any wayes have consisted with his safety that he desired not to know who had been his Enemies lest he were thereby tempted to bear them a grudge and that he would not have such think he knew them lest it might occasion a jealousie of his being less tender of them than of the rest of his Subjects Sixtus the fourth who succeeded Paul designing to exalt his Nephews at any rate and hoping if he could make sure of Iulian and Laurence of Medici Florence might easily be seized upon procured the one to be murdered at Church before the very Altar and the other to be desperately wounded and as they thought killed But the blackness of the action put the whole City into such a fury that none of the Conspirators no not the Arch-bishop of Pisa escaped being hanged from the Palace windows only the Popes Nephew against whom the Evidence was not so clear they shut up in prison The Pope grieved for the disappointment as likewise for the Arch-bishops ignominious death and the imprisonment of his Nephew made ready the arms of the Church and those of the King of Naples against the Florentins but they who were not to be threaten'd neither by his Excommunication nor the Kings Troops out of their Liberty and the Justice of their Cause had assistance from Venice and Milan with the Duke of Ferrara for their General The War was carried on but faintly in the Popes behalf by the Duke of Calabria and a Peace at length was concluded betwixt Ferdinand King of Naples and Florence the Pope having lost his honour without reaping any advantage by this Anno Christi 1479 wicked enterprize Some disputes arising about the Confines of Rovigo neither the Duke of Ferrara's proffering to refer the matter in contest to any two Princes nor Ferdinand King of Naples and Iohn Galeazo Duke of Milan's endeavouring an accommodation by their Ambassadors could keep the Venetians from a War with him the Pope they were sure of because he hated the Duke since the war of Florence but Galeazo and Ferdinand declared for him and Frederick Duke of Vrbin esteemed the greatest Captain of Italy after the death of Francis of Milan undertook the Conduct of his Army The Venetians at first went on furiously because their Forces were much more numerous than the Dukes and the Pope denyed passage to the Troops of Naples but Matthias King of Hungary who had married the Dutchess of Ferrara's Sister and Ferdinand of Spain her Cousin never gave over soliciting till the Pope broke with the Venetians and then the Duke of Calabria having leave with his Army to march towards Lombardy things went better with the Duke and after several Campaignes both parties being almost tired acts of hostility came insensibly to cease a more dangerous war for Italy then breaking out Galeazo's Son of the same name being now Duke of Milan and married Anno Christi 1489 to the Duke of Calabria's Daughter his Uncle Lewis Forza kept all the Power in his hands much to the grief of the young Dutchess who was more impatient than her Husband so that she never rested till she engaged her Father to write to Lewis to resign the Government to his Nephew that was then of age threatning that in case he refused he would see reason done to his Son-in-Law Lewis that he might find employment elsewhere for Alphonsus invited Charles the eighth to the Conquest of Naples to which he could make a specious Title and the King being young stout and ambitious to say no worse was easily engaged What Lewis did all thought to be by the advice of the Duke of Ferrara whose Daughter Beatrix he had married for the Duke though he appeared not much in it yet went with Lewis to meet the King of Alexandria This Expedition is so exactly set down by Guiccardin one of the best of the Modern Writers that it will save all who come after him the pains of enlarging upon it but in short there are few instances of a Kingdom Conquered in less time or with less resistance wherever Charles came the Gates were opened and the Magistrates ready to salute him King and at Naples he was welcomed as Emperour of the East whether this were to gratifie a vanity they observed in the French as Alexander the sixth had done before at Rome or if Charles and his Officers really gave out that he designed to pass unto Greece against the Turk I shall not determine but too true it is that this empty Title given him at Naples cost many thousand Christians in and about Constantinople their lives for Bajazet the Father of Selym seemed jealous of some such design and of their being privy to it The Kings great success frighted the Princes of Italy into a Confederacy to cut him and his Army off in his return and no person was so forward in this as Lewis Forza who had brought him in but the Duke of Ferrara tho' he had only complemented the King stood more upon his Honour and could by no perswasions be brought to the field against him The Confederate Army trusting in its number which was four to one stopped the King near the River Taro where he bravely fought his passage and got safe into the Duke of Savoy's Territories The Duke of Orleans afterwards Lewis the twelfth kept Novara whither the Confederate Army marched to be revenged on him for the Kings escape but there was no getting the place till by the Duke of Ferrara's mediation honourable Articles were granted the French First that in lieu of Novara Forza should pay the Duke of Orleans a considerable summ of money Secondly that neither he nor the Venetians should assist the house of Arragon in Naples and in case the Venetians did that then Forza should be obliged to make war upon them and for the performance of these Articles the Castle of Genoua was consigned into the Mediators hands who sent Francis Raugoni one of the chief Gentlemen of Modena to take possession of it and to continue his Government there After the death of Charles the 8 th Lewis the twelfth being mindfull of Forza's treachery and encouraged by the Venetians invaded Milan and notwithstanding the endeavours of Maximilian the Emperour and the great diversion given the Venetians by the Turks whom Forza had stirred up against them Forza lost Anno Christi 1500 Milan and was carried prisoner to France there to end his dayes in a melancholy dungeon The Duke of Ferrara not knowing how to meddle betwixt the King that was his Friend and Forza to whom he was so nearly related had observed in this War a perfect neutrality but when the French Troops marched again to the Conquest of Naples none was more forward than the Duke to assist them The Great Gonsalvo Ferdinand of Castiles General being then in Sicily they fatally advised Lewis to secure his friendship by allowing him a share which being agreed to the division of the Kingdom betwixt them cost more time
had banished and kept himself afterwards within the terms of moderation as long as the Marquess lived The support the Gibellins had from Manfred made Vrban the fourth who was a French-man offer the Crown of Naples to Charles Count of Anjou a Brother of France which he accepted the more willingly because he was much encouraged by the assurances that were given him from the Marquess and the Guelphs of Lombardy but while preparations were making on all hands the Marquess died much lamented by his Party He had been wonderfully successfull in most of his attempts though he had to do with the greatest men of that Age and that often times upon very unequall terms he cannot be much taxed either with cruelty or breach of promise yet he wanted not his frailties only the wickedness of his Rival Actiolin both helped to cover them and render his virtues the more conspicuous And upon the whole matter it must be acknowledged he was engaged in the worst Party seeing the Gibellins Cause how ill soever they managed it was much the justest they maintained the Emperours undoubted Rights which the Guelphs pretended the Popes Spiritual Arms had cut off Azo leaving his Grand-child Opizo too young to undertake the Government the Bishop of Ferrara under a pretence of the danger of the times that required a Prince able to protect them would have come to a new Choice but such was the respect the City generally had for the Family of Esté that the Bishops practices served only to make them the more watchfull in preserving Opizo's right In this Mantoua Padoua and the Neighbour places encouraged them offering their assistance if required towards Opizo's establishment and the Turcii a powerfull Family who with most vigour withstood the Bishop were appointed Guardians during the young Princes minority Clement the fourth no less an enemy to Manfred than Vrban his Predecessor sent to Charles of Anjou to make hast if he expected the Crown designed him and finding the most decent the most effectual and withall the cheapest way for the Church to make war was by Croisado's where a red Cross and a plenary indulgence which cost nothing made the good men of those dayes fight more desperately than any pay The War against Manfred was declared a Holy and a meritorious Expedition and none in Lombardy promoted it more than Opizo or rather his Guardians The issue of all was Charles and the worst Cause prevailed Manfred losing Anno Christi 1266 his Crown with his Life under the Walls of Benevent The Gibellins only hope was placed in Conrardin Manfreds Nephew and the Grand-child of Frederick the second whose journey into Italy Mastinus Scaliger Prince now of Verona did as earnestly sollicite as the Marquess did formerly that of Charles Conrardin came and past most of the winter with Scaliger consulting about the method of carrying on the war while Opizo's Guardians and the Guelphs nothing frighted by the enemies nearness raised what Troops they could for Charles Early in the spring both Parties appeared in the field but the fate that pursued Barbarossa's Family soon overtook Conrardin The Germans and Gibellins were beat the poor Prince made prisoner and in the eighteenth year of his age sentenced by Charles not without the Popes privacy and direction to die as a common traytor by the hand of an Executioner for endeavouring to recover what of right did belong to him The Guardians resigning the Government to Opizo now of age he by his strict Union with Charles covered himself from all the storms Mastinus Scaliger and the Gibellins raised It is true the extinction of Barbarossa's Family in Conrardin had brought them so low that for some time they durst scarce own the name or the quarrel however they wanted not wayes to continue the division and Mastinus kept them in hopes of great things under a new Emperour but when application was made to Rodolphus Count of Hapsburgh the first of the House of Austria that had the Imperial Crown no arguments could work upon him to come into Italy or to intrigue himself at all in the concerns of that Nation so fatal to his Predecessors whom he said he could trace going thither but could meet with no foot-steps of their return from him as Sigonius and the best Writers observe Italy may date its liberty seeing any City could purchase of Rodolphus what Government it pleased though if we look narrowly into this thing it proved rather a changing Masters than any true liberty and in many places a losing the protection of an Emperour to be under the lash of some petty Tyrant it made way for the greatness of the Church established the French and in general it fared worse with Italy afterwards though in some places they fell into gentle hands as happily Modena and Regio did when joyned with Ferrara under the same Prince The Church was soon sensible how little it had got by exchanging Germans for French who seeing themselves once fixt in Italy could not be satisfied unless they had the spiritual power likewise and according to the vanity natural to most people in prosperity but in a peculiar manner to the French they talked of nothing but a French Pope a French Consistory and to have all new modelled in their way This made Nicolaus the third a proud Italian of the House of Vrsini who hated and contemned all Tramontani and particularly the French vigorously bestir himself against Charles and the first that found the ill effects of his displeasure was Opizo against whom he armed Albertus Scaliger and the Gibellins that Anno Christi 1276 by this means he might weaken the Kings Party in Lombardy which Opizo kept up We have not the particulars of the War betwixt Scaliger and the Marquess only it is to be supposed it went not ill with Opizo because the Articles of the Peace afterwards concluded are most favourable to him After the Peace was made up betwixt Opizo and Scaliger the Popes Arts and the insolence of the French drew suddain ruine upon them in Sicily for Peter King of Arragon married to Manfreds Daughter coming thither with his Navy the Sicilians as it was before agreed on at the hour of Vespers fell upon the French in all parts of the Kingdom and without compassion or respect massacred Men Women and Children and presently Peter with his Spaniards landing took possession of the Kingdom The Popes hatred against Charles and Peter's success did not a little help to set up the Gibellins again who began in several places to return upon the Guelphs the ill usage they had lately met with But Opizo bore no Anno Christi 1286 share in those disturbances having made a Peace to his mind and married the Prince of Verona's Daughter and now he was so far from taking pleasure in heading a Faction that for the future he resolv'd to put on the person of an Umpire and to use his Authority in composing differences among his Neighbours For his honour he was
than the Conquest for what opposition could two such powerfull Princes meet with from Frederick whom his Subjects hated and contemned But Naples was too narrow to satisfie both the French and the Spaniards and Gonsalvo was a man of such unlimited ambition that a Controversie began about a small parcel of Ground to which both parties pretended and which nothing but Arms could decide In this the French had so ill success that they were suddenly beat out of all Gonsalvo with the Spaniards becoming then sole Masters of the Kingdom of Naples which they have kept ever since About this time died Hercules Duke of Ferrara whose life doth represent to us Fortune in all her different aspects he was born the undoubted Heir of one of the richest Princes of Italy was left young by his Father which made him come the later to his Estate after the death of two Brothers Many storms did he weather both in the Court and Wars of Naples his own Courage and the Kings Malice exposing him to every danger till at length he changed parties At his return from thence he lived for some time a Subject in his own Principality being glad to be a Governour of one of his Cities under his Brother But the latter part of his life made a fair reparation for the former no Prince of Italy being more valued or courted than Hercules that very King of Naples who hated him so much sent to proffer him his Daughter in marriage by whom he left a hopefull Issue the Kings of Castile and Hungary when he was in danger by his War with Venice gave testimony how much they were concerned to support him Henry the seventh of England complemented him with the Order of the Garter and three several Kings of France sought his Friendship as necessary for the advancement of their interest upon the other side of the Alpes CHAP. XII The Life of Alphonsus the first the third Duke of Ferrara HErcules had four Sons Alphonsus who succeeded him Hippolytus the former of the two famous Cardinals of Esté of that name Ferdinand and Sigismund Alphonsus was twice married in his Fathers time first to the Daughter of Iohn Galeazo Duke of Milan when he was very young and when she died a Match by Lewis the twelfth's means was made up betwixt him and Lucretia Borgia Pope Alexander the sixth's Daughter the King designing by this to unite the Duke with Caesar Borgia and both to himself The first remarkable action we meet with in Alphonsus after his Fathers death Caesar Borgia being then ruined was his defending Bologna for Iulius the second and his defeating Bentivoglio from whom the Pope had lately taken that City and recommended it to the Duke Not long after was the League of Cambray concluded where Alphonsus joyned with the Emperour the Pope the Kings of France and Spain to take the terra firma from the Venetians The King of France began the War and gave the Venetian Army which was commanded or rather divided by two Generals of quite different tempers so great an overthrow that the other Confederates did thereupon make the more hast The Venetians seeing themselves in no condition to defend their Subjects wisely made a virtue of necessity and allowed them the liberty to make the best terms they could with the Enemy and so prevent their ruine for they presumed and upon good grounds that this instance of their tenderness would invite them home to their ancient Masters as soon as the storm was over being attacqued then on all hands nothing except Treviso was left them in a short time and the Duke of Ferrara for his share was once in possession of Rovigo la Badia with Monfelice Esté and other places which formerly belonged to his Family Besides the places he had taken the Pope declared him the General of the Church which made the Venetians discharge their whole fury upon him both by Sea and Land but such was their ill success in every enterprize that their very Navy became a prey to him that had no ships for having chained them up by night within the mouth of the River where they thought themselves secure he burnt some took others and returned to Ferrara in a sort of Naval Triumph upon one of their Chief Gallies Anno Christi 1510 The sole hope now left the Venetians was to break a League in which so many Princes of different or rather incompatible Interests were united and this they found no hard matter Julius being willing not only to take off his censures but also to fall out with France and to help to chase Lewis out of Italy if they would give him the places in Romagna which by the League were designed for him It was not now time for the Venetians to stand at any thing and therefore they readily acquiesced to the Popes proposals and he sent to the Duke of Ferrara to acquaint him with what he had done and to desire him to forbear any further acts of hostility against the Republick but the Duke excused himself saying that he could not in honour nor in conscience abandon those with whom he was in Confederacy Julius taking this excuse for a direct upbraiding himself with what he had done excommunicated the Duke immediately sent Orders to Romagna to seize upon what places he possessed there and exhorted the Venetians to fall upon him to revenge his and their quarrel the Duke in a short time lost Rovigo all the Polecine Monfelice and Esté on the one hand and upon the other hand all the places of Romagna and which grieved him most Modena and Sassuolo with several Castles near him his only comfort was he knew that if he had pleased to make honour and conscience truckle to Interest he might have been a saver But never resolving to stear by this compass nor to follow the precedent given him by P. Iulius he waited for better times till he could fairly recover what he had unjustly lost Never was Pope freer of his thunders than Iulius who seeing his success against Alphonsus took his aim a little higher at Lewis the twelfth deprived him of his Title of the most Christian King and of his Crown and exposed his Territoris as a prey to those that could take them but though his lightning did shine it was not felt in France otherwise than in provoking the good King to Vow and to publish his Vow also in his coin That he would destroy Babylon meaning Rome The King of Castile sent an Army to assist the Pope and the Venetians which made Lewis likewise re-inforce his Troops under a new General Gaston de Foix Duke of Nemours to him he particularly recommended the concerns of the Duke of Ferrara whom of all the Italians he had found the most trusty Confederate and the French Army then lying in Romagna the Duke recovered his places from Iulius Gaston was impatient till he gave the Enemy battle which he did near Ravenna the Duke commanded that part where
conspicuous that the Histories of those Times call him the Marquess without any further distinction as we gather from Arnulphus of Milan and Scafnaburgensis and even down to the time of Villani and Dante when they spoke of the Marquess he of Esté is to be understood as having a particular right to this Title above all the Families of Italy Though Hugo had helped the Emperour to humble the Romans and by discovering the Conspiracy against his person seem'd to have brought things to that hopefull pass that there remained no further ground for fears yet the restless attempts of Otho's enemies at length succeeded for some Roman Gloves were presented him by Crescentius's widow in which the richness of the perfume did cover such a deadly poison as kill'd him before his Physicians knew he was infected this the ambitious Woman was said to have done not so much upon her husbands account as for the affront done to her self whom the Emperour promised to marry but afterwards changed his inclinations which her haughty Spirit could not digest Otho the third dying without Children Henry of Bavaria came to the Crown which his Father had so much coveted in the minority of the two late Emperours and was as I have already mentioned opposed in it by Albertus of Esté nor did their quarrel end with their lives but was entail'd upon their Sons as might be seen in Henry who from the beginning discovered a dislike to Hugo's management of the affairs of Italy and let drop some expressions that he designed to remove him from all Publick Trust as soon as he found himself setled This preposterous resolution lost him Italy for some years because Hugo having notice of it engaged his whole interest to exclude Henry and set up Ardoinus Marquess of Eporoedia who supported likewise by most of the Nobility of Lombardy came without much opposition to be chosen King at Pavia The success he had at his entry upon the Government against Henries Army put him in peaceable possession of his Crown the disturbances of Germany not allowing Henry to look any further at present The only person Ardoinus could never gain was the Arch-bishop of Milan who ceased not to solicite Henry till he brought the Germans again into Italy and then did Ardoinus part with his Kingdom upon as easie terms as he had got it and Hugo was fain to retire to the Greek Emperours General in Naples whither Henry pursued him and took him prisoner with his three Sons Henry having got Hugo and his Sons in his power did beyond their expectation shew a rare example of clemency for when in them he might have extirpated the family remembring his rash expressions had in a Anno Christi 1024 great measure occasioned their revolt he generously restored Hugo to whatever he formerly possessed renewed his Commission of Vicar of Italy and dismist his Sons with great expressions of kindness Hugo to shew himself worthy of the Emperours confidence did make it afterwards the whole study of his life to promote his Service and effectually recovered him by his gentle Government the hearts of the Italian Nation which the severity of Otho the second and Otho the third had alienated He lived to a great age was universally lamented at his death and proposed to posterity as the true pattern of a worthy Magistrate who could advance the Princes Authority without invading the Peoples Rights Azo the fourth succeeded him about the same time that Henry the second dying without Children left the Imperial Crown to Conrard Duke of Franconia who out of a particular value he had for Azo promoted his match with Cunigunda the Duke of Anno Christi 1026 Bavaria's only Daughter By her Azo had a Son called Welpho who inheriting all his Grand-father the Duke of Bavaria's Territories gave the first rise to the most Illustrious Family of Brumswick and Lunenburgh which is thus descended of the Family of Esté The Abbot of Vrspergh writes that the Original of that Family was from an Italian Marquess who married in Germany and this Marquess both the Records of Esté and Aventinus in his History of Bavaria prove to have been Azo Hugo's Son of whom I now treat Cunigunda died young leaving this only Son Welpho who was plentifully provided for in Germany Afterwards Azo married as some write the Emperour Conrards Daughter as others Anno Christi 1037 his Niece or his Grand-child by whom he had several Children the eldest was called Azo the fifth after his own name who if the Pope had not shewed himself most unjust in the matter of his marriage with his Cousin the Countess Matildis was in a fair way to have been one of the richest Princes of that age as I shall now make appear and hope to give the Reader some satisfaction in treating of Matildis whose double Relation to the Family of Esté both by Blood and Marriage makes her naturally fall under our consideration in this place and if I do enlarge the great influence she had upon all the remarkable transactions of that age seems to require it CHAP. V. The most material passages of the Life of Azo the fifth and of Matildis Countess of Esté THedaldus whom I made mention of a younger Brother of this Family and Uncle to the great Hugo had raised himself to vaste wealth this his Son Boniface did so much enlarge that none in Italy came near him He was called Marquess of Tuscany and had Ferrara Modena Mantoua Regio Parma and Luca and upon his Marriage with Beatrix the Emperour Conrards Daughter he had Verona and that which is since called the Patrimony of S t Peter given him all which after the death of his little Son Frederick fell to his Daughter Matildis under the tuition of her Mother Beatrix Beatrix being left so rich by Boniface though her Father Conrard was dead yet under her Brother Henry the third did manage Italy as she pleased but her disposing of her self and her Daughter Matildis to Godfrey Anno Christi 1053 Duke of Lorrain and his Son without the Emperours consent justly offended him seeing by this she gave footing in Italy to a Powerfull Family which might have given the Empire trouble if there had been any Issue by either marriage Yet that which made Henry most jealous was lest these Princes should joyn with the Popes who of late were become very troublesome for taking advantage of the Emperours absence they did every day make some encroachments upon them and were then come to that pass that instead of allowing the Emperours Prerogative in confirming them which had been alwayes practised Benedict the ninth took upon him to deprive Henry the third of his Right of Succession and gave the Imperial Crown to Peter King of Hungary upon condition he would depend upon him and his Successors Henry to give a check to an Usurpation of so dangerous consequence and likewise to remove the great scandal occasioned by three Popes all Reigning at once passed into
Servants whom the Count of Celano's Brother had corrupted Anno Christi 1216 he left two Daughters whom we shall mention hereafter The Enemies of the Family of Esté got nothing by Aldobrandin's death his Brother Azo the eighth or as some will have him the ninth who succeeded him being a person for his skill both in the Arts of Peace and War well qualified for those difficult times The first thing he did after quelling an Insurrection in Ancona was to settle at Ferrara that so he might have an eye upon Salinguerra's motions whom he knew ready to take advantage of every change and Salinguerras Opinion of Azo kept them several years on good terms but the flame that was smother'd and not extinct did too easily break out again and now all began to declare themselves openly Guelphs or Gibellins Salinguerra being gone Podestá to Mantoua the Guelphs in a popular tumult pulled down his Pallace destroy'd his fine Gardens broke his Statues in pieces and made havock of every thing they met with This news did so incense him that coming upon them unexpected he killed every Guelph he found and by the help of the Gibellins forced the Marquess to leave the City to his mercy This Civil War which none can deny Azo's Party began did for three years plague Ferrara sometimes the Marquess and the Guelphs had the better sometimes none were to be seen but Gibellins those that prevailed were sure to pull down all the good houses that belonged to the other Party so that at last the City lay in a heap of rubbish and of thirty two Steeples that were in it when Salinguerra went to Mantoua not one was left standing The Marquess assisted by Verona and Padoua shut Salinguerra so close up within Ferrara that he seemed willing to come to any accommodation but when Count Boniface upon his Invitation went in to treat with him most perfidiously he kept him prisoner telling him withall that as Azo was obliged to the Troops of Verona for the advantage he now had so he expected his own terms before he parted with him Azo's tenderness for Count Boniface whom he judged in great danger made him yield to such things as Salinguerra durst never otherwise have proposed for it was agreed that all the Gibellins banished by the Marquess as well as the Guelphs by Salinguerra should have leave to return and be again possest of their Estates and of the grounds where their houses had stood for very few of them were left entire that all places and trusts should be divided betwixt them that Salinguerra should continue at Ferrara but the Marquess might not come thither above twice a year and then he was to leave most of his train without the Gates and to stay only a few dayes This Peace beyond all mens expectation lasted fifteen years which helped much to repair the ruines of the City About this time Actiolinus the declared head of the Gibellins after having long glutted himself with blood cruelty and oppression renounced the world to dedicate the ruines of his old age to a Monastick life leaving a Son of the same name who carried on the divisions of Italy and Anno Christi 1226 out-vied him in all manner of wickedness Salinguerra could not expect to better himself by falling out again with the Marquess yet that he might one day or other make work for him he underhand employed all his interest to get Actiolin the younger created Podestá of Verona by which that Party was much strengthen'd If things went ill with the Guelphs where Actiolinus and Salinguerra were in Authority the Gibellins made as great complaints of their hard usage in Ancona where the Marquess being absolute Master was much encouraged in his severities by Honorius the third and Gregory the ninth the latter seeing Frederick engaged in the Holy War thought to seize upon the Kingdom of Naples and communicating his Design to Azo found him too ready to engage in it nor could any thing but the Emperours speedy return have prevented them No wonder if Frederick were much offended with the Pope and Azo's proceedings and they conscious of their guilt armed the Guelphs lest the Emperour should attempt any thing against them which made Actiolinus and his Party not think themselves secure unless they were in the same posture so that for a long time in form'd Armies they lay in wait for one another and put a stop not only to all manner of Trade which much impoverished Corporations but also to agriculture upon which a Famine was like to ensue Both Parties being at length tired out and their brutal fury in some measure spent first a cessation of Arms then a Peace was concluded and sealed with the marriage of Actiolins Niece to Rinaldus Azo's Son Andrew the second of Hungary in his return from Rome was entertained by Azo at Esté where charmed with the beauty of Beatrix Aldobrandin's Daughter and her Uncles Magnificence he demanded her in Marriage and Azo consenting to it she was sent after him into Hungary with a Noble Train a few months after Andrew died leaving the Queen with Child and she apprehending her self in danger from the next Heir of the Crown retired to her Friends in Italy where she was brought to bed of Anno Christi 1237 Stephen Father to Andrew the third King of Hungary Her younger Sister Alexina was married to Albert Duke of Brunswick The Peace betwixt Azo and Actiolin at best signified little seeing their acts of hostility were scarce ever discontinued but Gregory the ninth taking occasion to quarrel with the Emperour for refusing to go again into Syria brought things to a worse pass than before they had drawn the Guelphs and Gibellins into bodies openly defying one another the Emperour upon his Excommunication was marching towards Rome and Salinguerra was entering upon the last and most Tragical Act of his Life which I must not pass in silence The Venetians required a certain acknowledgement for all goods carried up the Pó to Ferrara which Salinguerra was not willing to pay and their ships being sent to lye at the mouth of the River to hinder any thing to enter Salinguerra with what Boats he could make came upon them and after a sharp dispute had the better taking some which he brought to Ferrara as Trophies of his Victory over the Venetian Navy The Republick not able to digest this affront joyned with the Guelphs to be revenged upon Salinguerra who suspecting some design upon the City did hasten his ruine by commanding all of that Faction to be gone and receiving Germans in their place This was declared to be a plain breach of the Treaty with Azo who thereupon being chosen General against him went towards Ferrara in the beginning of February accompanied by the Dogé of Venice the Popes Legate Boniface and many of the Chief Nobility of those parts Salinguerra made for four months a stout resistance till Provisions beginning to fail without any prospect of supply
the Land Army having destroyed the Harvest the Venetian Navy blocked up the River and the Germans growing mutinous Hugo Rambertus a man of great Authority did in the name of the City desire him to make peace with Azo Salinguerra had no disposition towards it yet yielded to Hugo's importunity and upon the Generals the Dogés and the Legates promise that he should be permitted to return safe into the City ventured out into the Enemies Camp to treat The Legate was for seizing immediately upon Salinguerra pretending that no faith was to be kept to one that had broken his so often but the Marquess would by no means agree to it at last it was concerted among them that leaving the General in the Camp with the Army the rest should accompany him safe into the Town to make good their word and there make him prisoner and while Salinguerra entertained them at a sumptuous Banquet he was laid hold upon clap'd in chains and sent in a Galley to Venice where he died soon after in the eightieth year of his age This we must say of Salinguerra that no man ever took more pains to bring trouble upon himself nor used greater address to be dis-intangled Most of his actions shew how little he was obliged to Fortune though much to Nature being of a gracefull person affable bold eloquent and bountifull all which helped to make him popular but those blessings were overballanced by cruelty dissimulation and ambition that at last he had hard measure cannot be denied yet his treacherous carriage to others made his fall the less pitied Salinguerra's death brought the Marquess a sufficient reward for all the pains and danger undergon in behalf of Ferrara the whole City in a body with the Bishop declaring him their Prince to whom they were willing to commit their Lives and Fortunes without tying him to any other Rules of Government than what his Prudence and Goodness should judge most for the Cities advantage The Venetians for the charge and trouble they had been at in this Expedition were allowed to settle a Magistrate there whose Authority in all their Councils was for some time great but after a few years limited by the Marquess to such things as immediately concerned the Republick The Popes Legate also took upon him to confirm in his Masters Name the Cities choice of the Marquess which at first appeared no more than a matter of Ceremony but was strangely made use of afterwards to prove the Popes Title to that City This Azo's Successors found by sad experience when allowed only to be feudatary Princes they were at last forced to part with that to the Church which they owed to the peoples Free Choice and in truth it was a high piece of injustice by them called subtilty for the Pope to pretend to give away what was not his own that so he might call it back at his pleasure Actiolin had with grief beheld the fall of Salinguerra and the ruine of his Party in Ferrara by the advancement of the Marquess which he prevented as long as he could and waited only for an occasion to do mischief which alwayes comes too soon Gregory the ninth Azo's best friend being dead the Emperours Arms threatning the Guelphs and the Marquess being employed at Ferrara Actiolin upon a sudden falls into his Countries of Esté and Rovigo made prey of whatever was worth carrying away burnt the rest with the villages and killed without respect to sex or age all the persons he met with and returned to Padoua which had for some time groan'd under his yoke The Marquess with his Army went thither and sate down before it knowing how much Actiolin was hated but this cost many of the Padouan Nobility dear for being suspected to have encouraged the Marquess in this attempt without further proof they were by the Tyrants order most barbarously murdered To relate all the particulars that past betwixt Actiolin Anno Christi 1246 and the Marquess were to give an entire History for many years of the Guelphs and Gibellins of Lombardy who acted nothing remarkable but in their presence or by their direction I advise the Reader then who desires to be informed of the most remarkable passages of several years till we come towards Actiolin's death form within himself Ideas of the greatest confusion murders and villanies pacticable and in these look back upon the deplorable state of Italy in that time Conrard after the death of the Emperour Frederick caused some to poison Rinaldus Azo's Son who had been many years kept prisoner in the Kingdom of Naples but his Son Opizo escaped to his Grand-Father with the news of Rinaldus's death It was no strange thing that Conrard should deal thus with the Son of his greatest Enemy if it be true which is reported that he helped to dispatch the Emperour his Father and this may in a great part excuse his Brother Manfred for poisoning him Manfred did Arm mightily in Naples and encouraged Actiolin to do the same in Lombardy his Neighbours to whom he was grown terrible without any other Army than his constant train knew what they might expect if the Gibellins were brought together under such a General this made the Venetians the Pope and the Anno Christi 1256 Marquess of Ferrara enter into a strict Confederacy against Actiolin and that Forces might be raised with the more expedition it was declared a Croisado and plenary indulgences were granted at Bologna Ferrara and other places through which the Popes Legate past to such as should engage in so pious a War and indeed Actiolin had so laid aside all sentiments of humanity that at Padoua where he did most reside few dayes past without instances of signal cruelty to be only banished though with the loss of Estate was thought no small favour for by this means life was secured which no innocence could do at home his fury oftentimes broke out against those who thought themselves most his favourites and who had really deserved best of him In a word all within his reach and he had then a long arm did tremble under the apprehension of his wrath Actiolin upon the news of the Confederates march and of their design upon Padoua not willing to meet them nor judging it for his reputation to be besieged there left the place with a good Garrison to his Nephew and went in person to besiege Mantoua as if he had apprehended no danger behind him but this act of vanity lost him Padoua which having made a short and a faint resistance was taken by assault Most of the Inhabitants instead of seeking for lurking places as is usual upon such occasions run to meet the Marquess and Legate at their entry falling down at their feet ready to adore them as sent from God to deliver their City from so horrid a Tyrant and then walking before in a Solemn Procession to the Great Church with a good heart they sung Te Deum From the Church they went to the