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TROWBRIDGE LIBRARY

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EDITED BY
PROFESSOR MANDELL CREIGHTON.

THE POPES AND THE HOHENSTAUPEN.

Epochs of Church History.
Edited by Professor MANDELL CREIGHTON.
Fcp. 8vo, price 30 cents each.
THE ENGLISH CHURCH IN OTHER LANDS. By the Rev.
H. W. Tucker, M.A.
THE HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION IN ENGLAND.
By the Rev. George G. Perry, M.A.
THE CHURCH OF THE EARLY FATHERS. By Alfred
Plummer, D.D.
THE EVANGELICAL REVIVAL IN THE EIGHTEENTH
CENTURY. By the Rev. J. H. Overton, M.A.
A HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD. By the
Hon. G. C. Brodrick, D.C.L.
A HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE. By
J. Bass Mui.linger, M.A.
THE CHURCH AND THE ROMAN EMPIRE. By the Rev.
A. Carr.
THE CHURCH AND THE PURITANS, 1570-1660. By Henrv
Offley Wakeman, M.A.
THE CHURCH AND THE EASTERN EMPIRE. By the Rev.
H. F. Tozer, M.A.
HILDEBRAND AND HIS TIMES. By the Rev. W. R. W.
Stephens, M.A.
THE ENGLISH CHURCH IN THE MIDDLE AGES. By the
Rev. W. Hunt, M.A., Trinity College, Oxford.
THE POPES AND THE HOHENSTAUFEN. By Ugo Balzani.
IN PREPARATION.
THE ARIAN CONTROVERSY. By H. M. Gwatkin, M.A., Lecturer
and late Fellow of St. John's College, Cambridge.
THE COUNTER-REFORMATION. By A. W. Ward.
THE GERMAN REFORMATION. By Prof. Mandell Creighton,
M.A., D.C.L.
WYCLIF AND THE BEGINNINGS OF THE REFORMATION.
By Reginald Lane Poole, M.A., Balliol College, Oxford.
CHURCH AND STATE IN MODERN TIMES.
THE REFORMATION IN ENGLAND.
THE WARS OF RELIGION.
THE CHURCH AND THE TEUTONS.
CHRISTIANITY AND ISLAM.
MONKS AND FRIARS.

London : LONGMANS, GREEN, & CO.

THE POPES

THE HOHENSTAUEEN.

BT
UGO BALZANI.

NEW YORK:
ANSON D. F. RANDOLPH & COMPANY,
38 WEST TWENTY-THIRD STREET.

PKEFACE.

The historical period traversed by this book is certainly
one of the most striking in the history of the Papacy
and the Empire, for their struggles far exceeded the
thoughts and aims of the combatants and hastened in
Europe a marvellous development of change and pro
gress. The history of the relations between the Popes
and the Hohenstaufen is one which cannot be easily
kept within strict limits, but is apt to extend to that
of the whole of Europe and of much of the East. It
has been a difficult task to confine it within the small
space of these pages, nor could this have been done
without rigorously excluding everything which did
not bear directly on the relations of the Papacy with
the House of Suabia, and on those historical events
which exerted most influence over those relations,
especially in Italy, where the great drama was chiefly
acted. I have therefore tried to avoid all digressions
as much as possible, keeping distinctly before me the
object of the narrative, so as not to interrupt its
thread. It also seemed to me that the nature of the work

vi Preface.
demanded great moderation in generalising with regard
to the facts stated in it, and I have therefore endea
voured that these facts should speak for themselves as
clearly as possible, and should suggest those reflections
which present themselves spontaneously to the reader
who follows carefully the course of human events and
meditates upon them. But in order to obtain this
result, and not lead the reader to erroneous conclusions,
the writer needs a very accurate knowledge of his
facts, and a painstaking selection of those which have
a vital importance for the narrative, and of those
alone. This can only be secured by a long and
minute study of the original historical sources ; and
hence, while making large use of the many valuable
works which have preceded this little book, I have
based my assertions throughout on original researches.
In a very much larger and more detailed work on
the same subject, which I hope at a not very distant
day to publish in Italy, I propose to give the more
complete result of these researches, and a scientific
analysis of the facts and considerations which I have
here put forward.
UGO BALZANI.
Tickton Lodge, Clevedon, Somebset,
September 21, 1888.

CONTENTS.

PAGK
PREFACE  v
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTORY  t
CHAPTER II.
EUGENIUS III. AND CONRAD OF HOHENSTAUFEN— ELEC
TION OF FREDERICK L  II
CHAPTER III.
HADRIAN IV. AND ROME— CORONATION OF FREDERICK I. . 29
CHAPTER IV.
THE STRUGGLE BETWEEN HADRIAN IV. AND FREDERICK
BARBAROSSA  41
CHAPTER V.
ALEXANDER HI. AND THE LOMBARDS AGAINST THE
SCHISM AND THE EMPIRE  54
CHAPTER VI.
THE BATTLE OF LEGNANO AND THE PEACE OF VENICE-
DEATH OF ALEXANDER IIL  80
CHAPTER VII.
LAST YEARS OF FREDERICK I.— THE EMPEROR HENRY VI.
AND THE PAPACY— THE CONQUEST OF SICILY . . 99

viii Contents,
PAGE
CHAPTER VIII.
INNOCENT III. GUARDIAN OF FREDERICK II., KING OF
SICILY— HIS STRUGGLE WITH PHILIP OF HOHEN
STAUFEN  I22
,' CHAPTER IX.
INNOCENT III. OTTO OF BRUNSWICK AND FREDERICK II. . 1 39
CHAPTER X.
HONORIUS III. AND FREDERICK II  157
CHAPTER XL
GREGORY IX. AND THE CRUSADE — FIRST CONTENTIONS
WITH FREDERICK II. UP TO THE PEACE OF SAN
GERMANO  172
CHAPTER XII.
FREDERICK II.'S STRUGGLES WITH THE LOMBARDS— THE
POPE FAVOURS THE LOMBARDS — FREDERICK II. IS AGAIN
EXCOMMUNICATED— DEATH OF GREGORY IX. . . 188
CHAPTER XIII.
INNOCENT IV.— IMPLACABLE WAR BETWEEN THE PAPACY
AND THE EMPIRE TILL THE DEATH OF FREDERICK II. . 203
CHAPTER XIV.
INNOCENT IV. AND FREDERICK II. 'S SUCCESSORS, CONRAD
AND MANFRED  .221
CHAPTER XV.
THE POPES BRING CHARLES OF ANJOU INTO ITALY— DEATH
OF MANFRED AT BENEVENTO  234
CHAPTER XVI.
THE LAST OF THE HOHENSTAUFEN  245

THE POPES AND THE HOHENSTAUFEN.

CHAPTER I.
(i 125-1138.)
INTRODUCTORY.
The great struggle for the investitures between the
Papacy and the Empire had at last ended in the Con
cordat of Worms, and out of this struggle both the
two great adversaries came exhausted, but neither of
them entirely conqueror or wholly vanquished. The
Papacy, though partially giving way in the ques
tion of the investitures, had gained ground, neverthe
less, in matters of wider and more real importance.
During the long period of the struggle, not only the
men themselves had changed, but the very principles
for which they were fighting were undergoing trans
formation, and the successors of Gregory VII. and
Henry IV. moved in a different sphere of ideas from
that which surrounded their great predecessors. The
mere fact of having been able to hold out so firmly
was a victory for the Papacy, and from the day in
which Gregory had deposed Henry, and brought him
to his knees- at Canossa, all possibility had ceased of
c. H. a

2 The Popes and the Hohenstaufen.
an imperial supremacy such as that exercised over the
Popes by the Ottos and Henry III. Later, when the
voice of Peter the Hermit, giving utterance to a
cherished thought of the Roman pontiffs, aroused in
the nations of Christendom a wild enthusiasm for the
crusade declared by Urban II., the relations between
Church and Empire underwent still further change.
To the imperial conception of universal power it was
a distinct blow that the whole of the Christian com
munity should for the first time be aroused and
directed towards a far-off and arduous war without
the Empire's co-operation and guidance. Nor was
this all. Other elements, either unknown before or
unnoticed, began to appear on the scene of history,
and while the long contest was reaching its conclusion
a new era had risen above the horizon. Europe, freed
from the dark barbarism in which preceding ages had
enveloped her, found herself confronted by other prob
lems, and was preparing for new enterprises.
When in 1125 the house of Pranconia died out in
the person of Henry V., Honorius II., who was then
Pope, found himself very advantageously placed in
regard to the Empire, and turned the opportunity to
good account. On the 30th of August 1125, in the
Diet of Mentz, the Duke of Saxony, Loth air of Sup-
plinburg, was elected King of the Romans, but not
without opposition, as another candidate for the throne
was Frederick Duke of Suabia, who had many adhe
rents, and was a near relation to the late Emperor.
He was of the house of Weiblingen, and from one of
their castles he and his family took the name of Hohen
staufen. Now, the Hohenstaufen would not acquiesce

Introductory. 3
in the election of Lothair, and there was war in Ger
many. The Saxon Lothair attached himself to the
Pope, and Honorius openly supported him, but profit
ing by his weakness, imposed the authority of the
Papacy on the Empire to which he was aspiring, and
obtained from the needy monarch humble demonstra
tions of reverence and willing submission. Thus the
imperial authority was waning before the papal in the
eyes of men, while the Empire itself, intended for
Lothair, was weakened by the discords which were
rending Germany. Bohemia had given Lothair a great
deal of trouble, and the Hohenstaufen were still power
ful against him. Frederick of Suabia had given up
his pretensions in favour of his brother Conrad, who
now contested the crown, and in December 1 127 per
suaded some of the princes to declare him king at
Spires. He did not, however, meet with much favour,
and especially the German clergy, whom Lothair flat
tered, were opposed to his usurping election. Con
rad, seeing that he did not succeed in Germany,
appealed to Italy, where, with the help of the Milanese
archbishop, Anselm Pusterla, he was crowned with the
iron crown at Milan, and in Tuscany put forward his
pretensions to the inheritance of the Countess Matilda.
These pretensions, and the traditions of his family,
which were adverse to the Church, were in themselves
enough to estrange from him Honorius, who remained
a firm supporter of the pliant and legitimate Lothair.
Conrad, excommunicated, and rendered for the time
powerless, stayed on in Italy, protected rather than
supported by isolated bishops or princes, and here and
there by some municipality. It is a strange coinci-

4 The Popes and the Hohenstaufen.
dence that he was always favoured by the commune
of Milan, which was destined in time to become Italy's
strongest bulwark against the attacks of the house of
Suabia. In the meantime Honorius died, and the election of
his successor gave rise to a schism in the Church.
Two cardinals were elected at the same time, both
Romans. One was Gregory, of the Papareschi, who
took the name of Innocent II., the other, Peter, of the
powerful family of the Pierleoni, assumed the name of
Anacletus II. Each had good reasons for asserting that
his election was canonical, so that the question remained
an open one, and the schism grew to such a height
that it was impossible either to suppress or to compose
it. Innocent and Anacletus both made great efforts to
draw over Lothair to their side, but he, taken up with
the discords in Germany, hesitated, and lost the oppor
tunity of affirming his authority while the Papacy was
enfeebled by internal divisions. Other forces, however,
were making their influence felt in Europe, and they
served to balance, and sometimes to rule, that power
which hitherto was centred in the courts and councils
of kings. In a thousand different forms, and in almost
every direction, the universal conscience of the people
was awaking to a greater activity, and often declared
itself by the very voice of those who inspired it. A
wonderful man, Bernard of Clairvaux, whose fiery soul
felt all the mysterious fascination of his age, exercised
an extraordinary influence over European thought by
awakening in his contemporaries his own feelings. He
saw clearly how disastrous for the Church at this critical
moment any disunion must be, and, after a brief hesi-

Introductory. 5
tation, he threw himself resolutely into the contest.
Espousing the cause of Innocent, he undertook his
defence with that persevering, unflinching ardour pecu
liar to him ; nor did he cease to support him till suc
cess crowned his efforts. First he obtained from
France the recognition of Innocent, who had taken
refuge there from Rome, where the party of Anacletus
was the strongest. The example of France was fol
lowed by the king of England, and finally by Lothair,
who in 1 1 3 I met Innocent at Liege, and was crowned
there by him.
Thus the schism might have been healed, but in
Italy the difficulties were more numerous, and the
interests involved were complex and various. In
North and Central Italy the communes, which were
slowly growing during the struggle between the
Church and Empire, had now reached a state of
great prosperity. Feudalism, weakened, and even in
many places destroyed, was losing ground before
the invasion of popular government, and so was the
temporal authority of the bishops, first raised by
the Ottos, and favoured by other emperors. As. no
emperor had shown himself in Italy for a long time,
the cities had taken advantage of this absence to
increase their independence and free themselves from
every fetter, without disputing the sovereignty of the
Empire, but merely letting its rights drop out of use
and paying little attention to its claims. They prospered
wonderfully, and being favoured by the nature of the
soil, by the qualities of the people, and by the freedom
they enjoyed, they added power to riches. So while
the Venetian, Genoese, and Pisan ships were wandering

6 The Popes and the Hohenstaufen.
over distant seas in search of commerce and colonies,
in Lombardy and Central Italy cities were rising every
where rich in industries and culture, and Milan was
foremost among the many Lombard towns, while
Bologna became a famous intellectual centre, and
Florence, fostered first by the Countess Matilda, and
now rising in power, was unfolding the first pages of
her glorious history, destined to prove so full of variety
and attraction.
Except at Milan, the Antipope Anacletus had not
met with much support in these parts of Italy, which
were generally friendly to Innocent, and were, moreover,
distracted by their own private interests, and by the
quarrels and jealousies which were continually setting
one city against another, and wasting much of their
strength. But Anacletus, strongly entrenched in Rome,
turned for support towards the South. There the Nor
mans, who had formed a strong monarchy, regarded
with suspicion alike by the Emperors of the East and of
the West as a threatened obstacle to their ambitious
views, showed themselves friendly or hostile to the
Popes according to political exigencies. Very obse
quious in speech, but cunning and resolute in purpose,
they had frequent misunderstandings with the Popes,
owing to the claims of the pontiff to suzerainty over
the whole kingdom, and to his absolute possession of
Benevento and some other places. Roger I. shrewdly
made use of the schism, and protected Anacletus, who
was both the nearer and the weaker, receiving in
exchange the recognition of the royal title he had
assumed, the investiture of his kingdom, his claims to
which were thus sanctioned, and other exemptions and

Introductory. 7
privileges, which, though only conceded to him by an
Antipope, were to be later confirmed and recognised.
The power of Roger, strengthened by these concessions,
became threatening both for the interests of the Papacy
and for those of the Empire, so that Lothair decided to
visit Italy notwithstanding his difficulties and wars in
Germany. He met with some opposition, not sufficient
to stop him, but showing the spirit of the times which
were approaching. On the plains of Roncaglia, near
Piacenza, he and Innocent II. met and marched on-
together to Rome. There Lothair was received with
out hostilities, but was obliged, contrary to custom, to
receive the imperial crown in the Lateran, because
Anacletus and the Pierleoni faction held the right bank
of the Tiber and were masters of St. Peter's.
On this occasion the Pope and the Emperor con
firmed once more without substantial alterations the
conditions of the treaty of Worms with regard to the
investitures, but as for the claims which both put
forward to the inheritance of the Countess Matilda,
while the Pope yielded them for life and by feudal
investiture to Lothair, he exacted at the same time
a recognition of his rights over them and of his
sovereignty. This was a great point gained, and the
Popes were to make use of it later. A picture repre
senting Lothair at the Pope's feet in the act of re
ceiving the imperial crown was placed in the Lateran
to commemorate this event, and under it were in
scribed two lines expressing very clearly the idea of
the Roman court, and destined later to excite dis
cussions and discontent in Germany. The lines ran
thus : —

8 The Popes and the Hohenstaufen.
" Rex stetit ante fores iurans prius urbis honores,
Post homo fit Papae, sumit quo dante coronam."
Without attempting anything against Anacletus,
who remained master of Rome, or against Roger of
Sicily, Lothair soon returned to Germany, where
things took a rapid turn in his favour, and even the
Hohenstaufen submitted themselves to him. Grown
more powerful in consequence, and invoked by the
Pope and St. Bernard, Lothair made a second descent
into Italy in 1136. Here and there in the cities,
growing more and more in vigour and independence,
he met with opposition, which he baffled partly by
force, partly by prudence. St. Bernard, in the mean
time, in his persevering apostolate against the schism,
had succeeded in separating Milan from the faction
of Anacletus. Innocent, finding his position in Rome
untenable, had taken refuge at Pisa, where he held
a council attended by St. Bernard, and thence went
to meet Lothair at Bologna. Then, instead of going
to Rome, the Pope and Emperor decided to pro
ceed to the South against Roger of Sicily, and
the expedition proved successful. Lothair and his
Germans, with the assistance on the sea-side of the
Genoese and Pisan ships, marched victoriously across
Italy, ravaging everywhere as they passed, and taking
Capua, Salerno, and Bari, while Innocent entered and
regained possession of Benevento. But shortly after
wards, in a question touching the Abbey of Monte-
cassino and the Duchy of Apulia, the same reasons and
claims which created dissensions between the Normans
and the Popes, aggravated by the inevitable antago
nism of papal and imperial authority, began to bring

Introductory. 9
about disagreement between Innocent and Lothair,
which, however, had no serious or lengthened conse
quences. Lothair, suffering from age and infirmities,
thought of returning home. In the monastery of
Farfa, in Sabina, he separated from the Pope and
started for Germany, but died on the journey in the
Tyrol, the 3rd of December 1 137. His death cleared
the way to the throne for Conrad of Hohenstaufen, who
was elected King of the Romans on the 7th of March
1 1 38, and on the I 3th of the same month was crowned
at Aix-la-Chapelle. The Roman faction of the Pierleoni had lost ground
through the defeat of Roger, and the Frangipani brought
back Innocent to Rome. He was now universally re
cognised as Pope, and the eloquence of St. Bernard was
successful in detaching from Anacletus some of his
staunchest and most influential supporters, and even in
shaking Roger of Sicily, who, however, did not yield
to the extent of closing a schism advantageous to him
self. The deserted Antipope died shortly afterwards.
A new Antipope arose under the name of Victor IV.,
but before long St. Bernard brought him a penitent to
the feet of Innocent, and the schism was at an end. In
a Lateran Council the acts of Anacletus were solemnly
annulled, and a sentence of excommunication went forth
against Roger, who had again got the upper hand, had
reoccupied Apulia, and invaded the possessions of the
Church. Innocent, not contenting himself with spiri
tual weapons, very imprudently made war upon him
in person and entered his kingdom, but was soon sur
rounded and taken prisoner. The wily Norman was
profuse in demonstrations of reverence and devotion

10 The Popes and the Hohenstaufen.
towards his prisoner, and thus obtained from him the
investiture of the kingdom and the full confirmation of
all that Anacletus had given up to him. After this
reconciliation with Roger, Innocent returned, humbled
and frustrated, to Rome, where fresh storms were gather
ing on the horizon.

( II )

CHAPTER II.
(1138-1154.)
EUGENIUS III. AND CONRAD OF HOHENSTA UFEN—
ELECTION OF FREDERICK I.
The great municipal movement which spread rapidly
in Italy extended even to Rome, where perhaps a
certain autonomy in civic government had never quite
ceased, more or less marked according to the turn of
events. It may be said that the life of the Roman
municipality never died out, but through all the Middle
Ages oscillated like the light of a lamp trembling
in the wind, now flaring up, now to all appearance
quenched. Certainly, while elsewhere the commune
developed and grew strong, in Rome it always met
with special hindrances. Rome, situated in the centre
of a deserted plain, unfavourable to agriculture or
commerce, was wanting in all those material resources
which seconded the efforts of other cities. The middle-
class had few means of increasing or strengthening
their position, and had against them the powerful and
quarrelsome nobles, who often divided the people into
factions, and made use of these divisions to weaken
them. The Papacy and the Empire, with their rights

12 The Popes and the Hohenstaufen.
and claims of -sovereignty, circumscribed the civic liber
ties, and through their political universality absorbed
the public ' life of the city, rendering it impossible
for it to expand. Besides, Rome was a hindrance to
herself. Weighed down by her great name, she lost
herself in the pursuit of brilliant dreams, and strove
to reacquire a position which she could no longer
reach. She thus lost ground instead of gaining it,
and, in truth, all her political life was impoverished by
the halo which surrounded her name.
Notwithstanding this, at the time of which I am
speaking, a new and not inglorious period was opening
in her history, and the commune, through a better
organisation of its forces, was able in the last days of
Innocent II. to affirm its independence with greater
confidence. Disappointed by Innocent, who, instead
of destroying their rival Tivoli, conquered by their
arms, made her subject to himself, the Romans rose,
and throwing off the papal yoke, formed themselves
into a free republic. It was the year 1143. Old
names, never entirely forgotten, were revived ; the
Capitol was restored, the name of senator renewed,
— memories and illusions which had been lovingly
cherished through ages of fallen greatness. The great
nobles, almost always hostile to any attempt to develop
the Roman commune, this time for a moment did
not oppose it, while it was especially favoured by a
lesser nobility, who, issuing in a certain measure from
the people, and bound to it, succeeded in holding the
government of the city with a sufficiently firm hand,
in as far as the times, full of hindrances and rapid
changes, would permit.

Eugenius and Conrad. 13
Innocent II., overcome by the revolution and worn
out, died shortly afterwards in September 1143 ; nor
could Celestin II., who was Pope after him for only
a few months, do anything towards subduing the
Romans. His successor, Lucius II., was even more
unfortunate. First he tried to oppose Roger of Sicily,
refusing to confirm Innocent II.'s concessions; but
Roger threw a band of soldiers into the Campagna,
who ravaged it as far as Ferentino, and occupied Terra-
cina. The Romans meanwhile took the opportunity
of abolishing the office of prefect, whose authority was
exercised on the Pope's behalf, and renewed in his
place the ancient dignity of patrician, with powers
held from themselves. Having raised Giordano Pier
leoni to this position, they intimated to the Pope to
hand over to him all the royalties within and without
the city. After having vainly invoked the aid of
Conrad of Hohenstaufen, whose troubles at home pre
vented his giving any heed, Lucius II. attempted to
seize the Capitol by force, but was repulsed. He died
the 15th of February 1 145, some say from a wound
inflicted by a stone during the unsuccessful assault on
the Capitol.
To him succeeded Bernard, abbot of the monastery of
St. Anastasius at the Three Fountains near the Ostian
Basilica, a disciple of St. Bernard, who at first seemed
alarmed at the election, expecting from the new Pope
less aptitude for government than was afterwards shown
by him. He took the name of Eugenius III. He
reached the papacy in very stormy times, and had
to commence by flight in order not to bow to the
Roman senate, which threatened forcibly to prevent

14 The Popes and the Hohenstaufen.
his consecration unless he would recognise the inde
pendence of the city. First he took refuge in the
monastery of Farfa, where he was consecrated- the 4th
of March 1 1 4 5, then went to reside at Viterbo, as it
was impossible to return to Rome, where the republi
can constitution was daily being more and more firmly
organised. But these republican and reforming tendencies did
not attack the idea of the Empire and Papacy, which
in the mind of all Christendom was inseparable from
the idea of human society. Rome only desired to
shake herself free from the immediate rule of the
Pope by creating a separate and popular government,
and, in her confused love for all that was ancient, was
disposed to amalgamate with the republic, and make
again her very own that Empire which had now be
come essentially German, and retained nothing Roman
but its name and its claims on a dominion over the
city. Characteristic of this is a letter which the Romans
sent, a little later, to Conrad III., inviting him to
Rome to receive from them the imperial crown, and
take up his residence in the ancient metropolis of the
world, whence he could far better rule over Italy and
Germany. But the insuperable difficulties in the way
of any such supremacy for them regarding the Empire
as much as the Papacy soon showed themselves.
Conrad did not even reply to the request of the
Romans, and already the Pope had found support in
the jealousies aroused by the new republic. Not satis
fied with depriving the Pope of every dominion within
the city, the Romans began now to attempt to do the

Eugenius and Conrad. 15
same in the surrounding country, and to extend their
own power. This attempt met with prompt resist
ance. The neighbouring cities, hated by Rome and
hostile to her, and the great Roman nobles, fearing for
their possessions in the Campagna, which were the
sources of their power, united themselves with the
Pope against Rome. The city had soon to yield, to
receive the Pope within her walls, abolish the patri
cian, restore the prefect, recognise again the sove
reignty of the Church, and promise to pay her tribute.
The Pope celebrated the Christmas of 1 146 with all
solemnity in Rome, but he was not strong enough to
govern the city. The new republican order remained,
and the authority of the senate continued as before.
In reality, rather than a peace between subjects and
sovereign, a truce had been concluded between two
contending parties ; nor did the truce last long. Very
soon fresh grounds for disagreement obliged Eugenius
to leave Rome a second time, and the Romans were
still free.
Henceforth it was clear that the Pope could not
return to Rome with any prospect of security without
the assistance of King Conrad, and Eugenius reiterated
his prayers that he should descend into Italy, restore
order, and receive the imperial crown. The Lombard
cities, arrogant, forgetful of their subjection to the
Empire, and in continual broils among themselves,
Rome in rebellion, the ever-increasing and menacing
power of Roger of Sicily, all these were reasons for his
coming. But Conrad delayed without refusing. He
had too many anxieties in Germany to be able to leave
it easily and throw himself into such an enterprise,

16 The Popes and the Hohenstaufen.
and perhaps he secretly was not ill pleased at the dis
sensions between the Pope and the Romans. These
even increased instead of diminishing, encouraged as
they were by Arnold of Brescia, who was in Rome at
this time, and the soul of the new republic.
That spirit of inquiry which with Anselm of Aosta
had started from the standpoint of Faith to seek the
reason of things, was now threading the opposite path
with Abelard, working out dangerous problems, subtle,
inquisitive, almost petulant, starting from Reason to
scrutinise the mysteries of Faith. And Arnold, differ
ing from his master Abelard in greater force of character,
less speculative and more inclined to action, was like
him in his impatience with what appeared to him false,
and in his pugnacity in trying to overthrow it. His
adversaries say that he loved popularity, and perhaps,
man of the people as he was, he did love it, but his
heart burnt with an apostolic zeal which left him no
rest. He was pious, austere, eloquent; persecutions,
exile, his wandering life, all added fuel to the flame
and energy to his character. In Lombardy first he
had aroused enthusiasm, preaching against the im
morality and riches of the clergy ; he was persecuted'
by Maifred, bishop of Brescia, and condemned by the
Church, was obliged to go into exile, and took refuge
in France towards the end of 1139. The following
year this ardent man appeared at the famous Council
of Sens by the side of Abelard, true and steadfast
against St. Bernard, his master's great enemy, and
henceforth inexorably his own. And when Abelard
gave way before the terrible monk, Arnold held out
and at St. Genevieve, where years before he had lis.-

Eugenius and Conrad. 17
tened to his master's teaching, he undertook to lecture,
and added perhaps on his own account violent invec
tives against the corrupt Church and her principal
rulers. St. Bernard attacked him. They were two
apostles, unspotted and tenacious, armed for the combat
with equal ardour but unequal weapons. Bernard had
on his side the spirit of his times, and was the stronger.
Arnold was obliged to leave France, and withdrew to
Zurich, where he gained followers, but, persecuted
there also, he took refuge under the protection of a
Cardinal Guido, who was then legate in Germany.
With him he returned to Italy, and at Viterbo saw
Eugenius III., who absolved him on condition that he
should do penance as a pilgrim at the Roman shrines,
and Arnold accepted the condition, if we may trust a
well-informed contemporary, John of Salisbury, the
only one who reports this circumstance. But soon
after Arnold reappears the same man as before,
spreading his teaching of reform and freedom in
Rome. To the republican movement of Lombardy, to
the traditions of the Pataria, which had crept in among
the common people of his native Brescia, and now
betrayed an heretical tendency, to the philosophical
movement in Paris, where Arnold had absorbed the
teachings of Abelard, to all these influences was added
a literary awakening which led men's intellects towards
the pure sources of Latin writers, and was an early
prelude of the Renaissance, arousing in all hearts the
love and the memory of classic lore.' As he gazed from
the restored Capitol down on the broken columns of the
Forum, how could he escape the silent charm of those
scattered ruins ; and surrounded as he was by sacred
CH. b

1 8 The Popes and the Hohenstaufen.
memories of the primitive Church, her humility and
holy poverty, how could he help inveighing against
the worldliness and riches of the Church of his day ?
So the thunders of his voice aroused the Romans, who,
eager for novelty, listened to him gladly, and gave
him a large share in the councils and the government
of their city, where, among other things, he helped to
reorganise, under the old name of equestrian order, that
militia composed of the lesser nobles and of the more
conspicuous families of the people which formed the
sinews of the army in the free republics of Lombardy.
In the meantime, serious events were agitating
Christendom, and for a moment took off the attention
of Eugenius III. from Rome. The first Crusade had
not broken the power of the Mussulman, and from the
Eastern Christians came continual and persistent en
treaties for help, and accounts of injuries suffered and
dangers menaced. The Pope turned to the French
for a new crusade, and King Louis VII. declared his
readiness to undertake it. Eugenius then confided to
St. Bernard the mission of proclaiming the holy war
among the nations. His preaching aroused the greatest
enthusiasm in all classes. The churches were too small
to contain his hearers, and he was obliged to preach in
the open air to the crowds who flocked to take the cross
from the hands of this inspired man speaking in the
name of God. From France Bernard passed into Ger
many, and at Mentz, Frankfort, and Spires, wherever he
went, the excitement was the same. Conrad III. received
the apostle of the cross with due honour, but, on the
plea that the affairs of his kingdom would not allow of
it, showed unwillingness to take part in the enterprise.

Eugenius and Conrad. 19
Popular feeling, however, was strong, and a more than
usually eloquent sermon of St. Bernard's seemed to
overcome his hesitation, so that, much moved and in
tears, he interrupted the Saint in order to offer him
self to God and take up the cross. Bernard regarded
this as a miracle worked by God, nay, as he called it,
the miracle of miracles ; but in his apostolic zeal he
had far exceeded the prudent wishes of the Pope.
Eugenius would have preferred that Conrad should
have remained in Europe to look after Germany and
to be free to come into Italy, receive the imperial
crown, and restore papal authority in Rome. But it
was not for the Pope to make difficulties in such a
case. When Conrad had put the affairs of the king
dom into some sort of order, he had his youthful son
Henry proclaimed king, and left him ruler of the state
under a regency. Together with Conrad, a nephew of
his had taken the cross, Frederick, son of Frederick
of Suabia, a young man of brilliant promise, who was
to acquire his first reputation as a warrior in the
East, and, after having filled Europe with his name,
was to return there later to end a life full of glorious
vicissitudes. While this crusading excitement was at its height,
Eugenius III. had gone to France in March 1 1 47, and
had blessed its king before his departure. There the
Pope resided for about a year, and for some time he
also went to Germany, attending principally to the
ecclesiastical affairs of those countries, and in the
absence of the sovereigns trying to gain power and
adherents for the Church. He was received with
great honour at Paris and Triers, and held a solemn

20 The Popes and the Hohenstaufen.
council at Rheims. But he did not gain all the in
fluence he expected, and left France just as the first
mournful tidings came of the Crusaders' misfortunes
in arms. Amidst the general discouragement the
Church and the Pope lost ground, whereas he had
hoped that this crusade should increase their dignity
and power among the nations. Eugenius, on return
ing to Italy, found himself as before in difficulties
with regard to Rome, and saw little prospect of assist
ance. He could not turn to Germany, as there the
internal discords were raging more fiercely than ever ;
his journey had somewhat diminished his influence
with the clergy there, and the archbishops of Cologne
and Mentz were his enemies. Besides, Conrad's absence
deprived the Germans of every opportunity of inter
fering in Italian affairs. From the Italian republics
there was no support to be expected, or if any, of
a most inefficient description. Meanwhile, Arnold of
Brescia in republican Rome continued fierce and im
placable, spreading his doctrines, which were subver
sive of the discipline and temporal constitution of the
Church, and here and there heterodox in doctrine.
As soon as Eugenius reached Lombardy, he felt
the necessity of making a stand against such attacks,
and from Brescia herself he hurled forth anathemas
against the daring Brescian innovator. This latter,
however, did not yield, but continued with ever-increas
ing ardour to speak against the evils of the Papal Court
to the Romans, who clung ever the more to him and
promised to defend him against every enemy. Euge
nius came on to Pisa, and having gained over that
town to his cause, advanced towards Rome as far as

Eugenius and Conrad. 21
Tusculum. Determined to re-enter the city, and see
ing no other means, he collected an army at a great
cost, thereby scandalising St. Bernard and another
eminent ecclesiastic, Gerohus of Reichersberg, from
both of whom he received letters full of bitter re
proaches. With these soldiers, and assisted by the
greater Roman nobles, unchangingly hostile to the
republic, and by Roger of Sicily, who was approaching
the Church again with a view to obtaining definitely
the concessions he wanted, Eugenius threatened Rome.
The city, hard pressed, was obliged to agree to let him
enter once more in November 1 149. But the senate
would on no account allow Arnold to be exiled from
Rome, and the republic remained with its prophet
respected and unharmed in spite of the Pope, who,
notwithstanding his armed bands, re-entered the town
rather as a guest than as a master.
It is easy to understand how Eugenius could not
this time either remain long in Rome. In June 1 1 5 O
he retired to Albano, then to Anagni and Ceprano,
where he met Roger of Sicily, and entered into long
negotiations with him touching the questions per
petually pending between the courts of Rome and
Sicily. The investiture of the kingdom and the con
cessions implying a more or less formal renunciation
of papal pretensions in Apulia were the knot which
nothing availed to untie, and which prevented any
lasting understanding ; so that not even from Roger
could any efficient assistance be reckoned upon for the
subjugation of Rome and the expulsion of Arnold.
But in this interval Conrad III. had returned from
the Crusade at a fortunate moment for Germany, as the

22 The Popes and the Hohenstaufen.
dissensions had increased during his absence, and only
a boy's hand was holding the reins of state. The
old and unhealed feud between the Welf and the Weib-
lingen families broke out worse than ever, and a num
ber of important questions in Poland and elsewhere
demanded Conrad's immediate attention. But he also
recognised the urgency of his presence in Italy, where
the various republics were growing oblivious of the
ties which should bind them to Germany, and where it
still remained for him to assume the Roman crown of
empire. Above all, he was suspicious of King Roger,
who, master of the whole south of Italy, had widely
extended his power by sea and land, and by success
ful naval expeditions against Greece and the coast of
Africa had possessed himself of Tripoli and Tunis,
while the crusading forces were wasting themselves
in fruitless efforts against the Mussulman in the Holy
Land. The republican senate of Rome and the Pope both
had recourse to Conrad, each offering him the crown,
of which both thought themselves the rightful dis
pensers. The letter of the Romans, to which we have
already alluded, perhaps written or inspired by Arnold
of Brescia, exhorted the King to come and affirm once
more the imperial supremacy over the Pope, insinuat
ing at the same time that Eugenius was unfriendly to
him and in secret alliance with Roger. The Pope, on
the other hand, accused the Romans of wanting to elect
an emperor of their own without regard to the rights
of the German king. Conrad paid little heed to the
Romans and entered into negotiations with the Pope,
which dragged on slowly, and were repeatedly inter-

Eugenius and Conrad. 23
rupted and then taken up again. The principal ground
for delay was the still unsettled state of Germany,
consequent specially on the revolt of Henry the Lion,
Duke of Saxony, celebrated for the crusade he had
undertaken against the heathen Slavs and for his vic
tories over them. Moreover, there contributed other
causes of delay : the then poor health of Conrad, the
death of his son, the thirteen-year old King Henry,
which added to the fears and agitations of Germany,
and perhaps also a certain almost instinctive feeling of
suspicion between the German and Papal courts. One
would have said that some adverse fate held Conrad
back from Italy, but at length everything seemed
settled, and the expedition into Italy decided on.
After bending the pride of the Lombard cities, he was
to assume the imperial crown, put down the Roman
rebellion, and, with Constantinople and Venice as allies,
destroy the kingdom of Sicily. The 1 ith of June
1 1 5 1, at the Diet of Regensburg he publicly announced
the undertaking, and it was favourably received by
many of the princes. In September he repeated the
announcement at the Diet of Wiirzburg, and agreed
with his barons to make the expedition in the follow
ing year, thinking in the meantime to arrange matters
in Germany and put an end to the revolt of Henry the
Lion. Meanwhile he had sent his ambassadors to
Constantinople and to the Pope, the first to strengthen
the alliance against Roger, the others to facilitate the
journey to Italy and come to an understanding with
the Pontiff, who received them with the greatest cor
diality. But the crown of the Empire was not des
tined for Conrad, and on the 1 5th of February 1 1 52

24 The Popes and the Hohenstaufen.
he died at Bamberg after fourteen years' reign. He
left an only son, Frederick, a boy of eight, but in his
last moments, reflecting on the disturbed state of Ger
many and of the Empire, he prudently recommended
to the electors as his successor his nephew Frederick
of Hohenstaufen, Duke of Suabia.
The 4th of March 1 1 5 2 Frederick was elected king
at Frankfort, and men's minds turned anxiously to
him, full of hope that he might be able to re-estab
lish order in the thoroughly disorganised realm. Dur^
ing the reign of Conrad Germany had passed through
endless internal struggles in a period of painful growth,
and the arduous times had hindered and diminished
the efficacy of that sovereign's valuable qualities. He
had been obliged to undertake too many things, and
consequently had hardly been able to complete any.
It was for his successor to concentrate the scattered
forces, combine and order them for one common object,
give Germany quiet within and authority without by
raising afresh the dignity of the Roman Germanic
Empire, now so enfeebled as to seem destined to perish
for want of vitality, unless some one should be found
to restore it once more to the glorious days of Charle
magne and the first Otto. And indeed the spirit of
those great men animated the youthful ambition of
Frederick, who ascended the throne with his imagina
tion full of their greatness, and his heart burning to
imitate them. From his father he inherited the Ghi-
belline blood of the Hohenstaufen, through his mother
he was related to the family of the Guelphs, thus blend
ing in his person the two rival races, as if in him were
at last to be quenched the animosities which for so long

Frederick I. 25
had steeped Germany in blood. He was scarcely thirty,
of middle stature, of pleasing and dignified appear
ance ; his teeth were white, his mouth full and smiling ;
he had blue eyes, a fresh colour, red hair and beard,
whence the famous name of Barbarossa given to him
by the Italians. Skilled in arms, careless of fatigue
or danger, he had gained a high reputation in the
East and in his own country as a valiant and ex
perienced leader. Resolute, born to command, dis
criminating, he understood ruling men, and, when
necessary, flattering them. He was severe and often
ferocious against such opposition as he could break
down by force or in the impetus of war, and showed
his ferocity sometimes calculatingly, sometimes in real
anger, but never was coldly or uselessly cruel. Long
ing for glory, ambitious, haughty and tenacious, but
neither so haughty nor so tenacious as not to know
how to yield when necessary, and prosecute his ends
by other means. His culture was not great, but his
intelligence was quick, and he enjoyed the conversa
tion of learned men ; and though he spoke Latin with
difficulty, he read it with pleasure, especially histories
telling of the grandeur and glory of that empire which
he wished to restore. For on him also the revival of
classic culture exercised its wonted fascination, and
around him gathered the Italian jurists who were
reviving the study of Roman imperial law, and saw in
him the restored image of the ancient Empire. Vain
evocation ! The first Frederick of Hohenstaufen was
in truth a German emperor, nor perhaps did any
sovereign ever represent a more perfect type of the
virtues and failings of Teutonic genius.

26 The Popes and the Hohenstaufen.
As soon as he had assumed the crown at Aix-la-
Chapelle on the 9th of March 1 152, Frederick sent
into Italy as ambassadors Illinus, archbishop-elect of
Triers, and Eberard, bishop of Bamberg. After that he
immediately turned his attention to the affairs of Ger
many, first on the Rhine and then in Saxony, where
there was special need of his care. At Merserburch
he held a diet to decide a question pending between
two Danish princes, Sweyn and Cnut, both pretenders
to the throne of Denmark. Sweyn received the royal
title, and did liege homage to Frederick. A more
difficult question arose immediately afterwards in Sax
ony which brought Frederick into contact with the
Roman Church. People's minds were divided regard
ing the election of the archbishop of Magdeburg, part
of the votes being given to Gerard, provost of the
Magdeburg diocese, part to the dean of the same
church. When the matter was brought before the
King, he induced those who supported the dean to give
their votes to a third, the bishop Wichmann, and with
out further delay recognised him and invested him with
the royalties. He thus introduced by implication a
favourable interpretation of the rights which the Con
cordat of Worms had given him. Then he started for
Bavaria, where he found the ambassadors sent by him,
into Italy, who were bringing him good accounts of
their reception. In fact, Eugenius III. had written
immediately from Segni to Frederick, congratulating
him on his election, and expressing a hope that he
would proceed to Rome to fulfil the promise made by
Conrad; he also announced that he would soon send
an embassy. And a few months later, in writing to

Frederick I.

27

Vibald, abbot of Corvey, Eugenius returned to the
subject which most nearly touched him, telling of the
changes which the heretical Arnold was planning in
Rome without the knowledge of the nobles and leading
men of the city, and telling also of the two thousand
people who were conspiring shortly to elect a hundred
senators for life, and two consuls, one of whom they
would have proclaimed emperor. He concluded the
Letter by asking the abbot to confide these matters in
secret to Frederick.
Notwithstanding his pressing need and desire to
gain over the new king, Eugenius did not show any
disposition to yield in the matter of Magdeburg, and
protested that Frederick had exceeded his powers, and
that the canon law did not recognise the translation of
Wichmann made in that way. But Frederick stood
firm, and the question was still unsettled when Euge
nius III. died at Tivoli on the 8th of July 1 1 53,
after having made another short stay in Rome. His
successor, Anastasius IV., was obliged to yield to the
strong will of Frederick and grant the pallium to
Wichmann. Meanwhile Frederick was giving all his
attention to establishing order in Germany, and ini
tiated the decision regarding the contested duchy of
Bavaria in favour of the Saxon Henry the Lion, a
powerful prince, whom he loved and wished to conciliate
with the Empire. He wanted him with him in Italy,
whither he was drawn by the presentiment of great
enterprises, the imperial crown, the exhortations of
the exiled barons of Apulia conspiring against the
Sicilian king, and the invitations of many Italian cities,
who hoped for assistance from him against powerful

28 The Popes and the Hohenstaufen.
neighbours. Nor were all these strong attractions
without avail. Towards the October of 1 1 5 4 Frede
rick left by way of the Tyrol for Italy, reached Verona,
and in November was encamped near Piacenza on the
plains of Roncaglia, where, according to custom, he held
his first Italian diet. A few days later, on the 3rd of
December 11 54, Anastasius IV. died in Rome. With
his successor began a new era, which binds together
inextricably until the end the history of the house of
Suabia and of the Papacy.

( 29 )

CHAPTER III.
(1154-1155.)
HADRIAN IV. AND ROME— CORONATION OF
FREDERICK I.
The new Pope was Hadrian IV. He was born in
England at St. Albans of poor parents, and his name
was Nicholas Breakspear. He left when a youth his
native land, wandered about France in search of in
struction, and after studying some time at Aries,
entered the monastery of St. Rufus near Valence, and
there took the monastic garb. His quick intelligence,
his piety, his zeal, rapidly gained him the conside
ration of the brethren, who, after first making him
prior, by common consent raised him to the dignity of
abbot. Business connected with the monastery called
him to Rome during the pontificate of Eugenius III.,
who, instead of restoring him to his abbey, made him
cardinal bishop of Albano, and appointed him to the
Norwegian missions. In preaching the gospel to the
heathen in those remote regions, and in organising the
constitution of a church there, he gained a high reputa
tion. On the death of Anastasius the cardinals unani
mously turned to him, who had only just returned from

30 The Popes and the Hohenstaufen.
his successful apostolate, and on the 4th of December
1 1 5 4 they elected him Pope.
He had strong shoulders for the burden which he
was taking up. Conscious of assuming a lofty office
in an hour of special difficulty, full of zeal for the
Church's honour, piety in him was combined with a
talent for public affairs bordering on astuteness, and
the gentleness of his manners with a strong and reso
lute character. Very soon an opportunity arose for
proving his firmness. In Rome the discontent with
the Popes continued, and the new election could not
certainly meet with the approbation of the Romans or
cool their party spirit, since they regarded this stranger
as intent on increasing the papal rule, and, having lived
long in France, probably imbued with St. Bernard's
hatred of the doctrines of Arnold. This latter, despis
ing Hadrian's prohibition, had remained in Rome under
the protection of the senate, and openly preached
against the new Pope and his cardinals. Excitement
was leading men to violence. One day, while Guido,
the cardinal of St. Pudenziana, was going to the Pope,
he was attacked and wounded by a group of Arnold's
followers. The Pope answered this mad violence by
placing the city under an interdict, and declaring that
he would maintain it until Arnold was driven from
Rome. This new and unexpected event terrified the
people. In vain they beseeched the Pope to retract
the heavy sentence ; Hadrian was immovable. Easter
was approaching and Passion Week had already be
gun, yet the altars of the sacred city were prayerless
and closed to the faithful. Under the influence of
religious terror the Romans yielded, and Arnold was

Hadrian IV. 31
abandoned and driven forth. Wandering over the
Campagna, he fell into the hands of papal soldiers who
were looking for him, but was liberated by certain
friendly barons, and took refuge in a castle of theirs
on the confines of Tuscia. The city was absolved
and Hadrian triumphed. For the first time since his
election he issued from the Leonine city, traversed
Rome in great pomp, and celebrated Easter in the
Lateran. While matters were turning out thus in Rome, there
flared up again the old causes of discontent between
the Curia and the King of Sicily, William I., who
had succeeded shortly before to Roger. The new king,
finding himself in troubled waters in the beginning
of his reign, between rebels within and the external
hostilities of the two Empires, thought he would try if
he could gain the friendship of the Pope and separate-
him from Frederick. On Hadrian's election he sent
ambassadors to treat peace with him, but they could
come to no understanding. Later, towards the March
of 1155, William having passed over from Sicily to
Salerno, the Pope, perhaps alarmed at his coming
nearer, sent Henry, cardinal of Saints Nereo and
Achilleo, with apostolic letters. . But since these bore
on their front the ambiguous title of Lord instead of
King of Sicily, William refused to receive the cardinal,
which greatly disturbed the Pope and the whole Curia.
Thus, instead of being appeased, the King was em
bittered the more in his relations with the Church, and
sent against the territory of St. Peter his chancellor
Ascontinus, who attempted the siege of Benevento, and
overrunning the Campagna, set fire to several places,

32 The Popes and the Hohenstaufen.
among which Ceprano and Bauco. The Pope had to
content himself with excommunicating William and
looking for help from the North.
Hadrian had speedily resumed the negotiations for
the coronation of Frederick, interrupted by the deaths
of the preceding Popes, and the terms of alliance be
tween the Pope and the future emperor, now settled in
general, were based on the subjugation of the Roman
republic and of the King of Sicily. Meanwhile
Frederick, from the first days that he had arrived in
Lombardy, felt that he was standing on a volcano, and
could not hope for dominion in Italy unless he first
crushed the strength of the republics which surrounded
him, proud of their prosperity, and, notwithstanding
their internal discords, little awed by the majesty of
the Empire. At Roncaglia he had appeared as judge
and pacificator between the various republics, and
especially between Pavia and Milan ; but already this
latter, more powerful than any other Lombard city, was
a thorn in his side which it behoved him to remove.
Shortly he began openly to declare himself hostile to
Milan, either really angry or pretending to be so, because
his army had been guided awrong by the Milanese
in their own territory. He entered Rosate, a strong
castle of the Milanese, and driving out the inhabitants,
set fire to it, and in the same way burnt the castles of
Trecate and Galliate. In the cause of the Empire in
Italy was rooted the cause of feudalism, the power of
which was waning before the emancipation of the
communes. The city of Asti and the strong castle of
Chieri would no longer remain subject to the Marquis
of Monferrato, on whose instigation Frederick took Asti

Hadrian IV. 33
and Chieri, and destroyed them by fire and sword.
Against Milan herself the King did not venture. She
was too powerful and too well provisioned, and Frederick
in attacking her would have run the risk of weaken
ing his forces at the very beginning of his undertak
ing, or at least of delaying too long his coronation at
Rome. He thought it wiser to subdue some other town
friendly to Milan, and thus diminish her resources and
spread through Lombardy a wholesome terror of his
arms and of his name. Incited thereto by Pavia, he
turned against Tortona, desiring her to separate from
and break off all friendship with Milan, but Tortona
nobly refused. Frederick surrounded her, thinking to
conclude the siege quickly, but he met with a desperate
resistance, the presage of future struggles. Attacked
furiously and furiously defended, Tortona resisted all
Frederick's efforts for two months, and only surrendered,
when exhausted and conquered by thirst and famine,
the 6th of April 1155. The miserable citizens who,
had survived were driven into exile, and the city was
given to the flames. The rumour of this event re-echoed
throughout Italy.
After the destruction of Tortona, Frederick moved
on towards Rome through Tuscany with a rapidity that
was regarded with suspicion by the Pope, who then
resided at Viterbo. The Curia began to fear that the
sovereign invoked as a protector was advancing as
an enemy. The violence from which Pascal II. had
suffered in St. Peter's less than half a century before
perhaps occurred in that hour to the mind of Hadrian.
Taking counsel with the cardinals, with Peter the
prefect of the city, and with Otho Frangipane, the
c.H. 0

34 The Popes and the Hohenstaufen.
Pope sent two cardinals to meet Frederick with very
clear instructions as to the terms to be come to with
him. The cardinals met Frederick at St. Quirico, near
Siena. Being honourably received, they expounded
their mission, and showed the apostolic letters, in which,
among other things, Hadrian asked to have Arnold,
who had escaped from him, given back into his hands.
It was a small request and easy to comply with.
Frederick having had one of the barons who were
protecting Arnold taken prisoner, frightened him into
handing the fugitive over to the cardinals. The last
hour had come for the ardent Brescian, and his prema
ture apostolate closed in martyrdom. The prefect of
Rome sentenced him to die, perhaps at Civitacastellana,
but, as if to increase our pity, the precise place and day
of his death are unknown. At the place of execution
he did not recant, did not hesitate ; mutely he breathed
a prayer to God and gave himself up to the cord and
the stake, calm and fearless while even the executioners
wept. The Romans were prevented from preserv
ing as relics his ashes, which were thrown into the
Tiber, but his words lived fresh in their indignant
memories. This martyrdom of Arnold was the seal of
an alliance between the Papacy and Empire, which was
destined to be short-lived and to result in nothing but
bloodshed. It had been an easy matter for Frederick to comply
where only Arnold was concerned. For the rest, he
said he had already sent to the Pope the archbishops
Arnold of Cologne and Anselm of Ravenna to treat
of the coronation and all else, nor could he give any
answer before their return. And so it was ; but the

Hadrian IV. < 35
Pope, on hearing of the unexpected coming of these
archbishops, felt his suspicions increase, and retired to
the fortified Civitacastellana, where he received them,
and in his turn declared that he had sent the cardinals,
and must await their return. The ambassadors had
to retire on both sides and return whence they came,
but meeting on the way, they decided to proceed all
together to Frederick, who by this time had reached
Viterbo. They did so, and in presence of the King
the negotiations were concluded, and the King swore
to respect the lives of the Pope and cardinals, and
maintain all the stipulations. There was present at
these negotiations the cardinal of St. Cecilia, Octavian,
and he appears to have had a dispute with the Pope's
legates. We already find him a friend of Frederick's,
and an object of suspicion to the Curia, which, as we
shall see, had reason not to trust him.
The conditions having been ratified by the Pope,
the place and the day of solemn meeting between the
two potentates were fixed. Frederick encamped in
the territory of Sutri at Campo Grasso, and the Pope,
reassured, and having descended from Civitacastellana
to Nepi, proceeded to the King's tent, riding in the
midst of his court, and of the German princes gone
out to meet him. But a new event occurred to spoil
the ceremony, and to reawaken suspicion in the flut
tered spirits of the cardinals and Pope. Frederick did
not advance to offer his services as squire to hold
the Pope's bridle and stirrup. The excitement of
the cardinals was extreme; the Pope, disturbed and
uncertain what to do, got off his horse unwillingly,
and sat on the throne prepared for him. But when

36 The Popes and the Hohenstaufen.
Frederick, after prostrating himself and kissing his
foot, rose again to receive the customary kiss of peace,
Hadrian severely and firmly refused to give it. " Thou
hast deprived me," he said to the King, " of the homage
which out of reverence for the apostles thy predecessors
paid to mine up to our days, nor will I bestow on thee
the kiss of peace till thou shalt have satisfied me."
All that day and the next the dispute continued touch
ing this special point in the ceremonial, and with such
acrimony that some of the cardinals, either in anger or
alarm, left the camp and retired to Civitacastellana.
The steadfast firmness of the Pope carried the day.
Frederick had too many reasons for not creating ob
stacles to his speedy coronation, and gave in. The
camp was moved on a little farther to the lake of
Monterosi, whither the Pope had also betaken him
self by another road. Here they met again, and the
King, on foot, and in the presence of the whole army,
led the Pope's horse for about a stone's throw, and
held his stirrup when he dismounted.
Hadrian and Frederick a few days later journeyed
together to Rome, and the principal subject of their
discourse was the Pope's complaints against the Romans.
Near the city they were met by the ambassadors sent
to Frederick by the senate and people of Rome. Full
of their old dreams, they spoke in the name of Rome
as lords and dispensers of that Roman Empire of which
he was come to take the crown, asking him for tribute
and an oath that he would guarantee the safety and
liberties of the city. Frederick, having first taken
counsel with the Pope and cardinals, haughtily repulsed
the Roman demands. The ambassadors left the camp

Hadrian IV. 37
and returned in anger to Rome, who, like a fallen
queen wounded in her pride, waited sullenly for the
hour of vengeance.
The Pope, who knew the humour of the Romans,
took measures accordingly. The Leonine city was in
his hands, but, lest the Romans should seize it, he
advised them to send on that same night a strong
band of soldiers to occupy it ; the Cardinal Octavian
would guide and introduce them into the city. This
was done. The next morning (18th of June 1 155),
preceded by Hadrian, who went to wait for him on
the steps of the church, Frederick, at the head of his
army and in great pomp, surrounded by the princes
and barons, entered St. Peter's, and the Pope conducted
him to worship at the shrine of the apostles. Here,
according to the accustomed rites, he was crowned
Roman Emperor, and under the domed roof the
cheers of the Germans echoed like thunder when the
imperial crown was placed on Frederick's head. The
Romans, meanwhile, had crowded to the Capitol to
take council how to hinder the coronation, when the
news reached them that the ceremony was already
accomplished. They rushed furiously to St. Peter's.
From the Trastevere and the Bridge of St. Angelo
they broke violently and in arms into the Leonine
city, while Frederick' had retired for rest to his camp
outside the walls. The few soldiers who had remained
behind and the Pope's and cardinal's followers were
swept along and killed by the populace in its head
long career. The cardinals themselves and the Pope
were in danger. The noise of the tumult reached the
camp on the side where the Duke of Saxony, Henry

38 The Popes and the Hohenstaufen.
the Lion, was resting, and he rose in a moment with
his men to confront the Romans. Frederick also was
instantly in arms, and with him the whole camp. A
terrible contest ensued, which lasted the whole day, with
great bloodshed and uncertainty. At length, towards
nightfall, the dogged fury of the populace was overcome
by the disciplined arms of the regular army, and the
Romans were driven back across the Tiber, leaving
behind them a thousand dead and some hundreds
of prisoners, without reckoning the great number of
wounded. Frederick boasted of his victory, but this bloodshed
neither gave him possession of the city nor assured
it to Hadrian. It was out of the question to try to
force an entrance into Rome, nor could he even remain
where he was, as the haughty Romans refused to have
any dealings with him, and he was in want of pro
visions for the army. He was obliged to strike his
tents, and taking with him Pope and cardinals, retire
into Sabina and cross the Tiber near Soracte. Thence,
after a halt at the monastery of Farfa, he descended
into the plains of Tivoli, to let his army rest on the
banks of the Aniene, near Ponte Lucano. There, on
the 29th of June, the Pope and Emperor celebrated
together the feast of St. Peter and St. Paul, and it
is said that on that occasion the Pope absolved the
Imperialists from the blood shed in Rome, alleging
that he who fights for his own prince commits no
murder. Then they moved to Albano. The Pope did not
cease to urge the Emperor to march against William
of Sicily and have it out with him. Nor would

Hadrian IV. 39
Frederick perhaps have been averse to the idea, but,
besides the difficulties which beset the expedition,
the air of the Campagna was beginning to be felt by
the troops, and the princes who had accompanied him
began strongly to insist on the return home. Frede
rick was obliged to put off further plans, and take
leave of the Pope without having made him master of
Rome or protected him from William, and, in truth,
leaving him in a worse condition than he was before.
Hadrian was' bitterly disappointed, but separated on
friendly terms with the Emperor, who entered Umbria
by Sabina. He met with some resistance at Spoleto,
against which he already had some grounds of dis
content, and taking it by assault, set fire to it. At
Ancona he found the Byzantine ambassadors of the
Emperor Manuel, who offered him money and assist
ance for the Sicilian expedition, but he could not
accept them, as his return home was decided on. As
far as Verona he continued his march with ease. At
the locks of the Adige he found new obstacles and
snares, which he overcame with great skill and cour
age, leaving behind him traces of stern severity to
serve as a warning to those who might meditate
resistance, and returned to Germany with increased
reputation and the crown of Emperor. Except for
this crown he had not gained much immediate advan
tage from his expedition ; but, while the Empire had
won credit and shown its strength, he had learnt to
know the Italians and had made himself known to them.
Once in Italy the chief stumbling-block for the Empire
had been the Papacy ; now the principle of municipal
freedom had risen up in opposition to the principle

40 The Popes and the Hohenstaufen.
of imperial authority and of feudal power. On one
side and the other prince and people had measured
their strength, now they stood in need of a tacit
truce during which to prepare for the inevitable
struggle.

( 41 )

CHAPTER IV.
(n 5 5-1 1 59.)
THE STRUGGLE BETWEEN HADRIAN IV. AND
FREDERICK BARBAROSSA.
On his return to Germany, Frederick turned his thoughts
to securing there his own greatness and that of the
Empire, and to establishing power and order in the
government. He made the weight of his authority
sternly felt by those smaller nobles who showed them
selves less submissive. He increased the power of his
family by making his brother Conrad Count Palatine
of the Rhine. Having divorced his first wife, Adele
of Wohburg, he married Beatrice of Burgundy, and
this alliance brought him the crown of Burgundy,
extended his influence in Provence, and enlarged the
bounds of the Empire. Thus from another side his
dominions brought him nearer to Italy, whose sub
jection continued to occupy his thoughts and guide
his policy. He settled definitely the question of the
Duchy of Bavaria, and gave it to Henry the Lion,
without discontenting the other pretender, the power
ful Henry Jasormigott, Margrave of Austria, to please
whom he raised Austria into a duchy, to which he

42 The Popes and the Hohenstaufen.
added two provinces. Boleslaus IV., Duke of Poland,
refusing to recognise his suzerainty, he marched against
him, and forced him to humble himself before him ;
and soon after at Wiirzburg the Byzantine, Bohemian,
Hungarian, Danish, and English ambassadors witnessed
the triumph of the young and powerful monarch.
Thence proceeding with the Empress to Besancon, he
set the new kingdom of Burgundy in order, and re
turning to Germany in January 1158, raised Ladislaw,
Duke of Bohemia, to the dignity of king. Scarcely
two years had passed since his return from Italy,
and the whole of Germany regarded with wonder and
delight this vigorous sovereign who had done so much
in so short a time.
But it was not in Germany that the destiny of the
Empire could be decided, interwoven as it was with
the name and fortunes of Italy, nor among so many
cares did Frederick ever forget this. Constantly since
his return there reached him the complaints of the
cities hostile to Milan and oppressed by her. Pavia,
Cremona, Bergamo especially invoked his aid, and he
promised to hasten his return, towards which he
directed all his efforts, finally determining on the second
expedition for the summer of 1 1 5 8. He was incensed
when he saw Milan, and other cities in her wake, taking
no account of his authority, maltreating the towns
faithful to him ; Tortona rising from her ashes, thanks
to the Milanese, and stronger than before. Nor, while
irritated with the Lombards, were his relations with
the Pope all that he could wish.
Hadrian had regarded Frederick's rapid return to
Germany as a desertion, and indeed he was left by it

Hadrian and Frederick Barbarossa. 43
in a sad condition, disliked by the Romans and hard
pressed by the King of Sicily. To these difficulties
was now added the division of the cardinals into two
parties, one siding with the Emperor and desirous that
the Pope should enter into close alliance with him, the
other suspicious of Frederick, and, remembering the
long discord between Church and Empire, disposed
to resume the policy of Hildebrand and make friends
again with the Normans of Sicily. At the head of
the first party was Octavian, cardinal of St. Cecilia,
the same who had been chosen at the time of the
coronation to introduce the first imperial troops into
the Leonine city. The other party, to which the
Pope adhered, was led by Roland, cardinal of St.
Mark and chancellor of the Church, a firm, sagacious
man, who, sharer in the councils and policy of Hadrian,
and convinced like him of the Church's supremacy,
was resolved to maintain it. A few months after
Frederick's departure, towards the November of 1 1 5 5,
the Pope had proceeded to Benevento, aided and incited
thereto by the Apulian barons, who were in rebellion
against William. Thence making himself the centre
of the revolt and supporting the Emperor of Con
stantinople, who was preparing an expedition against
William, he drove this latter to such extremities that
he was glad to re-enter into negotiations and offer
excellent conditions of peace. The Pope inclined to
accept them, but the majority of the cardinals opposed
him and would not hear of peace. Soon afterwards,
however, the tide turned in favour of William, who
defeated the rebels and the Byzantines and threatened
Benevento. There was nothing for it but to yield.

44 The Popes and the Hohenstaufen.
Hadrian sent Roland with other cardinals to treat,
and peace was definitely concluded, though on con
ditions far less favourable for the Pope than the for
mer ones.
The news of this peace, concluded without his con
sent, seemed to Barbarossa an infraction of the terms
come to but lately before their meeting, and the grow
ing suspicion led soon to a first rupture. While
Frederick was in Burgundy, two cardinals of great
authority presented themselves as legates from the
Pope, the chancellor Roland, and Bernard, cardinal of
St. Clement. They were received courteously, in pre
sence of the principal barons, but the greeting with
which they addressed the Emperor seemed strange to
the bystanders : " The Pope and cardinals salute you,
the one as father, the others as brethren ; " then they
handed in the papal letter. It was haughty in tone,
and in it Hadrian reproached Frederick for having
allowed in his states that the bishop of Lunden should
be despoiled with impunity and imprisoned, and to have
known of this violence and to have ignored it. That
he was so much the more surprised at such a thing,
as hardly a year had passed since the Roman Church
had conferred upon him such unbounded honour and
the imperial crown ; nor did it regret having done so,
and would have gladly been able to benefit him even
further. He feared lest some one was perversely sow
ing discord between them. He concluded by recom
mending to him the two legates, who had full powers
to treat of all matters between the Curia and Empire.
On the reading of this letter there arose an indignant
uproar among the assembled barons, and a tumultuous

Hadrian and Frederick Barbarossa. 45
scene followed. They were especially incensed at the
allusions to the imperial dignity conferred by the
Pontiff, and by the word benefit (beneficid). In those
phrases their jealous pride dreaded some pretensions
on the Pope's part to the right of conferring the crown
as a gift, and almost as a feudal benefice. They
angrily reminded the legates how at the time of the
coronation they had heard of the painting in the
Lateran representing the coronation of Lothair, with
the humiliating inscription which declared him a
liegeman of the Pope (homo Papce), and how the
latter, waiving all such pretensions, had promised that
it should be cancelled. The legates did not bow
before the storm — nay, one of them appears to have
added fuel to the flames by exclaiming, " And from
whom does the Emperor hold the Empire if not from
the Pope ? " The fury aroused by these words knew
no bounds, and the Palatine of Bavaria, Otto of Wittels-
bach, rushed with drawn sword upon the audacious
legate. Frederick restrained the excitement by the
authority of his presence, and with difficulty calmed
the tumult, covering with his person the cardinals, who
were in danger. The next morning the two legates
were dismissed, with strict orders to go straight back,
without stopping right or left in any bishop's palace
or abbey.Frederick felt the importance of being the first to
t.ell the German clergy of what had happened, and
hardly had the legates left when he sent his own
account of it to all parts of the realm. He described
the tenor of the papal letter, and the indignation which
its false and detestable expressions had aroused in the

46 The Popes and the Hohenstaufen.
princes of the Empire. He added that the legates had
been sent straight back, because there had been found
on them blank letters with the papal seal attached, to
be filled up as they chose, and he insinuated that by
their means they would have tried to despoil the altars
and carry off the treasures of the German churches.
The Empire was his by the election of the princes,
i and he held it from God alone, and it was a denial of
divine institutions to affirm that he had taken the
imperial crown as a benefice from the Pope. Let
them all stand by him against these pretensions, for
he would rather die than endure such disgrace.
It.appears that the accounts given by the two cardinals
on their return to the Curia and their lamentations
were received in different ways by the other cardinals,
according to the party to which they belonged. The
Pope, at any rate, wrote to the German bishops com
plaining bitterly of the Emperor's conduct, and begging
of them to remonstrate with him, recall him to milder
councils, and obtain from him that the chancellor
Rainold Dassel and Otto of Wittelsbach, as the prin
cipal offenders, should give satisfaction to the Church.
But this letter was not well received, and from their
answer Hadrian perceived that the bishops took the
Emperor's part. Nor was it difficult to see this ; the
bishops, though in a respectful tone, expressed them
selves clearly, and there were even signs of the answer
having been written in concert with the Emperor,
whose claims were once more put forward in it, and
more haughtily than ever.
The bishops concluded by inviting the Pope to send
fresh letters, which might conciliate the bitter feelings

Hadrian and Frederick Barbarossa. 47
of the Emperor, and Hadrian saw that this was not
the moment to persist. The necessity for yielding was
greater because Frederick had now prepared every
thing for a second expedition into Italy, and was coming
with a powerful army. Indeed, he had sent on ahead
his chancellor, Rainold Dassel, and the count palatine
Otto of Wittelsbach, to prepare the way and ensure
the fidelity and assistance of the Italian cities. Two
other cardinals were sent by Hadrian to meet Frede
rick. In June 1158 they found him at Regensburg ;
they presented themselves far more obsequiously than
the former legates, and handed to Frederick the papal
letters. In them Hadrian, after a mild complaint of
the bad reception met with by his other legates,
explained the unfortunate expressions of the former
letter in a sense satisfactory for the Emperor. The
latter accepted the explanation with apparent friendli
ness, and dismissed the cardinals courteously and in
all honour. But Frederick's mistrust was undiminished,
though he was anxious not to give Hadrian a pretext
for openly joining his enemies at the moment of his
descent into Italy.
In July 1158, accompanied by the King of Bohemia
and the flower of the German nobles, Frederick led
over the Alps the most powerful army that Italy had
seen for centuries, and with it advanced into Lombardy.
Brescia having offered some resistance, was soon reduced
to submission by the Bohemians, who formed the van
guard ; the rebuilding of Lodi, destroyed by the Milan
ese, was begun, and meanwhile all the cities friendly to
the Emperor sent men to assist in the siege of Milan.
That proud city held out for about a month, and many

48 The Popes and the Hohenstaufen.
deeds of valour were done on both sides. Famine,
however, soon made itself felt in the populous town,
which offered to surrender. Frederick was tolerably
moderate in the terms he demanded, but the liberties
of Milan were greatly reduced. The Milanese sub
mitted perforce, but were secretly resolved to shake
off the yoke on the first occasion.
After receiving the homage of the Milanese, Frede
rick dismissed a large number of the German princes
to their homes, and proceeded to Roncaglia, where he
had convoked the Italian towns to a diet. There,
before a people who had just witnessed his immense
power, the conqueror of Milan proposed to arrange the
relations between the Empire and the cities of the
Italian realm. Never perhaps had the imperial rights
been so proudly proclaimed, and in that moment the
authority of the Empire appeared absolute in Italy,
and as if it were to last for ever. The jurists of the
various cities, under the guidance of the Bolognese
doctors and carried away by the now reawakening
memories of ancient Rome and of the Justinian Code,
proclaimed in the name of the intoxicated monarch his
absolute supremacy. Every royalty ^was his, his all
feudal rights, the mints, the customs, the mills, his
even the right to appoint the city consuls or to substi
tute an officer of his own. And he who had thus been
declared lord of the whole world and whose will was
law, dictated in the diet other rules all aiming at re
stricting the rights of the communes, adjusted differ
ences between various cities, diminished as far as
possible the strength of the allies of Milan, from which
he also took away the lordship over Monza and the

Hadrian and Frederick Barbarossa. 49
territories of Seprio and Martesana. Frederick was
near the summit of his ambition. Imperial authority
had been raised in Italy to a point at which the only
opponent possible was the Pope, and for him the King
of Sicily could no longer offer sufficient protection.
His victory was undoubted, and would be complete.
Soon the glory of his empire would rival that of
Charlemagne and Otto.
Frederick had not realised that he was pursuing a
phantom, and that the building raised at Roncaglia
rested on a foundation of sand. Soon in Lombardy
the rights claimed at the diet began to seem excessive
even to the friendly cities. Their friendship for the
Empire, based as it was principally on their hatred of
neighbouring rivals, began to waver when the Empire
interfered with municipal liberties and interests. Those
cities which at first combated the discontent soon began
to share it. The Milanese, only half subdued by the
siege, were already irritated at being deprived of ter
ritory by the decree of Roneaglia, when in January
1 1 5 9 Frederick sent two legates into their city to
abolish the consuls and introduce an officer of imperial
appointment. The Milanese rose in tumult, and the
legates had to escape by flight. The same happened
at Crema when Frederick, incited to it by the entreaties
and enmity of Cremona, had sent orders to dismantle
the walls and fill up the trenches. Soon after the
Milanese openly declared war, and took armed pos
session of the castle of Trezzo, making prisoners of its
German garrison, and tried several times but vainly
to destroy the new city of Lodi, which was being built
under the auspices of the Emperor. Brescia also
CH. r>

So The Popes and the Hohenstaufen.
recovered herself and joined the Milanese. Frederick,
then at Bologna, declared the city of Milan again an
enemy of the Empire, and waited for reinforcements
from Germany. These were brought by Henry the
Lion, who accompanied also the Empress, and by Duke
Guelph, the Emperor's uncle, who had just been in
vested with the lands of the Countess Matilda, to' which
the Pope laid claim. Advancing into Lombardy and
aided by Pa via and Cremona, Barbarossa began to
harass Milan and laid a cruel siege to Crema, whose
heroic defence of seven months is among the most
glorious mentioned in history.
Hadrian IV. had meanwhile begun again to quarrel
with the Emperor, and, after having yielded on one side,
offered fresh resistance on another. The irreconcilable
principle of two supremacies rendered their two repre
sentatives irreconcilable also, and provided endless sub
jects of complaint. Lately Frederick was offended
because the Pope declined to confirm the nomination
of Guido, son of Count Guido of Biandrate, whom he
wished to propose for the archbishopric of Ravenna.
Soon after a pontifical letter was brought to the Em
peror by a poor-looking messenger, who disappeared
immediately after consigning it. The letter contained
new and bitter complaints against the exactions made
by the imperial officers after the Diet of Roncaglia
on ecclesiastical possessions. Frederick, irritated by
the tone of the letter and the unusual way it was sent,
desired his chancellor in answering it to place his
name before the Pope's, and to address him in the
second person singular. Thus he thought to remind
the Pontiff of the old imperial supremacy, and the con-

Hadrian and Frederick Barbarossa. 5 1
test waxed more bitter in spite of all that Eberhard,
bishop of Bamberg, with true apostolic zeal, could do
to moderate the Pope and to soothe Frederick. " For,''
as the good bishop wrote of the latter to a cardinal,
" you know how he is. He loves those who love him,
and turns away from others, not having yet thoroughly
learnt to love also his enemies."
In order to define the differences between them, the
Pope had sent four cardinals to the Emperor, but the
terms they had to propose appeared too hard even to
the bishop of Bamberg. The Pope demanded that the
Emperor should not send officers to Rome without his
knowledge, because there all magistracy and royalties
belonged to St. Peter. The possessions of the Pope
must not be subject to forage for the imperial troops
except at the time of the coronation. The Italian
bishops only owe the Emperor the oath of allegiance,
not that of vassalage, and the imperial ambassadors
are not to be entertained in the bishops' palaces.
Restitution must be made to the Pope of the posses
sions of the Roman Church at Tivoli, Ferrara, Massa,
Figheruolo, all the lands of the Countess Matilda, the
territory from Acquapendente to Rome, the duchy of
Spoleto, and the islands of Sardinia and Corsica.
After long and various discussions and many complaints
that Hadrian had broken the conditions by making
friends with the King of Sicily, Frederick, in repelling
these enormous pretensions, ended by saying, not with
out irony, that he should not require the oath of vassal
age from the Italian bishops if they would give up the
temporalities which were a royalty ; that the imperial
ambassadors would have no right to be entertained in

52 The Popes and the Hohenstaufen.
the bishops' palaces were it not that these, being built
on allodial land, were in reality royal palaces. Then
the Pope's affirmation that imperial officers could not
be sent to Rome, and that the magistracy and the
royalties there were papal, would involve such loss of
all power in Rome, that the Roman Emperor would be
a mere phantom sovereign, bearing an empty name.
While these matters were being discussed, there
came to Frederick's court some ambassadors from the
city of Rome to offer him peace and recognition of his
imperial rights in return for his recognition and pro
tection of the senate. Frederick received gladly these
ambassadors, who arrived so opportunely, and dismissed
them honourably, and not without hopes. At the
same time he proposed to the legates that for the
settlement of their dispute the Pope should appoint
six cardinals, he would name six bishops, and their
decision should be regarded as final. Moreover, he
announced that he would send some ambassadors com
missioned to treat with the Pope and the Romans.
In this account taken of the Romans there was an
implied threat for Hadrian, but this latter held out
firmly, and refused all arbitration, alleging that he, as
supreme Pontiff, could not submit to the judgment of
others. The ambassadors could arrange nothing with
him or with the Romans, who probably suspected that
the Emperor wanted, under the name of prefect, to
introduce a magistrate of his own into the city, and
destroy the authority, if not the name, of the senate.
Frederick's hostility to municipal freedom injured him
on every side, and Hadrian, perceiving that this free
dom contained a principle of great strength, determined

Hadrian and Frederick Barbarossa. 53
to make use of it, and addressed himself to the Lom
bard communes, encouraging them in their resistance.
During the siege of Crema a first attempt at a
league was made between the people of Milan, Brescia,
and Piacenza, who agreed in Anagni with Hadrian to
come to no terms without his consent or that of his
successors. The besieged citizens of Crema sent their
oath to the same effect. The Pope, for his part, made
the same promises to the leagued city, and even
announced to them that within forty days he would
have excommunicated their enemy. But while Had
rian was preparing to hurl his maledictions against
Frederick's arms, a sudden illness carried him off, the
1st of September 1159. A dark future lay before the
Church.

( 54 )

CHAPTER V.
(1159-1168.)
ALEXANDER III. AND THE LOMBARDS AGAINST
THE SCHISM AND THE EMPIRE.
When the body of Hadrian IV. had been brought
to Rome and buried in St. Peter's, the cardinals
met in that church to elect the new Pope. The two
parties into which they were divided confronted each
other without a restraining hand over them, and on
this election depended the complete victory of one or
other side and the future direction of the Church's
policy. Agreement was hardly possible. The majority
inclined to the election of the Cardinal Roland, .who
favoured the Sicilian alliance, and would doubtless carry
on the policy of Hadrian, but the minority offered a de
termined resistance, and proposed instead the Cardinal
Octavian. At last, after three days' struggle, on the 7 th
of September 1 1 59, Roland was elected, but the other
side did not accept its defeat, and declared for their part
Octavian to be Pope. The confusion was at its height,
and Octavian throwing himself on the papal mantle with
which the other cardinals were investing Roland, and
tearing it from them, tried to carry it off, but a senator

Alexander and the Lombards. 55
who was present took it away from him. However, his
partisans produced another mantle, which had been pre
pared in secret, and two of his chaplains arrayed him in
it. Then the doors of the church being thrown open, a
band of Octavian's armed followers entered, and he was
proclaimed Pope under the name of Victor IV. The
cardinals who had elected Roland were alarmed, and
dreading violence, they retired into the fortress an
nexed to the church, and remained shut in there for
several days, being prevented from moving by the arms
of the opposite faction. At last, for fear they should be
liberated by their friends, they were conducted thence
under a false pretence to a safer place in the Traste-
vere, but it availed nothing. Three days later, Roland
succeeded in escaping with his followers, was received
triumphantly and with acclamations by his party, but
was not strong enough to remain in Rome. He left
the city, followed by a large number of clergy and
people, and stopped at Ninfa, where he was consecrated
Pope as Alexander III. ; then, after a short stay at
Terracina, he went to Anagni. Neither could Octavian
hold out long in Rome. His consecration took place
in the monastery of Farfa, whence he went to Segni.
Thus, in order to keep near Rome, the two rivals
quartered themselves but a few miles distant from
each other in the Campagna. Then they began to
hurl excommunications at each other, and another
schism rent the Church. To succeed in the struggle,
each rival had to persuade Christendom of the validity
of his election. Both immediately sent legates and
letters to sovereigns and bishops, each telling the story
in his own way and declaring himself the true Popa

$6' The Popes and the Hohenstaufen.
and his adversary a schismatic. In the uncertainty,
Frederick's decision might have great weight from his
power in Italy and Germany, his influence through
out Europe, and his position as temporal head of Chris
tendom. So both turned to him, but with very different
hopes and feelings. Alexander III. mistrusted him,
feeling that he was not acceptable, while Octavian,
having always shown himself an imperialist and an
enemy of Sicily, hoped for his support. And even if
Frederick was really sorry for the schism, he could
hardly help leaning towards Octavian. Either on a
hint from the Emperor, or more probably of their own
accord, the two imperial ambassadors who happened
to be in Rome at the time of the election took part
with Octavian, while in the letters which this latter
and his partisans sent to the bishops and princes of
the Empire we continually find the accusation against
Alexander and his cardinals of being allied with the
King of Sicily and conspiring against the Empire. The
tone of Alexander III.'s letters is more independent
and elevated, but they betray a conviction that the
imperial sympathies are with his rival ; and, indeed,
the cardinals in writing to tell Frederick of the event
say so openly : " May it be known to your sublime
grace that Otto, Count Palatine, taking advantage of
Octavian's intrusion, gave great molestation to our
aforesaid lord and ourselves, and tried to divide the
Church of God and to disturb it in many ways. For
he violently entered the Campagna and patrimony of
St. Peter with the intruder and apostate Octavian,
trying in every way to make the land subject to him.
. . . Consider that you, in the office of your imperial

Alexander and the Lombards. 57
dignity, should protect the Church and defend her
from her opponents, and above all from heretics and
schismatics. Our wish is to honour you as the special
defender and patron of the Roman Church, and, as far
as in us lies, we desire with God the increase of your
glory. Therefore, we supplicate you to love and hon
our the Holy Roman Church your mother, to watch
over her peace and tranquillity, as it becomes the
imperial excellence, and not to favour in any way the
great iniquity of this invading schismatic." Even in
these anxious moments the traditions left by Hadrian
IV., were still in force and the prayers of the cardinals
to Frederick sounded almost like admonitions.
But Frederick was not disposed to listen. Placed
between the two pretenders, he seized the opportunity
which Lothair in the former schism had neglected, and
looking backwards at the examples left him by his
earliest predecessors, he aspired to be arbitrator in this
great struggle. By this he hoped to place again on
their former footing ecclesiastical rights, which had
gradually been changing and seeking emancipation
from the authority of the Empire. He therefore
decided to convoke a council and intimate to the two
rivals to appear before it and make good their claims.
Two bishops were commissioned to carry the letters
of invitation. In them Frederick said that the care
and protection of the Church had been committed to
him by God, and that he was greatly grieved by the
schism. In order to settle it, he summoned a council
to meet at Pavia, and convoked to it all the bishops
and clergy not only of the imperial states, but also of
other realms. The council would judge the question

58 The Popes and the Hohenstaufen.
freely, and he, in the name of God and the Catholic
Church, commanded them to present themselves before
it to hear the decision. The two messengers carried
these letters, while other letters from Frederick invited
the bishops and the higher clergy of Europe to the
council. The position of Alexander III. was ex
tremely delicate, for in refusing he might appear to
have doubts as to his cause, and would give an easy
pretext for Frederick's open enmity and for an alliance
between him and Octavian. Vet a refusal was un
avoidable. Both he and his cardinals were convinced
of Frederick's hostility, and they also felt that to
accept would be to destroy with their own hands the
principle of a Church free from and superior to all
earthly authority. After a long consultation with the
cardinals, Alexander replied to Frederick's envoys that
he recognised in the Emperor the special defender
of the Church, and would honour him above all other
princes, but that to honour him he could not offend
God. That he wondered at Frederick's want of rever
ence to the Church, which he, Alexander, represented.
His proposal was unprecedented. He was overstepping
the limits of the imperial dignity in convoking a
council without the Pope's knowledge, and summoning
him as if he had any power whatever over the Pontiff.
God had willed that he should be subject to no one,
and he could not present himself before the imperial
court without incurring, through ignorance or cowardice,
the risk of enslaving that Church for whose liberty
his predecessors had died, and for whom he too
was ready if necessary to lay down his life. This
was Alexander's answer; Octavian, on the other

Alexander and the Lombards. 59
hand, accepted the invitation and betook himself to
Pavia. Finally, after a siege of many months, Crema had to
cease from her heroic defence and surrendered. Frede
rick, in what he called his extreme clemency, spared the
citizen's lives ; those unhappy heroes were driven forth
and their city destroyed. He then opened the council
at Pavia with a speech to the bishops, in which, notwith
standing some intentional vagueness, his ideas of the
relations between the Empire and the Church came
out clearly enough. " In my office and dignity of
Emperor," he said, " I can convoke councils, especially
in moments of grave peril for the Church, as did Con-
stantine, Theodosius, Justinian, and in later times the
emperors Charlemagne and Otto. But I leave it to
your prudence and power to decide regarding this
most weighty matter ; for God made you priests and
gave you power to judge us also. And since in the
things which belong to God it is not for us to judge you,
we exhort you to act in this cause as in one which ap
pertains to God alone, and we await your judgment."
Having said these words, he retired and left them
to their deliberations. Besides a large number of abbots
and minor ecclesiastics, there were at this council about
fifty, between bishops and archbishops, chiefly from
Germany and North Italy, for from other countries
hardly any had accepted the invitation. Octavian had
an easy victory. The prelates who had come were
predisposed in his favour, and he being present, could
himself defend his cause and call witnesses. Alex
ander, on the contrary, did not recognise the council,
and had no one to defend him, while besides the

60 The Popes and the Hohenstaufen.
canonical objections which were made to him, there
were other not unfounded accusations of his conspir
ing against the Empire and in favour of the Sicilian
kingdom and of the Lombards. Octavian was declared
Pope on the I ith of February 1 160, being honoured
as such by council and Emperor ; the following day he
solemnly excommunicated Roland and his followers,
and admonished William of Sicily and the Milanese
as invaders of the rights of Church and Empire.
This blow did not shake Alexander. First of all, as a
declaration of open war, he excommunicated Frederick
and renewed the anathemas against Octavian and his
accomplices. In this way he proudly proclaimed his
authority, and in freeing the subjects of the Empire
from all duty of obedience and fealty, he encouraged the
revolt of the Lombards and created divisions in Ger
many. A clever and energetic diplomatist, he sent
continually to the bishops in all parts of Europe letters
combining dignity with insinuating gentleness, defend
ing his rights and urging them to plead for the same
before people and kings. He was specially anxious tq
obtain the recognition of the courts of France and
England, and was supported in this by the French,
Norman, and English bishops. And in truth Frede
rick, in spite of many efforts, could not get the sove
reigns of these two countries to abandon a reserve
which was if anything favourable to Alexander, and
which later changed into an open recognition of his
claim. The cruel fate of Crema had not diminished the
Lombards' aversion to imperial rule nor their resist
ance, which their alliance with the Pope served to for-

Alexander and the Lombards. 61
ward in every way. Milan, Brescia, Piacenza were
in arms, and Barbarossa determined to cut the knot
by destroying Milan. It was a long and arduous un
dertaking ; nor would he have succeeded but for the
assistance of those Lombard cities whose municipal
jealousy aroused a blind fury against their powerful
sister. For a whole year there was constant warfare
round Milan, with alternating results and a cruel de
struction of the vast surrounding plain, Then towards
the spring of 1 161, after the arrival of reinforcements
from Germany and Hungary, the town was shut in
more closely and an atrocious siege lasted for another
year. At length the flower of the resisting forces
being killed, disease and hunger having done their
worst, the last munitions being consumed, Milan sur
rendered at discretion. The fall and misery of the
great city touched even her enemies, and they invoked
for her Frederick's clemency ; but the stern statesman
met their supplications with a countenance of stone.
He felt the necessity of a terrible example which might
once for all stifle every hope of resistance. Milan
was utterly destroyed by pillage and fire, and seemed
to have disappeared for ever from the face of the
earth. To those Milanese who survived the siege were
assigned four localities where they might settle, not
very far from the ruined city. It would have been.
difficult to provide for them otherwise, yet a con
temporary chronicler reproached Frederick afterwards
with his mistake in leaving the Milanese so near their
old home as to be tempted to rebuild it. But how could
he have feared it then ? The power of Barbarossa was

62 The Popes and the Hohenstaufen.
at that time unbounded in Lombardy. Piacenza and
Brescia, giving up all idea of resistance, accepted his
hard conditions, dismantled their walls, received the im
perial officers, gave money and hostages, and recognised
the Emperor's Pope, while the bishop of Piacenza, who
opposed him, went to rejoin Alexander III. in exile.
Many other cities submitted to the potent monarch, and
the imperial rights proclaimed some years before at
Roncaglia were at last in full force. The Lombard
cities, in losing their dearly-prized liberty, were reap
ing the fruit of their discords. It was a bitter fruit,
but destined to act upon them as a healing medicine.
After the subjection of Lombardy and the firmer foot
hold gained in Northern Italy, it seemed easier for
Frederick to realise his plan of extending his rule, or
at least his direct influence, over the whole of the penin
sula ; but Alexander III.'s strong yet flexible nature
was always there to oppose his designs. While he was
fighting in Lombardy, Alexander, except for a short
stay in Rome, rendered soon untenable by his adver
saries, had remained in the Campagna, harassed by
the imperial troops, which had taken possession of
almost the whole patrimony of St. Peter. Gradually all
Europe and the East had recognised him, leaving Frede
rick alone in his support of Octavian, but the difficulty
of holding out in the Campagna, notwithstanding sup
port from Sicily, increased, so that he resolved to leave
Italy. Accompanied by his court, he betook himself to
France, the faithful refuge of exiled Popes, thinking
truly that he could thence exercise a more direct influ
ence on the French and English kings, and counter
act the activity of the Emperor against him. Having

Alexander and the Lombards. 63
embarked at Capo Circello on board the Sicilian gal
leys, he stopped at Genoa, and entering France by
Provence, was received everywhere with great honours.
Writing from Genoa to Eberhard, bishop of Salzburg,
who was his stoutest champion in Germany, he ex
horted him to admonish the Emperor to abandon the
schism and return to the Church, when all past wrongs
would be forgotten. But while he offered peace he did
not suspend warfare, and soon after, in the spring of
1 162, at Montpellier he solemnly repeated the sentence
of excommunication, against Octavian and Frederick ;
also, while trying everywhere in Germany and Italy
to draw all men over to his cause, he incited the clergy
in a thousand ways to resist Octavian, which meant
resisting Frederick. This latter had convoked two
more synods at Lodi and Cremona, and in both the
decisions of the synod of Pavia were confirmed ; but he
could not avoid seeing that among the German and
Italian bishops Alexander's adherents continued to in
crease, either openly or in secret, and that even among
those most obsequious to himself many accepted Octa
vian with reserve. He therefore resolved, at whatever
cost, to overthrow his dangerous adversary, and as a
first step tried to deprive him of his present asylum.
After so prolonged an absence, Frederick felt that
his return to Germany was imperative, and indeed
Lombardy was so wasted that an army could no longer
subsist there. He deputed some officers to hold the
province and keep it down, and then crossed the Alp3,
but not before he had addressed Louis VII. of France,
profiting by the threatening attitude of England, to try
to gain him over to himself and separate him entirely'

64 The Popes and the Hohenstaufen.
from the Pope. Louis hesitated ; by nature irresolute,
and advised by some round him who were in favour of
an alliance with the Emperor, he treated with Frederick,
and even entered into relations with Octavian, but
without breaking with Alexander, who, however, saw
what was going on and felt anxious. It wa,s settled
that on the 29th of August 1 162 Frederick and Louis
should have an interview on the banks of the Saone near
St. Jean de Losne, where the French kingdom adjoined
Burgundy, which was subject to Frederick. Henry of
Troves, brother-in-law of the king, who wished for the
alliance in order to estrange Louis from Henry II. of
England, agreed to certain conditions for the interview.
The two sovereigns were to bring with them the two
pretenders to the papacy, and to recognise as the true
Pope the one judged to be such by the highest mag
nates of the two realms, both ecclesiastical and lay. If
one of the pretenders should decline to appear, the
claims of the other should be acknowledged without
further delay. Later the King of France asserted that
Henry of Troyes went beyond his instructions, and had
no authority to agree to such conditions. Meanwhile
Alexander, perceiving the serious danger of such an
interview, did all in his power to hinder it, and be
sieged with letters and messengers all those who might
directly or indirectly influence the king. He partly
succeeded, for he himself had an interview with Louis
only a few days before he was to meet the Emperor.
He could not dissuade the king from the meeting, but
he was able to convince him that he, the Vicar of
Christ, could not bow before any human tribunal, and
instead of accompanying him himself, he sent some

Alexander and the Lombards. 65
cardinals with him to support his cause, and left the
king well secured against the imperial flatteries.
The King of France advanced hesitatingly towards
the banks of the Saone, anxious not to keep the in
cautious promises of Henry of Troyes, but uncertain
how to act. He also had suspicions of Frederick, who,
besides his Pope, the King of Denmark, and a great
many other bishops and princes, brought with him a
considerable army. Frederick also had his suspicions,
and foresaw Alexander's influence on the mind of Louis.
However, early on the day fixed, he presented himself
with Victor IV. on the bridge where the meeting was
to take place, but not finding the king there, he retired.
Later Louis arrived, and without waiting to see whether
the Emperor would return, he also promptly departed.
Thus the interview did not take place, perhaps be
cause neither of the princes wished for it. But the
next day, at Dijon, Henry of Troyes, by threatening
to transfer his allegiance to the Emperor, induced
Louis to promise again that he would return in three
weeks for a colloquy, and would, as well as the Empe
ror, accept the decision of a congress. This promise
disturbed Alexander. It was out of the question he
should yield and present himself at that congress ;
and he now saw Louis falling into the hands of the
Emperor. But he did not lose heart. He redoubled
his instances, so that if the King of France could not
avoid Frederick, he might at least not be shaken by
him ; and in order to detach Louis from every idea
of an imperial alliance, he made efforts to draw over to
him the King of England, who, at least for the moment,
and for the sake of hindering an alliance dangerous to
CH. b

66 The Popes and the Hohenstaufen.
himself also, willingly seconded these efforts. This
clever move disconcerted Frederick. His meeting with
the king did not take place ; for in his discouragement
he began to think of retiring, not being in a position to
enter suddenly on a campaign against the two monarchs
who were entering into an alliance before his eyes.
He did not go to meet the king, and sent in his stead
his chancellor, Dassel, who refused to recognise the con
ditions agreed to ; so that Louis, declaring himself free
from every obligation towards the Emperor, turned his
back on the chancellor and returned to Dijon, glad to
have got off so easily.
Before leaving Burgundy for Germany, Frederick
held a diet at D61e, in which Victor IV. defended
afresh the validity of his election, and repeated his
excommunication of Alexander. But the skilful policy
of this latter assured him a triumph at this time.
After a meeting with Henry II. of England at Cha-
teauroux, he saw him again, a few days later, at Couci-
sur-Loire, together with the King of France. There
the two monarchs, with great ostentation of reveren
tial homage, solemnly proclaimed, before the Empire
and the world, that the Pontiff who had united them
was the true Pope ; and Alexander's position as head
of Christendom was assured. The rivalry of Octavian,
who was no longer formidable, thus almost disappeared,
and the struggle, losing its personal character, became
again one of vast interests and principles between the
Papacy and the Empire. This was now to be the great
object of all Alexander's and Frederick's most tenacious
efforts. Though transferred for a moment to France, the

Alexander and the Lombards. 67
real seat of this struggle was always Italy, and on it
was fixed the gaze of the two sagacious adversaries,
though neither of them could return there just then.
Frederick was obliged to stay some time longer in
Germany, where much internal discord required his
restraining hand. Lombardy meanwhile was being
cruelly oppressed. The imperial officers, without
mercy or restraint, and with a rapacity that knew
no bounds, were wringing the last drop from those
populations, already chafing at the loss of their liber
ties. The victims, suffering from every form of griev
ance and hardship, vainly pleaded for j ustice ; the only
answer to their supplications were heavier burdens
and increased extortions. The recent recollection
of defeat and the terrible example of Milan warned
them to be patient, so that the unhappy provinces
were reduced to wishing for Frederick's return, think
ing that the sight of their miseries would move him
to relieve them. False hope ! Barbarossa returned
with a small army, but he paid little heed to the
lamentations which resounded on all sides, and the
oppression grew daily more grievous. The measure of
sorrow and suffering was heaped up. While Frederick
was engaged in appointing one of his creatures as
king in Sardinia, without estranging Genoa and Pisa,
who were disputing with each other the possession of
the island, some signs of resistance began to appear.
Encouraged by Venice and leagued together, Verona,
Padua, and Vicenza revolted, and swore to defend each
other mutually, and not to yield to the Empire any
right not included in ancient custom. This was the
nucleus of a wider league ; and Barbarossa, who felt

68 The Popes and the Hohenstaufen.
this, and had no sufficient army with him to quell
those cities, sought to pacify them ; but the attempt
failed. Calling in the assistance of Pavia, Mantua,
and Ferrara, which he loaded with privileges, he tried
to advance against the allies, which had been joined
by Treviso and a tract of the neighbouring country ;
but they presented themselves in such strong force
that he was obliged to retire without risking a battle.
In the meantime the ecclesiastical questions had
become further complicated. The antipope, Octavian,
had died at Lucca, and the chancellor, Rainald Dassel,
archbishop of Cologne, a fierce imperialist, and afraid,
perhaps, that the Emperor himself might come to
terms with Alexander III., obtained the election of
one of the two remaining schismatic cardinals, Guido
of Crema, who took the name of Paschal III. Frede
rick accepted him as true Pope, and tried hard, after '
his return to Germany, to get him recognised by the
Italian and German bishops. In both countries, how
ever, he found the whole episcopate not only hesitating,
but opposed to an election with so little pretension to
legality. Conrad of Wittelsbach, archbishop- elect Of
Mentz, rather than yield, went into exile in France
near Alexander ; the archbishops of Trier and Magde
burg, the bishops of Salzburg and Brixen, held out ;
many others submitted in appearance only to the
imperial will. This ecclesiastical opposition, which
increased the turmoil of fresh discords in Germany
then harassing the Empire, was well known to the
Lombards and encouraged them.
Nor was it from this side only that encouragement
came. Alexander III. had not remained inactive all

Alexander and the Lombards. 69
this time, and after visiting at Paris the King of France,
who received him with great honour, he had called a
council at Tours, to which bishops from all parts had
presented themselves, and even many of the Germans
had written to Alexander giving in their secret adhe
rence. Having thus strengthened his own position
and cut off Octavian from all support except that of
the Emperor, he began to feel his way towards a recon
ciliation with the latter; but Frederick brought up again
the question of the legality of the election, insisting on
its being decided by arbitration, so that the negotiations
soon came to an end. Then Alexander carried on the
struggle, and did all he could to keep alive the wrath
of Lombardy. His letters written from France, and
those of the prelates who followed his fortunes, show
what hopes he placed in the league of the Lombards
and in their undaunted spirit of revolt and of resistance
to servitude. By open and by secret means he animated
them, and at the same time did not lose sight of the
other courts, trying to be on friendly terms with them
and to destroy their confidence in Frederick. With
Louis of France, with the court of Sicily, he was closely
allied, while he had constant communications with
the Emperor of Constantinople and with Venice, both
declared enemies of Barbarossa. He made continual
efforts to draw all these powers into closer harmony in
favour of the Church, while Frederick, feeling his isola
tion and the network of enmity which surrounded him,
was watching for the point where he could best break
through and destroy it.
Henry II. of England, in spite of the homage paid
to the Pope at Couci-sur-Loire, had not remained a

70 The Popes and the Hohenstaufen.
devout and steadfast adherent like Louis VII. Besides
its being very difficult for the Pope to be equally ac
ceptable to two potentates who had so many motives
of mutual suspicion, a serious cause of discontent had
arisen between Alexander and Henry. It grew out of
that jealous care characteristic of English history in the
Middle Ages, with which the royal prerogatives were
guarded against ecclesiastical interference, and which
was at that moment maintained with extreme rigour.
We must touch upon it here only on account of its influ
ence on the relations between Church and Empire. The
contest which William Rufus had sustained with the
gentle but inflexible piety of Anselm was now repeated
with more bitterness between men of very different tem
pers. Thomas Becket, when he succeeded the learned
and prudent Theobald in the see of Canterbury, had
altered his habits, not his character, which was noble
but excessive even in good, and pugnacious in spite
of frequent gleams of humility and charity. To the
struggle between the archbishop of Canterbury and
the King of England Alexander could not remain
indifferent, and as in the interests of the Church of
Canterbury were involved the interests and principles
of the universal Church, the Pope supported the arch
bishop. But it was a delicate matter. The king had
warm and not disinterested friends in the Curia and
among the Pope's most influential counsellors, while a
not inconsiderable part of the English clergy were
adverse to Becket, whose defence was rendered more
difficult by his often intemperate zeal. Add to this
— and hence the connection between this important
ecclesiastical episode and our history — that the schism,

Alexander and the Lombards. ji
though less threatening, was not yet entirely quenched,
and might still, not probably but possibly, be rekindled
if Henry joined the Emperor and succeeded in carry
ing with him part of his clergy.
Nor did Frederick omit to seek an alliance with the
King of England, and this latter, taking advantage of
the opportunity, responded to his advances, and con
tinued in this way to threaten Alexander until the
final tragic scene of this controversy with Becket.
Still this alliance, which deprived Alexander of a
strong support and rendered the greatest circumspec
tion necessary in his dealings with the English king,
did not essentially change Frederick's position in his
struggle with the Pope. This latter was now well
rooted in his place, and though he might be shaken,
he could not be overturned, and intended now to re
enter Italy and find himself on the principal battle
field. As soon as his vicar, the cardinal of Saints
John and Paul, had gained for him so much loyalty
among the Romans as secured his being able to stay
in Rome, Alexander left the hospitable coast of France
in September 1165, and in November touched at
Messina. The King of Sicily sent him rich gifts from
Palermo, and gave orders that five galleys and some
important personages of the realm should accompany
him to Rome. He was received there with solemn
pomp, and amid the acclamations of the people went
in procession to take up his abode in the Lateran. It
was the sixth year of his pontificate.
Frederick had returned some time before to Ger
many, and while trying to strengthen order and gov
ernment, he was intent on preparing such an army as

72 The Popes and the Hohenstaufen.
might once for all, if led into Italy, put a stop to the
innumerable hindrances which met him from one end
to the other of the peninsula. With his mind full of
the majesty of the Holy Roman Empire, he had wished
to reawaken reverence for it in other minds by pro
curing special honours for its great founder, whom he
admired and longed to imitate. Paschal III. canon
ised Charlemagne on the Christmas-day of 1165 at
Aix-la-Chapelle ; but that hero did not rise from his
uncovered tomb, nor did his times return. The ages
had brought great changes. Papacy, Empire, and
people, and the entire atmosphere of thoughts and
hopes that surrounded them, were no longer the same ;
different also was the arduous and less fruitful labour
which destiny had reserved for Barbarossa's tenacious
spirit. Encouraged by his absence, the Lombards took up
an attitude of more open defiance. The troops were
often insufficient to suppress the frequent tumults in
the subject cities, and at Bologna the imperial lieu
tenant was even killed by the populace. In Sicily
the death of William I., to whom, under his mother's
regency, succeeded William II., later called the Good,
had not altered the friendly understanding with the
Pope. On the contrary, this was strengthened, and
to a certain extent it was cemented, by the Emperor
Manuel of Constantinople, who, hostile to Barbarossa,
and anxious to take his place in Italy, paid court to
both the young prince and the Pope, flattering this
latter with the mirage of reunion with the Greek
Church, and asking in exchange the Roman crown of
Empire. Alexander, prudent, and incredulous of the

"Alexander and the Lombards. 73
result, began nevertheless negotiations with a view to
isolating Frederick and causing him anxiety. Venice,
Sicily, and Constantinople were united in a common
object, and were masters of the Adriatic, while in the
Mediterranean, Pisa, and still more Genoa, though
friendly to the Emperor, could not always be depended
on. Therefore, with the sea shut in great part against
him, and with opposition in the interior, it had become
necessary for him to reconquer Italy or to abandon
her altogether. He sent on ahead with the vanguard
the archbishop of Cologne, Rainald Dassel, and followed
himself, determined to strike a decisive blow. Rainald
moved towards Rome, and encamping round it, drew
over a large part of the Campagna into obedience
to Paschal III., then residing at Viterbo, which had
become a centre of operations for the imperialists.
Barbarossa, on his descent into Lombardy, devastated
the districts of Brescia and Bergamo, then advanc
ing, avenged at Bologna the death of his lieutenant,
ravaged Romagna, and stationed himself before Ancona,
which was a key to the Adriatic, and the safest har
bour for the Greek fleets. By seizing on this town
he hoped to give a death-blow to Byzantine interests,
and to place himself in a commanding position between
Venice and Sicily. The siege of Ancona began.
He met with stout resistance ; while in Lombardy
the league of Verona had set an example, which early
in 1 167 Bergamo, Brescia, Cremona, and Mantua fol
lowed. Soon afterwards the dispersed citizens of Milan
swore to the conditions of the famous league, which
was to rescue Lombardy, and, when it was formed, its
members met again at the abbey of Pontida for the

74 The Popes and the Hohenstaufen.
discussion of their projects. Putting aside their fra
ternal enmity to the queen of Lombard cities, they
decided that Milan must be rebuilt, and raised as a
war-standard against the oppressor. On April 27,
1 1 67, the troops of the confederates appeared before
the fallen city, to assist in her reconstruction, and to
defend her in case of attack on the part more espe
cially of Pavia, the faithful ally of the Empire. Milan
rose from her ruins. The league began to spread,
other towns joined it, and on every side fortifications
were raised, walls rebuilt, preparations were made for
war, and men's hearts beat high.
The Pope gave his warmest blessing to this zeal and
harmony, in which he saw his surest support in present
difficulties. He scattered all the gold he had among
the leading men in Rome, and was regarded with a
friendly eye by the Romans in general, thanks to their
hatred of the neighbouring cities, who favoured the
Empire, and especially of Tusculum. The republican
rule in Rome had encouraged the formation of a city
militia so numerous as to give some anxiety to the
archbishop of Cologne, who found himself at Tusculum
with insufficient forces. The Emperor sent him rein
forcements led by another archbishop, Christian of
Buch, a clever and very warlike man, whom he had
intruded into Mentz in place of Conrad of Wittels
bach. The Romans, deaf to the Pope's dissuasions,
advanced boldly and in great numbers against the two
archbishops to Monte Porzio on the Tusculan hills,
but being surrounded, suffered a tremendous defeat,
and escaping with difficulty, were pursued as far as
Rome, leaving the battlefield and the line of flight

Alexander and the Lombards. 75
strewn with corpses. The discouragement and distress
were great, and funeral lamentations filled the streets.
The Pope, on seeing the danger, collected what soldiers
he could, had the weaker parts of the wall strengthened
and prepared for resistance, as the imperial troops
were already encamped before the city. Frederick,
entreated by the archbishop of Mentz, made peace
with Ancona, and advancing rapidly, appeared with
his army on the heights of Monte Mario. The follow
ing day, coming down the hill, he attempted to storm
the walls, but was repulsed by the Pope's soldiers.
After another furious assault behind the castellated
church of St. Peter, the imperialists, enraged by resist
ance, made good their entrance. The neighbouring
church of St. Maria in Torri was set fire to, and the
flames attacked the vestibule of the very basilica. The
Emperor's nephew, Frederick of Rotenburg, son of
King Conrad III., a handsome and courageous knight,
amidst blinding flames broke open the temple doors
with his battle-axe, and the armed tide, among the
rest the two archbishops, burst in, spreading blood and
slaughter up to the polluted tomb of the apostles.
Fearing the complete destruction of the church, the
Papal troops surrendered. Then the antipope was
hastily enthroned there, and the Emperor had the
Empress crowned with great pomp.
The left bank of the Tiber was not yet in Barbarossa's
hands. The Pope, who some time before had retired
near the Coliseum, where the Frangipane were fortified,
was in constant communication with the cardinals and
bishops as to what could be done in such a strait. The
King of Sicily had lately sent by the Tiber two galleys

y6 The Popes and the Hohenstaufen.
and a large sum of money, to be used, the former for
flight, the second for defence, according as they were
needed. Alexander distributed the money among the
Roman nobles who were on his side, and among the
guards at the gates, and sent away the galleys with two
cardinals, but would not himself abandon Rome. In
that dark hour he still felt himself strong, and perhaps
did not despair of coming to at least a temporary under
standing with Frederick while the Romans continued
to support him. Certainly he allowed Conrad of Wittels
bach, the fugitive archbishop of Mentz, to pay the
Emperor a visit. This latter, seizing the opportunity,
commissioned Conrad to propose to the bishops and
cardinals that Alexander and Paschal should both of
them give up the Papacy, and that a third person should
be chosen freely in their stead. He also informed the
Romans of his proposal, promising if it was carried into
effect to return all the prisoners and the booty that
remained after the defeat of Monte Porzio. The bishops
and cardinals unanimously and unhesitatingly rejected
this proposal," but the people ui'ged that Alexander
should give way, in order to save his flock in this
emergency, and should give up the Papacy. Alexander,
after secretly taking counsel with a few cardinals, sud
denly disappeared. Three days later he was seen with
some attendant taking refreshment at the foot of Monte
Circello, then by Terracina and Gaeta he retired to
Benevento, where the cardinals who had remained
behind joined him, clinging to their head, says Alexan
der's biographer, as limbs of a single body.
When Alexander had left the town, the Romans

Alexander and the Lombards. yy
made terms with Frederick, taking an oath of obedience,
and subordinating to his authority the appointment and
power of the senate. The appearance on the Tiber of
eight Pisan galleys contributed probably to overcome
their opposition, as also the announced approach of a
large fleet of ships ready at a signal from the Emperor
to attack Rome and Sicily. The power of Frederick
had now reached its summit. Master of Rome, with
the Pope a fugitive, strong in his own arms and in the
Pisan ships, he was preparing to attack the King of
Sicily, utterly crush his forces, then return to quell the
rebellious Lombards, and having at length made him
self master of Italy, he would show himself to the world
as the real head of the revived Empire of Charlemagne.
Destiny willed otherwise. It was now August ; the
sun was burning the arid Campagna and oppressing
the weary German troops. A slight rain came to re
fresh them, but the following day sudden destruction
fell upon the camp. Deadly fever attacked the army
with terrible violence and reduced it daily. The men
fell in heaps, and when struck down in the morning-
were dead by night. The disease took stronger hold
owing to the superstitious fears of the army and the
idea of divine vengeance, for the soldiers remembered
in terror the profanation of St. Peter's, and they felt
the keen edge of the destroying angel's sword. De
cimated, dismayed, demoralised, the imperial army
was hopelessly defeated, and Frederick was compelled
to strike his tents and fly before the invisible destroyer.
Pursued by this foe, he led what remained of his unfor
tunate forces towards the Tuscan highlands, losing great

78 The Popes and the Hohenstaufen.
numbers by the way. The flower of his troops lay
unburied in the furrows, and with difficulty could he
manage to carry back to their native land the bodies
of his noblest and trustiest knights. Never perhaps
before had Frederick given proofs of such unshaken
strength of mind. The most tenacious supporters of
his plans, the most valiant sharers of his perils, had
fallen one by one before that inglorious foe. The high
chancellor-archbishop of Cologne, Rainald Dassel, was
a corpse, and stiffened in death lay the arm of young
Frederick of Suabia, who but a few days before had
struck so vigorously at the portals of St. Peter's. The
bishops of Liege, Spires, Ratisbon, Verden all dead,
dead also Duke Guelph of Bavaria, and hundreds of
other nobles and churchmen. On this desolate march
Frederick dragged along the survivors as best he could
with him into Tuscany, and delayed there but a few
days while the disease still lingered among them. Not
being able to follow the usual roads, which were barred
by the Lombards in arms, he took to the hills, and by
rough paths reached Pavia. Having gathered together
the scattered remnants, and assisted by some city still
faithful, by the Count of Biandrate and the Marquis of
Montferrat, he attempted in some small engagements
to ravage the Milanese territory during the winter ; but
the superior forces of Lombardy enclosed him as in an
iron ring, so that he had to make use of craft to get
out of Italy in safety. Under the protection of Hum
bert, Count of Maurienne, he arrived with a few men
at Susa, whence, owing to the threats of the citizens
risen in revolt, he had great difficulty in escaping by

Alexander and the Lombards. 79
night across the Alps. He returned to Germany alone
and almost a fugitive, his bravest knights dead, his
army destroyed, and leaving behind him a whole nation
of proud and watchful enemies. He returned alone,
but his spirit was undaunted and dreamt of future
victory and of final revenge.

( 80 )

CHAPTER VI.
(1168-1181.)
THE BATTLE OF LEGNANO AND THE PEACE OF
VENICE— DEATH OF ALEXANDER III.
The absence of Barbarossa did not lull to sleep the
courageous activity of the leagued Lombards, who
made their preparations in expectation of his return.
The league spread rapidly, and in a short time the
greater part of the cities and territories of Venetia,
Lombardy, and Piedmont were in a confederation
against the Emperor, against those cities like Pavia
which still sided with him, and against the feudal lords.
Having tried their strength in some engagements,
such as the taking of the castle of Biandrate, the cities
of the league determined, as a greater safeguard
against any future invading army, to build a strong
city on the spot where the waters of the Tanaro and
Bormida unite, in such a position as to guard almost
every entrance into Lombardy. This city rose with
astonishing rapidity, and many flocked to it, so that in
a short time it numbered 15,000 inhabitants. The
aim of its foundation was sufficiently marked by the
name of Alessandria, which it received in honour of

The Battle of Legnano. 81
Alexander III. This Pope never ceased to encourage
the confederates, assisted by the Lombard clergy, who
were headed by Galdinus, the archbishop of Milan, a
sworn enemy of the Emperor and the antipope. Thus
while the League grew stronger, everything else in
Italy was also going against the Empire. Pisa and
Genoa, always suspicious of each other, and often in
open conflict, attended far more to their own than to
the imperial interests. Nay, Genoa, without actually
joining the League, regarded it with favour, and even
helped it with money, while both the republics, each
on its own account, had entered into friendly negotia
tions with the King of Sicily, although as yet without
result. William II., for his part, also sent assistance
and money, and the Emperor Manuel Comnenus did
the same, notwithstanding the fresh discords which
had arisen between the courts of Palermo and Byzan
tium, in consequence of which Sicily drew closer to
Venice, who was jealous of Manuel's influence in Ancona,
and of the power which that influence gave him in
the Adriatic.
Meantime the Pope was attending to his own in
terests by making much of France, and being very
prudent, even yielding, with England, until the murder
of Becket assured him an advantage over Henry II.
With Manuel, still ambitious of the Western crown, he
was extremely courteous, without however compromis
ing himself or giving way in anything, although the
Emperor to ingratiate himself with Rome had given a
niece of his in marriage to one of the Frangipane. Most
of all the Pope trusted in Sicily and in the Lombards,
and leant on these last as on his surest support. It was
c.h. v

82 The Popes and the Hohenstaufen.
in Rome that Alexander's authority was weakest, and for
some years he did not reside there, but alternated between
Benevento and some cities of the Campagna, and for a
long time lived at Tusculum, partly to be near Rome,
and partly to preserve that unlucky town from the rage
of the Romans, always intent on its destruction. Neither
was the life of the antipope, Paschal III., a happier one.
The dislike or disdain of the Romans kept him shut
off behind the right bank of the Tiber, but for a short
time only, for on the 20th of September 1 168 he died.
His partisans chose for his successor the abbot, John
of Struma, who took the name of Calixtus III. ; but the
schism was exhausted, and he was a mere phantom
rival to Alexander. This latter, though hardly master
of his temporal possessions, had acquired on the other
hand a most extensive authority as the henceforth
undisputed spiritual head of the universal Church.
Neither did this fact escape Barbarossa, whose intui
tion regarding things and men was very clear, even
when he over-estimated his own strength. On his
return from Italy in 1 168, he had found Germany in
a troubled state, and had applied himself immediately
with his usual energy to restore order in the kingdom.
The principal promoters of intestine war and feudal
rebellion had been the two most powerful men in Ger
many, the Saxon Henry the Lion and the northern Mar
grave, Albert the Bear, who were at mortal enmity.
Frederick did all he could to pacify them, though
inclined to favour Henry on account of old friendship,
and because he hoped to be supported by him in his
plans. But, notwithstanding this hope, he felt the
need of strengthening and providing for himself and

The Battle of Legnano. 83
his house against the overweening power of the prin
cipal barons. Hence, in April 1 1 6g, he obtained the
election of his son Henry as King of the Romans, and
had him crowned at Aix-la-Chapelle in August by the
new archbishop, Philip of Cologne. To his brother
Conrad he gave the Palatinate of the Rhine, and re
covered for his family the duchy of Suabia, left vacant
by the death of Frederick of Rotenburg, whose allodial
possessions he also added to his own. He provided for
his other son, and, profiting by the hesitation of Henry
the Lion, who aspired to the succession but was un
willing to pay for it, he bought at a high price from
the prodigal old Duke Guelph VI., who had no direct
heirs, the right of succession to his fiefs of Tuscany
and Bavaria. This act increased considerably his power
both in Italy and Germany, but occasioned him also
the enmity of the Saxon Henry.
While thus securing the power of his house and
kingdom, Frederick did not forget Italy nor the eccle
siastical problem, which became daily more serious.
The protection which he could extend to the antipope,
Calixtus III., was insufficient even in Germany, where,
at least secretly, the conscience of the clergy was with
Alexander. For a moment Frederick hoped to re
kindle the schism by gaining over Henry II. of Eng
land, but the attempt failed, and he was forced to be
cautious, for fear of forfeiting the consent of the barons
at the Diet of Bamberg to the election of his son as
King of the Romans. He wisely thought of sending
an embassy to Alexander III., which, without making
any concessions, should raise hopes in Germany of a
conciliation with the Church, and at the same time

84 The Popes and the Hohenstaufen.
arouse the suspicions of the Lombards and the Sicilian
king against the Pope. He chose as messenger the
Bishop Eberhard of Bamberg, a man much esteemed
for the wise moderation shown by him throughout this
controversy. The bishop reached Italy with the power
of concluding peace according to his instructions, but
under the obligation of not revealing these instructions
to any one but the Pontiff himself. The Pope, fore
seeing this, and perceiving that the Emperor's object
was to sow dissensions between him and the League,
had already told the Lombards that he should con
clude nothing without them, and had invited them to
depute some trusty citizens to be present at his inter
view with the bishop. Eberhard saw the Pope at
Veroli, and insisted on unfolding to him alone the
conditions of his mission. These conditions were in
reality deceptive. The Emperor demanded that the
Pope and his cardinals should recognise the election of
his son Henry, and accept as legitimate the schis
matic bishops, while he, for his part, would recognise
Alexander's ordinations ; but as to Alexander him
self, he expressed himself vaguely, nor did he state
whether he would or would not recognise him as lawful
Pope. In the presence of the cardinals and the Lom
bards Alexander gave his answer. He told Eberhard
he wondered at his simplicity in accepting a mission
from one so crafty. To recognise his ordinations, and
then not to recognise him, Alexander, as Pope, was
like worshipping God in part and in part denying
Him. His cause had by this time been judged by
the whole of God's Church, and by every other king
and prince. If Frederick wished to re-enter the Catho-

The Battle of Legnano. 85
lie fold, let him bow his head before the Prince of
the Apostles. For his part, he was ready to do him
honour above every other prince on earth, if he would
only show filial affection and maintain the liberty
of the Roman Church, which had raised him to the
Empire. Thus the good bishop met with no success,
and leaving Veroli with a Lombard escort, returned to
the Emperor.
The Emperor, meanwhile, having got the princes to
elect his son, declared roundly that he would not ac
knowledge Alexander, and countenanced the antipope,
while preparing for another Italian expedition. Having
failed in separating the Lombards from the Pope and
King of Sicily, there was no choice but to conquer by
force of arms, and this without delay, as the League
was now paramount in Italy, and even his faithful
Pavia had been obliged to give in and join it. Since
he could not leave Germany at once, he sent in 1 1 7 2
an army corps under Christian of Buch, archbishop of
Mentz, to engage in political or martial action as oc
casion demanded, and to serve as a warning to the pre
sumptuous Italians. The warlike archbishop tried to
strengthen Genoa's friendly feelings towards the Em
peror, and to gain him here and there the goodwill of
Tuscany, then proceeded to lay fresh siege to Ancona,
with the assistance of ships from Venice, who neglected
the interests of the League out of jealousy towards
Constantinople. Ancona, though enclosed by land and
sea, held out stoutly for six months, and then being
succoured by her allies, obliged her enemies to raise
the siege and retire.
At length Barbarossa crossed the Alps. He had

86 The Popes and the Hohenstaufen.
with him some princes and bishops, but far fewer than
on the former occasion, and Henry the Lion was not
among them. Mindful of the affront suffered, Frede
rick went to Susa and destroyed it ; then descending
through Piedmont, moved towards Lombardy. On his
way he stopped before Asti, which surrendered. The
Marquis of Montferrat, the towns of Alba, Acqui,
Pavia, and Como, the Count of Biandrate, encouraged
by his presence, deserted the League and joined him
again. Frederick marched against the new town of
Alessandria. Built in opposition to him, named after
his greatest enemy, that city represented to him an
injury and an insult. It must be destroyed.
He began the siege, but the Lombards were inured
to war, and were resolved to open with a glorious page
the history of the city. On the first assaults being
repulsed, his determination to conquer grew more
obstinate, and he drew in his forces more closely.
Alessandria resisted firmly. To increase the diffi
culties of the siege, there followed a very severe
winter, and while the army suffered great hardships,
the confederates were collecting their forces in order
to fall upon the Emperor and crush him. To divide
them, Barbarossa sent Christian of Buch into the
Bolognese territory, while he redoubled his efforts to
take Alessandria; but these failed to conquer the
tenacity of its defenders. When the April of 1 1 y 5
had arrived, he heard that the allies were about to
attack him, and he tried to surprise the town by
means of a mine ; but it was discovered, and he was
repulsed with heavy loss. He was forced then to
abandon the enterprise, and he advanced rapidly

The Battle of Legnano. 8y
against the army of the League. The two armies
encamped at three miles' distance from each other, in
the territory of Pavia, between Casteggio and Voghera,
and a battle seemed imminent, when suddenly Frede
rick and the allies began to treat for peace ; but it is
not well known who first proposed it. At any rate,
it was in Barbarossa's interest to try to gain time, and
not to risk for his exhausted army an encounter with
the Lombards. A truce was concluded, and they
began seriously to discuss terms, while, on Frederick's
invitation, three cardinals joined them to try whether
peace could also be made with the Church. The nego
tiations lasted some months, and ended in nothing,
so that unable, perhaps not yet caring, to come to an
understanding, both sides again had recourse to arms.
The year 1 1 7 5 passed in unimportant encounters, for
Frederick stood on the defensive, in expectation of
reinforcements from Germany, where, however, things
were not going much to his mind. At last, in the
spring of 1 1 y6, these reinforcements arrived, but with
out that one of his barons whom he most desired.
Frederick had already betaken himself vainly to Chia-
venna for an interview with Henry the Lion, to im
plore him to join once more the Italian expedition.
He gained nothing by it but excuses, a cold refusal,
and the regret of feeling that he was losing an old
friend, and leaving behind him an ungrateful kinsman
ready to turn into a rebel.
Frederick, who had gone to meet the reinforcements,
having added them to the troops from Como, marched
towards Pavia to join the rest of his army ; but the
Lombards, hearing of this, advanced rapidly to bar the

88 The Popes and the Hohenstaufen.
way. They met near Legnano on the 29th of May
1 176, and a battle ensued. At first the Germans had
the advantage, and their cavalry charge threw the Lom
bards into disorder, but nothing could break down the
determined resistance of those who guarded the Carroccio,
and this handful of heroes saved the wavering fortunes
of the battle. The half-routed troops reformed, and made
a ferocious onslaught on the Germans, who gave way.
In vain Frederick, rushing into the thickest of the
fray, urged on his soldiers with his own example. His
horse was killed, and he was lost sight of in the con
fused mass of combatants ; the rout was complete, and
terrible the slaughter. " Glorious has been our tri
umph," wrote the Milanese to Bologna, " infinite the
number of the killed among the enemy, the drowned,
the prisoners. We have in our hands the shield, banner,
cross, and lance of the Emperor, and we found silver
and gold in his coffers, and booty of inestimable value ;
but we do not consider these things ours, but the
common property of the Pope and the Italians. In
the fight Duke Berthold was taken, as also a nephew
of the Empress and a brother of the archbishop of
Cologne ; the other captives are innumerable, and they
are all in custody at Milan."
Having retired to Pavia with the remnant of his
defeated army, Frederick Barbarossa felt that the time
had come to change his policy. His mind had been
inclining towards this for some time, and the unwill
ing steps he had already made towards a conciliation
show that this feeling had already made itself heard
in his counsels, but had not as yet prevailed. Now a
decision must be come to. Four times he had led

The Peace of Venice. 89
armies into Italy and the Italians were still uncon-
quered. In spite of the greatest efforts, it would be
difficult to beat them, and in the long struggle defeats
had always been serious, while the effects of success
were transitory. The German barons wished for peace
with the Church, were tired and suspicious of Italian
expeditions, and in the meantime dark and threaten
ing clouds were lowering in Germany,, owing chiefly to
the ambitious designs of Henry the Lion. The Pope,
universally recognised and influential, was in a posi
tion to raise obstacles for him in Europe, and the
imperial crown on the head of an excommunicated
man lost much of its fascination and of the hallowed
ideal of the Empire. He had experienced the enmity
of Sicily without having ever succeeded in carrying his
arms into her territory. Constantinople could cause
him trouble if not danger. He had not a single ally.
In such a state of things, it was better to conclude an
honourable peace instead of holding out for the mere
gratification of his pride, reserving his strength for
other needs and his intellect for more successful paths
by which to attain his object.
After considerable reflection Frederick condescended
to speak of peace. First of all he had recourse to the
Pope, convinced that, if he could come to terms with
him, he would be in a better position to treat with the
Lombards and the King of Sicily. Therefore, in October
1 176, he sent to Anagni the archbishops Wichmann
of Magdeburg, Christian of Mentz, Conrad the elected
bishop of Worms, and the protonotary Wortwin, with
full powers to offer and conclude peace. The Pope
received them honourably, and after listening to their

90 The Popes and the Hohenstaufen.
message, answered that he desired nothing more fer
vently than peace ; but that it must be extended also
to his allies, and more especially to the King of Sicily,
the Lombards, and the Emperor of Constantinople.
To this the ambassadors agreed, but asked that the
negotiations might be carried on in secret, so as not
to divulge them till they were concluded ; " for," they
added, " we know well that both on our side and on
yours there are some who hate peace and encourage
discord." This was done, and a minute and careful discussion
followed, lasting for a good fortnight owing to the many
questions which arose between Church and Empire, and
to the many powerful personages involved in the schism,
whose interests had to be taken into consideration.
At last the general conditions of peace were agreed
to. In them Frederick recognised Alexander III. as
Pope, restored to the Church whatever possessions he
had taken away and the right to appoint the prefect
of Rome ; he also promised to every ecclesiastic the
restitution of all that the schism had deprived him of.
The Empress and King Henry also recognised the
Pope, and undertook the same obligations as the Em
peror. This latter and King Henry were to enter
into a fifteen years' peace with the King of Sicily, and
were also to make peace with the Emperor of Con
stantinople and the other allies of the Pope. Christian
of Mentz and Philip of Cologne were to be confirmed
in their sees, notwithstanding the schismatic origin of
their nomination, but provision would be made for the
lawful archbishop of Mentz, Conrad of Wittelsbach, by
appointing him to the first vacant archbishopric in Ger-

The Peace of Venice. 91
many. The antipope, Calixtus, should have an abbey,
and other ecclesiastics were variously provided for.
For his part, the Pope recognised Beatrice, Frederick's
wife, as Empress, and their son Henry as King of the
Romans, and promised to crown them either in person
or by deputy. He made peace with the Emperor,
undertook to promulgate it in a council, and to have
it confirmed by many nobles belonging to Rome and
the Campagna, while the Emperor and his son pro
mised to keep the peace for fifteen years with the
King of Sicily and a truce of six years with the
Lombards. Such were the headings of this convention of Anagni.
Moreover, as, in order to conclude a definite peace, the
presence also of the Lombards and of the Emperor
himself was necessary, the Pope promised to betake
himself with his cardinals near Lombardy. Bologna
was chosen as the seat of the congress. On the 9th of
March 1178, Alexander embarked on board Sicilian
galleys at Vasto on the Adriatic, accompanied by his
cardinals and the Sicilian plenipotentiaries, Roger, Count
of Andria, high constable of the kingdom, and Romuald
archbishop of Salerno, who has left us a very remarkable
account of these events. After some days Alexander
landed at Venice, and was received with great pomp by
Doge and people. The Emperor, who was near Cesena in
Romagna, sent then to beg the Pope to agree to change
the seat of the congress. Now that the conditions of
peace were settled with the Pope, he wanted to sepa
rate him as much as possible from the Lombards, in
order to treat with them better, and he mistrusted
Bologna, the firm and faithful ally of the League. The

92 The Popes and the Hohenstaufen.
Pope, however, replied that he could decide nothing
without the consent of the Lombards, and, in order
to communicate more easily with them, he moved to
Ferrara. There the delegates of the League met the Pope
and the delegates of Sicily and of the Emperor. The
Pope made a speech to the Lombards, magnifying the
victories of the Papacy over the Empire, and declaring
that it was not the work of man, but a miracle of God,
that an old unarmed priest should have been able to
resist the fury of the Germans, and, without striking
a blow, subdue the power of the Emperor. But, he
added, though the Emperor had offered peace to him
and the King of Sicily, he had declined to conclude
it without them, and on this account had engaged in
this fatiguing and perilous journey.
The Lombards replied rather ironically, for the
treaty of Anagni had made them suspect that the
Pope meant to neglect their interests for those of the
Church. They thanked him for having condescended
to come. The persecution of the Church by the Em
peror was well known to them not by hearsay only,
but by personal experience of its severity. They were
the first to sustain the imperial fury and attack, and
had opposed with their bodies and arms the destruc
tion of Italy and of the Church's liberty. For the
honour and safety of the Church, and in spite of end
less losses and dangers, they had never listened to or
received the Emperor and his schismatics, so that it
was merely just that he, the Pontiff, not only should
not agree to peace with the Emperor without them
but should not even listen to the proposal of it. They

The Peace of Venice.

93

had acted thus repeatedly. As to the discomforts and
dangers which the Pope had incurred on his journey,
how much greater had been their dangers and discom
forts in comparison. Nevertheless they also were anxious
for a peace which would not touch the honour of Italy
or their own liberty, and they were ready to yield to
the Emperor his ancient rights, though determined
rather to die gloriously as freemen than to drag on a
miserable life in servitude. They were glad to hear
that the King of Sicily had also agreed to peace.
When the various mediators had been chosen, and
before they could even begin to discuss the different
articles, the question as to where the discussion should
take place blazed up afresh, for the imperialists would not
have Bologna, while the Lombards mistrusted Venice.
At length Venice was chosen, on condition that the
Emperor should swear not to enter the city without
the Pope's consent. The disputes were interminable,
minute, and often bitter. The claims of the imperialists
were considerable, as was also the tenacity of the Lom
bards ; one side wanted to save as much as they could
of the privileges proclaimed at Roncaglia, the other
insisted on maintaining their liberty intact, and on
yielding to the Empire nothing beyond the rights con
ceded to Lothair and Conrad III. Peace with the
Lombards ceased to be thought of, and instead a truce
for six years was proposed as preliminary to a definite
peace. The Emperor from a distance raised difficulties.
In order to expedite matters, he was allowed to approach
as near as Chioggia, but thence, by exciting a rising in
the popular party at Venice, Frederick tried to force
the Doge to let him enter the city before the negotia-

94 The Popes and the Hohenstaufen.
tions were concluded. The suspicions of the Lombards
were aroused, and they left the town in anger and
retired to Treviso. The Pope was in a great strait, the
conclusion of peace was again in danger, but it was
rescued by the prompt energy of the Sicilian delegates.
Perceiving that the Doge was wavering for fear of the
popular party, they made with great ostentation their
preparations for departure, had their galleys got ready,
and then reproaching the Doge with not having kept
faith, they threatened to leave, and declared that their
king would have his revenge. The threat was serious,
for it meant that the many Venetians in the kingdom
of Sicily would be probably imprisoned and their goods
confiscated. The popular party lost ground through
the fears of the rest of the town, and the Doge was
enabled to resist. When the Sicilian delegates were
convinced that the Emperor would not be allowed to
enter, they let themselves be persuaded to remain.
After this the negotiations proceeded more rapidly ;
the peace with the Pope was concluded the 23d of July
1 1 77, and a truce of fifteen years with Sicily and of six
with the Lombards. The oath was made in the name
of the Emperor, and immediately the Pope commanded
that the Venetian galleys should go to Chioggia for
Frederick, and bring him to St. Niccolo del Lido, where
he was absolved from the ban of excommunication by
several cardinals, while the schismatic prelates abjured
their errors. Then on the 24th of July the Doge, ac
companied by the patriarch of Aquileia, went to the
Lido, and conducted the Emperor from Venice in his
own barge. There, in front of St. Mark's, amidst a
deeply moved crowd, the two champions met after an

The Peace of Venice. 95
indefatigable struggle of eighteen years for an ideal
supremacy of the power intrusted to them by God. The
moment was full of solemnity. The Emperor, overcome
by feelings of reverence a,t the sight of this venerable
old man, threw aside his imperial mantle and prostrated
himself before him, but the Pope, in tears, raised and
kissed him, and leading him into the church, gave him
his benediction. The next day the Pope said mass in
St. Mark's, in presence of the Emperor, who, on their
leaving the church, held the stirrup and offered to
conduct the palfrey ; but the Pope regarding this
homage as granted, dispensed him from accompanying
him to his barge.
On the 1st of August the Emperor went to the
Pope's residence, and there the peace was solemnly
ratified between the Empire and the Church, and the
truce with Sicily and the Lombards. The long
struggle was finally ended, and in a council held by
the Pope in St. Mark's an anathema was pronounced
against every and any one who should try to disturb
the peace now concluded. Meanwhile in another
interview which the Sicilian delegates had with the
Emperor, Romuald of Salerno, while confirming the
pacific intentions of his sovereign, suggested that an
alliance between the kingdom of Sicily and the Empire
would be opportune in the interest especially of the
Crusades. The Emperor received the suggestion
favourably, and during all their stay in Venice he
showed particular courtesy to the Sicilians. Perhaps
already his active mind was beginning to form new
plans with regard to Southern Italy.
After settling some minor points, among others

96 The Popes and the Hohenstaufen.
that concerning the archbishopric of Salzburg, given
to Conrad of Wittelsbach in return for renouncing the
see of Mentz, the Emperor and the Pope separated
about the middle of September. The first, after some
stay in Central Italy and Lombardy, recrossed the
Alps towards the end of 1 177. Alexander returned
first to Anagni, and then decided to betake himself
to Rome. The Romans received with great enthusiasm
the successful Pontiff, who after so many storms had
at last steered into port the bark of the Church, but
this enthusiasm was of short duration. The temporal
power of the Pope was opposed to the independence
of the municipality, and no real harmony between them
was possible. By the treaty of Anagni the right of
investing the urban prefect had been again secured
to the Pope ; but the present one, refusing to pay
homage, retired to Viterbo, and with the assistance of
the Romans continued to countenance the antipope,
who still held out. The archbishop of Mentz, left in
Italy by Barbarossa, tried in vain to reduce him and
the Romans to obedience. Alexander, thanks to
his prudence, was more successful ; by temporising he
induced the prefect to do him homage, so that the
antipope, deprived of every support, came a sup
pliant to him at Tusculum. Alexander received him
affectionately and provided generously for his future.
Another antipope, raised up by the barons of the Cam
pagna, lingered for a few months with the name of
Innocent, but was taken prisoner and shut up in the
abbey of Cava.
After so prolonged a schism and so tangled a chain
of events, it seemed desirable to provide for the fellow-

Death of Alexander III. gy
ship of souls and the peace of the Church. A general
council, called by Alexander, met in the Lateran, with
a great concourse of bishops and prelates from all
quarters. The ordinances of the antipopes were an
nulled, and among the canons sanctioned was one
regarding the election of the Popes, calculated to
diminish, if not remove, the possibility of future schism,
by establishing that two-thirds of the votes should
suffice for a valid election, and where even two-thirds
could not agree, then a simple majority should be
enough. And this council was the last striking event
in the long pontificate of Alexander III., whose life
closed two years later at Civita Castellana. He was
one of the most remarkable Popes in history, though
his genius was not so lofty as that of Gregory VII.,
who a century before had in great part prepared the
way for him. For twenty-two years he guided the
Church amid a thousand storms, and in an age of
exceptional difficulty. In the ever-renewed struggle
between priesthood and Empire, he had for his oppo
nent an emperor of powerful genius and position, whom
he overcame. Elected with difficulty against the wish
of influential adversaries, under the cloud of bitter
schisms which for a long time held all Europe in
doubt, he never hesitated nor gave way in a single
point. As tenacious as Hadrian IV. in all concerning
the great interests of the Church, but more yielding
in minor matters, he was sometimes taxed with this
pliancy, especially by the partisans of Thomas Becket,
and at the time of the peace of Venice by the Lombards ;
but this reproach was not free from unfairness. An
exile from the day that he assumed the tiara, living
C. H. G

98 The Popes and the Hohenstaufen.
in exile the greater part of his pontificate, he never
theless witnessed the triumph of the Church. Amidst
the thousand details and daily expedients of an ardu
ous policy, he never lost sight of the ideal which
inspired him — the supremacy of the Church — just as
his greatest adversary was animated by a different
ideal, and found in it the source of his strength.
This champion of the Church, and the champion of
the Empire who stood against him, suggest to the
student of historv, as he muses on their destinies, that
ml J *
there only where the flame of a high ideal glows in the
hearts of men can we hope to find the traces of true
greatness.

( 99 )

CHAPTER VII.
(1181-1198.)
LAST YEARS OF FREDERICK I. — THE EMPEROR
HENRY VI. AND THE PAPACY— THE CONQUEST
OF SICILY.
Alexander's successor found a question still open be
tween the Church and the Empire, that of the inherit
ance of the Countess Matilda, which had been left
unsettled at Venice. To avoid its becoming a fresh
cause of discord, the new Pope, Lucius III., had the
delicate task of keeping watch over it, while other
difficulties met him on the threshold of his pontificate.
The Romans especially troubled his peace with their
municipal government and desires for an independent
.political life, which found a continual hindrance in the
Papacy, and were also a continual hindrance to it.
Lucius only remained a few months in Rome. He
soon retired to Velletri, and lived for some years here
and there in the Campagna, always on bad terms with
the Romans, who never ceased to threaten Tusculum,
to which Papal protection offered still some sort of
defence. Lucius even resorted for assistance for Tus
culum to Christian of Mentz, whose dreaded name and
fierce soldiery held the Romans at a respectful distance

ioo The Popes and the Hohenstaufen.
for some time ; but the warlike archbishop fell a victim
to the Campagna fever, and died (August 25, 1183);
assisted and blessed by the Pope, whose champion he
had become after having fought against the Church
for so many years.
The Romans growing more daring, the harassed
Pope went into exile at Verona. He went there with
the wish to draw back to the Church the Lombards,
who were seriously estranged, and to treat personally
with Frederick regarding those matters still pending
with the Empire. After the peace of Venice Frederick
had turned all his attention to German affairs, which
were again disturbed, and had carried on a fierce and
successful war against Henry the Lion, who had openly
rebelled. In the November of 1 1 8 1 , at Erfurt, the
vanquished Henry prostrated himself at Frederick's
feet, and then went for some years as an exile to
England, to the court of his father-in-law, Henry II.
Meanwhile a definite peace was in treaty between
Frederick and the Lombards. By this time Frederick
had realised what a power of resistance those repub
licans possessed, how dangerous was their enmity,
whereas their friendship might be useful. On the
other hand, the Lombards, irritated by the Pope at
Venice, seeing Sicily at peace with Frederick, and
having no hope of help from Constantinople, had no
longer any grounds for fighting, if they could secure
their liberties. This being the feeling on both sides,
peace was treated first at Piacenza, and then con
cluded at Constance, in a large meeting held there the
25th of June 1 183. The conditions were fair. To
the Empire was left unquestioned its high and some-

Last Years of Frederick I. 101
what ideal sovereignty, and its ancient rights were
recognised, but were so limited as not to interfere
with the freedom of the republics, or with their de
velopment. In accordance with the claims of the
Lombards before the battle of Legnano, these rights
became again what they were in the time of Henry
V. The cities were allowed to have their own consuls
and podesta, who should administer justice according
to their laws ; they could also raise new taxes without
the Emperor's being able to prevent them, though
there would be a right of appeal to him ; they were
to enjoy all their ancient customs. The Emperor
would not require money from the allies who could
maintain fortified towns and castles, but with special
conditions regarding Crema and Cremona. The right
of maintaining the League was untouched, even if neces
sary of renewing it against the Emperor, and untouched
also the right of remaining united to the Church ; all
offences were mutually forgiven, prisoners exchanged,
bans, confiscations, and all other penalties annulled,
and the city of Alessandria was respected, but its name
changed to Cesarea. Thus did the imperial claims put
forward at Roncaglia vanish at Constance, and such
was the amicable conclusion to this obstinate struggle
between a proud prince, jealous of his rights, and a
people determined to resist tyranny. At length a real
peace reigned between Frederick and the Lombards of
the League.
With the German rebellion subdued and Italy at
peace, Frederick Barbarossa could enjoy the proud
satisfaction of having done great things during his
reign, and of having raised the Empire, through good

102 The Popes and the Hohenstaufen.
fortunes and through bad, to a height not reached for
ages. To celebrate the termination of so many vicissi
tudes, Frederick commanded a great festival to be held
at Mentz for the Pentecost of 1184. From all sides
princes and commons flocked to it, and as the greatest
ever held before in Germany, it remained celebrated in
the Minnesiingers' songs and in popular legends. There,
in a tournament, in which the Emperor himself gave
proofs of his old skill in arms, his son, the young king
Henry VI., won his spurs, and henceforth we find him
taking an active part in the historical drama. After
this, Frederick returned to Italy without an army, sure
this time -of a cordial reception from the Lombards.
He wanted to come to a clear understanding with
them, and obtain from the Pope during his lifetime the
imperial crown for his son Henry. But in their meet
ing at Verona Pope and Emperor soon felt that the
causes of discord had not been all removed at Venice,
and that new ones might spring up easily. The Em
peror insisted that the Pope should confirm the orders
already conferred by the schismatic bishops, but the
Pope, after brief hesitation, said he could not make
this concession without a council, which, however, he
promised to convoke shortly at Lyons. This refusal
displeased Frederick, and rendered it a delicate matter
to treat concerning the possessions of the Countess
Matilda, with respect to which, moreover, neither of
the two sides seemed disposed to yield, the one insist
ing on the inherent right of succession of the Emperor,
and the other maintaining that derived from the famous
donation made by Matilda. Thus the question dragged
on without coming nearer to a conclusion, and in the

Last Years of Frederick I. 103
meantime Frederick held these possessions and had no
intention of giving them up. A third ground of dis
cord came from the archbishopric of Trier, where, in
1 183, a double election had occurred, and while the
Pope favoured Folmar, one of the two elected, the
Emperor supported the other. Finally, Frederick per
sistently demanded the imperial crown for Henry, but
Lucius was decided in his refusal, alleging that the
co-existence of two emperors was incompatible with
the very nature of the Empire, and that Frederick
must needs first resign the crown if he wished to place
it on his son's head. Things were in this insecure state
when, on the 24th of November 1 1 85, Lucius III. died
at Verona. Lambert Crivelli, archbishop of Milan,
immediately succeeded him under the name of Urban
III. He had no love for Frederick, and was a haughty
and energetic man, from whom little concession was to
be expected.
Meanwhile the Emperor, seeing how little he could
hope for lasting peace with the Popes, had turned his
attention to undermining and isolating them. On
that account he flattered the Lombards, and especially
reconciled himself so far with the Milanese as to allow
Crema to rise again from her ruins and unite with
them against Cremona. Nor was this all; for he
secretly was labouring towards the accomplishment of
a greater plan. There was no longer any hope that
William II. of Sicily would have offspring ; and since
the constitution of the kingdom did not exclude women
from the throne, Constance, daughter of Roger and
aunt of William, might be considered the heir-pre
sumptive. Frederick asked the hand of this princess

104 The Popes and the Hohenstaufen.
for his son Henry, and the marriage was concluded
rapidly, notwithstanding all the efforts of the Pope, on
whom the Unexpected news fell like a thunderbolt.
In spite of a strong party, which foresaw and opposed
in this alliance the ruin of Norman rule in Sicily, the
barons of the realm swore to recognise Constance and
her husband as William II. 's heirs. In this way
Frederick at last reached Sicily, surrounded the Papal
territory, and, by enlarging the borders of the Empire,
was approaching the Bosphorus. In great pomp the
bride crossed Italy and reached Milan, where the mar
riage was celebrated. Constance was thirty-one, eight
years older than her husband, and apparently of a
very different disposition; but nothing else was con
sidered but the high political value of the alliance,
which was concluded with great pomp and splendour.
Frederick wished that his son should then assume the
iron crown, and that Constance also should be crowned
as queen. It belonged to Urban, who had reserved
for himself the see of Milan, to crown the new king
of Italy ; but he refused, and Frederick, without hesi
tation, had his son crowned by the patriarch of Aqui-
leia and the queen by another bishop. The wrath of
the Pontiff at this imperial indifference found vent in
the excommunication of the bishops who had taken
part in the ceremony ; and shortly afterwards, cutting
short the controversy still pending, he made Folmar a
cardinal and consecrated him bishop of Trier.
Pope and Emperor were again at open war. Urban,
by blaming seriously the conduct of the Emperor, tried
with some success to win over the principal German
prelates, so that Frederick thought it prudent to re-

Last Years of Frederick I. 105
medy this evil by returning to Germany, leaving his
son behind him to keep the Pope in check. Henry
proved himself no timid follower of his father, and
not only by holding out firmly with regard to the
Countess Matilda's possessions and other controverted
matters, but in many other partial acts showed a
resolution bordering on arrogance and tending to des
potism. It is said that he commanded his servants
to roll in the mud one bishop who had dared to de
clare to his face that he held his investiture from
the Pope. By occupying Tuscia and introducing his
troops into the Church territory, he prevented any com
munication between Rome and the Pope at Verona,
against whom he also closed the passes of the Alps.
And so determined was he to isolate the Pope, that
once, on the arrest of a messenger who was carrying
money to Urban, he had his nose cut off, and without
ceremony appropriated the money.
Frederick in the meantime had assembled the Ger
man bishops, and by expounding the causes of the
new disagreement won over to his side all except
Philip, archbishop of Cologne, who frankly declared
to him that he considered him in the wrong. The
bishops wrote to the Pope recommending moderation.
The Pope, grieved by their unexpected desertion, wrote
to the Emperor justifying himself, and making fresh
complaints against him and against Henry's violent
conduct. The situation became embittered, and Urban
was preparing to excommunicate Frederick, when he
died at Ferrara on the 20th of October 11 87. It
would have been difficult even for the most concilia
tory successor of Urban to have avoided a conflict with

106 The Popes And the Hohenstaufen.
the Empire ; but a terrible piece of news averted the
storm, by directing elsewhere the thoughts and fears
of Christendom. Jerusalem had fallen into the hands
of Saladin, and the Holy Sepulchre was again polluted
by Mussulman hordes.
The news filled with consternation the whole of
Europe, accustomed for a century to look towards
Jerusalem as the ideal goal of all her aspirations.
The sleeping echoes of Peter the Hermit's and St.
Bernard's words seemed to reawaken, and the old cry
calling on Christians to take up the cross was again
heard. Gregory VIII. (Urban's successor), during
his two months' pontificate, and after him Clement
III., showed themselves peacefully disposed towards
the Empire, and concentrated all their efforts in draw
ing people and princes to the crusade. They were
fairly successful. While the kings of France and
England took the cross, Pope and Emperor were
trying to clear away the misunderstandings existing
between them. For a moment the inheritance of
Matilda seemed forgotten, and the question of Trier
took a turn satisfactory to the Emperor. Henry,
recognised now as Emperor-elect, whose coronation
would take place some day, had relaxed his rigour and
raised th* kind of blockade endured by Urban III.
Thus Gregory VIII. had been able to betake himself
to Pisa, to reconcile the Pisans and Genoese in order
that their ships might act in concert for the recovery
of the Holy Land ; and Clement III., as soon as
elected, feeling perhaps the necessity of again putting
foot in Rome, had come to terms with the Roman
republic by implicitly recognising its rule, and in the

Last Years of Frederick I. 107
beginning of 1188 had re-entered the city. The
principal condition of this agreement with the Roman
people was the destruction of Tusculum, in which the
Pope had to concur.
As pontifical legate for declaring the crusade in
France and Germany went the cardinal Henry of
Albano, who at Mentz had a colloquy with Frederick,
and while on the one side he tried to give an ami
cable termination to the controversies arisen during the
stormy pontificate of Urban, he forwarded, on the other
hand, the interests of the great undertaking he had to
proclaim. Frederick, with his chivalrous spirit and
his thirst for glory, could not remain indifferent when
from every breast came the cry for rescue, and the
flower of European knighthood on the point of start
ing for Jerusalem were awaiting their leader. The
Empire had now reached that summit of glory of
which Frederick had dreamed when the crown was
placed on his head amidst the triumphant shouts of
his Germans and the clashing arms of the infuriated
and rebellious Romans. The destinies of his house
were assured, and were not likely to fail in the reso
lute grasp of his son Henry. For thirty years, amid
endless anxieties, dangers, and fatigues, the glory
of his name had spread from the remote north to
the prosperous south, and the reign of Frederick in
strength of arms and power of law perhaps equalled —
certainly was not far from equalling — the reigns of
Charlemagne and Otto. In Europe, his work was
accomplished, but there remained for him elsewhere
an enterprise such as no other Emperor had under
taken, and which might crown his life's work by

io8 The Popes and the Hohenstaufen.
raising it to a point of glory never reached before.
Neither Charlemagne nor Otto at the end of their
career had had the opportunity or the power to free
the sepulchre of Christ from the pollution of the in
fidel hordes, but to him, the favourite of fortune, the
opportunity was offered and he felt himself equal to
seizing it.
From the hands of the cardinal Henry Frederick
took the cross, and doubtless in that hour there re
turned to his mind memories of the time when, about
forty years before, he, a youth, had received the cross
from St. Bernard, and had gone to meet his first
dangers and win his first laurels. Before starting he
showed his experience in war and statescraft by prepar
ing everything for the expedition with great care, and by
putting the affairs of the Empire in order, reconciling
dissensions between various German princes, making
peace with the archbishop of Cologne, and sending
Henry the Lion away from Germany for three years
in the hope of avoiding disturbances. At Regens-
burg in the spring of 1189 the fine and powerful
army of crusaders collected, and Frederick, taking the
command, marched towards the East, accompanied by
his son Frederick, Duke of Suabia.
There remained behind in Europe King Henry VI,
whose hand thenceforth held the reins of government
in Germany and Italy. Henry inherited from his
father a tenacious disposition and an unlimited ambi
tion. More cultivated than his father and with many
statesmanlike qualities, he did not equal him in his
military genius nor in that fertility of expedients
which was one of Frederick's greatest gifts. Like

Last Years of Frederick I. 109
his father, he was violent, but he was more cruel, and
had none of those generous instincts and of that idea
lity of mind which from his youth had gained for
Frederick the admiration even of his enemies. Frede
rick, a man of real greatness, identified himself with
the abstract idea of the Empire, and fusing it with his
own personal ambition, fondly exaggerated its power.
Henry, on the contrary, made use of this idea for his
personal grandeur, for which he specially laboured with
a greedy unscrupulous ambition, with untiring ardour,
and unflinching persistence.
Hardly was Frederick gone when countless occa
sions for trying his strength presented themselves to
the young King of the Romans. Henry the Lion had
quickly availed himself of the Emperor's absence to
return to Germany, where he regained a part of his
states by force or by the aid of revolts. At that
moment William the Good died at Palermo, and Henry
VI. and his wife Constance found themselves heirs to the
kingdom of Sicily. It was necessary to return in all
haste to Italy to take possession of that kingdom be
fore the latent disaffection among the barons should
break out openly and increase the hindrances to a
change of dynasty. Therefore, after adopting wise
and vigorous measures to reduce Henry the Lion to
terms, the young king applied himself to preparing an
Italian expedition, but was not in time to prevent the
difficulties which arose in Sicily. There the people,
grown attached to the Norman dynasty of the Haute-
ville, did not like the idea of being subject to a new
foreigner, and this also displeased many barons, who
foresaw a loss of. influence consequent on that which

no The Popes and the Hohenstaufen.
would be gained by the Germans whom Henry would
bring with him. Party feeling increased, and the
Pope, alarmed at the idea of being enclosed in a sort
of cage between the power of Henry to south as well
as north, encouraged the opposition, which grew and
spread so rapidly that in the January of 1 1 90, with
out any regard for the hereditary rights of Constance,
a new king, also of the blood of the Hauteville, was
elected, namely, Tancred, Count of Lecce, the illegiti
mate son of a brother of Constance. After a brief
hesitation Tancred took the crown at Palermo, and the
Pope immediately gave him the investiture of the
kingdom. By this act the Pope placed his relations with
Henry VI. on a very difficult footing, but they were
both interested in not coming to an open rupture, and
dissimulated mutually their latent and hostile sus
picions. Having patched up matters with Henry the
Lion, the king now found himself otherwise entangled
in Germany, and had to try not to add ecclesiastical
difficulties to the many opposing him both there and
in Italy, whither he wished to proceed without delay.
Then suddenly came an announcement which spread
like wildfire through the whole of Europe, and in
creased Henry's need for caution in his dealings with
the Pope. The great Frederick Barbarossa, the glorious
Emperor, was dead. Far, far away in distant Asia, after
overcoming vast difficulties and perils innumerable, he
was drowned in a river in Seleucia on the 1 oth of June
1 189, while leading on his army through those dreary
wastes amidst enemies constantly repulsed and as con
stantly swarming anew to the attack. Such was his

Pea th of Frederick I. in
end, and his country saw him no more, while his bones
lie in an unknown spot beside those of his son Frederick
of Suabia in the desert sands of Antioch. But the love
of Germany, breathing in fantastic legends, planted
her hero's resting-place high aloft in the Thuringian
cliffs, and there she would have him lie bound in
magic slumber to await the call that should arouse him
to lead her armies anew to victory.
The death of Frederick rendered it more urgent for
his successor to betake himself to Italy and to avoid
unpleasantness with the Pope, from whom he had now
to ask the imperial crown. In the November of 1 1 90,
Henry crossed the Alps and began to treat with the
Romans and the Pope for the coronation, while he
sought by flattery and promises to secure the co
operation of Pisa and Genoa for the conquest of
Naples and Sicily. There the new king, Tancred,
was meeting with many difficulties. Party feeling
had flared up. A strong nucleus of barons, urged on
by Walter Offamil, the archbishop of Palermo, had
taken up arms in favour of Constance and Henry.
Tancred had, therefore, been obliged to fight against
this revolt as also against the troops sent into the
kingdom by Henry VI. while still in Germany.
Moreover, the King of France, Philip Augustus, and
the English Richard the Lion-hearted had caused him
serious embarrassments when they touched at Sicily
on their way to the crusades.
Clement III. dreaded Henry's coming to Rome,
where the young king was winning over the Romans
by asking from them as much as from him the crown
of the Empire, recognising a claim of theirs which his

112 The Popes and the Hohenstaufen.
father had always proudly denied. Henry was con
forming to the needs of the moment. The Roman
republic was now so strong that the Pope was weak
before it, and in his heart he was hostile to Henry,
who flattered the Romans in order to wrest from him
a speedy consent to the coronation. The Pope had
neither means nor pretext for resistance, and the
ceremony was fixed for the Easter of 1 1 9 1 , when, a
few weeks before, Clement died, and on his successor,
Celestine III., devolved the ungrateful duty of the
coronation. While Henry was advancing, the Romans,
seizing the favourable occasion, offered to overcome
the Pope's hesitation on condition that Henry would
hand over to the Pope, and the Pope to them, Tuscu
lum, which was still standing. The cruel bargain
was struck, and Tusculum was sacrificed to the brutal
hatred of Rome. The coronation of Frederick I. had
cost the life of Arnold of Brescia, and now Tuscu
lum paid with the blood of her defenceless citizens
the price of Henry's crown. On the 14th of April
1 191, while the German sovereign was at the gates,
Celestine III. was himself ordained Pope, and the
following day he placed the imperial crown on
the heads of Henry and Constance, — a sinister be
ginning to the feeble pontificate of the aged Celes
tine, forced to crown an Emperor who was advanc
ing towards an enterprise involving the Papacy in
danger, and to abandon to the ferocity of a people
whom the Popes could no longer restrain an unfor
tunate city which they had not been able to pro
tect. Perhaps this very feebleness is the reason
why the relations between Church and Empire offer

Henry VI. 113
so little interest during the lives of Celestine and
Henry. Immediately after his coronation, Henry, turning
a deaf ear to the Pope's entreaties, started on the
expedition for Naples, accompanied by the Empress
as heiress of the realm. The first moves were for
tunate, in spite of the valour of the Count of Acerra,
Tancred's brother-in-law, who encountered the impe
rial army. Tancred, instead of advancing against
his enemies, was occupied in celebrating with feasts
and rejoicings the marriage of Irene, daughter of the
Emperor of Constantinople, to his eldest son, Roger,
to whom on that occasion he gave the title of king.
Not so had the first Normans conquered and held the
kingdom ; nor was it so that he could hope to repulse
his resolute antagonist, who, rapidly reaching Naples,
found the city determined on resistance, and began a
siege. This siege for the time was unlucky for Henry.
While the promised assistance of Pisan and Genoese
ships was delayed, and the city, free on her seaboard,
was being abundantly victualled, the imperial army
was in want of everything. Summer coming on,
there were added to this extreme need and to the
attacks of the besieged also epidemic fevers, which
consumed the Germans terribly. He reiterated his
entreaties and promises to Pisa and Genoa, in hopes
of hastening them, promising, among other things,
to the Genoese the possession of Syracuse as soon
as Sicily was in his power. Pisans and Genoese
arrived, but too late, and being held at bay by the
strong Sicilian fleet under the admiral Margarito,
C. H. H

i 14 The Popes and the Hohenstaufen.
were powerless to help. Meanwhile sickness was
raging among the imperial troops. Conrad of Bohe
mia and the archbishop of Cologne succumbed to
fever, and the Emperor himself fell ill. There was
no alternative but to raise the siege and retire
(August 24, 1 191). Tancred could easily have cut
off Henry's retreat and exterminated him, but he
remained inactive at Messina, and the opportunity
was lost.
The Empress Constance had, however, become his
prisoner. The people of Salerno, after first receiving
her with great honour, when they saw Henry's cause
in danger, stopped her and sent her as a valuable
hostage to Palermo. Tancred entertained his noble
prisoner with great courtesy, and consigned her to the
affectionate care of his wife, Sibilla, who was later to
be ill repaid for her kindness. Henry, meanwhile,
after placing a garrison here and there, left the king
dom, went first to Genoa, where he solemnly renewed
his promise of concessions in return for their promise
of assistance, and then entered Lombardy, where he
remained till towards the end of the year. There all
the old discords were breaking out afresh among the
cities, nor did the presence of the Emperor serve to
soothe them ; indeed, the favours granted by him to
Cremona aroused the wrath of Milan and other cities,
which were already beginning to regard him as an
enemy. Towards the end of the year he returned to
Germany to attend to the new insurrection of the
Guelph party led by Henry the Lion, and at the
same time appealed to the Pope to obtain the Em
press's freedom. The Pope, who shortly before had

Henry VI. 115
placed the monastery of Monte Cassino under an in
terdict on account of its fidelity to the Emperor, now,
with a weak and vacillating policy, listened to Henry's
appeal, and sent a cardinal to Palermo. The un
wary Tancred liberated Constance, and sent her back
without ransom and enriched with precious gifts.
Neither Tancred nor the Pope obtained what they
hoped for by their compliance, and neither Henry
nor even Constance appear to have been touched by
it. Henry paid no attention to entreaties coming
from Rome for a reconciliation with Tancred, and in
the spring of 1 192, Roffrid, abbot of Monte Cassino,
on his return from Germany with a few soldiers,
put heart into the imperialists left behind in the
kingdom, who were able to drag on the war till the
return of the Emperor.
This return met with many difficulties, chief among
which was that of money ; but to Henry, lucky and
unscrupulous, a strange opportunity presented itself
for obtaining money, nor was he restrained by the
wickedness of the means or the fear of dishonour.
On his way home from Palestine, Richard the Lion-
hearted had fallen into the hands of Leopold, Duke
of Austria, and the Emperor, seizing this occasion,
gained possession of his person and kept him prisoner
in the castle of Trifels. False pretexts and accusa
tions against Richard failed to justify an act of such
miscreant ruffianism, but Henry cared little for that.
Nor did he attend to the prayers and menaces of the
Pope, who in vain demanded that the royal crusader
should be set at liberty, and later, by excommuni
cating Leopold of Austria and his accomplices,

116 The Popes and the Hohenstaufen.
included by implication the Emperor. Richard at
length regained his liberty in February 1 1 94, but
at the price of that gold which was destined to
work the destruction of the Norman monarchy in
Sicily. The war which Henry now conducted in Southern
Italy was very successful. Tancred and his eldest
son, Roger, were already dead. The kingdom had
passed to the boy William, under the regency of
Queen Sibilla, and their insecure position deprived
them of supporters. Henry entered the realm after
ensuring the co-operation of Genoa and Pisa by repeat
ing solemn promises to hand over to them all the prin
cipal maritime- cities in the two Sicilies. He advanced
rapidly, and met with few obstacles. He avenged
with ferocity at Salerno the seizure of Constance,
filled with terror and slaughter the places he sus
pected of fidelity to the Normans, and made much
of those which came spontaneously to him. In a
short time nearly all the mainland belonging to the
kingdom was taken. The ships of Genoa and Pisa,
under the command of the great seneschal of the
Empire, Markwald, appeared before Messina, which
surrendered to Henry, as did Palermo shortly after.
Queen Sibilla, who with her son had taken refuge
in the castle of Calatabellotta, also gave herself up
under conditions destined later to be broken, and
the boy William laid down his crown at the feet
of Henry. Towards the chief barons of the realm
the Emperor at that time showed indulgence, not
withstanding their revolt ; nay, he loaded them with
honours and titles. On the 20th of November 1194

Henry VI. 117
he made a triumphal entry into Palermo, and was
crowned at Christmas amidst great rejoicings. After
so many troubles the people breathed more freely,
hoping that the long years of blood and suffering
were over ; but the respite was brief.
The day after the coronation, the Empress, who
was on her way to rejoin Henry, on arriving at
Iesi in the Marche, on the 26th of December 1194
gave birth to a boy, who received the names of his
grandfathers, Frederick and Roger. Great was the
Emperor's delight, and since everything was now suc
ceeding with him, he felt encouraged to mature still
wider plans of universal dominion. But first he
wished to rid himself of those Norman barons to
whom, shortly before, he had been lavish of gifts
and honours. As a pretext for this, he made use of
a conspiracy, real or pretended, which he stifled in
blood, and the chief men of the realm either perished
on the scaffold, or, like the admiral Margarito and the
archbishop of Salerno, were left to die in dark dun
geons. Tancred's unfortunate young son, after being
blinded and mutilated, was sent to Germany, where
also his sisters and mother found a convent-prison.
The bodies of Tanered and his son Roger were re
moved from the royal tomb, as unworthy of resting
among the lawful lords of a realm they had usurped.
Only the Greek princess Irene, the childless widow of
Roger, found favour in Henry's eyes, and he gave her
in marriage to his brother Philip. Probably in ally
ing his family with that of Constantinople he was
providing for those plans which from Palermo he was
naturally led to widen and enlarge.

118 The Popes and the Hohenstaufen.
Henry's good luck, resolution, and rapidity had, as
it were, paralysed the Pontiff in presence of the con
quest of a kingdom to the suzerainty of which he also
laid claim. For some time Celestine maintained a sort
of sulky silence; then, when the Emperor began to
make overtures, he sent him some cardinals, but they
concluded nothing, and the relations between them were
reduced to the querulous complaints of a powerless old
man, listened to with indifference by the disdainful
young sovereign. Nevertheless this latter avoided an
open rupture. Since he had no reason to fear the
Pope, it was useless to drive him to extremes, the
more so as among his plans were some for which papal
co-operation would be serviceable. In the spring of
1 1 9 5 he started for Germany, stopping on his way at
Pavia, but without result, as the Lombards were again
unquiet, and many of them hostile to the Empire.
At Pavia the Genoese presented themselves to ask for
the fulfilment of the conditions agreed to touching the
conquest of Sicily; but Henry repulsed them, and
openly declared his intention of not keeping his pro
mises. Nor were the Pisans more fortunate, and the
two cities saw too late the trap into which the astute
and disloyal Emperor had enticed them.
On his return to Germany, Henry tried to carry out
his design of changing the constitution of the Empire
and making it hereditary in his family. Various dis
cords which had troubled Germany during his absence
were dying out, and the great representative of the
Guelph family, Henry the Lion, died at that time.
Everything seemed favourable. The Emperor made
great efforts to persuade the German nobility to accept

Henry VI. 119
this change, alleging the state of disorder into which
Germany was thrown by each fresh election, and
offering to modify very greatly in favour of their
families the feudal constitution. He also tried to
gain over Celestine, who as usual vacillated, appearing
favourable for a moment, then retracting and declaring
himself opposed to it. And indeed no Pope could
have approved of a change which would have deprived
the Church of every hold on the Empire, by destroying
implicitly the political importance of the consecration
and coronation. All Henry's efforts were in vain, and
the constitution of the Empire remained unchanged.
Henry, when he saw the impossibility of this,
changed his tactics in order to reach his end, at least
in part. He asked that his son Frederick, who was
less than two years old and not yet baptized, should
be elected King of the Romans, and this was done.
In the meantime there was a movement in favour of
a fresh expedition to Palestine, which he encouraged,
organising a strong band of crusaders, and hinting
that he would himself somewhat later take the Cross.
With this he flattered the Pope, diverted the thoughts
of the Germans from their dissensions, and made use
of it to prepare an army which might partly pass
through his kingdom and help him to wipe out the
last traces of resistance. The Empress was then ruling
the kingdom from Palermo, but it does not appear
that she enjoyed Henry's confidence, suspicious as he
was lest the Norman sympathies natural in her might
prevail. In July 1196 Henry returned to Italy, and
till September remained in Lombardy, then proceeded
to the south, and stayed some months at Capua,

12O The Popes and the Hohenstaufen.
where, to the continual complaints of the Pope on
many controversial points, he replied by treating with
him at great length, but without ever coming to any
conclusion. There the brother-in-law of Tancred fell
into his hands, that Richard, Count of Acerra, who had
first raised arms against him, and who was accused,
moreover, of many other serious offences. Condemned
to death, Richard was first dragged at a horse's tail,
then hung up still living by the feet to a gallows.
Two days later Henry's jester tied a stone to his throat,
and thus strangled, the victim was released from his
horrible sufferings.
From Capua Henry passed over to Palermo. He
had, in the meantime, obtained by threats from the
Emperor of Constantinople a rich tribute and pro
mises of forage and transports for his crusaders.
Thus his power spread, and perhaps his secret am
bition aimed at uniting on his head the crowns of
the two Empires. But in the Sicilian kingdom,
oppressed and overtaxed, the leaven of discontent
was still fermenting, and he set himself to destroy
it. A fresh conspiracy was discovered, and blood
again flooded the scaffolds, and new and horrible
tortures spread terror and execration till the end
of the summer of 1 197. At that time Henry, while
hunting in a forest not far from Messina, was seized
with sudden malaric fever, from which he died in
a few days, leaving in his place the child Frederick
II. under the guardianship of his mother. Thus
the career of Henry VI. was unexpectedly cut short.
He had received from his father a great inheritance,
and he had held and enlarged it with the paternal

Henry VI. 121
tenacity, but without a ray of that magnanimity of
soul which shone forth in Barbarossa. He was as
fortunate as he was perfidious, and he died young
enough not to see his luck turn, for he was not the
man to have commanded good fortune for the space
of a long life. He had succeeded to the reins of
government in a propitious hour, and had lived for
that hour only, when the majesty of the Empire was
at its height, Germany tired of her dissensions, the
Lombards sufficiently pacified, Sicily torn with in
ternal discords, the Papacy in aged and infirm hands.
But when he died, the power of the Church was
about to pass into very different keeping. On the 8th
of January 1 198, Pope Celestine also died, and Inno
cent III. was elected in his stead.

( 122 )

CHAPTER VIII.
(1198-1201.)
INNOCENT III. GUARDIAN OF FREDERICK II., KING
OF SICILY — HIS STRUGGLE WITH PHILIP OF
HOHENSTA UFEN.
The new Pope ascended the papal throne with a great
faith in the supremacy of the Papacy over every
earthly power, and with a firm determination to
make it triumph. Issuing from the noble Roman
stock of the Conti, he had been created cardinal very
early by his maternal uncle, Clement III., but during
the pontificate of Celestine, who was unfriendly to
his family, he had remained in the background, and
occupied more with thought and study than with
action. A young man of thirty-seven, he had a
high reputation for learning on jurisprudence, ac
quired in the schools of Paris and Bologna; his
appearance was noble, his life pure, his will active
and tenacious. He was of affable manners, but
prone to sudden anger, and also inclined to that
melancholy not uncommon to thoughtful minds,
which had led to his writing a book, already famous,
on the contempt of the world.
The feeble rule of Celestine and the resolute

Innocent III. 123
policy of Henry VI. had endangered the interests
of the Church. It was necessary to strengthen them,
and, by continuing and completing the work of
Gregory VII. and of Alexander III., finally place the
Papacy on the summit of its power. To realise
this vast idea, it would be necessary for Innocent to
embrace in his view the whole of Christendom ; but
first of all he had to provide for nearer and im
mediate needs. The temporal power of the Church
was almost destroyed, not only in Rome, where the
authority of the republic prevailed, but throughout
the Church's patrimony, which Henry had parcelled
out among the German barons who had accompanied
him. But the edifice built up by Henry was already
crumbling, and Innocent soon obtained that the
prefect of Rome should receive the investiture from
him, thus converting him from an imperial into a
papal officer, while, without interfering with the
autonomy of the republic and senate, he prevailed
on them to recognise explicitly his sovereign authority
over Rome.
On the death of Henry VI. the latent hatred of
the oppressive German rule broke out fiercely and
openly. Philip of Suabia, Henry's brother, had
escaped with difficulty from the possessions of Coun
tess Matilda, held by him under the title of Duke of
Tuscany, in order to return to Germany and attend
there to the interests of his house. The provinces
of the Exarchate and of the March of Ancona were
in the hands of Markwald of Anweilen, the fiercest
of Henry VI.'s tools, and now head of the German
party in Italy, while the duchy of Spoleto was held

124 The Popes and the Hohenstaufen.
by Conrad of Uerselingen. Aided by the hatred of
the people against the Germans, Innocent succeeded
in wresting from them a great part of their posses
sions. Conrad of Uerselingen, after having vainly
offered to hold the duchy of Spoleto as a papal
fief, had to leave it and return to Germany. The
Tuscan cities, liberated from the presence of Philip
of Hohenstaufen and assisted by Innocent, raised
the standard of municipal freedom and joined in a
league among themselves, with the exception of the
powerful Pisa, which remained faithful to the im
perial cause, and would not pay homage to the
Pope. It was less easy to regain the March of
Ancona, for Markwald made armed resistance ; but
at last he also yielded, though only to renew the
struggle on another field. Thus, in a short space
of time, the whole of Central Italy was freed from
the German yoke, and a great part of it accepted
either the immediate or the indirect sovereignty of
the Pontiff, who had done so much to raise and guide
its movements.
Neither was the Teutonic domination less hated in
the south, but rebellion there took other forms. The
Norman Constance, on the death of her husband, seized
the reins of government, and, with the support of the
Norman nobility, deprived the Germans of all power
and excluded them from the land, while her child
Frederick, who had remained in the Marche since his
birth, was brought to her. The high seneschal Mark
wald, in whose hand was Henry VI.'s will, in vain
laid claim to the tutelage of the boy-king. Hateful
to the Sicilians, and suspected of coveting the throne

Innocent III. 125
of Sicily for himself, he also had to leave the island,
and retire first to the county of Molise, and then pro
ceed to defend as best he might his possessions in
Romagna and the Marche, which the people in revolt
and the Pope were trying to tear away from him.
Constance in the meantime, anxious to secure the
throne for her son, sought the support of Rome. She
turned first to Celestine, then to Innocent, asking
again, for that investiture of the kingdom which the
powerful Henry had scorned. Innocent did not wish
to see the two crowns of Sicily and the Empire united
on one head, so he temporised prudently, measuring
his concessions according to the turn things took in
Germany, and putting as first condition the abrogation
of the privileges which at the peace of Benevento in
1 1 5 6 Hadrian IV. had been compelled to concede to
William I. Constance tried in vain to persuade the
Pope to waive these claims, for he saw the strength
of his position and persisted. Having obtained what
he wanted, Innocent promised his protection to the
Empress, and sent Cardinal Ugolino of Ostia'to receive
from her liege homage in her own and her son's name.
But soon after, in November 1198, Constance died at
Palermo. Before her death, with a keen apprehension
of the dangers awaiting her son, she thought to defend
him by appointing Innocent as regent of Sicily and
her son's guardian. She appointed also a council of
government which should maintain order till the arrival
of the papal legate, and to the very last she charged
them to beware of Markwald, and not to make peace
with him. Thus her short reign had been entirely a
reaction against German influence, and had been suffi-

126 The Popes and the Hohenstaufen.
cient to shake it considerably, if not entirely to eradi
cate it.
Innocent accepted the guardianship of the boy
Frederick, a thorny task for him, who had to watch
over the interests of his ward and those of the Church,
which were so often opposed to each other. It was
to Cardinal Cencius, later Pope Honorius III., that he
intrusted the duty of representing him in Sicily and
of educating Frederick, and the cardinal immediately
surrounded the boy by cultivated men calculated to
inspire him with a love of letters. Meanwhile the
conditions of the kingdom were growing more and
more complicated. As Constance had foreseen on her
deathbed, the German party soon lifted its head, sup
ported by the Sicilian Saracens, who were hostile to the
Pope, and by the secret plots of Walter Palear, bishop
of Troia, one of the councillors of the regency and
high chancellor of the kingdom. This man had
hoped to have all the power in his hands during
Frederick's minority, and bitterly resenting the in
trusion of this papal authority, he took to conspiring
secretly against it and favouring the spread of dis
content. Markwald, now dispossessed of the March
of Ancona, tried to recover his position by entering
the county of Molise, where were the remnants of
his followers, collected an army, and affirmed anew
his claims on the guardianship of Frederick and the
regency of the kingdom. He sought to draw over to
his side Roffrid, abbot of Monte Cassino, whose, monas
tery was a key to the kingdom from its position and
the troops of which it disposed. But Roffrid, who
had been always devoted to Henry VI., divided the

Innocent III. 127
cause of this son from that of Markwald, and was
faithful to the oath of homage which he had sworn to
Innocent. Markwald cruelly ravaged the monastery's
lands, took possession of the town of San Germano,
and ascending to the very gates of the convent, laid
siege to it. Not succeeding in storming it, he hoped
to conquer it by thirst, but a sudden rain falling, as
it appeared by miracle, on the day of St. Maurus,
destroyed his camp and supplied the besieged with
water. Markwald raised the siege, and after getting
money out the abbot, retired.
The Pope meanwhile was reiterating anathemas and
collecting troops against him. Markwald, feeling the
urgency of hastening to Palermo and seizing the gov
ernment, entered into treaty in order to gain time,
and offered to submit to the Pope, who, either because
he fell into the trap or from its being difficult to do
otherwise, absolved him. It looked like a peace, but
was in reality only a truce favourable -to Markwald.
This latter was to give up every claim, keep away
from Sicily, and indemnify Monte Cassino for the
losses suffered; but he kept none of these promises.
On the contrary, having secured the assistance of the
Saracens and of as many malcontents as Apulia and
Sicily contained, he took up arms again, entered
Salerno, and thence sailed for the island in the
ships of Pisa, which hoped by joining him to over
power Genoese influence in the kingdom. On the
mainland he left Diepold, Count of Acerra, to en
counter such troops as the Pope was sure to send
against him.
The boy Frederick was taken for safety to Messina,

128 The Popes and the Hohenstaufen.
while the Pope encouraged the people to hold out,
and sent a first expedition of troops under the com
mand of a relative and accompanied by some prelates.
Meanwhile a Frenchman, Count Walter of Brienne, pre
sented himself to Innocent. He had married Albina,
a daughter of King Tancred, and in her name claimed
the fiefs of Lecce and Taranto, of which Henry VI.
had unjustly deprived her family. She, with her mother
Sibilla, had accompanied her husband to Rome. The
Pope, after hesitating a little, and fearing to drive
him over to the enemy, thought it prudent to respond
favourably to the pretensions of this adventurer, and
to use him against Markwald. This latter, having
seized on a large part of the island, went to attack
Palermo ; but encountering the Pope's and Frederick's
soldiers near the town, met with a serious defeat and
was obliged to fly, leaving Henry VI.'s will among
the booty of the camp. Not for this, however, did
he lose heart. The strength of his adversaries was
being frittered away by difficulties and dissensions,
and he took advantage of it to remain in Sicily, where
he continued to intrigue and to raise soldiers. In
this he succeeded. The high chancellor, Walter
Palear, who had already been secretly plotting with
him, now openly joined him and recalled him to the
council of the kingdom ; but he soon found that he
had raised up a master, and was forced to leave
the island, while Markwald seemed about to reach in
triumph the goal of his ambition.
Then the Pope set loose upon the kingdom Walter
of Brienne with a handful of French knights, to
whom were added reinforcements sent by the abbot

Innocent III. 129
of Monte Cassino and the Count of Celano. Diepold
of Acerra went to meet Walter, but was defeated near
Capua, and this opened up Apulia to the French
man. A year of great confusion followed in the
realm, the mainland being divided between Walter
of Brienne and Diepold, while Sicily was in the hands
of Markwald, who had at last succeeded in entering
Palermo and assuming the guardianship of Frederick.
But in September 1 202 Markwald fell ill and died, and
in Apulia Diepold was again beaten in that same plain
of Cannce, where in old days the Romans had suffered
their famous defeat. Innocent was rejoiced, thinking
that he had now the advantage ; but in the ever-
recurring civil discords and the ambition of the mag
nates he met with endless opposition, nor could he,
oppressed as he was by a thousand different cares,
devote all his attention or all his resources to a single
enterprise. The war dragged on, and Diepold was
able to surprise Walter of Brienne, who was killed.
Innocent, temporising as he best could in the midst
of such confusion, managed to maintain pretty well
the integrity of the kingdom for his ward, and even
partly to draw over to himself those very same ambi
tious barons who had formerly tried to thwart his
plans. Thus, in a palace that to him was almost a prison,
amid discords, suspicions, and snares, Frederick's
sad childhood had passed in loveless solitude ; and
now that he had reached his fourteenth year, he
began to wield the sceptre and to govern by him
self. But the boy-king's hand was still weak, the
kingdom still torn by dissensions, his poverty was
C H. 1

130 The Popes and the Hohenstaufen.
great, and his councillors were greedy of power
and riches, at variance among themselves and with
out affection for him. Sicily was still shaken by
rebellion and on the mainland Conrad of Marley,
another lieutenant of Henry VI.'s, was leading the
German forces, and was acting as master on his own
account in the Abruzzi and the Terra di Lavoro.
Innocent came to the assistance of the king, and,
raising an army, intrusted the command of it to his
brother, Richard, Count of Segni, who entered the
Terra di Lavoro, and, supported by the faithful
abbot Roffrid of Monte Cassino and by the Count of
Celano, entirely defeated Conrad and destroyed the
influence of the German barons in that district. In
nocent then resolved upon going in person to rein
force the royal authority. In Rome, after a troubled
period of conflict and agitation, people's minds had
calmed down, so that Innocent could leave the city,
and passing through Anagni and Ceprano, entered the
kingdom on the 2 1st of June 1 208. Received with
great honour by all, his presence was admirably
calculated to restore order and heal the unhappy
condition of the kingdom, an undertaking rendered
easier now that the great German feudal lords were
succeeded by the Count of Celano and the Pope's
brother Richard as Frederick's chief lieutenants.
Upon this latter Frederick bestowed as a reward the
fief of Sora.
Innocent was able to send some troops into Sicily
for Frederick, and then returned to Rome, rejoicing
in his success and with his mind freer, so that he
could devote himself to the many complicated matters

Innocent III. 131
which from all parts of the world came to him for
their solution. Nor was there a limit to Innocent's
activity, which regarded the universe as included in
the all-embracing nature of the Papacy, wherein his
lofty spirit found congenial expression.
We have seen Innocent as guardian of Frederick
II. and tenacious defender of his rights to the throne
of Sicily, rights which he skilfully combined with
the prerogatives claimed by the Church over the
kingdom ; but, in opposition to all papal interests,
Henry VI., when dying, had left the boy already
the elected King of the Romans and heir to the
Empire. Innocent having succeeded to the Papacy
with the intention of overthrowing the whole of
Henry's work, was opposed to such a succession, and
the state of Germany was favourable to his wishes.
When Philip of Suabia, leaving Tuscany in revolt,
had hurried to Germany to maintain there the rights
of his nephew Frederick, he had found that realm
in great confusion. The Guelphs were straining
every nerve to wrest the Empire from the Hohen
staufen, and the extreme youth of Frederick II.
favoured them, as it rendered him incapable of govern
ing so disturbed a country. Many barons refused
to recognise a child as their sovereign, and vainly
did Philip appeal to the advantages of harmony and
the rights of his nephew. The Ghibellines them
selves hesitated, but fearing lest their adversaries
should prevail, they rallied round Philip in a diet
held at Mulhausen in Thuringia and offered him the
crown. At first he declined it, but seeing that a
refusal would have played into the hands of the

132 The Popes and the Hohenstaufen.
opposite party, he yielded to the entreaties of his
followers, and on the 6th of March 1 198 he was pro
claimed King of the Romans.
The Guelphs did not remain inactive. After
several fruitless endeavours to elect the dukes Ber-
thold of Zahringen and Bernard of Saxony, they
had recourse to Otto of Brunswick, second son of
Henry the Lion and nephew of the English Richard, ,
who loved him and had given him fiefs in his own
state. His eldest brother being in Palestine, Otto
might regard himself as head of the Guelph family
in Europe ; he had the alliance and support of the
English king, was young, strong, and daring in arms,
contrasting in this favourably with Philip of Suabia,
less robust and warlike, but his superior in mental
culture and in refinement of manners. Provided by
Richard with plenty of money, he returned to Ger
many with a large band of followers, and on the
15th of March 1198 he was elected at Cologne.
Both the elected kings tried to enter Aix-la-Chapelle
to be crowned, but Otto was more fortunate, and was
crowned there by the Archbishop Adolphus of Cologne,
who took part with him. Philip had to content
himself with receiving the crown at Mentz from
the hand of the Archbishop of Tarantaise, but, to
make up for this, the ceremony was graced by the
jewels of the imperial treasure, which the Hohen
staufen kept in the castle of Trifels. Weighty
details these in those days for deciding the validity
of an election.
Civil war was now, therefore, let loose in Ger
many, and the two parties sought for support abroad,

Innocent III.

133

Otto inclining chiefly to England, Philip to France,
but both seeking the favour of the Pope. Innocent
at first temporised, though from the very beginning
his secret sympathies were all for Otto, nor were
they so without good reason. The antagonism be
tween the Suabians and the Church was traditional,
whereas the latter had often proved the devotion of
the Guelph house, which also, from having fewer
interests and less history, seemed less dangerous. It
was quite enough to have already one Hohenstaufen
in the south and almost at the gates of Rome ; if
now the imperial crown was to devolve on another,
the states of the Church would again be surrounded,
as they had been in the times of Henry VI. More
over, Philip, though gentle by nature and unlike
his brother, had shown himself animated by the
principles of his house, and adhered to Markwald
in Sicily, while the fact of his having occupied as
Duke of Tuscany the lands of Matilda kept him
still under the ban of excommunication. Yet, in
spite of all these reasons, Innocent took his time.
The two parties turned to him, each asking for
papal recognition and the crown of Empire for their
own candidate, Otto's partisans adding promises of
unlimited devotion and of great concessions, in which
the King of England joined them. On the other
hand, Philip's followers were more reserved and
more jealous of the imperial dignity and rights.
" We have sworn to our lord," they wrote to the
Pope, "to support him against every one who is
disaffected or disposed to contest his supreme power
and the enjoyment of his brother's possessions.

134 The Popes and the Hohenstaufen. ¦
Therefore we, devoted as we are to the Holy See,
implore you to grant your paternal affection to him,
whom we hold most worthy of the throne. Stretch
not out your hand against the rights of the Empire,
and rest assured that we shall not under any pretext
invade the privileges of the Apostolic See, nor allow
others to invade them."
Thus, by degrees, Innocent, if not practically, at
least in theory, was called on to arbitrate between
the two, and this was what he wished. When Alex
ander III., on his election, met with Octavian, who
disputed his right to the pontificate, Frederick I., in
voking obsolete rights, had tried to arbitrate between
them; but Alexander had repulsed him, and now
Innocent placed himself between the two candidates,
who did not venture to repulse him, even if they
did not invoke him in so many words. The subtle
papal art of founding a fixed right on every fact
that occurred, on every tradition, on every temporary
concession, produced much fruit during the pontifi
cate of this jurist Innocent. There might be but a
short step between this arbitration and a more com
plete subjection of the Empire to papal authority,
and so much the more caution was required that
ground might be gained rather than lost. To sound
people's minds, he sent to Germany the abbot of St.
Anastasius and the bishop of Sutri. This latter,
exceeding his instructions, freed Philip in too great
a hurry from the sentence of excommunication with
out waiting till certain conditions made by the Pope
were fulfilled ; and Innocent, to mark his disapproval
of the legate's haste, deprived him of the episcopal

Innocent III.

135

dignity, and treated his absolution as void. Yet
he only gradually declared his sympathies, and not
till he saw that Otto was fairly equal to the struggle,
and needed but some opportune assistance to give
him every probability of winning. His aid, however,
became more and more urgent, especially when the
arrow of a Limousin archer had cut short the Eng
lish Richard's life, and with it the chief support of
the Guelph cause. Conrad of Wittelsbach, the most
venerable and influential prelate of Germany, having,
on the Pope's suggestion, proposed a truce which was
not accepted, both candidates turned once more to
the Pope, who then affirming that this question of
the Empire devolved principally and finally on the
Apostolic See, frankly took up the attitude of a
judge examining a cause on which he is bound to pass
a sentence. About that time he made public a long document
called "A deliberation on the matter of the Empire,"
in which he undertook to examine into the rights of
the rival candidates, among which, with a fine political
sense not devoid of equity, he placed first of all the
boy-king of Sicily, whose election to the throne of the
Romans no one thought of any longer. He carefully
examined the claims of all three, ably recognising
those in favour of the two Suabians, but by argu
mentative subtleties he destroyed them, while he
strengthened those which favoured Otto. And at the
end of his exposition he concluded that, for the afore
said reasons, " We do not think it advisable to insist
at present that the boy (Frederick) should obtain the
Empire, and as for Philip, he must be entirely set

136 The Popes and the Hohenstaufen.
aside for obvious reasons, and we declare that he must
be prevented from usurping the Empire. We more
over propose to use our influence by means of our
legate with the princes that they may either agree re
garding a suitable person, or may leave it to our judg
ment and arbitration. For if they elect no one, after
long waiting, after exhorting them to agree, after in
structing them by letter, we shall make known to them
our counsel, that we may not seem connivers in their
discord. . . . And as this business must not suffer
delay, and since Otto both in himself and by family
tradition is devoted to the Church, ... we think it
will be desirable to favour him openly, to accept him
as king, and when that has been arranged which
should be arranged for the honour of the Church, call
him to the crown of Empire."
After declaring so openly his opinion, he set him
self vigorously to ensure Otto's triumph, leaving no
stone unturned, trying especially to detach Philip's
adherents from him and draw them over to his candi
date, and this among the German barons and clergy
as much as in the European courts. At the beginning
of March 1201 he wrote to Otto recognising him as
king, and wrote also to the principal ecclesiastics and
barons of Germany reproving them for their stubborn
ness in continuing to disagree in spite of his admoni
tions, declaring that the welfare of Christendom could
suffer no further delays, and that he proclaimed Otto
king. His legates exerted themselves in Germany,
held parliaments in which they confirmed the election
of the Guelph prince, and once more included Philip
and his adherents in a general sentence of excommuni-

Innocent III.

137

cation. At Neuss they received the oath of Otto, who
promised the Pope the maintenance and recovery of
all the possessions to which the Holy See laid claim,
and assistance to the Church in Sicily. He agreed to
accept the advice and decision of the Pope regarding
the customs of the Romans and touching the Leagues
of Tuscany and Lombardy, and in the same way to be
guided by the Pope in concluding peace with the King
of France. On receiving the imperial crown, he was
to confirm by oath and in writing all these promises.
But the attitude of the Pope, whom the Guelphs
followed probably only for their interest and tempo
rarily, displeased the Germans, justly jealous of their
prerogatives regarding the royal election. Philip
defended himself publicly, accusing the Pope of am
bitious intrusion, and declaring that German inde
pendence would be lost if the German princes could
not choose their king without the papal permission.
Philip's defence was echoed by his supporters, who
replied to the Pope in a direct letter, signed also by
archbishops and bishops, in which this interference
was repelled firmly and in strong language. Inno
cent then, in his turn, hastened to repel the accusa
tions, showing that he and his legates for him had
not usurped the functions and rights of the electors,
but had simply exercised his own. It was not he
who had elected Otto as king, nor had he pretended
to the right of doing so. This right the Apostolic
See had transferred to them when it transferred the
Byzantine Empire to Germany and recognised it as
belonging to the German princes. But they also
must recognise " that the right and authority of exa-

138 The Popes and the Hohenstaufen.
mining the person chosen to be king, and of pro
moting him to the Empire, belongs to us who anoint
and consecrate and crown him. . . . What ? If the
princes were to agree on electing a sacrilegious man
or a tyrant, a heretic or a pagan, are we to anoint,
consecrate, and crown such a man ? Far be it from
us ! And," added Innocent, " if the princes, after
being admonished and waited for, cannot or will not
agree, is the Apostolic See to remain without her
advocate and defender, and is she to suffer for their
fault ? " Subtle and weighty reasons, naturally spring
ing out of the strange grafting of the imperial inter
ests on those of the Church, and out of their rights,
inextricably blended and constantly clashing.

( 139 )

CHAPTER IX.
(1201-1216.)
INNOCENT III. OTTO OF BRUNSWICK AND
FREDERICK II.
The triumph of Otto was greatly desired by Innocent,
not simply for the sake of terminating this dispute in
a manner favourable to the Church, but also because
he felt all the benefit which would accrue to Christen
dom were its two great powers able to act in concord.
The whole Christian world was passing then through
serious changes, to some of which Innocent himself
had given the impulse, while he merely seconded
others. In the narrow limits of this work it is
impossible to follow Innocent III. through the vast
ramifications of his action, and the history of this
famous Pope must necessarily remain maimed and
incomplete. The character of his action was univer
sal, and was inspired by the idea of this universality.
With him the Papacy seemed for a moment to reach
the position of moderator and guide of human events,
and in as far as the nature of these events permitted
it, Innocent really did approach that height. Sove
reigns, one after another, bowed before him ; the
¦Eastern Church for a time came nearer again to the

140 The Popes and the Hohenstaufen.
Western ; on the Moors of Spain and the Albigenses
of Languedoc were pressing mercilessly the victorious
arms of two crusades, while a third was filling the
thoughts of Innocent. Through his influence the
voice of Fulk of Neuilly was raised to stir up the
masses, pointing out to them the path leading to the
Holy Sepulchre. In the meantime two still obscure
men, Dominic of Guzman and Francis of Assisi, were
applying to the Pope in their eagerness to guide a
new democratic movement which was creeping into the
Church, restless and unconscious of its strength, and not
yet knowing the magnet that drew it. Science, art,
and letters were sending out new and uncertain gleams,
while they tormented with hopes and fears the thoughts
of mankind in the new life on which it was enter
ing. A general transformation was going on in the
world. In the hope of the imperial authority submitting
and devoting itself to him, the Pope continued to
favour Otto actively, while war broke out between
the two rivals, and Germany was torn with dissen
sions. For about two years things went well with
the papal favourite, and Philip of Suabia found him
self deserted by many of his followers, among the
rest by Herman, Landgrave of Thuringia, and Otto-
car, King of Bohemia. Then Philip, reduced to ex
tremities, turned to the Pope with magnificent offers.
He would lead an army to Palestine, would give up
all her territories to the Church, and make great
concessions to the clergy; should his brother-in-law,
Alexius Angelus, reach the throne of Constantinople,
he would obtain the subjection of the Greek Church

Innocent III. and Otto IV. 141
to Rome ; finally, he offered his daughter in mar
riage to a nephew of Innocent. At the time nego
tiations were opened, but ended in nothing, and
Innocent protested that he had only contemplated
treating of Philip's return to the bosom of the
Church, not of granting him the imperial crown.
But after the early successes, Fortune turned her
back on Otto ; and the Pope's protection, though
continued for some time with active energy, did
not suffice to support him. The chances of war
were against Otto ; the principal towns surrendered
to Philip either willingly or under pressure, and
those same princes who had deserted him, includ
ing the Landgrave of Thuringia and the King of Bo
hemia, now returned to him ; also the Archbishop
Adolphus of Cologne was come over to his side, and
on the Epiphany of 1205 repeated the ceremony of
the coronation at Aix-la-Chapelle, of which Philip had
become master. Otto began to be isolated, and was
abandoned even by his father-in-law, the Duke of
Brabant, and his brother, Henry of Brunswick. His
cause seemed now lost beyond recall, and with it were
endangered the interests of the Church and the plans
cherished by Innocent. This latter now began to
listen more favourably to the proposals repeated oppor
tunely by Philip. He felt it was useless to continue
the struggle, and perhaps also was influenced by the
state of Rome, always a difficulty for the Pope, and
where a party favourable to the Suabians was gradu
ally entering even into the Curia and among the cardi
nals. With the mediation at first of the patriarch
of Aquileia, they began to discuss some ecclesiastical

142 The Popes and the Hohenstaufen.
business, and in a general way the peace of the Em
pire, for the sake of which Innocent proposed a truce
between the two rivals, and sent into Germany his
legates, cardinals Ugolino of Ostia, and Leo Branca-
leone, who in 1207 met Philip at Spires, agreed with
him regarding the principal ecclesiastical questions,
freed him from all sentence of excommunication, and
arranged a year's truce between him and Otto. But
Innocent wanted to follow up the truce by a peace.
He saw now that victory was assured to Philip, who
had with him Germany, the King of France, and many
European princes, while his adversary was left without
any efficient support. As Frederick Barbarossa had
once become aware that all his efforts were vain
against Italian resistance, and had then changed his
policy, so now, when Innocent recognised the strength
of German resistance, he entered on a new course.
Whatever happened, the Pope would remain arbitrator
in the struggle for the Empire, and this was his prin
cipal object. Let us add that the German party in
Sicily was now subdued, so that Philip's influence
there could no longer give umbrage, while in the
Countess Matilda's contested possessions and in Lom
bardy the imperial power was waning before munici
pal independence. Peace therefore with Philip offered
few dangers now, and might bear good fruit, so that
Innocent tried to arrive at it by persuading Otto of
Brunswick that he must now resign the crown to his
adversary, who offered him in compensation the hand
of his eldest daughter, Beatrice, and the duchy of Suabia.
But on Otto's indignant refusal, it appeared as if one
more effort on Philip's part would be necessary, and

Innocent III. and Otto IV. 143
he was already preparing to make it when the tragic
destiny of the house of Hohenstaufen stepped in
unexpectedly. Shortly before, Philip had mortally
offended one of his followers, the Count Palatine Otto
of Wittelsbach, a fierce and violent man, nephew to
the other of the same name, who had rendered such
faithful service to Frederick I. This man's anger had
been aroused by Philip's refusing him his daughter's
hand after having promised it to him, and after, as it
appears, having hindered his contracting another alli
ance. He swore vengeance, and on the 21st of June
1 208 at Bamberg, while Philip was reposing and talk
ing with the Bishop of Spires and some other courtiers,
Otto of Wittelsbach entered suddenly and killed him
on the spot, then knocking down and wounding who
ever opposed him, made his escape. Thus at the age
of thirty-four closed the life of the gentlest of this
Suabian house, while he was preparing to receive the
imperial crown and mark a fresh page in the history
of his family. By this death, if Germany was not to
fall back again into all the perplexities from which
she appeared to be just emerging, the darkened star
of Otto of Brunswick seemed necessarily to rise again
into the ascendant, while in far-off Sicily the last
Suabian could scarcely as yet inspire any fear.
Innocent deplored the shocking deed, but lost no
time in returning to Otto and in doing all he could
to prevent other claimants from starting up and from
renewing a struggle which had already pressed so
hard on Church and Empire. He applied himself
to the task with energy. Aware, probably, of the
faults of Otto's covetous and impetuous disposition,

144 The Popes and the Hohenstaufen.
he admonished him to moderate them while promising
him his support. He addressed himself to the com
munes of Lombardy and the King of France to win
them over to Otto ; he wrote to prelates and princes
in Germany exhorting them to transfer their support to
him and beware of endangering the peace by another
election. To conciliate the adherents of the Suabian
house, he gave the necessary dispensation for the
marriage of Otto with Beatrice, the young daughter
of the murdered Philip, whose death was later
avenged in the blood of the murderer. Otto, in
a solemn assembly held at Frankfort the nth of
November 1208, was recognised without opposition,
and having celebrated his espousals with Beatrice, he
set out in the August of 1209 for Italy and his
coronation. In the meantime, freedom, strength, and dissen
sions had greatly increased in Italy, for while every
day the ties binding her to Germany were loosening,
the names around which German discords rallied had
crossed the Alps, and the Italian factions of the
Guelphs and the Ghibellines were beginning to
brandish the torch of their immortal hate. Otto
rapidly traversed North Italy and Tuscany without
hindrance, receiving the homage of many towns
and many nobles. As advocate of the Church and
in her name, but without being empowered to do so,
he occupied some of the Countess Matilda's lands,
and in the September of 1209 entered the states
of the Church at the head of a numerous army.
Innocent came to meet him at Viterbo, and per
haps some suspicions crossed his mind on seeino-

Innocent III. and Otto IV. 145
Otto arrive with an armed retinue so much greater
than seemed necessary, and the occupation of Ma
tilda's lands increased the suspicion. At any rate,
Otto gave a verbal promise to restore those lands,
but was always able to find pretexts for not confirm
ing the promise in writing, and Innocent, unable
any longer to draw back, preceded to Rome the
Emperor-elect, who followed close, and encamped at
Monte Mario. Rome, meanwhile, sullenly watched
the Germans, who, as usual, gave little heed to
the rights she claimed, and her citizens kept a
threatening guard on the left bank of the Tiber.
Hardly had the ceremony of the coronation been
completed in the Vatican, than Pope and Emperor
separated at the bridge of St. Angelo, and Inno
cent returned to the Lateran. But before Otto
with his men could reach the camp, the ruffled
tempers of the Romans broke out into violence.
In the Leonine city there was fierce fighting all day
long, and Otto, after heavy loss in men and horses,
had to retire at last and fortify himself at Monte
Mario. Thence he sent to Innocent asking for an
interview, which he was perhaps far from desiring;
and the Pope, either on account of Rome's fury
against the Germans or of his own suspicions, pre
ferred treating through ambassadors. Evidently
there was disagreement between them, and it appears
to have arisen from the old question of Matilda's pos
sessions. And in truth, with regard to these possessions Otto
immediately showed himself in his real colours. Throw
ing to the winds all the protestations and promises
c. h. k

146 The Popes and the Hohenstaufen.
made by him for so many years to Innocent, the new
Emperor, on leaving the Roman territory, turned to
wards Tuscia, and forcibly occupied, as forming these
possessions, all the cities of the patrimony, which he
had always solemnly declared to belong, and belong for
ever, to the Popes. Then, by flattering the principal
nobles in Northern Italy and what remained of the
German faction in the South, this Guelph placed him
self all at once at the head of the Ghibellines, and
with their aid aimed in his ambition at repeating
Henry VI.'s work and carrying it to completion. The
inevitable dispute between Church and Empire was
revived by this creature of Innocent's, and bitterly did
the Pope feel the disappointment. In vain did he
reproach Otto with the oaths made to the Church. All
the more arrogant now for having humbled himself so
abjectly before, Otto answered that other oaths bound
him to maintain the dignity of the Empire and to
recover its lost rights. And he persevered in his
daring. Urged on by the factious nobility of Sicily,
he made ready to enter that realm in order to wrest
it from the Hohenstaufen. In November 12 10 he
moved from Rieti to the frontier, and settled for the
winter at Capua, whose gates opened to receive him.
The excommunication pronounced against him seemed
to stimulate him to advance, and in the following
year, after becoming master of Naples and Taranto, he
was preparing, with the assistance of the Saracens and
of Pisa, to invade Sicily. Moreover, making use of the
same means as served Henry VI., he tried to blockade
Rome, so as to hinder communications with the outer
world, while within the city he found adherents in

Innocent III. and Otto IV. 147
Innocent's political and personal enemies, and drew
the prefect of Rome over to his side, making internal
difficulties for the Pope, who would thus be less able
to take measures against him. But the repentant
Innocent was now devoting that same energy to the
destruction of his work that he had formerly given
to creating it. He worked untiringly at undermining
the foundations of his enemy's power and at isolating
him. He sent serious letters to the King of France,
confessing his error, and rekindling the jealousy and
suspicion with which Philip Augustus had always re
garded Otto, the relative and favourite of the English
king. He tried to place him in a bad light before
the free cities of Northern Italy, and intimated to the
bishops of those parts that they should announce the
excommunication of this Emperor, who invaded the
rights of the Church and was disposed to oppress her.
He sent the same intimation to the bishops of Ger
many, where he laboured still harder for Otto's de
struction. Determined on a change of policy, he did
not hesitate before what he formerly had most feared,
and now regarded the old followers of the Hohen
staufen as his allies. Rather than allow Otto to hold
the Empire at the same time as he made himself master
of Sicily, it were better to try to transplant Frede
rick II. into Germany and turn him once more into a
German. Legate after legate was sent to Germany to
excite the leading men to desert the excommunicated
Emperor, to whom no one was bound to keep faith, as
he had not kept it to God and the Church. Let them
be on their guard against him, or he would soon reduce
them to the same condition as his kinsmen the kings of

148 The Popes and the Hohenstaufen.
England had reduced the English barons. He had
been entirely mistaken in Otto's character, and now
was the first to pay dearly for his ignorance. Let them
lose no time in providing a remedy, and he would sup
port them with all his might.
The Pope's words flew like sparks of fire through
Germany, where the embers of former fires were still
warm. The enemies of the Guelphs raised their
heads and the Suabian party reawoke. In many of
the principal sees the bishops solemnly announced
the sentence of excommunication; the King of Bo
hemia, the Landgrave of Thuringia, the Duke of
Austria again abandoned the Emperor, and the
French king meantime blew upon the coals. Civil
war flared up afresh with all its horrors, the Ghibel
lines turned to their natural head, pointed out to
them by the Pope, and in the place of the fallen
Otto elected Frederick II. Thus, while the Emperor
was preparing to deprive the young king of his
Sicilian crown, he found himself taken in flank and
obliged to return. Otto, after exhorting his par
tisans in the kingdom to be steadfast, proceeded to
Lombardy and held a diet at Lodi. Many cities, out
of deference to the Pope, did not send representa
tives ; but others were friendly, such as Bologna and
Milan, this latter unchanging in her hatred of the
Suabians. In March 12 12, Otto IV. had returned
to Germany.
Frederick II., called by Innocent to share in the
great struggles now agitating and transforming
Europe, entered the field of history with an eager
presentiment of a memorable career. A singular

Innocent III. and Frederick II. 149
man was to emerge from this stripling. His dis
position, his education, the early vicissitudes of his
life, the places and the age in which he lived, all
contributed to make him such, and to render still
more complex a character in which it may be said
that the manifold elements of his nature were fused
as in an alchemist's crucible. He inherited his
father's false and cruel nature, but also the stronger
intellect and more generous instincts of his grand
father, and from his Norman ancestors a subtle and
flexible cunning, while from all there came to him
greed of power and wealth, combined with a lordly
prodigality. He had drunk in from the soft breezes
of his native land love of art and love of pleasure,
and that Italian gift of assimilating the thoughts of
other countries, and of modifying them to suit his
own mind. His early circumstances had taught
him dissimulation and suspicion, but his lively and
talented mind inclined him to a gay and cordial
sociability. Growing up among experienced and
cultivated men of every country, kind, faith, and
profession, he had imbibed from all an inquisitive
desire for knowledge, added to a mixture of super
stition and scepticism in judging of life, of men,
and things. He felt both hate and love strongly,
and the enjoyment of taking vengeance and of con
ferring benefits ; nor could calculation appease his
passions, though it might curb them. He was highly
cultivated, and of the various languages spoken in
his Sicily, from the still wavering Italian to the
Arab tongue, he spoke them all, and, like a knight
of romance, he was a poet in more than one language,

150 The Popes and the Hohenstaufen.
wedding the words to music. Later, he was a gene
rous patron of science and art, a legislator, and an
adept in law, and, when unbiassed by political con
siderations, a calm administrator of justice to his
people. To the restless spirit of the young prince a whole
world was opened up by the invitation of Innocent
and of the German Ghibellines, who also invoked
him, and he accepted it with enthusiasm. In vain
his counsellors dissuaded him ; in vain his young
wife, Constance of Arragon, who shortly before had
given him a son, implored him to remain in his dear
kingdom, far from German mists and from the uncer
tain glory of an undertaking fraught with danger.
The proud and noble blood of the Hohenstaufen which
tingled in his veins urged him on to the adventure.
Having had his child Henry crowned, he intrusted the
Queen with the care of the state, and in April 1 2 1 2
met with a cordial reception in Rome from the citizens
and from Innocent, to whose persistent protection he
owed the preservation of his first crown. During
his stay in Rome, Frederick made the Pope earnest
declarations of unchanging gratitude and devotion,
and was profuse in promises and concessions, receiv
ing in exchange assurances of support and money to
assist him in his enterprise. After separating from
the Pope, Frederick proceeded by sea to Genoa, avoid
ing the obstacles offered to his passage by the cities
and feudatories of Northern Italy, who sided with
Otto, unmindful of the Pope's admonitions. Through
many difficulties and dangers, accompanied by the
Marquises of Este and Montferrat and a small retinue,

Innocent III. and Frederick II. 151
he succeeded in getting out of Lombardy and gaining
the Alps. Past Trent and the Engadine, he reached
the shores of the Lake of Constance, and dashed with
sixty knights into that city, which opened her gates
to him only three hours before the arrival of the
Emperor Otto with a larger retinue. The short delay,
however, had sufficed. Constance holding out for
Frederick at that moment, saved the fortunes of the
Hohenstaufen and exerted a special influence over the
future of the Empire.
Otto meantime had not awaited in idleness the
coming of this storm, provoked by his enemies both
in and out of Germany, and had devoted himself most
energetically to winning over adherents among Italians
and Germans, detaching as many as he could from
the other side. First at Frankfurt, then at Niirn-
berg in diets which he summoned, he made formal
complaints against Innocent, accusing him of attack
ing German independence and the rights of the
Empire ; and while he tried to put the Pope in an
unfavourable light as an enemy of the Empire, he,
on the other side, did all he could to gain alliances,
especially in England and Flanders, in order to have
powerful forces to oppose to the persistent enmity of
Philip Augustus. To attract the partisans of the
house of Suabia, he decided on celebrating the mar
riage, already arranged, between him and the youthful
Beatrice, daughter of Philip of Suabia, and heiress of
his claims ; but the marriage was an inauspicious one.
Four days after the ceremony the bride suddenly
died, and soon dark rumours against Otto circulated
concerning the unexpected event, and in those days

152 The Popes and the Hohenstaufen.
of party animosity the accusation, in spite of its im
probability, did not fail to be listened to by many, and
to all this sudden death appeared an evil omen. The
Suabian and Bavarian barons held aloof from him ;
and Frederick, on arriving in Germany, found the
ground well prepared, notwithstanding all his oppo
nent's energy, and civil war flared up and spread
rapidly. But it was not in Germany that the fate of the
Empire was this time to be determined, and Otto had a
more dangerous enemy in the powerful King of France.
An enemy to him and to his kinsmen, the English
Plantagenets, and jealous of his own powerful feuda
tories, especially of the Count of Flanders, who aimed
at weakening the French monarchy, just as the English
had weakened the strength of King John, Philip Au
gustus regarded the young Hohenstaufen as an element
of victory in the struggle which could not be deferred
much longer. On the ground therefore of their common
enemies he entered into an alliance with him, helping
him with money, as Genoa had done and the Pope,
who meanwhile was moving heaven and earth in his
favour. Frederick was making good way in spite of
manifold difficulties, but he felt how strong his adver
sary still was, and he clung to the Pope. In a diet at
Egra in Bohemia, whose king, Ottocar, had declared for
him, he solemnly repeated and confirmed with a golden
bull his promises to the Holy See. He maintained
and enlarged the ecclesiastical prerogatives in matters
of tenure, election, and appeal to Rome ; he also pro
mised to assure to the Church the direct possession, of
her lands, including among these the territories from

'Innocent III. and Frederick II. 153
Radicofani to Ceprano, all the March of Ancona,
Spoleto, Matilda's possessions, Ravenna and the Pen-
tapolis, only reserving the ancient right of forage ; ,at
the same time he recognised the suzerainty of the
Pope over the kingdom of Sicily, over Sardinia and
Corsica. He accompanied these concessions with
words of reverential gratitude and affection. " I have
before my eyes," he says to Innocent in his bull,
" your immense and innumerable benefits, O my
fatherly protector and benefactor, whose guardianship
nourished, shielded, and promoted me since my mother
Constance flung me almost from her womb into your
protecting arms, and we shall always with a hum
ble and devout heart pay our tribute of honour and
obedience to our special mother the Roman Church."
Singular language in the mouth of Frederick, who
was to show himself later so different in word and
deed !
But this language, which then was not perhaps alto
gether insincere, did him good service in flattering
Innocent's fond but vain hope that at length there sat
on the throne of the Empire a man really devoted to
the Church; and in this hope Innocent continued to
favour him, not only in Germany and Italy, but also
with the King of France, to whom the Pope drew all
the closer, as the estrangement between himself and
the English king approached an open rupture. And
though Innocent somewhat later made peace with Eng
land, yet his interests were always at that time with
France, so that before long things came to a point at
which war could not be avoided. Otto IV. united his
army to the English one, and the battle of Bouvines on

154 The Popes and the Hohenstaufen.
the 27th of July 1 2 14, so famous in French and
English annals, decided also the imperial destinies.
Otto, defeated, exhausted by this war, and abandoned
by his partisans, retired to his duchy of Brunswick,
henceforth in little more than name the rival of
Frederick. This latter, favoured by fortune, could
soon regard himself as the .almost unquestioned lord
of Germany. On the 24th of July 1 2 1 5 he made his
solemn entry into Aix-la-Chapelle, accompanied by
a great crowd of German princes, and by the French
and papal envoys. On the following day he assumed
the silver crown of Germany. As the ceremony was
completed the voice of a priest resounded through
the sacred aisles recalling that Jerusalem the blessed
was in the hands of infidels, and invoking a crusade.
Was it from an impulse of enthusiasm in that solemn
moment of his life, or was he merely yielding to a tem
porary political necessity ? Frederick took the Cross,
and, following his example, many princes vowed them
selves with him to the crusade ; but that vow, which
seemed to bind him for ever in love to the Church, was
before long to turn into a tormenting chain, bringing
no other result but the implacable hatred of the Popes,
returned by him with equal bitterness.
Now that his candidate was firmly seated on the
imperial throne, the heresy of the Albigenses eradi
cated, serious ecclesiastical questions disposed of in
almost every European state, and the Greek Church
united to the Roman, thanks to the new Latin Em
pire at Constantinople, Innocent thought it high time
to call round him the Christian fathers in a council to
be held in the Lateran. Very grand was the material

Innocent III. and Frederick II. 155
prepared for the labours of this grave assembly. To
consolidate the recent conquests of the Church, to
affirm in a series of canons the legislation which had
gradually been developed, to expound to the world the
majesty of the Papacy and the unlimited extension
of all its rights and powers, but above all to reform
the Church where necessary, confirm the purity of the
faith, and provide for the supreme struggle between
East and West which had its centre in the sepulchre
of Christ — these were in Innocent's mind the principal
objects of the council. On St. Martin's Day 1215a
very numerous assembly of bishops met in the Lateran,
and was inaugurated by Innocent in a speech indica
ting the principal points they were to discuss, with a
specially warm recommendation of the crusade; and
among the many important decisions of the council,
those concerning this sacred enterprise had great
prominence. Another resolution was one recognis
ing Frederick II. as King of the Romans, although
the Milanese envoys tried to make good the claims
of the forsaken Otto. On the closing of the coun
cil, Innocent gave all his attention to the cru
sade, which had throughout his pontificate been the
distant aim of his policy, but already in his open
ing discourse his words mingled with a hope of new
triumphs the sad presentiment of approaching death.
"If it is in the designs of God," he had said, "I
am willing to drink the cup of the passion, though
I desire to remain in the flesh until the work begun
be completed. Yet not mine, but God's will be
done, and for that said I unto you, With desire I
have desired to eat this passover with you before

156 The Popes and the Hohenstaufen.
I suffer." The presentiment was true. While going
to Pisa to persuade her to join Genoa in the crusade,
he was seized at Perugia by a fever, and died on
the 1 6th of June 12 16. He was but fifty-six, and
for more than eighteen years he had ruled the Church
among powerful princes, often at variance with him,
and, what was more difficult, among nations agitated
by a vague tendency to some transformation not yet
understood, but giving a sense of restless discomfort.
It is not for us to judge in this little book a man
whose vast labours far exceeded the limits of our
subject. Here we can only say that, in his relations
with the Empire, he was perhaps less fortunate and
less discriminating than in other matters ; though
even on this point a judgment is very difficult.
Certainly, however, as Frederick Barbarossa had
forgotten the conditions of his time, and had exag
gerated the power of the Empire, so also Innocent
forgot or did not see them, and exaggerated the power
of the Church. Hence the grand, but, from its very
nature, perishable work of both could not resist the
spirit of the age.

( iS7 )

CHAPTER X.
(1216-1227.)
HONORIUS III. AND FREDERICK II.
The crusade which had occupied Innocent HI.jp
last thoughts became the chief and continual aspi
ration of his successor, Honorius III., who inherited
besides a vast amount of business, ^including the
papal relations with the new Emperor-elect, which
soon proved perplexing. The subtle Frederick en
joyed greater freedom in his policy after the death
of Innocent, whose benefits towards him had been
too great to be easily ignored during his lifetime.
Nor did he change his policy all at once, as his
father had done, and still more harshly Otto IV.,
but showed himself considerate to the new Pope ;
yet, while protesting his devotion to the Holy See,
he began to take a new departure. During Inno
cent's life he had had his son Henry proclaimed
King of Sicily, and at the same time he had at
Strasburg solemnly promised the Pope that on
assuming the imperial crown he would separate it
entirely from the Sicilian one, and would surrender
to his son the government of the kingdom. Upon

158 The Popes and the Hohenstaufen.
this promised surrender of Sicily Innocent's change
of policy was based, and it was of the highest im
portance to the Papacy. But now Frederick, without
formally renouncing his promise, sent for his son
Henry to Germany, thus in a way separating him
from Sicily while connecting him with Germany,
and preparing the way for ensuring to him that
crown also. Frederick, well acquainted with the
moderate disposition of Honorius and with his spe
cial aspirations, began a temporising policy, which was
well imagined and for a long time successful.
Honorius continued to cherish his idea of the
crusade with an enthusiasm which met with a very
lukewarm response from Christendom. Vainly he
called on the princes to arm for the enterprise ; every
one was too much engrossed in their European affairs
to have any interest to spare for this far-away holy
war, and Frederick had less . than any. To the en
treaties of Honorius, recalling his vow and demand
ing its fulfilment, he opposed continual delays, giving
as pretext the state of Germany and the risk of
leaving it while Otto IV. might again set it in a blaze.
But death soon freed him from this adversary. On
the 19th of May 12 18, in a castle near Goslar, Otto
died, penitent and imploring humbly the Church's
pardon, but not without a certain dignity ; and this
death left Frederick in unquestioned possession of
the Empire. Honorius invited him to Rome for the
coronation, thinking thus to embark him on the road
to Palestine ; but Frederick, much as he desired the.
crown, would not leave Germany till he had ensured
the election of his son as King of the Romans. The

Honorius III. and Frederick II. 159
Curia became anxious and remonstrated, but Frederick
tried by flattering the Pope's pious wishes to reassure
him. According to him, the promotion of Henry had
the sole object of preserving peace in Europe should
he himself die in the Holy Land, and he confirmed
with fresh bulls the promises given to the Church at
Strasburg, and renewed his humble protests of love
and duty. At the same time, he astutely asked that
he might retain the kingdom of Sicily for his life
time, instead of ceding it to his son, and the Pope
did not seem much disinclined to consent.
Thus time passed, and Frederick, while making
many promises and talking with great zeal, continued
to carry out his own purposes. But the Curia began
to lose confidence in him and his promises, and gave
the first hint of this by drawing near again to the
Lombard Guelphs, who had always sided with Otto
and regarded the Suabian with no favour. In the
hope of promoting the crusade, Cardinal Ugolino of
Ostia laboured energetically in restoring peace among
the cities of Central and Northern Italy, and with
considerable success. This harmony could never be
favourable to imperial interests, but the Pope also
had his difficulties at home ; for the turbulent Romans
had obliged him, in June 12 19, to leave Rome. Still,
his efforts for the deliverance of the Holy Sepulchre
had about that time one successful result which ap
peared important : Damietta fell into the hands of the
Crusaders, and with such slaughter of the infidels,
writes one contemporary chronicler, that the Chris
tians themselves regretted it. But confusion and dis
cord among the conquerors soon reduced almost to

160 The Popes and the Hohenstaufen.
nothing the good of the victory, and it became every
day more urgent for the success of the enterprise that
reinforcements should be sent and a definite expedi
tion undertaken.
Honorius continued to insist with Frederick that he
should put an end to his uncertainties and start at
last, but he renewed his pretexts from month to month,
till the Pope's words began to betray some bitterness of
feeling, and in a letter of the I st of October 1 2 1 9 he
had recourse to threats. Two other terms had been
fixed for his departure, said the Pope, and, far from
moving, Frederick had not even made the slightest
preparation. It was time to make haste and get
ready, for who could say but God reserved for him the
victorious issue of an enterprise begun so long before.
Let him remember his grandfather Barbarossa, who had
concentrated in it all his power. Let him be mindful
that unless assistance reached them soon, the Eastern
Christians were in imminent risk of disaster. He
allowed him one further delay till the day of St.
Benedict (March 21, 1220), "but do not slumber,"
he admonished with mild severity, " lest, if this third
term pass unheeded, thou incur excommunication."
They were serious words, of which Frederick, not yet
crowned Emperor, well understood the import, and
Honorius reinforced them by bidding the German
bishops declare all those Crusaders excommunicated
who by St. Benedict's day were not ready to fulfil
their vow.
So Frederick felt that it had become necessary to
return to Italy, make sure of the imperial crown, and
then act according to circumstances. He sent on

Honorius III. and Frederick II. 161
before him the abbot of Fulda to announce his com
ing to the Pope, who was still at Viterbo, and to the
Roman senate, whose friendship he valued all the
more that he was quite determined not to give up the
kingdom of Sicily. At the same time, in Germany, by
making great concessions to the clergy and flattering
the princes, he obtained the election of his son Henry
as King of the Romans on the ist May 1220. He
did not immediately send word of this to Viterbo;
but when he saw the Curia was perturbed by it, he
applied himself to appeasing Honorius with protests
and promises. Henry's election— so he wrote from
Nuremberg in the following July — had occurred with
out his knowledge, although he admitted having vainly
endeavoured to obtain it on former occasions. He
had only agreed to it on condition that the Pope
also accepted it. He quite felt that the Pope's only
reason for not approving of this election was his un
willingness to see the kingdom of Sicily added to the
Empire. The Church must try to banish this sus
picion, for he would take care to keep them separated
in every way possible, and would prove himself such
a son that the Apostolic See would rejoice at having
begotten him ; indeed even if the Church had not
already claims on the kingdom, and he were to die
without heirs, he would rather leave it to the Church
than to the Empire. Honorius accepted both excuses
and promises, and Frederick, at the head of a brilliant
army, and accompanied by his queen, Constance of
Aragon, entered Italy once more.
His long stay in Germany by no means meant that
Frederick desired to remain there always, or preferred
CH. L

1 62 The Popes and the Hohenstaufen.
it as a residence. Oh the contrary, he cherished the
recollection of his early years spent in sunny Sicily,
and had tried to settle matters in Germany so that
he might again take up his abode at Palermo, and
make this city the chief centre of the Empire. He
was carrying out and transforming the idea of his
father and grandfather, and was unconsciously follow
ing the development of the times, which were matur
ing a new and marvellous civilisation. For Italy was
indeed rapidly unfolding her vital power, and it was
so exuberant, so powerful and daring, as to fascinate
Frederick's ardent and vivacious spirit. But it was
not easy to make really his this Italy which pleased
him so much, and whose complex and manifold life,
especially north of Rome, was broken up and reflected
in that of so many cities, cities encouraged by the
Popes to shake off the imperial yoke, differing in
traditions, interests, and politics, desirous of liberty
and jealous of the lords whose tyrannies were begin
ning to blossom out of the democratic discords. The
best he could do for the moment was to cross Italy
in a conciliatory spirit, flattering the nobles in the
north and encouraging their feudal interests, which
in Italy were always useful to the Empire ; giving as
many privileges as possible to friendly cities, avoid
ing those whose attitude was threatening, like Milan,
which he did not go near, having consequently for
the present to renounce the iron crown. In this
manner he came in sight of the Eternal City on the
14th of November 1220, and encamped with his army
on the heights of Monte Mario.
For the first time for ages a man born in Italy

Honorius III. and Frederick II. 163
assumed in Rome the crown of the Empire, and the
Romans, who had made Ot'to IV. feel the weight
of their republican swords, now regarded with satis
faction the new lord of the world, who showed himself
considerate and treated them with deference. After
a cordial reception, Honorius crowned him and Con
stance on the 2 2d of November, in the midst of
peaceful demonstrations on the part of the Romans,
in the presence of many Italian and German princes
and ambassadors from various Italian towns. Also
from Sicily many barons came to do him homage, and
were gladly received by him. Frederick had succeeded
in becoming, with the Pope's consent, both King of
Sicily and Emperor. In return, he made many desired
concessions, and promulgated a series of constitutions,
which included the extirpation of heresy, unlimited
protection to the Church, and an implicit recogni
tion of the clergy's independence from the state.
On both sides such concessions had been made as
contained in themselves the germ of discord, far
exceeding, as they did, all that Church and Empire
could possibly yield ; and this germ, instead of wither
ing, was destined to spring up stronger in conse
quence of Frederick's oath to proceed on the crusade
— an oath which he solemnly renewed in St. Peter's.
Ugolino, cardinal of Ostia, received his oath, and did
not forget it later, when he became Pope under the
name of Gregory IX.
Three days after the coronation Frederick left
Rome, and on the 9th of December entered his
kingdom, which had suffered during his absence
and was in great confusion. With a firm hand

164 The Popes and the Hohenstaufen.
he undertook to reorganise it, but his keen eye
as legislator and politician recognised the impossi
bility of assimilating Sicily and Germany, and in
creating a new code of laws for Sicily he adapted it
to the people for whom it was destined, and revived
in it the traditions of his maternal ancestors, from
whom he inherited the beautiful realm. In this
way he showed himself disposed to separate Sicily
from the Empire, while in reality he was strengthen
ing the bonds where most he wanted them to be
strong. The Sicilian nobility, always factious and
ambitious, had usurped a large part of the royal
goods and possessions ; but he not only took back
again very vigorously what had been usurped, but
very much weakened the usurpers by annulling their
chief prerogatives and increasing to their injury the
royal authority. Among the injured nobles was
Richard, Count of Sora, Innocent's brother, who had
his possessions confiscated. Many barons shut them
selves up in their castles and stood out, but one
after another they were subdued. Some retired within
the patrimony of the Church, where the Pope re
ceived them, himself discontented with Frederick
for having imprisoned some bishops as inciting to
rebellion. Honorius had raised loud complaints, but
the Emperor was inflexible. The Saracens, mean
time, had remained in Sicily, and were very trouble
some by reason of their continual depredations, which
made them a serious danger, so that Frederick crossed
the strait determined once for all to crush them. As
before in Germany, now in Italy the cares of state,
so manifold, and so absorbing all his faculties and

Honorius III. and Frederick II. 165
resources, estranged him more and more from the
thought of the crusade, for which Honorius con
tinued equally zealous, and now renewed his entreaties
and threats. Frederick found pretext after pretext
to excuse his delay, and added even further conces
sions, among which a decree making formal restitu
tion of the Countess Matilda's possessions to the
Church. The Pope, however, did not seem much
impressed by a concession which the municipal life
of North and Central Italy rendered somewhat illu
sory, and he did not cease to insist on the crusade
and reproach him for his delay. Matters were
further embittered by the news that Damietta, on
the 8 th of September 1221, had fallen again into the
hands of the infidels. The echo of this misfortune
sounded sadly throughout Europe, and Honorius
blamed Frederick bitterly for it, accusing his slow
ness and delay of being the cause of this immense
disaster. Frederick felt it necessary to appease the Pope,
through whose words threats of anathema began to
pierce. In the spring of 1222 Pope and Emperor
had an interview at Veroli, and decided to hold in
November a general congress of princes at Verona.
There the time should be settled on for the departure
of the Christian army, which Frederick promised to
conduct in person. But this same promise contained
a delay, and he profited by it to return to Sicily to
fight with the Saracens and subdue them. During
that time the Empress Constance died, and a plan was
immediately formed for uniting the widowed Emperor
to Yolande, daughter of John of Brienne, and titular

1 66 The Popes and the Hohenstaufen.
heiress to the kingdom of Jerusalem. The Roman
court encouraged an idea which might incite Frederick
to the conquest of a kingdom, the right to which
would come to him as his wife's dower ; so the Pope
received very graciously King John of Brienne, who
happened just then to come to Rome. But some fresh
signs of discontent among the Romans threw the aged
and infirm Honorius into his old anxieties, and this
and other hindrances combined with illness prevented
his again meeting the Emperor till the spring of the
following year 1223. This meeting no longer took
place at Verona, but at Ferentino in the Campagna,
and there Frederick promised on oath to start on the
24th of June 1225. Damietta having already fallen
without recall, the need for assistance was less urgent,
and Frederick held that two years were absolutely neces
sary for a peaceful settlement of his Italian possessions
and to prepare ships and arms for so great an enter
prise. Within two years he would marry Yolande of
Brienne, to whom he then engaged himself, and his
father-in-law would meanwhile go through Europe ex
citing all kings to join the crusade, or at least obtain
ing from them men and money.
For a moment it really appeared as if Frederick in
tended this time to keep his promise, for he began
preparations for the expedition, and joined the Pope
in striving to induce other sovereigns to share in it.
But he also, with surprising energy and statesmanship,
devoted himself to the re-settlement of the kingdom
and to the encouragement of commerce and industry,
founding moreover in 1224 with great magnificence a
university at Naples, in which his hopes saw a future

Honorius III. and Frederick II. 167
rival to the democratic Bologna with its Guelph sym
pathies. Nothing vexed Frederick more than the
democracy of the Northern Italian republics, which
opposed all his ideas of absolute government with far
greater effect than did those powerful feudal lords
whom in Sicily he was putting down, and in Germany
he was obliged to tolerate. Hence he paid great
attention to Lombard affairs, determined as far as
he was able to undermine a liberty injurious to his
power, in this revealing his father's and grandfather's
instincts for imperialism. But the republics did not
belie their instincts either, and, in spite of their inter
nal quarrels, felt that their independence was the con
dition of their existence. Frederick saw that to leave
them to increase in pride and prosperity while he was
engaged in distant dangers was to give up, perhaps for
ever, all hope of subduing them ; yet it would probably
be difficult to bring the Pope round to further delays
which would in reality serve to destroy that Lombard
Guelphism, which the Holy See had always cherished,
even when most peacefully inclined to the Empire.
Fortune favoured Frederick. The courts of France
and England showed little enthusiasm for the crusade,
while in Rome new seditions had broken out, which had
obliged the old and enfeebled Honorius to fly, and had
recalled into the city the senator Parentius, who had
already shown himself an enemy to the clergy. In this
precarious state of things, Frederick sent to the Pope
King John of Brienne and the Patriarch of Jerusalem.
The two envoys found the fugitive Pontiff at Rieti.
They represented to him the state of things in Italy,
the indifference of other princes, the necessity of a

1 68 The Popes and the Hohenstaufen.
further delay in order to ensure success. HonoriuS
bowed to the force of circumstances, and yielded a last
time. It was decided, under pain of excommunication,
that in August 1227 the Emperor should absolutely
depart for the Holy Land with a hundred transports
and fifty galleys, and should there remain fighting for
two years with a thousand men-at-arms, having three
horses each ; in the meantime he was to give passage
to two thousand other fighting men. In the town of
San Germano Frederick solemnly swore to these con
ditions in the presence of two cardinals who represented
the Pope.
But new causes of discontent soon arose between
these two powers. Honorius wished to provide for
various sees vacant in the kingdom without first con
sulting Frederick, confining himself to asking for the
bishops' enthronement ; but Frederick, jealous of the
royal prerogatives, protested, and his relations with
Rome became considerably embittered. Yolande of
Brienne arrived in Italy, and at Brindisi, the 9th of
November 1225, was married to the Emperor ; but even
this contributed to his misunderstandings with Rome.
King John of Brienne, discontented at Frederick's
assuming for himself the title of King of Jerusalem
without any regard to him, began to accuse him in
Rome of unfaithfulness to his new bride, and certainly
Frederick's dissolute tendencies gave colour to the accu
sation. Honorius wrote to the Emperor reproaching
him with his neglect of his father-in-law's claims,
which might injure affairs in Palestine ; and on John's
leaving his son-in-law's dominions, the Pope received
him with kindness, and intrusted to him the manage-

Honorius III. and Frederick II. 169
ment of some portion of the Church's patrimony. Mis
trust and irritation between Rome and Sicily increased
daily. During this time, Frederick, with an eye to Lombard
affairs, had convoked for the Easter of 1226 a great
diet to be held at Verona, in which Italy and Germany
were to be represented. But the Guelphs and Lom
bards were awake, and their cities, aware of the
danger, began to cling more closely together, and to
renew the famous league which had held out against
Frederick Barbarossa. Probably more or less direct
encouragement and moral support came from Rome.
Certainly the announcement of Frederick's coming
united every one, and promoted, at least for the time,
the agreement necessary for the defence of their
liberties. The Pope, requested by Frederick in the
interest of the crusades, wrote to remonstrate with
the Lombards, who attended but little to him, perhaps
not believing him to be in earnest. All this strength
ened Frederick's suspicions of the Curia, and in March
1226, collecting an army at Pescara, he marched into
the duchy of Spoleto, under the pretext of levying
troops who should accompany him into Lombardy.
The inhabitants refused, unless they had orders from
the Pope, whose subjects they claimed to be ; and
over this Honorius and Frederick wrangled while the
Lombards collected their forces and ratified the League.
From Spoleto Frederick, avoiding Faenza and Bologna,
which were absolutely hostile, moved on towards Cre
mona, but slowly, in order to give his son Henry time
to reach him there from Germany with the strength
of the army; and Henry did get as far as Trent, but

170 The Popes and the Hohenstaufen.
could not pass the locks of the Adige, guarded by
the Veronese, so that after some useless waiting he
had to return. Frederick held the diet at Cremona,
but it was attended by few Lombard cities. From
the small number of his supporters present he could
calculate how numerous his absent enemies were, and
recognise the need of prudence ; so, after placing the
cities of the League under the ban of the Empire,
he retired to Apulia, and had recourse to the Pope as
mediator between him and the Lombards.
He did not hope much from the mediation, but it
gave him an opportunity for gaining time, and might
draw the Pope over to his own interests and create
reasons for fresh delay. Meanwhile, to regain the
Pope's good-will, he sent into Asia four hundred men-
at-arms, and also yielded in the question of the bishops,
admitting them to their sees without further oppo
sition. The Lombard cities, on their side, were not
opposed to papal mediation, from which they looked
for favour ; so they sent their representatives to Rome,
while the Emperor's plenipotentiaries were the arch
bishops of Reggio in Calabria and of Tyre, with the
Grand Master of the Teutonic Order. Honorius, being
very anxious to obtain the peace necessary for the in
terests of the crusade, pronounced on the 5th of January
1227 the sentence of arbitration. The Emperor was
to give free pardon to all Lombard cities and nobles
who had joined the League ; he annulled every sen
tence against them, and especially that which abolished
the Studio of Bologna, that, however, had remained
without effect ; the prisoners taken on both sides were
to be returned ; the Guelph cities were to make

Honorius III. and Frederick II. \y\
peace with the Ghibellines, and to furnish to the
Emperor for two years, at their own expense, four
hundred men-at-arms for the crusade. The imperial
decrees against heretics were put in vigour, and every
act contrary to ecclesiastical liberty was revoked. The
Emperor, who was at that moment powerless for oppo
sition, agreed to everything, but with the firm inten
tion of breaking the peace as soon as possible. The
Lombard cities also approved, though without dissolv
ing the League or loosening the ties which gave them
strength. The pious Honorius flattered himself that
he had secured peace. Encouraged by this hope, he
sent his legates throughout Europe to rouse up every
one to that sacred undertaking, which had been the
aspiration of his ten years' pontificate, but his efforts
were suddenly interrupted by death on the 1 8th of
March 1227.

( 172 )

CHAPTER XL
(1227-1230.)
GREGORY IX. AND THE CRUSADE —FIRST CON
TENTIONS WITH FREDERICK II. UP TO THE
PEACE OF SAN GERMANO. '
The pontificate of Honorius had, on the whole, been
favourable to the Emperor; and the gentle disposi
tion of that Pope, in spite of many grounds of com
plaint, had never belied the good-will which as car
dinal he had shown the youthful Frederick. Ugo-
lino, cardinal of Ostia, who succeeded him under
the name of Gregory IX., was of a temper little dis
posed to tolerance, and was resolved to conquer the
Emperor's reluctance regarding the Holy Land,
towards which his thoughts persistently turned.
Nephew of Innocent III., he owed to him his first
promotion, had earned great weight in the councils
of Honorius, and was made use of by him in many
difficult missions, especially in Germany and Italy,
for the cause of the Cross. Matthew Paris depicts
him as extremely aged, but facts do not appear to
bear out his assertion, which has been recently ques
tioned, and certainly the determined vigour of his
pontificate betrays no sign of senility. He was a

Gregory IX. 173
man of lively faith, of great ardour; he was expe
rienced in business, and had in his long and fre
quent journeys come in contact with the principal men
in Italy and Germany. In his youth he had, like
his uncle Innocent, imbibed much of his learning
at Paris and Bologna, and had had for his master
in jurisprudence the celebrated Gratianus, whose
famous collection he was later, when Pope, to incor
porate in those decretals which still bear the name
of Gregory IX. With a quick perception of possible
advantage to the Church, he had drawn near to St.
Dominic and St. Francis, had encouraged them in
founding their famous orders, and had helped in the
diffusion of them, as if foreseeing all the services
which they would render him later in Europe and
the East
He was on good terms with Frederick, with whom
he had had frequent dealings when cardinal. On
his election, Frederick wrote to congratulate him,
and he began by showing himself very friendly, and
urged the Lombards to be punctual in fulfilling the
conditions determined on by the arbitration of his
predecessor. But the friendhness was not unmixed
with suspicion, and in his very first letters he re
minded Frederick of the engagement he had entered
into in taking the cross, and of the absolute neces
sity of his keeping it unless he meant to force the
Church to break with him, putting himself there
by into difficulties from which the Pope, however
anxious to do so, would be unable to extricate him.
He also sent him a brother of the new order of the
preachers to stir him up and persuade him to come

174 The Popes and the Hohenstaufen.
to a decision, and at the same time he was writing to
the kings of France and England, and to all the bishops
of Christendom, insisting on the long-delayed crusade.
Frederick's position had become serious. He was
bound by his repeated oaths as in the coils of a
serpent. He could not shake them off, and had
freely accepted the condition of excommunication
if, by the approaching August, he had not set sail
for the East. Nor at that moment could he find
pretexts for delay, as German affairs were tolerably
quiet, and it was not possible to break off suddenly
the peace just agreed to with the Lombards, however
much he disliked it. There was nothing for it but
to yield. So that while at Gregory's request he was
supplying with Sicilian corn Rome, then suffering
from dearth of provisions, his son King Henry was
holding a diet in Germany to invite the German
crusaders to collect at Brindisi, and after many other
preparations Frederick was able in the June of
1227 to announce to the Pope that his departure was
at hand.
Gregory was rejoiced beyond measure, and did all
he could to promote a numerous concourse at Brin
disi of crusaders from all directions, and the Germans
responded eagerly to the call under the leadership of
Lewis, Landgrave of Thuringia, and the Bishop of
Augsburg. But the crowding together in a small
space, the scarcity of provisions, the stifling and un
healthy climate, told upon the troops, who suffered from
a raging mortality, and as a consequence there arose a
panic among the survivors, who began to waver and
disperse. Frederick on arriving at Brindisi from Sicily,

Gregory IX. 175
and seeing the dismay continually increase, hastened to
embark the troops. He himself sailed from Brindisi
on the 8th of September 1227, and it appeared as if
at length his vow was to be fulfilled. But hardly had
the anchor been weighed when sickness broke out
among the soldiers, not sparing the leaders, the Land
grave of Thuringia and the Bishop of Augsburg being
smitten by it. Frederick himself was seized with fever,
and under the impression that he could not bear the
voyage, he returned three days after he embarked and
landed at Otranto, while the greater part of his men
pursued their journey.
When the news reached Gregory at Anagni, great
was his wrath and sorrow, and he did not restrain his
feelings. He saw the destruction of all his dearest
hopes at the very moment when they seemed fulfilled,
and the disappointment revived his invincible mistrust
of Frederick ; nay, more, gave him the certainty that
he was deceiving the Church and had betrayed her in
every act. Frederick vainly tried to excuse himself,
alleging the unexpected illness which forced him to
return ; the Pope would not believe him. On St.
Michael's day in the chief church of Anagni, sur
rounded by cardinals and a large number of clergy,
Gregory declared Frederick to have fallen under that
very sentence which he himself at San Germano had
invoked upon his own head, and solemnly laid him
under the ban of the Church.
This terrible decision was announced to bishops and
princes in a letter admirable for its precision and force
of language. In it Gregory reviewed the whole of
Frederick's history, from the day when he of his own

176 The Popes and the Hohenstaufen.
accord took the vow at Aix-la-Chapelle, without any pres
sure, or even knowledge on the part of the Church. He
had renewed his vow on assuming the imperial crown,
and on several other occasions, invoking excommunica
tion upon himself if he failed to fulfil his engagement ;
and now, continued Gregory, see how he has kept
his word ! Vainly admonished by Honorius III. and
himself, he had prepared nothing for the armed masses
who were to congregate at Brindisi for the expedition,
and when they, trusting in his promises, had presented
themselves at the tryst, they found themselves without
every necessary of life, in the hottest part of summer,
in a deadly and fever-stricken air, and had died in
multitudes, plebeians and nobles alike. Then, when
they had at last sailed, he had deserted them in the
most cowardly manner, returning to the delights of his
realm and making frivolous excuses of illness. - Thus
the Church had been betrayed by the son whom she
had cherished, and from whom she had already, for
the sake of this holy enterprise, endured patiently and
in silence many offences and serious injuries. This
grieved her much, but still greater was her sorrow for
the Christian army destroyed, not by the swords of
the enemy, but by these calamities, and for the rem
nant abandoned without a leader to the stormy sea,
and drifting no one knew whither, with little profit to
the Holy Sepulchre, and without its being even in his
(the Pope's) power to console and succour them.
Gregory ended by announcing the excommunica
tion of the Emperor, expressing at the same time
a hope that he would repent and amend the error of
his ways. Frederick then sent envoys to justify his

Gregory IX.

lyy

conduct to the Pope, who had returned to Rome. But
Gregory stood firm though he did answer him, remind
ing him once more of the many grounds for discon
tent, and, with all the diplomatic skill of Rome, grafting
on to the lamentations regarding the Holy Land new
complaints of many of Frederick's acts relating to the
Sicilian kingdom. So things grew more and more com
plicated, and an understanding between them became
more difficult. Frederick, finding every effort to appease
the Pope was vain, took up the same complaining tone
in self-defence, addressing himself to the European
princes, and bitterly accusing the unrestrained ambi
tion- of the Popes, which intruded itself everywhere,
and had such a thirst for universal power as left no
crown secure of its authority. Now the Pope was
turning against the head of the Empire. It was per
fectly false that he had interrupted his voyage for
frivolous motives. He appealed to God. The Curia
had become a den of ravening wolves ; its legates greedy
of gold, contemptible, puffed up with vain knowledge,
desirous of power ; whereas once on a time the primi
tive Church, peopled by saints, had shone through its
simplicity and contempt of all worldly greatness. The
walls of the sacred temple were perhaps about to
crumble on their insufficient foundations ; let the
princes meantime be ready to oppose such avarice and
iniquity. With these letters a new era of struggle was open
ing out between the Empire and the Papacy, and in
Frederick's words we catch glimpses of a new feeling,
indicating a change in the way of regarding the Church
and in the manner of opposing her. We need not
CH. M

178 The Popes and the Hohenstaufen.
see in them, as others have seen, a real presage of
the Reformation, but rather — unconscious, perhaps,
and instinctive — that spirit of critical and disparag
ing research which caused heresy at that time to be
springing up everywhere close to the seraphic ardours
of the friar of Assisi and the austere visions of St.
Dominic. And here, on the threshold of this new
contest, it is well to note the fact. Frederick was
never moved by that mystic and reforming spirit
which, in different ways and with different motives,
stirred before him Arnold of Brescia, and later Martin
Luther and Savonarola. By secret paths, unknown
to him and little known to us, his thought attached
itself to antiquity and to the East, and Dante knew
well what he was saying when he placed him, among
other great men of his time, down in the uncovered
graves where his powerful imagination placed the fol
lowers of Epicurus — " Che l'anima col corpo morta
fanno." Having come to this rupture with the Pope, Frede
rick tried in every way to create hindrances for him,
so as to make him less formidable ; and he began to
flatter the Roman nobles, and especially drew over
the Frangipani by gifts and concessions. In the
city there had already crept in some discontent with
Gregory, whose authority was rather burdensome,
and of this the imperial party took advantage to raise
troubles. On the 27th of March 1228, the Pope, at
the celebration of mass at St. Peter's, began a violent
sermon against Frederick ; but he was interrupted
furiously by the Ghibellines, and torn amidst insults
from the altar. He had to fly, and wandered among

Gregory IX.

179

the cities of Sabina and Umbria, till he took refuge
at Perugia, where he remained about two years, but
did not spend his exile in idleness. He, too, profited
by the old rebels of Sicily, trying to instigate them to
new revolts and new conspiracies against Frederick.
Thus Pope and Emperor, holding all means fair in war,
lowered themselves to plotting intrigues against each
other in the dark.
But Frederick II. was not a man to lose himself in
these small squabbles, and while using them as means
to his end, he kept clearly in view the high policy of
the Empire, which was at war with a policy not less
wide in its scope. For him to have remained now in
Europe under the imputation of having deserted his
soldiers would have been both ignominious and a tri
umph to the Papacy and the Guelph party, which was
already too powerful in Lombardy. It was best by a
brilliant stroke to disprove the accusation, to force the
Pope to silence, and to conciliate him anew after having
diminished his authority and prestige. He began by
insisting that he had really wished to go to the
crusade, and that he still intended to do so, and his
declarations, sent about everywhere, were read also
publicly in Rome on the Capitol by the consent of the
senate, who favoured him. Under pressure from the
Pope, many bishops of the kingdom had published the
bull of excommunication, and the churches were com
ing under the interdict when Frederick gave the most
stringent orders that the sanctuaries should be all
opened, and by threats of confiscation he obtained
obedience from the clergy, who perhaps regarded the
papal severity as excessive. Then, having sent five

180 The Popes and the Hohenstaufen.
hundred more knights to the East under his marshal,
Richard, he convoked a great parliament of the barons
of the realm at Bari, as many and various difficulties
had hindered another and larger meeting which he had
previously called at Ravenna. In this meeting he
arranged everything for shortly betaking himself to
the Holy Land, and this sort of testament was of
greater importance, because not long before the Em
press Yolande had died at the birth of a son, whom he
had called Conrad, so that in case of his own death there
was no dearth of heirs to the kingdom. His subjects
were to live during his absence in peace under the
laws prevailing in the time of the good King William,
and under the regency of Rainald, Duke of Spoleto.
Were the Emperor to die, he named as his successor
in the Empire and the kingdom his first-born, Henry,
and should Henry die without heirs, the lately-born son
Conrad. An oath to observe these and other disposi
tions was taken by the Duke of Spoleto, called to the
regency, the Grand Justiciary Henry of Morra, and
other barons ; then some time after, Frederick, embark
ing at Brindisi, started for Palestine, this time in real
earnest. Gregory IX. saw in his departure only contempt
for papal authority and anathemas, and his wrath
increased. Forgetting that concord was indispens
able for the success of the expedition, he, instead
of proposing terms for the absolution of the infidel
crusader, hurled maledictions after him, and openly
exerted himself to raise difficulties for him in the.
East and to oppose him in the kingdom of Sicily —
an unpardonable error, equally fatal to the crusade

Gregory IX. 181
and to Italy. Frederick arrived in Asia, preceded
by a great reputation and esteemed by the Saracens
as powerful, wise, and magnanimous above all the
other monarchs of the Empire, while among their
own princes there was much discord, of which advan
tage might have been taken both in the operations
of war and in the negotiations for peace. He was at
first received with joy at Ptolemais, where he had
landed in the September of 1228, and all expected
the papal absolution to arrive soon after him ; instead
of which, two Franciscans came from Perugia bear
ing the confirmation of the sentence, and forbidding
all to share in his counsels or his undertakings. A
sudden chill fell upon every one. The Patriarch, the
clergy, the Knights Templars, and many Lombard
and English crusaders fell off from him ; the Vene
tians hesitated ; the only ones to remain faithful were
the Pisans and Genoese, his own German and Sicilian
soldiers, and the Teutonic knights.
In spite of this, Frederick moved forward reso
lutely towards Jerusalem with as many as would
accompany him, while the others followed him at
a distance as if under a spell, unwilling to desert
him, and not daring to join him in the face of the
papal prohibition. When threatened along their
route by the Sultan of Damascus, it became neces
sary to unite, that their division, in the presence of
the enemy, might not lead to a disaster. Frederick
tried in every way to gain over his rebellious fol
lowers, but they met him with sullen resistance, and
he was forced to have recourse to an expedient very-
bitter to his pride, — furling the imperial standard,

182 The Popes and the Hohenstaufen.
and taking the vague title of head of the Christian
republic. Thus reunited and in at least apparent
harmony, the crusaders resumed their suspended
march, and on the 15th of November 1228 arrived
at Joppa, where they fortified themselves. But
even when united the Christian forces were scanty
in comparison with those of the Moslems, among
whose princes, however, discord reigned, though
unfortunately they were not ignorant of the mis
understanding between the Pope and the Emperor.
This latter received, meanwhile, melancholy tidings
from his kingdom, where his return was invoked.
His position was one of danger; the Pope with his
anathemas was weakening him, and he was sur
rounded by lukewarm friends and underhand enemies ;
while, were the Saracens for a moment to forget
their private animosities, all might be lost for ever.
Profiting by the admiration of these Orientals, whom
he himself, free from any Christian fanaticism, warmly
admired, he had from the beginning entered into
communication with them, in order, if possible, to
reach by means of treaty the object which seemed un
attainable by force of arms. These negotiations, after
being interrupted, were resumed, and peace was con
cluded with the Sultan of Egypt, who showed a more
pliant disposition from the fear that Frederick would
assist a nephew of his who was threatening rebellion.
In the capitulation agreed to, besides a truce of ten
years and the liberation of all prisoners, the Sultan
gave up the towns of Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Nazareth,
Said, and many other cities and castles, only reserv
ing for himself the custody of the temple at Jerusa-

Gregory IX. 183
lem and the privilege for the Saracens to worship in
it as freely as the Christians. The sceptical and
excommunicated Emperor had reached a goal before
which the forces of the most powerful European mon
archs had long been repulsed, and the religious
ardour of infinite multitudes had exhausted themselves
in vain.
Strangely enough, success reached by this channel
increased the Pope's irritation, as he thought the
Church was entirely excluded from all merit in the
deliverance of the Holy Sepulchre — a deliverance, too,
but partial, as the infidels could still cross its threshold
and defile it with their impure prayers. Even the
Eastern clergy were ill satisfied with the results, impo
tent though they had been to obtain better ones ; and
without having in any way assisted Frederick, now
they accused him of not having done enough, and
seconded the Pope in his merciless system of persecu
tion. Frederick behaved with moderation. He felt
he had obtained all that was possible, and had freed
himself before the world from the vow which had
weighed upon him so heavily for so many years. On
the 17th of March 1229 he entered the Holy. City
with great pomp, but no prelate had courage the next
day to celebrate mass before him or to crown him.
The papal ban was suspended over his head, but
Frederick, with prudent dignity, did not meet it with
violence. Entering the crowded temple, he stepped to
the altar, stripped of its sacred ornaments, and, taking
the crown, placed it himself on his own head without
any priestly benediction. The army was irritated
with the Church, and its indignation found an echo

1 84 The Popes and the Hohenstaufen.
in Germany and Italy, where it was murmured that
the Pope had been the ruin of a glorious enterprise.
As a contemporary chronicler on the imperial side
says : "It seems probable that had the Emperor gone
in the peace and grace of the Roman Church, the
expedition to the Holy Land would have prospered far
better." On returning from Jerusalem to Ptolemais,
Frederick found a still worse reception, and much
sedition fomented by the minor friars and the Domi
nicans, who went on preaching against him, and whom
he in his bitterness ordered to be flogged. His chief
enemy was the patriarch of Jerusalem, who fomented
the Pope's wrath and instigated the fresh anathema
pronounced against him for having concluded an
execrable peace. Frederick, anxious to return to his
kingdom, and to combat his great adversary on closer
terms, finally left Asia at the beginning of May 1229,
and on the 10th of June was again in Apulia. He
left behind him an unfavourable impression among
the Christians, but a greatly increased reputation
among the infidels, to whom he had often shown such
kindness as enabled his opponents to accuse him of
impiety. The affairs of the kingdom, and indeed of the whole
peninsula, were in great confusion. In Northern Italy
the Guelphs, encouraged by the repeated excommuni
cation of the Emperor, had increased in daring against
the Ghibellines, and the country was inflamed by fac
tions. In the kingdom, Rainald, titular Duke of Spo
leto, as the Emperor's vicar during his absence, had
begun by putting down certain nobles encouraged by
Rome to rebel. John of Brienne, the now hostile

Gregory IX. 185
father-in-law of the Emperor and leader of the papal
troops, threateningly approached the frontier, till
Rainald, taking the offensive, passed it and entered
the duchy of Spoleto and the March of Ancona with
his soldiers, including the Saracens of Lucera, who,
pushing on, did havoc to as many priests as they could
lay hands on. Gregory IX., having excommunicated
Rainald, raised a great army, called in the Guelphs
of Lombardy and Central Italy to assist, and poured
all these forces into the kingdom in order to force
Rainald to leave the Marche. Thus the seat of war
was again removed thither, and that fair and unhappy
realm was devastated with fire and pillage by bands of
men calling themselves "Clavesignati," from the keys of
St. Peter, which they wore on their breast. In spite
of the imperialists' efforts, they made great progress,
advancing into the interior, taking possession of many
towns, and throwing the whole country into disorder.
Things were in this troubled state when Frederick
landed at Brindisi, and his presence alone sufficed to
change the whole aspect of affairs. The "Clavesignati"
drew back and recrossed the Volturno, while Frederick,
uniting the returning crusaders to such troops as had
remained faithful to him in the kingdom, quickly
collected a good army. But before proceeding against
the pontifical soldiers he tried once more to prevail on
the Pope to accept peace, and for this purpose sent to
him the Archbishop of Reggio and Bari, the Grand
Master of the Teutonic Knights, and the Count of Malta.
Gregory only replied by a repetition of his interdicts,
and Frederick moved on his troops. The war, conducted
with great vigour, was favourable to him and the

186 The Popes. and the Hohenstaufen.
soldiers of the Church were very soon disbanded, and
almost all driven back beyond the Garigliano. It was
in vain that Gregory, undismayed by the defeat of
his champions, heaped up anathemas, proclaimed the
Emperor's downfall, and had recourse to the bishops of
Europe for men and money. The fortune of war con
tinued to smile on Frederick, and Gregory soon felt it
necessary to incline towards peace.
And peace indeed was also desired by the Emperor,
for on account of this quarrel with the Pope, his well-
considered expedition to Palestine, instead of benefiting
him, was brought up against him as a crime. He also
recognised the indifferent attitude of the European
princes, while there could be no doubt of the threaten
ing signs which darkened the horizon in North Italy
and Germany. He therefore called before him to
Capua some German princes and bishops, who, after
receiving his instructions, went to see the Pope, and
they had from him a kindly welcome, first at Perugia
and afterwards in Rome ; for about that time the
Romans, alarmed by inundations and disease, recalled
the Pontiff, whom nearly three years previously they
had threatened and driven into exile.
The negotiations lingered on, beset with difficulties,
but at last, in July 1230, they came to a satisfactory
conclusion, leaving open only one question regarding
the cities of Gaeta and Sant' Agata, which Frederick
wanted back and the Pope was disinclined to yield.
The matter was left to arbitration, and was to be
decided within a year. As for the rest, Frederick
pardoned all those who had fought against him, made
restitution to the Church of all her territories, and of

Gregory IX. 187
all their possessions to the convents, recalled to their
sees all the bishops he had excluded, promised the
clergy exemption from collects and impositions, free
dom of election, and independence from secular judges.
Prelates, barons, and communes chosen by the Pope
guaranteed the fulfilment of these obligations, sworn to
by the Emperor, who finally received absolution at San
Germano in the Pope's name. Thus, while forced by
Frederick's victorious arms to yield, the Pope, thanks
to his own obstinate firmness, the precarious condition
of Italy and Germany, and to his still great authority
in Europe, was able to obtain very advantageous con
ditions from Frederick, without in reality giving up
anything himself, except lamentations about what it
was no longer any good claiming. In the following
September both Pope and Emperor had a long inter
view at Anagni and separated on amicable terms, one
returning to Rome, the other to his kingdom. Peace
again settled down between Papacy and Empire, but
it was a gleam of sunshine, destined to be only too
soon overclouded.

( 1 88 )

CHAPTER XII.
(1230-1241.)
FREDERICK II.'S STRUGGLES WITH THE LOM
BARDS—THE POPE FAVOURS THE LOMBARDS
—FREDERICK II. IS AGAIN EXCOMMUNICATED
—DEATH OF GREGORY IX.
Profiting by the leisure which he enjoyed after this
reconciliation, Frederick II. turned his attention to
re-ordering the laws of the kingdom and putting them
in harmony with the times, which seemed throughout
Europe to call for reforms in legislation. Assisted
by jurists educated in the traditions and in the school
of Roman law, Frederick's work showed in many
ways a distinct progress, and opened the path to the
modern development of public and private law. Re
suming the work of his Norman predecessors, which
had suffered from time and from long disturbances
in the kingdom, Frederick modified it, in great part
trying to restrict feudal rights and to oppose to
them a strong monarchy, sure of itself and more
careful of the general interests of the people than
of the privileges of the nobility and higher clergy.
It was a wise and provident measure, but it excited
opposition in many nobles, because detrimental to

Frederick II. and the Lombards. 189
their prerogatives, while Rome was offended at the
clergy's privileges being curtailed, and at the increase
of strength in a monarchy which she regarded with
suspicion, and over which she laid claim to suzerainty.
Nor could the severe laws introduced then by Frede
rick against heretics counterbalance this unfavour
able impression, for they merely corresponded to the
spirit of the times, arid were, after all, no severer
than those in force elsewhere. Heresy, which was
springing up everywhere, was in the eyes of legis
lators a state crime and to be quenched in blood, so
that Frederick in this respect made no concession
to the Church, and merely recognised in his laws an
idea then universal, and which appeared to no one
either harsh or unjust.
While doing all he could by legislation to streng
then his authority in the kingdom, Frederick did
not lose sight of the Lombard republics, who, on
their side, were watching him with suspicion. They
foresaw danger to themselves in the peace concluded
between him and the Pope at San Germano, and
also in these same laws, promulgated by him too
distinctly in support of the royal prerogatives not
to give umbrage to those staunch republicans as
much as to the Sicilian barons. Wherefore, ceasing
from their constant civil warfare, several Lombard
cities began to league themselves together against
the common enemy. Meantime, Frederick had con
voked for All Saints' day 1231a diet at Ravenna,
to which all the cities and feudatories of North Italy
were invited, and his son Henry was to come from
Germany. The Pope promised to prevail on the

190 The Popes and the Hohenstaufen.
Lombards to attend the diet, and he did send for the
purpose the bishops of Brescia and Vercelli to the
Guelph towns ; but either the bishops were lukewarm
in their exhortations or the towns were too determined
in their opposition ; certainly the Pope's good offices
produced no effect, and the leagued cities resolved
at Bologna in October to collect an army and prepare
for war. The Pope's conduct did not satisfy Frede
rick when he found at Ravenna only a few feuda
tories and the envoys from some Ghibelline towns,
nor were his suspicions perhaps wholly groundless.
On one side and the other the scarcely suppressed
antagonism broke out afresh, for it had its roots in
the very essence of things. It was impossible for
Frederick not to strain every nerve to secure his un
questioned authority in Lombardy ; equally impossible
was it for the Pope to give him hearty assistance in
beating down those Guelph communes to which he
could look for support in every quarrel with the
Empire. Thus on both sides there was formed a
gradual accumulation of reasons for latent mistrust,
which only needed a spark to make it flare up at any
moment. King Henry had not been able to take part in the
Diet of Ravenna from the Lombards having closed
the passage of the Alps against him towards Verona
with a powerful body of troops, and thus hindered
his entering Italy. This fact grieved Frederick the
more that his authority suffered much from it, not in
Italy only, but also in Germany, where some threaten
ing signs of rebellion gained more serious import from
a fear that his own son encouraged them, and was

Frederick II. and the Lombards. 191
disposed, as king in Germany, to throw off all alle
giance to his father. Hence Frederick placed under
the ban of the Empire those Guelph cities which had
not sent envoys to Ravenna ; and though mistrusting
the Pope, he tried to keep on good terms with him,
so as to be able safely to leave Italy and settle the
German affairs in person. He therefore left Ravenna
for Aquileia, where he met his son, who, affirming his
fidelity on oath, tried to banish all suspicion from his
mind, and apparently for the moment succeeded. The
Emperor returned from Aquileia to Apulia, where he
found new troubles. The tendency in his reign to
enforce the absolute authority of the sovereign did not
displease the nobles and clergy only, but stood in the
way of the municipalities, jealous of their old prero
gatives and desirous to acquire new ones. A revolt
broke out in Sicily which was stifled in blood, and it
appears that on that occasion many political offenders
were simply burnt as heretics, and the laws intended
for religious persecutions served the astute Emperor,
as instruments of human vengeance. Later, the Pope
reproached him with this fact, and used it as an accu
sation against him.
However, both parties had to feign a desire for
peace, which neither felt. Hence, after further nego
tiations, it was resolved to ask the Pope a second time
to arbitrate between Frederick and the Lombards.
In the winter of 1232 the delegates from the repub
lics, and for the Emperor the archbishop of Messina,
the bishop of Troia, the grand justiciary Henry of
Morra, and the famous Pier della Vigna, all met at
the papal court to discuss their reciprocal claims and

192 The Popes and the Hohenstaufen.
rights. The Pope pronounced his decision on the 5 th of
June 1233. In it he left everything much as it was
after the arbitration of 1227, showing great partiality
towards the Lombards. That necessity of things of
which we have already spoken led him to this verdict,
and, indeed, so also did justice towards the now well-
established rights of Lombard liberty. Frederick
naturally resented the sentence bitterly, even com
plained of it, but did not refuse to accept it, and for
the moment tried to dissimulate his feelings. Serious
difficulties drew Emperor and Pope together, and the
need they had of each other made them use caution
and forbearance in their mutual relations. As if to
compensate Frederick for this unfavourable sentence,
the Pope sent into Lombardy his legates and mission
aries to preach peace, and among them one John of
Vicenza, a Dominican, who for some time aroused
great enthusiasm among the masses in various towns,
then lost credit and disappeared. In reality, rather
than peace there prevailed on every side a warlike
feeling, encouraged not only by the difference of inter
est between the communes and the Empire, but also
by the factious party spirit in the towns and by the
private ambition of many noblemen, who hoped by the
help either of Guelphs or Ghibellines to rise in the
state. The guiding spirit of the Ghibelline faction
and the Emperor's right hand in Lombardy was
Eccelin da Romano, whose family found a powerful
rival in that of the Guelph Este.
Nor was it only in Lombardy that party spirit ran
high, but throughout Tuscany and in Rome herself it
lifted its head against the Pontiff, and after many

Frederick II. and the Lombards. 193
alternations of turmoil and quiet, at last forced him to
fly from the city and take refuge in Rieti. Thence
Gregory IX. hurled anathemas against the Roman
senate, wrote from all parts asking for help in soldiers
and money to subdue the rebels, and invoked Frede
rick's assistance. The Emperor thought the occasion
a good one for gaining over the Pope, detaching him
from the Lombard Guelphs and obtaining his influence
to thwart the now open intrigues going on against him
in Germany at his son's court. In May 1234 Frede
rick, going to see the Pope at Rieti, presented to him
his other son, Conrad, in whom his best hopes were
now centred, and then laid siege to the castle of Ris-
pampano, obstinately defended by the Romans. Owing
either to their gallant resistance or to Frederick's in
tentionally lukewarm attack, the siege lasted fruitlessly
for two months, and in September, Frederick, alleging
the impossibility of taking the fortress, left it and re
turned to Apulia, of which the Pope complained loudly,
accusing Frederick of bad faith and of a secret under
standing with the Romans. Nor did it avail anything
that Frederick had left behind him a strong body of
German soldiery, who joining the men of Viterbo, then
threatened by Rome, inflicted a serious defeat on the
Romans, and having entered Sabina, brought again
that territory under obedience to the Pope. In spite
of this, Gregory's complaints continued, but no open
rupture followed. The relations between the two in
those days, in their mixture of friendliness and hostility,
exactly represent their ever-recurring suspicions and
necessities, which drew them together and separated
them at one and the same time.
c.h. n

i94 The Popes and the Hohenstaufen.
Meanwhile Gregory IX. after having canonised St.-
Dominic at Rieti in July 1234, had returned to Perugia,
whence he repeatedly invoked the assistance of Chris
tendom in favour of the Holy Land, where things were
rapidly growing worse. Frederick had responded
favourably to the Pope's exhortations, when new events
obliged him to turn all his care and attention to the
North. His son Henry was conspiring against him in
Germany, and allying himself to the Guelph cities of
Lombardy, being enticed into doing so by Milan, who
dangled before his eyes the iron crown of Italy, which
had not been granted to his father. This offence sunk
deep into Frederick's heart, and the cruel instincts of
his vindictive nature were aroused by the disloyalty of
his son in joining his most deadly foes. The Pope
saw that this conspiracy would compromise the expe
dition to Palestine, and therefore seconded the Em
peror's going to Germany about Easter 1235. His
presence there was quite enough to restrain every
thought of rebellion, so that Henry, abandoned by all,
had no alternative but to throw himself at his father's
feet and implore his pardon, and Frederick was more
clement than the offence would have led one to expect.
However, the ill-advised prince was deprived of every
dignity, and was kept as a prisoner in several fort
resses, first in Germany, then in Apulia, where he died
some years later. Frederick showed great grief at
his death, and the grief was perhaps unfeigned, for
his ardent and impressionable nature could easily con
tain mixed feelings of love and hate.
A few days after Henry's submission the Princess
Isabella, sister of Henry III. of England, arrived in

Frederick II. and the Lombards. 195
Germany, and her nuptials with the Emperor were
solemnised at Worms. The Pope was much pleased
at this marriage, which he had for some time been try
ing to bring about, in the hope of its serving to sepa
rate the Suabian interests from those of the house of
France, and of its supplying him in any case with a
weapon, offensive and defensive, against the Empire.
But although these various events in Germany seemed
calculated to bring Frederick and the Pope nearer
together, in Italy things were different, as the Pope
could not succeed in reconciling the Lombards with
the Emperor, and a war seemed imminent, in which the
Church and the Empire were unlikely to find them
selves in accord. Determined at any rate to break
the strength of the Lombard league, Frederick reached
Verona in August 1 2 3 6 at the head of a numerous army,
and all the Ghibellines of Lombardy rallied round him.
Fighting began, and all that year there were con
stant engagements, mostly to the Emperor's advantage,
but to the great injury of the country. It is true
the Pope continued to exhort every one to peace,
but in reality his relations with Frederick became
more and more strained. On both sides there was
a perpetual bandying of complaints, of imputing
to each other bad faith and usurpations. The Pope
was exceedingly vexed with Frederick for attending
to Lombardy instead of to Palestine, he mourned over
the infringement of ecclesiastical rights in Apulia
and Sicily, over the prosperous Saracenic colony at
Lucera, and hinted that the Romans were secretly
led on by him to rebel, while the Emperor haughtily
justified himself, and denied the truth of the Papal

196 The Popes and the Hohenstaufen.
assertions. Italy was his, he said, and till he had
reduced it to submission he had no mind to risk losing
it by setting off for Palestine. He did not intend to
yield a jot of his rights, and Gregory, by helping the
enemies of the Empire, was trying to usurp them with
out reason and without conscience. And indeed Frede
rick had grounds for suspecting the Pope's envoys
sent into Lombardy to treat of peace, and held them
to be encouraging the League rather than to be mes
sengers of peace and anxious for the maintenance of im
perial rights. At any rate, Frederick was determined
to subdue the Lombards, who, mindful of the past,
resisted as their forefathers had resisted Barbarossa.
During all the year 1236 and a great part of 1237
the war continued, but without coming to a decisive
engagement. Finally, the two parties attacked each
other near the banks of the Oglio at Cortenuova, and
there the Lombards suffered a terrible defeat, leaving
on the field many thousands among dead and prisoners,
while the Carroccio of the Milanese remained as a
trophy of victory in the hands of Frederick, who re
entered Cremona in triumph. This great victory
raised immensely the Emperor's hopes and increased
his confidence in himself and in his forces. With
the Lombards subdued he could more easily force the
Pope into submission and put down his pretensions.
Thus, while with regard to the Lombards, who came
offering advantageous conditions of peace, he showed
a determination to accept nothing short of absolute
subjection, he, on the other hand, encouraged the
republican tendencies of Rome, sending the captured
Carroccio as a gift to the senate, and the Romans

Frederick II. and the Lombards. igy
placed in the Capitol this trophy from their Cassar.
Gregory fully understood the significance of this act
and resented it, but he was not a man easily disheart
ened ; on the contrary, he seemed fully alive to the
risk run by the Church were he to let the Lombards
be overpowered without holding out a helping hand.
Indeed, from that time the attitude of Gregory be
came more resolute and more hostile to the Empire,
and his alliance with the Guelphs more and more
open. Frederick had refused to make conditions
with the Lombards, demanding that they should yield
at discretion, but they preferred to try again the for
tune of war and defend their freedom to the death.
This inflexibility on Frederick's part was a great mis
take, and thenceforth his star began to wane. The
war recommenced, long, fierce, relentless, destined to
consume all the forces of the Empire in Italy, but at the
same time to introduce new strangers and new tyrannies
into a country in which the exuberance of life and
some hidden necessity of fate often mixed in too large
a measure grief and misfortune with glory.
On the war being renewed, Eccelin da Romano,
to whom Frederick had given in marriage a natural
daughter of his own, persuaded the Emperor to collect
troops for the destruction of Brescia. Siege was laid
to the town by Frederick in the summer of 1238,
but the courageous city held out against every effort
and against atrocities recalling those of his grand
father before Crema, so that after some fruitless
months the Emperor was forced to give up the at
tempt and retire to Cremona. The Guelphs on all
sides began to take courage again. Genoa, fearing

198 The Popes and the Hohenstaufen.
for her independence, joined the League, and also
made peace with Venice through the good offices of
the Pope, who now did all he could to isolate and
weaken the Emperor.
One reason for the altered attitude of the Genoese
was their quarrel with the Pisans about Sardinia, to
which both laid claim, while the Church vaunted her
rights over it as suzerain, and made use of them in
order to have a voice in questions relating to the
Mediterranean. Frederick, on his side, put forward
pretensions of his own, and, like his grandfather,
tried to get a greater influence in the island, not
solely for its position respecting Sicily and Africa, but
especially to keep it in his hand as a means of alliance
with either Pisa or Genoa, when it might serve his
turn. Yet, though generally favouring his faithful
Pisans, he tried a subtle stroke of policy by marrying
his natural son, Enzio, to Adelasia, heiress to the Sar
dinian principalities of Turri and Gallura, and giving
him the title of King of Sardinia. Gregory IX. now
decided for open war. Some ambassadors sent to him
by the Emperor produced no impression, and on the
20th of March 1239, he thundered forth in the Lat
eran to terrified listeners a second sentence of excom
munication against Frederick, thus heralding in the
mortal contest which was to cease only with the utter
ruin of the house of Suabia.
The Emperor's wrath was no whit less than the
Pope's on hearing of this sentence, which was solemnly
announced throughout Europe, while crowds of monks
in all directions preached God's anger against the im
placable enemy of the Church. Frederick replied to

Frederick II. and the Lombards. 199
the motives adduced by the Pope with bitter letters,
in which he justified himself, and answered the Pope's
accusations with others, in which he called him a
maker of schisms and discord. Then, turning in an
address to the European princes and magnates, he de
clared that he would not submit to the judgments of a
prevaricating and unworthy Pontiff, who condemned
him for no other reason but that he had refused to
agree to a marriage between a niece of the Pope's
and his own son, Enzio. The Pope replied with new
invectives, declaring him a liar in the matter of the
marriage, which had been proposed by Frederick and
declined by him ; and then going over the causes of
the first excommunication, he related Frederick's per
secutions of the clergy in Apulia, his tyranny towards
the barons, the support given by him to the Mussul
mans, the expedition to the Holy Land prevented by
malpractices, and finally Rome encouraged to revolt.
Then, in another writing, accusing him openly of
heresy and impiety, he says : " This pestilential king
maintains that the whole world has been deceived by
three impostors, Jesus Christ, Moses, and Mahomet,
and affirms, or rather lies, saying that all are mad
who believe that God, the Creator of all things, could
have been born of a virgin." Thus language grew
more and more violent on both sides, and while it
rendered all conciliation impossible, it so perverted
facts as to make it very difficult for history to distin
guish between truth and falsehood.
Throughout 1239 Frederick and his partisans con
tinued fighting against the Lombard Guelphs, with
results which differed, but were often unfavourable.

200 The Popes and the Hohenstaufen.
Meanwhile King Enzio, going towards the March of An
cona, made some progress, notwithstanding the armed
opposition of Cardinal John Colonna, sent there by
Gregory IX., who excommunicated Enzio for invading
Church territory. At the same time the Pope laboured
indefatigably to strengthen the Guelph party and to
excite enmity and rebellion in the kingdom of Sicily,
and was apparently also looking round for some prince
who might be tempted to try and tear away the
crown from the brow of the excommunicated Cassar.
Frederick soon saw that so resolute an enemy must
be met by resolute measures, and he marched from
Tuscany towards Rome in the spring of 1240, deter
mined to get possession of Gregory's person. Rome,
within whose walls there was a large number of
imperial partisans, made but a lukewarm show of
resistance, and the Pope was in .imminent danger,
but he found safety in his courageous temper and
in the ardent faith which animated him. Having
ordained a solemn procession to bear through the
city the relics of the cross and the heads of St. Peter
and St. Paul, he exposed those precious objects on
the high altar in St. Peter's Church, and in burning
words invoked the assistance of Heaven for Rome and
the Church, both in such grievous peril. The Romans
were moved, they crowded round the Pope to take
the Cross against the Emperor, and prepared to arm
for the defence. Frederick felt that he was not
strong enough to assault Rome and retired to Apulia,
contenting himself with branding the foreheads of
a few of those Roman crusaders who fell into his
hands.

Frederick II. and the Lombards. 20 r
Gregory during these occurrences called a council,
with the intention of gaining over the principal
prelates of Europe, and perhaps of inducing them
to join him in deposing the hostile Emperor and in
raising up enemies and hindrances to him everywhere.
Frederick opposed this project. From the Marche,
which he had again invaded, he tried by persuasion
and by violence to prevent the bishops from going to
Rome, and while he had the Alpine passes watched,
he strengthened his navy and called in assistance
from his ally Pisa in order to close the way by sea.
However, many prelates responded to the Pope's
invitation, and meeting at Genoa, set sail for Civita-
Vecchia on board Genoese ships, but near Meloria
fell in with the ships of Pisa. Here, on the 3rd
of May 1 24 1, was fought a fierce battle, in which
the Genoese galleys got the worst of it and were
taken or sunk. Among the captives were three car
dinals and over a hundred bishops and abbots, who
were taken to Neapolitan or Sicilian prisons. The
council consequently ended in nothing.
The Pope's complaints re-echoed far and near, but
Frederick paid no attention to them, and held his
prey fast, by which he secured himself against the
danger of a council of enemies. At this moment
too a terrible peril was hanging over Christendom in
the threatened invasion of the Tartars, who, having
devastated Russia and Poland, were now descending
like an avalanche on the West, and were already on
the borders of the Empire. Before this imminent
danger it seemed desirable for Pope and Emperor
to come to terms, but no agreement was possible,

202 The Popes and the Hohenstaufen.
and as usual each accused the other of being the
cause of the discord. Frederick raised an army in
Germany which warded off the invaders, but he did
not leave Italy, where success was attending his arms
against the Guelphs of Lombardy and the Romagna.
Determined to subdue Gregory IX., he again ap
proached Rome, and his soldiery spread themselves
over the Campagna, assisted by the warlike Cardinal
Colonna, who had now deserted the Pope. He took up
his quarters at Grotta Ferrata in view of Rome, and
the city, surrounded as she was, seemed as if she
must open her gates. But the indomitable man
who had so long opposed him did not undergo the
disgrace of falling into his hands, for on the 2 1 st of
August 1 24 1 he died, almost in sight of his enemy,
as a soldier falls in the breach. He was an impe
tuous Pontiff, and, in spite of talent and experience,
not always sufficiently prudent, but he had a high
courage and a manly heart, in which he recalls to us
a later successor, Julius II., who was, however, very
inferior to Gregory in purity of faith and ideality of
purpose.

( 203 )

CHAPTER XIII.
(1241-1250.)
INNOCENT IV.— IMPLACABLE WAR BETWEEN THE
PAPACY AND THE EMPIRE TILL THE DEATH
OF FREDERICK II.
Aftek Gregory IX. 's death, Frederick wished to prove
that he respected the liberty of the Church, though
he had held out against the unjust claims of the de
ceased Pontiff; so he left the neighbourhood of Rome,
and liberated the cardinals who were his prisoners,
on condition that after the election of the Pope they
should return to their captivity. The divided minds
of the cardinals could not agree about the election,
and many of them would have preferred to go away
from Rome for the conclave ; but the Romans kept
them shut up, until at last their votes united on the
head of a cardinal of very infirm health, who took the
name of Celestine IV., and died a few days later.
This short pontificate, however, enabled the cardinals
to leave Rome and disperse over the Campagna,
showing themselves more occupied with their own
interests than with those of the Church; and for
nearly two years the Roman see was vacant. Frede
rick, having made some fruitless overtures for peace,
again overran the Church's territory in the Marche

204 The Popes and the Hohenstaufen.
and Umbria, while in North Italy Eccelin da Romano
and the brilliant King Enzio, at the head of the
Ghibellines, continued the warfare with the Guelphs,
and the country suffered from the ravages of both
parties. The want of a Pope, if on one side injurious
to the Church, was not either any advantage to Fre
derick, because the majority of the cardinals were hos
tile to him, and with them it was difficult to treat
definitely, nor had he before him a declared enemy
against whom to direct his blows. Therefore he began
to insist that the cardinals should stop the scandal of
so long a vacancy in such troubled times. The cardi
nals replied by accusing him of oppression, and de
manding the liberation of their colleagues, who had
returned to their captivity. Frederick set them at
liberty ; but the delay continuing, he carried war into
the Roman terrritory, and made such havoc that the
cardinals had to yield ; and being besieged also by the
prayers of the rest of Christendom, they met at Anagni
on the 24th of June 1243, and selected the Genoese
Sinibaldo Fieschi, who took the name of Innocent IV.
Innocent came of a family friendly to the house
of Suabia, and he himself had been in the past on
friendly terms with the Emperor. On hearing of this
election, the imperialists seemed pleased ; but it is
said that Frederick, with clear intuition of the future,
exclaimed, " I have lost a friend, for no Pope will
ever be Ghibelline." Even if this is true, he at least
outwardly showed satisfaction, ordering that the Te
Deum should be sung in all the churches throughout
the Empire, and sending congratulatory letters to the
Pope. It was like a first step in a peaceful direction,

Innocent IV. 205
and soon after fresh negotiations were entered into,
but it was an intricate business. The Pope proposed
as conditions that Frederick should liberate the pre
lates taken at sea, that the matters in which he held
himself injured by the Roman Church, or in which he
denied having injured her, should be decided by an
arbitration of sovereigns, princes, and prelates. The
friends of the Holy See, among whom all the Guelphs
of Italy must be reckoned, were to be included in the
peace, and not in any way to suffer from it. Frede
rick could not accept this last condition, which Inno
cent could not give up, and the negotiations came to
a stop, so that in the autumn of 1243 the Pope gave
notice to the Lombards to hold themselves ready ; that
he desired peace with the Emperor, but only on con
dition of its being extended to all who were faithful
to the Church.
The Guelphs responded to the call, encouraged also
by the hidden work of Dominicans and Minorites, who
were going among the people throughout Italy in spite
of Frederick's violent opposition. A sign of this was
already given by Viterbo, who being in the hands of
the imperialists, entered into a secret alliance with her
old enemy Rome, where now the Guelphs were in the
ascendant. In August 1243, while the negotiations
for peace between Pope and Emperor were still pend
ing, Rome sent soldiers to enable her to rise against
the imperial garrison, which was driven back into the
citadel, where it made an obstinate resistance. The
Pope, asserting that the Roman see had rights over
Viterbo, sent further reinforcements, thanks to which
the siege of the citadel was carried on with great

206 The Popes and the Hohenstaufen.
vigour. Frederick in a fury collected a body of men
and rushed to the succour of the beleaguered garrison,
but was repelled by the Romans after having risked
his life, and could only obtain with difficulty that the
garrison should be allowed to leave the citadel alive
and with their arms. The noise of this event echoed
through Italy and raised the spirits of the Guelphs,
whose leagues grew in numbers and influence. Many
Ghibelline nobles changed sides and deserted the im
perial cause, attracted also no doubt by the gold scat
tered broadcast by Guelph communes and the Pope.
Germany herself began to vacillate, and Frederick,
unable to abandon the peninsula to Papal intrigues,
determined to guard the Alps with great vigour, in
order to stop all communication between Germany and
the Curia ; but his severe measures did little else than
further embitter a quarrel already incurable.
Still the times were heavy and calamitous ; there was
famine and death in many parts of Italy, and every
where a weary need of peace, insomuch that the two
great adversaries were again induced to make a final
effort for an arrangement, which was at last concluded.
The principal conditions were : restitution to the
Roman Church and to her allies of all the territories
seized by the Emperor, liberation of prisoners and
hostages, annulling of all confiscation or ban against
the clergy of the kingdom, pardon to the rebellious
feudatories, and the safeguarding in many ways of the
Lombards' position with regard to the Empire ; above
all, the Emperor undertook to declare solemnly to all
European princes that he had resisted the sentence of
excommunication pronounced against him by Gregory

Innocent IV. 207
IX., because it had not been duly announced to him, and
not from contempt of the Church's authority. On the
31st of March 1244 these conditions were solemnly
sworn to in the Lateran by the imperial envoys in the
presence of the Pope and of Baldwin, Emperor of
Constantinople, and then the Pope announced the
Emperor's absolution as being at hand. But people's
minds were not at peace. Innocent mistrusted Frede
rick, who was secretly trying to regain influence in
Rome and place it in the hands of his partisans, and
he did certainly aim at obtaining the absolution with
out keeping the conditions. In fact, the whole edifice of
this peace soon crumbled and fell. The Pope demanded
that Frederick should give their liberty to the pri
soners and return the Papal territories before being
absolved. Frederick wanted the opposite, and invoked
on this difference the arbitration of the kings of
France and England, but the Pope did not yield.
Yet again all hope of peace vanished, and Innocent,
convinced of the wisdom of imitating Gregory IX.'s
policy, made up his mind to follow it to the bitter
end. It was not an easy undertaking. It made it neces
sary to collect the forces of all Christendom against his
enemy, so Innocent, adopting once more his predeces
sor's idea, turned his thoughts to a General Council,
but determined to convoke it outside Italy, and where
it would be safe from violence. He gave no hint of
his intention, and while continuing to treat with
Frederick's envoys, he left Rome in June 1244 and
betook himself to Civita Castellana, and thence to
"Sutri. Genoa, secretly informed of the Pope's inten-

208 The Popes and the Hohenstaufen.
tions, sent speedily a fleet to Civita Vecchia, and as soon
as he knew of its arrival, Innocent, with a few trusty
followers, went in disguise on horseback through rough
roads and forests to join it, and on the 7th July
entered his native Genoa in the midst of rejoicings.
Frederick, astonished by this move, guessed what it
meant, and, to induce the Pope to stop, sent the Count
of Toulouse with an offer of immediate submission to
all the conditions, but Innocent held out. Seeing
that he should not be a welcome guest within the
territory of the French king, who wished to remain
neutral, he decided on going to Lyons, which belonged
by right to the kingdom of Aries, but was in reality a
free and flourishing commune situated most advan
tageously for the necessary communications. Though
still weak from a very dangerous illness, Innocent con
fronted the hardships of a winter journey, and crossing
Mont Cenis, he reached Lyons on the 2nd of December
1244, whence a few days later he convoked the coun
cil for the 24th of June of the following year. The
chief object of the council, according to the Pope, was
to provide for the wretched state of the Holy Land,
and the sad condition of the Latin Empire of Con
stantinople, to find some remedy against the Tartars,
to examine the differences between the Church and
Frederick, to whom, in his encyclical letter, Innocent
did not give the title of Emperor, and who, he added,
had been cited to appear in person or in the person of
his ambassadors before the council, to reply to the
accusations against him and give suitable satisfaction.
This last object was in truth the one the Pope had
at heart, and for which the council was held, after

Innocent IV. 209-
some more efforts had been made at a reconciliation,
which were as usual unsuccessful on account of insin
cerity on both sides. Frederick sent the Archbishop
of Palermo and the jurist Thaddasus of Sessa to the
council to maintain his reasons, while he himself, after
holding a great parliament at Verona, in which he
hinted at the possibility of his attending the council
in person, proceeded to Piedmont to superintend
thence the course of events. At the council the Eng
lish bishops had. presented themselves in but small
numbers, and this was still more the case with the
Germans, for the Pope and the Curia had aroused
much mistrust and discontent by their greed and
ambition ; still about a hundred and forty prelates
were present, and those the most hostile to Frederick,
against whom very grave accusations were brought of
heresy, licentiousness, and Mussulman sympathies. In
vain did Thadckeus of Sessa try to defend his master ;
good or sophistical answers met all his arguments, and
every attempt at reply was rejected. At last, on the
17th of July 1245, Innocent, after a long enumera
tion of all the grievances of the Church, renewed the
sentence of excommunication against Frederick, and
declared him deposed from the Empire.
Frederick was not disheartened by this prelude of
a deadly struggle, yet from that time his chances fell
lower and lower, and a mysterious power seemed to
shatter every effort he made to recover his old fortune.
He immediately sent letters to the princes and clergy
of Europe denying the Pope's right to depose him,
declaring the council invalid, and the sentence against
him to have been inspired by the Pope's personal hate,
c.H. 0

210 The Popes and the Hohenstaufen.
and based solely on calumny. Frederick exhorted all
kings to make common cause with him against the
Pontiff, and to be on their guard against the plots of
the clergy, whose ambitious and greedy corruption he
pointed out. Innocent, for his part, did not keep
silence either, and met accusation with accusation,
argument with argument, showing that the Pontiff had
the power of deposing the Emperor, even though not
other kings, sovereigns by hereditary right ; and that
as to the kingdom of Sicily, he could dispose of it
because it was a fief of the Holy See. Specious
arguments, which, however, show how once more the
course of time had brought a change in the current
of thought, and a new idea of public right was arising
to free secular power from the authority of the Church,
just when this latter was most proudly asserting her
self. The European princes in this clashing of rights
and claims remained neutral, leaving the two cham
pions to fight it out together.
The first sign of war was the redoubled movement
of the Lombard Guelphs, incited to it by the Pope,
who helped them largely with the money which he
collected from all parts of Christendom and spent with
out hesitation. The Guelph cities became stronger
and more threatening; among the Ghibelline towns
there were secret intrigues, intended to give preva
lence to the Guelph faction ; and the Minorite friars
continued to be the principal agents of these intrigues,
bearing with indomitable courage even torture and
death, which Frederick and his followers often inflicted
on them. In Sicily also malcontents began again to
stir, and those Saracens who had remained in the

Innocent IV. 211
island were especially obnoxious ; while Germany gave
the Emperor more and more anxiety as the Papal
emissaries carried on an active propaganda there, now
in secret,' now openly, against the new Nero, the new
Julian, the enemy of the faith and abettor of heresies
and schisms. The Pope, too, aroused the ambitions
of the Electors by inviting them to nominate another
King of the Romans, to whom he promised his sup
port and the crown of the Empire. In vain did the King
of France intercede with the Pope, and in an inter
view with him at Cluny remind him of the advan
tage for Christendom of a real peace between the
Church and Empire, and how the expedition of the
Holy Land would be sure of success if joined by
Frederick. The holy ardour of the pious warrior of
France could not kindle the cold nature of this priest,
firm in his belief that only in the complete ruin of her
great enemy could the Church find lasting safety.
Feeling himself entangled in a net of enemies who
reached everywhere and were wily and unscrupulous,
the natural mistrust of Frederick's nature increased;
and while resolute in resistance, he began, not with
out reason, to dread everywhere around him treason
and deceit. At the end of the summer of 1245, after
collecting his forces, he again took the field against
the Lombards, and for some months many engage
ments took place in various places between the leagued,
armies and King Enzio or Frederick himself, who
attacked more especially the Milanese ; but these
latter confronted him manfully, and would not let
him pass the Ticino, so that towards November Frede
rick abandoned the enterprise for the time being, and

212 The Popes and the Ho-henstaufen.
went to Tuscany, where he held himself ready to go
wherever he was most needed. And indeed in the
south a rebellious spirit was abroad ; for the Pope, by
means of his emissaries and legates, kept alive the
irritation of the discontented, excited ambitions, and
at least indirectly favoured desertion and treason. In
Germany also Innocent laboured in the same sense,
renewing his invitation to the Electors to nominate a
new king, without any regard for Conrad, who was
already King of the Romans, and on whom no sentence
of excommunication or deposition rested. Henceforth
not only Frederick himself, but all his race were
condemned by the holy wrath of the Curia, and for
them consideration or recognition of rights no longer
existed. At the most, Conrad might have obtained this
recognition had he been willing to betray his father, nor
were indirect invitations to do so wanting, but he repelled
them. The German Electors at first hesitated, unwill
ing to yield to Papal wishes, but Innocent so incited,
flattered, and insisted, that finally a part of them, in
cluding the archbishops of Cologne, Mentz, and Triers,
gave their votes to Henry of Raspe, Landgrave of
Thuringia. Frederick had heaped benefits and honours
upon the Landgrave, but he was a man untroubled by
scruples, and, taking the title of King of the Romans,
he prepared to sustain it by force against Conrad, who
attacked him, but was defeated on the banks of the
Main on the 25th July 1246, to the great joy of
Innocent, who redoubled his efforts to stir up the Ger
mans, and espec'ally to detach from Frederick the most
powerful of his friends, Otto, Duke of Bavaria. In this,
however, he failed, and even the Duke gave his daughter

Innocent IV. 213
Elizabeth in marriage to Conrad, from which union was
to spring the last heir of a house doomed to the end to
tragic destinies. Conrad again took the field, and in
his turn inflicted a thorough defeat on Henry of Raspe,
who fled into Thuringia and died soon after. To Inno
cent was left the difficult task of finding in divided
Germany another pretender capable of successfully op
posing the Suabians.
From Lyons meanwhile the Pope, by means of his
adherents, multiplied Frederick's enemies in Italy,
inviting them openly to rebellion, and absolving them
from their oath of fidelity. Many plots sprang up, and
Frederick, when at Grosseto, had information of a vast
network of conspiracy which threatened his throne and
life. He was much grieved and angered, for among
the conspirators were many whom he had benefited and
whom he had held to be proved friends ; among others,
two sons of the Grand Justiciary Andrea Morra,
Andrea Cicala, formerly captain-general in Calabria,
Theobald Francesco, who had been podesta at Parma,
the family of Sanseverino, and many other influential
barons. When discovered, they took refuge in Apulia,
but, overtaken and defeated, part of them escaped to
Rome, or at least within the southern limits of the
Papal state, whence they continued to conspire under
the protection of the Pope ; part shut themselves up in
tho castles of Scala and Capaccio, in the territory of
Salerno, not hoping to save their life, but determined
to sell it dear to the sovereign they had betrayed,
Frederick moved to Naples after holding a court at
Grosseto, in which he prepared plans for new expedi
tions in North Italy. He found Scala already taken,

214 The Popes and the Hohenstaufen.
and he surrounded Capaccio, which the rebels defended
desperately to the end. When it fell, Frederick showed
himself merciless, and his passionate nature exacted ven
geance, not for the offended majesty of the sovereign
only, but for the vile ingratitude with which his bene
fits had been repaid. Under torture at Naples the
chief rebels declared themselves guilty and encouraged
by the Pope. Some were instantly hanged or burnt
alive or drowned in the sea ; but others, after being
horribly mutilated and blinded, were dragged as a
show and warning from city to city and then cast to
the flames. Many wives and 'daughters of these rebel
lions barons disappeared for ever and perished in dark
prisons. Frederick complained loudly against Innocent, pub
licly accusing him of having plotted against his life,
but soon after a conspiracy was discovered which
aimed at removing Innocent, who then on his side
threw all the odium on his enemy. There now existed
a strong personal animosity between them, and they
calumniated each other both from mistrust and interest,
each attributing to the other a misdeed of which neither
was guilty. After putting down the rebellions on the
mainland, Frederick sent reinforcements to Sicily against
the turbulent Saracens, who, on their submitting, were
treated indulgently, and carried in great part out of
the island to increase the colony of Lucera. Thus
Frederick could turn once more to North Italy, and
in May 1247 was again at Cremona, where, with
Eccelin da Romano and the delegates of the Ghibel
line cities, he deliberated regarding the approaching
war. At the same time he tried to lull the Guelphs

Innocent IV. 215
to sleep by spreading the report that negotiations for
peace with the Church were on foot and likely to be
concluded. Innocent, however, took care to deny this
report both in Lombardy and Germany, sending to
the former assistance and advice through Cardinal
Octavian Ubaldini, while Cardinal Peter Capocci, a
clever, determined man, went to Germany to hasten
a new election and preach a crusade against the de
posed Emperor. Henceforth the banner of the cross
was no longer unfurled against the infidels, and the
warriors of Christ were openly counselled by the
Pope not to think of the Holy Sepulchre for the
moment. First must be hewn down this noxious
tree which overshadowed the territory sacred to the
Church. Frederick did not shrink before Papal menaces,
and as he had once already risen in arms against
Gregory IX. and had tried to take him prisoner,
so now he thought to conclude the struggle by a
daring blow and take possession of this obstinate
Pope, in order to force him into a peace, which
his long blandishments and promises had failed to
persuade him into. Frederick imagined that, once
the Pope was caught, he would, in his anxiety to
escape, restrain much of his former haughty obduracy,
and yield to the lay authority so many concessions
as to weaken all future efforts of the spiritual arm.
But in this Frederick showed a strange forgetful-
ness of that agile tenacity which distinguished Papal
policy, and he fell into an error already so often
committed in the past of history, and to be so often
repeated in the future. At any rate, this bold stroke

2i6 The Popes and the Hohenstaufen.
might at least for the moment succeed and give
some useful results. After collecting an army and
securing the passes of the Alps by means of a few
concessions to the Count of Savoy, Frederick sud
denly announced his intention of going to Lyons
to treat personally with the Pope, and of thence
passing into Germany. The King of France, in
some anxiety at this, offered to go and protect the
Pope with an army; but Innocent, fearing lest the
protection should turn into a mediation, recommended
delay and awaited events. He knew well what
he was doing, for when Frederick was on the point
of starting, an unexpected piece of news obliged
him to stop and to change his course of action,
unavoidably, but fatally for his plans. Thanks to
the skilful conduct of Cardinal Gregory of Monte-
longo, a pontifical legate in Lombardy and the soul
of the League, the exiled Guelphs, and among them
the Pope's relatives, succeeded in entering and taking
possession of Parma. Now Parma, from its position,
was quite the citadel of the imperial party, and joined
Tuscany and Central Italy to Piedmont and to the
March of Treviso, so that it was a vital question to
regain it. The Guelphs hastened thither from all
parts, resolved to hold it against the Emperor, who in
person and with an immense army surrounded it in July
1247. He was determined to take the city at what
ever cost, but the long and glorious resistance of the
besieged saved the Guelph fortunes in Lombardy. In
vain did the irritated Emperor repeat the horrors with
which his grandfather had tried to break the constancy
ot Crema; he met with a constancy which was equal

Innocent IV. 217
and more fortunate. Obliged to prolong the siege, he
built a new city, where the soldiers could spend the
winter in sight of the enemy, and gave it the name of
Vittoria. The founding of this city was meant evi
dently as a promise of Parma's destruction, but the
besieged not only took good care of their defences, but
on the 1 8th of February 1 248, suddenly falling upon
the imperial camp, utterly destroyed it, and set fire to
the new city. It was a terrible disaster for Frederick,
who, flying and pursued, took refuge in Cremona,
leaving his treasures and the imperial insignia in the
hands of the Guelphs, who thus at last avenged their
own defeat of ten years before at Cortenuova.
For some other months Frederick and his lieutenants
tried to retrieve their defeat, but the engagements all
went against them, and as ill-luck was followed im
mediately by desertion, his followers became daily
fewer and more lukewarm. He was weakened too by
illness and disheartened by the sense of being sur
rounded by ungrateful traitors. The struggle between
Ghibellines and Guelphs lasted very tenaciously in
Italy, but it grew more and more to be a struggle
between city and city, a strife of local parties against
opposing ones, and every day the idea and interests
of the Empire were more lost sight of. Frederick,
seeing his strength waning, again spoke of peace
with the Pope, and the King of France, who was just
starting for Palestine, renewed his efforts at media
tion, but in vain. The Pope felt that his adversary
was now beaten and he continued pitiless. Cardinal
Capocci in Germany had orders to proceed reso
lutely to the destruction of the authority of the

218 The Popes and the Hohenstaufen.
Hohenstaufen, and he executed his task with great
firmness and caution. Overcoming many doubts, he
succeeded in getting elected as King of the Romans,
William, the young Count of Holland, and crowned
him himself at Cologne. The Pope sent money to the
new king, and wrote warmly in his favour. Among
the different parties, the personal ambition of the
nobles, and the tendency of many large cities to form
free communes, Germany fell into a state of things
against which King Conrad's forces did not suffice,
and the imperial resources, already so much engaged
in Italy, were becoming exhausted. Frederick's dis
trust of his own strength increased daily, as also his
wrath against his enemies and his determination to
hold out till the very end.
While Frederick remained in Piedmont, and through
opportune concessions was ensuring for himself the
Count of Savoy's friendship and making peace with
Genoa, Cardinal Rayner, the Papal vicar in Rome,
was threatening to invade the Sicilian kingdom and
attempt its conquest, so that Frederick felt it needful
to hurry to the spot, while the Pope from a distance
incited the nobles to rebel. Before moving, however,
the suspicion, perhaps the certainty, of another treason
able plot added gall to this already too bitter cup.
The matter is enveloped in mystery. One day there
was put suddenly in chains at Cremona by Frederick's
orders his chancellor, Pier della Vigna, a man who
had received so many benefits from him, and for so
many years had held the keys of his heart and woven
with him the woof of his policy. Soon after, in the
prison "f Pisa, whither the Emperor had dragged him,

Innocent IV. 219
Pier della Vigna killed himself in despair, and this
sad suicide inspired one of the most striking passages
¦of the Divine Comedy, in which Dante proclaims
him the victim of calumny. At any rate, Frederick
held him guilty, and his mistrust was still further
increased by the news of rebellion in Sicily, by seeing
Eccelin now intent on creating for himself an inde
pendent principality without any regard to the im
perial interests, and last of all by his doctor's attempt
to poison him, of which he publicly accused Innocent
IV., and was led to exclaim, " Behold, the honesty of
the prince of priests."
In the midst of all this, the embittered sovereign
re-entered Apulia towards the spring of 1249, and
found the government in great disorder. The ex
cesses of Saracens and Germans, on whom of late
years Frederick had specially leaned, the hostile clergy,
and the extremely heavy taxes, had disposed people
against him, while he, being already in a state of
irritation when he arrived, made matters worse by
increasing the burdens of his subjects and treating
with great severity all who were or whom he suspected
of being his enemies. Innocent profited by this dis
content, and redoubled his efforts, having the crusade
preached against Frederick, and sending from Ger
many into the Sicilian kingdom the indefatigable Car
dinal Capocci, who with great zeal and many intrigues
stirred up enemies and rebels against him in every
corner. When these were forced into exile, they took
refuge close to the borders at Anagni, Subiaco, and
Palestrina, where they received succour in money and
provisions, and there they awaited the opportunity

220 The Popes and the Hohenstaufen.
of stealing back into their country for the ruin of tho
sovereign. Meanwhile, things were going on badly in Lom
bardy, and in the continual warfare between Guelphs
and Ghibellines the former had the best of it. Threat
ened by the Bolognese, who had joined the league of
Romagna and of the Po valley, King Enzio determined
to free himself from them by a decisive blow, and
attacked them on the 29th of May 1249, near a small
tributary of the Panaro called the Fossalta, but was
defeated and taken prisoner, and so the career of the
gallant young King of Sardinia was closed all at once
and for ever in the honourable imprisonment in which
the Bolognese kept him for the remainder of his life.
In vain Frederick entreated, flattered, threatened,in order
to obtain his son's freedom, every effort of his was power
less against the determined pride of those burghers.
For a year longer the Emperor struggled on amid war,
oppression, and conspiracy, but his health no longer
could resist the strain. On the 1 3th of December 1250,
in a castle near Lucera, Frederick II. of Hohenstaufen
resigned his weary spirit, after an adventurous reign of
half a century, which was full of contradictions in its
fortunes and vicissitudes, in its virtues and its crimes,
as was the character of the prince and of the times in
which he lived. Heir to a principle now wearing out,
yet of a subtle and pliable nature, he felt the influence
of the transformations taking place in the world around
him, but could not always trace their path. With
Frederick II., although he was more an Italian than
a German Emperor, every vital element of the Empire
in Italy faded away.

( 221 )

CHAPTER XIV.
(1250-1258.)
INNOCENT IV. AND FREDERICK II.'S SUCCESSORS,
CONRAD AND MANFRED.
Feedeeick PL had, in his will, left to Conrad, King of
the Romans, the thrones of Germany and Italy, and in
case of Conrad's dying childless, his brother Henry,
son of Isabella of England, and still a child, was to
succeed him. To his grandson Frederick, son of the
rebel Henry, he left the duchy of Austria. Manfred,
fruit of the Emperor's amours with Bianca Lancia,
and later made legitimate by a subsequent marriage,
was created Prince of Taranto and viceroy of Sicily
during the absence of Conrad. His natural sons,,
Frederick of Antioch and Enzio, were not mentioned
in the will.
The merciless hatred of the Popes formed part of
the inheritance of Frederick's sons. Innocent IV.,
who publicly rejoiced over the Emperor's death, in
stantly set to work, and hoped to succeed in speedily
annihilating this "race of vipers," which he had
doomed to destruction. But Frederick's sons pos
sessed all the old Suabian vigour and the struggle
continued. Discord and anarchy were rife in Ger-

222 The Popes and the Hohenstaufen.
many and Italy, but in the former Conrad held his
own against his rival William of Holland, while in
Italy the young Manfred, suddenly revealing himself
as a statesman and warrior, saved his brother's king
dom. Manfred was but eighteen when his father
died ; he was fair, handsome, and of graceful pre
sence ; his intellect was ready and versatile, and at
his father's court he had grown up fond of arts and
letters and anxious to distinguish himself in arms,
generous, affable, firm in chararcter but lax in morals,-
and caring little for religion. On his father's death
he seized the regency, while Cardinal Capocci, follow
ing the Pope's orders, stirred up the kingdom and
incited many cities to rebellion, among which Barletta,
Capua, and Naples, and nearly all the country between
the Garigliano and the Volturno. Manfred was un
dismayed ; though without money, he collected soldiers,
regained Andria and Foggia, and marching rapidly
on Barletta, tried to take it by storm. The citizens
defended themselves with such a hail of stones and
arrows from the walls that the assailants hesitated,
till Manfred flung himself to the front, and the sol
diers, encouraged by the intrepidity of their youthful
leader, followed him, and Barletta was taken. Nor
was it long before the kingdom was subdued, with
the exception of a few cities like Capua and Naples,
against which Manfred made some fruitless attempts.
The Pope meanwhile thought it better for his object.
to leave Lyons and return to Italy; but first he sought
an interview with William of Holland, whose elec
tion he confirmed, and renewing his anathemas, he had
the crusade preached against Conrad in Germany. On

Conrad and Manfred. 223
his return. to Italy in the spring of 125 1, he stopped
at Genoa and Milan, and in many towns of Lombardy,
received everywhere with great honour, under which,
however, a certain feeling of mistrust was ill concealed.
During his journey he tried everywhere, but with little
result, to strengthen the Guelphs and reconcile the
Ghibellines ; nor did he hesitate to try to gain the
friendship of Eccelin da Romano, who, however, con
scious that his strength depended on the Ghibellines,
held out against the Pope's blandishments. Innocent
aimed at entering Rome, but he thought it prudent
not to trust himself too hastily to a city which had
always shown such fickleness and unfriendliness towards
the Popes. He stopped therefore at Perugia.
But he was not the only one to seek Italy, which
became the chief theatre of events, for a few months
later Conrad of Hohenstaufen also betook himself
thither. Seeing that the present state of Germany
allowed of no decisive action either on his own or his
adversary's part, Conrad resolved to go and make sure
of the kingdom of Sicily, and thwart the Papal designs
by rousing the Ghibelline party in Italy. He left in
Germany his queen, Elizabeth, who was near her con
finement, reached Verona in the November of 1 2 5 1 ,
held in the neighbouring Goito a diet, which was
attended by Eccelin and the principal Ghibelline
leaders, and took counsel with them ; then, to avoid
hindrances, embarked with his troops near Trieste,
and on reaching the Neapolitan coast, disembarked at
Siponto, where Manfred was waiting as if to hand over
to him the kingdom he had saved. At first Conrad
showed great gratitude to his brother, heaped honours

224 The Popes and the Hohenstaufen.
upon him, and appointed him high constable of the
realm, but soon there came a change. Of a sullen and
haughty disposition, a complete stranger to the country
he came to rule, Conrad could hardly be expected to
look favourably on the popular young prince, full of
grace and courage, who had already taken so pro
minent a part in state affairs, and naturally attracted
attention and sympathy. Gradually, under one pre
text or another, he deprived him of almost all the fiefs
left him by his father, and sent out of the kingdom
Manfred's relatives on his mother's side, who were
rich in possessions and followers. Manfred made no
resistance, and continued to serve his brother faithfully,
hiding any vexation he may have felt.
Conrad — to whom a son, Conradin, was born in Ger
many in March 1252 — made an effort to reconcile the
Pope by sending ambassadors to Perugia, who were
received, but their proposals were rejected, so that the
hatred between the two parties grew more bitter. As
in the times of Frederick, both camps began again to
hurl horrible accusations at each other; and Conrad,
accused by the Pope of poisoning his nephew, Frederick,
Duke of Austria, believed rather that he himself was
in danger from Innocent, and consequently increased
in severity against the Papal partisans, and was con
firmed in his determination to quell with fire and
sword the ever-spreading rebellion. Collecting all
his forces, and accompanied by Manfred, he subdued
the rebellious towns very sternly, then approached
the walls of Naples, resolved to take the town at
any cost. The Neapolitans, dreading Conrad's severity,
were equally resolved to resist ; and the Pope, seeing

Conrad and Manfred. 225
how vital the taking of Naples was to his enemy,
encouraged the besieged and tried to divide the
besieger's forces by creating difficulties for him else
where. The Papal emissaries laboured without rest
in Lombardy and Germany to change Conrad's ad
herents into enemies ; but Conrad did not for this
leave the walls of Naples, which resisted long and
desperately, and only after nine months' siege sur
rendered, with entreaties for mercy to Conrad, who
proved merciless. This victory, and the severity
which followed it, ensured the possession of the king
dom, and Conrad was soon able to return to Germany,
while the Pope sought new means of opposing him,
and desired to find some foreign prince who would
undertake the conquest of Sicily. He entered into
treaty in England, first with Richard of Cornwall,
then with Edmund, son of Henry III., to induce one
of them to accept the investiture ; but these negotia
tions failed for the time, and so did others with
Charles of Anjou, brother of the French king. This
greedy and ambitious prince was longing to assume
the rich Sicilian crown, but he could not accept the
invitation. King Louis was in the East, the French
Crusaders had been unfortunate, the country was im
poverished, and the times were too unsettled for an
arduous and costly expedition. Innocent renewed his
solicitations in England, and meanwhile betook him
self to Rome, where he was pretty well received by
the Romans, who, however, under the rule of a power
ful and resolute senator, the Bolognese Brancaleone
d'Andalo, were maintaining their municipal indepen
dence, and did not practically recognise the Pontiff as
CH. P

226 The Popes and the Hohenstaufen.
their prince. Other attempts of Conrad's to reconcile
the Pope not only failed, but ended in a sentence of
excommunication. The Pope's courage had greatly
increased, because Henry III. had consented that his
son Edmund should accept the investiture of Sicily, a
consent which was more easily obtained owing to the
death of Henry, the brother of Conrad and nephew on
the mother's side to the English king, who would have
been unwilling to usurp his nephew's eventual rights.
It is also said that the Papal emissaries made skilful
use of calumny, insinuating that Conrad had poisoned
his brother ; and certainly the accusation spread among
the Guelphs and in the Curia, but it was based on
hostility, and had no foundation in fact.
While the Pope was redoubling his efforts and in
trigues to carry Edmund into Sicily, an unexpected
occurrence appeared to modify his intentions. When
preparing to return to Germany, Conrad of Hohen
staufen died, after a very short illness, on the 2 1st
of May 1254. He was twenty-six years of age, and
in difficult circumstances he had proved himself a very
resolute prince and courageous warrior, but had no
opportunity of showing whether he also possessed
statesmanlike qualities. He left as heir of his con
tested realms the child Conradin, who was in Germany
with his mother Elizabeth, and appointed as regent the
Marquis Berthold of Hohenburg, instructing him to
seek reconciliation with the Pope. To Manfred he
merely recommended his son's interests, without giving
him any special title or position in the kingdom of
Sicily, which thus remained in the hands of a German
soldier unversed in its affairs and disliked by the people.

Innocent IV. and Manfred. 227
Berthold of Hohenburg soon found the regency a
difficult task, and after vain efforts at reconciliation
with the Pope, he ended by giving up the reins
of government to Manfred, who accepted them with
at least seeming hesitation. Innocent had drawn
nearer to the boundaries of the kingdom by taking
up his residence at Anagni, whence he sent orders
on all sides to collect troops. Seeing that Manfred
was weak, without money, suspected by the German
barons and by some of the Sicilians, who were secretly
drawn into the opposition by Papal emissaries, Innocent,
neglecting the interests of the English prince with
whom he was in treaty, sought rather to hasten him
self the conquest of the Sicilian kingdom, with the
intention perhaps of bestowing it later under con
ditions of greater vassalage. Manfred, on his side,
was conscious of the difficulty of his position, and felt
that his only safety lay in temporising; for the Pope
was old and infirm and might not live long. He
therefore offered him the guardianship of Conradin and
the regency, declaring himself disposed to receive him
and give into his hands the strong places of the realm,
with due regard, however, to his own and his nephew's
rights. It is not easy to say how far Manfred's offer was
genuine, but the Pope seemed very much pleased with
it, and he soon freed the prince from excommunica
tion, confirmed him in the possession of all his fiefs,
including those which Conrad had taken from him,
and appointed him apostolic vicar over a large part of
the kingdom ; but touching Conradin he held himself
more in reserve. What the astute Pontiff also wanted

228 The Popes and the Hohenstaufen.
was time to cross the frontier without opposition.
Manfred went to meet him at Ceprano, and on his
entrance into the kingdom at the bridge over the
Garigliano paid him liege homage, leading his palfrey
by the bridle, and together they went to San Germane
Thence after a few days they proceeded to Teano,
while the Papal troops, under the Cardinal of St. Eus-
tachius, went on to take possession of many important
fortresses. Repeated were the demonstrations of devo
tion on one side and benevolence on the other, but
under these lying appearances a reality of hatred and
intrigue was smouldering, and Manfred soon became
aware that the Pope was in truth master of the realm.
Innocent, gradually feeling himself stronger, began to
cool in his behaviour towards Manfred, and the in
creasing ambiguity of his conduct showed a disposi
tion to separate Manfred's last followers from him and
to flatter his enemies. Among these latter there was
then at Teano a baron, Burrello of Anglona, who had
received benefits from both Manfred and King Conrad,
but was now disputing one of Manfred's fiefs on the
pretext that the Pope had granted it to him. The
Pope, on being questioned, replied vaguely, not daring
to do the prince an open injustice, yet unwilling to
favour him, so that Manfred, more and more irritated
and suspicious, left the Papal court, on the plea of
going to meet the Marquis Berthold of Hohenburg,
who was on his way. And indeed he was anxious to
see him, and prevent him, an ambitious and discon
tented man, from throwing himself into the Pope's
arms, and thus destroying the last chance of preserving
the kingdom to the Suabian dynasty.

Innocent IV. and Manfred. 229
•On leaving Teano, at a short distance from the
town, Manfred and his followers met Burrello in a
narrow and dangerous pass, as if the latter were there
in ambush, or at least in an attitude of defiance.
Manfred's soldiers flung themselves on those of the
baron, and he took to flight, but was followed and killed,
against Manfred's wish, according to the chroniclers
on his side — by his express order, according to the
Guelphs. What is certain is, that after Burrello's
death Manfred felt that he must hasten on, as pro
bably he would be followed by the Papal troops.
Wherever he went there was danger, especially in the
Terra di Lavoro, which was now wholly occupied by
the Pope's soldiers, where the people were frightened,
and he might at any moment be taken prisoner.
After many adventures he reached Acerra, and thence
asked for an interview with Berthold of Hohenburg,
who, however, avoided him, and proceeded straight to
the Papal court, where he pretended to join the envoy
sent by Manfred to excuse the death of Burrello, but
in reality seems to have worked on the Pope in a
contrary sense. Manfred's uncle, the faithful Galvano
Lancia, who was at the court to further his interests,
sent warning to his nephew, and advised him to go to
Lucera, where the Saracen troops would protect him.
Manfred followed the advice, and leaving Acerra, he
again started on his dangerous march, first as far as
Venosa, whence on the ist of November 1254, almost
alone, by difficult paths and on a rainy night, he left for
Lucera. In the morning he was in sight of the walls,
which he approached with only three of his most inti
mate followers, and telling the guards of one of the

230 The Popes and the Hohenstaufen.
gates who he was, asked that they would let him in.
The guards had not the keys of the gate, but burst it
open, and raising him on their shoulders, bore him in
triumph through the city. He took the command of
his faithful Saracens, and found at Lucera a nucleus of
troops wherewith to restore the fortunes of his family.
The turn of the tide was again favourable, for at
Lucera he also found much treasure, and was able to
form a vigorous army, with which he went towards
Foggia, and took it after defeating Otto of Hohen
burg, Berthold's brother. This defeat terrified the
cardinal legate, who was encamped at Troia with the
mass of the Papal army, which fled in great disorder to
Naples, whither the Papal court had moved.
At Naples the fugitives found that Innocent IV.
had died on the 7th of December 1254, and the car
dinals, out of heart on seeing the army arrive in such
disorder, were hardly to be prevailed upon by Berthold
of Hohenburg not to fly from Naples, but to remain
there and elect the new Pope, who was the Cardinal of
Ostia, Rainald, of that same family of Segni which
had already given the Popes Innocent III. and Gre
gory IX. He took the name of Alexander IV., and at
first showed more moderation with regard to Manfred,
whose troops had various successes over the Papal
ones, which were led by Cardinal Ubaldini, suspected
later of secretly favouring the prince. Meanwhile,
some envoys sent from Germany by Elizabeth, the
mother of Conradin, and by his uncle the Duke of
Bavaria, confirmed Manfred as guardian of the boy-
king and regent of the kingdom, and went to the
Pope with proposals of peace. The Pope did not

Alexander IV. and Manfred. 231
seem averse to it, and during the negotiations con
cluded a truce ; but the cardinal legate broke it by
moving his troops in such a way as to interrupt Man
fred's communication with Lucera, on which Manfred
indignantly resumed hostilities and inflicted a tremen
dous defeat on the pontifical troops. The Cardinal,
reduced to extremities, proposed an agreement. The
Pope was to recognise Conradin and Manfred, and to
invest them with all the kingdom except the Terra di
Lavoro, which was to become a direct possession of the
Church. Manfred accepted the conditions, allowed
the legate to retire with his soldiers, and granted a
full pardon to Berthold of Hohenburg, and to the
other barons who had fought against him and now
returned to their allegiance.
When the Cardinal Ubaldini submitted these terms
to the Pope, there were great outcries in the Curia ; the
cardinal was accused of betraying the Guelph interests,
and the terms were rejected. The negotiations with
the King of England had been again more actively
resumed, and Henry had promised to undertake an
expedition into Sicily in favour of his son Edmund,
and settled with the Holy See the conditions of the
investiture ; but in reality he never was able to keep
his promise. Manfred, seeing that the Pope declined
the proposed agreement, and that in Germany, after
the death of William of Holland, there was a strong
opposition to Conradin's election, felt that the time had
come to act with energy. On the 2nd of February
1256 he held a large parliament at Barletta, conferred
fiefs and important posts on the most faithful of his
barons, among whom were his relatives Galvano and

232 The Popes and the Hohenstaufen.
Frederick Lancia, and on discovering fresh treachery
on the part of Berthold of Hohenburg and other nobles,
he had them arraigned and condemned. Thus secured,
and while the Lancia made successful expeditions in
Calabria and Sicily, reducing them to obedience, Man
fred advanced into the Terra di Lavoro, and fighting
indefatigably for the whole of 1256, regained the
kingdom with the exception of a few castles here and
there. Thus the Papacy found itself again in troubled
waters, and its difficulties did not only arise south of
Rome, but extended to the whole peninsula. Rome
herself was unsettled, nor was there much hope of suc
cour from beyond the Alps. The Ghibellines- of Central
and Northern Italy, admiring the successful determina
tion of Manfred, began to regard him as their leader
and to lose no time in renewing their relations with
him. Alexander IV. felt the danger, and as he had no
other weapons, he tried to break, by a sentence of ex
communication, the new ties which were forming, and
in April 1 2 5 7, at Viterbo, he hurled it against Man
fred ; but the bolt fell harmlessly. On all sides Man
fred's adherents among the Italian Ghibellines were in
creasing. Venice entered into alliance with him, and
he strengthened his position by overcoming forcibly
the last efforts of resistance, and then making oppor
tune concessions to the conquered, so that in the spring
of 1258 he re-entered Palermo as the restorer of the
Suabian monarchy. This young prince had done
great things in a few short years of untiring activity.
He had saved the kingdom for a heartless brother, who
had returned his devotion with ingratitude. On his

Alexander IV. and Manfred. 233
brother's death, he alone, without assistance or support,
had again conquered and saved the kingdom. Amid
diplomatic wiles, amid the dangers and bitterness of
flight, in the proud hour of battle, he had always borne
himself as a king. And now that the sceptre was safe
in his hands, was he, who, after all, like every Hohen
staufen, was ambitious and unscrupulous — was he to give
it up to a child born and brought up under other skies,
unknown to the people, and hardly knowing the existence
of a kingdom which to Manfred meant glory and life ?
Nor were other excuses wanting to satisfy an ambitious
conscience. The times were difficult, the Ghibelline
party needed a strong arm to guide it. Perhaps in this
way he would later be better able to help Conradin in
Germany. Frederick I. had been chosen king instead
of a child, Philip of Suabia had taken the place of
Frederick II. ; it seemed almost traditional in the
family for the uncle to supplant the nephew. A false
report was suddenly spread throughout Sicily that
Conradin was dead, and without waiting to verify it,
Manfred, giving way to the instances of his courtiers,
was crowned king at Palermo in August 1258; but
the throne which he was thus usurping was to be torn
away from him by another act of usurpation.

( 234 )

CHAPTER XV.
(1258-1266.)
THE POPES BRING CHARLES OF ANJ0U INTO ITALY-
DEATH OF MANFRED AT BENEVENTO.
When Manfred assumed his nephew's crown at Pal
ermo, he broke the ties which bound him to Germany
and became naturally a national king, just at the
moment when the feudal Germanic idea of the Empire
was declining in Italy, and the Ghibellines needed
some new banner round which to rally. Hence the
fame of Manfred increased rapidly throughout the pen
insula, and his growing power soon became a terror
and an object of ever-increasing hatred to the Papacy,
to which the Guelphs could give but little real sup
port, being mere partisans, whose forces were falling
to pieces because no common national interest united
them any more in one strong bond. Germany was
in complete anarchy between two shadows of kings-
elect, Richard of Cornwall and Alfonso of Castile, and
could no longer exert the least influence in Italian
affairs. The Guelphs themselves in Lombardy began
to draw near the new king of Sicily. Under these
circumstances, one might have expected the Pope to
have attempted a reconciliation with Manfred, and, by

Manfred and Charles of Anjou. 235
winning him over, make him a Guelph and an instru
ment for Papal purposes. But it would have been a
difficult experiment, and would have needed a greater
and more daring spirit than that of Alexander IV.
The series of powerful Popes who had offered so grand
a resistance to the Suabian Emperors had closed with
Gregory IX., and there followed now a series of rather
commonplace men — men of a certain ability, but with
out any breadth of ideas or depth of feeling. On the
other hand, the fear lest Manfred, who had always been
hostile to the Church, should gain influence, and per
haps direct sovereignty, north of Rome, was by no
means irrational ; and the Curia turned all its subtle
intelligence to opposing him, and did succeed in sepa
rating the Guelphs from him, so that Manfred, by the
force of circumstances, ended by following the natural
instinct of his race, and placed himself at the head of
the Ghibellines.
Order again flourished in the Sicilian realm, and
Manfred combined with state cares the joyous life of a
youthful court, where talents and beauty, love of plea
sure and of art, lent their brilliancy. On the death of
his first wife, Beatrice of Savoy, Manfred married the
Greek princess Helen, daughter of the despot of Epirus,
thus allying his kingdom with the East. Meanwhile
the Emperor Baldwin was asking for help for the Latin
Empire in the East, which was tottering, and in
order to obtain it tried to make peace between the
Popes and Manfred. This effort failed, the Pope
having put as his first condition the destruction of the
colony of Lucera and the departure of the Saracens,
who were Manfred's chief and surest support against

236 The Popes and the Hohenstaufen.
all Papal attacks. As usual, after vain attempts at
peace, recourse was again had to arms ; and, under
colour of other expeditions, Manfred's soldiers, led by
the Genoese Percival d'Oria, entered the March of
Ancona. The Ghibellines on all sides invoked Man
fred all the more, since Eccelin da Romano, till then
the strongest support of their party in Northern Italy,
had been vanquished and killed, and the power of his
family for ever destroyed.
But the destruction of the house of Romano had
not sufficed to change the party fortunes ; and while
throughout Lombardy the small wars of faction con
tinued, in Tuscany the exiled Ghibellines tried to re
enter their native Florence. From Siena they sought
to collect partisans on every side, and appealed, to
Manfred for assistance, assuring him that by destroy
ing the Guelphs in Florence he would have uprooted
Guelphism throughout Tuscany. At first Manfred,
knowing the great strength of the Guelphs in Central
Italy, received the invitation coldly, only sending to
Siena a hundred German knights, who were quite
insufficient for the enterprise. But in an encounter
with the Florentines these knights were overpowered
by superior numbers, and the imperial eagle was
trailed ignominiously through the streets of Florence.
Manfred could not overlook the insult offered to his
banner, and sent a strong body of cavalry to join
the Ghibellines. The Guelphs also on their side were
in great force. At Montaperti, on the banks of the
Arbia, there was fought with great obstinacy on the
4th of September 1260, one of the most memorable
battles of that age, which opened the gates of Flor-

Manfred and Charles of Anjou. 237
ence to the victorious Ghibellines. It was then that
the Ghibelline leaders in council proposed to utterly
exterminate Florence, and the hateful suggestion.
would have been followed if the magnanimous Fari-
nata degli Uberti, who had been the leading spirit
among the exiles, had not, alone and openly, defended
the city which no bitterness of banishment could make
him hate. Thus Farinata preserved for its glorious
future this fair city of the Muses.
The victory of Montaperti had raised Manfred to
a high position in Italy. The Ghibellines, rallying
closer round him, prevailed now in most of the Tuscan
towns, giving little heed to the excommunication pro
nounced by Alexander against Siena and against every
one who in Tuscany or Lombardy entered into alliance
with the victorious prince, now apparently master of
the peninsula. It behoved the Church, if she meant to
persevere in her policy, to take vigorous measures,
and hence, to those who held this view, the death of
Alexander IV. did not appear inopportune. To him
succeeded, on the 29th of August 1261, a French
man, Urban IV., a man of great energy, who was de
termined to fight untiringly for the Church's interests
in Italy. From Italy herself Urban IV. could hope
nothing:, so he turned to his native France, where an
ambitious prince and a chivalrous and often poor
nobility were likely to respond to his call from a
desire for adventures and wealth. Delay would be
fatal. Manfred's adherents were daily increasing,
and in Rome they were seeking to elect him senator
in opposition to Richard of Cornwall, the candidate
of another party. Also, in spite of the Pope's oppo-

238 The Popes and the Hohenstaufen.
sition, Manfred's daughter Constance was about to
marry Peter, heir to the crown of Aragon. Urban,
after renewing at Viterbo his predecessor's anathemas
against Manfred, sent an envoy to the French court
to treat secretly the question of investing Charles of
Anjou with the kingdom of Sicily. The Pope re-'
peated the proposals already made in vain by Innocent
IV., but at a more favourable moment, for the con
dition of France had much improved in the interval.
Louis IX., as if divining the ascendancy France was
about to take in European politics, began to listen,
though still with hesitation, to the invitations of the
Pope, who did all he could to set at rest the King's
scruples regarding the lawfulness of an undertaking
which not only injured Manfred but was contrary to
the prior claims of Conradin and of Edmund of Eng
land. While these negotiations were pending, Man
fred, who had some inkling of what was going on,
tried to make friends again with the Pope and offered
terms of peace ; nor did Urban, doubtful as he yet
was of the decision of France, immediately decline
them, but let matters drag on.
The negotiations in France being actively pushed,
at last succeeded, and Urban's envoys, having obtained
from the English king the surrender of his son Ed
mund's rights, succeeded in conquering Louis IX.'s
hesitation, and they began to discuss the conditions
under which Charles of Anjou would receive the in
vestiture and would undertake to conquer the king
dom. Of virile and tenacious ambition, greedy of
gold and power, possessing prudence and resolution,
and untroubled by scruples or feelings of compassion,

Manfred and Charles of Anjou. 239
Charles of Anjou had the natural gifts necessary for
gaining a kingdom, and, having gained it, for keeping
it. In August 1263, while they were still discussing
the conditions of the investiture, Charles, taking keen
advantage of the dissensions in Rome, prevailed on the
Romans to elect him senator of the city. He thus
got a footing in Italy independently of the Papal invi- '
tation, and while diminishing Manfred's influence in
Rome, he also guarded against the possibly overween
ing pretensions of his benefactor in the future. Urban
grew uneasy, protested, showed even some hesitation
respecting the investiture, so that the negotiations
were delayed. But Manfred meanwhile was more and
more threatening ; the Guelphs, aroused by the Pope's
admonitions, needed a leader ; grave events pended in
Europe and the East, and all these considerations
shook Urban's resistance, while Charles persevered.
At last Urban gave way on Charles's promise to retain
only for a time the senatorial dignity.
These difficulties being smoothed over, Charles sent
on ahead an officer to act for him as senator, promis
ing to be soon in Rome himself, and then collected
the army which was to be led by him to conquest.
Manfred, seeing the danger approaching, thought to
anticipate it by sending large bodies of troops into
the Patrimony and , the Marche, where many en
counters took place with the followers of Urban,
who did not cease to preach a crusade against the
enemy. And indeed Manfred at that time was a for
midable opponent, notwithstanding the hopes placed
on the invader. At Rome an effort made by his
partisans to get possession of the city had failed, but

240 The Popes and the Hohenstaufen.
in the rest of Italy the Ghibellines were holding their
heads up, and were able to oppose the march of the
Angevin. An imposing array of ships guarded the
Maremma coast, and the mouth of the Tiber had been
barred to prevent the access of Charles's galleys, should
he choose the sea. The Pope himself, surrounded on
every side and no longer able to remain in the neigh
bourhood of Rome, had retired to Perugia, where he
was giving his attention to settling the last difficulties
of his negotiations with Charles, when he died on
the 2nd of October 1264. On the same day a comet
disappeared from the skies after two months, during
which its presence had gloomily agitated the whole of
Italy with presentiments of war and misfortune.
For more than four months the cardinals in conclave
could come to no agreement. The Italians would have
wished to change policy and join Manfred, but the
French party were determined to follow the path traced
by Urban IV., and they were superior in numbers.
So a Frenchman was elected, Guy, cardinal of St.
Sabina and archbishop of Narbonne. Before taking
priest's orders he had been a lawyer in office at the
court of Louis IX., was devoted to the royal family of
France, and knew them thoroughly. He took the
name of Clement IV., pushed on rapidly the treaty
with Charles of Anjou, and the expedition was defi
nitely decided on. Again the crusade against Man
fred was preached with great fervour and promises of
spiritual rewards ; the Papal legates in France and
England extracted all the money they could for the pur
pose, soldiers thronged from all quarters, led by brave
and adventurous barons, who gazed with avidity on the

Manfred and Charles of Anjou. 241
country rich in spoil to which fortune called them.
The army collected at Lyons before passing the Alps.
Charles with a thousand chosen lances preceded them,
and took ship at Marseilles. As soon as he had
sailed, the wind rose in fury, and the stormy sea saved
the fortunes of the royal adventurer. The Sicilian
admiral, who was guarding the Tuscan coast, had
taken to the open, fearing to be dashed on the rocks,
and convinced that Charles also would not dare to
approach the shore, with the almost certain risk of
shipwreck. But Charles had gone forward trusting
in his star, and now, tossed on the waves and separated
from his other ships, he reached the Roman coast,
landed almost alone near Ostia, and was soon met and
welcomed by the Guelphs of Rome, who conducted him
with all honours to the monastery of St. Paul Joined
there by his followers, he entered Rome in triumph on
the 23rd of May 1265, and on the 2 1st of June took
formal possession of his senatorial dignity in the
Capitol. A week later, from the hands of cardinals
sent expressly by the Pope from Perugia, he received
in the Lateran the investiture of the kingdom and
swore liege homage to the Pontiff.
Manfred meanwhile was prepared to defend himself,
and before Charles's arrival in Rome the Sicilian soldiers
had had an advantage over the officer who was filling
the senatorial dignity for Charles, and this advantage
had seemed of happy augury. But the indefatigable
and invisible activity of the Pope and his emissaries
acted as a dissolvent in Manfred's army and through
out the kingdom, and even where gold could not cor
rupt nor spiritual terrors appal, uncertainty as to the
c.H. Q

242 The Popes and the Hohenstaufen.
result produced a chilling effect. After entering the
Campagna, Manfred had hoped to make himself mas
ter of Rome, and stop the war in its beginnings ; but
Charles was both prudent and vigorous, and Manfred
recognised that he could not leave his kingdom for
long if he would keep it loyal and ready for war. The
summer of 1265 passed in encounters of small im
portance, and towards November French troops from
Provence began to pour over the Alps. Manfred's
principal hope lay in the Ghibellines of Northern and
Central Italy, as their resistance might bar the way to
Charles's army, or at least so weaken it as to make it
harmless; but as in the Sicilian realm so in the north,
the Pope was exerting himself to smooth the way for
the invaders, who met with little resistance, and in the
first days of 1266 joined in Rome their leader, who
on the feast of the Epiphany was crowned solemnly in
the Vatican by the Pope's legates as king of Sicily and
Apulia. Thus blessed by the Church, he proceeded against
the excommunicated prince, who awaited him resolved
to resist, but doubtful of those around him. Charles
advanced rapidly, preceded by a great reputation. The
first line of defence was on the Garigliano ; but the
traitor Richard, Count of Caserta, Manfred's brother-in-
law, retired without striking a blow, and left the road
open to San Germano, which was taken, and in the
sack of the unhappy city the victors had a foretaste of
the joys and advantages of conquest. Without losing
time, Charles arrived by forced marches at Benevento,
where Manfred was, and the two armies found them
selves face to face. The fatal hour of a decisive battle

Manfred and Charles of Anjou. 243
had sounded, and on both sides there was nothing left
but to conquer or to die ; but in Manfred's ranks trea
son and presentiments of evil were abroad, and the
prince was advised by some to fly and wait for better
times. " Rather die here like a king to-day than go
forth as a fugitive and beggar to a foreign land," was
his answer, and he kept his word. It was the 26th of
March 1266. Long and fiercely raged the battle that
day in the plains of Benevento, and Manfred was
beaten, but did not leave the battlefield. Followed
by a few faithful friends, the brave and handsome
knight flung himself among his victorious enemies and
found a royal death. In the plain, which was strewn
with the dead, Manfred long lay unrecognised, while
the victors filled the streets of Benevento with horrors
and bloodshed. At last the fair corpse, anxiously
sought for by Charles, was found, and sadly was the
wail repeated, "Dead is Manfred! dead is Manfred!"
By order of Charles some captive barons were taken to
identify him, and a contemporary chronicler exclaims,
" Oh ! oh ! with what profusion of tears those trem
bling ones raise the recovered corpse of Manfred, and
kiss their lord's hands and feet ! ' This is the inno
cent one who has died for us; this is he who loved
us unto death.' And near his body was found that
of Theobald Annibaldi, who had always followed Man
fred's footsteps in the battle. Manfred's dead body
being taken thence, it was placed near a ruined
church, and over it, to do it honour, the French heaped
a large heap of stones." Thus outside consecrated
ground, yet near a church and in honoured sepulchre,
lay Frederick's excommunicated son, but not even

244 The Popes a,nd the Hohenstaufen.
there was there peace for his bones, which later were
removed by the priestly hatred of the Bishop of Cosenza
to an unknown spot near the banks of a river, where
" still the rain falls and the winds beat upon them."
The Queen Helen and Manfred's children were taken,
and languished in the prisons of the conqueror, who
was as pitiless towards them as Henry VI. had been
to Queen Sibilla and the children of Tancred. All
bowed down in homage or in cowardice before Charles
of Anjou, who was now lord of the realm.

( 245 )

CHAPTER XVI.
(1266-1268.)
THE LAST OF THE HOHENSTAUFEN.
" 0 King Manfred ! We did not know thee alive,
and now we bewail thy death ! We thought thee a
rapacious wolf among the sheep of this kingdom, but
now in comparison to the present rule, which with our
usual inconstance we so anxiously longed for, we re
cognise in thee an innocent lamb. We already feel
that thy commands were gentle because we are tasting
the harsh ones of this other. We used to complain
that thou tookest from us a part of our substance, but
now all our possessions, and what is worse, even our
persons, are the prey of these foreigners." 1 Thus did
the people in a short time begin to lament Manfred's
fall and the oppression of their new lord, who, born to
subdue and inspire terror, had promptly secured his
dominion in the conquered realm, but could not so
soon erase the memory of a chivalrous and gracious
prince. The discontented people were nursing their
1 Saba Malaspina, Rerum Sicularum Hutoria, iii. 17, ap.
Mubatori, R. I. S., viii. 832. It is worth noticing that this contem
porary chronicler, from whom also we have quoted the words relating
to Manfred's death in the foregoing chapter, belonged to the Guelph
party and had a post at the Papal court.

246 The Popes and the Hohenstaufen.
anger, and the Suabian party were aware of this and
founded hopes upon it. But since the battle of
Benevento the Guelphs had greatly prevailed through
out Italy, and their eyes were already fixed on Charles
of Anjou as their champion, and they trusted in him
to help them to subdue the Ghibellines, who, though
overpowered, did not, especially in Tuscany, give up
the contest. Charles rejoiced at this disposition in the
Guelphs and encouraged it, for his ambitious hopes on
one side extended beyond the banks of the Garigliano,
anxious as he was for influence and authority over the
whole of Italy, and on the other indulged in visions of
such power in the East as the Normans and Suabians
had already exercised.
This vast ambition was not altogether unsuspected
by the Pope, who was thoroughly conversant with
Charles's character long before this Sicilian expedition,
and he tried in the interests of the Church to restrain
its ardour. He had not called on Charles to overturn
Manfred in order to erect a strong Guelph despotism
in the place of the Ghibelline, but to have a devoted
champion invested with the kingdom to which the
Church laid claim. A certain sense of suspicion and
discontent, and a certain wish to interfere even in the
internal policy of the new prince, soon showed them
selves in the letters from the Pope, to whom Charles's
excessive severity towards his new subjects was dis
pleasing, as well as his extremely despotic and' rapa
cious proclivities. Even if Clement's warm and sincere
zeal for the Church's interests led frequently to his
passing over many things, this very zeal also made him
often suspicious of the intentions of Charles and care-

The Last of the Hohenstaufen. 247
ful not to let himself be overborne by them. Remind
ing him of the former conditions, he asked Charles to
give up his office as senator of Rome, and Charles
at last was obliged unwillingly to do so. Clement
thought by that to regain possession of Rome ; but the
Romans would not bow to the Papal authority; the
democratic party in the city joined the Ghibellines
and got the best of it, and after various vicissitudes a
new and unlooked-for senator was elected — Henry of
Castile, brother of Alfonso the Wise, the titular King
of the Romans. Exiled from home, after exhibiting
much prowess in Africa against the Moors, and having
many adventures, Henry chanced to come to Italy in
search of fortune. At the court of Charles, who owed
him money, he was received with fair words and with
nothing else. At Viterbo from the Pope he tried to
obtain the investiture of the kingdom of Sardinia, to
which he laid claim, but did not find him favour
able ; and when he discovered that Charles was work
ing secretly against him, he determined to have his
revenge. Making friends with the Romans, he ob
tained the senatorial dignity, and lost no time in exercis
ing it vigorously against the clerical party, to the great
joy of the Ghibellines, whose hopes rose on meeting
with his support.
In Tuscany especially these hopes were more lively,
and caused anxiety to the Guelphs, who naturally
turned to Charles of Anjou ; and even the Pope him
self, after the unfortunate result of depriving him of
the senatorial dignity, again had recourse to him, in
spite of some lingering mistrust. The remnants of
the army defeated at Benevento had taken refuge in

248 The Popes and the -Hohenstaufen.
the Ghibelline cities of Tuscany, adding to their
strength, and they soon became a dangerous centre,
whither some of Manfred's most faithful barons, the
brothers Capece and the Lancia, after escaping from
Charles's prisons, also betook themselves. Manfred
was dead and his children in hopeless imprisonment,
but Conradin, Frederick II.'s young grandson, and
the legitimate heir of the Sicilian kingdom, was living
in Germany, and the imperial eagle's nest had reared
another eaglet which was pluming itself for flight.
He was now about fifteen, handsome, amiable, well
trained in arms, acquainted with letters and poetry, and
inspired by the burning love of glory inherent in all
his race. The Sicilian malcontents and exiles fixed
their eyes on him, and in their own name, as also in
that of the whole Ghibelline party, went to him and
invited him to Italy to recover the kingdom. Pisa
secretly favoured the enterprise ; from all parts the
Ghibellines made him offers of troops and money ; the
Saracens of Lucera, the southern provinces, and Sicily
were exasperated by the Angevin oppression, and only
waited for his coming to rise. It seemed as if his
grandfather, Frederick II., had had greater obstacles
to contend with when he had left Sicily to reconquer
the German crown, and now before him the path lay
inverted. Conradin consented to follow it, and once
more a Suabian looked down from the Alps with
his gaze fixed on the farthest shores of the Italian
sea. Italy was deeply moved by the news of these prepara
tions, party passions flared up afresh, and the Pope felt
with grief that a struggle which he had thought at an

The Last of the Hohenstaufen. 249
end was again beginning. He did all ho could to
calm the rising tempest, but without success. The
position of the Guelphs in Tuscany grew more and
more serious, and Pisa and Siena were already in
arms against them, with many of Manfred's German
soldiers in their pay. The Pope, alarmed at seeing the
Guelphs unable to oppose the advancing wave, asked
Charles to provide for the emergency, thus exactly
though unwillingly meeting the wishes of the ambi
tious monarch, for whom a successful move in Tuscany
might have all the same significance that the battle of
Montaperti had once had for Manfred. Charles imme
diately sent eight hundred knights under Guy of
Monfort, who entered Florence on Easter day 1267.
Soon afterwards, as things continued to grow worse,
Clement allowed Charles to go in person to Tuscany
with the title of Peacemaker, in order to reduce that
province to order while the imperial throne was
vacant, but he was not under any circumstances to re
tain that post for more than three years. Charles soon
went to Florence, which elected him podesta for ten
years, and at the head of the Guelphs whom he. col
lected round him he began a pitiless war against
the Ghibellines, without paying any attention to the
Pope's remonstrances and entreaties that he should
moderate his instinctive cruelty. The exasperated
Ghibellines redoubled their opposition and their hatred,
and urged Conradin to hasten his approach.
The young prince responded readily. In vain the
Pope threatened him with excommunication and vio
lently denounced the young serpent, issue of the cobra,
who with his breath was poisoning Tuscany ; . Conradin

250 The Popes and the Hohenstaufen.
received assistance, collected followers, and announced
his coming to the Italians. While he was preparing
for the expedition his partisans were not idle. Conrad
Capece, appointed vicar royal in Sicily, went with Pisan
ships to Tunis, where he found Frederick of Castile,
brother of the senator of Rome, and persuaded him to
join in an attempt on Sicily. They landed there with
only a few hundred soldiers and found people inclined
to the revolt, which rapidly spread through the greater
part of the island, and even reached the mainland.
At the same time Conradin left Germany followed by
a tolerably numerous army and by several barons,
among whom was Rudolf of Hapsburg, on whose head
¦the imperial crown was later destined to rest, and the
young Duke of Austria, Frederick of Baden, Conradin's
cousin and friend from childhood, and, like himself,
disinherited, who came with him to share his fortunes
faithfully till death.
Conradin reached Verona with his followers on the
20th of October 1267, and was received joyfully by the
Ghibellines. A few days before Galvano Lancia, pre
ceding him, had arrived in Rome, where the senator,
Henry of Castile, received him with great honour,
and having had the alliance of Conradin with the
Romans proclaimed in the Capitol, did all he could
to forward the cause of his ally. The nobility who
were opposed to him were either imprisoned or
obliged to fly, and for the assistance of Conradin, who
was without money, not only was their confiscated
property used, but Henry audaciously laid hands on
the deposits intrusted to the churches and on Church
treasures. The Roman priests complained of the sacri-

The Last of the Hohenstaufen. 251
lege, and the Pope bewailed it from Viterbo, but did
not venture to put Rome under an interdict, as he
still hoped to detach Henry from an alliance likely
to prove fatal to the Church. Instead of that, the
anathema fell on Conradin's young head. He was
still at Verona, and in the January of 1268 moved
on to Pavia, the reason of his slow progress being
the scarcity of means, so that if Charles of Anjou
had been able to meet him in Lombardy without loss
of time, the war might perhaps have been finished
at a single blow. But Charles also had obstacles to
contend with. The Pope hindered him, the Tuscan
Ghibellines grew more and more threatening, and in
his kingdom the rebellion was taking alarming pro
portions, especially after the Saracens of Lucera had
raised on their walls the imperial standard of the
Hohenstaufen and were prepared to defend it in arms.
Charles, after some fighting in Tuscany, recognised the
necessity of returning to his kingdom and putting
' down the revolts there, while he waited for his rival
to reach him, unless first stopped by the Guelphs in
Lombardy or Tuscany. He did this, but left a stout
body of troops behind in Tuscany under the orders of
his marshal, and on his journey south had an interview
with the Pope, who solemnly repeated the sentence
of excommunication against Conradin. This time also
the senator, Henry of Castile, and the magistrates of
the Capitol were included in it, only to Henry was
granted a month in which to make amends. If after
that term he had done nothing, then Charles was em
powered to resume the senatorial dignity for ten years,
" so that he may govern the city peacefully, and that

252 The Popes and the Hohenstaufen."
we and our brethren, who could not yet visit it, may
have free access to it."
While Charles was preparing to defend his king
dom, and, with the object of suppressing the revolt;
was laying siege to Lucera, Conradin had advanced
from Pavia, meeting with few hindrances, and on reach
ing Pisa, was received with solemn forms of homage,
was offered support in men, ships, and money, and
grew stronger every day. Wishing to go on to Rome
in order to join Henry of Castile, he resolved to go
by land, and leaving Pisa on the 15th of June 1268,
he marched towards Siena, while a Pisan fleet, com
manded by Frederick Lancia, sailed for the Calabrian
coast. Conradin met with no difficulty as far as
Siena, but Charles's marshal, with his eight hundred
French lances, hoped by a rapid march to turn the
flank of Conradin's army in some difficult spot and
stop his way. Things fell out differently, however,
and he himself, surprised at Ponte a Valle on the
Arno, was utterly routed and taken prisoner. After
this first important feat of arms, the road to Rome
remained open to Conradin, who marched past Viterbo
with his soldiers under the eyes of the Pope, whose
courage, nevertheless, did not give way. " We know
it of certain knowledge, and you must hold it as an
article of faith," prophesied the Pontiff in those
days, " that this ill-starred youth is doomed to de
struction ; he is dragged by wicked men as a lamb to
the slaughter." Conradin, following his fate, reached
Monte Mario, and Rome revealed herself to his youth
ful eyes in a halo of memories and hopes.
The descendant of Frederick Barbarossa came to

The Last of the Hohenstaufen. 253
Rome as a friend to the Ghibelline republic, and his
entry was a triumph which lasted for several days
amidst feasts and rejoicings. Meanwhile the Pisan
fleet had defeated in the waters of Messina Charles's
admiral, Robert of Lavena, and in Sicily the revolt
grew in vigour, and everything promised victory to
Conradin, who, on the 18th of August 1268, left
Rome at the head of his army, which had been
joined by Henry of Castile and many of the Roman
nobility. But Charles of Anjou, with his long ex
perience of war, was ready then for the defence, and
knew the spot where he could best dispute the path
to the throne. Up to the last moment he kept
near the besieged town of Lucera, to prevent the
Saracens being able to leave it in order to rouse the
country against him and take him in the rear ; then,
when he knew of Conradin's approach, he marched
rapidly to meet him on the confines of the kingdom.
Not far from the lake of Celano, in the valley of
the Salto, the two armies met, near Tagliacozzo,
which has given the name to the battle, but nearer
still to the town of Scurcola. There, on the 23rd of
August, the fray began, which lasted the whole day
with great bloodshed, and was fought with obstinacy
and valour on both sides. Victory remained long
uncertain, and as the day declined it seemed to smile
on Conradin. Two bands of French soldiery, one
after the other, were routed and put to flight, followed
furiously by the Ghibellines and Germans, who be
came scattered in their thirst for blood and booty.
But among the dark gullies of the Marsican moun
tains Charles of Anjou lay hidden with a third band,

254 The Popes and the Hohenstaufen.
and suddenly appearing on the field, changed the
destinies of the day. The victors of an hour before
were in their turn hopelessly routed, and the slaughter
which followed was the greatest then on record. The
bloody battle of Benevento seemed in comparison to
this a small matter to Charles, who on the same day
wrote to the Pope amidst the corpses that were
heaped around him on the field of his victory.
On that field lay the flower of all the knights who
had followed Conradin from Germany and Lombardy,
from Tuscany and Rome. Those who survived and
were not taken prisoners fled in confusion and with
little hope of safety, carried hither and thither as their
fate or their despair guided them. Conradin, with
Frederick of Austria, Galvano Lancia and his son, and
a few other faithful adherents, retraced his steps and
reached Rome, but the report of their disaster had
preceded them. The names of the Roman Ghibellines
who had nobly died at Tagliacozzo were already known,
and Pietro di Vico, the prefect of Rome, had returned
to the city mortally wounded. At the same time the
Guelphs were venturing back ; some of them had fought
with Charles, and were able to relate the details of the
great victory. To remain in Rome was evidently im
possible, and Conradin with his faithful companion
Frederick threw himself into the Campagna on chance,
Seeking refuge. They wandered for some time, then
reached the seashore at Astura near the Pontine
marshes, in sight of Cape Circello. There were boats
on the shore, and could they get into the open and
touch Sicily or reach Pisa, they would certainly be
saved, and perhaps there was still hope of overcomino-

The Last of the Hohenstaufen, 255
misfortune and changing again the decree of destiny.
They embarked, but soon other ships followed and
stopped them. These ships belonged to the lord of
Astura, John Frangipane, whose family had long
favoured the house of Suabia, and had been favoured
by it. It was useless to resist, and the name gave
confidence to Conradin, who surrendered, and was taken
first to Astura, then to another castle farther inland.
Neither prayers nor promises could induce Frangi
pane to set Conradin at liberty, and he only hesi
tated between handing him over to Charles or to
the Pope, to whom for some years the Frangipane
had again drawn near. An unlucky fate brought just
at that moment and to that part of the coast the
admiral Robert of Lavena, anxious to wipe out from
Charles's memory his defeat at Messina. By threats
and promises he obtained from Frangipane the custody
of the royal prisoner and of his companion Frederick,
and the two youths were handed over to the vengeance
of the ruthless Angevin.
Nor was vengeance slow in coming, and it was in
exorable and cruel. In torrents flowed the blood of
the barons taken at Tagliacozzo, or seized upon here
and there in their miserable wanderings ; and one of
the first who suffered was Manfred's uncle, Galvano
Lancia, whose death was rendered more bitter by the
sight of his son murdered first before his eyes. Charles
betook himself to Rome to resume the senatorial dignity,
then soon returned to Naples, dragging after him those
prisoners who had not yet suffered death, and were
awaiting their fate in the prisons of Palestrina. Among
them were Conradin and Frederick of Austria, and the

256 The Popes and the Hohenstaufen.
senator Henry of Castile. The life of this latter was
spared, but he languished in prison for more than
twenty years, while Conradin and Frederick were doomed
to death. The Pope had no part in it, but was silent,
as if unwilling to plead for mercy. The sentence was
heard by the two youths with calmness, and on the 29th
of October 1268 they mounted together the fatal scaf
fold, around which the people pressed, half in pity,
half in terror. The tyrant who had condemned them
was himself present, and witnessed the intrepidity with
which the last of the Hohenstaufen bent his neck to
the executioner, worthy of the brave race which died
with him. The imagination of the pitying people sur
rounded with legends this fair ill-fated heir of a mys
teriously tragic destiny, and later their fury avenged
his death at the Sicilian Vespers. The house of Suabia
was extinct, and the Church seemed to breathe more
freely after a century of gigantic struggles. But new
struggles were preparing, and the French influence
invoked by the Popes was destined not only to turn
against the Papacy, but, worse still, to humiliate it.
At Palermo the vesper-bell was to sound the hour of
vengeance for the blood of Manfred and Conradin;
while at Anagni the men of Philip le Bel, led by
Nogaret and Sciarra, in forcing themselves into the
apartments of Boniface VIII., were destined to drag
through the mud the Church which had invoked
French intervention in Italy.
" Veggio in Alagna entrar lo fiordaliso
E nel vicario suo Cristo esser catto ! "

INDEX

Ajjele op Wohburg (Queen), 41.
Adolphus (archbishop of Cologne), 132, 141.
Alessandria, siege of, 86.
Alexander III. (Pope), favours, when car
dinal, the Sicilian alliance, 43 ; sent as
legate to Frederick I., 44 ; elected Pope,
55 ; mistrusts Frederick, 56 ; declines to
attend the Emperor's council, 58; ex
communicates Frederick and Octavian,
.60, 63 ; is obliged to leave Italy and goes
to France, 62 ; influences Louis VII.,
64, 65 ; is recognised by all but the Em
peror, 66; goes to Paris, 68 ; calls a
council at Tours, 69 ; tries to isolate the
Emperor, 69 ; his quarrel with Henry II.
of England, 70 ; returns to Rome, 71 ;
blesses the Lombard League, 74; escapes
from Rome after the entry of the Em
peror, 76 ; his prudent policy, 81 ; re
ceives an embassy from Frederick, 84 ;
another embassy, 89 ; the Convention of
Anagni, 91 ; goes to meet the Lombard
delegates, 92 ; the Peace of Venice, 93-
95 ; returns to Rome, 96 ; after the close
of the Schism calls a general council in
the Lateran, 97 ; death, and character,
97i98.
Alexander IV. (Pope), elected, 230; nego
tiations with England, 231 ; excommu
nicates Manfred, 232 ; declines to make
peace with Manfred, 235 ; dies, 237.
Alfonso of Castile, 234, 247,
Anagni, Peace of, 90.
Anastasius IV. (Pope), 27, 28.
Ancona, siege of, 73 ; second siege, 85.
Annibaldi, Theobald, 243.
Arnold of Brescia, his life and character,
16-18 ; excommunicated by Eugenius
III., 20 ; protected by the Romans, 21 ;
encourages them to write to Conrad,
22; accused by Eugenius, 27; preaches
against Hadrian IV., 30; is driven out
of Rome, 31 ; is handed over to Hadrian
by Frederick, 34 ; is put to death, 34.
Baud'WTN' (Eastern Emperor), 207, 235.
Beatrice of Burgundy (Empress), 41, 42, 91.
Beatrice of Suabia, 142, 144, 151.
Benevento, battle of, 243.

Bernard of Clairvaux supports Innocent
!!•> 5. 9; attends his council at Pisa, 7;
opposes Arnold of Brescia, 17 ; preaches
the crusade, 18 ; persuades Conrad III.
to take the cross, 19 ; reproaches Euge
nius III., 21.
Berthold of Hohenburg, 226, 227, 228, 229,
230, 231, 232.
Biandrate, Count of, 50, 78, 86.
Capooci, Peter (cardinal), 2r5, 217, 219, 222.
Celestine II. (Pope), 13.
Celestine III. (Pope), crowDs Henry VI.
and Constance, 112; obtains the libera
tion of Constance, 115 ; vainly intercedes
for Richard of England, 1x5 ; his vacil
lating policy. 118, 119 ; dies, 121.
Celestine IV. (Pope), 203.
Cencius (Cardinal). See Honorius III.
Charles of Anjou receives overtures from
Innocent IV., 225 ; these are repeated
by Urban IV., 238 ; is elected senator
of Rome, 230 ; definitely concludes the
treaty with Clement IV., 240 ; is crowned
king of Sicily in Rome, 242 ; gains the
battle of Benevento^ 243 ; oppresses the
kingdom, 245 ; suspicions spring up be
tween him and the Pope, 246 ; goes to
Florence, 249; meets the Pope, 251 ; de
feats Conradin, 254 ; sentences him to
death, 256.
Christian of Buch, 74, 85, 86, So, go, 99, 100.
Clement III. (Pope), 106, 110-112.
Clement IV. (Pope), elected, 240 ; confers
the investiture of the kingdom of Sicily
on Charles of Anjou, 241 ; suspects
Charles, 246 ; excommunicates Conradin,
251 ; his prophecy regarding him, 252 ;
does not plead for his life, 256.
Colonna, John (cardinal), 200, 202.
Conrad III. (King of the'Romans), opposes
Lothair,3; is excommunicated, 3; elected
and crowned king of the Romans, 9;
unable to help Lucius II., 13 ; invited
by the Romans, 14; his assistance in
voked by Eugenius III., 15; hesitates to
leave Germany, 15 ; takes the cross from
St. Bernard, 19; returns from the cru
sade, 21 ; enters into negotiations with
R

258

Index.

Eugenius for the imperial crown, 22;
announces his departure for Rome, 23 ;
dies at Bamberg, 24.
Conrad IV. (King of the Romans), his
birth, 180 ; is presented by his father to
Gregory IX., 193; refuses to betray his
father, 212 ; is opposed by Henry of
Raspe, 212; but defeats him, 213; his
marriage, 213; is opposed by William of
Holland, 218 ; inherits the thrones of
Germany and Italy, 221 ; holds his own
against William of Holland, 222 ; the
enmity of the Pope, 222 ; goes to Italy,
¦ 223 ; meets his brother Manfred, 223 ;
treats him ungratefully, 224; his quar
rels with the Pope, 224 ; takes Naples
and returns to Germany, 225 ; is excom
municated and dies, 226.
Conrad of Hohenstaufen, 41.
Conrad of Wittelsbach, 68, 74, 76, 90, 96,
i3S-
Conradin, his birth, 224; is left in Ger
many, 226; his uncle Manfred is his
guardian, 230; is reported to be dead,
233 ; is called on by the Sicilians to re
cover his kingdom, 248; is excommuni
cated, 251 ; enters Rome, 252 ; is de
feated by Charles of Anjou, 254 ; is taken
prisoner, 255; sentenced to death and
dies, 256.
Constance (Empress), heiress of Sicily, 103 :
marries Henry VI., 104; is crowned
queen, 104; empress, 112; taken prisoner,
114 ; liberated, 115; gives birth to
Frederick II., 117 ; is not trusted by
Henry, 119; after his death governs
Sicily, 124 ; pays liege homage to Inno
cent III., 125 ; dies, appointing the Pope
guardian to her son, 125.
Constance of Aragon (Empress), 150, 161,
163, 165.
Constance, Peace of, 100 ; opens her gates
to Frederick II., 151.
Cortenuova, battle of, 196.
Crema, destruction of, 59 ; rebuilt, 103.
Diepold, Count of Acerra, 127, 129.
Eberhard (bishop of Bamberg), 26, 51,
63, 84.
Eccelin da Romano, 197, 204, 214, 219, 223,
236.
Edmund of England, 225, 226, 231, 238.
Elizabeth of Bavaria, 213, 223, 226, 230.
Enzio (King of Sardinia), 198, 200, 204, 214,
219, 223, 236.
Eugenius III. (Pope), elected, 13 ; invokes
Conrad's assistance, 15; absolves Arnold
of Brescia, 17 ; confides to St. Bernard
the preaching of the crusade, 18; goes
to France and Germany, 19 ; returns to
Rome, 21 ; meets Roger of Sicily, 21 ;
enters into negotiations with Conrad,
22; congratulates Frederick I., 26; dies,
27.
Farinata degli TJberti, 237.
Folmar (archbishop of Trier), 103, 104.
Frederick I. (Emperor, surnamed Barba
rossa), accompanies to the East his uncle
Conrad, 19 ; whom he succeeds, 24 ; his

h:

character, 24, 25 ; arranges the affairs of
Germany, 26, 27 ; goes to Italy, 28 ; his
negotiations with Hadrian IV., 32; de
stroys Tortona, 33; hands Arnold of
Brescia over to Hadrian, 34; his meeting
with the Pope, 35 ; refuses the offers of
the Romans, 36; is crowned emperor,
37 ; fights with and defeats the Romans,
[8; returns to Germany, 39; divorces
_iis first wife and marries again, 41 ; his
aid invoked by the enemies of Milan,
42; bis disputes with Hadrian, 44, 45;
returns to Italy, 47 ; subdues Milan, 48 ;
holds an important diet at Roncaglia,
48; further dissensions with Hadrian, .
S°-53; supports Octavian as Anti-pope,
56-66 ; destroys Crema, 59 ; opens a
council at Pavia, 59 ; is excommunicated
by Alexander III., 60 ; destroys Milan,
61; is all-powerful in Lombardy, 62;
seeks a meeting with Louis VII., 64-66 ;
his difficulties in Germany and Italy, 67,
68; seeks an alliance with Henry II, of
England, 71 ; has Charlemagne canon
ised by the Anti-pope 72; returns to
Italy, 73; has the Empress crowned in
St. Peter's by the Anti-pope, 75 ; is mas
ter of Rome, 77 ; his strength of mind
under disasters, 78; returns alone to
Germany, 79 ; obtains the election of
his son Henry, 83 ; sends an embassy to
Alexander III., 83; returns to Italy, 85;
is defeated at Legnano, 88 ; changes his
policy and offers terms of peace, 88-90;
concludes the Peac'e of Venice, 03-95;
returns to Germany, g6; exiles Henry
the Lion, 100 ; concludes the Peace of
Constance, zoo ; holds a great festival at
Mentz, 102; returns to Italy, 102; de
mands the imperial crown for Henry,
103 ; obtains for him the hand of Con
stance of Sicily, 104; quarrels with Ur
ban III., 104; decides to lead the crusade,
107, 108; dies in the East, no.
Frederick II. (Emperor), born, 117 ; elected
King of the Romans, 119 ; left in the
guardianship of his mother, 120; is left
on her death in the guardianship of
Innocent III., 125 ; his education and
childhood, 126, 129; begins to reign, 129;
is assisted by Innocent, 130 ; but his
claim to the Empire is not recognised,
131 ; chosen for their leader by the
Ghibellines, 148; his character, 148-150;
has his sou Henry crowned and leaves
Sicily, 150 ; enters Constance, 151 ;
makes concessions to the Pope, 152, 153 ;
is crowned king and takes the cross,
154; gradual ichange of policy towards
the Papacy, 157-159; repeatedly delays
the crusade, 160 ; gets his son Henry
elected King of the Romans, 161 ; re
turns to Italy, 161 ; is crowned Emperor
in Rome, 163 ; again swears to proceed
on the crusade, 163 ; his energetic action
m Sicily, 164; further negotiations re
garding the crusade, 165, 166; marries
Yolande of Brienne, 168; accepts the
arbitration of Honorius, 171 ; is again,
reminded of the crusade by Gregory IX.
173 ; is obliged to yield, 174 ; embarks

Index.

259

but turns back, 175 ; is excommunicated,
175; complains of the Pope, 177; his
scepticism, 178 ; flatters the Roman
nobles, 178 ; insists on the churches being
opened, 179; definitely starts for Pales
tine, 180; is followed by Gregory's ex
communication and abandoued by
many, 181 ; makes peace with the Sul
tan of Egypt, 182; takes the crown in
Jerusalem, 183; returns to Italy, 184; is
successful against the Pope, 186 ; finally
makes peace with him, 187 ; re-orders
the laws of the Sicilian kingdom, 188;
punishes political offenders as heretics,
191 ; the Pope arbitrates between him
and the Lombards, 191 ; presents his son
Conrad to Gregory, 193 ; helps the Pope
against the Romans, 193; punishes his
son Henry for rebellion, 194; marries
Isabella of England, 195; returns to
Italy, 195; his great victory over the
Lombards at Cortenuova, 196 ; refuses
to make conditions with them, 197 ; puts
forward pretensions to Sardinia, 198;
is again excommunicated by Gregory,
198 ; their disputes, 199 ; marches
against Rome but has to retire, 200;
opposes the meeting of the council and
seizes a number of prelates, 201 ; on
Gregory's death allows them to meet to
elect another Pope, 203; negotiations
with Innocent IV., 205 ; unsuccessful
encounter with the Romans, 206 ; again
attempts to make peace with the Pope,
206; tries to prevent the Pope from
leaving Italy, 208 ; is deposed by a
council at Lyons, 209 ; defends himself,
210; meets with disaster and treason,
217; breaks down and dies, 220; his
will, 221.
Frederick of Antioch, 221.
Frederick (Duke of Austria), 221, 224.
Frederick of Baden (Duke of Austria), 250,
zS4. 255. 256.
Frederick of Castile, 250.
Frederick of Rotenburg, son of Conrad
III., 24, 75, 78, 83.
Frederick of Suabia, brother of Conrad
III., and rival of Lothair, 2 ; retires in
favour of his brother, 3.
Frederick of Suabia (son of Frederick I.),
108, in.
Fulk of Neuilly, 140.
Gregory VIII. (Pope), 106.
Gregory IX. (Pope), sent when cardinal to
the Empress Constance, 125 ; sent by
Innocent TTT. into Germany, 142; tries
to restore peace among the Italian cities,
159 ; receives Frederick II.'s oath to pro
ceed on the crusade, 163 ; succeeds Hono
rius III., 172 ; his temper and policy,
172, 173 ; compels the Emperor to start
for the East, 174 ; excommunicates him
for turning back, 175 ; his difficulties
with the Romans, 178 ; takes refuge at
Perugia, 179 ; his wrath at Frederick's
departure for Palestine, 180; does all he
can to isolate him, 182 ; is irritated by
Frederick's success, 183 ; raises an army
against him, 185 ; is obliged to make

peace, 186; is recalled to Rome, 186;
arbitrates between the Emperor and the
Lombards, 192 ; has again to leave Rome,
193 ; again invokes assistance for Pales
tine, 194 ; grows more hostile to the
Empire, 197; excommunicates the Em
peror a second time, 198 ; his invectives
against Frederick, 199 ; excommunicates
Enzio, 200 ; calls a council, but is pre
vented by Frederick from holding it,
201 ; his death, 202.
Guelph, Duke, 50, 78, 83.
Guido of Crema (Anti-pope), 68, 72, 73, 82.
Hadrian IV. (Pope), elected, 30; char
acter, 29, 30 ; places Rome under an in
terdict, 30 ; excommunicates William I.,
32 ; negotiates with Frederick I., 32 ;
begins to suspect him, 33 ; meets him at
Campo Grasso, 35; insists on Frederick's
paying him homage, 35, 36 ; journeys
back to Rome with him, 36 ; crowns
him Emperor, 37 ; is vexed with him for
returning to Germany, 39, 42 ; reduces
William I. to extremities, 43 ; finally
makes peace with him, 44; sends legates
to Frederick, 44 ; complains of him to
the German bishops, 46 ; is obliged to
yield, 47 ; his dissensions with Frederick,
5°-53 ; encourages the Lombard com
munes, 51(52 ; dies, 53.
Henry VI. (Emperor), elected King of the
Romans, 83 ; is recognised as such by
Alexander III., 91 ; wins his spurs, 102 ;
marries Constance, heiress of Sicily, 104 ;
assumes the iron crown, 104 ; is left in
Italy by his father, 105 ; is recognised as
Emperor-elect, 106; his character, 108,
109, 120, 121 ; prepares to claim Sicily,
109 ; on his father's death goes to Italy
and treats with Clement HI., in ; flat
ters the Romans, in ; is crowned "by
Celestine III., 112; lays siege to Naples,
113; returns to Germany, 114; seizes
Richard I., 115; wages a successful war
in Sicily and makes a triumphal entry
into Palermo, 117 ; his cruelty, 117, 120 ;
tries to make the Empire hereditary in
his family, 118; has his son Frederick
elected King of the Romans, 119; suspi
cious of the Empress, 119 ; his death, 120 ;
his will, 124, 128.
Henry II. (King of England), 66, 69-71, 8x,
83.
Henry, son of Conrad III., 19, 23.
Henry, son of Frederick II., 150, 157, 158,
159, 161, 169, 174, 180, 189, 190, 191, 193,
194.
Henry, another son of Frederick II., 221,
226.
Henry of Castile, 247, 250, 251, 252, 253, 255.
Henry the Lion (Duke of Saxony), 23, 27,
37, 41, 50, 82, 83, 86, 87, 89, 100, 108, 109,
no, 114, 118.
Henry of Troyes, 64, 65.
Herman (Landgrave of Thuringia), 140,
141, 148.
Honorius LI. (Pope), his position when
Henry V. died, 2 ; supports Lothair, 3 ;
dies, 4.
Honorius HI. (Pope), as cardinal is ap.

260

Index.

pointed tutor to Frederick II., 126 ; suc
ceeds Innocent III., 157 ; his moderation,
158 ; begins to threaten Frederick, 160 ;
accepts his excuses, 161 ; crowns Frede
rick and Constance, 163; his discontent
with the Emperor, 165, 168, 169 ; his
troubles with the Romans, 166; has to
leave Rome, 167 ; arbitrates between the
Lombard cities and Frederick, 170 ; dies,
171.
Innocent LT. (Pope), elected, 4 ; appeals
to Lothair, 4 ; supported by St. Bernard,
5 ; recognised by the kings of France
and England, 5 ; crowns Lothair king at
Liege, 5 ; crowns him Emperor in the
Lateran, 7 ; invests him conditionally
with the Matildine possessions, 7 ; makes
war on Roger of Sicily and is taken pri
soner by him, 9 ; is reconciled to him,
10; disappoints the Romans, who rise
against him, 12 ; dies, 13.
Innocent LTL (Pope), elected, 121 ; his
character, 122, 156 ; his great influence,
124, 139 ; negotiates with the Empress,
125 ; accepts the guardianship of Frede
rick H., 126; makes use of Walter of
Brienne against Markwald, 128, 129 ;
supports Frederick in Sicily, 130 ; is called
on to arbitrate regarding the Empire, 13^ ;
decides in favour of Otto IV., 136 ;
answers Philip's objections, 137 ; later
favours Philip, 142 ; on his death returns
to Otto, 143 ; crowns him, 145 ; turns
against him, 146-148; calls on Frederick
II. to take his place, 148 ; exerts himself
on Frederick's behalf, 153 ; calls a great
council, 155 ; his death and work in the
Church, 156.
Innocent IV. (Pope), elected, 204 ; his nego
tiations with Frederick II., 205 ; resolves
to carry out Gregory IX.'s policy, .207 ;
convokes a council at Lyons, 208 ; deposes
Frederick, 209 ; stirs up the Guelphs, 210 ;
and the Germans, 212; is accused by
Frederick of conspiring against his life,
214 ; crowns William of Holland King of
the Romans, 218 ; rejoices publicly over
Frederick's death, 221 ; dooms his sons
also to destruction, 221 ; returns to Italy,
223 ; his accusations against Conrad IV.,
224 ; turns to England and France for a
new king, 225; enters into negotiations
with Manfred, 227 ; dies, 230.
Irene, a Greek princess, 113, 11:7.
Isabella of England (Empress), 194, 221.
John of Struma (Anti-pope), 82, 91, 96.
Ladislatv (King of Bohemia), 42, 47.
Lambert Crivelli (archbishop of Milan).
See Urban III.
Lancia, Bianca, 221.
Lancia, Frederick, 232, 252.
Lancia, Galvano, 229, 231, 250, 254, 255.
Legnano, battle of, 88.
Leopold of Austria, 115.
Lothair III. (Emperor), elected King of
the Romans, 2 ; opposed by Conrad of
Hohenstaufen, 3 ; supported by Hono
rius II., 3 ; is crowned king by Innocent

II., 5; visits Italy and receives the im
perial crown, 7 ; second descent into
Italy, 8; dies on his journey home, 9.
Louis VTI (King of France), 18, 63-66, 69.
Louis IX. (King of France), 211, 216, 217,
225. 238, 240.
Lucius II. (Pope), 13.
Lucius III. (Pope), elected, 99 ; goes into
exile, 100; meets Frederick I. at Verona,
Z02 ; dies, 103.
Manfred (King of Sicily), viceroy of
Sicily, 221 ; his courage saves Sicily,
222 ; hands over the kingdom to his
brother Conrad, 223 ; is ill rewarded
by him, 224 ; on Conrad's death takes
the reins of government in Sicily, 227 ;
negotiates with the Pope, 227, 228 ; has
to escape to Lucera, 229; defeats his
enemies and is confirmed as viceroy,
230 ; acts with great energy, 231 ; is
excommunicated, 232 ; is crowned king
at Palermo, 233 ; becomes the leader of
the Ghibellines, 235; his second mar
riage, 235 ; defends himself against
Charles of Anjou, 241 ; falls in the
battle of Benevento, 243; is mourned
by his people, 245.
Manuel Comnenus (Eastern Emperor), 72,
81, 90.
Markwald (high seneschal), 116, 122, 124,
126, 127, 128, 129.
Matildine possessions, 7, 50, 51, 99, 102,
105, 106, 133, 142, 144, 153, 165.
Milan, first siege, 47, 48 ; second siege, 61 ;
joins the League, 73; is rebuilt, 74 ; the
marriage of Henry VI. and Constance
of Sicily, and their coronation celebrated
at Milan, 104 ; Milan hostile to Frederick
H-» J55. 162 • offers the iron crown to
Frederick IL's son, Henry, 194; its
Carroccio taken at Cortenuova by Frede
rick II. and presented to the Romans,
SS; the Milanese confront Frederick
., 211; Milan receives Innocent IV.,
223.
Octavian (cardinal of St. Cecilia), dis
putes with Hadrian IV.'s legates, 35;
introduces Frederick I.'s soldiers into
Rome, 37 ; head of one party in the
Curia, 43: becomes Anti-pope under the
name of Victor IV., 54; struggles with
Alexander III., 55; appeals to Frede
rick, 56; attends a council at Pavia,
and is recognised by it, 59, 60 ; excom
municates Alexander III., 60 ¦, is excom
municated by him, 60, 63; is deserted by
all but Frederick, 62; accompanies the
Emperor, 65; defends himself, 66; dies.
68.
Otto IV. (of Brunswick, Emperor), the
Guelphs elect him king, 132* helped by
his uncle, Richard I. of England, 132;
crowned at Aix-la-Chapelle, 132; gains
over Innocent III., 135; makes great
promises to him, 137; is deserted by his
followers, 141; refuses to resign the
crown to Philip of Suabia, 142; on
Philips death is again supported by
Innocent, 143 ; goes to Italy, 144 ; is

Index.

261

crowned Emperor in Rome, 145 ; refuses
to keep his promises and is excommuni
cated, 146; holds a diet at Lodi and
returns to Germany, 148 ; arrives too
late at Constance to prevent Frederick
IL's entry, 151 ; complains of the Pope,
151 ; marries Beatrice and is accused of
her sudden death, 151 ; enmity of the
King of France, 152; is defeated at
B olivines, 154; still supported by Milan,
155 ; his death, 158.
Otto of Wittelsbach (Palatine of Bavaria),
45. 4&\ 47.5A
Otto of Wittelsbach (nephew of the
former), 143, 144.
Ottocar (King of Bohemia), 140, 141, 148,
153.
Peter Pierleoni (cardinal), Anti-pope
under the name of Anacletus IT., 4 ;
appeals to Lothair, 4 ; is opposed by St.
Bernard, 5, 7, 9 ; protected by Milan and
by Roger of Sicily, 6 ; is master of Rome,
7, 8 ; dies, 9.
Philip Augustus (King of France), in, 147,
151, 152, 153.
Philip (archbishop of Cologne), 83, 90, 105,
108, 114.
Philip of Hohenstaufen (King of the
Romans), marries Irene, 117 ; on Henry
VI.'s death escapes from Tuscany and
returns to Germany, 123 ; is invited by
the Ghibellines to take the crown, 131 ;
is crowned at Mentz, 132 ; seeks in vain
the assistance of Innocent III., 135, 136 ;
defends himself against the Pope, 137;
tries to gain him over, and finally suc
ceeds, 140, 141 ; is murdered, 143.
Pier della Vigna, 191, 218, 219.
Rajnau> Dassel (chancellor), 46, 47, 68,
73. 74. 78.
Rainald (Duke of Spoleto), 180, 184, 185.
Raspe, Henry of, 212, 213.
Richard I. (King of England), in, 115, 116,
i32. x35-
Richard (Count of Acerra), 113, 120.
Richard of Cornwall, 225, 234, 237.
Richard (Count of Sora), 130, 165.
Robert of Lavena, 253, 255.
Roffrid (abbot of Montecassino), 115, 126,
128, 130.
Roger 1. (King of Sicily), protectsthe Anti-
pope Anacletus II., 6; excommunicated,
9; takes Innocent II. prisoner, 9; is
reconciled with him, to; successfully
opposes Lucius II., 13; meets Eugenius
III., 21; suspected by Conrad III., 22;

Conrad allied with Constantinople
against him, 23; is succeeded by Wil
liam I., 31.
Roger (son of Tancred), 113, 116.
Roland (Cardinal). Sec Alexander III.
Rome, her municipality, n, 12, 99' placed
under an interdict by Hadrian IV., 30;
fights against Frederick I., 37 ; makes
terms with him, 76; welcomes Alex
ander III„ 96; is flattered by Henry
VI., 112; fights against Otto IV., 145;
shows good-wilL towards Frederick II.,
163 ; takes part with him against Gregory
IX., 179; obliges the Pope to fly, 192;
later, defends him against the Emperor,
200.
Romuald of Salerno (archbishop), 91, 95,
117.
Roncaglia, important diet of, 48.
Sibilla. (Queen of Sicily), 114, 116, 117, 128.
Spoleto, destruction of, 39.
Tancred (King of Sicily), is elected and
invested by the Pope, no; has to fight
for his throne, in ; neglects to prepare
for the advance of Henry VI., 113;
treats the Empress Constance with
courtesy, 114 ; releases her, 115 ; men
tion of his death, 116.
Tortona, destruction of, 33.
Tusculum, destruction of, 112.
Ubaldini, Octavian (Cardinal), 215, 230,
231.
TJgolino (cardinal of Ostia). See Gregory
Urban III. (Pope), elected, 103.; refuses to
crown King Henry VI. at Milan, 104;
blames Frederick I., 104; is blockaded
by Henry VI., 105; dies, 105.
Urban IV. (Pope), elected, 237; renews
the excommunication against Manfred,
238; offers to invest Charles of Anjou
with the kingdom of Sicily, 238 ; dies, 240.
Venice, Peace of, 93-95.
Walter Palear (Bishop), 126, 128.
Wichmann (archbishop of Magdeburg), 26,
27, 89.
William I. (King of Sicily, 31, 32, 43, 44.
William H. (King of Sicily), 72, 81, 103, 109.
William of Holland, 218. 222, 231.
William (son of Tancred), 116, 117,
Yolande of Brienne (Empress), 165, 166,
168, 180.