220 CHRONOGRAPHY. 



Italy presents a sad example of the effects of division, and discord, 

 among the members of a great nation. We shall first glance over its 

 connected history; and then refer to its separate divisions. Odoacer, 

 king of the Heruli, having overthrown the western, or Roman empire, 

 A. D. 476, assumed the title of king of Italy. He was defeated and 

 slain, in 493, by Theodoric, king of the Ostrogoths, (Eastern Goths), 

 assisted by the Visigoths, (or Western Goths) : and the Gothic king- 

 dom in Italy continued till it was overrun by Narses, the Byzantine 

 general, in 552; by whose agency JLlboin, king of the Lombards, 

 became king of Italy in 568, The last Lombard king, Didier, was 

 dethroned by Charlemagne of France, who united Italy to his own 

 domains, in 774. Under his descendants, Italy was alternately 

 separated from and united with France, till Otho I., the Great, of 

 Germany, became its master, and was crowned emperor of the 

 Romans, in 962. 



Otho and his successors allowed many of the Italian cities to have 

 separate republican governments : the chief officers of each being 

 two consuls, elected annually. These cities, with their dependent 

 territories, were styled the Italian Republics ; among which were 

 Milan, Pavia, Lodi, Florence, and Pisa. Venice and Genoa were 

 also called republics ; their chief officer being styled the doge. 

 These states were frequently engaged in contests with each other, 

 and involved in broils with the popes and German emperors. In the 

 war between Milan and Pavia, in 1129, arose the distinction of the 

 Guelfs, (Guelphs), and Ghibelines, (Gibelins). The Guelfs, so 

 called from the family of Welfs in Germany, including the duke of 

 Bavaria, favored the pope, and Lothaire of Saxony ; while the Glii- 

 belines, named from Wibelung or Waiblinga, a German castle in 

 Franconia, espoused the cause of Conrad of Hohenstaufen, of the 

 house of Swabia. In general, the Guelfs, and the house of Este 

 were the partizans of the popes ; and the Ghibelines, headed by the 

 family Da Romano, favored the German emperors. But we have 

 no room to pursue this complicated subject farther. 



Venice became a distinct state as early as A. D. 697, when its first 

 doge was elected ; but the present city was built in 809. It grew 

 rapidly in the time of the Crusades ; and enjoyed the chief commerce 

 of tlte east, till the discovery of the southern passage to India ; after 

 which it began to decline. Cyprus was ceded to Venice in 1486 ; 

 but taken by the Turks in 1571; who also took Candia in 1699. 

 Venice continued free till the French Revolution ; which resulted in 

 its final subjection to Austria, in 1814. Milan became a duchy 

 under Visconti, in 1395; subject to Spain, in 1535; and it has be- 

 longed to Austria since 1706, except during the French Revolution. 

 In 1815 it was united with Venice, to form the Lombar do- Venetian 

 kingdom, which is now a part of the Austrian empire. 



Genoa, became a republic in 953, and was for a long time second 

 only to Venice, in commerce and wealth. It was engaged in long 

 wars with Pisa ; and contended with Venice, for the dominion of the 

 Mediterranean. The former wars ended in 1284, in the defeat of the 

 Pisans; and the latter in 1381, in the peace of Turin, with Venice. 

 Genoa continued independent till the French Revolution ; but was 



