afterwards gave the maritime cities of Italy an opportunity of increasing their commerce and possessions in the seaports of the Levant, served now to divert the peoples from civil strife, since in their great zeal for that holy enterprise all their rival- ries were utterly forgotten. In this first expedition, as old chroniclers and poets tell, Otto Visconti, a Milanese noble, whose race became afterwards famous in Lombardy, and tyrannical, challenged under the walls of Jerusalem to single combat by Voluce, a leader of the Saracens, slew him and took his armour ; and, finding the helmet surrounded by a viper, which, circling it seven times, held in its mouth aloft a 54 PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. PART T. naked child, he gave the viper one more turn, to signify his own name (Otto, eight), and assumed it as his family crest. For .the arms that are now borne by families as an indica- tion of nobility, first came into use during these wars in the Holy Land, when, many peoples of different languages and countries being encamped together, every baron, that he might be more easily recognised in battle, caused a certain device to be embroidered on his banner, and engraved for military ornament, with enamellings of gold and silver, on his cuirass and shield. About this time also families began to assume surnames ; some from the lands they held in fee, others from their dignities, others from the avocations of their fathers, others from the nicknames by which persons of their kindred had been known. For from the time of the settle- ment of the barbarians in Italy the use of surnames, as dis- tinguishing one family from another, had disappeared, and no man had more than one name ; to which, in writings of importance, to avoid confusion, there would be added that of his father, or of his rank, or dwelling-place, or occupation. The Venetians, however, having been less subject to the changes that were brought about in other parts of Italy by barbarian invasions and intestine discords, had retained in greater purity the nobility and the customs of their Latin descent, and had either never abandoned the use of surnames, or else had been the first to resume it. After the return of Otto Visconti from Palestine, the Milanese, in honour of the daring and the victory of so great a citizen, decreed that for the future the people, on going out to war, should always have with them in the camp the banner that bore this viper. In like manner also the other cities, because that land, in which were accomplished the mysteries of redemption, was felt to be so sacred that its conquest had covered them all with glory, used ever after the banners their Crusaders had brought home ; that under these, which were memorials of civic valour, and relics of a holy and successful war, they might triumph over all their foes. Thus, in the simplicity of those heroic times, religion sanctified to the Communes of Lombardy the banners of their future freedom. Well had it been if they had never been unfurled but to withstand the oppression of the foreigner ! CHAP. v. PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. 55 8. Henry V. did not come down into Italy for the crown Prosperous i 11 r i r i i i i condition until more than three years after his fathers death, prevented, O f the cities perhaps, less by the affairs of Germany than by his reluctance "j. Henry 16 to renew so soon the controversy with the Court of Rome ; v. for he, like his father, was fully resolved to retain the investi- tures, and he felt sure that the Pope, when called upon to crown him, would demand their cession. Thus the peoples of Lombardy derived the same advantage from this prince's fear of excommunication, as before from the actual excom- munication of his father ; and since they had never ceased to make war upon the barons who had castles in their neigh- bourhood, until they had compelled them to commend them- selves and their fiefs to the protection of their communes, and to spend part of every year, as citizens, within the walls, they had now recovered much of their territory, and a fearless and generous spirit was largely diffused amongst them, and their young men, born and reared amidst the tumults of war and of civil discord, were high-spirited and brave, and im- patient of all seigneurial subjection. So that not only did they at this time introduce many new popular customs, which were afterwards zealously maintained, and so become more firmly established in that condition of liberty in which they now ruled themselves, but some of them, raising their thoughts from the auspices of the present to a greater future, adorned their cities with splendid churches, and with noble buildings for the sessions of the councils and magistrates of the republic ; and others, moved by ambition or by jealousy of power, began to contend in arms amongst themselves with more deliberate skill, and, with the rudiments of a more subtle policy, to unite, as independent states, in leagues against each other ; and Milan and Pavia, by their perpetual discords, at last drew all the others into war. Some of the events of this time, as the destruction of Lodi and of Como, deserve to be noticed more particularly, both on account of their own importance, and also because they were the immediate occasion of the fierce war and the memorable league which took place in Lombardy in the days of Frederick the First. 9. The Milanese, then, impelled by ambitious and tyran- War in nical desires, went forth in the time of the king's absence during the to besiege the city of Lodi, having for their allies the ^?f lct v of PRELIM IN A K Y DISCO URSE. PART I. Whimsical customs of these peoples in time of peoples of Tortona and of Brescia. Pavia, less powerful than Milan, but very wary and sagacious, entered into a league with the Lodigians and with Cremona, which, after itself and Milan, was the richest and most powerful city of Lombardy, and attacking the Tortonese, not only routed their militias and burnt their suburbs, but also prevailed over some Milanese troops, which had come in all haste to the aid of Tortona. The Milanese, however, the year after, thoroughly defeated them, and took a great number of prisoners, amongst whom was the Bishop of Pavia himself; and it is said that they brought all these into the market- place of Milan, tied bundles of straw behind them, set them on fire, and drove them home. 10. Account for it as we may, whether because their love for their cities, in the first vigour of their social order, was peculiarly strong and lively, or because, in the rude simplicity of their hearts, they attached an exaggerated importance to everything that was their own, and so were extremely sensitive and prompt to avenge themselves, certain it is that these peoples were always very easily moved to take up arms against each other. Solemn public challenges were sent ; occasionally, with primitive good faith, the day and the place of battle were named ; and when the fight was over, the war was very often at an end for that year. But if it lasted longer, they used to offer one another, in the course of it, various whimsical insults, as if each side sought rather to mortify than to overcome its enemy ; now exercising acts of sovereignty, such as the coin- ing of money, in the hostile territory, now running races for a prize under the walls of the besieged city ; now throwing over into it a dead ass, or shooting into it arrows tipped with silver. And when victorious, instead of soothing the minds of the vanquished by gentleness and moderation, and seeking by wise and prudent measures to confirm themselves in their conquests, they gave themselves up to all kinds of wanton mischief and coarse merriment ; sometimes cutting down a pine or other beautiful and favourite tree in the midst of the town they had taken ; sometimes stripping the prisoners of their clothes in the market-place, boxing their ears, making sport of them, and scornfully driving them home ; for, accustomed though they were to settle everything by fighting, their wrath CHAP. v. PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. 57 and emulation soon spent themselves amidst the rejoicings of victory. 11. But, closing this digression, I say that the Milanese, Henry v. after they had thus signally defeated and flouted the militias of SS^^J^. Pavia, went to the aid of the Brescians against the Cremonese, tics, im- prisonment and being again victorious, their fame and their haughtiness of Pascal rose higher than ever. The Parmigians, because the men of Borgo S. Donino, which was one of their dependencies, would no longer render them obedience, went to besiege them and burnt their castle. And the men of Padua, aided by those of Treviso and Ravenna, made war against the Venetians. Whilst the peoples of Lombardy, without any regard to the Im- perial authority, were thus engaged in war and civil strife, it at last became evident to Henry V. that if he cared for Italy, he must lay aside every consideration that had hitherto kept him away, and with all speed betake himself thither ; accord- ingly in mo, having raised a powerful army, he came down, firmly resolved to subdue the pride of the Lombard cities, and to bring them back into subjection to his officials. From Ivrea, where he was loyally received, he proceeded to Novara ; and because that city did not promptly open its gates to him, he took and burnt it. But this failed to intimidate Milan ; it neither received him within its walls nor sought, like the other cities, to propitiate him with a gift. Henry, however, not thinking it time as yet to enter into conflict with the Milanese, dissembled his wrath, and went past their border without molesting them ; and, entering the territory of Piacenza, he held at Roncaglia the Diet of the kingdom, and then pro- ceeded to Parma. The Countess Matilda, through pride or distrust, declined to meet him, but sent ambassadors to do him homage for the states which she held of the Empire, and obtained a confirmation of all the investitures. Next he turned to Pontremoli, and finding that city wanting in respect, he took and sacked it ; and afterwards, passing into Tuscany, every place that did not open its gates to him the moment he appeared before it he instantly attacked and destroyed ; so that he, who was already known as a wicked and unnatural son, now acquired amongst the Italians the name of a most cruel prince, a man sent forth amongst them in the wrath of God. After his arrival in Rome, that same Pascal II., who, it 58 PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. PART i. was said, had incited him to rebel against his father, refusing, as had been anticipated, to crown him emperor without the cession of the investitures, was cast by him, with many of the cardinals, into prison ; and afterwards so harshly treated and so fiercely threatened by him, that, contrary to all expecta- tion, he was at last induced not only to agree, for himself and his successors, that this renunciation should no more be de- manded of the Emperors, but also, with the promise that he would not excommunicate him, to give him the Imperial crown. But these concessions so greatly displeased the more zealous and rigid of the cardinals, that they declared, after Henry's departure, that even if the Pope, in that extremity of peril, had had the free exercise of his own will, he could not lawfully have consented to such demands without their con- currence, and that the agreement consequently was illegal and void ; and finding it impossible to induce the Pope, against his sworn promise, to excommunicate Henry, they did it themselves. Condition i2. In returning towards Lombardy, the Emperor stayed Its Umverl for some time at Bologna ; and, thinking that that city en- onhe^ 18 " 1 j ve d too much liberty, he commanded that a citadel should statutes of b e built in it, and, on his departure, left a garrison there. the cities. , .... .... . .... But the people, indignantly fretting under such subjection, soon rose tumultuously, drove out the garrison, and razed the cita- del to the ground. Towards the close of this reign, their Com- mune, having accepted the spontaneous surrender of many neighbouring places, became one of the first in Lombardy for liberty and power ; and it was afterwards made very famous by its schools, which were now beginning to be opened ; for Irnerius, appointed by the Countess Matilda, was at this time lecturing there upon the Roman law ; chairs were founded afterwards for the other faculties ; and for many generations students were seen coming in great numbers from all parts to this University. I speak not of the other sciences, but that the instruction given in the Roman law, and especi- ally in the Code of Justinian, was on the whole rather harm- ful than beneficial, will hardly be doubted by him who con- siders the leaning of much of that law towards despotism' ; hence the perverse influence exercised by its professors at Bologna over the minds of their pupils, and the long forensic CHAP. v. PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. 59 sophistries which arose from it ; and the fact that in lands which have liberty, the Roman law is in great part superseded by the national laws and customs. Even the cities of Lom- bardy, although the Roman jurisprudence, by the time they asserted their freedom, had taken full possession of the schools and of the forum, and caused the profession of the other laws, as the Salic, Ripuarian, Bavarian, and Lombard, to fall into disuse, did not accept the whole of it ; but as each city had established a government of its own, which differed in some respects from that of every other, so, regulating in its own way, in accordance with its new usages, the order of succession, the validity of contracts, and the punishment of crimes, it gradually departed from the Roman jurisprudence in everything which did not accord with the customs of a free community. Hence it came to pass that as each city had its own peculiar government, each had also its own statutes. 60 PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. PART i. CHAPTER VI. Destmc- I. THE Milanese, when the Emperor had left Italy, feel- Lodi ' m themselves relieved from restraint, made their preparations Dl \n rdS w ^h great secrecy, and suddenly went forth to attack the city of Lodi ; which, caught unprovided with forces or food, and unaided by any ally, fell at last into the hands of its most cruel and inveterate enemies ; who, exasperated by the injuries and losses they had sustained in the frequent contests of former years, and transported by the hatred that is so strong and unyielding between hostile neighbours, had so fierce a longing for revenge, that, not satisfied with the victory and the spoil, they resolved to destroy the city, and reduce the inhabitants to slavery. Wherefore after the pillage, they set fire to the houses and public buildings, razed these and the walls and the towers to the ground, and never rested until they saw the whole place utterly overthrown, and buried in one dismal heap of ruins ; which even to this day is sometimes pointed out in passing by Old Lodi, as a reproach to the rising liberty of those times. Turning then from the buildings to vent their rage upon the men, they divided that people into six villages, burdened them with heavy taxes, and forbad them to hold any public council or make any stipulation, even of marriage, without the consent of the Milanese Consuls ; and because their market was convenient and profitable to them in the place where it was held, they removed it to another. Many of the Lodigians, finding such bondage intolerable, left those villages, and went wandering about in the land, home- less and miserable, until the time when they were assembled together under the protection of Frederick I., and received from him a safe abode in a new city. Thus the unbridled and cruel ambition of the Milanese first showed to those in Italy, who were opposed to the new order of things, into what tyrannical and atrocious excesses the wicked rivalries between CHAP. VI. PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. 61 neighbours, the fury of civil discords, and the desire of self- aggrandisement, could urge those cities one against another, even in the infancy of their liberty, and in the presence of a common and powerful foe. Hence, perhaps, less lamentable, less unjust, would appear that heavy chastisement, which came, as if in retribution, upon the Milanese themselves, not long after the destruction of Lodi, through the fierce cruelty of Frederick I. From this triumph the Milanese returned to domestic strife, now rekindled amongst them by the rivalry of their two Archbishops, Grossolano and Giordano da Clivi. But the latter, who followed more ardently the cause of the Church, soon came forth victorious ; whereupon, assembling the clergy and people in the church of St. Ambrose, he publicly excommunicated the Emperor. 2. In this year (1115) died the Countess Matilda, a Death of woman who in wealth and power, as also in courage and [gss^a"" genius, far surpassed every other ruler of her time. In her tiida. Her i . , , ..... Testament government she was just and prudent; was willing in pros- in favour perity to seem humble and modest, but in adversity showed f h l u h r ch herself always, as she was indeed, fearless, sagacious, and un- The Em ~ yielding. By those who admire her liberality towards monastic possession institutions, and her constancy in supporting the Popes against the Emperors, she is extolled as generous and pious ; and in truth so ardently was she devoted to the cause of the Popes, that she spent a great part of her life in wars and tumults and intrigues for their advantage, and, to increase their temporal power, hesitated not to leave behind her, in her Testament, a seed-plot of wars to come ; for although she could hardly have forgotten the rights of the Emperors over her regal and feudal possessions, and those which, through her marriage with Guelf V., the Guelfi Estensi of Germany had acquired over her allodial lands, she nevertheless appointed the Roman Church the heir of all she had ; and afterwards, whether conscience kept her steadfast in her liberality, or the vigilance of those whom the Court of Rome maintained about her gave her no opportunity of changing her mind, she several times renewed this legacy, and finally sealed it by her death. The Emperor, on hearing of that event, came down with all speed into Italy, and without any scruple seized upon all her possessions. The Guelfi Estensi of Germany, indeed, after- 63 PRELIMINA R Y DISCO URSE. PART 1. War be- tween Milan and Como. Destruc- tion of Como. wards obtained their portion of them from Frederick I. ; but longer and more complicated was the dispute about them with the Court of Rome ; and Henry V., who was now at strife with that Court concerning the investitures, increased by his occupation of this inheritance the difficulty of coming to an agreement, first with Pascal, and afterwards with Gelasius II., his successor. In the course of this controversy occurred an incident worth noting. Gelasius, who could find no obedience or security amongst the Romans, proposed to Henry V. that they should meet to arrange the terms of an accommodation in Milan or Cremona, as cities which, although the Emperor was in Italy, still maintained their freedom, and were in such a condition as to be able to afford to both the contending parties protection and a safe abiding-place. Henry, however, did not accept this proposal ; on the contrary, maliciously mis- representing it to the Romans, he made them believe that the Pope was seeking to transfer the honours of Rome to another city ; and drew them along with him to the creation of an anti-Pope, in Maurice Burdino, who took the name of Gregory VIII. But just as he was preparing to promote his party vigorously for Gelasius was still followed by a great part of Italy and by the Norman princes he was obliged to return into Germany to quell the rebellion of the people of Lorraine, which took place in 1 1 18. 3. That same year (mS) began the war between Milan and Como, which lasted nine years, and was maintained on both sides with a vigour and obstinacy of which we have but few examples, either in the history of the Lombards or that of any other nation. It originated in this way. In one of the battles which took place in 1118 for the episcopal see of Como, between the party of Landolfo, a scion of the noble house of the Carcani of Milan, who had been promoted to that dignity by Henry IV., and that of Guido Grimoaldo, who was elected and supported by the clergy and people of Como, Landolfo was made prisoner, and shut up in the castle of San Giorgio, near Lugano, and a valiant nephew of his, called Ottone, with many other Milanese, was slain. Those who had escaped from the battle, when they came to Milan, spread the bloody garments of their dead comrades in the market-place, and, wrapped in their mantles, sat down beside CHAP. vi. PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. 63 them, silent and ashamed. At the news, which spread fast through the city, a great crowd ran together, amongst which were the mothers and widows of the slain, who, rushing upon those garments, and recognising them as those of their sons and husbands, burst into most bitter lamentations ; and after- wards, turning to the people, showed them that blood and their own tears, and loudly demanded vengeance. It is peculiar to free-men to be simultaneously affected by the prosperous or adverse fortune of the commonwealth, and to feel, speak, and act strongly together ; for the slave feels only his own private grief, and has nothing to do but to obey. Moreover, the Milanese, in their pride and power, thought that they had a right to be respected and obeyed by their neighbours ; and now, thrilled by the appeal of those women, they began to murmur, to chafe, and soon to cry aloud that the fall of so many citizens was a public calamity, and must be avenged. In the midst of this commotion, word was brought that the Comascans, to add to their offence, had committed some wrong I know not what against some peasantry of the archiepiscopal domains ; whereupon the indignation of the Archbishop, Giordano, rose so high, that, to stir up the people to a speedier revenge, with unheard-of presumption he closed all the churches, declaring that he would never re-admit them to the sacred altars, until Como should be utterly destroyed. The Milanese, who little needed any such incentive, im- mediately sent a herald to declare war against Como, and then went forth with the Carroccio into its territory; and, laying everything waste on their way, came to the foot of Mount Baradello, where were awaiting them the Comascan militias, drawn up in array of battle. Instantly the two armies rushed into conflict, and fought with equal fortunes until set of sun, when each, wearied but not vanquished, retired to its camp. But the Milanese, who thought it a disgrace to them to have fallen short of victory, rose in the darkness of the night, when those in the enemy's camp Avere fast asleep, and stealing silently along the gravelly bed of the torrent Aperto, drew near to the city, from which nearly ail the ablebodied men were gone forth, and suddenly assaulting the gates, slew the guards, who, fighting in darkness and confusion, made but a 64 PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. PARTI. blind and feeble resistance, and forced their way in. Here fell the son of Ardizone da Somerata, a priest, a noble- hearted man, who in defending his native city shrank not from wounds and death. When, then, the Milanese had seized upon the place and dispersed themselves all over, pillaging the houses and the churches, the Comascans in the camp awoke, to find their city taken ; and, full of rage and con- fusion, hastened into the fortress of Baradello, which over- looked the whole of Como. Now, when from this height they beheld the smoke and flames ascending from the burning, falling houses, and their enemies boldly plundering in every street, and cruelly ill-treating the children, women, and old men, thrilled to the heart with indignation and pity, they rushed down the hill-side, and so fiercely and unexpectedly attacked those pillagers, that very soon hundreds lay dead at their feet ; then, pursuing the fugitives through the gates, they seized upon their camp, set it on fire, and scattered them abroad all over the country. At evening, preceded by the prisoners and a great spoil, with songs of joy they re- turned to their rescued city. This defeat increased the wrath of the Milanese a hundredfold ; and as the Emperor was now involved in the discords of Germany, there was no one to prevent them from satisfying their fierce, inextinguishable longing for revenge. But they had entered into contention with perhaps the most valiant people of Italy. Strong, active, hardy, and very brave were the men of Como, so rendered both by the nature of their country and by their mode of life. Those hills of theirs are as healthy as they are pleasant and fertile ; the neigh- bouring woods and mountains invited to the hardy, adven- turous pleasures of the chase ; in fishing or trading they often had to brave the stormy waves of their lake ; and the constant pursuit of such free and daring occupations had given them a kind of indomitable boldness and an utter contempt of danger. At this time, like many other cities, they enjoyed municipal liberty, and they had already subdued many castles and other places round about them. The president of their councils was their Bishop, Guido, a man of wisdom and valour, and so much beloved by them that for his sake alone they had willingly undertaken to sustain this war. Deservedly CHAP. VI. PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. 65 from the most ancient times has this city been famed for the loveliness of its scenery and the beauty of its lake, but a brighter glory will ever rest upon its vales and waters, from the memory of the noble, fearless constancy displayed by its inhabitants amidst the chances of this fatal siege ; for it was not until 1127, after a nine years' contest, and a siege sus- tained with so much valour that the besiegers were often forced to fight, not for victory but for life ; when the greater part of their warriors were dead, and there were already many breaches in the walls, and the city was encompassed by land and water with the militias of all Lombardy, and reduced so low that it was impossible to hold out any longer, that the Comascans, having placed their old men, women, and children in their remaining ships, invoking the names of God, and of St. Abondio, their patron, sailed from their port, and, passing by night through the midst of the enemy's fleet, took refuge, still unconquered, in the Castle of Vico. The Milanese, after taking possession of the deserted city, resolved to complete their victory by the capture of its people, and immediately marched to Vico in full force. But when, on their arrival, they saw the strength of the place, and those dauntless men upon the walls, partly perhaps out of respect for their unconquerable valour, and partly to avoid further trouble and loss, they sent to them certain priests, much venerated in that neighbourhood, with an offer of peace, on these conditions : that their persons and property should be safe ; that they should render tribute and obedience to Milan ; that the walls of Vico and Coloniola should remain standing ; but that the city of Como, excepting the churches, should be razed to the ground. On hearing this proposal, a storm of passion overcame that unfortunate people ; some uttered cries of rage and tore their hair, cursing the Milanese and their own unhappy fate ; others, with their heads bowed down, stood absorbed in most painful thought ; then, suddenly lifting up their eyes to heaven, ' Oh, God,' they exclaimed, ' have then we and our fathers deserved so ill, that this our city should be destroyed, and that we, most miserable, should be given for a prey to our enemies?' Then fiercely brandishing their swords, ' It were better for us to die,' they cried, ' than to live in such bondage and infamy ! ' But those venerable men wept with them and F 66 PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. PART i. embraced them, and afterwards, calling their attention to their wives and children, and to the troops which were come against them, it is not known why, from all the other cities of Lombard y, implored them not to hazard, for the sake of a brief and vain defence, the lives of those so dear to them, but to accept that offer, however hard the terms, as sent by God for their safety. Yielding at last to such pleadings, they accepted the conditions and came forth ; after which they had to see from afar their houses set on fire, and their walls and towers broken down ; until in a short time nothing remained of their city but its foundations and its churches, half buried in ruins, amidst which resounded the exultations of the con- querors. A sad event, and long to be lamented. What wars, what misery it brought on all the land of Lorn- bardy ! The Comascans, when the victorious troops had departed, built huts near the ruined city, and in these they took up their abode, waiting and hoping for the help that time might bring, since at present, unaided, they could do no more. Caiixtus 4- On the death of Gelasius, which took place in the ii. Agree beginning of this war, the Cardinals elected Caiixtus II., who ment con- cerning the in no long time overpowered the anti-Pope Burdino, and cast tures/" hi m into prison, where he died ; then, by renewing the ex- n n Death commun i c ation against Henry V., he caused great discontent of Henry amongst the peoples of Germany, who were beginning to feel it a serious grievance to be subject so often to Emperors cursed by the head of the Church ; wherefore Henry, for fear of their rebellion, was forced to effect a reconciliation with the Pope, by finally renouncing the right claimed by the Emperors to dispose of the investitures of ecclesiastical benefices. This was the agreement entered into with regard to them : the Emperor conceded the right of electing bishops to the clergy and people, and that of electing abbots to their monks, where- by he surrendered the investiture of the ping and the staff ; but the elected bishop or abbot was to receive from him the investiture of the fiefs of his church, by taking the sceptre ; and he restored those possessions of the Church which had been seized by himself or by his father. The Pope, on his part, promised that the elections of bishops and abbots in the states of Germany should take place in the presence of the CHAP, vi PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. 67 Emperor or his representatives. And when controversies arose, the Metropolitan was to hear and decide them in the council of his suffragans. Soon after this, Calixtus died, and Honorius II. was elected in his stead ; and the year following died also the Emperor, who, although, as has been seen, he was resolutely bent upon striking terror into the cities of Lombarcly, and reducing them all to obedience, was always, by disturbances in Germany or by quarrels with the Popes, prevented from effecting his designs ; and indeed he was obliged, as appears from various documents of those times, to humour the cities which had not yet shaken off his authority, by letting them have the same customs, or we will say, privileges, as those which were now more free. Thus he granted to Cremona, and afterwards to Mantua and Bologna, the privilege (which Milan and Pavia had taken for themselves) of having the king's palace outside the walls, and being exempt from the obligation of receiving him and his troops into the city. 5. As Henry V. left no male issue, Frederick the Squinter, ]^. ction of Duke of Swabia, his sister's son, now become the head of the *' othaire ' f Ghibelline house, expected to succeed him. But the nobles Conrad. and bishops of Germany, remembering how often the Emperors of that house, by their dissensions with the Church, had i ? chis . m of ' Anacletus. thrown the whole Empire into confusion, gave the crown to Lothaire, Duke of Saxony, who, intent, as an open enemy of the Ghibellines, on favouring the Guelf party, gave his only daughter Gertrude to Henry Duke of Bavaria, its head, with the investiture of the Duchy of Saxony. On this, Frederick, offended and indignant, went to war with Lothaire; and setting up his own brother, Conrad, as a rival candidate for the kingdom, procured for him the favour of the Milanese, sent him into Lombardy, and induced their Archbishop, Anselmo da Posterla, to give him the Iron Crown. But the other cities of Lombardy, out of dislike to the Milanese, who had received him with so much alacrity, declared for Lothaire ; as did also Honorius II., because Conrad was a Ghibelline ; so that Conrad had little authority in Italy, and he and all his followers were excommunicated. About this time, the people of Crema, who were subject F2 68 PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. PART i. to Cremona, withdrew from under its authority, and entered into a close alliance with the Milanese, perhaps because they thought it safer and more honourable to be joined with the stronger, and because their city had anciently been included in the territory of Milan. In consequence of this, the Milanese had to sustain a long and bitter war with Cremona, Pavia, and Novara ; with various fortune ; prosperous against the Pavese, adverse against the people of Cremona. On the death of Honorius II., great discord arose concerning the election of his successor ; the party which elected and fol- lowed Anacletus II., was supported chiefly by the Cardinal of Santa Maria, a man of infamous life ; that which elected and followed Innocent II., had the favour of the good, and the sup- port of the Frangipani, who were then very powerful in Rome ; but Innocent II., although generally regarded as the true Pope, was obliged to leave the city, and embarking on the Tiber, sailed for France, where, through the influence of Bernard, Abbot of Clairvaux, he was received with all honour as the head of the Church. Anacletus, who was also obeyed by many, both in and out of Italy, wishing by a condescending demeanour to gain more favour in Lombardy, took the part of Conrad, and sent the pallium to the Milanese Archbishop, which Honorius II. had refused to do. It was during the contro- versy which arose out of this refusal, that on the return of the Archbishop from Rome, whither he had gone to assert and prove this ancient prerogative of his church, the Milanese, sus- pecting that he had consented to receive the pallium in Rome, refused to give him possession of the palace of his see, until his Chancellor and the Bishop of Alba had satisfied them, on oath, that they were mistaken. So watchful and jealous were these ancients over every privilege which could add glory to their city. Roger is 6. After the death of William Duke of Apulia, without made King j ssue j n u27. no kinsman of his being at hand to succeed of Apulia. ' Effects-of him, Roger Count of Sicily came over and seized upon his for the* F> inheritance; and although Honorius II. opposed him both Em P"l e , with arms and with the censures of the Church, because of nnd of the schism. the claims of the Holy See upon the Duchy of Apulia, and some of the principal barons were also adverse to him, the Sicilian prince maintained himself in possession ; until at last CHAP. vi. PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE, 69 the Pope was obliged to yield, and to give him the investiture of it. And after the death of Honorius, when the schism occurred, Roger, intent on confirming himself in his elevation, boldly took the part of the anti-Pope, Anacletus, foreseeing that from one who, being himself a usurper, had so much need of support, he should easily obtain, as in fact it came to pass, the title of King of Apulia. Whilst then this schism afforded so convenient an oppor tunity to the ambitious Roger of making himself master of all that land, which is called in our days the kingdom of Naples, in the. other part of Italy the rivalry of Lothaire and Conrad for the Empire favoured not a little the growing liberty of the Lombard cities ; for those which took the part of Lothaire, were suffered, during his long absence, to rule themselves in their own way ; and Conrad, though in Italy, had fallen so low in the estimation of these peoples, that he could neither oppose his adversaries, nor command obedience from those who professed themselves his friends ; and when Lothaire, in 1132, eight years after his election, came down into Italy, and held the Diet in the meadows of Roncaglia, as soon as it was found that, although supported by the presence and favour of Innocent II., he was attended by few forces, the peoples of Lombardy, who had now been for some time free from foreign oppression, took courage, and let him see that they cared very little about his coming ; wherefore, after receiving the imperial crown from the Pope in Rome with no great solemnity (for at that time the anti-Pope still held possession of the fortresses, the Vatican, and most of the city), he returned in haste towards Lombardy, and thence, with a heart full of vexation and anger because of his bad recep- tion, went back into Germany, not less put to shame than his rival Conrad, who had preceded him a ;>hort time before on the same road. Whilst these peoples were thus detaching themselves from the Empire, their political progress was nevertheless much affected by that of the other parts of Italy and of Germany, and was at present chiefly acted upon by the condition, so variable and disturbed in those times, of the Roman See ; for from this, when it was at strife with the Empire, they received great encouragement in their struggle for liberty, but when- 70 PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. PART r. ever the Pope and the Emperor were at peace with one another, and Germany was tolerably quiet, the tramp of foreign cavalry and the rod of German oppression were quickly heard and felt again throughout all Lombardy. Hence it behoved them to depend more upon their own forces than upon the alliance and help of others, and to live, perhaps, in especial distrust of the Pontifical See ; for whatever that see may have been in the primitive times of the Church, from the day when the Popes obtained dominion over many provinces, and began to bear not only the crosier but the sword, it became a power so different from every other in the world, that it was, and is still, very often obliged, because of the difficulties of its two aims, the one so ill agreeing with the other, to conduct itself with great subtlety, and to turn from side to side for its own advantage, regardless of the injury sustained by others ; like a reed of the marsh, which yields to the wind to save itself, and upon which, if a man lean, it will go into his hand and pierce it. I shall proceed to show how this was experienced in the course of the present reign, and it will be seen how great was the power of religion in the Middle Ages, even over these peoples, who now, amidst their repeated tumults, were showing them- selves not only desirous but worthy of a better condition. 7. Innocent II., when he saw himself deserted by the Emperor, and left alone in the midst of all his troubles as at first, felt that there was no course open to him save one to which the Popes, even in their utmost distress, are always most re- luctant to resort. He convoked a General Council in Pisa, in which there presently assembled the most eminent personages of Christendom, and amongst them, Bernard, Abbot of Clairvaux, whose praise was already in all the churches ; for it was known that by his preaching and by the austerity of his rule, he had restored poverty and discipline to honour in the cloisters, where wealth and idleness had engendered the usual corruptions ; and that, at the rebuke of this rigid Cistercian, even the Abbe Suger, who was justly regarded in those days as the greatest man in France, had humbly amended his life, and reformed his monastery. From Bernard, kings and peoples received counsel and instruction, and eagerly threw themselves into whatever course his eloquence recommended ; and if sometimes, from the enterprises he had advocated, there resulted most CHAP. vi. PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. 71 grievous calamities, which afterwards brought reproach upon his judgment, there was never the slightest doubt as to his in- tegrity. From the evil, then, of which his zeal made him the author, nothing is to be inferred but this, that, whilst the full light of evangelical truth could hardly find its way through the darkness of that age, even into the mind of such a man, he meddled too much, though from the highest motives, with the things of the world ; and dealing with these in the same way as with those that sanctify the soul, made, like many others who have not his piety and learning, very great mis- takes. On the appearance of this Abbot in Pisa, everything before the Council seemed to become subject to his decision. The Pope himself, who was indebted to him for the honour- able reception which he had met with in France, received him with great respect and affection, and hesitated not to avow to him, that in him rested all his hope of putting an end to the schism. But as the party of the anti-Pope was still very strong in Rome, and vigorously supported by King Roger, it was evident that Innocent II., to get possession of the Roman See, stood in need of the arm of the Emperor. And the Milanese, without intending it, were the first to give him an opportunity of restoring its authority and power. 8. This people had hitherto adhered to Conrad and to insurrec- Anacletus ; of the former, as has been seen, after they Milanese had given him the crown, they took little further notice, against J their Arch- hardly caring whether he was in Italy or not. But when, bishop. after the excommunication, Innocent II. declared their Bernard^ to~ church degraded from its metropolitan dignity, and withdrew ^e^vrith from it its suffragans, their sorrow and mortification were greater the Pope, than can be told ; for they prided themselves exceedingly th e Em- on the pre-eminence of the Ambrosian church, as one of peron the chief glories of their city. Hence Anselm, their Arch- bishop, as the man \vho had induced them to join the party of the anti-Pope, became very unpopular amongst them ; and when, whilst full of smouldering ill-will, they heard that this Council was assembled in Pisa with so much solemnity, and with the approval of so great a part of Christendom, and saw impending over them the confirmation of their disgrace and loss, their indignation at last burst forth ; and, rising in fury, 72 PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. PART i. they tumultuously deposed the obnoxious Anselm, and a great multitude of them drove him out of the city. Then, considering how to put an end to the confusion, they turned to Bernard, and earnestly besought him to come to them, to give them the benefit of his counsel, and to reconcile them with the Pope and with the Emperor. Well pleased with this invitation, which so well accorded with his present design, Bernard, as soon as the council was over, repaired with the legates of the Pope to Milan ; and, but that it would require too long a digression, it would be worth while to tell with what emotion all that people went forth to meet him, with what signs of joy and veneration they received him, and with what tears of humility they showed him their repentance. Suffice it to say, that when they saw themselves absolved from the excommunication, and their church reinstated, as far as was possible, in its dignity and prerogatives, the Milanese, as if they knew not how to give Bernard a sufficient proof of the love and gratitude they felt towards him, came in a body to offer him their archiepiscopal see, and earnestly besought him to accept it. But that great man, who owed much of his wonderful influence over others to the perfect disinterestedness of a mind which, ever soaring above earthly things, aspired only to the things of heaven, declined the offered dignity, and, to escape further impor- tunity, secretly departed from their city. The punishment inflicted upon the Ambrosian church, and then the submission of the Milanese, which was attended with so great an effusion of religious feeling, revived the fear of excommunication in the other cities of Lombardy, and made them more respectful and obedient to the Pope and to the Emperor ; wherefore Bernard, by declaring to Germany, which he was now endeavouring to pacify, the entire devo- tion of so great a part of Italy, more easily succeeded in his mission ; he had no great difficulty in persuading Conrad to lay aside his vain title of king, and shortly afterwards he induced his brother Frederick also, who proved prouder and more obstinate, to submit himself to the Emperor. Lothaire 9- All dissension in Germany being thus set at rest, downline Lothaire began with a good heart to make preparations for Italy. His going down into Italy ; whither he was not only summoned CHAP. VI. PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. 73 with urgent importunity by the Pope and by the barons of victories Apulia, but also strongly drawn by his own proud desire to reappear, mighty and terrible, in the place where he had once been seen weak, and been almost despised. And in 1136, accompanied by his son-in-law, Henry, the powerful Duke of Bavaria and Saxony, and by that very Conrad, who had lately been his rival for the Empire, he set forth on his way into Italy, at the head of a formidable army, and with such fortune, that of all the Emperors, who in the long course of ages have succeeded in making themselves masters of her, no other ever overran and vanquished her with such rapidity. To account for this, it must be remembered, that Lothaire, being a Guelf, had a friend in the Pope, who did what he could to incline to him the hearts of the peoples ; whereas, when the Emperors were Ghibellines, and at strife with the Church, the Pope's readiest mode of defence was to stir up Italy against them ; especially covering with his favour the Lombard cities, which were struggling for liberty. Lothaire, then, coming now as the defender of the true Pope, the peoples of Lombardy could not contend against him, without incurring the censure and condemnation of the head of the Church ; nevertheless, on his approach with so great an army, although they had no thought of offering any opposition, they were troubled and full of fear ; for they knew by sad experience what destruction was wont to be made amongst them during these expeditions, even in places which gave a friendly reception to the troops ; and they were now feeling almost guilty for having, when he came before, been somewhat wanting in respect towards him, and having prepared for him a very scanty foderum. Meanwhile, every obstacle was smoothed away before the face of this Emperor ; and, arrived in Lombardy, he looked round upon these peoples with fierce and threatening eyes, eager to find some pretext for making trial of his arms. Verona, Mantua, and Milan, one after another, hastened to assure him of their obedience. The Cremonese, who refused to accept his judgment in their dispute with the Milanese about Crema, he put under the ban of the Empire, and devastated their terri- tory. He attacked Casal Maggiore and made a slaughter of 74 PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. PART i. the inhabitants ; and, turning thence towards Pavia, occupied that city, and then Vercelli and Turin. Advancing after- wards through the towns at the foot of the Alps, belonging to Amadeus, Count of Morienna, he assaulted them every one, and made them all subject to him. Inflamed with success, he now returned into Lombardy, and took Piacenza ; and from Parma, which received him submissively, he went to be- siege Bologna ; and in a short time had entirely subjected to his will both this and all the other cities of Romagna. Meanwhile, Henry of Bavaria, who had pushed forwards into Tuscany, took Florence, Pistoia, Lucca, Sienna, and Grossetto. Meeting here with the Pope, he went with' him through Viterbo, Sutri, Capua, and Benevento, to rejoin the Emperor, who had by this time entered Apulia, and was prepar- ing for the siege of Bari. This, on being taken, was plundered and burnt, and its garrison given up to the sword. Then Melzi, and all the other cities of Apulia and Calabria, sub- mitted of their own accord. The Pisans, who followed the party of the Pope and the Emperor, having taken with their fleet Amalfi and the neighbouring places on the coast, sailed, in conjunction with the Genoese, to besiege Salerno, the strongest and wealthiest city of Roger's dominions ; but when the inhabitants, after bravely defending themselves for some time, saw the Emperor and the Pope with all their forces be- sieging them by land, they surrendered to them on good con- ditions ; whereupon the Pisans, disappointed of the plunder, felt themselves so much aggrieved, that they abruptly with- drew from that enterprise. In consequence of this defection, the principal tower of the city, in which great part of the Sicilian garrison had found refuge, was left untaken, and King Roger, who, yielding for the present to fortune, had gone over into Sicily, was thereby enabled, after the Emperor's de- parture, to recover Salerno, and in no long time the whole of the kingdom. Meanwhile Lothaire, in the course of these victories, had been able to console the exiled barons of Apulia by reinstat- ing them, one after another, in their possessions ; and when, by agreement with the Pope, he had created Rainolfo Duke of Apulia, and charged him to keep them united during his absence, and to defend them from the attacks of Roger ; and CHAP. vi. PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. 75 had composed certain differences which had arisen in the celebrated Abbey of Monte Cassino, he repaired to Rome, where Innocent II., having succeeded, with the aid of the Frangipani, in driving out the anti-Pope, had taken up his abode in the Lateran Palace. And there Lothaire, believing him well able to put down the last remnant of the anti-Pope's party, and to extirpate every root of that schism which had occasioned so much evil in Italy, presently took leave of him ; moved to do so the sooner, no doubt, by the usual impatience of the barons, who were beginning to show signs of a desire to return to their castles ; for the barons of Germany, although, whether from a wish to prove their valour, or from the love of booty, they were always very ready to take part in these Italian expeditions, soon became languid and discontented whenever they were long detained from their own country ; and now, having been absent from it about a year, they were longing to see and tread their native land, and so regain their wonted vigour. Wherefore the Emperor, when arrived at Bologna, consented to disband them, and himself also, well pleased to have so easily subdued all these Italian peoples, and to be leaving them in subjection to the authority of his ministers, set forth for Germany ; but on arriving at Trent, he fell sick ; and, still continuing to press onwards, grew so rapidly worse, that, when they came to the opening of the Alps, he had to be carried into a cottage to lie down ; and there he died ; leaving, with the insignia, the hope of the Empire, to his son-in-law, Henry of Bavaria. But at this time the princes of Germany were beginning Election of to aspire, each in his own state, to be independent of the He takes Emperors ; even as the men of Lombardy were seeking to condition be free in their cities ; hence, in electing a new Emperor, they of the objected to one who, with the forces of his own vassals alone, Lombardy, could make them stand in awe of him ; and foreseeing that ^dHo^' Henry, who in the might of the dukedoms of Bavaria and magna. - , . . r 1-11 State of baxony, already towered in proud magnificence high above Rome and them all, would rule them with an iron hand if ever he should o^fo? be raised to the Empire, they hastened to exclude him by Com-ad. electing Conrad of Swabia, once the rival of Lothaire ; in which they were encouraged by the legates of the Pope ; whereby Innocent incurred the reproach of inconsideration 76 PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. PART i. and ingratitude ; for Henry was the head of the Guelfs ; and had also zealously exerted himself, in the recent war, to restore the Pope's party in Italy. The imperial throne, then, being now again occupied by a Ghibelline, the usual factious contentions soon reap- peared in every part of Germany. By these, as long as they continued, Conrad was prevented from going into Italy for the crown ; and when at last, about the year 1 147, he had succeeded in composing them, and was opening his heart to the hope of a little rest, not Germany only, but all Christendom, became greatly excited by the report of sad reverses sustained by the Christians in the East, and he himself was suddenly aroused from his flattering dreams of peace and quietness, and constrained to gird himself once more for the toils and the dangers of war. For Bernard, filled with pity and grief at the news of those disasters in the Holy Land, came forth from his cloister, now more than ever too narrow for the greatness of his zeal, and went from place to place, urging the princes and the peoples to hasten over the sea to the assistance of their brethren. First Louis VII. of France took the cross, and then Conrad ; he, indeed, having already borne his part in a crusade, was well aware of the sad issue of such expeditions, and for a while held aloof from this ; but at last, carried away by the enthusiasm with which, at Bernard's fervent pleadings, though uttered in a foreign tongue, the Germans were thronging to join it, he also, anticipating even Louis, set forth with a numerous host for Palestine. But when these two princes arrived in that land, finding little good faith and no readiness to help in the Greek Emperor, and discord, con- fusion, and most grievous corruptions amongst the Christians ; and being unable, moreover, to remedy the want of discipline which made its appearance amongst their own barons, they achieved nothing worthy of their name ; and all that multi- tude, gathered together from different parts of Europe, was so quickly routed and destroyed, that it seemed to have passed over into Asia for no other purpose than to die and to be buried there. In this extremity, Conrad, when with devotion, free now from all thought of glory, he had visited the holy CHAP. VI. PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. 77 places, hastened his return to Germany ; where, soon after- wards, vexed to remember that he had reigned so many years, and not yet received the imperial crown, he began to make preparations for going down into Italy ; endeavour- ing to keep Germany quiet and contented, and drawing from it all the forces that could possibly be spared, and seeking at the same time to obtain, from various parts, trustworthy reports of the present state of Italy ; though certain, before- hand, that his appearance would be far from welcome, especially to the peoples of Lombardy ; for he had not for- gotten the disregard with which both he and Lothairc, in the weakness of their first coming, had been openly treated by these peoples ; and he was aware that since all Lothaire's successes had been brought to nothing by his untimely death, the Lombard cities had risen up again, prouder than ever, had once more expelled the imperial ministers, and had re- constituted and reconfirmed themselves in their popular forms of government. And now that throughout his long absence they had been left without any sign of his authority, he did but divine the truth in supposing them become more wayward, more haughty, and such as would no longer endure that any but themselves should bear rule within their territory, much less any one not yet wholly weaned from the self-import- ance and the lordly pretensions which those who held imperial privileges had at one time assumed amongst them. In fact, many walled towns of Lombardy, in imitation of the principal cities, had in like manner expelled their go- vernors, and they ruled themselves as republics, having consuls, for some time ; that is, until they were subjugated, one after another, by the cities to whose territory they belonged ; for it was one of the first objects of those republics to recover all their ancient territory, and to extend their jurisdiction by every means in their power, until they reached the bounda- ries of the diocese. Thus the barons, who once dwelt in princely magnificence in solitary castles, with numerous retainers, and with wide domains around, had already been attacked and vanquished by these popular forces, and com- pelled to become citizens, that is, to live for part of the year in the cities, pay tribute, and defend them ; so that it is recorded, that by the time of Frederick I., to which we are 7-S PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. PART i. now come, of all the numerous barons that had so long been powerful in Lombardy, not one had succeeded in maintaining himself against the rule of these rising republics, excepting the Marquis of Montferrat. Even the bishops, under whose name, as Counts of the Empire, many cities were governed, had gradually lost their authority, so that at present they were rather honoured than obeyed ; although their names were still used, as a legal formality, in the documents of the republic, and in pronouncing sentences ; and the tolls, and a few other seigneurial rights, remained to them. All these things concurred to convince Conrad, that he who should now go down into Italy with the banners of the Empire, whether as friend or foe, would no longer be able to enter it with honour, unless followed by a powerful army. On the other hand he remembered, and this was his comfort, the hatred that those cities bore against each other, a hatred which, rooted in municipal pride, and kept alive by constant rivalry, was always increasing amongst them ; in fact, from haughty ambition on the part of some, from envy or vindic- tiveness on that of others, they were all continually armed, ready and glad to have a fight ; and if those evil passions were for a while at rest, they would go to war with one another about the waters that divided their fields. And, looking further, he saw the peoples of Tuscany and of Romagna no less restless, turbulent, and contentious than those of Lombardy. All these peoples, indeed, abusing the liberty they had recovered after the death of Lothaire, were now making war amongst themselves with greater animosity than ever ; and often facing one another, not in mere skirmishes, but in real pitched battles, when their rage, un- appeased by the blood poured forth upon the field, was some- times, as after the victory of the Pisans over the men of Lucca, cruelly spent upon the prisoners. In Rome, although the schism was at an end, the party of the Pope was much weakened ; for the Roman people, during that long ecclesiastical strife, had become impatient of all subjection ; and, having recovered the thought of their ancient liberty, moved also by the bold eloquence of Arnold of Brescia, who in those days was preaching amongst them the reform of the clergy, had adopted a new form of government. CHAP. VI. PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. 79 For which cause the successors of Innocent II., unable any longer to be as sovereigns in Rome, preferred to reside else- where ; but the Romans had written to Conrad to obtain his sanction for their innovations, assuring him that they had both the will and the power to give him, when he should come, the imperial crown. Conrad, however, out of dislike to the liberty of which the Romans made so loud a boast, disregarded this offer, and, although aware that the last two pontiffs, pressed by necessity, had relented not a little in favour of Roger, his enemy, and had accepted assistance from him, gave a gracious reception to the legates of the Pope, knowing that, with the Church on his side, he would have, on going down into Italy, much more authority with the Guelf party, and greater power to contend against the Sicilian prince. King Roger had always been to him a very troublesome enemy ; for those wars and discords in Germany, which had hitherto so greatly embarrassed him, had been in great part sustained by the aid which Roger secretly supplied, in order to prevent him from coming down into Italy, to arrest the course of his successes. He had by this time not only re- covered Apulia and Calabria, but had also subjected many cities to which the Greek Emperor preferred an ancient claim. Prospering thus in all his undertakings, he had gone over into Africa, to make war against the Moors ; and returning thence with victory, he did not long remain at ease, for, stung by a slight that had been put upon his ambassadors by the Greek Emperor, he sailed with all his fleet to attack the island of Corfu ; and this, with many cities on the coasts of Greece, he took and plundered, carrying away a multitude of the in- habitants to people his island of Sicily ; and mindful, even in war, like a good ruler as he was, to enrich his people by in- troducing new arts amongst them, he brought over into Palermo all the Greek silk weavers, who had at that time rare skill in manufacturing sdamiti, and other sumptuous textile fabrics, brocaded with gold. Great therefore was the fame of the deeds and the power of this prince, who, by his indefatig- able valour and singular sagacity (which in truth never failed to attain its end, whether good or bad, and often by means far from honest), had subjected to himself so beautiful a part 8o PRI'LIMINARY DISCOURSE. PART i. of Italy, and seemed by his ships to have dominion over all that sea. Conrad, always believing that on coming into Italy he should have him for a mortal foe, had found an opportunity, in returning from the Holy Land, of making a treaty with the Greek Emperor, whereby they agreed, when a convenient time should come, to attack him both together, and forcibly recover from him all that he had usurped. And now that, having at last peace in Germany, he was ready to go down into Italy, he trusted very much, as far as Roger was con- cerned, to this Greek co-operation ; and with regard to the cities of Lombard}', he hoped that, in the blind fury of those discords which already disgraced their rising liberty, he should find some means of interfering amongst them, and, one after another, subjugating them all ; so making it manifest that his long absence from this part of the Empire had not been caused by want of power, nor yet of inclination, to put an effec- tual stop to all the presumptuous innovations that were being made there. With such views he had come to Bamberg, to hold the Diet and complete the preparations for his departure, when, after a short illness, he died ; not without suspicion that he had been poisoned by the agents of Roger, as will be told in the beginning of this History ; leaving another example, no less memorable and striking than that afforded by the death of Lothaire, of the uncertainty of human purposes, and of the vanity of all earthly glory. CHAP. I. PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. 81 PART THE SECOND. CHAPTER I. I. THE civilisation that was growing up and flourishing in of the Lombardy from the year One Thousand to the Peace of Con- 5 ualkies of * J heroic stance, was altogether of an heroic kind, such as appears in times - H OW . , 1 r 11 they died the customs and vigour of nations when they attain, in the away in course of their regeneration, to that period which may be re- Lombard y- garded as the happy season of their youth ; a period which, standing between the borders of barbarism and civilisation, is most notable and precious, by reason of its influence in giving shape, and a perfect and beautiful maturity, to their after con- dition. In it arise the chivalrous feelings, in it are formed the language and the manners of the nation ; from it the poetry, the arts, the public worship, that win man from rudeness and from vice, take their character ; and the domestic virtues also, the customs, and traditions, and the solemn feasts, with their courtesies, songs, and national games, all have their origin in that time. Hence it is that, according to its duration, a people is more or less strongly imbued with patriotism and virtue ; for this period, like youth, can be enjoyed only for a season. Happy those peoples which, secured from invasion by the position or the poverty of their land, have been able to protract, as far as it is permitted to human nature, their fresh- ness, and vigour, and innocence, all qualities peculiar to that age, in which are found the earliest joys of civilisation. The Switzer, surrounded in his valleys by rocks and snow-capped mountains, and for centuries shut out from the world, had a long enjoyment of it, albeit in his case it was never adorned with many graces ; and he was not corrupted, until, impatient of his mountain poverty, he came forth in an evil hour to sell G 82 PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. PART 11. the power of his arm to foreign courts. But for the Italian, dwelling in an open and delightful land, less inaccessible to foreign greed and cruelty, first though he was to arise from the lethargy of the Middle Ages to civilisation and to letters, for him this precious interval passed rapidly ; yet he came forth from it bearing in triumph pre-eminence in letters and the arts ; the only glory retained for itself amidst the troubles and calamities of its land by that people, which once, before any other, aspired to all the best attainments of humanity. But for Italy, perhaps, it could not be otherwise, on account of that fatal privilege, assigned in the mysterious disposal of terrestrial things to the Roman pontiff, of giving the Imperial crown in Rome to a foreign king ; by reason of which there came upon her, with almost every new accession to the German throne, the heavy misfortune of being overrun, taxed, ravaged, and corrupted by a great mingled host of rapacious and cruel nations, in whom habit had made it natural to despise, beat down, and spoil the inhabitants of Italy, and to disturb and scatter every beginning of order and progress in their affairs. Deservedly was Italy called the Garden of the Empire, but it was always a neglected garden ; no thought, no pains were ever spent on it by him to whom that duty most belonged, to keep it weeded, well-arranged, and bloom- ing. The foreign lord, who had a home, and affections, and kingdoms elsewhere, finding, whenever he was obliged to visit it, that there was growing up in every corner of it what he regarded as a noxious weed, thought he did all that could be expected of him, if he hastened with his cavalry to trample it down, and to cut off with the sword every shoot of that detested plant ; and then, when he had gathered all the fruit he could find, he forsook it as before ; he took no care of it, nor did he suffer anyone else to do so ; for to him alone was the sovereignty over it confirmed, increased, and sanctified, by time, by power, and by religion; a fatal custom, which, begun by the Carlovingians, was renewed by the Othos ; and though interrupted for a moment by the attempt of the magnanimous Ardoin, presently resumed and pursued its course by the Imperial coronations of the two houses, Guelf and Ghibelline, of Germany. So that, although in our days CHAP. I. PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. 83 the expenditure and festivity of the ceremonial have ceased in Italy, the disadvantage and disgrace of a foreign rule continue still ; nay (if it be admissible amidst these ancient matters to make mention of recent wrongs), certain it is that in our times, with a very poor understanding of the condition of Italy, the length and the weight of this rusty chain have been increased ; for, no regard being shown to the State of Venice, though it was one of the most ancient and illustrious in Europe, so much was added in the Congress of Vienna to the Italian possessions of the ruler of Austria, who had formerly in Italy only a state of secondary rank, inferior to that of several native princes, that, from the wealth and number of his subjects, and the formidable aggregate of his newly- acquired fortresses, he has now an authority in the country equal, if not superior, to that of any of its national rulers. Hence the underhand dealings, the intrigues and the insatiable pride of the officials of this foreign prince, who, regarding their master as the first in the land, hesitate not to pretend that the policy of all the other princes should be made to accord with his ; and wherever any restlessness is shown under this miserable yoke, whether by the subjects of Austria or of any other Power, there come imprisonments, banishments, execu- tions ; and since. 1821, this has gone on increasing continually. But, in accordance with that justice which, by an eternal law, assigns to every cause its own effect, every dominion which persists in rapacity and cruelty, makes itself, sooner or later, a scorn and a derision to the nations ; and creates within it, by its doings, a source of weakness, through which the day will come, when the slightest blow will suffice to overthrow it. 2. Dante, who was a warm admirer of the civic virtues and Dante's chivalrous customs of these times, because he felt them all as to these within his own great heart, and perhaps still saw, in his long wanderings to and fro in Italy, some lingering gleams of their light, speaks of them with great affection in many passages of the Divine Comedy, as if to reprove the fierce discords of the cities in his own day, and the degenerate customs of the nobles, who seemed to make it their only aim to corrupt and oppress the Commonwealths : ' That land, through which Adige and the Po Their waters roll, was once the residence 84 PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. PART 1 1. Of courtesy and valour, ere the day That frowned on Frederick ; now secure may pass Those limits, whosoe'er hath left, for shame, To talk with good men, or come near their haunts.' Purgatory, canto xvi. 1 And see in canto xiv. what he makes Guido del Duca say with regard to Romagna : ' Wonder not, Tuscan, if thou see me weep, When I recall to mind those once loved names, Guido of Prata, and of Azzo him That dwelt with us ; Tignoso and his troop, With Traversara's house and Anastagio's (Each race disherited) ; and besides these, The ladies and the knights, the toils and ease, That witched us into love and courtesy, Where now such malice reigns in recreant hearts.' Cacciaguida, Dante's ancestor, went with the Emperor Conrad into Palestine, and, after having been knighted for his valiant behaviour, fell there in battle ; which happened, as has been said, to the greater part of those that took the Cross at that time. In canto xv. of the Paradise, Dante makes him describe the chaste and simple mode of life of his con- temporaries with images so lively and attractive, that a better and more admirable picture could not possibly be given of this brief, indeed, but noble period, the heroic era of the rise of the Italian peoples ; for it must be remembered, that at that time the cities of Italy differed so little from one another in their vicissitudes and customs, that what is said of one, may reasonably be supposed of many : ' Florence, within her ancient limit-mark, Which calls her still to matin prayers and noon, Was chaste and sober, and abode in peace. She had no armlets and no head-tires then ; No purfled dames ; no zone, that caught the eye More than the person did. Time was not yet, When at his daughter's birth the sire grew pale, For fear the age and dowry should exceed, On each side, just proportion. House was none Void of its family ; nor yet had come Sardanapalus, to exhibit feats Of chamber prowess. Montemalo yet O'er our suburban turret rose ; as much To be surpast in fall as in its rising. 1 Gary's translation. CHAP. I. PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. 85 I saw Bellincion Berti walk abroad In leathern girdle, and a clasp of bone ; And, with no artful colouring on her cheeks, His lady leave the glass. The sons I saw Of Nerli, and of Vecchio, well content With unrobed jerkin ; and their good dames handling The spindle and the flax ; O happy they ! Each sure of burial in her native land, And none left desolate a-bed for France. One waked to tend the cradle, hushing it With sounds that lulled the parents' infancy ; Another, with her maidens, drawing off The tresses from the distaff, lectured them Old tales of Troy, and Fesole, and Rome. A Salterello and Cianghella we Had held as strange a marvel, as ye would A Cincinnatus or Cornelia now. In such composed and seemly fellowship, Such faithful and such fair equality, In so sweet household, Mary at my birth Bestowed me, called on with loud cries ; and there, In your old baptistery, I was made Christian at once and Cacciaguida.' 3. It may perhaps seem strange that Cacciaguida, living, An inciina- as he did, in the reign of Conrad, of which we have lately proper to"" spoken, should have been able to fill his picture of that ^ rdc wh early time with forms so chaste, and fair, and peaceful, when the Lom- we know from history that frequent and cruel wars were then not enter raging amongst the cities of Italy. But, to explain this, it j a e must be considered that those furious civil wars were chiefly against the .... . . Emperors. owing to the natural fierceness common to men in an early stage of civilisation ; and that if we had as minute records of the wars which took place in the primitive times of Greece and of Rome, we should find, perhaps, that their peoples gave vent to the first vigour of their social strength in no very dissimilar way. Moreover, although there was at that time in every Italian city a strong determination to submit no longer to the Imperial ministers, which made it necessary for the citizens to live together in unity, that they might be strong enough to stand against those officers and keep them out, there was as yet no motive common to all the cities which could serve them as a bond of union, and induce them to enter into a general alliance. True it is that they might have found 86 PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. PART ir. good ground for such an alliance in the necessity of opposing a common resistance to the Emperors ; but before they could discern this, and act upon it, they must first have learnt to calm, for a political end, the fury of their animosities ; and who does not know that reasons of state, which have respect to the future, however important they may appear to the wise and prudent, are rarely appreciated by the multitude ? The attractions of a future good, to obtain which present pre- dilections must be sacrificed, are to the mass of the people imperceptible. Not by careful calculation for the future, but by the impulse of the moment, are they moved, and roused to action ; and at that time, on every frontier towered high an ancient rivalry, horrid with hatred and with blood, that incited them to seize eagerly upon every 'opportunity of giving vent to those fierce passions which, once let loose, raged between neighbouring cities with a violence peculiar to an age half-barbarous, indeed, but heroic. Hence it was that these peoples, although they dwelt in peace, and lived good and blameless lives, within the circuit of their walls, never entered into a permanent alliance amongst themselves to resist either the Henries or Lothaire, and did not now prepare to do so against the expected descent of Conrad. Furthermore, it must not be forgotten, that the Lombards still retained, through the long habit of subjection, so much respect for the name of the Empire, that, although they refused obedience to the Imperial ministers, a kind of diffidence always withheld them from asserting their independence, and so, by open rebellion, shutting out all hope of a friendly agreement with it. And it must not be concluded, from what has been said, that they never made any alliances with one another, for they made many ; but they were hasty and brief, and, excepting that in the time of the Countess Matilda, were formed, for the most part, to resist the power of the Milanese, not to oppose the Emperor. As for that which we are told about all the Lombard cities against Como, it is, if true, inexplicable. At the very time of which we are writing, Cremona, Pavia, Piacenza, Novara, and Brescia were leagued tcgether against Milan, which had on its side Tortona, and drew aid from the people of Como and Lodi, and also from Crema, the city which gave occasion to the war. But this CHAP. i. PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. 87 league, although it divided the greater part of Lombardy into two parties, had no long continuance ; for, as will be seen in the next reign, when Frederick, on his first coming, attempted the siege of Piacenza, Milan, laying aside all enmity, sent troops to its assistance. Indeed, with the exception of Pavia, which, out of hatred to the Milanese, held constantly to the Empire, all the cities passed, on the slightest impulse, from the state of peace to that of war ; from allies becoming enemies, and from enemies again, with the same facility, allies. These movements arose from motives of rivalry or similar accidents ; they had nothing to do with any fixed political design against the Empire ; neither were they as yet at all occasioned or promoted by the Guelf and Ghibelline factions, for at this time, although the venom of those two parties must needs have begun to find its way into Italian minds, it was not so extensively diffused there as to corrupt whole cities, and cause them to be called Guelf or Ghibelline. 4. But if we are obliged to admit that the passions which Of the cha- -..,.. , , racter of in the same stage of civilisation show themselves more or less the Lom- amongst all nations, led the cities of Lombardy to make ^fcpiod. frequent Avars against each other, and that they were not yet politic enough to fortify themselves by alliances in their resistance to the Emperors, it must now be added, lest we should overlook the good which, according to the testimony of ancient writers, was still to be found amongst them, that at this time the people of every city lived, within the circuit of its walls, in peace, disciplined and maintained in a chaste and austere simplicity of life, not so much by the laws, as by their ancient usages, whose authority, in the daily life of these simple citizens, was acknowledged and revered. There was as yet no family, however wealthy, powerful, and respected, which raised itself so far above the rest as to despise the equality of citizenship. There was as yet no citizen, though he might be accustomed to be chosen as consul or praetor, and to direct the counsels of his commune, and to distinguish himself in its wars, who had a high look, a corrupt heart, or a mind set on ruling as a tyrant over his city. And this civic modesty and virtuous nobility of life, which was nourished and sustained by the ancient wealth of agri- culture in some families, and in others by the new riches 88 PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. PART n. which they had acquired in their traffic with many Christian lands, told also upon the common people, who were constantly participating more and more in the good effects of it. Never- theless, it seldom happened that the young men, unless they meant to become priests or monks, remained at the schools until they had completed the curriculum ; to do which they lacked, not the means, but the desire, for even amongst the principal families of the country, there was still current an opinion, introduced by the barbarians, that the severe disci- pline of study would affect the courage of their sons, and deprive them of that spirit and intrepidity which, in their private enmities and public contests, were of the first import- ance to them ; more especially because at that time there still existed everywhere the custom of the faide (feuds) ; by which, in cases of mortal injury, for which the law exacted, for the most part, only a pecuniary penalty, the kinsmen of the slain were allowed to avenge his death ; and until this had been done, a disgrace seemed to rest upon his whole family. Hence they set a very high value upon bodily strength and prowess, and early inured their boys to summer's heat and winter's cold, and to the use of arms ; in Milan to the twelfth, in Padua to the twentieth year, they always went bareheaded. And in all their cities it was the custom of the young men, formed into various companies, to meet together for military exercises ; to fence, to brandish the lance and the spear, to shoot with arrows at a mark, to handle the shield, to learn how to attack, and how to cover a retreat, to run jousts and unhorse each other, and to strike one another down in tour- naments ; and in the joyous and graceful military sports held on festivals and other public holidays, they prepared them- selves, by simulated warfare, for the encounters of real battles. The sword was held sacred and precious amongst them, and was accounted the sign of a freeman and a gentleman ; wherefore, by a very ancient law, the creditor, in taking a debtor's pledge, was forbidden to deprive him of his sword or of his falcon. They delighted in hunting and hawking, and in every part of the country were wide tracts of pasture land, enclosed with walls or palings, planted with clumps of trees, and stocked with the wild creatures of the chase. These parks were called, in the dialect of the time, brogli. CHAP. I. PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. 89 Their usual dress was of coarse cloth and skins ; the common people wearing those of the country, the wealthy finer and foreign ones ; and they had boots of a rustic shape, not unlike those which the country people of Lombardy wear in winter to this day. It was considered a becoming and manly thing to wear a long thick beard, which served, it is said, for a long time to distinguish a freeman from a slave ; wherefore the clergy, in token that they were servants of the Lord, began to shave themselves. Not because of poverty, but because of a virtuous ad- herence to the ways of ancient simplicity and frugality, they had few ornaments of gold and silver amongst their household goods. The use of silver plate had not yet become common at the tables of the citizens ; they still all ate from earthen- ware ; but when a grand occasion demanded it, and they wished to make a stately feast, they were well able to do so ; and they were wont, in honour of such occasions, to lend one another what little plate they had ; just as the old Romans used to do in the days when they still retained their simple, virtuous, and sober customs. ' Such were the good and modest ways of that time (writes Borghini, in his treatise upon Florentine money), and every man could entertain his neighbour at his house with- out shame, and be entertained by him without ceremony ; and meanwhile all the daughters were given in marriage, for their dowries were not yet so enormous, nor the cost of the marriage feasts and of their clothes and ornaments so im- moderate, as to incline their fathers to withhold them, and the young men to be afraid of wooing them. Wealth was abundant amongst this people ; their useless expenses were few and small, and their household goods were neat, for the most part, and in good taste, but not extravagant or ostentatious.' ' And . such were the Florentines, not only in the good time of Cacciaguida, when, as the poet, his great-great- grandson tells us, Florence " was chaste and sober, and abode in peace ; " but even in the century following, when the people had tasted a little more of the pomps and luxuries which attend prosperity and power. . . . The wealthier citizens, although very rich, much more so than one would suppose. 90 PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. PART n. never, in their mode of living and furnishing their houses, went beyond the usages of the poorer ; and that because of a good old notion, carefully cherished, and confirmed by long habit in those noble souls, that modesty in a man who could make a great show if he chose, was an honourable thing, and proper to a generous spirit ; so that they would have been ashamed to have had it said of them, " Such a one has silver plate ; " even as now, perhaps, some would take a pride in having much of it. Hence it came to pass, that similar household goods were to be found in all private houses ; for, excepting a case of forks or of spoons, which was often given by the Commune for some good service, and sometimes a bowl for sweetmeats, and at the utmost a cup or two and a saltcellar, no citizen would have thought of having silver plate in his house, however full might be his coffers of silver money and of golden florins. And it was usual to have the things upon the sideboard, such as candlesticks, washhand- basins, and ewers, all made of brass, but with a small round piece of silver inserted in the middle of the basin and in the cover of the ewer, wrought with enamel or other ornamental work, on which were engraved the arms of the master, and sometimes also those of his wife.' It will not be out of place to add to this the description which Villani also gives us of the manners of the Florentines : ' At that time (that is, before 1260) the citizens of Florence lived soberly, on coarse viands, and at little cost, and in many customs and courtesies of life were rude and unpolished ; and dressed themselves and their women in coarse cloths ; many wore plain leather, without cloth over it ; bonnets on their heads ; and all, boots on the feet ; and the Florentine women were without ornament ; the better sort content with a close gown of scarlet cloth of Ypres or of camlet, bound with a girdle in the ancient mode, and a mantle lined with fur, and a hood to it, which was worn upon the head. The common sort of women were clad in a coarse gown of Cambray in like manner. One hundred pounds was the common portion for a wife, and two or three hundred was accounted a magni- ficent one ; and the young women were for the most part twenty years old or more before they were given in marriage. Such was the dress, and thus coarse were the manners of the CHAP. I. PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. 91 Florentines ; but they were of good faith and loyal both amongst themselves and to the State, and with their coarse way of living and poverty did greater and more virtuous deeds than have been done in our time with greater refinement and wealth.' l And with this agrees all that is said of the other peoples of Italy by the authors cited in Muratori's Dissertations, from which these quotations are taken. 2 But I must not omit the trustworthy testimony borne to their good qualities in the History of Jerusalem, by Jacopo di Vitri, written in 1220. I say trustworthy, because when so many Christian nations were gathered together for the rescue of the Holy Sepulchre, each would be sure to manifest, from time to time, its habits and its nature ; and the historian, in recording and comparing the chief things for which each made itself remarkable, traced for posterity with the strokes of a faithful pencil the true character of all. After having praised the Genoese, the Venetians, and the Pisans, as the bravest and most expert in righting on the 1 Gary's translation. 2 Riccobaldi, the historian of Ferrara, thus describes the customs of the Italians about 1234. There will shine forth to the reader, through his low Latinity, much of the venerable simplicity of the ancient men of Italy, when, con- tented with small revenues and poor and homely household goods, they lived as yet strangers to those luxuries and voluptuous pleasures which, after no long time, in all countries, do but enervate the body, effeminate the mind, and corrupt and destroy every sentiment of virtue : ' Per hujus imperatoris tempora,' he says, ' rudes erant in Italia ritus et mores. Nam viri infulas de squamis ferreis capite gestabant, insutas biretes, quas appellabant Majatas. In ccenis vir et uxor una manducabant paropside. Usus incisariorum-ligneorum (trenchers) non erant in mensis ; unus vel duo scyphi in familia erant. Nocte coenantes lucernis vel facibus illuminabant mensas, facem tenente uno puerorum vel servo : nam candelarum de sebo vel de cera usus non erat. Viri chlamydibus pelliceis sine operimento, vel laneis sine pellibus, et infulis de Pignolato utebantur. Mulieres tunicis de Pignolato, etiam quando veniebant ad nuptias viris suis conjugatse. Viles tune erant cultus virorum et mulierum. Aurum vel argentum rarum vel nullum erat in vestibus ; parcus quoque erat victus. Plebeii homines ter in septimana carnibus recentibus vescebantur. Tune prandio edebant olera cocta carnibus. Ccenam autem ducebant ipsis carnibus frigidis reservatis. Non omnibus erat usus vini restate; modica denariorum summa se locupletes habebant. Parvse tune erant cellse vinarias. Horrea non ampla, promptuariis contenti. Modica dote nubebant feminae, quod earum cultus erat parcissimus. Virgines in domibus patrum tunica de Pignolato, quae appellatur Sotanum, et paludamento lineo, quod dicebant Xoccam, erant contentse. Ornatus capitis non pretiosus erat virginibus atque nuptis. Conjugatse latis vittis tempora et genas vittabunt. Virorum tune gloria esse in armis et equis commodos, Nobilium locupletum erat gloria Turres habere : quo tempore urbes Italiae singulas multis Turribus inclytce visebantur. 92 PRELIM IN A R Y D/SCO URSE. PART 1 1 . sea, he mentions, as if by way of confirmation, the acknow- ledged virtues of all the other Italians, ' who,' he says, ' are of a sober and prudent mind, and of an aspect quiet and dignified ; temperate in meat and drink ; eloquent and courteous in speech ; wise in counsel ; prompt and diligent in the manage- ment of public affairs ; careful and provident in that of private ones ; impatient of all subjection, they fight before all things for liberty, but render faithful obedience to the chief men whom they elect to govern their communes. Very im- portant is the part they sustain in this Holy War, both in fighting by land, and in keeping open a safe passage by sea, and bringing over provisions and pilgrims ; and as they are not given to revelry and drunkenness, they last long, longer than the men of any other nation, in the lands of the East.' Of theiibe- 5- But it is now time to mention that fundamental reform the slaves vvmcn was quietly initiated in the social condition of these peoples after the year 1000, and which, being gradually intro- duced into all their communes, became the stimulus and sup- port of every other improvement, and brought about upon the earth the first example of a liberty divinely fair, because no longer depressed and saddened by the reproach of slavery. It was after the year 1000, then, when every man, beginning to desire a better lot for himself, had become the more ready to accord it to others, that the numbers and the employment of slaves began to be sensibly diminished in Lombardy. War and religion favoured the emancipation of the slaves ; for the frequent wars of that time demanded men who were not, as the slaves were, forbidden the use of arms ; and amongst the various modes adopted in the Middle Ages of giving slaves their liberty, the most usual was that of emanci- pating them by testament, inasmuch as the faithful hoped, by this act of kindness, so well according with Christian charity, to provide for the safety of their own souls after death. It is said, however, that although it was decreed by the ancient Councils, in order that slaves might be more mercifully treated, that any master who should kill his slave, without the previous knowledge of a judge, should be excommunicated and do penance for two years, the last slaves who were seen in Italy were upon the lands belonging to the churches and monas- teries ; for no other reason, perhaps, than because, as the CHAP. I. PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. 93 Canons, which were rarely altered, forbade ecclesiastics to alienate their possessions, the slaves, who were regarded as chattels, had to wait until the authority of Pope or of Council could relieve them from the evil consequences of this legal figment. At last , in the fourteenth century, slaves ceased to exist in Italy ; and so did the Aldii, who held a middle place between slaves and freedmen ; and as these passed away there arose the homines de masnada, that is, those who were bound, in return for the lands let out to them, to render, like the feudal tenants, military service in time of war. Hence it came to pass that in many cities the footmen of the militia were after- wards called the masnada ; but these held no lands for their service, it having become, in those days of rising liberty, the sacred duty of all to bear arms in the cause of their Commune. I said that war and religion favoured the emancipation of the slaves. But on more closely considering the civilisation of those nations which preceded the Christian era, amongst which it sometimes happened that in a season of great national peril a good many slaves were armed and received their freedom, I find no record of any in which the order of slavery was entirely abolished ; on the contrary, all the histories seem to show, that in every nation, as soon as the danger was over, and power and luxury began to return, slaves were always wanted for the houses in greater numbers than before ; and rarely did it happen that amidst the weak indulgence, the fault-finding, and the bad example of the urban masters, any change for the better ever took place in their condition ; so that perhaps even the hard work and rough usage of the old rural life were less hurtful and corrupting to the slaves. It is necessary, therefore, to correct that assertion, and to ascribe, as it is due, the entire glory of so great a benefit to our religion ; which, by lifting up the Cross in the sight of the whole human race, as the symbol of universal redemption, proclaimed that truth, unheard on earth before, that every human soul, without respect of persons, had need of the sacrifice completed there for its eternal salvation ; so giving birth, in the minds of all men, to a sense of equality in the sight of God. And the more deeply the faithful were impressed by this religious belief, the more ready they became to obey and honour it by a spontaneous renunciation of the rights which they had in 94 PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. PART n. anywise acquired over their slaves. Hence we so often find in the formula by which these ancients freed their slaves, whether before the altar, or by testament, or in any other way, a clause to this effect, that the man they then benefited by giving him his liberty, should thenceforth no longer be the servant of man, but only of the Lord, unto whom all things are subject. True it is that the poor, obliged in those times, as in our own, to provide for themselves by daily toil, continued to spend their lives amidst many hardships and privations, and were subject, indeed, to far greater want and suffering than in our days. But, notwithstanding this, that period must always be regarded as one of highest, most, signal blessing for mankind, when, through this gradual abolition of all slavish subjection, there sprang up in the human breast that sense of inward dignity, which gives to every honest labour, amidst the inevitable adversities of the world, a measure of security, of respectability, and of peace, that allays and sweetens all toils and vexations. If all be true that is told of the wicked- ness practised in Christian nations where down to this day this cruel yoke of slavery exists (I say, if all be true, for much of it seems such as could never occur, unless amongst men who, though they have received baptism, still live and die without any faith in things unseen), it may well be inferred that even in that ancient time many, many an occasion of oppression on the one side and of suffering on the other was at once swept away, when the Lombard slave, taken by his master to a place where four ways met, chose his own road, and, with whatever skill or strength he might possess, went forth into the world, to earn his living as a freeman. Ofthepos- 5 jt became then customary in Lombardy to observe session of ,111 the lands, less rigidly the distinction anciently made between the dif- ferent grades of civil condition ; and at the same time an alteration of no small importance took place in favour of those who held lands, small farms, courts, or manors, under an obli- gation to render military service, hospitality, or any other feudal duty to their lord ; for as soon as the Barons were com- pelled to become citizens, and the right which they possessed of making war and administering justice was transferred to the popular magistrates, all those conditions, honours, services, CHAP. I. PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. 95 and customs, which were annexed to the land by feudal tenure, either entirely ceased or were commuted for annual payments of rent, in money or in kind. Thus, after the lapse of little more than a century, there fell upon the heirs of those who had gradually usurped lands, jurisdictions, and titles, until at last Conrad the Salic, to avoid something worse, was forced to make a virtue of necessity, and not only to confirm them in the wrongful possession of these things, but to declare it continued in their families as by hereditary right there fell, I say, upon the heirs of those men, a just doom of retribution ; for, if they were not compelled to restore what had been wrongfully gotten, it was no small punishment for that ancient injustice to be reduced, as they were, throughout that time of liberty, to the level of citizens. Some, arguing from those innovations with regard to mili- tary benefices which preceded and followed the reign of Conrad the Salic, have said that it was the land that made the nobles ; but, be that as it may, certain it is that in Lom- bardy it was not the land that made the citizens ; for never, I believe, was the possession of land required as a qualifica- tion for holding office in any of the Communes. From the most ancient times, how r ever, allodial lands were always numerous in the neighbourhood of the cities and boroughs ; for freemen, in considerable numbers, most of whom had lands of their own, were never wanting there ; and now that every feudal burden was removed, and many of the large seigneurial domains were broken up, and were being offered for sale in small portions, the desire, so natural to man, of having a little land, spread rapidly amongst the citizens ; inso- much that in the territory of Modena, and probably in many other places, the land came in time to be divided into portions so extremely small, that it was difficult to cultivate them, and the crops became less abundant, especially in those plots which were now cut off from irrigation. To remedy this, the Commune of Modena, with a wisdom which might be imitated with advantage even in our times, decreed that, under the superintendence of a magistrate appointed for the purpose, the neighbouring little fields should be thrown into one, and their shape, their roads, their ditches, and their boundaries accurately determined, whereby all difficulties and litigations 96 PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. PARTI were put an end to, and the land was afterwards cultivated at less expense of time, of labour, and of rural peace. Of the go- 7- These peoples did not advance all at the same time of thLo towar ds liberty ; neither had they all the same form of govern- hard Com- ment ; but each had its own peculiar magistracy and laws, which, in the progress of its growth, it modified at its pleasure. To search into the history of each particular Commune, in order to bring to light these varieties of government, would be beside the present purpose ; and perhaps such a search must always be ineffectual, because of the want of trustworthy records with regard to the various turns of fortune that took place at this period amongst the Communes. Guided, there- fore, by what is recorded concerning the more powerful and important of them, such as Milan and Bologna, I will briefly touch upon a few particulars, which appear to have been common to them all. It must be observed, in the first place, that, as these peoples attained to the successive stages of their progress by sudden popular movements, all more important questions were necessarily brought forward and settled, on such occasions, in full assemblies of the people ; and when the tumults were quieted, they ruled themselves vigorously, not so much by written laws as by customs, that they had adopted from one another; which customs, especially those introduced after the time of Henry V., they always, in their treaties with the Emperors, anxiously sought to have con- firmed. Every city in Lombardy was divided into sestieri, or tribes, which were named after the gates nearest to them, or after their parishes. Long before the time of Henry IV. the chief management of public business in some cities was vested in three Councils, which were renewed annually ; the General, the Special, and the Secret Council (Consiglio della Credcnzd). They had magistrates also, who, as consuls, praetors, judges, procurators, or syndics, administered their judicial, military, and financial affairs. Every citizen, from the age of eighteen, was admitted into the General Council. Those, however, who gained their living by handicrafts or low trades took no part in public business ; but it was custom only, not the law, that excluded them. It was usual in the Middle Ages for the members of the two other CHAP. i. PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. 97 councils, and the magistrates, to be nominated, not by the immediate election of the people, but by a body of deputies, chosen by the General Council before each election out of every tribe. Questions of more importance were proposed, discussed, and settled in these two higher councils. They were convoked at the command of the consul, by the varied tolling of a bell ; and no resolution could be proposed in them but by the consul himself, or by his permission. Momentous resolutions were discussed, for the most part, by deputies chosen for the occasion, and the others, when they had heard them, immediately gave their votes ; sometimes by word of mouth ; sometimes with black and white beans ; sometimes by rising and sitting, or by dividing into two parts, one going to the right hand, and the other to the left. Before the Special Council was brought the ordinary business of the commune. The assembly of all the consuls constituted the Council of Credenza, in which the jurisconsults sat and voted, and to which belonged the discussion and settlement of affairs of highest moment. The other magistrates had seats in the councils, but not votes, excepting in matters that appertained to their office. The number of consuls varied in the cities ; in some there were but two, in others four, and in others eight. Not by law, but from custom and popular modesty, they were chosen almost always from amongst the patricians ; and in them was vested the executive power. From eighteen years old to seventy, all men were liable to serve in war. Each tribe had its own officers and its own banner ; they took their turns in going forth to fight ; if one tribe sent out its infantry, another sent its horsemen ; and when all the tribes were called out, with the Carroccio (which was a thing of rare occurrence), then it was said that the people were going forth ; and serious danger overhung the commonwealth. The rearing and training of war-horses was confined to persons nominated by the magistrates. This office was specially assigned to men of noble birth, and was much valued, and honourable ; for it was the chief pride of the patricians to show themselves in the city, richly adorned, and with many liveried followers, and to go forth to the field with a grand array of arms and of horses. On them, no less H 98 PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. PART n. than on the commoners, the belt of knighthood was bestowed, as the special reward of military valour, by the decree of the commonwealth, and by the hand of the consul, or of some other distinguished personage expressly commissioned for that honourable office. These peoples, even with arms in their hands, acknowledged themselves subject to the authority of the Emperor ; a moderation peculiar to those who feel the justice of the cause in which they fight ; and so virtuous, that it dignifies not only triumph but misfortune. It was not until after 1 173, that, in their oath of confederation against Frederick I., they omitted the customary clause : ' saving our allegiance to the Emperor.' The Imperial ministers had made themselves insufferably odious to them all ; for those foreigners, being settled amongst them, preyed habitually like hungry eagles upon their substance, their honours, and their lives. For this they came in time to be dislodged with the sword, and driven out of the country. When the Emperor came into Italy, the cities pre- pared him suitable quarters, for the most part without their walls ; which service was called mansionaticum : they pro- vided him with food ; which was called foderum : as he passed through the land, they repaired the roads and bridges for him; and this was the duty of parata: as vassals, they ranged themselves at his command under the Imperial banners ; and this was the service of spedizione. Every city had its citadel, with walls, towers, and ditches round about it ; from whence they went forth with the Carroccio to the field ; taught and accustomed to stand firm and united in the battle. There was vigour enough for anything in these peoples ; but, as is generally the case with men in the first stage of civilisation, it was in sieges that they chiefly signalised themselves. CHAP. ii. PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. 99 CHAPTER II. i. THE mention made in this discourse of the grand Of Italian churches, and other splendid edifices, which were beginning to mre. be founded in the cities of Lombardy, reminds me to say some- thing about architecture, both because it was one of the first of the fine arts to spring to life again in the Middle Ages, and because it is chiefly from such examples of ideal beauty as are found in the order, proportions, and symmetry of its works, that we learn to know the measure, both of the genius that conceived them, and of the civilisation that, with the need of them and the desire for them, had the wealth to bring them to completion. After the magnificence of the Augustan Age, architecture, like the other fine arts, began to decline ; for that which con- stitutes magnificence, is called the splendour of beauty as long as it continues to rise calmly in its strength ; but when, like a jet of water, it has reached its height, all brilliant and beautiful, it breaks and scatters ; pouring down a shower of petty mannerisms, morbid varieties, and excessive adorn- ments, wherewith the massive, grand simplicity of its ancient beauty is encumbered and destroyed. Then came a time, with the barbarian invasions, when it seemed as if there would hardly be left in Italy one stone upon another ; and it was feared that every vestige and memory of Latin culture and civilisation would perish ; a time during which there was no rest, no interval of peace and quiet breathing, save only in the reign of Theodoric ; who, being an admirer of the works which still remained to testify of Roman skill and greatness, not only restored the ancient edifices, but also, with royal munificence, caused to be built in imitation of them many new ones, in various parts of Italy. Men ot high architectural skill, however, being then no longer to be found, these buildings of his are marred by want of proportion, ioo PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. FART n. irregularity of design, and often by a tasteless medley of ornament. Yet the builders of Italy, as is observed by com- petent judges, continued even at that time to make choice of good materials, to dress them well, and to put them skilfully together, imitating the composition and solidity of the ancient walls of the Romans. The Longobards, who, with fire and sword, succeeded the Goths, at first renewed the outrages and desolations of the former invaders ; but as soon as they became Christians, and began to grow attached to the land they had occupied, they founded many churches and monasteries, remarkable rather for massive size than for symmetrical beauty ; and, as they were continually at war, now with their neighbours, and now with one another, they began, in order to protect themselves from the sudden attacks and nocturnal alarms of that barbarous age, to build numerous castles ; with walls of enormous thickness, made of huge misshapen stones, and with massive towers round about them ; windows like spiracles, few and small ; rounded arches to those windows ; and, in the gloomy interior, an utter absence of all arrangements for the comfort and convenience of domestic life. This style of building, which is considered ruder than that of the Goths, was afterwards imitated by other peoples of Europe, which, living amidst similar perils, were glad to avail themselves of the same mode of defence ; and it obtained the name of the Lombard style, and lasted until after the year one thousand ; that is, until the peoples, which, after the Fall of the Empire, had again become distinct and independent nations, began to introduce, each in its own land, a new style, by gradually engrafting upon this the architectural forms that were used by the Arabs, and other ancient nations of the East, such as pointed arches and slender columns ; making the arches of the roof spring from the capitals, and adorning these, some- times with leaves and arabesques, sometimes with heads and grotesque figures ; a mode of building which, under the name of the Gothic style, was first cultivated in the kingdom of Spain, afterwards carried into Normandy, and, by means of monastic architects, implanted in other lands, and brought to the greatest perfection by the nations of the North and West of Europe. CHAP ii. PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. 101 Amongst the Italians this new mode of architecture found little favour, and soon became extinct ; l for gazing upon the ruins of the ancient buildings, they presently learnt, from what they could still discover of their former beauty, the principles of that style, which had already existed in such glory in the land ; and to it they conformed, certain that in so doing they followed the genius of the nation, and perhaps also that of the climate ; which, being full of light, serene, and fanned by pure breezes, seems peculiarly adapted to that order of archi- tecture, whose symmetry and regularity leave, in its space of flat surface, ample and convenient room for works of painting ; which are afterwards not so soon impoverished and worn away as in the corrosive humidity of northern lands, that spares not even works of sculpture. The churches, town-halls, and palaces, built in this style by the peoples of the eleventh century for their communes, although they come short of the chaste and simple beauty of the ancient architecture, are nevertheless, even in our times, amongst the largest and most magnificent edifices in Italy. 1 'There are buildings of another kind,' says Vasari, 'which are called German, and have ornaments and proportions very different from any others, whether ancient or modern ; and such as are not used at present by good architects, but rather avoided by them as monstrous and barbarous, being utterly destitute of order ; for in these buildings, which are so numerous that they have poisoned the world, the columns are slender, and twisted like vines, which cannot have strength to support the slightest weight ; and all over the fronts, and other ornamented parts, there is a confusion of little tabernacles one upon another, with so many pyramids, and points, and leaves, that it seems impossible, not only that they should support anything, but that they should even be able to stand ; and they look more as if they were made of paper, than of stone or marble. And in these works, there are so many projections, hollows, corbels, and sconces, that they throw the whole building out of proportion ; and often one th : ng is piled upon another to such a height, that the top of a door touches the roof. This style was invented by the Goths, who having destroyed the ancient buildings, and killed the architects in the wars, made afterwards buildings of this kind, with groined roofs and pointed arches ; and filled all Italy with this plague of buildings, so that, in order that no more of them should be made, she has rejected the style altogether.' Lives of the Painters, vol. i. chap. 3. Such is the opinion of the origin and merit of Gothic architecture pronounced by the good Vasari ; but, be it said with all respect for so great a man, if he were living in our days, and could visit the marvellous structures which are to be seen in those countries where this mode of building has attained its perfection, and is associated with the customs, the traditions, and the worship of the nation, he would possibly change his mind, and admit that these buildings, although destitute of Grecian symmetry and re- gularity, do not deserve to be called ' monstrous and barbarous.' I 02 PRELIMINA R Y DISCO URSK. PART II . Of public worship and paro- chial insti- tutions. After the year one thousand, when wars and tumults were continually taking place amongst the peoples of Lom- bardy, by reason of their contests with the Emperors for the liberties of their communes, and of the frequent discords which arose amongst themselves, many cities, as Milan, Cremona, Ferrara, and Pisa, to provide against the perils to which they were thus exposed, rebuilt with almost incredible speed and great solidity of workmanship, the entire circuit of their walls ; and in some of these, for ornament, were erected most beautiful towers, which even to this day attract the eye of him who approaches their gates, and testify to the great advances made by the people of that age in science and the arts. And as a proof that the virgin vigour which enabled the republicans of that time to accomplish magnificent undertak- ings for the public good continued long unexhausted, I will mention the canal, that the Milanese people, hardly come forth from the long and ruinous war that they sustained against Frederick Barbarossa, made in 1179 ; wide and deep, bringing from the Ticino, more than thirty miles away, a plentiful supply of water; which, entering in its course the mouths of many channels, ranged along the sides of the canal, runs in them to irrigate the vast expanse of cultivated land that stretches towards the west ; by reason of which, every summer, abundant harvests are seen waving there, as fine as any of which Italian agriculture can boast 2. From what has been already said in this discourse, it may well be inferred that deep was the faith of these ancients in the mysteries of religion ; but although it was so indeed, and lively and strong, it could not but be affected by the rudeness and darkness of their times ; wherefore, although they lived in pious and habitual submission of soul to the truths of icvelation, as far as they were acquainted with them, they knew not how to raise their thoughts and affections to things unseen, without the aid of something material ; hence it was that the worship of saints increased so much in those days, and the veneration of relics ; which were afterwards, as holy things, sought for by the cities with great zeal and ex- pense, and pompously enshrined in the churches ; and cer- tainly in no other time, but one of ignorance and simplicity CHAP. it. PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. 103 like this, would it have been possible to introduce with so much authority and success, customs and opinions, of which the former were contrary to the Word of God, and the latter to the invariable evidence of physical facts. In the course of these two centuries, these peop'es showed great zeal in adorning and beautifying their churches ; think- ing, by the magnificence of these, to increase the honour of their communes. The principal families had tombs in the churches, and private altars ; before which they would come, with great devotion, to celebrate their birthdays and other domestic anniversaries ; above their ancestral tombs they were wont, like the ancient Romans, to hang, with a certain chivalrous pomp, the helmets, shields, and other armour of their fathers and their kinsmen. Moved by Christian charity, and still more, perhaps, by the hope of benefiting themselves and the souls of the departed, they were liberal benefactors in their life-time to churches, monasteries, and charitable in- stitutions, and often at their death left them large legacies of money or of land. Some of these donations, however, were not prompted solely by religious motives ; for it happened, not rarely, that lands were bestowed upon charitable institu- tions with the tacit understanding that they should after- wards be returned, to be held by their former possessors at a quit-rent ; whereby this portion of their property, being trans- ferred to the Church, and placed under ecclesiastical jurisdic- tion, was made free from many public burdens, and compara- tively exempt from danger amidst the disturbances and sudden changes in the state, which so often occurred in those times ; for the Church, and everything belonging to it, amidst all the invasions and troubles which these peoples had to endure, was held in well-merited respect and veneration ; well-merited, I say, for not only was the Church the guardian of those doctrines which lead man in peace towards eternity, but she had become, especially after the time of Charlemagne, the sole teacher and dispenser of literature and science. Nothing that was instituted in the Middle Ages for the instruction and moral training of the people, conferred so much benefit on all modern civilisation, as did the division, made in the fourth century, of the whole Christian world into 1 04 PRELIM IN A R Y DISCO URSE. PART 1 1 . parishes ; within the circuit of which, the priests located there, being for the most part men of respectable character and of some learning, and irremoveable, excepting in extreme cases, from their sacred office, afforded to their people good examples and instruction ; and by their authoritative presence were a constant source of comfort and edification, to which they could have recourse in every season of adversity. Hence, notwithstanding the enmities and the wars, which cannot but arise in the world, and the abuses which sometimes find their way even into the holiest things, so great was the efficacy of this sacred ministry, which never ceased to prevail, even in the remotest parts of Christendom, that there was secretly diffused, amongst men of different languages and countries, a spirit of brotherhood and love, which was unknown and altogether unattainable in the time of the Pagan religions ; for none but ours, which is truth itself, can ever have that noble attribute of universal applicability, whereby, embracing the whole human race, it ministers to the wants of all, and without regard to condition, climate, government, or civilisation, con- strains the spirits of all together, and moulds them into obedience to the Divine will. True it is, that those who are accustomed to a blessing almost cease to value it ; born and brought up under the sway of a civilisation, which was always promoted and upheld by this most valuable institution, we have no experience of that deeper depravity, which it would probably have been our lot to witness and to share, if this system had never prevailed amongst us ; hence we have no adequate conception of its real and great advantages, and are not always careful to derive from it all the benefit that we might. Parishes were instituted first in the cities, and then, by degrees, in the country ; it was customary in the beginning for the bishop to live with his clergy in community, and to instruct them in sacred learning ; hence, afterwards, eccle- siastical schools were opened in every church that had a chapter, or college of clergy, and these took in some places the form and the name of universities ; then also the parish priests began to teach in their own houses in the villages; especially in winter, when the labours of the field were sus- CHAP. ii. PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. 105 pended ; and it was by means of these schools, together with those of the monks (many of whom, from the time of Cassiodorus, devoted themselves to study and to the copying of books), that some light of erudition was still kept alive here and there, and that, amidst all the plunderings and burnings of that age, many of the works of the ancients were handed down to us. Baptism, for a long time, was administered only in the cathedrals ; afterwards, for the accommodation of the faithful, the baptismal font came to be conceded to the rural churches, and, where the increasing population made it needful, chapels were built ; the remains of which, still existing in solitary nooks in the rural parts of Lombardy, are annually visited by the people of the neighbourhood, with mournful affection, as holy places, consecrated for ever by the piety and by the graves of their fathers. The barons, who dwelt in the castles, had private chapels there ; a privilege so highly valued, that many also in the cities sought permission from the bishop to have chapels in their houses. But tithes were paid only to the parochial churches, and at their altars alone were the principal sacraments administered. 3. It is not my intention to contradict the learned, who Of the assert that in the time of Trajan all in the Empire spoke guageand' Latin ; but I think the assertion should be received with dis- P etr y- cretion ; for if it be true that even in Rome what was learnt of the language from nurses was not so copious and pure as not to need enriching and correcting by a good course of study, it may well be inferred that for those who lived in the country and in the provinces, such study was always more needful still ; that pure Latin, therefore, was an acquirement confined, almost exclusively, to the higher and well-educated classes ; and that the common people of the cities, and the peasantry, on whom little or no culture was bestowed, con- tinued, even in the most prosperous period of the Roman power, to speak that dialect which was derived from the language of the aborigines, as the Oscans and Etruscans, who, long before the rise of Roman greatness, lived and ruled in the land and in the islands of Italy. It is called the Vulgar Italic. Now, as it is the nature of all languages to change, 106 PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. PART n. and where civilisation is waning, to change for the worse, the Latin language, following the course to which all earthly things are subject, gradually declined with the fortunes of the Empire ; so that some time before the barbarian invasions its corruption had already begun, as is evident from the Latin inscriptions of an earlier date which are found on sepulchral monuments. But when the peoples of the North came into Italy, and settled there, and ruled it as their own, both the Italians and other southern nations had to adopt from the conquerors all those words which were used to denote any- thing newly introduced and established amongst them ; such as the names of barbaric implements of war, and those of the officers and magistrates appointed by the new government ; and, amidst the repeated invasions of that troubled time, the culture and the use of the Latin tongue gradually disappear- ing, there prevailed, from the sixth to the eighth century, amongst all the southern nations of Europe, but especially in Italy, the Vulgar Italic just mentioned, which was used by the aborigines, who, although subjugated and oppressed, were always very numerous in the land ; but, whereas in former times this dialect was spoken only by the common people of the cities, and by the peasantry, it now came into general use amongst people of the better sort, and so received a large infusion of the low Latin that remained amongst them. Thus that universality of language which was noticed under Trajan, still existed in the same countries, but with this difference, that as in those earlier days, Oscan, Etruscan, and Greek words were conformed to the Latin pronunciation, and it was said that all spoke Latin, so now, the Latin words being broken in their terminations, mutilated, and made to assume articles and other adjuncts, as the genius of barbaric speech dictated, it might be said that all spoke Italic. This Vulgar Italic, which some call Langue Romane, and others rustic Latin, was afterwards, by express decree of the Councils, and by the laws of Charlemagne, used by the Church in teaching and preaching amongst the southern nations ; I say southern, because amongst the peoples of the North, where the Romans had never, by war or by colonies, introduced the Latin tongue, dialects of Teutonic origin continued to prevail. J CHAP. II. PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. 107 But amongst the southern nations, there still remaining some knowledge of that ancient Latin speech, which, by decree of the conqueror, had long been used in their courts of justice, in their public documents, and in all their intercourse with the Romans, an orator, if he did but conform his mode of speaking a little to that of the common people in his audience, could be easily understood by all. It is not therefore surprising that the writers of that age, familiar with the works of the classical authors, disdained to express their thoughts and their learning in the vulgar dialect, and continued to write in the best Latin that they knew ; and as this language was always understood in every part of Christendom by cultivated persons, it con- tinued to be used in celebrating the offices of public worship, in writing the acts of the Councils, and in reading and study- ing the Sacred Books. It was also the custom of the notaries of that time to write all their documents in a kind of low Latin. Therefore it is that we have no prose writings in the Vulgar Italic. But these ancient notaries, when their Latin failed them, which generally happened in recording the limits of country places and little towns, or the boundaries of the fields, or the nicknames which the men of that time were so fond of bestowing on one another, were wont to express their meaning in the same words and phrases as they would have used in speaking, and it is from these expressions, which are still found in use with the same signification in various parts of Italy, that we gather nearly all we know of the vulgar tongue then spoken. It is said that the Sardinians and Corsi- cans used it in public documents, and there is a specimen of this Vulgar Italic, or rather of the way in which the Latin language was modified into Italian, in an ancient record of the people of Wallachia, who sprang from Roman colonists settled in that province ; as also in the solemn oath whereby, in the year 842, Louis King of Germany and Charles the Bald King of France made peace with one another. 1 1 I subjoin a copy of this oath, as published by Perticari in his ' Apologia,' and it is only for the sake of brevity, that I refrain from adducing his learned and judicious observations. Together with the text itself, which is in the Vulgar Italic or rustic Roman of the eighth century, he gives two translations of it ; on one side one in the Latin of the fifth century ; and on the other, one in the Italian of the thirteenth. In this way, he says, it is seen that the Romane, that is, the Vulgar io8 PRELIM IN AR Y DISCOURSE. If we had writings by which we could make ourselves ac- quainted with the language used by the ancient Italians, after the year one thousand, in their intercourse with one another and in transacting the affairs of their communes, it is certain that we should always find it most copious and elegant where liberty and wealth most abounded. In fact, one might perhaps undertake to maintain, without erring far from the truth, that in the golden serenity of the eleventh century, at the grand period of the revival of Italy, when the people began to discuss their affairs in numerous municipal meetings, or in full popular assemblies, this Vulgar Italic, spoken as it must have been every day, and on every occasion, both public and private, was gradually refined by these peoples, and made fuller and more regular, so that, partaking of their growing Republican civilisation, it acquired, slowly and imperceptibly, the dignity of a perfect language ; and needed nothing to make it known to the whole Italian race, but a man of sovereign genius, who, having formed within himself a treasury of all that was finest in it, should happily resolve, as the great Alighieri did, to use it in embodying his sublime conceptions, and should thereby at once make it manifest to all, that for the Italian muses the time of Latin song had passed away. But for the most part the beginning of every human work remains hidden, especially when it requires for its perfection a long course of time and Italic, stands between these two languages ; being son to the Latin, and father to the Italian. Translation: in the Latin of the fifth century. Pro . Dei . amore . et . pro . cristiano . poplo . et . nostro . comune . salvamento . de . istis . diebus . in . antea . in . quanto . Deus . sapere . et . potesse . mi . donabit . sic . salvabo . istum . meom . fratrem . Carlom . in . adiumento . in . quotavna . causa . sic . cum . homo . pro . recto . som . fratrem . salvare . debet . in . hoc . quod . ille . alitersic . mi . faceret . Et . ab . Lotario . nullum . pactum . nunquam . prendero . quod . per. meom . voile . ad . ipsom . meom . fratrem . Carlom . in . damno . siet . Text of the oath, in the Vulgar Italic of the eighth century. Pro . Deo . amor . et . pro . cristian . poplo . et . nostro . comun . salvament . d' . isti . di' . in . ant . in . quant . Deus . saper . et . poter . mi . donat . si . salvaraio . ist . meo . fratre . Carlo . in . adivto . in . catavna . cosa . siccom' . om . per . drect . som . fratre . salvar . dest . in . o' . qu' . il . altCesi . mi . faret . Et . ab . Luder . nul . pait . nunquam . prenderai . que . per . meo . vole . a . iss . meo . fradre . Carlo . in. damno . siat . Translation: in the Italian of the thirteenth century. Per amor di Deo et per cristian popolo et nostro comun salvamento, d' esti dl in ante, in quanto Deo sapere et potere mi donara, si salvaraggio esto meo fratre Carlo in adivto in catavna cosa, siccom om per drecto il so fratre salvar de' in cio ch'il alresi mi farebbe. Et da Lutero nullo patto nunqua prenderb che per meo volere a isso meo fradre Carlo in damno sia. CHAP. IT. PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. 109 mental toil ; for at first it either escapes its contemporaries altogether, or is carelessly passed by, as a thing of no import- ance ; but, as it continues to improve, and becomes more generally known and appreciated, it at last attracts the notice and admiration of the learned, and receives from their judg- ment its just place amongst the acquisitions of the human intellect. So it was with the Italian language, which is now admitted by everyone to have attained its perfection not at one bound, but gradually, through a long course of use and study, which was sustained and animated by a continual desire of fame, and by popular applause. But since, so far as I know, no writings in the Vulgar Italic have come down to us, we are obliged to accept an imperfect idea of this language from the few words which the learned point out, scattered here and there in ancient docu- ments ; and with regard to Italian poetry, to investigate its origin and progress in the primitive poems of the Sicilian troubadours ; for the troubadours of Sicily, emulating those of Provence, who used a language akin to their own ; and imitating that rhythmical Latin poetry which was cultivated all over Italy in the Middle Ages, and often adopting also the graceful and varied measures of the poetry of the Arabs, who for two centuries had occupied Sicily, so much enriched and refined their language in the courts of the Norman and Swabian princes, where they were received and honoured with great liberality, that all the poems which were made in Italy were for a long time called from them Sicilian. I said, that the Sicilian troubadours emulated those of Provence ; for the opinion which once prevailed, that the Italian poetry originated in an imitation of the Provencal, is now quite discarded. Petrarch, than whom none had ever a better opportunity of learning the origin and condition of the poetry of both countries, wishing to give an account of his vernacular verses (rime volgari\ tells us that they are of that kind of poetry which, having once existed amongst the Greeks and Latins, had been revived some centuries before his time by the Sicilians, and from them had passed into other parts of Italy. In fact, it is recorded also by others, that the art of making rhythms (ritmi\ or verna- cular Italian verses, took its rise a hundred and fifty years no PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. PART n. before Dante, before which time nothing appeared in Provence which we had not also in Italy. And if there are more ancient troubadour poems in the Provencal than in the Italian idiom, and if their fame has always been greater than that of ours, perhaps one may fairly say, on looking into the truth of this ancient boast, that in Italy, as soon as the verses of Dante and Petrarch were heard, men cared no longer for the troubadours, and that such of their poems as had survived the flames of so many civil wars, were afterwards neglected and forgotten ; whereas in Provence the works of the troubadours continued always to be very highly valued, because there they were never superseded by anything better. Everyone in Italy knows the origin of the rhythmical poetry (poesia ritmicd). It is to be found in the custom which has prevailed from time immemorial amongst the country people, of indulging at the joyous seasons of the harvest and the vintage in merry songs and jests ; the men being given upon such occasions to sing rude verses of their own making. The fescennine verses in the days of the Republic, and under the Emperors, were of this kind. But in process of time, when habits, culture, and civilisation began to be leavened with Christianity, this rhythmical poetry was turned by persons of higher cultivation to a nobler use ; being brought from the licentiousness of rustic revelry, to serve in the composition of spiritual songs and holy hymns, some of which are sung in the churches to this day. These rhythms (ritmi] vary in the number of their syllables, but never have more than fifteen ; their harmony does not proceed from that regulated quantity which is observed in the feet of metrical verses, but in a certain artificial order and conjunction of words, which, when they are skilfully read or sung, produces a pleasing melody. In time they had words of similar sound, sometimes in the middle of a line and sometimes at the end, which was called rhyme ; and they became very prevalent in the eleventh century. Now as these Latin rhythms, with the harmony of their rhymes, were constantly heard by all men in the churches, it can hardly be doubted that they would create a desire to make similar verses in the vernacular idiom ; in fact, the first vernacular poets called their poems rhythms, CHAP. II. PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. in (ritmi) so that we have no need to look elsewhere for the first, idea of this kind of poetry ; especially since it was just at this time, when the Latin rhythms were most in use, that (our idiom having been continually becoming more copious and refined), Italian poetry began to appear, and with features which left no doubt as to its origin. It may be concluded, then, that Italian poetry arose in imitation of the old Latin rhythms, to which it bears so strong a resemblance. True it is, that Italian verse, especially the hendecasyllabic, which is considered the most beautiful of all, as soon as it had acquired, through the labours of great poets, the beautiful artifice of pauses in certain determinate places, obtained a harmony, which does not so much resemble that of the rhythmical as that of the metrical Latin poetry, since those pauses in the course of the verse may be likened to the feet of hexameters. But when the time of the true poets came, and all over Italy were heard the poems of Dante and of Petrarch, and the prose works of Boccaccio, then the use of the Latin rhythms ceased, and soon all remaining admiration for the amorous, light, fantastic verses of the troubadours passed away ; and Italy, utterly forgetting them, applauded those supreme ones, who, by their lofty, sweet, harmonious style, had given no doubtful token that the virgin muses had returned to her, to comfort her (when the depravity of the times would allow her nothing better) with the sound of a new language com- parable to the ancient ; which, as it had received its form from all who inhabited her cities and islands, would become for them the unfailing source of that patriotic feeling, which would keep them united, were it only in the inmost sanctuary of the thoughts, and would maintain for them, amidst all the miseries of foreign oppression and intestine discord, the name and the dignity of a people in Europe. 4. From these considerations, and others which have been Causes of from time to time set forth in this Discourse, it will be seen dence^fte what was the origin of the liberty of the communes of Lorn- the Peace bardy ; and perhaps some just conception may be formed of stance. the character of these men, whom we are now about to see engaged in mortal strife with the fiercest and proudest Emperor of the Middle Ages. That conflict lasted from 1154 112 PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. PART ir. to 1 1/6; and seven were the armies that Frederick led down into Italy to destroy them. But it was amidst the slaughters and the flames of this long conflict, that the Lombards, having at last become aware of their error, leagued themselves to- gether for mutual defence, and bore themselves so valiantly, that having beaten and routed the Emperor in the battle of Legnano, they compelled him to consent to their liberty by the Peace of Constance ; the treaty of which, as marking a noteworthy epoch in the history of the Empire, came after- wards to be published at the end of the Corpus juris Romani, as if to signify that a new order of public right, which pro- vided for principles of freedom, no longer regarded in the laws of the degenerate Romans, had now again arisen amongst the inhabitants of this noble part of Italy : which new corre- latives of dominion were afterwards adopted by certain cities of Germany, and, with the quiet tenacity peculiar to the Teutonic race, were constantly strengthened and defended ; so that they caused those cities to rise to a state of very great prosperity, in which some of them continue to this day. But in the voluptuous and delightful region of the South of France, where also several cities were roused and kindled by the glorious deeds of the revival of Italy, the result of imita- tion was less successful, and comparatively transient. It was at the period of this peace, that the rising pros- perity of the Lombards reached its height. No Italian can ever contemplate without pain its rapid decline and fall, and see these peoples, endowed with so many noble qualities, which, if transmitted to their posterity, would have been the pledge of an ever-increasing civilisation, so quickly involved in confusion and ruin. But moral excellence is not heredi- tary. The generation after that which conquered on the field of Legnano, found it easier to copy what was evil in their fathers than to emulate their virtues. The Lombards, relieved by the Peace of Constance from the fear of foreign oppression, abandoned themselves without restraint to their evil passions. In every city the modest self-control of former days was soon discarded. The nobles, who had been deprived of their fiefs and privileges, endea- voured, by way of compensation, to get into their hands the entire government of the cities. Not satisfied with being CHAP. II. PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. 113 elected, as, on account of their rank, they almost always were, to the highest offices of the magistracy, they pretended to the right of continuing in them, or of nominating their successors ; and when this was denied them, they became Ghibellines, and secret enemies of the commonwealth. The commoners, in- dignant at this presumption and disloyalty, would now refuse them even such honours as seemed fairly their due ; and, as Guelfs, would hold them in mortal enmity. The minds of the citizens being thus embittered against each other, from distrust and secret rancour they proceeded, not seldom, to open strife, man fighting against man, and family against family, in the market-place ; when the vanquished, if he es- caped with his life, forfeited his possessions, was banished from his city, and often had his house burnt down ; whence it came to pass that there were few cities which had not citi- zens in exile, and whose streets and public places were not obstructed here and there with stones and ashes, and defaced with ruins; so that at last the tyrants that seized upon their liberties gained no small credit by putting a stop to those burnings and desolations. It was from this time, that the party which so far pre- vailed over the other as to obtain the government of the city, began to be called Guelf or Ghibelline, and as such to expel the adverse party, and make war against the neighbouring city ; whereby to the ancient animosities were added, as fuel to kindle a greater flame, the badges of these two fatal fac- tions ; which, being symbols of wide signification, gave, not only the cities, but every man in the Empire, an easy oppor- tunity of proceeding at will from hatred to revenge ; for any- one, by taking advantage of the influence and authority pos- sessed by these factions, both in and out of Italy, could cloak his private designs under zeal for one or other of them ; and either of them would afford a mask to cover the foulest villainy. Thus, every pure and elevated patriotic feeling being stifled in enmity and suspicion, it was not long before these men entirely lost that great advantage, so cheering and en- couraging in times of peril, faith in one another's virtue. Then began that evil custom, that every city should take its chief magistrate, who was called the Podesta, from some place be- I H4 PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. TARTU. yond its territory. Whereby it was confessed that things had come to such a pass, that no man in the city was any longer counted worthy of that honour and mark of public confidence ; and so suspicious and envious did they become, that, to invite the elected Podesta, they would avail themselves of the services of monks, lest any citizen should take that oppor- tunity of ingratiating himself with their future lord. This jealous custom of employing monks, which was observed also on other occasions, is of itself a plain indication of the want of virtue in those times, since for no other reason can the management of political affairs fall into the hands of those who profess to live out of the world, than because the con- dition and authority of those who, as citizens and fathers of families, live in the world, are become abject, and are held in universal contempt. Let this suffice to show the depth of corruption into which the land had now fallen ; and how it was that all these cities, in the course of time, had to yield themselves, one after another, a prey to voluptuous and cruel tyrants. Not more painful than instructive will all this prove to Italy, if, by meditating on the sad and cruel memories that come to us from the tombs of the Middle Ages, every man be led to see to it that in his days, so far as it rests with him, that wickedness and misery be not renewed. Innumerable are the elements of the present European civilisation, but every one of them, if it be not turned to good, is powerful for harm ; and certain it is that there is no way by which a nation can make sound progress, and rise to true honour and prosperity, but by the right and religious conduct of the individuals of which it is composed. Woe to that land (and more than one nation in Europe affords an example of it) in which an honest, manly, evangelical education does not pre- cede or accompany those organic changes which the course of time makes needful in the laws and institutions of a state. However wise may be the provisions of the new order of things, no sooner does it lose the charm of novelty, than it is despised and broken up ; unless, to maintain it, and to protect the public good, there exists in the breasts of the majority a sense of virtue and of justice, strong to control and overawe CHAP. II. PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. 115 the workings of suspicion, envy, and ambition. True it is that by no force of law can men be induced to control the thoughts and discipline the heart, for these are things beyond the reach of legal sanctions ; but amidst the vicissitudes of kingdoms circumstances do sometimes arise, so favourable to the welfare of the people, that, if they are not turned away by folly or wickedness from the purpose for which the goodness of heaven designed them, they have power to bring back the minds of men, even where through a sunny climate and a fruitful soil the easy pleasures of this world most abound, to dignified, self-denying habits, and to the love of the truth ; the knowledge of which will always be the true and only regenerator of the human race. Great events are wont to announce themselves to the nations by the shadows that they cast before them ; and, if we may judge from the signs occasionally visible even from this remote verge of Europe, the shadow of such an event is now projected over Italy from Piedmont ; a land deservedly respected and admired for the valour and good faith of its king, and the moderation and fortitude of its people. Nevertheless, he who shall faithfully write the history of these latter times, though he will be able, it is true, to aver, that if the idea of Italian liberty and independence did not attain its accomplishment in our days, it was not for want of noble daring ; and, in rehearsing the struggle that arose for it, will celebrate examples not a few of ardent patriotism, and martyrs worthy of their cause ; will have to record that he, who alone amongst Italian princes shrank not from hazarding in the plains of Lombardy his kingdom, his sons, his life, and the ancient glory of the Savoyard Eagle, heard, the moment that misfortune overtook him, a murmur of injurious voices ; which would have disturbed the peace of his last hours, had he not felt in his great heart, that it came from men to whom success alone appears worthy of gratitude and praise. He will have to record that, pierced on Italian soil by an assassin's knife, fell Pellegrino Rossi, he who, in his long exile, had visited no country in which he was not counted worthy, for his great genius, of the highest honours ; he who, constantly longing ii6 PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. PART n. for his native land, was wont to comfort others and himself with hope, even in times far worse than these. May this be the last crime to recall to the mind of Italy the dark con- spiracies and bloody deaths, through which it is that, of the ancient liberty of her glorious Communes, nothing, but the memory, remains ! HISTORY OF THE WAR OF FREDERICK I. AGAINST THE COMMUNES OF LOMBARDY HISTORY OF THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. BOOK I. 1. 1152. CONRAD III., King of Germany, having fallen sick in Bamberg, and finding himself at the point of death, in. sent for Frederick Duke of Swabia, his brother's son, and for the rest of the Princes and Barons then assembled in that city for the Diet. To whom, after a short silence, he said, as if excusing himself, that it would not seem to him so sad to die, though in the midst of his days, and at the most prosperous moment of his life, were it not for a conviction that he was dying by poison. He had no positive knowledge of the criminal, but if ever the author of a death had been detected by the advantage he would derive from it, it might be worth while to inquire for what good end those physicians of Salerno had come into Germany. Of one thing he was sure, that he w r as being cut off before his time ; and at a moment when the Sicilian Prince might perhaps escape thereby all the perils of the projected war. Then, passing on to speak of the election of his successor, the king, seeing that his son was too young to be proposed, recommended to them his nephew, Frederick Duke of Swabia, a prince who had already given signal proofs of wisdom and valour, both during the war in Palestine, and since his return. And having consigned to him in their pre- sence, as an augury of future dominion, the insignia of royalty, he commended to him again and again his infant son, and on February 15, 1152, expired. 2. Frederick was the son of Frederick the Squinter, Duke character of Swabia, and Judith, daughter of Henry the Black, Duke of Bavaria ; so that in him was united the blood of two families, which, from ambition of glory and of power, were always ex- ceedingly hostile to each other. The first was that of the 120 THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. BOOK I. Henries of Ghiblingcn, a castle in the Hartz mountains ; and the other took its name from the Guelfs of Altorf ; from the former sprang the Dukes of Swabia, who were accustomed to be raised to the Empire, and to oppose the papal faction ; from the latter, the powerful Dukes of Bavaria, supporters of the Church. From these two families were named those two famous factions into which, as Germany, so also afterwards Italy was divided, and by which it was so long defiled with blood. This prince was a man of fine presence and robust frame ; with red hair and beard, from which he afterwards came to be called Barbarossa ; of signal valour, and so skilful in negotia- tion, that, when returning from the Holy Land, not only was he, though very young, sent forward by his uncle Conrad to guard the tranquillity of the Empire, then threatened by the forces which Guelf VI., his mother's brother, was setting in motion for the recovery of Bavaria, but he it was who brought about an agreement between his two uncles, and succeeded, after a time, in thoroughly reconciling them. He was stern and inflexible in purpose, just also, for the most part ; yet under the im- pulse of anger he would be extremely cruel ; and occasionally, to hasten his own triumph, perfidious. It is said that he was so dearly loved by his father that, when he went with his uncle Conrad to the war in Palestine, the good old man, as if unable to live without him, pined away, and in no long time, died of grief. 3. To Frederick's prowess, the fame of which was spread abroad all over Germany, being added the comeliness of his youth, and the advantage he derived from uniting in his person, as has been said, the two leading families of the Guelfs and Ghibellines, which presented to the princes of both factions an opportunity of terminating, by his election, the many evils which the inveterate rivalry of the two houses inflicted on the land, all the princes of Germany, and some of Italy, accepting the wise counsel of Conrad, unanimously, in the Diet held at Frankfort, on March 4, 1152, elected him king ; and on the Qth of the same month he was solemnly crowned, by Arnold Archbishop ef Cologne, at Aix-la-Chapelle. Frederick, thus made king, soon turned his thoughts to Italy, and, eager to receive the Imperial crown, and to impose some restraint upon those Italian cities, which, having gra- dually adopted a popular form of government, and risen to HOOK I. THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. 121 great wealth and power, were now, regardless of the Imperial authority, engaged in fierce wars amongst themselves, sent envoys to Pope Eugenius III., and throughout all Italy, to notify to everyone that he had been elected king ; and that it was his intention, as soon as he had regulated the affairs of Germany, to come down into Italy to receive the Imperial crown, and to compose by his authority all the discords and dissensions by which that beautiful part of the Empire was so much disturbed. 4. After this, intent on settling the affairs of Germany, he went into Saxony, and, in a Diet held at Martinopolis, crowned Peter King of Denmark ; and some dispute having arisen concerning the election of the Archbishop of Magde- burg, he took measures to have Bishop Guicmanus designated to that see, and put him into possession of it. In the same year he received in Ratisbon the legates of Eugenius III., with whom he concluded an agreement on these terms : that he should make no peace with the Silician prince, or with the Roman people, without the consent of the Pope or his succes- sors, and that he should maintain and defend all the regalia of St. Peter ; on the other side the legates promised that he should be crowned Emperor by the Pope, and, according to custom and right, should have his favour and aid in all his undertakings. Repairing afterwards, in October, to Wurtz- burg, where he had convoked the Diet, he exerted himself to bring about a good understanding amongst some of the princes, his kinsmen ; and to Duke Guelf VI., his mother's brother, he granted the investitures of the March of Tuscany, the Duchy of Spoleto, the Principality of Sardinia, and the allodial possessions of the Countess Matilda. And to Robert Prince of Capua, Andrew Count of Rupecanina, and other Barons of Apulia, who fell at his feet with many tears, imploring his aid against King Roger, who had seized upon their estates, and caused them to go wandering through the world in miserable exile, he said, kindly raising them, that, as he had resolved to go down into Italy in two years for the Imperial crown, they must be patient under their mis- fortunes a little longer, in the assurance that, at that time, he should be able to assert effectively against the Silician prince, both their rights and his own. His pro- ceedings in Germany. Agreement with the Pope. Promises to the Sicilian exiles. 122 THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. BOOK i. Diet in 5. Early in the following year (1153) Frederick repaired Complaints with his Barons to Constance, where he had convoked the Diet ; ? f l . and on March 4. whilst he was sitting in the midst of them, Lodigians . ' to the in public audience, executing summary justice on behalf of commands everyone who appealed to him, two Lodigians, Aberardo lanes! by 1 " Alamanno and Maestro Omobuono, who had come to Con- Sicherius. stance on their own business, for they were merchants, seeing that the king not only lent an attentive ear to the contro- versies and complaints of all, but speedily judged them, and always righted the oppressed, resolved, although they had no commission from their fellow-citizens, to go before him and complain of the cruel tyranny exercised by the Milanese over the Lodigians, ever since the ruin of their city. And having communicated their intention to the Bishop of Constance, and taken, by his advice, two wooden crosses in a neighbouring church, they came before the king and his Barons, with the crosses on their shoulders, according to the custom of those times, and threw themselves, weeping, at his feet. And when he asked them whence they came, and for what cause they thus appeared before him, Aberardo, with the eloquence natural to those who feel deeply the wrongs and calamities of their native place, and bear within their hearts a long-standing de- sire to avenge them, made answer : that they were Lodigians, and that at the hand of the king, in the presence of all his court, they sought mercy and justice against the Milanese; who having, after an unjust and cruel war, taken and burnt their city, had placed as many of the citizens as had not fled from their tyranny in six new villages, and kept them down for forty-two years in such miserable slavery, that no hope of escape, no prospect of deliverance remained to them, but from his power and justice, and from heaven ; and, emboldened by the looks and words of the King, he said much more, complain- ing especially of the injury done to the Lodigians by the removal of their market ; a wrong which touched him, as a merchant, to the quick. Having heard these things, the king, who was already strongly prejudiced against the Lombard cities, and against Milan most of all, on account of their liberty, and of the struggle which he saw impending, caused his Chancellor to write at once to the Consuls and people of Milan, and charge them to cease from oppressing the Lodi- BOOK I. THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. 123 gians ; and, giving the letter to Sicherius, one of his courtiers, he sent him into Lombardy. 6. The two Lodigians, well pleased with themselves, set Terror of out before Sicherius, and soon arrived in Lodi ; and, in the la^uth Council of Credenza, so called because those present during news - its discussions were bound to keep them secret, made known to the Consuls how great a boon they had obtained in Con- stance from the king. But the minds of the Consuls were filled with amazement at the news, and then with so much fear, that, though hardly able to believe that such temerity had really possessed these simple-minded men, they loaded them with reproaches, and charged them with many threats that they should never dare to speak of it again, for if any whisper of it should reach the Milanese they would oppress them more cruelly than ever, and perhaps even drive them forth, bereft of everything, from those poor huts that served them for a city. But when after some days Sicherius came, and formally announced in their council what the two citizens had obtained from the king, and showed them the letters which he had for the Milanese, unable to doubt any longer, and overpowered by fear of the consequences, they stood looking one upon another without uttering a word ; until at last one of the con- suls, turning to Sicherius, said, in a low and mournful voice, that he must hot be surprised or offended to see them so greatly dismayed at his communication. They called God to witness that they had never given Aberardo and Omobuono any commission whatever to the king ; it grieved and angered them to find that those two senseless, presumptuous men had dared to take so much upon them, and exposed their fellow- citizens to so great a peril ; for if ever it should come to the knowledge of the Milanese that they had appealed against them to the king, they would instantly advance upon them, and, long before the king could afford them any succour, would utterly overwhelm and destroy them ; wherefore they earnestly besought him not to deliver those letters, or in anywise ex- postulate with the Milanese ; because nothing could result from it but their total ruin. Sicherius, surprised and disap- pointed, for he had expected to see them greatly rejoiced, and to receive some honourable present at their hands, briefly 124 THE WAR AGAIXST THE COMMUNES. BOOK r. replied that, be that as it might, for his part he had no choice but to go to Milan, and faithfully execute the commis- sion of his king ; and so saying, he haughtily withdrew from them, leaving them to provide against the impending danger as best they could. Fury of the 7. At that time Milan, by reason of the respect and reve- agafns? 6 rence which had been paid from of old to its Archbishops, the imTtheir' extent and fertility of its territory, and the number of its war- threats like citizens, as also from its having subjected to its dominion against the , r/~- j r T j i Lodigians. many castles, and the towns of Como and ot .Loch, was the city which of all others in Lombardy towered highest in mag- nificence and power. But, as it rarely happens that power increases amongst men without engendering pride, when Sicherius, after delivering the king's letters to the Consuls and council of the city, was beginning to explain to them more fully the scope of his embassy, the Consuls fell into such a rage, that they threw the letters on the floor and stamped upon them ; and others fell furiously upon the royal envoy, and seemed ready to tear him to pieces. But, aided by some of calmer mind, he escaped out of their hands and hid himself; and the night following he returned to Lodi ; whence, after he had told what had befallen him in Milan, he departed with all speed for Germany. The consternation of the Lodigians, at the news, was greater than can be described ; before long, also, they heard that the Milanese had sworn to take vengeance upon them, and the eyes of all were turned in terror towards Milan, from whence they thought that at any moment the dreaded ban- ners might appear. On this many, seeing themselves unarmed and without fortifications, and fearing that they might be surprised and slain, forsook that unfortunate place ; whilst others, unable to tear themselves away from it, went wander- ing all night long in the fields, returning at sunrise, weary and disheartened, to their daily toil ; a state of anxiety and dis- tress which lasted to the day of Frederick's coming down into Italy. tion'^Tthc 8. When Sicherius arrived in Germany, and recounted to Ki"S- the king, in the presence of many of his Barons, all that had Oilier com- J piaims befallen him amongst the Lodigians and in Milan, the king Milanese. * an< ^ tne Barons there present, fired with indignation, exclaimed BOOK I. THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. 125 with one accord, that it was indeed high time for them to go down into Lombardy, and repress the ever-growing insolence of the Milanese. To inflame their minds still further, there arrived in the court in those days William, Marquis of Mont- ferrat, who presented to the king a golden key, sent by the Lodigians as a token of their devotion. Then came the ambassadors of Pavia and Cremona, and these also, laying at his feet costly gifts, and bewailing and commending to his compassion the sad condition of their neighbours, dwelt much upon the pride and ambition of the Milanese, who aimed, they declared, at nothing less than making themselves masters of the whole of Lombardy. 9. Before long, some rumour of these things found its way Repent- into Italy, and when it reached the Milanese, who perhaps Milanese. C were already ashamed of what they had done, and repentant, f^ they began to think anxiously about the future, and saw that gifts. _ Pre- it would be well for them to avert the displeasure of the king for going by a voluntary fine. Wherefore .those powerful citizens sent j t Y" ir ambassadors, by whom, condemning themselves for their offence against his envoy, they presented to him a golden bowl, full of money, and offered, when he should come into Lombardy, to give him the Iron Crown. But Frederick, although he greatly desired that crown, as a step to the Crown Imperial, already promised to him by the Pope, rejected both their offer and their gift, as coming from men who, before they could receive his pardon, must not only repent of their offence, but undergo a heavy punishment. And when now the time drew near for his going down into Italy, he sent envoys throughout all Germany, and to Saxony, Burgundy, Lombardy, Tuscany, and Rome, com- manding the Archbishops, Bishops, Dukes, Marquises, Counts, and all who held fiefs of the Empire to come, according to ancient custom, with the most honourable retinue they could command, and meet him at Michaelmas in the ensuing year at Roncaglia. Then, exerting himself more than ever to settle the affairs of Germany, and complete the preparations for his expedition, he held a Diet in Ratisbon, during which he sent ambassadors to Manuel, Emperor of the East, to con- tract an alliance with him against William King of Sicily, who had now succeeded Roger, and who afterwards, by his 126 THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. ROOK I. War be- tween Milan and Pavia. Descent of Frederick into Italy. Diet at Roncaglia. Descrip- tion of the camp. vices and tyranny, obtained the surname of the Bad. After this he convoked another Diet in the city of Spires, where, that he might not leave any source of discord behind him in the dispute about the Duchy of Bavaria, he adjudged that Duchy to Henry the Lion, the descendant of its ancient lords. 10. Meanwhile the Milanese, having heard a report of the complaints laid against them by the ambassadors of Pavia and Cremona, and having been confirmed in their belief of it by the demeanour of the king towards their own ambassadors, and by his rejection of their gifts, resolved to avenge them- selves upon the Pavese ; and accordingly, assembling under their banners the men of Como, of Lodi, and of Crema, they entered the territory of Pavia, and, after committing great devastations, encamped on August 1 1 beside the river Olona, near to Lardiraga, where the army of Pavia was already drawn up in order of battle. Quickly and fiercely they ran to meet each other, and fought with equal fortune until night. But the next day the Milanese, seized with a panic, fell into dis- order, broke up their camp, and returned to Milan. IT. 1154. At last, in October 1154, Frederick, having settled the affairs of Germany, led his army through the Vale of Trent into Italy ; and, crossing the territory of Verona, he waited in the neighbourhood of Lake Garda to be joined by all his forces, and then proceeded into the territory of Pia- cenza, and halted in the meadows of Roncaglia ; where it was customary from ancient times for the king to encamp, and hold the great Diet of the kingdom. This custom of holding out-of-door parliaments was derived, it is said, from the ancient peoples of Germany. In Italy it was kept up under all its rulers ; the Archbishops of Milan, in the time of their power and pre-eminence in the kingdom, used occasionally to convoke the States of Italy in the open air ; but who first began to hold these Diets in the camp of Roncaglia (a plain about three miles from Piacenza, between the Po and the Nura) is not known. This was the arrangement of the camp : a large space was left in the centre, wherein was erected the pavilion of the king ; around which every baron, each in his appointed place, set up his own ; and beyond these were pitched all the other tents in rows, which were so far apart, BOOK I. THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. 127 and in such wise intersected one another, as to leave good and convenient streets between them. In proper places there were open squares ; and the camp had also its gates. The sutlers, smiths, and camp-followers in general, with their baggage, taverns, stalls, and whatever else they had, were required to encamp outside, and in such a manner as to form a kind of suburb near the gates with part of their things, and a fence around the camp with the rest. Then the shield of the king was suspended from a flagstaff, planted in front of his pavilion ; and, that he might receive the homage of those who were present, and find out and punish the negligence of any who had failed to attend, he caused his herald to call over the names of all who held fiefs under the Empire in Italy and Germany, and command that they should come, each in his turn, to keep guard there. The business of the Diet was pro- ceeded with by the king in the following order : in the first days of the session he heard and decided, with the aid of his jurisconsults, the causes of private persons ; afterwards he received the ambassadors of the cities, and heard the demands of some, and the disagreements and disputes of others, granted to those immunities and privileges, and curbed these, when needful, with new laws, and did his best to bring them all to peace ; lastly, he attended to the controversies which had arisen concerning feudal possessions. 12. Frederick, then, having arrived in this plain, encamped Muster of .,,., . .. i i i 'h 6 vassals. there with his barons in great pomp ; amidst which the The Mar- numerous and splendid retinue of Henry the Lion, Duke of Bavaria, seemed worthy of special admiration. The Bishops rat - of Bremen and Halberstadt failed to appear, for which cause the king deprived them of their fiefs. Of the vassals of Italy present, the greatest was William Marquis of Montferrat, a nobleman as illustrious for power and high descent as any of that time, and perhaps the only baron whom the cities of Lombardy had as yet been unable to subdue and compel to become a citizen. Nevertheless, the Marquis was often forced to take up arms, and to rule the people subject to him with great vigilance ; for the pride and splendour of his sovereignty gave rise in the neighbouring little republics, which it could not but offend, to suspicion, fear, and hatred, so that they eagerly watched for any opportunity of destroying him. And 128 THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. BOOK I. Com- plaints of the Com- munes, es- pcially of Lodi and Como, ji gainst the Milanese. although the men of the March were faithful and devoted to his house, both on account of the antiquity of its dominion, and because its authority was in some measure controlled by law (for the Marquis, in every important exigence of the state, as when taxes were to be imposed or soldiers levied, had to assemble the Parliament of Montferrat and ask and obtain its consent), still, as the marquisate was not very compact, but consisted in part of cities, boroughs, and castles scattered over a wide extent of country, and surrounded by the territories of free peoples, it may easily be believed that they were some- what affected by that zeal for liberty with which their neigh- bours were so much inflamed, and occasionally tried to put an end to seigneurial rights among them. Wherefore the Marquis was obliged to avail himself, now of force, now of craft, and, when the king was in Italy, of the royal authority, against his neighbours and amongst his people. And in this Diet he brought complaints against the men of Cairo and of Asti, who, having begun to entertain new thoughts of liberty, would no longer suffer justice to be administered in his name in their cities ; and against the men of Asti even their own Bishop had at this time ground of complaint. 13. Next were heard the deputies of Pavia, who accused the people of Tortona, allies of the Milanese, of having with- out provocation attacked some of their castles ; whereupon the king commanded that that people should be summoned to appear before him, in order that, having heard both sides, he might reduce each of them to the bounds of its ancient rights and jurisdiction. But when way was made for the Consuls of Como and Lodi, and those men, who had so greatly loved their cities, and so strenuously defended them, were seen at the feet of the king, so unhappy, so heavily oppressed, a loud murmur arose amongst those generous warriors, and the whole place re- sounded with cries of indignation and of pity. In all the long years that had gone by since these peoples were reduced to slavery, amidst all the rivalries of the Empire, the schisms and discords of Rome, and the various vicissitudes of their neighbours, they had never seen appear for them any prospect of deliverance until this day, when in Roncaglia was set up the pavilion of a king whose high reputation for justice BOOK I. THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. 129 and valour, and the loyal affection with which he was regarded by the whole of Germany, encouraged them to hope that, by repressing and abasing the ambition and tyranny of the mighty, he would relieve the helpless and oppressed, and thus, putting an end to the discords of the peoples, would restore in Lombardy the authority and splendour of that Empire which was almost hereditary in his house. To him, therefore, their Consuls, prostrate at his feet, humbly committed their cause. 14. Then came forwards the two Milanese Consuls, Oberto Reply of dall' Orto and Gherardo Negro, and took the oath of eseCoIf-"" allegiance to the king ; and, in answer to the accusations suls - fen- tence of the against them, which they could not well deny, but only try to king, palliate, averred : that the reiterated offences of these peoples had provoked them to those hostilities ; not they only, but all the cities of Lombardy in turn, had gone to war ; some things had taken place which they now regretted, but in the fury of civil strife it was not always possible to restrain the impe- tuosity of victory. They seemed the most guilty, because they had been victorious. They reminded him, that the Milanese had always been supporters of the Emperors of his house ; and that they were faithful to him now, and willing to show him honour in their city, and to give him the Iron Crown. They trusted, then, that their ancient fidelity and present repentance might avail to procure their pardon ; and if a fine of 4,000 marks of silver would be accepted as any compensation, they were ready to pay it. The king sat frowning, undecided what to do ; not from any hesitation as to his sentence, for he had long since regis- tered it in his heart against the Milanese ; and that not so much on account of their wars and cruelties against their neighbours, as because by casting down this people, which was the most powerful, he hoped to strike terror into all the rest, and so the more easily to reduce to its ancient subjection the whole of Lombardy. But now he did not wish, by involving himself in a war with them, to lose still more time in acquiring the Imperial Crown ; nor did he think it meet to intimidate them with threats, which at present it would be incon- venient for him to fulfil. Considering, moreover, that when he should have passed with the army into their territory he K 130 THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNLS. BOOK i. would be able to speak with more authority, and, if they should prove stubborn, have the means of inflicting upon them a speedier punishment, he at last replied, that when he came into their country he would take further cognisance of these matters ; meanwhile, they must restore the Pavese prisoners. As for the Lodigians, he had already sent an officer to receive from them the oath of allegiance. After these came the ambassadors of Genoa, one of whom was Caffaro, the historian, who brought as gifts to the king, lions, ostriches, and parrots, and other rare products of the East, and to whom Frederick, who intended to avail himself of their navy against the King of Sicily, gave a very gracious and honourable reception. Having afterwards heard the Consuls of the other cities that were represented there, and settled the more important of the affairs brought before him, at the end of five days he closed the Diet ; and, wishing to go with the army into Piedmont, desired the two Consuls of Milan to guide him by the best road to the bridge of the Ticino. Frederick's 1 5. Setting forth, then, in that direction, the Milanese foTpied- 6 Consuls, either from thoughtlessness, or because there was no mont. His better way, led him through places all wasted and ruined by cruelties. * ' * the war which they had carried on in August against the Pavese, a people more faithful and dear to the king than any other in Italy. At the sight of those desolations, he began to show signs of indignation ; and when they came from Landriano into the neighbourhood of the castle of Rosate, a dependency of Milan, in which was a garrison of 500 Milanese horse, and after two days provisions failed, and no one knew where to procure any, the king, ascribing to the malice of the Milanese both the badness of the road and the want of pro- visions, at last let loose upon the Consuls the wrath that had long been pent within his breast, angrily dismissed them, and sent word to Rosate, that the horsemen of the garrison and all the inhabitants, leaving everything they had behind, must instantly depart from that castle. Unworthy 1 6. The Milanese, on hearing of the king's displeasure, ' either really believing their Consuls to be guilty, or hoping, Milanese by punishing them themselves, the better to convince him of their Con- their own innocence and fidelity, ran tumultuously to the suis and house of Gherardo Negro, to whom they chiefly attributed the BOOK I. THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. 131 mischance that had befallen the royal army, and razed it to the inha- the ground. They sent also with all speed to the people of Resale. Rosate, commanding them to appease the king's wrath by instant obedience. Gherardo bore their injustice like a brave man, compassionating that popular madness, and continued as faithful and devoted as ever to the city which had so basely wronged him. As for the unfortunate inhabitants of Rosate, when they found the cruel orders of the king supported by the Milanese, and saw themselves pressed upon from every side, although it was now night, and, as often happens at the end of autumn, a most heavy rain was falling, they went forth at once from their houses, taking with them their women, children, and old men, and leaving all that they had for a spoil to the Germans ; who immediately afterwards entered the place, and sacked and burnt it. 17. Great was the indignation of the Milanese at the news Frederick's of this barbarity, but, with so powerful an army close upon cruelties. them, they feared to show it ; and on hearing that the king had left Rosate for Abbiategrasso, unwilling to omit any opportunity of recovering his favour, they once more sent ambassadors to him with the 4,000 marks of silver which they had offered to him at Roncaglia. The king refused the money, and dismissed the ambassadors, saying that he could have no confidence in them, and would make no covenant or agreement with them, until they had restored to liberty the cities of Como and Lodi. Then, seizing upon the bridge which the Milanese, to make inroads on the fields of Novara and Pavia, had built and fortified over the Ticino, he passed into the territory of Novara, and went thence to destroy three boroughs belonging to Milan, Galliate, Trecate, and Mumma. Christmas now approaching, he halted there, and kept that festival with much pomp and great rejoicings, whilst the in- habitants of the boroughs he had sacked and burnt, went trudging sorrowfully in the cold from place to place, home- less and ruined, begging food and shelter. 1 8. In December 1154 died Pope Anastatius, a pontiff Adrian iv. who, having never come into conflict with the Roman people, Brescia f had been allowed, during his brief pontificate, to live quietly William in the Lateran Palace. The next day, the cardinals with one Sicily. voice promoted to the Holy See, almost against his will, 132 THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. BOOK I. Nicholas Breakspear, an Englishman, born near St. Albans, a man of energy and blameless manners, much celebrated for his learning, and for his missionary labours in Norway. He took the name of Adrian IV. There was then living in Rome Arnold of Brescia, a monk of great genius and eloquence, who, not from any love of novelty in theological matters, but from a sincere admiration of the modesty and chaste simplicity of the primitive Church, never lost an opportunity of preaching against the manners of the pontifical court, and rebuking the voluptuous life of the clergy ; whereby he had gained the good- will of the Romans, then opposed to ecclesiastical dominion, and incurred the intense hatred of the papal party ; and although excommunicated by the Pope and condemned to banishment from Rome, he still remained there, warmly sup- ported by the people, and continued to preach ; until at last, one of his followers having attacked and mortally wounded the Cardinal of St. Podenzana, Adrian, indignant at the crime, and at the protection afforded to him by the city, placed all Rome under an interdict, and withdrew to Orvieto. This is said to have been the first time that Rome had felt the weight of such a censure ; and the clergy so bitterly bewailed it to the people, that they succeeded in inducing them to send a message to the Pope, imploring him to return, and assuring him that Arnold should be expelled. On this Adrian removed the interdict, and returned with his court to the Lateran Palace. It is said that William King of Sicily, as soon as he knew what a furious tempest was coming upon him from Germany, sent ambassadors to the Pope to do him homage, and to offer terms of peace ; to which Adrian, who had more confidence in Frederick, refused to listen. Certain it is, that in the beginning of the following year (1155), after a few vain attempts to come to an agreement, William declared war against the Pope ; and Benevento was besieged by his chancellor, Anscotino ; who, when compelled by the revolt of several of the barons of Apulia to raise the siege, entered the Roman Campania, and took and destroyed there many towns. Wherefore the Pope, finding that temporal weapons availed him little, had recourse to spiritual arms, and hurled against William a sentence of excommunication. 19. Frederick, after spending Christmas, as has been said, BOOK i. THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. 133 in the neighbourhood of Novara, proceeded by way of Vercelli Frederick and Turin towards Asti ; whose inhabitants were now under Q^ and the ban of the Empire, for disobeying the summons to Asti - Roncaglia. Crossing the Po with all his forces at Turin, he seized upon Chieri, and as soon as the provisions which the people had left behind them were consumed, pulled down the towers and burnt the town. By this so great a terror of his name was spread abroad, that the Astigians, although they were in a strong and populous city, seemed bereft of all sense and courage, and instantly made up their minds to surrender to him, without resistance and without con- ditions. But many of them, unwilling to give themselves up into the power of those cruel foreigners, abandoned the city for which they had not dared to fight ; and, with as much as they could hastily carry away, withdrew to the fortress of Annone, a stronghold on the neighbouring hill. Thus Frederick entered Asti without opposition. Never- theless, he committed there such deeds of destruction and cruelty as cannot be called to mind without indignation and horror ; no respect was shown to religion, none to sex or age. So great, it is said, was the number of the slain and of the prisoners, that there was no family of any consideration in that city which had not captives to ransom, or dead to bewail. The churches and monasteries were plundered and burnt, the priests and monks were slaughtered, and the nuns, naked and fearfully mutilated, were tied fast to pillars in public places, and so exposed to the gaze and derision of those barbarous soldiers. Many towers and a great part of the wall were broken down, and the whole place was set on fire. At last the king, tired of afflicting it, gave that wretched city in fief to the Marquis of Montferrat. 20. This done, Frederick instantly set forth for Tortona, Sie g e sur- 111 . T> i render, and passing through the territory of Busca, and crossing the destruction Tenaro ; and having been joined on the way by the Pavese c militias, at the end of three days he encamped not far from the walls, on the bank of the Scrivia. The suburb, though fortified, yielded to his first attack ; whereupon the inhabitants, knowing from the fate of the Astigians what mercy was to be expected from the king, withdrew by night into the city, resolved not to lose it but with their lives. Tortona stands 134 THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. BOOK I. upon a hill, not far from the Ligurian Alps, whence it looks down upon the fields of Pavia, its ancient rival ; the sides of the hill are very steep ; and at that time the city, which crowns the summit, was adorned and strengthened with a goodly show of walls, and battlements, and towers. The people of Milan, on being apprised of the danger which threatened the Tortonese, quickly dispatched to them two hundred of their valiant men, who, with Obizzo Malaspina, Marquis of Luni- giana, and lord of many castles in Lombardy, succeeded in entering the city in time to take part in the defence. The siege began on February 1 3. Frederick was stationed on the west ; Henry Duke of Bavaria on the south, in the suburb, which was in the plain ; and the militias of Pavia occupied the east and north ; so that the hill was entirely surrounded by the enemy. But Frederick, when he became aware of the strength of the position, and the prowess of those who held it, ordered all kinds of engines to be made, such as battering- rams, catapults, ballistas, and wooden towers, with which to attack and beat down the weakest part of the wall ; and, to prevent the entrance of auxiliary forces into the city, and at the same time to protect his own camp against any sudden sally of the besieged, he caused a ditch to be dug all round the hill ; and, more fully to convince them that he really regarded them as rebels, he had numerous gibbets set up within their sight, on which as many of them as fell into his hands were afterwards mercilessly hung. Nevertheless, the Tortonese, unshaken in their devotion to their city, boldly repulsed every assault of the enemy, repaired the wall wherever it was shattered and broken by the engines, and harassed the foe with frequent sallies. Many of the Germans, even some of the most illustrious, had already fallen, amongst whom were two young men of the highest rank and promise, Cadolus of Bavaria, and John of Saxony. But not without loss had the Tortonese gained this glory ; for not a few of their best and bravest had been slain with the sword or crushed by the engines. Those engines were very powerful. We are told that one huge stone, hurled from a catapult, fell upon some houses in Tortona, and with the ruins it brought down with it crushed three armed citizens, who, with many others, were standing in consultation before BOOK I. THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. 135 the portico of the cathedral. Of the Milanese, also, Ugone Visconti, Giovanni Mainerio, Albertino da Carate, and Rug- gieri di Santa Maria, all of whom worthily bore the name of gentlemen, had fallen gloriously, sword in hand, upon the walls. But the place where the fighting was hottest, was at the foot of the hill, just opposite to the tents of the Pavese, where was a limpid fountain, to which the besieged, having no water elsewhere, were forced to come daily to drink ; and this never failed to occasion a fierce contest between them- selves and their hostile neighbours. But the Tortonese, urged by their great need, almost always broke through the Pavese, quenched their thirst, and took back water for their houses. Frederick, intent on putting a stop to this, commanded that the troops of the Marquis of Monferrat and of the other Italian barons should go to the aid of the Pavese ; then, keeping all the engines round about the city continually at work to divert the attention of the besieged, he ordered a way to be made underground to the foundations of the tower which was called Rubea, or the Red tower, which, although it was higher than the rest and strongly fortified, had its founda- tions, not in the rock but in the plain, and could easily, he thought, be undermined and taken. But the citizens dis- covered this attempt, and instantly began to countermine, whereby they not only saved their tower, but suffocated the hostile miners underground. And the Pavese, though so strongly reinforced, were still unable to guard the fountain ; wherefore the king had dead bodies thrown into it, and the carcases of beasts ; and at last, finding that the great thirst of the besieged overcame their horror and disgust, and they still continued to drink of it, he caused to be melted into it a quantity of pitch and sulphur, whereby so offensive a bitter- ness was communicated to the spring, that those warriors, with parched and burning throats, stood beside it, and drank of it no more. To this want of water being added also the daily scarcity of food, the Tortonese, though still un- conquered on their walls, began to be depressed and sorrow- ful, and to lose all hope of saving their much-loved city. Whilst they were still holding out, it happened one day that a German soldier undertook to prove by his own ex- ample that it was possible to climb up the precipice, hard by 136 THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. BOOK I. the tower called Rubea ; and, having armed himself, and taken a hatchet, with which to steady his steps in the steepest places, he contrived to clamber to the top, where he attacked and slew a citizen who had come down to fight with him ; then, unhurt by the shower of stones and arrows which was poured upon him from the wall, he returned in the same manner to the camp. Frederick, pleased with this exploit, sent for him, and offered him the honour of knighthood ; but that brave man declined it, thinking, perhaps, that the glory of a daring deed might well consist with the condition in which he was born. Easter being now come, and the king having granted in its honour a suspension of arms, another incident occurred, which must have greatly embittered the hearts of the citizens ; for all the priests and monks of Tortona, forsaking their churches and cloisters, robed in the sacred vestments, and with crosses and incense borne before them, as in a procession, went forth from the city, and, to the surprise of all, took their way towards the pavilion of the king. Frederick, perceiving them from afar, sent a messenger to inquire into the cause of their appearance ; when they, intent on covering their baseness with a veil of religion, replied : that, after enduring privations of every kind for the fault of others unto that day, they were leaving that unhappy place, in which tumult and danger had risen to such a height, that they found it impossible to cele- brate the divine services and sacred ceremonies of that festival with the calmness and devotion which so great a solemnity required ; wherefore, as they had taken no part in the councils and deeds of that rebellious city, they requested that, of the king's clemency, they might be permitted to depart from it unhurt, and elsewhere, far from the tumults of war, to dis- charge in peace and quietness the duties of their sacred min- istry. Frederick, after he had heard the petition of those cowardly priests, and had cast a scornful glance upon them, and upon all that pomp, whose presence in his camp nothing but a mission on behalf of the whole community could have excused, commanded, without deigning to give them a reply, that they should instantly be sent back to the place from whence they came ; then, after a four days' truce, he resumed the assault more furiously than ever. BOOK I. THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. 137 Meanwhile, as the want of food and water was daily making itself more cruelly felt in the besieged city, the strength of its defenders, though not their courage, began rapidly to fail ; and when no sign of deliverance appeared from the castle of Sarrano, to which they knew that succour had been sent for them from Milan, and when their walls in many places were shattered and broken, at last, on April 16, they reluctantly con- sented to surrender, on condition that their persons should be safe, and that they should be allowed to take away with them as much of their property as they could carry. This being agreed upon, they came forth, but so worn and emaciated that they appeared glorious even in the sight of the con- querors, and they departed all together towards Milan. The king immediately entered the city with his troops, pillaged it, pulled down the walls and houses, and set it on fire. In another account of the surrender, we are told that it was made to Bruno, Abbot of Caravalle di Bagnolo, under a promise that the walls and houses should be left standing ; but that the king, who had already received a large sum of money from the Pavese on condition of its destruction, had no sooner got it into his power, than he set at nought the pledged promise of the Abbot, who took this dishonour so much to heart, that he died of grief in a day or two. Be that as it may, such was the animosity of the Pavese, that when the destruction was completed, and all others were departing from those ruins, some of them, remaining behind, as if still unsatiated with revenge, unearthed that part of the walls which had not been reached by the fire, and overthrew the very foundations of that rival city. 21. But when it became known in Milan, that the people Generous of Tortona, carrying the little which now remained to them, were drawing near to the city, the doors of the Consuls were quickly thronged with eager multitudes, who demanded, with loud and generous cries, that their magistrates should lead them forth to give a suitable reception to their confederates. Soon, therefore, those citizens, with the Consuls at their head, were seen issuing from the gates ; and when the two peoples had met on the road, not without tears, and were mingled together, the Milanese gazed with admiration upon those men, who had so long withstood the assaults of an army 138 THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. BOOK i. with which Frederick had proudly hoped to subjugate all Italy ; and, after they had led them into the market-place, one of the Consuls, standing forth, is said to have thus addressed them: 'Heartily do we all thank you, O confederates, for coming thus spontaneously to our city, after having so man- fully defended your own. The Milanese have this day an opportunity of obtaining much honour, in showing, by the way in which they receive you, their allies, whom Italy will number amongst her worthiest sons, not only their constancy to their friends, but their sympathy with suffering virtue ; for, in the estimation of mankind, next after those who have achieved heroic deeds, come those who have consoled the heroic in their distress. The glory, indeed, is far from equal ; but it is meet, and honourable to human nature, that in calamities, whether public or private, the fidelity of man should redress the inconstancy of fortune. And whatever we may be able to do for you, O confederates, so great are your deserts and so great your losses, that we shall never feel as if we had done enough ; for in the day of Italy's trouble you, by your glorious defence, have reassured her, proving that the Germans excel in ^numbers only, not in valour ; and, having deferred the surrender to the utmost limit of human endurance, you have shown how difficult it is to overcome even one city, defended by the arms of freemen. And though every people of Italy ought to resent your wrongs and emulate your virtue, upon none is that duty so incumbent as upon us, who are stirred by your presence, and by the sight of your honourable wounds, upon us, O confederates, who must shortly enter into mortal conflict with the selfsame foe. But, come what may, certain it is, that never did there rise on Milan a more glorious day than this, in which you have come to take shelter within our walls, and we have received you, in your deep distress, not as allies only, but as brethren. As such, then, we will hold you ; and never will we let you go from us, until we have rebuilt your glorious walls, and restored you to your former condition. Meanwhile, our homes are yours ; there shall you recover from the wounds and privations of so long a siege ; and in our churches, before our altars, we will offer to the Almighty our united prayers, for the restoration of your city, for the preser- vation of ours.' To which words all the people assented, BOOK I. THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. 139 with loud shouts and uplifted hands ; whilst the Tortonese, overcome by so kind and generous a reception, stood mute, with downcast eyes and hearts too full for utterance. But the citizens, going quickly into the midst of them, joyfully held out their hands, some to these, some to those, each dis- creetly inviting such as seemed to him, from similarity of condition, most likely to feel at ease in his house ; and when they had brought them home, the women, that the hospitality of the city might be graced from the first with their gentle benevolence, welcomed the allies, and embraced their wives and children. 22. Whilst the Tortonese were being thus comforted by Triumph of the hospitality of the people of Milan, Frederick, having ac- j n p av ia. cepted the invitation of the Pavese to celebrate his victory t in their city, was approaching its ancient gates ; and, having Rome. been met there by the clergy and all the people, with civic pomp and very great rejoicing, he entered the city in state, hav- ing the crown on his head and the sceptre in his hand, and went to the church of St. Michael, near to the palace of the Lombard kings, to give thanks to heaven for the taking of Tortona ; then, after gratifying the triumphant pride of the Pavese by three days of festivity and magnificence of every kind, im- patient to receive the Imperial Crown, he set forth, by way of Piacenza, towards Rome. The Piacentines, who had now forsaken their former league, and entered into an alliance with the Milanese, made, at the first rumour of his coming, most vigorous preparations for defence, and laid up a good store of provisions ; whereby, being afterwards also reinforced by the militias of two Gates of Milan, they brought him to the conclusion that the taking of their city would be a work of some difficulty, and demand more time than he could spare. Departing thence, therefore, he came by way of Reggio and Modena to Bologna, where he remained for the feast of Pentecost ; and, perceiving that even in Bologna the authority of the Empire needed strengthening, he gave orders for the rebuilding of the castle of Medicina, which the Bolognese had destroyed. But here he discovered an auxiliary force, perhaps not wholly unanticipated, which afterwards afforded him a sup- port in his designs, far greater than he could ever have re- 140 THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. LOOK I. ceived from any fortress ; and this was the tendency now observable in the Bolognese professors of civil law to mag- nify thereby the authority of the German Emperors in Italy. Frederick, who was a man of great subtlety, failed not to encourage an inclination so favourable to him, engaging the affection of those professors by many acts of kindness, and large promises of honours and privileges, which promises he amply fulfilled at his second coming ; when, as will be seen, he heard them speak with such base partiality in his favour, that he became more than ever confirmed in his haughty resolve to get possession of all the regalia in the States of Italy, and to annul the franchises of all her Communes. From Bologna, crossing the Apennines, he came into Tuscany; and being met there by Anselm, Bishop of Havelberg, then returning from Constantinople, whither he had sent him to renew the treaty of Conrad with the Greek Emperor against the King of Sicily, he gave him, with the suffrage of the clergy and the people, the archiepiscopal see of Ravenna, investing him at the same time, according to ancient custom, with the exarchate of the city. And finding from his report that he must not depend too much upon the hope of aid from Greece, he sent orders to the Pisans to arm their fleet with all speed, and hold it in readiness for the war against Sicily. On arriving at San Quirico, he found three cardinals, who had been sent by Adrian to ascertain in what mood this prince, so young and so illustrious, was approaching him ; for although, through the influence of Ottone Frangipane, the pontifical authority was still maintained in Rome, the people were showing strong leanings towards the doctrines of Arnold, and towards liberty ; and Adrian, being thus not firmly seated there, desired, by means of these prelates, to conciliate, if possible, the goodwill of the king. Frederick, moved by his desire to obtain the Imperial Crown, and by his hatred of liberty, as also by the consideration that the Pope was now at war with the King of Sicily, his own enemy, immediately entered into communication with them, and concluded with them this agreement, confirming the one already made : that he should maintain the honour and the government of the Pope, and that the Pope, in return, should crown him Emperor. BOOK I. THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. 141 23. In accordance with this, when the king was afterwards Capture ... ,. ...... . and bum- requested, with peculiar urgency, to give his aid in putting ing of an end to Arnold, he took prisoner a certain Count of Campania, in whose castle that monk had found refuge, and gave him to understand, that in no other way could he regain his own liberty than by giving up his guest into his hands. Having thus obtained him, he straightway sent him to the Prefect of Rome, who held the Castle of St Angelo for Adrian, and who, able now to carry into effect the sentence of excommunication, led him forth at break of day under a strong escort, into the Piazza del Popolo, and burnt him alive. The Romans, although generally ill-affected towards the papal authority, had given some months before a fair sample of their patriotism, when, to please Adrian, they had basely expelled this man, who had been for them so noble an apostle, not only of evangelical doctrine, but of liberty. No wonder then that, seeing him now brought back as a prisoner, by means of so mighty a king, they made no attempt to rescue him. It is true that some, coming forth at the noise, took arms and ran to the stake, but they were few, and too late. and were unable even to collect his remains, for the soldiers drove them back. When they were all dispersed, the exe- cutioner gathered up the ashes, and, to prevent them from being carried away, and treasured by the people as relics, threw them into the Tiber. 24. This done, Adrian set forth with the Cardinals for Ceremonial Frederick's camp, which was then near Sutri. Many German Barons met him on the road ; but when he came before the royal pavilion, he drew up his palfrey and waited, expecting and the to see the king. Frederick, however, having no mind to hold his stirrup, as the ceremonial required, did not appear ; where- upon the Cardinals, fearing something worse, dispersed in all directions, everyone fleeing at his utmost speed ; and the Pope, having been assisted to dismount by a meaner hand, sat down, deeply offended, upon a chair prepared for him, and, with a frowning and averted countenance, refused the king, who now at length presented himself, the kiss of peace. But Frederick, although he knew for what cause he was so wroth, remained unmoved, and left him to brood over it both that day and the next ; when at last, ancient custom having been 142 THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. BOOK i. Embassy of the Romans to Frederick. His answer. Corona- tion of Frederick. alleged, and it having been several times explained to him, though he knew it well before, that it was customary for kings, out of respect to the successor of St. Peter, and for no other reason, to perform this office, as if suddenly con- vinced of its propriety, he yielded ; spurred to Nepi, whither the Pope had retired, and when he saw him coming on horseback, dismounted, approached him, held his stirrup, and received from him the kiss of peace ; after which both Pope and King turned their thoughts to things of more importance. 25. Meanwhile the Romans, carried away by the remem- brance of their ancient greatness, although the sad fate of Arnold might have shown them the mind of the king, had sent to him, after Adrian's departure, a pompous embassy, congratulating him upon his arrival, and promising, on certain conditions, to give him the Imperial Crown. The conditions were these : that he should abandon the cause of the Pope, and help them to put an end to his dominion in Rome, which should again be governed as a republic ; that he should respect their laws and customs, and protect them from the license of his soldiers ; and, finally, that he should pay the senators, who would crown him in the Capitol, five thousand pounds of silver. To this Frederick, after casting a glance of scorn upon those ambassadors, sternly replied, that it was evident from their demands that they had formed an utterly false idea both of his condition and of their own. That of the ancient Romans nothing remained to them but the name ; they possessed neither their Empire, nor their laws, nor their valour, nor their discipline, nor yet, as that vainglorious proposal plainly showed, their modesty. The mention of ancestral glory ill became the lips of the degenerate, and, rather than honour, brought disgrace upon them. From the line of Charlemagne, the Empire passed to Otho, and from Otho, by the consent of the German nation, it had come down to him. From them he required nothing but obedience, and if they did not faithfully render it, they had nothing to expect from him but speedy punishment. Thus having spoken, he haughtily dismissed them. 26. Having afterwards conferred with the Pope concern- ing this, and consulted him as to the best mode of entering Rome to be crowned, he sent, by his advice, that same night, BOOK i. THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. 143 on the very steps of those ambassadors, a thousand horse, under the command of Cardinal Octavian, to take possession of that part of Rome which lies beyond the Tiber, and con- tains the Vatican Mount, and the church of St. Peter ; which is called the Leonine City, from having been fortified in 848 by Pope Leo IV. On arriving there, the Cardinal and his cavalry, the better to secure themselves against any hostile attempt of the people, barricaded the Elian Bridge, which was close by the Castle of St. Angelo, and then formed the only communication between the two parts of Rome. Thither next morning at break of day came Adrian with the Cardinals, to prepare himself and the church for so grand a ceremony. The king followed with the army, left it encamped in the plains of Nero, and, with the flower of the soldiery and a splendid train of barons, entered the Leonine City, which he found deserted of its inhabitants, and, proceeding to St. Peter's, prostrated himself before the Pope, who was sitting upon the steps. Having been welcomed by him, and led to the Confessione of St. Peter that is, to the altar raised above the tomb of that Apostle he received from the Pope, after the customary prayers, the sacred chrism, the ring, and the naked sword ; the golden crown was placed upon his head, and the imperial sceptre in his hand, and, with loud acclama- tions, all present hailed him Emperor ; after which, having sworn to be a constant defender of the Church, and of the whole Christian commonwealth, he came forth from St. Peter's, and, on his gorgeously caparisoned horse, with the barons and soldiers following him on foot, returned to his camp. 27. But when word was brought to the Romans, who were Tumuitu- at that time sitting in close council in the Capitol, that Frederick was already crowned, a loud murmur of indignation arose in that assembly ; and tumultuously rising, they rushed over the raade 11 ITT- i r ^ amongst bridge, now unguarded, to the Vatican ; slew a few Germans, them by who had remained there after the coronation, and were walk- p e ror. m ing about in the church ; and stripped several cardinals of their robes and ornaments. As soon as Frederick heard of this, arming his troops with all haste, he led part of them to the bridge, and sent the rest against the Transteverines, between the Janiculum and the river ; wherefore there soon arose in 144 THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. POOR i. Pestilence in the Ger- man host. Its depar- ture from Rome. both places a most fierce and obstinate battle, which lasted from ten in the morning until night ; when the Romans, of whom a thousand had been slain, two hundred taken pri- soners, and many wounded, gradually withdrew into the city, having shown themselves, throughout that day, not unworthy of their name. Then Adrian came forth, and greatly bewail- ing the slaughter, obtained from the Emperor the custody of the prisoners. Whether his grief was sincere, or only assumed for the purpose of making it appear that the Romans were his subjects, it would be hard to say. But this has been related at some length, to show how confused, down to this period, was the dominion of Rome ; for, even if it be granted that the supreme authority was vested in the Emperor, the power of government passed about, according to events, between the Pope and the people ; time and victory not having yet abso- lutely assigned it to either. 28. The day after, the Emperor, finding that provisions were failing, and that the army was already beginning to suffer from the heat of the season, repaired with the Pope to Mount Soracte, where he hoped that his men, refreshed by the bracing air of that country, and supplied with better and more abundant food, would regain their vigour. The feast of St. Peter now occurring, it was celebrated by Adrian with great pomp at Ponte Lucano, the Emperor being present, wearing the crown. Afterwards, departing thence, and still hoping that some opportunity might present itself of over- powering the Romans, and of bringing them, according to his agreement, under the dominion of the Pope, he encamped between Rome and Tusculum. There, however, he could not long remain, for, the dog-days being at hand, the air grew hotter and hotter, and the huge frames of the Germans, accus- tomed to be braced by the cold winds of the North, languished and sickened under that burning sun, and many daily died of fever. Frederick, therefore, seeing no remedy for this but in a speedy departure from that land, left Adrian, greatly dis- appointed and depressed, at Tivoli, and led back the army through the high lands of Umbria towards Lombardy. Arrived in the neighbourhood of Spoleto, he halted for a while, that it might enjoy the salubrious air ; and, that the time might not be lost, he sent some of his troops to the BOOK I. THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. 145 neighbouring towns, to demand, as was customary at the coming of the Emperor, the tribute of the foderum. 29. All complied with this demand, excepting the Spole- Frederick tans ; these, confiding in the strength of their massive walls spoieto! and towers, had lately taken prisoner an Imperial ambassador, Awards 63 Count Guidoguerra, who, in returning from an embassy to the Ancona. King of Sicily, had entered their city ; and they now both refused to give him up, and stoutly resisted the reimposition of \hzfoderum. Wherefore Frederick went with all the army to subdue Spoleto. The Consuls, with ill-advised audacity, instead of defending their city from the battlements, led forth the militias into the plain, where they were soon put to rout by the German cavalry, which pursued them so closely as to enter the gates with them ; and in that first fury the city, before it had been completely sacked, was set on fire. Then the Spoletans rushed forth on every side, and many, flying by the paths of the neighbouring mountain, succeeded in making their escape. The day after, Frederick removed his camp a little further from those ruins, lest the multitude of corpses buried under them should engender a pestilence ; but for two days he had them carefully turned over, in search of whatever the fire had spared. Having divided this amongst his followers, he continued his retreat, but slowly, unwilling to go very far northwards, and moved towards Ancona, thinking that the places along the coast would be cooler and healthier ; always intending, as soon as his men should be sufficiently invigorated, to lead them back towards Apulia. 30. To this he was now urged, not so much by his old grudge His jea- against the King of Sicily, and by the promise he had made r e S ek fth to the Sicilian exiles, as by a newly-awakened jealousy which Emperor, secretly tormented him ; for it had come to his knowledge that the Barons of Apulia, finding that they could obtain nothing from him but distant promises and vain diplomas, had sought aid from the Emperor of the East ; who would be sure to embrace so favourable an opportunity of intermeddling in Italian affairs, and increasing his dominion in Italy. In fact, when Frederick came into the territory of Ancona, a city then subject to the Greeks, he found that the requested succours had already arrived there, under the command of Michael Paleologus, who, although he immediately waited L 146 THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. BOOK i. upon him on behalf of his sovereign, bringing him costly presents, could easily read in the gloomy, restless eyes of the Swabian, the vexation which he felt at the sight of those Greek ensigns. He is con- 31. But his mind, now so disquieted because of these Greeks, the a pe e sti- by was presently filled with more serious anxiety by the pesti- L en u e l ? u lence, which, in the great heat of that season, still followed the disband the army. His army, whithersoever he led it ; and his Barons, now languish- towards ing and dispirited, were continually longing after the woods Verona. an( j cast j es o f Germany ; so that at last he was compelled to disband them ; and straightway, some by sea, some through Lombardy, some through Savoy, all hastened to depart from a land which to so many of them had proved fatal. He him- self, with the numerous banners of his house, took his way through Romagna, Bologna, and Mantua towards Verona, sadly considering, as he journeyed, how he was now quitting Italy ; crowned, indeed, but without having succeeded, not- withstanding all his force and cruelty, in restoring his authority and that of his officers in the cities. He called to mind the Milanese ; twice had he seen them in arms against him, first on the walls of Tortona, and then on those of Piacenza ; and after his departure they would become more arrogant than ever ; and already it was rumoured that they were rebuilding Tortona. The condition of Como and of Lodi distressed him ; he had done nothing for those cities whilst it was in his power, and now, to what a cruel fortune he was leaving them ! Vexed by these thoughts, when he arrived, in September, in the neighbourhood of Verona, he gave a parting sign of his anger by issuing a decree, whereby he deprived the Milanese of the regalia and of the right of coining money, which, to supply fresh fuel for hatred and envy amongst the Italians, he transferred to Cremona. Treache- 32. The Veronese were wont, on the arrival of an Imperial army at the Adige, to construct for it a bridge of boats out- He S ^ G t ^ ie wa ^ s ' ^ ess ' P erna P s ou t of regard for its convenience re-enters than in order to prevent the necessity of granting it a passage through their city. This customary service having now to be performed, the chief men of the place, whether moved by a spontaneous desire to avenge at one blow the wrongs and blood of so many Italians, or secretly instigated by the HOOK I. THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. 147 Milanese, gave orders that the pontoons of the bridge should be put together in such a manner, that, standing closely joined to one another, they might seem to offer a safe passage, whilst yet the bands which fastened them together should be so weak, as to give way at once before the shock of the trunks of trees and logs of wood, which lay upon the bank, ready to be thrown in, a little higher up the river. This device, how- ever, proved a failure, for the logs were thrown in too late, and by the time that the current carried them against the bridge and broke it, not only the German troops but also many of the country people, who, ignorant of the plot, were following them, had already passed over. Then Frederick, seeing what had been devised against him, turned in his wrath against those unhappy men, hemmed them in between his forces and the river, and put every one of them to the sword ; in the sight of the Veronese, who stood upon the other bank, con- vulsed with rage and horror. Proceeding further, he found the pass of Chiusa occupied by brigands, who meant to hold it against him until he should pay them a large sum of money ; but, sending a band of archers to a higher part of the mountain, from whence they could shoot down upon them, he soon dislodged them and took many of them prisoners, some of whom he caused to have their noses and their lips cut off, and the rest to be hung on the neighbouring trees. After which he went onwards through Trent and Bolzano, and, about a year after his departure, re-entered Germany, leaving the Marquis of Montferrat to act as his representative in Italy. 33. Those militias of Milan which had been sent to the Rebuilding defence of Piacenza, finding that on account of Frederick's departure southwards they were no longer needed there, re- solved to win an honourable return by repairing to the land of their less fortunate allies, the Tortonese. Being out, then, and under arms, they betook themselves to the ruins of Tor- tona, and immediately began to rebuild the walls, not doubting that this spontaneous good deed would be favourably accepted and highly appreciated in Milan. But when the news arrived there, although the people, always pleased at the outset with bold and generous courses, applauded their proceeding, the Consuls and the prudent men, on whom rested the chief re- 148 THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. BOOK I. sponsibility of the undertakings of the Commune, condemned it, as inconsiderate and unseasonable ; believing that it would be impossible to begin such a work under good auspices whilst Frederick was still in Italy ; because a king so young and proud, and so well supported by the forces of Italy and of Germany, if he should hear that the city which it had lately cost him so much to overthrow was already being rebuilt, would be easily incited by the Pavese to its second destruc- tion. Wherefore they sent to them, commanding them to desist from that undertaking and come home. Soon after- wards, however, elated at the news that some Pavese troops which had gone to disturb them had been beaten and put to flight, casting aside every fear, of their own accord they pro- posed to the people, that the work which the zeal of those citizens had begun, should be carried out with the whole power of the Commune ; and, everyone offering himself and his substance for so noble and pious an enterprise, it was resolved in that assembly that the men of the Ticinese and Vercellina Gates should go first. All these, accordingly, nobles and commoners, horsemen and footmen, the Tortonese in the midst of them, with their banners flying, set forth without any delay for Tortona. Arrived there, they divided themselves into three companies, of which one began to clear out the ditch and rebuild the walls, and another to rebuild the houses, whilst the third stood always armed, ready to repulse the Pavese, who, looking with an evil eye upon the restoration of that rival city, were now beginning to show themselves in the neighbourhood. At the end of three weeks, when the militias of the Roman Gate and the East Gate came to succeed them, these men, so fond of fighting, seeing there the banners of four of their Gates, could no longer contain themselves, but went in a body in search of the Pavese, and attacked the castle of Sala. Finding it, however, better pre- pared for defence than they expected, after a stiff encounter with the inhabitants they returned to Tortona. Next day the men of the Ticinese and Vercellina Gates departed for Milan, and the men of the other two Gates divided themselves for the work in the same way as those had done. But their labours were soon interrupted ; for the Pavese, when they heard that the Milanese forces were weakened by BOOK I. THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. 149 the departure of the troops of two Gates, moved with their whole army towards Tortona; but on arriving at San Martino, they saw drawn up in front of them the forces of the Con- federates, who, having heard of their approach, had come to meet them there. The battle began immediately, and was fought on either side with great spirit, but not with equal fortune ; for the Milanese, having had nearly all their horse- men slain or dismounted at the first encounter, overpowered by numbers, gave way, leaving the field and many prisoners in possession of the enemy. Next day the fight was renewed, nearer Tortona, and most fiercely did they close and grapple with one another, bringing the battle, little by little, within those uncompleted walls. Some of the Milanese, entirely overcome, sought refuge in the principal church ; but the Pavese surrounded and took it, and planted on its tower two banners, as a sign of victory. At that sight the rest of the Confederates were fired with rage and shame, and with lances, clubs, stones, and whatever they could snatch from the ground, they fell so furiously upon the hostile troops that, after a great slaughter, they drove them out of the city. Nevertheless, the Pavese encamped close by, resolved, at any cost, to have the lives of their enemies and to destroy their work. And in this they would assuredly have succeeded, had not the valour of the Confederates been seconded by the natural strength of the place and also by singular good fortune ; for by the time that their provisions began to fail, their assailants were so much disheartened by ill-success, and reduced to such discomfort by continual rain, that they would persevere in their attempt no longer, but, according to the custom of those times, when wars were as lightly abandoned as begun, returned, towards the end of May, to Pavia, leaving the Confederates to finish their work in peace. Thus, in the second month after the surrender and destruc- tion of Tortona, the people of Milan were rebuilding for their allies its walls and houses ; an instance of affection and con- stancy than which nothing nobler has come down to us from those ancient days, worthy to be had in perpetual remem- brance by the peoples of Italy, as a pattern of true generosity, and a bright example of pious, fraternal concord. ISO THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES, BOOK n. BOOK II. Condition I. H55-II5/. At this time all Lombardy was filled with Milanese, the renown of the Milanese ; not only because of the promp- titude with which they had gone to share the danger of the Piacentines, and the large-hearted generosity with which they were rebuilding Tortona, but also because it had been observed, with some surprise, that although Frederick went immediately against every other city from which he had re- ceived the slightest provocation, against the Milanese, with whom he was believed to be more seriously offended, he shunned to venture, as if he feared, by affronting their power, to imperil the honour of his first expedition into Italy. With the advantage, then, of this reputation, and of the absence of the Emperor, which lasted two years, they conducted them- selves with so much prudence and valour, that at no time did they achieve, within and without their border, things greater and more virtuous than in this, although, towards the end of the year 1157, some acts of tyranny against their neighbours not a little sullied their good name. They had not yet quite completed the rebuilding of Tortona, when, justly apprehend- ing that Frederick, as soon as he should be able, would not be slow to reappear with a more powerful force for their own destruction, they determined to prepare for such an event by strengthening their State, renewing their alliances, and going forth to subjugate those places in their neighbourhood which still sided with the Empire ; and they resolved also, whilst carrying out these things, to repair their castles, and to enlarge the circuit of defences around their city, which, not being strong by position, had the more need to be fortified by art. 2- ^he wall which at this time surrounded Milan was Ofthewaiis of Maxi- that built in the fourth century by Maximian, who, having established there the seat of his Empire, judged it due to his dignity and needful for his security to re-fortify it and adorn BOOK ii. THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUTES. 151 it with noble buildings, as some few remains of ancient mag- nificence still testify. It is said that his wall was surrounded by the waters of the Seviso and the Nirone ; but as in our days those little streams no longer run, as formerly, exposed to view, but hidden deep in subterranean channels, no aid can be derived from them in tracing out its site, of which almost every vestige has disappeared. Certain marble crosses, of the kind which used anciently to be erected at the gates of cities, afford, perhaps, some indication of it, for the curve described in passing from one to another of those relics is supposed to have been part of its circumference, which seems not to have exceeded two miles. 3. At the time when Maximian built this wall, there was of still still standing an inner circuit of very great antiquity, built *ier\t either by the Galli-Senones or the Romans ; for the Insubres, wails. the original inhabitants of the place, had no other defences about their rustic habitations than the hedges, the ditches with which they irrigated their fields, and the orchards behind their houses. Milan, then, from the fourth century, had a double girdle of walls ; but the more ancient one, no longer kept in repair, became in time nothing more than a venerable ruin. By the middle of the eighth century the whole of it had fallen down, and, as the city increased, houses were built from time to time upon its site, and within its humble pomacrium t so that every trace of it has long been effaced. Some one, however, has suggested that it must have passed not far from St. Andrew's and St. Michael's, because in certain ancient records, of a date prior to the destruction of Milan by Frederick I., these two churches are described as standing ad murum ruptum. It is said that the mural fragments found in digging the foundations of the Dadda Tower, at Olmetto, were vestiges of that primitive circuit ; and the many sepulchral vessels, such as cinerary urns, lamps, and lachrymatories, discovered in laying the founda- tions of the monasteries of St. Ambrose, of the Monks of Mount Olivet, and of St. Victor, of the palaces Serbelloni and Trivulzi, and of the New Theatre, prove that the sites of those buildings were outside the first wall, for it was not the custom of the ancients to have their sepulchres within their cities. 152 THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. BOOK n. Increase of Milan. New forti- fications of Maestro Guglielmo Guintel- lino. 4. The like thing took place in the growth of this city from the eighth to the twelfth century ; for although, during that long interval, it underwent very serious calamities, still, owing to the richness of its soil, which had been constantly increas- ing in fertility from the time when it was first drained by the Romans, and also to the importance of its position, on the highway to the other parts of Italy, it soon recovered from whatever damages it sustained. Moreover, it having been always in the nature of its people to contend against ill-for- tune with unconquerable energy, and to come forth out of the struggle more haughty and powerful than ever, its population, even in this stormy part of the Middle Ages, continued to increase ; insomuch that, the place having become too narrow for the inhabitants, many were obliged to go forth and build their houses outside the wall of Maximian ; so that in time there arose great suburbs near the gates, and here and there, all round the wall, many habitations, with churches, and monasteries, and fine public parks, which in Lombardy were called Broli, pleasant places, to which the citizens were wont to resort for recreation, and in which they took great delight.' 5. The consuls of 1155, perceiving that a great part of these new habitations had been built too near the city, almost resting upon the walls, and that they were all without defence, so that in case of war they would not only soon fall a prey to the enemy, but would afterwards facilitate his attack, con- voked a General Council, wherein, having reminded the people of the edict by which the Emperor had laid the Milanese under the ban of the Empire, and how he threatened them, as guilty of grievous acts of tyranny, and contumacious, with heavy chastisement, proposed, in order to provide in time for their safety, that a wide and deep ditch should be made round 1 The Brolo was a large grass field, shaded with trees. Pavia, Tortona, and other cities of Italy had also their Broli. This place, open to the public, belonged, until the fourteenth century, to the Archbishop. The citizens used to come there to take their pleasure, to practise warlike exercises, and to transact their affairs. It served also for the public markets, the most important of which was held in it on Fridays ; and in time churches, hospitals, and other public buildings were erected in it. Besides this Brolo there was a building, near the Archiepiscopal Palace, which was called Broletto, in which were held the courts of justice, and where the citizens used to assemble, in inclement weather, for the transaction of both public and private business ; whence in time it obtained the name of Broletto della Consoleria, that is, of the Consuls. BOOK II. THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. 153 the city, enclosing all its suburbs. Which resolution, although some, from private interests, opposed it, was finally carried. The Consuls, in planning and executing this undertaking, are said to have availed themselves of the advice of Maestro Guglielmo Guintellino, who in architecture and in making engines of war excelled everyone else in Lombardy. Besides great natural sagacity and a thorough knowledge of his art, the Maestro must have possessed, in no ordinary degree, the virtues of a good citizen, for the people highly esteemed and thoroughly trusted him, and in all times of public distress habitually turned to him for help and counsel. A true patriot, he employed the brief intervals of peace which occurred in those days in devising and carrying out works of public utility. By him is said to have been designed and built that bridge over the Ticino between Abbiate and Capoli, than which no finer one had as yet been seen in Lombardy. And now, amidst the preparations for this war, he invented a new kind of scythe- armed chariot, and made a very powerful catapult. Under the direction, then, of this honoured citizen, the Milanese began the work with great spirit, and, some labour- ing at it with their hands, some giving to it of their substance, every man, according to his power, helped it on. They dug a wide and deep ditch, and, by throwing out all the earth on the side next the city, compressing it well, and binding it strongly together with planks and beams, made a rampart, which was afterwards called the Terraggio, and was more than three miles in circumference. The ditch was filled with water from the old canals, and from the many springs which were always gushing up inside it, and the surplus water, escaping near the postern of St. Laurence, went towards Pavia, and discharged itself into the Olona. Besides the gates and posterns which were made in the new rampart to correspond with those of the wall of Maximian, others were opened in it here and there, by reason of its wider circuit ; and it had altogether eighteen. 1 1 For the better understanding of the facts which I am about to relate con- cerning Milan, I will briefly describe the circuit of the rampart, noting the outlets which were made in it, to correspond with those of the wall of Maximian. Opposite the Roman Gate of the wall, and not far from the Roman Arch, was 154 THE WAR AGAIXST THE COMMUTES. COOK ir. This work, begun in 1156, was brought to completion in less than two years ; and the expense incurred by the Milanese in that space of time for this new defence and for repairing the other fortresses of the Commune amounted, in the money of the present day, to 28,000,000 Italian pounds. Moreover it was not with quiet minds and in a time of peace, but with arms in hand, and when they were often going forth to war against their neighbours, that these ancients found time and courage to undertake this labour and expenditure. Alliances 6. There is no doubt that this anxious solicitude on the Milanese, part of the Milanese to* fortify themselves arose, in great measure, from a want of confidence in their allies ; for they could not but feel that the inveterate habit of subjection to the Empire, which even amongst themselves, who were under its ban, was not yet quite extinct, would be likely on the Emperor's return to assert itself still more powerfully amongst the other Communes, most of which, not having, like them, any very strong motives for contending with him, would easily be brought back into the ancient obedience. Where- fore they saw that they must depend for safety, not on the aid of others, but almost solely on their own resources. In this they were confirmed by the proceedings of the people of Verona, who, early in 1 156, as if repenting of what the Roman Gate of the rampart. From this the rampart passed through the Brolo, dividing it almost in the middle ; and when it came over against the Butinego Gate there was the Butinego Postern, which also led, on the right, to the Postern of St. Stephen of the wall. Opposite the Tosa Gate was the Tosa Postern. With the East Gate, called also the Renza Gate, corresponded the Postern of Monforte ; and, a little further on, was the East Gate of the rampart. The New Postern of the rampart led to the New Postern of the wall, and the New Gate of the rampart to the New Gate of the wall. It was said that after this was the Postern of the New Suburb. To the Postern Brera del Guercio of the wall led the Postern Brera of the rampart, called afterwards the Gate of Beatrice, and, still later, St. Mark's Gate. The Comacina Gate of the rampart led to the Comacina Gate of the wall. The Postern of Azze had two roads to the wall ; one led to the Comacina, and the other to the Giovia Gate. The Giovia Gate of the rampart communicated with the Giovia Gate of the wall, as did the Vercellina Gate of the rampart with the Vercellina Gate of the wall, and the Postern of St. Ambrose of the rampart with the Postern of St. Ambrose of the wall. The Fabbrica Postern and Ticinese Gate of the rampart led to the Ticinese Gate of the wall. The Postern of St. Lawrence of the rampart, known now by the name of Ponte delle Pobbiette, led to the Postern of St. Lawrence of the wall ; and, lastly, the Postern of St. Euphemia of the rampart to the Postern of St. Euphemia of the wall. BOOK II. THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. 155 had been done against the Emperor in their territory, sent their Bishop, with some of their principal citizens, into Ger- many, to assure him that those who had laid a snare for him on the Adige, and those who had attempted to hold against him the pass of Chiusa, were not to be regarded as Veronese, and to implore him not to withdraw his favour from them, but to believe them still faithful to him as of old. Paying him also a large sum of money, they promised that on his return into Italy he should have the aid of their mili- tias against the Milanese. Frederick, who had received these deputies with an air of offended majesty, no sooner heard this offer, which would give him so great an advantage in taking a more important revenge, than his countenance changed, and he accepted their petition and pardoned their city. But in the Brescians the Milanese found faith and constancy. These were always a generous, warlike people, faithful also, and zealous for the glory of the Italian name. And at this time they were highly elated, for in March 1156 they had won a great victory over the 'men of Bergamo, taken two thousand five hundred prisoners, and brought home the enemy's stan- dard ; which was placed as a precious trophy in the church of SS. Faustino and Gioita, and afterwards, for many a year, brought forth with much ceremony on the feast-day of those saints, and solemnly exhibited to the people. The Piacen tines also continued steadfast in the Milanese alliance ; and, foreseeing that the Emperor, when again in Lombardy, would not fail to come against their city, in order to wipe out the disgrace of having once declined the siege, they began with great zeal to repair and strengthen it, deep- ening the ditch, and crowning the walls with battlements and towers. 7. The people of Vercelli, as was almost always their Of the .... , . ., /-inir-i Commune custom and their interest, leant to the side of the Milanese, of Vercelli. And here it will not be amiss to go back still further into ancient times, and briefly investigate the vicissitudes of this portion of Italy, for we shall thus see more plainly what was the bond of sympathy which existed between these two Com- munes ; and, by retracing so far as is still possible in the depths of such antiquity, the origin and progress of the power and dominion of the Marquises of Montferrat, shall better under- 156 THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. BOOK n. stand the motives of the wars and alliances in this part of the country, and the way in which it was divided, both before and after this time. Charlemagne, after he had put an end to the Kingdom of the Lombards, wishing to insure to himself and his successors a safe road into Italy, established at the opening of the Alps two Marquisates, the one of Susa, and the other of Ivrea, which jointly comprehended a great part of the country now called Piedmont. But after the Counts of Morienna began, now by arms, now by treaties, now by family alliances, to enlarge their possessions in the plain of Italy, the limits of the Marquisate of Susa became continually narrower ; until at last, in 1076, the Marchioness Adelaide, marrying a Count of Morienna, brought into his family the city of Susa and all that remained of the Marquisate. The Marquisate of Ivrea was of wider extent, comprehending the valley of Aosta, the Canavese, the territory of Biella, Vercelli, Novara, and Lumel- lina, with a large portion of maritime Liguria. But it also began to diminish, both because the authority of the Bishops over the cities in which they resided, derived from the laws of Arcadius and Honorius, and augmented from time to time by the grants of the Kings of Lombardy, refused to subordinate itself to the power of the Marquis, and also because out of much of the land which belonged to the ancient Marquisate of Ivrea, the first Otho had formed, or as some say, enlarged, another Marquisate, that of Montferrat, which, having been put into the possession of a valiant race, entirely devoted to the Empire, grew more and more powerful, continually extending its bounds at the expense of its neighbour. In the days of Ardoin, who was the last of the Marquises of Ivrea, the Bishop of Vercelli, relying upon the donations made to his church by King Aripert, nephew of Theodolind,had already shaken off the authority of the Marquis. Ardoin, ill enduring this, entered into communication with those who still adhered to him in Vercelli, marched against the place, and took and burnt it ; and in the fury of the struggle the Bishop himself was slain. Whereupon Otho III., at the instigation of Pope Silvester II., deprived Ardoin and his heirs of all the rights they had possessed in Vercelli and its territory, and restored them to the Bishopric. Hence it came to pass that after Ardoin had BOOK II. THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. 157 quitted the throne of Italy for a monastic cell, this Marquisate, once so powerful, was reduced to that tract of country which lies between the Oreo and the greater Dora, a land which was afterwards divided among descendants of his house, who continued there as lords of Valperga, Masino, and San Martino. But although the Bishops of Vercelli, through the inter- vention of Otho III., were thus restored to their ancient rights, in proportion as popular government gained ground their authority declined ; and during the contest between Henry IV. and Gregory VII. for the investitures, in Vercelli, as in many other episcopal cities of Italy, there came to be two Bishops at once, one nominated by the Emperor and the other by the Pope, each of which had his faction, and endeavoured to increase it, in order to obtain the sole possession of the see ; and each, accordingly, bidding high for popularity, divested himself of many episcopal rights in favour of the Commune or of his supporters. During this confusion, it being often uncer- tain which of the two was the real Bishop, the exercise of legal authority necessarily passed into the hands of the Con- suls ; and the people became accustomed and well pleased to take part in public affairs. Hence it came to pass that when the contest for the investitures was at an end, and there was again but one Bishop, he no longer enjoyed in the councils of the Commune the same consideration as of old, his authority having passed into other hands ; wherefore the Bishops, mak- ing, by the advice of Pope Innocent III., a virtue of necessity, began afterwards solemnly to invest the Consuls of the city with the civil and criminal jurisdiction, reserving for themselves the right of appeal, the exercise of acts of voluntary jurisdic- tion, and a few other prerogatives, all of which in the course of time passed away. 1 From this period, therefore, the Ver- 1 This was the mode of investiture, as is related by Mela Arboreo, quoted by Irico in his History of Trino, page 17:--' For the ceremony of the investiture the municipal assembly was convoked in the Church of the Most Holy Trinity, by the Consuls of St. Stephen, and, in later times, by the Podesta. There were present in it the hundred noble Decurions entrusted with the administration of public affairs, and with them were also summoned all the people, and were asked whether they were willing to be invested by the Bishop with the jurisdiction of Vercelli, and to swear allegiance to him ; and the people having loudly responded Fiat, Fiat, the Bishop, with a standard raised upon a lance, invested the city with the aforesaid 158 THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES, BOOK IT. cellese Bishops ceased to enjoy their ancient rights of juris- diction over the city and its territory. Moreover, during the wars of the Emperors in Italy, those princes, without any re- gard for the ancient donations and prerogatives of the Church, and in direct contravention of them, not seldom granted in fief to the Barons and Communes of their party, lands, castles, or towns which had belonged from of old to the epis- copal see. Thus they gave Trino to the Marquises of Mont- ferrat, who, having expelled the Vercellese in 1025, established their residence there. The church of Vercelli was, from very early times, one of the principal churches of Italy. In 366 its Bishop, the great Eusebius, obtained the pallium, a distinction peculiar to Bishops of the highest rank, and signifying full jurisdiction, such as was conferred upon this Church by King Aripert over the cities of Vercelli, Biella, and Casale, over great part of Liguria, and over the Cottian alps. Its Bishops, in the councils, took place next after the Archbishop of Milan. It had its own peculiar liturgy, which was called the Eusebian ; and for some time, as appears from the Council held at Fonta- neto in 1060, its clergy, like those of the neighbouring dio- ceses, were accustomed openly to enter into the matrimonial state. Vercelli, in the time of which we are now speaking, con- tained in its seventeen parishes more than 100,000 inhabi- tants. Its patricians were numerous and powerful ; in the cities they had palaces, with donjon towers, and in the country castles, with wide domains around. Two families, the Avogadri and Tizzoni, by contending for pre-eminence, afterwards divided the city into parties, and long kept it in a state of discord. The Avogadri had their castles in the Biellese, and, as their name implies, supported the party of the Church, and took part with the Commune against the Emperors. The Tizzoni were Ghibellines, and possessed the territories of Dezzana, Rive, and Crescentino. Much jurisdiction, and with that of the Mount of San Lorenzo and of Trino; and this mode of investiture continued until after the year 1350.' And from this, according to Irico, arose the custom of carrying, in the ceremonies of this Church, a military banner before the Cross of the Chapter, as a sign of the Bishop's ancient suzerainty. BOOK II. THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. 159 of their property passed afterwards to the Scarampi, an ancient noble family of Montferrat. In these times, then, the power of the Vercellese Bishop had passed in great measure to the Commune, which, possess- ing castles not only on the left bank of the Po, as Trino, but also on the right, as Casale di Sant Evasio, came often into conflict with the neighbouring Marquises of Montferrat, who were naturally opposed to the liberty of the communes, and who, supported by the Emperors, attempted, whenever they saw an opportunity, to obtain possession of its lands. 8. Heroic ages always owe their renown amongst posterity The ori g in . J of the Mar- rather to the power of imagination than to the records of quises of sober history. And this happens, not more from the want of good chroniclers, than because it is natural to the infancy of civilisation, in its weakness and superstition, to imagine that nothing can be looked upon as noble and sacred, if its origin should be presented in no other garb than that which is woven by the pure hands of truth. Hence it is, that amongst all nations, the facts of that obscure age are found embellished with fictitious additions, or dimly shadowed forth in mysterious myths. Moreover, the events of those romantic times are often such as, without losing much of their historical substance, readily lend themselves to be glorified by the imagination ; nor must it be forgotten that, to the mind of a polished pos- terity, that which can be remembered of their ancestors is more acceptable and gratifying when recounted with some slight admixture of the marvellous. Thus the historians of Greece and Rome, whilst relating little or nothing which had not some foundation of truth, adorned the early history of their cities with the magnificence of wondrous fictions. But this golden splendour of imagination is wholly wanting in the legends and chronicles of the Middle Ages. The men who wrote them, immured in monastic gloom, were dead to their country, to pleasure, and to all earthly glory. Their hearts, for the most part, were steadfastly set on the contempt of this world and on the hope of another. Hence they chiefly celebrated, not things akin to the warlike enterprises and amorous intrigues of the demi-gods of Greece, or to the stern virtues of the early Romans, but the gentle and pious affec- tions, the meek virtues, the lowly desires, characteristic of that 160 THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. BOOK 11. moral condition which is attained through faith, self-discipline, and suffering. By this, in so far as it was according to the spirit of the Gospel, a civilisation purer, more virtuous, and more enduring than that of the ancients was promoted amongst men. But occasionally, through ignorance or an overheated brain, some of these monks would take to romancing, and that as wildly as if it had been deliberately proposed, within those lazy cowls, to astound the simple- minded country people with impudent fabrications. Of no higher character are the stories invented by Friar Jacob of Acqui, and Friar Philip Bergomense the Hermit, concerning the origin of the Marquises of Montferrat stories which obtained so much credit in the country, that they passed into the popular traditions ; in which, although genealogical research has proved their falsity, they retain their place to this day. It is not yet, however, clearly ascertained whence came the ancestors of this house to rule in Montferrat ; the obscurity arising chiefly from this, that in early times the rulers of the Marches and of the cities held their offices and dignities, not for life, but only for a term, so that all remembrance of them in the land soon perished. Moreover, in the historical records of those days, it was usual to designate them simply by their offices, as prefects, governors, or royal officers. No wonder, then, that many of them passed away without a name, and that there are few families in this part of Italy that can show in the records of history any sign of distinction in their ances- tors before the year one thousand. It has been said by some that the founder of this house was a Count, of very high rank in France, called William, who, having come with 300 followers to the assistance of Guido of Spoleto when he was contending with Berenger I. for the Kingdom of Italy, obtained as his reward, after the vic- tory, many castles in Montferrat ; and that he was the father of Aleramo. But against this opinion it may be urged that, as Guido of Spoleto had almost constant ill-fortune, a brief reign, and an unhappy end, it does not appear probable that a follower of his, of foreign birth, and so much enriched by him as Count William is said to have been, would have been allowed to become great in the land, or even to remain in it, after the downfall of his lord. BOOK ii. THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. 161 Others maintain, that the first of this race who established himself in Montferrat was a scion of the ducal house of Saxony. The similarity between the armorial bearings of the houses of Saxony and Montferrat, the frequent matrimonial alliances of the Marquises with the blood of kings and emperors, and their firm adhesion to the Empire, combine, in the absence of authentic proofs, to confirm this tradition. Be that as it may, certain it is that even before the time of Aleramo, who, on the authority of various documents, which testify of him and of his dominion, is by common consent regarded as the first of the Marquises, their ancestors were great men in the country. It is said that they dwelt in the castle of Villa del Fuoco, now destroyed. The first of them whose name is preserved was a Guido, and the next a William, who was the father of Aleramo. Aleramo, in 934, received privileges and gifts from Hugh and Lothaire. After the removal of these two princes by Berenger II., he obtained, together with the confirmed posses- sion of all his estates and the title of Marquis, the hand of Gilberga, the daughter of that king. And when Berenger was vanquished and sent prisoner into Germany by the first Otho, Aleramo, who had again joined the winning side, was re-con- firmed in the enjoyment of all his castles and possessions, whether inherited from his ancestors or acquired by himself, in the counties of Acqui, Savona, Asti, Montferrat, Turin, Vercelli, Parma, Cremona, and Bergamo, and other parts of Italy ; and received a grant of sixteen manors lying between the Orba and the Tanaro. All this was made sure to him by the famous diploma of 967, which is generally regarded as the foundation of his house's greatness. This Marquisate, as it became enlarged, comprehended the whole of the country between the Tanaro and the Po, from their sources down to Basignana, where those two rivers unite ; but the Marquises never entirely subjected it all, for there were always to be found in it Bishops, Communes, and Barons that refused to submit to their authority. No part of Italy is more fertile and healthy than this marquisate ; in its valleys and upon its hills it is a land of corn and wine, of mulberries and of all kinds of fruit trees. The castles first inhabited by the Marquises were Grazano, Occimiano, Pon- M 1 62 THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. TOOK n testura, and, after they had crossed the Po, Trino, Chivasso, and Volpiano, in the Canavese. Throughout all Italy they founded monasteries not a few ; amongst which may be par- ticularly mentioned those of Grazano and of St. Mary of Lucedio ; the former an abbey of great renown, and especially dear to all the race, as having been loved by -their ancestors, and as containing the tomb of Aleramo. The Abbots of Lucedio ranked very high in the Church. In the shrines of that abbey were many rare and precious relics, collected by the Marchionesses from the East, which in 1479, perhaps be- cause, in the deep seclusion of that rich foundation, they had not the throng of worshippers of which they were thought worthy, were removed to the castle of Casale di Sant Evasio ; that town, which in 1278 had chosen for its Capitano the Marquis William, having in 1316 yielded itself up altogether to the Marquises ; after which it became, and continued for a long time, the capital of the Marquisate. Of the 9. The reigning Marquis at the time of which we treat wm?am ( I1[ 56) was William IV., surnamed the Old, whether because IV - the colour of his hair, which was flaxen, inclining to white, had given him from his youth some appearance of age, though for the rest he was a well-made and powerful man, with a fresh colour in his face, such as is imparted by the air of those hills ; or because, during his long reign of forty-three years, he had been seen an old man by more than one generation ; or perhaps because, with the prudence of age, in a time of many wars, and not all prosperous, he had brought the state to a condition of safety, and his house to great honour. His wife, Giulitta, a daughter of the Marquis of Austria, bore him five sons and two daughters. The elder daughter married Count Guidoguerra of Romagna, and the second, the Emperor of Constantinople. His sons, as he himself had done in the days of Conrad, took the Cross, and went to fight in the Holy Land. The inclination of that age to go into the East favoured the wise policy early observed in this house, of maintaining the state, undivided and powerful, in the first- born son, and encouraging the rest to go forth like brave men and seek their fortune ; and a glorious one did some of these young princes find. They had the name and power of kings in that distant land, though but a brief course of life. William, BOOK ii. THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. 163 conscious of his pre-eminence over all the surrounding country, stood, steady and true, on the side of the Emperor, with whom he was allied by marriage ; unmoved by the excommunication of the Apostolic Legate, and the adversities of war. He was of a mild and virtuous disposition, just towards his people, whom he ruled with a firm hand, whilst prudently tempering his authority to suit the circumstances of the time. He spent a great part of the year at Trino, where he had built a new castle, larger and finer than the first ; and when that city had been formally ceded to him by the Bishop of Vercelli, feeling it to be more his own, he took pleasure in adorning and en- larging it ; and, to conciliate the affection of the Trinese, he provided them with a government which, without too much diminishing his own authority, bore some resemblance to that of the neighbouring Communes ; setting over them three Consuls, and forty men who formed the Council of Credenza, all of whom were to be patricians, and owners of land in the Trinese territory. At this time, as the representative of the Emperor in Italy, he was holding himself ready for the war which the Milanese were preparing against him and against the people of Pavia. 10. The Milanese then, wishing to take full advantage of Wars of the Emperor's absence, resolved, now that their fortifica- esewith tions were nearly completed, to increase the security of their b 1 ^ neigh ~ northern frontier by attacking the castles which still adhered to the Empire in the valley of Lugano ; which accordingly they did, and took twenty of them. After this, turning south- wards against the Cremonese, who had seemed disposed to interrupt them in that work, they drove them back from their border ; then, with the militias which had protected the re- building of Tortona, they laid waste the adjacent lands of Montferrat ; and in returning thence, rebuilt the bridge over the Ticino, and, crossing the river into the territory of Pavia, attacked the fortress of Ceredano ; which, after a short siege, undisturbed by the Pavese, who seemed too much cowed to interfere with them, they took and burnt. And after Sozzano and several other castles had fallen into their hands, they began to think that the time had come when they would be able to overthrow Pavia itself. Wherefore they prepared an abundance of arms and siege engines, called in the aid of the M 2 164 THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. BOOK n. Brescians, and elected Captain-General of their forces Guido, Count of Biandrate. Of the II. Count Guido, at that time, was a nobleman of great Biandrate. wealth, and very powerful in Lombardy. His town, Biandrate, where he had a strong and beautiful castle, was situated on the left bank of the Sesia. His family is said by some to have sprung from the Princes of Poland, by others from the first Marquises of Ivrea. Certain it is that his ancestors, like those of the Marquis of Montferrat, stood far above all other rural Counts of the neighbourhood, and ranked, indeed, with the first nobles of the Empire. This Count possessed, under the protection of the Milanese people, the whole of the territory of Novara, and thirty-seven castles elsewhere. But the Novarese, who, like the other peoples of Lombardy, desired to rule themselves independently, were often rising against him, and endeavouring, with the aid of the Pavese, to shake off his authority altogether. He spent part of every year as a citizen in Milan ; where the people, although they knew him to be much noticed and favoured by the Emperor, were glad to see him amongst the magistrates and chief men of the city, both because he was a lord of ancient wealth and high lineage, and of illustrious connections, having married the only daughter of Rainero, Marquis of Montferrat, sister to the reigning Marquis Wil- liam, and because he was a brave man, and prudent, and of frank and gracious manners. He was also loved and re- spected amongst the Milanese for the sake of his ancestors and others of his house, some of whom had presided over the principal churches of Lombardy ; and Alberto, his father, in 1099, as Consul and Captain of the Milanese, had, with his vassals, accompanied Anselmo, Archbishop of Milan, to the war in the Holy Land. But the notions and habits of the Barons, acquired from youth in their castles, where everything, from base to battlement, was subject to their will, ill accorded with the equality of citizenship; and the affection and obedience which they had vowed, under compulsion, to the Commune, was never such as to be proof against adversity or the sight of the Imperial banners. The part they had assumed was easily thrown off; no sooner did a favourable opportunity present itself than they changed sides, and entered the throng BOOK II. THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. 165 of German Barons, to fight against the city which had humbled them, and compelled them, to the dishonour of their rank, to become its citizens. And Guide, who never had the power and importance of the Marquis of Montferrat, so as to be able, like him, to keep free from compulsory citizenship and constant to one party, often yielded to circumstances, and, to avoid great perils, passed over from one side to the other. But from the things which were daily occurring in Lombardy, it is plain that the Com- munes themselves were not free from this weakness, but were extremely inconstant both in their wars and their alliances, and often guilty of strange inconsistency. In fact, at this very time, the Milanese, who were fighting for liberty against the Emperor, were aiding this Count to repress the Novarese ; and the people of Pavia, who followed the Emperor to destroy liberty in Milan, were helping the Novarese to shake off their subjection to the house of Biandrate. Whence it appears that, in the rudeness of that age, these peoples, blinded by hatred or urged by ambition, were ready to trample down amongst others the very thing which they accounted good and right amongst themselves ; and that those who adhered to the side of the Emperor were actuated much more by rancour against their neighbours than by fidelity to the Empire. But with all this, such is the course of civilisation, that although by the entanglements and oppositions of human passions it may from time to time be much impeded, it never ceases, amidst what- ever shocks and hindrances, to progress, as if guided by an invisible hand, towards its destiny ; and these Communes, like ships riding over tempestuous waves, were all ploughing their way, more or less swiftly, towards the beacon-light which led them to the port of liberty. At this time Guido, who was well acquainted with the condition of Germany, whither he often resorted, plainly perceived that the innovations and the diffi- culties in which Frederick was involved would prevent him from returning into Italy so soon as he had intended ; and seeing the prosperity and the resolute spirit of the Milanese, he judged that for him, the first Baron of the neighbourhood, there was no safety but in openly taking part with them. Perhaps he was also moved to this by a certain envy of his brother-in-law, the Marquis of Montferrat, whose power was in those times 166 THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. BOOK II. eclipsing that of all the other Barons, and becoming every day more sovereign. Moreover it rejoiced his heart to have such an opportunity of attacking and humbling Pavia, which had always been so hostile and troublesome to him in his contests with the Novarese. War 12. For these reasons he willingly accepted the command Pavia St ^ ^ e Milanese forces, and in June 1 157, entered the territory of Pavia and occupied Cassiolo, intending afterwards to assault Vigevano. The Marquis, at the first report of these hostilities, hastened into Lombardy with a strong force, having with him Obizzo Malaspina (who, in accordance with the fickle humour of that age, had now turned against the Milanese) ; and having been joined by the militias of Pavia, entered Vigevano, and prepared to defend it. But finding it insuffi- ciently provisioned for a long siege, he soon came forth, willing, whilst his forces were still entire, to try his fortune in the open field. Guido, who was close at hand, immediately joined battle with him, and defeated him ; slaying not a few of the Pavese, and taking many of them prisoners. On this the Marquis, fearing some worse disaster, for he was not too sure of the Vercellese, who could have taken him on the flank, withdrew into his own land. Then the inhabitants of Vigevano, seeing that Guido was preparing to besiege them, sent word to him, that they were willing to surrender, and to accept whatever conditions might be decided upon by Maestro Guglielmo Guintellino. But as they afterwards refused to abide by his decision, their city, after a three days' siege, was taken and destroyed. Surrender 13. The sight of the Pavese prisoners, who were sent to Milan, inflamed the people with still greater ardour for this war. And in October, Guido, strengthened with additional forces, went forth against Lumello, took it, repaired its castle, and not meeting with any opposition from the enemy in those parts, devastated all the country, and then came with drawn sword under the walls of Pavia. Never within the memory of man had that city found itself in such a strait. From the black clouds which were gathering around it, there was about to burst forth a storm of calamity, such as it had never known, and the more to be lamented, in that it failed to elicit any sign of patriotic virtue BOOK II. THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. 167 in its people. The shadow of the royal palace, the presence of the Imperial prefects, and the favours continually showered by Germany upon Pavia, had doubtless somewhat tamed the fierceness of the Lombard spirit ; and now, in this hour of its distress, not a banner was seen advancing to its aid, either from Germany or from any of the neighbouring Communes. Thus, abandoned to its fate, and depressed by the recent disaster, Pavia, giving up all for lost, surrendered without a blow. It is said that on that day, some of the Milanese ex- claimed, that they ought not to lose the opportunity, so long desired, of ridding themselves for ever of a city which to them and their fathers had always been as a thorn in the flesh ; and proposed that they should utterly destroy it, and disperse its people. This cruel counsel did not prevail. It was resolved that for the present no part of Pavia should be destroyed, excepting the wall which looked towards Milan ; but many conditions were added, of a nature so burdensome and humiliating, that it needed no great wisdom to foresee that the Pavese, at the first opportunity, would be sure to break them all, and free themselves from such a subjection as even the little towns of Lodi and of Como disdained to submit to. It was decreed that they should receive their Podesta from Milan ; that, as if Pavia had been one of the Milanese boroughs, the deliberations of its Council should be regulated and sanctioned by the Council of Milan, and that a hundred patricians and two hundred commoners should be given as hostages. The Milanese were now at the height of their prosperity ; for they had brought Lombardy into such a condition, that even that part of it which was not subject to them, was filled with fear and amazement by their deeds, and entirely obsequious to their Commune. They had attained this high position, since nothing great and glorious is done by chance, by a union amongst themselves, in all their under- takings, both at home and abroad, such as in that age was most rare and wonderful. This was a time of glory for them ; a glory so much the brighter because acquired when in everything they did, in the council, in the camp, or at their fortifications, they simply sought to do their duty to their country. Such times are never of long duration, for either, 168 THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. TOOK n. when the danger which called forth this spirit of moderation and unity passes away, all concord vanishes, or else, as the indolence of prosperity sets in, to the half-unconscious authors of great enterprises succeed vainglorious men, who, solely on account of their inherited honours, conceive themselves entitled to take part in the affairs of the state, as a means of procuring for themselves additional wealth and power. This period, so rich in advantages and opportunities, passed very quickly for the Milanese. But these ancients did not pretend to moderation or to deep political wisdom. Hence, without reproaching them (looking to the future of the country, which may yet again have similar opportunities set before it, and, as is to be hoped, upon a larger scale), it may be said that at that time it behoved the Milanese, who were the most powerful and fortunate, to show generosity, to vanquish and silence in their breasts the fierce promptings of hatred and ambition, and, with an honest and thoughtful patriotism, to gather together in one their allies and the peoples subject to them, and keeping them united, as free and equal, in holy brotherhood, to make of their powerful Commune a corner-stone, on which to build, in spite of foreign wrath and envy, the liberty of this part of Italy. For so high a destiny these peoples were not ripe. It was not discerned, and even if any had discerned and proposed it, it would not have been accepted. Rarely, if ever, amidst the fury of civil discords, can one side believe in a sudden manifestation of justice and goodwill on the part of the other. Humane and virtuous intentions do not, under such circum- stances, obtain acceptance and credit, until they have been confirmed in the course of events, by plain and repeated indi- cations of a real change of mind. There was still, therefore, to be, as in the past, a time of envy, hatred, suspicion, and hostility, and, to more than one of them, of destruction. For never, perhaps, is it given to men to advance in virtue, and rise to a higher degree of civilisation, but by a hard and prolonged struggle amidst contrarieties, misfortunes, and sufferings. injustice 14. The Milanese, then, by reason of the great success theTodig- which had hitherto attended all their undertakings, had come mns. j- o conceive a very high opinion of themselves, and tyrannical BOOK II. THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. 169 designs against their neighbours. The very rampart, which with so much alacrity they had now completed, lifted them up with pride, as if they had submitted to all that labour and expense, not so much for their better defence against the power of others, as to strengthen their own hearts for new and violent enterprises. There were at this time many young men in the Council, in which they generally had the upper hand, and, as those who rarely looked to the future, they were wont to propose rash and tyrannical resolutions, which, by magnifying the name of the Commune, they contrived to make acceptable to the majority, and to carry. The fortune of all Lombardy, thus resting in their hands, did not long tremble in the balance ; evil prevailed, and the first to be oppressed and wronged were the people of Lodi. The Milanese had not forgotten that it was chiefly through the complaints of the Lodigians that they had been so sternly treated by the Emperor ; and they suspected, perhaps not without reason, that they had lately been entreating him to hasten his return. Moreover they had always felt indignant that this people, which they had subdued, had presumed, as if in spite of them, to take the oath of allegiance to the Emperor. Wherefore, although they had received from them no provocation, it came into their minds, now that the second coming of the Emperor into Italy was announced, to make sure of their fidelity ; and as there was still between them much of the ancient hatred, and ill-will, combined with power, generally leads to tyranny, they resolved to attain this end, in itself a good and reasonable one, by laying heavier bur- dens upon this people. They issued, then, a decree, that no Lodigian should be allowed to sell his property and take up his abode elsewhere without their consent ; and in November, as an aggravation of this, they sent their Consuls to Lodi, to impose on it an extraordinary tax, which was to be paid by every man in the town, on pain of banishment and confisca- tion. Seeing afterwards that many were departing thence with all their substance, and that it was a troublesome and tedious task to collect this impost from those that remained, in sudden anger, or from a deliberate design to destroy this people, they required all the Lodigians, from fifteen years old and upwards, to swear that they would always observe what- 1 70 THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. BOOK n. ever Milan might command. To this the Lodigians, having taken time to consult with one another, replied, that they were ready to take that oath, and to obey them in all things, save only in that which might be inconsistent with their allegiance to the Emperor. The Milanese took offence at this reasonable and proper exception, and were preparing to compel them to take the oath without reserve, when there arrived in Milan, with lowly and suppliant mien, the Bishop, the Consuls, and sixty of the principal citizens of Lodi, who, when admitted to the Council in which, as on that day business of so much importance was to be transacted, the Archbishop, Uberto Pirovano, had taken his place fell upon their knees, humbly beseeching him and all the Council not to compel the Lodigians, who were entirely at their mercy, to break their oath of allegiance to the Emperor. Guidode- 15. Many in the Council, at that unwonted sight, were fends the i ii i i r r 1 Lodigians. thrilled with sudden sympathy ; but the stern faces of the majority evinced only anger and scorn, and an ominous murmur was beginning to spread amongst them, when, with a grave and authoritative countenance, the Count of Biandrate arose, and, having caused the Lodigian deputies to be taken into another room, thus spake : ' When I consider, most noble and reverend lord, the wars which have so long afflicted the Communes of Lombardy, I see that the greater part of them, originating in the rivalries and enmities of neighbouring cities, end in a battle on the border, after which both victors and vanquished, having vented their fury, go home : often to renew the fight another year. But, O citizens ! neither your fathers nor any other of these peoples ever so far presumed upon the liberty they had acquired of making war against each other, as to suppose that they could utterly subdue their adversaries, and entirely subject them. The bond which connects all the Communes of Italy individually with the Empire, does not permit that any single Commune should make itself so absolutely master of another, as to deprive it of its state and name, and annihilate its relation to the Empire. The Vercellese two years ago ceded Trino to the Marquis of Montferrat ; but that cession was not held good and lawful until it had been confirmed by the Emperor ; and all the rights of the Empire over that castle were reserved. BOOK II. THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. 171 Your fathers subdued the men of Lodi and of Como ; and you have ever since considered those two peoples as under your dominion. Yet their Consuls were at Roncaglia, and took the oath of allegiance to the Emperor ; and you could not, even if you would, have prevented it. Take heed to yourself what answer you make to these deputies, for if you reject their request, which is reasonable and honourable, if you persist in compelling them to break the allegiance due from them no less than from ourselves to the Emperor, you will enter on a path which leads to an abyss of misery. Your fathers were more than once under the ban of. the Empire, as you are, but such was their prudence that they always, even in time of war, maintained a respectful demeanour to- wards the Emperors. In their contests they took up arms, but not with an obstinate determination to make themselves and others rebels and traitors. By which moderation they constantly kept open for themselves a door of reconciliation ; and thus, from one generation to another, the prosperity of your Commune has been constantly increasing. But prosperity has its perils, especially when it leads to innovations that savour of injustice. Take heed lest the good which you now possess should turn to your harm. Envy is a weed that always flourishes in Italy, and never was it ranker than it is now. Several of those who were once on our side have already gone over to the enemy. Obizzo Malaspina, for instance, who was with you in the defence of Tortona, I saw him myself not long since, with other sub- Alpine Barons, fighting against us in Lumellina ; and many others, who now dislike you simply for your greatness nay, all, all will turn against you, if it be told that, to divert you from so great a wickedness as that of oppressing these your feeble neighbours, there availed neither the majesty of the Empire, which protects them with its favour, nor the prayers and the tears of persons of so high a character as those whom you have seen prostrated on the pavement of this hall. I will not sit down, although I see some of you restless, and casting angry looks upon me. Yes, pride, hateful in any, is amongst equals insufferable, and sooner or later, overwhelmed with shame and misery, is sure to be utterly overthrown. I know not who has a better right than 172 THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. BOOK n. myself to speak here freely. Long have the fortunes of my house been linked with those of your Commune. The services of my ancestors are well known here, and the recent triumphs on the Ticino ought to assure you of my loyalty, as also to show that it is not to your disadvantage that this sword fights upon your side. I am ready to share your fortunes still, as heretofore, but never shall it be that, to the disgrace of my name, I take part in the iniquity to which you are impelled. ' At Pavia, in the moment of victory, although voices were not wanting that urged you to abuse your triumph, you kept yourselves, as I advised you, within the bounds of moderation ; yet the Pavese have always been far more adverse and in- jurious, both to you and to me, than the people of Lodi. And now, now shall it be, that in cold blood, moved but by a slightsuspicion,all Lombardy shall see you hasten against a city that has never, since you vanquished it, been guilty of an open fault ? There has not yet been seen in Christendom any people, king, or emperor that would search out and punish desires. And it is no great offence in this Commune to be unwilling to be subject, more than is right, to its equals. Whilst your hard blows were falling on the Barons, who have lands and castles in your territory, although the loss and the humiliation were not small, I never thought of making any complaint to you, either on my own account or on that of others ; I regarded it as the effect, inevitable now, of the condition of the times. It was for our fathers to make an effectual stand against you ; for us it is too late, we have no choice but to submit ; but still (and let it be a proof of my sincerity that I say it here), still, when I see the descendants of so many noble families de- prived of their estates, and wasting their lives, like men of the baser sort, amidst the defilements and the listless idleness of the cities, it cuts me to the heart, and I curse the inconstancy of fortune, your arrogance, and our unhappy fate. But neces- sity has made us patient ; and, since all our fortunes are now blended with yours, we have reconciled our minds to our lot ; not one of us will any more refuse to obey you, save when in so doing we should violate justice, cover ourselves with infamy, and bring ourselves and all we have to ruin. Your haughty claims have filled the land with terror. Everyone BOOK II. THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. 173 who is not of your city, and to whom an oath is sacred, lives in doubt and fear, not knowing what to expect from you ; hence he can hardly be blamed if he looks beyond the Alps, and seeks and invokes a deliverer ; and the time is not far distant, as you yourselves well know, when the Emperor, who ought never to make his appearance amongst us but as the friend or the enemy of us all, will come down, thanks to your harsh dealings, as the longed-for defender of the oppressed.' 1 6. There were present in that Council tAvo brothers, An- of the selmo and'Tazio dei Mandelli, who were numbered amongst the greatest of the Milanese patricians. The nobility of their family, which could be traced back into the obscurity of the Ambrosian age as belonging to the native gentry of the land, caused them to be held in higher honour by the people than any of the nobles of Teutonic or of recent origin. From the time when the Milanese began to have a popular government, never had the Commune obtained any increase or glory without the efforts and the blood of the Mandelli ; and, as in Milan, so in the course of time in many other principal cities of Italy, the fame of this family was constantly renewed by the honours of the consulship and of the podesteria, dignities which in the popular governments of those times were never conferred but on persons of high descent. Both brothers were valiant, and, according to the wont of their house, mag- nanimous, and devoted to the Commune. Anselmo, who was a man of great authority and well versed in arms, had been made captain of the Carroccio. Tazio was the leader of the cavalry. He, the bravest and handsomest of the youths of Milan, and very popular, was wont in peace to enliven the people with his presence at the civic festivals, and in war to lead his band to whatever enterprise was deemed most daring, for to him, nothing seemed difficult or dangerous. In council he spoke seldom, but would burst forth with fierce impetuosity when anything appeared to touch, however slightly, the honour of his Commune. 17. And now, when Count Guido sat down, Anselmo re- Reply of mained silent, out of reverence for the man whom he was Mandeiu. accustomed to obey in war ; but not so Tazio, who rose with a bound from his seat, which he had with difficulty kept so long, and ' Hard,' he exclaimed, ' hard would be the lot of this 174 THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. BOOK n. Commune, if it were not allowed, like every other in Lom- bardy, to gain some advantage from its victories. Did we not vanquish these Lodigians ? Is it not to our clemency that they owe their substance and their lives ? If conquered and subdued, why do they refuse to obey ? Woe to the van- quished if they kick against their fate. The allegiance to the Empire is a worthless pretext. For them, as for our other subjects, we ourselves swore this allegiance, as long as the yoke of the Germans could be borne. And now, for what end do they come here into the midst of us with their idle scruples ? Know they not, as all Lombardy knows, that we are under the ban of the Empire ? Is it folly or insolence that brings them here to ask our leave to side with our enemy ? Weak indeed should we be, unworthy of our ancestors, if, on the point of entering upon this war, we should let ourselves be overcome by sobs and tears. Victory, which never comes without the favour of heaven, has made them our subjects ; let them respect the rights of victory, and then they need not fear, sacred to us shall be the rights of justice. Has the Empire its rights ? Let it have them ; but greater in her own territory are the rights of my Commune, and, with the help of St. Ambrose, we will maintain them.' More would he have said, but the loud applause which arose from every part of the assembly did not allow him to proceed ; and as the people, who were crowding into the Broletto to learn the issue of the council, began to shout, the more prudent perceived that for that day the counsel opposed to moderation would prevail, as it did ; and they told the deputies of Lodi. Oppression 18. These, not having the heart to return without some of the Lo- ... . . 1 -i digians. sort of comfort to their people, who were anxiously expecting them, and not knowing, in their distress, what to do for the best, had recourse (perhaps by the advice of the Archbishop, who had now little or no voice in the affairs of the Commune) to two Cardinals, papal legates, who were then in that part of the country. These prelates greatly compassionated them, and . did not conceal from the Consuls and chief men of Milan, whom they summoned to their presence, the indignation which they felt at so unjust and wicked a proceeding. They exhorted them to refrain from pressing this unhappy people to expose them- selves, by breaking their oath, to the wrath of God and of the BOOK II. THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. 175 Emperor, and to allow this oath of allegiance to be taken as heretofore; assuring them that it would not diminish, in the least degree, any rights that they might have acquired over the people of Lodi. Out of respect for these princes of the Roman Church, the Milanese, as long as they remained with them, refrained themselves. But no sooner had they departed than, as if not remembering that there was still present amongst themj:he supreme, unfailing Avenger of all the evil done upon the earth, they let loose their pent-up rage, and, by another edict, renewed the sentence of banishment against every Lodigian who should not have taken the oath before the next Epiphany. In the rude integrity of primitive times the obligation of an oath was always strongly felt, and these brave Lodigians held it in religious awe. Hence, rather than violate it, they stood firm, exposed to the murderous wrath of their adversaries. These did not even wait for the expiration of the ap- pointed term ; the day before the Epiphany, as if possessed by an evil spirit, they hastened to Lodi, entered the houses, drove out the inhabitants, dragged forth the household goods, burnt whatever they could not send away to Milan, and then set to work in fury to demolish the houses and the walls. Others, meanwhile, dispersed themselves over the fields, cut down the vines and the trees, burnt the rustic dwellings, and devastated all the country. Such was their mad excitement in that day that, to immortalise this destruction, as if it had been a thing worthy of honourable remembrance, they caused some of the battle- ments of Lodi, which were of single stones, to be set up, as memorials of their triumph, in every town in their territory. When night at last came on, to shroud in darkness this scene of infamous havoc, nearly all the people of Lodi, male and female, old and young, went forth, with little or nothing in their hands, and took the way towards Pizzighettone, a castle on the Adda. This place being far too small for the accom- modation of that miserable multitude, every hut it contained was quickly overcrowded ; and there, from the hardships they endured, from scanty and bad food, and from sorrow of heart, great numbers daily perished ; so that the churchyard soon became too full, and they had to carry their dead to another, beyond the river. Some, flying from the pestilence, went on to 176 THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. BOOK n. Cremona, where also many died. But those who thus ended their days in a friendly land, amidst the lamentations of their kindred, were less to be pitied than such of their fellow-citizens as were prevented by age or infirmity from leaving Lodi with the rest, for all these were taken by the Milanese, carried off to Milan, and ruthlessly thrown into prison. Such are the atrocities which attend the steps of those who, in the fury of political contests, cast aside all wholesome self-restraint, and abandon themselves to the impulses of passion. BOOK in. THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. 177 BOOK III. 1. IT was Frederick's intention, when he quitted Italy in Hin- 1155, to return with a stronger force in the following spring ; fi^ay of with which design he everted himself to keep Germany well Frederick's return. affected and in concord ; and, in the Diet held at Ratisbon, to conciliate the faction most opposed to his house, gave the Duchy of Bavaria to hiskinsman, Henry theLion, the head of the Guelfs. But, by reason of his marriage with Beatrice, daughter of the Count of Burgundy, he was detained in Germany throughout 1156; and the year following he was engaged in taking posses- sion of the states which she had brought him as her dowry ; so that his second expedition into Italy was postponed until the beginning of 1158. Meanwhile, the cause of the Empire was much weakened, not only in Lombardy, through the activity of the Milanese, as has been already shown, but also in the other parts of Italy, as must now be told ; in order to explain the origin of the schism, which for nearly twenty years afflicted the Roman Church, and to give another proof of the bad effects which ensue from the temporal dominion of the Popes ; since by the desire which naturally arises within them to increase that dominion, or in defending or re- covering its dubious rights, they are drawn into contests, in which they do not hesitate, even when no theological doc- trine is in question, to launch forth their excommunications against the nations, and fill them with confusion, and with the dread of eternal perdition. 2. To avenge the injuries which William, King of Sicily, The Pope's following his father's example, was continually committing J^f 116 against the Pontifical See, Adrian had stirred up against him Manuel. those Sicilian Barons who, on suspicion of disloyalty, had already been banished from the kingdom. Finding, how- ever, that neither these, nor Frederick when he was in Italy, had gained any advantage over him, he entered into N 1 7 8 THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. BOOK in. William defeats the Greeks, and makes peace with the Pope. communication with Manuel, Emperor of the East, inviting him to join his forces with those which were now ready to attack the Sicilian king. To this Manuel gladly acceded, for he had long desired to increase his dominion in Italy ; and by reason of the agreement between him and Conrad against the King of Sicily, an agreement which had been since re- newed with Frederick, he seemed to have a good oppor- tunity of accomplishing his designs without giving offence or rousing any suspicion. He sent, therefore, immediately, a large sum of money to the Barons, that they might hire soldiers, and then, to support them, dispatched his fleet against Brindisi and the other maritime cities ; insomuch that in no long time the whole of Calabria and Apulia was occupied, partly by the Greek forces, partly by the Barons. Then the wily Manuel, that these successes might be as little as possible displeasing to Frederick, sent ambassadors to him to commu- nicate the news, as of a triumph over their common enemy. Frederick, however, who was well acquainted with the secret intentions of Manuel, and had already received intelli- gence of the deception which the Greek captains had practised that year upon the inhabitants of Campania and of Apulia, inducing them to believe, by forged documents, that Frederick had ceded many of their towns and castles to the Emperor of the East, refused to see those ambassadors ; and from this time the friendship which had been so sedulously promoted between the two empires in the days of Conrad gave place to hatred and open hostility ; which was afterwards manifested on the part of the Greek Emperor in the course of these wars, by the frequent subsidies which, in order to injure his rival, he transmitted to the Communes of Lombardy. 3. William, seeing himself thus pressed upon by so many enemies, who, all, from various motives, sought his overthrow, perceived that, in order to save himself, he must endeavour, before anything else, to make his peace with the Pope ; and so much the more because a report was spread abroad that Manuel, fired by his successes, had begun to aim at nothing less than the conquest of the Empire of the West ; and had made new and still more tempting offers to the Pope, pro- mising him, not only to send larger supplies of men and of money into Italy, but to endeavour to bring about, if fortune BOOK ill. THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. 179 should smile upon him, the reunion of the Greek and Latin Churches. Wishing then to disturb these negotiations in time, William promptly dispatched to the Pope the Bishop elect of Catania with proposals of peace, on terms so favour- able .to the Pontifical See, that Adrian was at first inclined to accept them ; but he was dissuaded from so doing by the Cardinals, who feared, by this close alliance with the Sicilian prince, to make an enemy of Frederick. William, notwithstanding the failure of his negotiations with the Pope, did not lose courage. Having now got together a powerful army, he led it, partly by land and partly by sea, to besiege Brindisi, the castle of which still held out for him ; but before he could set his forces in array around the walls, the Greeks came out to fight in the open field, where William thoroughly defeated them, and recovered the city. Many were the pri- soners, great was the spoil ; and of the Barons taken there some were put to death, and the rest deprived of sight. This done, William turned towards Bari, whereupon the inhabitants came forth to meet him, unarmed and clothed in mourning, imploring mercy. All that they obtained was the grant of two days, in which to remove their goods and evacuate the city. At the end of that time it was burnt, and its people were dis- persed amongst the neighbouring villages. All the cities of Apulia, seized with terror at such severity, hastened to renew their allegiance to William, who was now marching against Benevento, where the greater part of the Barons had taken refuge. Robert Prince of Capua, one of these, not thinking himself secure there, fled from the city, and had already reached the ford of the Garigliano, when, by the treachery of another, Richard del' Aquila, he was taken prisoner, and delivered up to William, who caused him to have his eyes put out. This treachery procured Richard a free pardon, and the favour of his prince. Adrian, when he saw the success and the fierceness ot William, and the great peril of his own city of Benevento, sent to him to propose that peace, for which, a few months before, he had himself been solicited in vain. It was concluded on these conditions : that the Barons should have their lives spared, but should quit the kingdom ; that the Pope should give i8o THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. BOOK in. William the investiture of the kingdom of Sicily, of the duchy of Apulia, and of the principalities of Capua, Naples, Salerno, and Amalfi ; and that William should yield homage and fealty to the Pope, and send him an annual tribute. 4. By Frederick this peace was regarded as offensive and injurious to the Empire, because Adrian thereby, without his participation or consent, had conferred on the Sicilian prince the investiture of the kingdom and the title of King ; whence he foresaw that now, whenever he should enter upon the pro- jected war against Apulia, the Pope, who with so much pre- sumption had made himself lord paramount of that kingdom, would consider it his duty to oppose him. From this time he began to show an altered feeling towards the Pope, and to seize every opportunity of preventing the ecclesiastics of Germany from going up to transact their business at the Pontifical Court. And, thus exasperated, he took no mea- sures to bring to punishment the brigands who had robbed and imprisoned Esquilus, Archbishop of Lunden, on his way from Rome, through Germany, towards Sweden ; nor did he even take the trouble to have the Archbishop set at liberty. Wherefore, in 1 157, when he was at Besan^on, whither he had gone to be acknowledged in his wife's right lord of Burgundy, two Cardinals arrived there bringing him a letter from the Pope, which contained severe admonitions, and a reproach of ingratitude for all the benefits (' bencficia ') which, as it said, he had so abundantly conferred upon him ; and in presenting this letter the legates used a form of salutation which was thought to imply no little arrogance : ' The supreme Pontiff, our father and yours, and the Cardinals your brethren salute you' When the letter, which was in Latin, had been read, and afterwards translated, without which it would have been unintelligible to many of those Barons, all were highly indig- nant and offended, first on account of that fraternal equality with the Cardinals, to which the Emperor was degraded, and then on account of the word benefit (bcnefidum\ which seemed to them to be used in the same sense as in the courts of law, in which it is equivalent to benefice, or fief, a word with whose meaning those Barons were very familiar. And as chance would have it, some of them now called to mind a painting which they had seen on the walls of the Lateran, representing BOOK ill. THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. 181 the Emperor Lothaire at the feet of Innocent II., and having under it the proud inscription : Rex venit ante fores, jurans prius urbis honores ; Post homo fit Papae, sumit, quo dante, coronam. Amidst the general murmur at this presumption, Otho, Count Palatine of Bavaria, as fierce and choleric a man as any in Germany, turned to the legates, and loudly averred, that the Empire was no fief of the Church, and that it was from other hands than those of the Pope that the Emperors received it. To which the more incautious of the two Cardinals rashly re- joined : ' By whom, then, if not by the Pope, is the Roman Empire bestowed ? ' On this the Count lost all command over himself ; he drew his sword, sprang towards the legate, and had not others thrown themselves between, would have sheathed it in his breast. Frederick, as soon as he had quieted the tumult, commanded that the Cardinals should be put into safe custody for that day, and that on the morrow they should be sent back, by the shortest road, to the place from whence they came. 5. The news of what had happened to the papal legates Fruitless spread quickly all over the Empire, and greatly troubled O fthe Adrian and his Court. Frederick, perceiving that, in a matter Germany* so much noised abroad, the opinion of the people would be of much importance, immediately took measures to conciliate it in his favour, and sent letters throughout all his dominions, wherein, passing over in silence the deed of Otho, as a thing of little moment, he averred, to rouse the pride of the Ger- mans, that the letter of the Pope, and the unseemly conduct of his legates, had insulted the majesty of the Empire. In Rome, all condemned the act of the Count as sacrilegious and brutal ; although some, moved by court envy or by partiality for the Emperor, blamed also the two legates for their indis- creet and passionate behaviour in the Imperial presence. Adrian, amidst these conflicting voices, felt that it was for him to promote peace ; and wrote to the Bishops of Germany, desiring them to exert all their influence with the Emperor to bring him back to a sense of his duty towards the Church, and to obtain satisfaction for the violent attempt of Count Otho. The Bishops obeyed the Pope, and transmitted to him the Emperor's reply, which was to this effect : That he held 1 83 THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. BOOK in. the Empire from God and from the Princes of Germany ; that from the Bishop of Cologne he had received his anointing as King, from the Pope his anointing as Emperor, and nothing more. That he, like his predecessors, had always supported the Church, but not with an understanding that it should presume to trample upon him. That he had dismissed the two legates, because their mode of proceeding and the docu- ment which they brought tended to sap the fidelity of the people ; that that picture in the Lateran was a true represen- tation of the mind of the Pontifical Court ; that he was ready to lose both his crown and his life, rather than that in his time the majesty of the Empire should be diminished by one iota. Let that picture, which insulted the honour of his crown, be erased ; let that letter be revoked, and no one should ever be able to accuse him of want of devotion to the Pontifical See. To this those Bishops, who were far more strongly attached to their national church than was supposed in Rome, added something on their own account, touching upon the various imposts and abuses which the Roman Curia never lost an opportunity of introducing into Germany. At this reply the Pontifical Court was struck with amazement, and the Pope was deeply grieved, and filled with fears for the future. Frederick's 6. 1158. Whilst these communications were passing be- in e uaiy rS tween these two courts, the time drew near which Frederick had finally fixed upon for his return into Italy ; and after the Christmas festivities of 1158, he sent thither Reinhardt, his chancellor, and Otho, Count Palatine of Bavaria, to receive from the Communes and the feudatories of the Empire the customary oath of allegiance. These, on arriving at the Adige, mindful of the inconveniences which usually attended the crossing of that river, caused the castle of Rivoli to be occupied by men well affected towards the Empire, in order to secure for the army a safe passage over it. Thence they pro- ceeded to Cremona, where they had convoked the Parliament of Lombardy ; in which assembled the Archbishops of Milan and of Ravenna, fifteen Bishops, a very great number of Barons, and the Consuls of the neighbouring Communes. The people of Milan looked with no favourable eye upon the obedience of their Archbishop to that summons, but they did not make any attempt to prevent it ; nor would it, perhaps, BOOK in. THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. 183 have availed if they had ; so much was the liberty of those days still mingled and confused with the ideas and habits of an earlier time. It had the impetuosity and the weakness of youth. The Imperial Commissioners, after they had caused all these to take the oath of allegiance, departed for Ravenna, where their presence was more needed, for Radevico Tra- versara, the most powerful of its patricians, was endeavour- ing to bring that city into the hands of the Greek captains, who were now hiring large forces in Ancona, under colour of continuing the war against King William, but in reality to make themselves masters of the maritime cities of the March. As soon as the Commissioners arrived there, they warned Radevico that, if he valued his own safety, he must proceed no further in his evil design. He showed himself at first somewhat offended and defiant, but Otho, drawing his sword, soon brought him to submission. On arriving in the neigh- bourhood of Ancona, they summoned to them the leaders of those Greeks, and gave them to understand that their plots and their wiles were well known in Germany ; and that, unless they desisted from them, one was coming down into Italy who would speedily retake from them all that they had already usurped upon that coast. 7. Adrian, being reluctantly convinced that the German The Pope's Bishops were little disposed to support him in this controversy, [fon^itlT and seeing that the Chancellor and the Count Palatine had Frederick. been very successful in preparing for the Emperor a loyal re- ception amongst the Italian peoples ; feeling certain, moreover, that the King of Sicily would prove but a poor support for him against the Emperor, if he should allow him to enter Italy as an enemy, wisely resolved to change his course, and to send him two other legates, more prudent and judicious than the first These, somewhat afraid of the inhabitants of the lands beyond the Alps through which they had to pass, called on their way at Modena, where the Imperial Commissioners were now staying, and informed them of the mild and paternal intentions of the Pope, which they were about to make known to the Emperor, showing, by their obsequiousness, a great desire to conciliate their goodwill ; and when they came to Trent, the better to secure themselves, they persuaded the 1 84 THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. BOOK in, Bishop to accompany them upon that embassy. Nevertheless, either from mere greed of booty, or because, on account of the offence committed by the other legates, those wild people considered themselves at liberty to offer any violence in their power to the ministers of the Pontifical Court, they were all three taken, robbed, and thrown into prison, from which they were only liberated by the intervention of Henry the Lion. On arriving at Augsburg, where the Emperor was now assembling his forces to descend into Italy, they presented themselves before him with that reverence which was his due ; nor did the letter which they had to deliver to him belie the modesty of their demeanour. Therein the Pope lamented the misunderstanding which had arisen concerning the word benefit (beneficium), which he had employed, he said, in its primary sense, as signifying a favour freely conferred ; not in the sense, peculiar to forensic use, of a grant received by an inferior from his liege lord, with the obligation of fealty and of noble service ; and with bland words he exhorted him to let all dissension between them for ever cease. The embassy was so welcome to Frederick, that he at once accepted this frank and friendly explanation of the former letter. He afterwards pointed out a few stumbling-blocks which stood in the way of an agreement between the Church and himself, and received a promise that they should be removed. Then he honoured the legates with many valuable presents, and courteously dismissed them. A transient reconciliation ; for the chief cause of dissension between the two courts was always this, and it is irremovable : that the two powers, growing up together, as they did, in the turbulence and darkness of the Middle Ages, amidst continued endeavours to overpower one another, had never any known and precise limits ; hence it is, that every doubtful question between them concerning dominion or jurisdiction gives rise to bitter controversies, of which every argument has its barbs to aggravate the quarrel. Frederick's 8. The troops, which by the Whitsuntide of 1158 had pedUkm.*" assembled at Ulm from every part of the Empire, formed so numerous a host, that Frederick, fearing, if he led them all together, to create a famine by the way, divided them into four bodies, and moved them into Italy by different roads, part by Friuli, part by the St. Bernard, part by Chiavenna ; BOOK in. THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. 185 whilst he himself, attended by Udislaus, King of Bohemia, the Duke of Swabia, Conrad, Count Palatine of the Rhine, and many prelates and Barons, proceeded by the vale of Trent, and arrived in Italy at the end of May. Then he sent forwards the King of Bohemia, who, eager to show himself, by early deeds of daring, worthy of the royal dignity to which his house had lately been exalted by the Emperor, rushed suddenly upon the Brescians, demanding provisions, admit- tance into their city, and quarters for the troops. But for this haughtiness the Brescians would probably have prepared, as was customary, an abundance of provisions for the Emperor's army ; but to grant it admission within their walls, as was so rudely required of them, was in those days a very perilous thing, and one to which the cities consented with extreme reluctance, even when it was requested with courtesy. More- over the Brescians were well aware, that, although they were not themselves under the ban, their alliance with the Milanese made them obnoxious to the Emperor ; wherefore, fearing some disaster, they refused to comply with this king's demand ; and when he threatened and insulted them, indig- nant, they flew to arms ; rushed forth from the gates upon those presumptuous horsemen, slew and spoiled not a few, and routing the others, chased them from their city. Frederick, on hearing of this repulse, which might have had the worst effect upon the whole expedition, rekindling discontents and contention in the minds of the peoples, which his legates had but now, beyond all expectation, succeeded in impressing favourably towards him, caused his army to press onwards with redoubled speed ; and as soon as he entered the territory of the Brescians, he gave a loose rein to its fury and rapacity ; and presently encamped under the walls of the city, feeling sure that at the sight of so great a host, they would not dare to hold out against him a single day. But it was not until after fifteen days of a brave defence that the besieged, seeing their villages and castles wasted, sacked, and burnt one after another, stooped to accept his terms ; whereby, giving sixty hostages and a large sum of money, they obtained pardon and peace. 9. The Emperor, after he had reduced these to obedience, Frederick's and whilst he yet remained in that neighbourhood, awaiting 1 86 >THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. BOOK in. Citation and con- demnation of the Milanese. the militias of the Communes of Italy, and the German forces which were still pouring forth to him through the passes of the Alps, summoned to council the leaders of the army, and certain jurisconsults whom he had brought with him, that he might make timely provision for the discipline of that great host, which would contain troops of so many different nations, and tongues, and customs ; and he drew up a code of regula- tions, called afterwards the Peace of the Prince, which, though it shows some traces of the barbarism of that dark age, would be, on the whole, not unworthy of commendation, were it possible to forget that that military prudence was the hand- maid of injustice, and of a pride that nothing short of tyranny could satisfy. Frederick's first object being to prevent offences of word and deed from bringing on serious quarrels, he hereby classified such offences, and ordained the mode in which they should severally be tried and punished ; and decreed when and for whom it should be lawful to appeal to the judgment of God, by fighting hand to hand, or submitting to the ordeal of red-hot iron ; and finally, as he wished to acquire the character of a mild and righteous ruler amongst the peoples through whose lands he was about to pass, he made provisions to restrain the license and cruelty of the soldiers, for the benefit, more especially, of commerce and of the Church. 10. Meanwhile, all the forces expected from Germany had joined the camp, and many of those of the principal Communes and Barons of Italy had also arrived there, to follow the Imperial banners in this expedition against the Milanese. Touching whom it must needs be inferred, from the consent of so many of their fellow-countrymen to their ruin, that they had made themselves generally feared and disliked amongst their neighbours by their arrogance and cruelty ; on which Frederick artfully dilated in his speech to the captains of the army, seeking to exasperate them still further against the Milanese, as a people, he said, who, by their rash rebellion, had made it needful for all those whom he was addressing to come forth from their homes and their country, in order to avenge the insulted majesty of the Empire. Whereupon it occurred to those jurisconsults whom Frederick, for ends which will presently appear, had caused to attend him in this expedition, that their importance would be much diminished, BOOK in. THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. 187 if, in all this noise of war, they let everything be settled without any intervention of theirs ; wherefore they privately suggested to the Emperor, that it would be more according to the order of justice if, before further proceedings, the Milanese were formally cited to appear before him ; for otherwise the sentence to which they would be condemned, however just and necessary, might seem to have been pronounced in haste, and without regard to the ordinary usages of the tribunals. This counsel pleased Frederick, because he saw that the show of so much scrupulosity in one so powerful, would tend to justify his enterprise in the sight of the neighbouring peoples ; and he sent the Milanese a peremptory citation. These, when they saw the gathering storm and the as- sembling of all those forces against them, did not indeed lose heart ; yet, bewildered, it might be, by the prospect of the ap- proaching struggle, or by the remembrance of their evil deeds against the Lodigians, they hardly seem to have shown their wonted prudence and courage. Had they sent aid to Brescia, as they did before to Tortona and Piacenza, the Emperor's detention before that valiant city would probably have been much prolonged. And now they were amazed and be- wildered at this citation ; being unable to conceive why the Emperor, after so many threats and the gathering together of so great a host, should all at once begin to treat them with so much formality. At this juncture the more prudent men of the city suddenly recovered influence and authority amongst the people ; and, by reminding them how heavily this war would fall upon their Commune, induced them instantly to comply with that citation ; and deputies were chosen for the purpose from amongst those who were most highly respected, and best versed in the laws and customs of their country. These, when they had presented themselves before the Em- peror, soon found that their eloquence would avail them nothing, and offered him, as a fine, a large sum of money ; they also endeavoured, by prayers and gifts, to procure the good offices of the principal men of the army ; but all in vain. Frederick had now succeeded, as he had secretly desired, in inducing the Milanese to come into his camp as suppliants, and so to confess themselves his subjects, and guilty. After this the war would assume more distinctly the aspect of a 1 88 THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. BOOK in. public chastisement, legally inflicted by the Emperor upon rebels ; for, as he aimed at destroying every vestige of liberty amongst these peoples, it concerned him to make them under- stand, that however it might be when they fought with one another amongst themselves, he did not condescend to make war with them, as one power does against another, but only to punish them for the crime which they had committed in offering resistance to his will. So he told the Milanese deputies, when they came to take their leave of him, that no- thing but the entire surrender of their city and castles would avail to procure his pardon, and haughtily dismissed them. Frederick 1 1- The Milanese, on hearing how implacable was the Adda! 5 the Emperor's ill-will, and how powerful, especially in cavalry, was his army, did not go forth to meet him in the field ; shut up with- in their fortifications, they kept to that mode of defence which was of most certain advantage to them. The Consuls for that o year were Ottone Visconti, Goffredo Mainero, and Arderico da Bonate, and at the head of the army were Anselmo and Tazio dei Mandelli, Uberto di Sessa, and Anderigo Cassina. Whilst these were engaged in arming and arraying the militias, and providing for the threatened siege, they received intelligence that the Adda, suddenly swollen by the melting of the snow upon the mountains, had swept away its bridges, and flooded all the lands along its course ; whereupon, resolving to take full advantage of so fortunate an event, and to referd as long as possible the entrance of the enemy into their territory, they forthwith despatched a thousand horse under the com- mand of Tazio dei Mandelli, with the militias of several Gates, to guard the bridge near Cassano, the only one which the violence of the river had left standing. These had hardly taken up their position there, when the Imperial banners made their appearance on the opposite bank ; and presently afterwards many of the enemy were seen crowding together at the other end of the bridge, whilst not one would be the first to attempt so perilous a passage. But the King of Bohemia and Conrad, Duke of Dalmatia, chafing with impatience at that delay, rode down the bank, under the guidance of some men of the country who knew the fords, as far as Carnaliano, where, as the river spread itself out more widely, it seemed likely that the bed would be shallower, and BOOK in. THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. 189 the current less violent. Arrived there, without hesitation they spurred boldly into the river, and swam over to the other side ; but of those who attempted to follow them, about two hundred were carried away by the force of the stream, rolled headlong with their horses into the eddies, and drowned. The Milanese, who were standing in array against the bridge, saw this, and saw also, soon afterwards, that many others, having found an easier ford, were ascending in troops from the water, and coming at full gallop to take them on the flank ; at the same time they heard from the other side the shouts of the enemy applauding that successful daring ; and then saw the banners moving, and Frederick in advance, sword in hand, at the head of the bridge, exhorting his men to cross. In a moment Tazio perceived that that place was no longer tenable, ordered his few troops of infantry to make a speedy retreat ; and himself, with his cavalry, hastened to meet the approaching horsemen. Then ensued a fierce en- counter, in which many on both sides were slain ; amongst whom, of the Milanese, were Alcherio de Vimercati, Ardengo Visconti, Robacastello di Caravaggio, and Tancrezio Sabel- litani. Meanwhile, the rest of the enemy, with eyes intent upon this fight, were rushing with great impetuosity towards the bridge, and forcing each other onwards, when, all at once, with a loud crash, it gave way in the middle, and as many as were upon it were plunged into the river. This accident facilitated the retreat of the Milanese, and also gave the country people a little more time to gather to- gether such things as they had ; and multitudes, driving their cattle before them, took refuge in the city. Frederick, by the time that the bridge was repaired, although the losses which he had sustained at that passage had made him fiercer than ever, and he was little more than twelve miles from Milan, had decided, after this his first experience of that war, that it would be rash to move forwards to the siege as long as any castle remained untaken in his rear ; wherefore, turning to the right, he at- tacked and took the castles of Trezzo and Melegnano, the fortifications of which he repaired and increased ; and towards the end of July he encamped on the Lambro, not far from the ruins of Lodi. 12. At that time the Lodigians, who had taken refuge in i go THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. BOOK in. Frederick founds New Lodi. Attack of Ekeberto. Pizzighettone, came to him in a great company, with crosses in their hands, and, throwing themselves at his feet, recounted to him with many tears the wrongs and the miseries which they had endured ; they had no desire, they said, to build again amidst the ruins and desolations of their ancient city, which twice within forty years had been destroyed by the Milanese ; it was too full of sorrowful remembrances for them ; but they besought him, in the name of God and for the honour of his Empire, to assign them some other place, where under happier auspices they might build a new Lodi to the glory of his crown. And on being asked by the Emperor what place in that neighbourhood would suit them best, they named Monteghezzone, a rising ground upon the Adda, four miles from old Lodi. The Emperor, having ascertained that that site was healthy and fit to be inhabited, willingly be- stowed it upon them ; and on August 30 he repaired with his barons to that height, and there, in the presence of many people, who had come together from every side, traced with the staff of his banner the boundary line of the new city, which continues to this day ; then, having planted the banner there, he called to him the Consuls, Ranfo Morena, Arcem- baldo di Sommariva, and Lozio degli Aboni, and formally invested them with the new site ; a generous and pious work, worthy of a Roman Emperor. 13. Meanwhile there had come into the camp the ex- pected forces of the Communes and Barons of Italy ; that is, the militias of Ferrara, Bologna, Padua, Verona, Vicenza, Treviso, Ravenna, Modena, Reggio, Parma, Mantua, Cremona, Bergamo, Pavia, Como, Novara, Vercelli, and Asti; and the Marquises of Montferrat, Este, Saluzzo, and Carretto, and the Marquis Obizzo Malaspina, with their vassals ; so that, according to some writers, that army now amounted to 100,000 infantry, and 15,000 horse. In this camp was the young Count of Butena, Ekeberto by name, a German by descent, who, fired by the glory which the King of Bohemia had acquired at the passage of the Adda, longed to distinguish himself by some valiant deed. Having taken into his con- fidence some other youths, whom he thought likely to second his design, they got together amongst them, as secretly as possible, a thousand horse; and then, without any delay, BOOK in. THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. 191 rushed swiftly upon Milan, intending nothing less than, by a sudden attack upon one of the gates, to take it at the first blow. Those who were on guard, seeing from the watch-tower that these misguided horsemen were not sustained in their im- petuosity by infantry, assailed them first with arrows, and then with spears ; and at that moment Tazio with his cavalry burst forth furiously from the gate, and attacked them on the flank. Then began a fierce encounter, man meeting man, as in single combat, with sword or with club, and fighting till one of them fell. The battle was bloody, and for several hours uncertain ; until at last, Ekeberto and Giovanni Traversara, who were fighting amongst the foremost, having fallen, their followers turned in headlong flight, leaving the wounded and many prisoners in the hands of the Milanese. This event, serious in itself, exasperated the Emperor the more because it had been brought about by a breach of dis- cipline ; and, full of wrath, he was just about to give orders for the punishment of those who had returned, when the principal barons, who thought that the death of the leaders had sufficiently atoned for the rash attempt, interceded with him so earnestly that he forebore. But he caused a pro- clamation to be made, that from that time forwards, any man in the camp who should venture forth to fight without his leave, should be severely punished. 14. The day after, which was the sixth of August, Frederick Frederick led the whole army towards Milan. Arrived there, ^r he immediately set forth with many of his barons to ride Milan. round the walls ; but when he first saw that rampart, with its deep ditch, full of running water, and its gates and posterns, all fortified and armed, he stood still, amazed that in so short a time they should have been able to complete so great a work of permanent fortification ; and going farther, he became fully convinced that this was no longer a city to be attacked with the battering-rams and moveable towers which were used in those days against fortresses to whose walls such engines could be easily brought near ; but that in order to take it, it would be necessary to occupy all the places around for a considerable distance, whereby it would be possible to cut off from it provisions and supplies of every kind, and to reduce it, by a long siege, to famine ; so that at iQ2 THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. BOOK in. last it would be forced to surrender. To this end he divided the army into several bodies ; he himself, with the Duke of Austria and the Marquis of Montferrat, encamped near the Church of the Templars, in the Broglio, nearly opposite to the postern of Butinego of the Ditch. He stationed the King of Bohemia with the men of Como near to the Monastery of St. Dionysius ; and setting the other princes with their followers one after another round about, from St. Dionysius to the pos- tern of St. Euphemia, where in the monastery of St. Celsus he stationed the Archbishop of Cologne, he encompassed with his forces the whole city ; then he commanded them to fortify their positions with ditch, trenches, and palisades ; and to keep a strict watch both against sallies from the city and attacks from without. There had thus come upon the Milanese a thing which they had once too confidently persuaded themselves could never befall them ; for, by reason of the great circumference of their city, they had thought that it would never be pos- sible to bring against it forces sufficient to surround it entirely ; and on this account they had neglected to supply themselves in time with the provisions and other things which are necessary for holding out against a long siege. But when now, from the top of the rampart, they saw all the banners of the Communes of Lombardy, save only those of Brescia, Crema, and Piacenza, ranged with those of the foreigner, the voice of conscience, which would not be silenced, told them that they were themselves to blame ; for if they had not been excessively ambitious and tyrannical, and so made themselves odious and formidable to their neighbours, no Emperor could ever have induced all those Italian militias thus to assemble against them. But this sense of ill-desert, which secretly depressed the spirits of the citizens in general, found no access to the breasts of the young men, into whose hands, as has been said, the affairs of the Commune had latterly been passing, and by this time the downright and haughty rejec- tion of their submission and offered fine, which the Milanese deputies had lately encountered in the camp of the Emperor, had caused that party in Milan which held moderate views and was inclined to peace, to lose much of the authority which it was beginning to regain, and it no longer ventured to come BOOK in. THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. 193 forwards, since it had become evident to the dullest and most patient that, with a prince of a disposition so haughty and inflexible as that of Frederick, there was no middle course ; they must either entirely submit to his authority, or bravely contend with him, to conquer or to die. It is said by some, that there were now in Milan 50,000 men capable of bearing arms ; and although militias, which are composed of the multitude of the citizens, are perhaps not very martial in their habits, or constant in enduring the toils and perils of war, there is no doubt that those of Milan, being now commanded by young men of great spirit and dauntless courage, and being also well trained, and accustomed to vic- tory in other wars, would have sufficed, even in these days, for the defence of their city, if it had but been properly supplied with provisions. For want of this, sad presentiments already weighed upon the hearts of the citizens ; and the grave and anxious looks of the chief magistrates as they went about in the streets, increased the general depression and fear. But no one spoke of surrender ; on the contrary, everyone, though without much hope of success, showed himself ready and eager to fight ; and Tazio dei Mandelli, above all, burned to fall upon those hostile squadrons, which had now, with insult- ing pomp and security, set themselves in array around his city. 15. He had observed, from the beginning of the siege, Death of that the body of forces commanded by Conrad, Count J^ an . Palatine of the Rhine, and the Duke of Swabia, being delli - stationed somewhat apart from the rest, near to the New Gate of the Ditch, was the likeliest to be overcome by a sud- den sally. Having at last resolved to attempt it, he went forth, early one night, accompanied by Gherardo Visconti, and followed by a few chosen militias, and had already made his way into the midst of the enemy, and was slaying and dispersing them, when the King of Bohemia, roused by the noise, hastened thither with a strong troop, which grew every moment stronger, took the Milanese on the flank, and surrounded them, intending to cut off their re- treat. On this they instantly turned, and standing firm, re- pulsed his first attack. Then, forming close together, like a wedge, they broke the Bohemians in the middle, and O 194 THE WAR AGAIXST THE COMMUNES. BOOK in. opened for themselves a way towards the gate. . But Tazio, slowly retreating in the rear, with his face to the foe, and warding off the hostile spears, was struck by one of them, and fell. Directly afterwards fell also Gherardo Visconti, who was snatched from the ground by his men, and borne into the city; but, in the confusion of that nocturnal fight, the body of Tazio could not be recovered. At the report, which spread quickly, of this disastrous retreat, the whole city was moved, and the people ran in crowds to that Gate to hear more, anxiously asking who had escaped, who was wounded, who was slain ; and when they learnt the fate of Tazio dei Mandelli, who was dear to them all above every other patrician, there suddenly arose, amidst the darkness, voices of lamentation, of bitter weeping, and of terror. On the return of day, the Consuls sent a herald to the King of Bohemia to demand the body of Tazio. Having obtained it, with solemn pomp, and amidst the tears of the people, they laid it in his ancestral tomb. Attack 1 6. This sally, although it had resulted in grievous loss to PostenTof tne Milanese, had yet in its beginning brought some disgrace Tosa. upon the enemy, who had allowed himself to be taken by surprise and thrown into disorder. Frederick, in order that nothing of the sort might occur again, commanded that measures should be taken to break or to burn the bridges of the ditch, which made it so easy for the Milanese to issue forth unexpectedly and molest him. Otho, Count Palatine of Bavaria, wishing to be the first to execute this command, pro- vided himself with torches, and with bundles of dry, resinous sticks, and, seizing a moment when the Postern of Tosa, before which he was stationed, appeared to be not too well guarded, he, with his two brothers and a few followers, impetuously rushed towards it, took the bridge, crossed over, and, having repulsed and slain the few men who came in confusion to oppose him, entered the postern and set it on fire, feeding the blaze with the fuel which he had brought ; so that in no long time, great flames began to ascend. At that sight, the whole population of the neighbouring streets, armed and unarmed, came running to the spot, fearing that this was the beginning of the burning and the ruin of their city. Amongst these were the men that ought to have been on guard there, who, BOOK in. THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. 195 stung with rage and shame, rushed furiously upon the enemy, or sprang into the flames, as if they would quench them with their blood. But other hostile forces soon arrived, and renewed the fighting and the fire ; until at last the Consuls, and Anselmo dei Mandelli, having ascertained that there was no sign of an attack on any other side, came to the aid of their people, forced their assailants back from the postern, and pursued them along the bridge with their pikes, casting down not a few of them into the ditch. 17. The burning of this postern, as having been effected Attack by a surprise, filled the minds of the Milanese, for a day or Posterior two, with anxiety and dismay ; but, as the men of that age Butinego. were naturally pugnacious, and very firm in performing their duty to their Commune, this was soon succeeded in them by an ardent desire to fight, and to retaliate upon the enemy. No day ever passed in which they did not make sudden sallies, now on this side, now on that ; and, being familiar with the locality, they hid themselves in the ditches, and behind the hedges, and few of those who incautiously ventured out beyond their palisades, escaped being killed or taken by them. So many horses were captured in those days, that, either on account of the great numbers which were brought in, or the difficulty of maintaining them in a besieged city, they were sold for almost nothing. After some time the Duke of Austria, on whose station these raids were chiefly committed, summoned to his aid the Hungarian auxiliaries, and went, by command of the Emperor, to attack the Postern of Butinego of the Ditch, with the intention of destroying its bridge. For a while the Milanese kept him at a distance with arrows from the rampart ; then, forgetting how easily he could be rein- forced, they threw open the gate, and came forth for a hand- to-hand fight, which proved a fierce and bloody one. At last the Milanese, overpowered by the enemy, whose numbers were continually increasing, slowly retreated and recrossed the ditch, leaving not a few behind them prisoners or slain. 1 8. At the distance of not more than an arrow's flight Capture of from the Roman Gate of the Ditch, was a quadrangular tower, Arch. so high that it commanded the battlements of that gate. It had for its base four massive pillars, from which sprang four great arches, upon which it rested. It is said that it was o 2 196 THE WAR AGAIXST THE COMMUNES. HOOK in. originally one of those porticoes, called Arches of Janus, which in Rome and in its colonies used to be built in the market- places, for the accommodation of those who bought and sold there. But by some it is thought to have been a triumphant arch, erected for ornament, or in remembrance of some ancient victory. And this appears the more probable opinion, seeing that the population for whose convenience an Arch of Janus might have been built, was greater in the other part of the ancient city than in the neighbourhood of this monument. Be that as it may, it had at first no tower ; that was added to it in the Middle Ages, when force, for the most part, prevail- ing over right, defences and strongholds were erected in every corner. It had obtained the name of the Roman Arch, no doubt, from the current tradition that it was a work of the Romans, a tradition confirmed by the solidity and great size of its squared stones, which were wrought and joined with such wonderful skill, that nothing could be seen of the mortar which fastened them together but the very finest line. Forty men, with their arms and provisions, could be conveniently stationed there, and so many had been sent by the Milanese Consuls for the defence of this antemural fortress. These, from that high tower, observed the movements of a great part of the hostile camp, and signalled them to those within the city, that they might choose the best times for making sallies, lying in ambush, or coming forth to feed their cattle in that grassy plain. Frederick, after he had discovered the importance of that post, resolved to attempt its capture, and the more readily, because it was the only fortification about Milan against which his engines could avail him; for he saw no way of bringing them against the walls, since if he had begun to fill up with fascines that wide, deep ditch, which was full, as has been said, of running water, and had the rampart on its inner bank, the first result would have been to flood the plain, in which he had encamped his army. There being, then, no such obstacle in the way of his approach to the Roman Arch, he sent thither a band of skilful archers, who, forming themselves into a circle around it, continually shot at any who appeared upon the summit ; and these archers were closely followed by the engines, which, as soon as they were at the proper distance, began to hurl stones and other missiles against the tower. BOOK in. THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. 197 The rampart, the walls, the highest places of Milan, were crowded every day and all day long with citizens, watching the incidents of this attack ; whilst many of them, in their eager longing to help, accompanied every effort of the defenders with involuntary ejaculations, and movements of the arms and body. At times the conflict was so fierce and furious, that assailed and assailants, wholly intent on keeping up the storm of darts and stones, which flew upwards and downwards with equal vehemence, were unconscious of everything that was going on around them. One day, when they were thus engaged, it occurred to Uberto di Sessa, one of the most valiant knights in Milan, that there was an excellent oppor- tunity for his horsemen. Suddenly he darted forth, and, taking the enemy by surprise, overthrew and killed many of them, and compelled the rest for a while to fight for their lives ; and so brought respite to those upon the tower. Frederick, after eight days, seeing that little impression had been made upon the solidity of those walls, and none whatever upon the constancy of those who defended them, applied himself to another mode of assault. He caused some of his men to be provided with mattocks, pickaxes, and great iron r levers, and instructed them where and how to use them. These, holding their shields over their heads, so as to form a testudo, marched steadily through a heavy storm of stones, beams, and arrows, until they came under the arches of the tower ; once there, they set to work in safety to sap the foundation, forcing out one by one its massive stones. They had been busy in this way for some time, when those in the tower, hearing loud hollow blows below, began to suspect what was being done ; and coming down to ascertain, they saw that there was no mode of defence against such an attack, but that it must presently bring down the tower, and cause them all to be dashed to pieces. They surrendered on good conditions. Frederick, therefore, entered the tower, and now it was his turn to observe the preparations and movements of the enemy ; and he soon planted a catapult upon the top, which did much damage to the neighbouring gate ; but he did not long enjoy the advantage which had passed into his hands, for the Milanese artificers, under the direction of Master Guintellino, presently constructed an engine, called an onager, so power- 19$ THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. HOOK in. ful, that it broke and silenced the enemy's catapult, and dis- lodged those who stood around it on the tower. 19. But, for truth's sake, it must needs be recorded, that the warfare during this siege was not always carried on in ac- cordance with the usages of honourable war, as in the fighting on the banks of the ditch, and around the Roman Arch. Hatred between neighbours is always fierce and pitiless, but es- pecially when, long pent up and inflamed by inveterate wrongs, it bursts forth in its time from the breasts of the weaker. To oppress, to pillage, to destroy in the lands of Italy was ac- counted almost natural in one who came from Germany. In this war the men of Pavia, Lodi, Como, and Cremona were worse than the foreigners. Not content with devastating the fields and houses around Milan, they would go into the midst of the prisoners, and whenever they chanced to recognise a private enemy amongst them, would put him to torture and to death. Such atrocities the Milanese were not slow to return ; fiercely dragging some Lombard prisoner upon the walls, they would stab him in cold blood, and hang on high his bloody quivering body in the sight of their detested neigh- bours, who stood in the plain below, convulsed with rage and grief. Such barbarities were not peculiar to the Italians ; they were common to all the nations of the Middle Ages. The formal courtesies which the spirit of chivalry brought from the castles to the field of battle, could do little towards checking them. Religion, indeed, might have done much, but it was badly taught, and worse obeyed. It was by the gathering together of many cities and countries under one head, which gave rise to the modern States, that the municipal rivalries, which hurried men into the commission of such atro- cities, were gradually suppressed ; and the institution of regu- lar and permanent armies, which it afterwards became possible to establish and maintain in the kingdoms, caused wars, in time, to be undertaken with greater reluctance and delibera- tion, and conducted, if not without hatred, at least without any spirit of private or municipal revenge, and with more respect for the dictates of humanity ; so that valour, instructed in the science of marches and evolutions, is content with the triumph gained in the field, and does not proceed to torture the vanquished, does not burn, does not break down the cities ; BOOK in. THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. 199 as was done in the Middle Ages, when the conqueror, not having standing forces to keep the conquered in obedience, and following also the malignity of his private passions, destroyed the cities whose fidelity he had reason to distrust, with sword and fire. 20. Frederick had now been encamped for a month against surrender Milan, and as yet, not one of his arrows had touched it ; the of Mllan - only advantage he had obtained, was the capture of this tower, on which his men no sooner showed themselves, than they were disabled or killed with stones from the Milanese engines. He began, therefore, to apprehend, that if the siege should be prolonged, every succeeding day would diminish his forces and increase his difficulties ; which, indeed, were already becoming formidable, for it was no easy matter to procure sufficient food for so great an army, and disease was beginning to appear amongst the troops. In the midst of these troubles, a suspicion had occurred to him that there was not, after all, that scarcity of provisions in Milan of which he had heard so much, and that his enterprise would prove a very tedious one. But a more accurate knowledge of the condition of the besieged would soon have relieved and reassured him. For even within the first few days they began to experience the bad effects of having admitted into the city, which was so insufficiently supplied with food, all that multitude of country- people, who brought with them hardly anything but terror. The famine had increased from day to day ; pestilence, as usual, had followed in its train ; and many, especially amongst the poor, were daily dying. Some of the citizens, cowardly and weak-minded, saw in this famine and mortality a divine judgment upon the Milanese, because they, alone in Italy, had dared to contend against the Emperor. But others, of sounder mind and more generous nature, bore up under all this privation and suffering without dismay. Conspicuous among these were the young men of the principal families of Milan, such as the Mandelli, Posterla, Landriani, Visconti, Archinti, Vimercati, Guerci, Ghezzoni, and Borro ; they de- spaired not of the Commune, nor would suffer others to do so ; they rebuked the impertinence of those who, having done little or nothing for the defence of the city, would fain have 200 THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. HOOK in. presumed to decide its destinies ; and with proud and threat- ening looks they silenced the murmurers. Private information of this famine, mortality, and discord in the city was conveyed to Guido, Count of Biandratc, who, although he had followed the Emperor in this expedition, was not unmindful of the ancient tie which bound his house to Milan; moreover, as the enemies of that Commune were almost all his own, he perceived that he could not allow it to be brought to extremity, without being the worse for it in the present, and being left for the future at the mercy of his neighbours, who would exalt themselves against him beyond measure ; whereas, if he should become the mediator of a favourable agreement, he would at once recover credit and authority in Milan, and provide for the security of his domains. With these views, he ventured to sound the mind of Frederick, and found him, for the reasons above-mentioned, inclined to moderation. With his consent he entered Milan, and conferred with the Consuls and chief men of the city, who also seemed to him well dis- posed ; only they gave him to understand that before assem- bling the people, as he desired, it would be well that they should know from him in that council what conditions they were likely to obtain. Guido, as far as he was able, satisfied them on this point, saying that he believed it to be the Em- peror's intention to re-establish his officers in Milan, and to restore to liberty the cities of Como and Lodi ; that he would also probably require a heavy fine, and hostages, and a palace in the city. There was present in that council Maestro G. Guintellino, who, for his gentleness of nature and long and valuable services, was much beloved in Milan, and held in no little respect even by the fiercest of the Milanese youth ; for it was a common saying in those days, that if the city had been as well and carefully governed and provided for by others, as it had been ditched about and fortified by him, it would never have come to this evil pass. He, seeing that some in the council, offended at the very mention of such terms, were looking upon the Count with indignation, ready to burst forth into bitter reproaches, arose to prevent them, and thus spoke : ' Burdensome at any time would conditions like these be to us, who, whatever offences we may have committed, have never renounced our allegiance ; but still more burdensome and BOOK in. THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. 201 grievous do they appear, when it is considered that they arc proposed to us after the Emperor, with the forces of Germany and of Italy, has for weeks been ravaging and burning all the fields and houses round about us, until famine stares us in the face on every side, and funerals throng our streets. Yet in what are we more guilty than the other peoples of Lombardy ? I am now an old citizen of this city, and on looking back into the past, I see nothing else on the borders of the Lombard peoples, but neighbours coming against neighbours, falling to bloody fighting, burning one another's corn, carrying off one another's cattle, and by turns half-ruining one another. Every people in Lombardy, so far as I can see, has done as much in my days for its own ends, as we have done for the maintenance of that dignity and pre-eminence, which we inherit in virtue of the prerogatives of our Church, and the valour of our ances- tors. Nevertheless, against us alone is the whole power of the Empire risen up, and is encamped against us here for our destruction. Herein is surely unequal dealing, especially since we were ready, in order to avoid these evils, to have every difference adjusted, and to pay a heavy fine. Moreover, it ought in fairness to be remembered that these innovations and disagreements amongst us proceed, not from incorrigible malice, but chiefly from the unsettled and perplexing condi- tion of the times. ' Many and conflicting are the claims that confront us. The Emperor requires from us fealty and tribute ; the Bishops allege over us rights and prerogatives, which, on account of their venerable antiquity, they cannot or will not forego ; the Barons who ride round about us come forwards, whenever they have an opportunity, with their pretensions and their arro- gance. Amidst all, in spite of all, the Communes maintain the authority of their statutes and ancient customs. You yourself, Count Guido, you yourself are a living proof of this confusion. You and your ancestors dwelt in this city, and defended it as your country ; and it is not yet a year since you and I, at the command of the Milanese people, were en- gaged together at Vigevano in a happier and more honourable enterprise ; yet now you come here armed, and in the com- pany of those to whom it seems a light thing to burn and to ravage our houses and our fields, and to bring us back again 202 THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. BOOK in. under the rod of the Imperial prefects. And yet, withal, if anyone should reproach you, you would not fail to reply, that every step of yours, however tortuous, was pressed upon you by some duty or obligation. This diversity of dominion, of laws, and of jurisdictions, however it might answer in former times, is now become intolerable. From the multiplicity which it produces of rights for some and duties for others, all clashing like spears against each other, there arises so great a confusion, that a man here, however good his intentions, can hardly take a step without committing a fault ; if he obeys on the right hand, he offends on the left ; and thus those who belong, like you, to our citizenship, are brought, from time to time, take whatever part they may, into an unseemly and dangerous position. Whether the jurisconsults that are in yonder camp have any remedy for this, time will show. But methinks the Emperor will be ill-advised if he leaves such a matter to them. Let him take counsel with himself alone, and raise his thoughts to a scope worthy of an Emperor ; let him seek, not so much to punish the trespasses which we have committed, as to remove the causes of them. Let him show some regard to the Commune by which once a Prince of Swabia, his uncle, was raised to the Empire ; let him not, to gratify the malice of our neighbours, persist in endeavouring to overthrow this city, without which Lombardy itself would be desolate, and deprived of all its glory. Sir Count, you were born an Italian, and not very far from these walls, and can you possibly believe that the men of Milan are at this day fallen so low, as to be ready to receive a Podesta from Ger- many ? No ! let us keep our Consuls. That is a magistracy of glorious memory for us ; and so peculiar to Italians, that the foreigners who come here to be as masters, cannot under- stand it, and will never be able to discharge its duties. Besides, none of us ever go from Italy to command in Ger- many ; if we are all equally subjects of the Empire, let it be permitted to us, as it is to others, to govern ourselves in our own land, retaining our allegiance to the Emperor. As for the other burdens you have mentioned, since it has pleased the Most High, for our sins, to bring us into this distress, I think, for my part, that we ought to accept them ; but let them not be made too heavy, for the Milanese can ill endure oppres- -BOOK in. THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. 203 sion and disgrace ; and perchance, if this war should go on a little longer, some in Italy may at last perceive that it is un- wise to continue in this unnatural league to destroy us, since, after our turn, theirs may come.' This speech, though interspersed with pungent truths, did not displease the Count, who was well acquainted with the Maestro, and had had many proofs of his sincerity and worth ; and he replied, that if the Milanese were not permitted to retain their Consuls, it should be no fault of his. Then the people were called together in the Broletto della Consoleria, and brought, without difficulty, to consent to the surrender of the city. 21. The day after, by the Count's advice, the Consuls, with Convention . . of the sur- some of the principal citizens, before entering the presence of render. the Emperor, went to solicit the good offices of the King of Bohemia and the Duke of Austria, who were men of great authority, and known to be in high favour with him. Fre- derick, when he heard that the Milanese Consuls were come into the camp to treat of surrender, was inwardly rejoiced ; but, dissembling, he received them with an air of injured majesty ; and after not many words with them, deigned to accede to this convention : that Como and Lodi should be restored to liberty. That all the Milanese, from the age of fourteen to seventy, should swear allegiance to him. That they should pay, as an indemnity for the war, 9,000 marks of silver in three instalments. That they should give 300 hostages, to be taken from the capitani, vavasours, and com- moners; that these hostages should all remain in Italy, ex- cepting fifty, or fewer, who, at his pleasure, might be carried away beyond the Alps; that the present Consuls should continue in office until the next February; that for the future the Consuls should be elected by the people, and confirmed by himself. That his Commissioners, on coming into Italy, should reside at the palace, and decide all causes brought before them. That the Milanese should give up all the re- galia, and not presume to usurp them any more. That they and the Cremascans should pay, as a fine, 120 marks of silver. That all the prisoners should be placed in the hands of the King of Bohemia, with this understanding : that those which had been taken in this .war should be set at liberty on 204 THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. HOOK in. the conclusion of peace ; but that those which had been taken by the Milanese and their allies in the wars with the cities of Cremona, Pavia, Novara, Como, and Lodi, should not be re- leased, until the Emperor should have succeeded in bringing those peoples into peace and concord with them ; that if this his mediation should prove ineffectual, the prisoners should return to the place of their captivity, whilst neither the Mi- lanese nor the other Communes should forfeit his favour on account of the failure of those negotiations. All the alliances and dependencies between the Milanese and their neighbours were expressly declared intact and permanent ; hence, with the exception of Como, Lodi, and some of the inhabitants of Seprio, who had lately sworn allegiance to the Emperor, it was permitted to the Milanese, in order to raise the indemnity imposed on them, to make collections in the lands of those who continued to be their allies or dependents, to wit, of the Tortonese, of the Cremascans, and of the inhabitants of Isola and of Monza. That, on the second or third day after the hostages and the prisoners had been delivered into his hands, he would depart thence with the army. The agreement having been settled on these conditions, Frederick appointed the morrow, which was the seventh of September, for the act of surrender ; and, as if to increase the humiliation and the anguish of it, he withdrew on that day to a distance of nearly four miles from the city, setting his sol- diery and the militias of Lombardy in array on both sides of the road, so as to leave the vanquished only just room enough to pass between them. Then came forth first out of the afflicted city, the Archbishop and the clergy, robed and bare- footed, with the cross borne before them. After these, with downcast looks, and full of shame and sadness, came the Con- suls and the chief men of the Commune how changed from those who once, as the mightiest, were observed and feared by all in Lombardy ! They also went barefooted, and in mean attire, and, as was the custom of those times, each bore a naked sword, with which to make the surrender and to take the oath. When they had passed through the midst of all that proud array, from which they saw glancing the fierce joy of their neighbours, and arrived at the foot of the throne, Frederick received them with words of feigned benignity, ad- BOOK in. THE WAR ACAIXST THE COMMUNES. 205 vising them to provide better in future for the good of their Commune. Then the conditions above cited were read, and both parties swore to the agreement. Finally, when they were about to return, Frederick, having resolved to defer his triumphal entry into Milan, gave them one of his banners, to be set up, as a memorial of his victory, on the top of the tower of St. Ambrose ; which was accounted, in those days, the highest in all Lombardy. But when the dungeons of Milan were opened, and the prisoners, amongst whom the Pavese alone amounted to more than a thousand, were brought forth to the tents of the Bo- hemians in St. Dionysius, great numbers of men came running thither from the Italian part of the camp, anxiously seeking amidst that haggard multitude, their fathers, their brothers, or their friends ; these, impatient, called to them by name, and, on being recognised, threw themselves into their arms ; weep- ing for joy to think that, after so many sufferings, they should again see their kinsfolk and their country. But when the con- ditions of the agreement were explained, and it was known that those who had lost their liberty, not in this war, but in former contests with the Milanese, would not yet recover it,that glad- ness was instantly exchanged for disappointment and vexa- tion ; all being justly indignant to find, that the sufferings of the greater part of them, of that part, too, which had longest endured the squalor and misery of the prisons, were not even now at an end. To endeavour, as Frederick had pledged himself to do, to bring about a peace amongst the cities of Lombardy, was an office of humanity, and worthy of an Emperor. But that un- usual mildness with which he promised beforehand not to with- drawhis favour from those who might show themselves averse to such an agreement, since it could not be supposed that he was thus indulgent because he regarded them as free (he who had come with fire and sword on purpose to destroy their liberty), was a sign that, as times went, discord amongst the Lombards would serve his purposes better than their union. Moreover, as the Milanese, who were at that time in low fortune, were not likely to prove intractable or presumptuous in settling the agreements, by this act of apparent lenity, he took occa- sion to show the others, who were his adherents, that he 206 THE U'AK AGAINST THE COMMUNES. HOOK in. would have them to stand firm upon their vantage-ground, for he did not much care about their coming to an agreement with the Milanese, and they had nothing sinister to apprehend from him. By thus keeping alive their municipal rivalries, he wonderfully furthered his secret design, of bringing back under the yoke, one after another, all the peoples of Lom- bardy. This was the first indication of Frederick's bad faith ; and it clouded the hope of peace and liberty, to which the terms of surrender had begun to give rise in the land. For this convention, as long as the worm at its heart was unperceived, was generally regarded, considering the rights and the offences of the two parties, as a work of wisdom and moderation, likely to insure a long period of tranquillity ; and it reflected no little credit upon Count Guide, who had negotiated it ; for there is no doubt that if the Emperor had faithfully observed it, it would have vindicated and more clearly and precisely established those rights of the Empire, which at that time, although not altogether denied, were ill-defined and obscure ; and that if the Milanese, who had come forth from this con- test retaining the right of electing their Consuls, and the honour and advantage of their alliances and dependencies, had been allowed to possess the benefit of it in peace, the enjoyment of stable and moderate liberty, such as that time would allow of, would have been promoted and insured, not only amongst themselves, but in the other Communes of Lombardy, which were accustomed in everything to take their impulse and example from the Milanese. BOOK iv. THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMl\\'ES. 207 BOOK IV. i. FREDERICK, thinking that by the subjugation of the Frederick Milanese, all rebellious inclinations in the other peoples of ^aveof Lombardy would be effectually repressed, did not refuse leave absence ! of absence to those Barons of Germany who had a desire to army. return to their own land ; amongst whom the King of Bo- hemia, the Duke of Austria, with the Hungarians, Arnold Archbishop of Mentz, and Berthold Duke of Burgundy, and many others, departed, enriched with the gifts which they had received from the Emperor, and with the spoils of Lombardy. And some of the militias of Lombardy also, contented with having partaken of this triumph, returned to their cities, with high commendations, and with the favour of the Emperor. He himself, with that part of the army which remained with him, repaired to Monza. Whilst there, he released from citizenship, a condition which they despised as unworthy of their birth, all those Barons of Seprio and Martesana, whose ancestors had been compelled to become citizens of Milan ; and he made Count Gozzolino, a noble of German descent, prefect over that part of the country, from which he afterwards received no little assistance in his war against the Milanese. He placed in the castle of Trezzo a garrison of one hundred soldiers under Corrado di Maze and Roggerio, and he caused Monza, which, as possessing within its cathedral the Iron Crown, was regarded as the seat of the Empire in Italy, to abandon its alliance with the Milanese ; by whom these inno- vations, which offended against the recent convention, were felt with the greater bitterness, because they were very closely connected with the people of those parts, both by neighbourhood and innumerable ties of kindred. 2. Frederick was lifted up in these days to such a height Rising of of pride, that he did not seem to perceive that by these dealings he was violating the integrity of the territory and 2o8 THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES* BOOK iv. alliances of the Milanese, which had been secured to them by the agreement. Wholly intent upon the high conception which he had formed to himself of the Imperial dignity, he saw only that this was his opportunity for carrying it into effect in Italy ; and to this end he convoked the Diet at Ron- caglia for Martinmas. But suddenly, against all his expecta- tions, two events occurred in Lombardy, which proved to him that his difficulties were not yet over. It was no unusual thing amongst these peoples, on account of the little commu- nication which they had amongst themselves, for the events which took place in one part of the country to be for some time unknown in another ; hence it occasionally happened, that the movements of some began on the very day of the overthrow of others ; thus, scarcely had he subdued the Milanese, when, for different reasons, the men of Verona and of Ferrara arose to provoke him to arms. There was in Verona a patrician, Torrisendo by name, a man of valour, of grqat spirit, and so proud, that he deemed it unworthy of him to receive the Imperial ministers into his castles. He had lately, with the Veronese militias, taken possession of the Castle of Garda, and he now refused to yield it up to the officers of the Emperor ; wherefore Frederick was obliged to go himself, "with all the forces that remained with him, to bring him to obedience. This induced him, the better to secure the fidelity of the Lombards, to require hostages from the cities ; and all delivered them into his hands, excepting the people of Ferrara, who knew themselves guilty of having seized upon a great part of the possessions of the Countess Matilda, near the Po. Frederick sent against them Otho, Count Palatine of Bavaria, who fording the Po, which, by reason of the dryness of the season, was then very shallow, suddenly attacked and took the city ; and having brought it back to its duty, re- turned with fifty hostages. Diet of 3- There had assembled meanwhile at Roncaglia nearly Roncagiia. a jj {he Bishops, Barons, and Consuls of Lombardy, and, by express command of the Emperor, the professors of law of the University of Bologna, Bulgaro, Martino, Gossia, Jacopo, and Ugone da Porta Ravegnana. Addressing these, in the Church of St. Peter in Contrebbia, the Emperor told them, that he had called them together, because it was his intention BOOK iv. THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUTES. 209 to provide, with their assistance, for the reorganisation and peace of the whole of Italy, and also effectually to recover for the Empire all those rights which, by reason of the difficulties and negligences of past times, had fallen into desuetude, or passed into other hands. Of which rights they must investigate the origin and ownership, according to the ancient acts and the written laws, having no regard to the rights and customs which had hitherto been allowed to prevail to the contrary ; for it was their office, not to enquire into the justice and con- venience of the laws, but according to their prescription and sanction, be it what it might, to take cognisance and to judge. This said, he requested the four doctors of Bologna to declare, first of all, what were the regalia, which, by Imperial right, belonged to him in Italy. These, after a long consultation amongst themselves, replied that they could not do so with- out the assistance of the judges of the cities there present. Whether they did this because they \vere conscious that they could not decide alone in a matter of so much importance without incurring the hatred of the whole country, or because they had received secret instructions from the Emperor, who wished this sentence to go forth with all that show of authority, that it might make a deeper impression upon the peoples, certain it is that this cautious and modest proceeding on the part of the doctors of Bologna will appear somewhat studied and suspicious, when it is considered that a few days before, they had not scrupled gravely to pronounce the Emperor lord of the whole world, although, on account of some of their scholastic subtleties, they had not agreed as to the title by which he ought to take possession of it. However that may have been, Frederick did not take their hesitation amiss, but at once assented to their request, and chose twenty-eight judges, two for each city. These, having retired with the four Bolognese professors, to consult upon the nature of these regalia, returned, after three days of deliberation, into the Diet, and there, in the presence of the Emperor, declared with one accord, that under the name of regalia were compre- hended the duchies, the marquisates, the counties, the con- sulates, the mints, the tolls, the customs, the ports, the mills, the river-fisheries, and the payment of an annual tax upon the p 210 THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES, BOOK iv. land, and such a poll-tax as it might please the Emperor to impose. This sentence was perfectly adapted to Frederick's pur- pose ; and he rejoiced to find that the kind attentions and the favours which in this, as in his former expedition, he had ac- corded to these doctors and to the University of Bologna, had answered according to his hopes. But by the greater part of that assembly it was heard with amazement and dismay. The Barons, whose ancestors had seized upon everything around their castles, seemed almost more confounded than the Con- suls ; for the Communes, by outbreaks of popular violence, had encroached not so much upon the property, as upon the offices and prerogatives of the Imperial ministers. But, no one venturing to contradict it, at last the Archbishop of Milan arose, and, speaking for himself and for the Milanese, after a long piece of studied adulation, profanely couched in Biblical phraseology, yielded all the regalia into the hands of the Emperor ; whereupon all present, Bishops, Barons, and Consuls, hastened to do the same. Frederick, who watched them with triumphant eyes as they came before him one after another to make that renunciation, perceived from their troubled looks, and still more, perhaps, from that too hasty surrender, that it would be dangerous to carry out the sen- tence to its full extent ; and he declared, therefore, that, saving the changes which would be made in this Diet in the matter of the fiefs and in the government of the Communes, he would, of his benignity, leave them all in possession of the regalia, but with this difference, that those who should not be able to prove by valid documents that they enjoyed them by the favour and concession of his predecessors, should pay an annual tribute to his Chamber ; by which he gained for him- self, at one stroke, thirty thousand marks of silver a year. Of the 4. Under the pretext that contentions were so numerous amongst the Italians, that when he came amongst them he had not time to decide them all, he instituted a Podesta for every diocese, who, to obviate all suspicion of partiality in his judgments, was to be chosen by the Emperor from some place outside of that to which he sent him to administer jus- tice ; and he also took upon himself to nominate the Consuls of the cities. This very greatly displeased all the Communes, BOOK iv. THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. 211 wherefore the Emperor, of special grace, afterwards promised some of those which were most devoted to him, as Pavia, Cremona, and Lodi, that he would take their Consuls from amongst their own citizens. With regard to the other Com- munes, the effect of these innovations was, that whenever they rejected the Consuls of the Emperor, they came to \var with him ; and the institution of the Podesta, from a general suppo- sition that such a magistrate, as a stranger, would be impartial in his judgments, proved so acceptable, that it was not only very readily adopted, but was suffered to continue amongst all these peoples, even in times of greater liberty, and was always increasing in importance ; so that at last the Podesta came to be as a lord over the city, and led forth the militias to war ; until the time when the cities fell under the dominion of tyrants ; after which his office was restricted, as at first, to the hearing and judging of civil and criminal causes. This institution poisoned the liberty of the Communes ; for when it is considered that in those days there were battles, indeed, between city and city, but none between the inhabi- tants of the same city, for that degree of corruption was not arrived at in Lombardy until the generation after this, it will be seen that there was no need to have recourse to so strange and ignominious a proceeding to provide these peoples with impartial justice ; and that this Imperial solicitude, which seemed to arise entirely from an honest motive, had no other aim than to put an end, by the office of the Podesta, to that of the Consuls, the name of which recalled to the minds of the Italians memories of liberty and of glory, by foreigners envied and feared. The cities and the Barons were deprived of the right of going to war amongst themselves without the permission of the Emperor, and penalties of graduated severity were decreed against those who should break the peace. With regard to the fiefs, in respect of which, there being in Italy no written law concerning them, gross injustices and abuses were taking place, since the minor vassals, by sales and pretended liberalities to the Church or to works of piety, could free them- selves from rendering the honours and services due to their liege lords, it was enacted, that henceforwards it should not be lawful to sell or pledge a fief for any cause whatever, even 2/2 THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUTES. DOCK. iv. for the benefit of the Church, without the consent of the lord in chief. Amongst those who had controversies to be settled in this Diet were the Cremonese, who had many complaints against the peoples of Piacenza and of Crema : and now, besides the old causes, of enmity, they accused the Piacentincs of provok- ing some of their people with insults, and compelling them to joust, when they were passing through their territory on their way to the Diet, in consequence of which several of them were killed or wounded ; whereas, seeing that they were going to render homage and obedience to the Emperor, their persons should have been held sacred, and secure from all molestation and hindrance. The Piacentines and Cremas- cans were already odious in the sight of Frederick, before whom this cause was pleaded, on account of their alliance with the Milanese ; and it also appeared that the former people could not entirely clear themselves of this recent accu- sation ; wherefore they were condemned to pay a heavy fine, to level the rampart made within the last three years around their city, to lower the towers twenty feet, and to fill up their ditch. To the people of Crema he sent orders, that they should pull down their walls and fill up their ditch before the feast of St. Mary ; and should no longer, to the injury of their neighbours, divert the waters of their territory from their natural course. After this, and just before closing the Diet, he caused to be confirmed the separation, which he had already effected, of Monza from the Milanese territory ; for since that city was considered, as has been said, the ancient seat of the Empire in Italy, reason required that it should be free, and wholly devoted to the Emperor. The Geno- 5. As everything was prospering so well with Frederick the low in this expedition, he thought it right to press on farther, and Roncaelia ^ came mto n ^ s mm & to take possession of Corsica and Sar- dinia ; by no other title than that, in the ancient division of the Roman Empire, those islands had fallen to the Emperor of the West, to all whose rights and dominions he conceived himself to have succeeded. To this end, when, after the close of the Diet, he sent his Commissioners into Tuscany, into the Campagna, and through all Lombardy, some to collect the BOOK iv. THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. 213 foderum, some to create the new Consuls and Podestas in the cities, and all to take careful note of the regalia, upon which the annual tribute was to be imposed, he also sent two to Genoa and to Pisa, requiring their inhabitants, who were in possession of those islands, to give them an honourable passage thither in their ships ; and warning them, at the same time, to be ready to comply with the new regulations which had been made in the Diet with regard to the regalia, and to the magistrates of the cities. Both those peoples firmly refused the use of their ships to the Imperial Commissioners ; and the Genoese gave them to understand, that however the case might be as to the Pisans, they themselves, in virtue of an- cient concessions of the Emperors, were a free people, and exempt from all tribute : that the Emperor, moreover, must not seek to deprive them of this immunity, which was a very just one, both because on them devolved the obliga- tion of defending the coast of Italy from the Saracens, who were continually infesting it here and there, and because such was the poverty of their mountainous country, that it did not supply them with the means of subsistence : so that they were constrained to commit themselves to the sea, and sail to distant lands, where all their gains were subject now to very heavy dues ; wherefore he must be satisfied with their allegiance, without making any innovation or other disturb- ance in their Commune. And, on hearing, soon after, that Frederick, provoked at this reply, was approaching their territory, and had already advanced as far as Bosco, all the people of the city, men and women, young and old, applied themselves, day and night, to labour at the walls, some bring- ing stones, some lime, some sand, some wood of every kind, whilst others dragged up the yards and masts of ships, to for- tify the hill, which was not yet girdled with a wall. And such was the work which was accomplished in eight days, that it would have been difficult for Frederick, with the force he had, to effect an entrance into the city. Wherefore he thought better of it, and desisted ; and having opened a conference with the Genoese Consuls at Bosco, he told them that he w r ould not molest them further ; that they must give over fortifying themselves ; and that as their ancestors had obeyed his predecessors, so must they obey him. Then the Genoese 214 THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. BOOK iv- deputed forty of their citizens to swear allegiance to him, before the Archbishop of Mentz and the Count of Biandrate, with an express stipulation that by this oath their Commune should not be made liable to render any aid to the Emperor, either in men or money ; they promised him, finally, as of their own accord, twelve hundred marks of silver ; and with regard to the fortifications, since, so far as the present need required, they were finished already, they let him have the satis- faction of bringing them to a standstill for the present, intend- ing to complete them at a more convenient season ; which in fact they did the very next year, when the whole city was enclosed by a good, strong, battlemented wall, five thousand five hundred feet in circumference. New 6. Here then, at the foot of the Ligurian Alps, that wave ^ P ros P er ity> which had hitherto borne the Emperor upon its crest in all his undertakings, found its first interruption ; and, receding, it set him down at Alba, in Montferrat, whence he afterwards went, as the guest of the Marquis, to spend the Christmas holidays at Occimiano. There he became re- luctantly convinced, by the news of the bad reception which his Commissioners were meeting with in Lombardy, that his haughty tyranny over the peoples was producing its usual effects. For, just after his arrival, he learnt that when the Commissioners came to Pavia, to Cremona, and to Lodi to appoint the Consuls and the Podestas, although, as a mark of his special favour towards those Communes, they chose them from amongst the citizens, the innovation was evidently far from welcome ; that the Piacentines had received them, indeed, without discourtesy, but had shown themselves little inclined to destroy their fortifications ; in fact, by bring- ing forwards first one exception and then another against the sentence of Roncaglia, they contrived, eventually, to evade it altogether ; and that the men of Crema, who had heard that the Cremonese had offered the Emperor 15,000 marks of silver to obtain the destruction of their walls, were so wild with indignation, that when the Commissioners came to give orders for that destruction, they flew to arms, rushed in a fit of popular fury to attack them, and forced them to flee for their lives. Frederick, stung to the heart at these tidings, chafed inwardly with sullen wrath, but, as his manner was, BOOK iv. THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. 215 said nothing. He soon, however, departed from Montferrat, this being, to him, no longer a time for gladness and festivity, and took his way towards Bologna, whither he had sent forward the greater part of his troops, to enforce the execu- tion of the decrees of Roncaglia in the States of the Church. On his arrival at Antimiaco, a village not far from Bologna, other and still worse tidings overtook him : that the Mila- nese, as will now be related, had tumultuously risen ; that his Commissioners had been put to flight ; and that the whole country was in commotion. 7. 1 1 59. In January 1 1 59, the Chancellor Reinhardt, Otho Rising of Count Palatine of Bavaria, and the Count Gozzolino, came by command of the Emperor to Milan, to appoint, as in the other Communes, the Consuls, and a Podesta. When this, which was plainly contrary to the agreement made in September, became known in the city, the people, who had already, with deep displeasure, seen themselves deprived of the noble town of Monza, and of the districts of Seprio and Martesana, unable to endure the thought of losing, in the Consulate, the last vestige of their ancient liberty, rose that very night, shut the gates, rushed tumultuously into the Broglio, and assaulted the Monastery of St. Ambrose, where they supposed the three Commissioners to be staying. The only one there, however, was the Chancellor, who, suddenly beset by that popular fury, was not without fears for his life. The Count of Biandrate instantly hastened to the spot, and endeavoured to appease the people. But these, excited, as they were, by the darkness and by the great crowd, and still more by the example of three bold citizens, Martino Malaopera, Azzone Bultraffo, and Castellino de' Lemenulfi, gave no ear to him ; on the contrary, Martino, the fiercest of them, stepped up to him and said : ' Sir Count, since you have so much affection for covenant-breakers, this is no longer the place for you. Return to Biandrate, lest some evil overtake you ; con- cern yourself no longer about us and our doings ; go home to your castle, and be at peace ; until Heaven, which abhors all traitors, and everything that is theirs, send fire to consume it, and dislodge you thence for ever.' Cruel words, which were afterwards, in some sense, fulfilled. The Chancellor, convinced by the reports which reached 2)6 THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. BOOK iv. him in his hiding-place, that this tumultuous revolt against the Imperial authority was concurred in by the greater part of the people, disguised himself, and, leaving his servants and his horses behind him, fled from the city ; a humiliation which he never forgot or forgave. The two Counts, knowing them- selves to be disliked by the Milanese, and dreading some hostile attempt, had lodged, like wise men, outside the walls ; and as soon as they heard of the flight of the Chancellor, they resolved to follow his example, and hastened by the shortest road to Antimiaco. 8. There, at the first rumour of these disturbances, Frederick had convoked a Diet ; wherein, in the presence of many Bishops and Barons, and of the deputies of Pavia, Vercelli, Asti, Tortona, Piacenza, Cremona, and Novara, he expressed great indignation at the new rebellion of the Milanese, and demanded counsel and aid to punish them for it. He was answered, for all, by the Bishop of Piacenza ; who, as if to make amends for the disaffection of his Commune, here played the part of a ready and shameless flatterer, and exhorted the Emperor to repress the Milanese, as the incorrigible disturbers of all Lombardy : nevertheless, he concluded, it would be well that he should employ the laws, rather than arms, for that purpose, that his clemency and justice might be manifested to all. This course the Emperor adopted ; but indeed he could not, if he would, have taken the other, for he was at that time weak in arms ; and, on account of some bad feeling which was now reappearing in the Pontifical Court, it would not have suited him to remove or divide the host which he had near Bologna, to march against Milan. Soon afterwards, when he was in the Castle of Marmica, the Milanese sent envoys to him, by whom, after having apologised for the nocturnal tumult, as if it had arisen from no worse cause than jealousy at seeing themselves less honourably treated than other Communes, they affirmed that they, on their part, had faithfully observed the conven- tion of the previous September ; and it was not unreasonable in them to expect it to be observed by the other side. That the integrity of their territory and the election of their Consuls formed a part of that agreement ; and they could not believe that it was intended by the new laws of Roncaglia to annul BOOK iv. THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. 217 rights legally acquired and acknowledged, such as those secured to them by the conditions of their surrender. That the Emperor himself had shown respect to the rights of ancient possession, insomuch that, in assessing the regalia, of his sovereign will and ples.sure he had exempted from the annual payment all those who could prove that they had obtained them from a legitimate source. That, moreover, the Cremonese, the Lodigians, and the Pavese, notwithstanding that new law, had Consuls of their citizens : they asked nothing more than to be treated with the same consideration as their neighbours. To this Frederick briefly replied : that he per- ceived that their minds were still not a little darkened by that blind fury which had urged them to rise against his Chan- cellor ; that he knew, better than anyone, what was intended by the laws of Roncaglia. That they must return to Milan, and reconsider the matter ; they would soon see him before their gates, when he should find them, he had no doubt, if not wiser, at least more submissive, as had happened before. But new differences with the Pontifical See delayed, for a season, the execution of this threat. Q. There was a rumour in those days that Adrian, re- New dlf * J ences \vi... membering now the offence against his legates, now the the Pope. ostentation and insolence of the Imperial Commissioners in the lands of the Church, now the heavy requisitions with which they had oppressed his castellans, was often heard to repeat, that he had received nothing from Frederick, in return for all the benefits conferred upon him, but insult, annoyance, and ingratitude. He was, in fact, in just the state of mind to break openly with the Emperor, when, as a crowning provo- cation, came that new law of Roncaglia concerning the regalia, which burdened and wronged, beyond all precedent, not only the Communes and Barons, but the Bishops and Abbots of Italy ; wherefore he immediately wrote to him to complain of it, as of a thing contrary to the honour and liberty of the Church ; and his letter, although it seemed at first sight kind and conciliatory, was found, when more closely considered, to contain a sharp and severe admonition ; it was sent, moreover, by the hand of a man of low degree, who, as soon as he had delivered it, whether in obedience to his orders or because he knew no better, disappeared. There had been diffcr- th 2i 8 THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES, BOOK iv. a disagreement also with regard to the advancement of Guidonc, a young ecclesiastic, son of the Count of Biandrate, whom Frederick wished to make Anselm's successor in the Church of Ravenna. Adrian, when urged to consent to this, had refused, partly because Guidone was too young for so high a dignity, and partly because he secretly desired to keep him near himself, as a pledge for the good offices of his father, who had great influence with the Emperor : to which end he had already made him a cardinal, and, although he was only a sub-deacon, had provided him with a church in Rome. After that refusal the Emperor, ill enduring to have a desire of his disregarded, had commanded that thenceforwards, in his letters to the Pope, his own name should be placed first, as was done in writing to the Bishops, and that the Pope should be addressed in the second person singular. It is true that this mode of address was in early times common to all ; but long before now it had become customary, from some sentiment of respect and reverence, for the Emperor and the Pope, in their letters, to address one another in the second person plural. Thus the non-observance of this ordinary mark of respect was very significant, and added no little fuel to the discord between the heads of the Empire and of the Church ; insomuch that it was currently reported, in those days, that letters had been intercepted from the Pope, wherein he instigated the Milanese to rebellion. 10. It appearing then to Frederick, that he would be able to compose these dissensions with the Pope with greater ex- pedition and advantage whilst encamped in Romagna, he convoked a Diet in Bologna ; to which, through the wise and seasonable intervention of Eberhardt, Bishop of Bamberg, who was much grieved to see the matters in dispute between the Empire and the Church thus multiplying, and becoming more and more complicated, the Pope condescended to send four Cardinals, that they might take timely measures to smooth down those swellings of anger and pride, which seemed likely to occasion most serious calamities in Christen- dom. Here, first of all, the Emperor placed the Milanese under the ban, as contumacious rebels, and enemies to the Empire, adjudging their property to pillage, and their persons to servitude. After this he came to treat with the Cardinals, BOOK iv. THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. 219 who demanded : that the Emperor should not send his Com- missioners into Rome, without the consent of the Pope ; because in Rome all the magistrates and the regalia were St. Peter's. That he should not collect the foderum from the subjects of the Church, excepting at the time of his coronation ; that the Bishops of Italy should take the oath of allegiance to the Emperor, but not do him homage ; that the Imperial Commissioners should not take up their residence at pleasure in the episcopal palaces ; and that there should be restored to the Church its possessions and tributes, as those of Ferrara, Massa, Figuerola, of all the patrimony of the Countess Matilda, of all the land between Acquapen- dente and Rome, of the Duchy of Spoleto, of Corsica, and of Sardinia. The Emperor, in reply, did not refuse to discuss these matters, and have them all equitably settled, provided that equal justice should be rendered to him in those things whereof he had cause to complain ; he alleged that the treaty with himself had been broken by the conventions made by the Pope with the Greeks, with the Sicilian Prince, and with the Romans ; conventions which ought not to have been concluded, nor so much as entered upon, without his consent. He also complained of the Cardinals, who, without his per- mission, passed at their pleasure through the lands of the Empire, lodged in the palaces of the Bishops, and burdened the churches. Finally, he demanded that a restraint should be imposed upon the many unreasonable appeals to the Court of Rome. To the demands of the Cardinals he replied : that he would dispense with the homage of the Bishops of Italy, if they were willing to relinquish his regalia. That the Imperial Commissioners should not take up their abode in the episcopal palaces, if any Bishop could be found who had built his palace on his own ground. But as they were all built upon Imperial soil, and everything follows the condition of the land, those palaces belonged to the Emperor, and it was only reasonable that his Commissioners should find hospitality there. With regard to his not sending his Commissioners to Rome, that was a thing which touched him to the quick, a thing of the gravest importance, which required long and mature consideration ; for he, by right divine, was Roman Emperor, and there would remain of this 220 THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. JJOOK iv. but the semblance and the name, if he should be deprived of every kind of dominion within the city of Rome. After much disputing, the Emperor, to facilitate the agreement, proposed that all these matters should be taken cognisance of by six Cardinals on the Pope's part, and by six Bishops on his own, and that they should decide every question. To this the Pope, as one who ought not to be subject to the judgment of others, refused to consent, and protested that he would have no other agreement than that already made by Pope Eugenius with Frederick ; an agreement which the lat- ter now considered worthless, as having been violated by the Pope ; principally when, without his knowledge, he had made peace with the King of Sicily. The Romans, on becoming aware of the difficulties in the way of this accommodation, seized their opportunity, and sent envoys to Frederick, seek- ing to reinstate themselves in his favour, to the contempt and prejudice of the Pontifical authority. Frederick, it is true, received those envoys, but presently dismissed them ; for in those days, beyond all doubt, he honestly desired to get rid of this controversy with the Pope, foreseeing how greatly his enmity would embarrass him in the war upon which he was entering with the cities of Lombardy. II. In the midst of these negotiations, Frederick received intelligence that Trezzo was closely besieged by the Milanese ; whereupon, casting aside every other thought, he instantly hastened off in that direction, and riding with those who could follow him fastest, was at Lodi in three days, with the view of succouring Trezzo, the castle in which he had placed his treasure and many hostages, and which was, on that side, the key of the Milanese territory. But the only reward of all that haste was the earlier knowledge of his loss. For the Milanese, from the day when they rose against the Imperial Commissioners, felt that the die was cast, and that they must put forth their whole strength in this struggle, which, whether it should issue in victory or in ruin, seemed likely to be for them the final one ; and, thinking that at present the seizure of Trezzo would be of more advantage to them than any other enterprise, they at once resolved to attempt it ; the rather be- cause Conrad di Mazze, Governor of that castle, had begun to make inroads into their possessions on the Adda, and to BOOK iv. THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUTES. 221 impose the foderum and 'all kinds of burdens upon the in- habitants of those parts, as far as the parish of Segrate. Departing then by night with the engines, they arrived under Trezzo unexpectedly, and, immediately surrounding it, at- tacked it with great vigour ; some fighting with bows, and some with slings, whilst others advanced the engines to the wall, others, under cover of a testudo, went to sap the foundations, and another band stood ready with the scaling ladders. This went on for two days ; on the third the besieged, dismayed from the first, and now wearied and exhausted, were already beginning to think of surrender, when some of the Milanese saw an angle of the wall undefended, and instantly scaled it there. Having taken the castle, they put the greater part of the inhabitants to the sword, led away captive eighty Germans, liberated their hostages, and, having brought forth the booty, whatever it might be, set the whole place on fire. This victory greatly increased the fame of the Milanese, and almost restored them to their former reputa- tion among the peoples of Lombardy ; the rather because of a report which was spread abroad, and exaggerated as it passed from mouth to mouth, that they had found the vaults of the castle all full of gold and silver. 12. Frederick greatly lamented this loss, and left nothing Events un untried to repair it. With such forces as he had with him, toVhe" 1 he went round about the borders of the Milanese territory, Milanese - making inroads now and then ; being unable to undertake anything of importance, until the arrival of the reinforce- ments which he was expecting from Germany. He com- manded the Marquis William to put strong garrisons into the neighbouring castles of Montferrat ; above all, he took every care to fortify New Lodi, foreseeing that it would prove, during this contest, a secure and convenient place in which to assemble his forces and store up his ammunition. From thence he went to Como, where he was received with great honour by the people, who hailed him as their deliverer. There was in the Lake of Como a small island, abounding in wealth, and full of brave men, inured to a nautical life, who had been long in alliance with the Milanese. The ardent devotion which was now manifested towards him in that neighbour- hood, suggested to him the thought of attempting to take 222 THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. BOOK iv. this little isle ; and he had hardly reached the shore, when the inhabitants surrendered ; and they continued faithful to him throughout the war. After this he turned towards Piacenza, either in order to put into execution the sentence of Roncaglia, or because, a short time before, a band of Piacentines, lying in wait on the borders of the Genoese territory, had attacked and taken captive some of his servants, who were bringing from Genoa the large sum of money which had been promised to him. Pressing forwards in that direc- tion, although he had but a few men with him, he spurred into Piacenza ; whilst the inhabitants stood irresolute, as if overcome by the fear of making themselves, by offending against his person, altogether rebels. Frederick, pressed upon continually by new mischances, ever more and more serious, now in one place and now in another, refrained from doing anything against their city, beyond making such municipal alterations as pleased him ; and when he had recovered the money, he immediately departed for Lodi, greatly fearing that some evil might have befallen it in his absence, as it was not yet completely fortified. The fear was by no means unreasonable. But he was soon reassured, finding, on his arrival, that the Lodigians, even with- out his support, had courage enough to meet any peril. The Milanese, remembering the sufferings of the former siege, were at this time very anxious to lay up a store of provisions ; and as their own lands were all ravaged and spoiled, they sought to indemnify themselves from those of their hostile neighbours. Accordingly, as soon as they heard that Fre- derick had set out for Piacenza, they sent five hundred of their horsemen to pillage in the territory of Lodi. These were returning through the fields, laden with plunder, and driving before them much cattle which they had stolen, and, as often happens after a successful foray, were in straggling order, and quite off their guard, when a band of Lodigians, under the command of Carsidonio, Bishop of Mantua, and Garnerio, Marquis of Ancona, suddenly attacked them, re- covered the spoil, and, without giving them time to set them- selves in array, overcame them one after another, slew two of the principal patricians, who were fighting bravely and BOOK iv. THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. 223 calling on their men to stand ; and, pursuing the fugitives, took fourteen prisoners. The Milanese, impatient under this defeat, attempted, not long after, to surprise Lodi by night, in conjunction with the men of Crema. They arranged that these should make the first assault near the bridge on the Adda, which was not yet finished, intending, when the Lodigians should have run thither to defend it, themselves to assail them on the western side, which looks towards Milan. But the Lodigians bore themselves so valiantly at both points of attack, that the attempt came to nothing ; and of the Milanese who had advanced as far as the Grecian Wood, many were slain, amongst the rest a son of Vassallo, of the Comacina Gate. 13. Now here it is related by a German writer, that the Attempts Milanese, exasperated at their ill-success, sent into the Ger- Frederick's man camp a man of stolid mind and prodigious strength, who, 1] half-witted though he was, had sense enough to know what was the general desire of his city ; that he, having disarmed suspicion by his crazy pranks, whether natural or assumed, passed early one morning through the sentinels, made his way to the Imperial tent, rushed furiously upon the Emperor, and dragged him out to throw him into the Adda ; and that Frederick was with difficulty rescued by his attendants, who, having set him at liberty, instantly hurled that madman into the deep water of the river. Soon after this, according to the same historian, secret intelligence was conveyed to Frederick that a magician s whether Italian or Saracen was not known, old, deformed, and squinting, and attended by twenty disciples, was coming to attempt his life. He was famous, it was said, for making charms, and for preparing very potent poisons ; and he and his followers, holding death in contempt, were willing, if they might but succeed, to perish in this enterprise. He was bringing gems, and rings, and jewels of every kind, with gold and silver bridle-bits, and spurs, and stirrups, all anointed and impregnated with so subtle a poison, that whoever should touch them with the naked hand would die. He had also a concealed dagger, with which to accomplish his purpose, should the poison fail. These things being known in the camp, they kept on the watch for the sorcerer. In short, not 224 THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. BOOK iv TheCre- Crema. many days after, he arrived, was recognised by the description which had preceded him, and immediately arrested ; and when asked who had induced him to attempt this crime, and told that if he revealed the truth he should be spared all punishment, and if he withheld it should die by torture, scorning both threat and promise, with a solemn voice he warned his captors to beware what they did to him ; the first to feel the effects of it would be the Emperor, Frederick, who was present, instantly saw through the cunning of this miscreant ; and, after all the tortures that could be inflicted upon him had failed to extort any con- fession, he condemned him to be crucified. However it may be with regard to these stories, certain it is, that nothing in those days lay nearer to the hearts of the Milanese than the destruction of Lodi, that new town, which they saw continually becoming stronger and more populous. By large promises, they induced eight men of their city to go thither in disguise, disperse themselves on every side, and try to set it on fire. One of these was caught in the act, setting fire to some houses by night, and, having con- fessed his crime, was hung the next morning without the walls, on the side looking towards Milan ; together with ano- ther, who, in the garb of a monk, had come thither on the same bad errand. : 4- Thus, recently, every hostile attempt of the Milanese, great or small, had returned upon their own heads ; and to r their other misfortunes must be added the defeat of the Brescians, their brave allies ; who, excited by so many innovations and rumours of war, and restless in inactivity, made, about this time, an inroad into the territory of the Cremonese. These having received warning, lay in ambush to await them ; and rushing out upon them unexpectedly, so completely overcame them that, besides killing and wounding many, they took prisoners sixty horsemen and three hundred of the infantry. \^. The Cremascans, as may be remembered, had taken P art wit h tne Milanese in the recent attempt against Lodi ; anc j this emboldened the Cremonese to renew more ur- gently their former offer to the Emperor, of fourteen thou- sand marks of silver for leave to encamp against Crema BOOK iv. THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. 225 and destroy it. Frederick, whose heart was lifted up by the recent successes against the Milanese, and by the longed-for intelligence, lately received, of the approach of the aids from Germany, perceived not, or did not regard, the infamy with which he was staining the Imperial dignity by thus making merchandise of the substance and of the lives of the Cremas- cans. These, as they had committed an offence against his Commissioners, might justly have been punished by him ; but to abandon them for vile money to the inveterate enmity of their neighbours, was an act of base cupidity, to which none but an alien, who cared not for the people, would ever have stooped. On July 7, then, the Cremonese, with his permission, and the promise of being speedily joined by him, came under Crema. But before they were quite encamped, they were unexpectedly attacked by the Cremascans, and forced to fight in self-defence, and with great loss, there being slain, amongst many others, Garnerio, Marquis of Ancona. This gave them some foretaste of what they were about to encounter under those walls. Having afterwards set themselves in array against the city, and fortified their camp as well as they could with entrenchments and palisades, they were content, for the present, to confine themselves to the preparation of their engines. The Milanese, at the first report of the siege of Crema, dispatched to its assistance four hundred infantry and a few horsemen, led by one of the Consuls, Manfre da di Dugnano, and by the patricians Obizzo di Madregnano, Squarzaparte da Bucinate, Oldrato di Basilicapietri, and Gaspero Menelozio, all whose expenses they paid ; and the Brescians in like manner sent troops to succour it. 1 6. The departure of the Consul with this strong subsidy Defeat of for Crema, encouraged Frederick to approach the walls of the e se at aT-" Milanese more closely, in the hope of inducing them to come va g nara - forth for some trial of arms upon the plain. Three days afterwards he took up his position, with three hundred horse- men, at Cavagnara, stationing the infantry and horsemen .of Pavia at Settezano and Grattafoglia, and others at Vicomag- giore. Then he commanded a hundred of the horsemen at Grattafoglia to go forth, pillaging, under Milan ; and when Q 226 THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. BOOK iv. they should be pursued, to retreat by the road which led to Cavagnara, whence he would dart forth to take their pursuers on the flank. The stratagem was not altogether unsuccessful ; but the Milanese came out with such fury to repulse the in- road of the Pavese horsemen, that these, who ought to have retreated in simulated fear, were presently scattered in real flight. Thus, chased and closely pressed upon, they were thrown out of the way to the place of ambush ; and before they had passed Porto Lungo, were nearly all made prisoners. The Emperor, divining what had occurred, sent the rest of the Pavese by the same road to their assistance ; and he himself, with his horsemen, followed by a strong body of infantry, hastened straight towards Milan ; and fell so suddenly upon the Milanese, then going home in disorder, that he snatched from them the victory of which they had thought themselves secure. Overpowered and confounded by that unlooked-for attack, they could neither fly nor form them- selves for battle. In no long time they were surrounded on every side, and all that place was full of the wounded and the slain, of dead horses, broken arms, and terror. Three hundred and more were taken prisoners (amongst whom, of the patricians, were Codemalo dei Pusterla, Guidone and Enrico di Landriano, Passaguada di Settara, Abbatico di Milano, Marcellino, Ugone Crusta, Manfredo Bando, Arderio Nasello, Nigro Grasso, and Pagano Borro, who were led away in bonds to the prisons of Pavia), and a hundred and fifty were found slain in the fields and on the roads, without counting the drowned and the wounded, who were gathered together towards evening, and carried into the city. The Emperor did not venture, even after this, to press for- wards and attack Milan, but, fixed in his resolve to reduce it, as before, by a long blockade, he went for many days with his horsemen round about it, causing the crops to be trampled on and burnt, the vines to be cut down, the trees to be barked, and the farmhouses set on fire. Meanwhile, the envoys of the Roman Senate and people came to him again, praying that he would not suffer that, for the perversity and folly of a few plebeians, it should go ill with them, who were noble and honourable, and through whom it was that he had been hailed as Emperor in Rome : BOOK iv. THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. 227 that he would confirm to them those institutions which re- newed the glory of the ancient Republic ; and they, delivered from every other power, would always be faithful to him. Although Frederick distrusted and disliked the innovations in Rome no whit less than those against which he was fight- ing in Lombardy, it was nevertheless acceptable to him, and very convenient for his designs, that the Romans, in their disputes with the Pope, should have recourse to his authority ; wherefore he graciously received those envoys, kept them some days in his camp, and, on their departure, honoured them with costly gifts, and sent with them two ambassadors, Otho Count Palatine of Bavaria and Heribert Provost of Acqui, charged to conciliate the goodwill of the Pope, and take mea- sures for the re-establishment of the Senate and Prefect of Rome. Then, after he had so utterly devastated the country of the Milanese, that even in that season his men could hardly find pasture for the horses, he repaired with all his army to the siege of Crema. 17. Crema was a small, but strong city, situated on the Frederick -.... , , , . goes to the right bank of the Seno, in a low place, marshy in some parts siege of because of the frequent overflowing of its river. Wide and Crema - deep ditches, full of water, with double walls, the outer one of great height, at that time surrounded it. It was inhabited by men naturally brave, and, by the continual fighting upon their borders, inured to war ; amongst their municipal boasts was proudly remembered their glorious defence against Lothaire ; they considered themselves a free people, and their city im- pregnable. It was formerly % subject to the Bishops of Cremona, but when the Commune of Cremona succeeded to the power of the Bishop, Crema withdrew itself, and joined the Milanese ; and it had ever since continued faithful to them. Wherefore there had been now for several generations a deadly enmity between the Cremascans and the Cremonese ; so that, even when they were not at open war, they would come, as if for sport, on Sundays and feast days, after the services and the wine, to confront one another on the banks of their river ; and defiances, insults, arrows, and blows would be exchanged between them. The Emperor encamped on the left bank of the Serio, not far from the Rivolta Gate ; where were already the Cremonese, Q 2 228 THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. BOOK iv. who had constructed there a wooden castle, three balistas, many catapults, and two tolerably large cats. All this appearing insufficient to Frederick, he soon caused another wooden castle to be made, higher and stronger than any which had yet been seen ; and a cat of marvellous size, which was intended, in the first instance, to open a way for the other engines, and to protect those who were carrying earth, timber, and casks to fill up the ditch ; for this instrument of war was made to serve various purposes in a siege, according to occasion ; sometimes the head of the beam with which it was armed, and which was called the ram, was covered with iron or brass, and made to strike with force, like a ram's head, again and again against the walls ; and sometimes there was fastened to this beam an iron hook, called a sickle, with which were drawn down from the walls the loosened stones, and also as many of the enemy as might be caught by it. Conrad Count Palatine of the Rhine, the Emperor's brother, with the forces of Otho Count Palatine of Bavaria, was posted opposite to the Ombriana Gate. And between this and the Gate of Plavengo, beyond the Malgolzo, was stationed Duke Conrad, son of King Conrad, with many Barons of Germany. Whilst these were being thus distributed and encamped around Crema, there arrived, on August 12, the Empress Beatrice, with Henry the Lion, Duke of Bavaria and Saxony, at the head of a very powerful army. The Empress, after some days, departed with a strong escort for Lodi ; where she found, during the whole time of this siege, a pleasant and secure abiding place, in a city especially dear to her, as having been founded and fortified by her lord. Henry remained with the besiegers, and took up his position in the space before the Gate of Plavengo. The Pavese militias, which had assembled there, were posted further on, towards the Gate of the Serio ; and when afterwards Duke Guelf, the uncle of Henry and of the Emperor, arrived with his forces, Frederick gave up his post to him, and established himself on the other bank of the Serio, between the Rivolta and Ombriana Gates, near to the castle constructed by the Cremonese. Thus the Cremascans were shut up within their walls on every side, so that no man could go out or come in, without BOOK iv. THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. 229 being seen and shot at by the enemy. For all this, they did not lose courage ; they were amply supplied with provisions, with arms, and with cunning artificers, amongst whom was one, by name Marchisio, who in skill, but not in patriotic virtue, was almost equal to Maestro Guglielmo Guintellino ; and they hoped, not unreasonably, that the Milanese and the Brescians, who had already sent a good number of their militias to take part in their dangers, would in due time make a diversion in their favour, and save them from being over- whelmed. Meanwhile, they and their allies failed not to make frequent sallies, now against the Germans, now against the Cremonese, and now against the men of Pavia. One day, early in the morning, before all in the camp were awake, they went forth by the Ombriana Gate with fire and bitumen, and ran with all their might towards the cat which was being made for the Emperor, near the pavilion of his brother, Duke Conrad, intending to set it on fire. The guards hastened to the spot, but not before the Cremascans had thrown the burning bitumen upon that engine. At the noise of the ensuing fight, Duke Conrad, Robert Count of Bassavilla, and other Barons, with their followers, came up to help the guards, so that the Cremascans, who had already lost four of their number, were forced to turn and flee ; and as they thronged together at the gate, some of them, who could not immediately make their way in, threw themselves into the ditch, and perished miserably in the water. Wherefore, in the evening of that day, the Cremascans were seen coming with boats and hooks to drag out the bodies of the drowned, weeping and wailing greatly over a loss which, as it then appeared, might have been so easily avoided. But they soon recovered from this disaster ; as they showed on the day when Frederick went to meet the Empress at San Bassano, a castle not far from the camp. For they no sooner became aware of his absence, than they went forth with a hundred horse and a good number of infantry against that part of the encampment which contained the Imperial pavilion. At this insult, all in the camp ran to arms, and stood in array, suspecting some surprise in another part. Presently, however, they came to blows with the Cremascans, and both sides fought for many hours with equal ardour and 230 THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. BOOK iv. equal fortune, the battle swaying to and fro from the camp to the walls, from the walls to the camp. But the Germans, although more numerous, could not drive in that valiant band ; on the contrary, towards evening, the Cremascans, having received reinforcements, compelled the Germans to fight in their own quarters, and afterwards, as victorious, slowly returned to the city. Cruelties in 1 8. The Emperor, when he heard on his return of this Deria? 1 " sa lly> was amazed and enraged at the audacity of these citizens, camp. who, instead of coming before him as suppliants for their lives, had ventured out to attack him, and brought no little confusion and dismay into his encampment. And as this was not the last time, but again and again in their nocturnal sallies the Cremascans cast fire upon the engines, or over- threw the works of the sappers, who were levelling a road for them, and always left a good many of the enemy dead or wounded under the walls, the proud heart of Frederick was greatly exasperated, and angry, scornful words escaped him, and threats against the besieged. These being heard by the soldiers, who are naturally ready to see and to do what pleases him who commands them, they began in that camp to insult and mutilate the bodies of the slain, and to practise cruelties upon the wounded ; cutting off their heads, and tossing them up as balls, or kicking them about as footballs in the meadow ; impious sport, which failed not to provoke the besieged to similar atrocities. These made the rage of Frederick still fiercer ; and, per- suaded that he was not bound, with regard to the Cremascans, by any of those usages which are observed between enemies in war, he resolved to proceed against two of the prisoners judicially, as rebels, although those unhappy men were in no- wise more guilty than the rest of the Cremascans. Having brought them before the court, which sat opposite to the Gate of the Serio, he desired the princes, barons, and jurisconsults there present, to consider whether these two Cremascans, who had fought against him, and incurred the ban of the Empire, were not therefore worthy of death. The court sat long in deliberation on a question which, if of easy solution in ordinary times, could not, under existing circumstances, be resolved according to the strict letter of the law, without opening the BOOK IV. THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. 231 way to endless cruelty. At last, however, they came to the decision, that justice required that those two Cremascans should die. As soon as this sentence became known in Crema, the Consuls sent word to the Emperor, that, if it should be acted upon, they would hang two men of his to avenge the death of their citizens. Frederick did not believe that they would be, as he said, so demented as to carry out that threat, and ordered that the sentence should be executed. Where- upon the Cremascans instantly brought up two of their prisoners, and hung them upon the wall. On this Frederick's wrath rose high, and he gave notice by proclamation to the Cremascans, that for them there was now no way left of ob- taining pardon and peace ; that they must put forth all their strength ; that they must fight for their lives as desperate men ; for he would destroy them all as rebels, root and branch, before he left that camp ; and immediately afterwards, as if possessed by an infernal spirit, he commanded that all the hostages and prisoners that were in his hands, sixty in number, should be hung upon the many gallows which he had had set up around the walls. Then came the bishops, abbots, and religious men who were in the host, and, falling at his feet, besought him with tears that he, who ought to be as the fountain of mercy and of justice, would refrain from thus gratifying the hatred and ferocity of those who had urged him, for their own revenge, to issue that command ; a com- mand which could not be executed without great dishonour to himself, and manifest injury to his cause. Frederick, after hearing them, hesitated a while ; then, as if he could neither entirely grant, nor altogether reject their petition, he con- tented himself with sending to the gallows nine only of those prisoners, all men of note in Milan. Amongst them was one of the Pirovani, nephew to the Milanese Archbishop, whom availed not either the gold which he offered for his ransom, or the gracious, honeyed words of his uncle at Ron- caglia ; of which he reminded the Germans in vain. 19. By this time that enormous cat, which has been men- Repulse of tioned, had been propelled, little by little, to the edge of the luact ditch. Then 200 casks, supplied by the Lodigians, and filled with earth, were rolled into the water ; upon these were thrown more than 2,000 cartloads of gravel ; and on this 232 THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. BOOK iv. much heavy timber was laid flat, and strongly bound together ; so that a broad road was made for the great castle of the Cremonese, which was being drawn forwards behind the cat. The Cremascans, as soon as they saw the preparations for this first attack, took, of the many engines which they had in readiness, five great balistas, and many catapults of great power, and planted them on the wall, where it was threatened ; and when the castle came within the range of arrows, and its archers began to shoot, they hurled against it from those engines various missiles, and stones of such a weight that, after not much fighting, it became evident to him who com- manded in the castle, that he had entered upon an unequal contest, which would become still more perilous and ruinous, if his castle should go nearer to the wall. On the other hand, as it was now so furiously assailed, and already not a little shattered, and the road by which it had come was spoilt, and strewn with stones, and arms, and broken timber, it. was no easy matter to retreat ; nor, perhaps, would the pride of the first encounter have permitted him to attempt it. In this extremity, those hostages and prisoners which, not many days before, had been saved from a cruel death, were ordered by the Emperor to be brought thither from their prisons ; and, after he had caused them to be bound hand and foot with chains, he commanded that they should be suspended by ropes passing under their arms, and be tied to the sides of the castle most exposed to the arrows and stones ; and that the assault should be continued. 20. At the first uncertain rumour of this atrocity, the people hastened to the wall ; in a moment along its circuit was seen a crowd of persons, pressing one upon another, and leaning from those battlements. The very combatants ceased fighting and left their engines ; and all, thrilled with horror, saw those unhappy men put forth, one by one, from the windows of the castle, let down to various heights, and sus- pended in the air. But those who came in fear that they might see amongst them sons or brothers of their own, passed rapidly between man and man, hastening to the place more opposite to the castle ; arrived there, they scanned their faces ; and, recognising them, with loud and sorrowful voices called to them by name ; and at the piteous cries which were heard BOOK iv. THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. 233 in answer, a sound of lamentation arose along the wall ; no other feeling being possible for the moment, but that of com- passion for their kinsmen. Amongst those thus exposed to death, some were but boys, children that had been taken as hostages from the patricians of Milan. These were heard crying ; and amidst the crying came prayers for help that rent every heart ; but great above all was the grief of the Milanese ; who, standing around their Consul, with lowered spears, wept for them bitterly. This city was not their own, but theirs was that blood which they must shed with their own hands to save it ; and they felt that it did not become them, in the general distress, to show any other sign of the agony which they endured within than that silent weeping. Never was the human heart exposed to a more cruel trial. What wonder if for a while they hesitated, if for a while they knew not what to do ? When behold, the Cremonese, seeing that the besieged, for their friends' sake, had ceased shooting, began, with loud cries and triumphant shouts, to push the castle on again. Already were their archers seen laying down their bows, seizing their spears, taking up their shields, and pre- paring to throw out the bridge. A few steps more, and the enemy would be upon the wall. At that sight the Consul of Crema, Giovanni de Medici, could restrain himself no longer. Suddenly stepping forwards, spear in hand, where the throng was greatest, he raised the cry to the people, that cry which could always incite the Italians of those days to great deeds : ' People, people, help.! up, up, to defend these walls ! at this moment our mothers, our wives, our children, all things most precious and sacred to us here, are hanging, like those inno- cents, over an abyss. The avarice of the German has sold us to the Cremonese. Let us be men, then, and fight : the right is on our side ; ours, as in the days of Lothaire, shall be the victory. And if otherwise, O citizens, to yield this city to the foreigner, to serve Cremona, and not death, is death to us Cremascans.' So saying, with all his might he hurled his spear ; all hurled their spears ; they ran to the engines ; and soon sent such a storm of arrows, lances, and great stones against that castle, that it reeled heavily, and stood still. The Emperor had remained at hand, sternly awaiting the result of his experiment, and he was amazed 234 THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. BOOK iv. and horrified, as at something supernatural, when he saw with what sudden energy the besieged resumed the defence, not sparing the blood of those so dear to them. Nevertheless, he allowed the attack to be continued, hoping that their fury would soon cease. But finding, on the contrary, that it was continually increasing, and that the castle was in danger of being battered to pieces, he at last gave orders that it should be brought back into a safe place, that those suspended ones should be removed from it, and that it should be repaired and made stronger ; after which, livid with rage and vexation, and not without casting a severe reproach upon the Cremonese, who had committed him to that assault with an inefficient engine, he retired into his pavilion to digest the bitterness and disgrace of so great a crime, not the less wicked because ineffectual. The besieged, as soon as they perceived that the Cremo- nese were trying to turn the castle back, gave over shooting ; but when they saw it retreating, all spattered with blood, and with many mangled forms depending from those ropes, in- flamed with wrath and burning for revenge, they dragged upon the wall several prisoners, amongst whom were Albrigono Loccabaffa of Lodi, and Balerto Montaggio of Cremona, and slew them there ; for a reproach, they exclaimed, and for a curse, upon him who forced us, by his infamous device, to kill our kinsmen and our friends. When the castle had been brought into a place of safety, nine of those suspended from it were found already dead ; these were, of Milan, Codemalo dei Pusterla, Enrico di Land- riano, Pagniero de Lampugnani, a son of Azzone Azerone, and a son of Buzzo di Santo Blatore ; of Crema, the priest of Calusco, Truco de Bonate, and Anino di Galioso, with one other. Amongst those still alive, but crushed and disfigured, with broken arms and legs, were Giovanni Gareffo, Negro Grasso, Squarzaparte da Bucinate, Ugone Crusta, and many others of Milan ; and, of Crema, Arderico Bianco, and Sozzo Berondi. BOOKV. THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. BOOK V. 1. AT the report of this atrocity, the peoples of Lombardy Hatred of were greatly moved; the Imperial name became vile amongst agtinst P< them, and the aversion already felt for Frederick was Fredenck - much increased ; that day having shown that, in the fury of his anger, he would shrink from no expedient, however base and cruel, to further his tyrannical designs. The knightly prowess which he showed in battle, the dignity of his rank, the nobility of his birth, qualities held in those times in the highest estimation, all availed nothing against the disgust and horror with which these peoples now regarded him ; so that from this time, all his other appellations being laid aside, a thing that had never happened to any of his predecessors, he came to be commonly called Barbarossa (Redbeard], that red beard of his being taken as the sign of a wrathful, bloodthirsty mind ; and his name thenceforth, for many generations, throughout the land of Lombardy, was hated and feared as death. 2. Amidst this general indignation, the Piacentines were League the first to join themselves openly to the Milanese ; whereupon Milan, Frederick, as if better pleased to have them for declared pfacelfza, enemies than distrusted friends, which they had for some time and the been to him, instantly put them under the ban of the Empire. Then it was that the peoples of Milan, Brescia, and Piacenza concluded, for their common safety, a new and closer alliance with one another ; and with one accord sent envoys to the Pope, whom they knew to be now more than ever exaspe- rated against Frederick, on account of the intrigues of his Ambassadors with the Romans, and established with him an agreement, that none of the parties should come to an ac- commodation with the Emperor without the participation of the rest ; and that, within a certain term, Adrian should excommunicate him. 236 THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. BOOK v. Death of Adrian. Double election to the Ponti- fical See. 3. But it came to pass, that before the expiration of that term, Adrian died ; and the Cardinals elected in his stead Rolando, Cardinal of St. Mark's and Chancellor of the Roman Church, who at first seemed disposed, out of modesty, to decline so great an office. Whereupon two Cardinals, sup- ported by Otho Count Palatine of Bavaria, and Guido Count of Biandrate, who, as Ambassadors of the Emperor, were then in Rome, immediately elected Ottaviano, Cardinal of St. Cecilia's. He not having the diffidence of Rolando, readily accepted the dignity ; and, being favoured by the nobility of Rome, both because he was a Roman, and because he had the support of the Imperial Ambassadors, who were earnestly endeavouring to obtain a pontiff that might be acceptable to the Emperor, he remained in Rome as Pope, threw Rolando, who had now assumed the name of Alexander III., into prison, and, after he had won over to his side a few Bishops, caused himself to be consecrated, under the name of Victor III. But, eight days after, the Roman people, indignant at the injustice and violence done to him who was believed to have been canonically elected, and instigated also by the Frangi- pani, liberated Alexander, acknowledged him as Pope, and did homage to him ; yet, such were the discords amongst them, that he could find no obedience or safety in Rome, but was obliged to leave it ; and after he had been conse- crated Pope by the Bishop of Ostia, he sent nuncios to the Emperor, then at the siege of Crema, to explain to him the legitimacy of his election, and to ascertain his intentions at a period so critical for the Church. Frederick had had some experience of the integrity and firmness of Alexander, who had been sent, on several occasions, as a legate to his court, and was convinced that he would never second his present designs as to Italy ; moreover he was now excited and almost maddened by the sallies and the horrible atrocities of this siege ; so when the nuncios came before him and presented the letter of the Pope, he not only rejected it, but, in a sudden fury, commanded that those nuncios should be hung by the neck upon the gallows; and it was only through the intervention of Duke Henry the Lion, and of Duke Guelf, his uncle, that they escaped unharmed. These two princes having afterwards represented to him very seriously the doubt which still existed BOOKV. THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. 237 with regard to these elections, and the great injury that would result both to the Church and to the Empire, if the threatened schism should become confirmed, Frederick, after some days, issued a proclamation, whereby he signified, that an GEcume- nical Council alone could decide the question of this double election to the Pontifical See ; and that, it appertaining to him as Emperor, to convoke such a council, he accordingly con- voked an CEcumenical Council to assemble at Pavia on the octave of the next Epiphany ; and he appointed two bishops to summon the two rivals to appear before it. Thus at a time when three schisms, which had done much mischief in Italy, were still within the memory of living men, there now arose a fourth, the greatest and most pernicious of them all, to vex the Christian world ; for not only did it long divide the churches and the nations of the West against each other, but in Italy, cities and even families were infected by the fierce contentions between the Empire and the Church, and the factions of the Guelfs and Ghibellines took root amongst them ; factions which, imported from Germany, brought upon the generations that came after, evils and cala- mities greater than can be told. Posterity, no longer inflamed with the party zeal of those days, sees in this, as in the three preceding schisms, nothing of religion, excepting the scandal and the terror. 4. The alliance between Milan, Piacenza, and Brescia Attempt i 1 1 T-> -n/r-1 against the being at this time joined by .Bergamo, the Milanese were not Castle of a little encouraged, and they forthwith resolved to go forth Manerbl0 -, with some of their militias to besiege Manerbio, a castle near the Lake of Como, in the hope of diverting the Emperor from thesiegeof Crema. But Count Gozzolino, who commanded in the districts of Seprio and Martesana, having received intelli- gence of their design, entered that castle to defend it ; and, whilst awaiting aid from the Emperor, contrived so to with- stand and harass the Milanese, now by making, now by threat- ening sallies, that he kept them at bay, without ever coming to an engagement, until he received a reinforcement of five hun- dred horsemen ; whereupon, vigorously taking the field against them, he forced them to retreat, and inflicted heavy loss upon them, before they could regain the shelter of their walls. 5. Thus this movement on the part of the Milanese did 238 THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. ROOKY Repulse of not draw Frederick away from Crema ; on the contrary, when attackupon he heard that they had been driven back to Milan, he set Crema. himself more earnestly than ever to hasten the operations of the siege, for he foresaw that if it could not be brought to a speedy conclusion, he would have to endure under those walls all the hardships of a winter campaign ; and he knew that many in his camp, as if the expedition had been at an end, would soon ask permission to go home. The engines which he and his Barons had begun to con- struct were of so great a size that their like had never been seen in Italy ; nevertheless, either because they were not quite finished, or because he wished to give the Cremonese, who took the lead of all in this enterprise, an opportunity of wiping out the disgrace of their recent failure, he commanded that a second attempt should be made with the Cremonese engines. The cat and that castle had now been repaired, and made stronger and more solid, being covered, for the single defence which they had before, with a double one, consisting of wicker- work, leather, and woollen cloths. Thus strengthened, then, they were pushed forwards, as at first, against the storm of stones and arrows which came upon them from the city ; the cat especially was pushed so close that its ram could reach the wall, which it battered with great force and effect. The besieged, in expectation of this second attack, had made a mine, whereby, passing under the wall, they could come out in that part of the ditch which had been filled up near to the cat ; and from this they now crept forth to burn the engines. But the men of the castle and of the cat discovered them in time, hastened against them, and drove them back under- ground ; whereupon the Cremascans immediately filled up the mine, and tried another plan. Perceiving that they could not long defend that part of the wall which the cat was battering with its ram, since it was already much shaken and partly thrown down, they diligently raised behind it, toiling day and night, a lofty buttress, upon which they placed very powerful catapults ; and having made a composition of sul- phur, oil, lard, and pitch, and set it on fire, they dipped into the flaming liquid lances, arrows, and wood, and hurled them from the catapults against the cat ; and not in vain, for soon from many parts of that engine were seen rising smoke and BOOKV. THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. 239 flames. On this the Cremonese Consuls and the Emperor himself hastened thither, and, as soon as the engine could be drawn back, caused the fiery darts to be cut away with scythes, and earth and water to be thrown upon the burning parts ; a work which lasted until night, when they thought it no small thing to have saved their engine from that shower of fire. 6. This brave defence not only astonished Frederick, but Treachery filled him with bitter vexation, and he chafed under the chisio. r thought that so great a force of Germany and Italy should still be wearing itself out around this little town. Considering within himself by what course he might best hasten the surrender of the Cremascans, it occurred to him that their various and powerful engines of war must needs, for the most part, be the inventions of Marchisio, whom he knew by report to be a man of ready and most fertile genius, but fickle and ambitious. He accordingly sought and found an opportunity of having him tempted with large promises of money and promotion, setting before him the glory of proving to the world that the means of victory in this war lay chiefly in the great conceptions of his mind, and warning him not to neglect the chance, which might never occur again, of devoting those powers, which he had hitherto unadvisedly abused for the benefit of obstinate rebels, to the honour and service of his sovereign lord. The miserable man took the bait ; in the dead of night he silently let himself down by the wall ; and, fording the ditch, entered the German camp, where he was very gladly received by Frederick, who gave him much praise and costly gifts, amongst them a war-horse of great value. When the desertion of Marchisio became known in Crema, it occasioned more indignation than surprise, for, great as was the admiration excited by his genius, almost all had felt that he was a restless, ambitious man, self-seeking, and in nowise to be trusted. His gloomy, taciturn aspect, and a certain malignity that gleamed from his eyes, had made him feared and shunned, if not disliked, by his fellow-citizens. Very different had always been their feeling towards him from that of the Milanese towards the good Guintellino. Not doubting that all his skill would now be employed to work them harm, they kept still more vigilant guard upon the wall, carefully 240 THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. BOOK v. strengthened its weakest parts, and, always hoping that the rigour of the season or some movement of the League, which before now they also had joined, would in time bring them relief, failed not to put themselves into such a state of defence, that the triumph of the enemy, if after all it must come, should cost him dear. General 7 1 160. Marchisio, when he had looked at the engines of assault. -, that camp, advised the Emperor to lay nearly all of them aside, as being of little use ; and with his permission he began to construct a wooden tower, more than a hundred cubits (braccia) high, divided into several stories, to one of the uppermost whereof, which was a little higher than the wall, he attached a wonderful bridge, forty-six cubits long and six broad. He faced those sides of the tower which would be most exposed to the fiery missiles of the hostile engines, with plates of iron and of brass. Great was the admiration which it excited in the host, and the principal barons ordered towers or castles in imitation of it, but on a smaller scale. When all these were finished, the Emperor, who had no longer any hope of taking the town by famine, having been assured by Marchisio that it was abundantly supplied with provisions, resolved at last upon a general assault, to the great satisfac- tion of his army ; for this was now the sixth month since the beginning of the siege, and the winter was unusually cold and rainy, and this long and troublesome detention around so small a city had not only wearied them all, but was beginning to be felt as a disgrace. The day of the assault being come, Frederick's first care was to burn the cat, which had done its work, and now stood in the way of the other engines ; then he commanded Conrad, his brother, and Otho, Count Palatine of Bavaria, to go with the best soldiers into his castle, which was a capacious one, and high enough to overlook the walls ; and he put those of the German and Lombard barons who had no towers or castles of their own from which to fight, into the great tower of the traitor ; and, as the ditch was now in many places filled with earth, he commanded that every one should endeavour to get near to the wall with his engine at the right time, and that when the great tower should throw its bridge, all should BOOK v. THE WAR 'AGAINST THE COMMUNES. 241 throw theirs, and, fighting bravely, occupy the wall ; and he gave the signal of attack. The Cremascans, when they saw from the preparations which were being made, that they were to be assailed that day on every side, and heard all around them the sound of the trumpets which gave the signal, did not lose heart ; on the contrary, with still greater audacity they manned the walls and towers, and stood to the engines; every man resolved within himself, in this last trial, to deal death to others for his city, or to die. Mean- while the hostile engines were being pushed forwards, though slowly and with difficulty ; and after them came dense troops with spades and scaling ladders. Those who were on high within the towers and the castles, being under cover, shot, safe themselves, at the defenders on the walls, and at every one they saw in the streets of the city. Those lower down stood beside the bridge, ready to throw it out upon the wall. The Cremascans, first with arrows, sling-stones, and burning lances, and afterwards with heavier missiles from their engines, vigorously repulsed the assailants, and at first with so much success, that some of them were forced to bring their castles to a standstill ; but not for long, for the Germans had been supplied by Marchisio with means to frustrate every hostile effort. When red-hot iron or burning arrows stuck in the sides of their castles, they quenched the fire with the water with which they were provided, or cut away the burning part with scythes ; and when the castles were caught by great hooks, thrown forth from the wall to overthrow them, with iron levers they soon set them free. The first to get close to the wall was the castle of the Emperor. As soon as the bridge was thrown out, Conrad, followed by his bravest men, rushed, through a cloud of arrows and stones, upon the wall, and held it ; but of those that followed him, some were caught by the hook of an engine, thrown down into the city, and made prisoners ; and others, eager to help them, sprang down after them of their own accord. Of these was Berthold von Arach, a tall, powerful man, bold as a giant ; alone with his club he defended himself for some time against the many who sur- rounded him, and then, believing himself supported by his followers, he advanced into the heart of the city, where he was struck down by the blow of a battleaxe. As he lay dying, R 242 THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. BOOK v. the bystanders gazed with admiration upon the proud coun- tenance and massive bulk of the foreigner ; but the man of the axe, coveting his beautiful hair, cut off his head, scalped it, and fixed the scalp upon his helmet. A barbarous deed, which incited others to more horrible cruelty. They caught one who had followed him, cut off his hands and his feet, and left him to creep and roll about in the market-place, convulsed and shrieking, till he died. When all who had leaped into the city were destroyed, the Cremascans, inflamed with success, came with fresh courage to the aid of those who were still opposing Conrad ; and from all, with double vehemence, came a storm of fire and stones against the castle, and broke the bridge. On this they gave a loud shout for joy ; and now that the Prince could no longer be joined and succoured by others, they pressed, not so much upon him (such was the reverence in those rude hearts for royal blood) as upon the few that were still with him ; assailed them with pikes, with swords, and with daggers, drove them back, and cast them down from the wall. Conrad, though wounded, sprang, armed as he was, from the wall into the water of the ditch ; whence, with the aid of his followers, he came out safe into the camp. Those who were in the tower of the traitor, which on ac- count of its great weight could be moved but very slowly, were amongst the last to get near the wall; and when they came within the reach of shot, the very fame of its builder had increased the defences in that place, and made the defenders more obstinate and fierce. As often as they tried to throw out the bridge, they were so battered, bruised, and discomfited by iron rams, enormous stones, and burning arrows, that at last they gave up the attempt in despair. But the rest of the attacking forces had more glory and success ; and Otho Count Palatine of Bavaria especially distinguished himself that day. After Conrad's departure, on him devolved the command of the castle. As soon as its bridge was re- paired, he rushed upon the wall ; driven back at first, he again sprang forwards ; smote, slew, hurled down the Cremascans, and broke and burnt their engines. He it was who by his indomitable valour, when the event was still uncertain, restored to the assailants the hope of victory. At the approach of night, the Cremascans abandoned, as hopeless, the defence of BOOKV. THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. 243 the outer wall ; and on the morrow, when the full extent of the injury sustained became apparent, they began to despair of their city. 8. The second wall was not a strong one, and they were Surrender , i M i i 1 f Crema. weary and worn out with toil and watching ; their bravest men were dead or wounded, and a great part of the city was exposed to the arrows which the archers were incessantly shooting into it from the tops of the tower and of the castle. To prolong the defence in such an extremity would only be to incense the Emperor more fiercely ; and they feared also the wrath of Conrad, because of the wound he had received. Some of the citizens had gone forth to the enemy in the night, and many others were suspected. Terror was openly shown amongst the people, for they knew that if the city should be taken, as it was sure to be if it held out any longer, they would every one of them be put to the sword. All these things having been long considered in their council, where were present the leaders of the Milanese and Brescian militias, at last, with tears of desperate grief, it was resolved to send the Consuls, Giovanni de Medici and Albino di Bonate, to Pere- grino, Patriarch of Aquileia, and to Henry the Lion, Duke of Bavaria, that through their mediation they might obtain from the Emperor, to whom they offered to surrender, conditions of safety. The Patriarch, who was of a harsher and more arrogant nature than the Duke (who often showed that it grieved him not a little to take part in these wars of exter- mination), consented to an interview with the Consuls of Crema ; but when they came before him, received them with a proud and angry countenance, and, without giving them time to speak, thus addressed them : ' If I did not believe you to be the least guilty part of the Cremascans, and of saner mind than the rest, I would not have come with this Prince to confer with you. I will tell you briefly what you must do. As defeated rebels, surrender at discretion to your Emperor ; trust no more in your arms or your alliances ; rest all your hope of safety in his mercy. If you persist a day longer in your rebellion, you will incur a far heavier doom.' At these harsh words Giovanni de Medici could no longer contain himself, and there escaped from his indignant breast this reply : ' Sad is ever the lot of the vanquished ! O sire, there is no more of R 2 244 THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. BOOK v. guilt or of madness in the rest of the Crcmascans than in our- selves. Rebels against the Empire were we never ; we, like our fathers, have always been willing to obey the Emperor. The necessity of defending ourselves against powerful and impla- cable neighbours, put arms into our hands, and made us seek an alliance with the Milanese ; which, whilst it pleased God, we have faithfully maintained. But now the hand of the Almighty is heavy upon us. We surrender, as you suggest, unreservedly to the Emperor ; let him dispose of us and of our city at his will. But, if the prayers of an unfortunate people can avail to touch his heart, let him not deliver us into the hands of our enemies, of the Cremonese, I mean, whose money and whose false accusations have wrought our ruin.' The Emperor accepted their surrender, with these conditions : that the Cremascans, with their wives and children, should come forth unharmed, and have liberty to go whithersoever they pleased, taking with them as much as they could carry at once ; and that the militias of Brescia and of Milan that were in Crema, should lay down their arms and, leaving all their baggage behind, go home empty-handed. The surrender of Crema took place on January 27, 1160. When that unhappy multitude, which amounted to more than 20,000 persons, came forth, some with a few household goods, some with little children in their arms, some carrying or sup- porting the women, the infirm, and the wounded, it is said that, to avoid the quarters of the Cremonese, they went close by the pavilion of the Emperor ; and that he, at the sight of so much sorrow and distress, became thoughtful and sad ; until at last, seeing in the crowd an old and infirm Cremascan who, having come to a difficult place, could hardly get any further, moved by irresistible compassion, he went up to him, offered him his hand, and helped him to go forward with the rest. So strongly can the most opposite affections prevail in turn over the same heart ! When all had departed, going, as once the people of Tortona did, to seek shelter and sympathy in Milan, Frederick, before abandoning the place to pillage, gave of the spoil to the Lodi- gians, 300 cuirasses, with as many helmets, bucklers, and pairs of greaves ; after which the Germans and the Lombards were allowed to enter, and everyone began eagerly to gather booty BOOK v. THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. 245 in the part assigned to him ; but the shield-bearers, who were the last admitted, and were dissatisfied with their allotted portion, dispersed themselves here and there, and set the town on fire ; so that before it could be completely sacked, all Crema was wrapt in flames. The men of Cremona and of Lodi afterwards set to work to fill up the ditch and to pull down the walls ; and the Cremonese, who remained there longer than the Lodigians, urged by their great desire to scatter everything belonging to Crema, even went so far as to destroy the churches, which the fire had spared. The Emperor, when he had burnt the engines, which had been made at a cost of 2,000 marks of silver, repaired with all the army to Lodi ; w r hence, after having given leave of absence to many of the German Barons, who desired to return to their own land, he proceeded to Pavia, to attend the CEcumenical Council, which had been postponed for a few weeks, on account of the siege of Crema. 9. To this Council, by order of the Emperor, both Alex- ^ u |hj ander and Victor had been summoned. Alexander, conscious matjcs in of his own rectitude, and of the legality of his election, frankly refused to appear, alleging that even if that Council had been convoked canonically, which it had not, the successor of St. Peter ought not to be subject to its judgment ; but Victor, whose conscience accused him of having artfully and violently intruded into the Pontifical See, hastened to obey the citation, flattering himself that by this prompt compliance, he should obtain the favour and the suffrages of the Emperor and of all the Council. Nor was he disappointed ; for the Bishops and Abbots assembled there, who had come from corrupt motives, and were not very remarkable either for their number or their dignity, on February IT, 1 160, pronounced Victor the lawful Pope. And when he saw his election not only solemnly con- firmed by the Emperor, but instantly communicated by him to the Kings of France, of Germany, of Spain, and of Hungary, he no longer hesitated to assume, in the face of the Christian world, that aspect of stern authority, which, in the perilous circumstances of the Church, might have become a Pope legally elected ; he excommunicated Alexander and all his followers, and warned the Sicilian prince and the Lombard cities (wherein he plainly showed himself the creature of Frederick) 246 THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. BOOK v The Pope excom- municates Frederick and his adherents. that they had invaded the rights of the Church and of the Empire, and must make full and speedy reparation. 10. The civil dissensions of the Romans, and the animosity of the Schismatics, had hitherto prevented Alexander from taking up his residence in Rome, and he abode at Anagni ; acknowledged by all in Italy who did not belong to the party of Frederick, as the true Pope. Now as soon as he heard of the sentence of the Council of Pavia, by which so great a rent had been made in the body of the Church, he renewed the censures against the Anti-pope and his adherents, and pub- lished a letter to the faithful of all countries, wherein he showed and proved the legality of his own election, and the irregularity of that of Ottaviano, and declared the nullity of that Council and of every decree which had proceeded from it ; he also sent Cardinals, as legates, to all the princes of Christendom, in order that, before taking part in this schism, they might be authoritatively warned, and made fully aware of the origin of so much disorder and scandal in the Church ; and, to deal the heaviest blow in his power against the Emperor, who was beyond all doubt the primary cause of the schism, he sent to Milan in the month of March a Cardinal named John, a native of Anagni, as his legate, who, in the Metropolitan Church, in the presence of all the people, pronounced sentence of ex- communication against the Anti-pope, the Emperor, the Bishops of Mantua, Lodi, Cremona, Como, and Pavia, the Marquis of Montferrat, the Count of Biandrate, the Consuls of Cremona, Pavia, Novara, Vercelli, and Lodi, the Captains of Seprio and of Martesana, and Ludovico, Castellan of Baradello ; and absolved all those who were in any way subject to any of them, from their allegiance and oaths of obedience. Thus, from day to day, this contest of the Lombard cities was assuming larger proportions and a more formidable aspect. The Communes, which had been somewhat dis- heartened by the destruction of Crema, now, seeing their cause united with that of the Pope, became more than ever convinced that it was for good reasons they had undertaken to oppose the Emperor ; and a mingled sense of patriotism and religion encouraged them to persevere in the struggle, the hardships and dangers of which seemed BOOKV. THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. 247 now more than half removed by the express favour of heaven. On the other hand, that excommunication, so solemnly pro- nounced in Lombardy, could not but make an impression even upon those who adhered to the cause of the Emperor ; for although the election of Alexander had been obscured by false reports, a strong conviction of its legitimacy was now spread abroad amongst the peoples, and was inwardly felt and acknowledged by many who, from political motives, resisted and disowned it. Thus it was almost universally believed that the legate had spoken in the name and with the authority of the true Pope ; and a secret disgust was felt both for Ottaviano, who, by his timid and unbecoming behaviour before the Council, had shown himself an abject and fraudu- lent schismatic, and for the Emperor, who, to forward his ambitious and tyrannical ends, had made a breach in the unity of the Church ; and the consciences of many were en- listed against them. Nor must it be forgotten, that the confi- dence of the peoples of Italy in Frederick had been greatly shaken by his" having, in the last Diet of Roncaglia, set at naught and abolished the franchises and ancient customs of the Communes ; as also by his vile and cruel mode of making war, by which the general sense of humanity and justice had been lastingly offended, it having been seen that, instead of composing wars and discords amongst the peoples, he was not ashamed, for money, or other unworthy motives, to take part with some of them for the oppression and extermination of the rest. He must have had some suspicion of this disaffec- tion, and have been convinced that nothing but his presence in Lombardy could repress it. Otherwise it would be im- possible to explain why he continued there so long, having with him but a scanty force, and seeing himself from time to time compelled to take part, contrary to the dignity of an Emperor, in predatory incursions and petty skirmishes, and occasionally even without success. Be that as it may, in this way was being gradually matured, not so much as yet by their own virtues, as by the errors and crimes of others, the brief but splendid destiny of the Lombard cities. II. Frederick, after the Council, went with the few troops Attempt that remained with him, into the neighbourhood of Marengo Lx>di! St and Tortona, either to overawe the people of those parts on the 248 THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. BOOK v. declaration of the schism, or merely from a wish to show the Empress and the young Princes, who accompanied him, the scene of his first triumph in Italy. On this, the Milanese, who, since the appearance of the Papal legate, had taken fresh courage, resolved to make another attempt against Lodi, which they eagerly desired to destroy, as a fortress that was being erected on their border for the express purpose of annoying and insulting them. They went forth, then, at break of day, with numerous troops of horse and foot, and made a furious attack upon the town, thinking to take it by surprise. But the Lodigians, who had had some warning of this attempt, were already in arms ; and when they saw the enemy all engaged at the gates and along the ditch, they made a sudden sail}- from the Imperial Gate, and slew many ; and, although inferior in number, re- mained outside, fighting bravely, for some time ; until at last, being taken in flank by the Milanese horse, they were forced to retreat into the city, leaving behind them five prisoners, and three slain. After this, the Milanese, having no longer any hope of success, took up their dead and wounded and went home, not a little disappointed. But the Lodigians, who thought it a great thing that they had not been overcome, immediately sent word to the Emperor, who by letter greatly praised them for having gone forth, few as they w r ere, to repulse so great a force ; and when, after some days, he re- turned to Lodi, he commended them in a public assembly for having so manfully opposed the enemies of the Empire ; warning them, however, that for the future they must not take the field against the Milanese without him ; but must content themselves with defending the town from within, lest it should be lost through their excessive daring ; and to show that he was pleased with them, and had confidence in their valour, he went with only their infantry and horse to destroy the bridge, which the Milanese had rebuilt at a great expense, at Pontirolo, on the Adda ; and he also burnt its castle. Some time afterwards, summoning to him the Cremonese militias, and taking a few engines of war, he returned to Pontirolo, and attacked a rural church, in which a band of Milanese had fortified themselves, and took and de- stroyed it. Then he proceeded against the castle of Fara ; and BOOK v. THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. 249 was returning thence with the spoil and many prisoners, when there appeared on the opposite bank of the Adda some troops of Milanese horse, which had come to surprise him in this incursion, supposing that he had with him the Lodigians only, as before. On perceiving that he had also the Cremonese, they took up their position near a ford, not without hope that some of the enemy, under-estimating the strength of the cur- rent, would try to cross the ford to have a fight. The Emperor perceived this, and commanded that none of his Germans should enter the river. But the Lombards, hearing the insult- ing defiance of their neighbours, could not restrain themselves ; they dashed in, boasting that they were sure of a foothold in the bed of the Adda, that they knew its every ford. But when Enrico Sacco of Lodi and Oberto Vetulo of Cremona, who went in first, had been swept away by the torrent, the others reined up their horses, and returned to the bank. 12. It was now the month of May, when, in the fertile The Em- land of Lombardy, the crops stand tall and luxuriant, between j?Hns' e rows of fruit-trees and of blossoming vines. The Emperor, battle at at the sight of these treasures of the earth, bethought him Romano. that it was time to resume his work of devastation in those fields, that this year's harvest might prove to the Milanese still scantier than the last. Wherefore, with all the forces he had, he hastened to the banks of the Lambro, and laid waste the fields of Midilio as far as Vertemate ; and, in returning, to the villages of Vairano, Briosco, Legnano, Nerviano, and Polliano ; and in the beginning of June he carried on the destruction, with fire and sword, as far as Venzago and Rande. On this the Consuls of Milan, feeling that such losses and outrages ought not to be tamely endured, called out the militias of two Gates, and, bringing forth the Carroccio, led them, with 200 Piacentines, who had come to their assistance, to encamp at San Romano ; trusting not a little to the aid of a hundred scythed chariots, lately constructed by Master Guin- tellino, which had a two-edged axe fixed to the end of their poles, and sharp blades projecting from their sides. These chariots were placed in the first troop, on smooth and level ground, where they would have full play. In the second was the Carroccio with its company, and the best of the archers ; in the third the horsemen ; in the fourth the rest of the militias 250 THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. BOOK v. with the Piacentines. Thus ranged, the Milanese stood still, waiting until the Emperor, whom they saw with his horsemen wheeling about in front of them, should come to give them battle. But he, when he had well surveyed them in that array, declined the fight, and retired towards noon to Baradello; whence he proceeded, destroying the farmhouses and the crops of Morimondo, to Pavia. There, whilst still smarting under the humiliation of this retreat, he found it necessary to grant leave of absence to the Lombard militias, which were showing unmistakeable signs of weariness, and reluctance to continue longer with him ; and, having now at his com n and only a few German troops, he was obliged, for a time, to desist from his incursions. Fight be- I 3- On this the Milanese, feeling that for the present they tween the h ac } nothing to fear from him, resumed the offensive against Milanese 1T1 .. TT i and Lodig- the Lodigians. Having made their preparations with great vmYcor- 6 secrecy, on June 9 they took up their position at the Villa neiia. Cornelia, a mile and a half from Lodi, and, as a stratagem, sent forwards forty horsemen, to provoke the Lodigians to come forth. These, who, knowing that they might be attacked at any moment, were always ready, instantly sent against those skirmishers a good band of their militias, which, having untired and stronger horses, at the first onset dismounted twenty of the Milanese, whom they sent as prisoners to Lodi. Pursuing the rest, they came near the Villa Cornelia, whence the main body of the Milanese, which lay ready to come to the rescue, suddenly rushed forth, and then ensued a furious fight. At last the Lodigians, finding themselves engaged in an unequal contest, turned their backs, and fled towards Lodi, closely pursued by the Milanese, who took eighteen prisoners, amongst whom were Vito, son of Lanfranco di Trissino, Bernardo di Bagnolo, Alberico Lumellino, Ottobello Caga- musto, and Otto Mezzoparente. Of the Milanese left behind as prisoners these were amongst the chief: Codeguerra Visconti, Manato di Palazzo, Bruno di Concoreccio, a son of Borro dei Borri, Giovanni Salerio, Ambrogio Pagliaro, Giovanni Feroldo, Ugo Camara, Otto Bellabocca, and Obizzo Pagano. The Milanese, though always repulsed from Lodi, still clung to the hope of at some time taking it by surprise. Not many days after, they again came against it with a strong BOOKV. THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. 251 force of militias. But the Lodigians, as usual, were on their guard ; and when they saw so great a multitude of enemies, they remembered the command of the Emperor, and stood firm upon the rampart. Wherefore the Milanese, not pre- pared to attack them, went home again, without doing any worse harm, says the chronicle, than burning, in their spite, a cart of stubble, which had been left out in one of the fields. 14. The Consuls seeing the ill-success of all attempts to siege of surprise Lodi, set forth, after some days, to lay a regular siege against it ; taking a stronger force of militias, better equipped and provisioned, with the Carroccio, and many engines of war. They pitched the camp upon the rising ground which ran, near the swamp, from the Imperial Gate to the Gate of Cremona. Early the next morning, having divided their army into three parts, they drew near to the Imperial Gate, and to the Gates of Pavia and Cremona, against which they fought with bows and slings till noon, when, two Milanese, who had ventured too far forwards, having been taken prisoners, and many on both sides wounded, the fighting ceased. After dinner, the Milanese Consuls, wishing to assault the place more vigorously, summoned the captains by sound of trumpet to the Carroccio ; and commanded those of the Vercellina and Ticinese Gates to attack the postern of St. Vincent, those of the Oriental and Roman Gates to march against the postern of the Grecian Wood, and those of the New Gate and Comacina Gate to go against the Imperial Gate and the Gates of Pavia and Cremona, with the engines, and hurl fiery darts against them, to set them on fire. All having repaired to the posts assigned to them, they found the Lodigians ready to defend their gates and posterns. Those at the postern of St. Vincent slew at the very first two Milanese ; many of themselves being wounded, but none killed. At the other gates the Milanese met with fierce re- sistance, and no better success, for although the engines shot great stones and burning arrows, they did little or no damage. It is true that at the postern of the Grecian Wood, such was the impetuosity of the Milanese, that they took the bridge, routed those who were on guard, and before the gate could be shut, pressed after them into the city, and slew many. 252 THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. BOOK v. But they were presently encountered by a small but valiant band, led by Scampigna, a man of great courage and unusual strength, who, with a loud shout, threw himself upon them and drove them back, killing two at the first onset ; then, leaving his followers to pursue them, he turned against some others, who had now come up by the rising ground as far as the house of Ser Bonzani, and put them to flight ; and, not being able to get at them with his pike, he took up a great stone, and, hurling it at one of them, knocked him down into the ditch ; and all who had made their way in on that side were soon killed or driven out of the city. The attempts of the Milanese proved equally vain in other parts, and evening came on without their having gained the least advantage. The Lodigians, when the fighting ceased, lost no time in sending messengers to Cremona, and to the Emperor, who was at Pavia, to make known what had oc- curred, and to ask for help ; the rather because, about sunset, the Milanese had been reinforced by the militias of Piacenza ; then, fearing that another attack might be made that very night, they all took up their posts upon the rampart, prepared at any moment to repel it. But nothing happened, excepting that a Piacentine, who had perhaps some touch of madness in his nature, drew near in the dark to the Gate of Pavia with loud shouts, defying and insulting the men on guard ; these at last, tired of the noise, whilst they pretended not to care for what he said, sent forth against him two or three, who silently made a wide circuit, so as to cut off his retreat, came upon him from behind, and killed him. Early next morning, when the Milanese and Piacentines were preparing to renew the assault, they saw, on the other side of the Adda, the militias of Cremona advancing with flying banners to the aid of the besieged ; then loud shouts of joy were heard in the city, and cries of defiance from the ramparts, bidding the Milanese come on, for they were ready for them. But these declined the challenge, and returned to Milan, having been out but a day and a half, whereas they had come prepared to spend eight days in that enterprise. After these repeated attacks upon their city, which was fortified only by an earthen rampart hastily thrown up around it, the Lodigians, by the counsel of the Emperor, BOOK v. THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. 253 began to build their walls. Tinto Maso di Gatta of Cremona was the architect, and on August 3, Alberico, Bishop of Lodi, who belonged to the noble family of Morlino, laid the first stone, at the corner of the Gate of Cremona. 15. But for the Milanese these repulses were an occasion Battle of of discouragement and shame, for, when they remembered the grievous wrongs which they had committed against the Lodigian people in their ancient place, these continual rebuffs and misfortunes seemed like a judgment upon them, as if it had been ordained that none of their enterprises against the new town should ever prosper. Saddened and dis- heartened, they were willing to try whether better fortune would attend them elsewhere, and resolved to make an expe- dition against the Castle of Carcano. This being a fief of the Church of Milan, they procured beforehand a sentence from the Archbishop, whereby he pronounced the men of Carcano, as rebels, and favourers of an excommunicated Emperor, accursed, and deprived of all nobility, and of every fief and feudal right. Carcano is situated in the upper part of the Martesana, which is watered by the Lambro ; it stands upon two hills, on which at that time were two fortresses, which, rendered almost inaccessible by the depth of the valley that runs below, were wont to afford a safe harbour and refuge to any who wished to bring war, or other disturbance, upon the Milanese from that quarter ; wherefore the Milanese Consuls, accompanied by the Archbishop, bent on destroying this hostile place, set forth in July with the militias of three Gates, the Vercellese, the Comacina, and the New Gate, and entering Martesana, took the towns of Sezzana, Cornate, Erba, and Paravisino, and at last sat down under Carcano, where they made a large wooden castle, and many catapults. After some time, when it was known that the Emperor was preparing to succour the place, the militias of three other Gates were dispatched from Milan, with the Carroccio ; to which was added a reinforcement of two hundred Brescian horse. Frederick, who well knew the importance of that castle, had gathered together, as soon as he heard of its danger, some horsemen of Pavia, with the militias and horse of Novara, Vercelli, and Como, and the forces of Martesana and 254 THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. BOOK v. of Seprio, of the Marquis of Montferrat and of the Count of Biandrate ; and with these and the Germans which remained with him, he came in the beginning of August into the valley of Tassaria, hard by Carcano ; where, seeing that the site was very advantageous, he encamped ; and immediately caused all the passes around Carcano to be stopped up with the trunks and branches of trees, which were cut down, and thrown across the roads. By this means every way of access to the Milanese camp was closed, and by August 8, it was suffering from a scarcity of provisions. Wherefore the Consuls resolved to liberate themselves by battle ; and in the night of the following day they caused divine service to be celebrated at the altar of the Carroccio, and, leaving the infantry of the Ticinese Gate and of the postern of St. Euphemia to guard the camp under Carcano, before the rising of the sun they led their forces against the army of the Emperor. The attack was begun by the men of the Comacina Gate, who were on the left, in the van, in the valley of Tassaria, where the two camps were not more than a bow- shot apart ; they rushed impetuously into the hostile camp, where were posted the men of Novara and Como, and, having been joined by the greater part of the horse, made a great slaughter amongst them, put them to flight, and eagerly pur- sued them. The Milanese militias which were in the rear, attracted by the noise and excitement of this success, with an impulsive ardour which imperilled the event of the day, them- selves also ran to pursue the fugitives, part of whom took refuge in Montorfano, and part, with the Marquis of Montferrat, in the Castle of Anghiera. There remained on the field of battle Anselmo dei Mandelli, with the Carroccio and the Archbishop, for whose protection he had at his command that day, in addi- tion to his own company, the militias of two Gates, the Roman and the Oriental. In front of these stood Frederick, with his best horsemen, for although, after no long fighting, he had seen the men of Novara and Como all broken and dispersed, he had not moved to succour them, being firmly persuaded that his would be the victory if he could succeed in breaking the troops around the Carroccio, which now, by the untimely movement of the horse and of the rear-guard, were left ex- posed, and almost alone. Brandishing then his sword, with a BOOKV. THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. 255 few cheering words he encouraged the Barons, who, with their vassals, were around him, and then himself led the way, at full gallop, through the storm of arrows and against the Milan- ese pikes, and, making straight for the Carroccio, overthrew and beat down everything before him. On this Anselmo, resolved not to lose that sacred thing but with his life, pressed to the front, and, waving his sword, urged his men to the defence. Then the pikes were levelled against the breasts of the horses, which recoiled before them, but not for long ; for there, pierced through with many lances, Anselmo fell, and the foemen spurred onwards over his body. Their captain slain, the Milanese closed together, and, fighting at every step, slowly retreated, with heavy loss, to a rising ground hard by, on which, having there the advantage over the horsemen, they hoped to be better able to defend themselves. Frederick, meanwhile, with some of the Barons, fell upon the Carroccio, put to flight the trumpeters and drivers, killed the oxen, tore the banner into shreds, and contemptuously upset the car itself in a neighbouring ditch. Then he turned against that little band of survivors ; who, although in a good position, seemed too few to withstand his fury. But the sky, for some time, had been gradually darkening, and at that moment there came a sudden and violent blast of wind, and then, amidst fearful thunder and lightning, a tremendous shower of hailstones, which, as if heaven would confound and silence the rage and clamour of feeble mortals, arrested and over- powered both the men and the horses of that field ; so that everyone was forced to cease from fighting, and seek shelter where he might from the pitiless beating of the storm ; and when it abated, all on both sides were so wet and weary, that none showed any inclination to renew the fight. Hereupon, whilst the Emperor with Godfrey Count of Lumello and others of his barons, was about to return to his quarters, believing that he had won the day, those Milanese who had so rashly set off in pursuit of the fugitives, returned ; and when they came to the field of battle, and saw Anselmo dei Man- delli dead, their Carroccio upset, and the ground all bloody, and covered with the wounded and the slain, thrilled with rage and grief, and perhaps with secret self-reproach for having been the cause of it all, with loud cries they demanded to 256 THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. BOOK v. be led at once against the enemy ; feeling as if they could never again show their faces in Milan, until they had avenged their comrades and the honour of their banner. The Consuls at first hesitated ; for they saw that the Emperor was still posted in a place which was by nature very strong, and they could not well discern what forces he had with him ; but when there appeared upon those hills the men of Erba and of Orsanigo, with the 200 Brescians that had been left to defend those castles, they gave the signal to renew the fight ; to which, however, Frederick, who in the meanwhile had discovered his own condition and that of the Milanese, did not respond. Soon after, seeing himself pressed upon on every side, he found his boasted victory vain, and, leaving everything behind him, fled with his troops first to Como, and afterwards, for greater security, into the Castle of Baradello. The Milanese, when they had sacked the Imperial camp and recovered their prisoners, took up, with many tears, the bodies of their fallen comrades, and returned to their quarters under Carcano. This achievement, although it cost the lives of so many citizens, was for the Milanese the most glorious event of the year. So greatly did they prize this victory, both because it tended to reinstate the Milanese Church in its ancient rights, and because it gave the Commonwealth fresh courage, and the hope of coming forth triumphant from this contest with the Emperor, that by public vote, the inhabitants of the Castles of Erba and Orsanigo were made free for ever from all tolls and taxes ; for a memorial to posterity of the assistance which they rendered in the most critical moment of this day, and of the gratitude of the Milanese people. Surprise 1 6 - Whilst these things were taking place in the Valley of and rout of Tassaria, the militias and horsemen of Cremona set out to Cremonese join the Emperor ; but on arriving at Lodi, they halted, fearing that, so near the Milanese, they could not safely go on alone any further ; yet they were exceedingly unwilling that the Emperor should have to fight without them. In this perplexity, they resolved, with the consent of the Lodigians, to send him 200 of their horsemen, and eighty of the Lodigian infantry. These took their departure the next day, which was the day of the battle, having in charge a good BOOK v. THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. 257 supply of provisions, of which, as they had heard, the camp of the Emperor stood very much in need. And this brought upon them a great disaster, for the beasts of burden, heavily laden with bread and other victuals, delayed them so much on the road, that after moving onwards all that day and far into the night, they got no further than Marliano. A Milanese, who was living there, finding that they were going to the Emperor, and that they knew nothing of the battle which had been fought that day, immediately took horse, and bore tidings of them to the Milanese camp. Whereupon one of the Consuls, with part of the army, went to lie in wait for them; and at nine in the morning he saw them approaching, not far from the Black Water, a swamp between Canturio and Baradello, and, instantly attacking them, put them to flight. A few of the fugitives, knowing the country, escaped over the hills by unfrequented paths ; but the greater part turned to the swamp, supposing that it could easily be crossed. But if the water was shallow, the mud was very deep, and some of them, sinking into it, with their arms, their horses, and their beasts of burden, stuck fast, and found it impossible to extricate themselves. Two hundred horses were captured there, and ten men of Lodi and fourteen of Cremona were taken prisoners. The loss would have been still heavier, had not the Emperor suddenly come forth from Baradello to gather them together and protect their retreat. Four Milanese, who had crossed the swamp, unable to escape in time at his approach, were taken prisoners ; and Roggiero di Santo Spirito, who was accounted one of the bravest knights of Milan, came to his end in this way : one Carnevale di Erzago, pursued by the Milanese, hid himself and his horse amongst the tall reeds and herbage of the swamp ; whilst there, he saw Roggiero di San Spirito enter that covert, and go to and fro in quest of prey. He seized his opportunity, sprang upon him in the twinkling of an eye, threw him down, and, that he might not call for help to his comrades, who were prowling about as he had been, at no great distance, throttled him with his hands. So ruthless was the hatred engendered by in- veterate municipal rivalry. The men of Carcano, as soon as they saw the greater part S 258 THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. BOOK v. of the Milanese forces withdrawn from under their walls, made a sudden sally, and burnt the wooden castle which had been constructed there ; a loss that occasioned the deepest grief and shame to the militias of the Ticinese Gate and of the postern of St. Euphemia, which had been left to carry on the siege. Eight days after the battle, the Consuls, partly in consequence of this disaster, and partly from a fear that Frederick might take advantage of their absence to devastate their territory, raised the siege of Carcano, and led the army home; and on September 10, Carcano, by a voluntary sur- render, again became subject to the Archbishop and Com- mune of Milan. Great fire !/ Soon after this, the Milanese had to sustain a heavy in Milan. anc j i rre parable loss, which seemed like a precursor of the approaching ruin of their city. The house of Lanfranco Cane, of the Comacina Gate, took fire on a windy day, and the flames spread so rapidly, that they consumed all the houses of that Gate, and of the Roman Gate as far as the ditch, half those of the Ticinese, and some of those of the Vercellina Gate. A great part of the provisions which had been laid up in preparation for the expected siege was burnt ; and many families, no strangers in those days to sorrow and distress, were suddenly cast out of house and home, and went wandering through the streets and forth into the fields, not hav- ing where to lay their heads ; in fact, so great was the number of houses destroyed in that fire, that many even of the principal citizens had to take up their abode in the neighbouring towns. The Archbishop himself went forth, and, with a hundred horse, remained all that winter at Varese ; and the towns of Arsizate, Induno, and Blandono were occupied by militias of the city. By none, perhaps, was this calamity more keenly felt than by the people of Crema, who had sought and found hospitality in the homes of Milan. The fire now drove them forth from this generous city, and often in company with their hosts, who had come to need the very kindness which they had so freely shown to others. This calamity quickened in the hearts of the Crernascans a strong longing after their native place ; and, having obtained from the Milanese Consuls an escort of a hundred horse, they presently ventured to return BOOKV. THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. 259 thither, and took up their abode, some amidst the ruins, and some at Aplano. 1 8. The Emperor, after the battle of Carcano, retired to Frederick Pavia ; and, seeing that with the few forces which remained attempts against with him he could not wage successful war against the Piacenza. Milanese, he set forth that autumn to attack the Piacentines, who had presumed to take part in the recent attempts against Lodi. Twice he went against them, but returned without success ; for the Piacentines, at his approach, destroyed the bridge of their river ; and the boats with which he was pro- vided by the Pavese, were too small and too few to convey his army to the other side ; and even if adequate means of transport could have been found, that army would hardly have sufficed for the siege of Piacenza. On his return to Pavia he found the forces at his command so scanty, that he instantly sent messengers to hasten the expected aids from Germany, and at the same time summoned to him the Bishops of Novara, Vercelli, and Asti, the Marquises of Montferrat, Guasto, Bosco, and Langosco, Obizzo Malaspina, the Counts of Biandrate and of Cavaliate, and others, and, after causing them to swear allegiance, commanded them to send him a certain number of archers and crossbow-men, and to maintain them about him, for the defence and security of his person, from the beginning of September until Easter. With these forces, which were duly supplied to him, he remained, for the rest of the autumn and for all the winter, quiet in Pavia; and for the remainder of that year (1160) nothing very noteworthy was achieved in Lombardy, either because both parties were wearied and worn out, or because they wanted to gather in the little that had escaped destruc- tion of the second harvests and the vintage ; for, in the course of the seasons, these wars of the peoples were mitigated to some extent by the recurrence of the various needful labours of the field. Moreover, it must be repeated, that these men were still of so rude a policy in the management of their affairs, that they were accustomed to act more upon the promptings of passion, and impetuous indignation against present wrong, than upon the calculations of deliberate counsel. This league between Milan, Piacenza, and Brescia, from which, now that 260 THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. BOOK v. it was favoured by the Pope, all Lombardy conceived no small hope of safety, never showed in its proceedings any sign of well-regulated combination. The Milanese, who always took the leading part in this war, never had both the Piacentines and the Brescians at their side ; whenever one was with them, the other kept aloof. And yet this was the time when they had an opportunity, such as could hardly have been hoped for, of destroying Lodi, and driving Frederick out of Lom- bardy ; for the forces with which he had been supplied, were wholly insufficient to withstand those which those three Communes, united together, could have moved against him. Every age, however, has its own peculiar merits and defects. Where there are fierce energy and tenacity of purpose, there is often a want of prudence and of unity. But it is one of the most consoling and elevating privileges of the mind, to dis- cern, amidst the vicissitudes and errors of the human family, a progress, slow indeed, but visible and unceasing, towards what is true and just, that is, conformed to that moral order, eternally established by Providence ; which insures, even in this world, sooner or later, a triumph to truth, to justice, and to moderation. Hence he who looks into the history of nations will see that the virtue which, in the measure of its times, accords with that moral order, is always fol- lowed by effects, which, small though they may be, advance the civilisation and the well-being of the human race ; as it came to pass now in Lombardy, where the peoples, not yet possessed of much political skill, but strong in a con- viction of the goodness of their cause, went on from day to day, accomplishing against the Emperor, who persisted in seeking to overcome them, their appointed destiny ; in which lay wrapped, as in a germ, the civilisation of modern Europe. Capture of 19. But that autumn did not pass away entirely without gatta. hostilities. Towards the end of September, some Lodigians took captive one Bagnagatta, a Milanese freebooter. He was a man of wild and eccentric nature, who, thinking that to fight, one amongst many, in the army of his Commune, was not sufficiently adventurous and glorious for him, had gone forth and taken up his abode in the woods, on the borders of Pavia and Lodi. After the great fire, many joined themselves BOOK v. THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. 261 to him, and gladly followed him in his enterprises, which he knew how to render attractive by booty, and to dignify by the semblance of patriotic war. He would spring out sud- denly from his hiding-places by the roadside upon the Germans, or any who belonged to their party, and slay and plunder without mercy ; so that, for the many murders and robberies which were attributed to him, he was famed and feared in all the neighbourhood. But his name was very popular in Milan ; and the stories of his daring deeds, current amongst the people, and not a little coloured by imagination, were heard and repeated with delight. After his capture, when he was being taken prisoner to Lodi, a Pavese in the troop, to prevent him from escaping, cut off one of his feet. 20. As soon as the news of this capture and brutal cruelty Skirmish at reached the Milanese, they charged their men who were at Pontirola, on guard at the bridge which they had now rebuilt over the Adda, to avenge it. These, accordingly, having been reinforced by some Cremascans, went towards the end of October to Doveria, a village four miles from Lodi ; and, after taking much spoil from the country people, sent towards Lodi a few of their horsemen, whilst they themselves lay hidden at Doveria to surprise the Lodigians when they should have been drawn forth in pursuit ; for this appears to have been the favourite stratagem of the Lombards of those days infighting with one another in the open field ; their cunning went no further. The Lodigians, at the report of this aggression, immediately issued forth in great fury against the Milanese horsemen ; who could not fly so fast but that several of them were wounded and unhorsed before they reached Doveria. But when the Lodigians came to the place where the rest of the Milanese were lying in wait, they were suddenly attacked and put to flight, and four of them were taken prisoners, namely, Arialdo di Arsago, a Milanese, who, after the sur- render of Crema, had become a citizen of Lodi ; Bernardo di Bagnolo, who had been liberated, not long before, from another imprisonment ; Ottone Denario, and Manfredo Mo- rena, son of Ottone, the historian of Lodi. After this, the Milanese and Cremascans set forth on their return. But the Lodigians, full of anger and shame, when 262 THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. BOOK v. they met, as they also were returning, some of their people coming from the city, resolved to turn back, and pursue the Milanese, and they followed them as far as the Castle of Ripalta. There the Milanese descried them, and, turning round, stood still, awaiting an attack. The Lodigians did the same ; and after they had faced each other for some time, the men of Lodi, seeing that the Milanese were the stronger, and held a good position, which they did not seem inclined to forfeit by advancing, were the first to retreat. And as there is no record of any other fight until the March of the follow- ing year, it may be inferred that the country had rest for the space of four months, an unusual and wonderful thing in those times. Apologetic 21. To the man whose mind is accustomed to the magni- tude and scientific evolutions of modern wars, this account of the inroads, devastations, attacks on little castles, and petty skirmishes which took place in the time of these wars in Lom- bardy, may perhaps seem wearisome. But the forces and pas- sions of nations, in the beginning of their civilisation, are very different from those which they afterwards acquire, and it is from these their primitive enterprises, insignificant though they appear in our times, that we learn their true quality. If then, having regard to the rude simplicity and tumultuous life of these ancients, I use a style which would not be suitable for the narration of the great enterprises of our days, let it avail me to say, that I have purposely gathered together from various authors the records of their warlike exploits and little battles, that others may know, or rather see in action, the fierce energy and invincible constancy of these men, who thought that they could not live without the traditions and usages of their fathers, that is, without those customs which, from a warm affection and municipal pride, for which they ought not to have been blamed, they called eternal. Of such incidents I have not omitted any which could well be brought in and connected with the whole history. And I have done this more especially in these first expeditions, because, although the principal facts of the time have been admirably related by others, it seems to me, nevertheless, that through their scanty notice or utter omission of these detached little battles, they have failed to give this singular period the BOOK v. THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. 263 prominence which justly belongs to it, both on account of the importance which these fights and skirmishes assume when taken all together, as leading to greater things, and also on account of their duration, it not having perhaps been generally noticed, that for no less than four years, that is, from 1 158 to 1162, the Emperor remained in Lombardy to fight with the Milanese, who for all that time, until the destruction of their city, had no aid from any other people, excepting, now and then, from the Brescians or the Piacentines. Let it also be pardoned me, if, availing myself of contem- porary chronicles, and of such hints as are to be met with in the histories of ancient families, I occasionally descend to minute particulars, and, at the risk of becoming tedious, add to the accounts of skirmishes and sieges, in which the most trustworthy authors agree, the names of some of those who took part in them. I would not knowingly invent or falsify anything. But I should wish to avoid that vague and dry generality of terms, with which these things have hitherto been related, because, if it does not generate uncertainty and obscurity, it leaves the heart unsatisfied ; and even seems in- vidious and unjust, as denying due fame and honour to those ancients, whose names it either withholds altogether, or only incidentally discloses. If the deeds of this our heroic age, which has in it so much of what is pleasing and attractive, had been recorded and described by one who witnessed them, in a narrative simple indeed and unadorned, but lucid and pic- turesque, like those in which the writers of Greece and Rome immortalised their primitive heroes, how much fuller would our history have come down to us, how much dearer would it have been to our hearts for its record of private virtues ; which would then have been seen, as they were at the time, active and vigorous for the good of the country, and shining forth brightly in the events and actions both of public and of private life ; for at the relation of patriotic exploits and ancestral deeds of honour, the soul is deeply stirred, and easily roused to emulation ; everyone glories in the worth, and is even tender to the faults, of those allied to him in blood. I, therefore, greatly admiring that romantic age, and desiring to show what that primitive Italian austerity could do, as soon as hatred and envy, with their thousand low suspicions, ceased in 264 THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. BOOK v. the municipalities, have endeavoured, in this my long absence from my country, to set forth the little that I know of it, trust- ing that some one in Italy, with more books, and documents, and leisure than myself, will in time supply my omissions and defects. To a thoughtful mind it cannot but appear amazing, that these peoples should have been able to sustain so long so many troubles and beatings, and burnings and desolations ; and in truth if their mode of life had been like ours, so luxurious and artificial, so subject to the love of comfort, and absorbed in the pursuit of gain, it would be more than amaz- ing, it would be incredible. But these ancients were not enfeebled and subdued by luxury and by the greed of wealth ; austere towards themselves and others, they were contented with little ; plain food, coarse clothing, few household goods sufficed them ; after the burning of their houses and the devastation of their fields, however little might remain, if they had only enough to satisfy the first wants of life, they soon recovered themselves ; and that time which we give to ease and to sloth, they gave to agriculture, to business, and to the affairs of their country. They delighted in arms and in horses ; patricians and commoners, honourable and powerful by reason of their virtues and their ancient wealth, assumed the guidance of the Commune ; and grew into an order of men which, for worth, authority, and courtesy, was and long continued unique in Europe, no city of any other land, so far as I am aware, being able to show from that time, as these Italian cities can, in their chronicles, an authentic catalogue of so many powerful and illustrious citizens, some of whose descendants are still to this day to be found in their ancient homes, although long since deprived of the splendour and liberty of their ancestors. They were proud lovers of their country, though that might be comprised within the walls of a city or of a little castle ; and when war arose out of a quarrel about the boundaries or the waters, or out of any other misunderstanding with a neigh- bouring Commune, not one refused to go forth armed under the banner of his Gate. And if those wars were frequent, they were not long ; and the enmity was not yet so bitter but that neighbouring peoples would intermarry and frequent each other's feasts, and the young men would go to joust BOOKV. THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. 265 together in each other's territories ; for, as it is written of men who lived in times but little later than these, ' one day they would fight against each other, and the next would eat and drink together, and recount the valiant deeds performed by one another in the battle.' 266 THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. HOOK vi. Surprise and defeat of some Lodigians in a wood. BOOK VI. I. 1161. The first to go forth this year on these rural incursions, were the Piacentines. On March 12, they went into the territory of Lodi, to a wood called Butegnano, near Meregnano, and hid themselves there, hoping to seize and carry off a few Lodigians. Now it chanced that, late in that same night, there came thither a good troop of Lodigians, led by Graziano Bono, Giovanni della Torre,and Goffredo Attonito, officers of the Commune, for the express purpose of apprehend- ing any Piacentines that they might find upon their territory. Directly after their arrival, to assure themselves that all was safe, they began to patrol the passes of the wood ; when lo, at break of day, they came upon eight of the Piacentines, lying close together, half-hidden amongst the grass and bushes. Startled at the sight, they stood still ; gazing, as they thought, upon their prey. But the other Piacentines, who had for some time been silently dogging them, now, seeing their advantage, sprang forwards, loudly exclaiming ' Up ! up ! Upon them ! upon them ! ' and after a short contest, the Lodigians were defeated, and many of them, including their three leaders, taken prisoners. The rest fled to Lodi, but not quite empty-handed, for they led away captive Uberto della Porta and another, and five horses. siege of the 2. The captains of Seprio and Martesana, as has been CastigHone. said, were on all occasions very troublesome to the Milanese ; now the Consuls, on the return of spring, resolved to lead an army into those parts, and in March, 1161, they encamped against the Castle of Castiglione, a fortress near the Olona, believing that its capture would enable them to reduce to obedience the whole of that country. But the men of the place proved ready to defend themselves ; with their engines, which were no less powerful than those planted by the Milanese around their walls, they kept them at a distance for many BOOK vi. THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. 267 days, and came forth at will to draw water from the spring at the foot of the mountain, for at that time there was no well within the castle. But when the Milanese had at last suc- ceeded in bringing one of their catapults close to the wall, the defenders found their difficulties much increased, for they were continually annoyed by it upon the walls, and could no longer, without great danger, come forth to the spring, so that they were soon reduced to extreme distress ; but, persisting in refusing to surrender, they made a sudden sally, fell upon the guards of the catapult, and set it on fire ; and, although far outnumbered by the Milanese, who slew not a few of them, they maintained their ground until they saw it wrapt in flames. This done, the next night they sent word to the Emperor of what had occurred, and asked for succour. Frederick, who from the first had been anxious about this castle, had already despatched his messengers to summon the forces of Parma, Reggio, Cremona, Bergamo, Vercelli, Novara, and Pavia, and those of the Marquises and principal Barons of Lombardy. And now, on hearing of its danger, he hastened from Pavia to Lodi, where in no long time he succeeded in assembling a strong army ; whilst the Milanese, made falsely secure by his long inactivity in Pavia, and thinking that he would find it impossible to get together any very formidable body of forces, were holding him in something like contempt, and encouraging themselves to remain in the field, and, in spite of all that he could do, to take that castle. In this mis- taken confidence, moreover, they had entered upon that undertaking without the counsel and the forces by which alone, if they had known the truth, they could have hoped to bring it to a successful issue. But as soon as they heard how strong an army the Emperor had set on foot, and knew that he was encamped upon the Lambro, where the Count of Barcelona, with sixty men-at-arms, had just joined him, they set fire to their engines, raised the siege, and went home. In popu- lar governments, vainglory, when wounded by the event, is wont to be succeeded by a bitter spirit of fault-finding, which vents itself, from time to time, in angry and contemp- tuous speeches ; and one such is recorded to have escaped a good Milanese of those days, to the effect, that the money which the Consuls had thrown away upon that siege, ought 268 THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. BOOK vi. rather to have been spent in buying provisions, to replace those which were destroyed by the fire. Defeat of 3- The Piacentines, after their success in the wood of gians. Butegnano, were glad to take the first opportunity of making another incursion. In April, accordingly, when the attention of all their neighbours was directed to the enterprise of the Milanese against Castiglione, they again entered the Lodigian territory, and, pillaging on their way, advanced as far as Santa Maria, in Istrada, near to Fossatoldo. Trincafoglia della Pus- terla, the Podesta of Lodi, believing that the Emperor's pro- hibition against taking the field had regard to their wars with the Milanese only, and eager to wipe out, by some brave exploit, the disgrace of their defeat in the wood, himself led forth the militias to Fossatoldo, where he fell furiously upon the Piacentines ; and a fierce battle ensued, in which, at the first onset, Giacomo Visdomino, a patrician of Piacenza, was slain. The event of the day was long doubtful, but at last victory rested with the Piacentines, who put the Lodigians to flight, slew not a few of them, and took many prisoners, amongst whom was the Podesta himself, with Giovanni di Overgnate and Ugone della Pusterla. The shame and dismay of the Lodigians after this second defeat, were greater than can be told ; just then, moreover, to add to their distress, a fire broke out in the Imperial Gate, and consumed a great part of their city. On this the Emperor, alarmed for the safety of that place, which was the pivot of his operations in Lombardy, instantly repaired thither, and, for the first time, appeared amongst them with a cloud on his brow, and sharply rebuked the chief men for not giving heed to his admonitions. But, to restore him to serenity and give him fresh hope for the future, there arrived in those days the welcome news, that the forces which he had demanded from Germany had crossed the Alps, and were rapidly advancing to join him. Arrival of 4. And it was true ; for the German nation, ashamed of Germany. having so long left the Emperor almost alone amongst the peoples of Italy, where, to the dishonour of the Empire, he appeared weak, and unable to subdue the Milanese, who had the reputation of being the chief promoters of every tumult and discord in the country, had at last been moved to supply BOOK vi. THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. 269 him with a very powerful army. Amongst the leaders came Conrad, Count Palatine of the Rhine, his brother ; Frederick, Duke of Swabia, son of King Conrad ; Louis, Landgrave of Hesse, Frederick's brother-in-law ; the Duke of Rottenburg ; Reinhardt the Chancellor, Archbishop elect of Cologne, and the son of the King of Bohemia. The troops brought by these, and other Bishops and Barons of Germany, together with the forces which Frederick had received from the Barons and Communes of Lombardy, formed an army of 100,000 men. Greatly did he rejoice to see himself once more at the head of so vast a host, composed, for the most part, of men of German race, in whom alone he had full confidence ; for between himself and those of Latin blood, even when they fought under his banner, there was little interchange of good- will. There is no doubt that, in this time that he had been obliged to remain in Italy to support his own party and the schism, he might long before now have summoned to himself, if not, on account of the discords in Germany, all the forces of the Empire, at least those of his own lands and of his kins- men, and, joining them to the forces of Italy, have carried on the war with greater spirit; but he failed not to perceive, that a victory in a war in which Latin arms preponderated, would prove to him, in its consequences, little better than a defeat. It was not his interest to owe any great service to men who, whether well or ill affected, inhabited a land which, to the eyes and to the heart of a Teutonic lord, could never be any- thing better than a conquered country. They, even when faithful, could not be allowed to attain to more than secondary honours in the Empire. More would not be suitable for men whose only fatherland was their municipality. It would be dangerous to let them form the habit of aspiring too high. But with these, men of his own nation, and speech, and customs, he was free from all suspicion : to nothing advantageous and glorious could they aspire, which would not be advantageous and glorious to himself; with them alone he felt at ease upon the fields of Italy ; and the time was come to let loose all his wrath, not only upon the lands, but against the city and the lives, of that people which was so obnoxious to him. Now, therefore, as he had long desired, he could abandon himself without restraint to a war of extermination. The Emperor, after the dissolution of the Council, de- Frederick. p ar ted from Lodi,resolved to enforce with more terrible severity the blockade of Milan ; and having taken the little fortress of Corva, he caused all the men that it contained, about a hundred, to have their hands cut off; excepting seventeen, whom, after he had burnt the castle, he led away prisoners. And it is said that he sometimes caused such of his prisoners as were reputed rich, to be kept in the open air, exposed, day and night, to all the inclemencies of the weather, until he had received for them a heavy ransom. For these cruelties, and others committed by him about this time, his name was the more detested, because, although the Milanese had formerly rendered like for like, they were never after the siege of Crema, so far as can be gathered even from authors most devoted to his party, guilty of any barbarous inhumanity towards the prisoners ; and the infamy of these atrocities attached to him the more personally, in that, where he was not present, they seldom occurred. In this very month of July, Count Gozzo- lino, his prefect in Seprio and Martesana, took the castle of Blandrone, and destroyed its walls, but suffered all those who had defended it to go forth unharmed. inroad of ^- The Piacentincs, having heard that the Emperor had the Piacen- left Lodi, and was encamped at Cerro, a place not far from tines on the _,., . A , . , . T ,. . Lodigian Milan, made on August 7 another inroad on the Lodigian ' ory ' territory, and with their usual success ; differing in this from the Milanese, who, as if in retribution for their former misdeeds, were always unfortunate there ; fourteen Lodigians, of no mean rank, were carried away prisoners to Piacenza ; amongst whom were Margotto and Guglielmo degli Aboni, Guglielmo dei Fissaraga, and Vergondio, son of Oldrato Morena. BOOK vi. THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. 273 9. Of the Milanese Consuls for this year, 1161, the names Rigorous of three only have come down to us : Pagano Borro, Guercio "fThT^ dell' Ostiolo, and Montenario. From the little which is ^j 1 ^' 5 in recorded of them, and especially from the rigorous measures which they now adopted, it may be inferred that they were men of stern and resolute character, such as would naturally be chosen in a time of so much anxiety and peril. Pagano Borro and Guercio dell' Ostiolo had been raised before to the Consular dignity, and Montenario had been a judge. The first took part in the disastrous fight at Cavagnara, in 1159, in which, with many other knights of Milan, he was taken captive, and was led away to Pavia, where he sustained a long imprisonment. And Guercio dell' Ostiolo seems to have been a man of singular worth and prudence, for his name occurs often in the records of that time, now as Consul, now as judge, and now as witness; it being customary with the ancients to authenticate their documents of importance by the presence and testimony of the wisest and most estimable persons amongst them. These patricians, then, accustomed to public business, and conscious of the authority which they possessed in the Commune, began to rule the city with a firm hand, and even, perhaps, with excessive severity. To this they were no doubt impelled by the signs of foreboding and dismay which were beginning to appear amongst the people, now disheart- ened and impoverished by the long war. It was still summer, and already a scarcity was perceptible, which, on account of the devastations committed in those days, might reasonably be expected to increase. All industry and commercial inter- course within and without the walls were failing ; goods and money were accumulated in the hands of a few, and by timid persons were anxiously concealed. Wherefore, by order of the Consuls, two men were elected in every parish, and three for every Gate, who were to preside over the meetings of the first, that they might fix at their discretion the price of corn, and wine, and other goods, and the interest of money. And as it was necessary, for the expenses of the war, to increase the revenues of the Commune, they doubled the tolls and the taxes, which were exacted with the utmost rigour, those who refused to pay them being put to the rack ; under which torture several died. T Cerro 274 THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. BOOK vi. Battle of 10. The Consuls, having thus prepared for war, thought that the Emperor would be more likely to listen to proposals of peace ; especially since they had heard, through some of the principal Barons, that Frederick, now that he was again strong in arms, was secretly not unwilling to come to an accommodation with them. Whether this was a device to sow discord amongst the people, or was spoken in good faith, it would be hard to say ; certain it is, that the Consuls, on learning that the Emperor was come, as has been said, to the village of Cerro, sent one of their number to Louis, Landgrave of Hesse, to the Duke of Bohemia, and to Conrad, Count Palatine of the Rhine, the Emperor's brother, to let them know that the Milanese Consuls desired to speak with them; not applying to the Chancellor, because they knew that ever since the flight they had put him to in 1 159, he had been one of their bitterest enemies. Both parties having pledged their word for each other's safety, the Milanese Consuls, suspecting nothing, set forth on their way to the appointed place. But, as they were passing the Monastery of Chiaravalle, some men- at-arms belonging to the Chancellor, which were posted on that road, either in ignorance of the pledged faith and pro- jected conference, or by express command of their lord, suddenly laid hands upon them, and took them prisoners. On this, some Milanese horsemen, who were watching their Consuls from afar, rushed upon that troop to rescue them, and a fierce conflict arose, at the noise of which the Land- grave, the Duke of Bohemia, and the Count Palatine of the Rhine came forth, and found that the Consuls, to whom they had pledged their faith, had been taken captive, and placed under guard ; just as if, as indeed it was told them, no one might safely enter that camp without a safe-conduct from the Chancellor. They did not choose to waste time and words upon those soldiers ; full of indignation, they went straight in search of the Chancellor himself, threatening to avenge so great an outrage in his blood. But he, on hearing of the wrath of the princes, feared for himself the violent death to which the Archbishop of Mentz had been put not long befo're in Germany, and took refuge in the presence of the Emperor. Frederick, not over-scrupulous in his dealings with the Milanese, soon reassured him ; and advancing to BOOK VI. THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. 275 meet the infuriated princes, commanded them to molest his Chancellor no further. Then, instantly summoning the forces of the Duke of Rottenburg and of the other Barons, he set forth in battle-array for the scene of conflict. But the princes whose faith had been violated, refused to follow him, in- dignant that so base an advantage should be taken of their dishonour. The Emperor, when he came to the place, found the battle fast increasing, by reason of those who came hurrying to take part in it, both from the city and from the German camp ; and soon saw that an opportunity was presented to him of gaining no small victory. He gave orders that the Duke of Rottenburg should move rapidly towards the east, and attack the Milanese on the one flank ; whilst the Chancellor with the rest of the Barons assailed them on the other ; and he himself advanced against their front. The Milanese, seeing themselves thus unexpectedly compelled to give battle, and hemmed in on both sides, soon turned their backs, and fled in disorder towards Milan. Frederick fiercely pursued them, and, before they could get to the East Gate, struck down many, and took captive 80 horsemen and 266 of the infantry, all of whom he sent to the prisons of Lodi; and more of them still he put to the sword on the edge of the ditch ; then, raging amongst the flying, and loudly calling on his men to follow him, he spurred towards the bridge, and would have crossed it ; but at that moment his horse was killed under him, and he himself received a wound which brought him to the ground. On this the Germans, filled with consternation, ran to raise him, and the Milanese had an opportunity of getting safe into the city ; but not all, for a band of the hindmost, unable to make their way through the throng of enemies to the bridge, were forced to take refuge in the neighbouring church of St. Lorenzo, where they defended themselves manfully until late at night ; when, the Germans having returned to their quaiters, they re-entered the city in safety. Of the fate which befell the Consuls, nothing certain is known. From the sudden departure from the camp of the Landgrave, the Duke of Bohemia, and the Chancellor, it may be inferred that the capture of the Consuls, whether they were afterwards set at liberty or not, became a cause of altercation T 2 276 THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. BOOK vr. Devasta- tion and cruelty around Milan. and discord among those Barons and their followers ; since it seems probable, that it was to avert the unpleasantness and peril of more serious dissensions, that the Emperor, when no one else of that expedition had any thought of leaving it, suddenly dismissed from it those who had been amongst its chief promoters. ii. The next day he came to encamp near S. Donate, causing everything around it which still remained untouched to be destroyed. The day following the Milanese, in nowise intimidated by their recent defeat, came forth unexpectedly from the Roman Gate, and had a fight with the Germans who were pillaging the neighbouring fields, in which three of them- selves were slain : Cacciaguerra di Sorosina, a son of Guarnerio Grassi, and Ambrogio di Bollate. The Emperor, advancing afterwards further into the Broglio, encamped his army near the ditch, between the Ticinese Gate and the East Gate ; and moving it thus day after day, he went for the second time all round the walls, destroying in the farms and fields everything that could be of any use to the besieged ; and whenever one of those that came out to get firewood or provisions chanced to be taken, he was dragged into his presence, and mercilessly sentenced to have his hands cut off- a very common punish- ment in the Imperial camp ; so that for years afterwards, all over Lombardy, many of these unfortunate men were to be seen, no longer able to earn their bread, begging from door to door, and showing their maimed stumps to excite pity. Frederick did not rest content with mutilating these poor foragers ; thinking that some of the patricians also ought to taste his cruelty, he gave orders that five of them, lately taken, Arnolfo and Ubertino, of the Capitani of Malescate, Valderico Uberto, Giordano, son of Arioldo Crivelli, and Lanzacurta di Roncate, should have their eyes put out ; and, to add grim horror to this barbarity, he caused a sixth, Suzzoni di Anzano, to have his nostrils cut away, and to lose but one eye, that he might guide the others to Milan ; whither he sent them back in that condition, to the terror of all. After having desolated and distressed the Milanese with these cruelties and devastations the whole of the autumn, and deprived them, as he believed, of all hope of holding out beyond the winter, he departed for Pavia. But finding pre- BOOK vi. THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. ^77 sently that so long as he remained there, he could not well prevent the Milanese from receiving the supplies which were being secretly forwarded to them from Piacenza and Brescia, he came with the Empress and his Barons to spend the winter at Lodi, where, by the position of the place, and by a new disposition of his forces, he was able to cut them off from every source of succour. He placed his brother Conrad, William, Marquis of Mont- ferrat, and Guido, Count of Biandrate, in the Castle of Mom- brione ; fortified the church of Ripalta Magna with a deep ditch and entrenchments, provided it with engines, and put into it a strong band of Germans ; and sent Marcoaldo, Count of Gambarana, to the Castle of S. Gervasio, near Trezzo. Having thus posted them all around Milan, he strictly charged them to watch the roads day and night, and whenever they caught any carrying provisions, to cut off their hands without mercy ; so that, after the example made of five-and- twenty peasants, who went home again thus maimed, none could be found willing to venture upon those roads, which were constantly patrolled, day and night, by the foot and horse of the enemy : wherefore the scarcity of the provisions increased in Milan every day, along with all the suffering and discontent amongst the common people which are its invariable conse- quences. Nevertheless, as late as the end of this year the hearts of the majority were still sustained by the hope of delivering themselves, by arms or by negotiations, from so many evils ; and in this hope they held out patiently. 12. In December Frederick went from Lodi to Cremona, Last inroad in order to stir up that Commune to greater activity and vigi- Milanese lance against the Piacentines, who from time to time were Lilian throwing succour into Milan. The Milanese Consuls, as soon territory. as they heard of his departure, resolved to attack the Lodi- gians. They sent forth, therefore, early in the morning, 500 horse, the greater part of which, according to their custom in these inroads, lay hidden in the wood of S. Giovanni, whilst the rest went forwards as far as Pulegnano, pillaging. The Lodigians and the Germans, led by the Duke of Rottenburg, were not slow to come forth, and, closely pursuing them, soon recovered the spoil and took several prisoners. Then the Milanese who lay in ambush spurred to the rescue, and in 278 THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. BOOK vi. their turn attacking the enemy, retook both the captives and the spoil. The battle raged for a long time near to the church of S. Martino dci Casati, where was slain a German knight of high reputation, much valued by the Empress. Toward evening both sides, weary but unvanquishcd, retired from the field. 13. This was the last time that the Milanese went forth ; nor is it recorded that the Emperor ever drew near in the depth of this winter to attack them, being sure that the famine and the discord which he knew to be at work in the city would do their office ; so that he would soon have his desire satisfied, without striking a blow. By February the scarcity was extreme ; salt, corn, and butcher's meat were sold at prices so exorbitant, that few, even of the wealthiest, were able to procure them every day. What the poorer people suf- fered is past telling. The discomforts and privations ex- perienced in such cases are for the most part long kept secret, since everyone is unwilling to be amongst the first to show signs of domestic poverty and distress ; and by the time these are made manifest by death, the public calamity has become so heavy, that private grief excites but little notice. But if patience is a remedy for every evil, continued famine wears out life ; and to bear with stern composure its inward gnaw- ings, asks a fortitude not given to all. No wonder, then, that in this extremity the people loudly murmured, and openly demanded surrender. But most bitter indignation must have been felt in Milan when some oT the principal citizens, regard- less of the disgrace they were bringing on themselves and on their families, went over by night to the camp of the Emperor. They were but few, considering the dread of the impending ruin ; and, to punish their treason, their houses were instantly seized by the Consuls, and put up to public sale. These are their names : Pragmaita, Giovanni di S. Blatore, Giovanni di Govirate, Ottone da Solmano, the two brothers Margirone, Stramato Pita, Amizone, judge and notary, and Moscardo da Antignate. Some also make mention amongst them of Gior- dano Scacabaroccio, who is said to have been one of the Consuls, but with particulars which will not bear examination. After this it was suspected that others were basely plotting to forsake the city, but nothing was proved against them. It BOOK vi. THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. 279 is certain, however, that the citizens were now in a dreadful state of discord ; father and son, brother and brother, neigh- bour and neighbour, in the houses and in the streets, were daily wrangling, and often coming to blows. The people, on the slightest occasions, would rise tumultuously, and rush with loud cries into the Consoleria in the Broletto ; and they went so far as to threaten to kill the Consuls, if they persisted in opposing the surrender ; for they were sure, they said, that if the patricians would lay aside their pride and submit to the Emperor, he would spare the city, and leave the inhabitants in possession of their goods ; such being the promises often made by the princes of the Empire. So prone are the multi- tude to believe what they desire ! The Consuls for this year were Ottone Visconti, Amizonc, of the Roman Gate, Anselmo dei Mandelli, son of him who fell at Carcano, Giovannolo Corio, Gottifredo Maincrio, Arderico Cassino, Ossio and Anselmo dell' Orto, Aldiprando Giudice, and Alderico di Bonate. These, seeing into what an extremity of misery and terror the city was now fallen, and that everything was fast becoming desperate, took counsel together, and resolved, with the consent of the people, to send the Consul Anselmo dell' Orto and tw.o others to the Em- peror, to treat for surrender, on these conditions : that the Milanese should bind themselves to fill up the ditch, and to pull down the walls, and all the towers ; to give 300 hostages, chosen by the Emperor, for three years ; to receive from him the Podesta, Lombard or German, as might best please him ; to renounce all the regalia ; to pay an indemnity ; to build him a palace, within or without the city, at his pleasure ; never to dig the ditch again, or rebuild the wall, without his permission ; to contract no alliance with any city or Com- mune ; to cause 3,000 of the inhabitants to leave the city ; and to receive him into it, with his army, for as long a time as he might be pleased to stay. Offers more grievous to themselves could hardly have been made by the Milanese ; they despoiled themselves of all their ancient rights and privileges ; they made themselves altogether subject to the Emperor ; nothing but their lives and property remained to them. Nevertheless, Frederick, after he had taken counsel with his Barons, and with the Lombard leaders 28o THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES, BOOK vi. which were with him in Lodi, replied, that he would not accept the surrender on those or on any conditions ; Milan must surrender at discretion ; and dismissed them. Surrender 14. On the return of Anselmo dell' Orto with this harsh of Milan. 11-1 reply, which was just what most of them had expected, some, whose courage was made desperate by calamity, proposed, that they should rush forth from the gates, sword in hand, upon the enemy, and perish fighting ; that so, like the noble Mandelli, they might be spared the sorrow and disgrace of surviving their much-loved city. But the people in general, who for four years had been borne down by accumulating misfortunes, were weary and disheartened ; in the breasts of the majority all confidence in themselves and in their fellow- citizens, all faith in their high destiny, was extinct ; distracted and confused, they inclined now to this course, now to that, and saw no hope in any. If they should surrender without conditions, they feared that the city would be destroyed ; and if they should hold out in their present misery a little longer, there was still no prospect of deliverance ; do what they might, their ruin seemed inevitable. After some days of most painful hesitation, all, Consuls and people, agreed to surrender unconditionally. Accordingly, on March I, the Consuls, with eight of the principal patricians, departed for Lodi, where, hold- ing in their hands, as was the custom, naked swords, in the name of their Commune they surrendered to the Emperor, swear- ing that they and the Milanese people would obey whatever commands it might please him to impose on -them. Frederick, as if disdaining to give any and so disclose his intentions, replied, that they must come to repeat in Lodi the surrender of 1 158, with certain additional ceremonies, which he would pre- scribe, significant of their humbler condition and lower destiny. In obedience to this command, there came to him on the following Sunday 300 knights, amongst whom were thirty- six standard-bearers, who delivered up their banners to him, kissing his foot. They were preceded by Master Guin- tellino with the keys of the city ; for, either on account of the confidence generally felt in the prudence of the Master, or because of a secret hope in the hearts of the people that the Emperor, to whom the worth and genius of this Milanese were well known, would for his sake deal more BOOK vr. THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. 281 kindly with his city, it was decreed by public vote that Master Guintellino should go with those knights to the Emperor, and present the keys. Frederick, not satisfied with this, com- manded that they should give into his hands all those who had been Consuls within the last few years, and a consider- able number of the chief patricians, with the Carroccio, and all the banners of the Commune. On the following Tuesday, when the Carroccio was to be brought to 'him, the principal inhabitants of three Gates went forth in procession before the car, which bore upon its central staff, as usual, the great banner of the Commune, whilst to the sides of it, around its altar, for the mournful ceremony of that day, were affixed all the banners of the parishes (in number more than a hundred), into which were subdivided the militias of the Gates. As this civic monument passed along from street to street in the direction of Lodi, the people ran in crowds to see it ; and never had it appeared to them so beautiful and precious as at that moment, when it seemed to be bearing away with it all the glory of its Commune. After it came the chief inhabitants of the other Gates, with crosses in their hands, as supplicants for mercy. When they arrived at Lodi, and came into the presence of the Emperor, who, sitting upon his throne, with his Barons around him, awaited them at the gate of his palace, the trumpets of the vanquished gave their signal for the last' time, and the staff of the great banner, by a mecha- nical contrivance, was slowly lowered towards him ; he touched its border, as a sign that the homage was accepted ; and im- mediately the staff was raised up into its place again as before. Whilst the Carroccio thus stood before him, with all its ban- ners, and with the two trumpets, which were regarded as a symbol of the authority of the Commune, one of the Consuls came forwards, and, falling on his knees, in a few words, often broken by his grief, humbly besought him to deal mercifully with his city. Then all the people fell prostrate before him, and with cries and tears, holding up the crosses, loudly im- plored his pardon. The Count of Biandrate, at that sight, could no longer remain standing with the German Barons ; suddenly stepping forth from amongst them, and taking a cross like the rest, he threw himself, in the sight of all, at the Emperor's feet, beseeching him to forgive that unhappy 282 THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. BOOK vr. people. All the court was touched with the behaviour of so great a Baron; and louder rose the cries of the multitude, who be- came still more apprehensive of a cruel destiny, when they saw that Frederick, stern and impassive, seemed to'give no heed to the Count, and showed no sign of relenting. Then, catching'at their last hope, they turned to the window where the Empress was, and, lifting up the crosses, pleaded piteously for mercy. Nothing did they obtain from Frederick, but a promise that he would set them free, on the morrow, from the ban of the Empire. Then, when they had taken the oath of allegiance, he commanded the Consuls to send him 114 patricians, that so, with the 286 which he had received already, he might have in his hands 400 hostages ; after which he allowed the people to return home ; giving orders, however, that at every Gate of Milan the wall should be broken down, and the ditch filled up, so as to form a wide road into the city for the entrance of his army. Finally, as if wishing to show that he was disposed to pardon them, and to let them live in their city as before, under his authority, he appointed six Germans and six Lombards to receive the oath of allegiance from all the inhabitants of Milan. Acerbo Morena, then Podesta of Lodi, and Frederick of Hesse, the Emperor's chamberlain, were to receive it from those of the New Gate ; Count Conrad of Bellamite and Gherardo da Cornazzano from those of the Roman Gate ; Guido di S. Nazzaro of Pavia, and Hugh, a German, from those of the Comacina Gate ; Monaco Ger- manico and Otterico of Cremona from those of the Ticinese Gate ; and Rodolfo of Mantua and Teteric, a German, from those of the Vercellina Gate. The names of the two appointed to receive it from those of the East Gate are not known. 1 5. The people, always fickle and ready to hope well of the powerful, a simplicity which is sometimes not unmixed with a little subtle adulation, on being told that these men had been sent by the Emperor to demand their allegiance, instantly drew great comfort from it, as a sign and pledge of pardon, and hastened to tender the oath. The Lombard leaders themselves, who were eagerly expecting from the Emperor the promised destruction of Milan, began to fear, when they saw this prompt and universal devotion of the Milanese, that he would change his purpose with regard to their dreaded BOOK vi. THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. 283 rival, for it seemed unlikely, even to them, that he would give up to fire and sword a city from which he had so solemnly required and received an oath of fidelity and obedience. But the Consuls, and all those Milanese who had lately seen him face to face, were of a different opinion ; and they were right ; for a few days sufficed to bury these popular hopes under an overwhelming load of sorrow. Meanwhile, the Archbishop, Oberto Pirovano, apprehend- ing from the wrath of the Emperor some deed of high-handed cruelty, which he might himself be required to witness, and perhaps to take part in, departed from the city, with the chief prelates of the Milanese Church, amongst whom was Galdino della Sala, and betook himself to Genoa, where the Pope was then residing ; and when Alexander, some time afterwards, as if despairing of the affairs of Italy, went into France to confer with the King, the Archbishop, rather than submit to the Emperor and the Antipope, who were then in great power, chose a voluntary exile in Benevento, where, as will afterwards be seen, he died. Frederick, when he found that the Lombards of his party were beginning to be anxious on account of the oath of alle- giance which had been so eagerly tendered by the Milanese, resolved to increase their anxiety a little, that he might be able to extract from them a larger sum of money ; for, as has been seen more than once, and will be seen again, he was accustomed, at the end of his wars in Italy, to receive large sums of money from those Lombards who had conquered with him, for permission to destroy the cities of the vanquished. With this intent, as if departing from the prey, he suddenly left Lodi, and, taking with him the 400 Milanese hostages, retired with the army to Pavia. There he at last obtained from the Lombards the sum on which he had set his mind for the destruction of Milan. But wishing to give to that punishment the sanction of a formal decree, he convoked to parliament the Lombard Bishops, Barons, and Captains then in Pavia, before whom, after recounting the reiterated re- bellions of the Milanese, their ambition and cruelty towards their neighbours, and the discords which they sowed in the country, and between the Empire and the Church, he averred that there was no way of putting an end to so many evils, 284 THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. BOOK vi. and to this contest, which, to the great detriment of the Empire, had now lasted eight years, but that of destroying the city of Milan, and dispersing the inhabitants amongst the neighbouring towns and villages ; this, he added, mu.^t needs seem, at first, a most cruel remedy ; nevertheless, on consider- ing the power and pride of this people, and their inveterate in- clination to rebel, it would be seen to be needful for the security of his crown, as also for the peace of Lombardy; seeing that as long as this city was left standing, it would be, as it had always been, a perennial source of seditions, dissensions, and calamities to the whole land. All present having concurred in this, the sentence was ratified. Frederick, therefore, having now come to the point of committing in cold blood this unheard of cruelty against the entire population of the chief city of Lombardy, sent, after four days, for the Milanese Consuls, and told them that it was his will to destroy the city of Milan, and to settle the people in villages, although he might, in strict justice, have taken all their lives. That within eight days, therefore, the city must be emptied of its inhabit- ants, who would be permitted to retain possession of their allodial lands, legally acquired, and of as much of their per- sonal property as they could carry away with them. This sentence was not unexpected ; and yet, when it was made known by the Emperor to the Consuls, and by these to the chief men of the city and to the people, it produced in all amazement and grief unutterable, as a calamity whose extent could not at first be grasped by thought ; and for the moment they could only chafe under it, and bewail themselves that they had not fallen, sword in hand, under their walls, rather than sur- vive their city and go wandering as exiles, laden with insults and misery, in the lands of their envious rivals. Nevertheless, pressed upon by the oath and by dire necessity, they hastened to obey, and within the term prescribed the whole city was for- saken of its inhabitants. But before it was thus made silent and desolate, what a sad and pitiable spectacle was daily re- newed in its streets ! Families innumerable, men, women, and children, with the aged and infirm, were seen moving on, one after another, without ceasing ; all passing onwards to the Gates, with the few household goods which they could carry, and crossing the threshold with heavy hearts, fearing that they BOOK vr. THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. ^ might never be permitted to return. Then, emboldened by the very greatness of their calamity, they took their way to the towns of their enemies, some to Como, some to Pavia, some to Cremona, some even to Lodi, according as ancient family alliances, or the memory of the hospitable intercourse which they had enjoyed with their neighbours in happier times, determined them ; and not in vain; for as they, in their misery, had lost the power of harming, the others had no longer any desire to harm ; and the hospitality which they came to seek was accorded by the others, as to kinsmen, with cheerful generosity. But the greater part of the common people, having no ties of kindred or of friendship to assure them of a good reception in any place whatever, had not the heart to go far from their city, but settled down outside the walls, and there remained for many days in the open air, around the monasteries of St. Vincent, St. Celsus, St. Dio- nysius, and St. Victor, always hoping that the Emperor, when he should come to Milan, seeing them in such misery, and pleased with their obedience, would take pity upon them, and allow them to go in again, and to dwell in their own houses, in peace and comfort, as before. Vain illusion ! On March 25 the appointed term expired ; and the day after, the Emperor led back the army towards Milan. As soon as he came in sight of the devoted city he halted, and caused the Lombards, who were in the rear, to come to the front, and commanded the Germans to give them the spades, pickaxes, mallets, and all such implements, because it was his will that his sentence upon Milan should be executed by Italian hands, in order that this punishment might be more sharp and bitter to the pride of the Milanese, as inflicted upon them by those very neighbours whom they had been accustomed to oppress and to despise. After this, the Emperor, followed by his Barons, spear in hand, encountered that unhappy multitude which was awaiting him outside the walls, and passed through the midst of them with an angry frown, scorning their uplifted crosses, their cries, and prayers for mercy ; and forthwith, turning to the Lodigians, he com- manded them to go forwards and destroy the East Gate ; then he sent the Cremonese to the Roman Gate, the Pavese to the Ticinese Gate, the Novarese to the Vercellina Gate, the Co- 286 THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. BOOK vi. mascans to the Comacina Gate, and to the New Gate, the Captains of Scprio and Martesana. Incredible, were it not related by contemporary historians, would be the eagerness with which those Lombards, thus let loose by the Emperor, threw themselves upon their prey ; vieing one with another, some at the bastions, some at the walls, some at the towers, they gave themselves up wholly to the gratification of their long-desired revenge. But the greater part, as by common consent, soon overpassed the limits assigned them, and, going into the streets, each made his way to the house of his enemy, where, by violating and breaking down the beloved recesses of his home, he thought to cut him to the quick. Yet some there were amidst this fury who, on entering the forsaken houses, and seeing the rooms and the furniture which had afforded shelter and domestic comfort to the wives and children of the foe, were touched at heart, and refrained from meddling with them, remembering their own peaceful homes, the sorrows and sufferings of the absent, and the perpetual mutability of all human things. As great a work of devastation was accom- plished within this city in six days as would have been thought possible in two months. The Lodigians, as the most injured, sought and obtained the largest share of revenge ; for, after pulling down the East Gate, which was assigned to them, they found time and breath to help the Cremonese to pull down the Roman Gate. Some of the Pavese are men- tioned as having especially signalised themselves in this destruction ; but I will not name them, for the shame and grief of this dire calamity ought to rest upon all who bore part in it, not upon the memory of a few obscure men. Yet that which took place amongst these kindred peoples on this and other similar occasions may well be recorded here, that our discords may be held in greater detestation, for they were such as to call forth amazement and horror even in those who derived advantage and glory from them. The men of the North are of a rude and cold nature ; and in those times, even in their native lands, they went to war rather in obedience to their lords than to gratify their own wrath and ambition ; hence, having themselves neither the stimulus of personal offence, nor that fiery quickness of feeling which so frequently BOOK vi. THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. 287 hurries the men of the South into excesses, as often as in these wars they saw Lombards vent their fury upon Lombards, they marvelled exceedingly, and were at a loss to comprehend how such hatred and malice could ever have taken root amongst men of the same land. In this first overthrow, much of the wall was left standing, for, being built at the base with great squared stones, and strengthened all around with more than a hundred towers, it was able to resist that sudden tumultuary violence ; wherefore the enemies, anxious more especially to demolish the fortifi- cations, of which the Milanese had been so proud, returned three times that year to complete the destruction. In this perished divers magnificent buildings, erected by Roman Emperors ; and also, an irreparable loss, many masterpieces of art, collected there, it is said, from a remote antiquity ; precious relics of two other similar calamities, the one under- gone during the war of Aurelian against the Goths, and the other in the time of Belisarius, when the Goths, having dis- covered that the Bishop was plotting to open the gates to him, burnt the city, and put the inhabitants to the sword. So fatal to this land have ever been the people of the North ! Religion, pointing to the common altars and the tombs of many kinsmen, preserved unharmed the churches of Milan, as is proved by many still standing, whose rude style of architecture shows them to be of an age anterior to this Emperor ; above all, the veneration ever felt by all the Lom- bards for St. Ambrose protected everything that was sacred to his name ; his ancient Basilica, with its portico and towers, remained untouched, and his altar inviolate, although it was covered with plates of gold and silver, and enriched with most precious stones. But the steeple of the cathedral, which was of wondrous beauty, offended the eyes of the Emperor, who commanded that it should be partly pulled down; resolved that even that material loftiness, which seemed to wear an aspect of dignity and confidence, should lie pros- trate at his feet. In doing this, either out of malice or from awkwardness, the workmen let it fall upon the church, so as to knock down a great part of it. Of the sacred relics which were carried away from Milan at this time, when such treasures were amongst the spoils most coveted and valued 288 THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. BOOK vi. by the conqueror, the only very famous ones seem to have been those which were traditionally believed to be the bodies of the three Magi, worshippers of the infant Jesus; which, in the course of the following year, Reinhardt the Chancellor, .Archbishop elect of Cologne, removed from the Basilica of St. Eustorgius, in which they had been deposited by that Bishop in the time of the Emperor Constantius, and sent to his own cathedral in Germany, where they are venerated to this day. That the Germans and Lombards who were the authors of so great a schism should show this respect to churches and relics, will no longer seem strange, when it is considered that the very consciousness of being involved in such a quarrel, as to the blame of which the opinion of the peoples is wont to waver for some time in indecision, would lead even the conquerors to protect and venerate everything held sacred, in order to make it appear to the world, by their reverent and pious procedure, that theirs was the side of religion, truth, and justice. Noble 1 6. The Emperor, in accordance with this subtle pur- orthe 10Ur P ose f commending himself and his party to the multitude Canons of ^y a s how of piety, was pleased, on the following Sunday. the Basilica J , ^ i of St. Am- which was Palm Sunday, to take the branch of peace in the Basilica of St. Ambrose. But the generous spirit of the Lorn - bard race was not all crushed and buried under the ruins of the city ; he had to receive it from other hands than those of the canons of that church ; for, in spite of threats and pro- mises, they steadfastly refused to take any part in that ser- vice ; unwilling to sing before him, with the groans of a ruined people still echoing in their ears, those words which once, for deeds of a very different kind, resounded in the streets of Jerusalem : 'Blessed be the King that cometh in the name of the Lord.' And afterwards, rather than obey the Emperor and the Antipope, and dwell in Milan, they went forth to share the poverty and exile of their people, in the villages. This refusal was a great mortification to the proud Emperor, for although he knew himself to be secretly hated, and obeyed only by constraint, he had not supposed that anyone amongst those ruins would be bold enough to show it to his face. That Christian rite hardly ended, he dropped the sacred olive-branch, no meet emblem for such a hand as his, hastily BOOK VI. THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. 289 quitted the place, and, leaving orders that the people should immediately go to dwell elsewhere, further from the ruins, repaired to Pavia. Arrived there, he disbanded part of the army, but retained the leaders, that they might attend him in the triumph which was about to be celebrated for the reduction of Milan. 17. On Easter Day, he appeared with the Empress in the Frederick cathedral, at the grand mass (which was performed with holds his ... .a. r u r triumph in dazzling pomp in the presence of a numerous baronage of p av ia. Italy and Germany), and wore the crown, which he had not done before for three years, because of a vow that he had made, never to put it on his head again, until he should have subdued the Milanese. After that service he entertained the Bishops, the Barons, and the Podestas and Consuls of the Com- munes at a banquet, which was prepared with great magnifi- cence in the palace of the Bishop of Pavia. All attended it, and sat down to it in their robes of state, the Emperor and Empress wearing their crowns, the Bishops their mitres (which in those days were lower than now), and all the rest their proper devices and ornaments. It was a day, according to Acerbo Morena, who was invited to it as Podesta of Lodi, of much solemnity and of great gladness. But there was wanting at the banquet the master of the house, the Bishop of Pavia ; Peter, the fifth of that name, once Abbot of the famous Abbey of Lucedio, near Trino, who always, through good and evil fortune, adhered to the true Pope. His absence occasioned some vexation to the imperial host, and not a few unpleasant thoughts to those who sat at table with him, for they could not conceal from themselves, amidst the dainty viands and the rejoicings of that feast, that the victory thus celebrated was a sad and shameful one, being connected with a breach of the unity of the Church, and with the overthrow of the greatest and most illustrious city of Lombardy. This was the destruction of Milan, which forms a very notable epoch in the mediaeval history of Italy. Frederick, in a letter written on the spot, which seems intended for pos- terity, speaks of it with the greatest exultation ; and for some time, as if it had been for him an event of no ordinary glory, he dated his diplomas from it ; yet the decline of his power in Italy dates from that very year. A memorable example U 2QO THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. BOOK vi. of that divine retribution, which, even in this world, with slow but certain steps, follows in the track of all excesses that offend against humanity. In that age of rude and fierce passions, when it was believed that he who in this life had failed to obtain due vengeance for any injury done to himself or his kin, thirsted for it even after death, and would come forth from time to time from the tomb, to demand it of his heirs, a report arose, that in the week when the walls were being broken down, many shadowy forms were seen at nightfall on the roads around Milan, speeding eagerly along towards those ruins ; and it was said that they were Lodigian exiles, who came from various parts of Lombardy, where they had died, to rejoice in the sight of their revenge. Terrible indeed was the destruction ; and at least as com- plete as that which the Milanese had themselves inflicted upon Lodi. But fame, to make the damage correspond with the cruelty of its author, in time considerably exaggerated it : for if the city had indeed been levelled with the ground, its ruins scattered, and its site ploughed over and sown with salt, the conqueror, by incurring so much trouble and expense, would have made himself a partaker of the punishment. At its fall the whole of Lombardy was filled with terror, everyone reading in those ruins his own destiny ; and in truth, before long there came a grievous time for nearly all, even for those who had hitherto followed the Emperor. Pavia, indeed, and Lodi, as the reward of their steady devotion, and the maritime cities, of whose navies Frederick intended to avail himself, received from him better treatment ; but as for the others, which had so greatly assisted to cast down at his feet that people which had always been the standard-bearer of every patriotic enterprise in Lombardy, the time was gone by for the foreign lord to show them favour, and to bear with their tumults and innovations ; and in fact there was very little difference between them and the rebellious cities, for every one of them, taking advantage of any circumstance that increased the worth of its fidelity, was now endeavouring to rise from the form and privileges of a municipality, to the order and condition of a free state. But as the open rebellion of others had given value to their loyalty, such as it was, with BOOK VI. THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. 291 the failure of that, their importance had declined ; wherefore the Emperor, in accordance with his nature and designs, soon sought to bring them to the level of the vanquished, and to reduce them all to complete subjection ; in consequence of which there afterwards sprang up amongst the Lombards that firm and marvellous union of hearts and minds, whereby they were at last enabled to overcome the power of their oppressor. u 2 292 THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. BOOK vn. BOOK VII. Surrender I. HARDLY were those noisy festivities in Pavia at an end, and' 6 when the Emperor, whilst his followers were still all heated Piacenza. j^y them, and full of confidence, induced them with no great difficulty to bind themselves by oath to besiege Piacenza, which had always been adverse to his party in these wars ; and nothing can give a better idea of the terror with which he had inspired the Lombard peoples, than the effect produced by this menace ; for two of them were overcome by the mere report of it. The Brescians, when it reached them, felt sure that the wrath of the Emperor was ready to fall upon them also, and immediately sent their Consuls to avert it by sur- rendering to him. The Emperor received them graciously, but imposed upon them these conditions : that they should destroy the wall and all the towers of the city, and fill up the ditch ; that they should receive from him the Podesta ; that they should remit to him all the money had from the Milanese to make war upon him, with 6,000 liras in addition ; that they should put into his hands all the castles of the episcopate of Brescia ; and that all the men of that city should take an oath to obey his orders, and be ready to fight under his banner, wherever it should please him to make war, whether against Rome, or in Apulia, or in any other part of Italy. The Piacentines, when they heard of the overthrow of the Milanese and the spontaneous surrender of the Brescians, who were now their only allies, concluded that nothing remained for them but to recover as best they might the goodwill of the Emperor, in order to divert him from the threatened siege ; and through the intervention of his brother Conrad, they suc- ceeded in obtaining the same conditions as the Brescians ; conditions very grievous for both those peoples, but, as matters then stood, resistance would only have brought a heavier punishment upon them. BOOK vii. THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. 293 2. Even the Pisans and Genoese, who until these days Submission had somewhat disdained to obey the Emperors; as men who, Genoa, intent on acquiring and increasing wealth by toiling with their ships on every sea, were impatient on their return of all sub- jection, especially to foreigners ; even they in this general perturbation sent deputies to the Emperor in Pavia to swear allegiance to him ; but without taking upon themselves any other burden than the promise of aiding him by land and sea in his wars. These two peoples, neighbours on the coast and always jealous of one another, were at this time on the point of coming to an open rupture. The Pisans, who had a colony of 2,000 persons in Constantinople, had driven thence that of the Genoese, which numbered only 300 ; and the Greek Emperor had taken no notice of the disturbance, but had left the Pisans to settle the matter in their own way. Frederick, aware that the Genoese, not thinking themselves sufficiently avenged by the destruction of the tower of the port of Pisa, and of many Pisan ships, were making great preparations to attack the Pisans on the sea, undertook to arbitrate between them, and brought about a suspension of hostilities ; desiring to keep their fleets intact, and ready for his own service. And as he expected most from the power of the Genoese, he granted them the right of levying men upon the coast from Monaco to Cape Venere, and of electing, as heretofore, their own Consuls, and many privileges in furtherance of their commerce ; and the more to allure them to second him in his enterprise against the King of Sicily, he gave them Syracuse and 250 places in the valley of Nota, with the promise of having in every maritime city of the island a church, a warehouse, a bath-house, and an oven, for the establishment of their colonies ; favours whose value was rather apparent than real, for of some of them they were in possession already, and of many of the rest they obtained for the present nothing more than the hope, since as yet they were in the hands of others. 3. After this, Frederick, resolved to reorganise all Lom- Reorgani- bardy according to his mind, and to put it into the hands of the Lom- those who would be sure to be faithful to him, imposed upon bard Clties - all the cities and principal castles his prefects, who were called Podestas, because the Emperor conferred upon them all his own authority over those to whom he sent them ; and he 294 THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. BOOK vn. took them nearly all from amongst the Germans. To Brescia and Bergamo he sent Marquardo di Grumbac ; to Piacenza Aginulf, and afterwards Arnold Barbavara ; to Ferrara Conrad, Count of Bellamite ; to Parma Azzone ; to Como Maestro Pagano ; and so to other places ; but the peoples of Cre- mona, Lodi, and Pavia, in consideration of their constant loyalty and fidelity, were allowed to be governed by Consuls, chosen from amongst themselves. The Milanese, either be- cause there was no place into which they could be put all together, or because it was thought that if scattered they would be weaker and more submissive, were gathered together out of the country over which they had dispersed themselves, divided into five or six parts, and settled on as many different sites, which were afterwards reduced to four, where they built themselves villages ; those of the Roman Gate, in the fields near the monastery of Chiaravalle, between the villa of Plas- mondo and La Noceta ; those of the Ticinese Gate, in the territory of Vigentino ; those of the East Gate and of the New Gate, in Lambrate ; and those of the Vercellina Gate, near the ancient Basilica of San Siro, on the Olona, where it changes its name and begins to be called the Vepra. The Emperor put each village under the authority of a German, and set over them all, as Governor, Henry, Bishop of Liege. The titles and dignities of the Vavasours and Capitani, which were marks of ancient nobility in the land, he abolished ; he also dismissed from office all the notaries, and commissioned Caspar di Aliate to nominate new ones, which were to take theoath of allegiance to him before Taddeo di Langosco. a noble who derived his origin and his firm attachment to the Empire from the ancient Counts of Lumello. Submission 4. Having thus disposed of the affairs of Lombardy, he Turisemio!' departed in July, with those forces, German and Lombard, and of the w hich remained with him, for Romagna, intending there also rest of the & ' land. in like manner to subject the cities to his will. On arriving in the neighbourhood of Bologna, he encamped upon the banks of the Reno, and prepared to besiege it. The Bolognese were conscious of having lately seriously displeased him by a manifestation of sympathy with the people of Milan ; which had offended the Emperor all the more, because he considered that there was something of ingratitude in their hostility BOOK vn. THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. 295 towards him, seeing that he had honoured and exalted their Commune and its University with conspicuous favours and privileges. One offence more, however small, and they would be proclaimed rebels, and their city, like Milan, would be levelled with the ground. Yet, although they feared to exasperate him further by resistance, they felt it a bitter thing to have to surrender themselves, thus suddenly and unreservedly, into his power. In this dilemma, they sent into his camp the four jurisconsults who had served him so well at Roncaglia ; and through their intercession they came forth from it in safety, but subject to the same conditions as had been imposed upon the Brescians and Piacentines. From thence he went to Imola and Faenza, every city, as he approached it, stooping to accept his yoke. But erect in another part of Italy, on the banks of the Benaco, in the Alpine castle of Garda, still stood Turisendo, who held, as has been said, the first place amongst the patricians of Verona, a man of a bold and free spirit, which abhorred all foreign domination. Count Marquardo, by order of the Emperor, had gone with the militias of Brescia, Bergamo, Mantua, and Verona to besiege him in that fortress, and had spent a whole year under its walls, when, about this time, despairing of taking it, he offered honourable conditions of surrender, which Turisendo, as his provisions were falling short, accepted. Then there was no longer in all this part of Italy, from the Adige to Rome, any city or castle which was not wholly subject to the authority of the Emperor. The alliance of the three cities, Milan, Brescia, and Piacenza, which for a short time had given hope of stability to the free- dom of the Communes, was broken. The popular governments were everywhere suppressed ; the country in great part was laid waste ; the peoples were exhausted and impoverished, and intimidated by the destruction of Milan. He had put an end, as he said, to the tumults and innovations which had troubled him so long. He had come into possession of all the regalia, which were everywhere collected for him without opposition. From this to the conquest of the other part of Italy he saw no obstacle in his way, excepting the hostility of the Pope. And now that he had time, he turned all his thoughts to the removal of this obstacle, by subtilty and by force, so far as force and subtilty could avail against a power 296 THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. BOOK VH. rooted, like that of the Pope, in the consciences of so many peoples not subject to the Empire. 5. Some days before the Easter of this year, the Pope, Alexander III., had left Genoa, and departed for France, finding, perhaps, that on account of the new feeling which was working amongst the Genoese in favour of the Emperor, that city was no longer likely to afford him a pleasant and secure abode, and desiring to confirm the King of France and the French bishops in their devotion to him. From Magalona he went to Montpellier, where, by the king's desire, he was received with great honour by the bishops of the land ; and in June, in a Council held at Clermont, he renewed the ex- communication against Frederick and the Antipope. The Emperor was much disquieted to hear that this censure had been repeated in the midst of that nation, and with the consent of so powerful a king, but, as it would avail nothing to show himself offended, he dissembled his vexation, and, taking with him the Antipope Victor, departed with the army for Besancpn, in Burgundy. Arrived there, he assumed in the sight of all extreme solicitude for the peace and unity of the Church, and wrote a letter to the King of France, Louis VII., a simple-hearted prince, whom he thought to hoodwink at his pleasure, saying that, in order to restore the Church to its former concord and unity, he would consent to an CEcumenical Council, by which the claims of the two competitors for the Apostolic See should be authoritatively decided. But he secretly hoped, by means of the proposed Council, to get rid of both the rival candidates, and secure the election of another Pope ; and so to accomplish the desire which in those days lay nearest to his heart, that is, to depose Alexander, who in regard to his plans for the subjection of Italy, had always shown himself his adversary. And he had some in the French Court who seconded him in this design, and Louis, caught in the snare, warmly urged Alexander to consent to the convo- cation of that Council, as Victor had done already. The Pope, however, not only rejected this proposition, as unworthy, but succeeded at last in opening the king's eyes to the covert intention of the Emperor, and so effectually diverted him from it. Whereupon Frederick, who thought that he had shown great condescension in proposing to him the expedient BOOK VII. THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. 297 of this Council, when it belonged to the bishops of the Empire alone, according to him, to judge of the election of the Roman Pontiff, was so indignant, that he was on the point of declaring war against him ; but when the King of England came frankly to the support of France, it behoved him to restrain himself. And as much time had been spent in these negotiations, and his army had consumed all the provisions of the neighbour- hood, he was forced at last to return into Germany, with this affront, and with the secret conviction, that by promoting this schism, he had opened, between himself and his designs in Italy, a great gulf which he would never be able to pass over. The Antipope, also, finding himself neglected and disliked in that land, soon took his departure, and went to Cremona. 6. The Emperor, after some time, perceiving that he had New mea- i r T i r i i 111 sures of not left in Italy any man of authority, who could keep it in precaution awe, sent thither his Chancellor, empowered to watch over it m Italy> in his stead, and to act according to his own judgment in every emergency. The Chancellor, accordingly, crossed the March of Verona, entered Lombardy, and afterwards passed through Tuscany and Romagna, confirming the cities and castles of all those countries in their obedience to the Emperor ; he also deposed certain bishops, who continued adverse to the Antipope, and set up others in their stead. Not long after- wards, the Emperor, to give still more completion and stability to his new institutions in Lombardy, despatched thither Armand, Bishop of Verdun, with a commission to hear and decide the principal causes that should arise amongst the people, especially those of appeal. 7. The Milanese, reduced, as they were, nearly all of them, Condition in those open fields, to the necessity of providing themselves Milanese with shelter, found at first in the very anxiety and novelty of l ^ that work, which admitted of no delay, a certain relief, and a beneficial distraction from the thought of all their misery. And such of the patricians and commoners as had their inheritances and possessions in the neighbourhood, had now repaired thither, and were vigorously exerting themselves to restore them from the devastations of the war. So that under the pressure of so great a calamity, no one had time to stand with idle hands and drooping head, and magnify his own mis- 298 THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. BOOK vn. fortune with useless lamentations. Nor was that general dis- tress, through the close fellowship into which it brought them of grief and of affection, without comfort, dignity, and hope ; for they could not but believe that their city, which was wont to be regarded by so many in Lombardy as the chief support and glory of the land, would some time, sooner or later, be restored. This secret hope sustained them, and made them patient under all their discomforts and toils. Furthermore, in the rustic simplicity of such a life, which resembled that led by primaeval man with fewer cares and wants, and in the zealous prosecution of those works of primary necessity in which they were engaged, they called to mind the industry and indomitable constancy of their forefathers, who, in no- wise dismayed by similar calamities, rose from them stronger and better men, and laid the foundation of the greatness of their Commune. True it is that in these days, through divine justice, which, even in this world, never leaves guilt un- punished, they were brought lower, perhaps, than at any for- mer time, and almost thrown back to the primitive rudeness of the Insubrian villages. But still it was no small mercy that they were suffered to remain, though vanquished and spoiled, upon that much-loved soil which had nourished them hitherto, and which, ever generous and fertile, never fails to yield a rich return for the toil of those who till it. Perhaps in the place of these tents, these huts, these branches plastered with earth, under which they now lived miserably, there would arise, if they were but true to themselves, stable and commodious habita- tions. The future is in the hand of God ; moreover, a brave man, wherever he may be, bears his country in his heart ; and from him who deserves liberty, it can be taken only for a time. With such thoughts these people encouraged themselves, and prepared to endure and overcome the hardness of their destiny. But not a few of them, unwilling to bear the sight of their oppressors, went wandering through Tuscany and Romagna ; in Bologna they formed in time a kind of colony. Others tore themselves altogether from the land of Italy, and crossed the Alps into distant lands, where, with many sighs, they felt the sweetness of their native sky, the more perhaps for having lost it, and came to know, by sad experience, as BOOK VII. THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. 299 day by day they witnessed the domestic felicity of others, the heart of an exile, fallen with his country into adversity. But those who remained in the villages would assuredly, with the fortitude and energy which they had shown in this war, have speedily restored themselves, had it not been that for the five years which they spent in those fields, they had to endure, without intermission, a succession of governors, each more cruel and avaricious than the last, who seemed to have received no other charge, than to oppress them and grind them to nothing. 8. When the Bishop of Liege departed with the Emperor Bad treat- r-i-> i i i *. i ,- i T, . ment of the for Burgundy, he left in his stead, as governor of the Milan- Milanese. ese, Pietro di Cunin ; who had hardly entered upon that office before he gave a proof of his evil disposition. The Emperor, on his departure, left orders, that of the 400 Milan- ese hostages which were kept in Pavia, there should thence- forth be detained not more than a hundred at a time, and that they should be changed every month. But Pietro di Cunin, as if grudging those Lombards the alleviation that would have b_een afforded to them by this arrangement, very soon discon- tinued it, and kept them all in the prisons together as before. And for the whole time that he remained there, which was a year or rather less, he ceased not to enrich himself, both by open rapine, and by extortions of a base and petty cruelty, peculiar to foreign greed. Not satisfied with this, he went into the villages and farmhouses, and secretly, with dark menaces, demanded money of the inhabitants, who had no means of freeing themselves from the terror with which he inspired them, but that of satisfying his avarice out of their poverty. He claimed for himself the inheritance of everyone who died without issue ; nor did he blush to deal with the offering, made formerly by the people of their own free will to their superiors, of the best piece of the pig at Martinmas, and of the lamb at Easter, as if it had been an ordinary tax, and to exact in the place of it a large sum of money from the poor of the land ; and he extorted corn and wine from the farmers at his pleasure. But if little remained to the Milanese of the produce of the lands which they had in the country under his jurisdiction, nothing whatever came in to them from those which they possessed elsewhere ; for with his connivance, and 300 THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. BOOK vn. against the express will of the Emperor, who had spared to them all their allodial possessions, Enrico Svcvo in the Lodi- gian territory, Marquardo di Wenibach in the district along the torrent Morgora, Maestro Pagano in the territory of Como, and Count Goz/olino in Seprio and Martesana, had all entered upon the rights and possessions of the Milanese, and were receiving the rents ; this last occupied all that the Man- delli had in Seprio, and, imitating Pietro di Cunin, he forbade the Milanese to demand any dues from those who were under his authority, and caused their title-deeds to be burnt ; whence there afterwards arose in those countries much uncertainty as to the possession of the fields ; of which confusion, although the Consuls took measures to remedy it in 1170, there still remained some trace after fifty years, that is, in 1216, when it was ordained by law, that whenever doubt should arise as to the possession of land of which a man had been deprived in the time of the Emperor Frederick, the men of the country should declare on oath its identity and its boundaries. But the grievance by which the minds of these Lombards were most exasperated, as that which made them return to the rendering of personal service, was the obligation imposed by Pietro di Cunin upon all the landowners, country people, and labourers of the Milanese territory, as if they had been of servile race, to work for the Emperor, and to lead with their oxen, twice in the month, sand, lime, and the best stones, which he caused to be taken out of the ruins of the city, to build, in Nosetta, a great tower, afterwards called the triumphal tower, in which it was intended to keep the treasure of the kingdom, in Monza, a great palace, and another, the Castle of Lan- driano, in Vigentino ; and even as far as Lodi, where also they were building for the Emperor, he made them convey ma- terials, taken from under the Milanese ruins. Hotly urged on to complete these lordly structures, because the Emperor's return into Italy was known to be close at hand, these men, with their carts, were continually going backwards and for- wards ; and the masters, besides the losses they sustained in this service, considered themselves disgraced by rendering it, and the peasants and the oxen were ill-treated and worked to death upon those roads. 9. 1 163. In the August of this year, 1 163, Frederick, with BOOK VII. THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. 301 the Empress and many German barons, arrived at Lodi, with- Frederick's out an army, but with the intention of making preparations i^y" ' for the war in Apulia, especially by strengthening the fidelity of the maritime cities, of whose navies he had need for that enterprise. Meanwhile he went with his Court, as if for pleasure, on a proud progress through the lands of the van- quished, and rejoiced to see rising amidst the Milanese, now tamed, those towers and palaces, which he fondly hoped would remain as stable monuments, to attest to future ages his power and renown ; little dreaming, that before those walls, whose mortar was mixed with the tears and blood of the oppressed, could all be finished, they would be broken down and scattered from the foundation, so that not a vestige of them would be left. In September the Bishop of Liege sent into Lombardy an ecclesiastic named Frederick, master of the schools of his cathedral, to supersede Pietro di Cunin. It is said by some that this was on account of the complaints repeatedly made of him to the Bishop ; to which, now that the Emperor was on the spot, he could no longer turn a deaf ear. Be that as it may, certain it is that for the suffering people the change was only from bad to worse ; for the rigid priest, more avari- cious and pitiless than his predecessor, cruelly exacted from them nearly everything that Pietro di Cunin had spared. 10. The Antipope, on Frederick's arrival, had immediately Translation hastened to the Court, as one who found that it was only when body^of under the shadow of the Emperor, that he could exercise any s.Bassiano. authority or command any respect amongst these peoples. Being then together in Lodi, the Emperor and Antipope, although neither of them did or devised aught for the comfort and relief of the living, were pleased to exhibit a great con- cern for the accommodation and honour of the dead. It was a cause of regret and self-reproach to the Lodigians that they had so long delayed to bring into the midst of them, from Old Lodi, the bones of their patron, S. Bassiano; and it now occurred to them, that they would never be able to do it with more imposing solemnity than at this time, when the most distinguished personages of the Empire and of the Church were in their city. Accordingly, in November, they went with great pomp to the principal church of the old town, whence, 302 THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. BOOK vn. in a long and splendid procession, the Emperor, the Antipope, and the Patriarch of Aquileia, with many bishops and abbots, bore in turn upon their shoulders the shrine which contained those relics to New Lodi. There, to reward the fidelity of the people protected by that saint, and enable them to deposit the shrine in a place not inferior to that from which it had been removed, the Emperor and Empress made, the same day, an offering worthy of themselves, for the new church which was about to be dedicated to him. n. There was but little of real religion in this service, y et ^ proceeded from a desire, laudable in itself, to honour the meek and lowly virtues of one, who, following the teach- ing of the Gospel, lived mortified to the pleasures and the glory of the world. And thus it would seem incredible, did we not know what a medley of contradictions is man, so long as he is not renewed by the Spirit of God, that the Emperor, directly afterwards, when the holy water sprinkled on his robes was hardly dry, and whilst his garments were still fragrant with the incense of that festival, should have been found ready to commit one of his worst deeds of avarice. But so it was ; for the Pavese, as soon as they saw him again in the midst of them, laying before him a large sum of money, obtained his permission to destroy the walls of Tortona; and when their Consuls came thither with the militias, transported by the ancient hatred, they not only razed the walls, but went furiously into the city, and pulled and burnt down all the houses, amidst the shrieks and terror of the inhabitants, who, though they had done nothing to provoke such cruelty, were forced to go forth in the depth of that winter, and encamp themselves miserably in the neighbouring fields. Frederick I2 - ^ ' ls not recorded that the Pavese, on their return, releases the received any rebuke from the Emperor. But, touched, perhaps, Milanese J . . . hostages, with secret compunction for his own part in that inhuman outrage, and willing to make some amends by doing good to others, he released, on the feast of St. Ambrose, the 400 Milanese hostages, or, at least, as many of them as were still languishing in the prisons of Pavia, for not a few had now passed away from that hard imprisonment into a better world. On that day the Milanese, continuing in the villages the customs of their city, were devoutly keeping the feast BOOKVII; THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. 303 of St. Ambrose, their patron, but with countenances sadly changed from those with which they once were wont to join in the familiar hymns and prayers, for the exiled and unhappy are only moved to deeper sadness by the sound of the sacred melodies, once heard with delight, in happier days, before the altars of their country. The service of the morning having been performed in their rural church, and the mass sung, they returned, absorbed in mournful and pious meditations, to their dwellings, where that day, even in the poorest, in honour of the feast, there was something more than usual on the board. There, as each father took his place with all his family, those who had seen this feast in Milan in the years before the war, sat silent and melancholy, and hardly put forth their hands to those viands, for the remembrance of a happy time which was no more. They called to mind the affectionate and joyous welcomes that they used to give that morning to the relatives and friends whom they had invited from the neigh- bourhood to their feast. The abundance, the cheerfulness, the joyous unconstraint at the tables of that day, the crowds that were seen in the streets, in the squares, at the doors of the churches ; and then the dances and the sports of the people in the Broglio, and the splendid cavalcades and tournaments of the young patricians, but most of all the pride of the Commune in St. Ambrose's church, and at vespers that loud, joyous, unisonous singing of a whole people keeping holiday. What memories ! and all of deep, unutterable sorrow to those who had now lost their city. When lo, at evening, there arrived the hostages from Pa via ! Thin, withered, and sallow r , their looks told too plainly how much they had suffered in the gloomy prisons whence they came. The news spread rapidly through the villages, and men, women, and children, with glad surprise, streamed forth to meet them, and gathered round them, weeping for joy, and kissed their hands and their gar- ments. Those venerable patricians, who had suffered so much, themselves also wept, and responded to that affection with looks of touching sadness, and seemed to revive on finding themselves again amongst their own people, and welcomed with so much love and reverence ; for these were of the chiet men of the Commune, who were accustomed to be raised, almost without asking, to its highest offices ; and before whose 304 THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. BOOK vn. mansions, in the good old times, the people were wont to assemble on the feast days, for recreation and friendly inter- course with one another. 7, he 1 3. This was the first day of gladness in the villages, a Milanese * J o ' supplicants gladness doubly felt, because it occurred on the festival of tlno. lgen their patron. After this it was but natural to cherish a hope that they had entered upon better times, that at last some relief would be granted to their sufferings. And when it was known that the Emperor was about to pass near Vigentino on his way to Monza, the inhabitants of that village, men, women, and children, went forth to meet him on the road ; where they remained under a heavy fall of very cold rain until late at night ; and fell down upon their knees in the mire as he went by, all, amidst the tears of the children and women, loudly imploring mercy. The Emperor, thus suddenly con- fronted in the darkness of the night with so much misery, of which he knew himself to be the cause, paused for a moment, looked troubled, and then impatiently spurred on, with the answer that he would leave it to the Chancellor and the Count of Biandrate to decide upon what should be done for them. The Chancellor, whose mind was always set against this people, commanded that on the morrow twelve deputies from each village should come before him in Monza. The Milanese, supposing that it was his purpose to reinstate them in their possessions, sent them to him very readily. It does not appear that they found the Count of Biandrate with the Chancellor; perhaps he was unwilling to be a witness of the unworthy treatment which he knew to await these men, who were his own fellow-citizens. The deputies, when they came into the presence of the Chancellor, stood in humble silence, as if ex- pecting his commands. He looked at them for a little while, and then, with feigned kindness, told them that they had no need to be afraid, they might say frankly what it was that they had come to offer to the Emperor : a spontaneous offering came more cheerfully from the giver, and was also more ac- ceptable and precious to the receiver. On this the deputies, amazed and confused, looked one upon another, not knowing what to answer; then, weeping, they threw themselves at his feet, and besought him to have pity upon them, saying, that nothing more remained to them in their villages than would BOOK vii. THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUXES. 305 barely suffice for their support ; that they had come thither at his command, and brought with them that only tribute which can still be rendered by the unfortunate, tears and obedience, and also gratitude, for the hope they had received of obtaining-, through him, who stood so high, both in the Church and in the favour of the Emperor, some relief from the many burdens under which they groaned. The Chancellor cut short that speech ; and, pretending that they had trifled with him, broke forth into angry threats, declaring that they should not leave the place until they had bound themselves by oath to pay, before the feast of St. Mary, in February, 880 imperial liras; and this they were forced to do ; so that they returned to their villages with this new impost, and the mockery to boot. At the time appointed the Milanese paid the tax, which was about 229,000 liras of modern money. But from that day, although oppressions, great and small, were continually in- creasing upon them, not one of them ever sought again to see the face of the oppressor. Everyone shut up his grief and rage within his breast, and with all the powers of mind and body that remained to him, strove manfully during the rest of that sorrowful time against his cruel fortune, sighing deeply, however, every now and then, for the hour of vengeance, and looking around in Lombardy for the appearing of a ray of hope ; and before very long such a ray appeared, and that upon the Adige, in the very place where the last banner of liberty had been waved by Turisendo. 14. It was in these days that the Chancellor, soon after the The Chan- removal of the bones of St. Bassiano, bethought himself of moves'the asking the Emperor for the relics of the three Magi, and sent relics of the three them to his cathedral at Cologne. This loss was felt by the Magi. Milanese as the most grievous and irreparable of all that had be- fallen them, for the relics of those ' three Kings ' were not only held in the greatest veneration amongst themselves and the other peoples of Italy, but on the walls of their sanctuary were seen suspended votive offerings and precious jewels sent from many distant lands, for the singular benefits which were said to have been obtained through their intercession. And now that they were robbed of them, the sorrow of the people was greater than can be told. The women, especially, going to weep and mourn in the church of St. Eustorgius, made bitter x 306 THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. BOOK vn. lamentation for them, and would not be comforted, because to a.ll their miseries was now added this, that their country was deprived for ever of those holy things ; with which, as they believed, it had lost the most evident token of the favour of heaven. Their enemies themselves, both Germans and Lom- bards, the latter not without remorse and shame, respected the piety and patriotism of that grief. Frederick's 15. The Emperor, after spending his Christmas in Monza, wltrTthe 11 an d keeping open house every day, returned to Pavia, where Genoese fa e remained for the rest of the winter, nothing else being Pisans. recorded of him in the latter days of that year, excepting that he gave orders- that the building of his great villa at S. Colum- bano should be begun in spring ; and that he sent to the Pisans, who had bound themselves to arm sixty galleys for the projected Sicilian war, a banner and a sword, in token that he conceded to them the regalia of their territory. With the Genoese also he made an agreement in preparation for that war, with promises on his part in regard to Sardinia, which he afterwards found it impossible to fulfil without offending in turn both these peoples. How this came to pass will be told in due time, but at present some notice must be taken of the important events which occurred in the beginning of the year 1164 in the March of Verona, by which he was once more diverted from his long-projected enterprise against the King of Sicily. Movements 16. 1164. The peoples of Verona, Vicenza, Padua, and March of Treviso, who had been wont to rule themselves according to Verona. their customs, and to live honourably in the enjoyment of the regalia of their territories, could ill endure the arrogance and incessant exactions of the podestas whom, since the destruc- tion of Milan, the Emperor had set over them ; above all were they oppressed and outraged by the Count Palatine of Bavaria, to whom had been given in fief the fortress of Garda. All Lombardy, indeed, as we are told by an historian of those times, was now reduced to such miserable slavery, that those imperial ministers not only violently took away the substance of the people, but (a thing which never happened even amongst heathens without disgrace and punishment) seized upon their wives and daughters, and dishonoured them at their will. The first to resent these intolerable evils were the men of the KOOK vn. THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. 307 March of Verona, partly because their strength was less im- paired, there not having been on the Adige such long and ruinous wars as on the plains of the Po and the Ticino, and also because their territory adjoined that of the Venetians ; who, having themselves in those days matters of complaint against the Emperor, and being ever on the watch, according to the ancient wisdom of their policy, to keep all tyranny at a distance from their borders, warmly exhorted them to rise like men, and cast off this German ignominy and oppression. The Venetians were also incited to give this counsel and en- couragement to their neighbours by the Emperor of the East, who, wishing, no less than his brother of the West, to enlarge his bounds in this country (for they were two gluttons at one dish), had now for some time been carrying on secret negotiations with them, and with other maritime peoples, offering them large sums of money and great commercial privileges, on condition that they should do what they could to resist the encroachments of Frederick, who was now openly aspiring to the sovereignty of all Italy. The men, then, of the Veronese March, conscious of the generous sympathy of this Italian people, resolved to try to help themselves, and, having passed on the word from Com- mune to Commune, they assembled secretly, bound themselves by oath to support one another, and protested that they would not henceforwards obey the Emperor, save in so far as their ancestors had obeyed those of the Emperors, his predecessors, who were in concord with the Church. If by this oath they aimed at first at nothing higher than the recovery of their municipal privileges, it soon became evident to them that the contest they would have to sustain with those whose rapine and insolence they sought to repress, would bring about other occurrences which they had not foreseen, and that they would be compelled for their own safety to have recourse to arms, and to use them, perhaps, even against the Emperor. Where- fore the leaders of the Veronese League took courage and prepared for action ; and at the first opportunity, which arose in the beginning of this year, when the Emperor had gone to Ancona, they fell suddenly, as one man, upon the oppressors who dwelt in their cities and castles, put every one of them to flight, and drove them out of their territory. x 2 308 THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. BOOK vn. Frederick's I/. This event made a very painful impression upon the fflSyand Em P eror > both because the insurrection of that March was as Germany. a barrier thrown across the easiest pass from Germany into Italy, and also because of the serious consequences which it was likely to occasion in other parts of Lombardy ; immediately, therefore, he returned from Romagna to Pavia; and when he came to a full knowledge of the movements of this people, he was cut to the quick by that oath, whereby they made it a condition of their allegiance that the Emperor should be well affected towards the Church ; for, involved as he was in this schism, it was just the same thing as refusing it to him alto- gether ; seeing that, since the devout reception given to Alex- ander in France, and the decrees of the Council of Tours, whereby the Emperor and his anti-Pope were solemnly con- demned, very little doubt remained in all Christendom, that Alexander was the lawful Pope ; and that little was daily disappearing, even amongst those peoples of Italy which belonged to the party of the Emperor. It was rumoured, moreover, at this time, that the anti-Pope himself, who had died in the April of this year, at Lucca, was afraid at the last because of his sin, expressed his penitence, and desired to be reconciled to the Church. Be that as it may, the Canons of San Frediano, regarding him as an excommunicated schis- matic, denied him sepulture in their church ; and his servants had to carry him out of Lucca, with extinguished candles, to some poor monks, who charitably gave him burial. This was a great blow to the cause of the Emperor in those parts ; and, to counteract it, a report was artfully spread abroad amongst the people, that, whatever might be the opinion of those Canons, the singular merits of Victor had been divinely attested, by miracles wrought at his tomb. But this availed little or nothing even with that generation ; and the schis- matics fell into so much discredit, that they had great difficulty in finding another anti-Pope. The Bishop of Liege, to whom that dignity was first offered, having declined it, two cardinals and some few bishops of Germany and of Italy substituted for him Guido of Crema, who, consecrated by the Bishop of Liege, assumed the name of Pascal III. And the Emperor, by recognising him, renewed the schism, and so went on entangling himself more and more BOOK vil. THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. 309 deeply in serious difficulties, which were now beginning' to rise against him, not only in the March of Verona, but in the very heart of Germany. In this schism, originated almost entirely by motives of worldly policy, several of the ecclesiastical princes of Germany had taken part with the Emperor, moved, some by the bond of affinity with the imperial house, some by greed of advan- tage, some by fear ; but all in the secret hope, that, as passion cooled, a friendly settlement would be made, and peace be given to the Church. This hope was increased, and seemed on the point of fulfilment, on the death of the anti-Pope, which removed the greatest obstacle in the way of a re'urn to the former concord. But when it was known in Germany, that the schism was continued by the election of another anti-Pope, all confidence in the moderation and wisdom of the Emperor in this respect was at an end, and several felt that they could no longer conscientiously adhere to his party, and forsook it ; amongst these was Conrad, Archbishop elect of Mentz, of the ducal house of Bavaria, a kinsman of the Emperor's ; who, on hearing of the creation of Pascal III., cast aside every other consideration, and went straight into France to Alexander, by whom he was confirmed in his see and made a cardinal. The example of so eminent a man drew many others to the lawful Pope, as Conrad, Archbishop of Saltzburg, Frederick's uncle, and the Archbishop of Treves ; and confirmed more strongly in their devotion those who already followed him. Whilst the schism was thus losing ground in Germany, the Emperor learnt that, to increase his perplexities, there had arisen, during his absence, discords and fierce wars amongst the Princes of the Empire, and with the neighbouring nations. Henry the Lion was fiercely attacked by the Sclavonians. In Swabia the two houses, from which the factions of the Guelfs and Ghibellines were beginning to take their names, had come to blows, as usual, and were devastating each other's lands. War was raging in Westphalia, and faction against faction on the Rhine. All Germany, in fact, seemed on the point of falling into utter confusion. Thus there was no hope that he would be able to draw from thence, as at other times, men and money for his impending need in Italy. 310 THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. JJOOK vn. Embassy of 1 8. In this distress, that sagacity of which he had given so bards to many proofs from his early youth seemed, for the first time, to *" ail ^ lim - He ordered tne most faithful and devoted of the Barons and Communes of Lombardy to call out their forces ; and then, thinking to ingratiate himself with the principal cities by showing the confidence which he had in their worth and fidelity, commanded that deputies should be sent from Cremona, Pavia, Novara, Lodi, and Como, to treat with the Veronese; hoping that, as men of the same land, by showing the honour and prosperity enjoyed by those who were living in obedience to the Empire, they would induce them to lay down their arms, break up the League, and be content to trust to him for justice in that wherein they had been wronged by their prefects ; not considering that he was thus bringing together face to face men towards whom he had adopted two different modes of treatment ; and that from the comparison which they would make between their several circumstances and conditions, this inference, as a ray of truth, would in- evitably flash upon their minds that the cause of the tranquillity and well-being of the prosperous Communes was precisely that popular government which, by special grace, he had allowed them to retain, whilst the discontents and tumults of the others were to be ascribed to the avarice and license of the podestas ; so that one certain result of this conference would be to confirm the Veronese in their determination to receive them no more. These deputies set forth upon their mission with no very sanguine expectations ; anticipating, what indeed at first they found, a cold reception and ill-success. Nevertheless, after the formality and diffidence of the first interview, the counte- nances of these Italians brightened, they courteously unbent towards each other, and became friends and confidants. The deputies could not but acknowledge and heartily detest the injustice and wickedness of the things that had been committed against men of their own mother-tongue ; and grateful to the people of the March was the sincere and affectionate commi- seration which these their brethren, in the execution of their office, did not attempt to conceal ; so that now, perhaps for the first time, a good number of Italians, drawn from the more important Communes, came together, face to face, with- BOOK vn. THE IV AR AGAIXST THE COMMUNES. 311 out hatred or suspicion, and freely conferred on the grievances of the whole land ; whereby they discovered, much to their surprise, that they were nearly all of one mind as to the de- sirability of remedying them, and even as to the mode of doing so, although no one as yet did more than timidly hint at it. As these deputies had no authority to redress their griev- ances, but only to soothe them with words, it was at last thought best that they should all go together to Pavia to the Emperor ; where the heads of the Veronese League frankly set before him the many and grievous wrongs which they had sustained, in person and in substance, from his ministers, and besought him that he would never again subject them to the power of those men, but would allow them to govern them- selves, according to their ancient customs. 19. It was no part of the Emperor's purpose to accede to Frederick demands like these ; wherefore, when the Veronese Consuls f were departed, he hastily assembled all the forces he could nese draw from the Barons and Communes of Lombardy, and with these and the few Germans that remained with him, moved in July towards the Adige; but it was observed that he rode on the way in moody silence, as if oppressed by anxious and sorrowful thoughts, for it had occurred to him that he was not assisted on this occasion by the Communes, and especially by the Cremonese, with the same alacrity as formerly. The Veronese League, expecting this movement on his part, had already called out its forces ; and although the Barons who were in the van of the Imperial host were now assaulting Rivoli and Appendice, it did not divide them to succour those fortresses, but kept them all together at Verona, until at last the main body of the Imperial army drew near, devastating, as was its wont, all the fields and farmhouses in its way ; then the Veronese Consuls led them forth, and on coming within a short distance of the Emperor's forces, seeing that they were not more than equal, if not inferior, to their own, they set themselves in array of battle, ready to fight, in case it should please him to attack them. Frederick discerned the cause of this unwonted boldness ; nevertheless, accustomed to hold them in contempt, he was preparing, though he saw his disadvantage, for the battle, 312 THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. BOOK vn. when he received secret, but sure, intelligence, that the greater part of the Lombards who were with him, were showing signs of disaffection, and seemed less inclined to fight than to go over to the enemy. On this the Emperor was much dismayed, and greatly blamed himself that, contrary to his custom and his better judgment, he had put himself, on this occasion, en- tirely into the power of Italians, who were naturally all hostile towards him, and treacherous. At that moment, the certainty of the danger increasing more and more, he was seized with a sudden fear that the men of the League, urged on by the Venetians whom he knew to be amongst them, would cast away their customary respect for the Imperial dignity, and come to attack him. And instantly, with his Germans, he quitted the camp, and, burning with rage, returned to Pavia. The Emperor gone, his host immediately disbanded, and everyone went home, some hardly able to conceal the delight which they felt at the failure of that enterprise, for, now that they were free from the power of the Milanese, they were beginning to grow tired of this Emperor, who came so often into Italy, and with his presence, if with nothing else, oppressed the whole land. But others, especially the Barons, spurred from the camp in indignation, exclaiming that they would soon find out some way of unmasking the traitors. From that day, all the cities of Lombardy, excepting Pavia and Lodi, were distrusted by Frederick. 20. The men of the League did not pursue the Emperor, partly because they believed themselves forbidden by their oath (the sanctity of which was much feared and strictly ob- served by these peoples, who considered that they had a right to recover their own, and to stand on the defensive, but not to make active war on him to whom they had sworn allegiance), partly also because, by leaving their own territory, and going amongst men with whom they had not yet established a com- mon understanding, they might perhaps have brought this good success to nothing ; especially since, as some of them had had their possessions laid waste by these their neighbours, there would have been a risk of stirring up afresh, by the re- prisals that would have been made, old enmities which now seemed pacified. Repressing, therefore, as unseasonable, the desire evinced by the bolder spirits to go forwards, they BOOK vii. THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. 313 decided that they must be satisfied, for the present, to show themselves to the other peoples of Lombardy as united, strong, and prosperous at home, in the enjoyment of the ancient liberty ; letting them see, that whenever they also should feel a desire to recover it, they would find on the Adige those ready to help them, and manfully to make common cause with them, under the guidance of Venetian prudence. To a country in which the civil and political reforms which time renders necessary cannot be obtained in an ordinary way, and step by step, but must be originated by secret conspiracies, and advanced amidst tumults and popular commotions, inestimable are the advantages which arise from having from the very first the example, counsel, and alliance of a neighbouring people, in a settled and prosperous condi- tion, and already in possession of the desired good. For this neighbour, if it has not to do with a people excessively impatient and vain, will impart to it something of its own strength and stability, and leading the way, as an experienced guide, will bring to honour the weakness of the other's rising. Such neighbours were the Venetians to the men of the Veronese League, and such, in time, were these to the other peoples of Lombardy. Hence we see, that men who are accustomed to public affairs, from the habit which they ac- quire of a prudent and regular procedure, as also from a sense of their own power to persevere in the path of progress, judge of things according to the convenience and necessity of the present, and content themselves with them, as did these ancient Lombards, inwardly resolved to bring them to per- fection with the aid of time, according to reason and justice. Whilst, on the contrary, lightminded or dogmatic men de- spise the present, and, full of their abstract notions, want to bring everything to ideal symmetry and perfection at one bound, as those who, without being conscious of it, mistrust themselves to overcome, step by step, the perils and diffi- culties which stand in the way of every human undertaking. 21. When Frederick had arrived at Pavia, and could Newpro- seriously consider how it was that so sudden a disgrace had Frederick befallen him, he became fully persuaded that what had occurred t I ^ e n f ^ on the Adige portended great and sinister innovations in all Communes, the rest of Lombardy. Nevertheless, as he was indefatigable 3H THE. WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. BOOK vn. and indomitable, both in mind and body, he troubled him- self no more with thoughts about the future, but gave himself up entirely to devise measures for preventing the overthrow of his present dominion, especially amongst those peoples which, being nearest to the Veronese March and to the Venetians, seemed most likely to be drawn into rebellion. It cost him not a little to restore to those Communes that which had been wrongfully taken away, and so begin to break with his own hands some links of that chain with which he had thought to keep them all bound and oppressed for ever. But it was necessary to accommodate himself to the times ; he foresaw that very soon he would have to go into Germany, where everything was tending to confusion ; he was compelled, therefore, to yield, and by large promises and sudden favours make sure of those Communes which, in the contest with Verona, would be of most importance to him. To this end, by a spontaneous act of grace, he granted anew to the Com- munes of Ferrara and Mantua, not only the right of electing their own Consuls, but all the regalia and other privileges, of which they had lately been deprived ; and promised, in addi- tion, to that of Mantua, which was at war with the Veronese, his effectual support, released it, as if it had been free, from the obligations of \\\e. foderum and spedizione, and bound him- self not to conclude any peace or truce with the Veronese without its counsel and approbation. He confirmed to the Pavese the privilege of the Consulate, and increased its powers ; and was so anxious to please them, that, very un- justly, and to the great inconvenience of the neighbouring country, he conferred on them the sole right of making and holding bridges on the Ticino as far as Pombia, and of draw- ing water from it for the irrigation of the fields. Then, to ensure the allegiance of Romagna and Tuscany (for in those parts also there had been disturbances, and at Bologna the prefect, Bozzo, had lately been killed in a popular tumult for his avarice and cruelty), he sent diplomas of honours and privileges to all his adherents there, and above all to Count Guidoguerra, who was the most powerful man in Tuscany. From the time of the first Otho the ancestors of this baron had been seated in Mondigliana, and had always been great in the land, and lieges of the Empire ; and his loyalty had now BOOK vn. THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUTES. 315 been quickened, and his favour with the Emperor increased, by his marriage with Agnete, daughter of the Marquis of Montferrat. To this Marquis, who towered so high above all the other Barons of Italy, that it would have been an insult to compare him with them, the Emperor granted a large acces- sion of dominion, giving him at one stroke thirty-two castles and estates in Montferrat. To the Barons of Lombardy also he was exceedingly liberal, lavish of favours. But as for the cities (which had nearly all fallen under his suspicion, and which he now sought less to conciliate than to overawe), to those which had lately shown signs of doubtful allegiance, he sent prefects, for the first time ; in others, which had been guilty of open offences, he either changed the prefects, or charged those that they had to be more watchful and severe ; and in appointing new prefects, he showed a prelerence for men of German blood. 22. After these things, and just as the Emperor was about Frederick to return into Germany, he was requested by the Genoese to Barosone interpose in the affairs of Sardinia; whereupon he instantly king of . - Sardinia. postponed his departure, as for a matter that much con- cerned him, for from the importunate suits which had now for some time been made to him with regard to the pos- session of that island, he believed that it would prove to him an almost inexhaustible mine of wealth. I will briefly explain how this happened. The Pisans and Genoese had ancient claims upon Sardinia, but at this time the island was governed by four judges, who were called kings, because they acknow- ledged no superior. War having arisen amongst these judges, Barasone, the judge of Arborea, was defeated ; whereupon he had recourse to the Genoese ; and, knowing that the Emperor regarded Sardinia as a part of the Empire, he asked of him, through them, the title of king of all the island, and promised him 4,000 marks of silver ; the cunning islander thus aiming at nothing less than subjecting to himself his own conquerors. The Pisans, on becoming aware of this strange negotiation, tried in vain to divert the Emperor from it ; in August, in the church of San Siro, in Pavia, he solemnly crowned Barasone King of Sardinia. But this king, who had hitherto dealt in words only, had not the promised sum in readiness, where- fore he was just on the point of being led away prisoner by 316 THE WAR AGALVST THE COMMUNES. BOOK vn. the Germans, when the Genoese, who felt that they were being watched and laughed at by the Pisans, advanced the money ; but, as security, they carried off the new-made king to Genoa ; where, finding that he had no means of satisfying them, they cast him into prison. Meanwhile, the other judges of the island, to avenge themselves of the ambitious designs of Barasone, pillaged and laid waste his territories. The ridiculous misfortunes of this king led the Pisans, who well knew how much a good purse could avail with the Emperor, to hope that their turn was coming. In fact, the year after, when Frederick was in Germany, they sent to him one of their Consuls, with a large sum of money, to obtain the investiture of the whole island. The sight of the gold so dazzled this Emperor, that he seemed not even to remember having crowned Barasone king of Sicily the year before, much less having granted that island, in 1 1 52, to Guelf VI., his uncle, and he gave it in fief to the Pisans, who in no long time made themselves masters of it. BOOK vill. THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. 317 BOOK VIII. I. 1165. In November, 1164, the Emperor, believing that Tyranny he had sufficiently provided forthe affairs of Lombardy,returned prefects in into Germany ; where he found such discord and confusion Lombardy. amongst the princes, and such serious opposition in the Church, which was showing itself inclined to turn to the true Pope, that it was not until after the end of two years that he was able to assemble the Barons of that nation, and to induce them to go down again into Italy. But such were the regu- lations, and such the men, he left behind him in Lombardy, that no rebellion or tumult whatever took place during his absence; although the peoples, by reason of the excessive tyranny under which they groaned, were nursing thoughts of anger and revenge, and secretly preparing to seize the first opportunity of deliverance. This was the period of the most tyrannical dominion ever endured in Lombardy. The govern- ment of the prefects, having now become firmly and securely established over these peoples, had acquired the ways and the power of a systematised oppression ; so that that which in former years had been paid, as if by chance, according to the humour of the Emperor or prefect, was now reduced to the payment of a fixed and ordinary tribute, which was imposed and collected with fiscal exactitude and severity. But most of all were the Milanese oppressed, by their new prefect, Marquardo di Crumbac. When this governor, on en- tering upon his office, first made his appearance in Noceta, the inhabitants of that village, thinking to incline him to be kind to them, went to the palace to offer him a bowl of silver, of the value of fourteen imperial liras. The Northern lord accepted the gift, but it did not mollify his heart. After causing them all to swear obedience, to save himself trouble and to give some show of justice to his exactions, he appointed a council of five Lombards, to which he committed the busi- 3i8 THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. BOOK vm. ness of devising, apportioning, and collecting the taxes, in the villages and upon the lands of the Milanese ; these were the Abbot of San Pietro in Ciel d' Oro of Pavia, Enrico degli Arbeli, Anselmo dell' Orto, Aldiprando Giudice, and Gior- dano Scacabaroccio. The imputation of treason which darkens the name of the last, casts an odious shadow upon all who were associated with him in this evil office, and the grievous and unheard-of burdens which they imposed upon that people, so long afflicted and exhausted, fully justify the worst inferences concerning them. The five men of this council had quarters assigned them in the Imperial palace at Monza ; and all that winter until Easter, they lived as the guests of the German Baron in those gilded halls, with great fires and well-spread tables every day, at the expense of the Emperor, or rather, to speak more truly, of the people ; for there was an express impost for the provision of the palace of I, OCX) cartloads of wood, and as many of hay, of 500 swine, of lambs and other cattle, great and small, with corn, and wine, and poultry, and eggs without stint. These men, then, who did not serve for nothing, set briskly to work, with keen wits and sharpened eyes, eager to show themselves deserving of their promotion to so rich a pasture. And to begin with, they not only caused to be collected with great diligence the ordinary tribute of that year, but required that it should be paid for those lands which, on account of the war, had been left un- cultivated, provided it could be shown that they had been under cultivation within the last twenty years, as also for all the meadows and woods, although the former, for the most part, had been trodden down and turned into marshes, and the latter burnt ; and afterwards, to render every exaction more easy and sure for the future, they had a book made, which came in time to be called the Book of Grief, wherein were entered, with minute exactness, all the farms, or small estates, all the yokes of oxen, and all the hearths of the Milanese, who were already heavily taxed for these things, and had now still heavier taxes laid upon them, so that of the fruit of their lands and of their labours there was left to them only the third. What more ? They imposed a poll-tax of three soldi (Italian pence) upon every head ; the rich paid no more and the poor no less, ajl as for the ransom of their lives ; BOOK vni. THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. 319 upon every mill on a navigable river a tax of twenty-four soldi, and one of three soldi upon those on other streams. They exacted from the fishermen the third of all they caught. If anyone, noble or commoner, went out shooting game with- out permission, whatever he killed was taken away from him, and he was punished, by fine, by flogging, or by imprison- ment. Of the patricians, capitani, and vavasours, whose families for 300 years and more had dwelt in their castles, and who still held the lands around them, with many rights which kept alive the memory of their ancient dominion, some were entirely, others in part, deprived of their possessions ; and to please certain patricians of Pavia, who in those days had themselves also an ambition to build great houses, they were compelled to lead thither with their oxen from the ruins of their city stones, beams, and planks, as they had done for the Emperor ; and most rigorously was the work assigned exacted from them all, and every imposition to the full ; and he who from poverty or any other cause was unable to pay at the appointed time, paid afterwards double, or else had his household goods or other property ruthlessly sold by auction ; wherefore many, to raise the tribute money, sold their inherit- ances, and others freed their slaves, to relieve themselves of their maintenance. Documents relating to these sales and other matters of business in the villages were found at the end of the last century in the monastery of Chiaravalle, and it has been remarked that the very parchments bear witness to the straitness and misery to which the whole country was then re- duced ; they are not more than a span in length and half a span in breadth, and are covered all over with very small, close writing ; those broad margins which are seen in the parch- ments of other times, were a luxury not to be afforded in the villages. The prefects of the other cities of Lombardy, though they did not overwhelm the inhabitants with burdens so intolerable as these, exacted not only the tribute and the customary royalties, by the payment of which these peoples would not have felt themselves aggrieved, but a seventh part more, and this unjust addition was imposed on all ; every bishop, every baron, every commune, every man of Lombardy was made subject to it. The Cremonese themselves, who had always 320 THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. BOOK vnr. been devoted to the Emperor, having now forfeited his confi- dence and favour by their real or supposed sympathy with the Veronese, were despoiled of the third of the produce of their land. Arnaldo Barb.ivara, the Poclesta of Piacenza, seemed to vie with Marquardo in rapacity and pride ; with public and pri- vate extortions he greatly oppressed those citizens ; made them pull down their wall at their own expense ; condemned two of them at once, Ugone Sperone and Alberto Malnepote, to pay a fine of 1 1,000 marks of silver, and, finally, seized upon all the precious ornaments of the church of St. Antonio. The Pope's 2. Such was the affliction that was poured out of a full itaiy. n ' CU P by the Imperial prefects for the peoples of Lombardy, and in the two years that followed they had to drink it to the dregs ; for, besides the forces that were at command of the prefects in the cities and villages, the Emperor, expecting some disturbance, as the result of the negotiations which he knew were being carried on with the Venetians and with the Greek Emperor, sent into Lombardy, at the beginning of the year 1165, Christian, who, since the Archbishop Conrad had re- nounced the schism, had been thrust into the archiepiscopal see of Mentz, and Reinhardt the Chancellor, Archbishop elect of Cologne ; who, with Count Gozzolino, assembled a strong army to keep the land in awe. But now the fortune of these peoples, having reached its lowest point, was about to turn and rise again ; and the first sign that appeared to encourage their hearts, was the return of the Pope into Italy ; which took place in the November of this year. For the Cardinal of St. John and St. Paul, whom he had made his vicar in Rome, being a man of great ability and popular manners, so wrought upon the Romans that he brought them back to obedience to Alexander ; and then induced them to send messengers into France to invite him to return. Alexander, accordingly, after taking counsel with the Kings of France and England, em- barked in August at Magalona ; but, seeing before him the fleet of the Pisans, who, for the sake of Sardinia, were now zealous adherents of the Emperor, he turned back, and re- embarked, after a while, in a smaller ship, in which he passed the Pisan fleet without being noticed. Towards the end of his voyage, he was overtaken by a fierce tempest, which drove BOOKVIH. THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. 321 him upon the coast of Sicily, and compelled him to land at Messina. This accident, however, he turned to advantage, seizing the opportunity of renewing, to the great increase of his reputation, the feudal authority of the Pontifical See over the Kingdom of Sicily, and his alliance with King William. In November that king, having first sent his ambassadors to honour him with magnificent gifts, caused him to be conveyed, with his court, in a strong galley to Ostia. There he was met by the senators, clergy, and people of Rome, who received him with all honour and reverence, and conducted him, as the law- ful Pope, to the Lateran Palace. This almost triumphant return of Alexander induced so many, especially in the towns of the Roman Campagna, to forsake the Imperial for the Papal party, that Christian, Arch- bishop of Mentz, with the Count Gozzolino and the forces of Lombardy, marched thither to overawe those places, and brought them back to obedience to the Emperor by sword and fire. But as the Archbishop's commission was chiefly to watch over the affairs of Lombardy, for it was already known that the Lombard peoples were secretly murmuring, and communing one with another concerning the intolerable oppression under which they laboured, he presently returned into Tuscany ; whereupon the army of the King of Sicily, which had moved to the aid of the Pope, entering the Campagna without resist- ance, soon recovered those towns, and restored everything to its former condition. 3. Towards the end of this year, 1165, about the time of Proceed- the Pope's return, another event occurred, which seemed to yfronese 6 the Lombards of no less importance : the Veronese and League. Paduans, as members of the League, recovered from the Barons the fortresses of Rivoli and Appendice, and having razed them both to the ground, went together to Chiusa, to fortify and occupy that pass, by which the Emperor was accustomed to come down into Italy. 4. 1 1 66. Frederick, when he had fought against and sub- Frederick's dued in Germanv the adversaries of his house, and settled the "turn into Italy. fierce contentions which were raging amongst the princes of the Empire, held two Diets, one at Ulm and the other at Wurtzburg ; wherein, having now, as he hoped, brought Germany into a state of firm and enduring concord, and re- Y 322 THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. BOOK vm. Disagree- ment at this point amongst contem- porary historians. stored the party of the anti-Pope ,he found it easy, as at other times, to induce those warlike and restless Barons to follow him into Italy ; and, having thus gathered together a strong army, he descended in November 1166 through the Valle Camonica into the territory of Brescia, not choosing to imperil. those forces, with which he intended to fight against Rome and in Apulia, at the Pass of Chiusa ; which he knew to be now well fortified, and held by the Veronese League. 5. Now here, with regard to the first proceedings of this expedition, there is a disagreement amongst contemporary historians ; and it would be worth while, if possible, to ascertain the truth, for at this time, when the fortune of the Emperor turned and began to decline, every movement, however slight, is worthy of notice. Some say, that on his first arrival he laid waste the fields of the Brescians up to the very gates of the city, from which he did not retire until he had obtained sixty hostages, which he sent to Pavia; and that afterwards, having devastated the plain of Bergamo as far as the mountains, he went to take rest at Lodi. By others, on the contrary, it is said, that (although all the cities of Lombardy were odious to him, and he had no confidence in any of them, excepting Lodi and Pavia), on coming into the territory of Brescia, he dissembled his hatred and suspicion, showed himself bland and courteous to all, and affably received the inhabitants of the land ; who, attracted and won over by his altered behaviour, hastened together to him, and vied with one another in manifestations of loyalty. And this, though unusual and strange, seems nearer to the truth ; for as no author, so far as I am aware, makes mention of any innovation or disturbance as having occurred at this time amongst the peoples of Brescia and Bergamo, or amongst any others of Lombardy, it does not appear probable that even this Emperor, ready as he was to commit devastation and cruelty, would thus, without any provocation, utterly devastate those territories, of which, by reason of the rich tribute he derived from them, he seemed to be himself the chief owner. It is not unlikely that the destruction was merely that occasioned by the customary pillages and outrages which the foreign soldiery always thought themselves at liberty to BOOK viii. THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. 323 commit in Italy on their own account, without any express com- mand, and that this was followed by some altercation with the inhabitants, who wished to repress such excesses, whereupon the Emperor, the better to secure the tranquillity of the country, demanded the hostages spoken of ; the rather because he was now intending to press onwards with all speed into Romagna. This view is not a little confirmed by what is related by another contemporary, who always leans strongly to the Im- perial side, to wit, that from Brescia, without encountering or committing any kind of hostility by the way, Frederick came to Lodi ; where, as if he wished to give a gracious hear- ing to the unhappy Lombards, he held a grand parliament ; wherein the bishops, barons, and chief men of Lombardy, with many of lower degree, all bearing crosses in their hands, presented to him a petition against the cruelty and injustice of the prefects. Of which, it is added, the Emperor heard with amazement and grief ; and his countenance grew dark with displeasure. But, it is frankly added by the same historian, when the Diet was dissolved, he thought the time inopportune to make further inquiries, and to redress their grievances. Whence it would appear that he was merely acting a part, deluding these peoples by an assumed aspect of clemency and goodness, in order that, having hope, they might remain quiet, and he might be able to go forwards, as he desired, to the war against the Pope and the King of Sicily. 6. Be that as it may, setting aside these contradictions, Frederick's it would be impossible to explain Frederick's conduct in this strategy expedition, if we did not know that prosperity is wont to expedition blind even the most sagacious, and that the ambitious and cruel man cannot long secure his evil acquisitions, either by the open and ruthless injustice whereby he first obtained them, or yet by dissimulation. The times were changed, and were now become such as would have tested severely the prudence and valour of any prince, even when not distracted and con- fused, as the Emperor at this moment was, by fierce and wicked passions. Stung to the quick with vexation that Alexander should have returned to Rome, acknowledged by so many kings and peoples of Christendom ; restlessly eager to carry out his long-cherished design of recovering for the 324, THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. BOOK vin. Empire Apulia and Calabria, a design that now seemed more than ever feasible by reason of the death of William, King of Sicily, which had occurred in the May of this year, and the accession of William II., who was a minor under the guar- dianship of his mother, so that, as he had heard, the rebels of the kingdom, despising that new and feminine government, had already, though with few forces, entered the land, in the hope of being supported there by himself ; full of vengeful ire against the Greek Emperor, who ceased not to stir up against him the Venetians and the peoples of Lombardy, and who had lately again proposed to the Pope the reunion of the Greek and Latin Churches, on condition that the Apostolic See should restore to him, as the successor of the ancient Caesars, the throne of the Roman Empire ; Frederick, agi- tated and bewildered, but confiding, nevertheless, in the good fortune which had hitherto attended him in Italy, saw not, or did not regard, the peril of advancing, and committing himself to a war in the heart of Italy, leaving behind him such a league as that of Verona, now two years old, and powerfully supported, which would be sure, for its own safety, if for nothing else, to take the first opportunity of helping to liberate its neighbours, who were oppressed and openly set at naught by him. The artifice which he had used towards the Lombards, whatever it was, must have been a very poor one ; it did not avail him long ; on the contrary, it returned upon his own head, for after the Parliament of Lodi, when the insincerity of his gracious behaviour had become appa- rent, there was no longer anyone in Lombardy who was not thoroughly convinced that all the outrages and extortions of the prefects had been committed with his knowledge and consent, and who did not apprehend still worse things from him in the future. 7. 1167. The Emperor, then, having spent Christmas at Pavia, was just setting forth with the army for Romagna, when he was detained by the Consuls of Genoa and of Pisa. These two peoples, after having inflicted upon each other no little loss by land and sea for the possession of Sardinia, had now, by mutual agreement, sent their Consuls to plead the matter in his presence, each of them relying upon the formal charter which it had obtained from him, not without much BOOK vill. THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. 325 money, to the exclusion of the claims of the other. Frederick seemed inclined at first to maintain the investiture which had lately been granted to the Pisans, but the Genoese, whom he was unwilling to offend, reminded him with much heat of their own claim upon the island, from which they had driven its king, Musetto, and of the promise of it which they also had obtained from him, and that, too, with a great sum of money. Frederick, impatient of the contention of these rival claimants, amidst which, without their intending it, many a sharp dart came against himself, at last got rid of them by stultifying both, referring the matter to the Imperial Curia, as if he had never had anything to do with it. Willing, however, to conciliate the Genoese, who showed the most indignation, he commanded the Pisans to release to them their prisoners. But when the Genoese Consuls began to speak of another grievance, and demanded justice against the Marquis of Montferrat, who had taken from them the castles of Palodi and Otaggio, he instantly silenced and dismissed them. Freed at last from these importunities, on January 1 1 he set forth with the army for Romagna ; passing through Modena, where he made Gherardo Rangono his Podesta ; and when he came into the territory of Bologna, to avenge the murder of Bozzo, his prefect, he caused the whole land to be laid waste, and compelled the Bolognese to redeem themselves from his wrath with 6,000 Lucchese liras, and 100 hostages, which he sent to Pavia. His forces having been joined, mean- while, by those of the Archbishops of Cologne and of Mentz, which were in those parts, it occurred to him that by dividing them, he might carry on two enterprises at once. Accordingly he commanded the Archbishop of Cologne to advance with part of them and with the anti-Pope Pascal, towards Rome- He himself, however, with the other part, did not go to the war in Apulia, as he had at first intended, but, as if he had come into Italy for no other purpose than to amass money, he went to and fro for five months in Romagna, levying heavy contributions from every city,town, and castle ; Imola, Favenza, Forli, Forlimpopoli there was no place in that country of any note where he did not leave some trace of his avarice and cruelty, giving no heed to the sinister rumours which 326 THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. BOOK vin. Of the secret plottings of the Lombards. reached him from time to time of conspiracies and discontent amongst the Lombards. 8. Meanwhile, however, a great work of preparation was being secretly carried on in Lombardy ; in consequence of which, soon afterwards, the peoples of the principal Communes, rising, nearly all of them, at the same time, were able to expel the Imperial ministers, and to reconstitute themselves under Consuls. Little is told by contemporary writers of the pre- vious consultations which these peoples must needs have held amongst themselves, to organise so great a movement over so wide an extent of country. Their hearts, by the tyranny itself, had long been made ready. But it is not known how, under a vigilance so strict and so suspicious, they contrived to enter into correspondence with one another, and agree amongst themselves to rise up all together against the prefects. No particulars have come down to us of that moody, fearful, fierce activity, to which, in the face of the scaffold, the virtuous man, driven to desperation, betakes himself as his last resource, knowing that boldness, in such cases, is wont to be crowned, according to the issue, with triumph or with martyrdom. Nevertheless, a rising of so many peoples, a rising so united, powerful, and successful as this, could never have taken place, but under regulations previously well considered, and consented to by all ; especially if it be true, as we are told in the Life of St. Galdino, that all the prefects were slain or driven out of the country in one day. We must place ourselves then, in imagination, in the gloomy depth of that great conspiracy, and picture to ourselves men, who had once held great pos- sessions in the land, and had often worn the venerable insig- nia of honour and authority in their Communes, now, excited, almost beside themselves with grief and shame for themselves and for their families, coming forth in the darkness of the night, and, with fixed determination of heart, going stealthily by unfrequented paths, in the deep silence of the fields, to the boundaries of their territory, there to concert with their neighbours the means of a general deliverance. One effect of tyranny, and one of its most mischievous effects, is this : that it constrains the man who in other times would naturally have betaken himself to an honourable and virtuous course of life, to step out of his way, and, in contending against the oppression BOOK viii. THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. 327 that maddens him, to feel in his unpolluted breast, if not the remorse, the anxiety of crime. 9. Some intimation as to the messenger employed by the Tradition Milanese in communicating with their more distant neighbours p r -^ r ernins is afforded by an ancient tradition, connected with a rude James the ' . . Cross- sculpture in bas-relief, which was long to be seen in the sides bearer. of the Roman Gate, having been placed there by the Consuls, with other sculptured memorials of civic triumphs, in 1171, when they were still further fortifying and embellishing their newly rebuilt city. On those tablets was represented a long procession of Milanese, walking two and two, and led by a monk with the banner of the Commune, over whose head was written Prater Jacobus. Now amongst the various traditions that arose in course of time, concerning the destruction of Milan and the return of the citizens, was this : that the monk of that sculpture was the chief envoy whom the Milanese, in the depth of their calamity, sent from the villages to the other Communes of Lombardy, to demand assistance and to nego- tiate the League : that he, who, as a religious person, could go backwards and forwards from place to place without exciting suspicion, carried letters and messages into the Veronese ter- ritory and to Venice, and brought answers back, and finally succeeded in inducing the principal men of Lombardy to assemble with one accord in the monastery of Pontida ; a re- tired, sacred place, in which they could securely take counsel together for the deliverance of the whole country. Therefore it was that the Milanese, grateful for such important services, not only allowed him the honour of carrying the banner of the Commune in the day of their return, 'and of entering first into the city, but also, in honour of his memory, caused a representation of their entry, with his name thereon, to be sculptured in marble for that Gate. Hence it became customary, as appears from the ancient statutes of Milan, for the Com- mune to offer every year to the house of the Cross-bearing monks, to which Friar James belonged, a banner with the arms of the city upon it ; as a token of gratitude, it is ex- pressly said, for the benefits rendered by one of the Cross- bearers to the Commune and people of Milan in the time of the war. 10. Summoned then by this monk, or by some similar 328 THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. BOOK vin. Diet of the messenger, certain it is that some of the principal men of the in Pontida. Milanese villages, and of Cremona, Bergamo, Mantua, Brescia, and Ferrara, silently departing each from his place, assembled on April 7, 1167, in the Monastery of Pontida, between Ber- gamo and Milan ; where were also present, perhaps, some from the March of Verona, for two of the Communes of that March, a few weeks after, in accordance with what had been agreed upon in this Diet for the benefit of the Milanese, sent their militias to Milan. These deputies, then, when with wonder- ful secrecy they were gathered together in the holy silence of that cloister, and began to relate to one another the wrongs and outrages of every kind which they endured at the hands of the Imperial ministers, soon came, with one accord, to this conclusion, that it would be better for them, if such should be the will of God, to die at once, than to live any longer in such misery and shame ; whereupon, excited by each other's looks and words, they kindled into such enthu- siastic daring, that nothing in the world appeared too difficult for them ; then every man lifted up his right hand, called God to witness the wrongs that had been done him, and the justice of his cause, and in the name of his Commune solemnly placed it in that of his neighbour, all swearing that the one people would help the other to recover its liberty, and would defend it, with all its might, against any who might henceforth seek its hurt ; reserving always their fidelity to the Emperor. 1 1- But when the turn came of the Milanese deputy, who was Pinamonte, of the house of the Vimercati, ancient capitani, cati. who had their castle and possessions on the hills of Brianza, there was made a great silence in that assembly, out of re- spect both for him, as a man of high standing in Lombardy, and for the people that sent him. And he thus addressed them, beginning with a verse or two from the Book of Ecclesiastes, slightly modified for the occasion : ' Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labour ; for if any do violence to one, two will resist Jiiin, and a threefold cord is not easily broken Confederates, since, by reason of the oath which we have just taken, I am already permitted to address you by that well-omened name, these verses, which I intended to use as an admonition, and an exhortation to that which the afflicted BOOK vin. THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. 329 state of our country demands, are spoken now but as a crown and an authoritative seal to, the covenants of the League, which, moved by an irresistible impulse, we have to-day so happily established with one another. It is not necessary, therefore, that I should add to them anything of mine. Nor do I think it needful to say much about that cruel oppression which German tyranny, for the last five years, has been daily increasing upon us, in sight of the ruins of our city. Not only are our calamities manifest to all, but I see few in Lom- bardy who are not, to some extent, partakers of them. For, since the fall of Milan, there is no longer one people amongst us able to put any restraint upon this Emperor, who now, against all Christian usage, tramples upon us at his will. I have simply, therefore, to make known to you with what feel- ings and with what hopes my fellow-citizens sent me to meet you in this place ; in which have now been heard the sad complaints and the dearest aspirations of nearly all the. peoples of Lombardy. ' And first, if it be true that a fault confessed is more readily forgiven, and, like a discovered rock, more easily avoided for the future, let it avail me now to make that spontaneous con- fession, which every good Milanese has long felt to be due ; although in truth it can make but a poor amends for the manifold calamities to the whole country of which we were in a great measure the cause. I leave it to another, if any will undertake such a task, to search into the matter, arid duly apportion amongst us all the blame of our discords ; it is my duty here to speak frankly of so much of it as concerns my people, since I know no better way of obtaining forgiveness for the past, and assuring you of our moderation and loyalty for the future. Heavy, O men of Lombardy, heavy was the guilt incurred by our fathers through their proud dealings with their neighbours ; and we ourselves, in the time of our prosperity, when on us depended the destiny of this part of Italy, added not a little to that unhappy heritage. Where- fore, to him who bears in mind the law by which are regulated the vicissitudes of nations, it is no wonder that in the dreadful judgment which has fallen in our days on all the land, we have been more fiercely smitten and cast down than any other people of Lombardy. Gladly would I see here present repre- 330 THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. BOOK tin. sentatives of Como and of Lodi, as those who have the greatest reason to complain of us ; but if the words I speak should by any means reach their cities, I trust they will find favour and acceptance with those our valiant neighbours, so that in the day when we shall assemble openly, at the sound of the trumpet and in the full light of the sun, they also, like generous Lombards, forgetting every past offence, will frankly join this League, and nobly vie with us in contending for the liberty of all. Woe to this land, if its children grow no better through adversity, if they persist in that insanity which has so often urged them to shed each other's blood ! The barbarous nations which in turn will possess it, will leave nothing to the slaves that shall remain alive, but eyes to weep, and hands to till the ground in the service of cruel, insatiable oppressors. But may heaven avert from us such wicked obduracy, such persistency in evil, and bring us all of this dear Lombard land ,to peace, and to a holy, indissoluble union ! And already are there indications not a few of human and divine assistance, that seem to promise some mitigation, if not the end, of our misfortunes. The Greek Emperor and the new King of Sicily have both of them reasons to favour our freedom, and if report deceive us not, they have opened the treasuries of Byzantium and Palermo to advance our League and to support us against the common foe. Well may we remember with pride that the cause' of the Church is bound up with our own. The holy father, who, with the favour of so great a part of Christen- dom, is now returned from beyond the Alps, knows by ex- perience that this schism cannot be healed, that he can never have peace or be firmly established in his see, but by the triumph of the Communes of Lombardy. The Venetians and the peoples of the neighbouring March stand ready and eager to help us to obtain that liberty, which by their own example they have roused and encouraged us to seek. But most of all, O confederates, is there hope for the land in the presence here amongst us of the deputies of Mantua and Fer- rara. Not all those favours which, to our envy, the crafty Emperor showered down upon them, have availed to estrange them from us. They were amongst the first to join this League, despising, as a detestable bait, the honours and pri- vileges wherewith he thought to bind them to his side. So BOOK: vin. THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. 331 bright an example of public virtue will not shine in vain upon our borders. Every people will be kindled by it, and, sooner or later, with emulous prowess, we shall rise in our might against this evil fortune which oppresses us, and the days of our ancient freedom will return. 'With these views, confederates, and in this hope, my people last night sent me forth from our villages ; and I, having eluded the suspicious eyes which watch around our habitations, felt, amidst the darkness and the perils of the way, at every step which brought me nearer to you, increasing courage, and assurance of a happier future ; and now that I have seen and heard you, most heartily do I give, in the name of my people, my oath and hand to this League. But little help can we give you in the coming struggle, whilst we remain as we are, without arms, and divided in that plain. O confederates, no ditch, no wall, no weapons have we there for our defence. Placed in those open fields, exposed to the fierce cupidity of our enemies, we live from day to day, not knowing whether the sun, t which leaves us in terror at its setting, will find us alive on his return. From Lodi, from Pavia, may come at any moment whichever of the two fierce prefects most desires to do us harm. How can I describe to you the anguish and fear in which we live ? A hundred hostages were required of us last March, and not long afterwards two hundred more. In a few days falls due a heavy tax, imposed upon us last year ; and such is the poverty into which we are fallen, that no one in those villages knows how to satisfy it, but by enduring, as so many of us are doing already, the hardships and the degradation of a Pavese prison. And what will become of us, unarmed, abandoned, and alone, in those villages, when the report of your rising and the noise of arms is heard in Lombardy ? when it is known that we were represented in this Diet ? Oh ! I can say no more ; for it rends my heart to think of our con- dition, so miserable, that it seems as if our enemies had spared our lives to no other end, than that they might exercise their cruelty in tormenting us. Dear confederates, undertake, now that so good an opportunity presents itself, whilst the Em- peror is engaged in the war of Romagna, undertake, with one accord, before anything else, to arm the Milanese, and bring them back into their city. What firmer and holier foundation 332 THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. BOOK vm. could be given to our alliance than the restoration of my people ? What more wonderful and glorious example of re- conciliation and brotherly love could possibly be transmitted to future ages ? What other enterprise could be named so closely connected as this with the safety and liberty of the whole land ? For, so much am I emboldened by that hearty goodwill, which, as I look around, I see in all your faces, I fear not to remind you, O confederates, that if Milan, in the fury of our discords, was sometimes a heavy hammer to her neighbours, she oftener served as a shield to all Italy against that oppressive Northern power, which, with the return of every spring, comes hurrying down the Alps, like a periodical deluge, to renew its ravages amongst us. This Emperor never dared, as long as my city was standing, to commit such ex- tortions and cruelties as those to which he has abandoned himself since, with the aid of so many of you, he destroyed Milan, and expelled and dispersed its people. Undertake this enterprise, in itself so generous and pious, and my Com- mune will become, as of old, the foremost defender of the liberty of all. I say no more. Not through my entreaty, through your justice, your prudence, your magnanimity let it be, if we Milanese, after all our misfortunes, return to be established as a people in that place, where, encumbered though it is with heaps of ruin, are still the altars and the tombs of our fathers.' No sooner had Pinamonte ceased, than all in that assem- bly, deeply moved, came up to him, one after another, gave him their right hands, and pledged their faith, that the first enterprise they would attempt, after the recovery of their free- dom, should be the re-establishment of the Milanese, in honour and security, in their city ; and that they would also take measures to induce the Communes in the neighbourhood of Milan to join the League. This done, with the same secrecy as before, every man returned to his own home ; where, by those of his kinsmen and of the chief citizens who were privy to these proceedings, the tidings of the formation and purpose of the League were received with great joy ; and when after- wards the secret was communicated to the rest of the Com- mune, not only was that which had been done fervently assented to, but the hearts of all were so filled with hope and BOOK vin. THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. 333 courage, that in every city, if not on the same day, as some affirm, certainly very nearly so, the Imperial prefects were tumultuously assailed, and slain or driven away, and every- where, with popular enthusiasm, the Consuls were re-estab- lished, as of old. The longed-for moment of deliverance was at hand, and every man threw himself into the struggle, re- solved to conquer or to die. It was the time of a great trial, and the Lombard virtue of that age was not found wanting. 12. Whilst these popular commotions were taking place, Terror and the cry of liberty was rapidly spreading from people Milanes to people throughout Lombardy, far otherwise was it with villa ges. the Milanese, who, being disarmed, and brought lower than the rest, and strictly guarded by their fierce prefect, were unable to take any part in that general movement. For three weeks after the Diet of Pontida (for so much time was spent by the insurgent Communes in re-establishing themselves in their former liberty), the Milanese had to suffer, day and night, attacks of unutterable terror. But even before that Diet the oppression under which they laboured had been much increased, for the negotiation of the great conspiracy amongst the Lombards could not be carried on so secretly but that some rumour of it would reach the Count of Disce, who, in May 1166, on the death of Count Marquardo, had come to be their prefect. He, no less cruel, and, as newly arrived, more hungry than his predecessor, who had died almost satiated with the substance of the Milanese, had imposed upon them, in his first month of office, an additional tax of 1,500 imperial liras, and given notice soon afterwards to the wealthier amongst them of another of 500 liras to be paid in April 1167, which had just now become due. And afterwards, when he began to suspect that they were meditating innova- tions, he forbade the men of the villages to assemble together, and caused all who were found out of doors after dusk to be fined or beaten. Finally, in the March of this year, still more alarmed at the restlessness which seemed to be increas- ing amongst the peoples of Lombardy, he had demanded of the Milanese 100 hostages, 50 from the villages, and 50 from the country, and, not yet satisfied, had required, a few days later, for further security, 200 more, which he sent to be kept in Pavia, as was mentioned by Pinamonte at Pontida. These 334 THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. BOOK vin. things were done before the rising of the other peoples, but after that had taken place, and it was known that the Imperial ministers, all over the country, had been slain or put to flight, the Count, fiercer than ever, demanded another 100 hostages from the patricians, threatening that unless they were delivered into his hands on the morrow, he would come with the forces of Pavia and Seprio, and destroy all their villages with fire and sword. But it was no easy matter, in the present state of things, to execute this threat. All had heard of the League made at Pontida, and it was known that many peoples had already risen up in arms, and that all in Lombardy were bent on shaking off the yoke of bondage ; those, therefore, who were liable to be taken as hostages, now that there were places in which they could find refuge, instantly fled, and escaped ; and it seems probable that the Emperor, in his great desire to make war effectually at Rome and in Apulia, had left his prefects in Lombardy without any German forces, for the only troops mentioned by the Count, when threatening to punish the Milanese in case of disobedience, were the militias of Pavia and Seprio. Just at this time the Pavese, after taking counsel together, sent messengers to their kinsfolk and friends in the Milanese villages, inviting them to come with all they had, as private guests, to Pavia, pledging their public faith that their persons and their property should be secure. Some, trusting to the ties of kindred and of ancient friendship, accepted the invi- tation ; but they had h ardly entered the city, when they were required to declare on oath, that they would take up their abode in Pavia for ever ; and some of them who, amazed and indig- nant, attempted to return, were detained by force. When this became known to the Milanese in the villages, their terror reached its height. Every moment, says one who was present, every moment, looking towards Pavia, they seemed to see its militias, instigated by the fierce Count, coming to destroy them, all unarmed as they we re, without mercy ; in the villages of Noceta and Vigentino, especially, there was a continual weeping of women and children, and from time to time a sudden cry : ' See, see, the Pavese, coming to burn down the villages!' The men themselves could take no rest; all night long they kept watch, in the roa ds or behind the hedges, full of BOOK vin. THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. 335 fear, listening to every sound. In this time of helpless dread, many took their goods and departed, some to Como, some to Novara, some to Pavia, some to Lodi ; others, unwilling to commit themselves to a doubtful hospitality, went forth to seek a hiding-place in the country ; others took refuge amongst the ruins, thinking themselves most secure in the very centre of their calamity. 13. This state of terror continued until April 27; on the Return morning of that day, from the village of St. Dionysius, a Milanese, few horsemen were seen in the distance. The people, un- certain who they might be, came running together from all sides ; everyone fixed his eyes upon them, watched their movements, and tried to discern the device upon their banner ; after an interval of most anxious and fearful suspense, at last they knew the truth. Those horsemen were ten knights of Bergamo, who, with the banner of their Commune, a sign of recovered liberty, proudly floating in the wind, came as pre- cursors of the confederates. In fact, in no long time, appeared the militias of Brescia, then those of Cremona, and afterwards those of Mantua, Verona, and Treviso, bringing with them cart-loads of provisions and of arms. Then burst forth on every side a shout of joy, which, amidst brief and broken ex- pressions of thankfulness, was renewed again and again, ever louder and louder, at the arrival of the militias of each Com- mune. The news spread rapidly to the other villages ; and men, women, and children thronged with exultation to the banners of their deliverers ; taking fresh courage at the sight of them, and seeming to return from death to life. And the host of the confederates, on their part, so vied with the Milanese in manifestations of friendship and of brotherly affection, that it would be hard to say on which side the gladness seemed greatest ; whether those most rejoiced who received, or those who brought the benefit. As soon as the leaders had con- ferred together, and had agreed that the arms should immedp- ately be distributed amongst the people, and that they should go that very day to take possession of the city, giving the enemy no time to intercept them, every family of the Milanese came forth, well pleased to leave those miserable dwellings. Then it was that, as was afterwards imaged in the sculptured marble of the Roman Gate, the good Friar 336 THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. BOOK vin. James was called to the front, and to him, by general consent, was committed the banner of the Commune. And he, accept- ing it with deep humility, but with a countenance that glowed with gratitude to witness the accomplishment of that enterprise, in which he had endured so many toils and dangers, went on before them all towards Milan ; and the Milanese, with their confederates, followed in a long procession, walking two and two, with the praises of God in their mouths, and weapons of war in their hands ; for they were not without fear of being attacked on the road by the Count and the Pavese. This is a day that ought to be held by the Milanese in perpetual remembrance ; for as the deeds which are peculiar to the austerity of primitive times cannot in after ages be repeated, it is well to commemorate with pious affection such of them as appear most remarkable and magnanimous, that others, admiring those generous ancients, may be inspired with equal zeal for whatever arduous patriotic undertakings the condition of their own times may impose upon them. Now when the Milanese, with their confederates, having encountered no opposition in the way, had re-entered their city, they did not immediately break up the order of their march, but stood some time in silence, gazing upon that vast multitude of ruins. Many of them, who had not been there since the day of the destruction, now that they saw themselves in the midst of those houses, half-ruined, roofless, with their walls broken, scorched, and blackened, wept with a loud voice ; whilst others, kneeling on the ground, lifted up their eyes and hands to heaven, and gave thanks to God, who had delivered them out of their distress, and brought them back, by the hand of their confederates, into the place where they would be. Then everyone set to work to provide himself with a habitation on the site of his former abode, after which, with the aid of the confederates, they cleared out the ditch and repaired the terraggio, but did not rebuild the walls, for it is recorded that these citizens, when they saw themselves armed in the midst of their ruins, made a vow that they would never again fortify their city with a wall, but that for the future their own breasts should suffice to defend it. TheLodi- 14. The confederates did not think of taking their de- gians refuse p ar ^- urCj un til the fortifications and the houses were so far BOOK viii. THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUTES. 337 restored, that they felt they could leave the Milanese in com- to join the fort and security ; and before separating, they called to mind the promise which they had made at Pontida, to try to bring into the League the other Communes of Lombardy, especially those which were nearest to Milan ; and, since there was no hope of inducing the Commune of Pavia to come over to their side, they resolved to begin with the Lodigians ; and the Cremonese, as having most influence with them, were com- missioned by the rest to invite them to enter the Lombard League. The Lodigians, when they had heard the envoys of Cremona in their Council of Credenza, replied with one accord, after no long deliberation, that sooner than take part in that wickedness, they would forfeit their substance and their lives ; and they were amazed that such a proposal should have been made to them by the people of Cremona. This answer was not a little mortifying to the Cremonese, who had flattered themselves that their neighbours and old allies would be willing to adopt whatever course they might suggest; and some days afterwards, as if hoping that the Lodigians, on second and wiser thoughts, would be willing to relax these strict sentiments of fidelity to the Emperor, they sent other envoys to urge them with more impassioned arguments to join this League, which alone could save the land from the tyranny under which it groaned ; but these received a still curter and sharper re- fusal than the first. Then the Cremonese, greatly offended, returned to the representatives of the allied cities, who no sooner received their report of the obstinacy of the Lodigians, than they resolved with one consent to set on foot a strong army to coerce them ; at the same time, that they might leave no means untried to avert this war, they chose other envoys from amongst the men of noblest birth and greatest authority there present, and sent them with all speed to the Lodigians, that they might urgently beseech them, for the honour and safety of all Lombardy, to accept their invitation and enter into this alliance; warning them that, if they should again refuse, the forces of the confederate cities would come to devastate all their country, to destroy their city, and to put every one of them to the sword. It deeply concerned the confederates to have the Lodigians for friends and allies in this great enterprise, both because it z 338 THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. BOOK vin. appeared that without their goodwill and assistance, the Milanese would have some difficulty in procuring provisions, with which, by reason of the oppression they had under- gone, and the suddenness of their return, they were but scantily supplied , and because, as Lodi was a city strong by position, and now almost entirely fortified with a good wall, if the Emperor, on returning from Romagna with the army, should find it still devoted to him, he would be able to establish himself securely there, and not only prevent them from succouring the Milanese, but also come forth at his pleasure to subdue, one after another, as before, all the cities of Lombardy. For these reasons, so much was the alliance of the Lodigians desired, that those envoys, although they were amongst the greatest and most illustrious men of Lom- bardy, besought them on their knees in the Council, that for the love of God, and for the good of the whole land, they would be pleased to join them in a League, which had no other object than the peace and the liberty of all Lombardy, their allegiance to the Emperor remaining unbroken, as in the time of their ancestors ; and before rising, they failed not, as they were commissioned, to advert to the war which, in case of refusal, would be waged against them to the last drop of blood. At those entreaties, at those threats, at that sight, the Lodigians were amazed and deeply touched, but they did not change their minds ; on the contrary, their Consul, after a brief conference with the Council, turning w r ith a firm counte- nance to those envoys, thus replied : that they could never have believed that the people of Cremona, who with their hands and substance had so generously assisted them to build that city, in the place of the one which the cruelty of the Milanese had destroyed, would now, without having received from it any injury or provocation, agree to take it by assault, and to slaughter its inhabitants, who were closely connected with them, both by many ties of kindred and by a constant and uninterrupted interchange of good offices and of commerce, But whatever destiny might await them, the right was so plainly on their side, that even if they should have to see that place in flames, and themselves, one after another, with their wives and children, put to torture or to death, they would BOOK vin. THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. 339 never consent to join the League, and make themselves traitors to the Emperor; for he had protected and succoured them, and always done them good ; and to him they owed that town, which had sheltered them in their distress, and now held in their hearts the place of their lost city. 15. On receiving this reply, those envoys, grieved and War disconcerted, departed from the Council ; apprehending, from this unfortunate issue of their mission, heavy calamities for the whole of Lombard y ; and when they returned to those who sent them, and reported the resolute reply of the Lodigians, it was forthwith decreed, that the forces which they had in readi- ness should immediately be led against that city, which con- tained in it enough bad leaven to spread discord and corruption throughout all the land. Wherefore, without loss of time, on May 12, the militias of Milan, Bergamo, Brescia, Mantua, and Cremona, with boats and carts, and with balistas and engines of every kind, went forth to besiege Lodi. The Cremonese took up their position at the Greek Wood, part of them in the boats and part in tents. The Milanese, with the militias of the other Communes, excepting those of Bergamo, encamped before the three Gates, the Imperial, Pavese, and Cremonese. The militias of Bergamo, after some days, estab- lished themselves on the other side of the Adda. On the following day the besieged came forth against the Cremonese, and a sharp contest ensued, partly on the river bank and partly upon the river itself, in which many on both sides were killed or wounded ; and the confederates began that day to make a bridge of boats across the Adda, not far from the public port. Against this the Lodigians, with those that had come to their aid from Pavia, poured without ceasing a storm of flaming arrows, and for two days and nights they strove with all their might to destroy it ; and coming forth unex- pectedly against those who were at work upon it, and attack- ing the enemy close at hand, both here and in other parts, with stones, and swords, and spears, they manfully defended their new city. But the strength of the contending parties was too unequal, and fortune did not smile on the valour of the Lodigians ; again and again were they put to the rout, and driven back into the city, always leaving not a few of their men dead under the walls. After some days, seeing that their Z 2 340 THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. BOOK vm territory was being devastated and burnt by the confederates, especially by the Cremonese, who, now that their friendship was turned into enmity, were fiercer against them than the rest ; and that, to cro\vn their misfortunes, as they had had no time to victual the place, they were forced to kill some of the cattle, large herds of which had been brought together within the walls, and that these, which formed the chief part of their wealth, were perishing for want of food, they began to despair, convinced that the loss of their city was inevitable. Where- fore, to avoid exposing those dearest to them to outrage and to death, they demanded a parley, and, reserving their alle- giance to the Emperor, consented to join the League, on these conditions : that the confederates, at their own expense, should defend the city and territory of Lodi from every enemy, and should help them to complete the circuit of their walls ; that the Milanese should grant them full liberty to navigate the Po, and to traffic in the markets of their Commune ; and that they should free them for ever from the tithes, which, in right of their church, they had been accustomed from very ancient times to exact from them ; an unfailing source of hatred and contention, which had embittered the hearts of both peoples. Some of the citizens, notwithstanding these advantageous and honourable conditions, at first refused to consent to this convention, which they regarded as a disloyal and ungrateful one. The Count Lantelmo di Crema and his sons, Giovanni della Montagna, Mediopresbitero di Sommariva, Manfredo Morena, Petraccio Moncio, Airoldo Pocalode, and Malfaxado di Valarano, all Lodigian patricians, with Lamberto, the Prefect, departed on the day of the surrender for Pavia, in the company of Bellone Piscenpulte, called also della Corte, Consul of that city, who had headed the troops which it sent to their assistance. These Lodigians, however, although their affection for the Emperor and his party had induced them to accompany his prefect on this occasion, after some time, when the League had become more stable and powerful, returned to Lodi. Praise due 1 6. This was the only Commune that was compelled by LodTians f rce to join the Lombard League ; but the favourable con- ditions which were wisely accorded to it in the treaty of sur- render, kept it ever after steadfast and active in that alliance. BOOK vin. THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. 343 The heavy misfortunes which for two generations had afflicted the Lodigians, had imparted to them a stern integrity of cha- racter, proper to the religious sincerity of that age. This was not the first time that they had shed their dearest blood to preserve their oath inviolate. It was not their fault, if, to escape from the tyranny of others, they had been compelled to pledge that oath to the Emperor, with whom alone they had hitherto found protection and security. And if they did not now, as in 1158, give up their city to be burnt, and go forth into exile rather than yield, we must consider, before blaming them, whether that sacrifice was one which a whole people could reasonably be expected to repeat. Besides, the times were changed ; there was no longer any town in Lombard y, excepting Pavia, in which they could have found such a refuge as they did nine years before at Pizzighetone. The danger being the same, and the circumstances different, it was neces- sary to provide for themselves in another way. And they did not abandon the Empire, but the cause of Frederick, who had now become a tyrant over his people, and an obstinate promoter of innumerable scandals and disorders in the Church ; nor did they even do this without having first shown, by won- derful proofs of valour, that if they had been succoured in time, their fidelity would have failed only with their lives. The noble constancy with which this little city maintained its integrity, in the face of no ordinary peril, is an honour to the memory of that age, and gives it a just claim to be called heroic. For we may safely accept this religious austerity of the Lodigians as a sample of that which existed among all the Lombard peoples, whenever their rude and fierce nature was not offended and exasperated by injustice, or by the spirit of discord amongst themselves. 17. After the surrender of Lodi, the leaders of the League, Seizure of before disbanding the army, pledged their faith to one another that they would hold themselves ready, each in his Commune, to go forth and resist with all their might the attack which the Emperor, on his return, would assuredly make upon their territories ; and then, with cheerful hearts, well pleased to have deprived the common oppressor of that stronghold, with which he had hoped to keep them all in subjection, every man de- parted for his home. But the Milanese, in whom, now that 342 THE IV A K AGAINST THE COMMUNES. BOOK vin. they were again in arms, the ancient vigour had awoke, had come to this enterprise with the intention of attempting, directly afterwards, the seizure of the Castle of Trezzo, in which was laid up, ready to be taken into Germany, the Emperor's treasure. Accordingly, without delay, taking with them only the militias of Bergamo, they went straight, with the siege-engines, to that castle ; wherein the Emperor, as in a place of the greatest importance, had stationed Ruino, a German knight, with some of his best troops. This fortress, since the damage it had suffered in 1159, had been made stronger than ever, having been fortified with a very massive wall, and with a keep of squared stones, which rose to a great height in the midst of it, the finest in the land. Here the Emperor had caused to be placed all that had been that year collected by his officers amongst the peoples of Lombardy, arms, costly plate, and money. The Milanese, certain of rinding in it much that was their own, set to work with great spirit as soon as they arrived, and threw a bridge over the Adda, so that they were able to attack the place on every side. Ruino, as long as the provisions lasted, made a brave defence ; but when these began to fail, and no one came to his assistance, he was obliged to surrender, on these conditions : that he and the Germans, with as many Lombards as had lately come into the castle, should be led away prisoners to Milan ; and that all others found there, both men and women, should go forth free, leaving everything they had behind. The castle, when spoiled of its treasures, was set on fire and destroyed. Frederick 1 8. The conspiracy amongst the Lombards, the rising of ^ ne Communes, the expulsion of the prefects, and the restora- tion of the Milanese had all been reported to the Emperor ; but, either because of the spirit of stupefaction that possessed him during the whole of this expedition, or else because of his great pride, that made him regard these movements in Lombardy as vain attempts, which he could put a stop to at his pleasure, he seemed to consider them of no great import- ance, and went on, as has been said, levying taxes in Romagna. But when, at the end of May, he first heard of the surrender and defection of Lodi, unable to believe it, astonished, wroth, he made the messenger repeat the news, and, afterwards, when BOOK viii. THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. 343 from the letters which he had, he could doubt no longer, he remained for a long time wrapt in thought, with his eyes fixed on the ground ; but neither then nor ever did a word of grief escape from his proud breast ; not even when, a few days later, there came tidings of the loss of Trezzo and of all his treasure. Resolving, in spite of these disasters, to make an attempt upon Ancona, in the assurance that, with such an army as he had in Italy, he would be able, whenever it might please him to return, to sweep every obstacle out of his path, he im- mediately advanced against that city, and, after several vain attacks, sat down before it for a regular siege. But from that time he was seldom seen out of his pavilion ; and when he did appear, his countenance was stern and gloomy : he was inwardly revolving most arrogant designs, not knowing that an invisible hand was already stretched forth against his army, to bring all his proud purposes to nothing. 344 THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. BOOK ix. BOOK IX. incon- I. MEANWHILE the Chancellor and the Archbishop of the n< Ro Mentz, who, as will have been already seen, were worldly- mans. minded men, much fonder of righting than became their sacred dignity, had advanced with the anti-Pope, according to the Emperor's command, towards Rome ; where, although Alex- ander had been received with great honour, and signs of ex- treme delight, the Roman people, their enthusiasm, as usual, having soon melted into air, had not chosen to put themselves again entirely under the Pope's dominion. This levity and in- constancy of the Romans, which will presently appear in a still stronger light, was the effect of the various humours engen- dered in them by the contests of the Popes with the Em- perors for the sovereignty of the city. It is believed that both the heads of Christendom had rights in it, but these rights, having never been clearly and authentically defined, were continually being amplified or contracted according to the passions and circumstances of the time. Now as the Romans could not help taking part in these disputes between the Church and the Empire, they seldom had occasion, or' spirit, to stand alone and act independently ; for even when, stirred up by the remembrance of ancient greatness, they attempted to rise for freedom, they had the bad habit, ac- quired through long subjection, of always putting their trust in one of these two heads, and formally acknowledging its supreme dominion ; as if proud that the authority of those who held the highest rank in Christendom had its source and seat in the midst of them. For all this, we have no right to condemn those ancients, as destitute of sense and valour, for even in our days, notwithstanding the experience of so many ages, there are not wanting some who suffer themselves to be so dazzled by the former splendour of the Empire, and show themselves such ardent admirers of the specious glory of the BOOK ix. THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUTES. 345 Papal Government, that they are ready to conduct themselves, in this respect, with a patriotism not one whit more manly and enlightened than that of their ancestors. So powerful is the force of habit, that, with the light of truth daily increasing more and more, men continue from generation to generation, with supine indifference, to regard as just, beneficent, and glorious an order of things which, if it were possible to inter- rogate the tombs into which were cast, before their time, so many worthy of a very different fate, would be felt to be now, whatever it may have been in former ages, no longer anything else than a perpetual cause of weakness, corruption, and de- basement. 2. The Roman people, then, wishing to use in their own Defeat of way the liberty which they had acquired in those days by op- J^nfat posing the Emperor, resolved, regardless of the prohibition of Tuscuium. the Pope, to take the field against Rainone Count of Tuscuium and the men of Albano, because those their neighbours, in- clining towards the party of the Emperor, had refused to send the customary tribute to Rome ; accordingly, late in May, their militias went forth to devastate those parts, and com- pelled the Count to shut himself up in his castle. Rainone, seeing himself in an evil case, had recourse to the Emperor ; who commanded the Chancellor to take the German and Tuscan horsemen which were with him, and hasten to his assistance. But these troops were either originally insufficient for the enterprise, or were overtaken by some disaster, not recorded by contemporary historians, for the Chancellor, instead of liberating the Count, was himself also, with his men, compelled to take refuge in the castle of Tuscuium ; and although Christian, Archbishop of Mentz, went at once into Romagna to give notice of his danger, the Emperor, by reason o f the bandage which was at this time over his eyes, and which prevented him from seeing or heeding that which most deeply concerned him, showed no inclination to interfere on his behalf; wherefore Christian, indignant that such a man as the Chancellor should be forsaken in that distress, and exposed to the risk of being taken prisoner, and given up as a schis- matic into the hands of the Pope, hastily gathered together at his own expense rather more than a thousand German and Burgundian horsemen, and, followed by Count Robert of Bas- 346 THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. BOOK ix. savilla, Count Macario, and other barons of good heart and will, speedily arrived in the neighbourhood of Tusculum, not far from the foot of Monte Por/.io. The Romans, when they knew of his coming, called out more of their own militias, and taking also those of their neighbours, gathered together, cavalry and infantry, a mul- titude of 30,000 men ; whereupon they became so lifted up with pride, that they scorned the terms of peace pro- posed to them by Christian, saying that they intended, before night, to give him and all his followers for a prey to the dogs and the birds. The Archbishop, who was a brave man and experienced in war, soon saw that he had to do with a vain and presumptuous people, and that however great might be the host of those that confronted him, as they had never been accustomed to move in masses, and stand steady in the ranks of battle, their numbers would be confusing and embarrassing to themselves, rather than hurtful to others ; and accordingly, although his army, cavalry and infantry put together, did not amount to more than 1,300 men, he did not hesitate to attack them, saying with a cheerful countenance to the Barons, that the closer the fight, the less would be the peril, and the sooner should they deprive the enemy of the advantage of numbers. But, after some time, his men, although they fought bravely in the battle, became almost overpowered by the multitude of their adversaries, which surrounded them on every side, being more than twenty to one. Christian, who was fighting amongst the foremost in the thickest of the fray, when he saw many of them falling one after another, and all hemmed in and pressed upon by the enemy, and the issue of the day become doubtful, perceiving that nothing but a desperate effort could open for them a way of escape, seized a banner, and lifting it on high, raised the war-song of his nation, ' Christ who is born', and, followed by the Barons, dashed furiously against the Roman troops. At that moment the Chancellor, who with 300 horsemen was standing in the castle, watch- ing for an opportunity to take them on the flank, sud- denly rushed forth, and attacked them with such impetuosity, that the Roman horsemen were broken and scattered. The infantry, on seeing themselves abandoned by the horsemen, who were flying far away from them at full gallop, were filled BOOK IX. THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. 347 with dismay, and themselves also fled, some taking refuge in the woods, some in the neighbouring villages. But the Germans followed hard upon them, slew of them 2,000, and led 3,000, as prisoners, to Viterbo. The Archbishops, on the morrow, wishing to take full advantage of so great a victor}-, summoned to them the peoples of Albano, Tivoli, and the rest of the Campagna, and took their way towards Rome, putting all the surrounding country to fire and sword. 3. The Pope, at the news of this defeat, was moved to Effects of tears, for if in the time of his prosperity he had been little at ^r u ^_ honoured and obeyed in Rome, he foresaw that now, after lum - this great humiliation of his party, he would soon be unable even to remain there. Nevertheless, he was not wanting to himself, but immediately gave orders for the repair of the walls ; and, exhorting the people to defend themselves like men, armed the masnada of St. Peter, which was entirely composed of the vassals belonging to the patrimonial lands of the Church, and sent to demand aid from the King of Sicily. For the Emperor, on the contrary, this victory was a stroke of wonderful good fortune, which, like the shout of a royal triumph, roused him from that lethargy which was upon him, and cheered and reinvigorated his mind, which had been much depressed, though he dissembled it, by the state of affairs in Lombardy. Now, believing that if he could crown the Roman enterprise by the capture of the Pope, his work would be more than half-done, he soon entered into commu- nication with the people of Ancona ; and having agreed with them that they should send after him a large sum of money, and give, meanwhile, for security of the payment, fifteen hostages, he confirmed them in their franchises and liberty, and departed with all the cavalry for Viterbo, leaving the infantry to follow him as fast as they could. At the first report of the movement of the Archbishops, with the anti-Pope, towards Rome, the Queen of Sicily, as guardian of the young King William, had despatched some troops in that direction ; which stopped upon the way to be- siege a strong castle on the frontiers of Apulia, held by a German garrison ; and when afterwards the message of the Pope, after the defeat of Tusculum, made her aware of his danger, she instantly sent others to his assistance by the same 348 THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. BOOK ix'. road. But before these forces could be united under that castle, as was intended, the Emperor, who had now set out for Apulia, heard of its distress ; and although it was a little out of his way, and he had only his cavalry with him, he could not refrain from going to relieve it ; and fortune smiled upon his daring, for the Sicilians, supposing that he was coming against them in full force, raised the siege and retreated, yet not so quickly but that some of them were overtaken at the ford of a river, and there made prisoners or slain. Frederick, emboldened by this first success over an enemy he had so long desired to encounter, pushed on farther, and took another castle, which he restored to its owner, the Count of Bassavilla, an Apulian exile, who had greatly distinguished himself in the battle of Tusculum ; and afterwards, overrunning all those parts, he came as far as the river Tronto, fighting no battles, but pillaging, wasting, and burning. The anti-Pope Pascal, meanwhile, was at Viterbo, anxiously expecting the Emperor, to whom he had already several times sent messengers ; and he now sent others, who found him ravaging on the banks of the Tronto, urgently be- seeching him to come at once to Rome, to drive out Alexander, before he could fortify himself and receive aid from Sicily, and to establish him, according to his promise, in the Pontifical See. Frederick 4' ^ ne Emperor, thus importuned by the anti-Pope, de- attacks sisted from those trivial and inglorious enterprises, and re- paired to Viterbo ; where he found reinforcements from Germany, and his infantry, which, by rapid marches, had arrived from Ancona before him ; and moving at once towards Rome, he encamped with all these forces on the twenty-fourth of July at Monte Malo ; and the next day he attacked the Viridarian Gate, which leads to St. Angelo ; and, having defeated and routed the guards, made himself master of the curtain and portico of the Church of St. Peter. In those days, so often disturbed by civil and religious dis- cords, this church was kept fortified, like a castle ; at present, however, it had none to defend it but its masnada, for the rest of the Romans, already terrified by the defeat of Tus- culum, were soon disheartened when they saw themselves attacked by so powerful an army ; to which were added eight BOOK ix. THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. 349 Pisan galleys, that had come up the river to co-operate with the Imperial forces, and commanded both banks as far as the Tiberine bridge. The Emperor, having planted the engines against the church, spent seven days in trying to take it ; after which, full of vexation and wrath to find himself always repulsed, and, casting away all respect for that place of far- famed sanctity, he gave orders that fire should be applied to the adjoining Church of Santa Maria del Lavoriero ; in the burning of which the flames, which rose high above the roof, caught that of the Vatican ; and already had they consumed many of its images and ornaments, when the masnada, seeing that if they did not perish in the fire, they must inevitably fall into the hands of the enemy, since no one made any attempt to succour them, at last surrendered to the Emperor. Frederick, having thus come into possession of that church wherein the world had oftentimes seen consecrated the authority of the two heads of Christendom, was pleased, in order to conciliate the affection and reverence of the Roman people, to receive on the following Sunday, from the anti- Pope Pascal, the circlet of gold, which was the sign of pa- trician dignity, and, two days afterwards, with the Empress, the Imperial Crown. The affection of the Romans for Alex- ander had died away as quickly as it was kindled, and after these ceremonies, the pomp of which never fails to make an impression upon shallow and superstitious minds, they made an agreement with the Emperor, promising to receive Pascal as Pope ; and came to swear allegiance. Wherefore Alexander, no longer thinking himself secure in the Lateran Palace, took refuge in the Coliseum with the Frangipani ; who, with a few other patricians, strong in the devotion of numerous retainers, and dwelling in houses fortified like castles, with thick walls and with towers, continued faithful to him. Now here it is related, that the King of Sicily, on hearing of the Pope's distress, sent him, with a large sum of money, two armed galleys, inviting him to embark in them for safety ; and that the Pope, accepting the money, gave part of it to the Frangipani, and distributed the rest amongst his other ad- herents in Rome, that they might be encouraged to continue steadfast in their resistance to the Emperor, but sent back the galleys, with two cardinals to thank the King, not seeing as 350 THE WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNES. BOOK ix. yet any occasion to quit the field. From this account it is to be inferred that the eight Pisan galleys had now left the Tiber, or that they were unwilling to begin a quarrel with the King of Sicily, for otherwise these two Sicilian galleys would never have been able to go quietly up the river as far as the Basilica of St. Paul, which they are said to have done. Frederick's 5- Be that as it may, the Emperor, after some days, fore- C