ITALY.. 



HMMTV. citizens ; and, as generals, they commanded the mili- 

 ^"Y"*' tary force of the city, when called out by order of the 

 m . emperor. A third duty of the consuls was to preside 

 .u'-. ,.'i in the councils of the city. Of these there were com- 

 July. monly two, besides the general assembly of the people. 



The first was called the council " de credenza," or 

 privy-council. It consisted of few persons, and was 

 entrusted with the administration of the finances, and 

 all the foreign relations of the community. The other 

 council, consisting of 100 or more members, was styled 

 the senate, or special council ; and in it were arranged 

 the resolutions or measures, which were afterwards 

 submitted to the deliberations of the people in their 

 general assembly, held in the market place, or public 

 square, which was termed a parliament. This assembly 

 was sovereign ; but in most cities there was a law, 

 which allowed no subject to.be laid before the parlia- 

 ment until it had first been considered by the council 

 " de credenza" and the senate. Each city was divid- 

 ed into four or six divisions, each provided with diffe- 

 rent organized military bodies, with different stand- 

 ards. 



The imperfection of the general administration of 

 justice under the feudal system, rendered this regular 

 military organization more necessary, and afforded 

 constant occasion for keeping alive a warlike spirit. 

 As each member of the empire was supposed to be en- 

 titled to refuse a partial judge and appeal to his sword : 

 the first wars of the Italian cities with each other, or 

 against the powerful nobles in their vicinity, were not 

 considered as acts of rebellion, but merely as those 

 measures for self-defence, which it was competent for 

 them to adopt in common with the other vassals of the 

 empire. The cities of Milan and Pavia were the first 

 whose private wars attract attention. Their first open 

 rupture arose from their espousing opposite sides, on 

 the double election of Henry II. and Ardoin. 



At a subsequent period, the city of Milan ventured, 

 in defence of the church, to declare war on the empe- 

 ror Conrad, who, in an attack on that city, was repulsed 

 with loss. It was during this war that Eribert, arch- 

 bishop of Milan, invented the " carroccio," a device 

 which was immediately adopted by all the Italian ci- 

 ties. This was a kind of four-wheeled waggon, painted 

 red, and drawn by four pair of oxen, completely cover- 

 ed with housings of red cloth. In the middle of the 

 car there was a very long red pole, surmounted with a 

 gilded globe, under which was displayed the banner of 

 the city, and still lower an image of Christ on the 

 cross, with its hands extended, appearing to bless the 

 army. Behind, was a stage occupied by a band of 

 musicians, and before, another, where some chosen sol- 

 diers were placed to defend the sacred car. As the 

 loss of the " carroccio," like the ark of the covenant of 

 the Israelites, was regarded most fatal and disgraceful, 

 no expedient could have been better devised for giving 

 to the half-trained infantry of the cities, that solidity 

 which alone could enable them to withstand the shock 

 of the heavy armed cavalry of that age. Crowded 

 around the palladium of their liberties, they presented 

 on every side an impenetrable mass to their assailants ; 

 and, if obliged to retreat, the slow motion of the " car- 

 roccio" prevented that movement from degenerating 

 into a disorderly flight. 



Under a constitution that thus at once kept alive the 

 flame of civil liberty and military glory, the cities of 

 Lombardy had gradually attained to independence. 

 Those noblea who had formerly exercised over them 

 BO small degree of authority, and to whom they had 





been accustomed to look up as their defenders, now in History, 

 their turn began to consider it not only honourable, "^ "V"" 

 but prudent to be enrolled aftipng their citizens. 



The already flourishing commerce ofvthe commercial 

 cities of Pisa, Venice, and Genoa, afforded a ready 

 market for the products of the soil ; and even this spe- 

 cies of traffic was the mean of diffusing a considerable 

 degree of wealth among the inland cities. 



The long continued struggles between the Saxon 

 princes and the popes, confirmed the independence of 

 the Lombard cities ; as the former, in order to secure 

 their attachment, added considerably to their privi- 

 leges, while the latter inculcated the spirit of resist- 

 ance against a foreign ruler. Accustomed, too, during 

 this period of anarchy, to trust to their ow v n resources 

 alone, the ties which connected them with the empire 

 were insensibly weakened, and the Italian citizen's 

 feelings of patriotism were confined within those walls 

 which afforded him the protection which his German 

 sovereign could not now secure. 



During the years that intervened between the peace 

 of Worms and the death of Henry V. little occurred to 

 interrupt the tranquillity of Italy ; and the only war- 

 like events recorded, are the conquest of Lodi and Co- 

 mo by the Milanese, and their long contest with the 

 city of Cremona. 



The death of the emperor without issue, however, Gudjihs 

 gave rise to a contest of greater general interest, and aml uhibc 

 more lasting effects. The partisans of the four last ' 

 emperors in Germany had been denominated Ghibe- ' 

 lins, from Gueibelinga, or Waiblenga, a castle among 

 the mountains of Hertfeld, which had been the ancient 

 seat of their family. Their opponents received the 

 name of Guelphs, from the appellation of the dukes of 

 Bavaria, the most powerful rival of the reigning family. 

 As, however, the Bavarian family had always protect- 

 ed the popes during their contests with the two last 

 emperors in Italy, the names Guelph and Ghibeline 

 soon came to denote the different parties of the pope 

 and the emperor. On the death of the Emperor Hen- 

 ry V. his nephew Frederic, duke of Suabia, aspired to 

 the crown. The diet, however, influenced by the arch- 

 bishop of Mentz, the enemy of the Ghibelines, elected 

 Lothaire duke of Saxony, who was intimately connect- I.othaire 

 ed with the Guelphs. Frederic immediately took up elected em- 

 arms ; and his brother Conrad, duke of Franconia, hav- P elor> 

 ing returned from the Holy Land, assumed the title of 

 king, with the consent of his brother, and immediately 

 proceeded to Milan, where he was crowned king of 

 Italy. 



But the Pope Honorius having declared in favour of 

 Lothaire, and having engaged the cities of Pavia and 

 Cremona, with their allies, in his cause, the Milanese 

 and Parmesans, on whom Conrad depended for assist- 

 ance, were obliged to defend themselyes ; and, on the 

 arrival of Lothaire with a very small arm'y in Italy-, he 

 was forced to retire into Germany. 



The emperor having proceeded to Rome, was crown- and crown. 

 ed in the church of the Lateran by Pope Innocent II. ed b y th 

 As the Vatican, however, was occupied by the troops P" 1 *' ., 

 of Roger I. king of Sicily, who espoused the cause of 

 the antipope Anacletus, and the family of the Fraysi- 

 pani, in Rome, Lothaire was soon obliged to leave that 

 city, and return to his own country, where, having de- 

 feated his two rivals, Conrad resigned his pretensions 

 to the crown, and was appointed commander of an ar- 

 my, sent into Italy to assist the pope against Roger, 

 king of Sicily. These troops were at first successful, 

 with the help of the Pisan fleet, in forcing Roger to 



