|
A schism having
thus arisen in the church, Queen Joan favored the schismatic pope, upon which
Urban caused Charles of Durazzo, descended from the kings of Naples, to
undertake the conquest of her dominions. Having succeeded in his object, she
fled to France, and he assumed the sovereignty. The king of France, being
exasperated, sent Louis of Anjou into Italy to recover the kingdom for the
queen, to expel Urban from Rome, and establish the anti-pope. But in the midst
of this enterprise Louis died, and his people being routed returned to France.
In this conjuncture the pope went to Naples, where he put nine cardinals into
prison for having taken the part of France and the anti-pope. He then became
offended with the king, for having refused to make his nephew prince of Capua;
and pretending not to care about it, requested he would grant him Nocera for
his habitation, but, having fortified it, he prepared to deprive the king of
his dominions. upon this the king pitched his camp before the place, and the
pope fled to Naples, where he put to death the cardinals whom he had
imprisoned. From thence he proceeded to Rome, and, to acquire influence,
created twenty-nine cardinals. At this time Charles, king of Naples, went to
Hungary, where, having been made king, he was shortly afterward killed in
battle, leaving a wife and two children at Naples. About the same time Giovanni
Galeazzo Visconti murdered Bernabo his uncle and took the entire sovereignty
upon himself; and, not content with being duke of Milan and sovereign of the
whole of Lombardy, designed to make himself master of Tuscany; but while he was
intent upon occupying the province with the ultimate view of making himself
king of Italy, he died. Boniface IX. succeeded Urban VI. The anti-pope, Clement
VI., also died, and Benedict XIII. was appointed his successor.
Many English,
Germans, and Bretons served at this period in the armies of Italy, commanded
partly by those leaders who had from time to time authority in the country, and
partly by such as the pontiffs sent, when they were at Avignon. With these
warriors the princes of Italy long carried on their wars, till the coming of
Lodovico da Cento of Romagna, who formed a body of Italian soldiery, called the
Company of St. George, whose valor and discipline soon caused the foreign
troops to fall into disrepute, and gave reputation to the native forces of the
country, of which the princes afterward availed themselves in their wars with
each other. The pope, Boniface IX., being at enmity with the Romans, went to
Scesi, where he remained till the jubilee of 1400, when the Romans, to induce
him to return to the city, consented to receive another foreign senator of his
appointing, and also allowed him to fortify the castle of Saint Angelo: having
returned upon these conditions, in order to enrich the church, he ordained that
everyone, upon vacating a benefice, should pay a year’s value of it to the
Apostolic Chamber.
After the death
of Giovanni Galeazzo, duke of Milan, although he left two children, Giovanmaria
and Filippo, the state was divided into many parts, and in the troubles which
ensued Giovanmaria was slain. Filippo remained some time in the castle of
Pavia, from which, through the fidelity and virtue of the castellan, he
escaped. Among others who occupied cities possessed by his father, was
Guglielmo della Scala, who, being banished, fell into the hands of Francesco de
Carrera, lord of Padua, by whose means he recovered the state of Verona, in
which he only remained a short time, for he was poisoned, by order of
Francesco, and the city taken from him. These things occasioned the people of
Vicenza, who had lived in security under the protection of the Visconti, to
dread the greatness of the lord of Padua, and they placed themselves under the
Venetians, who, engaging in arms with him, first took Verona and then Padua.
At this time
Pope Boniface died, and was succeeded by Innocent VII. The people of Rome
supplicated him to restore to them their fortresses and their liberty; but as
he would not consent to their petition, they called to their assistance
Ladislaus, king of Naples. Becoming reconciled to the people, the pope returned
to Rome, and made his nephew Lodovico count of La Marca. Innocent soon after
died, and Gregory XII. was created, upon the understanding to renounce the
papacy whenever the anti-pope would also renounce it. By the advice of the
cardinals, in order to attempt the reunion of the church, Benedict, the
anti-pope, came to Porto Venere, and Gregory to Lucca, where they made many
endeavors, but effected nothing. Upon this, the cardinals of both the popes
abandoned them, Benedict going to Spain, and Gregory to Rimini. On the other
hand, the cardinals, with the favor of Balthazar Cossa, cardinal and legate of
Bologna, appointed a council at Pisa, where they created Alexander V., who
immediately excommunicated King Ladislaus, and invested Louis of Anjou with the
kingdom; this prince, with the Florentines, Genoese, and Venetians, attacked
Ladislaus and drove him from Rome. In the head of the war Alexander died, and
Balthazar Cossa succeeded him, with the title of John XXIII. Leaving Bologna,
where he was elected, he went to Rome, and found there Louis of Anjou, who had
brought the army from Provence, and coming to an engagement with Ladislaus,
routed him. But by the mismanagement of the leaders, they were unable to
prosecute the victory, so that the king in a short time gathered strength and
retook Rome. Louis fled to Provence, the pope to Bologna; where, considering
how he might diminish the power of Ladislaus, he caused Sigismund, king of
Hungary, to be elected emperor, and advised him to come to Italy. Having a
personal interview at Mantua, they agreed to call a general council, in which
the church should be united; and having effected this, the pope thought he
should be fully enabled to oppose the forces of his enemies.
At this time
there were three popes, Gregory, Benedict, and Giovanni, which kept the church
weak and in disrepute. The city of Constance, in Germany, was appointed for the
holding of the council, contrary to the expectation of Pope John. And although
the death of Ladislaus had removed the cause which induced the pope to call the
council, still, having promised to attend, he could not refuse to go there. In
a few months after his arrival at Constance he discovered his error, but it was
too late; endeavoring to escape, he was taken, put into prison, and compelled
to renounce the papacy. Gregory, one of the anti-popes, sent his renunciation;
Benedict, the other, refusing to do the same, was condemned as a heretic; but,
being abandoned by his cardinals, he complied, and the council elected Oddo, of
the Colonnesi family, pope, by the title of Martin V. Thus the church was
united under one head, after having been divided by many pontiffs.
Filippo
Visconti was, as we have said, in the fortress of Pavia. But Fazino Cane, who
in the affairs of Lombardy had become lord of Vercelli, Alessandria, Novara,
and Tortona, and had amassed great riches, finding his end approach, and having
no children, left his wife Beatrice heiress of his estates, and arranged with
his friends that a marriage should be effected between her and Filippo. By this
union Filippo became powerful, and reacquired Milan and the whole of Lombardy.
By way of being grateful for these numerous favors, as princes commonly are, he
accused Beatrice of adultery and caused her to be put to death. Finding himself
now possessed of greater power, he began to think of warring with Tuscany and
of prosecuting the designs of Giovanni Galeazzo, his father.
Ladislaus, king
of Naples, at his death, left to his sister Giovanna the kingdom and a large
army, under the command of the principal leaders of Italy, among the first of
whom was Sforza of Cotignuola, reputed by the soldiery of that period to be a
very valiant man. The queen, to shun the disgrace of having kept about her
person a certain Pandolfello, whom she had brought up, took for her husband
Giacopo della Marca, a Frenchman of the royal line, on the condition that he
should be content to be called Prince of Tarento, and leave to her the title
and government of the kingdom. But the soldiery, upon his arrival in Naples,
proclaimed him king; so that between the husband and the wife wars ensued; and
although they contended with varying success, the queen at length obtained the
superiority, and became an enemy of the pope. Upon this, in order to reduce her
to necessity, and that she might be compelled to throw herself into his lap,
Sforza suddenly withdrew from her service without giving her any pervious
notice of his intention to do so. She thus found herself at once unarmed, and
not having any other source, sought the assistance of Alfonzo, king of Aragon
and Sicily, adopted him as her son, and engaged Braccio of Montone as her captain,
who was of equal reputation in arms with Sforza, and inimical to the pope, on
account of his having taken possession of Perugia and some other places
belonging to the church. After this, peace was made between the queen and the
pontiff; but King Alfonzo, expecting she would treat him as she had her
husband, endeavored secretly to make himself master of the strongholds; but,
possessing acute observation, she was beforehand with him, and fortified
herself in the castle of Naples. Suspicions increasing between them, they had
recourse to arms, and the queen, with the assistance of Sforza, who again
resumed her service, drove Alfonzo out of Naples, deprived him of his
succession, and adopted Louis of Anjou in his stead. Hence arose new contests
between Braccio, who took the part of Alfonzo, and Sforza, who defended the
cause of the queen. In the course of the war, Sforza was drowned in endeavoring
to pass the river Pescara; the queen was thus again unarmed, and would have
been driven out of the kingdom, but for the assistance of Filippo Visconti, the
duke of Milan, who compelled Alfonzo to return to Aragon. Braccio, undaunted at
the departure of Alfonzo, continued the enterprise against the queen, and
besieged L’Aquilla; but the pope, thinking the greatness of Braccio injurious
to the church, received into his pay Francesco, the son of Sforza, who went in
pursuit of Braccio to L’Aquilla, where he routed and slew him. Of Braccio
remained Oddo, his son, from whom the pope took Perugia, and left him the state
of Montone alone; but he was shortly afterward slain in Romagna, in the service
of the Florentines; so that of those who had fought under Braccio, Niccolo
Piccinino remained of greatest reputation.
Having
continued our general narration nearly to the period which we at first proposed
to reach, what remains is of little importance, except the war which the
Florentines and Venetians carried on against Filippo duke of Milan, of which an
account will be given when we speak particularly of Florence. I shall, therefore,
continue it no further, briefly explaining the condition of Italy in respect of
her princes and her arms, at the period to which we have now come. Joan II.
held Naples, La Marca, the Patrimony and Romagna; some of these places obeyed
the church, while others were held by vicars or tyrants, as Ferrara, Modena,
and Reggio, by those of the House of Este; Faenza by the Manfredi; Imola by the
Alidossi; Furli by the Ordelaffi; Rimini and Psaro by the Malatesti; and
Camerino by those of Varano. Part of Lombardy was subject to the Duke Filippo,
part to the Venetians; for all those who had held single states were set aside,
except the House of Gonzaga, which ruled in Mantua. The greater part of Tuscany
was subject to the Florentines. Lucca and Sienna alone were governed by their
own laws; Lucca was under the Guinigi; Sienna was free. The Genoese, being
sometimes free, at others, subject to the kings of France or the Visconti,
lived unrespected, and may be enumerated among the minor powers.
None of the
principal states were armed with their own proper forces. Duke Filippo kept
himself shut up in his apartments, and would not allow himself to be seen; his
wars were managed by commissaries. The Venetians, when they directed their
attention to terra firma, threw off those arms which had made them terrible
upon the seas, and falling into the customs of Italy, submitted their forces to
the direction of others. The practice of arms being unsuitable to priests or
women, the pope and Queen Joan of Naples were compelled by necessity to submit
to the same system which others practiced from defect of judgment. The
Florentines also adopted the same custom, for having, by their frequent
divisions, destroyed the nobility, and their republic being wholly in the hands
of men brought up to trade, they followed the usages and example of others.
Thus the arms
of Italy were either in the hands of the lesser princes, or of men who
possessed no state; for the minor princes did not adopt the practice of arms
from any desire of glory, but for the acquisition of either property or safety.
The others (those who possessed no state) being bred to arms from their
infancy, were acquainted with no other art, and pursued war for emolument, or
to confer honor upon themselves. The most
noticed among the latter were Carmignola, Francesco Sforza, Niccolo Piccinino
the pupil of Braccio, Agnolo della Pergola, Lorenzo di Micheletto Attenduli, il
Tartaglia, Giacopaccio, Cecolini da Perugia, Niccolo da Tolentino, Guido
Torello, Antonia dal Ponte ad Era, and many others. With these, were those lords of
whom I have before spoken, to which may be added the barons of Rome, the
Colonnesi and the Orsini, with other lords and gentlemen of the kingdoms of
Naples and Lombardy, who, being constantly in arms, had such an understanding
among themselves, and so contrived to accommodate things to their own
convenience, that of those who were at war, most commonly both sides were
losers; and they had made the practice of arms so totally ridiculous, that the
most ordinary leader, possessed of true valor, would have covered these men
with disgrace, whom, with so little prudence, Italy honored.
With these idle
princes and such contemptible arms, my history must, therefore, be filled; to
which, before I descend, it will be necessary, as was at first proposed, to
speak of the origin of Florence, that it may be clearly understood what was the
state of the city in those times, and by what means, through the labours of a
thousand years, she became so imbecile.
|