Chapter I: Preface

This volume is a mere sketch in outline; it makes no pretence to original investigation, or even to an extended examination of the voluminous literature which deals with every part of its subject. It is an attempt to give a correct impression of Italian history as a whole, and employs details only here and there, and then merely for the sake of giving greater clearness to the general outline. So brief a narrative is mainly a work of selection; and perhaps no two persons would agree upon what to put in and what to leave out. I have laid emphasis upon the matters of greatest general interest, the Papacy, the Renaissance, and the Risorgimento; and my special object has been to put in high relief those achievements which make Italy so charming and so interesting to the world, and to give what space was possible to the great men to whom these achievements are due.

H. D. S. NEW YORK, October 1, 1905.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

I. THE FALL OF THE EMPIRE IN THE WEST
(476 A. D.) 1

II. THE OSTROGOTHS (489-553) 12

III. THE LOMBARD INVASION (568) 23

IV. THE CHURCH (568-700) 31

V. THE COMING OF THE FRANKS (726-768) 40

VI. CHARLEMAGNE (768-814) 49

VII. FROM CHARLEMAGNE TO NICHOLAS I (814-867) 57

VIII. THE DEGRADATION OF ITALY (867-962) 67

IX. THE REVIVAL OF THE PAPACY (962-1056) 79

X. THE STRUGGLE OVER INVESTITURES (1059-1123) 89

XI. TRADE AGAINST FEUDALISM (1152-1190) 102

XII. TRIUMPH OF THE PAPACY (1198-1216) 114

XIII. ST. FRANCIS (1182-1226) 125

XIV. THE FALL OF THE EMPIRE (1216-1250) 133

XV. THE FALL OF THE MEDIAEVAL PAPACY (1303) 145

XVI. LAST FLICKER OF THE EMPIRE (1309-1313) 152

XVII. A REVIEW OF THE STATES OF ITALY (about 1300) 161

XVIII. THE TRANSITION FROM THE MIDDLE AGES TO THE
RENAISSANCE 175

XIX. THE INTELLECTUAL DAWN AFTER THE MIDDLE
AGES (1260-1336) 182

XX. THE DESPOTISMS (1250-1350) 192

XXI. THE CLASSICAL REVIVAL (1350) 201

XXII. THE ILLS OF THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY 209

XXIII. A BIRD'S-EYE VIEW (1350-1450) 218

XXIV. THE EARLY RENAISSANCE (1400-1450) 231

XXV. THE RENAISSANCE (1450-1492) 242

XXVI. THE BARBARIAN INVASIONS (1494-1537) 253

XXVII. THE PAPAL MONARCHY (1471-1527) 267

XXVIII. THE HIGH RENAISSANCE (1499-1521) 281

XXIX. ITALY AND THE CATHOLIC REVIVAL (1527-1563) 293

XXX. THE CINQUECENTO (16th Century) 304

XXXI. A SURVEY OF ITALY (1580-1581) 319

XXXII. THE AGE OF STAGNATION, POLITICS (1580-1789) 335

XXXIII. THE AGE OF STAGNATION, THE ARTS (1580-1789) 348

XXXIV. THE NAPOLEONIC ERA (1789-1820) 361

XXXV. THE REAWAKENING (1820-1821) 369

XXXVI. PERTURBED INACTIVITY (1821-1847) 377

XXXVII. TUMULTUOUS YEARS (1848-1849) 386

XXXVIII. THE UNITY OF ITALY (1849-1871) 395

XXXIX. CONCLUSION (1872-1900) 409

APPENDIX

I. CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF POPES AND EMPERORS 421

II. GENEALOGY OF THE MEDICI 428

III. SKELETON TABLE OF THE KINGS OF THE TWO SICILIES 429

IV. LIST OF BOOKS FOR GENERAL READING 430

INDEX 433

A SHORT HISTORY OF ITALY

A SHORT HISTORY OF ITALY