one of the finest countries of Europe, lying between 7 and 10 degrees of E. Long., and between 37 and 46 degrees of N. Lat. On the north, north-west, and north-east, it is bounded by France, Switzerland, the country of the Grisons, and Germany; on the east, by the Adriatic sea or gulf of Venice; and on the south and west, by the Mediterranean; its figure bearing some resemblance to that of a boot. Its length from Aosta, at the foot of the Alps in Savoy, to the utmost verge of Calabria, is about 600 miles; but its breadth is very unequal, being in some places near 400 miles, in others not above 25 or 30.

Italy was anciently known by the names of Saturnia, Oenotria, Hesperia, and Aufonia. It was called names Saturnia from Saturn; who, being driven out of Crete by his son Jupiter, is supposed to have taken refuge here. The names of Oenotria and Aufonia are borrowed from its ancient inhabitants the Oenotrians and Aufones; and that of Hesperia or Western was given it by the Greeks, from its situation with respect to Greece. The name of Italia, or Italy, which in process of time prevailed all over the rest, is by some derived from Italos, a king of the Siculi; by others, from the Greek word Italos, signifying an ox; this country abounding, by reason of its rich pastures, with oxen of an extraordinary size and beauty. All these names were originally peculiar to particular provinces of Italy, but afterwards applied to the whole country.

This country, like most others, was in ancient times divided into a great number of petty states and kingdoms. Afterwards when the Gauls settled in the western, and many Greek colonies in the eastern parts, Italy, it was divided, with respect to its inhabitants, into three great parts, viz. Gallia Cisalpina, Italy properly so called, and Magna Graecia. The most western and northern parts of Italy were in great part possessed by the Gauls; and hence took the name of Gallia, with the epithets of Cisalpina and Citerior, because they lay on the side of the Alps next to Rome; and Togaina, with relation to the Roman gown or dress which the inhabitants used; but this last epithet is of a much later date than the former. This appellation was antiquated in the reign of Augustus, when the division of Italy into eleven provinces, introduced by that prince, took place. Hence it is that the name of Cisalpine Gaul frequently occurs in the authors who flourished before, and scarce ever in those who wrote after, the reign of Augustus. This country extended from the Alps and the river Varus, parting it from Transalpine Gaul, to the river Aesius; or, as Pliny will have it, to the city of Ancona, in the ancient Picenum. On the north, it was divided from Rhaetia by the Alps, called Alpes Rhaeticae; and from Illyricum by the river Formio: but on this side, the borders of Italy were, in Pliny's time, extended to the river Arista in Illyria. On the south, it reached to the Ligurian sea, and the Apennines parting it from Etruria; so that under the common name of Cisalpine Gaul were comprehended the countries lying at the foot of the Alps, called by Pliny and Strabo the Subalpine countries, Liguria, Gallia Cispadana and Transpadana. Italy, properly so called, extended, on the coast of the Adriatic, from the city of Ancona to the river Trento, now the Fortore; and on the Mediterranean, from the Macra to the Silarus, now the Sele. Magna Graecia comprised Apulia, Lucania, and the country of the Bruttii. It was called Greece, because most of the cities on the coast were Greek colonies. The inhabitants gave it the name of Great, not as if it was larger than Greece, but merely out of ostentation, as Pliny informs us.

All these countries were inhabited by a great number of different nations settled at different times, and from many different parts. The names of the most remarkable of them were the Aborigines, or those whose origin was utterly unknown, and consequently were thought to have none; the Sabines, Hebrurians or Tuscans, the Umbri, Samnites, Campani, Apulii, Calabrii, Lucanii, the Bruttii, and the Latins. From a colony of the latter proceeded the Romans, who gradually subdued all these nations one after another, and held them in subjection for upwards of 700 years. All these nations were originally brave, hardy, temperate, and well skilled in the art of war; and the Romans much more so than the rest. Their subjection to Rome, however, inured them to slavery; their oppression by the emperors broke their spirit; and the vast wealth which was poured into the country from all parts of the world, during the time of the Roman prosperity, corrupted their manners, and made them degenerate from their former valour. Of this degeneracy the barbarous nations of the north took the advantage to invade the empire in innumerable multitudes. Though often repelled, they never failed to return; and it was found necessary to take great numbers of them into the Roman service, in order to defend the empire against the rest of their countrymen.

In the year 476, the Heruli, presuming on the services they had done the empire, demanded a third part of the lands of Italy; and being refused, chose one Odoacer, a man of low birth, but of great valour and rati experience, for their king; and having totally destroyed the remains of the Roman empire, proclaimed Odoacer king of Italy. The new monarch, however, did not think proper to alter the Roman form of government, but suffered the people to be governed by the senate, consuls, &c., as before. He enjoyed his dignity in peace till the year 488, when Zeno, emperor of Constantinople, being hard pressed by Theodoric king of the Ostrogoths, advised him to turn his arms against Odoacer, whom he could easily overcome, and thus make himself sovereign of one of the finest countries in the world.

Theodoric accepted the proposal with great joy, invaded by and set out for Italy, attended by an infinite number of people, carrying with them their wives, children, the Ostrogoths and effects, on waggons. Several Romans of great distinction attended him in this war; while, on the other hand, many of his countrymen chose to remain in Thrace, where they became a separate nation, and lived for a long time in amity with the Romans. The Goths, being destitute of shipping, were obliged to go round the Adriatic. Their march was performed in the depth of winter; and during the whole time, a violent famine and plague raged in their army. They were also opposed by the Gepidae and Sarmatians; but at last having defeated these enemies, and overcome every other obstacle, they arrived in Italy in the year 489. Theodoric advanced to the river Sontius, now Zonzo, near Aquileia, where he halted for some time to refresh his troops. Here he was met by Odoacer at the head of a very numerous army, but composed of many different nations commanded by their respective chiefs, and consequently without sufficient union or zeal for the common cause. Theodoric therefore gained an easy victory, cut many of his enemies in pieces, and took their camp. Odoacer retired to the plains of Verona, and encamped there at a small distance from the city; but Theodoric pursued him close, and soon forced him to a second engagement. The Goths obtained another victory; but it cost them dear. Odoacer's men made a much better resistance than before, and great numbers fell on both sides. The victory, however, was so far decisive, that Odoacer was obliged to flit himself up in Ravenna; so that Theodoric having now no enemy to oppose him in the field, besieged and took several important places, and among the rest Milan and Pavia. At the same time, Tufa, commander in chief of Odoacer's forces, deserted to the enemy with the greatest part of the troops he had with him, and was immediately employed in conjunction with a Gothic officer in pursuit of his sovereign. Odoacer had left that city, and was advanced as far as Faenza, where he was closely besieged by Tufa; but the traitor, declaring again for his old master, joined him with all his troops, and delivered up several officers that had been appointed by Theodoric to serve under him. These were sent in irons to Ravenna; and Odoacer being joined by Frideric, one of Theodoric's allies, with a considerable body of troops, once more advanced against his enemies. He recovered all Liguria, took the city of Milan, Milan, and at last besieged Theodoric himself in Pavia. The Goths, having brought all their families and effects along with them, were greatly distressed for want of room; and must have undoubtedly submitted, if their enemies had continued to agree among themselves. The quarrels of his followers proved the ruin of Odoacer. Theodoric finding that the enemy remitted the vigour of their operations, applied for succours to Alaric king of the Visigoths, who had settled in Gaul. As the Visigoths and Ostrogoths were originally one and the same nation, and the Visigoths had received among them some years before a great number of Ostrogoths under the conduct of Videmer confin-german to Theodoric, the supplies were readily granted. The inaction of the enemy gave these succours time to arrive; upon which Theodoric instantly joined them, and marching against his enemies gave them a total overthrow. Odoacer again took refuge in Ravenna, but was closely besieged by Theodoric in 490. The siege lasted three years; during which Odoacer defended himself with great bravery, and greatly annoyed the besiegers with his follies. Theodoric, however, impatient of delay, leaving part of his army to blockade the city, marched with the rest against the strong holds which Odoacer had garrisoned. All these he reduced with little difficulty; and in 492 returned to the siege of Ravenna. The besieged were now reduced to great straits both by the enemy without and a famine within, the price of wheat being risen to six pieces of gold per bushel. On the other hand, the Goths were quite worn out with the fatigues of such a long siege; so that both parties being willing to put an end to the war, Odoacer sent John bishop of Ravenna to Theodoric with terms of accommodation. Jornandes informs us, that Odoacer only begged his life; which Theodoric bound himself, by a solemn oath, to grant him: but Procopius says, that they agreed to live together on equal terms. This last seems very improbable: but whatever were the terms of the agreement, it is certain that Theodoric did not keep them; for having a few days after invited Odoacer to a banquet, he dispatched him with his own hand. All his servants and relations were massacred at the same time; except his brother Arnulphus, and a few more, who had the good luck to make their escape, and retired beyond the Danube.

Thus Theodoric became master of all Italy, and took upon himself the title of king of that country, as Odoacer had done before; though, with a pretended deference to the emperor of Constantinople, he sent messengers asking liberty to assume that title after he had actually taken it. Having secured his new kingdom as well as he could by foreign alliances, Theodoric next applied himself to legislation, and enacted many salutary laws besides those of the Romans which he retained. He chose Ravenna for the place of his residence, in order to be near at hand to put a stop to the incursions of the barbarians. The provinces were governed by the same magistrates that had presided over them in the times of the emperors, viz., the confratres, correctores, and praefices. But besides these, he sent, according to the custom of the Goths, inferior judges, distinguished by the name of counts, to each city. These were to administer justice, and to decide all controversies and disputes. And herein the polity of the Goths far excelled that of the Romans. For in the Roman times a whole province was governed by a confrarius, a corrector, or a praefex, who resided in the chief city, and to whom recourse was to be had at a great charge from the most remote parts: but Theodoric, besides these officers, appointed not only in the principal cities, but in every small town and village, inferior magistrates of known integrity, who were to administer justice, and by that means save those who had law-suits the trouble and expense of recurring to the governor of the whole province; no appeals to distant tribunals being allowed, but in matters of the greatest importance, or in cases of manifest injustice.

Under the administration of Theodoric Italy enjoyed as great happiness as had been experienced under the very best emperors. As he had made no alteration in the laws except that above mentioned; so he contented himself with the same tributes and taxes that had been levied by the emperors; but was, on all occasions of public calamity, much more ready to remit them than most of the emperors had been. He did not treat the natives as those of the other Roman provinces were treated by the barbarians who conquered them. These stripped the ancient proprietors of their lands, estates, and possessions, dividing them among their chiefs; and giving to one a province with the title of duke, to another a frontier country with the title of marquis; to some a city with the title of count, to others a castle or village with the title of baron. But Theodoric, who piqued himself upon governing after the Roman manner, and observing the Roman laws and institutions, left every one in the full enjoyment of his ancient property. As to religion, though he himself, like most of his countrymen, professed the tenets of Arius, he allowed his subjects to profess the orthodox doctrine without molestation, giving liberty even to the Goths to renounce the doctrines in which they had been educated, and embrace the contrary opinions. In short, his many virtues, and the happiness of his subjects, are celebrated by all the historians of those times. The end of his reign, however, was fulfilled by Beheads the death of the celebrated philosopher Boethius, and Boethius his father-in-law Symmachus. They were both beheaded and Symmachus in Pavia, on an unjust suspicion of treason; and died of fear was the sentence put in execution when the king grief repented, and abandoned himself to the most pungent sorrow. The excess of his grief affected his understanding: for not long after, the head of a large fish being served up to supper, he fancied the head of the fish to be that of Symmachus threatening him in a ghastly manner. Hereupon, seized with horror and amazement, he was carried to his bed-chamber, where he died in a few days, on the 2d of September 526.

After the death of Theodoric, the kingdom devolved to Athalaric his grandson; who being at that time only eight years of age, his mother Amalasuntha took upon her the regency. Her administration was equally upright with that of Theodoric himself; but the barbarians of whom her court was composed, finding fault with the encouragement she gave to learning, forced tally, her to abandon the education of her son. The latter thereupon plunged into all manner of wickedness, and behaved to his mother with the greatest arrogance; and, the faction finding themselves thus strengthened, at last commanded the queen to retire from court.

Amalasuntha, Amalasuntha, exerting her authority, seized three of the ringleaders of the sedition, whom she confined in the most remote parts of Italy. But these maintaining a secret correspondence with their friends and relations, never ceased to stir up the people against her; infomuch, that the queen, apprehending that the faction might in the end prevail, wrote to the emperor Justinian, begging leave to take refuge in his dominions. The emperor readily complied with her request, offering a noble palace at Durazzo for her habitation; but the queen having in the mean time caused the three ringleaders to be put to death, and no new disturbances arising thereupon, she did not accept of the emperor's offer. In 533, Athalaric having contracted a lingering distemper by his riotous living and debaucheries, Amalasuntha, to avoid the calamities with which Italy was threatened in case of his death, formed a design of delivering it up to Justinian; but before her scheme was ripe for execution, Athalaric died. Upon which the queen took for her colleague one Theodotus her cousin; obliging him, however, to swear that he would suffer her to enjoy and exercise her former power.

This he very readily did, but soon forgot his promise; and when she took the liberty to remind him of it, caused her to be seized and confined on an island of the lake Bolsena in Tuscany. But as Theodotus had great reason to believe that this conduct would be resented by Justinian, he obliged her to write to him that no injury or injustice had been done her. Along with this letter he sent one written by himself, and filled with heavy complaints against Amalasuntha. The emperor, however, was so far from giving credit to what Theodotus urged against her, that he openly espoused her cause, wrote her a most affectionate letter, and assured her of his protection. But before this letter could reach her, the unhappy princess was strangled in the bath by the friends of those whom in the reign of her son she had deservedly put to death for raising disturbances in the state.

On the news of Amalasuntha's death, Justinian resolved upon an immediate war with the Goths; and, to facilitate the enterprise, used his utmost endeavours to induce the Franks to assist him. To his solicitations he added a large sum of money; which last was very acceptable to his new allies. They promised to assist the emperor to the utmost of their power; but instead of performing their promise, while Justinian's arms were employed against the Goths, Thierri, the eldest son of Clovis, seized on several cities of Liguria, the Alpes Cottiae, and great part of the present territory of Vienne, for himself. Justinian, however, found sufficient resources in the valour of Belisarius, notwithstanding the defection of his treacherous allies. This celebrated general was vested with the supreme command, and absolute authority. His instructions were to pretend a voyage to Carthage, but to make an attempt upon Sicily; and if he thought he could succeed in the attempt, to land there; otherwise to fail for Africa, without discovering his intentions. Another general, named Mundus, commander of the troops in Illyricum, was ordered to march into Dalmatia, which was subject to the Goths, and attempt the reduction of Salona, the better to open a passage into Italy. This he accomplished without difficulty, and Belisarius made himself master of Sicily sooner than he himself had expected. The island was reduced on the last of December 535; upon which Belisarius, without loss of time, passed over to Reggio, which opened its gates to him. From Reggio he pursued his march to Rome, the provinces of Abrutium, Lucania, Puglia, Calabria, and Samnium, readily submitting to him. The city of Naples endured a siege; but Belisarius entered in through an aqueduct, and gave it up to be plundered by his soldiers.

Theodotus alarmed at these successes, and having neither capacity nor inclination to carry on the war, sent ambassadors to Justinian with proposals of peace. He agreed to renounce all pretensions to the island of Sicily; to send the emperor yearly a crown of gold weighing 300 pounds; and to supply him with 3000 men whenever he should think proper to demand them. Several other articles were contained in the proposal, which amounted to the owning of Justinian for his lord, and that he held the crown of Italy only through his favour. As he apprehended, however, that these offers might not yet be satisfactory, he recalled his ambassadors for further orders. They were now directed to inform Justinian, that Theodotus was willing to resign the kingdom to him, and content himself with a pension suitable to his quality. But he obliged them by an oath not to mention this proposal, till they found that the emperor would not accept of the other. The first proposals were accordingly rejected as they had supposed; upon which the ambassadors produced the second, signed by Theodotus himself, who in his letter to the emperor told him, among other things, that being unacquainted with war, and addicted to the study of philosophy, he preferred his quiet to a kingdom. Justinian, transported with joy, and imagining the war already finished, answered the king in a most obliging manner, extolling his wisdom, and giving him besides what he demanded the greatest honours of the empire. The agreement being confirmed by mutual oaths, lands were assigned to Theodotus out of the king's domain, and orders were dispatched to Belisarius to take possession of Italy in his name.

In the mean time, a body of Goths having entered Dalmatia, with a design to recover the city of Salona, were encountered by an inferior army of Romans, commanded by the son of Mundus above mentioned. The Goths proved victorious; and the young general of the Romans was killed, and most of his army cut in pieces. Mundus marched against the enemy to revenge the death of his son; but met with no better success, his troops being defeated, and he himself killed in the engagement. Upon this the Romans abandoned Salona and all Dalmatia; and Theodotus, elated with his success, refused to fulfil the articles of the treaty. Justinian dispatched Constantianus, an officer of great valour and experience, into Illyricum, with orders to raise forces there, and to enter Dalmatia; at the same time he wrote to Belisarius to pursue the war with the utmost vigour.

The Goths were now reduced to the greatest straits. Constantianus drove them out of Dalmatia; and Belisarius having reduced all the provinces which compose the present kingdom of Naples, advanced towards Rome. The chief men of the nation, finding their king incapable of preventing the impending ruin, assembled Vitiges began his government by writing a circular letter, in which he exhorted his countrymen to exert their ancient courage, and fight bravely for their lives and liberties. He then marched with what forces he could collect towards Rome; but not thinking himself able to defend that city against the Roman forces, he abandoned it to Belisarius, and arriving at Ravenna was joined by the Goths from all parts, so that he soon found himself at the head of a considerable army. Belisarius in the mean time entered Rome without opposition, on the 9th or 10th of December 537. The Gothic garrison retired by the Porta Flaminia, while Belisarius entered by the Porta Asinaria. Leudarius, governor of the city, who stood behind, was sent, together with the keys, to the emperor. Belisarius immediately applied himself to the repairing of the walls and other fortifications; filled the granaries with corn, which he caused to be brought from Sicily; and stored the place with provisions, as if he had been preparing for a siege; which gave no small uneasiness to the inhabitants, who chole rather that their city should lie open to every invader, than that they should be liable to the calamities of a siege. While Belisarius was thus employed at Rome, the city of Benevento, with great part of the territory of Samnium, was delivered up to him: at the same time the cities of Nar- nia, Spoleto, and Perusia, revolting from the Goths, received Roman garrisons; as did most of the cities of Tuscany.

In the mean time, Vitiges having collected an army of 150,000 men, resolved to march directly to Rome, and engage Belisarius; or, if he declined an engagement, to lay siege to the city. But apprehending that the Franks, who were in confederacy with the emperor, might fall upon him at the same time, he sent ambassadors to them, with offers of all the Gothic possessions in Gaul, besides a considerable sum of money, provided they joined him against the emperor. The Franks with their usual treachery consented to the proposal, received the money and the territories agreed on, and then refused to fulfil the terms of the treaty. Vitiges, however, began his march to Rome, leaving behind him all the fortified towns on the road, the reduction of which he knew would cost him too much trouble. Belisarius, whose army, reduced by the many towns he had garrisoned, did not now amount to above 5000 men, dispatched messengers to Constantius in Tuscany; and to Bessas, by nation a Goth, but of the emperor's party, in Umbria, with orders to join him with all possible expedition; writing at the same time to the emperor himself for supplies in the most pressing manner. Constantius joined him pursuant to his orders; and soon after, Bessas, falling in with part of the enemy's vanguard, killed a considerable number of them, and put the rest to flight. Belisarius had built a fort upon a bridge about a mile from Rome, and placed a strong garrison in it to dispute the passage with the enemy; but the garrison, seized with a panic at the approach of the Goths, abandoned their post in the night, and fled into Campania. Early in the morning Vitiges passed over great part of his army, and marched on till he was met by Belisarius, who, knowing nothing of what had happened, came with 1000 horse to view the ground about the bridge. He was greatly surprized when he beheld the enemy marching up against him; however, engaged left he should heighten their courage by his flight or retreat, he stood his ground, and received the enemy at the head of his small body, exposing himself, without Romans' his usual prudence and discretion, to the greatest dangers. Being known by some fugitives, and disfavored to the enemy, they all aimed at him alone, which made his own men the more solicitous to defend him; so that the whole contest was for some time about his person. At last the Goths were driven back to their camp, which the Romans with great temerity attempted to force. In this attempt, however, they met with such a vigorous resistance, that they soon abandoned the enterprise, and retired with precipitation to a neighbouring eminence; whence they were forced down by the enemy, put to flight, and pursued to the very gates of the city. Here they were in greater danger than ever; for those within, fearing that the enemy might in that confusion enter with them, refused to admit them. The general himself cried out earnestly to them, telling who he was, and commanding them to open the gates; but as they had been informed by those who first fled, that he was slain, and they could not distinguish him on account of the blood and dust with which his face was covered, they gave no ear to what he said. In this extremity, having encouraged his men, who were now driven into a narrow compass, to make a last effort, he put himself at their head, and attacked the enemy with such fury, that the Goths imagining fresh troops were falling out upon them, began to give ground, and at last retired to their camp. The Roman general did not pursue them; but entered the city, where he was received with loud acclamations.

A few days after, the city was closely invested by Vitiges; who, to distress the inhabitants, pulled down the aqueducts by which water was conveyed into the city, and which had been built at an immense charge by the Roman emperors. Belisarius on his part omitted nothing for his defence; insomuch that the cowardly citizens assembled in a tumultuous manner, and railed at the general on account of his supposed temerity. Vitiges, to encourage this mutinous disposition, dispatched ambassadors to the senate with proposals of peace. These ambassadors, however, were dismissed without any answer, and the siege was begun with great vigour. Belisarius made a gallant defence, and in seven months is said to have destroyed 40,000 of the Goths. About this time he received a supply of 1600 archers from the emperor; and these, in several successful sallies, are said to have killed 4000 more of the enemy.

The Romans, elated with their successes, now became impatient for an engagement; and at last, notwithstanding Italy, notwithstanding all the remonstrances of their general, forced him to lead them out against the enemy. The success was an answerable to the rash attempt. The Romans were defeated, with the loss of some of their bravest officers, and a great many of their common soldiers; after which they contented themselves with sallying out in small parties, which they commonly did with the greatest success.

But though the Romans had the satisfaction of thus cutting off their enemies, they were most grievously afflicted with a famine and plague; insomuch that the inhabitants, no longer able to bear their calamities, were on the point of forcing Belisarius to venture a second battle, when a favorable supply of troops, viz. 3000 Ilaurians, 800 Thracian horse, and 1200 horse of other nations, together with 500 Italians who joined them by the way, arrived at Rome. Belisarius immediately fell out by the Flaminian gate, and fell upon the Goths in order to give his allies time to enter by the opposite side of the city, which they did without the loss of a man.—The Goths hearing of the arrival of these troops, and their numbers being magnified as is usual in such cases, began to despair of becoming masters of the city; especially as the famine and plague raged with great violence in their camp, and their army was much reduced. Ambassadors were therefore dispatched to Belisarius with proposals of peace; but the only thing they could obtain was a cessation of arms for three months, during which time they might send ambassadors to the emperor. The negotiations with the emperor, however, proved unsuccessful; and the siege was pursued with great vigour till Vitiges received the news of the taking of Rimini by the Romans. As this city was but a day's journey from Ravenna, the Goths were so much alarmed, that they immediately raised the siege of Rome, after it had continued a year and nine days. Belisarius fell upon their rear as they passed the bridge of the Tiber, and cut great numbers of them in pieces, while others, struck with a panic, threw themselves into the river and were drowned.

The first enterprise of Vitiges, after raising the siege of Rome, was an attempt upon Rimini; but while he was employed in this siege, the Romans made themselves masters of Milan; upon which a Gothic general, named Ursus, was immediately dispatched with a powerful army to retake it. In the mean time, however, a supply of 7000 Romans arrived from the emperor, under the command of Narset, a celebrated general. The immediate consequence of this was the raising of the siege of Rimini; for Vitiges perceiving the two Roman armies coming against him, and concluding, from the many fires they made, that they were much more numerous than they really were, fled in such haste, that the greatest part of the baggage was left behind. The confusion of the Goths was so great, that, had not the garrison been extremely feeble, they might have easily cut them off in their retreat, and thus put an end to the war at once. The success of the Romans, however, was now retarded by some misunderstanding between the two generals; so that, though Belisarius made himself master of Urbino and Urbicentum, while Narset reduced some other places, yet the important city of Milan was suffered to fall into the hands of the Goths, who massacred all the inhabitants that were able to bear arms, to the number of 300,000, and sold the women for slaves. The city was also totally demolished; and this disaster made such an impression on the mind of Justinian, that he immediately recalled Narset, and gave the command of his troops to Belisarius.

Vitiges, who had promised himself great advantages from the disagreement of the two generals, was much disappointed by the recall of Narset; and therefore dreading the power of Belisarius when at the head of a formidable army, thought of engaging in alliance with some foreign prince. In his choice, however, he was somewhat at a loss. He knew the treachery of the Franks, and therefore did not apply to them. He applied to the Lombards; but, though tempted by the offer of a large sum of money, they continued inviolably attached to the Roman interest. At last he found means to persuade Chosroes king of Persia to make war upon Justinian, which he thought would infallibly procure the recall of Belisarius. But the Roman general, understanding his design, pushed on the war in the most vigorous manner; while, in the meantime, the treacherous Franks, thinking both nations sufficiently weakened by their mutual hostilities, resolved to attack both, and seize upon the country for which they contended. Accordingly, Theodebert, unmindful of the oaths he had taken both to the Goths and Romans, passed the Alps at the head of 150,000, or, as some will have it, 200,000 men, and entered Liguria. As no hostilities were committed by them on their march, the Goths concluded that they were come to their assistance; and therefore took care to supply them with provisions. Thus they crossed the Po without opposition; and having secured the bridge, marched towards the place where a body of Goths was encamped; who, looking upon them as friends, admitted them without hesitation. But they were soon convinced of their mistake; for the Franks falling unexpectedly upon them, drove them out of the camp with great slaughter, and seized on their baggage and provisions. A body of Romans that lay at a small distance from the Goths concluding that they had been defeated by Belisarius, advanced with great joy to meet him as they imagined; but the Franks falling unawares upon them, treated them as they had done the Goths, and made themselves masters of their camp. Thus they acquired a very considerable booty and store of provisions; but the latter being soon consumed, and the country round about quite exhausted, vast numbers of the Franks perished; so that Theodebert at last found himself obliged to return. In his way he destroyed Genoa and several other places, and arrived in his own dominions loaded with booty.

In the mean time, Belisarius was making great progress. He took the cities of Auximum and Faustina after an obstinate siege; the inhabitants of the former having for some time fed on grass before they would surrender. After this he invested Ravenna, the capital of all the Gothic dominions in Italy. The place was defended by a very numerous garrison, commanded by the king in person, who exerted all his bravery in the defence of his metropolis. As the siege, however, was pushed on with great vigour, it was evident that the city must at last submit; and the great successes of the Romans began to give jealousy to the neighbouring potentates. potentates. Theodebert king of the Franks offered to assist Vitiges with an army of 500,000 men; but Belisarius, being informed of this negociation, sent ambassadors to Vitiges, putting him in mind of the treachery of the Franks, and assured him that the emperor was ready to grant him very honourable terms. The king, by the advice of his counsellors, rejected the alliance of the Franks, and sent ambassadors to Constantinople; but in the meantime, Belisarius, in order to bring the citizens to his own terms, bribed one of them to set fire to a magazine of corn, by which means the city was soon straitened for want of provisions. But, notwithstanding this disaster, they still continued to hold out, till the arrival of the ambassadors from Constantinople, who brought very favourable terms. These were, That the country beyond the Po, with respect to Rome, should remain to the Goths; but that the rest of Italy should be yielded to the emperor, and the royal treasure of the Goths should be equally divided between him and the king. To these conditions, however, Belisarius positively refused to assent; being desirous of leading captive the king of the Goths, as he had formerly done the king of the Vandals, to Constantinople. He therefore pursued the siege with more vigour than ever, without hearkening to the complaints of his soldiers and officers, who were quite tired out with the length of the siege; he only obliged such of the officers as were of opinion that the town could not be taken, to express their opinion in writing, that they might not deny it afterwards.

The Goths were as weary of the siege as the Romans; but fearing lest Justinian should transplant them to Thrace, formed a resolution, without the consent of their king, of surrendering to Belisarius himself, and declaring him emperor of the west. To this they were the more encouraged by the refusal of Belisarius to agree to the terms proposed by the emperor; whence they concluded that he designed to revolt, and make himself emperor of Italy. Of this, however, Belisarius had no design; but thought proper to accept of that title, in order to accelerate the surrender of the city, after acquainting his principal officers with what had passed. Vitiges at last discovered the plot; but finding himself in no condition to oppose it, he commenced the resolution of his people, and even wrote to Belisarius, encouraging him to take upon him the title of king, and assuring him of his assistance. Upon this Belisarius pressed the Goths to surrender; which, however, they still refused, till he had taken an oath that he would treat them with humanity, and maintain them in the possession of all their rights and privileges. He was then admitted into the city, where he conducted himself with great moderation towards the Goths; but seized on the royal treasure, and secured the person of the king. The Roman army, when it entered Ravenna, appeared so very inconsiderable, that the Gothic women on beholding it could not forbear spitting in the faces of their husbands, and reviling them as cowards.

The captivity of Vitiges, and the capture of Ravenna, did not terminate the war. Belisarius was soon after recalled to take the command of the army in the east. The Goths were greatly surprized that he should leave his new kingdom out of regard to the orders of the emperor; but, after his departure, chose one Ildebal, a man of great experience in affairs both civil and military, for their king. He revived the drooping spirits of his countrymen, defeated the Romans, and reduced all the province of Venetia; but was in a short time murdered, and Eraric, a Rugian, succeeded to the throne. He was scarcely invested with the sovereignty, when his subjects began to think of deposing him, and raising Totila to the throne; which the latter accepted, upon condition that they previously dispatched Eraric. This was accordingly done; after which Totila was proclaimed king of Italy in the year 542.

The new king proved a very formidable enemy to the Romans, who now lost ground everywhere. They Totila made an attempt on the city of Verona; in which the Romans they miscarried through their own avarice, having disputed about the division of the plunder till the opportunity of taking the town was past. They were next defeated in two bloody engagements; the consequence of which was, that the Goths made themselves masters of all the strong places in Tuscany. From thence marching into Campania and Samnium, they reduced the strong town of Beneventum, and laid siege to Naples. During the siege of this last place, several detachments were sent from the king's army, which took Cumae, and recovered all Brutia, Lucania, Apulia, and Calabria, where they found considerable sums which had been gathered for the emperor's use. The Romans, in the mean time, disheartened by their losses, and deprived of those sums which should have paid their wages, refused to take the field. A considerable fleet was therefore sent by Justinian to the relief of Naples; but Totila, having timely notice of this design, manned, with incredible expedition, a great number of light vessels; which, falling unexpectedly on the Roman fleet, took or sunk every ship, and made prisoners of all on board, excepting a few who escaped in their boats. A similar fate attended another fleet dispatched from Sicily for the same purpose. They put to sea in the depth of winter; and, meeting with a violent storm, were driven ashore near the enemy's camp; who sunk the ships, and made what slaughter they pleased of the men and soldiers. Upon this second disaster, the Neapolitans, despairing of further relief, submitted to Totila; who granted them honourable terms, and treated them with great humanity. As they had been long pinched with famine, Totila, apprehending they might endanger their lives by indulging their appetites too much at first, placed guards at the gates to prevent their going out, taking care at the same time to supply them sparingly with provisions, but increasing their allowance every day. Being thus by degrees restored to their former strength, he ordered the gates to be set open, and gave every one full liberty to stay in the city or remove as he thought fit. The garrison he treated with extraordinary kindness. They were first supplied with ships to carry them to Constantinople; but the king having discovered that their real design was to fail to Rome, in order to reinforce the garrison of that city (which they knew he was soon to besiege), he was so far from punishing them as they expected, that he furnished them with horses, waggons, and provisions, and ordered a body of Goths to escort them to Rome by land. land, as the winds had proved unfavourable for their passage by sea.

Totila having thus become master of Naples and most of the other fortresses in these parts, began to think of reducing Rome also. He first attempted to persuade the citizens to surrender; but finding his persuasions ineffectual, he sent a detachment of his army into Calabria to reduce Otranto, which had not yet submitted; after which, he marched with the rest of his forces against the towns in the neighbourhood of Rome. The city of Tibur, now Tivoli, about 18 miles from Rome, was betrayed to him; and all the inhabitants, together with their bishop, were put to the sword. Several other strong holds in the neighbourhood of that city he took by storm; so that Rome was in a manner blocked up by land, all communication with the neighbouring country being cut off.

Justinian, in the mean time, being greatly perplexed by the bad news he every day received from Italy, recalled Belisarius from Persia, notwithstanding the success which attended him there. To save Rome, however, was now impossible even for Belisarius himself. As soon as he arrived in Italy, finding himself unable either to relieve the towns which were besieged, or to stop the progress of the Goths, he dispatched letters to Justinian, informing him, that being destitute of men, arms, and money, it was impossible for him to prosecute the war; upon which the emperor ordered new levies to be made, all the veterans being engaged in the Persian war. In the mean time, however Totila pursued his good fortune; took the cities of Firmum, Aculum, Auximum, Spoletum, &c. and at length advanced to Rome, which he invested on all sides. As he drew near the city, two officers, whom Belisarius had sent into the city, ventured to make a fall, though contrary to the express orders of their general, thinking they should surprise the Goths; but they were themselves taken in an ambuscade, and most of their men being cut in pieces, narrowly escaped falling into the hands of the enemy. Belisarius made several attempts to relieve the city; but all of them, however well concerted, by some accident or other proved unsuccessful; which gave him so much uneasiness, that he fell into a feverish disorder, and was for some time thought to be in danger of his life. The city was soon reduced to great straits; a dreadful famine ensued; and the unhappy citizens having consumed every thing that could be supposed to give them nourishment, even the grass that grew near the walls, were obliged, it is said, to feed on their own excrements. Many put an end to their lives, in order to free themselves from the intolerable calamities they suffered. The rest addressed their governor Bessas in the most pathetic manner, intreating him to supply them with food; or if that was not in his power; either to give them leave to go out of the town, or to terminate their miseries by putting them to death. Bessas replied, that to supply them with food was impossible; to let them go, unsafe; and to kill them impious. In the end, however, he suffered those who were willing to retire, to leave the city, upon paying him a sum of money; but most of them either died on the road, or were cut in pieces by the enemy. At last, the besieged, unable to bear their miseries any longer, began to mutiny, and to press their governor to come to an agreement with Totila. This, however, he still refused; upon which, four of the Ifaurians who guarded one of the gates, went privately to the camp of Totila, and offered to admit him into the city. The king received this proposal with great joy; and sending four Goths of great strength and intrepidity into the town along with them, he silently approached the gates in the night-time with his whole army. The gates were opened by the Ifaurians, as they had promised; and upon the first alarm, Bessas with most of the soldiers and officers fled out of the town. The inhabitants took sanctuary in the churches; and only 60 of them and 26 elders were killed after the town was taken. Totila, however, gave his soldiers full liberty to plunder the city; which they did for several days together, stripping the inhabitants of all their wealth, and leaving nothing in their houses but naked walls; by which means many persons of distinction were reduced to beg their bread from door to door. In the house of Bessas was found an immense treasure, which he had scandalously amassed during the siege, by selling to the people, at an exorbitant price, the corn which had been stored up for the use of the garrison.

Totila, thus become master of Italy, sent ambassadors to Justinian with very respectful letters, desiring to live on the same terms with him that Theodoric had done with his predecessor Anastasius; promising in that case to respect him as his father, and to assist him, when he pleased, with all his force, against any other nation whatever. On the contrary, if the emperor rejected his offers, he threatened to level Rome with the ground, to put the whole senate to the sword, and to carry the war into Illyricum. The emperor returned no other answer, than that he referred the whole to Belisarius, who had full power to manage all things of that nature. Upon this Totila resolved to destroy the city; and had actually thrown down a third part of the wall, when he received a letter from Belisarius, dissuading him from his intention. After having seriously considered this letter, Totila thought proper to alter his resolution with regard to the destruction of the city; but sent every one of the inhabitants into Lucania, without leaving a single person in the metropolis. Belisarius hearing of this, immediately returned to the capital, and undertook to repeople and repair it. He cleared the ditch which had been filled by Totila, but was for the present obliged to fill up the breaches in the walls with stones loosely heaped upon one another, and in this situation the city was again attacked by the Goths. Belisarius, however, had taken care to supply the inhabitants with plenty of provisions, so that they were now in no danger of suffering by famine; and the assaults of the enemy were vigorously repelled, notwithstanding the bad situation of the fortifications, so that Totila at last abandoned the enterprise.

In the mean time the Persians gained great advantages over the Romans in the East, so that there was a necessity for recalling Belisarius a second time. He was no sooner gone, than Totila renewed his efforts with greater vigour than ever; and at the same time the Franks, concluding that both Romans and Goths would be much weakened by such a destructive war, seized upon Venetia, which belonged to both nations, and made it a province of the French empire. Totila did not oppose them; but having obtained a reinforcement of of 6000 Lombards, returned immediately before Rome, fully intent on making himself master of that metropolis. Having closely invested it by sea and land, he hoped in a short time to reduce it by famine; but against this the governor wisely provided, by causing corn to be sown within the walls; so that he could probably have defeated the power of Totila, had not the city been again betrayed by the Maurians, who opened one of the gates and admitted the enemy.

Thus the empire of the Goths was a third time established in Italy; and Totila, immediately on his becoming master of Rome, dispatched ambassadors to Justinian, offering to assist him as a faithful ally against any nation whatever, provided he would allow him the quiet possession of Italy. But Justinian was so far from hearkening to this proposal, that he would not even admit the ambassadors into his presence; upon which Totila resolved to pursue the war with the utmost vigour, and to make himself master not only of those places which the Romans possessed, but also in Sicily itself. This he fully accomplished; when Narles, who had formerly been joined in the command with Belisarius, was appointed general, with absolute and uncontrolled authority. But while this general was making the necessary preparations for his expedition, Totila, having equipped a fleet of 300 galleys, sent them to pillage the coasts of Greece, where they got an immense booty. They made a descent on the island of Corfu; and having laid it waste, they sailed to Epirus, where they surprised and plundered the cities of Nicopolis and Anchialus, taking many ships on the coast, among which were some laden with provisions for the army of Narles. After these successes they laid siege to Ancona in Dalmatia. Being defeated, however, both by sea and land, Totila once more sent ambassadors to Constantinople, offering to yield Sicily and all Dalmatia, to pay an annual tribute for Italy, and to assist the Romans as a faithful ally in all their wars; but Justinian, bent upon driving the Goths out of Italy, would not even suffer the ambassadors to appear in his presence.

Totila finding that no terms could be obtained, began to levy new forces, and to make great preparations by sea and land. He soon reduced the islands of Corfuca and Sardinia; but this was the last of his succours. Narles arrived in Italy with a very formidable army, and an immense treasure to pay the troops their arrears, the want of which had been one great cause of the bad success of Belisarius in his last expedition. He immediately took the road to Rome; while Totila assembled all his forces, in order to decide the fate of Italy by a general engagement. The battle proved very obstinate; but at last the Gothic cavalry being put to the rout, and retiring in great confusion among the infantry, the latter were thereby thrown into such disorder, that they could never afterwards rally. Narles, observing their confusion, encouraged his men to make a last effort; which the Goths not being able to withstand, betook themselves to flight, with the loss of 6000 men killed on the spot. Totila finding the day irrecoverably lost, fled with only five horsemen for his attendants; but was pursued and mortally wounded by a commander of one of the bodies of barbarians who followed Narles. He continued his flight, however, for some time longer; but was at last obliged to halt in order to get his wound dressed, soon after which he expired.

This disaster did not yet entirely break the spirit of the Goths. They chose for their king one Teia, deservedly esteemed one of the most valiant men of their nation, and who had on several occasions distinguished himself in a most eminent manner. All the valour and experience of Teia, however, were now insufficient to stop the progress of the Romans. Narles made himself master of a great number of cities, and of Rome itself, before the Goths could assemble their forces. The Roman general next proceeded to invest Cunae, which Teia determined at all events to relieve, as the royal treasure was lodged in that city. This brought on an engagement, which, if Procopius is to be credited, proved one of the most bloody that ever was fought. The Roman army consisted of vast multitudes brought from different nations; the Goths were few in comparison; but, animated by despair, and knowing that all was at stake, they fought with the utmost fury. Their king placed himself in the first rank, to encourage his men by his example; and is said to have given such proofs of his valour and conduct as equalled him to the most renowned heroes of antiquity. The Romans discovering him, and knowing that his death would probably put an end to the battle, if not to the war itself, directed their whole force against him, some attacking him with spears, and others discharging against him showers of darts and arrows. Teia maintained his ground with great intrepidity, received the missiles weapons on his shield, and killed a great number of the enemy with his own hand. When his shield was so loaded with darts that he could not easily wield it, he called for another. Thus he shifted his shield three times; but as he attempted to change it another time, his breath being necessarily exposed for a moment, a dart struck him in that moment with such force, that he immediately fell down dead in the place where he had stood from the beginning of the battle, and upon heaps of the enemy whom he had killed. The Romans, seeing him fall, cut off his head and exposed it to the sight of the Goths, not doubting but they would be immediately disheartened and retire. In this, however, they were disappointed. The Goths maintained the fight with great vigour, till night put an end to the engagement. The next day the engagement was renewed early in the morning, and continued till night; but on the third day, the Goths despairing of being able to overcome an enemy so much superior to them in numbers, sent deputies to Narles, offering to lay down their arms, provided such of them as chose to remain in Italy were allowed to enjoy their estates and possessions without molestation, as subjects of the empire; and those who were willing to retire elsewhere, were suffered to carry with them all their goods and effects. To these terms Narles readily assented; and thus the empire of the Goths in Italy was finally destroyed, the country now becoming a province of the eastern Roman empire.

In this conquest Narles had been assisted, as already observed, by many barbarous nations, among whom were the Lombards, at that time settled in Pannonia. On the conclusion of the war, they were dismissed with rich presents, and the nation for some time continued... continued faithful allies to the Romans. In the meantime Justinian dying, Narfes, who governed Italy with an absolute sway, was accused to the emperor Justin II. and to the empress Sophia, of aspiring to the sovereignty of the country. Hereupon he was recalled, and Longinus sent to succeed him. As Narfes was an eunuch, the empress is reported to have said, that his employment at Constantinople should be to distribute in the apartment of her women the portion of wool which each was to spin. Narfes, enraged at this sarcasm, replied, that he should begin such a web as she should never be able to finish; and immediately dispatched messengers to Alboin, king of the Lombards, inviting them into Italy. Along with the messengers he sent some of the best fruits the country afforded, in order to tempt him the more to become master of such a rich kingdom.

Alboin, highly pleased with the opportunity of invading a country with which his subjects were already well acquainted, began without loss of time to make the necessary preparations for his journey. In the month of April, 568, he set out with his whole nation, men, women, and children; carrying with them all their moveables. This promiscuous multitude arrived by the way of Itria; and advancing through the province of Venetia, found the whole country abandoned, the inhabitants having fled to the neighbouring islands in the Adriatic. The gates of Aquileia were opened by the few inhabitants who had courage to stay: most of them, however, had fled with all their valuable effects; and among the rest the patriarch Paulinus, who had carried with him all the sacred utensils of the churches. From Aquileia, Alboin proceeded to Forum Julii, of which he likewise became master without opposition. Here he spent the winter; during which time he erected Friuli into a dukedom, which has continued ever since. In 569, he made himself master of Trivig, Oderzo, Monte Selce, Vicenza, Verona, and Trent; in each of which cities he left a strong garrison of Lombards under the command of an officer, whom he distinguished by the title of duke: but these dukes were only officers and governors of cities, who bore the title no longer than the prince thought proper to continue them in their command or government. Padua and some other cities Alboin left behind him without attempting to reduce them, either because they were too well garrisoned, or because they lay too much out of his way. In 570, he entered Liguria. The inhabitants were terrified at his approach, that they left their habitations with such of their effects as they could carry off, and fled into the most mountainous and inaccessible parts of the country. The cities of Brescia, Bergamo, Lodi, Como, and others quite to the Alps, being left almost without inhabitants, submitted of course; after which he reduced Milan, and was thereupon proclaimed king of Italy.

But though the Lombards had thus conferred the title of king of Italy on their sovereign, he was by no means possessed of the whole country, nor indeed was it ever in the power of the Lombards to get possession of the whole. Alboin having made himself master of Venetia, Liguria, Aemilia, Hetruria, and Umbria, applied himself to legislation and the civilization of his subjects. But before he could make any progress in this work, he was taken off by the treachery of his wife; and Clepho, one of the nobles, chosen king in his stead. Clepho rebuilt some cities which had been ruined during the wars between the Goths and Romans; and extended his conquests to the very gates of Rome; but as he behaved both to the Romans and Lombards with the greatest cruelty, he was murdered, after a short reign of 18 months. His cruelty gave the Lombards such an aversion against regal power, that they changed their form of government, being governed only by their dukes for the space of ten years. During this interregnum, they proved successful in their wars with the Romans, and made themselves masters of several cities: but perceiving that their kingdom, thus divided, could not subsist, they resolved once more to submit to the authority of one man; and accordingly, in 585, Autharis was chosen king of the Lombards.

The great object of ambition to the new race of Lombard monarchs was the conquest of all Italy; and Charles the Great, as related under the article France, No. 27. As the Lombards, however, had not been possessed of the whole territory of Italy, so the whole of it never came into the possession of Charlemagne: neither since the time of the Goths, has the whole of this country been under the dominion of any single state. Some of the southern provinces were still possessed by the emperors of Constantinople; and the liberal grants of Pepin and Charlemagne himself to the pope, had invested him with a considerable share of temporal power. The territories of the pope indeed were supposed to be held in vassalage from France; but this the popes themselves always stiffly denied. The disputed territory of Italy, therefore, was restricted to the duchies of Piedmont, the Milanese, the Mantuan, the territory of Genoa, Parma, Modena, Tuscany, Bologna, the dukedoms of Friuli, Spoleto, and Benevento; the last of which contained the greatest part of the present kingdom of Naples.

The feudal government which the Lombards had introduced into Italy, naturally produced revolts and commotions, as the different dukes inclined either to change their masters or to set up for themselves. Several revolts indeed happened during the life of Charlemagne himself; which, however, he always found means to crush: but after his death, the sovereignty of Italy became an object of contention between the kings of France and the emperors of Germany. That great monarch had divided his extensive dominions among his children; but they all died during his lifetime, except Louis, whom he associated with himself in the empire, and who succeeded to all his dominions after his death. From this time we may date the troubles with which Italy was so long overwhelmed; and of which, as they proceeded from the ambition of those called kings of Italy and their nobles, of the kings of France, and of the emperors of Germany, it is difficult to have any clear idea. The following short sketch, however, may perhaps give some satisfaction on this perplexed subject.

At the time Louis the son of Charlemagne was declared emperor of the West, Italy was held by Bernard, the son of Pepin, brother to Louis. Though this time of Bernard bore the title of king, yet he was only acknowledged as the disturber of the peace in Italy after the death of Charlemagne. counted a vassal of the emperor. His ambition, however, soon prompted him to rebel against his uncle; but being abandoned by his troops, he was taken prisoner, had his eyes pulled out, and died three days after. As the disturbances still continued, and the nobles of Lombardy were yet very refractory, Lothaire, eldest son to the emperor, was in the year 823 sent into Italy; of which country he was first crowned king at Rome, and afterwards emperor of the West, during his father's life-time. But though his abilities were sufficient to have settled every thing in a state of tranquillity, his unbounded ambition prompted him to engage in a rebellion against his father; whom he more than once took prisoner; though in the end he was obliged to submit, and ask pardon for his offences, which was obtained only on condition of his not passing the Alps without leave obtained from his father.

In the mean time, the Saracens, taking advantage of these intestine wars, landed on the coasts of Italy, and committed such ravages, that even the bishops were obliged to arm themselves for the defence of the country. Lothaire, however, after returning from his unnatural war with his father, was so far from attempting to put an end to these ravages, or to restore tranquillity, that he seized on some places belonging to the see of Rome, under pretence that they were part of his kingdom of Lombardy; nor would he forbear these encroachments till expressly commanded to do so by his father. After having embroiled himself, and almost lost all his dominions, in a war with his brothers after the death of Louis, and declared his son, also called Louis, king of Italy, this ambitious prince died, leaving to Louis the title of emperor as well as king of Italy, with which he had before invested him.

The new emperor applied himself to the restoration of tranquillity in his dominions, and driving out the Saracens from those places which they had seized in Italy. This he fully accomplished, and obliged the infidels to retire into Africa; but in 875 he died without naming any successor. After his death, some of the Italian nobles, headed by the duke of Tuscany, represented to the pope, that as Louis had left no successor, the regal dignity, which had so long been usurped by foreigners, ought now to return to the Italians. The pope, however, finding that Charles the Bald, king of France, had such an ambition for the imperial crown, that he would stick at nothing to obtain it, resolved to gratify him, though at as high a price as possible. He accordingly crowned him emperor and king of Lombardy, on condition of his owning the independency of Rome, and that he himself only held the empire by the gift of the pope. This produced a conspiracy among the discontented nobles; and at the same time the Saracens renewing their incursions, threatened the ecclesiastical territories with the utmost danger. The pope solicited the emperor's affiance with the greatest earnestness; but the latter died before anything effectual could be done; after which, being distressed by the Saracens on one hand, and the Lombard nobles on the other, the unhappy pontiff was forced to fly into France. Italy now fell into the utmost confusion and anarchy; during which time many of the nobles and states of Lombardy assumed an independency, which they have ever since retained.

In 877 the pope was reconducted to Italy with an army by Bofon son-in-law to Louis II of France: but though he inclined very much to have raised this prince to the dignity of king of Italy, he found his interest insufficient for that purpose, and matters remained in their former situation. The nobles, who had driven out the pope, were now indeed reconciled to him: but notwithstanding this reconciliation, the state of the country was worse than ever: the great men renouncing the authority of any superior, and every one claiming to be sovereign in his own territories. To add to the calamities which ensued through the ambition of these depots, the Saracens committed everywhere the most terrible ravages; till at last, the Italian nobles, despising the kings of the Carolingian race, who had weakened themselves by their mutual dissensions, began to think of throwing off even all nominal subjection to a foreign yoke, and retaining the imperial dignity among themselves. Thus they hoped, that, by being more united among themselves, they might be more able to resist the common enemy. Accordingly, in 885, they went to Pope Adrian; and requesting him to join them in asserting the independency of Italy, they obtained of him the two following decrees, viz. that the popes, after their election, might be consecrated without waiting for the presence of the king or his ambassadors; and that if Charles the Great died without sons, the kingdom of Italy, with the title of emperor, should be conferred on some of the Italian nobles.

These decrees were productive of the worst consequences imaginable. The emperor complained of being deprived of his right; and the dissensions between the Italian nobles themselves became more fatal than ever. The two most powerful of these noblemen, Berengarius duke of Friuli, and Guido or Vido, duke of Spoleto, entered into an agreement, that on the death of the emperor, the former should seize on the kingdom of Italy, and the latter on the kingdom of France. Berengarius succeeded without opposition; but Vido was disappointed, the French having already chosen Eudes or Otho for their king. Upon this he returned to Italy, and turned his arms against Berengarius. Vido proved victorious in an engagement, and drove his rival into Germany; where he sought the assistance of Arnolphus, who had succeeded to the crown after the death of Charles. Having thus obtained the kingdom of Italy, Vido employed his time in reforming the abuses of the state, and confirming the grants formerly given to the pope, out of gratitude for his having sanctified his usurpation and declared him lawful king of Italy. This tranquility, however, was of short duration. Arnolphus sent an army into Italy; the Saracens from Spain ravaged the northern parts of the country, and getting possession of a castle near the Alps, held it for many years after, to the great distress of the neighbouring parts, which were exposed to their continual incursions; and at the same time Benevento was besieged and taken by the forces of the eastern emperor, so that Vido found his empire very considerably circumscribed in its dimensions.

The new king, distressed by so many enemies, associated his son Lambert with him in the government, Italy, and bribed the Germans to return to their own country. In 893, however, they again invaded Italy; but were suddenly obliged to leave the country, after having put Berengarius in possession of Pavia. In the meantime, Vido died, and his son Lambert drove out Berengarius; but having joined a faction, headed by one Sergius, against Pope Formofus, the latter offered the kingdom of Italy to Arnolpus; who thereupon entered the country with an army, besieged and took Rome, massacring the faction of Sergius with the most unrelenting cruelty.

Arnolpus thus master of Italy, and crowned emperor by the pope, began to form schemes of strengthening himself in his new acquisitions by putting out the eyes of Berengarius; but the latter having timely notice of this treachery, fled to Verona; and the Italians were so provoked at this and the other cruelties of Arnolpus, that they drove him out of the country. His departure occasioned the greatest confusion at Rome. Formofus died soon after; and the successors to the papal dignity, having now no army to fear, excited the greatest disturbances. The body of Formofus was dug up and thrown into the Tiber by one pope; after which that pope was strangled, and Formofus's body buried again in the Vatican, by order of another. At last the coronation of Arnolpus was declared void, the Sergian faction entirely demolished, and the above-mentioned decrees of Adrian were annulled; it being now determined that the elected popes should not be consecrated but in presence of the emperor or his ambassadors.

During these confusions Lambert enjoyed the kingdom in quiet; but the nobles hating him on account of his arbitrary and tyrannical government, began again to think of Berengarius. In the mean time, however, another faction offered the crown to Louis king of Arles. This new competitor entered Italy with an army in 899; but was forced by Berengarius to renounce his claim upon oath, and to swear that he would never again enter Italy, even though he should be invited to be crowned emperor.—This oath, however, was soon forgot. Louis readily accepted of another invitation, and was crowned king of Italy at Pavia in 901. The following year he forced Berengarius to fly into Bavaria; but having unadvisedly disbanded his army, as thinking himself now securely seated on the throne, Berengarius, who watched every opportunity, surprized him at Verona, and put out his eyes.

Thus Berengarius at last became king of Italy without a rival; and held his kingdom for 20 years afterwards, without any opposition from his subjects, who at last became sensible of the mischiefs arising from civil discord. He was not yet, however, without troubles. The Hungarians invaded Italy with a formidable army, and advanced within a small distance of Pavia. Berengarius armed the whole force of his dominions; and came against them with such a multitude, that the Hungarians retired without venturing an engagement. A great many of their men were lost in passing a river; upon which they sent deputies to Berengarius, offering to restore all their booty, and never to come again into Italy, provided they were allowed a safe retreat. These conditions were imprudently denied; upon which the Hungarians attacked the army of Berengarius in despair, and defeated them with great slaughter. After this they overran the whole country, and plundered the towns of Trevizo, Vicenza, and Padua, without resistance, the inhabitants flying everywhere into fortified places. This devastation they continued for two years; nor could their departure be procured without paying them a large sum of money: which, however, proved of little avail; for the following year they returned and ravaged the territory of Friuli without control. Scarcely were these invaders departed, when the Saracens, who had settled at the foot of the Alps, invaded Apulia and Calabria, and made an irruption as far as Acqui in the neighbourhood of Pavia; while the inhabitants, instead of opposing them, fled to some forts which had been erected in the time of the first irruption of the Hungarians. In 912, however, John, prefect of Ravenna, having attained the papal dignity by means of Theodora wife of Aldobert count of Tuscany, applied himself to regulate the affairs of the church, and to repel the insults of the Saracens. While he was considering on the most proper methods of effecting this, one of the Saracens, who had received an injury from his countrymen, fled to Rome, and offered to deliver the Italians from their invasions, if the pope would but allow him a small body of men. His proposals being accepted, 60 young men were chosen, all well armed; who being conducted by the Saracens into by-paths, attacked the infidels as they were returning from their inroads, and several times defeated great parties of them. These losses affecting the Saracens, a general alliance was concluded among all their cities; and having fortified a town on the Garigliano, they abandoned the rest, and retired hither. Thus they became much more formidable than before; which alarming the pope, he consulted with Arnolpus prince of Benevento and Capua, sending at the same time ambassadors to Constantine the Greek emperor, inviting him to an alliance against the infidels. The Saracens, unable to withstand such a powerful combination, were besieged in their city: where being reduced to great straits, they at last set fire to it, and fell out into the woods; but being pursued by the Italians, they were all cut off to a man.

In this expedition it is probable that Berengarius gave great assistance: for this very year, 915, he was crowned emperor by the pope. This gave displeasure to many of the ambitious nobles; conspiracies were repeatedly formed against him; in 922, Rodolphus king of Burgundy was crowned also king of Italy; and in 924, Berengarius was treacherously assassinated at Verona; of which disturbances the Hungarians taking the advantage, plundered the cities of Mantua, Brescia, Bergamo. Marching afterwards to Pavia, they Pavia plundered it closely on all sides; and about the middle of March 925, taking advantage of the wind, they set fire to the houses next to the walls, and during the confusion broke open the gates, and getting possession of the city treated the inhabitants with the greatest barbarity. Having burnt the capital of the kingdom, they next proceeded to Placentia, where they plundered the suburbs; and then returned to Pannonia laden with booty.

The affairs of Italy now fell into the utmost confusion. A faction was formed against Rodolphus in favour of Hugh count of Arles. The latter prevailed, and was crowned king at Pavia in 927. The Italians, however, soon repented of their choice. The Romans, Italy.

first invited him to be their governor, and then drove him out with disgrace; at the same time choosing a consul, tribunes, &c. as if they had designed to assert their ancient liberty. One faction, in the mean time, offered the crown to Rodolphus, and the other to Arnold duke of Bavaria, while the Saracens took this opportunity to plunder the city of Gemoa.

Hugh, in the mean time, was not inactive. Having collected an army, he marched directly against Arnold, and entirely defeated him. Rodolphus delivered him from all apprehensions on his part, by entering into an alliance with him, and giving his daughter Adelaide in marriage to Lotharius, Hugh's son. Being thus free from all danger from foreign enemies, he marched against the Romans; but with them he also came to an agreement, and even gave his daughter in marriage to Alberic, whom they had chosen consul. In the meantime the country was infested by the Hungarians and Saracens, and at the same time depopulated by a plague. Endless conspiracies were formed against Hugh himself; and at last, in 947, he was totally deprived of the regal power by Berengarius, grandson to the first king of that name; soon after which he retired into Burgundy, and became a monk.

Though Berengarius was thus possessed of the supreme power, he did not assume the title of king till after the death of Lotharius, which happened in 950; but in the mean time Italy was invaded by Henry duke of Bavaria, and the Hungarians. The former took and plundered the city of Aquileia, and ravaged the neighbouring country; after which he returned without molestation into Germany; the latter made a furious irruption; and Berengarius being unable to oppose them, was at last obliged to purchase their departure by money. In raising the sum agreed upon, however, Berengarius is said to have been more oppressive than even the Hungarians themselves. Every individual, without distinction of age or sex, was obliged to pay so much for their head, not excepting even the poor. The churches were likewise robbed; by which means the king raised an immense sum of money, ten bullocks of which he gave to the Hungarians, but kept the much greater part to himself.

Berengarius, not yet satisfied, wanted to be put in possession of Pavia, which was held by Adelaide, the widow of Lotharius. In order to obtain his purpose, he proposed a marriage between her and his son Adelbert. This proposal was rejected; upon which Berengarius besieged and took the city. The queen was confined in a neighbouring castle, from whence she made her escape by a contrivance of her confessor. With him and one female attendant she concealed herself for some days in a wood; but being obliged to remove from thence for want of food, she applied for protection to Adelard bishop of Reggio. By him she was recommended to his uncle Atho, who had a strong castle in the neighbourhood of Canova. Here she was quickly besieged by Berengarius; upon which messengers were dispatched to Otho king of Germany, acquainting him, that, by expelling Berengarius, and marrying Adelaide, he might easily obtain the kingdom of Italy. This proposal he readily accepted, and married Adelaide; but allowed Berengarius to retain the greatest part of his dominions, upon condition of his doing homage for them to the kings of Germany.

He deprived him, however, of the dukedom of Friuli and marquisate of Verona, which he gave to Henry duke of Bavaria.

Berengarius, thus freed from all apprehension, not only oppressed his subjects in a most tyrannical manner, but revolted against Otho himself. This at last procured his ruin: for, in 961, Otho returned with an army into Italy, where he was crowned king by the archbishop of Milan; and the year following was crowned emperor by the pope. On this occasion he received the imperial crown from his holiness, and kissed his feet with great humility: after which they both went to the altar of St Peter, and bound themselves by a solemn oath, the pope to be always faithful to the emperor, and to give no assistance to Berengarius or Adelbert his enemies; and, Otho, to consult the welfare of the church, and to restore to it all its patrimony, granted by former emperors. Otho, besides this, bestowed very rich presents on the church of St Peter. He ordained that the election of popes should be according to the canons; that the elected pope should not be consecrated till he had publicly promised, in presence of the emperor's commissaries, to observe everything formerly specified with regard to the rights of the emperors; that these commissaries should constantly reside at Rome, and make a report every year how justice was administered by the judges; and in case of any complaints, the commissaries should lay them before the pope; but if he neglected to intimate them, the imperial commissaries might then do what they pleased.

Thus we see that Otho, however much he might allow the pope's supremacy in spiritual matters, plainly assumed the sovereignty in temporals to himself; and thus Italy was for upwards of 300 years accounted a part of the German empire. The popes, however, by no means relished this superiority of the emperor. The latter was hardly departed, when the pope, (John XII,) broke the oath which he had just before sworn with so much solemnity; and entered first into an alliance with Adelbert count of Tuscany to expel the Germans, and then solicited the Hungarians to invade Italy. This treachery was soon punished by Otho. He returned with part of his army, and assembled a council of bishops. As the pope did not appear, Otho pretended great concern for his absence. The bishops replied, that the consciousness of his guilt made him afraid to show himself. The emperor then inquired particularly into his crimes; upon which the bishops accused him of filling the palace with lewd women, of ordaining a bishop in a stable, castrating a cardinal, drinking the devil's health, &c. As the pope still refused to appear in order to justify himself from these charges, he was formally deposed; the pope, and Leo the chief secretary, though a layman, elected in his stead.

The new pope, in compliment to the emperor, granted a bull, by which it was ordained that Otho and his successors should have a right of appointing the popes and investing archbishops and bishops; and that none should dare to consecrate a bishop without leave obtained from the emperor. Thus were the affairs of the Italians still kept in the utmost confusion even during the reign of Otho I., who appears to have been a wise and active prince. He was no sooner gone, than the new pope was deposed, all his decrees annulled, and John replaced. The party of Leo was now treated with great cruelty; but John was soon stopped in his career; for about the middle of May, the same year (964), in which he had been restored, being surprised in bed with a Roman lady, he received a blow on the head from the devil (according to the authors of those times), of which he died eight days after. After his death a cardinal deacon, named Benedict, was elected by the Romans, but deposed by Otho, and banished to Hamburgh.

The emperor was scarce returned to Germany, when his fickle Italians revolted, and sent for Adelbert, who had fled to Corsica. But being soon reduced, they continued quiet for about a year; after which they revolted again, and imprisoned the pope. Otho, however, provoked at their rebellious dilution, soon returned, and punished the rebels with great severity; after which he made several laws for the better regulation of the city of Rome, granting several privileges to the Venetians, and caused his son Otho, then only thirteen years of age, to be crowned emperor.

This ceremony being over, Otho dispatched an ambassador to Nicephorus, emperor of Constantinople, demanding his step-daughter Theophania in marriage for the young emperor; but upon this alliance being rejected, and that not without circumstances of the most atrocious perfidy, Otho instantly invaded the countries of Apulia and Calabria, and entirely defeated the Greek army in those parts. In the mean time, however, Nicephorus being killed, and his throne usurped by John Zimisses, Otho immediately entered into an alliance with the latter, and easily obtained Theophania for his son. She was crowned with great solemnity on the 8th of April 969: at the same time it is pretended by some authors, that the Greeks renounced their rights to Calabria and Apulia; though this is denied by others. After the celebration of this marriage, the emperor undertook an expedition against the Saracens, who still resided at the foot of the Alps; but being informed of the death of several nobles in Germany, he thought proper to return thither, where he died of an apoplexy in the year 973.

At the time of Otho's death Italy was divided into the provinces of Apulia, Calabria, the dukedom of Benevento, Campania, Terra Romana, the dukedom of Spoleto, Tuscany, Romagna, Lombardy, and the marquises of Ancona, Verona, Friuli, Trevi, and Genoa. Apulia and Calabria were still claimed by the Greeks; but all the rest were either immediately subject to, or held of, the kings of Italy. Otho conferred Benevento (including the ancient Samnium) on the duke of that name. Campania and Lucania he gave to the dukes of Capua, Naples, and Salerno. Rome with its territory, Ravenna with the exarchate, the dukedom of Spoleto, with Tuscany, and the marquise of Ancona, he granted to the pope; and retained the rest of Italy under the form of a kingdom. Some of the cities were left free, but all tributary. He appointed several hereditary marquises and counties, but referred to himself the sovereign jurisdiction in their territories. The liberty of the cities consisted in a freedom to choose their own magistrates, to be judged by their own laws, and to dispose of their own revenues, on condition that they took the oath of allegiance to the king, and paid the customary tribute. The cities that were not free were governed by the commissaries or lieutenants of the emperor; but the free cities were governed by two or more consuls, afterwards called pontifices, chosen annually, who took the oath of allegiance to the emperor before the bishop of the city or the emperor's commissary. The tribute exacted was called foderum, parata, et manionatum. By the foderum was meant a certain quantity of corn which the cities were obliged to furnish to the king when marching with an army or making a progress through the country; though the value of this was frequently paid in money. By the parata was understood the expense laid out in keeping the public roads and bridges in repair; and the manionaticum included those expenses which were required for lodging the troops or accommodating them in their camp. Under pretence of this last article, the inhabitants were sometimes stripped of all they possessed, except their oxen and seed for the land. Besides regulating what regarded the cities, Otho distributed honours and possessions to those who had served him faithfully. The honours consisted in the titles of duke, marquis, count, captain, valvafors, and valvafina: the possessions were, besides land, the duties arising from harbours, ferries, roads, fish-ponds, mills, salt-pits, the uses of rivers, and all pertaining to them, and such like. The dukes, marquises, and counts, were those who received dukedoms, marquises, and counties, from the king in fiefs; the captains had the command of a certain number of men by a grant from the king, duke, marquis, or count; the valvafors were subordinate to the captains, and the valvafinas to them.

No sooner was the death of Otho I. known in Italy, than, as if they had been now freed from all restraint, the nobles declared war against each other: some cities revolted, and chose to themselves consuls; while the dominions of others were seized by the nobles, who confirmed their power by erecting castles. Rome especially was harassed by tumults, occasioned chiefly by the factious practices of one Cincius, who pressed his fellow-citizens to restore the ancient republic. As the pope continued firm in the interests of the emperor, Cincius caused him to be strangled by one Franco a cardinal deacon; who was soon after rewarded with the pontificate, and took upon him the name of Boniface VII. Another pope was chosen by the faction of the count of Tuscany; who being approved by the emperor, drove Cincius and Boniface out of the city. Disturbances of a similar kind took place in other cities, though Milan continued quiet and loyal in the midst of all this uproar and confusion.

In the mean time Boniface fled for refuge to Constantinople, where he excited the emperor to make war against Otho II. In 979 an army was accordingly sent into Italy, which conquered Apulia and Calabria; but the next year Otho entered Italy with a formidable army; and having taken a severe revenge on the authors of the disturbances, drove the Greeks entirely out of the provinces they had seized. Having then caused his son Otho III. at that time a boy of ten years of age, to be proclaimed emperor, he died at Rome in the year 983. Among the regulations made by this emperor, one is very remarkable, and must give us a strange strange idea of the inhabitants of Italy at that time. He made a law, That no Italian should be believed upon his oath; and that in any dispute which could not be decided otherwise than by witnesses, the parties should have recourse to a duel.

Otho III. succeeded to the empire at twelve years of age; and during his minority the disturbances in Italy revived. Cincius, called also Crefcentius, renewed his scheme of restoring the republic. The pope (John XV.) opposing his schemes, was driven out of the city; but was soon after recalled, on hearing that he had applied to the emperor for assistance. A few years after Crefcentius again revolted, and expelled Gregory V. the successor of John XV.; raising to the papal dignity a creature of his own, under the name of John XVI. Otho, enraged at this insult, returned to Rome with a powerful army in 998, besieged and took it by assault; after which he caused Crefcentius to be beheaded, and the pope he had set up to be thrown headlong from the castle of St. Angelo, after having his eyes pulled out, and his nose cut off. Four years after, he himself died of the smallpox; or, according to some, was poisoned by the widow of Crefcentius, whom he had debauched under a promise of marriage, just as he was about to punish the Romans for another revolt.

Otho was succeeded in the imperial throne by Henry duke of Bavaria, and grandson to Otho II. Henry had no sooner settled the affairs of Germany, than he found it necessary to march into Italy against Ardouin marquis of Ivrea, who had assumed the title of king of Italy. Him he defeated in an engagement, and was himself crowned king of Italy at Pavia in 1005; but a few years after, a new contest arose about the papal chair, which again required the presence of the emperor. Before he arrived, however, one of the competitors (Benedict VIII.) had got the better of his rival, and both Henry and his queen received the imperial crown from his hands. Before the emperor entered the church, the pope proposed to him the following question: "Will you observe your fidelity to me and my successors in every thing?" To which, though a kind of homage, he submitted, and answered in the affirmative. After his coronation, he confirmed the privileges bestowed on the Roman see by his predecessors, and added some others of his own; still, however, reserving for himself the sovereignty and the power of sending commissioners to hear the grievances of the people. Having repelled the incursions of the Saracens, reduced some more rebellions of his subjects, and reduced the greatest part of Apulia and Calabria, he died in the year 1024.

The death of this emperor was, as usual, followed by a competition for the crown. Conrad being chosen emperor of Germany, was declared king of Italy by the archbishop of Milan; while a party of the nobles made offer of the crown to Robert king of France, or his son Hugh. But this offer being declined, and likewise another to William duke of Guinne, Conrad enjoyed the dignity conferred on him by the archbishop without molestation. He was crowned king of Italy at Monza in 1026; and the next year he received the imperial crown from Pope John XX. in presence of Canute the Great, king of England, Denmark, and Norway, and Rodolph III. king of Burgundy. His reign was similar to that of his predecessors. The Italians revolted, the pope was expelled, the malecontents were subdued, and the pope restored, after which the emperor returned to Germany, and died in 1039.

Under Henry III. who succeeded Conrad, the disturbances were prodigiously augmented. Pope Sylvester II. was driven out by Benedict; who in his turn was expelled by John bishop of Sabinum, who assumed the title of Sylvester III. Three months after Benedict was restored, and excommunicated his rivals; but soon after resigned the pontificate for a sum of money. In a short time he reclaimed it; and thus there were at once three popes, each of whom was supported on a branch of the papal revenue, while all of them made themselves odious by the scandalous lives they led. At last a priest called Gravani put an end to this singular triumvirate. Partly by artifice, and partly by presents, he persuaded all the three to renounce their pretensions to the papacy; and the people of Rome, out of gratitude for so signal a service to the church, chose him pope, under the name of Gregory VI. Henry III. took umbrage at this election, in which he had not been consulted, and marched with an army into Italy. He deposed Gregory, as having been guilty of simony, and filled the papal chair with his own chancellor Heidiger, bishop of Bamberg, who assumed the name of Clement II. and afterwards consecrated Henry and the empress Agnes. This ceremony being over, and the Romans having sworn never to elect a pope without the approbation of the reigning emperor, Henry proceeded to Capua, where he was visited by Drago, Rainulphus, and other Norman adventurers; who leaving their country at different times, had made themselves masters of great part of Apulia and Calabria, at the expense of the Greeks and Saracens. Henry entered into treaty with them; and not only solemnly invested the Normans with those territories which they had acquired by conquest, but prevailed on the pope to excommunicate the Beneventines, who had refused to open their pulps and gates to him, and bestowed that city and its dependencies, as fiefs of the empire, upon the Normans, provided they took possession by force of arms. The emperor was scarce returned into Germany when he received intelligence of the death of Clement II. He was succeeded in the apostolic see by Damasus II.; who also dying soon after his elevation, Henry nominated Bruno bishop of Toul to the vacant chair. This Bruno, who was the emperor's relation, immediately assumed the pontifical; but being a modest and pious prelate, he threw them off on his journey, by the persuasion of a monk of Cluny, named Hildebrand, afterwards the famous Gregory VII. and went to Rome as a private man. "The emperor alone (said Hildebrand) has no right to create a pope." He accompanied Bruno to Rome, and secretly retarded his election, that he might arrogate to himself the merit of obtaining it. The scheme succeeded to his wish; Bruno, who took the name of Leo IX., believing himself indebted to Hildebrand for the pontificate, favoured him with his particular friendship and confidence; and hence originated the power of this enterprising monk, of obscure birth, but boundless ambition, who governed Rome so long, and whose zeal for Italy, the exaltation of the church occasioned so many troubles to Europe.

Leo soon after his elevation waited on the emperor at Worms, to crave assistance against the Norman princes, who were become the terror of Italy, and treated their subjects with great severity. Henry furnished the pope with an army; at the head of which he marched against the Normans, after having excommunicated them, accompanied by a great number of bishops and other ecclesiastics, who were all either killed or taken prisoners, the Germans and Italians being totally routed. Leo himself was led captive to Benevento, which the Normans were now masters of, and which Henry had granted to the pope in exchange for the fief of Bamberg in Germany; and the apostolic see is to this day in possession of Benevento, by virtue of that donation. The Normans, however, who had a right to the city by a prior grant, restored it, in the mean time, to the princes of Lombardy; and Leo was treated with so much respect by the conquerors, that he revoked the sentence of excommunication, and joined his sanction to the imperial investiture for the lands which they held in Apulia and Calabria.

Leo died soon after his release; and the emperor about the same time caused his infant son, afterwards the famous Henry IV., to be declared king of the Romans, a title still in use for the acknowledged heir of the empire.

Gebehard, a German bishop, was elected pope, under the name of Victor II., and confirmed by the address of Hildebrand, who waited on the emperor in person for that purpose, though he disdained to consult him beforehand. Perhaps Hildebrand would not have found this task so easy, had not Henry been involved in a war with the Hungarians, who pressed him hard, but whom he obliged at last to pay a large tribute, and furnish him annually with a certain number of fighting men.

As soon as the emperor had finished this war and others to which it gave rise, he marched into Italy to inspect the conduct of his sister Beatrice, widow of Boniface marquis of Mantua, and make her prisoner. She had married Gozelo, duke of Lorraine, without the emperor's consent; and contracted her daughter Matilda, by the marquis of Mantua, to Godfrey duke of Spoleto and Tuscany, Gozelo's son by a former marriage. This formidable alliance justly alarmed Henry; he therefore attempted to dissolve it, by carrying his sister into Germany, where he died soon after his return, in the 39th year of his age, and the 16th of his reign.

The emperor, in his last journey to Italy, concluded an alliance with Contarini, doge of Venice. That republic was already rich and powerful, though it had only been enfranchised in the year 998, from the tribute of a mantle of cloth of gold, which it formerly paid, as a mark of subjection to the emperor of Constantinople. Genoa was the rival of Venice in power and commerce, and was already in possession of the island of Corsica, which the Genoese had taken from the Saracens. These two cities engrossed at this time almost all the trade of Europe. There was no city in any respect equal to them either in France or Germany.

Henry IV. was only five years old at his father's death. The popes made use of the respite given them by his minority, to shake off in a great measure their dependence upon the emperors. After a variety of contests about the pontificate, Nicholas II., a creature of Hildebrand's, was elected; who, among others, passed the following celebrated decree, viz. That for the future, the cardinals only should elect the pope; and that the election should afterwards be confirmed by the rest of the clergy and the people, "Saving the honour (adds he) due to our dear son Henry, now king; and who, if it please God, shall be one day emperor, according to the right which we have already conferred upon him." After this he entered into a treaty with the Norman princes above mentioned; who, though they had lately sworn to hold their possessions from the emperor, now swore to hold them from the pope; and hence arose the pope's claim of sovereignty over the kingdoms of Naples and Sicily.

Thus was the power of the German emperors in Italy greatly diminished, and that of the popes proportionally excited; of which Henry soon had sufficient evidence. For having assumed the government into his own hands in the year 1072, being then 22 years of age, he was summoned by Alexander II., to appear before the tribunal of the holy see, on account of his loose life, and to answer the charge of having exposed the investiture of bishops to sale; at the same time that the pope excited his German subjects to rebel against him. The rebels, however, were defeated, and peace was restored to Germany; but soon after, Hildebrand above mentioned being elected to the pontificate under the name of Gregory VII., openly assumed the superiority over every earthly monarch whatever. He began with excommunicating every ecclesiastic who should receive a benefice from the hands of a layman, and every layman who should take upon him to confer such a benefice. Henry, instead of resenting this insolence, submitted, and wrote a penitential letter to the pope; who, upon this, condescended to take him into favour, after having severely reprimanded him for his loose life; of which the emperor now confessed himself guilty.

The quarrel between the church and the emperor was, however, soon brought to a crisis by the following accident. Solomon king of Hungary, being deposed by his brother Géza, had fled to Henry for protection, and renewed the homage of Hungary to the empire. Gregory, who favoured Géza, exclaimed against this act of submission; and said in a letter to Solomon, "You ought to know that the kingdom of Hungary belongs to the Roman church; and learn that you will incur the indignation of the holy see, if you do not acknowledge that you hold your dominions of the pope, and not of the emperor." Henry, though highly provoked at this declaration, thought proper to treat it with neglect; upon which Gregory resumed the dispute about investitures. The predecessors of Henry had always enjoyed the right of nominating bishops and abbots, and of giving them investiture by the cross and the ring. This right they had in common with almost all princes. The predecessors of Gregory VII. had been accustomed, on their part, to send legates to the emperors, in order to entreat their assistance, to obtain their confirmation, or desire them to come and receive the papal sanction, but for no other purpose. Gregory, however, sent two legates to summon Henry to appear before him as a delinquent, because he still continued to be below in viritutes, notwithstanding the apostolic decree to the contrary; adding, that if he should fail to yield obedience to the church, he must expect to be excommunicated and dethroned. Incensed at this arrogant message from one whom he considered as his vassal, Henry dismissed the legates with very little ceremony, and in 1106 convoked an assembly of all the princes and dignified ecclesiastics at Worms; where, after mature deliberation, they concluded, that Gregory having usurped the chair of St Peter by indirect means, infected the church of God with a great many novelties and abuses, and deviated from his duty to his sovereign in several scandalous attempts, the emperor, by that supreme authority derived from his predecessors, ought to divest him of his dignity, and appoint another in his place. In consequence of this determination, Henry sent an ambassador to Rome, with a formal deprivation of Gregory; who, in his turn, convoked a council, at which were present 110 bishops, who unanimously agreed that the pope had just cause to depose Henry, to dissolve the oath of allegiance which the princes and states had taken in his favour, and to prohibit them from holding any correspondence with him on pain of excommunication: which was immediately fulminated against the emperor and his adherents. "In the name of Almighty God, and by our authority (said Gregory), I prohibit Henry, the son of our emperor Henry, from governing the Teutonic kingdom and Italy: I release all Christians from their oath of allegiance to him; and strictly forbid all persons from serving or attending him as king!" The circular letters written by this pontiff breathe the same spirit with his sentence of deposition. He there repeats several times, that "bishops are superior to kings, and made to judge them!" expressions alike artful and presumptuous, and calculated for bringing in all the churchmen of the world to his standard.

Gregory knew well what consequences would follow the thunder of the church. The German bishops came immediately over to his party, and drew along with them many of the nobles: the flame of civil war still lay smothering, and a bull properly directed was sufficient to set it in a blaze. The Saxons, Henry's old enemies, made use of the papal displeasure as a pretence for rebelling against him. Even Guelphs, to whom the emperor had given the duchy of Bavaria, supported the malecontents with that power which he owed to his sovereign's bounty: nay, those very princes and prelates who had assisted in deposing Gregory, gave up their monarch to be tried by the pope; and his holiness was solicited to come to Augsburg for that purpose.

Willing to prevent this odious trial at Augsburg, Henry took the unaccountable resolution of suddenly pulling the Alps at Tirol, accompanied only by a few domestics, to ask abdication of Pope Gregory his opponent; who was then in Canoza, on the Apennine mountains, a fortress belonging to the countess or duchess Matilda above mentioned. At the gates of this place the emperor presented himself as a humble penitent. He alone was admitted within the outer court; where, being stripped of his robes, and wrapped in sackcloth, he was obliged to remain three days, in the month of January, bare-footed and fasting, before he was permitted to kiss the feet of his holiness; who all that time was shut up with the devout Matilda, whose spiritual director he had long been, and, as some say, her gallant. But be that as it may, her attachment to Gregory, and her hatred to the Germans, was so great, that she made over all her estates to the apostolic see; and this donation is the true cause of all the wars which since that period have raged between the emperors and the popes. She possessed in her own right great part of Tuscany, Mantua, Parma, Reggio, Placentia, Ferrara, Modena, Verona, and almost the whole of what is now called the patrimony of St Peter, from Viterbo to Orvieto; together with part of Umbria, Spoleto, and the Marche of Ancona.

The emperor was at length permitted to throw himself at the pontiff's feet; who condescended to grant him absolution, after he had sworn obedience to him in all things, and promised to submit to his solemn decision at Augsburg: so that Henry got nothing but disgrace by his journey; while Gregory, elated by his triumph, and now looking upon himself (not altogether without reason) as the lord and master of all the crowned heads in Christendom, said in several of his letters, that it was his duty "to pull down the pride of kings."

This extraordinary accommodation gave much difficulty to the princes of Italy. They never could forgive the insolence of the pope, nor the abject humility of the emperor. Happily, however, for Henry, their indignation at Gregory's arrogance overbalanced their detestation of his meanness. He took advantage of this temper; and by a change of fortune, hitherto unknown to the German emperors, he found a strong party in Italy, when abandoned in Germany. All Lombardy took up arms against the pope, while he was raising all Germany against the emperor. Gregory, on the other hand, made use of every art to get another emperor elected in Germany: and Henry, on his part, left nothing undone to persuade the Italians to elect another pope. The Germans chose Rodolph, duke of Swabia, who was solemnly crowned at Mentz; and Gregory, chosen emphatically on this occasion, behaved truly like the supreme judge of kings. He had deposed Henry, but still it was in his power to pardon that prince: he therefore affected to be displeased that Rodolph was consecrated without his order; and declared, that he would acknowledge as emperor and king of Germany, him of the two competitors who should be most submissive to the holy see.

Henry, however, trusting more to the valour of his troops than to the generosity of the pope, set out immediately for Germany, where he defeated his enemies in several engagements: and Gregory, seeing no hopes of submission, thundered out a second sentence of excommunication against him, confirming at the same time the election of Rodolph, to whom he sent a golden crown, on which the following well known verse, equally haughty and puerile, was engraved.

Petra credit Petro, Petrus diadema Rodolphi.

This donation was also accompanied with a most enthusiastic anathema against Henry. After depriving him of strength and combat, and condemning him never to be victorious, it concludes with the following remarkable markable apostrophe to St Peter and St Paul: "Make all men sensible, that as you can bind and loose every thing in heaven, you can also upon earth take from or give to every one, according to his deserts, empires, kingdoms, principalities—let the kings and the princes of the age then instantly feel your power, that they may not dare to despise the orders of your church; let your justice be so speedily executed upon Henry, that nobody may doubt but he falls by your means, and not by chance."

In order to avoid the effects of this second excommunication, Henry assembled at Brixen, in the county of Tirol, about 20 German bishops; who, acting also for the bishops of Lombardy, unanimously resolved, that the pope, instead of having power over the emperor, owed him obedience and allegiance; and that Gregory VII. having rendered himself unworthy of the papal chair by his conduct and rebellion, ought to be deposed from a dignity he so little deserved. They accordingly degraded Hildebrand; and elected in his room Guibert, archbishop of Ravenna, a person of undoubted merit, who took the name of Clement III.

Henry promised to put the new pope in possession of Rome: but he was obliged, in the mean time, to employ all his forces against his rival Rodolph, who had reassembled a large body of troops in Saxony. The two armies met near Merburg, and both fought with great fury; but the fortune of the day seemed inclined to Rodolph, when his hand was cut off by the famous Godfrey of Bouillon, then in the service of Henry, and afterwards renowned for his conquest of Jerusalem. Discouraged by the misfortune of their chief, the rebels immediately gave way; and Rodolph perceiving his end approaching, ordering the hand that was cut off to be brought him, and made a speech to his officers on the occasion, which could not fail to have an influence on the emperor's affairs. "Behold (said he) the hand with which I took the oath of allegiance to Henry; and which oath, at the instigation of Rome, I have violated, in perfidiously aspiring at an honour that was not my due."

Thus delivered from this formidable antagonist, Henry soon dispersed the rest of his enemies in Germany, and set out for Italy in order to settle Clement in the papal chair. But the gates of Rome being shut against him, he was obliged to attack it in form. The siege continued upwards of two years; Henry during that time being obliged to quell some insurrections in Germany. The city was at length carried by assault, and with difficulty saved from being pillaged; but Gregory was not taken: he retired into the castle of St Angelo, and thence defied and excommunicated the conqueror. The new pope was, however, consecrated with the usual ceremonies; and expressed his gratitude by crowning Henry, with the concurrence of the Roman senate and people. Meanwhile the siege of St Angelo was going on; but the emperor being called about some affairs into Lombardy, Robert Guiscard took advantage of his absence to release Gregory, who died soon after at Salerno. His last words, borrowed from the Scripture, were worthy of the greatest saint: "I have loved justice, and hated iniquity; therefore I die in exile!"

Henry, however, did not enjoy all the advantages which might have been expected from the death of Gregory. The subsequent popes trod in the paths of their predecessor. In 1101, Paschal II. excited young Henry to rebel against his father. The emperor did all in his power to disunite him from proceeding to extremities, but in vain. The young prince persisted in his rebellious intentions; and having by feigned submissions prevailed on the emperor to disband his army, he treacherously seized and confined him. Henry, however, found means to escape from his confinement, and attempted to engage all the sovereigns of Europe in his quarrel; but before anything effectual could be done, he died at Liege in the year 1106.

The dispute about investitures was not terminated by the deposition and death of Henry IV. His son between the pope and Henry V. pursued the very same conduct for which he had deposed his father. Paschal opposed him with violence; upon which Henry gave him an invitation into Germany, to end the dispute in an amicable manner. Paschal did not think proper to accept of this invitation; but put himself under the protection of Philip I., king of France, who undertook to mediate between the contending parties. His mediation, however, proved ineffectual, and Henry was prevented by the wars in Hungary and Poland from paying any further attention to the affair of investitures. At last, having settled his affairs in Germany, he took a resolution of going to Rome, in order to settle the dispute personally with the pope. To give his arguments the greater weight, however, he marched at the head of an army of 80,000 men. Paschal received him with great appearance of friendship, but would not renounce the claim of investitures; and Henry, finding himself deceived in his expectations, ordered the pope to be seized. The consul put the citizens in arms to defend the pope, and a battle was fought within the walls of Rome. The slaughter was so great, that the waters of the Tiber were tinged with blood. The Romans were defeated, and Paschal was taken prisoner. The latter renounced his right of investiture; solemnly swore never to resume it, and broke his oath as soon as Henry was gone, by fulminating the sentence of excommunication against him. In 1114 died the countess Matilda, who had bequeathed all her dominions to the pope, as we have already observed; but Henry, thinking himself the only lawful heir, alleged, that it was not in Matilda's power to alienate her estates, which depended immediately on the empire. He therefore set out for Lombardy, and sent ambassadors to the pope, beseeching him to revoke the sentence of excommunication above mentioned. Paschal, however, would not even favour the ambassadors with an audience; but dreading the approach of Henry himself, he took refuge among the Norman princes in Apulia. Henry arrived at Rome in 1117; but being soon after obliged to leave it in order to settle some affairs in Tuscany, the pope returned to Rome, but died in a few days. On the third day after his decease, Cardinal Cajetan was elected his successor, without the privity of the emperor, under the name of Gelasius II. The new pope was instantly deposed by Henry; who set up the archbishop of Prague, under the name of Gregory VIII. Gelasius, though supported by the Norman princes, was obliged to take refuge... refuge in France, where he died; and the archbishop of Vienna was elected by the cardinals then present under the name of Calixtus II.

The new pope attempted an accommodation with Henry; which not succeeding, he excommunicated the emperor, the antipope, and his adherents. He next set out for Rome, where he was honourably received; and Gregory VIII. was forced to retire to Sutri, a strong town garrisoned by the emperor's troops. Here he was besieged by Calixtus and the Norman princes. The city was soon taken, and Gregory thrown into prison by his competitor; but at last, the states of the empire being quite wearied out with such a long quarrel, unanimously supplicated Henry for peace. He referred himself entirely to their decision; and a diet being assembled at Wurtzburg, it was decreed that an embassy should be immediately sent to the pope, desiring that he would convene a general council at Rome, by which all disputes might be determined. This was accordingly done, and the affair of investitures at length regulated in the following manner, viz. That the emperor should leave the communities and chapters at liberty to fill up their own vacancies, without bestowing investitures with the cros and ring; that he should restore all that he had unjustly taken from the church; that all elections should be made in a canonical manner, in presence of the emperor or his commissaries: and whatever disputes might happen should be referred to the decision of the emperor, assisted by the metropolitan and his suffragans; that the person elected should receive from the emperor the investiture of the fiefs and secular rights, not with the cros, but with the sceptre; and should pay allegiance to him for these rights only.

After the death of Henry, the usual disorders took place in Italy; during which, Roger duke of Apulia conquered the island of Sicily, and assumed the right of creating popes, of whom there were two at that time, viz. Innocent II. and Anacletus. Roger drove out the former, and Lothario emperor of Germany the latter, forcing Roger himself at the same time to retire into Sicily. The emperor then conducted Innocent back to Rome in triumph; and having subdued all Apulia, Calabria, and the rest of Roger's Italian dominions, erected them into a principality, and bestowed it, with the title of duke, upon Renaud a German prince, and one of his own relations.

In the reign of Conrad III. who succeeded Lothario, the celebrated factions called the Guelphs and Ghibelines*, arose, which for many years deluged the cities of Italy with blood. They took their origin during a civil war in Germany, in which the enemies of the emperor were styled Guelphs, and his friends Ghibelines; and these names were quickly received in Italy as well as other parts of the emperor's dominions. Of this civil war many of the cities in Italy took the advantage to set up for themselves; neither was it in the power of Conrad, who during his whole reign was employed in unsuccessful crusades, to reduce them; but in 1158 Frederic Barbarossa, successor to Conrad, entered Italy at the head of a very numerous and well disciplined army. His army was divided into several columns, for the convenience of entering the country by as many different routes. Having passed the Alps, he reduced the town of Brescia; where he made several salutary regulations for the preservation of good order and military discipline. Continuing to advance, he besieged Milan, which surrendered at discretion. He was crowned king of Lombardy at Monza; and having made himself master of all the other cities of that country, he ordered a minute inquiry to be set on foot concerning the rights of the empire, and exacted homage of all those who held of it, without excepting even the bishops. Grievances were redressed; magistracies reformed; the rights of regality discussed and ascertained; new laws enacted for the maintenance of public tranquillity and the encouragement of learning, which now began to revive in the school of Bologna; and, above all, subvassals were not only prohibited from alienating their lands, but also compelled, in their oath to their lords paramount, to except the emperor nominally, when they swore to serve and assist them against all their enemies. The pope took umbrage at this behaviour towards the ecclesiastics; but Frederic justified what he had done, telling his deputies it was but reasonable they should do homage for the fiefs they possessed; as Jesus Christ himself, though the lord of all the sovereigns upon earth, had deigned to pay for himself and St Peter the tribute which was due to Caesar.

Frederic having sent commissaries to superintend the election of new magistrates at Milan, the inhabitants were so much provoked at this infringement of their old privileges, that they insulted the imperialists, revolted, and refused to appear before the emperor's tribunal. This he highly resented, and resolved to chastise them severely: for which purpose he sent for a reinforcement from Germany, which soon after arrived with the empress, while he himself ravaged Liguria, declared the Milanese rebels to the empire, and plundered and burnt the city of Crema which was in alliance with that of Milan.

In the mean time, Pope Adrian IV. dying, two opposite factions elected two persons known by the names of Victor II. and Alexander III. The emperor's allies necessarily acknowledged the pope chosen by him; and those princes who were jealous of the emperor, acknowledged the other. Victor II. Frederic's pope, had Germany, Bohemia, and one half of Italy on his side; while the rest submitted to Alexander III. The emperor took a severe revenge on his enemies; Milan was razed from the foundation, and its walls destroyed; and the other cities which had taken part with them were deprived of their privileges. Alexander III. however, who had excited the revolt, returned to Rome after the death of his rival; and at his return the civil war was renewed. The emperor caused another pope, and after his death a third, to be elected. Alexander then fled to France, the common asylum of every pope who was oppressed by the emperors; but the flames of civil discord which he had raised continued daily to spread. In 1168, the cities of Italy, supported by the Greek emperor and the king of Sicily, entered into an association for the defence of their liberties; and the pope's party at length prevailed. In 1176, the imperial army, worn out by fatigue and diseases, was defeated by the confederates, and Frederic himself narrowly escaped. About the same time, he was defeated at sea by the Venetians; Italy, and his eldest son Henry, who commanded his fleet, fell into the hands of the enemy. The pope, in honour of this victory, sailed out into the open sea, accompanied by the whole senate; and after having pronounced a thousand benedictions on that element, threw into it a ring as a mark of his gratitude and affection. Hence the origin of that ceremony which is annually performed by the Venetians, under the notion of effusing the Adriatic. These misfortunes disposed the emperor towards a reconciliation with the pope: but, reckoning it below his dignity to make an advance, he rallied his troops, and exerted himself with so much vigour in repairing his loss, that the confederates were defeated in a battle; after which he made proposals of peace, which were now joyfully accepted, and Venice was the place appointed for a reconciliation. The emperor, the pope, and a great many princes and cardinals, attended; and there the emperor, in 1177, put an end to the dispute, by acknowledging the pope, kissing his feet, and holding his stirrup while he mounted his mule. This reconciliation was attended with the submission of all the towns of Italy which had entered into an association for their mutual defence. They obtained a general pardon, and were left at liberty to use their own laws and forms of government, but were obliged to take the oath of allegiance to the emperor as their superior lord. Calixtus, the antipope, finding himself abandoned by the emperor in consequence of this treaty, made also his submission to Alexander, who received him with great humanity; and in order to prevent for the future those disturbances which had so often attended the elections of the popes, he called a general council, in which it was decreed, that no pope should be deemed duly elected without having two-thirds of the votes in his favour.

The affairs of Italy being thus settled, Barbarossa returned to Germany; and having quieted some disturbances which had arisen during his absence in Italy, at last undertook an expedition into the Holy Land; where having performed great exploits, he was drowned as he was swimming in the river Cydnus, in the year 1196. He was succeeded by his son Henry VI, who at the same time became heir to the dominions of Sicily by the right of his wife, daughter of William king of that country. After settling the affairs of Germany, the new emperor marched with an army into Italy, in order to be crowned by the pope, and to recover the succession of Sicily, which was usurped by Tancred his wife's natural brother. For this purpose, he endeavoured to conciliate the affections of the Lombards, by enlarging the privileges of Genoa, Pisa, and other cities, in his way to Rome; where the ceremony of the coronation was performed by Celestine III. on the day after Easter in the year 1191. The pope, then in the 86th year of his age, had no sooner placed the crown upon Henry's head than he kicked it off again, as a testimony of the power residing in the sovereign pontiff to make and unmake emperors at his pleasure.

The coronation being over, Henry prepared for the conquest of Naples and Sicily; but in this he was opposed by the pope: for though Celestine considered Tancred as an usurper, and desired to see him deprived of the crown of Sicily, which he claimed as a fief of the see, yet he was much more adverse to the emperor's being put in possession of it, as that would render him too powerful in Italy for the interest of the church. Henry, however, without paying any regard to the threats and remonstrances of his holiness, took almost all the towns of Campania, Calabria, and Apulia; invested the city of Naples; and sent for the Genoese fleet, which he had before engaged, to come and form the blockade by sea: but before its arrival, he was obliged to raise the siege, in consequence of a dreadful mortality among his troops: and all future attempts upon Sicily were ineffectual during the life of Tancred.

The whole reign of Henry from this time seems to have been a continued train of the most abominable and cruel perfidies and cruelties. Having treacherously seized and imprisoned Richard I. of England, in the manner related under that article, No. 128—130, he had no sooner received the ransom paid for his royal captive, than he made new preparations for the conquest of Sicily. As Tancred died about this time, the emperor, with the assistance of the Genoese, accomplished his purpose. The queen-dowager surrendered Salerno, and her right to the crown, on condition that her son William should possess the principality of Tarentum; but Henry no sooner found himself master of the place, than he ordered the infant king to be castrated, to have his eyes put out, and to be confined in a dungeon. The royal treasure was transported to Germany, and the queen and her daughter confined in a convent.

In the mean time, the empress, though near the age of 50, was delivered of a son, named Frederic; and Henry soon after assembled a diet of the princes of Germany, to whom he explained his intentions of rendering the imperial crown hereditary, in order to prevent those disturbances which usually attended the election of emperors. A decree passed for this purpose; and Frederic, yet in his cradle, was declared king of the Romans. Soon after, the emperor being solicited to undertake a crusade, obeyed the injunctions of the pope, but in such a manner as to make it turn out to his own advantage. He convoked a general diet at Worms, where he solemnly declared his resolution of employing his whole power, and even of hazarding his life, for the accomplishment of so holy an enterprise; and he expatiated upon the subject with so much eloquence, that almost the whole assembly took the cross. Nay, such multitudes from all the provinces of the empire enlisted themselves, that Henry divided them into three large armies; one of which, under the command of the bishop of Mentz, took the route of Hungary, where it was joined by Margaret, queen of that country, who entered herself in this pious expedition, and actually ended her days in Palestine: the second was assembled in Lower Saxony, and embarked in a fleet furnished by the inhabitants of Lubec, Hamburg, Holstein, and Friesland: and the emperor in person conducted the third into Italy, in order to take vengeance on the Normans in Naples and Sicily who had risen against his government.

The rebels were humbled; and their chiefs were condemned to perish by the most excruciating tortures. One Jornandi, of the house of the Norman princes, was tied naked on a chair of red-hot iron, and crowned crowned with a circle of the same burning metal, which was nailed to his head. The empress, shocked at such cruelty, renounced her faith to her husband, and encouraged her countrymen to recover their liberties. Revolution sprung from despair. The inhabitants took themselves to arms; the empress Constantia headed them; and Henry, having dismissed his troops, no longer thought necessary to his bloody purposes, and sent them to pursue their expedition to the Holy Land, was obliged to submit to his wife, and to the conditions which she was pleased to impose on him in favour of the Sicilians. He died at Messina in 1197, soon after this treaty; and, as was supposed, of poison administered by the empress.

The emperor's son Frederic had already been declared king of the Romans, and consequently became emperor on the death of his father; but as Frederic II. was yet a minor, the administration was committed to his uncle the duke of Swabia, both by the will of Henry and by an assembly of the German princes. Other princes, however, incensed to see an elective empire become hereditary, held a new diet at Cologne, and chose Otho duke of Brunswick, son of Henry the Lion. Frederic's title was confirmed in a third assembly at Amsburg; and his uncle, Philip duke of Swabia, was elected king of the Romans, in order to give greater weight to his administration. These two elections divided the empire into two powerful factions, and involved all Germany in ruin and desolation. Innocent III., who had succeeded Celestin in the papal chair, threw himself into the scale of Otho, and excommunicated Philip and all his adherents. This able and ambitious pontiff was a sworn enemy of the house of Swabia; not from any personal animosity, but out of a principle of policy. That house had long been terrible to the popes, by its continual possession of the imperial crown; and the accession of the kingdom of Naples and Sicily made it still more to be dreaded. Innocent, therefore, gladly seized the present favourable opportunity for diverting it of the empire, by supporting the election of Otho, and fowing divisions among the Swabian party. Otho was also patronized by his uncle, the king of England; which naturally inclined the king of France to the side of his rival. Faction clashed with faction; friendship with interest; caprice, ambition, or resentment, gave the sway; and nothing was beheld on all hands but the horrors and the miseries of civil wars.

Meanwhile, the empress Constantia remained in Sicily, where all was peace, as regent and guardian for her infant son Frederic II., who had been crowned king of that island, with the consent of Pope Celestin III. But she also had her troubles. A new investiture from the holy see being necessary, on the death of Celestin, Innocent III., his successor, took advantage of the critical situation of affairs for aggrandizing the papacy, at the expense of the kings of Sicily. They protested, as has been already observed, the privilege of filling up vacant benefices, and of judging all ecclesiastical causes in the last appeal: they were really popes in their own island, though vassals of his holiness. Innocent pretended that these powers had been surreptitiously obtained; and demanded, that Constantia should renounce them in the name of her son, and do like, pure, and simple homage for Sicily.

But before anything was settled relative to this affair, the empress died, leaving the regency of the kingdom to the pope; so that he was enabled to prescribe what conditions he thought proper to young Frederic. The troubles of Germany still continued; and the pope redoubled his efforts to detach the princes and prelates from the cause of Philip, notwithstanding the remonstrances of the king of France, to whom he proudly replied, "Either Philip must lose the empire, or I the papacy." But all these dissensions and troubles in Europe did not prevent the formation of another crusade, or expedition into Asia, for the recovery of the Holy Land. Those who took the cross were principally French and Germans: Baldwin, count of Flanders, was their commander; and the Venetians, as greedy of wealth and power as the ancient Carthaginians, furnished them with ships, for which they took care to be amply paid both in money and territory. The Christian city of Zara, in Dalmatia, had withdrawn itself from the government of the republic: the army of the cross undertook to reduce it to obedience; and it was besieged and taken, notwithstanding the threats and excommunication of the pope.

While the crusaders were spreading desolation through the east, Philip and Otho were in like manner desolating the west. At length Philip prevailed; and Otho, obliged to abandon Germany, took refuge in England. Philip, elated with success, confirmed his election by a second coronation, and proposed an accommodation with the pope, as the means of finally establishing his throne; but before it could be brought about, he fell a sacrifice to private revenge, being assassinated by the count Palatine of Bavaria, whose daughter he had promised to marry, and afterwards rejected. Otho returned to Germany on the death of Philip; married that prince's daughter; and was crowned at Rome by Pope Innocent III., after yielding to the holy see the long-disputed inheritance of the countess Matilda, and confirming the rights and privileges of the Italian cities. But these concessions, as far at least as regarded the pope, were only a sacrifice to present policy: Otho, therefore, no sooner found himself in a condition to act offensively, than he resumed his grant; and in 1210 not only recovered the possessions of the empire, but made hostile incursions into Apulia, ravaging the dominions of young Frederic king of Naples and Sicily, who was under the protection of the holy see. For this reason he was excommunicated by Innocent; and Frederic, now 17 years of age, was elected emperor by a diet of the German princes. Otho, however, on his return to Germany, finding his party still considerable, and not doubting but he should be able to humble his rival by means of his superior force, entered into an alliance with his uncle John king of England, against Philip Augustus king of France, A.D. 1213. The unfortunate battle of Bouvines, where the confederates were defeated, completed the fate of Otho. He attempted to retreat into Germany, but was prevented by young Frederic; who had marched into the empire at the head of a powerful army, and was everywhere received with open arms. Thus abandoned by all the princes of Germany, and altogether without resource, Otho retired to Brunswick, where he lived four years as a private man, dedicating his time to the duties of religion. Frederic II., being now universally acknowledged emperor, was crowned at Aix-la-Chapelle in 1215, with great magnificence; when, in order to preserve the favour of the pope, he added to the other solemnities of his coronation a vow to go in person to the Holy Land.

The bad success of this expedition hath been already taken notice of under the article Croisade. The emperor had, on various pretences, refused to go into the east; and in 1225, the pope, incensed at the loss of Damietta, wrote a severe letter to him, taxing him with having sacrificed the interests of Christianity by delaying so long the performance of his vow, and threatening him with immediate excommunication if he did not instantly depart with an army to Asia. Frederic, exasperated at these reproaches, renounced all correspondence with the court of Rome; renewed his ecclesiastical jurisdiction in Sicily; filled up vacant fees and benefices; and expelled some bishops, who were creatures of the pope, on pretence of their being concerned in practices against the state.

The pope at first threatened the emperor with the thunder of the church, for presuming to lift up his hand against the sanctuary; but finding Frederic not to be intimidated, he became sensible of his own imprudence in wantonly incurring the resentment of so powerful a prince, and thought proper to soothe him by submissive apologies and gentle exhortations. They were accordingly reconciled, and conferred together at Veroli in 1226; where the emperor, as a proof of his sincere attachment to the church, published some very severe edicts against heresy, which seem to have authorized the tribunal of the inquisition. A solemn assembly was afterwards held at Ferentino, where both the pope and the emperor were present, together with John de Brienne, titular king of Jerusalem, who was come to Europe to demand succours against the sultan of Egypt. John had an only daughter named Yolanda, whom he proposed as a wife to the emperor, with the kingdom of Jerusalem as her dower, on condition that Frederic should within two years perform the vow he had made to lead an army into the Holy Land. Frederic married her on these terms, because he chose to please the pope; and since that time the kings of Sicily have taken the title of king of Jerusalem. But the emperor was in no hurry to go and conquer his wife's portion, having business of more importance on his hands at home. The chief cities of Lombardy had entered into a secret league, with a view to renounce his authority. He convoked a diet at Cremona, where all the German and Italian noblemen were summoned to attend. A variety of subjects were there discussed; but nothing of consequence was settled. An accommodation, however, was soon after brought about by the mediation of the pope; who, as umpire of the dispute, decreed, that the emperor should lay aside his resentment against the confederate towns, and that the towns should furnish and maintain 400 knights for the relief of the Holy Land.

Peace being thus concluded, Honorius reminded the emperor of his vow; Frederic promised compliance; but his holiness died before he could see the execution of a project which he seemed to have so much at heart. He was succeeded in the papal chair by Gregory IX., brother of Innocent III.; who, pursuing the same line of policy, urged the departure of Frederic for the Holy Land; and finding the emperor still backward, declared him incapable of the imperial dignity, as having incurred the sentence of excommunication. Frederic, incensed at such insolence, ravaged the patrimony of St Peter; and was actually excommunicated. The animosity between the Guelphs and Gibelines revived; the pope was obliged to quit Rome; and Italy became a scene of war and desolation, or rather of a hundred civil wars; which, by inflaming the minds and exciting the resentment of the Italian princes, accustomed them too much to the horrid practices of poisoning and assassination.

During these transactions, Frederic, in order to remove the cause of all these troubles, and gratify the prejudices of a superstitious age, by the advice of his friends resolved to perform his vow; and he accordingly embarked for the Holy Land, leaving the affairs of Italy to the management of Renaldo duke of Spoleto. The pope prohibited his departure before he should be absolved from the censures of the church; but Frederic went in contempt of the church, and succeeded better than any person who had gone before him. He did not indeed defolate Asia, and gratify the barbarous zeal of the times by spilling the blood of infidels; but he concluded a treaty with Miliden, sultan of Egypt and master of Syria, by which the end of his expedition seemed fully answered. The sultan ceded to him Jerusalem and its territory as far as Joppa; Bethlehem, Nazareth, and all the country between Jerusalem and Ptolemais; Tyre, Sidon, and the neighbouring territories; in return for which, the emperor granted the Saracens a truce of ten years; and in 1230 prudently returned to Italy, where his presence was much wanted.

Frederic's reign, after his return from the east, was one continued quarrel with the popes. The cities of Lombardy had revolted during his absence, at the instigation of Gregory IX.; and before they could be reduced, the same pontiff excited the emperor's son Henry, who had been elected king of the Romans, to rebel against his father. The rebellion was suppressed, the prince was confined, and the emperor obtained a complete victory over the associated towns. But his troubles were not yet ended. The pope excommunicated him anew, and sent a bull filled with the most absurd and ridiculous language, into Germany, in order to sow divisions between Frederic and the princes of the empire.

Frederic retorted in the same strain, in his apology to the princes of Germany, calling Gregory the Great Dragon, the Antichrist, &c. The emperor's apology was sustained in Germany; and finding he had nothing to fear from that quarter, he resolved to take ample vengeance on the pope and his associates. For that purpose he marched to Rome, where he thought his party was strong enough to procure him admission; but this favourite scheme was defeated by the activity of Gregory, who ordered a crusade to be preached against the emperor, as an enemy of the Christian faith; a step which incensed Frederic so much, that he ordered all his prisoners who wore the cross to be exposed to the most cruel tortures. The two factions of the Guelphs and Gibelines continued to rage with greater violence than ever, involving cities, districts, and... and even private families, in troubles, divisions, and civil butchery; no quarter being given on either side. Meanwhile Gregory IX. died, and was succeeded in the fee of Rome by Celestine IV., and afterwards by Innocent IV., formerly Cardinal Fiesque, who had always expressed the greatest regard for the emperor and his interest. Frederic was accordingly congratulated upon this occasion; but having more penetration than those about him, he feignedly replied, "I see little reason to rejoice; the cardinal was my friend, but the pope will be my enemy." Innocent soon proved the justice of this conjecture. He attempted to negotiate a peace for Italy; but not being able to obtain from Frederic his exorbitant demands, and in fear for the safety of his own person, he fled into France, assembled a general council at Lyons, and in 1245 deposed the emperor.

Conrad, the emperor's second son, had already been declared king of the Romans, on the death of his brother Henry, which soon followed his confinement; but the empire being now declared vacant by the pope, the German bishops (for none of the princes were present), at the instigation of his holiness, proceeded to the election of a new emperor; and they chose Henry landgrave of Thuringia, who was styled in derision, The king of priests. Innocent now renewed the crusade against Frederic. It was proclaimed by the preaching friars, since called Dominicans, and the minor friars, known by the name of Cordeliers or Franciscans. The pope, however, did not confine himself to these measures only, but engaged in conspiracies against the life of an emperor who had dared to resist the decree of a council, and oppose the whole body of the monks and zealots. Frederic's life was several times in danger from plots, poisonings, and assassinations; which induced him, it is said, to make choice of Mahometan guards, who, he was certain, would not be under the influence of the prevailing superstition.

About this time the landgrave of Thuringia dying, the same prelates who had taken the liberty of creating one emperor made another; namely, William count of Holland, a young nobleman of 25 years of age, who bore the same contemptuous title with his predecessor. Fortune, which had hitherto favoured Frederic, seemed now to desert him. He was defeated before Parma, which he had long besieged; and to complete his misfortune, he soon after learned, that his natural son Ennius, whom he had made king of Sardinia, was worsted and taken prisoner by the Bolognese.

In this extremity Frederic retired to his kingdom of Naples, in order to recruit his army; and there died of a fever in the year 1250. After his death, the affairs of Germany fell into the utmost confusion, and Italy continued long in the same distracted state in which he had left it. The clergy took arms against the laity; the weak were oppressed by the strong; and all laws divine and human were disregarded. After the death of Frederic's son Conrad, who had assumed the imperial dignity as successor to his father, and the death of his competitor William of Holland, a variety of candidates appeared for the empire, and several were elected by different factions; among whom was Richard earl of Cornwall, brother to Henry II., king of England; but no emperor was properly acknowledged till the year 1273, when Rodolph, count of Hapsburg, was unanimously raised to the vacant throne. During the interregnum which preceded the election of Rodolph, Denmark, Holland, and Hungary, entirely freed themselves from the homage they were wont to pay to the empire; and much about the same time the general German cities erected a municipal form of government, which still continues. Lubeck, Cologne, Brunswick, and Dantzic, united for their mutual defense against the encroachments of the great lords, by a famous association, called the Hanseatic league; and these towns were afterwards joined by 80 others, belonging to different states, which formed a kind of commercial republic. Italy also, during this period, assumed a new plan of government. That freedom for which the cities of Lombardy had so long struggled, was confirmed to them for a sum of money: they were emancipated by the fruits of their industry. Sicily likewise changed its government and its prince; of which revolution a particular account is given under the article Sicily.

From the time of Frederic II., we may date the ruin of the German power in Italy. The Florentines, the Pisans, the Genoese, the Luccans, &c., became independent, and could not again be reduced. The power of the emperor, in short, was in a manner annihilated, when Henry VII. undertook to restore it in the beginning of the 14th century. For this purpose a diet was held at Frankfort, where proper supplies being granted for the emperor's journey, well known by the name of the Roman expedition, he set out for Italy, accompanied by the dukes of Austria and Bavaria, the archbishop of Trier, the bishop of Liege, the counts of Savoy and Flanders, and other noblemen, together with the militia of all the imperial towns. Italy was still divided by the factions of the Guelphs and Gibelines, who butchered one another without humanity or remorse. But their contest was no longer the same: it was not now a struggle between the empire and the priesthood, but between faction and faction, inflamed by mutual jealousies and animosities. Pope Clement V. had been obliged to leave Rome, which was in the anarchy of popular government. The Colonnesi, the Urfini, and the Roman barons, divided the city; and this division was the cause of a long abode of the popes in France, so that Rome seemed equally lost to the popes and the emperors. Sicily was in the possession of the house of Arragon, in consequence of the famous massacre called the Sicilian vespers, which delivered that island from the tyranny of the French*. Carobert, * See king of Hungary, disputed the kingdom of Naples with his uncle Robert, son of Charles II., of the house of Anjou. The house of Este had established itself at Ferrara; and the Venetians wanted to make themselves masters of that country. The old league of the Italian cities no longer subsisted. It had been formed with no other view than to oppose the emperors: and since they had neglected Italy, the cities were wholly employed in aggrandizing themselves, at the expense of each other. The Florentines and the Genoese made war upon the republic of Pisa. Every city was also divided into factions within itself. In the midst of these troubles Henry VII. appeared in Italy in the year 1311, and caused himself to be crowned king of Lombardy at Milan. But the Guelphs had concealed the old iron crown of the Lombard kings, as if the right of reigning were attached to a small circlet of metal, Henry ordered a new crown to be made, with which the ceremony of inauguration was performed.

Cremona was the first place that ventured to oppose the emperor. He reduced it by force, and laid it under heavy contributions. Parma, Vicenza, and Placentia, made peace with him on reasonable conditions. Padua paid 100,000 crowns, and received an imperial officer as governor. The Venetians presented Henry with a large sum of money, an imperial crown of gold enriched with diamonds, and a chain of very curious workmanship. Brescia made a desperate resistance, and sustained a very severe siege; in the course of which the emperor's brother was slain, and his army diminished to such a degree, that the inhabitants marched out under the command of their prefect Thibault de Drusifati, and gave him battle; but they were repulsed with great loss, after an obstinate engagement; and at last obliged to submit, and their city was dismantled. From Brescia Henry marched to Genoa, where he was received with expressions of joy, and splendidly entertained. He next proceeded to Rome; where, after much bloodshed, he received the imperial crown from the hands of the cardinals. Clement V., who had originally invited Henry into Italy, growing jealous of his success, had league with Robert king of Naples and the Urbinati faction, to oppose his entrance into Rome. He entered it in spite of them by the assistance of the Colonnas. Now master of that ancient city, Henry appointed it a governor; and ordered, that all the cities and states of Italy should pay him an annual tribute. In this order he comprehended the kingdom of Naples, to which he was going to make good his claim of superiority by arms, when he died at Benevento in 1313, as is commonly supposed, of poison given him by a Dominican friar, in the consecrated wine of the sacrament.

The efforts of Henry VII. were unable to restore the imperial power in Italy. From this time the authority of the emperor in that country consisted in a great measure in the conveniency which the Gibelines found in opposing their enemies under the sanction of his name. The power of the pope was much of the same nature. He was less regarded in Italy than in any other country in Christendom. There was indeed a great party who called themselves Guelphs; but they affected this distinction only to keep themselves independent of the imperialists; and the states and princes who called themselves Guelphs paid little more acknowledgement to his holiness than sheltering themselves under his name and authority. The most desperate wars were carried on by the different cities against each other; and in these wars Cattuccio Castracani, and Sir John Hawkwood an Englishman, are celebrated as heroes. A detail of these transactions would furnish materials for many volumes; and after all seems to be but of little importance, since nothing material was effected by the utmost efforts of valour, and the belligerent states were commonly obliged to make peace without any advantage on either side. By degrees, however, this martial spirit subsided; and in the year 1492, the Italians were so little capable of resisting an enemy, that Charles VIII. of France conquered the whole kingdom of Naples in six weeks, and might easily have subdued the whole country had it not been for his own imprudence. Another attempt on Italy was made by Louis XII., and a third by Francis I., as related under the article France. In the reigns of Louis XIII. and XIV., an obstinate war was carried on between the French and Spaniards, in which the Italian states bore a very considerable share. The war concluded in 1660, with very little advantage to the French, who have been always unsuccessful in their Italian wars. The like bad success attended them in that part of the world, in the war which commenced between Britain and Spain in the year 1740. But the particulars of these wars, with regard to the different states of Italy, naturally fall to be considered under the history of those states into which the country is now divided; viz. Sardinia, Milan or the Milanese, Genoa, Venice, Tuscany or Florence, Lucca, St Marino, Parma, Mantua, Modena, Rome, and Naples.

The air in Italy is very different, according to the Air, &c. of different situations of the several countries contained in Italy. It. In those on the north of the Apennines it is more temperate, but on the south it is generally very warm. The air of the Campania of Rome, and of the Ferrarese, is said to be unhealthful; which is owing to the lands not being duly cultivated, nor the marshes drained. That of the other parts is generally pure, dry, and healthy. In summer, the heat is very great in the kingdom of Naples; and would be almost intolerable, if it was not somewhat alleviated by the sea breezes. The soil of Italy in general is very fertile, being watered by a great number of rivers. It produces a great variety of wines, and the best oil in Europe; excellent silk in abundance; corn of all sorts, but not in such plenty as in some other countries; oranges, lemons, citrons, pomegranates, almonds, raisins, sugar, mulberry-trees without number, figs, peaches, nectarines, apricots, pears, apples, filberts, chestnuts, &c. Most of these fruits were at first imported by the Romans from Asia Minor, Greece, Africa, and Syria, and were not the natural products of the soil. The tender plants are covered in winter on the north side of the Apennines, but on the south side they have no need of it. This country also yields good pasture; and abounds with cattle, sheep, goats, buffaloes, wild boars, mules, and horses. The forests are well stored with game; and the mountains yield not only mines of iron, lead, alum, sulphur, marble of all sorts, alabaster, jasper, porphyry, &c. but also gold and silver; with a great variety of aromatic herbs, trees, shrubs, and evergreens, as thyme, lavender, laurel, and bay, wild olive trees, tamarinds, juniper, oaks, and pines.

A very extensive trade is carried on in many places in Italy, particularly at Leghorn, Genoa, Bologna, Venice, and Naples; the country having a great variety of commodities and manufactures for exportation, especially wine, oil, perfumes, fruits, and silks. Travellers also bring large sums of money into Italy, besides what they lay out in pictures, curiosities, relics, antiquities, &c.

The Italians are generally well proportioned, though their complexions are none of the best. As to dress, &c., they follow the fashions of the countries on which they border, or to which they are subject; namely, those of France, Spain, and Germany. With respect to their genius and taste in architecture, painting, carving, and music, Italy

music, they are thought to excell greatly, and to leave the other nations of Europe far behind them; but their music seems too soft and effeminate to deserve all the praise bestowed on it; and their houses are far inferior to those of England in respect of convenience. No country hath produced better politicians, historians, poets, painters, and sculptors; we mean since the revival of the arts and sciences, exclusive of those of ancient times. The Italians are very affable, courteous, ingenious, sober, and ready-witted; but extremely jealous, vindictive, lascivious, ceremonious, and fulfertitious. In respect to jealousy, indeed, it is said, a very extraordinary change has taken place; and that the Italians are now no less indulgent and complaisant to their wives than the most polite husbands in France itself. In their tempers, the Italians seem to be a good medium between the French and Spaniards; neither so gay and volatile as the one, nor so grave and solemn as the other. Boiled snails, served up with oil and pepper, or fried in oil, and the hinder parts of frogs, are reckoned dainty dishes. Kites, jackdaws, hawks, and magpies, are also eaten not only by the common people, but by the better sort. Wine is drank here, both in summer and winter, cooled by ice or snow. The women affect yellow hair, as the Roman ladies and courtezans formerly did. They also use paint and wafes, both for their hands and faces. The day here is reckoned from sun-set to sun-set, as the Athenians did of old.

Amidst the convulsions which were excited in Europe by the French revolution, the different states of Italy were not permitted to enjoy repose. Bonaparte, whose unprecedented and extraordinary success has hitherto even exceeded his military talents, made a rapid conquest of the whole of this country; the battles of Arcola and Lodi are memorable for the desperate valour with which they were fought, and Mantua surrendered on the 2d of February 1797, at ten o'clock at night. The immediate consequence of these successes was the conquest of the pope's territories, which was not effected without the effusion of much blood. Different changes and modifications were made in its political constitution after these victories, and the emperor of France was in the issue proclaimed king of Italy. A detail of military and other transactions in Italy, in so far as they stood connected with the political schemes and conquests of the French government, has already been given under the article France, to which we refer our readers.

According to Boetticher, the present population of Italy, including the islands of Sicily and Sardinia, ought not to be estimated at more than 13,000,000. The kingdom of Naples and Sicily is supposed to contain about 6,000,000, the central part about 3,000,000, and the northern part about 4,000,000.