forward to show that Rome has allied herself with despotism. That same Innocent, who was so good an Italian patriot, was the most determined enemy of our Great Charter, and released the tyrant John from his oath to observe it. Indeed throughout this Thirteenth Century, when England first started in the race of freedom, the Popes were the bitterest foes to anything like patriotism on the part of England's nobles and clergy. In our own times, no nation ever had a better claim on Rome than Poland, and yet a late Pope manacled his spiritual subjects on the Vistula by an Encyclical Letter, and chid them for withstanding their Schismatical tyrant.* The truth is, that self-interest is Rome's pole-star; to further this, she will ally herself either with freedom or with despotism. For ages the Popes found their advantage in standing at the head of Italian nationality. Ever since the time of Hildebrand, they were the great obstacles to the establishment of the German sway in Italy. How they carried on their favourite policy in the Thirteenth century will be seen in the course of this work. Two hundred years later, to quote the phrase of Pope Paul the Fourth, Rome acted as one of the four strings which kept the Italian harp in tune. In the Sixteenth Century, when France, Germany, and Spain made Italy their battle-ground, the Popes headed many conspiracies to scare all foreign robbers from the fair prize. Julius the Second, Clement the Seventh, and Paul The reprimand, given by the famous Bull of 1832 to the patriotic Roman Catholic clergy of Poland, is well known. It is but justice to Gregory XVI. to say, that he avowed his mistake in another Bull of 1842. The best act in the life of this Pope was his rebuke of the Czar, during a personal interview. CHAP. XII. 1237-1239. СНАР. 1237-1239. * the Fourth took the lead in this generous policy. XII. In the very worst times, when the whole land lay prostrate at the mercy of the House of Habsburg, and when Milan, Naples, and Palermo alike groaned under a Spanish yoke, the Barberini Pope dared to talk of resistance, and was threatened with a descent of Wallenstein into Italy. Our own age has seen for a moment the revival of the old Guelf spirit under its rightful head, when the present Pope sternly rebuked the Austrian occupation of Ferrara, and seemed to be on the point of leading an Italian crusade against the foreigner. The hymn of Pope Pius the Ninth rang from one end of the land to the other; but the fair prospect was soon overcast, and the priest got the better of the patriot in the breast of Pius. The Ghibellines on the other hand looked up to a foreigner as their head. Many good patriots were to be found in the ranks of this party; these, weary of endless civil wars, thought that the only hope of peace lay in submitting to the rule of a despot. If ever any man loved his country, that man was Dante, who may be taken as the mouthpiece of the Ghibelline spirit. He looks upon the person of a Roman Emperor with mysterious reverence. Popes and priests may be doomed to grotesque sufferings in the nether world, but a Cæsar must always be treated with respect. The murder of Julius is the greatest crime, save one, that earth has ever seen. Brutus and Cassius are placed by the side of Iscariot. Even the Pagan persecutor Trajan is rescued from hell. The feeble Justinian is exalted to undue honours in * See Von Ranke. XII. Paradise. None of the old German Cæsars undergo CHAP. everlasting punishment on account of their resistance to the Popes. One alone is doomed to hell, but that 1237-1239. is for of his supposed infidel opinions. His fate is recorded in one short line of the Inferno, for the sufferings of an Emperor are not meet for the ears of the vulgar. To return to earth; Dante's remedy for the woes of his country would seem a strange one to an Italian patriot of our own day. It is simply this, that the Emperor, a German elected by Germans, should make Rome his residence, and should thence rule Italy at his will. The poet puts forth his whole strength in the lines which recommend this policy. But who is the despot, whose invoked presence is to be the source of countless blessings? It is Albert of Habsburg, known to us chiefly as the despoiler of the rights of his nephew, and as the patron of the infamous Gessler. In the year 1239, the two great parties were fairly brought face to face. The Guelfs shouted for the Pope and freedom; the Ghibellines for the Emperor and order. The former cursed the heretical tyrant, the worst of his wicked race, who was bringing Germans from the North and Arabs from the South to sweep away the hard-won rights of the Italian cities. The Ghibellines pointed to the bloody wars between neighbouring towns, wars that had never ceased to rage within the memory of man. What prospect of happiness or peace could there be, unless the Emperor should appear in Italy and put down all civil broils with the strong hand? Italy in that age found it hard to draw the line between freedom and anarchy, between order and CHAP. tyranny. She has learnt better now; but in the XII. Thirteenth Century she was divided into two camps. 1237-1239. Genoa, Milan, Venice, Bologna, and Perugia were the chief Guelf states. Pisa, Cremona, Padua, Modena, and Siena were at the head of the Ghibelline interest. We can have but a slight idea of the fierce spirit evoked by the two great party names. Dante's lines give us an insight into the depth of hatred with which each state regarded its neighbour. We learn from the great Florentine how Pisa was the shame of Italy, how Pistoia was a den of thieves, how Genoa was a city of men void of honour, how Rome was the basest of them all. If one state took the Guelf side, that was reason enough for its neighbour to become Ghibelline. Revolutions of politics were frequent; exiles abounded, ever on the watch. to wreak their vengeance on those who had driven them out. The very family names used in that age imply its spirit; how full of meaning are the names Caccianemico and Prendiparti! The most horrible phase of the civil war was, when it sundered families, or rendered all government impossible. What a picture of factious rage is drawn by an admiring eye-witness! There was a club at Parma called that of the Crusaders, who combined together for the honour of God and Holy Church; they had a King's name inscribed at the head of their rolls in golden letters by his own special desire. They stuck to each other like bees; if a fellow-citizen who did not belong to the club chanced to wrong one of its members, they would all run and pull down the offender's house until not a stone was left. The result of this terrorism was that the citizens either joined the club or took care to live in peace with its mem bers.* This was the state of affairs in a city devoted *Salimbene. Charles of Anjou was the club's patron; it was set on foot after Parma had joined the Guelfs. XII. 1237-1239. |