Chapter XV: From the Founding of the German Empire to the Close of the European (7)

=Struggle with the Papacy.=--His attempted reformation of the Papacy and appointment of four German popes in succession commenced the long and fierce struggle between the Emperors and the Popes. During the minority of his son, Henry IV., the great nobles recovered much of their power. His opposition to the famous decree of Pope Gregory VII. in 1075 against the marriage of the clergy and their investiture by laymen was followed by his summons to Rome, his deposition of the Pope through a synod of German bishops, his excommunication and complete humiliation at Canossa in 1077. The dispute was only settled under his son, Henry V., by a compromise, the “Concordat of Worms,” in 1122, but the power of the Papacy had been enormously strengthened. It had attempted to dispose of the Imperial Crown, and Innocent II. even claimed to have granted it to Lothar of Saxony (1125-1137) in 1133 as to a vassal.

=Famous Hohenstaufen Line.=--With Conrad III. of Franconia (1137-1152) commences the line of the famous Hohenstaufen Emperors. The two great parties supporting the Pope and the Emperor now first became known as Guelfs and Ghibelines (Welfs and Waiblings). His successor, the great Frederick Barbarossa (1152-1190), was occupied in Italy during long years with the now permanent struggle against the Popes and the Italian cities supporting them. In Germany Teutonic power was extended over the Slavonic countries along the Baltic by Henry the Lion of Saxony and Albert the Bear, to whom was granted the Mark of Brandenburg. Under Frederick II. (1212-1250) the struggle with the Papacy was continued. Sentence of excommunication was launched against him, and a rival king was elected, and his continued absence in Italy led to the utmost anarchy in Germany. Meanwhile the conquest of the Slavonic lands now forming a great part of Prussia progressed steadily under the Knights of the Teutonic Order and of the Order of the Sword.

The period of the Hohenstaufens was one of great brilliancy. Chivalry was promoted in the Crusades, literature was in full bloom in the works of the Minnesänger, Gothic architecture received its finest developments, the towns increased in prosperity, many serfs were freed, and codes of local customs and usages were compiled, such as the Sachsenspiegel and the Schwabenspiegel. On the other hand, the greater vassals became practically independent, and the principle of inheritance was applied to their lands and offices. The privileges usurped by the ecclesiastical and secular princes were confirmed by Frederick II. in the “Pragmatic Sanctions” of 1220 and 1232, and the right of electing the Emperor was confined to the Seven Electors.

=The Interregnum.=--The period of anarchy culminating in the “Great Interregnum” (1250-1273) is marked by the formation of the Rhenish Confederation of some seventy leading cities for mutual defense, and of the powerful Hanseatic League.

=Beginning of the Hapsburg Line.=--Rudolf of Hapsburg, elected in 1273, revived the royal authority and strictly enforced justice, but his rule was unfavorable to the growing privileges of the towns. In this respect his policy was reversed by his successor, Adolf of Nassau (1291-1298), and by his son, Albert I. (1298-1308), who even befriended the serfs and the Jews. The long struggle between the Empire and the Papacy practically ended under Louis IV. (1314-1347), by the formal declaration of the Electors in 1338 that the Papal sanction was not needed to the election of the emperor. Public peace was encouraged under Louis IV., and his friendship to the towns was constant. Industry and trade flourished more and more in the cities, and their government was now becoming more democratic through the victory of the craft-guilds over the old patrician families.

=House of Luxemburg.=--Charles IV. (1347-1378), the first emperor who retained his hereditary lands on election, by the “Golden Bull” in 1356 regulated the method of election and confirmed the complete sovereignty of the Electors in their own territories. In 1396 the foundations of Swiss independence were laid in the victory of the “Eidgenossen” over Duke Leopold of Austria at Sempach.

=Reformation Foreshadowed.=--In the reign of Sigismund (1410-1437), who united the dignities of King of Hungary, King of Bohemia, and Margrave of Brandenburg, and who was the last Emperor crowned at Rome, the Hussite war, consequent on the burning of John Huss by the Council of Constance in 1415, foreshadowed the Reformation. The Mark of Brandenburg now passed to the Hohenzollerns, under whom it was to grow into the kingdom of Prussia.

The reigns of Frederick IV. (1440-1493), and Maximilian I. (1493-1519), the husband of Mary, the heiress of Charles the Bold, last Duke of Burgundy, bring the Middle Ages to a close. The age of chivalry was ended by the invention of gunpowder and the use of mercenary troops; the realities of feudalism had passed away, the Imperial authority had dwindled to nominal control, and princes and cities had attained independence. But the Imperial dignity was now permanently connected with the House of Hapsburg and combined with great territorial possessions. The semblance and, to some extent, the reality of unity were established by the growing use of Roman law, by the constitution in 1495 of an Imperial Tribunal or Court of Appeal (the “Aulic Council”), and by the division of Germany in 1501 and 1512 into “Circles,” each with its own “States” charged to carry out the decisions of the Imperial Chamber.

=Period of Charles V.=--Luther’s denunciation of indulgences was made in 1517, but the full storm of the Reformation burst after the accession of Charles V. (1519-1555), who united to the Empire the entire possessions of the kingdom of Spain. At the Diet of Worms in 1521 he took up the defense of the Church, and condemned Luther as a heretic. At the same Diet an Imperial Administrative Council was established, and a “Matricula” drawn up, settling the contingents of troops to be raised by the States, both of which existed until the fall of the Empire. The Reformation now made irresistible progress; a common name, “Protestants,” was acquired by the Reformers at the Diet of Speyer in 1529, and in common statement of doctrines, the “Augsburg Confession,” was drawn up in 1530.

=Thirty Years’ War.=--The new and the old religions were put upon an equality by the Religious Peace of Augsburg in 1555, in which, however, the Calvinistic or Reformed Faith was not included. In the fearful struggle which followed the Reformation the Imperial authority was completely ruined. The reaction against the new doctrines, due mainly to the zeal of the Jesuits, gave fresh strength to the Catholic party, the Reformation was stamped out in Bohemia, and complete toleration was not acquired by Protestants (including both Lutherans and Calvinists) until the Peace of Westphalia in 1648.

This was at the close of the disastrous and merciless struggle known as the Thirty Years’ war. The result of the confused period commencing with the abdication of Charles V. in 1555 must be briefly summed up. The Empire in Germany was practically ended and was now attached to the hereditary dominions of the house of Hapsburg in Austria. The population of Germany was reduced by more than one-half; industry and trade had almost ceased to exist; enormous territorial losses had been suffered, and France and Sweden had made great acquisitions. Switzerland and the United Provinces were severed from the Empire, and had acquired complete independence. Germany emerged from the war a mere lax confederation of states, whose rulers--a race of absolute and, in most cases, coarse and selfish despots--were recognized by the Peace of Westphalia as independent. Even in the cities government had passed into the hands of local oligarchies. The only bond of union was the nominal authority remaining to the emperor, and now transferred to the Diet, of passing laws, concluding treaties, and making war and peace. One completely good result of the war was that amid the prevailing anarchy were laid, by Grotius, the foundations of a system of International Law.

=Rise of Prussia to Power.=--The Thirty Years’ war was followed by the rise of Prussia. Brandenburg had in 1611 become united to the Duchy of Prussia, part of the possessions of the Teutonic Order, which was in 1657 declared independent of Poland, of which it had been a fief, and received further accessions under the Great Elector, Frederick William. It grew steadily in power during the long struggle against the unscrupulous aggressions of Louis XIV., and in 1701 the son of the Great Elector, Frederick I., obtained from the Emperor the recognition of the Prussian Duchy as a kingdom. In 1713 a “Pragmatic Sanction” was drawn up by the Emperor Charles VI. (1711-1740), providing for the inheritance of the Austrian dominions by his daughter, Maria Theresa, and this was ultimately guaranteed by the leading powers.

=Frederick the Great and the Seven Years’ War.=--But his death in 1740 was the opportunity of Prussia, where Frederick II., better known as Frederick the Great, had just ascended the throne. He immediately occupied Silesia. Maria Theresa met with enthusiastic support in Hungary, and in 1745 her husband was elected emperor as Francis I. (1745-1765). An interval of peace was followed by the Seven Years’ war, at the conclusion of which, in 1763, Prussia was confirmed in the possession of Silesia, took rank as a great Power, and became definitely the rival of Austria in German politics.

In 1765 Joseph II. succeeded to the imperial crown, becoming at the same time co-regent with his mother of the Austrian hereditary dominions. He joined with Russia and Prussia in the first partition of Poland (1772). He was succeeded by his brother Leopold, who, having died in 1792, was succeeded by his son, Francis II., who joined in 1793 in the second partition of Poland. He took the command of his army against the French in 1794, concluded the peace of Campo Formio with Bonaparte (1797); joined the second coalition against France in 1799, and concluded the treaty of Lunéville (1801).

In 1804 Francis took the title of hereditary emperor of Austria, renouncing two years later that of head of the German Empire, which, indeed, had ceased to exist, owing to the conquests of Napoleon. The latter’s secularization of the ecclesiastical states, overthrow of Austria at Austerlitz (1805) and of Prussia at Jena and Auerstädt (1806), and formation of the Confederation of the Rhine, completed the extinction of the Holy Roman Empire.

=The German Confederation.=--The states of Germany were again united by the treaty of Vienna (1815), in a confederation called the German Confederation (_der Deutsche Bund_). In 1818 a general commercial league, called the Zollverein was projected by Prussia, and was gradually joined by most of the German states, exclusive of Austria. Revolutionary outbreaks caused great disturbances in various German states in 1830 and 1848, particularly the latter. The German Diet was restored in 1851 by the efforts of Prussia and Austria, who were latterly rivals for the supremacy in the confederation.

=Beginning of Bismarck’s Power.=--In 1861 William I. succeeded to the throne of Prussia, and the conflicts between the liberals and his ultra-reactionary government led in 1863 to the entrance into the ministry of Otto von Bismarck, who soon after became its president and the minister of foreign affairs. On the death of Frederick VII. of Denmark, Prussia and Austria disputed the claims of Christian IX., his successor, to the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein, and the war which followed (1864) resulted in the cession of Schleswig-Holstein, and Lauenburg to those powers jointly.

By the treaty of Gastein, Austria and Prussia agreed to a joint occupation of the Elbe duchies; but to prevent collision it was judged prudent that Austria should occupy Holstein, and Prussia Sleswick.

=Contest Between Prussia and Austria.=--Already a difference of policy had begun to show itself. Prussia was believed to have the intention of annexing the duchies; while Austria began to favor the claims of Prince Frederick of Augustemburg. In the meantime, both nations were making ready for the struggle; and Italy, looking upon the quarrel as a precious opportunity to strike a blow for the liberation of Venetia, had secretly entered into an alliance with Prussia.

On July 3, 1866, was fought the decisive battle of Sadowa, in which the Austrians were routed. Not till the victorious Prussians had pushed forward towards Vienna was a truce obtained through the agency of the Emperor of the French, the Peace of Prague (August 20). Italy, though more than half-inclined to stand out for the cession by Austria of the Trentino, as well as Venetia, reluctantly agreed to the armistice (August 12).

A brief campaign sufficed for the defeat of the minor states of Germany that had joined Austria, viz.: Bavaria, Württemberg, Baden and Hesse-Darmstadt; and, after peace had at last been arranged, some of them were forced to submit to a certain loss of territory.

=Independence of Austria and Union of Germany.=--The war completed the dissolution of the Confederation, and secured the reconstruction of Germany on an entirely new basis. Austria was excluded from Germany, and a new confederation, the North German, was formed of the states north of the Main, under the headship of the king of Prussia. Schleswig-Holstein, Hanover, Hesse-Cassel, Nassau, and Frankfort were incorporated with that kingdom. Efforts to secure a further consolidation were opposed by the South German states, but the final solution of the question was at length brought about by France, whose demands resulted in the War of 1870. (See under France.)

In this war Germany acquired Alsace and a part of Lorraine, and south Germany now waived any further opposition to a consolidation of all the German states under the leadership of Prussia.

=Restoration of the German Empire.=--On December 3 the king of Bavaria invited the king of Prussia to restore the dignity of German emperor. Most of the other states gave their assent and the North German Reichstag on December 10 adopted a motion for the establishment of the German empire under the king of Prussia. On January 18, 1871, the restoration of the imperial dignity was solemnly proclaimed by William I. at Versailles.

Subsequently the empire was largely organized under the vigorous administration of Prince Bismarck. The parliament of the new empire soon met at Berlin, and adopted the new constitution. The main result of his foreign policy was a cordial alliance with Austro-Hungary; an alliance, in 1872, between the emperors of Germany, Austria and Russia, in which, subsequently, Italy took the place of Russia, forming what is known in European politics as the Triple Alliance.

In domestic affairs many difficulties were encountered. With the birth of the new Empire commenced the long struggle of Prince Bismarck with the Papacy. The Jesuits were expelled in 1872, and in 1873 the famous “Falk Laws” imposed secular restrictions on all ecclesiastical appointments. The strict enforcement of these laws led to intense discontent and ill-feeling among Catholics. The contest ended with the grant of many concessions and the confession by Prince Bismarck in 1887 that his policy was practically changed. The democratic movement known as Socialism, aiming at the regulation and organization by the State of labor and production, grew rapidly in strength and importance, and inaugurated an era of “labor policy” by legislation compelling employers to institute a system of insurance in favor of their work-people, since followed by the adoption of an important state-aided scheme of insurance against death and old age.

In 1888 Emperor William I. died, and the premature death, after a reign of three months, of the beloved Crown Prince, who succeeded him as Frederick III., disappointed the hopes of those who had anticipated a Liberal policy on the part of the Crown.

=Accession of William II.=--His son and successor, William II., took a strong view of his functions as emperor and king. His reign was immediately characterized by the further development of the labor policy inaugurated by Prince Bismarck. The emperor was not, however, generally in accord with the views of the great Chancellor, whose resignation was accepted in 1891.

Caprivi now became chancellor, and managed to negotiate a series of commercial treaties, in 1892-1894, with the countries of Central Europe (Austria, Belgium, Switzerland, Italy), and later with Servia and Roumania, the purpose of which was to lower the import-duty on corn on condition that the foreign states favored German manufactures. These treaties at once induced the peasants to combine and in 1893 a great agricultural union was formed, called the _Bund der Landwirte_, with which an older association, the _Deutsche Bauernbund_, almost immediately coalesced.

=Commercial and Colonial Expansion.=--But the great features of recent German history have been the growth of German trade and commerce, the great colonial expansion in Africa and Polynesia, and the rapid increase of her navy.

Erected in the Königs Platz at the conclusion of the Franco-Prussian war of 1871. It consists of a circular temple surrounded with a colonnade of sixteen pillars, standing upon a square base or pedestal, and surmounted by a cylindrical shaft bearing a colossal gilt bronze Victory, winged and holding a wreath. The total height is one hundred and ninety-four feet. It may be ascended by an interior staircase. Upon the base are elaborate reliefs of the various campaigns commemorated.]

In 1905 Germany intervened to disturb the French policy in Morocco, resulting in a conference of the powers interested at Algeciras. In 1911 Germany again intervened by sending a warship to Agadir for the protection of German property and German subjects. The action occasioned a complication of the European situation, and all but resulted in war. Germany’s claim for territorial compensation was not entertained by France, and Great Britain, as ally of France, claimed the right to be consulted if territory were to be conceded. The net result, after months of diplomatic intercommunication, was a readjustment of frontiers. (See German Colonial Possessions.)

The history of the German Empire since 1914 is chiefly that of the leading Teutonic power in the great European war of 1914-1917.

St. Peter’s is the largest church in the world, covering two hundred and forty thousand square feet. It cost over sixty million dollars, took one hundred and seventy-six years to build; contains many vast and beautiful chapels, tombs of the popes, many paintings by great masters, and sculptures by Bernini, Michaelangelo, Canova and Thorwaldsen.]

KINGDOM OF ITALY

Modern Italy occupies the central of the three great peninsulas of
southern Europe, together with Sicily, Sardinia, and some smaller
islands. The peninsula, which at the Strait of Otranto approaches
within less than fifty miles of Albania, is bounded west and south
by that portion of the Mediterranean known as the Tyrrhenian Sea,
east by the Adriatic, and north by the Alps, separating it from
France, Switzerland and Austro-Hungary. The frontier with France is
estimated at three hundred and seven miles; with Switzerland at four
hundred and seven miles; and with Austria at four hundred and
sixty-six miles. Its greatest length is seven hundred and ten miles;
the breadth ranges from three hundred and fifty-one miles in the
north to about twenty between the Gulfs of St. Eufemia and
Squillace, but in most places is about ninety or one hundred miles.
The seaboard of the peninsula extends to two thousand two hundred
and seventy-two miles.

=Mountains and General Configuration.=--On the northern frontier the Alps sweep round in a mighty arc from Nice to Trieste, running out in places into Piedmont, Lombardy, and Venice. For the most part they rise steep and abrupt, except where their wall is pierced by long, deep valleys; and some of the loftiest peaks in the system, including Mont Blanc and Monte Rosa, belong to this mountain-girdle.

The highest mountain entirely within the kingdom is Gran Paradiso, the culminating point of the Graian Alps, in Piedmont. Between the Alps and the Apennines spreads the broad fertile Lombardo-Venetian plain, a nearly level country, which differs altogether in character from the peninsula to the south, and for a long period was politically distinct from it. Most of this great alluvial tract, which fills nearly the whole of northern Italy, belongs to the basin of the Po; it is irrigated by numerous streams and canals, and is one of the most fruitful and flourishing districts of Italy.

This great northern plain--generally but a few feet above sea-level--round which the Alps rise like a wall, is believed to have been at one period an extension of the Adriatic Gulf, which has been gradually filled up with rich alluvial soil worn down from the steep sides of the mountains by the snow-fed torrents.

=The Apennines.=--The form of all the more strictly peninsular part of Italy is given by the central range of the Apennines, which extends continuously through its length from the maritime Alps of France, round the head of the Gulf of Genoa, down to Cape Spartivento in the extreme south. The Apennines have their highest part, called the Gran Sasso d’Italia, “the great rock of Italy,” near the center of the long range. The slopes of these heights to the sea, northeast and southwest, are so short as to allow of only small rivers.

Nearly parallel with the southern part of the Apennine range, and westward of it, there appears a more recent chain of isolated volcanic heights. Chief of these, on the peninsula, is the cone of Vesuvius, which rises abruptly from the Campagna of Naples, above the old cities of Herculaneum and Pompeii, buried by its lava streams and ashes. North of Rome, in this volcanic region, the round lakes of Bolsena and Bracciano occupy the craters of old volcanoes. Carrying the line southward, across the Tyrrhenian Sea, we come to the volcanic group of the Lipari Islands, with the ever-active volcano of Stromboli; and farther on to Mount Etna, in Sicily, the highest of European volcanoes. Almost all the rest of Sicily, not volcanic, is covered with mountains of moderate elevation, the main line of which extends along the northern side of the island from east to west as if in continuation of the course of the Apennines across the narrow Straight of Messina.

=Islands and their Surface.=--The island of Sardinia, separated from Corsica by the Strait of Bonifacio, one hundred and fifty miles long from north to south, is for the most part mountainous, especially along the eastern side, in the middle of which rises the granitic Mount Gennargentu.

The island of Elba, famous as the place of Napoleon’s exile, between Corsica and the peninsula, eighteen miles long, is high, its western part being formed by Mount Capanne, which rises to three thousand three hundred and twenty-three feet. Capri, south of the Bay of Naples, where the Emperor Tiberius passed the last ten years of his life, and Caprera, Garibaldi’s home, on the north coast of Sardinia, are other noteworthy islands.

=Rivers and Coast Waters.=--The principal rivers are fed from the Alpine lakes. The Po, which descends from Monte Viso, on the western frontier, and, as it sweeps across the plain, receives the contributions of numerous important streams, ranks for its volume of water among the notable rivers of Europe. It is navigable for three hundred and twenty out of its four hundred and twenty miles, and several of its tributaries are also navigable. Many of the Po’s tributaries spread out at the foot of the Alps.

The province of Venice, to the north and east of the Po, is traversed by the Adige, Brenta, Piave and Tagliamento.

Along the coast of the Adriatic, north and south of the Po delta, there exist large tracts of salt water, known as lagoons, in a flat and marshy district. They are separated from the sea by narrow banks of sand in which are inlets, so that the lagoons serve as harbors. The chief of these is that in which Venice is situated. It extends over nearly forty miles from Torcello in the north to Chioggia and Brondolo in the south. The other coast-line of northern Italy is formed by a narrow strip of land, closed in by the steep, abrupt rocks of the Apennines, and known as the Italian Riviera.

The Arno, next to the Tiber the most considerable river of central Italy, rises on Mount Falterona, an offset of the Apennines, at four thousand four hundred and forty-four feet above sea-level, and twenty-five miles north of Arezzo. It flows one hundred and forty miles westward to the sea, eleven miles below Pisa. At Florence it is four hundred feet wide, but is fordable in summer.

The Tiber, the chief river of central Italy, and the most famous in the peninsula, rises in a dell of the Tuscan Apennines, eleven miles north of the village of Santo Stefano, whence it winds two hundred and sixty miles, and enters the Mediterranean by two branches, which enclose the Isola Sacra. Towns on or near its banks are Perugia, Orvieto, Rome and Ostia. It is navigable for boats of fifty tons to the confluence of the Nera, one hundred miles from its mouth. The Tiber is supplied mainly by turbid mountain-torrents, whence its liability to sudden overflowings. Its waters, too, are still discolored with yellow mud, as when the poet Horace described it.

=Lakes.=--To the south of the Alps, in the north of Lombardy and Venice, lie the beautiful Italian lakes, Lago di Garda, Maggiore, Como, Lugano, and Orto.

LAKE OF COMO, the Lacus Larius of the Romans, is generally considered the most beautiful of the group. It is about thirty-six miles long, and its greatest width is three miles. Its shores are studded with picturesque villages and charming villas, with a background of forest and mountains, some of which are seven thousand feet high. The loveliest point is Bellagio, where the lake divides into two arms. Cadenabbia, on the western shore opposite Bellagio, is also a pleasant place.

Como, at the other extremity, is a thriving town of twenty-five thousand inhabitants, the birthplace of Pliny the Younger and of Volta. The cathedral is one of the best in Northern Italy.

LAKE OF LUGANO, between Como and Maggiore, though much smaller than either, is scarcely their inferior in the loveliness of its scenery. It lies at the southern foot of the Alps, eight hundred and eighty-nine feet above sea-level. Its length is fourteen and one-half miles; average breadth one and one-quarter miles; area nineteen and one-half square miles; maximum depth nine hundred and fifteen feet, and average depth two hundred and forty-six feet.

LAKE MAGGIORE (_Madjō´ray_), the largest of the Italian lakes, is about forty-five miles in length, averages three miles in breadth, lies six hundred and forty-six feet above sea-level, and has a maximum depth of one thousand two hundred and fifty feet. The river Ticino flows through it. In a southwestern expansion of the lake are the Borromean Isles. On the Isola Bella is the large palace built by Count Vitaleo Borromeo about a century ago, with terraced gardens, fountains, grottoes, etc., all very elaborate and artificial.

LAKE GARDA, a beautiful, clear lake, lies between Lombardy and Venetia, its northern end extending into the Austrian Tyrol. Situated two hundred and twenty-six feet above sea-level, it has an area of one hundred and fifteen square miles, a greatest length of thirty-five miles, a breadth of two to eleven miles, and a maximum depth of nine hundred and sixty-seven feet. The surface is studded with many islands. It is drained by the Mincio, a tributary of the Po. The mild climate and the beauty of the vicinity have caused its shores to be lined with villas.

=Climatic and Landscape Features.=--The north of Italy has the excessive climate of the temperate region of continental Europe; in the central parts of the peninsula the climate becomes more genial and sunny, and to the south almost tropical. The plain of Lombardy, with an average temperature of fifty-five degrees Fahrenheit, has winters which are as cold as those of the Scottish lowlands, and the lagoons of Venice have been frozen over; but its summers are as hot as those of Rome or Nice. The changes are few; rain lasts for weeks together in autumn, but in summer the blue sky is never clouded except when a violent thunder and hailstorm occurs.

About Florence the winters are much milder, with the same summer heat, and this difference between the seasons decreases still more to southward.

The summer of the Campagna of Rome, when a heat mist rises over the plain, is almost unbearable; in January the sky is blue, the mornings may be frosty, and fresh spring air blows over the land; in March the trees are already leafy, and in June the harvest begins; in July everything withers under the excessive heat, till the autumn rains revive the land.

In Naples and South Italy the sky is cloudless for months together, and the air is so pure that distant plains appear to be close at hand.

The chief faults of the Italian climate are the cold mountain winds called the Tramontana, like the mistral of south France, and the Bora of the north Adriatic, and, in contrast, the hot Sirocco, which occasionally blows from the African deserts, besides the malaria of the western coast marshes and of the Venetian lagoons.

Round the lakes at the base of the steep southern slope of the Alps, Mediterranean forms of vegetation appear; the chestnut reaches up to two thousand five hundred feet; above that comes the belt of beeches and oaks, still higher the pine woods, then the pretty alpine plants and high pastures. Scarcely any part of the world is so covered with irrigating canals as the highly cultivated plain of Lombardy, so that the whole of it appears like a great garden. At the northern base of the Apennines the Mediterranean flora of laurels and myrtles, cork oak and cypress, covers the first slopes; above that groups of oaks appear, then beech woods and the extensive summer pastures which reach all over the Apennine range. The Apennines have no permanent snows, but their highest summits are frequently snow-clad between October and May, and send down cold breezes into the warm valleys.

In Sicily the vegetation takes an African character, and many tropical forms flourish; it is not a well-wooded island, but forests occur here and there.

=Riviera= (_Ree-vee-ay´ra_ “seashore”), is a term applied to the narrow strip of coast-land bordering the Gulf of Genoa, strictly from Nice to Spezzia, but generally understood to include the whole coast of the Alps Maritimes, and the Italian coast as far as Leghorn.

West of Genoa, and extending into France, it is called the Riviera di Ponente, or western coast, and beyond Genoa the Riviera di Levante, or eastern coast. From Hyères to Genoa is two hundred and three miles; from Genoa to Leghorn one hundred and twelve miles. Sheltered on the north by mountains, the district enjoys an exceptionally favored climate, no other region north of Palermo and Valencia being so mild in winter.

The western section is the mildest and most frequented. It abounds in the most striking and beautiful scenery, and is planted with numerous health and fashion resorts--Nice, Monaco, Mentone, Ventimiglia, San Remo, Bordighera, etc.; and west of Nice are Hyères, Fréjus, Cannes, Gresse, Antibes.

The famous Corniche (Ital. _Cornice_) road, widened by Napoleon I., leads along the Mediterranean coast from Nice to Genoa, and commands magnificent views.

=Products and Industries.=--Of the whole surface of Italy it is estimated that eighty-three per cent is suitable for cultivation. The greatest proportion of agricultural land, however, lies in the great plain of Lombardy and the Campagna Felice of Naples. Notwithstanding this, the supply of corn grown in Italy is not sufficient for its wants, and more is imported from Russia, Egypt and North America. Maize and wheat afford the staple food of the lower classes, as polenta and macaroni.

=Agriculture and Stock-Raising.=--A sixth of the area of the kingdom is covered with wood or bush, the island of Sardinia having the largest forests of all the kingdom--the districts of Lake Como, of southern Tuscany, and Genoa, being the best wooded parts of the mainland. The olive grows all over peninsular Italy, and enormous quantities of oil are produced, much being exported.

All parts of the country are suited to vine-growing. Most wine, however, is made in south Italy and Sicily. Most horses are bred in Lombardy, where cattle are also numerous on the dairy farms, which supply enormous quantities of cheese. Tuscany has most sheep; Sicily the finest mules and asses; Umbria the greatest number of swine. Coral fishers go out from Naples, Leghorn (Livorno), and Genoa to the coasts of the Balearic Isles and of Algeria and Tunis in large numbers.

=Minerals.=--The most important mineral product of Italy is the sulphur of Sicily; iron is widely distributed, but is obtained in most considerable quantity in Lombardy and Liguria; lead is an important product of Tuscany; sea salt of the vicinity of Cagliari, the chief town of the island of Sardinia. Famous pure white marble is quarried at Carrara and Massa, on the northwest coast-land of Tuscany.

=Manufactures.=--The zenith period of Italian manufactures, when Milan was famous for its wool-workers, Venice for its dyes, Florence for its cloth, has long since passed away, and in this respect Italy now occupies a low position.

Silk-growing, spinning, and weaving it, is now the most important branch, and in this the towns of Lombardy--Bergamo, Como, Milan, Turin--take the lead, followed by those in the plain round Naples, and by Catania and Palermo in Sicily. Glass-making has also fallen from its old position; the works at Intra, on Lake Maggiore, and the manufacture of beads and mosaics at Venice, are, however, still very important. Porcelain is made chiefly at Milan and Florence; straw hats at Vicenza, in Venetia, and in Tuscany, whence they come to us as Leghorn hats, from the port at which they are shipped.

=People and Language.=--The present Italian people have arisen from a perfect chaos of races. The ancient Ligurians of Iberian race and the Umbrians of the north were joined, from an unknown quarter, by the strange people called Etruscans or Tuscans by the Romans, who exercised such an immense influence on European civilization. The Greeks peopled the south, and held Sicily along with the Phœnicians; the Romans spread out from the center of the peninsula to extend their conquests far beyond its limits; then the Goths and Franks poured in from the north, and after them the Longobards, who gave their name to Lombardy. The Savoyards and Waldenses of the valleys of Piedmont along the French border appear to be of Gallic descent. Insular Sardinia was free from the irruptions of the northern people, but came under the influence of the Greeks, the Arabs, and then of the Spaniards.

Here, as in France and Spain, the Roman language endured and prevailed over all others, and now the people of Italy have one language and literature, the Italian, descended from the Latin. Its dialects show traces of the mixture of nationalities, but the Tuscan has now become classic, for the great writers, like Dante and Boccassio were Tuscans.

=Religion.=--The Roman Catholic Church is reorganized as the state church, but toleration is granted to all creeds. Over ninety-seven per cent of the population is Roman Catholic. By the Act of 1871 the rank of the Pope as a sovereign prince is recognized, the Vatican and Lateran palaces and the papal villa at Castel Gandolfo having the privilege of exterritoriality. Protestants number about sixty-six thousand, which include some twenty-two thousand Waldensians; and there are about thirty-eight thousand Jews, and about two thousand five hundred members of the Greek Orthodox Church.

=Education= is controlled by the state under a minister of public instruction, assisted by a council. Primary education is free and compulsory, and the state also maintains, partly or wholly, secondary, technical schools, and the universities. There are thirteen universities. Private schools may not be opened without state authorization.

=Cities.=--The largest city is Naples. Rome is the capital. Milan, Turin, Palermo, Genoa, Florence, rank next. There are four others with about one hundred and fifty thousand, and twenty-three towns over fifty thousand.

=ROME=, the “city of the seven hills,” contains more objects of interest than any other city in the world. It is situated mainly on the left or east bank of the Tiber, about fifteen miles from its mouth. The river, which has here an average breadth of two hundred feet, is spanned by eleven bridges in its course from north to south through the city.

=The Seven Hills.=--On the left bank rise the famous seven hills of ancient Rome, which, from north to south, are the Aventine, Cœlian, Palatine, Capitoline, Esquiline, Viminal, and Quirinal. These hills rise from eighty to one hundred and twenty feet above the river and the intervening valleys.

The Royal Palace and chief public offices are upon, or adjoin, the Quirinal Hill. The Aventine and the Cœlian are, in large part, not built upon. The Esquiline and Viminal are modern industrial quarters. The Palatine, with the Forum below it on the east, are covered with important ancient ruins. The Capitoline, crowned by the Capitol, the most imposing of the hills, the center of ancient life and worships, has, apart from the new monument of Victor Emmanuel, suffered little change since the sixteenth century.

=Mediæval and Rome= occupies chiefly the plain, known as the Campus Martius of ancient times, nearer the river, and on the slopes of the Pincian Hill, to the north, extending thence eastward to the Quirinal and Viminal. The smaller part of Rome, on the right or west bank, comprises the Borgo, or district, containing St. Peter’s, the Vatican, the Castle of St. Angelo, and the Janiculum Hill, to the north, with the Trastevere quarter, to the south.

The entire city is surrounded by a wall fourteen miles in circuit, with thirteen gates, the wall on the left bank being substantially identical with Aurelian’s Wall, built in the third century; while the Leonine Wall round the Borgo was extended in the early sixteenth century.

=Modern Features and Districts.=--The business part of the city occupies the plain on the bank between the hills and river, traversed by the Via del Corso, the principal thoroughfare in Rome, about a mile in length, leading from the Porto del Popolo to the foot of the Capitoline Hill, where is situated the great National Monument to Victor Emmanuel. From the Piazza del Popolo two great streets diverge on either side of the Corso, the Via di Ripetta to the right, skirting the Tiber, and to the left the Via del Babuino, leading to the Piazza di Spagna, whence the Scala di Spagna, the resort of artists’ models, ascends to the Pincian Gardens, on the site of the gardens of Lucullus, which command a splendid view of the city, and form the fashionable drive and promenade.

Of the new streets the most important are the Via Venti Settembre, the Via Cavour, and the Via Nazionale. The older foreign quarter lay at the foot of the Pincian, around the Piazza di Spagna, but the healthier sites on the slopes and summits of the Quirinal and Esquiline are now more frequented.

Rome abounds in open Squares (_Piazzas_) adorned with fountains, obelisks, or statues. Eleven Egyptian obelisks still ornament the gardens and piazzas of Rome, brought by Augustus and others. That in the Piazza of St. John Lateran, one hundred and four feet in height, is the largest in existence. It was erected at Thebes by Thothmes III., and removed by Constantine to the Circus Maximus. The triumphal arches of Septimius Severus, of Titus, and of Constantine are still conspicuous. Of the bridges over the Tiber, three are ancient.

The antiquities are legion, some of the most interesting are clustered within the area from the Colosseum to the crest of the Capitoline Hill.

The Forum consisted of three parts: the forum proper, the huge Basilica Ulpie, and the temple of Trajan, with it colonnaded inclosure. It was once the grandest building in Rome. Trajan’s Column, still standing, is a Roman Doric column of marble, on a square basement, the total height, exclusive of the present statue of St. Peter, being one hundred and twenty-seven and one-half feet. The entire shaft is occupied by vigorous and lifelike reliefs ascending in a spiral, representing Trajan’s campaigns. The reliefs contain about two thousand five hundred human figures, besides those of animals and inanimate objects.]

=Famous Architectural Edifices, Ancient and Modern.=--The remains of ancient Rome have suffered severely from the vandalism and the neglect of past centuries, but they are now carefully preserved. The Forum, in some places nearly forty feet below the present street level, has been in great part excavated, and near it are many vestiges of by-gone Roman splendor, including columns, arches and ruins of temples.

ROMAN FORUM.--In remote times, the marshy ground which later became the site of this famous Forum served as _neutral territory_ whereon both the Romans (who occupied the Palatine Hill), and the Sabines (who occupied the Capitoline Hill) could meet. Gradually it became a market-place and an exchange, till, at length, all the important business of Rome and of the Empire came to be concentrated in and about the Forum.

A portico was built around the Forum, the first story being devoted to shops and the second to offices for the collection of taxes. After some centuries, these were destroyed by fire, when various basilicas and temples were erected in their places. The Forum existed as such till the eleventh century, A. D., when it was totally destroyed by Robert Guiscard. Becoming then a waste, the rubbish of the city was thrown there until the entire space was filled to the depth of twenty-four feet and the location and names of the ancient buildings lost. In the revival of learning, in the sixteenth century, interest began to be awakened in the ruins of ancient Rome, and, in 1547, excavations of the Forum were commenced, under Paul III., which, with much irregularity have continued to the present day.

An arch in the Roman Forum, dedicated 203 A. D., in commemoration of victories over the Parthians. It is of Pentelic marble, with a central arch and two side arches, flanked by four Corinthian columns on each face. There are panels over the side arches and a frieze above all with reliefs of Roman triumphs.]

Built in 312 A. D. in honor of Constantine’s triumph over Maxentius. Much of its abundant sculpture was taken from the destroyed church of Trajan.]

The most conspicuous remains of the Forum are the columns of the Temple of Saturn, the temples of Castor and Pollux and of Vesta, and on its northern side the arch of Septimius Severus, the Curia, the Basilica Æmilia, and the temples of Antoninus and Faustina and of Romulus. In the middle of the eastern part rose the temple and forum of Julius Cæsar. The more ancient and famous forum from which Cicero spoke was at the western end.

The latest excavations in the Roman Forum, including the stele and black stone of Romulus, the Basilica Æmilia, the Chapel of Santa Maria Antiqua, and the House of the Vestal Virgins, are of extraordinary interest.

It was traversed by the _Via Sacra_, a winding road which led from the southern gate of Rome to the Capitol, and was the route by which triumphal processions passed to the Temple of Jupiter. The Arch of Titus was at its summit. The great blocks of lava with which this road was paved still, for the most part, remain.

Beyond it stands the great Column of Trajan, one hundred and twenty-four feet in height, with spiral bas-reliefs representing scenes from Trajan’s campaigns against the Dacians, forming the most instructive historical monument in Rome.

=Palaces and Art Collections.=--THE VATICAN PALACE, the residence of the pope, adjoining St. Peter’s, enjoys along with the Lateran the privilege of “exterritoriality.” The massive building, said to include eleven thousand apartments, contains the finest extant collection of ancient sculpture, with many celebrated statues, a rich gallery of paintings, a famous library, and other collections, besides the Sistine Chapel, adorned with frescoes by Michaelangelo and other masters, and the Stanze and Loggie, with paintings by Raphael and his contemporaries.

THE QUIRINAL PALACE, another huge pile on the hill of that name, is occupied by the king. In the Piazza del Quirinale are two famous marble groups of Horse-Tamers.

THE VILLA UMBERTO PRIMO, formerly Borghese, outside the Porta del Popolo, is noted for its beautiful grounds, which are a favorite promenade connecting with that on the Pincian Hill by an embankment and bridge opened in 1908. The Casino contains the picture-gallery formerly in the Palazzo Borghese. It is now an important National Museum, and is arranged according to schools. Among the masterpieces are Titian’s Sacred and Profane Love, Raphael’s Entombment, Correggio’s Danaë, etc.

THE PALAZZO BARBERINI, built by Urban VIII., is a large and magnificent structure, but chiefly notable for a small picture-gallery, the gems of which are Raphael’s Fornarina, and Guido’s Beatrice Cenci. The library contains seven thousand manuscripts, many of which are rare.

VILLA MEDICI (_ma´de-che_), was built in 1540, south of the Pincio, for Cardinal Ricci. About 1600 it came into the possession of the Medici family, and afterward into that of the grand dukes of Tuscany. Galileo was confined there 1630-1633. The French Academy of Art, founded by Louis XIV., was transferred to it in 1801, and it has a fine collection of casts.

PALACES OF THE EMPERORS.--On the western side of the Forum Romanum rises the Palatine Hill, its summit covered with the substructures of the Palaces of the Emperors, the Houses of Augustus, of Tiberius, of Livia, of Caligula, of Domitian, and of Hadrian. Most magnificent of all is the Palace of Septimius Severus, rising in seven stages of massive masonry, which form a southern extension of the Palatine Hill.

Besides these imperial palaces, the Palatine included a magnificent Stadium, the most perfect in existence, imperial reception halls, several temples, with gardens, baths, barracks for soldiers, and a basilica or hall of justice, in which St. Paul must have pleaded before the emperor.

The Golden House of Nero, built on the opposite side of the Forum, and occupying the greater portion of the Oppian Hill, was demolished to make room for the Colosseum and the Baths of Titus.

THE COLISEUM (or Colosseum), originally called the Flavian Amphitheatre, was begun by Vespasian in A. D. 72, and dedicated by Titus eight years later. It was built for gladiatorial exhibitions and for the combats of wild beasts. It is the largest structure of the kind ever built, being capable of seating from forty to fifty thousand spectators. Though scarcely a third of the original edifice remains, it is by far the most imposing monument of antiquity that the Imperial City has to show.

THE PANTHEON is the most perfect of the ancient buildings in Rome. It was built B. C. 27 by M. Agrippa, and restored by Septimius Severus and Caracalla about A. D. 202, and has suffered much since. The vast round walls of brick, twenty feet thick, were once covered with marble. The portico (now below, but once above, the square) has sixteen huge monolithic columns of Oriental granite, thirty-nine feet high, with Corinthian capitals of famed beauty. Statues of Augustus and Agrippa once stood here. The circular interior is very impressive, and is lighted from a place twenty-eight feet across in the center of the dome, open to the sky.

This unrivalled dome is one hundred and forty feet high and one hundred and forty feet across. The gilded bronze roof-tiles were carried to Constantinople in 655; and all the other bronzes were used in making cannon for the citadel and the canopy in St. Peter’s. The seven niches in which statues of the gods stood are now occupied by altars. Raphael is buried here, near his betrothed, Cardinal Bibiena’s niece; and here is the tomb of King Victor Emmanuel of Italy.

THE CAPITOL, which is one hundred and sixty feet above the sea level and is best approached by the grand staircase known as La Cordonnata. At its foot are two lions of Egyptian porphyry; at its head the ancient colossal statues of Castor and Pollux. Beyond these on either side are the sculptures misnamed “the Trophies of Marius” and the statues of Constantine and his son from the Baths of Constantine on the Quirinal. The open space here is the Piazza del Campidoglio, the ancient Intermontium, where Brutus harangued the people after the murder of Cæsar. In the center is the celebrated statue of Marcus Aurelius, “the only perfect ancient equestrian statue in existence.” It owes its preservation to the fact that it was long supposed to be a statue of Constantine. On the right is the Palace of the Conservatori, on the left the Museum of the Capitol, both designed by Michaelangelo; between the two, occupying the third side of the square, is the Palace of the Senator, on the site of the ancient Tabularium. The fountain at the foot of the stairs is adorned with statues of river-gods, the Tiber and the Nile. The tower contains the great bell which is rung only to announce the opening of the carnival or the death of a pope.

THE CAPITOLINE MUSEUM contains some of the most famous sculptures extant, as the Dying Gladiator, the Venus of the Capitol, the Faun of Praxiteles, the Antinous, etc. There is also the rich collection of busts and statues of Roman emperors and empresses, statesmen, philosophers, etc., “perhaps the most interesting portrait gallery in the world.”

Has art collections considered only second in importance to that of the Vatican, and, despite the removal of many works, the number of really great paintings retains for the collection its old pre-eminence.]

=Famous Churches.=--Ancient Rome contained about three hundred temples, and modern Rome has about as many churches, eighty of which are dedicated to the Virgin. St. Peter’s, St. John Lateran, S. Maria Maggiore on the top of the Esquiline, S. Paolo fuori le Mura (“outside the walls”), perhaps the most gorgeously decorated church in Rome, and S. Lorenzo fuori le Mura are the five Patriarchal churches, to one or other of which all believers throughout the world are supposed to belong. With Santa Croce in Gerusalemme and S. Sebastiano, they make up the famous “Seven Churches of Rome” frequented by pilgrims. They are also unsurpassed in their rich architectural and art interests.

ST. PETER’S, adjoining the Vatican, perhaps the most famous and certainly the largest church in the world, has an area nearly twice that of St. Paul’s in London, while its dome rises to the height of four hundred and three feet.

Many architects were concerned in the building of the Cathedral of St. Peter, but the principal credit is assigned to Bramante, the creator of the design, and to Michaelangelo, whose chief work is the dome. To the spectator, approaching from the Piazza di San Pietro, the majesty of the dome is lost behind the façade, erected at the instance of Pope Paul V. at the end of the nave lengthened by him in order to work out the idea of a Latin cross; the design of Bramante was a Greek cross.

The building was commenced in 1506, but was not completed until 1626; the total cost of erection was about fifty million dollars, and its maintenance absorbs annually about forty thousand dollars.

It covers about eighteen thousand square yards; the length is two hundred and thirty-two yards, of the transept one hundred and fifty yards; height of the nave one hundred and fifty-one feet; height of the dome from the pavement to the summit of the lantern four hundred and four feet; to the summit of the cross four hundred and thirty-four feet.

Besides the high altar there are twenty-nine other altars; the high altar being immediately over the Tomb of St. Peter. Round the Confessio are ninety-five lamps, always lighted. The bronze statue of St. Peter, on white marble, under a canopy, is by a pillar; the right foot of which is worn smooth by the kisses of worshipers.

ST. JOHN LATERAN. (It. _San Giovanni in Laterano_), adjoining the papal palace of the Lateran, claims to be the mother-church of all Christendom. It was originally named from the Roman family Lateranus. Beside it are its ancient Baptistery and a building enclosing the Scala Santa, brought from Pilate’s palace in Jerusalem in 326.

Many other of the Roman churches contain treasures of art or are interesting for their structure or history. S. Maria Sopra Minerva is the only ancient Gothic church in the city. S. Pietro in Vincoli contains Michaelangelo’s famous statue of Moses; and S. Maria delle Pace Raphael’s beautiful frescoes of the Sibyls. The Gesù is the chief church of the Jesuits. San Carlo al Corso is the fashionable church.

=Roads.=--The roads leading out of Rome beyond the Servian Walls were bordered by tombs, many of which, on the erection of the Aurelian Wall, were included within the city. The most famous of these celebrated roads was the:

APPIAN WAY (called Regina Viarum) was begun B. C. 312 by Appius Claudius, and ran to Capua, and afterwards to Brindisi, forming main route to southern Italy, Greece and Egypt. There are beautiful views all along, of Campagna, aqueducts, and Alban Mountains.

A famous Roman military road, the skill with which it is taken through difficult country, over hills, ravines, and marshes, is remarkable. Horace, in his first satire, describes a journey along it, and St. Paul came this way into Rome (Acts xxviii. 15).]