year 800, assumed the title, so long disused, of Roman Emperor. He received the imperial crown from the pope, whose power he had increased, by extensive donations; and his successors, the kings of France or of Germany, ruled Italy under the title borne by its former sovereigns, the title of Emperor of Rome. That name was held, by succeeding princes, for nearly a thousand years, until, having long ceased to be aught but a sounding epithet, it was relinquished by Francis II., to gratify the ambition of the modern Charlemagne.

But the imperial sceptre soon passed from France, and from the family of Charles the Great, to Germany; and in the middle of the twelfth century, it was borne by Frederick I. (Barbarossa), while the occupant of the papal throne was Adrian IV., an Englishman, and the only one of that nation who ever attained the dignity of pope. Between the powers now represented by these two sovereigns,-the imperial and the papal,—a long and bitter conflict had raged; and in the course of it, the crown, which one pope had placed on the head of Charlemagne, had been humbled, by another pontiff, almost literally in the dust. The effect of this contest had been, to nourish in Italy a spirit hostile to the German sway; while the people, in the same proportion as they were alienated from their foreign sovereign, became more and more attached to his rival, the great temporal and ecclesiastical power, in their own country. Feelings alike of religion and of patriotism, united them to the papal throne; while holding, in some degree, the balance of power, and appealed to, in turn, by both contending parties, they learned their own importance. Thus, in the shock of contending sovereigns, were the sparks of liberty struck forth.

And the flame of liberty had kindled in the heart of Arnold of Brescia; and, from his burning words, it had been spread among the inhabitants of his native place, and those of the imperial city. Holding, himself, the clerical office, Arnold had attempted a reform in ecclesiastical, as well as in secular affairs. Under his guidance, a revolution had taken place, by which the authority of the pope was restricted entirely to subjects of a religious character; and Rome might, for a short time, be regarded as once more a republic, though retaining a nominal subjection to the sway of a distant emperor.

But the powers of church and state had become reconciled, and, in their union, they turned against the bold reformer. Frederick Barbarossa visited Rome, in the year 1154; and received, from the hands of the pope, the imperial crown. Such was the then admitted greatness of the papal power, that the proud sovereign of Germany and Italy condescended to hold the stirrup of Adrian's horse. During this visit, from the representations of the pope, but at the command of the emperor, Arnold of Brescia was burnt, and his ashes thrown into the Tiber.

From this period, the history of the ancient imperial city presents little to entitle it to our attention. Centuries later, indeed, another Arnold arose, in Cola di Rienzi, who, enthusiastic in his veneration of the ancient greatness of his native city, placed himself at the head of a popular movement, expelled the nobles, or obliged them to conform to his requirements, and governed Rome, for a short, but brilliant period, under the title of tribune. But the people were unfit for freedom, and could not long retain it. Rienzi was expelled from the city, and afterwards, when restored, and invested with authority from the pope, under the title of senator, he perished in a tumultuous assault of those very Romans, whom it had been the aim of his life to restore to freedom. His fate, romantic in itself, has been, by modern genius, invested with the graces of fiction. We advert to it now, though anticipating the order of time, that we may pursue, uninterrupted, the more general course of Italian history.

The visit of the emperor, Frederick Barbarossa, at this time, was far from a peaceful one. It was rather a warlike expedition, than the progress of an acknowledged sovereign. Milan especially, among the Italian cities, assumed the attitude of opposition to his power. Overawed, however, by a superior force, Milan, with the rest of Italy, submitted, and the principles of the government were settled, with every appearance of permanence, at a solemn convention, in the plains of Roncaglia.

The death of Adrian IV. produced, however, a far wider defection than had yet taken place. Alexander III. was elevated to the papal throne, by the votes of a majority of the cardinals, but his right was disputed, and Frederick supported the claims of his rival. War raged in Italy for eightheen

years, with but little interruption: this was the war of independence of the Italian republics. The states of Italy were divided; and the conflicting parties derived their names from the war-cries of two rival factions in Germany. The battle-cry of the Emperor's forces was, "Here Waiblingen," from the name of a castle in their possession; and from this, his adherents in Italy acquired the name of Ghibellines. On the other side, the house of Welph, dukes of Bavaria, had been long in opposition to the imperial fam ily; and, from them, the papal partisans assumed the name of Guelphs. This, and the family name of the present reigning dynasty in England, has descended to them from the ancient Bavarian house of Welph. But, it was on the lovely fields of Italy, that these harsh Teutonic war-shouts acquired their most fearful meaning; and Guelph, and Ghibelline, were the titles under which the children of the same soil recognised each other as mortal foes.

Milan stood at the head of the Guelphic cities,-those friendly to the claims of pope Alexander. But it was not only to support his personal claims, that she took up arms. The Milanese had submitted to Frederick, and a treaty had been concluded, by which his regal rights had been recognized, while, on their side, they retained the privilege of electing their own magistrates. This privilege, and others, the emperor supported by the diet, or parliament, which he had assembled at Roncaglia, attempted to take away, placing the administration of justice, in the respective towns, in the hands of an imperial officer, bearing the title of Podestà. This, the Milanese regarded as a violation of the treaty; they seni away the imperial commissioner, with contempt, and endeavored to obtain possession of the posts, which would be of most importance in the approaching

war.

The storm soon burst upon them. They saw the combined force of the German empire, and of the Ghibelline towns of Italy, arrayed against them; but, they maintained their ground, with a devotedness worthy of ancient Sparta. The operations of the emperor were directed, first, against the smaller city of Crema. On the 4th of July, a day afterwards to become so memorable in the calendar of liberty,on the 4th of July, 1160, the siege was begun. Four hundred Milanese had thrown themselves within its walls, to

aid in the defence of their allies. We give the thrilling narrative in the words of Sismondi :

"Hostages had been sent to the emperor by Milan and Crema: he ordered several of them to be hung before the walls of the town. Some were children of the most distinguished families: he caused them to be bound to a moving tower, which was brought so close to the attack, that the besieged could not repel it, without killing or wounding their own children. A cry of despair resounded along the walls of Crema. The wretched parents implored death from their fellow citizens, to escape witnessing the agony of their children; and, at the same time, cried out to their children, not to fear giving up their lives for their country. The battle, in fact, was not interrupted; and the moving tower was repelled, after nine of the young hostages, who covered it with their bodies, had been killed. During six months did the small town of Crema resist the whole army of the emperor. Famine, at length, accomplished what force could not; and, on the 26th of January, 1160, the heroic inhabitants capitulated, abandoning their wealth to pillage, and their houses to the flames."

The emperor now turned his arms more directly against Milan; but, at a distance from the main seat of his power, it was upwards of two years from the capture of Crema, before the Milanese surrendered. He caused the city to be entirely destroyed, and the place, where it had stood, to be sowed with salt, while the inhabitants were dispersed through the surrounding country.

But, it is one of the beneficent regulations of Providence, that oppression works its own ruin. The sufferings of the noble Milanese, procured for them the sympathy, even of those who had united against them. The Podestás, too, the officers of the Emperor, soon made the Italian cities feel the difference between magistrates of their own choice, and those imposed on them by a foreign authority. Taxes had increased six-fold; and hardly a third part of the produce of the land remained to the cultivator. And liberty had an ally, of the most powerful description, in the generally acknowledged head of the church. Frederick reëntered Italy, in 1163; but he found that the spirit of freedom had spread among the Ghibelline cities. The emperor was obliged, in some degree, to yield to their complaints, and promise redress of grievances; the rather, as his great adversary, Pope Alexander III., had returned from France, to Rome, and had excited to arms the whole of Southern Italy.

In 1167, was effected that union of the Italian cities, in which, alone, there existed a hope of deliverance from their powerful foe. The Guelphs and Ghibellines, united in the league of Lombardy, pledging themselves to watch, in concert, over the common liberty, and to repair any damage which might be sustained in this great cause, by any member of the confederation. They resolved to rebuild Milan. In the words of the historian,

"The militias of Bergamo, Brescia, Cremona, Mantua, Verona and Treviso, arrived the 27th of April, 1167, on the ground covered by the ruins of this great city. They apportioned among themselves the labor of restoring the enclosing walls. All the Milanese, of the four villages, as well as those who had taken refuge in the more distant towns, came, in crowds, to take part in this pious work; and, in a few weeks, the new-grown city was in a state to repel the insults of its enemies."

Frederick, meanwhile, was gratified by transient success in central Italy. He defeated the Romans in a bloody battle, and gained possession of the imperial city, from which Alexander escaped by flight. But the Emperor found the climate of the Campagna, a more fatal enemy than the army of its inhabitants. The malaria gave powerful, though mournful aid, to the cause of freedom. In August, the fever began, and the soldiers of the emperor were swept away by thousands. Obliged to retreat from the fatal country, by a route which was marked by the graves of his soldiers, he assembled, at Pavia, a diet, to which four cities alone sent deputies. Here, in a vehement harangue, he threw down his glove, and challenged the confederated cities to meet him in the field. In the following spring, he completed his retreat into Germany. The united republics, whose liberty might now be considered as achieved, resolved to found, as a monument of their power, and a barrier against their enemies, a new city; and this they gave the name of Alexandria, in honor of the pope. It was a glorious distinction, and well deserved. And, in recalling those services, to the cause of liberty, for which it was awarded, we cannot but remark, that, while watching with jealous care over American liberty, it is but due to the Catholic denomination, and to justice, to remember the testimony, which the annals of Italy bear, to the name of Alexander