Chapter IV: , VII (131)

"The struggle between the Popes and the Hohenstaufen left
Italy in a political condition which differed essentially from
that of the other countries of the West. While in France,
Spain, and England the feudal system was so organised that, at
the close of its existence, it was naturally transformed into
a unified monarchy, and while in Germany it helped to
maintain, at least outwardly, the unity of the empire, Italy
had shaken it off almost entirely. The Emperors of the
fourteenth century, even in the most favourable case, were no
longer received and respected as feudal lords, but as possible
leaders and supporters of powers already in existence; while
the Papacy, with its creatures and allies, was strong enough
to hinder national unity in the future, not strong enough
itself to bring about that unity. Between the two lay a
multitude of political units—republics and despots—in part
of long standing, in part of recent origin, whose existence
was founded simply on their power to maintain it. In them for
the first time we detect the modern political spirit of
Europe, surrendered freely to its own instincts, often
displaying the worst features of an unbridled egoism,
outraging every right, and killing every germ of a healthier
culture.
{1817}
But, wherever this vicious tendency is overcome or in any way
compensated, a new fact appears in history—the state as the
outcome of reflection and calculation, the state as a work of
art. This new life displays itself in a hundred forms, both in
the republican and in the despotic states, and determines
their inward constitution, no less than their foreign policy.
… The internal condition of the despotically governed states
had a memorable counterpart in the Norman Empire of Lower
Italy and Sicily, after its transformation by the Emperor
Frederick II. Bred amid treason and peril in the neighbourhood
of the Saracens, Frederick, the first ruler of the modern type
who sat upon a throne, had early accustomed himself, both in
criticism and action, to a thoroughly objective treatment of
affairs. His acquaintance with the internal condition and
administration of the Saracenic states was close and intimate;
and the mortal struggle in which he was engaged with the
Papacy compelled him, no less than his adversaries, to bring
into the field all the resources at his command. Frederick's
measures (especially after the year 1231) are aimed at the
complete destruction of the feudal state, at the
transformation of the people into a multitude destitute of
will and of the means of resistance, but profitable in the
utmost degree to the exchequer. He centralised, in a manner
hitherto unknown in the West, the whole judicial and political
administration by establishing the right of appeal from the
feudal courts, which he did not, however, abolish, to the
imperial judges. No office was henceforth to be filled by
popular election, under penalty of the devastation of the
offending district and of the enslavement of its inhabitants.
Excise duties were introduced; the taxes, based on a
comprehensive assessment, and distributed in accordance with
Mohammedan usages, were collected by those cruel and vexatious
methods without which, it is true, it is impossible to obtain
any money from Orientals. Here, in short, we find, not a
people, but simply a disciplined multitude of subjects. …
The internal police, and the kernel of the army for foreign
service, was composed of Saracens who had been brought over
from Sicily to Nocera and Luceria—men who were deaf to the
cry of misery and careless of the ban of the Church. At a
later period the subjects, by whom the use of weapons had long
been forgotten, were passive witnesses of the fall of Manfred
and of the seizure of the government by Charles of Anjou; the
latter continued to use the system which he found already at
work. At the side of the centralising Emperor appeared an
usurper of the most peculiar kind: his vicar and son-in-law,
Ezzelino da Romano. … The conquests and usurpations which
had hitherto taken place in the Middle Ages rested on real or
pretended inheritance and other such claims, or else were
effected against unbelievers and excommunicated persons. Here
for the first time the attempt was openly made to found a
throne by wholesale murder and endless barbarities, by the
adoption, in short, of any means with a view to nothing but
the end pursued. None of his successors, not even Cæsar
Borgia, rivalled the colossal guilt of Ezzelino; but the
example once set was not forgotten. … Immediately after the
fall of Frederick and Ezzelino, a crowd of tyrants appeared
upon the scene. The struggle between Guelph and Ghibelline was
their opportunity. They came forward in general as Ghibelline
leaders, but at times and under conditions so various, that it
is impossible not to recognise in the fact a law of supreme
and universal necessity."

_J. Burckhardt,
The Renaissance in Italy,
part 1, chapter 1, (volume 1)._

ITALY: A. D. 1215.
The beginning, at Florence, the causes and the meaning of the
strife of the Guelfs and Ghibellines.

"In the year 1215 it chanced that a quarrel occurred at a
festival between some young nobles of Florence. It was an
event of as frivolous, and apparently unimportant, a character
as thousands of other such broils; but this obscure quarrel
has been treated by the whole body of Florentine historians as
the origin and starting point of that series of civil wars
which shaped the entire future fortunes of the community, and
shook to its centre the whole fabric of society throughout
central Italy. The story of it has become memorable therefore
in Florentine annals, and has been rendered famous not only by
the writers of history, but by many generations of poets,
painters, novelists, and sculptors." Briefly sketched, the
story is this: A handsome youth of the Buondelmonti family,
mixing in a quarrel at the festival alluded to, struck one
Oddo Arringhi dei Fifanti with his poniard. Common friends of
the two brought about a reconciliation, by means of an
arrangement of marriage between Buondelmonte and a niece of
the injured man. But the lady was plain, and Buondelmonte,
falling madly in love with another, more charming, whom evil
chance and a scheming mother threw temptingly in his way, did
not scruple to break his engagement, and to do it with insult.
He wedded his new love, who was of the Donati family, on
Easter Day, and on that same day he was slain by the Amidei,
whose house he had so grossly affronted. "The assassins
retired to their fortress houses, and left the bridal party to
form itself as it might into a funeral procession. 'Great was
the uproar in the city. He was placed on a bier; and his wife
took her station on the bier also, and held his head in her
lap, violently weeping; and in that manner they carried him
through the whole of the city; and on that day began the ruin
of Florence.' The last phrase of the above citation marks the
significance which the Tuscan historians have attributed to
this incident, and the important place that has always been
assigned to it in Florentine history. We are told by all the
earliest historians, especially by Malispini, in whose
childhood these events must have happened, and whom Villani
copies almost word for word, that from this quarrel began the
great, fatal, and world-famous division of Florence into the
parties of Guelph and Ghibelline. Dante goes so far as to
consider the conduct of Buondelmonte in this affair so
entirely the cause of the evils that arose from the Guelph and
Ghibelline wars, that, had that cause not existed, no such
misfortunes would have arisen. … Yet the historians admit
that the party names of Guelph and Ghibelline were known in
Florence long before; but they say that not till then did the
city divide itself into two hostile camps under those rallying
cries. It is curiously clear, from the accounts of Malispini
and Villani, that, as usual in such matters, the Florentines
had but a very hazy notion as to the meaning and origin of the
two names [see GUELFS AND GHIBELLINES, and GERMANY: A. D.
1138-1268], for the sake of which they were prepared to cut
each other's throats.
{1818}
Any name or watchword is good enough for a party rallying cry,
when once passions have been connected with it; but the
Florentines understood that Ghibelline meant attachment to the
Empire in opposition to the Church, and Guelph attachment to
the Church in opposition to the Empire. … But the quarrel of
Guelph with Ghibelline in Florence was the expression of a
still wider spread and more perennial conflict. … The
Ghibellines were the old Imperial nobles, who, whether more
anciently or more recently incorporated into the body of
Florentine citizens, formed the aristocracy of the social
body, and were naturally Imperialist in their sympathies.
These Ghibellines were the high Tories of the Florentine
community. The body of the people were Guelphs, naming
themselves after the party professing attachment to the Church
only because the Papacy was in opposition to the Empire. The
Guelphs were the Whigs of Florence. The Radicals appeared on
the scene in due time and normal sequence." From Florence, as
its center, the strife of the two factions spread throughout
Italy. "Ghibellinism was nearly universal in the north of
Italy, divided among a number of more or less well known great
families, of whom the principal were the Visconti at Milan,
and the Della Scala at Verona. Naples and the States of the
Church were Guelph; the former, as need hardly be suggested,
from political circumstances, from opposition to the Empire,
and from connection, rather than from principle. Tuscany and
the whole of Central Italy were divided between the two,
although the real strength and stronghold of genuine Guelphism
was there. Without Florence, there would have been no Guelph
party. Had those stout sandalled and leather-jerkined
Florentine burghers of the 13th century not undertaken and
persevered in that crusade against the feudal nobles and the
Ghibelline principle, which … was the leading occupation and
idea of the Commonwealth during all that century, Ghibellinism
and Imperialism would have long since possessed and ruled
Italy from the Alps to the toe of the boot."

_T. A. Trollope,
History of the Commonwealth of Florence,
book 1, chapter 3,
and book 3, chapter 1 (volume 1)._

"One party called themselves the Emperor's liegemen, and their
watchword was authority and law; the other side were the
liegemen of Holy Church, and their cry was liberty; and the
distinction as a broad one is true. But a democracy would
become Ghibelline, without scruple, if its neighbour town was
Guelf; and among the Guelf liegemen of the Church and liberty,
the pride of blood and love of power were not a whit inferior
to that of their opponents. Yet … it is not impossible to
trace in the two factions differences of temper, of moral and
political inclinations, which, though visible only on a large
scale and in the mass, were quite sufficient to give meaning
and reality to their mutual opposition. … The Ghibellines as
a body reflected the worldliness, the license, the irreligion,
the reckless selfishness, the daring insolence, and at the
same time the gaiety and pomp, the princely magnificence and
generosity and largeness of mind of the House of Swabia [the
Hohenstaufen]; they were the men of the court and camp. …
The Guelfs, on the other hand, were the party of the middle
classes; they rose out of and held to the people; they were
strong by their compactness, their organisation in cities,
their commercial relations and interests, their command of
money. Further, they were professedly the party of strictness
and religion. … The genuine Guelf spirit was austere,
frugal, independent, earnest, religious; fond of its home and
Church, and of those celebrations which bound together Church
and home; … in its higher form intolerant of evil, but
intolerant always of whatever displeased it. Yet there was a
grave and noble manliness about it which long kept it alive in
Florence."

_R. W. Church,
Dante and other Essays,
pages 15-18._

See, also,
FLORENCE: A. D. 1215-1250.

ITALY: A. D. 1236-1259.
The tyranny of Eccelino di Romano in the Veronese or Trevisan
Marches, and the crusade against him.

See VERONA: A. D. 1236-1259.

ITALY: A. D. 1248-1278.
The wars of a generation of the Guelfs and Ghibellines in
Tuscany.

See FLORENCE: A. D. 1248-1278.

ITALY: (Southern): A. D. 1250-1268.
Invasion and conquest of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies by
Charles of Anjou, on the invitation of the Pope.

"The death of the Emperor Frederic II., in 1250, had been
followed in less than four years by that of his son and
successor Conrad IV., from whose son Conradin, at that time an
infant, the Crown of the Two Sicilies was usurped by his uncle
Manfred, a natural child of the deceased Frederic. The hatred
of the See of Rome, notwithstanding the frequent changes which
had occurred in the Papal Chair, still pursued the Line of
Hohenstauffen, even in this illegitimate branch, and it was
transmitted as an hereditary possession from Innocent IV.
through Alexander IV. and Urban IV., to Clement IV.
Interference in Germany itself was forbidden by the
independence of the Electoral Princes: and when it was found
impossible to obtain the nomination of an Emperor decidedly in
the Guelph interest, Alexander contented himself by
endeavouring to separate the Throne of the Two Sicilies from
that of Germany, and to establish upon the former a Feudatory,
and therefore a Champion, of the Church. Various alliances for
this purpose were projected by Alexander, and by his
successors who adopted a similar policy; and the Crown, which
was in truth to be conquered from Manfred, was offered as an
investiture which Rome had a full right to bestow." After long
negotiations with Henry III. of England, who coveted the
Sicilian prize for his second son, Edmund, and who paid large
sums to the papal treasury by way of earnest money, but who
showed little ability to oust the possessor, Pope Urban, at
length, closed a bargain with that ambitious speculator in
royal claims and titles, Charles of Anjou, brother of St.
Louis, king of France. The honesty of Louis was somewhat
troubled by the unscrupulous transaction; but his conscience
submitted itself to the instructions of the Holy Father, and
he permitted his brother to embark in the evil enterprise.
"Charles, accordingly, having first accepted the Senator-ship
of Rome, with which high magistracy he was invested by her
citizens, negotiated with the Holy See, most ably and much to
his advantage, for the loftier dignity of Kingship. In little
more than a month after he had received his Crown from the
hands of Clement IV., who had become Pope, he totally defeated
and killed his opponent Manfred, in the battle of Grandella
[near Benevento, February, 1266].
{1819}
Conradin, who had now arrived at years of discretion, was
still his rival; but the capture of the young Prince at
Tagliacozzo [1268], and his speedy committal to the
executioner, confirmed Charles of Anjou in his Kingdom, at the
everlasting ex-pense of his good name. Few incidents in
History are more calculated to awaken just indignation than
the untimely end of the brave, wronged, and gallant Conradin.
Charles of Anjou thus founded the first dynasty of his House
which reigned over the Sicilies. The pretensions which Aragon
afterwards advanced to the Crown of that Kingdom rested on a
marriage between Pedro, the eldest son of King James, and
Constance, a daughter of Manfred."

_E. Smedley,
History of France,
part 1, chapter 6._

ALSO IN:
_J. Michelet,
History of France,
book 4, chapter 8._

_H. H. Milman,
History of Latin Christianity,
book 11, chapter 3 (volume 5)._

_Mrs. W. Busk,
Mediæval Popes, Emperors, Kings, and Crusaders,
book 5 (volume 4)._

ITALY: A. D. 1250-1293.
Development of the popular Constitution of the Florentine
Commonwealth.

See FLORENCE: A. D. 1250-1293.

ITALY: A. D. 1250-1520.
The Age of the Despots.
The rise of Principalities.

"From the death of Frederick the Second [A. D. 1250] … all
practical power of an imperial kingdom in Italy may be said to
have passed away. Presently begins the gradual change of the
commonwealths into tyrannies, and the grouping together of
many of them into larger states. We also see the beginning of
more definite claims of temporal dominion on behalf of the
Popes. In the course of the 300 years between Frederick the
Second and Charles the Fifth, these processes gradually
changed the face of the Italian kingdom. It became in the end
a collection of principalities, broken only by the survival of
a few oligarchic commonwealths and by the anomalous dominion
of Venice on the mainland. Between Frederick the Second and
Charles the Fifth, we may look on the Empire as practically in
abeyance in Italy. The coming of an Emperor always caused a
great stir for the time, but it was only for the time. After
the grant of Rudolf of Habsburg to the Popes, a distinction
was drawn between Imperial and papal territory in Italy. While
certain princes and commonwealths still acknowledged at least
the nominal superiority of the Emperor, others were now held
to stand in the same relation of vassalage to the Pope."

_E. A. Freeman,
Historical Geography of Europe,
chapter 8, section 3._

"During the 14th and 15th centuries we find, roughly speaking,
six sorts of despots in Italian cities. Of these the First
class, which is a very small one, had a dynastic or hereditary
right accruing from long seignorial possession, of their
several districts. The most eminent are the houses of
Montferrat and Savoy, the Marquises of Ferrara, the Princes of
Urbino. … The Second class comprise those nobles who
obtained the title of Vicars of the Empire, and built an
illegal power upon the basis of imperial right in Lombardy. Of
these, the Della Scala and Visconti families are illustrious
instances. … The Third class is important. Nobles charged
with military or judicial power, as Capitani or Podestas, by
the free burghs, used their authority to enslave the cities
they were chosen to administer. It was thus that almost all
the numerous tyrants of Lombardy, Carraresi at Padua, Gonzaghi
at Mantua, Rossi and Correggi at Parma, Torrensi and Visconti
at Milan, Scotti at Piacenza, and so forth, erected their
despotic dynasties. … In the Fourth class we find the
principle of force still more openly at work. To it may be
assigned those Condottieri who made a prey of cities at their
pleasure. The illustrious Uguccione della Faggiuola, who
neglected to follow up his victory over the Guelfs at Monte
Catini, in order that he might cement his power in Lucca and
Pisa, is an early instance of this kind of tyrant. His
successor, Castruccio Castracane, the hero of Machiavelli's
romance, is another. But it was not until the first half of
the 15th century that professional Condottieri became powerful
enough to found such kingdoms as that, for example, of
Francesco Sforza at Milan. The Fifth class includes the
nephews or sons of Popes. The Riario principality of Forli,
the Della Rovere of Urbino, the Borgia of Romagna, the Farnese
of Parma, form a distinct species of despotisms; but all these
are of a comparatively late origin. Until the papacy of Sixtus
IV. and Innocent VIII. the Popes had not bethought them of
providing in this way for their relatives. … There remains
the Sixth and last class of despots to be mentioned. This
again is large and of the first importance. Citizens of
eminence, like the Medici at Florence, the Bentivogli at
Bologna, the Baglioni of Perugia, the Gambacorti of Pisa, like
Pandolfo Petrucci in Siena (1502), Romeo Pepoli, the usurer of
Bologna (1323), the plebeian Alticlinio and Agolanti of Padua
(1313), acquired more than their due weight in the conduct of
affairs, and gradually tended to tyranny. In most of these
cases great wealth was the original source of despotic
ascendancy. It was not uncommon to buy cities together with
their Signory. … But personal qualities and nobility of
blood might also produce despots of the Sixth class."

_J. A. Symonds,
Renaissance in Italy: The Age of the Despots,
chapter 2._

ITALY: A. D. 1261-1264.
The supplanting of the Venetians by the Genoese at
Constantinople and in the Black Sea.
War between the Republics.

See GENOA: A. D. 1261-1299.

ITALY: A. D. 1273-1291.
Indifference of Rodolph of Hapsburg to his Italian dominions.
His neglect to claim the imperial crown.

See GERMANY: A. D. 1273-1308.

ITALY: A. D. 1277-1447.
Tyranny of the Visconti at Milan.
Their domination in Lombardy and their fall.

See MILAN: A. D. 1277-1447.

ITALY: A. D. 1282-1293.
War between Genoa and Pisa.
Battle of Meloria.
War of Florence and Lucca against Pisa.

See PISA: A. D. 1063-1293.

ITALY: (Southern): A. D. 1282-1300.
The Sicilian Vespers.
Severance of the Two Sicilies.
End of the House of Anjou in the insular kingdom.

"Peter, King of Aragon, had married Constance, the daughter of
Manfred, and laid claim to the kingdom of Sicily in her right.
He sent for help to Michael Palaiologos, the restorer of the
Eastern Empire. The Emperor agreed to his proposals, for his
Empire was threatened by Charles of Anjou. These negotiations
were, it is said, carried on through Giovanni di Procida, a
Sicilian exile, who, as the story goes, had suffered cruel
wrongs from the French. Charles knew something of the plans of
the allies, and both parties were preparing for war, but
affairs were brought to a crisis by a chance occurrence.
{1820}
On March 30, 1282, a brutal insult was offered by a French
soldier to a bride in the presence of her friends and
neighbours outside the walls of Palermo, and the smothered
hatred of the people broke out into open violence. The cry
'Death to the French' was raised, and all who belonged to that
nation in Palermo were slain without mercy. This massacre,
which is called 'The Sicilian Vespers,' spread through the
whole island; the yoke of the oppressor was broken and the
land was delivered. Charles laid siege to Messina, but he was
forced to retire by Peter of Aragon, who landed and was
received as King. Pope Martin in vain excommunicated the
rebels and their allies, and, in 1284, Charles received a
great blow, for his son was defeated and taken prisoner by
Roger of Loria, the Admiral of the Catalan fleet. Charles of
Anjou died in 1286, and two years later his son, also called
Charles, ransomed himself from prison."

_W. Hunt,
History of Italy,
chapter 4._

Charles of Anjou "died of grief, leaving his son, the prince
of Salerno, a prisoner, and Martin followed him, before he
could proclaim a general crusade against the invader of the
apostolic fief. Pedro, having enjoyed his two crowns to the
day of his death, left them to his sons, Alphonso and James
respectively, and both were excommunicated by Honorius IV. for
their accession. The prince of Salerno, obtaining his release
by the mediation of Edward of England, was absolved by
Nicholas IV. from the conditions to which he had sworn, and
crowned at Rome king of Apulia (i. e., Naples) and Sicily, A.
D. 1289. His hopes of regaining the island were constantly
disappointed. James, having succeeded to the crown of Arragon
by the death of Alphonso, was persuaded to resign Sicily to
Charles on condition of receiving his daughter in marriage,
with an ample dowry. Boniface VIII. also graciously gave him
leave to conquer the islands of Corsica and Sardinia, from the
republics of Pisa and Genoa. The Sicilians, however, declining
to be so bartered, bestowed their crown on James's brother
Frederic [1295]; and though James contributed his fleet to
reduce him, he retained the island throne [1300], while
Charles and the pope were obliged to rest content with the
continental kingdom. Their only satisfaction was to persist in
calling Naples by the name of Sicily, and to stigmatise their
rival as king of 'Trinacria.'"

_G. Trevor,
Rome: from the Fall of the Western Empire,
page 240._

ALSO IN:
_S. A. Dunham,
History of Spain and Portugal,
book 3, section 2, chapter 4._

ITALY: A. D. 1294-1299.
War between Venice and Genoa.

See GENOA: A. D. 1261-1299.

ITALY: A. D. 1297-1319.
The perfected aristocratic Constitution of Venice.

See VENICE: A. D. 1032-1319.

ITALY: A. D. 1300-1313.
New factions of Florence and Tuscany.
Bianchi and Neri.

See FLORENCE: A. D. 1295-1300, and 1301-1313.

ITALY: 14th Century.
The Renaissance in its beginning.

"It was not the revival of antiquity alone, but its union with
the genius of the Italian people, which achieved the conquest
of the Western world. … The civilisation of Greece and Rome,
which, ever since the fourteenth century, obtained so powerful
a hold on Italian life, as the source and basis of culture, as
the object and ideal of existence, partly also as an avowed
reaction against preceding tendencies—this civilisation had
long been exerting a partial influence on mediæval Europe,
even beyond the boundaries of Italy. The culture of which
Charles the Great was a representative was, in face of the
barbarism of the seventh and eighth centuries, essentially a
Renaissance, and could appear under no other form. … But the
resuscitation of antiquity took a different form in Italy from
that which it assumed in the North. The wave of barbarism had
scarcely gone by before the people, in whom the former life
was but half effaced, showed a consciousness of its past and a
wish to reproduce it. Elsewhere in Europe men deliberately and
with reflection borrowed this or the other element of
classical civilisation; in Italy the sympathies both of the
learned and of the people were naturally engaged on the side
of antiquity as a whole, which stood to them as a symbol of
past greatness. The Latin language, too, was easy to an
Italian, and the numerous monuments and documents in which the
country abounded facilitated a return to the past. With this
tendency other elements—the popular character which time had
now greatly modified, the political institutions imported by
the Lombards from Germany, chivalry and other northern forms
of civilisation, and the influence of religion and the
Church—combined to produce the modern Italian spirit, which
was destined to serve as a model and ideal for the whole
western world. How antiquity began to work in plastic art, as
soon as the flood of barbarism had subsided, is clearly shown
in the Tuscan buildings of the twelfth and in the sculptures
of the thirteenth centuries. … But the great and general
enthusiasm of the Italians for classical antiquity did not
display itself before the fourteenth century. For this a
development of civic life was required, which took place only
in Italy, and there not till then. It was needful that noble
and burgher should first learn to dwell together on equal
terms, and that a social world should arise which felt the
want of culture, and had the leisure and the means to obtain
it. But culture, as soon as it freed itself from the fantastic
bonds of the Middle Ages, could not at once and without help
find its way to the understanding of the physical and
intellectual world. It needed a guide, and found one in the
ancient civilisation, with its wealth of truth and knowledge
in every spiritual interest. Both the form and the substance
of this civilisation were adopted with admiring gratitude; it
became the chief part of the culture of the age."

_J. Burckhardt,
The Renaissance in Italy,
part 3, chapter 1 (volume 1)._

ALSO IN:
_J. A. Symonds,
Renaissance in Italy: Age of the Despots,
chapter 1._

See RENAISSANCE.

ITALY: A. D. 1305-1309.
Removal of the Papal Court to Lyons and then to Avignon.
The "Babylonish Captivity."

See PAPACY: A. D. 1294-1348.

ITALY: A. D. 1310-1313.
Visitation of the Emperor Henry VII.
Hostility of Florence and siege of the city.
Repulse from Rome.
The Emperor's death.

"No Emperor had come into Italy since the death of Frederic
II. [1250]. Neither Rudolf nor his two successors [see
GERMANY: A. D. 1273-1308] had been crowned Emperor, but on the
death of Albert of Austria, the King of the Romans, in 1308,
the electors chose Henry, Count of Luxemburg [Henry VII.]. In
1310 he entered Italy with a small German army. Unlike most of
these Imperial expeditions, this was approved of by the Pope.
{1821}
The French King Philip IV. was really master of Pope Clement
V., who did not live in Italy, but sometimes within the French
kingdom, or in the English territory of Bordeaux, or in
Avignon, a city of the Empire. But Clement did not like
bearing the French yoke, and was fearful lest some one of
greater talents than Charles of Valois should make an attempt
on Italy, and make it impossible for the Pope to get free from
the power of the French. He therefore favoured the expedition
of King Henry, and hoped that it would revive the Ghibelin
party and counteract the influence of the Guelfs, who were on
the side of France. Dante tells us the feelings which were
roused by the coming of the King. He seemed to come as God's
vicegerent, to change the fortunes of men and bring the exiled
home; by the majesty of his presence to bring the peace for
which the banished poet longed, and to administer to all men
justice; judgment and equity. Henry was worthy of these high
hopes; for he was wise, just, and gracious, courageous in
fight and honourable in council: but the task was too hard for
him. At first all seemed to go well with him. The Ghibelins
were ready to receive him as their natural lord; the Guelfs
were inclined towards him by the Pope. In Milan the chief
power was in the hands of Guido della Torre, the descendant of
Pagano della Torre, who had done good service to the city
after the battle of Corte Nuova. He was a strong Guelf, and
was at the head of a large number of troops; for he was very
rich. His great enemy was the Ghibelin Matteo Visconti, who
continually struggled with Guido for the mastery. The king was
willingly received by the Milanese, and Guido was not
behindhand in bidding him welcome. While he was at Milan, on
Christmas Day, 1310, he was crowned with the iron crown of the
Italian kingdom, which was made of steel in the shape of
laurel leaves, and studded with gems. He made both parties
enter into an outward reconciliation, and the chiefs of both
vied with one another in making him large presents. The King's
need of money soon tired out the Milanese, and an insurrection
was made in which both Matteo and Guido joined; but Matteo
betrayed his rival, and Guido and all the Guelfs were driven
out of Milan, which henceforth remained in the power of the
Ghibelin Visconti [see MILAN: A. D. 1277-1447]. The King's
demands for money made him unpopular, and each city, as he
left it, rose against him. Pisa, and the other Tuscan enemies
of Florence, received him with joy. But the great Guelfic city
shut her gates against him, and made alliance with Robert, the
Angevin King of Naples, the grandson of Charles of Anjou, and
afterwards gave him [Robert] the signoria. Rome received a
garrison from Naples, and the Imperial coronation had to be
performed in the Church of St. John Lateran,"—Henry being
repulsed in an attempt to force his entrance to the quarter of
the Vatican.

_W. Hunt,
History of Italy,
chapter 4._

"The city [of Rome] was divided in feeling, and the emperor's
position so precarious that he retired to Tivoli at the end of
August, and moved towards Tuscany, ravaging the Perugian
territory on his way, being determined to bring Florence and
all her allies to submission." By rapid movements he reached
Florence and invested the city before his intentions were
understood. "A sudden assault would probably have carried the
city, for the inhabitants were taken by surprise, were in a
state of consternation, and could scarcely believe that the
emperor was there in person: their natural energy soon
returned, the Gonfaloniers assembled their companies, the
whole population armed themselves, even to the bishop and
clergy; a camp was formed within the walls, the outer ditch
palisaded, the gates closed, and thus for two days they
remained hourly expecting an assault. At last their cavalry
[which had been cut off by the emperor's movement] were seen
returning by various ways and in small detachments; succours
also poured in from Lucca, Prato, Pistoia, Volterra, Colle,
and San Gimignano; and even Bologna, Rimini, Ravenna, Faenza,
Cesina, Agobbio, Città di Castello with several other places
rendered their assistance: indeed so great and extensive was
Florentine influence and so rapid the communication, that
within eight days after the investment 4,000 men at arms and
innumerable infantry were assembled at Florence! As this was
about double the imperial cavalry and four times its infantry,
the city gates were thrown open and business proceeded as
usual, except through that entrance immediately opposite to
the enemy. For two and forty days did the emperor remain
within a mile of Florence, ravaging all the country, but
making no impression on the town; after which he raised the
siege and moved to San Casciano, eight miles south." Later,
the Imperialist army was withdrawn to Poggibonzi, and in
March, 1313, it was moved to Pisa, to prepare for a new
campaign. "The Florentines had thus from the first, without
much military skill or enterprise, proved themselves the
boldest and bitterest enemies of Henry; their opposition had
never ceased; by letters, promises, and money, they corrupted
all Lombardy. … Yet party quarrels did not cease. … The
emperor now turned all his energies to the conquest of Naples,
as the first step towards that of Italy itself. For this he
formed a league with Sicily and Genoa; assembled troops from
Germany and Lombardy; filled his treasury in various ways, and
soon found himself at the head of 2,500 German cavalry and
1,500 Italian men-at-arms, besides a Genoese fleet of 70
galleys under Lamba Doria and 50 more supplied by the King of
Sicily, who with 1,000 men-at-arms had already invaded
Calabria by capturing Reggio and other places." On the 5th of
August, the emperor left Pisa upon his expedition against
Naples; on the 24th of the same month he died at Buonconvento
—not without suspicions of poison, although his illness began
before his departure from Pisa. "The intelligence of this
event spread joy and consternation amongst his friends and
enemies; the army soon separated, and his own immediate
followers with the Pisan auxiliaries carried his body back to
Pisa where it was magnificently interred."

_H. E. Napier,
Florentine History,
book 1, chapter 15 (volume 1)._

ALSO IN:
_T. A. Trollope,
History of the Commonwealth of Florence,
book 2, chapter 7 (volume 1)._

ITALY: A. D. 1312-1338.
The rising power and the reverses of the Scaligeri of Verona.
Mastino's war with Florence and Venice.

See VERONA: A. D. 1260-1338:

{1822}

ITALY: A. D. 1313-1330.
Guelf leadership of King Robert of Naples.
Wars of Pisa and Florence.
The rise and threatening power of Castruccio Castracani.
Siege of Genoa.
Visit of the Emperor Louis of Bavaria.
Subjection and deliverance of Pisa.

"While the unexpected death of Henry VII. deprived the
Ghibelin party of its leader, and long wars between rival
candidates for the succession to the German throne placed the
imperial authority over Italy in abeyance [see GERMANY: A. D.
1314-1347], Robert, king of Naples, the chief of the Guelf
party, the possessor of Provence, and the favourite of the
church, began to aspire to the general sovereignty of Italy.
He had succeeded to the crowns of Naples and Provence on the
death of his father, Charles II., in opposition to the
recognized laws of inheritance (A. D. 1309). His elder
brother, Charles Martel, by his marriage with the heiress of
Hungary, had been called to the throne of that kingdom, and
had died before his father. His son, Carobert, the reigning
king of Hungary, on the death of his grandfather, Charles II.,
asserted his just rights to all the dominions of that monarch;
but Robert, hastening to Avignon, whither Clement V. had now
removed his court, obtained from the pope, as feudal superior
of the royal fief of Naples, a sentence which set aside the
claims of his nephew in his own favour. The king of Hungary
did not seriously attempt to oppose this decision, and Robert,
a prince of wisdom and address, though devoid of military
talents, soon extended his ambitious views beyond the kingdom
over which he reigned undisturbed." The death of Henry VII.
"left him every opportunity both to attempt the subjugation of
the Ghibelin states, and to convert his alliance with the
Guelfs into the relation of sovereign and subject. … It was
in Tuscany that the storm first broke over the Ghibelins after
the loss of their imperial chief, and that the first ray of
success unexpectedly beamed on their cause. Florence and the
other Guelf cities of the province were no sooner delivered
from the fear of Henry VII. than they prepared to wreak their
vengeance against Pisa for the succours which she had
furnished to the emperor. But that republic, in consternation
at her danger, had taken into pay 1,000 German cavalry, the
only part of the imperial army which could be prevailed upon
to remain in Italy, and had chosen for her general Uguccione
della Faggiuola, a celebrated Ghibelin captain. The ability of
this commander, and the confidence with which he inspired the
Pisans, turned the tide of fortune. … The vigour of his arms
reduced the Guelf people of Lucca to sue for peace; they were
compelled to restore their Ghibelin exiles; and then
Uguccione, fomenting the dissensions which were thus created
within the walls, easily subjected one of the most wealthy and
flourishing cities of Tuscany to his sword (A. D. 1314). The
loss of so valuable an ally as Lucca alarmed the Florentines,
and the whole Guelf party. … King Robert sent two of his
brothers into Tuscany with a body of gens-d'armerie; the
Florentines and all the Tuscan Guelfs uniting their forces to
this succour formed a large army; and the confederates
advanced to relieve the castle of Montecatini which Uguccione
was besieging." The Ghibelin commander had a much smaller
force to resist them with; but he gained, notwithstanding, "a
memorable victory, near Montecatini, in which both a brother
and a nephew of the king of Naples were numbered with the
slain (A. D. 1315). This triumph rendered Uguccione more
formidable than ever; but his tyranny became insupportable
both to the Pisans and Lucchese, and a conspiracy was formed
in concert in both cities. … Excluded from both places and
deserted by his troops, he retired to the court of the Scala
at Verona (A. D. 1316). So Pisa recovered her liberty, but
Lucca was less fortunate or wise, for her citizens only
transferred the power which Uguccione had usurped to the chief
of the Ghibelins. Castruccio Castracani degl' Interminelli,
one of the most celebrated names in Italian history. This
extraordinary man … had early in life shared the common fate
of exile with the White Guelfs or Ghibelins of Lucca. Passing
ten years of banishment in England, France, and the Ghibelin
cities of Lombardy, he had served a long apprenticeship to
arms under the best generals of the age. … He had no sooner
returned to Lucca with the Ghibelin exiles, who were restored
by the terms of the peace with Pisa, than he became the first
citizen of the state. His skill and courage mainly contributed
to the subsequent victory of Montecatini, and endeared him to
the Lucchese; his influence and intrigues excited the
jealousy of Uguccione, and caused his imprisonment; and the
insurrection which delivered Lucca from that chief, liberated
Castruccio from chains and impending death to sovereign
command. Chosen annual captain of the people at three
successive, elections, he at length demanded and obtained the
suffrages of the senate and citizens for his elevation to the
dignity of signor (A. D. 1320): … Under his government Lucca
enjoyed repose for some years. … During these transactions
in Tuscany, the Lombard plains were still desolated by
incessant and unsparing warfare. The efforts of the Neapolitan
king were mainly directed to crush Matteo Visconti [see MILAN:
A. D. 1277-1447] and the Ghibelins in this part of Italy;" but
the power of the latter was continually spreading. "In this
prosperous state of the Ghibelin interests the domestic feuds
of Genoa attracted the tide of war to her gates. The ambitious
rivalry of her four great families, of the Grimaldi, the
Fieschi, the Spinola, and the Doria, had long agitated the
bosom of the republic; and at the period before us the two
former, who headed the Guelf party, had, after various
convulsions, gained possession of the government. The Spinola
and Doria, retiring from the city, fortified themselves in the
smaller towns of the Genoese territory, and immediately
invited the Ghibelin chiefs of Lombardy to their aid. The
lords of Milan and Verona promptly complied with the demand,
… and laid siege to the capital. The rulers of Genoa could
then resort in their terror to no other protection than that
of the Neapolitan king. Robert, conscious of the importance of
preserving the republic from subjection to his enemies,
hastened by sea to its defence, and obtained the absolute
cession of the Genoese liberties into his hands for ten years
as the price of his services. … After the possession of the
suburbs and outworks of Genoa had been obstinately contested
during ten months, the Ghibelins were compelled to raise the
siege. But Robert had scarcely quitted the city to pass into
Provence, when the exiles with aid from Lombardy again
approached Genoa, and during four years continued a war of
posts in its vicinity.
{1823}
But neither the Lombard signors nor Robert engaged in this
fruitless contest, and Lombardy again became the great theatre
of warfare." But the power which Matteo Visconti was steadily
building at Milan, for his family, could not be shaken, even
though an invasion from France (1320), and a second from
Germany (1322), was brought about through papal influence. At
the same time Castruccio Castracani, having consolidated his
despotism at Lucca, was making war upon the Florentines. When,
in 1325, he succeeded in gaining possession of the Guelf city
of Pistoia, "this acquisition, which was highly dangerous to
Florence, produced such alarm in that republic that she called
out her whole native force for the more vigorous prosecution
of the war." Castruccio was heavily outnumbered in the
campaign, but he gained, nevertheless, a great victory over
the Florentines near the castle of Altopascio (November 23,
1325). "The whole Florentine territory was ravaged and
plundered, and the conqueror carried his insults to the gates
of the capital. … In the ruin which threatened the Guelf
party in Tuscany, the Florentines had recourse to King Robert
of Naples, with entreaties for aid," which he brought to them
in 1326, but only on the condition "that his absolute command
over the republic, which had expired in 1321, should be
renewed for ten years in favour of his son Charles, duke of
Calabria." But now a new danger to the Guelf interests
appeared, in the approach of the emperor, Louis IV. of
Bavaria. "After a long contest for the crown of Henry VII.,
Louis of Bavaria had triumphed over his rival, Frederic of
Austria, and taken him prisoner at the sanguinary battle of
Muhldorf, in 1322. Having since passed five years in
confirming his authority in Germany, Louis was now tempted by
ambition and cupidity to undertake an expedition into Italy
(A. D. 1327)." Halting for some time at Milan, where he
received the iron crown of Lombardy, and where he deposed and
imprisoned Galeazzo Visconti, he proceeded into Tuscany "on
his march to Rome, where he intended to receive the imperial
crown. He was welcomed with joy by the signor of Lucca, and
the superior genius of Castruccio at once acquired the entire
ascendant over the weaker mind of Louis. Against the united
forces of the emperor and of Castruccio, the duke of Calabria
and his Guelf army cautiously maintained themselves on the
defensive; but the passage of Louis through Tuscany was
attended with disastrous consequences to the most famous
Ghibelin city of that province." Pisa, notwithstanding the
long fidelity of that republic to the Ghibelin cause, was
sacrificed by the emperor to the covetous ambition of
Castruccio. The forces of the two were joined in a siege to
which the unfortunate city submitted after a month. "She thus
fell in reality into the hands of Castruccio, who shortly
established his absolute authority over her capital and
territory. After extorting a heavy contribution from the
Pisans, and rewarding the services of Castruccio by erecting
the state of Lucca into an imperial duchy in his favour, the
rapacious emperor pursued his march to Rome. There he consumed
in the frivolous ceremony of his coronation [January 17,
1328], and in the vain endeavour to establish an antipope, the
time which he might have employed, with the forces at his
command, and in conjunction with Frederic, king of Sicily, in
crushing for ever the power of Robert of Naples and of all the
Guelfs of Italy who depended on that monarch." In August of
the same year Castruccio, who "had now attained an elevation
which seemed to threaten … the total subjugation of all
Italy," died suddenly of a fever. "Florence breathed again
from impending oppression, Pisa recovered her freedom, and
Lucca sank from ephemeral splendour into lasting obscurity. By
the death of Castruccio the emperor had lost his best
counsellor and firmest support, and he soon ceased to be
formidable to the Guelfs. … Hastily returning into Tuscany,
he plundered the infant orphans of Castruccio of their
inheritance to sell Lucca to a new signor, and to impose
ruinous contributions upon the Pisans, before his return into
Lombardy delivered them from tyranny. … The first proceeding
of Louis in Lombardy had been to ruin the Visconti, and to
drain their states of money: almost his last act in the
province was to make the restoration of this family to power a
new source of profit." In 1330 the emperor returned to
Germany, recalled by troubles in that part of his dominions.

_G. Procter,
History of Italy,
chapter 4, part 2._

ALSO IN:
_N. Machiavelli,
The Florentine Histories,
book 2._

_H. E. Napier,
Florentine History,
book 1, chapters 15-18 (volume 1)._

ITALY: A. D. 1314-1327.
The election and contest of rival emperors, Louis of Bavaria
and Frederick of Austria.

See GERMANY: A. D. 1314-1347.

ITALY: A. D. 1341-1343.
Defeat of the Florentines by the Pisans, before Lucca.
Brief tyranny of the Duke of Athens at Florence.

See FLORENCE: A. D. 1341-1343.

ITALY: (Southern): A. D. 1343-1389.
Troubled reign of Joanna I. in Naples.
Murder of her husband, Andrew of Hungary.
Political effects of the great Schism in the Church.
The war of Charles of Durazzo and Louis of Anjou.
Violent course of Pope Urban VI.