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LOilBARDO-VENETLiN KINGDOM. 



LOMBARDO-VENETIAN KINGDOM. 



S81 



the pay of the soldier, and constituted his liability to military service 

 and feudal duties, was more fully developed under the successors of 

 Charlemagne, when every duke, count, or marquis divided and sub- 

 divided the land belonging to him among numerous subfeudatories 

 called vavassors, who swore fealty and homage to him, and were 

 bound to follow him to the wars. 



About the 9th century, the towns began to rebuild their walls, 

 which had been razed by the barbarians, in order to defend them- 

 selves against the incursions of the Hungarians, Saracens, and other 

 predatory bands. The towns bad retained the ancient system of 

 cnriai, or municipalities, and the citizens elected their own magistrates. 

 The distinction between Longobard and Koman became gradually 

 obliterated among the people ; they became all Italians or Lombards 

 together. 



After the deposition of Charles the Fat in 888, the crown of Italy 

 was disputed for about 70 years among a succession of pretenders, 

 Italians and Burgundians, until Otho I. of Saxony seized it with a 

 firm hand, and was crowned at Rome by the pope, a.d. 961. Otho 

 and hia successors resided chiefly in Germany ; they came now and 

 then to Italy at the head of armies, when they generally pitched their 

 tents and held their sovereign court in the plain of Roncaglia near 

 Piacenza, whither all the great feudatories of Lombardy and other 

 parts of Italy, and the magistrates of the towns, were summoned to 

 pay their homage, and to listen to the sovereign's decisions and 

 ' placita.' But with the emperor's return to U<-rmany the great 

 vassals retired to their castles, and the magistrates and biahopa 

 returned to their cities. Each town and district was in a manner 

 independent of every other, all acknowledging allegiance to a distant 

 sovereign. A veil covers the first period of the history of the muni- 

 cipal emancipation of the towna of Lombardy ; it seems to have 

 grown silently under the reign of Otho and his suooesaora, the 

 citizens slowly and gradually appropriating to themselves the pre- 

 rogatives of the sovereign, and not wishing to attract attention to 

 their encroachments. 



Towanis the middle of the 11th century we find discord first 

 breaking out in Milan and other cities between the various classes of 

 the population. The vavaasori, or inferior nobles, of whom there 

 were several gradations, roe* in arm* against the great nobl-s, at the 

 head of whom was the archbishop Heribert The archbiahop defeated 

 them and drove them out of MiUn, but being joined by the mal- 

 contents from the neighbouring towna, they appealed to the emperor 

 Conrad, who came to Italy in 10.36, and depoaed and imprisoned the 

 archbishop. Heribert soon made bin escape, and returned to Milan, 

 where he was joyfully received by the clergy, the nobles, and the 

 people, and in order to defend himself against the imperial forces 

 he called to arms the people of every district of the town, without 

 distinction of condition. Till this time the use of arms had been a 

 privilege of the nobles. On this occasion Heribert introduced the 

 caroccio, or cart drawn by oxen, in imitation of the ark of the 

 Isrsrlitee, with the great banner of the city fixed upon it, which waa 

 drawn in the midst of the militia, and upon which stood the leaders, 

 who from a raised platform gave their directions during the fight 

 By degrees every city adopted the caroccio, which became a kind of 

 palladium, and the emblem of popular independence. Thus it was 

 that the episcopal goveniraent of Milan and other cities prepared the 

 way for their municipal liberty. In 1041 the plebeians, or burghers, 

 headed by Lanzo, himself a noble, rose against the class of nobles, 

 who were obliged to leave with their families. The archbiahop 

 Heribert, who this time had taken no part in the quarrel, emigrated 

 with the rest The nobles, being joined by others, blockaded Milan, 

 ami reduced the citizens to famine, when after three years Lanzo 

 managed to bring about a reconciliation, and the nobles returned. 



In 1059 began the long struggle at Milan and in the rest of 

 Lombanly on account of the married clei'gy. The church of Milan 

 had its peculiar liturgy and system of diKcipIine (called Ambrosian 

 from its great bishop St. Ambrose), according to which married men 

 could be ordaine<l priests, and could continue to live with their wives^ 

 though an unmarried priest could not marry after his ordination. 

 This quarrel agitated the city till the time of Pope Gregory VII., 

 when the archbishops of Milan became gradually dependent on 

 Borne, received the pallium from the Pope, and swore obedience to 

 him. As a consequence of this the clergy became subjected to the 

 Romln discipline, and the regulation was enforced of not admitting 

 any persona to orders except unmarried men. 



In the great contest of the investitures, Milan, Lodi, Cremona, and 

 other Lombanl cities were at first swayed by the nobility, who were 

 mostly favourable to the emperor, but at last in the decline of the 

 imperial authority they joined the Countess Matilda and her second 

 husband Guelph, with whom they formed an alliance. It was during 

 this long struggle that the cities really established their independence, 

 acknowledging no longer the imperial missi, or vicars. Ihe citizens 

 then began to elect a certain numl>er of magistrates, whom they 

 ■tyled consuls, who administered justice and oommande.l the militia ; 

 they were chosen from three orders, namely, captains, or nobles of 

 the first rank, vavassori, and burghers. Laws and written constitutions 

 were few in those times, and the consuls enforced the customs and 

 precedents, which were collected m 1216 in a kind of code, and 

 pwUshad •» Milan and otlier cities. The war of the invertitares 



being over, the cities continued to acknowledge, at least nominally' 

 the emperor's sovereignty over Italy, 



The Lombard cities having now secured their mnnicipal liberties 

 began to fight among themselves. Milan and Pavia were rivals of old; 

 and Cremona, which wag the third great city of Lombardy, was also 

 jealous of Milan ; but before they turned their arms against one 

 another they began by attacking their weaker neighbours : Cremona 

 attacked Crema, Pavia attacked Tortona, and Milan attacked Lodi and 

 Novara. At last Lombardy became divided between two parties : that 

 of which Milan was the head included Brescia, Crema, and Tortona ; 

 and the other consisted of Pavia and Cremona, Lodi and Como. 



In 1107 the Milanese commenced wrar upon the people of Lodi, 

 destroyed their harvests for four consecutive years, and at last, in 

 June 1111, took the town, killed many of the inhabitants, plundered 

 the rest razed their houses, and drove the survivors to the uei^h- 

 bouring villa:j;e^ The spot is still known by tlie name of Lodi- 

 Vecchio. The people of Pavia on their side took Tortona and burnt 

 it. In 1118 the Milanese began a furious war against Como, which in 

 1127 was obliged to submit to pay tribute to Milan, and the walls of 

 their town were r>ued ; but in the year 1154 Frederick of Hohen- 

 stauffen crossed the Alps, assumed the iron crown of Italy at Pavia, 

 and afterwards the imperial crown at Rome. He ordered the Milanese 

 to let their neighbours of Lodi live in peace, and allow them to 

 rebuild their town. The Milanese with scorn refused to obey, and 

 the war began between the emperor, joined by the militia of Pavia 

 and Cremona, on one side, and the Milanese and their allies on the 

 other. The war lasted several years, and horrid cnielties were com- 

 mittel by both parties. At last Milan waa obhged to surrender, in 

 March 1162; the inhabitants were onlered to leave the town with all 

 they could carry, after which MiUn waa sentenced to be treated as it 

 had treated Lodi — to be razed to the ground ; and the people of 

 Cremona, Pavia, Lodi, and Como readily executed the sentence. 



Frederick having returned to Germany, bis officers and podestas 

 treated the Milanese and other Lombards with the most unsparing 

 rigour, and oppressed them in every way. The emperor was applied 

 to for redress, but in vain. At last a general spirit pervaded the 

 cities of Lombardy, and extended to those of the marches of Verona 

 and Treviso beyond the Adige. In April 1167 a secret conference was 

 held by deputies of the various cities in the convent of Poutida, in the 

 territory of Bergamo ; and it was resolved to form a league for the 

 common protection, and to assist the Milanese in rebuilding their city. 

 Pope Alexander III. declared himself protector of the Lombard 

 league, which consisted of fifteen cities — Cremona, Bergamo, Brescia, 

 Ferrara, Bologna, Modena, Milan, Parma, Piacenza, Verona, Vicenza, 

 Padua, Venice, 'Treviso, and Lodi, which was obliged to follow the 

 rest The Kague was afterwards joined by Ravenna, Rimini, Reggio, 

 Bobbio, Tortona, Vercelli, Mantua, and Novara. Pavia only remained 

 attached to the emperor's party, and as the Marquis of Montfemt 

 took the same side, the allies, after rebuilding Milan foumied a new 

 town on the borders of Hontferrat, which they called Alessandria, 

 from the name of their protector. The towns reestablished their 

 consular governments, and a kind of federal diet was assembled at 

 Modena, composed of consuls of the various cities, who were styled 

 rectors of the league. But this appearance of a federal union lasted 

 only as long as the contest with Frederick, after which it dissolved 

 itself. The league however carried its purpose bravely for the time. 

 After several campaigns the Lombard militia completely defeated the 

 Imperial army at Legnano in May 1176, took the emperor's camp, and 

 Frederick waa obliged to escape tlone to Pavia. This led to a truce, 

 and afterwards to the peace of Constance in 1 1 83. By this celebrated 

 treaty, which served for ages after as an authority for regulating 

 questions which arose between the Germau empire and the North 

 Italian states, the cities were confirmed in their independent adminis- 

 tration ; they had the right of declaring war, of coiuing, in short all 

 the attributes of sovereignty, under an acknowledgment however of 

 the emperor as king of Italy and their suzerain. 



The glorious struggle of the Lombards for their independence being 

 terminated they soon fell again to quarrelling among themselves. 

 Several of the towns, in order to check their internal factions, adopted 

 the institution of the Podesta, which Frederick had first introduced. 

 This officer was a kind of dictator ; he was supreme judge, assisted 

 however by lawyers or assessors, and had the right of iufiicting capital 

 punishment. He was always chosen from the territory of another 

 town, and from among the nobility, and changed generally every year. 

 It was imagined that by choosiug a stranger impartiality might be 

 better secured. Milan chose in 1186 for its podesta Uberto Visconti, 

 of Piacenza. The consuls still remained as magistrates of various 

 kinds. In 1198 a fresh rupture broke out at Milim between the nobles 

 and the ' popolani,' or burghers. The latter insisted on havuig their 

 separate councils ; the wealthier merchants, and the vavaaiori, or 

 inferior nobles, also had each their own council. Each of these coun- 

 cils ('credenze') had its consuls, who made edicts for those under 

 their respective jurisdiction ; but tlie four creden:je, aud those they 

 represented generally, resolved themselves into two parties, the 

 nobles and the popolani. The nobles were haughty au.l overbear- 

 ing towards others and quarrelsoEuo amonif themselves; aud the 

 burghers on their part as they became wealtliier would n > longer 

 brook their awumed stiperiority. The consequence waa that th« 



