XI. 1235-1239. pets, which were blown from morning till evening. CHAP. He remained for a fortnight at Ponte Vico, which he burnt. While there, he was visited by two Abbots, who had suffered much at the hands of his Pavian allies. The complainants had made their way on foot to Frederick's camp, ill-supplied with means, and after in vain waiting several days for a good opportunity, they contrived to reach the Emperor, who was on horseback. He heard their story, which they told in a few words; he merely said he was sorry for what had happened, and rode off.* After throwing several bridges over the Oglio, he crossed it on the morning of the 24th of November at Ponte Vico, a few miles to the south of the Milanese position. He ordered the fords of the river to be strictly watched, and at the same time spread a report, that he was on his way to his winter quarters at Cremona. In fact, he dismissed the common soldiers and the Carroccios. His army was melting away by degrees; the knights and burghers, as was usually the case in a feudal host, were weary of delay and dispirited by the bad weather. Frederick, however, kept with him a chosen body of men, rather more than ten thousand in all. With these he made a sharp turn to the north-west from Ponte Vico, instead of taking the southern road to Cremona. He encamped at Soncino, about twenty miles from his old position, having the Oglio on his right flank. The Milanese, being in want of provisions, broke up from their new camp at Palazzolo, twenty miles to the north of Soncino, and crossed the Oglio on their homeward march, at a CHAP. 1235-1239. spot nearly half way between Brescia and Milan. They had not the least idea that all the fords and bridges were watched by an unseen foe. They kept no order on the march, but hurried on quite unconscious of the coming disaster, beguiling the way with songs. At three o'clock, one of Frederick's knights rode up to them on a white horse, shouting, 'Be ready, for the Emperor is going to give you battle.' Some men of Bergamo had made a signal to Frederick, lighting a fire on the top of the Church at Cividate, through which village the Lombards must have passed. Suddenly the Emperor burst upon his enemies out of a wood, after having made one of his rapid marches from Soncino. His army, drawn up in seven divisions, appeared upon the left flank of the foe. Even before his Eagles could be brought to the front, the Milanese, throwing away their musical instruments, fled to their Carroccio, which early that morning had been conveyed with the tents to Cortenuova, a distance of one mile from the spot where they were surprised. The Emperor sounded his trumpets, and sent on first his light-armed Saracen troops, following himself with the main body. The Moslem were almost cut to pieces, yet their arrows wrought fearful havock among the Lombards; for when Frederick came up, he found the ground strewn with knights, either slain, or wounded, or being tended by their squires; while his march was hindered by numbers of riderless horses galloping about the field. The Milanese Carroccio had been stationed near the walls of Cortenuova, where the Lombards had meant to encamp for the night. It was protected by trenches, and the whole of the rebel army, cavalry and infantry, were drawn up around it. They fought for their standard with wonderful stubbornness; it Henry of Monza, the Captain of the Company of the Brave, had greatly distinguished himself in the battle. During the night, he with his own hands hewed the Carroccio in pieces, knowing that it would be impossible to save it, if the fight were to be renewed on the morrow. The Fire-kindler, being a man of enormous strength, carried off home the mast, cross, and banner. When day broke, Frederick found that the Milanese were gone, and that the garrison of Cortenuova, a strong Castle which might have made a stout resistance, had also fled; this fortress was utterly destroyed. The remains of the Carroccio were found by Frederick in the morning, left amidst a crowd of waggons; he himself says in his despatch, that he recovered the cross which had surmounted the national standard of Milan, and which the fugitives had dropped in their flight. Peter Tiepolo, the hapless Podesta, was a prisoner in the hands of the Emperor, whom he had twice thwarted. The Archbishop of Milan was nowhere to be found. Almost 10,000 of the rebels had been CHAP. XI. 1235-1239. СНАР. XI. 1235-1239. taken or slain, although the fight had been confined to the afternoon of a November day. The field of battle must have been a fearful sight indeed. Peter de Vinea writes, "Who can describe the heaps of corpses and the number of captives? God, a just Judge, had at last regard to the rights of the Empire, and overthrew the pride of the Lombards; they lost their Carroccio and their Podesta; each of our men slew as many as he would, and took as many as he would. At length, leaving their arms, tents, and waggons, the enemy fled; and the greater part of them were drowned in the rivers. Cæsar himself smote all foes with his own hand; the Germans dyed their swords in blood; the happy knights of the Kingdom fought wonderfully by the side of their Prince; the warriors of Pavia avenged themselves thoroughly on the Milanese; the loyal Cremonese with the other states satiated their axes with blood; the Saracens emptied their quivers. Never in any war were so many corpses piled up; had not night come on suddenly, none of the enemy would have fled from Cæsar's hands; it was wonderful how many of our men escaped death.' Such was the field of Cortenuova, fought on the 27th of November. It was one of the great battles of the Middle Ages; the Austerlitz of Frederick, which ought to have given him the whole of Italy, had he been as skilful in reaping results as in planning campaigns. All the generalship was on one side. Frederick was one of those commanders who win the day rather by the exercise of their own brains than by the lavish outpouring of their soldiers' blood. Galvano Fiamma, who gives us the Milanese view of the case, evidently thinks that his countrymen were swindled out of the victory; he cannot appreciate the Imperial strategy; his voice is all for a clear stage and no favour. He thus addresses the Conqueror; You lay hid like a robber in a cave; you never gave us warning; you set upon us when we were unarmed. Think that you could not overcome one band! Though you did take our Carroccio, left stuck in the mud, you have no cause to boast! Ah, wait the event of future years!' The angry annalist is unaware of the fact that Frederick only showed his powers of generalship, in forcing the enemy to fight at a disadvantage to themselves. The Milanese had, indeed, met with a fearful disaster; one half of their army was either killed or taken, and thousands of horses, oxen, waggons, and tents were left in the Emperor's hands. A new mishap befell the scattered remnant, as it was straggling home; the men of Bergamo treacherously seized and imprisoned as many of the survivors as they could catch, although they had given the Milanese a free passage through their territory, when Brescia was to be succoured. The fugitives, however, found a good friend in Pagano Della Torre, a noble Guelf, who was liberal with money and medicine, and who lent large sums to the beggared treasury of Milan. He thus laid the foundation of the future power of his house in that city.* In the mean time, Frederick led his victorious host, with the thousands of prisoners taken in the late battle, to Cremona. He made a triumphal is • M. Paris; G. Fiamma; Ann. Mediolan; Chronicon, which full of details of the battle; also Frederick's letters. very CHAP. XI. 1235-1239. |