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LOMBARDOVENETUN KINODOIL 



LOUBOK. 



noblaa wen driren oat of Milan and Breaoia; bat they rcturoed, 

 baing aapportcd by their friend* from Crsmona and other places. 

 Raggio, Bologna, and other oitiai ware likewiae distnoted. Besides 

 thaee internal feuds there was the old riralrj among the towns, which 

 r»TiTed after their united oonteats with the emperor had terminated. 

 The interminable list of these petty wan, which is girm by Boasi and 

 other historians, without any intelligible account of the origin of most 

 of them, excites a feeling of indignation mixed with contempt ; people 

 were killed, property was destroyed, and families were made anhappy 

 by these absurd feuds. 



It has been said that notwithstanding all them feuds the Italian free 

 oitisa prospered ; the real truth*is that some of them flourished at the 

 espanae of the others. It is observed that a number of towns which 

 are mentioned as being of importance in the 11th oentury, had dis- 

 appeared in the ISth. We read of the glory and wealth of Milan and 

 Florence, but we take no account of the depopulation and calamities 

 of Lodi and of Pisa. Several causes contributed to keep up the 

 wealth of the great Lombard cities during the middle ages ; tbe 

 extraordinary fertility of their territory, their mauufacturea in which 

 they were unrivalled in Europe, and the practice of their citizens of 

 lending money at high interest throughout Eui-ope, whence tbe name 

 of Lombard became synonymous with that of banker as well as 

 usurer. But however flourishing the cities might be, the subject 

 country had little participation in their splendour, and tbe greatest 

 anfliBrers in the continual wars between them were the unfortunate 

 oonntry people, who in all these republics had no political rii;ht8, had 

 no voice in these quarrels, but were doomed to suffer from both parties, 

 who treated them like dogs. 



In the contests between the popes and Frederic 11. the Lombard 

 dtiea were divided : Milan, Brescia, Piacenza, and Modena were against 

 the emperor ; Cremona, Parma, Modena, Reg;io, were for him. But 

 his moat effective ally was Eccclino da Romano, whom the Veronese 

 had made their podesta. In 1237 Frederick attackefl the Milanese and 

 their allies at Cortenova, near the river Oglio, anil completely defeated 

 them. Still the emperor was prevented from pursuing his advantage, 

 •od Milan was saved. A desultory war continued till bis death. 



Meantime renewed affrays between the nobles aud the burghers of 

 Milan induced the latter, who were dissatisfied with the podesta for 

 Ctvouring the nobles, to have a distinct podesta, or magistrate for 

 themselves, as they had already a auparate credeoza and separate 

 consuls. They chose for this office Pagano della Torre, lord of Valsesina, 

 on whose death tbe people chose his nephew Martino for their chief 

 magistrate, with the title of ' Elder,' ' Anziano della-Credenza,' for an 

 indefinite time. Martino expelled Paolo di Soresina, the podesta of 

 the nobles ; the latter then had recourse to Eccelino da Romona 

 Eoeelino advance<l towards Milan with a splendid army, crossed the 

 Adda, but found himself hemmed in by enemies on all sides, and in 

 attempting a retreat was wounded and token prisoner, and died of his 

 wounds, in October, 1 259. 



The exiled nobles of Milan still kept the field, and Martino della 

 Torre, unable to reduce them for want of cavalry, engaged Pelavicino 

 (a former friend of Eccelino) and his troops in the service of Milan, 

 with the title of captain-general for five years and a pension. This 

 was the beginning of the practice so prevalent afterwards of hiring 

 mercenary troops, or condottieri. The Milanese emigr.tnts were 

 besieged in the castle of Tabiago, near Brianzo, whero having exhausted 

 their provisions and the water of the wells, and their horses having 

 died, tbey surrendered at discretion. They were taken to Milan in 

 chains, and eonflne>l in iron cages exposed to public view, and kept 

 there for years. 



In 1260 Martino della Torre was chosen by the towns of Lodi and 

 Novara as their ' signore,' or lord, which in those small communities 

 implied a more absolute authority than that which he had at Milan. 

 The fashion spread ; Cremona chose for its lord the marquis Pelavi- 

 cino ; Verona chose Martino della Scala ; Mantua, the Count San 

 Bonifazio ; Ferrara, the Marquis of Este, Aa The desire of tran- 

 quillity aud repose from factions induced the citiscns to submit to a 

 chief who could make himself feared, and they ohieSy required of him 

 to punish quickly and severely those who troubled the public peace. 

 Tbey preferred summary and often brutal justice to anarchy. 



Aftar the death of Archbishop Perego, Pope Alexander IV'., named 

 to the see the canon Otlio Viscouti, of a noble and powerful family, 

 who bad been exiled witli the other nobles some years before. But as 

 the Delia Torre f.iinily opposed his coming to Milan, considering him 

 as an emigrant, the archbishop elect continued for several yean to 

 remain on the estates of his family near the Lake of Como, where he 

 odUoted many of tbe disaffected, with whom he carried on a sort of 

 nredatoiy warfare against Milan. Martino della Torre having died in 

 IMS, bis brother Philip succeeded him as lord of Milan, Lodi, and 

 Novara, to which he addad Como, Vero..-lli, and Bergamo, which towns 

 •lootad him as their lord. Thus the foundation was laid of that 

 •onsolidation of Lombardy into o le stote which in after times was 

 known by the name of the duchy of Milan. Philip della Torre died 

 in 1M6, and was succeeded by his nephew Naiwleouo della Torre. 



After the deMh of Pope Gregory X. in 1276, ArchbUhop Visoonti 

 took poasisaioD of Como and Leooo, and at last marched against 

 MiUn. Napoleons della Torre came out to meet him, but was 

 Burprisad and takes prisoner, aud be and his relaUona wen ooDfioad 



in cages, after the example set by his uncle Martino. The people of 

 MiUn, hearing of the defeat, rose against the adherenta of the 

 Torriaoi, pelted them with stones and drove them out of the city. 

 A deputation of citixens was sent to the archbishop Visconti, whom 

 tbey saluted as ' Perpetual Lord of Milan.' This occurred in January, 

 1277. 



The power of the Visconti, though in fact hereditary, was at first, 

 at least in form, dependent on the sanction of the people, who, at the 

 death of the actual lord, elected his successor. The council of the 

 elden continued to discuss the laws which the lord proposed, to levy 

 the taxes, superintend the expenditure, and to exercise the other 

 functions of a legislature. But gradually, and especially from the 

 time of Bemab{k Visconti, the lord took upon himself to issue his 

 own laws or statutes, to impose taxes, let to farm the revenue, make 

 war, and, in short, exercise all the acts of sovereignty. In the 14th 

 century the Visconti ranked among the most powerful Italian princes. 

 They extended their dominions not only over Lombardy pro|>er, 

 north of the Po, but over part of Montferrat, including Asti, Ales- 

 sandria, Bobbio, Turtona, and also to Parma, Piaconz.i, Bologna, and 

 other towns south of the Po. Qian Goleazzo Visconti received in 

 1395, from tbe Emperor Wenoeslas, the title of ' Duke of Milan and 

 Count of Pavia.' The charter of investiture included 26 towns and 

 their territories, extending from tbe hills of Montferrat to tbe lagoons 

 of Venice. Besides these he obtained also possession by force or 

 fraud of Qenoa, Lucca, Pisa, Siena, Perugia, Bologna, and other parts of 

 the Romagna. Florence alone stood in his way, and he was preparing 

 to attack it with all his forces, when he died of the pisgue, in 

 September, 1102. In the following century the duchy of Milan 

 became circumscribed within narrower limits. The Venetians took 

 the three provinces of Brescia, Bergamo, and Crema, between the 

 Mincio and the Adda, which Ust river became the boundary of the 

 two states. The Swiss took possession of Bellinzona, aud other 

 valleys north of the Lago Maggiore. The duchy of Milan likewise 

 lost its conquests south of the Po. On the side of Piedmont its 

 boundary was the Sesia, including within its limits the extensive 

 province of Novara, which now forms part of the Sardinian territories. 

 The duchy of Milan therefore, as possessed by tbe later Visconti and 

 their successors the Sforza, from whom it came into possession of 

 Charles V., extended about 70 miles north to south from the Alps to 

 the Po, and 60 miles east to west Its principal cities were Milan, 

 Pavia, and Cremona. Mantua formed a separate duchy until the war 

 of the Spanish succession, when it was taken possession of by the 

 house of Austria, and annexed to the duchy of Milan. These two 

 duchies constituted Lombardy proper. 



The duchy of Milan, during a century and a half that it remained 

 under the Spanish branch of the house of Austria, declined greatly from 

 its former prosperity. With its transfer to the Qerman branch of the 

 house of Austria, Lombardy began to recover. But it was under tbe 

 'reign of Maria Theresa that improvements of every sort proceeded with 

 rapid strides, and the duchy of Milan assumed a new aspect. The 

 population also increased rapidly. In 1749 it was 900,000, and in 1770 

 it was 1,130,000. Joseph II. punued the career of improvement in 

 Lombardy. The consequence of all this was, that the people of 

 Lombardy grew attached to the Austrian sway. Austria coutinued to 

 govern these united states till Bonaparte's invasion of 1796. By the 

 peace of Campoformio of the following year Austria gave up Milan 

 and Mantua, and received as a compensation for them and Belgium, 

 which was also taken from her by the French, the territory of tbe 

 republic of Venice, which Bouaparte had overthrown. Milan and 

 Mantua, or Lombardy Proper, were constituted first as a republic 

 dependent on France, and afterwards into a kingdom, of which 

 Napoleon I. made himself king in 1805. At tbe close of that year, in 

 consequence of tbe campaign of Austerlitz, Napoleon I. retook from 

 Austria the Venetian territories, which be annexed to Lombardy, 

 styling the whole by the name of the kingdom of Italy, though this 

 new kingdom did not comprise above one-third of Italy. He added 

 to it the state of Modena, the Legations, and lastly in 1803 the Papal 

 Marches. The whole population of this kingdom was about 6,000,000. 

 In 1814 the Austrian and allied forces occupied the kingdom of Italy, 

 and the emperor Francis again took possession of liis former territories 

 of Milau and Mantua, and also of Venice, the latter as a compensation 

 for his loss of Belgium ; and this measure was confirmed by the Cuii- 

 gress of Vienna. The districts south of tbe Po were restored to their 

 former sovereigns ; Modena to its duke, and the Legations and Marches 

 to the Pope. The emperor Francis then constituted tbe territory of 

 Milan, Montna, and Venice into a kingdom, styled Lombardo-Veneto, 

 which was annexed to the imperial crown of Austria. 



Making every allowance for the political aspirations and disappointed 

 national feelings of the Italiana, who regret bemg dependent on a foreign 

 power, it may be affirmed with safety that tbe Lombardo- Venetian 

 kingdom was previous to the outbreak of 1848 in a thriving aud pro- 

 gressive condition, and that it was the best a<lministered cuimtry in 

 Italy, excepting perhaps Tuscany. An outline of the history of tbe 

 late insurrection, and of tbe war with Sarilinia, is given in the article 

 Austria. The provinces and chief towns of tbe two crowolands are 

 notioe<l iu separated articles. 



LOMBEZ. [Qeiis.] 



LOMUUK, an island of the Indian Archipelsgo, lying between 8' 



