ITALY. 



.3-13 



,D. 119S. 



<tos- 



117, jiu cuiei 01 uic viueipus. i tic interests i 

 ter were embraced by the pope ; but the fo 

 sifted bj Philip Augustus, king of France, 

 cessful, and Otho was obliged to take refuge 



lowed, the year after, by that of his wife Constance ; 

 and Frederic II. a child of four years old, was left heir 

 of the crowns of Sicily and Naples. Pope Innocent 

 III. who had succeeded Celestine III. a few months be- 

 fore, was, on her death-bed, appointed by the empress 

 guardian to the young king. 



The imperial dignity was at this time disputed for in 

 Germany, between Philip, duke of Suabia, brother of 

 the late emperor, and Otho, duke of Aquitaine, sun of 

 Henry the Lion, formerly duke of Bavaria and Saxo- 

 and chief of the Guelphs. The interests of the lat- 



former, as- 

 was suc- 

 refuge in Eng- 

 land, where he obtained the powerful protection and 

 alliance of Richard Cceur de Lion. In the mean time, 

 the rights of the emperor in Italy, were left without a 

 deftnilei. Innocent perceived all the advantages of his 

 situation, and lost no time in exerting himself to esta- 

 blish the temporal power of the church. His first at- 

 tempt was the abolition of the senate of Rsroe, in which 

 he succeeded without difficulty, from the fickleness of 

 the people themselves,' who were not unwilling to try 

 new form of government. In the room of the senate, 

 the pope substituted a military magistrate, who resided 

 in the capitol, and enjoyed all the powers of that body, 

 with the title of senator of Rome. Like the podestas, 

 this magistrate was to be a foreigner. 



At this lira*, the cities of Verona, Padua, Ferrara, 

 ml Bologna, were engaged in wars, occasioned by the 

 animosity of the Guelph and Ghibeline noble*. The 

 former party was beaded by the Marquis Obiszo of 

 Bate, ancestor of the dukes of Ferrara, Modena, and 

 Brunswick, and the royal family of Great Britain. On 

 the other side was Kccelino Romano, father of the cruel 

 tyrant of that name ; and at Ferrara, the family of Sa- 

 linguerra. These wars in Milan, and some other of the 

 cities north of the Po, ended in the expulsion of the 

 nobility. But in Verona. Viornxa, and Bologna, their 

 power was increased ; and at Ferrara, the Marquess of 

 F.ste, taring married Marchesella, daughter and heiress 

 of William Marcheselli, the deliverer of Ancona, had 

 ready acquired almost sovereign power and influence. 



The next attempt was to reclaim the long-contested 

 legacy of the Countess Matilda. For this purpose, he 

 sent an army to expel the German nobles who fiumss 

 ed these fiefs. His pretensions were immediately ac- 

 knowledged by the cities ; and Ancona, Perugia, and 

 several other towns, opened their gates, and submitted 

 to the legates of the pontiff. To the Tuscan cities, the 

 i addrMStd himself as the patron of thrir liberties ; 



and only asked their assistance, as the friends of liberty 

 and the church. The ordinals Pandolpbo and Bernard 



I in their mission ; an assembly of the deputies 

 from the Tuscan cities met at a village near San Min- 

 cmto, and there farmed themselves into the Guelph or 

 Tuscan League, by which they bound themselves to ac- 

 knowledge no prince without the express consent of the 

 Roman church ; to defend each other, and the church, 

 when required ; and to assist in recovering all parts of its 

 patrimony, and all the territory over which it had any 

 rights, except whit was actually occupied by any of the 

 SMS. The city of Pisa alone, grateful for former favours 

 received from the emperors, would not join in this league, 

 and cuotiasud at the head of the few cities and nobles 

 who constituted the Ghibeline faction in Tuscany. In 

 the administration of the Sicilian kingdoms, the pope 

 wss less successful ; and two ejipeditiusM against Mar. 

 covald, high steward of the empire, who, at the head 



of the German troops, with the assistance of the Sara- Hi t..i- 

 cens settled in Sicily, maintained the Ghibeline party ^"~v~" - "' 

 there, were equally unfortunate. But it was in Italy 

 alone that Innocent met with opposition ; in Hungary, 

 Denmark, France, Portugal, Arragon, and Poland, his 

 rescripts were implicitly obeyed ; and in England, his 

 excommunication of King John, and that prince's sur- 

 render of his crown, are familiar to every British read- 

 er. In the mean time, a new pretender to the crown 

 of Naples appeared, Walter, count of Brienne, the son- 

 in-law of the late King Tancred ; but this nobleman, 

 who, (it is supposed) at the instigation of Innocent, 

 invaded Naples with a small army, soon fell in a skir- A. D. 120,3. 

 mish with the German troops of Marcovald. Soon af- 

 ter this, a period was put to the German dissensions, 

 by the death of Philip of Suabia, who was murdered 

 by a private enemy ; and Otho, having married his 

 daughter, and thus united the rival families, was una- 

 nimously acknowledged king of Germany and the Ro- 

 mans at Alberstadt. 



Early in the following year, Otho entered Italy to Otho *nttrs 

 receive the imperial crown, with which Innocent had I'"')- 

 promised to invest him. His first task was to re- A- U ' 9 ' 

 concile Azzo of Este (now acknowledged lord of 

 Ferrara) with Eccelino Romano. This was at first dif- 

 ficult, the marquess having challenged his rival in 

 Otho's presence ; but he at last succeeded in effecting 

 a temporary agreement. To secure them both, he con- 

 firmed to Azzo his title of marquess of Ancona, which 

 had been conferred on him by the pope, reserving, 

 however, the rights of the empire ; while to Eccelino 

 he gave the office of podesta of Vicenza. imposing on 

 it, at the same time, a very considerable fine, as having 

 been guilty of rebellion. 



Otho then proceeded to Rome, where he was crown- and it 

 ed emperor by the pope ; but as the latter soon found crowned at 

 that the Guelph prince was not so obedient as he could f ?"!!' 

 wish, and especially refused to resign his claims to the j!^,,j 

 inheritance of the Countess Matilda, they soon parted 

 equally discontented with each other, to seek allies in 

 their approaching warfare. The emperor secured in his 

 interest the PUans, the German army in Naples, the 

 Milanese, Parmorans, and Bolognese, Eccelino, and 

 Satinguerra. On the other side, the party of the pope 

 was warmly embraced by Azzo of Este,' the cities of 

 Genoa, Pavia, and Cremona, and the Marquess of 

 MoatferraL Innocent having likewise negotiated a 

 marriage between the Toting Frederic of Naples and 

 Constance, daughter of the king of Arragon, entered 

 into a treaty with tlie King of France and several Ger- 

 man princes, to elect him to the crown of Germany, of 

 which he represented him unjustly dispossessed. 



On hearing of this, Otho immediately declared war A. D. 1210. 

 against Frederic; and, marching into his kingdom, made 

 himself master of Capua, Salerno, and Naples ; but was 

 interrupted in the midst of his victories by the intelli- 

 gence, that he had been excommunicated by Siffredi, 

 archbishop of Mentz, and the imperial dignity declared 

 vacant, and that the league against him had been join- 

 ed by the king of Bohemia, the duke of Bavaria, and 

 many others of the princes of the empire. 



He therefore quitted Italy without delay, and pro- 

 ceeded into Germany, whither he was soon followed A. n. 12!?. 

 by Frederic, This prince, setting out from Genoa, 

 marched through Lombardy, where many attempts 

 were made by the Guelph states to intercept him, 

 which he escaped by the assistance of the Marquess of 

 Este, and arrived in safety at Chur, in the country of 

 the Grisons, where he was met by his German allies. 



