The Close of the Middle Ages, 1273-1494 (Volume 3) (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1902. Excerpt: ... CHAPTER VIII ITALY IN THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY, 1313-1402 Guelfs and Ghibellines--Equality of parties leads to foreign intervention--Lewis the Bavarian--John of Bohemia--League against Mastino della Scala--Walter de Brienne in Florence--Rise of mercenaries--Foreign and native Condottieri--Joanna I. of Naples--Succession disputes in Naples--Rome and the Papal States--Career of Rienzi--Cardinal Albornoz recovers the Papal States--Return of the Popes to Rome and outbreak of the Great SchUm--Strife of classes and families in Florence--Rising of the Ciompi--Revolution of 1382 and triumph of the oligarchy in Florence--Rivalry of Venice and Genoa---War of Chioggia--The Visconti in Milan--Successes of Gian Galeazzo Visconti--His death. The death of Henry vn. marks the failure of the last serious effort on the part of a German king to carry out the ideal of Dante's De Monarchia by establishing an efficient Guelfs and monarchy in Italy. A few years earlier the Ghlbellines. Papacy, which had done more than any other power to thwart the imperial pretensions, had almost deliberately weakened its authority by transferring its residence to the banks of the Rhone, It seemed as if Italy might for a time be freed from the rivalry of the two claimants to universal rule, whose quarrel had done so much to cause discord and anarchy in the peninsula. But it is one of the numerous anomalies of Italian history that the factions of Guelfs and Ghibellines continue their feuds with the same vigour and animosity as in the days when each had a substantial cause to fight for. Yet beneath these feuds we can trace a growing undercurrent of political interests and of selfish aggrandisement, which gradually led to the absorption of the lesser states by their more powerful neighbours, and ult...