LXIX. generous resistance allowed the Romans to compare the CHAP. present with the past; and Brancaleone was conducted from the prison to the Capitol amidst the acclamations of a repentant people. The remainder of his government was firm and fortunate; and as soon as envy was appeased by death, his head, enclosed in a precious vase, was deposited on a lofty column of marble.49 The impotence of reason and virtue recommended in Charles of Italy a more effectual choice: instead of a private citizen, A.D. 1265 Anjou, to whom they yielded a voluntary and precarious obedience, ...1278. the Romans elected for their senator some prince of independent power, who could defend them from their enemies and themselves. Charles of Anjou and Provence, the most ambitious and warlike monarch of the age, accepted at the same time the kingdom of Naples from the pope, and the office of senator from the Roman people.50 As he passed through the city, in his road to victory, he received their oath of allegiance, lodged in the Lateran palace, and smoothed in a short visit the harsh features of his despotic character. Yet even Charles was exposed to the inconstancy of the people, who saluted with the same acclamations the passage of his rival, the unfortunate Conradin; and a powerful avenger, who reigned in the Capitol, alarmed the fears and jealousy of the popes. The absolute term of his life was superseded by a renewal every third year; and the enmity of Nicholas the third obliged the Sicilian king to abdicate the government of Rome. In his bull, a perpetual law, the imperious pontiff asserts the truth, validity, and use, of the donation of Constantine, not less essential to the peace of the city, than to the independence of the church; establishes the annual election of the senator; and formally disqualifies all emperors, kings, princes, and persons of an eminent and conspicuous rank.51 This prohibitory clause was repealed 49 Matthew Paris thus ends his account: Caput vero ipsius Brancaleonis in vase pretioso super marmoream columnam collocatum, in signum sui valo. ris et probitatis, quasi reliquias, superstitiose nimis et pompose sustulerunt. Fuerat enim superborum potentum et malefactorum urbis malleus et exstirpator, et populi protector et defensor, veritatis et justitiæ imitator et amator (p. 840). A biographer of Innocent IV. (Muratori, Script. tom. iii P. i. p. 591, 592) draws a less favourable portrait of this Ghibeline senator. 50 The election of Charles of Anjou to the office of perpetual senator of Rome, is mentioned by the historians in the viiith volume of the collection of Muratori, by Nicholas de Jamsilla (p. 592.) the monk of Padua (p.724.) Sabas Malaspina (1. ii. c. 9. p. 808.) and Ricordano Malaspina (c. 177. p. 999). 51 The high sounding bull of Nicholas III. which founds his temporal sove LXIX. A. D. 1281. CHAP. in his own behalf by Martin the fourth, who humbly solicited the suffrage of the Romans. In the presence, and by the authority, of the people, two electors conferred, not on Pope Martin IV. the pope, but on the noble and faithful Martin, the dignity of senator, and the supreme administration of the republic,52 to hold during his natural life, and to exercise at pleasure The em- by himself or his deputies. About fifty years afterwards, the same title was granted to the emperor Lewis of Bavaria ; and the liberty of Rome was acknowledged by her two sove1328. reigns, who accepted a municipal office in the government of their own metropolis. peror Lewis of Bavaria, A. D. Addresses of Rome to the emperors. Conrad III. A.D. 1144. In the first moments of rebellion, when Arnold of Brescia had inflamed their minds against the church, the Romans artfully laboured to conciliate the favour of the empire, and to recommend their merit and services in the cause of Cæsar. The style of their ambassadors to Conrad the third and Frederic the first, is a mixture of flattery and pride, the tradition and the ignorance of their own history. After some complaint of his silence and neglect, they exhort the former of these princes to pass the Alps, and assume from their hands the Imperial crown. "We beseech your ma"jesty, not to disdain the humility of your sons and vas"sals, not to listen to the accusations of our common ene"mies; who calumniate the senate as hostile to your throne, "who sow the seeds of discord, that they may reap the har"vest of destruction. The pope and the Sicilian are united "in an impious league to oppose our liberty and your coro"nation. With the blessing of God, our zeal and courage "has hitherto defeated their attempts. Of their powerful "and factious adherents, more especially the Frangipani, "we have taken by assault the houses and turrets: some of "these are occupied by our troops, and some are levelled reignty on the donation of Constantine, is still extant; and as it has been inserted by Boniface VIII. in the Sexte of the Decretals, it must be received by the Catholics, or at least by the Papists, as a sacred and perpetual law. 52 I am indebted to Fleury (Hist. Eccles. tom. xviii. p. 306.) for an extract of this Roman act, which he has taken from the Ecclesiastical Annals of Odericus Raynaldus, A. D. 1281, No. 14, 15. 53 These letters and speeches are preserved by Otho bishop of Frisingen (Fabric. Bibliot. Lat. med. et infim. tom. v. p. 186, 187.) perhaps the noblest of historians; he was son of Leopold marquis of Austria, his mother, Agnes, was daughter of the emperor Henry IV. and he was half-brother and uncle to Conrad III. and Frederic I. He has left, in seven books, a Chronicle of the Times; in two, the Gesta Frederici I. the last of which is inserted in the sixth volume of Muratori's historians. LXIX. "with the ground. The Milvian bridge, which they had CHAP. safe "broken, is restored and fortified for your passage; and "your army may enter the city without being annoyed from "the castle of St. Angelo. All that we have done, and all "that we design, is for your honour and service, in the loyal "hope, that you will speedily appear in person, to vindicate "those rights which have been invaded by the clergy, to re"vive the dignity of the empire, and to surpass the fame "and glory of your predecessors. May you fix your resi"dence in Rome, the capital of the world; give laws to Italy, "and the Teutonic kingdom; and imitate the example of "Constantine and Justinian, who by the vigour of the se"nate and people obtained the sceptre of the earth." these splendid and fallacious wishes were not cherished by Conrad the Franconian, whose eyes were fixed on the Holy Land, and who died without visiting Rome soon after his return from the Holy Land. 54 But A. D. 1155. His nephew and successor Frederic Barbarossa, was more Frederic Lj ambitious of the Imperial crown; nor had any of the successors of Otho acquired such absolute sway over the kingdom of Italy. Surrounded by his ecclesiastical and secular princes, he gave audience in his camp at Sutri to the ambassadors of Rome, who thus addressed him in a free and florid oration:" Incline your ear to the queen of cities; ap"proach with a peaceful and friendly mind the precincts of "Rome, which has cast away the yoke of the clergy, and is "impatient to crown her legitimate emperor. Under your "auspicious influence, may the primitive times be restored. "Assert the prerogatives of the eternal city, and reduce "under her monarchy, the insolence of the world. You are "not ignorant, that, in former ages, by the wisdom of the 66 senate, by the valour and discipline of the equestrian or"der, she extended her victorious arms to the East and "West, beyond the Alps, and over the islands of the ocean. "By our sins, in the absence of our princes, the noble insti"tution of the senate has sunk in oblivion: and with our “prudence, our strength has likewise decreased. We have 54 We desire (said the ignorant Romans) to restore the empire in eum statum, quo fuit tempore Constantini et Justiniani, qui totum orbem vigore senatus et populi Romani suis tenuere manibus. 55 Otho Frising. de Gestis Frederici I. 1. i. c. 28. p. 662...664. CHAP. "revived the senate, and the equestrian order; the counsels LXIX. " of the one, the arms of the other, will be devoted to your person and the service of the empire. Do you not hear "the language of the Roman matron? You were a guest, I "have adopted you as a citizen; a Transalpine stranger, I "have elected you for my sovereign; 56 and given you my"self, and all that is mine. Your first and most sacred duty, "is to swear and subscribe, that you will shed your blood "for the republic; that you will maintain in peace and jus"tice, the laws of the city and the charters of your prede(6 cessors; and that you will reward with five thousand pounds of silver the faithful senators who shall proclaim your titles in the Capitol. With the name, assume the "character, of Augustus." The flowers of Latin rhetoric were not yet exhausted; but Frederic, impatient of their vanity, interrupted the orators in the high tone of royalty and conquest. "Famous indeed have been the fortitude and "wisdom of the ancient Romans: but your speech is not "seasoned with wisdom, and I could wish that fortitude "were conspicuous in your actions. Like all sublunary "things, Rome has felt the vicissitudes of time and fortune. "Your noblest families were translated to the East, to the "royal city of Constantine; and the remains of your strength "and freedom, have long since been exhausted by the Greeks "and Franks. Are you desirous of beholding the ancient "glory of Rome, the gravity of the senate, the spirit of the knights, the discipline of the camp, the valour of the le"gions? you will find them in the German republic. It is "not empire, naked and alone, the ornaments and virtues "of empire have likewise migrated beyond the Alps to a "more deserving people:" they will be employed in your "defence, but they claim your obedience. You pretend that "myself or my predecessors have been invited by the Ro"mans: you mistake the word, they were not invited; they "were implored. From its foreign and domestic tyrants, "the city was rescued by Charlemagne and Otho, whose 56 Hospes eras, civem feci. Advena fuisti ex Transalpinis partibus; principem constitui. 57 Non cessit nobis nudum imperium, virtute sua amictum venit, orna. menta sua secum traxit. Penes nos sunt consules tui, &c. Cicero or Livy would not have rejected these images, the eloquence of a Barbarian born and educated in the Hercynian forest. LXIX. "ashes repose in our country: and their dominion was the CHAP. price of your deliverance. Under that dominion your an66 cestors lived and died. I claim by the right of inheritance "and possession, and who shall dare to extort you from my "hands? Is the hand of the Franks 58 and Germans enfeebled by age? Am I vanquished? Am I a captive? Am I not પ encompassed with the banners of a potent and invincible "army? You impose conditions on your master; you re"quire oaths: if the conditions are just, an oath is superflu"ous; if unjust, it is criminal. Can you doubt my equity? "It is extended to the meanest of my subjects. Will not my sword be unsheathed in the defence of the Capitol? "By that sword the northern kingdom of Denmark has been "restored to the Roman empire. You prescribe the mea"sure and the objects of my bounty, which flows in a copi"ous but a voluntary stream. All will be given to patient "merit; all will be denied to rude importunity.' "59 Neither the emperor nor the senate could maintain these lofty pretensions of dominion and liberty. United with the pope, and suspicious of the Romans, Frederic continued his march to the Vatican his coronation was disturbed by a sally from the Capitol; and if the numbers and valour of the Germans prevailed in the bloody conflict, he could not safely encamp in the presence of a city of which he styled himself the sove reign. About twelve years afterwards, he besieged Rome, to seat an antipope in the chair of St. Peter; and twelve Pisan gallies were introduced into the Tyber: but the senate and people were saved by the arts of negociation and the progress of disease; nor did Frederic or his successors reiterate the hostile attempt. Their laborious reigns were exercised by the popes, the crusades, and the independence of Lombardy and Germany; they courted the alliance of the Romans; and Frederic the second offered in the Capitol the great standard, the Caroccio of Milan. After the extinction 60 58 Otho of Frisingen, who surely understood the language of the court and diet of Germany, speaks of the Franks in the xiith century as the reigning nation (Proceres Franci, equites Franci, manus Francorum): he adds, however, the epithet of Teutonici. 59 Otho Frising. de Gestis Frederici I. 1. ii. c. 22. p. 720...723. These original and authentic acts I have translated and abridged with freedom, yet with fidelity. 60 From the Chronicles of Ricobaldo and Francis Pipin, Muratori (dissert. xxvi. tom. ii. p. 492.) has transcribed this curious fact with the doggrel verses that accompanied the gift. Ave VOL. VIII. Се |