The Beginnings of Modern Europe (1250-1450) (Volume 202) (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. 1917. Excerpt: ... stronger against Venice, was forced to beg for her aid against his too powerful ally. He even went so far as to promise to abdicate in favor of his son, Francesco Novello, if only Venice would save the freedom of Padua. The same argument that had so far kept the Scala lands as a buffer between Milan and Padua now suggested that Padua under Venetian protection might be kept as a buffer state between Milan and Venice. But for the present this 1388 r plan was impossible. Milan took Padua outright, and Venice was obliged to be content with recovering the March of Treviso and thus maintaining her routes of commerce to the north. The armies of Gian Galeazzo Visconti now held the whole of Lombardy, and if he had been content to consolidate his lordship _ there, it seems probable that Venice might have been Padua under Milanese permanently excluded from the mainland. It was just Over1ordship, at this p0mt however, that Milan entered upon that 1392--1402 career of expansion southward which brought her into conflict with Florence, the Papacy, and all the lesser powers of central Italy. While her armies were thus employed, Francesco Novello, after long and romantic wanderings, was able to make a descent from Germany into the Paduan territory in 1390 and by a sudden attack to recover his capital. Visconti was in no position to meet this bold stroke with the necessary promptness. He found it cheaper to enter into the Treaty of Genoa in 1392, whereby he gave up Padua but retained all his other conquests in Lombardy. Padua, with the approval of Venice, was given to Francesco Novello on condition of an annual tribute for fifty years to Milan. Obviously Gian Galeazzo was aiming at the sovereignty of northern Italy, and only the alliance of Venice, Padua, Bologna, and Flor...