One of his highest
qualities
as a statesman was his
ready and intuitive perception of changed situations.
ready and intuitive perception of changed situations.
Cambridge Medieval History - v5 - Contest of Empire and the Papacy
He therefore sought aid from Pavia, Mantua,
and Ferrara, whom he loaded with privileges, trying to move them to
hostile action against the League. But the allies appeared in such
strong force that he had temporarily to renounce the hazard of battle.
In the meanwhile the anti-Pope Victor had died, in April 1164, at
Lucca. The position of Alexander III being thenceforth secure, Frederick
might not have been altogether indisposed to renew attempts at recon-
ciliation, but the Archbishop of Cologne, Rainald of Dassel, the implacable
enemy of Alexander, stood in his way and obtained the immediate election
of another anti-Pope. This was Guido of Crema, who took the name of
Paschal III. From the moment of his election the Emperor took him
under his protection, and, on his return to Germany, tried to make the
German and Italian bishops acknowledge him, but this scheme met with
open opposition in the episcopate of both countries. Among the Ger-
mans, the Archbishop-elect of Mayence, Conrad of Wittelsbach, rather
than yield went into exile in France, near Alexander. The Archbishops
of Trèves, Magdeburg, and Salzburg, and the Bishop of Brixen held out,
refusing to accept an election so patently uncanonical; while many others
of less courage submitted in appearance only to the imperial will.
This opposition, which augmented Frederick's difficulties in Germany,
also encouraged the Lombards to shake off their yoke. Alexander III,
now that hope of reconciliation with Barbarossa had proved fallacious,
was doing all in his power to spur on the resistance of Lombardy,
relying on the determination and love of liberty among the communes.
Thus by stirring up the cities to rebellion and by devising means
for drawing together more closely the adverse powers of Europe, the
able policy of Alexander aimed at isolating Frederick and placing him
in a position of marked inferiority in his struggle with the Church.
The Emperor, wishing to break through the ring of hostile influences
which encompassed him, turned to Henry II of England. This monarch
was bound to the King of France by very fragile ties, and had deep
causes of dissension with the Pope, owing to the struggle which had
arisen with Thomas Becket. This dispute was undoubtedly the source
of serious difficulties for Alexander III, difficulties which only came to
an end on Becket's tragic death. The Emperor and the King of England
took advantage of this event to draw closer together, yet without essen-
tially modifying the Pope's position towards Frederick. Alexander was
now recognised as the uncontested head of Christendom. He felt strong
enough to reoccupy his see and carry on the struggle, which threatened
## p. 439 (#485) ############################################
Return of Alexander III to Rome
439
to be renewed with greater tenacity than ever. Through the aid of his
vicar, the Cardinal of Ss. John and Paul, the Pope had secured
guarantees for his safe residence in Rome, and in October 1165 he left
France where his reception had been so generous. He travelled to Messina
by sea. From Palermo the King of Sicily sent him gifts and ordered an
escort of galleys to convey him honourably to Rome, where the Pope
made a solemn entry on 23 November. He at once took up his residence
in the Lateran. From Germany, whither he had returned and which he
was striving to pacify, the Emperor could not fail to perceive that the
triumphs of his rival in Rome were a source of dangers which it would
be necessary to dispel. He felt that the loyalty of the Lombard cities
was no longer to be reckoned upon, and therefore began to recruit an
army powerful enough to be confident of success and capable of crushing
any resistance from one end of Italy to the other. In order to conjure
back more and more the majesty of the Empire, he had Charlemagne
canonised by the anti-Pope Paschal III on the Christmas festival of 1165.
But times had changed and altered situations had arisen for the Papacy,
the Empire, and the peoples now awakened to a new life. Frederick
Barbarossa in his lofty aspirations had no conception that he was sum-
moning from the tomb of his great predecessor in Aix-la-Chapelle the
phantom of a past for which there was no longer a place amid the living.
The absence of Frederick made it more easy for the Lombards to
come to agreements preliminary to common action. The signs of resist-
ance arose quickly on all sides. In the cities tumults frequently broke
out and in Bologna the imperial podestà was killed during an uprising
of the populace. William I of Sicily had died and was succeeded in
1166 by the child William II, whose mother the Regent maintained
friendly relations with the Pope and an antagonistic policy towards the
Emperor. She was encouraged by Manuel Comnenus, who aimed at
gaining a foothold in Italy and showered attentions on the youthful king,
while he was trying to flatter the Pope by holding out to him the
mirage of reunion of the two Churches, asking in return the Roman
crown of Empire. Alexander placed no reliance on this project, but
shewed himself ready to negotiate in order to add to the dangers of
Frederick's position. Venice entered into alliance with Sicily and Con-
stantinople, forming thus a joint domination over the Adriatic, while
Pisa and Genoa, although in league with Frederick, were mutually so
quarrelsome and jealous of each other that the warmth of their devotion
could not be safely depended upon. Only one way lay open to Frederick,
and that was the reconquest of Italy by force.
He collected a considerable army, and in October 1166 set out
accompanied by the Empress. By the middle of November he was in
Lombardy and held a diet at Lodi, but he quickly saw that hostility
was greater than ever, and that he aroused an atmosphere of hatred
to the highest intensity. The cities which had at first favoured him had
OH. XIII.
## p. 440 (#486) ############################################
440
Frederick's fourth expedition to Italy
turned lukewarm or unfriendly, and the two on which he most relied to
give effect to the expedition against Sicily, Pisa and Genoa, came to
Lodi only to dispute rival claims, thus emphasising a discord which was of
evil omen. Instead of moving directly upon Rome in order to dispatch the
business of Alexander and scatter the forces of William of Sicily and
the Byzantines, Frederick was obliged to tarry some time in Lombardy,
making destructive raids on the territory of Brescia and Bergamo.
Thence he advanced on Bologna and compelled that city to give hostages
before betaking himself to Ancona by the Romagna. He sent a portion
of his army towards Rome under the command of Rainald, Archbishop of
Cologne, and another warrior-archbishop, Christian of Buch, whom he had
substituted in the see of Mayence for Conrad of Wittelsbach, a partisan of
Pope Alexander. The immediate descent on the south made it necessary
that he should have a base on the Adriatic and that the approach to
Abruzzo by the Marches should be free. He therefore determined to
invest Ancona in person.
He met with a stubborn resistance. Lombardy in the meantime,
determined to throw off his yoke, was emboldened by the League of
Verona, and one city after another entered into a joint compact to
prepare for an act of liberation. The confederates resolved, as a symbol
of their union, to restore Milan from her ruins, construct her moats,
and set up her walls anew as a bulwark. On 27 April 1167, the allied
forces appeared before the fallen city bent on the work of reconstruction
and of warding off any possible attacks, especially from Pavia, always
the faithful ally of the Empire. Milan rose again as if by enchantment
and the spirit of independence seemed to live again within her. The
cities in their rekindled life built fortifications, and all through Lom-
bardy ran the thrill of coming war.
Alexander III saw in this harmony his greatest hope of safety and hailed
with fervour. His position was a very serious one. He had succeeded
in gaining to a certain extent the favour of the Romans, thanks to their
hatred of the neighbouring cities, who seemed to be biassed towards the
Empire, especially Tusculum. But the two German archbishops at the
head of their forces were masters of the Campagna, and had reduced
that district into obedience to the anti-Pope Paschal, who had made
Viterbo his headquarters. The Roman militia were sufficiently numerous
to place in danger Rainald of Dassel, who was occupying Tusculum with
a slender force, but the Archbishop of Mayence advanced to the succour
of Rainald. The Romans, in spite of the Pope's dissuasions, advanced
against this combined array trusting in their own numbers, but, being
hemmed in on both sides, suffered a terrible defeat on 29 May 1167 and
were pursued to the very gates of Rome, leaving in their flight many
dead and many prisoners behind them. The discouragement in Ronie
was great. Alexander rallied together as many soldiers as he could, and
prepared to offer resistance to the imperial troops now before the city.
## p. 441 (#487) ############################################
Siege of Rome
441
Frederick, having made peace with Ancona, made a rapid march on Rome,
and on 24 July 1167 appeared with his army on Monte Mario. The
day after he made an unsuccessful attempt to storm the walls. Sub-
sequent assaults were more fortunate, and opened to him the defences of
St Peter's. The neighbouring church of Santa Maria in Turri was set
fire to by the assailants, who amid blood and slaughter forced their way
to the sacred basilica itself, compelling the papal soldiers to surrender.
The anti-Pope being in possession of the church renewed the Emperor's
coronation with great solemnity and placed the crown on the imperial
consort's head.
Frederick, however, was not yet master of the left bank of the Tiber.
The Pope had taken refuge in a stronghold of the Frangipani near to
the Coliseum, and was in constant deliberation with his cardinals and
other adherents. The King of Sicily had sent him by the Tiber two
galleys and a sum of money. The money was distributed amongst his
defenders, while the galleys were sent away with two cardinals. The
Pope himself remained in Rome. Grave as the situation appeared to be,
Alexander did not despair, and thought perhaps that some means of
understanding with Frederick was not impossible. Conrad of Wittelsbach,
the dispossessed Archbishop of Mayence, who held to the Pope, went to
visit the Emperor. The latter enjoined upon him the task of proposing
to the Alexandrine cardinals and bishops that both Pope and anti-Pope
should resign in order to make way for a fresh election. At the same
time he acquainted the Romans with this proposal, promising them that, if
it were carried out, he would return the prisoners and the booty cap-
tured on 29 May. The bishops with one voice rejected the imperial
offer, but the Romans urged the Pope and cardinals with pressing insist-
ence to yield and to set them free from their privations. Alexander's
position in Rome was no longer endurable, and he suddenly and stealthily
disappeared. Three days afterwards he was seen near Monte Circello,
then at Terracina and Gaeta, and thence he went to Benevento, where
he was joined by the cardinals whose loyalty had remained unshaken in
the hour of danger.
The appearance of eight Pisan galleys on the Tiber and the expected
approach of a great fleet of ships ready to attack Rome and Sicily brought
the Romans to make terms with the Emperor and to submit to him the
nomination of the Senate. Frederick could now look upon himself as
supreme master of Italy. Rome was his, and the army behind him with
the Pisan fleet guaranteed to him a victory over the Sicilian king, whose
strength was shaken by internal discords, and whose defeat would render
certain the suppression of the revolt of Lombardy. The Empire of
Charlemagne was on the point of revival in all its pristine majesty. But
the decrees of history were otherwise written. The scorching August
sun was oppressing the German forces in the Campagna when a slight
rain came to refresh them, but on the following day sudden destruction
CH, XIII.
## p. 442 (#488) ############################################
442
Frederick's army destroyed by pestilence
men.
fell upon their encampments. A deadly fever spread through the ranks
and those attacked by the sudden malady died in crowds. The panic
was great, heightened by religious terror, for this mysterious and violent
destruction appeared to be an act of divine vengeance for the profanation
of St Peter's. The imperial army, decimated, terrified, and demoralised,
was routed by an unseen enemy, and Frederick was compelled to break up
his camp. He led the remnants of his army across the Tuscan Apennines,
his path of retreat strewn with dead and dying. The flower of his army,
the pick of his captains, had fallen. In this conjuncture Frederick's magna-
nimous strength of will shewed itself in full force. He was suddenly bereft
of the most valuable and staunchest supporters of his throne; his best coun-
cillors, his most valiant warriors were wrested from his side. His nephew
Frederick of Swabia, the Archbishop of Cologne, Rainald of Dassel, the
Bishops of Liège, Spires, Ratisbon, Verden, and Duke Welf VII of
Tuscany, were all struck down, and hundreds of other nobles and church-
He dragged behind him as best he could the surviving few, and
being unable to follow the open roads from Tuscany, since the Lombards
in arms held the passes, he took to the hill paths of Lunigiana and by a
difficult circuit came down on loyal Pavia. Here he gathered together
his available forces, and, aided by some cities still faithful, by the
Count of Biandrate and the Marquess of Montferrat, he attempted some
attacks on the Milanese territory, but the Lombards pressed him so
closely that it was only with great effort that he could extricate himself
in safety and get beyond the frontier of Italy. Under the protection of
Humbert, Count of Maurienne, he reached Susa with a small following,
but the city displayed such a menacing demeanour that he was forced to
escape under cover of the darkness of night. The powerful monarch
who had descended on Italy certain of victory returned to his own
country alone, disarmed, a fugitive; but his mind was undaunted and his
ambition was bent more than ever on the re-affirmation of his rights and
the restoration of lustre to the waning star of Empire.
The Lombards, who had felt so heavily the weight of Barbarossa's
arms, knew that the struggle was not yet at an end and that there must
be a fierce renewal of the contest if their liberties were to be re-won and
maintained. They set to work. The League added to its numbers, and
in a short time the greater part of the cities of Venetia, Lombardy, and
Piedmont were confederated and ready to act on the defensive against
the Emperor and those barons and cities, such as Pavia, which still stood
by him. As a greater safeguard the League decided to build a strong
city at the confluence of the Tanaro and the Bormida, in such a position
as to command every point of entrance into the plains of Lombardy. The
city rose rapidly, not rich indeed in fine buildings but fortified to its
utmost capacity, and was soon able to reckon a population of 15,000
citizens to man and defend it. As a symbol of alliance with the Papacy
the name given to the city was Alessandria, and the Pope, on his part,
## p. 443 (#489) ############################################
Growing strength of Alexander III
443
aided by the Lombard clergy, did all he could to encourage the League
and to tighten the bonds between himself and his other allies. The Em-
peror's influence in Italy was steadily losing ground. Genoa, without
actually joining the League, regarded it with favour, and, when Pisa
entered into friendly relations with Sicily, did the same. The court of
Sicily, at the same time, seeing what a safeguard the League might
become, gave assistance in money, and so did Manuel Comnenus, ever
mindful of his own interests and of his ambitious hopes regarding Italy.
While the struggle was thus in preparation, the shuttle of papal
diplomacy was moving incessantly and working to keep France and
England aloof from Frederick. Alexander III had been recognised by
Denmark, and little by little this recognition had spread over the greater
part of northern and eastern Europe. Towards the Byzantine Emperor,
who adhered to his design of uniting the Eastern and Western Empires,
the Pope shewed great courtesy but maintained an attitude of non-com-
mittal friendliness. His strength had its foundation in the King of Sicily
and the Lombards. The latter pre-eminently were his first bulwark
against the attacks of Frederick. As had always been the case, his weakest
point was Rome, where permanent habitation was difficult, so much so
that he had for several years to be contented with Benevento or some
town of the Campagna as a settled residence. The anti-Pope was always
face to face with him, although devoid of an authority in Christendom
adequate to challenge that of Alexander. On the death of Paschal III
in September 1168, a successor had been found in Abbot John of
Struma, called Calixtus III, whom Frederick hastened to acknowledge.
Although the schism had spent its force, an anti-Pope could always be
used as a handy instrument against Alexander by an able and deter-
mined adversary.
On his return to Germany in 1168, the Emperor bent all his
energies to the restoration of order in the kingdom distracted by civil
dissensions and to the establishment of peace between his most power-
ful vassals, the Saxon Henry the Lion and the Margrave Albert the Bear,
two implacable enemies. While endeavouring to bring them into friendly
accord, Frederick was inclined to favour Henry, to whom he was at-
tached by old ties of friendship, and to whom he looked for support.
But the power of these barons made him feel the need of making pro-
vision for the security of his own house, and in April 1169 he caused his
son Henry to be elected King of the Romans and had him crowned at
Aix-la-Chapelle by the new Archbishop, Philip, of Cologne, the successor
of Rainald of Dassel. From the old Duke Welf VI, who now had no
heirs, he bought the right of succession to his estates in Swabia and
Tuscany, but this acquisition, which certainly made a notable accession
to his power in Germany and Italy, alienated from him the sympathy
of Henry the Lion, who had himself aspired to the whole Welf in-
heritance.
OH. XIII.
## p. 444 (#490) ############################################
444
Failure of negotiations
The internal affairs of Germany did not exclusively occupy the mind
of Frederick, and he was also giving his thoughts to the state of Italy
and his relations with the Church. If the anti-Pope Calixtus III was
an embarrassment and a difficulty to Pope Alexander, his force and
authority were not to be compared with those which the Cardinal Octa-
vian had wielded in the early days of the schism. Prudence also kept
Frederick from putting difficulties in the way of the barons who were sum-
moned to Bamberg to elect his son as King of the Romans. It seemed
to him wise, at this juncture, to make an attempt at conciliation which,
without admitting any compromise in regard to the existing dispute,
might be a means of shewing to Germany his good intentions regarding
the close of the schism, and also of arousing suspicion against the Pope
among the Lombards and in Sicily. Eberhard, Bishop of Bamberg, was
chosen as the messenger of conciliation. His wisdom and moderation
were acknowledged by all parties. He was under strict obligations to
disclose his proposals to the Pope only. The latter was not without his
misgivings. He foresaw that the negotiations might be regarded with
suspicion by his Lombard allies, and arranged that certain faithful citizens
should be deputed by the cities of the League to come immediately to
Veroli and assist at the conference with the imperial envoy. Eberhard,
however, insisted on a confidential explanation with the Pope of his
mission. The Emperor made some concessions, but did not make an
explicit avowal of his readiness to accept the validity of Alexander's
election. At the bottom of his heart he probably clung to the often-
expressed idea of a simultaneous renunciation on the part of the two
pretenders, followed by the election of a third party to the Papacy. The
negotiations fell to the ground completely. The Pope in the presence of
the Lombard delegates rejected the imperial proposals, and all hope of
conciliation vanished.
War was once more the arbiter. The alliance of the Lombards with
the Pope and with Sicily could only be broken up by force. The League
was dominant in upper Italy, and Pavia had at last to bow to its au-
thority. A fresh expedition into Italy had become a vital necessity for
the Emperor, though he was still hampered by the complicated affairs of
Germany. He had to dispatch a first army corps under Christian of
Buch, Archbishop of Mayence, whose political and military task was
to consist in preparing the ground by consolidating friendships and in-
spiring with fear the pride of the rebellious cities. Christian's principal
object was to bring Genoa into closer relationship with the Emperor, and
to gain as much as possible the goodwill of Tuscany. His next endeavour
was to secure for the imperial army a base on the Adriatic, and to carry
out afresh the investment of Ancona. The city held out stoutly for six
months until the succour of her allies compelled the army to raise the siege.
Frederick, as soon as his hands were free in Germany, concentrated
his army for the Italian expedition and again crossed the Alps at its
## p. 445 (#491) ############################################
Frederick's fifth expedition to Italy
445
head. He had a strong force at his disposition--a certain number of
barons and bishops followed him—but it was much inferior to that which
he had on the previous occasion. The most conspicuous gap was that
caused by the absence of Henry the Lion, the comrade of his choice.
Internal conditions in Germany and the disastrous end of the last expedi-
tion into Italy had chilled the enthusiasm of the Germans and their
inclination to carry war beyond the Alps. He opened his campaign
at the end of September 1174 by the destruction of Susa, an act of
reprisal for the ignominy of having had to escape from it when he left
Italy. He then came down through Piedmont and moved on the borders
of Lombardy. Asti surrendered at once, and the Marquess of Mont-
ferrat, with the cities of Alba, Acqui, Pavia, and Como, finding themselves
strengthened by his favour, deserted the League and turned to him.
Frederick, emboldened by these adhesions, presented himself before
Alessandria. This town, with its name taken from his enemy, appeared
to him as the symbol and bulwark of rebellion which must disappear
from the face of the earth.
But the determination of the Emperor to crush the Lombards was
not greater than their determination to oppose him, and to defend their
liberty to the last gasp. This stubborn opposition hardened into
obstinacy Frederick's resolve to obtain the mastery. The city was
beleaguered on every side, but held out firmly. The winter, always severe
around Alessandria, was in this year of exceptional rigour, and increased
beyond measure the difficulties of the siege and the sufferings of the
besiegers. The confederates meanwhile were combining their forces in
order to fall upon the Emperor and destroy the army which was wearing
itself out in the attacks on the city. Barbarossa, intent on dividing
and thwarting the enemy, sent Christian of Buch into the Romagna
and the Bolognese territory, thus succeeding in diverting and holding in
check no inconsiderable portion of the allied armies. He redoubled his
efforts to carry Alessandria by storm, but all his attempts were ineffectual,
being repulsed with heavy losses. After six months of unsuccessful
siege, in April 1175, knowing that the allies were close at hand, he tried
to penetrate the city by means of mines and take it by surprise, but the
soldiers employed in the mines were discovered and killed, and in a
spirited sortie the defenders raided the Emperor's camp and destroyed
by fire his best siege machinery. With his quick resolution Frederick
then raised the siege without delay, and advanced rapidly against the
army of the League. The two armies met in the territory of Pavia,
and pitched their camps between Casteggio and Voghera at three miles
distance from one another. Just as a battle appeared imminent, nego-
tiations for peace were suddenly begun between the Emperor and the
League, although it is not clearly known from which side the initiative
came. Perhaps the Lombards were not entirely confident of their
strength, and certainly Frederick must have found the moment
CH, XIII.
## p. 446 (#492) ############################################
446
The battle of Legnano, 1176
opportune for a truce, in order to reinvigorate his troops, exhausted by the
unfortunate enterprise against Alessandria. For a moment peace ap-
peared to have been concluded, but all at once the negotiations were
broken off. Other negotiations were opened through three cardinals, in
order to see if it were yet possible to come to some agreement with the
Church, but this attempt also came to nothing, and hostilities began
anew. For the remainder of the year 1175 the war dragged on without
any important engagements. The Lombards seemed to keep a watchful
attitude, looking for the opportune moment, and Frederick stood on the
defensive waiting for reinforcements from Germany before striking a
decisive blow. Germany shewed no great willingness to reply to his
appeals, and when at last in the spring of 1176 the reinforcements did
arrive they were not accompanied by Henry the Lion. The Emperor
had gone in person to Chiavenna in order to confer with him, and to
impress upon him the supreme importance of his co-operation in the
interests of the Empire. All was in vain. Henry's proud spirit was
deaf to the voice of an old friendship, and refused to recall the acts of
kindness of his imperial relative spread over many years. Frederick
gained nothing from this interview save a chilling refusal, and the
painful impression that, where he had looked for friendship, he had
only found the foreshadowing of rebellion.
Frederick had advanced to meet his fresh supports with the deter-
mination of opening a vigorous campaign with a battle in the open
field. Having collected a contingent from Como, he moved on Pavia in
order to form a conjunction with the remainder of his army before
delivering an attack on the Lombards. The latter, who had his move-
ments under observation, came forward rapidly and cut off his approach.
The hour on which the issue of the long contest depended had now
struck. On 29 May 1176 the two armies engaged near Legnano in a
battle which was keenly contested on both sides. At first the Germans
seemed to have the upper hand. Their heavy cavalry broke through
the front ranks of the Lombards and threw them into confusion. But
round the Carroccio the German onset was checked, and was of no
avail to shatter the desperate resistance of the handful of heroes who
defended this central point. It became the centre of the battle now
resumed with fierce determination. Frederick encouraged his troops in
vain by plunging into the thick of the fight with his wonted courage.
In the struggle he was unhorsed, and amid the confusion and the groups
of combatants vanished from sight. The defeat of the Germans was
complete and great their slaughter. The exultant Milanese wrote to
their brethren of Bologna: “Glorious has been our triumph over our
enemies. Their slain are innumerable as well as those drowned and
taken prisoners. We have in our hands the shield, banner, cross, and
lance of the Emperor, and have found in his coffers much gold and
silver, while the booty taken from the enemy is of great value, but we
## p. 447 (#493) ############################################
Acceptance of defeat by Frederick
447
do not consider these things ours, but the common property of the Pope
and the Italians. In the fight Duke Berthold was taken, as also a
nephew of the Empress and a brother of the Archbishop of Cologne;
the other captives are innumerable and are all in custody in Milan. ”
Frederick had no small difficulty in reaching Pavia in safety with
the remnants of his army which had made good their escape from the
hands of the victors. He had fought and lost. It would have been
folly to suppose that Germany would have followed him in any scheme
of reconquest.
One of his highest qualities as a statesman was his
ready and intuitive perception of changed situations. He accepted
facts and determined to consider some other policy which would reconcile
the order of things created by the Lombard victory of Legnano with
the dignity and majesty of the Empire. The desire for peace which
had gradually arisen in his own mind and that of his counsellors now
ripened, and inclined him to open negotiations which would lead finally
to an honourable and lasting conclusion. Four times he had entered
Italy with an armed force, and still the Italians met him undaunted face
to face. The Pope, now enjoying an uncontested authority, by his ex-
communication was stripping the imperial crown of its halo of sanctity.
He had failed to carry his arms against the King of Sicily, and
Constantinople might still become a menace. It was time to make
approaches to peace while the Empire was yet strong and formidable.
His first considerations were not in the direction of Lombardy. The
primary object of reconciliation was the Church. By restoring friendly
relations with his foremost adversary, he would be in a position at once
to allay the scruples of Germans disturbed by the papal schism and
to smooth the way for understandings with Lombardy and Sicily. In
October 1176 Frederick sent to Anagni the Archbishops Wichmann of
Magdeburg and Christian of Mayence, Conrad Bishop-elect of Worms,
and the protonotary Wortwin, with full powers to conclude peace. The
Pope received them honourably and expressed his fervent desire for
peace, but declared that it must be extended to his allies the King of
Sicily, the Lombards, and the Byzantine Emperor. To this the ambas-
sadors agreed, but asked that the negotiations might be carried on in
secret, since there were in both parties persons who were more disposed
to enmity than to concord. They thus gained the advantage of holding
the first deliberations privately and solely with the Pope.
The long and detailed discussion lasted more than two weeks, involving
the relations between the Empire and the Church, and a variety of
questions affecting important personages connected with the schism. The
terms of agreement were at last fixed. The Emperor recognised Alexander
as Pope, restored to the Church her possessions and the right to appoint
the prefect of Rome, and promised to all ecclesiastics the restitution
of all that had been taken from them during the schism. The Empress
and King Henry also recognised the Pope, and undertook the same
CH, XIII.
## p. 448 (#494) ############################################
448
Treaty of Anagni. End of the Schism
obligations as the Emperor. The latter and King Henry bound them-
selves to enter into a fifteen years' peace with the King of Sicily, and
also to make peace with the Emperor of Constantinople and the other
allies of the Pope. Christian of Mayence and Philip of Cologne were
to be confirmed in their sees, notwithstanding the schismatic origin of
their elections, while Conrad of Wittelsbach, the legitimate Archbishop
of Mayence, was to be provided for with the first vacant archbishopric in
Germany. The anti-Pope Calixtus was to be appointed to an abbacy,
and for other ecclesiastics provision was made in various ways. The
Pope recognised Beatrix as Empress and her son Henry as King of the
Romans, and promised to crown them either in person or by deputy.
He undertook to convene a council speedily, in order to promulgate the
peace with penalty of excommunication against its violators, and to have
it confirmed on oath by many nobles of Rome and the Campagna, while
the Emperor and King Henry promised to keep the peace for fifteen years
with the King of Sicily, and a truce of six years with the Lombards.
Such were the principal provisions of the Treaty of Anagni. In order
to obtain a definite conclusion, the participation of the Sicilians and
Lombards was necessary; it was therefore resolved that the Pope with
his cardinals and the Emperor should meet in Lombard territory.
Bologna was agreed upon as the place of meeting, and on 9 March 1177
Alexander and his cardinals betook themselves to the Adriatic coast,
where they embarked at Vasto on Sicilian galleys waiting to escort them
to Venice, along with Roger, Count of Andria, Grand Constable of
the kingdom, and Romuald, Archbishop of Salerno, the historian of
these events. They landed at Venice, where Alexander was received with
great honours. The Emperor, who was then in the Romagna, sent
messages to the Pope asking him to alter the place of meeting.
order to treat better with the Lombards it was important for Frederick
to isolate them and separate them from the Pope. Bologna, loyal to the
League, was suspect to the Emperor. The Pope answered that he could
not give a decided assent until he had come to an agreement with the
Lombards, and made his way to Ferrara, in order to discuss the matter
with the representatives of the League.
On 17 April 1177, in the church of St George, the Pope addressed
a solemn discourse to the Lombards, who had met him at Ferrara,
magnifying the victory of the Papacy over the Empire, and declaring
that it was not a work of man but a miracle of God that an aged
and unarmed priest should have been able to resist the fury of the
Germans, and without striking a blow subdue the power of the Emperor.
But, he added, though the Emperor had offered peace to him and the
King of Sicily, he had declined to conclude it without them, and on this
account had engaged on a long and perilous journey.
The Lombards, to whom the Treaty of Anagni, concluded without
their participation, had given offence and cause of suspicion, answered
In
1
## p. 449 (#495) ############################################
Attitude of the Lombards
449
respectfully, but not without a touch of bitter irony. They thanked
him for having come. The persecutions of the Emperor were known to
them, not by hearsay only, but from hard experience. They had been
the first to sustain in their own persons the fury of the imperial attack
in order to avert the destruction of Italy and the Church, and for the
honour of both they had exposed property and life to extreme danger.
It was only just and reasonable that he should not have consented to
terms of peace without their adhesion, seeing that they had often refused
to listen to proposals which had not been referred to him. The fatigues
and dangers of his journey were very different from those to which they had
exposed themselves on behalf of the Church, offering up their substance,
themselves, and the lives of their children. “Let your Holiness know,
they added, “and let it be known to the imperial power that we,
so long as the honour of Italy is safeguarded, are willing to accept
peace and favour from the Emperor provided our liberties remain intact.
The tribute due to him of old from Italy shall be rendered and his
ancient rights acknowledged, but the liberty inherited from our sires
and forefathers can only be surrendered with life itself, and to us a glorious
death would be preferable to an existence dragged out in wretched
servitude. "
When the imperial delegates arrived and the various mediators had
been chosen, the question as to where the discussion should take place
broke out afresh. The Imperialists refused to hear of Bologna, while
Venice was displeasing to the Lombards. In the end Venice was accepted,
on the condition that the Emperor should not enter the city without
the consent of the Pope. The disputes over the conditions of peace at
Venice were long and often bitter. The imperialist claims were obsti-
nately resisted by the Lombards. The latter were determined not to
admit the privileges conceded to the Empire at Roncaglia, but to
restrict them solely to the rights enjoyed by Lothar and Conrad III.
Definite peace with the Lombards ceased to be thought of, and in its
place was proposed a preliminary truce for six years. In order to
expedite matters, Frederick was allowed to come to Chioggia, but,
taking advantage of a rising of the popular party in Venice, he tried to
force the doge to allow him to enter the city. The Lombards in anger
left Venice and retired to Treviso. The Pope was in a great strait
and peace seemed once more to be in danger. The Sicilian legates
saved the situation. Seeing that the doge was wavering, they made
ready their galleys with great ostentation and then, reproaching the
doge with breach of faith, they threatened to leave Venice and trust
to their king to take his revenge. This was tantamount to saying that
the many Venetians in the kingdom of Sicily would be made prisoners
and their goods confiscated. The popular party had to give way before
the attitude of the rest of the community, and the doge was able to
keep the Emperor at bay during the period of the negotiations, which
O. MEN, H. VOL. V. CH. XIII.
29
## p. 450 (#496) ############################################
450
The Treaty of Venice, 1177
now
were resumed and went on more rapidly. On 23 July 1177
peace was concluded with the Pope, a truce of fifteen years with Sicily
and of six with the Lombards. At the request of the Pope, the Venetian
galleys went to Chioggia to bring Frederick to San Niccolò del Lido,
where a commission of cardinals absolved him from excommunication,
while the imperialist prelates abjured the schism. On 24 July the doge,
along with the Patriarch of Aquileia, went to the Lido and meeting the
Emperor escorted him to Venice with great pomp. There in front of
St Mark's, amidst a reverent and deeply-moved assemblage, the two
champions met after a struggle of eighteen years for the ideal supremacy
which each deemed granted him by God. The moment was full of
solemnity. The Emperor, overcome by sentiments of reverence for the
aged man who received him, threw off his imperial mantle and prostrated
himself before him. The Pope, in tears, raised and embraced him, and
leading him into the church gave him his benediction. The next day
the Pope said mass in St Mark's, and on his quitting the church the
Emperor held his stirrup and made ready to conduct the palfrey. The
Pope, however, gave him his blessing, at the same time dispensing him
from accompanying him to his barge.
On 1 August the peace between the Church and the Empire, and the
truce with Sicily and the Lombards, were solemnly ratified. The Pope
in a council held in St Mark's pronounced anathemas against any who
should dare to disturb the peace now concluded. The Emperor in the
meantime displayed particular friendliness to the ambassadors of the
King of Sicily, and in the conversations with them laid special emphasis
on the common interests which bound together the two sovereigns and
on the possibility of a future alliance. Probably Frederick's active
mind was already turning over the new direction which might be given
to his relations with southern Italy and was preparing the way for a
new development of his aims.
After settling some minor points which were still pending, the
Emperor and the Pope parted company towards the end of September.
Frederick remained in Italy until the end of 1177, and Alexander
returned first to Anagni and thence to Rome, where he met with an
enthusiastic reception. This cordiality, however, was of short duration.
The old motives of discord were still active, and the opposition between
the temporal claims of the Pope and those put forward by the party of
municipal liberty were quickly renewed. The Treaty of Anagni had
again given to the Pope the right of investing the prefect of Rome, but
the prefect in office refused to pay homage and withdrew to Viterbo, con-
tinuing his support of the anti-Pope. The Archbishop of Mayence,
who represented the Emperor in Italy, tried ineffectually to recall him to
obedience. But Alexander instead, by more diplomatic means, won him
over, and thus compelled the anti-Pope to surrender and turn to him as
a suppliant. The Pope received him and provided for him generously.
## p. 451 (#497) ############################################
Third Lateran Council. Death of Alexander III
451
Another anti-Pope lasted for a few months, but having been taken
prisoner was shut up in the abbey of Cava.
The long travail of the Church was at an end, and it seemed a first
necessity that in the face of the world the pacification of consciences
should be ratified, the evils of the long schism healed, and the recurrence
of fresh divisions in the Church of Christ checked once and for all. In
March 1179 Alexander III summoned the Third Lateran Council, which
was attended by a great concourse of bishops and prelates from all
quarters. Many ordinances were proclaimed for regulating the lives of
the clergy; the rights and privileges of the Church, independent of lay
authority, were affirmed; abuses and customs contrary to the sanction
of civilisation and the feeling of Christianity were prohibited. All the
ordinances of the anti-Popes were annulled, and in order to prevent the
renewal of schismatical elections to the Papacy it was decreed that, in
the case of a contested election, the candidate who obtained two-thirds
of the votes should be declared elected. With this council the long and
laborious work of the pontificate of Alexander III may be said to have
come to an end. For two years longer he ruled the Church, not without
difficulties arising from his various relationships with the Lombards, the
Emperor, and the Romans, who were always jealous of papal authority
and inclined to revolt. On 30 August 1181 he died at Civita Castellana.
His pontificate was without doubt one of the most remarkable in the
history of the Church. For twenty-two years he had guided her in times
of singular difficulty with great prudence and firmness through a schism
of the most serious nature. His enemies were numerous, and he was in
open conflict with the Empire presided over by one who was among the
greatest wearers of the imperial crown. The champion of the Emperor
and the champion of the Papacy each represented in this strife contrast-
ing ideals which hardly admitted of reconciliation, and the strife was
waged on both sides with vigour because both the champions were
animated by a profound faith in the ideals for which they fought.
Lucius III, who succeeded Alexander, found a question of debate
with the Empire still undecided. This was the question of the inherit-
ance of the Countess Matilda, which the Treaty of Venice had settled
only provisionally and in terms lacking in precision. Nor was this his
only difficulty. The Romans held up their heads more proudly than ever,
bent on asserting their independence as opposed to the temporal preten-
sions of the Popes. Lucius was soon forced to leave Rome and shift from
place to place in the Campagna until, his situation in the neighbourhood
becoming daily more precarious, he had to make up his mind to retire
still farther, and in July 1184 he transferred himself to Verona. The prin-
cipal reason for fixing on this place of residence was his desire to regain
the friendship of the Lombards who, since the peace of Venice,
had kept
much aloof from the Church. He also wished to discuss with Frederick
the questions which still remained over for settlement. The Emperor,
OH. XIII.
29--2
## p. 452 (#498) ############################################
452
The Peace of Constance, 1183
.
after the peace of Venice, had set himself strenuously to restore order in
Germany, and had quelled by force of arms the open rebellion of Henry
the Lion who, in November 1181, was compelled to sue for peace at
Erfurt and then to seek refuge in England as an exile for several years.
Frederick, in the meanwhile, was not neglecting Italy. His long conflict
with that country had brought him gradually to recognise both the
powers of resistance that the republics possessed, and the advantages that
might accrue to him from their friendship. He turned over in his mind
a new scheme of policy. The negotiations for a definite peace with Lom-
bardy were facilitated by the discontent of the Lombards with the Pope,
while they saw that Frederick and the King of Sicily were at peace and
that, by the death of Manuel Comnenus, they could no longer count on
help from Constantinople. On these grounds their minds were now oc-
cupied in securing in a friendly way the liberties so dearly fought for
and not in meditating fresh hostilities. The peace was first negotiated
at Piacenza and then concluded at Constance in June 1183. It was an
honourable arrangement. The high sovereignty of the Empire was ad-
mitted without question and its ancient rights were recognised, but in
such a way as not to interfere with the freedom of the republics or with
their development. They were invested by the Emperor or by their
bishop, according to their status, with the regalia. The cities were
allowed to elect their own consuls or podestàs, who were to administer
justice according to their laws. They could also raise taxes without
the Emperor's special consent, although an appeal to him was conceded.
All the ancient customs were recognised. The allies were to fortify their
towns and castles, and their League was to continue unimpaired with
power of renewal. All offences were forgiven; the prisoners were ex-
changed; bans, confiscations, and all other penalties were annulled; the
city of Alessandria was admitted to the imperial favour, under the con-
dition, not of long duration, of taking the name of Cesarea. Thus the
imperial claims put forth at Roncaglia were curtailed at Constance, and
the proud but sagacious prince became reconciled to the noble people
who had defended their liberty with such valour and such tenacity.
With Germany restored to order and Italy pacified, Frederick might
well look backward over the thirty years of a glorious reign and feel pride
in the achievements of his career. In order to celebrate the termination
of so many vicissitudes, he commanded a great festival to be held at
Mayence on Whitsunday in the year 1184, a festival which long sur-
vived in the lays of the Minnesingers and the legends of Germany.
During these festivities, in a tournament in which the Emperor him-
self took part, the young King Henry VI won his spurs. He was a young
actor making his first entry on the stage of history. Frederick's chivalrous
designs were henceforward to be turned in a new direction. While
maturing in his mind the plan of a new and sacred enterprise, he was
preparing his son to rule the State and testing his capacities in various
## p. 453 (#499) ############################################
New causes of disagreement
453
ways so that the lofty Empire to be committed to his charge might
be upheld in undiminished greatness. With this aim he proposed and
concluded the contract of marriage between Henry and Constance, the
heiress of Sicily, thus hoping to achieve his design of linking southern
Italy with the Empire. In September 1184 he re-entered Italy as a friend,
with a great suite of nobles but no army, and was received with a cordial
welcome from the Lombards. He wished to come to a closer understand-
ing with them, and to obtain from the Pope the imperial crown for his
son Henry. Pope and Emperor met at Verona, both in a conciliatory
mood, but it soon appeared how difficult would be the process of coming
to agreement. The Emperor insisted that the Pope should confirm the
orders conferred by the schismatic bishops, and the Pope, after some hesi-
tation, declared that before this step could be taken it would be necessary
to have conciliar authority, and proposed to summon a synod at Lyons.
This procrastinating reply did not please Frederick and made more difficult
than before the solution of the questions relating to the inheritance of the
Countess Matilda, which Frederick in the meantime held and had no in-
tention of giving up. Another source of discord was the archbishopric of
Trèves, where in 1183 a double election had occurred, the Pope favouring
one candidate and the Emperor the other. But the most delicate point of
all was the Emperor's persistent demand of the imperial crown for his
son Henry. The Pope objected, adducing as his reason that, notwith-
standing precedents, the contemporaneous existence of two Emperors was
incompatible with the very nature of the Empire itself. The Pope's
refusal was perhaps not altogether without support from the German
nobility, who may have seen in such a coronation a tendency to make the
Empire hereditary. It is probable that the suspicions and fears raised in the
Curia by the approaching marriage of Henry and Constance had a strong
influence over the Pope. In spite of the strained situation, the personal
relations between Lucius and Frederick remained cordial, and in their
conversations at Verona they had opportunity for enquiring together into
the imminent necessity of carrying succour to the Christians of the East,
exposed to serious danger by the enterprises of Saladin. But on 24 No-
vember 1185 Lucius III died at Verona, and was succeeded by the Arch-
bishop of Milan, who took the name of Urban III. He was an unbending
and vigorous man, with little friendship for the Emperor and ill-disposed
to concessions. With him was reopened the quarrel between Church and
Empire, and the imperial policy was turned more decisively to the path
on which it had first entered. Thus, as at the end of the struggle of the
investitures, so now, after a long contest, neither party could claim the
full victory or acknowledge entire defeat.
CH. XIII.
## p. 454 (#500) ############################################
454
CHAPTER XIV.
THE EMPEROR HENRY VI.
The Emperor Henry VI presents both in character and appearance a
striking contrast to his father; instead of the fine figure, the attractive
mien, the charm of manner which distinguish the personality of Frederick
Barbarossa, we are confronted with a man, spare and gaunt, of an unpre-
possessing appearance, which thinly disguised the harsh, cruel, unrelenting
qualities of his character. Instead of the fearless and skilful soldier, the
very personification of all that was knightly in an age of knights, we see
a man whose honour even among friends could not be trusted, whose
cruelty would stop short at nothing when it suited his purpose; a man
who cared not for the field of battle, and whose only active pursuit was
falconry and the chase. Certainly it was not Henry's personal attributes
that made him a great Emperor, nor was it in field-sports or deeds of
arms that Henry excelled; it was as a man of learning, as one “more
learned than men of learning," as a man of great business capacity,
that Henry impressed his contemporaries. One writer will dwell on his
eloquence and on his prudence, another will praise his intellectual attain-
ments, his knowledge of letters and of canon and secular law. “I rejoice,”
writes Godfrey of Viterbo in his dedication of the Speculum regum to
Henry, “that I have a philosopher king. ""
But if the characters of the two Emperors have so little in common,
there is a striking similarity in their political outlook. Henry inherited
from his father not only the problems that required solution, but the
methods and the ideas with which to solve them. The Peace of Venice,
though the end of one phase of the struggle, was also the beginning of
another. Frederick's last years, which coincide with Henry's first, are
occupied with the solution of the old problem on new lines; the three
powers whose combined strength had defeated him, the Papacy, the Lom-
bards, and the Normans, must be separated and separately dealt with. The
first step in this direction was achieved when Alexander III, who had
long been excluded from his capital, and who hoped with the Emperor's
aid to become once more master in Rome, was induced to sign the Peace
of Venice from which the Lombards and the Normans were excluded.
These had to content themselves with truces, the former for six, the latter
for fifteen years. As in the famous dramatic episode at Canossa a hundred
1 “Literatis ipse literatior. ” Gervase of Tilbury.
2 MGH, Script. xxii, 21. Cf. also Memoria seculorum, MGH, Script. xxII, 103,
"Tu vero, Henrice regum omnium felicissime, sicut a pueritia curasti phylosoficis
inherere doctrinis. ”
## p. 455 (#501) ############################################
Results of the Peace of Venice
455
years before, the Emperor cloaked a diplomatic triumph under the guise
of abject humility. Considered by results it is not too much to say, with
a recent writer', that the Pope entered Venice as judge and left it as pro-
tégé of the German Emperor. That Frederick remained with the upper
hand seems proved from the fact that, in spite of the agreement at
Anagni, he refused to evacuate the terra Mathildis which he claimed as of
right to be imperial territory. Moreover Alexander gained little by his
compliance; he was, it is true, reinstated at Rome by Christian of Mayence
and German soldiery, but only to be hounded once more from the city to
die, two years later, in exile at Civita Castellana. Alexander's successor,
Ubald, Cardinal-bishop of Ostia, who took the name of Lucius III, was
a man of advanced years and well-disposed towards the Emperor; he
would, he declared, deny him nothing; nor could he well do otherwise,
for he too after a short struggle was forced to abandon Rome, a fugitive
from the hostile Romans. Pope and Emperor were now working for the
same object-a durable peace; but there were still questions to be settled,
above all the question of the lands of Matilda. In the course of the
negotiations which occupied the years 1182–3 the Emperor through his
representatives suggested two solutions: first, that the disputed territory
should be definitely assigned to him, while he in return should compensate
the Pope with a tenth, the cardinals with a ninth, of the revenues; or
secondly, that a commission appointed from both parties should revise the
boundaries and, by means of mutual exchanges, arrive at a settlement
agreeable to both of them. However, neither plan commended itself to
Lucius, who proposed a personal conference at Verona, where he had taken
up his residence in July 1184 and whither the Emperor came in the
following October.
Here the issue was complicated by new difficulties: the demand of
Frederick for the reinstating of the Bishops of Metz, Strasbourg, and
Basle, who had been deposed in accordance with the second decree of the
Third Lateran Council (1179) which pronounced the ordinations by
schismatic Popes to be invalid; the demand for the imperial coronation
of the young King Henry; the question of the disputed election at Trèves.
Lucius was prepared to fall in with Frederick's wishes as far as he could,
but he was old, weak, and procrastinating; he would gladly restore the
deposed bishops, but a decision of a General Council could only, he
thought, be reversed by a similar body. He may not have been entirely
averse to crowning the young king, and according to one authority it was
the cardinals and not the Pope who stood in the way; but he soon seems
to have come round to the view that there could not be two Emperors
reigning simultaneously, and that Henry could only acquire the title if
Frederick was himself ready to abdicate in his favour. As regards the
Trèves election dispute there is little doubt that Lucius had every inten-
tion of satisfying the Emperor, was willing, that is to say, to consecrate
1 Haller, Heinrich VI und die römische Kirche, MIOGF, xxxv, p. 388.
CH. XIV.
## p. 456 (#502) ############################################
456
Policy of Pope Lucius III
the imperial candidate; but the matter was not a very simple one. In
June 1183 one party of the electors had chosen Folmar, the archdeacon,
the other party the provost Rudolf. The dispute was referred to the
Emperor, who decided for the latter and forthwith invested him with the
regalia of his see; the disappointed Folmar thereupon appealed to the
Pope. Lucius procrastinated more curiae, as the Trèves historian com-
ments. At last the cardinals decided that as the appeal had been made
the case must, at least as a matter of form, be heard, and Rudolf was
summoned to Verona; this all meant further delay, and no decision was
reached when Frederick in November 1184 left the conference. But what
is of importance is that Frederick left Verona under the strong impression
that all was going well, that a decision favourable to him would ulti-
mately be pronounced; and so no doubt it would, had not Henry taken
precipitate action in Germany—he treated Folmar and his supporters as
traitors and seized their property—and had not, soon after the news of
this ill-judged act reached the papal Court, the well-intentioned Lucius
died.
It has been generally stated that the mild old man sitting at Verona
was struck as it were by a thunderbolt by the news from Augsburg of
the betrothal on 29 October 1184 of Henry with the aunt and heiress of
the reigning King of Sicily, and in consequence all hope of a peaceful
settlement between Pope and Emperor was at an end'. At one blow the
Curia would be deprived of its strongest ally, the Empire of its most
formidable enemy; in the next phase of the papal-imperial contest the
southern kingdom would be on the side of the Emperor, the Pope would
be between two fires. But it must be remembered that Lucius meant that
there should not be another phase of the hitherto incessant struggle.
Professor Haller has gone far to prove that this betrothal was not, as
usually supposed, a devastating blow to the Pope-for the simple reason
that the Pope himself had planned it?
and Ferrara, whom he loaded with privileges, trying to move them to
hostile action against the League. But the allies appeared in such
strong force that he had temporarily to renounce the hazard of battle.
In the meanwhile the anti-Pope Victor had died, in April 1164, at
Lucca. The position of Alexander III being thenceforth secure, Frederick
might not have been altogether indisposed to renew attempts at recon-
ciliation, but the Archbishop of Cologne, Rainald of Dassel, the implacable
enemy of Alexander, stood in his way and obtained the immediate election
of another anti-Pope. This was Guido of Crema, who took the name of
Paschal III. From the moment of his election the Emperor took him
under his protection, and, on his return to Germany, tried to make the
German and Italian bishops acknowledge him, but this scheme met with
open opposition in the episcopate of both countries. Among the Ger-
mans, the Archbishop-elect of Mayence, Conrad of Wittelsbach, rather
than yield went into exile in France, near Alexander. The Archbishops
of Trèves, Magdeburg, and Salzburg, and the Bishop of Brixen held out,
refusing to accept an election so patently uncanonical; while many others
of less courage submitted in appearance only to the imperial will.
This opposition, which augmented Frederick's difficulties in Germany,
also encouraged the Lombards to shake off their yoke. Alexander III,
now that hope of reconciliation with Barbarossa had proved fallacious,
was doing all in his power to spur on the resistance of Lombardy,
relying on the determination and love of liberty among the communes.
Thus by stirring up the cities to rebellion and by devising means
for drawing together more closely the adverse powers of Europe, the
able policy of Alexander aimed at isolating Frederick and placing him
in a position of marked inferiority in his struggle with the Church.
The Emperor, wishing to break through the ring of hostile influences
which encompassed him, turned to Henry II of England. This monarch
was bound to the King of France by very fragile ties, and had deep
causes of dissension with the Pope, owing to the struggle which had
arisen with Thomas Becket. This dispute was undoubtedly the source
of serious difficulties for Alexander III, difficulties which only came to
an end on Becket's tragic death. The Emperor and the King of England
took advantage of this event to draw closer together, yet without essen-
tially modifying the Pope's position towards Frederick. Alexander was
now recognised as the uncontested head of Christendom. He felt strong
enough to reoccupy his see and carry on the struggle, which threatened
## p. 439 (#485) ############################################
Return of Alexander III to Rome
439
to be renewed with greater tenacity than ever. Through the aid of his
vicar, the Cardinal of Ss. John and Paul, the Pope had secured
guarantees for his safe residence in Rome, and in October 1165 he left
France where his reception had been so generous. He travelled to Messina
by sea. From Palermo the King of Sicily sent him gifts and ordered an
escort of galleys to convey him honourably to Rome, where the Pope
made a solemn entry on 23 November. He at once took up his residence
in the Lateran. From Germany, whither he had returned and which he
was striving to pacify, the Emperor could not fail to perceive that the
triumphs of his rival in Rome were a source of dangers which it would
be necessary to dispel. He felt that the loyalty of the Lombard cities
was no longer to be reckoned upon, and therefore began to recruit an
army powerful enough to be confident of success and capable of crushing
any resistance from one end of Italy to the other. In order to conjure
back more and more the majesty of the Empire, he had Charlemagne
canonised by the anti-Pope Paschal III on the Christmas festival of 1165.
But times had changed and altered situations had arisen for the Papacy,
the Empire, and the peoples now awakened to a new life. Frederick
Barbarossa in his lofty aspirations had no conception that he was sum-
moning from the tomb of his great predecessor in Aix-la-Chapelle the
phantom of a past for which there was no longer a place amid the living.
The absence of Frederick made it more easy for the Lombards to
come to agreements preliminary to common action. The signs of resist-
ance arose quickly on all sides. In the cities tumults frequently broke
out and in Bologna the imperial podestà was killed during an uprising
of the populace. William I of Sicily had died and was succeeded in
1166 by the child William II, whose mother the Regent maintained
friendly relations with the Pope and an antagonistic policy towards the
Emperor. She was encouraged by Manuel Comnenus, who aimed at
gaining a foothold in Italy and showered attentions on the youthful king,
while he was trying to flatter the Pope by holding out to him the
mirage of reunion of the two Churches, asking in return the Roman
crown of Empire. Alexander placed no reliance on this project, but
shewed himself ready to negotiate in order to add to the dangers of
Frederick's position. Venice entered into alliance with Sicily and Con-
stantinople, forming thus a joint domination over the Adriatic, while
Pisa and Genoa, although in league with Frederick, were mutually so
quarrelsome and jealous of each other that the warmth of their devotion
could not be safely depended upon. Only one way lay open to Frederick,
and that was the reconquest of Italy by force.
He collected a considerable army, and in October 1166 set out
accompanied by the Empress. By the middle of November he was in
Lombardy and held a diet at Lodi, but he quickly saw that hostility
was greater than ever, and that he aroused an atmosphere of hatred
to the highest intensity. The cities which had at first favoured him had
OH. XIII.
## p. 440 (#486) ############################################
440
Frederick's fourth expedition to Italy
turned lukewarm or unfriendly, and the two on which he most relied to
give effect to the expedition against Sicily, Pisa and Genoa, came to
Lodi only to dispute rival claims, thus emphasising a discord which was of
evil omen. Instead of moving directly upon Rome in order to dispatch the
business of Alexander and scatter the forces of William of Sicily and
the Byzantines, Frederick was obliged to tarry some time in Lombardy,
making destructive raids on the territory of Brescia and Bergamo.
Thence he advanced on Bologna and compelled that city to give hostages
before betaking himself to Ancona by the Romagna. He sent a portion
of his army towards Rome under the command of Rainald, Archbishop of
Cologne, and another warrior-archbishop, Christian of Buch, whom he had
substituted in the see of Mayence for Conrad of Wittelsbach, a partisan of
Pope Alexander. The immediate descent on the south made it necessary
that he should have a base on the Adriatic and that the approach to
Abruzzo by the Marches should be free. He therefore determined to
invest Ancona in person.
He met with a stubborn resistance. Lombardy in the meantime,
determined to throw off his yoke, was emboldened by the League of
Verona, and one city after another entered into a joint compact to
prepare for an act of liberation. The confederates resolved, as a symbol
of their union, to restore Milan from her ruins, construct her moats,
and set up her walls anew as a bulwark. On 27 April 1167, the allied
forces appeared before the fallen city bent on the work of reconstruction
and of warding off any possible attacks, especially from Pavia, always
the faithful ally of the Empire. Milan rose again as if by enchantment
and the spirit of independence seemed to live again within her. The
cities in their rekindled life built fortifications, and all through Lom-
bardy ran the thrill of coming war.
Alexander III saw in this harmony his greatest hope of safety and hailed
with fervour. His position was a very serious one. He had succeeded
in gaining to a certain extent the favour of the Romans, thanks to their
hatred of the neighbouring cities, who seemed to be biassed towards the
Empire, especially Tusculum. But the two German archbishops at the
head of their forces were masters of the Campagna, and had reduced
that district into obedience to the anti-Pope Paschal, who had made
Viterbo his headquarters. The Roman militia were sufficiently numerous
to place in danger Rainald of Dassel, who was occupying Tusculum with
a slender force, but the Archbishop of Mayence advanced to the succour
of Rainald. The Romans, in spite of the Pope's dissuasions, advanced
against this combined array trusting in their own numbers, but, being
hemmed in on both sides, suffered a terrible defeat on 29 May 1167 and
were pursued to the very gates of Rome, leaving in their flight many
dead and many prisoners behind them. The discouragement in Ronie
was great. Alexander rallied together as many soldiers as he could, and
prepared to offer resistance to the imperial troops now before the city.
## p. 441 (#487) ############################################
Siege of Rome
441
Frederick, having made peace with Ancona, made a rapid march on Rome,
and on 24 July 1167 appeared with his army on Monte Mario. The
day after he made an unsuccessful attempt to storm the walls. Sub-
sequent assaults were more fortunate, and opened to him the defences of
St Peter's. The neighbouring church of Santa Maria in Turri was set
fire to by the assailants, who amid blood and slaughter forced their way
to the sacred basilica itself, compelling the papal soldiers to surrender.
The anti-Pope being in possession of the church renewed the Emperor's
coronation with great solemnity and placed the crown on the imperial
consort's head.
Frederick, however, was not yet master of the left bank of the Tiber.
The Pope had taken refuge in a stronghold of the Frangipani near to
the Coliseum, and was in constant deliberation with his cardinals and
other adherents. The King of Sicily had sent him by the Tiber two
galleys and a sum of money. The money was distributed amongst his
defenders, while the galleys were sent away with two cardinals. The
Pope himself remained in Rome. Grave as the situation appeared to be,
Alexander did not despair, and thought perhaps that some means of
understanding with Frederick was not impossible. Conrad of Wittelsbach,
the dispossessed Archbishop of Mayence, who held to the Pope, went to
visit the Emperor. The latter enjoined upon him the task of proposing
to the Alexandrine cardinals and bishops that both Pope and anti-Pope
should resign in order to make way for a fresh election. At the same
time he acquainted the Romans with this proposal, promising them that, if
it were carried out, he would return the prisoners and the booty cap-
tured on 29 May. The bishops with one voice rejected the imperial
offer, but the Romans urged the Pope and cardinals with pressing insist-
ence to yield and to set them free from their privations. Alexander's
position in Rome was no longer endurable, and he suddenly and stealthily
disappeared. Three days afterwards he was seen near Monte Circello,
then at Terracina and Gaeta, and thence he went to Benevento, where
he was joined by the cardinals whose loyalty had remained unshaken in
the hour of danger.
The appearance of eight Pisan galleys on the Tiber and the expected
approach of a great fleet of ships ready to attack Rome and Sicily brought
the Romans to make terms with the Emperor and to submit to him the
nomination of the Senate. Frederick could now look upon himself as
supreme master of Italy. Rome was his, and the army behind him with
the Pisan fleet guaranteed to him a victory over the Sicilian king, whose
strength was shaken by internal discords, and whose defeat would render
certain the suppression of the revolt of Lombardy. The Empire of
Charlemagne was on the point of revival in all its pristine majesty. But
the decrees of history were otherwise written. The scorching August
sun was oppressing the German forces in the Campagna when a slight
rain came to refresh them, but on the following day sudden destruction
CH, XIII.
## p. 442 (#488) ############################################
442
Frederick's army destroyed by pestilence
men.
fell upon their encampments. A deadly fever spread through the ranks
and those attacked by the sudden malady died in crowds. The panic
was great, heightened by religious terror, for this mysterious and violent
destruction appeared to be an act of divine vengeance for the profanation
of St Peter's. The imperial army, decimated, terrified, and demoralised,
was routed by an unseen enemy, and Frederick was compelled to break up
his camp. He led the remnants of his army across the Tuscan Apennines,
his path of retreat strewn with dead and dying. The flower of his army,
the pick of his captains, had fallen. In this conjuncture Frederick's magna-
nimous strength of will shewed itself in full force. He was suddenly bereft
of the most valuable and staunchest supporters of his throne; his best coun-
cillors, his most valiant warriors were wrested from his side. His nephew
Frederick of Swabia, the Archbishop of Cologne, Rainald of Dassel, the
Bishops of Liège, Spires, Ratisbon, Verden, and Duke Welf VII of
Tuscany, were all struck down, and hundreds of other nobles and church-
He dragged behind him as best he could the surviving few, and
being unable to follow the open roads from Tuscany, since the Lombards
in arms held the passes, he took to the hill paths of Lunigiana and by a
difficult circuit came down on loyal Pavia. Here he gathered together
his available forces, and, aided by some cities still faithful, by the
Count of Biandrate and the Marquess of Montferrat, he attempted some
attacks on the Milanese territory, but the Lombards pressed him so
closely that it was only with great effort that he could extricate himself
in safety and get beyond the frontier of Italy. Under the protection of
Humbert, Count of Maurienne, he reached Susa with a small following,
but the city displayed such a menacing demeanour that he was forced to
escape under cover of the darkness of night. The powerful monarch
who had descended on Italy certain of victory returned to his own
country alone, disarmed, a fugitive; but his mind was undaunted and his
ambition was bent more than ever on the re-affirmation of his rights and
the restoration of lustre to the waning star of Empire.
The Lombards, who had felt so heavily the weight of Barbarossa's
arms, knew that the struggle was not yet at an end and that there must
be a fierce renewal of the contest if their liberties were to be re-won and
maintained. They set to work. The League added to its numbers, and
in a short time the greater part of the cities of Venetia, Lombardy, and
Piedmont were confederated and ready to act on the defensive against
the Emperor and those barons and cities, such as Pavia, which still stood
by him. As a greater safeguard the League decided to build a strong
city at the confluence of the Tanaro and the Bormida, in such a position
as to command every point of entrance into the plains of Lombardy. The
city rose rapidly, not rich indeed in fine buildings but fortified to its
utmost capacity, and was soon able to reckon a population of 15,000
citizens to man and defend it. As a symbol of alliance with the Papacy
the name given to the city was Alessandria, and the Pope, on his part,
## p. 443 (#489) ############################################
Growing strength of Alexander III
443
aided by the Lombard clergy, did all he could to encourage the League
and to tighten the bonds between himself and his other allies. The Em-
peror's influence in Italy was steadily losing ground. Genoa, without
actually joining the League, regarded it with favour, and, when Pisa
entered into friendly relations with Sicily, did the same. The court of
Sicily, at the same time, seeing what a safeguard the League might
become, gave assistance in money, and so did Manuel Comnenus, ever
mindful of his own interests and of his ambitious hopes regarding Italy.
While the struggle was thus in preparation, the shuttle of papal
diplomacy was moving incessantly and working to keep France and
England aloof from Frederick. Alexander III had been recognised by
Denmark, and little by little this recognition had spread over the greater
part of northern and eastern Europe. Towards the Byzantine Emperor,
who adhered to his design of uniting the Eastern and Western Empires,
the Pope shewed great courtesy but maintained an attitude of non-com-
mittal friendliness. His strength had its foundation in the King of Sicily
and the Lombards. The latter pre-eminently were his first bulwark
against the attacks of Frederick. As had always been the case, his weakest
point was Rome, where permanent habitation was difficult, so much so
that he had for several years to be contented with Benevento or some
town of the Campagna as a settled residence. The anti-Pope was always
face to face with him, although devoid of an authority in Christendom
adequate to challenge that of Alexander. On the death of Paschal III
in September 1168, a successor had been found in Abbot John of
Struma, called Calixtus III, whom Frederick hastened to acknowledge.
Although the schism had spent its force, an anti-Pope could always be
used as a handy instrument against Alexander by an able and deter-
mined adversary.
On his return to Germany in 1168, the Emperor bent all his
energies to the restoration of order in the kingdom distracted by civil
dissensions and to the establishment of peace between his most power-
ful vassals, the Saxon Henry the Lion and the Margrave Albert the Bear,
two implacable enemies. While endeavouring to bring them into friendly
accord, Frederick was inclined to favour Henry, to whom he was at-
tached by old ties of friendship, and to whom he looked for support.
But the power of these barons made him feel the need of making pro-
vision for the security of his own house, and in April 1169 he caused his
son Henry to be elected King of the Romans and had him crowned at
Aix-la-Chapelle by the new Archbishop, Philip, of Cologne, the successor
of Rainald of Dassel. From the old Duke Welf VI, who now had no
heirs, he bought the right of succession to his estates in Swabia and
Tuscany, but this acquisition, which certainly made a notable accession
to his power in Germany and Italy, alienated from him the sympathy
of Henry the Lion, who had himself aspired to the whole Welf in-
heritance.
OH. XIII.
## p. 444 (#490) ############################################
444
Failure of negotiations
The internal affairs of Germany did not exclusively occupy the mind
of Frederick, and he was also giving his thoughts to the state of Italy
and his relations with the Church. If the anti-Pope Calixtus III was
an embarrassment and a difficulty to Pope Alexander, his force and
authority were not to be compared with those which the Cardinal Octa-
vian had wielded in the early days of the schism. Prudence also kept
Frederick from putting difficulties in the way of the barons who were sum-
moned to Bamberg to elect his son as King of the Romans. It seemed
to him wise, at this juncture, to make an attempt at conciliation which,
without admitting any compromise in regard to the existing dispute,
might be a means of shewing to Germany his good intentions regarding
the close of the schism, and also of arousing suspicion against the Pope
among the Lombards and in Sicily. Eberhard, Bishop of Bamberg, was
chosen as the messenger of conciliation. His wisdom and moderation
were acknowledged by all parties. He was under strict obligations to
disclose his proposals to the Pope only. The latter was not without his
misgivings. He foresaw that the negotiations might be regarded with
suspicion by his Lombard allies, and arranged that certain faithful citizens
should be deputed by the cities of the League to come immediately to
Veroli and assist at the conference with the imperial envoy. Eberhard,
however, insisted on a confidential explanation with the Pope of his
mission. The Emperor made some concessions, but did not make an
explicit avowal of his readiness to accept the validity of Alexander's
election. At the bottom of his heart he probably clung to the often-
expressed idea of a simultaneous renunciation on the part of the two
pretenders, followed by the election of a third party to the Papacy. The
negotiations fell to the ground completely. The Pope in the presence of
the Lombard delegates rejected the imperial proposals, and all hope of
conciliation vanished.
War was once more the arbiter. The alliance of the Lombards with
the Pope and with Sicily could only be broken up by force. The League
was dominant in upper Italy, and Pavia had at last to bow to its au-
thority. A fresh expedition into Italy had become a vital necessity for
the Emperor, though he was still hampered by the complicated affairs of
Germany. He had to dispatch a first army corps under Christian of
Buch, Archbishop of Mayence, whose political and military task was
to consist in preparing the ground by consolidating friendships and in-
spiring with fear the pride of the rebellious cities. Christian's principal
object was to bring Genoa into closer relationship with the Emperor, and
to gain as much as possible the goodwill of Tuscany. His next endeavour
was to secure for the imperial army a base on the Adriatic, and to carry
out afresh the investment of Ancona. The city held out stoutly for six
months until the succour of her allies compelled the army to raise the siege.
Frederick, as soon as his hands were free in Germany, concentrated
his army for the Italian expedition and again crossed the Alps at its
## p. 445 (#491) ############################################
Frederick's fifth expedition to Italy
445
head. He had a strong force at his disposition--a certain number of
barons and bishops followed him—but it was much inferior to that which
he had on the previous occasion. The most conspicuous gap was that
caused by the absence of Henry the Lion, the comrade of his choice.
Internal conditions in Germany and the disastrous end of the last expedi-
tion into Italy had chilled the enthusiasm of the Germans and their
inclination to carry war beyond the Alps. He opened his campaign
at the end of September 1174 by the destruction of Susa, an act of
reprisal for the ignominy of having had to escape from it when he left
Italy. He then came down through Piedmont and moved on the borders
of Lombardy. Asti surrendered at once, and the Marquess of Mont-
ferrat, with the cities of Alba, Acqui, Pavia, and Como, finding themselves
strengthened by his favour, deserted the League and turned to him.
Frederick, emboldened by these adhesions, presented himself before
Alessandria. This town, with its name taken from his enemy, appeared
to him as the symbol and bulwark of rebellion which must disappear
from the face of the earth.
But the determination of the Emperor to crush the Lombards was
not greater than their determination to oppose him, and to defend their
liberty to the last gasp. This stubborn opposition hardened into
obstinacy Frederick's resolve to obtain the mastery. The city was
beleaguered on every side, but held out firmly. The winter, always severe
around Alessandria, was in this year of exceptional rigour, and increased
beyond measure the difficulties of the siege and the sufferings of the
besiegers. The confederates meanwhile were combining their forces in
order to fall upon the Emperor and destroy the army which was wearing
itself out in the attacks on the city. Barbarossa, intent on dividing
and thwarting the enemy, sent Christian of Buch into the Romagna
and the Bolognese territory, thus succeeding in diverting and holding in
check no inconsiderable portion of the allied armies. He redoubled his
efforts to carry Alessandria by storm, but all his attempts were ineffectual,
being repulsed with heavy losses. After six months of unsuccessful
siege, in April 1175, knowing that the allies were close at hand, he tried
to penetrate the city by means of mines and take it by surprise, but the
soldiers employed in the mines were discovered and killed, and in a
spirited sortie the defenders raided the Emperor's camp and destroyed
by fire his best siege machinery. With his quick resolution Frederick
then raised the siege without delay, and advanced rapidly against the
army of the League. The two armies met in the territory of Pavia,
and pitched their camps between Casteggio and Voghera at three miles
distance from one another. Just as a battle appeared imminent, nego-
tiations for peace were suddenly begun between the Emperor and the
League, although it is not clearly known from which side the initiative
came. Perhaps the Lombards were not entirely confident of their
strength, and certainly Frederick must have found the moment
CH, XIII.
## p. 446 (#492) ############################################
446
The battle of Legnano, 1176
opportune for a truce, in order to reinvigorate his troops, exhausted by the
unfortunate enterprise against Alessandria. For a moment peace ap-
peared to have been concluded, but all at once the negotiations were
broken off. Other negotiations were opened through three cardinals, in
order to see if it were yet possible to come to some agreement with the
Church, but this attempt also came to nothing, and hostilities began
anew. For the remainder of the year 1175 the war dragged on without
any important engagements. The Lombards seemed to keep a watchful
attitude, looking for the opportune moment, and Frederick stood on the
defensive waiting for reinforcements from Germany before striking a
decisive blow. Germany shewed no great willingness to reply to his
appeals, and when at last in the spring of 1176 the reinforcements did
arrive they were not accompanied by Henry the Lion. The Emperor
had gone in person to Chiavenna in order to confer with him, and to
impress upon him the supreme importance of his co-operation in the
interests of the Empire. All was in vain. Henry's proud spirit was
deaf to the voice of an old friendship, and refused to recall the acts of
kindness of his imperial relative spread over many years. Frederick
gained nothing from this interview save a chilling refusal, and the
painful impression that, where he had looked for friendship, he had
only found the foreshadowing of rebellion.
Frederick had advanced to meet his fresh supports with the deter-
mination of opening a vigorous campaign with a battle in the open
field. Having collected a contingent from Como, he moved on Pavia in
order to form a conjunction with the remainder of his army before
delivering an attack on the Lombards. The latter, who had his move-
ments under observation, came forward rapidly and cut off his approach.
The hour on which the issue of the long contest depended had now
struck. On 29 May 1176 the two armies engaged near Legnano in a
battle which was keenly contested on both sides. At first the Germans
seemed to have the upper hand. Their heavy cavalry broke through
the front ranks of the Lombards and threw them into confusion. But
round the Carroccio the German onset was checked, and was of no
avail to shatter the desperate resistance of the handful of heroes who
defended this central point. It became the centre of the battle now
resumed with fierce determination. Frederick encouraged his troops in
vain by plunging into the thick of the fight with his wonted courage.
In the struggle he was unhorsed, and amid the confusion and the groups
of combatants vanished from sight. The defeat of the Germans was
complete and great their slaughter. The exultant Milanese wrote to
their brethren of Bologna: “Glorious has been our triumph over our
enemies. Their slain are innumerable as well as those drowned and
taken prisoners. We have in our hands the shield, banner, cross, and
lance of the Emperor, and have found in his coffers much gold and
silver, while the booty taken from the enemy is of great value, but we
## p. 447 (#493) ############################################
Acceptance of defeat by Frederick
447
do not consider these things ours, but the common property of the Pope
and the Italians. In the fight Duke Berthold was taken, as also a
nephew of the Empress and a brother of the Archbishop of Cologne;
the other captives are innumerable and are all in custody in Milan. ”
Frederick had no small difficulty in reaching Pavia in safety with
the remnants of his army which had made good their escape from the
hands of the victors. He had fought and lost. It would have been
folly to suppose that Germany would have followed him in any scheme
of reconquest.
One of his highest qualities as a statesman was his
ready and intuitive perception of changed situations. He accepted
facts and determined to consider some other policy which would reconcile
the order of things created by the Lombard victory of Legnano with
the dignity and majesty of the Empire. The desire for peace which
had gradually arisen in his own mind and that of his counsellors now
ripened, and inclined him to open negotiations which would lead finally
to an honourable and lasting conclusion. Four times he had entered
Italy with an armed force, and still the Italians met him undaunted face
to face. The Pope, now enjoying an uncontested authority, by his ex-
communication was stripping the imperial crown of its halo of sanctity.
He had failed to carry his arms against the King of Sicily, and
Constantinople might still become a menace. It was time to make
approaches to peace while the Empire was yet strong and formidable.
His first considerations were not in the direction of Lombardy. The
primary object of reconciliation was the Church. By restoring friendly
relations with his foremost adversary, he would be in a position at once
to allay the scruples of Germans disturbed by the papal schism and
to smooth the way for understandings with Lombardy and Sicily. In
October 1176 Frederick sent to Anagni the Archbishops Wichmann of
Magdeburg and Christian of Mayence, Conrad Bishop-elect of Worms,
and the protonotary Wortwin, with full powers to conclude peace. The
Pope received them honourably and expressed his fervent desire for
peace, but declared that it must be extended to his allies the King of
Sicily, the Lombards, and the Byzantine Emperor. To this the ambas-
sadors agreed, but asked that the negotiations might be carried on in
secret, since there were in both parties persons who were more disposed
to enmity than to concord. They thus gained the advantage of holding
the first deliberations privately and solely with the Pope.
The long and detailed discussion lasted more than two weeks, involving
the relations between the Empire and the Church, and a variety of
questions affecting important personages connected with the schism. The
terms of agreement were at last fixed. The Emperor recognised Alexander
as Pope, restored to the Church her possessions and the right to appoint
the prefect of Rome, and promised to all ecclesiastics the restitution
of all that had been taken from them during the schism. The Empress
and King Henry also recognised the Pope, and undertook the same
CH, XIII.
## p. 448 (#494) ############################################
448
Treaty of Anagni. End of the Schism
obligations as the Emperor. The latter and King Henry bound them-
selves to enter into a fifteen years' peace with the King of Sicily, and
also to make peace with the Emperor of Constantinople and the other
allies of the Pope. Christian of Mayence and Philip of Cologne were
to be confirmed in their sees, notwithstanding the schismatic origin of
their elections, while Conrad of Wittelsbach, the legitimate Archbishop
of Mayence, was to be provided for with the first vacant archbishopric in
Germany. The anti-Pope Calixtus was to be appointed to an abbacy,
and for other ecclesiastics provision was made in various ways. The
Pope recognised Beatrix as Empress and her son Henry as King of the
Romans, and promised to crown them either in person or by deputy.
He undertook to convene a council speedily, in order to promulgate the
peace with penalty of excommunication against its violators, and to have
it confirmed on oath by many nobles of Rome and the Campagna, while
the Emperor and King Henry promised to keep the peace for fifteen years
with the King of Sicily, and a truce of six years with the Lombards.
Such were the principal provisions of the Treaty of Anagni. In order
to obtain a definite conclusion, the participation of the Sicilians and
Lombards was necessary; it was therefore resolved that the Pope with
his cardinals and the Emperor should meet in Lombard territory.
Bologna was agreed upon as the place of meeting, and on 9 March 1177
Alexander and his cardinals betook themselves to the Adriatic coast,
where they embarked at Vasto on Sicilian galleys waiting to escort them
to Venice, along with Roger, Count of Andria, Grand Constable of
the kingdom, and Romuald, Archbishop of Salerno, the historian of
these events. They landed at Venice, where Alexander was received with
great honours. The Emperor, who was then in the Romagna, sent
messages to the Pope asking him to alter the place of meeting.
order to treat better with the Lombards it was important for Frederick
to isolate them and separate them from the Pope. Bologna, loyal to the
League, was suspect to the Emperor. The Pope answered that he could
not give a decided assent until he had come to an agreement with the
Lombards, and made his way to Ferrara, in order to discuss the matter
with the representatives of the League.
On 17 April 1177, in the church of St George, the Pope addressed
a solemn discourse to the Lombards, who had met him at Ferrara,
magnifying the victory of the Papacy over the Empire, and declaring
that it was not a work of man but a miracle of God that an aged
and unarmed priest should have been able to resist the fury of the
Germans, and without striking a blow subdue the power of the Emperor.
But, he added, though the Emperor had offered peace to him and the
King of Sicily, he had declined to conclude it without them, and on this
account had engaged on a long and perilous journey.
The Lombards, to whom the Treaty of Anagni, concluded without
their participation, had given offence and cause of suspicion, answered
In
1
## p. 449 (#495) ############################################
Attitude of the Lombards
449
respectfully, but not without a touch of bitter irony. They thanked
him for having come. The persecutions of the Emperor were known to
them, not by hearsay only, but from hard experience. They had been
the first to sustain in their own persons the fury of the imperial attack
in order to avert the destruction of Italy and the Church, and for the
honour of both they had exposed property and life to extreme danger.
It was only just and reasonable that he should not have consented to
terms of peace without their adhesion, seeing that they had often refused
to listen to proposals which had not been referred to him. The fatigues
and dangers of his journey were very different from those to which they had
exposed themselves on behalf of the Church, offering up their substance,
themselves, and the lives of their children. “Let your Holiness know,
they added, “and let it be known to the imperial power that we,
so long as the honour of Italy is safeguarded, are willing to accept
peace and favour from the Emperor provided our liberties remain intact.
The tribute due to him of old from Italy shall be rendered and his
ancient rights acknowledged, but the liberty inherited from our sires
and forefathers can only be surrendered with life itself, and to us a glorious
death would be preferable to an existence dragged out in wretched
servitude. "
When the imperial delegates arrived and the various mediators had
been chosen, the question as to where the discussion should take place
broke out afresh. The Imperialists refused to hear of Bologna, while
Venice was displeasing to the Lombards. In the end Venice was accepted,
on the condition that the Emperor should not enter the city without
the consent of the Pope. The disputes over the conditions of peace at
Venice were long and often bitter. The imperialist claims were obsti-
nately resisted by the Lombards. The latter were determined not to
admit the privileges conceded to the Empire at Roncaglia, but to
restrict them solely to the rights enjoyed by Lothar and Conrad III.
Definite peace with the Lombards ceased to be thought of, and in its
place was proposed a preliminary truce for six years. In order to
expedite matters, Frederick was allowed to come to Chioggia, but,
taking advantage of a rising of the popular party in Venice, he tried to
force the doge to allow him to enter the city. The Lombards in anger
left Venice and retired to Treviso. The Pope was in a great strait
and peace seemed once more to be in danger. The Sicilian legates
saved the situation. Seeing that the doge was wavering, they made
ready their galleys with great ostentation and then, reproaching the
doge with breach of faith, they threatened to leave Venice and trust
to their king to take his revenge. This was tantamount to saying that
the many Venetians in the kingdom of Sicily would be made prisoners
and their goods confiscated. The popular party had to give way before
the attitude of the rest of the community, and the doge was able to
keep the Emperor at bay during the period of the negotiations, which
O. MEN, H. VOL. V. CH. XIII.
29
## p. 450 (#496) ############################################
450
The Treaty of Venice, 1177
now
were resumed and went on more rapidly. On 23 July 1177
peace was concluded with the Pope, a truce of fifteen years with Sicily
and of six with the Lombards. At the request of the Pope, the Venetian
galleys went to Chioggia to bring Frederick to San Niccolò del Lido,
where a commission of cardinals absolved him from excommunication,
while the imperialist prelates abjured the schism. On 24 July the doge,
along with the Patriarch of Aquileia, went to the Lido and meeting the
Emperor escorted him to Venice with great pomp. There in front of
St Mark's, amidst a reverent and deeply-moved assemblage, the two
champions met after a struggle of eighteen years for the ideal supremacy
which each deemed granted him by God. The moment was full of
solemnity. The Emperor, overcome by sentiments of reverence for the
aged man who received him, threw off his imperial mantle and prostrated
himself before him. The Pope, in tears, raised and embraced him, and
leading him into the church gave him his benediction. The next day
the Pope said mass in St Mark's, and on his quitting the church the
Emperor held his stirrup and made ready to conduct the palfrey. The
Pope, however, gave him his blessing, at the same time dispensing him
from accompanying him to his barge.
On 1 August the peace between the Church and the Empire, and the
truce with Sicily and the Lombards, were solemnly ratified. The Pope
in a council held in St Mark's pronounced anathemas against any who
should dare to disturb the peace now concluded. The Emperor in the
meantime displayed particular friendliness to the ambassadors of the
King of Sicily, and in the conversations with them laid special emphasis
on the common interests which bound together the two sovereigns and
on the possibility of a future alliance. Probably Frederick's active
mind was already turning over the new direction which might be given
to his relations with southern Italy and was preparing the way for a
new development of his aims.
After settling some minor points which were still pending, the
Emperor and the Pope parted company towards the end of September.
Frederick remained in Italy until the end of 1177, and Alexander
returned first to Anagni and thence to Rome, where he met with an
enthusiastic reception. This cordiality, however, was of short duration.
The old motives of discord were still active, and the opposition between
the temporal claims of the Pope and those put forward by the party of
municipal liberty were quickly renewed. The Treaty of Anagni had
again given to the Pope the right of investing the prefect of Rome, but
the prefect in office refused to pay homage and withdrew to Viterbo, con-
tinuing his support of the anti-Pope. The Archbishop of Mayence,
who represented the Emperor in Italy, tried ineffectually to recall him to
obedience. But Alexander instead, by more diplomatic means, won him
over, and thus compelled the anti-Pope to surrender and turn to him as
a suppliant. The Pope received him and provided for him generously.
## p. 451 (#497) ############################################
Third Lateran Council. Death of Alexander III
451
Another anti-Pope lasted for a few months, but having been taken
prisoner was shut up in the abbey of Cava.
The long travail of the Church was at an end, and it seemed a first
necessity that in the face of the world the pacification of consciences
should be ratified, the evils of the long schism healed, and the recurrence
of fresh divisions in the Church of Christ checked once and for all. In
March 1179 Alexander III summoned the Third Lateran Council, which
was attended by a great concourse of bishops and prelates from all
quarters. Many ordinances were proclaimed for regulating the lives of
the clergy; the rights and privileges of the Church, independent of lay
authority, were affirmed; abuses and customs contrary to the sanction
of civilisation and the feeling of Christianity were prohibited. All the
ordinances of the anti-Popes were annulled, and in order to prevent the
renewal of schismatical elections to the Papacy it was decreed that, in
the case of a contested election, the candidate who obtained two-thirds
of the votes should be declared elected. With this council the long and
laborious work of the pontificate of Alexander III may be said to have
come to an end. For two years longer he ruled the Church, not without
difficulties arising from his various relationships with the Lombards, the
Emperor, and the Romans, who were always jealous of papal authority
and inclined to revolt. On 30 August 1181 he died at Civita Castellana.
His pontificate was without doubt one of the most remarkable in the
history of the Church. For twenty-two years he had guided her in times
of singular difficulty with great prudence and firmness through a schism
of the most serious nature. His enemies were numerous, and he was in
open conflict with the Empire presided over by one who was among the
greatest wearers of the imperial crown. The champion of the Emperor
and the champion of the Papacy each represented in this strife contrast-
ing ideals which hardly admitted of reconciliation, and the strife was
waged on both sides with vigour because both the champions were
animated by a profound faith in the ideals for which they fought.
Lucius III, who succeeded Alexander, found a question of debate
with the Empire still undecided. This was the question of the inherit-
ance of the Countess Matilda, which the Treaty of Venice had settled
only provisionally and in terms lacking in precision. Nor was this his
only difficulty. The Romans held up their heads more proudly than ever,
bent on asserting their independence as opposed to the temporal preten-
sions of the Popes. Lucius was soon forced to leave Rome and shift from
place to place in the Campagna until, his situation in the neighbourhood
becoming daily more precarious, he had to make up his mind to retire
still farther, and in July 1184 he transferred himself to Verona. The prin-
cipal reason for fixing on this place of residence was his desire to regain
the friendship of the Lombards who, since the peace of Venice,
had kept
much aloof from the Church. He also wished to discuss with Frederick
the questions which still remained over for settlement. The Emperor,
OH. XIII.
29--2
## p. 452 (#498) ############################################
452
The Peace of Constance, 1183
.
after the peace of Venice, had set himself strenuously to restore order in
Germany, and had quelled by force of arms the open rebellion of Henry
the Lion who, in November 1181, was compelled to sue for peace at
Erfurt and then to seek refuge in England as an exile for several years.
Frederick, in the meanwhile, was not neglecting Italy. His long conflict
with that country had brought him gradually to recognise both the
powers of resistance that the republics possessed, and the advantages that
might accrue to him from their friendship. He turned over in his mind
a new scheme of policy. The negotiations for a definite peace with Lom-
bardy were facilitated by the discontent of the Lombards with the Pope,
while they saw that Frederick and the King of Sicily were at peace and
that, by the death of Manuel Comnenus, they could no longer count on
help from Constantinople. On these grounds their minds were now oc-
cupied in securing in a friendly way the liberties so dearly fought for
and not in meditating fresh hostilities. The peace was first negotiated
at Piacenza and then concluded at Constance in June 1183. It was an
honourable arrangement. The high sovereignty of the Empire was ad-
mitted without question and its ancient rights were recognised, but in
such a way as not to interfere with the freedom of the republics or with
their development. They were invested by the Emperor or by their
bishop, according to their status, with the regalia. The cities were
allowed to elect their own consuls or podestàs, who were to administer
justice according to their laws. They could also raise taxes without
the Emperor's special consent, although an appeal to him was conceded.
All the ancient customs were recognised. The allies were to fortify their
towns and castles, and their League was to continue unimpaired with
power of renewal. All offences were forgiven; the prisoners were ex-
changed; bans, confiscations, and all other penalties were annulled; the
city of Alessandria was admitted to the imperial favour, under the con-
dition, not of long duration, of taking the name of Cesarea. Thus the
imperial claims put forth at Roncaglia were curtailed at Constance, and
the proud but sagacious prince became reconciled to the noble people
who had defended their liberty with such valour and such tenacity.
With Germany restored to order and Italy pacified, Frederick might
well look backward over the thirty years of a glorious reign and feel pride
in the achievements of his career. In order to celebrate the termination
of so many vicissitudes, he commanded a great festival to be held at
Mayence on Whitsunday in the year 1184, a festival which long sur-
vived in the lays of the Minnesingers and the legends of Germany.
During these festivities, in a tournament in which the Emperor him-
self took part, the young King Henry VI won his spurs. He was a young
actor making his first entry on the stage of history. Frederick's chivalrous
designs were henceforward to be turned in a new direction. While
maturing in his mind the plan of a new and sacred enterprise, he was
preparing his son to rule the State and testing his capacities in various
## p. 453 (#499) ############################################
New causes of disagreement
453
ways so that the lofty Empire to be committed to his charge might
be upheld in undiminished greatness. With this aim he proposed and
concluded the contract of marriage between Henry and Constance, the
heiress of Sicily, thus hoping to achieve his design of linking southern
Italy with the Empire. In September 1184 he re-entered Italy as a friend,
with a great suite of nobles but no army, and was received with a cordial
welcome from the Lombards. He wished to come to a closer understand-
ing with them, and to obtain from the Pope the imperial crown for his
son Henry. Pope and Emperor met at Verona, both in a conciliatory
mood, but it soon appeared how difficult would be the process of coming
to agreement. The Emperor insisted that the Pope should confirm the
orders conferred by the schismatic bishops, and the Pope, after some hesi-
tation, declared that before this step could be taken it would be necessary
to have conciliar authority, and proposed to summon a synod at Lyons.
This procrastinating reply did not please Frederick and made more difficult
than before the solution of the questions relating to the inheritance of the
Countess Matilda, which Frederick in the meantime held and had no in-
tention of giving up. Another source of discord was the archbishopric of
Trèves, where in 1183 a double election had occurred, the Pope favouring
one candidate and the Emperor the other. But the most delicate point of
all was the Emperor's persistent demand of the imperial crown for his
son Henry. The Pope objected, adducing as his reason that, notwith-
standing precedents, the contemporaneous existence of two Emperors was
incompatible with the very nature of the Empire itself. The Pope's
refusal was perhaps not altogether without support from the German
nobility, who may have seen in such a coronation a tendency to make the
Empire hereditary. It is probable that the suspicions and fears raised in the
Curia by the approaching marriage of Henry and Constance had a strong
influence over the Pope. In spite of the strained situation, the personal
relations between Lucius and Frederick remained cordial, and in their
conversations at Verona they had opportunity for enquiring together into
the imminent necessity of carrying succour to the Christians of the East,
exposed to serious danger by the enterprises of Saladin. But on 24 No-
vember 1185 Lucius III died at Verona, and was succeeded by the Arch-
bishop of Milan, who took the name of Urban III. He was an unbending
and vigorous man, with little friendship for the Emperor and ill-disposed
to concessions. With him was reopened the quarrel between Church and
Empire, and the imperial policy was turned more decisively to the path
on which it had first entered. Thus, as at the end of the struggle of the
investitures, so now, after a long contest, neither party could claim the
full victory or acknowledge entire defeat.
CH. XIII.
## p. 454 (#500) ############################################
454
CHAPTER XIV.
THE EMPEROR HENRY VI.
The Emperor Henry VI presents both in character and appearance a
striking contrast to his father; instead of the fine figure, the attractive
mien, the charm of manner which distinguish the personality of Frederick
Barbarossa, we are confronted with a man, spare and gaunt, of an unpre-
possessing appearance, which thinly disguised the harsh, cruel, unrelenting
qualities of his character. Instead of the fearless and skilful soldier, the
very personification of all that was knightly in an age of knights, we see
a man whose honour even among friends could not be trusted, whose
cruelty would stop short at nothing when it suited his purpose; a man
who cared not for the field of battle, and whose only active pursuit was
falconry and the chase. Certainly it was not Henry's personal attributes
that made him a great Emperor, nor was it in field-sports or deeds of
arms that Henry excelled; it was as a man of learning, as one “more
learned than men of learning," as a man of great business capacity,
that Henry impressed his contemporaries. One writer will dwell on his
eloquence and on his prudence, another will praise his intellectual attain-
ments, his knowledge of letters and of canon and secular law. “I rejoice,”
writes Godfrey of Viterbo in his dedication of the Speculum regum to
Henry, “that I have a philosopher king. ""
But if the characters of the two Emperors have so little in common,
there is a striking similarity in their political outlook. Henry inherited
from his father not only the problems that required solution, but the
methods and the ideas with which to solve them. The Peace of Venice,
though the end of one phase of the struggle, was also the beginning of
another. Frederick's last years, which coincide with Henry's first, are
occupied with the solution of the old problem on new lines; the three
powers whose combined strength had defeated him, the Papacy, the Lom-
bards, and the Normans, must be separated and separately dealt with. The
first step in this direction was achieved when Alexander III, who had
long been excluded from his capital, and who hoped with the Emperor's
aid to become once more master in Rome, was induced to sign the Peace
of Venice from which the Lombards and the Normans were excluded.
These had to content themselves with truces, the former for six, the latter
for fifteen years. As in the famous dramatic episode at Canossa a hundred
1 “Literatis ipse literatior. ” Gervase of Tilbury.
2 MGH, Script. xxii, 21. Cf. also Memoria seculorum, MGH, Script. xxII, 103,
"Tu vero, Henrice regum omnium felicissime, sicut a pueritia curasti phylosoficis
inherere doctrinis. ”
## p. 455 (#501) ############################################
Results of the Peace of Venice
455
years before, the Emperor cloaked a diplomatic triumph under the guise
of abject humility. Considered by results it is not too much to say, with
a recent writer', that the Pope entered Venice as judge and left it as pro-
tégé of the German Emperor. That Frederick remained with the upper
hand seems proved from the fact that, in spite of the agreement at
Anagni, he refused to evacuate the terra Mathildis which he claimed as of
right to be imperial territory. Moreover Alexander gained little by his
compliance; he was, it is true, reinstated at Rome by Christian of Mayence
and German soldiery, but only to be hounded once more from the city to
die, two years later, in exile at Civita Castellana. Alexander's successor,
Ubald, Cardinal-bishop of Ostia, who took the name of Lucius III, was
a man of advanced years and well-disposed towards the Emperor; he
would, he declared, deny him nothing; nor could he well do otherwise,
for he too after a short struggle was forced to abandon Rome, a fugitive
from the hostile Romans. Pope and Emperor were now working for the
same object-a durable peace; but there were still questions to be settled,
above all the question of the lands of Matilda. In the course of the
negotiations which occupied the years 1182–3 the Emperor through his
representatives suggested two solutions: first, that the disputed territory
should be definitely assigned to him, while he in return should compensate
the Pope with a tenth, the cardinals with a ninth, of the revenues; or
secondly, that a commission appointed from both parties should revise the
boundaries and, by means of mutual exchanges, arrive at a settlement
agreeable to both of them. However, neither plan commended itself to
Lucius, who proposed a personal conference at Verona, where he had taken
up his residence in July 1184 and whither the Emperor came in the
following October.
Here the issue was complicated by new difficulties: the demand of
Frederick for the reinstating of the Bishops of Metz, Strasbourg, and
Basle, who had been deposed in accordance with the second decree of the
Third Lateran Council (1179) which pronounced the ordinations by
schismatic Popes to be invalid; the demand for the imperial coronation
of the young King Henry; the question of the disputed election at Trèves.
Lucius was prepared to fall in with Frederick's wishes as far as he could,
but he was old, weak, and procrastinating; he would gladly restore the
deposed bishops, but a decision of a General Council could only, he
thought, be reversed by a similar body. He may not have been entirely
averse to crowning the young king, and according to one authority it was
the cardinals and not the Pope who stood in the way; but he soon seems
to have come round to the view that there could not be two Emperors
reigning simultaneously, and that Henry could only acquire the title if
Frederick was himself ready to abdicate in his favour. As regards the
Trèves election dispute there is little doubt that Lucius had every inten-
tion of satisfying the Emperor, was willing, that is to say, to consecrate
1 Haller, Heinrich VI und die römische Kirche, MIOGF, xxxv, p. 388.
CH. XIV.
## p. 456 (#502) ############################################
456
Policy of Pope Lucius III
the imperial candidate; but the matter was not a very simple one. In
June 1183 one party of the electors had chosen Folmar, the archdeacon,
the other party the provost Rudolf. The dispute was referred to the
Emperor, who decided for the latter and forthwith invested him with the
regalia of his see; the disappointed Folmar thereupon appealed to the
Pope. Lucius procrastinated more curiae, as the Trèves historian com-
ments. At last the cardinals decided that as the appeal had been made
the case must, at least as a matter of form, be heard, and Rudolf was
summoned to Verona; this all meant further delay, and no decision was
reached when Frederick in November 1184 left the conference. But what
is of importance is that Frederick left Verona under the strong impression
that all was going well, that a decision favourable to him would ulti-
mately be pronounced; and so no doubt it would, had not Henry taken
precipitate action in Germany—he treated Folmar and his supporters as
traitors and seized their property—and had not, soon after the news of
this ill-judged act reached the papal Court, the well-intentioned Lucius
died.
It has been generally stated that the mild old man sitting at Verona
was struck as it were by a thunderbolt by the news from Augsburg of
the betrothal on 29 October 1184 of Henry with the aunt and heiress of
the reigning King of Sicily, and in consequence all hope of a peaceful
settlement between Pope and Emperor was at an end'. At one blow the
Curia would be deprived of its strongest ally, the Empire of its most
formidable enemy; in the next phase of the papal-imperial contest the
southern kingdom would be on the side of the Emperor, the Pope would
be between two fires. But it must be remembered that Lucius meant that
there should not be another phase of the hitherto incessant struggle.
Professor Haller has gone far to prove that this betrothal was not, as
usually supposed, a devastating blow to the Pope-for the simple reason
that the Pope himself had planned it?
