as the readiest way to suppress him was glad to discharge Nicholas of his imprisonment and sent him to Rome to resume his old Office whereupon Nicholas undertook the Government once more and caus'd Francesco to be executed But the Colonnesi becoming his Enemies by degrees he himself was put to death by them and the Senate restor'd to the Exercise of its former Authority In the mean time of the King of Hungary having depos'd Queen Giovanna return'd to his own Kingdom But the Pope desir'd to have the Queen his Neighbour rather than that King and order'd things so that the Kingdom was restor'd upon Condition her Husband Lewis renouncing the Title of King should content himself with that of Taranto The Year MCCCL. being come his Holiness thought fit that the Jubilee appointed by Pope Boniface VIII to be kept every hundred years should be reduc'd to fifty and having pass'd a Decree to that purpose in gratitude for so great a Benefit the Romans were contented he should send four Cardinals to Rome to reform their City and create what Senators he pleas'd After which the Pope declar'd Lodovic of Taranto King of Naples again and Giovanna highly oblig'd by that favour gave the Church Avignon which was part of her Patrimony By this time Luchïno Visconti being dead Iohn Arch-Bishop of Milan remain'd sole Lord and making several Wars upon Tuscany and his Neighbours became very considerable After his death the Government fell to his two Nephews Bernardo and Galeazzo but Galeazzo dying a while after he left his Son Iohn Galeazzo to share with his Unkle in the State In these dayes Charles King of Bohemia was created Emperour and Innocent VI. Pope who having sent Cardinal Giles a Spaniard into Italy by his Virtue and the excellence of his Conduct he recover'd the reputation of the Church not only in Rome and Romagna but all Italy over He recover'd Bologna that had been usurp'd by the Arch-Bishop of Milan He constrain'd the Romans to admit a forreign Senator every year of the Popes nomination He made an honourable Agreement with the Visconti He fought and took Prisoner Iohn Aguto an English-man who with four thousand English was entertain'd in Tuscany upon the Ghibilin accompt After these Successes Urban V. being Pope he resolv'd to visit both Italy and Rome where Charles the Emperour came to meet him and having continued together several Months Charles return'd into his Kingdom and the Pope to Avignon Urban died and Gregory XII suceeded and because Cardinal Egidio was dead Italy relaps'd into its former distractions occasion'd by the Caballing of the people against the Visconti Whereupon the Pope at first sent a Legat into Italy with six thousand Britans after whom he follow'd in Person and re-establish'd his Residence at Rome in the year MCCCLXXVI after it had been kept in France LXXI years After the death of this Pope Urban VI. was created Not long after at Fondi ten Cardinals quarrelling with his Election and pretending it was not fair created Clement VII The Genoveses in the mean time who for several years had lived quietly under the Government of the Visconti rebell'd Betwixt them and the Venetian there happen'd great Wars about the Island of Tenedos in which War by Degrees all Italy became concern'd and there it was that great Guns were first us'd they being a German Invention Though for a while the Genoveses were predominant and held Venice blockt up for several Months together yet in the conclusion the Venetian had the better and made an advantagious Peace by the assistance of the Pope In the year 1381 as we have said before there was a Schism in the Church and Giovanna the Queen favour'd the Anti-Pope Whereupon Pope Urban practis'd against her and sent Carlo Durazzo who was of the Royal House of Naples with an Army into her Kingdom who possest himself of her Countrey and drove her away into France The King of France undertaking her quarrel sent Lodovic d' Angio to repossess the Queen and force Urban out of Rome and set up the Anti-Pope But Lodovic dying in the middle of the Enterprize his Army broke up and return'd into France Urban thereupon goes over to Naples and claps nine Cardinals in Prison for having sided with France and the Anti-Pope After that he took it ill of the King that he refus'd to make one of his Nephews Prince of Capua but concealing his disgust he desir'd Nocera of him for his Habitation which as soon as he was possess'd of he fortified and began to cast about which way to deprive him of his Kingdom The King taking the Alarm advanc'd against Nocera and besieg'd it but the Pope escap'd to Genoua where he put the Cardinals which were his Prisoners to death From thence he went to Rome and created 28 new Cardinals In the mean time Charles King of Naples went into Hungary was proclaim'd King there and not long after kill'd He left the Kingdom of Naples to his Wife and two Children he had by her one call'd Ladislao and the other Giovanna Iohn Galeazzo Visconti in the mean time had kill'd his Unkle Bernardo and possess'd himself of Milan and not content to have made himself Duke of Milan he attempted upon Tuscany but when he was in a fair way to have conquer'd it and to have made himself King of all Italy he died Urban VI. died also and was succeeded by Boniface IX Clâ—ment VII the Anti-Pope died likewise at Avignon and Benedict XIII was created in his room Italy all this while was full of Soldiers of Fortune English Dutch and Britans some of them Commanded by Princes which upon several occasions had been invited thither and some of them which had been sent by the Popes when their residence was at Avignon With this medly of Nations the Princes of Italy maintain'd their Wars many times till at length Lodovico da Conio Romagnuolo having train'd up a Party of Italians call'd the Soldiers of Saint George by his Valour and Discipline lessen'd the Reputation of the Forreigners and made them afterwards more useful and considerable in the Italian Wars The Pope upon certain differences which arose betwixt him and the Romans remov'd to Scesi where he remain'd till the Jubilee in the year 1400. at which time to invite him back again for the benâ—fit of their City the Romans condescended that he should have the annual nomination of a forreign Senator and be permitted to fortifie the Castle of St. Angelo upon which Conditions being return'd to inrich the Church he ordain'd That in every Vacancy each Benefice should pay an Annat into the Chamber Ecclesiastical After the death of Iohn Galeazzo Duke of Milan though he left two Sons Giovan-Mari-Angelo and Philip the State was divided into many Factions In the troubles which followed Giovan-Mari-Angelo was slain and Philip for some time kept Prisoner in the Castle of Pavia but by the Valour and Allegiance of the Governour
sometimes more of their Senators with the same power The League continued all the while into which the Cities of Lombardy had entred against Frederick Barbarossa and the Cities were these Milan Brescia Mantua with the greater part of the Cities in Romagna besides Verona Vicenza Padua and Trevigi The Cities on the Emperours side were Cremona Bergamo Parma Reggio Modena and Trenta The rest of the Cities of Lombardy Romagna and the Marquisate of Trevizan took part according to their interest sometimes with this sometimes with the other party In the time of Otto III one Ezelino came into Italy of whose Loyns there remaining a Son call'd also Ezelino being powerful and rich he joyn'd himself with Frederick II who as was said before was become an Enemy to the Pope By the incouragement and assistance of this Ezelino Frederick came into Italy took Verona and Mantua demolish'd Vicenza seiz'd upon Padoua defeated the united Forces of those parts and when he had done advanc'd towards Toscany whilst in the mean time Ezelino made himself Master of the Marquisate of Trevizan Ferrara they could not take being defended by Azone da Esti and some Regiments of the Popes in Lombardy Whereupon when the Siege was drawn off his Holiness gave that City in Fee to Azone da Esti from whom those who are Lords of it at this day are descended Frederick stop'd and fix'd himself at Pisa being desirous to make himself Master of Tuscany and by the distinctions he made betwixt his Friends and his Foes in that Province rais'd such ammosites as proved afterwards the destruction of all Italy For both Guelfs and Gibilins increas'd every day the first siding with the Church the other with the Emperour and were call'd first by those Names in the City of Pistoia Frederick being at length remov'd from Pisa made great devastations and several inroads into the Territories of the Church in so much that the Pope having no other remedy proclaim'd the Croifada against him as his Predecessors had done against the Saracens Frederick left he should be left in the lurch by his own people as Frederick Barbarossa and others of his Ancestors had been before entertain'd into his Pay great numbers of the Saracens and to oblige them to him and strengthen his opposition to the Pope by a party that should not be afraid of his Cursâ—s he gave them Nocera in that Kingdom to the end that having a Râ—treat in their own hands they might serve him with more confidence and security At this time Innocent IV. was Pope who being apprehensive of Frederick remov'd to Genoa and thence into France where he call'd a Counsel at Lyons and Frederick design'd to have been there had he not been retain'd by the Rebellion of Parma Having had ill Fortune in the suppressing of that he march'd away into Tuscany and from thence into Sicily where he died not long after leaving his Son Currado in Sâ—evia and in Puglia his natural Son Manfredi whom he had made Duke of Benevento Currado went to take possession of the Kingdom died at Naples and left only one lâ—â—tle Son behind him in Germany who was call'd Currado by his own Name By which means Manfred first as Tutor to Currado got into the Government and afterwards giving out that his Pupil was dead he made himself King and forc'd the Pope and Neapolitans who oppos'd it to consent Whilst Affairs in that Kingdom were in that posture many Commotions happen'd in Lombardy betwixt the Guelfs and the Gibilins The Guelfs were headed by a Legate from the Pope the Gibilins by Ezelino who at that time had in his possession all that part of Lombardy on this side the Poe. And because while he was entertain'd in this War the City of Padoua rebell'd he caus'd 12000 of them to be slain and not long after before the War was ended died himself in the thirtieth year of his age Upon his death all those Countreys which had been in his hands became free Manfredi King of Naples continued his malevolence to the Church as his Ancestors had done before him holding Pope Urban IV. in perpetual anxiety so that at length he was constrain'd to convoke the Crociata against him and to retire into Perugiâ— till he could get his Forces together but finding them come in slowly and thin conceiving that to the overcoming of Manfred greater supplies would be necessary he address'd himself to the King of France making his Brother Charles Duke of Angio King of Sicily and Naples and excited him to come into Italy and take possession of those Kingdoms Before Charles could get to Rome the Pope died and Clement V. succeeded in his place In the said Clements time Charles with 30 Galleys arriv'd at Ostia having Ordered the rest of his Forces to meet him by Land During his residence at Rome as a Complement to him the Romans made him a Senator and the Pope invested him in that Kingdom with condition that he should pay 50 thousand Florins yearly to the Church and published a Decree that for the future neither Charles nor any that should succeed him in that Kingdom should be capable of being Emperours After which Charles advancing against Manfred fought with him beat him and kill'd him near Benâ—vento thereby making himself King of Sicily and that Kingdom Corradino to whom that State devolv'd by his Fathers Testament gathering what Forces together he could in Germany march'd into Italy against Charles and ingaging him at Tagliacozza was presently defeated and being afterwards discover'd in his flight taken and slain Italy continued quiet till the Papacy of Adrian V. who not enduring that Charles should continue in Rome and govern all 〈◊〉 he did by vertue of his Senatorship he remov'd to Vitâ—rbo and solicited Ridolfus the Emperour to come into Italy against him In this manner the Popes sometimes for defence of Religion sometimes out of their own private ambition call'd in new Men and by consequence new Wars into Italy And no sooner had they advanc'd any of them but they repented of what they had done and sought immediately to remove him nor would they suffer any Province which by reason of their weakness they were unable themselves to subdue to be injoy'd quietly by any body else The Princes were all afraid of them for whether by fighting or flying they commonly overcame unless circumvented by some Stratagem as Boniface VIII and some others were by the Emperours under pretence of Friendship and Amity Ridolfus being retain'd by his War with the King of Bohemia was not at leisure to visit Italy before Adrian was dead He which succeeded him was Nicolas the III. of the House of Ursin a daring ambitious man who resolving to take down the Authority of Charles contriv'd that Ridolfus the Emperour should complain of Charles his Governour in Tuscany of his siding with the Guelfs who after the death of Manfred had been receiv'd and protected in that Province To comply with the
and fia il combatter Corto Che l' antico valore Ne ' gl' Italici curr ' non e ancor morto Virtue shall arm 'gainst rage and in short sight Prove th' Roman Valour 's not extinguish'd quite The Original of the words Guelf and Ghibilin so much mentioned in History THese two Factions so famous in History were eminent in Italy two ages before Castruccio was born Machiavel in his Treatise of the Wars of that Country affirms that Pistoia was the first place where those names of distinction were used but the account wherewith the publick Libraries supply me runs thus These two words Guelf and Ghibilin deduce their original from a schism which molested the Church in the year 1130. by the competition of two Popes Innocent 11. and Anaclet the greatest part of Christendom acknowledged Innocent who was particularly supported by the Emperors of the West Anaclet the anti-Pope had persuaded into his interests Roger Comte de Naples and Sicily a martial Prince and descended from the Normans who had conquered that Country The pretence of this double Election having kept a War on foot eight years together which was still favourable to Roger the Emperor Conrad the third march'd himself at the head of an Army of Germans into Italy leaving his Grand-son Prince Henry to come after Roger to oppose him with men of his own Nation allured to the defence of his Countries Guelf Duke of Bavaria During the course of this War which began in the year 1139. it hapned sometimes that the Emperors Army was commanded by the said Prince Herny who was brought up in a Village in Germany called Ghibilin whose situation being very pleasant made the very name of it â—ear to him One day the Armies being drawn up and ready to engage the Bavarians to encourage their Comrades cryed out in their language a Guelf a Guelf and the Emperors Troops being at the same time as well disposed to their General to comply with the kindness he had for that place cryed out on the other side a Ghibilin a Ghibilin These words seemed barbarous to the Italians that were with Roger who came to Guelf to know what they meant He told them the Pope's Party were intended by the word Guelf and the Emperors by the word Ghibilin from that time those names grew so common in both Armies that by them they answered their Who goes there and they were given to the Italians according to their several sides 'T is true at first they were used to discriminate only Anaclet's Party from the Emperors but afterwards Roger having vanquished and taken prisoner Pope Innocent as the price of his liberty he oblig'd him to erect the Countries of Naples and Sicily into Kingdoms by which treaty Roger being taken off from the interest of the anti-Pope and engaging entirely with the Church he affix'd the name of Guelf to the Pope's Party and confirm'd the name Ghibilin to the Faction of the Emperor The Italians would fain have the credit of the Etymology themselves and by a certain gingling of words and that mightily strain'd would have Guelf deriv'd from Guardatori di fe because forsooth 't is they who defend the Faith of the Church and that by corruption the word Ghibilin was form'd from Guida belli that is Guidatori di Bataglia a great Title and sutable to the Majesty of the Empire Be it which way it will these two Factions were in the height of their emulation two hundred years after that is to say about the year 1320. which was very near the time that Castruccio was in his prosperity And in Europe the face of affairs stood thus The Popes driven from Rome by the violence of the Emperors of the West had transferred the Holy Chair to Avignon in France In the year 1320. it was possessed by Iohn XXII a Prince of himself firm and entire but one who by the precipitate counsels of other people had excommunicated the Emperor Lewis of the house of Bavaria and been too busie with his fulminations against five more Princes of Italy who being treated by him like Tyrants confederated against him their names were Castruccio Sovereign of Lucca Scaliger Lord of Verona the Marquess d' Esti Lord of Ferrara and Visconti and Gonzague the first Sovereign of Milan and the other of Mantoua which created troubles to Italy The Empire of the East was at that time torn and distracted by the ambition of the Paliologi and others whilst in the mean time the Sultan Orchan son of Ottoman swept away Lycaonia Phrygia and all the Coast of the Hellespont from the Greeks The Empire of the West was then in dispute betwixt Frederick of Austria and Lewis of Bavaria whom Machiavel by mistake or inadvertency has called Frederick Lewis after long and bloody Wars overcome his Competitor and made several Voyages into Italy to invigorate and reinforce Castruccio and the Ghibilins France was governed by Philip le Long who at the solicitation of Pope Iohn passed an Army into Italy to the relief of the Guelfs which Army was commanded by Philip de Valois afterwards King but his Expedition did not answer expectation for either the cunning or bribes of the Ghibilins had dispelled the storm which our preparations threatned upon Lombardy or our Forces were recalled upon some secret apprehension of a fourth War with the English or by the vast projects of a fifth Expedition to the Holy Land Spain was divided into five Kingdoms each of which had its peculiar King four of them were Christians and one a Mahumetan Navar had the same King with France Philip the Long found a way to extend the Salick Law into that Country and defeat his Niece Iane of France Daughter of Lewis Hutin of both Kingdoms at once Alphonso XI as Mariana calls him the XII as Garibay had at that time the Scepter of Castile but his minority transferr'd the Conduct of Affairs into the hands of the two Infanti Don Pedro and Don Iohn insomuch as by the jealousie and division betwixt the two Regents that Kingdom was exposed to such disorders as are inseparable from the minority of a Prince At length the two Infanti were slain in the year 1320. in a Fight which their rashness caused them to lose to the Mores under the walls of Granada Arragon was in obedience to Don Iacques the second of that name He was Brother to Fredrick who reigned in Sicily to the prejudice of Robert a Prince of the House of Anjou This Robert was King of Naples sided with the Guelfs and leagued himself sundry times with the Florentines against Castruccio Iames King of Aragon designing to establish himself in Italy and judging that the Conquests which he mediated upon the Isles of Corsica and Sardinia depended much upon the Concord of his Subjects at home He caused a General Assembly of his Estates to be held in the year 1320. in which was concluded the Union of the Kingdoms of Aragon and Valentia with the Principality
1700000 men Their Lodgings are appointed by the Harbingers according to every mans office and usually the richest men quarter the greatest Courtiers and that neither the Lodger nor Landlord may have reason to complain the Court has appointed a rate or rule to be observed generally for all people and that is a sous or penny a day for their Chamber in which there is to be bed and chairs and stools and all things that are necessary There is an allowance likewise of two pence a day to every man for linen as towels and napkins and for vinegar and verjuice their linen is to be changed at least twice every week but there being great plenty in that Country they change oftner as Lodgers desire it besides which they are obliged to keep their beds made and their chambers swept and clean There is allowance likewise of two pence a day for the standing of every man's horse they are not bound to provide any thing for them only to keep their stalls clean and carry out the dung Some there are who pay less as their Landlords are good natured or they can make any shift but this is the ordinary rule of the Court. The English Title to the Crown of France upon my best inquiry I find to be thus Charles the sixth of France married his lawful Daughter Katharine to Henry the fifth Son and Heir to Henry the fourth King of England In the articles of Marriage no notice being taken of Charles the seventh who was afterwards King of France besides the Dower that was given with Katharine Charles the sixth Father to the said Katharine instituted Henry the fifth of England his Son in Law and to be married to the said Katharine Heir to that Kingdom of France and in case the said Henry should die before the said Charles and the said Henry leave Sons that were legitimate behind him that then the Sons of the said King Henry should succeed to the said Kingdom of France upon the death of the said Charles the sixth which was contrary to Law because Charles the seventh was prejudiced thereby and was afterwards of no validity or effect against which the English pretend that Charles the seventh was illegitimate The Arch-Bishopricks in England are two The Bishopwricks two and twenty and The Parishes 52000. THE STATE OF GERMANY IN An Abridgment written by Nicolo Machiavelli Secretary of FLORENCE OF the power of Germany no body can doubt because it a bounds so exceedingly in Men and Money and Arms. As to its wealth there is not a Free Town in the whole Country but has a publick stock aforehand of its own and some say Argentina Strasburg alone has a Million of Florens constantly in bank The reason of their opulence is because they have nothing to exhaust them but their Fortifications and furnishing their Magazines for reparations and recruits cost them but little In the latter they have a very good way for they have always in their publick Stores Meat and Drink and Firing for a Twelve-month Besides to entertain the industry of their people they have wherewithal to set the poor on work in case of any Siege a compleat year together so as they may subsist upon their own labour without being burthensom to the Town Their Souldiers are but little expence to them for they are always well arm'd and well exercised and on their Festival days instead of the Common recreations one takes his Musket another his Pike one one sort of Arms another another and practising among themselves they grow very ready and dexterous and after they are arrived at some degree of perfection they have certain Honours and Salaries conferred upon them which is the greatest part of their charge So that in every free Town the publick Treasury is rich The reason likewise why the private persons are rich is this because they live with great parsimony and indeed little better than if they were poor for they are at no expence in their Clothes their Buildings nor the furnishing of their Houses If they have bread and flesh and any thing to keep them from the cold they are well enough and he that wants them is contented and makes some shift or other without them Two Florens will serve them in Clothes ten years and according to his degree every man lives at this rate they do not trouble themselves for every thing they want but only for those things that are absolutely necessary and by that means their necessities are much fewer than ours The result of which Custom is this their Mony goes not out of their County they contenting themselves with their own Native productions whil'st in the mean time every man is permitted to bring in what Treasure he pleases into Germany to purchase their Commodities and Manufactures which in a manner supplies all Italy and their gain is so much the more by how much a small part of the profit of their labours recruits them with Materials for new Thus do they live at liberty and enjoy their own humors for which reason they will not be got to the Wars but upon extraordinary pay and that will not do it neither unless they be commanded by their own Magistrates Wherefore an Emperor has need of more Mony than another Prince because if men be in a good condition already they are not easily allured to the Wars As things stand now the free States must unite with the Princes before any great exploit can be undertaken by the Emperor or else they must enterprize it themselves which they would be able to do But neither the one nor the other desires the greatness of the Emperor for if ever he should get those Free States into his hands he should be strong enough to overpower the Princes and reduce them to such a degree of subjection that he would manage them as he pleased himself as the Kings of France have done formerly in that Country and particularly King Lewis who by force of Arms and the cutting off some few Persons brought them to their present obedience The same thing would happen to the States if the Princes should be cajoled they would lose their freedoms be wholly at the disposition of the Emperor and be forced to be satisfied with what he would vouchsafe to afford them The distance and division betwixt the free States and the Princes is supposed to proceed from the different humors in that Country which in general are two The Swissers are become Enemies to all Germany and the Princes to the Emperor It may seem strange perhaps that the Swissers and free States should be at variance and enmity seeing the preservation of their liberty and securing themselves against the Princes is the common interest of both But their discord is from this that the Swissers are not only Enemies to the Princes but to all Gentlemen whatever and in their Country they have neither the one nor the other but live without distinction of persons unless in their Magistrates in
consequence of the perfection of their Common-wealth I say if Readers will thus judge how can I in reason be accused for that it would become those who lay this blame upon me to undeceive them whom my Papers have missed and to shew the world to what other causes we may impute those admirable effects those Heroick qualities and performance that integrity and purity of manners that scorning of riches and life it self when the publick was concerned If they please to do this they will oblige my Readers who will owe to such the rectifying their Judgments and not at all offend me who have reasoned this matter impartially and without passion nor have possitively affirmed any thing But what if this part of my accusation had been true Why should I be condemned of Heresie or indiscretion for preferring a Common-wealth before a Monarchy was I not born bred and imployed in a City which being at the time I writ under that form of Government did owe all wealth and greatness and all prosperity to it If I had not very designedly avoided all dogmaticalness in my observations being not willing to imitate young Scholars in theâ—r Declamations I might easily have concluded from the premises I lay down that a Democracy founded upon good orders is the best and most excellent Government and this without the least fear of confutation for I firmly believe that there are none but Flatterers and Sophisters would oppose me such as will rest Aristotle and even Plato himself to make them write for Monarchy by misapplying some loose passages in those great Authors nay they will tell their Readers that what is most like the Government of the world by God is the best which wholly depends upon his absolute power to make this comparison run with four feet these Sycophants must give the poor Prince they intend to diefie a better and superior Nature to humanity must create a necessary dependance of all Creatures upon him must endow him with infinite wisdom and goodness and even with omnipotency it self It will be hard for any man to be misled in this Argument by proofs wresled from Theology since whosoever reads attentively the Historical part of the Old Testament shall find that God himself never made but one Government for men that this Government was a Common-wealth wherein the Sanhadrim or Senate and the Congegation or popular Assembly had their share and that he manifested his high displeasure when the rebellious people would turn it into a Monarchy but that I may not strike upon the rock I profess to shun I shall pass to that which is indeed â—it to be wip'd off and which if it were true would not only justly expose me to the hatred and vengeance of God and all good men but even destroy the design and purpose of all my Writings which is to treat in some sort as well as one of my small parts can hope to do of the Politicks and how can any man pretend to write concerning Policy who destroys the most essential part of it which is obedience to all Governments It will be very easie then for Guilio Salviati or any other member of our Society to believe the Protestation I make that the animating of private men either directly or indirectly to disobey much less to shake off any Government how despotical soever was never in my Thoughts or Writings those who are unwilling to give credit to this may take the pains to assign in any of my Books the passages they imagine to tend that way for I can think of none my self that so I may give such person more particular satisfaction I must conâ—ess I have a discourse in one of my Books to encourage the Italian Nation to assume their ancient valour and to expel the Barbarians meaning as the ancient Romans used the word all Strangers from amongst us but that was before the Kings of Spain had quiet possession of the Kingdom of Naples or the Emperor of the Dutchy of Milan so that I could not be interpreted to mean that the people of those two Dominions should be stir'd up to shake off their Princes because they were Foreigners since at that time Lodovic Sforza was in possession of the one and K. Frederick restored to the other both Natives of Italy but my design was to exhort our Country-men not to suffer this Province to be the Scene of the Arms and ambition of Charles the 8th or K. Lewis his Successor who when they had a mind to renew the old Title of the House of Anjou to the Kingdom of Naples came with such force into Italy that not only our Goods were plundered and our Lands wasted but even the liberty of our Cities and Governments endangered but to unite and oppose them and to keep this Province in the hands of Princes of our own Nation this my intention is so visible in the Chapter it sel that I need but refer you to it Yet that I may not answer this imputation barely by denying I shall assert in this place what my principles are in that which the world calls Rebellion which I believe to be not only rising in Arms against any Government we live under but to acknowledge that word to extend to all clandestine Conspiracies too by which the peace and quiet of any Country may be interupted and by consequence the Lives and Estates of innocent persons endangered Rebellion then so described I hold to be the greatest crime that can be committed amongst men both against Policy Morality and in foro Conscientiae but notwithstanding all this it is an offence which will be committed whilst the world lasts as often as Princes tyranize and by enslaving and oppressing their Subjects make Magistracy which was intended for the benefit of Mankind prove a Plague and Destruction to it for let the terrour and the guilt be never so great it is impossible that humane Nature which consists of passion as well as virtue can support with patience and submission the greatest cruelty and injustice whenever either the weakness of their Princes the unanimity of the people or any other favourable accident shall give them reasonable hopes to mend their condition and provide better for their own interest by insurrection So that Princes and States ought in the Conduct of their Affairs not only to consider what their people are bound to submit to if they were inspired from Heaven or were all Moral Philosophers but to weigh likewise what is probable de facto to fall out in this corrupt age of the world and to reflect upon those dangerous Tumults which have happened frequently not only upon oppression but even by reason of Malversation and how some Monarchies have been wholly subverted and changed into Democracies by the Tyranny of their Princes as we see to say nothing of Rome the powerful Cantons of Swisserland brought by that means a little before the last age to a considerable Common-wealth Courted and sought to by all the Potentates
Virtue as by the Chivalry of his Unkle Pepin and Charles Martel his Father For Charles Martel being Governour of that Kingdom gave that memorable defeat to the Saracens near Torsi upon the River Totra in which above 200000. of them were slain upon the reputation of which Victor'y under the discipline of his Father and his own deportment in it besides Pepin was afterwards made King of that Kingdom to whom when Pope Gregory appli'd himself for Relief against the Lombards Pepin return'd Answer that he would be ready to assist him but he desir'd first to have the honour to see him and pay his personal respects Upon which Invitation Pope Gregory went into France passing thorow the Lombards Quarters without any interruption so great Reverence they bare to Religion in those days Being arriv'd and honourably receiv'd in France he was after some time dismiss'd with an Army into Italy which having besieg'd Pavia and reduc'd the Lombards to distress Aistolfus was constrain'd to certain terms of Agreement with the French which were obtain'd by the intercession of the Pope who desir'd not the death of his Enemy but that he might rather be converted and live Among the rest of the Articles of that Treaty it was agreed That Aistolfus should restore all the Lands he had usurped from the Church But when the French Army was return'd into France Aistolfus forgot his Ingagement which put the Pope upon a second Application to King Pepin who re-suppli'd him again sent a new Army into Italy overcame the Lombards and possessed himself of Ravenna and contrary to the desire of the Grecian Emperour gave it to the Pope with all the Lands under that Exarchat and the Countrey of Urbino and la Marca into the bargain In the interim Aistolfus died and Desiderio a Lombard and Duke of Tuscany taking up Arms to succeed him begg'd Assistance of the Pope with Promise of perpetual Amity for the future which the Pope granted as far as the other Princes would consent At first Desiderio was very punctual and observed his Articles to a hair delivering up the Towns as he took them to the Pope according to his Ingagement to King Pepin nor was there any Exarchus sent afterwards from Constantinople to Ravenna but all was Arbitrary and manag'd according to the pleasure of the Pope Not long after Pepin died and Charles his Son succeeded in the Government who was call'd the Great from the greatness of his Exploits About the same time Theodore the First was advanc'd to the Papacy and falling out with Desiderio was besieg'd by him in Rome In his exigence the Pope had recourse to the King of France as his Predecessor had done before him and Charles not only suppli'd him with an Army but marching over the Alps at the Head of it himself he besieg'd Desiderio in Pavia took him and his Son in it sent them both Prisoners into France and went in person to Rome to visit the Pope where he adjudg'd and determin'd That his Holiness being God's Vicar could not be subject to the Iudgment of Man For which the Pope and people together declar'd him Emperour and Rome began again to have an Emperour of the West and whereas formerly the Popes were confirm'd by the Emperours the Emperour now in his Election was to be beholding to the Pope by which means the power and dignity of the Empire declin'd and the Church began to advance and by these steps to usurp upon the Authority of Temporal Princes The Lombards had been in Italy 222 years so long as to retain nothing of their original Barbarity but their name Charles being desirous to reform Italy in the time of Leo III. was contented they should inhabit and denominate the parts where they were born which since then have been call'd Lombardy and because the name of Rome was venerable among them he appointed that part of Italy which was adjacent and under the Exarchat of Ravenna should be call'd Romagnia Moreover he created his Son Pepin King of Italy extending his Jurisdiction as far as Benevento all the rest was continued under the dominion of the Grecian Emperour with whom Charles had made an Alliance During these Transactions Pascal the First was elected Pope and the Parish Priests in Rome by reason of their propinquity and readiness at every Election to adorn their power with a more illustrious Title began to be call'd Cardinals arrogating so much to themselves especially after they had excluded the Voices of the people that seldom any Pope was created but by them out of their own number Pascal being dead he was succeeded by Eugenius the Second of the Order of Santa Sabina Italy being in this manner under the Authority of the French changed its Form and Oeconomy in some measure for the Pope having incroach'd upon the Temporal Authority created Counts and Marquesses as Longinus Exarchat of Ravenna had made Dukes before After some few Ospurcus a Roman succeeded to the Papacy who not satisfied with the uncomliness of his Name call'd himself Sergius and gave the first occasion for the changing their Names which has since been frequently practis'd at their several Elections About this time Charles the Emperour died and his Son Lodovic succeeded yet not so quietly but that there arose so many and so great differences betwixt his Sons that in the days of his Grand-Children the Empire was wrested from his Family restor'd to the Almans and the next German Emperour was call'd Ainolfus Nor did Charles his Posterity by their dissentions lose only the Empire but their Soveraignty in Italy likewise for the Lombards resuming Courage fell foul upon the Pope and his Romans who not knowing to whose protection to betake himself was constrain'd to make Berengarius Dukeof Friuli King of Italy Incouraged by these Accidents the Hunni who at that time were planted in Pannonia took heart and invaded Italy but coming to a Battel with Berengarius they were overthrown and forc'd back again into Pannonia or rather into Hungaria it being at that time call'd by their Name At that time Romano was Emperour of Greece who being General of his Army had usurp'd upon Constantine and forc'd the Government out of his hand and because during these innovations Puglia and Calabria which as I said before had subjected themselves to that Empire were then in Rebellion inrag'd at their insolence he permitted the Saracens to possess those Countreys if they could gain them who invading them thereupon immediately subdu'd them and attempted upon Rome But the Romans Berengarius being imploy'd against the Hunni made Alberigo Duke of Tuscany their General by whose Valour their City was preserv'd and the Saracens raising their Siege retir'd built a Castle upon the Mountain Gargano and from thence Lorded it over Puglia and Calabria and infested all that part of Italy besides Thus it was that Italy in those times was marvelously afflicted towards the Alps by the Hunni towards Naples by the Saracens
Emperour Charles call'd away his Governour and the Pope sent his Cardinal Nephew to take possession of it for the Emperour to recompense that Kindness the Emperour restor'd Romania to the Church which had been usurp'd by his Predecessors and the Pope made Bartaldo Orsino Duke of Romagnia growing more powerfull by degrees and believing himself strong enough to look Charles in the face he began to expostulate turn'd him out of his Senatorship and publish'd a Decree that no person for the future of Royal Extraction should ever be Senator in Rome Not contented with this he carri'd his Designs farther and was in the mind to have droven Charles out of Sicily to which end he held secret intelligence with the King of Arragon who effected it alterwards in the time of his Successor He design'd likewise to have made two Kings out of his Family one of Lombardy the other of Tuscany by whose power and assistance the Church might be defended from the incursions of the Germans abroad and the oppression of the French at home But he dying before any thing could be done was the first Pope that gave so manifest demonstration of Ambition or that under pretence of advancing the Church design'd only to exalt and magnifie his own Family and though from this time backward no mention is to be found of Nephew or any other of his Holiness Kindred yet forward all History is full of them and as formerly the Popes have endeavour'd to leave them Princes they would leave them Popes now adays if they could and make the Papacy hereditary But the Principalities they erected have been hitherto short-liv'd for the Popes seldom living long the first gust of wind shakes them for want of their Authority and Courage to sustain them This Pope being dead Martin X. succeeded who being born a French-man was a friend to the French and Charles in the Rebellion of Romania sent an Army to his Assistance who having besieg'd Furli Guido Bonatti an Astrologer being in the Town appointed the Garrison a certain time to sally upon them and following his direction they did it with such success that the whole French Army was either taken or kill'd About this time the practices betwixt Pope Nicholas and Peter King of Arragon were put in execution the Sicilians by that means kill'd all the French they found in that Island and Peter made himself Lord of it upon pretence it belonged to Constansa Manfreds Daughter whom he had married but Charles in his preparation for its recovery died left Charles II. his Son at that time a Prisoner in Sicily who for his enlargement promis'd to surrender himself again if in three years time he prevail'd not with the Pope to invest the House of Arragon with the Kingdom of Sicily Ridolfus the Emperour in stead of coming into Italy himself to recover the reputation of the Empire sent an Embassadour thither with full power to enfranchize such Cities as would buy out their Freedom Upon which many Cities redeem'd themselves and chang'd their Laws with their Liberty Adulfus Duke of Saxony succeeded in the Empire and in the Popedom Piero del Murone by the Name of Pope Celestine but having been a Hermit and exceedingly devout in six months time he renounced and Boniface VIII was chosen in his room The Heavens foreseeing the time would come Italy should be deliver'd both from the Germans and French and remain intirely in the hands of its Natives that the Pope though freed from forreign impedidiments might not be able to usurp and establish himself in the Power which he exercised then rais'd up two great Families in Rome the Colonni and the Ursini that by their Authority and Allyance they might be able to circumscribe his Holiness and keep him within his bounds Pope Boniface was sensible of them and apply'd himself very zealously to have extirpated the Colonni excommunicating them first and then proclaiming the Crociata against them which though it might be some prejudice to them was more to the Church For those Swords which had been drawn in vindication of the Gospel and done honourable things when for private ambition they were unsheath'd against Christians they lost their first sharpness and would not cut at all and so it came to pass their immoderate desire of satiating their Appetite by degrees lessened the Popes power and disarm'd them Two of that House which were Cardinals he degraded Sciarra the chief of them escaping in disguise being discover'd was taken by the Spanish Privateers and clap'd to an Oar but being known at Marsellis he was rescu'd and sent away to the King of France who by Boniface was Excommunicated thereupon and depriv'd of his Kingdom Philip King of France considering very well that in all open Wars with the Popes he had either run some eminent danger or come home by the loss began to look about for some Artifice and at length pretending great readiness to comply and counterfeiting a Treaty he sent Sciarra privately into Italy who being arriv'd at Anagnia where at that time the Pope had his Residence gathering his Friends together in the night he seiz'd upon his Holiness who tho inlarg'd afterwards by the people of the Town died shortly in a Dilirium with meer sense and indigation This Boniface was the first Pope which ordain'd Jubilees in the year M.CCC and decreed they should be celebrated every hundred years These times produc'd many troubles betwixt the Guelfs and the Gibilin's and Italy being forsaken by the Emperours many Towns recover'd their liberties and many were usurp'd Pope Benedict restor'd their Caps to the Cardinals of the House of Colonni absolv'd King Philip and gave him his Blessing Benedict was succeeded by Clement V. who being a French-man remov'd his Court into France Anno MCCCVI During these Transactions Charles II. King of Naples died and left the Succession to Robert his Son The Empire was in the mean time fallen to Arrigo of Luxemburg who came to Rome to be Crown'd though the Pope was not there upon whose arrival many commotions followed in Lombardy and all banished persons whether Guelfs or Gibilins being restor'd to their former Habitations conspiring to supplant one another they fill'd the whole Province with the Calamities of War notwithstanding the Emperour imploy'd his utmost power to prevent it Arrigo removing out of Lombardy by the way of Genova return'd to Pisa with design to have driven King Râ—bâ—rt out of Tascany but not succeeding in that he march'd to Rome but continued there a few dayes only for the Ursini by the help of King Robert forc'd him to remove and he march'd back again to Pisa where for his more secure Warring upon Tuscany and supplanting that King he caus'd it to be assaulted on the other side by Frederick King of Sicily But in the height of his Designs when he thought himself sure both of Tuscany and its King he died and the succession went to Lodovick of Bavaria About this
power in their hands took Authority upon themselves to make a Council of the Signori which should sit forty Months for the future their Names being to be put into a purse and drawn out every two Months But for as much as many of the Citizens were jealous their Names were not in the purse there was a new Imborsation before the forty Months began Hence it was the custom of the purse had its Original and was us'd in the Creation of their Magistrats both at home and abroad whereas formerly they were chosen by a Council of the Successors as the term of the Office began to expire At first this way of election was call'd Imborsationi and afterwards Squittini And because every three or at most five years this custom was to be us'd it was thought they had prevented great mischiefs to the City occasion'd by multitude of Competitors and tumults at every election of Magistrats which tumults being to be corrected no way in their Judgments so readily they pitched upon this not discerning the evils which they conceal'd under so small a convenience It was now in the year 1325. when Castruccio having seiz'd on Pistoia was grown so considerable that the Florentines jealous of his greatness resolv'd before he had setled his new conquest to fall upon him and recover it if possible out of his hands Whereupon of Citizens and their Friends they assembled 20000 Foot and 3000 Horse and encamp'd before Alto Pascio by taking it to render the relief of Pistoia the more difficult The Florentines took that pass and when they had done they march'd towards Lucca forraging and wasting the Countrey But by the Imprudence and Treachery of their Commander little progress was made This Person call'd Ramondo da Cardona observing the Florentines to have been very liberal of their liberty and to have confer'd the Government sometimes upon Kings sometimes upon Legats and sometimes upon more inferiour Persons he thought with himself that if he could bring them into any exigence or distress it might easily fall out that they would make him their Prince to this purpose he frequently desir'd and press'd to have the same Authority invested in him in the City as he had in the Army otherwise he could not require nor expect that Obedience which was necessary for a General The Florentines not hearing on that Ear their Captain proceeded but slowly neglecting his time as much as Castruccio improv'd it for Castruccio having procur'd supplies from the Visconti and other Princes of Lombardy and made himself strong Ramondo who before lost his opportunity of conquering for want of fidelity now lost the possibility of preserving himself for want of discretion for marching up and down lazily with his Army he was overtaken by Castruccio near Alto Pascio assaulted and after a long fight broken to pieces in which Action many Florentines were taken Prisoners and Kill'd and their General among the rest who receiv'd the reward of his infidelity and ill Counsel from Fortune her self which had been more properly bestow'd by the hands of the Florentines The calamities which Castruccio introduced upon the Florentines after his Victory the Depradations Imprisonments Ruin's and Burnings are not to be express'd having no Body to oppose him for several Months together he went where and did what he had a mind to and the Florentines thought themselves happy after such a defeat if they could save the City Nevertheless they were not so desperatly low but they made great provisions of Money rais'd what Soldiers was possible and sent to their Friends for assistance but no providence was sufficient against such an Enemy they were forc'd therefore to make choice of Carlo Duke of Calabria the Son of King Robert to be their Soveraign If it would please him to undertake their defence for that Family having been us'd to the Supremacy of that City they promis'd him rather their Obedience than Friendship But Carlo being personally imploy'd in the Wars of Sicily he sent Gualtieri a French Man and Duke of Athens to take possession in his behalf He as his Masters Leiutenant took possession of the Government and created Magistrats as he plea'sd Notwithstanding his behaviour was so modest and in a manner so contrary to his own Nature every one lov'd him Having finish'd his War in Sicily Charles came with a thousand Horse to Florence and made his entry in Iuly 1326. His arrival gave some impediment to Castruccio kept him from rummaging up and down the Country with that freedom and security which he had formerly done But what the City gain'd abroad it lost at home and when their Enemies were restrain'd they became expos'd to the insolence and oppression of their Friends for the Signori acting nothing without the consent of the Duke in a years time he drain'd the City of four hundred thousand Florins though in the Articles of agreement it was expresly provided he should not exceed 200000. So great were the Impositions which he or his Father laid upon the Town and yet as if these were too few their miseries were increas'd by an accumulation of new jealousies and new Enemies For the Ghibilines of Lombardy were so fearful of Carlos advance into Tuscany that Galiazzo Visconti and the rest of the princes of Lombardy with Money and fair Promises persuaded Lewis of Bavaria who had been Elected Emperour against the Popes will to pass into Italy with an Army Being arriv'd in Lombardy he pass'd forward into Tuscany made himself Master of Pisa by the assistance of Castruccio and having receiv'd a considerable supply of Money there he march'd on towards Rome Whereupon Charles being fearful of his Kingdom and leaving Philippo da Saginitto his Lieutenant in Florence went Home with the Force he brought with him Upon his departure Castruccio seiz'd upon Pisa and the Florentines got Pistoia by stratagem Castruccio march'd immediatly to recover it sat down before it and manag'd his business with so much Conduct and resolution that though the Florentines made many attempts to relieve it both by Insults upon his Army and incursions into his Country their Attacks and their diligences were all ineffectual they could not possibly remove him for so firmly was he resolv'd to chastise the Pistoians and weaken the Florentines that the Pistoians were constrain'd to surrender and receive him once more for their Lord by which Action as he contracted much Honour and Renown so he thereby contracted so much Sickness and Infirmity that he died shortly after upon his return to Lucca And because one ill or good accident goes seldome alone Charles Duke of Calabria and Lord of Florence died at Naples much about the same time so that in a very small space the Florentines were freed from the oppression of the one and the apprehension of the other They were no sooner free but they fell to reforming null'd all the Laws and Ordinances of the ancient Councils and created two new
better than they he forsook them likewise and all the misdemeanors and impieties which were committed after that were done without his approbation or consent so that the same reasons which inclined him to the people at first the same reasons impelled him now to desert them Having brought Benedetto and the heads of the Arts to their Lure in this manner and furnished themselves with Arms they seized upon Giorgio but Tomaso escaped The next day after he was apprehended Giorgio was beheaded with so great terror and consternation to his party that they were so far from endeavouring his rescue that all of them crowded in to behold his execution Being brought to die before those people who had so lately adored him he complained of the iniquity of his fortune and the malignity of those Citizens who by their injury and justice had constrained him to side with a multitude which was not capable either of gratitude or fidelity and discovering Benedetto in the midst of the Guards he said And can you Benedetto consent that this wrong should be done to me Were you in my place I assure you I would not suffer it but let me tell you this day is the last of my misfortunes and the first of yours After which lamenting his unhappiness in having committed his fortunes and life to the constancy of the people which is shaken by every rumor or accident or conceit he laid down his head and it was cut off in the midst of his armed and insulting enemies after him several of his confederates were executed and their bodies dragged about the streets by the people His death put the whole City into commotion for at his execution many Citizens had put themselves into Arms in favour of the Senators and the Captain of the people and some upon the dictates of their own private ambition and revenge The City being full of various humors every one had his private design which all desired to compass before they laid down their arms The ancient Nobility called Grandi could not brook that they were deprived of publick imployments and therefore set all their wits upon the tenters to recover what they had lost and arm'd upon pretence of re-investing the Captains of the Arts with their original authority The popular Nobility and the greater Arts were disgusted that the Government should be communicated to the inferior Arts and the lowest sort of the people On the other side the inferior Arts were disposed to augment not detract from their authority and the meaner sort of people were as tender and jealous of loosing their Colledges which distractions caused the City to tumultuate several times in one year sometimes the Nobility sometimes the better Trades sometimes the lesser sometimes the common people and sometimes altogether betaking to their Arms in several parts of the Town upon which many skirmishes and rencounters happened betwixt them and the Guards of the Palace the Senators contending sometimes and sometimes complying as they judged most likely to remedy those inconveniences so that after two Treaties and several Balia's created for the reformation of the City after many mischiefs and troubles and dangers they came to an agreement That all who had been imprisoned after Salvestro de Medici was made Gonfaloniere should be discharged That all dignities and pensions conferred by the Balia LXXVIII should be taken away That their honours should be restored to the Guelfs That the two new Arts should be deprived of their Incorporation and Governors and all their members and dependents disposed into the old Companies as formerly That the Gonfaloniere di Giustitia should not be elected by the lesser Arts and whereas before they had the disposition of half they should hereafter be capable but of a third part of the Offices of the City and the best of them too to be put out of their power so that the popular Nobility and the Guelfs reassumed the whole Gâ—vernment and the Commons were absolutely dispossessed after they had held it from the year 1378 to 1381. Nor was this Magistracy less injurious towards the Citizens nor less grievous in its principles than the Government of the people many of the popular Nobility who had been eminent defenders of the people interest being clap'd in prison with great numbers of the chief of the Plebeians Among which Michaele Lando was one nor could the many good Offices which he had done in the time of his authority protect him from the rage of that parry when the licentious and unrestrained multitude ruined the City so little was his Country thankful for all his great actions Into which error because many Princes and Common-wealths do frequently fall it happens that men terrified by such examples before they can be made sensible of their Princes ingratitude do fall into their displeasure These slaughters and these exilements had always and did then displease Benedetto Alberti and he both publickly and privately condemn'd them Whereupon the Government were fearful of him as believing him one of the Plebeians principal friends and one who had consented to the death of Giorgio Scali not out of any disapprobation of his conduct but that he might remain alone in authority after him By degrees his words and demeanor came to be suspicious and the party that was uppermost watch'd him very narrowly to find out some occasion to send him after Giorgio Things being in this posture at home no great action happened abroad that little which did happen was occasioned more by fear of what they might than from any prejudice that was actually sustain'd Lodovico d' Angio coming into Italy about that time to drive Carlo Durazzo out of the Kingdom of Naples and repossess the Queen Giovanna The passage of this Prince put the Florentines into no little distraction Carlo upon the old score of amity desired their assistance Lodovico like those who seek new friendships demanded their neutrality The Florentines that they might please both parties if possible to comply with Lodovico and supply Carlo discharged Aguto from their service and recommended him to Pope Urban who was a professed enemy to Carlo which artifice was easily discovered by Lodovico and he thought himself much injured thereby While the War continued in Puglia betwixt Lodovic and Charles supplies were sent out of France to reinforce Lodovico which Forces being arrived in Tuscany were conducted to Arezzo by those who were banished out of that Town where they removed all those who were of Charles his party and just as they design'd the same measures against Florence as they had taken against Arezzo Lodovic died and the affairs of Puglia and Tuscany followed his fate for Charles secur'd himself of his Kingdom which he thought he had lost and the Florentines who were not sure to defend their own bought Arezzo of those who had kept it for Lodovic Charles having secured himself of Puglia departed for Hungaria which Kingdom was by inheritance descended to him leaving his Wife behind him
was at that time Duke of Genoa This Piero finding himself unable to bear up against so powerful a King upon consideration of his own weakness resolv'd at lest to surrender that State to one that should be able to defend it and perhaps sometime or other give him a reasonable reward he sent Embassadors therefore to Charles 7 of France to desire his protection and tender him the Government Charles accepted the offer and to take possession of the City he sent Giovanni d' Angio King Rinato's Son who not long before was returned from Florence into France for Charles was persuaded that Giovanni being acquainted with the humors and customs of the Italians was properer for that Government than any Man he could send besides from thence he believ'd he might prosecute his designs against Naples with more ease and covenience his Father Rinato having been expel'd that Kingdom by Alfonso of Aragon Hereupon Giovanni departed for Genoa was receiv'd honorably by the Town and invested with the whole power both of the City and State This accident was not at all pleasing to Alfonso he found now he had pull'd an old house over his head however he carried it bravely went on with his enterprize and was advanc'd with his Fleet under Villa Marina at Porto Fino when surpriz'd with a sudden distemper he died The death of Alfonso put an end to the Wars against Giovanni and the Genoeses and Ferrando succeeded his Father Alfonso in the Kingdom was in no little trouble having an Enemy upon his hands of such reputation in Italy and a jealousie of several of his Barons who being inclin'd to new changes he was afraid might side with the French besides he was acquainted with the ambition of the Pope and being scarce setled in his Kingdom was fearful lest he should attempt something to supplant him his only hopes were in the Duke of Milan who was no less solicitous for the affairs of that Kingdom than himself apprehending that if ever the French came to be Masters of Naples their next enterprize of course would be against him for he knew they might pretend to Milan as an appendix to that Crown For these reasons as soon as Alfonso was dead Francesco sent letters and Men to Ferrando the first to keep up his heart the other his reputation Upon the death of Alfonso the Pope designed to give his Nephew Piero Lodovico Borgia the Government of that Kingdom and to gloss over the business and make it more plausible to the Princes of Italy he gave out that that Kingdom belonging formerly to the Church his intention was only to reduce it to that condition and therefore he desired the Duke of Milan would not give any assistance to Ferrando and offer'd him such Towns as he had possess'd formerly in that Kingdom But in the midst of his contrivances Calisto died and Pius 2. succeeded him who was a Siâ—nnesi of the Family of the Piccol Huomini and his Name Aeneas This Pope imploying his thoughts wholly for the benefit of Christendom and the Honour of the Church and laying aside all private passion and advantage at the intreaty of the Duke of Milan crown'd Ferrando King of Naples judging it a readier and safer way to compose the differences of Italy by confirming him that was already in possession than by assisting the pretences of the French or setting up as Calisto did for himself However Ferrando took it for a favour and to requite it he made Antonio the Popes Nephew Prince of Malfi married him to his natural Daughter and besides this restor'd Benevento and Ferracina to the Church And now all the Arms in Italy were visibly laid down and Pius as Calisto had begun before was moving all Christendom against the Turk when a new quarrel sprung up betwixt the Fregosi and Giovanni the Lord of Genoa which produc'd a greater and more important War than the last Petrino Fregosi was retir'd to a Castle of his in Riveria much discontented that Giovanni d' Angio having been prefer'd to his dignity in Genoa by him and his Family had not gratified them as they deserved so that by degrees it was come to a feud Ferrando was very well pleas'd with the difference as being the only way to secure him in his Kingdom and therefore he sent Pietrino supplies both of men and mony hoping thereby Giovanni might be expuls'd out of the State of Genoa Giovanni having notice of their intelligence sent for relief into France which having received he march'd out against Pietrino but Pietrino by the access of more supplies from sundry places being grown too strong Giovanni retreated and applyed himself to securing the City which he did not do so carefully but Pietrino in one night surprized several Posts in it but was beaten the next morning himself and most of his Men slain this victory elevated Giovanni so far that he resolv'd to attempt upon Ferrando departing from Genoa in October 1459 with a great Fleet he sail'd to Baia and from thence to Sessa where he was honorably received by that Duke There had joyn'd themselves with Giovanni the Prince of Taranto and the Citizens of Aquila besides several other Princes and Cities so that already that Kingdom was more than half lost Upon which Ferrando desir'd aid of the Pope and the Duke of Milan and to lessen the number of his Enemies made peace with Gismondo Malatesti which peace disgusted Giacopo Piccinino so highly Gismondo being his natural Enemy that he deserted Ferrando and took up Arms under Giovanni Ferrando sent mony likewise to Federigo Lord of Urbin and as soon as could be expected got together a considerable Army according to those times with which he march'd against the Enemy and finding them upon the River Sarni he engaged them but was defeated and his most considerable officers taken after this victory most of the Towns and Castles surrendred to Giovanni only Naples some few neighbouring Towns and Princes adher'd still to Ferrando Giacopo Piccinino advis'd to march directly for Naples and make himself Master of the chief City but Giovanni replyed he would first ruine the Country and then the City would come with more ease but his rejecting the Counsel of Piccinino was the loss of that design for he did not know that the members follow the head more naturally than the head the members Ferrando was fled into Naples and there resorted to him diverse of his Subjects who were driven from their homes whom he receiv'd and having with all possible gentleness gained some monies of the Citizens he got a small body of an Army together he sent new Embassies to the Pope and Duke for supplies and was reliev'd with more plenty and speed than before for they were both of them afraid that the loss of that Kingdom would turn to their prejudice Much strengthened by their supplies Ferrando march'd out of Naples and having recover'd his reputation in part he recover'd some
told him what was pass'd That now it was at his Choice whether he would kill Alboino and injoy her and her Kingdom or be kill'd himself for vitiating his Wife Almachilde had no fancy to be slain and therefore chose the other Proposition of killing his Master but when they had kill'd him they found themselves so far from acquiring the Kingdom that they were afraid of being made away by the Lombards out of the affection they bare to the Memory of Alboino for which cause packing up with all the Jewels and Treasure they could make they marched off to Longinus at Revenna who receiv'd them honourably During these Troubles Iustinus the Emperour died and Tiberius was elected in his Place but being imploy'd in his Wars against the Parthians he was not at leasure to send Relief into Italy Which Longinus looking upon as an opportunity to make himself King of the Lombards and of all Italy besides by the help of Rosmunda and her Treasure he imparted his Design to her and perswaded her to kill Almachilde and take him afterwards for her Husband She accepted the Motion and having in order thereunto prepar'd a Cup of Poison she gave it with her own hand to Almachilde as he came thirsty out of a Bath who having drank off half finding it work and great Convulsions within him concluding what it was he forc'd her to drink the rest so that in a few hours both of them died and Longinus lost all hopes of making himself King In the mean time at a Convention of the Lombards at Pavia which they had made their Metropolis they created Clefi their King who re-edified Imola that had been destroyed by Narsetes He conquer'd Rimini and in a manner all up as far as Rome but died in the middle of his Cariere This Clefi behav'd himself so cruelly not only to Strangers but even to the Lombards themselves that the Edge of their Monarchical inclination being taken off they would have no more Kings but constituted Thirty they call'd Dukes to Govern under them Which Counsel was the cause the Lombards extended not their Conquests over all Italy nor dilated their Dominion beyond Benevento Rome Ravenna Cremona Mantua Padua Monfelice Parma Bolonia Faenza Furli Cesana some of them defended themselves for some time other never fell at all under their subjection For having no King they were first render'd unapt for the Wars and when afterwards they reassum'd their Old Government and created Kings again the small relish and taste the people had had of Liberty render'd them less obedient to their Prince and more contentious among themselves and not only put a stop to the Cariere of their Victories at first but was the occasion afterwards that they were driven out of Italy Things being in this posture with the Lombards The Romans and Longinus came to terms with them and it was agreed that Arms should be laid down on all hands and each enjoy what was in their proper possession About this time the Bishops of Rome began to take upon them and to exercise greater Authority than they had formerly done At first the Successors of Saint Peter were venerable and eminent for their Miracles and the holiness of their Lives and their Examples added daily such numbers to the Christian Church that to obviate or remove the Confusions which were then in the World many Princes turned Christians and the Emperour of Rome being converted among the rest and quitting Rome to hold his Residence at Constantinople the Roman Empire as we have said before began to decline but the Church of Rome augmented as fast Nevertheless untill the coming in of the Lombards all Italy being under the dominion either of Emperours or Kings the Bishops assumed no more power than what was due to their Doctrine and Manners in Civil Affairs they were subject to the Civil Power imploy'd many times by the Emperours and Kings as their Ministers and many times executed for their ill Administration But Theodorick King of the Gothi fixing his Seat at Ravenna was that which advanc'd their interest and made them more considerable in Italy for there being no other Prince left in Rome the Romans were forc'd for Protection to pay greater Allegiance to the Pope And yet their Authority advanc'd no farther at that time than to obtain the Preference before the Church of Ravenna But the Lombards having invaded and reduc'd Italy into several Cantons the Pope took the opportunity and began to hold up his head For being as it were Governour and Principal at Rome the Emperour of Constantinople and the Lombards bare him a respect so that the Romans by mediation of their Pope began to treat and confederate with Longinus and the Lombards not as Subjects but as Equals and Companions which said Custom continuing and the Popes entring into Allyance sometimes with the Lombards and sometimes with the Greeks contracted great reputation to their dignity But the destruction of the Eastern Empire following so close under the Reign of the Emperour Heracleus in whose time the Schiavi a people we mention'd before fell again upon Illyria and over-ran it and call'd it Sclavonia from their own Name The other parts of that Empire being infested first by the Persians afterwards by the Saracens out of Arabia under the Conduct of Mahomet and last of all by the Turks and having lost several Provinces which were members of it as Syria Africa and Egypt The Pope lost the convenience of the Emperours protection in time of Adversity and the power of the Lombards increasing too fast on the other side he thought it but necessary to address himself to the King of France for assistance so that the Wars which hapned afterwards in Italy were occasioned by the Popes and the several inundations of Barbarians invited by them which manner of proceeding having continued to our times has held and does still hold Italy divided and inâ—irm But in my description of Occurrences betwixt those times and our own I shall not inlarge upon the ruine of the Empire which in truth receiv'd but little assistance from the Popes or any other Princes of Italy till the dayes of Charles the 8th but discourse rather how the Popes with their Censures Comminations and Arms mingled together with their Indulgences became formidable and reverenced and how having made ill use both of the one and the other they have lost the one entirely and remain at the discretion of other people for the other But to reurn to our Order I say that Gregory the Third being created Pope and Aistolfus King of the Lombards Aistolfus contrary to League and Agreement seiz'd upon Ravenna and made War upon the Pope Gregory not daring for the reasons abovesaid to depend upon the weakness of the Empire or the fidelity of the Lombards whom he had already found false appli'd himself to Pepin the Second who from Lord of Austracia and Brabantia was become King of France not so much by his own