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AUTHOR: 
 
 [SMEDLEY, EDWARD] 
 
 TITLE: 
 
 SKETCHES FROM 
 
 VENETIAN HISTORY 
 
 PLACE: 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 DA TE : 
 
 1832 
 
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 SKETCHES 
 
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 M 
 
 fa 
 
279540 
 
 Harper's Stereotype Edition. 
 
 > 
 
 SKETCHES 
 
 FROM 
 
 VENETIAN HISTORY. 
 
 ' i } --^ .^/W^'r-'i 
 
 IN TWO VOLUMES. 
 VOL. I. 
 
 PRINTED AND PUBLISHED CY T. A J. H illPER, 
 
 NO. 82 CLIFF-STKtET, 
 
 AND SOLT) BY THE PRINCIPAL BOOKSELLERS THROUaHOCT 
 
 THE UNITFD STATES. 
 
 1832. 
 
 '="-'- -' -■•«^i'«J««fctfca 
 

 K 
 
 of 
 
 
 (o',' 
 
 iT 
 
 5 '•*' iC-, 
 
 TO 
 
 ONE 
 
 f 
 
 BY WHOSE SUGGESTION 
 THE FOLLOWING PAGES HAVE BEEN WRITTEN 
 2 BY WHOSE REVISION 
 
 2 THEY HAVE VERY GREATLY PROFITED, 
 
 50 
 
 AND 
 BY WHOSE MODESTY 
 
 ANY MORE OPEN ACKNOWLEDGMENT WOULD BE DECLINED, 
 
 THEY ARE NOW INSCRIBED 
 
 WITH 
 
 CORDIAL AFFECTION AND GRATITUDE. 
 
 
 ' liin'iHilf ^wrt^ Cn'JilliallrliliMff iliW inrfliiiflt 4'aiA 'i 
 
 
 ??Ty 
 
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I? 
 
 The copious use made in these volumes of the 
 great works of M. Simonde de Sismondi, and the 
 late Comtc Daru, will be apparent in almost every 
 page ; and, indeed, no approach to Venetian His- 
 tory can be fittingly attempted save under their 
 guidance. Nevertheless, in truth, it is much rather 
 from the authorities to which those distinguished 
 writers point, than from themselves, that the follow- 
 ing narrative has been framed. All such of those 
 authorities as were accessible have been diligently 
 and accurately consulted ; and it is hoped that a 
 gleaning of characteristic incidents has occasionally 
 been found among tliem, which may still be new to 
 all excepting those who have explored for them- 
 selves the treasures of the Italian chroniclers. 
 
 London f January^ 18IU. 
 
\ 
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 OF 
 
 THE FIRST VOLUME. 
 
 1 
 
 i 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 FROM THE SETTLEMENT OF THE VENETI IN ITALY TO 
 
 A. D. 1173. fif^ 
 
 Origin of the Veneti— Connexion witli Rome— Expulsion from 
 Venetia— The T.airune— Government— Foundation of Venice— Trans- 
 lation of St. Mark— Istriote Piracy— Submission of Dalmatia— The 
 Crusades— Siege of Tyre—Giovedi Grasso— War with Manuel 
 Comnenus 
 
 13 
 
 CHAPTER n. 
 
 D. 1173 TO A. D. 1192. 
 
 rnoM A. 
 
 New Constitution— Dissension between Pope Alexander III. and 
 the Emperor Frederic liarbarossa— Siege of Ancona— Heroic Ex- 
 ploits and Constancy of its Citizens— Its Relief— Alexander III. at 
 Venice— Defeat of Barbarossa's Fleet— Espousal of the Adriatic- 
 Peace of (Constance— Submission of the Emperor to the Pope— Privi- 
 leges granted by Alexander to Venice— The Red Columns— Pro- 
 curator! di San Marco — Avvogadori 49 
 
 Enrico Dandolo — Fourth Crusade 
 
 CHAPTER in. 
 
 FROM A. D. 1192 TO A. D. 1204. 
 
 Conquest of Constantinople 
 
 71 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 FROM A. D. 1204 TO A. D. 1259. 
 
 Fate of Mourtzouphlus— The Bulgarians invade the Empire— De- 
 feat and Capture of the Emperor Baldwin— Death of Enrico Dan- 
 dolo— The pseudo-Baldwin— Policy of Venice resjK'cting her Eastern 
 Acquisitions— First written Code of Venetian Law— War with Ec- 
 cellino Romano 
 
 130 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 XI 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 FRrtM A. P. 1259 T.) A. P. 1310. rage 
 
 F1r.t war -'tl. Oenoa-,Tho Cr.^WT»^rr^ 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 FROM A. P. 1402 TO A. P. 1106. pgg, 
 
 Venetian and fienocse Fleets observe the Progress of Timour— 
 Carlo Zetioand Houcicault— Second I)attleofSai»ienza— Distraction 
 of Milan— Carriira seizes Verona— Atteni]Hs Vieen/.a— It is pre- 
 viously occupied by the Venetians— War against Carrara— lie is 
 betrayed by Count Manfredi— Loses Vtrona- Sie-ie of Padua— Pes- 
 tilence— Carrara burns the Venetian Camp— He is driven into his 
 Citadel— Accepts a Safe-conduct to Venice— Is sentenced, with his 
 two elder Sons, to capital Punisluneni— Their Deaths 293 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 FROM A. D. 1310 TO A. n, 
 
 1355. 
 
 „ 1 «r tvio intorrlict— War with Mastino della Scala— In- 
 
 tion 
 of 
 Visconti, Archbishop o7 Milan-VVar with Milan-Battle of Sapienza ^^^ 
 —Marino Faliero 
 
 I ^nVnt- the Three Saints-Revolt of Zara-Pla-ne-Thinl War 
 
 '^^fn rlnL Rat lie of car sto-Jiattle of the Rosphorus-Mediat.on 
 
 r'^P^Xh Bat Ue of Cad^ under the Protection ol 
 
 of Petrarch- Battle oi i d^u ..._,.,..,.,.__,,..,,,,, ofsjanienza 
 
 ^1 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 rnoM A. p. 1355 to a. p. 1373. 
 wor witli Touis of Hunearv— Loss of Daln.atia— Request of Pe- 
 traT KS^ran^^^^^ i" Candia-Petrarch's Account of the 
 rSvities on its Suppression-Last etruggle of the tandiotes- 
 Sues orrrancesio Vecchio da (^arrara-lnvas.on of Padua- 
 SibmSon of Da Carrara-Revolution at Constantinople-\outh 
 ot Carlo Zeno-Acquisili<.n of Tenedos-AfTray in Cyprus-Power- 
 ful League against Venice 
 
 CHAPTER Mil. 
 
 FROM A. D. 1378 TO A. P. 1381. 
 
 The War of Chiozza 
 
 ;l 
 
 PLATES AND WOODCUTS IN THE HRST VOLUME. 
 
 PLATES. 
 
 I. Piazetta— Ducal Palace— Rucentaur. Frontispiece. 
 
 II. The Giants' Stairs.— p. 199. 
 
 WOODCUTS'. 
 
 I. EflTigle.s of Frederic Rarbarossa. — p. 70. 
 
 II. Carroccio of the Milanese.— p. 115. 
 
 HI. Ancient Doge and Dogaressa (from Titian).— p. 200. 
 
 201 
 
 220 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 FROM A. P. ISS^i TO A. P. 1402. 
 
 Acquisition of the Trevisano by Carrara-Antonio della Scala- 
 Early History Of Giovanni Caleazzo Visconti-H.s Alliance with 
 VeS.e auainst Carrara-Abd.caiion of Francesco Vecchio-Sur- 
 render of Padua by Francesco Novello-He is treacherously detained 
 Prisoner- Jealousy between Venice and Milan-Lscape of tran- 
 ccsco Novello-His romantic Adventnres-lle recovers Padua-His 
 magnificent Entertainment at Venice-Death of F^f'j^^l'^ J^^:'^^'.'' 
 -Afflurs of the East-Pajazet-New Crusade-Fatal Battle of Ni- 
 copolis-Erection of Milan into a Dutchy-Gonzaga of Mantua- 
 Dutncstic Eventsin Venice-Visit of the Emperor Robert-Death of 
 Giovanni Galeazzo Visconti 
 
 261 
 
 A^^tMiAb'b^i.Aw 
 
 ^5;dfeiW=iS8Vi 
 
SI^TCHES 
 
 FROM 
 
 VENETIAN HISTORY. 
 
 CHAPTER r. 
 
 FROM THE SETTLEMENT OF THE VENETI IN ITALV TO A. D. 1173. 
 
 Origin of the Veneii— Connexion with Rome— Expulsion from Venetia 
 — The Lagune— Government -Foundai ion of Venice -Translation of 
 St. Mark — Istnote Piracy— Submission of Dalmatia— The Crusades- 
 Siege of Tyre— Giovedi Grasso — War with Manuel Comnenus, 
 
 From about A. D. 400 to A. D. 473, Consuls were sent from Padua for 
 the government of Rialto. 
 
 From A.D. 473 to A,D. 697, the government was administered by tribunes. 
 
 DOGES. 
 
 A.D. 
 
 697 
 717 
 72b 
 
 737 
 
 to 
 
 742 
 
 742 
 
 I. Paolo Luca Axafesto. 
 II. Marcello Tegaliano. 
 III. Fabriciazio Ukso — massacred, and the 
 dogeship abolished. 
 
 Iau 
 
 nual Maestri Delia Milizia. 
 
 DOGES RESTORED. 
 
 IV. Theodato Urso — deposed and deprived 
 of sijjht. 
 
 755 V. Galla — deposed and deprived of sight. 
 
 756 VI. DoMiNico MoNEGARio— deoosed and de- 
 
 prived of sight. 
 Vol. I.— B 
 
 iSfcf^^iH^jr-y^V^,.- 
 
« 
 
 14 
 
 A. D. 
 
 764 
 779 
 
 804 
 
 809 
 
 827 
 828 
 
 836 
 
 864 
 
 XIV. 
 
 881 
 
 XV. 
 
 887 
 
 XVI. 
 
 888 
 
 XVII. 
 
 912 
 
 XVIII. 
 
 933 
 
 XIX. 
 
 939 
 
 XX. 
 
 942 
 
 XXT. 
 
 952 
 
 XXII. 
 
 976 
 
 XXIII. 
 
 978 
 
 XXIV. 
 
 979 
 
 XXV. 
 
 991 
 
 XXVI. 
 
 1006 
 
 XXVII. 
 
 1028 
 
 XXVllI. 
 
 1030 
 
 XXIX. 
 
 BOGES. 
 
 VII. M 4URIZI0 Galbaio— associates his son 
 i Giovanni Galbaio, singly,— as- \ 
 
 VIII. \ sociates his son > deposed. 
 ( Maurizio Galbaio II. ' 
 /'Obklerio Antenore — associ->j 
 
 J ates his brothers V deposed* 
 
 ^^'S Beato Antenore, I 
 
 VValentino Antenore, J 
 
 ( Angelo Participazio— associates his sons 
 X. ) Giovanni Participazio— who is deposed, 
 
 ( and 
 
 r JusTiNiANi Participazio, singly, — asso- 
 
 XI. < ciates his son 
 
 ( Angelo Participazio II. 
 Giovanni Participazio — restored and 
 
 again deposed. , /. • u* 
 
 Carossio— deposed and deprived of sight. 
 Giovanni Participazio again restored. 
 c PiETRo Tradenigo— assassinated, before 
 [. ) which he associates his son 
 
 \ Giovanni Tradenigo. 
 Urso Participazio — associates his son 
 Giovanni Participazio II., singly— abdi- 
 cates. 
 
 PlETRO CaNDIANO. 
 
 Giovanni Participazio recalled. 
 
 PlETRO Tribuno. 
 
 Urso Participazio II.— abdicates. 
 
 PlETRO CaNDIANO II. 
 PlETRO BaDOUERO. 
 
 PlETRO Candiano III.— associates his son 
 PlETRO Candiano IV., singly— massacred. 
 PlETRO Urseolo — abdicates. 
 ViTALE Candiano — abdicates. 
 Tribuno Memmo — abdicates. 
 PlETRO Urseolo II. — associates his son 
 Giovanni Urseolo. 
 Othone Urseolo — deposed. 
 PlETRO Centranigo— deposed. 
 DoMiNico Urseolo — depoiscd. 
 XXX. DoMiNico Flabenigo. 
 
 INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 
 
 16 
 
 »^^ 
 
 xn. 
 
 Xlll 
 
 ■{ 
 
 A.n. 
 
 
 
 1041 
 
 XXXI. 
 
 DoMiNico Contarini. 
 
 1069 
 
 XXXII. 
 
 DoMiNico Silvio. 
 
 1084 
 
 XXXIIJ. 
 
 VlTALE FaLIERO. 
 
 1094 
 
 XXXIV. 
 
 Vitale Michieli. 
 
 1102 
 
 XXXV. 
 
 Oedelafo Faliero. 
 
 1117 
 
 xxxvi. 
 
 DoMINlCO MlCHIELI. 
 
 1130 
 
 xxxvii. 
 
 PlETRO POLANI. 
 
 1148 
 
 xxxviii. 
 
 DOMINICO MOROSINI. 
 
 1156 
 
 ZXXIX. 
 
 ViTALE MlCHIELI II. — mat 
 
 In our own days, and in the full remembrance of many 
 by whom these pages will be opened, a powerful and most 
 illustrious republic has perished before our eyes. Her po- 
 litical existence has been utterly abolished, and is now well 
 nigh forgotten. Yet, though Venice no longer holds her 
 former eminent station among the independent governments 
 of Europe ; though her maritime sceptre has been wrested 
 from her hand, and her Eastern diadem plucked from her 
 brow; though she, who once boasted sovereignty over 
 almost a moiety of the Roman world, now ranks but as a 
 conquered province— the scorn and the prey of strangers, 
 whom, in her pride, she despised as barbarians ; yet the 
 memory of those glories which she won during her " high 
 and palmy state" is, perliaps, more likely to be transmitted 
 in its full lustre to posterity than if she still retained her 
 dominion. By a chance unexampled in former history, the 
 very blow which levelled her to the dust burst open and 
 disclosed the secret mechanism by which her greatness had 
 been constructed ; and the hidden mysteries of her state- 
 policy, the riddle and the admiration of centuries, have been 
 discovered and revealed but in the moment of her expirino- 
 agony. Much of atrocious guilt, of oppression, cruelty^ 
 fraud, treachery, baseness, and ingratitude will darken any 
 review of her annals. But from the documents which the 
 possession of her surrendered archives placed in the hands 
 of her conquerors, and upon the faith of which the suc- 
 ceeding narrative is mainly founded, the rulers of Venice 
 must be pronounced, without reserve, to have been pre- 
 eminently »* wise in their generation," It is our intention, 
 
16 
 
 VENETIA. 
 
 in the followin<T pacres, to present in detail some of the most 
 s"r kin'^^^^^^ on\^e Wstory of this great repubhc, con- 
 ^e"!^|them with each other by a brief and rapid survey 
 of minor events. 
 
 That fertile district of Italy which is contained at its 
 nonhTasfen: angle, between tL Alps and the mnermos 
 coast of the Adriatic Gulf, was known at a very ^^ ^X f ^« 
 bv the name of Vcnctia, from its inhabitants the Veneti, or 
 ^. "', ?he origin and migrations of this people are mat- 
 
 ^rTof deep obscurity, and they f^^r^fV^lm:. 
 cording to the lancies of the genealogists ^f naUon.. 1 h.s 
 question, however curious to the antiquary, is otherwise 
 
 E^orUnt, and may be safely ^^-^^^^^f'^J^^Z 
 inquiry. From whatever country the Vencti nay have 
 m?arated, the extreme position which they assumed in Italy 
 proves that they were among its latest colonizers on he 
 Lrth. Almost as little is known of them for a long period 
 after their settlement as before their arrival ; for it is not 
 till the fourth century of Rome that we obtain even an in- 
 cidental llict concerning them ; but this fact is miportant 
 for it proves that the people to whom it rela es must have 
 been powerful and warlike, and it belongs also to an event 
 upon which no less depended th=^n, t^^^ ^f V f ^f,^""^^,5 
 Rome herself. At a time in which all was lost to the eter- 
 nal Citv except her Capitol, Polybius* tells us that the in- 
 vading Gauls were obliged to retrace their steps hastily, in 
 consequence of a diversion into their own territories effected 
 bv the Vcneti. This good service was acknowledged by 
 an embassy, from which resulted a formal alliance between 
 
 Rome and Venetia. . , ,. .. i j 
 
 Exclusively of any claims of gratitude, discretion would 
 no less prompt the Romans to encouroge a connexion with 
 Venetia. A state, the territory ci which embraced fifty 
 cities and a population of a million and a half ot souls, 
 abundant in produce, and furnishing a breed ot horses which 
 often successfully competed in the Olympic stadium wit i 
 the fleetest racers of Greece, might, from its neighbourhood, 
 be no less dangerous as an enemy than it had proved itself 
 beneficial as an ally. The transition from such alliance to 
 
 t Cramer's Ttaly, vol. i. p. 113, and the authorities there ifiven. 
 
 INVASION BY ATTILA. 
 
 17 
 
 dominion was one of the leading master-secrets of the policy 
 of Rome. By what insensible degrees the Vened forfeited 
 their independence, whether it was reluctantly surrendered 
 to force, or willingly accorded for protection, is not now to 
 be determined. Nothing more is known, except that, in 
 the second Punic war, they furnished a contingent against 
 Hannibal ; and that they were at length merged among the 
 other districts wliich contributed to form the province of 
 Cisalpine Gaul. 
 
 Henceforward, Venetia is to be considered as a constituent 
 part of the Roman Empire, and, during the existence of 
 that empire, as partaking of its fortunes. In the division 
 of Augustus it formed his tenth region.* Its boundaries 
 were, on the west, a line drawn from the Athesis (Adige), 
 to the Padus (Po) ; on the north, the Alps ; the Adriatic 
 on the east ; and the Po once again on the south. 
 
 We pass on therefore to the fifth century of the Christian 
 era and to the invasion of Attila ; the epoch from which the 
 existence of the modern Venetians must be dated. During 
 the second incursion of the Gothic Alaric, when Rome 
 herself had yielded to his assault, notwithstanding ^* !?* 
 the splendid temporary advantages obtained by Stili- 
 cho, Venetia was subjected for more than three years to 
 the occupation an<l the ravages of the Barbarians. The 
 premature death of that ferocious conqueror in the midst 
 of his career of triumph, and the pacific retreat of 
 his milder brother and successor, Adolphus, afforded ^J. J' 
 but a short relief to the falling empire : for the Scy- 
 thian hive contained new swarms which it was preparing 
 to pour forth ; and the sword of Marsy after having depopu- 
 lated the East, was whetting itself, with yet greater keen- 
 ness, for the hardest of Italy. As Attila advanced, his 
 fearful threat that " the grass never grew where his horse 
 once trod," was reaUzed to the very letter : and when Aqui- 
 leia, in revenge for her gallant defence, had been so 
 levelled as to be even without ruins, scarcely another ^V^ ' 
 city throughout the plains of Lombardy ventured to 
 oppose a resistance which must inevitably involve it in like 
 destruction. The wretched inhabitants of Concordia, Oderso, 
 Altino, Padua, and the neighbouring towns avoided the 
 
 * Pliny, book iii. ch. 18. 
 B3 
 
f 
 
 18 
 
 THE LAGUNE. 
 
 FIRST BUILDINGS ON RIALTO. 
 
 19 
 
 approaching tempest which they dared not abide ; ant!, 
 content with the preservation of their lives and their move- 
 ables, they abandoned their hearths to the fury of the con- 
 queror. . . .. 
 
 The great object of the fugitives was to escape pursuit ; 
 and security could be best obtained by retirement to spots 
 either difficult of access, or prescntin^r little allurement to 
 the cupidity of an invader chiefly hungering after spoil. 
 Both of these qualifications were combined on the neigh- 
 bourin'T shore of the Adriatic. About the mouths of the 
 numerous rivers which discharge themselves over a space 
 of thirty leagues on the north-western coast of that gulf, 
 from Gradolo Chiozza, are situated very numerous small 
 islands, embanked against the open sea by long, narrow, 
 interveninij slips of land, which serve as so many natural 
 breakwaters. This ai^gerc, as it is termed, has been formed 
 by the deposite of countless rivers, a deposite borne down 
 them for ages in a rapid fall, and not arrested till it meets 
 the sea ; where it has raised itself into impregnable ram- 
 parts (murazzi), against the inroads of the waves. To- 
 wards the land, these islands are equally protected ; partly 
 by the channels of the great rivers, the Lizonzo, the Tagli- 
 amento, and the Livenza, flowing from the .Julian Alps ; 
 the Piave, the Musone, the Brcnta, and the Adigc, swollen 
 with the snows of the Tyrol ; and the Po, charged with 
 waters both from the Alps and Apennines ; and partly by a 
 yet more powerful defence in a bed of soft mud, covered 
 with water, not exceeding, for the most part, one or two 
 feet in depth, and extending, at the time of which we are 
 now writing, between twenty and thirty miles from the 
 outer shore" This expanse, the Lagunc, which cannot 
 justly be considered either sea or land, is navigable only by 
 skiffs drawing a few inches water : but wherever it is tra- 
 versed by any of the estuaries of the rivers, or yet more by 
 canals excavated for the purpose, ships of considerable 
 burden may ride securely. The entrances through the 
 outer barrier are few, and the navigation afterward most 
 intricate and difficult ; so that much skill and long acquaint- 
 ance with the watercourses are necessary for pilotage 
 through their labyrinths. The islands within the barrier 
 are scattered through various parts of the Lagune ; some 
 divided from each other but by narrow channels ; other* 
 
 more remote, as so many outposts. Rialto,* the chief of 
 these, had long ser\'ed as a port to Padua, and a few build- 
 ings for naval purposes had been constructed upon it. All 
 else was barren, desolate, and uncultivated. But the very 
 qualities which, under difl^erent circumstances, would have 
 been most repulsive to voluntary settlers, presented attrac- 
 tions and offered advantages to the exiles of Venetia not to 
 be expected in other places ; and the safety for which they 
 might have lookeil in vain on a soil richly indebted to 
 nature was to be found by them, if anywhere, amid this 
 wilderness of waters. 
 
 The fall of Aquileia and the self-banishment of the neigh- 
 bouring inhabit:mts occurred in the year 4.'i2 of our era ; 
 but yet earlier some rudiments of its future greatness may 
 be traced on Rialto. A church, dedicated to St. James, 
 had been erected there in 421 : about the same time a 
 decree had issued from Padua for the formation of a town 
 on its naked shoi-es, in order to consolidate the few strag- 
 glers who were to be found on the neighbouring islands ; 
 and for the government of this infant community, annual 
 magistrates, under the title of consuls, had been appointed 
 by the mother city. Sabellico has preserved a tradition, 
 partially received, that the earliest buildings of this town 
 were raised on the very spot now occupied by the cathedral 
 of St. Mark. Another belief, from which he assures us 
 there is no dissent, affirms that the first foundations were 
 laid on the 25th of March — a day on which none but a 
 work of more than ordinary magnilicence and dignity could 
 be commenced. It is the day on which the Saviour was 
 conceived in the womb of the Virgin ; and that also on 
 which, as the historian discovers in holy writ, Adam, the 
 parent of mankind, was formed by God.t Pietro Justiniani 
 has presented us in his history with an astrological scheme 
 of the nativity of these foundations, calculated with pre- 
 cision to the hour of noon on the 25th of March, A. D. 421 ; 
 and he assures us that this horoscope prognosticates the 
 happiest fortunes. It w^as not only to this little town, how- 
 
 * Rivo alto, Ihe deep stream, abbreviated into Rialio, is first the name 
 of this island, /sola de Rialto ; then of the bridge, il Ponte di RialtOy 
 which connects it with the opposite bank ; and lastly of the exchange, 
 the Rialto of Shakspeare, which stands upon this island. 
 
 t Dec. L lib. i. p. 14. 
 
 £n£^-: 
 
20 
 
 GOVERNMENT TRIBUNES. 
 
 ever, that the exiles directed their steps. Its narrow dimen- 
 sions, indeed, forbade the reception of all who thronged to 
 it, and the sands of Grado, Caorlo, Malamocco, and Peles- 
 trina were covered by inmates. The mixed feeling of regret 
 for the homes which they had abandoned, and of thanktul- 
 ness for those in which they had found refuge, is strongly 
 evinced in the name given by the townsmen of Altino to 
 the asylum which they occupied : they called it "the port 
 
 of the deserted city." 
 
 Before the towns on the continent could rise again trom 
 their ashes, the foundations of an independent government 
 had already been laid in the new state. Each principal 
 island elected a tribune, as a judicial magistrate, who con- 
 tinued in office for a single year, and who was responsible 
 for the execution of his duties to a general assembly. 1 he 
 inhabitants dedicated themselves to the only employments 
 which their scanty territory permitted, fishing and the manu- 
 facture of salt ; and safely, because obscurely, sheltered 
 from the repeated calamities by which the country they had 
 abandoned was desolated, they continued to gam an m- 
 crease of strength by the new citizens which each fresh con- 
 tinental outrage added to their numbers. When, m the 
 sixth century, the Lombards under Alboin established 
 ^- ?• themselves in Italv, the new invaders followed in the 
 ^^^' track of their barbarian predecessors ; and the inhabit- 
 ants whom ancient Vcnetia still retained were compelled 
 to seek the same asylums which, more than two centuries 
 before, had received the original exiles. The citizens of 
 Altino fled to Torcello ; those of Concordia to Caorlo ; and 
 the Paduans became suppliants for a refuge, which was 
 not denied, in that Rialto from which they had not long 
 before demanded the obedience of a subject. 
 
 This increase of population in the islands, as it multiplied 
 their interests, so also it demanded a greater vigour than 
 was possessed by their existing government. The details 
 of the change have not reached us ; but it appears that 
 some abuses sowed the seeds of party spirit, and that the 
 republic was menaced by internal divisions. On these 
 accounts, the general assembly was convoked at Herac- 
 ^' ^' lea, and it was wisely determined to confide in a 
 single hand the power which hitherto had been parti- 
 tioned among several tribunes. The title proposed was 
 
 MAESTRI DELLA MILIZIA- 
 
 2t 
 
 Doo'C, or, in other words, duke. It is believed that twelve 
 electors, whose names have been preserved, and who are 
 the stocks from which afterward sprang the most illus- 
 trious families in Venice, united their suflraores in favour 
 of Paolo Luca Anafesto, a citizen of Heraclea. His dig- 
 nity was conferred for life ; he was .issisted by a council of 
 state, the members of which he himself nominated ; the 
 public revenue was at his disposal ; the general assembly 
 was summoned at his decree ; he appointed the judges and 
 tribunes ; appeals from them lay to his jurisdiction ; all 
 ecclesiastical synods were convoked by him ; and although 
 the election of prelates still remained with the people, the 
 right of investiture, which operated as a veto, belonged to 
 the doge. Above all, he alone possessed the prerogative of 
 peace or war. Little else, it may be imagined, besides these 
 ext<;nsive privileges, was wanting to constitute a pure des- 
 potism. 
 
 This unlimited authority, however, does not apnear to 
 have been abused till the reign of the third doge, Faiiririazio 
 Urso, who was assassinated in a popular tumult which he 
 had provoked by his haughtiness. The experiment of a 
 chief magistrate for life had been tried and appeared to have 
 failed. Without any diminution of his power, it was now 
 resolved to limit its duration ; and a ruler under the 
 title of Maestro dclla Milizia or de' Soldati, elected !^'^' 
 but for a year, supplied the place of the abolished 
 doge. Five Maestri, or Mastromili as the name became cor- 
 rupted, are recorded in succession, before the title of doge 
 was revived. The reigns which succeeded, during many 
 years after this renewal, were, for the most part, signalized 
 by oppression on the side of the prince, and by resistance on 
 that of the people ; and they terminated, in frequent in- 
 stances, by the expulsion of the tyrant. In one of 
 these numerous struggles, the intervention of Pepin, q"^/ 
 upon whom his father Charlemagne had recently be- 
 stowed the crown of Lombardy, was incautiously solicited; 
 and the new king readily entered upon a connexion afford- 
 ing pretext for hostilities against a state which, from its 
 contiguity with his own dominions, he might hope to in- 
 clude, one day, within their limits. The events which fol- 
 lowed are obscure and varionslv related ; but thus much is 
 certain, that the republic of the islands was soon taught that 
 
 T^M^M^^, 
 
22 
 
 INVASION BY PEPIN OF LOMBARDY. 
 
 lesson 60 often to be learned from history, how dangerous 
 it is to invite the interference of a powerful neighbour. It 
 was not to secure the election of a doge of Venice that the 
 king of the Lombards had armed : his objects were directed, 
 through this excuse, to his own aggrandizement ; and, tak- 
 ing occasion from the refusal of his allies to assist him in 
 the conquest of Dalmatia, which he wished to add to his 
 acquisitions in Istria and Friuli, he directed against the 
 western shore of the Adriatic that armament which had 
 been ostensibly assembled to obtain mastery of its eastern 
 borders. Heraclea and Equilo were attacked and given 
 to the flames ; and it was only at the personal solicitation 
 of Obelerio, the candidate whose interest he espoused, and 
 who, in opposition to his fellow-citizens, had strongly advo- 
 cated the necessity of joining in the Dalmatian expedition, 
 that the remaining towns escaped similar ravages, and that 
 the invading troops were withdrawn. A fresh provocation, 
 indiscreetly* offered, renewed the anger of Pepin, and he 
 was not slow in manifesting it. The fort of Brondolo and 
 the islands of Chiozza and Pelestrina speedily surrendered 
 to hhn ; and Malamocco, the capital, was already invested 
 by troops thirsting for its plunder, and separated from it, now 
 Albiolo was conquered, only by the narrow channel of a 
 single canal. Pepin's bridges were constructed, the stream 
 was crossed, and he entered the city ; but it was to a barren 
 triumph, for the whole population had abandoned its walls. 
 Listening to the advice of Angelo Participazio, one of those 
 great men whose illustrious qualities are best displayed in 
 times of danger, they had thrown themselves into their gal- 
 leys, and taken up a position on Rialto, in the very centre 
 of the Lagune^ where, protected from invasion by broader 
 channels, they determined to maintain a desperate and 
 extreme resistance. The Lombard king summoned them 
 to surrender at discretion. On their refusal, he endea- 
 voured to form a bridge of boats, which was destroyed ; and, 
 in a second attempt to transport his whole forces in large 
 vessels, well adapted for the open sea, but little fitted for the 
 shifting and uncertain depths of the Lagune, he became en- 
 tangled in their shallows. The islanders, profiting by his 
 embarrassment, set fire to the stranded vessels, and con- 
 tinued the work of destruction till the flow of the returning 
 tide enabled the shattered fleet to withdraw to Malamocco, 
 
 LJafcA Ja- S\J'\a.** 4 
 
 TRANSLATION OF ST. MARK. 
 
 23 
 
 The towns already in the power of the invader endured the 
 fullest calamities which defeat and disappointed ambition 
 could inflict ; and Pepin, having thus far gratified his re- 
 venge, abandoned all further operations and retreated to the 
 continent. 
 
 Angelo Participazio had saved his country, and the 
 chief dignity which she could bestow was his just 
 reward. Obelerio was solemnly rejected, and the q'^q 
 new doge actively engaged himself in the confirma- 
 tion of that security to which his wisdom had pointed 
 the way. The sixty islets which clustered round Rialto 
 were connected with it and each other by bridges ; a new 
 capital arose within their circuit ; a cathedral and a ducal 
 palace were founded on the site which they still occupy ; 
 and the name of the province on terra finmi from which the 
 citizens derived their origin was given to the metropolis 
 which they were creating. Such was the birth of Venice. 
 
 In the reign of Justiniani Participazio, the son and suc- 
 cessor of Angelo, undistinguished by events of more 
 important character, the Venetians became pos- gi^~* 
 sessed of the relics of that saint to whom they ever 
 afterward appealed as the great patron of their state and city. 
 These remains were obtained from Alexandria by a pious 
 stratagem, at a time when the church wherein they were 
 originally deposited was about to be destroyed, in order that 
 its rich marbles might be applied to the decoration of a 
 palace. At that fortunate season, some Venetian ships (it 
 is said no less than ten, a fact proving the prosperous 
 extent of their early commerce) happened to be trading in 
 that port ; and their captains, though not without much 
 difficulty, succeeded in obtaining from the priests who had 
 the custody of the holy treasure its deliverance into their 
 hands, in order that it might escape profanation. It was 
 necessary, however, that this transfer should be made in 
 secrecy ; for we are assured by Sabellico, who relates 
 the occurrence minutely, that the miracles which had been 
 daily wrought at the saint's shrine had strongly attached 
 the populace to his memory. The priests carefully opened 
 the cerements in which the body was enveloped ; and con- 
 sidering, doubtless, that one dead saint possessed no less 
 intrinsic virtue and value than another, they very adroitly 
 substituted the corpse of a female, Sta. Claudia, in the folds 
 
24 
 
 TRANSLATION OF ST. MARK. 
 
 DISAPPEARANCE OF ST. MARK. 
 
 25 
 
 which had been occupied by that of St. Mark. But ihey 
 had widely erred in their graduation of tlie scale ot beati- 
 tude. So" sreat was the odour of superior snnctity, that a 
 rich perfume diffused itself through the church at the 
 moment at which the grave-clothes of the evangelist were 
 disturbed ; and the holy robbery was well nigh betrayed to 
 the eacrer crowd of worshippers, who, attracted by the sweet 
 smell, thronged to inspect the relics and to ascertain their 
 safety. After examination, they retired, satished that their 
 favourite saint was inviolate ; for the slit which the priests 
 had made in his cerements was behind and out ot sight. 
 But the Venetians still had to protect the embarkation of 
 their prize. For this purpose, effectually to prevent all 
 chance of search, they placed the body ni a large ba^et 
 stuffed with herbs and covered with joints of pork. 1 he 
 porters who bore it were instructed to cry loudly " Khanziry 
 KhanzirV* and every true Mussulman whom they met 
 carefully avoided the unclean ness with which he was threat- 
 ened by contact with this forbidden flesh. Even when once 
 on board, the body was not yet quite safe ; for accident might 
 reveal the contents of the basket ; it was therefore wrapped 
 in one of the sails and hoisted to a yard-arm of the main- 
 mast, till the moment of departure. IN or was this precaution 
 unnecessary ; for the unbelievers instituted a strict search 
 for contraband goods before the vessel sailed. During the 
 voyage, the ship was hi danger from a violent storm ; and 
 but for the timely appearance of the saint, who warned the 
 captain to furl his sails, she would inevitably have been lost. 
 The joy of the Venetians, on the arrival of this precious 
 cargo, was manifested by feasting, music, processions, and 
 prayers. An ancient tradition was called to mind, that St. 
 Mark, in his travels, had visited Aquileia ; and having 
 touched also at the Hundred Isles, at that time uninhabited, 
 had been infonned, in a prophetic vision, that his bones 
 should one day repose upon their shores. Venice was sol- 
 emnly consigned to his protection. The saint himself, or 
 his lion, was" blazoned on her standards and impressed on 
 her coinage ; and the shout of the populace, whether on 
 occasions'of sedition or of joy, and the gathering cry of the 
 
 * Khanzir, Arab, a hog. A cape on the coast of Sjiia is named Rat 
 e! Kkanzir, i. e. bogVhead. 
 
 armies of the republic in battle was, henceforward, " Viva 
 San Marco .'" 
 
 The lion of St. Mark has a more profound meaning than 
 he may appear to bear at first sight. As the heralds would 
 blazon him, he is azure^ siegeanl^ his wings or, and he holds a 
 book argent, open under his paws. He sits, as we are told, in 
 order to show that the Venetians are wise and pacific ; for 
 sages and counsellors mostly use that attitude: moreover 
 to evmce that they conquer rather by address than by 
 violence, as it was said of the Romans — Rumanus iedendo 
 vincit. He is winged, to show that they are prompt in exe- 
 cution. On one occasion these wings furnished a pungent 
 reply to an imperial ambassador who inquired in what 
 country such a species of lions was to found 1 " In the 
 same country," answered the reigning doge, " which pro- 
 duces spread eagles." The legend written on the book is 
 Pax tibij Marce, Ei-angclista mats, the salutation addressed 
 by an angel to the saint when he landed, as above mentioned, 
 at the spot now occupied by the church and convent of San 
 Francesco della Vigna. But in time of war the book is 
 closed, and a naked sword is placed in the lion's paws.* It 
 is scarcely necessary to adil that the first notion of the lion 
 is borrowed from one of the visions of Daniel : of the four 
 great beasts which that prophet saw, " the first was like a 
 lion and had eagle's wings."t But the symbols of the 
 evangelist have been a matter fruhful of discussion. 
 
 Notwithstanding the splendour of his reception, and the 
 many subsequent testimonies of high honour which he 
 received, the saint occasionally proved capricious, and did 
 not always deign to show himself even to his most illustrious 
 visiters. Two centuries after the above translation (1094), 
 when the emperor Henry III. made an express pilgrimage 
 to his shrine, the body had very petulantly disappeared. 
 The priests had recourse to prayer and fasting for its 
 recovery, and the whole capital was engaged in tears, absti- 
 nence, and supplication. At length the saint relented. 
 One morning the sacristan whose turn it was to attend the 
 church in which the body ought to have been found, per- 
 ceived, on entering, a fragrant odour and a brilliant light, 
 
 * Amelot de la Houssaye, Hist, du Gouvem. de Venlae, p. 568. 
 T Chaj). vii. 4. 
 
 .. 'J"/- i >-y^.>t»w.-i>^.a 
 
 a<iyid!fe»^A.-<"-yy as^ftaifea 
 
26 
 
 HIS RELICS. 
 
 which issued from a particular column. The simple priest 
 imagined that there was afire, and ran up in affright to extin- 
 guish it ; nor was his alarm diminished when he saw a hu- 
 man arm protruding from the column. He hastened to the 
 doge and announced this marvel, and the bishop of Olivolo 
 and the other clergy, having been summoned, repaired, with 
 profound devotion, to the church. There, as they knelt 
 before the pillar, the arm dropped a ring from one of the 
 fingers of its hand into the bishop's bosom ; and at the 
 same time the column opened and displayed an iron coffin 
 enclosing the remains of the evangelist. The holy corpse 
 wrought numerous miracles ; and a feast was instituted to 
 commemorate its invention. On each 24th of July, while 
 the magnificat was being chanted, the congregation was 
 sprinkled with rose-water, in memory of the sweet odour, 
 and two tapers were lighted before the pillar. Among the 
 other relics which on this occasion were borne abroad in 
 splendid procession was an autograph of his gospel from the 
 evangelist's own pen, in which, unhappily, learned men are 
 undetermined whether the character is Greek or Latin,* 
 and whether the material is paper or parchment. The ring 
 was sacrilegiously stolen in the year 1585, and, perhaps, 
 the body has undergone a similar fate. Having been placed 
 in a receptacle more worthy of it, the secret of which was 
 intrusted to none save the doge, and the provveditori — 
 officers especially appointed for the saint's guardianship — 
 a magnificent church was decreed and built over this mys- 
 terious tomb.f Yet a modem traveller, who was by no 
 means likely to approach this legend with an eye of skep- 
 ticism, roundly taxes Carossio, who about twenty years 
 afterward for a short time usurped the throne, with a pri- 
 vate sale of the relics. " Since his time," says Eustace, " the 
 existence of the body of St. Mark has never been publicly 
 ascertained. The place, however, where the sacred deposite 
 lies is acknowledged to be an undivulged secret ; or, perhaps, 
 in less cautious language, to be utterly unknown."! 
 
 * Hey's Lectures, L 37, where a reference is given to Michaelis, 
 ^ 12. 4to. But a full account of the MS. may he found in the Diarium 
 Italicum of Montfaucon (c. iv. p. 55). That profound scholar and anti- 
 quary examined it very closely, and decided that it wag Latin: He de- 
 scribes it as perishing from the dampness of its repository. 
 
 t Sabellico, Decad. I; lib. v. ad in. 
 
 t Classical Tour, vol. i. p. 17L 
 
 
 ISTRIOTE PIRACY. 
 
 27 
 
 A whole century ensued presenting little matter which 
 deserves attention, and the reigns of the six doges by which 
 that period was occupied may be passed in silence. 
 Under Candiano II., occurred one of those events Joq* 
 which vividly depict the manners of the age to which 
 they belong ; and which, though affecting individuals rather 
 than a nation, excite nevertheless very powerful interest, 
 and almost connect history with romance.* According to 
 an ancient usage, the marriages among the chief families at 
 Venice were celebrated publicly. The same day and the 
 same hour witnessed the union of numerous betrothed ; and 
 the eve of the feast of the Purification, on the return of 
 which the republic gave portions to twelve young maidens, 
 was the season of this joyous anniversary. It was to 
 Olivolo, the residence of the patriarch, on the extreme verge 
 of the city, that the ornamented gondolas repaired on this 
 happy morning. There, hailed by music and the gratula- 
 tions of their assembled kindred, the lovers disembarked ; 
 and the festive pomp, swelled by a long train of friends, 
 richly clad, and bearing with them, in proud display, the 
 jewels and nuptial presents of the brides, proceeded to the 
 cathedral. The pirates of Istria had long marked this peace- 
 ful show as affording a rich promise of booty ; for, at the 
 time of which we are writing, the arsenal and its surround- 
 ing mansions were not yet in existence, Olivolo was un- 
 tenanted, except by priests, and its neighbourhood was en- 
 tirely without inhabitants. In these deserted spots the 
 corsairs lay in ambush the night before the ceremony; 
 and while the unarmed and unsuspecting citizens were yet 
 engaged in the marriage rites before the altar, a rude and 
 ferocious troop burst the gates of the cathedral. Not con- 
 tent with seizing the costly ornaments which became their 
 prize, they tore away also the weeping and heart-broken 
 brides, and hurried them to their vessels. The doge had 
 honoured the festival with his presence, and, deeply touched 
 by the rage and despair of the disappointed bridegrooms, 
 he summoned the citizens to arms. Hastily assembling 
 such galleys as were in the harbour, they profited by a fa- 
 vourable wind, and overtook the ravishers before they were 
 extricated from the Lagune of Caorlo. Candiano led the 
 
 * Mr. Rogers in his Itah/, " The Brides of Venice,'' has already femiliar- 
 lied Eiiglisii ears with this most romantic incident. 
 
 » -!>. 1^ -tj^.'iiS: 4 
 

 28 
 
 MARIAN GAMES. 
 
 attack, and such was its fury that not a single Istriotc 
 escaped the death which he merited. The maidens were 
 brouaht hack in triumph ; and on the evening of the same 
 day The interrupted rites were solemnized with joy, no doubt 
 much heijilitened by a remembrance of the peril which had 
 80 well ni'gh prevented their completion. The memory of 
 this siniTular event was long kept alive by an annual pro- 
 cession of Venetian women on the eve of the Purification, 
 and by a solemn visit paid by the doge to the church of Sta. 
 Maria Formosa. 
 
 It was by the trunkmakers {casscllari) of the island on 
 which the above-named church stands that the jjreater part 
 of the crew, hastily collected on this occasion, was fur- 
 nished ; and Candiano, as a reward for their bravery, asked 
 them to demand some privilege. They requested this an- 
 nual visit to their island. " What," said the prince, " if the 
 day should prove rainy 1"—" We will send you hats to cover 
 your heads, and if you are thirsty we will give you drink." 
 To commemorate this question and reply the priest of Sta. 
 Maria was used to offer to the doge, on landing, two flasks of 
 malmsey, two orans^es, and two hats, adorned with his own 
 armorial bearincrs, those of the pope, and those of the doge. 
 The Marian games {La Fcsfa dclle Marie), of which this 
 andata formed part, and which lasted for six days, continued 
 to be celebrated till they were interrupted by the public dis- 
 tress during the war of Chiozza.* They were renewed two 
 hundred years afterward with yet greater pomp ; but of the 
 time at which they fell into total disuse we are unable to 
 speak. 
 
 The three reigns which immediately followed were barren 
 of events of interest, though not unmarked by bloodshed 
 
 and internal tumult. At length one doge, Pietro 
 q' ^* Urseolo I., deservedly acquired the affections of his 
 
 subjects ; but the gentle virtues to which he was in- 
 debted for their love were of that class which rendered the 
 toils of government irksome ; and having resolved upon 
 abdication, after two short years of rule, he quitted his 
 palace under disguise and by stratagem, in order to escape 
 detention, and secluded himself in the neighbouring abbey 
 of Perpignan. There his meekness and devotion obtained 
 
 ♦ Sabellico, Dec. I. lib. iii. p. 66, 
 
 INCREASED POWER OF VENICE. 
 
 29 
 
 for him far higher honours than those of the throne which 
 he had resigned ; and after his death the holy see enrolled him 
 among her list of saints. His memory was long venerated 
 by his countrymen, and even so late as the year 1732, his 
 right arm, enclosed, as a relic of inestimable value, in a 
 silver shrine of exquisite workmanship, was deposited in 
 the treasury of St. Mark. Thirteen years, with the inter- 
 vention of two reigns, passed before his son, a second Pietro 
 Urseolo, was called to the throne. Report asserted 
 that the abdicated doge, already advanced many steps ^'J^' 
 towards his future canonization, had long ago pro- 
 phesied the greatness of his child. On this account, *he 
 most favourable auguries attended the opening reign, and 
 the wise administration of the new prince justified the hopes 
 of his country. The largely extended commerce of Venice, 
 by increasing her internal wealth and resources, had awak- 
 ened also her ambition for foreign conquest ; and the lapse 
 of five centuries, through which we have passed in the above 
 brief sketch of her history, had not only raised the original 
 small band of exiles and fishermen into a rich, powerful, 
 and independent nation, but at the same time had created 
 a natural wish that these riches and this power should find 
 a wider scene of display than was aflforded by the narrow 
 limits of the Lagune and a few adjoining ports. Urseolo 
 II. was fitted for the crisis at which he reigned. Having, 
 in the first instance, appeased the rage of domestic faction, 
 he next addressed himself to commercial treaties, and his 
 negotiations secured, yet more fully than it had hitherto been 
 possessed, the command of the chief neighbouring ports 
 and rivers of Italy, obtained extensive privileges and ex- 
 emptions from the Greek emperor, and cultivated the good- 
 will and alliance of the Syrian and Egyptian sultans. Venice, 
 long before the close of the tenth century, had become 
 the emporium not only of Italy but of Greece and of all the 
 countries bordering on the Adriatic : and while Pisa, Genoa, 
 and Amalfi, subsequently her chief maritime competitors, 
 were but scantily known, she was the exclusive factor be- 
 tween Europe and the Levant. The eastern coast of the 
 Adriatic, notwithstanding this commercial pre-eminence of 
 Venice, possessed numerous ports maintaining themselves 
 by an advantageous trade. As each of the empires which 
 bordered them on either confiine diminished in strength, 
 
 C2 
 
30 
 
 CAPTURE or LESINA. 
 
 these districts gradually asserted independence ; and their 
 progress was naturally regarded with a watchful and jealous 
 eye by the Venetian government. But the Istrians, the 
 Liburnians,and the Dalmatians were destined to aggrandize, 
 not to rival, the queen of" the Adriatic. Venice, no less 
 than her maritime neighbours, continued to be harassed by 
 the pirates of Narenta ; and whatever occasional exemp- 
 tion she might enjoy from plunder was purchased by the 
 distrraceful humiliation of an animal tribute. We know not 
 whether, as has been sometimes said, the Dalmatian towns 
 voluntarily tendered submission as the price of delivery from 
 these robbers, or whether the Venetians plausibly armed in 
 their defence, as a pretext to veil ultimate designs of con- 
 quest ; but in the spring of 997, a powerful fleet was manned, 
 
 either for their protection or subjection ; and the 
 QQ7* Jf^gpj having received the standard of St. Mark from 
 
 the hands of the bishop, embarked on the first expe- 
 dition undertaken by his country for extension of terri- 
 tory. His progress was a continued and, for the most part, 
 a peaceful triumph. At Parenzo and at Pola he was ad- 
 mitted with open arms by the citizens, who solicited him to 
 adopt them as children of his republic. Capo d'Istria, 
 Pirano, Isol;.', Emone, Rovigno, Humago, and Zara, all prof- 
 fered oaths of fealty, and hailed him as deliverer and sove- 
 reign. Mulcimir, King of Croatia, found safety in alliance, 
 cemented by the marriage of his son with a daughter of the 
 doge. Equal submission awaited him from Sj)alatro to 
 Lissa, and the first resistance which he encountered was 
 offered by the islands Curzola and Lesina. The former 
 of these was won without difficulty, for it possessed little 
 means of defence ; but Lesina presented a formidable op- 
 position, both from the natural advantages of its site, and 
 yet more from the precaution of the Narentines, who had 
 established on it a dep6t strongly fortified and garrisoned. 
 The Venetians speedily blockaded the port and invested the 
 town ; and on the refusal of their first summons they pressed 
 to the assault. The defence was long and brave, and 
 the carnage proportionately murderous ; but in the end the 
 garrison was compelled to yield. The lives of the inhabit- 
 ants were spared ; and on the same spot whereon the doge 
 received the keys of Lesina, the submission of Ragusa also, 
 i^xtorted by the terror of iiis arjns, was tendered and accepted. 
 
 VISIT OF OTHO III. TO VENICE. 
 
 31 
 
 The possession of Curzola and Lesina, the outworks of 
 Narenta, rendered that bay itself defenceless; and the 
 Venetian army, disembarking without opposition, desolated 
 the neighbourhood with fire and sword. Few of the in- 
 habitants escaped this war of extermination ; and when, 
 fatigued with slaughter, the invaders admitted the small 
 remnant to terms, those terms were such as the recollection 
 of two centuries of injury might be expected to dictate. 
 The tribute was abolished, the population disarmed, indem- 
 nities for former plunder were rigidly demanded, and the 
 whole resources of this little state, if a union of pirates may 
 be so named, were placed at the command of the victors. 
 The government of all these newly-p.c<juired territories was 
 framed after a model of great simplicity, and without any 
 distinction between cessions and conquests. A podestcLy 
 nominated by the doge from some principal family in 
 Venice, administered in each town in the name of the 
 republic ; and the natives were utterly excluded from par- 
 ticipation in public afiairs. 
 
 These brilliant successes of Urseolo were gratefully 
 acknowledged. To the title of Duke of Venice was annexed 
 that of Duke of Dalmatia ; the emperor Otho IIL honoured 
 hini by becoming sponsor to his son ; and on a })rogress 
 which he made to Rome, after passing three days in Venice, 
 he relieved her at the prayer of the doge froni a testimony 
 of vassalage which had become oflfensive to the growing 
 pride of the citizens ; declining the receipt of a robe of cloth 
 of gold which had hitherto been annually sent as a mark of 
 dependence. More substantial tokens of imperial favour 
 were shown by exemptions granted throughout his do- 
 minions, and by permission to occupy certain neighbouring 
 ports. This visit of Otho was paid' under the most rigid 
 incognito. Ho arrived at night, attended by not more than 
 five domestics ; and was received in the monastery of San 
 Servolo, as aflJbrding readier means of concealment than any 
 other private or public lodging. The doge, having been ad- 
 mitted to his first audience, which also took place by night, 
 after exchanging congratulations with the emperor, accom- 
 panied him to St. Mark's ; whence Otho, having paid his 
 devotions, passed with no less secrecy to the ducal palace. 
 During his stay, Urseolo, to avoid suspicion, always dined 
 in public ; and iji the eveuinnr supped in intimate familiarity 
 
 279540 
 
32 
 
 DESTRUCTION OP HADRU. 
 
 with his illustrious guest. It was not till three days after 
 the emperor's departure that the doge convoked a general 
 assembly, and having announced the visit of Otho and the 
 gracious concessions to which he had been pleased to agree, 
 received the warmest thanks and applause of his people, for 
 the consummate prudence and inviolable secrecy which he 
 had maintained. So early was mystery, even respecting 
 trifles, esteemed a praiseworthy quality in the rulers of 
 Venice ! 
 
 The reign of Othone, the son of Pietro Urseolo, 
 i^'nfi' ^^^ distinguished by the conquest of Hadria. In a 
 
 war which her citizens provoked by a claim to the 
 territory of Loredo, the doge vigorously marched to repulse 
 an attack upon that district, defeated the invaders, and pur- 
 suing their routed forces, besieged, captured, and destroyed 
 their town. Such was the fate of that once great and 
 flourishing city, which in times of remote antiquity was 
 doubtless the chief port of its cognate Adriatic. Even if 
 not of much earlier origin, it was the principal seat of such 
 commerce as the Tuscans enjoyed when their dominion ex- 
 tended from that sea to the Mediterranean : so late as the 
 fourth century Pliny speaks of its "noble harbour:" and, at 
 the period which we are now considering, it retained suf- 
 ficient power to need the direct chastisement of Venice ; 
 but in our own days both man and nature appear jointly to 
 have conspired against its prosperity. It is still, indeed, 
 the seat of a bishop, but it has dwindled into a mean and 
 ruined village, rejected even by the sea bearing its name, 
 and removed, by one of those changes not uncommon on a 
 shifting coast, no less than eighteen miles from the waters 
 which once bore riches to its haven. 
 
 Dominico Flabenigo, who succeeded to the throne in 
 
 1030, procured the enactment of an important and 
 .«*„Q* most salutary law. The state had hitherto been 
 
 saved from hereditary usurpation solely by the fre- 
 quent recurrence of insurrection and, occasionally, of law- 
 less bloodshed. The greater number of doges had endea- 
 voured to perpetuate the succession in their own families ; 
 five had already sprung from a single stock ; several had 
 been associated without even the nominal consent of the 
 people ; and the remedies which the republic had been com- 
 pelled to apply id four instances were no milder than death 
 
 
 W^Tj^ 
 
 CONNEXION WITH CONSTANTINOPLE. 
 
 33 
 
 or banishment. A law was now pro]>osed that no successor 
 should in future be named during the lifetime of the reign- 
 inorjoge. It was unanimously accepted, recorded as a fun- 
 damental institute of the g )vernment, and ever afterward 
 observed inviolably. 
 
 The chroniclers have presented an amusinij picture of the 
 luxurious habits of the ConstantinopoUtan fair one 
 who shared the crown of Dominico Silvio, a later 
 
 A. D. 
 
 1069. 
 
 doge. Such, we are assured, was the extent of her 
 refinement — adeo morosa fuit elerrantid^ — that she banished 
 the use of plain water from her toilet, and washed herself 
 only with the richest and most fragrant medicated prepara- 
 tions. Her apartments were so saturated with perfumes, 
 that those who were unaccustomed to such odours often 
 fainted upon entering ;* and as the climax of sinful in- 
 dulgence (for such it appears to the narrator) in the inordi- 
 nate pride of her evil heart, she refused to employ her fingers 
 in eatinsr, and never touched her moat unless with a golden 
 fork. Her end was in miserable contrast with these Syba- 
 ritic manners. She was stricken with a sore disease, con- 
 sidered, no doubt, as an especial jud<rment ; and her suffer- 
 ings, which were long protracted, were of such a nature as 
 to excite rather the disgust than the pity of her attendants.-f 
 
 Vitale Faliero, who was next called to the throne, 
 largely benefited the republic by skilful negotiations, {nc^/ 
 The Greek emperor, Comnenus, renounced in favour 
 of Venice the pretensions which he had hitherto asserted to 
 nominal sovereignty over Dahnutia ; he granted a free en- 
 trance to her ships into all his ports, and assigned ware- 
 houses for their goods ; he naturalized her residonts at 
 Constantinople, and he compelled the merchants of Amalfi 
 to pay an annual tribute to tlie cathedral of St. Mark. The 
 establishment of a fair in honour of that saint, which oc- 
 curred about this time, by mingling the purposes of devotion 
 with those of commerce, attracted numerous throngs of 
 visiters to the Venetian capital, who by the largeness of their 
 
 ♦ The Venetian la'lies are still morbidly sensible to the smell of per- 
 fumes. Mr. W. S. Rose, in his very agreeable Lettert /rn?)> the \t>rt?i 
 of Italy, describes them as fainting at the odour of co*nmon essences, 
 and speaks of wcll-auihenticated instances of deaths in childbed from 
 similar causes. 
 
 t Sabeliico, Decad. I. lib. iv. ad ann. lliTl, who cites Daniianus, 
 
34 
 
 THE CRUSADES. 
 
 AFFRAY WITH THE PISAN FLEET. 
 
 39 
 
 expenditure contributed to the increase of the national 
 wealth. So lucrative did these institutions prove, that other 
 canonized remains received similar honours ; and such was 
 the consequent ardour with which relics were collected, as 
 allurements for pilgrim-merchants, that when the agents 
 who had been despatched to purchase the body of San 
 Tarasio, a defunct patriarch of Constantinople, failed in 
 their bidding, the saint was transported to the Adriatic by 
 means very little in accordance with honesty. 
 
 A new and far wider scene of conquest was opened by 
 this alliance with Constantinople ; and the narrow limits 
 of the Adriatic were no longer to bound the Venetian 
 dominion. It is not here that we need trace the rise of the 
 crusades, nor the manifold causes which summoned the 
 whole armed population of Europe to a romantic and 
 perilous warfare in the East. The part borne by Venice in 
 these expeditions rendered her most illustrious : the con- 
 sequences were greater than her most sanguine citizens 
 could dare to imagine in their warmest and most glowing 
 dreams of ambition ; and it is only to her share in this ex- 
 traordinary portion of history, and to the brilliant results 
 which she drew from it, that we propose to confine our 
 narrative. 
 
 To whatever extent Venice may have partaken in the 
 general religious enthusiasm which filled the ranks of the 
 crusaders, there were reasons also of worldly policy which 
 must have prompted her to be among the most forward in 
 any contest of which the East was to be the theatre. 
 Greatly as she might desire the expulsion of the Infidels 
 who profaned the holy places and engrossed the wealth of 
 Syria ; and much as she might wish to supplant the present 
 possessors of spots so favourable to religious ardour and to 
 oriental commerce ; her interests no less powerfully de- 
 manded that she should prevent the intrusion of those who 
 were likely to become competitors with herself; and she 
 could not but foresee that in the same proportion in which 
 other European nations became established in the Levant, 
 even so her own mercantile prosperity was about to be 
 diminished. Whatever hesitation, therefore, might at first 
 be felt, must have been owing to the natural coldness and 
 repugnance, or rather the alarm and jealousy, with which 
 the Greek emperor obser^^ed the approach of those vast 
 
 armaments which were pouring into his neighbourhood 
 from the West. Venice was in too close connexion with 
 Constantinople, and, for the present, too deeply concerned 
 in preserving her amicable relations with that court, to run 
 the hazard of giving offence by acting contrary to its wishes. 
 Two years, therefore, appear to have elapsed afler the de- 
 parture of the first champions of the Cross, before the re- 
 public determined to provide her contingent to the great 
 confederacy ; and in the very outset an event occurred 
 sufficiently manifesting how little likely she was to forget 
 her private and national advantages in the furtherance of 
 the general cause. The fleet which sailed from 
 the Adriatic, while Vitale Michieli was doge, con- iQgg* 
 sisted of somewhat more than two hundred vessels, 
 of which one-half was furnished by the Dalmatian ports. 
 Arrived oflf Rhodes, it formed a junction with a Pisan arma- 
 ment, bound to the same coasts and directed to the same 
 object. The two republics were on terms of professed amity 
 with each other, when an unseemly difference, ill according 
 with the avowed motives of their expedition, led to a dis- 
 pute and a battle. The little island of San Nicolo contained 
 the body of the saint from whom it was named — a deposite 
 of much value in the eyes of the Venetians, for reasons 
 which we have just stated. Whether the purchasers were 
 niggardly in the price which they oflfered, or whether the 
 Caloyers, to whom the merchandise belonged, were exorbi- 
 tant in their demands, is not now to be ascertained ; but the 
 Venetians, unable to complete a satisfactory bargain, re- 
 solved to possess by force that which they could not obtain 
 by negotiation. The relics were torn from their shrine, and 
 conveyed to one of the Venetian galleys ; not, however, to 
 be received in peace ; for the partition of the spoil became 
 an object of dispute between the allies. The Pisans urged, 
 that, being on the spot, they were entitled to at least half 
 the body ; the Venetians denied their claim to any part of 
 it. Angry words were quickly succeeded by direct hostili- 
 ties ; and the two Christian fleets, designed to rescue the 
 holy sepulchre from unbelievers, diverted their arms in the 
 first instance to purposes of mutual destruction, for the pos- 
 session of a dead man's bones. The superior number of 
 the Venetians did not allow victory to be long suspended ; 
 
 ^*8W-V^ Atft*-« ^ 
 
 
«l 
 
 REVOLTS OF ZARA. 
 
 and the capture of twenty Pisan galleys and of five ihoo- 
 sand prisoners wns the result of the contest. 
 
 The coast of Syria was occupied by the crusaders, and 
 it was there that the aid of the Venetians would have been 
 most effectual : true, however, to the pursuit of gam, they 
 directed their course after this engagement to Smyrna, an 
 undefended town, which could not offer resistance to their 
 pillatre. Whether they assisted afterward in the blockade 
 and conquest of Jaffa is by no means certain ; sure it is, 
 however, that before the approach of winter they returned 
 to their harbours, bearing with them the fruits of their 
 piracy, and devoutly committing the relics of San Nicolo 
 to a chapel on the isle of Lido. In the following campaign, 
 they partook in some degree in the successes at Ascalon 
 and at Caiapha : but their co-operation was tardy and lan- 
 guid. The more vigorous exertions of the next 
 *• "• doge, Ordelafo Faliero, contributed to the reduction 
 ^^"^' of Acre, of Sidon, and of Eer>'thus ; and, as the 
 Christian arms advanced in Palestine, Venice, no less than 
 the other maritime republics, largely partook of the benefits 
 of conquest ; and the seeds of future jealousy were sown 
 among them by the very equality of partition. If Venice 
 obtained, from" the profuse liberality of Baldwin, rne-fourth 
 part of the city of Acre, a free commerce thr.M ghout his 
 new kingdom of Jerusalem, and an immunity within its 
 Irniits from all jurisdiction excepting that of her own magis- 
 trates, still the possession of a quarter of Antioch, and the 
 envied dignity of patriarch of the Holy City accorded to the 
 Pisans, and the grant of similar distinctions or commercial 
 privileges to the Genoese were calculated to excite alarm 
 in a rival power. To what fearful extent these apprehen- 
 sions spread themselves we shall hereafter perceive. 
 
 Faliero, before the close of his reign, was summoned to 
 the reduction of Zara, which had opened her gates 
 j' f ' to the King of Hungary. The triumph of the doge 
 was complete : he defeated the invaders, and pursued 
 them into their mountain fastnesses ; and, having suffi- 
 ciently punished the revolters, he was invested on his return 
 to Venice with the title of Duke of Croatia. Within three 
 years, a fresh spirit of disaffection manifested itself, and the 
 Hungarians again advanced. The result was widely dif- 
 
 BATTLE OF JAFFA. 
 
 37 
 
 \ 
 
 ferent. Faliero was mortally wounded in a battle 
 under the walls of Zara, and the few of his troops ,^*,~* 
 who escaped from the field regained their transports ^^^'* 
 with difficulty. The King of Hungary, elated by his success, 
 refused the terms proposed to him, and consented only to a 
 su.'-pension of anns during the next five years. 
 
 The resources of the state, however, were too powerful 
 to be impaired by this partial reverse ; and the slight dis- 
 grace attaching to it was soon to be obliterated by fresh 
 and more distinguished triumphs in the East. There, the 
 second Baldwin, pressed on all hands by the Infidels, solicited 
 the general aid of Christendom ; and while his ambassadors 
 were awakening the pious zeal and stimulating the com- 
 mercial appetite of the Venetians, news of his capture and 
 of the imminent peril of Jerusalem accelerated the succours 
 which they were preparing to furnish. The doge Domi- 
 nico Michicli commanded an annament which has been 
 estimated at not less than two hundred vessels ; and among 
 these were several galleys of more than ordinary dimen- 
 sions, each banked with a hundred oars and each oar 
 requiring two men to ply it. The Saracen fleet was 
 stationed in the hay of Jaffa ; and perceiving at first A'e^' 
 only a few ships of burden, which Michieli had placed 
 in the van to cover his advance, was unapprehensive of 
 attack. The battle began at daybreak, and an untoward 
 event, in fts very commencement, increased the terror into 
 which the Infidels had been thrown by their surprise. The 
 galley bearing the doge himself, being a swifter vessel than 
 its mates, first entered the enemy's line ; and, as chance 
 determined, bore down upon the Saracen admiral : the 
 shock was irresistible, and the hostile vessel sank with all 
 its crew. As the conflict became general, the Saracens, 
 dispirited by the loss of their chief, fought every where at 
 disadvantage. Yet their resistance was long and bloody ; 
 the two entire lines were engaged ship to ship, and it was 
 chiefly by their desperate resolution in boarding that the 
 Venetians were in the end successful and the enemy was 
 completely destroyed. Some allowance may, perhaps, be 
 made for the rhetorical style of the Archbishop of Tyre 
 when he records the hideous slaughter in this action : the 
 victors, he assures us, however incredible it may sound, 
 stood on their decks ankle-deep m the blood of their foes» 
 
 Vol. I.— D 
 
88 
 
 PRIVILEGES IN THE HOLY LAND 
 
 the sea, for a circuit of two miles (Furcherius enlarges this 
 space to four), was tinged with a scarlet die ; and the nu- 
 merous unburied corpses which floated to the shore bred a 
 contagious disorder by their putrescence. Michicli sullied 
 his victory by the cruel execution of his chief prisoners ; 
 and, leaving his fleet at Jaffa, hastened on in person to 
 Jerusalem, where he celebrated the festival of Christmas. 
 There, sagaciously directing the excitement which his 
 recent victory had produced, he concluded with the council 
 of regency a treaty most advantageous to the interests of 
 his republic. One-fourth of Acre, as we have already seen, 
 had been granted to the Venetians. A new allotment be- 
 stowed on them an entire street in each city of the king- 
 dom of Jerusalem, with a bath, a bakehouse, a market, and 
 a church ; all their imports were permitted to pass free 
 from duty ; no taxes were to be paid by them ; and so para- 
 mount an authority was attributed to their magistrates, that 
 in all cases in which a resident Venetian was defendant, he 
 was to be tried in his own native courts, and it was solely 
 as prosecutor that he was compelled to appear before a 
 royal judge. In the partition of future conquests, a third 
 of Tyre, Ascalon, and their dependencies, when won (a 
 consequence upon which the sanguine hopes of the cru- 
 saders always reckoned), was to be assigned to the Vene- 
 tians ; who, as some acknowledgment for this territory, 
 were to supply a third of the garrison of Tyre ; but even 
 these troops were to be maintained and paid at the king's 
 expense, who set apart for the purpose 300 golden besants. 
 His future services thus amply rewarded beforehand, the 
 doge prepared for the field. While the impression of their 
 defeat was recent, it was naturally supposed that the Infi- 
 dels would feel discouraged ; and that some great enterprise 
 might be successfully undertaken. But to what quarter 
 was this enterprise to be directed 1 Forethought was not 
 among the qualities which marked the crusading chiefs ; and 
 it would have been idle to expect that any plan for a future 
 campaign should have been meditated and digested, or that 
 they should even know on what point their foe was most 
 vulnerable. But supernatural guidance, it was believed, 
 was always at hand to supply any defect of human pru- 
 A^ j^^^,^ ^^ ^l^jg decision the Christian fortunes were 
 
 dence 
 
 intrusted. The names of the chief Syrian cities, or at least 
 
 1 
 
 SIEGE OF TYRE. 
 
 39 
 
 of Tyre and Ascalon, concerning which most doubt existed, 
 were written on separate papers and deposited in an urn. 
 This urn was placed upon the altar ; and after the 
 celebration of a solemn mass, an orphan child was ^'^' 
 employed to draw out the lot which was to decide the 
 march of the crusading hosts. Tyre was the name borne 
 by the fiital scroll ; and no object of greater importance or 
 of greater difficulty could have been selected ; for thfe joint 
 forces of the sultans of Damascus and Egypt, under able 
 commanders, garrisoned, with no incompetent numbers, the 
 vast circuit of its walls ; and nineteen miles of ramparts 
 bristled with armed defenders. The sea encompassed it on 
 all sides, save where a channel, in its narrowest part more 
 than half a mile in breadth, was crossed by the mole which 
 Alexander had constructed 1400 years before ; and which, 
 if it bore witness that Tyre might in the end be won, 
 proved at the same time the gigantic efforts demanded for 
 its reductiori. The conqueror of tlie world had almost aban- 
 doned this city in despair ; nor was it till after seven months 
 of unparalleled toil and the loss of more blood than all 
 Persia cost him, that he entered its breach by storm. But 
 a few years antecedent to the siege now contemplated, the 
 mightiest efforts of the crusaders had been directed against 
 it in vain. 
 
 Three months, from the middle of February, were fruit- 
 lessly expended in assaults perpetually repulsed. The port, 
 flanked by towers and guarded by a double wall, was not to 
 be forced ; and the mole, yet more strongly intrenched and 
 fortified, gave additional defence to the garrison rather than 
 means of approach to the besiegers. No symptoms either 
 of distress or weakness appeared within the city ; and it 
 was known that the Sultan of Damascus was hastening to 
 its relief. Among the confederates, on the other hand, 
 incessant and, as it seemed, hopeless efforts had produced 
 irritation and discontent ; and a spirit of jealousy began to 
 exhibit itself between the forces employed on the different 
 services. The troops investing the city by land murmured 
 at their unremitted hardships ; and, contrasting their own 
 daily perils and labours with the ease and security of those 
 who were engaged in the blockade by sea, looked with an 
 evil and suspicious eye upon their Venetian allies. This 
 danger was observed, encountered, and remedied by the 
 
 .feaiBit<i3(*j»Xk5ai>iBtjaji»'a^.iiiaC<n--»^ 
 
I 
 
 40 
 
 SURRENDER OF TYRE. 
 
 promptitude of M ichieli ; and history presents few speci- 
 mens of more chivalrous self-abandonment than that upon 
 which he resolved. Stripping the entire fleet of its equip- 
 ments, he ordered the rovvage, masts, sails, and rudders to 
 be borne with him to the camp. " These," he said, pointing 
 to the burdens of his attendants, " are the pledges of our 
 fidelity and of our participation in dangers which ought to 
 be common to all. We can no longer have it even in our 
 power, if it could be supposed to be in our will, to quit the 
 walls, and the slightest gale will expose us to far greater 
 peril than that of mortal combat !" This substantial proof 
 of sincerity, and the politic advance at the same time of 
 one hundred thousand ducats for the payment of the sol- 
 diers, restored confidence at once among the allies. A 
 general voice deprecated the useless exposure to danger 
 which the Venetians proffered, and all hands assisted in 
 refitting the fleet, the active services of which might soon 
 be demanded. 
 
 The siege was still vigorously, but not more successfully, 
 pressed ; and two other months passed away without dimi- 
 nution of courage or constancy on either hand, although 
 scarcity began to appear within the walls. Accident, in the 
 end, presented occasion for a fortunate stratagem. One of 
 those carrier-pigeons which the orientals employ as mes- 
 sengers, was seen passing over the camp, and, terrified by 
 a loud shout which the besiegers raised, fell into their hands. 
 The despatch fastened to its wing announced speedy as- 
 sistance from the Sultan of Damascus ; but it was easy to 
 substitute intelligence of a directly contrary nature, to an- 
 nounce that this chief was hard pressed in another direction, 
 and compelled to abandon Tyre to its own resources. The 
 bird, laden with this forged communication, was released 
 and flew to the city. There the garrison believed the un- 
 welcome news, and hopeless of that relief upon which they 
 had placed their main dependence, surrendered on terms. 
 Ascalon, upon which the Christian arms were next directed, 
 soon afterward fell an easy conquest. 
 
 These successes awakened a new and unexpected enemy 
 to Venice. The Greek empire, long conscious of her own 
 weakness, and doubtful whether the hazard to which she 
 was exposed by the Infidels was not less immediate than 
 that which might be apprehended from the establisliment of 
 
 
 WAR WITH JOHANNES COMNENUS. 
 
 41 
 
 a powerful European dominion on lier frontiers, abandoned 
 herself to the impulses of fear and jealousy ; and, by aim- 
 ing a hlow which she was too nerveless to strike with elfect, 
 j)royoked the very dangers which she sought to avoid. Her 
 cruisers received orders to interrupt the Venetian commerce, 
 and to capture the merchant vessels of the republic wher- 
 ever they were to be met. It is not disputed that there were 
 yet other causes of irritation ; for Johannes Comnenus, who 
 at that time filled the throne of Constantinople, was among 
 the best and wisest of her princes, and is not likely to have 
 yielded to any rash intemperance of anger. The crusaders, 
 unfortunately, had carried with them to the East the most 
 undisguised contempt for a people whom they affected to 
 consider as barbarians, and had consequently been little so- 
 licitous to show respect either to their laws or their religion. 
 Pride was among the most besetting sins of the champions 
 of the holy sepulchre ; and the great share which belonged 
 to the Venetians in the reduction of Tyre, one of the most 
 brilliant exploits of the Christian chivalry, might diminish, 
 even in them, that moderation by which' they'had hitherto 
 been distinguished, and exchange the deference with which 
 they had been accustomed to regard the court of Constanti- 
 nople for a manner more conformed to the haughty demean^' 
 our of their brethren in arms. Be this as it may, the first 
 avowed hostility was committed by the emperor ; and Michieli 
 lost no time in inflicting reprisals, for which he pos.sessed 
 r«ady means. His fleet swept and desolated the imperial 
 coast ; and the doge, no longer required before Tyre or Asca- 
 lon, proceeded to Rhodes which he sacked and pillaged ; 
 Scio underwent a like fate, and here he fixed his winter- 
 quarters. In the following spring his ravages extended 
 over the whole Archipelago ; whenSamos, Paros, Mitylene, 
 Andros, Lesbos, and other islands were visited with relent- 
 less vengeance ; and, in pursuance of that detestable traffic 
 of which there are traces in Venetian commerce even before 
 the middle of the eighth century, the choicest youth of 
 both sexes were torn away from those unhappy islands to be 
 siM as slaves. Hence, passing to the shores of the Morca, 
 Michieli spread similar destruction ; and in his homeward 
 voyage, while ascending the Adriatic, he chastised some 
 rebellious towns in Dalmatia, and taught the citizens of Se- 
 l^enigo, Trau, Spalatro, and Belgrade how dancrerous it 
 
 D3 
 
"p;*''^*! 
 
 42 
 
 AFFRAY IN CORFU. 
 
 was to trifle with fidelity. In this wide-visiting devastation, 
 Michieli appears not to have encountered a single check. 
 Whether on his return to Venice he abdicated his power, or 
 died in possession of it, has been disputed ; but it is not 
 doubtful that he had fully earned and merited the expres- 
 sive title with which the epitaph engraven on his monu- 
 ment commences, Terror Grcecorum jacct hie. 
 
 Under his successor, Pietro Polani, we read of a short 
 and successful campaign against Padua, remarkable 
 ^' ^' only as being the first occasion on which the Vene- 
 ^ ^^^' tians, already increased in power far disproportionate 
 to their native population, employed mercenaries in their 
 service. Another Comnenus, Manu.-.l, had succeeded to 
 the Greek throne, and the empire was endangered 
 ^'^' by the invasion of Roger of Sicily who had occupied 
 ^^^^* Corfu, pillaged the neighbouring coasts, and, after 
 forcing the Dardanelles, had threatened to burn Constanti- 
 nople ttself. Manuel, in his distress willing to forget recent 
 dissensions, eagerly sought to renew more ancient alliances 
 with Venice ; and the republic had powerful motives to 
 assist in repressing an active and ambitious prince possess- 
 ing a large tract bordering on the Adriatic, and already es- 
 tablished in the Levant. The offers of Manuel, therefore, 
 were accepted with a ready ear ; for, exclusively of the jea- 
 lousy with which the Venetians naturally regarded the 
 King of Sicily, they were allured by new commercial privi- 
 leges which opened to them the hitherto forbidden ports of 
 Cyprus, Candia, and Megalopolis. 
 
 Corfu was speedily recovered, but not without occurrences 
 which threatened an immediate dissolution of the alliance, and 
 evinced the insecurity of the basis on which it rested. The 
 camp was a scene of perpetually renewed discord ; and on one 
 occasion, the Venetians, worsted in a general fray, retreated 
 to a little islaiK.1, Asteris, between Ithaca and Cephalonia, 
 whence they attacked and burned many of the Greek ships. 
 Having captured the imperial galley itself, they decorated 
 the state-cabin with drapery of cloth of gold and rich purple 
 tapestries; and selecting a vagabond Ethiopian, distin- 
 guished for his ugliness and enormities as a representative 
 of Manuel, they carried him in mock triumph round the 
 fleet and celebrated his coronation. The ridicule was 
 chiefly directed against Manuel's swarthinrss of complexion ; 
 
 PATRIARCH OF AQUILEIA. 
 
 43 
 
 A. D. 
 
 1156. 
 
 and the Byzantine historian, from whom we derive these 
 particulars, is deeply concerned for the honour of his master's 
 personal appearance. "Manuel," says Nicetas, "had not 
 yellow locks like a cornfield ; his hue was dark and sun- 
 burnt, yet it was the hue of the bride in the Canticles, 
 black, but comely."* 
 
 In the early part of the reign of Vitale Michieli II., who 
 succeeded Polani, the disputes between the holy see 
 and the Western empire were agitating all Christen- 
 dom ; and on the first double election to the pope- 
 dom, the Venetians, anxious to diminish the increasing pre- 
 ponderance of Frederic Barbarossa in Italy, espoused the 
 cause of Alexander III. in opposition to Victor IV., who 
 was supported by the emperor. The troops of Padua, 
 Vicenza, Ferrara, and Verona, under the emperor's orders, 
 immediately laid waste Loredo and portions of the Milanese ; 
 and while the Venetian forces were occupied in repelling 
 this aggression, Ulric, the patriarch of Aquileia, profited by 
 their absence to revive an ancient feud. The hatred of the 
 church of Aquileia against that of Grado, which it considered 
 as an unauthorized intruder upon its rights, had been 
 transmitted undiminished through a course of more than 
 six centuries ; and Ulric, inheriting this feeling in its utter- 
 most bitterness, gladly seized an opportunity of plundering 
 his defenceless rival. Heading his canons, the patriarch 
 crossed over to Grado, and was conveying its booty to his 
 vessels when he found himself unexpectedly arrested by a 
 Venetian fleet. He obtained his liberty ; but it was at a 
 price to which he would, probably, have preferred the most 
 costly expenditure of treasure ; for the ransom which he 
 was compelled to pay conveyed his memory in ridicule 
 almost to our own times, and materially contributed to per- 
 petuate the popular Venetian contempt for the spiritual 
 dignity of Aquileia. Every year, on the Carnival Thurs- 
 day, the patriarch was obliged to send to Venice a bull and 
 twelve boar pigs, a deputation representing himself and his 
 chapter. The ambassadors were paraded through the prin- 
 cipal streets, and then slaughtered with mock solemnity in 
 the presence of the doge, who distributed their carcasses 
 among the people. 
 
 Manuel Comaenus, ii. 5. 
 
44 
 
 OUTRAGE OF MANUEL COMNENUS. 
 
 The holyday on which this mummery was exhibited 
 {Giavedi grassoy or, as it is called in the Venetian dialect, 
 Ziobbagrasso) was celebrated with particular festivity; 
 among other annual spectacles exhibited to the populace 
 was the descent of a volligeur from a rope fixed to the 
 summit of the Campamle (a height of three hundred and 
 forty feet) to a balcony in the ducal palace ; and some 
 marvellous feats of balancing {Le Forze d'Ercolc), in which 
 a pyramid of tumblers was raised on each other's shoulders 
 for six stages, in the last of which, the crowning-man stood 
 upon his head. Besides attending the procession of the 
 bull, the doge had a yet more martial duty to perform on this 
 festival. In the great hall of the palace {La Sala del 
 Piovego) was arranged some pasteboard scenery represent- 
 ing the castles of such lords of Friuli as had espoused the 
 cause of the patriarch. These fortresses were attacked by 
 the doge and his council, and beaten down by them with 
 clubs ; and till the reign of Andrea Gritti, in 1 524, each 
 ^succeeding prince submitted to enact the chief part in this 
 buffoonery. After that time, nothing further was required 
 but that he should be spectator of the bull-bait (for such in 
 latter days it became) from the balcony of the red columns. 
 
 But events of a far graver character were impending over 
 Venice. The Sicilians and Venetians were now almost 
 equal objects of alarm to Manuel Comnenus ; and, regard- 
 less of the widely different relations in which each had 
 recently stood to his empire, he sought to embroil them 
 with each other ; and proffered his alUance to that party 
 which would commence the quarrel. The hand of his 
 daughter was tendered to the King of Sicily, and was 
 refused. Nor were the emperor's negotiations with the 
 republic more successful, for her government was well 
 acquainted with the value of a commercial treaty which it 
 had obtained from Sicily, and which had been inviolably 
 observed. The doge, apprehensive of measures of violence 
 to which Manuel might perhaps be hurried by disappoints 
 ment, issued an order that all Venetian ships and residents 
 should immediately withdraw from the imperial territories ; 
 and Manuel, in reprisal for this interruption of commerce, 
 invaded Dalmatia ; at the same time disavowing all hostile 
 intentions, and affirming that, upon the re-establishment of 
 former confidential relations, he would not hesitate to coun- 
 
 BANK OF VENICE. 
 
 45 
 
 f 
 
 termand his troops. The Venetians, anxious for peace, 
 and imbued more with the spirit of merchants than that of 
 either statesmen or soldiers, fell into the snare ; and no 
 sooner had their traders returned and their vessels re-entered 
 the Greek ports, than the first were thrown into prison and 
 the second confiscated. From Nicetas, we learn that the 
 chief sufferers, under this violent breach of the law of 
 nations, were the provincial residents. Most of those who 
 traded in the capital, especially such as were unmarried, 
 effected their escape ; having embarked by night in a three- 
 masted vessel, the largest which had hitherto been built. 
 The Greeks pursued them with a numerous and well-anned 
 flotilla : yet the Venetians, from the superior loftiness of 
 their ship, from her extreme rapidity of sailing before a fair 
 wind, and, not least, from the courage and gallant bearing 
 of the ciew, baflied all attacks, and outstripping their 
 pursuers, gained the Adriatic in safety. 
 
 The consternation excited at Venice when this unlooked- 
 for intelligence arrived was to be equalled only by the pro- 
 found and general resentment which inflamed all ranks. 
 The populace with loud cries demanded war ; the streets 
 echoed with execrations against the Greeks ; and every hand 
 was employed in equipping an armament. One entire family, 
 the Justiniani (Venice contained not a more ancient or more 
 noble house), reviving the self-devotion of the Roman Fabii, 
 volunteered their whole race to the service of their country, 
 and embarked a hundred combatants in her defence. The 
 young eagerly thronged to partake of the dangers of the 
 expedition ; and those too far advanced in years to bear 
 their share in arms, in order that they might retain as little 
 as possible in common with their detested enemy, shaved 
 their beards, in abhorrence of the opposite fashion prevalent 
 among the Greeks. Still, money was wanting to the public 
 coffers ; and the doge, having exhausted every other financial 
 expedient, was obliged to have recourse to a forced loan 
 from the most opulent citizens, each being required to con- 
 tribute according to his ability. On this occasion, the 
 chamber of loans (La Camera degP imprestiti) was estab- 
 lished. To this chamber the contributors were made 
 creditors, at an annual interest of four per cent. ; a rate far 
 below the standard of the age. These creditors, in process 
 of time, were incorporated into a company for the manago- 
 
 ^i 1 
 
 "-S* 
 ,•*.-. t^/.* 
 
 bfaiiuuiMieifesjaSSOi' 
 
 
46 
 
 ARMAMENT AGAINST CONSTANTINOPLE 
 
 ment of their joint concerns ; and thus formed the basis 
 upon which afterward was erected ihe Bank of Venice^ the 
 most ancient estabhshnient of its kind, and the model of all 
 similar institutions. The method in which the above-named 
 loan was repaid is believed to be the earliest instance on 
 record of the funding system, and the first example in any 
 country of a permanent national debt. 
 
 Scarcely three months had expired before Vitale found 
 himself at the head of one hundred and twenty 
 ^ * * well-manned vessels ; and, fired with the hope of 
 vengeance, sailed for Dalmatia. There, such cities as 
 had revolted were most severely punished. The lives of the 
 Ragusans were spared, at the intercession of their arch- 
 bishop ; but it was on condition of subservience in spiritual 
 matters to the patriarch of Grado (provided the papal consent 
 could be obtained), and of the destruction of theif fortifica- 
 tions. On the appearance of the fleet otf Negropont, the 
 governor of that island approached the doge in lowliest sup- 
 plication. He represented that the intentions of his master 
 were, undoubtedly, pacific ; that the strong measures which 
 he had taken could have resulted only from false informa- 
 tion of hostile designs on the part of the republic ; that he 
 would pledge himself for the most entire and satisfactory 
 atonement ; and that, meantime, it would be far wiser to 
 seek explanation by an embassy than by any hasty violence 
 to plunge both nations headlong into the calamities of war. 
 The artifice of the wily Greek prevailed ; envoys were 
 despatched to Constantinople, and the doge retired to winter- 
 quarters at Scio. 
 
 Delay was the sole object of Manuel in admitting this em- 
 bassy ; and his ministers, deeply versed in the lingering pro- 
 cesses of negotiation, continually embarrassed the discus- 
 sions by new and unexpected questions. Every hour thus 
 gained, if it did not positively diminish the strength of the 
 Venetians, increased that of their opponents, by affording a 
 longer time for preparation ; and, moreover, left an opening 
 for the occurrence of some favourable chance which might 
 altogether remove their danger. Such a chance did indeed 
 occur ; and its consequences, as they far exceeded all cal- 
 culation, so must they have infinitely surpassed the warmest 
 hopes of the Greeks. The plague broke out in the quarters 
 at Scio ; and when the ambassadors, wearied by repeated 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 ITS DISASTERS. 
 
 47 
 
 procrrtstination, and no longer perceiving any clew which 
 might guide them through' the ever-lengthening maze of 
 diplomacy, returned to announce their unsuccessful mission, 
 they found the flourishing camp which they had quitted but 
 a few short montris before changed into one vast lazar-house. 
 Few of the troops had escaped the deadliest stroke of pesti- 
 lence, and of those few a very small portion was still able 
 to bear arms. From want of eflective numbers to man his 
 fleet, the doge had been compelled to burn many of his ves- 
 sels ; and the further progress of the enterprise thus became 
 impossible. Happy, indeed, might he consider himself, if he 
 were permitted to regain the Las[unc with the shattered relics 
 of his host. In the Greek islands, it is scarcely necessary to 
 look beyond natural causes and national habits for the origin 
 of the plague at any time ; but a belief prevailed, which, 
 even if unfounded on truth, at least evinces the bitterness 
 of animosity with which Manuel was regarded, it was 
 affirmed that he had resorted to the treacherous and dia- 
 bolical expedient of poisoning the waters. 
 
 The fleet was exposed to fresh disasters in its homeward 
 voyage. Partly from the weakness of the crews, partly from 
 the unskilfulness of those to whom the pilotage was neces- 
 sanly intrusted, many ships were abandoned and destroyed, 
 and many others were wrecked. That gorgeous armament, 
 the pride of Venice and the terror of the East, which had 
 so recently filled the bosom of the Adriatic with its swelling 
 sails, now stealthily crept along its coasts, reduced to little 
 more than seventeen unserviceable barks. Not a family 
 throughout the capital was uninvolved in the general calam- 
 ity. The voice of mourning was heard in every house ; 
 and of those brave hearts among the Justiniani which the 
 bond of patriot love had knit together, as the strength of a 
 single man, not one now throbbed with life. Their resem- 
 blance to the Fabii was destined to be complete. Like them, 
 they had given all to their country ; and all had perished 
 for her : as with them, too, a single root was found for their 
 revival. With the Fahii it was a boy, too green for arms, 
 who had remained in Rome : a forgotten monk, drawn from 
 the shade of a cloister and released from his vow of celi- 
 bacy, preserved to Venice a name which was often acrain to 
 give lustre to her annals. ° 
 
 Calamity stopped not here ; nor was the plague left behind 
 
48 
 
 MURDER OF VITALE. 
 
 THE FORTY. 
 
 49 
 
 with the dead 'at Scio. The dying conveyed it to Venice, 
 amid whose crowded population it spread most rapidly and 
 destructively. The populace, imbittered by the failure of 
 brilliant hopes, smaitini? under the keen sense of unrevenged 
 national wrongs, and preyed upon by a frightful disease, 
 sought some object on which to vent the fury engendered by 
 thet manifold causes of irritation. In the tempests of the 
 passions, as in those of the elements, it is to the highest 
 places, for the most part, that the thunderbolt directs its 
 stroke ; and the doge was held responsible not only for the 
 political disasters which greater firmness, perhaps, might 
 have averted, but also for the physical evils which it exceeded 
 any human power to control. His palace was beset by a 
 ferocious rabble ; and Vitale, having fruitlessly attempted 
 in the first instance to appease and then to escape from the 
 tumult, fell beneath the rage of his own citizens. The 
 state, maddened by sedition, stained with the blood of its 
 prince, and desolated by pestilence, appeared to tremble on 
 the utmost verge of destruction. It had, in truth, arrived 
 at one of those great crises in the history of nations, of 
 wlrich the result is either total dissolution or rcmvigoration 
 with more than former strength. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 FROM A. D. 1173 TO A. D. 1192. 
 
 New Constitution — Dissension between Pope Alexander IIT. and the 
 Emperor Frederic Barbarossa— Siege of Aiicona— Heroic Exploits and 
 Constancy of its Citizens— Its Relief— Alexander III. ai Venice — Defeat 
 of Barbarossa's Fleet — Espousal of the Adriatic — Peace of Constance 
 — Submission of the Emperor to the Pope— Privileges granted by 
 Alexander to Venice — The Red Columns — Procurator! di San Marco — 
 Avvogadori. 
 
 A.D. 
 1173. XL. 
 
 1178. XLI. 
 
 DOGES. 
 
 Sebastiano Ziani. 
 
 Orio Malipieri — 'abdicates. 
 
 The frequent convulsions which it has hitherto been our 
 task to record in the government of Venice had not only 
 given birth to numerous factions, but, as a still more fatal 
 consequence, had materially impaired that reverence for 
 authority which "hedges in the majesty of princes," and is 
 among their truest and surest defences. So rudely and in- 
 artificially was the framework of the Venetian polity con- 
 structed, that it seemed not to admit any repair without a 
 ruinous disjunction of all its parts ; and the sole remedy for 
 the unsoundness of a single member was found in an opera- 
 tion which endangered the whole fabric. The chief fault 
 arose from the unmeasured excess of power with which the 
 doge had originally been invested. WITolly irresponsible 
 and unchecked, it is little a matter of surprise that this 
 magistrate frequently abused his colossal strength ; and 
 whenever he did so, revolt and violence were the only re- 
 sources open to the oppressed, who had not yet been gifted 
 with more gentle and more legal weapons from which they 
 might derive protection. 
 
 One authority only, besides that of the doge, appears to 
 have been recognised at tlus early period ; a tribunal of 
 whose origin and positive duties little can now be told, but 
 
 Vol. I.— E 
 
 Cisi^SIh-A j^Af tt> £«, - 
 
 -et-aa i»**tji.'- 
 
 » ♦>■« A/aadliVBh--'.'rf.gi 
 
 '»Jt» - f'-Tn II J rfff'i.MlftirtMfni 
 
 ;L^^i&^^^sLa^^i 
 
50 
 
 MODE OF ELECTING A DOGE* 
 
 which, from the number of its members, bore the name of 
 the Forty {I Qtiaranta). Whatever might be its usual func* 
 tions (which probably seldom exceeded those of judicial ad- 
 ministration), being the only permanent body known to the 
 state, it possessed for the moment, at a season of anarchy 
 like that which succeeded the assassination of Michieli, a 
 most important and paramount influence ; and this influence 
 was exercised, during the short duration of power now 
 afforded it, in producing an entire change in the elements 
 and constitution of government. The XL. may be con- 
 sidered as representatives of the chief families in Venice ; 
 and, as such, no less averse from a popular than from a 
 despotic sway, equally hostile to the rule of the many and 
 of one. It was to strike at the root of both these fonTis, 
 and to raise in their stead the domination of its own caste, 
 that the eftbrts of this body were now successfully directed. 
 
 Hitherto the choice of a doge had been vested, either 
 ostensibly or virtually, in the suflfrages of the whole assembled 
 people. In many instances it is plain that the prince was 
 elected by acclamation ; and even if superior worth or wealth, 
 or secret influence of any other kind, at any time enabled 
 a candidate to dispense with the strict form of soliciting 
 votes at a general assembly, it was not till he had been pre- 
 sented before the citizens, had solemnly sworn to govern 
 them discreetly and justly, and had been carried in the 
 seat of honour {it pozzo) romid the Piazza di San Marco, 
 to receive their gratulations of assent which supplied the 
 direct tendering of votes, that he was conveyed to the palace 
 and circled with the ducal cornOy or berretta,* at the head 
 of the giants' stairs. This licentious and irregular process, 
 which, while it bore some outward semblance of liberty, 
 was in truth adapted to assist the views of factious and 
 ambitious individuals, was now abolished for one by no means 
 better calculated to establish genuine freedom. A law was 
 
 * The ducal bonnet is probably of Eastern origin. The ball with 
 which it terminated was a diamoiul of great price, in the centre was an 
 inestimable ruby, and it was bordered wiih a rich edging of pearls and 
 other jewels. Every thing connected with Venetian etiquette was em- 
 blematical of some mystery : thus the corno was not placed on the head 
 of the newly elected doge till he had ascended the last step of the giants' 
 stairs; in order to show that he could not arrive at the highest dignity 
 without having passed step by step through all the lower charges of the 
 state. 
 
 THE GREAT COUNCIL AND SENATE. 
 
 51 
 
 passed, transferring the right of election into the hands of a 
 select few. Eleven citizens were named by whom this 
 choice was to be determined ; and, in the first instance, they 
 fulfilled their duties nobly, and distinguished themselves by 
 a signal instance of high-minded abstinence and integrity. 
 To render any election complete, a majority of nine voices 
 out of the eleven was required ; and these were found united 
 in favour of one of their own body, Orio Malipieri. Far, 
 however, from coveting the proflered sceptre, he modestly 
 pleaded his own incapacity to administer it, and urged his 
 brethren to look again for some one of more vigorous facul- 
 ties and of wealthier fortunes. 
 
 Sebastiano Ziani, the citizen whom he named as uniting 
 both these qualifications, was approved and pre- ^ ^ 
 sented as their future sovereign to the people, by ^J^^ 
 whom this invasion of their former privileges was 
 neither resented nor opposed. Perhaps this tranquillity 
 arose from the jealous precautions which had been directed 
 no less against the preponderance of the chief magistrate 
 than of the populace ; for the prerogative of the new doge 
 had been most materially curtailed before he was advanced 
 to his dignity. To escape the necessity of any frequent 
 convention of the general assemblies, always tumultuous 
 and inefl[icicnt for the discharge of public business, a great 
 council of four hundred and eighty members was proposed 
 as a substitute for these larger meetings, w hich, though not 
 immediately suppressed, were thus stripped of all essential 
 power, and gradually fell into desuetude. This council, 
 formed indiscriminately from the mass of citizens, was to 
 be renewed annually, and its appointment was to be vested 
 in twelve electors, themselves chosen annually ; two from 
 each of the six districts (scsticri) into which the capital had 
 been divided ; for it was only on the deficiency of suHicient 
 numbers in Venice itself — a case not very likely to occur, — 
 that the other islands were invited to assist with a supply 
 of members for any department of government. From this 
 body, too unwieldy, as it was conceived, for ordinary discus- 
 sions, a committee of sixty, under the title of a senate, was 
 appointed to assist the doge, on the same principle as those 
 advisers, the pregadi, whom it had hitherto been customary 
 that he should nominate and summon at his own will on 
 occasions of great moment. A giunta of twenty-five or 
 
53 
 
 THE SIGNORY AND COLLEGIO. 
 
 thirty assistants, whose commission ceased at the termina- 
 tion of the matter on which they were summoned to delib- 
 erate, was sometimes added to the senate ; and in the year 
 1435 its numbers were doubled by the establishment of a 
 permanent giunta of sixty. In the end, by the admission 
 of certain magistrates who during their period of office 
 were entitled to scats, the senate amounted to three hundred 
 members. To complete the executive, each district of the 
 city now also appointed one member of a more private coun- 
 cil, which together with the doge formed what was termed 
 the signory. Among these six magistrates the supreme 
 authority became virtually divided ; for without their advice 
 and concurrence the orders of the doge were to be wholly 
 null and disregarded. The collegio^ in which these powers 
 were ultimately lodged in after-times when the constitution 
 became matured, consisted of twenty-six members ; the 
 doge, his six counsellors, the three ca-pi di quaranta^ and six- 
 teen savii of diflferent classes chosen by the senate. Of 
 these three great divisions of government the grand council 
 may be considered as possessing the sovereignty, the senate 
 as forming the deliberative body, and the co'llcgio as ad- 
 ministering the executive department. These various inno- 
 vations were introduced before the election of Ziani ; and 
 as they seemed to demand a more formal sanction than they 
 could receive from the XL., to whom they owed their birth, 
 the first act required of him after his accession was a solemn 
 abandonment of the former unlimited prerogative and a 
 recognition of the new laws. The great change by which 
 Venice had formerly passed at one step from democratic 
 equality to despotism was not effected more rapidly or more 
 tranquilly than her present transition from despotism to 
 oligarchy. Each succeeding year, as we shall perceive, 
 diminished the small remnant of power which the doge was 
 permitted to retain; and henceforward he roust be con- 
 sidered as little else than the first puppet of the state, whom 
 the leading families were content should be tricked out with 
 a title and a crown for purposes not of government but of 
 pageantry. 
 
 Ziani succeeded to a troubled throne. In the East the 
 terror which Venice once inspired had died away in con- 
 sequence of her recent great naval disaster ; and Manuel, 
 With that ferocity which cowardice for the most part ex- 
 
 VICTOR IV. ALEXANDER III. 
 
 53 
 
 hibits when relieved from alarm, had wreaked his vengeance 
 upon the state before which he had hitherto trembled, by 
 acts of personal cruelty inflicted upon such of her subjects 
 as their unhappy chance placed within his grasp. To one 
 of these outrages (if it be true, the most atrocious he could 
 commit) we shall have occasion to revert hereafter. All of 
 them were regarded silently by the Venetians; among 
 whom the growing spirit of commerce was fast extinguish- 
 ing the purer love of national glory. Peace was necessary 
 for the continuance of their oriental traffic ; and for this 
 gainful but ignoble boon they did not hesitate to offer the 
 most ignominious sacrifices. Nevertheless their solicita- 
 tions were received with coldness, and perhaps would have 
 been wholly rejected, had it not been for the respect ex- 
 torted by their allies ; and it was only in order to avert any 
 hostility which the King of 8icily might be encouraged to 
 threaten at the suggestion of the Venetian merchants, that 
 Manuel agreed to pay them a compensation for the property 
 which he had confiscated. 
 
 The state of Italy was no less a subject of anxiety than 
 that of the East. On the death of Pope Adrian IV., 
 in 1159, the Christian world, as we have already ^'^' 
 hinted, had been scandalized by a schism in the pon- ^^^^* 
 tificate ; and a double election called two successors to 
 infallibility and the chair of St. Peter. Victor IV., though 
 nominated by the suffrages of only two cardinals in addi- 
 tion to his own vote, found a more powerful support in the 
 arms of the emperor Frederic Barbarossa than he could 
 have derived from the unanimous voices of the whole sacred 
 college : and his competitor, Alexander III., the more 
 legitimate vicar of Christ, after having been exposed to per- 
 sonal outrage during his attempted investiture and sub- 
 jected to a short imprisonment, was indebted for his libera- 
 tion to a tumult of the Roman populace by whom he was 
 befriended. Chased from Rome, Alexander passed the 
 greater part of his future Ufe in suffering and exile ; yet 
 the persecution of the emperor, constant dependence upon 
 the precarious bounty of foreign princes for safety and fre- 
 quently for subsistence, renewed disappointments, perpetual 
 defeats, the threatening aspect of his enemies, the imbe- 
 cility, if not the infidelity, of his friends — none of these evils 
 had shaken his uncompromising firmness of purpose : and 
 
 E2 
 
54 
 
 FREDERIC BARBAROSSA. 
 
 >! 
 
 the same fearless enerjry which enabled him, "while sur- 
 rounded by all these difficulties, to contend with, to triumph 
 over, and to disgrace our English Henry, was in the end to 
 place the emperor Barbarossa equally under his spiritual 
 dominion. Not long after the commencement of the feud 
 between the pope and the emperor, the chief cities of Lom- 
 bardy, oppressed by the yoke of Barbarossa, formed a league 
 against him ; and the power of this alliance was 
 1 l*fi7 greatly increased by the failure of an attempt on 
 ' Rome, which he had undertaken in order to secure a 
 new election to the pontificate. It was towards the end of 
 July that he had commenced this siege, and the pestilential 
 vapours of the Campagna, exhaled during the greatest heats 
 of summer, in the autumn began to spread frightful ravages 
 among his troops. The disease commonly resulting from 
 malaria^ so destructive to the natives themselves, raged with 
 far greater fury amid strangers unaccustomed to the climate ; 
 and imagination was busy in representing this contagion as 
 a special judgment from Heaven, in reprisal for that sacri- 
 legious daring which had violated the chosen seat of 
 religion. The rude soldier who during the heat of battle 
 shrank not from any deed, however ferocious, now, when 
 enfeebled by sickness, looked back with superstitious terror 
 upon the impiety which had fired the church of Sta. Maria ; 
 and considered the slow poison of the marshes, under which 
 his strength was wasting away, as a Divine visitation for the 
 overthrow of the images of the Redeemer and of St. Peter, 
 which he had levelled in the sacred precincts of the Vatican. 
 The ecclesiastics were far from backward in encouraging 
 a delusion so friendly to their authority ; and these physical 
 and mental causes, when in combination with each other, 
 produced a result more to be dreaded than all the open 
 hazards of war. Frederic beheld his army perishing in- 
 sensibly, untouched by the sword. The most illustrious 
 of his companions in arms had fallen by an unseen stroke. 
 Almost all the chief ofliicers of his court, princes and names 
 allied to princes, the leaders of both the great factions, the 
 Guelphs and Ghibelins, by which his native dominions 
 were agitated, and whom with consummate prudence and 
 dexterity he had united under himself in his present enter- 
 prise, had become victims to the pestilence ; and more than 
 two thousand cavaliers of noble blood, together with a pro- 
 
 SIEGE OF ANCONA. 
 
 55 
 
 portionate number of their followers, swelled the amount to 
 a fearful total. No hope was left but an instant abandon- 
 ment of these plains of death. Taking hostages, therefore, 
 from the Romans, and gathering the few troops which sur- 
 vived, he hastened through Tuscany, and retreated on Pavia. 
 There, in spite of the superior number of the hostile Lom- 
 bards by whom he was surrounded, he maintained himself 
 during winter without exposure to the unequal risk of a 
 battle ; and in the following spring, perceiving that his 
 strength must be regained not in Italy but in Germany, 
 he withdrew in secret and in disguise with a handful of 
 attendants. 
 
 The league of the free cities had gained much additional 
 strength by Frederic's discomfiture ; and it required a 
 preparation of five years before he could venture to renew 
 hostilities against them. During that period it might be 
 supposed that the alliance of Milan, Brescia, Mantua, Bo- 
 logna, Padua, Treviso, and Verona, if it were only from 
 their vicinity, must have presented strong attractions to 
 Venice, hitherto a neutral spectator of the contest ; and it is 
 not without surprise that we find the republic entering upon 
 the ^ar for the first time under the banners of the emperor. 
 Ancona was not a party to the Lombard league ; but the 
 protection which she received from Manuel Conmenus gave 
 umbrage to Frederic, and her commercial prosperity, con- 
 nected with this alliance, excited the jealousy of the Vene- 
 tians : so that when Christian, archbishop-elect of Mayence 
 and arch-chancellor of the empire, to whom Frederic had 
 delegated the conduct of his affairs in Italy, determined to 
 attack that city by land, the Venetians promised their 
 assistance in the blockade of the port. The chronicler 
 Buoncompagno, who has detailed the occurrences of this 
 siege,* can scarcely find language sufficiently opprobrious 
 in which to express his abhorrence of Christian. He spealvs 
 of him as a kite gorged by rapine, and as a crow every 
 where snuffing the fumes of carrion and glutting himself 
 en destruction. 
 
 The bold promontory which shelters Ancona on the north 
 is inaccessible from the sea ; and the city itself, reclining 
 on the side of a hill which forms a semicircular bay, offers 
 
 ♦Apud Muratori VI. 
 

 56 
 
 EXPLOIT OF STAMURA. 
 
 even from the land but one approach to its beautiful and 
 tranquil amphitheatre. The entrance to the port is guarded 
 by a superb mole ; a work of Roman magnihcence, formed 
 of hucre stones, bound together by iron, and rismg to a con- 
 siderable height above the level of the sea : a marble arch 
 of triumph, which still forms its entrance, records the 
 memory of its founder Trajan. Yet the defence afforded by 
 this mole to the harbour was by no means complete, either 
 against man or the elements. One wind, the focarcsc, sel- 
 dom arose without occasioning much damage to such ves- 
 sels as trusted to their anchorage ; and the fortihcations 
 were so inefficiently constructed, that the Venetian galleys 
 were able without risk or opposition to moor themselves i*i 
 the face of the very quays. Meantime the German army 
 ravatred the neighbouring territory, and succeeded in not 
 only^destroying all means of sustenance, but in gradually 
 circumscribing the garrison, which at first attempted niore 
 active warfare in the field, within the narrow compass ol its 
 walls. The city was ill prepared for a siege which had not 
 been foreseen ; and, in addition to the evils likely to arise 
 from want of precaution, the ordinary supplies had proved 
 deficient from a bad preceding harvest. Unable to ejude 
 the strict blockade of the Venetians, the garrison felt the 
 pressure of famine soon after their investment ; but they 
 maintained themselves with equal constancy against this 
 fearful want and the often-renewed assaults oi their ene- 
 mies. No military operations appear more favourable to 
 deeds of individual bravery than those of a siege ; and 
 Buoncompagno has noted several incidents of exalted 
 heroism. On one occasion, while an attack from the Ger- 
 mans occupied the attention of the whole garrison, the 
 Venetians also eflfected a landing on the opposite quarter, 
 and were advancing towards the city, when by a vigorous 
 charge, not of regular troops, but of such inhabitants as 
 lived nearest the shore, they were repulsed and driven m 
 confusion upon their military engines. Rallying under 
 these, they were protected by a sleet of stones and arrows, 
 which appeared to forbid the eager hope of their pursuers, 
 who at first threatened to fire the beleaguering works. But 
 the check was not of long continuance. Reckless of all 
 danger and as if bearing a charmed life, a woman, widowed, 
 perhaps, during the siege (her name deserves remembrance, 
 
 )i 
 
 I 
 
 ATTEMPT UPON THE VENETIAN FLEET. 57 
 
 it was Stamura), rushed forward with a lighted torch. Her 
 peril was scarcely less from the weapons of her own 
 countrymen than from those of her enemies; yet amiS 
 both unconcerned and uninjured, she set fire to a lofty 
 
 Zh A K? ""' ^^'"'^ ''' ^^^^ ^i" ^he flames had chained 
 such a height as made its destruction certain. The con- 
 flagration spread rapidly along the lines, and the who^e 
 train of engines, the formidable but unwieldy artillerv of 
 those ages, was consumed to ashes. ^ ariiiiery ot 
 
 their^'hr'"' '^1 '^', '"'^ ^"^^ *^^" ^he Venetians. Amon^ 
 for t.^f ^^Ployed in the blockade was one distinguished 
 for Its enormous bulk, and known on that account^y the 
 appropriate name of the World (11 Mondo). Upon the 
 deck of this gigantic vessel toweJs of vast dimens ons had 
 been constructed, and it was regarded as the keen and 
 stronghold of the naval position. ^A priest of Ancon^ for^ 
 bidden by his vows from mingling in the ranks, yet hi I 
 mg for some occasion by which he also might evince his 
 
 or tms galley. Being an expert swimmer he gained the 
 prow bearing an axe between his teeth, before hf was per- 
 ceived and succeeded in cutting throu.rh the cableTwS 
 moored the ship to her anchorage. Then, rapidfv dhi^l^ 
 under water and rising only at' intervals ^sTenee7ef 
 breath, he regained the shore, unharmed by the n^issiles 
 which pursued him, amid the shouts and adn(iratLn of his 
 exulting friends. The huge ship drifted among its lesse 
 
 alter the loss of all its engines and much of its stores and 
 lading; but dunng the alarm and confusion seven other 
 galleys were stranded and perished. Meantime! a re^u se 
 of the Germans from the walls afforded a welcome sunnlv 
 of food to the besieged ; the flesh, and even the emrailf of 
 several horses which had been killed being seized and de- 
 voured with avidity by the starving garrison. 
 na^Lll . ?'.,P''''^^ "^«re sorely, the Anconitans des- 
 
 L offer Ph' ? \7 "'''''"'' " "^"" «^ •'^^^"^^d discretion, 
 to offer Christian the payment of a large sum of mone- on 
 
 condition that he would abandon the siege. The ne^'otia^ 
 
 tion was conducted in the oriental style Si apologue. ^^Th; 
 
 arch-chancellor, on receiving the proposition, Lsked, in reply 
 
 whether that person would not' deservedi; be r^pu^ed^^* 
 
58 
 
 NEGOTIATION BY APOLOGUE. 
 
 fool who, having secured the whole of a prize, consented 
 torecrvebut apart of it? " Listen," he said, "to this tale 
 A certain hunte'r, with numerous dogs beat about a forest 
 which was the haunt of a lioness, the terror of her neigh- 
 Whood. After he had pursued her for some time, not 
 Sut the loss of many of his hounds and much injury to 
 hU hunting tackle, he held her at bay in a cave from which 
 tlLe was no possibility of escape, and wherein she must 
 needs parish by famine/ The Uoness, reduced to extremity, 
 offered^tems, and proposed to surrender one of her paws 
 ^f she ndght be permitted to go free. Tell me now, would 
 he huiUe? do wisely if he were to let the lioness loose lor 
 he sake of her paw l"-"Ia my opinion," replied the envoy^ 
 « the hunter should not accept the paw smgly ; b t it the 
 lioness would deliver the tips of her ears as well as her 
 paw, then he should consent to treat ; for m that case he 
 would shortly have her whole body at command. But m 
 return, let me call to your recollection the greediness of the 
 fowlei-^ who, having spread his net and scattered his gram 
 for pigeons, observed no less than seven of theni flock to 
 the bait. Looking round him, however, he forbore from 
 pullincr the strings at the moment, in the idle hope of bring- 
 na together the numerous birds which he saw on the 
 nemhbouring trees. But while he was awaitmg this large 
 booty some hawks appeared in sight, and the pigeons, satis- 
 fied with their meal, flew away unharmed. Would not the 
 fowler, think you, have done better if he had been content 
 with the seven pigeons in hand, rather than lose all by 
 speculating upon the multitude in the bush] The arch- 
 chancellor was steeled against this parabolical logic, which 
 instead of convincing only tended to irritate him, and he 
 dismissed the ambassador with angry denunciations of ven- 
 geance. ^ ./•!,• 
 
 Ancona indeed had little prospect of escaping from his 
 grasp. The misery to which she was reduced may be esti- 
 mated from the returns made by commissioners instructed 
 to search for food, in order that it might be applied to the 
 public service. Their utmost exertions, after carefully ex- 
 plorina the most secret hiding-places in which the avarice 
 of want might be supposed to treasure up its hoards, pro- 
 duced no more than five pecks of various grain. Yet the 
 city at that moment contained no less than twelve thousand 
 
 I 
 
 FAMINE IN ANCONA. 
 
 59 
 
 souls within Its circuit. Footl the most disgusting at other 
 times had been greedily coveted atid was exhausted. Even 
 the ski7is of animals whose very flesh is commonly rejected 
 as unclean, the wild-herbs which grew on the ramparts, the 
 seaweed which was reputed poisonous,— all these had been 
 tried, and all had liow failed. Whatever may be the con- 
 stancy of his endurance, there is still a limit to the physical 
 powers of man ; and it cannot be a matter of wonder if 
 nature sometimes gave way under this accumulated and 
 hourly-mcreasmg wretchedness. A sentinel, worn with 
 hunger, latigue, and watching, had sunk upon the ground 
 at his post, when a young and lovely woman of the noblest 
 class m the city, bearing an infant at her breast, observed 
 and rebuked his neglect. He replied that he was perishing 
 Irom famine, and already felt the approach of death. " Fif- 
 teen days," answered the more than Roman matron, "have 
 passed, during which my life has been barely supported by 
 loathsome sustenance, and a mother's stores are beginping 
 to be dried up from my babe : place your lips, however, upon 
 this bosom, and if aught yet remains there drink it, and re- 
 cover strength for the defence of our country !" The soldier, 
 shamed and animated by her words, and Veco<Tnising and 
 respecting the dignity of her birth, no longer required the 
 prottered nutriment. He sprang from the ground, seized 
 his arms, and rushing into the enemies' lines, proved his 
 vigour by slaying no less than four combatants whh his 
 single hand. 
 
 One other, and a yet more touching instance of the self- 
 devotion of female affection may be produced, in striking 
 contrast with the unnatural deed recorded of the phrensied 
 mother of Jerusalem, under circumstances of similar desti- 
 tution and horror. A woman of Ancona, heart-broken by 
 the exhaustion of her two sons, and hopeless of other relief, 
 opened a vein in her left arm ; and having prepared and 
 disguised the blood which flowed from it with spices and 
 condiments (for these luxuries still abounded, as if to mock 
 the cravings of that hunger which had slight need of any 
 •further stnnulant than its own sad necessity), presented 
 them with the beverage : thus prolonging the existence of 
 he^r children, like the bird of which similar tenderness is 
 labled, even at the price of that tide of lifo by which her 
 own was supported. 
 
 si««('i!5ass 
 
 rSSS^ 
 
60 
 
 RELIEF OF ANCONA. 
 
 The only slender hope now remnining to the besieged 
 was founded upon the possibility of communicating with 
 the Guelphs of Ferrara and Romagna ; and at length, not- 
 withstanding the vigilance of the blockade, three chosen 
 messengers passed undetected through the Venetian fleet, 
 and received prompt assurances of such relief as they could 
 furnish, from the Countess of Bertinoro and from Marche- 
 sclli, upon whose pity they had thrown themselves. Still 
 the wretched citizens, in addition to their former miseries, 
 were doomed for many days to the bitterness of suspense; 
 and Christian, having"^obtained intelligence of their applica- 
 tion, endeavoured to extinguish this last spark of hope by 
 forging letters from Marchcselli, which stated the impossi- 
 bility of raising adequate supplies, and recommended them 
 to surrender even at discretion. Either the fraud was de- 
 tected, or the firmness of the besieged prevailed over their 
 despair ; and meantime their faithful ally, at the head of 
 such troops as he could assemble at the moment, hastened 
 through the territory of Ravenna, eluding the forces which 
 might'^have intercepted his march. On the fourth nighty 
 he "gained the summit of Falcognesa, whence Ancona may 
 be descried, almost at its foot. There, ordering every sol- 
 dier to bind to the head of his lance as many lighted torches 
 as he could dispose around it, and extending their ranks as- 
 widely as his numbers permitted, he deployed slowly from 
 the mountain. The stratagem succeeded. Christian vvas 
 dismayed at the long and glittering lines of light which 
 approached him ; and supposing that he was attacked by a 
 much superior force to his own, abandoned his works in 
 precipitate retreat and hurried to Spoleto. The Venetians, 
 unable or unwilling to maintain the blockade without his 
 support, withdrew at the same time from the harbour ; and 
 Ancona, by a deliverance for which she had little dared to 
 hope, was freed from both her enemies. 
 
 In the contest between Frederic and the Lombards during 
 the next three years, the Venetians do not appear to have 
 been sharers. The part which they had already taken in 
 the siege of Ancona must be attributed far more to a petty 
 mercantile jealousy than to any cordial espousal of the in- 
 terests of the emperor ; and as soon as he felt strong enough 
 to re-enter Italy in warlike guise, they again adopted their 
 wise and ancient policy of discouraging, so far as in them 
 
 ALEXANDER IIL AND FREDERIC BARBAROSSA. 61 
 
 lay, the establishment of so dangerous a power in their own 
 neighbourhood. For this purpose they became united to 
 the Lombard league, though without active co-operation ; 
 for it was not till they had boldly asserted the cause of 
 Alexander IIL that they became involved in positive hos- 
 tilities with Barbarossa. 
 
 Neither the chronology nor indeed the very events of the 
 period which we are approaching are without perplexity : 
 but of the flight of Alexander to Venice, and of the occur- 
 rences to which it led, we shall speak as the Venetians 
 themselves speak ; for although these incidents have some- 
 times been disputed, they appear to rest upon little less 
 sound authority than that adduced for most other facts of a 
 date equally remote. By denying them, we should tear a 
 bright page of glory from the history of Venice, and con- 
 tradict a testimony to which the most willing, if not the 
 most implicit, credence is usually yielded, — the testimony 
 aflorded by numerous works of art. The walls of that 
 which once was the palatial residence of the doge still bear 
 witness to the triumph of Ziani, the humiliation of Frederic, 
 and the proud revenge of Alexander; and the most illustrious 
 pencils of the great Venetian school of painting have con- 
 spired to give immortality to deeds which we are reluctant 
 to consider otherwise than true.* 
 
 According to these representations, we find that, during 
 the emperor's abode at Pavia, Alexander attempted 
 to negotiate. The boldness with which his legates ,^' "' 
 advocated their master's cause was worthy of his^own ^ 
 unbroken spirit ; and Frederic, either touched by their fear- 
 less dignity, or more probably awed by the undisguised appro- 
 bation with which they were received by his assembled court, 
 dismissed them, if not with encouragement, at least with 
 respect. The breaking up of the congress proved the 
 insincerity of these demonstrations ; and Alexandej, pur- 
 sued by the uttermost extremity of Frederic's hate, inter- 
 
 * Numerous authorities respecting the visit of Alexander III. to Venice 
 and the victory over Otho have been collected by Girolamo Bardi a 
 Florentine painter, who, towards the close of the si.xteenth centur>-, w'aa 
 employed to replace the pictures representing these events, which had 
 been destroyed by fire. See VUtoria Navale delta Rep. Ven. contra 
 Othone,6LC. 1583; mABXaoHtstoriadellavenyUaa VenetiaoccultamenU 
 net 1177, di Papa Alessandro III.; e della VUtoria ottenxUa da Sebas- 
 ttano Ziam J}os;c, &c.comprobata da D. Fortunate Olmo, Casinone. 
 A'^oL. I. — F 
 
G2 
 
 WAR WITH FREDERIC BARBAROSSA. 
 
 f 
 
 ESPOUSAL OF THE ADRIATIC. 
 
 63 
 
 dieted from fire and water, and forbidden reception by any 
 one on pain of death, resolved to abandon the continent ; 
 and it was to Venice alone, safe from her peculiar locality, 
 
 that he could look for an asylum within the range of 
 , 'r^Z Italy. Embarking, in disguise, at Benevento, he 
 
 was driven by contrary winds to the coast of Dal- 
 matia ; and, after a short stay at Zara, he crossed over to 
 the Lagmic. There, uncertain of his reception, it is said 
 that he passed the first night in the porch of a convent ;* 
 and during the three following days, more effectually to 
 conceal his person, he submitted to a menial occupation in 
 the kitchen of the monastery, till he was recognised and 
 made known to the doge. Ziani received him with the 
 veneration due to his holy office ; soothed his misfortunes 
 by unbounded marks of respect ; and encouraged his hopes 
 by despatching an immediate embassy to Frederic, requiring 
 an acknowledgment of his pretensions. The haughty 
 reply of the emperor is preserved to us by Snbellico. 
 " Return," he said, " and acquaint your prince and senate, 
 that Frederic, the Roman emperor, demands from them a 
 fugitive and a foe. Unless they forthwith deliver him to 
 me in chains and as a captive, I denounce war against 
 them. No treaty, no law of nations shall avail in their 
 defence, if they refuse ; and neither God nor man shall 
 avert my revenge. I will press them both by sea and 
 land ; and, little as they may expect such punishment, I 
 will not stop till 1 have planted my victorious eagles on the 
 gates of St. Mark's !" On the receipt of this answer, no 
 choice remained but an ungenerous abandonment of the 
 pontiff, through fear, or a preparation for immediate hostili- 
 ties. The decision was made unhesitatingly ; and although 
 the republic could oppose not more than half their number 
 to the sixty-five galleys which Pisa, Genoa, and Ancona 
 had placed under the command of Otho, the emperor's son, 
 yet Ziani boldly set sail to encounter them. He confided, 
 perhaps, in the virtue of the pontifical blessing ; and 
 assuredly not less in the keen edge of that good sword with 
 which the hands of the holy father had condescended to 
 gird him at the moment of his embarkation. 
 
 * This belief is strengthened by an inscription at the door of the 
 monastery of San Salvatore, in the Merceria, not far from the Riaito. 
 AXEXANDROlII. Fo^T. Max. pernoctanti. 
 
 The fleets met off the Istrian coast between Pirano and 
 Parenzo ; and the Venetians, having gained the wind, dis- 
 regarded the superior numbers of their opponents. After a 
 vigorous contest of more than six hours' duration, two 
 galleys destroyed, forty-eight captured, and a still more 
 important prize, Otho, the emperor's son, were the fruits of 
 their victory. On the return of the conquerors to Lido, 
 Alexander in person hastened to receive his benefactor, 
 and to acknowledge his debt of obligation ; and a solemn 
 ceremony, which continued to be celebrated so long as the 
 republic existed, dates its origin from his gratitude. As 
 soon as Ziani touched the land, the holy father presented 
 him with a ring of gold. " Take," he said, " this ring, and 
 with it take, on my authority, the sea as your subject. 
 Every year, on the return of this happy day, you and your 
 successors shall make known to all posterity that the right 
 of conquest has subjugated the Adriatic to Venice, as a 
 spouse to her husband !" Of all the privileges with which 
 the Venetians were ever gifled, this papal grant appears to 
 have been cherished by them with the most tenacious pride. 
 The Adriatic is now widowed of her lord ; but during the 
 long course of more than six hundred years, every fresh 
 return of the feast of Ascension witnessed the renewal of 
 her figurative nuptials. The doge and his clarissimi having 
 heard mass in the church of San Nicolo, embarked on board 
 the gorgeous Bucentaui..* — a state galley, blazing with gold, 
 enriched with costly ornanients, and preserving such fanciful 
 identity with the original fabric, as could be obtained by 
 perpetual repair without total reconstruction. t Gliding 
 through the canals, amid festive shouts and triumphal 
 music, this superb pageant arrived at the shore of Lido, 
 near the mouth of the harbour: and there the princely 
 bridegroom, dropping a golden ring into the bosom of his 
 betrothed, espoused her with this brief but significant 
 
 * Some very absurd etymologies of this name are noticed by Dura ; 
 such as the augmentative particle jBm and Centaurus, the name of an 
 ancient ship ; or Bis Taurus, the name (on what authority we know not) 
 of the ship of jEncas; or a corruption of Diicentorum. sc. remorum. 
 Casaubon, before Daru, has pointed to an oflering made by the Syra- 
 cusaus to the sea, of an earthen vase tilled with honey, flowers, and 
 frankincense, which, the learned commentator says, reminds him of the 
 Venetian custom. {In AtherKBum, xi. 2.) 
 
 t Howell's Letters, book i. ^ i. letter 31. 
 
64 HrMILIATION OF FREDERIC BARBAROSSA. 
 
 greeting, " We wed thee with this ring, in token of our 
 true and perpetual sovereignty !" 
 
 Once, and once only, a future pope expressed a doubt as 
 to the origin of this ceremony ; and he received a continua- 
 tion, which, if it did not satisfy, must at least have silenced 
 him. When Julius II. inquired of the Venetian ambassador 
 Donati where this grant of Alexander was to be found, he 
 was instructed to look for it on the back of the donation of 
 Constantine. The Venetians themselves, however, were 
 not always content with a date which they thought com- 
 paratively recent. Marco Foscarini* has claimed a much 
 earlier birth for the espousal of the Adriatic ; and he finds 
 traces of it in Dandolo's Chronicle, under the dogeship of 
 Pietro Urseolo II. towards the close of the tenth century. 
 
 But a far heavier calamity than the rout of his fleet had 
 now humbled the arrogance of Frederic, and so totally had 
 he been defeated by the Milanese at Legnano, that many 
 days elapsed after the battle before it was ascertained that 
 he still lived. Humbled on all sides, he no longer refused 
 to treat ; and it was resolved that conferences should be 
 opened at Venice, for the adjustment of the claims of the 
 Lombard cities, and the settlement of the pontificate. The 
 result was a truce for six years with the former, and the 
 acknowledgment of Alexander as pope. To add solemnity 
 to this treaty, Frederic expressed a wish that he might ratify 
 it in person ; but, while he remained under excommunica- 
 tion, it was a mortal sin in any one to hold communion with 
 him. The pope freed the Venetians from these spiritual 
 difficulties, by removing the anathema ; and on the 24th of 
 June, the emperor landed on the piazzetta of St. Mark. 
 The doge, attended by his train of state, his councils, the 
 senate, and all the other members of his court and govern- 
 ment, received him on his disembarkation, and escorted him 
 to the gates of the cathedral. There, surrounded by the 
 imposing splendour of ecclesiastical pomp, clothed in his 
 pontifical vestments, the triple crown glittering on his brow, 
 himself alone seated, amid a brilliant throng of cardinals, 
 prelates, and ambassadors, who stood around, Alexander, 
 severely tranquil, awaited the approach of his no longer 
 formidable enemy. The emperor, as he drew near, uncovered 
 
 * Delia Letteratura Veneziana, lib. ii. p. 216. 
 
 I 
 
 ALEXANDERS TRIUMPH. 
 
 65 
 
 his head, cast aside his purple mantle, and, prostrating 
 himself before the holy father's throne, crept onward that 
 he might kiss his feet. The wrongs of twenty years flashed 
 across the remembrance of the pope. He had been hunted 
 like a partridge on the mountains ; unthroned, dishonoured, 
 exiled, proscribed, a price set upon his very life ; and the per- 
 secutor, from whose impious violence he considered himself 
 to have been shielded by that especial Providence which 
 watched over his sacred office, was now humbled beneath 
 him in the dust. He may be forgiven, if, in a moment so 
 trying to self-restraint, he was unable to suppress his strong 
 feelincT of exultation. Plantinor his foot on the neck of the 
 prostrate emperor, he repeated the words of David, " Thou 
 shalt go upon the lion and the adder ; the young lion and 
 the dragon shalt thou tread under thy feet !"* — " It is not to 
 youy it is to St. Peter !" murmured the indignant prince ; 
 and the reply cost him a yet further humiliation. Alexander 
 trod a second time, more firmly, upon his neck, exclaiming, 
 " It is both to me and to St. Peter !" A square stone of red 
 marble, in the vestibule of St. Mark's, still denotes the spot 
 on which this sintjular and memorable reconciliation took 
 placet On quitting the cathedral, the emperor conducted 
 Alexander to his horse, assisted him to mount, and held his 
 stirrup. He would even have waited on his bridle, and have 
 performed the lowly duties of an esquire, but the good taste 
 or the satiety of the holy father forbade these further marks 
 of subjection. 
 
 It would have been an easy task to follow the customary 
 track in relating the above narrative ; to have declaimed 
 against the haughty bearing, as it is termed, of the pontitT; 
 and to have placed, in strong contrast with his pride, the 
 meekness and humility of that heavenly Master whom he 
 professed to represent on earth. But are such pictures 
 just ? The pride, if we are so pleased to term it, of 
 Alexander was not a low and petty feeling, which regarded 
 his own individual aggrandizement, but it sprang from a 
 contemplation of the holy guardianship with which he had 
 been invested. He believed (fervently, sincerely believed) 
 
 ♦ Psalm xci. 13. 
 
 t in that temple-porch 
 
 The brass is gone, the porphyry rrmains. 
 
 Rogcm.— Italy, " St. Mark's Place.'' 
 F2 
 
66 
 
 PEACE OF CONSTANCE. 
 
 that he was the vicar of his Saviour; and that, by the 
 injuries which he had endured in his own person, that 
 Saviour had been injured also. It is not the reasonable- 
 ness nor the truth of this belief that is now advocated ; but 
 if the motive once be granted (and there seems no other 
 which could have supported Alexander unbroken and undis- 
 mayed through the long struggle of his persecution), the 
 acts which flowed from that motive will be divested of much 
 of the invidiousness which has sometimes been imputed to 
 them. His first address to Frederic was couched in the 
 words of Scripture, and spoken as by one endued with the 
 delegated authority of Christ : nor was it till the oppressor 
 attempted to separate the man from the pontifl' that he 
 indignantly repulsed this infringement upon his rights, and 
 identified himself with the apostle. 
 
 One other triumph still remained for the aged pope. He 
 saw his competitor for the tiara renounce it at his feet, in 
 the halls of the Vatican; and on his joyous return to his 
 capital for this purpose, he was accompanied by Ziani. No 
 court was better versed than that of Rome in the politic art 
 of giving value to its " cheap rewards ;" and dislinctions 
 were lavishly showered upon the Venetian prmce, which 
 derived their chief price from their very want of substance. 
 In imitation of the custom of the holy see, he was permitted 
 to affix a leaden instead of a waxen seal to all documents 
 which received his sign-manual ; and, for this grant, an 
 amusing reason has been given — Ut Veneii senatus gr-dy'i- 
 tatem in diplomafibus pradicaret — that his official instru- 
 ments might evince the weight of the Venetian senate.* 
 Certain envied symbols of sovereign power were also 
 accorded to him ; and henceforward, a lighted taper, a 
 sword, a canopy {umhrella), a chair of state, a footstool 
 covered with cloth of gold (both of which last he was privi- 
 leged to use even in the pontifical chapel), silver trumpets, 
 and embroidered banners announced the presence of the 
 doge. To his subjects at large, as a mark of general 
 favour, a plenary indulgence was granted, on the condition 
 of hearing mass and confessing themselves in the church of 
 St. Mark on the morning of the feast of Ascension. 
 
 The peace of Constance completed the arrangements 
 
 ♦ Amelol de la Houssaye, 585. 
 
 THE RED COLUMNS. 
 
 67 
 
 which the treaty of Venice had begun ; and its rati- 
 fication placed the republic in a far more eminent rank ^1^' 
 among European powers than she had yet attained. 
 She was hailed as the liberator of Italy, and the pro- 
 tector of the holy see. Through her aid the imperial 
 yoke had been cast away ; and, by the discomfiture of Fred- 
 eric, while she freed herself from a dangerous neighbour, 
 she received the applause and gratitude of the Lombard 
 cities for the recovery of their independence. In her rela- 
 tions with the East, a like ascendency had been won ; not 
 so much through increase of strength in Venice as through 
 the rapidly accelerated decline of the empire : and, on the 
 death of Ziani, the alliance which, when proflered five 
 short years before, was coldly listened to and only not 
 rejected, was now in turn solicited with ardour and pur- 
 chased by concession. 
 
 It was in this reign that the two magnificent granite 
 columns which still adorn the pmzzetta of St. Mark were 
 erected on their present site. They were among the tro- 
 phies brought by Dominico Michieli on his victorious return 
 from Palestine in 11 2.5 ; and it is believed that they were plun- 
 dered from some island in the Archipelago. A'third pillar, 
 which accompanied them, was sunk while landing. It was 
 long before any engineer could be found sufficiently enter- 
 prising to attempt to rear them, and they were left neglected 
 on the quay for more than fifty years. In 1180, however, 
 Nicolo Barattiero,* a Lombard, undertook the task, and 
 succeeded. Of the process which he employed we are 
 uninformed ; for Sabellico records no more than that he 
 took especial pains to keep the ropes continually wetted, 
 while they were strained by the weight of the huge marbles. 
 The government, more in the lavish spirit of oriental 
 bounty, than in accordance with the calculating sobriety 
 of European patronage, had promised to reward the archi- 
 tect by granting whatever boon, consistent with its honour, 
 he might ask. It may be doubted whether he quite strictly 
 adhered to the requisite condition, when he demaiUed that 
 games of chance, hitherto forbidden throughout the capital, 
 might be played in the space between the columns ; perhaps 
 
 ♦Doglioni fixes the erection of these columns in 1172, Sabellico in 
 1174, the common Venetian Guide-books a few years later. The Abbato 
 GaraccijHi, writes the name of the engineer Starattooi. 
 
68 
 
 PROCURATORI DT SAN MARCO. 
 
 AVVOGADORI. 
 
 69 
 
 with a reservation to himself of any profits accruing from 
 them. His request was granted, and the disgraceful mo- 
 nopoly became established ; but afterward, in order to render 
 the spot infamous, and to deter the populace from frequent- 
 ing it, it was made the scene of capital executions ; and 
 the bodies of countless malefactors were thus gibbeted under 
 the very windows of the palace of the chief magistrate. 
 A winaed lion in bronze, the emblem of St. Mark, was 
 raised "on the summit of one of these columns ; and the 
 other was crowned with a statue of St. Theodore, a yet 
 earlier patron of the city, armed with a lance and shield, 
 and trampling on a serpent. A blunder, made by the statuary 
 in this group, has given occasion for a sarcastic comment 
 from Amelot de la Houssaye. The saint is sculptured with 
 the shield in his right hand, the lance in his left ; a cle^r 
 proof, says the French writer, of the unacquaintanceof the 
 Venetians with the use of arms ; and symbolical that their 
 great council never undertakes a war of its own accord, nor 
 for any other object than to obtain a good and secure peace. 
 The satirist has unintentionally given the republic the 
 highest praise which could flow from his pen. Happy, 
 indeed, would it have been for mankind, if governments had 
 never been actuated by any other policy ! De la Houssaye 
 informs us also that the Venetians exchanged the patronage 
 of St. Theodore for that of St. Mark, from like pacific 
 motives ', because the first was a soldier and resembled St, 
 George, the tutelary idol of Genoa. 
 
 It may be doubtful whether the high office of Procuratore 
 di San Marco was first created, as has sometimes been said, 
 under the reign of Ziani ; but the treasure of the saint haj 
 so much increased in that doge's time, and his own addi- 
 tions to it were so liberal, that the appointment may be 
 esteemed then first to have attained the importance which 
 it ever afterward preserved. In the outset, there was but 
 a single procuratore^ afterward we find three, and then per- 
 manently nine ; in yet later times the dignity became venal, 
 and fifty might be counted at once. Even then, however, 
 the two clas'ses of procuratori by merit and procuratori by 
 purchase were carefully distinguished. Occasionally, the 
 honorary title was given to eminent foreigners who had 
 been enrolled in the golden book. Although this dignity 
 waM the second in the republic, the procuratori, as such, 
 
 were not entitled to seats in the great council, and even in 
 the senate they were not allowed to originate any proposi- 
 tion. During the session of the council, two of them were 
 stationed in the clock tower to watch over the safety of its 
 members. Their appointment was for life, and the chief 
 privilege which it conferred was exemption from the bur- 
 densome charge of embassies. They were lodged in a 
 stately palace in the Piazza di San Marco^ they were 
 obliged to hold three audiences in each week, and they were 
 not allowed, without express permission from the' great 
 council, to be absent from the city more than two days in 
 any one month. Their chief duties were to superintend 
 the cathedral and treasury of St, Mark, to take the legal 
 guardianship of orphans, and to act as public executors to 
 any Venetian who chose so to appoint them. So great was 
 their consideration at one time throughout Italy, that, 
 from every district, wards were consigned to their pro- 
 tection ; and of all the magistrates of Venice they may 
 be esteemed to have been the most independent and un- 
 tainted by intrigue, because, by their exclusion from the 
 great council, unless they held the coveted office of a savio 
 grandCf they had no inducement to court popularity, by 
 cringing to their brother nobles for support. 
 
 The accession of Orio Malipieri, the citizen who had 
 declined the throne on the death of Michieli, was 
 marked by certain new changes in the form of elec- 
 tion. The great council appointed four commis- 
 sioners, each of whom named ten electors, and on the 
 choice of these forty depended the future doge. Three 
 magistrates also were instituted, about the same time, under 
 the title of acvogadori, whose ostensible duties were to 
 represent and to watch over the public interests, in opposi- 
 tion to any possible undue claims which might be advanced 
 by the ambition of the executive. In the courts of justice, 
 they acted as checks upon the administration of law, and 
 as public accusers ; in the councils, they vigilantly super- 
 intended the course of debate ; and without the presence 
 of at least one of them no act of any session was consi- 
 dered valid. The police of the capital was intrusted to 
 their care ; the disbursements for public functionaries passed 
 through their hands ; they were the guardians of all legis- 
 lative documents, and of the registers by which the legiti- 
 
 A. D. 
 
 1178. 
 
 t 
 
 - tiAuH^m 
 
70 
 
 ABDICATION OF MALIPIERI. 
 
 gibbon's ACCOUNT OF THE FOURTH CRUSADE. 71 
 
 macy of the nobles was avouched through the entries of 
 their marriages and births. 
 
 Few events marked the reign of Malipieri ; a revolt at 
 Zara produced an unsuccessful expedition, and the colony 
 for a while threw off its dependence upon the republic. 
 Fourteen years of power had not diminished the love 
 which the doge always felt for privacy ; and profiting by a 
 moment of peace, during which he might relinquish his 
 burdensome charge without hazard to his country, he with-, 
 drew to a monastery. The great events of the succeeding- 
 reign demand a separate portion of our narrative. 
 
 Effigies of Frederic Barbarossa :— 1. From his Seal. 2. From ^ B^g 
 Rilievo on the Porta Romana, at Mil^u. 
 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 PROM A. D. 1192 TO A. D. 1204. 
 Enrico Dandolo— Fourth Crusade— Conquest of Constantinople. 
 
 A. D. 
 1192. XLii. 
 
 DOGE. 
 
 Enrico DanDolo. 
 
 If the period upon the relation of which we are about to 
 enter is among the most splendid which the annals of 
 Venice offer to the historian, it is also among the most dif- 
 ficult which it can fall to his lot to record : not so much 
 from the variety and richness of the materials presented to 
 his hand, as from the glowing and gorgeous texture into 
 which they already have been woven by the skill of a con- 
 summate artist. To attempt to rival Gibbon's brilliant, yet 
 most exact, narration of the fourth crusade were a pre- 
 sumptuous and a hopeless task. In no other portion of 
 his great work has ho more advantageously displayed his 
 extraordinary powers ; and in no other is he, for the most 
 part, so free from his peculiar blemishes, and — would that 
 it were unnecessary to add — from his far more weighty 
 faults.* To transcribe pages familiar to every reader is 
 superfluous ; to imitate them would be but to exhibit our 
 own inferiority. In treading on the same line, therefore, 
 we shall, as much as possible, avoid a servile coincidence 
 with Gibbon's steps ; and, while borrowing largely from the 
 older authorities upon which, in common with ourselves, he 
 must have relied, we shall carefully remember that our con- 
 cern is principally with the Venetians. 
 
 The choice of the electors fell upon Enrico Dandolo ; 
 
 * Notwithstanding this richly-merited praise, we think Sismondi'S 
 fourteenth chapter far more valuable than Gibbon's sixtieth. The former 
 narratM vigorously what the latter is often content only to imply. 
 
 tBtA!A.\'iiite-Aaiafth:iiiM^.A,'a»iM!a^ jJrii^afaAtw.' - ■ . 
 
72 
 
 FULK OF NEUILLY. 
 
 Ts at that time ambassador from the -^ubhc ; ^^^^^^^^^^ 
 of the statements respecting his defect of sight ^tj^n^ute^^^^^ 
 to the cruelty of the emperor, who, ^fh hi« o^^ ^^ctir^; 
 appUed hot plates of iron to the eyeballs of his vie m 
 Another and a more probable account* refers this partial 
 bUndness to a wound received in battle. It is with surprise 
 S^Tt we find so few memorials of the earlier care- ot^ on 
 who raised for himself so proud a monument oj g^ory m his 
 decline : yet, save this single doubtful occurrence, nothing 
 tther is'to be related of fiandolo till ^e was called to the 
 sovereignty of Venice.' In that high office ^^ fi^^^t. ^^^1^'" 
 fested hTs vigour by promptly avenging an insult which the 
 ptanshadofferedto^he W«Wic, in the --"^e oj Pola^ 
 He attacked .nd discomfited their fleet and abstained from 
 further retaliations only at the urgent request of the pope, 
 whose views were o>ected to the rescue of the holy sepulchre 
 by a vast confederacy of all the European powers. 
 
 Fulk, a priest of Neuilly, a village not far from Pans, had 
 roused afresh the dormant spirit ot Christendom. The 
 
 zeal of his preaching and the repute ^^^\'^l'f''^^^'^''\Z 
 the attention of Innocent III., who at that time 6"^^ the 
 chair of St. Peter, and who saw m him a fit instrument lor 
 the accomplishment ofhis favourite object. For this pur- 
 pose, he authorized the curate of NeuiUy to direct himself 
 to the announcement of a new crusade, in which eveiy one 
 who engaged, but for the short space of a single year, should 
 be absolved from all the sins which he had committed and 
 confessed. The project was entertained with ardour, espe- 
 cially by the chief nobles of France ; and aniong the most 
 distinguished soldiers who assumed the Cross may be 
 named Baldwin, Count of Flanders and Hainault, Louis, 
 Count of Blois, and Thibaut IV., Count of Champagne. 
 
 * Villehardouin ^ 34. 
 
 VILLEHARDOUIN's embassy to VENICE. 73 
 
 The last-named had an hereditary claim to distinction in 
 Palestine ; for his father had been among the bravest 
 champions in the second crusade, and his elder brother had 
 worn the crown of Jerusalem. At an assembly 
 held by adjournment at Compeigne, plans of ad- .^'^' 
 Vance to the Holy Land were discussed ; and the long ' 
 
 train of calamity wherein their predecessors in the like 
 sacred course had been involved deterred the barons from 
 repeating a painful and circuitous march by land. It was 
 resolved, therefore, to proceed at once by sea ; and for 
 means of transport, it became necessary to apply to the Vene- 
 tians, at that time the most powerful of the maritime states. 
 Two envoys were chosen by each of the above-named counts 
 to conduct the negotiation ; and these ambassadors, fur- 
 nished vdth undoubted credentials and plenary authority, 
 crossed the Alps, and hastened with all diligence to Venice, 
 where they arrived during the first week in Lent. 
 Geoffrey de Villehardouin, Marshal of Champagne, ,^* ^* 
 who was employed on this important service, has ^* 
 left a minute account of his diplomacy, and of the sub- 
 sequent expedition. It is by his narrative that we shall 
 permit ourselves, for the most part, to be guided, and 
 wherever they can be introduced, we shall employ his very 
 words. 
 
 The letters of credence with which the envoys had been 
 intrusted required the doge and senate of Venice to place 
 as entire confidence in these representatives as in the 
 barons themselves by whom they were deputed. Dandolo 
 accordingly received them with distinguished honour, and 
 acknowedging that, with the exception of crowned kings, 
 the princes who had sent them were the most powerful in 
 Christendom, he demanded their object. They answered 
 by requesting an assembly of the council before which it 
 might be declared ; and in an audience granted four days 
 afterward they thus expressed themselves :* " Sir, we are 
 come to thee from the most potent barons of France, who 
 have put on the sign of the Cross to avenge the wrongs of 
 Jesus Christ, and to recover Jerusalem, if such be the will 
 of God ; and because they know that no nation has the 
 
 * In this, and in our following very copious usage of Villehardouin, 
 ■we have copied from the pleasing and accurate translation by Mr. T. 
 Smith. London, Picktring ; and Leicester, CJombe, 1889. 
 
 Vol. I. — G 
 
74 
 
 THE VENETIANS PROMISE ASSISTANCE. 
 
 power of you and your people, they implore you, in God** 
 name, to look with pity upon the Holy Land, and, by sup- 
 plying them with ships and means for their passage thither, 
 to join with them in avenging the shame of our Redeemer.'* 
 " On what conditions," demanded the doge ] " On any con- 
 ditions," replied the envoys, " which you may think proper to 
 impose, provided they are within our power." " Certes," 
 said the doge, " the request is no slight one, and the enter- 
 prise itself is of vast magnitude : we will return you an 
 answer in eight days ; and wonder not that we ask so long 
 a time, for a thing of this importance needs much delib- 
 eration." 
 
 At the expiration of the time appointed, the doge an- 
 nounced the conditions on which he would assent to the 
 proposal : prefacing this declaration with a statement which 
 proves that it was not yet considered safe to neglect the 
 body of the people, in the decision of important questions of 
 state. Provided he could obtain the concurrence of the 
 great council and of the commons of the city, he agreed to 
 furnish palanders* for the transport of four thousand five 
 hundred horses and nine thousand esquires ; ships for four 
 thousand five hundred knights and twenty thousand ser- 
 geants! on foot. Nine months' provisions were to be sup- 
 plied to this armament, at the rate of four marks for every 
 horse, two for every man. The engagements were to con- 
 tinue in force for one whole year, from the day of departure 
 from the port of Venice, into whatever realms the service of 
 God and Christendom might lead them ; and the sum de- 
 manded for this assistance was eighty-five thousand marks.t 
 As an allurement to the completion of the bargain, Dandolo 
 promised to equip, in addition, fifty galleys for the love of 
 God, and free of expense, but with this important reserva- 
 
 * Palander is adopted from the translation of Vignere, and has been 
 sanctioned by Gibbon, who says the word is still used in the Mediter- 
 ranean. The oriL'inal is uuissier, from huis, a door, and implies a flat- 
 bottomed vessel, constructed purposely for the transport of horses, from 
 the ports or doors of which a sort of drawbridge could be let down at 
 pleasure, for their ingress and egress. 
 
 t Sergeant is the original French word. Servientes is explained by 
 Ducange {ad v) to mean all horsemen who are not knights. 
 
 i The treaty is given by Dandolo, x. 3, apud Muratori, xii. 323. 8is- 
 mondi (ii. 383) estimates the mark = 50 livres ; .-. 85,000 marks = 
 4,250,000 livres French = 170,000/. sterling. 
 
 SMfiewlWiiwBiMat 
 
 RATIFICATION OF THE TREATY. 
 
 75 
 
 tion, that so long as the alliance continued, all conquests 
 made by land or sea should be divided equally between the 
 contracting parties. . i. r v a 
 
 The ambassadors demanded a smgle night for the consid- 
 eration of this truly mercantile offer ; and on the morrow 
 they assented to it. The proposition was then submitted 
 to the different bodies whose consent was deemed necessary. 
 In the end, the general assembly was convoked ; and in the 
 presence of more than ten thousand citizens, the mass of 
 the Holy Ghost was celebrated in the cathedral of St. Mark, 
 where God was implored to inspire them to do his pleasure 
 in respect of the demands of the ambassadors. When the 
 mass was over, the doge sent to the ambassadors, desiring 
 that they would humbly move the people to the conclusion 
 of the treaty. The ambassadors accordingly repaired to the 
 church, and were eajjerly regarded by those who had not 
 yet beheld them ; while Villehardouin spoke by consent for 
 the rest, and said, " Signiors, the most high and powerful 
 barons of France have sent us to Venice to implore you to 
 look with pity on the Holy City, which is m bondage to the 
 Infidels, and for God's sake to join with them in avenging 
 the wrongs of Jesus Christ. They turn to you because 
 they know none others so powerful on the seas, and they have 
 enjoined us to kneel at your feet until you have granted their 
 prayers, and have compassion upon the land over the sea. 
 The six ambassadors then fell upon their knees, with many 
 tears, and the doge and the people waved their hands, and cried 
 aloud with one voice, « We consent, we consent." The ac- 
 clamations and tumult were so great that it seemed the earth 
 shook ; and when that great heart-moving cry, which ex- 
 ceeded all human experience, had subsided, the doge mounted 
 the pulpit and spoke to the people as follows : " Behold, sig- 
 niors, the honour which the Lord has shown you, m dispos- 
 ing the bravest warriors upon earth to seek your alliance, 
 in preference to that of all other nations, in so high an 
 enterprise as the rescue of the tomb of our Lord." 
 
 Babylon, not the city on the Euphrates, but Cairo, to which 
 that name was applied, was proclaimed to be the destination 
 of the armament ; and the feast of St. John, in the follow- 
 ing year, was named as the day of assemblage at Venice. 
 After abundance of holy tears and reciprocal pledges of 
 fidelity, the ambassadors departed, having first raised a loan 
 
76 
 
 DEATH OF COUNT THIBAUT. 
 
 of two thousand marks, which they paid the doge as an 
 earnest, and also to enable him to commence his prepara- 
 tions. Meantime each party informed Innocent of their 
 proceedings, and received his glad approval of the treaty. 
 At the moment of according this confirmation, as if with 
 sagacious foresight of the ills which were about to succeed, 
 he expressly prohibited them from arming against any 
 Christian powers, unless compelled to do so by direct vio- 
 lence or other unavoidable necessity ; and even in such 
 cases they were instructed to apply for the previous sanction 
 of the apostolic see. 
 
 Villehardouin returned joyously to his master's court at 
 Troyes, where an unexpected calamity well nigh frustrated 
 all his hopes. Count Thibaut was languishing in sickness ; 
 but as if renovated by the cheerful intelligence of which his 
 marshal was the bearer, and fired with true knightly spirit, 
 he called for his horse to ride forth, which for a long season 
 past he had not done, and rising from his bed he mounted 
 him for the last time. Before his death, wherein he showed 
 himself of all men the most exemplary, he bequeathed the 
 treasure which he had provided for the pilgrimage to his 
 servants and men-at-arms, of whom no prince of the age 
 had braver or greater numbers ; and he ordained that each 
 one, as he received his bounty, should swear upon the holy 
 Gospel to repair to the camp at Venice, according to his en- 
 gagement. Great was the shame of many by whom this 
 vow was broken. 
 
 By the death of Count Thibaut, the crusaders of Cham- 
 pagne were left without a leader ; for though Blanche of 
 Navarre, his widow, was pregnant of a son at the time of 
 his decease, she had not hitherto borne male progeny. That 
 son, a gallant and valiant knight, was destined to obtain yet 
 higher celebrity by his wit than by his prowess ; and the 
 royal troubadour, whose deeds of arms are forgotten, still 
 lives in the refined and tender lais which he devoted to the 
 praise of Blanche of Castile ; a princess, whose beauty, vir- 
 tues, and high descent are familiar to an Englishman, 
 through the tribute which, in later years, they received from 
 Shakspeare.* 
 
 The Duke of Burgundy and the Count of Bar-le-duc were 
 
 * King John, Act II. Scene 3. 
 
 NUMEROUS DESERTIONS. 
 
 77 
 
 successively and ineffectually entreated to assume the com- 
 mand of the forces. It was then offered to Boniface, Mar- 
 quis of Montferrat, a knight already distinguished in a former 
 crusade, and numbered among the conquerors of Acre. 
 The parUament invited him to Soissons, and there, in the 
 abbey-yard of our Lady St. Mary, weeping and kneelincr at 
 his feet, they prayed him, for the love of God, to assume'the 
 Cross, to become their chief in place of the departed count, 
 and to receive his treasures and his vassals ; and he, kneel- 
 ing also, declared that he freely received them. Then 
 the Bishop of Soissons, and Fulk, the holy prciicher, with 
 two ecclesiastics of Montferrat, conducted him to the church 
 of our Lady, and placed the cross upon his shoulder. 
 
 Between Easter and Pentecost, the gathering commenced 
 at Venice, and great numbers of the crusaders en- 
 camped on the island of San Nicolo. Baldwin had *"' ^' 
 already arrived, but the Count of Blois was still ab- ^^^^ 
 sent, and much consternation was excited by a rumour, 
 which proved true, that many of the pilgrims, mindless of 
 the engagements contracted with the doge, were preparing 
 means of voyaging from other ports. By these secessions, 
 not only was the armament deprived of much numerical 
 strength, but those knights who abided by their stipulations 
 were rendered unable to pay the sum for which, jointly with so 
 many others, their words were pawned. Villehardouin was 
 despatched to Paviato urge the Count of Blois to hasten on- 
 ward. By prayers and exhortations he prevailed upon several 
 who were about to embark elsewhere to betake themselves 
 to Venice, where Louis and the barons who accompanied 
 him were received with great joy and festivity, and a more 
 goodly or a braver assembly no eye had ever beheld. On 
 the part of the Venetians, fulfilment had equalled, if not 
 outrun, their promises. So gallantly was the fleet which 
 they had prepared equipped, that Christian man had never 
 seen its equal ; and the ships, the galleys, and the palanders 
 were in such numbers, that they were thrice too many for 
 the diminished host of the crusaders. " Ila !" exclaims 
 Villehardouin, with lively and well-justified indignation, 
 « what a curse it was that so many sought other i)orts, and 
 came not to join the army, for then had Christendom been 
 exalted, and the land of the Infidels subdued." 
 
 The day of payment arrived, and the Venetians, beinz 
 
 G2 * 
 

 78 
 
 PROPOSED ATTACK ON ZARA. 
 
 PANDOLO COMMANDS THE FLEET. 
 
 79 
 
 fully prepared to sail, called upon the barons for the sum 
 stipulated in the treaty. Many of the crusaders had already 
 exhausted their whole capital ; others were reluctant to con- 
 tribute more than the proportion for which they had agreed ; 
 and it is plain that no inconsiderable numbers existed in 
 the camp who were already wearied of the rash vow by 
 which they had bound themselves, and who anxiously sought 
 a pretext for breaking up the expedition altogether. In this 
 unlooked-for difficulty, the generosity of the chief leaders 
 was exercised without bounds. Whatever money they 
 possessed, whatever more they could borrow, all precious 
 articles contributing to their luxury, their jewels and rich 
 vessels of gold and silver were delivered to the doge. Still, 
 notwithstanding these great sacrifices, much more than a 
 third of the contract remained unpaid ; for thirty-four thou- 
 sand marks were yet wanting. The hopes of those who 
 wished for the dispersion of the armament were elated to 
 the utmost, and they looked confidently to the abandonment 
 of the design ; but God, says Villehardouin, who confounds 
 the crafty, ordained it otherwise. 
 
 The Venetians, according to the strict terms of their 
 agreement, would have been justified in retaining the sum 
 already paid ; for it was forfeited by the non-completion of 
 the treaty. But the eyes of all Christendom were upon 
 them. Such a step was forbidden by honour; and partly 
 owing to that recollection, — partly, it may be supposed, to 
 some share in the enthusiasm of the crusaders, — but, more 
 than either, to a well-grounded anticipation that they would 
 be far greater gainers by prosecuting than by terminating 
 the expedition, they proposed an equivalent for the loss 
 which they must encounter by a delay of immediate pay- 
 ment. The defection of Zara and the unsuccessful attempt 
 for its recovery have already been noticed. Would the 
 barons, in the first instance direct their arms against Bela, 
 King of Hungary, under whose protection that revolted 
 colony had placed itself] Zara was on their route down 
 the Adriatic ; it was so situated, that if left behind it might 
 at any time intercept the communications between Pales- 
 tine and Europe ; above all, its subjection was the sole 
 condition upon which the republic would permit her fleet to 
 sail. The great obstacle to this proposal arose from the 
 fiolemu injunction delivered by the pope, that they should 
 
 avoid collision with any Christian power. By attacking the 
 King of Hungary, who himself had assumed the Cross, 
 they would be guilty of a voluntary infraction of these 
 orders ; and the reluctant pilgrims and the cardinal legate, 
 who was present in Venice to superintend the expedition, 
 urged this argument with vehemence. But the ardour of 
 the barons and the firmness of Dandolo prevailed. The 
 former plausibly contended that the holy father could never 
 have designed to include a rebellious city within his pro- 
 tection ; the latter displayed the same calm but unbending 
 resolution which ever marked the policy of the Venetian 
 government in its transactions with the Vatican. He con- 
 tested the pope's right of interference, and added, that if the 
 cardinal chose to accompany the expedition, he might em- 
 bark as a preacher of the crusade, but not in the character 
 nor with the assumed powers of legate. The Romish envoy 
 angrily returned to his sovereign, and his absence, weaken- 
 ing the party which he espoused, secured the triumph of its 
 opponents. 
 
 Much of the year had been worn away in these discus- 
 sions, and all things were now prepared for the embarkation. 
 The Marquis of Montferrat, both on account of his station 
 and his fame, had been nominated to the chief command of 
 the land forces, but that of the fleet was still to be deter- 
 mined. The barons and pilgrims had assembled to hear 
 mass in St. Mark's, on the first Sunday after the ratifica- 
 tion of the new agreement ; when, before the commence- 
 ment of the service, they were surprised by seeing the aged 
 doge ascend the tribune, and by hearing from him the fol- 
 lowing address: " Signiors, you are associated with the 
 bravest people upon earth, for the highest enterprise which 
 mortal man can undertake. I am a very old man, feeble in 
 health, and have more need of repose than of glory : yet, 
 knowing none more capable of guiding and commanding 
 you than myself, who am your lord, if it be your pleasure 
 that I should take the sign of the Cross to watch over and 
 direct you, and leave my son in my place to protect our 
 country, I will cheerfully go, and live and die with you and 
 with the pilgrims." The Venetians, on hearing this speech, 
 cried aloud with one voice, " We beseech you, in God's 
 name, to do as you have said, and go with us." Descending 
 from the tribune, Dandolo cast himself upon his knees 
 
80 
 
 THE FLEET ANCHORS OFF ZARA. 
 
 f, 
 
 SIEGE OF ZARA. 
 
 before the high altar, and shedding holy tears, fixed the cross 
 on his ducal cap. His son was named regent during his 
 absence ; and many of the illustrious Venetians followed 
 the example of their sovereign. 
 
 It was on the 9th of October, 1202, the octaves of St. 
 Rhemigius, that the fleet bearing the warriors of the fourth 
 crusade unmoored from the harbours of Venice. A nobler 
 armament, says Villehardouin, fired at the remembrance, 
 never sailed from port. The ships and palanders of the 
 barons filled as they were with anns and provisions, knights 
 and serge^its, the shields suspended along their sides, the 
 gay streamers blazoned with the cross in the separate na- 
 tional colours of the various pilgrims, and displayed on the 
 summit of the turrets wherewith the decks were crowned.* 
 — " Before God," exclaims the delighted chronicler, " it was 
 a most glorious prospect !"t Nearly five hundred sail 
 stemmed the Adriatic ; and fifty of these were galleys, 
 among which the giant Mondo towered above its mates. 
 Forty thousand troops were distributed in two hundred and 
 forty transports ; while seventy stout Vessels were freighted 
 with stores, provisions, and stupendous artillery, which in- 
 cluded three hundred perrieres, mangonels, and engines of 
 every other description necessary for the assault of cities. 
 
 Ma^iy days were lost in waiting for a favourable wind, 
 many others were employed in touching at Istrian ports, so 
 that their voyage was far from rapid, and a month elapsed 
 before they cast anchor off Zara. On the 10th of Novem- 
 ber, the eve of St. Martin, that city was in sight, and they 
 perceived it to be enclosed by lofty walls and towers, so that 
 nowhere could a fairer, stronger, or more wealthy place be 
 found. When the pilgrims beheld it, they were astonished, 
 and said to each other, " How can we expect to take such 
 a city, unless the Lord himself assist us !" The swiftest 
 vessels, having outsailed their companions, arrived towards 
 sunset ; and in the morning, which was bright and clear, 
 the galleys and palanders and the ships which were behind 
 joined them, took the port by force, breaking the strong 
 chain at its entrance, and approached the land in such order 
 that the harbour lay between the city and themselves. Then 
 
 * Gibbon, who has paraphrased this part of the narrative, transfers it 
 to the subsequent passage iron: Zara to Constantinople, 
 t Ha Diex ! tant bon i ot mis. $ 38. 
 
 81 
 
 might you have seen many a knight and many a sergeant 
 leap from the galleys, and many a good steed and rich pa- 
 vilion landed from the palanders. The army encamped, 
 and on St. Martin's day commenced the siege, although 
 the Marquis of Montferrat was not yet at his post. Ville- 
 hardouin informs us that he was detained by his own aflfairs ; 
 but the narrator of the Acts of Innocent HI. attributes this 
 leader's absence to a prudent deference to the pope, by whom 
 he had been personally warned against this expedition. 
 
 The Zaraites, terrified at their investment by this mighty 
 host, and anxious to escape the horrors of assault, on the 
 first day communicated with the doge, and oftered the sur- 
 render of their city and all its possessions, on the sole con- 
 dition of personal security. Dandolo refused to treat sepa- 
 rately, but hastened to lay the welcome proposal before his 
 allies, by whom it was readily accepted. Meantime, during 
 his absence in the council, some of the factious, who wished 
 for the disbandment of the army, assured the deputies who 
 were awaiting his return, that, provided Zara could defend 
 Itself from the Venetians, she need not apprehend hostilities 
 from the other confederates. Deluded by this representa- 
 tion, the messengers returned to the city without receiving 
 Dandolo's reply. The doge, on re-entering his pavilion to 
 adjust the terms, was surprised to find it deserted by the 
 Zaraite envoys ; and this surprise was succeeded by indigna- 
 tion, when the Cistercian abbot, de Vaux, informed "him 
 of the cause ; adding, at the same time, " Lords, by au- 
 thority of the Apostle of Rome, I interdict you, who are 
 Christian pilgrinjs, from attacking this Christian city." The 
 interference of the meddling priest availed him little, for the 
 barons shared the just indignation of Dandolo, when he 
 represented to them the treachery which had been prac- 
 tised. They declared it to be a notorious outrage ; that not 
 a day passed in which those by whom it had been perpe- 
 trated did not seek to compass the ruin of the army ; and 
 that everlasting shame would be their portion, unless they 
 assisted the Venetians in the reduction of the city. In 
 conformity with this decision, on the following morning 
 they pushed on to the very gates, constructed their works, 
 and planted their engines under the walls; while at the 
 flame time the towers towards the sea were battered by 
 huge stones cast from the ships. Five days were spent in 
 
82 
 
 AFFRAY AMONG THE CRUSADERS. 
 
 ISAAC AND ALEXIUS ANGELUS. 
 
 83 
 
 unremitting attacks ; on the 6th, so much of the wall had 
 been undermined that the Zaraites abandoned all hope ot 
 longer resistance, and renewed their former offers ot sur- 
 render. The chief citizens, by whose influence the revolt 
 had been planned and executed, despairmg of pardon, 
 quitted the city during the confusion which succeeded, and 
 found safety in exile. The submission of the revolted 
 colony did not save it from pillage; and the spoil was 
 equally divided between the Venetians and the 1- rench. 
 
 This success was opportune ; for winter was too near at 
 hand to permit hope of more distant operations. Jhe city 
 afforded very seasonable quarters ; and its mantime halt 
 was occupied by the Venetians, the remainder by their 
 allies. But their harmony was soon interrupted. Une ol 
 those frays which frequently arise from the mutual jealousy ol 
 different nations in combined armies, threatened their destruc- 
 tion on the third evening after their possession of Zara. 1 he 
 conflict beiran about the time of vespers ; when men Irom 
 all parts ran to arms, and the combat was so hot that the 
 streets were filled with swords, lances, crossbows, darts, 
 and multitudes of wounded and dead. The Venetians, 
 fewer in number than their opponents, gave way with con- 
 siderable loss. The barons armed themselves and endea- 
 voured to restore order ; but no sooner was one place 
 quieted, than the tumult broke out in another. The greater 
 part of the night was passed in alarm ; and several days 
 elapsed before the joint exertions of Dandolo and the cru- 
 sading chiefs succeeded in completely restoring tranquillity. 
 The arrival of the Marquis of Montferrat occurred soon 
 after this untoward quarrel. He was accompanied by a 
 numerous reinforcement ; and it is probable that the ensuing 
 sprintT would have beheld his followers on the shores ol 
 Palestine, had not a most unlooked-for proposal diverted 
 their arms yet longer from the original object of their expe- 
 dition. Hence arose results, in strict accordance, indeed, 
 with those great ends which our eyes, enlightened by subse- 
 quent events, now perceive that the crusades were designed 
 to promote ; but such as were removed at the time far be- 
 yond the bounded horizon of human foresight, and which 
 
 * Such is onP of the charges which Innocent, in his letter to the Karons, 
 brings against them. Ramusio, on the contrary, says, //a J^a Uaui 
 auxiUo capta, solms Veneti prmda ex pacta fuit. Lib i. p- **• 
 
 have not always been steadily contemplated, even in retro- 
 spect. For the fuller comprehension of the events which 
 we are about to relate, it is necessary that we should briefly 
 trace some revolutions in the Greek empire, daring a few 
 years preceding the date at which we have already arrived. 
 Since the unhappy expedition of Vitale Michieli in 1171, 
 the story of Venice has separated itself from that of Con- 
 stantinople ; but fearful events had stained the annals of the 
 latter court during the progress of those thirty years. The 
 reign of Manuel Comnenus, though abounding with that 
 species of glory which is won by the personal heroism of 
 the sovereign, had exhausted the resources and diminished 
 the strength of his empire. His son, Alexius U., at 
 ten years of age, succeeded to a precarious throne, Ao« 
 from which he was speedily hurled by the vigour 
 and the crimes of his kinsman Andronicus, who consum- 
 mated his treachery by the murder both of the unhappy 
 youth and his injured mother. The horrors of that J^'^' 
 tyrant's sway were closed by an insurrection, in which, 
 as far as a single life could atone for the destruction of thou- 
 sands, his own cruel death and protracted sufferings might 
 be accepted as repayment. With him terminated 
 the male dynasty and the glory of the Comneni. ^'^J 
 Isaac Angelus, who overthrew him, was descended 
 from the females of the same line ; and in his nerveless 
 and unworthy hands, the fabric of the empire which had 
 been preserved entire amid accumulating perils by the su- 
 perior intellect, notwithstanding the crimes, of his prede- 
 cessor, crumbled insensibly away. Cyprus was wrested 
 from him by a tributary ; Bulgaria and Wallachia asserted 
 independence, and obtained an acknowledcjment of their 
 native kings. The unwarlike and luxurious emperor owed 
 his personal security to the contempt of those revolted bar- 
 barians ; for they were well content that the sceptre should 
 be administered by one whose indolence and weakness 
 afforded them sure pledges of peace. Though safe from 
 foreign violence, he was still exposed to domestic treason ; 
 and a brother, Alexius Angelus, deprived him both 
 of his throne and sight. The son of the deposed , ,*qc 
 prince, another Alexius, was spared, however, by 
 the usurper. After a while he found means to escape, 
 and having crossed the Archipelago, and visited both Sicily 
 
^^!^^' -f' •■ 
 
 84 
 
 PROPOSAL OF YOUNG ALEXIUS. 
 
 and Rome, he proceeded towards the court of Phihp of 
 Suabia, King of the Romans, and husband of his sister 
 Irene, the widow of Tancred, King of Sicily. On his pas- 
 sage through Verona, he was astonished by the great throngs 
 which we^e hastening to the camp at Venice ; and listening 
 to the advice of those faithful attendants who had shared his 
 dangers and escape, he sent a communication to the assem- 
 bled barons, praying their assistance in the dehyerance of 
 his father and the recovery of his crown. Villehardoum 
 thus reports their answer : " We comprehend your pro- 
 posal : we will send some of our people with your inaster 
 to King Philip to whom he is going ; and, if he is willing to 
 assist us in the recovery of the Holy Land, we will aid hira 
 in retraining his territories, which we are aware are un- 
 iustlf withheld from him and his father." So ambassadors 
 were despatched to the Valet* of Constantinople, and to 
 Philip King of Germany. 
 
 The reply of Philip and Alexius arrived soon after the 
 occupation of Zara. The Duke of Suabia, though unable, 
 on account of his differences both with the pope and the 
 King of France, to afford personal assistance, consented to 
 resian his brother-in-law into the hands of God and of the 
 crus'aders ; and the Prince of Constantinople himself was 
 lavish in promises. The reward which he would bestow, 
 he said, should be the richest which any people had ever 
 received, and the barons should have effectual assistance in 
 the deliverance of the Holy Land. He engaged, after his 
 restoration, to put an end to the schism which distracted 
 the Greek and Latin churches, and to bring back the whole 
 empire of Romania to its former spiritual allegiance to St. 
 Peter. Two hundred thousand marks of silver and provi- 
 sions for the whole army were to recruit their exhausted 
 resources. He himself would accompany them to Babylon ; 
 or, if they preferred it, he would equip, at his own charge, 
 ten thousand men for a year's service, and would maintain 
 during his whole life five hundred knights, as standing guar- 
 dians*of Palestine. " Lords," concluded the ambassadors, 
 « we have full powers to ratify this treaty, if on your part 
 you are favourably inclined; and surely, as such offers 
 
 * Villehardouin, p. 36. Valet was the ordinary appellation of the chU- 
 dren of a noble house. Ducange, on the authority of Pithou, con*ider» 
 it to be a diminutive of vassal. 
 
 INTRIGUES OF MALEK ADEL. 
 
 85 
 
 'were never made to any people before, those who reject 
 them can have no great passion for glory." 
 
 Vehement debates succeeded these proposals. The 
 Abbot de Vaux and the party in the interest of Rome per- 
 tinaciously refused them. The French, on the other hand, 
 with no less ardour espoused the cause of Alexius, who 
 was remotely allied to their own princes. The Venetians 
 remembered their long debt of hatred against the Greeks, 
 and calculated, not only upon its full payment, but upon the 
 chances of much additional gain. Even those leaders with 
 whom the deliverance of Palestine still remained the chief 
 and primary object of desire consented to this previous en- 
 terprise on grounds of policy. Syria, they said, was not to 
 be won, m the hrst instance, upon its own shores ; and 
 they who would become permanent masters of the sepul- 
 chre of Christ must, beforehand, assure themselves either 
 ot hgypt or Asia Minor. 
 
 Another motive has been assigned for the eagerness with 
 which Dandolo advocated this diversion from the original 
 purpose of the expedition. Maiek Adel, the Sultan of 
 iJamascus, is said to have contemplated with very reason- 
 able apprehension the assembly of the Christian arma- 
 ment at \ enice ; and by a secret negotiation with the do^e, 
 the opportune payment of a large bribe, and the assurance 
 ot a free trade to Alexandria, to have obtained a promise 
 that he would either postpone or frustrate the intention of 
 the crusaders. The continuator of the chronicle of Wil- 
 liam of Tyre states even the singular method by which the 
 sultan obtained the money needed for this purpose. He 
 assembled at Cairo all the Christian priests of Ihe neiah- 
 bowrmg country, and informing them that a new armament 
 was gathering m Europe, he commanded them forthwith 
 to provide arms, stores, and horses for his service. The 
 bishops replied that their sacred function forbade them from 
 mtermeddhng with war. "Be it so," replied the despot. 
 If you dechne fighting in person, you must furnish men 
 to fight m your place !" and having demanded an account 
 of their revenues, he confiscated the whole property to his 
 own use. This plunder of the Christian church was em- 
 ployed m the corruption of those who had avowed themselves 
 the champions of the Cross. 
 
 Vol I ~H ""^ '^^ «^ajority of barons prevailed ; nos 
 
 'jbo J^ttB 
 
 . •"■» 
 
86 
 
 SUBMISSION TO THE POPE. 
 
 REPLY OF INNOCENT. 
 
 87 
 
 \ 
 
 ) 
 
 A. D. 
 
 1203. 
 
 were they opposed by all the ecclesiastics. The Marquis 
 of Montferrat, the Doge of Venice, the Counts Baldwin, 
 Louis, and of St. Paul continued the treaty, swore to 
 observe its provisions, and affixed their seals. The discon- 
 tented party remonstrated in vain, and many of them, 
 either openly or by stealth, abandoned their comrades. 
 Reguiald de Montmirail, a potent baron of France, 
 requested employment on an embassy to Syria, and 
 did not scruple to swear, with his right hand upon 
 the saints, that he and his knights would re-embark within 
 fifteen days after they had completed their mission. He 
 sailed, but never returned. Simon de Montfort enlisted 
 under the banner of the King of Hungary, himself a cru- 
 sader, whom he had so recently opposed at Zara ; but he 
 atoned for this inconsistency by good service afterward in 
 the Holy Land. Others there were who shrank from the 
 prospect of danger as they approached nearer to its en- 
 counter, and secretly withdrew from their ranks. Few of 
 them, however, obtained the safety which they coveted : the 
 boors of Sclavonia cruelly massacred one party which 
 attempted to gain their homes by land ; and of five hundred 
 others, who threw themselves into a merchant- ship, not one 
 survived its wreck. 
 
 These frequent desertions were observed with much 
 apprehension by the chiefs, and in order to remove one 
 cause of discontent, and to quiet those superstitious fears 
 which in many instances had alienated their followers, they 
 resolved to make their peace with Innocent, whose com- 
 mands they had transgressed. Their apology was founded 
 on the plea of necessity. " The barons," they wrote, " im- 
 plore your forgiveness for the capture of Zara, which, owing 
 to the falsehood of those who have passed on to other ports, 
 they were reduced to undertake, in order to keep their host 
 together ; and they assure you, as their father, that what- 
 ever you may command, they are, in all respects, ready to 
 obey." It is plain that the Venetians, even if they had been 
 so inclined, could not join in these excuses without false- 
 hood. They had not been the subjects but the creators of 
 the necessity thus advanced as a plea ; and but for them 
 Zara would have been untouched. Of the sincerity with 
 which even their confederates now humbled themselves at 
 the feet of the pontiff a sufficient estimate may be formed, 
 
 when we call to mind that they well knew the fresh enter- 
 prise upon which they had engaged was yet more strongly 
 disapproved by Innocent than that which they were seeking 
 to extenuate. 
 
 As yet, however, the pope was unacquainted with the 
 existence of the new treaty entered into by the barons who 
 thus solicited his absolution ; and he replied to them in a 
 tone of gentleness little merited either by their past or in- 
 tended disobedience. He answered that he well knew the 
 treachery of others had compelled them reluctantly to the 
 course which they had adopted, and that, softened by their 
 repentance, he assoiled them from the sin. For the time 
 to come, they must direct all their energies to the recovery 
 of the Holy Land, and hasten onward to its shores without 
 further delay. If the Venetians, as yet untouched by 
 remorse, would seek his forgiveness, they also should be in- 
 cluded in the absolution ; and the confederates might then 
 sail together in entire mutual confidence. If, on the con- 
 trary, they should unhappily persist in their contumacy, 
 nevertheless, from the urgent necessity of the case, he 
 would permit the barons to employ the ships of that still 
 excommunicated state ; but they must, in all ways, as far 
 as in them lay, endeavour to separate themselves from such 
 enemies of God. 
 
 Unchanged by these remonstrances, the Venetians con- 
 tinued their eager preparations for vengeance upon the 
 Greeks. In addition to other causes of enmity, they were 
 deeply jealous of the superior ascendency which the Pisans, 
 their great commercial rivals, had been permitted to acquire 
 in Constantinople ; and against Alexius personally they 
 entertained an inveterate animosity, because he had refused 
 to discharge the arrears (200,000 golden besants) of the 
 indemnity which had been promised by Manuel, to compen- 
 sate the outrage of his confiscation. On the morning after 
 the celehration of Easter, the allied forces quitted their can- 
 tonments in Zara, and encamped on the seashore. Then, 
 in order to strike profound terror into their rebellious colo- 
 nists, to chastise their past revolts, and to prevent a repeti- 
 tion of them in future, the Venetians, in defiance of Inno- 
 cent's renewed protection, razed the walls of the city to the 
 ground. Meantime, the young Alexius arrived, and was 
 welcomed with great joy. All thbigs were prepared for the 
 
 ■ --^^^l^'^^f^'?-^:*^ 
 
 to" ^~ 
 
88 
 
 DISCONTENT IN CORFU. 
 
 voyage ; and the general ardour with which it was under- 
 taken was by no means checked by the receipt of a second 
 mission from Innocent to the barons, severely denouncing 
 their fresh guilt, prohibiting the design in which they were 
 engaged, and, not unreasonably, expressing doubts of the 
 sincerity of that repentance which tiiey had so lately pre- 
 tended, and for the sake of which he had relieved them 
 from spiritual censures. He concluded by noticing the 
 recent pillage of Zara, the spoil of her churches by the 
 Venetians, and the willing participation of the counts in 
 that sacrilegious booty.* 
 
 Notwithstanding this denunciation the fleet set sail. As 
 it touched at Durazzo, Alexius received an acknowledgment 
 of fealty from that city, the western key of the empire ; 
 and thence, with a fair wind, the confederates passed on to 
 their appointed rendezvous in Corfu. There, disembarking, 
 they refreshed their men and horses in rich and plenteous 
 quarters (the fabled gardens of Alcinous and his Phoeacians) 
 for more than three weeks. The landing of Alexius was 
 marked with distinguished honours ; numbers of brave 
 knights and sergeants bestrode their war-horses and went 
 out to swell the pomp of his entry. His pavilion was 
 pitched in the midst of the camp, and the Marquis of Mont- 
 ferrat, to whose care he had been especially confided, raised 
 his own by its side. 
 
 Their repose, however, was interrupted by fresh intestine 
 discontents. Conscience or cowardice awakened alarm in 
 more than half the army, and many knights entered into a 
 secret compact to remain in the island, and suffer those who 
 wished it to proceed on the perilous undertaking which 
 themselves had opposed from the beginning. The chief 
 leaders, upon learning this conspiracy, acted with great 
 promptness. Taking with them in their train the Prince 
 
 * Ramusio, with a feeling little in accordance with that generally en- 
 tertained by his countrymen for the supremacy asserted by Rome, has 
 endeavoured to extenuate their disobedience by one of the most barefaced 
 violations of truth which ever flowed from the pen of an historian. 
 Deindevero,pi(B caiiscesvasor, hinocenthis III. Ponti/ex Majcirmts, pios 
 milites hortabatur,ut. Ecclesiam Graecam ejvsqve Patriarcham Constan- 
 tinopolitanvm, de sanctiore patrum ciirricvlo deflectentem, m viam re- 
 ducerent Itaque b'llum. Constant inopnlitminm, quod sine summd im- 
 pietate repudiari non poterat, a Veneto et Gallo, summis opibus, it 
 nummd pariter alacritate susceptum. (Lib. I. p. 3.) 
 
 peasscTjr 
 
 MAGNIFICENCE OF THE ARMAMENT. 
 
 89 
 
 of Constantinople and all the ecclesiastics, they repaired to 
 a valley in which the recusants were holding an assembly. 
 As they came in sight, each party dismounted. The barons 
 fell upon their knees, refusing, with tears, to arise until 
 they were assured that their brother-pilgrims would not 
 desert them. The latter were deeply moved by the sight ; 
 they also wept bitterly ; and, after a short deliberation apart, 
 they agreed to remain in company till the ensuing feast of 
 St. Michael, provided the barons would swear upon the 
 saints, that afterward, within fifteen days from the time of 
 their demanding them, they should be supplied with vessels 
 for their transport to Syria. 
 
 This compact having been ratified and sworn to, they re- 
 embarked, and quitted Corfu on the eve of Pentecost. The 
 martial spirit of Villehardouin is kindled afresh upon the 
 renewal of activity. " The day," he says, " was bright and 
 cheerful, and the winds were soft and favourable as they 
 spread their sails before them. And I, Geoffrey, the Mar- 
 shal of Champagne, who have dictated this recital, having 
 been present at the matters therein related, and conscious 
 that it contains nothing but truth, bear witness that so glo- 
 rious a siaht had never been beheld before. Far as our 
 view could extend, the sea was covered with the sails of 
 ship and galley ; our hearts were lifled up with joy, and 
 we thought our armament might undertake the conquest of 
 the whole world." Nor was this the impression of such 
 only as held command. While doubling the promontory of 
 Malea, they fell in with two vessels filled with knights, pil- 
 grims, and sergeants, returning from the Holy Land. They 
 were some of those who had departed from their agreement 
 of meetinor at Venice, and were now ashamed to declare 
 themselves. The Count of Flanders sent his barofe to in- 
 quire their destination and quality ; and as it approached 
 the vessels, a sergeant, struck by the gallant bearing of the 
 fleet before him, leaped on board, and cried out to his less 
 enthusiastic comrades, " Give me my baggage, for I shall 
 join these people who appear certain of subduing the 
 land !" 
 
 Negropont, Andros, and Abydos received them as peace- 
 ably as Durazzo ; and the Byzantine court, lost in sloth 
 and luxury, either disbelieved or disregarded the news of 
 iheir approach. No secrecy had been affected: both the 
 
 H2 
 
90 
 
 FIRST SIGHT OF CONSTANTINOPLE. 
 
 POSITION AT SCUTARI. 
 
 91 
 
 measures taken by the exiled prince, and the consequent 
 design of the crusaders, had been long openly avowed i and 
 it ought to have been easy for Greece, formed by nature a 
 maritime pov^rer and at that time sharing with Ve<iice the 
 dominion of the seas, to have made some great effort be- 
 fore her capital was besieged. It has been said, that but a 
 few years before this invasion the dockyards of Constan- 
 tinople could furnish one thousand six hundred vessels of 
 war. Admitting the number to be exaggerated, the very 
 exaggeration testifies the greatness of her naval resources. 
 But the emperor, devoted to ease and sensuality, had in- 
 trusted his arsenals to a brother-in-law, by whose base 
 cupidity the state was crippled. Stores, arms, equipments 
 — ^the very hulks themselves — had been broken up and sold 
 to swell the private wealth of Michael Stryphnus ; and 
 when the rumour of impending danger prompted him to 
 restore the navy which he had destroyed, he was forbidden 
 to lift an axe in the forests, reserved, as he was informed 
 by their guardian eunuchs, not for the lowly provision of 
 ship-timber, but for the more exalted pleasures of the im- 
 perial chase. 
 
 The huge and heavy-laden armament of the crusaders 
 proceeded through the intricate navigation of the Archi- 
 pelago, and threaded the narrow strait of the Dardanelles, 
 without hinderance or interruption. As the sea of Mar- 
 mora widened before them, its bosom covered with sails 
 presented a sight of incomparable beauty ; till, three leagues 
 short of Constantinople, they neared the land, and obtained 
 their first view of that great and gorgeous metropolis. 
 Their feelings cannot be doubted ; nor can they be better 
 expressed than in the words of that eyewitness who so 
 deeply shared them. " When they contemplated the lofty 
 walls and goodly towers that enclosed it around, the gay 
 palaces and glittering churches that seemed innumerable, 
 the immense dimensions of the city denoting it was the 
 queen of the earth, they could hardly believe their senses ; 
 nor was there any man, however bold, whose heart did not 
 tremble within him. This was no marvel ; for never since 
 the creation of the world had such an enterprise been 
 attempted by such a handful of men." 
 
 The prudence of Dandolo saved them from destruction 
 in the outset. The barons landed and held a council in the 
 
 minster of St. Stephen's, a pleasant village, still known to 
 us by its former name, and now chiefly distinguished b}^ its 
 immense powder magazines. It can be no matter of sur- 
 prise that some impatience was expressed for an immediate 
 general disembarkation ; but, in opposition to this wish, 
 the doge advanced his own former knowledge and expe- 
 rience of the country. The continent, he said, was of vast 
 extent and thickly peopled, and the soldiers, being in want 
 of provisions, would scatter themselves over it in foraging 
 parties, and be cut off in detail. Far better would it be to 
 make for the islands in sight, and having there refreshed 
 themselves, to proceed at once to the attack of the city. 
 This advice prevailed. They passed the night at anchor, 
 and on the morrow, the feast of St. John the Baptist, hav- 
 ing displayed their banners and standards on the turrets, 
 and fenced the sides of their vessels with a pavissade of 
 shields close locked together, each man cast a glance upon 
 his arms, well knowing that the time was at hand when he 
 would need their assistance. As they set sail, the wind 
 bore them within a bowshot of Constantinople, and some 
 of the ships were assailed with missiles from the throngs 
 which clustered on its walls and towers. It is probable, 
 although Villehardouin is far from confessing it, that a 
 slight confusion ensued, for he admits that they abandoned 
 their design on the islands as completely as if it had never 
 been proposed ; and, without loss of time, crossed over to 
 the Asiatic shore, and anchored off Chalcedon, where one 
 of the fairest palaces of the emperor received the generals, 
 and the troops were disembarked and encamped. On the 
 following morning the fleet sailed onward to Scutari, im- 
 mediately opposite to Constantinople, and was followed 
 thither by the army. The Greeks, on the European shore, 
 made a corresponding movement, and encamped on the 
 outskirts of Pera. 
 
 The nine days passed at Scutari were not without inci- 
 dents. A party of foragers, not above eighty lances (less 
 than two hundred and fifty men), came unexpectedly, at 
 about three leagues from the camp, upon the tents of the 
 great Duke Stryphnus, guarded by five hundred Greeks. 
 The Franks were of too chivalrous a spirit to be alarmed 
 by disparity of numbers ; and the Greeks gave way before 
 
 ,.^^. 
 
92 MESSAGE FROM THE EMPEROR REPLY. 
 
 their charge. Horses, palfreys, mules, tents, paviUons, and 
 countless other necessaries and luxuries were the prize ol 
 the victors ; who, on their return, received the congratula- 
 tions of their comrades, among whom they liberally divided 
 
 the spoil. 
 
 On the morning after this first essay of arms, a messen- 
 ger arrived from the emperor. He was a Lombard, who, 
 having presented his letters of credence and received per- 
 mission to speak, delivered himself as follows : « Lords, the 
 emperor Alexius is not ignorant that you are the most 
 potent princes in Europe save crowned kings, and are na- 
 tives of the most warlike country. But he marvels much 
 why you, being Christians, and he also a Christian, are thus 
 come into his territories. He knows you are bound for the 
 Holy Land, to rescue the cros:* and sepulchre of our Lord. 
 If yoQ are in want, he will cheerfully bestow upon you food 
 and necessaries, so you depart from his land. He desires 
 to avoid doing you injury ; not because he lacks the power, 
 for if you were twenty times your number, you could not 
 depart hence without his permission, nor prevent his de- 
 stroying you if it were his pleasure." 
 
 He was answered by Conon de Bethune, a brave, pru- 
 dent, and eloquent knight, whom the doge and the barons 
 deputed as their spokesman. " Fair sir, you have declared 
 that your lord greatly marvels that our lords and barons 
 have entered his empire and territories. They are not his : 
 for he holds them unjustly, and has sinned against God 
 and reason. They are the right of his nephew, who is 
 seated here among us, and is the son of his brother the 
 emperor Isaac. If your master will throw himself upon his 
 nephew's mercy, and will restore the crown and empire, we 
 will intercede that his offence shall be forgiven, and a suffi- 
 ciency be assigned to him to enable him to live in splendour. 
 As for messages of this kind, be not so rash as to trust 
 yourself hither with them again." 
 
 This mutual defiance having been exchanged, hostilities 
 were not long delayed. No post could be better adapted 
 than Scutari for observation of the city which the crusaders 
 were preparing to attack. From the heights above it might 
 be discerned the seven hills upon which Constantinople 
 was proudly reared ; and almost all the four hundred and 
 
Bsban'e I 
 
 Kem Do"! 
 
 1( 
 
 izHkfiaSitllaTae \ 
 
 BfUfr Bei Baktchezi ' 
 
 hib. bv ,U-J.H.iq<ft: X.r. 
 
I 
 
 DEFENCES OF CONSTANTINOPLE. 
 
 93 
 
 seventy-eight towers which, in a circuit of nearly eighteen* 
 miles, studded the long terrace of her walls. The eye 
 might penetrate the gentle curve of the Golden Horn 
 (Chrysoceras), that arm of the Sea of Marmora which, 
 forming the port of the city, bathes the>iorth-western side 
 of the unequal triangle on which it stands. The apex of 
 this triangle, once called the Acropolis, now glitterina with 
 the palace and gardens of the Seraglio, is found at a point 
 immediately opposite to Scutari and fronting the mouth of 
 the Bosphorus. Following the southern shore of the Gol- 
 den Horn for about six miles, the fortifications incline to 
 the south-west, at the palace of Blachemae. Hence, a strong 
 double wall of lofty height, built by Theodosius, and a deep 
 fosse, eight yards in width, protect the sole approach from 
 land, and connect themselves at the Heptapyrgium or Seven 
 Towers, with the Golden Gate and that line of ramparts 
 which overlooks the Sea of Marmora. On the north of the 
 Golden Horn stand the extensive suburbs of Pera and 
 Galata. From the fortress known as the Tower of Galata, 
 to the Seraglio Point, at the modern Alai Kiosk, a breadth 
 of about five hundred yards, a massive double chain, sup- 
 ported at convenient distances by huge wooden piles, and 
 effectually forbidding ingress, was drawn across the har- 
 bour. Behind this chain were ranged twenty galleys, all 
 which the avarice of Stryphnus had permitted to remain of 
 the once magnificent navy of his country. 
 
 The memorable events which followed have been un- 
 usually, perhaps singularly, fortunate in the contemporary 
 illustration which they have obtained. A writer not less 
 competent to procure authentic information than the Mar- 
 shal of Champagne, and apparently not less faithful in 
 recording it, was found among the Greeks ; and by a com- 
 parison of the pages of Nicetas with those of Villehardouin 
 we obtain a living portraiture of the feelings and the actions 
 both of the besieged and the besiegers ; we become inti- 
 mately acquainted with all that was inflicted and was suf- 
 fered ; we learn, in detail, every thing which intra muros 
 
 * The dimensions of Constantinople are given very differently by dif- 
 ferent travellers ; we have adopted those assigned, after personal recon- 
 noissance, by the late Dr. Clarke. Gihbon is nnwilling to allow the 
 walls a circumference of more than fourteen miles, including Pera and 
 
 t 
 
94 NICETAS. 
 
 peccatur ct extra. Nicetas was a citizen of Chonffi, in 
 Phrygia, the Colosse of St. Paul ; and he had raised him- 
 self, successively, to the high honours of senator, judge of 
 the veil, and logothete of the empire. The importance of 
 the last-named"office will be best estimated by the repre- 
 sentation of the historian himself, who compares it to the 
 chancellorship of the Latin monarchies, and assigns to it 
 the supreme guardianship of the laws and revenue. After 
 sharing in the miseries of the capture of Constantinople, he 
 retired to Nice, and there composed his elaborate history, 
 which embraces somewhat more than his own times ; com- 
 mencing with the death of Alexius Comnenus in 1117, and 
 proceeding to the year which followed those transactions 
 of which we are now immediately treating. Of the facts 
 which concern our present narration he was, for the most 
 part, an eyewitness ; and of those things which he presents 
 from accredited rumour or on private authority, his station 
 and talents rendered him a fit and able judge. To those 
 who seek only for agreeable reading his style is most re- 
 pulsive ; and, in order to be understood, it must be divested 
 of much affectation and many florid and inflated metaphors. 
 One of his editors, indeed, has broadly stated that he would 
 rather work in the mines than translate from Nicetas when 
 he indulgesin the poetic vein.* But, having once made 
 allowance for this tendency, it is not difficult to separate the 
 exaggerations of his rhetoric from the sobriety of truth. 
 That he regarded the invaders in general, and the Venetians 
 in particular, with the most bitter detestation, renders him 
 not the less desirable witness for our purpose ; for he thus 
 becomes a more effectual counterpoise to the Latin authori- 
 ties. And it is not a little to the credit of his impartiality, 
 that he speaks of the usurper Alexius, even after his fall, 
 with generous and unexpected, perhaps whh undeserved, 
 approval. " His gentleness and mercy," says the pane- 
 gyrist, " were of no common order ; he never tore out 
 eyes nor mutilated limbs ; he had no pleasure in butchery ; 
 and during his reign no matron, through his agency, was 
 clad in mourning." What volumes are compressed in these 
 few laudatory words, in testimony of the general horrors of 
 the Byzantine government I 
 
 * Wolflus, speaking of his Pramium, 
 
 iBii 
 
 PASSAGE OF THE BOSPHORUS. 
 
 95 
 
 It was of some importance that the disposition of the 
 populace of Constantinople should be ascertained ; with 
 what degree of attachment they regarded their existing 
 ruler, with what recollections they turned to their deposed 
 princes. For this purpose, on the morning after their haughty 
 dismissal of the Greek envoy, the Doge of Venice and the 
 Marquis of Montferrat embarked on board a galley, bearing 
 with them the young Alexius. Accompanied by a train of 
 knights in other vessels, they rowed under the walls, more 
 in an amicable than a warlike guise, from the point of the 
 Golden Horn to the Seven Towers. Along this line they 
 exhibited the prince, proclaimed his wrongs, appealed to 
 the compassion and the fidelity of his subjects, and sought to 
 awaken both their fears and their affections. But the attempt 
 wjis fruitless, and the throngs on the walls were either silent 
 or made hostile demonstrations. It may be doubted whether 
 they entertained any real preference for either of the con- 
 tending parties ; enslaved by a debasing tyranny, they were 
 careless beneath what despot they should crouch, and the 
 feeling which most strongly influenced them was dread 
 of that hand which could be more immediately raised to 
 punish. 
 
 On the tenth morning (July 6) nfter their arrival, it was 
 resolved to attempt the passage of the Bosphorus ; and the 
 part selected was not far below the spot ennobled by the 
 bridge of Darius. Before they addressed themselves to this 
 dangerous enterprise, for such, previously to the event, it 
 might justly be considered, mass was celebrated in the 
 presence of the whole army. The bishops and clergy ex- 
 horted their people, instructing them that in this extremity, 
 m which none could foresee what might be God's pleasure 
 concerning him, it was the duty of every one to confess his 
 sins and dispose of his worldly possessions. This coun- 
 sel was received with fervent zeal and devotion. At length, 
 the appointed moment having arrived, the vanguard em- 
 barked under the command of Count Baldwin, who was 
 f jllowed by more good lances, archers, and crossbowmen than 
 any other lord of the army. Four other divisions succeeded, 
 respectively led by Henry, brother of the Count of Flanders, 
 the Counts of St. Paul and Blois, and Matthew of Montmo- 
 rency. In the last were enrolled Villehardouin himself and 
 the flower of the Gallic chivalry. The largest band, Lom- 
 
96 
 
 THE GOLDEN HORN FORCED. 
 
 ADVANCE UNDER THE WALLS. 
 
 97 
 
 bards, Tuscans, Germans, and Piedmontese, composed the 
 rear, which was intrusted to the Marquis of Montferrat. 
 The mass of soldiery crowded the heavy vessels under the 
 guidance and protection of the galleys, and the knights, 
 armed from head to foot, with their horses ready housed and 
 saddled, entered the palanders. As the day advanced, the 
 sun shone brightly, and displayed Alexius with his countless 
 hosts awaiting the onset on the opposite shore. The trumpets 
 sounded, and the galleys moved forward, each towing a 
 heavier transport •, none asked who was to be foremost, but 
 every man pushed on with all his might to land. As they 
 neared the western bank, the knights started up from the 
 palanders, and, armed as they were, helm-laced, and lance 
 in hand, leaped baldrick-deep into the sea. Nor were the 
 archers, sergeants, and arbelestriers less eager than their 
 lords, each company forming on the spot where their ves- 
 sels touched the ground ; and the Greeks, after a faint show 
 of resistance, fled before the lances crossed each other. As 
 soon as the shore was cleared, the ports were opened, the 
 bridges let down from the palanders, and the horses having 
 disembarked, the knights mounted, and the six divisions 
 formed according to preconcerted order. The van, under 
 Count Baldwin, advanced to the camp from which Alexius 
 had beheld their landing ; it was already abandoned, and 
 afforded a rich booty to the conquerors. For the night, 
 they took post near the tower of Galata, in a quarter nam^d 
 Stenon, which was at that time, as it is now under its 
 modern denomination Hassa Kai, allotted to the .lews. At 
 dawn of the following day, they repulsed a sortie from the 
 tower, and gaining possession of its gate before the fugi- 
 tives were able to close it, they stormed the castle with great 
 slaughter, and established themselves within its walls. The 
 possession of this fortress materially assisted the operations 
 against the harbour, the mouth of which it commanded. A 
 favourable breeze sprang up, and the Venetian galleys, set- 
 ting all sail, bore down upon the huge chain, without mo- 
 lestation from the shore. For a while it resisted the shock, 
 and the mariners endeavoured, but in vain, to sever its massive 
 links with gigantic shears constructed ft)r the purjwse. 
 At length, one vessel, more fortunate than its mates, and 
 realizing the gooj omen of its name. The Eagle {CAquila), 
 succeeded in breaking through the boom. The whole navy 
 
 tnumphantly followed, and the total destruction of the little 
 squadron opposed to it ensued. Some of the vessels were 
 instantly captured, some ran under the city walls and were 
 sunk, after having been abandoned by their crews, many 
 of whom clung to the fragments of the broken chain, still 
 suspended from its palisades, and gained the land by swarm- 
 ing along them as on a rope. 
 
 The assault of the city now became an object of discus- 
 T"'m .u i ^^^ s^'^-line be attempted from the port ? or 
 should the efforts of the besiegers be directed against the 
 long western wall which fronted the land ? The Venetians 
 accustomed to maritime operations, and confident of victory' 
 on their own element, promised to mount the ramparts by 
 planting ladders from their ships. The French knights, on 
 the other hand, preferred the solid earth and the open plain. 
 I' earless while mounted on their steeds and couchin/theh: 
 lances, they shrank from a mode of warfare with which they 
 were imperfectly acquainted. In the end, it was deter- 
 mined to make a combined attack both by sea and land • each 
 nation choosing that method of approach with which it was 
 most familiar. 
 
 After four days' rest the fleet moved up the harl>our, and 
 the land forces advanced at the same time alona the shore 
 m order to round the head of the gulf and tak? post unde^ 
 the walls. A march of about seven miles brought them to 
 the extremity of the Golden Horn, where the little rivers 
 iiarbyses and Cydaris, uniting their beds, discharge them- 
 selves by a single channel into a small bay ; which,7rom the 
 punty of its waters and its abundant produce of fish, is 
 known to modern ears as Lcs Eaux Donees ; a far more pic- 
 turesque title than that given it by the Turks, Kmt-hani^^ or 
 by the present Greeks, Karfaneos, both of which names refer 
 only to the paper-mills now deforming the beauty of the 
 scene. The passage of these streams might haVe been 
 easily defended ; but the Greeks had been contented to 
 break dovvn the stone bridge which traversed them, and to 
 retire within their walls. A day and a night completed its 
 reparation ; and though the besieged at the lowest estimate 
 outnumbered the besiegers in the proportion of twenty to 
 one, they looked on without venturing to oppose. The six 
 
 wUh^SSiX«"n?l"''.'iP°"")'"'^""- ^^'^^ •" '^'^'^e'-" campaigns. 
 Vol j .lift *^^S^^^"es and commissariat returns, they are for tto 
 
 !Hffc"4-'ity;au.<»»Jitfi . 
 
( 
 
 98 
 
 DANGER OF THE CAMP. 
 
 THE FIRST ASSAULT. 
 
 99 
 
 divisions passed the river in succession, and sat down before 
 the city. Too few for a regular investment, it was but a 
 single gate (probably that which is now known as Egn 
 Kapoussi) against which they were enabled to direct their 
 efforts. The position chosen for their camp was at the 
 north-western angle, between the palace of Blachernae and 
 the castle of Boemond, and here they were laboriously em- 
 ployed in bringing up their artillery, constructing their 
 works, and planting their scorpions, catapults, mangonels, 
 and perricres. Few moments could be snatched for repose, 
 for they were harassed by perpetual sallies, and they could 
 not eat, nor rest, nor sleep, except in arms. The attacks 
 were renewed six or seven times each day ; and many ot 
 them, headed by Theodore Lascaris, a son-in-hiw of the 
 emperor, who was destined to great subsequent distinction, 
 occasioned severe loss. Often, however, did they chase 
 back the Greeks under their very walls, till they were them- 
 selves forced to retreat from the volleys of stones hurled 
 upon them bv the garrison. The more effectually to secure 
 their camp, they fortified it with stout barriers and pali- 
 sades. But an enemv, carrying greater terror than the 
 swords of the Greeks, threatened to commence its inroads, 
 and their situation increased in peril every hour. They 
 dared not forage beyond four bowshots from their tents, 
 and even then only in large parties. Their fresh provisions 
 having been exhausted, they had recourse to their horses, 
 and when these had been killed, and this resource lailed 
 also, a little meal and a little salted meat now constituted 
 their whole store. Their supplies even of this kind, at the 
 commencement of this most extraordinary siege, had not 
 been calculated for more than three weeks' consumption. 
 
 Ten days out of that period had passed away ; and their 
 greatest hazard was exposure to further delay. Their 
 preparations were completed on the land side, and tlie \ ene- 
 tians were equally ready in the harbour ; so that, on the 
 momin.T of the 17th of July, four of the six divisions ad- 
 vanced from the camp, headed by the Count of Flanders and 
 his brother, the Counts of Blois and of St. Paul, whde the 
 reserve of Champagners and Burgundians, under the Mar- 
 most part vague and unsatisfactory. Villehardouin certainly implies that 
 there were at lea>t 60 i,0()0 men in Constantinople capable of beanng 
 arms. The Franks after their desertions and losses could scarcely ex- 
 ceed 20,000. 
 
 quis of Montferrat and Matthew de Montmorency, kept 
 guard over the camp. Much injury had already been suf- 
 fered by the outer wall, against which the united force of 
 not less than two hundred and fifty engines had been 
 directed ; and the ponderous stones which they were con- 
 structed to hurl had in many instances reached and de- 
 stroyed parts of the splendid architecture within the city 
 itself. Two ladders were successfully raised against a 
 barbican, defended chiefly by a band of Pisans, whom hatred 
 of Venice had attached to the emperor, and by a ruder and 
 yet more formidable battalion, celebrated in Byzantine 
 history as Varaugi, and called by Villehardouin Danes and 
 English. They were, probably, the descendants of Saxons 
 or of Anglo-Danes, who had fled from England nearly a 
 century and a half before, to escape the tyranny consequent 
 upon the Norman conquest, and who, having tendered their 
 services to the first Alexius, and given ample proofs of their 
 strength and valour, were formed into an imperial body- 
 guard as early as the year 1081. Their weapon was a pon- 
 derous battle-axe, a more than equal match for even the 
 double-handed sword of the crusaders ; yet in spite of these 
 barbarians, for such they were not unjustly considered, a 
 gallant handful of fifteen warriors, all, except two of them, 
 knights, gained the summit of the wall ; but before they 
 could be supported, the defenders rallied and drove them 
 back. Two, says Villehardouin, remained prisoners, and 
 were carried before the emperor Alexius, to his singular 
 gratification. He had not participated in the combat, but 
 looked on from the summit of a lofty tower. Many other of 
 the assailants were grievously hurt or wounded ; and the 
 attack having entirely fiiiled, the French retired to their 
 camp, broken and dispirited. 
 
 The Venetians had been far more successful. In their 
 preparations they had displayed extraordinary skill, and 
 exhausted every branch of military art then known. Their 
 decks were crowded with warlike engines, and protected 
 from the eflects of fire by a thick covering of ox-hides ; and 
 in order to gain the ramparts, they had framed rope-ladders, 
 which could be let down at will from the extremities of the 
 yard-arms, and which from their great heijiht overtopped 
 the city walls. These drawbridges, as they neared the 
 «hore, were lowered, and poured forth swarms of com- 
 
100 
 
 SUCCESS OF DANDOLO. 
 
 SALLY OF THE GREEKS. 
 
 batants upon the heads of the astonished garrison. But 
 their triumph must be told in the dramatic words of Ville- 
 hardouin. " Their vessels, marshalled in a line which ex- 
 tended more than three bowshots, began to approach the 
 towers and the wall which stretched along the shore. The 
 mangonels were planted upon the decks, and the flights of 
 arrows and quarrels were numberless ; yet those within the 
 city valiantly defended their posts. The ladders on the 
 ships approached the walls so closely, that in many places 
 it became a combat of sword and lance, and the shouts were 
 so great that they were enough to shake sea and earth ; but 
 the galleys, notwithstanding, could find no opportunity of 
 reaching the land. Now you shall hear of the dauntless 
 valour of the Duke of Venice ; who, old and blind as he 
 was, stood upon the prow of his galley, with the standard 
 of St. Mark spread before him, urging his people to push on 
 to the shore on peril of his high displeasure. By wondrous 
 exertions they ran the galley ashore, and leaping out, bore 
 the banner of St. Mark before him on the land. When the 
 Venetians saw the banner of St. Mark on the land, and that 
 their duke's galley had been the first to touch the ground, 
 they pushed on in shame and emulation ; and the men of 
 the palanders sprang to land in rivalry with each other, and 
 commenced a furious assault. And I, Geoftry de Villehar- 
 douin. Marshal of Champagne, the author of this work, 
 afl&rm, that it was asserted by more than forty persons, that 
 they beheld the banner of St. Mark planted upon one of the 
 towers, and none could tell by what hand it was planted 
 there ; at which miraculous sight the besieged fled and de- 
 serted the walls, while the invaders rushed in headlong, 
 striving who should be foremost ; seized upon twenty-five 
 of the towers, and garrisoned them with their soldiers. 
 And the duke despatched a boat with the news of his suc- 
 cess to the barons of the army, letting them know that he 
 was in possession of twenty-five towers, and in no danger 
 of being dislodged." 
 
 The invisible standard-bearer, who struck terror into the 
 besieged and animated his comrades, was probably some 
 gallant soldier, killed (like one of our own brave country- 
 men under similar circumstances on the ramparts of Serin- 
 gapatam) in the very moment of his triumph. The Vene- 
 tians, when once established, with characteristic prudence 
 
 101 
 
 secured their booty and began to send the horses and pal- 
 I treys which they had captured in boats to the camp ; and 
 
 / while they were thus employed a fresh body of Greeks re- 
 
 turned to the charge. In order to maintain their ground, 
 the \enetians set hre to the houses between themselves and 
 the approaching enemy, against whom this terrible expe- 
 dient proved an insurmountable barrier.* 
 
 To change their attack, and to press upon that portion of 
 the besiegers which had been already repulsed, was the ob- 
 vious pohcy of the Greeks ; and Alexius, in spile of his un- 
 warhke temperament, placed himself at the head of his 
 myriads and directed a sally from three gates at once, in the 
 hope of overwhelming the camp. Each of the sixty bat- 
 tahons which the Greeks brought into the field outnumbered 
 any of the six opposed to it ; and the whole plain seemed 
 ahve with armed men, who advanced slowly and in good 
 order. Had the crusaders moved forward, thev must have 
 been surrounded and swept away ; but forming before their 
 palisades, which eflectually guarded their rear, they placed 
 their line so that its flanks also were protected. The cross- 
 bowmen and archers ranged in front, the horses formed the 
 second line, and behind these were drawn up the infantry. 
 Two hundred knights, whose horses had been slauahtered 
 either for food or m battle, served that day on fool ; and 
 thus arrayed they awaited their enemies, already within bow- 
 shot. At that fearful crisis intelligence of the peril of his 
 friends was conveyed to Dandolo, and the noble-minded 
 veteran lost not a moment in abandoning the towers which 
 he had so hardly won, and in hastening to share the fate of 
 his brethren m arms. Declaring that he would live or die 
 with the pilgrims, and himself descending the first from the 
 walls, he rushed to the camp, bearing with him every hand 
 that could be spared from his fleet. Little, however, would 
 this slender reinforcement have availed, if the courage of 
 Alexius had equalled his overwhelming force. Whatever 
 might have been his own loss (for there is no doubt that the 
 Franks would have sold their lives most dearly), the total 
 destruction ot his enemies must have been the result of 
 
 «t,r ^'^T''^'' ^^'^i^s Ihat tlie Greeks and Franks muiually accused each 
 other of beinsr authors of this fire Doth \irpta* ^mH vm?K„ i ■ 
 
 tivelv atinhiitP it tn th.> v„V V ""''' ->icetas and ViHehardoum pos - 
 uyeiy atirioute it to the Venetians, in whom it is plain the last-nim/'d 
 author considers it to have been a piece of excellent geniralLiS. 
 
102 
 
 RESTORATION OF ISAAC ANGELUS. 
 
 repeated charges ; and these were urged upon him by the 
 ardour of Lascaris. Yet for a long time the opposed lines 
 gazed on each other without a movement ; the Greeks too 
 timorous to advance, the pilgrims too prudent to quit their 
 barricades. At length the emperor, despairing of success, or 
 apprehensive of disaster, gave the signal for retreat ; and 
 his steps were followed slowly and cautiously by the Latin 
 knights, astonished at this unexpected good fortune. " And 
 indeed," says the honest Villehardouin, " God never delivered 
 people from more imminent peril than that which this day 
 threatened the pilgrims, the boldest of whom rejoiced when 
 it was passed." Worn with toil and fatigue, they put off 
 their armour ; but their quarters were dreary and comfort- 
 less, they were straitened for provisions, and the danger 
 which they had just escaped must again be confronted on 
 the morrow. The Venetians, indeed, might console them- 
 selves with their glory. They had displayed the most emi- 
 nent of all military virtues, — courage, promptitude, fidelity ; 
 and, with a result which does not always accompany merit, 
 they had not only deserved success, but they had also 
 attained it. 
 
 " But behold," exclaims the pious chronicler, •* the mira- 
 cles of our Lord ! who displays them according to his plea- 
 sure." Strange rumours from the city broke the night- 
 watches of the camp, and intelligence the most joyous and 
 the most unlooked-for was confirmed at dawn. Stragglers 
 arrived, from time to time, all agreeing in the same story, 
 that the usurper, terrified by the firmness of the besiegers, 
 and, perhaps, also by the murmurs of his own citizens, had 
 collected during the night such portable treasure as he 
 could secure, a vast sum in gold, and the rich jewels of the 
 crown ; and, with his daughter Irene and a few followers 
 whom he could trust, had hastily embarked and fled to 
 Debeltos (Zagora), an obscure village in Bulgaria. The 
 fear of general anarchy, so likely to be consequent upon 
 this desertion of the throne, strongly impressed Constan- 
 tine, the chief eunuch of the palace, to whom this shameful 
 abandonment was earliest known. It was necessary to find 
 some head of the state ; and none appeared so fit, either to 
 calm intestine discord or to conciliate the enemy under the 
 walls, as the rightful but deposed prince. Isaac Angelus 
 was awakened, at midnight, in his dungeon ; and, in the 
 
 RATIFICATION OF THE TREATY. 
 
 103 
 
 messengers of his restoration to sovereignly, the sightless 
 old man most probably anticipated, though falsely, the min- 
 isters of a bloody execution. After eight years' captivity, 
 he was again invested with the imperial robes ; led by the 
 hand* (how touchingly does the single word used by Nicetas 
 imply his helplessness !) to the pilace of Blachernse, seated 
 on his former throne, and deafened afresh with protestations 
 of allegiance. The barons and the young Alexius were 
 overjoyed at this wondrous intelligence ; so wondrous as 
 at first to exceed belief. The Greeks, proverbially, were 
 little to be trusted, and caution was requisite in accepting 
 their first report. The chiefs, therefore, aw&ited its con- 
 firmation in the camp and under arms, till at length, when 
 an exchange of couriers had removed all doubt, they gave 
 way to their intense feelings of delight. Thanks were de- 
 voutly rendered by all to Heaven ; and never, says the brave 
 and sincere Marshal of Champagne, was greater joy mani- 
 fested since the creation. 
 
 Their first step was to depute an embassy to the restored 
 emperor, requiring his confirmation of the treaties entered 
 into by his son, whom, till this agreement was ratified, they 
 detained as a hostage. Matthew de Montmorency, Ville- 
 hardouin, and two Venetian knights were commissioned 
 for this service. The ambassadors, being conducted to the 
 walls, alighted from their horses, and found the Danes and 
 the English, with their axes, ranged from the gate to the 
 palace of Blachern.'E. There they beheld the emperor 
 Isaac, attired in such splendour as to dazzle their imagina- 
 tion ; the empress, a most fair lady, the daughter of the 
 King of Hungary, sat beside him ; and there were such 
 crowds of high lords and noble dames, clothed in magnificent 
 vesture, that there was scarcely room to pass ; for all those 
 who yesterday were the emperor's enemies, were now become 
 the most submissive of his friends. 
 
 They were received with courtesy, and admitted to a pri- 
 vate audience. In this conference Villehardouin, who was 
 spokesman, urged the ratification of the treaty, at the es- 
 pecial suit of the young prince who had entered into it. 
 " W^hat are the terms ]" inquired the emperor ; and he heard, 
 for the ^st time, of spiritual submission to the Roman see, 
 
 •' Itw*. ^ VI *^ > 
 
 jsiSt3u»tM»e^xSsaiSiiHatMk%i^7i,<tiM 
 
104 
 
 EMBARRASSMENT OF THE GREEKS. 
 
 and the payment of 200,000 marks. " This covenant," he 
 replied, " is of no trifling importance, nor do I see how we 
 shall be able to fultil it. But you have so well deserved both 
 of him and me, that if we were to give you the whole em- 
 pire, it would not exceed your merits." This said, he for- 
 mally assented to the treaty, and appended to it the golden 
 seal of the empire. On the notification of this event in the 
 camp, the barons conducted the young Alexius, with much 
 pomp, into Constantinople, where the light populace received 
 their banished prince and their foeman of yesterday with 
 loud testimonies of joy. The emperor possessed too accu- 
 rate acquaintance with the fickle disposition of his country- 
 men to confide in these outward signs of amity ; and as a 
 •wise precaution, he earnestly implored the barons, and 
 even his son, to shift their present quarters and to reoccupy 
 Stenon ; thus interposing the bay between their troops and 
 the citizens ; and by lessening their opportunities of com- 
 munication, at the same time diminishing the chances of 
 quarrel. 
 
 The coronation of the joint emperors (for Alexius became 
 associated with his father) was celebrated on the 1st of 
 August ; and as soon as this day of pageantry (the ceremo- 
 nials of which are minutely described by Ramusio*) had 
 closed, they sought means of discharging their heavy debt 
 to the Latins. The imperial treasury, well nigh exhausted 
 by the profuse luxuries of the late usurper in the first in- 
 stance, and afterward by his plunder, in the moment of 
 flight, could afford but a scanty pittance towards the fearful 
 amount of 200,000 marks. But the property of such as 
 were known to have supported the fallen Alexius was con- 
 fiscated; his empress Euphrosyne, whom he had aban- 
 doned, was stripped of her jewels ; the plate and conse- 
 crated vessels of the churches were melted down, and the 
 holy images despoiled of their ornaments. A first instal- 
 ment was thus raised amid the curses of the people from 
 whom it was torn ; and the barons, on receiving it, faith- 
 fully restored to each of their followers the sum advanced 
 by him at Venice for his passage. Other causes, besides 
 fi "^*^^6"shment, contributed to inflame the animosity 
 Of the Greeks against the strangers, and to weaken what- 
 
 * Lib. ii. p. 92, &c. 
 
 FOLLIES OF ALEXIUS. 
 
 105 
 
 I 
 
 «ver attachment they might feel for the restored emperors. 
 The princes lived in disunion. Troops of knavish astrolo- 
 gers found encouragement from the imbecility of Isaac An- 
 gelus, and his palace was thronged with fiiwning and para- 
 sitical monks, " a long-bearded and God-hated train," for 
 whom Nicetas, who so styles them, expresses yet greater 
 abhorrence than for the pretenders to divination. By these 
 joint impostors the doting fancy of the impotent old man 
 was amused with predictions of renovated bodily vigour and 
 -extended political dominion. He believed that he was to 
 become repossessed of sight, to cast oflT his other infirmi- 
 ties, as the snake disencumbers himself from his slough, and 
 to arise in rejuvenescence, more like a god than a man. 
 The sceptres of both empires were to be grasped by his 
 single hand, and in his person was to be displayed the mag- 
 nificence of universal sovereignty. From some absurd belief 
 in the potency of talismans, he removed from the hippo- 
 drome to his palace an image of the Caledonian boar, the 
 presence of which near his person he fancied to be a sure 
 preventive of sedition. The populace, more pardonable 
 for their superstition, about the same time, destroyed a 
 colossal statue of Minerva, whose arm, extending towards 
 the west, was supposed to have beckoned the invaders. 
 Inflated by his idle hopes, Isaac Angelus could ill brook the 
 partner with whom, in the first moments of liberty, he had 
 consented to share his throne ; and in the ambition or the 
 thoughtlessness of his son he hourly discovered countless 
 objects of jealousy. The Greeks also found in him no less 
 obvious defects. Of his person Nicetas speaks with bitter 
 contempt ; likening his face, perhaps red and swollen with 
 intemperance, to that of some fire-breathing spirit, or " the 
 incendiary angel." The manners of the Latins were alien 
 from those of Constantinople ; and the young prince, owing 
 to his long intercourse with foreigners, adopted customs and 
 permitted freedoms which his severer countrymen regarded, 
 perhaps not unjustly, as degrading the majesty of the purple. 
 They mourned to see the representative of the Cesars sur- 
 rounded by loose associates, whom he raised to his own 
 level, or rather to whose baseness he descended, by par- 
 taking their games of chance and boisterous revelry. And 
 when, in an unseemly frolic, one of his boon companions 
 snatched the golden diadem from the imperial head, and 
 
106 FRESH PROPOSALS TO THE CRUSADERS. 
 
 exchanged it for the coarse woollen cap by which his own 
 was covered, they may be forgiven if they considered the 
 latter as most lit to circle the brows of their unprincely 
 sovereign. 
 
 So evident were their feelings of discontent, that Alexius 
 contemplated with dismay the approaching departure of 
 those to whom he not only owed the possession of his 
 crown, but upon whose continued presence he chiefly rehed 
 for maintaining it ; and in order to secure this object, he 
 commenced a fresh negotiation. Not concealing that he 
 was so bitterly hated that if they quitted him he should 
 perhaps lose both his empire and his life, he proposed that 
 their stay should be prolonged till the following March. 
 For this extension of service he promised to pay the whole 
 subsidy now due to the Venetians, and to continue the 
 association for another year by a new grant. All supplies 
 needed for the army should be furnished by him while they 
 remained ; his revenues during that period would enable 
 him to discharge his whole debt ; his navy would be equipped 
 and his army recruited, to accompany them to the Holy 
 Land ; and, instead of a winter's voyage, they would have 
 the entire summer before them for their campaign. 
 
 To accede to this proposal was to postpone yet longer the 
 original and avowed object of the Christian armament, 
 whose proceedings had been hitherto no more than episodes 
 to the great action for which it had been associated. The 
 holy see would assuredly condemn the delay, and yet, 
 since their late success, even the Venetians had sought and 
 gained its spiritual favour. Without humiliation, with 
 scarcely an acknowledgment of disobedience, and certainly 
 without any atonement for it, they had asked absolution, 
 and had received it.* The reply of the legate whom they 
 addressed sufficiently shows the straits to which his court 
 was reduced by the unbending indifference of this haughty 
 republic : " I absolve you," he wrote, " though you have in 
 nowise tendered satisfaction for your sin; for it is better 
 that I should retain you lame and halt, than lose you as 
 altogether dead ; and your leprosy, if permitted to continue, 
 may grow contagious, and infect others." In spite of this 
 ungracious pardon, Dandolo, whose sagacity foresaw, in a 
 
 ♦ Gesta. Innocentii iii 91, apud Muratori, iii. 
 
 FIRE IN CONSTANTINOPLE. 
 
 107 
 
 I 
 
 prolonged connexion with Constantinople, much chance of 
 increasing the commercial prosperity of his country, and of 
 consolidating establishments now in their infancy, but little 
 hesitated once again to incur the papal displeasure ; and 
 chiefly through the Venetian influence in the council, the 
 terms of Alexius were accepted. The doge received his 
 price by payment of the freight of his vessels ; and the 
 spirit of traffic spreading through the camp, the Marquis 
 of Montferrat engaged to accompany the young emperor, 
 with a great band of men-at-arms, in order to subdue the 
 Thracian provinces which still opposed his succession : 
 1600 pounds of gold purchased this assistance, and it was 
 not dearly bought ; for, wherever the confederates appeared, 
 the Greeks thronged to proffer their allegiance. 
 
 During the absence of this expedition, the jealousy be- 
 tween the Greeks and Latins was bitterly exasperated by 
 the occurrence of a horrible calamity. Villehardouin, either 
 ignorant of its real cause or willing to conceal the violence 
 of his comrades, states that an affray arose between the 
 Franks and the citizens, and that, during their quarrel, a 
 fire was occasioned by unknown persons. Nicetas is more 
 particular, and he speaks of a troop of Flemings, Pisans, 
 and Venetians, which assaulted and plundered a place of 
 worship, named Mitatus, belonging to the Saracens. The 
 owners defended it, and were assisted by the Greeks ; and 
 in revenge the rioters fired some adjoining houses. Be the 
 truth as it may, and there is no improbability in the account 
 given by Nicetas, neither by him nor by Villehardouin is 
 any authority afforded for the misplaced sneer with which 
 Gibbon has related the transaction. The fires in Constan- 
 tinople, from its foundation to the present hour, have far 
 exceeded in devastation and extent those occurring in any 
 other great city ; but all, says Nicetas, that ever happened 
 were as nothing in comparison with this. No power of 
 man could extinguish or even check it. The barons, 
 encamped on the opposite side of the port, watched the 
 progress of the wide-spreading blaze with alarm and trouble ; 
 palaces and churches sank in ashes to the ground, and 
 whole streets, piled with the costliest merchandise, fell a 
 prey to the insatiate greediness of the flames. From the 
 harbour they stretched, through the most crowded districts 
 of the city, across the entire peninsula to the very opposite 
 
 j^^smJrnmwtw* 
 
108 
 
 MURMURS OF THE GREEKS. 
 
 sea. The stately domes of Sta. Sophia were enJangereJ, 
 and during eight days the raging of the fierce element 
 baffled all human efforts, presenting a front of fire which 
 extended more than three miles in length. The loss of 
 property and of lives forbade all estimate ; and in order to 
 escape both from the conflagration and the fury of the suf- 
 ferers, who, whether justly or otherwise, fixed upon the 
 Latins as the authors of their misfortune, fifteen thousand 
 settlers, the descendants of families who had domiciled in 
 Constantinople and had enjoyed great privileges ever since 
 the reign of Manuel, abandoned their dwellings, crossed 
 the Golden Horn, and threw themselves on the protection 
 of the pilgrims. Among these were numerous Pisans, who, 
 in this necessity, forgot their national jealousy against 
 Venice. From that hour, mutual suspicion was aroused 
 between the Greeks and Latins ; confidence was at an end, 
 and the equalizing commercial arrangements which had 
 placed both nations on a par where wholly destroyed. 
 
 Alexius returned from his successful campaign in No- 
 vember, apparently more to the joy of his allies than of his 
 subjects. Nevertheless, towards the former his relations 
 had undergone material change. The murmurs of the 
 Greeks were loud, for severe exactions to glut the rapacity 
 of ambiguous friends had reduced them to poverty ; their 
 city had been fired by barbarians ; and, above all, their 
 feelings had been wounded in the tcnderest point, by a vio- 
 lation of their religion. The walls of Sta. Sophia had 
 been profaned by a declaration of the supremacy of a foreign 
 priest, and their native patriarch had been compelled to 
 announce from the depth of his own sanctuary that the 
 head of that abomination, the Western heresy, was the 
 legitimate successor of St. Peter. On the other hand, the 
 barons complained, no less impatiently, of the tardy ftilfil- 
 ment of the brilliant promises which had induced their stay ; 
 and they were ill inclined to make allowances for the dis- 
 tress, created in great part by themselves, which rendered 
 their payments irregular and deficient. Upon the motive* 
 which guided the conduct of Alexius it is impossible to 
 decide, but they were probably of a mixed nature. Even 
 if his wishes inclined towards his benefactors, the very 
 inability which he felt to discharge his debt of gratitude 
 might awaken shame ; and he might, under this conscious- 
 
 f 
 
 i 
 
 COLDNESS OF ALEXIUS. 
 
 109 
 
 ness, be unwilUng for the present to renew his hitherto 
 familiar intercourse. Or, again, a belief that his power had 
 struck deep root, and that he no longer nee<led the support 
 on which he had heretofore leaned, might prompt him to 
 throw aside that assistance which now, in his confirmed 
 strength, he regarded but as an encumbrance. To strengthen 
 these suggestions, the insidious counsels of a favourite and 
 a kinsman were not wanting; and he who most loudly 
 denounced the Franks was one who well knew how to reap 
 profit from the quarrel, if he could but excite it. This false 
 friend was Alexius Angelus Ducas, better known in history 
 by the sobriquet Mourtzouphlus,* denoting the black and 
 shaggy eyebrows which met each other on his forehead. 
 He IS beheved to have been second cousin to the emperor, 
 and this connexion with the imperial blood, joined to his 
 high dignity of prutavestiare, afforded ample opportunities, 
 which he was far too politic to neglect, of poisoning the ears 
 of his sovereigns. Whether from necessity or compulsion, 
 from imbecility or ingratitude, Alexius became cold, distant, 
 and reserved to his former intimates. His visits to the camp 
 were brief and unfrequent ; his payments, at first wruna 
 from him with difficulty and inadequate to the demands of 
 his creditors, in the end wholly ceased. To the remon- 
 strances of the Marquis of Montferrat, who still retained 
 near access to his person, he exhibited inattention or impa- 
 tience. The theme, indeed, could be little grateful ; and 
 upbraidings for wrongs which he wanted ability to redress, 
 memorials of unrequited services, and reproaches for pitiful 
 evasions of plighted faith, were subjects as novel as thoy 
 were unvyelcome in the audience-chamber of a despot of 
 Constantinople. The unhappy youth was beset on all 
 hands with difficulties ; and they were of intricacy sufficient 
 to entangle, and of weight calculated to overwhehn, even a 
 firmer and more veteran politician. 
 
 The crusaders were not of a temper to be thus idly 
 amused. The doge and barons met in council ; and the 
 result of their deliberations aflbrds one of the most strildnrr 
 
 O 
 
 • It is not easy to u aravel the etymology of the name of Mourtzouphlus. 
 We have followed Nicetas, ds h rov awcaraiT^ai rdg d(l>pvs, Kai o}op r<.?f 
 6^&aAuoig fmKpfuna^at, ttoo? twv (niv£(pn(iiav cnu)v6^a<^o M/Jpriow^Aws. 
 Ihe transition trom this reafion to the name it«jelf is an intricate one ; 
 but that which we find in Gtmthcr is yet more so, qui Murtiphlo, id est 
 floH cordis, m gente ilia vocal/at ur. {Hiat. Constant, n. 8.) 
 
 Vol. I. — K 
 
 iM&s^&ai'i 
 
 "SJST' 
 
110 BOLD REMONSTRANCE OF THE CRUSADERS. 
 
 incidents in this history of wonders. They resolved, that 
 the emperor, as lie would not fulfil his covenant, was there- 
 fore unworthy of behef ; that, as a last hope of reclaiming 
 him, they would depute sufficient ambassadors to require 
 the execution of the treaty, and to remind him of the service 
 which they had performed ; that if he intended to act justly, 
 it were well ; if not, that they should defy him in the name 
 of all. Upon this most perilous and daring enterprise (as 
 indeed upon all others of similar character), this bearding 
 of the emperor in his own palace, Villehardouin was per- 
 sonally employed ; and the extraordinary scene which he 
 witnessed would be robbed of its deep interest if paraphrased 
 from his own simple and energetic relation. " Conon de 
 Bethune, Geoffrey de Villehardouin the Marshal of Cham- 
 pagne, and Miles de Brabant were chosen ambassadors ; 
 and the Duke of Venice deputed three of his chief coun- 
 sellors. These nobles, having mounted their horses, their 
 swords girt on, rode together to the palace of Blachernse ; 
 though, from the habitual treachery of the Greeks, it was 
 no trifling danger they encountered. Having alighted at 
 the gate and entered the palace, they found the emperor 
 Alexius and his father the emperor Isaac seated together 
 on two thrones. Near them was the empress, the sister of 
 the King of Hungary and mother-in-law of Alexius, a goodly 
 and virtuous lady. Numbers of powerful lords were pres- 
 ent, and the court shone with more than the usual lustre. 
 By desire of the other ambassadors, the wise and eloquent 
 Conon de Bethune spoke first : * Sir,' said he, * v^^e are 
 deputed to you by the Duke of Venice and by the barons of 
 the host, to remind you of what they have done for you, 
 which, indeed, is sufficiently apparent to all mankind. You 
 and your father have sworn to perform faithfully the 
 covenant which you had made with them ; your letters- 
 patent to that purpose are in their possession ; but, though 
 you have often been called upon, you have not fulfilled that 
 treaty as you were bound to do ; and we again summon 
 you, in the presence of your lords, to perform all that is 
 stipulated between you and them. If you do so, all may 
 be well ! if you refuse, know, that from this hour they 
 renounce you both as their lord and friend, and will pursue 
 you to utter extremity. But they would have you to know 
 that treason is not their practice, nor the fashion of their 
 
 HOSTILITIES COMMENCED. 
 
 Ill 
 
 country, nor do tliey make war upon you or nny one with- 
 out first sending an open defiance. This is our errand ; 
 you must decide according to your pleasure.' The Greeks 
 were exceedingly surprised and incensed at this defiance, 
 saying, that none before had dared to defy the Emperor of 
 Constantinople in his own palace. Alexius also teslified 
 the utmost displeasure at the ambassadors, as did all the 
 Greek lords, who had fonncrly been their friends. The 
 tumult within was very great, but the ambassadors, turning 
 round, reached the gate and immediately mounted their 
 horses. As soon as they were beyond the gate, they con- 
 gratulated themselves upon their extraordinary escape ; for 
 it was a mercy that they were not murdered or imprisoned. 
 On their return to the camp, they related how they had sped 
 to the barons." 
 
 The commencement of hostilities was immediate, and a 
 war of unintermitted skirmishes ensued, in which the 
 Franks were for the most part successful. Midwinter 
 arrived without any decisive advantage on either side, when 
 a bold attempt of the Greeks nearly entailed the most 
 frightful consequences upon their enemies. The Venetian 
 fleet, at anchor in the port, was alarmed one midnight by 
 the appearance of huge floating masses of fire, which 
 covered the whole breadth of the gulf, and rapidly ap- 
 proached their station. The troops ran to arms, and the 
 ships were speedily manned from shore. Meantime, the 
 cause of alarm was ascertained, and it was seen that 
 seventeen large hulks, filled with combustibles, had been 
 fired by the Greeks, and left to drift upon the hostile arma- 
 ment by a favourable wind. But for the courage and skill 
 of the Venetians, all had been lost ; the fleet would have 
 been destroyed, and the army, unable to disengage itself, 
 either by sea or land, must have perished, slowly and 
 miserably. Leaping into their boats, or, as Ramusio has 
 stated, probably with a little exaggeration, into the blazing 
 vessels themselves, the intrepid mariners grappled the fire- 
 ships with long hooks ; dragged them out of the port, in 
 defiance of the Greeks who manned the walls on the southern 
 shore ; and, towing them into the main current of the Pro- 
 pontis, sent them, still burning, down the straits. The 
 ramp continued in arms during the remainder of the night, 
 but no further attempt was made to disturb its repose, and the 
 
112 DETHRONEMENT AND DEATH OF THE ANGELI. 
 
 only loss sustained from this great peril was that of a single 
 Pisan merchantman. 
 
 Meantime, Constantinople was a prey to the most dia- 
 ^ ^ trading anarchy. The unworthiness of the reigning 
 1204 P^"^^® ^^^ been sedulously exposed to public scorn 
 and hatred by the intrigues of Mourtzouphlus, whose 
 own valour, a quality which he possessed in eminence, had 
 been as conspicuously displayed in some fortunate encounters. 
 His designs were in part successful ; little skill was want- 
 ing to cast the tottering Angeli from their throne ; and the 
 chief difficulty was to substitute himself in their place. 
 That he was the fomenter of a conspiracy by which the 
 citizens were induced to surround Sta. Sophia, and to 
 clamour loudly for the election of a new emperor, seems 
 beyond dispute ; yet, strange as it may appear, in the divi- 
 sions which ensued, and among the numerous persons of 
 »11 ranks upon whose acceptance the crown was pressed, 
 and by whom it was rejected, even at the peril of their 
 lives, for it was tendered on the sword's point, his name 
 was forgotten. After three days' suspense, one puppet was 
 raised to unsubstantial sovereignty, and Nicolas Canabus, 
 having been saluted emperor, upon compulsion, prefaced a 
 life of imprisonment by a few hours of nominal sway. 
 Alexius, alarmed for his personal safety, commenced a 
 secret negotiation with the Latins, in which he agreed to 
 admit their troops into the palace ; and having intrusted 
 this design to Mourtzouphlus, he thus opened to him the 
 path long coveted by his ambition. Mourtzouphlus revealed 
 the secret to the eunuch Constantine and to the Varangian 
 body-guard ; and having shaken their fidelity by showing 
 how much it was mistrusted by their master, he burst into 
 the chamber of Alexius at midnight, and awoke him with 
 the alarming intelligence of a design of immediate assassi- 
 nation. His own kinsmen and the Varangi were announced 
 as the insurgents ; the discovery of his compact with the 
 Latins was assigned as the cause of their fury. A secret 
 door opened on passages which promised concealment ; and 
 the affrighted prince, confiding in the traitor for his deliver- 
 ance, after traversing the remoter apartments of his palace 
 to an obscure pavilion, was hurried in fetters to a dungeon. 
 A few da-ys closed his checkered and inglorious life ; poison 
 was administered more than once, but ineffectually, and his 
 
 ENERGY OF MOURTZOUPHLUS. 
 
 113 
 
 miseries were terminated by the bowstring. No violence 
 was requisite to bring to an end the shattered being of his 
 blind and wretched parent. Grief, terror, and infirmity 
 prevented the necessity of another deed of blood ; and 
 Isaac Angelus saiik to the grave shortly after his second 
 deposition. 
 
 The murder of Alexius was soon known in the camp, 
 notwithstanding the efforts of Mourtzouphlus to conceal it 
 by reports of his natural death, by splendid obsequies, and 
 by an affectation of sorrow. Yet, before the news of the 
 demise of this prince had been spread abroad, the barons, 
 but for the precaution of Dandolo, might have fallen victims 
 to a snare spread for them by the usurper. They were 
 invited to the city in the name of Alexius, under the promise 
 of a final adjustment of their debt, and of large additional 
 proofs of imperial bounty ; but the doge suspected the arti- 
 fice ; and, by prevailing upon his confederates not too 
 hastily to accede to the offer, he preserved them from a 
 treacherous massacre. On discovery of the events which 
 had occurred, the crusaders burned with resentment ; and 
 in the remembrance that the deceased prince had once been 
 their friend and comrade, they forgot his more recent aliena- 
 tion from their society and interests. Their eagerness to 
 avenge his death was stimulated by the unanimous voice of 
 the ecclesiastics, who for the first time approved the war 
 against Constantinople. They pronounced that the mur- 
 derer was incapacitated from succeeding to any heritage ; 
 and that all who were privy to his crime were alike acces- 
 saries and heretics. War against all such was just and 
 lawful ; and if the doge and the barons had a sincere inten- 
 tion of conquering the land and restoring it to the Catholic 
 church, all who died in that good cause, repentant of their 
 sins, should enjoy the full benefit of the pardons which the 
 apostle of Rome had granted. This discourse, we are 
 assured, was very comfortable to the barons and pilgrims. 
 
 The winter was, for the most part, employed in prepara- 
 tions on both sides. The Greeks could no longer complain 
 of want of energy in their emperor ; and Mourtzouphlus 
 amply proved that he would defend with bravery the throne 
 which he had not scrupled to win by crime. He replenished 
 the exhausted treasury, established strict discipline among 
 the disorganized troops, repaired the shattered fortifications, 
 
 K2 
 
? 
 
 114 
 
 DEFEAT OF MOURTZOUPHLUS. 
 
 and by continued application both of threats and encourage- 
 ment, sought to inspire tlio timid citizens with some por- 
 tion of his own courage. Bearing an iron mace in his 
 hand, he daily visited the chief posts, and while thus recruit- 
 in <t his means for war, he did not neglect the chances of 
 pacific negotiation. The barons would have treated, and 
 their demand for peace was fifty thousand pounds of gold, 
 about two millions sterling. Dandolo was intrusted with 
 the arrangement of the terms, and a conference was held 
 between the adverse chiefs, which sufficiently betokens their 
 mutual distrust. The emperor appeared on horseback on 
 the shore ; the doge remained in his galley ; and Nicetas 
 affirms that the parley was interrupted by a treacherous 
 attempt of the Latin cavalry to surprise Mourtzouphlus. 
 Be this as it may, hostilities were recommenced ; a second 
 attempt to destroy the fleet of the invaders by fire proved 
 as unavailing as the first ; and in a sally which the empe- 
 ror afterward headed in person, he was repulsed with no 
 less disgrace than loss. Henry, Count Baldwin's brother, 
 was returning, after a brilliant foray, from the shores of the 
 Euxine ; the rich spoil of Phile, a Thracian town which he 
 had stormed, was the recompense of his valour ; and his 
 knights joyously and perhaps carelessly were escorting 
 homeward such portions of their booty as had not been 
 already transmitted to the camp. Apprized of these move- 
 ments, the emperor advanced by night, and posting in am- 
 buscade a much superior force upon their line of march, he 
 allowed the main body of the Franks to pass unmolested 
 with its plunder, nor attacked them until the rear began to 
 be entangled in a wood. Changing their front, the Latin 
 knights stood firm ; and the Greeks, ill-prepared for such 
 unexpected resistance, were panic-stricken and fled, while 
 twenty chiefs of distinction were killed or made prisoners ; 
 and but for the fleetness of his horse the emperor himself 
 would have been captured. He did not escape without the 
 unknightly abandonment of his shield, his chariot of arms, 
 and his imperial banner ;* and in the loss of another, and a 
 
 * Chiptitm. abjecit is the brief expression of Count Baldwin, in his 
 letter to ttie pope. Villehardouin says that Mourt/ouphlus lost ses chars 
 d'armes, et pnrdi smi gonfnnon imperial, et une ancone qiCil faisoit. 
 porter de\iant Jui, mi il sefioit nuyidt, il et li autre Ore. En die ancone 
 ire Nostre-Dame formre (119). By the chars cTarmes, Ramusio, among 
 others, understands the carroecio, which Ducange, however, thinks was 
 
 
 i ii 
 
IIG 
 
 TREATY BETWEEN THE CRUSADERS. 
 
 more venerated standard on the same field, the superstitious 
 f Jreeks beheld an evil omen for the future contest. The 
 victories of the Comneni hatl been ascribed to the influence 
 of a sacred ensign which, besides the propitious image of 
 the Virgin, bore other relics of immeasurable sanctity. A 
 portion of the lance which pierced the Saviour while on the 
 cross, and a tooth shed by him in his childhood, were among 
 these treasures ; and the Icania, like the Laharum of Con- 
 stantine, had invariably marked the path of triumph. This 
 trophy was, in the first instance, presented to the Order of 
 Cistercians, and by purchase or by some of those other less 
 expensive processes through which, as we have before seen, 
 the Venetians were accustomed to supply their reliquaries, 
 it was afterward transferred to Dandolo.* It was deposited 
 in the treasury of St. Mark, whence, on festivals more espe- 
 cially dedicated to the honour of the Virgin, it was borne 
 to the high altar, amid a blaze of lighted tapers and a throng 
 of ministering priests, as a proud monument of national 
 renown. 
 
 Lent was near at hand before the preparations of the 
 besiegers were sufficiently advanced to render an assault 
 practicable ; and of the assured confidence with which it 
 was then undertaken they have left a record to which his- 
 tory presents no parallel. Had they not succeeded, it would 
 for ever have risen up against their memories as a signal 
 record of overweening presumption ; but coupled with their 
 triumphs, it as signally displays the poUtical wisdom and 
 sagacity of Dandolo, to whom there can be little doubt 
 it must be mainly ascribed. In order to prevent dissension 
 after the city should be taken, it was resolved in a parlia- 
 ment of the barons, held before it was attacked, that they 
 would observe the following agreement. — The whole spoil 
 was to be collected and shared according to stipulated pro- 
 portions. Six French and six Venetian electors should be 
 
 unknown to the Byzantine military establishment. He believes it to 
 have been the emperor'a baggage. In the text we have literally trans- 
 lated the tenn used by Villehardouin. 
 
 * Baldwin, in his letter to the pope, says, quam Ordini Cisterciensi 
 nnstri dedicavere victores. Gibbon remarks, that if the banner shown 
 at Venice be genuine, " the pious doge must have cheated the monks of 
 Citeaux." Ramusio makes it fall honestly to the share of his coun- 
 trymen. Ea cum Dandulo Duci in rerum divisione sorte obtigisset. 
 (iii. p. 113.) 
 
 
 SECOND SIEGE OF CONSTANTINOPLE. 
 
 117 
 
 chosen for the important task of nominating an emperor, 
 for Mourtzouphlus was to cease to reign. Upon the prince 
 thus appointed should be conferred a fourth part of the capi- 
 tal and of the provinces, together with the palaces of Bu- 
 coleon and Blachernae. The remainder, having been appor- 
 tioned into two parts, should be equally divided between the 
 French and the Venetians. Lastly, four-and-twenty of the 
 most experienced pilgrims, half French and half Venetians, 
 should allot the fiefs and honours among their respective 
 countrymen, and determine the feudal service to be paid for 
 them to the emperor.* This extraordinary treaty was 
 ratified and sworn to in forms the most solemn which could 
 be devised, and excommunication was denounced as the 
 penalty against any one who should infringe its terms. That 
 its provisions were afterward completed to the letter is even 
 more deserving of wonder than that they were previously 
 stipulated. 
 
 The events of the former siege, and the difl^erent fortunes 
 which the assailants had respectively encountered, induced 
 a material change in the plan of the new attack. It was 
 no longer thought advisable that the city should be invested 
 by land ; but that the joint force of the allies should be con- 
 centrated in one great naval eflfort. The difficulties of ap- 
 proach from the port had been in some degree increased ; 
 but the remembrance that the Venetians had once already 
 triumphed on those walls removed all doubt of sunilar glory 
 from the sanguine anticipation of the French. The ram- 
 
 * The treaty is given at length by Dandolo, x. 3. 32. a-pvd Muratori, 
 xii. 323. The passage in it relative to the distribution of the spoil is, aa 
 f^r as we understand it, at variance with the actual distribution which, 
 as we shall see by-and-by, took place. The following are the words of 
 the Venetian copy of the tripartite instrument, and their discrepancy 
 from Villehardouin's text has not, as we believe, been noticed heretofore. 
 After stating that the whole booty is to be deposited in common, the 
 treaty proceeds— rfe quo tamen havere nobis et hominibns ?iostris Venetis 
 tres partes debetit solvi, pro illo ut havere quod Alexins quondam 
 imperator, nobis et vobis solvere tenebatur. Quartam vero partem vobis 
 retinere debetis, donee fuerimvs ipsd solutione cocBquales. Si aittetn 
 aliquid residuatum fuerit, per medietatem inter nos etvos dividere, 
 usquedum fuerimus appaXiati. Si vero minus fuerit, ita quod non 
 possit sufficere ad memoratum debitum persolvendum, uridecunque 
 fuerit prius dictum havere acquisitum, ex eo dtbemus dictum, ordinem 
 observare. Hence it would appear, that, instead of there being an equal 
 division, the Venetians in the very outset were to receive three-fourths 
 ot the whole. 
 
 I i 
 
118 
 
 REPULSE OF THE LATINS. 
 
 parts might have been heightened, and the towers crowned 
 with loftier galleries of more numerous stages ; but what 
 were a few feet more or less to spirits resolved on victory 1 
 To detail the attack which followed would he a needless 
 repetition ; for, in all but its event, it bore a close resem- 
 blance to that which we have already related. Each divi- 
 sion embarked in its own vessels, and the strictest order was 
 preserved in the separate distribution of ships, galleys, and 
 palanders, throuTh a line of more than half a league in 
 extent. On the morning of the 9th of April, they approached 
 that quarter of the city which the fire had most severely 
 ravaged, between the palace of Blachemae and the monas 
 tery of Euergetes. In many places the pilgrims leaped 
 ashore and charged up to the very walls, protected by shields 
 of ampler size and stronger fabric than those they bore m 
 common, to ward the destructive missiles from above. In 
 other spots, the ladders of the ships were brought so near 
 that those who mounted them and the soldiers who defended 
 the walls and towers, fought hand to hand with their lances. 
 About noon, after unavailing attempts in more than a hun- 
 dred places, those who had landed were driven back with 
 much slaughter to their ships, and the fleet was compelled 
 
 to draw off. 
 
 Defeated but not discouraged, the barons held a council 
 on the same evening, in the church of Ss. Cosrtio and Da- 
 miano. Some dejection and much variety of opinions 
 might naturally be expected ; and it was proposed to assault 
 afresh, but in a different quarter, on the side of the Pro- 
 pontis, where the fortifications were less strong. To such 
 a plan Dandolo strenuously objected that the well-known 
 current would bear the ships down the strait, so that they 
 could not be brought to the walls. By some, as Villehar- 
 douin confesses, no other consummation was more devoutly 
 sighed for. " Truly there were many who in their hearts 
 v/ished the winds and waves might carry away the fleet, 
 they cared not whither, so that they might quit that coun- 
 try and return to their homes. It was a natural desire, 
 for the dangers were very great." To a chronicler thus 
 frank in his avowals, it is not easy to refuse implicit confi- 
 dence. 
 
 In the end it was decided that another effort should be 
 renewed against the same spot, with this change of tactics* 
 
 SECOND ASSAULT. 
 
 119 
 
 that, as the force on each tower far exceeded that which 
 any single ship could bring against it, the vessels should 
 be linked in pairs together, in order that their crews might 
 thus, perhaps, obtain a numerical superiority. Two days' 
 repose was granted to the wearied troops ; and on the fol- 
 lowing Monday they again armed and crossed the gulf. 
 Mourtzouphlus, meantime, elated by his successful defence, 
 had pitched his tents near the monastery Pantetoptes ; and 
 the imperial pavilion, glowing with its purple tapestries, 
 crowned the summit of a hill, whence the anxious emperor, 
 no idle gazer like his unwarlikc predecessor, but fulfilling 
 all the charges of an able general, marshalled his troops, 
 distributed his orders, observed the changes of the fight, 
 and regulated his defence accordingly. The whole fore- 
 noon was passed, as before, in bloody and undecisive com- 
 bat ; and if fortune inclined cither way, it was, perhaps, in 
 favour of the Greeks. Towards midday, " the Lord raised 
 a northerly wind which drove the ships nearer shore." At 
 that moment, two galleys of happy omen, the Pilgrim and 
 the Paradise (they were freighted with the holy burden of 
 the Bishops of Troyes and Soissons), bore down together 
 against one tower. Though linked,* they touched it on 
 opposite sides, " as God and the winds directed." The 
 bridges were lowered from the yards, and in an instant, 
 almost before they rested upon the battlements, a knight 
 sprang forward upon each of them. They were followed 
 by countless others, and the tower was gained. In this 
 distuiguished act of gallantry, the French and the Vene- 
 tians were equal sharers. Andre d'Urboise survived for an- 
 other field, but Pietro Alberto was less fortunate ; he was 
 mortally wounded, on the very ramparts which he had won, 
 by a Frank, who in the heat of battle mistook him for an 
 enemy. 
 
 Four other towers were speedily scaled from the shore ; 
 three gates were forced, and the knights, mounting their 
 horses, dashed forward through the city to the emperor's 
 pavilion. Mourtzouphlus had prepared for their reception, 
 but his bold designs were feebly seconded ; and the terror 
 of the Greeks may be learned from their own historian, 
 
 ♦ Villeliardouin (127) positively asserts that the ships were linked. 
 Ramusio, on what authority we know not, separates them. Baldwin, 
 in his letter Xoiiocent, expressly writes, Duo: naves pariter colUgat<z. 
 
 i 
 
 ill 
 
 ?:i 
 
* 
 
 120 
 
 FLIGHT OF MOURTZOUrHLUS. 
 
 who speaks of a single warrior, of dimensions more than 
 human, aspiring to no less a height than eighteen yards, 
 and bearing on his brows a casque high as a turreted city, 
 who penetrated to the tent of the emperor. It can be no 
 wonder that the imperial guards fled before a monster so 
 portentous ; and of those who could credit such a tale, it 
 may be in turn bcUeved, on the authority of Count Bald- 
 win, that a hundred were scattered by one. Unable to 
 maintain himself, the emperor retired to Bucoleon, while 
 the Latins poured in at every quarter, and in each were 
 victorious. The gate of Blachemse was choked with fugi- 
 tives, and of the wounded and the dead there was neither 
 end nor measure. Night alone checked the slaughter and 
 pursuit, and as it fell the pilgrims gathered in the great 
 square, overjoyed at the unexpected extent of their success, 
 and not yet aware of all its wonders. The city abounded 
 with strongholds in its churches and palaces ; of the tem- 
 per of its dense population the conquerors were as yet 
 without experience; resistance might still be designed; 
 and on these accounts, with wise precaution, they distri- 
 buted their stations near the walls. It should not be for- 
 gotten, and it was doubtless received as an omen at the 
 time, that on the first night of his conquest of Constanti- 
 nople, Baldwin of Flanders slept in the pavilion which the 
 emperor had abandoned. 
 
 The night was not spent idly by Mourtzouphlus. Hav- 
 ing in vain attempted to rally his adherents, he took refuge 
 in the fastnesses of Thrace, after escaping through the 
 Golden Gate. That gate had been closed for two hundred 
 years ; and it bore engraven on it an inscription, long 
 beforehand regarded as prophetic, and afterward believed to 
 have been fulfilled in this flight of the emperor. " When 
 the fair-haired king of the West shall come, I shall open 
 of myself ?"* — Another prediction had ensured the city from 
 
 * Raynuldus de Diceto apud X Scriptores, 642. Quando veniet rex 
 Jlamis Occidentalism ego per me ipsum aperiar. 
 
 This fair complexion is again to be destructive to Constantinople. Mr, 
 Forster, in the Notes to \\i9 Mahomet anism Unveiled, ii. 491, a work 
 which recalls to our memories the boldness and acuteness of Warburton, 
 without his paradox or his dogmatism, has cited the following passage. 
 WalhchiiLs, in Vitd Mahometis (p. 158) rtfert, Turcas hodiernos in an- 
 nalibus suis legere, taradiii perstiturmn re^num Mahammedic.um, 
 do/uc veniant figluoli biondi, i. e. fiavi ct albijilii velJiUi a Septentrione^ 
 
 SUBMISSION OF THE CITY. 
 
 121 
 
 capture unless through an angel ; and we are informed by 
 an authority not remote from these times, that the rumour 
 of the Latin conquest was disbelieved for many days in the 
 surrounding country, until it was ascertained that the walls 
 had been scaled at a spot on which an angel was painted.* 
 Nor had the Erythrean sibyl been wanting in denuncia- 
 tions ; her mysterious oracles, indeed, baflle the skill of tho 
 interpreter ; but we collect from them dark threats of a 
 gathering in the Adriatic, of a blind commander, of the profa- 
 nation of Byzantium, of the firing of her public buildings, 
 and of the dispersion of her spoil, t 
 
 On the flight of Mourtzouphlus, both Theodore Lascaris 
 and Theodore Ducas attempted to rouse their fellow-citizens 
 to arms, and competed for the vacant crown. The popu- 
 lace assembled round Sta. Sophia, and hailed Lascaris em- 
 peror ; but though they bestowed this barren sceptre, not 
 all his exhortations could excite them to defend it, so that, 
 hopeless of his country, he too followed in the steps of 
 Mourtzouphlus. The license of a victorious soldiery in a 
 captured city is not easily restrained by discipline ; and be- 
 fore morning, whether out of wantonness or as a desperate 
 protection for his own quarters, a German count set fire to 
 some buildings which separated his troops from the enemy. 
 All that night, and till vespers on the morrow, the flames 
 continued burning ; and by this fire, the third similar 
 scourge with which Constantinople had been visited since 
 the arrival of the Franks, more houses we are assured were 
 destroyed than were contained in any three of the most 
 populous cities of France. 
 
 At dawn the Latins mustered at their several posts, ex* 
 pecting a renewal of their yester toils, and perhaps a still 
 more serious resistance than had been hitherto encountered. 
 To their surprise they were met, not by armed men, but by 
 a suppliant crowd of priests and women, holding out the 
 
 Jlavis et albis capillis secundum aliorum 
 Schultetus, Ecc.les. Muhamm. p. 22. 
 * Henricus de Knyghton, apvA X Scrip 
 t Dandolo, x. 334, apud Muratori, xii. 3*^ 
 is as follows : Fiet potentium in aquis a. 
 perduce. Hircum amhigent, Byzantium pi 
 grabunt, spolia dispergentur. Hircus nov 
 pedes et 9 pollices et semis vrcEmensurati disc 
 Vol. I.--L 
 
 pretationem.~M. Samuel 
 
 p. 2416. 
 
 iC prophecy of the sibyl 
 
 ticis congregatio, coeco 
 
 inabunt, etdificia deni- 
 
 alabit, usque dum, M 
 
 - mt. 
 
 It 
 
 «-\',.- 
 
122 
 
 MISERY OF THE CAPTtlREI^ CITY. 
 
 cross to them as brethren, and deprecating violence by 
 tears. When the Marquis of Montferrat took possession 
 of Blachernffi, that palace was filled with high-born dames ; 
 and his protection was implored, among others, by two 
 empresses of Constantinople. One, a daughter of France, 
 claimed Louis VII. as her father, Philippe Auguste as her 
 brother. The other was a sister of the King of Hungary. 
 Agnes, the former, had been married first to Alexms Com- 
 nenus, and afterward to Andronicus ; Margaret, the latter, 
 one of the most celebrated beauties of her time, was then 
 in her second month of widowhood from Isaac Angelus. 
 She was destined once more to 1 ome the bride of a sove- 
 reign ; and her charms, pcrhap Heightened by her tears, 
 so far gained upon Boniface, ti he shared with her the 
 throne to which, as a reward f /alour, he was soon after- 
 ward exalted. Of this kingdf the cry of the vanquished, 
 as he passed through the strec . might already have created 
 an anticipation ; for he was everywhere saluted with the 
 ^ords, — " Holy marquis, king ! have mercy upon us !" 
 
 Alas ! for the scenes which followed I If the slaughter 
 were not so bloody as has sometimes been inflicted after a 
 storm, yet the massacre of two thousand unresisting suf- 
 ferers cannot be related without horror ; and there were 
 calamities to be endured by the most defenceless to which 
 death itself would have been far preferable. Nicetas, in 
 his personal narrative, has presented a lively picture of 
 these miseries. After the destruction of his house in the 
 second fire, he was for a short time concealed and protected 
 by the fidelity of a Venetian merchant, who had been bis 
 friend and inmate during prosperity, and who, true to him 
 in this change of fortune, assumed a military garb and stood 
 sentinel at his gate. When longer abode within the walls 
 threatened certain destruction, the logothete, in company 
 with some other fugitives, sought escape from the city. 
 They journeyed on foot, during an inclement season, while 
 his wife was far advanced in pregnancy ; they bore in their 
 arms their children, one of whom was still at the breast, 
 and they carried with them such scanty relics of property 
 as they could secrete about their persons. The women 
 who composed part of this wretched band had adopted 
 various disguises, smearing their cheeks with dirt, and 
 clinging eagerly to disfigurement for protection. All were 
 
 I 
 
 OUTRAGES OF THE CONQUERORS. 
 
 123 
 
 not alike successful ; and but for the courage of Nicetas, 
 and a pathetic appeal by which he won over even his ene- 
 mies to her assistance, one young maiden, the daughter of 
 a judge, who had been torn from her aged father's arms, 
 would have been dishonoured by a licentious soldier. Forty 
 miles were to be traversed before they could feel assured 
 even of comparative safety; and ere this painful march 
 was closed, they received conviction, if such had been 
 needed, that their religion was involved in the common 
 wreck. The Patriarch of Constantinople, happy to escape 
 with life, was bending in the same course with themselves 
 towards Selymbria, stripped of all his possessions, and 
 almost of his very clothing, unattended, and mounted upon 
 an ass. 
 
 Meantime, within the city, the throne from which the 
 patriarch had been expelled was impiously profaned. A 
 frantic woman, whose enormities arc represented in strong 
 metaphor by Nicetas, and whose lightest stain was an im- 
 putation of sorcery, was installed in the patriarchal seat, in 
 sacrilegious mockery of the oriental worship, while the 
 vaults of Sta. Sophia echoed with the ribaldry and loose 
 songs of drunken revellers. The holy elements were scat- 
 tered on the rich pavement already defiled with the gore of 
 slaughtered animals, which had been driven in to carry 
 away the pillage, and had fallen exhausted under their bur- 
 dens. The tombs of the emperors in the church of the 
 Holy Apostles were forced open ; and in the coffin of Jus- 
 tinian the riflers were astonished at beholding the body which 
 it contained, when torn from its cerements and their golden 
 coverings, unaflTected by decay, after six centuries of inter- 
 ment. Never, under any circumstances, was the rapacity 
 of a victorious army pennitted to glut itself more unre- 
 servedly ; and even where gain was not consequent on de- 
 struction, the more than Cxothic fury of these civilized bar- 
 barians gratified itself by exercise of the power to destroy. 
 We read without surprise that the veil of the sanctuary in 
 Sta. Sophia was rent, and the altar of the Virgin shattered 
 in pieces ; for they blazed with gold and jewels. The rich 
 gilt and silvered carvings, the gems and embossed chalices, 
 the plate and other treasures of the churches, could little 
 hope to escape confiscation, on the plea that they were ap- 
 propriated to pious uses. But the long catalogue of pre- 
 
 I. 
 
124 
 
 THE VENETIAN HORSES. 
 
 cious works of art, ruined by stupid, brutal, and unfeeling 
 ignorance, excites no less astonishment than regret and in- 
 dignation. Books, the whole literature of the time, never 
 to be replaced, — ^marbles, pictures, statues, obelisks, and 
 bronzes, — countless treasures, which the magnificence, the 
 pride, the luxury, or the good taste of her princes had 
 lavished durinnr nine centuries upon this their favourite 
 capital, — prizes which Egypt, Greece, and Rome had sup- 
 plied, and which had justly rendered Constantinople the 
 wonder of nations, — perished indiscriminately beneath the 
 fury of the marauders ; and while almost every church 
 throughout Christendom received a large accession to its 
 reliquary from the translated bones of saints and confessors,* 
 scarcely one monument of ancient skill and taste was thought 
 worthy of preservation for a similar purpose. The Vene- 
 tians afford a solitary exception, in the removal from the 
 hippodrome of the four horses of gilt bronze which (ex- 
 cept during the short interval of their transfer to Paris by 
 Buonaparte, in a like exercise of a presumed right of con- 
 quest) have ever since crowned the western porch of the 
 basilica of St. Mark.t Antiquaries appear to hesitate con- 
 cerning the date and even the native country of these horses ; 
 for by some they have been assigned to the Roman school, 
 and to the age of Nero ; by others to the Greeks of Chio, at 
 a much earlier period. Though far from deserving a place 
 among the choicest specimens of art, their possession, if we 
 may trust their most generally received history, has always 
 
 * Of this holy ware the Venetians obtained a large allotment. Ra- 
 musio has given a catalogue of its contents. They consisted of a pieoe 
 of the true cross ; an arm of St. Gregory, according to Ramusio,— of St. 
 cieorge, according to Dandolo ({)erhaps it might not b« easy to ascertain 
 the right owner) ; a part of the head of John Baptist ; the bodies of Saints 
 Lucia and Agatha, and of the holy Simeon ; a phial containing the blood 
 of our Saviour, which had flowed from a statue pierced by the Jews at 
 Berytus ; a fragment of the pillar at which he was scourged ; a nail 
 from the cross, and a prickle from the crown of thorns. (Lib. iii. p. 131, 
 &c.) The authenticity of mast of these relics was ascertained by their 
 remaining unhurt during a fire which consumed the sanctuary wherein 
 they were deposited, under the reign of Thiepolo. The miracle did not 
 attract sufliicient attention at the time of its occurrence ; but some years 
 afterward, in 1265, a formal attestation of it was drawn up, and pre- 
 sented to Clement IV. (Doglioni, iii. p. 142.) 
 
 t The writings of Cicoguara, Schlegel, and Mustoxidi may be consulted 
 by those who wish to enter more ftiily into an inquiry relative to these 
 liorsifs. 
 
 RICHNESS OF THE BOOTY. 
 
 125 
 
 been much coveted. Augustus, it is said, brought them 
 from Alexandna, after his conquest of Antony, and erected 
 them on a triumphal arch in Rome : hence they were suc- 
 cessively removed by Nero, Domitian, Trajan, and Constan- 
 tme, to arches of their own ; and in each of these positions 
 It IS believed that they were attached to a chariot. Con- 
 stantine, in the end, transferred them to his new capital. It 
 may be added to their story, that when reconveyed to 
 Venice by the Austrian government, in 1815, the captain of 
 the vessel selected for this honourable service claimed de- 
 scent from the great Dandolo ; and it is satisfactory to be 
 told that of all the works of art restored at that time to 
 their rightful owners these horses suffered least injury from 
 travelling, because they had been taken down and packed 
 by the English. The lion of St. Mark was less fortunate, 
 but he has been carefully repaired.* 
 
 But, not to dwell upon this distressing and distrracefiil 
 portion of our narrative, nor to detail with the sufferers 
 their separate wrongs and calamities, it may suffice to pro- 
 duce the general estimate afforded by the conquerors. "Of 
 the treasures which were in the palace of Bucoleon, I can- 
 not speak," says Villehardouin, " for their value was ines- 
 timable. In Blachernae, one so immense v^as found, that it 
 rivalled that in Bucoleon. The other pilgrims who were 
 scattered over the city gained incalculable plunder ; for 
 there was no estimating the quantity of silver and gold 
 precious vessels, jewels, rich stuffs, silks, robes of vair, gris! 
 and ermine, and other valuables, the productions of all the 
 clmiates in the world ; and it is my belief that the plunder 
 of this city exceeded all that had been witnessed since the 
 creation of the world."t Or, if we turn to Ramusio, we 
 shall be dazzled by the bright profusion which glitters down 
 his pages, in describing the acquisitions of his countrj-men. 
 Gold, silver, tapestries, and furs, silks fresh from the looni 
 or prepared for it ; vases for every use which the caprice 
 of luxury could suggest, and of more various names than 
 we can hope to translate with accuracy ; those costly and 
 now unknown myrrhines which Pompey had won in his tri- 
 umphs over Mithridates and Tigranes ; gems wrought into 
 drinking-vessels, among which the least precious were 
 
 * Rose's Letters from the North of Italy. t Sect 132 
 
 L2 
 
 iij 
 
126 
 
 DISTRIBUTION OF THE PLUNDER. 
 
 ELECTION OF A LATIN EMPEROR, 
 
 127 
 
 framed of turquoise, jasper, or amethyst ; jewels, with which 
 the affection or the pride of the oriental despots was wont 
 to deck their imperial brides ; crowns of solid gold studded 
 with pearls ; rings and brooches set with the purest and most 
 inestunable stones ; unnumbered jacinths, emeralds, sap- 
 phires, chrysolites, and topazes ; and, lastly, those match- 
 less carbuncles which, placed on the high altar at St. Mark's, 
 blazed with intrinsic light and scattered darkness by their 
 own beams, — these are but a sample of the treasures which 
 accrued to Venice ; and the historian, in adverting to them, 
 appears conscious that language must fail him, in the 
 attempt to convey an adequate impression of their immea- 
 surable extent, their inappreciable cost, and their inexhaust- 
 ible variety.* 
 
 It was no part of the design of the barons that this booty 
 should be privately appropriated, and proclamation accord- 
 ingly was made through the army, that it should be brought 
 in and deposited together, according to the sworn agree- 
 ment. Three churches were opened to receive it, and they 
 were placed under the ward of the most loyal French and 
 Venetians. Much, however, was secreted by individuals. 
 Those detected in embezzlement were promptly condemned 
 and executed ; and it is plain that the fraudulent retention 
 was not confined to the lower soldiers only, for, among the 
 criminals thus punished, we read of a knight in the train of 
 the Count of St. Paul, who, in order that his disgrace might 
 be enhanced, was hung with his shield suspended from his 
 neck. After all these deductions, which were supposed to 
 exceed the spoil absolutely brought to division, and to which 
 must be added the losses suffered in three fires, we find the 
 enormous sum of 1,125,000 marks of silver distributed in 
 the following proportions : first, a fourth part of the whole 
 was set aside for the future emperor ; then, an equal divi- 
 sion of the remainder was made between the French and 
 Venetians, and the latter received payment of their debt of 
 fifty thousand marks from the former. In the shares of 
 each individual, one mounted sergeant was considered equal 
 to two sergeants on foot, and one knight to two mounted 
 sergeants. The Venetians, in their love of speculation, had 
 previously offered to farm the whole ; promising to pay one 
 
 * Lib. iii. p. 129, 
 
 hundred marks to each footman, double that sum to each 
 horseman, and four times as much to each knight. To have 
 been gainers by this bargain, they must have been able to 
 produce a sum considerably larger than that which was 
 really brought to account ; and they were far too accurately 
 versed in calculation to have made a blind and unthrifty 
 proposal.* 
 
 A month was passed in these adjustments, and the choice 
 of an emperor was still to be determined. On Sunday, the 
 9th of May, the twelve electors assembled in the gororeous 
 chapel of the palace of Bucoleon, which had been assigned 
 for the residence of the doge ; and here, having been sworn 
 upon the Saints that they would truly and faithfully choose 
 whomsoever they judged most proper for the station and 
 most capable of governing the empire, they proceeded to 
 their important deliberations. The Venetians affirm that 
 their doge was the first person nominated ; not by his own 
 countrymen, but by the French ; and that it required the 
 eloquence and wisdom of Barbo, one of the best orators and 
 statesmen of his time, to prove to the other electors that 
 such a choice would be, in every way, most impolitic. It 
 is far from improbable that such a discussion really did 
 occur ; for the brilliant exploits of Dandolo must have in- 
 spired unbounded admiration, gratitude, and affection ; and, 
 
 * We are wholly unable to reconcile the various estimates given of 
 this booty ; and Villehardouin has manifestly coutradicf ed himself, unless 
 he means 'o distinguish between money and other property ; and even 
 in that case he is hopelessly obscure. He first speaks of the residue 
 belonging; to the French, after payment of their debt to the Venetians, as 
 100,000 marks (§ 124), yet in the following sertioti he advances it to more 
 than 400,000. Assumin;.' the latter sum to be correct, we shall obtain the 
 following result according to the generall) received distribution :— 
 
 French residue 400,000 
 
 Payment to Venetians .... 50,000 
 Venetian share 450,000 
 
 900,000 
 Emperor's fourth 2*25,000 
 
 Total 1,125,000 marks of silver. 
 
 Gibbon estimates 400,000 marks = 800,000/. sterling = seven times the 
 then annual revenue oi' England. Following up this calculation, we 
 obtain the whole sum, above 2,25O,000Z., or more than twenty times that 
 revenue. 
 
 If we adopt another reading in Villehardouin, of 500,000 for 400,000, 
 (he sum will be increased, in round numbers, to 2,624,000/. 
 
 4 
 
 H ! 
 
128 
 
 BALDWIN I. 
 
 as a more worWly motive, his advanced age promised a 
 speedy succession. It was perhaps only by such intimate 
 knowledge of the incompatibility of the two offices, as none 
 but a senator of Venice was able to advance, that those evils 
 could be fully displayed, which must result from placing 
 the same person at the head of the closely-limited govern- 
 ment of the Lagunr, and of the unrestricted despotism of the 
 empire. Villehardouin, however, omits all mention of Dan- 
 dolo. General opinion, he says, previously to the election, 
 had so exclusively marked out the Count of Flanders and 
 the Marquis of Montferrat as sole competitors, that, at a meet- 
 ing of their respective adherents, it had been wisely deter- 
 mined beforehand to set apart an ample provision for him 
 who should be disappointed ; and thus to prevent a recur- 
 rence of that destructive jealousy which had followed the 
 election of Godfrey to the crown of Jerusalem. It was 
 agreed that the one who was rejected should receive the isle 
 of Candia, and (however vague the allotment) " all the coun- 
 try on the Turkish side of the strait," for which he should 
 be liegeman to the emperor. 
 
 It is quite unnecessary to attribute the result of this elec- 
 tion to any petty intrigue ; for Baldwin, in whom all the 
 suffrages were united, was a descendant of Charlemagne, 
 and the most powerful prince in the army. He had been a 
 great, if not the chief, original promoter of the crusade ; 
 and his personal virtues commanded general esteem, confi- 
 dence, and attachment. Nicetas, indeed, in his bitterness 
 against the Venetians, has taxed Dandolo with private 
 views in determining the choice ; but the Greek historian 
 has not been fortunate in this portion of his narrative ; and 
 it may be believed that he was not better acquainted with 
 the secrets of the Latin cabinet, than he has shown himself 
 tf be with the geographical position of the territory of 
 Montferrat when he speaks of it as a maritime power. In 
 the hall of the palace, the Doge of Venice and the barons 
 impatiently awaited the decision of the electors ; and it was 
 presented to them, at midnight, by the Bishop of Soissons, 
 in the following tenns : — " Lords, by the mercy of God, we 
 have been unanimous in the choice of an emperor. You 
 have all sworn to receive for your emperor the person whom 
 we should appoint, and to aid and maintain him against all 
 gainsayers. And now, at the very hour in which our Lord 
 
 PARTITION OF THE EMPIRE. 
 
 129 
 
 was born, we declare Baldwin, Count of Flanders and 
 Hainault, Emperor of Romania I" Shouts of joy followed 
 this announcement: the Marquis of Montferrat generously 
 pressed forward to be the first who should tender homage 
 to his successful rival ; and the new emperor, raised upon 
 his shield, was exhibited to the congratulations of the popu- 
 lace, and borne in triumph to Sta. Sophia. 
 
 The coronation was celebrated in that cathedral, with 
 great splendour, on the 23d of May ; when the calyptra 
 was placed on the head of Baldwin by the papal legate, who 
 perfonned the functions of the patriarch not yet appointed. 
 Before this solenmity the Marquis of Montferrat had 
 sought and obtained the hand of Margaret of Hungary. 
 On account of the contiguity of the dominions of his brother- 
 in-law to Thessalonica, he exchanged for that kingdom 
 the territory which had been assigned to him, and sold his 
 right over Candia to the Venetians. 
 
 Little more of this eventful history remains, unless, as 
 is usual in the winding-up of a romance or a drama, to dis- 
 pose of the principal characters which have figured during 
 its prooress. To distribute exactly the fiefs which each 
 received would, perhaps, be impossible ; for, in the act of 
 partition of the Greek empire (such was the limited know- 
 ledge possessed by its conquerors of the lands which they 
 had won), many of the names are not to be recognised, and 
 not a few cities, and even provinces, are altogether omitted. 
 It would, however, be ungrateful to the valiant knight and 
 faithful chronicler of Champagne, to whose pages we have 
 been so largely indebted, if we omitted to notice that Geof- 
 frey de Villehardouin obtained, as his reward, Messinople, 
 on the banks of the Hebrus, with the title of Marshal of 
 Romania. For the rest, we shall confine ourselves to the 
 Venetians. To them was assigned a vast territory, in 
 which may be distinguished the well-known names of 
 iEgospotamos, Nicomedia, Adrianople, part of Euboea, 
 Egina, MegalopoUs, Methone, Patras, the Cyclades, Spo- 
 rades, and many other isles of the Archipelago and Adriatic, 
 and a long line of ports, skirting all the shores of the em- 
 pire. The illustrious Dandolo, as the close of his splendid 
 toils, and in honourable completion of the original treaty, 
 was permitted to tinge his buskins with the purple hue dis- 
 tinctive of the imperial family, to claim exemption from all 
 
 « 
 
130 
 
 DISCONTENT OF THE GREEKS. 
 
 feudal service to the emperor, and to annex to the title of 
 Doge of Venice, the proud style of despot of Romania, 
 
 AND lord 01' one-fourth AND ONE-EIGHTH OF THE Ro- 
 
 MAN Empire. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 FROM A. D. 1204 TO A. D. 1259. 
 
 Fateof Mourtaouphlus— The Bulgarians invade the Empire— Defeat and 
 Capture of the Emperor Baldwin— Death of Enrico Daiidolo— The 
 pseudo-Baldwin— Policy of Venice respecting her Eastern Acquisitions 
 —First written Code of Venetian Law— War with Eccellmo Roindi;o. 
 
 A. D. 
 
 
 DOGES. 
 Enrico Dandolo. 
 
 1205. 
 
 XLIV. 
 
 PiETRo ZiANi — abdicates. 
 
 1228. 
 
 XI.V. 
 
 GiACOMO Th IE POLO — abdicates. 
 
 1249. 
 
 XLVI. 
 
 Marino Morosini. 
 
 1252. 
 
 XLVII. 
 
 Raimero Zeno. 
 
 At the dazzling and triumphant epoch which we have just 
 quitted, and upon which we have linorered with unwilling- 
 ness to break away, how gladly should we close all notice 
 of that portion of Byzantine history in which the Latins 
 continiie to occupy the foreground ! The little which re- 
 mains incidental to our leading narrative is of another and 
 most painful character, replete with disaster and dishonour. 
 
 As soon as the Greeks scattered over the wide provinces of 
 their dismembered empire began to recover from their panic, 
 they regarded, with surprise and shame, the inconsiderable 
 band which had changed their dynasty. In the short 
 period of a year, they discovered that the'loss of the capital 
 was not the loss of the whole country ; that twenty thou- 
 sand men, even if combined, could little hope to subdue the 
 immeasurable tracts which they had already partitioned ; 
 and that mutual jealousy resulting from ill-defined power 
 was beginning to create dissension among those whose 
 very existence depended upon their union. The emperor 
 
 HORRIBLE DEATH OF MOURTZOUPHLUS. 131 
 
 Rnd the King of Thessalonica had all but appealed to 
 arms ; and, had it not been for the prudent mediation of 
 Villehardouin and the reverence attached to the age and 
 the wisdom of Dandolo, those swords which had jointly 
 achieved the most chivalrous exploit of history, would 
 have been bared against each other. The chief peril of 
 the Latins did not arise from either of the deposed princes 
 who had worn the imperial crown. Both of these were still 
 fugitives ; but Alexius had collected the more considerable 
 force, and was encamped with his adherents at Messino- 
 ple. His daughter Eudocia, during the short reign of 
 Mourtzouphlus, had accepted the hand of that usurper, per- 
 haps upon compulsion ; for he was already married, and 
 divorced his former wife in order to fonn this new alliance, 
 which he fancied might strengthen his title to the throne. 
 Chased by Baldwin from Adrianople, Mourtzouphlus ap- 
 plied to his father-in-law for protection ; promising him 
 allegiance, and tendering the resignation of his own claims 
 upon the imperial title. Alexius, burning with resentment, 
 both for the invasion of his throne and the dishonour of his 
 daughter, received these offers with a feigned approval. 
 He invited Mourtzouphlus to his camp, prepared for him a 
 magnificent entertainment, and promised to ratify the yet 
 doubtful marriage. The unsuspecting victim was indulg- 
 ing in the luxury of the bath, when he was dragged to an 
 inner chamber by command of Alexius, and there, in the 
 presence of Eudocia, and in defiance, it is said, of her tears 
 and remonstrances, his eyes were torn from his head, and 
 he was turned out a sightless wanderer. Before many days, 
 he fell into the hands of the Latins, and was sent prisoner 
 to Constantinople. There, being arraigned for the murder 
 of the young Alexius, he pleaded that he had only put to 
 deatJi the betrayer of his country, to whose punishment the 
 whole imperial family consented. With more abhorrence 
 for the crime than regard to justice, the Latin tribunal, to 
 whose jurisdiction the wretched culprit could scarcely be 
 deemed amenable, condemned him to death ; and to mark 
 the deep sense entertained of his enormity, this punishment 
 was inflicted by a mode almost unexampled in horror.* 
 
 * Durange, however (Obs. siir Villehnrdouin, ^ clxiii.), gives some 
 instances of similar executions m France, during the reign of Louis VO. 
 
 i 
 
132 
 
 PILLAR OF ARCADIUS. 
 
 In the forum of Taurus, Arcadius had erected a marble 
 column, on which in spiral bassi rilievi (like those which 
 decorate the pillars of Trajan and Antonine at Rome) were 
 represented his own victories, or those of his father Theo- 
 dosius. The base only now exists, for the shaft, having 
 become ruinous, was taken down towards the close of tho 
 seventeenth century ; but in its original height it towered to 
 one hundred and forty-seven feet. Dragged up the inter- 
 nal staircase to the summit of this column, the miserable 
 criminal was exposed to the gaze of a countless multitude 
 thronging round its pedestal. His recent privation of sight 
 spared him, indeed, the terrors of the dizzy height, and the 
 fierce glances of pitiless spectators, but their exulting shouts 
 might ring fearfully in his ears, before he was hurled down 
 and dashed to atoms on the pavement below. The super- 
 stition of the Greeks dignified this event with abundant 
 prodigies. Fifty years before the invasion of the Latins, 
 Tzetzes had related the dream of a matron who saw an 
 army in the forum, and a man sitting on this column, clap- 
 ping his hands and uttering a loud exclamation.* One 
 group on the pillar itself is said to have represented the 
 storming of a city from the beach, and an image with a 
 crowned head falling from a lofty height. f Villehardouin 
 adds a third " miracle," which may be no more than a 
 variation of the second ; for the brave knight is not very 
 likely to have regarded too critically the " goodly sculpture" 
 with which he tells us the column was adorned. " It bore," 
 he says, " many statues of marble, and among them that 
 of an emperor. This statue had fallen down ; hence it 
 had been predicted that an emperor of Constantinople 
 should be thrown from the column, and thus the prophecy 
 was accomplished." After the capture of Constantinople 
 by the Turks, in 1453, Gentili Bellini, a Venetian artist, 
 was permitted to make drawings of the sculpture on this 
 column as they then existed ; from these drawings, pre- 
 served in the Royal Academy of Painting at. Paris, they 
 were engraved by Menestrier, and afterward by Bandurus 
 in his Iniperium Oricntale. But no figure of a falling man 
 is given by either of these artists. Alexius himself, after 
 his vengeance upon his rival had been satiated, though he 
 
 * Chiliad, ix. 277, as cited by Ducange, Obs. sur Villehardouin, ^ clxiii. 
 t Ramusio, lib. iv. p. 174. 
 
 BULGARIAN INVASION. 
 
 133 
 
 escaped with life, did not long retain his freedom. He was 
 taken by the King of Thessalonica, who sent his imperial 
 robes, the calyptray and the purple buskins, as offerings to 
 the emperor, and transferred his captive to a prison at Mont- 
 ferrat. 
 
 The establishment of an independent kingdom in Bul- 
 garia, during the first portion of the feeble reign 
 of Isaac Angelus, has been already noticed. The ^'J^J 
 fierce chief Joannice, or Calo Johannes, who sue- ^'*""* 
 ceeded to that crown, had obtained his recognition by Pope 
 Innocent ; and, perhaps, regarded with a jealous eye the 
 overthrow of the empire by any other hand than his own. 
 The Greeks, therefore, found in him secret encouragement 
 and support ; but, for a while, he dissembled his ulterior in- 
 tentions, and even the deep indignation which he must 
 have felt in the haughty reception of his ambassadors by 
 the new emperor ; when, far from ailmitting his claims to 
 sovereignty and fraternity, Baldwin treated him as a revolted 
 vassal, and spoke of submission as the necessary prelude to 
 forgiveness. It was not until the Latin troops had spread 
 themselves over the remoter provinces, in order to obtain 
 knowledge and to seek possession of their nominal con- 
 quests, that the Bulgarian prince avowed his open enmity ; 
 but when the flower of the army followed Henry, the brother 
 of the emperor, into Asia, Joannice took the field. The 
 Greeks at the same moment rose in arms ; and in almost 
 every town from Mount Hsemus to the Hellespont, the 
 Latins were overpowered, and either fell beneath the dag- 
 gers of the insurgents or gained safety only by flight. The 
 Venetians were chased from Adrianople, their single inland 
 establishment ; and that important bulwark and key of the 
 capital was garrisoned by unnumbered Greeks, and pro- 
 tected in its approaches by a formidable horde of Barbarians. 
 Joannice had summoned to his banners a Tartar tribe, and 
 the irregular warfare of fourteen thousand Comans was 
 destined to baffle the tactics of European chivalry. 
 
 Baldwin had been visited by the heaviest domestic afflic- 
 tion ; his countess, Mary of Champagne, whom he tenderly 
 loved, and who was worthy of her lord, had died at Acre ; 
 from which city she was preparing to join her husband, in 
 order to partake his new dignities. Aroused from his 
 grief by the unwelcome tidings of the revolt of the Greeks, 
 
 Vol. I. — M 
 
 i! 
 
134 
 
 THE COMANS. 
 
 the emperor hastpned, after performing her funeral obse- 
 quies in Sta. Sophia, to suppress the insurrection ; and too 
 impatient to await the arrival of his brother, whom he had 
 recalled from his Asiatic expedition, he pressed forward with 
 not more than sevenscore lances, about seven hundred men, 
 to Adrianople, and there united himself with a somewhat 
 more numerous body. The banners of Joannice floated on 
 the towers of that city, and so inadequate was the small 
 handful of Latins to attempt its siege, that they lay before 
 it for three days, to use the simple and expressive words 
 of Villehardouin, in great perplexity, and in numbers wofiilly 
 small. The arrival of Dandolo and his Venetians doubled 
 their force ; but they were pressed for forage, they were 
 still too few for an assault, and the King of Bulgaria with 
 his ferocious Comans was known to be on his march to the 
 relief of the city. Imagination busily enhanced the savage 
 manners of these Scythian foes, few of whom had as yet 
 embraced even Mohammedanism ; the great mass were still 
 Pagans, and it was affirmed of all, that they sacrificed their 
 prisoners and drank human blood. 
 
 Not many days elapsed before their powers were tried ; 
 their skirmishers pushed on to the very camp ; and, lightly 
 armed and fleetly mounted, by a seeming retreat they drew 
 on and wearied the heavy cavalry opposed to them. Horse 
 and man with the crusaders were alike cased in iron, and 
 their onset, on that account, was irresistible ; but, as the 
 combat became prolonged, the very weight wTiich at first 
 overwhelmed their enemies, in the end exhausted them- 
 selves. After an unavailing chase for a full league, they 
 prepared to return, when the Comans unexpectedly wheeled 
 round, and having killed and wounded great numbers by a 
 brisk charge and a heavy volley of javelins, they again scat- 
 tered themselves and disappeared unharmed. 
 
 A strict order was issued through the Latin host that, for 
 the future, no horseman should quit his ranks, whatever 
 might be the provocation. On the following morning, it 
 was the Thursday after Easter, the Comans, shortly after 
 dawn, renewed their attack, and rode up to the pavilions. 
 The pilgrims had just risen from mass, and, at the cry of 
 the sentinels to arms, each division marched out of the camp, 
 and took up its position with perfect regularity. The van 
 was commanded by the Count of Blois, who, unable to 
 
 DEFEAT AND CAPTURE OF BALDWIN I. 135 
 
 endure the galling attacks and taunting challenges of the 
 Comans, forgot the lesson of the day before, and the com- 
 mand to which it had given birth ; and, calling upon the 
 emperor for support, dashed forward at full speed, chasing 
 the flying swarms for more than two leagues, sword in 
 
 hand. 
 
 The consequences of this rash and headlong daring were 
 most fatal ; for, entangled in a morass, and hemmed in by 
 superior numbers, such as were unable or unwilling to fly 
 fell an easy sacrifice to the Barbarians. The Count of Blois, 
 the unhappy cause of this disaster, was twice severely 
 wounded, and at last thrown upon the ground. By the self- 
 devotion of one of his knights, who placed him on his own 
 horse, he might still have escaped, but he vowed by God's 
 grace never to quit the field nor to abandon the emperor in 
 his necessity. There was short time for remonstrance, and 
 a Coman sword quickly terminated the debate. Besides 
 Count Louis, many other valiant soldiers were among the 
 slain. Baldwin himself, greatly pressed, still rallied his fol- 
 lowers, calling to them that he was determined never to fly, 
 and conjuring them not to desert him. Those who were 
 near his person testified that belted knight never fought with 
 greater courage than the emperor ; but his valorous efforts 
 were not adequately seconded by the great body of his 
 retainers. Many of them are openly taxed with cowardice 
 by Villehardouin ; they betook themselves to precipitate 
 flight, and the defeat became general. Amid the carnage 
 around him, the emperor still survived : happy for him would 
 it have been if some hostile weapon had taken his life on 
 the field ; but he was reserved for a far more bitter fate, and 
 was captured alive. 
 
 Neither Dandolo nor Villehardouin had been engaged 
 beyond the camp : their courage cheered the terror-stricken 
 fugitives and repulsed their pursuers ; and their skill after- 
 ward, in a ditficult and dangerous retreat, preserved the 
 remnant of their fellow-soldiers. By night, bearing with 
 them all their people, horse, foot, and wounded, they endea- 
 voured to gain Rodosto, a seaport at the distance of three 
 days' march. Durinjr the day, they halted in face of the 
 superior force which pursued, but which was unable to break 
 their rear-guard commanded by the marshal. At Rodosto, 
 they were joined by Henry, who was immediately proclaimed 
 
 if 
 

 136 
 
 DEATH OF ENRICO DANDOLO. 
 
 regent ; and though Joannice had spread his Comans even 
 to the gates of Constantinople, the Latins were now in 
 sufficient numbers to venture upon regaining it. It wa» 
 ahuost their single possession; for of the great empire 
 which they had so recently acquired, nothing remained 
 under their government without the walls of the capital but 
 Rodosto and Selymbria. All Romania owned the authority 
 of Joannice ; and beyond the Bosphorus, the whole of Asia, 
 except the castle of Piga, had submitted to Theodore 
 Lascaris. 
 
 A new misfortune awaited the pilgrims on their return ; 
 Dandolo, worn with years and toil, and chilled, as may rea- 
 dily be supposed, by the dark mists now gathering over his 
 late unclouded glory, expired, after a short illness, about the 
 beginning of June, in his ninety-eighth year. His remain* 
 were interred with splendid solemnities, in the vestibule of 
 Sta. Sophia, where a marble sarcophagus, adorned with the 
 emblems of St. Mark and the ducal insignia, denoted the 
 spot of his repose. On the capture of Constantinople by 
 the Turks, in 1453, this monument was destroyed; but 
 some personal memorials of her greatest prince were re- 
 stored to Venice, at the intercession of Bellini the painter, 
 whom we have before mentioned, at that time in favour 
 with Mohammed II. ; and the spurs, cuirass, helmet, and 
 sword of the hero were presented to his descendants. The 
 character of this distinguished statesman and warrior is to 
 be learned most surely from his actions, and these are of 
 the noblest class. He appears to have possessed a rare 
 union of mental and bodily vigour, of moral and physical 
 courage, of military skill and political sagacity. It caimot 
 surprise us that the wisdom which so distinctly foresaw, 
 60 discreetly planned, and so dexterously executed the 
 great measures which exalted his country to a height of un- 
 paralleled aggrandizement, should be stigmatized as craft 
 and cunning by those at whose expense she was elevated ; 
 and not the lowest nor least assured testimony of Dandolo'8 
 eminent merits is to be derived from the charges of astute- 
 ness, arrogance, and ambition, to which Nicetas is compelled 
 to limit his accusations. 
 
 In person, Dandolo is described to have been of a ruddy 
 countenance and lofty stature ; his blue eyes, though retain- 
 ing little vision, were not disfigured ; and his mien was 
 
 
 FATE OF BALDWIN I. 
 
 137 
 
 dignified and commanding. At his death, two sons survived 
 him ; and both were honourably distinguished. Raniero 
 administered the regency of Venice during his father's 
 absence, and was afterward nominated to the high office of 
 procuratore of St. Mark: Fantino became second Latin 
 patriarch of Constantinople. The family long remained 
 one of the most illustrious in the republic, and among its 
 members are numbered many succeeding doges. One of 
 these, Andrea Dandolo,* is the earliest chronicler of his 
 native country ; and it is fortunate for him that his reputa- 
 tion is built upon a securer base than the meager, phleo-- 
 matic, and unimpassioncd narrative which has descended 
 to us from his pen. 
 
 With the close of Dandolo's bright career we may change 
 our scene, and revert once again to the Lagune^ from 
 which we have been so long absent ; but before we part 
 from the Latin empire of Constantinople, the little which 
 is known of the sad fate of its first sovereign requires some 
 brief notice. The release of Baldwin was demanded from 
 Joannice by Pope Innocent ; and the Barbarian contented 
 himself by replying that his illustrious captive had died in 
 prison. More than one version of his catastrophe has been 
 given, and each abounds in horror. Nicetas states, that, 
 after long confinement, the Bulgarian cut oft' his arms and 
 legs, and exposed him to wild beasts. Acropolita adds that 
 his scull, set in gold, was used by the tyrant as a goblet. 
 A yet more romantic tale attributes the Bulgarian's ven- 
 geance to jealousy, excited by his queen ; who, becoming 
 enamoured of the prisoner, offered him herself and free*^ 
 dom as the price of his love. The examples of Bellerophon 
 and Hippolytus were unknown or unregarded by the dis- 
 dainful Baldwin; and the disappointed fair, incensed at his 
 cold rejection, falsely denounced him to her husband ; who, 
 in a paroxysm of fury, heightened by intoxication, slew him 
 and cast his body to the dogs. The circumstances attendant 
 upon his death, no doubt, are obscure ; but the fact itself is 
 supported by strong evidence : it was accredited, though far 
 from hastily, by the barons ; and it is not easy to assign 
 any reason why Joannice should assert it, if it had been 
 untrue. Nevertheless at the expiration of twenty years, 
 
 ♦ Doge in 1343. 
 M2 
 
 Is 
 
 (I 
 
138 
 
 THE PSEUDO-BALDWIN. 
 
 1 
 
 when the sovereignty of Flanders and Hainault had devolved 
 on Jean, the eldest daughter of the supposed deceased prince, 
 a claimant appeared, asserting his identity with the lost 
 Baldwin. He maintained, that after his capture at Adria- 
 nople, he had been mildly treated by his conquerors ; till, 
 having effected his escape from them, he fell into the hands 
 of another tribe of Barbarians, to whom his rank was 
 unknown, and who sold him as a slave into Syria. There 
 accident enabled him to discover himself to some German 
 merchants, who ransomed him at a small price ; and as the 
 throne of Constantinople, by the death of his brother, had 
 then passed into another line, the recovery of his hereditary 
 dominions appeared to him an easier attempt than that of 
 his Eastern rights. The populace, ever credulous of wonders 
 and open-eared to novelty, eagerly devoured this tale, which 
 gained admission among several even of the nobler Flem- 
 ings. It was rejected altogether by the reigning countess ; 
 who, finding herself endangered by the pretender, claimed 
 and received protection from Louis VIII. of France. The 
 king in person examined the nominal emperor ; and though 
 convinced of his imposture, in consideration of a safe-con^ 
 duct which he had previously granted, contented himself 
 by ordering him to quit his dominions. Detected in his 
 fraud and abandoned by his former adherents, the pseudo- 
 Baldwin nevertheless renewed his projects ; till, having 
 been betrayed into the hands of the countess, he is said to 
 have confessed, under torture, that he was a Champagner, 
 named Bertrand de Rayns. He was exhibited a while to 
 public scorn in the chief towns of the Netherlands, and 
 then ignominiously hanged at Lille. Little doubt can exist 
 of the justice of his fate ; yet such is the fondness of the 
 human mind for mystery, so pertinaciously, in despite of 
 truth, does it cling to the marvellous, that there have not 
 been wanting writers who prefer to believe the countess 
 Jean guUty of an atrocious parricide, rather than to admit that 
 an adroit knave practised a daring but not very difficult im- 
 posture.* 
 
 * In the short account which Matthew Paris (ad ann. 1224, p. 320) 
 Rives of this impostor, although admitting the truth of his claim, he 
 taxes him with the treacherous murder of an Eastern damsel, through 
 ■whose kind offices he had escaped from captivity, and whom he had 
 promised in retuin to baptize and marry. The pope enjoined a heavy 
 
 DISPOSAL OF THE VENETIAN CONQUESTS. 139 
 
 But to return to Venice. — The long absence of Enrico 
 Dandolo from his capital gave birth to some new institutions 
 on his demise. A commission of five members, correttori 
 della promission ducale^ was appointed to inquire into such 
 abuses as might have crept into the government ; and by 
 reviewing the inauguratory oath of the doge, to omit or add 
 from time to time, at the pleasure of the great council, such 
 clauses as might be deemed necessary for the preservation 
 of the honour and liberties of the state. But a far more 
 remarkable magistracy was composed of three inquisitori 
 del doge defunto. They formed a board, from which, what- 
 ever might be the case with his successors, the memory of 
 Dandolo had little cause for fear. Their duty was to ex- 
 amine the administration of the deceased prince, to compare 
 his acts with the provisions of his oath, to receive and 
 inquire into depositions against him, and, if charges were 
 satisfactorily estabhshed, to condemn his heirs to make 
 reparation. The student of antiquity will call to mind a 
 similar custom which prevailed among the Egyptians, who, 
 before the admission of their dead to the rites of sepulture, 
 ■examined their past lives by a solemn trial.* 
 
 Pietro Ziani was elected doge. It is not easy to pass at 
 once from the glowing narrative which we have just termi- 
 nated to events of tamer character ; and we may be per- 
 mitted to hasten with rapid strides over an unimportant 
 period. At an early part of the new reign, the 
 Venetians perceived that the wide extent of their y^M 
 distant acquisitions would produce weakness rather 
 than strength ; and that their scanty native population was 
 ill calculated to retain in subjection a tithe of their great 
 foreign conquests. With true wisdom, therefore, they 
 iletermined to abandon them as strictly national dominions ; 
 and they granted possession of their nominal territories to 
 such citizens as would complete their subjugation at their 
 own cost, and hold them as fiefs under the republic. Hence 
 arose more than one petty dutchy and principality on the 
 
 penance, not for the murder, but for the uncanonical omission of baptism 
 i)efore its perpetration. All the misfortunes which followed are regarded 
 by the good monk as judgments ; and as a consummation of disgrace, 
 the emperor was hanged between duos canes veteres, scilicet mirgos — 
 (Or rather mergos, as Ducange corrects the word— water-dogs. 
 :* DiJdonis Siculus, i. 92. 
 
 V J. 
 
 If! 
 
 . * 
 
 (ftil 
 
 W 
 
 !) 
 
140 
 
 PROPOSED EMIGRATION. 
 
 ECCELLINO ROMANO. 
 
 141 
 
 coasts of the empire and in the Archipelago ; and we read, 
 among many others, of the Sanudi as Princes of Naxos, 
 during a course of four centuries, and of Navagiero as 
 Grand Duke of Lemnos. The quarter of Constantinople 
 which had fallen to the Venetian share was governed by a 
 vodestd, and the Ionian Islands and Candia were the only 
 recent acquisitions reserved as dependencies on the state. 
 The latter was a source of perpetual trouble, and continued 
 in revolt during the major part of the reigns of Ziani and 
 his successor. Yet, if we may believe the MS. chronicles 
 of Barbaro and Savina, a project of general emigration to 
 the East was at one time contemplated. Ziani is 
 ■*' "' said, during the troubled reign of the second Courte- 
 ^^^^' nay, to have convoked the great council and all the 
 chief functionaries of state ; and after pointing out the 
 precarious condition of the empire under its existing feeble 
 and divided rulers, to have proposed the abandonment of 
 Venice, and the transfer of her whole population to Con- 
 stantinople. The brilliant prospects which he displayed as 
 likely to result from this important change dazzled many in 
 the assembly ; and it is added, that notwithstanding an 
 eloquent and impassioned appeal to their affections and 
 their patriotism by the procuratore Angelo Faliero, the pro- 
 posal was negatived, in the division which ensued, but by a 
 single voice, which was not unaptly tenned " The voice of 
 Providence." How wide a field of speculation does this 
 now scarcely remembered incident open to our view ! What 
 changes in the history of mankind might not the adoption 
 of Ziani's project have occasioned ! Would the existence 
 of the Latin empire have been protracted by it 1 Would 
 the conquests of the Turks have been diverted into another 
 channel ] Would Christianity, instead of Mohammedan- 
 ism, have been the dominant religion of the East ] Com- 
 pared with these far mightier questions, the fate of Venice 
 herself is disregarded; and we almost forget to inquire 
 what would have been the fortunes of her deserted 
 
 islands. 
 
 The reign of Giacomo Thiepolo was distinguished by 
 
 repeated victories obtained over the fleets of John 
 
 i^ooD Vataces, the son-in-law and successor of Theodore 
 
 ^^^ Lascaris, who had raised the principality of Nice to 
 
 the dignity of an empire. Thiepolo was the first doge who 
 
 Tindertook the construction of a systematic civil code ; and 
 with the assistance of four coadjutors, within a century 
 from the discovery of the Pandects at Amalfi, he presented 
 his country with a collection of written institutes of law. 
 These Novelli Statuti Veneziani relate to the descent of 
 property, the recovery of debt, and the punishment of 
 crimes. It is not a little remarkable, that in a code framed 
 for the greatest existing commercial people in Europe, no 
 further regulation connected with trade is inserted than a 
 few directions respecting freights, averages, and seamen's 
 wages. One law, however, deserves notice, as containing, 
 perhaps, the earliest instance of that technical language of 
 calculation which has since become universal. Hitherto, 
 the prevalent usage in reckoning fractions had been to say 
 one-tenth, one-twentieth, &c., or so many pennies or shil- 
 lings in the pound. A more judicious form of calculating, so 
 much per cent., was introduced by Thiepolo. It was custom- 
 ary for purchasers in Venice to pay down a certain deposite : 
 this was directed in the new code to be lodged in the 
 custody of the procurcUori of St. Mark, and its amount was 
 fixed, not at two shillings in the pound, but at ten per cent. 
 (diese per cento).* To the same regard for the internal 
 benefit of his people may be traced many improvements in 
 the capital effected during the reign of Thiepolo. The 
 piazza of St. Mark was enlarged, its architecture 
 received embellishments, and a canal by which it j^g 
 was deformed was filled up. About the same time, 
 also, the first bridge was constructed on the site of the 
 much celebrated Rialto. 
 
 Not long after the accession of Rainiero Zeno, the cruel- 
 ties of Eccellino Romano, under whom the north of 
 Italy had groaned for twenty years, with slight hopes '^' 
 of deliverance, roused so general an execration, that 
 the first act of Alexander IV. on his election to the tiara 
 was to renew the excommunication fulminated by his pre- 
 decessor Innocent, and to preach a crusade against this 
 monster. He was denounced, in terms too fnlly justified 
 by the long catalogue of his enormities, as a son of perdi- 
 tion, delighting in blood, rejected by the faith, the most 
 inhuman of the children of men, and a violator of every 
 
 * MTherson's Annals of Commerce, I. 393. ' 
 
 1 
 
 IN 
 
 /^j 
 
M 
 
 ■\ 
 
 142 
 
 ENORMITIES OF ECCELLINO. 
 
 A. D. 
 
 1235. 
 ence. 
 
 law of society and of the Gospel.* This tyrant, sprung 
 from an ignoble stock, whose grandfather had entered Italy 
 as a poor "soldier in the train of the third Otho, by his 'rare 
 prudence and consummate bravery, qualities too often abused 
 to purposes of ill, had attracted the notice and favour of 
 Frederic II. The March of Treviso, and the line of coun- 
 try between Verona and Padua, had been early 
 intrusted to his vigilance ; and as podestd of the 
 latter city he acquired no small accession of influ- 
 Cremona, Parma, Modena, and Reggio allied them- 
 selves with his government, and thus formed under his guid- 
 ance a powerful confederation against the Lombard league, 
 which rendered him most important to the GhibeUns, and 
 materially increased his weight with the emperor. In the 
 fierce contest between Frederic and Gregory IX., every 
 change added to the power of Eccellino ; and throughout 
 the unhappy territory between the Trentine Alps and the 
 Oglio, which submitted to him as vicar of the empire, there 
 was no town in which his despotism was not recorded in 
 
 * Eccellino appears to havo richly deserved the utmost severity of 
 language, and it must be admitted that he has received it. The writer 
 of the Chronicon Estense, among many like expressions, terms him,— 
 Diaboli caniifex, potator humarii sanguinis, sitibundus inhnicus Eccle- 
 sicB, HcBreticorum re/ugium, malititB sedulus adinventor. (311) insatia- 
 bilis homicida, draco vmenatus. (320), cujus autem artimam infelicemy 
 onustam pondere peccatorum, dcBinones absque dubio rapuerunt, et earn 
 ill prnfundum. infenii, ubi est tumulus tormentorum et nulla redemptio, 
 projecerunt. (329, ap. Muratori Script. It. xv.) What is not often the 
 case, the facts which this author presents fully bear out the bitterness 
 of his words. Every lover of Italian poetry must remember the grievous 
 punishment to which Dante has consigned Eccellino. 
 
 E quellafronte ch'' ha 7 pel cost nero 
 E Azzolino. Infenio, xii. 110. 
 
 Or, as the whole passage is given by his only translator, — 
 
 Onward we mov'd. 
 
 The faithful escort by our side, along 
 
 The border of the crimson-seethy flood, 
 
 Whence, from those steep'd within, loud shrieks arose. 
 
 Some there I mark'd as high as to the brow 
 
 Immers'd, of whom the mi'-'hty Centaur thus : 
 
 " Those are the souls of tyrants who were iiiven 
 
 To blood and rapine. Here they wail aloud 
 
 Their merciless wrongs. Here Ab^xander dwells, 
 
 And Dionysiusfell, vvTio many a year 
 
 Of war wrought for fair Sicily. That brow 
 
 Whereon the hair so jetty clusi'ring hangs 
 
 Is Aizolino." Cary. 
 
 CRUSADE AGAINST HIM. 
 
 143 
 
 characters of blood. Fortunately, the course of our history 
 by no means requires that we should detail the horrors of 
 his rule, which are to be found so abundantly in the Italian 
 chroniclers ; and we willingly turn from accounts of the 
 sufferings of those illustrious prisoners who were con- 
 demned to die by the lingering pangs of famine, of the 
 countless victims tortured, mutilated, buried in pestilential 
 dungeons, or dragged to scaffolds yet dripping with the 
 blood of yesterday, which crowd their pages. The death 
 of Frederic, as it removed the sole barrier between Eccellino 
 and independence, so it increased his lust for slaughter ; 
 and when the axe of the executioner appeared too slow for 
 the despatch of the throngs adjudged by him to perish, 
 they were committed to the indiscriminate massacre of his 
 
 soldiery. 
 
 In March, 125(5, the Archbishop of Ravenna, as legate 
 of the holy see, commenced preaching at Venice a crusade 
 against this tyrant. Indulgences similar to those gnmted 
 to the pilgrims of the holy sepulchre were announced as 
 the reward of all who should take the cross in this new ser- 
 vice ; and the tranquillity of their native land, the honour 
 of the church, and the salvation of their souls were the 
 animating motives by which their zeal was inflamed. The 
 proximity of Eccellino to their own dominions, and the 
 danger which could not but be anticipated from his rest- 
 less\mbition, induced the Venetians to enrol themselves 
 in great numbers under the holy banner. Yet more to en- 
 courage the ardour which had been thus awakened among 
 them, the custody of that banner itself was intrusted to one 
 of their nobles ; a second was named marshal of the cru- 
 sading army ; and the numerous fugitives from Padua who 
 had sought refuge in the Lagunc, forgetful of all former na- 
 tional jealousies, gave a signal proof of their confidence in 
 the republic by appointing another of her citizens their 
 own podcsta. Padua was won with little difl^iculty ; for, 
 by a singular oversight, the very precaution which the general 
 of Eccellino had adopted for its defence materially con- 
 tributed to its reduction. In order to hinder the ascent of 
 the Venetian galleys, he turned the waters of the Brenta 
 into a new channel, and by their diversion removed the chief 
 obstacle against the march of the mvading army. The city 
 was stormed and pillaged, during seven days, by its pro- 
 
 ll 
 
 m 
 
I I 
 
 'U 
 
 144 
 
 MASSACRE OF THE PADXIAN TROOPS. 
 
 fesseJ friends. The prisons were thrown open ; from each 
 of the two largest three hundred captives were delivered, 
 and six other places of confinement were found crowded 
 with miserable objects of all ages and either sex, curtailed 
 of some limb, deprived of sight, or, perhaps, yet more bar- 
 barously mutilated. One of the most frightful dungeons of 
 the tyrant was, in after-times, dedicated to purposes of 
 science ; and when the university of Padua, already distin- 
 guished even in the twelfth century, boasted, under the 
 patronage of Venice, no less than eighteen thousand stu- 
 dents, the lofty " tower of Eccellino" was converted into an 
 observatory. Over its entrance might be read an appro- 
 priate inscription : 
 
 Qua qiumdam. infernos turns ducebat ad umbras 
 Nunc Venetum auspicio pandit ad astraviam.* 
 
 Eccellino received the news of this loss of the most pow- 
 erful city in his dominions with unbounded fury. Eleven 
 thousand troops, more than a third of his whole army, were 
 natives of Padua or the surrounding towns ; and, doubtful of 
 their fidelity, he determined to place it beyond all hazard. By 
 a forced march he gained Verona ; and there, having collected 
 these battalions in a single quarter of the city, and previously 
 disarmed them, he demanded that they should voluntarily sur- 
 render that portion of their comrades levied in the particular 
 district of Padua which had been first lost by the treachery, a» 
 he averred, of the garrison. Rejoiced that the tyrant's rage 
 had centred upon a part, when the whole believed them- 
 selves to be its object, the deluded men willingly obeyed* 
 Another and another like demand succeeded, on equally 
 frivolous pretences, till the whole band melted away and 
 was distributed through his various prisons. Hunger, thirsty 
 destitution, cold, despair, or the scaffold, from time to time, 
 diminished their numbers, so that in the end, out of eleven 
 thousand men, the flower of the Paduan territory, little more 
 than two hundred were permitted to survive. 
 
 The courage and skill of Eccellino, his superior general- 
 ship in the field, and the treacherous arts which he employed 
 as dexterously as his arms, prolonged this war through no 
 
 * Once the black porch of hell's infernal tide, 
 Now to the stare, while Venice rules, I guide. 
 
 DEATH OF ECCELLINO. 
 
 145 
 
 less than three years. Much of this delay may be attributed 
 to want of discipline, and even of bravery, in the troops to 
 whom he was opposed, and to the ignorance and superstition 
 of the priests who conducted them. More than once the 
 confederacy was exposed to the risk of entire dissolution ; 
 and, for a while, defeat trod closely upon defeat. But Eccel- 
 lino's faithlessness, even to those allies whom he had bound 
 to himself by interest or by terror, at length worked his 
 destruction. Three Ghibelin chiefs, each of whom believed 
 himself to be in his separate confidence, by mutual revela- 
 tions discovered his treachery to all. Indignant at this com- 
 plicated perfidy, they made overtures to the league, pledged 
 themselves to pursue the traitor to extermination, and 
 solemnly swore that no decree from the emperor, no dispen- 
 sation from the pope, should release them from this oath 
 till its purpose was accomplished. Three months sufficed 
 for the fulfilment of their vow ; and the enemy against 
 whom it was directed was hunted down, abandoned 
 by his troops, wounded, and taken prisoner. He re- '^' 
 fused all surgical assistance, tore the bandages from 
 his bleeding limbs, and thus expired almost if not altogether 
 by his own hands. 
 Vol. I.— N 
 
 1259. 
 
 m 
 
MJ 
 
 CHAPTER V. • 
 
 FROM A. D. 1259 TO A. D. 1310. 
 
 First War with Genoa— The Crown of Thorns— Fall of the Latin Em- 
 pire—Truce—Change in the Election of a Doge— Establishment of 
 the Inquisition at Venice— Second War with Genoa— Battle of Curzola 
 — Marro Polo— Battle of Gallipoli— Peace— Closing of the Great Coun- 
 cil— Sketch of the Venetian Nobility— Conspiracy of Bocconio— Dispute 
 
 with Clement V. respecting Ferrara— Papal Interdict— Conspiracy of 
 Thiepolo— Institution of the Council of X. 
 
 A. D. 
 
 1268. XLviii. 
 1274. xLix. 
 1280. L. 
 
 1289. LI. 
 
 DOGES. 
 
 Rainiero Zeno. 
 Lorenzo Thiepolo. 
 GiACOMO CoNTARiNi — abdicates. 
 Giovanni Dandolo 
 
 PlETRO GraDINIGO. 
 
 FIRST WAR WITH GENOA. 
 
 147 
 
 The succours afforded by Venice to the crusade a^inst 
 Eccellino were but inconsiderable ; but she was soon about 
 to be engaged far more deeply in a protracted and sanguinary 
 struggle, in which her own peculiar interests were mainly 
 conc'erned. Of the few powders which were able to main- 
 tain any commercial rivalry with her, Genoa was now the 
 most prominent. Many causes tended to enhance their 
 mutual jealousy ; and the seeds of bitterness and hatred 
 were deeply imbedded in the similarity of their governments 
 and their pursuits, of their ambition and their enterprise. 
 The exclusive dominion of the Adriatic, which was asserted 
 and maintained by the former state, was balanced by that 
 which the latter considered only as a retributive claim upon 
 the Mediterranean ; and it was, therefore, with very natural 
 alarm that the Genoese beheld the large acquisitions made 
 by their rivals during the last half-century, in the Morea 
 and Archipelago. 
 
 But a single spark was wanting to kindle their ill-con- 
 cealed hostility into open flame, and it was in the Levant 
 that the train thus ripe for combustion was fired. A 
 
 trii!ing dispute on a point of honour was permitted to lead 
 to war ; and this war in its progress involved no less a con- 
 sequence than the overthrow of the Latin empire. Among 
 the very few possessions still remaining to the Christians 
 in Palestine was the long-contested and almost impregna- 
 ble city of Acre. Within its walls was assembled a mot- 
 ley throng of various nations : the Counts of Tripoli and 
 Edessa, the King of Jerusalem himself, Knights Hospitallers 
 and Templars, Pisans, Venetians, and Genoese — all who 
 still lingered in the East in the hope of recovering dominion 
 or of preserving trade, were I'cre established in their own 
 separate quarters, submitted or. y to their own national juris- 
 dictions, and jealously asserted independence on each other. 
 The right to the church of Saint Sabba, which had ^gsg. 
 not been very precisely appropriated, was claimed ^ ^* 
 both by the Venetians and the Genoese. The pope, 
 when appealed to, decided for the former ; the latter, in 
 despite of this arbitration, by a far more summary process, 
 secured possession of the holy building, and fortified it. 
 Then, following up their aggression, and supported by Philip 
 de Montfort, the governor, they attacked and pillaged the 
 magazines of the Venetians, and drove them from the city. 
 We need not detail nor dwell upon the particulars of two 
 naval combats which succeeded this outrage. Tn both the 
 Venetians triumphed ; they burned the fleets of the Genoese, 
 chased their residents in turn from Acre, and off Tyre cap- 
 tured twenty galleys, and slew more than two thousand 
 men. But the most singular result of this warfare was 
 seen in the contradictory alliances to which it gave birth. 
 Hitherto, whatever slight part the Venetians had taken in 
 the factions of Italy annexed them to the Guelphs ; and 
 their inclination towards Rome had been plainly shown in 
 the crusade against Eccellino. In the present instance, the 
 aid of Manfred of Sicily, a natural son of Frederic IL, was 
 the most valuable which they could receive ; for his coasts 
 were likely to afford points of frequent encounter with the 
 Genoese, whom he regarded not only with a similar mari- 
 time jealousy to that cherished by the Venetians, but with 
 yet further resentment as old and active coadjutors with 
 his papal enemies. To his friendship, therefore, Zeno had 
 recourse. On like principles of mutual hatred against a 
 third power, and of mutual agreement to forget former 
 
 i f 
 
 i 
 
 i 
 
 m 
 
 M ^ 1 
 
 ..jgijUP;,,, 
 
148 
 
 DISTRESS OF BALDWIN II. 
 
 injuries, the doge concluded with Pisa, for ten years, a treaty 
 
 of alliance offensive and defensive. A far more un- 
 T2fU.* '^a^'i'''*^ union was formed by the Genoese. The 
 
 sceptre which Theodore Lascaris had grasped at 
 Nice, during the convulsions of the Greek empire, had been 
 
 greatly strengthened in the hand of his son-in-law 
 i"V99* ^^^ successor, John Ducas Vataces. Even the vices 
 Itit' of a second Theodore do not appear to have dimin- 
 I2?q *^^^^ ^^^^ power ; and but for his minority, his son 
 
 John Lascaris, might have retained his hereditary 
 throne. By one of those revolutions so common in oriental 
 history, not unaccompanied with treachery and bloodshed, 
 Michael Palseologus, perhaps the most illustrious, certainly 
 the most enterprising of the Greek nobles, obtained the 
 guardianship, and afterward the crown, of the young prince. 
 His first act after his usurpation was the invasion of 
 Thrace, and a bold attempt upon the suburb of Galata itself. 
 In this he failed ; but it needed little foresight to determine 
 that the feeble hands which now ruled the Latin govern- 
 ment were not likely* to oppose any long resistance to so 
 active and ambitious a foe. Of the six emperors who had 
 struggled through the half-century which succeeded the 
 conquest of Constantinople, the second Baldwin was by far 
 the least qualified to encounter the perils which surrounded 
 him. He had thrice made the circuit of Europe as a sup- 
 pliant for assistance, and he now returned to his Eastern 
 capital impoverished and dishonoured. It is unnecessary 
 to speak of the countless sordid littlenesses to which poverty 
 reduced him ; but there are two facts partially connected 
 with the history of Venice too remarkable to be omitted. 
 Philip, the son of this last Latin emperor of Constantinople, 
 was pawned by his father to some burghers of his capital, 
 as the only security which they would accept for a loan in- 
 commensurate with the pledge ; and the prince was trans- 
 ferred by them to the custody of some Venetian merchants,* 
 for greater safety. To other moneyed usurers of Venice waa 
 intrusted a deposite, which, whatever in our present estima- 
 tion may be its genuineness and intrinsic value, was con- 
 sidered at the time of which we are writing as beyond all 
 price. The frequency of imposture has, no doubt, attached 
 
 * Sanutus (apud Gesta Dei per Francos) Secreta Fidel. Cruc. ii. 418. 
 
 FALL OF THE LATIN EMPIRE. 
 
 149 
 
 much both of ridicule and suspicion to the generality of 
 relics ; and the silly pretensions to miraculous virtue which 
 have be^n asserted for them, have increased these unfavour- 
 able impressions. But I know not why those vivid emo- 
 tions, that glow of affection, that veneration and love with 
 which we contemplate other monuments of wisdom and of 
 virtue, should be repressed and chilled when we turn to like 
 memorials of our faith. If the reputed crown of thorns was 
 really that borne by our Lord during his sufferings, or (what 
 in the present instance is the same thing) was really believed 
 to be such, the piety which coveted its possession demands 
 not our sarcasm but our re.'-pect. On the credit of this 
 treasure, a sum amounting to about 7000Z. of our money 
 had been borrowed by the empire : the time stipulated for 
 its redemption approached ; and if not redeemed, its prop- 
 erty would become absolutely vested in Querini, a Vene- 
 tian, who had advanced the loan. Louis of France, who 
 has been canonized for his devotion, profited by the oppor- 
 tunity ; and after an agreement with Baldwin, discharged 
 the debt and conveyed the relic to Paris. The Sainte 
 Chapellc was built and consecrated for its reception. It 
 was jealously guarded* and magnificently enshrined ; and 
 after the lapse of four centuries, on one of those occasions 
 by which, as a corrective to human pride, the weakness of 
 the good and the follies of the wise are permitted to exhibit 
 themselves in strong light, by being produced as a voucher 
 for enthusiasm, it excited the surprise and curiosity, the 
 credulity or the skepticism, of all the Christian world. 
 
 While Baldwin, reduced to this destitution, tottered on 
 his throne, the fierce spirit of the Genoese saw, in an alli- 
 ance with Michael Palaeologus, a hope of wreaking ven- 
 geance upon their detested rival ; and, careless of the 
 means, provided Venice were depressed, they covenanted 
 for the recapture of Constantinople. The treaty exists by 
 which they bound themselves to furnish the emperor of 
 Nice with a certain number of vessels at a fixed price ; the 
 emperor, in return, promising them immunity from tolls 
 and customs in all his ports. That catastrophe which the 
 
 * The treasures of La Sainte ChapeUe. before the French revolution, 
 were exhibited onl\' en vertu de lettres de cachet, par ordre du roy. 
 The miracle asserted to have been wrought on Pascal's niece is well 
 known to everybody. 
 
 N2 
 
 ■ H 
 
 I 
 
 W; 
 
150 
 
 MICHAEL PAL^OLOGUS. 
 
 blind passion of the Genoese prepared, the imprudence of i 
 the Venetians completed. The chief strength of th 3 gani-^ 
 son of Constantinople, the only French and Venetian troops 
 by which it was manned, were employed by the podesta of 
 the latter nation in an idle expedition. On the return of 
 their fleet from an unsuccessful attempt on Daphnusia, the 
 Latin empire had ceased to exist : a bold coup de 
 I2fii' ^^^^ h^^ placed the defenceless capital in the hands 
 of a partisan of Michael, and the Venetian galleys 
 arrived but in time to afford refuge to the affrighted Bald- 
 win and his court. \ 
 
 On the entry of Michael Palseologus into Constantinople, 
 he confirmed the privileges for which the Genoese hL J stipu- 
 lated ; but at the same time, wisely considering how much 
 of the wealth of his restored empire must depend upon 
 general commerce, he encouraged the Pisan and Venetian 
 merchants to remain by similar grants. The Genoese, be- 
 ing likely to presume upon their alliance, were removed to 
 Galata ; the other foreigners were permitted to dwell within 
 the city. To each nation was assigned its own quarter ; 
 and, as distinct republics within the empire, they enjoyed 
 their own laws and submitted to their own governors. That 
 of the Venetians is henceforward known by the title Bailo, 
 Although thus far protecting her civil residents in his 
 metropolis, the emperor continued his warlike operations 
 against Venice. Negropont was attacked ; Scio, Lemnos, 
 and Rhodes were conquered. The first was bestowed as a 
 fief upon the Genoese, and was retained by them for three 
 centuries. Perhaps the Venetian pride was still more deeply 
 wounded when their rivals were permitted to demolish a 
 palace which had been once assigned to Venice in the 
 capital of the East, and to transport its materials to their own 
 shores, as records of their influence and their implacability. 
 
 The bare recital of the naval combats which succeeded 
 between the Venetians and the Genoese would be a tedious 
 and unprofitable task. Little more indeed is to be told than 
 that, in a course of eight years, no less than five sanguinary 
 battles were fought, and that in all the Venetians triumphed. 
 Whatever valour might be displayed, whatever glory might 
 be won, neither permanent benefit to themselves nor injury 
 to their enemies accrued from these victories. They resem- 
 bled our own naval engagements with the Dutch, during 
 
 ■■■• :j !■ itu'jt.a 
 
 TRUCE. 
 
 151 
 
 the seventeenth century, in which the vanquished of to-day 
 was prepared to renew the battle almost on the morrow, 
 rather than those mighty triumphs of later times, which 
 neither needed nor permitted frequent repetition, and in 
 which Rodney and Nelson swept the ocean at a single blow. 
 We pause indeed with surprise on the energy, and, if we 
 may so speak, on the intense vitality of the Genoese. An- 
 tffius-like, they appear to have been overthrown on their 
 peculiar element, only to acquire new strength by their 
 fall. Beaten off the Morea, they were still able to insult 
 their conquerors even in their own ports. In an 
 engagement under the heights of the Sicilian Tra- Kofi's 
 pani, not one of their vessels escaped the flames, the 
 flood, or the enemy ; yet, notwithstanding this horrible car- 
 nage which had almost exterminated their mariners, and 
 the desertion of their ally Palaeologus, who, despair- 
 ing of their cause, had signed a separate truce for . * ^n 
 live years, we find them, in the following campaign, 
 disembarking a force which destroyed the Venetian colony 
 in Candia ; and again, with similar bravery but former ill 
 fortune, confronting their rival on the coast of Tyre. It 
 was not till the project of a fresh crusade rendered a mari- 
 time peace necessary for the safe transport of that gallant 
 and devoted band which St. Louis was assembling to perish 
 miserably in Africa, that the competitors would listen to 
 accommodation. And even then, when all Christendom 
 stepped forward to arbitrate their quarrel, and the seeming 
 interests of religion were suspended on its adjustment, such 
 was the bitterness of their animosity, that peace was 
 rejected, and a truce for a few years was all that ^Aoq 
 could be forced on their reluctant acceptance. 
 
 It was during the rage of much intestine commotion in 
 each of the republics that this war was waged. The revo- 
 lutions of Genoa are foreign to our subject ; and it must 
 suffice to say that she was agitated both by a struggle with 
 her aristocracy, and by the threatened invasion of Charles 
 of Anjou. In Venice, the necessary expense of war had 
 occasioned the impost of additional taxes, which even suc- 
 cess could not strip of their unpopularity ; and the unreason- 
 able rabble of its capital, proud of glory, but unwilling to pay 
 its price, rose m the streets, attacked the ducal palace, and 
 plundered many of those belonging to nobles who were 
 
 ■'-'jiiArft- .:^>..« - ui,.- J.^ gT .t^.v.- 
 
152 
 
 NEW MODE OF 
 
 odious or suspected. The insurrection was suppressed by 
 the prompt summons of some neighbouring garrisons, and 
 punished by numerous and severe executions : and, at this 
 period of disorder, a new election became necessary by 
 the death of Zeno. The change introduced m Us form 
 exhibited a very singular combination of chance with tree 
 choice ; and an endeavour was made to exclude the possi- 
 bility of influence by any predominating faction, through a 
 complication of processes which no sagacity of intrigue 
 could hope either to foresee or to direct. 
 
 The aid of the diagram on the opposite page will render 
 mteUiaible this intricate form, which continued in force as 
 lona a°s the republic existed. The forty-one* electors to 
 whom the choice had hitherto been confided were abolished. 
 In their place, thirty members were set apart, by ballot, 
 from the grand council. These were reduced, by ballot 
 also, to nine: by whom forty provisional electors were 
 named; the first four counsellors each naming five, the 
 five hist, four ; and the whole being afterward approved by 
 at least five voices out of the nine. Ballot reduced these 
 forty to twelve, the first of whom named three new electors, 
 each of the others two ; and the whole twenty-five resulting 
 from their joint choicv^ being confirmed by nine voices. 
 From these a committee of nine was again obtained by 
 ballot ; of which each member appointed five electors, con- 
 firmed by seven voices. These forty-five were diminished, 
 by ballot, once more to eleven, of whom each of the first eight 
 named four persons, the last three, three : and the forty-one 
 thus formed, having been ratified by nine voices, constituted 
 the definitive electors; provided, after the scrutiny of each 
 name by the grand council, it united an absolute majority 
 of their suffrages. If it failed to do so, the last committee 
 of eleven was^bound to select a substitute. It will be per^ 
 ceived that the electors, therefore, were produced by no less 
 Jhan five ballots and fivp scrutinies.! Immediately after 
 
 * One was added in 1249, to the original forty, in order to prevent the 
 recurrence of an equal division, which, in 1228, had protracted au election 
 durin«^ more than two months, till it was decided by lot. 
 
 t Daru has illnstrated this complicated operation by the diagram 
 wJiicU we have borrowed ; and also by the following ItaUan rhymes, 
 which fall very legiliniately into English memorial doggerel. 
 Trcfita elegge U conseglio, From the council's nomination 
 
 Pi ^uei nove hanno il meglio ; Thirty meet ; nine keep their station f 
 
 ELECTING A DOGE. 
 
 153 
 
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154 ELECTION OF A DOGE. 
 
 their approval by the council, the electors v;ere conductecl 
 nto af IpartmL from which, until the announcement of 
 heir decision, all egress was peremptorily forbidden No 
 communication with those without was Pe™Uf ' ^^^^^ he 
 very windows were most jealously closed. ^?^'^^^^^? 
 tedhim of their confinement, they were ^^S^^^^f^' 
 tained at the pubUc expense ; and every ^! J^^^P^^^^^^^^^^ 
 them, which did not involve m it a possibil ty of breaking 
 through their isolation, was promptly gratified. But so 
 udicrously precise were the cautions adopted to prevent the 
 appe1^?anc7of any individual preference that whatever any 
 one member of the elective body asked for, during the con- 
 claveTwas given, not to him singly, but, with hnn, to each 
 of hs brethren' also. Thus, on application by a pious 
 elector for a rosary, forty-one rosaries were earned into the 
 saloon ; and a similar request, after the invention of print- 
 kaf"; a copy of ^sop's Fables entailed the necessity of a 
 sel'rch throul'h all the booksellers' shops - the capital for 
 so many impressions of that book as would suftce o c^n- 
 vince the whole body of electors that no partudity was 
 
 designed in favour of one. . . i i„ i tu^ 
 
 The electors having chosen three prion, ^^emaridcd the 
 assistance of two secretaries, who were subjected to the 
 same personal restrictions with themselves. Each elector 
 then, according to his seniority of age, placed in an urn a 
 scroll, written by his own hand, contammg the name ot 
 some member of the grand council whon. he considered 
 fittest for doge. One of the secretaries drew out these 
 scrolls at hazard, and read each name in turn ; and as each 
 
 Questi ele^on quarantn. 
 Ma chi piu in lor si oanta 
 Son doderA, chef anno 
 Ve)iti cinque : mastanno 
 Vi questi soli nove, 
 Che fan con le lor prove 
 Qitaranta cinque a ponto ; 
 De' quali undeci in conto 
 Elegg'in quaranV uno, 
 Chp chiusi tXLtti in uno, 
 Con venii cinque al meno 
 Voti, /anno il sereno 
 Prencipe che coregge 
 fitfUuti, ordini e legge. 
 
 Forty next by these are chosen, 
 Who, by lot, become a dozen. 
 Five-and-twenty then combine 
 To produce another nine; 
 Hence are five-and-fbrty given, 
 Who, diminished to eleven, 
 Are by lorty-oue succeeded ; 
 Of whose final votes are needed 
 Five-aiid-twenty, to create 
 The presiding rnazistrate; 
 The serene, by whom, elected 
 Thus, our statutes are protected. 
 
 GRAND CHANCELLOR. 
 
 155 
 
 \ 
 
 Was read, any one of the electors might state at length 
 whatever objections occurred to him. If the candidate pro- 
 posed were himself an elector, he was instructed to with- 
 draw while any accusation was preferred, but he had liberty 
 to reappear and answer it. The final decision was obtained 
 by ballot ; and that candidate was successful in whose 
 favour twenty-five suflrages were united. 
 
 The first doge who emerged from this labyrinth was 
 Lorenzo Thiepolo. He was an ardent supporter of 
 the aristocratical interests ; and some years before, ^^qq 
 in open day, and in the public streets of the capital, 
 he had been poniarded, and left for dead, by two leading mem- 
 bers of the opposite faction. Distinguished as a naval com- 
 mander, and by a victory which he had won during the 
 Genoese war, he was a favourite with the sailors ; who, on 
 the announcement of his election, raised him on their 
 shoulders, and carried him in triumph to his palace. Hence 
 arose a custom, which in the end was the sole share retained 
 by the people in the election of their chief magistrate ; the 
 artificers of the grand arsenal claimed the right of bearing 
 the new doge in his chair, when he made the circuit of the 
 piazza of St. Mark on the day of his election. The battle 
 in which Thiepolo had gained distinction, and endeared 
 himself to the fleet, was that fought in the Syrian seas at 
 the commencement of the war with Genoa, which led to 
 the expulsion of her merchants from Acre. To commemo- 
 rate their triumph, the Venetinns transported to their 
 capital, among other spoils of that city, two square marble 
 columns, inscribed with hieroglyphics and Syrian char- 
 acters, which decorated the chief portal of the disputed 
 church of Saint Sabba. These trophies were erected be- 
 tween the Broglio and the baptistery of St. Mark's, where 
 they still remain. 
 
 Immediately after the great change above noticed, an 
 office was created, the only one connected with govemment 
 which belonged to the cittadmi. The gieat council, the 
 senate, and the tribunals, all required secretaries, and from 
 that body, to which the nobles were ineligible, the council 
 nominated a grand chancellor. Invested with extraordi- 
 nary dignity, this officer was wholly debarred from power; 
 he had a seat in all the assemblies, but he was denied a 
 suffrage ; he took precedence of every member of the 
 
 W. 
 
 t 
 
 H 
 
156 
 
 ESTABLISHMENT OF 
 
 council, except the procuratori of St. Mark and the coun- 
 sellors of the doge; the great seal of the republic was 
 deposited in his custody, his allowances were splendid, and 
 he could not be removed during life. On his inauguration, 
 the procuratori who accompanied him to the collegio yielded 
 him the pas^ as the nobles also did to such citizens as 
 attended the procession. His obsequies were celebrated 
 with as much pomp as those of the doge himself; he was 
 interred in St. Mark's, a funeral oration was pronounced 
 over his remains, and the senators who retained their scarlet 
 robes at the burial of the prince, mourned for the chancellor 
 in sables. So highly esteemed was this office, that, during 
 the times in which nobility was to be purchased, the attain- 
 ment of the chancellorship was more than once preferred, 
 whenever such choice was afforded, to inscription in the 
 
 golden book. 
 
 A few years after the accession of Giovanni 
 12*80* I^andolo, Nicholas IV., the reigning pope, partially 
 compassed an object which had been much coveted 
 during the reigns of no less than ten of his predecessors ; 
 and a concordat was arranged for the establishment 
 of the inquisition in Venice. But the wariness of 
 her government took especial pains to prevent this 
 foreign jurisdiction from attaining any power which mi^ht 
 affect its own ; and the immunities of temporal dominion 
 were carefully fortified against the encroachments of eccle- 
 siastical ambition. At no place in which the holy office 
 obtained a seat did it so little further the purposes of its 
 founders as in the Lagune. Its tribunal in the capital con- 
 sisted of the papal nuncio, the Bishop of Venice, and one 
 other ecclesiastic : neither of which latter could act without 
 the permission of the doge. In the provinces, the pope, in 
 like manner, had the barren privilege of nomination ; but 
 his nominees were powerless if the doge enforced his veto. 
 Three senators in Venice, three magistrates in the provinces, 
 completed the inquisitorial band ; and, without their pres- 
 ence, all proceedings were absolutely null. They might 
 suspend the deliberations and prohibit the execution of the 
 sentences of their court, if they judged them contrary to the 
 interests of the republic. Secrecy, the boasted master- 
 engine of the institution, here lent not its efficacy to 
 strengthen the pontifical arm : for the assistants were 
 
 A. D. 
 
 1289. 
 
 THE INQUISITION IN VENICE. 
 
 157 
 
 bound by oath to reveal all proceedings to the senate, and 
 no appeal nor evocation to Rome was permitted. Nume- 
 rous offences, of which the holy office elsewhere asserted its 
 right of cognizance, here were exempted ; and heresy, in 
 its strictest sense, was the sole crime reserved for its juris- 
 diction. Thus, it was said that it was not just that the 
 Romish church should extend her authority beyond her 
 own members, and therefore neither Jews nor Greeks 
 were amenable to her courts. In bigamy, the second mar- 
 riage, being void, was esteemed an infraction of the civil 
 code, not a violation of a sacrament ; and provided they had 
 not insulted any spiritual ordinances or offices, blasphemers, 
 usurers, and sorcerers, those most copious sources of victims 
 to the inquisition, were emancipated from its grasp. All 
 offences of priests were tried by secular judges ; and even 
 the funds of the holy office were managed by a Venetian 
 treasurer, and inspected and controlled by the senate. The 
 property of condemned prisoners reverted to their heirs, 
 instead of ])eing confiscated ; and, after the invention of 
 printing, the tyranny of state-licensing was divested of all 
 interference from the inquisitors, and committed entirely to 
 the civil magistrates. Such were some of the chief barriers 
 which effectually prevented that bloody and ferocious tri- 
 bunal from striking its baneful roots deeply into the soil of 
 Venice. Its establishment there, and the restrictions by 
 which it was limited, have been accurately recorded by the 
 ablest writer whom the republic ever produced ; and the 
 history of Paolo Sarpi may be perused with advantage as 
 teachinfT both tiie artifices of Rome and the wisdom which 
 countervailed them. 
 
 The reign of Pietro Gradcnigo is remarkable both for its 
 foreign and domestic incidents. Even while the 
 
 o .•AT) 
 
 electors were deliberating, after the death of Giovanni , ^j,g 
 Dandolo, the strong current of popular feeling against 
 that aristocracy which was so soon to engross the whole power 
 of the state, manifested itself fiercely but vainly. A crowd 
 assembled under the windows of the palace, and on their own 
 authority, proclaimed Giacopo Thiepolo doge. Far from pos- 
 sessing the boisterous requisites for a demagogue, this can- 
 didate of the people was a man of benevolent temper and 
 of gentle, if not timid, spirit ; and the very qualities which 
 probably occasioned his irregular election, induced him to 
 
 VOL.'I.-^O 
 
 i 
 
15S 
 
 WAR RENEWED WITH GENOA. 
 
 withdraw from a city in which his presence encouraged 
 sedition. Six days elapsed before the electors ventured to 
 announce their choice. It had fallen upon one in all points 
 calculated to oppose that growing spirit of insubordination, 
 whicli, had it been successful, would have been justly styled 
 the love of liberty : and by placing Gradenigo in power, 
 the oligarchical faction obtained an instrument well fitted 
 to consummate the great changes which had been long grad- 
 ually maturing in the constitution. Before entering, how- 
 ever, upon these political alterations, we must briefly advert 
 to some foreign transactions. 
 
 On the expiration of the truce with the Genoese, hostili- 
 ties were renewed with more than former implaca- 
 T90Q hility, and with an entire reverse of former fortune. 
 12Jd. QgjjQg^ i^y jjgj connexion with the Greeks, had ac- 
 quired great strength in the East; she was mistress of 
 Scio, she possessed many establishments on the shores of 
 the Black Sea, and among them the important town of 
 Caffa, which commands the entrance of the Sea of Azoph. 
 Above all, she held, as a fief of the empire, Pera, the suburb 
 of Constantinople ; and, by its occupation, she virtually 
 retained the keys of that great capital, she controlled its 
 fishery and its customs, without her permission not a bark 
 could navigate its harbour, and as she closed or threw open 
 her granaries, famine or abundance waited on her pleasure. 
 Pera, nevertheless, was as yet unfortified, and it was easily 
 surprised and burned by a Venetian armament; which, 
 passing on to the Black Sea, spread terror through its coasts, 
 and ravaged the equally defenceless Caffa. The detach- 
 ment employed on this latter service imprudently wintered 
 in the Crimea, and paid for its daring by the loss of more 
 than half its crew and equipments. The Genoese were 
 speedily revenged ; and the temporary abandonment of Pera 
 was, in the end, most advantageous to their interests ; for, 
 having received permission to fortify it, they raised their 
 works with incredible rapidity, and soon rendered them- 
 selves as formidable to their allies, as they became impreg- 
 nable by their enemies. In the mean time sixty-six galleys, 
 a portion of a larger fleet of one hundred and sixty sail, in 
 which were embarked twenty-five thousand troops, all natives 
 of Genoa, penetrated the Adriatic ; where, off Curzola, 
 they encountered a superior Venetian force. Undismayed 
 
 MARCO POLO. 
 
 159 
 
 by the appearance of no less than ninety-five hostile vessels, 
 Lamba Doria detached fifteen of his own, with orders not 
 to engage till they could bear down with the wind, during the 
 heat of action. This bold manoeuvre succeeded. The 
 shock of the fresh and unexpected galleys was irresistible ; 
 and never was a heavier defeat suffered than that inflicted on 
 the Venetians : sixty-five of their ships were burnt, and 
 eighteen, with seven thousand prisoners, taken. Among 
 these prisoners was one whose celebrity, on another account, 
 has reached our own times ; and it is, perhaps, to the cap- 
 tivity of Marco Polo that we are indebted for the written 
 history of his travels. After an absence of nearly forty 
 years, spent for the most part in countries as yet unex- 
 plored, this enterprising Venetian had returned from the 
 Tartar court of Kublai Khan, to recount the wonders of 
 extreme Asia to his fellow-citizens. His great nautical 
 experience obtained for him the command of a galley in 
 this unfortunate action, in which he was foremost in the 
 attack, was wounded, and taken prisoner. To beguile the 
 tediousness of four years' imprisonment, he "committed his 
 adventures to paper : and owing to the surprise and admi- 
 ration which they excited even among the Genoese, he ob- 
 tained his freedom. A less happy fate awaited the Venetian 
 admiral, Andrea Dandolo. The Genoese, exulting in their 
 success, and forgetful of that respect which a generous 
 spirit gladly pays to a brave though vanquished enemy, 
 loaded their illustrious prisoner with chains, and exposed 
 him conspicuously to the rude gaze of the fleet, as a signal 
 evidence of their victory. Before they reached their capital 
 Dandolo had deprived them of this barbarous triumph ; for, 
 leaping from the bench of the galley, he dashed his head 
 forcibly against her side, and was borne on shore a corpse. 
 The following year witnessed a second naval defeat of the 
 Venetians, off Gallipoli, less disastrous than that 
 which we have just related only inasmuch as the 
 forces engaged were inferior in numbers : and six- 
 teen ships out of four-and-twenty fell into the power of 
 the conquerors. The seas could no longer be disputed with 
 the Genoese ; yet how little in these times were the general 
 principles of maritime warfare understood ! After the loss 
 of more than one hundred ships, while Venice was unable 
 to man a squadroo which could face t^e overwlielming 
 
 A. D* 
 
 1294. 
 
 Ii 
 
 ll 
 
 I . 
 
■fSSffiSPPSp- 
 
 160 
 
 PEACE WITH GENOA. 
 
 A. D. 
 
 1299. 
 
 Buperioiity of her enemy, we read with surprise of a gallant 
 adventurer, Sclavoni, who, with no more than four galleys, 
 escaped the vigilance of the Mediterranean cruisers, made a 
 bold and successful attack upon the capital of the victors, 
 burnt one of their merchantmen anchored in the port and 
 under the very walls of Genoa, and returned to the Lagwne 
 laden with a considerable booty. 
 
 This useless and destructive contest, in which each party, 
 without acquisition of real glory, exhausted its own strength 
 while injuring its adversary, was closed for a while by the 
 mediation of Matteo Visconti, Lord of Milan, and 
 peace was concluded as a breathing-time for a fresh 
 war. Genoa had obtained the right of dictating 
 terms, and she prohibited any armed Venetian ship from 
 entering the Black Sea or touching on the coast of Syria 
 for the next thirteen years. 
 
 Two years before he was disengaged from the second 
 Genoese war, Gradenigo obtained a decree of the great 
 council, which may be esteemed the corner-stone upon which 
 the future pure oligarchy of Venice was consolidated. 
 Hitherto, if we have spoken of different classes existing in 
 this state, the distinction between them must be considered 
 much more as conventional, than as resulting from positive 
 institutions. The population of Venice can scarcely be said 
 to have been separated into patrician and plebeian, by any 
 of those marked and decided boundaries which struck a deep 
 and early root in other communities. Her origin was 
 friendly to the preservation of as much equality as can prac- 
 tically exist in any large society ; and the want of all landed 
 territory had kept her aloof from the introduction of the 
 feodal system, with its accompaniments of lordships and 
 vassalage. Still, wherever numbers of men are congregated 
 into one body, some pre-eminence must be attained ; some 
 individuals will command greater respect, and consequently 
 exercise greater influence, than their contemporaries. This 
 superiority, in the first instance, will probably be accorded 
 to talent ; and those who possess the most intimate know- 
 ledge of their fellow-men will be most hkely to obtain the 
 earliest guidance of their conduct. Wealth will next estab- 
 lish a claim to regard ; and as riches are more frequently 
 transmitted to posterity than ability, the first distinctions 
 of what may be called hereditary rank will accrue to the 
 
 ORIGIN OF VENETIAN NOBILITY. 
 
 161 
 
 families possessed of most substance. It is easy to per- 
 ceive in what manner these advantages, when once obtained 
 (and the lapse of very few years in civilized society cannot 
 but bestow them), will lead to a virtual, if not to an acknow- 
 ledged, separation of classes ; and it is natural to suppose 
 that those who, in any way, are elevated above their 
 brethren, will find both the readiest access to magisterial 
 offices and the surest methods of retaining them : so that 
 hence also arises another source of distinction. Such appears 
 to have been the progress of what, in conformity with the 
 habits of other countries, we must name the Venetian 
 nobility. 
 
 The great council, placed, in its very outset, beyond the 
 reach of popular suffrage, had gradually eluded even the 
 slight control of annual election. Without being able to 
 trace the progress of usurpation step by step, it may bo 
 enough to say that it attributed to itself the right of naming 
 the twelve electors by whom it was to be renewed ; and 
 consequently that, in point of fact, it re-elected itself. 
 Hence, for the most part, its members were chosen from 
 the same families, or rather generally consisted of the same 
 individuals who had once obtained seats in it. Still, at 
 least in name, it was neither permanent nor exclusive. No 
 one afl^rmed an hereditary claim to its honours ; no one 
 asserted that he belonged to it otherwise than as a represent- 
 ative : and the poorest citizen, however conscious that he 
 could never hope for enrolment upon its list of sages, con- 
 tented himself with a belief that there was no other obstacle to 
 so bright a fortune except improbability. 
 
 Even this consolatory fallacy was now to be dissipated. 
 In the last reign a proposition had been made that the 
 annual electors should be instructed never to choose any 
 member who had not himself already been admitted, or who 
 was unable to prove the admission of some ancestor. Dan- 
 dolo, who favoured the popular interests, opposed this 
 project, and it was rejected : Gradenigo obtained the ^oq^* 
 same object by a more circuitous route. Assuming 
 that, as the annual elections had almost invariably fallen 
 upon the same individuals, those individuals had, therefore, 
 established a right, he did not so much support the claim of 
 re-election to a body of which he already held them to be con- 
 stituent members, as the necessity of determining whether 
 
 02 
 
 II 
 I 
 
 i ij 
 
 % ' 
 
162 
 
 CLOSING OF THE GREAT COUNCIL. 
 
 they were still worthy of continuing in it. This artf\il 
 representation, as will be seen at once, wholly changed the 
 nature of the council. To effect his purpose, the doge pro- 
 posed that a list of all who had been members during the 
 last four years should be submitted to the XL., and that 
 every member who united twelve of their suffrages should 
 retain his seat. At the expiration of a year, the same 
 scrutiny was to be repeated. To prevent the appearance 
 of an entire exclusion of all but this favoured class, three 
 members of the council were instructed to form a supple- 
 mentary list of citizens eligible without having already sat. 
 These were limited in number by the signory, and were 
 balloted for in like manner by the XL. It is needless to 
 speak of the class from which this list was selected : it was 
 similar to that of the existing members. The decree passed, 
 and bears in history the name of The Closing of the Council 
 {La Scrrata del mazor Couseio). It was not such in fact ; 
 but it was the first step towards 'it, and the others were 
 
 rapidly trodden. During the next two years the 
 V2Qfi' ^ -" returned exactly the same members. In the 
 
 third, all names were excluded from the supple- 
 mentary list but those of persons who themselves or whose 
 OAA ancestors had been members. A subsequent statute 
 
 spoke of the positive exclusion of those who were 
 contemptuously termed new men. Not long after, a 
 ,o|c register was opened, in which all qualified persons 
 
 having attained the age of eighteen were required 
 to inscribe their names : and, lastly, the periodical renewals, 
 -„,q and the supplementary lists were swept away ; the 
 
 existing council was declared permanent and heredi- 
 tary ; and whoever could prove his ancestral right was per- 
 mitted, when five-and-twenty years old, to assert his claim, 
 as the form ran, per suos et per viginti quinque annos ; to 
 be enrolled in the golden book {II Libro d'Oro) of nobility, 
 and thus to be admitted as a member of the great council. 
 Thirty dispensations — at first decided by lot, afterward 
 sometimes accorded to merit, but more frequently put up 
 to sale — were also granted, by which such young patricians 
 as obtained them might take their seats at the age of twenty- 
 one. They were named / Barherini, because they were 
 elected on the feast of San Barbo. 
 
 In later days, the nobili were arranged, if not fonnally, 
 
 CLASSES OF NOBILITY. 
 
 163 
 
 at least conventionally, in four classes. The most distin- 
 guished, Gli Elettoraliy were descendants of the twelve 
 tribunes by whom the first doge had been electod in the 
 year 697 : to these were annexed four families, whose rep- 
 resentatives, in conjunction with the above-mentioned 
 twelve, signed an instrument for the foundation of the Ab- 
 bey of San Georgio Maggiore, in the year 800. Of these, 
 the former are sometimes spoken of as / dodici Apostoliy* 
 the latter as I quatro Evangelisti.f Six other families also 
 were admitted without hesitation to the first class ;t and 
 there were two or three besides whose claim was more or 
 less contested : this class furnished more than half her 
 doges to the republic. The second class consisted of those 
 whose ancestors were members of the grand council at the 
 time of its closing, and each of these had its doge. The 
 third comprised thirty families admitted after the war of 
 Chiozza, in return for the great services which they had 
 rendered to the state ; three of these also have produced a 
 doge. The fourth and lowest class originated among 
 Venetian citizens, Candiotes, or other provincials, who, du- 
 ring the Turkish wars, upon which we have not yet entered, 
 gratified their own vanity and relieved the necessities of the 
 republic by purchasing nobility at the market-price of one 
 hundred thousand ducats. One only doge was elevated 
 from this division, and, singularly enough, it was Manini, 
 the last sovereign of his country. These four classes of no- 
 bility altogether seldom exceeded twelve hundred in number, 
 but to these must be added another, which may be con- 
 sidered as honorary. It included such illustrious foreigners 
 (and among these more than one crowned head was num- 
 bered) as had solicited or received inscription in the golden 
 book. This honour was very jealously guarded, and it 
 was not without extreme difficulty that Gregory XIII. ob- 
 tained admission for one of his bastard sons. All illegiti- 
 mate children of the native nobility, even those who had 
 been legitunated by a subsequent marriage, were rigorously 
 excluded ; and the council, after long deliberation upon the 
 
 * Badouari, Barozz.1, Contnrini, Dandoli, Falierl. Gradenighi, Memml 
 otiierwise Mouegari, Miclueli, Morosini, Polaai, Sanuiii otherwibe Can- 
 diaiii, Thiepoli. 
 
 t Bembi, Bragadini, Cornari, Giustiniani. 
 
 J Dclfiiii, Querim, Sagredj, Soranzi, Zeni, Ziani. 
 
 I 
 
164 
 
 THE NOBLES. 
 
 style by which the pope's 7iephew should be recognised, at 
 last decided upon a form sufficiently ambiguous to remove 
 its scruples ; Jl Si^nor Giacamo Buoncompagno, stretto 
 parente di sua Saniitd — a near relation of his holiness. 
 
 Besides the above distribution of the nobles into classes, 
 there was a yet more summary mode of distinguishing 
 them : the rich were termed / Signori ; the poor, who 
 formed two-thirds of the body, and who chiefly inhabited 
 the cheap quarter of San Barnabo, / Barnahoti. Or, re- 
 taining Barnahoti for the last, the wealthiest were named 
 in a sort of slang language, Sanguc hlo or Sarigue coloin- 
 hhi, blue blood or pigeon's blood ; the moderately rich. 
 Morel di mezoy middle piece. The pride of birth, however, 
 was discouraged as much as possible in Venice, when it led 
 to comparisons which might occasion disunion among the 
 nobility ; and one of the ordinances of that most fearful tri- 
 bunal which we shall have occasion to notice hereafter, 
 the inquisition of state, directed itself, with what to most 
 will appear disproportionate severity, against such as dis- 
 paraged their brethren by boasting of their own superior 
 antiquity. The spies entertained among the patricians 
 were warned to report all expressions of this tendency ; the 
 first offence was punished with six months' imprisonment 
 in the piombi, those fatal dungeons under the leads of the 
 ducal palace, from which few returned alive ; for the 
 second, the indiscreet babbler was to be drowned secretly.* 
 An anecdote is related by Amclot de la Houssaye, which, 
 perhaps, may have been invented for the sake of the jest 
 which it contains, but which nevertheless well illustrates 
 the spirit of the Venetian government on this point. One 
 of the Da Fonte family, in a dispute with a gentleman named 
 Canaky boasted that the ponti (bridges) were much above 
 the canali (canals) ; his antagonist replied, that the canali 
 were in being long before the existence of the ponti. The 
 senate interfered, and informed the one that it possessed 
 power to fill up the canals ; the other, that it could knock 
 down the bridges.^ 
 
 It must not be supposed that this revolution was effected 
 as quietly as it is here related, or that the people at large 
 were insensible to their exclusion from all share in their 
 
 t 
 
 Asigiontn al capitolare delli Inq. di Stato, 7. 
 liUt.du. Goiiv. de Venise, i. 61. 
 
 sBANQUET TO THE FISHERMEN. 
 
 165 
 
 own government. Gradenige addressed himself with much 
 art to the rulhig passions of the diflerent parties in the state. 
 A few individuals of influence had been inadvertently 
 omitted in the first lists of the great council ; and most of 
 these were soon afterward specially summoned to it. The 
 populace, unfitted and little anxious for real power, yet 
 proud of familiar approach to those by whom it is ad- 
 ministered, were cajoled by an empty condescension ; when 
 the doge invited the fishermen of the capital to a public 
 banquet, and permitted them to embrace him at its conclu- 
 sion. So gratifying was this privilege, that the com- 
 monalty became unwilling to relinquish it, and it passed 
 into an annual custom. But in after years, when the 
 aristocracy was firmly established, spirits like those of 
 Caius Marcius were found among the nobles, which re- 
 volted from this " supple bonneting" of the rabble ; and a 
 Contarini, when in authority, refused the ill-assorted feast 
 and the kiss of mock fraternity. His denial, if persevered 
 in, might have shaken Venice to its base. When the fisher- 
 men assembled on the appointed day, and clamorously de- 
 xnanded admission, it was long before the reluctant doge 
 was prevailed upon to appear, and even when he did so he 
 was masked. His guests, approaching him individually, 
 inflicted the kiss ; and as a monument of their triumph, 
 they afterward placed in the church of Sta. Agnese a picture 
 representing the ceremony. 
 
 In little more than two years, however, from the first 
 closing of the council, the discontented found a 
 leader ; and three citizens of the middle class of 
 society meditated the assassination of the doge, and 
 a remodelling of the government. Few circumstances of 
 this conspiracy are preserved to us beyond the names of the 
 chief actors and its suppression. By the vigilance of the 
 doge, or the imprudence of the insurgents, the plot was 
 discovered before it was ripe for execution, and Bocconio, 
 Baldovino, and Giuda perished on the scaffold. 
 
 Some of the native writers have fixed upon this time as 
 an epoch in Venetian history, and have affirmed that the 
 year 1303 witnessed the termination of the adolescence of 
 the republic. " Ever since," observes an author whose pre- 
 science manifestly did not extend so far as the nineteenth 
 century, " she has proceeded with the gravity and prudence 
 
 A. D. 
 
 1299. 
 
 i i: i 
 
 i* 
 
 f 
 
 ■i 
 
 i 
 
 
 n 
 
 riiUiii^jiMita 
 
 MlJlMiH 
 
 ■HaMfM^MMU 
 
166 
 
 OCCUPATION OF FERRARA. 
 
 of mature age ; and being a happy mixture of monarchy, 
 aristocracy, and democracy, it is likely, with Jhe assistance 
 of the ffods, that she will endure to eternity ! * 
 
 An embroilment with the holy see for a while diver ed the 
 attention of the republic from domestic quarrels, only that 
 they mitrht in the end be renewed with increased virulence. 
 The succession of Ferrara was disputed, on the 
 ^' ^' death of Azzo VIII. of Este, by Francesco, a brother, 
 ^^^^' and Fresco, a natural son,t to each of whom it had 
 been bequeathed by separate wills of the deceased prmce. 
 The Venetians, calculating upon some private advantage 
 by interference in a neighbouring contest, espoused the 
 interests of the latter, and despatched to his support six 
 thousand men, by whom Ferrara was assaulted, part of the 
 town burned, and the citadel captured. Yet the bastard of 
 Este, although thus far successful, was unable to hope tor 
 stability of power, for he was not wholly free from a sus- 
 picion of having accelerated his father's death,$ and he had 
 brought the hol-rors of civil war upon his country. Exe- 
 crated, therefore, by his fellow-citizens, he abandoned his 
 throne almost as soon as he had reconquered it, and the 
 Venetians received, or pretended to receive, a cession ot his 
 rights in their own favour. On the unsatisfactory plea that 
 the mother of the illegitimate prince was a native of the 
 Laguney they claimed possession of Ferrara, as a return for 
 the thousand ducats with which they had pensioned its ab- 
 dicated sovereign."^ But another pretender had arisen from 
 the new seat of the papacy at Avignon; and Clement V., 
 
 * See the authorities referred to by MTherson, Annals of Commerce, 
 
 """tsismondi calls him grandson, vol. iv. p. 281. But the Chronicon 
 Estense, Morosiui, and Verdizzotti, all concur in making him son 
 
 1 Azzo VIII. himself is accused by Dante of a similar crime ; and his 
 father, Obizzo II., is represented as condemned to the same pumshmenl 
 as Eccellino. So far as we have been able to trace them, the charges of 
 cruelty against the father, and parricide against the sou, are eijually 
 
 unfounded. , ,, , , • j 
 
 Queir altro cK i btondo 
 
 E Obizzo da Este, il qnal per vera, , , ,, - 
 
 Fu spento dalJigUastro su nel mondo.— lnj. XU. A. 
 
 That with flaxen locks, 
 0\)\TM of Este, in the world destroyed 
 By his foul step-son.— Cary. 
 
 % JHorosinl, i.%, Verdizzotti, x. 
 
 INTERDICT OF CLEMENT V. 
 
 167 
 
 tracing back the rights of the pontificate to the very origin 
 of the city, avowed that the church, like a tender mother, 
 once again opened her bosom for the reception of a long-lost 
 child ; and that " although leviathan, the wily serpent, and 
 author of all evil, had poisoned the hearts of the Venetians, 
 Rome would not be backward in rescuing her desolate off- 
 spring from the jaws of a roaring lion, which were opened 
 to devour." 
 
 To thd utter exclusion of all hereditary claims of the 
 rightful family, the possession of Ferrara was now, there- 
 fore, contested by strangers. The pope despatched a nuncio 
 to Venice ; and on the rejection of his demands he excom- 
 municated the doge, and put his dominions under interdict. 
 The bull issued on this occasion is a memorable 
 record of the fiiry, the arrogance, and the folly of '^nnk 
 Rome. The Venetians were likened in it to Dathan, 
 Abiram, Absalom, and Lucifer — personages who appear to 
 have been always retained for employment on similar occa- 
 sions ; for we call to mind more than one usage of them at 
 times m which our own princes excited the wrath of the 
 Vatican. Unless Ferrara should be surrendered within a 
 month, all nations were forbidden from holding any com- 
 merce with Venice ; the doge and his republic were to be 
 stripped of all privileges and fiefs which might have been 
 granted heretofore by the holy see ; his subjects were re- 
 leased from their oath of fidelity to him ; all Venetians were 
 declared infamous, incapable of administering public func- 
 tions even among themselves, of appearing in courts of 
 justice, either as plaintiffs or defendants, and of bequeathing 
 or inheriting property ; and their children, to the fourth 
 generation, were excluded from all secular and ecclesiastical 
 dignities. These penalties after two months' delay were 
 to be enhanced yet further by the actual deposition of the 
 doge and all his ministers, the annulment of all contracts and 
 obligations which had been entered into with them, the con- 
 fiscation of the entire property of every Venetian, and the 
 summons of all Christendom to arms in order to reduce 
 them to slavery. 
 
 Clement's spiritual censures were followed up by vigorous 
 demonstrations, far more likely to produce effect upon the 
 stubborn disobedience of Venice, than all the thunders of 
 ecclesiastical wratli. A cardinal took the field with an nnnv 
 
 f 
 
 I 
 
168 
 
 EFFECTS OF THE PAPAL INTERDICT. 
 
 of crusaders, defeated the force opposed to him, pursued it 
 under the walls of Ferrara, and, aided by the inhabitants, 
 who willingly opened their gates, obtained possession of the 
 city. The loss of the Venetians was most severe : In the 
 battle and the occupation of the town, and from the more 
 secret vengeance inflicted afterward by the citizens, not 
 less than five thousand men (and some writers have ex- 
 tended the victims to thrice that number) fell beneath the 
 sword or the stiletto. The citadel, their sole remaining 
 post, was soon afterward abandoned, and its garrison found 
 safety in flight. 
 
 Meantime, whether from a superstitious awe of the 
 papal denunciation, or, as is more probable, from a general 
 jealousy of the wealth and power of a state, who, without 
 territorial possession, mated herself with kings, Venice 
 was proscribed throughout Europe. Not only the Itahan 
 ports, but France, England, Arragon, and Sicily, impelled 
 either by weakness or avarice, pillaged her factories and 
 confiscated her merchandise. An embargo was laid upon 
 her ships ; many of her residents and mariners were killed ; 
 yet more were condemned as slaves, and sold even to the 
 Infidels, at whose hands they were likely to encounter a 
 more gentle treatment than at those of their Christian 
 brethren. " Happy indeed for us was it," is the strong 
 language of a Venetian historian, " that the Saracens also 
 were not among the baptized."* Throughout the Dcgado 
 and its dependencies all services of the church were inter- 
 rupted. The clergy avoided a land groaning under male^ 
 diction ; the sacraments, for the most part, were denied ; 
 and it was not without dilTiculty that even the newly-born 
 received admission to the faith by its solemn initiatory rites, 
 and that the dying were permitted the consolation of the 
 viaticum. These privations, and the sufferings resulting 
 from them, the hardness and despair produced by the sus- 
 pension of religious ordinances, the dearth and impoverish- 
 ment which were the natural fruits of commercial stagnation, 
 increased in no slight degree that evil feeling which already 
 existed among the citizens towards their government. 
 Gradenigo was personally unpopular, and nothing is easier 
 in such a case than the assumption that public calamity 
 
 * Verdiazotti, X. 
 
 CONSPIRACY OF THIEPOLO. 
 
 169 
 
 has its source in the individual who is the object of public 
 hatred. He had not as yet, it is true, advimced the do- 
 minion of the aristocracy to tiie full height which we have 
 shown that it ultimately attained ; but more than enough 
 had already been effected to mark the goal to which his 
 course was tending. Even among the nobles, not all were 
 satisfied : some there were who disdained to participate 
 authority which they considered their own exclusive riuht, 
 with the few newer members whom it had been deemed 
 politic to associate wilh them in the council ; and more 
 than one debate of a stormy character had passed between 
 them within the walls of" the assembly. Of the class 
 which was left without hope of elevation, it is needless to 
 speak. With the multitude excuses for insubordination 
 are never wanting; and in the present instance, they 
 might, perhaps, be advanced with less then usual deviation 
 from truth. The whole period of Gradenigo's reign had 
 been disastrous; and the obvious remedy which presented 
 itself was to be found in a change of masters. 
 
 Such, doubtless, was the ojjinion inculcated by the chiefs 
 of three distinguished families who undertook the 
 attempt. The conspira'-y was not, as before, or- ')'Jl: 
 ganized by plebeians. Boemondo 'i'hiepolo counted 
 two doges among his ancestors, and his brother* Giacomo, 
 if the voice of the peopln had l)een obeyed, would now him- 
 self have borne that title. Married to a daughter of Marco 
 Querini, Boemondo found in his adoptive father an ambition 
 of which his brother had shown himself devoid. The 
 Querini traced their origin to ancient Rome; and, passing 
 by the three doges of their name who had governed in the 
 eighth century, they boasted of the proud line of the 
 Sulpitii, and their descent from the imperial Galba. The 
 house of Badouero, the third which completed this band, 
 had swayed Venice at one time bv almost hereditarv riirht ; 
 and no less than seven doges had sprung from their race. 
 These families were hostile to Gradenigo and his poL. v ; 
 and besides the general tenor of his administration, per- 
 sonal causes of dislike are mentioned, little creditable to the 
 conspirators. Querini had been deprived of the command 
 
 * Logier and Daru make Boemondo a son of Giacomo Thiepolo ; Sis- 
 mondi a brother. TUe latter is supported by Ver»lizzoili, U. p. 207. 
 Vol. I. — P 
 
 
 w 
 
170 
 
 CONSPIRACY OF THIEPOLO. 
 
 of that fleet which afterward fought so unsuccessfully with 
 Lamba Doria ; his brother had been convicted of pecula- 
 tion ; and the hands of Thiepolo himself were not more 
 pure ; he had been fined for a misappropriation of money 
 in a government which he held in the Morea.* Their con- 
 nexions were naturally extensive, and embraced personages 
 of the most illustrious rank ; so that among many others 
 involved in their design were counted the Lord of Paros 
 and a. procuratore of Saint Mark. 
 
 The fierce watchwords of faction, the party names of 
 Gueljh and Ghibelin, were heard in Venice for the first 
 time juring the progress of this conspiracy, and the doge 
 was stigmatized as belonging to the latter party, because 
 he had opposed the pope. His death, therefore, was said 
 to be no less demanded by insulted rehgion than by violated 
 liberty. One only voice appears to have been raised against 
 the headlong blindness of open insurrection. Giacopo, the 
 brother of Marco Querini, pointed forcibly to the miseries 
 and crimes inseparable from any change effected by vio- 
 lence ; he urged his comrades to mistrust their own zeal, 
 and he recommended the more slow and more gentle, but 
 far more secure, more honourable, and more genuinely 
 patriotic resistance which was legitimately open to them as 
 members of the council. " Revolt and massacre," he said, 
 " were but evil guides to peace and order." His wise sug- 
 gestions, however, were overruled by the precipitance of less 
 experienced, perhaps of less disinterested counsellors ; and 
 the passionate, the thoughtless, and the ambitious preferred 
 the redress which was to be stormed by arms, to that which 
 might be conciliated by argument. It was resolved to 
 obtain forcible possession of the Piazza di San Marco and 
 the ducal palace, to put the doge to death, to dissolve the 
 grand council, and to replace it by the ancient form of annual 
 election. 
 
 The 16th of June was named as the day of rising ; and 
 Badouero, who possessed extensive influence in Padua, the 
 cradle of his family, engaged the assistance of a large body 
 of the inhabitants of that city, ever pleased with an occa- 
 sion of showing enmity against Venice. Arms were to be 
 found abundantly in all the houses of the great ; and when 
 
 ♦ Sandi,v. Morosini,Ix. 
 
 CONSPIRACY or THIEPOLO. 
 
 171 
 
 the conspirators mustered the roll of their dependants and 
 retainers, and added to them the promised aid from Padua, 
 they felt assured of numerical superiority over the troops 
 of the doge. The Great Canal, which separated Venice 
 into two chief parts, was crossed by the single bridge 
 Rialto, adjoining which stood the Palazzo Qucnni. The 
 occupation of this bridge was most important ; and before 
 daybreak on the appointed morning it was secured by Thi- 
 epolo, to whom was committed the attack on the ducal 
 palace. It had been planned that, as soon as this strong- 
 hold should be forced, Thiepolo's division was to remain 
 under arms in the Piazza di San Marco, till the arrival of 
 Badouero with his Paduans. Then they might jointly 
 spread over the remaining quarters of the city, seize the 
 arsenal, and act further as their exigencies required. 
 
 The morning of the 1 6th was ushered in by a violent 
 tempest, and, during its continuance, amid vivid lightning 
 and deluges of rain, the gathering took place before the 
 Palazzo Querini. Whether from inability to proceed during 
 the rage of the storm, or from want of discipline, some 
 time was lost in outrages of little avail towards the main 
 object, but congenial to the instruments which were to 
 effect it ; and the minutes which were consumed in the 
 pillage of some warehouses, and the destruction of some 
 public records, must be counted as not a little contributing 
 to the ultimate defeat of the enterprise. At length the 
 signal was given to advance, and the bridge Rialto being 
 crossed, as the narrowness of the streets admitted but a few 
 files abreast, two divisions were formed, which it was in- 
 tended should debouche upon the Piazza by different ave- 
 nues. One of these was intrusted to Marco Querini and 
 his son Benedetto ; the other was led by Thiepolo. Querini 
 arrived first at his destination, and what was his astonish- 
 ment at finding himself confronted by a strong array of 
 regular soldiery ! 
 
 No suspicion of treachery attached to any of the con^ 
 spirators ; but the movements of a large body can seldom 
 be concealed, and an unpopular government is always keen- 
 sighted. The frequent assemblies in the Palazzo Querini 
 had been marked and reported to Gradenigo. The move- 
 ments on the preceding day had excited special suspicion, 
 which new announcements every hour increased ; and as 
 
 < . 
 
 )H 
 
 ^P 
 
 .. qtaj^^-^jgaariatetfaaaaifeM 
 
172 
 
 CONSPIRACY OF THIEPOIO. 
 
 the penetration of the doge detected the approach of insur- 
 rection, so his vigour promptly furnished me;ins for its sup- 
 pression. He assembled round him, during the night, the 
 signory, the counsellors of state, the chiefs of the XL. and 
 such nobles upon whose services he could depend. He 
 summoned from the less important posts of the city all the 
 guards which could be spared, and concentrated tb.em on 
 the Piazza ; these were strengthened by the mechanics of 
 the arsenal ; nnd almost at the moment at which the front 
 of Querini's column sliowed itself, a large detachment from 
 the garrison of Chiozza arrived by a forced march. The 
 contest was bloodily maintained till the two Querini fell, 
 and their adherents gave way. Thiepolo, r.dvancirg by the 
 street of the Clock-tower, was encountered by the doge in 
 person ; and learning the defeat of his companions, and 
 despairing of success, he retired upon the bridge. As he 
 threaded the narrow street of La Mcrzcriay a woman nrmed 
 Justina,* watching her oj.-portunity, dro]>ped a heavy stone 
 from a lofty window as he passed. He escaped the blow ; 
 but the head of a page, who followed closely, and who bore 
 his standard, was daslied to atoms. Thiepolo, having 
 gained the l)ridge, which at that time was framed of wood, 
 severed all communication by cutting if, and removing the 
 boats moored below to the opposite baidv. Then, fortifying 
 himself in the Piazza di BiaUo^ he looked anxiously for a 
 junction with the confederates under Badouero from Piulua. 
 In this hope he was disa};pointed : at the mom.ent of their 
 disembarkation they had been attacked by a body of the 
 doge's guards, and meeting with a resolute conflict where 
 they had anticipated nothing but unresisted plunder, they 
 abandoned their leader and returned to their vessels. Ba- 
 douero and such persons as could lay claim to gentle blood 
 were immediately beheaded ; and among tlirm, Giacopo 
 
 * GoraMi, a veracio'is ri*p«' lican who vipjtod Italy in 179?, ard ubiiped 
 kirps and po|>Hs. reiicion aid government, under ihe full influence of the 
 spring-tide of 1 he French revo'ntion. itjakes tliis woman kill Thiepolo 
 unintentionally, and not hy a stone. The passaffe is an aniusinjr hpeci- 
 men of ai-curacy,?/// vnsc'de Jli ins clwpji dcsyiinivn irvitcfcmme tm- 
 prudmte, termina In vie lie re htrns(\\\. :'55\ The pension granted to 
 Justina sufficiently proves that her act was intentional ; and I'ietro .lus- 
 tiniani, who has jriven a lively de«5cripiiori of the conspiracy, eyprisbly 
 calls the insirunient lojus inclorix (Lib. iv. p. 64). In Coryat's 
 Crudities may be found some particulars similar to these slated by 
 Gorani, 
 
 SUPPRESSION OF THE CONSPIRACY. 
 
 173 
 
 Querini suffered for his fidelity to an enterprise which he 
 disapproved. The gibbet was erected for the inferior con- 
 spirators, and many who avoided the immediate vengeance 
 of legal punishment by taking refuge in neighbouring states, 
 had a price set upon their heads, and were but reserved for 
 the slower dagger of the assassin. Thiepolo had the good 
 fortune to save himself. Having maintained his post for 
 some time amid his barricades, he received from Gradenigo 
 the announcement of an amnesty, and a proposal for nego- 
 tiation. Wisely estimating by a correct standard the heavy 
 preponderance of chances against a rebellious subject, when 
 treating with an offended sovereign, he disentangled him- 
 self from the toils thus spread for his destruction, and em- 
 barking with a few of his most attached followers, escaped 
 from the Lagune. His palace and that of the Querini were 
 razed to the ground ; on the site of the latter, to stamp it 
 with ignominy, were erected public shambles, and all monu- 
 inentslnscribed with their names or armorial bearings were 
 •defaced. A pension was assigned to the woman who bad 
 thrown the stone ; and in order to preserve the memory of 
 her action, a banner was suspended from the window at 
 which she stood, every year, on the return of the anniver- 
 sary of the conspiracy,'* and' a solemn service of thanks- 
 giving was instituted in commemoration of the peril from 
 ■which the republic had been delivered. 
 
 But the most important consequence of the suppression 
 of this conspiracy was the voluntary abandonment of their 
 own freedom, to which it led, by that class which had as 
 yet been only employed in curtailing the freedom of others. 
 If the government were to continue as now framed, it was 
 manifest that some security must be provided against the 
 recurrence of a danger similar to that from which it had 
 just extricated itself. Treason had been nurtured and 
 matured in the bosom of the very capital without discovery, 
 and even without suspicion. But for the sagacity of one 
 man, the lapse of a few hours more would have witnessed 
 the overthrow of the aristocratical polity. And even if it 
 could be supposed that such a doge as Gradenigo would 
 never be wanting to the government, there was little pru- 
 dence in confiding to a single arm, encumbered with thfi 
 
 ♦ P, Jostinlani, vi sup. 
 P2 
 
 <J • T.*'fc 
 
 - nAsf^aMtSa^hSau,'^ 
 
174 
 
 THE COUNCIL OF X. 
 
 ••' \ 
 
 administration of many other important tluties, a care which 
 ought to engross the entire attention and vigilance of those 
 to whom it was assigned. A commission was therei'ore 
 appointed with extraordinary powers, addressed, in the first 
 instance, to the extinguishment of the ashes of the late 
 insurrection. Ten magistrates (/ Dim), named as a 
 criminal court, were invested with a plenary inquisitorial 
 authority, with an entire sovereignty ever every individual 
 in the state, and with freedom from all responsibility and 
 appeal. Their duration was at first limited to ten days ; 
 but this was six times })roionged for a like period ; then for 
 a year ; soon after for five ; next for ten ; and, in the end, 
 
 the tribunal, with a great extension of powers, 
 •*• "• was declared to be permanent. These powers so 
 
 frequently and fearfully intermingle themselves with 
 the course of our future narrative, that we shall here but 
 briefly touch upon them. The ten olficcrs fiom whom the 
 court derived its title were chosen annually, at four different 
 assemblies of the grand council. No two of them might 
 be members of the same family, or even benr the same 
 name ; and from the colour of their robes of ceremony, 
 they were termed / Neri, or the black. To these, in after- 
 times, were added also the signory, as assessors, teiTned, 
 for a like reason, I Rossi, the red. In their judicial admin- 
 istration, the members of this council inquired, sentenced, 
 and punished, "according to what they called reason of 
 state. The public eye never penetrated the mystery o-f 
 their proceedings ; the accused was sometimes not heard — 
 never confronted with witnesses : the condemnation was 
 secret as the inquiry ; the punishment undivulged like 
 both."* Nor was this all : instituted solely for the cogni- 
 zance of state crimes, this tribunal griidually attributed to 
 itself the control of every branch of government, and exer- 
 cised despotic influence over the questions of peace and 
 war, over fiscal enactments, military arrangements, and 
 negotiations with foreign powers. It annulled at pleasure 
 the decrees of the grand council, degraded its members, 
 deposed and even put to death the chief magistrate him- 
 self. An object alike of terror and of detestation to those 
 whom it oppressed under the pretext of salutary guardian- 
 
 * Hallam. Middle Ages, ch. iii. p. 2. page 342, vol. L 
 
 THE COUNCIL OF X. 
 
 175 
 
 ship, it yet prolonged an uninterrupted sway during five 
 centuries ; and our wonder at the political problem of its 
 lonor-continued existence is not a little hcijjhtened when it 
 IS remembered that the great council, upon which, of all 
 other classes, it weighed with far the most grievous burden, 
 might, by refusing its votes at any one of the four elections 
 in each year, have abolished its hateful yoke for ever. 
 That it did not do so may be attributed in the outset 
 to a false view of the nature of the magistracy, and to a 
 belief that it was necessary for the preservation of the 
 state. As its tyranny became more distinctly manifest, it 
 may have been protected by an ambitious but unworthy 
 hope which each noble cherished, of one day wielding its 
 immeasurable powers with his own hands. And, lastly, 
 after a lapse of years had so far interwoven it with the 
 general polity as to make it seem an almost inseparable 
 part of the whole, it might be saved by a mistaken, but little 
 hi inieal»le, reverence for antiquity ; by that fond clinging to 
 established institutions which, perhaps not unwisely, is 
 backward to remove even an abuse, lest its extirpation may 
 endanijer the entire fabric upon which it is ingrafted. We 
 are here seeking a cause, not justifying a fact. Existence 
 itself may be purchased at far too dear a price : but if ex- 
 istence alone were all that is demanded for the honour of a 
 state and the happiness of its subjects, it might not be too 
 much to aflirm, that the long stability of Venice was mainly 
 owing to the most remarkable, the most formidable, and 
 the most execrable part of her government — The Council 
 
 OF X. 
 
 m 
 
- -.Xij^l^-^,.^^.^ 
 
 176 
 
 REMOVAL OF THE INTERDICT. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 FROM A. D. 1310 TO A. D. 1355. 
 
 Removal of the Interdict— War with Maslino della Scala— Intrigues of 
 the Da Carrara— Restoration of their Family to Padua— Legend of the 
 Three Saints— Revolt of Zara— Plague— Third War with Genoa- 
 Battle of Caristo— Battle of ihe Bosphorus— Mediation of Petrarch- 
 Battle of Cagliari— Genoa under the Protection of Visconti, Archbishop 
 of Milan— War with Milan— Battle of Sapienza— Marino Faliero. 
 
 
 
 DOGES. 
 
 A. D. 
 
 
 PlETRO GraDENIGO. 
 
 1310 
 
 LII. 
 
 Marino Giorgi. 
 
 1311 
 
 LIII. 
 
 Giovanni Soranzo. 
 
 1328 
 
 Lir. 
 
 Francesco Dandolo. 
 
 1339 
 
 LV. 
 
 Bartolomeo Gradenigo. 
 
 1343 
 
 LVI. 
 
 Andrea Dandolo. 
 
 1354 
 
 LVII. 
 
 Makino Faliero — ^beheaded. 
 
 During the reign of Giovanni Soranzo, Clement V. was 
 prevailed upon to remove the interdict ; and popular 
 iqn ^^^^^^ ^^® attributed this reconciliation with the holy 
 see to the adroit or the pious self-abasement of the 
 Venetian ambassador, Francesco Dandolo. He is said to have 
 presented himself in a penitential garb, with an iron collar 
 fastened round his neck, at the table of the pontiff, and to have 
 remained there prostrate, till, by tears and sighs, he had 
 extorted a favourable reply to his petition. While he bent 
 in the attitude of supplication, some of the cardinals who 
 were present spurned him as a dog ; and it has been sup- 
 posed that the sobriquet^ II Cane, by which he is best known 
 to his countrymen, arose from this incident. The cardinals 
 may, no doubt, have displayed the arrogance imputed to 
 them, but the surname. Cane, to which also they may, per- 
 haps, have made an opprobrious allusion, was borne long 
 before by many ancestors of Dandolo. The suppression of 
 a revolt in Candia, the recovery of Zara, and some short 
 and successful hostilities against Genoa, were the only 
 
 RISE OF MASTINO DELLA SCALA. 
 
 177 
 
 interruptions which disturbed a beneficial repose of sixteen 
 years ; after which, the indignities endured by Fran- ^ ^^ 
 C3SC0 Dandolo, for the sake of his country, were jj^y 
 repaid by an elevation to her sovereignty. Under 
 his rule, the loss of a naval action with the Genoese was 
 more than balanced by a territorial acquisition, the first 
 made by Venice on fcn-a firmoy whicli, therefore, merits 
 somewhat more of detail than the inconsiderable transac- 
 tions over which we have just hastened. 
 
 Among the powerful nobles whom the long troubles of 
 the north of Italy had raised to petty sovereignty, Mastino 
 della Scala had established one of the largest principalities. 
 Stretching from the Adriatic to the Tuscan Sea, it embraced 
 Verona, Treviso, Vicenza, Bassano, Brescia, Parma, Reg- 
 gio, and Lucca, and in the end included Padua, wrung 
 from its lords, the family of Carrara. Each acquisition 
 had raised against Mastino"^a fresh secret enemy, who coveted 
 some opportunity of revenge ; his fall, however, may be 
 more justly attributed to his brother Alberto, whom he had 
 named governor of Padua, than to himself. False even 
 where he affected to bestow confidence, Alberto triumphed 
 by force over the domestic honour of Ubertino da Carrara, 
 during his occasional absence from Padua. Her wrong 
 was revealed by the injured wife; but the wily ItaUan 
 dissembled his resentment, listened with a smile to the 
 unseemly jests passed upon his disgrace, and, in spite of 
 sarcasm, contented Iv retained, over the helmet of his 
 escutcheon, the two golden butfalo horns, wreathed with 
 the eyed feathers of a peacock, which formed the crest of 
 his house. These armorial bearings served but to remind 
 him of his revenge, long protracted, deeply meditated, and 
 cautiously planned in concert with his uncle Marsilio. The 
 latter, while engaged on a mission to Venice, was seated 
 one day next the doge, at a public spectacle ; and, unob- 
 served by others, he whispered in the prince's ear a ques- 
 tion not to be misunderstood. " If any one would put you 
 in possession of Padua,^ how would you recompense him ]" 
 "By giving him its mastery," was the prompt reply ; and 
 on these few words was based an alliance which ended in 
 the overthrow of Della Scala. 
 
 * D.!ru, in relating tliis anecdote, has said, " Verona;" but Padua, at 
 Sauuto gives it, and ns the event sufficiently proves, was the city namect 
 
178 
 
 ESCAPES OF THE CARRARA. 
 
 By a crafty representation of the great advantages to be 
 derived from a trade in salt, Carrara prevailed upon Delia 
 Scala to establish some works in that part of his territories 
 which skirted the Lagune ; and the Venetians, seizing the 
 pretext, and loudly exclaiming against this infringement of 
 their ancient monopoly, marched thirty thousand men to 
 support their right under the command of Pietro di Rozzi, 
 who had been expelled by Mastino from Parma. This sys- 
 tem of intrusting their armies to the command of a foreigner 
 was constantly observed in future. But the general was 
 not uncontrolled. He was accompanied by two Venetian 
 provveditorij civilians, unacquainted with the operations of 
 war ; who in most cases appear to have thwarted and 
 retarded the speed indispensable for the success of military 
 designs, with quite as much vexatious pertinacity as was 
 exercised towards our own Marlborough by the Dutch 
 deputies of later times. The King of Bohemia and the 
 republic of Florence joined their arms against Delia Scala, 
 and the Carrara guided their enterprise to a successful ter- 
 mination. It was not likely that the intrigue which they 
 had been conducting should escape suspicion by the politic 
 Mastino. Though unacquainted with its precise details, he 
 knew enough to convince him that the Carrara were dan- 
 gerously employed ; and he sent peremptory orders to 
 Alberto for their immediate assassination. 
 
 The singular circumstances attendant upon their more 
 than one escape are related with a lively air of truth by the 
 chronicler Gataro. It seems as if they had rendered them- 
 selves necessary to the pleasures of Alberto, and that he 
 was loath, though he had deeply wronged them, to relinquish 
 their society. He received Mastino's instructions with 
 pain; yet not venturing to disobey them, he invited the 
 Carrara to his palace, and posted bravoes at the foot of the 
 great staircase, with orders to despatch them as they 
 mounted it. It was late on a summer's night when the 
 messenger found the intended victims in their garden, half 
 undressed, and preparing for bed. Having left Alberto but 
 a short time before, they expressed some surprise at this 
 hasty recall ; but, mounting on the same horse in their 
 slippers and loose attire, they rode to the palace. Alberto 
 was standing in a balcony to witness their death ; and 
 Marsilio, looking up as he rode under it, called out in a gay 
 
 THE CARRARA REGAIN PADUA. 
 
 179 
 
 tone of familiarity, " Che Diavolo I what do you want now? 
 we have but just left you, and we wished to get some rest 
 in bed. Do you mean to keep us up all night as usual 1" 
 Their lives were saved by this easy sally ; touched by 
 which, Alberto relented, and felt unable to drain the blood 
 of his boon companions. He hastily desired them to return 
 — " there was some mistake — he had not sent for them." 
 On the morrow he showed them Mastino's letter; and 
 upon their protestations of innocence he embraced them, 
 with an assurance that he thought his brother foolish in 
 seeking the diminution of his friends. Mastino, still re- 
 solved on their destruction, despatched new orders to Padua. 
 The messenger was a confidential attendant ; and he was 
 strictly enjoined not to deliver the letter which he bore into 
 any hands but those of Alberto himself. On his arrival he 
 found the governor engaged at chess, while the Carrara 
 were looking on. Alberto inquired after Mastino's health ; 
 and CHI beinff informed that he had sent him a letter, he 
 desired Marsilio to read it ; but the messenger, faithful to 
 his trust, refused to deliver up the despatch, and informed 
 the governor of the precise orders which he had received. 
 The game was now finished ; but Alberto, impatient to 
 commence another took the letter, and handed it to Marsilio. 
 At the conclusion of his second game he carelessly inquired 
 the contents ; and was satisfied by hearing that his brother 
 had written about the purchase of some foreign falcons. 
 Meantime the Carrara hastily communicated with the com- 
 mander of the allies ; and on the day following their escape 
 from this great danger, they opened the gates of Padua, and 
 transferred it to their friends. After the loss of this chief 
 city the fall of Delia Scala was rapid ; and betrayed and 
 pressed on every side, he accepted a treaty dictated by 
 Venice, which stripped him of the greater part of his 
 dominions. The republic, having fulfilled her engagement 
 with Marsilio da Carrara, who did not long survive, 
 retained for herself onlv the districts of Treviso and 
 Bassano ; but these were enough to work a funda- 
 mental change in her hitherto insular policy, and to involve 
 her in a long series of perilous warfare for comparatively 
 unimportant possessions. 
 
 On the death of the elder Carrara the chief authority in 
 Padua became vested in his nephew Ubertino. The rest- 
 
 A. D. 
 
 1338. 
 
180 
 
 SEIZURE CF VENETIAN SENATORS. 
 
 lessness of his ambition soon rcnJered him suspected at 
 A^enice ; and there were not wanting many voices in the 
 senate to denounce him as a dangerous enemy. He is 
 accused of having employed the stiletto, which had already 
 become a powerful engine in Italian politics, to silence these 
 opponents. On one occasion also lie acquired material 
 strength by an outrage most daring indeed, but of a less 
 dark character than assassination. Having learned the 
 names of the senators most opposed to his interests, he 
 seized them by night, and hurried them bound, gagged, and 
 blindfolded in gondolas to Padua. There, in his own palace, 
 he repeated to the astonished prisoners the arguniciits, the 
 very words, which they had employed against him in the 
 councils, with which he had become acquainted through his 
 spies. At first he sternly threatened death; till, having 
 succeeded in striking terror, he gradually relaxed the 
 menace, and granted them liberty, under an oath that they 
 would bury the adventure in secrecy, and for the luture 
 adopt a policy more consonant with his wishes. On the 
 same night they were reconvcyed to their homes ; but, on 
 parting,*Carrara warned them of the dangers of perjury; 
 siffnificantly implying, that he who could find agents lor 
 their abduction, had a much speedier vengeance at his com- 
 mand ; and that he could readily employ daggers if they 
 either betrayed or deceived hhn. 'l he threat was eiTectual. 
 The transaction was never revealed by the Venetian senators ; 
 nor was it at all known till many years after its occurrence, 
 and then only bv the dying confession of some of the ruf- 
 fians who had "been engaged in its execution. Gataro,* 
 who has preserved this remarkable anecdote, implies the 
 full success resulting from Vbertino's bold act by stating, 
 that during his lifetime the signory of Venice said nothing 
 
 more of war. 
 
 The reign of the succeeding doge, Bartolomeo 
 vJ«iQ Gradenigo, presents a continued scene of turbulence 
 ^^^^' and bloodshed in Candia. We willingly hasten 
 over this uninteresting and unnecessary recital; but we 
 shall pause on an incident of another character, strongly 
 impregnated with the superstitious temper of the age. It 
 must be borne in mind, that the legend which we are about 
 
 * Apud Muritori, xvii. 32. 
 
 
 LEGEND OP THE THREE SAINTS. 
 
 181 
 
 to produce is recorded by more than one authentic chroni- 
 cler, and that it was sufficiently believed to give birth to a 
 public religious ceremony. In the year 1341, an inun- 
 dation of many days' continuance had raised the water three 
 cubits higher than it had ever before been seen in Venice ; 
 and during a stormy night, while the flood appeared to be 
 still increasing, a poor old fisherman sought what refiige he 
 could find by mooring his crazy bark close to the Riva dt 
 Sdn Marco.* The storm was yet raging, when a person 
 approached, and offered him a good fare if he would but 
 ferry him over to San Giorgio Maggiorc. " Who," said 
 the fisherman, " can reach San Giorgio on such a night as 
 this? Heaven forbid that I should try!" But, as the 
 stranger earnestly persisted in his request, and promised to 
 guard him from harm, he at last consented. The passenger 
 landed; and having desired the boatman to wait a little, 
 returned with a companion, and ordered him to row to San 
 Nicolo di Lido. The astonished fisherman again refused, 
 till he was prevailed upon by a further confident assurance 
 of safety, and excellent pay. At Saji Nicolo they picked up 
 a third person, and then instructed the boatman to proceed 
 to the two castles at Lido. Though the waves ran fearfully 
 high, the old man by this time had become accustomed to 
 them ; and, moreover, there was something about his mys- 
 terious crew which either silenced his fears, or diverted 
 them from the tempest to his companions. Scarcely had 
 they gained the strait, when they saw a galley, rather flying 
 than sailing along the Adriatic, manned (if we may so say) 
 with devils, who seemed hurrying with fierce and threaten- 
 ing gestures to sink Venice in the deep. The sea, which 
 had hitherto been furiously agitated, in a moment became 
 unruffled ; and the strangers, crossing themselves, conjured 
 the fiends to depart. At the word the demoniacal galley 
 vanished, and the three passengers were quietly landed at 
 the spots at which each respectively had been taken up. 
 The boatman, it seems, was not quite easy about his fare ; 
 and, before parting, he implied pretty clearly that the sight 
 of this miracle after all would be but bad pay. " You aro 
 right, my friend," said the first passenger, " go to the dog© 
 and the procuratori, and assure them that, but for us three, 
 
 ♦ Riva. a footwav running along the banks of a rio, or small canal. 
 Vol. I.— Q 
 
182 
 
 SIEGE OF ZARA. 
 
 Venice would have been drowned. I am St. Mark ; my 
 two comrades are St. George and St. Nicolas. Desire the 
 magistrates to pay you ; and add, that all this trouble has 
 arisen from a schoolmaster at San Felice, who first bargained 
 with the Devil for his soul, and then hanged himself in de- 
 spair." The fisherman, who seems to have had all his wits 
 about him, answered, that he might tell that story, but he 
 much doubted whether he should be believed : upon which 
 St. Mark pulled from his finger a gold ring, worth about five 
 ducats, saying, " Show them this ring, and bid them look 
 for it in my treasury, whence it will be found missing." 
 On the morrow the fisherman did as he was told. The ring 
 was discovered to be absent from its usual custody, and the 
 fortunate boatman not only received his fare, but an annual 
 pension to boot. Moreover, a solemn procession and thanks- 
 giving were appointed in gratitude to the three holy corpses, 
 which had rescued from such calamity the land affording 
 
 them burial.* 
 
 It was under the dogeship of Gradenigo that our own Ed- 
 ward III. endeavoured to negotiate a maritime alliance with 
 Venice against Philip of France. His chief hope was 
 founded on the assistance which the Genoese had afforded 
 his rival. But the republic had need of all her naval 
 force to meet the insurrection of the Candiotes, and she 
 declined the treaty. Gradenigo was succeeded by 
 Andrea Dandolo, who, amid the cares of an active 
 reign, found time to reform the judicial code, and 
 also to narrate the actions of his predecessors. His Chroni- 
 cle, which we have already described as devoid of interest 
 to the general reader, is, nevertheless, invaluable as a 
 standard of reference ; and we owe it, if nothing more, at 
 least the praise of accuracy. 
 
 Zara, ever chafing against the Venetian yoke, and finding 
 in the Hungarians ready abettors of each new revolt, once 
 more called for chastisement during this reign. In a siege 
 of eighteen months, Venice employed twenty-seven thou- 
 sand men, and the almost incredible powers of that me- 
 chanical artillery which, ere long, was to be superseded by 
 the simpler, yet more destructive force of gunpowder. Per- 
 rieres are here mentioned, constructed by Francesco della 
 
 * Sanuto, apud Muratori, xxii 608. 
 
 A. n. 
 1343. 
 
 THE PLAGUE. 
 
 183 
 
 Barche, which threw masses of stone weighing three thou- 
 sand pounds, and heaved from the batteries of the besiegers 
 such rocks as might have been used in that fabled combat 
 in which Ossa was piled on Olynjpus. The artificer him- 
 self is said to have fallen a victim to his own inventions ; 
 and by the accidental discharge of one of his instruments 
 of death, to have been launched headlong against the walls 
 which he was preparing to overwhelm. During the tardy 
 operations of this investment, Louis of Anjou, King of 
 Hungary, advanced to the relief of the garrison ; and on 
 his total defeat, the glories of Marino Faliero, the Venetian 
 commander, were raised to their full height. For a wliile, 
 the enemy hemmed him within the lines which he had con- 
 structed for his defence, and so far intercepted his inland 
 communications, that he was obliged to depend upon 
 Venice even for his supplies of water. But a battle, unad- 
 visedly risked by the Hungarians, released him from this 
 jeopardy. Eight thousand of the assailants perished in 
 Faliero's lines, and Zara, deprived of all hope, surrendered 
 at discretion. 
 
 The plague which ravaged Italy in 1348, like that of 
 Athens, and from a similar cause, has become one 
 of the landmarks of history ; and Boccaccio, no less ,^43 
 than Thucydides, is indebted for the powerful effect 
 of his terrific picture to his fidelity in representing the ca- 
 lamitous scenes of which he was an eyewitness. Venice bore 
 her share in the general suflfering. In the early part of the 
 year, an earthquake, which visited her at intervals for fif- 
 teen days successively, overthrew many buildings, and 
 spread terror among her citizens. A similar convulsion 
 had been the forerunner of pestilence in the far distant king- 
 dom of Casan ; bat the fiery gulfs which there swallowed 
 up the trembling inhabitants — the showers of unknown and 
 monstrous insects, which, if they fell alive, destroyed by 
 their venomous stings ; if dead, by the corruption which 
 they exhaled — the stupefaction which so paralyzed both 
 men and women that they became motionless as statues, 
 a judgment which we are assured would have converted 
 the infidel hearts of their khans, but that they perceived 
 Christians to be affected in like manner with themselves — 
 all these marvels were confined to Tartary.* Sweeping 
 
 • Giovanni VUIani, lax. <i3.' apud Muratori, TiiL 
 
I 
 
 :l 
 
 184 
 
 THIRD GENOESE WAR. 
 
 over the Levant, the plague desolated Syria, Chaldea, and 
 Mesopotamia. It then passed to Egypt, and the Archi- 
 pelago ; and Turkey, Greece, Annenia, and Russia cow- 
 ered beneath its scourge. Some Genoese, who sought 
 escape from the Black Sea, conveyed it to Sicily, and hence 
 it spread rapidly over the neighbouring continent, already 
 a prey to famine. When it had once surmounted the Alps, 
 Brabant was the sole district of Europe unvisited by its 
 contagion ; and even the perpetual snows of Iceland formed 
 no barriers against its depopulating fury. During the six 
 months which it raged at Venice, it is believed that more 
 than half her population was destroyed ; and m order to 
 recruit her loss, the rights of citizenship were decreed to 
 foreign settlers, after two years' residence. Yet she was 
 afflicted in far less proportion than many of her fellow-suf- 
 ferers. Florence mourned a hundred thousand of her citi- 
 lens ; at Naples sixty thousand, at Genoa forty thousand 
 perished ; and in the Sicilian Trapani, not one individual 
 
 remained alive ! , -r ^v v i ^ 
 
 Pestilence was succeeded by war ; and if the hand ol 
 nature, in her wrath, appeared to level greater numbers at a 
 single stroke, the harvest of death reaped by the sword, as 
 it was much longer in gathering, so was it eventually far 
 more abundant. A private fray between a Tartar and a 
 European merchant, at Tana, near Azoph, in which a blow 
 was avenged by the immediate death of the former, kindled 
 the indignation of the natives. They rose in a body, plun- 
 dered the factories, and assassinated many of the residents. 
 In order to punish this violence, the Venetians and Ge- 
 noese mutually agreed to suspend all commercial inter- 
 course with the offending coast ; but the former, disregard- 
 ing their engagement, thought to profit by an entire en- 
 grossment of the abandoned trade, and renewed it for them- 
 Bclves singly. This perfidious attempt was justly met by 
 an embargo on all their ships engaged in the commerce of 
 the Black Sea ; and though as yet ill recovered from her 
 
 exhaustion by the plague, Venice, in return, des- 
 tqJo patched a fleet to the Archipelago, to revenge the 
 
 affront. A bloody engagement between nearly equal 
 forces, in the Bay of Caristo, in Negropont, terminated to 
 the advantage of the Venetians ; but their success increased 
 the animosity rather than dimimshed the encigies of the 
 
 BATTLE OF THE BOSPHORUS. 
 
 185 
 
 A. D. 
 
 1351. 
 
 defeated. Venice sought to strengthen herself by new alli- 
 ances ; and Peter IV., who filled the throne of Arragon, 
 at that time the third inaritimc state in Europe, and who 
 disputed the possession of Sardinia and Corsica with the 
 Genoese, willingly listened to the overtures of their rivals, 
 concluding with them a treaty which stipulated the provi- 
 sion of one-and-tw^cnty galleys for the service of the repub- 
 lic. In the East, where Cantacuzenus was greatly irritated 
 against the Genoese, Venice obtained yet further aid ; but 
 the whole extent of force which the falling empire was able 
 to provide, as its contingent to the league, amounted to no 
 more than eight poor galleys. 
 
 The combined fleets of Arragon and Venice, on entering 
 the Archipelago, were shattered and dispersed by a 
 tempest ; and the Genoese thus gained time to in- 
 crease their preparations. After some unimportant 
 manoeuvres w^hich occupied the remainder of the year, early 
 in the ensuing February, the allies passed the Dar- 
 danelles, and with seventy-five galleys under the .oc« 
 command of Nicolo Pisani, approached the Bospho- 
 rus. Against this force the Genoese Doria could oppose 
 no more than sixty-four sail, but the numbers were soon 
 rendered more nearly equal by the dastardly flight of the 
 Greeks ; and the Genoese ships of that period were of 
 larger frame than those of their enemies. The battle 
 began towards sunset and at the commencement of h 
 stonn ; and the imagination can scarcely picture a scene of 
 greater horror than must have been presented by the close- 
 ness and ferocity of a naval engagement before the inven- 
 tion of gunpowder, when ship fought with ship, and man 
 with man. To this, in the present instance, must be added 
 the darkness of a winter's night, in which friend was but ill 
 distinguished from foe, and no doubt was often mistaken 
 for such ; a sea at all times perilous from rapid currents and 
 sunken rocks ; and a hurricane which now increased its 
 dangers a myriad-fold. Morning at length rose upon the 
 field of carnage, and amid the shattered hulks and floating 
 corpses which shrouded the Sea of Marmora, each party 
 could more easily discover vestiges of its own loss than of tri- 
 umph over the enemy. Nineteen galleys were missing 
 from the Genoese fleet ; of these, thirteen had been dashed 
 upon the rocks, and six carried down the channel of the 
 
 Q2 
 
^n 
 
 188 
 
 LETTER OF PETRARCH. 
 
 Bosphorus. Ten of the Arragonese, and fourteen of the 
 Venetians, had been taken and destroyed. The first, es- 
 pecially, had fought most bravely, and much of their disas- 
 ter was to be attributed to their unacquaintance with the 
 intricacies of the coast. Eighteen hundred prisoners and 
 two thousand slain was the loss of the confederates ; and 
 the conquerors had purchased their doubtful victory at a 
 scarcely less terrible sacrifice of life ; for we are assured that 
 of the Genoese nobles alone seven hundred perished. But 
 for the retreat of Pisani, the battle might, perhaps, have been 
 esteemed drawn ; but his squadron was too much disabled to 
 permit him to renew the combat, though the point was 
 strongly urged by the admiral of the Catalans, Ponsio de 
 Santa Paz. That brave officer escaped the slaughter of the 
 battle but to encounter a more melancholy fate. Unable 
 to survive his defeat, when deprived of all hope of retriev- 
 ing it, he died within a few days, brokenhearted and de- 
 spairing. 
 
 All Europe regretted this unnatural contest of the maritime 
 republics. The holy see interj^osed its mediatorial offices, 
 but in vain ; and a name ftir more reverenced by posterity 
 than that either of the sixth Clement or the sixth Innocent, 
 is transmitted to us in the list of those who endeavoured to 
 re-establish peace. Petrarch, during a long residence at 
 Padua, had occasionally visited the Lagune, and his imagi- 
 nation appears to have been profoundly impressed by the 
 singularity and the beauty of Venice. With Andrea Dan- 
 dolo, he formed an intimate union, and their mutual taste 
 for literature soon ripened into close friendship. While the 
 Venetians were renewing their preparations, he addressed a 
 letter to the doge on the 17th of March 1351, depicting, in 
 florid and rhetorical language, tlie miseries of war. He 
 lamented forcibly the disunion of two cities planted by nature 
 as the very eyes of Italy ; and he prophesied that Europe, 
 by their contention, must lose her dominion of the seas. 
 " Would to heaven," he exclaimed, " that your arms were 
 turned against Damascus, Susa, or Memphis ! Why renew 
 in Ausonia the bloody fraternal conflict of Thebes ]" Then 
 enlarging upon the glory of Venice, he stated, with an ob- 
 scurity which it were idle to attempt to dispel, that many 
 years before her foundation as a city, he not only found her 
 jiame, but that also of one of her doges, already rendered 
 
 BATTLE OP CAGLIARI. 
 
 187 
 
 illustrious. His indignation at the Barbarian alliances which 
 each republic had contracted is forcibly expressed ; and he 
 dwells feehngly upon the horror of all transalpine violations 
 of Italy. To prevent the evils which he foresaw would re- 
 sult from perseverance in their career of headlong enmity, 
 he figuratively threw himself at the feet of the chiefs of 
 the two nations, and bedewed them with tears. " Cast 
 away your weapons, embrace in friendship, unite your stan- 
 dards and your hearts. So shall both the ocean and the 
 Euxine be opened to you. The Indian, the Briton, and the 
 Ethiopian shall tremble before your arms ; and your ships 
 shall navigate securely to Trebisond, to the Fortunate 
 Islands, to the unknown Thule — yes, even to either Pole. Be 
 but at peace between yourselves, and no fear can assail you 
 from elsewhere." It was not likely that Dandolo would be 
 much affected by this wordy interference. He replied, how- 
 ever, in good set terms, extolling the composition, but con- 
 futing the arguments of Petrarch. The utmost bitterness 
 of hatred to the Genoese breathed through the remainder 
 of his letter. They are not brothers, he says, but domestic 
 enemies ^ the most pestilent of all Nature's works. Earth, 
 sea, all nations reject and detest them ; and it is no marvel 
 that they are at perpetual enmity with others, when they 
 jire for ever torn by disunion among themselves. 
 
 The combatants, meantime, had recruited their strength, 
 and thought only of mutual defiance. Grimaldi, the 
 new Genoese admiral, commanded sixty galleys in the A'cq* 
 spring of 1353, and detached a squadron to insult 
 Venice in her own gulf. This affront was speedily and 
 bitterly revenged. The rendezvous of the allied fleets was 
 fixed off Loiera, in Sardinia ; and seventy vessels were pre- 
 pared to re-establish the tarnished glory of Pisani. The 
 Genoese were ill provided with intelligence ; and not 
 being aware that the Catalans had eflected a junction with 
 their confederates, they thought to surprise Pisani at ad- 
 vantage. On doubling one of the capes of the bay of Cag- 
 liari, they were confirmed in their delusion, for the Venetian 
 admiral, in order more surely to entice them to an engage- 
 ment, in which he felt confident of superiority, had con- 
 cealed a portion of his force, and remained with the rest at 
 anchor. It was not till Grimaldi had advanced too far to 
 be able to decline battle, that he discovered his error : and 
 

 188 
 
 DEFEAT OF THE GENOESE. 
 
 it was then seen that the enemy not only greatly outnum- 
 bered him, but that three of the Arragonese vessels {cocche) 
 were of much larger bulk than ordinary, and that the Vene- 
 tian galleys, besides their full complement of mariners, were 
 manned also with a formidable body of soldiers. Each line, 
 to render itself more firm against the shock of its opponent, 
 linked ship to ship, by lashing huge chains round their masts 
 and carcasses, and a few skirmishers only were left disen- 
 gaged at either extremity. The wind had hitherto been 
 favourable to the Genoese, who gladly perceived that the 
 huge Catalans of which they felt most dread, being unpro- 
 vided with rowage, must remain idle and motionless spec- 
 tators. But the gale changed suddenly, almost at the mo- 
 ment at which the hostile lines touched each other's sides ; 
 and the giant galleys, slipping their cables and setting full 
 sail, bore down upon the three outermost Genoese, sank 
 them, and passed on to the next ships. Grimaldi made 
 signals to that portion of his fleet not yet engaged to gain 
 the open sea, and turn the Venetian line. The manoeuvre 
 was executed, but the combat was not renewed : whether 
 from the insubordination of their men, or from hopelessness 
 of success, the Genoese crowded all sail with the nineteen 
 ships which had been freed, and returned to their harbour. 
 The thirty which were deserted by them surrendered. 
 Nearly five thousand prisoners fell into the hands of the 
 conquerors ; and the 29th of August, the anniversary of her 
 former victory at Caristo, might be remembered as one of 
 the brightest days of glory in the naval annals of Venice, 
 if it were not unhappily polluted by the indelible infamy 
 attaching to the massacre of her captives. 
 
 The return of Grimaldi spread consternation through 
 Genoa. Whether from anxiety to escape the public gaze, or 
 from having outsailed the remainder of his squadron, the dis- 
 comfited admiral entered the gulf with his own galley singly, 
 
 nempe und nave, relictis 
 Post tergum sociis, 
 
 and for a while this was supposed to be the only survivor 
 of the combat. Disaster increased the virulence of the fac- 
 tions by which the republic was already convulsed ; and 
 the populace, despairing of safety under the existing govern- 
 ment, adopted the vulgar but perhaps natural belief, that 
 
 EMBASSY OF PETRARCH. 
 
 189 
 
 change of rulers must be accompanied by change of fortune 
 also. Of the Lombard princes, no one at that time seemed 
 to afford greater promise of protection than Giovanni Vis- 
 conti, Archbishop of Milan. Already lord of sixteen pow- 
 erful cities, he had recently annexed Bologna to his domin- 
 ions by purchase ; and it was to him that the citizens of 
 Genoa resorted on the 'deposition of their doge. Content 
 to sacrifice liberty for the hope of revenge, they proffered 
 their ready hands to his chains, and joyfully received the 
 governor, whom he despatched with sixteen thousand men, 
 to defend or to overawe them, as should first seem necessary. 
 The Genoese thirsted once more to encounter their detested 
 rivals ; and Visconti supplied them liberally with stores and 
 money for the re-equipment of their fleet. He did not, 
 however, plunge rashly into war; but, on the contrary, 
 sought reconciliation with Venice. Petrarch again exerted 
 himself to maintain peace, and this time in an official char- 
 acter. His patron, Visconti, appointed him especial am- 
 bassador to Venice, to negotiate peace between the repub- 
 lics ; or, if he failed in this main object, at least to stipulate 
 for the neutrality of Milan ; but in neither attempt was he 
 Buccessfiil. Her recent triumphs had increased the bitter- 
 ness with which Venice regarded her long-continued enemy ; 
 she refused to treat with Genoa, and she denounced war 
 against the archbishop. " My colleague," says Petrarch, 
 in another letter to Dandolo, " harangued the council atler I 
 had finished. His martial tone of eloquence left nothing 
 wanting ; but we were unable to open their closed ears, 
 and to touch their hardened hearts. If Cicero himself had 
 addressed them, he would have failed in his purpose." He 
 concluded by urging the doge to look about him with his lynx 
 eyes, and to weigh well the comparative produce of peace 
 and war. Dandolo, in his answer, retorts Cicero upon his 
 correspondent, and, having declined his advice, pressed him 
 to continue writing for his recreation.* 
 
 Doria and Pisani were again to meet in arms, more eager 
 to inflict injury than to avert it. The fleet of each left its 
 native shores defenceless, while engaged in ravaging those 
 of its enemy. Venice, of the two, was far the greater suf- 
 ferer ; for her merchantmen were chased, and captured ia 
 
 * Variarvm, Ep. 3,4. 
 
190 
 
 BATTLE OF SAPIENZA. 
 
 DEFEAT OF THE VENETIANS. 
 
 101 
 
 her very harbours ; Istria was laid waste, and Parenzo was 
 reduced to ashes. The alarmed citizens prepared for the 
 assault of their own banks ; the aggere was thronged with 
 sentinels, and a ponderous chain was stretched between 
 the two castles which now protect the entrance of the 
 port at Lido. Pisani hastily obeyed a summons of recall ; 
 but it had not been the intention of the Genoese admiral, 
 nor was he indeed in sufficient force, to do more than to 
 strike terror ; and before the return of the Venetian fleet 
 he had quitted the Adriatic. Chagrined at this unexpected 
 daring of the Genoese, and deeply mortified by the insult 
 offered to his capital, the spirit of Dandolo sank under 
 anxiety and shame. He died before the close of the year, 
 and was interred, the last doge to whom that honour was 
 permitted, in the cathedral of St. Mark. 
 
 His successor was Marino Faliero, the conqueror of Zara ; 
 and his reign, of so dark a celebrity in its close, was 
 .^p. * unfortunate at its very commencement. The hostile 
 ' fleets sought each other ineffectually through the 
 Archipelago ; and Pisani at length took up a station in the 
 harbour of Sapienza, opposite Modon, to refresh his crew. 
 Aware that his enemy was in the neighbourhood, he adopted 
 wise precautions for security. One division of fifteen gal- 
 leys, and twenty light armed speronati, under his vice- 
 admiral Morosini, lay close to shore in the innermost part 
 of the harbour, to victual and refit ; while the entran'^e of 
 this deep bay seemed amply protected by the remainder of 
 the fleet, presenting a formidable line of twenty galleys and 
 six larger vessels, lashed together as before described in the 
 battle of Cagliari. It was on the 3d of November that 
 Doria hove in sight. His fleet consisted of five-and-thirty 
 sail ; but though he was superior in numbers to the squadron 
 at first opposed to him, the great strength of its position 
 forbade attack. Every manoeuvre by which he endeavoured 
 to provoke the Venetians to quit their anchorage was un- 
 successfully employed ; for Pisani would not fight at the 
 pleasure of his enemy. At a moment when the enterprise 
 was almost abandoned as fruitless, Giovanni Doria, a 
 nephew of the admiral, perceived, like Nelson at Aboukir,that 
 there was sufficient room for the passage of a ship between 
 the shore and the enemy's line ; and gallantly leading 
 bis own divi^iion of thirteen galleys, he penetrated the bay. 
 
 This manoeuvre did not escape Pisani, who permitted its 
 execution, thinking the daring youth, when placed between 
 two divisions would be a certain prey. But Morosini's 
 vessels were unprepared for an attack ; part of their crew 
 was employed on shore, and the rest, sur}irised in idle 
 security, made but a feeble resistance. Many threw them- 
 selves into the sea and gained the land ; many more were 
 drowned in the attempt, and the whole of his ships were 
 captured by the Genoese. The young Doria then returned 
 upon Pisani, who thus found himself placed in the very 
 situation to which he had calculated upon reducijig his 
 assailant. Pressed on both quarters, for he was equally 
 engaged in front, and confused by two of his own vessels 
 wliich had been fired and left to drift upon his line, after 
 the loss of four thousand men, he at length surrendered. 
 The stain of Cagliari was obliterated by this yet greater 
 triumph, and Doria returned to Genoa, bearing with him 
 thirty captured galleys, little short of six thousand prisoners, 
 and among them one who was prized far above all, the 
 redoubtable Pisani himself. What might have been the 
 result if the victorious fleet had at once appeared before 
 Venice cannot now be decided ; but never was there a 
 moment in her histor}^ at which she appears to have been 
 more defenceless. Forced loans might recruit the treasury, 
 but the arsenal was unable to supply a single galley. Four 
 private citizens (such names far more deserve remembrance 
 than those which are inscribed in characters of blood), 
 Marino Fradello, Beato Vido, Pietro Nani, and Constantino 
 Zucholo, each armed a vessel at his own expense. But 
 what would this scanty force have availed against the 
 triumphant Doria ? Such was the natural impatience which 
 the signory felt to renew negotiations with Visconti 
 that a truce for four months was signed in little ^'^' 
 more than sixty days after the battle of Sapienza ; ^•*^^' 
 before it could be extended to a peace, Venice, more than 
 enough endangered by foreign arms, encountered still greater 
 peril from domestic treason. 
 
 The doge who now filled the throne had shown great 
 military skill as commander at the siege of Zara ; and in 
 some naval operations subsequently intrusted to him, he 
 was again distinguished by taking Capo dTstria. His 
 family was one of the most noble and wealthy which the 
 
 
 ^^iiSk^^S&S^iaae^X 
 
 •'S#^vrar::-f3>!|BB-^- 
 
19a 
 
 MARINO FALIERO. 
 
 republic boasted. Two of his ancestors had worn the ducal 
 cTOwn, and he himself bore the honourable title of Count di 
 Valdemarino in the Marches of Treviso. After a long and 
 laborious life, chiefly spent in the field, when nearly in his 
 eightieth year, he still continued to serve his country as a 
 diplomatist. He had been employed in this capacity at 
 Genoa before the battle of Caristo, and he was filling the 
 high duties of ambassador at Rome when his election to 
 the chief magistracy was announced to him. Those who 
 love to connect every more than ordinary event with a sig- 
 nificant prognostic remarked, or remembered, that his pubUc 
 entrance, on the 5th of October, was beset with evil omens. 
 So thick a mist (caligo^ as the Venetians term their sea- 
 fogs) overspread the Lagune, that it was found impossible 
 to navigate the Bucentaur from San. Clemente, and tho 
 new doge, instead of appearing with the pomp fitted to his 
 dignity, approached his capital in an humble gondola. Even 
 the spot of his disembarkation was inauspicious ; for in 
 consequence of the haze his boatmen missed the Riva della 
 Paglioy to which his course was directed, and landed at 
 the Piazzetta, on the fatal scene of public executions, be- 
 tween the Two Columns. Whether the proverb, " (hiar- 
 dati daW intrecolwinioj'^ " Beware how you get between 
 the Pillars," existed before the time of Faliero, or arose in 
 consequence of him, it may not be easy to decide ; but 
 Amelot de la Houssaye assures us that, from a recollection 
 of his melancholy fate, no sum of money would tempt a 
 Venetian nobleman to expose himself to the danger threat- 
 ened by a committal of his person to this ill-omened pas- 
 sage. 
 
 The name of Marino Faliero is familiar to English ears ; 
 but the reader who borrows his conception of the Doge of 
 Venice from the modem drama in our language which pur- 
 ports to relate his story, will wander as far from historic 
 truth as from nature and probability. The Chronicle of 
 Sanuto, which the poet has avowed to be liis basis, pre- 
 sents no trace of that false, overwrought, and unintelligible 
 passion which, in the tragedy, is palmed upon us for nice 
 sensitiveness to injured honour. We are told, indeed, that 
 the angry old man had once so far indulged his choleric 
 humour as to fell to the ground a somewhat tardy bishop 
 during the celebration of a holy solemnity. We hear of a 
 
 MARINO FALIERO. 
 
 193 
 
 fiery temper, accustomed to command, dated by success 
 and m which, on the confession of Petrarch, who was per- 
 sonally well-informed rcgardhig it, valour predominated over 
 prudence. These are the unsettled cJt-ments upon which 
 the tempter best loves to work ; but the insanity and ex- 
 travagance with which we must charge Faliero, if we sup- 
 pose his attempt to overthrow the government of which he 
 was chief arose solely from an outrageous desire of re- 
 venge for a petty insult, are entirely gratuitous and belona 
 altogether to the poet. Madness of another kind, however^ 
 that of ambition, is clearly ascribable to him ; and if wo 
 take this as our key, much of the obscurity attendant upon 
 a catastrophe which has been imperfectly and inadequately 
 developed will be cleared away ; we shall obtain a character 
 httle indeed awakening our sympathy, but yet not wholly 
 at variance with our judgment ; and although we may be 
 astonished at, and recoil from the motives which prompted 
 his crime, they will not be ahogether of a class which sets 
 our comprehension at defiance.* 
 
 No one can have traced our preceding course of history 
 without having remarked the gradual encroachments of the 
 oligarchy on the ducal power. At almost every new elec- 
 tion it was crippled and curtailed afresh of some remaining 
 portion of authority, till the chief magistrate, to whom at*^ 
 tached the heaviest odium of tyranny, was at the same time 
 in his own person the victiin whom that tyranny most 
 grievously oppressed. During the int(,Tregnum which oc- 
 curred before the nomination of Faliero, new inroads had 
 been made upon the few privileges still uncircumscribed. 
 Additional shackles were imposed upon his communications 
 with foreign states, l)y an increase of the numbers of that 
 council, without the presence of which he was forbidden to 
 open despatches or to receive ambassadors ; and the three 
 presidents of the XL. were annexed to their prince as spies. 
 Besides this he was subjected to fresh control in the de- 
 livery of his votes, in the disposal of his property, and in 
 the collection of his revenue. Such unexpected mutilation 
 of a power already lowered far beneath that standard at 
 
 * Lord Byron's conception of Faliero's character and motives anneara 
 to us to be mistaken ; but wliat is to be said to the rountlesis imperti- 
 nences and engrallmeni.s upon history which M. de la Vigne has iniro- 
 duced into his French play on the same eubject 1 
 Vol. I.— K 
 
194 
 
 MARIXO FALIERO. 
 
 which an .imbitious or even a liberal spirit would estimate 
 nominal sovereiijnty as worthy of acceptance, must have 
 imbittered the very 0])cnin<jr of Faliero's reign. Nor were 
 the burdensome forms to which in his administration he 
 was daily compelled to submit calculated to increase his 
 attachment to existing ordinances. Fettered by absurd 
 ceremonies, a prisoner in his own palace, thwarted, sus- 
 pected, overruled, vigilantly watched, studiously degraded, 
 a hitrh-toned and independent temper must have felt such 
 bonds to be galling — a proud and irritable one must have 
 passionately longed to burst them.* 
 
 To Faliero there was yet another source of discontent. 
 In advanced life, he had married a young and lovely woman. 
 No breath of scandal tarnished her reputation ;t but yet it 
 is likely that he must have been keenly alive to the possi- 
 bility of ridicule; that the disparity of years must fre- 
 quently have crossed his mind, as aflbrding room for sus- 
 picion in the breasts of other men ; and that, however 
 assured he might be of the safety of his own honour, he 
 must have known there were many to whom such assuranc(; 
 might be wanting. Thus estimating his feelings, which 
 are not here imagined for our purpose, but which, from the 
 constitution of human nature, could not but exist, we shall 
 have little difficulty in conceiving that the unimportant 
 circums-tance which we are about to relate, though it can 
 by no means be said to have been the cause of Faliero's 
 rashness, overthrew, perhaps, the last remaining barrier by 
 which his impatient fury was restrained. 
 
 The rest we shall borrow freely from Sanuto. At a ban- 
 quet which it was customary for the doge to celebrate in 
 his palace, after the bull-hunt, on the Carnival Thursday, a 
 
 * This statement is plainly borne out by Marco Vjllani. Havendn 
 Vanimo grande si conientava male, non ■parendogli potere fare a sua 
 volontd come havrebbe voluto ; strigneiidogli la loro antica legge di non 
 potere pnssare la deliberazione del Consiglio a lui diputato par lo 
 Comune. E perd havea preso sdegno contra a genlili huomini die phi 
 lo repugnamm presontuosameiite. (V. 13). Villani differs in many 
 particulars from Sanuto. He omits all mention both of Steno and Bcl- 
 tramo; and he attributes the failure of the conspiracy entirely to the 
 vacillation of the doge. P. .Tustiniani (lib. iv. p. 85) concurs in our repre- 
 bcntation of Faliero's ambition, and, indeed, represents the do|;;e as 
 making the first overture to Israello, instead of receiving it from him. 
 
 t Doglioni, v. p. 226, i)erhaps, appears to throw out iujputations 
 against her. 
 
 MARINO FALIERO. 
 
 195 
 
 squabble had arisen from some too pressing familiarity 
 oHered by one of tbe young gallants of the court to his 
 unstress. Michele Steno, a gentleman of poor estate, was 
 enamoured of a lady in attendance upon the dogaressa ; and 
 presuming upon her favour, he was guilty of some freedom 
 which led the doge to order his exclusion. This command 
 appears to have been executed with more than necessary 
 violence ; and the youth, fired by the indignity which dis- 
 graced hun in the eyes of his mistress, sought revenge by 
 assailing Faliero in that point in which he conceived hhn 
 to be most vulnerable. He wrote on the doge's chair in 
 the council chamber a few words reflecting upon the doga- 
 ressa. " Marino Faliero, husband of the lovely wife ; he 
 keeps, but others kiss her."* The oifence was traced to 
 its author ; it was pitiful and unmanly ; yet it scarcely 
 deserved heavier punishment than that which the XL. 
 adjudged to it ; namely, that Steno should be imprisoned 
 for two months, and afterward banished from the state for 
 a year. But to the morbid and excited spirit of Faliero 
 the petty affront of this rash youth appeared heightened to 
 a state-crime ; and the lenient sentence with which his 
 treason (for so he considered it) had been visited was an 
 aggravation of every former indignity offered to the chief 
 magistrate by the oligarchy which affected to control him. 
 Steno, he said, should have been ignominiously hanged, or 
 at least condemned to perpetual exile. 
 
 On the day after the sentence, while the doge was yet 
 hot in indignation, an event occurred which seems to have 
 confirmed the chronicler whose steps we are following, in 
 his belief in the doctrine of necessity. " Now it was fated," 
 he tells us, " that my Lord Duke Marino was to have his 
 head cut off. And as it is necessary, when any effect is to 
 be brought about, that the cause of that effect must happen, 
 it therefore came to pass," — that Bertuccio Israello, admiral 
 of the arsenal, t a person apparently of no less impetuous 
 
 * '■'■Marin Falieri, dalla hella moglie, altri la gode, ed rgli la montieney 
 t This officer was chief of the artisans of the arsenal, and commandfd 
 the Bucentaur, for the safety of which, even if an cccidental storm 
 shouhl arise, he was responsible v^ith his lift;. lie mounted guard at 
 tlie dntial palace during ar interregnum, and bore the red standard before 
 llie new do;^e <m his inaugi'ration; for which service his perquiRites 
 v,-ere the ducal mantle, and liie two silver basins from whirli the d«»ge 
 scatterod the regulated pittance which he was permitted to throw atnong 
 tJie people. — A/ncIot dr la Hmissai/e,'!^. 
 
196 
 
 MARINO FALIERO. 
 
 MARINO FALIERO. 
 
 197 
 
 ■I 
 
 41 
 
 passions than the (logo himself, and who is described as 
 possessed also of egregious cunning, approaclied him to seek 
 reparation for an outrage. A noble had dishonoured him 
 by a blow ; and it was vain to ask redress for this alTront 
 from any but the highest personage in the state. Faliero, 
 brooding over his own imagined wrongs, disclaimed that 
 title, and gladly seized occasion to descant on his personal 
 insignificance. "What wouldst thou have me to do for 
 thee ]" was his answer : " Think upon the shameful gibe 
 which hath been written concerning me, and think on^tho 
 manner in which they have punished that ribald, Michele 
 Steno, who wrote it ; and see how the Council of XL. 
 respect our person !" Upon this, the admiral returned, 
 " My lord duke, if you would wish to make yourself a prince, 
 and cut all those cuckoldy gentlemen to pieces, I have the 
 heart, if you do but help me, to make you prince of all the 
 state ; and then you may punish them all." Hearing this, 
 the duke said, « How can such a matter be brought about?" 
 and so they discoursed thereon. 
 
 Such is Sanuto's brief narrative of the origin of this 
 conspiracy ; and we have notliing more certain to offer. It 
 is not easy to say whence he obtained his intelligence. If 
 such a conversation as that which he relates^really did 
 occur, it must have taken place without the presence of 
 witnesses, and therefore could be disclosed only by one of 
 the parties. It is far more likely that the chronicler is 
 relating that which he supposed^ than that which he tieio ; 
 and as it must bo admitted that the interview with the 
 admiral of the arsenal occurred, and that, immediately after 
 It, the doge was found linked with the daring band of 
 which that officer was chief, there is no violation of proba- 
 bility in granting that some such conversation took place • 
 and that the train was ignited by this collision of two 
 angry spirits. Whether the plot was in any doaree oro-an- 
 ized beforehand, or arose at the moment, it is°manifestly 
 impossible for us to decide, without information which can- 
 not now be obtained. 
 
 Bertucci Faliero, a nephew of the doge, and Filippo 
 Calendaro, a seaman of great repute, were summoned to 
 conference immediately. It was agreed to communicate 
 the design to six other associates ; and durincr many nirrhts 
 successively these plebeian assassins airarmed with "the 
 doge, under the roof of his own palace, the"' massacre of 
 
 'i 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 the entire aristocracy, and the dissolution of the existing 
 <rovcrnment. " It was concerted that sixteen or seventeen 
 headers should be stationed in various parts of the city, each 
 being at the head of forty men, armed and prepared ; but 
 the followers were not to know their destination. On the 
 ai)poiuted day, they were to make affrays among themselves 
 here and there, in order that the duke might have a pretence 
 for tolling the bells of San Marco, which are never rung 
 ])ut by the order of the duke.* And at the sound of the 
 bells these sixteen or seventeen, with their followers, were 
 to come to San Marco, through the streets which open 
 upon the piazza ; and when the nobles and leading citizens 
 should come to the piazza to know the cause of the riot, 
 then the consi)irators were to cut them in pieces ; and this 
 work being finished, my Lord Marino Faliero, the duke, was 
 to be proclaimed Lord of Venice.t Things having been 
 thus settled, they agreed to fulfil their attempt on Wednes- 
 day, the 15th day of April, in the year 1355. So covertly 
 did they plot, that no one ever dreamed of their machinations." 
 
 As a previous step, in order to arouse popular feeling 
 against the great council, it was determined to practise a 
 singular stratagem. Parties of the conspirators paraded 
 ditlerent quarters of the capital in the dead of night, and hav- 
 ing stopped at the windows of some citizens of the middle 
 and lower classes, and there insulted the women of the 
 family by scandalous and unseemly propositions, they 
 retired with rude bursts of laughter, calling each other 
 loudly by the names of the principal noblemen. t 
 
 Perhaps the rapidity with which their design was framed 
 tended much to its concealment. Scarcely a little month 
 had elapsed since its first projection, and now the following 
 day was to destroy the constitution of Venice, to deluge 
 her streets with patrician blood, and to pluck up all her an- 
 cient slocks from their very roots, without a suspicion of the 
 approaching calamity having glanced across the intended 
 victims. Either the Council of Ten could not yet have 
 attained its subsequent fearful and extraordinary ubiquity, or 
 the conspirators must have exhibited a prudence and self-con- 
 
 * One of the pretexts for ringing tins alarm was to have been an 
 announcement of the appearance of a Genoese fleet off the Lngune. 
 
 t Dtnmin Faferius non prtnrcps aniplius sed Doiuimis salutaretur. 
 V. Justiniani, nt snp. p 86. 
 
 t P. Justiniani, ut sup. 
 
 112 
 
 l 
 
 r. ■'««MV^^.,^■^^^5J,^,.ja^^-,a,^M«./ 
 
198 
 
 MARINO FALIERO. 
 
 trol rarely, if ever, paralleled by nn equally large body of men 
 englgedl; a similar attempt. To their mmor agentMheir 
 ultimate design had not been revealed ; and even m the 
 end he discovery arose not from treachery, nor frommcau- 
 tSl buttom "a compunctious visiting" of one framed of 
 stuff less stern than his associates, and who shrank from 
 the murder of a benefactor. The pnrt played by Tresham 
 in that yet more bloody conspiracy which the papists, in 
 after-days, framed against the three estates of England was 
 but a repetition of that now enacted in Venice by Bcltramo 
 of Berffamo.* Beltramo had been brought up ma nob e 
 Liry,C which he was closely attached, that of ^icolo 
 Lioni, of San Stefano ; and anxious to preserve his patron s 
 life, he went to him on the evening before the rismg, and 
 entreated him to remain at home on the morrow. The sm- 
 ffular nature of the request excited surprise, which was in- 
 Hreased to suspicion by the ambiguous answers returned to 
 further inquiries which it suggested. By degrees, every 
 particular of the treason was revealed, and Lioni heard ot 
 file impending danger with terror, and of the hands by which 
 t was threatened with astonishment and slow y-accorded 
 jbelief. Not a moment was to be lost ; he secured Beltramo, 
 flierefore, and having communicated with a few friends, 
 hey resolved upon assembling the heads of the different 
 magistracies, and immediately seizing such rmgleaders as 
 had been denounced. These were taken at their own houses 
 without resistance. Precautions were adopted against any 
 tumultuous gathering of the mechanics of the arsenal, and 
 strTct orders iere issued to the keeper of the campamlc not 
 on any account to toll the bells. ^ r *. 
 
 In the course to be pursued with the lesser malefactors 
 no difficulty was likely to arise : the rack and thegibbe 
 were their leaal portion. But for the doge, the law afforded 
 no precedent''; and upon a crime which it had not entered 
 into the mind of man to conceive (as with that na ion which, 
 havincT never contemplated parricide, had neglected to pro- 
 vide any punishment for it), no tribunal known to the con- 
 stitution was competent to pass judgment. The Council ot 
 
 ♦ Rnrh nnnears to be the most received belief. Sismondi has preferred 
 another wffifrepreLnt^^ to have been one of those persons 
 
 ?"om whom the particulars of the conspiracy had been concealed but who 
 had bee., persuaded to attend the musters : his suspicions were excited, 
 and these he 8tated to Lioni. 
 
 I 
 
'T-H'TK 'rA,:.,rrr ;T&I1H;S. 
 
EXECUTION OF MARINO FALIERO. 
 
 199 
 
 Ten (lemandeJ the assistance of a giunta of twenty nobleg, 
 who were to give advice, but not to ballot ; and this body 
 liaving been constituted, " they sent for my Lord Marino 
 J'aliero, the duke, and my lord was then consorting in the 
 palace with people of great estate, gentlemen and other good 
 men, none of whom knew yet how the fact stood." 
 
 The ringleaders were immediately hanged between the 
 Red Columns on the Fiazzcttay some singly, some in 
 couples ; and the two chiefs of them, Bertuccio Israello and 
 Calendar©, with a cruel precaution not uncommon in Venice, 
 were previously gagged. Nor was the process of the high- 
 est delinquent long protracted. He appears neither to have 
 denied nor to have extenuated his guilt, and " on Friday, the 
 1 6th day of April, judgment was given in the Council of Ten, 
 that my Lord Marino Faliero, the duke, should have his liead 
 cut ofl", and that the execution should be done on the landing- 
 place of the stone staircase, the Giants' Stairs, where the 
 doges take their oath when they first enter the palace. On 
 the following day, the doors of the palace being shut, the 
 duke had his head cut off, about the hour of noon ; and the 
 cap of estate was taken from the duke's head, before he 
 came down the staircase. When the execution was over, 
 it is said that one of the chiefs of the Council of Ten went 
 to the columns of the palace against the piazza, and dis- 
 playing the bloody sword, exclaimed, * Justice has fallen on 
 the traitor !' and the gates being then opened, the populace 
 eagerly rushed in to see the doge who had been executed." 
 The body of Faliero was conveyed by torchlight in a gon- 
 dola, and unattended by the customary ceremonies, to the 
 church of San Giovanni and San Paolo ; in the outer wall 
 of which a stone coffin is still imbedded, with an illegible 
 inscription, which once presented the words. Hie jacct Mari' 
 nus Feletro Dux. His lands and goods were confiscated to 
 the state, with the exception of two thousand ducats, of 
 which he was permitted to dispose ; and yet further to trans- 
 mit to posterity the memory of his enonnous crime, his por- 
 trait was not admitted to range with those of his brother 
 doges in the hall of the great council. In the frame which it 
 ought to occupy is suspended a black veil, inscribed with the 
 words, Hic est locus Marini Feletro decapitati pro criminibus. 
 The fate of Bcltramo deserves a few words. He was 
 amply rewarded for his opportune discovery, by a pension 
 of a thousand ducats in perpetuity, the grant of a private 
 
 /- 
 
200 
 
 FATE OF BELTRAMO. 
 
 resitlencc which had helonffod to Faliero, and inscription m 
 the golden book. Dissatislied, however, with this lavish 
 payment for a very ambiguous virtue, he lost no occasion 
 of taxing the nobles with neglect of his services, and of 
 uttcringloud calumnies against them, both secretly and iii 
 public." The government, wearied by his importunities and 
 ingratitude, at length deprived him of his appointments, and 
 sentenced him to ten years' exile at Ragusa ; but his rest- 
 less and turbulent spirit soon prompted him to seek a spot 
 less under the control of the signory, in which he might 
 vent his railings afresh, and with impunity. It is probable 
 that the long arm of the Council of X. arrested his design, 
 for we are significantly informed that he perished on his way 
 to Pannonia. 
 
 Ancient Doge and Dogareasa. 
 From Titian. - 
 
 WAR WITH HUNGARY. 
 
 201 
 
 CIIArXER VII. 
 
 FROM A. D. 1355 TO A. D. 1373. 
 
 War with T-ouis of TIiinRary— Loss of Dalmatia— Bequest of Petrarch's 
 Library— Insurrection in ( "andia— Petrarch's Account of the Festivities 
 oil its Suppression— Last Stru^rgle of the Caiidiotes— Intrigues of Fran- 
 cesco Vecchio Ja (.Carrara- Invasion of Padua— Submission of da 
 Carrara— Revolution at Constantinople— Youth of Carlo Zeiio— Ac- 
 quisitioa of Tenedos— Aflray in Cyprus— Powerful League against 
 Venice. 
 
 A. D. 
 
 
 DOGES. 
 
 1355. 
 
 I.VIII. 
 
 Giovanni Gradenigo. 
 
 1356. 
 
 LIX. 
 
 Giovanni Delpino. 
 
 1361. 
 
 LX. 
 
 Lorenzo Celsi. 
 
 1365. 
 
 LXI. 
 
 Marco Cornaro. 
 
 1367. 
 
 LXlI. 
 
 Andrea Contarini. 
 
 Giovanni Gradenigo succeeded to the blood-stained 
 throne : both his reign and that of Giovanni Delpino ^ ^^ 
 were passed in a calamitous war with Louis of j355_g^ 
 JIuno-ary, who still regarded Zara with a longing 
 eye. ^ Seven revolts of that colony had sufliciently evinced 
 her* disaffection from Venice ; and to her Hungarian neigh- 
 bours, on the other hand, she was attached by the strong 
 ties of similar language, manners, and origin. Lotiis allied 
 himself with the Duke of Austria, with the Patriarch of 
 Aquileia, and with one whom gratitude for the restoration 
 of his family to power ought to have retained in the friend- 
 ship of the republic, Francesco da Carrara (Francesco 
 Vecchio, as he is termed, in order to distinguish him from 
 his ill-fated son), a descendant of Marsilio, and the present 
 Lord of Padua. Thus supported, he pressed a vigorous 
 and successful war both in the Trevisano and in Dalmatia ; 
 and in the end he compelled Venice to the renouncement 
 of all pretension to sovereignty on the eastern coast of the 
 Adriatic. 
 
 To the reign of Delpino are attributed the sumptuary 
 
202 
 
 PETRARCH S LIBRARY. 
 
 PETRARCH S LIBRARY. 
 
 203 
 
 laws which regulated the dress, table, and personal expenses 
 of each rank of citizens, and the institution of the 
 ^'^' three magistrates by whom tliey are superintended. 
 "^ ' (3ne of the absurd restrictions wliich they in- 
 troduced regarded uniformity of dress among all classes. 
 The cloak of the richest noble, as well as that of the meanest 
 artisan, if he could procure one, was to be made of Paduan 
 cloth, and a heavy penalty was imposed upon the use of 
 Pmglish, Spanish, or Dutch manufacture. The younger 
 nobility evaded this law by the magnificence of their under 
 vestments. The cloak was made so as to exhibit these to 
 advantage, by falling open, and on entering their gondolas 
 or their own houses, it was entirely thrown aside. Then 
 they appeared dressed in rich flowered silks, edged with the 
 costliest lace, and often with a doublet of gold or silver bro- 
 cade. About the time of Delpino also, that decree is sup- 
 posed to have been passed which forbids any Venetian noble 
 from embarking in commercial pursuits ; a law not always 
 rigidly observed at later periods. Its direct tendency was 
 to prevent the accumulation of wealth in new hands, and 
 thus to preserve the ascendency of those families by whom 
 power had already been attained. 
 
 The commencement of the reign of Lorenzo Celsi, 
 who succeeded, was distinguished by a magnificent 
 vin l^^quest from Petrarch, of which the Venetians have 
 proved themselves but little worthy. The poet ap- 
 pears to have contemplated his visits to the Lagune with no 
 ordinary satisfaction, and in order more substantially to tes- 
 tify his grateful sense of the frequent hospitality of the 
 republic, he offered his library as a legacy. In 1362, while 
 the plague was raging at Padua, he had fixed his abode at 
 Venice, which was free from infection ; his books accom- 
 panied him, and for their conveyance he was obliged to retain 
 a numerous and expensive stud of baggage-horses. On 
 the 4th of September in that year, he wrote to the senate, 
 " I wish, with the good-will of our Saviour and of the Evan- 
 gelist himself, to make St. Mark heir of my library." His 
 chief stipulations were, that the books should neither be 
 sold nor dispersed, and that a building should be provided in 
 which they might be secure against fire and the weather. 
 The great council gladly accepted this liberal donation, and 
 addressed its thanks in terms of courtesy (perhaps not exag- 
 
 gerated, if we remember the times in which they were writ- 
 ten) "to a scholar unrivalled hi pottry, in moral philosophy, 
 and in theology." A palace which belonged to the fuiniiy 
 of Molina, and in later years w as converted into a monaK- 
 tery for the nuns of St. Sepulchre, was assigned as a resi- 
 dence for the poet, and as a depository for liis books. 
 Macedo, a professor of Padua, who has described the won- 
 ders of Venice most infiatedly, in what he terms a Scries uf 
 fie hires designed hy a -poetical and historical pencil^ speaks 
 of Petrarch on this occasion as crossing the Lagnnc like 
 another Arion ; and by the melody of his song renewing 
 Amj)hion's miracle, and rousing the stones to create a library. 
 This collection, which formed the nucleus of the now ines- 
 timable library of St. Mark, though by no means extensive, 
 still contained many treasures of no small price. Among 
 them are enumerated a MS. of Homer, given to Petrarch 
 by Nicolaus Sigeros, ambassador of the Greek emperor ; a 
 beautiful copy of Sophocles ; the entire Iliad and great part 
 of the Odyssey translated by Leontio Pilato, and copied in 
 the handwriting of Boccaccio, whom the translator had in- 
 structed in Greek ; an imperfect Quinctilian ; and most of 
 the works of Cicero transcribed by Petrarch liimself, who 
 professed most unbounded admiration for the great Roman 
 philosopher.* The Venetians, to their shame, grievously 
 neglected the poet's gift. When Tomasini requested per- 
 mission to uispect the books, in the early part of the seven- 
 teenth century, he was led to the roof of St. Mark's, where 
 he found them, to use his own words, "partly reduced to 
 dust, partly petrified" — dicln, mirum! iiisaxa mutaios ;\ and 
 he adds a catalogue of such as were afterward rescued from 
 destruction. About a century alter the establishment of 
 this first public library- in Venice, it was largely increased by 
 the munificence of Cardinal Bessarion, who, as patriarch 
 of Constanti:io])le, possessed frequent op[)ortunities of 
 securing MSS. of great rarity ; and afterward by that of 
 Professor Melchior Wieland, a native of Marienburg, who, 
 out of gratitude for benefits conferred by the reiaiblic, be- 
 queathed it his collection in l.*}89. It now contains about 
 sixty thousand volumes, which, in 1812, were transferred 
 from the Procuratic nuocc to the splendid saloon in the ducal 
 
 * Gingueiit, Hist. Liter, d'ltalie, ch. Vii. p. 2. 
 t Pelrarcfia Rtdivivus, \}. 72. 
 
204 
 
 THE DOGE CELSl AND HIS FATHER. 
 
 palace, no longer required for the assemblies of the grand 
 council. 
 
 The private tastes of the doge Celsi are noticed by an 
 anonymous manuscript chronicle ;* and one of them was 
 uncommon for a Venetian. He was fond of inspecting the 
 processes of the mint, and he kept a large stud of horses in 
 the capital. His accession occasioned a singular domestic 
 jealousy. His father, accustomed to the exercise of pater- 
 nal authority, felt reluctant to acknowledge the elevation 
 which his son had attained above himself; and the churlish 
 old man, unable to brook a superiority which he considered 
 to be a violation of the course of nature, in order to avoid 
 uncovering himself in the presence of the doge, adopted 
 a habit of going always bareheaded. Lorenzo, actuated hy 
 a better feeling, ingeniously devised a pretext which might 
 at once relieve his father's ridiculous scruple, and obtain for 
 himself the honour due to his station. He embroidered a 
 cross upon the ducal cap, and the superstitious dotard no 
 longer refused the customary mark of respect. " It is not," 
 he said, " to you, my son, that I bow, but to the cross. 
 Having given you life, it is not possible that I should be 
 your inferior." The conduct of the doge was wise and 
 affectionate ; but how far more touching was the unextorted 
 filial piety which Roper has so simply and so beautifully 
 recorded of Sir Thomas More, when liUing the exalted 
 I)ost of lord chancellor. " Whensoever he pTissed through 
 Westminster Hall to his place in the Chancery, by the 
 court of the King's Bench, if his father (one of the judges 
 thereof) had been seated or he came, he would go into the 
 same court, and there, reverently kneeling down in the 
 sight of them all, duly ask his father's l)lessing ; and if it 
 fortuned that his father and he, at pleadings in Lincoln's- 
 Inn, met together (as they somelhnes did), notwithstandinrr 
 his high office, he would offer in argument the pre-eminence 
 to his fiither, though he for his office sake, would refuse to 
 take it." 
 
 The cession of Dalmatia had naturally impressed the 
 other colonies of Venice with a conviction of her feebleiiess ; 
 and the Candiotes, always chafuig under her yoke, once 
 again endeavoured to throw it offf. This insurrection was 
 
 * Bib. di San Marco ^ xxi. 
 
 I 
 
 
 y 
 
 REVOLT IN CANDIA. 
 
 205 
 
 not planned and conducted, as in former instances, by the 
 discontented natives : it was now a revolt of the whole 
 Venetian population of the island. Of the original settlers 
 many were branches of the most illustrious families of the 
 mother-country, who painfully felt their hopeless exclusion 
 Irom all suire in the government ; and their irritation was 
 heightened by an idle and unseasonable sarcasm. One of 
 their demands had been, that they might be pennittcd to 
 depute twenty sages to the great council, as their repre- 
 sentatives and guardians of their interests; and this not 
 unreasonable proposition had been met by the governor to 
 whom It was submitted, by the bitter inquiry, "Are there 
 any sages among you ?" A tax levied for the reparation of 
 their port afforded a pretext for resistance, and the islanders 
 rose almost to a man ; they seized the arsenals and public 
 stores, secured the person of the governor, threw open tho 
 jails, and armed the prisoners ; and in order more effectually 
 to sever all ties which might bind them to Venice, with a 
 headlong mry they abandoned their national profession of 
 faith, and embraced the doctrine of the Greek church. 
 &t. Mark at the same time was degraded from his tutelary 
 pre-eminence, and replaced by a far less distinguished 
 patron, !!>t. litus. 
 
 Whether from weakness or from a wish to prevent 
 effusion of blood, the republic adopted a course little likely 
 to avail with a refractory colony already in arms. She 
 sought to negotiate ; but the envoys were not permitted to 
 land, and they were sent back with an insulting message to 
 the signory. A second embassy was allowed to disembark; 
 bu It was only that it might witness the fierce enthusiasm 
 of the populace and their detestation of the Venetian name. 
 
 <• V ? lu^^' "'n''^ "^^^^^ ^"^ ™*'^"y precautions, a fleet 
 of thirty-three galleys was equipped ; and six thousand 
 men, embarked in them, were hitrusted to the command of 
 Luchmo dal Verme, a Veronese. The Genoese had refused 
 their assistance to the insurgents: and after all the bold 
 demonstratrons of resistance which the Candiotes had ex- 
 hibited, this inconsiderable armament was sufficient to re- 
 duce the island of one hundred cities in the short term 
 of three days. The scaffbld received its customary '" ^' 
 tribute after an unsuccessful revoU; and the triumph ^^^^• 
 was celd,rated at Venice with unusual festivity, of which 
 
 * OL. 1,— o 
 
 -•sKfgf^f;' 
 
206 
 
 FESTIVITIES ON 
 
 THE REDUCTION OF CANDIA. 
 
 207 
 
 Petrarch in one of his letters has afforded the following 
 very minute and picturesque narrative. 
 
 It was on the 4th of June that the poet, in company with 
 the Archbishop of Patrae was enjoying a delicious prospect 
 of the sea from his windows, and cheating a summer eve- 
 ning with familiar talk, when the conversation was inter- 
 rupted by the appearance of a galley, in the offing, fancifully 
 dressed out with green boughs. This unusual decoration, 
 the rapid motion of the oars, the joyful shouts of the 
 mariners, the garlands which they had twined round their 
 caps, the streamers which floated from their masts, all 
 betokened the arrival of some pleasing intelligence. A 
 signal was given from the beacon-tower of the port, and the 
 whole population of the city flocked to the water's edge, 
 breathless with curiosity, to ascertain the news. As the 
 bark came nearer shore, some flags of the enemy were seen 
 hanging from her stern ; and all doubt was then removed that 
 she was the messenger of victory. What, however, was 
 the general surprise and joy when it was announced that 
 the rebels were not only worsted but conquered, that Candia 
 was subdued, and that the war was at an end ! The dog© 
 with his court and prelates and the whole attendant crowd 
 of citizens immediately repaired to St. Mark's, and offered 
 up a solemn service of thanksgiving. The festivals which 
 succeeded lasted for many days ; and they were closed by 
 a tournament and a magnificent equestrian parade, for 
 which Petrarch is unable to find an adequate Latin name. 
 In this last spectacle a troop of four-and-twenty noble 
 Venetian youths, headed by a Ferrarese, splendidly arrayed, 
 and mounted on horses gorgeously caparisoned, started 
 singly, but in quick succession, from a barrier in the Piazza 
 di San Marco, and, coursing round to a goal, uninterrupt- 
 edly renewed the same circle, brandishing lances from which 
 silken ribands fluttered to the wind. The doge with his 
 brilliant train sat in the marble gallery over St. Mark's 
 porch, by the well-known horses, whence the evening sun 
 was shaded by richly embroidered canopies. On his right 
 hand sat Petrarch hunself, whose love of pleasure was satis- 
 fied by two days' attendance on the protracted festivity. 
 The splendour of the scene was heightened by the presence 
 of several English barons, some of them of the royal blood, 
 who at that time were in Venice, so far as we can under- 
 
 J 
 
 i 
 
 8land Petrarch's obscure statement, engaged in some mari- 
 time negotiation ;* though one of the chroniclers assures 
 us that they had no other object than a laudable desire of 
 seeing the world, f In the court below not a grain of sand 
 could have fallen to the pavement, so dense was the throng. 
 A wooden scaffolding, raised for the occasion on the right 
 of the piazza, contained a bright store of beauty ; the forty 
 noblest dames of Venice glittering with costly jewels. In 
 the horse-course honour was the sole prize ; but for the 
 tournament, in which danger was to be encountered, more 
 substantial rewards were proposed. For the most success- 
 ful champion a crown of solid gold, chased with precious 
 stones ; for the second, a silver belt of choice workmanship. 
 The King of Cyprus, who happened to be returning to his 
 dominions from France, condescended to break a lance with 
 the son of the victorious general, Luchino dal Verme ; but 
 the chief honour of the three days' jousts was borne away, 
 as was to be wished, by a native Venetian, though the 
 flower of all the neighbouring provinces had been invited to 
 partake in these feats of anns.J 
 
 The following year beheld the last firuitless struggle of 
 the Candiotes for their liberty; and although it 
 occurred in a different reign, we shall briefly notice logc 
 it here, in order that we may preserve the thread of 
 our narrative unbroken. The insurgents, recovered from 
 their late disasters, were headed by three brothers of the 
 family of Calense ; and they protracted during more than 
 twelve months a desultory, tedious, and destructive war of 
 posts, by distributing their followers in straggling parties 
 throughout the island, instead of taking the field in a smgle 
 body. They were at length hunted down ; and so 
 bloody was the revenge of the Venetians, that neither . ^^^ 
 sex nor age was spared, if contaminated by the 
 unhappy name of Calenge. " Candia," says one of the 
 provvcditoriy in his report to the government which em- 
 ployed him, " is yours for ever ; another rebellion is impos- 
 
 * Petrarch's words are, Britones qui sese interim Idborari (labori ?) 
 aquoreo vegetnbant. 
 
 t Morosini, xiii. p. 288. 
 
 i Seniiia, iv. 2. Mr. Rogers, followmg almost the very letter of Pe- 
 trarch's narrative, has transferred it with no common happiness into 
 very elegant verse. (Italy, St. Mark's Place.) It is needless to cite the 
 liassago at length from a poem which is ia everybody's memory. 
 
208 
 
 NEW RESTRAINTS ON THE DOGE. 
 
 sible ; terrible examples have swept away the ringleaders } 
 the fortresses which gave them asylums, the cities of 
 Lasitha and AnapoUs, every building which might aflbrd a 
 stronghold has been razed to the ground. The inhabitants 
 have been transported to other districts ; the surrounding 
 neighbourhood has been converted into a desert ; and, 
 henceforward, no one, on pain of death, will be permitted to 
 cultivate, or even to approach it." 
 
 When Andrea Contarini was named to the dogeship, 
 
 and was about to commence a reign more memorable 
 1367 ^^^^ ^^y other in the annals of Venice, it was not 
 
 without manifest reluctance that he submitted to tho 
 choice of the electors. So sincerely, indeed, did he wish to 
 escape the fetters of nominal sovereignty, that he withdrew 
 to Padua ; nor did he return for investiture, till the senate 
 threatened confiscation and other punishments of rebellion, 
 if he should continue disobedient to their wishes. The 
 correttori had already passed a law during the interregnum, 
 by which such a refusal was forbidden, without the previous 
 assent of the counsellors of the doge-elect ; and even if this 
 were obtained, it was afterward necessary that their decision 
 should be approved by two-thirds of the grand council. 
 Contarini, unable to oppose these statutes, was at length 
 compelled to exchange the honourable repose of private life 
 for the splendid slavery of the Venetian throne. It is said 
 that his reluctance arose in great measure from the remem- 
 brance of a prediction which had been made to him some 
 years before, by a dervis in Syria, in which he was fore- 
 warned that heavy calamities would befall his country if 
 ever he accepted her sovereignty. But there is little occa- 
 sion to invent supernatural causes for conduct which may 
 be readily explained on very obvious motives. Fresh re- 
 straints had been recently imposed upon the doge ; and the 
 petty regulations framed for his household, and for the 
 control even of his personal habits, must in themselves 
 have sufficed to revolt a generous spirit. As if the senate 
 distrusted the honesty of their sovereign in money trans- 
 actions, the avvogadori were instructed to watch that the 
 bills of the ducal establishment were discharged monthly ; 
 and if there should be any arrear in them, they were to 
 keep back from the revenue enough for their payment. No 
 repair could be undertaken in the palace at the public cost 
 
 / 
 
 v'J 
 
 INTRIGUES OF FRANCESCO DA CARRARA. 209 
 
 without the consent of two-thirds of the grand council, and 
 a sumptuary regulation fixed the sum allotted for the enter- 
 tainment of strangers of note on a scale of very mean 
 economy. Neither the doge nor any of his family was per- 
 mitted to receive any present, or to hold any fief, estate, or 
 immoveable property without the narrow limits of the 
 Dogado,* and those who already possessed such were com- 
 pelled to sell it. Lastly,— it is with shame and astonish- 
 ment that we write it,— an especial provision was made, 
 that the doge should furnish himself with not less than one 
 robe of cloth of gold within six months after his election. 
 The prying insolence of this tyranny over the individual was 
 felt, perhaps, more acutely than even the additional political 
 bondage by which it was thought fitting to diminish his 
 shadow of authority, when it was enacted that in the coun- 
 cils the opinion of the doge must always comcide with that 
 of the avvogadori; because, by the very nature of their 
 posts, those oflicers, it was said, were bound to vote for the 
 interests of the republic. 
 
 The new reign was eariy involved in trouble. Francesco 
 da Carrara had never forgiven an invasion of his territory, 
 ■which, during the late Hungarian war, he had provoked by 
 faithlessness and ingratitude. By continued petty encroach- 
 ments on the frontiers of the republic, he roused angry 
 remonstrances; and but for the mediation of the ^'^' 
 King of Hungary, he would have been again involved ^^^^' 
 in war. A truce for two years was concluded, and this 
 period was treacherously employed by Carrara in establish- 
 ing a secret influence in the very heart of the Venetian 
 councils. Through the artifices of Bartolomeo, a monk of 
 St. Jerome, he won over to his views some of the highest 
 officers of the government ; and two presidents of the XL., 
 an avvogadore^ and a privy counsellor of the doge basely- 
 sold themselves to betray the secrets of their country. His 
 partial success encouraged Carrara in designs of yet blacker 
 character ; and although it is not possible to speak with 
 accuracy of the extent of the conspiracy which he organ- 
 ized, there can be Uttle doubt that the lives of the chief 
 
 * The hogndo comprised no more than the city of Venice, the Kles of 
 Malamocco, Chiozza, and Brondolo, and the narrow slip of coast betweeu 
 ihe mouths of the Adige aud the Musone. 
 
 S2 
 
210 
 
 INVASION OF PADUA. 
 
 Venetian nobles were, in the first instance, to be sacrificed. 
 For this purpose, troops of bravoes, wretches too well known 
 in Italian history, were introduced, from time to time, into 
 the city. They were chiefly distributed in the quarter 
 adjoining St. Mark's ; and their meetings were held in an 
 obscure house, kept by a woman named Gobba, whose son 
 was employed in making the assassins familiarly acquainted 
 with the persons of their intended victims. The vigilance 
 of the Council of Ten detected this atrocious union. The 
 woman Gobba claimed merit for revelations which she was 
 unable to avoid, and her life was spared on the condition of 
 ten years' imprisonment. Her son and some Venetians of 
 mean condition were hanged. The minor conspirators, 
 after confession had been wrung from them by torture, were 
 dragged through the streets and torn asunder by wild 
 horses. The monk Bartolomeo and two of the nobles 
 whom he had seduced were condemned to secret execution 
 in their dungeons ; and the milder sentence of the two other 
 patricians, who were less guilty, or more powerful, was a 
 year's imprisonment and perpetual exclusion from the 
 councils. A crime of yet more heinous nature than that 
 of limited assassination was charged upon Carrara and his 
 agents. It was said that he intended to poison the reser- 
 voirs from which Venice derives her supplies of water ; and 
 thus to involve the whole city in destruction at a single 
 blow. Whatever might be the foundation for this report, 
 it was well calculated to sustain popular hatred against 
 Carrara ; and the signory encouraged the belief by placing 
 sentinels over the public cisterns. The open punishment 
 of the chief offender himself was, at the moment, beyond the 
 power of Venice ; but there is too much reason to believe 
 that she did not scruple to retort his own weapons of 
 treachery. Francesco da Carrara had many enemies ; and 
 among them few more bitter than his brother Marsilio. 
 The latter was invited to Venice ; and a wide extent of 
 charity is required if we would believe that the signory was 
 unacquainted with a design which he there unsuccessfully 
 meditated against the life of Francesco- 
 
 But the year was not permitted to close without an inva- 
 sion of the Paduan territories, where the King of Hungary 
 succoured his ally, and fortune at first smiled upon his 
 arms. The Venetians redoubled their efforts, routed tha 
 
 ADVANTAGEOUS PEACE. 
 
 211 
 
 confederates^ in a second battle, and took their general 
 prisoner. The Hungarians retreated, and their de- 
 sertion compelled the Lord of Padua to accept terms .^'I^' 
 which the victors imposed upon hun, and which ®' 
 sufficiently evinced that their resentment was undiminished. 
 The boundary line of the two states was to be adjusted by a 
 commission framed entirelv of Venetians. Carrara was to 
 pay by instalments 230,000 ducats to the public coffers, 
 and 300 ducats annually to the treasury of St. Mark ; he 
 was to demolish all his forts, to surrender certain towns as 
 hostages, to permit an entirely free trade to Venetian mer- 
 chants within his territories, to draw his whole supply of 
 salt from the works of Chiozza ; and last, and most galling 
 of all, m his own person or that of his son, to proffer an 
 oath of fidelity, and to solicit pardon on his knees* from 
 the republic. This humiliating condition was fulfilled, as 
 may be supposed, by his representative ; and the aid of 
 Petrarch was required for the composition and the delivery 
 of a speech which it was thought necessary should accom- 
 pany the ceremony. On the first day on which an audience 
 was granted for the purpose, the poet's memory failed him ; 
 and unable to recollect that which he had written, he was 
 obliged to request another sitting of the council for his 
 reception. It was granted on the following morning, and 
 his speech was then much applauded, but it has never been 
 printed. ' 
 
 Little sagacity is needed to determine that a peace so 
 unequal carried in its bosom the seeds of eariy war. The 
 depression of Venice became necessary to Carrara, not less 
 for the restoration of his diminished power, than for the 
 satisfaction of his injured pride : and no artifice was want- 
 mg, no intrigue was spared, to excite and to combine an 
 ovemhelmmg league which should secure his revenge. 
 He first succeeded m instigating the Duke of Austria 
 once again to renew hostilities ; but this dispute was ^' ^* 
 speedily adjusted by the surrender of the towns to ^'^'°' 
 which Leopold asserted a claim ; for the signorj- already 
 descTied the far more heavy tempest which was gathering 
 m th« horizon, and hastened to free themselves from an 
 enemy whom it was still in their power to conciliate. 
 On this occasion they received good service from the 
 * Gataro, Int. Padovana, avud Muratori, xvii. 196. 
 
313 
 
 CANNON FtRST EMPLOYED IN ITALY. 
 
 "WEAKNESS OF THE EASTERN EMPIRE. 
 
 213 
 
 Count di Collalto, one of the most powerful lords of the 
 Trevisano. He warned them of the preparations of Leopold, 
 of which they were wholly unsuspicious ; and his fidelity 
 was the more remarkable, because on a former occasion ho 
 had appeared in arms against the republic. When Louis 
 of Hungary unsuccessfully besieged Treviso, Collalto had 
 served under him with great distinction, and it is to the 
 sagacity of that prince that the count's subsequent line of 
 politics may be referred. " I have an esteem for you, Col- 
 lalto," said the king one day to hun after his retreat to 
 Buda, " remember the advice which I am going to offer. 
 Never be guilty of the folly of quarrelling with neighbours 
 who are more powerful than yourself, under the hope of 
 being assisted by a distant ally. It is quite as dangerous 
 as having your house on fire while water is out of reach." 
 The count perceived the wisdom of the aphorism, and from 
 that hour attached himself firmly to Venice. 
 
 A petty war which occupied part of the years 1376 and 
 1377 would not deserve mention here, but that it is re- 
 markable for the first use of cannon in Italy. They wero 
 employed by the Venetians in an attack upon Guero ; and 
 the chronicler of Treviso has described them with no small 
 tokens of astonishment. " These," says Redusio, " are 
 huge iron weapons, bored throughout their whole length, 
 and having large mouths. Within them is placed a round 
 stone, upon a powder composed of sulphur, charcoal, and 
 saltpetre. This powder is ignited at a hole, and the stone 
 is discharged with such violence that no wall can resist it. 
 You would believe that God was thundering." 
 
 While the resentment cherished by Carrara was seeking 
 instruments for its gratification in Italy, a dispute in a far 
 distant quarter was preparing for him a more powerful ally 
 than he had as yet contemplated. It awakened a fourth 
 struggle between Venice and Genoa, more bloody than 
 any in which they had been engaged heretofore, and in its 
 course leading each republic to the extreme verge of de- 
 struction. It order to obtain a clear view of the origin of 
 this war, we must briefly revert to some earlier transac- 
 tions ; premising that the Genoese, after three years' expe- 
 rience of the government of Visconti, had expelled his 
 lieutenant, and by another revolution in 1356, had again 
 established their former ducal administration. 
 
 The increasing power of the Turks was already begin- 
 ning to menace that conquest of the Greek empire which, 
 ere the lapse of many years, was to be entirely effected ; 
 and in 1369, the Palseologus (Calojohannes V.) who held 
 its uncertain sceptre, traversed Europe to solicit aid against 
 the Infidels by whom he was beset. Urban V. accepted 
 with distinguished favour the renunciation of the errors of 
 the Eastern church which this weak prince offered at his 
 feet. The holy father was prodigal of bulls ; and when 
 the emperor held the bridle of his mule, he furnished him 
 with letters missive to every power in Christendom. But 
 the season of crusades was past ; from each court which 
 Calojohannes visited he encountered cold refusals ; and at 
 Venice, to which he had always shown especial favour, he 
 did little more than raise with difficulty a suflScient loan to 
 defray the expenses of his homeward voyage. At the mo- 
 ment of his embarkation a question arose about sureties : 
 the emperor had not any to offer, and it was intimated to him 
 by the signory, that without these or the repayment of his 
 debt he could not be permitted to depart. The degraded 
 prince applied to his eldest son, Andronicus, to reheve him 
 from this shameful embarrassment, but he was rcfiised ; 
 and unless he had been assisted by the filial piety of his 
 younger son, Manuel, he must have been detained by his 
 creditors. Hopeless of aid from the Christian sovereigns, 
 the unhappy monarch, on his return to Constantinople, be- 
 came the tributary and the vassal of the first Amurath, and, 
 sunk in voluptuousness, he endeavoured to forget his dis- 
 honour. He was aroused from this slumber by a dangerous 
 conspiracy. At Adrianople, which, wrested from his crown, 
 had become the capital of the Othmans, Andronicus had 
 formed an intimate connexion with Sauzes, the son of Amu- 
 rath. Both of these young princes regarded with like im- 
 patience the barrier interposed between themselves and the 
 throne, of which they coveted immediate possession ; and 
 in the death of their fathers they saw the surest step to 
 power. The conspiracy was discovered and suppressed by 
 Amurath, who, having deprived his own son of sight, or, 
 according to other authorities, having beheaded him,* dis- 
 
 • Caresino, the continuator of Andrea Dandolo's Chronicle (ap. Mu- 
 raloii, xii. 443), represeata Ainuratb as adopting ilie miidejr punishmeut. 
 
214 
 
 REVOLUTIONS IN CONSTANTINOPLE. 
 
 missed Andronicus in chains to his father, with a warning 
 that he should estimate the fidelity of the Greek emperor 
 according to the measure of the punishment which he in- 
 flicted. Calojohannes, no less cruel than cowardly, ex- 
 ceeded the Barbarian in severity, and ordered the blinding 
 not only of Andronicus, but also of his son, a child of five 
 years old. The executioners, from mercy or incapacity, 
 performed their horrid task but ineffectually ; and the boil- 
 ing vinegar which they applied destroyed only one eye in 
 Andronicus, and left his son with a distorted and imperfect 
 vision in both. During two years' imprisonment, the cap- 
 tive prince intrigued with the Genoese of Pera, whom the 
 reigning emperor had never favoured. By their assistance 
 an escape was planned and executed : the persons of Calo- 
 johannes and his other sons were secured; and the con- 
 flicting parties, exchanging fortunes, were transferred, the 
 one from his palace to the dungeon recently occupied by 
 his son, the other from that dungeon to his father's 
 jgyg throne. The price stipulated by the Genoese for 
 this service was the cession of Tenedos, an island 
 important to their commerce, as it commanded the mouth 
 of the Dardanelles. But the natives, as well as the governor 
 of that island, were attached to the dethroned emperor ; 
 and refusing to acknowledge the usurpers, they closed their 
 ports against the galleys despatched by the Genoese to take 
 possession. This intended change of masters in Tenedos, 
 and the entire control which Genoa now exercised over the 
 throne of Constantinople, were matters of high import to 
 Venice ; but the hostile measures which there can be little 
 doubt she would sooner or later have adopted, in order to 
 dispute the virtual mastery of the East, were much accele- 
 rated by the romantic daring of an individual citizen. 
 
 Few families existed in the Lagune more ancient or more 
 illustrious than that of Zeno. Carlo, destined so much to 
 increase the celebrity of his house, was the son of Pietro 
 Zeno, who, among other public charges, had held the 
 government of Padua, and of Agnes, sprung from the equally 
 noble stock of Dandolo. The patronage of Clement VI. 
 
 and he is followed by Gibbon and Daru. Thranza (i. 16) asserts the 
 rererse. We fear the Byzantine is most likely to be correct of the two, 
 end 80 he has been held by Sismondi. 
 
 / 
 
 VOUTH OF CARLO ZENO. 
 
 216 
 
 had decided the course of life in which the young Zeno 
 was to be engaged ; and that pontiff, afler charging hun- 
 self with his education when he had been left an orphan in 
 early years by the death of his father in an expedition 
 aaainst Smyrna, bestowed upon him a rich benefice at 
 Patras. The long series of hazards to which Carlo Zeno 
 was exposed commenced even with his youth. During his 
 preparatory studies at Padua he was attacked by a robber, 
 plundered, and left for dead ; and his pursuits, on his re- 
 covery, appear to have been but little adapted to the grave 
 habits of a future ecclesiastic. Stripped of all that he pos- 
 sessed at the gaming-table, he converted his books into 
 money, abandoned the university, and joining some of the 
 roving bands which at that time formed the Italian armies, 
 he served with them during the next five years. His re- 
 appearance at Venice surprised his friends, who believed 
 him to be long since dead ; nor is it likely that their as- 
 tonishment was decreased when they found that the Con- 
 dotticre had returned in order to take possession of his 
 benefice. On his arrival at Patras, however, it was in his 
 military rather than his ecclesiastical character that he was 
 to be first distinguished ; for the town being attacked by 
 the Turks, Zeno placed himself at the head of the garrison, 
 conducted them to a sortie, repulsed the besiegers, and was 
 carried from the ditch so grievously wounded, that he would 
 have been buried but for an opportune show of faint signs 
 of life while his comrades were preparing for his interment. 
 Even when his scars were healed, it was not in the fates 
 that he should become a canon ; for a duel postponed his 
 ordination, and soon afterward he interposed a yet further 
 barrier to a spiritual life by marrying a beautiful Greek. 
 He then engaged in the service of the King of Cyprus, by 
 whom he was employed in numerous missions of iniport- 
 ance, which extended his travels into France, Germany, 
 and England. On the death of his first wife, he married a 
 daughter of the noble house of Justiniani ; and employing 
 himself in commerce, he made frequent voyages to the Le- 
 vant and Black Sea. At the moment of which we are now 
 speaking, he was engaged on some private affairs in Con- 
 stantinople. 
 
 The turbulent youth and wild adventures, the careless 
 demeanour and undaunted bravery of Carlo Zeno, had 
 
 d 
 
216 
 
 CALOJOHANNES AND CARLO ZENO. 
 
 f 
 
 OCCUPATION OF TENEDOS. 
 
 217 
 
 acquired for him great notoriety, and seemed to point him out 
 as a fitting agent in any desperate enterprise. Between the 
 dethroned emperor and the wife of his jailer a tender bond 
 had at one time existed ; and the remembrance, perhaps the 
 renewal, of her former favour easily gained this woman to 
 the interests of the captive. Calojohannes was well ac- 
 quainted with Zeno, from his frequent visits to Constanti- 
 nople, and he now employed his mistress to open a commu- 
 nication with his former friend. Little else than the mere 
 peril of the attempt was needed to excite Zeno to under- 
 take it ; and he ardently coveted the glory of avenging an 
 injured parent upon an unnatural child, of restoring an im- 
 prisoned emperor to his throne, and at the same time of 
 rendering an important service to his own country. Eight 
 hundred resolute men were secretly prepared to obey hi» 
 summons ; and with this petty band he doubted not to sur- 
 prise, to overawe, and to guide the timid, luxurious, and 
 fickle population of Constantinople. 
 
 The tower of Amena, in which Calojohannes was con- 
 fined, overlooked the sea ; and a boat and a rope-ladder, one 
 night, conveyed Zeno to the chamber of the illustrious 
 prisoner. But when he urged the imprisoned emperor to 
 descend, overcome either by fear, or, as he pleaded, by pa- 
 rental affection, Calojohannes refused to leave behind him 
 two sons, who shared his captivity in other cells, and whose 
 lives, on the discovery of his escape, would probably be 
 sacrificed to the vengeance of their savage brother. " These 
 tears and reflections," answered Zeno, " are now too late : 
 I quit you, and you must choose your own course without 
 the loss of a moment ; but if you do not follow, count no 
 more on my assistance." His entreaties were unavailing ; 
 and hastily letting himself down again from the window,* 
 he reached his comrades in sufficient tune to disband them 
 without discovery. 
 
 The emperor continued to languish in confinement till 
 impatience triumphed over his fears. He renewed his inter- 
 course with Carlo Zeno ; and in order yet further to stimu- 
 late a fresh attempt, he transmitted to him an official grant 
 of the sovereignty of Tenedos in favour of Venice, bearing 
 the imjiress of the imperial signature. Zeno, overjoyed at 
 this unlooked-for bounty of fortune, returned a prompt ac- 
 ceptance of the undertaking. His answer was intrusted to 
 
 the former messenger, and unhappily, being lost by her on 
 its road, fell into the hands of Andronicus,. who obtained 
 further confessions from the miserable woman by torture. 
 Zeno, more fortunate, received timely forewarning of the 
 discovery of his plot ; and throwing himself into a boat, 
 gained a Venetian squadron then convoying some merchant- 
 men through the Propontis, under the command of his 
 father-in-law, Justiniani. 
 
 If the admiral was surprised at the hurried apparition of 
 Zeno, how much more so was he on hearing the cause of 
 his flight, and on reading the im};ortant document which 
 he bore with him. Its validity, as granted by a prisoner, 
 was of httle moment, provided obedience could be secured 
 to it in Tenedos ; and the well-known disposition of the 
 governor rendered such an event highly probable. Zeno and 
 Justiniani set sail with ten galleys to that island, were 
 received with open arms, and raised the banner of^t. Mark 
 on its shores. 
 
 There had not been time, even if Justiniani and his son- 
 in-law had been so inclined, to communicate their intentions 
 to the senate ; and the deed having been now done on their 
 own responsibility, it remained to secure the ratification of 
 it from their government. For that purpose, leaving a 
 strong garrison behind them, they proceeded to Venice, and 
 by representing that the grant must be considered binding, 
 because conferred by him who was the legitimate empecor ; 
 that such an aggression was not wanting to excite the enmity 
 of Andronicus, who had always shown hostile dispositions : 
 and that even if it did so, his weakness rendered him an 
 inconsiderable foe ; above all, by displaying the vast com- 
 mercial importance of Tenedos, and that if it did not belong 
 to Venice, it would assuredly fall into the hands of Genoa° 
 they calmed the fears and roused the ambition of the council, 
 which at first had viewed the transaction wuh dismay. 
 Persuaded, however, by the arguments now oflTered to them, 
 they despatched reinforcements to the garrison of Tenedos, 
 and gave the command of them, as he richly merited, to 
 Carlo Zeno himself. Antonio Veniero embarked with him 
 as a colleague. 
 
 The consequences which had been foreseen by the Vene- 
 tian government were in part realized. Andronicus viewed 
 this seizure of a dependency of the empire with heavy 
 Vol. I.— T 
 
218 
 
 WAR WITH ANDRONICUS. 
 
 indignation ; and the Genoese, mortified both by their own 
 loss and by the better fortune of their rival, eagerly stimu- 
 lated him to revenge. All Venetians within the imperial 
 territories were arrested, and their property sequestered. 
 The Genoese provided two-and-twenty galleys, and the em- 
 peror embarked an army, assumed its command in person, 
 and set sail for Tenedos in November, 1377. Veniero 
 ,077 undertook the defence of the citadel, and the out- 
 works were intrusted to Zeno, with three hundred 
 infantry and a few companies of archers. In two attacks 
 on two succeeding days, in each of which he was wounded 
 — on the latter thrice and severely — Zeno repulsed the 
 Greeks with great carnage ; for the fury of his soldiers wa& 
 roused to the uttermost wlien they beheld their general fall 
 senseless and exhausted from loss of blood. Andronicus, 
 perceiving that his eflbrts were vain, hastened back to Con- 
 stantinople, leaving to the Venetians the right of conquest 
 in addition to that of cession. His return was marked with 
 yet greater misfortune. Calojohannes, by the aid of some 
 Venetians, who bribed his guards, escaped from prison ; and 
 taking refuge at the court of Amurath, secured his aid by 
 the surrender of Philadelphia, the sole city remaining to 
 the emperor without the Bosphorus. Andronicus, unable 
 to resist the demands of the powerful sultan, restored the 
 throne to his father, who immediately rewarded Manuel, his 
 second and more faithful son, by calling him to a participa- 
 tion of the imperial authority. 
 
 Another cause of irritation between Genoa and Venice 
 had arisen in a different quarter of the East. On 
 1372 *^^ assassination of Pietro Lusignano by his bro- 
 thers, the throne of Cyprus had passed to his son, 
 another Pietro. It was customary that the kings of Cyprus 
 should be crowned twice — once at Nicosia as sovereigns of 
 the island, and again at Famagosta, the port from which 
 the crusaders had embarked, under their empty title of 
 Kings of Jerusalem. During the latter celebration, a dis- 
 pute concerning precedence occurred between the Genoese 
 and Venetian consuls ; and the anger of the former was 
 inflamed by the decision of the Cypriote authorities in favour 
 of their rivals. The contest was renewed at the royal 
 banquet which succeeded ; and that solemnity was con- 
 verted into another feast of the Centaurs and the Lapithse, 
 
 i 
 
 AFFRAY WITH THE GENOESE IN CYPRUS. 219 
 
 fey the fury of the opponents. The Genoese, not content 
 with launching the massive goblets which decorated the 
 board at their adversaries, had recourse to daggers, which they 
 wore concealed beneath their cloaks. This proof of afore- 
 thought violence was considered by the Cypriotes not only 
 as a breach of the respect due to the hospitality of the palace, 
 but also as intimating a design upon the royal person. With- 
 out further investigation the offenders were put to death by 
 summary process ; and the Cypriote population, fired by the 
 belief of treason against their prince, rose in a body through- 
 out the island, pillaged the Genoese, and so bloodily pur- 
 sued them, that but one mutilated individual escaped with 
 life to convey the heavy tidings of this massacre to his 
 countrymen. 
 
 The Genoese, indignant at this violence, speedily des- 
 patched an armament to revenge it, and Damiano ^ ^ 
 Catani took possession of Nicosia and Paphos in jg^g 
 the summer of 1373. Forty thousand men were 
 embarked soon after, under the brother of the doge, for the 
 siege of Famagosta. That city resisted but seven days, 
 when, by its surrender, the king, his uncles, and all the 
 chief authorities fell into the power of the invaders, and the 
 submission of the whole island rapidly followed. The con- 
 querors are described, according as the writers of the times 
 espoused their cause or that of Venice, to have exhibited 
 very unusual moderation, or to have borne themselves with 
 great harshness. If the outrage which they had endured 
 be called to mind, it is probable that the first of these repre- 
 sentations is most correct : for only three lives were sacri- 
 ficed on the scaffold in retaliation for the popular massacre ; 
 and though hostages and a tribute were demanded, Lusig- 
 nano was still allowed to retain the kingdom which he had 
 justly forfeited. 
 
 Yet, even if the treatment were really lenient, enough 
 cause of offence remained to the (^yprioies ; and it can be 
 no matter of surprise that Lusignano gladly learned the 
 dispute concerning Tenedos, and hastened to propose a 
 secret alliance with the Venetians against Genoa. Two 
 princes of Italy were induced to form a like engage- 
 ment ; the Marquis di Carreto occupied Castel-Franco, 
 Noli, and Albenga ; and Visc^nti, the Lord of Milan, whose 
 
 I 
 
I « 
 
 1 I 
 
 220 
 
 THE WAR OF CHIOZZA. 
 
 daughter had been married to Lusignano, consented to 
 employ the one hundred thousand florins destined for her 
 portion, m an invasion of Liguria. Slight as these aids 
 miaht be, Venice rejoiced in their acquisition; for never 
 had she greater need of friends. The Genoese attributed 
 to her agency the troubles which distracted them in Greece 
 m Cyprus, and nearer home ; and Francesco da Carrara 
 had long restlessly coveted revenge. Parties thus disposed 
 were easily associated ; and the crafty and active spirit of 
 Carrara succeeded in negotiations with other princes scarcely 
 less jealous than himself of the wealth, the power, or the 
 pnde of Venice. W^ith the Genoese and the Lord of Padua 
 were united the King of Hungary, the Patriarch of Aquileia, 
 who possessed Friuli, the brothers de la Scala, Lords of 
 Verona, the city of Ancona, the Duke of Austria, and the 
 (^ueen of Naples. Such was the formidable league encoun- 
 lered by Venice m the momentous contest which we arc 
 about to relate ; and against so numerous and powerful 
 enemies did she embark, almost single-handed, in the memo- 
 rable Wah of Chiozza. 
 
 CHAPTER Vm. 
 
 FROM A. D. 1378 TO A. D. 138L 
 The War of Chiozza. 
 
 DOGE. 
 Andrea Contarini. 
 
 The military events by which the war of Chiozza opened 
 were of little importance. Carrara, driven from his first 
 line of operations in the Trevisano by the valour and activity 
 of Carlo Zeno, attempted a diversion by laying siecre to 
 Mestre, from which also he was repulsed. On^he^eas 
 the first struggle of the rival nations after the renewal of 
 
 l.iliSJr-Hr'ft.J^I'JS'--- t 
 
 1..hi-<i!.»fallS^' \'.'"j?aMlJjil*<fe^-.i»riij 
 
NAVAL OPERATIONS. 
 
 221 
 
 |i' 
 
 ! ii 
 
 hostilities took place near the mouth of the Tiber ; ^ p 
 and a bloody sacrifice was offered to Fortune under 137a* 
 the very ruins of her temple at Antium. The squad- 
 ron commanded by Victor Pisani counted no more ^^®>'" 
 than fourteen galleys. The Genoese, under Luigi Fiesco, 
 were yet fewer in number ; but their ten ships were either 
 unable or unwilling to decline battle. It was not that the 
 naval forces of the two republics had been diminished since 
 their former wars ; but hostilities had been so recently de- 
 clared, that time was wanting to collect sailors, or to trans- 
 fer them from merchant-vessels to ships of war ; and they 
 burned with impatience for contest ere yet fully provided 
 with its means. On this occasion, as in the battle of the 
 Bosphorus, the fleets encountered during a storm ; and the 
 fury of the waves deprived the Venetians of their numerical 
 advantage, by permitting only nine ships to engage on each 
 side. The result was unfavourable to the Genoese; one 
 of their galleys was dashed to pieces on the rocky shore, 
 five surrendered to the enemy, and the remainder were pre- 
 served only by the violence of the tempest, which forbade 
 pursuit. Even of the prizes, one only could be saved, and 
 the Venetians were compelled to fire the others ; but eight 
 hundred prisoners, among whom were Fiesco himself and 
 eighteen nobles, remained in their hands. The fickle Geno- 
 ese punished their civil magistrate for a disaster which 
 might have been more justly attributed to the fortune of 
 war; and a fresh revolution compelled the abdication of 
 the doge. 
 
 The three galleys which escaped directed their course, 
 not to Genoa, but to the Adriatic; and there forming a 
 junction with a much larger force under Luciano Doria, 
 the Genoese, even after their defeat, insulted the Venetian 
 capital ; and with a squadron now amounting to twenty-two 
 ships, intercepted the traders which approached the gulf, 
 pillaged and burned Grado and Caorlo, and found supplies 
 and sure anchorage in the port of Zara. Meantime, Pisani, 
 recalled to the Adriatic, coasted Dalmatia, possessed himself 
 of Cattaro, Sebenigo, and Arbo ; and, after two attacks, 
 reluctantly abandoned all hope of subduing Trau. The 
 winter, contrary to his judgment, was passed in the roads 
 of Pola ; for though his squadron needed refitting, the sen- 
 ate considered Istna too important to be left defenceless 
 
 T2 
 
222 
 
 BATTLE OF POLA. 
 
 Pola afforded few of those materials which were necessary 
 for his re-equipment; and, yet more unhappily, disease 
 X. D. ^^S^^ ^o show itself among his crew. Its ravages 
 1379. ^^^^ frightful ; and as spring returned, of the thirty 
 galleys which he commanded, only six could be 
 manned for service. These, however, and eleven more 
 which had been despatched from home, put to sea for the 
 protection of some Apulian convoys. With his squadron 
 heavily injured by a storm, the loss of two ships captured 
 after having been driven into Ancona, and a severe wound 
 received in a skirmish ofl' Zara, he returned to his former 
 station, weakened and discouraged. 
 
 It was not till the close of May that Luciano Doria was 
 prepared to act on the offensive, and he then appeared off 
 Pola with twenty-two galleys. Pisani's force now amounted 
 to twenty-four ; of these, however, few had their comple- 
 ment of men ; and he remained steadily at anchor, deter- 
 mined to refuse the challenge. But his officers were impa- 
 tient of their long confinement in a distant port ; they looked 
 to battle as affording them the surest chance of returning 
 home; the provveditori joined in this rash clamour; and 
 Pisani, accused of pusillanimous backwardness to combat, 
 and unable any longer to resist their importunity, embarked 
 such of the inhabitants as he could prevail upon to serve, 
 and gave the signal for attack. No more than twenty of 
 his galleys could be manned ; and with these he bore down 
 so furiously, that in the first onset Doria's own ship was 
 taken, and himself killed, at the moment in which he raised 
 his beaver to reconnoitre the positions of the two fleets. 
 The Genoese, fired rather than dispirited by the loss of 
 their admiral, redoubled their efforts under his brother Am- 
 brosio, and two thousand Venetians fell in the short space 
 of two hours. The enemy still pressed upon Pisani till his 
 line was broken, and all then became rout and confusion. 
 Fifteen galleys and one thousand nine hundred prisoners, 
 of whom twenty-four were of noble blood, fell into the 
 hands of the conquerors.* The chronicler of this war, in 
 relating the treatment of some of these prisoners, gives a 
 fearful picture of the cruelty and barbarism of the times. 
 Eight hundred were mercenaries ; and on the arrival of 
 
 ♦ Fl, Biondius, dec. ij. lib. 10, ad arm. 
 
 <i^.J,j»t«,^-,:..'j.:t. ■■■ 
 
 CHANNELS TO THE LAGUNE. 
 
 223 
 
 the Genoese in Zara, these were all beheaded in cold blood.* 
 With the poor remains of his once gallant fleet, now reduced 
 to seven vessels, Pisani took refuge in Parcnzo ; and thence, 
 obeying the summons of the council, returned to Venice. 
 It was enough for his suspicious masters that his former 
 glory had gained the people's love ; and the past triumphs, 
 therefore, which might justly have counterpoised his present 
 reverse, were added, by their jealousy, to the sinking scale. 
 Pisani had never coveted popularity, but it was felt that he 
 had deserved and that he had obtained it ; and in the narrow 
 policy of the Venetian government, great merit was con- 
 sidered to be as dangerous to the security of the state as 
 great ambition. If the voices of the avvogadori had pre- 
 vailed, his punishment would have been death ; and the 
 sentence was deemed lenient which condemned him to 
 secret imprisonment and five years' exclusion from all pub- 
 lic charges. 
 
 It was plain that the next efforts of the Genoese would 
 be directed against the capital itself; for Venice no longer 
 possessed a fleet with which to dispute the entrance of her 
 own sea ; and the sole disposable force which remained to 
 her, except one which had been despatched to a distant 
 station under Carlo Zeno, consisted of the seven galleys 
 which had escaped with Pisani. No time, therefore, was 
 to be lost in putting into such a state of defence as her 
 crippled means permitted the line of seabank which edged 
 the Adriatic, and that little knot of islands which may be 
 called her suburbs.! It will be remembered that the gulf 
 between the Piave and the Adige, which forms the LagunCy 
 is protected by a chain of long and narrow islands, through 
 which six channels admit a passage into the great internal 
 basin. Of these the most northern is the Porto di tre Portiy 
 navigable only by the very smallest craft. The island of 
 San Erasmo intervenes between this and a second opening, 
 
 * Chinazzo, apud Muratori, xv. 721. 
 
 t Perhaps Bellin, in his Descript. Geog. du Golfe de Venise, is the 
 best guide to the modern Lagvne. He is brief, but distinct. We know 
 not on what authority Sismoncii has made a different distribution of the 
 l)orts from that commonly adopted and given in the text. It must be 
 confessed that the mediaeval topography of Chiozza and its neighbourhood 
 presents a good deal of difficulty; much of the face of this ever-shifting 
 coast is changed since the fourteenth century ; and many of the places 
 named by the chroniclera have ceased to exist, at least in the maps. 
 
224 
 
 RAVAGES BY THE GENOESE FLEET. 
 
 FORTIFICATION OF THE LAGUNE. 
 
 225 
 
 bearing the name of the saint just mentioned. The Porto 
 di San Nicolo del Lido, a third channel, which is now com- 
 pletely choked, at the period of which we are treating was 
 the most important of all the inlets, and might be called 
 especially the port of Venice. Southward from this strait, 
 the island of Lido, and the long sandy Littorale of MalamoccOj 
 extending for nearly two leagues, form an outwork in front 
 of the capital ; and are disjoined from the similar barrier 
 of Pelestnna by the Porto di Malamocco, at present the 
 deepest channel. At the southern extremity of Pelestrina 
 opens the Porto di Ckiozza, taking its name from the town 
 to which it leads. Immediately in front of this town is 
 placed the island of Brondolo ; forming, together with an 
 opposite bank on the south, the sixth and last channel, 
 much impeded by the deposites of the Brenta and the Adige. 
 The direct communication between Venice and Chiozza is 
 established by a canal, which traverses the whole length 
 of ihe Lagune, in a course of about five-and-twenty miles. 
 Before preparations could be made for their reception, 
 the Genoese had collected a force of eight-and-forty galleys 
 in the port of Zara, sixteen of which crossed the Adriatic, 
 
 Jul 4 ^"^^^^®^^^°^6^chant-vessel within sight of Venice. 
 y • The captain, finding escape hopeless", took to his 
 boats and saved his crew ; while three of the Genoese 
 ships pillaged and fired their prize. None of their yet far 
 greater sufferings during the following calamitous portion 
 of the war appears to have affected the Venetians more 
 painfully than this disgrace. The shore was thronged with 
 burghers from the neighbouring capital, indignant but im- 
 potent spectators of this violation of their native borders. 
 The hostile fleet coasted along Malamocco, burnt the 
 chief village on Pelestrina, and anchoring off Chiozza, took 
 possession of its eastern suburb ; which, separated from it 
 by a bridge, was then known as the Lesser Chiozza. The 
 garrison, having attempted a sortie, was repulsed with much 
 loss ; and the Genoese, satisfied with their partial success 
 and the ignominy inflicted upon their enemy, re-embarked 
 and made sail for Ancona. Thence, after a few days' re- 
 freshment, they crossed once more to Zara ; trailing from 
 the sterns of their galleys, in token of contempt and defiance, 
 the standards captured in their victory over Pisani. If, 
 instead of amusing themselves by tliis empty show of 
 
 't 
 
 triumph, they had at once borne down upon Chiozza, so pro- 
 found was the terror which they had impressed upon its 
 inhabitants, so incompetent were its means of defence, there 
 is little doubt but that it must have fallen an easy conquest. 
 Meantime, in Venice recourse was had to prayers and 
 processions ; nor were more active measures neglected. 
 By dint of extraordinary exertion, the arsenal equipped 
 fifteen galleys, which were placed under the command of 
 Taddeo Justiniani ; six only of these, however, became 
 available for service. The regular mariners, for the most 
 part, were absent with Zeno ; and so indignant were the 
 populace at the undeserved imprisonment of Pisani, that, 
 notwithstanding the imminent peril of the city, volunteers 
 could not be found to enrol their names in the levy. In the 
 port of Lido, works of extraordinary strength were thrown 
 up for the protection of the capital. On the opposite 
 shores, at its entrance, were built two forts ; the germs, 
 perhaps, of the castles which now defend it, rather than, as 
 has been said, those castles themselves ; for the short time 
 allowed for preparation appears to have forbidden struc- 
 tures of so ranch solidity. The strait, on either hand, 
 bristled with a mixed array both of ancient and modem 
 artillery, the use of the former not having as yet been aban- 
 doned, owing to the still imperfect state of the latter ; and 
 the catapult, the balista, and the perriere were mounted by 
 the side of rude and unwieldy cannon. Vast hulks (*an- 
 doni) were moored fore and aft below, so as to remain 
 motionless during the flux and reflux of the ude. These 
 were guarded by an iron cheval de frise, and connected by a 
 massive triple chain, which crossed the channel. Behind 
 these chains, and grappled firmly to them and to each 
 other, were ranged three of the large vessels known as 
 cocche, completely armed, and protected from fire by a thick 
 covering of hides. On these, and above the chains, were 
 placed fascines, so as to form a platform capable of sup- 
 porting yet other batteries and military engines. On the 
 land above Lido, by the church of San Nicolo, a deep 
 fosse was excavated, and surmounted by a palisade. A 
 cordon of sentinels and batteries was disposed along the 
 agger e ; and at Malamocco two decked vessels were placed 
 across the channel, and a fort was built on the shore. 
 Similar precautions were taken at Chiozza, whose garrison 
 
226 
 
 SIEGE OF CHIOZZA. 
 
 ITS CAPTURE BY THE GENOESE. 
 
 227 
 
 was strengthened by a reinforcement of a thousand men. 
 Every citizen who could bear arms was summoned to actual 
 service ; and in order more effectually to obstruct the navi- 
 gation of the Lao-une, in case the enemy should burst the 
 barriers which we have just described, and succeed in pene- 
 trating within, the piles which marked the deep channels 
 and watercourses were carefully removed. 
 
 The remainder of July was passed by Doria in collecting 
 his forces at Zara, before he proceeded to execute the com- 
 mission received from his government to sack Venice, and 
 to carry home with him as many of her nobles as he could 
 secure ; one reservation being made, that he should obtain 
 the permission of Carrara. So anxiously indeed did the 
 Genoese regard the continuance of their alliance with that 
 prince, that the admiral was instructed to yield obedience 
 to him to the uttermost point, even if he should enjoin the 
 death of every individual prisoner. Venice, if she had 
 been taken, had little therefore to expect short of extermi- 
 nation !* Never was fleet more gallantly provided than that 
 which Doria now commanded ; for, besides his forty-eight 
 ships of war, he was accompanied by many hundred sail 
 of lighter vessels, provision-ships, and transports. The 
 most lively enthusiasm was kindled among his followers ; 
 and as he reviewed them before orders for sailing were 
 issued, he was received, while passing from ship to ship, 
 with deafenincr shouts — " To Venice ! to Venice ! Viva 
 San Giorgio!" 
 
 Venice, however, for the present, was too strongly forti- 
 fied to permit his approach ; and he resolved to begin his 
 operations at Chiozza, off which port he anchored on the 
 6th of August. Carrara had received notice of his design ; 
 and, anxious to effect a junction with his allies, he collected 
 at Padua one hundred light barks (ganzaruoli), with which 
 he intended to convey his troops down the Fiume Vecchio 
 of the Brenta. Till" he reached Castel Caro, his progress 
 was unimpeded ; but there the Venetians had sunk a large 
 vessel, laden with stones and ballast, so as effectually to 
 
 * Se egli la pigliava, la d'we.tse saccheg glare, e far prigioni quanti 
 gent duo mini puteva, e tutti maridargli a aenova, salvo, se per to Signure 
 di hadova non. ci fosse fatto ultra deliberazione, al cui volere ordinarono 
 si dovesse obedire, se hen! havesse ordinato, che fossero tutti decolUUi i» 
 m<n'<'.— Chinazzo, 722. 
 
 choke the stream. With incredible labour, in the course 
 of a single night Carrara dug a fresh channel, thirty paces 
 ■ wide and half a mile in length, into which he turned the 
 / obstructed waters ; and towing his barges round the sunken 
 
 ' ship, he placed them at the disposal of Doria, two days after 
 
 that admiral had artived at Chiozza, himself remaining on 
 ^ terra fir ma to direct other military operations. The pos- 
 session of Chiozza was of the uttermost importance to both 
 the contending parties, on account of its proximity to 
 Venice, of the large revenue derived from its salt-works, 
 and of its facility of communication with Lombardy. It 
 was the key of the Lagunc ; and if its walls were once 
 lost to its present masters, it seemed that but a single step 
 remained between the invaders and Venice. It is no won- 
 der, therefore, that it was hotly contested. 
 
 The works framed for the defence of its port were now 
 attacked on both sides ; from the Adriatic by the Genoese, 
 from the Lagune by the Paduans ; and their joint force 
 amounted to 24,000 men. The town, like Venice, is for 
 the most part surrounded by shallows and tide-creeks. Its 
 distance from the entrance of its port is about a mile ; and 
 before Chiozza itself could be invested, it was necessary 
 that this approach should be gained. A day was sufficient 
 for the attack and capture of the sandone moored in its 
 channel. This was immediately burnt, and the hostile 
 _. fleet moved up in front of the town. The period between 
 M the 10th and the 16th was employed in murderous assaults, 
 in which little appears to have been gained except the cap- 
 ture of the tete de pont connecting the isle of Brondolo 
 ±. with Chiozza. The bridge itself was contested on the 
 m morning of the 16th ; and at first to the advantage of the 
 • : besieged. At the moment, however, in which the assailants 
 were giving way, a vessel charged with combustibles was 
 driven against the piers. The Venetians, partly terrified 
 by the cry which rapidly circulated that the bridge was in 
 flames and all retreat cut off, — partly stupified by the smoke 
 which arose from the fireship, hastily withdrew within the 
 walls, to which the enemy pursued closely, and entered 
 with them pile-mile. Defence was no longer availing to 
 the panic-stricken garrison ; and wherever it was attempted 
 they were overpowered by superior numbers. Not less 
 than 6000 Venetians perished during this short siege ; and 
 
228 
 
 TERROR IN VENICE. 
 
 3500 prisoners were taken after the storm. Doria obeyed 
 the injunctions of his masters to the letter ; for when Car- 
 rara, thirsting for vengeance, offered to purchase two of the 
 noble prisoners who had fallen into the hands of the 
 Genoese, the price of blood was accepted, and they were 
 instantly put to the sword. 
 
 Though won chiefly by the Genoese, the town, according 
 to the stipulations of their treaty of alliance, was surren- 
 dered to Carrara. He hastened to survey his new conquest ; 
 and the enthusiasm with which he was received, is pictu- 
 resquely described by the chronicler. He was carried along 
 the lines on the shoulders of the soldiery, whose joy vented 
 itself in exclamations which, at least to modern cars, savour 
 of profaneness ; and he was hailed with loud shouts of 
 " Ca/TO,' Carrol Osamia !* Bcncdictus qui venit .'" 
 
 Chiozza was stormed at sunset ; by midnight, its fall 
 was known in Venice ; and the consternation which this 
 announcement excited was scarcely less than if the capital 
 itself had been lost. Groups of terrified women hurried 
 through the streets, manifesting their fear and sorrow by 
 shrill cries and vehement gestures. The men, who had 
 been called to arms by a signal of alarm rung from the bell- 
 tower of St. Mark, were silent and d^yected ; or, if they 
 spoke, it was in a few broken words which implied despair 
 of their country. The churches were thronged by trem- 
 bUng crowds, who pressed to the confessional ; and after 
 obtaining absolution, continued to implore participation in 
 the Eucharist, as if it were the viaticum for their last 
 nioments.f Every instant it was expected that the victo- 
 rious enemy would pursue his success ; and that the ban- 
 ners of Carrara, now floating on Cbiozza, would surmount 
 the ducal palace. If, indeed, the Genoese had listened to 
 the counsel of the Lord of Padua, the event might probably 
 have been fatal to Venice. Carrara urged his allies to 
 profit by the impression of terror which they had doubtless 
 created, and, without the pause of an hour, to cross the 
 Lagune ; but Doria was far less ardent. He wished to 
 establish himself securely in the conquest already won, 
 
 * Chinazzo, 727. The armorial bearing of the Carrara family was un 
 Carro rosso ; probal)ly a cnrreau or tiuarrel. See a note in Syine's For- 
 tunes of P'rancesco da Carrara,/ro7n Gataro, p. xli. 
 
 t P. Jusiiniani, p. 150. 
 
 CONTARINI ATTEMPTS NEGOTIATION. 
 
 '229 
 
 before he risked further operations ; and he contended that 
 Venice must fall, even without another blow. By sea she 
 was blockaded, her supplies were intercepted, her few 
 remaining galleys had no means of extrication, the neigh- 
 bouring coasts were covered with her enemies, she was 
 without allies, without stores, and all that was left to her 
 were a few narrow strips of barren sand. Prudence, he 
 said, forbade the encounter of even a slight hazard, in order 
 to accelerate, by a few days, that triumph which must be 
 theirs ere long spontaneously. 
 
 The cry of the populace in St. Mark's, during this inter- 
 val, was raised for peace, and they demanded an immediate 
 negotiation. The Doge Contarini seems to have preserved 
 a firmness and presence of mind wanting to his fellow-citi- 
 zens ; but at the same time he clearly perceived the fearful 
 strait to which he was reduced, and he wisely resolved to 
 attempt a pacific overture. Safe conduct was obtained for 
 messengers who bore a despatch, not couched in that 
 haughty tone wherein, of old, the republic was wont to 
 dictate to her vassal ; but exhibiting, in its style and super- 
 scription, an acknowledgment that her superiority was at 
 an end. Carrara was no longer addressed as simply noblcy 
 but by the far more sounding and pompous title of powerful 
 and magnificent lord ; and the doge, who hitherto, according 
 to the usage of sovereign princes, had been accustomed to 
 commence with his signature, now added it at the foot of 
 his missive. But the apprehensions of the writer were be- 
 trayed by far more decisive tokens than any trifling altera- 
 tions of form. A blank sheet of paper was presented to 
 the Lord of Padua, who was besought to inscribe it with 
 such terms as he thought fitting ; and to these, before they 
 were seen, Contarini promised submission ; with the sole 
 proviso that Venice should still remain an independent state. 
 Such a proposal was not to be rejected hastily, and Carrara 
 hesitated, and probably would have consented ; but Doria 
 coveted a far deeper vengeance, and fearful that the ancient 
 rival of his country might elude his grasp if the hold were 
 relaxed but for an instant, he anticipated the answer of his 
 ally, and replied for both. The ambassadors, seeking to 
 propitiate him, had brought with them some Genoese pris- 
 oners, ransomless. " Take back your captives," were his 
 words, as he refused the proffer. " Ere many hours, I shall 
 
 Vol. L— U 
 
230 
 
 POPULAR AGITATION. 
 
 deliver both them and all their comrades. By God above, 
 ye signers of Venice, you must expect no peace either from 
 the Lord of Padua or from our republic, till we ourselves 
 have bridled the horses of your St. Mark. Place but the 
 reins once in our hands, and we shall know how to keep 
 them quiet for the future."* 
 
 This reply, forbidding every hope of accommodation, was 
 not the only evil tidings which the envoys brought with 
 them on their return. AH the posts on the continental bor- 
 ders of the Lagune had surrendered ; the garrison of Mala- 
 mocco, after destroying its works, had been compelled to fall 
 back on Lido ; so that part of the very island which defended 
 the port of Venice was now in possession of the enemy. A 
 single outpost in the middle of the salt-works (the CastcUa 
 delle Saline) still maintained itself; and its honourable 
 resistance was supported till the close of the war. With 
 this exception, the territory of the Dogailo was reduced to 
 little more than the space covered by the houses of the 
 capital ; and so closely had the invaders pressed even upon 
 these, that the bell of the great Campanile was no longer 
 employed to peal its customary notes, lest the operations 
 which it directed should be revealed to the vigilance of the 
 besiegers. 
 
 The construction of a squadron which might delay the 
 enemy^s approach presented the only slender hope of exist- 
 ence which the Venetians still dared to encourage. Every 
 hand, therefore, was summoned to the arsenal ; and there, 
 the scene itself, the works on which they were employed, 
 the end to which their labours were addressed, each asso- 
 ciation connected with naval objects, forcibly recalled to 
 memory the great commander under whom they had so often 
 fought and conquered. The image of Pisani was present 
 to every heart ; his name burst at once from every tongue. 
 The artisans, the burghers, the merchants, the soldiers, the 
 mariners, rushed, as it were, with a single impulse to the 
 palace gates ; and thronging round them with impetuosity, 
 demanded the release of their admiral. It was no fit sea- 
 son for the government to contest a petition thus urgently 
 pressed ; and to their fears of popular disaffection might 
 
 * The whole of this speech is assigned by Chinazzo, as we have given 
 it, to Uoria. Daru, contrary both to authorities and probabilities, ha* 
 divided it between the Genoese admii'al and Carrara. 
 
 MHliMMHh^. 
 
 RELEASE OF PISANI. 
 
 231 
 
 now be added a belief that no other citizen possessed quali- 
 aes so fully applicable to the particular exigency by which 
 they were required. The signory, accordingly, ^^ 
 
 notified to Pisani that he was free, and that on 
 the following morning he might resume his seat in the great 
 council. Instead of throwing himself rashly into the arms 
 of his partisans, and draining the full cup of popular favour 
 which was proffered to his lips, Pisani remained that night 
 in his cell. He passed its hours in religious exercises with 
 a priest, in penitence and in confession. On the morrow, he 
 first attended mass and communicated, as a testimony of 
 freedom from all resentraent ; and he then presented him- 
 self in the council-chamber with looks bearing no trace 
 which implied remembrance of his wrongs. He listened 
 with placid dignity to the ambiguous haraiiguc in which 
 Contarini neither impugned the justice of the republic nor 
 denied the innocence of the prisoner whom she now released 
 from his bonds ; and in his reply, renouncing every private 
 feeling, he devoted himself to the service which his country 
 required at his hands. " Would to heaven !" were his burn- 
 ing words in conclusion, " that I could bear to the holy task 
 to which you invite me, and which I embrace with my whole 
 soul and spirit, a vigour and an intellect proportioned to my 
 desires and affections ! Thosc^ at least, are not likely to be 
 wanting to Venice." With equal modesty he declined the 
 loud testimonies of applause which were lavished on him by 
 the assembled crowd, as he descended into the piazza : and 
 turning to some who shouted " Pisani^ viva Pisani .'" " Stop, 
 stop, my friends," he said, gently reproving them, " the cry 
 of a true Venetian is Viva San Marco /"* 
 
 Even yet, however, the jealous spirit of the signory had but 
 half atoned for its former injustice. Pisani was appointed to 
 a command ; but by no means invested with the same powers 
 which he possessed before his disgrace ; only the troops 
 which were encamped at Lido were placed under his orders, 
 and even over these he held but divided authority — his 
 coadjutor being a Veronese captain, Giacomo de' Caballi, 
 to whom the generalship had been previously assigned. 
 
 * These words are attributed by Sanuto to Pisani while he is yet in 
 prison ; and Daru on that account has altogether disbelieved that they 
 were employed. We have related them according to SabeiUco's repre- 
 sentation, under which all improbability disappears. 
 
•t 
 
 I 
 
 A 
 
 332 
 
 GREAT EXERTIONS OF PISANI. 
 
 The citizens were ignorant of this narrow arrangement of 
 the senate ; and believing that Pisani was their admiral, 
 the poorer classes thronged to enrol themselves under his 
 command as mariners, the rich to tender their estates for 
 the public service, and to pour into his hands the cost of 
 whole galleys. Without a murmur, or even an implication 
 that his merits were undervalued, he meekly represented 
 that he was not qualified to receive their tenders ; and direct- 
 ing the patriotic citizens to the senators, as the proper offi- 
 cers to whom they should apply, he addressed himself to 
 the immediate duties of his post, and the inspection of the 
 fortifications. Another burst of popular feeling succeeded, 
 and it was met, like the first, by similar concession ; Pisani 
 was restored to all his former honours, and once again named 
 admiral. 
 
 His first care was to strengthen the lines at Lido, where 
 a wall was raised beyond the fosse, and flanked by two 
 towers. Pisani himself laid the first stone, and four days 
 sufficed for the entire erection. The curtain by which the 
 towers were united was completed in fifteen more, by the 
 unwearied labours of every class of citizens ; and Sabellico 
 points to the remains of this great work, which existed at 
 the time in which he wrote his history, on the southern 
 shore of the port. But it was no less necessary to protect 
 the approaches from the Lagune than from the Adriatic ; 
 for, however tortuous and difficult might be the navigation 
 of those inner channels, an enemy in possession of Chiozza 
 would certainly attempt, would probably accomplish it in the 
 end. Venice, from its very site and construction, would 
 not admit of regular fortification ; all, therefore, that could 
 be done was to sink cocche in different stations, which might 
 serve as advanced batteries, and to organize a flotilla of 
 boats, which should patrol day and night without interrup- 
 tion, to prevent surprise. Meantime, the works in the 
 arsenal proceeded rapidly ; and in order to acquaint the un- 
 skilled mechanics with the service for which they had volun- 
 teered, the canal of Giudecca* (Ztiecca, as it is pronounced) 
 was set apart for their drill. Its entrance was guarded by a 
 strong boom and chain ; and within it the doge and Pisani 
 
 * Oriffinally called Spinalonga ; it received its present name when the 
 Jeujs obtained i)ermission to m in its neiglibourbood. 
 
 / 
 
 i 
 
 SECOND FRUITLESS NEGOTIATION. 
 
 233 
 
 daily superintended the manoeuvres and encouraged the 
 ardour of their embryo mariners. So low had her fortunes 
 sunk, so shorn was Venice of her former undisputed naval 
 pre-eminence, that the queen of the Adriatic, who once 
 gave maritime law almost to the whole world, now cen- 
 tred her hopes of existence on a handful of landsmen, 
 practising within the narrow bounds of a street of her 
 own city. 
 
 It is not to be supposed that the Genoese during these 
 transactions remained wholly idle. Eight days after the 
 storm of Chiozza, a squadron reconnoitred the port of Lido ; 
 and on the 1st of September, a yet larger force disem- 
 barked some troops on San Erasmo ; so that each island 
 which flanked the harbour was partly in possession of the 
 enemy ; but on the following day, as the fleet neared the 
 «trait, it was received with so warm a fire from the batte- 
 ries, that it hastily withdrew. Scarcely an hour passed 
 without some petty engagement between the light barks 
 which traversed the Lagune^ or skirmishes between the 
 outposts on the aggere. Even if the fortune of these con- 
 tests was for the most part equal, the moral eflect was 
 clecidedly advantageous to the Venetians ; and those who 
 were, not many days since, wholly prostrate in despair, 
 now occasionally permitted themselves to hope that deliv- 
 erance might still be in reserve. A second fruitless nego- 
 tiation tended not a little to increase that spirit of resist- 
 ance which is always generated by a sense of oppression. 
 Prince Charles of Durazzo, nephew of the King of Hungary, 
 had entered the Trevisano with ten thousand men, and the 
 propositions which he offered to the doge evinced that the 
 extinction of Venice, as an independent power, was the 
 real object of the league against her. Peace, it was said, 
 might be obtained, if the republic would consent to defray 
 the expenses of the war, which were estimated at five 
 hundred thousand ducats. As a gage for this payment, 
 she must deposite in the hands of the allies the jewelry of 
 St. Mark and the ducal crown. An annual tribute of fifty 
 thousand ducats was to be tendered to the King of Hun- 
 gary, without whose confirmation and investiture no future 
 doge was to be considered as duly elected ; and as a mark 
 of vassalage, on all festivals and days of rejoicing, the Hun- 
 garian standard wa« to be displayed jointly with that of 
 
 U2 
 
 ^ 
 
 t-ltaaaWdfaaa -ij.-.j 
 
234 
 
 SUCCESS AT MONTALBANO. 
 
 •I 
 
 1 
 
 Venice on the Piazza di San Marco, Some obscurity 
 hangs over the discussion of these terms, and it has been 
 said, but it is scarely credible, that they were at first ac- 
 cepted ; but the statement is far more probable which affirms 
 that an annual tribute of one hundred thousand ducats was 
 offered as a commutation for the more grinding conditions. 
 There are yet other writers who maintain that the doge 
 once contemplated the entire abandonment of the Lagune^ 
 and the transfer of his government to Candia. By those 
 who have witnessed a similar emigration in modem times, 
 terminating in the establishment of a new and far greater 
 dominion than that which was surrendered, such a state- 
 ment will not be hastily rejected. But the case of Venice 
 and that of Portugal in our own days are widely different. 
 The latter was absolutely won by the invaders, and if the 
 Braganzas had remained, they must have sacrificed them- 
 selves to hopeless captivity, without a chance of benefit to 
 their country. Contarini, on the other hand, still possessed 
 his hearths and altars inviolate, though fearfully perilled. 
 To quit them was to ensure their destruction ; and his flight, 
 though attended with the certainty of shame and dishonour, 
 would not have been accompanied by an equal certainty of 
 personal safety. Whatever was the secret history of this 
 negotiation, all treaty was ultimately broken off. The 
 Hungarians found a more alluring object in the conquest 
 of Naples ; and during the short period they continued to 
 occupy the Trevisano, their operations were languid and 
 ineffective. 
 
 An unexpected success, in an enterprise upon a larger 
 scale than those to which they were now ordinarily accus- 
 tomed, materially increased the ardour which had been 
 kindled among the Venetians. Fifly of their boats pene- 
 trated by night as far as Montalbano, a station on the 
 Brenta but a few miles above Chiozza. A galley and two 
 smaller vessels lay there at anchor, and these the assailants 
 surprised, boarded, and mastered. The ebbing tide pre- 
 vented them from removing the galley, but it was fired and 
 burnt to the water's edge, and the lesser prizes, with their 
 commandant and a hundred and fifty prisoners, were borne in 
 triumph to Venice. On their arrival, the city was intoxi- 
 cated with joy ; and in these first fruits of victory were 
 descried the pledges of a full and swollen harvest. Every 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 PATRIOTISM OF THE VENETIAN CITIZENS. 235 
 
 voice demanded battle, and already in the sanguine antici- 
 pation of the enthusiastic populace, to confront and to con- 
 quer the enemy appeared but one. 
 
 The force, indeed, of which the republic was now mis- 
 tress might promise, at least, an even-handed contest. 
 Never in the whole history of the world had been exhibited 
 more splendid instances of individual sacrifice and self-de- 
 votion, than those made by the patriot Venetians. Where 
 age or infirmity rendered personal service impossible, entire 
 fortunes were surrendered to the state ; vast debts were re- 
 mitted by creditors ; plate, jewels, and treasure were heaped 
 into the public coffers ; the doge mortgaged his revenues ; the 
 ecclesiastics bore arms. One holy band alone was found 
 wanting to its country, and the Minorites excused them- 
 selves. It was written, they said, in their statutes, that no 
 one of their brotherhood, whatever might be the occasion, 
 should handle any weapon of offence. Their cowardly 
 hypocrisy received its deserts, and they were banished from 
 the Dogado.* Among the traders, we hear of a furrier 
 who undertook the maintenance of one thousand armed 
 men ; of an apothecary who equipped a galley ; of plain 
 mechanics and simple artisans who associated to defray 
 similar expenses. One, perhaps, of the most touching 
 offers which this great crisis called forth was that made by 
 Matteo Faseolo, a townsman of Chiozza, whom its loss 
 had reduced from opulence to beggary. Carrying with 
 him his two sons, he presented them to the magistrates. 
 **If my estate," he said, "were such as I once possessed, 
 all of it should be contributed to the public exigencies ; but 
 life is now the only property which is left to me and to 
 these. Dispose of it as you think best. Employ us either 
 by land or sea, and gladden us by a consciousness that 
 what little we still retain is devoted to our country."! 
 
 These demonstrations of fidelity and affection were cor- 
 dially and gratefully received by the government. A decree 
 of the grand council proclaimed that, immediately after the 
 conclusion of a peace, 5000 ducats of gold should be dis- 
 tributed in yearly pensions among the poorer citizens, in 
 proportion to their merits ; and that every foreigner who 
 
 <«! 
 
 *8anato,703. 
 
 t SabeUioo, dec. y. lib. 6. 
 
 L 'tjtfr.-t^'AJ' 
 
 A£a;«»o.-j^'fc..tfsa^..» 
 
 jgj«te&tf-.aa.-^j»ia.fMWgatatfasfra%^,i 
 
 >rf-^^fc^^/^^■a.l■ tf'^Ji 
 
!^ 
 
 236 
 
 REVIVING HOPES OF VENICE. 
 
 
 
 had rendered good service to the state should be natu- 
 ralized and receive the privileges of citizenship. A yet more 
 alluring offer was freely propounded to all classes. It was 
 announced that at the termination of the v<rar the XL. 
 should be bound under a heavy penalty to convoke the pre- 
 gadi, and in that assembly each of its members should be 
 authorized to name some one citizen, whom he deemed 
 worthy of admission to nobility. The deserts of the seve- 
 ral candidates were to be discussed at whatever length 
 their proposers might think fit ; and the thirty who should 
 obtain a majority of suffrages, were to be registered, both 
 for themselves and their posterity, as members of the grand 
 council, and to participate in all its rights, privileges, and 
 immunities as entirely as any original noble. No words 
 could exceed in strength and solemnity those which were 
 employed to confirm these provisions. More than once it 
 was repeated that every decree which might repeal them 
 should be null ; and in addition, it was declared that any 
 one who proposed such a repeal should be for ever excluded, 
 both himself and his descendants, from every magistracy, 
 without possibility of grace or remission ; and that whoever 
 ventured to suggest indulgence to the offenders should incur 
 similar penalties. 
 
 Such was the zeal excited by these liberal promises that 
 two days were sufficient to complete the crews of four-and- 
 thirty galleys, already equipped in the arsenal. Con- 
 tarini, disregarding the burden of seventy-two winters, an- 
 nounced that, ere long, he would lead this armament in 
 person against the enemy ; and his resolution appears to 
 have been delayed only from the hope of obtaining tidings 
 of Carlo Zeno and his fleet. That gallant and adventu- 
 rous captain had been detached to the Levant, before the dis- 
 astrous battle of Pola. Of his subsequent proceedings 
 nothing hitherto was known in Venice ; but no exertion 
 had been spared to acquaint him first with the perils, now 
 with the hopes, of his country ; and it was daily and anx- 
 iously expected that the squadron under his command 
 might return in time to afford great additional strength to 
 the proposed expedition. The autumn, therefore, was 
 passed in a series of skirmishes and manceuvres which habit- 
 uated the raw seamen to their new element, improved their 
 discipline, stimulated their courage, and amused them under 
 
 ENTERPRISE OF PISANI. 
 
 237 
 
 the necessary delay. It was not without surprise and anx- 
 iety, that the Genoese perceived the creation of this new 
 fleet in the blockaded capital which they had once securely 
 deemed their own. Straitened for provisions, they had 
 been compelled to despatch a large force to procure supplies 
 from the Istrian coast ; in numerous little rencounters with 
 the light flotilla in the Lagune, they had, for the most part, 
 been worsted ; a convoy from Padua had been intercepted ; 
 Cavalli, the Veronese general, had forced them to abandon 
 Malamocco ; Poveglia had been retaken in like manner ; 
 and gradually contracting their outposts, they nar- 
 rowed the circuit of their operations, and contented ^^^' 
 themselves by strengthening the fortifications of Chiozza. 
 Nor were they long without perceiving the full necessity 
 of such precaution. Though the brave garrison of the 
 little fort in the Saline still defied their summons, it was 
 daily subjected to the observation, and often to the attacks, 
 of three galleys which cruised around it. Pisani armed his 
 flotilla for its relief, and three hundred boats and fifty gan- 
 zarioli were concealed among the reeds and shallows ot the 
 neighbouring banks. From some want of caution, this 
 ambuscade was prematurely detected, and the Genoese 
 hastily plied their oars in flight. Pisani, therefore, finding 
 them too distant for pursuit, boldly directed his course at 
 once upon Chiozza itself, through the shallows which ad- 
 mitted the light draught of his flotilla. Having reached the 
 town, he stormed the suburb, and put the detachment by 
 which it was defended to the sword. Meantime, the 
 galleys which, from their greater burden, had been com- 
 pelled to make a longer circuit through the deep waters, 
 returned off the port ; and the Venetians, pressed on all 
 sides, both from the town and from the sea, were compelled 
 to retreat, not without loss. Six of their vessels were 
 captured, and Gradenigo, a son-in-law of the doge, was 
 killed. The Genoese might boast that they had repulsed 
 their assailants ; but how great must have been the joy of 
 the Venetians, even under their partial want of success, on 
 finding that they had once more gained the power of assum- 
 ing the offensive ! 
 
 As winter advanced, the main body of the Genoese fleet 
 moved up the harbour, in which it was partly dismantled, 
 both for repair and for the refreshment of the crews ; and 
 
 A 
 
238 
 
 EMBARKATION OF CONTARINI. 
 
 I 
 
 here it was soon afterward joined by the squadron which 
 returned from Istria. Three galleys cruising at the entrance 
 of the port were considered amply sufficient for its defence ; 
 for although the growing force of the Venetians excited 
 some inquietude, little anticipation could be entertained of 
 the daring enterprise which they were about to undertake. 
 Contarini, if acting solely on his own judgment, would still 
 have continued to await the return of Carlo Zeno ; but he 
 was urged on both by the enthusiasm of the populace and 
 by the pressure of scarcity in the capital, which would be 
 relieved by the absence of that large portion of her inhabit- 
 ants about to accompany his fleet, the supplies of which 
 meantime might be procured from the neighbouring coasts. 
 Accordingly, on the 23d of December, the doge, having 
 celebrated high mass at St. Mark's, proceeded in great pomp 
 to the harbour. Martial music enlivened the procession ; 
 but the trumpets were sometimes overpowered by the exult- 
 ing shouts of the citizens. Before Contarini was displayed 
 the great banner of the republic ; that banner which the 
 seamen were reminded had been unfurled at the memorable 
 discomfiture of Barbarossa; and the doge, attended by 
 numerous senators, embarked at evening. His fleet con- 
 sisted of thirty-four galleys, sixty armed barks, and several 
 hundred boats, conveying a large military force ; and the 
 van, of fourteen galleys, under Pisani, towed with it two 
 vast hulks which were essential to his main design. The 
 night was more than usually serene and tranquil, and, at 
 the first daybreak of the morning of the 24th, on the clear- 
 ing away of a mist, the Genoese perceived, to their alarm 
 and astonishment, that the entrance of the strait of Chiozza 
 was beset by this formidable armament. Feeling secure 
 that no movement of importance would be attempted before 
 the arrival of Zeno, the galleys appointed to observe the 
 mouth of the port appear to have been remiss in their duty 
 and absent from their post. Dearly was this negligence 
 atoned for in the end. 
 
 The plan which Pisani meditated was conceived in a 
 masterly spirit. Both in numbers and in equipment, his 
 enemy was greatly his superior ; and his half-trained levies 
 were but ill-matched against the Genoese veterans. It was 
 his obvious policy, therefore, to avoid a battle ; but the im- 
 prudence of his adversaries had afforded him an opportunity 
 
 BLOCKADE OF THE STRAIT OF CHIOZZA. 239 
 
 of triumph, if by more slow, yet by far more certain means ; 
 and such was their present position that, by promptitude, 
 he might hope to enclose them within toils from which 
 there was little chance of extrication. Chiozza, it will be 
 remembered, standing, like Venice, on a group of small 
 islands surrounded by Lagune, and intersected by canals, 
 is approached from the Adriatic by two straits; that which 
 bears its own name and that of Brondolo. No other issue 
 can be obtained but by ascending the Lagune and attempt- 
 ing to penetrate the more distant ports of Malamocco, Lido, 
 or San Erasmo. If, therefore, the channels of Brondolo, 
 Chiozza, and the canal leading to Venice were blockaded, 
 escape would be hopeless. Pisani determined to close these 
 entrances by sinking vessels across them, and then patiently 
 to await, without the Laguncy the surrender which time 
 must render inevitable. 
 
 The strait of Chiozza was the first in which he com- 
 menced his operations ; for one shore which flanked it, that 
 of Pelestrina, was already in his possession. To obtain 
 similar footing on the opposite bank of Brondolo, he threw 
 a body of five thousand men upon that island ; but they 
 were quickly overpowered by a superior force, and beaten 
 back to their ships with great slaughter. Sufficient time, 
 however, had been gained during this attempt to tow the 
 two cocche with which he was provided into the channel ; 
 but the ebb of the tide did not permit their support by the 
 remainder of the fleet, and they were attacked at once both 
 from sea and land, burnt to the water's edge, and sunk. 
 The Venetian sailors lamented this calamity; but Pisani 
 watched, with silent joy, the progress of the flames, and the 
 error which facilitated his design. If the Genoese had 
 occupied and maintained these cocche^ his enterprise must 
 have failed in its outset; but when the enemy retired, 
 satisfied by their apparent destruction, the Venetian flotilla 
 again advanced, laden with huge masses of stone and bal- 
 last, which they heaped upon the sunken wrecks so as to 
 obstnict the passage of the inlet. This barrier was com- 
 pleted on the following day, when other ships were sunk at 
 intervening points, and the line connecting them was filled 
 up and fortified by a strong row of piles. An outpost also 
 was occupied within the Lagune^ on the little island Lova. 
 ^ To throw a similar barricade across the strait of Bron- 
 
 iMii 
 
 240 BLOCKADE OF THE STRAIT OF BRONDOLO. 
 
 /* 
 
 ARRIVAL OF CARLO 7E\'n. 
 
 Q/ll 
 
u 
 
 
 240 BLOCKADE OF THE STRAIT OF BRONDOIO. 
 
 dolo was a far more difficult task. The town so named 
 stands little short of two miles from Chiozza ;* and the 
 canal which connects them, not exceeding four hundred 
 paces in breadth, is navigable only under the immediate 
 banks, both of which were occupied by the Genoese ; yet, 
 in the face of their batteries, and exposed to a terrific fire, 
 Frederico Cornaro penetrated this channel with four ships. 
 As fourteen of the enemy bore down to overwhelm him, 
 Pisani made the combat equal by advancing with ten of his 
 own. The narrowness of the scene of action increased 
 the horrors of the fight ; nevertheless, in spite of their great 
 disadvantages, the Venetians persisted till they established 
 themselves in the desired position, and closed the port of 
 Brondolo as effectually as that of Chiozza, leaving open 
 only a narrow passage on the eastern shore, sufficiently 
 broad to admit a single ship. The mouth of the canal 
 leading northward to Venice was similarly dammed ; and 
 unless the Genoese could force some one of these passages, 
 they were now deprived of all possibility of escape. 
 
 The doge remained at the strait of Chiozza, while Pisani 
 chose for himself the more dangerous station off Brondolo. 
 Much had been done there, but to render these labours 
 permanently effectual, much more was still required. If 
 the Genoese could once master the sunken vessels, they 
 might disengage themselves, and resume their superiority ; 
 a change of wind also mi^ht drive the blockaders from their 
 anchorage ; and even while they maintained it they had to 
 endure the destructive cross-fire of batteries from either 
 shore. The toil was incessant, the loss severe, the service 
 most harassing. Two galleys, relieved at intervals, were 
 always stationed, at imminent risk, in the very jaws of the 
 channel ; and upon these was directed the chief fury of the 
 enemy. A fort was built at Fossone, a spot on the south- 
 east of Brondolo, and nearly opposite a convent which 
 formed a strong post of the Genoese ; but the engineers 
 employed upon its construction worked within half gunshot 
 of the enemy, and suffered proportionately ; for frequently 
 in the course of a single day, five hundred cannon-shots 
 were interchanged between the opposite batteries. Conta- 
 rini, in order to raise the spirits of his followers, had sworn 
 upon his sword never to return to Venice till the hostile 
 
 * Chinazzo, 755. 
 
 ^f 
 
 ARRIVAL OF CARLO ZENO. 
 
 241 
 
 f] 
 
 
 fleet had surrendered; but this solemn profession little 
 appeased the hourly-increasing murmurs which ran through 
 his armament. The troops exclaimed against the rigour 
 of the season, and the unparalleled hardships of the service ; 
 till, in spite of the doge's vow, Pisani was compelled to 
 promise that, if the fleet of Zeno, so long and so anxiously 
 expected, did not join him in two days, he would dis- 
 continue his enterprise. 
 
 Never did a greater stake depend upon the hazard of 
 eight-and- forty hours. It was not only the abandonment 
 of the blockade of Chiozza, and the loss of the toil which 
 they had hitherto expended, that the Venetians had to fear 
 from a retreat. For whither was that retreat to have been 
 directed 1 Venice, already suffering under scarcity, could 
 ill readmit a large addition to her distressed population ; 
 nor, if she did admit, could she afford it protection. The 
 Genoese, flushed by success and superior in force, would 
 recover all their former advantages, and, warned by expe- 
 rience, would know better how to profit by them. The 
 glory, nay, perhaps the very existence, of St. Mark must 
 pass away for ever ! 
 
 With these fearful chances dependent on its course arose 
 the first day of the new year. Pisani, like Columbus, 
 had gaged his all against time, and no less fortunate ^'^' 
 than that illustrious navigator, he redeemed his '''°"* 
 stake. Every eye was bent upon the sea, when a distant 
 sail studded the horizon ; another and another succeeded, 
 till fourteen vessels were descried. But to what nation did 
 they belong? To which of the contending parties were 
 they messengers of safety ? Napoleon did not inquire more 
 anxiously whether it was the cannon of Grouchy or of 
 Blucher which pealed in the distance, on the evening of 
 that great day which despoiled him of his crown, than the 
 Venetians sought to ascertain whether the approaching 
 squadron was that of friend or foe. As it came nearer a 
 well-known signal was exhibited, and a shout of transport 
 announced the approach of Cario Zeno. 
 
 The first hours after his arrival were passed on board the 
 galley of the doge, in narrating the adventures of his late 
 voyages, which were of a similar romantic cast to all his 
 former history. Towards the close of 1378, he had been 
 despatched with five galleys by Pisani on a separate service 
 Vol. I. — X 
 
242 
 
 ADVENTURES OF 
 
 CARLO ZENO. 
 
 243 
 
 .\ 
 
 to observe the coasts of Sicily, and there he intercepted 
 numerous convoys laden with grain for Genoa. Having 
 been joined by another squadron of four vessels, from 
 Crete, which had been equally successful in the Archi- 
 pelago, and had amassed booty valued at forty-five thousand 
 pieces of gold, he felt himself sufficiently strong to approach 
 the enemy's coast ; and at the very moment of the Ligu- 
 rian triumph at Pola, Carlo Zeno was laying waste the 
 entire Riviera di Levante, from the Gulf of Spezzia to Genoa 
 itself. Scattering terror through the Mediterranean, he 
 next made sail for Greece, and there gained new distinction 
 ^ g on the scene of his early fame, by successfully renew- 
 ing his attempts for the restoration of Calojohannes 
 to the throne usurped by his son. While in the East, his 
 squadron obtained great increase of strength by the junction 
 of occasional stragglers ; and after passing the summer in 
 the Levantine seas, giving aid to the King of Cyprus, and 
 grievously harassing the Genoese commerce, he found him- 
 self at the head of eighteen galleys at Berytus when 
 information was conveyed to him of the fall of Chiozza, and 
 the consequent great peril of his country. Even if the 
 orders for his return had not been most peremptory, his own 
 wishes would have prompted him to hasten to her relief. 
 Taking with him, therefore, a convoy from Syria, he lost 
 no time in pressing homewards ; and on his course, off 
 Rhodes, he encountered the largest and bcst-built ship of 
 his time, the Genoese Pichio7ia. She is described to have 
 been a three-decker, almost cannon-proof, bearing, exclu- 
 sively of mariners and passengers, three hundred armed 
 men, and towering as a castle above the waters.* The 
 pursuit was long and arduous, and when overtaken, her 
 great superiority of size enabled her to oppose the combined 
 attack of four galleys, during a whole day and the succeed- 
 ing night. Many of Zeno's men were slightly hurt, but 
 only one, a rower, was killed. He himself was twice 
 wounded ; once in the foot, a second time by an arrow in 
 the left eye. But his ardour was irresistible. The huge 
 vessel took fire during the action, and when this was extin- 
 guished, she was at length carried by boarding. The cap- 
 tured treasure was of almost inestimable value ; and from 
 
 * Era di tri coperte, tutta incorata di/uori via, « pama a vedere un 
 
 C<Ut$llO.—CbXRQ210. 
 
 the ship's papers, her precious lading was valued at five 
 hundred thousand pieces of gold. To each of some Floren- 
 tine merchants whom he found on board, he presented a 
 hundred ducats for their expenses on landing at Rhodes, 
 and dismissed them after much courteous and honourable 
 treatment. Then taking out the cargo and distributing it 
 through his own ships, he sank the Genoese, which had 
 been too much injured during the action to be conveyed to 
 Italy. Arrived in the Adriatic, he placed his convoy in 
 safety at Parenzo, and passing on to Venice, received 
 orders to join the doge. After weathering a storm which 
 destroyed one of his squadron, he brought to Chiozza a 
 force which terminated all doubt respecting the issue of the 
 contest. Even if the Genoese could disengage themselves 
 from blockade, they would now be ehcountered, on the open 
 seas by superior numbers ; for the Venetians counted in 
 all no less than fifty-two galleys. The supplies poured in 
 were abundant, confidence had revived, and the very name 
 and presence of Carlo Zeno was as a tower of strength to 
 his countrymen. 
 
 The post which Zeno selected was that demanding 
 greatest activity : and though not yet recovered from his 
 wounds, he anchored off Brondolo on the evening of his 
 arrival. For the two succeeding days a heavy gale forced 
 the blockading squadron from its station, and the Genoese 
 advanced to attack their works ; yet by extreme exertion 
 Zeno, who at one time had been driven, by stress of wea- 
 ther, to the mouth of the port of Chiozza, returned with 
 three galleys to his original moorings, and forced the enemy 
 once more to retire. This success was not obtained with- 
 out considerable loss. One of his vessels was compelled 
 to surrender ; and on the evening of the thirteenth day, 
 the galley which himself commanded, unable to resist the 
 violence of the gale and the strength of the current, drifted 
 under the Genoese forts. The cries of the mariners strug- 
 gling with the tempest betrayed them to the sentinels, not- 
 withstanding the darkness ; and a heavy fire of cannon, 
 and of all other missiles belonging to earlier warfare, was 
 pointed in the supposed direction of the grounded vessel. 
 Its situation was most desperate ; but Zeno silenced every 
 proposal of surrender. At length, an expert swimmer, 
 taking a rope in his hand, threw himself into the wintry 
 
 J 
 
244 
 
 l^'l 
 
 ■ '( 
 
 
 fj ^ 
 
 GREAT DANGER OF CARIO 2EN0. 
 
 t 
 
 sea, in despite of the storm, and buffeted the waves till he 
 gained the main squadron at its anchorage. Zeno, mean- 
 time, lightened his vessel, by throwing overboard his guns 
 and ballast : she righted, and was slowly towed out of the 
 enemy's line ; but at the moment in which danger seemed 
 at an end, an arrow, shot at random, pierced the throat of 
 the commander. Anxious only for the safety of his men, 
 Zeno disregarded the wound, and continued unconcernedly 
 to give his orders ; but in hurrying along the deck, he 
 missed his footing in the darkness, and stumbling through 
 an open hatchway, fell to the bottom of the hold. The 
 sailors who raised him plucked the arrow from his neck, 
 and the gush of blood which instantly followed wellnigh 
 suffocated him. He was lying on his back and speechless ; 
 but still retaining entire self-possession, he made signs to 
 the bystanders to change his position, and turn him on his 
 face. This presence of mind saved him ; for the blood, 
 now obtaining a free vent, ceased to discharge itself inter- 
 nally. His wound, nevertheless, on first examination, was 
 pronounced mortal; and instant removal to land was 
 advised, as affording the sole, faint, desperate hope of reco- 
 very. Zeno, with unshaken firmness, refused to quit his 
 vessel. If he were to die, it should be, he said, on his post • 
 Providence would dispose of his life ; but he himself must 
 be the guardian of his honour. The vigour of his consti- 
 tution prevailed ; and in a few weeks he was restored to 
 the service of his country, although the surgeons, anxious, 
 perhaps, for the reputation of their prognostics, continued 
 to affirm that the deviation of a single hair's breadth from 
 the actual position of the wound must have rendered it fatal. 
 Pisani, meantime, during the absence of his distinguished 
 colleague, continued to press the blockade with undiminished 
 vigour ; and his batteries at Fossone were mounted with 
 artillery of the most stupendous caliber. In the infancy of 
 the art of gunnery, the size of the ball to be launched was 
 the chief object to which engineers addressed themselves • 
 and the uncertainty of aim, the infrequency of discharge,* 
 and the disproportionate expenditure of gunpowder were 
 disregarded, provided the mass hurled against the enemy 
 was of sufficiently gigantic dimensions. Of two mortars 
 employed by Pisani, one is said to have carried a marble 
 bullet weiffhing one hundred and forty pounds,-~the other 
 
 / 
 
 'I 
 
 .» 
 
 J} 
 
 SIR JOHN HAWKWOOD. 
 
 245 
 
 one of a hundred and ninety- five. They were loaded and 
 fired but once in each day ; and if they struck their mark 
 (a rare occurrence), the eflect produced was, as may be 
 imagined, most (destructive. Pietro Doria, happily perhaps 
 for his fame, perished by one of these random shots. He 
 was inspecting his works at Brondolo, when the 
 campanile of the town and a long line of rampart ' " 
 adjoining it were shattered by an enormous cannon-ball, 
 and the ruins overwhelmed both the Genoese commander 
 and his nephew. 
 
 Doria was succeeded by Napoleone Grimaldi, who, find- 
 ing that all chance of escape by the natural channels was 
 desperate, still thought to elude the vigilance of his enemy 
 by a bold expedient. While the Venetians watched the 
 mouths of the two ports, he hoped, by cutting a canal 
 across the island of Brondolo, between both the straits, to 
 penetrate the aggere ; perhaps, under cover of darkness, to 
 pass unobserved round the blockading squadron, and once 
 again to threaten Venice, wholly defenceless in the absence 
 of her fleet. Carrara had been able to reinforce him ; and 
 his garrison, notwithstanding its repeated losses, still 
 amounted to thirteen thousand men, partly occupying the 
 town, partly encamped on the island connected with it by 
 a bridge. The projected work was commenced at the back 
 of the convent of Brondolo ; but it was not long before the 
 Venetians perceived its object, and resolved to frustrate it 
 by measures equally daring. Their little army consisted 
 of eight thousand men ; and they had negotiated with Sir 
 John Hawkwood,* the well-known English condottiere^ 
 whose term of service with the Milanese, by whom he had 
 
 * Sir John Hawkwood was one of Edward Ill.'s most distinguished 
 generals, who, at tlie dose of the successful invasion of France by that 
 prince, organized a free company of English, known in contemporary 
 history, either as Lcs Tard-Vnws, or Alba Cnmitiva. A most inter- 
 esting account of this band may be found in Villani. Hawkwood's name 
 has undergone many amusing transformations. By Froissari he is some- 
 times called Hacnnde, at others, Harton. The Italians, from a false 
 report that his father was a tailor, called him Giovanni Augvto, Johan- 
 nes Acutus C.Tohn ^\\^T\t), or Giovanni delta 6'M;?Zea(Johnof iheNeedle), 
 and Villani effects a much more portentous change. " Vanni Agvto" 
 he says, "is called in English, Kauchnuvole. i.e. Falcone di Bosco, 
 because his mother, being in the pains of child-birth, and finding her 
 labour attended with diliiculty, caused herself to be carried into an 
 adjoining grove, and there brought him forth,"— an expedient not very 
 cloeely adapted either to the habits or the climate of England. 
 
 X2 
 
 
t 
 
 ''\ 
 
 s 
 
 If 
 
 ( 
 
 246 ATTACK OF THE ISLE OF BRONDOLO. 
 
 been first engaged, had now expired, for the assistance of 
 his bands, so that a powerful reinforcement under his 
 orders was daily expected. But a more lucrative employ- 
 ment, or the intrigues of Carrara, diverted the wandering 
 knight from his engagement ; and when he failed at the 
 stipulated rendezvous, the signory, yielding to the injme- 
 diate urgency of their situation, laid aside for the moment 
 their petty jealousy of native talent, and contrary to their 
 received state maxims, resolved to intrust their land forces to 
 the guidance of Carlo Zeno,whose singular vprsatility of pow- 
 ers qualified him, notwithstanding his great naval fame, in a 
 still higher degree for military operations. His wounds being 
 now healed, he hastened toVulfil his new duties with alac- 
 rity, and the first act of his command exhibited a splendid 
 instance of disinterestedness. The sordid mercenaries of 
 whom his troops chiefly consisted, grasping, avaricious, 
 discontented, and little under subordination, profited by the 
 importance of the crisis, and refused to undertake the fresh 
 service for which they were designed without the distribu- 
 tion of a largess. The military chest, exhausted by long 
 and repeated demands, could furnish no more than five 
 hundred ducats ; but Zeno doubled that sum from his pri- 
 vate resources, and for a season secured obedience. 
 
 In order effectually to counteract the meditated design of 
 the Genoese, it was necessary that they should be driven 
 from the Isle of Brondolo, and shut up within their walls 
 in Chiozza. A combined attack by sea and land was 
 accordingly arranged, and the town and convent of Bron- 
 dolo were to be assaulted at once from opposite quarters, 
 by the disembarkation of Pisani's mariners, as soon as he 
 perceived Zeno to be engaged. On the 19th of February, 
 before daybreak, Zeno crossed from Pelestrina and the 
 fort of Lova, with 6000 men, and proceeded, in the first 
 instance, to dislodge the troops in Little Chiozza, whom he 
 was unwilling to leave on his rear while he should be 
 employed at Brondolo. The post against which he first 
 directed himself was of considerable strength, though no 
 more than a bell-tower occupied by nineteen men ; yet this 
 little handful defended it so courageously, that four alone 
 remained alive after a protracted conflict wliich lasted during 
 five hours. 
 
 The Genoese, either supposing that the chief attack was 
 
 ( 
 
 DEFEAT OF THE GENOESE. 
 
 247 
 
 • '* 
 
 intended against Little Chiozza, or that the maintenance of 
 that post was of paramount importance, hastily summoned 
 the garrison of Brondolo to its defence; and in the mean 
 time prepared for a sortie with the entire force within the 
 walls of Chiozza itself. About 1500 men from Brondolo 
 fell, somewhat by surprise, upon the Venetian rear ; but 
 Zeno, changing his front with inconceivable rapidity, di- 
 rected his English* bands to charge and overthrow them ; 
 while, by a still more dexterous movement, he placed his 
 main body between the routed column and Brondolo, from 
 which it had advanced. One retreat alone was open, by 
 the bridge of Chiozza ; and thither the fugitives directed 
 their terrified steps, at the moment in which 8000 men were 
 pouring across it to deploy upon the field of battle. The 
 collision of these opposite torrents was destmctive to both, 
 as wave broke fiercely upon wave in contrary directions. 
 The panic of the discomfited body speedily communicated 
 itself to that which was advancing : the leading ranks 
 wavered ; those which followed pressed upon them from 
 behind ; their defeated comrades bore down yet more heavily 
 in front, and the dense mass was agitated to and fro, with- 
 out the power of effective advance or retreat. Ere long the 
 confusion, increased by the narrowness of the passage which 
 they were traversing, became utterly inextricable. Hun- 
 dreds were trampled under foot ; and to bring the calamity 
 to its height, the bridge gave way beneath the unusual 
 pressure, precipitating, together with its shattered arches, 
 many of the combatants into the channel below, and wholly 
 intercepting the flight of such as remained beyond the 
 chasm. Few in either of these fearful cases escaped 
 death. The heavy armour of such as had fallen into the 
 canal of Sta. Caterina whelmed them beneath the flood ; 
 
 * An English captain, Checco, (Cheke ?) is mentioned by Sanuto (70S) 
 as serving under Zeno. That hero's biographer, the Bishop of Belluno, 
 latinizes the name as if it were William Cook. Zeno is jnade to address 
 him in a long speech on the field of battle, just before this deciaiTe 
 charge; — Accitoque ad se Anglico ductore Guilielmo. quem cognomento 
 Coquum nvncvpabant svi, quod inttr primos ejus virtutem probitatem- 
 que expertus norat, &c. (240.) Again, in narrating the conspiracy of 
 Roberto di Recanati, the same English knight is mentioned with great 
 distinction. Gidliehnus Brittannid, quam Angliam dicimus. trahens 
 ariginan. Is perstrenv<B vxrtutis, celsique animivvr, et probata Jidri. 
 (260.) In the engagement dftscribed above, it is said, Primi Angli fior- 
 T0ndis sublatis voc^us, cursim in hostes irrumpunt. (242.) 
 
248 DISCONTENT OF THE VENETIAN TROOPS. 
 
 ajid the sword was little likely to spare those who still 
 clung to land. 
 
 The carnage was horrible: more than three thousand 
 men fell upon the spot ; and of the many who threw down 
 their arms, only six hundred received quarter. Chinazzo, 
 by a graphic touch, acquaints us with the abundant booty 
 left on the field. « Any one," he says, « who wished to 
 have a suit of armour for a ducat, might have bought as 
 many as he pleased." By this success the object of the 
 Venetians was completely gained ; for at niahtfall the few 
 troops remaining in Brondolo abandoned that post, and 
 taking to their boats, fled to Chiozza ; having first destroyed 
 the works of the convent, scuttled the gaUeys which thev 
 were unable to carry off, and then set them on fire. Two 
 of these were rescued from the flames by Pisani, and ten 
 were destroyed. But the terror of defeat ended not here ; 
 Chiozza Itself, the last hope of Genoa in the La^me, was 
 deserted by more than half its garrison. Before dawn, 
 ZF^ T^^^'"^'"^ .'''''' >^ ^«">d b« gained was 
 
 tives of Padua; and such was their anxiety for escape that 
 many, unable to procure boats and endeavourina to wade 
 across the marshes, were found in the morning" stiffened 
 with cold and frozen to death in the attempt. Ten more 
 galleys, which lay off the mills of Chiozza, were occupied 
 by Pisani without a blow ; for their crews as he approached 
 were panic-stricken, and leaping into the sea swam to the 
 neighbouring walls. 
 
 Splendid as was this success, its fruits were nearly 
 wrested from the gallant chief through whose skill and valour 
 It had been won, by the evil passions of some among his 
 thZtJ"' T^ symptoms of insubordination manifested 
 forX r '^ " """T V"' cordotHen loudly clamoured 
 for double pay ; and on the day succeeding their victory, 
 they threatened to withdraw altogether, unless their de' 
 
 person^ means, and he employed them in buying over the 
 chief officers to silence the importunity of their men Nor 
 was this his only difficulty : the jealous spirit of Just'inianT 
 
 ^v'en toP-''""''^'' \^' '''"'"^ *h^ s'uperior command 
 given to Pisani upon his release from prison ; but when his 
 
 own share of power was still further diminished by the 
 
 IMPATIENCE OF THE SENATORS. 
 
 249 
 
 appointment of Carlo Zeno, he lost all self-control, and openly 
 refused obedience to his orders, till, as a check upon these 
 growing divisions, it became necessary to detach him on a 
 remote service. 
 
 A third trial remained for Zeno. To his great energy 
 in the field he united a quality not always found in com- 
 pany with valour — consummate prudence. He plainly saw 
 that further risk of open battle was needless ; and that if 
 he could shut out supplies from Chiozza it must eventually 
 fall. For this purpose he contented himself with distributing 
 his troops in posts removed beyond the fire of the ramparts, 
 and framing lines of countervallation to protect himself from 
 surprise. These measures, however well adapted to his 
 great object, were viewed with an evil eye by a large por- 
 tion of the senators who accompanied the doge on this 
 expedition ; for, unused to the privations necessarily attend- 
 ant upon a naval campaign, and worn by the tedium and 
 the fatigues which they had already endured during two 
 months' confinement on shipboard, they hailed the late vic- 
 tory with delight, as affording them hopes of speedy restora- 
 tion to the capital and its luxurious repose. A few assaults, 
 as they imagined, would complete the reduction of Chiozza, 
 and terminate their share in a drama ill adapted to their 
 habits. What then was their chagrin and impatience, 
 when they observed the adoption of a system which threat- 
 ened an indefinite delay, and protracted to an uncertain 
 season their freedom from the shackles in which the rash 
 vow of Contarini had involved them! 
 
 Electing themselves into judges of military tactics, they 
 protested against the hazard and fluctuations of a blockade. 
 A thousand accidents, they said, might relieve Chiozza, if 
 time were granted for recovery from the terror of recent 
 defeat. Not to fellow up success was to fall into the very 
 error through which Doria had brought upon himself his 
 reverses. To lengthen the campaign was to entangle the 
 republic in expenses which, in her present exhaustion, she 
 could ill support ; and to linger till the ardour of troops, 
 flushed by victory became extinguished, was to trifle with, 
 and to run counter to fortune. Happily for his country, 
 the courage which animated Zeno was not less of a mora! 
 than of a physical character. Knowing that the course 
 which he was pursuing waa the best calculated to ensure 
 
250 
 
 DISTRESS OF CHIOZZA. 
 
 VAIN ATTEMPT TO RELIEVE IT. 
 
 251 
 
 success, he persisted in it, unmoved by these idle remon- 
 strances and reproaches ; and he shook aside, with deserved 
 contempt, the foul and false insinuation to which every act 
 of his life afforded a reply, that other qualities were needed 
 in a general besides circumspection. 
 
 In pursuance of his design, he strictly forbade any of 
 those personal rencounters which, during the inaction of a 
 blockade, were often permitted by the license of war in the 
 middle ages ; when frequently a champion would issue from 
 the lines, and in the hope of distinction, perhaps of booty, 
 would challenge one of the beleaguered garrison to single 
 combat. Many valuable soldiers were killed or disabled in 
 these unproductive contests ; and a force which it was im- 
 portant to preserve entire was thus wasted in detail. Zeno 
 determined to repress this irregular warfare ; and throwing 
 up a redoubt at a spot not far beyond his intrenchments, 
 and at the distance of a bowshot from Chiozza, he pro- 
 claimed that the loss of a foot should be the punishment 
 inflicted on any one who transgressed this limit without 
 permission ; and as this severe penalty was rigidly exacted, 
 but a few examples were sufficient to procure obedience. 
 
 It was not long before the effect of the blockade was 
 perceived ; for the garrison, straitened for provisions, and 
 already reduced to the most loathsome food,* adopted the 
 cruel but necessary expedient of excluding from their walls 
 every inhabitant incapable of bearing arms ; and the inter- 
 mediate space between the city and the camp was filled with 
 a helpless throng of aged persons, children, and women.f 
 To the honour of Venetian humanity, it was remembered 
 that these were fellow-countrymen ; and although bread at 
 the moment was selling at four times its usual price in 
 Venice, no hesitation was felt as to the reception of these 
 unhappy and deserted beings ; and they were shipped and 
 transported to the capital. 
 
 Many weeks, however, passed away, and notwithstand- 
 ing their privations, the garrison still continued to hold out. 
 It was known that a fleet, under Maruffo, a Genoese admiral 
 
 * MangioTido ratti, grand et ogni altra cosa immtmda.— Chinazzo, 
 762. ' 
 
 t Chinazzo says, h donne e iputti, and that the soldiers would wil- 
 lingly have followed, if the Genoese government had not threatened to 
 hang every individual who quitted the town, (762.) 
 
 of distinction, which had encountered Justiniani and sig- 
 nally defeated him at Manfredonia, was novr on its way to 
 the relief of Chiozza ; and in the course of April, in spite 
 of the vigilance of the besiegers, Gasparo Spinola, an oflScer 
 of great skill and courage, who had been despatched from 
 Genoa to assume the command, succeeded in throwing in 
 a large supplv from Padua, by the channels of the Brenta. 
 At length, on" the 6th of June, the squadron so much wished 
 for and so long expected by the besieged, hove in sight ; but 
 it was to afford only a brief and delusive hope. The same 
 barriers which the Venetians had framed in the ports of 
 Brondolo and Chiozza to shut in Doria now contributed 
 as effectually to shut out Maruffo. Each entrance was suc- 
 cessively reconnoitered by him, and abandoned as inacces- 
 sible ; while the wretched garrison, which still continued to 
 cherish hopes of relief, watched his approach from the ram- 
 parts with eager eyes, and burst into passionate lamenta- 
 tions on his retreat. The Venetian fleet remained at anchor 
 in perfect safety within the Lagune ; and protected by dams 
 and batteries in the straits, which it was not possible for the 
 enemy to force, declined the battle to which it was chal- 
 lenged, in spite of every provocation. The Genoese in 
 vain taunted the " Venetian hogs" {Veneziani porci) with 
 cowardice ; they continued immoveable. This term of re- 
 proach appears to have been unsparingly employed ; for we 
 read, that, on another occasion, when Pisani made a move- 
 ment which was falsely interpreted into preparation for 
 retreat, the sentinels on the walls of Chiozza shouted, 
 " the hogs are running away" (? porci scapano).* Once only 
 was a chance of action afforded, when the Genoese admiral 
 took up his position off Fossone, in order to intercept the 
 communications with Ferrara. A convoy was expected from 
 that city, and Pisani, to ensure its passage, bore out of the 
 port with twenty-five sail, apparently prepared for combat. 
 Having stood off to the open sea, he allured Maruffo into 
 pursuit ; and after sufficient time had been afforded for the 
 reception of the convoy, he baflBed his enemy by skilful 
 manoeuvring, and returned again to his anchorage un- 
 molested. 
 Before the arrival of Maruffo's fleet a proposition had 
 
 I * eataro, 864. 
 
252 
 
 SORTIE. 
 
 already been offered for surrender, and, on condition of net 
 bemg detained prisoners, the Genoese tendered the evac^f 
 tion of Chiozza. The reply was a stern negative ; and e^en 
 when the near approach of succour was iSiown, ContS 
 gave evident proof of the light regard which he attached^o 
 the presence of his new enemy, by issuing a prodamttio^ 
 requinng each individual in the garrison wh^o hoped f"^^^ 
 to quit Chiozza, and present himself on a fixed dav afthe 
 gates of the public prison in Venice. This insuFwal re! 
 ceived mdignantly ; and in lieu of submitting to drstrace 
 so intolerable the garrison resolved on one la^st, de perate 
 attempt to penetrate the Venetian lines, and cu thTwav 
 to the squadron of Maruffo. All their recrular craft had 
 been destroyed during the blockade ; but° havinT found 
 means of communicating their design to the aSl thev 
 hastily constructed a rude flotilla of boats and raffs from the 
 timber of houses demolished for the sake of that matTr Ll 
 and from various articles of wooden furniture.* One hTn- 
 June 15. ^Jred of these frail and shapeless floats, each pro- 
 
 and .f t>7^ ^^ "^''^ '1."/"^^' ^^^^i^^^ ^he whole garrison • 
 and at the moment of their embarkation, Maruffo appeared 
 off the barricades, and commenced a brisk attack upon^m 
 All chance of success depended upon surprise -bntfr: 
 signals between the city and the fleet hn/n.? ' i ^^ 
 t|ced; Pisani easily ^enitattC^^'^r—^Z 
 tivcly small force; and directina hJ* ohi^f "icompara- 
 the barks which ^ere. erossfnnhe Lt^. ff': '?"'* 
 
 lows and put to the sword the half-drowned wretches who 
 
 to terra Jirma, and eft the unimtpfni *."> c ^^ ^^"fed 
 to his lieutenant Thl A\ ""fateful task of capitulation 
 
 thar-o-r-J^^^^^^^ 
 
 Venice was known or suspected hv *>,« k • "^ /^^ °\ 
 
 thinking to profit by the ava^'atdts^dtZn ^f rh^ 
 
 MilHiiiiiiiiiilii^ 
 
 n 
 
 n 
 
 i^> 
 
 TREACHERY OF ROBERTO DI RECANATI. 253 
 
 condottierif they addressed their proposals, in the first in- 
 stance, to them, not either to Zeno or to Contarini. Before 
 their deputies approached the camp, all the prisoners taken 
 during the siege were freely released and dismissed, partly 
 in hope of conciliation, partly from inability to feed them ; 
 and well knowing that no ofter was likely to receive admis- 
 sion by the rapacious marauders to whom they now directed 
 themselves, if it implied the slightest diminution of booty, 
 the garrison tendered their arms, stores, and treasure, with 
 the possession of the town, to the free companies, provided 
 they would guaranty their personal freedom, and protection 
 from the Venetians. The insidious proposal was eagerly 
 received ; and but for the prompt and dexterous exertions 
 of Zeno, the fruits of her long toil might have been lost to 
 Venice at the very moment of their full ripeness. He repre- 
 sented to his troops that no gain could result to them by 
 the grant of such terms ; and that to accede to stipulations 
 made by those who were without power to resist, was gra- 
 tuitously to surrender a prize already within their grasp. 
 It was his intention, he said, to abandon the town to them 
 for plunder : all the mercenaries within it should fall to their 
 share as prisoners ; and the doge required nothing more 
 than the bare walls of Chiozza, and such Genoese, Paduans, 
 Dalmatians, and Greeks, as, being trained to the marine, 
 might be employed at the oar. 
 
 These arguments prevailed with the majority, and one 
 only of the leaders refused assent, Roberto di Recanati, who 
 appears to have been an officer of distinction, commanding 
 one hundred lances and four hundred infantry. Engaged 
 in secret communication with the enemy, and bribed by 
 them with a promise of forty thousand ducats to excite 
 cabals in the camp, he spread at one time a report that it 
 was Zeno's intention not to deliver up Chiozza to be pil- 
 laged ; at another, he revived a cry for double pay ; and in 
 the end, he did not hesitate to propose that his men should 
 desert the banners under which they were now engaged, 
 and embrace the cause of Genoa. Some few were base and 
 rash enough to listen to the suggestion : when Zeno, learn- 
 ing the agitation which prevailed, threw himself, sword in 
 hand, among the mutineers ; and now by promises, now by 
 threats, succeeded in calming the tumult. Order, however, 
 was not restored, until he had solemnly pledged himself to 
 
 Vol. I. — ^Y 
 
 1 
 
 25i4. 
 
 fiTTPUT Tri * TTrkX-e r\-tT r¥»Tr»-. 
 

 254 
 
 SUPPLICATIONS OF THE GARRISON*. 
 
 grant a month's additional pay as a gratuity, and to abandon 
 Chiozza to their rapnie for a period of three davs. Reca- 
 nati, thus far disappointed in his perfidious designs, sought 
 their achievement by a yet blacker crime, and undertook the 
 assassination of Zeno and his chief officers. The proofs 
 were manifest ; and Zeno, having submitted them, on the 
 following night, to a council of war, but a few hours before 
 the treachery was to have been executed, appealed to the 
 honour of his captains. With one voice they indignantly 
 disclaimed all participation in, all knowledge of the foul 
 conspiracy ; and eagerly demanded the instant punishment 
 of the traitor. Recanati was seized ; but his followers, 
 unacquainted with his guilt and deceived by his crafty repre- 
 sentations, surrounded the general's tent, and fiercely clam- 
 oured for the release of the prisoner. When Zeno pre- 
 sented himself before them, their blind fury was displayed 
 m acts of the most daring violence. Closina round, with 
 frightful outcries, they menaced him with immediate death ; 
 and a sword was raised by some unknown hand, which, but 
 for the good proof of his helmet, would have descended 
 fatally. The succour of his ofltlcers and of some battalions 
 which still preserved better discipline, rescued him from this 
 new peril ; and the mutiny was terminated bv the execution 
 of Its chief author, who was conveyed to Venice, where he 
 expiated his treason between the Red Columns. 
 
 The garrison, frustrated in this last criminal hope, no 
 longer dared to supplicate for more than their lives. They 
 pleaded that the international wars had hitherto been waged 
 without proceeding to the ferocity of extermination ; that 
 prisoners had been mutually ransomed or exchanged, and, 
 latterly, had been released by themselves without conditions : 
 that m their own recent capture of Chiozza, few acts of 
 violence^ had been perpetrated at all, and none by authority : 
 that If their defence had been obstinately protracted, it was, 
 nevertheless, such as the laws of war amply justified ; such 
 as, m a generous enemy, would excite applause rather than 
 condemnation. Finally, that now, vanquished, prostrate, 
 and unarmed, they threw themselves upon the clemency 
 of \ enice, trusting to prayers and tears for that immunity 
 which they had failed to gain by arms. The reply to their 
 petitions was ambiguous, and couched in terms httle calcu- 
 lated to inspire hope. Chains, they were told, were thcii 
 
 V 
 
 It 
 
 ■ ,* 
 
 n 
 
 I 
 
 SURRENDER OF CHIOZZA. 
 
 255 
 
 immediate portion ; concerning their life or death, the signory 
 would decide hereafter. That which they still had to do 
 must be done quickly ! Even under the slight chance of 
 mercy thus implied, surrender appeared preferable to the 
 certainty of perishing yet more slowly and more cruelly by 
 hunger, for bread had not passed their lips for many days. 
 The messengers returned silently and despondingly to the 
 walls ; a flag was raised on the summit of a lofly tower, as 
 a signal to Marullb, who, in obedience to it, bore ^^^^ ^ 
 to land ; when it was suddenly lowered, and the ad- 
 miral, understanding the intended announcement, retired to 
 Fossone. The gates were opened, the garrison surrendered 
 at discretion, and the besiegers rushed in to pillage a city, 
 which Venice, if she had retained the power, would have 
 saved from spoliation, as a peculiar of the Dogado. Nineteen 
 galleys and about four thousand three hundred prisoners 
 were the sad wreck of the gallant armament which had 
 occupied Chiozza for ten months, and had defended it for 
 seven. After the distribution of the spoil and the disband- 
 ment of the mercenaries, the doge with his triumphant 
 host re-entered Venice in the Bucentaur, on the 1st of 
 July;* leaving Chiozza under the administration of a 
 
 podesta. ^ i. i r 
 
 The war lingered on for nearly a year after the close ot 
 this memorable siege ; but during the remainder of its 
 course we shall look in vain for the adventurous and ro- 
 mantic character, the rapid and extraordinary fluctuations 
 which have heretofore m;irked its events. Pisani died on 
 shipboard, off the coast of Puglia, before its conclusion ; and 
 his remains, having been embalmed, were conveyed to 
 Venice, for interment in the church of St. Antonio. The 
 announcement of his death was received with universal 
 mouniinw ; for so beloved was this great captain, that each 
 citizen appeared to have lost in him a friend; and the 
 remembrance of his conciliating gentleness, his unblem- 
 ished integrity, his patience under injury, and his generous 
 forgetfulness of wrong, endeared him to the remembrance 
 of his countrymen, not less than his matchless bravery and 
 
 * Galeazzo Gataro (361). in opposition to every other authority, accuses 
 Contarini of perjury, and slates, that in violation of his solemn oath, he 
 letumed to Venice on the 21st of April. 
 
 DISTRESS OF CARLO ZENo's FLT.V.T. 
 
 nAXtjn 7.ENO RETURNS TO VENICE. 
 
256 
 
 DISTRESS OF CARLO ZENo's FLEET. 
 
 w 
 
 his unexampled senices, which had so largely contributed 
 to enhance their national glory. 
 
 The general voice proclaimed Zeno his successor ; and, 
 as If the^mantle of Pisani was to convey his fortunes as well 
 as his office to Its inheritor, scarcely was the new possessor 
 invested with it before upon him also fell the ingratitude 
 of his country. His station was fixed off Zara. That 
 city, recently and strongly fortified, and defended by a 
 numerous and well-appointed garrison, forbade all hope of 
 successful assault; and IVIaruflb, safe in its harbour and 
 under its guns, obstinately refused every provocation to 
 Dattle. Zeno s sole resource was to watch his immoveable 
 enemy, and by cruising round the port, at least to prevent 
 O^j his escape. Such a service, at all times vexatious, 
 was now rendered far more than usually so, by the late- 
 ness of the season, the consequent boisterousness of the 
 weather, and, above all, by deficiency of equipment. Zeno's 
 squadron, which had been hastily despatched on an especial 
 service, was inadequately provisioned for a tedious block- 
 ade ; winter had commenced early, and some rude storms 
 had shat ered and dispersed the convoys upon which Zeno 
 depended for revictualling his exhausted fleet ; bread was 
 wholly wantmg, and during fifteen days the mariners were 
 supported on scanty rations of salted meat— a food which 
 owing to the comparative shortness of medisval vovaaes' 
 had not yet become the staple provision of a sailor's taMe! 
 1 heir sufferings were so acute, that Uttle surprise could 
 be felt at the murmurs raised by the crews; yet it was not 
 till he became doubtful of their obedience that Zeno wrote 
 home, expressing the necessity of a recall. Venice herself 
 at the moment, was enduring almost equal privation, for the 
 rage of war or the deficiency of harvest had rendered 
 scarcity general through the north of Italy. Unable to fur- 
 nish supplies to the fleet abroad, and equally unable to sup- 
 port an increased population should it return home, the 
 fiignory did no more than order a change in the scene of 
 operations. Zeno was instructed to quit the blockade of 
 Zara, and to commence the siege of Marano, a town situated 
 m the marshes at the embouchure of the Tagliamento, and 
 lumishing a useful outpost against the territory of the Pa- 
 triarch of Aquileia. Few places were more difficult of access, 
 or more strongly protected by nature ; it was approached 
 
 / 
 
 CARLO ZENO RETURNS TO VENICE. 
 
 257 
 
 from the sea by a narrow channel, two leagues in length, 
 and nowhere of greater depth than would admit a vessel of 
 the lightest draught ; this single inlet was moreover dry at 
 low water. Zeno carefully reconnoitred the position ; and, 
 convinced of its impracticability, he generously determmed to 
 encounter the whole weight of the senate's wrath m his 
 own person, rather than to sacrifice the lives mtrusted to 
 him in an assault which he perceived must be hopeless ; 
 and accordingly he set sail for Venice. . , » i 
 
 The council' learned his arrival with astonishment and 
 indicrnation ; forbade his entrance within the La.gtine, on 
 pain'of death ; and deputed two of their body to command 
 him to await further orders on the coast of Dalmatia. Zeno 
 reminded them of the hazards of the season, and persisted 
 in his demand for admission to the harbour : yet they con- 
 sumed three days in angry deliberation ; and but or the 
 deep murmurs of the seamen, which found a ready echo 
 from the populace of the capital, they would have persevered 
 in refusal. At length Zeno obtained leave to enter ; and 
 scarcely had he gained his moorings, when, as if for the ex- 
 press confirmation of his foresight, a tempest so violent arose, 
 that had the fleet been still excluded, not a ship would have 
 escaped destruction . On landing, the admiral and his prin- 
 cipal officers were introduced to the hall of the council, 
 where his manly and forcible statements were answered by 
 insults, by reproaches, and even by threats. Zeno listened 
 for the most part in proud or temperate silence, and but once 
 offered a reply. When his greeting of welcome was^ taunt- 
 ingly answered by "You are welcome as you deserve, —"It 
 as°we deserve," he said, " then are we assuredly welcome. * 
 Not so one of his captains ; who, touched by the injustice 
 offered to his chief, boldly defended him. " If there be any 
 blame," he said, " it belongs to the government, which has 
 issued inconsiderate orders ; not to the wiser officer who has 
 demurred obeying them." The fury of the council at this 
 honest but unseasonable sally forgot all bounds ; the crimi- 
 nals, as they were termed, were ordered to withdraw ; a 
 vehement and tumultuous debate ensued ; and a majority 
 of voices pronounced for imprisonment. Already was this 
 ill-judged and inequitable vote more than suspected by the 
 
 * » Eos ita venire ut digni forentr " henp. pro/ecto yenimus si ut 
 dignisumusvcnimus.'^—Vita C. Zeni. apiwi Muraton. xix. 3M. 
 
 Y 2 
 
 aSait. ^toijfeaaiiitigfe iete^fel 
 
 258 
 
 FRESH ATTEMPT ON MARANO. 
 
 CESSION OF THE TREVISANO. 
 
 259 
 
258 
 
 FRESH ATTEMPT ON MARANO. 
 
 anxious throng assembled round the palace-gates, and signs 
 not to be mistaken announced the storm about to burst 
 upon the devoted council ; when Zeno, desirous to calm 
 the popular excitation, by showing that he was still free, re- 
 entered their hall of audience, unsummoned. Addressing 
 the counsellors, he expressed conviction that the presenci 
 of a stranger was unfitting during their deliberations, and 
 that he would therefore withdraw, and return whenever 
 they should send for him. The council, yet more enraged 
 at this frank exercise of private judgment, which they pro- 
 lessed to consider as a fresh act of disobedience, haughtily 
 commanded him to remain, and showed indications of 
 employing force if he refused. No longer able to control 
 his just impatience, he indignantly demanded whether they 
 wished that day should terminate the existence of the 
 republic. " I look through your benches," he exclaimed, 
 without being able to recognise a single individual among 
 you who has shed one drop of blood for his country. Tur^ 
 to these and to myself, on the other hand : We have fought • 
 We have conquered ; We have borne the heat and bufden 
 ot war. Our fortunes, our limbs, our lives have been de- 
 voted tor your protection : and in return for the countless 
 lorms of death which we have encountered, as a recom- 
 pense for our toils, wounds, and perils, we are now 
 menaced with chains and dungeons. Never, never let the 
 republic, saved hy our activity, be dishonoured by your 
 ingratitude ! Debate now, and decide according to your 
 pleasure !» VVith these words, in spite of the violent excla- 
 mations of the oligarchs, he quitted the assembly; crossed, 
 wnid the applauses of the thousands who filled the piazza, to 
 fet. Mark s; offered his devotions at one of the altars, and 
 retired to his own house. 
 
 The government had placed itself in a false position. 
 1 o punish Zeno, if it regarded its own existence, was mani- 
 festly impossible ; wholly to pass over his disobedience was 
 to surrender its authority ; and accordingly, as a means of 
 extrication trom this embarrassment, fresh orders for the siege 
 of Marano were issued ; but instead of the galleys hitherto 
 destined for the service, a flotilla of light boats was equipped 
 and launched. Zeno's opinion of the folly of the project still 
 remamed unchanged : nevertheless, having offered strong 
 remonstrances, which proved ineffectual, he did not hesitatl 
 
 f 
 
 r 
 
 CESSION OF THE TREVISANO. 
 
 259 
 
 to resume the command thus forced upon him. His boats 
 entered the canal of Marano with the tide, and the troops 
 were disembarked, and pressed a long and hazardous assault 
 upon the town. While animating them at the foot of the 
 ditch, Zeno was wounded by a stone discharged from the 
 walls, and fell senseless; yet on his recovery he again 
 placed himself at the head of a storming column. But the 
 tide by this time had retreated and borne with it his boats ; 
 the loss of the Venetians had been severe ; the patriarch 
 was advancing with fresh troops, and it was not without 
 great peril and difficulty that Zeno retreated through the 
 marshes, and regained his flotilla. The senate had ob- 
 tained his obedience, and, perhaps, it did not lament his 
 
 All parties were now fatigued with a war in which all 
 had been losers. On the continent, Treviso still held ^ ^^ 
 out for Venice; but it was blockaded by an oyer- jggj^ 
 powering force, and sorely distressed by famine. 
 Stores, men, and treasure were equally wanting in the 
 capital ; and the republic, conscious of her incapacity to 
 relieve or to retain her possessions in the March, wisely 
 resolved to profit to the utmost by their abandonment. The 
 bitter enmity which Carrara, the author of the present 
 contest, had exhibited, his ambitious temper, his crafty 
 policy, and the close vicinity of his hereditary dominions 
 rendered him the most dangerous power under which the 
 Trevisano ciuld pass; and in ceding this territory, the 
 object of so much pride during more than forty years' sway, 
 the signory felt that not only their shame but their loss also 
 would^ be more than doubled, if these contributed to the 
 aggrandizement of the Lord of Padua. The Duke of Aus- 
 tria was a prince of far greater power; and though to 
 invite him as :i neighbour to their very borders was a step 
 not unattended with danger, yet it was a danger in every 
 way far inferior to that which they anticipated from Car- 
 rara. The Austrian hereditary states were remote ; and 
 it was possible that Leopold, while he averted the progress 
 of their most inveterate foe, might never be able firmly to 
 establish his own sway in Italy. To him, therefore, in the 
 first instance, the cession of the Trevisano was offered ; 
 and when, having eagerly accepted the proposal, he 
 marched ten thousand men to take possession of *^' 
 
 C' 
 

 260 
 
 NOBLES OF THE WAR OF CHIOZZA. 
 
 his new territory, the Venetians despatched an embassy of 
 congratulation on his acquirement of a dominion virtually 
 wrested from themselves. We shall perceive that the wiles 
 of Carrara rendered this sovereignty but nominal, and even 
 in name but short-lived. The presence of an Austrian 
 force to dispute a territory which had almost become his 
 own by right of conquest could not but alarm him ; and 
 the secession of the King of Hungary from any active 
 share in the league which he had formed contributed to 
 awaken an anxious desire for peace. At this juncture, 
 Amadeus VI., Count of Savoy, jointly with the republic of 
 Florence, proposed a mediation between the contending 
 parties, and a congress was assembled at Turin. The 
 treaty was finally concluded on the 8th of August, on 
 the following basis : That each republic should retain its 
 conquests, excepting those within the Gulf of Venice, 
 which Genoa should restore : that each should renounce 
 its commerce at the mouth of the Don : that Tenedos should 
 be evacuated by the Venetians, and surrendered to the 
 occupation of the Duke of Savoy, who at the close of two 
 years should demolish its fortifications, before its ultimate 
 allotuient was decided ; each republic agreeing to place one 
 hundred thousand crowns in the hands of Florence, as a 
 security for the fulfilment of this condition : that Carrara 
 should restore to Venice Cavanzero and Moranzeno, and 
 raze all his newly constructed forts on the frontiers of the 
 Dogado : that he should receive in return the Castle of Cu- 
 rano, and be released from all demands of arrears conceived 
 to be owing before the war. The boundary line between 
 the Venetian and Paduan territories was to be regulated by 
 arbitrators appointed by the two mediating powers. 
 
 There remains only the pleasing task of recording the 
 honourable discharge of the promises which the Venetian 
 government had held out as encouragements to patriotism 
 during this memorable contest. Thirty families were en- 
 nobled ; and the list which is preserved to us of the names 
 and conditions of the persons elevated proves beyond 
 doubt the integrity of the electors. At the head is placed 
 Giacopo de' Cavalli, the Veronese, who had commanded 
 the army of the republic ; and among the others were found 
 the grand chancellor of Venice, two noble Candiotes, a 
 banker, five ordinary tradesmen, six who bore the simple 
 
 I 
 
 / 
 
 CONDITION OF THE TWO REPUBLICS. 261 
 
 style of citizens, one called a merchant, five to whose names 
 no title is appended, and eight artisans. No more illus- 
 trious source of nobility can be imagmed; and it is to be 
 wished that all the families thus funded had continued to 
 exist while the republic itself endured. But the Abbe 
 Lauffier, who was well acquainted with the society and the 
 internal constitution of Venice, and who wrote not quite 
 four centuries after the occurrence of the events which we 
 have been relating, tells us, that at that moment scarcely 
 seven, or at the utmost eight representatives survived ot 
 the nobles of the Genoese war,— I Nobili della Uuebba 
 Di Genoa. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 FROM A. D. 1382 to A. D. 1402. 
 
 Acauisition of the Trevisano by Carrara— Antonio della Scala— Early 
 Srv of Giovanni Galeaxzo Visconti-His Allmnce w.ih Venice 
 against Carrara- Abdication of Francesco Vecchio-Surrender of 
 pidua by Francesco Novelio-He is treacherously detained Prsoner 
 -Jealousy between Venice and Milan-Escape of Francesco Novello 
 -His romantic Adventures-He recovers P^dua-His rnagn.ficent 
 Entertainment at Venice-Death of Francesco Vecchio-Aflairs of 
 the E«st-Bajazel-New Crusade-Fatal Bauie of Nicopolis-Erec- 
 tioDof Milan into a Dutchy-Gonzaga of Mantua-Domeslic Events 
 in Venice- Visit of the Emperor Robert-Death of Giovanni Galeazio 
 Visconti. 
 
 A. D. 
 
 DOGES. 
 
 1382. Lxiii. 
 
 LXlV. 
 
 1400. Lxv. 
 
 Andrea Contarini. 
 
 MlCHAEl.E MOROSINI. 
 
 Antonio Veniero. 
 
 MlCHAELE StENO. 
 
 The close of the great struggle which we have been 
 relating left each of the combatants almost equally ex- 
 hausted ; both had suffered deeply under defeat ; neither 
 had been a permanent gainer by victory. The short occu- 
 pation of Chiozza had cost the Genoese a fleet and an 
 
 i 
 
262 
 
 MICHAELE MOROSINI. 
 
 arniy. The purchase of peace by the "Venetians, even after 
 their final success, was not attained at a less price than the 
 cession of Tenedos, and of the sole province which they 
 possessed on terra jirma. Nevertheless, from the moment 
 of the treaty of Turin, we shall perceive Genoa, though 
 her power was apparently increased by it, rapidly verging 
 to decline ; while Venice retrieved her losses, extended her 
 commerce, and maintained her independent sovereignty 
 unshaken. 
 
 Contarini, worn by age and the toils of a laborious cam- 
 paign, survived but a few months after the signature of 
 peace ; and when Carlo Zeno was proposed as his succes- 
 sor, the full spirit of Venetian policy manifested itself in 
 hiff rejection. It was not on account of his virtues, his 
 talents, or his glory that the republic wished to select her 
 prince. On the contrary, those qualities formed so many 
 barriers against the elevation of their possessor ; and if 
 Zeno had been less brave, less noble-minded, and less gene- 
 rous, he might, perhaps, have attained the unenviable dis- 
 tinction of the ducal bonnet. The choice of the electors 
 
 was directed to Michaele Morosini, a noble of illus- 
 Tq«9 trious birth, derived from a stock which, coeval with 
 
 the republic itself, had produced the conqueror of 
 Tyre, given a queen to Hungary, and more than one doge 
 to Venice. The brilliancy of this descent was tarnished in 
 the present chief representative of the family by the most 
 base and grovelling avarice : for at that moment in the 
 recent war at which all other Venetians were devoting their 
 whole fortunes to the ser\'ice of the state, Morosini sought 
 in the distresses of his country an opening for his own 
 private enrichment ; and employed his ducats, not in the 
 assistance of the national wants, but in speculating upon 
 houses which were brought to market at a price far beneath 
 their real value, and which, upon the return of peace, 
 ensured the purchaser a fourfold profit. " What matters 
 the fall of Venice to me, so as I fall not together with her !" 
 was his selfish and sordid reply to some one who expressed 
 surprise at the transaction. His reign was but of short 
 duration. The plague swept twenty thousand souls from 
 the Lagune, and among them perished Morosini, after he 
 had enjoyed the dogeship not more than four months. 
 Before the election of Antonio Veniero, Carrara had sue- 
 
 I 
 
 ALLIANCE WITH ANTONIO DELLA SCALA. 263 
 
 ceeded in his views upon the Trevisano, after employing 
 every artifice which the subtlety of an experienced diplo- 
 matist could suggest to delay its occupation by the troops 
 of Leopold. Whenever they presented themselves before 
 any town of the province, they were amused by promises 
 and protestations ; countless difi[iculties on points of form 
 were raised as to immediate surrender ; gold was lavished 
 on the Austrian commanders ; the Padurn garrisons were 
 strengthened; and in order to gain yet fuither time, nego- 
 tiations were sedulously opened with the duke. Leopold 
 was ill prepared to win by arms possession of the territory 
 which had been peaceably ceded to him ; for other cares, 
 nearer home, distracted his attention and his forces. His 
 treasury was exhausted ; and he gladly, therefore, listened 
 to the offer of 80,000 ducats made by Carrara, for a province 
 far from his hereditary states, and in which he felt little 
 hope of permanently establishing himself. 
 
 Venice was deeply mortified at this failure of a project 
 which had been considered a master-stroke of policy, and 
 another neighbouring power was no less displeased with 
 this extension of the dominions of Carrara. Antonio della 
 Scala, a bastard of the noble house whose name he bore, 
 had won his way to the throne of Verona by the assassina- 
 tion of his brother ; and he now viewed with a suspicious 
 eye the increasing ascendency of Padua. The murder of 
 his brother was not the only crime charged against him ; 
 for in order to exterminate a family which by its preten- 
 sions might endanger his throne, he had put to a death of 
 horrible torture the mistress and children of his first victim, 
 falsely imputing to them the unnatural deed of blood which 
 himself had committed. Carrara openly testified his abhor- 
 rence of this complicated wickedness ; and personal resent- 
 ment on that account, no less than ambition, stimulated 
 Delia Scala, to project the overthrow of the Lord of Padua. 
 The promise of a tempting subsidy secured his alliance 
 with Venice ; and he concluded a secret treaty^ by which, 
 in consideration of the receipt of 25,000 florins per month, 
 he agreed to employ his whole forces in the proposed war, 
 to strip Carrara of his dominions, and to permit the reoccu- 
 pation of the Trevisano by the Venetians. 
 
 The arms of Delia Scala were unsuccessful, and he was 
 twice signally defeated, with grievous loss, at Brentella and 
 
 < 
 
 t'A.*)fl-iji>j iV>>: 
 
 264 
 
 GIOVANNI GALEAZZO VISCONTI. 
 
 f 
 
 VTcnnVTT nBTAlNS LOMBARDY AND VERONA. 265 
 
Ill ] 
 
 264 
 
 GIOVANNI GALEAZZO VISCONTL 
 
 at Castegnaro.* Venice, during these transactions, had 
 supported him, not by troops but by subsidies. Yet, although 
 she forbore from appearing openly in the field, the mystery 
 of her alliance was soon penetrated by Carrara, who gained 
 by his bribes the assistance of an avvogadore and of a mem- 
 ber of the XL., and thus obtained full revelation of the 
 secrets of the great council. The discovery of this intrigue 
 justly consigned the traitors to the executioner ; and at the 
 same time compelled the Lord of Padua to strengthen him- 
 self against the expected vengeance of the republic. For 
 this purpose he looked around among the neighbouring 
 princes for an ally sufficiently powerful to ensure his safety ; 
 and from the superior advantages which one, more espe- 
 cially, appeared to offer, it was not probable that his choice 
 would loner remain undecided. 
 
 The new actor who now appeared upon the political 
 theatre not a little increased the intricacy of its drama ; 
 and though during the first scenes he espoused the interests 
 of Carrara, in the catastrophe he contributed mainly to the 
 events which prepared his fall. Towards the close of the 
 preceding century, the family of Visconti had established 
 itself in the sovereignty of Milan, which it had since main- 
 tained, at first, owing to the great qualities of those by whom 
 it was swayed, and latterly, by their dissimulation and fear- 
 lessness of crime. Giovanni Galeazzo Visconti, by a mar- 
 riage with a daughter of France, claimed the title of Comte 
 de Vertu, a small fief in Champagne ; and on the death of 
 his father in 1378, he succeeded to the government of a 
 moiety of Lombardy, and fixed his court at Pavia. His 
 uncle, Bemabo, with whom he shared the sceptre, resided 
 at Milan, and from an anxiety to increase the portions of 
 his children by the heritage of his nephew, he organized a 
 series of conspiracies against his person and power, which 
 Galeazzo by his wariness quietly frustrated, without be- 
 traying that he had discovered them. By an affectation of 
 devotion, Galeazzo succeeded in concealing from his uncle 
 both his resentment and his intentions of revenge : he ap- 
 peared in public attended by ecclesiastics ; a rosary was 
 
 * Galeazzo Gataro, apiid Muratori. xvii. 579. In the frequent use of 
 Gataro made in the remainder of this chapter a translation by Mr. David 
 Syme (Edinburgh, 1830) has been much employed. Our references are 
 to the original. 
 
 \ 
 
 t 
 
 » 
 
 w 
 
 \ , 
 
 bv 
 
 i 
 
 VISCONTI OBTAINS LOMBARDY AND VERONA. 265 
 
 never absent from his hands ; his days were employed in 
 pilgrimages, his nights in penance. The suspicions of 
 Bemabo, if indeed he ever entertained any, were lulled to 
 rest by this semblance of superstitious weakness ; and he 
 heard, without apprehension, that his nephew was approach- 
 ing Milan, on a visit to a chapel of the Virgin near the 
 Lago Maggiore, though his progress was accompanied by 
 an escort of more than customary numbers. Part, indeed, 
 of Galeazzo's policy had been to display cowardice as well 
 as superstition ; and under the pretext of dread of assassi- 
 nation, he had surrounded himself with a powerful body- 
 guard. With a train of two thousand horse, he now moved 
 on towards the capital of Lombardy, and Bernabo, with his 
 two eldest sons and a few attendants of state, rode out to 
 salute him, intimating, with a smile, to those who cautioned 
 him, that his nephew was too much of a saint to meditate 
 treachery. Scarcely, however, had the first greetings 
 passed, when Galeazzo made a sign to Giacopo dal Verme 
 and others of his confidential followers, who surrounded 
 Bernabo, seized the bridle of his mule, cut his sword from 
 his belt, and hurried him with his sons to prison. His 
 oppression had weaned from him the affection of his sub- 
 jects, and his allies regarded his fall with indifference : no 
 attempt, therefore, was made for his deliverance during a 
 captivity of seven months ; in the course of which the 
 strength of his constitution or of his antidotes resisted 
 frequent attempts which were made to despatch him by 
 poison, till, at length, m the close of 1385, he became its 
 victim. Galeazzo, having peaceably united both divisions 
 of Lombardy under his single rule, threw aside the mask of 
 religion which he had hitherto successfully worn, and aban- 
 doned himself to projects of ambition. 
 
 The troubled condition of the states which bordered upon 
 his own dominions afforded rich promise of gain to Vis- 
 conti ; and by fomenting the differences between Padua and 
 Verona, he reasonably hoped to make both of them his prey. 
 After the defeat of Delia Scala at Brentella, he had secretly 
 offered his alliance, at the same moment, to each of the con- 
 tending parties ; and although at the time each had avoided 
 the snare, nevertheless Carrara, now flushed by his second 
 victory, thought such succour alone was wanting to com- 
 plete the total subjugation of his enemy. A treaty was 
 
 Vol. L— Z 
 
 
 266 
 
 ALLUNCE AGAINST CARRARA. 
 
 I T 
 
 ABDICATION OF FRANCESCO tECCHIO. 267 
 
266 
 
 ALLIANCE AGAINST CARRARA. 
 
 lu > 
 
 accordingly concluded for the partition of Delia Scala*s 
 dominions, by which Gaieazzo was to retain Verona, and 
 
 Vicenza was to fall to Carrara. The conquest was 
 1387 ^^^^^^b" effected ; but Visconti, once in possession of 
 
 both cities, refused to transfer the stipulated portion 
 to his ally. 
 
 Delia Scala, ruined by these losses, found an asylum in 
 Venice, and in exchange for his principality, received the 
 empty honour of enrolment in her golden book. Visconti 
 was the sole gainer by his overthrow, which he considered 
 only as a prelude to yet more important successes. In 
 order to secure his ulterior objects, he entered into secret 
 negotiations with Venice, the object of which was the spolia- 
 tion of his Paduan ally ; and when Carrara implored the 
 aid of the signory to compel Visconti to the fulfilment of 
 the conditions of his treaty, he was answered by a cold 
 refusal, speedily succeeded by open hostilities. The repub- 
 lic, indeed, had little interest in the aggrandizement of 
 either of these dangerous neighbours, but, in her choice 
 of alliance, a connexion with Visconti appeared far the 
 most profitable of the two. His territories were sufficiently 
 remote from the Laffune to render them difficult of conquest 
 in case of war, while those of Carrara lay immediately at 
 hand, and from his comparative weakness seemed of easier 
 attainment. It was agreed that the Trevisano should revert 
 to Venice, and that certain forts on the borders of the La- 
 gune^ which disquieted her, should be destroyed ; in return 
 for which benefits she engaged to furnish a small contin- 
 gent. Visconti, upon whom it was manifest that the chief 
 military burden was to fall, sought more for the concurrence 
 of the republic in designs which she might otherwise impede, 
 than for her active co-operation, and he willingly provided 
 the requisite material. As a pledge of his fidelity, and an 
 assurance that he was not about to repeat towards Venice 
 a fraud similar to that which he had recently practised on 
 the Lord of Padua, he solicited that Carlo Zeno might be 
 allowed to enter his service, and he confided to him the 
 government of Milan. 
 
 It was in June, 1388, that the unfortunate Francesco 
 
 A. D. ^f <^c^io, surrounded by traitors in his cabinet, and 
 
 1388. ^^J^^^.*^^ '^y every foreign power to which he applied 
 
 for aid, summoned his council and laid before it the 
 
 hopelessness of his affairs. He was hei^med in, he said, 
 
 ABDICATION OF FRANCESCO VECCHIO. 267 
 
 between the arms of Lombardy and Venice. The Marquis 
 d'Este, the Lord of Mantua, and the city Udino had coa- 
 lesced with his yet mightier enemies. The Marquis of Fer- 
 rara refused a passage through his dominions to any suc- 
 cours which Bologna, Florence, or Rome might be prevailed 
 upon to send him. The emperor had been bought by Vis- 
 conti ; the Dukes of Austria and Bavaria demanded a larger 
 subsidy than his exhausted treasury could furnish ; and, 
 finally, discontent and disaffection pervaded every class of 
 his own subjects. This melancholy picture was by no 
 means overcharged, and long and tumultuous- debates suc- 
 ceeded its representation ; for scarcely a voice in the coun- 
 cil was unbribed by Visconti. Some clamoured for the 
 deposition of Francesco Vecchio, and an immediate sur- 
 render to Milan ; others proposed that he should be deUv- 
 ered up to the Venetians ; a third party, and it was sup- 
 ported by the populace, demanded his abdication, and the 
 appointment of his son in his stead. Nor were there want- 
 ing those who were sufficiently frontless to propose violent 
 measures to the young prince ; to urge him to throw his 
 aged father into prison, and to seize upon his authority. 
 Such a step, they assured him, would conciliate popularity 
 at home, and at the same time would satisfy both the Vene- 
 tians and Gaieazzo, who were chiefly animated by personal 
 enmity to his father. Francesco Novello, who, in trying 
 moments, appears never to have been wanting in generosity, 
 in affection, or in courage, indignantly spumed this unnatu- 
 ral proposal, and avowed that he would endure any ex- 
 tremity of fortune rather than fail in duty to his parent. 
 
 After two days passed in hot contentions among the 
 Paduan leaders, in feebleness and vacillation by the elder 
 Carrara, and in loud expressions of disgust and sedition by 
 the populace, who believed that they were about to be sold, 
 like cattle, to Venice or to Milan, the aged prince agreed 
 to the proposed abdication. The citizens were assembled, 
 and proceeded, according to ancient forms in the days of 
 Paduan freedom, to elect four anziani^ a gonfaloniere of 
 justice, and a syndic. Before this tribunal the reasons 
 which induced P^rancesco Vecchio to resign his authority 
 were explained, and his son was recommended as his most 
 fitting successor. The baton, the gonfalon, the book of 
 statutes, and other ensigns of power were deposited in the 
 
 \ 
 
 
 IM 
 
 ifiii 
 
 -aaffisa 
 
 FRANCESCO NOVELLO. 
 
268 
 
 FRANCESCO NOVELLO. 
 
 hands of the magistrates ; and the gmfalmiere^ having ad- 
 dressed a few laudatory words to the young prince, con- 
 firmed his investiture by the presentation of these insignia, 
 and, in the name of the whole people, proclaimed him Cap- 
 tain and Lord of Padua. On the following day, the 30th 
 of June, the abdicated prince retired to Treviso, of which 
 city he had retamed to himself the sovereignty. 
 
 On the morrow of his accession, Francesco Novello re- 
 ceived two trumpets of defiance from the allied camps. He 
 replied to Visconti by informing him of the recent revolu- 
 tion ; adding, that the defiance, therefore, could not be in- 
 tended for him, and respectfully commending himself to his 
 favour and protection. To Venice, he complained of the 
 infraction of an alliance of thirty years, and professed his 
 desire for peace with all men, especially with their republic. 
 But the change of masters in Padua had produced no change 
 of hostile sentiments in the coalition formed against her 
 independence. The signory, without deigning an answer, 
 commanded the envoy immediately to quit their city ; and 
 Visconti sarcastically expressed his opinion that the policy 
 of the Paduan lords would still remain unaltered, by the 
 application of one of those expressive proverbs in which 
 Italy abounds, " Sons of cats are fond of mice !" 
 
 Few events of interest marked the ensuing campaign. 
 The allies advanced under Giacomo dal Verme with unin- 
 terrupted success ; for treason was rife in the camp as well 
 as in the councils of their foe. Carrara was not wanting 
 to himself either in the field or in his capital ; but the per- 
 fidy of his troops rendered his own bravery unavailing, and 
 the disaflfection of his subjects, heightened by their suffer- 
 ings and their fears, was not to be conciliated by the lavish 
 sacrifices which he made in surrendering his private funds 
 for the payment of debts contracted by his father. By No- 
 vember all was lost ; Padua was closely beleaguered, the 
 surrounding country pillaged and laid waste. The murmurs 
 of the citizens were but a prelude to more open denuncia- 
 tions by the council, and Carrara was at length informed 
 that his opposition would be vain, his reclamation unheeded, 
 and that the city would be surrendered to Visconti. During 
 the brief communication with his family, he was consoled 
 and supported by the noble spirit of his lady. Madonna 
 Taddea, a daughter not unworthy of the illustrious house 
 
 m 
 
 \ 
 
 BOTH THE CARRARAS PRISONERS. 
 
 269 
 
 of Este, from which she sprang. " I think, my lord," said 
 this high-minded princess, when her opinion was asked, 
 " that it is a happier and a better thing to die free than to 
 live in bondage, and therefore I approve of your setting forth, 
 before these base counsellors can betray us !" These words, 
 in unison with his own feelings, confirmed him in adopting 
 the design which he had himself projected ; and having 
 ascertained from Giacomo dal Verme that he had full 
 authority to open a treaty, he surrendered to him the city 
 and castle of Padua. The conditions stipulated that Carrara, 
 with his whole family, and a retinue of two hundred persons, 
 should receive a safe-conduct lo visit Pavia, and to return 
 thence if he so pleased. There it was his hope to con- 
 clude peace with Visconti ; but if he failed, his capital, 
 which he now ceded, was to be restored. Dal Verme swore 
 on the sacrament to observe these terms inviolably. 
 
 As Carrara quitted his palace, the populace, instigated 
 by the council, rushed in and plundered it. At the city 
 gate he met Dal Verme, who, as an evil augury for his 
 fidelity, took military possession of the surrendered posts, 
 with more than six times the numbers which had been ar- 
 ranged by the treaty. As the fallen prince advanced on his 
 route, almost every town was in revolt ; and at Moncelise, 
 and at Este, he was received with insulting cries of Viva il 
 Conte di Virtu ! At Verona and at Brescia, on the other 
 hand, he was greeted with respect ; and in the former he 
 left his lady while he proceeded to Milan. There also he 
 was honourably entertained, find his suspicions were not 
 awakened till, by repeated excuses, Visconti deferred the 
 promised conference at Pavia, and at length denied the 
 Lady Taddea permission to rejoin her husband. " Now is 
 my safe-conduct broken indeed I" was Carrara's exclama- 
 tion, when he learned this bitter refusal. 
 
 Meantime, similar frauds had been practised to secure the 
 person of the elder Carrara at Treviso. He was invited to visit 
 Galeazzo at Pavia, and Francesco Novella was unwillingly 
 compelled to urge his adoption of this perilous step. A mes- 
 senger whom he secretly despatched to warn his father of his 
 danger, and of the compulsion under which himself had acted, 
 proved treacherous, and this circumstance combined with 
 the aged prince's defenceless situation to hurry him to his 
 ruin. The poor old man, as Gataro vividly describes the 
 
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 VENICE RECOVERS TREVISO. 
 
 melancholy scene,* sat with clasped hands, listening to the 
 haransjues of the envoys. When they were concluded, 
 he made a strong effort to clear his countenance, and stead- 
 fastly regarding them in his accustomed grave and dignified 
 manner, he repUed, that in so far as he could see, there was 
 no alternative. He then demanded a safe-conduct, and the 
 chief envoy, Spineta, swore to observe its conditions ; as, 
 we are told, he would have sworn to observe any others 
 which might have been proposed. Treviso received a Mi- 
 lanese garrison, and Carrara proceeded in mournful caval- 
 cade to Verona, where, on alighting from his carriage, he was 
 greeted by his daughter-in-law, Madonna Taddea, who threw 
 herself at his feet, and, weeping bitterly, embraced his knees. 
 The old man gently raised her ; first kissed the lady herself 
 with tears in his eyes, and then her children — a scene which 
 the spectators did not regard without deep emotion. When, 
 on the morrow, he spoke of prosecuting his journey to Pavia, 
 he was informed that he could not be permitted to depart till 
 the receipt of further orders from Visconti, and he then, for 
 the first time, became sensible of his captivity. He remained 
 at Verona till the commencement of the following year, 
 when he was transferred to Cremona, 
 
 The Trevisano was thus wrested from Carrara, but it was 
 not without some difficulty that it was recovered by Venice, 
 for the Milanese near its capital were much superior in force 
 to their allies ; and Visconti endeavoured to profit by this 
 numerical advantage. But the republic was strong in par- 
 tisans within the walls ; and when Dal Verme entered with 
 his troops and raised the standard of Milan on the citadel, 
 his ears were deafened with shouts of Viva San Marco ! His 
 threats of military punishment tended only to exasperate 
 the citizens ; they ran to arms, and barricaded the streets, 
 till the arrival of the Venetian contingent ; when the lofty 
 tone assumed by the provveditoriy joined with the decided 
 expression of popular feeling, induced the Milanese general 
 to desist from his faithless project, Treviso was not the 
 only acquisition which this war obtained for Venice ; since 
 yet earlier, in 1386, the quarrel with Carrara had been em- 
 ployed as a pretext for the recovery of Corfu, which had 
 been possessed and colonized by Venice nearly two centuries 
 before. 
 
 ♦ Andrea Gataro, 686 
 
 TREATY WITH FRANCESCO NOVELLO. 
 
 271 
 
 Notwithstanding these fruits of their alliance with Vis- 
 conti, it was not possible but that the Venetians must early 
 discover the disadvantages of that connexion. The two 
 houses of Delia Scala and of Carrara, sufficiently strong to 
 maintain independence if supported by the republic, were 
 otherwise too weak to inspire reasonable jealousy ; and 
 while Padua and Verona continued to form for her so many 
 outworks against the dangerous ambition of Galeazzo, her 
 superior force and wealth might always retain their signors 
 in virtual, if not in avowed vassalage. Yet she had per- 
 mitted herself, through a blind hope of immediate gain, to 
 abandon one of these neighbours to destruction, after hav- 
 ing stimulated him to war, and to assist more actively in 
 the sacrifice of the other, in order to promote the aggran- 
 dizement of Visconti, the most powerful, the most aspiring, 
 and the most perfidious of the Italian princes. The reve- 
 nues of Lombardy were rich and unembarrassed ; her mas- 
 ter retained a larger force in his pay than any other Euro- 
 pean monarch ; he swayed his hereditary dominions with 
 absolute despotism ; and great as was his power, it was far 
 exceeded by his ambition. Italy itself was the deep stake 
 for which he played ; and his vast means conspired with 
 his personal qualities to place the chances of the game much 
 in his favour. Singularly contrasting personal timidity with 
 moral hardihood — while he avoided the field, and not only se- 
 cluded himself in his palace, strongly fortified and garrisoned, 
 but employed unusual precautions to guard himself against 
 his very guards — he was instant in decision, firm in danger, 
 undiscouraged by failure. No remorse for crime, no respect 
 for fidelity interrupted his dark but certain policy : and 
 one by one he overthrew or he undermined every obstacle 
 which intervened between himself and his final goal. Such 
 was the neighbour whose standard Venice, with her own 
 hands, had assisted to plant on the coasts of the Adriatic 
 and the borders of the Lagune. 
 
 The attempt upon Treviso, and some undisguised avowals 
 which Visconti had felt himself sufficiently strong to utter, 
 contributed to open the eyes of the republic to the dangers 
 which had been created in great part by her own improvi- 
 dent avarice ; and the change of policy to which she was 
 led is remarkable even in this history of fickleness. She 
 entered into a treaty with Francesco Novello, whom she 
 
 1 
 
 / i! 
 
 i 
 
 HIS PROJECTS. 
 
272 
 
 / 
 
 HIS PROJECTS. 
 
 had recently dethroned, for the express purpose of his res- 
 toration. The tirst months of that prince's captivity at 
 Milan were passed m unavailing complaints, and useless 
 but natural remonstrances. To these a wiser course suc- 
 ceeded ; and by entering upon a ceaseless round of plea- 
 sure, he endeavoured to persuade Galeazzo that he had at 
 length become reconciled to his fortunes. The capital 
 re-echoed with festivity ; and the banquet, the bridal-feast, 
 and the tournament were always graced by the presence of 
 Carrara. Visconti, nevertheless, was far too wary to be 
 deceived ; and when this change of habits was reported to 
 him, he again employed a proverb, « Every animal may be 
 tamed except the fox." Francesco took one step further- 
 he appeared before the council, and there, solemnly resiani 
 mg all pretensions to Padua, he threw himself, wholly and 
 unconditionally, on the generosity and kindness of the 
 Comte de Vertu. Whether Galeazzo now believed in the 
 sincerity of his captive, or whether, as is more probable, 
 he was shamed into concession, cannot be decided ; but 
 he returned his hearty thanks, accepted the renunciation, 
 gave permission for the Lady Taddea to visit Milan, and pro- 
 vided ample funds for her journey. Though Carrara's 
 affections were engrossed by the renewal of that domestic 
 happiness which he so ardently cherished, he still pretended 
 a greater fondness for amusements than before, and ap- 
 peared to cultivate an intimacy the most confidential with 
 traieazzo. The count, on the other hand, sent him many 
 courteous messages ; and, according to the fashion of the 
 times, many rare delicacies for his table. He even pre- 
 tended that he had it in contemplation to make over to him 
 m perpetuity, the signory of Lodi. 
 
 Meantime, Francesco found means to establish communi- 
 cation with his father, with Padua, and with Venice. To 
 a conhdential agent of the first he explained two designs 
 which he meditated for the death of Galeazzo ; both of 
 them sufficiently evincing his undaunted bearing and care- 
 lessness of life. One was, to accost his enemy singly in the 
 streets of Pavia, and, when near enough, to run him 
 through the body. « It is true," he added, " that I can 
 scarcely escape being cut to pieces, but many of our family 
 will remain The tyrant's nephews, Aluise and Carlo 
 Visconti, who are now in his dungeons, will succeed to the 
 
 RETIRES TO CORTASONE. 
 
 273 
 
 throne, and by them my father and my children will be 
 requited for my good service. But this plan is dangerous, 
 and might fail." The second scheme was equally daring, 
 and far less rash. The man who resolves to sacrifice his 
 own life may, for the most part, command that of his 
 enemy ; yet such double murder, like all other mere vio- 
 lence, is but a coarse and clumsy instrument, requiring 
 strength rather than address for its management. Carrara, 
 in this instance, looked to safety as well as to revenge. 
 " The count," he said, " goes hunting on Tuesdays, in 
 great state. His servants and officers, with dogs, hawks, 
 and all the implements of chase, ride first, — next, the ladies 
 of the court, — next, the count, with one of the ladies of his 
 family on the crupper, or on a palfrey by his side, — next, 
 the gentlemen of the court, — and after these, and closing 
 the train, three hundred horsemen, of whom fifty are in 
 steel corslets. My own retainers amount to sixty, all 
 chosen men, completely armed and well mounted. Now, 
 as they are passing, and just as the count comes opposite 
 the inner gate of my house, we will charge them with 
 lances in rest, shouting ' Aluise and Carlo Visconti !' 
 The suddenness of this .shock must prove irresistible; the 
 count and those about him will be borne down ; the rest 
 will take to flight ; the partisans of Bemabo will rise and libe- 
 rate his sons, while I seize one of the gates and secure a 
 retreat for myself and my friends."* 
 
 Through the weakness of the follower to whom these 
 designs were confidentially imparted, and the treachery of 
 a fellow-courtier who artfully extracted them from him, 
 they were discovered to Galeazzo ; but he received the in- 
 telligence with cold thanks, and seemingly attached little 
 credit to it. Carrara, however, informed of the revelation, 
 deemed it prudent to accept a retirement which had been 
 previously oflTered him at Cortasone, and proceeded thither 
 on a liberal allowance. The castle which he now occu- 
 pied was almost in ruins, but the surrounding country was 
 agreeable and fruitful ; and the new inhabitant seemingly 
 devoted himself to agriculture and the chase. His first acts 
 were well calculated to win affection from the oppressed 
 vassals whom he found on the estate ; and who, being 
 
 * Andrea Gataro, 712. 
 
274 
 
 ESCAPE AND ADVENTURES 
 
 Guelphs, loudly testified their displeasure at being trans- 
 ferred to a Ghibelin. He promised that they should dis- 
 cover in him no difference of party ; he declared that he 
 did not come among them to interfere with any individual's 
 property ; and by a formal instrument he released them, 
 for a period of ten years, from all feodal burdens and im- 
 posts, except the provision of wood, labour, and carriages, 
 for the repairs of the castle. 
 
 Nor were they peasants only whom this frank demean- 
 our and open-handed bounty attached to his person, but 
 even the Governor of Asti cultivated his friendship, and, at 
 an early period, gave a signal proof of esteem, by informing 
 him of a design upon his life. Visconti, it seems, either 
 at length believing the reports which he had at first treated 
 lightly, or willing to disburden himself of an expensive, if 
 not a dangerous prisoner, had resolved upon his assassina- 
 tion ; and the governor acquainted him with this foul in- 
 tention. Cortasone was no longer a secure abode for Car- 
 rara, and although uncertain of an asylum elsewhere, he 
 resolved to quit it. No adventures of any individual which 
 we can call to mind excite more vivid interest, or are more 
 deeply tinctured with romance than those which Carrara 
 encountered in consequence of this determination ; and in 
 tracing them, we are obliged more than once to reassure 
 ourselves that we are engaged not on a fable of imagination, 
 but on an authentic and well-avouched history.*^ 
 
 Some Florentine merchants in Asti assisted him in nego- 
 tiating with the authorities of their capital ; and all things 
 being favourably arranged for his flight, he asked a guide 
 and an escort from the governor, in whom he reposed entire 
 confidence ; at the same time giving out that it was his in- 
 tention, in company with his lady, to satisfy a vow, by 
 a pilgrimage to the shrine of St. Antonio at Vienne. To 
 that town, accordingly, he hastened with the utmost speed, 
 and passed on through Avignon to Marseilles. Receiving 
 intelligence that the captain of that city was preparina to 
 arrest him, he embarked without delay, and saved hiinself 
 but by a moment ; for an attendant, who was mistaken for 
 him, was seized and thrown into prison. But the season 
 was unfavourable for a voyage ; the Lady Taddea was far 
 
 * The following details occupy a large portion of Gafaro's Chronicle, 
 to which, in this instance, our reference must be general. 
 
 OF FRANCESCO NOVELLO. 
 
 275 
 
 » 
 
 advanced in pregnancy ; and the violence of the equinoctial 
 gales exposed her to so great sufllering, that she earnestly 
 implored to pursue her journey by land. The aflfections of 
 Francesco could not resist this appeal, although he well 
 knew the additional peril to which consent exposed hun. 
 Disembarking, therefore, with only two attendaiTts, he or- 
 dered the master of the vessel to proceed slowly along the 
 coast ; and having hired an ass, on which the Lady Taddea 
 was placed, himself being on foot, they advanced for two 
 days through a difficult and intricate country chiefly occu* 
 pied by Ghibelins and dependants of Visconti. At Fre- 
 rezzo they again went on board, and after encountering a 
 heavy gale, passing Nice and Monaco, they arrived at 
 Torbio. Here, when preparing to repose themselves in the 
 town, they were informed that the chatelain was a creature 
 of the Comte de Vertu, and they were compelled to lodge 
 for the night in a ruined church on the beach. MTien they 
 arose in the morning, sleepless and harassed, the stormy 
 appearance of the sea forbade re-embarkation, and they 
 again commenced a long day's march to Ventimiglia. In 
 that town, their party, although small, excited attention 
 and curiosity ; and it was reported to the podesta, by the 
 busy suspicions of the peasants, that a man with four com- 
 panions two of them women, had arrived at the osleria 
 beyond the gate ; that one of the women, by her de- 
 meanour, was manifestly a personage of high station ; and 
 that, judging by those who surrounded her, there could be 
 little doubt it was a case of forcible abduction. The maais- 
 trate, deceived by these representations, despatched "an 
 officer, with ten soldiers, to bring the travellers before him. 
 Francesco, when they overtook him, fought his way to the 
 shore, and succeeded in getting his lady and her attendants 
 on shipboard ; but he himself, being last, was overpowered 
 and taken prisoner. The officer charged the captain of the 
 vessel not to sail, as he valued his life ; and demanded the 
 name of his prisoner. When informed that it was the late 
 Lord of Padua, he ordered his men to fall back and ground 
 their arms ; and advancing with an air of respect, proffered 
 obedience, and asked pardon; adding, that he was a 
 Guelph, and had once served the house of Padua. On re- 
 ceiving this assurance, Francesco requested that he might 
 be escorted to the castle, where the jpodestay having listened 
 
 H 
 
 / 
 
276 
 
 ADVENTURES OF 
 
 to his explanation, supplied him with provisions, and re- 
 conducted him to his ship. 
 
 A favourable wind bore the fugitives rapidly to the terri- 
 tory of the Marquis of Carreiro. Towards evening they 
 again landed with the same companions as before ; and 
 anxious to hasten through a district in which they were 
 beset by enemies, they travelled during the whole night on 
 foot. At break of day, exhausted by hunger and fatigue, 
 they procured some food from a neighbouring cottage ; and 
 while some shared this homely fare, the others kept guard 
 among the surrounding trees. While thus occupied, a 
 stranger approached, and inquiring for the Lord of Padua, 
 in the name of Donati, his chief friend at Florence, pro- 
 duced the countersigns with which Carrara had furnished 
 his agent, the halves of broken dice and of some coins bear- 
 ing his own impress. These corresponded with the tallies ; 
 and Carrara, satisfied of the good faith of the messenger, 
 accompanied him on board a vessel in waiting to convey 
 them to Genoa. On their passage, once again they en- 
 countered a storm ; and being driven into Savona, they 
 had landed, and were preparing for refreshment, when an 
 express from the doge warned them to hasten from the 
 coast, which swarmed with Galeazzo's emissaries. Without 
 food or repose, they hurried back to their ship ; and in the 
 morning, having entered Genoa in the disguise of German 
 pilgrims, they concealed themselves a while in a mean inn, 
 and then sailed from Capona to Moncione. Here, while 
 refreshing themselves, they were alarmed by the arrival of 
 a courier to prepare quarters for one of Galeazzo's officers, 
 who, with a troop of forty men, was on his route to Pisa. A 
 thicket afforded them shelter till this company had passed by ; 
 and Carrara then cheered the drooping spirits of his lady, 
 by assuring her that certain succour was at hand ; that he 
 had warned a friend at Pisa, deeply indebted to his house, 
 of his approach ; and that every moment horses might be 
 expected for their conveyance. Pietro Gambacorta, he 
 added, when himself in exile and distress, had found pro- 
 tection from Francesco Vecchio, and an asylum in Padua ; 
 whence, after a long abode, through the influence of the 
 same prince, he was enabled to return to his native city, 
 laden with wealth and honours. Scarcely were these words 
 uttered, when the hope which they had kindled in Taddea 
 
 FRANCESCO NOVELLO DA CARRARA. 
 
 277 
 
 was fatally extinguished by the return of the messenger 
 with excuses from Gambacorta; he dared not furnish 
 horses ; he dared not permit Carrara's entrance into Pisa ; 
 the bloodhounds of Visconti had been slipped, the cry was 
 up, and alreatly they were tracking the fugitives. 
 
 No token of impatience, not a breath of complaint escaped 
 Carrara — "God will restore us — we must struggle with 
 misfortune !" was his sole comment. He raised the lifeless 
 Taddea, who had been overpowered by the unexpected dis- 
 appointment, and entering Pisa with his Florentine guide, 
 regardless of all personal hazard, procured a horse and 
 some food, and returned with them to his lady. A wretched 
 stable in the worst inn without the walls of Casina gave 
 them refuge for the night; and Donati, who had joined 
 them, the Florentine, and the rest of the company sentineled 
 the door, while the signor and Taddea threw themselves on 
 some straw within. But in the dead of the night an un- 
 known person knocked loudly at the inn, and demanded 
 the Signor Francesco da Carrara. "I am he," replied 
 Donati, with noble promptitude, as yet ignorant of the 
 inquirer's object. It was a messenger from Gambacorta, 
 bringing an explanatory letter, horses, and a few neces- 
 saries for the road, and commending the travellers to the 
 strict attention of the host. In consequence of these in- 
 junctions, they were at length admitted within the house, 
 and for the first night since her departure from Asti, Taddea 
 enjoyed the almost forgotten luxury of a bed. On the 
 following day they arrived at Florence. 
 
 In the short interval, however, which had been occupied 
 by these painful adventures, the policy of the Tuscan 
 government had materially altered ; its diflerences with 
 Visconti had been adjusted, at least for a time, and Carrara, 
 instead of being received with open arms, as a prince un- 
 justly dethroned, and whose restoration was an object of 
 national care, found himself considered but as a private indi- 
 vidual, from whom a return of gratitude was expected for 
 the asylum granted to his necessity. Yet, as Florence 
 was far enough removed from his chief enemy to afford 
 reasonable assurance of safety, he collected in it the re- 
 mainder of his family and a large treasure in money and 
 jewels ; and he appears to have courted with assiduity and 
 success the friendship of the resident Venetian ambassador. 
 
 Vol. I. — A a 
 
 jfl-»taL-a 
 
278 EMBASSY TO THE DUKE OF BAVARIA. 
 
 So dark and intricate, indeed, were the changes of Italian 
 politics at the time of which we are treating, that it is far 
 from improbable that Venice, even at this* early period, 
 and during an avowed alliance with Galeazzo, arranged 
 with Carrara, soon after his arrival at Florence, the plans 
 which were afterward matured for the discomfiture of his 
 rival. 
 
 Far from being discouraged by the ill success of his hopes 
 in Tuscany, disappointment seems only to have whetted 
 more keenly the activity of the exiled prince. He applied 
 to the Bolognese, and was coldly refused ; and so low were 
 his fortunes supposed to have fallen, that at Cortona he was 
 invited to enter, as an adventurer, among Hawk wood's 
 condottieri. From this offer he excused himself, but he 
 thought it wise to engage his brother in the free service, 
 upon which connexion he might hereafter, perhaps, found 
 a useful claim. Coasting the Adriatic in disguise, amid 
 almost constant peril, he touched at Chiozza, was recog- 
 nised, and narrowly escaped capture, and but for a sudden 
 change of wind, must have been overtaken by the squadron 
 which gave chase. After employing many months in tra- 
 versmg Icaly, hopes of aid gleamed upon him both from 
 Florence and Bologna. It had become plain to each of 
 those governments, that Visconti was only temporizing, and 
 that his preparations were ultimately directed to war. Car- 
 rara, accordingly, was summoned back to Florence, and he 
 undertook the dangerous office of ambassador from that 
 republic to the Duke of Bavaria, in order to concert a leao-ue, 
 not only for the recovery of his own dominions but also for 
 common defence against Milan. In order to effect the pur- 
 poses of this mission, it was necessary that he should receive 
 from Venice a safe-conduct through the Trevisan marches ; 
 and it may be believed that a secret understanding existed 
 among these several states, from the guarantee given by 
 Bologna and Florence, that such an instrument should be 
 procured. Passing by sea from Leghorn to Provence, 
 Carrara then crossed Dauphiny and Savoy to Genoa, and 
 proceeded by Lausanne to Zurich. In that city, as he rode 
 into the courtyard of the inn at which he was to lodge, an agent 
 of Visconti bowed to him, and Carrara, with the presence 
 of mind which appears never to have failed him in any peril, 
 immediately sent for the master of the house, threw off his 
 
 INCONSTANCY OF FLORENCE. 
 
 279 
 
 
 ,i 
 
 disguise, avowed his name, and explained his danger. The 
 host expressed great emotion, and in token of his sincerity 
 produced a silver cup bearing the arms of Carrara, which 
 had been presented to him when in Italy by Francesco 
 Vecchio. He then pledged himself for the safety of his 
 illustrious guest, procured him armed guides, and person- 
 ally accompanying the escort, conducted him by daybreak 
 to Constance, where he crowned this act of fidelity by one 
 of equal disinterestedness, and refused all recompense for 
 the important services which he had performed. 
 
 The Duke of Bavaria, the brother-in-law of Bemabo 
 Visconti whom Galeazzo had murdered, listened eagerly to 
 Carrara's details of his own wrongs and of the crimes of the 
 usurper, applauded the great enterprise which he was medi- 
 tating, promised the most active co-operation, and agreed to 
 advance funds for the supply of twelve thousand men. But 
 the brilliant hopes thus excited were again dimrned by the 
 fickleness of Bologna and Florence. The spies of the 
 Count of Milan had obtained knowledge of the transactions 
 at Munich, and of the readiness of the two Italian govern- 
 ments to connect themselves with Bavaria. Alarmed at 
 this intelligence, Visconti lost not a moment in offering 
 such concessions as might secure the continuance of peace ; 
 and a league of alliance for ten years was concluded with 
 the two republics, some few hours before a messenger from 
 Carrara brought to Florence a draught of the counter-treaty 
 which he had been employed to negotiate. 
 
 For the first time, the fortitude of Carrara appears to 
 have bowed under this shock. When he received the intel- 
 liaencc, he fell, says Gataro, as from a blow. The affec- 
 tionate cares of his sister Catarina, and of her noble hus- 
 band Stefano, Count of Segna in Croatia, with whom he 
 was staying at Modrusa, consoled and revived him. His 
 kinsman promised to abide by him in every extremity, and 
 to bring into the field two thousand horse, while some 
 Hungarian friends would answer for three thousand more. 
 He represented, however, that it was above all imperatively 
 necessary to gain over the signory of Venice, without whose 
 o-ood-will success would be impossible ; and he added that 
 the King of Bosnia was indignant with Visconti, who had 
 treacherously suppUed his enemies the Turks with arms 
 and treasure, during a recent war ; and that it was far from 
 
 ♦ 
 
280 
 
 PROPHECY TO CARRARA. 
 
 improbable that an urgent representation might procure his 
 accession to the alliance. 
 
 Carrara undertook this fresh negotiation, and prepared 
 for the journey. Before its commencement, however, his 
 sister prevailed upon him to consult a woman in the neigh- 
 bourhood, of high reputation as a prophetess.* However 
 incredulous of this sibyl's pretensions to knowledge of 
 futurity, Francesco, partly from curiosity, partly from will- 
 ingness to gratify a request which Catarina's love had 
 prompted, consented to the experiment. The seer was 
 brought to Stefano's castle, where Carrara related to her 
 much of his past hfe (for her science, it appears, was entirely 
 prospective), imparted most confidentially all his designs 
 and wishes, and demanded information as to the events 
 about to come. The prophetess required time, took her 
 leave, and reappeared at the hour which she had appointed. 
 She then told him, as we are assured, many things concern- 
 ing his future course ; that he should re-enter Padua in June, 
 and recover its sovereignty ; and that his mission to Bosnia 
 was at an end, for that it would be necessary that he should 
 again treat with Bavaria. " You do not credit my words," 
 she continued, with solemnity, observing his contemptuous 
 smile of unbelief; "but I affirm to you that, at this moment 
 the Comte de Vertu has broken his faith with Bologna and 
 Florence, that war is in preparation, and that messengers 
 are now seeking you with this announcement. For your 
 father, concerning whom you ask, he will die in prison." 
 Happy was it that her fatal presages did not extend to 
 Carrara's own last moments, and that the remaining years 
 of his life escaped additional imbitterment from an anticipa- 
 tion of the bloody goal at which they were to terminate ! 
 On the morrow, as he was already on his route, he was 
 stopped by messengers from Florence, who, producing their 
 credentials, informed him that fresh disputes had arisen 
 between Visconti and their republic, that they were author- 
 ized to instruct him to renew the treaty with Bavaria, and 
 that ambassadors were already in Friuli, waiting to proceed 
 in due time to its ratification.! 
 
 Great as was the delight and astonishment of Carrara at 
 this most unexpected intelligence, the prediction of which 
 
 * Una sapientissima donna, Andrea Gataro, 763. 
 t Andrea Gataro, ut sup. 
 
 CARRARA SETS OUT FOR PADUA. 
 
 281 
 
 he had rejected as an idle dream, he still doubted how far 
 it might be prudent to rely on the ever-shifting policy of 
 his Italian allies. The messengers earnestly avouched the 
 fixed and serious intention of their governments, and 
 assured him that there was strong reason to hope for the 
 assistance even of Venice. This last suggestion prevailed, 
 and he no longer hesitated to undertake the proposed resump- 
 tion of his embassy. It was in all points successful, and he 
 found the Duke of Bavaria continuing firm to his original 
 promises. But the season was too far advanced to permit 
 military operations, and the winter accordingly was spent 
 in diplomacy. To Carrara it brought also profound domestic 
 sorrows, and no small diminution of hope. He mourned 
 the sudden death of his faithful kinsman. Count Stefano, 
 and of his aunt, Lieta da Carrara, the wife of a scarcely 
 less valued and powerful friend, the Count of Ottenburgh. 
 His brother, whom he had enrolled under Hawkwood, was 
 surprised and taken prisoner ; his father was transferred to 
 more close imprisonment at Monza ; and the Florentines, 
 notwithstanding their late professions, seemed anxiously 
 looking for reconciliation with Milan. These complicated 
 ills pressed heavily on his wounded spirit ; and worn down 
 by fatigue, anxiety, and disappointment, he passed many 
 weeks confined to the solitude of a sick couch, in a remote 
 and barbarous district. Spring and better tidings 
 restored both health and confidence. His brother ^onn 
 regained his liberty ; Florence and Bologna were 
 forced into an open declaration of war ; and Venice, more 
 than ever jealous of the growing power of Visconti, willingly 
 consented to obser\e a strict neutrality. 
 
 Impatient of the tyranny of Galeazzo, the Paduans were 
 well prepared to tender renewed allegiance to their former 
 lord ; and Carrara, without waiting for foreign succours, 
 resolved to attempt the recovery of his dominions by the 
 single aid of his yet faithful subjects. For this purpose he 
 set forward from the castle of Ottenburgh, in Carinthia, in 
 April, with a force not exceeding three hundred men-at- 
 arms and two hundred infantry. The Duke of Bavaria 
 wished him to delay his departure one month longer, when 
 he promised to accompany him ; but Carrara replied that 
 he would be in Padua before the duke began his march, and 
 have all things prepared for his reception. As he advanced, 
 
 Aa2 
 
 f f 
 ( 
 
 I 
 
 282 
 
 CARRARA RECOVERS PADUA. 
 
 h 
 
 T4TATTT iw T"Oivr'Tcr<n vrr</^TTTr» 
 
 OQO 
 
 n 
 
282 
 
 CARRARA RECOVERS PADUA. 
 
 numbers flocked to his standard ; his brother joined him 
 with a hundred and fifty chosen lances ; every town through 
 which he passed declared in his favour ; and he was met by 
 a deputation from the capital, which assured him that the 
 citizens would rise en masse, as soon as he appeared at 
 their gates. By the middle of June he encamped under the 
 walls, at the head of a strong regular force, and supported 
 by more than twelve thousand armed peasants. The 
 Milanese governors prepared for defence ; they received 
 Carrara's summons with disdain, thrust the pennant of the 
 herald who bore it into his trumpet as a mark of indignity, 
 and desired him to return to his lord and inform him that 
 he was a fool who, having been thrown out of the window, 
 expected to come in again by the door. 
 
 A brilliant coup de main by night placed the city in Car- 
 rara's hands. At the head of twelve chosen men, the signor 
 himself was the first to ford the Brenta and mount the 
 ramparts ; and at daybreak the citadel only, to which they 
 had retired, was left to the Milanese. Little blood had been 
 shed in this conquest ; and even in the few houses of his 
 leading enemies which it was deemed politic to abandon to 
 military pillage, the humanity of Carrara procured respect 
 for the female apartments. In the first moments of victory, 
 he repaired to the church of St. Antonio, and remaining on 
 his knees, in full armour, during the celebration of mass, 
 he arose at its conclusion, and taking off his richly embroi- 
 dered surcoat, laid it on the altar, as a votive offering to his 
 patron and protector. 
 
 Galeazzo, though superior both in the number and quality 
 of his troops, had spread them over far too extended a line 
 to be able to concentrate a sufficient force for the defence or 
 the recovery of Padua. Beyond a few affairs of posts and 
 some petty skirmishes, nothing was effected by him during 
 the succeeding campaign; and each fortress and town 
 within Carrara's ancient territory yielded in succession to 
 its former lord. Venice outstepped her declared neu- 
 trality, gave reception to the ambassadors who announced 
 Francesco's victories, and granting to them the stores and 
 troops which they were instructed to request, furnished 
 large supplies of artillery from the arsenal, and placed four 
 hundred crossbowmen at their disposal. Now, too, large 
 reinforcements from Bavaria, headed by their duke, had 
 
 i 
 
 I? 
 
 DEATH OF FRANCESCO VECCHIO. 
 
 283 
 
 reached the walls of Padua, others followed from Florence, 
 and before the close of August the citadel, the last hold of 
 Visconti, had surrendered, and Francesco da Carrara was 
 firmly re-established on the throne of his fathers. 
 
 The mediation of Venice termhiated a petty war in 
 which Francesco engaged, soon after his restoration, 
 with Alberto of Ferrara ; and at the close of two ,^1' ^* 
 years, peace was ratified with the Comte de Vertu. 
 In the spring of 1392, Francesco, determining to return 
 thanks in person for the important aid he had received from 
 the signory, set out for Venice ; and on his arrival at Fusina, 
 he was met by the Bucentaur, and escorted to the capital by 
 the gondolas of more than two hundred nobles. The doge 
 awaited his landing on the jtiazzctta, where Carrara, leading 
 his eldest son by the hand, threw himself on his knees at 
 the feet of the Venetian prince, expressed his deep gratitude 
 for the favours which had been bestowed upon him, and 
 his ardent hope that all former causes of animosity were 
 now forgotten for ever. He entreated the signory to receive 
 him and all his house as their children, even as he, from his 
 very heart, now offered them all that love and duty which a 
 son owes to his father ! Veniero raised and embraced him 
 with affection, conducted him to the ducal palace, and de- 
 livered an answer from the throne in full conformity to his 
 wishes. After a few days spent in honourable entertain- 
 ment and festivity, Carrara returned to Padua, and then, 
 for the first time since his restoration, he appears to have 
 felt suflScient confidence in his stability to desire the pres- 
 ence of Taddea. He was attached to her with a tenderness 
 and devotion which excluded all selfish feeling, and which 
 induced him to consent to the pain of long separation when 
 union was not compatible with her security. 
 
 Although reconciled to Visconti, Carrara had not yet 
 obtained the release of his father, and in his person the pre- 
 dictions of the Croatian sibyl were again to be verified. In 
 spite, or in consequence, of the attendance of five physicians 
 employed by the Comte de Vertu, notwithstanding the skill 
 which they manifested, and the magical liquors 
 {solenni liquori) which they prescribed, Francesco ^'^' 
 Vecchio terminated his long course of unhappiness 
 about three years after his son's restoration. If posthumous 
 honours were able to compensate a whole life of restless- 
 
 l! 
 
 ■IV-.S 
 
 284 
 
 LEAGUE AGAINST THE TURKS. 
 
 i 
 
 n 
 
 BAIWrTT /M? XTTrirtTlrtT TO 
 
 OOR 
 
284 
 
 LEAGUE AGAINST THE TURKS. 
 
 /I 
 
 ness and suffering, the spirit of the departed signor miffht 
 have been gratified by the magnificence of his obsequies 
 The body lay in state at Milan, habited in cloth of gold' 
 and girt with a sword ; golden spurs were buckled on the 
 foet, and jewelled nngs glittered on the fingers. It was after- 
 ward conveyed with no less ceremony to Padua, and interred 
 there with a splendour of pageantry which Gataro appears 
 to have contemplated and recorded with unusual delight 
 
 For a few years, the reign of Francesco Novello was 
 comparatively tranquil ; and we turn for a short time from 
 his romantic story in order to resume it hereafter with vet 
 deeper interest than before. The attention of Venice was 
 now forcible attracted to the East, where the feeble reign of 
 John Palffiologus had been succeeded by one yet more 
 feeble, the sceptre of Constantinople having passed to his 
 son Manuel. Bajazet, the fourth Ottoman sultan, had 
 rendered both princes his tributaries, stripped them of almost 
 all their territory without the capital, and ultimately, in the 
 reign of Manuel, laid siege to Constantinople itself. The 
 affrighted emperor bought off immediate destruction by the 
 payment of ten thousand florins, the cession of a quarter 
 of his metropolis, and the grant of a mosque for the worship 
 of the prophet. But the appetite of the Turkish despot, 
 only whetted to greater keenness by the taste of spoil 
 urged him to violate this treaty, and to threaten new and 
 tar greater exactions. His progress alarmed those Christian 
 powers whose interests were connected with the East ; and 
 fc>igismond of Hungary, the Genoese, and the Venetians 
 tormed an alliance, not so much for the assistance of 
 PalsBologus as for the defence of their own territorial or 
 commercial nghts. Venice, earnestly desirous to add 
 strength to this league, cast her eyes upon both England 
 and !• ranee, the two kingdoms from which she hoped to 
 A. D. ^'■^'^ "^f ^ effectual support ; and Cario Zeno, having 
 1396. ^^^" selected as her ambassador to those powers, 
 employed nine months in his important mission. 
 1 he court of Pans was struck with astonishment when the 
 accomplished envoy, having first addressed the king in Latin, 
 repeated the substance of his speech in correct French, a 
 language in which he was practised, from having spent his 
 youth at Avignon.* But Charies VI. had littll ability to 
 * Vita Car. Zeni, ap. Murat. xix. p. 316. 
 
 I 
 
 F 
 
 BATTLE OF NICOPOLIS. 
 
 285 
 
 undertake distant expeditions ; and he contented himself, as 
 sovereign of Genoa, which had submitted to his protection, 
 by ordering the equipment of a fleet from her ports. The 
 distractions in England were yet greater than in France, 
 and the realm, harassed by the cabals of the nobles, and 
 weakened by the indolence, the profusion, and the voluptu- 
 ousness of the second Richard, was on the eve of a domestic 
 revolution. The tongue of our remote island did not at 
 that time form a part of Cisalpine study, and Zeno trans- 
 acted his diplomacy in Latin ; but we are assured that he 
 gained his object, and was highly favoured by the king. 
 Notwithstanding his success, scarcely ten thousand men 
 could be raised in France for this crusade. They were 
 marshalled under the command of John, Count of Nevers, 
 son of Philip the Hardy, Duke of Burgundy; and they 
 embarked with ill-judged and presumptuous confidence, 
 more as if about to swell the pomp of a pageant or a spec- 
 tacle, than to encounter a difficult and hazardous warfare. 
 But their ranks, although scanty, were supplied with the 
 flower of the French chivalry : among them were four 
 cousins of the king, and the constable, marshal, and admiral 
 of France. A thousand knights of noble blood were at- 
 tended by numerous youthful valets; and a train of facile 
 beauties, for whom the camp presented less of terror than of 
 attraction, shared the peril and rewarded the fondness of 
 those lovers to whom choice or chance had attached them. 
 The combined fleet, amounting to forty-four sail, swept the 
 Archipelago and the Sea of Marmora without encountering 
 a foe, and took its station, under the command of the Vene- 
 tian admiral Tomaso Moncenigo, at the mouth of the 
 Danube. Here it was able to communicate with the host 
 of Sigismond, who, with one hundred thousand men, of 
 whom sixty thousand were cavalry, awaited the arrival of 
 the allies on the plains of Buda. It belongs not to our 
 present narrative to detail the unfortunate events of this 
 most disastrous campaign, in which the only portion allotted 
 to Venice by the chance of war was that of saving the 
 wreck of her defeated confederates. In spite of the prudent 
 cautions of Sigismond, the rashness and inexperi- 
 ence of the French hurried on the fatal battle of ^^P^-^- 
 JVicopolis ; and the Venetian fleet learned the total destruc- 
 tion of their allies and the slaughter of the entire French 
 
 ! S 
 
 Nl 
 
 286 
 
 MILAM ■R'RTPTT'n T-WTrt a TkYTrr-r^TTiT 
 
 ■^ 
 
 r^ rutjrw k rt It /-vr" mr i »TrnTT a 
 
 na^ 
 
286 
 
 MILAN ERECTED INTO A DUTCHY. 
 
 host, with the exception of its captured princes, by the 
 arrival of a bark conveying the King of Hungary and no 
 more than seven of his retinue, fugitives from the lost 
 field.* 
 
 While Venice had been thus unsuccessfully engaged in 
 the East, Galeazzo was steadily prosecuting his schemes of 
 aggrandizement in Italy. The avarice of the emperor 
 Wenceslaus had fixed a hundred thousand florins as the 
 price at which he would permit the erection of Milan into a 
 Sepf 13 ^"^c^anJ an imperial fief: and Galeazzo, having fiil- 
 1395.' ^"^^ ^^^ stipulated conditions, celebrated his corona- 
 tion with unprecedented magnificence. If we believe 
 the chroniclers, more ambassadors than any world save that 
 of romance produces, honoured the proud* ceremonial with 
 their presence. Besides the representatives of all the Chris- 
 tian powers, there were to be seen those of the Grand Turk 
 of the King of the Tartars, of the Great Soldan, of Tamerlane! 
 of many other heathen princes, and even of Prester John. 
 All these were lodged and entertained at the expense of 
 Milan ; but in return, they had brought with them presents 
 of jewels, estimated at upwards of a million of gold. The 
 two elder sons of Carrara repaired to the new duke's court, 
 and they were received by the wily prince with such dis- 
 tmction as might have marked him the hereditary friend 
 rather than the determined foe of their house. He ad- 
 vanced on foot a bowshot to meet them ; he embraced and 
 kissed them on the forehead, and taking a hand of each he 
 walked between them to the palace, where, with a profuse 
 magnificence unknown to later times, lodgings were assigned 
 
 i«*-^^°'^^^" distinctly ascribes the disasters of the Christian host 
 in a great measure, to the treachery of Visconti, who comniuiiicated 
 their plans to Bajazet (Lamorabaquy). He introduces the Turk ex- 
 press.ng Ins joy that the Hungarians had crossed the Danube: "Of 
 all this I hadrie knowledge four months paste by my greate friende 
 he Lorde of Myllayne, who sent me goshawkes, gerfalcons, and faucons 
 to the nonribre of twelve, whiche were the best and fayresi that ever I 
 
 llZtJ .Zt ^J^'l P'v.^^''"^ ^^ ''''*"^'' '° "'^ ^y "^"'e alle the heedes and 
 chiefe captains of the barones of France, suche as shulde come to make 
 me warre; m the which letters was also conteyned, that if 1 myght get 
 them in my daunger, they shulde be wort he to me a mvllyon of 
 noreynes ; and also howe there shulde be in company of the Ivmvtees of 
 
 fh'?nfl"'°r\l^n" ^^^'^ ^""^""^^ kniffhtes, valyant men of armes; also 
 the Duke ol Mylayne wrote, that surely tliey wyll gyve me batayle." 
 
 ^Tvllf "'"■";• "•.^^^' %^- ^^^^' ^'^- Froissart, in the same chap er. 
 gives many particulars of the history of the family of Visconti. 
 
 / 
 
 GONZAGA OF MANTUA. 
 
 287 
 
 for the entertainment of themselves and of their train of 
 
 five hundred horse. When the imperial ministers had 
 
 placed upon his head the ducal bonnet, gorgeously studded 
 
 with jew^els of inappreciable value, he took it from his brow 
 
 and presented it to the young princes, at the same time 
 
 remitting an annual tribute of seven thousand ducats, to 
 
 which Padua was bound by the late peace. " This," he 
 
 courteously added, " is but a small gift for yourselves. If 
 
 your sire had been here, we would have shown him how 
 
 deeply we honour his worth, how earnestly we desire to 
 
 call him brother and friend !" The succeeding festivities 
 
 continued during twenty days ; and but a few months after 
 
 their celebration, the Duke of Milan once again took the 
 
 field against this valued friend and brother ! 
 
 The territories of Mantua had long presented an alluring 
 prize to the ambition of Visconti ; and the tie of kinsman- 
 ship by which he was bound to their captain, Francesco di 
 Gonzaga, vvho had married his cousin and sister-in-law, 
 were httle likely to restrain him from spoliation whenever 
 opportunity might oflTer. Yet so strict at one time had 
 been the connexion between these princes, that Gonzao-a 
 was employed in escorting to France, in 1389, a daughter 
 of Visconti betrothed to Louis, Duke of Orleans ; and the 
 Duke of Milan expressed his gratitude by a request, than 
 which none during the middle ages was considered as 
 more expressive of affection and of a wish to confer honour 
 — that his friend would quarter the armorial bearings of 
 the Visconti with his own. ^ The remainder of their do- 
 mestic history forms a tragedy replete with horror, and in- 
 volving the most fiendish atrocity on the part of Galeazzo. 
 Agnes, the consort of Gonzaga, to whom she had borne 
 four children, was a daughter of Bernabo Visconti, and 
 stood, therefore, to Galeazzo in the double relation which 
 we have just noticed ; but the tyrant, dreading her remem- 
 brance of the murder of her father and the spoliation of 
 her brothers by his hand, and anxious to remove the influ- 
 ence which she might be supposed to possess over her hus- 
 band's mind, resolved upon her destruction. To compass 
 this foul end, he employed agents who poisoned the ear of 
 Gonzaga with suspicions of his wife's fidelity, and who 
 
 ♦ Equicola Commentari Mantouani, lib. ii. p. 111. 
 
 1 
 
 [ 
 
288 
 
 WAR BETWEEN MILAN AND MANTUA. 
 
 whispered that, in conjunction with Visconti, she had 
 planned his assassination. Letters in the handwriting of 
 the Comte de Vertu, concealed for the purpose in her apart- 
 ment, and confessions wrung by torture from her secretary, 
 who, from a vain hope of mercy avowed whatever was re- 
 quired, were adduced in confirmation of her guilt ; and the 
 intrigue succeeding but too well, the miserable and deluded 
 husband issued orders for her execution. But a short time, 
 however, elapsed before the innocence of the murdered 
 princess was established on proofs not admitting doubt ; 
 and Gonzaga, stung with remorse for the perpetration of 
 the great crime into which he had been betrayed, was 
 doomed also to defend himself against accusations of cruelty, 
 injustice, and blood-guiltiness which Galeazzo unblushingly 
 preferred against him in every court of Italy.* The seeds 
 of war between these princes were, therefore, profusely 
 sown. Yet, although the horrible iniquity which we have 
 just related occurred in 1391, it was not until five years 
 afterward that hostilities were openly declared, and even 
 then Galeazzo was the aggressor. f In the spring of 1397, 
 Giacopo dal Verme invested Mantua with twenty thousand 
 horse and fifteen thousand foot. The attempt was not un- 
 expected, and the combined forces of Florence, of Padua, 
 and of the Marquis of Ferrara signally defeated the Mi- 
 lanese captain at Governolo, with the loss of ten thousand 
 men. 
 
 This severe and unlooked-for check inclined Galeazzo to 
 
 Auff 28 ^^**^" ^® negotiation. The Venetians, who had not 
 
 declared themselves, but who secretly favoured and 
 
 assisted the alliance,! were chosen as mediators. But the 
 
 difficulties arising from their own oblique and temporizing 
 
 * Platina, Hist. Mantuana, iii. ap. Murat. xx. 756. 
 
 t Scip. Anjmirato, 1st. Florentina ad ami. 1391, lib. xv. vol. iii. p. 
 813. Sozomenus Pistoriensis (ap. Murat. xvi. 1143). A strange asser- 
 tion is made by Johannes de Mui^sis in the Chronicon Placentinum (ap. 
 Murat. xvi. 553), that Gonzaga put his princess to death solely to insult 
 Visconti, m dedecus dicti Domini Comitis Virtutvm et non propter olinm 
 causam. This accusation of gratuitous wickedness, so alien from every 
 other record of Gonzaga, is repeated, almost in the same words, by the 
 anonymous author of the Annates MtdioJanenses (ibid. 816). 
 
 t Daru, lib. xi. p. 209, seems to make the Venetians open adherents 
 to this alliance. We borrow our representation from Andrea Gaiaro, 
 (826), who states that Carrara, with very great difficulty, obtained from 
 them the use of seven armed galleys, which were probably only let out 
 on hire. 
 
 I 
 
 / 
 
 
 • 
 
 i 
 
 ^ 
 
 J. 
 
 SEVERITY OF VENIERO. 
 
 289 
 
 A. D. 
 
 1398. 
 
 policy, and yet more from the subtle and perfidious designs 
 of Visconti, protracted the conferences through eight months, 
 and even at the close of that long period, forbade the sig- 
 nature of peace. It was not possible that interests so con- 
 flicting should be reconciled while, at least on one side, there 
 was a total absence of good faith ; and, after all, the diplomat- 
 ists were compelled to rest content with the arrangement of 
 a ten years' truce, during which all parties agreed to 
 remain in their existing condition. This, it was 
 plain, was but an expedient, a hollow and unsubstan- 
 tial compact, which any one of those contracting it would 
 unhesitatingly violate whenever he obtained sufficient 
 strength to do so with advantage. 
 
 The reign of the doge Veniero closed during the last 
 weeks of the fourteenth centur\% and the native historians 
 are loud in praise of the benignity of his sway. It was 
 uninterrupted by domestic commotion ; and during the 
 unusual course ot eighteen years, the capital was blessed 
 with continued abundance. One instance of this prince's 
 rigorous and unbending justice, as it is called, has been 
 much and, there can be little doubt, most undeservedly 
 vaunted. The lax morals of an Italian city suffered little 
 oflTence from the intimate bond which the only son of the 
 doge had openly contracted with the wife of one of the 
 chief nobles ; but when, in a moment of pettish jealousy, 
 the lover suspended horns over the porch of the injured hus- 
 band's palace, public decency was considered to be violated, 
 and the vengeance of the law was loudly invoked and sternly 
 execiited. A fine of one hundred ducats, a prohibition from 
 entering the quarter of the city inhabited by the insulted 
 lady, and an imprisonment for two months, was the pim- 
 ishment assigned for this youthful outrage. Veniero, it is 
 said, expressed a wish to pass sentence of death; and 
 although restrained from formally pronouncing a judgment 
 so disproportionate to the crime, yet by the strictness with 
 which he enforced the more lenient punishment he inflicted 
 it virtually. The young man was seized with a dangerous 
 sickness before the term of his imprisonment expired ; 
 nevertheless, the obdurate doge refiised to permit any remis- 
 sion of his penalty, and his son died in prison. Unless 
 the law adjudged capital punishment under lingering agony 
 to the offender's transgression, it is plain that Veniero out- 
 VoL. I.— B b 
 
 1 
 
 
 M 
 
 ■■Aia»>. a-^^ 
 
i 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 290 
 
 CAMPANILE DI SAN MARCO. 
 
 steppecl his duty by this mistaken imitation of the most ques- 
 tionable portion of Roman stoicism. 
 
 The embellishment of the capital, interrupted by the 
 troublous war of Chiozza, again advanced with rapid steps 
 during this comparatively tranquil reign. The southern 
 side of the Piazza di San Marco, a work long since com- 
 menced, was now completed ; and the Piazza adjoining the 
 Rialto was paved with marble. Besides these, a far greater 
 ornament was added to the city. During a night of general 
 illumination, on some occasion of public rejoicing, the 
 wooden turret which then crowned the Campanile di Sa7i 
 Marco caught fire and was destroyed. The foundations of 
 that stupendous tower, which rises three hundred and thirty 
 feet above the ground, and which subsequently was ennobled 
 by becoming the study of Galileo, were laid in the reign of 
 Pietro Tribuno, but the body was not finished till within 
 fifty years of the period of which we are now treating. 
 Veniero, after the above-named accident, built the upper gal- 
 lery of stone, added the pyramidal summit with which the 
 Campanile is at present terminated, and enriched the pin- 
 nacle with a profuse coating of gold. 
 
 Although the virtues of this prince secured for him the 
 general love of his people, he was not more successful than 
 his predecessors in escaping the jealous restraint of the 
 aristocracy, and fresh trammels were imposed upon the 
 small remnant of his personal freedom. The title Mon- 
 signorc, by which the prince had been hitherto addressed, 
 was aboHshed, and no higher appellation was permitted than 
 Messer il Doge. He was forbidden to retain any fiefs with- 
 out the limits of the state, or to contract any marriage for 
 his children, unsanctioned by a majority of two-thirds of 
 the signory, of the XL., and of the great council ; and 
 the oflScers attached to his household were declared inca- 
 pable of any public employment, not only during the period of 
 their actual engagement in court duties, but even for a year 
 after they might have resigned those appointments. 
 
 Michaele Steno, a procuratore of St. Mark, was invested 
 with the ducal bonnet. He had served with distinc- 
 
 lAOO ^^°"» ^^ ^^^ ^^^^' of gentle temper, and had entered 
 ' his sixty-ninth year — all qualifications which ren- 
 dered his election more than ordinarily popular. On those 
 accounts, the festivals which celebrated his accession were 
 
 THB EMPEROR ROBERT'S VISIT TO VENICE. 291 
 
 protracted through many months ;* and the public joy was 
 renewed at the close of the following year, when the 
 emperor Robert honoured Venice with his presence. Z^^' 
 On the deposition of Wenceslaus, Robert of Bava- 
 ria had been called to the German throne ; but the Duke of 
 Milan having refused to acknowledge his title, hostilities 
 ensued, in which the Florentines and Carrara took part with 
 the new emperor. They were defeated at Brescia, and 
 Robert, with his empress, after retreating upon Padua, pro- 
 ceeded to Venice, in the hope of obtaining her alliance. He 
 was received with distinguished honours. The Bucentaur, 
 bearing the doge and signory, met the imperial travellers at San 
 Giorgio, where, as soon as the emperor had passed from his own 
 vessel, the doge uncovered, and threw himself upon his knees. 
 He was instantly raised in the monarch's arms, and the two 
 princes seated themselves side by side, while the barons and 
 nobles stood around. The Cornaro palace was assigned 
 for the residence of the emperor, that of Dandolo for the 
 empress, and those mansions, which immediately fronted 
 each other, were connected by a temporary bridge. Greatly, 
 however, as the signory mistrusted the Duke of Milan, and 
 willingly as they would have assisted in the diminution of 
 his increasing power, it was not in the moment of his suc- 
 cess that they felt disposed to break with him. While, 
 therefore, they entertained their imperial visiter with mag- 
 nificent spectacles, they decUned any open espousal of his 
 quarrel, refused even his solicitation for a loan, and so far 
 disgusted him with their backwardness, that after a few con- 
 ferences, at which Carrara also was present, he embarked 
 privately on his return to Germany, without taking leave. 
 So avowed a manifestation of displeasure ill accorded with 
 the views of a government whose chief aim was to avoid 
 any decided committal of itself ; and a swift vessel was des- 
 patched to overtake the emperor and solicit his return. He 
 consented, and remained on the whole six weeks in Venice, 
 with a mutual understanding that politics were not again to 
 be discussed during his stay. 
 
 The arms of Visconti, in the following year, were 
 chiefly directed against the Bolognese, whom he .^'^' 
 signally defeated on the 26th of June, at Casalecchio. ^^"'^* 
 
 * Of these festivals a particular account may be found in the Verutia 
 dtaariUa of fianaorino, lib. x; p. 273. 
 
 i 
 
 Jl 
 
 I 
 
 BMiUliaii^. <«j — 
 
fi92 
 
 DEATH OP TISCONTI. 
 
 TIMOUR. 
 
 298 
 
 The two elder sons of Carrara were taken prisoners in 
 this engagement by the Duke of Mantua, whom the fluctua- 
 tions of Italian intrigue had again arrayed on the aide of 
 his kinsman ; and the popularity which the virtues and mild 
 administration of their father had established is strikingly 
 evinced by the liberal offer which was made to him on this 
 sad occasion by his subjects. A deputation from the various 
 trades and chief burghers tendered him whatever sum was 
 necessary for the ransom of his children ; but with equal 
 liberality he declined this splendid donation, which the es- 
 cape of Francesco Terzo, within a few days, rendered partly 
 unnecessary. The confinement of his younger son, Gia- 
 como, was protracted for a longer period ; but, in the end, 
 he also evaded the vigilance of his jailers. 
 
 Before, however, this latter event occurred, the ambitious 
 course of the Duke of Milan was cut short by death. The 
 plague had again spread over Lombardy ; and it was now 
 accompanied by the appearance of a comet, destined, as 
 Gataro fully believes, arxording to the opinion of philosopherSf 
 not only to shake pestilence from its hair, but also to per- 
 plex monarchs.* Visconti, in order to avoid infection, 
 quitted his court at Pavia, and shut hhnself up in the castle 
 of Marignano. But the death-stroke pursued him to his 
 retirement ; and although, for some days, he was kept alive, 
 like the elder Carrara, by " magical liquors," he felt his end 
 approaching. ! With a cheerful countenance, he summoned 
 his attendants round his couch, and assured them of his 
 gratitude to God for so visible an exhibition of his mindful- 
 ness of him in that blazing star. Having then given instruc- 
 tions for his interment, and portioned his dominions among 
 
 * Paradise Lost, i, 598 ; ii. 710 : passages which are borrowed from 
 Tasso. 
 
 Qual con Ic chiome sanguinose, horrende^ 
 Splender cnrneta .fuol per Varia ailusta, 
 Che i regni mvta, e i feri morbi adduca, 
 Ai purpurei tiranni infaiista luce. 
 
 Ger. Lib. vii. 52. 
 
 As when, high-flaming, through the parched air, 
 A blood-red cornet shakes his liorrid hair, 
 And threatens, to despairing man below, 
 Disease and battle, pestilence and wo ; 
 States see their doom portended by his rays, 
 And purple tyrants tremble aa they gaze. 
 
 Hunt, vii. 430. 
 
 his children, the most ambitious, the most turbulent, and the 
 most unprincipled sovereign of his time left the g^ 
 fruits matured by a long life of crime to be withered, 
 after his death, by the cold blasts of domestic faction and 
 the tempest of foreign war. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 FROM A. D. 1402 TO A. D. 1406. 
 
 Venetian and Genoese Fleets observe the Progress of Timour — Carlo 
 Zeno and Boucicault— Second Battle of Sapienza— Distractions of Milan 
 — Carrara seizes Verona — Attempts Vicenza— It is previously occupied 
 by the Venetians— War against Carrara— He is betrayed by Count 
 Manfredi — Loses Verona — Siege of Padua — Pestilence— Carrara burns 
 the Venetian Camp— He is driven into his Citadel— Accepts a Safe con- 
 duct to Venice— Is sentenced, with his two elder Sons, to capital Pun- 
 ishment—Their Deatha 
 
 DOGE. 
 
 MiCHAELE StKNO. 
 
 During these events in Italy, new inquietudes had arisen 
 in the East, from the rapid progress of a conqueror yet 
 more to be dreaded than Bajazet. Timour, having over- 
 run Asia, was invited by the falling Emperor of Constan- 
 tinople to free him from the oppressive yoke of the Otto- 
 mans. The Tartar pressed on his march in the hope of 
 fresh plunder ; but at the mouth of the Don he was met 
 by a suppliant train of merchants, Genoese, Catalonians,, 
 and Venetians, who implored protection for their commerc^^ 
 The Barbarian swore that it should remain unmolest^ ; 
 and, in defiance of his oath, immediately occupied Asoph 
 with his troops, pillaged and burned its factories, and threw 
 into chains such Christians as escaped the sword. As he 
 advanced in Natolia, the approaching collision of the two 
 countless hosts which blackened the plains once distin- 
 guished by the contests of Pompey and Mithridates, excited 
 
 Bb2 
 
 \. 
 
 1 
 
 A 
 
 SkiMyttsEJia 
 
«94 
 
 CARLO ZENO AND BOUCICAITLT. 
 
 the most lively apprehensions among the great maritime 
 A. D P^^^^^s "f Europe ; and when Bajazet was overthrown 
 
 1402. ^^ Agora, the Dardanelles were observed both by 
 a Venetian and a Genoese squadron, whose avowed 
 
 object was to obstruct the passage of the flyinw Turks. 
 
 The fleet of the latter power received a large reinforce- 
 A. D. ^^^^^ ^^ ^^^ spring of the following year, under the 
 
 1403. *^°^"'^^"^ of the Marechal de Boucicault, the governor 
 • to whom the King of France had committed the ad- 
 ministration of Genoa. Boucicault had fought at Nicopolis ; 
 and two days after that defeat he had been brought into the 
 presence of the pitiless conqueror, bound, naked, and classed 
 among the nameless herd of prisoners whose appearance 
 promised no ransom, and who were therefore destined to 
 butchery. Already had the work of blood commenced, 
 when he was recognised by the Count of Nevers, who with 
 a few of his most distinguished companions had been sepa- 
 rated from the other miserable captives, to glut the avarice 
 rather than the cruelty of the victor. The prince threw 
 himself upon his knees before Bajazet, declared the pris- 
 oner's quality, and obtained his life.* It was under this 
 commander that the Genoese reinforcement arrived ; and 
 Venice, perhaps not unjustly suspicious of the ulterior 
 designs of her former rival, hastened to counteract them by 
 strengthening her own naval force in the same quarter. 
 For that purpose Carlo Zeno, altliough now a prccuratore 
 of St. Mark, an officer who, unless in the utmost emergency, 
 seldom quitted the city, was intrusted with the command ; 
 and his instructions were, to place all the colonies in 
 security, and to watch the motions of the Genoese, but, if 
 possible, to avoid hostilities. 
 
 The two fleets, nearly equal in numbers, first met in 
 fnendly guise off the island of Rhodes; but the communi- 
 cations between their admirals displayed and increased their 
 mutual jealousy. Boucicault, perhaps, is scarcely to be 
 exonerated from suspicion of a treacherous desio-n to 
 entrap Carlo Zeno ; and the safety of the latter was en- 
 
 * Froissart, u. 672, ut s^ip. Mr. Jolines has preserved a verv ffraohic 
 Incident, which we do not fmd in Lord Bprners. The Count of Nevers 
 rt seems, had no language in which he could make himself intelligible to 
 B»jazet ; he therefore "made signs, as paying from one hand to the other, 
 
 iS taS " xi 307 "' ^ ^^' '""" °^ """"'^ ^° '"""^^ ^^« '^"g" °f ^he 
 
 SECOND BATTLE OF SAPIENZA. 
 
 205 
 
 tirely owing to his prudence. When the Genoese com- 
 mander, pleading indisposition as an excuse, requested a 
 conference on board his own galley, Zeno answered, that 
 the maritime laws of Venice forbade him from quitting the 
 vessel under his immediate orders ; and when invited to 
 combine the fleets in a cruise against the Turks, in which, 
 no doubt, Boucicault would have afl!ected the chief com- 
 mand, the Venetian replied, that he was not permitted to 
 make war without a decree of the senate. After this un- 
 satisfactory rencounter, the Venetians m fulfilment of their 
 orders proceeded to the Morea, while the Genoese cruised 
 along the ports of Syria. At lierytus, a rich emporium of 
 Venetian commerce, and little, if at all, frequented by the 
 Turks, Boucicault, in spite of the reclamations of the 
 resident merchants, landed his troops, and indiscriminately 
 plundered the factories both of Christian and Infidel. The 
 whole line of Syrian coast was visited with similar lawless 
 rapine ; and the calm representations addressed by Zeno in 
 the first instance were received with studied insult. " I 
 wage no war with Venice," was the taunting and evasive 
 reply of Boucicault : " that which I find in an enemy's ter- 
 ritory I treat as the property of an enemy. If any harm 
 has been done, I regret it ; but the evil does not admit 
 remedy." The remedy thus denied was discovered by the 
 bravery of Zeno, who resolved to use force where remon- 
 strance had fiiiled. On the 6th of October both fleets an- 
 chored in sight of each other off the island Sapienza, a spot 
 once fatal to the Venetian arms ; and there an engagement 
 commenced at daybreak, which lasted, with great slaughter 
 on both sides, during four hours. Zeno, although equal to 
 his adversary in ships, was far inferior in men, nor was he 
 well supported by his captains. His own galley for more 
 than an hour was engaged singly against that of Bouci- 
 cault and two more ; one attacking his prow, the others 
 each broadside. Melted pitch, sulphur, and live coals were 
 thrown among the rigging, brine was cast in the mariners* 
 eyes ; and at length Boucicault, at the head of a band of ■ 
 French distinguished for their personal strength, attempted 
 to board, protected by a ceaseless volley of javelins and 
 arrows from the Genoese bowmen. Zeiio himself, as he 
 trod the deck in the full habiliments of command, was the 
 chief object against which the fury of the combatants was 
 
 i< 
 
»t?" 
 
 296 
 
 ZENO'S REMARKABLE MANCEtJVRE. 
 
 CRUELTY TO A FRENCH PRISONER. 
 
 297 
 
 directed ; while loudly calling on him by name, they 
 swarmed up the side of the galley with fierce and menacing 
 gestures.* By a bold, singular, and unexpected manoeuvre 
 the assault was checked. It had been made on the larboard 
 quarter ; and Zeno, after ordering the guns, ballast, and 
 whatever other weighty material was at hand, to be rolled 
 to starboard, commanded his crew, by a sudden impulse, to 
 press downward on the same side also ; thus elevating his 
 vessel high ^bove the boarders, and at the same time pre- 
 senting his lower bank of oars as a palisade. By this 
 means the enemy were for the most part prevented from 
 scaling the rampart opposed to them ; while the few who 
 gained the deck, little able to keep their footing, rendered 
 unsteady by the motion and the inclination of the ship, tot- 
 tered, fell headlong, and were speedily slain. The pressure 
 on the opposite quarter gave the Venetians there also an 
 equal, though diiferent advantage, by the presentation of 
 their whole undivided force to the enemy ; all attempt from 
 the vessel at the prow was impossible during this manoeuvre ; 
 and the three hostile galleys were at length beaten off, 
 though not until Zeno himself was wounded, and his whole 
 crew, with the exception of thirty, were disabled. At the 
 close of the action three Genoese vessels were captured, and 
 the remaining eight escaped with much loss and difficulty. 
 One of the prizes was secured by a stratagem scarcely less 
 extraordinary than that practised by Zeno himself. A Ve- 
 netian storeship, crowding all sail upon her widely ex- 
 tended yardarms, bore down upon a Genoese galley ; and 
 the crew, when alongside, cutting all the ropes at the 
 same moment, let fall every sail upon the enemy's deck, 
 where the astonished mariners, struggling like birds in a 
 net, were compelled to surrender.! 
 
 Zeno, with no less modesty in reporting than valour in 
 obtaining this success, in his official despatch to the signory 
 omitted all mention of his own wound. He claimed the 
 victory to which he was justly entitled, and which his prizes 
 indisputably evinced ; and he added, that if his officers bad 
 
 * P. Justiniani, lib. vi. p. 126. 
 
 t P. Justiniani, ut sup. In the saloon of the grand council was a 
 picture, by Bassano, representing this stratajjem. Sansovino Venttia 
 descritta,Uh.viii.p.249; and Giro\amo Bardi Dichiaratione di tutte It 
 Tstorie che si contengono nei guadri, &c. p. 56, Ven. 1587. 
 
 [ 
 
 fulfilled their duty, not one Genoese vessel would have been 
 saved.* The haughty spirit of Boucicault could ill brook 
 this publication of his disgrace ; and he replied in a long, 
 hasty, and intemperate cartel, addressed both to the doge 
 and to Zeno. In direct terms, according to the naked 
 fashion of the times, he threw the lie in their teeth ;t and 
 in order to establish his own contrary assertions, confiding, 
 as he said, in Divine justice, in the blessed Mother of God, 
 and in St. George, he challenged either of them to meet 
 him in the lists, and offered his opponent considerable ad- 
 vantage of numbers. He would fight with five against six 
 — ten agahist twelve — fifteen against eighteen — twenty 
 against twenty-four; or, as a course which might better 
 decide the question of naval superiority, he would meet 
 galley against galley, his own being manned by none but 
 Genoese and French, that of his enemy by none but Vene- 
 tians.t The signory disregarded this idle gasconade ; and, 
 content with the substantial evidence of facts, they pointed 
 to the captured vessels which had been brought to port, and 
 permitted the vanquished to prate about his victory. 
 
 An atrocious instance of cruelty, exhibiting a petty spirit 
 of revenge most unworthy of a great nation, sullied the 
 glory of this triumph. One of the prisoners, a Frenchman, 
 irritated by defeat and groaning under captivity, expressed 
 a hope that he might yet one day wash his hands in Ve- 
 netian blood. The evil omen of the Barbarian, says the 
 courtly native historian, grated on the ears of the senators, 
 and with one voice they ordered the miserable offender to 
 be hanged between the Red Columns.^ Sabellico neglects 
 to add, that with a refinement of vengeance they instructed 
 the executioner to gash the soles of the expiring victim's 
 feet, in order that he might leave traces of his own blood on 
 the pavement of the Piazzetta^ and thus more distinctly 
 mark the failure of his indiscreet aspiration.il 
 
 A few months of straggling hostilities succeeded the battle 
 of Sapienza. France at first appeared willing to support 
 the declarations of Boucicault ; and certain Venetian mer- 
 
 *The original despatch is given by Sanuto. 
 
 t Their letters, he said, were mendaciis plenaset doUs — certe mirari' 
 dum, licet mentiendi vestra consuetudo cognoscatur, &c. 
 i. Stella Annales Genuenses, ap. Muratori, xvii. 1203. 
 (s Sabellico, Decad. ii. lib. viii. 
 {] BerabOjthe continuator of the Chronicle of Dandolo, ap. Mur, xii. 519w 
 
 i 
 
 I. 
 
 ) 
 
 298 
 
 TROtJBLE.«? AT MTT AV. 
 
298 
 
 TROUBLES AT MILAN. 
 
 chants, attending the fair of Marseilles, were thrown into 
 prison, and their effects confiscated. Some trading ships 
 also m the Greek seas fell into the hands of the Genoese 
 cruisers. But when Venice aroused herself, and appeared 
 to be arming in earnest, she was met by submissions, and a 
 A. D. negotiation terminated in peace, on the basis of mu- 
 1404 *"^' restitution and the payment of an indemnity to 
 the Venetians for their losses at Berytus. One 
 monument of this short war endured even to our own times. 
 Timour, freed by their internal dissensions from the ob- 
 servation of the two Euroi)ean fleets, pressed his conquests 
 among the fastnesses of Albania, where a petty tribe, the 
 inhabitants of Parga, abandoned their ancient city, and 
 took refuge on an impregnable rock in the sight of Corfu, 
 to which they gave the name of their former settlement! 
 A. D. 7^9 neighbourhood of a Venetian garrison soon 
 1401. "i^^^^d or compelled them to submit to the protection 
 * of the republic, under which, however, they main- 
 tained a more than nominal independence. The spirit 
 which animated this noble-minded band remained in their 
 descendants after a lapse of four centuries ; and the admira- 
 tion which an Englishman cannot but profoundly cherish 
 ^^J/^^^^ P"^® ^<^ve of freedom is mingled with bitterness 
 of feeling, when he brings to mind the causes which led to 
 their second expatriation in 1819. 
 
 The death of Galeazzo Visconti was the signal for an- 
 archy throughout the Milanese states. All the three sons 
 among whom he had divided his power were minors, one of 
 them was illegitimate, and the regency was administered by 
 the widowed dutchess, Catarina of Visconti, a daughter of 
 Bernabo. The council which assisted her was composed 
 partly of personal favourites of the late duke, more distin- 
 guished for talent than for birth, partly of the ancient and 
 powerful nobility ; and between these discordant interests 
 reigned an ill-dissembled jealousy, which soon openly exhi- 
 bited Itself m deeds of violence and blood. The state-prison 
 changed their inhabitants according to the predominance of 
 either faction ; and Catarina, not sufficiently stroncr for the 
 open exercise of authority, employed secret executions, and, 
 It may be feared, yet darker means, to free herself from 
 those whom she most dreaded. Every town throughout 
 Lombardy was a prey to the petty tyranny of some noble, 
 
 GULIELMO DELLA SCALA. 
 
 299 
 
 A. D. 
 
 1403. 
 
 who sought, amid the convulsions of his country, to establish 
 in it a separate dominion. Of the neighbouring powers 
 who might be expected to derive profit from these troubles, 
 few were more to be feared, for none had a heavier debt of 
 injury to repay, than Francesco da Carrara; and the 
 dutchess early conciliated him by the promised cession of 
 Feltre and Belluno. The Lord of Padua asked also for 
 Vicenza ; but through the mediation of Venice, he was 
 content to withdraw this demand. The treaty, however, was 
 violated by the Milanese at the time named for its comple- 
 tion ; and Carrara, justly indignant at this new breach of 
 faith, and having in vain appealed to the signory, 
 from whom he received an ambiguous answer, 
 invaded the Veronese, but was compelled to retire. 
 In the following spring, he concerted an alliance with a 
 prince who, though possessing neither treasure nor 
 territory, advanced pretensions which might be use- -iaoa 
 fully employed. Gulielmo della Scala laid claim to 
 Verona, which had been wrested from his late father, An- 
 tonio ; and he promised to return whatever assistance 
 Carrara might afford him towards the recovery of his patri- 
 mony, by engaging its whole force, when at his disposal, in 
 the projected attack upon Vicenza. The enterprise was 
 successful ; partly by secret communication with the inhabit- 
 ants, partly by force of arms, the Paduans entered Verona, 
 and proclaimed Della Scala its lord. Scarcely a fortnight, 
 however, after his restoration, Gulielmo died of a disease 
 with which he had been long afflicted ; and so familiar was 
 Italy with the poisoner's cup, so bitter was the hatred fos- 
 tered by the enemies of Carrara, so necessary did their own 
 crimes render it that they should endeavour to sully the 
 memory of him upon whom they were perpetrated, that the 
 death of his friend and ally has been repeatedly imputed to 
 the Lord of Padua himself. If the loftiness of his general 
 character, his frank, open, and undisguised bearing, his 
 nobleness and generosity of spirit are not in themselves suf- 
 ficient to disprove this detestable charge to our complete satis- 
 faction, yet even those who judge men's actions by the more 
 staid and measured rules of utility must consent to acquit 
 him, unless they can discover an adequate motive for his guilt. 
 His interests, on the contrary, demanded that this prince 
 should live. Delia Scala left two sons, who were immediately 
 
 h 
 
 >\ 
 
 1! 
 
 i 
 
 i *?*»J^ I'gt 
 
 jwafartSArfato-a-rf : ; - 
 
300 
 
 ATTEMPT ON VICENZA. 
 
 invested with their father's inheritance ; and if Carrara had 
 assassinated his tried and faithful partisan, he must have 
 done so only that he might substitute in his place two un- 
 j.roved and inexperienced youths, who soon showed them- 
 selves unworthy of his confidence.-* 
 
 This conquest of Verona had been undertaken without 
 the approbation of Venice ; and before the attempt Carlo 
 Zeno had been despatched to Padua, with instructions to 
 mediate between the disputants. Carrara inflexibly replied 
 tliat the fitting season was now come in which he might 
 obtain satisfaction for his wrongs, and he refused to listen 
 to the ambassador's representation that Venice had left far 
 greater wrongs unrevenged. An evil omen was remarked 
 as the prince mustered his troops in the palace-square of the 
 captured city. He had delivered his great banner, bearing 
 a red cross on a white ground, and quartered with the ams 
 ot Carrara, to the custody of one of his noblest ofRcars : 
 and as the standard-bearer fixed the staff in the rest at his 
 saddle-bow, It fell from his hands, while murmurs were 
 heard among the spectators, " This is God's judgment !»t 
 Undismayed by this omen, which seems to have deeply 
 mipressed his fi^llowers, Carrara directed his eldest son, 
 irancesco Terzo, to march on Vicenza, having previously 
 expressed his wish to the princes Delia Scala that one of 
 them would precede him ; but, little grateful for the impor- 
 tant benefit recently conferred upon them, they refused 
 obedience. When Francesco Terzo appeared before the 
 walls, he was rudely handled in a skirmish, and compelled 
 to withdraw to his camp, with a severe wound in the face. 
 Un the following morning loud shouts were heard from the 
 city, mingled with the pealing of bells and the thunder of 
 artillery The banner of Milan was lowered, and the 
 delighted eyes of the young Carrara imagined that he beheld 
 the ensign of his own house unfurled in its place. The 
 colours were very similar, and the distance was consid- 
 erable ; but as a second standard rose over a nearer gate, 
 
 mJf\ Hh vHi\°Hn'^^ "i^K ^^ ®i»™o"^i (»^) on both sides. Sabellico 
 tAndroa Gataro, 880. 
 
 OUTRAGE ON A VENETIAN TRUMPET. 301 
 
 he descried, with astonishment and mortification, the winged 
 lion of St. Mark. Catarina had successfully negotiated 
 with Venice ; and Dal Verme, retaining all his deceased 
 sovereign's hatred against Carrara, had prevailed upon the 
 dutchess to barter for the alliance of the signory by surren- 
 dering Vicenza to their protection ; and, careless of the loss 
 to his country, so as it did not confer benefit on the Paduans, 
 he admitted a large Venetian force within the walls, and 
 acknowledged their supremacy. 
 
 This iniquitous negotiation must be attributed in great 
 measure to the ambition felt by the doge Steno, that his 
 reign might be distinguished by an enlargement of territoiy ; 
 for although the Venetian government was seldom choice 
 as to its means of acquisition, and the bribe offered was 
 most alluring, yet the council hesitated till the Milanese 
 advanced their biddings. Feltre and Belluno were added 
 to Vicenza, and the bargain was finally struck by the sur- 
 render of the whole territory on this side the Adige. Even 
 after these discussions there was not wanting in the 
 council a feeling of justice and honour which, but for a 
 stratagem of the doge, might have prevented the nefarious 
 compact. He found a pretext to purge the assembly of all 
 those nobles who were opposed to his design ; yet even 
 then the decision for which he struggled was at last con- 
 firmed by the majority of only a single voice. 
 
 The news of his unexpected disappointment was received 
 by Francesco Novello with his customary evenness of 
 temper. He handed the despatch which announced it to 
 Brunone and Antonio della Scala, and with a brief remark — 
 " Farewell to Vicenza I This arises from your refusal," — he 
 turned to some other business, while the perfidious youths 
 lost no time in framing their own secret arrangements with 
 Venice. In the camp before Vicenza, however, a widely 
 different spirit was manifested. When a trumpet from the 
 garrison announced that the city had surrendered itself to 
 the protection of Venice, Francesco Terzo ordered him to 
 retire, and not to return without a safe-conduct. On the 
 evening of the same day, the messenger reappeared with 
 the pennant of Vicenza, and in the name of Venice, com- 
 manded the Paduans to raise the siege and withdraw. 
 Francesco denied his authority, pointed to the arms of 
 Vicenza on his pennant, which, had he been an envoy of 
 
 Vol. I.— C c 
 
 :v^ 
 
 -} 
 
 I 
 
 k 
 
 i J.JagKiiiBaLe. 
 
 ■■- >■»— ^it.'jivir'aeBif.e^j.us^ -jg'j^»^. -, 
 
302 
 
 BREACH WITH VENICE. 
 
 the signory, would have borne their device ; and then, with 
 angry menaces of summary punishment if he returned, he 
 dismissed him unhurt. On the morrow, the same trumpet 
 again sought the camp, bearing now a Venetian pennant, 
 but still unprovided with a safe-conduct. The outposts, 
 indignant at these repeated insults to their prince, hastily 
 surrounded the messenger, put him to the sword, and threw 
 his body into the city ditch. Francesco was displeased 
 with the violence, but little anticipated the terrible ven- 
 geance with which it was to be repaid, and probably forgot 
 the transaction as insijrnificant." 
 
 The Lord of Padua immediately hastened in person to 
 Vicenza, and gave orders for an assault on the very night 
 of his arrival. Before, however, the troops were put in 
 motion a Venetian courier placed in his hands a despatch 
 bearing the leaden seal of the republic, which charged him, 
 on pain of immediate war, to desist from his enterprise. He 
 instantly countermanded the assault, and broke up, on the 
 next morning, for Padua. Then having fully ascertained 
 the treacherous intrigues which the two princes Delia Scala 
 were concerting with Venice, he threw them into confine- 
 ment, and, proceeding with the Lady Taddea to Verona, he 
 assumed its sovereignty in his own name, as a punishment 
 for the ingratitude of the masters whom he had restored, 
 and who had proved themselves undeserving. His chief 
 wishes were now directed to an adjustment with Venice ; 
 but the signory was implacable. They felt that Carrara 
 Was within their toils, and his destruction was resolved 
 upon ; so that to his offer of holding all his territories in 
 fee from the republic, they replied only by demanding in- 
 demnities which he had not power to furnish ; and they 
 perpetually reverted to the murder of the trumpet, as having 
 
 * In relating this incident, we have followed the miniUe and precise 
 narrative of dJataro (883), wliich bears with it strong marks of truth. 
 Daru has adopted another statennent nnost hostile to Francesco Novello, 
 and has made him give orders for an outrage yet more cruel than the 
 infliction of death— to cut off the nose and ears of the trumpet, and send 
 him back with a declaration of war. Yet it is plain that Francesco No- 
 vello at the time was in Verona, not at Vicenza. Bembo, the continuator 
 of the chronicle of Dandolo, vouches for this barbarous mutilation, but 
 attributes it to Francesco Terzo, with the addition of a cruel, stupid, 
 and unfeeling mockery,—" Let us make from this trumi)€t the lion of 
 St. Mark !" As the lion possessed both nose and ears, we are at a loss 
 to discover the hidden point of this brutal jesi. 
 
 
 DISCUSSIONS IN THE PADUAN COtJNCIL. 303 
 
 placed him without the pale of international law. Even 
 while his ambassadors were receiving audience, the doge 
 gave orders to cut the embankment of the Anguillera in 
 three places ; thus, by pouring destruction on his unoffend- 
 ing subjects, offering a foretaste of the bitterness with 
 which their lord was to be visited. The envoys were dis- 
 missed, and the banner of St. Mark was raised on a bas- 
 tion in the Paduan territory,which had been insulated by the 
 inundation. 
 
 Francesco communicated to his great council the rejection 
 of his proposals ; and that he might fall at least with dig- 
 nity, he urged them to consent to war. His design was 
 opposed by Galeazzo de' G atari, the elder of the two chroni- 
 clers who have guided us through these passages of history. 
 This faithful senator pointed to the miseries which Francesco 
 Vecchio had brought down upon himself and his country, 
 by rousing the unforgiving and unappeasable hatred of 
 Venice. Peace, he said, ought to be secured, be the terms 
 what they miglit ; for upon its conclusion depended the wel- 
 fare or the ruin of Padua. This seasonable counsel was 
 resisted, among others, by Amorato Pelliciaro, a rich mer- 
 chant, who offered a thousand ducats towards defraying the 
 expenses of war, and blindly prophesied that riijht must 
 prevail. A brother senator applauded the rash speech, and 
 compared the orator to that Crastinus who struck the first 
 blow for Cffisar against Pompey in Thessaly ; " forgetting," 
 as Gataro* touchingly winds up his vivid narrative of this 
 debate, " the lines in which Lucanf curses that Crastinus 
 as the cause of all the blood that was shed in the cruel war 
 that followed. But to this opinion the signor inclined, and 
 
 * Andrea Gataro, 890. 
 
 * Dii tibi non mortem, qua; cimrtis poena parnhir, 
 Sed sensiim post fata tvce dent, Crastine, morti ! 
 Cuius torta manu mmmisit lancea helium, 
 Primaque Thessaliam Romano sanguine tinxit. 
 
 Pharsalia, vii. 470. 
 For him, ye gods, for Crastinus, whose spear, 
 With impious eagerness, began the war. 
 Some more than common punishment prcjiare • 
 Beyond the grave, long, lasting plagues ordain, 
 Surviving sense, and never-ceasing j>ain ! 
 
 RowE, vii. 697. 
 See also Caesar, De Bell. Civ. iii. 91-98. 
 
 hAhaaftgsafeiiaaiaMifr^icsafe ■ 
 
304 
 
 MUSTER OF THE PADUAN ARMY. 
 
 ADVANCE OF THE VENETIANS. 
 
 305 
 
 war was declared. Accursed be Amorato, the author of a 
 measure which brought fast on the destruction of Padua, 
 and the downfall of the noble house of Carrara !" 
 
 It was at midsummer that Carrara solemnly denounced 
 war agamst Venice. His sole ally was Nicolo d'Este 
 Count of Ferrara, upon whom, terrified by the overwhelm- 
 ing force of his enemies, little reliance could be placed. The 
 command of thirty thousand condottieri was intrusted, by 
 the signory, to Malatesta of Pesaro, and Savello a Roman 
 captain ; and Carlo Zeno was attached to them as one of 
 the provveditori. Carrara, after a successful incursion into 
 the Frevisano, confined himself to the defensive, throwino- 
 up lines and constructing a series of intrenchments on its 
 marshy frontiers ; and one of these works appears to have 
 struck the invaders with extreme wonder. In a few hours 
 a ditch was formed of great depth, and thirty feet in width, 
 surmounted by an impregnable rampart, at which the Ve- 
 netians, we are told, gazed with astonishment, firmly be- 
 heving It to have been effected by the Devil, and not by 
 human engineers.* The muster of the Paduan forces 
 within these lines, as described by Gataro, might aflford a 
 subject for a painter. « Every one seeming more eager than 
 another, they presented themselves with their best equip- 
 ments. They came with bright weapons, embroidered 
 coats, and blazoned devices, indicating the antiquity of their 
 families— with naked cuirasses, burnished and blazing like 
 the sun— targets and ghiaverins— arbalists and bows— 
 bombardels, lances, and shields. Their dear and much- 
 loved lord, vvearing an embroidered coat over his armour, 
 glanced, with a proud and joyful eye, along the gallant line, 
 and then inspected the men, squadron by squadron, show- 
 mg aglad and gracious aspect, and addressing words of en- 
 couragement to them as he walked his horse slowly alonff."t 
 Little, however, notwithstanding the natural strength of 
 the country which they occupied, could be hoped from twelve 
 thousand men, opposed to nearly thrice their number : and 
 the activity of Zeno ere long found means to penetrate 
 their lines. Undertaking a personal reconnoissance, on a 
 September night, sometimes wading to his very shoulders, 
 sometimes swimmmg in the marshes, he satisfied himself 
 
 that the passage, though difficult, was practicable.* When 
 Cnce assured that it was possible to eflfect it, he did not 
 hesitate to make the attempt ; and the whole territory be- 
 yond the Brenta was speedily overrun in consequence of 
 his success. Venice had three powerful armies in her pay ; 
 her disbursements amounted to 120,000 ducats each month ; 
 and, since the days of Frederic Barbarossa, such an assem- 
 blage of troops had never been seen in Italy. 
 
 This frontier line, however, was not maintained by the 
 invaders without much bloodshed ; Savello was attacked 
 and beaten back from it, and the chance of battle led him 
 to a personal encounter with Francesco. Their lances 
 were shivered at the first onset, and each swayed back to 
 his horse's croup ; recovering themselves, they drew their 
 swords, and Carrara, with a single blow, which descended 
 to his antagonist's vizor, cleft the argent lion from his 
 helmet. His own crest underwent the same fate ; but a 
 second stroke dashed Savello's vizor into fragments, and, 
 his sword being at the same tune broken at the hilt, he was 
 compelled to spur his horse to flight.! Malatesta, who 
 was on ill terms with his brother-general, openly expressed 
 satisfaction at this discomfiture ; and not long afterward, 
 having incurred yet further suspicion by his imprudence, 
 he was removed from his command, which was bestowed 
 upon Savello. 
 
 The second line of defence presented obstacles not to be 
 surmounted during this campaign, and the hostile armies 
 occupied their winter-quarters towards the close of Novem- 
 ber. A bitter domestic sorrow awaited Carrara in the death 
 of the Lady Taddea ; and while smarting under this blow, 
 yet more grievous to him than the dangers of his princi- 
 pality, he received information that Savello had broken up 
 from his cantonments, reoccupied his summer positions, 
 and, in the very heart of December, guided to undefended 
 passages by some peasants whom he had bribed, had estab- 
 lished himself in the rich Piovado di Sacco, the granary of 
 Lombardy. In an attempt to dislodge the invaders, Car- 
 lara was painfully wounded, and for a while obliged to 
 withdraw from active command. 
 
 The arms of Padua had been no less unfortunate in the 
 
 l» 
 
 * Andrea Gataro, 893. 
 
 t Ibid. 897. 
 
 * Vita Caroli Zeni, ap. Muratori, xix. 338. 
 
 Cc2 
 
 t Andrea Gataro, 699. 
 
306 
 
 TREACHERY OF COUNT MANFRED!, 
 
 TREASON OF GIACOMO DA CARRARA. 
 
 307 
 
 Veronese, where Francesco di Gonzaga, Lord of Mantua, 
 and Giacopo dal Verme had gained most of the strongholds. 
 The inhabitants of that district were ill affected to Carrara, 
 and backward in his defence ; and even in his own more 
 immediate court and camp, treachery was undermining the 
 small remnant of his power. The Venetian army, after 
 Savello's defeat, had encamped at Nogara, where, by its 
 losses and divisions, it was reduced to twelve thousand 
 men, while Carrara had now no less than sixteen thousand 
 at his disposal. The position also of the Venetians was haz- 
 ardous ; for, if the bank of the Brenta in their rear were 
 cut, retreat became impossible, and Francesco, perceiving 
 his advantage with a rapid eye, felt secure of victory. His 
 wounds still kept him from the field, but he communicated 
 his plans to Count Manfredi di Barbiano, to whom, jointly 
 with Francesco Terzo, he delegated the command. The 
 Paduans, high in hope and eager for battle, marched for 
 Nogara, which they reached on Christmas eve, when the 
 generals despatched a trumpet bearing their gauntlets of 
 defiance as a challenge to Savello for combat on the mor- 
 row. The news of his acceptance was received with shouts 
 of joy. Late in the evening, however, a messenger on 
 horseback arrived from the Venetian camp, laden with 
 presents from Savello to Manfredi. They were such as the 
 courtesy of war occasionally interchanges, luxuries for the 
 table ; four large geese unplucked,* some watermelons, and 
 a few flasks of Malvoisie, and, but for the message which 
 accompanied them and the subsequent conduct of Manfredi, 
 they would not have occasioned suspicion. The bearer 
 significantly repeated to the count the instructions with 
 which he had been charged, " that he should not eat the 
 feathers. Manfredi smiled, and accepted the presents, 
 withm which it was afterward believed twelve thousand 
 ducats were concealed. At daybreak, when Francesco 
 *u T,Y^^ marshalling his line, Manfredi refused to take 
 the held, and commenced a retreat. On his appearance at 
 Padua, Carrara, who felt no doubt of his treachery, spared 
 his life, but stripped him of his command, and sentenced 
 nun to banishment. 
 
 The new year witnessed the defection of Nicolo of Fer- 
 
 *Oche(Ul Piovado^on le penne tutu morfe.— Andrea Gataro, 911. ' 
 
 rara. His capital was suffering from scarcity, he was 
 pressed on all sides by the Venetian forces, and his 
 subjects were so unfriendly to the cause which he ,^^c 
 had espoused, that he had reason to fear even for his 
 life. He concluded, therefore, a separate treaty, the chief 
 terms of which involved the surrender of Polesina di Ro- 
 vigo, and the dismantling of his fortresses. The haughty 
 republic added one other condition more degrading to the 
 dignity of a sovereign — that he should repair to Venice in 
 order to solicit pardon from the doge, and to swear that he 
 would deny all succour for the future to the Lord of Padua. 
 This compulsory desertion by his son-in-law was to Carrara 
 more a subject of regret than of complaint ; but the treach- 
 ery of a much nearer connexion awakened his indignation 
 as well as his sorrow. His half-brother, Giacomo, the 
 former companion of his many dangers, had been seduced 
 hy the Venetians to betray Padua into their hands, on con- 
 dition of enjoying the whole property of the signor and the 
 pillage of ten of the wealthiest houses, of being presented 
 with a palace at Venice, being enrolled a member of the 
 grand council, and receiving a payment of ten thousand 
 ducats. His sons, bitterly distracted by filial affection on 
 the one hand, and paramount duty to their country on the 
 other, while they denounced this conspiracy, stipulated for 
 their father's life. The criminal denied his guilt till con- 
 fession was extorted by the rack ; and on committal to 
 the Giants' Tower, stung by remorse, or by apprehension 
 of a painful and ignominious death, he suffocated himself 
 i)y the smoke of some straw with which his dungeon was 
 provided. His accomplices were carried, riding backward 
 upon asses, to the place of execution, where they were 
 hanged, each bv one foot to the gibbet, and left to perish in 
 torture. 
 
 Disasters now thickened apace on all sides, and no hope 
 of assistance remained to Carrara, unless from the Floren- 
 tines, who still promised their succour as soon as they 
 should be disengaged from war with Pisa. As the invaders 
 approached nearer to his capital, Carrara intrusted his two 
 younger sons, Ubertino and Marsilio, and other branches 
 of his family, with the larger portion of his treasure and 
 jewels, to the protection of these ancient allies. Fran- 
 cesco Terzo ably and valorously seconded him in the capital ; 
 
 L\\ 
 
 &.r*j*;;'.jji^*fy, 'i -T awaaJiJf", 
 
308 
 
 PESTILENCE IN PADTTA. 
 
 while Giacomo, his second son, commanded at Verona* 
 and having secured the most defenceless of those dear to 
 him in their asylum at Florence, Carrara himself boldly 
 confronted the peril which was now hourly increasing, since 
 Savello had advanced to the very walls of Padua, and 
 closely invested it on the twelfth of June. 
 
 Verona was still pressed by Gonzaga of Mantua and Gia- 
 copo dal Verme ; and the citizens, without attachment to 
 their present governors, in order to escape the terrors of an 
 assault, surrendered by capitulation. A safe-conduct was 
 accorded to Giacomo, with which he secured the retreat of 
 his lady. Madonna Belfiore. For himself, disappointed in 
 the return of a messenger whom he despatched to Padua 
 and apprehensive that his father had refused to confirm the 
 treaty, he attempted to escape by night. Though disguised, 
 he was recognised by some peasants, who delivered him to 
 the pravveditoriy and by them he was immediately sent under 
 a strong escort to Venice, where on his arrival he was 
 thrown into the prison of San Giorgio. 
 
 Verona having fallen, the blockading army was disen- 
 gaged, and joined the division before Padua, where, in addi- 
 tion to the other miseries of a siege, pestilence had com- 
 menced its ravages. While the enemy continued to spread 
 devastation over the open country, the neighbouring villagers 
 flocked within the walls in order to see°k protection ; and 
 anxious to preserve such property as they could cany off 
 they were accompanied by large herds of cattle. A mixed 
 throng of beasts and men crowded and exhausted the city 
 BO that not only every house overflowed with inhabitants! 
 but the churches, monasteries, and public magazines were 
 choked with countless swarms, while the porches and 
 arcades of the open streets afforded a scanty shelter to 
 multitudes otherwise wholly unprovided. Food was soon 
 wanting for this overgrown population. The cattle first 
 began to die for want of fodder ; and the wretched fugi- 
 tives, pent within lunits far too contracted for their num- 
 bers, worn by fatigue, weakened by hunger, poisoned by the 
 foul exhalations steaming from the corruption which sur- 
 rounded them, contracted and propagated a frightful dis- 
 ease.* An acute fever, attended with the plague-spot and 
 
 * Gataro, from whom we are borrowing, might be supposed to write 
 vath Livy before his eyes. Grave tempus et/vrU anni^pestUens erat 
 
 5)10 
 
 OTT/^/^T«Cie>T?«T» j^AV«.«» 
 
 MODE OF BURIAL. 
 
 309 
 
 tumour, was generally fatal in three days at fiirthest. The 
 deaths varied from three hundred to five hundred in each 
 day, and, as appeared from a register kept in the episcopal 
 palace, more than forty thousand individuals perished be- 
 tween the end of June and the middle of August. Among 
 the victims of this mortalit)'^ are noticed the elder of the 
 two Gatari and Alda da Gonzaga, the consort of Francesco 
 Terzo. The princess was interred with as much pomp as 
 the season of misery pennitted. But the mode of burial 
 which the chronicler describes as adopted for the many suf- 
 ficiently avouches the horrors to which the Paduans were 
 subjected, and cannot fail to bring to mind the like practice 
 which prevailed among ourselves when London was last 
 exposed to a similar calamitous visitation. No one who 
 has read the vivid pages of De Foe can have forgotten the 
 daily gatherings of the dead from house to house, which he 
 so distressingly narrates ; and though the texture of that 
 singular writer's palmary work is fictitious, the materials 
 from which it is woven are confessedly trustworthy. Every 
 morning, says Gataro, cars went round to receive the dead, 
 and in every car were placed from sixteen to twenty corpses. 
 A crucifix and lantern were fixed on the pole in front, and 
 each car was attended by a priest. Deep trenches were 
 opened in the burying-grounds of the churches, and into 
 them the corpses were thrown and covered with earth. 
 Since the destruction of Jerusalem and the fall of Troy, 
 adds this eyewitness, never was any city in the world so 
 overwhelmed as the unfortunate Padua.* 
 
 The contagion, as may be supposed, was not wholly con- 
 fined to the city ; it penetrated to the Venetian camp : but 
 more open quarters and ampler supplies disarmed it there 
 of much of its deadly power, so that not a day passed 
 without an assault, and the two Carrara were ever foremost 
 where danger summoned. Even in this their extremity, 
 they secured an interest in the besieging army, and Vene- 
 tians were found sufficiently blinded by the love of gain to 
 
 -I 
 
 l! 
 
 urbi agrisque, nee hominibus magis quam pecori ; et auxere vim morbi 
 terrore populatimiis pecoribus agrestibvsque in urbem acceptis. Ea 
 conluvio mixtomm omnis generis animantium ct odore insolito urbanos, 
 et agrestem. confertiim in. artn tecta, cestu et vigiliis angebat, ministeria- 
 gue invicem ac contagia ipsa vulgabant morbos (iii. 6). 
 ^* Andrea Gataro, 922. 
 
310 
 
 SUCCESSFUL SORTIE. 
 
 THE BESIEGERS REPULSED. 
 
 311 
 
 hold treacherous communication with the falling princes 
 By means of billets fastened to the heads of arrows, and 
 shot withm the walls, intelligence was daily forwarded to 
 them. The traitors were discovered ; two of them were 
 pnests ; and as if in imitation or in refinement upon that 
 death of Imgenng horror which the Romans inflicted, when 
 called to punish those whom they esteemed the most holy 
 among their ministers of religion, these miserable crimi- 
 nals, having been conveyed to Venice, were buried alive 
 wiUi their heads downwards, between the fatal columns ' 
 Terms at length were proposed by Zeno, though indi- 
 rectly, and without the authority of the senate, to which 
 Carrara appeared inclined to consent, and the pravveditore 
 withdrew to Venice that he might obtain full powers for 
 negotiation. Discipline became remiss in the camp durin? 
 his absence, and Carrara seized the opportunity as favour- 
 ab e for a sortie. It was his last feat of arms in the open 
 field, and never had he been more proudly triumphant. At 
 the head of fifty men, on the first dawn of the 17th of 
 August, he issued from the Santa Croce gate, and found 
 the outposts unsentineled and the whole camp buried in 
 slumber. To fire the nearest tents, to put the sleepers and 
 the fugitives to the sword, was the work of a few minutes • 
 and as the flames spread widely and furiously, a strong 
 reserve poured in upon the terror-stricken and unresisting 
 victims. The glare of the burning camp, however, aroused 
 a division quartered at Moncelise, and that detachment, 
 together with such troops as Savello could rally, at lenffth 
 made a stand. But ere this Carrara's object was fully 
 gained, and he retired in good order within the city, after 
 having inflicted severe loss upon his enemy, and gained for 
 himself a valuable booty. The standard of St. Mark was 
 captured, and the damage sustained by the Venetians was 
 estimated at not less than one hundred thousand ducats, 
 bavello received a wound which not long afterward proved 
 mortal, and a truce of ten days was required for the burial 
 CI the dead. 
 
 That truce was yet further prolonged on the return of 
 Zeno, who learned with surprise the disasters which had 
 been suffered during his absence. He invited the si^nor 
 to a conference, and " having touched hands and saluted," 
 they sat down on the bank of the Brenta, and continued in 
 
 long debate. The Venetians offered to release Giacomo da 
 Carrara, to present the signor himself with sixty thousand 
 ducats and thirty cars laden with his private property, and 
 to allow their free transport to any spot he might "select. 
 When Francesco asked permission to consult his citizens 
 before he returned a final answer, Zeno jumped up, and 
 said to him, with a familiar tone and action,* " Signor, if 
 by this time to-morrow you shall not have put me in pos- 
 session of Padua, you need have no hope of peace with 
 Venice, and by the faith of a true knight I swear to be ever 
 after your deadly foe." This warning was unhappily 
 thrown away. Resisting the advice of his council, and 
 lending a more willing ear to a flattering despatch which 
 at the moment he received from Florence, and which urged 
 him to hold out by the promit-e of speedy succour, — through 
 the fatality, says Gataro, which seemed to attend the bourse 
 of Carrara to its destruction, he refused the terms, and pre- 
 pared anew for defence. 
 
 One by one his few remaining castles were gained by 
 force or fraud, till Galeazzof of Mantua assumed the com- 
 mand before Padua, and on the 2d of November attempted 
 to storm. He was repulsed at all points, himself received 
 three lance-thrusts and was forced headlong from the ram- 
 part, at a spot at which Francesco was personally engaged, 
 and not improbably, as it seems, by his very hand. Bembo 
 also, one of the provvcditori, was wounded ; and although 
 a breach was effected by the pioneers, the scaling ladders 
 and engines were abandoned, and the assailants retired 
 with loss and in confusion. To remove this disgrace, and 
 to bring the siege to a close, new engineers were despatched 
 from Venice, but their approaches were skilfully met by 
 counter-works wherever they were attempted. 'Opposite 
 to a covered way directed to the Gate de' Lioni, Francesco 
 drew a deep ditch within the wall, and raised a strong 
 mound parallel to it, himself, his son, and the chief nobles 
 assisting to carry earth. The besiegers, irritated by the 
 obstinacy of this protracted defence, menaced the citizens 
 with extermination, and discharged virctonsX within the 
 
 * Allora Messer Carlo Zeno si levd in piedi e prese il signore nel 
 petto, e crollandogli le vesti dm?.— Andrea Gataro, 926. 
 
 T see the Note at the end of the Chapter. 
 
 ♦ Lat. vtrutum, a short spitlike {vera) spear or arrow. 
 
 il 
 
 H 
 
 319 
 
 TTJi;' caxiTa i>Xif\r^T> nAfrt» ww'Tt* »\rT»T\ 
 
li\ 
 
 312 
 
 THE SANTA CROCE GATE BETRAYED. 
 
 SURRENDER OV CARRARA. 
 
 313 
 
 walls, laden with messages of terror. Ten days were al- 
 lowed for their ultimatum, and if, at the close of that period, 
 they still continued to resist, it was announced that every 
 thing should be ravaged by fire and sword, and that the fate 
 of Zara and of Candia should be renewed in that of Padua. 
 The middle of November had arrived, and Francesco 
 Terzo, hopeless of further contest, urged his father to ca- 
 pitulate ; but the signer spoke of aid from France and Hun- 
 gary, of a thousand lances already on their march under 
 the count his brother, and of a fleet which Genoa was 
 equipping. In his heart he had no real expectation but 
 from Florence ; and the citizens, little deceived by these 
 glittering prospects, at length showed symptoms of insub- 
 ordination. Seed-time had been lost ; their live-stock was 
 destroyed ; their country was a desert. They appeared hi 
 arms before the palace, and there extorted a promise from 
 their signer, that unless some of the great changes which 
 he foreboded should take place within ten days, it should then 
 be peace or war at their pleasure. They were much grati- 
 fied with this assurance, says the chronicler, and lovingly 
 took leave and withdrew. Not all, however, were thus 
 contented ; for, on the night which succeeded, the Santa 
 Croce gate was betrayed by its sentinels, and the first act 
 of the Venetians upon entering was to put to the sword 
 the traitors who admitted them. Carrara, roused by the 
 tumult, flew to attempt the recovery of the gate, whence, over- 
 powered by numbers, he retired contesting every street, and 
 endeavouring to gain time so that the inhabitants might 
 throw themselves into the strong fortification of their in- 
 nermost precinct. The tocsm rang to arms ; few, however, 
 obeyed the summons, or, if they did so, it was to save their 
 property, not to second their prince. After the most gal- 
 lant and unavailing efforts, Carrara, perceiving himself 
 abandoned, demanded a safe-conduct to the camp, where 
 he was received by Galeazzo and the provveditari. With 
 grave and stately courtesy, they listened to the expression 
 of his wish to submit, and his inquiry as to conditions, and 
 then replied that they were not invested with power to 
 ratify a treaty, but that they would accept the surrender, 
 and ascertain the pleasure of the signory. It was with dif- 
 ficulty that Francesco restrained his mounting indignation 
 as he rose to withdraw, saying that his defences were still 
 
 good, and that he would throw himself into the citadel. In 
 return, it was proposed to him that he should provisionally 
 resign the whole city and its fortresses into the hands of 
 the provveditorij while he negotiated with Venice. He 
 hesitated a few moments, and then turning to Galeazzo, 
 addressed him : " Captain, it is into your hands that I will in- 
 stantly surrender my city and my castle, if you wiil promise 
 upon Imightly faith and honour to restore them as you re- 
 ceive them, if I fail in coming to accord with the signory." 
 Galeazzo gave the desired pledge, and Carrara returned to 
 Padua to select his ambassadors, eight of whom were 
 named by the burghers, two by himself. On their arrival 
 at Venice, the former were admitted, the latter were refused 
 audience by the doge. Great pains were taken to separate 
 the interests of the citizens from those of their lord, and 
 the reservation of their privileges was tendered if they 
 would but treat independently of Carrara. 
 
 The prince, meantime, in full confidence of security, re- 
 turned to the camp, and partook with Galeazzo of a soldier's 
 board, at which Mestre was appointed as the place of con- 
 ference with the ambassadors on the following day. On 
 that day, however, Padua was occupied, contrary to the ex- 
 press stipulation of her lord, by Venetian troops, and the 
 keys and ensigns of authority were delivered, not to Gale- 
 azzo, but to the pravveditori. The citizens appeared care- 
 less of the change ; yet if, worn down by misery, they had 
 lost their attachment to Carrara, they at least testified no 
 joy at the accession of their new masters. Carrara too late 
 perceived that he was betrayed, and appealed to Gonzaga 
 for the fiilfilment of his pledge. That pledge was renewed ; 
 the Mantuan assured him afresh of protection, and of the 
 restoration of his city if the treaty should be rejected. He 
 vaunted the generosity of the signory, and proposed to ac- 
 company the prince and his son to Venice. Earnestly did 
 Francesco Terzo protest against this perilous step. Better 
 would it be, he said, to shut themselves up in their castle, 
 and set fire to it with their own hands, than thus tamely to 
 bare their throats to the knife of their butchers. " Father, 
 if we go, we go to certain death ; nevertheless, you gave 
 me life, and my obedience is always due to you."* With- 
 
 Vol. I.— D d 
 
 * Andrea Gataro, 937. 
 
 314 THE DA CARRARA HVIPRISONED AT VENICE. 
 
 AUr* •DTTT Tn ■nTATTT 
 
 Q1^ 
 
314 THE DA CARRARA IMPRISONED AT VENICE. 
 
 out means of resistance, and either unwilling to mistrust 
 that honour to which he had confided, or totally unappre- 
 hensive of the atrocity which the signory meditated, Car- 
 rara signified his assent to Galeazzo's proposition. The 
 voyage might have awakened suspicion of their fate ; for 
 they were conveyed in a covered boat, under a numerous 
 guard, and on landing at San Giorgio, where they passed 
 the night, they were received by the infuriated populace 
 with deafening shouts of « Death to Carrara !" Galeazzo 
 left them on the following morning, in order that he micrht 
 mtercede with the signory ; but his eiibrts were unavailing, 
 and he never returned. It is probable that he was sincere ; 
 that he deeply felt the stain cast upon his honour by the 
 violation of faith into which he had been entrapped, and 
 that he cither testified resentment which brought down 
 upon him the secret vengeance of a government to which 
 forgiveness was unknown, or fell the victim of remorse and 
 a deeply wounded spirit. He survived but a short tune 
 after this transaction.- 
 
 Amid the yells of the rabble, Carrara and his son were 
 led to the hall of the great council, where they knelt before 
 the feet of the doge. Steno, after a pause, raised and 
 seated them, one on each side of his throne. He then 
 reminded them of the deep obligations of their house to 
 Venice, and of the evil return whicJi they had oflered ; and 
 his reproaches were received submissively, and answered 
 only by entreaty. They were remanded to *San Giorgio, and 
 confined during the deliberation of the council, in which 
 Ijamshment to Cyprus or Candia, imprisonment on those 
 islands, or in the state dungeons of the capital, were seve- 
 rally proposed. For the present, it was determined that they 
 should be placed in a cage ;t and some deference was shown 
 to their station by the assignment of a servant and six gen- 
 
 * See the supplementary Note at the end of the Chapter Gataro htm 
 TZr^'^'' ^"' '^^ fidelity of Galea/.zo: he bur JZ a<rains hTnf ^ 
 the foUomng irr.i)as.sione(l words. Oh fe,1e veramenteca^rmdiG^Z 
 azzo da Mantoua, c tradUnci promeJefatte arZnaeT^cazii^ 
 delta nohdissima casa da Carrara ! 937. sraatcaziont 
 
 t Conduserodi far fare una gabbia sopra la Sala che i in Torresella 
 ezvimetterezl sienore e i Jighwli, e che osTni ghr^ioandassSos^i 
 Gfntcuo,n,nt a stare con loro, e dar loro un famigUoche TuTe^i^st \ 
 
 \ 
 
 ARE PUT TO DEATH. 
 
 315 
 
 tlemen as constant attendants. Meantime, during the re- 
 quisite preparations, they were transferred to the prisons 
 adjoining the ducal palace ; and in that gloomy abode the 
 si^mor found Giacomo, his second son, who had been in 
 captivity for five months, and who was ignorant of the fur- 
 ther disasters of his family. The interview was inexpressi- 
 bly touching. They were permitted to remain together 
 for a few days, and were then placed in separate cells. 
 
 A month had passed, and the fate of tlie prisoners ap- 
 peared still undecided. The Venetians hesitated to con- 
 summate their crime ; and willing, probably, to divide its 
 infamy with another, they seized the opportunity afforded 
 them by the arrival of Gincopo dal Verme, the bitterest ene- 
 my of the house of Carrara. He presented himself before 
 the Council of X., and declaimed at great length against the 
 captive princes. They had already, he said, been once de- 
 throned ; but they had arisen again to greater power than be- 
 fore. Their talents, their energy, their hereditary animosity 
 to Venice, the devotion of their subjects, sufficiently avouched 
 by the great sufferings which they had recently endured with 
 scarcely a murmur, thirty years of mutual injuries — all 
 these were adduced as furnishing so many reasons of state 
 for their destruction. Imprisonment was but a weak and 
 futile provision ; and the grave was the only cell in which 
 the republic could immure such prisoners with safety. The 
 X gladly consented to the reasonings of Dal Verme, 
 and on the 17th of Januar>^ Frate Benedetto, a 
 faithful servant of God, who had frequently acted as 
 confessor to the elder Carrara, was instructed to announce 
 the sentence. The signor performed his devotions, con- 
 fessed, and received the Eucharist ; and when the priest 
 withdrew, two members of the Council of X., two others of 
 the XL., a wretch named Bernardo de' Priuli, as chief exe- 
 cutioner, and twenty assistants entered the cell. Unwill- 
 ing to fall tamely, and disclaiming the authority which had 
 condemned him, the prince seized a stool, the sole furni- 
 ture of his chamber, and for a while successfully defended 
 himself, till the tragedy of Pomfret* in our own history was 
 renewed in his person. Overpowered by numbers, he was 
 stricken down ; and Priuli, standing over him till he ex- 
 
 * Richard II. 
 
 A. D. 
 
 1406. 
 
 316 
 
 BTTRUi OF THE DA CARRARA. 
 
 I 
 
tfil^S^^RiSPlffs 
 
 316 
 
 BtmiAt OF THE DA CARRARA. 
 
 pired, strangled him with a bowstring. On the following day 
 the sons were prepared for their fate by the same holy mes- 
 senger who had performed the sad office to their parent. 
 They embraced and parted tenderly. Francesco was first 
 led out to the cell which had been occupied by his father, and 
 strangled on the same spot by the same hand. The execu- 
 • tioner then returned to Giacomo : with a hollow voice he 
 asked if the deed was done, commended himself to Heaven, 
 and sought permission to write to his lady, Belfiore. The 
 youth, and the firm, though gentle, bearing of their last 
 victnn might have wrung pity from any hearts but those of 
 Venetian senators. "He was in his twenty-sixth year," 
 says Gfitaro, " tall, and as hand'-ome a cavalier as any in 
 Lombardy, fair, like his mother, thoughtful, mild-tempered, 
 and a lover of God ; his address was uncommonly sweet 
 and winning, his air angelic. Yet was he high-spirited, ac- 
 tive, and brave. If he had lived he would have been 
 another Scipio Africanus."* Having finished his brief let- 
 ter, he knelt ; and while repeating " Lord, into thy hands I 
 commend my spirit," he was strangled by Priufi. 
 
 The bodies of the young princes -/ere thrown into a boat, 
 and conveyed to the church of San Marco Baccallare, where 
 they were interred carelessly without any rites of sepulture • 
 that of Francesco himself received a mockery of funeral 
 honours. Habited, like his deceased father, in a rich suit of 
 Alexandrian velvet, his sword girt round his waist, and his 
 golden spurs upon his heels, he was conveyed to San Ste- 
 fano. A stone in the cloister of that church, without an 
 inscription, but marked with a singular device,t denotes the 
 resting place of the last and murdered Lord of Padua.t 
 
 * See also Andrea de Redusiis, ap. Murotori^ xix. 818. 
 
 [y^\ Can this be interpreted PATAVINVS ? It is said in the later 
 
 editions of the Foreslier Illuminato to mean Pro normd Tyrannorum 
 to which words no very distinct meaning appears to be attached * 
 
 X The family name of Carrara, like tliat of the Scottish Mac-n-eeors 
 was proscnbed A branch of the house which still exists, OMhdS 
 n'\T, %""; % ^f "^; ^"' compelled to adopt the name of PappaSva 
 (L Art de Verifier les Dates, iii. 665), a sobriquet, the origin of which has 
 
 raTra a'strufrofpr '? """'"'', ^'''■^'''- ^^"- ^5) MarsiSo d1 
 .arrara, Sigrior of Padua for one short month before his assassination 
 
 ;.«nif«f' ''^^'" ^ ^"'''' ^'^^ '«'^^^'^' ^"""e ^ Pestilence Xh rageS the 
 capital ma mouastery at Brondolo. "Now in all the great relidoua 
 jH)uses u IS an ancient custom to have vegetable l-^-oth at^ ^nnS eve?y 
 
 T7BERT1N0 AND MARSILIO CARRARA. 317 
 
 The vengeance of the republic, though glutted with blood 
 was still unsatiated. There yet remained two sons of 
 Francesco, who had eluded her deadly grasp, and a price 
 was set upon their heads. Four thousand florins were of- 
 fered to any one who would deliver cither of them alive to the 
 signory; three thousand to him who would assassinate 
 them. Yet, in spite of this proscription, Ubertino, the 
 elder, died a natural death at Florence, in 1407, and thirty 
 years must elapse from the events which we are now con- 
 eidenng, before, in the more violent fate of Marsilio, we 
 terminate the history of the injured and illustrious line of 
 Carrara. 
 
 day- of the week On Monday it is made of beans {fave\ on Tuesday 
 of haricots, on Wednesday of chick-pease, and so on. Marsilietio was 
 so fond of beans that it always appeared a thousand years to him tUl 
 the Monday came round ; and when it did, he devoured the beans with 
 such delight as was a pleasure to behold. He was therefore nicknamed 
 Pappa-fava (Bean-glutton) by the rest, and his descendants have retained 
 \RQ name." 
 
 Dd2 
 
 mA'- 
 
 fis^j^Sf ;■ i 
 
K'tk 
 
 (318) 
 
 SUPPLEMENTARY NOTE. 
 
 819 
 
 I 
 
 SUPPLEMENTARY NOTE 
 
 To page 311. 
 
 1 have retained the name Galcazzo in deference to the general voice of 
 Ins orians, ancient and modern ; nevertheless I feel a strong conviction 
 that It was Francesco di Gonzaga, Lord of Mantua, and not his general, 
 
 ?piT^''A'n''''°.K°"''"^"^'^^ ^^^'^'"^ P^d"^' an'^ to ^'hom Carrara surren- 
 dered. All authorities agree that Francesco, jointly with Giacono dal 
 Venne commanded at the siege of Verona, and that, after the surrender 
 pJn! '''1^?'' l^""^' ^''^^. "'^rched to unite themselves with Savello at 
 «n5 ^ • I? ^"^^^ mention of Galeazzo occurs after the death of Savello : 
 and he is then made the chief actor in the subsequent transactions 
 in hi'?' * Y,^''^"" ""^ ^^'' 'T'"''' elegance than accuracy, shows that even 
 ^.// f» T^ /^"""^ '""wf- *• ^"""^^ respecting the name. " Galeacius Gm- 
 menus Ma)ituan.iis illi m imperium, decreto patrum, successit. Qui- 
 damauctoresnon Griundlum sed Gonzagam, ac Francisci prin6wis 
 Mfrern euyn/msse tradunt- Dec. II. lib. viii. p. 432). Laugier, Sismondi 
 
 Prr^^rni 1 n''^''''''^ ^'^""'^^^^ »« substitutc Fra.'.cesco di Gonzaga. 
 
 VenTJ.r?r'i''f^''^''' ''"""'^ '''Sagi Francois Carrara d se re^idrl d 
 
 I enisepour trailer en personneses inUrHs avec le doge, Vassurant mVil 
 
 yseroit en toute surety. R fvt en consermence trs/amrdlvoiTls 
 
 ^nl^i^Ui^Z ^''""T ""f'T.f ^'f^^rep<lr.rcruiatmentdZsZ 
 prison, am SI que ses enfans (ui. G05) 
 
 }« Th.^Tr'^V/"^'""^^"' ^^'}^ testimony in favour of Francesco di Gonzaga 
 Is that of Mario Equicola, who wrote withm a ceniury of the tracedv 
 of Carrara ; and xvlio. from his connexion with the Manman coSt^me 
 was secretary to Isabella d'Este, consort of Giovanni Francesco II 
 
 ^TZ:lJlTAf^'r'' -'^^'^ '^^^^^^^^'^ authentic infonnatTon In 
 Si»^ D ^^"^o 3/an^ojfaTii occurs the following passage: Paolo Sa- 
 vello, Barmie Romano, fu eletto aWinipresa dt c^spugnarPadoua Jl 
 Gonzaga fu preposto coKtra Verona, la quale era di/esadaGiacovo 
 rZZ'l'^f^T'^'^'^''''''''''' '^ -"■'«^'«'^'- L^Aliprcmdiscrivech^ii 
 Cfnft^.^'- '^''"I'V''^. Ji "^^netiaru, e che detto Giacopo ficggmdo 
 
 SSvit^^'w ''"''^ ,^efru.rt«. z predetti Venetiani hebbero Padoua 
 Tn J J ^i\^^' «^-"^i^"^« ^^^ loro Capitano Francesco Gomaga. Donato 
 
 itmpt d Platina nella Vita d' Innocenzo VIL, e Giovan Filipvo nel 
 
 Idulta'se fAnintfr, ^;,^""^«;'\^'«^««^^o Orumello Mantouano, 
 SaTllo-ltn%r^n^in '^ ^'■"^^/^^-A*^^^^ sostituito in luogo di Paolo 
 viZi.lf rr^"^ '^ ^'^'^^'^'^ essere/ratello del Prmcipe di Mantoua 
 rrn.ZV^'^'7 "^^ P"'' ''^ *''-'^'' •• *^'*^'*' ^<=hi il Corildica Ga^azzo 
 yomaga, dopo la morte di Paolo Savello haver havuta la curadelTetsS^ 
 cztoch^ era contra Padoua. After recounting the murder of CaSa^^ 
 Equicola continues, Onde il Gonzaga ritorno non moltosodismtodi 
 quelsenato, perciochi, come dicono, havea essortato tlCa^aTXdare 
 
 ZlZ'''JViV''^ ^"-'^ '"«"«'■ ^'''''' *«^; prornettendoJuSeUbna. 
 ^ente andarehbe, e sicuro tornarebbe, ,e mn travasse comtZ7d' 
 
 xiccordo, 6 eke le cose sarebbono restate n'ello 'stato ch' egli le lasciava. 
 dtlche millafu da Venatinni osserrata (lib. ii, p. 127). 
 
 Galeazzo was killed at the siege of Trecco, in May, 1406 (Sanuto 834), 
 a death which affords no room for the suspicion which we have adopted, 
 la the text, Irom Sismondi. II ressentit et manifesta pcut-eire d'unc 
 maniire provoquante sa profonde indignation pour Vabus coupable 
 qu'on faisoit de sa parole; le senat ne suuffroit pas volantkrs Its 
 reproches de ses gens de guerre et Galeaz mourut au bout de pue de 
 gemaines (ch. lix. p. 123). Francesco di Gonzaga died in March, 14()7. 
 His character, as represented by Equicola from Poggio, is that of a man 
 deeply sensitive on points of honour, and who would, therefore, sufter 
 m«st acutely from the recollection of the base and cruel deed in wliicii 
 he had been made an involuntary tool. Huomo savio, e che piu sti?na 
 facea della/ede data et del giuramcnto, che di nimV ultra cosa offer tasli 
 (128). "" 
 
 It is not probable that Carrara would have relied upon the protection 
 of a subordinate Mantuan rather than that of Carlo Zeno. On llie other 
 hand, if the Prince of Mantua were himself present, there i.s good rtHSou 
 why he should be selected. The Lord of Padua might prefer ofTeriii? 
 his submission to the Lord of Mantua rather than to a Venetian prw- 
 veditore; but surely he would choose the first delegate of a powerful 
 republic, and that delegate the most renowned warrior of his time, before 
 the military representative of the chief of a ])ctty district. 
 
 Two remarkable single combats, in which this Galeazzo was engaged, 
 are recorded in the Chronicon Tarrisittuin of Andrea de Raiiusiis. Dne 
 was fought in France with a gigantic Englishman, whom the chronirler 
 names Rubinus iVortZ/its (Robin* Newman ?). This eliarnniou had 
 already been seven times victor in similar combats, and no FroMcliinan 
 could be found who would accept his challenge. The two knighiR 
 entered the lists on foot ; and Novellus, who bore a huge iron battle-axe, 
 swung it round his head with the most terrific force; but (ialeazzo 
 avoided the blow by springing aside with great agi'ity as it descended, 
 and jumping upon his antagonist while he was again endeavouring 
 once more to raise his jwnderous weapon, felled him by a single stroke 
 on the hack of the head. At the entreaty of the King of France he 
 spared his pri-soner's life, and received, in consequence, a pension of six 
 hundred golden ducats from the royal bounty. The second duel occurred 
 at Padua in the presence of many noble Venetians. It was fought, as 
 we imagine, with the Marechal de Boucicauit {BuxicaUlus Francigena), 
 but it terminated by the interference of the judges of the field, witliout 
 bloodshed, or the assignment of victory to either party (ao. Murat. 
 3LU. 815). 
 
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 fliiY LIBRARY. 
 
 N°. XLIV. 
 
 S K ETCHES 
 
 i S HISTORY- 
 
 
 IN TWO VOLUMES. 
 VOL. II. 
 
 1 
 
 1^ 4» J. HAUPKK, se CLIFF STREEr 
 
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 VOL. II. 
 
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 l5.~&yEt-rg%'-.3i>i- ,.i«a:askimgii.Uj.> jajas 
 
It 
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 OF 
 
 THE SECOND VOLUME. 
 
 I 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 FROM A. D. 1406 TO A. D. 1432. 
 
 Process against Carlo Zenn— His last Years and Death — Affairs of Mi- 
 lan — Faciino Cane — Filippo Maria Visconti — Beatrice Tenda — Nego- 
 tiations with Florence — Rise and Disgrace of Francesco di Canna- 
 gnunla — First War with Milan — Siege and Capture of Brescia — Peace 
 —Second War with Milan— Battle of Casal Secco — Battle of Macalo 
 —Release of Prisoners by Cannagnuola — Peace — Third W^ar with 
 Milan — Total Destruction of the Venetian Flotilla — Carmagnuola in- 
 vited to Venice — His Condemnation and Execution Page 9 
 
 CHAPTER XH. 
 
 FROM A. D. 1432 TO A. D. 1450. 
 
 Peace of Ferrara — Rash Enterprise and Death of Marsilio da Carrara — 
 War renewed with Milan— Origin of the Family of Sforza— Treachery 
 of the Duke of Mantua — Brilliant Retreat of (-atta Melata— Francesco 
 Sforza assumes the Command of the Venetian Army— Siege of Brescia 
 —'i'ransport of a Flotilla overland to the Lago di Garda— Battle of Tenna 
 — Singular Escape of Piccinino — Sforza rejects Overtures from the 
 Duke of Milan — Sforza surroiuided at Martenengo— Terms unexjiect- 
 edly offered by the Duke of Milan — Peace of Capriana— Marriage of 
 Sforza with the Princess Bianca— Death of Filippo-Maria Visconti — 
 His Character — Milan declares herselfa free Republic — Engages Sforza 
 as her General— Battle of Caravaggio — ISoble Forbearance of Sforza — 
 He makes Peace with Venice — Treachery of the A'enetians — Slorza 
 blockades Milan— Its Surrender — He assumes the Ducal Crown. • 37 
 
 CHAPTER Xin. 
 
 FROM A. D. 1450 TO A. D. 1479. 
 
 Continuation of the War with Francesco Sforza— Visit of the Emperor 
 Frederic III. to Venice— Peace with Sforza— Treaty with the Turks— 
 
 A 2 
 
 505^0 
 
 >>aa is>^ieai„s*-*i 
 
H^gl^Hg^g^jgy^l^^ 
 
 5 CONTENTS. 
 
 Robbery of the Treasury of St. Mark's-The two Foscari— The In- 
 ouisiiion of State-Turkish War— Crusade of Pius II.— Deatli of 
 Prancesoo Sforza-Invasioii of Friuli -Fall of Croia— Siege of Scu- 
 tari—Peace with Mahomet II 68 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 FROM A. I). 1464 TO A. D. 1506. 
 
 Giacopo Lusienano usurps the Crown of Cyprus— He marries Catarina 
 Cornaro— His Death— Insurrection of the Cypriots— Deposition of 
 Queen Catarina— Cyprus becomes a Province of Venice— The Turks 
 sack Otranto— Lodovico the More usurps the Crown of Milan— In- 
 vites the French into Italy— Invasion ol Charles VIII.— He conquers 
 Naple.s— Lmliassv of Philippe de Coniines to Venice— Retreat of the 
 French— Battle of Fornovo— Victory claimed by the Venetians— De- 
 thronement and Captivitvof Lodovico Sforza— Wealth and Dominion 
 of Venice at the close of the Fiaeenth Century— War with the Em- 
 peror—Truce—Jealousy of the great European Powers 104 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 FIl0>t A. D. 1508 TO A. D. 1509. 
 
 Causes of the Leajjue of Cambrai— Julius II. discloses it to the Venetians 
 —Preparations for Resistance— Evil Omens— Total Defeat of the Ve- 
 netians at Agnadello— Louis XII. at Mestre— Terror in V^enice— Loss 
 of all her Dominions on Terra f/r/na— Fortitude of the Government — 
 Measures for Defence— Decree releasing the Provinces from Alle- 
 giance-Favourable Negotiation with the Pope— Successful Resist- 
 ance of Treviso — Surprise of Padua— Maximilian prepares for its 
 Siege— Capture of the Duke of Mantua- Brilliant Detence of Padua — 
 Achievements (if the (.'hevslier Bayard— The German Men-at-arms re- 
 fuse to mount the Breach — Maximilian raises the Siege in disgust. .138 
 
 CHAPTER XVL 
 
 FROM A. D. 1509 TO A. D. 1516. 
 
 Reconciliation with Julius II. — Harangue of Louis Helian at the Diet 
 of the Emi)ire— Campaigns of 1510 and 1511— The Holy League — 
 Gaston rie Foix commands the French— Storm of Brescia— Generosity 
 of Bayard— Battle of Ravenna — Alliance between Venice and France 
 — Accession of Leo X. — Battle of Novarra — Battle of Motfa — Acces- 
 sion of Francis I. — Battle of Marignano — Death of D'Alviano — Treaiy 
 of Noyon, and Conclusion of the Wars arising out of the League of 
 Cambrai 161 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 FROM A. n. 1516 TO A. D. 1573. 
 
 Necessity for a tempori/.ing Policy — Wars of Charier? V. and Francis I 
 —Peace of Cambrai — Turkish War— Jternarkable E.\ertion of Power by 
 
 CONTENTS. 7 
 
 * 
 
 the Ten in procuring Peace— Treachery of the Venetian Secretaries — 
 Thirty Yeans' Peace— Progress of ihe Arts— Titian— Ambition of 
 Selim II. — Fire in the Arsenal at Venice- Selim declares War — De- 
 scent upon Cyprus— Siege and Capture of Nicosia— Of Famagosta, and 
 entire Conquest of Cyprus— Fate of Bragaono — Trijile Alliance be- 
 tween the Po|)e. Spain, and Venice — The Ottoman Fleet in the Ad- 
 riatic — Don .Tohn of Austria commands the Allies — Battle of Le- 
 panto — Inactivity of the Confederates — Peace between Turkey and 
 Venice 188 
 
 CHAPTER XVIIL 
 
 FROM A. D. 1573 TO A. D. 1617. 
 
 Vi.sit of Henry TTI. to Venice —Plague— Embellishment of the Capital — 
 The Rialto — Story of Bianca Cap|H;llo — Alliance with Henry IV. — 
 The Alchymist Bragadino — Interdict of Paul V. — Triumph of Venice — 
 Attempt on the Lift; of Fra Paolo Sarpi — Apology of James I. — War 
 of the Uscocchi 232 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 FROM A. D. 1618 TO A. D. 1669, 
 
 Conspiracy of 1618— Sentence of Foscari ni— Attack upon the Cotmcil 
 of Ten— Venetian Manners— War of Candia 264 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 FROM A. D. 1670 TO A. D. 1798, 
 
 Trial of Morosini — Annulment of the Election of Giovanni Sagredo— 
 War with Turkey — Conquest of the Morea — Peace of Carlowitz — 
 SecjKid War with Turkey — Loss of the Morea — Successful Defence 
 of Corfu by Count Schullenbourg — Peace of Passarowitz — Neutrality 
 subsequently observed by Venice — Expeditions against the African 
 Corsairs — Attacks upon the Ten — Demoralization of Venice — Com- 
 mencement of the French Revolution — Campaigns of Bonaparte in 
 Italy — Indecision of »he Signory — Bloody Affray at Verona — Capture 
 of a French Vessel at Lido — Bona|»arte declares War — Imbecility of 
 the (ioverntnent — Abdication of the Doge Manini — The French oc- 
 <;upv Venice — Venice transferred to Austria by the Treaty of Campo 
 Forlnio 296 
 
SKETCHES 
 
 riiOM 
 
 VENETIAN HISTORY 
 
 1 
 
 \ 
 
 ENGRAVINGS IN VOL. II. 
 
 I I 
 
 I. 
 II. 
 
 ni. 
 
 IV. 
 V. 
 
 PLATE. 
 Venice, as it appeared in 1765. Frontiapiece. 
 
 WOODCUTS. 
 
 Francesco ajid Bianca Sforza, from their Tonnb at Milan. P. 103. 
 An Arquebu.sier, and a Soldier in Garrison— XVth Century (Irorn 
 
 Titian). P. 137. 
 King of France— King of Spain (from Titian). P. 187. 
 Venetian Ladv dyin? her Hair (from Titian). P. 295. 
 The Horses of St. Mark's. P. 321. 
 
 V. 
 
 1 
 
 H 
 
 kt> 
 
 CHAPTER XT. 
 
 FROM A. D. 1406 TO l.D. 1432. 
 
 Process ajrainst Carlo Zeno-His last Years and Death— AflTairs of ML'an 
 tacimo Cane— Filippo-Maria Visconti— Peatrice Terida— Negolia- 
 iions vyith Florence— Rise and Disgraoe of Francesco di Carrnagnuola 
 — I'lrsi vvar with Milan— Siege and Capture of Brescia— Peace— 
 feecond War with Milan-Battle of Casal Secco-Battle of Macalo— 
 Keiease 0/ Prisoners by Carrnagnuola— Peace— Third War with Mi- 
 1*",T^.°"*' Destruction of the Venetian Floiii la— Carrnagnuola invited 
 to Venice— His Condemnation and Execution. 
 
 A. D. 
 
 DOGES. 
 
 MiCHAELE StENO. 
 1413. LXVT. TOMASO MONCENIGO, 
 
 1423. Lxvii. Francesco Foscabi, 
 
 About the hour of vespers on the 17th of January, 1406, 
 reports of the death of Francesco da Carrara were circulated 
 througn Venice, with such variations respecting its attend- 
 ant circumstances as the difficulty of ohtaining correct 
 knowledge of truth, or the danger of repeating more than 
 the government might be pleased to avow, attached, for the 
 most part, to all great national transactions of the repub- 
 lic. Some of the busy knots assembled in the piazza mys- 
 teriously hinted the facts as they really occurred, and loudly 
 praised the indefeasible power and justice of their rulers. 
 The majority, with greater caution, averred that the Lord 
 of Padua had died of a catarrh ;* and significantly congratu- 
 
 ♦,Sanuto, 832, /u deito esser morto di catarrcu 
 
10 REFLECTIONS ON THE EXECUTION OF 
 
 lated one another by the application of the chief argument 
 on which Giacopo dal Verme had rested the necessity and 
 the poUcy of the bloody sentence, » A dead man makes no 
 war ''* We know not whether it was durmg a period ot 
 former alliance, or after this unhappy prmce's death, that 
 his statue was placed in the hall of the armoury of the 
 Council of Ten ;t but down even to our own days, the mem- 
 bers of the dark and despotic tribunal by which was per- 
 petrated the great crime of his murder, could never assem- 
 ble to deliberate on fresh deeds of cruelty, without passmg 
 under the very image and likeness of their most illustrious 
 
 ""'uTs painful to remember that Carlo Zeno had any share 
 in this most atrocious and unjustifiable process, and there 
 is no one who will not be gratified to learn, that although 
 he is named among the commissioners to whom the hrst 
 cognizance of it was intrusted, he does not appear to have 
 voted for a higher punishment than imprisonment^ Lven 
 such an infliction, however, would have been a gross breach 
 of the law of nations ; for Carrara was an independent 
 govereian, long recognised as such by Venice herself, and 
 resting his title on claims to the full as legitimate as those 
 of any other Italian prince of his time. He had a plenary 
 right of peace and war ; and, under defeat, the sole penal- 
 ties to which he could be justly subjected were those com- 
 mon to the vanquished ; ri curtailment or forfeiture of his 
 dominions, and captivity till he should be ransomed. But 
 even from these rights of victory his enemies were precluded 
 bv the engagements under which he had been decoyed to 
 Venice ; tnd having freely confided himself to their safe- 
 conduct for the purpose of negotiation, he could be as little 
 regarded a prisoner of war, as an offender against laws to 
 which he did not owe obedience. His condemnation was a 
 ffrievous arid crying wickedness ; and— would that it were 
 without such a parallel !— must be classed by historians in 
 the same page with that of the hapless Mary of Scotland. 
 A most odious act of ingratitude towards the wisest, 
 purest, bravest, and greatest individual of his times yet 
 remains to be recorded in illustration of the detestable policy 
 of the Council of Ten. Immediately on the occupation of 
 
 * Smxxto, ?22,vommortononfaguerra. 
 
 t yonstaro illuminato, 31. t Sanuto, 829. 
 
 ^ISSf¥?S5K|{5S».*iJ!^li5■=■ ■ 
 
 FRANCESCO DA CARRARA. 
 
 11 
 
 Padua, commissioners were appointed to inspect and regis- 
 ter the property of the recent signor, and among these 
 dividers of the spoil Carlo Zeno was numbered. The set- 
 tlement, however, demanded a longer absence from home 
 than his advanced years now rendered convenient ; and 
 accordingly he solicited recall, and received the desired per- 
 mission. In arranging the papers of Carrara, a memoran- 
 dum was found touching the payment of 400 ducats to 
 Zeno ; an insignificant transaction, of which, by accepting 
 the proffered commissionership, he would have possessed 
 full power, if he had so wished, to obUterate every trace. 
 The sum too was so utterly unimportant to a rich Venetian 
 noble, distinguished by the boundless liberality of his gen- 
 eral expenditure, and by the magnificent donations which 
 he had bestowed upon the state during the war of Chiozza, 
 that the most ingenious jealousy of suspicion could scarcely 
 exaggerate this trifling payment into a bribe ; even if the 
 long and splendid services, the tried and established fidelity, 
 and the spotless and unassailable honour of the personage 
 chiefly concerned, had failed of themselves to secure him 
 from the possibility of a charge so monstrous. No whisper 
 of corruption, however, was breathed, and not a shadow of 
 doubt remained upon the minds of the commissioners who 
 denounced Zeno to the avvogadori, of the avvogadari who 
 accused him to the Ten, or of the Ten themselves who judged 
 the cause, that the short and simple explanation oflfered by 
 the defendant was in strict accordance with truth. Zeno 
 stated, that on passing through Asti, while on his route for 
 investiture by Galeazzo Visconti with the government of 
 Milan, he found Carrara, at that time a prisoner, destitute 
 of comforts and almost even of necessaries : touched with 
 pity for the low fortunes of a prince at once a personal 
 fiiend, an ally of the republic, and a Venetian senator, 
 Zeno opened to him his own stores, loaded him with pres- 
 ents, and tendered that loan of which the memorandimi 
 now produced was but a note of repayment, unwillingly ac- 
 cepted after Carrara's restoration.* But this instinct of a 
 frank and generous nature prompting the relief of a great 
 man in adversity, had nothing in it which could awaken 
 sympathy in the cold and passionless assembly to which it 
 
 * Neque petenti, neque volenti, sed ohstinati etictm recusanti, et plank 
 invito. Vit. C. Z«^m ajnid Muratori, XIX. 345. 
 
12 DISGRACE AND DEATH OF CARLO ZENO. 
 
 was related. The charge upon which they had to decide 
 involved a money transaction with a foreign potentate ; to 
 lend to such a one was inconsistent with the strict duty of 
 a Venetian, but to receive from him became a high state 
 crime. The iron and unbending despotism of the Venetian 
 law refused to admit any qualification or excuse for a trans- 
 gression of its literjil ccije : and the very splendour of Carlo 
 Zeno's name, as it rendered his deviation more conspicuous, 
 was to be received, not as a plea for pardon, but in aggrava- 
 tion of penalty. He was sentenced to dismissal from all 
 his offices, and imprisonment for two years. That such a 
 judgment should be passed accords as closely with the 
 general character of the government which inflicted it, as 
 implicit and unmurmuring submission does with that of 
 Zeno : but if it be asked why his fellow-citizens did not 
 rise as one man, and demand the liberation of their great 
 and guiltless hero, the chief glory of their country and 
 their age I the problem must be resolved either by the want 
 of feeling of the many, or their want of power, when op- 
 posed to authority, which, although administered without 
 regard to justice, was nevertheless strongly and discreetly 
 organized for its own maintenance and preservation. 
 
 The remaining years of Carlo Zeno's life were spent 
 almost in as full activity as those of his youth. We read of 
 a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, of his employnaent as com- 
 mander of the Cypriotes in repelling an invasion of the Ge- 
 noese, and even of his remarriage, when now long past the 
 psalmist's limits of the age of man. Fully retaining all 
 his faculties till the latest moment, he expired on the 8th 
 of May, 1418, a few days after the completion of his eighty- 
 fourth year. His body, when preparing for the last rites, 
 exhibited scars of no fewer than thirty-five wounds ; it was 
 interred with magnificent honours becoming his unexampled 
 merits ; attended by the doge and senate, and the whole 
 marshalled population of his fellow-citizens ; and borne, at 
 their zealous and express desire, by the mariners who had 
 served under him, and who eagerly thronged to support in 
 turn the precious burden. The Latin funeral oration spoken 
 at his grave by Leonardo Justiniani is still preserved to usj; 
 and if it cannot rank in eloquence with those of Pericles 
 and Mark Antony, still the facts which it relates of him 
 who is its subject places him most deservedly among those 
 
 MILAN — FILIPPO-MARIA VISCONTI. 
 
 13 
 
 very few of mankind, who, not less by their solid vit^iew 
 than by their dazzling exploits, have attained the summit 
 of human glory. 
 
 It is to Milan that the thread of our history now for a 
 while reconducts us. Few periods of heavier calamity ever 
 afflicted the always suffering Lombard cities than 
 that which is comprised in the ten years succeeding f' ^' 
 the demise of Giovanni-Galeazzo Visconti. Of the ^^' 
 regency of his widowed Duchess Catarina we have already 
 spoken ; it was stained by weakness, cruelty, and 
 bloodshed, and it terminated in her imprisonment and f'J^: 
 violent death by poison. Giovanni-Maria, the eldest ^^' 
 of Galeazzo's two legitimate sons, on his emancipation from 
 tutelage and accession to the throne of Milan, abandoned 
 himself to the wildest impulses of insane ferocity ; and if 
 the chroniclers may be believed, he slaked his unnatural 
 thirst for blood by training his hounds to the chase of crimi- 
 nals, and feeding them upon human flesh. To his brother, 
 Fihppo-Maria, had fallen the sovereignty of Pavia ; but 
 during the weakness of that prince's minority, the virtual 
 rule had been wrested fi-om him by the ambition of Facirao 
 Cane, the neighbouring Lord of Alexandria ; who found 
 little difficulty in soon afterward extending his dominion 
 over Milan itself. That he still permitted the brothers whom 
 lie had dethroned to live must be attributed to his own want 
 of issue ; and the terrified Milanese, perceiving while the 
 usurper, after several years peaceable rule, lay on his death- 
 bed, that his authority was about to revert to the monster 
 whose savage nature had been awhile controlled, 
 rose in a body and massacred Giovanni-Maria. Faci- ^' Pi 
 mo Cane survived but a few hours after this outrage, ^^^^' 
 and in his last words, as if he himself had preserved invio- 
 late allegiance, he denounced the treachery which had thus 
 cut oflf the legitimate sovereign of Lombardy, and disre- 
 garded the natural rights of the son of her ancient lord. It 
 was at first supposed that Filippo-Maria would be involved 
 in a fate similar to that of his brother, and that the throne 
 would be transferred to Hector, a son of the late Bernabo 
 Visconti : but Filippo, with a foresight little expected from 
 his youth, lost not a moment in securing the castle of Pavia 
 aiid proflTermg his hand to the widow of Facimo Cane. 
 Their disparity of years (the prince was twenty, Beatrice 
 Vol. IL— B ^ 
 
 i 
 
mmMsm 
 
 
 14 
 
 Beatrice tenda. 
 
 Tenda, whom he espoused, double that age) weighed little? 
 acrainst the substantial advantages of this alliance ; which 
 secured the support of all the followers of Cane, and fimily 
 established Filippo-Maria in the dukedom of his late father. 
 Scarcely, however, did he feel his power rooted, before, dis- 
 regarding all bonds of gratitude, the treacherous prince 
 threw otf his disguise. Beatrice, no longer necessary to 
 promote his ambition, proved an encumbrance upon his 
 pleasures ; and at the expense of an atrocious crime, he 
 eagerly sought relief from her oppressive virtues and his 
 own burdensome sense of obligation. A false charge of in- 
 fidelity hurried her to the scalfold ; and the pathetic circum- 
 stances attendant upon her undeserved fote— her meek yet 
 noble bearing — her unshaken avowals of innocence even 
 under the agonies of the rack, and in the teeth of a confes- 
 sion extorted by similar terrors from the wretched youth 
 Michaele Orombelli, with whom it was attempted to crimi- 
 nate her— her dignified, yet not bitter upbraidings of his 
 weakness— and her firm reliance that Heaven, though now 
 pressing sorely on her in its visitation, would hereafter 
 rescue her memory from dishonour — might be turned to 
 good account, from the pages in which Andrea Billio*has 
 recorded them, by any future poet who may venture once 
 again to dramatize the parallel sad tale of Smeaton and our 
 own Anna Boleyn. 
 
 Filippo-Maria by no means dissembled that it was his in- 
 tention to attempt the recovery of his entire hereditary do- 
 minions, and in the event of his success, Venice, among 
 other powers, must prepare for restitution. Of all those 
 governments which had regarded the progress of Visconti 
 with jealousy, and combated it with vigour, none continued 
 more forward in demonstrations of vigilance and opposition 
 than Florence ; and in their common danger she earnestly 
 solicited the accession of Venice to a general league of 
 northern Italy against the overweening ambition of Milan. 
 It is not often that history, before the invention of the art 
 of printing, affords documents so precise as those with 
 which this transaction may be illustrated ; for Sanuto, an 
 author of high rank and of indisputable veracity, who 
 wrote within fifty years of the event, has presented us with 
 
 * Hist. Mediol III. 51, apud Murat. XIX. 
 
 debates on the FLORENTINE ALLIANCE. 15 
 
 a transcript of the very speeches delivered by the Doge 
 Monceuigo in the debates relating to this Florentine nego- 
 tiation. They are copies, as the chronicle assures us, from 
 the original MS. communicated by the doge himself; and 
 they must be received therefore, not as representing such 
 arguments as the historian imagined might have been era- 
 ployed, but those which really and absolutely fell from the 
 mouth of the speaker. The great advocate in the Venetian 
 council for this alliance, and for war against Milan, was 
 Francesco J^oscari, one of the procuratori ; a sage whose 
 wisdom was matured by the experience of fifty winters, yet 
 whom Moncenijjo nevertheless addresses throuijhout as 
 " youthful procuratore /" He presses him by arguments 
 from a most extensive range of history both sacred and 
 profane, not always, it must be confessed indeed, drawn 
 with very strict logical precision. " God," he says, as the 
 substance of his speech may be paraphrased, *' created the 
 angels and gifted them with free-will, but unhappily they 
 chose evil instead of good, and therefore they fell ; even so 
 have the Florentines fallen by preferring war to peace, and 
 so shall loe also fall if we imitate their example. God 
 created Adam wise, good, and perfect, and it was by disobe- 
 dience that he lost Paradise ; the Florentines have done in 
 like manner, and even so shall we do also if we permit our- 
 selves to be seduced by the youthful procuratore. As in the 
 deluge all men except the just Noah and his family were 
 drowned, so will the Florentines be obliged to take refuge 
 in our ark from the destruction which they are calling down 
 upon themselves. As after the deluge the race of giants, 
 forgetting the fear of God, had their single tongue split 
 into sixty-six languages, and in the end separated from each 
 other and disappeared for ever, so will the Florentine lan- 
 guage give place to sixty-six dialects, and the inhabitants of 
 that city will be scattered widely over the earth. It was 
 peace which constituted the magnificence of Troy, swelled 
 her population, increased her palaces, multiplied her trea» 
 sures, enhanced her arts, and strengthened her with pow- 
 erftil throngs of chiefs, kniirhfs^ and barons ; war, on the 
 other hand, was her destruction, as war will be the destruc- 
 tion of Florence. It was the idolatry of Solomon and the 
 fipostacy of Rehoboam which gave birth to the schism of 
 the Ten Tribes : even su,*' continues the orator, — although 
 
16 
 
 DEATH AND CHARACTER OF 
 
 THE DOGE MONCENIGO. 
 
 17 
 
 f 
 
 here the thread of his argument is too finely spun to be re- 
 tained by our grasp — " the towns now ruled by Florence 
 will be transferred to Milan. Rome, thanks to her govern- 
 ment and to peace, became great and powerful"— an asser- 
 tion which either betrays on the part of the doge no small 
 unacquaintance with the state-craft of the eternal city, or 
 else exhibits no slight dexterity in appropriating to his pur- 
 pose a very stubborn and inapplicable argument, " The 
 first Punic war, but for Scipio, would have occasioned her 
 overthrow, and her succeeding restlessness and ambition 
 subjected her to the tyranny of CaBsar ; so Florence, by her 
 love of war, is preparing for herself a military despotism." 
 After these and many similar reasonings, expanded far be- 
 yond the compressed form in which they appear above, we 
 are presented with a very singular and important tabular 
 view of Lombardo- Venetian commerce, in which the ex- 
 ports and imports from the Lagune are valued at the great 
 annual sum of 28,800,000 ducats.* Well might Monce- 
 nigo ask, " Think you not this a very pretty garden for 
 Venice, youthful procuratore ?" The Florentines however, 
 in a new embassy, sought arguments from the doge's own 
 school, and employed them with equal precision of applica- 
 tion. *' If Venice," they said, " did not come to their suc- 
 cour, they must act like Samson, who uprooted a column, 
 in order that by destroying Dagon's temple he might whelm 
 his enemies together with himself." In spite of this rep- 
 resentation the pacific counsels of the doge prevailed, and 
 while his life continued the league was deferred, and a 
 treaty often years' alliance confirmed with Visconti. Mon- 
 cenigo, finding his end approaching, assembled the chief sen- 
 ators round his sick bed, and having once more renewed his 
 exhortations for the careful avoidance of rash and hasty 
 measures which might embroil the state in a ruinous war, 
 he ran over to them the characters of those nobles who 
 might probably be candidates for the succession after his 
 death ; and having commended most of them for virtue and 
 ability, he concluded by adding, that " those who may pro- 
 pose to you Francesco Foscari cannot have deliberated pro- 
 
 * The agreeable writer of the History of Italy, under the name of 
 George Perceval, calculates the current ducat of that time at 3«. 6d. ; 
 the golden ducat (of which Venice coined a million annually) at 14*. ; 
 And money at about six times its present value.— (II. 74-> 
 
 foujidly on their intention. God preserve you from such a 
 choice ! for if it be made, you will have war : then those 
 who have 10,000 ducats will be reduced to 1000, those who 
 have ten houses will retain but one, and every thing also will 
 be diminished in similar proportion. Reputation, credit, 
 property will be at an end ; and instead of remaining mas- 
 ters of your hired soldiers, you will find yourselves reduced 
 to be their slaves." 
 
 Moncenigo died in the spring of 1423, at the advanced 
 age of eighty. He was well versed in the commercial and 
 maritime aflfairs of his country, and he advanced them to 
 unexampled prosperity. A census taken under his reign 
 fixed the population of the capital at 190,000 souls; and 
 the embellishment of his great metropolis was a favourite 
 object with this wise prince. By him was laid the founda- 
 tion of the library of St. Mark, to the construction of which 
 he apportioned 4000 ducats yearly from the duties on salt ; 
 but the work was often interrupted, and not renewed with 
 activity till a century after his death. If we hesitate re- 
 specting his claim to eloquence, we must willingly concede 
 to him the praise of sound discretion ; and of his singular 
 firmness of purpose and disinterestedness a very remarkable 
 instance remains to be produced. An accidental fire having 
 destroyed great part of St. Mark's, injured much also of 
 the ancient ducal palace ; yet the awogadorij ever anxious 
 to depress the majesty of the prince, while they proceeded 
 to the immediate restoration of the cathedral, procured a 
 decree, rendering it highly penal for any one to suggest the 
 rebuilding of the palace ; and affixing a fine of 1000 ducats 
 to the bare a,dvancen)ent of such a proposal. Moncenigo, 
 at one of the meetings of the senate, poured the stipulated 
 fine on the council table, and having purchased full Uberty 
 of speech at that lavish price, he persisted in urging upon 
 the nobles the necessity of lodging their chief magistrate 
 in an edifice becoming the dignity of the republic, till he 
 obtained their assent to the commencement of that pile 
 which contributes so largely, at the present hour, to the 
 magnificence of Venetian architecture. 
 
 After a deliberation of six days, hi the course of which 
 nine scrutinies occurred, Francesco Foscari, the 
 very procuratore whom Moncenigo had denounce<il, 1^*90* 
 was elected doge, by dint of gold ; and the ascend- 
 
 B2 
 
 "ir 
 
 

 18 
 
 FLORENCE AGAIN NEGOTIATES 
 
 FOR ALLIANCE. 
 
 19 
 
 ency of the war faction was thus estabhshed. When he 
 was about to be announced to the populace m the hitherto 
 customary form, "We have chosen Francesco Foscari doge, 
 if such be your pleasure," the grand chancellor somewhat 
 naively inquired, "And if the people were to say 'iNo, 
 what would you do]" This question suggested a danger 
 which it was thought politic to avoid, and accordingly the 
 election was notified to the assembled commons, for the first 
 time, in these words, « We have chosen Francesco Toscari 
 doge ;" a formula which henceforward prevailed in all sub- 
 sequent accessions, and which swept away the single re- 
 maining memorial of the original popular privileges.* 
 
 The opening of Foscari's reign was unpropiUous, tor the 
 plague reappeared in December, and carried off full 16,000 
 souls ; and now for the first time, notwithstanding the often 
 * repeated visitations which we have had occasion to notice, 
 and the mortality consequent upon them, were public mea- 
 sures adopted to prevent the recurrence of a like fearful 
 calamity. The rudiments of the health-office and the 
 foundation of the lazaretto vecchiOf on the island still 
 devoted to the same important use, are attributed to this 
 period. Five years of alliance still remained unexpired 
 between Milan and Venice, yet Florence was unceasing in 
 her efforts to produce a rupture of the treaty. In the field, 
 she had been everywhere unfortunate, and defeat rapidly 
 succeeding defeat rendered foreign aid indispensable if she 
 hoped to preserve a shadow of independence. But the very 
 necessities which increased her urgency diminished the va- 
 lue of her alliance ; and when her ambassadors, admitted 
 by the senate to their third audience, declaimed against the 
 ambition of Visconti, and impressed upon the Venetians 
 that their liberty would not long survive the overthrow of 
 Florence, the council, notwithstanding the avowed tendency 
 of Foscari's wishes, lent but a cold ear to their entreaties. 
 The counter declarations of the Duke of Milan, whose en- 
 voys vaunted the constant amity which their piaster had 
 exhibited towards the republic, and the moderation, justice, 
 and pacific temper which he had manifested by his cession 
 of Verona, Vicenza, and Padua, all indisputably ancient 
 possessions of his house, were not likely to be received by 
 
 * Sanuto aptid Murat, zxii. 967. 
 
 the senate as altogether true ; but it was impossible to deny 
 the soundness of that principle which recommended them 
 not to seek by injustice a security which they already pos- 
 sessed, which had never been violated, and which war was 
 far less likely to guaranty than peace. To these powerful 
 arguments neither the Florentines nor the doge, who es- 
 poused their cause, could offer any satisfactory reply ; and 
 this mission, like those which preceded it, would probably 
 have been unavailing, but for the unexpected influence oli- 
 tamed and exercised at the moment by a foreigner, now a 
 disgraced fugitive from Milan, and once a formidable enemy 
 to Florence. "^ 
 
 The later princes of the house of Visconti, however suc- 
 cessful in war, exhibited but little military enterprise in their 
 own persons ; and they were indebted for victory far more 
 to their prudent choice of commanders than to any skill or 
 prowess of their own. Necessity, however, at the moment 
 of Facimo Cane's death, had compelled Filippo-Maria to 
 appear at the head of his troops ; and in a rencounter under 
 the walls of Monza, during that short critical period in 
 which his fortunes were wavering in the balance, he had 
 noted with especial admiration the distinguished gallantry 
 of one of his followers. Francesco Buffo, the son of a 
 peasant at Carmagnuola, dashed forward from the ranks in 
 which he served as a private ; and closely pursuing Hector 
 Visconti (the shadow whom the antagonists of Filippo- 
 Maria opposed to him), but for a stumble of his horse, would 
 have captured the flying prince, in spite of the resistance 
 of a numerous suite by which he was protected. Filippo 
 praised and rewarded the service on the spot, and fresh in- 
 stances of valour led rapidly to fresh promotions. Placed 
 at length at the head of the Milanese armies, Carmagnuola 
 ful y justified the high confidence reposed in him ; and in a 
 brilliant career of eight years of uninterrupted glory, he 
 won for his hitherto not ungrateful master twenty rich 
 cities in that strong district of Lombardy which is bounded 
 by the Adda, the Tesino, and the Alps. Genoa also, and 
 even the difficult passages of St. Gothard, submitted to him ; 
 and he earned victory on the sword's point from the fron- 
 tiers of Piedmont to those of the Territory of the Church. 
 Wealth, station, favour, and patronage for awhile were lav- 
 ished on the hero ; he was created Count of Castehiuovo ; 
 
20 
 
 CARMAGNUOLA. 
 
 he received the hand of a natural dauglitcr of liis prince j 
 and this connexion with the reigning family was still more 
 closely cemented by a formal adoption, and by his investi- 
 ture with its name as Francesco Carmagnuola de' Viscontl. 
 But it is easy for the favourite of a jealous and despotic 
 master to perform services which awaken suspicion instead 
 of gratitude ; and Carmagnuola was already too rich, too 
 brave, too powerful, and too fortunate for his own safety. 
 Whether the capricious attachment of Visconti was satiated, 
 and required change ; whether the possessor of his favour 
 abused it by importunity ; or whether those whom the ele- 
 vation of Carmagnuola had depressed, discovered a fitting 
 season to undermine him, cannot now be affirmed with cer- 
 tainty : but most probably all three causes were in some 
 degree united in giving birth to the coldness with which Fi- 
 iippo began to regard him, and afterward in rapidly increas- 
 ing this coldness to disgust. Numerous petty slights, and 
 breaches of faith as well as of courtesy, testified this change. 
 An important command, already promised to Carmagnuola, 
 was bestowed, without explanation, upon another and a much 
 inferior officer ; the troops mo^t attached to his person were 
 sedulously withdrawn from him ; and his remonstrances 
 were received with haughty and contemptuous silence. Ir- 
 ritated by these marked and repeated affronts, Carmagnuola 
 repaired hastily to the palace, and demanded a special au- 
 dience ; but he was stopped in the antechamber by some 
 frivolous pretexts of the duke's engagements, and he there 
 terminated an angry scene of expostulation by open reproach 
 and menace. Perceiving that his fall was determined, he 
 instantly took horse, and, throwing up all his employments, 
 rode at lull speed to the frontiers of Savoy, and sought pro- 
 tection from Amadeus VIII., the first duke of that province, 
 to whom he was by birth a vassal. Having revealed to that 
 wise prince enough of the ambitious designs of Visconti to 
 excite apprehension and awaken a hostile feeling, Carma- 
 gnuola passed on through Trent and Treviso to 
 Venice, where he was received by Foscari with open 
 arms, and immediately engaged with three hundred 
 lances in the service of the republic. No pains were spared 
 by him to kindle the slumbering flames of war; but the 
 senate, although glad of securing a commander of so high 
 distinction and ability, still warily hesitated to bestow full 
 
 A* D. 
 1425. 
 
 CARMAGNUOLA ENGAGED BY VENICE. 21 
 
 confidence on his representations. His rupture with Vis- 
 conti might after all be only simulated, in order that, avail- 
 ing himself of pretended disgrace, he might become ac- 
 quainted with the secret councils of doubtful friends Such 
 treachery was far from being unprecedented, and unhappily 
 too much characterized the policy of Milan. Even when 
 the enraged duke proceeded to confiscate the fugitive's prop- 
 erty, and sequestered a rental of forty thousand florins, 
 the conviction of the signory as to the sincerity of Cannal 
 gnuola was still incomplete : nor was it till an attempt upon 
 his hfe by poison was traced, by evidence not to be impugned, 
 to the agency of Filippo-Maria, that imphcit credence was 
 favouritV ^^"^^^ of" that prince's hatred against his former 
 
 It was at this moment that the Florentines made their 
 last appea ; and Foscari, perceiving the backwardness of 
 the council to second his own eager desire for war, dexter- 
 ously employed to his purpose the strong feeling which Car- 
 niagnuola s recent escape from assassination had excited. 
 At the close of the debate, he asked permission to introduce 
 his injured fhend to the senate, in order that they miffht 
 profit by his intimate acquaintance with the affairs of Mi- 
 lan. Carmagnuola was accordingly admitted to the coun- 
 cil-charaber ; and there, the vivid picture which he drew of 
 his own personal wrongs, the warmth which the frank spi- 
 
 '^^^^ fi, I ?,^'^'^^ ^^^'^^^^ ^"^^ ^^^ pleadings of the orator, 
 and the bold and abrupt eloquence which vented itself in 
 denunciations of vengeance and predictions of victory, so 
 far gained upon the kindled passions of his auditors, that 
 when they proceeded to ballot, a large majority decided for 
 war. A treaty therefore was speedily concluded with Flor- 
 ence, by which the two republics engaged to furnish, at 
 their joint expense, 16,000 horse and half as many foot : a 
 Venetian fleet was to ascend the Po, while the Florentines 
 equipped a maritime expedition against Genoa: the Apen- 
 nines were to form the boundary line in a division of con- 
 quests, and neither party was to conclude a separate peace. 
 The Marquis of Ferrara, the Lord of Mantua, the 
 King of Arragon, the Duke of Savoy, and the citi- /,' ?• 
 zens of Sienna were admitted to this league, which ^^^^• 
 was signed on the 27th of January, when Carmagnuola 
 was declared captain-general of the army of Venice! 
 

 w^ 
 
 22 
 
 PARTIAL CAPTURE OF BRESCIA. 
 
 SURRENDER OF BRESCIA. 
 
 23 
 
 f J 
 
 In the following March Carmagnucla opened tlie cam- 
 paign by a bold attempt on Brescia, a city which had been 
 wrested from the Princes Delia Scala by Galeazzo Visconti, 
 had been occupied during the minority of his son by the 
 Malatesti of Rimini, and had latterly been won back for 
 Filippo-Maria by Curmagnuola himself. Few places were 
 more distracted by internal schism, and the partisans of the 
 ancient Guelph and Ghibelline factions respectively occupied 
 distinct quarters of the city. Carmagnuola still maintained 
 an intimate conn-i'xion with the last-named party, and it 
 was chiefly througfh their assistance that he now hoped to 
 compass his enterprise. In order to understand his opera- 
 tions, it should be borne in mind that Brescia, far from pre- 
 senting a single line of walls, might in truth be more prop- 
 erly described as composed of many separate fortresses.* 
 Three several ramparts, at considerable intervals from each 
 other, encompassed a hill, and all of these were in posses- 
 sion of the Milanese faction. It was into another quarter, 
 on the plain, that Carmagnuola was secretly admitted in 
 the night of the 17th of March, and even then the gate 
 which communicated with the upper town remained in the 
 hands of his enemies. The rapidity of this movement took 
 Visconti by surprise, and his troops were but assembling in 
 Romagna when he received intelligence of his disaster ; to 
 remedy which he put in motion such masses of cavalry as 
 were already concentrated, under four of the most distin- 
 guished condottieri of the age, Angelo della Pergola, Nicolo 
 Piccinino, Guido Torello, and Francesco Sforza. The short 
 time, however, which Carmagnuola had gained in advance 
 was actively and most eflfectually employed ; and in order 
 both to protect his own position from the sallies of the gar- 
 rison, and also to prevent the relief of the city by the army, 
 which he doubted not would soon attempt to raise the siege, 
 he commenced and completed, notwithstanding an interrup- 
 tion by illness which compelled him to have recourse to the 
 baths of Padua, a military work which writers of the time 
 describe as unparalleled in the history of war. Between 
 those portions of the city which still held out and that occu- 
 pied by himself, he traced a strong line of contravallation, 
 
 * The site of Brescia is very clearly described by Poggio Braccjolini* 
 ^liat. Floreiit. V. ajnid Murat. xi.\. 340. 
 
 nnd in his rear a similar circumvallation. The circuit of 
 the outer work was not less than five miles in length ; each 
 line presented a breastwork surmounted by wooden towers 
 at frequent intervals, and strengtliened by a ditch twelve 
 feet deep and twenty broad. Whether from the difficulty 
 of combining their scattered forces, or from the mutual 
 jealousy which almost invariably accompanies a divided 
 command, the Milanese captains were slow in advance ; 
 and when towards the middle of May they encamped with 
 15,000 men within sight of Brescia, the works of Carma- 
 gnuola (whose numbers were almost of the same amount) 
 although not yet finished, presented a face which Della Per- 
 gola thought much too formidable to be attacked. So stu- 
 pendous, indeed, were these lines considered, that an officer 
 of the Milanese army, upon hearing that they were pro- 
 jected, expressed his joy at the design. " Nothing," he 
 said, " was more to be desired in an enemy than an attempt 
 so extravagant and insane ; to execute which must not only 
 exceed the wealth and power of Venice, but would exhaust 
 even the immeasurable resources which fable had attributed 
 to Xerxes." 
 
 If the strength of Carmagnuola's lines deterred the Mi- 
 lanese when they first reconnoitred them, every hour con- 
 tributed to increase the difficulty of assault, and, when fin- 
 ished, they were really impregnable. While the generals 
 of Visconti wasted their time in unworthy dissensions, and 
 their forces in unconnected skirmishes, or straggling, preda* 
 tory excursions, Carmagnuola vigorously pressed the garri- 
 son, now hopeless of relief, and suffering from famine. "^ Out 
 of 1400 men, of which it was originally composed, scarcely 
 400 now remained fit for service ; yet these defended their 
 several fortifications foot by foot ; and it was not till afler 
 a close siege of eight months, during which they were ex- 
 posed day and night to a destructive artillery and to almost 
 hourly assaults, that, driven within their last shattered 
 rampart, they capitulated on the 20th of November, with 
 the fullest honours of war ; and marched out from the cita- 
 del amid general expressions of respect and admiration, even 
 from their conquerors. 
 
 The loss of Brescia was the chief disaster which Visconti 
 suffered daring this short campaign. The Venetian flotilla, 
 indeed, had mounted the Po to Cremona, the brido^e of which 
 

 
 24 
 
 VISCONTI MAKES PEACE. 
 
 RENEWAL OF HOSTILITIES. 
 
 25 
 
 it had destroyed, and afterward had insulted Pavia itself j 
 b«t the Milanese army was unimpaired, for it had not yet 
 been engaged. Its conduct, however, had been unsatisfac- 
 tory, and the condition of the duchy was not without haz- 
 ard. The sole ally whom Filippo-Maria retained in Italy 
 was Pope Martin V., a prince scarcely less ambitious than 
 himself, and who saw in the zeal which it suited the Duke 
 of Milan to profess for the church bright hopes of that in- 
 crease of ecclesiastical power which chiefly occupied his 
 own thoughts. By the mediation of that pontiff a peace 
 was concluded, for the attainment of which Vieconti 
 . ' * was content to abandon to Venice his claim upon 
 * Brescia, and much of its surrounding district ; and 
 to the Duke of Savoy a few unimportant forts upon which 
 he had seized. Carmagnuola was not forgotten in this ne- 
 gotiation ; and one express condition of the treaty stipulated 
 that his family should be released from the imprisonment to 
 which they had been consigned on his fl^ight from Milan. 
 As a further testimony of the gratitude of Venice, his name 
 was enrolled in her Golden Book. 
 
 The announcement of this peace, so dishonourable to 
 their country, was received with deep murmurs by the Mi- 
 lanese nobles, and they remonstrated in energetic terms with 
 Filippo-Maria against its ratification. They implored him 
 to rely upon the valour and fidelity which they swore to 
 dedicate to his service, to accept the sacrifices which they 
 were prepared to make in his support, and to appoint cap- 
 tains over the 10,000 horse, and an equal number of infantry, 
 which they engaged to raise and maintain at their own ex- 
 pense, provided only that he would intrust the revenue to 
 their administration. The duke accepted their offers ; but, 
 jealous of any invasion of his despotism by an exercise, 
 however trifling, of aristocratical influence, he refused the 
 conditions with which they were accompanied. In order 
 yet further to recruit his army, while the Venetians, as yet 
 unsuspicious of his intentions, disbanded their condottieriy 
 he carefully engaged them himself, and swelled his ranks 
 by the careless facility with which mercenaries, if they do 
 but receive full security for pay, are content to pass from; 
 one service to another the most directly opposite* 
 1427 "^^^^ strengthened, he eluded, under various pre- 
 texts, the evacuation of the posts which he had* 
 
 agreed to surrender, and early in the following spring in- 
 vaded the territory of Mantua. 
 
 It would afford little entertainment if we were to pursue 
 with minuteness the events of the renewed war. The state 
 of Carmagnuola's health, apparently never strong, and now 
 more than usually aflfected by a fall from his horse, pre- 
 vented him from assuming the command immediately on 
 this aggression ; and the Milanese in consequence obtained 
 some advantages, notwithstajiding that their flotilla on the 
 Po, after two days' bloody combat near Cremona, was totally 
 destroyed. When Carmagnuola rejoined the army, fortune 
 for a short time continued to vary ; Casal Maggiore was 
 taken and retaken, and its recovery enabled the'Venetians 
 to advance upon Cremona, with the intention of engaging 
 in Its siege. The Milanese, equally prepared to oppose this 
 design, were reinforced by 15,000 volunteers from their 
 capital ; and Filippo-Maria for the first time encouraged 
 his army by his presence. The hostile forces were encamped 
 opposite each other at Casal Secco, about three miles in 
 front of Cremona, and a natural fosse which separated their 
 hues was for some time a barrier which neither of them 
 cared to pass. On the 12th of July, however, the Milanese, 
 eager for distinction under the immediate eye of their prince, 
 attempted to force that defence, and some squadrons suc- 
 ceeded m penetrating the Venetian camp. There, envel- 
 oped m clouds of summer dust, the cavalry charged at haz- 
 ard, without the power of distinguishing either their own 
 movements or those of their enemy. The confiision became 
 general, and, had they been duly seized, opportunities oc- 
 curred on both sides of capturing most of the leading ofllcers 
 of the opposite party. Carmagnuola was dismounted, and 
 fought for a considerable time on foot ; the Duke of Mantua 
 was separated from his followers, and surrounded by cue- 
 mies ; and Sforza found himself in hke manner abandoned 
 by his suite, and left in the very heart of the Venetian 
 camp. The afl'ray, for it was no other, terminated indeci- 
 sively, and without further advantage to either side than 
 T^^/?? ^^^ Venetians might claun from the retirement of 
 the Milanese to their own lines. Filippo-Maria had seen 
 enough of war, and hastened back to Milan. 
 
 ♦k'^i^i^^®^^"^^^"^ existing among his generals induced 
 the Duke of Milan at this season to intrust the chief com- 
 VOL. II. — C 
 

 26 
 
 BATTLE OF MACALO. 
 
 CHARACTER OF THE CONDOTTIERI. 
 
 27 
 
 li 
 
 raand of his army to one whose high lineage ^Vould, as he 
 imagined, ensure implicit obedience ; and Carlo Malatesta, 
 son of the Lord of Rimini, made his first essay in arms at 
 the close of this campaign. From a very natural anxiety 
 to create a reputation commensurate with that of the great 
 leaders who served under him, he was impatient for battle, 
 and soon hazarded a rash and ill-advised engagement. Car- 
 raagnuola early in October was advantageously posted 
 among the Cremonese marshes, not far from the town of 
 fMacafo. His ground was well chosen ; he had personally 
 * reconnoitred every point of it ; and he had omitted no care 
 to defend its only practicable approach by directing upon it 
 the cross fire of numerous masked batteries ; every firmer 
 spot also which he found tenable amid the fenny ground 
 was occupied by troops placed in ambuscade behind what- 
 ever cover it afforded ; and the main body of his infantry 
 fronted a long, winding, narrow, and intricate causeway, by 
 which, if the Milanese intended to attack, they must of ne- 
 cessity advance ; and which, therefore, was left apparently 
 unguarded, in order to allure them. Two thousand horse, 
 meanwhile, were detached to turn the morass, with orders, 
 if an engagement should ensue, to fall upon the enemy's 
 rear. In opposition, as it is said, to the opinion and judg- 
 ment of each of the four chief condottieri, to control whose 
 mutual jealousy Malatesta had been commissioned, he de- 
 termined to force this perilous causeway. Scarcely, how- 
 ^ ever, had his columns become entangled on its path^ 
 
 before they were assailed on both flanks by unex- 
 pected volleys of* every species of missile. The narrow 
 space forbade them from attempting any change of front, and 
 even if this could have been effected, their enemy was con- 
 cealed and separated from them by impassable bogs. While, 
 therefore, confused and wavering, they knew not whether 
 to advance or to retreat, Carmagnuola, seizing the favour- 
 able moment, made a signal for his cavalry to charge in 
 rear, and himself advanced upon the causeway in front. All 
 was now rout and panic. Guido Torello, accompanied by 
 his son, plunged into the marshes, and escaped ; Sforza, 
 who commanded the reserve, had the good fortune to regain 
 his camp ; Piccinino, with almost incredible bravery, cut his 
 way through the very front of his enemy ; but Malatesta 
 himself, after an almost bloodless contest (for it has been 
 
 stated that not one man of his division was killed), surren- 
 dered, with all his standards, baggage, stores, and treasures, 
 and more than 8000 prisoners. 
 
 The campaign might now be considered at an end, for 
 the great numerical advantage which Carmagnuola obtained 
 by this decisive victory forbade the Milanese from any hope 
 of renewing further operations at present. But Venice had 
 yet to learn the dangers and disadvantages connected with 
 the employment of foreign mercenaries. Indifferent to the 
 result of the quarrel which he is purchased to support, the 
 hired stranger chiefly regards his f»lunder and his pay, and 
 personal safety is far more his object than success ; for 
 against him whose trade is war the market would be closed 
 by uninterrupted conquest. The strong motives supplied 
 by ancient rivalry and national pride, by patriotism and a 
 thirst for glory, are wholly wanting to the adventurer who 
 draws his sword for gain ; and, on the other hand, if he be 
 opposed in battle to soldiers of the same class with himself, 
 there may exist numerous ties between them resulting from 
 similarity of habits ; they may have served together as com- 
 rades in some former war, and may have then contracted 
 rude but enduring bonds of military friendship, by which 
 they are far more likely to be influenced than by any regard 
 for the interests of the particular state to which they are 
 pledged, only for the moment, by a cold and heartless bar- 
 gain. Such on this occasion was the position of the vic- 
 tors towards the vanquished ; and, far from being actuated 
 by any animosity, they cherished a community of feeling 
 and a sense of brotherhood in arms with those whom no- 
 thing except chance happened to range under conflicting 
 standards. Many of them recognised their captives as for- 
 mer intimates ; all had at some time served under Carma- 
 gnuola, when he commanded for Milan ; and it was not pos- 
 sible that men so circumstanced should long retain even an 
 appearance of hostility. Accordingly, in the course of the 
 night which succeeded this engagement the victorious army 
 released almost all its prisoners, reserving only their horses, 
 arms, and other booty. On the morrow, when the provve- 
 ditori discovered the unexpected abandonment of the chief 
 and most important fruits of their success in the field, they 
 remonstrated loudly and earnestly with Carmagnuola. No 
 sooner, however, had they retired, than the general, par- 
 taking of the same spirit which actuated his followers* and 
 
 
28 
 
 PEACE. 
 
 RENEWAL OF WAR. 
 
 29 
 
 f! I 
 
 
 pTetenJing ignorance on a point with which he was fully 
 acquainted, inquired what number of prisoners still remained 
 unreleased 1 He was answered about four hundred : " Well 
 then," he concluded, " if the kindness of my soldiers has 
 given liberty to the others, I must follow the ordinary cus- 
 tom, and dismiss these also."* 
 
 Malatesta and his liberated troops returned to their camp, 
 and the Milanese army in a few days presented numbers 
 equally formidable with those which it had counted before 
 its late defeat. Two armourers of the capital offered to 
 furnish sufficient fresh equipments to the soldiers, and 
 money was plentifully at hand for the purchase of horses. 
 The power of Filippo-Maria, therefore, was still unbroken ; 
 and when Camiagnuola, although strongly urged by the 
 pravveditorii refused to advance upon Milan, from which he 
 was scarcely three days' march, the brilliant hopes which 
 had been founded upon his victory were speedily dissipated, 
 and the campaign shortly afterward closed by his occupa- 
 tion of some few unimportant posts on the Oglio. 
 * This war, however short, had wearied all parties engaged 
 in it excepting the Venetians, whose appetite for continental 
 acquisition was hourly increasing ; but pressed by their 
 allies to negotiate, they were compelled to assent. 
 14.2S P^^c^ "^^^ signed in the spring of 1428, and the 
 signory, far from manifesting any chagrin or resent- 
 ment at the ambi-^uous conduct of Carmagnuola, received 
 him with distinguished honours on his return to the capi- 
 tal ; the Bucentaur was despatched for his conveyance, and 
 he was conducted with much splendour to a palace bestowed 
 upon him as a national gift : 3000 ducats were added to his 
 pension from the public coff*ers, and a land rent of 12,000 
 more from estates in the provinces which he had conquered. 
 Not many days after his arrival, attended by his staff and 
 the chief officers of government, he solemnly deposited in 
 St. Mark's, amid the trophies of his victories, the standard 
 of the republic, which had been committed to him at the 
 opening of the late war. Little now appeared wanting to 
 his prosperity. Fortune at length seemed to have renewed 
 her former kindness, and he reposed confidently under the 
 favour and protection of his adopted country. 
 
 ♦ Ego, si coBtervi vostrorvm henevolentid ca fortuna contigiti, stos 
 euoque jubeo solitd lege dimi«i.— Andrea Bilius, vi. ajmd MuraL xiJi» 
 
 m. 
 
 JA 
 
 Peace however was but of short duration ; old jealousies 
 were revived, and fresh causes of dissension readily arose 
 between parties which had never been cordially reconciled. 
 Hostilities were accordingly renewed by all the pow- 
 ers which had coalesced in the former alliance, /''^" 
 except the Duke of Savoy ; and Carmagnuola once ^*^^* 
 more took the command, with orders to invest Cremona, 
 while Piccinino and Sforza were again his opponents. 
 His outset was unfortunate ; some officers of the enemy 
 whom he endeavoured to corrupt betrayed him in turn, 
 and he was entrapped into an ambuscade, from which he 
 personally escaped not without much difficulty and with 
 the loss of 1600 prisoners. These, probably, were restored 
 to him, after the fashion of Macalo ; for within two days 
 he advanced towards the Po with 12,000 horse and as many 
 foot, and prepared to combine his operations with a flotilla, 
 which awaited this junction about three miles below Cre- 
 mona. The Venetian armament, commanded by Nicole 
 Trevisani, consisted of thirty-seven large ships and above 
 one hundred small craft; to oppose which the Duke of 
 Milan had prepared a powerful force of vessels, inferior in 
 size but far superior in number, under the orders of Pacino 
 Eustachio. 
 
 Meantime Piccinino and Sforza made a demonstration 
 in front of Carmagnuola's lines, and by that feint with- 
 drew him from the bank of the river. Pains were taken 
 on the follovving night to deceive him by false intelligence ; 
 and so convinced was he that dispositions had been made 
 to attack hun in the morning, that he peremptorily refused 
 the earnest application made by Trevisani for a reinforce- 
 ment, and pleaded that his own position was far too critical 
 to allow him to detach any portion of his army. Sforza, 
 having succeeded in this stratagem, threw himself, during 
 the same night, with a large body of picked men, « „, 
 into Eustachio'a ships; and at the dawn of day, ^^^'-"• 
 when Carmagnuola displayed his Une and awaited battle, 
 no force confronted him except a few light troops, which, 
 as he advanced, fell back upon their main body, now shel- 
 tered under the guns of Cremona. 
 
 Too late discovering his error, Carmagnuola hastened 
 back to the Po, in order to render that assistance to Trevi- 
 sani which he now perceived to be so needful. But the 
 
 C2 
 
30 
 
 THE VENETIAN FLOTILLA DESTROYED. 
 
 flotillas were already engaged, and the Milanese, before 
 commencing their attack, having cautiously dropped down 
 on the left bank of the river, had succeeded m cutting oil 
 all communication between the land-force of the Venetians 
 and their ships, which had been driven to the opposite shore. 
 The battle raged with unwonted fury, for the confined tract 
 within which the combatants were pent was more fitted 
 for a display of personal strength and valour than of nau- 
 tical skill. The vessels grappled with each other, and 
 their crews, fighting as on one continued platform, with 
 little employment of their artillery, pressed on, hand to 
 hand, by boarding; a mode of attack in which the iron- 
 clad soldiers by whom the Milanese galleys were pnnci- 
 pally manned, possessed incalculable advantage over the 
 exposed and lightly armed Venetian mariners. Carma- 
 gnuola, meantime, forced to remain an inactive spectator on 
 his own bank, within speaking distance of his comrades, 
 yet wholly unable to employ for their assistance those 
 overwhelming numbers with which he lined the river,* had 
 the mortification of seeing ship after ship submit to the 
 enemy. Trevisani and many of his captains took to their 
 boats and escaped ; twenty-eight galleys, including that of 
 the admiral himself, and forty-two transports, were cap- 
 tured ; three thousand men were killed ; an immense booty 
 (among which Billiiis mentions so large a store of Cretan 
 wine as enriched all the Paduan cities) fell into the hands 
 of the enemy, and the loss to Venice, thus signally worsted 
 on her own peculiar element, was estimated at sixty thou- 
 sand florins. , • , -^ • i 
 
 A period of inaction on both sides, for which it is by no 
 means easy to account, succeeded this great disaster. The 
 generals of Filippo-Maria contented themselves with rava- 
 ging the territories of Montserrat ; and Carmagnuola, as if 
 palsied or stupified, made no attempt to redeem his tarnished 
 honour. Even when victory seemed to proffer herself to 
 his embrace, he sUghted the invitation ; and dispirited by 
 
 * Stabant orantes primi transmittere cursum, 
 Taidebantque manus ripas ulterions amore.— ^nbid, vi. 6\i. 
 Neither accurately nor even grammatically rendered by Dryden ; al- 
 tiiough perhaps his words are more to our purpose than the ongmal ; 
 
 the shivering army stands, 
 
 AriJ press for passage with extended hands. 
 
 AMBIGUOUS CONDUCT OF CARMAGNUOLA. 31 
 
 his late reverses, dissatisfied with the service in which he 
 was employed, deprived of earlier vigcAir, or perhaps (for 
 it is impossible but that such a surmise must cross even the 
 least suspicious mind) entangled by some intrigue with his 
 former master, he turned away from favourable chances of 
 success. One of his otiicers, in the conmiand of a recon- 
 noitring detachment, succeeded by a bold attempt in estab- 
 lishing himself on an ill-guarded part of the very rampart 
 of Cremona, the main object of the campaign. He in- 
 stantly communicated to his general the important advan- 
 tage which he had secured, and gallantly maintained his 
 conquest for two days. Nevertheless Carmagnuola refused 
 to traverse the short space which separated him from the 
 city ; raised a thousand pretexts against such a move- 
 ment; urged the probability of stratagem on the part of 
 the enemy ; and finally, almost under his own eyes, and 
 when the fall of Cremona seemed but to depend upon a 
 single word, permitted the handful of brave men who had 
 won for him this golden opportunity to be overwhelmed 
 and cut to pieces. 
 
 Little more than this last great failure in duty was want- 
 ing to seal the fate of Carmagnuola, and that little was 
 soon afterward supplied by his permitting the enemy to 
 occupy some advantageous posts on the very borders of the 
 Lagunc^ which he might easily have maintained. Even if 
 the senate absolved him from any charge of treachery, to 
 which he had but too obviously exposed himself, he had 
 ceased to conquer, and liis removal therefore was most 
 desirable. The course which they adopted was in all 
 points consistent with their ordinary dark policy, and it is 
 well explained by Machiavelli. " Perceiving that Carma- 
 gnuola," says the acute author of the Prenape, " had be- 
 come cold in their service, they yet neither wished nor 
 dared to dismiss him, from a fear of losing that which he 
 had acquired for them ; for their men sccurityy thcreforty 
 they were compelled to put him to deaths* Yet it may be 
 believed, that however unscrupulous in their state craft 
 were the rulers of Venice, they were, in this instance, ac- 
 tuated by more powerful motives than those of long-sighted 
 precaution ; and that they inflicted punishment for ofl'ence« 
 
 * Cap. xii. 
 
 

 Y 
 
 32 
 
 THE VENETIANS RESOLVE 
 
 UPON carmagnuola's death. 
 
 33 
 
 already committed, as well as guarded against the possibility 
 of future commission. The conduct of their general had 
 Ion a been an object of discussion, for it is recorded, that 
 whHe residing in Venice, during the short interval of peace, 
 and laden daily with new honours, as he one morning at- 
 tended the levee in the ducal palace, he found the prince 
 but just returning from a council which had sat m debate 
 all ni'Tht. « Shall I offer good morrow or good even { 
 was the sportive and unsuspecting inquiry of the soldier. 
 " Our consultation has been indeed protracted, replied the 
 doffe with a gracious smile, " and nothing has more fre- 
 quently occurred in it than the mention of-^your name. 
 Then, as if recollecting that he had outstepped the bounds 
 of caution, he artfully diverted the conversation to other 
 topics. It is not possible to reject the great mass of con- 
 current testimony which assures us that the precise mea- 
 sures which the government ultimately adopted were decided 
 upon fully eight months before their execution ; and it ap- 
 pears a matter of no small pride, not only to the pensioned 
 historian Sabellico, but even to the exalted and mdependenl 
 spirit of Paolo Sarpi, that although the secret resolutior 
 was well known during that long period, to at least three 
 hundred persons, who had themselves assisted in framing 
 it,— many of them intimately and fiimiliarly acquainted 
 with their intended victim, some oppressed by poverty 
 which they might have exchanged for immediate affluence 
 by a disclosure,— yet not one whisper was breathed from n 
 Binale lip which could, in the slightest degree, compromise 
 the" mysterious design of the senate.* The fact perhaps 
 speaks quite as strongly for the terror inspired by the 
 Venetian government as for the fidelity of its agents. 
 The senate concealed their determination till the blow 
 could be struck without a chance of fadure ; and it 
 \ ?: was not until the following spring that Carmagnuola 
 ^^^^' received a summons to Venice, under pretexts of 
 hi^h respect and consideration which might have deceived 
 th? most veteran intriguer. Sanuto, indeed, may perhaps 
 seem to imply, and if he does so it is with the most un- 
 flinching gravity, that some misgiving might have crossed 
 the general's mind if he had paid due attention to the ill- 
 « Sabellico, Dec. iil 1. P. Justinianl, vii. P. Sarpi, Opmiont too- 
 cante al Governo ddla Rep. Yen. 32. 
 
 favoured countenance of the pale and cadaverous secretary 
 of the chancellor who bore the message :* but, with this 
 one equivocal exception, no pains were spared to lull sus- 
 picion. Negotiations for peace were stated to have com- 
 menced, ambassadors from the chief belligerents were as- 
 sembled at Piacenza, and it was to assist the great council 
 in its deliberations upon the proposals submitted to it, that 
 the presence of Carmairnuola was required in the capital. 
 Every precaution which the Council of Ten adopted in order 
 to secure his person, from the first moment after he left the 
 camp, was so astutely contrived, that he received it with 
 satisfaction as a token of more than ordinary respect ; and 
 although he remarked the unusual caresses which were 
 lavished on him, probably he did not feel, certainly he did 
 not express, any suspicion as to the motives in which they 
 originated. t The Lord of Mantua never quitted his side; 
 on setting foot hi the territory of Vicenza, the commandant 
 met him at the head of a considerable body of troops, and 
 escorted him to the opposite frontier ; a like guard of 
 honour, as he beheved it to be, awaited him at Padua ; 
 where the governor, Contarini, insisted that he should par- 
 take his bed, a compliment agreeable to the manners of the 
 times, and, in this instance, well answering the double 
 purpose for which it was designed. When he embarked on 
 the Lagime, to the borders of which Contarini attended 
 him, he found in waiting the Signori di Nolle (certain 
 police magistrates) with their ofllicers ; and at the entrance 
 of the capital, eight nobles, who were posted to receive him, 
 entreated that, instead of proceeding immediately to his own 
 palace, he would accompany them, in the first instance, to 
 that of the doge. On entering the prince's mansion, its 
 gates were closed, all strangers were excluded, and the 
 count's suite was dismissed, with an intimation that their 
 master was to be entertained with a banquet by the Doge 
 Foscari. While Carmagnuola, awaiting his audience, re- 
 mained in conversation with the members of the Collegio^ 
 the doge excused himself till the following morning, on a 
 
 * Fu mandato Giovanni (flmpero, J^otaio delta Ckincellaria, il quaie 
 ora difaecta pallidas morfo.— Sanuto, ap. Murat. xxii. 1027. 
 
 t Onde al detto Conte molto parv* do nuovo, estendoffli fntte tanfe 
 carezze oltre quello che soleva rssergli fatio quando d-lP altre volte 
 veviva a Venezia. Ma pure nan dine alcuna co«a.— SanUto, ap. Mtj- 
 rat. xxii. 1027. 
 
 ,^^ t'f^ji.^i>4S8ii,.^»dte5t,.,j^.3iWBi' ■ 
 
 
/ 
 
 
 34 
 
 CARMAGNUOLA IS ARRESTED, 
 
 TORTURED, AND EXECUTED. 
 
 35 
 
 plea of indisposition. As it grew later, the unsuspecting 
 prisoner took his leave, and the attendant nobles, seeuungly 
 m order to pay yet further respect to their illustrious visiter, 
 accompanied him to the palace court. There, as he took 
 the ordinary path to the gates, one of them requested hiiii 
 to pass over to the other side, towards the prisons : " 1 hat 
 is not my way," was his remark ; and he was signihcant y 
 answered, « It is your way !" As he crossed the threshold 
 of the dunaeon, the fatal truth flashed upon him, and he 
 exclaimed, with a deep sigh, "I see well enough that I am 
 a dead man ;" and, in reply to some consolation offered by 
 his companions, he added words fully expressive of his 
 conviction that life was forfeited.* For three days he re- 
 fused all sustenance. At their expiration, when he was 
 led by niaht, to the chamber of torture, and stripped lor 
 the question, an arm, formerly broken by a wound received 
 in the service of his judges, prevented the executioners 
 from lifting him to the height requisite to give full effect to 
 the inhuman application of the strappado. His feet, there- 
 fore, were brought to the stoves ; and it was reported that 
 ample confession of treachery was speedily wrung from 
 him by the acuteness of his sufferings, and confirmed by 
 the production of letters under his own hand, and by the 
 testimony of agents whom he had employed. But the 
 mysteries of the Council of Ten were impenetrable ; and all 
 that can be stated with certainty of his trial, if such it may 
 be called, are the terms of his accusation ; namely, that he 
 was in compact with Filippo-Maria to refuse assistance to 
 Trevisani, and not to take Cremona. He lingered m prison 
 for nearly three weeks after this examination, and was then 
 conducted, after vespers, on the 5th of May, to the Two 
 Columns. Either to prevent him from exciting pity by an 
 enumeration of his former great deeds, or from appealing 
 aaainst a punishment inflicted without due evidence of guilt, 
 hfs mouth was carefully gagged ; and Sanuto, who has mi- 
 nutely recorded the particulars of his last moments, thus 
 describes the dress in which he appeared upon the scaffold: 
 He was clad in scarlet hose, a cap of velvet from his own 
 native town, a crimson mantle, and a scarlet vest with the 
 
 * Vedo btm ch' io son morto . . 
 Mono da prendere.—SdLUUio, 1028. 
 verbial. 
 
 . Uccelli che von sono da lasciare, non 
 The latter words most likely are pro 
 
 sleeves tied behind his back. It was not till the third 
 stroke that his head was severed from his body ; and his 
 remains were then buried by torch-light in the church of 
 San Francesco della Vigna. In later days they were trans- 
 ferred to Sta. Maria dei Frari, where, at the descent into 
 the cloisters, his wooden coffin was shown not many years 
 since, perhaps may still be shown, covered with a black 
 velvet pall, upon which was placed a scull.* 
 
 To decide upon the justice of Carmagnuola's doom, 
 lighted only by that uncertain glimmering which the rulers 
 of Venice permitted to be thrown upon their judicial trans- 
 actions, was scarcely possible even at the time of its execu- 
 tion ; and the attempt at the present day must be worse 
 than hopeless. Every generous feeling of our nature is 
 arrayed against the base and insidious artifices employed to 
 entrap him, and the invisible processes used in his condem- 
 nation ; and profound interest cannot fail to be excited by 
 the ignominious, even if merited, death of one who had be- 
 fore deserved and obtained so rich a prize of glory. But it 
 should be remembered, that in the instance of Carmagnuola, 
 some semblance at least of civil proceeding was maintained, 
 and that he was reserved for the sword of the law ; while 
 in after-times, another, and in this instance a less scrupu- 
 lous government, despatched Wallenstein, who had equally 
 outgrown control, by the hand of an assassin. Each of 
 these great captains lived in the hearts of his soldiers, and 
 the extenuating plea in each case therefore would be, that, 
 although proscribed, he was impregnable in his own camp. 
 It may be added that many authorities near the times of 
 Carmagnuola, and such indeed as were uninfluenced by 
 any fear of Venice, more than imply a belief that he had 
 earned his fate.t In our own days his innocence has been 
 advocatc-d by a writer of distinguished genius; but in the 
 tragedy of Manzoni the spirit of the drama demanded that 
 the hero should be represented guiltless ; and poets more- 
 over are not always the most faithful asserters of veritable 
 
 * Forestifirn iVumitiato, 212. 
 
 t Poggio Braccioliiii represents him as Philippi auvrrsm fortunes 
 miscrtu^.-{Hf.st. Flvrnit. vi. arnd Mural, xx. 351.) And again, Vnir- 
 tommrnorKspert(Bsi(snfuleprolapatis.—{\h.TtQ.)—B\\\\u^,\nTf:coviX\X\n<r 
 his last campaign, states that he was believed r« (4 re vctens amiciUoB 
 munoniii ilnhiio opcram ;'/(^•^/(^v^^..— (105.) 
 

 / 
 
 36 
 
 MANZONIS TRAGEDY. 
 
 PEACE OF FERRARA. 
 
 37 
 
 histor}\ If, however, our Milanese contemporary has at all 
 deviated from fact in the conception of his leading charac- 
 ter, he has more than compensated for such an exercise of 
 poetical privilege, by the bold, masterly, and correct portrait 
 which he has placed before our eyes of the miseries endured 
 by Italy during the existence of the condottten. It would 
 indeed be difficult to select any passage from the whole 
 ran.Te of poetry in which truth is more closely intertwined 
 with imagination, than in that magnificent chorus by which 
 Manzoni has concluded the second act of II Conte di 
 Carmagnuola.* 
 
 * S' ode a destra uno squillo di tromba, 'Srd 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 from a. d. 1432 TO A. D. 1450. 
 
 Peace of Ferrara — Rash Enterprise and Death of Marsilio da Carrara- 
 War renewed with Milan— Origin of the Family of Sforza— Treachery 
 of the Dukeof Mantua— Brilliant Retreat of Ga«a Melata— Francesco 
 Sforza assumes the Connnaiid of the Venetian Army— Siege of Brescia 
 — Transport of a Flotilla overland to the Lagodi Garda— Battle of Tenna 
 — Singular Escape of Picclnino — Sforza rejects Overtures irom the 
 Dukeof Milan— Sforza surrounded at Martenengo — Terms unexpect- 
 edly offered by the Duke of Milan— Peace of Capriana— Marriage of 
 Sforza with the Princess Bianca — Death of Filippo- Maria Visconti — 
 His Character— Milan declares herself a free Republic — Engages Sforza 
 as her General— Battle of Caravaggio — Noble Forbearance of Sforxa — 
 He makes Peace with Venice — Treachery of the Venetians — Sforza 
 blockades Milan— Its Surrender — He assumes the Duoal Crown. 
 
 DOGE. 
 
 Francesco Foscari. 
 
 Within twelve months from the execution of Carma- 
 gnuola, the war with Milan, which had languished through 
 another campaign, was terminated by a peace so framed as 
 to leave ample grounds for a renewal of hostilities, when- 
 ever either party had sufficiently profited by its breathing 
 time. Even during the short interval of apparent friend- 
 ship which succeeded, Filippo-Maxia found occasion to em- 
 barrass "Venice ; and he induced the last survivor of the ill- 
 fated lords of Padua to make a fruitless attempt for the 
 recovery of his patrimony, by false promises of assistance 
 from himself, and by equally false representations of a pow- 
 erful armament to be furnished in his behalf by the Vero- 
 nese and Vicentines. During thirty years, Marsilio, the 
 only remaining son of Francesco da Carrara, had escaped 
 the consequences of his proscription by Venice, in tranquil 
 and contented exile ; and he was now allured from the safe 
 asylum which Germany had afforded him, to be sacrificed 
 as a victim to the intrigues of the Duke of Milan. Encour- 
 
 VoL. II.— D 
 
 
 

 d8 
 
 EXECUTION OF MARSILIO DA CARRARA. 
 
 GIACOMUZIO SFORZA. 
 
 39 
 
 aged by an assurance that his partisans within his ancient ^ 
 capital waited but for his appearance to proclaim him their 
 sovereign, he set out on this rash and hazardous enterprise, 
 disguised as a merchant, and accompanied by no more than 
 ten followers. While on his route through the mountains 
 of Verona, he was denounced to the Council of Ten, arrested 
 by their agents, and conveyed to Padua. Thence, having 
 first been exhibited in chains to the popular gaze, through 
 the most open parts of the city, in order that his person 
 might be fully recognised, he was transferred to Venice. 
 No compassion was likely to await him in the slaughter- 
 house of his father and his brothers, and, after an examina- 
 tion of four hours in the chamber of torture, he was ad- 
 judged to the scaffold. 
 
 The confessions of that unhappy prince and of his com- 
 panions in misfortune so clearly evinced the perfidy of 
 Filippo-Maria, that war, as a necessary result, was speedily 
 declared against him : and the signory, anxious to engage 
 in their service the most consummate military talent of the 
 time, offered the command of their army to Francesco 
 Sforza. Of that great man we have hitherto spoken only 
 as of a brave and successful condotticrc ; but the distin- 
 guished character which he assumed in the complicated 
 events upon which we are about to enter, and the high ele- 
 vation to which he ultimately won his way as the founder 
 of a race of princes, demand a larger notice both of his ori- 
 gin and his progress. His father, Giacomuzio d'Attenduli, 
 was bom at Cotignola, a petty town of Romagna, between 
 Imolo and Faenza, of a family which has been traced to 
 the royal blood of Dacia : and the Emperor Robert is said 
 to have acknowledged the line of those princes in the per- 
 son of Giacomuzio, at the same time at which, in reward 
 for his distinguished courage, he gave him an honourable 
 augmentation of his armorial bearings, and placed the 
 orange-branch of the Attenduli in the left paw of a lion, ele- 
 vating his right in an attitude of menace.* Whether this 
 family preserved its opulence is doubted ; but that agricul- 
 ture was its chief employment during the early years of 
 Giacomuzio's life is ascertained by a tradition preserved 
 and fondly cherished by his descendants in their subse- 
 
 * Laurent. Bonincwntrii, Annal. apvd Murat. xxi. 18. 
 
 quent great prosperity. Giacomuzio, they said, even in his 
 boyhood, felt a strong passion for arms, and, wearied by the 
 daily and unvaried toijs of husbandry to which he was con- 
 demned, he secretly resolved to abandon them for the profes- 
 sion which he coveted. While meditating on his future pur- 
 suits and chances, the impatient boy caught up a mattock with 
 which he had been digging, and threw it into an oak-tree hard 
 by ; remembering, as Paulus Jovius (from whom we derive 
 these particulars, but who does not appear to attach much 
 credit to them) would persuade us, that the oak was conse- 
 crated to the god of war, and therefore was well fitted to 
 afford a martial augury. If the mattock should fall to the 
 ground, Giacomuzio determined to continue his rustic la- 
 bours ; if it should lodge in the branches, he would forth- 
 with become a soldier. It lodged, as he doubtless wished 
 and took good care that it should do ; and, although no 
 more than twelve years of age at the time of this divination, 
 the young adventurer, easily satisfying himself that he was 
 now under the special guidance of Providence, quitted hi« 
 father's house clandestinely, with the intention of engaging 
 himself to Alberic di Barbiano, the chief leader of condot- 
 tieri at the time. " To that mattock of Giacomuzio," said 
 his grandson, when displaying the magnificence of his pal- 
 ace to the historian, "do I owe all these treasures."* On 
 his way to Alberic's quarters, the youth was forcibly de- 
 tained by a soldier belonging to the commandant of the 
 papal cavalry, from which officer he received instructions 
 during four years. t Passing then to the service of Count 
 Alberic, he entered in the very lowest grade, and officiated 
 as groom and horseboy J to the camp : yet, even while en- 
 gaged in those mean employments, his high spirit and 
 great bodily strength won distinction among his comrades, 
 from whom he frequently obtained by violence more than 
 his share of booty. In a squabble upon one of those occa- 
 sions, appeal was made to the commander himself, who 
 decided against Attenduli, and, to his surprise, was met 
 
 * We give this story as we find it in the Vita Magni Sforti(B, c. 2, by 
 Paulus Jovius. It is told with a slight variation, for which we hftv- 
 not been able to trace equally good authority, both by M, de Sismondi 
 and Daru. 
 
 t BonincontriUK, 39. 
 
 i Lixa—saccvmanno. Benvenuto di Saji Georgio, Hist. Montiefer- 
 rati, apud Murat. xxiji. 715. 
 
 
 
 

 40 
 
 DEATH OF GIACOMUZIO SFORZA. 
 
 by a bold remonstrance. « By my troth," replied Count 
 Alberic, not displeased with the freedom of the answer, 
 " this boy, by-and-by, will not spare ourselves. As you 
 gain every thing by force, for the future you must be called 
 Sforza^ The name, bestowed in jest, superseded that of 
 his family, and is the one by which both himself and his 
 posterity are known in history.* 
 
 It is not our purpose to follow the elder Sforza minutely in 
 his brilliant career. The fortunes of a condottiere depended 
 largely upon his personal valour, and, with that quality, as 
 well as with an active and penetrating intellect, the peasant 
 of Cotignola was eminently gifted. In the service of Na- 
 ples, he acquired not only reputation, but wealth and sub- 
 stantial power ; and not long before his death he was in- 
 vested with the high dignity of grand constable of that 
 kingdom, ranked as a feudatory lord by the possession of 
 rich fiefs both in the patrimony of St. Peter and of Sienna, 
 and was created count of his native village by Pope John 
 XXIII., as a compensation for a debt of 14,000 ducats. 
 The free bands aLso which he headed were distinguished 
 from others of their class, not less by their strict discipline 
 than by their unlimited devotion to the chief who had 
 raised and maintained them. They were bound to hun, 
 partly by individual attachment, which he took sedulous 
 pams to cultivate by affability, attention to their wants, and 
 generous largesses ; and partly by the spirit of clanship, 
 if we may so say, with which the numerous relations and 
 connexions whom he had enlisted in his ranks were deeply 
 imbued. The aggrandizement of their general was the 
 mam object of desire among these faithful adherents, and, 
 with such followers at his command, scarcely any enterprise 
 appeared too daring for the ambition of their leader. But 
 the jealousy of a rival adventurer, Braccio di Montone, re- 
 tarded the great projects which Sforza had, no doubt, long 
 meditated ; and an untimely death, before they were ma- 
 tured, left their completion to be achieved by his equally 
 brave and still more fortunate son. The elder Sforza was 
 drowned, while crossing the Pescara, in an unavailin a attempt 
 to rescue one of his pages from a similar fate. Moved by 
 ^e cnes of the unhappy youth, he turned his horse from a 
 ford into deep water, where the animal lost his footing, and, 
 
 * Bonlncontrius, 51. 
 
 DISCREET CONDUCT OF FRANCESCO SFORZA. 41 
 
 liaving thrown his rider, gained the land. Sforza himself, 
 unable to swim from the oppressive weight of his armour, 
 and too far from the bank to receive assistance, sank beneath 
 the flood. Twice he rose to the surface, clasping 
 his gauntleted hands as in despair, and was then i/oa' 
 swept away by the torrent, and disappeared for ever. 
 
 Francesco Sforza, at the time of that calamity, had not 
 yet attained his four-and-twentieth year, but he had already 
 shown much promise of great future eminence. He was 
 the eldest, and, although illegitimate, the favourite son of his 
 father ; who diligently trained him to military exercises by 
 his own side, and saw him, in his first essay of arms, 
 give proofs of valour which might have done credit 1/17* 
 to a veteran captain. Soon afterward, he espoused 
 one of the richest widows in Italy, Polissena RufTa, a 
 daughter of the Count of Montalto, who brought that town 
 and other large possessions in Calabria as her dower. The 
 three precepts which the youthful bridegroom received from 
 his father, when he quitted the paternal roof to enter upon 
 his own lordships, were, 1st, To treat his vassals with gen- 
 tleness ; 2dly, Never to strike a domestic, or, if he did so, 
 immediately aflerward to dismiss him ; and lastly, almost 
 as if with some foresight of the destiny which awaited him- 
 self, never to mount a restiff horse, and on all occasions to 
 look particularly to his shoes ; " from casting which," said 
 the experienced soldier, " I have more than once been sorely 
 perilled in the field."* 
 
 No situation could require greater promptitude and 
 sounder judgment than that in which Francesco Sforza 
 stood at the moment of his father's death. His free troops 
 were not only the most important portion of his heritage, 
 but they were, indeed, its sole guarantee ; for through them 
 alone could he hope to prevent the resumption of the fiefs 
 held under the Neapolitan crown by the court which had 
 bestowed them far more in expectation of future services 
 than as a reward for the past. Yet the charm which bound 
 together and restrained the fierce, rude, and licentious 
 spirits composing his army, was broken and dissolved with 
 the last breath of his deceased father ; and indeed, not long 
 before the elder Sforza's death, some symptoms of dis- 
 
 * Paulus Jovius, ut sup. c 77. Bonincontrius, lU sup. 110. 
 
 D2 
 
 'i 
 
 'i 
 
V \ 
 
 48 GREAT POWER OF FRANCESCO SFORZA. 
 
 affection from the son had been plainly manifested. With 
 consummate skill, however, Francesco not only assumed the 
 chief command, although he was the youngest leader in the 
 band, but he continued to retain the obedience and to pre- 
 serve the discipline of his followers, by employing them in 
 unremitted service, till he had secured their willing affec- 
 tions, and established himself in as uncontrolled a mastery 
 as that which had been possessed by his father. Thus 
 strengthened, he commanded the favour of Naples ; and, 
 having received full confirmation in his lordships, he passed, 
 as we have already seen, with so much distinction to him- 
 self and so much advantage to the prince who engaged 
 A. D. ^l"?' ^"^° ^^° service of jMilan. The support of 
 1433. f'i'Jppo-Maria enabled him, at the close of the last 
 war with Venice, to wrest the march of Ancona, by 
 force of arms, from Eugenius IV. ; and the subsequent 
 necessities of that pontiff yielded to him a recognition 
 of his doubtful rights, together with the title of marquis and 
 the additional high dignity of Gonfalonicrc of the church. 
 Eugenius, it is true, afterward regretted this surrender, and 
 endeavoured to recover his dominion by the assassination 
 of its new sovereign ; but a seasonable disclosure of the 
 plot, on the night before its intended execution, reserved 
 Sforza for yet greater acquisitions. His ultimate views had 
 lona been directed to the throne of Milan ; a brilliant object, 
 which might probably be attnined, could he, now a widower, 
 win the hand of Bianca, the iliegithnate daughter of Filippo- 
 Maria, who was without male issue. Those nuptials were 
 indeed promised him by Visconti ; but that astute and wily 
 prince was too fully acquainted with the value of the im- 
 portant prize which he had to bestow, not to make it avail- 
 able in every new political intrigue ; and each aspirant who 
 could assist any favourite project of the moment, during 
 that moment received his turn of assurance that Bianca 
 should be his reward. The policy of Sforza, therefore, who 
 was intimately acquainted with the dissimulation, the perfidy, 
 ami the inconstant temper of Filippo-Maria, and who per- 
 ceived that fear alone could obtain the fulfilment of this lone- 
 promised and perpetually eluded alliance, was to render 
 himself necessary to his present master's ambition ; and, 
 A. D. ^f.c«^^'^gly' o» the renewal of the war between 
 1436. Y^^sconti and Florence, he engaged in the service of 
 tne latter ; acutely determining in his own mind 
 
 r i^^s^^^:&^^- 
 
 Eisi^Sfe.-' ■ti^''^"!5u ''* ' 
 
 
 HE COMMANDS THE VENETIAN ARMY. 
 
 43 
 
 A. D. 
 
 1437. 
 
 A. D. 
 
 1439. 
 
 that the consent of his expected father-in-law was mere 
 likely to be extorted by compulsion than to flow voluntarily 
 from gratitude. In the following year, when Venice 
 became a partner in the war, she sought Sforza, as 
 has been already stated, for hpr commander, and on 
 his refusal, she intrusted her army to Gian-Franccsco di 
 Gonzaga of Mantua, by whom she was foully betrayed and 
 abandoned. 
 
 From a coldness which ensued betveeen the two repub- 
 lics, partly on account of their common desire for the same 
 general, P'lorence made a short separate peace ; and Sforza, 
 wisely persisting in his former course of action, 
 was no sooner disengaged than he embraced the 
 offers of the signory. (3n the formation of a new 
 league against Milan, in which Rome, Florence, and Genoa 
 united with A^enice, the powers of Sforza were very largely 
 increased, and the chief command of the confederate armies 
 was intrusted to his hand. The two greatest masters of 
 the art of war whom that time produced, and who had 
 frequently fought as comrades under the same banner, were 
 now arrayed against each other ; and the memorable strug- 
 gle which ensued between Sforza and Nicolo Piccinino, who 
 headed the Milanese army, forms a splendid portion of 
 military history ; from which, however, it does not accord 
 with our plan to select more than a very few of the most 
 striking incidents. 
 
 During the preceding year, in which Venice had been 
 engaged single-handed, Brescia, which she gar- 
 risoned, was the great object of contention. In the ilqa* 
 outset of thf campaign, Gatta Melata, who com- 
 manded the Venetian army, had distinguished himself by a 
 retreat not exceeded in skill by the most brilliant manoeuvre 
 on record. The treacherous desertion of the Duke of 
 Mantua, who, quitting his first allies, transferred his whole 
 force to the Milanese service, intercepted the communica- 
 tions of Gatta Melata with the Venetian states, and placed 
 him between two hostile armies. Compelled, therefore, to 
 give way, and unable, from want of boats, to cross the Lago 
 di Garda, which afforded the most obvious passage, he 
 boldly resolved to make its circuit, and to penetrate to the 
 Veronese through the mountains of Tyrol. That difficult 
 and intricate march, over more than forty leagues of an un- 
 
 I J 
 
 I,' Kl 
 
 1«; 
 

 
 44 
 
 SIEGE AND 
 
 NOBLE DEFENCE OF BRESCIA. 
 
 45 
 
 < 
 
 explored district, was commenced at the beginning of win- 
 ter ; and his army, ill-equipped and scantily provisioned, 
 had to force its way through an almost impracticable country, 
 over snows, torrents, precipices and glaciers ; in constant 
 apprehension of pursuit by the superior force before which 
 it was retiring, and daily exposed to harassing attacks from 
 the native mountaineers, jealous of their violated neutrality. 
 Even when almost the last defiles were passed, more than 
 one engagement was to be fought with the Mantuan troops, 
 before the Venetians could descend into the plains of Ve- 
 rona • but the intervening heights were carried sword in 
 hand, and merited vengeance was wreaked on the perfidious 
 Gonzaga by a wide ravage of his territories. Piccinino, 
 dissatisfied with the opposition presented by his new ally to 
 an enemy whom he had considered beset with inextricable 
 toils, spoke with bitter sarcasm of the puny efforts of the 
 Duke of Mantua, and exclaimed, alluding sportively to Gaita 
 Melata's name, " By St. Antony ! this Cat has shown him- 
 self far wiser than the Mouse !"* 
 
 Gatta Melata, thus disengaged, turned immediately to the 
 relief of the city of Brescia, which he had been compelled 
 to abandon to its fate ; and whose little garrison, not 
 amounting to one thousand regular soldiers, had been 
 invested, for more than two months, by twenty thousand 
 men under Piccinino. The Milanese batteries were 
 mounted with artillery of similar huge caliber to those 
 monsters which we have had occasion to describe more than 
 once before ; and fifteen of their gigantic bombards dis- 
 charged stones of the enormous weight of three hundred 
 pounds. The defence was intrusted to the Podesta Fran- 
 cesco Barbaio, one of the most distinguished personages 
 of his time both in arts and arms. Besides the great ac- 
 tions recorded of him by Soldo, himself an eyewitness of 
 most of them, there is left to us a commentary upon this 
 siege by Evangelista Manelmus ; who writes indeed with 
 inflation when he compares his hero to Orpheus, Argus, 
 and Briareus, but who at the same time adduces numerous 
 instances both of magnanimity and wisdom which amply 
 justify the utmost extent of his more sober panegyric. More 
 than once did Barbaro, when in the extremity of distress, 
 
 • *n^J\ ^^ ^^ '^'*^'' -^^fonio, rVha sajmto piu la Gatta cht*l Sor^ 
 
 *»*•— Soldo, Ist. Bresciana, apud Muratori, xxj. 790. 
 
 reject with horror and indignation projects submitted to him 
 for the assassination of Piccinino. Often when the spirits 
 of the inhabitants appeared to droop, he revived their 
 courage by spreading reports that safety was to be obtained 
 no otherwise than by persevering resistance, since the enemy 
 had resolved not to admit of terms, and had proclaimed a 
 war of extermination, without pity either for sex or age. 
 By night, he fixed in parts of the external walls arrows to 
 which were fastened billets, addressed to the chief citizens, 
 and purporting to be written by friends without. Good care 
 was taken that these despatches should be found in the morn- 
 ing, and that they should contain such tidings and advice as 
 best suited the views of Barbaro. After dexterously pacify- 
 ing the feuds by which conflicting factions distracted the city, 
 he succeeded in rousing the inhabitants to supply the want 
 of regular troops, and in arraying the whole population 
 againlt the enemy. Burghers, artisans, monks, priests, 
 ladies of high rank and their handmaidens, young and old, 
 every class and condition, performed garrison duty without 
 a murmur. " We worked within," says Soldo, " while the 
 foe worked without ;" and, to the astonishment of the be- 
 siegers, whenever a line of rampart fell shattered by their 
 bombardment, fresh defences, raised by the indefatigable 
 toil of hands unused to war, appeared behind, and forbade 
 their entrance. Among the women, a heroine of gentle 
 birth, named Brayda, is especially noticed ; her comrades 
 of the same sex were distributed in battalions, mustered at 
 the sound of the drum, and were greatly useful in carrying 
 baskets of earth by torchlight to frame these secondary 
 works. But the plague, which had commenced its ravages 
 before the approach of the enemy, now spread far more 
 widely than at first ; and it was attended by scarcity, the 
 usual accompaniment of a long siege ; so that, in the sim- 
 ple words of Soldo, who partook of the miseries which he 
 records, " the dearth was strong, the pestilence was stronger ; 
 and it seems to me that the citizens could not but desire to 
 die, so evil was their condition."* Not more than two 
 thousand men remained fit for service, and scarcely eight 
 hundred of those could be supplied with arms : yet two- 
 thirds of this little band watched nightly on the walls, and 
 
 * Vt Sup. 809. 
 
 ) \ 
 
 \h 
 
 

 46 
 
 SORTIES AND GREAT ARTILLERY. 
 
 BLOCKADE OF BRESCIA. 
 
 47 
 
 
 not content with repulsing hourly assaults, they had the 
 almost incredible daring to hazard frequent sorties. On 
 one occasion, when a storming party had received orders to 
 advance, it was deterred by the air of confident security with 
 which the garrison awaited it. The two hostile divisions 
 stood under arms, gazing at each other for more than six 
 hours, till the Brescians, insulting the backwardness of their 
 enemy, danced on the ramparts to the music of their fifes 
 and trumpets. The Milanese at length retired within their 
 lines, and the brave garrison, seizing that favourable mo- 
 ment, rushed down unexpectedly, and put many to the 
 sword, with small loss to themselves. "The slain were 
 numerous," writes one of the combatants, in a letter to the 
 brother of the Doge Foscari, " because we had little incli- 
 nation for prisoners."* Both that correspondent and Soldo 
 speak with infinite glee, and almost in the same words, of a 
 fortunate discharge made by one of their great pieces 
 of ordnance (la nostra Bronzina grossa). No fewer than 
 three hundred men (a number which, in spite of this con- 
 current testimony, must be rejected as an exaggeration) 
 perished by the fatal bullet ; and the enemy, stupified at 
 the sight of the numerous limbs, each of which is specifi- 
 cally described, flying through the air in horrible commix- 
 ture, hastily gave way. "There might you have seen 
 many helmets crowned with waving plumes, and filled with 
 almost living heads, forced with irresistible violence beyond 
 a very distant part of the walls."t 
 
 The besiegers, nevertheless, secure under the protection 
 of their fieldworks, every day pressed their approaches 
 near€r ; their lines already reached the ditch which they had 
 drained ; more than a single breach exposed the naked city ; 
 and mines penetrated into its very centre. One assault 
 would have succeeded but for the accidental fail of a shat- 
 tered curtain outwards instead of inwards ; the besiegers 
 had taken the unavailing precaution of shoring up the exte- 
 rior ; and if the huge masses of stone had given way in an 
 opposite direction, they would have choked the inner ditch, 
 and bridged it with a causeway for their passage. That 
 combat, which began at dawn and terminated only at sun- 
 set, was renewed as murderously and as ineffec'tually on 
 
 Sanuto 1060, 
 
 Soldo, 804. 
 
 the following morning. It was then, on the 30th of No- 
 vember, that the enemy descended once more into the ditch, 
 and gained the rampart ; " but, by the grace of God, they 
 were repulsed," writes Soldo, whose words we are employ- 
 ing ; " and to behold their men-at-arms, with their plumed 
 morions, tottering headlong from the battlements was a 
 great consolation. The air was darkened by the bombards, 
 musketoons, javelins, and stones discharged on both sides. 
 Here might you see many dead corpses borne off, one killed 
 by a cannon-shot, another by small arms, a third by a spear ; 
 one-half of the body, perhaps, carried away by the ball, the 
 other not to be found anywhere. Hard by stood women 
 lamenting, * O, my son !' or * O, my husband !' No one 
 felt any security that he should not be shattered in pieces, 
 even to the very nails of his feet. 
 
 " On all sides women and children, and such as were un- 
 armed or could not fight, flocked to the ramparts, bearing to 
 every spot at which the battle was raging with the most 
 fury, bread, cheese, or wine, to refresh their defenders."* 
 The enemy was beaten back on that day also, and on some 
 others which followed, with the most destructive slaughter, 
 till at length, in the middle of December, Piccinino, ex- 
 hausted by the severity of his losses, and dispirited by re- 
 peated failures, dismantled his batteries, burned his engines, 
 and, retiring to winter-quarters, threw up some redoubts on 
 the principal approaches to the town, and converted its 
 siege into a blockade. 
 
 The relief of these heroic citizens, still gallantly support- 
 ing themselves under complicated ills, was one of 
 Sforza's earliest objects on assuming command in iVon 
 the following spring ; but for that purpose it was 
 requisite that he should first penetrate the strong lines 
 within which Piccinino remained immoveably intrenched on 
 the Adige ; thus hazarding a general engagement at con- 
 siderable disadvantage. Abandoning that project as almost 
 hopeless, Sforza next thought of finding communication by 
 the Lago di Garda. If supplies could once be embarked 
 and transported across those waters, a small escort might 
 convoy them to the neighbouring gates of Brescia, or a 
 slight effort of the garrison itself might secure their admit- 
 
 * Soldo, 801. 
 
 

 48 
 
 TRANSPORT OVER LAND 
 
 I, 
 
 tance ; for if Piccinino should interpose between the city 
 and the lake, he would leave unprotected the approaches 
 which he now masked. But in what manner was the com- 
 mand of the lake to be obtained 1 The enemy navigated it 
 with a strong flotilla, and occupied even the peaceful haunts 
 of that Sirmio which the memory of Catullus could not se- 
 cure from the ravages of war. The Venetians, on the other 
 hand, did not possess a single boat upon its surface ; and 
 the immediate passage to it by the Mincio was closed against 
 them since the defection of the Duke of Mantua. 
 
 These difficulties, after many days' consideration, ap- 
 peared insurmountable to the senate, when their attention 
 was drawn to a proposal which at first seemed to them but 
 as the wild fancy of an insane visionary. Sorbolo, a Can- 
 diote, who had accurately reconnoitred the whole line of 
 country which was to form the scene of his projected opera- 
 tions, offered, if he were provided with ships and funds, to 
 transport a flotilla from Venice itself to the Lago di Garda. 
 The astonishment of the council at this unheard-of design 
 was mixed with pity for the madman who could entertain 
 it ; and they treated as devoid of reason one who imagined 
 that it was within the compass of human power to convey 
 a naval armament more than 200 miles, first through a dif- 
 ficult inland navigation, and then over land itself. Sorbolo, 
 however, who anticipated this reception, and was by no 
 means discouraged at encountering it, persevered in his 
 representations, produced ample testimony of the soundness 
 of his intellect and of his abilities as an engineer, submitted 
 the general outline of his plan to the senators, explained its 
 details, silenced their objections, stimulated their hopes, and 
 at last obtained permission to attempt the experiment. Six 
 galleys, two of them of the first rate, and five-and-twenty 
 barks were intrusted to him ; and with that force he com- 
 menced and accomplished an enterprise which, although 
 subsequently disregarded, if not forgotten, from the want 
 of any result adequate to its magnitude, may be reckoned 
 among the most stupendous triumphs of human skill, and 
 assuredly is without parallel in history. The much-vaunted 
 operation by which Mahomet II. obtained possession of the 
 harbour of Constantinople was bold nnd ingenious, but it 
 cannot justly be assimilated to that of Sorbolo. The ground 
 which Mahomet had to pass is described by Gibbon as " un- 
 
 atiaMAiSi^feiiMiMiMwi 
 
 OF THE VENETIAN FLOTILLA. 
 
 49 
 
 even and overspread with thickets ;" yet it was sufficiently 
 level to admit a broad wooden platform, along which the 
 vessels, rolling smoothly, and assisted by their sails, com- 
 pleted their course in the narrow compass of a single night. 
 Three other transportations of ships over land are men- 
 tioned by the same historian : one by Hannibal, through a 
 single street of Tarentum, from its citadel to the harbour ; 
 another, acknowledgedly fabulous, across the easy slip of 
 the Isthmus of Corinth, by Augustus, after the battle of 
 Actium ; and a third on the same spot, by Nicetas, a Greek 
 general of the tenth century.* Gibbon adds that it is not 
 impossible Sorbolo might be the adviser and agent of Ma- 
 homet, a conjecture in which he has been preceded by the 
 copious and indefatigable Knowles ;t and as there was a 
 lapse of only fourteen years between the two transactions, 
 such a supposition is not forbidden by anachronism. 
 
 The flotilla, having sailed to the mouth of the Adige, was 
 towed against its current to a spot about eight leagues be- 
 low Roveredo, probably that at which the little stream Co- 
 meraso discharges itself into the larger river. From that 
 position to Torbolo, the nearest port on the north-eastern 
 extremity of the Lago di Garda, is a distance in a straight 
 line of nearly fifty miles. Somewhat more than half-way 
 is a small lake called by the contemporary writers Sant* 
 Andrea, and now known as the liago di Loppio. To that 
 lake, along a tract which is for the most part level, the 
 smaller vessels were transported on carriages ; and the gal- 
 leys, having been mountea on rollers, were dragged by the 
 joint labour of men and oxen ; about three hundred of the 
 latter being required for each ship. On the opposite bank 
 rose Peneda, a part of the lofly and precipitous mountain- 
 range of Baldo, stemming the waters over which it hung 
 with an impregnable rampart, and presenting but a single 
 
 * Decline and Fall, ch. Ixviii. vol. xii. p. 210. Phranza is the authority 
 cited for the operations of Augustus and Nicetas ; Polybius (viii. ad Jin.) 
 for that of Hannibal. 
 
 Burckhardt, in his Materials/or a History of the Wahdbys, mentions 
 a bold offer made by an Englishman in 1813 to Mohammad Aly, Pacha 
 of Egypt. He proposed to convey a frigate from Alexandria to Cairo by 
 water, and thence across the desert to Suei, a distance of about eighty 
 miles. " He seemed confldent that the undertakmg was practicable, but 
 his project deviated too much from the usual routine of tlungs to bv 
 adopted by the Turks."— 362. 
 
 t Historic of the TurUs, \\ 3M. 
 
 Vol. II.— E 
 
 ; f 
 
 l' 
 
 ^: 
 
50 
 
 SUCCESS OF SORBOLO. 
 
 narrow opening formed by the slender thread of a winter 
 torrent. By the slow toil of many thousand peasants col- 
 lected from the neighbourhood, the base of that hard rock 
 was levelled, the trees which choked the bed of the alnH)8t 
 headlong stream were felled, and its channel was sufficiently 
 enlarged to admit the breadth of a galley ; meanwhile, the 
 fragments of stone and the trunks and boughs of the trees 
 which had fallen beneath the axe were employed to found a 
 rude causeway, the surface of which was covered with 
 earth ; and up this abrupt and tortuous passage, extending 
 for more than a mile, the ships were painfully forced by 
 levers, pulleys, and windlasses to the summit of the moun- 
 tain, which is described as diflicult of ascent at all times, 
 even to a lightly-clad and unarmed traveller. Sabelhco, 
 who visited the spot about fifty years afterward, wheu as- 
 sured that it was the line of this march, viewed it with 
 astonishment and incredulity ; nor was his unbelief removed 
 till the guides pointed to manifest traces, and showed a 
 deep rut worn into the rock ; an eternal monument, as it 
 were, of the mighty work of Sorbolo.* 
 
 A small portion of table-land which crowned the moun- 
 tain's head was speedily crossed, and at its extreme verge 
 the wished-for lake was descried. But here fresh and still 
 greater dilficultics than had hitherto been encountered were 
 to be overcome ; for the rock for about half a mile was 
 almost scarped, thickly wooded, and untracked even by the 
 slippery paths of a hunter or a goatherd. It seemed as if 
 on such a spot the flotilla must be destined to certain de- 
 struction ; but the trees were again felled, and the pickaxe 
 hewed out a shelving course, dislodging huge masses of 
 granite, which, as they thundered below, contributed to di- 
 minish the fearful height. After a few days' preparation, 
 the ships, harnessed, if we may so say, to powerful ma- 
 chinery, and obedient to the huge tackling by which they 
 were restrained, glided slowly and almost insensibly through 
 a groove worn by their own weight into the waters which 
 bathed the foot of the mountain. One only, it is said, of 
 the whole armament was disabled in this most extraordi- 
 nary enterprise,t which occupied three months in its per- 
 
 * Dec. iii. lib. 3. 
 
 t We have here chiefly followed the minnte narrative of Poceio Brac- 
 ciohni, Hist. Flor. apud Muratori, «. lib. vii. p. 299. *** 
 
 BATTLE OF TENNA. 
 
 51 
 
 formance, fifteen days of which were consumed in the pas- 
 sage over land. 
 
 This labour and ingenuity, however, was afler all but 
 fruitlessly exerted ; for scarcely had the armament crossed 
 the Lago di Garda when Piccinino overwhelmed it with a 
 superior force, frustrated every movement which Sforza 
 attempted in its support, and captured or destroyed the 
 greater number of its vessels. Thus baffled in his projects, 
 irritated by disappointment, and feeling that his reputation 
 demanded' success for its maintenance, Sforza determined 
 on penetrating at all hazards to Brescia, now reduced to 
 extremity. Want was at its height in that devoted city, 
 and the streets, crowded with the dead or dying, echoed 
 only to the cries of famished children, " Bread ! bread ! for 
 the love of God, bread !"* No other route, however, was 
 open to the Venetian army than a direct countermarch by 
 those mountains over which Gatta Melata had effected his 
 skilful retreat ; and that difficult course was accordingly 
 undertaken. But Piccinino carefully watched the progress 
 of his adversary, hung upon his steps, and, secure of the 
 navigation of the Lago di Garda, was able to choose at 
 pleasure the most favourable moment for attack. It was 
 on the 9th of November that Sforza presented himself be- 
 fore the fortress of Tenna, which commands a narrow defile 
 on the north-western angle of the lake ; and Piccinino, un- 
 wiUing to abandon that important post, no longer deferred 
 battle. The Venetians, entangled on disadvantageous 
 ground, fought with resolution, but with little hope of vic- 
 tory ; till the appearance of a detachment from the garrison 
 of Brescia on the neighbouring heights, whence they rolled 
 heavy stones into the plain, struck the Milanese, whose rear 
 they menaced, with an ill-justified panic. Terror ran along 
 their wavering lines till the rout became general; and 
 whole divisions, throwing away their arms, sought escape 
 by flight, which for the most part only exposed them as a 
 more easy prey to the pursuit of their enemies. Piccinino 
 himself, with no more than ten companions, found refuge 
 within the castle of Tenna, which afforded, indeed, safety 
 for the moment, but from its scanty garrison and slight de- 
 fences forbade hope of any continued resistiance. The Ve- 
 
 * Soldo, 819, 
 
52 
 
 SINGULAR ESCAPE OF PICCININO. 
 
 netians, meantime, secure of their prisoner, disposed senti- 
 nels round the fortress as evening fell, and confidently 
 awaited his surrender on the following morning. To trav- 
 erse the field of battle undetected, and to penetrate, not only 
 through the cordon of armed men by which the fort itself 
 was surrounded, but even through the main Venetian army 
 encamped in its rear, might be supposed an impossible 
 attempt ; yet such was the daring enterprise upon which 
 Piccinino unhesitatingly resolved. His difficulty was in- 
 creased by his infirmities ; for in consequence of former 
 wounds he was unable to walk without support, and no 
 horse could be procured in his present retreat. Relying, 
 however, on the tried fidelity of one of his attendants, a 
 German, remarkable for extraordinary bodily strength, he 
 placed himself in a sack half-filled with rags, and quitted 
 his hiding-place in the dead of night, borne on the shoulders 
 of his trusty and vigorous guardian. When the Venetian 
 sentinels challenged the German as he crossed the field of 
 battle, he seemed and replied as if he were one of those 
 camp-followers whose hateful trade is to despoil the dead ; 
 asserting that his present occupation was a search for 
 booty, and his burden one of the slain, who appeared of suf- 
 ficient value to repay the trouble of carriage. Under that 
 disguise, perhaps not wholly without connivance (for it was 
 with condottieri that he was dealing, and Piccinino was be- 
 loved by all who at any time had served under him), he 
 gained a spot of safety, and found means to provide his 
 master with a horse. A few hours placed the fugitive be- 
 * yond the reach of pursuit, and restored him to his compan- 
 
 ions m arms.' 
 
 In the following campaign, during the greater part of 
 which Sforza continued to be successful, Brescia 
 was at length permanently relieved. Both armies 
 continued in perpetual activity ; but to abridge the 
 narrative of their numerous, rapid, and inconclusive opera- 
 
 A. D. 
 
 1440. 
 
 * There are some sligbt variations in the different accounts of this ea 
 cape of Piccinino. We have followed that given by Platina, Hist. Mont, 
 apud Murat. xx. 82^ ; and three lines which corroborate it in theiVoviw 
 Mars de gestis N. Piccinini of Laurentius Spiritus of Perugia. 
 
 Fecesi dentro un saccho per huom morto 
 La nocte trare fuor molto nascoso, 
 Fortato di lontan per fino al porto.— ii. 57. 
 
 OVERTURES OF VISCONTI. 
 
 58 
 
 tions, would be no more than to frame a confused and ill- 
 assorted patchwork. Winter terminated the operations of 
 the field ; and so soon as Sforza retired to cantonments he 
 received full proof that he had rightly estimated the policy 
 which he might most advantageously adopt in his transac- 
 tions with Filippo-Maria. Although the arms of the con- 
 dottieri in the service of Milan had been unfortunate, they 
 were still clamorous for reward : and, if the duke had com- 
 plied with their demands, he must have partitioned his do- 
 minions among them. In order to disengage himself from 
 this rapacity, he made secret overtures to Sforza, and again 
 hel I out the glittering lure of a union with his daughter as 
 the price of treachery to Venice. The situation of the 
 Veietian general was at that moment full of peril. The 
 bad faith of the Duke of Milan always rendered his prof- 
 fers suspected, and hitherto he was not sufficiently distressed 
 to find bis interest in sincerity : nevertheless, although 
 Sforza distinctly perceived that the hour had not yet arrived 
 which was to elevate his fortunes to the lofty pinnacle he 
 ever kept steadily in view ; and although he determined to 
 avoid any present committal of himself to the tempter by 
 whom he was beset ; still a knowledge that he had been in 
 communication with Milan was not likely to escape the 
 keen and vigilant ^ye of the Venetian signory ; and the 
 fate of Carmagnuola announced the fearful consequences 
 of their awakened jealousy. In order therefore to escape 
 the possibility of suspicion, Sforza employed the winter in 
 a visit to the capital, where he undisguisedly disclosed the 
 proposals of Visconti, and was treated with that confidence 
 and distinction which had been earned both by his loyalty 
 and his valour. Francesco Barbaro and a hundred noble 
 Brescians, his comrades, were invited at the same time to 
 receive substantial testimonies of the gratitude of the re- 
 public ; and the festivities in honour of all those illustrious 
 guests were heightened by fresh rejoicings to celebrate the 
 marriage of Giacopo Foscari, a son of the doge. The cus- 
 tomary splendour of justs and tournaments, and the display 
 of the Bucentaur freighted with the noblest and fairest ma- 
 trons whom Venice could boast, formed the least gorgeous 
 portion of those magnificent spectacles ; during which a 
 bridge was thrown across from the church of San Samuels 
 t« the jRiva di San Barnaba, in order that the nuptial pomp 
 
 E2 
 
54 
 
 GREAT DANGER OF SFORZA. 
 
 might proceed on horseback to convey the bride from the 
 palace of her father Contarini. 
 
 This absence of Sforza from his quarters enabled Pic- 
 
 j^ ^^ cinino to open the campaig^i with considerable suc- 
 1441*. ^^^^ ' ^^^ ^^^ parsimony of Venice had so far crip- 
 pled her general, that in the middle of the ensuing 
 summer his forces were altogether inadequate to face his 
 opponent. By a series of skilful manoeuvres, however, he 
 avoided any general engagement ; and, having gained a 
 march upon his enemy, he sat down before the fortress 
 of Martenengo, which intersected the communication be- 
 tween Bergamo and Brescia. But that castle was strongly 
 garrisoned ; and Piccinino, first extending his much supe- 
 rior numbers, and then gradually contracting their circle, at 
 last completely surrounded the hostile camp, cut off its 
 supplies, made retreat impossible, and threatened its rear 
 if the operations of the siege should be continued. The 
 forage and provisions of Sforza were already exhausted ; 
 no convoys could penetrate the lines by which he was envi- 
 roned ; day and night his troops were harassed by real oi 
 false aitacks ; and, even if he should attempt, as a last 
 hope, to cut his way through the Milanese, his own means 
 were so feeble when compared with the great strength of 
 his enemy's position, that the escape of any part of his 
 army was more than doubtful. Every hour contributed to 
 increase his peril, and he already surrendered himself to 
 the most melancholy forebodings ; the sun of his glory ap- 
 peared about to set in darkness ; the loss of his bands in- 
 volved in it the total destruction of his power ; and all those 
 long and fondly cherished dreams of future sovereignty, 
 which he had lately deemed approaching their realization, 
 were now, alas ! to be dissipated for ever. 
 
 But the Duke of Milan had far too much sagacity not to 
 perceive that, if he completed the destruction of Sforza, he 
 should at the same time deprive himself of the single coun- 
 terpoise by which he could hope to balance his own refrac- 
 tory generals ; and, paradoxical therefore as it might seem, 
 Sforza never possessed so commanding an influence as at 
 this very moment in which he appeared to stand on the brink 
 of rum. While he brooded despondingly over his cheerless 
 prospects, one of the most confidential agents of Filippo- 
 Maria was introduced at midnight to his tent. After 
 
 VISCONTI OFFERS PEACE. 
 
 56 
 
 vividly portraying the certain dangers to which the Vene- 
 tian army was exposed, and the impossibility of its escape, 
 that envoy represented also the motives which induced his 
 master not to press his triumph to extremity ; and he con- 
 cluded with an unexpected offer of peace ; to obtain which 
 the Duke of Milan would not only abandon all the conquests 
 made by Piccinino during the present campaign, but would 
 also immediately complete the marriage between Sforza and 
 his daughter, bestowing upon her as a dowry the territory 
 of Cremona. There could not now be any reason for mis- 
 trusting the sincerity of this proposal ; for Sforza was al- 
 ready in Visconti's power, and it was unnecessary to de- 
 ceive him. Equally astonished therefore and overjoyed, the 
 Venetian general, although not intrusted with plenary au- 
 thority, accepted the welcome conditions on his own respon- 
 sibility. The preliminaries were signed at the moment ; 
 and, on the morrow, both Piccinino iji the Milanese camp, 
 and the pravveditori in that of the Venetians, received, with 
 similar wonder, although with far different satisfaction, the 
 announcement that hostilities had ceased. The former, 
 heart-stricken at perceiving the fruits of a whole life of toil 
 and peril wrested from his grasp at the moment in which he 
 felt most secure of their possession ; and learning the ag- 
 grandizement of his rival when he most confidently antici- 
 pated his utter humiliation, at first refused obedience ; and 
 when compelled by threats of coercion to fulfil his orders, 
 he bitterly denounced the proverbial ingratitude of princes. 
 It was now, said the veteran warrior, that he first painfully 
 felt the overwhelming burden of old age. He had wasted 
 his best years, had endured loss of health and vigour, and 
 had become infirm from wounds, in the service of a master, 
 who, at the close of a life devoted to the advancement of his 
 interests, deemed him unworthy of admission to his coun- 
 cils ; and bestowed the very provinces, which himself had 
 so often either defended or conquered, upon that enemy 
 from whom they had been either shielded or regained. 
 
 Yet in spite of these just reproaches, which Piccinino 
 uttered against Visconti, he consented to an interview with 
 Sforza, and the two great generals met with apparent con- 
 fidence and cordiality. The small suite which accompanied 
 them was unarmed, and each expressed and probably felt 
 for the other profound sentiments of esteem. Their camps 
 
 ir'^U^^t 't^ Si:i<^ *t Aj*. 
 
56 
 
 DEATH OF FILIPPO-MARIA VISCONTI. 
 
 { 
 
 were no longer separated, and in their union they exhibited 
 a scene of unbounded festivity. Meantime, the decided 
 step which Sforza had taken was notified and approved at 
 Venice. Perhaps he might not be wholly without misgiving 
 as to the judgment which would be passed upon it by his 
 employers. But the signory loudly applauded his prompt 
 exercise of discretion ; their plenipotentiaries attended a 
 congress at Capriana, whence the peace there concluded 
 derived its name ; and when Sforza had received the hand 
 of his youthful bride, who is described to have possessed 
 rare beauty joined to yet rarer talents, he was invited, to- 
 gether with the princess, to the Venetian capital, where 
 they were entertained with unwonted magnificence. 
 
 The few remaining years of the Duke of Milan's life con- 
 tinued to be agitated by his former ever-fluctuating policy. 
 At one moment in alliance, at the next engaged in war with 
 Sforza ; now provoking Venice by hasty infractions of the 
 treaty of Capriana, and then as unexpectedly negotiating 
 with her ; this subtle, restless, intriguing, and unhappy 
 prince remained unchanged on his very death-bed, dissem- 
 bled to the public eye the malady by which he was op- 
 pressed, and expired before any one, except his physicians, 
 suspected his danger or even his disorder. The per- 
 1447 ^^"^' habits of this last duke of the house of Vis- 
 • Aug. 7. ^'^^^^ have been drawn, with singular minuteness, by 
 one accurately qualified for the task, Pietro Candido 
 Decembrio,* a son of the private secretary of Giovanni 
 Galeazzo, and who himself filled more than one high ofl[ice 
 in the court of Filippo-Maria. The character which he has 
 described presents an odious mixture of cunning, supersti- 
 tion, and cowardice ; paralleled, in many instances, by one 
 whose biography has been almost as closely recorded, the 
 detestable Louis XL of France. Some of the particulars 
 which we give below may perhaps be considered almost un- 
 worthy even of the trifling pages of a memoir-writer ; but 
 we transcribe them as illustrative not only of the manners 
 of a remarkable individual, but in some measure of the gen- 
 eral habits of the age. 
 
 The person of Filippo-Maria was most forbidding,! and 
 
 * Apud Murat. xx. 
 
 t Decemhrio does not allow the ill-favourednegs of his master: yet it 
 eertainly may be deduced from some of his expressiOHs. JEneas. Syl- 
 vius affirms it in the plainest terms 
 
 CHARACTER OF VISCONTI. 
 
 67 
 
 extreme meagemess in youth was succeeded, as life ad- 
 vanced, by more than proportionate obesity. His eyes were 
 large, fiery, and piercing, ever wandering with a restless 
 glare, as if unable or unwilling to continue long fixed in 
 repose on a single object. From weakness in his legs, he 
 always employed a stick, and during his whole reign no 
 one ever saw him walking without the support of an at- 
 tendant. Although choice in the richness and fashion of 
 his clothes, he was negligent even to uncleanliness in the 
 processes of shaving and combing. In other persons he 
 abhorred any splendour of attire, and forbade those who 
 used it from approaching his presence : insomuch that when, 
 on one occasion, Amadeus, a Piedmontese prince, connected 
 with him by marriage, presented himself at an audience in 
 a fantastic mode borrowed from the French, and at that 
 time very prevalent among personages of distinction, the 
 Duke of Milan ordered his forester to bring up some hounds 
 strapped in those hunting doublets which were worn for pro- 
 tection in the wild-boar chase ; and pointed in derision to 
 the leathern-girt dogs as fitting mates for his tightly appar- 
 elled visiter. In his diet he was most whimsical ; turnips 
 and quails were among his chief luxuries ; yet such was 
 his detestation of fat, that every morsel of it was carefully 
 pared away from the latter before they were dressed. But 
 the livers of all animals formed his choicest dainty, and his 
 cook was frequently summoned in the dead of night to kill 
 a calf and prepare that favourite repast. The fowls des- 
 tined for his table were generally plucked in his presence. 
 His chief amusements were field sports, and so retentive 
 was his memory on subjects connected with the kennel and 
 the stable, that he could tell the breed of a puppy but once 
 seen,* and knew accurately the number of bridles which 
 he ought to find in his harness-room. Many of his dogs 
 were imported from Britain ; yet however passionately fond 
 he might be both of them and of horses, to each he was a 
 capricious, and sometimes a cruel master : thus, if a hound 
 committed a fault, he would dismount and flog him savagely 
 with his own hand ; if a horse neighed unseasonably, he 
 would mutilate his tongue ; and if the poor animal champed 
 
 ♦ Like the glutton of the satirist— 
 
 Qui semel aspecti litttts dicebat echini. 
 
 LSiiihJM,'^ 
 
 
58 
 
 CHARACTER OF VISCONTI. 
 
 CHARACTER OF VISCONTI. 
 
 i 
 
 i; 
 
 11 
 
 the bit, he would pull out his teeth. Within doors, he oc- 
 casionally employed himself in reading, foisall the Visconti 
 cultivated literature ; and he had the good taste to prefer 
 ^ Livy, Dante, and Petrarch to most other writers. Yet not 
 a few of his leisure hours were devoted to the inspection, 
 perhaps to the actual management, of a puppet-show,* upon 
 which toy he had expended the great sum of 1500 pieces 
 of gold. 
 
 For the most part, however, he lived in close seclusion ; 
 and even his pages underwent a long discipline of tuition to 
 qualify them for the moroseness and asceticism of their 
 future master. They were separated from their families 
 during tv^o years, and exercised in silence and solitude 
 under fitting governors till they became accustomed to the 
 habits of the melancholy court which they were about to 
 enter. Clinging strongly to life, and contemplating its 
 termination with alarm, Filippo-Maria daily recounted to 
 his physicians, with the minutest particularity, all circum- 
 stances affecting his health, Hstened with trembling anxiety 
 , to their reports in answer, and yielded implicit obedience 
 even to their most frivolous prescriptions. All conversa- 
 tion which might bring death to mind was carefully avoided 
 in his presence, and if the discourse at any time happened 
 to involve any allusion to mortality, he shrank from it with 
 manifest uneasiness. Even when bodily infirmity increased 
 upon him, and when in his latter years he was afflicted with 
 almost total blindness, so unwilling was he to expose that 
 defect to observation, that his attendants were instructed to 
 warn him secretly of all objects or persons near at hand, so 
 that he might not inadvertently betray his want of sight. 
 If he walked abroad, he appeared absorbed in incessant 
 devotion, repeating prayers in a low voice and counting 
 them on his fingers ; insomuch that religion seemed with 
 him, not an acknowledgment of God's goodness, but a labo- 
 rious propitiation of the Divine wrath ; and whenever his 
 daily sum of prayer was in any part forgotten or curtailed, 
 he endeavoured to compound for the omission by a propor- 
 tionate excess of almsgiving, prompted not by charity, but 
 by terror. His sleep was so uncertain and disturbed that l^e 
 frequently changed his couch thrice in the course of a smgle 
 
 * U ludi genus qui ex imaginibus depicf ij3 fit. 
 
 hight, lying not in the ordinary manner, lengthwise, but 
 across it ; or he arose and paced his chamber for many 
 hours successively, with some of the attendants, who 
 always watched in an anteroom. If his dreams had been 
 
 tevil, he prayed in tones scarcely audible, turning at inter- 
 vals to each of the four cardinal points ; and in order that 
 the silence which he dreaded in his dark hours of sleepless- 
 ness might be broken, many night-birds were confined in 
 the palace courts, whose screams were more grateful to his 
 ears than uninterrupted stillness. A belief in judicial as- 
 trology was prevalent in his times, and he may be forgiven 
 for a'cldiction to a folly by which even the wise have been 
 enslaved. It but little, therefore, surprises us to hear that 
 he was a rigid fatalist ; that during conjunction, opposi- 
 tion, sextile, square, and trine, he shut himself up in his 
 cabinet, and denied audience even to his ministers ; that he 
 struck a golden medal, impressed with planetary charac- 
 ters, as a talisman against lightning ; that he raised a 
 double wall in his bedchamber to protect himself from 
 thunder; and that during storms he fell prostrate, in a 
 remote corner, before an image of Sta. Barbara. In those 
 points he but shared the superstition common to his age ; 
 but we regard with equal astonishment, contempt, and 
 pity a prince who thought it unlucky if he fastened his 
 right shoe on his left foot ; who on Friday dreaded the en- 
 counter of persons who were unshorn, and forbore on the 
 same day from handling any bird, especially a quail ; who 
 would not mount a horse on the feast of John the Baptist, 
 nor wear any suit but green on the first of May ; and who 
 refused to eat on one occasion till the dishes had been re- 
 moved and replaced, because the sewer, while decking the 
 table, had unwittingly approached it with the wrong foot 
 foremost. Such, however, were a few of the anilities re- 
 corded of one who has been esteemed the most politic sove- 
 reign of his time ; and who, if the wisdom of kings is to 
 be graduated by no other scale than that of the mastery 
 which they attain of simulation and dissimulation, abun- 
 dantly merited the unenviable distinction which he coveted 
 and enjoyed. 
 
 Although Filippo-Maria died without legitimate issue, he 
 claimed a right to bequeath his dominions by will, and four 
 of those instruments were produced on his demise. The 
 
 ^"'•*'-'' ""!?'■?• '^T^'^^f^'L 
 
60 
 
 SIEGE OF CARAVAGGIO. 
 
 SIEGE OF CARAVAGGIO. 
 
 61 
 
 first two named distant relatives, a third recognised the 
 Princess Bianca as sole legatee, and in the last, signed not 
 many days before his death, at the very moment at which 
 he affected a renewal of confidential intercourse with Sforza, 
 he disinherited his daughter, and appointed as his successor 
 Alfonso, King of Naples. But the Milanese were ill in- 
 clined to submit their liberties to the pleasure of a deceased 
 master ; and although two parties within the walls respect- 
 ively advocated the pretensions of Sforza and Alfonso, a 
 great majority of the citizens persisted in the assertion of 
 independence, and Milan declared herself a free republic. 
 Sforza, reduced to his single fief of Cremona, exposed to 
 the resentment of Venice, whose alliance he had abandoned, 
 and far too weak to press by arms any claim to the succes- 
 sion of his father-in-law, dexterously temporized with this 
 new government, and accepted the command of its forces. 
 The overtures for peace which the Milanese, on their first 
 assertion of liberty, had made to Venice, were rejected by 
 that haughty state ; and she paid dearly in the end for this 
 mistaken policy upon which the future elevation of Sforza 
 was mainly founded. 
 
 In the ensuing campaign, Sforza was eminently success- 
 fill. He took Piacenza, the second city in Lombardy, by 
 storm ; and at Casal Maggiore he wholly destroyed a large 
 Venetian flotilla. The Bresciano, if conquered, had been 
 stipulated as the price of his services, and thither accord- 
 ingly he earnestly wished to march immediately after this 
 victory. But it was for their own security, not for the 
 aggrandizement of their general, that the Milanese were 
 warring, and they peremptorily instructed him to besiege 
 Caravaggio, a strongly fortified town in the marshes between 
 the Adda and the Oglio ; which, next to Lodi, was the 
 most formidable possession of Venice in the Cremasco. 
 Sforza did not yet find it seasonable to disobey ; and he sat 
 down before Caravaggio in an intrenched camp, completely 
 environing the town, and defended both by the numerous 
 canals which everywhere intersected the neighbourhood, 
 and by lines carefully thrown up in his rear as well as in 
 his front. Within three days after his occupation of that 
 post he was followed by the Venetians under Attendolo, 
 who pitched his tents close at hand, and strengthened his 
 camp by similar field-works. Dailv skirmishes ensued with 
 
 the cost of many lives on both sides, but each party was 
 too cautious to hazard a general action ; nor was it till after 
 more than thirty days diligently employed in forming his 
 preparations for attack, and increasing those for defence, 
 that Sforza opened his batteries on Caravaggio. A breach 
 was shortly reported to be practicable, but even then he 
 was apprehensive of assaulting in the presence of a vigilant 
 enemy. In the Venetian camp, much variety of opinion 
 prevailed respecting future operations. Attendolo himself 
 and his more experienced officers calculated that the want 
 of confidence evident between Sforza and the government 
 of Milan, the jealousies known to exist among the hostile 
 generals, and their daily-increasing difficulty of obtaining 
 supplies, must ere long compel them to abandon their pre- 
 sent quarters ; and therefore that the necessity of risking 
 a battle might be avoided. But, on the other hand, a 
 hotter spirit was found in Tiberto Brandolini, who, having 
 penetrated to Sforza's line, in disguise, felt confident that 
 he had ascertained a passage by which not only Caravaggio 
 might be relieved, but the besieger's army itself, also, might 
 be surprised and routed. The senate was appealed to for 
 decision between the conflicting plans, and notwithstanding 
 its habitual caution, it pronounced in favour of the boldest. 
 One extremity of Sforza's camp rested on a morass cov- 
 ered with high brushwood, which was deemed impassable ; 
 but it was through that difficult tract that Brandolini had 
 discovered a secure approach. On the 15th of September, 
 Attendolo, leaving his whole infantry and about sixteen 
 hundred horse in his camp, with instructions to amuse the 
 enemy by the usual show of skirmishing, entered the mo- 
 rass without being discovered, at the head of ten thousand 
 cavalry. The time chosen was about noon on a Sunday. 
 Sforza, who, with his principal officers, was attending mass 
 in a chapel of the virgin near the walls of Caravaggio,* 
 was advised that some movement had taken place in the 
 enemy's camp ; and not knowing on what quarter to expect 
 attack, he rode forward, unarmed, to reconnoitre. Mean- 
 time Attendolo disengaged his troops from the wood, and 
 put to flight a small patrol which first encountered him 
 under Carolo Gonzaga ; who, having received a slight 
 
 * P. Ju8tiruani, viii. p, 194. Sabellico, i 
 
 Vol. II.— F 
 
 in. p. 672. 
 
 li« ^>rf g.'l^TJi 1 Wl». II 
 
62 
 
 BATTLE OF CARAVAGGIO. 
 
 sabre cut in the face, turned liis horse at full speed, nor 
 stopped till he announced at Milan a total defeat of hi$ 
 comrades. The camp, as it was thought, was now sur- 
 prised in flank, and victory appeared certain to the assail- 
 ants. But Tiberto, in his reconnoissance, had not o'jserved 
 a deep wet fosse which protected it on the side of the mo- 
 rass ; and which, cutting also the narrow platform already 
 gained, midway between the wood and Caravaggio, effectu- 
 ally obstructed at that point the advance of the heavy-armed 
 cavalry. On the inner bank of that fosse, Sforza, who now 
 penetrated Attondolo's design, collected his main force, and 
 although still but half armed, with his cuirass hastily 
 buckled on and without greaves or brassarts, he watched 
 the moment at which his enemy would be checked by this 
 unexpected barrier. Their van was led by an officer well 
 known to Sforza, Roberto Bodiense ; who, mounted on a 
 fiery horse, and clad in glittering armour, looked every- 
 where around him for a passage, and throwing a confident 
 glance on the ranks opposed to him, called out with military 
 bluntness, " Count, you have no chance to-day of escaping 
 from hot water !" — " Trust me, Roberto," was Sforza's an- 
 swer, in a similar tone of raillery, " you are not likely to 
 get away without paying your host his full reckoning !" 
 and, at the word, ordering a drawbridge behind the Vene- 
 tian* to be lowered, he directed a charge upon them so un- 
 expectedly in rear that they wavered and gave way. As 
 he observed the uncertain quivering of the hostile lances, 
 when the two lines first encountered, he recognised it 
 as a sure sign of victory, and exclaimed that the day waa 
 his own. A second bridge poured forth upon their now 
 shattered mass a fresh column in front ; till, despairing of 
 success, they betook themselves to the morass as affording 
 the sole chance of escape. Few, however, could regain the 
 firm path by which they had advanced, and their pursuers 
 allowed them to plunge into the miry depths, from which 
 they were extricated only to become prisoners. Among 
 the first who surrendered was their leader, Roberto Bodi- 
 ense, who, in the vain hope of disengaging himself, and 
 aiming now at safety instead of triumph, had dismounted 
 and stripped off his heavy armour. Sforza, leaving behind 
 him the prey of which he was certain on his return, pressed 
 forward to the enemy's camp, forced its lines, and captured 
 
 s-.'avi' Sif.Jiii..-*MiL A^M^a 
 
 GENEROSITY OF SFORZA. 
 
 63 
 
 llie five thousand infantry by which it was defended. 
 Stores, baggage, tents, and treasure, arms, horses, stand- 
 ards, and artillery, almost all the chief officers, and nearly 
 fifteen thousand prisoners, were the fruits of this day's 
 easy, although most complete, victory. Every horse-boy 
 of the Milanese, it is said, returned opulent with pillage. 
 Attendolo himself had the good fortune to escape, singly, 
 from the rout, and he endeavoured to collect at Brescia the 
 scattered remnant of his army, now amounting in all but 
 to two thousand men. The prisoners, according to the 
 custom of the time, and in this instance also from the diffi- 
 culty which the conquerors found in guarding numbers 
 almost equal to their own, were stripped of their arras and 
 accoutiements, and then restored to freedom. 
 
 Among his captives none could afford higher gratification 
 to Sforza than the two Venetian provvcditori ; and in his 
 treatment of one of them he exhibited a brilhant instance 
 of dignified forbearance. Machiavelli, the contemporary 
 historian, who preserves this noble trait of character, does 
 not inform us whether it was Hermolao Donato or Gerardo 
 Dandolo,* who from the commencement of hostilities had 
 indulged in rude and unmeasured invectives whenever 
 Sforza's name was mentioned. The " bastard," and the 
 *' lowborn," were the terms by which he had been used to 
 distinguish him. Exposed by his capture to the merited 
 vengeance of him whom he had thus insulted, he was led 
 to the count's tent overpowered with terror, and there, 
 meanly humble in proportion to his former insolence, he 
 bowed down at his feet, with tears and supplications for 
 pardon. Sforza raised him gently, and, taking his hand, 
 bade him be of good cheer, and apprehend no ill. "I 
 wonder," he continued, " that a person of your gravity and 
 prudence should have fallen into the grievous error of 
 speaking ill of one undeserving evil report. As for the 
 
 * There can be no doubt from the narrative of Poggio Braceiolini, 
 (Hist. Ftorent. viii. ap. Murat. xx. 424), that it was Dandolo ; and that 
 iie had employed much more than hard words against Sforza, whose life 
 be personally sought, on one occasion, with great fury, when the count 
 was embarrassed bv a horse which had been shot under him at the 
 siege of Piacenza. Uonato, it seems, after the battle of Caravaggio, 
 might have escaped, but he preferred surrendering himself, stating, at 
 the same time, that if he returned to Venice in freedom, at\er so gr&at a 
 defpat, he knew the fate which he must ex\^ct from the CouncU of len. 
 
64 
 
 GENEROSITY OF SFORZA. 
 
 matters concerning which you have accused me, I know 
 not what passed between my father Sforza and my mother 
 Lucia. I was not present, nor had I any means of regu- 
 lating the connexion, whatever it might be, which subsisted 
 between them. On such a point I do not think, therefore, 
 that either praise or blame can deservedly attach to me. 
 But for those things which belong to my own share, I have 
 ever endeavoured so to act as to avoid reproach, and to the 
 truth of this assertion both yourself and your senate are 
 able to bear testimony. For the future, let me admonish 
 you to be more charitable in speaking of others, and more 
 cautious m your own affairs."* Self-restraint, indeed, was 
 one of Sforza's most eminent virtues : an instance of it in a 
 much earlier part of his life, which his biographer Simoneta 
 has detailed at length, but which, as it does not belong to 
 our narrative, would be misplaced here, is a more remarka- 
 ble example of the triumph of generous moral feeling than 
 even the well-known continence, as it is called, of Scipio.t 
 If peace were necessary to Venice after these great 
 losses, it was scarcely less desirable for Milan, whose 
 general had now conquered for himself the right of inde- 
 pendence. But from the hostile city, already in the enjoy- 
 ment of the fruits of victory, no very advantageous terms 
 ■were to be expected by the signory ; to Sforza, on the con- 
 trary, they had much to offer, and from him therefore much 
 in return might be obtained. Sforza, in the following ne- 
 gotiation, which was conducted through some of his prison- 
 ers, has been taxed with perfidy to the state by which he 
 was employed : but it is obvious that each party had been 
 long weary of connexion with the other ; that the bond 
 uniting the condottieri with those by whom he was hired 
 was at all times easy to be loosed ; and that upon the 
 alliance offered by Venice appeared to depend the attain- 
 ment of that substantial prize, to the pursuit of which he 
 had dedicated the best years of his life. His choice lay 
 between the realization of all his brilliant hopes if he with- 
 drew from his present unsatisfactory engagement, and the 
 probability of ungrateful rejection by those whom he had 
 ahready so largely and so thanklessly benefited, if he ad- 
 
 * Machiav. 1st. Flor. vi. 
 
 t Siraooeta de reb. gest. F. Sforza ap Morat. xxi. 262. 
 
 SFORZA BESIEGES MILAN. 
 
 (55 
 
 hered to it. So that the decision which he finally adopted 
 may be palliated, by considering it rather an act of self- 
 defence than a breach of good faith. In the course of Oc- 
 tober, he agreed to surrender to Venice the entire Cremasco, 
 and all his conquests in Bergamo and Brescia, and in return 
 he was recognised and guarantied as successor to the other 
 dominions of Filippo-Maria, to procure the submission of 
 which the signory promised both men and money. Victory, 
 it would seem, was little necessary for the aggrandizement 
 of a power which, on the total destruction of a fleet and an 
 army, could found the acquisition of a province. 
 
 Before the close of the following year, Venice occupied 
 all the promised fortresses, and then, for the first ^^ ^^ 
 time, manifested coldness to her new ally. Her j^g* 
 crooked state craft instructed her that to divide the 
 Milanese into two separate small dominions was far more 
 to her own advantage than to establish one strong govern- 
 ment in a single hand ; and, in the very teeth of her recent 
 guarantee, she concluded peace with Milan, requiring Sforza 
 to acknowledge that republic, and to rest content with a 
 small allotment for himself, carved out from the former ter- 
 ritory of Visconti. War, as may be supposed, was renewed 
 between the count and the signory. During many months 
 he blockaded Milan, till famine raged within it in its ^ ^^ 
 extremest horrors. The Venetians, meantime, were ^^50. 
 satisfied to observe the besieging army, and to inter- 
 cept the supplies of Sforza's camp with no less certainty 
 than he did those of Milan. Their position was securely 
 chosen ; tbey relied more upon time than upon the sword 
 for ultimate success ; and they abstained from any attempt 
 to relieve their allies, from a detestable calculation that the 
 citizens must ultimately submit, and that the chances were 
 in favour of their opening their gates to Venice as their 
 future mistresH rather than to Sforza. 
 
 But this cruel inaction frustrated its own purpose. The 
 famished populace, stimulated by their own misery and by 
 the indifference of their nominal friends, surrounded the 
 palace in which the magistrates were discussing the neces- 
 sity of throwing themselves into the arms of Venice. The 
 proposal when communicated to the people was received 
 with indigantion ; and an ill-timed address from the Vene- 
 tian envoy, Leonardo Venieri, who employed menaces 
 
 F'2 
 
66 
 
 DISTRACTIONS IN MILAN. 
 
 instead of conciliation, roused them to acts of violence of 
 which he became the earliest victim. This sedition, result- 
 ing more from impatience of continued suffering than from 
 any prearranged design, continued through the night suc- 
 ceeding a day which had been stained by bloodshed : and, 
 on the morrow, when the chief citizens again assembled and 
 demanded what were the wishes of the insurgents, no one 
 was prepared to suggest any definite course ; but the uni- 
 versal voice rejected, with equal abhorrence, submission 
 either to Sfdrza or to the Venetians. The former, however, 
 was not without secret agents within the walls, skilled in 
 the subtle direction of popular movements, and ready to 
 profit by such opportunities as it was foreseen must occur. 
 One of those partisans, seeing a favourable moment, ad- 
 dressed the rabble ; painted in strong colours the incapacity 
 of every other protector who had been named ; vaunted the 
 power, the goodness, and the clemency of Sforza ; and as- 
 serted his almost legitimate and hereditary pretensions, as 
 the adopted son of their late prince, and the husband of his 
 daughter. Such a connexion, he urged, must appear the 
 most natural which they could estabhsk; it would ensure 
 immediate peace ; and, on the very moment at which it was 
 announced, it would terminate their present most intolera- 
 ble sufferings. This prospect of instant relief, so adroitly 
 exhibited, was the master-key to the passions of the multi- 
 tude. The loud curses which had before pursued the name 
 of Sforza were exchanged for equally clamorous bursts of 
 applause ; he was hailed as the lawful sovereign and the 
 only deliverer of Milan ; and his wily agent, Gasparo di 
 Vilmercato, was deputed to convey to him, at the instant, 
 the adhesion of his new subjects. 
 
 Sforza, apprized of the state of popular feeling, was 
 already approaching the walls, and, as a pledge of friendly 
 intention, each horseman in his escort bore with him an 
 ample provision of bread. Far in advance of the city, he 
 was met by an eager crowd, whose shouts of joy were in- 
 creased by this welcome and unexpected distribution of food 
 among their starving ranks. But to the count's surprise, 
 when he amved at the ramparts, the gates were closed and 
 the drawbridges raised ; while a small band of the nobler 
 class addressed him from within, and, as a condition of his 
 entrance, proffered an oath which might secure the im- 
 
 SFORZA ENTERS MILAN. 
 
 67 
 
 munitics of the state, and preserve it from the rule of an 
 unrestricted master. Vilmercato again succeeded in re- 
 moving this new obstacle ; and Sforza, confident in the 
 support of his armed followers, hurried on by the enthusi- 
 astic violence of the rabble, and little willing to render that 
 throne conditional which might be his own without stipula- 
 tion, so soon as the gate was opened rode on at once to the 
 cathedral ; and there, at its porch in the open street, unable 
 to dismount from the pressure of the countless throng which 
 surrounded him, offered up a brief thanksgiving for the boon 
 which Heaven had vouchsafed. Then, having distributed 
 troops in such posts as might best secure possession of the 
 city, he returned to his camp. Within a month the re- 
 mainder of Lombardy was subdued, or tendered its sub- 
 mission ; and on the 25th of March, Sforza, accompanied 
 by Bianca and his children, made a solemn entry into his 
 capital. The magistrates had prepared for him a triumphal 
 car, and the rich canopy which appertains to royalty, but 
 he rejected those gaudy trappings as unsuited to his habits ; 
 and assuming his princedom as he had fought for it, in a 
 soldier's guise on horseback, he received the homage of his 
 citizens, and transferred the ducal crown of Milan to the 
 line of THB Peasant of Cotionola. 
 
88 
 
 SFORZA CHALLENGES. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 FROM A. D. 1450 TO A. D. 1479. 
 
 Continuation of the War with Francesco Sforza— Visit of the Emperor 
 Frederic III. to Venice— Peace with Sforza— Treaty with the Turks- 
 Robbery of the Treasury of St. Mark's-The two Foscan— The In- 
 quisition of State— Turkish War-Crusade of Pius II.— Death of 
 Francesco Sforza— Invasion of Friuli-Fall of Croia— Siege of Scu- 
 tari—Peace with Mahoptiet II. 
 
 A> D. 
 
 1457. Lxviii. 
 146JJ. Lxix. 
 1471. Lxx. 
 
 1473. Lxxi. 
 
 1474. Lxxii. 
 1476. Lxxiii. 
 1478. Lxxiv. 
 
 DOGES. 
 
 Francesco Foscari — deposed, 
 Pascale Malipteri. 
 Christoporo Moro. 
 NicoLo Trono. 
 NicoLo Marcello. 
 
 PlETRO MONCENIGO. 
 
 Andrea Vendramino. 
 Giovanni Moncenigo. 
 
 The title of Francesco Sforza to the dukedom of Milan 
 was not recognised by Venice till four years after he had 
 obtained virtual possession of the crown, and that period 
 was occupied by an indecisive and uninteresting war, 
 Each party sedulously avoided the hazard of a general en- 
 gagement ; and the singular expedient which Sforza adopted 
 on one occasion with the seeming wish of provoking his 
 enemy to combat, was far more probably employed in order 
 that he might escape the imputation of backwardness than 
 that he might really obtain a final appeal to arms. After 
 
 a campaign of varied manoeuvres, in which each 
 1452 commander successfully eluded his adversary, the 
 
 Duke of Milan despatched a herald to the camp of 
 
 FREDERIC III., EMPEROR OF GERMANY. 
 
 69 
 
 Gentile Leonissa, the general of the republic, bearing a 
 bloody gauntlet and inviting him to a pitched battle : the 
 plain of Montechiaro was named as the field, the time was 
 left to the choice of the Venetians. This formal cartel, the 
 words of which were precisely dictated by Sforza himself, 
 was as formally answered.* Two gauntlets and two lances 
 dipped in bloodt were returned by the herald, as pledges 
 of faith, and the defiance was accepted for the third suc- 
 ceeding day, between three and four hours after sunrise. 
 Meantime, instructions were issued similar to those which 
 regulated a combat in the lists, and the preliminaries were 
 adjusted with nice attention to the habits of chivalry. 
 When the Milanese displayed their line upon the plain on 
 the appointed morning, a thick fog prevented them from 
 discovering their enemy ; and, as it withdrew, only a small 
 detachment appeared in sight. The remainder were partly 
 intrenched under cover of the neighbouring woods, or pro- 
 tected from attack by strong, marshy ground ; partly 
 threatening the scantily guarded camp of their opponents. 
 A heavy rain prohibited Sforza's advance, and after having 
 erected a column on the plain, upon which the gauntlets of 
 Leonissa were suspended as trophies, he retired to his 
 quarters, claiming victory because he had first offered 
 defiance. 
 
 While engaged in this harassing and inglorious conflict, 
 the republic nevertheless exhibited in her capital a scene of 
 extraordinary rejoicing. Frederic III., twelve years after 
 his election to the empire, assumed the imperial diadem at 
 Rome. The iron crown of Lorabardy, which in our own 
 times has been the coveted prize of the greatest conqueror 
 in modem history, was disregarded by the weak Austrian 
 prince, because it was preserved at Monza in custody of 
 the new Duke of Milan, whose title he refused to confirm. 
 On returning from his coronation, Frederic, with his newly 
 married consort, Eleonora of Portugal, revisited Venice, 
 through which city he had before passed on his progress to 
 Rome. The eternal Bucentaur, surrounded by unnumbered 
 
 * Both Sforza's challenge and Leonissa's reply are given at length by 
 Bimoneta, ap. Murat. xxi. 629. 
 
 t Ancus Martius instituted a similar castom at Rome on a declara- 
 tion of war. Fieri solitum, ut feciales hastam ferratam aut satt- 
 KUiaeara pr<xusta7n adfuus eonan ferret. Livy I. 22. 
 
70 
 
 PEACE WITH SFORZA. 
 
 vessels of every name and burden, glittering with brocade 
 and tapestry, gold, silk, and banners,— the doge and his 
 court,— the patricians and their noble dames,— all of dignity 
 and beauty which Venice could display, poured forth to 
 honour the imperial guests on their days of separate arrival. 
 A long and brilliant course of festivities succeeded ; and at 
 a public ball, the illustrious pair condescended to mingle 
 personally in the dance. Besides a golden crown set with 
 jewels presented to Eleonora herself, the senate, as a pledge 
 of affection and fidelity to a generation yet to come, offered 
 to the babe of which the empress, although not yet fifteen, 
 already gave promise, a costly mantie, and a purple coveriid 
 for Its cradle, richly interwoven with pearls. If we are to 
 believe Justiniani,* the emperor, at a banquet in the ducal 
 palace, foretold that tbis bribe to the unborn infant would 
 prove unavailing ; and turning to Foscari, while he protested 
 his own unchangeable attachment to Venice, at the same 
 time lamented the injuries which he foresaw would here- 
 afler be inflicted on her by his descendants. There is yet 
 another anecdote connected with this imperial visit, which, 
 for the credit of the chief actor in it, might be wished for- 
 gotten. Among the presents tendered to the acceptance of 
 I rederic was a magnificent service of the purest crystal 
 glass, from the furnaces of Murano, long the chief empo- 
 rium of that once rare and difficult manufacture. The em- 
 peror, who weighed gifts by other standards than those of 
 tast^ and beauty, was disappointed in the material. He 
 made a sign to the court jester who accompanied him, and 
 the adroit knave, as if inadvertently stumbling against the 
 table, overset and shattered the frail vases with which it was 
 covered. " Had they been of gold or silver," was fhe sordid 
 and unmannerly comment of the prince, « they would not 
 have been thus easily broken."+ 
 
 The lingering hostilities with Sforza were terminated to 
 
 A. D. "J"^"^' advantage by a treaty concluded at Lodi in 
 
 1454. the spring of 1454, in which he was acknowledged 
 
 Duke of Milan. This peace was no doubt accele- 
 
 * Lib. viii, p. igg. 
 
 t The visit of Frederic is described by Sannto, av. Murat xxil 1 U^ 
 
 w'in^H ^^''- "'• ''\ ' ' P- «^0. and P. Justiniani ?£. viU p m 4L 
 
 S «Tn /. e>^«n above .ve have not traced beyoud LauJ^errVol viL 
 
 lib. XXV. p. 41, and Daru, vol. ii. lib. xvi. p. 549. ^^^^K'"* '^o'- vii. 
 
 NEGOTIATIONS WITH THE TURKS. 
 
 n 
 
 Taled by the fearful state of the East ; for all Christendom 
 had been shaken to its base by the overwhelmitig triumph 
 of the Turks, and their establishment in permanent 
 dominion at Constantinople upon the ruins of the i^eo 
 Greek empire. Even during his preparation for the 
 siege of the imperial city, the second Mahomet had clearly 
 evinced that his sword was little prepared to respect neu- 
 trality ; and the wreck of a Venetian galley, which he sank 
 with a single bullet for infringing his blockade of the 
 Thracian Strait, and the mouldering bones of her com- 
 mander whom he impaled, and of thirty of her crew whom 
 he beheaded, fearfully attested the vengeance of the barba- 
 rian.* Among the 40,000 Christians who perished in the 
 last memorable and fatal assault of Constantinople, many 
 of noble Venetian descent were to be counted ; their hailo 
 was dragged from his peaceful residence in Pera, and mas- 
 sacred in cold blood after the storm ; and, in the pillage 
 and confiscation which ensued, the loss of the republic was 
 estimated at 200,000 ducats. Far, however, from being 
 inspired with the generous zeal which the holy see endea- 
 voured, and in some instances not unsuccessfully, to re- " 
 kindle against the infidels, Venice was the first Christian 
 power which sought accommodation with Mahomet. Re- 
 sentment was swallowed up by tenor or by avarice ; and 
 the merchant-queen, in order to preserve inviolate her Le- 
 vantine commerce and her settlements in the Archipelago, 
 was content to humble herself as the earliest suppliant at 
 the footstool of the sultan. Her embassy was re- 
 ceived with favour; she was permitted to ransom i^cj 
 her captives, to re-establish her factories in Pera, 
 once again to waft riches in her trnders to the ports of the 
 empire, and to retain, as in the times of the Palseologi, the 
 right of administering justice by jier own magistrates to 
 her own residents. In one object of negotiation she failed. 
 The seamless vesture of the Redeemer was still found, or 
 supposed to be found, in the reliquaries of Constantinople, 
 and the great price of 10,000 ducats was tendered for it by 
 Vepice, and refused by the unbelievers. 
 
 But a few year* before this holy purchase was contem- 
 
 * Gibbon, eh. Ixviii. vol. xii. p. 194. We have referred to his autho- 
 rities in vain ; but Sanuto has mentioned the Impalement of the Venetiaa 
 •aptain, op. Marat, xxij. 1150. 
 
72 SACRED TREASURE PLUNDEREl>r 
 
 plated, the precious hoard of similar treasures already 
 Aqq' possessed by the republic had narrowly escaped dis- 
 
 persion. Among the suite of a prince of the house 
 of Este, indulged, according to custom, with an inspection 
 of the wonders of the treasury of St. Mark*s, was a Can- 
 dian named Stammato, in whose bosom the sacred spectacle 
 awakened more desire than veneration. Watching his op- 
 portunity, and closely noticing the localities of the spot, 
 this ingenious plunderer secreted himself behind an altar 
 in the body of the cathedral, and when discovered in this 
 first hiding-place by a priest, obtained fresh access by means 
 of false keys. After numerous difficulties, and by the labour 
 of many successive nights, he removed one compartment 
 of the marble panelling which girded the lower part of the 
 treasur}'. Having thus gained access at will to its interior, 
 he carefully replaced the panel, leaving it removable at plea- 
 sure ; and, renewing his nightly visits, he selected, without 
 fear and without suspicion, such portions of the entire spoil 
 at his command as most gratihed his fancy. It was doubt- 
 less a lust for gold which allured him in the first instance 
 to the beretta of the doge, studded with gems of inestimable 
 price ; but nothing short of an insatiate love of virtu could 
 have prompted him to secure the accredited horn of a uni- 
 corn, too cumbrous for removal while entire, and requiring 
 the tedious process of the saw before it could be borne away. 
 More fortunate than the Egyptian robber, whose bold ex- 
 ploit, perpetrated under very similar circumstances, must 
 have already suggested itself to every reader of Herodotus,* 
 Stammato, but for his vanity, might have enriched himself, 
 and escaped to his native shores unharmed and undetected. 
 Simply to possess this boundless wealth, however, appeared 
 but little in his eyes ; for its full enjoyment it became neces- 
 sary that another should know of his possession. Accord- 
 ingly, having exacted a solemn oath of secrecy from one of 
 his countrymen, Grioni, a Candian of noble birth, he led 
 him to an obscure lodging, t and poured before the astonished 
 eyes of his companion the dazzling fruits of his plunder. 
 While the robber watched the countenance of his friend, he 
 mistrusted the expression which passed across it ; and the 
 
 ♦ II. 121. 
 
 t Perhaps the site may still be traced ; Sanuio notes it with precision, 
 titUa Calle da Casa Salomone a Sta. Maria Formosa. 
 
 FRANCESCO FOSCARI. 
 
 73 
 
 stiletto was already in his grasp to ensure his safety, when 
 Grioni averted the peril by stating that the first sight of so 
 fiplendid a prize had welhiigh overpowered him. As a 
 token of benevolence, perhaps as a bribe, Stammato pre- 
 sented his unwilling accessary with a carbuncle, which after- 
 ward blazed m the front of the ducal bonnet ; and Grioni, 
 seeking excuse for a short absence, and bearing in his hand 
 this well-known and incontestable evidence of his truth, 
 hastened to the palace and denounced the criminal. The 
 booty, which amounted to the scarcely credible sum of 
 2,000,000 ducats of gold, had not yet been missed, and was 
 recovered undiminished. Stammato expiated his offence 
 between the two columns ; the rope with which he was 
 executed having previously been gilt, in order that, like 
 Crassus, he might exhibit in his death a memorial of the 
 very passion which had seduced him to destruction.* 
 
 The reign of Francesco Foscari had now been prolonged 
 to the unusual period of thirty-four years, and these 
 years had m one respect at least fully verified the ^* Pi 
 prophecy hazarded by his predecessor Moncenigo. ^^^'* 
 They were marked by almost continual warfare ; during 
 which, however, the courage, the firmness, and the sagacity 
 of the illustrious doge had won four rich provinces for his 
 country, and increased her glory not less than her dominion. 
 If we were to abide by the smooth narrative of the histori- 
 ographer Sabellico, we might believe that the last days of 
 this distinguished prince were given to a voluntary and 
 honourable repose ; and that, having attained the great age 
 of 84 years, and being debarred by infirmity from dedicating 
 himself to state affairs, he resigned the sceptre to a younger 
 hand. We are told also that the gray-haired prince, having 
 laid aside the insignia of sovereignty and retired to hig 
 former level of nobility, and retaining to the last, although 
 in a shattered frame, the unextinguished vigour of a gene- 
 rous spirit, died a few days after the new accession. By a 
 decree of the council, the trappings of supreme power of 
 which he had divested himself while living, were restored 
 to him when dead ; and he was interred, with ducal mag- 
 
 ' * Sanuto, ap. Murat. xxli. 11 32. Sabellico, Dec. 111. lib. vi. p. 677. P: 
 Jnstiniani, lib. viii. p. 1^. It is only by the last-named writer that the 
 gilding of the rope is mentioned ; Sanuto gives the official process drawa 
 up by the Ten. 
 
 Vol. II.— G 
 
 4 
 
 
74 
 
 FRANCESCO FOSCARI. 
 
 nificeuce, in the Church of the Minorites ; presenting the 
 first instance on record, since the privilege of associating a 
 joint chief magistrate had been abolished, in which one doge 
 mourned at the funeral of another.* Such is the tale au- 
 thorized by the Council of Ten, and which they commanded 
 to be enrolled as history ; but a darker, and, it is to be 
 feared, a truer version is to be drawn from sources more 
 worthy of confidence ; and to the English reader it is one 
 of the few portions of the Romance of Venetian Hibtory 
 which does not bring with it the zest of novelty. 
 
 Ardent, enterprising, and ambitious of the glory of con- 
 quest, it was not without much opposition that Foscari had 
 obtained the dogeship ; and he soon discovered that the 
 throne which he had coveted with so great earnestness was 
 far from being a seat of repose. Accordingly, at the peace 
 of Ferrara, which in 1433 succeeded a calamitous war, fore- 
 seeing the approach of fresh and still greater troubles, and 
 wearied by the factions which ascribed all disasters to the 
 prince, he tendered his abdication to the senate, and was 
 refused. A hke offer was renewed by him when nine years 
 farther experience of sovereignty had confirmed his former 
 estimate of its cares ; and the council, on this second occa- 
 sion, much more from adherence to existing institutions 
 than from any attachment to the person of the doge, accom- 
 panied their negative with the exaction of an oath that he 
 would retain his burdensome dignity for life. Too early, 
 alas ! was he to be taught that life, on such conditions, was 
 the heaviest of curses ! Three out of his four sons were 
 already dead ; to Giacopo, the survivor, he looked for the 
 continuation of his name and the support of his declining 
 age ; and from that youth's intermarriage with the illus- 
 trious house of Contarini, and the popular joy with which, 
 it will be remembered, his nuptials were celebrated, the 
 doge drew favourable auspices for future happiness. Four 
 years, however, had scarcely elapsed from the conclusion 
 of that well-omened marriage, when a series of calamities 
 began, from which death g-lone was to relieve either the 
 son or his yet more wretched father. In 1445, Giacopo 
 Foscari was denounced to the Ten as having received pres- 
 ents from foreign potentates, and especially from Filippo* 
 
 * Sabellfco, Dec. iii. lib. viii. p. 714. 
 
 f 
 
 
 GIACOPO FOSCARI. 
 
 • 75 
 
 Maria Visconti. The oflfence, according to the law, was 
 one of the most heinous which a noble could commit ; and 
 we have before seen, in the proceedings against Carlo Zeno, 
 how wide a circle was comprehended by the prohibitory sta- 
 tutes. Even if Giacopo were guiltless of infringing them, 
 it was not easy to establish innocence before a Venetian 
 tribunal. Under the eyes of his own father, compelled to 
 preside at the unnatural examination, a confession was ex- 
 torted from the prisoner on the rack ; and from the lips of 
 that father he received the sentence which banished him for 
 life to Napoli di Romania, compelled him to appear once 
 every day before the governor of that settlement, and ad- 
 judged him to death if he attempted escape. On his 
 passage, severe illness delayed him at Trieste ; and, at 
 the especial prayer of the doge, a less remote district was 
 assigned for his punishment ; he was permitted to reside 
 at Treviso, and his wife was allowed to participate his 
 
 exile. . r liiRA 
 
 It was in the commencement of the winter of 14oU, 
 while Giacopo Foscari rested, in comparative tranquillity, 
 within the bounds to which he was restricted, that an as- 
 sassination occurred in the streets of Venice. Hermolao 
 Donato, the provveditore whom Sforza took prisoner at 
 Caravagirio, and who now filled the more important post of a 
 chief of fhe Ten, was murdered on his return from a sitting 
 of that council at his own door by unknown hands. The 
 magnitude of the offence, and the violation of the high 
 ditrnity of the Ten, demanded a victim ; and the coadjutors 
 of" the slain magistrate caught with eager grasp at the 
 slightest clew which suspicion could afford. A domestic m 
 the service of Giacopo Foscari had been seen in Venice on 
 the evening of the murder, and on the following morning, 
 when met in a boat off Mestre by a chief of the Ten, and 
 asked " What newsl" he had answered by reporting the as- 
 sassination several hours before it was generally known. 
 It might seem that such frankness of itself disproved all 
 participation in the crime ; for the author of it was not 
 likely thus unseasonably and prematurely to disclose its 
 committal. But the Ten thought differently ; and matters 
 which to others bore conviction of innocence, to them 
 savoured strongly of guUt. The servant was arrested, ex- 
 amined, and barbarously tortured ; but even the eightieth 
 
 

 70 
 
 GIACOPO FOSCARL 
 
 application of the strappado failed to elicit one syllable 
 which might justify condemnation. That Giacopo Foscari 
 had experienced the severity of the council's judgment, 
 and that its jealous watchfulness was daily imposing some 
 new restraint upon his father's authority, powerfully ope- 
 rated to convince the Ten that they must themselves in 
 return be objects of his deadly enmity. Who else, they 
 Baid, could be more likely to arm the hand of an assassin 
 against a chief of the Ten, than one whom the Ten have 
 visited with punishment ] On this unjust and unsupported 
 surmise, the young Foscari was recalled from Treviso, 
 placed on ihe rack which his servant had just vacated, tor- 
 tured againUn his father's presence, and not absolved 
 even after h© resolutely persisted in denying unto the end. 
 " Giacopo Foscari," as the memorable sentence pronounced 
 against him, still existing among the archives of Venice, de- 
 clares, " accused of the murder of Hermolao Donato, has 
 been arrested and examined, and, from the testimony, evi- 
 dence, and documents exhibited, it distinctly appears that 
 he is guilty of the aforesaid crime ; nevertheless, on account 
 of Jiis obstinacy, and of enchantments and spells in his pos- 
 session, of which there are manifest proofs, it has not been 
 possible to extract from him the truth which is clear from 
 parole and written evidence ; for while he was on the cord 
 he uttered neither word nor groan, but only murmured 
 somewhat to himself indistinctly and under his breath; 
 therefore, as the honour of the state requires, he is condemned 
 to a more distant banishment in Candia." There, the 
 acuteness of his mental and bodily sufferings produced 
 temporary loss of reason ; a short abode in Venice was 
 permitted for its restoration, and he was then remanded to 
 his former exile. Will it be credited that a distinct proof 
 of his innocence, obtained by the discovery of the real as- 
 sassin, wrought no change in his unjust and cruel sentence — 
 that he was enjoined still to remain at Canea, although 
 Nicolo Erizzo, a noble infamous for other crimes which 
 Donato had punished, confessed to the priest who ministered 
 to him on his death-bed, that it was beneath his dagger the 
 murdered counsellor had fallen 1 
 
 The wrongs, however, which Giacopo Foscari endured 
 had by no means chilled the passionate love with which he 
 continued to regard his ungrateful country. He was now 
 
 GIACOPO FOSCARI. 
 
 77 
 
 excluded from all communication with his family, torn from 
 the wife of his affections, debarred from the society of his 
 children, hopeless of again embracing those parents who 
 had already for outstripped the natural term of human ex- 
 istence ; and to his imagination, for ever centering itself 
 upon the single desire of return, life presented no other 
 object deserving pursuit ; till, for the attainment of this 
 wish, life itself at length appeared to be scarcely more than 
 an adequate sacrifice. Preyed upon by tliis fever of the 
 heart, after six years' unavailing suit for a remission of 
 punishment, hi the summer of 1456 he addressed a letter to 
 tbe Duke of Milan, imploring his good offices with the 
 senate. That letter, purposely left open in a place obvi- 
 ous to the spies by whom even in his exile he was sur- 
 rounded, and afterward intrusted to an equally treacherous 
 hand for delivery to Sforza, was conveyed, as the writer 
 intended, to the Council of Ten ; and the result, which 
 equally fulfilled his expectation, was a hasty summons to 
 Venice to answer for the heavy crime of soliciting foreign 
 intercession with his native government. 
 
 For a third time, Francesco Foscari listened to the accu- 
 sation of his son— for the first time he heard him openly 
 avow the charge of his accusers, and calmly state that his 
 offence, such as it was, had been committed designedly and 
 aforethought, with the sole object of detection, in order that 
 he might be brought back, even as a malefactor, to Venice. 
 This prompt and voluntar>' declaration, however, was not 
 sufficient to decide the nice hesitation of his judges. Guilt, 
 they said, might be too easily admitted as well as too per- 
 tinaciously denied; and the same process therefore by 
 which at other times confession was wrested from the 
 hardened criminal might now compel a too facile self-accuser 
 to retract his acknowledgment. The father again looked 
 on while his son was raised on the accursed cord no less 
 than thirty times, in order that, under his agony, he might 
 be induced to utter a lying declaration of innocence. But 
 this cruelty was exercised in vain ; and when nature gave 
 way the sufferer was carried to the apartments of the doge, 
 torn, bleeding, senseless, and dislocated, but firm in his 
 original purpose. Nor had his persecutors relaxed mthetrs ; 
 they renewed his sentence of exile, and added that its first 
 year should be passed in prison. Before he embarked, one 
 
 G2 
 
 M 
 
 m 
 
 1 
 
 ti 
 
 (Mi 
 
 ■s 
 
 i! 
 I 
 
 i 
 

 78 
 
 FEUD BETWEEN 
 
 FOSCARI AND LOREDANO. 
 
 79 
 
 Interview was permitted with his family. The doge, as 
 Sanuto, perhaps unconscious of the pathos of his simplicity, 
 has narrated, was an aged and decrepit man, who walked 
 witli the support of a crutch, and when he came into the 
 chamber, he spake with irreat firmness, so that it might 
 seem it was not his son whom he was addressing, but it 
 was his son — his only son. " Go, Giacopo," was his reply, 
 when prayed for the last time to solicit mercy ; " Go, Gi- 
 acopo, submit to the will of your country, and seek nothing 
 further." This effort of self-restraint was beyond the 
 powers, not of the old man's enduring spirit, but of his 
 exhausted frame ; and when he retired he swooned in the 
 arms of his attendants. Giacopo reached his Candian pri- 
 son, and was shortly afterward released by death. 
 
 Francesco Foscari, far less happy in his survival, con- 
 tinued to live on, but it was in sorrow and feebleness which 
 prevented attention to the duties of his high office : he 
 remained secluded in his chamber, never went abroad, and 
 absented himself even from the sittings of the councils. 
 No practical inconvenience could result from this want of 
 activity in the chief magistrate ; for the constitution suffi- 
 ciently provided against any accidental suspension of his 
 personal functions, and his place in council and on state 
 occasions was supplied by an authorized deputy. Some 
 indulgence, moreover, might be thought due to the extreme 
 age and domestic griefs of Foscari; since they appeared to 
 promise that any favour which might be granted would be 
 claimed but for a short period. But yet further trials were 
 in store. Giacopo Loredano, who in 1467 was appointed 
 one of the chiefs of the Ten, belonged to a family between 
 which and that of Foscari an hereditary feud had long ex- 
 isted. His uncle Pietro, after gaining high distinction in 
 active service, as Admiral of Venice, on his return to the 
 capital, headed the political faction which opposed the 
 warlike projects of the doge ; divided applause with him 
 by his eloquence in the councils ; and so far extended his 
 influence as frequently to obtain majorities in their divisions. 
 In an evil moment of impatience, Foscari once publicly 
 avowed in the senate, that so long as Pietro Loredano lived 
 he should never feel himself really to be doge. Not long 
 afterward, the admiral, engaged as provvedifore with one 
 of the annies opposed to Filippo-Maria, died suddenly at a 
 
 military banquet given after a short suspension of arms ; 
 and the evil-omened words of Foscari were connected with 
 his disease. It was remarked also that his brother Marco 
 Loredano, one of the avvogadoriy died, in a somewhat simi- 
 lar manner, while engaged in instituting a legal process 
 against a son-in-law of the doge for peculation upon the 
 state. The foul rumours partially excited by these unto- 
 ward coincidences, for they appear in truth to have been no 
 more, met with little acceptation, and were rejected or for- 
 gotten.except by a single bosom. Giacopo, the son of one, 
 the nephew of the other deceased Loredano, gave full credit 
 to the accusation, inscribed on his fnthcr's tomb at Sta. 
 Elena that he died by poison, bound himself by a solemn 
 vow to the most deadly and unrelenting pursuit of revenge, 
 and fulfilled that vow to the uttermost. 
 
 During thf: hfetime of Pietro Loredano, Foscari, willing 
 to tenninate the feud by domestic alliance, had tendered the 
 hand of his daughter to one of his rival's sons. The youth 
 saw his proffered bride, openly exj)rcssed dislike of her 
 person, and rejected her with marked discourtesy ; so that, 
 in the quarrel thus heightened, Foscari mi^ht now conceive 
 himself to be the most injured party. Not such was the 
 impression of Giacopo Loredano ; year after year he grimly 
 awaited the season most fitted for his unbending purpose ; 
 and it arrived at length when he found himself in authority 
 among the Ten. Relying upon the ascendency belonging 
 to that high station, he hazarded a proposal for the deposi- 
 tion of the aged doge, which was at first, however, received 
 with coldness ; for those who had twice before refused a 
 voluntary abdication, shrank from the strange contradiction 
 of now demanding one on compulsion. A junta was re- 
 quired to assist in their deliberations, and among the asses- 
 sors elected by the great council, in complete ignorance of 
 the purpose for which they were needed, was Marco Fos- 
 cari, a procuratore of St. Mark, and brother of the doge 
 him^lf. The Ten perceived that to reject his assistance 
 might excite suspicion, while to procure his apparent appro- 
 bation would give a show of impartiality to their process ; 
 his nomination, therefore, was accepted, but he was re- 
 moved to a separate apartment, excluded from the debate, 
 Bworn to keep that exclusion secret, and yet compelled to 
 Assent to the final decree in the discussion of which he had 
 
 >^ 
 
 i 
 
 I 
 

 
 80 
 
 DEPOSITION OF FOSCARI. 
 
 not been allowed to participate. The council sat during 
 eight days and nearly as many nights ; and at the close of 
 their protracted meetingfj a committee was deputed to re- 
 quest the abdication of the doge. The old man received 
 them with surprise, but with composure, and replied that he 
 had sworn not to abdicate, and therefore must maintain his 
 faith. It was not possible that he could resign ; but if it 
 appeared fit to their wisdom that he sliould cease to be doge, 
 thry had it in their power to make a proposal to that elTect 
 to the Great Council. It was far, however, from the inten- 
 tion of the Ten to Ru]>ject themselves to the chances of de- 
 hate in that larger body ; and assuming to their own magis- 
 tracy a prerogative not attributed to it by the constitution, 
 they discharged Foscari from his oath, declared his olficc 
 vacant, as.signed to him a pension of 2000 ducats, and en- 
 joined him to quit tlie palace witliin three days, on pain of 
 confiscation of all his property. Loredano, to whom the 
 right b;^longed, according to the weekly routine of office, 
 enjoyed the barbarous satisfaction of presenting this decree 
 with his own hand. " Who aro you, signor ]" inquired the 
 doge of another chief of the Ten who accompanied hiiu, 
 and whose prrson he did not immediately recognise. " I 
 am a son of Marco I\Iemmo." —"Ah, your father," replied 
 Foscari, " is my friend." Then declaring that he yielded 
 willinir obedience to the most excellent Council of Ten, and 
 laving aside the ducal bonnet and robes, he surrendered his 
 ring of office, which was broken in his presence. On the 
 morrow, when he prepared to leave the palace, it was sug- 
 gested to him that he should retire by a private staircase, 
 and thus avoid the concourse assembled in the court-yard 
 below. With calm ditrnity he refused the proposition ; he 
 would descend, he said, by no other than the self-same steps 
 by which he had mounted thirty years before. Accordingly, 
 supported by his brother, he slowly traversed the Giant's 
 Stairs, and at their foot, leaning on his staif, and turning 
 round to the palace, he accompanied his last look to it with 
 these parting words, " My services established me within 
 your walls ; it is the malice of my enemies which tears me 
 from them !" 
 
 It was to the olio-archv alone that Foscari was obnoxious : 
 by the populace he had always been beloved, and strange in- 
 deed would it have been had he now failed to excite their 
 
 HIS DEATH. 
 
 81 
 
 sympathy. But even the regrets of the people of Venice 
 were fettered by their tyrants; and whatever pity they 
 might secretly continue to cherish for their wronged and 
 humiliated prince, all expression of it was silenced by a per- 
 emptory decree of the council, forbidding any mention of 
 his name, and annexing death as a penalty to disobedience. 
 On the fifth day after Foscari's deposiiirn Pascale Mali- 
 PiERi was elected doge. The dethroned prince heard the 
 announcement of his successor by the bell of the Campa- 
 nile^ suppressed his agitation, but ruptured a blood-vessel in 
 the exertion, and died in a few hours. It is said that when 
 the close of this piteous tragedy Avas declared to Loredano, 
 who, like most other nobles of his time, was engaged in 
 commerce, he took down one of his legcrs and turned to a 
 blank leaf. Opposite to that page was an entry in his own 
 writing among his list of debtors, " Francesco Foscari for 
 the death of my father and my uncle." The balance was 
 now adjusted ; he wrote on the other side. "He has paid 
 me," and closed the account of blood ! ^ 
 
 * Sanuto {ap. Murat. xxii.) is our main authority for the sad talc of the 
 Foscari, and it may be right to notice a few tnlliiig particulars in whicU 
 we have differed from some modern writers of eminence. 
 
 ftl. de Sismondi (7?f;). //a/, x. 41) places tlie doge's second wish t« 
 abdicate after the condenmalion of liis son in 1450, and calls him Sfi 
 years of age at the tnne of his death. — (46.) Sanuio fixes that offor of 
 reoignation in 1142, and the epitaph on Foscari's monument declares 
 him to have died at 84. 
 
 For the fine incident— r hapagata—we are indebted to Daru (ii. 520), 
 who cites Palaz/.i (Fasti Jhtcales) and Viundolo, by neither of whom 
 have we been able to find ihe fact supported. Daru also states Giacopo 
 Loredano to have been the son of Pielro.— (528.) By Vettor Satidi (/</;. 
 viii. p. 710) he is called his 7iephcti\ The pension assigned by the Ten 
 was 2000 ducats, the time for quitting the pa:acr. three days, according to 
 Sanuto; Daru makes the former l!;oii, the latter eight :'but he had ac- 
 cess to a manuscript document, among ilie archives of Venice, appa- 
 rently of high authority, and this may explain his variations. 
 
 Lord Byron, in his Tragedy, The Too Foscari, a play in which the 
 ruggedness of execution is far from being compensated by beauties of 
 cnnceptioty has not ventured upon further deviation from historical 
 truth than is fully authorized by the license of the drama. We may 
 remark, however, that there is no voucher by which Loredano is proved 
 to have been an agent in the persecution of Giacopo Foscari in 1456, and 
 that he did not become a Capo de' Died till the following year ; that Gi- 
 acopo's death occurred, not at Venice, but at Canca; that fifteen months 
 elapsed between his last condemnation and his father's deposition ; that 
 afler he had been tortured he was removed to the ducal apartments, not 
 to one of the pozzi; and that the death of the elder Foscari took place, 
 
 I 
 
 i 
 
82 
 
 INQUISITION OF STATE. 
 
 INQUISITION OF STATE. 
 
 83 
 
 To the reign of Foscari may now be attributed with cer- 
 tainty the organization of that portentous tribunal com- 
 posed of the three inquisitors of the state. The origin of 
 that body, no less than its proceedings, was long involved in 
 hopeless mystery, till the laborious research of the late 
 Comte Daru unrolled the manuscript statutes in the Royal 
 Library at Paris ; and brought to light a decree of the Grand 
 Council also, bearing date the 16th June, 1454, by which 
 the Ten, in consetiuence of the dilliculty found in assem- 
 bling their members with suliicient promptitude on every oc- 
 casion on which their services might be requisite, are au- 
 thorized to choose three persons under the above title ; two 
 (/ Neri) from their own council, one (7/ Rosso) from that 
 of the doge ; the former consequently to exercise their func- 
 tions for a year, the latter for eight months, the periods of 
 their respective oriijinal counsellorships. The powers 
 granted by the Ten are briefly stated in a second decree of 
 their own, passed three days afterward. By that ordinance 
 the inquisitors were invested with all the plenary authority 
 possessed by their electors, over every person of what de- 
 gree soever, in the republic, be he citizen, noble, magistrate, 
 ecclesiastic, or even one of the Ten themselves ; over all 
 individuals, in a word, who should in any way expose them- 
 selves to merited punishment. The penalties which they 
 might inflict were left solely to their own discretion, and ex- 
 tended to death, either by public or secret execution. Each 
 member singly might take all steps preparatory to judgment, 
 but a dcrinitive sentence could be pronounced only by their 
 unanimous voices. The terrific dungeons, whether under 
 the leaden roofs (/ Piomhi), or beneath the level of the 
 canals, in the hollowed walls of the palace (/ Pozzi), were 
 placed at their disi)osal ; they held the keys of the treasury 
 of the Ten without being accountable for the sums which 
 
 not at the palace, but in his own house ; not immediately on his descent 
 from the Giant's Stairs, but tive days afterward. 
 
 Mr. Rogers, in the notes upon his very striking version of this melan- 
 choly story in his Itah/, has fallen into two sligiit errors, which we might 
 pass unnoticed if it were not for tlie deserved popularity of the poem. 
 Loredano, he says, was "one of the invisible three," that is, one of the 
 state inquisitors. There is not any ground for this assertion, and from 
 the constitution of tliat dark tribunal, none of the inquisitors were ever 
 known. Again he says, and refers to Sanuto as his authority, that the 
 doge Foscari died while at mass ; Sanuto only says that Maiipieri, his 
 successor, was at mass when he received the account of Foscari's death. 
 
 they might draw from it ; all governors, commanders, and 
 ambassadors on foreign stations were enjoined implicit obe- 
 dience to their mandates ; they were )>erniitted to frame 
 their own statutes, with the power of allering, rescinding, 
 or adding to them from time to time ; and eUcctually to 
 guard against the chief hazard by which their secrecy might 
 be violated, no jiopaUsta, ihixt is, no one who had an eccle- 
 siastic amonjj his near connexions, orwns at all interested 
 in the court of Rome, was eligible as an Inquisitor of IState, 
 even although he might belong to the Ten. 
 
 Of a tribunal whose chief elements were secrecy and ter- 
 ror, little that was authentic could l)e known, still less was 
 likely to be spoken. By foreign writers, accordingly, it has 
 for the most part been neglected or misrej)resented ; by na- 
 tive Venetians it has been approached with wary steps, and 
 quitted with trembling haste ; as if those who lingered 
 within its precincts dreaded to become entangled within its 
 grasp. The chief civil histonan of Venice speaks briefly 
 of its mysterious constitution, of the veneration due to it 
 by all citizens, of the breach of duty which any attempt to 
 penetrate iis obscurity would involve ; and he concludes by 
 declaring " with sincerity aiul simplicity, to the glory of 
 this august tribunal, that if Rome, so admirable in the rest 
 of her pohty, had established a similar magistracy, she 
 would still exist, secure from the corruptions which occa- 
 sioned her dissolution."* A slight glance, for we can at- 
 tempt no more, at a few of the principal enactments of this 
 most atrocious court, will evince the due value which may 
 be placed on the above panegyric. These decrees are the 
 only ordinances reduced to writing in which a legislative 
 body has ever dared to erect a code upon the avowed basis 
 of perfidy and assassination. Never yet did the principle 
 of ill establish so free a traffic for the interchange of crime, 
 so unrestricted a mart in which mankind might barter their 
 iniquity ; never was the committal of certain and irreme- 
 diable evil so fully authorized for the chance of questionable 
 and ambiguous good ; never was every generous emotion 
 of moral instinct, every accredited maxim of social duty so 
 debased and subjugated to the baneful yoke of an assumed 
 political expediency. The statutes of the Venetian Inqui- 
 
 * V. Sandi, Storia Civile di VtneziOj vol. ii. p. ii. 1. 8. p. 5. 
 
 i 
 
 ^M>:^ 1 
 
 h I 
 
 '! 
 
 If 
 
 **^'i*f%fe,; 
 
^*<^S%6, 
 
 84 
 
 STATUTES OF 
 
 THE INQUISITION OF STATE. 
 
 85 
 
 sition of State, now exposed to the general eye, exceed 
 every other product of human wickedness in premeditated, 
 deliberate, systematic, unmixed, undissembled flagitious- 
 less. 
 
 This code, entirely written in the autograph of one of the 
 inquisitors, was deposited in a casket of which each of the 
 three magistrates by turns kept the key. In tlie outset it 
 declared that every process of the tribunal was for ever to 
 be preserved secret, and that no inquisitor should betray 
 that he was such by any outward sign, but everywhere con- 
 
 ^jij^ stantly maintain the character of a merely private individual ; 
 
 ^^ since the advantage with which the state could be served 
 
 was considered to be strictly proportionate to the mystery 
 in which this tribunal was enveloped. Hence its citations, 
 arrests, and other instruments were to be issued in the name 
 of the Ten, its examinations conducted, its judgments pro- 
 nounced by the mouths of secretaries. Even if an accused 
 party after arrest should escape condemnation (a rare 
 event !) he was to learn his acquittal and release, not by 
 a direct sentence, but by a surly rebuke from his jailer 
 — " What are you doing there ? out with you !" was the 
 greeting with which the turnkey entered the cell of a pris- 
 oner about to be restored to liberty. Spies (jaccordanti^ a 
 smooth and gentle title) were to be procured with the ut- 
 most diligence from every class, artisans, citizens, nobles, 
 and religious ; and their rewards w^ere to be adjusted in 
 such manner as might rather perpetually excite than abso- 
 lutely satiate expectation. The nice sensitiveness of honour 
 which this Judas-band might be supposed to cherish, was 
 respected with peculiar delicacy. Should they be taunted 
 {moteggiati) by any one in terms which might impair their 
 zeal or prevent the addiction of others to similar employ- 
 ment, or should they even be called " spies of the state in- 
 quisitors," the person so naming them was to be arrested, 
 tortured till he revealed the method by which he obtained 
 this dangerous knowledge, and punished afterward at the 
 discretion of the tribunal. 
 
 Four at least of these agents, each unknown to the other, 
 and all selected from the inferior classes, were to watch 
 every ambassador resident in Venice ; and the numerous pro- 
 visions respecting the observation of foreign ministers were 
 singularly precise. The great object appears to have been 
 
 the prevention of intercourse between them and the native 
 nobility. The first attempt of the spies was always to be 
 made upon their secretaries, to whom a large monthly sti- 
 pend might be promised solely for the revelation of any se- 
 cret commerce between their masters and a noble ; the fit- 
 test persons through whom these overtures could be mnde 
 were monks and Jews, both of whom it is said gain admis- 
 sion everywhere.* If an ordinary spy proved insufficient 
 to penetrate the diplomatic secrets, some Venetian con- 
 demned to banishment was instructed to take asylum in the 
 ambassador's palace ; immunity from the pursuit of govern- 
 ment being promised for the time, and a future recompense 
 also proportioned to his discoveries. The asylum in the 
 above instance was manifestly a pretext ; but as the privi- 
 lege was really allowed by the law of nations, it was often 
 claimed in earnest ; and in these cases the inquisitors re- 
 solved that if the otfence for which the criminal sought re- 
 fuge were slight, all knowledge of his hiding-place should 
 be dissembled ; but if of graver hue, every means should be 
 taken to arrest, or if these were unsuccessful to assassinate 
 him. If the fugitive were a noble, however trifling might 
 be his fault, he should be assassinated without a moment's 
 hesitation.! Whenever a foreign ambassador should solicit 
 pardon for an exile, due care must be taken to examine into 
 the character of the party ; and if he prove to be of mean 
 condition, loose morals, and narrow circumstances, (how well 
 did these children of the tempter understand what spirits 
 were most open to their wiles !) it was probable that he 
 might be gained as a spy. Propositions therefore should 
 be made to him to superintend the establishment of the am- 
 bassador ; to whom, on account of the favour conferred on 
 him, he would be likely to obtain famihar access ; and whom 
 accordingly, under an appearance of gratitude, he might the 
 more readily betray. If any noble should report to the in- 
 quisitors proposals made to him by an ambassador, he should 
 be authorized to continue the treasonable negotiation until 
 the intermediate agent could be seized in the very act : then, 
 provided it were not the ambassador himself or the secre- 
 tary of legation, but some minor agent, of whose quaUty and 
 
 * Che sono persone chefacilmente trattono con tutti.—Si. xii. 
 t Sia fatto ammazzare soUecitaynente.—Si.. xxx. 
 
 Vol. il.— H 
 
 ir 
 
 ^ I 
 
 eiKa£.V.<t^tU,w/ 
 
 r P 
 
JSP^i»' 
 
 86 
 
 STATUTES OF 
 
 THE INQUISITION OF STATE. 
 
 87 
 
 person ignorance might be pretended, he was to be iramC" 
 dii'itely drowned. 
 
 Especially favourable opportunities for observation might 
 be found, it was said, whenever an ambassador was making 
 choice of a residence. It was already an established law, 
 that if a foreign minister negotiated with a nobleman for 
 his house, the owner must not complete his bargain with- 
 out hrst obtaining permission from the Ten, who prescribed 
 to him the lit method of conducting his treaty without hold- 
 ing the slightest forbidden intercourse with the stranger. 
 But, for still greater security, each iiic|uisitor now resolved 
 to examine separately and with the utmost particularity 
 every house intended as the abode of a foreign minister, in 
 order to determine whether any secret communication could 
 be established whh the adjoming tenements ; and whether 
 its roof were level with those of its neighbours, so that per- 
 sons might pass from one to the other. If such were the 
 case, and the house next door were occupied by a noble 
 owner, he was to be advised to quit, and to let it to some one 
 of an inferior class ; and if he has a grain of good sense, 
 says the statute, he will understand and obey. If a noble 
 only rented the adjoining premises, he was at once to be com- 
 manded to dislodge, and his place was to be supplied by a 
 spy ; the expenses of whose establishment, if necessary, 
 should be defrayed by the tribunal. Snares were also laid 
 for the lighter and more unguarded moments of the repre- 
 sentatives of friendly powers ; and if a spy could discover 
 any amatory intercourse, he was instructed to connect him- 
 self by similar ties with the favourite mistress of the am- 
 bassador ; under a plea of jealousy to conceal himself in 
 her apartments ; and thus to ascertain whether they were 
 frequented by any Venetian noble. If they were so, the in- 
 quisitors would determine from the general character of the 
 visiter whether he were a person likely to divert such a ren- 
 dezvous to other intrigues than those of gallantry. On satis- 
 factorily determining his innocence, they would be content 
 to warn him of indiscretion, and to prohibit him by menace 
 of severe punishment from the further maintenance of so 
 hazardous an intercourse. 
 
 The envoy of the holy see, and, in later times, that of 
 Sptiin also, were watched more closely by the inquisitors 
 than those of other states. Any ambassador of the repub- 
 
 lic to the Vatican, who should accept an ecclesiastical ap- 
 pointment, either for himself or for any connexion, was to 
 be subject, besides all other statutable penalties, to confis- 
 cation of the revenues of his benefice, and if he dared to 
 appeal to Home he was to be assassinated secretly and in- 
 stantly. The palace of the nuncio in Venice was regarded 
 with ceaseless suspicion, for the ecclesiastics always suc- 
 cessfully maintained their privilege of free access to its 
 walls ; therefore the most jealous vigilance was exercised ; 
 and it was reconmiended that some ecclesiastic, distin- 
 guished for subtlety, for needy circumstances, and for 
 patriu/ic zeal, some "bishop rn parfihus'' for example, 
 should be selected to win the confidence of the nuncio ; 
 and from time to time, under pretext of unportant disclo- 
 sures, to pour into his ear a succession of false advices, 
 adapted to the views of government and the circumstances 
 of the moment. Asa check to undue freedom of conversa- 
 tion among the nuncio's suite, if any one attached to it 
 should presume to canvass forbidden subjects, such as the 
 limits of secular authority over ecclesiastical persons, and 
 other matters of similar description, he was to be imme- 
 diately assassinated ; care at the same time being taken to 
 let it be well known by whose directions and on what ac- 
 count the blow had been inflicted. Such Venetian prelates 
 as were sufficiently hardy to propound like maxims wttinn 
 the palace, were to be registeiod in a book containing the 
 names of cede mast ici poco arcetti ; and all possible means 
 were to be emploved to entangle them in vexatious lawsuits, 
 by raising up claims, however ill-founded, upon their bene- 
 fices, and by sequestering their revenues, till they should 
 have sagacity enough to discover the reason for these pro- 
 cesses, and to repent their inadvertence. If they babbled 
 tcithout the palace, they were to be carried off secretly and 
 subjected to long confinement; and whenever they per- 
 sisted in contumacy after these sequestrations and tedious 
 imprisonments, measures of the uttermost rigour were to be 
 employed ; since it is only by the knife and the cautery 
 (ferro c fuoco) that an inveterate disease can be extermi- 
 nated. Notwithstanding the bold attitude with which the 
 Venetian government confronted the encroachments of the 
 papacy, it is plain, upon a comparison of the ordinances 
 affecting laics with that directed against ecclesiastics, that 
 
88 
 
 STATUTES OF 
 
 t 
 
 ' I 
 
 'J 
 
 I 
 
 the latter were regarded with a tenderness not extended to 
 the former, however dignified might be their station 
 
 Another proceeding, seemingly directed in an especial 
 manner agamst Spain, and therefore beloncrina to a con- 
 siderably later period than the first appointment of the In- 
 quisition of State, exceeds in complicated iniquity any of 
 those winch we have as yet noticed. Reports, it was said, 
 were often submitted to the tribunal that unknown or 
 masked persons, by night or during the carnival, made 
 overtures from the government of Spain to certain nobles. 
 1 he persons thus invited, by promising their decision at a 
 luture interview, gained time to inform the inquisitors ; to 
 whom they likewise tendered their services for the assassi- 
 nation of the agent, provided they might be allowed to 
 carry pistols, agiiinst the usage of which in the streets of 
 Venice a standing law existed. Many reasons concurred 
 to induce the rt^ection of this proposal ; but it was thouifht 
 advisable that the episcopal spy before noticed should 
 whisper to the nuncio that it had been accepted ; with a full 
 confidence that the nuncio in turn would transmit the intel- 
 ligence to the Spanish ambassador, who mitrht in conse- 
 quence be deterred by the peril of his emissary from con- 
 tmuing the intrigue. Nevertheless, as the statute reasons, 
 the ministers employed by crowned heads are, for the most 
 part, too subtle and sagacious to be thus easily cajoled ; and 
 It IS probable, therefore, that the real nature of the device 
 will be suspected : so that in order to give it a colourina of 
 truth, which may produce the same effect as truth itself 
 recourse must be had to the following process • The in' 
 quisitors must find out some banished>enetian, who has 
 eluded his sentence, and continues to reside in the city • 
 takmg care that he be a person of more than ordinary ca- 
 pacity and consideration. Then, selecting from their spies 
 a nobleman of attested courage, and who ts actually a mem- 
 ber of Ike senate at the time, they must instruct him to as- 
 sassinate the exile ; and afterward, but with some ostenta- 
 tion of secrecy, to boast of his exploit, adding that it was 
 committed m consequence of a treasonable overture from 
 Spain which the murdered man ventured to propose. Aaain, 
 
 t\L7b JT' "^-^ fT "^"^^ ^^^«' ^« ^^« ^« announce 
 that he had received full pardon for the deed of blood. 
 
 Ihe ambassador, well knowing that the person killed was 
 
 THE INQUISITION OF STATE. 
 
 89 
 
 not one of his agents, would at once imagine that the noble 
 had made a false representation to the inquisitors, and had 
 assumed public motives for the revenge of some private 
 quarrel ; but perceiving also that the assassin had been 
 pardoned in consequence of his fidelity under the pretended 
 temptation, he would desist from any real intrigue, throutrh 
 a conviction that similar indulgence would again be ex- 
 tended to a similar murder. In order to prevent any sus- 
 picion of collusion, the man was to be killed, not with pis- 
 tols, but with the stiletto ; and if he were an exile who at 
 any time had sought asylum in the ambassador's palace, it 
 would be very much to the purpose {sarcbhc anco molto pu 
 a proposito) ; since it might then be supposed that, although 
 without previous sanction, he really did make the pretended 
 overture, in order that, if the negotiation ripened, he might 
 claim merit for it with his patron and protector. 
 
 The method recommended to countervail the influence of 
 any foreign statesman hostile to the interests of Venice is 
 not indeed so bloody as that just detailed, but it is equally 
 insidious. Every Venetian noble on his return from an 
 embassy formally reported to the senate all matters con- 
 nected with his recent mission, and under the circumstances 
 above mentioned he was instructed to interweave in this 
 oflScial document a notice that he had bribed the obnoxious 
 minister in question ; who had promised entire devotion to 
 the service of Venice hereafter, with the sole proviso that, 
 for greater secrecy, his conversion must apparently be 
 gradual. Care was to be taken that this report went forth 
 to the public, and was conveyed to the court most concerned 
 in it by its own ambassador, by some enemy of the denounced, 
 or, with yet greater certainty, by charging the episcopal spy 
 to deliver it with much affectation of mystery to the nuncio, 
 from whom it would immediately find conveyance to those 
 ears by which the inquisitors most desired it should be be- 
 lieved : and thus would effectually destroy the weight of 
 the individual whose reputation it was intended to under- 
 mine. 
 
 To pass to regulations of domestic polity. Every morn- 
 ing, after a sitting of the Great (>ouncil, the inquisitors were 
 to assemble and to discuss the fortunes, habits, and charac- 
 ters of such nobles as had been appointed to any offices of 
 state. Two spies, mutually unknown, were to be attached 
 
 H2 
 
 J' 
 
 I 
 
 (i 
 
90 
 
 STATUTES OF 
 
 THE INQUISITION OF STATE. 
 
 91 
 
 to any of those upon whom suspicion might rest, to follow 
 all their steps, and to report all their actions. If those 
 emissaries should fail to discover any thing of moment, a 
 more dexterous person was to be selected to visit the noble 
 by night, and to offer him a bribe from some foreign am- 
 bassador for a betrayal of the secrets of the council. Even 
 if he withstood that trial, but did not immediately denounce 
 the overture, he was to be registered in a Libra de* Suspettij 
 and ever afterward to be carefully observed. If any noble 
 not under sentence of exile should enter into the service of 
 a foreign court, he was to be recalled home ; on disobe- 
 dience, his relations were to be imprisoned ; after two 
 months' contumacy, he was to be assassinated wherever he 
 could be found ; or, that attempt failing, to be erased from 
 the Gofden Book. A very similar process was employed 
 against artisuns who exported with them any native manu- 
 facture. Should any noble, while speaking" in the senate 
 or the Grand Council, w^ander from his subject into matters 
 deemed prejudicial to the state, he was to be immediately 
 interrupted by one of the chiefs of the Ten. In case the 
 orator disputed this authority, or said any thing injurious to 
 it, no notice was to be taken at the moment ; but he was 
 to be arrested on the close of the sitting, tried according to 
 his offence, and, if direct means of conviction were unat- 
 tainable, to be put to death privately. As freedom of de- 
 bate in the legislative bodies was thus narrowly limited, it 
 can be no matter of surprise that restraint was imposed 
 upon conversation elsewhere. A noble guilty of indiscre- 
 tion of speech was to be twice admonished ; on the third 
 ofTence, to be prohibited from appearing in the public streets 
 or councils for two years ; if he disobeyed, or if he relapsed 
 after the two years {fornasse a vomito is the strong expres- 
 sion of the original), he was to be drowned as incorrigible. 
 In order to obtain notice of these derelictions, the noble 
 spies sedulously watched all members of their own class in 
 their assemblies on the Broglio^* the arcade under tho 
 
 ♦The Broglio may be considered the Exchange of the Venetian nobility, 
 m which they brought their votes to market, and far Broglio with them 
 answered precisely to the commercial phrase to he on 'Change. No one 
 of inferior rank was permitted to intrude within its precincts while fre- 
 quented by the nobles, and separate walks were conventionally set 
 •part for tlie different classes among themselves. The popular dehva- 
 
 clucal palace which was their privileged resort ; the early 
 morning hours were judged to be most favourable for these 
 observations, because the promenade being less frequented 
 at that time, greater license, it was thought, might then be 
 hazarded. 
 
 Upon the honour of a class of men thus debased by mu- 
 tual treachery, little reliance could be placed by the govern- 
 ment which taught them to betray, and which therefore 
 indeed possessed the fullest means of estimating their ve- 
 nality. Accordingly, we find most severe penalties attached 
 to an offence, suspicion of which could not affect the no- 
 bility of any other country than Venice. Fraudulent bal- 
 loting was punished with six years' confinement in the 
 Piombi, succeeded by as many more of exclusion from 
 the council ; and a repetition of the crime, with death.* 
 Another ordinance affecting the patricians affords a lament- 
 able portrait of the insecurity of Venetian society during 
 the latter half of the fifteenth century. Many nobles, it 
 appears, were in the habit of summoning individuals, at 
 pleasure, before private tribunals in their own palaces ; 
 here, some were ordered to make payments to pretended 
 creditors, some to be reconciled to persons from whom they 
 h.id suffered injury, others to forbear from suits of law whicli 
 they were prosecuting ; and, in furtherance of these several 
 oppressive and illegal demands, the self-constituted magis- 
 trate frequently employed menaces and blows, occasionally 
 capital execution. The offender, if he had confined him- 
 self to threats only, was to be severely reprimanded and 
 
 tion imbrogliare, to embroil, to cabal, very justly characterized this mart 
 of corruption; but Sansovino gives one much more recondite. The 
 whole of the Piazza di San Marco was once, he says, the Brolo, or Gar- 
 den, of the monks of S. Zaccaria ; " dalla qual voce Brolo naeque quest* 
 altra di Broglio 6 Brogio, significativa di quelle cerernorije e di quelle 
 insianii preghiere cbe fanno i nobili 1' uno con altro quando ricercano 
 d' ottenere qualche magistrato nella republica ; percioche stando ne' 
 tempi antichi, all' usanza dei Candidati Romani, in Piazza, per ricercar 
 del suffragio suo chi passava, chianiata Broglio, si nomind quell' atto 
 dal luogo, e si disse /ar Broio." — Venetia descntta, lib. i. / 88, ed. 
 1614. Bp. Rurnet says that Guy Patin suggested to him the far-fetched 
 Greek -rrepiPoXaiov. 
 
 * Daru mentions an ancient law by wtiich more summary punish- 
 ment was inflicted upon this offence. Any voter detected in dropping 
 more than a single ball into the urn might be thrown out of window. 
 Vol. v. liv. XXXV. p, 316, note. 
 
 4 
 
'■"f „= 
 
 •^^<*^ 
 
 02 
 
 STATUTES OF 
 
 THE INQUISITION OF STATE. 
 
 93 
 
 placed under observation : if he relapsed, he was to be im- 
 prisoned for at least three years in the Piomhi ; and on a 
 third conviction, he was to be drowned. But if, in the first 
 instance, ho had proceeded to acts of violence, his imme- 
 diate punishment was to be proportioned to his degree of 
 crime. The penalty awarded mi<j:ht be death, and to ren- 
 der the example more impressive, this mi;^^ht be inflicted 
 publicly ; notwithstanding another statute which expressly 
 declared, that whenever death was considered necessary, 
 the scandal of open display should be avoided by drownino- 
 the malefactor privately in the Canule Orfano.* 
 
 In two cases only was the interference of any other 
 portion of the government permitted. If one of the inquisi- 
 tors themselves were denounced, a supplementary inquisi- 
 tor was named from the Ten to assist his two brethren, 
 and on an accusation of one of the chiefs of the Ten, three 
 assessors from that council were selected, and five voices 
 were necessary for his condemnation ; if death were the 
 penalty adjudged in this instance, it was recommended that 
 it should be inflicted by poison, rather than by any other 
 mode. The doge was exempt from citation before the 
 inquisitors, and if subjected to a reprimand, it was delivered 
 to him in his private apartments. In cases which alfectcd 
 officers of the arsenal, due regard was always to be paid to 
 the great utility of their profession. For the treatment of 
 persons oflensive to government, but of superior influence, 
 whom it might not therefore be prudent to dismiss afl;er 
 they had been irritated by arrest, and whom it might be 
 equally impolitic to put to death, even privately, on account 
 of the power of their connexions, a convenient mezzo ter- 
 mine was suggested. The jailer was instructed to pretend 
 willingness to favour the prisoner's escape, and, on the 
 
 * The Venetians assert tliat in the Lagune, at the back of San Giorgio 
 Maggiore, the Cavale Orfano, originallv delV Area, received its name 
 after the defeat of Pepin, in A. D. 804 (vol. i. p. 13), by which all the 
 children of Lombardy were made orphans. The author of that very 
 rare tract the Squitdnio della Libcrtd Voutd rejects this notion, and 
 treats it as a cosa dariclrc. Etvmologisis, he savs, had better trace 
 the name to Orfneo, Or/'nino, Orfino, or Orfno, all which words in 
 Greek (meaning thereby dpipraloi) signify black, dark, obscure ; epithets 
 which may reasonably be assigned to a canal of very dangerous navi- 
 gation, without any forced reference to tlie fable of Pepin's defeat. 
 Greek derivations, he adds, can be by no means strange lo Venice.— <?. 
 iu. ad arm. 804. 
 
 evening before he released him, he was to administer with 
 his last meal a poison of slow effect and leaving no trace of 
 its action ; so that whenever death ensued, it was not 
 likely that it would be charged upon the inquisitors. By 
 such means, as this statute concludes, shall we satisfy both 
 public and private duty, and justice will attain the end at 
 which she aims, through a way somewhat more circuitous 
 indeed than usual, but also more secure. 
 
 A similar tone of high moral reflection pervades the 
 instructions to the governors of Cyprus and Candia. If 
 there were any persons of noble birth or of superior influence 
 resident in those islands, who, it was thought, might be 
 better out of the way (siassc hen inorto), they were to be 
 despatched secretly, provided the magistrate felt in his 
 conscience that he could not proceed otherwise, and was 
 able to answer for the act before God, with entire sincerity. 
 So nicely shaded and graduated aioo were the various 
 species of possible olTence, so delicately weighed and 
 balanced were the proportions of contingent crime, that 
 any one who engnged to arrest or assassinate an exile 
 could not be paid by grace accorded to another exile, unless 
 the arrested or assassinated were equally guilty with his 
 companion in banishment. Thus also, if a banished state- 
 criminal sought pardon by proflTering like services, the 
 inquisitors were to determine whether the murdered were 
 inferior or superior in guilt to the murderer ; if the former, 
 the assassin might be rewarded, but he could by no means 
 obtain an entire remission of punishment. 
 
 The operation of these most execrable statutes will 
 frequently cast dark shadows over our future pages ; and 
 we return, not unwillingly, to a more active narrative, from 
 this digression, which, although perhaps long, is still ne- 
 cessary for the elucidation of numerous leading principles 
 in the constitution of Venice. To the professed historian, 
 however, we must relinquish the ungrateful task of re- 
 cording in detail the many enormities which deform a war 
 with the Turks, to a rapid view of which we are about to 
 direct ourselves. The wise policy of Sforza, since his 
 acquisition of the duchy of Milan, maintained, with a few 
 unimportant exceptions, a steady peace throughout the 
 states in his vicinity, during the remainder of his life, and 
 even for twenty years beyond it ; and for awhile, therefore^ 
 
 lirtteMfctirifaiaMfaiMltriiiiiinr itfli 
 
94 
 
 WAR WITH TURKEY. 
 
 PROJECTED CRUSADE. 
 
 95 
 
 we may turn from the busy scenes by which Italy has been 
 so long agitated, to transactions in countries fur removed 
 from her peninsula. 
 
 Christoforo Moro, of a Candiote family, was elected 
 
 doge on the decease of Malipieri, and, but a few 
 A. D. months after his accession, a dispute with the Pacha 
 1462. of Athens respecting a fugitive slave spread the 
 
 flames of war over the Morea and its adjacent dis- 
 tricts. A ferocious contest, evilly distinguished by foul 
 acts of mutual cruelty, raged during a bloody course of 
 fifteen years ; and there is scarcely a spot on the Grecian 
 soil, endeared to us by generous associations, which was not 
 polluted at some moment of this war by rapine, treachery, 
 or massacre. The sack of Argos by the Turks preluded 
 the siege of Corinth by the Venetians ; and during its 
 investnient, we read of an idle work, which, nevertheless, 
 forcibly recalls one of the most spirit-stirring .portions of 
 ancient history. Of the wall which the Peloponnesians 
 threw across the Isthmus of Corinth on the approach of 
 Xerxes, Herodotus does little more than mention the exist- 
 ence.* A similar fortification was constructed by Manuel 
 II. in 1413, which the Venetians afterward repaired, when 
 in possession of the neighbouring city, without however 
 finding it an adequate barrier against Turkish invasion. 
 Nevertheless, in order to cover their besieging army, they 
 now restored this useless outwork. Thirty thousand men 
 were employed on this gigantic labour during fifteen days ; 
 in which time they covered a distance of six miles, from 
 eea to sea, with a wall of uncemented stones, twelve feet 
 in height, flanked by thirty-six towers, and protected by a 
 broad double fosse.*^ But this rampart neither afforded 
 confidence to its builders nor daunted their enemy ; as the 
 Turks advanced, the Venetians abandoned their fortification 
 without attempting its defence, and sought a surer position 
 on the rocky promontory of Napoli di Romania, where they 
 more successfully maintained themselves. 
 
 Meantime ^neas Silvius, who held the pontificate, 
 under the title of Pius II., having failed in an attempt for 
 the peaceable conversion of Mahomet II., whom he had 
 soberly exhorted in an apostolical letter to renounce the 
 
 * viii. 40. 
 
 imposture of his prophet, and to embrace the Christian 
 verity, directed all his cares to the organization of a new 
 cmsade. Indulgences were lavishly distributed throughout 
 Christendom, and the ardour of religious zeal and the 
 terror of the Ottoman conquests collected a numerous but 
 ill-appointed band of warriors, prepared, under the personal 
 guidance of the holy father, to encounter the infidels. Venice, 
 as one deeply interested and already engaged in the contest, 
 was among the first powers to which a papal brief was 
 addressed; and the Doge Moro, an old man, whose besetting 
 passions were avarice and love of ease, was lost in conster- 
 nation at the proposals which it conveyed. " The victory 
 which we anticipate," wrote the anhnated and energetic 
 pontifl*, " will be rendered far more certain, if you, tho 
 prince of Venice and captain of her annies, will accompany 
 us in this war. We ourselves design to increase the terror 
 of the infidels by a full display of the dignity of St. Peter : 
 and you, if you will appear in your Bucentaur, clad in the 
 ducal insignia, will fill with dread not only the opposite 
 shores of Greece and Asia, but even the whole oriental 
 world."* It was in vain, however, that this flattering 
 exaggeration of his power was dropped into the dull ears 
 of Moro ; that the bright examples of his predecessors 
 were exhibited to his closed eyes ; and that he was invited 
 to pursue the heroic steps of Dandolo and Contarini. 
 ''Come then, my dear son," wrote the holy father in 
 continuance, " and do not refuse to partake the toils which 
 I myself willingly undergo. Plead not old age in excuse, 
 for the Duke of Burgundy, not less advanced in life than 
 you are, and sovereign of a yet more distant country, 
 undertakes the voyage. We too ourselves hesitate not to 
 embark, although bowed beneath sixty-two winters, and 
 tormented day and night by our infirmities. We three 
 veterans will divide the superintendence of the war. A 
 trinity is acceptable to God, and the Divine Trinity assu- 
 redly'will protect that which we shall constitute. Fail not, 
 therefore, at the gathering ; neither fear a death which, if 
 it happens, will conduct you to a better life. All of us 
 must die in this world ; and no death can be more an 
 
 * The whole of this brief, from which we have selected only a few 
 sentences, may be found, among other writers, in the History of P. 
 Justiiiiani, lib. viii. p. 2U7. 
 
 4 
 
 \'- 
 
 
96 
 
 DEATH OF PIUS II. 
 
 DEATH OF FRANCESCO SFORZA. 
 
 97 
 
 object of desire than that which is encountered in the cause 
 
 of God." 
 
 Cogent and consolatory as these arguments no doubt 
 appeared to their framer, glowing as were these assurances 
 of blessing and immortality, they met with no response in 
 the chilled bosom of Moro. When the brief was read 
 before the council, he vehemently pleaded his declining 
 years, his unwarlikc habits, and his unserviceableness in 
 the field, as excuses for disobeying the summons. But his 
 protest was unavailing against the united voices of the 
 nobles. " Most serene prince," was the conclusive reply 
 of their spokesman, " if your serenity refuses to embark 
 with good-will, we shall compel you to go by force ; for 
 the honour and advantage of our country is far more dear 
 to us than is your person." The doge answered not a 
 word ; and the other senators, as we are told, comforted 
 him by promising the assistance of four of their body as 
 privy counsellors.'* The rendezvous was fixed at Ancona, 
 whither Moro, having first consulted the astrologers for a 
 fortunate hour, set sail with a reluctant spirit. Notwith- 
 standing the good promise of the stars, a storm surprised 
 the fleet in one of the canals, and carried away from the 
 dole's galley its crimson banner blazoned with golden 
 images of St. Mark.t Scarcely, however, had he entered 
 the appointed port, when he learned, with ill-dissembled 
 joy, that the projected expedition was arrested by the death 
 of the pope ; who, exhausted by mental and bodily fatigue, 
 breathed his last a few hours after the arrival of the Vene- 
 tian armament. The sacred college partook but little in 
 the zeal of their deceased chief; the crusade was abandoned, 
 and Moro, having unbuckled his armour, took his seat in 
 the consistory, received the thanks of the assembled cardi- 
 nals, and joyfully returned to St. Mark's. 
 
 The Turks, during these transactions, were earnestly 
 negotiating European alliances, and one of their invitations 
 was addressed to the Duke of Milan. It was not without 
 very natural inquietude that the signory was informed of 
 the arrival of Ottoman ambassadors at the Lombard court, 
 of their honourable reception, and of their proposition, that, 
 
 * Sanuto, 1174. 
 
 t Velluto cremisino co' Sanmarchi d'OTO. Id. 1180. 
 
 A. D. 
 
 1466. 
 
 while Mahomet continued the war in Greece, Sforza should 
 eifect a diversion upon the Venetian territories in Italy. 
 But that great man, both from declining health, and sound 
 political foresight, felt little inclination to disturb the peace 
 wiiich he had so long laboured to consolidate, and he ac- 
 cordingly rejected the alliance. For some years past he 
 had been oppressed with symptoms of dropsy, but his last 
 illness was only of two days' duration. Firmly established 
 on his throne, which he seemed to have won b}^ conquest 
 solely in order to sheathe all swords around Jiim ; in the 
 height of glory and pror-perity, and having secured his fam- 
 ily by inteiTnarriages with the princely houses of 
 Savoy, Arragon, and France, he expired on the 2.5th 
 of March, 1466, in the 65th year of his age. His 
 sick couch was watched w^ith tender care by the hi«Th-minded 
 and alVectionate Birtuca ; she soothed him by her attentions, 
 she consulted with his physicians, she prepared and admin- 
 istered his medicines ; and when the progress of fatal 
 symptoms manifestly announced the rapid approach of his 
 last hour, suppressing her grief, she provided for the tran- 
 quil succession of her son (inleazzo, at that time in the ser- 
 vice of the King of France, by forwarding messengers to 
 hasten his presence m Milan ; and by despatching ambas- 
 sadors to Venice and the other chief Italian powers, solicit- 
 ing a continuance of their friendship. Then in the dead 
 of the night assembling a council, she proposed fit measures 
 for the restraint of that popular agitation which is so fre- 
 quently excited by the death of princes ; and, subduing 
 every feminine weakness, although her heart was rent asun- 
 der by her loss, she addressed the senators with calmness 
 and dignity, herself alone apparently unmoved amid the 
 mourners who surrounded her. Havin" thus fulfilled the 
 lofty duties of a queen, and satisfied the paramount claims 
 of royalty, she no longer struggled against nature ; but, 
 abandoned to softer and more womanly emotions, she threw 
 herself upon the beloved, though lifeless body, and refused 
 to quit it till the moment of interment, which, contrary to 
 usual Italian custom, was protracted, at her desire, beyond 
 the second day. In a few months, the grave terminated her 
 sorrows, by reuniting her to that husband whose attaching, 
 no less than commanding, qualities had converted a mar- 
 
 VOL. II.— I 
 
 r 
 I • 
 
-■- •*- -J-^Jfafcr' 
 
 Tf 
 
 98 
 
 WAR IN GREECE. 
 
 THE TURKS INVADE FRIULI. 
 
 99 
 
 riage originally prompted by ambition, into a bond of the 
 most ardent reciprocal afl'ection.* 
 
 War continued to rage with unmitigated ferocity in the 
 East ; for, altiiougli Venice anxiously wished to disem- 
 barrass herself from a strujrjjle whicli exhausted both her 
 blood and treasure without hope of advantage, the demands 
 of Mahomet appeared too unreasonable to be admitted whilo 
 there was any chance of obtairiing their modification. The 
 Venetians, after disembarking at Aulis (a port ennobled in 
 ancient history by the rendezvous of the Grecian fleet, pre- 
 paratory to its expedition against Troy), and descending to 
 the Pineus, attacked, stormed, and pillaged Athens ; but 
 this short-lived triumph was revenged, on the recovery of 
 the city, by the empalement of a ■pi-oooediture captured 
 during its siege, and a hideous slaughter in the assault. 
 Mantinea was once more deluged witli blood, which did not 
 now flow in the cause of freedom ; and the Venetians, aban- 
 donmg the continent, concentrated themselves in Negropont, 
 
 suffering and inflicting the most friijhtful calamities. 
 1470 "^'^^ narrow strait which separates that island from 
 
 the opposite shore of Attica was crowded with a 
 larger fleet than had filled its channel since the invasion of 
 Xerxes ; and Mahomet II., when encamped on the very 
 promontory which had been occupied by the Persion tyrant, 
 counted from his pavilion 400 vessels occupying a sea line 
 six miles in length, and 300,000 ment marshalled under his 
 banners. The strait was bridged by boats ; and although a 
 feeble attempt was made by the Venetian admiral Canale 
 to relieve the ancient Chalcis (now bearing the same name 
 as the island itself), he retired when within view of its 
 eagerly expecting garrison, not without imputation of cow- 
 ardice, for which he was displaced and punished. The Ve- 
 netians repulsed five assaults ; the sixth was fatal, and not 
 one of its defenders survived the storm. Mahomet had de- 
 nounced death against every soldier who should spare a sin- 
 gle prisoner exceedmg twenty years of age, and the slaugh- 
 
 * Simoneta, apud Muratori, xxi. 77fi. 
 
 t Tlie Turkish force probably is very greatly exagjjerated. Ripalta 
 (ap. Muratori, xx. 929) raises it to 500,000. Sabellico (Dec. iii. lib 8) 
 and Cepio (i. p. 341) descend to 120,000, and Sanuto (1190), yet lower, to 
 70,000; but, taken at the very lowest estimate which has ever been as- 
 signed, It most fearfully outuuinbered the Vcuciiaus. 
 
 tcr consequent upon that menace was indiscriminate. Even 
 the handful of brave men which threw itself into the citadel 
 was massacred after capitulation ; and their gallant com- 
 mander, Erizzo, who had yielded only on a promise that his 
 head should be respected, discovered, too late, that the spirit 
 of the savage conqueror's grant of immunity differed widely 
 from its letter. His head, indeed, was untouched, but 
 his body was placed beneath the saw, and he expired in 
 torture.* 
 
 The conquest of Negropont enabled the Turks to spread 
 themselves with rapid strides over the Morca, now wholly 
 defenceless : they next advanced upon Dalmatia, rounded 
 the head of the Adriatic, penetrated Friuli, and ravaged 
 even so far as the neighbourhood of Udino. Their fleet 
 rode triumphant ; all Europe was astonished by this humili- 
 ation of Venice upon the element over which, with few ex- 
 ceptions, she had hitherto asserted dominion ; and the sur- 
 prise was increased by the extreme suddenness with which 
 the Turkish marine had acquired its superiority. Italy also 
 was struck with terror by the irruption of fresh barbarians 
 upon her frontier. At the close of their foray, the war was 
 principally transferred to Dalmatia, and raged in that and 
 adjoining districts during six years of misery and desola- 
 tion. It was then once again carried into Italy, and ex- 
 tended almost to the very borders of the Lagunc ^ ^^ 
 themselves. The Pacha of Bosnia, again enteriiig j^'^y] 
 Friuli, surprised the Venetian generals by rapid q^j * 
 marches, before any intelligence of his advance had 
 been received. The lines constructed on that frontier since 
 the last invasion, if properly defended, would have been 
 impregnable ; but the troops occupying them were sunk in 
 idle security and forgetfulncss ; the Turks swam the rivers 
 or mastered the bridges : and their light cavalry, having de- 
 feated, on the banks of the Isonzo, the only band which 
 made head against them, spread themselves over the whole 
 plain between that stream and the Tagliamento. Sabellico, 
 
 (f * Dani hesitates respecting the truth of this atrocious perfidy, and ob- 
 serves that it is mentioned neither by the Turkish historians, nor, a far 
 better reason for disbelief, bv Sanuto. Sabellico, however, records it, 
 and adds the tyrant's brutal jest, ' Pollicitum se cemn non lateribus 
 parsurum' (iii. 8, a'ljin.) ; and it is repeated by Sandi (vui. 9). tnhap- 
 pily such cruelty is by no means alien from either the national or toe 
 personal character of Mahomet. 
 
100 
 
 SURRENDER OF CROYA. 
 
 srEGE OF SCUTARI. 
 
 101 
 
 I 
 \ 
 
 who at the moment was seeking shelter in the invaded dis- 
 trict from the plague, at nightfall mounted a tower near 
 Udino, and from its summit beheld a hundred villages in 
 flames. On the next morning, the Tagliamento was crossed, 
 and the fires of the succeeding night were visible even from 
 the Campanile of St. Mark's. After those acts of destruc- 
 tion, the marauders, prepared solely for ravage, and content 
 with the terror which they had inspired, withdrew upon 
 Dalmatia before any new force could be assembled to con- 
 front them. 
 
 In that country, so often desolated by war, the Venetians 
 suffered a heavy loss. Oroya, now a miserable village, but 
 once the capital of the heroic Scanderbeg,* and transferred 
 by him before his death to the signory, capitulated from 
 want of supplies, after investment for a whole year and a 
 patient endurance of the bitterest privations. The 
 j^^g sultan, in an express instrument attested by his own 
 signet, guarantied safe-conduct to such of its inhab- 
 itants as wished to quit the city, and protection to all others 
 who would remain in it under the Turkish government. 
 To a man, they preferred emigration, satisfied with what- 
 ever new seats Venice might provide for their allotment. 
 The princely abode of the Oastriots was abandoned by its 
 native guardians; and the gates at which the victorious 
 progress of Amurath had been checked, and his days prob- 
 ably shortened by the chagrin which their successful re- 
 sistance occasioned, were now opened to his more fortunate 
 son. Twenty years after the death of Scanderbeg, his 
 surviving companions committed themselves to the ambi- 
 guous fidelity of the Ottomans, not till then their con- 
 querors ; and in spite of the solemn pledge which Mahomet 
 had given, no sooner were they within his power than he 
 delivered them to the executioner. 
 
 Scutari, from its great strength, the almost spontaneous 
 fertility of its adjacent country, and the forests well adapted 
 for ship-timber by which it was encompassed, offered an 
 important station to Mahomet, panting for means to estab- 
 
 * It is not in this place that the exploits of that most extraordinary 
 man can be introduced with propriety. Gibbon has condensed them into 
 the narrow compass of half a dozen pages, in which they are but mistily 
 narrated, with great inclination to undervalue the Christian hero.— fCh. 
 livii.) ^ 
 
 Ksh himself on the opposite coast of Itaiy ; and it had 
 already been unsuccessfully invested. Even before the fall 
 of Oroya, preparations on a far larger scale than had been 
 employed at first were made for a renewal of the siege. 
 After Ihe close of the war, Sabellico was assured by eye- 
 witnesses that not a spot of ground was to be discovered 
 from the battlements of that city, far as sight could range 
 across the plain or up the mountains, which did not teem 
 with armed men, tents, and artillery ; and to oppose this 
 gigantic force, Scutari, one of the strongest Venetian de- 
 pendencies, and even in our own days containing 12,000 
 inhabitants, counted within her walls no more than 600 
 mercenaries, 1600 citizens, and 250 women. A breach was 
 soon effected, and the Turks were twice led to the assault. 
 On the second attack, Mahomet, careless how many lives he 
 sacrificed if success were but attained, disposed his 80,000 
 troops in four separate divisions, with orders to relieve each 
 other at intervals of six hours ; and thus to exhaust the 
 garrison by the mere pressure of numbers continually re- 
 newed. Slender as was the A^cnetian force even when 
 mustered entire, Antonio de' I^azzi, its brave commander, 
 when apprized of the enemy's intention, determined to 
 meet it by a similar arrangement ; and while a single small 
 detachment manned the ramparts, three others were posted 
 in reserve. The assault commehced before daybreak, and 
 as evening closed, fresh battalions continued to press 
 forward over the corpses of their fallen comrades, without 
 planting one foot within the walls. During the whole 
 night and the greater part of the following day, the combat 
 raged unabatedly, till Mahomet, warned that he could no 
 longer depend upon his troops, who began to murmur at 
 being led to certain and unavailing slaughter, reluctantly 
 withdrew, with the loss of a third of his army, and converted 
 the siege into a blockade. The uninterraitted sleet of 
 arrows, covered by which the assailants advanced to this 
 memorable storm, is mentioned by contemporary historians 
 as one of its greatest terrors. A miserable cat, scared from . 
 her hiding-place by the war-cries, fell pierced by eleven 
 shafls at once ; three or four arrows were in many places 
 found transfixing each other ; and for several months after 
 the retreat of the Ottomans, the baths, kitchens, and bake- 
 houses were supplied with no other fuel than the wood 
 
 13 
 
 i: jiL^'fc- T 
 
102 
 
 PLAGUE IN ITALY. 
 
 A. D. 
 
 1478. 
 
 which these weapons afforded.* Durinor the subsequent 
 blockade, the chief sulTerings of the inhabitants arose from 
 scarcity of water ; and, on one occasion, resolutely bent 
 upon procuring a supply at every hazard, they sallied down 
 in a mass upon the lake which approached their western 
 ramparts. Four hundred men carried skins and buckets, 
 the rest formed their escort ; and as they fought their way 
 back to the walls, the favourite project of Mahomet and his 
 ultimate hopes of the conquest of Italy were sufficiently 
 announced, by fierce shouts which burst from the camp. 
 *' Scutari, Scutari ! — Roma, Roma /"f 
 
 Italy indeed was once again to be desolated by these phm- 
 dering hordes, but not till she had encountered other suffer- 
 ings beforehand. In their former incursions the Turks had 
 left behind them the seeds of pestilence, and these 
 it is said were increased by a descent of locusts, 
 which in the summer of 1478 swarmed over a space 
 30 miles in length and 20 in breadth, in the territories of 
 Mantua and Brescia. The peasants employed in the de- 
 struction of these formidable insects neglected to bury ther^, 
 and the miasma generated by their putrefaction, spread 
 rapidly from Lombardy even to Florence and to Venice. So 
 great was the mortality in the latter city that the councils 
 broke up their sittings, and the nobles sought safety in dis- 
 persion. The doge himself was among the victims, and the 
 reign of his successor Giovanni Moncenigo conunenced 
 under the accumulated calamities of plague, famine, a de- 
 structive fire which consumed parts of the ducal palace and 
 of St. Marks, and a new invasion of Friuli by the Ottomans. 
 Schooled, however, by their former disasters, the Venetian 
 generals were now amply prepared ; and instead of taking the 
 field, they prudently remained unmoved within their lines, 
 which defied all attack ; till the marauders, wearied by in- 
 activity, ami hopeless of provolving battle, retired by the 
 mountains of Carniola. Marvellous stories were recounted 
 of their retreat among these Alps. Thirty thousand cav- 
 alry were said to have penetrated through defiles which the 
 natives themselves seldom dared to attempt ; and in more 
 than one spot, when a pathless abyss appeared to forbid de- 
 scent, the horses were lowered by ropes amid the precipices, 
 
 Sabellico. 
 
 t Sanuto, 1200. 
 
 •V 
 
 PEACE, AND CESSION OF SCUTARL 
 
 103 
 
 from height to height till they securely reached the under- 
 most valley. 
 
 Peace was now coveted at almost any sacrifice. The de- 
 fence of Friuli and Albania at the same moment distracted 
 and exhausted the resources of tlie state ; new interests in 
 Cyprus demanded vigilance ; growing agitations among 
 neighbouring Italian powers excited well-grounded alarm ; 
 and no European ally appeared willing or prepared to grant 
 active assistance. Advices had been received from Scutari 
 that but a few months' provisions remained to its diminished 
 garrison, which it was impossible either to recruit or to re- 
 lieve ; and it was determined therefore to take advantage of 
 the cession of that hardly-contested city while it was yet 
 available for negotiation. The demands of Mahomet had 
 not increased in rigour ; but they were still oppres- 
 sive to the treasury and galling to the pride of Venice. ,^'^' 
 Negropont, Lemnos, and Scutari were to be trans- 
 ferred to the Turks ; 100,000 ducats were to be paid imme- 
 diately as an indemnity ; exclusively of an annual tribute of 
 10,000 more, the disgrace of which was to be concealed 
 under the name of a commutation for mercantile duties and 
 customs. When the gates of Scutari were opened to its 
 new lords, there issued from them 450 men and 150 women, 
 the melancholy remnant of nearly 2,500 souls at the com- 
 mencement of the siege. They were distributed by the 
 signory of Venice through various parts of its territory, 
 and rewarded, as their rare fidelity well deserved, either by 
 public charges or by allowances from the state. 
 
 41^ 
 
104 
 
 MARRIAGE OF CATARINA CoRNARO 
 
 WITH THE KING OF CYPRUS. 
 
 105 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 FROM A. D. 1464 TO A. D. 1508. 
 
 Giacopo Lusignano usurps the Crown of Cyprus— lie marries Catarina 
 Coriiaro— His Death— Insurrection of the Cypriois— Deposition of 
 Queen Catarina— Cyprus becomes a Trovince of Venice— The Turks 
 sack Otranto— Lodovico the More usurps the Crown of Milan— In- 
 vites the French into Italy— Invasion of Charles VIII.— He conquers 
 Naples— Embassy of Philippe de Comines to Venice— Retreat of the 
 French— Hattle of Fornovo— Victory claimed by the Venetians— De- 
 thronement and Captivity of Lodovico Sforza— Wealth and Dominion 
 of Venice at the close of the Fifteenth Century— War with the I'^m- 
 peror—TiUie— Jealousy of the great European Powers. 
 
 A. D. 
 
 DOGES. 
 
 Christoforo Moro. 
 NicoLo Moro. 
 NlCOLO Marcello. 
 
 PlETRO MONCENIGO. 
 
 Andrea Vendramino. 
 
 Giovanni Moncenigo. 
 14R5. Lxxv. Marco Barbarigo. 
 1486. Lxxvi. AuGUSTiNO Barbarigo. 
 1501. Lxxvir. Leonardo Loredano. 
 
 During this long and perilous war with the Ottoman 
 sultan, Venice prepared the way for an important acquisi- 
 tion, first by a dark course of intrigue, ultimately by com- 
 plicated injustice. The crown of Cyprus had been worn 
 for nearly two centuries and a half by the family of Lusig- 
 nano, when in 1458 it was'wrested by Giacopo, a bastard of 
 the fourteenth prince of that illustrious line, from the right- 
 ful heiress, his legitimate sister. The new king had been 
 attached from early youth to Catarina, niece of Andr6<» 
 Comaro, a Venetian noble resident on his Cypriote estate ; 
 and no sooner was he freed from certain political and do- 
 mestic obstacles than he tendered his hand to that lady. In 
 order to satisfy the rigid law which forbade the marriage of 
 
 * 
 
 ii- 
 
 any Venetian of noble birth with a foreigner,* the destined 
 royal bride was solemnly adopted by the state, and declared 
 a daughter of St. Mark ; she was then married by proxv 
 m the presence of the doge and signory, conducted by the 
 Bucentaur to the galley which awaited her in the port, and 
 escorted by a squadron of ships of war, with becoming 
 pomp and a portion of 100,000 ducats, to the territories of 
 her husband. 
 
 The Venetian government doubtless foresaw numerous 
 advantages likely to arise from this connexion, but they 
 could scarcely calculate upon the splendid prize which it 
 was finally to place within their grasp. It was no small 
 gam to open freely to their commerce an island which, after 
 SiciJy and Sardinia, ranked as the largest in the Mediterra- 
 nean; whose delicious climate and fertile soil produced 
 wine, oil, and grain in profusion ; the richness of whose 
 mines of copper was announced by its very name • and 
 whose position, with regard to Syria, Egypt, and Asia Mi- 
 nor, offered unequalled facilities for the profitable interme- 
 diate traffic between Europe and the East. Giacopo Lusicr- 
 nano after his marriage cultivated intimate relations witli 
 the republic of which he had become the son-in-law ; he 
 assisted her in the Turkish war, and his ports were 
 always thronged by her vessels. At his death, which \^' 
 occurred within two years after this alliance, he be- ^^''^' 
 queathed his kingdom to the infant of which Catarina was 
 then pregnant ; and in failure of her issue, to three illegiti- 
 mate children, a daughter and two sons, successively in 
 order of primogeniture. Sabellico relates a conversation 
 with the Venetian admiral Moncenigo, in which the dying 
 prince consigned his queen and kingdom to the especial 
 protection of the republic ; a legacy which it will be seen 
 Venice was not backward to accept. 
 
 Moncenigo proclaimed Catarina queen, and together with 
 the provveditori who accompanied him, held at the baptismal 
 font the son of whom she was soon afterward delivered. He 
 then resumed his station in the neighbouring seas ; and his 
 
 *This law appears to hare been framed ki order to continue the 
 wealth of noble families within national channels ; and as it regarded 
 fcreign princes, it was in strict accordance with the general policy 
 of Venice, which forbade all communication between them and her 
 Bobility. 
 
 ^ 
 
 # 
 
Tf 
 
 f--'- ^-'-»Wd>tttei^ 
 
 106 
 
 REVOLT OF CYPRUS. 
 
 VENICE LAYS CLALM TO CYPRUS. 
 
 107 
 
 departure was the signal for revolt to those Cypriots who, 
 in a closer connexion with Venice, too truly anticipated the 
 loss of national independence. A numerous party of the 
 nobles addressed themselves to Ferdinand of Naples, the 
 most deadly and the most ambitious foe of the republic ; 
 and proposed to him a marriage between his bastard son 
 Alfonso and the bastard daughter of their own late king. 
 Both the children were of immature age, but the Cypriots 
 pledt^ed themselves that the crown should devolve upon 
 theni jointly, at the attainment of majority. Fortified by 
 tliis strontT alliance, they proceeded to scatter ambiguous 
 reports anfong the populace ; and darkly to imply that Cor- 
 naro and Marco Bembo, the micle and cousin of the queen, 
 liad poisoned the late king in order to transfer the sove- 
 reignty to her single hand. The imputation found ready 
 belief; and the citizens of the capital, stimulated to vio- 
 lence by these rumours, assembled by night, assassinated the 
 accused Venetians and the royal physician, who was de- 
 nounced as their instrument ; besieged the palace ; and se- 
 cured the persons of Catarina and her son. They then 
 announced the concerted alliance with Naples, and invested 
 the future bridegroom with the title of Prince of Gahlee, a 
 ditrnity never hitherto bestowed except on the presumptive 
 heir to the crown. No sooner, however, were these tidings 
 conveyed to Moncenigo than he gathered his scattered 
 cruisers, summoned troops from Candia, and repaired to 
 Nicosia with eager haste and an overpowering force. His 
 unexpected arrival struck terror into the insurgents ; some 
 of the leaders, dissembling their real motives, represented 
 the murder of Cornaro as an act of the mutinous soldiery, 
 whose pay he had kept in arrcar, and disclaimed all hos- 
 tility against Venice ; others fled for refuge to the moun- 
 tains, or sought escape by sea. On their dispersion the 
 chief towns were occupied by Venetian garrisons ; those 
 revolters against whom evidence could be obtained under- 
 went capital punishment ; and Catarina, restored to nomi- 
 nal power, became in truth the vice-queen of the signory. 
 Fifteen years had now passed, during which the signory 
 had governed Cyprus under the name of Catarina, 
 \\^' whose son died not long after his birth ; and the 
 ^^^ islanders who at first chafed beneath the yoke of the 
 republic, and earnestly sought to transfer their allegiance to 
 
 f 
 
 Naples, had now become accustomed to their virtual mas- 
 ters. 1 here were contingencies, nevertheless, not likely to 
 escape the sagacity of Venice, by which some other hand, 
 alter all her ong intrigue, might perhaps gather its fruits. 
 Catarina still maintained more than ordinary beauty ; and 
 her picture, m widow's weeds (even now glowing with 
 almost original fi-eshness among the treasures of the Pala--o 
 Manfnm)y was one of the earliest great works of Titian * 
 which, both from the skill of the artist and the loveliness of 
 the subject, extended his growing fame beyond the borders 
 ot the Lagune. With so great attractions, coupled to the rich 
 dowry of a kingdom, it was not probable that the Queen of 
 Cyprus would long remain without suitors ; and rumour 
 already declared her to be the intended bride of Frederic, a 
 son of the King of Naples. If she married and bore chil- 
 dren, Cyprus would become their inheritance ; and to pre- 
 vent the possibility of such an extinction of their hopes, the 
 \ enetian government resolved to assume its soverei<rntY 
 directly in their own persons. The civilians, therefore, 
 were instructed to avouch the legitimacy of this claim ; and 
 they declared, perhaps with less sincerity than solemnity, 
 that the son of Giacopo Lusignano inherited the crown 
 from his father ; that since he died a minor, his mother in- 
 herited from him ; and that finally Venice inherited from 
 his mother, an adopted daughter of St. Mark. 
 
 Giorgio Cornaro, a brother of the queen, was solicited to 
 conduct the ungrateful process of her deposition. To his 
 representations,— that by abandoning the care of a turbulent 
 kingdom, and returning to her native land, in which she 
 might pass the remainder of her life tranquilly and securely, 
 among those bound to her by natural ties, she would far 
 more consult her happiness than by remaining exposed iji 
 a remote and foreign country to the hazards of its ambigu- 
 ous friendship,— she replied with confidence, that th?re 
 was little which could allure a woman environed with the 
 splendour of royalty and the observance of a court, to de- 
 scend to the parsimonious habits and undistinguished level 
 ol a republican life ; and that it would please her far bettor 
 
 i^aLj^**jtfai*. .1 —J 
 
.*l 
 
 108 
 
 DEPOSITION OF CATARINA. 
 
 if the signory would await her decease before they occupied 
 her possessions.* But to arguments explanatory of the 
 will, the power, and the inflexibility of the senate, it was 
 not easy to find an adequate answer ; and the natural elo' 
 quenccj as the historian styles it, of her brother, ultimately 
 prevailed. " If such," she observed, as soon as tears per- 
 mitted speech, " be your opinion, such also shall be mine ; 
 nevertheless, it id more from you than from myself that our 
 country will obtain a kingdom."! Having thus reluctantly 
 consented, after a few days' delay she commenced her pro- 
 gress to Famagosta; royal honours attended her every- 
 where afe she passed, and on the 6th of February she signed 
 a formal act of abdication, in the presence of her council ; 
 attended a solemn mass, at which the banner of St. Mark 
 was consecrated ; delivered that standard to the charge of 
 the Venetian general ; and saw it raised above her own on 
 the towers of the citadel. On the approach of summer, 
 she embarked for Venice, where she was received as a 
 crowned head by the doge and signory ; and in return for 
 the surrender of her sceptre, she enjoyed a privilege never 
 before or since accorded to any of her countrywomen, — a 
 triumphal entry to St. Mark's Piazcetta, on the deck of the 
 Bucentaur. A revenue of 8000 ducats was assigned her 
 for life ; and the delights of the " Paradise" of Asola, in 
 the Trevisan mountains, in which the unqueened queen 
 continued to assemble her little court, have been immortal- 
 ized by a volume long among the most popular works of 
 early Italian literature ; and graced by the poetry, the 
 sentiment, the piety, and the metaphysics of the illustrious 
 historian from whom we have borrowed our narrative of 
 Catarina's dethronement. t 
 
 * Bembo, 1st. Venet. I. ad ann. t Jd- J^i^- 
 
 X The Asolani of Cardinal Bembo were first published by Aldus in 
 1505, and they v\'ere reprinted eighteen times before the close of the 
 sixteenth century. His biographer,Giovanni Casa, thus speaks of their 
 great popularity. Eos libros tantd fiominum, midierum etiam, medius 
 Jidlus, ajtyrobatione et tanqiiam plausu exceptos recmtes esse memini- 
 mus, ut extempld cuncta eos Italia cupidissime lectitdrit atque didi- 
 cerit ; ut n<m satis tirbani aut elegantes n haberentur quibus AsiilancB 
 ill<B DispnUationes essent mcognitcB.—Vit. Bemhi, p. 143. The theme 
 of these dialogues is love, but thev are wholly free from the impurities 
 which unhappily ilefile some of their author's early poems. The scene 
 is laid at Asola, where a large company is assembled to celebrate the 
 nui)tialB of a favourite attendant of the Queen of Cyprus. The disputa- 
 tions, intermixed with canzonit occupy iliree days, on tbe firbt of which 
 
 INTRODrcTION OF SMALL ARMS. 
 
 109 
 
 It IS to the year following the incorporation of Cyprus 
 with the dominions of the republic, that Bembo, 
 who, as public historiographer now takes up the ^' °* 
 thread of Sabellico's narrative, assicrns the intro- ^^^^' 
 duction of small arms into the Ven'etian military service. 
 Jlis minute description sufficiently avouches the novelty of 
 the invention, and it somewhat resembles that account of 
 the first employment of artillery, which in a former pa^e* 
 we have extracted from Redusio. The usage of iron tubes, 
 says the historian, transmitted to us from Germany, is be- 
 coming prevalent among our soldiery. These tubes by the 
 torce of fire discharge leaden bullets with extraordinary 
 violence, and wound from a distance ; they are of the same 
 Shape and form as cannon by which walls are battered: 
 with this diftcrenoe, however, that the latter are cast from 
 brass, and are often of so great weight as to require solid 
 and iron-bound carriages and a vast number of horses for 
 their transport ; the tubes, on the other hand, are made of 
 iron fixed to a wooden butt, so that one may be handled bv 
 ev-ery soldier singly. They are loaded with gunpowder 
 which is easily kindled, and when the bullet has been 
 rammed down, they are discharged from the shoulder. The 
 1 en, anxious to obtain a supply of men skilled in these 
 weapons, have collected from all quarters persons who are 
 masters of their use, and have sent them into difierent 
 towns to mstruct our youth. For the encouragement also 
 ot peasants m this training, they have decreed that in every 
 village two adults shall devote themselves to the acquire- 
 ment of this exercise, who in consequence shall be relieved 
 trom all other public burdens : and furthermore, that every 
 year there shall be a general assembly of these marksmen, 
 at some spot fixed among themselves, for a shooting match 
 at a target ; in which the victor's prize shall be a' similar 
 immunity to that possessed by himself for all his townsmen, 
 during the following year, with the single exception of such 
 labours as are enjoined for turning the course of the Brenta.f 
 
 second" Sn'nff?"r°' fl"^^ ^^^""^ ^^^ gentle 'passion ; on the 
 fhSPrr'^^.v''^'^' '*"?""= Lavincllo appears as moderator on 
 
 from earthlv^f? . T ?'''/ ''''"??'^ ^''^""^^ ^^^ "'""^^^^ ^f the auditors 
 irom earthly affections to Amur Divino. 
 
 * Vol. i. p. 212. 
 
 the English '^pi^!:f- '- "^ ^^^ 'r*^^ ''^^'' ^»" ^» «"<* ^^ »° mind 
 Vol. II.— K 
 
 '^.4>*V-«"Mth. 
 
\ 
 
 110 
 
 SACK OF OTRANTO BY THE TURKS. 
 
 The affairs of Cyprus have anticipated our Italian nar- 
 rative by a few years, but henceforward there will be many 
 periods over which we shall hasten with far greater rapidity 
 than we have hitherto ventured to employ. Our Sketches 
 are not designed for more than illustrations of national 
 chftracter ; and as Venice, by her growing continental ac- 
 quisitions, became more and more involved in the labyrinth 
 of general European politics, so did she cease to retain 
 many of those peculiarities which in her earlier course 
 stamped her so deeply with an impress of individuality. 
 That which may be better obtained from other and professed 
 histories we shall therefore touch but lightly, if at all ; re- 
 stricting ourselves to such matters as belong absolutely to 
 the republic herself. 
 
 There is little which need detain us in the fifteen years 
 which succeeded the Turkish war ; they were spent, for the 
 most part, in unceasing disputes and occasional direct hos- 
 tihties with Ferdinand of Naples, and his son-in-law the 
 Duke of Ferrara. One event, however, which occurred be- 
 fore the commencement of any open struggle, and which 
 naturally confirmed the animosity of Ferdinand, is far too 
 remarkable to be passed in silence. Within a year 
 after the conclusion of peace with Mahomet II., a 
 Venetian ambassador was despatched to Constanti- 
 nople, inviting the Turks to a descent upon the coast of 
 Apuglia ; on which it was supposed that Ferdinand wa? 
 chiefly vulnerable, and which Mahomet was instructed to 
 claim as an ancient possession of the Greek empire. A 
 hundred Turkish ships of war were accordingly assembled 
 in the ports of Albania ; sixty Venetian galleys distantly 
 observed them, and betrayed their connivance by permitting 
 a disembarkation at Otranto. The result was most calam- 
 itous ; after a fortnight's siege, the city was stormed, 
 11,000 souls perished in the assault, and as many more 
 were reduced to slavery. Among the victims to the Otto- 
 man fury on this disastrous occasion were 800 ecclesiastics, 
 whose massacre has furnished a copious theme for legend- 
 ary invention. Francesco-Maria di Asti, archbishop of the 
 see so late as the commencement of the eighteenth century, 
 published the annals of his diocess, which but for this mosi 
 terrific martyrdom and its accompaniments, would afford a 
 very meager nnrrative. One priest named Stephen, ap- 
 
 A. D. 
 
 1480. 
 
 LEGEND OF THE PRIESTS OF OTRANTO. Ill 
 
 pears to have been slain while ministering at the altar, and 
 a portrait of the Virgin, attributed to the pencil of St. Luke, 
 vanished for ever from the church at the moment of his death. 
 His brethren were led without the walls, chanting hymns and 
 spiritual songs, and Antonio Primaldo, their abbot, was the 
 first who was put to the sword. His head rolled from his 
 shoulders, but his body, notwithstanding the repeated efforts 
 of the executioner to overthrow it, obstinately persisted in 
 remaining upright till the last of his comrades was lifeless. 
 The corpses, although unburied for thirteen months, showed 
 no signs of corruption, and remained inviolate by birds and 
 beasts of prey. After their subsequent honourable inter- 
 ment, part of their relics was transported to Nai)lcs, part 
 remained within their native city, greatly to its advantage. 
 So potent was tbeir virtue, that they twice preserved 
 Otranto from violence similar to that by which the saints 
 themselves had perished. When Solyman the Magnificent 
 threatened the coast in 1 537, he was astonished by these 
 martyrs, who, gifted with a power of supernatural multi- 
 plication, presented themselves upon the ramparts under 
 the guise of innumerable armed men. A like ghostly array 
 averted another Turkish invasion in 1644 ; and the marvel 
 was then increased by being visible to none but infidel eyes. 
 The Christian galley-slaves who rowed the Ottoman vessels 
 denied the existence of the spiritual hosts which terrified 
 the unbelievers, and they were ruthlessly put to death by 
 their masters for this want of clear-sightedness.* 
 
 Rome was filled with consternation by this unexpected 
 irruption of barbarians which appeared to threaten her own 
 safety; and the pope meditated an abandonment of his 
 capital and a retreat to France. But the Turks were un- 
 able to improve their first success ; the whole south of Italy 
 rose in arms for their expulsion ; the death of Mahomet in 
 the following year prevented them from receiving support ; 
 and the conqueror of Otranto, who had effected nothing 
 farther than the ravage of its immediate neighbourhood, 
 and an incursion upon Brindisi, accepted an honourable 
 capitulation.! 
 
 * In Memorabilibns Hiidrun'iruB EccL Epitome, ap. Burmanni 
 Thesaur. Antiq. et Hist. Ifal. torn. ix. p. 8. 
 
 t Disgraceful as was this conspiracy between Venice and the Turks, 
 U was exceeded in wickedness by tlie conduct of Alexander VI. in 1494, 
 
 1 
 
 t^^ 
 
112 
 
 LODOVICO SFORZA INVITES 
 
 The accession of Alexantler VI. strengthened former 
 amicahle relations between Venice and the holy see ; and 
 in 1493 a triple alliance was signed by the pope, the 
 signory, and Milan, expressly to counterpoise the increasing 
 predominance of Naples. In Milan, the power consolidated 
 by the wisdom of Francesco Sforza was now beginning to 
 decline. His successor, in spite of his weakness and his 
 crimes, had reigned in tranquillity, mainly preserved by the 
 remembrance of his father's greatness ; but, upon his death, 
 the virtual government was usurped from his infant son, 
 by the regent, an ambitious uncle, known in history as 
 Lodovico the More ;* to whose ripening views upon the 
 throne itself the support and acknowledgment of Venice 
 became of paramount importance. Nevertheless even after 
 the conclusion of that treaty, Lodovico Sforza felt little 
 confidence in his new allies ; for Venice was the hereditary 
 enemy of his family, and the treachery and recklessness of 
 crime which have rendered the name of Alexander VI. a 
 by-word in history had already displayed themselves in 
 more than a single instance. Agitated by such doubts, 
 and feeling the strong necessity of arming himself yet more 
 completely against the watchful jealousy of Naples, if he 
 persisted in the meditated seizure of his nephew's crown, 
 the regent of Milan sought friends beyond the Alps ; and 
 readily captivated a young, vain, and thoughtless monarch 
 by the allurement of a brilliant expedition and the probable 
 conquest of a rich dominion. Charles VIII. of France 
 
 when alarmed at the approach of Charles VIII. If the documents rela- 
 tive to the negotiation were not even now extant, it would scarcely bo 
 believed that the head of the Christian church invited a horde of bar- 
 barian infidels to overrun Italy, in order that he might achieve the ruin 
 of the eldest son of that church. The instructions of Alexander to his 
 nuncio at Constantinople, and the letters of Sultan Bajazet II. in reply, 
 are printed in Preuves ct Illustrations mix Memoires de Philippe de 
 Comines, p. 293. d lu Haye, 1682. 
 
 * Not the Moor as it is commonly written. Paulus Jovius (Vitos 
 illust. virorum, iv.) states that Lodovico Sforza adopted as his bearing 
 a white mulberry-tree {moro), the wisest of all plants, which buds late, 
 and does not flower till all hazard Jrnm winter is past. The usurper, 
 however wily in maturing his plans, was mistaken in the application 
 of the latter meaning of the emblem to himself. It was under a similar 
 delusion that he named himself iljigluolo delta Fortuna. Guicciardini, 
 who records this folly, speaks however of his title il Moro as denoting 
 liis complexion as well as his political wisdom.— Lib. iii. vpl. j. p. 239. 
 Ed. Frib. 1775. 
 
 r 
 
 
 CHARLES VIII. TO ITALY. 
 
 113 
 
 was now in his twenty-second year ; nature had been but 
 chary in her endowments at his birth, and he was little 
 gifted with such qualities as constitute either real or ideal 
 heroism. Rash, light, and headstrong, without prudence, 
 judgment, dihgence, or constancy, he was so weak in dis- 
 position as to be the easy tool of every fresh intriguer who 
 beset him ; so deficient in cultivation, that it was with dif- 
 ficulty he could write his own signature. He is represented 
 to have been equally wanting also in personal graces. We 
 are told that he was dwarfish in stature, forbidding in aspect, 
 disproportioned in limbs, large-headed, short-necked, high- 
 shouldered, and spindle-shanked, altogether more like a 
 monster than a man.* Such is the portrait transmitted to 
 us of that youthful conqueror, who was to renew the march 
 of Hannibal ;t to overthrow a powerful kingdom, and to 
 abandon the fruits of his rapid victories only that he might 
 increase the glory which fortune poured blindly into his 
 lap, by effecting one of the most successful retreats, and 
 winning one of the most remarkable victories, recorded in 
 military annals. 
 
 In the invitation conveyed by Lodovico Sforza to the 
 King of France, Venice was not a party ; and it was with 
 astonishment by no means unmixed with alarmt that she 
 
 * Bruttissimo is the epithet employed by Guicciardini, who continups, 
 pareva quasi piii similfi a raostro che ad huomn. — Lib. i. vol. i. p. 70. 
 Brantome, on the authority of his grandmother, strenuously rejects these 
 pictures of Charles's ill-favoured person, and the Italian historians may 
 perhaps have overcharged the features ; but Philippe de Cominea, who 
 represents him but a few degrees better, cannot be (loubted. Moreover, 
 a corroborating testimony is afforded by an unprejudiced witness. 
 Bartholemaeua Codes, a great contemporary physiognomist, to whose 
 judgment the king's portrait was submitted, thus describes it -.—Caput 
 magnum it nasus ultra modum aqwUnus magmis, labia subtilia 
 aliquantulum et mentum ratundum et fovcatum, oculi viagni et 
 aliquant uhXin emintntes, colluni curtiim, non satis vividum, pectus et 
 dorsum aynplum, hypochondria sat'S magna, venter cariiosus, nates 
 satis ampl(B, coxcb suhtiles et crura subtilia et satis magna in longi- 
 tudine. — Physiognom. QucBSt. lib. ii. 15. The prognostics which the 
 sage delivered were that the prince would be short-lived, and probably 
 die ex materia catarrhali : he was right in one, at least, of these con- 
 jectures. 
 
 t Passando in Italia per la mr>ntagna di Monghieura, per la quale 
 passd anticamenfe Annibale Carfaginiense—ma con incredibile diffi- 
 colta. — Guicciardini. lib. i. vol. i. p. 71. 
 
 X Guicciardini has enumerated many prodigies which foreran the 
 French invasion ; they are much of the same cast as those which nine- 
 teen centuries before warned the Romans G alios advent arc. Seers aiuJ 
 
 K2 
 
^\ 
 
 ] 
 
 114 
 
 EMBASSY OF PHILIPPE DE COMINES. 
 
 learned the determination of Charles to assert by arms the 
 long-suspended claims of the house of Anjou upon the 
 Neapolitan crown ; his passage of the Alps ; his unchecked 
 
 progress to the south of Italy ; and his final occu- 
 ^Aok pation of Naples. Alexander VL, indeed, threatened 
 
 the penalties of ecclesiastical censure if the French 
 army should violate the precincts of the eternal city ; but 
 he was silenced by the reply of Charles, that he had vowed 
 a pilgrimage to the tomb of St. Peter, and that even at the 
 peril of his Ufe this holy engagement must be fulfilled.* 
 Before he arrived at Rome, the young prince of Milan had 
 died under strong suspicion of poison, and Lodovico Sforza 
 had seized upon the dukedom. These great events belong 
 to general history, and we confine ourselves to the feelings 
 and the consequences which they produced in Venice ; in- 
 termixing only some pointed notices of contemporary habita 
 and manners, traced by a keen observer of human nature. 
 Philippe de Comines, a gentleman of very ancient house in 
 Flanders, passed in early youth from the service of Charles 
 the Bold of Burgundy to that of I.oui^ XI. of France ; 
 who esteemed him greatly, employed him in some of his 
 weightiest and most secret aflairs, and created him his 
 chamberlain, seneschal of Poictou and Lord of Argenton. 
 For a time he enjoyed similar confidence under Charles 
 VIII., and at the commencement of this Italian expedition 
 he was despatched as ambassador to conciliate the good- 
 will of Venice. 
 
 Comines informs us, that on his entrance to the Lafrnne, 
 he was met at Fusina by five-and-twenty gentlemen 
 sumptuously apparelled in silk and scarlet, who welcomed 
 him with an oration. As he drew nearer the city, an equal 
 number of grave personages in like garb, accompanied by 
 the ambassadors of Milan and of Ferrara, awaited him at 
 
 astrologers prophesied approaching calamity ; three suns appeared in 
 Apuglia; in Arezzo an infinite nunober of armed men mounted on gi- 
 gantic horses galloped through the sky to the sound of drums and 
 trumpets ; images sweated ; monstrous animals and children were 
 plentifully born ; and great astonishment seems to have existed that all 
 these marvels passed without the accompaniment of a comet : dava 
 solamente agli uomuii ammirazione, che in tanti prodigi non sidimns- 
 trasse la siessa cometa, la quale gli Jivtichi reputayano certissimo 
 measaggiero delta rmdazione de* Regni e dcgli Stati. Lib. i. vol. i. p. 67. 
 * En, quelle gentille invention et feintissei de voeu I is Brantome'8 
 rapturous exclamation.— £Zo^e de Charles VIII 
 
 TO VENICE. 
 
 115 
 
 St. Andrea with a similar troublesome ceremonial ; con- 
 ducted him to a large gondola, covered with crimson satin 
 and decked within with arras ; and placed him between 
 the two ambassadors, the middle being the Italian post of 
 honour. As he passed along the grand canal, he appears 
 to have b^en deeply impressed with the magnificence of 
 I the city. « Sure in mine opinion it is the goodliest streete 
 n in the world and the best built, and reacheth in length from 
 the one end of the towne to the other. Their buildings are 
 high and stately, and all of fine stone. The ancient houses 
 be all painted ; but the rest that haue been built within these 
 ^V^"^red yeeres haue their front all of white marble brought 
 thither out of Istria an hundred miles thence, and are 
 beautified with many great peeces of Porphire and Sar- 
 pentine. In the most part of them are at the least two 
 chambers, the seeling whereof is gilded, the mantle-trees 
 of the chimneies verie rich, to wit, of grauen marble,* the 
 bedsteds gilded, the presses painted and vermeiled with 
 golde, and maruellous well furnished with stuflfe. To be 
 short, it is the most triumphant citie that euer I sawe, and 
 where ambassadors and strangers are most honorably 
 entertained, the commonwealth best gouerned, and God 
 most deuoutly serued ; so far foorth that notwithstanding 
 they haue diuers imperfections, yet thinke I verily that God 
 prospereth them, because of the reuerence they beare to 
 the seruicc of the church."! 
 
 During eight months' residence in Venice, the Lord of 
 Argenton received strong conviction of the power and the 
 policy of her government ; « Sure thus much I dare boldly 
 say of them, that they are men of such wisedome, and so in- 
 clined to mlarge their dominions, that unlesse they be looked 
 to m time, all their neighbours shall repent it too late." To 
 his first diplomatic overtures, which commenced while 
 Charles had ad\ (meed no further than Asti,the signory, at that 
 
 I J.^^^«wI^"t^ Wotton, a century later, was much struck by the excel- 
 lence of the Italians m this species of decoration. In his Elements of 
 Architecture, when treating " of Chimneys," he says, " In the urpsent 
 
 besTc?.f;J'n''"' ft''^ make very frugal fires) ar^ perJlance nTthe 
 best counsellors Therefore from them we may better learn how to 
 raise fair mantels within the roomsr—Reliq. Wotton p 37 
 
 RnLki'nf^lh/i/* ^"""'^ ^f""^":.^ ^^y-'^^^^ ^om the Vllth andVnith 
 Pa?roa%";j?h^^''iJ:?,^ '^^"""">^'«' -e have used a tram. 
 
 y 
 
 |3 
 
 \i 
 
1 
 
 118 EMBASSY OF PHILIPPE DE C0M1NE3 
 
 time little anticipating the promptness of the king's move- 
 ments, returned evasive answers ; and they still maintained 
 appearances of friendship even when his unlooked-for 
 successes had determined them upon a hostile alliance ; 
 and when the ambassadors of the emperor, of Milan, and 
 of Spain, already assembled in the capital, were holding 
 nightly conferences among themselves and with the Ten, 
 preparatory to a general league against France. To ex- 
 plain this sudden change in politics, it should be noticed 
 that Sforza, by whose intrigues the invasion had been 
 concerted, was both disappointed in his promised reward, 
 and alarmed for his usurped dominion, upon which the 
 Duke of Orleans, commanding in Lombardy, asserted a 
 claim ; that Maximilian saw in the conqueror of Naples an 
 aspirant to the succession of the empire ; and that the King 
 of Spain had armed to revenge the overthrow of the 
 Aragonese dynasty, and to guard his own dominions in 
 Sicily. Comines, however, had not spared money, and 
 therefore he had procured good intelligence ; he knew the 
 articles which were in debate before they were signed, and 
 he avowed that knowledge to the signory. The doge, 
 Auorustino Barbarigo, whom he describes to be " a vertuous 
 and a wise man, of great experience in the affaires of Italic, 
 and a curteous and gentle person," notwithstanding this 
 declaration, attempted to dissemble ; he assured the Lord 
 of Argenton that " he must not beleeve all that he heard in 
 the towne ; for all men live there at libertie, and might 
 speake what they Hsted !" and he loudly professed a con- 
 tinuance of neutrality. Being urged further, he ultimately 
 admitted that the occupation of many places in the terri- 
 tories of Florence and of the Church had cKcited suspicion ; 
 but that nothing should be definitively concluded by the 
 allies till they had received from the king an answer to 
 their remonstrances. 
 
 When the reduction of Naples was certified, " they sent 
 for me againe in a morning," says Comines, "and I founde 
 fiftie or sixtie of them assembled together in the duke's 
 chamber, who lay sicke of the collicke. He told me these 
 newes with a cheerfull countenance, but none of the rest 
 could dissemble so cunningly as himselfe : for some of them 
 sate upon a lowe bench leaning upon their elbowes, other 
 some after one sort, and others after another ; their outwarcl 
 
 I 
 
 }t 
 
 TO VENICE. 
 
 117 
 
 countenances bewraying their inward griefe. And I thinke 
 verily when word came to Rome of the battell lost at 
 Cannas against Hannibal, that the Senators which re- 
 mained in the Citie were not more astonished nor troubled 
 than these : for none of them once looked upon me, none 
 of them gaue me one word but the Duke alone ; so that I 
 woondered to beholde them." 
 
 On the final arrangement of the league, they summoned 
 him one morning earlier than usual in order to declare its 
 outline. " They were assembled to the number of a hundred 
 or more, and looked up with cheerefull countenances, and 
 sate not as they did the day they aduertised me of the 
 taking of the Castle of Naples. I was maruellously 
 troubled with this newes, for I stood in doubt both of the 
 King's person, and of all his companie, supposing their 
 armie to haue becne readier than indeed it was, as did 
 themsclues also. I feared further least the Almaines had 
 bcone at hand ; and not without cause ; for if they had, 
 vndoubtedly the King had ncuer departed out of ItaUe. I 
 was resolued not to speake much in this heate : but they 
 so prouoked me that I was forced to change my minde ; 
 and then I said unto them, that both the night before and 
 diuers other times, I had aduertised the King of their 
 League, and that he also had sent me word that he had 
 intelligence thereof from both Rome and from Milan. 
 They all looked maruellous strange upon me, when I said 
 that I had aduertised the King before, for there is no nation 
 under the sunne so suspicious as they, nor so secret in 
 their affaires, so that oftentimes they banish men upon 
 suspicion onely, for the which cause I said thus much 
 unto them." 
 
 It must not be dissembled, however, that the Venetian 
 historians, no less anxious to maintain the well established 
 celebrity of their government for inviolable secrecy than is 
 Philippe de Comines to blazon his own penetration, deny 
 altogether that the French ambassador was acquainted 
 with the league against his master, till it was communicated 
 to him by the signory. Bembo speaks pointedly to this 
 fact ; and the anecdote which he has preserved bears strong 
 internal evidence of truth. So effective, he says, were the 
 precautions adopted by the Ten for the preservation of their 
 secret, that although the ambassador of France daily 
 
 ■■) 
 
 yi 
 
118 
 
 IMPRUDENCE OF CHARLES VIH. 
 
 If 
 
 \' 
 
 III, 
 
 frequented the council, and was visited by his brother 
 envoys, no suspicion ever crossed his mind of what was 
 passing. When, on the morning after the signature of the 
 league, he was invited to the hall of the senate, and heard 
 from the doge the terms of the treaty, and the uiunes of 
 those who were parties to it, he was almost demented for 
 the moment; till, recovering a little, he nskcd abruptly, 
 "What! will my king be restrained from roturnmg to 
 France 1" The doge assured bun, on the contmry, thnt, 
 if Charles appeared in peaceful guise, every facility would 
 be afforded him. Philippe de Comines, when he quitted 
 the senate and descended the steps into the palace-court 
 turned to the secretary of the council who accompanied 
 him, and begged him to repeat the doge's words, since he 
 found himself wholly unable to call them up to his le- 
 
 membrance.* , ^ , . ^ i 
 
 No sooner was Charles apprized of his great clanger 
 than he broke up from Naples, towards the close of May. 
 Hitherto his triumph had been almost bloodless : one King 
 of Naples abdicated and died of terror, as was said, at his 
 approach ;t a second and a third, his successors, abandoned 
 their dominions ; and the conqueror w\^s celebrating his 
 past successes by inconsiderate festivity, and anticipating 
 yet bri<Thter renown at Constantinople, to which his future 
 hopes were directed, when he was informed of the powerful 
 confederacy which was assembling nearly 40,000 men on 
 the Lombard borders of Tuscany, to intercept all communi- 
 cation with his native dominions. Yet, notwithstandmg 
 the peril which environed him, he had the imprudence to 
 weaken his army, already inadequate to meet the force 
 which it was likely to encounter, by leaving useless 
 garrisons behind him. Then, lingering unnecessarily for 
 many days at Sienna and at Pisa, and detaching another 
 
 * Lib.'ii. p. M, aimd 1st. Venez. . ,. j , 
 
 t Ferdinand not only died, but also^se perd e lec.to tali cose non del 
 tutto disprezzare, as Guicciardini with wisdom beyond his times 
 introduces the tal^absolutely returned from the other w^'-ld, ^yrder 
 to express his fears. The king's ghost appeared ^^^^'ce on different 
 nights, to Giacopo, chief phvsiciau of the court ; and first in gentle 
 terms, afterward with fierce menaces, urpe<l him to inform the new 
 monarch Alfonso, in the ahosfs own name, that all resistance to France 
 would be vain, and that his posterity, after long troubles and fina* u«, 
 tiironement, was destined to extinction.— Lib. i. vol. i. p. 1U< 
 
 HIS RETREAT. 
 
 119 
 
 1 
 
 portion of his scanty force to attempt an impracticable 
 enterprise upon Genoa, he approached the ApeSnes by a 
 tardy and incautious march. The aUies vvere'^sror^tLr 
 gathering, or hey might easily have cut him off "mon^ 
 those mountains : for Philippe de Comines sne-Tkrof 
 several defiles v.hich a handful of men could have success 
 fully defended against a host ; a^d of one narrmv causeway 
 m particular, between two deep salt marshes, in wWcl ™?I 
 T''?-.f"'.r' "T^'hwart the way with two goL Ices 
 of artillery" would have checked the largest fri^ wWch 
 ever mustered m the field; but it seemed%hat thc^"emy 
 
 of heFrel'b f""* ''"'"'' °/ "'"i'^i'^-" The si^S 
 01 the French troops were increased by want of supplies • 
 
 and even when they arrived in a comparatively abSnS 
 district, affording " bread which was little, blaik and of 
 great price, and wine which was three parts water "the 
 
 Scts-vil^^d^ '""^ ""'' '-''"'-' '■'- ^"--4 
 
 some bloody and unauthorized outrages which they h^ 
 committed at Pontremoli, the barrier 'town of the Duke 
 of Milan at the southern foot of the Apennines, "he 
 artillery must have been abandoned among the mounteu« 
 T he field-pieces of those days exceeded in caliber the 
 heaviest battering train of modern sieges ; for plu^us 
 Jov.us speaks of each horseman carrying on the puS 
 of his saddle a cannon-ball of filly pounds' weight "T,!} 
 he Comte de la Tremouille. who sV^ri„tend"S X'ope^- 
 I ons, set an example in his own person, by bearingTo 
 o those immense masses. Drums%ind trumpets sodded 
 at intervals to animate the toil-worn soldiers; fiveXs 
 were consiimed m their wearisome labours ; ;„d ^n the 
 sixth Charles, who had imprudently despatched his van! 
 J^uardhirty miles in advance, so that all power of sustainW 
 It li attacked would have been denied him, concentered hii 
 
 V 
 
 w 
 
120 POSITIONS OF THE HOSTILE ARMIES. 
 
 whole array at Fornovo, a town on the right bank of the 
 Taro, a mountain-torrent which runs from the Apennines 
 to the Po. The French did not amount at the utmost to 
 more than 9,000 fighting men, harassed by fatigue, ex- 
 hausted by want of food, and in the presence of an enemy 
 more than fourfold their number. 
 
 The confederates were encamped a little lower down on 
 the same bank of the Taro, near the Abbey Ghiaruola, 
 about two miles in the rear of Fornovo ; a position which 
 they chose both to mask the city of Parma, of the fidelity 
 of which doubts were entertained, and also to afford more 
 open space for the manceiivres of their numerous cavalry 
 on the adjoining plain. Four-fifths of their force were 
 composed of troops in the pay of Venice, commanded by 
 Francesco di Gonzaga, Marquis of Mantua, a youthful 
 captain of distinguished skill and bravery ; who, exclusive 
 of infantry, marshalled under his banner nearly 20,000 
 horse. Of these 5000 were Stradiots, a light-armed 
 cavalry of Albania and the Morea, much employed by Venice 
 during the late Turkish war ; and who by their hardihood 
 and ferocity, as Philippe de Comines assures us, " trouble 
 an army exceedingly when they are inclined to do so." 
 They were rough soldiers, couching in the open air, 
 keeping the field both winter and summer, charging on 
 fleet Turkish horses with irresistible fury, and dispersing 
 again so rapidly as to evade all pursuit. They neither 
 gave nor received quarter ; and, retaining the barbarous 
 habit of their country, they bore off at their saddle-bows, 
 or on the points of their lances, the heads of their slaugh- 
 tered enemies ; for each of which they received a ducat 
 from the provveditori. The remainder of the allied force 
 consisted of Milanese under the Count di Caiazzo. 
 
 Scarcely had Charles dismounted at Fornovo when his 
 quarters were beaten up by the Stradiots ; whose unobserved 
 advance was facilitated by a wood which ran between the 
 two camps, but who retired as soon as the French took to 
 arms. During the night, like alarms were renewed from 
 want of due precaution in posting sentinels ; and the 
 French, ill-provided with tents, were exposed to a deluge 
 of rain, accompanying a thunderstorm, the terrors of which 
 were greatly heightened by the deep reverberations from 
 the Apennines, at the foot of which they were encamped. 
 
 CHARLES CONTINUES HIS RETREAT. 1 21 
 
 Tliere were few hearts which did not quail with apprehen- 
 sion for the morrow, ushered in as it was by these supposed 
 demonstrations of the wrath of Heaven. 
 
 In-order to continue their retreat, it was necessary that 
 the I-rench should cross the Taro at Fornovo, and defile 
 along Its left bank m the very front of the enemy's camp, 
 which would then be separated from them by the river ; and 
 the king, undismayed by his inferiority of numbers, an- 
 nounced his intention of firing a shot into the camp as he 
 passed, m order to signify his presence and his willingness 
 to jom battle if it were offered. At an early hour on the 
 morning of the 6th of July, Charles heard mass ; by seven 
 o clock he was on horseback, and impatiently called' for his 
 chamberlain. When Philippe de Comines attended the 
 summons, he found the young prince armed at all points, 
 and niounted upon a favourite black horse called Savoy, 
 trom the duke its donor ; the bravest steed which man ever 
 saw, and though having « but one eie, and being meane 
 ot stature, yet tall ynough for him he carried." The ap- 
 proaching combat had given unusual animation to the young 
 king, who on all occasions, indeed, appears to have exhibited 
 distinguished personal courage. "He seemed that day 
 altogether another man than cither his nature, person, or 
 complexion would beare ; for naturally he was, and yet is, 
 very fearfull in speech ; bicause he had ever been brought 
 up m great awe and with men of meane estate ; but his 
 horse made him seeme great, and he had a good counte- 
 nance^ and a good colour, and his talke was strong and 
 wise. * Philippe de Comines, from his long residence at 
 Venice, being well-known to the provveditori, had proposed 
 
 * Brantome has extracted from the Supplementum Chrnnirnnim of 
 iTiacopo di Bergamo a speech attributed to Charles on the occasion— 
 eUe me semblr, says the panegyrist, tres belle et gentille—Voilu certes 
 oeues paroles et mi brave ct gent il my pour rV avoir jamais estudir. The 
 Dlame of Charles's lack of learning must be entirely attributed to his 
 detestable father, who permitted him to be taught but one sentence in 
 Latm, his own favourite axiom of king craft : Qui nescit dissimvlare, 
 nescit regnare. Benedetii, however, does not admit that want of let- 
 ters was peculiar to Charles, but extends it to the whole race of French 
 pnnces. R Re m mezzo di due Cardinali cavalcava intorno le squadre, 
 etcon quanta eloquentia pud essere tra rli humnini idiotti {perciochi i 
 trcTicipi Frances I, nnnfanno stima di lettere) conf'ortava tutti i Capi- 
 ram. Il Fatto d'arme del Tarro, lib. i. p. 24. The speech, which is too 
 long for extraction in our pages, and is probably the composition of the 
 Chronicler IS printed by Daru. Paulus Jovius gives an account of the 
 
 Vol, II. — L 
 
 r 
 
 V 
 
 
 Outuiaiivb 
 
122 
 
 THE MARCH. 
 
 to them, some days before, an amicable parley, and bf« 
 offer was not wholly declined. The king, therefore, not- 
 withstanding the boldness of his demonstrations, expressed 
 a wish to have that overture now renewed ; and the Lord 
 of Argenton testified his readiness to obey. But, more ex- 
 perienced in the field than his master, he at the same time 
 remarked that he had never yet seen two so great armies in 
 so immediate contact which parted without a battle. While 
 he drew aside to frame his despatch to the provveditorij the 
 march began from Fornovo ; and the Taro, although swol- 
 len by the rain of the past night, having been forded, the 
 army defiled slowly along the opposite bank till it reached 
 the face of the Venetian camp. The French were mar- 
 shalled in three divisions ; the van, by far the strongest 
 body, because upon it the brunt of attack was expected to 
 fall, was led by the Marshal de Gie and by Trivulzio, two 
 of the bravest and most tried captains of their time ; and 
 it included 3000 Swiss, 300 dismounted Scottish archers, 
 and the entire infantry and artillery. The king himself 
 followed with the main battle, supported by his nine Preux, 
 favourites especially selected as comrades of the monarch 
 in the field. Round him were displayed countless standards, 
 banners, and guidons, and the glittering troop advanced to 
 the symphony of trumpets and clarions. His harness was 
 of the richest fabric, he wore a gorgeous surcoat with short 
 sleeves, in colour white and violet, embroidered with Jeru- 
 salem crosses, and blazing with jewelryj; his horse was 
 barded after the same fashion, and both his chanfrons and 
 testiere* especially were of most choice and curious work- 
 manship. The rear was brought up by the Comte de Nar- 
 
 king'8 bearing very similar to that of Philippe de Comines. adding, sed 
 tumfrnnte atque oculis, aduncoque prcBsertim et prominent e naso ptcg- 
 nacis ac intrepidi militis speciem prasbebcU. Black Savoy, according to 
 the same writer's description, was, it is to be feared, little better than a 
 dray-horse. Equum conscendit neque nobili colore vel celsd staturd 
 conspicuum, quum esset absolutce ob idqut dmnnntas nigrcdinis tini- 
 color, dcxtroque oculo caytus, sed qui quadrato habitu indt/tnitum prcB- 
 fcrrct robur.—Hist. lib. ii. fol. 69. Ed. Vtn. 155.?. 
 
 * Chanfrons, armour for the horse's face, to which was afllxed the 
 testiere between the ears, and hearing a crest. Our account above is 
 taken from Brantome, who writes in the true sj»irit of chivalry ; and it 
 accords belter with the character of the vain and thoughtless prince than 
 that given by Paulus Jovius. " Validis potius quam decoris armis pro- 
 tectus— ne(iue, vel a cono capitis vel a regali cultu nosci volebat."— tt« 
 supra. 
 
 
 A PARLEY. 
 
 123 
 
 bonne. Both these latter divisions were small in numbers ; 
 and they were succeeded by a long, straggling train of 6000 
 beasts of burden, which conveyed the baggage, and were 
 without any further escort than such as could be afforded 
 by the horseboys and camp-followers. This cavalcade was 
 ordered to incline to some hills on the left of the march of 
 the army. 
 
 While the prorveditori were deliberating upon their reply 
 to the Lord of Argcnton's proposition, a distant cannonade 
 had begun between the camp and the French vanguard. 
 A trumpet was despatched by the Venetians to demand a 
 cessation of this firing till the parley should be concluded, 
 and to make inquiry concerning a prisoner of rank who had 
 been taken the day before. This messenger received in- 
 structions to mark with particular accuracy the disposition 
 of the march, and especially the post and armour of the 
 king himself; in order that his person might be recog- 
 nised in the mclec. It is said that the over-anxiety of the 
 spy betrayed his commission, and that the French, becoming 
 aware of their inadvertency in admitting him too freely to 
 the royal presence, endeavoured to atone for it by making 
 the Prciix adopt arms and colours as similar as circum- 
 stances would permit to those borne by the king.* Not- 
 withstanding these pacific appearances, the cannonade was 
 speedily renewed, and Philippe de Comines, perceiving the 
 great danger to which he would be exposed by longer sepa- 
 ration from his comrades, clapped spurs to his horse and 
 overtook the main body ; this movement was seasonable, 
 for before he reached his position three of his attendants 
 were cut down by the enemy. 
 
 The king, with his sword drawn, was giving the accolade 
 to such as claimed knighthood, according to the usual cus- 
 tom before an engagement,t when Philippe de Comines 
 
 * De la Vigne, in his Jo7imaI, who is followed by Gamier, Hist, de 
 France, x. 484. It is little likely, however, that the hurry of the impend- 
 ing battle would permit these changes at the moment ; and Paulus Jovius 
 and Brantome assure us that the Praix were so armed from the begin- 
 ning ; a custom sufficiently familiar to the English reader, who will re- 
 member the Lord of Stafford, Sir Walter Blunt, and the many others 
 " marching in the coats" of Henry IV. at Shrewsbury, and the " six 
 Richmonds in the field" at Bosworth. 
 
 t M. de Sansac, a gentleman well skilled in the usages of chivalry, 
 gave Brantome a sound reason for dubbing knights be/ore, rather than 
 after, battle ; both the distinguished personage who bestowed and the 
 aspirant who received the_honour might chance to be killed in the battle. 
 
 t< 
 
I 
 
 124 
 
 COMMENCEMENT OF THE BATTLE. 
 
 rejoined him. At the same moment a loud cry was heard 
 from the spot which the Lord of Argenton had just quitted ; 
 and the bastard of Bourbon rode up to Charles, calling out, 
 " Forward, sire, forward ; this is no time to amuse your- 
 self by dubbing knights ; the enemy is at hand ; let us 
 charge them !" Contrary to expectation, the Marquis of 
 Mantua had crossed the Taro behind the French, in order 
 to attack their rear with the flower of his army, the men-at- 
 arms being intermixed with Stradiots. He marched with 
 his force softly and well together, which, as Philippe de 
 Comines remarks, with a true soldier's spirit when re- 
 cording a brilliant manoeuvre even in an enemy, " was a 
 marvellous pleasant sight to behold." A large body of 
 Stradiots was directed at the same time to fall upon the 
 baggage, and yet another division to charge in flank as soon 
 as they should perceive Gonzaga himself engaged, and 
 besides these the Count de Caiazzo passed the river in front 
 and attacked the van. It seemed, therefore, as if the French, 
 pressed at the same moment from three quarters, and in 
 each by superior numbers, must inevitably be destroyed ; and 
 if the confederates had brought all their force into action 
 instead of weakening it by unnecessary reserves, which the 
 timid cautiousness of the provveditori retained in the camp, 
 such probably would have been the issue of the day. 
 
 The rear was already briskly engaged when Charles has- 
 tened to its relief: " The King," says Philippe de Comines, 
 " went into the front of his battell, and placed himself before 
 his standard, so that, the Bastard of Bourbon excepted, I 
 sawe none neerer the enimies then himselfe. Our enimies 
 marched lustely forward, in such sort, that within lesse 
 then a quarter of an hower after my arrivall, they were 
 come within a hundred paces of the King, who was evill 
 garded and as evil waited on as ever was Prince or Noble- 
 man ; but mauger the Divil, he is well defended whom God 
 defends." The shock of the men-at-arms was most for- 
 midable ; " undoubtedly it is impossible for men to meete 
 roughlier than we met ;" the lances of both parties shivered 
 at the first encounter, and they fought bravely with their 
 broken staves and battle-axes, while their horses, trained to 
 such warfare, plied their teeth and hoofs against each other 
 almost as if animated by national hatred.* The king was 
 
 * Guicciardinl, lib. il. vol. li. p. 170. 
 
 
 i 
 
 I 
 
 SUCCESS OF THE FRENCH REAR. 
 
 125 
 
 among the foremost, and the bastard of Bourbon was taken 
 prisoner within twenty paces from his side. In the mean 
 time, the Stradiots who accompanied this charge, and upon 
 whose terrific scimitars great reliance was placed after the 
 lances of the knights were broken, observing the baggage 
 in confusion, and their comrades who had been directed to 
 attack it enriching themselves by its plunder, broke from 
 their ranks in hope of sharing the spoil. The consequence 
 of this disobedience was fatal : the men-at-arms, suddenly 
 deprived of their expected support, were panic-stricken and 
 fled ; many of the bravest were slain on the spot, and the 
 remainder were pursued at full speed to the banks of the 
 Taro, now difficult of passage owing to the still increasing 
 flood ; for the storm which commenced on the preceding 
 night continued to rage during the battle, and the river, 
 swollen by the rains, assumed its torrent form and inundated 
 the valley. Such men-at-arms as had fallen wounded, or 
 whose horses failed them, were quickly despatched by the 
 camp-followers, who thronged round with hatchets usually 
 employed in wood-cutting ; but now with these rude weapons 
 *' they brake the visards of the knights' head-pieces, and then 
 clave their heads, for otherwise they could hardly have been 
 slaine, they were so surely armed ; so that there were ever 
 three or fower about one of them. Moreover, the long 
 swords that our archers and servants had did that day great 
 execution." The cry in the pursuit was " Remember Guy- 
 negate !'' a warning against the allurement either of plunder 
 or of prisoners ; for Guynegate was a battle fought in 
 Picardy, under Louis XL, and lost in the very moment 
 of victory by too great eagerness for pillage.* So well did 
 the admonition operate upon those to whom it was addressed, 
 that not a single prisoner was taken ; and so totally had 
 their panic deprived the fugitives of any power of resistance, 
 that but one Frenchman was slain in the pursuit. 
 
 The attack in front, meanwhile, was weakly conducted, 
 and almost mimediately repulsed ; but the Marshal de Gie, 
 
 * Guynegate is well known to an English reader as the spot at which 
 the flower of the French cavalry were routed by Henry VITI. in 1510. 
 On this Joumie des Esperovs, the Battle of the Spurs, the Chevalier 
 Bayard surrrendered himself to a gentleman whom he had already made 
 prisoner, and the question of ransom arising between them was dis- 
 cussed by the emperor and the Kini; of Kngland. The adventure is told 
 in a very lively manner in the Hist, du Chev. Bayard, 57. 
 
 L2 
 
 126 
 
 VICTORY OF THE FRENCH. 
 
 pnr.mnTTOVs \kv savokahot.a. 
 
 127 
 
126 
 
 VICTORY OF THE FRENCH. 
 
 PREDICTIONS BY SAVONAROLA. 
 
 127 
 
 aware of the great numerical superiority of the enemy, per* 
 ceiving their reserve strongly posted in their camp, and not 
 knowing the brilliant success of his c(Hnrades, wisely fore- 
 bore from an advance which might have proved hazardous. 
 Still, although the day was won, the king, who remained 
 on the spot. at which his successful charge had overthrown 
 the Marquis of Mantua, was exposed to great personal 
 danger. At one time he was " marvellous weakely accom- 
 panied," says Philippe de Comines, for his sole attendant 
 was a groom of his chamber, " a little fellow and evilly 
 armed." While thus deserted by his preux in the ardour of 
 pursuit, a broken troop of Italian men-at-arms, in their flight 
 across the plain, perceived his destitution, and rode up to 
 attackhim. By his practised skill in horsemanship and the 
 strength and docility of black Savoy, who " continued re- 
 moving to and fro," he defended himself valiantly till the 
 return of some of his attendants rescued him from this great 
 peril, and placed him in security with his vanguard.* 
 
 The fight 'itself occupied not more than a quarter of an 
 hour, the pursuit about thrice as long, yet so bloody had 
 been the defeat, that of the allies there fell 3500 men, seve- 
 ral of the first quality; and among them Rodolfo, an uncle 
 of the Marquis of Mantua. The French loss did not amount 
 to 200, nor did it include any personage of distinction ; and 
 not above ten of the slain on both sides were struck by 
 artillery, the remainder being killed hand to hand in close 
 combat. A council of war was held on the field of battle, 
 in which Trivulzio and other Italian captains boldly urged 
 the king to follow up his success by an attack upon the 
 camp. But Charles was more calculated to win than to 
 improve a victory ; the proposal was considered too darino-, 
 and the conquerors repaired to such quarters as they could 
 find within a mile from the scene of action. " The kino- him- 
 selfe," writes Philippe de Comines, " lay in a farme-house 
 being an old beggerly thing : notwithstanding the barnes 
 
 * Andre de la Vigne, who was secretary to Anne of Bretapne, and who 
 wrote his Journal at the express command of Charles VIII., has ran- 
 sacked all history and romance for parallels to the king's heroism. — 
 *' A proprement parler il merita cedit jour d'estre apell6 vray fils de Mars, 
 euccesseur de Cesar, compagnon de Poinpee, hardy comme Hector, 
 preux comme Alexandre, semblable a Charlemagne, courageux comme 
 Hannibal, verteux' comme Auguste, hcureux comme Octavian, chevale- 
 jreiu comme Olivier, et deliber^ comme Roland. 
 
 about it were full of corne unthressed, which I warrant you 
 our army quickly found. Certaine other old houses were 
 there also, which stood us but in small stead : euerie man 
 lodged himselfe as commodiously as he could ; for we had 
 no lodgings made. As touching myselfe I lay vpon the bare 
 ground under a vine, in a verie straight roome, having 
 nothing under me, no, not my cloke : for the king had bor- 
 rowed mine in the morning, and my carriage was far off, 
 and it was too late to seeke it. He that had meat ate it, 
 but few there were that had any, unless it were a morsell 
 of bread, snatched out of some of their seruants bosoms : 
 I waited upon the king to his chamber, where he found 
 certaine that were hurt, namely the Seneschall of Lyons 
 and others, whom he caused to be dressed. Himselfe was 
 merrie and made good cheere, and each man thought him- 
 selfe happie that hie was so well escaped : neither were we 
 pufl'ed up with pride and vainglorie, as before the battel), 
 because we sawe our enemies encamped so neere us. The 
 same night all the Almaines kept the watch, and the King 
 gaue them three hundred crownes ; whereupon they kept 
 the watch verie diligently and strake up their drums 
 brauely." Charles, indeed, was liberal in his recompenses ; 
 the Chevalier Bayard, who was making his first campaign, 
 had two horses killed under him on this day, and captured 
 a standard in the pursuit ; he laid this trophy at the feet 
 of the king, who presented him with 600 crowns in return.* 
 It should not be omitted, that during the whole of the 
 above trying and arduous events, Philippe de Comines ap- 
 pears to have been animated by an undoubted assurance 
 of ultimate success. His confidence was founded on a pre- 
 diction, to which he frequently alludes, by Savonarola ; a 
 bold, factious, and enthusiastic Dominican, who maintained 
 the paramount influence which he had acquired in Florence, 
 by his preaching, his prophecies, and his austerities ; till, 
 about three years after the battle of Fornovo, he was ad- 
 judged to the stake by the vengeance of Alexander VI., 
 whose crimes he had too fearlessly denounced. This 
 ** Friar Jacobin, called Friar Hieronime," was visited by 
 Philippe de Comines because he had preached in behalf of 
 Charles VIII., and had affirmed that he was sent by God 
 
 * Hist, du Chev. Bayard, ch. 11. 
 
128 
 
 REFLECTIONS ON THE BATTLE. 
 
 TENICE CLAIMS THE VICTORY. 
 
 129 
 
 to chastise the tyrants of Italy. " I asked him whether the 
 King should passe out of Italy without danger of his per- 
 son, seeing the great preparation the Venetians made against 
 him, whereof he discoursed perfcether than myselfe that 
 came from thence. He answered me that the King should 
 have some trouble upon the way, but that the honour 
 thereof should be his, though he were accompanied but with 
 a hundred men ; and that God, who liad guided him at his 
 comming, would also protect him at his return. — Thus much 
 I have written, to the end it may yet more manifestly ap- 
 peere that this voyage was indeed a meere miracle of God." 
 Seldom has the intervention of a miracle and a special 
 Providence been asserted for a more unworthy purpose ! and 
 yet, notwithstanding the convenient vagueness and am- 
 biguity of language which Savonarola employed in his pre- 
 dictions (and these were many) relative to Charles VIII., 
 there remain enough contradictions in them to enable us to 
 determine that it was but a lying spirit by which the 
 prophet was inspired. 
 
 The shame of this great defeat has very deeply impressed 
 many of the Italian historians. Paulus Jovius, who sums 
 up his narrative in words borrowed from those of liivy when 
 recounting the disaster of CanniE, terms it the extinction 
 of Cisalpine military glory, an ignominious rout which made 
 Italy contemptible to foreigners, and was the beginning of 
 her countless future miseries. The conduct of the allies 
 presents indeed a singular display of want of skill and 
 irresolution ; and by a strange fatality they neglected each 
 of the many opportunities of success which the rashness 
 of the French king presented. They might have destroyed 
 him among the Apennines ; they might have overpowered 
 his advanced guard during its long detachment from the 
 main body ; they might have attacked him with advantage 
 during his passage of the Taro ; or, after all these omis- 
 sions, they might have secured victory by dint of numbers, 
 if they had at once brought up their entire force. Yet so 
 deficient were they in unity of counsel, or of design, that 
 they appear to have believed at first that the mere rumour 
 of their preparations would be sufficient to arrest the march 
 of their enemy ; and when the French presented them- 
 selves upon the heights above Fornovo, the provvediforiy 
 alarmed at this most unexpected daring, anxiously urged 
 their allies to grant an undisputed passage. So far did 
 
 . 
 
 they press their opposition to the indignant remonstrances 
 of the Spanish ambassador, whose master ran no hazard 
 from defeat, and of the gallant Mantuan who felt assured 
 of victory ; so unmoved were they by any sense of the dis- 
 honour which must accrue if they permitted a handful of 
 toil-worn and needy adventurers to escape after braving 
 their fresh, numerous, and well-appointed host, that they 
 despatched messengers to ascertain the will of the signory 
 respecting ulterior i)roceedings ; and, but for the presump- 
 tion of Charles, which did not allow time for reply, it may 
 be doubted whether the battle would ever have been fought. 
 In the engagement itself, all that valour could effect was 
 assuredly performed by Gonzaga ; but his dispositions do 
 not evince much acquaintance with tactics. His defeat was 
 in great measure attributed to the breach of discipline by 
 the Stradiots, to the sudden rise of the Taro, which occa- 
 sioned disorder in his ranks as he crossed it, and to the un- 
 seasonable fall, in the very onset, of his uncle Rodolfo, who 
 was to have given a signal for the advance of a powerful 
 reserve. That reserve, however, so soon as it perceived the 
 first check, ought to have pressed forward without await- 
 ing orders ; and it is not possible to deny the justice of the 
 naive comment of the Lord of Argenton, upon " Maister 
 Anthonie, of Urbin," who commanded it, that the death of 
 Rodolfo " served him for a good excuse, and to say the truth 
 I think he saw ynough to stay him from marching." 
 
 We shall not continue to follow the retreat of the French, 
 which, although effected with safety, was affirmed by the 
 signory to be no other than'a disastrous flight. The plunder 
 obtained by the Stradiots was purchased and transmitted to 
 Venice ; it consisted of the king's horses, tents, plate, and 
 equipage, many costly articles removed from the Neapolitan 
 treasury, and, above all, the ancient crown jewels of France, 
 which always accompanied the monarch, and were found on 
 the person of one of his grooms of the chamber.* Fortified 
 by the evidence of those rich prizes, to the intentional 
 
 * Mr. Roscoe, who, in his account of this battle (Leo X. ch. iv. vol. i. 
 p. 353, 8vo.), haa, we think, represented its issue as more favourable to 
 the confederates than any contemporary authorities warrant— with the 
 exception of some adulatory poems,— mentions in a note some very re- 
 markable particulars concerning part of this booty, from which UtU© 
 credit is reflected on the good taste of the French king. 
 
130 
 
 PROPOSED ASSASSINATION OF 
 
 abandonment of which it is probable that the French were 
 greatly indebted for their triumph, the Venetians, without 
 hesitation, asserted that the day was their own ; and issued 
 ordinances for the celebration of the victory with great 
 public rejoicing, not only in the capital itself, but through- 
 out all their dominions. So also, in after-years, applying 
 the customary privilege of an epitaph to the support of this 
 fraud, they inscribed upon a tomb in the church rfe' Frariy 
 in which was interred one of the provveditori of this cam- 
 paign, " Here lies Melchior Trivisano, who fought prosper- 
 ously against Charles, King of France, at the battle of the 
 Taro."* 
 
 The rapid loss of his Neapolitan conquests which suc- 
 ceeded the return of Charles VIII. to France, and the waste 
 of Ufe and treasure which occurred in this idle, unjust, and 
 vainglorious expedition, fully verified a favourite axiom of 
 
 his father, " That he who went to seek victory in 
 liqo Italy took much trouble to buy a long repentance very 
 
 dearly."! His death relieved Venice from the in- 
 quietude excited by his unrestrained ambition ; and it is to 
 the credit of the Council of Ten, when we bear in mind the 
 flagitious maxims of their ordinary policy, that they rejected 
 an offer for his assassination by a person of distinction in 
 Friuli ; who engaged that one of his domestics, an Alba- 
 nian, should either kill him with his own hand, or employ 
 a relation, the king's chief groom of the chamber, to take 
 him off by poison.t A similar abstinence at the close of 
 
 * Guicciardini, lib. ii. p. 58. The policy of the battle of Taro is con- 
 sidered and condemned by Parutain his Discorsi Polittci, ii. p. 4. 
 
 t Gamier, Hist, de France, x. p. 404. Ariosto has finely expanded 
 this sentiment :— 
 
 quasi tutti 
 Gli altri. che poi di Francia scettro avranno, 
 O di ferro gli eserciti distrulti, 
 O di fame, o di peste si vedranno ; 
 E che breve allegrezze e lunghi lutti, 
 Poco guadagno ed infinite danno 
 Riporteran d' Italia; che non lice 
 Che '1 Giglio in quel terreno abbiaradictj.— xxxiii. 10. 
 
 X The reply of the Ten on this occasion was not much in unison with 
 the spirit of the statutes of the Inquisition of State :— Che la republica 
 non haveva per 1' adietro giamai tal modi usar contro alcuno, ancor che 
 capital nimico, tutto che piii volte ne havesse havuto il commodo e 1' 
 oecasione, e perd che ne anco hora lo voleva j)€rmettere, havendo noslro 
 
 CHARLES VIII. AND LODOVICO SFORZA. 131 
 
 the campaign which we have just related, when the signory 
 were irritated by a perfidious act of Lodovico Sforza, is 
 much praised by the native historians. When that cratty 
 prince, dissatisfied with the conduct of Venice during a 
 negotiation for peace with France, threatened to obstruct 
 thi return of her army to the Lagime, Bernardo Contarini, 
 who commanded the Stradiots, bluntly assured the prov- 
 veditori that he knew a certain way of opening a free pas- 
 sage. "To-day," he said, "you meet the duke and his 
 chief officers in council ; the doors will be closed, and the 
 debates will commence ; when I, stepping up as if to speak 
 to him, will run him through the body. There is not one ot 
 his attendants who will dare to draw his sword, for they arc 
 all more cowardly than women." The herculean strengtii, 
 the determined bravery, and the cool self-possession ot this 
 rough chief of brigands, sufficiently avouched that he pos- 
 sessed the means of fulfilling his offer, and the provveditori 
 extolled his daring to the skies. Venetian honour would 
 have stood more clear if they had not thought it necessary 
 to submit this iniquitous proposition to the decision ot the 
 Ten, who were asked bv a despatch in cipher whether, m 
 case of necessity, they would permit its adoption, ihe 
 council answered that such a step appeared contrary to the 
 dignity of the republic* 
 
 It was not long, however, before Venice saw her revenge 
 fully gratified upon the usurper of Milan. The Duke ot 
 Orleims, upon ascending the throne of France as Louis 
 XII., urged with more than former vigour his pretensions to 
 that duchy ; and secured the co-operation ot Venice by 
 agreeing to cede to her a portion of the spoil. One ^ ^^ 
 by one of the allies of Sforza abandoned hmi, and ^^99^ 
 remained inactive spectators of his approaching fall ; 
 and as the French advanced from the Alps, and the Vene- 
 tians on his eastern frontier, the deserted prince hurried 
 from his capital, and sought refuge at Inspruck under the 
 protection of the Emperor Maximilian. Before his flight, 
 he addressed some Venetians in words not a little demon- 
 strative of sagacious political foresight. " You have 
 brought," he said, " the King of France to dine with me, 
 but rest assured it is with you that he will sup. J rom his 
 
 Siirnor Iddio davanti gli occhi miilto piii che le potenze degli huomini.— 
 Dogliari, 1st. Venet, 1. ix. But this was an esoteric doctrine. 
 * Bembo. ii. adjiii 
 
 • " — • .>»aiw.tf»a>a'v«.WWW8<Bt»gj| h i ¥a ll PB iwi 
 
133 
 
 CAPTIVITY AND DEATH 
 
 German retreat he employed his large remaining treasure 
 m hiring a considerable body of Swits, a people who had 
 recently commenced their lucrative trade as the general 
 mercenaries of Europe ; and rapidly marching with these 
 troops upon Milan, he compelled the French%arrison o 
 retire. Among the few events which distin.ruighed this 
 short reoccupation of his capital was the capture of the 
 Chevalier Bayard ; who, although at that time still in early 
 youth, had already begun to justify his title to the pre-emi- 
 nence m valour and m virtue which has rendered his name 
 a proverb. Too hastily pursuing some skirmishers whom 
 he had routed, the brave knight galloped after the fugitives 
 through the very gates of Milan, without observing tha all 
 his comrades had dropped behind. Sforza, hearing of the 
 adventure, requested to see the prisoner, received him with 
 marked courtesy, expressed surprise at his youth and aal- 
 lantry, and termmated the interview by restoring his horse 
 and arms, and dismissing him without ransom. Bayard in 
 return offered thanks in true chivalric spirit, vowina that in 
 so far as due regard to his own honour and loyafty to his 
 sovereign would permit, there was no service which he 
 would not readily undertake for a prince so gracious. Then 
 leaping mto his saddle without touching the stirrup, he ran a 
 short course, shivered his lance against the ground, and 
 perfomied some expert feats of horsemanship which drew 
 trom Sforza s lips an involuntary avowal, that if the Kinrr 
 of France possessed many such knights as the one beforS 
 liim,^his own chances of success were indeed most diminu- 
 
 The Swiss whom the Duke of Milan led to oppose the 
 French were little to be trusted ; they sold themselves to 
 the enemy broke out into open mutiny, demanded arrears 
 of pay and refused to act against the ranks of Louis, which 
 were filled with their own countrymen. Remon^tra. ce 
 was vam ; and when they persisted in disbanding, the sole 
 favour which Sforza could procure was permissfon to ^! 
 company them m the retreat which had been granted 
 
 ^r«tl^N'^ ^r^? ^^'^ ^ ^''^ '^ hi« officer! who 
 greatly dreaded hard usage from the foe, assumed the Swiss 
 
 uniform ; but Sforza himself, whose well-known features 
 
 could scarcely fail to betray him under a disguise so slight, 
 
 * Hist, du Chev. Bayard, 12. 
 
 OF LODOVICO SFORZA. 
 
 133 
 
 i: 
 
 .vrappedhis head in --^;f,-;[;r"'^^^^^ 
 
 p^Ts^th ough the F^^^^^^ arUani; Xzfa 
 
 haa captured, wa8 haughtily ^^"'''f'^J'l'^J '^^j" te„t of 
 
 Sct:^\rFomot. These demands -« concede , and 
 
 the cardinal, and other branches of the Sfo™ «™"fc';„e. 
 
 distributed in captivity *>^°"g^ ^fTJefnosed aS 
 Lodovico himself was conveyed to Lyo°^; f^P"'*" =^ ™^. 
 
 dungeons which the 1^'^"^ "^ ^°Xo. ;d ike w^^^^ con- 
 
 &%P^3r^V\l%'S.os'';- h^^^^^^^^ 
 
 Ligue de Cambrai, in the begmmngof J^e eighteenth cen 
 
 tu^, there were still ^-'^^^' ^^^'^XZ^V^JInllthZ 
 some political maxmis which he had «';i^'"\^" j^nj 
 durine the tedious hours of captivity. To «he atienua 
 tZLi devoted himself to his service m P"^™ he was m 
 the habit of declaring, that o the "'.<^" Y*» ^^^'V^/'^^ 
 
 * Antiqniiez des Villes de France, i. 592. 
 t pS Joviu«, in vU. « c, must. itr. 
 
 Vol. it.— M 
 
 rrijl? A T T»T. 
 
184 
 
 COMMERCE OF VENICE. 
 
 THE ALDI. 
 
 135 
 
 a calamity, and Sforza, overpowered by joy, breathed his 
 last in the state chamliers of the castle a few days after he 
 had been transferred to them from its dungeon.* His re- 
 mains were interred in the magnificent abbey within its walls. 
 A far more agreeable employment than that of detailing 
 the chances of a new Turkish war may be found in a brief 
 review of the powerful resources, the increasing opulence, 
 the extensive commerce, and the enlarged dominions of 
 Venice at the close of the fifteenth century, which we now 
 approach ; a point of time which, perhaps, may be considered 
 the epoch of her loftiest elevation. The discoveries of Vasco 
 di Gama and of Columbus had begun, indeed, to awaken 
 her jealousy, but had not as yet invaded her almost exclu- 
 sive monopoly of trade ; and in her long range of maritime 
 stations from the Po to the eastern boundary of the Medi- 
 terranean and the mouth of the Don, she continued to 
 gather and to disperse the merchandise of the entire known 
 world. At home, her silk manufactures, long cultivated in 
 the colonies, and introduced to the Lagunc from Constan- 
 tinople on a much greater scale, towards the beginning of 
 the fourteenth century, while interdicted to all but her 
 magistrates for domestic use, supplied the remainder of 
 Christendom with its most costly and most delicate attire. 
 Spain and England contributed their richest fleeces to the 
 fabric of her unrivalled cloths ; and for linen the flax of 
 Lombardy afforded inexhaustible materials. 100,000 ducats 
 were annually produced by a single commodity, at first 
 sight of apparently trifling value, gilt leather. Liquors, 
 confectionary, and waxen tapers, of which last article the 
 consumption in ecclesiastical services at Rome was of 
 very considerable extent, swelled the exports of the Adriatic 
 mart. In her laboratories were distilled and sublimated the 
 choicest chymical preparations required either by medicine 
 or the arts. The glass-houses of Murano, which, like her 
 silk-looms, Venice had borrowed from the East, furnished 
 some of their most coveted luxuries to both the civilized 
 and the savage world ; decorated the gorgeous palaces of 
 Europe with mirrors, and the person of the naked African 
 with beads. And to omit numerous other minor sources 
 from which was derived an influx of wealth and reputation, 
 
 * Dubos, Hist, de la Ligue de Cambrai, iv., on the authority of Lts 
 Genealogies Historiques, but the story is discredited by Dam. See a 
 note at the commencement of his xxivth book. 
 
 i 
 
 ) 
 
 i 
 
 Venice claimed the glory of adoptmg at an .arly date, and 
 advancincr with a rapid hand, that invention which, above 
 evm oth'er, has most beneficially alTcctcd the permanent 
 ^elfLe of mankind. Not more than fifteen vears, perhaps 
 even sooner, after the discovery of prmtmg J^^^" f fF// 
 transDorted it from Germany to Venice ; and Sanuto notices 
 a patenHranted to him for ihe exclusive Vubhcation, during 
 fiv^e yearl, of the Epi.tks of Cicero and Plmy.* Nico as 
 
 Tansen, ai'id others of much ^--"f ' -^.^f/l^-if^^^^ 
 the triumph of the art was consummated when Aldus Manu- 
 tius a native of Bassiano, in the ecclesiastical states es- 
 tablished himself in the republic hi U88. The zeal of that 
 fustrious scholar first opeLl at large^the ^^^^^^^^^V^^^^^^ 
 revealed stores of Greek literature. He invente^ the Ital^, 
 or cursive letter, in imitation, as is said, of the ^^ndwrit- 
 m<r of Petrarch; he collected around him the mo.st d sUn- 
 gulshed learned men of his time, and m the NcacacU^ia 
 ^hich he instituted, among other celebrated names were 
 counted those of Bembo, Navagero ^abelhco Sanuto, For- 
 ticrucrra, Alexander Alberto Pio,+ Prince of Carpi, and, 
 
 above a\ of Erasmus. That ^^""^-^^--1^^ ,^,^4"^:^, 
 in their weekly meetings the authority and the ^arl0us 
 readings of MSS., decided what works most deserved to be 
 published, assisted in their collation and transcription, and 
 Ln corrected the sheets as they passed through he press 
 To the zeal of the elder Aldus, of his son, and of his son s 
 son, for the honourable labours of this family were con- 
 tinued during three successive generations, literature is 
 indebted, not only for some of the choicest specimens of 
 typography which still adorn our libraries, but for the very 
 eXtfnc^e of numerous works, which, unless for their skill and 
 assiduity, would most probably have been lost to us for ever t 
 Such were some of the many springs from which riches 
 were derived by the descendants of the fishermen of Riaito. 
 
 ; 4L KS :;rLVyoung nobleman had been conjipned t^^^^^^^^ 
 
 although he was not much older than lus P"I"» ' J^J^^^^J """'J°o? 
 
 strong attachment, rormitted h.s instructor to adopt the famil) name of 
 
 thphmiseofCarni. rio; a very honourable i>nvilege. ^j ^«^t 
 
 1 K^ xUth book of Daru's History contains a «"««'«!!>' ^"•^moet 
 
 ellborate'r'v^w of the s.at.tics of Venice -^ ^^^^^^^^l:''^^,^'::^ 
 /.pntiirv nnon which we have miefly relied for our aoove o"«».°""' 
 mary^' Th^biS^aMhy of the Aldi is nowhere better g.ven than m the 
 •econd volume of Renouard's Annales de rimpnmene des Aides. 
 
 «.jwae»J^''rf '<^t^^i:■■tf^^-^^'^r^g^^JfrJ■i 
 
 ~ -.vrTn^rr TITT. V. 
 
 MPF.ROR or GERMANY. 13T 
 
-^^■^'•^•^•r^MjAs-iii 
 
 136 
 
 DOMINIONS OF VENICE. 
 
 Their territory, during the lapse of a thousand years, had 
 stretched itself from the coasts of the Lagune and the nar- 
 row ancient Dogado over some of the fairest provinces of 
 Northern Italy ; and Venice sw^ayed on the adjoining Terra 
 Firma the principality of Ravenna, Trevisano and its de- 
 pendencies, Padua, Vicenza, Verona, Crema, Brescia, and 
 Bergamo. Friuli connected her with Istria ; Zara, Spoleto, 
 and°the Dalmatic islands with Albania ; Zante and Corfu 
 continued the chain to Greece and the Morea, and nu- 
 merous islands in the Archipelago supplied the remaining 
 links with Candia and Cyprus. 
 
 To become allied to or to depress a state thus opulent and 
 powerful were important objects to other governments ; 
 and Venice accordingly was either courted or menaced, as 
 she appeared likely to assist or to control the several pro- 
 jects of ambition which influenced her neighbours. Equally 
 mistrusting Louis XII. of France and the Emperor Maxi- 
 milian, — both of whom indeed, although on terms of avowed 
 friendship with her republic, had not long since contem- 
 plated its dismemberment, and signed a treaty at Blois 
 to that effect, — she found it most politic to adhere to the 
 former in a dispute which arose between them on the disso- 
 lution of that nefarious compact. For a few months, 
 tkoft tbei^^fore, she was involved in hostilities with the 
 emperor ; during which, after a complete victory 
 gained at Cadauro by Bartolomeo d'Alviano, when, if we 
 believe Navagero, not a single imperialist escaped to notify 
 the disaster,* the fortune of war threw into the hands of the 
 conquerors Trieste and some other important ports of the 
 Adriatic. Maximilian, whose prodigality justly entailed 
 upon him the title of " The Penniless,"! unable to procure 
 supplies for the continuance of this unsuccessful struggle, 
 proposed a truce ; but Venice, with strict fidelity to her en- 
 gagements, refused in the first instance to treat separately 
 from her ally. The French king extended this principle of 
 comprehension beyond its legitimate bounds, and by obsti- 
 nately stipulating, that a minor power, the Duke of Gueldres, 
 ■with whom Venice had neither connexion nor community 
 of interests, should be included, broke off the negotiation. 
 
 * Ne nuncio quidem relicto, csesl sunt. 
 
 t Massimiliano Pochidanario. Car il estoit assez liberal, et n'estoit 
 possible trouver un meilleur prince, s'il eugt eu de quoy donner,— is the 
 tly character ifiven of tliis einperor in tlie Hist, de Ck. Bayard^ cU. 30. 
 
 1^ 
 
 / 
 
 TRUCE WITH THE EMPEROR OF GERMANY. UT 
 
 prepared tor tnem * ' . , • , of Max miUan hu- 
 
 dissensions were o l-^ /"^"^^^^'''^P'Jf i,o„u unreasonably 
 ^^W bv^ha thi^h h t ™e"isert^ ; and the task of 
 ^SnV thlreW for the P"^--^ -^^X 
 
 hkc and J<^-''.''"''y 13 restless spirit of intrigue whieh ani- 
 ^'leTjuft Jle mos aSus pontilwho ever dis- 
 
 League of Cambrai. 
 
 M2 
 
 _A 
 
 .1^ 
 
 /•ATTRF.S OP THE 
 
 LEAGUE OF CAMBRAI. 
 
138 
 
 CAUSES OF THE 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 FROM A. D. 1608 TO A. D. 1609. 
 
 Causes of the League of Cambrai— Julius II. discloses it to the Venetians 
 —Preparations for Resistance— Evil Omens— Total Defeat of the Ve- 
 netians at Agnadello— Louis XIL at Mestre— Terror in Venice— Loss 
 of all her Dominions on Terra Firma- Fortitude of the Government- 
 Measures for Defence— Decree releasing the Provinces from Alle- 
 giance—Favourable Negotiation with the Pope— Successful Resist- 
 ance of Treviso— Surprise of Padua— Maximilian prepares for ita 
 Siege— Capture of the Duke of Mantua— Brilliant Defence of Padua- 
 Achievements of the Chevalier Bayard— The German Men-at-arms 
 
 , reAise to mount the Breach— Maximilian raises the Siege in disgust. 
 
 DOGE. 
 
 Leonardo Loredano. 
 
 The lovers of minute history may have the gratification of 
 tracing the events which now open upon us, in a great degree, 
 to petty causes and personal feelings. That such were the 
 immediate sources from which the great confederacy against 
 Venice arose is little to be doubted ; but the universal jea- 
 lousy which her wealth, her prudence, and her prosperity 
 excited, the mortification with which France, Spain, and 
 Germany beheld themselves rivalled, and in many points 
 excelled, by a power whose dominions did not equal a tenth 
 part of any one of their kingdoms, were deeply rooted and 
 of long standing. The biographer of the Chevalier Bayard 
 has indeed approached very near the truth when he informs 
 us, in his characteristic manner, that nothing is more cer- 
 tain than that the alliance of those crowns was formed " to 
 ruin the signory of Venice, which in great pomp and with 
 little regard to God lived gloriously and gorgeously, making 
 small account of the other princes of Christendom ; where- 
 fore, perhaps, our lord was angry with them, as plainly ap- 
 
 I 
 
 LEAOTJE OF CAMBRAI. 
 
 139 
 
 ™.»rea "• The pope regarded with an evil eye the acqui- 
 Sof Venice in Lmagna, some made long smce, other, 
 more recently on the overthrow of Cesare Borgia; and the 
 r«rTthat turbulent old man burst all restramt, when he 
 Sd that the senate, acting upon their accustomed pol.cy 
 of withstanding all interference in matters ecclesiastical, 
 had refused to^dmit his collation of one of his nephews, 
 whom he wished to succeed another just deceased, m the 
 
 vacant see of Vicenza ; and had no"'"'''^^,,'' „^'^^°P' ^^.'^'f' 
 *itlp ran "Bv the grace of the most excellent Council ot 
 PrtS't t^orgetting that he owed his elevation to he 
 pontificate mainll to the influence of the republic m the 
 Save the impetuous priest lost not a moment in pro- 
 
 ^"osSg t; the court of FrLce a lef?«^ f»V^!,7ATboisf 
 all the Venetian dominions ; and the Cardinal d Amboise, 
 who swayed the councils of Louis XII., wel remembering, 
 Tn the other hand, that his hopes of *etnple crown had 
 been frustrated bv the very agency for which his successlul 
 comp" ow manifested himself ungrateful, eagerly slim- 
 S^ his master to compliance. A motive equally per- 
 sonal affected the determination ?f "f imiUan. No only 
 had his arms been recently and signally discomfited by he 
 hauffhtv republicans, but they had revived and protracted 
 KirTby the 'triumphal reception of the" -tonous 
 General d'Alviano ; and by continumg to exhibit the dress, 
 habits manners, aid lan^age of the Germans and their 
 emVerorTobjects of popular' ridicule, in ludicrous specta- 
 cksrtage buffooneries, and satirical cancatures.t One 
 other occlrrence tended to heighten the mdignat.on thus 
 tapruSy generated. But a few days after his signature 
 Tthe late tmce, Maximilian proposed to the fS^"^'^ 
 Xnce for the expulsion of the French from Italy, and the 
 Son of their Cisalpine territories. That offer was not 
 onlv declined, but was also revealed to Louis ; and the dis- 
 closure, wUhout creating a new ftiend. exasperated the 
 
 virulence of a former enemy. j i„ i o« fai. 
 
 To these three high contracting parties was added, so for 
 
 as his habitually cautious and tardy policy would aUow, 
 
 ♦ Ch. xxviil. 
 
 t Guicciardinl, lib. viii. vol. 1!. p. 1^8. TTn„«finvr r^ SOi 
 
 i Harangue de Louis Helian, ap. iinelot de la Houssajc, p. 8»t. 
 
 JULIUS II. AVOWS IT. 
 
140 
 
 VENICE SUSPECTS THE LEAGUE. 
 
 JULIUS IL AVOWS IT. 
 
 141 
 
 Ferdinand of Aragon, allured by the promised restitution of 
 the maritime cities of Naples. But when the Cardinal 
 d'Amboise, as plenipotentiary of France, and Margaret of 
 Austria, the widowed Duchess of Savoy, a woman of mas- 
 culine temper and attainments, as representative of her 
 father the emperor, met at Cambrai, neither the papal nun- 
 cio nor the envoy of Spain had received full powers. Un- 
 deterred by this obstacle, which might have retarded less 
 prompt diplomatists, the princess and the cardinal, neither 
 of whom appears to have required assessors, negotiated 
 with extraordinary rapidity ; and, as may be surmised from 
 a letter written by the former, not without considerable 
 occasional vivacity of discussion. " The cardinal and I," 
 says this high-spirited lady, " have been very nearly pulling 
 each other's hair !" But the consent of the other powers 
 having been assumed, they speedily reconciled any differ- 
 ences between themselves. 
 
 The ostensible pretext for this congress was an adjust- 
 ment of the affairs of Gueldres ; to which avowed object 
 countenance was given by the employment of Margaret, 
 who administered the government of Flanders ; and a 
 second and far greater design was rumoured to be the form- 
 ation of a confederacy against the Turks. Infinite pains 
 were taken to veil the real proceedings from the penetra- 
 tion of the Venetian ambassador ; the King of France 
 ■was lavish in his professions of continued amity, and did 
 not hesitate to pledge the faith of a prince in coniirmation 
 of his pacific intentions. Suspicion was first excited in 
 the breast of the secretary of the council resident at Milan, 
 to whom it was reported that a native of Carmagnuola had 
 been heard to express vehement delight at the prospect of 
 soon seeing the murder of his great townsman revenged 
 upon its perpetrators. The sagacity of the minister dis- 
 covered the clew which unravelled the mystery of this boast; 
 
 and he warned his government accordingly. He 
 1508 ' ^^^ correct in his surmise ; for the treaty was already 
 
 signed, by which, according to its general outline, 
 the pope was to wrest from their present lords Rimini, 
 Faenza, and Ravenna ; the emperor to enrich himself by 
 Treviso, Istria, Friuli, Padua, Verona, and Vicenza ; the 
 King of France to obtain Bergamo, Brescia, Crema, and 
 Cremona;. and the King of Aragon and Naples to seize 
 
 } 
 
 inftn the five great ports which Venice held in pledge, with- 
 oStr Wing the 200,000 crowns for which they had been 
 nTorttrLed. The preamble to this act of spoliation re- 
 Toachld the Venetians for the obstacle which they had 
 raised against a crusade, by retaining ccrtam dominions of 
 the holy see ; and declared the motives of the allies to be no 
 other than to procure restitution of these usurped territo- 
 ries for the glory and the deliverance of Christendom. 
 
 But no sooner had Louis made powerful demonstrations 
 of his earnestness in the cause, by rapidly assem- ^ ^ 
 bling troops even in the depth of winter, and sedu- ^^^^^ 
 lously preparing for a passage of the Alps m the 
 ensufn|spring,\han the pope repented the }ssue of hisrash 
 impatience. He trembled at a fresh irruption of Tramon- 
 tanes, who would again ravage and overrun Italy; and he 
 soucrht to avert, or at least to mitigate, the danger which 
 he had too hastily provoked. Finding that some indirect 
 suffffestions were misunderstood or neglected by the Ve- 
 netian ambassador, he took an opportunity of obtaining a 
 private conversation by seating hhn in his own barge dunng 
 a water party; and he then openly reveakd the existence 
 and the terms of the league; adding, that if the towns 
 which he claimed were restored, he would not only forbear 
 to ratify, but he would endeavour to dissolve it. 1 tie sen- 
 ate received this unwelcome and unexpected communication 
 with surprise, but with dignity; they had been deceived 
 and lulled into security, but they now encountered the peril 
 when fully displayed with a fortitude which their enemies 
 stigmatized as rash and impolitic arrogance ; but which a 
 less prejudiced judgment will attribute to a natural desire 
 of self-preservation, a love of freedom, a consciousness oi 
 strength, and a belief in the righteousness of their cause. 
 A brief refusal was conveyed to Julius ; some fruitless at- 
 tempt at negotiation was made with the emperor ; an una- 
 vailbia application was addressed to the 1 urkish sultan ; 
 and Henry VIII., who but a few months before had as- 
 cended the throne of England, and who already had been 
 solicited by the opposite party,* was urged, but without et- 
 fect, to make a descent upon France dunng the absence ot 
 her chief warriors.! Meantime Louis despatched a herald 
 
 * See the Treatv of Cambrai, n^ntd Lunig. Codex Diplom. Ital. i. 134. 
 t UiLSLanT(2.p. 281) afilrnistbat ileary accclcd to the league, and 
 
 ■ jigMtjawa6fli««<!«ite!i<a»aJitii^ 
 
 142 
 
 EVIL OMENS. 
 
 THF, FRENCH PASS THE ADDA. 
 
 143 
 
142 
 
 EVIL OMENS. 
 
 THE FRENCH PASS THE ADDA. 
 
 143 
 
 with a formal declaration of war ; tho pope launched the 
 idle thunders of a bull ; and in order to disembarrass Max- 
 imilian from any imputation of perjury in his causeless 
 breach of a treaty to which his signature was yet scarcely 
 dry, Julius called upon him by name, as defender of the 
 rights of the church, to enter the Venetian territories in 
 arms within forty days. So flimsy is the sophistry by 
 which a great crime can be veiled from the eyes even of its 
 perpetrator, if its commission be advantageous to his in- 
 terests ! 
 
 Evil omens, as they were afterward considered, however 
 disregarded at the time, were not wanting as harbmgers of 
 this war. Fires ravaged the small islands of the LagunCy 
 and Candia trembled with an earthquake ; the citadel of 
 Brescia was damaged by lightning; a galley conveyinfr 
 treasure to Ravenna foundered at sea ; the public registry 
 in Venice fell to the ground, destroying numerous ardiives 
 of the republic beneath its ruins ; and an explosion of gun- 
 powder blew up a great portion of the arsenal, and burned 
 twelve galleys to the water's edge, enveloping the great 
 council chamber in volumes of smoke, terrifying the assem- 
 bled senators from their deliberations by its hideous noise, 
 and scattering showers of ashes through the remotest quar- 
 ters of the city. Lest these natural portents, which aro 
 avouched by grave historians, should fail to arouse men*s 
 vigilance and fears, a miracle was added, which, it must be 
 confessed, however, rests on no other authority than that 
 of a poet. Valeriano, when addressing a long copv of Latin 
 elegiacs to his preceptor Sabellico, informs him that an 
 image of the Virgin in the church at Lido covered the Bam- 
 bino with her veil, and thrice uttered the fear-awakenina 
 words, " Terra fleas /"* ^^ 
 
 Undismayed by these prodigies, the republic marshalled 
 her forces, amounting to 30,000 foot and nearly 18,000 
 horse, all well equipped and plentifully appointed. The 
 greater part of this array was assembled on the Oglio (a 
 
 he is followed io this statement by Hume. Daru contradicts them The 
 Duke of Savoy, the Duke of Ferrara, and the Marquis of Mantua cer- 
 tamly joined the alliance, aud the last two were personally distinguished 
 in the course of the war. 
 
 * Jo. Pierii Valerian! De Porteniis anteaquam totus terrarum orbia in 
 Venetos conspiraret, printed by Roscoe, Leo X. App. lix. 
 
 i 
 
 \n 
 
 secondary line of defence on the Milanese frontier, the Adda 
 being the first) at the wish of the signory, and with the 
 approval of their general in chief the Count di Petigliano. 
 D'Alviano, his second in command, a soldier of more enter- 
 prising spirit, urged bolder measures, but was overruled ; 
 he wished to act upon the oflensivc in the outset^ and to pen- 
 etrate the Milanese before it was occupied by the invaders. 
 The victories of that brave commander, in the late short 
 German war, warranted more confidence than he appears 
 to have inspired. His valour had raised him from the ranks, 
 yet he offered the singular spec*;.clc of a general who, 
 amid the tumult of a camp, found leisure for the repose of 
 literature ; and in the campaign which we are now describ- 
 ing he was attended by three Venetians eminently distin- 
 guished by their genius and their cultivation of the muses, 
 Navagiero, Fracastoro, and Giovanni Cotta ; all members 
 of an academy which D'Alviano himself had established on 
 his domain at Pordenone. The French, meantime, in num- 
 ber 12,000 horse and 20,000 foot,.of which last more than 
 a fourth consisted of Swiss, advancing by rapid marches, 
 crossed the Adda at the bridge of Cassano, about five miles 
 from the Venetian camp, without opposition, and to the 
 astonishment of the veteran Trivulzio ; who, well acquainted 
 with the country, and perceiving the great advantage thus 
 gained, assured Louis that in passing that river he had al- 
 ready obtained a victory. During four successive days, 
 the invaders presented themselves in front of the Venetian 
 camp, the strength of which forbade attack, in the hope of 
 provoking battle. But Petigliano, obstinately resolved on 
 the defensive, remained motionless, although a village within 
 gunshot was sacked before his eyes ; and awaiting the sure 
 operation of delay upon an enemy having to seek supplies 
 in a hostile country, he persisted in restraining the more 
 fiery spirit of his colleague. 
 
 This inactivity disconcerted Louis ; who, with greater 
 ardour than policy, anxiously wished to bring the' Venetians 
 to a trial of strength, before the arrival of his allies might 
 deprive him of any portion of glory. His sole hope of 
 forcing an action now remained in the possibility of inter- 
 cepting his enemy's communication with their magazines at 
 Crema and Cremona ; and for that purpose the occupation 
 of the little towns of Vaila and Pandino appeared necea- 
 
144 
 
 BATTLE OF AGNADELLa. 
 
 CAPTIVITY OF D ALVIAXO. 
 
 145 
 
 sary in the first instance. Two roads approached those 
 posts, one across a marshy plain, circuitous, but easy ; the 
 other much shorter, but along difficult heights. The French 
 May 14. ^^^^^ choice of the fonner, and the Venetian generals, 
 perceiving their movement, and divining its object,, 
 resolved to anticipate them by taking the shorter line. Pe- 
 tigliano led the van, and had already approached Vaila, 
 when he received notice from D'Alviano that the rear* un- 
 der his command was engaged, and required support. Ei- 
 ther jealous of bis brother commander, or thinking that he 
 wished to entrap him into a battle, Petigliano answered by 
 ordering him to continue his march, and to avoid any en- 
 gagement, in obedience to the instructions of the signory. 
 But the advice arrived too late ; the rear of the Venetians 
 was already overtaken by the French van, at a point near 
 the village of Agnadello, where the two roads which the 
 opposite armies were traversing, hitherto concealed from 
 each other by a thick intervening wood, were now separated 
 only by a ravine. D'Alviano, observing that the ground 
 which he occupied at the moment was favourable for artil- 
 lery, halted, opened a brisk cannonade, and threw the in- 
 fantry, of which his force principally consisted, into some 
 rough vineyards, which prevented the advance of the French 
 cavalry. At first he was most successful, and his batteries 
 mowed doven the Swiss and the men-at-arms, as they inef- 
 fectually attempted the passage of the ravine, till they wa- 
 vered and gave way. But at that critical moment Louis, 
 m person, brought up the main body ; the ardour of the 
 French redoubled at the presence of their king ; and the 
 
 * Mr. Roscoe in narrating this battle, says-" Of the Venetian army 
 D Alviano led the attack, the Count of Petigliano with the battle andcav- 
 f\y occupied the centre, and the rear-giiard was commanded by Antonio 
 rte Pu, accompanied by the Venetian commissaries," and a little onwards 
 
 their ?;a?i-5-?<rtrrf was defeated with immense loss" (ch. viii vol ii p 69) 
 Now the events of the engagement plainly require that Petigliano should 
 Dein the van, and D'Alviano in the rear; without which arrangement 
 the former, in the course of his advance, musf, even against his will 
 have come up to the assistance of the latter. And such is the disposition 
 Which Guicciardini assigns, " II retroguardo de' Venetiani guidato da 
 Bartolomw D'Alviano;" and again, " significatasubitamenteal Conte di 
 retigiiano che andava innanzi," lib. viii. vol. ii. p. 202. So too Bembo 
 — prior ab exiTemA, cui Livianus praerat, tria miUia paasuum abesset.'^ 
 v^lii^ Arr'h ,.^A'!!?^.'l''^"°"'''y "^^ ^^ historians, AgnadeUo, 
 
 a t SC t^'^'^'^^'^^'^ ^'^? ^'^^^^"y ^^ ^ t^e Adda). It has afforded 
 a suDject tor Titian s pencil. 
 
 * 
 
 1 
 I 
 
 / 
 
 / 
 
 ) 
 
 Swiss, pressing across the dry bed of the torrent, swept 
 tlirouifh the vineyards, and drove the Venetian infantry, 
 forced back, but not disordered, into plainer ground, upon 
 which the mon-at-arms at length could charge. Louis, 
 sword in hand, rode to all parts of the field, amid the hea- 
 viest fire ; and when solicited not to expose himself to un- 
 necessary hazard, be answered, " This is nothing ; you see 
 that / am not afraid, and those who are so may shelter 
 themselves behind me !"* The combat endured for three 
 hours ; and at its close, GOOO Venetian infantry, after a 
 noble resistance, in which not a man swerved from his rank, 
 were left upon the field. 1 D'Alviano, and many of his chief 
 oflicers, were taken prisoners ; twenty pieces of cannon fell 
 into the hands of the conquerors ; and Petigliano, although 
 not engaged, accomplished his retreat to Peschiera in safety, 
 only by being too fiir in advance for pursuit.t D'Alviano 
 had been wounded, while dismounted and awaiting a fresh 
 horse, and he surrendered to the Seigneur de Vendenesse, 
 " a right little lion,"*?" as he is described by Bayard's faithful 
 chronicler. Bleeding and bruised, the prisoner was con- 
 ducted to the royal tent, and honourably entertained. After 
 dinner the king sounded a false alarm, in order to make trial 
 of the vigilance of his troops ; and having asked D'Alviano, 
 with apparent surprise, if he could conjecture the occasion 
 of the sudden tumult, the captured general answered, with 
 a keen remembrance of his late abandonment by his com- 
 rades, " Sire, if there be any more battle just now, your 
 troops must be fighting with one another ; for, as for ours, I 
 pledge my Ufe that you will not see any more of them for a 
 fortniorht to come. "II 
 
 D'Alviano beguiled his subsequent hours of confinement 
 by writing commentaries on his own life, which Paulus 
 Jovius states that he had read. The severity of his jailers 
 
 * Brantome, Louis XIT. 
 
 t The Seigneur de Flciiranges, in his agreeable but not^ verj- methodi- 
 cal M6 moires, e.vaggerp.tes the loss in this action to 38,000 men, au 
 compte fait I 
 
 t Daru believes thnt Petigliano was engaged, and quitted the field only 
 when he perceived the fortune of the day to be adverse. Bemho is 
 silent respectinir him. Guicciardini expressly says, that the combatants 
 became dispirited, "popra tutto mancando il soccorso de' suoi ;"' and 
 again yet more strongly, "il Conte di Pitigliano s' astenne dal faito 
 d'arme," lib. viii. vol. ii. p. 202. 
 
 $ Un droict petit lyon, eh. xxix. II M ibid 
 
 Vol. II.— N 
 
v^/ 
 
 146 
 
 SUCCESSES OF THE FRENCH. 
 
 I 
 
 denied him the use of proper implements ; his paperthere- 
 lore was of the coarsest and vilest nature ;* his pens were 
 bristles stealthily secreted from the broom which swept the 
 chamber and his ink was pounded charcoal mingled with 
 wme The two pomts in this autobiography which most 
 f^fy'ff>'.''^^\^^^ Bishop of Nocem's memory wer; 
 that D'Alyiano, hke Macduff, was "from his mother's 
 womb untimely ripped," and that he was born with Mars 
 m the ascendant ; from which horoscope the astroloacrs 
 predicted that he would be a great captain, and receive 
 certain wounds on the head and forehead, which it was 
 impossible he should escape. 
 
 Success was vigorously pursued ; and well were it for 
 the fome of Louis if he had forborne from sullying his 
 laurels by cruelty But as he overran the adjoining 
 country, his main design appears to have been to fix a deen 
 impression of terror For that purpose he hanged the 
 gallant soldiers who dared to nmintain the walls of Cara- 
 vaggio ; and in the citadel of Pescliiera also, which he 
 entered by assault after Petigliano had abandoned its 
 defence, the whole garrison was put to the sword. There 
 
 inn nnn^^. V f ^'^^"«^' ^ ""^le Venetian, proffered 
 100,000 ducats for the ransom of himself and his son, the 
 king, in spite of a promise of quarter given by some of his 
 officers, swore that he would neither eat nor drink while 
 his enemies remained alive ; and gibbeted them both on 
 the same gallows above the battlements of their own castle. 
 In a fortnight after his victory, the whole of the towns 
 which the treaty of Cambrai had apportioned to him 
 submitted to his arms, and he received, and faithfully 
 appropriated to the emperor, the keys of many other placel 
 belonging to the imperial allotment. The citadel of Cre- 
 mona was the only stronghold which continued to resist • 
 and the obstinacy of its defence arose from the avarice 
 
 wp^lt^ V •'''' ^T'"^^^ exorbitant ransoms from the 
 wealthy Venetians who had sought refuge in its walls, and 
 
 hrT'lT^ '^' ""^"""^^ ^''''''^' «f ^^r to certain ruin 
 by the disbursement of their whole substance. At length 
 
 the want of naval means forbade his army from penetrating, 
 
 vir Jv./''^^'^ '''^'^"^ P''P^'° " '*^""^« '^"'""^ <^<^'aia. (Eiog. niust. 
 
 DISASTROUS SITUATION OF VENICE. 147 
 
 he raised a battery of six guns at Fusina ; and discharged 
 from it tive or six hundred cannon-shots at random, in the 
 direction of the capital, in order that posterity might be 
 told that the King of France had bombarded the impreg- 
 nable city of Venice.* 
 
 Since that eventful morning which announced to Venice 
 the storming of Chiozza, no disaster had befallen her 
 which struck grief so profound into her citizens, or 
 awakened in them so well justified a terror as the battle 
 of Agnadello. Surprise also was mingled with alarm ; for 
 the sanguine despatches of D'Alviano had inspired strong 
 liopes of success, from the very outset of the campaign. 
 But now, instead of the realization of those bright pros- 
 pects, the French skirted the l»orders of the Lagunc ; the 
 papal troops spread themselves over Romagna, occupied 
 the towns which t)ie holy fiither claimed, and, in imitation 
 of their allies, butchered the nrarrisons of such as resisted ; 
 the Duke ofFerrara and the Marquis of Mantua recovered 
 those territories to which they asserted hereditary pre- 
 tensions ; the King of Spain, who had hitherto worn the 
 mask of friendship, now withdrew his ambassador and 
 despatched troops to Naples ; and although the imperial 
 army had not as yet taken the field, numerous partisans of 
 Maximilian rose in arras, possessed themselves of many 
 important places in Istria and Friuli, and induced Trieste 
 and other towns won from the emperor in the late war to 
 revert to their former master. A sinfjle blow had shattered 
 m pieces the goodly fabric of continental dominion which 
 it had cost Venice the toil of a century to erect ; and her 
 claim to a place in the catalogue of European states now 
 rested solely on the scanty boundary of her islands. Her 
 army, levied by extraordinary exertion and expense, was 
 dissipated with scarcely a hope of recovery ; for besides the 
 heavy loss sustained in battle, desertion thinned it in flight, 
 and disobedience and want of discipline, the too frequent 
 consequences of defeat, impaired the fidelity and diminished 
 the attachment of those who still abided by their leaders ; 
 so that a scanty and little-trustworthy force of 5000 horse 
 and 1500 foot was all that could now be mustered under 
 the walls of Verona. Even if men could be found to recruit 
 
 * Brantome, Louis XTT. The Abbi'; du Boa contests this fact, and 
 maintains that Louis XII. did not advance beyond Verona. 
 
 148 
 
 FORTITODK. F.KFRRV. AKn WTcnniK 
 
 I 
 
 rw TTIT ^rTVT"rTAVC. 
 
 UQ 
 
148 FORTITDDE, ENERGY, AND WISDOM 
 
 its battalions, money was likely to be wanting for their 
 support. All that loans and voluntary gifts and retrench- 
 ment could produce had already been exhausted in prepa- 
 ration ; and if treasure could now be anywhere obtained, 
 it seemed imperative that it should be employed principally 
 in naval equipment ; in order to oppose a Heet which the 
 French were preparing at Genoa, and whose most probable 
 destination was the Adriatic. 
 
 But it seems throughout the history of this most singular 
 people, that their seasons of deepest calamity were those 
 which produced also the most overflowing harvests of glory. 
 In the moments of depression and disaster upon which we 
 are now pausing, when it might be thought that men's 
 hearts would fail them for fear, — notwithstanding the 
 natural agitation of the populace in the capital, the closing 
 of the shops, the suspension of all pubHc business, the 
 thronging of a terrified rabble to the ducal palace and to 
 the very doors of the council-chamber, and the hourly 
 rumours of fresh peril which it was not easy for exagge- 
 ration to heighten beyond reality, — we find the government 
 preserving a dignified calmness, which enabled it to consult 
 in all things the true welfare of the republic. One aged 
 senator, long invalided, arose from a sick couch, and was 
 borne in a litter to the hall of assembly, that he might not 
 be wanting to his country in the time of her trial ; and the 
 wisdom of his advice lent fresh courage to her defenders. 
 Their earliest precautions were naturally directed to the 
 safety of Venice itself. All foreigners resident in the city, 
 unless for purposes of business, were ordered to withdraw ; 
 mills were constructed, and wells sunk in the Aggcre ; the 
 public tanks and granaries were cleansed and replenished ; 
 the canals were blockaded and the buoys removed ; nightl)- 
 patroles were established on the several islands ; arms were 
 distributed among the young and able-bodied inhabitants ; 
 and the city was placed in all points in condition to 
 maintain a siege. The patriotism of individuals contributed 
 large funds to the empty treasury ; fifty galleys were 
 rnanned from the arsenal ; and the garrisons employed on 
 distant stations, not only in Italy, but in Greece also and 
 Illyria, were recalled home to join the reduced and almost 
 disorganized army of Petigliano. 
 
 Those first and most pressing necessities having received 
 
 I 
 
 OF THE VENETIANS. 
 
 149 
 
 I 
 
 attention, the council next addressed itself to matters 
 of more general import. In a spirit similar to that which 
 animated the Romans after their overthrow at Cannie, they 
 despatched messengers to Petigliano, expressing thanks 
 for his great constancy. Then by a stroke of master 
 policy, of which we know not whether most to admire the 
 wisdom or the magnnnimity, they issued a decree releasing 
 the endangered provinces from all obligations of fidelity to 
 a state no longer able to afibrd them protection. Prudence 
 dictated this sacrifice of a dominion which hnd almost 
 ceased to exist except in imagination ; for should their 
 subjects, now enfranchised, be ever regained, they would 
 return with an attachment strongly increased, by grateful 
 remembrance of the generosity which had permitted them 
 to bend to the storm, when to withstand it might be de- 
 struction. No apprehension for the future could be felt by 
 those who were thus authorized to submit to circumstances ; 
 and at the first dawning of weakness or disunion among 
 their conquerors, they might hasten to renew allegiarice 
 to their ancient mjisters, undeterred by the necessity 
 of excusing their past involuntary abandonment. The 
 next step was to attempt negotiation ; and here, even had 
 the signory felt any desire to treat with France, the conduct 
 of Louis XII. must have deprived them of all expectation 
 of success. His disiumulation and perfidy before the war, 
 his avidity and cruelty in prosecuting it, rendered him an 
 enemy with whom they could little hope, and scarcely 
 indeed could wish, for compromise. To the pope they 
 stood in a different relation ; and they had sagncity enough 
 to perceive, that having once gained the object for which 
 he promoted the league, his interests must now strongly 
 prompt him to free Italy from its invaders. They proffered 
 therefore the surrender of Ravenna, the only city in Ro- 
 magna which still resisted ; and the Doge Loredano 
 announced his willingness to depute six of the noblest 
 senators, who should humble themselves at the pontifical 
 footstool, and implore absolution for their country. This 
 seasonable accommodation to the pride, no less than to the 
 policy, of Julius produced the desired consequence. To 
 withdraw at once from the league would have been too 
 open and loo violent a breach of faith ; but the holy 
 father, after a fierce ebullition of his constitutional fury, 
 
 N2 
 
S'Se3B'95SSSSff'|JS|S*5'WfSSP|^^ 
 
 II 
 
 150 
 
 FIDELITY OF TREVISO. 
 
 expressed himself in gentler terms, sufficiently evincing 
 the conduct which he would ultimately adopt. 
 
 Greater difficulties embarrassed the negotiation with the 
 emperor ; and although it was deemed advisable to tender 
 him the lowliest submission, and to agree to his retention 
 of every conquest which had been made in his name, 
 Maximilian steadily refused to treat without the partici- 
 pation of France. Nevertheless, either from indolence or 
 poverty, he took no measure to prosecute with activity the 
 •war which he had resolved to continue; and even when 
 Louis, satisfied with his glory, and having nothing more to 
 conquer, set out on his return to France, only one small 
 corps of a few hundred imperialists had entered Lombardy, 
 to garrison the fortresses which, although surrendered, 
 were as yet by no means secured. Those troops sufficed 
 for the occupation of Padua ; but on the appearance of a 
 detachment before Treviso, so scanty a force excited con- 
 tempt among the inhabitants, who regarded the proposed 
 change of masters with undisguised reluctance. The cry 
 of Marco was heard in their streets ; the Venetian standard 
 was raised on their battlements ; the Germans hastily 
 retired, and at the moment in which the whole of Terra 
 Firma was deemed lost, this fidelity of the Trevisians 
 revived the hope of brighter fortunes, gave an earnest 
 of the recovery of dominion, nnd checked the hitherto 
 retrograde movement of the Venetian army. Petigiiano, 
 secure of an advantageous rallying point, once more ad- 
 vanced, and took up a strong position between Marghera 
 and Mestrc. 
 
 \ et more important results were speedily produced by 
 this example of constancy/. The government of Venice 
 had pressed far less heavily upon the Lombard cities than 
 that to which they now found themselves subjected, and in 
 most of them a strong party existed looking with anxiety 
 for the moment at which they might emancipate themselves 
 from their recent fetters. In Padua, the middle classes and 
 the populace, to a man, were favourable to Venice : the 
 nobles, on the other hand, hoping to establish more exten- 
 sive aristocratical privileges and ampler feodal rights by the 
 assistance of the court of Austria, espoused the side of 
 Maximilian ; and their reasons, when once penetrated, in- 
 creased the desire of the citizens to escape from German 
 
 I 
 
 t- 
 
 i ' 
 
 RECOVERY OF PADUA. 
 
 151 
 
 thraldom. Little more than three weeks had elapsed since 
 the occupation of their city by about 800 imperialists, when 
 the doge Loredano received intimation of the wishes of the 
 burghers, and was implored to second them. At first he 
 shrank from the peril of an enterprise so daring, and so 
 calculated to provoke greater activity on the part of the 
 emperor ; but, stimulated by bolder spirits in the council, 
 he ordered Andrea Grilti, than whom no officer of the re- 
 public was better calculated for the service, to hold himself 
 in readiness to act in concert with the Paduans. Before 
 dawn, on the 24th of July, 400 men-at-arms and 2000 foot 
 placed themselves in ambuscade within a bow-shot of the 
 city. It was the season of the second Italian hay-harvest, 
 and every day a numerous train of wagons laden with the 
 crop used to enter Padua ; their appearance therefore on 
 the appointed morning did not excite suspicion, the draw- 
 bridge was lowered, and tlic convoy filed slowly through 
 the gates. In the rear of the fifth carriage, concealed by 
 those which preceded it, Gritti had placed six horsemen, 
 each carrying behind him a foot-soldier with his harquebuse 
 loaded. Not more than thirty German lansquenets senti- 
 nelled the gate ; and as this wagon passed under it, the men- 
 at-arms raised the cry of Marco; their comrades, slipping 
 from the cruppers, discharged their pieces with so sure an aim 
 that each killed his man ; a truwipet sounded for the advance 
 of the troops in imibush ; and, roused by the same signal, 
 more than 2000 of the inhabitants, rudely armed, but 
 breathing deadly enmity against the Germans, poured 
 out from their houses. The lonesome and widely-dis- 
 persed streets of Padua afforded full room for battle ; and 
 during the two hours in which it raged, the imperialists 
 sold their lives dearly, and slew 1500 of their opponents, 
 before, overpowered by numbers, they were wholly cut to 
 pieces.* 
 
 The news of the recovery of Padua was received in 
 Venice with transports of joy. The day on which that 
 great success was obtained, the translation of Sta. Marina, 
 was already celebrated as a feast ; but it was now further . 
 ennobled by a decree instituting a yearly a nda (a of the doge 
 and senate to return thanks in the church of that martyr, in 
 
 * Us fenrent ouverts, rompus, et tous mis en pieces, sans que jamais 
 ea feust ua k mercy. Uui feui {rrosse piii^.— Hist, du Ch. Bayard, tlxx. 
 
 f pgf fS:;*3»;- 
 
Ifl 
 
 ^ 
 
 / 
 
 152 PREPAIIATIONS TO DEFEND PADUA. 
 
 Which the keys of the restored city were solemnly deposited. 
 In Maximilian, the unexpected intelligence occasioned pain 
 and indignation fully equal to the delight of his enemies ; 
 he vowed deep revenge, applied to the King of France for 
 the assistance of 500 men-at-arms, and undertook in person 
 to reduce and punish the revolted citv. Louis willingly 
 accorded the required detachment ; but, distrusted by the 
 coldness hitherto manifested by his ally, he did not hesitate 
 to proceed on his own return to France, after arranaina an 
 interview which Maximilian purposely failed to "attend. 
 1 he seeds of dissension indeed were already fast ripening 
 among the associated princes, and the bonds of their con- 
 federacy became every hour more weakened and relaxed. 
 
 In order to embarrass the emperor while on his march 
 the Venetians, now freed from the immediate presence of 
 the French, commenced a variety of diversions Their 
 galleys hovered on the coasts of Friuli and Istria, menaced 
 l-iume and Trieste, and relieved Udino. Advanced de- 
 tachments skirmished on the frontier line, and a bold coup 
 de main by night surprised the Marquis of Mantua ncrlf. 
 gently posted in the Lwla ddla Scahi on the Tanaro. The 
 prince leaped from the window of his quarters in his shirt 
 and concealed himself in a stack of grain near at hand ; 
 but his hiding place was discovered and revealed by some 
 pe^asants, whose fidelity was proof against the huae bribes 
 which he offered for secrecy. He was conveved to" Venice 
 and retained in close but honourable confinement in a tower 
 of the palace. 
 
 Notwithstanding these partial successes, it was soon 
 perceived that it would be impossible to prevent the invest- 
 ment of Padua, and the signory therefore prepared most 
 vigorously for its defence. Upon its preservation appeared 
 to depend the fate of Venice herself; and accordin<rly 
 neither skill nor toil was omitted to render it impregnable. 
 Petighano and Gritti entered it with the whole^armv 
 amounting to nearly 25,000 men, part regulars, part Slradil 
 otli, and part Scappoli, Sclavonians taken from the galleys 
 an active though somewhat undisciplined body. The 
 doge Loredano, in order to manifest the high value which 
 he placed upon the safety of this great outwork of his 
 capital, and to mark the identification of his own personal 
 interests with those of his country, sent his two sons, with 
 
 I 
 
 f 
 
 SIEGE OF PADUA. 
 
 153 
 
 a body-guard of 100 picked men, to partake the dangers of 
 the garrison ; and three hundred patricians, each accom- 
 panied by a brilliant suite, enrolled themselves as volun- 
 teers in the like service. AH the approaches to the city 
 were undermined ; new bastions strengthened the long 
 line of curtain ; the ramparts groaned with artillery con- 
 veyed from Venice ; inner batteries and a second fosse 
 were constructed ; every hut and tree within a mile of the 
 walls which might aflord lodgment to an enemy was swept 
 away ; the neighbouring peasants eagerly flocked from their 
 villages to relieve the soldiery in tlieir labours; and the 
 generals, having erected an altar in the great Piazza di 
 Sa7i Antonio^ after the celebration of mass harangued the 
 garrison and inhabitants, and received fresh oaths of fidelity 
 and renewed assurances that they would maintain the city 
 or perish under its ruins. 
 
 The march of the emperor was retarded by the difficulty 
 of transporting his park of artillery, the greatest ever yet 
 prepared since the invention of ordnance. Two hundred 
 heavy cannon, and many bombards whose enormous size 
 forbade the use of carriages, and which could be discharged 
 at the utmost but four times a day, were destined for this 
 siego ; and not more than half of them could be brought up 
 at a time, on account of the deficiency of horses. At 
 length, on the 15th of September, a host sat down under 
 Padua, which, both from its great numbers and its variety 
 of tongues, reminds us of that with which King Agramante 
 and his paynims beleaguered Paris, for the love of An- 
 gelica, and to avenge the death of Troiano. Maximilian 
 arrived on the plain, says Bayard's chronicler, in the true 
 guise of an emperor, and if the mighty company which he 
 brought with him would but have pertormed its duty, surely 
 it was enough for the conquest of the world. Among the 
 Germans there were of dukes, counts, marquises, princes, 
 and lords, 120, and about 12,000 cavalry; of men-at-arms 
 of Burgundy and Hainault five or six hundred ; the lans- 
 quenets' were without number; 12,000 Germans, 6000 
 Spaniards, an equal number of adventurers from different 
 countries, and 2000 Ferrarese ; probably all together more 
 than 50,000 fighting men ; the Cardinal of Ferrara was de- 
 puled, by his brother the duke with 120 lances, 3000 in- 
 fantry, and twelve pieces of artillery ; the Cardinal of Man- 
 
 ^ 
 
154 
 
 EXPLOITS OF THE STRADIOTTI. 
 
 I 
 
 1: 
 
 tua led a somewhat larger force; and the 500 French 
 kni^rhts under the Seigneur de la Palisse comprised among 
 them Ba>ard and many of his most celebrated companions. 
 On the whole, not fewer than 100,000 combatants spread 
 themselves chiefly under the northern walls, in a semicircle 
 of nearly four miles in length, from the gate of Sta. Croce 
 to that of Coda lunga. Maximilian, as if he had cast his 
 slough of indolence and become endowed with a new spirit 
 by the magniiicence of the scene, fixed his head-quarters at 
 a Carthusian monastery, Sta. Elena, within half cannon- 
 shot of the ramparts. There he exhibited distinguished 
 personal bravery, mingled with the engineers, animated 
 their labours, and so al)ly and actively conducted his pre- 
 parations that within five days the batteries wore opened. 
 During their construction an attempt to turn the course of 
 the Brenta failed, from an inaccuracy in the levels. 
 
 No sooner had the firing in breach commenced, than an 
 attack was directed, by the French and a detachment of 
 Germans, on a ravelin near the gate Portello, which leads 
 to Venice ; not so much, as we are told, for any serious 
 object as to make essay of the enemy's inclination to fight ; 
 and of that intention the assailants received sufficient as- 
 surance to induce them to retire to their quarters in no 
 small haste.* ]n that affair Bayard greatly distinguished 
 hunself ; penetrating four barriers, raised at one hundred 
 paces from each other, and which could be carried only by 
 an attack in front, where the narrow approach, diked on 
 each side, was swept by a long range of artillery. The last 
 of these barriers was distant but a stone's throw from the 
 gate ; and it was so fiercely contested that the brave knight 
 was obliged to leap from his horse and rush on, sword in 
 hand, " as a lioness who has been robbed of her cubs 
 springs with her mates to their deliverance." Satisfied 
 with this display of prowess, he then advised a return. t 
 
 Bayard's other personal encounters during this siege 
 were of an equally chivalrous and romantic character *vith 
 his first adventure ; but they chiefly occurred with the 
 Slradwth, whose rapid war of partisanship was incalculably 
 useful to the garrison. Every day they penetrated the 
 hostile lines, carrying off booty and prisoners, foraged the 
 
 * Senza molta delatione.— Guicc. lib. vUi. vol. ii. p. 246. 
 t Hist. du Ch. Bayard, xxxiu. 
 
 / 
 
 GALLANTRY OF THE YOUNG BOUTIERES. 155 
 
 neighbouring districts, or eluding superior numbers, secured 
 the entrance of convoys to the city. On one occasion, 
 when the military pay was in arrear, and a remittance was 
 expected from Venice, 300 of these light horsemen stealthily 
 gained the mouth of the Brenta, and disembarking the 
 treasure, divided it among such of their number as were 
 most fleetly mounted. Then, having laden two strong 
 mules with heavy sandbags, they placed them in the centre 
 of their march, .and on the appearance of a patrol of Ger- 
 mans alfected to guard them with peculiar anxiety. The 
 result answered their expectation ; while the enemy eagerly 
 attacked the mules, the troopers who really carried the 
 money rode oflf at full speed unregarded, and outstripped 
 pursuit before the stratagem was discovered. 
 
 Not all the Stradiotfi, however, were equally fortunate ; 
 for soon afterward Bayard brought into the camp nearly 
 sixty of their troop, after a rencounter, in which one of his 
 suite gained much deserved reputation. A young gentle- 
 man of Dauphiny, a son of the Lortl of Boutieres, although 
 not quite seventeen years of age, yet coming of a noble 
 stock, and having great desire to tread in the steps of his 
 ancestors, in a charge upon a company of Venetian cross- 
 bowmen, threw himself upon their standard-bearer, who was 
 entangled in a ditch, and took him prisoner, notwithstand- 
 ing he was twice his own age and size. On carrying this 
 notable prize before his master. Bayard, with some surprise, 
 asked if the prisoner were really of his own taking ? " In 
 good sooth, my lord, he is," replied the youth, to the great 
 entertainment of the chevalier ; " and, please God, he did 
 right well to surrender, or I should certainly have killed 
 him." — "This young gentleman," rejoined the knight, 
 turning to some Venetian captains whom he himself had 
 taken, and whom he was entertaining at table with his 
 usual courtesy, " has been my page but six days, and as 
 yet, you may perceive, has but little beard : in France, we 
 do not trust our standards unless to hands which can de- 
 fend them." The ancient, abashed at the obvious deduc- 
 tion from these words so unfavourable to his courage, 
 swore roundly that he had not surrendered from any fear 
 of his captor, who, single-handed, never could have taken 
 him ; but that it was impossible for any man by himself to 
 fight against a host. " Do you hear that, little Boutieres," 
 
 U 
 
 '4 
 
 ■ ■ 1 
 
 »l 
 
 I 
 
 
 .ffSlpgPJ 
 
-^^^fpe=3^^- 
 
 MP 
 
 It 
 
 * 
 
 \ 
 
 156 
 
 THE BREACH. 
 
 said Bayard, " your prisoner says you are not the man to 
 take him !" — "Will my lord grant me but one favour]'* 
 asked the gallant and high-mettled youth. — " Name it," re- 
 plied Bayard. — " That I may return the prisoner his horse 
 and arms, and after I have mounted on my own, that we may 
 step a little aside : then, if I take him again, before God, he 
 shall die ; but if he can escape, he shall go ransomlcss." 
 Bayard was never better pleased than with this spirited 
 demand, and joyously accorded the desired permission. 
 Not so, however, the braggart Venetian, and no one need 
 inquire whether ho was the laughing-stock of the camp 
 when he declined the challenge which Boutieres thus freely 
 offered.* 
 
 The artillery of the garrison was better served than that 
 of the besiegers, " for one shot which we gave them, they 
 returned us two ;" nevertheless, in four days 20,000 rounds 
 were discharged from the German batteries. Under that 
 most terrific fire, three breaches were speedily laid into one, 
 of four or five hundred paces in breadth, and capable of ad- 
 mitting 1000 men abreast ; " was not this a goodly passage 
 for an assault?" But in the rear of that enormous gap, 
 Petigliano had sunk a fosse twenty feet wide and deep, 
 filled almost to the brink with barrels of powder inter- 
 mixed with fascines ; enfiladed by flanking batteries, as 
 well as by others, which presented a murderous line against 
 an advance in front ; and having beyond it, within the 
 town, an esplanade of sufficient size for the battle array of 
 20,000 men. The French were warned of these formidable 
 defences by some of their own company who had been 
 taken prisoners ; and to whom, before they were ransomed, 
 the works were exhibited, with expressions savouring of 
 contempt of the Germans, and admiration of themselves. 
 
 " Were it not for 
 
 your men-at-arms," said Petigliano, 
 
 *' in four-and-twenty hours I would make a sortie which 
 should oblige the emperor to raise the siege with igno- 
 miny." 
 
 Maximilian, no doubt, was deterred from attempting a 
 storm by intelligence of these preparations, which made 
 the breach, however large, utterly impracticable ; for on the 
 tenth morning, when the army was marshalled and awaited 
 
 * Hist, du Ch. Bayard, xjrxv. 
 
 f 
 
 ' I 
 
 i 
 
 ) 
 
 THE EMPEROR PROPOSES AN ASSAULT. 
 
 157 
 
 the signal for advance, it was again dismissed to its quarters, 
 on a plea that the ditches had been filled during the night, 
 and could not be passed. The water, however, subsided by 
 the next day ; yet even then no attempt was made beyond 
 the attack of an outwork, hastily thrown up as a defence 
 for the Coda lunga gate ; from which the besiegers were 
 repulsed. Part of the bastion Delia Gatta, near this out- 
 work, being subsequently battered down, it was assaulted 
 two days afterward by the Spanish and German infantry, 
 who fought with incredible fury, scaled the wall after inli- 
 nite loss, and succeeded in mounting two standards on the 
 breastwork. The explosion of a mine, however, destroyed 
 them almost to a man ; and the few survivors, grievously 
 hurt and wounded, sought refuge in their own lines, where 
 their comrades were waitinor but for their establishment on 
 the bastion to commence a general assault. But all hope of 
 immediate success was abandoned on this discomfiture, and 
 the troops again returned to their quarters. 
 
 The sole remaimno; occurrence in this remarkable sietje 
 is in all points so strongly tinctured with the manners of the 
 age to which it belongs, — so strikingly displays the inade- 
 quacy of any force, however numerous and well appointed, 
 unless it be controlled also by a strict discipline and subor- 
 dination, — and so vividly illustrates the fanciful distinctions 
 of rank and the punctilioes of conventional honour which 
 were still fondly nursed by chivalry, even in those days of 
 its fast approaching decline, — that we shall relate it for the 
 most part in the appropriate words of the biographer of the 
 knight sans pcur d sans rcproche. The emperor with his 
 German princes and barons, having one morning reconnoi- 
 tred the huge breach, now exposing the city for nearly half 
 a mile, marvelled greatly, and felt no small shame, that, not- 
 withstanding his mighty host, he was still baflled. Retiring 
 therefore to his tent, he dictated a despatch for the Lord of 
 Palisse conceived in the following terms. " My cousin, — 
 Having found the breach which I have just reconnoitred 
 more than reasonably large for those who will do their duty, 
 I propose to storm it this very day : I pray you, therefore, 
 that so soon as my great drum shall sound, which will be 
 about noon, you will hold in readiness all those French 
 gentlemen who, by the commandment of the King of 
 France, my brother, are at my service under your orders, to 
 
 Vol. II.— 
 
 i^ 
 
 kS 
 
 m 
 
158 
 
 REPLY OF THE FRENCH CAPTAINS 
 
 TO Maximilian's invitation. 
 
 159 
 
 i 
 
 B-i 
 
 accompany my infantry to the assault, which I trust, through 
 God's aid, will succeed." The Lord of Palisse, on receiv- 
 ing this despatch, found the method of proceeding strange 
 enough ; nevertheless he dissembled, and summoned all his 
 captains to his quarters. On their arrival, he said, " Gen- 
 tlemen, we must go to dinner, for I have that to tell which 
 if I name it beforehand peradventure may spoil your cheer." 
 But this he snid right merrily, for he well knew the temper 
 of his companions, that there was not one among them 
 other than a Hector or an Orlando ;* and especially that 
 good knight who never in his life was surprised by any 
 thing which he either saw or heard. Nevertheless, during 
 dinner they did little else hut look at one another. After 
 the repast was ended and the quarters were cleared of all 
 except the captains, the Lord of Palisse communicated to 
 them the emperor's despatch, which he read twice for their 
 better understanding. When it had been thus read, each 
 knight regarded the other with a smile, to see who should 
 first begin to speak ; till the Lord of Humbercourt, address- 
 ing himself to La Palisse, said, " Monseigneur, you may 
 send word to the emperor that wc are quite ready ; since, 
 for my part, I am tired of lying in the field now the nights 
 begin to grow cold, and moreover our good wine is failino- 
 us." At which sally they all laughed, and every knight 
 spake in his turn and agreed with the Lord of Humber- 
 court. 
 
 La Palisse, in the end, turning to the Chevalier Bayard, 
 who had not as yet opened his lips in anywise, perceived 
 that he was picking his teeth, and made as if he did not 
 understand the proposition of his comrades, so he addressed 
 him thus : " Well now, you Hercules of France, and what 
 say you 1 this is no fit time to be picking your teeth, for we 
 must send a prompt answer to the emperor." The good 
 knight, who loved a merry jest, returned pleasantly, " Sirs, 
 if we were indeed to follow the Lord of Humbercourt in all 
 seriousness, we should go this moment to the breach : but 
 as marching on foot is a somewhat troublesome pastime to 
 a man-at-arms, I, for one, should willingly excuse myself. 
 
 * A favourite mode of expression used not long after by the Macaronic 
 writer Merlino Coccaio. 
 
 Quo nan Hectorior, quo non Orlavdior alter. 
 
 ■i 
 f 
 
 Nevertheless, since I must speak my opinion, I will deliver 
 it at once, and openly. The emperor in his despatch re- 
 quires that you should dismount all the French gentlemen 
 to go to the assault with his lansquenets. Now, for my- 
 self, little as I have of this world's goods, I have always 
 borne myself as a true gentleman, and all of yon, my lords, 
 have large possessions and come of great houses, and so 
 do many others of our men-at-arms. Can the emperor 
 then think it reasonable to put so much nobility in peril 
 side by side with his infantry ; of whom one is a cobbler, 
 another a farrier, a third a baker, and every one some sort 
 of mechanic, who has not his honour by any means in so 
 great esteem as the poorest gentleman ? such a step, saving 
 the emperor's grace, is taken with too little reflection. My 
 advice therefore is, that the Lord of Palisse should send 
 this answer, that he has assj-mbled his captains according 
 to his imperial majesty's will, who are all well resolved to 
 obey his majesty's order, according to the charge which 
 they have received from the king their master. But 
 that his imperial majesty must be well acquainted that the 
 King of France has none excepting gentlemen in his com- 
 panies of ordonnance,* and that to mix such persons of 
 honour with foot-soldiers, who are men of low condition, 
 would be to show little esteem for noble birth. Neverthe- 
 less, if his majesty will please to dismount some of his own 
 German counts, barons, and gentlemen, together with the 
 gentlemen of France, the latter will readily show them the 
 way, and the lansquenets may then follow if they think 
 good." 
 
 This reply was communicated to the emperor, by whom 
 it was approved, and immediately assembling by sound of 
 drum and trumpet the princes, lords, and captains of Ger- 
 
 * The r.omnaisnic^ d'nrdnnnavre were established by Charles Vll. in 
 1444, and constituted the stHnding army of France. A <r'Hf I f-nmn, in 
 the acceptation of the Frencli in the sixteenth century, was not only 
 one born of noble lineage, but even a /•( tun,-,- of the tiirn etnf, who 
 rnadeanns his sole profession ; and, by so doinp, differed from the Inns- 
 queni'ta or fiintasshK, wtio. enrollin<; tiniiiis-lves but for a season, 
 returned to their trades, as Bavanl states above, at the end of a cam- 
 paign. Dubos has a valuable Preliminary Dissertation to his Hist, da 
 III J.iiTnt: lie Cambrui, on tlie ujilitary establishments at the commence- 
 ment of the sixteenth century, in which these distinctions are well 
 explained. 
 
 ^,[ 
 
160 
 
 MAXIMILIAN RAISES THE SIEGE. 
 
 DEATH OF PETIGLIANO. 
 
 161 
 
 many, Burgundy, and Hainault, he announced to them his 
 pleasure. When he had finished speaking, a very marvel- 
 lous and strange noise arose on a sudden among the Ger- 
 mans, which endured for the space of half an hour before 
 it was appeased ; and then one of their company was de- 
 puted to acquaint the emperor that they were not persons 
 who would demean themselves by marching on foot, nor by 
 entering a breach ; and that their true estate was to fight 
 like gentlemen on horseback : and no other answer could 
 the emperor obtain. Great was his displeasure thereat ; 
 nevertheless he replied only by saying, " Well then, gentle- 
 men, we must do for the best ;" nnd forthwith he sent to 
 the Lord of Palisse, countermanding the assault for that 
 day. Then shutting himself up in his quarters, deeply 
 mortified and indignant, he took horse on the following 
 morning two hours before daybreak ; and accompanied by 
 only five or six of his most confidential attendants, he rode 
 forty miles from the camp without drawing bit ; and des- 
 patched immediate orders for raising the siege after fifteen 
 days' investment.* The Venetians, justly proud of their 
 successful defence, affirmed that to narrate with adequate 
 eloquence this preservation of his native city, would re- 
 quire the resurrection of Livy himself. The eflfect pro- 
 duced by the abandonment of the enterprise was, as we 
 shall perceive, most important to the fortunes of the 
 republic. 
 
 ♦ Hist, du Ch. Bayard, xxxvii. xxxviii. 
 
 i 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 PROM A. D. 1509 TO A. D. 1516. 
 
 Reconciliation with Julius II.— Tlaranirue of Louis Il.'lian at the Diet 
 of the Empire-Campaigns of 1510 and 1511 -The Holy League— 
 Gaston de Foix commands the French— Slorm of Brescia- Generosity 
 of Bayard— Battle of Ravenna— Alliance between Venice and France 
 —Accession of I.eo X.— Battle of Novarra— Battle of Moita— Acces- 
 sion of Francis I. — Battle of Marigiiano— Death of d'Alviano— Treaty 
 of Noyon, and Conclusion of the Wars arising out of the League of 
 Cambrai. 
 
 DOGE. 
 Leonardo Loredano. 
 
 It is probable that during the inglorious operations which 
 we have just related, Maximilian was betrayed both by Ju- 
 lius and Ferdinand ; each of whom, already determined upon 
 reconciliation, if not secretly in accordance with Venice, 
 may have ordered his generals to co-operate but languidly 
 with the army of the league. Be this as it may, the em- 
 peror, once more impoverished and dishonoured, returned 
 to his own dominions ; his troops broke up and dispersed ; 
 Padua was delivered ; the Venetians, sprea<ling, without 
 resistance, over the adjoining districts, recovered many of 
 their former possessions ; refused a truce which Maximilian 
 was sutFiciently humbled to propose ; and before he had 
 reached Trent, on his route to Germany, had established 
 themselves under the walls of Verona. 
 
 The death of the Gount di Petigliano, which occurred in 
 t^e beginning of 1510,* was a disaster felt, perhaps, ^ ^ 
 more acutely by the signory than even the total de- j^'^q* 
 feat of their flotilla by the Duke of Ferrara not 
 
 * Rembo, x. p. 355, states that he died on the 26th Jan. 1510. Cuic- 
 ckrdini, lib. x. vol. ii. p. 240, places his decease before the close of 1509. 
 Tlie former is most probably corret't. 
 
 02 
 
162 
 
 GONZAGA OBTAINS HIS FREEDOM. 
 
 many weeks before.* The rare fidelity and great military 
 experience of Petigliano were qualities not easily to be re- 
 placed, and he was gifted with yet another excellence 
 which rendered him peculiarly acceptable to the habits of 
 the Venetian government, — a calm and deliberate judg- 
 ment, never seduced by a passion for glory into any rash 
 enterprise, and willingly abandoning the chance of success 
 if it were to be obtained only by an equal hazard of disas- 
 ter. It might have been supposed that Venice would select 
 a general-in-chief from among the numerous brave officers 
 already in her service ; but the temper of the condottieri 
 was too jealous to allow a hope of subordination, if any in- 
 dividual of their own number, unless distinguished by the 
 accident of birth, were elevated above his fellows. Thus, 
 through one of those remarkable contradictions of ordinary 
 and established politics which the Italian annals so fre- 
 quently present, it was from their prisons that the signory 
 now sought a commander. The high post of chief of their 
 armies, which he had filled, not wholly without suspicion, a 
 few years before, was again tendered to Francesco of 
 Mantua, and joyfully accepted by him, without a moment's 
 scruple as to the solemn engagements to the violation of 
 which such an appointment must necessarily lead. His 
 fidelity was to be guarantied by the delivery of his son as 
 hostage ; but whether from a reasonable mistrust of her 
 lord's constancy, from maternal fondness, or from an ap- 
 prehension of exposing Mantua to the resentment of France, 
 Gonzaga's consort, when applied to for ratification, refused 
 the desired pledge, and the prince was remanded to con- 
 finement. Before the close of the year, however, by a sin- 
 gular concurrence of opposite interests, the menaces of the 
 Turkish sultan, with whom he had always maintained an 
 amicable correspondence, and the solicitations of the head 
 of the Christian church, to whose policy his release was ad- 
 vantageous, obtained freedom for Gonzaga. 
 
 Disappointed in their first application, the signory next 
 wished to nominate Andrea Gritti to the important vacant 
 
 * This victory of Alfonso, and his brother the Cardinal Ippolito. at 
 1 olesina, is, more than once, a ihenie of praise In the hands of Ariosto, 
 (HI. 57. xx.xvi. ad in. xl. ad mit.) The last-mentioned passage disprovee 
 a belief which has sometimes been euteriaiiied, that the poei himself was 
 present at the action. 
 
 n 
 
 RECONCILIATION WITH JULIUS 11. 
 
 163 
 
 i 
 
 n 
 
 office ; and if that great man had accepted the charge, the 
 armies of Venice would have been led to the field, for the 
 second time in her history, by a native general. But even 
 the proud distinction of ranking by the side of Carlo Zeno, 
 the most illustrious of his countrymen, failed to seduce the 
 honest judgment and the sure-sighted wisdom of Gritti. 
 He pleaded inexperience in military affairs unless as a 
 prooveditore ; and pointing to the more than ordinary dan- 
 gers in which his country was involved, he earnestly be- 
 sought the signory to look around for surer guidance. 
 Compelled by this refusal to select from the mass, they ulti- 
 mately intrusted the command of their army, now too 
 weak for more than defensive war, to Paolo Baglione, an 
 ofiScer not long before engaged under the papal banners. 
 
 This transition from one service to another directly hos- 
 tile to it was by no means uncommon in Italian military 
 history ; and in the instance mentioned above, the recon- 
 ciliation of Julius to Venice removed all appearance of in- 
 consistency. More than ever alarmed by the increasing 
 influence of the French within the Alps, to which the 
 failure of Maximilian before Padua had largely contributed, 
 the pope resolved no longer to support the impolitic league 
 to which his passion had given birth. Nevertheless, while 
 receiving the Venetians once again into communion with 
 the church, he rigidly exacted most of those penalties 
 which the power of the keys enabled him to demand. 
 Their deputation of nobles, instead of displaying customary 
 liiplomatic pomp, entered Kome by night, clad in peniten- 
 tial garb;* testified their contrition in the seven hasiUca ; 
 and humbled themselves upon their knees, while suppli- 
 cating absolution, before the papal throne, ostentatiously 
 raised in front of the brazen portals of the V^atican. It was 
 esteemed rio ordinary condonation that the stripes were re- 
 mitted which it was sometimes customary for the pope and 
 cardinals to inflict ; and the master of "the ceremonies, to 
 whose official care was intrusted the arrangement of this 
 spectacle, strenuously insisted upon the necessity of adhering 
 to that edifying custom. Among other precedents, he cited 
 
 • * Erano entrati con abiti e con modi raiserabili i sei oratori del senato 
 Veneziann, i quali essendo cnnsneti a enirarvi con pompa e fasto gran- 
 dissimo.— Guicciardiai, lib. viii. vol. ii. p. 232. 
 
 'I:' 
 
hu. «m ■'^ . I ^eKi 
 
 
 Jh.'ffia£&Ap=^'^'>*^- 
 
 164 PENANCE OF THE VENETIAN AMBASSADORS. 
 
 that of Innocent VIII., who, having summoned before him 
 the goiifaloniere and one of the ancients of Bologna, for 
 hanging a priest and a Franciscan in the streets of their 
 city, stripped them naked to their very drawers, and flogged 
 them with unsparing severity, not only by his own hands, 
 but by those also of numerous assistants, during the recital 
 of no less than three out of the seven penitential psalms. 
 Alexander VI., yet more recent!)-, had exercised a nearly 
 similar vengeance on some refractory Asculans ; and the 
 pontifical arbiter elegavliarum, confiding on those sound au- 
 thorities, recommended that the cardinal penitentiary should 
 deliver thirteen rods, one to each of his officiating brother 
 cardinals ; and the last, more handsomely finished than the 
 rest, and distinguished by a napkin at the handle, for the 
 pope's own use. With these scourges, a slight blow was 
 to be inflicted on the shoulders of the envoy's during the 
 recital of each verse of the Miserere* Julius, however, 
 had good taste enough to remit this unseemly degradation ; 
 and the idle submissions which he really exacted, however 
 galling to the pride, by no means diminished the power of 
 Venice. But it must have been with no slight regret that 
 she consented, for a while, to permit the exercise of uncon- 
 trolled ecclesiastical jurisdiction within her dominions ; and 
 to concede free navigation of the Adriatic to natives of the 
 ecclesiastical states, without demanding toll, or assertino- 
 any right of search. The renewal of good-will thus effected 
 is partly attributable to Henry VIII. of England, whose 
 martial spirit and abundant treasure rendered' him a most 
 important advocate. At Easter, in this year, he received 
 from Julius the consecrated golden rose, annually bestowed 
 upon some one sovereign as the highest token of pontifical 
 favour ; and it is recorded that before the presentation of 
 that special mark of grace and amity, Christopher Bam- 
 
 * The formulary drawn up by Do Grassis, is prinfed at length in the 
 fnnal Eccl. of Raynaldus, cul nnn. 1510. Of the Bolofrnese he says 
 tHal ihoy were ordered " per pttnitentiarios oniiies acriter percuti, et 
 quirteni totaliter luidos, etiain sine calisiis, sed solis campestribus sive 
 bracms, et quidem percuti fecit donee tres ex septem Psalmis pceniten- 
 tialibus du-ereniur." The pope's rod is described as virga una pidcnor 
 pro Fontijirc. cvm manuter^io in ex'rnnitate. We are not certain that 
 \ve nave rendered manutergium rorrectlv, hut we know not what else 
 to substitute. Was the punishnnent so bloodv that it was necessary for 
 the holy executioner to wipe his hands during its infliction ] 
 
 INVECTIVE OF LOUIS HELIAN. 
 
 165 
 
 f 
 
 i 
 
 I 
 
 / 
 
 4 
 
 bridge, Archbishop of York, the English ambassador at the 
 Vatican, very strongly urged the holy father net to war 
 against Venice, a state which, if it did not exist, ought, he 
 said, to be created by the common consent of mankind, for 
 the welfare and the glory of the universe.* 
 
 Of the bitter feelings still entertained against Venice, 
 however, by the two chief powers associated^ in the league 
 of Cambrai, a very remarkable evidence is preserved in a 
 speech pronounced by the French ambassador, Louis Helian, 
 at the opening of a "diet of the empire, convened by Maxi- 
 milian in order to obtain succours for a continuance of the 
 war. The authenticity of that choice model and rich ex- 
 emplar of all future invectives is undisputed ; but, since it 
 has frequently been printed, we may content ourselves by 
 noticing a few of its most vehement passages. " These 
 Venetians," says the energetic orator, '-who have abandoned 
 the cause of Heaven, deserve to be execrated by God and 
 man, to be hunted down by sea and land, and to be exter- 
 minated by fire and sword. It would be easy to show that 
 these crafty and malignant foxes, these proud and furious 
 lions, have entertained the design of subjugating Italy first, 
 and the Roman empire afterward. If you have weakened 
 them, follow up the blow and extinguish them altogether ; 
 for unless you promptly bruise the head of this venomous 
 serpent while it is yet stunned by your first stroke, I warn 
 you, that so soon as it has recovered, it will one day infect 
 you all with its deadly poison, and strangle both yourselves 
 and your successors in its inextricable coils." Then pro- 
 ducing Alexander, Scipio, Cssar, Ulysses, Antiochus Epi- 
 phanes, C. Marius, Trajan, Antonine, Constantine, and Q. 
 Varus, — the TIsipeti, the Tencteri, the Suevi, the Marco- 
 manni, the Quadi, the Catti, the Sicambri, the Heruli, the 
 Vandals, and the Goths, as illustrations of so many separate 
 commonplaces ; he adds a remark which, if it were more 
 fully explained, might furnish a key to the mysterious fate 
 of Carmagnuola ; namely, that through the ingratitude of 
 the republic that unhappy nobleman, the greatest captain 
 of his time, was beheaded /or a few words of raillery which 
 had escaped him.] Dwelling with keen sarcasm upon the 
 
 * Bembo, ix. p. 347. 
 
 t Propter facet urn aut cavillosum dictum. 
 
166 
 
 L\VECT1\'E OF LOUIS HELIAN. 
 
 maritime ascendency of the Venetians, the ambassador next 
 proceeds to stigmatize them as brides of Neptune or hus- 
 bands of Thetis, who espouse the sea by a ring ; a folly un- 
 heard of among other naval powers, w'hether they be Ty- 
 nans, Carthaginians, Rhodians, Athenians, Romans, Per- 
 sians, or Genoese ; but worthily adopted by " these insa- 
 tiate whales, these infamous corsairs, these pitiless cyclops 
 and polyi)hcmi, who on all sides besiege the ocean, and are 
 far more to be dreaded than any sea-monsters, quicksands, 
 sunken rocks, or hurricanes." 'in a few other similar flow- 
 ers of vituperative rhetoric they are described as devoted to 
 Mohammed, not to Jesus ; boasters who assert that they 
 will drag his Christian majesty to their dungeons in chains, 
 and make the pope their chaplain in ordinary ;* wicked 
 harpies, venomous aspics, sanguinary tigers, neither Turks 
 nor Christians, but a third sect occupying a middle station 
 between good and bad angels, neither belonging to heaven 
 nor to hell ; a sort of loups garous and mischievous goblins, 
 who wander by night through men's houses, raise storms 
 at sea, destroy the peasants' crops by hail, and take pos- 
 session of human bodies in order to torment them. On 
 these very reasonable grounds the diet is invoked to arouse 
 Itself for the utter destruction of this haughty republic, the 
 sink of all pollutions, the receptacle of every vice, a state 
 produced for the ruin and persecution of mankind at large. 
 X few scattered incidental passages betray more distinctly 
 than the above railing accusations the actual reasons which 
 inspired this great bitterness of enmity : and from the reluc- 
 tant confession of her adversaries we learn duly to appre- 
 ciate the gigantic might of Venice. Power, subtlety, and 
 ambition she doubtless possessed : but it is added that she 
 IS never to be forgiven for having dared to encounter in the 
 held the armies of four great confederated princes ; for 
 having wrested from the King of Hungary three hundred 
 islands, two extensive provinces, twelve Episcopal cities, and 
 a range of ports spreading along five hundred miles of 
 coast ; for her repeated triumphs over the emperors of Con- 
 stantinople, the lords of Padua and Verona, the dukes of 
 Milan, Ferrara, and Mantua, the emperors of the West, the 
 
 trum faciuroS ^^^^''""""'P^'^^um capellanum et minimum altaris minis 
 
 / 
 
 MASSACRE IN THE GROT OF LONGARO. 167 
 
 popes, and the kings of Naples. " Gods !" exclaims the 
 orator, " what is the abyss, what is the bottomless ocean 
 which could absorb and ingulf so vast possessions at once ! 
 Not a century has elapsed since these fishermen emerged 
 from their bogs ; and no sooner have they placed foot on 
 Terra Firma than they have acquired greater dominion by 
 perfidy, than Rome won by arms in the long course of two 
 hundred years ; and they have already concerted plans to 
 bridge the Don, the Rhine, the Seine, the Rhone, the Tagus, 
 andlhe Ebro, and to establish their rule in every province 
 of Europe. These are the people who speak of themselves 
 as sole possessors of nobility, as the only sages of the 
 earth. For us, who do not walk the streets in purple, nor 
 hoard treasure in our coffers, nor crowd our beaiifets with 
 plate, we in their eyes are barbarians, sots, and idiots ; they 
 hate us, they scorn us, they insult us ; and both French and 
 Germans are held up by them to mockery and ridicule. 
 What security indeed can Christendom expect from this 
 wicked republic while she is allowed to retain Istria, Croa- 
 tia, and Dahnatia, the islands of Corfu, Cephalonia, Zante, 
 Candia, and Cyprus !"* It is scarcely possible for national 
 jealousy to exhibit itself in stronger colouring than that 
 which imbues this harangue ; which, indeed, furnishes an 
 invaluable commentary, not only on the external relations 
 of Venice, but on the general condition of Europe during 
 the time at which it was delivered. 
 
 Maximilian, aided by subsidies from his German subjects 
 and by French auxiliaries, prepared for a fresh campaign, 
 and by numerical superiority chased the Venetians from 
 most of their fortresses on the Adige and the Brenta. The 
 war was conducted with unusual ferocity, and we read 
 with horror of two thousand fugitives from Verona, many 
 of noble stock (Bembo raises the sufferers to thrice that 
 numbert), suffocated in a neighbouring stone-quarry, the 
 Grot of Longaro ; whose unknown depths and intricate 
 
 * We have thrown together detached passajes of Ilelian's speech, 
 which may he fouii«i entire, among other pieces, appended to .lustiniani's 
 History (Argentoniti, 1611). where the oriiiinal Latin is given; it is 
 translated at the end of Amelot de la Houssaye, Hist, du Goxivem. de 
 
 Venise. , r^ J- 
 
 t Bembo, x. p 370. Guicciardini names this cavern "la GroUa di 
 Massano," and adds, " dove e fama morissero piOi di mille persone," 
 lib. ix. vol. ii. p. 287. 
 
168 
 
 STRATAGEM OF ANDREA GRITTI. 
 
 EXPLOITS OF JULIUS H. 
 
 169 
 
 windings afforded a refuge from which their pursuers were 
 unable to dislodge them. The savage French adventurers, 
 lusting for booty, having piled straw and other combustibles 
 at the narrow mouth of the cavern, set them on fire till the 
 rock glowed like a furnace. All within, except a single 
 individual, perished in torment; some of the women in the 
 agony of untimely throes, together with their new-born 
 babes. One youth, having penetrated the very bowels of 
 the souicrraiUy and having unexpectedly found a scanty 
 supply of air from a fissure above, was dragged out some 
 hours afterward "more dead than alive, so discoloured 
 was he by smoke." Bayard's generous nature revolted at 
 this inhumanity ; he could obtain evidence against two only 
 of the perpetrators, and those he delivered to the provost- 
 marshal and saw them hanged, in his own presence, on 
 the spot which they had polluted by their cryina wicked- 
 ness.* Scarcely less cruelty was manifested at the storm 
 of Monselice, where all quarter was denied ; most of the 
 garrison perished in the flames of the last tower to which 
 they had retired ; and a few, who leaped from the battle- 
 ments in despair, were caught on pikes below. 
 
 One exploit of Andrea Gritti, during this for the most 
 part unsuccessful campaign, must not be passed in silence. 
 The confederates had stormed Porto Legnano, and during 
 its occupation they were frequently harassed by some 
 neighbouring Venetian posts. Gritti was especially active 
 m those rencounters, and on one occasion he overthrew and 
 put to the sword an entire French detachment. Of three 
 hundred men not one escaped to convey intelligence of 
 their defeat ; and upon that circumstance' Gritti founded a 
 shrewd stratagem, from which he conceived strong hopes 
 of recovering the town. Stripping the corpses of the slain, 
 tie clad an equal number of his own troops in the annour 
 of the slaughtered French ; mounted them on the captured 
 chargers ; and leaving five or six score of their comrades 
 m their proper appointments, and in the guise of prisoners 
 he despatched the band upon Legnano, crying " France' 
 t ranee ! A^ictory, Victory !" Himself, with the remainder 
 ot his men, tarried a short space behhid, awaiting a trumpet 
 
 rnffl^''';/'^ ^^' ^"y^^^^ ^1- where the author records that of the two 
 ruffians thus executed, on.^ had but a single ear, the other none at Sl^ 
 pretty clear evidence of punishment for former acts of vmany ' 
 
 
 
 ! 
 
 which he ordered to be sounded as soon as the gates should 
 be opened ; a result of which no doubt was apprehended. 
 It so happened, however, that the lieutenant of the garrison 
 was a sagacious captain, who had seen much service ; and 
 he, mounting the ramparts when he heard the clarions and 
 the joyous war-cry, attentively reconnoitred the company 
 below. After a while he remarked to an officer in attend- 
 ance, " Certes, those are our horses, and the accoutrements 
 also belong to our men ; but I do not think the soldiers 
 ride after our fashion, and I am much deceived if they are 
 ours ; in truth, my heart misgives me that some misfortune 
 has befallen us. Go you down, lower the drawbridge, and 
 when you have passed it see that it be raised again ; if they 
 are our people, you will readily know them ; if they are 
 enemies, save yourself as well as you can behind the bar- 
 riers, and I have here two falcons loaded which shall suc- 
 cour you with speed." The officer obeyed, issued from the 
 fort, and approached and challenged the foremost horse- 
 men. Without reply, they moved on briskly, thinking that 
 the drawbridge was still lowered ; the captain jumped over 
 the barriers, the two falcons opened their fire, and Legnano 
 was saved ; but not, as the honest narrator concludes, 
 without great shame and loss to the French.* 
 
 In the year which followed, the appearance of Julius II. 
 in arms at the head of his troops,— his narrow ^ ^^ 
 escape at Bologna, which he had recently annexed ^^'^j* 
 by force to the papal dominions, and which had 
 subsequently been again taken by the French, — his presence 
 in the trenches under a deep snow at the siege of iMirandula, 
 which he swore by St. Peter and St. Paul should be won 
 by either fair or foul means, — his entrance of the captiired 
 city by its breach,— his flight before Bayard, during which, 
 we are told, " if he had stopped to say but a single pater- 
 noster," and if he had not, like a man of true spirit, as- 
 sisted in raising with his own hands the drawbridge of 
 San Felice, he must inevitably have been taken,t— and the 
 
 * Hist, du Ch. Bayard, xli. Bonaccorsi also relates tliis adventure, 
 which is passed in silence by all the greater Italian historians, ll is 
 plain that Guicciardini had never ln-ard of it, for he expressly says Leg- 
 nano was so weakened by the cuttinj; otf this detachment, che se vi si 
 fossero volto subiio le gente Veneiiane I' averebbero preso, lib. ix. Tol. 
 ii. p. 319. 
 
 t Car s'il east autant demeur^ qu^Dn raecirait a dire un Paternoster 
 
 Vol. II.— P 
 
 t 
 
 ajuaaiaeeja 
 
170 
 
 THE HOLY LEAGUE. 
 
 subsequent assembly of the councils of Pisa and the Lateran, 
 ■whose decrees breathed scarcely less fury than these feats 
 of positive war, — all these remarkable incidents are abun- 
 dantly related elsewhere by standard writers familiar to 
 English ears ; and Venice, although materially aflected by 
 most of those events, took little direct part in any one of 
 Oct 5 ^'^^"^* ^6 pass on therefore to the new confede- 
 racy which astonished Europe before the close of 
 1511; the Holy Lea gve, as it was termed, by which the 
 pope, the Venetians, and Ferdinand of Aragon, who were 
 now seeking the depression of France, bound themselves 
 by mutual ties to maintain the unity of the church, and to 
 expel Louis from Italy. The emperor and the King of 
 England were invited to join this anomalous alliance ; the 
 former with but a vague expectation of obtaining his con- 
 sent, the latter with strong hope of that active co-operation 
 which he soon afterward afforded. 
 
 Towards the close of the following January, the Spanish 
 A. D. ''\^^ P''P'^' troops invested IJoIogna," but it was re- 
 1512. ^^t^*^^ before the Venetians could effect a junction 
 with them. The French were now commanded 
 by Gaston de Foix, Due de Nemours and nephew of their 
 kmg ; a prince who had already, at twenty-two years of 
 age, exhibited a splendour of military talentrarely equalled 
 by the most veteran warriors. Having first checked a 
 menaced descent of the Swiss who had quarrelled with 
 Louis on account of scantiness of pny, and havintr after- 
 ward driven the confederates from Bologna, GastSn con- 
 tmued his march on Brescia ; which, partly through the 
 assistance of one of its nobles, disgusted with the French 
 authorities by whom he conceived himself injured in the 
 decision of a private feud, partly through the unwearied 
 activity of Gritti, had been recovered by Venice. Few 
 stations were more important than that city to each party ; 
 by the French it was considered, after Milan, their strongest 
 hold in Lombardy ; to the Venetians it was known by^the 
 endearing name of " the little daughter of St. Mark."* To 
 
 il esloit croqu6.-Hist. dii Ch. Bayard, xliii. The expressive huinour 
 or me last word is UDtranslatable. Notwithstanding hLs admiration of 
 fh t^'.h^' .''P""" — qu' 'eut d'homme de bon esprit,— the writer tells us 
 extr (j"^^ 'y^^"" ®^°°^ ^''*^ ^^^^ during the whole remainder of that 
 * Hist, du Ch. Bayard, xlviii. 
 
 GASTON DE FOIX ASSAULTS BRESCIA. 171 
 
 both therefore it was an object well deserving contention ; 
 but although four hundred men-at-arms and four thousan|l 
 foot under Paolo Baglione were despatched with all expe- 
 dition by the signory, to reinforce the garrison, and to re- 
 duce the citadel, wliich still maintained itself, the speed of 
 Gaston anticipated their march. So rapid was his advance, 
 even during mid-winter, that he traversed nearly fifty 
 leagues in five days, and " left behind him more country 
 than a courier could ride over in the same time mounted 
 on a cropped horse worth one hundred crowns."* His van 
 under Bayard, having surprised Baglione, was sufficient to 
 overthrovv him with the loss of all his infantry and artillery ; 
 and the assault of Brescia, which immediately followed, was 
 among the most illustrious portions of the stainless knight's 
 career. 
 
 The singular distribution of Brescia has already been 
 explained in our account of a former siege, t and from that 
 description it may readily be understood in what manner 
 Gaston was able to establish himself with his comrades in 
 the citadel, while the town was in the possession of the 
 Venetians. His force amounted to twelve thousand men, 
 the flower of the French chivalry ; to oppose which, Gritti 
 marshalled eight thousand soldiers and about fourteen 
 thousand irregularly-armed peasants and burghers. Anx- 
 ious to preserve this fair city from pillaj^e, the Due de Ne- 
 mours summoned Gritti to surrender, with a menace that 
 if he resisted not a life should be spared : but the answer 
 was a mortal defiance ; and Gaston therefore prepared for 
 instant storm, consigning to Bayard, at his special request, 
 that which in modern warfare would be called the forlorn 
 hope. " On, gentlemen !" were the parting words of the 
 duke ; " you have no more to do but to show yourselves 
 gallant companions ; on, in the name of God and of St. 
 Denis !" At the word, drums, trumpets, and clarions 
 sounded the assault and alarum so impetuously, that the 
 hair of cowards stood on end, and the hearts of the brave 
 waxed greater within them. The first cannon-shot dis- 
 charged by the Venetians plunged into the midst of the 
 
 * Hist, du Ch. Bayard, xlix. 
 
 t Vol. ij. p. 2'2. Our following account of the storm of Brescia ia 
 principally taken from Hi t. du Chev. Bayard, 1. 
 
 
 1 
 
 i 
 
172 
 
 SACK OF BRESCIA. 
 
 troop by which Gaston himself was surrounded ; and a 
 marvellous thing indeed was it that no one was hurt, so 
 serried were their ranks ; and the hacquehuteers mean- 
 time from behind the first rampart plied their bullets thickly 
 as flics. The descent from the eminence on which the 
 citadel stood had been rendered slippery by a gentle rain ; 
 Gaston, therefore, resolving not to be among the last, in order 
 that he might walk more surely and rapidly, pulled oil" his 
 shoes, and many others followed his example. Meantime, 
 at the foot of the rampart, at which the chevalier had arrived, 
 so hot was the combat, and so vehement were the shouts 
 " Bayard, Bayard ! France, France ! Marco, Marco !" that 
 the musketeers could not be heard. Gritti loudly animated 
 his men, assuring them that the French would soon be 
 tired, and that if I3ayard were once driven back, not another 
 would dare approach. Greatly however was he deceived ! 
 Bayard sprang first upon the breastwork and a thousand 
 more followed him ; but as he pressed forward upon the 
 retreating Venetians, lie was struck in the thigh by a pike 
 so deeply tint the shaft broke, and a part of it, together 
 with the iron head, remained in the wound. Uro-ino- on 
 his fellow-soldiers, but himsf^lf unable to accompany them, 
 he was carried from the spot by two archers, who stanched 
 the blood, now flowing copiously, with linen torn from their 
 own .persons. His fall roused his comrades to fury, and 
 they burst into the streets, where the fight continued mur- 
 derously ; the French suftering more from the stones, tiles, 
 and boiling water showered down from the windows, chiefly 
 by women, than from the soldiery with whom they were 
 engaged hand to hand. At length, with comparatively 
 small loss to the assailants, seven thousand of their enemies 
 were left dead ; and Gritti, perceiving that the city was 
 lost, endeavoured to escape, spurred his horse from street 
 to street, found every issue obstructed, threw himself into 
 a house, and with the help of a single attendant, barricaded 
 and defended it till he secured quarter. Never was a storm 
 more cruelly pursued; twenty thousand souls perished 
 while the pillage continued, and the booty was estimated at 
 three millions of crowns. The capture of Brescia, says 
 the chronicler whom we are following, was the ruin of the 
 French in Italy, for its plunder so enriched the troops, that 
 
 GENEROSITY OF THE CHEVALIER BAYARD. 173 
 
 many disbanded and quitted the war, who might have done 
 good service afterward, as you shall hear, at Ravenna.* 
 
 Bayard, meantime, was placed upon a door torn from its 
 hinges, and carried to the best looking house at hand. Its 
 owner was a rich gentleman, who had sought asylum in a 
 neighbouring monastery ; and his lady and two daughters, 
 young maidens of extraordinary beauty, had concealed 
 themselves beneath some straw in a granary, " under the 
 protection of our Lord." The mother, when she heard the 
 knocking at the wicket, opened it, " as awaiting the mercy 
 of God with constancy ;" and Bayard, notwithstanding hia 
 own great pain, observing her piteous agony, incontinently 
 placed sentinels at the gate, and ordered them to prohibit 
 all entrance, well knowing that his name was a watchword 
 of defence. He then assured the noble dame of protection 
 inquired into her condition, and despatching some archers 
 for her husband's relief, received him courteously, and en- 
 treated him to believe that he lodged none other than a 
 friend. His wound confined him for five weeks, nor was 
 it closed when he remounted his horse and rejoined his 
 comrades. Before his departure, the lady of the house — 
 still considering herself and her family as prisoners, and 
 her mansion and whole property as the lawful prize of her 
 guest, yet perceiving his gentleness of demeanour, — thought 
 to prevail upon him to compound for a moderate ransom ; 
 and having placed two thousand five hundred ducats in a 
 casket, she besought his acceptance of it on her knees. 
 Bayard raised her at the moment, seated her beside him- 
 self, and inquired the sum. He then assured her that if 
 s^ie had presented him with one hundred thousand crowns 
 they would not gratify him so much as the good cheer 
 which he hod tasted under her roof; and he requested per- 
 mission to bid adieu to her daughters. " The damsels," 
 says the chronicler, " were fair, virtuous, and well-trained, 
 aud had afforded much pastime to the chevalier during his 
 illness by their choice singing, playing on the lute and 
 
 * Guicciardini winds up liis narrative of the miseries which Brescia 
 endured in this assault, with very remarkable simplicity. "Esseiido 
 in preda le cose sa^re e le profane, no mono la vita e i'onore delle per- 
 sone che la robba stetle sette giorni coniinui esposta all' avari/.ia, alia 
 likidine, e alia crudeltA militare : iu celebrato per queste cose per tutfa 
 la Ctmstianiti con soinma gloria il nome di Fois. — Lib. x. vol. ii. p. 446. 
 
 P2 
 
174 GENEROSITY OF THE CHEVALIER BAYARD. 
 
 spinet, anil their much cunning needlework." When they 
 entered the chamber, they thanked him with deep gratitude 
 as the guardian of their honour ; and the good knight, al- 
 most weepijig at their gentleness and humihty, answered, 
 " Fair maidens, you are doing that which it is rather my 
 part to do, to thank you for the good company which you 
 have afforded me, and for which I am greatly bound and 
 obliged to you. You know that we knight-adventurers are 
 ill provided with goodly toys for ladies' eyes, and for my 
 part I am sorely grieved not to be better furnished, in order 
 that I might offer you some love-token, as is your due. 
 But your lady mother here has given me two thousand five 
 hundred ducats, which lie on that table, and I present each 
 of you with one thousand in aid of your marriage portions ; 
 for my recompense I ask no more than that you will be 
 pleased to pray God for my welfare." Then, turning to 
 the lady of the house, he continued : " These remaining 
 five hundred ducats I take, madam, to my own use ; and I 
 request you to distribute them among the poor nuns who 
 have been pillaged, and with whose necessities no one can 
 be better acquainted than yourself : and herewith I take 
 my leave." After having dined, as he quitted his chamber 
 to take horse, the two fair damsels met him, each bearing 
 a little offering which she had worked during his confine- 
 ment ; one consisted of two rich bracelets woven with 
 marvellous delicacy from her own beauteous hair and fine 
 gold and silver threads ; the other was a crimson satin 
 purse embroidered with much subtlety. Greatly did the 
 brave knight thank them for this last courtesy, saying that 
 such presents from so lovely hands were worth ten thousand 
 crowns ; then gallantly fastening the bracelets on his arm 
 and the purse on his sleeve, he vowed to wear them both, 
 for the honour of their fair donors, while his Ufa endured • 
 and so he mounted and rode on.* ' 
 
 Bayard pursued his course to Ravenna, where he arrived 
 just in time to partake in that dazzling triunjph under its 
 walls, the source of so much glory and so passionate grief 
 to the French. In the early part of this campaign a 
 April 11 *^^^^^^rated astrologer at Carpi had predicted that 
 \ .11 °" ^^^^ ensuing Easter Sunday a great battle 
 should be fought, in which Gaston de Foix should die in 
 
 * Hist, du Ch. Bayard, li. 
 
 DEATH OF GASTON DE FOIX. 
 
 175 
 
 the arms of victory ; and he had entreated De la Palisse 
 and Bayard, as the sole hope of their prince's escape from 
 the peril menaced by the stars, not to lose sight of him while 
 on the field.* The event corresponded with the prediction ; 
 a battle was fought on the day specified by the seer, and 
 Bayard, during the heat of action, seems to have obeyed 
 his injunction ; but when the allies were routed and flying 
 in confusion, he urged the duke to collect his men-at-arms 
 and restrain them for a short season from plunder, while 
 himself joined in the pursuit ; at the same time requiring a 
 promise that, until he returned, Gaston would not advance 
 from the spot on which he then stood. This short absence, 
 however, proved fatal ! for the gallant prince, unable to 
 resist a favourable opportunity of charging some Spanish 
 infantry which still remained unbroken, threw himself at 
 the head of his men-at-arms ; became entangled on a cause- 
 way between a canal and a deep ravine ; fought on foot, 
 after his horse had been hamstrung ; and fell by unknown 
 and probably obscure hands, mangled with fifteen wounds, 
 all in front and chiefly in the face.f Bayard did not learn 
 this great calamity till after he had permitted the escape of 
 the Spaniards by whom Gaston had been slain. He en- 
 countered them while he was returning to the post on which 
 he had left the duke, received their submission and the sur- 
 render of their standards, and abhorring needless slaughter 
 in cold blood, granted quarter, and permitted them to con- 
 tinue their retreat. 
 
 The Venetian contingent had not heen present on this 
 day so fatal to their allies ; and notwithstanding the con- 
 sternation which the defeat at Ravenna had first excited in 
 Rome, it soon became evident that the conquerors had suf- 
 fered far too deeply to profit by their most brilliant but falla- 
 cious success. The flower of their troops as well as of 
 their captains had perished on that hard-fought field ; and 
 La Palisse, upon whom the command devolved, found him- 
 self at the head of a force greatly weakened in numbers, 
 and among whom discipline had been almost wholly de- 
 stroyed by the richness of their booty, both in the late vic- 
 tory and at Brescia. To increase his embarrassments, the 
 pope temporized with artful and perfidious negotiations. 
 
 Hist, du Chev. Bayard, xlvii. 
 
 t Id. liv. 
 
176 
 
 RECONQUEST OF LOMBARDY. 
 
 MAXIMILIAN 6F0RZA. 
 
 177 
 
 Henry VIII. openly acceded to the holy league ; the de- 
 feated confederates reassembled in Romagna ; and Maxi- 
 milian not only prolonged his truce with the sianory, but 
 gave permission to twenty thousand Swiss to traverse his 
 dominions, pour down from the mountains of the Tyrol, 
 and effect their junction with a force of ten thousand Vene- 
 tians now organized in Lombardy. The faithlessness of 
 the emperor, indeed, became more plainly visible everv 
 hour; discontent and disunion were rife in the French 
 army ; more than once, in some skirmishes while retiring 
 on the Mincio, nothing but the almost incredible prowess 
 of Bayard saved it from destruction ; and of this last sup- 
 port It was deprived, when his arm was shattered by a 
 bullet under the walls of Pavia. Harassed by these com- 
 plicated difllculties, La Palissc continued his painful re- 
 treat ; and the army which had triumphed so memorably at 
 Kavenna on the 11th of April, began to reascend the Alps 
 on the 23th of June, broken, exhausted, and dispirited. Its 
 departure was a signal for the almost general emancipation 
 ot Northern Italy. Genoa revolted ; Asti acknowledcred 
 her former rulers ; Milan was reoccupied by the allies, and 
 Its inhabitants, exasperated by the oppression under which 
 they had recently groaned, revenged themselves by a savao-e 
 massacre of one thousand five hundred defenceless French, 
 leftwithm their walls either from infirmity or inclination. 
 A fevv scattered castles, little capable of resisting the ap- 
 proaches either of force or famine, were all that Remained 
 to Louis of his rapid and extensive conquests in Italy. 
 
 But the following year gave birth to new interests and 
 new coalitions, and in surveying the labyrinth of incon- 
 A. D. ^^^^^^y ^'"^ intrigue which the history of Europe 
 1513. P^fsents at that season, the writer must think him- 
 self fortunate whose task confines him to the single 
 state of Venice. Julius II., although on the verge of tTie 
 tomb, still contmued to cherish with undiminished fervour 
 lus favourite design of expelling the barbarians from Italy,* 
 
 of*th^''pr ^'"^"^'''V?''',^ '''^' continually on his lips. The Inst chanter 
 oLIm fn , '^" ''^ ^^a^'^'a^ell' 13 wholly directed to that great p. riotic 
 
 frTr dT InuIId them 2 JS-''' ""'''^'"^"^ P^^^' ^"^^'•'>«' dissensionsVad 
 eT«r perrnitiea them to effect a general union for the purpose ! 
 
 Qual Odin, qual furor, qual ira immane, 
 Wuai planete maligni, 
 Han vjstre vosrlic unite kor si divise ? 
 
 If 
 
 ^:^ 
 
 and his general views of aggrandizing the holy see. One, 
 therefore, of his earliest measures was to place the sway 
 of Milan in the hands of a governor dependent upon him- 
 self, and irreconcilably hostile to France ; both of which 
 requisites were found united in the person of Maximilian 
 Sforza, eldest son of the deposed Lodovico ; a youth of 
 weak capacity, who, during his father's imprisonment, had 
 found refuge in Germany. It was on the announcement 
 of that disposition of the throne of Milan that Louis XII. 
 is said to have released Lodovico from his dungeon at 
 Loches, with the intention of turning him loose on his 
 former dominions for the sole purpose of creating embroil- 
 ment ; but authorities are at variance on this point, and by 
 many writers the death of the unhappy prince is placed 
 several years earlier.^ Matthieu Schiner, the cardinal of 
 Sion in the Valais, an ambitious and turbulent prelate, who 
 possessed unbounded influence over his countrymen, and 
 accompanied their armies to the field, " that good prophet," 
 as Bayard's chronicler styles him, " who always hated the 
 French," was intrusted with the escort and inauguration 
 of the young Sforza ; and the first disgraceful act 
 of that bigoted priest upon his entrance into Milan ^fc/|' 
 was the exhumation of the remains of Gaston de ^ ^'^* 
 Foix, which had been interred in the Duomo, and their 
 transfer, as excommunicated, to less holy ground in the 
 nunnery of Sta. Martha. When the French reoccupied 
 Milan three years afterward, they raised a splendid monu- 
 ment to their prince in that nunnery ; the tomb itself has 
 been destroyed, but a noble statue of Gaston which formed 
 part of it, well betokening his lofly character, long re- 
 mained, and perhaps still remains, built into the wall of an 
 obscure court adjoining Sta. Martha. 
 
 In the distribution of the reconquered territories in Lom- 
 bardy, little attention had been paid to the just claims of 
 Venice, whose humihation formed another part of the policy 
 of Julius. The sole places which she regained were Ber- 
 gamo, won by surprise, and Crema, for whose surrender she 
 bribed the French commander. Upon complaint to Maxi- 
 milian, the signory were haughtily informed that it was but 
 a small portion of Terra Firma upon which they might 
 
 * Vol. u. p. 133. 
 
178 
 
 VENICE LEAGUES WITH FRANCE. 
 
 BATTLE OF NOVARRA. 
 
 179 
 
 hope to re-enter; and that whatever territory might be 
 granted must be held as a fief of the empire ; for investi- 
 ture with which they must consent to pay two hundred 
 thousand florins immediately, and a perpetual annual tribute 
 of thirty thousand more. At that price, it was added, the 
 existing truce should be extended into peace. Indignant 
 at those inequitable and ignominious terms, the senate ap- 
 pealed to the Vatican ; but Julius felt little hope of com- 
 passing his ulterior designs without the co-operation of the 
 emperor, and forgetting therefore all gratitude for the past, 
 in an anxious looking to the future, he abandoned that 
 power which, when he provoked the hostility of France, had 
 been his earliest ally ; and promised Ma^ximilian that if the 
 signory persisted in refusing his proposals, he would treat 
 them as his own enemies. 
 
 To the republic, thus oppressed by the emperor and de- 
 serted by the pope, an accommodation with France appeared 
 the surest safeguard ; and, on the other hand, the acquisi- 
 tion of such an ally as Venice was important to Louis, now 
 harassed by England, Spain, and Swisserland, all in arms 
 at once on different quarters of his dominions. Andrea 
 Gritti, who had remained prisoner since his capture at 
 Brescia, afforded a channel for negotiation ; and a treaty 
 March 14 S^^ rapidly concluded at Blois, by which the 
 1513. ' ^'^^"^h king engaged to despatch a powerful force 
 to unite with the Venetian army, and both parties 
 pledged themselves to continue in arras till each had re- 
 covered its ancient possessions ; the adjustment of the 
 precise boundaries of which was reserved for subsequent 
 discussion. 
 
 Before that alliance was signed, Julius If. had closed his 
 unpontifical career ; and he was succeeded by the Cardinal 
 de' Medici, who, present as legate of the church at the bat- 
 tle of Ravenna, had been taken prisoner there ; and now, 
 on the first anniversary of that engagement, assumed the 
 triple crown, under the title of Leo X. No change, how- 
 ever, being produced at the moment in the policy of the 
 Vatican, the French retraced their now fiimiliar path across 
 the Alps, under La Tremouille and Trivulzio, captains 
 trained and nurtured in the former Italian wars; while 
 D'Alviano was released from the confinement in which he 
 had been detained since his defeat at Agnadello, in order to 
 
 resume the command of the Venetians. Milan soon fell 
 an easy conquest, and Maximilian Sforza, chased from his 
 short-lived sovereignty, took refuge in the Swiss camp at 
 Novarra; the spot at which, thirteen years before, his 
 father had been betrayed by the same allies to the French, 
 under the same generals who now commanded them. More 
 faithful to their present engagements with the Milanese 
 prince, or rather animated by deeper hostility against Louis, 
 the Swiss now ennobled Novarra by a brilliant action, ter- 
 minating in the entire overthrow of the invaders,* , ^ 
 who hastily regained the Alps, and abandoned D'Al- 
 viano, then encamped near Cremona. Compelled to a 
 speedy retreat, he threw himself into Padua, while Bagli- 
 one undertook the defence of Treviso, the two sole outposts 
 now retained by Venice. Padua successfully defended 
 itself during a Utisk investment of eighteen days by the con- 
 federates ; and their commander, Don Raymondode Car- 
 dona, viceroy of Naples, irritated by his failure, and embar- 
 rassed both for money and supplies, revenged himself by 
 an extensive and merciless ravajje of the surroundinjr coun- 
 try. The rich villas and palaces of the Venetian nobles on 
 the Brenta and the Bacchiglione, and the towns of Mestre, 
 Fusina, and Marghera, on the borders of the Lagnne, were 
 given to the flames ; and, in imitation of the former similar 
 bravado of Louis XII. ,t a battery of ten guns, of large 
 caliber, was advanced as near the capital as circumstances 
 permitted. While the citizens beheld from their spires and 
 bell-towers the conflacrration of the neifjhbourinor villajres, 
 in which, in many instances, they could discover the fall 
 
 * Paulus Jovius recounts, that on the evening before the battle of No- 
 varra, all the dogs which followed the French army deserted, magno 
 con'itierttique ni^mine, to the Swiss ; and by wagging their tails, droop- 
 ing their ears, and licking the feet of the sentinels, testified subjection to 
 their new masters. This occurrence was formally notified to Maximiiiaii 
 Sforza as a certain omen of approaching victory, observed on former oc- 
 casions (xi. p. 169). However credulous an Italian bishop might be in 
 the sixteenth century, there are few marvels (true or false) upon which a 
 philosophical French abbe of the eighteenth would not seek to rational- 
 ize ; and Dubos, accordingly, tells us that the reason for the desertion 
 by the dogs was, in trulii, no other than that having gone out in search 
 of food in the morning, and not finding their old masters on their posts 
 when they returned, they very naturally went over to Novarra in search 
 of others.— Hist, de la Llgue de Cambray, lib. iv. 
 
 t Vol. Ji. p. 147. 
 
180 
 
 BATTLE OF MOTTA. 
 
 EMBASSY OF BEMBO. 
 
 181 
 
 of their own private roofs, they were afflicted with a yet 
 deeper sense of ignominy when the cannonade reached the 
 monastery of San Secondo, situated but a few hundred 
 paces in advance of Venice itself.* 
 
 Nor did their reverses terminate here. D'AIviano, impa- 
 tient of the devastation around him, earnestly entreated 
 permission to issue from Padua and to take the field. But 
 his troops shared little in the determined courage of the'r 
 general ; and when, after many days' manceuvring, he 
 Q^j^ y brought the Spaniards, laden with booty and ex- 
 hausted by fatigue, to action at Motta, near Vi- 
 cenza, the Venetians gave way almost at the first onset, leav- 
 ing four thousand dead on the field. D'Alviano himself 
 escaped to Treviso ; Baglione was taken prisoner ; of the 
 provvedifori^ Loredano was slain by some Spaniards dispu- 
 ting for him as their prize ; and Gritti, pursued to the very 
 ramparts of Vicenza, found its gates closed by the garrison, 
 and but for a rope thrown by a sentinel from its battlements, 
 must have paid the forfeit of liberty, or, perhaps, even of life. 
 
 A great domestic calamity succeeded these military dis- 
 asters. Some shops adjoining the Rialto having caught 
 Jan. 10. ?''^' ^^^ flames were carried by a high north wind 
 1514. ^^^^ ^}^^ ^^^^ populous and commercial quarter of 
 the city ; where not less than two thousand houses, 
 together with their entire contents, were destroyed ; and 
 the loss of this single night was estimated as equal to the 
 cost of a whole campaign. By a singular chance, while all 
 the surrounding buildings were consumed, the church of 
 San Giacopo, the earliest memorial of the original fugitives 
 from Aquileia, and of which the foundations were traced 
 to the commencement of the fifth century,! escaped with 
 
 * Guicciardini, lib. xi. vol. iii. p. 90. 
 
 t Vol. i. p. 19. This fire, and the escape of the church, are described 
 by Paulus Jovius, xii. 204, and by P. Justiniani, xii. 319. The latter is 
 unusually animated. " Mcmini adolescens ad loci:m incendii spectandi 
 gratia accessisse, turn rniserabilem cladem, expavescenteinque incensa- 
 rum ajdium ruinam intultus. ingentem animo mcerorem concepi ; jace- 
 bant prostrata^ voraci flammA speciosa^ a;dium structur.T, niolesque dis- 
 jectse deformem latd loci faciem reddebanl, fumusqne ac favillffi ex 
 ruderunri cuihulis in suinmum volvebantur ; hinc ruinas, illinc semidi- 
 ruta videbam a;dificia, ardentes alio loco trabes, alio columnas, fornices, 
 arcus collapsos, ac cineribus ignique omnia involuta, in ipsis auteni 
 Jlammis gemma.*, aurum, argentum, ebur, aliaque preciosa ornamenta 
 interftilgebant. 
 
 sliaht damafTC, and aiforded to the willing belief of the 
 populace a fresh pledge of the immortality of their clt>^ 
 Undismayed by this new misfortune, the signory continued 
 their exertions, enrolled the workmen of the arsenal as a 
 garrison for Padua, and by largely recruiting D'Alviano, 
 gave him opportunity of renewing a straggling war of par- 
 tisanship, and of winning many not unimportant advan- 
 tages, even in the face of his victorious enemy. 
 
 It*was at this period that Bembo, himself a Venetian, 
 was deputed by Leo X., in whose service he was engaged 
 as secretary, to endeavour to wean his countrymen from 
 their alliance with France, and to induce them to propitiate 
 the" emperor by an abandonment of their claim upon Verona, 
 now the chief subsisting cause of hostility. The proposta 
 which the ambassador addressed to the signory on that occa- 
 sion is still extant among his works,* and affords a remark- 
 able specimen of the cumbrous diplomacy of the sixteenth 
 century ; especially in those arguments which he derives 
 from the recent marriage of Louis XIL, now past the me- 
 ridian of life, with the young and lovely Mary of England, 
 sister to Henry VIIL, the most beautiful woman of her 
 time But the assertion of Bembo, that the French mon- 
 arch would forget all warlike cares in the arms of his at- 
 tractive bride, and his prediction that his days would be 
 abridged also by that ill-assorted match, failed to ^^^ ^ 
 shake the fidelity of the signory. They broke oft the ^5^5^ 
 necrotiation, and despatched an embassy to congratu- 
 late Louis on his nuptials, which was met, wlule on its 
 route, by the tidings of his decease. 
 
 His successor, Francis L, received the Venetian envoys 
 with distinction, renewed the treaty of Blois, assumed the 
 title of Duke of Milan, and engaged to appear in arms on 
 the banks of the Adda before the close of four months. In 
 the early part of the expedition undertaken in tulfilment of 
 this promise, the Venetians were principally occupied in 
 observin«T a Spanish force between the IVlincio and the 
 Adige, in order to prevent its junction with the Swiss, who, 
 retiring from the defiles of the Alps before the advance of 
 the French, had occupied Milan. No sooner, however, had 
 Francis arrived and encamped at Marignano, than D Alvi- 
 
 Vol. IL— Q 
 
 ampt 
 * Opera, iii 478. 
 
 ll 
 
 1 
 
 109 
 
 t> A T'TT "P m? -M Ktyy/>ikj K\r ri 
 
 ^a 
 
182 
 
 BATTLE OF MARIGNANO. 
 
 CHIVALROUS EXPLOITS OF BAYARD. 
 
 183 
 
 ano Droke up from his more distant quarters, and by a march 
 of unexampled rapidity, pressed forward to Lodi. It was 
 on the afternoon of the 13th of September that the Vene- 
 tian general, with three or four attendants, rode to the 
 French camp, in order to salute the king, and to consult 
 with him respecting the plan of the campaign ; and while 
 engaged in familiar conversation in the royal tent, where 
 Francis was trying on a new suit of armour, the Seigneur 
 de Fleuranffes burst in with breathless haste, and announced 
 that the Swiss were unexpectedly advancing. " Signor 
 Bartolomeo," said the king, turning to D'Alviano, " you see 
 how we are circumstanced ; I pray you lose no time ;" and 
 at the words the general sprang upon his horse, and gal- 
 loped back to Lodi, to put his troops in immediate motion. 
 Meantime the battle commenced ; and the Swiss, frustrated 
 in their first hope of surprise, rushed on the French artil- 
 lery, in spite of its terrific fire, and, in many instances, cap- 
 tured the guns. Francis himself, with all the ardour of youth, 
 plunged into the thickest of the fight ; owed his life, more 
 than once, to the good temper of his armour ; cut down 
 several of the enemy with his own hand : and when mid- 
 night separated the combatants, and the gigantic horns of 
 TJri and Underwald recalled the Swiss to their quarters, 
 snatched a brief repose on the carriage of a gun, and passed 
 the remaining hours of darkness on horseback, making dis- 
 positions for the morrow. At daybreak the engagement 
 was renewed with more than former fury, and its fortune 
 was still doubtful, and perhaps inclining against the French, 
 when, about nine o'clock, the seasonable appearance of 
 D'Alviano decided in their favour. He had ridden all night, 
 and gathering two hundred picked horsemen, and ordering 
 the rest of his army to follow with the utmost speed, he 
 returned to the field at the very moment at which he was 
 most needed. Instantly charging, although not without 
 considerable loss, he checked a successful column of Swiss, 
 and impressed their comrades with a belief that the entire 
 Venetian army had arrived. Despairing, therefore, of vic- 
 tory, they retired upon their quarters, slowly, in good order, 
 still breathing fierceness, and defying pursuit. The move- 
 ment was effected with little other loss than that of some 
 **'*^gfj6rs, who were destroyed by D'Alviano in the flames 
 of a village which they endeavoured to dcftnd. The carnage 
 
 of the two days' fight was horrible ; twelve thousand Swiss, 
 and about four thousand French, many of noble blood, re- 
 mained on the field ; and the veteran Trivuizio, who had 
 been present in no less than eighteen pitched battles, spoke 
 of all his former engagements as children's sport compared 
 with this, and named it "The Combat of the Giants."* 
 
 The battle of Marignano brought the glories of Bayard 
 to their height. In one of the closing charges on the first 
 evening, the brave knight, having already had one horse 
 killed under him, was entangled among the pikes of the 
 enemy, and lost his bridle. His charger, thus freed, became 
 unmanageable ; and although he dashed through the sur- 
 rounding hosts and disengaged his master, he coniinued to 
 rush blindly on in the direction of another corps of Swiss. 
 The clusters hanging from tree to tree in an intervening 
 vineyard fortunately checked his speed, and enabled Bayard 
 to dismount at a moment in which he considered himself 
 utterly lost. Then disencumbering himself of his greaves 
 and helmet, he crept on all-fours along the course of a ditch, 
 which carried him past the Swiss detachment, to a point 
 from which he hoard shouts of " France, France !" Great 
 was his joy when the first man whom he encountered was 
 the Duke of Lorraine ; who, astonished to see so gallant a 
 knight on foot, mounted him on a fresh horse, to which is 
 attached a history partaking of the romance which belongs 
 go largely to his master. That good steed Carman was 
 taken °at Brescia ; presented by the Duke of Lorraine to 
 Bayard ; and ridden by him at Ravenna, till two thrusts 
 from a pike in its body, and more than twenty sabre cuts on 
 its head, obliged him to abandon his favourite as mortally 
 wounded. On the morning atler the battle, however, the 
 generous animal was found grazing, recognised his master 
 by an atVectionate neigh, and was conveyed to his quarters, 
 where his wounds were carefully tended till he recovered. 
 Marvellous was it to behold how patiently he submitted 
 without a start or movement to the searching hands which 
 dressed his gashes ; yet if a naked sword glittered near him, 
 his eyes flashed with fury, and seizing the blade he wrung 
 it vengefuUy with his teeth. Never yet did you see a more 
 gallant steed ; he was, in truth, what Bucephalus was to 
 Alexander ! 
 
 * GuicciardiJii, lib. xil. vol, iti p. 167 , 
 
184 
 
 FRANCIS I. KNIGHTED BY BAYARD. 
 
 The chevalier, well satisfied to be thus remounted on his 
 favourite horse, showed the same joyous humour, traits of 
 which we have more than once before noticed ; and by a 
 playful stratagem replaced the helmet which he had thrown 
 away. Turning to a gentleman of his acquaintance who 
 was standing by, he expressed fear of catching cold if he 
 continued bareheaded after the violent heat occasioned by 
 his long exertions on foot. " Prithee, then," he said, " lend 
 me for an hour or two that helmet which I see your page 
 has in his hands." The helmet was readily lent, but it was 
 not returned to its owner till the close of the next day's 
 battle, after it had seen hard service.* It was also on the 
 field of this great victory that Trancis I. demanded knight- 
 hood from Bayard, who would fain have excused himself; 
 replying that he who was king of so great a kingdom was 
 already knight of all orders of knighthood. " Cite me no 
 canons,'' answered Francis, with a poor jest, which has 
 been thought worth preserving, " be they of steel, brass, 
 or iron ! Do my will and commandment, if you mean to be 
 esteemed among the number of my good servants and sub- 
 jects." Thus pressed. Bayard drew his sword and ad- 
 dressed the king, " Sire, may you be valiant as Roland, 
 Oliver, Godfrey, or Baldwin ! Certes you are the first king 
 who ever yet was dubbed knight. God grant that you may 
 never be put to flight in battle !" and then, holding his 
 sword on high, after giving the accolade, he cried aloud, 
 " Happy art thou, my good sword, this day to have knighted 
 so virtuous and powerful a king! Certes, hencrforvvard 
 thou shalt be regarded as a relic, and honoured above all 
 things ; never again will I unsheath thee save against 
 Turks, Saracens, and Moors !" and then, making two leaps, 
 he returned it to the scabbard. f 
 
 This bloody victory was not, like that of Ravenna, bar- 
 ren of results. The Swiss having retired to their moun- 
 tains, and the Spaniards to cover Naples, Milan once more 
 surrendered; and Maximilian Sforza, who had sought 
 shelter within its citadel, abandoned its defence, and ac- 
 cepted a pension, and a retreat in France, with a promise of 
 the king's influence to obtain him a cardinal's hat ; happy 
 in disembarrassing himself from a contest which nature had 
 
 * Hist, du Chev. Bayard, Ix. 
 
 t Champier, Hist, du Chev. Bayard, 
 
 X 
 
 DEATH OF d'aLVIANO. 
 
 185 
 
 rll qualified him to support. The pope, hastening to nego- 
 tiate, concluded peace, first with Venice, by conceding her 
 ritrht to Brescia altogether, and to Verona so far as himself 
 was concerned ; and then with France, by permitting the 
 reannexation of Parma and Piacenza, which had been sev- 
 ered from the duchy of Milan. Francis, having agreed to 
 these conditions, and adjusted also a treaty with Swisser- 
 land, known in history as La Paix perpelucllc, which con- 
 tinued the basis of all subsequent relations between the 
 two countries till the revolution of 17S9, disbanded the 
 greater part of his army, and returned home. But the field 
 was still kept by the Venetians, for although Brescia had 
 been ceded by the pope, it was garrisoned by his confede- 
 rates. While the indefatigable D'Alviano was preparing to 
 reduce it, a severe and painful disorder, produced by his 
 great exertions at Marignano, terminated his life in qci. 7. 
 his 6lst year. Venice was grateful for his splendid 
 services and virtues, and decreed the honours of a public 
 funeral in the capital. His corpse remained in the camp 
 twenty-three days, during the whole of which time his soldiers 
 mounted guard at the tent in which it reposed, and paid it 
 the honour due to a living general ; and then, strongly im- 
 pressed with the feeling that he who while alive never shrank 
 from the face of his enemies ought not to avoid confronting 
 them even when dead, they refused to demand safe-conduct 
 from the Austrians ; and fearlessly escorted the remains of 
 their beloved leader, through the middle of the hostile posts, 
 to the borders of the Lagune. The funeral oration was 
 spoken by Navagiero, and a superb monument to D'Alviano's 
 memory was erected in the church of San Stefimo. 
 
 In the following spring, Maximilian, bent upon one great 
 effort for his re-establishment in Italy, poured down ^ ^ 
 unexpectedly upon the Lombard plains with nearly j^jg* 
 forty thousand men. His vast superiority over the 
 small French and Venetian force must have ensured the 
 immediate fall of Milan, but for a dilatory and irresolute 
 spirit, which not only permitted the union of widely-scat- 
 tered detachments, but even left time for the arrival of ten 
 thousand Swiss auxiliaries. Without having received a 
 single check, and leading an army still double in number to 
 that opposed to him, so deeply did Maximilian distrust the 
 fidelity of his own Swiss when arrayed against their coun- 
 
186 
 
 TREATY OF NOYON. 
 
 '> 
 
 trymen, so fearfully was he impressed with the remem- 
 brance of their treachery under similar circumstances to 
 Lodovico Sforza, that when a short march would have 
 placed Milan in his possession, he suddenly fell back 
 almost with the rapidity of flight, secured his own person 
 in Trent, and left his troops so ill paid, and ill provided, 
 that they, for the most part, broke up and dispersed. His 
 retreat was most advantageous to the Venetians ; Bergamo 
 and many of the lesser towns opened their gates, Brescia 
 capitulated after a short resistance, and Verona might soon 
 have followed but for the languid co-operation of the French. 
 The mystery of their reluctance was soon explained by the 
 announcement of a negotiation between Francis I. and 
 Charles V., to whom the crown of Spain had recently de- 
 volved by the death of Ferdinand ; and who, eager to pass 
 from his dominions in the Netherlands to secure those in 
 Castile, spared no pains to strengthen amicable relations 
 with France. By a treaty sigrned at Noyon on the 13th 
 of August, after provisions alfecting the chief contracting 
 parties, arrangements were made for the pacification of 
 Italy, without which Francis saw little hope of establish- 
 ment in the Milanese, and Charles despaired of extricating 
 his Neapolitan territories from the rival claims which were 
 extended over them. The King of France acted for Ven- 
 ice ; and the King of Spain declared, that unless his grand- 
 father Maximilian should assent within two months to the 
 terms, he would cease to assist him with either men or 
 money. Verona, by this treaty, was to be restored to Ven- 
 ice ; but in order to save the emperor's honour it was to be 
 surrendered first to Charles, to be transferred by him after 
 six weeks' occupation to Francis, and not to be delivered to 
 its ultimate master till after the payment of one hundred 
 thousand ducats. MaximiUan at first expressed anger and 
 astonishment at this unheard-of dictation by an almost 
 beardless youth ; and indignantly applied to England for 
 assistance ; offering to Henry VIII. as the price of his 
 friendship, if he would defray the charge of such an expe- 
 dition, to open a passage to Rome at the head of fifty thou- 
 sand men, there to celebrate his own coronation, and to 
 declare his ally King of the Romans, and his successor. 
 Henry, undeluded by these magnificent but empty promises, 
 coldly declined ; replying that he was contented with his 
 hereditary dominions ; and Maximilian, perceiving his ina- 
 
 r-' 
 
 STATE OF VENICE. 
 
 187 
 
 bility to resist single-handed, accepted the tenns, and rati- 
 fied a long truce wiih Venice. 
 
 Thus, after eight years' uninterrupted struggle, m the 
 course of which at one time all had been lost except her 
 insular dominions, Venice emerged from her mighty dan- 
 gers ; shorn, indeed, of some of her more recent conquests, 
 but still outwardly powerful and largely increased in glory. 
 Her firmness and her prudence had saved her while tot- 
 terin<r almost on the verge of ruin, and never did she exhibit 
 herself in a prouder attitude than that which she calmly 
 maintained under the heaviest pressure of her late compli- 
 cated disasters. Over these she had at length triumphed ; 
 her immediate losses were Cremona, the borders of the 
 Adda, and Romagna ; her future dangers arose from the 
 nei<dibourhood of powers superior to herself, and from the 
 burden of a national debt, incurred for the support of the 
 past exhausting war, and amounting to five millions of 
 ducats, a sum nearly equalling eight millions sterling of 
 our present money. 
 
 King of France. 
 
 From Titian. 
 
 King of Spain. 
 
188 
 
 STATE OF VENICE AT 
 
 M 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 FROM A. D. 1516 TO A. D. 1573. 
 
 Ner^sity for a temporizing Policv— Wars nf ^h^,.^^ ir 
 
 -Peace of Cambrii-TuFkishW^r-Rern^rSr^^^ ^'•^"'^ ^'"^"'^'^ ^^ 
 
 the Ten in procuring Peace-Tricl^prv Tf r^ 
 
 Thirty Years' P.afe-Pro<rress of Z A--^^ a"'"^" ^^ecretaries-l 
 
 Senmll.-Fire i" the ArS at Ve Hce ?el]7n n'^r^^.^^'''^^ "^ 
 
 scent upon Cyprus-Siecreand fa .rnrl Lr^T " declares VVar-De- 
 
 entire Conquest of C jfus-FaU o^BrH^i'?^ 
 
 tween the Pope, -Spain and yeucf-Thfon'^^^^^ ^'"^"'^^ ^e- 
 
 atic-Don John of Aus ria com nands nf. a?"'''".^'^^' '" '^e Adri- 
 
 -inactivuy of the Conr^^er^S"^:^^-^ ^^,^ 
 
 A. D. 
 
 1521. 
 
 LXXVIII. 
 
 1524. 
 
 LXXIX. 
 
 1538. 
 
 LXXX. 
 
 1545. 
 
 LXXXI. 
 
 1553. 
 
 LXXXII. 
 
 1554. 
 
 LXXXIII. 
 
 1556. 
 
 LXXXIV. 
 
 1559. 
 
 LXXXV. 
 
 1567. 
 
 LXXXVI. 
 
 1570. 
 
 LXXXVII. 
 
 DOGES. 
 
 LEOAfARDO LoREDANO. 
 
 Antonio Grimani. 
 Andrea Gritti. 
 
 PlETRO LaNDO. 
 
 Francesco Donato. 
 Marc' Antonio Trevisani. 
 
 ^RANCESCO Veniero. 
 
 Lorenzo Priuli. 
 Gkronimo Priuli. 
 
 PiKTRO LOREDANO. 
 LCIGI MONCENJGQ. 
 
 Notwithstanding the fair onfwor^ ^ 
 diminished strength which Venice for '1!""""^' °'" """ 
 served after the rStif.eation oHhe treaty ofV^" ^^" P'"' 
 signs of ncipient denav ,„„>,» 1. ^ ' ^"yn. manifest 
 
 such eyes a"; had t "J pr ^Lt'of X!"' '""'T'^"' '» 
 internal polity. Durin.r ,hoT^,°l T'^ searching her 
 
 suryha,! been rep"enifh d fo .r""' ""^ <'''''»««te-l trea- 
 grading to hor he e f>rv Ii r " '"r""' ^^ '"<'''"« de- 
 
 I 
 
 THE PEACE OF NOYON. 
 
 189 
 
 coming marketable, had in countless instances been prosti- 
 tuted to unworthy hands ; and it was necessary, therelore, 
 that at least one generation should pass away before the 
 state could regain, if indeed it ever attained the power ot 
 regaining, the solidity of its original constitution. In her 
 finances, also, it was no longer by commerce, the staple ol 
 the republic from her cradle, that Venice could hope to 
 recover her impaired vigour. The partition-wall of her 
 monopoly had been broken down : the recent discovery ot 
 the New World by the great Genoese adventurer, and the 
 new track to the market of the Old World, opened by his 
 not less distinguished Portuguese rival, havmg transferred 
 in great part to Cadiz and to the Tagus that tralhc which 
 had before centred in the Lagune. The fury of war had 
 destroyed the manufactories of Venice on Terra Firma ; these 
 however might be re-established during peace ; but her salt- 
 works, in which, from her very birth, she had refused all 
 partnership, and defied all competition, were now shared 
 by compulsion with the holy see. Her argosies might still 
 penetrate to the innermost shores of the Mediterranean 
 and of the Euxine ; but Cairo and Alexandria, the empo- 
 riums of her carrier-trade, had been won by the 1 urkisti 
 sultan, who thus intercepted half her profits by ^iis demand 
 of toll and custom : and the treasures and spices ol the i:.ast, 
 instead of slowly traversing a vast intermediate continent, 
 and encountering the perilous navigation of the Ked bea, 
 now found a surer, quicker, and more regulated course round 
 that cape which, divested of its fearful name " of Storms, 
 more justly augured " Good Hope" to those by whose per- 
 severing enterprise it had first been doubled. 
 
 The senate, however, was zealous in providing such 
 remedies for the national distress as they stdl retained 
 power to administer. They dedicated themselves steadily 
 to the revival of agriculture in their wasted provinces ; they 
 recalled the scattered artisans whom war had chased from 
 their looms and furnaces ; they profited by their recent hard 
 lessons of self-defence, which taught how much the safety 
 of their capital depended upon that of her outworks, Fadua 
 and Verona ; and no labour was spared to render those 
 fortifications impregnable ; and, with an equally sagacious 
 recrard to more peaceful objects, they again organized m the 
 foraer of those cities its far-famed university, whose studies 
 
 i 
 
190 NECESSITY OF TEMPORIZING POLICY. 
 
 had been suspended during the last eight calamitous year^. 
 Wisely indeed did they act in once more inviting its former 
 influx of scholars to be wholesomely disciplined in litera- 
 ture and the arts by "that new Athens, that ornament of 
 tne republic, that commodious resort of nations," as it is 
 styled, not unaptly, by Paruta.* 
 
 Still it was manifest to her rulers that without repose the 
 very existence of their country was uncertain ; that her 
 inward wounds, visible to them alone, but not on that 
 account the less dangerous, stanched, but by no means 
 healed, would bleed afresh, and perhaps mortally, if she 
 were exposed to unseasonable agitation; that her sole 
 chance of recovering pristine energy was to be found in a 
 careful husbandry of present resources, and in a watchful 
 and severe avoidance of active warfare. These premises 
 will explain the course trodden by the repubHc during the 
 ensumg half-century ; and will exhibit her apparently va- 
 cillating policy as the result of one steady principle, which, 
 If It did not succeed in wholly arresting her decline, at least 
 contributed to render it almost insensible. To preserve 
 neutrality amid the contests raging around was her first 
 and leading object ; and whenever the rude collision of 
 two angry neighbours rendered it necessary that she should 
 either side with one or encounter both, her next endeavour 
 was to avoid becoming a principal. Happy for herself as 
 was this subordmate part, it is not equally happy for the 
 narrator of her fortunes ; and the dull and level field which 
 now begins to open upon our view strongly contrasts with 
 the rich and varied country through which, for the most 
 part, we have hitherto travelled. But the great events of 
 i^uropean story, the Jong, bloody, and ruinous strua^le bv 
 which the ambition of Charles V. and Francis I. coiVrinued 
 to desolate Italy, the chief theatre of their gladiatorshin, 
 have been too often, too fully, and too ably told to need any 
 meager and unsatisfactory abridgment; and we gladly 
 therefore avail ourselves of our privilege, as writers, not of 
 history, but of sketches from history, to hasten on to matter 
 tess generally familiar. 
 
 Charles V. was elected emperor in 1519, and in the very 
 outset of his long rivalry with the King of Frajice, Venice 
 
 * Lib. iv, ap. I^torici Ven. p, 287. 
 
 WARS OF CHARLES V. AND FRANCIS I. 
 
 191 
 
 A. D. 
 
 1523. 
 
 declared in favour of his competitor. In two campaigng 
 the French lost the Milanese, which the pope and the 
 emperor had undertaken to conquer for Francesco Maria 
 Sforza, a brother of Maximilian ; and by their defeat at 
 Bicocca they were wholly expelled from Lombardy. The 
 consequence of these events was the transfer of the 
 alliance of Venice to the emperor, in spite of the remon- 
 strances of Andrea Gritti, whose splendid services 
 were soon afterward rewarded with the ducal bonnet. 
 Yet these services were of too elevated a nature to 
 be appreciated by the undistinguishing rabble, who received 
 with murmurs of discontent the proclamation of their new 
 prince ; by whose skill, valour, and integrity they had been 
 alike benefited, whether he negotiated while prisoner in a 
 foreign realm or accompanied their armies in many a hard- 
 contested field. Under Gritti's ascendant influence, how- 
 ever, when he became doge, secret relations were contracted 
 anew with Francis, then on his advance to Pavia ; and their 
 discovery by Charles, and the issue of the memorable p^^ gs. 
 battle under the walls of that city, exposed Venice 1525, 
 to the probable vengeance of the conqueror. Charles, 
 however, displaying that unexpected moderation which his 
 consummate knowledge of mankind had early taught him 
 was one of the surest secrets of dominion ; and which, 
 therefore, he was almost always seen to exercise in his 
 seasons of highest elevation ; listened to the excuses of the 
 Venetian envoy with a mien of assent ; and not till after 
 his departure informed the bystanders that he believed the 
 justification to be false, but that nevertheless he was 
 willing to admit it.* He then indulged himself in the 
 malicious pleasure of despatching an especial announce- 
 ment of his great triumph to the anxiously expectant 
 signory ; and the envoy arrived at the chamber of audience 
 at the very moment in which the French ambassador was 
 quitting it, after receiving a compliment of condolence on 
 his royal master's defeat and captivity. Congratulation 
 was equally ready on the lips of the doge for the messenger 
 of victory ; and he excused this duplicity by an adroit 
 adoption of the words of St. Paul, " We rejoice with those 
 who rejoice, and we weep with those who weep." 
 
 * Guicciardini, lib. xvi. vol. vr. p. 23. 
 
192 
 
 TREATY OF COGNAC. 
 
 ' I 
 
 Nevertheless it seemed more politic to assume at least 
 an attitude of resistance than to lie, as it were, prostrate 
 before Charles ; Und Venice accordingly, having recovered 
 from her first panic, and being secure of assistance from 
 England, Rome, and Florence, became a party with those 
 powers in the treaty of Cognac, which openly allied them 
 with France. One strong motive for the course now 
 pursued by the republic was the usage of Francesco Maria 
 Sforza, who was plainly no more than a stalking-horse set 
 up to cover the advance of the emperor's ambition ; the 
 delay of his investiture with his duchy, and the terms with 
 which it was clogged when ultimately granted, surely 
 proving that Charles one day intended to appropriate the 
 rich country of IVIilan to himself. The war which followed 
 in consequence of those suspicions was feebly conducted by 
 the allies ; how vigorously, on the other hand, it was pressed 
 by their enemy the fatal sack of Rome by Bourbon is 
 sufficient evidence. Yet, even when the eternal city was 
 ravaged by that traitor's barbarian hordes, and when 
 Clement VII., besieged within the walls of St. Angelo, 
 was paralyzed by terror, and feeding on asses' flesh in the 
 extremity of famine, no serious exertion for his deliverance 
 was made by his Venetian allies. The Duke d'Urbino, to 
 whose command their army was intrusted, and whose slow, 
 cautious, and saturnine disposition well adapted him for the 
 services which his masters required,* did no more than 
 approach within sight of the papal castle, in order to increase 
 the despair of its garrison by again retreating; and during 
 the succeeding campaign he confined himself for the most 
 part to similar inconclusive demonstrations, carefully avoid- 
 ing the hazard of a battle. 
 
 One incident of this war deserves remembrance. When 
 Henry Duke of Brunswick, in 1528, attempted an ill- 
 supported and unsuccessful diversion in the Veronese, and 
 approached the Venetian frontier, he despatched a cartel 
 to the Doge Gritti who had passed his eightieth year, pro- 
 
 * " Confessando tutti havere la republica rade volte pir 1' adietro 
 havuto al governo della sua militia persona piii a proposiio per tale 
 servitio."— Paruta, lib. ix. ad fin. This is part of the public historio- 
 grapher's eulogy on the Duke d'Urbino when recounting his death. 
 He insinuates, nevertheless, that personal motives, and a hatred against 
 the Medici, might render him more than usually tardy in attempting 
 the succour of Clement VII. 
 
 I • 
 
 PEACE OF CAMBRAI. 
 
 193 
 
 vokinff him to single combat ; an idle fashion of bravado 
 which had arisen from those fruitful parents of modern 
 duelling, the challenges forwarded by the Kings of France 
 and England to the emperor.* After ten years' tedious 
 and so far as Venice was concerned, inglorious hostilities, 
 peace was once more restored to Italy by a treaty signed 
 at Cambrai. The republic, however, was not formal y 
 included in that negotiation ; and Francis, dishonourably 
 abandoning his ally, declared, that unless she consented to 
 surrender to the emperor the maritime towns of ^aples m 
 her occupation, force of arms should compel their cession^t 
 The King of France was represented in the congress by 
 his mother Louise of Savoy ; the emperor by the same 
 aunt Martraret who but a few years before had framed on 
 the samelpot the memorable league which bore its name ; 
 and the peace is consequently known m history as La 
 Paix (ks Dames. When Gritti learned the proposals 
 ofteredto his acceptance, and recalled to mind themanifo d 
 ills to which the city from which they issued had already 
 given birth, he pronounced Cambrai to be the purgatory 
 of Venice : " It is the place," he said, " in which the 
 raonarchs of France and Germany compel our republic to 
 expiate the sins of alliance which she has committed with 
 both of them." Fortunately, however, the force of circum- 
 stances once again inclined the emperor to moderation. 
 Solyman, the Turkish sultan, although discomfited for 
 awhile, was still in arms, and not long smce he had be- 
 sieged Vienna at the head of one hundred and hfty thousand 
 men ; the religious troubles in Germany were hourly in- 
 creasing; and loud murmurs were heard from Spain. It 
 was the policy therefore of Charles at least to temporize ; 
 and accordingly he confirmed Sforza in his duchy, and 
 granted peace to Venice ; abandoning to her all his con- 
 quests in Lombardy, and receiving in return the Neapolitan 
 ports for himself, and Cervia and Ravenna for the pope. 
 This treaty was ratified at Bologna by Charles in person, 
 on the 1st of January, 1530. 
 
 * Paruta, vi. p. 498. ,. j «• .v^ ^:.^^r „«,.♦ 
 
 t Francis seems to have been heartily ashamed of the dirty part 
 which he acted in this peace, "non essendoal tutto di atto tanto brutto 
 senza vergogna, fuggi per qualche di con van subterfugi i conspetto e 
 r 2dfen/?de-ai.'lmbesciatofi dei Collegati, ai quali poi finalmente udiU 
 in disparte fece scu8azione."-Guicciardini, lib. xix. vol. iv. p. J04. 
 
 Vol. XL— R 
 
 i I 
 
194 
 
 FRESH TROUBLES. 
 
 i, 
 
 But the flames of war between the two great rival 
 princes were rather smothered than extinguished by the 
 peace of Cambrai ; and after the lapse of a very few years 
 A. D. * pretext was found for the renewal of their quarrel, 
 1535. ^"^ ^^^ another invasion of Italy by the French. The 
 death of Francesco Maria Sforza, against whom 
 the wrath of Francis was mainly directed, and which is 
 attributed by some authorities to his consequent terror, left 
 Milan without an heir, and aroused all the former claimants. 
 Happily for Italy, the scene of conflict was soon transferred 
 to France itself; and Venice did no more than maintain an 
 armed neutrality to which she was bound by the late treaty, 
 on the occurrence of any foreign irruption. New inquiet- 
 udes however, soon awaited her from more distant quar- 
 ters. A secret, and, according to the estimate of those 
 times, a most impious and unnatural league, existed 
 between Solyman and Francis ; and the latter, anxious to 
 induce the republic to espouse his interests, urged his 
 mfidel ally to terrify her into action. Solyman accordingly 
 equipped a formidable naval force ; and although it was 
 doubtful upon what enemy his preparations were directed, 
 and no hostile intention against Venice had been avowed, 
 prudence manifestly suggested the necessity of arming in 
 return. A casual rencounter at the mouth of the Adriatic 
 between the Turkish and Venetian squadrons led to an 
 open rupture ; and the Ottomans poured down with relent- 
 less fury on Corfu. It was in vain that the senate tendered 
 ample compensation, and even sent in chains to Constan- 
 tinople those captains to whom Solyman imputed the 
 offence. Corfu was mercilessly ravaged during ten days* 
 occupation, its villages were burned, its field? were laid 
 waste, and fifteen thousand natives were borne away into 
 captivity. Then suddenly and unexpectedly breaking up 
 from his first scene of desolation, the redoubtable Barbarossa, 
 to whom this ministry of vengeance had been intrusted, 
 scoured every island in the Archipelago, either swayed di- 
 rectly by Venice herself, or held in fee from the republic by 
 any of her nobles. •* Nevertheless," observes Paruta, " so 
 miserable were the times, that the abandonment of Corfu 
 by the enemy who had ruined it was esteemed a triumph ; 
 not to be utterly destroyed by them was thought a victory.* 
 
 quos opimus 
 
 Faller* «t eflUoero e«t triumphus 
 
 REMARKABLE NEGOTIATION BY THE TEN. 195 
 
 Thanksgivings for this fortunate event were offered up in 
 Venice • solemn processions were made through the streets ; 
 masses 'were celebrated in all the churches ; and alms were 
 copiously distributed to the poor."* No further proofs 
 need be required of consciousness of decline. 
 
 Meantime Charles and Francis had been once again 
 reconciled ; and, in the commencement of the following 
 year, the pope and the emperor associated with ^ ^^ 
 Venice in an alliance oflensive and defensive against j^gg^ 
 the Turks. In the termination of that contest which 
 was languidly conducted, one of the most remarkable 
 anomalie? in the Venetian constitution was exhibited m 
 Btrona light. The ambassador despatched to Constanti- 
 nople'for the public negotiation of peace, th^ terms of which 
 had, during many months, been privately discussed through 
 the medium of a bastard of the doge well versed m oriental 
 
 politics, was instructed by the s^^/te/o^T I /".In 
 first instance for the restoration of all the Turkish con- 
 quests. If he found that proposal inadmissible, he was 
 then permitted to offer a tribute of six thousand ducats for 
 MalvasiaandNapolidiRomagna; and to promise a yet 
 further payment of three hundred thousand more as an 
 indemnity 'for the expenses of the war. But this was not 
 the sole condition with which the envoy departed. 1 he 
 Ten, without communication with any other branch of the 
 government, secretly authorized him by the fullest powers 
 to conclude peace, if it were not otherwise to be obtained, 
 even by the cession of the two important towns just named ; 
 wisely deeming that the surrender of those distant posts 
 always at the mercy of the enemy, although a large, was 
 not an exorbitant price for the conclusion of a very dan- 
 gerous war. Badoaro the ambassador msisted strongly 
 with the vizier on his first proposal, and was surprised at 
 the pertinacity of refusal which it encountered. Not even 
 a modification of it was admitted, and peace, it was said, 
 should be granted only on the abandonment of certain 
 fortresses in Dalmatia, of all the islands recently surrendered 
 in the Archipelago, and of Malvasia and Napoli; besides 
 the payment of the offered indemnity. Hard as were these 
 conditions, Badoaro eventually accepted them ; and j^^^ gS, 
 Gritti, who expired in his 84th year, a few months 1538. 
 before the conclusion of this unequal treaty, waa 
 
 * Lib. viii. p. 706. 
 
196 
 
 VENETIAN SECRETARIES. 
 
 THIRTY years' PEACE. 
 
 197 
 
 r 
 
 ■I 
 
 I] 
 
 spared the mortification of ratifying it, and of finding ono 
 of his latest acts discordant from a whole life of glory. 
 
 The announcement of these terms, however desirable 
 was the accommodation itself, excited no small astonish- 
 mei\t in Venice, where nothing was as yet known beyond 
 the declared intentions of the senate. National pride was 
 offended at the cessions : the money paid, it was said, 
 might have been far better employed in a vigorous prose- 
 cution of war, and the want of skill or of courage in the 
 ambassador was vehemently condemned, — till the Ten 
 openly avowed their own act. On the moment, as by a 
 touch, public opinion changed, the first emotions of disgust 
 subsided, and on deeper consideration and after more 
 correct reasoning, men, we are told, were satisfied, or at 
 least silent ; and all concurred in extolling the prudence 
 of these wise counsellors ever watchful over the true 
 interests of the republic* Nevertheless, even the Ten 
 themselves and the new doge Pietro Lando, although 
 from the beginning fully cognizant of the diplomatic mys- 
 tery, were surprised at the unbending opposition maintained 
 by the Turkish negotiators ; and it was not long before the 
 treachery which had guided them was brought to light. 
 Nicolo Cavazza,t a secretary of the Ten, and Maffeo 
 Leone who filled the like office to the senate, had betrayed 
 the secrets of their respective councils to some nobles in 
 the pay of the court of France ; by which cabinet in turn 
 they had been revealed to the divan. An intrigue between 
 the wife of one of the traitors and a grave senator acci- 
 dentally threw some papers developing this foul transaction 
 into the hands of the latter, who immediately denounced 
 the criminals and their agents. Three of them claimed 
 and received asylum in the palace of the French ambassa- 
 dor ; but the Ten, undeterred by that high protection, 
 demanded the fugitives, and upon refusal, planted cannon 
 before the gates of the palace, and threatened to batter 
 them down if they were any longer closed against the 
 
 * Paruta, lib. x. p. 1 15. 
 
 t On the appointment of this Oavazza, whom Palatius names Con- 
 stantino, the Doge Gritti prophetically remarked thai the Ten, by their 
 selection, had slipped the new secretary's neck into a halter. " Hoc 
 namque decreto lacjueum video collo appensum Cawacc®."— Fasti 
 Ducales, p. 200. 
 
 i 
 
 if 
 
 ©fficers of justice. The menace produced the desired 
 effect, and the malefactors were surrendered and executed ; 
 not without some expression of resentment on the part 
 of Francis, who for many months afterward refused 
 audience to Antonio Veniero, the Venetian ambassador at 
 his court. One day, however, the king, while m his camp 
 at Perpitrnan, being desirous to learn news from Turkey, 
 sent for "the minister ; and having complained in gentle 
 terms of the recent violation of diplomatic privileges, he 
 asked what the ambassador would have thought if similar 
 force had been employed against himself] Veniero's reply 
 was prompt and dignified: "God knows, sire, that if I 
 had in my palace and my power any traitors against your 
 majesty, I would myself arrest and deliver them into your 
 majesty's hands; being well assured, that if I acted 
 otherwise I should be most severely reprehended by my 
 
 masters the signory." 
 
 The prudence of the Venetian government secured tran- 
 quillity to the republic during the next thirty years ; the 
 course of which swept away the chief great actors m the 
 political drama of the times. The death of Francis I. could 
 occasion little regret among those to whom he had proved 
 bv turns a vigorous enemy or an inconstant and ungrateiul 
 ally ; but the loss of Henry VIII. appears to have been 
 deeply lamented. Little interested, on account of the re- 
 moteness of his dominions, in the general affairs ot Italy, 
 but keenly alive to the mutual advantages of commercial 
 intercourse, that monarch had encouraged an intimate con- 
 nexion with Venice. To many of her nobles he was per- 
 sonally attached, bestowing upon them his confidence, and 
 employing them in difticult negotiations ; and to the state 
 herself he testified the sincerity of his regard in some of 
 her most hazardous crises. Paruta, from whom we derive 
 this information, displays an intimate knowledge of the 
 fickleness which marked the latter years of Henry's tyran- 
 nical career, when he adds that " becoming difterent from 
 himself, he changed his thoughts and inclinations m this par- 
 ticular also, and sometimes showed but little friendliness. * 
 The season of repose which ensued proved highly favour- 
 able to the cultivation of the arts. Palladio and Scamoizi 
 
 * Lib. xl. p. 195. 
 R2 
 

 198 
 
 PROGRESS OF THE ARTS. 
 
 TITIAN. 
 
 lyy 
 
 ;ii 
 
 I 
 
 M 
 
 adorned the capital with rich and imposing architecture ; 
 the Florentine Sansovino erected the Mint, the Library of 
 St. Mark, and the Procuratie Nuove, and sculptured those 
 noble statues of Mars and Neptune, emblems of the mili- 
 tary and naval power of Venice,* which still guard the 
 Giant's Stairs. The glory also of the Venetian school of 
 colouring was brought to its height by the pencils of Titian, 
 Tintoretto, and Paolo Veronese. To them was intrusted 
 the design and execution of that first brilliant series of his- 
 torical pictures which encircled the hall of the Great Coun- 
 cil ; all of which, says the precise and not very fervid Jus- 
 tiniani, those most diligent painterst brought to conclusion. 
 The reward of Titian was an appointment to the office 
 of La Senseria (brokerage) in the Fondaca de* Tcdeschi ;X 
 the street front of which building had already been painted 
 in fresco by his own hand, as had the water-fa9ade by that 
 of Giorgione. In a truly mercantile spirit, the patent by 
 which this not very lucrative post was held (its salary 
 amounted but to 300 crowns, and its duties must have been 
 not less alien from the pursuits of Titian than those of an 
 exciseman were from the spirit of Burns) bound him to 
 paint every doge who succeeded during his lifetime, for eight 
 crowns a head ; to be paid by the doge himself. To this no- 
 table agreement we are indebted for portraits of Pietro 
 Lando, Francesco Donato (1545), Marc' Antonio Trevi- 
 SANo (1653), and Francesco Veniero (1554). On the ac- 
 cession of Lorenzo Priuli in 1556, Titian, then in his 79th 
 year, discontinued his task ; nevertheless, he survived twenty 
 years longer, painted many other pictures, and even at last 
 fell a victim, not to any ordinary disorder, but to the plague. 
 Venice has ever exhibited nice sensibility to the merits 
 of this her most consummate artist. Even in his lifetime, 
 
 * Maiirocenus, Hist. Ven. lib. x. apiid Tst. Venez. vi. p. 229. 
 
 t Ddigentissimi Pictores. lib. xv. p. 406. 
 
 ; This building, which stood on the Canale Grande, near the Rialto, 
 was oripnally the residence of the eignory ; was afterward granted as 
 a oommercial depot to German merchants, whence it takes its name • 
 and 18 now used as a cuBiom-house. The original mansion was de^ 
 stroyed m the great fire of 1514, and it was on its rebuilding that Giorgi- 
 one and Titian painted the exterior ; and the former, jealous of the praise 
 Destowed upon his pupil, renounced all intercourse with him The Do- 
 gana di Mare, another custom-house for transit goods, is from many 
 points one of the most picturesque objects in Venice. 
 
 f 
 
 •a season at which gratitude is often wanting to desert, whe'i 
 in 1535 the republic .was arming against the Turks, and a 
 poll-tax was levied upon her citizens for the replenishment 
 of the treasury, by an edict not less honourable to herself 
 than to the individuals whom it concerned, special exceptions 
 were made in favour of "Titiano Vecelli and Giacopo San- 
 sovino, on account of their rare excellence." When on 
 another occasion the fraternity of 8S. Giovamii e Paolo had 
 scld a chef-d'ceuvre of the great painter, " The Martyrdom 
 of St. Peter," for eighteen thousand crowns, the ready arm 
 of the Ten interposed, annulled the bargain on pain of 
 death, and retained the picture in the church which it still 
 adorns.* Yet notwithstanding the just and exalted esti- 
 mate of the powers of Titian, he still remains without any 
 firther monument than that afforded by his own immortal 
 wt.rks, and the simple but impressive gravestone m the 
 -cliarch de' Frari, Qui giace il gran TizianoA Canova 
 inleed, after the lapse of more than two centuries, was in- 
 ^mcted to prepare a tomb in 1792 ; but although the beau- 
 ties which his unrivalled chisel might have struck out at 
 tb; moment of birth would perhaps have redeemed any 
 original sin of conception, few of his groups are more 
 lieble to the charge of poverty and coldness of invention 
 than that which he then designed. The open gate of a se- 
 ptlchral pyramid is entered by Painting veiled in token ol 
 grief, and by her side stands an angel, supporting her attri- 
 bttes. Behind, on a lower step, are placed Sculpture ^nd 
 Architecture, with their emblems less carefully strewed on 
 tte ground ; and the opposite side of the door is sentinellecl 
 b« a mourning Lion, allegorical, as it is stated, of the Ve- 
 netian school ! Above the ported, two Genii held a medal- 
 lion of Titian. The subscription raised for the completion 
 
 ♦ At that splendid but meretricious altar in SS. Giovanni e Paolo, Xhe 
 second on the left, af\er entering from the great porch. 
 
 t We believe this was the origuial inscription, more striking than even 
 ourown similar epitaph, " O rare Ben Jonson." We well remember the 
 Impio^sion made by those few pointed words on the late Emimror Alex- 
 ander, when he visited Westminster Abbey ; and the emphasis with 
 whicb he repeated and explained them (giving full enunciaiion to tne 
 final «,) to his sister the Dutchess of Oldenburgh, who was Ha"g'f^g ^ 
 his ann. The later Venetians have substituted a jingling distich, whica 
 iias destroyed all the majesty of the inscription, and it now runs, 
 " Qui giace Tiziano Vecelli, 
 Emtilo di Zeuse e d' Apelle.*» 
 
200 canova's monument for titian. 
 
 i: 
 
 I 
 
 w 
 
 of this monument proved insufficient; and the sculptor, 
 unwilling to lose his labour, by a few dexterous alterations 
 converted the model to the use of a deceased Austrian 
 archduchess, Christina, consort of Duke Albert of Saxe- 
 Teschen, in the church of the Augustines at Vienna. The 
 colossal dimensions were reduced ; Paintings by the removal 
 of her veil and the addition of a cinerary urn in her hands, 
 readily became Virtue; Innocence and Piety supplied thj 
 vacant places of Sculpture and ArckitecturCy and Charity fo - 
 lows them, leading an old man, and supporting an orphan ; 
 the Lion, adhering with no less pertinacity than if he haJ 
 been of British breed, remained as the guardian of tie 
 tomb ; himself guarded by a keeper genius, emblematic^, 
 as is said, of Gncf ; and the other twin genii supportirg 
 the medallion were transformed into Felicity and an an^I- 
 with a palm branch. Notwithstanding this appropriation 
 to another purpose, the design, since Canova's death, 
 has been chosen to record his own excellence ; the original 
 cast of character has been restored, and the monumeit, 
 almost as at first projected, now covers some of the remaiis 
 of the great sculptor* m the same church de' Frari withn 
 which Titian himself is interred. 
 
 Together with the cultivation of the arts during this ui- 
 wonted period of tranquillity, the Venetians frequently ii- 
 dulged their love of public spectacles and brilliant pageants. 
 
 One of those exhibitions, on the marriage of Zika 
 Sept. 18, X)andola with the Doge Lorenzo Priuli, is describid 
 
 at much length by Sansovino ; and it presents a sb- 
 gular mixture of splendour and rudeness. After enum;- 
 rating the triumphal arches and tapestried streets through 
 which the bride was conducted from her father's palace .o 
 grace a regattaf with her presence, we are told that on h«r 
 
 * We are not quite certain on this point ; the monument may he zVxf<- 
 gether a cenotaph. The eniliusiasm of the Italians dismembered ;he 
 remains of Canova after a manner which, to colder English feeliigs, 
 appears fantastical if not disjrespectful. The body lies iii a church de- 
 signed by himself at Possongo; the head is preserved in a vase ii the 
 hall of the Venetian Academy of Fine Arts ; and the right hand is ex 
 hibited in the same place also, with an inscription marked by concat and 
 vapid sentimentality ; " Quod mutui amoris monvmientum idem jloriaa 
 incitamentum siet." 
 
 t A regatta was a splendid rowing match on the Cande Grcnde, in 
 which prizes were distributed from a temjwrary building on the water. 
 A good account of such a feauvity is given by Ant. de Ville, m Burmauu' 
 et Grasvii Thesaurus Italicus v. pars poster oir. 
 
 202 
 
 AMBITION OF SELiM H. 
 
 MARRUGE OF ZILIA DANDOLA. 
 
 20l 
 
 i 1 
 
 subsequent arrival at St. Mark's, there were shot off so 
 many and so loud volleys of artillery from the neighbouring 
 nvi that " it was a sound horrible to the ear." The great 
 nortals of the cathedral were partially shut, in order that 
 the populace, by entermg more slowly, might escape bemg 
 trampled to death and suffocated ; yet their pressure was 
 so excessive when once admitted, and their clamour so 
 deafening, that after the princess had taken the customary 
 oaths at the high altar, not a syllable of a speech addressed 
 to her by a cavaliere of the doge could be understood. On 
 quitting the church, and proceeding to the ducal palace, she 
 Cnd the state-apartments occupied by the trades and 
 guiWs of the city, each of which invited the bnde to par- 
 tike of a rich collation provided at the expense and by 
 order of the doge ; and each in turn received a similar 
 ^swer of thankl and a similar excuse, both on account 
 of fatiaue and of the necessity of passing onward to the 
 next compai^y. The evening concluded with a protracted 
 display ot- fireworks in the palace court, followed by a .up- 
 per and a ball, which detained the guests till dawn ; and 
 File festivities were continued during three «u<^<^-^»;g/f -^^^i 
 one of which was dedicated to the gentle past me of bull- 
 baitinlTor the satisfaction of the newly married princess 
 and her attendant ladies.* This extraordinary rejoicing 
 seems to have been elicited by the rarity of a dogaressa 
 for, striae as it may appear, a hundred years had passed 
 since aTy%rince had shared his dignity with a consort. 
 zL on he? death received scarcely less distinguished hon- 
 ours than on her nuptials ; her body, habited in the regalia 
 ?ay during three days in magnificent state ; and was then 
 followed to the tomb by the reignmg doge and all the pub- 
 
 '" "crel'of perU and disaster, however, were ere long 
 to intrrrupt all peaceful revelries. Since the short war with 
 TurkevTn 153S, amicable relations had bee^i steaddy main- 
 tabed with that dangerous power, whose strength mean- 
 
 * Of thA fudvoes of artiUery, Sansovino expresses himself, "si spa- 
 
 ^Venet. descritta, lib. x. 
 t P. Justiaiaai, Ub. xiv. p. 390, and xv. 423. 
 
 SELIM COVETS CYPRUS. 
 
 203 
 
2t)2 
 
 AMBITION OF SELiM II. 
 
 SELIM COVETS CYPRUS. 
 
 203 
 
 M 
 
 time was continually progressive. But Selim II., 
 ISfifi ^" ^^^ accession to the throne of his father Solyman, 
 early manifested inclination to break the subsisting 
 alliance, and assiduously and perversely sought causes of 
 offence against Venice. The ambition of a youthful despot 
 is little likely to be checked by the ready flatterers who 
 surround his throne ; and we are told that powerful motives 
 of religious zeal yet further inflamed the passion for mili- 
 tary glory which Selim displayed. A superb mosque, 
 which he had erected at Adrianople, required funds for its 
 endowment ; and the muftis assured its impetuous founder 
 that no revenues could be dedicated to support the charita- 
 ble institutions annexed to it, excepting such as should be 
 won at the sword's point ; and that the oflerings most 
 grateful to the prophet were those wrested from the enemies 
 of his faith ; " a devilish persuasion," as an old and very 
 agreeable author justly styles it, " which serveth as a spur 
 to prick forward every of those ambitious Princes to adde 
 something to their Empire."* A spirit thus kindled readily 
 created to itself a direct object of pursuit ; and in his choice 
 the sultan was guided by the accidental circumstances 
 under which his youth had been passed. During his father's 
 lifetime, the customary policy of oriental governments had 
 removed the heir-apparent from the court of his birth ; and 
 by long residence in a district in the neighbourhood of Cy- 
 prus,! he had become well acquainted with both the wealth 
 and the weakness of that island ; the fertility of the soil ; 
 the riches of the nobles ; the inadequacy of its defences ; 
 and the careless security, no less than the unpopularity, of 
 its Venetian masters. Such allurements might of them- 
 selves have sufficed to create a strong desire for the pos- 
 session of that delicious country ; and to these were added 
 others of not inferior power. It was galling to the pride 
 of the Ottomans that strangers from a remote state should 
 be lords of the choicest gem of their own peculiar seas ; 
 
 * Knolles, Historie of the Thirks, p. 839. 
 
 t Nella Provincin di Magnesia, is Paruta's statement,^!, p. 12. But Pa- 
 nita understood history beUer than geography. The provinre of Mag- 
 nesia wa.s in Northern Greece to ihe south of Thessaly. The city at 
 which Selim resided was the beautiful Magvesia ad Sipylum, still re- 
 taining its ancient name among ihe Greeks and European residents, and 
 only slightly corrupted by the Turks into Magnis4. Its vicinity to 
 Smyrna rendered commimication with Cyprus very easy. 
 
 the harbours of Cyprus furnished a secure retreat for the 
 pirates who infested the Turkish navigation ; and not a sail 
 could pass from Syria to Constantinople without exposure 
 to the Christian cannon at Famagosta. Yet another mo- 
 tive has been ascribed to Selim, by writers of good authority. 
 The habits of that prince were stained with most gross 
 licentiousness ; and in spite of the sober precepts of the 
 Koran, he indulged to excess in his favourite draughts of 
 the rich wines for which Cyprus is distinguished. " I 
 would rather press this luscious juice than purchase it," was 
 his frequent remark, as he passed the goblet to Miches, a 
 vagabond Portuguese, who had won his confidence partly 
 by\ssociation in debauchery, partly by a double apostacy ; 
 first from Judaism, afterward from Christianity. This 
 dmnken fancy was encouraged by his dissolute companion ; 
 till on one occasion the prince swore by his prophet, that 
 whenever he himself swayed Constantinople his minion 
 should be king of Cyprus. The promise so far elated Mi- 
 ches that he decorated his portrait with a crown, and 
 painted under it the legend Joscphiis Rex Ci/pri. Voltaire 
 ridicules this story bitterly, and, as it seems to us, without 
 reason. No monarch, he says, ever yet conquered a king- 
 dom for the sake of a Jew, or of a cup of wine.* Perhaps 
 so, but how many great events assail us from every page 
 of history, the secret springs of which may be found in 
 causes scarcely less frivolous and unimportant than those 
 which are here rejected. 
 
 Fired with the bright hope of this conquest, Selim com- 
 municated his project to the divan, in which it encountered 
 a diversity of opinion. The vizier, Mohammed Pacha, 
 strenuously combated the design ; urging, that if the Turks 
 should unsheath the sword, glory, policy, and religion 
 alike pointed to the relief of the Moors in Grenada, as their 
 paramount duty. On the other hand, the leaders of an op- 
 posite faction, Mustapha Pacha, and Piali, a Hungarian 
 renegade, supported the views of their prince ; both from 
 private enmity against the vizier, and from a natural belief 
 
 * Essni sur les Mcenrs, clix. Among other vouchers for the anec- 
 dote of Selim and Miches are Ubertus Folieta, i. ap Gravii Thesaur. 
 vol. i. p. ii. p. 947, and Arrighi de Bell. Cyp. i. p. x. The words given 
 by the latter writer to the pnnce are " Nolle se vinum emere, sed expri- 
 mere." Morosiai writes, " Hoc in Cypro vitium potabimus." ix. p. 359. 
 
 '\ 
 

 204 
 
 FIRE IN THE ARSENAL. 
 
 that by so doing they should advance their own interestff, 
 Selim, perhaps, might long have hesitated between thesw 
 conflicting opinions, if intelligence had not reached him of 
 great internal disasters to v^'hich Venice had recently been 
 A. D. ^^po^ed. The failure of a harvest had produced 
 1669. ^*^^fci^y ii^ t^he Dogado and its adjoining provinces, 
 so that, far from being able to support her customary 
 armed force, the republic laboured inelTectually to maintain 
 her own population. To that misfortune was added another, 
 which threatened yet more lasting injury. A fire, kindled 
 by some unknown cause in the arsenal, communicated 
 Sept. 13. with its magazines ; and the citizens were aroused 
 at midnight by an explosion heard thirty miles 
 around,* the thunders of which seemed to announce to 
 many terror-stricken slumberers startled from their first re- 
 pose, that the grand consummation of all things was be- 
 ginning.! The walls, roofs, and towers of the arsenal 
 were blown to atoms ; four churches, and numerous build- 
 ings in the immediate neighbourhood, were shattered and^ 
 thrown down ; and even the remoter parts of the city were 
 agitated so powerfully that it is believed, if large' stores 
 of powder had not been conveyed a few days beforehand to- 
 other depots in the surrounding islands, Venice would 
 have been ingulfed as by an earthquake. In consequence 
 of that fortunate removal, the loss of lives was compara- 
 tively trifling ; and of the shipping, which must otherwise 
 have been totally destroyed, not more than four galleys 
 were rendered unserviceable by the fall of the covered docks 
 under which they were lying. Report, however, conveyed 
 the news of this misfortune to Constantinople with its 
 wonted exaggeration. ^-* only was Venice wasted by a 
 still increasing famine, but her whole navy, it was said, had 
 penshed at a blow. Selim and the war- faction eagerly 
 propagated this rumour ; military preparations, on a most 
 A. D. ^^^^"sive scale, were zealously commenced ; and, 
 1570. ^^^'^ '^ ^^^ following year, an embassy was des- 
 * patched to the signory, openly demanding the abso- 
 lute surrender of Cyprus. 
 
 S V F«.f n ...?"S"^' V^'"""^'^ "sque strepitus insonuerit.-Pala- 
 Zm* Fasu Ducales Adnotat. p. 355, from Manolesso. 
 
 «imfta'i«"?nTJLip'i? ^*°'*^'" da 8uono cosi inusitato, si crederono eesere 
 «iunta la fine dell' Universo.— Parura, i. p. 23. 
 
 REJECTION OF SELIM's DEMAND. 
 
 \ 
 
 205 
 
 The pretext advanced for this haughty summons was the 
 refuge afforded by the insular authorities to pirates ; the 
 chief arguments urged to procure compliance were fierce 
 menaces of vengeance on refusal. " We demand Cyprus," 
 said the chiaus, in his address to the senate, " which we 
 will obtain, if not by good-will, most assuredly by force. 
 Look well that you draw not our fearful sword from its 
 scabbard ; for if it be once bared, it shall carry war to the 
 uttermost into each of your provinces : and place not reli- 
 ance on your treasure, for we will drain it from your coffers 
 with the fury of a torrent !" To this proud and swelling 
 denunciation the council replied with dignity, by expressions 
 of surprise that Selim should thus early violate his pledges 
 of amity, and that he should require the cession of a king- 
 dom to which he had no pretence, and which had been so 
 long swayed by the republic. Venice, it was added, would 
 never be wanting to the protection of her rightful do- 
 minions ; and "she accepted the challenge now tendered, 
 with unshrinking confidence that the justice of her cause 
 must obtain assistance both human and divine, and must 
 ultimately ensure her triumph." 
 
 The first care of the senate, in order to meet the ap- 
 proaching danger, was to accumulate treasure ; and, partly 
 by loan, partly by voluntary contributions, partly by once 
 more setting a price on state offices and exposing them to 
 sale, the sums requisite for defence were procured. The 
 last-named disgraceful and impolitic expedient extended the 
 number of procuratori, the second dignity in the republic, 
 to every purchaser who could deposite twenty thousand 
 ducats in the exchequer ; and the payment of another cer- 
 tain stipulated sum admitted the patrician youth to the 
 full privileges of the council, before the attainment of legal 
 majority. In the formation of a league against the infidels, 
 the senate was by no means equally successful : France 
 was destitute of a marine, and had become a prey to civil 
 dissensions ; the emperor had but recently concluded a 
 treaty with the Porte; the joint efforts of the pope, of 
 Genoa, and of the knights of Malta could add no more than 
 six galleys to co-operate with the Venetian fleet ; and even 
 when Philip II. of Spain, during the lingering progress of 
 negotiation, allowed a provisional force of sixty sail to pro- 
 ceed to Messina, it was doubtful whether they would ever 
 Vol. II.~S 
 
 \' 
 
V 
 
 306 
 
 THE TURKS LAND IN CYPRUS. 
 
 be permitted to afford more than nominal assistance. Thus 
 scantily provided, the doge, Luigi Moncenigo, but a few 
 months after his election, received intelligence that the 
 Turks had made a descent on Cyprus. 
 
 It was on the 1st of July that Mustapha Pacha, anchor- 
 ing at Limaso, near the ancient Paphos, poured forth, from 
 one hundred palunders and one hundred and fifty ships of 
 war, a huge armament, amounting at the lowest estimate 
 to fifty-five thousand fighting men, supported by a formida- 
 ble train of artillery ; to oppose which force the garrison of 
 the island presented but five hundred Stradiots, and rather 
 more than one hundred native horse, three thousand regu- 
 lar infantry, of whom only two-thirds were serviceable, and 
 a small body of half-disciplined militia. With so greatly 
 disproportionate numbers, it was equally impossible to op- 
 pose a landing,* or to keep the field ; and the troops, accord- 
 ingly, were distributed into the two strong-holds of Nicosia 
 and Famagosta ; leaving the enemy to choose freely which 
 of those cities they would first attack. Ninety Venetian 
 galleys, it is true, had assembled at Zara, since the com- 
 mencement of April, but they were waiting the arrival of 
 men and stores; they were looking for a junction with the 
 Spanish squadron ; they did not dare to encounter the 
 Turkish fleet, which kept the sea with nearly double their 
 numbers; and the inaction to which they were reduced 
 brought with it that fearful scourge of maritime war, the 
 scurvy. The 4th of August arrived before they were able 
 to proceed to Candia, where, combining with the Spaniards, 
 they were placed under the general command of the 
 Genoese Andrda Doria. 
 
 The Turks profited abundantly by the tardiness of their 
 enemy. Having chosen Nicosia as their first object of at- 
 tack, they pitched their camp under its walls, near the end 
 of August,! the intermediate time having been spent in 
 
 * Morosini slates that the Turks were astonished to find their disem- 
 bamation unoi)posed. and that those who first leaped on shore so stronelv 
 suspected the whole beach to be undermined, that force was necessary 
 !2 '"T*" ^'J'"" K 'J.^^ance. He adds also, that a distant field of corn, 
 S p 304? " ^ freeze, was mistaken for a Venetian battalion (lib. 
 
 thlt^S «T«^he 22d of July, but Paruta's words positirely contradict 
 ni^lrl^ u ^- 1"^^^** ^'^^'^^ »' "ove di Settembre il quario-decimo 
 giorno dopo che vi s'era accampato ress€rcito Turchesco." i. 110. 
 
 SIEGE OF NICOSIA. 
 
 207 
 
 1 
 
 spreading themselves over the island, and ravaging the es- 
 tates of the Venetian nobles ; forbearing altogether from any 
 violence on the natives, whose ill-disguised disatlection from 
 their present masters appeared to promise considerable ad- 
 vantage to the invaders. Nicosia, the capital of Cyprus, 
 stands on an elevation, in a rich champaign country, almost 
 in the centre of the island ; and from the salubrity of its 
 climate, its abundance of water, the beauty of its neigh- 
 bouring scenery, and its agreeable site, had ever been the 
 favourite and most populous residence of the Cypriotes. 
 Much pains had been taken to render it capable of defence ; 
 but each of the eleven bastions, even in its reduced circuit 
 of five miles, required two thousand men as a fitting garri- 
 son ; and Nicolo Dandolo, the governor, who is, on all 
 hands, represented to have been inadequate to the great 
 responsibility imposed uj)on him, could muster but eight 
 thousand men ; one thousand two hundred of whom were 
 Italians, the remainder a strangely-mingled mass, rudely 
 armed with pikes or instruments of husbandry hastily 
 adapted to purposes of war, and wholly untrained to ser- 
 vice ; who therefore rather encumbered than assisted him. 
 It was not, accordingly, without fearful anticipations, that 
 he found himself invested by the main body of the Turkish 
 army, under " an old and most expert general ; a severe and 
 absolute commander, whom it would have been a hard mat- 
 ter to have withstood with an equal power."* 
 
 From the beginning of the siege, all communication with 
 Famagosta was intercepted by the enemy's cavalry ; and 
 the Turks opened and advanced their trenches so rapidly, 
 that in a few days batteries were thrown up almost close to 
 the counterscarp. From these their engineers, protected 
 by a lofty parapet, not only maintained an incessant can- 
 nonade, but harassed the 'affrighted garrison by frequent 
 discharges of artificial fire, at that time largely employed in 
 military'' service. The artillery of the Venetians, mean- 
 time, was skilfully planted and ser\'ed ; and in more than 
 one very daring sortie they materially injured the Turkish 
 lines. In the last of those sallies, bravely and dexterously 
 conducted by two young Venetians, if Dandolo, according 
 to his promise, had supported them by the Stradiot cavalry, 
 
 * KnoUes, 847. 
 
208 
 
 STORM AND 
 
 ^^ 
 
 it was thought the Mussulmans would have altogether 
 abandoned their works. But the timidity of the governor 
 induced him to close the gates, and to disregard the remon- 
 strances of a body of volunteers anxiously wishing to press 
 forward to the succour of their comrades ; who, having sur- 
 prised the trenches, and chased away their guard with much 
 slaughter, were in turn overpowered, and for the most part 
 cut to pieces. 
 
 At length, however, the besiegers established themselves 
 in the very ditch, under cover of embankments which re- 
 sisted both the front and flanking fire ; and from that posi- 
 tion they attempted three separate assaults. Foiled in 
 each attack, Mustapha summoned from the fleet twenty 
 thousand additional men under Ali, the Capudan Pacha ; 
 and before daybreak on the 9lh of September, he once 
 more issued from his trenches to a general storm. The ar- 
 dour of the troops was stimulated by assurances of the most 
 brilliant promotion ; and they were taught to believe that if 
 any pacha were killed the reversion even of that imposing 
 dignity should be the prize of the brave man who firsl 
 planted his foot on the captured battlements. The garri- 
 son, on the other hand, was no less encouraged by delusive 
 hopes of speedy relief; and so confident were the troops of 
 its approach, that the busy hum of preparation heard over- 
 night from the trenches was thought a prelude not to as- 
 sault, but to retreat. The sun had not yet risen, when the 
 foremost division of the enemy crossed the ditch, and, not 
 only unresisted, but unobserved, scaled a bastion from 
 which they had before been more than once repulsed. The 
 sentinels, exhausted by fatigue and lulled in fancied security, 
 slept upon their posts, and were instantly put to the sword. 
 It was in vain that the rest of the garrison, aroused by the 
 tumult, rushed headlong to the walls. Without order, 
 without leaders, unacquainted with the precise nature both 
 of their own danger and of the advantage gained by their 
 enemy, as fresh swarms mounted the ramparts, they were 
 either overpowered and cut to pieces on the spot, or chased 
 into the heart of the city. The miserable inhabitants and 
 the few surviving troops took refuge in the great square, 
 and made there some feeble show of resistance ; till Ali, 
 having scoured and secured the whole circuit of the walls, 
 turned three pieces of cannon upon this ill-organized body, 
 
 SACK OF NICOSIA. 
 
 209 
 
 and dispersed it after a few discharges. The govemor, the 
 Bishop of Paphos, and some of the chief nobles now threw 
 themselves, as a last hope, into the palace court ; which 
 they maintained with the resolution of despair till they re- 
 ceived promise of quarter. But no sooner had they aban- 
 doned their barricades, and surrendered their arms, than an 
 indiscriminate massacre commenced; of which the de- 
 fenceless prisoners were the earliest victims. Not all the 
 sufferers, however, awaited the merciless sword of their 
 foes. Many precipitated themselves headlong from the 
 roofs of their houses. One matron of lofty birth, having 
 sought her husband and three sons, and learned intelli- 
 gence of their death in the breach, hastened^ back wUh 
 phrensi.cd steps to her home, as yet inviolate. There, pas- 
 sionately embracing for the last time her youngest and now 
 only boy, she stabbed him to the heart, in order that he 
 might escape from the yet greater horrors which were ap- 
 proaching ; and then piercing her own bosom with the 
 weapon reeking with the blood of her child, she fell lifeless 
 on his body.* Every crime with which the unbridled fury 
 of barbarians pollutes the first hours of conquest broke 
 loose upon the devoted city ; and in a single day twenty 
 thousand lives were sacrificed in cold blood. The survivors 
 were condemned to slavery ; and a signal vengeance was 
 afterward taken upon some of their brutal tyrants by one 
 high-minded captive. A galeot, conveying much rich spoil 
 and the flower of the Nicosian youth to Constantinople, was 
 blown in pieces by a maiden of noble family ; who, ill- 
 brooking the menaced dishonour of the seraglio, and con- 
 tent to purchase exemption from shame by the sacrifice of 
 life, found opportunity to fire the magazine.t 
 
 For nine days after this fatal sack of Nicosia, the com- 
 bined fleet, now amounting to more than two hundred sail, 
 and carrying fifteen thousand troops, of which number Ven- 
 ice provided one hundred and fifty-five ships and eleven 
 
 * Gratianus de Bell. Cypr. lib. i. p. 10. An English version of this 
 History is dedicated by the translator, R. Midgley, to the infamous Judge 
 Jeffrevs, with fulsome expressions of " honour and veneration" for " his 
 lordship's eminent character and most illustrious merits," his " great 
 and exemplary virtues," &c. Ac. 
 
 T Contarini, Hist, delta Guerra contra Turchi, p. 20; Morosinl, 
 ix. 320. 
 
 S 2 
 
210 DORIA WITHDRAWS FROM THE FLEET. 
 
 thousand soldiers, continued moored inactively in the har- 
 bours of Candia, wholly ignorant of the great disaster 
 which had occurred in Cyprus. At length putting to sea, 
 they learned intelligence of the Turkish success. On the 
 receipt of this news Doria at once declared that the object 
 of his expedition was at an end; separated himself from 
 his allies in spite of their remonstrances, and made sail for 
 Sicily ; while the Venetians, thus reduced in numbers, and 
 wholly unequal to the hazard of encountering the Ottoman 
 fleet, returned to their former anchorage in Candia. Du- 
 ring this unhappy and inglorious campaign, in which so 
 many losses had been endured, and not one blow attempted 
 m return, the monthly expenditure of the republic amounted 
 to three hundred thousand ducats. 
 
 Mustapha, having left sufficient force for the protection 
 of his first conquest, lost no time in marching upon Fama- 
 gosta. From his camp, which he pitched at about three 
 miles' distance, in a spot called Percipola,* he insulted the 
 garrison by displaying the heads of their Nicosian com- 
 rades, mounted on the pikes of horsemen, who daily pa- 
 raded the walls in barbarous triumph. But the season was 
 too far advanced to permit any hope of reducincr, before 
 Winter should set in, a city which demanded reirular ap- 
 proaches ; the few works which he constructed were speed- 
 ily destroyed by brilliant sorties ; and, wisely rcsolvincr not 
 to diminish the ardour which recent victory had kindled in 
 his troops, by exposing them to unavailing peril, he forbore 
 trom the continuance of active operations, endeavoured to 
 bring his enemy to capitulate, and, failing in that attempt, 
 withdrew to cantonments in which he awaited the return 
 of spring. 
 
 The whole eastern coast of Cyprus may be considered 
 as torming one large bay, in about the central point of which 
 amphitheatre stands the city of Famagosta. Towards the 
 sea, which washes two of its four sides, a natural break- 
 water of shelving rocks protects a small and shallow har- 
 bour, whose single northern entrance, presenting a mouth 
 ^arcely forty feet wide, is guarded by a chain and a fortress, 
 1 ne v^alls on the land side enclose an area of somewhat 
 more than two Italian miles, skirted by a ditch hewn out 
 
 * Ubertus Folieta, lib. iil. ap^<d Graevu Thesaur. vol. 1 pt. ii. p. 1022. 
 
 SIEGE OF FAMAGOSTA. 
 
 211 
 
 U 
 
 of the solid rock, and flanked by numerous towers ; none of 
 which, however, aflbrded a sufficiently broad platform for the 
 employment of heavy ordnance. The neighbouring country 
 is one wide plain, upon the western portion of which, about 
 the middle of the following April, the Turks began ^ ^^ 
 to break ground ; having transported their battering ^^^^^ 
 train from Nicosia, and being reinforced by a large 
 influx of volunteers, allured from the coasts of J^yria and 
 Caramania by lavish promises of booty. So numerous in- 
 deed were those unpaid bands which crossed to Cyprus alter 
 the fall of Nicosia, as almost to justify the vaunt of their 
 le;wler, that, if each of his soldiers would throw but one ot 
 his slippers into the fosse, he might construct a Icve path to 
 the battlements of Famagosta. More than forty thousand 
 pioneers laboured incessantly day and night m the trenches ; 
 and so stupendous were their exertions, that along a course 
 of three miles, in part of wliich a hard, rocky soil was to 
 be excavated, not only the infantry, but even horsemen 
 might advance, protected in such manner, that scarcely 
 the points of their lances could be discovered from the sum- 
 mits of the besieged towers. The whole army was securely 
 lod.red within these vast lines, which, before the end of May, 
 we?e pushed to the edge of the counterscarp. Ten forts, 
 constructed of a strong framework of oak filled up with 
 earth, ashes, and woolsacks, and each presentmg a tront 
 fifty feet in breadth, protected these formidable approaches ; 
 and eighty pieces of heavy artillery, among which were four 
 basilisks of immeasurable caliber, played continually against 
 half a mile of curtain. To meet these fearful preparations, 
 the garrison, into which some scanty reinforcements had 
 been thrown, mustered seven thousand men, half Italian, 
 lialf Greek infantry, commanded by a valorous and experi- 
 enced soldier, Marc' Antonio Bragadino. 
 
 One of the most skilful engineers of the day, Geronymo 
 MacTgi, superintended the artillery of the garrison ; and he 
 is said, in the course of the siege, to have rendered eighteen 
 cannon of the enemy unserviceable, by shooting into their 
 very mouths. Great, however, as was his militar>' skill, it 
 is not so much on that account, as from his successlul cul- 
 tivation of letters under circumstances the most unfavour- 
 able to their pursuit, that the remembrance of Maggi stiU 
 •urvives with posterity. Wliile languishing in slavery at 
 
^W?gf«sSJ|«3J!ffl|fftS^ 
 
 212 
 
 ASSAULTS. 
 
 MISERIES OF THE BESIEGED. 
 
 213 
 
 %i 
 
 Constantinople, without assistance from books, and relying 
 solely on the copious stores of a powerful memory, he com- 
 posed more than one Latin treatise on subjects of curious 
 research.* These works were tledicated to the French and 
 Imperial ambassadors, whose influence he solicited for a 
 remission of his captivity. But the Vizier Mohammed, 
 jealous of foreign interference, and unwilling to release a 
 prisoner whose talents might again prove detrimental to his 
 country, prevented the application of the envoys, by stran- 
 gling the unhappy Tuscan in his dungeon. 
 
 Frequent sallies were at first hazarded with no inconsider- 
 able success ; but, as the enemy drew closer, the garrison was 
 confined within the walls by the overwhelming numbers which 
 encircled them. The face of the counterscarp was at length 
 perforated, and the besiegers, securely established in the 
 ditch, commenced their mines. One of these, carried under 
 a bastion which protected the arsenal, was watched in every 
 stage of its progress by the garrison ; who, without power 
 to obstruct its advance, saw the galleries bored, and knew 
 the moment at which the chamber was framed and the pow- 
 der lodged within it. The post, however, was far too im- 
 portant to be abandoned while a chance remained for its 
 defence, even although eventual destruction awaited its 
 protectors; and each fresh battalion, when it relieved its 
 predecessor, mounted guard as men prepared every moment 
 for certain death. When at length this mine was sprung, 
 the Turks rushed forward over the blazing ruins, but they 
 met with unexpected resistance; even women stood in 
 the gap and mingled in the battle ; and the storming party 
 was beaten back after a bloody struggle of more than five 
 hours' duration. 
 
 The breach thus eflected was diligently repaired : sleep, 
 save in the extreme heat of midday, when neither party 
 could bear arms, was wholly abandoned ; barrels filled with 
 earth were rolled to the shattered parapet, arranged in a 
 double tier, and surmounted by bags of mould constantly 
 moistened, which formed a secure breastwork. In a few 
 
 * One oftbese essays, "DeTintinnabulis," was suggested by the pro- 
 liibition of bells in Turkey ; another, "De Equuleo," by the various in- 
 etrumonts ol torture which the brutality of Maggi's oppressors continu- 
 ally employed before his eyes. We have had occasion to read both of 
 item with pleasure and with profit. 
 
 days, however, a second mine was sprung in another quar- 
 ter, and the explosion was followed by a renewed attack. 
 The Bishop of Liniaso, standing at the riven wall, uplifted 
 a crucifix, and encouraged the defenders : while even the 
 noblest Cypriote dames, undismayed by the sight of carnage, 
 gathered round him, brought supplies of food and ammuni- 
 tion to the soldiers, or rolled huge stones upon the heads of 
 the enemy in the ditch beneath. Frustrated in both these 
 assaults, the Turks for a time confined themselves to bom- 
 bardment, and swept the ramparts by a perpetual cannon- 
 ade. Volleys of arrows were aimed upwards, so that they 
 might fall perpendicularly within the streets ; and ui a sin- 
 gle'day and night five thousand rounds of artillery are said 
 to have been discharged. One gate, which seemed most 
 exposed, was next attempted. It fronted an outwork which 
 had been won after horrible slaughter ; and in the inter- 
 mediate space, the Turks having pUed fascines and logs of 
 a native wood, a kind of fir which burns with a sufibcating 
 vapour and most offensive .stench, kindled the inass, and 
 fed it with fresh combustibles during many succeeding days. 
 Every effort to extinguish this most grievous fire was inef- 
 fectual, and yet, even against a mode of attack so new 
 and so harassing, the sentinels contijmcd to maintain them- 
 selves. 
 
 Now, says Contarini, who has most vividly recorded this 
 heroic struggle, matters were reduced to extremity. Every 
 thing failed within the city, excepting the valour of the 
 commander and the zeal of his followers. Wine and fresh 
 meat, even that of such unclean animals as famine alone 
 can induce its miserable victims to taste, were long since 
 utterly exhausted ; and a little bread for food, and a little 
 vinegar mingled with water for drink, was all that remained. 
 Three mines were already carried under the principal gate, 
 an artificial mound of earth was raised to a greater height 
 than the battlements, and the besiegers all around were 
 more than ever indefatigable. Of the Italian troops in the 
 garrison only five hundred remained unwounded, and these 
 were worn down by perpetual exposure to heat, toil, hun- 
 ger, and watching ; of the Greeks the greater and better 
 part had altogether perished. Neither medicine nor sur- 
 gical aid was attainable for the sick and hurt ; and the few 
 troops still capable of bearijig arms appeared to bo sup- 
 
214 
 
 FIRMNESS OF BRAGADINO. 
 
 ported much less by physical strenrrth than by indomit* 
 able vigour of spirit. It was under these most calamitous 
 circumstances that, on the 20th of July, the chief inhabit- 
 ants addressed a memorial to Bra(r:idino, couched in a tone 
 of humblest supplication ; and imploring him, that since 
 the city, without defenders, without provisions, without 
 hope of succour, was manifestly no longer tenable ; since 
 they had heretofore, while a chance of success existed, will- 
 ingly placed their lives and fortunes at his disposal, for the 
 service of the republic ; that he would now consent to ac- 
 cept honourable conditions ; by which alone he might pre- 
 serve their wives and daughters from dishonour, their sons 
 from captivity or the sword ; or perhaps from a fate of yet 
 greater horror, the everlasting destruction of their souls by 
 a forced abandonment of their faith. To this remonstrance 
 the governor replied that their fears were misplaced, that 
 relief was at hand, and that he would instantly despatch a 
 frigate to Candia, which could not fail to bring back supplies 
 and reinforcements, and with them the certainty of ultimate 
 deliverance. 
 
 During the following ten days, so powerful was the effect 
 of the Turkish mines, that scarcely a single point in the 
 ramparts was left unshattered. Bragadino, nevertheless, 
 continued obstinately to reject all suggestions of surrender. 
 It was at length announced to him that ammunition had 
 failed, and that the magazines contained no more than 
 seven barrels of powder ; and thus deprived of the remotest 
 hope of protracting defence, he consented to beat a parley, 
 at noon on the 1st of August. Hostages were imme- 
 diately interchanged, and a very few hours sufficed for the 
 adjustment of terms, which appeared to be regulated far 
 more by a recollection of the honourable resistan'ce hitherto 
 niaintaincd by the garrison, than by the sad straits to which 
 it was fmally reduced. The troops were to be landed in 
 Candia by Turkish vessels ; they were to retain all their 
 property and arms, five pieces of cannon, and three horses 
 for the principal officers. Similar conditions were granted 
 to the citizens who chose to expatriate; and such as pre- 
 ferred abiding in their native seats received a guarantee for 
 the security of their lives, honour, and possessions. As 
 an earnest of tidelity, forty galleys immediately entered the 
 harbour, and partial embarkation commenced on the day 
 
 HE SURRENDERS THE KEYS OF THE CITY. 215 
 
 following. It was with mutual expressions of profound 
 admiration that the remnant of the garrison passed through 
 the Turkish lines : the Italians were moved with astonish- 
 ment at the gigantic works and countless hosts which they 
 surveyed ; for the white turbans, glistening above the 
 trenches in a circuit of three miles, struck the eye as if the 
 ground were deeply covered with flakes of snow ; and, on 
 the other hand, the pale, weakened, and emaciated forms 
 of those who had so long and with so desperate a valour 
 defied all their efforts, extorted, not without some feeling 
 of shame, the respect of the Turks. They tendered re- 
 freshments to their late foes, addressed them with kindness, 
 extolled their former constancy, and bade them be of good 
 cheer for the future. 
 
 On the morning of the 5th of August, Bragadino notified 
 to Mustapha that he was prepared to surrender the keys of 
 the city ; and that, on receiving permission, he would come 
 for that purpose to the camp. The reply of the Turkish 
 general was couched in terms the most generous and 
 honourable ; he anticipated pleasure from the approaching 
 interview ; he acknowledged the valour of his rival, and 
 he declared his readiness, everywhere, and on all occa- 
 sions, to avouch it by the strongest i)ersonal testimony. 
 On the delivery of this courteous message, Bragadino, ac- 
 companied by his chief officers and some Greek gentlemen, 
 and escorted by fifty musketeers, rode forth to the lines. 
 Himself led the troops ; and in order to display such pomp 
 as it was yet in his power to exhibit, and as the occasion 
 seemed to demand, he wore his magisterial purple robes, 
 iand was shaded by the umbrella which marked his office. 
 At the entrance of the pacha's tent, this gallant company 
 was received with due honours ; they delivered up their 
 arms to the attendants, according to the oriental custom ; 
 and they were then introduced to the presence of Mustapha. 
 For a while, the conversation which ensued ranged over 
 various and indifferent matters ; and the pacha veiled his 
 ulterior foul desitrn with consummate dissimulation. At 
 length, turning abruptly to Bragadino, he asked what se- 
 curity he intended to offer for the safe return of the trans- 
 ports which were to bear his soldiers to Candia] To this 
 inquir}' Bragadino replied, that no mention of security oc- 
 curred in the capitulation. Among his attendant suite. 
 
 MSomJh jaftaa 
 
216 
 
 HORRIBLE FATE OF BRAGADINO. 
 
 ALLIANCE WITH SPAIN. 
 
 217 
 
 one of the most distinguished was Antonio Quirini, a young^ 
 Venetian of noble birth, of approved valour, and of graceful 
 person ; well known also to the Turkish army as the son 
 of a skilful engineer who had long superintended the forti- 
 fications of Nicosia. Pointing to that youth, Mustapha 
 required him as a hostage ; and vs'hen Bragadino firmly 
 rejected the demand, the pacha, leaping from the ground 
 with furious gestures, accused the Italians, in terms of un- 
 measured violence, of having put to death the Mussulmans 
 taken prisoners during the siege. Then, on a sign to his 
 eunuchs, Quirini and the other officers were seized, bound, 
 dragged from the pavilion, and cut to pieces under the 
 pacha's eyes. Bragadhio, reserved for a more cruel and 
 more lingering fate, was thrice ordered to bare his neck to 
 the sword, which was thrice withdrawn when it had been 
 raised to strike ; and after this repeated infliction of the 
 chief bitterness of death had passed, he was thrown to the 
 ground and deprived of his ears ; the pacha meanwhile 
 asking, with blasphemous scorn, why he did not cry to his 
 Saviour for assistance. This savage outrage was followed 
 by the immediate massacre of the attendant escort, and ot 
 three hundred Christians v/ho had unsuspectingly trustew 
 themselves in the camp ; and on the second day afterward 
 \»hetl Mustapha entered Famagosta, he ordered Thiepolo 
 the officer left in command, to be ignominiously hanged 
 Then, following up these treacherous butcheries by a genera' 
 violation of the treaty, he seized as prisoners and condemned 
 to the oar the whole garrison, and such Cypriotes as had 
 already embarked. The miseries of Bragadino were pro- 
 tracted during ten days longer. Every morning he was 
 brought out, laden with heavy baskets of earth, and driven 
 to labour on the batteries which he had vainly defended ; 
 and each time that he passed Mustapha's pavilion he was 
 bowed down, and compelled to kiss the ground at the 
 tyrant's feet. Then, led down to the seashore and fast- 
 ened in a chair, he was hoisted to a yard-arm of one of the 
 chips, and a loud signal having been given, he was exhibited 
 alofl to the cowardly derision of the Mussulman sailors, 
 and the indignant pity of his own enslaved comrades. In 
 the enil, when all power of inflicting further contumely ap- 
 peared to be exhausted, he was carried to the great square 
 ef Famagosta, stripped upon the public scaffold, chained to 
 
 a stake, and slowly j9ayed alive, while Mustapha looked 
 down upon the barbarous spectacle from a height adjoining 
 the palace. Unsatiated by the dying agonies of his illus- 
 trious victim, the pacha's cruelty pursued even his lifeless 
 remains. His skin, stuffed with straw, was mounted on a 
 cow, and paraded through the streets, with the umbrella 
 held over it in mockery ; and it was then suspended at the 
 bowsprit of the admiral's galley, and displayed as a trophy 
 during the voyr.ge to Constantinople. One other base 
 passion remained to be gratified, and the pacha, having 
 glutted his revenge, found indiil;,ance, some years after- 
 ward, for his avarice. The skin of their martyred relative, 
 purchased at a high price by the family of Bragadino, was 
 deposited in a sepulchral urn in the church of SS. Giovanni 
 and Paolo, where it still remains with a commemorative 
 inscription.* 
 
 Cyprus was thus won by the Turks, at the cost of more 
 than fifty thousand men : and during this successful pro- 
 gress of the Ottoman arms at a distance from the Lagune^ 
 Venice had trembled for safety even within her own gulf. 
 Before the close of 1570, the senate attempted to treat with 
 Constantinople ; and the King of Spain, who, if peace had 
 been concluded, would have been exposed single-handed to 
 the fury of the infidels, was alanned into activity, and 
 brought to an end his long-pending negotiation with the 
 pope and Venice. By that alliance, two hundred galleys 
 and half as many transports, bearing fifty thousand infantry 
 and four thousand five hundred horse, provided at the 
 common expense in different proportions, and the whole 
 armament placed under the command of a Spanish general, 
 was to rendezvous at Messina, in the ensuing May. Ven- 
 ice, by incredible exertion, prepared her contingent by the 
 appointed time ; but the tardy Spaniards were still in arrear, 
 
 * The particulars of Mustapha's treachery in his interview with 
 Bragadino, were reported by an eyewitness. The Conte Hercole Mar- 
 tenengo attended in his suite; and when dragged to execution, owed 
 his life to the intervention of a eunuch, who concealed him at the mo- 
 ment, and afterward accepting a ransom, demurred to release his 
 prisoner, who in the end escaped. The pacha's succeeding cruelties 
 were matters of open notoriety. P. Jusiiniani, delighting in prodigies 
 as much as Livy, and with less excuse, cannot dismiss this sad history 
 without a miracle. Bragadino's head, he says, when fixed on a spear, 
 emitted, for three nights, rays glittering like those of the sun, and di£ni8ed 
 a marvellous fragrance.— Lib. xvi. p. 451. 
 
 Vol. II.— T 
 
 
 m,^ ^ 
 
218 VENICE THREATENED BY A TURKISH FLEET. 
 
 when two hundred Turkish sail, having laid waste the 
 islands between the Morea and the Dalmatian coast, with- 
 out meeting an enemy to oppose them, pursued their tri- 
 umphant course within the Adriatic itself. Passing Ra- 
 gusa, and sacking Curzola and licsina, those scenes of 
 early Venetian renown, they spread consternation through 
 the Lagune^ within which their presence was hourly ex- 
 pected. Every precaution which haste permitted was 
 adopted in the capital ; and the anxious citizens, obstructing 
 their canals with chains and sunken vessels, and covering 
 the aggere with batteries, prepared for an attack similar 
 to that by which they so greatly suffered two centuries be- 
 fore, when Chiozza was won by the Genoese. The Turk- 
 ish admiral, however, content with the glory of having 
 insulted Venice in her own seas, and a[)prphensive that 
 if he protracted his stay, the confederates, bv that time 
 assembled, would hasten to her relief and blockade him in 
 the gulf, changed his course, after this proud demonstra- 
 tion, and made sail for the Morea. 
 
 It was not till the end of August that the allies com- 
 pleted their arrangements, and assembled at Messina. The 
 command of their armament was intrusted by Philip II. 
 to his half-brother, Don John of Austria, a bastard whoni 
 Charles V. had acknowledged, whom Philip continued to 
 distinguish with all the honours due to royal birth, and who, 
 although scarcely two-and-twenty years of age, already 
 manifested qualities which were to rank him among the 
 greatest captains of his time. The cold and suspicious 
 policy of the Spanish court clogged this young prince with 
 a council of war ; whose suggestions of timid caution, if they 
 had been implicitly obeyed, might have robbed him of his 
 glory : and early in his command, that jealousy which is so 
 frequently the bane of combined armaments was awakened 
 by a petty accident. The allies directed their course in the 
 first instance to Corfu, in hope of learning tidings of the 
 enemy ; and during one of the last days of Septemlier, an 
 affray between the crew of a Candiote galley and some 
 troops in the Spanish service embarked in her wellnigh 
 occasioned the dissolution of the confederacy. Lives had 
 already been lost in the squabble, when Sebastiano Veniero, 
 the Venetian commander, who was near at hand, sent on 
 board first an inferior oflficer, and afterward his captain ; 
 
 ENCOUNTER OF THE HOSTILE FLEETS. 219 
 
 i,nfH of whom were chased away by the soldiers, and the 
 ^ttVwilh murh personal injury. Veniero, indignant at 
 to Jo s aront offered within sight of his own flag-ship, 
 
 ^xcted them «" 1^^^"^^' ^, hi, yard-arm. This in- 
 and hanged ^W sjm^ ^^^^ ^^^ ^^^ ^^^^^^^ 
 
 vasion, as it appearea ^^ j although his council 
 
 thoritv, was g"^^;^^^/"^^^'^^^^^ irritation, they could not 
 
 Pf f ' ^-rufsh i so Zt'he refused to'hold'any direct 
 wholly extinguish It so in ,^^^^^^,^^ all affairs re- 
 
 communica ion ^^t'\;;^"'^^ ^hrouah the intermediate 
 
 '^'"^ 'oft^o'strSarra " one of the ,ro^.cd.iori ; a 
 agency of ^g^^^^^^ fj^^^ f^^-^^j , ^^iUtary experience. 
 
 1 ms 111 uiaeu u rpreived of the station of the 
 
 T^rkilfflTef rae Arf>aX™o.ewhcre in the neigh- 
 Turkish Heet """'^ j^ |„ <,n„al m numbers ;» 
 
 bounng Gulf »' X"';,;^„ ' „„/at Lnd, Mthough not 
 each knowing that his «"f"Y/„osition • each ardent for 
 yet precisely 'nformed as '-^I^^^.'^Zm not engage 
 battle, yet believmg that "» ^l^^j^ ,nana-uvred for a few 
 
 without ^^'P"'^'™', ^<=„™ he d™ i^^J ™"'^^'-- ^"' =" 
 days in the >wP%fj,'« X"ob« they descried each other's 
 daybreak on the 7th ot "J"""" '"^■^ , f ,he entrance 
 Js blackening a long range of «as^^f. a,^^^ 
 
 of the Bay »f^,»™'''Ve greatest maritime battle in 
 Actmm, immortataed by tbe^ „ ^^^^^. ^j ^t, 
 
 r""tL Sp'^i^ish CO, mSoTiers urgently represented to 
 V „„.rSnothe Treat hazard of an engagement, and 
 then generaUssimo i"^ o'^ oossiblc. But they were in- 
 the necessity »f ''V^f '"^ ^t. '^ P»;;; j^i, „f j^'e prince: 
 dignantly sile^iced by ■« Sf "[" is wantino- at such a 
 ..Xetivity !'2^.ttd f rt a gun, an^ displaying at his 
 S-ta? ttslantrdrf U>c league as a signal for battle. 
 
 easses of ihe Venetians, from tlier .r^ 'j,,.^ rmmbers very 
 
 their guns, reduced this ^'^'-''^^^^.'^^'^^'^'^ority which raises the fleet 
 nearl? to equality. Daru '"""^'f „*,,f/^. ^^^ S. that of the allies to 
 of the Turks to three huiuired « "\, J r'^^^^f^^^e admitted that five 
 two hundred and ««vemy-one U a> sa eiy 
 bundxed ships were in presence of each of hi r. 
 
 agih.aA.«i:^iJW>eaifeafiiifcagiMW , 
 
 220 
 
 ALLIED ORDER OF RATTT.W. 
 
 ^«« V^T% A 
 
 TjATinvfi van THE BATTLE. 
 
 221 
 
220 
 
 ALLIED ORDER OF BATTLE. 
 
 he ordered his shallop, and passing from galley to galley, 
 he urged zealously upon his followers every argument, by 
 which they could be excited or invigorated. He pointed at 
 once to the overwhelming shame and peril of defeat ; to 
 the gain, the glory, and the necessity of victory ; assuring 
 them that our Lord and Saviour would succour his owS 
 Uhnstians : promising them certain triumph if they foueht 
 as became men, and did but remember that the present 
 was the moment at which they might win undying renown 
 and take just vengeance at one blow for all their manifold 
 lormer wrongs. This address was hailed on all sides by 
 enthusiastic shouts and vivas, and by vehement pledges that 
 every man would fumi his duty.* ^ g^-s mai 
 
 ^ Emerging from the intricate channel between the Alba- 
 nian coast and the opposite islands, and doublin^r the Cur- 
 zolari rocks, the Echinades of antiquity, tlie combined fleet 
 had full room to extend itself in its previously appointed 
 order of battle Six large Venetian galeasses were dis- 
 tributed about half a mile in front of the main line, which 
 covered a surface of nearly four miles in length; no more 
 room than sufficed for the passage of a sin|le ship being 
 left be ween any two galleys. The right, under Andrei 
 l^ona, kept the open sea ; the left, commanded by the prav- 
 TeditoreB^rb^ngo, advanced along the Grecian shore : in 
 the centre Don John took his station, supported on either 
 side by the papal and Venetian commanders, Marc' Antonio 
 Colonna and Veniero ; and throughout the line, as a testi- 
 mony of mutual confidence, the galleys were intermingled, 
 without any regard to national distinction. 
 
 Immediately as the infidels were discovered, says the ani- 
 mated narrative of Contarini, that happy news ran from 
 ship to ship Then began the Christians right joyfully to 
 clear their decks, distributing arms in all necessary quar- 
 ters, and accoutring themselves according to their respective 
 duties : some with arquebuses and halberts, others with 
 iron maces, pikes, swords, and poniards. No vessel had 
 less than two hundred soldiers on board ; in the flag-ships 
 
 l^!^%7u^- ''' ^r" ^^"^ hundred. The gunners, meantime, 
 lo^ed their ordnance with square, round, and chain shot, 
 and prepared their artificial fire with the pots, grenades, car- 
 
 * Contarini, 49. 
 
 PREPARATIONS FOR THE BATTLE. 221 
 
 rasses, and other instruments requisite for its discharge.* 
 All the Christian slaves condemned to the galleys for tlieiJ 
 crimes were unchained, restored to entire liberty, encouraged 
 to ficrht for Jesus, through whose mercy they had recovered 
 freedom, and armed in the same manner as their comrades, 
 with sword, targe, and cuirass. Meantime the squadrons 
 took up their stations with admirable precision and silence, 
 and the <raleasses were towed forward in advance. Every 
 vessel was then dressed with flags, streamers, pennons, ban- 
 ners! and banderols, as on a day of jubilee and festivity; 
 "he drums, trumpets, fifes, and clarions sounded : a general 
 ihout rana through the armament; and each ma" invoked 
 thmself the Et^ernal Trinity and the Blessed Mother of 
 Sod ; while the priests and many ot the captains hastened 
 from stem to stern, bearing crucifixes J" f^.^^^ ^^ands, and 
 exhorting the crew to look to Him who had descended visi- 
 bly from heaven to combat the enemies of his name 
 Mov d and inflamed by ghostly zeal, this g-f -"^W 
 assumed, as it were, one body, one spirit, and one will , 
 caXs of death, and retaining noother thought except tha^ 
 of fighting for thdr Saviour : so that you might perceive on 
 a su'dden°a strange mystery and a singular miracle o the 
 supreme power of God , when in one mstant all feuds and 
 
 2nions%ll hatred and ^-»i-^>«-r h hkSn^irher 
 arisincr from whatever bitter injuries, which hitherto neither 
 the mediation of friends nor the terror of authority coud 
 Xy? were at once extinguished. Those who had mutually 
 Sed or sufl-ered wron| embraced as ^-thren and po^^^^^^^ 
 out tears of affection while they clasped each otiirj in the^ 
 arms. O blessed and mercitul on^"'P«^^"^,^^«,^..^°^; T^ 
 marvellous art thou in thy operations upon the f^i hfuM 
 
 The Turks when first seen ^'^^^f.^^^^J^X ' from 
 miles distant, covering the entrance of the p " ^ ^^ P™„"^ 
 Cape Kologriato Mesolonghi. Mahome Siroco, Oover^^^ 
 of Alexand^ria, led their right ; Ulucci-Ali, an Italian rene 
 gade, and King of Algiers, their left ; and the Capudan All 
 
 * Grenades an. carcasses are comnjo^Hysf not^t^^ 
 till 1596, iwenty-five years ^^^"^ '^e battle otl.epano 
 are more disputed than those '^^^.^^'f'^'^J)^;^^^^^ were 
 
 gunnery. We ^"0^^' "«[ J«;^J«f '^ J^^"^^'^^^ 
 probably, as we have called them, luapois lu wui^u 
 
 t Contarini, 48 b. 
 
222 
 
 BATTLE OF 
 
 LEPANTO. 
 
 223 
 
 in person, assisted by two other pachas, Pertau and Hassan 
 commanded the main battle. Ignorant of the numbers of 
 the Chnstian force, which, as it advanced from behind the 
 islands m columns was not yet fully developed ; and per- 
 ceivmg that Doria, with the first division, after heavin/ in 
 sight, bore out widely to starboard (in order that he might 
 afford free passage for the rest of the fleet) ; Ali imagined 
 that movement to be preparatory to flight ; and having al- 
 ready resolved upon action, in opposition to his colleagues, 
 he now felt doubly confident of victory, and gave orders for 
 immediate advance. The fleets at first approached each 
 other slowly and majestically ; the sun had already passed 
 the meridian, and shone therefore dazzlingly in the faces of 
 the Turks ; and a westerly breeze springing up just before 
 they closed gave the allies the advantage of wind also ; so 
 that when the cannonade began the smoke was driven 'full 
 upon the infidels. A corsair who had been sent forward 
 to reconnoitre, not having seen the rear division, reported 
 emngly ot the Christian numbers ; and stated, moreover, 
 that the large galeasses in the van carried guns only on 
 their forecastles. The Turks therefore bore up to them 
 fearlessly, supposing that when their bows were passed all 
 danger was at an end. Great then was their consternation 
 When a close, well-directed, and incessant fire, in which 
 every shot told, from the admirable level of the guns, pointed 
 much lower than those of the loftier Turkish vessels, burst 
 Irom each broadside, scattering destruction over every ob- 
 i . r .!r ^^^'•^"g^• ^^l^e wind blowing in their teeth 
 kept the Mussulmans long exposed to these deadly volleys • 
 and whenever at intervals the smoke cleared away, they 
 saw a hornble confusion of shivered spars, yards, masts, 
 and rigging : here, galleys split asunder, there, others in 
 flames ; some sinking, some floating down the tide, no 
 longer manageable, their banks of oars having been shot 
 away ; and everywhere the face of the sea covered with 
 men wounded, dead or drowning.* In this disorder, 
 Mahomet Siroco was the first to close with the allied left 
 and dexterously passing between their outermost ship and 
 
 fh!f "" L ^^"^^^^ ^^P^^'>^ "P«" ^^^'' sterns. Barbarigo in 
 mat quarter was soon engaged in a most unequal combat 
 
 ♦Contarjni, p. 51. 
 
 with six Turkish vessels : and while gallantly cheering hia 
 men he was mortally wounded by an arrow, which, piercing 
 one of his eyes, deprived him of speech, although not of 
 life till three days after the battle. Nani, his successor m 
 command, not only beat oft' his numerous enemies, but took 
 one of their galleys ; and the numbers every moment be- 
 coming more equal, the Turks, dispirited at the loss of their 
 first advantage, gave way ; Siroco's flag-ship was sunk ; 
 and the admiral himself picked up from the waves, covered 
 with wounds, and scarcely retaining signs of hie, was im- 
 mediately despatched. Ps'ot a Mussulman ship m that di- 
 vision escaped ; a few which attempted flight were pur- 
 sued and captured ; most were carried by boarding ; and 
 when their decks were once gained, the Christian slaves by 
 whom their oars were manned, being released and armed, 
 revenged the bitter sufferings of their captivity by unspar- 
 ing and indiscriminate slaughter. 
 
 In the encounter of the central divisions, Ah and Uon 
 John, each readily distinguished by the standard of chief 
 command which he bore, singled each other from the melee ; 
 Veniero and Colonna fought closely beside the princes 
 realey and the remainder of the hostile squadrons soon 
 joined hi general combat— the Christians for the most part 
 employing firearms, the Turks crossbows and archery. 
 Then " the mixed noise of joy and lamentation made by the 
 conquerors and the conquered, the sound of muskets and 
 cannon, and many other wariike instruments, the cloud of 
 smoke which obscured the sun, took away the use of ears 
 and eyes, and made the fight the sharper and more con- 
 fused."* Thrice was Ali's galley boarded, and his crew 
 driven to their mainmast ; and thrice were the Spaniards 
 repulsed ; till at one critical moment both Don John and 
 Veniero, pressed by an inimcasurnbly superior force, which 
 had hastened to the pacha's assistance, appeared lost be- 
 yond the possibility of rescue. The seasonable advance of 
 a reserve under the Marquis di Santa Croce restored the 
 balance of numbers ; and the self devotion of two Venetian 
 captains, Loredano and Malipiero, who plunged mto the 
 thickest fight, diverted peril from their chiet at the cost of 
 their own lives. Don John was no sooner freed from his other 
 
 * Henry, Earl of Monmouth, translation of Paruta, p. 133. 
 
 TOTAT. npprAT 
 
224 
 
 TOTAL DEFEAT 
 
 opponents than, although slightly wounded by an arrow,* 
 he renewed combat with his most distinguished antaaonist : 
 and as his boarders grappled again with the pacha's'Valley, 
 and sprang once more upon its deck, Ali fell by a musket- 
 shot, and his crew threw down their arms. Accustomed to 
 the more civilized usages of modem warfare, we shudder 
 when we hear that the pacha's head was severed from his 
 body, set upon the point of a spear which Don John bore at 
 that time in his hand, and mounted on the summit of his 
 own mast.t The grisly trophy, soon recognised, struck 
 terror into the whole Mussulman fleet, and decided the 
 hitherto wavering fortune of the day. The galley of Pertau 
 was the next prize which surrendered, her commander him- 
 self escaping only by taking to his boat. Thirty ships 
 spread all sail in flight ; but as their Christian pursuers 
 neared them, the mariners leaped overboard, and few gained 
 the laml ; so that in the centre, as in the division of Siroco, 
 every 1 urkish vessel was captured or destroyed. 
 
 The shout of " Victory" from the main battle of the allies 
 was answered by the same glad word from their left, but on 
 the right the engagement was still continued with less 
 assured success. Doria, whether from inequality of num- 
 bers, or from a desire, imputed to him on more than this one 
 occasion, to expose his own squadron to as little hazard as 
 possible, had swept round in a wide and distant compass, 
 as If to outflank the enemy ; and had consequently not yet 
 been m action. The practised eye of Ulucci-Ali perceived 
 at once the great advantage thus afforded him by the breach 
 m the Christian line; and bearing down upon fifteen of 
 their ships, thus separated from their mates, he captured a 
 Maltese and set fire to a Venetian galley. The former was 
 speedily recovered, the latter perished with all her crew 
 Oy far the most touching incident in this portion of the 
 battle arose out of the strong mutual affection displayed by 
 three grandsons of Luigi Cornaro, the valetudinarian who 
 has obtained renown by his unexpected longevity. One of 
 those brave youths was wounded so desperately that he 
 
 r/df SrSi ^omm'lng'SL'' '''^'' ^^ ^'^ " ^'"'^^ ^''""«'*^^°" ^^ 
 m;L>if /rSrS?"^^'"'^" ''^!^^''' "^^ '^'''''^ ^^ ''^ ^W^^' ^«'* '^^ux qui 
 autre frai/«ncn<.— Voltaire, Essai sur les Misur.^, clx. 
 
 i-w«i&J 
 
 nn/* 
 
 OF THE TURKS. 
 
 225 
 
 could not be removed from the burning vessel ; the others 
 might have escaped, but they refused to abandon their 
 brother in his extremity, and they shared his fate.* Of the 
 singularly rapid alternations of fortune during the action, 
 Pietro Justiniani, another Venetian, affords a very remark- 
 able instance. Engaged in company with two Maltese 
 ships against Ulucci-Ali's division, he sank three Turkish 
 vessels^'and pursued a fourth. At length overpowered by 
 numbers, he received quarter from a Mussulman by whom 
 he was boarded, and soon afterward, when recaptured by 
 Doria, he was able to extend the like generous protection to 
 his recent conqueror, t 
 
 The superiority of the Algerine tactics continued to 
 baffle Doria when he attempted, too late, to occupy the posi- 
 tion which he ought to have assumed in the outset. Ulucci- 
 Ali, having gained the wind, was consequently able to renew 
 or to avoid combat at pleasure; and perceiving the total 
 rout of his friends in the centre, and that a large division of 
 the conquerors, no longer needed in that quarter, was ap- 
 proaching him on one side, while Doria menaced him on 
 the other° he boldly dashed onward through the line which 
 he had already broken ; made for the Curzolari and Sta. 
 Maura, and effected his retreat with between twenty and 
 thirty of his squadron. This small remnant, together with 
 a reserve of about an equal number which found shelter 
 within the depths of the Gulf of Lepanto, was all that re- 
 mained of the vast Turkish armament after five hours' bat- 
 tle. Fearful indeed was it, says Contarini, to behold the 
 sea discoloured with blood and shrouded with corpses ; and 
 piteous to mark the numberless wounded wretches tossed 
 about by the waves, and clinging to shattered pieces of 
 wreck ! Here might you observe Turks and Christians 
 mingled indiscriminately, imploring aid while they sank or 
 swam ; orwret'tling for mastery, perhaps on the very same 
 plank.t On all sides were heard shouts, or groans, or cries 
 of misery ; and as evening closed, and darkness began to 
 spread over the waters, so much more was the spectacle in- 
 creased in horror.*^ 
 
 * Gratianus, lib. iv. p. 223. t Id. p. 220. 
 
 X One of the fine groups in West's picture of the battle of La Hogue 
 bas imbodied this description. 
 ^ Fol. 53, b. 
 
 \ 
 
 iiTifirr Tnv at VTTVTPU!- 
 
 227 
 
i'l 
 
 226 
 
 
 DESCRIPTION OF ALl's GALLEY. 
 
 Within an hour after sunset, the Christian fleet, towing 
 its prizes, had gained a safe anchorage in the neighbouring 
 harbour of Petala ; where it rode without injury through a 
 heavy gale which sprang up during the night. The loss 
 of the allies in killed alone amounted to nearly eight thou- 
 sand men : of the Turks more than twenty-five thousand 
 were slain ; nearly four thousand, among whom were two 
 sons of AH, were taken prisoners ; twelve thousand Chris- 
 tian slaves were released ; one hundred and thirty ships of 
 war were captured, all of which, with their abundant stores 
 and equipments, were brought to port ; one hundred and 
 thirty were abandoned and destroyed, and about eiirhty were 
 sunk during the battle.* ° 
 
 Ali's galley, as described by Knolles, who copies from 
 Bizar, must have been the choicest specimen of contempo- 
 rary ship-building. It was « so goodly and beautifull a 
 vessell, that for beauty and richnesse scarce any in the 
 whole ocean was comparable with her. The decke of this 
 gaily was on both sides thrice as great as any of the others, 
 and made all of blacke walnut-tree like unto ebony, check- 
 ered, and wrought marvellous fuire, with divers lively 
 colours and variety of histories. There was also in her 
 divers lively counterfeits, engraven and wrought with gold, 
 with so cunning a hand, that for the magnificence thereof 
 It might well have been compared unto some prince's 
 palace. The cabbin glistened in every place with rich hang- 
 ings wrought with gold twist and set with divers sorts of 
 precious stones, with certaine smull counterfeits most cun- 
 ningly wrought. Besides this there was also found in her 
 great store of the Bassa's rich appnrell wrought with the 
 needle, so curiously and richly embossed with silver and 
 gold that his great lord and master Selymus himselfe could 
 
 * We have nearly followed Contarinl's numbers, who states the 
 killed among the allies to have been precisely seven thousand six hundred 
 and foriy-8ix, of whom two thousand were Spaniards, eight hundred 
 Romans, and the remainder Venetians. Among these, Venice lost one 
 flag-offioer ( ai>,fa>n, Ut fa„6), Barbarigo, and seventeen captains The 
 same writer calculates the Turks kiil-d at iwenty-flve thousand one 
 onH Iri.*"*^'""";-^'" n "■■' *'•*'•■ prisoners at three thousand four hundred 
 
 ?elisfd ?rnm •.h'""''''V^y'>^"'^'^ •*'""*''*"'l *'»'"'^''^» slaves were 
 re eased from the oar. Jusimiani (ifteen thousand. Daru reduces tho 
 
 Se hi^ aShontyf '° '''''•'" '^""^ ^'^ ^'' ^'^°'^^^"'^' '^"^ ^^^^ ^^^ 
 
 228 
 
 PTM^T TT'TTT/^-iVc rkXT 
 
 GREAT JOY AT VENICE. 
 
 227 
 
 hardly put on more royal or rich attire." The pacha fell 
 by the hand of a Macedonian in the service of the Venetian 
 arsenal, who was knighted by Don John, and received a 
 more substantial reward in a pension of three hundred 
 ducats, and the casket of the slain Mussulman leader, con- 
 taining six thousand more. To the same fortunate soldier 
 also was allotted, as his spoil, the massive silver-gilt staff 
 (the burrell, as Knolles terms it) of the pacha's standard. 
 It was covered with Turkish inscriptions: "Allah guides 
 and aids his faithful in worthy enterprises ; Allah favours 
 Mohammed;" and another more familiar to our ears, 
 " There is but one God, and Mohammed is his prophet. 
 The Greek, on his return to Venice, sold this prize to a 
 goldsmith, from whom it was redeemed by the senate at 
 the cost of one ducat for each ounce ; a price which appears 
 to be recorded as inordinate, but which a just feeling of 
 national pride could deem scarcely more than the value of 
 so distinguished a trophy.* 
 
 Veniero hastened to announce this glad intelligence to 
 his countrymen, and so speedily was it conveyed, that on 
 the tenth morning after the battle the vessel bearing his 
 despatches entered the port of Lido. It arrived off land 
 at the hour in which the Piazza di San Marco is most fre- 
 quented ; and much surprise and anxiety was at first ex- 
 cited by the appearance of a ship of war steering between 
 the two castles, and crowded on its deck by mariners and 
 soldiers in Turkish uniforms, with which the crew bad 
 clothed themselves out of their spoils. The vessel saluted 
 the forts as she passed ; and the brief doubt of the popn- 
 lace was rapidly converted into enthusiastic joy when Mus- 
 sulman standards were descried trailing at her stem. 
 Shouts of " Victory" hailed the landing of the messenger, 
 and happy were those among the delighted throng who 
 could kiss his hand or touch even his cloak. They escorted 
 him to his own home, round which so great was the pres- 
 sure of the multitudes who besieged its doors, that his 
 mother, when she learned the full extent of her joy, could 
 obtain access only by tears and entreaties, in order that she 
 might greet and embrace her son.t Long was it befoie 
 
 !1 
 
 * Bizar, p. 257, 266. Knolles, p. 864. 
 j- Gratianus, lib. iv. p. 229. 
 
228 
 
 REFLECTIONS ON 
 
 men's minds could accommodate themselves to a complete 
 belief in the unheard-of triumph which he related. The 
 doge and his cortege proceeded at once to St. Mark's, where 
 they heard Te Deum chanted, and celebrated high mass. 
 Solemn processions of four days' continuance were com- 
 manded throughout the Venetian dominions ; and during 
 many succeeding evenings the several guilds of the capital, 
 especially the rich companies of woollen and silk manu- 
 facturers, and the German merchants, paraded through the 
 chief streets with splendid pageants ; and passed the niwht 
 with music and revelry in illuminated booths, adorned as 
 we are assured with pictures by Raffaelle, Michael Antrelo, 
 and Titian. The feast of Sta. Justina, on which the battle 
 had been fought, was set apart as a perpetual anniversary, 
 and distinguished by an andata to the church dedicated to 
 that holy virgin ; and a coinage was issued from the mint, 
 in which the legend — Memor ero iui Justina virgo — seems 
 to have been more calculated to record the saint than the 
 victory. Tintoretto received instructions for a picture of 
 the battle to decorate the public library ; funeral orations 
 were pronounced in St. Mark's over the slain; and Justi- 
 niani speaks with very favourable criticism of one of those 
 speeches delivered by Giovanni Battista Resario.* Another, 
 which was written, we know not whether it was spoken, by 
 the historian Paruta, may be found at the end of his larger 
 work ; it is a cold and laboured composition, dilating far 
 more upon the noble origin of the republic, her long and 
 inviolate independence, and the unrivalled excellences of 
 her constitution, than upon that which the occasion obvi- 
 ously demanded, — the merits of the illustrious dead. 
 
 It has been usual loudly to condemn the remissness of 
 the allies after this splendid triumph, to tax them with igno- 
 rance of the means by which profit might be drawn from the 
 bounty of propitious fortune, and to assert that the victory 
 of Lepanto was wholly without results. In defence of their 
 
 * Lib. xvi. p. 456. In a page or two before, the same historian has 
 mentioned, with exquisite simplicity, that because he sometimes culti- 
 vated the muse in her poetical as well as in her prosaic garb, he him- 
 seir penned some verses in commemoration of this great victory It 
 may be sufficient, without citation, to state that Acheious, Maleus, Glau- 
 ^^' ^""i^on, and Amphitrite are introduced in the narrow compass of 
 nneen hexameters, and made to weep over the departed heroes. 
 
 THE BATTLE OF LEPANTO. 
 
 220 
 
 inaction it may be pleaded that when immediate operations 
 were proposed, so great had been the havoc that no more 
 than five thousand troops were found disposable for service. 
 Whether the battle were indeed fruitless may be decided by 
 inquiring what would have been the fate of Europe if the 
 infidels had conquered ] What new barrier was Christen- 
 dom prepared to raise against the establishment, in her fair- 
 est portion, of the despotism of the Ottomans — perhaps of 
 the imposture of their prophet 1 Paruta wisely compares 
 the victory of Lepanto with that of Salamis," wherein, 
 though the Greeks did, with incredible valour, overcome the 
 mighty Prince Xerxes his fleet, they did not yet reap any 
 more signall advantage thereby than of having delivered 
 Greece for that time from the imminent danger of being en- 
 slaved by barbarians."* And in either case was such a de- 
 liverance nothing ? No sooner was their total defeat an- 
 nounced at Constantinople, than the Turks, seized with 
 consternation, meditated the abandonment of their city ; 
 and, as if the conquerors were already at the gates, they 
 traversed the streets with terror and despair ; asking the 
 Christian residents whether, when their victorious brethren 
 had established themselves in the capital, they would per- 
 mit its present possessors to live in it after their own laws 
 and institutions, on the payment of a tribute 1 But there 
 were good reasons why those fears should prove groundless. 
 The allies, as we have already shown, were too much en- 
 feebled to prosecute active operations ; and it may be per- 
 ceived, besides, by those who discover something more than 
 hyman agency in the mighty labyrinth of history, that it was 
 neither for their own glory that the Christians were per- 
 mitted to conquer, nor for their own merit that the Turks 
 were saved from utter extinction. In the words of an acute 
 writer, whose unravelment is the more sure, because the 
 philosophy by which he has attained it is purified and 
 strengthened by a sober piety, " It is an instructive fact, 
 that the intervention of Providence appeared no less con- 
 spicuously in the preservation of the Turkish power, at an 
 earlier period (after the battle of Lepanto) for the correction 
 of Europe, than in its repression by the arms of Sobieski 
 for its deliverance.^^ f 
 
 * Henry Earl of Monmouth, p. 145. 
 
 r Forster, J\Iahometanism Unvfiled, ii. 483, and the passafe from 
 
 Vol. II.— TJ 
 
230 
 
 SPEEDY RECOVERY OF THE TURKS. 
 
 l! 
 
 I) 
 
 •\ i 
 
 
 1/ 
 
 The season, in truth, was much too far advanced to alloty 
 any further prosecution of the campaign, even if the equip- 
 ment of the allies had been unimpaired ; and breaking up 
 for the approaching winter, Don John sailed for Messina, 
 to repose upon his richly deserved laurels, while the Vene- 
 tians resumed their station in Corfu. Not so easily, how- 
 A. 7>. ^^^^^ ^^P^ ^^ excuse the weak and tardy measures 
 1572. which disgraced the following year; but Venice by 
 no means participates in the blame attaching to 
 them. Her preparations were completed on a large scale 
 early in the spring ; and in order to conciliate Don John, 
 who had not yet been cordially reconciled to Veniero, that 
 gallant officer, with little regard for his late distinguished 
 services, was appointed to a separate command, and re- 
 placed by Giacopo Foscarini ; who, while awaiting the slow 
 promised junction of the Spaniards, made a bold but abor- 
 tive attempt on Castel Nuovo, in the bay of Cattaro. So 
 great, on the other hand, were the advantages gained by 
 the Turks, on recovery from their first natural panic, by 
 these miserable delays and petty jealousies of the confede- 
 rates, so unbroken was their vigour, so undiminished their 
 resources, that after the destruction of almost their whole 
 navy in the proce<ling October, Ulucci-Ali, now Capudan 
 Pacha, sailed from Constantinople in March, with two hun- 
 dred galleys, to menace and insult Candia. True indeed 
 was that which Knolles calls " a witty and fit comparison" 
 made by one of the cnief Turkish prisoners, Mohammed 
 Pacha of Negropont ; " that the battell loste was unto 
 Selymus as if a man should shave his bearde, which would 
 ere long grow again ; but that the losse of Cyprus was unto 
 the Venetians as the losse of an arme, which once cut olfe 
 could never be againe recovered."* 
 
 Gratianus, from whom this anecdote is borrowed, relates 
 another equally pointed saying of the same ready Mussul- 
 man. He appears to have been confined at Rome, where 
 the papal Admiral Colonna, one day visiting his quarters, 
 bade him learn from the generous treatment which he then 
 
 Libertus Folieta there cited, which we have paraprhrased in thetexi— the 
 consternation of the Turks, of which that historian speaks, is confirmed 
 by (^atianus also, de Bella Cm. lib. iv. p. 240. 
 * Page 885. 
 
 VENICE MAKES a'sEPARATE PEACE. 231 
 
 experienced, hereafter to mitigate the cruelty used by the 
 Turks towards their captives. The pacha, in return, im- 
 plored his excellency's pardon, and excused the ignorance 
 of his countrymen, on the score of their little practice as 
 
 prisoners.* , . , - . . 
 
 The allies also put to sea, notwithstandmg the mfenority 
 of their numbers, for out of the hundred ships which Philip 
 II. had promised as his contingent, not more than twenty- 
 two were as yet furnished. Each party shrank from the 
 hazard of a general battle ; the confederates on account of 
 their weakness, the Turks still smarting from their recent 
 overthrow ; so that although the hostile fleets were more 
 than once in each other's presence in the course of the 
 summer, they separated after partial skirmishes. Septem- 
 ber had nearly passed before Don John resumed the com- 
 mand of an armament which then outnumbered the Turks ; 
 and Modon and Navarino were proposed as objects of at- 
 tack ; the latter, a port fertile in ancient remembrances, and 
 destined in our own times to bestow a rich harvest of glory 
 on other combined fleets. One of those designs was aban- 
 doned, the other was unsuccessful ; and at the dechne of 
 the year, the confederates parted as before, after a wholly 
 inconclusive campaign. This irresolute and unsatis- ^ ^^ 
 factory conduct of the Spanish court justly irritated j^^g^ 
 both the pope and the Venetians, and the haughty 
 dismissal of their remonstrances tended to increase disgust. 
 Nor was it long before the dilatoriness of the pontiff" him- 
 self, in furnishing his share of contribution to the general 
 purse, destroyed whatever little good-will continued among 
 the allies ; so that the league, although nominally exislmg, 
 had virtually terminated, when the divan obliquely signified 
 an inclination to negotiate separately with Venice. After a 
 lingering discussion a treaty to the following eflfect was 
 ratified in March. Cyprus was wholly abandoned to the 
 Porte ; the fortress of Sopoto, the single conquest made by 
 Venice m Albania, was restored : and the republic con- 
 sented to pay a tribute of one hundred thousand ducats 
 during the next three years— a condition upon which Selim, 
 who felt how materially its attainm<mt would increase his 
 reputation, peremptorily insisted. The pope received intel- 
 
 * Lib, V. p. 220. 
 
 ii 
 
 'i I 
 
230 
 
 SPEEDY RECOVERY OF THE TURKS. 
 
 VENICE MAKES A SEPARATE PEACE. 
 
 231 
 
 I' 
 
 ^'1 
 
 
 A. I>. 
 
 1572. 
 them. 
 
 / 
 
 The season, in truth, was much too far advanced to alloxr 
 any further prosecution of the campaign, even if the equip- 
 ment of the allies had been unimpaired ; and breaking up 
 for the approaching winter, Don John sailed for Messina, 
 to repose upon his richly deserved laurels, while the Vene- 
 tians resumed their station in Corfu. Not so easily, how- 
 ever, can we excuse the weak and tardy measures 
 which disgraced the following year; but Venice by 
 no means participates in the blame attaching to 
 Her preparations were completed on a large scale 
 early in the spring ; and in order to conciliate Don John, 
 who had not yet been cordially reconciled to Veniero, that 
 gallant officer, with little regard for his late distinguished 
 services, was appointed to a separate command, and re- 
 placed by Giacopo Foscarini ; who, while awaiting the slow 
 promised junction of the Spaniards, made a bold but abor- 
 tive attempt on Castel Nuovo, in the bay of Cattaro. So 
 great, on the other hand, were the advantages gained by 
 the Turks, on recovery from their first natural panic, by 
 these miserable delays and petty jealousies of the confede- 
 rates, so unbroken was their vigour, so undiminished their 
 resources, that after the destruction of almost their whole 
 navy in the preceding October, Ulucci-Ali, now Capudan 
 Pacha, sailed from Constantinople in March, with two hun- 
 dred galleys, to menace and insult Candia. True indeed 
 was that which Knolles calls " a witty and fit comparison" 
 made by one of the chief Turkish prisoners, Mohammed 
 Pacha of Negropont ; " that the battell loste was unto 
 Selymus as if a man should shave his bearde, which would 
 ere long grow again ; but that the losse of Cyprus was unto 
 the Venetians as the losse of an arme, which once cut offe 
 could never be againe recovered."* 
 
 Gratianus, from whom this anecdote is borrowed, relates 
 another equally pointed saying of the same ready Mussul- 
 man. He appears to have been confined at Rome, where 
 the papal Admiral Colonna, one day visiting his quarters, 
 bade him learn from the generous treatment which he then 
 
 Libertus Folieta there cited, which we have paraphrased in the text— the 
 consternation of the Turks, 0.'" which that historian speaks, is confirmed 
 by bratianus also, de Bello Oup. lib. iv. p. 240. 
 * Page 885. 
 
 experienced, hereafter to mitigate the cruelty used by the 
 Turks towards their captives. The pacha, in return, im- 
 plored his excellency's pardon, and excused the ignorance 
 of his countrymen, on the score of their little practice as 
 
 prisoners.* . . 
 
 The allies also put to sea, notwithstanding the inferiority 
 of their numbers, for out of the hundred ships which Philip 
 n. had promised as his contingent, not more than twenty- 
 two were as yet furnished. Each party shrank from the 
 hazard of a general battle ; the confederates on account of 
 their weakness, the Turks still smarting from their recent 
 overthrow ; so that although the hostile fleets were more 
 than once in each other's presence in the course of the 
 summer, they separated after partial skirmishes. Septem- 
 ber had nearly passed before Don John resumed the com- 
 mand of an armament which then outnumbered the Turks ; 
 and Modon and Navarino were proposed as objects of at- 
 tack ; the latter, a port fertile in ancient remembrances, and 
 destined in our own times to bestow a rich harvest of glory 
 on other combined fleets. One of those designs was aban- 
 doned, the other was unsuccessful ; and at the decline of 
 the year, the confederates parted as before, after a wholly 
 inconclusive campaign. This irresolute and unsatis- ^ ^^ 
 factory conduct of the Spanish court justly irritated jg^g] 
 both the pope and the Venetians, and the haughty 
 dismissal of their remonstrances tended to increase disgust. 
 Nor was it long before the dilatoriness of the pontiff him- 
 self, in furnishing his share of contribution to the general 
 purse, destroyed whatever little good-will continued among 
 the allies ; so that the league, although nominally existing, 
 had virtually terminated, when the divan obliquely signified 
 an inclination to negotiate separately with Venice. After a 
 lingering discussion a treaty to the following effect was 
 ratified in March. Cyprus was wholly abandoned to the 
 Porte ; the fortress of Sopoto, the single conquest made by 
 Venice m Albania, was restored : and the republic con- 
 sented to pay a tribute of one hundred thousand ducats 
 during the next three years— a condition upon which Selim, 
 who felt how materially its attainment would increase his 
 reputation, peremptorily insisted. The pope received intel- 
 
 * Lib. V. p. 220. 
 
 ^■M' 
 
 '^^^^'S^w^' 
 
232 BARRENNESS OF THE NEXT PERIOD. 
 
 Hgence of this peace with unreasonable indimiation • the 
 King of Spain honestly admitted its necessity^nd i^sVt! 
 
 mu"h ll/tifr \"' '^'''^f commentatorL^sloryTS 
 much later t mes, has remarked, that by its conditions it 
 
 appeared as if the Turks rather than tL Chrltiarhad 
 been conquerors in the battle of Lepanto.* '^'''''^'^"' ^^^ 
 
 VISIT OF HENRY III. OF FRANCE. 
 
 233 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 PROM A. D. 1573 TO A. D. 1617. 
 
 TheAlrhvmio.D J- w ^^PP®''°~^"'ance with Heiirv IV — 
 
 lu'emif 0? he Srr^^ ^^"' V.-Triumph or v'enire- 
 
 of the Uscocchi. ^^'"'^ ^rpi-Apology of James I.-War 
 
 A. D. 
 
 1576. 
 
 LXXXVIll. 
 
 1578. 
 
 LXXXIX. 
 
 1585. 
 
 XC. 
 
 1595. 
 
 XCI. 
 
 1606. 
 
 XCII. 
 
 1612. 
 
 xciir. 
 
 1616. 
 
 XCIV. 
 
 DOGES. 
 
 LuiGI MoXCENlGO. 
 
 Sebastiano Veniero. 
 NicoLo Dapoxte. 
 Pascale Cicogna. 
 Marino Grimant. 
 Leonardo Donato. 
 Marc' Antonio Memmo. 
 Giovanni Bembo. 
 
 next forty years, our attention is chiefly invited bv ronr.™ 
 
 S of 'thT"^' T,*"^'''""/ -o-h tL" rrl'LToTthJ 
 annals of the republic ; and the siege of Fama<rost» =nH 
 
 the triumph of Lepan.o stand out in highly rehl^d con' 
 
 * Voltaire, ut supra. 
 
 trast vrith the festivities on the reception of a foreign prince, 
 and the conduct of a war of pamphlets against the holy 
 
 see. 
 
 In the year following the Turkish peace, on the death 
 of his brother Charles IX., Henry HI. stealthily ^ ^ 
 quitted his Polish throne for that of France ; and in j^^^* 
 his passage to his new dominions through Venice, a 
 route which he selected in order to avoid the Protestant 
 states of the empire, he was entertained by the signory with 
 a mawnificence upon which the native writers have de- 
 lighted to expatiate. Having been conducted by the whole 
 body of senators, each attired in his robes of office and 
 rowed in his own gondola, from Malghera to Murano, the 
 king was visited on the following morning by the doge, in 
 the customary pomp of the Bucentaur. Each prince, as we 
 are told, on a{)proaching his brother sovereign, raised his 
 bonnet and uncovered himself precisely at the same mo- 
 ment ; and Henry, having first ennobled* all the artificers 
 at the glass-works, as a token of approbation of their great 
 skill, embarked on board a new and gorgeous galley, con- 
 structed purposely for his transport, in which the three 
 hundred and fifty-four Sclavonians who formed its crew 
 appeared clad in the French monarch's livery. The illus- 
 trious companv, passing round by Lido, attended mass per- 
 formed by the' patriarch in the church of San Nicolo, and 
 then proceeded to the noble palace of the Foscari, on the 
 Great Canal, which, together with the two contiguous 
 mansions of the Giustiniani, was assigned to the king as a 
 residence. Thirty patrician youths were selected as his 
 personal attendants ; whenever he went abroad his canopy 
 was supported by six provvedtfori ; and the city resounded 
 by day with music and shouts of joy, and glittered by night 
 with illuminated streets and adulatory emblems blazing in 
 d.rtirici3.1 nrG 
 
 The house of Valois had long since been enrolled in the 
 Golden Book, and Henry, claiming his privilege of nobility, 
 assisted at a sitting of the Great Council. In that assem- 
 bly, the urns containing the gold and silver balls, the 
 
 * By some titular distinction, about which the signory was carelesa. 
 It was a privilege, the exercise of which appears to have been much 
 affecttd by foreign princes on tbelr travels. 
 
234 
 
 THE NICOLOTI AND CASTELLANI. 
 
 4i H\ 
 
 I! 
 
 U 
 
 chance distribution of which decided the primary electors 
 of the Pregadi, were offered to him uncovered, and when 
 exercising his right thus obtained, he nominated Gilcopc^ 
 Contarmi, more than a thousand votes in the subseaueM 
 ballot confirmed the royal choice. On another mo?nin' 
 the venerable Titian received the monarch in his JS 
 presented him with some choice pictures, and entertlhted 
 his suite with splendour. A more bois erous entSn. 
 ment was prepared for the illustrious guest, when he 
 viewed from his balcony a pugilistic combat between the 
 iVzcoJo/j and the Castellam; thi two popular factTons into 
 which the rabble and the gondoliers of Venice are in the 
 habit of dividing themselves, according to the particular 
 half of the city m which they happen \o be born Two 
 hundred champions on either side contested the brid<re dci 
 Carmm by the prowess of their fists; some blood was 
 harmlessly drawn, and many of the leaders were precTol! 
 tated into the canal below, much to the delight Tf the 
 princely and noble spectators; till Henry, willina to con! 
 tent both parties by leaving victoiy undecideS; gave a 
 signal for suspension of hostilities.* Among the winders 
 
 ^n^!^"tS: etZy^ZTZ^^^^^^ "^--i- «»^'- that 
 
 editlm (lib. xii 593? Trso, i \va ?o.urrr??o Ll'""! ^'^'"''' ^''''^^^' 
 mission of any weapon was ^SufSH ^^"^'■"'."^^ge, for the ad- 
 
 passion for hLugT^,nlt^Trot^^^^ Z 'v '" ?'' '^''''^- ^he 
 
 among ourselves: and the^min^ihyh.1^1%^^ ^ '^ do«8 
 
 a pitched battle between two combaianK^ C Z.c , .^- ^^^^^^"^y 
 ported that it was covvardly t^sSe a man wh. ^? """'^^ °f "^'""^ ''»- 
 blood decided the victory • that a»L? Sri ?"'''" ' "'a' the first 
 
 either side, they must part f iends that wL'?"''" Ti^°"^ ^^'^ «« 
 
 tagonist into thl watenSe^a doub e victorv and ?h '? r'"""^:: 1^ «"- 
 mounted the bridge without meeting Jivrn.' ^i^l' '^'* ^^^^'«"ger 
 greatestofail honours "i^^,J'/^^''"^/"> opponent, he obtained The 
 Ordinata /'i/i^rrnrearTHn/.H h;Mf ^""'^'■''"''^"''t«'• ^^ numbers. 3. 
 
 thetext,i.iX1;.'hoTeX'wl'p'ote;Son^ ''''V''' '" 
 
 victorious. All these fights were riuS?rdhvnf^^'' T'^ '^^ 
 the two parties themselves and nam^i p. ^ '^?*'^" *'*^°^^» among 
 
 DEATH OF TITIAN. 
 
 235 
 
 exhibited at the arsenal, which the royal guest next visited, 
 was the construction and equipment of an entire galley 
 from its various pieces of framework prepared beforehand, 
 while he partook of a collation.* Nor has it been omitted, 
 to the glory of the Venetian confectionary, that the table 
 on that occasion was decorated with rare but most uncom- 
 fortable appointments, — the fruits, napkins, knives, forks, 
 and plates being formed of sugar. At a subsequent ban- 
 quet in the ducal palace, three hundred groups of the same 
 frail material, nymphs, lions, ships, and griffins, delighted 
 the eyes of the men and the palates of the ladies ; to which 
 latter we are assured they were presented most gallantly, 
 per favore. After eight days of laborious pleasure, the 
 King of France quitted the Adriatic with lavish expressions 
 of gratitude ; and the senate considered it worth while to 
 inform posterity of his abode in their capital, by a wordy 
 inscription on a marble tablet, which still fronts the eye at 
 the summit of the Giant's Stairs.t 
 
 The death of Titian, more regretted and more remem- 
 bered than those of all his forty thousand fellow-citizens to 
 whom the same plague proved fatal, gives unhappy 
 distinction to the following year; and during the ^cyc' 
 ravages of that pestilence the very question which 
 
 Mayor of Garrat, was invested with a mock authority, and attended the 
 andata of the marriage of the sea with a burlesque court Victory in 
 these contests was hijrhly esteemed, and the women of the beaten party 
 often drove their husbands from their homes, witli loud reproaches for 
 their dishonour. "• Va via di qiin, porcn, ivfamcvituperoso!" — (An- 
 tonio de Ville, Pyctomachia ap. Graevii Thes. vol. v. pars post. p. 368.) 
 
 * This feat, liowever surprising, was perhaps exceeded when George 
 III. visited Portsmouth aHer Lord Howe's victory, in 1794. On that oc- 
 casion a ninety-eight gun .ship was launched, broiiglit into a wet dock, 
 and completely calked and copjiered, altogether in nine hours, in order 
 to exhibit the various jjrocesses to the king. 
 
 t Ben Jonson has marked the chronology of the plot in his master- 
 piece Volpone, (what language presents a more noble draraa?) by sume 
 lines allusive to these festivities : 
 
 — ■ — ——I am now as fresh, 
 
 As hot, as high, and in as jovial plight, 
 
 As when, in that so celebrated scene 
 
 At recitation of our comedy. 
 
 For entertainment of the great Valoys, 
 
 I acted young Antinous. 
 
 In another place (ii. 1), Percgine tells Sir Politick Would-be "that the 
 lioness in the Tower of London has whelped a becond time/' an event 
 which also occurred in 1606. 
 
236 
 
 GREAT PLAGUE. 
 
 THE RIALTO. 
 
 237 
 
 ^ 
 
 VJ 
 
 ^ 
 
 has been again so much contested of late years araonff dif- 
 fering medical practitioners, was discussed in the presencfl 
 of the signory. by the physicians of Padua and'v'nrce! 
 Ihe former denied, the latter asserted, the doctrine of con! 
 tagion ; and the senate littlo qualified to pronounce a scien- 
 tific judgment, halted for a long time between the conflict- 
 ng opmions ; till the boldness of the Paduans, who fear- 
 lessly exposed themselves to all hazards in the chambers 
 of the sick and dying, for a time unhappily prevailed. Four 
 days, however, had scarcely passed after the relaxation 
 rJT^ precautions, before the frightful disease spread 
 rapidly through those sestieri of the city which had hitherto 
 escaped infection : yet notwithstanding this calamitous 
 practical rebutment of their principle, Ihe death of oL 
 of their own body, and the disgrace and dismissal of the 
 firs' erro^'.'hT F^"'''' '^ obstinately persisted in their 
 thp«T [' . ^T "^"'^ ^^^'^ ^^« wished to pursue 
 mo^?nI 7v T P^"^'^^^«-* C^^^«t as was the surrounding 
 mortality, the magistrates remnined undismayed at their 
 respective posts ; and, although not unfrequently some 
 noble who had addressed the council in the niorniL w^s 
 
 ot the senate were on no occasion intermitted. Terror 
 was at Its height, human aid was powerless, and hope had 
 failed when Monccnigo, after solemn mass in St Mrfs 
 registered a vow-^in the presence of as many c i^ens as 
 himT/f •' f^'r^'^' -Pital permitted to Jather round 
 him,-to found and dedicate, in the name of the republic a 
 
 ousTv aid ^rT' ''" ''^?^^""^' '' -^«- it 'un p^u! 
 ously, and to perform a yearly andala to it, on the return 
 
 of the day on which Venice should become free from Ser 
 
 present scourge. If we are to believe Morosini' f om thL 
 
 hour amendment commenced with a miraculous speed -foj 
 
 although on the morning before the vow two hundred 
 
 ciTr^d ::irwr^ '^ ^',^ ^^""^"' f«- -»y - "- "- 
 
 ve\r tl. • "^^'"^ succeeded. Before the close of the 
 year he city was restored to health, and Palladio was en! 
 
 fhurchofZV". ')' ""'^'"^^ ''' "^^'-t ornamrnt the 
 cnurch of the Redentore, appropriated to the Capucins.f 
 
 * Jfaurocenus, lib. xii. p. 626. 
 
 uuruig u piague m 1630 ; the first stone was laid on the 
 
 The lofty deserts of Sebastiano Veniero, the conqueror 
 of Lepanto, were rewarded by the ducal bonnet on the 
 death of Moncenigo ; but he enjoyed the prize only 
 for a short time, and his brief reign was marked by , /„„* 
 a great public calamity. The ducal palace, with the 
 exception of its outer walls, was burned to the ground by a 
 fire which, but for the seasonable fall of the roof, would 
 probably have involved in like destruction the mint, the 
 library, and St. Mark's itself. One part of the loss conse- 
 quent on this disaster was wholly irreparable, that of the 
 historical pictures which decorated many apartments ; the 
 subjects however were repainted, and in most instances 
 with great skill. The government also had sufficiently 
 good taste to leave untouched the original shell of the 
 palace, as designed by Filippo-Calendario in the reign 
 of Marino Faliero ; and to rebuild within its most imposing, 
 although perhaps somewhat grotesque, fa9ades, the irregu- 
 larly magnificent pile which still avouches with proud testi- 
 mony the ancient majesty of the fallen republic. During 
 the remainder of this century the embellishment of the 
 capital proceeded rapidly ; the Piazza di San Marco was 
 completed, and the wooden bridge, which, during three 
 hundred years, had formed the sole communication between 
 the two great divisions of the city, was replaced by the 
 single marble arch of the far-famed Rialto ; an arch long 
 the glory of Venice and the envy and the admiration of 
 strangers, till a modern utilitarian tourist discovered that 
 its chief supposed excellences were in truth defects ; that 
 it was erroneous to praise its length of span and lowness 
 of spring; and that it would be far better to substitute a 
 cast-iron bridge from the furnaces of Rotherham, which 
 might be free from these egregious faults !* Besides these 
 great works, a new and more commodious site was chosen 
 for the dungeons hitherto constructed in the vaults under 
 
 Feast of the Annunciation in the following year, the birthday of Venice, 
 which coincidence is marked by an inscription on the pavement, Unde 
 Origo inde Salu/!. 
 
 * Macgili's Travels, London and Edinburgh, 1508. The architect of 
 the Rialto was Antonio da Ponte ; it was begun in 1587, and completed in 
 1591 ; the chord of the arch is ninety-six feet ten inches, the height ot 
 the centre ttom the water twenty -one feet ; the extreme breadth Bixty-siz 
 leec. 
 
 I 
 
I"f 
 
 
 238 
 
 BIANCA CAPPELLO. 
 
 ,h 
 
 known Pme & sVXi Trl^"' P''gha,'-^nd the better 
 
 |ninute of the senS\ru d^the^itt*:.''/'- "^-"^ 
 tendencetoprovideabniMlnrrlv T/ ^"^^ ^^ superin- 
 and the prisL whi^h a otf/ it fuT^^e^l'.r^^ 
 are styled by Coryat the "fairest "'.nT,^"'" "'^"^ 
 "strongest,"'whieh either travel 'lndvisi^L^°T'' ""' 
 inspected the Venetian prison, hi 77s Ii .!* Howard 
 tween three and fourhun'd S per oS ." «" '"' ^''""'' ^''^ 
 for life, and in loathsome and^dXeUs "a'd'aT th'o'"''"^ 
 darkness assured him that thpv tu^.w k ' ^"^^^ ^^ 
 
 gallevs for lite. '^ "^^"^^ ^^^« preferred the 
 
 i^r^'-bh^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 
 
 prized more than all of thosp jhli . /,*^°""^*^<'ns» 
 Bianca, and in his hope a re.?lv nU ?."'^ ^^ ^'' ^^^S^tel 
 and most powerful house i^Vetce^ "^^^ '^' '^^'^^^^ 
 
 propinquity (that most fert e sprinJ oMoveT h'T"'^ ^^^ 
 directed the maiden's own wishel tow^f^ ^l '^^'^^'^ 
 youth ofhandsome person and ^.n T '"^^ ^ Florentine 
 no higher station tha'n^t of c! reTundeT.I,^ "'^ '"^'^ 
 of an uncle, in the wealthy bank of thp 4 . Protection 
 from the Pallazzo Cappe^H pLro R ^'''^''' "^* ^^' 
 favoured suitor, in order To securf hi .^"^"^/fntura, the 
 concealed the pover"; and obscuritv'orh'^ i^ T^^^"' 
 persuaded her that he^as a neXV/a^arttf ^f Th^ 
 
 ^^^^nSi'l^:,;:—^ the nob,es 
 
 s^t-soon the same account the bellwhich simmn^rH ^^'^ «' »»>«' 
 
 La Trottiera.—Daru, vol. vi ^ summoned them was called 
 
 t Doglioni, Hist. Ventt. lib. xv 
 
 + ^"'■yst' Crvdities, p. 217 
 
 particularly ihat of the baker^'bov wf ^"f^^T^'^ f""" ^anv additions 
 fair o,:e during her assi/nation T^ '° ''°^^'' ^^« ^'"^^ 'eft 8pen by "h ' 
 Wholly relied'(wnf?'S W^'d" '¥" r'"'" "^^ ha^eatt 
 
 the time was proclaimed in V^ice ^/ySS^''''''"^ ''^"^ ^^^'"^^ U 
 
 HER RESIDENCE IN FLORENCE. 
 
 239 
 
 rich bankers by whom he was in truth but subordinately 
 employed. False keys and the aid of a governess, — whom 
 the novelist Malespini somewhat inappropriately describes 
 as una fedele matroria, — procured the enamoured Bianca 
 nightly egress from her father's palace to stolen interviews 
 with her lover. Not many months elapsed before conceal- 
 ment became no longer possible ; and under the dread 
 of separation upon discovery, and yet more of a bloody 
 Italian vengeance for her dishonour, Bianca resolved to 
 abandon home and country, and to commit herself entirely 
 to the adventurer whom she now called husband. Having 
 collected her jewels and a well-replenished purse,* she 
 threw herself accordingly into a gondola on the night 
 of the 1st of December, 1563, gained Terra Firma^ and 
 hastily proceeded to Florence under the guardijuiship 
 of Pietro. 
 
 The Tuscan dutchy at that time was still nominally held 
 by Cosmo dei Medici ; but the government of his capital 
 and all virtual authority had been devolved b}' him on his 
 son Francesco, to whose protection the fugitives immedi- 
 ately resorted. But it was in vain that the young prince 
 solicited reconciliation for Bianca with her indignant family. 
 Her father, disappointed in his projects of ambition, de- 
 ceived and abandoned by that daughter upon whom had 
 been centred his fondest affections, and brooding upon the 
 misalliance which had sullied, as he declared, the stream 
 of his hitherto uncontaminatcd blood, renounced all further 
 connexion with her, and avowed purposes of unremitting 
 revenge ; in which he was zealously encouraged by his 
 brother-in-law Grimani, patriarch of Aquileia. Their first 
 step was to procure the imprisonment of Pietro's unhappy 
 uncle, who vainly protested his total unacquaintance with 
 the amour, and died miserably after a short confinement. 
 Then representing to the Ten that the disgrace of the 
 Cappelli involved in it an unpardonable affront to the whole 
 body of Venetian nobility, they obtained an edict inflicting 
 perpetual banishment on Pietro, and offering a price of two 
 thousand ducats for his head. 
 
 * Thte fact destroys the ingraftments of Malespini as to her extreme 
 poverty when at Florence, and relieves her also from Tenhove's impu- 
 tation. It is quite needless to exaegeraie the infamy of Bianca Cap- 
 pello. See Mem. of the House of Medici^ translated by Sir R. Clayton, 
 vol. ii. ch. 13. 
 
 -^ 
 
240 
 
 
 V 
 
 INTLUENCE OP BIANCA OVER 
 
 Meantime, a frequent and familiar intercourse with 
 Kianca, her gnef, her fears, her defencelessness, her sin- 
 gular beauty, and her equally distinguished powers of 
 mnid, struck the imagination and engrossed the affections 
 of Francesco dei Medici. He loved, and did not plead in 
 vain ; yet pending a negotiation of marriage with Joanna 
 of Austria to whom he was already plighted, the indulgence 
 A. D. °^r Passion was concealed from the public eye. 
 1566. ^^ sooner, however, were his nuptials completed, 
 than, regardless of his bride, he appointed Pietro his 
 master of the robes, established Bianca magnificently in a 
 palace adjoining his own, and entertained her as his 
 avowed mistress. Whether the husband, who at first 
 contentedly bartered his honour for patronage, and formed 
 what the Itahans, accustomed to such shameless arrange- 
 ments, name un tnangolo equUatero, afterward manifested 
 a ^troublesome jealousy, and was despatched by Frances- 
 co s orders, or whether the unextinguished hatred of his 
 Venetian enemies at length gratified itself by his death,* 
 does not appear certain : but, after seven years' abode in 
 Jlorence, he was found murdered in the streets. Every 
 hour now mcreased the prince's weakness and Bianca's 
 influence ; and, not satisfied with reliance upon her rare 
 natural endowments, upon her unrivalled personal charms, 
 her wit and elegance, her vivacity and playfulness, and 
 those thousand little pleasing caprices which moulded Fran- 
 cesco to her will,t— all which her bitterest censurers are 
 compelled to accord to her— she is said to have called to 
 her aid the superstitions of her time ; to have received into 
 her full confidence a Jewish hag pretending to more than 
 human powers; to have employed filters and incantations; 
 and to have gathered round her a rabble of charlatans and 
 astrologers, all employed in the one grand object of height- 
 ening and continuing her lover's attachment. Far blacker 
 accusations also rest upon her memory. The prince bein^ 
 eagerly desirous of male issue, which his marriage-bed had 
 as yet failed to produce, Bianca is said to have feigned 
 
 * Malespini assigns a third cause, an intrigue, of which he onenlv 
 STher family ' '^'"''"'•"' '^'' '' '"''''' ^h"«« d'«^onour was avTnged 
 
 FRANCISCO DEI MEDICI. 
 
 241 
 
 appearances which promised gratification to his most 
 ardent wish. As the full season at which those hopes 
 were to be realized approached, she lodged in diflTerent 
 quarters of the city three women at the eve of confinement ; 
 and adroitly presented to Francesco a supposititious boy, 
 the produce of one of those mothers. The wretched tools 
 of her iniquitous fraud, if permitted to live, might have 
 compromised her security, they were therefore speedily 
 removed by poison ; and more than a year afterward, a 
 Bolognese lady who had been employed in this agency, 
 and of whose fidelity some doubts were entertained, received 
 permission to visit her native city, and was assassinated 
 among the mountains on her route. The dying confessions 
 of this last victim, who survived a few hours after having 
 been mortally wounded, revealed these complicated atroci- 
 ties ; and having been transmitted to Ferdinando, Cardinal 
 dei Medici, Francesco's brother, they increased his deserved 
 and undissembled abhorrence of the guilty woman who held 
 the prince in willing thraldom. 
 
 Francesco was now in possession of the throne, and he was 
 soon also to be freed from the ties of marriage. The 
 splendid reception afforded at his court to a brother i gyg' 
 of his mistress, and the unlimited confidence which 
 he appeared to repose in him, not only so far alienated his 
 subjects as to produce a menace of revolt, but aggravated 
 the sorrows of his neglected consort and closed them by 
 death in premature child-birth. The final object of Bianca's 
 ambition now seemed easy of attainment. Many years 
 since, even during the lifetime of her husband, and at the 
 commencement of the duke's infatuated passion, she had 
 led him before an image of the Virgin ; and had there 
 received and given a solemn pledge that when both were 
 released from their existing bonds they would become 
 mutually united by marriage. Nevertheless some remaining 
 sense of shame, the urgent representations of the cardinal, 
 and the fear of heightening disaffection among his people, 
 awhile restrained Francesco from thus completing his 
 distrrace. For a short time he absented himself from 
 Florence, and promised to renounce all future connexion 
 with Bianca ; till the artifices of a confessor whom she 
 held in pay stifled the voice of conscience and of reason, 
 and led him back insensibly to his former slavery. Before 
 
 Vol. II.— X 
 
 i 
 
 -l.. 1^ 
 
 'm 
 
242 BIANCA ADOPTED A DAUGHTER OF VENICE. 
 
 two months of widowhood had expired, he privately 
 ,l^g married her, without revealing the secret even to 
 
 his brother ; nor was it till during a severe illness, 
 when Ferdinando remonstrated upon the gross scandal 
 of the constant attendance of a mistress upon that which 
 might prove his death-bed, that he avowed her to be his 
 wife, and pleaded the son, Don Antonio, whom she had 
 borne him, in extenuation of the folly. 
 
 To his people these ill-omened nuptials were not declared 
 till the year of customary mourning had closed ;* and then, 
 in order that no formal ratification of his union might be 
 wanting, the grand-duke resolved to conform to that usage 
 of Venice which prohibited the intermarriage of a foreio-ner 
 with any of her noble families ; and to demand Bianca, not 
 as a daughter of Cappello, but of St. Mark himself. A 
 splendid embassy was accordingly despatched to the signory 
 avowing the prince's desire to ally himself with Venice in 
 preference to any other European state; and praying that 
 his consort might be affiliated by the republic, in orde^r that 
 he also might claim the privileges and discharge the duties 
 of an adopted son. The former dishonour of Bianca was 
 instantly buried in oblivion both by the public authorities 
 and by her own family. The Ten forgot their denunciations 
 of vengeance ; her parents reacknowledged their beloved 
 and long-lost daughter with expressions of tenderest affec- 
 tion; and the Patriarch Grimani, who had been the most 
 active stimulator of her early persecution and of the pro- 
 jected assassination of her first husband, now received the 
 Florentine ambassadors with sacerdotal pomp on their en- 
 trance into the Palazzo Cappelli. In a brilliant assembly 
 June 16 ®^ ^^f sigpory, the councils, and all other public 
 1579. ' functionaries, and amid a throng of delighted and 
 
 approving relatives, Bianca was formally recog- 
 nised as "the true and particular daughter of the republic, 
 on account and in consideration of the many eminent and 
 distinguished qualities which rendered her worthy of every 
 
 * According to Tenhove, the notification was received with scorn and 
 ridicule, and the populace chanted ribald songsaboutlhestreetaof Flor- 
 ence.— (Clayton, ii. ch. xiii. p. 500,) 
 
 II gran duca di Toscana 
 Ha sposata una putana 
 GentUdonna Veneziana. 
 
 I* 
 
 SUSPICIONS OF THE CARDINAL DEI MEDICI. 243 
 
 good fortune ; and in order to meet with corresponding feel- 
 ings the esteem vyhich the grand-duke had manifested towards 
 Venice by this his most prudent resolution." Salvoes of 
 artillery, bonfires, and illuminations proclaimed the univer- 
 sal joy. The father and brother of the new-born child of 
 the state were created cavalierij and allowed precedence be- 
 fore all others of their class ; " the signory condescended 
 to visit the Florentine envoys privately, and the senate of- 
 fered their congratulations openly and ceremoniously. Two 
 of the graves? nobles, supported by ninety gentlemen of 
 rank, each accompanied by a magnificent suite,, were de- 
 puted to put Bianca in possession of her newly acquired 
 rights, and to assist at the second nuptials which Francesco 
 determined to celebrate with public solomniiies. The pa- 
 triarch and all the chief Cappelli transferred themselves to 
 Florence, as witnesses of this glory of their house ; and m 
 order to consummate its aggrandizement, the consent of 
 the holy see was obtained for Bianca's coronation, that she 
 might be placed on an equality with the former adopted 
 dauffhters of St. Mark, the queens of Hungary and of Cy- 
 
 prus." 
 
 No baser sacrifice than that which the Venetian govern- 
 ment and the Cappelli offered up at the shrine of worldly 
 interest is presented to us by history ; and much as every 
 generous feeling despises that false pride of conventional 
 honour which induced her family to renounce Bianca in her 
 former virtuous poverty, far more does it revolt from the 
 mean adulation with which they were seen to fall down and 
 worship her subsequent greatness of station and of infamy. 
 But mark the sequel ! The cardinal, although seemingly 
 reconciled, was beset with distrust, and cherished perpetual 
 and well-founded suspicions that his presumptive right of 
 succession might be frustrated by the artifices of Bianca. 
 If Don Antonfo, indeed, were legitimated and declared heir 
 to the throne, so flagrant a violation of justice might be 
 remedied after the death of his reputed father ; but what 
 if Bianca, although now manifestly unfitted for maternity, 
 were again, as she more than once seemed plotting, to im- 
 pose upon her credulous husband another boy, who, as the 
 presumed issue of wedlock, would be his legal successor ! 
 Prompt measures were demanded, and it is too probable 
 that the most prompt were adopted ; for the Medici were 
 
244 
 
 DEATHS OF FRANCESCO AND BIANCA. 
 
 )i 
 
 familiar with crime, and their domestic annals were written 
 in deeply died characters of blood. Two daughters sacri- 
 ficed to the jealousy of their husbands, a third poisoned by 
 the orders of her father, who, with his own hand, put to 
 death one son for the assassination of another, are among 
 the incidents of horror which mark the life of the first 
 Grand-duke Cosmo ; and his successor Francesco was now 
 destined, as we may reasonably believe, to swell this foul 
 catalogue of unnatural murders. 
 
 The cardinal accepted an invitation to the retired hunt- 
 A. D. i"g-seat of Poggio a Caiano, and in the course of a 
 1587. "^^^k's abode both the grand-duke and Bianca ex- 
 pired within a few hours of each other. The stu- 
 dious care with which the bodies were first opened by the 
 court physicians, and the parade with which they were af- 
 terward exhibited to public inspection, tended only to in- 
 crease a natural suspicion that their deaths were the result 
 of poison. Whether Ferdinando drugged a favourite dish 
 for both, or whether that drugged for him by Bianca, — 
 and detected, as the credulity of his age believed, by a 
 change of colour in his ring,*-^was first tasted inadvert- 
 ently by Francesco, and then finished in despair by herself, 
 was not ascertained at the time ; and it must therefore con- 
 tinue doubtful whether this great crime is to be attributed to 
 the ambition of a prince eager to reign, or to the hatred of 
 an infuriated woman. The funeral honours due to the 
 rank of the late grand-duchess were denied by Ferdinando on 
 his accession ; and her remains, instead of being committed 
 to the splendid cemetery of the Medici, were interred pri- 
 vately, and without a memorial, in the crypt of San Loren- 
 zo ; her arms and emblems, wherever blazoned, were care- 
 fully defaced ; and, in order more eflTectually to transmit her 
 name with dishonour to posterity, her title was erased from 
 
 * ™^^s^OT may appear to derive some countenance from a state- 
 ment of Sir Henry Wotton. In a Character of Ferdinando dei Medici, 
 Ue says, 'This duke, while I was a private traveller at Florence, and 
 went sometime by chance (sure I am without any design) to his court, 
 was pleased out of some gracious conceit which he look of mv fidelity 
 (tor nothmg else could move it), to employ me into Scotland with a ca»- 
 Ket of antidotes or preservatives, wherein he did excel all the nrinees 
 or the world.'' -Reliq. Wotton.. p. 246. That casket laid the foundation 
 01 wotton 8 fortunes ; it was sent to protect James I,, before his acces- 
 fi,°.1 1 '^fT" °^ England, agamat a poi»onmg plot which had coma 
 to the knowledge of the grand-duke. 
 
 ^i 
 
 A. D. 
 
 1589. 
 
 ALLUNCE WITH HENRY IV. OF FRANCE. 245 
 
 all public documents, beginning with the registry of Don 
 Antonio's birth, and in its room was substituted la pessima 
 Bianca. 
 
 On the accession of Henry IV. to the crown of France, 
 Venice was among the first powers which recognised 
 his title ; and the great benefit which the king de- 
 rived from that early acknowledgment by a state re- 
 nowned for political sagacity was repaid by him with lasting 
 friendship. He knighted the ambassadors of the republic, 
 and presented the treasury of St. Mark's with the sword 
 which he had worn at the battle of Yvry. The signory, in 
 return, enrolled the royal name in the Golden Book, by an 
 unprecedented ballot of one thousand six hundred and thirty 
 assentient votes ; and with yet more substantial gratitude 
 they instructed their ambassadors to commit to the flames, 
 in the king's presence, certain obligations for considerable 
 sums which he had borrowed during his necessities. Henry, 
 who was quick of speech, and loved pleasantry to his heart, 
 first thanked the envoy with becoming courtesy, and then 
 gayly assured him that he had never before warmed himself 
 at so agreeable a fire.* As the Spanish monarchy contin- 
 ued to increase its dominions in northern Italy, and betrayed 
 an ill-disguised hostility equally against France and Venice, 
 the strict alliance thus fortunately established became im- 
 portant to the interests of both countries. 
 
 Henry, indeed, in more than one way, sought to replenish 
 his cotfers by coining the friendship of Venice into ready 
 ducats. Al)0ut the year 1590, we are told, there appeared 
 a most eminent alchymist, a Cypriote, named Marco Braga- 
 dino, who obtained so great renown for the transmutation 
 of mercury into the very finest gold, that he was sought for 
 by all the leading potentates of Europe. He preferred Ven- 
 ice to his other suitors, and he w.is received with much 
 complacency and distinction by the signory ; was housed in 
 a noble mansion, and visited by the most wealthy and hon- 
 ourable persons, not only of that city, but of all Italy, and 
 even by princes themselves. His mode of living was at- 
 tended with great and almost regal magnificence ; he as- 
 sumed the title of Illustrissimo^ and he was universally es- 
 
 * These respective interchanges of kindness are noticed in the Lettrea 
 d'Ossat, iii. 137, L. 149, iv. 463, L. 282 ; by Maurocenus, Hist. Ven. lib. 
 XV. aijin. ; and by Bayle, ad v. Hadrien. Rem. H. 
 
 X2 
 
 ] 
 
 ■'.j'tWmii; Jfjj-- rt.,.. HfJ 
 
(! 
 
 246 
 
 MARCO BRAOADINO. 
 
 I! 
 
 teemed of rare and singular merit, and a genuine possessor 
 of the veritable elixir. An artist of pretensions thus lofty 
 readily gained the ear of a needy sovereign, and Henry ac- 
 cordingly addressed an invitation to him through his ambas- 
 sador. The despatch to the envoy within which the king 
 enclosed this gracious summons, exhibits an amusing strug- 
 gle between the very natural desire that Bragadino's reported 
 powers might be true, and the conviction produced by good 
 sense that they must be altogether false. " He has been 
 represented to me," are Henry's words, " as possessor of 
 that secret, in pursuit of which so many adepts have ex- 
 hausted their lives and their substance ; and I am assured 
 that he is also full of good- will to my service. There can 
 be no harm, therefore, in disposing him to come to me. 
 Not that I believe all I have been told of his science ; but that 
 being thoroughly determined, as I am, not to be cheated, I 
 should be very sorry if there were any impediment against his 
 coming^* The ambassador, with more caution than his 
 master, kept back this letter intrusted to him, and the event 
 proved that his suspicions of roguery were well founded ; 
 for, after a time, continues Doglioni, from whom we borrovv 
 the anecdote,! it so happened that Bragadino, being de- 
 serted by his acquaintance, and recognised in his true char- 
 g:ter, after a short retirement to Padua, betook himself to 
 Bavana; thinking that, like many others who had gone 
 there before him, he might easily beguile the reigning duke. 
 God, however, who is not willing that frauds should remain 
 always undiscovered, revealed his imposture; and either 
 through fear of torture, or from remorse of conscience, 
 thmkmg it time to give over his sins, the hypocrite confessed 
 that what he appeared to do was not really done, but was a 
 mere deception of sight— una pura fascinatione,—on which 
 account the duke ordered him to be beheaded, and two doas, 
 who always accompanied him in golden collars, to be shot 
 at the same time \t it being the opinion of some that those 
 dogs were no other than fiends, of whose service he had 
 obtamed mastery, and whom he employed as familiars to 
 
 T^- J^'S Letter from Henry IV. to M. de Maisse, 7 March, 1590, cite J by 
 Darn, lib. xxviu. v. iv. p. 215. ' 
 
 t Lib. xviii. p. 977, 
 
 X Mr. Ropers, who has made very spirited use of Bragadino (Itcdv 
 Sit. Mark s Place), deprives him of his shadow. Such, no doubt, is oiw 
 
 « 
 
 ACCESSION OF POPE PAUL V. 
 
 247 
 
 cheat the bystanders' eyes while he exhibited his projection 
 and sleight of hand. 
 
 The aid of France was a tower of strength to Venice in 
 the memorable contest which she sustained with the papacy 
 at the commencement of the seventeenth century. In 1605 
 the triple crown devolved upon a pope, who, in his estimate 
 of the illimitable extent of pontifical authority, was scarcely 
 surpassed by Hildebrand himself; and the accession of Ca- 
 millo Borghese, as Paul V., spread the flames of ecclesias- 
 tical controversy through every court which acknowledged 
 the sway of Rome. The barriers which Venice through- 
 out her history had maintained with so unbending a firm- 
 ness against the despotism of the Vatican, could not but 
 be grievously offensive to a priest affecting unbounded and 
 universal dominion ; and long before the conclave had elected 
 Borghese to the tiara, his jealousy of resistance had mani- 
 fested itself by a declaration to Leonardo Donato, the Ve- 
 netian ambassador, that if he were pope, and the republic 
 gave him cause of discontent, he would lose no time in ne- 
 gotiation, but would launch an interdict at once. " And if I 
 were doge," was the intrepid and uncompromising answer, 
 **I would treat your anathemas with contempt." Rarely, 
 indeed, have the course of events and the power of circum- 
 stances led two parties to a more precise fulfihnent on both 
 sides of hypothetical intentions. 
 
 Numerous petty causes conspired at this time to increase 
 the want of complacency with which the holy see was ever 
 disposed to regard Venice. Two recent edicts, both founded 
 on a wise domestic policy, appeared to extinguish every 
 hope of increasing the papal influence in this most refrac- 
 tory state ; and each, therefore, was bitterly resented. By 
 one, it was forbidden that any new church should be erected 
 in the city without express permission from government ; 
 and the existence of two hundred religious houses, occupy- 
 ing half the extent of a capital against the enlargement of 
 whose circuit nature had planted insurmountable obstacles, 
 might be justly pleaded in defence of this self-preserving 
 ordinance. By another decree, resting on the principle of 
 our own statute of mortmain, any fresh endowment of 
 
 of the legitimate privileges of a wizard, especially if he has studied at 
 Padua (as we know from Michael Scott), but in the present instance it 
 is not so written down by the original authority. 
 
248 
 
 PAUL INTERDICTS VENICE. 
 
 ecclesiastical establishments was prohibited ; a fiscal regn- 
 lation frequently before promulgated in Venice, not unusual 
 in other countries, sanctioned by the similar act of a former 
 pope, Clement VII., in order to check the lavish and ex- 
 travagant donations to the Casa of Loretto, and essential 
 to the very existence of revenue in any government under 
 which ecclesiastics claim exemption from taxes. 
 
 While Paul regarded these enactments with an evil eye 
 his indignation was swelled beyond control by an exercise 
 of civil authority which he aflected to consider a direct in- 
 road upon the power of the keys. Sarraceno, a canon of 
 Vicenza, not yet admitted to full orders, being unsuccessful 
 m a base attempt upon the virtue of a lady of honour, his 
 near relative, avenged himself by a flagrant and unmanly 
 outrage on decency. The fact was proved beyond doubt 
 before the Ten ; and evidence being adduced that the same 
 offender had also broken the seals which closed the chancery 
 of his diocess, during the vacancy of the see, the council 
 issued an order for his imprisonment. A far more detest- 
 able malefactor was found in the person of Bernardo Valde- 
 marino. Abbot of Nervesa. Scarcely an atrocity which can 
 pollute manhood had escaped commission bv that most 
 wretched criminal. Extortion, cruelty, and general disso- 
 luteness of prmciples and habits seemed but foibles hi one 
 who Avas accused of sorcery, and convicted of frequent 
 poisonings among the brotherhood of his cloister, of parri- 
 cide, of incest, and of the subsequent murder of the unhappy 
 sister whom he had violated. It was to reclaim these two 
 prisoners from the hands of justice that the pope, in the first 
 instance, angrily and haughtily appealed to the Venetian 
 ambassador ; and when he found the senate inflexible, that 
 he issued br.efs denouncing the uttermost spiritual penalties 
 if they persisted in contumacy. ^ 
 
 Before the nuncio could present those briefs, the death 
 of Grimam* vacated the ducal throne; yet in spite of a 
 declaration from Paul that any election under his present 
 displeasure would be void, the council proceeded to ballot, and 
 
 pri*n^e'bvMhn?H« ^^'^^*"«' '^^ papal legate accelerated tlie death of this 
 « Griman, « P "^ "^^"^^^^s of spiritual vengeance over his sick couch 
 
 J. 
 
 FIRMNESS OF THE SENATE. 
 
 249 
 
 their choice fell upon Leoxardo Donato, " a wise 
 and resolute man," as he is characterized by Sir ■,nf^(<' 
 Henry Wotton, and as he soon evinced himself to 
 be ; and the very noble who some years before had avowed 
 his scorn of papal intemperance. An omen, we are told, 
 was drawn from an accident which occurred while the work- 
 men of the arsenal were chairing their new sovereign round 
 the piazza ; some idle boys, after pelting their playmates 
 with snowballs, began to throw stones, with one of which 
 a flag-staff in front of the palace, bearing the standard of 
 the republic, was shattered and broken. How, it was 
 whispered, can a reign thus commencing be otherwise than 
 stormy]* The first act of Donato referred the papsd 
 demands to a synod of doctors in the University of Padua ; 
 assisted by Fra Paolo Sarpi, one of the greatest names of 
 which Venice ever boasted, the most judicious theologian, 
 and the most profound canonist and civilian of his own, or 
 perhaps of any other limes. The unanimous decision of 
 one hundred and fifty voices in that assembly approved a 
 respectful opposition to the holy see ; and Paul, j. , « 
 summoning a conclave on the receipt of that intelli- ^ 
 gence, prepared, ratified, and promulgated a bull of inter- 
 dict. How fearfully such an instrument operated on men's 
 minds in the early part of the fourteenth century, and how 
 grievous were the pains it inflicted, we have already suffi- 
 ciently explained when relating the similar rupture between 
 Venice and Clement V. in 1309.t The lapse of three 
 hundred years, however, as the sequel will evince, had de- 
 prived that once fatal weapon of its original force and 
 keenness, and had so far weakened the arm by which it wa« 
 hurled, that its point dropped feebly, and without power to 
 wound, upon the mark at which it was aimed. 
 
 The senate met this act of injudicious violence calmly but 
 energetically ; they recalled their ambassador from Rome ; 
 they ordered their clergy to surrender, with the seals un- 
 broken, whatever despatches might be forwarded to them 
 from the Vatican ; they proclaimed that it was the duty of 
 all good citizens to deliver up such copies of the bull as 
 might fall into their hands ; and they issued a protest declar- 
 
 * Maurocenus, lib. xvii, p. 331. The English reader will remember 
 that durmg the night after Charles I. erected his standard at Nottingham, 
 it wa.s blovi^n down by a hurricane. f Vol. i, p. 167. 
 
 •^vnttr crn-KT t\V TUP TPfiTTTTS- 
 
 251 
 
250 
 
 CONDUCT OF THE ECCLESIASTICS. 
 
 1 
 
 ing the interdict to be null and void, and forbidding their 
 ecclesiastics to obey it. The nuncio, before quitting the 
 city, had the mortification of reading this protest affixed to 
 the gates of his own palace ; and he departed with a fear- 
 ful menace ringing in his ears from the lips of the doge, 
 that the republic might perhaps follow the example recently 
 offered by several other states, and withdraw herself alto- 
 gether from connexion with the holy see. The conduct of 
 the representatives of some of the chief foreign powers en- 
 couraged the resolution of the senate ; in Rome, the French 
 and Tuscan ambassadors on the issue of the bull paid a 
 marked visit of ceremony to their Venetian brother ; and 
 when the doge communicated with Sir Henry Wotcon, the 
 English resident at Venice, that good and wise min- 
 ister replied, that " he could not understand this Romish 
 theology, which was contrary to all justice and honour." 
 James I. indeed, who loved nothing better than an opportu- 
 nity of displaying his skill in controversial divinity and ec- 
 clesiastical law, manifested the warmest interest in behalf 
 of -the republic ; expressing a strong desire for a general 
 council, through which he thought God might produce hap- 
 pmess out of the present turmoil ; and adding that he had 
 proposed such an assenjbly to Clement V., when that pope 
 congratulated him on his accession ; but that the suggestion, 
 to his no small astonishment, had been rejected ;* jfn issue 
 which may be less surprising to readers of the present 
 day than it appears to have been to the scholastic and dis- 
 putatious monarch. 
 
 The clergy, for the most part, promised ready obedience 
 to the magistrates. One prelate, the Grand Vicar of Padua, 
 more sturdy than his brethren, replied that he would act as 
 the Holy Spirit should prompt him ; and he was assured, 
 with greater wit than reverence, that the Holy Spirit had 
 already prompted the Ten to hang up the refractory. The 
 Jesuits, desirous to keep well with both parties, resorted to 
 their usual casuistry, and intrenched themselves behind a 
 subtle distinction. « We have prom.ised," they said, « to 
 celebrate divme services, and we will observe our promise ; 
 but as for mass, that is a different matter, which our con- 
 Bcience and our vowed obedience to the pope will by no 
 
 EXPULSION OF THE JESUITS. 
 
 251 
 
 means allow us to administer against the prohibition of his 
 holiness." Such half measures little accorded with the 
 vifforous determination of the senate, and in the very same 
 hour they ordered the recusants to quit the city and territo- 
 ries of the republic. Willing to possess the consolation of 
 companionship in exile, the Jesuits forthwith sent deputies 
 to the Capucins ; representing that the whole world had 
 fixed its eyes on the order of St. Francis, and that their 
 decision would establish a general rule of conduct for 
 others. The simplicity of the good fathers was not proof 
 acrainst words so honeyed ; and proud of having the eyes 
 of the whole world fixed upon them, they closed their 
 churches, and were consequently included in the sentence 
 of banishment and confiscation. The latter penalty afforded 
 no small gain, perhaps no small allurement, to the signory ; 
 for a revenue of thirty thousand ducats accrued to the public 
 coffers from the property of the Jesuits only, even within 
 the boundaries of the city. Not without a hope of excitmg 
 popular feeling in their behalf, each of the disciples of Igna- 
 tius, as the general body marched for embarkation, sus- 
 pended a holy wafer round his neck, m token that Christ 
 was departing together with him ; and on arrival at the 
 quay, each knelt before the vicar of the patriarch, and ira- 
 plored his blessing. This false humility was estimated at 
 its due value ; the dislike with which the citizens m general 
 recrarded these wilv meddlers had rendered an escort neces- 
 sary for their protection ; and in spite of these guards, as 
 the fathers stepped on board the galleys prepared for their 
 transportation, their farewell was delivered m portentous 
 shoais of '' Ail date in mar hor a r* , ^ .- i 
 
 It would be tedious to follow the remainder of this cele- 
 brated quarrel through its several stages. The pope threat- 
 ened to cite the doge before the Inquisition, which should 
 condemn him as a heretic, and he published a jubilee in 
 order that he might expressly exclude Venice from its bene- 
 fits.! The Jesuits continued to maintain secret corres- 
 
 * The popular incri-'Pation against the Jesuits was much increased 
 when a nSerof c-r.u-.bles were said to have been found among he r 
 effects after their departure; an infallible proof, as was a^rmed, of thejr 
 Section to the forbidden mysteries of alchyn.y The.r ad-^^^f « P^f ^^^^^ 
 that the supposed crucibles were, in fact, earthen moulds which the fa- 
 thers employed to keep their cowls in shape.— Laugier, vol. x. p. iVl- 
 
 t Mauroceous, lib. xvii. p. 351. 
 
 a-*'' jgaanrf^-ij ■■. . 
 
252 
 
 BOTH PARTIES ARM. 
 
 il 
 
 pondence with the dogado ; and by their mischievous influ- 
 ence, chiefly over women, in many instances they kindled 
 iamily dissensions, and poisoned domestic happiness, by 
 arraying members of the same house against each other, for 
 the love, as they averred, of God. Numerous controver- 
 sialists entered the lists on either side ; and « in Venice " 
 says Izaak Walton, in his admirable Life of Sir Henry Wot. 
 ton,'' every man that had a pleasant and scoffina wit miffht 
 safely vent it against the pope, either by free speaking or bv 
 libels in prmt, and both became very pleasant to the peo- 
 pie. But of the many writings which issued on this occa- 
 sion from pens of great theological distinction in their own 
 times, and not yet forgotten by posterity,— from Bellar- 
 mine, Lolonna, and Baronius, among others, on the papal 
 side ; from Fra Paolo, Fulgentius, and, as Morosini informs 
 us, from some poets also,* on that of Venice,— it may be 
 doubted whether more than the titles are now explored even 
 by the most ardent curiosity. The fame gathered by an 
 author -in his generation" rarely nflbrds a certain promise 
 that which is to be the future harvest of " all time."t 
 That obedience which spiritual weapons failed to win 
 It was now thought might be obtained by a show of secular 
 war; and the pope, encouraged by assurances of most 
 powerful support from Spain, armed such forces as his 
 scanty means permitted, and withdrew the treasures of 
 the Casa Santa of Loretto to a place of securer deposite. 
 Ihese demonstrations were met by Venice with far more 
 than corresponding vigour. In order to animate the popu- 
 lace, the doge, upon appointing an admiral of the fleet, pro- 
 ceeded to the arsenal; from which establishment soldiers 
 Imed the way on either side to the mint. One million five 
 hundred thousand ducats, brought from the treasury, were 
 spread upon a table before the prince ; round that table and 
 the arcades of the portico was stretched a chain of solid 
 
 ♦ Lib. xvii. p. 347. 
 
 Jatv^'ial'^ in'^i' now lying before us containing fourteen contem- 
 porary tracts in defence of the interdict ; some of Them bv the thrp*> 
 
 S b7^h;'::?/'^""^'^''"P*°"« °^ P^^' 5 others bv mire XcSje amho'7 
 tlus volume has once been highly treasured and diligently searched'. 
 
 PAUL EMPLOYS THE MEDIATION OF FRANCE. 253 
 
 gold one hundred feet in length ; and from the vast and 
 glittering heap before him Donato distributed their pay to 
 the mariners.* No doubt could exist that France would 
 take the field in behalf of the republic, if the Spanish mon- 
 arch ventured upon actual hostility ; and the King of Eng- 
 land declared, through Wotton, that he would use all his 
 endeavours to consolidate a league in favour of Venice, and 
 would assist her by sea and land, with men and money ; 
 not from enmity against the pope, but from regard for the 
 general independence of sovereigns. But the court of 
 Madrid had little thoughts of forwarding those lofty preten- 
 sions of the Vatican which might possibly at some future 
 time be urged against herself; and the sole object of Philip 
 III., in thus apparently espousing the cause of Rome, was 
 to secure to himself the honourable office of mediation which 
 France also had already claimed. The envoys of each 
 cabinet pressed their services upon Paul, who now, convinced 
 both of his own weakness, and of the hollow faith of his 
 ally, sought escape from the embroilment in which he had 
 rashly involved himself; and either justly resenting the 
 delusive promises with which Philip had amused his cre- 
 dulity, or believing that the negotiation of Henry IV. would 
 be more acceptable to Venice, he in the end intrusted that 
 prince with the conduct of the reconciliation. 
 
 In the first instance, Paul vaguely demanded just satis- 
 faction ; but it was by no means easy to decide what satis- 
 faction he would consider to be just. His claims were 
 then reduced to form ; and they comprised the release of 
 the two ecclesiastics, and their delivery to the King of 
 France ; submission to the interdict for four or five days ; 
 the appointment of a day on which the spiritual censures 
 should be solemnly abrogated ; the restoration of the ex- 
 pelled monks ; and the suspension of the laws affecting 
 ecclesiastical property and foundations. All these demands, 
 excepting the first, were rejected ; the senate moreover 
 refused to ask for the annulment of the interdict ; insisted 
 that its revocation should take place, not at Rome, but at 
 
 * Maurocenus, lib. xvii, p. 373. Dam (vol. Iv. lib. xjtxii. p. 547) re- 
 lates a similar incident during a petty war in the Valteline, in 1620, and 
 cites Vittorio Siri (i. 407) as his authority. The occurrence, doubtleea, 
 might be repeated, but Siri, as we have stated elgewhere, is not always 
 trusivortliy. 
 
 Vol. If.— Y 
 
 L* fiflaerjiSati'- ^J 
 
//- 
 
 254 
 
 REMOVAL OF THE INTERDICT. 
 
 Venice ; and, in order to avoid the possibility of a false 
 record of any proffered atonement, that the process should 
 be conducted verbally and not in writing. The spirit of 
 Paul was effectually broken by opposition ; and two slight 
 attempts at modification which the Cardinal de Joyeuse, 
 ambassador extraordinary from France, made in his behalf, 
 were, like their predecessors, proposed with feebleness and 
 abandoned with resignation. He first asked that an em- 
 bassy should be despatched to Rome ; secondly, that the 
 doge and signory, after attending mass at St. Mark's, should 
 receive a benediction, to be deemed equivalent to a formal 
 remission of the censures. It was answered that such an 
 embassy might be interpreted a solicitation, and such a 
 benediction an absolution ; consequently, that neither could 
 be admitted. At length, on the 21st of April, a 
 ■^• I!: secretary of the senate delivered the Canon of Vi- 
 cenza and the Abbot of Nervesa to the French or- 
 dinary resident, in the presence of the Cardinal de Joyeuse ; 
 protesting at the same time that this surrender was made 
 only in deference to his Christian majesty, and was not to 
 be considered any abandonment of the exclusive rights 
 claimed by the republic over her own ecclesiastics. The 
 prisoners were transferred by the French ambassador to a 
 papal commissioner, who in turn recommended them to the 
 custody of the officer of the Ten by whom they had first 
 been introduced. After this formality, the cardinal, ac- 
 companied by the ambassador, proceeded to the Collcgio, 
 whose members received him sitting and covered ; and 
 congratulated them on the removal of the interdict;* upon 
 which announcement the doge handed to him a revocation 
 of the protest addressed to all the Venetian clergy. The 
 cardinal then celebrated mass, but not in St. Mark's, and 
 not accompanied by the signory, who expressly prohibited 
 all demonstrations of popular joy. Thus, after a contest 
 which had interested, excited, and astonished all Christen- 
 dom for more than twelve months, St. Mark, as Houssaye 
 has delivered himself,t signally triumphed over St. Peter. 
 The evil spirit of the papacy was strongly exhibited, 
 
 * So nicely were the forms arrangwd, that the cardinal made this an- 
 Jiouncement's/andiuiT, and ihen concluded his very short speech sitting.— 
 Maurocenus, lib. xvii. p. 390. 
 
 t Note on Lettrcs de Card. d'Ossat. vol. iv. p. 533. L. 290. 
 
 FRA PAOLO. 
 
 255 
 
 however, more than once, by some events which succeeded 
 this remarkable schism. Much pains were taken to propa- 
 gate a belief that the Cardinal de Joyeuse had absolved the 
 signory ; and it was carefully reported, that in order to effect 
 that purpose, he had condescended to the swindling trick 
 of makin<r a sign of the cross with one hand under his 
 cloak, upon entering the council chamber; thus benevo- 
 lently conferring remission of sins upon ignorant and in- 
 voluntary recipients. Before the close of the year, an op- 
 portunity occurred also of exercising a petty revenge, which 
 Paul had not suflicient magnanimity to resist. His prede- 
 cessor had established a right of examining every patriarch 
 of Venice on his appointment ; and a vacancy havmg oc- 
 curred and having been filled up, the pope summoned the 
 new patriarch to Rome, and committed him to a Jesuit for 
 examination.* 
 
 But the resentment of the Vatican by no means confined 
 itself to those acts of unworthy spitefulness ; far blacker 
 atrocities were meditated and attempted. During a visit 
 which Scioppius, one of the most learned and far the most 
 impudentf man of his time, paid to Venice, he informed 
 Fra Paolo that he knew by certain advice how much the 
 court of Rome desired either his arrest or his assassination ; 
 at the same time warning him that popes have long arms. 
 Fra Paolo's reply, to say the least of it, was singular, and 
 has been remarked by his biographers scarcely so much as 
 it deserves. After stating that he had only defended a just 
 cause, and therefore that the pontiflf ought not to feel 
 offended ; that he was specially included in the public 
 accommodation, and therefore that he could not niistrust 
 the word of a sovereign; he spoke of assassination on 
 
 * Daru, lib. xxix. ad. fin., who cites Memorie recondite di Vittorio Siri, 
 tomo i. Some particulars of the dispute with Clement Vlll., relative to 
 the examination of the patriarch, may be fotuid in Letires d'Ossat, vol. 
 iv. p. 502, 545. L. 28fi, 290. 
 
 t Scioppius was the person who denounced Sir Henry Wotton for 
 his well-known jocular definition of an ambassador,—" that he is an 
 honest man, sent to lye abroad for the good of the commonwealth." Sir 
 Henry revenged hiiiiself in very sound, vituperative Latin, calling 
 Scioppius, among oilier hard and true names, '* (amelicus transfuga, et 
 Romanae Curiae lutulentus circulator, qui script itat solum ut prandere 
 possit; semicoctus Grainmaticaster ; vespillonifl et castrensis seorli 
 spuma ;" and adding that he had it in liis jwwer " sexcentas id genu* 
 Bcioppietaies proferre, sed hoc esset ruspari sterquilinium." 
 
 ^1 
 
256 ATTEMPT TO ASSASSINATE FRA PAOLO. 
 
 political grounds, as being rarely directed against the life 
 of a private individual, and of death as an event for which 
 he was fully prepared. " If, however," he continued, " they 
 should think to take me alive and carry me off to Rome, 
 not all the power of the pope can hinder a man from being 
 more master of himself than others can be ; so that my 
 life will be more in my own keeping than in that of the 
 pontiff."* Scioppius was not deceived ; in the Octeber 
 after the annulment of the interdict, Fra Paolo, returning 
 late one evening to the Convent dei Serviti, his residence 
 as official teologo of the republic, was attacked on the 
 neighbouring bridge of Sta. Fosca by five bravoes ; some of 
 whom kept watch while the others executed their bloody 
 commission. Fifteen stabs were aimed at him, of which 
 only three took effect ; two in the neck, one in the cheek 
 close to the nose, where the stiletto was turned aside by 
 the bone, and left in the wound. The assassins were seen 
 to fly to a gondola in waiting, which conveyed them to the 
 palace of the nuncio ; and on the same night they passed 
 over to Lido, and proceeded in a well-armed ten-oared 
 vessel in the direction of Ravenna. No sooner had the 
 report of the attempted murder and the asylum of its per- 
 petrators spread abroad, than the palace of the nuncio was 
 surrounded by throngs denouncing vengeance ; and the 
 person of the minister became so much endangered as to 
 require the protection of a guard from the Ten. The plot 
 was afterward traced to its chief agent ; a broken Venetian 
 merchant, who, flying from his creditors, had found security 
 in Rome, where he ingratiated himself with the Borghesi so 
 far as to express to his correspondents extravagant hopes 
 of reviving fortune, and even of the probable attainment 
 of a cardinal's hat. Fra Paolo's recovery was long doubt- 
 ful ; his frame, attenuated by habitual abstemiousness, 
 could ill endure great loss of blood ; and the number of 
 physicians to whose charge public anxiety had committed 
 him, contributed, as his biographer sarcastically relates, to 
 retard his progress.! For twenty days he continued with- 
 
 * Vita del Padre Paolo, a Leida, 1846, p. 152. Bayle (St. Cyran, Rem. 
 B.) ia the only ^v^iter by whom we remember to have seen this very 
 Btriking avowal noticed. 
 
 t '• S' agjtionse ancora un' altra accidentale gravetza al male ch* em 
 reale, la moUipliciii de' Medici, ch' ^ uu male proprio de Gran(lL''~-Vit« 
 del Pa«^re Paolo. 169. 
 
 APOLOGY OF JAMES I. 
 
 257 
 
 out power of motion, and the blackness of the edges of his 
 wounds excited a fear that the daggers had been poisoned ; 
 an apprehension which increased the acutencss of his suf- 
 ferinfTS, on account of the severe remedies which it rendered 
 necessary for counteraction. Nevertheless, throughout his 
 linoferincr confinement, he preserved an equable and cheerful 
 temper, resigning himself to God's will, deprecating inquiry 
 after the assassins,* and even drawing smiles from his 
 attendants by occasional pleasantry. Once, on some re- 
 mark offered by the surgeon in waiting on the raggedness 
 of the wounds, he replied that they ought not to exhibit 
 such appearances, since the world said they had been dex- 
 terously given Stilo Ronuina Curicf. The poniard left by 
 the assassin was placed, after Fra Paolo's recovery, at the 
 foot of a crucifix in the Church dei Servi, where it long re- 
 mained at the altar of Sta. Maddalena, with a commemora- 
 tive inscription Dei Filio Liber atori.i 
 
 The close alliance which we have seen existing between 
 Venice and Enfjland during the recent transactions ran 
 some hazard of interruption shortly afterward, from a 
 literary misunderstanding. When James I. reprinted his 
 Apology for the oath of allegiance which it had become ne- 
 cessary to require after the detection of the popish plot, 
 and addres.sed its celebrated preamble " to all Christian 
 monarchs, free princes, and states," envoys were despatched 
 to present this volume, more worthy of the cloister than of 
 the cabinet, to the chief courts of Europe ; by which it was 
 refused, neglected, or ridiculed, according to the ^^ ^^ 
 temper of their respective sovereigns. The senate, iQQg] 
 wishing to keep well no less with the King of Eng- 
 land than with the pope, in a controversy to which in truth 
 they attached very little interest, decreed that the royal gift 
 should be accepted as a token of amity ; should be com- 
 mitted to the keeping of the chief secretary ; be preserved 
 m a chest under lock and key ; and be neither exhibited 
 nor removed without express permission of the public 
 authorities. Sir Henry Wotton,t however, Uttle contented 
 
 * On a report that they had been taken, he expressed great displeasure : 
 "Potriano manifestare qualche cosa che dasee scandoio al mondo e 
 nocumenio alia religione."— Vtfa del Padre Paolo, p. 170. 
 
 t Id. p. 169, 171. ,^r..^ 
 
 t Enrico Uttonio, as the name is smoothly Italiamz«d by Diedo in ni» 
 account of this transaction. Torn. iv. lib. xiv. 
 
 Y2 
 
 I 
 
 i\ 
 
/ 
 
 258 
 
 THE USCOCCHI. 
 
 with the mysterious veneration thus paid to the fruit of his 
 master's brains, protested with great vehemence and anger 
 against the double-deaUng which received the work with 
 one hand and rejected it with the other; noticing very 
 justly that while the defence of the King of England was 
 prohibited, printed attacks upon him obtained free circula- 
 tion. He concluded by announcing, that in consequence 
 of this affront, he should consider his mission at an end ; 
 and that henceforward, so long as he remained in the 
 capital, he must be treated only as a private individual. 
 This fierce remonstrance called forth an especial embassy 
 of excuse to England, and a diligent suppression of all 
 tracts offensive to the royal author. James is said to have 
 received both these notifications with marks of approval, 
 and from a portion of Winwood's correspondence it appears 
 that Wotton was considered, to have been needlessly indig- 
 nant ; " which did very much trouble them here to make^a 
 cleanly answer thereunto for the salving of the ambassa- 
 dor's credit, who is censured to have prosecuted the matter 
 to an overgreat extremity."* 
 
 We pass on to a war which occupied most of the reign 
 A. D. "^ Marc' Antonio Memmo ; a war in which little 
 1613. ^o^^o^^ was to be won, but which terminated use- 
 fully in the dispersion of a formidable race of pirates, 
 who, during nearly a hundred years, had interrupted the 
 navigation of the Adriatic. Towards the middle of the 
 sixteenth century, a horde of Dalmatians,! flying from 
 either the tyranny or the justice of their rulers, or seeking 
 shelter from continued Turkish invasions, found a secure 
 asylum in the strong country bordering upon the coast near 
 Spalatro ; and finally established themselves in the town 
 of Segna, under the protection of Austria, on condition of 
 actmg as an advanced guard against the sultan. Segna, 
 placed in the recess of the Bay of Quarnero, is covered on 
 the land side by a barrier of uncleared forests and moun- 
 tains, traversed by rare and perplexed defiles ; aflbrding at 
 
 * Maurocenus, lib. xviii. p. 420. Winwood's Memorials, vol. iji p 77 
 t The Uskokg were originally Bulgars or Volokbs, who had become 
 Kclavonians on the subjugation of their country by the Greeks in 1019 
 They first settled in Clissa, then removed to Zara, and finally to Segna. 
 -See concemmg them more largely in Von Engel, Gesohichte dee Un- 
 gnschen Reichs und seinur Nebeniander, ii. 188 ; and Adelune, Mithri- 
 48"^s, u. 642. ' 
 
 THE USCOCCHX. 
 
 259 
 
 I 
 
 every step fit ambush for banditti, and at the same time 
 being altogether impracticable for a regular armed force. 
 On the coast, numerous intricate channels among reefs and 
 islets, and a stormy and shallow sea, rendered the town 
 inaccessible unless to boats of the lightest burden. It was 
 believed, too, that at any time by lighting a fire in one partic- 
 ular cave, an offshore gale might be raised under which no 
 vessel could live. The earth, said the credulous savages, 
 heated and irritated in her veins by combustion, speaks her 
 rage and agony in a hurricane.* The site, to use the 
 metaphor of Nani, is framed for the grave of sailors, and 
 the cradle of robbers. t 
 
 It is easily to be imagined how this lawless and ferocious 
 band of exiles, accustomed to arms, separated from all ties 
 of kindred and of country, and without means of agricul- 
 tural employment, became freebooters by choice, if not al- 
 together by necessity ; and the transition by which the 
 Uscocchi (so named from the Russian uskakaU to leap into, 
 to run away, and signifying " fugitives") changed from rob- 
 bers to pirates, is not without parallel among the Bucaniers 
 of the New World in the following century. Their num- 
 bers rapidly increased by the influx of a mixed rabble of 
 various countries, Turks, Austrians, Croats, Dalmatians, 
 Venetians, and even English ;t for Segna, on the principle 
 of Romulus, was proclaimed a sanctuary for crime, and 
 therefore readily became " the common sewer" of the pro- 
 scribed from all nations. A population thus obtained was 
 supported equally after the Roman manner ; the unhappy 
 women whom force had ravished from the neighbouring dis- 
 tricts were considered the staple of the tribe ; and each 
 widow, on the loss of her husband by any of those count- 
 less hazards to which piratical life is exposed, was com- 
 pelled to renew her matrimonial bonds so long as she con- 
 tinued to aftbrd hope of progeny. So great, however, was 
 the devastation resulting from habits in which every man's 
 
 ♦ Hist, des Uscoques, p. 8, by Amelot de la Houssaye, from Minacci. 
 
 t Hist. Venet. lib. i. p. 30. 
 
 i Le General de mer a fait pendre fort Ugirement ces tievf Anglois, 
 dont ily en a trois qui sont gentils homme* de qualiti, et un autre qui 
 futdespendu se trmive deVune des plus grandes maisons d' Angleterre. 
 — Correspmidnnce de Leon Bruslart (the French ambassador at Venice). 
 Z'ttre du 14 AoAt 1618. A MS. edited by Daru.lib. ^w. vol. iv.p. 363. 
 
 m 
 
 ii 
 
 1 1A--.J »fa^'-gfe.*t. .. A-tKaJ^ags- 
 
260 
 
 THE USCOCCHI. 
 
 I-!, 
 
 hand was raised against them, that it may be doubted 
 whether at any period of their existence the Uscocchi ever 
 exceeded one thousand men. The Turks for a long time 
 were the greatest sufferers by their outrages, and it was 
 idle for the divan to remonstrate with Venice, pillaged al- 
 most equally with itself; or with the court of Austria, 
 which privately divided the spoil, and which occasionally 
 stifled the murmurs of any more urgent complaint, by des- 
 patching a commissary to hang up a few miserable wretches, 
 perhaps less guilty than their comrades ; or who, even if 
 selected from the most desperate and notorious of the band, 
 left their bad eminence to be speedily occupied by number- 
 less promising aspirants. " God keep you from the Us- 
 cocchi r became a proverb at Constantinople, when any one 
 wished his friend immunity from the worst of evils. 
 
 Whenever the Turks directed an expedition against 
 these marauders, Venice also was seen to arm ; but it was 
 more to protect her own Dalmatic islands from possible in- 
 vasion by the Mussulmans, than to assist in suppressing the 
 pirates. Sometimes, indeed, an Uscock vessel would strike 
 to a Venetian galley, and there are instances in which 
 seventeen and even sixty heads were forwarded to the 
 signory, and exhibited to the populace as distinguished tro- 
 phies, worthy of bearing part in the sumptuous pageant of 
 the marriage of the Adriatic. " No one recollected," on 
 one of these occasions writes Minucci, Archbishop of Zara, 
 who has composed a history of the Uscocchi, " to have seen 
 so many heads at a time ; they made a most agreeable spec- 
 tacle, and did infinite honour to the conquerors." Irritated 
 by some fresh violence, the Venetians at length blockaded 
 A. D. ^^? mouth of the Bay of Quarnero ; and the pirates, 
 1600. *^"^^" inland for sustenance, pillaged, under the 
 Austrian standard, that district of Istria which be- 
 longed to the republic. So direct an outrage upon the ter- 
 ritory of an ally compelled the Austrian government, if it 
 would avoid a war, to measures of unusual severity ; and 
 Rabata, a high counsellor of state in Carniola, was deputed 
 lo chastise the offenders to the full satisfaction of Venice. 
 
 Among the chiefs upon whom he first inflicted summary 
 punishment, we hear with surprise of a Count of Possidaria, 
 who had disgraced his high descent by assuming a command 
 among these outcasts. Another ruffian, who attempted de- 
 
 l! 
 
 THE TJSCOCCHI. 
 
 261 
 
 fence, and who was cut to pieces, had recently crowned a 
 series of unheard-of cruelties by fastening under hatches 
 the crew of a frigate captured from the Count of Zara, and 
 then sending them adrift. The battlements of Segna were 
 studded with the heads of these and other principal male- 
 factors ; most of the remainder were dispersed, and con- 
 cealed themselves in the neighbouring fastnesses ; and one 
 hundred only of the least guilty were permitted to occupy 
 the town. But no sooner were the troops withdrawn under 
 whose protection this tardy justice had been executed, than 
 the pirates returned, drunk with fury and thirsting for re- 
 venge, massacred Rabata with circumstances of the most 
 savage barbarity, and reoccupied Segna as their own do- 
 main. This success, and the impunity with which it was 
 permitted to be enjoyed, naturally increased the daring of 
 the Uscocchi. At various times in following years, they 
 plundered the Venetian islands off their coast ; captured a 
 galley charged with government despatches and a large 
 freight of treasure ; made an attempt upon Pola ; and even 
 carried off a provveditore, whom, exhausted by terror and 
 fatigue, they transported from cave to cave, and from moun- 
 tain to mountain, till an Austrian detachment tracked and 
 delivered him.* 
 
 It was by no means easy to determine how much of this 
 piracy was tolerated, if not favoured, by Austria ; how much 
 was committed in spite of her control. The wives and 
 daughters of nobles holding high rank in her court were 
 said to be decorated with plundered Venetian jewels, and a 
 misintelligence between the two governments, the necessary 
 result of suspicion, was brought to its height by a greater 
 
 * Among many sickening circumstances of horror, Pra Paolo, in his 
 continuation of Minucci's History, mentions one most ludicrous inci- 
 dent. A merchant-vessel, bound for the Lagune, having been captured 
 by the Uscocchi, was carried to Segna for a division of the spoil ; when, 
 to the no small discomfiture of the pirates, it was found to consist chiefly 
 of honey, and many cases of a substance unknown to them, but which, 
 from its appearance and sweet taste, they believed to be some species of 
 those choice confectionaries for which Venice was celebrated. This 
 sweetmeat, accordingly, they devoured most voraciously, both to com- 
 pensate their disappointment, and also to gratify their appetite. The 
 cmisternation of the physicians of Segna may be imagmed when, upon 
 examining the remaining contents of the boxes, ihey discovered tbemto 
 be— manna. 
 
 \ 
 
 h 
 
262 
 
 ENORMITIES OF THE USCOCCHI. 
 
 EXTERMINATION OF THE USCOCCHI. 
 
 2G3 
 
 i\ 
 
 atrocity than any yet offered to the flag of St. Mark. A 
 galley, commanded by Cristoforo Veniero, was sur- 
 1613 P"^^^ '^^^ captured by a greatly superior force ; and 
 the crew, being made to pass, one by one, from their 
 own vessel to the pirates' boats, were massacred in cold 
 blood, and their bodies thrown into the sea. The captain 
 himself was reserved till they gained land, and then his 
 head, having been struck from his body, under the eyes of 
 some ladies of rank, his passengers, was placed on the table 
 at which his murderers took their repast. During that ac- 
 cursed banquet the cannibals roasted and divided their vic- 
 tim's heart ; and dipping sops of bread in his yet warm 
 blood, swallowed them with greedy delight. One of their 
 superstitions, it appears, encouraged a belief that such gen- 
 eral participation in the blood of an enemy was a sure 
 pledge of mutual fidelity ; and that all who shared in this 
 inhuman orgy were henceforward linked indissolubly to- 
 gether in a common destiny. Having completed these fiend- 
 like rites, they partitioned the booty, and mounted the can- 
 non of the prize upon their ramparts. 
 
 Loud as were the demands for vengeance which intelli- 
 gence of this most brutal outrage roused in Venice, the 
 senate was at the time too much entangled by apprehen- 
 sions of an open breach with Spain (in defence of the claim 
 of their ally, the Duke of Savoy, to the principality of 
 Mountferrat) to act with becoming vigour. To their re- 
 monstrances, the Governor of Segna answered by expres- 
 sions of empty regret, lamenting that which he gently 
 termed an accident and a mistake ; and he demurred even as 
 to the restoration of the prize, till he should receive further 
 instructions from his court. In spite of the reluctance of 
 the signory, negotiations thus contemptuous and unsatis- 
 factory terminated, as may be supposed, in positive war ; 
 and a contest, inglorious and injurious to both parties, en- 
 sued between Venice and Austria in Friuh. Its incidents 
 are little worth narration,* but one of them is too remark- 
 able to be wholly omitted. The republic, more alarmed at 
 the danger impending from Spain than at that which she 
 absolutely encountered from the enemy against whom she 
 
 * They have been detailed in two books by Faustino Moisesso. Ven, 
 4to. 1623. 
 
 i 
 
 had taken the field, sought and found allies in Holland, the 
 state most permanently hostile to the court of Madrid. In 
 consequence of a treaty with that power, four thousand here- 
 tic troops engaged in the Venetian service, under Count 
 John of Nassau, landed on the Piazzetta^ and, with the 
 concurrence of its rulers, during many days held military 
 possession of their otherwise impregnable capital. But for 
 the fidelity of her new friends, Venice, from that hour, 
 might have sunk into a dependence of the United Prov- 
 inces ; and such in all human transactions is the occasional 
 folly of the wise, that the most subtle, the most sagacious, 
 the most wary, and the most enduring polity which has been 
 known among mankind, might have sealed her own de- 
 struction, by an act of almost judicial blindness, two centu- 
 ries before that epoch which afterward proved to be her ful- 
 ness of time ! 
 
 The despatch of that Dutch force to the seat of war, the 
 consequent apprehension of losing Gradisca, one of the 
 strongest Austrian frontier towns, which the Venetians 
 had long besieged, and the ambitious views which the 
 Archduke Ferdinand, already possessed of the crovm of 
 Bohemia, was directing upon that of the empire, inclined 
 him to terminate a quarrel which, during three years, had 
 wasted his resources without a chance of benefit. France, 
 by her mediation, first adjusted the dispute between Spain 
 and the Duke of Savoy, to whom the signory had fur- 
 nished both troops and subsidies ; and she then recon- 
 ciled Venice with Austria, by a treaty ratified at ^ 
 Madrid ; the most important terms of which stipu- 1617. 
 lated the final dispersion of the Uscocchi, and the 
 destruction of their flotilla. Thus terminated the existence 
 of a horde of pirates which could have been protracted so 
 long only by the duplicity of Austria ; and which had cost 
 Venice, during the last thirty years, — in her own commercial 
 losses, in indemnities paid to the Turks for depredations in 
 the gulf which she affected to protect, and lastly, in ex- 
 penses of actual war, — no less than twenty millions of gold. 
 
 i 
 
 t 
 
 i\ 
 
 i8rtaiaMarwaMagtoBSSiiBaaUit.k<faK 
 
264 
 
 SIR HENRY WOTTON. 
 
 CONSPIRACY OF 1618. 
 
 265 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 FROM A. D. 1618 TO A. D. 1669. 
 
 Conspiracy of 1618— Sentence of Foscarini— Attack upon the Council 
 of Ten— Venetian Manners— War of Candia. 
 
 |, 
 
 A. D. 
 
 
 DOGES. 
 
 1618. 
 
 xcv. 
 
 XCVI. 
 XCVII. 
 
 NiCOLO DONATO. 
 
 Antonio Priuli. 
 Francesco Contarini. 
 
 1623. 
 
 1625. 
 
 XCVIII. 
 
 Giovanni Cornaro. 
 
 1630. 
 
 XCIX. 
 
 NicoLo Contarini. 
 
 1632. 
 
 c. 
 
 Francesco Erizzo. 
 
 1645. 
 
 CI. 
 
 Francesco Molino. 
 
 1655. 
 
 en. 
 
 Carlo Contarini. 
 
 1656. 
 
 cm. 
 
 Francesco Cornaro. 
 
 
 CIV. 
 
 Bertuccio Valiero. 
 
 1657. 
 
 cv. 
 
 Giovanni Pezaro. 
 
 1660. 
 
 CVI. 
 
 BoMiNico Contarini. 
 
 #1 
 
 Sir Henry Wotton, who, notwithstanding his recent 
 differences with the senate, still remained as English ambas- 
 sador at Venice, has left an account of the elections of two 
 successive doges, Nicolo Donato and Antonio Phiuli, 
 which occurred in 1618, within a month of each other : and 
 from his details it appears, that in spite of the complicated 
 intermixture of repeated ballotings and scrutinies, not less 
 intrigue was employed in the disposal of the heretta than in 
 that of the triple crown. In his dedicatory epistle,* Wotton 
 ^ ^ writes also as follows, on the 25th of May, relative to 
 1618* ^^^ detection of a great conspiracy which at that time 
 was bruited abroad. " The whole town is here at 
 present in horror and confusion upon the discovering of a 
 
 * To a discourse entitled The Election of the New Duke of Venice 
 after the Death of Giovanni Bembo. 
 
 foul and fearful conspiracy of the French against this state ; 
 whereof no less than thirty have already suffered very con- 
 dign punishment, between men strangled in prison, drowned 
 in the silence of the night, and hanged in pubUc view ; and 
 yet the bottom is invisible." 
 
 However meager may be this notice of an event perhaps 
 more familiarly known by name to English readers than any 
 other in the history of Venice, there are very few authentic 
 particulars which can be added to Wotton's brief statement. 
 Muratori indeed has scarcely exaggerated the obscurity in 
 which this incident is enveloped when he affirms that only 
 one fact illuminates its darkness ; namely, that several hun- 
 dred French and Spaniards engaged in the service of the 
 republic were arrested and put to death. The researches 
 of Comte Daru have brought to light some hitherto un- 
 known contemporary documents ; but even the inexhausti- 
 ble diligence of that most laborious, accurate, and valuable 
 writer has been baffled in the hope of obtaining certainty as 
 its reward ; and he has been compelled to content himself 
 with the addition of one hypothesis more to those already 
 proposed in explanation of this mystery. 
 
 All that can be positively affirmed is, that during the 
 summer of 1617, Jacques Pierre, a Norman by birth, whose 
 youth had been spent in piratical enterprises in the Levan- 
 tine seas, from which he had acquired no inconsiderable 
 celebrity, fled from the service of the Spanish Duke d'Os- 
 suna, Viceroy of Naples ; and having offered himself at 
 the arsenal of Venice, was engaged there in a subordinate 
 office. Not many days after his arrival in the Lagune^ 
 Pierre denounced to the inquisitors of state a conspiracy, 
 projected, as he said, by the Duke d'Ossuna, and favoured 
 by Don Alfonso della Cueva, Marquis de Bedemar,* at that 
 time resident ambassador from Spain. The original minutes 
 of Pierre's disclosures, written in French, still exist among 
 the correspondence of M. Leon Bruslart, the contemporary 
 
 * To whom is attributed the authorship of the celebrated anonymous 
 tract Squittinio della Liberia Vcmta ; the first edition of which, with 
 the exception of very few copies (one of which is now in the British 
 Museum), was destroyed by order of the signory. It became so scarce 
 in consequence, that seventy years afterward, when reprinted in Italian, 
 the text was borrowed by retranslation from a French version by Ame- 
 lot de la Houssaye. Accident has thrown into our possession a MS., 
 ftirly transcribed, of the first edition. 
 Vol. IL— Z 
 
 M I 
 
 '•! 
 
 ' 1 
 
■I 
 
 266 
 
 EXECUTIONS. 
 
 J 
 
 1/ 
 
 ambassador from the court of France to the republic ;* and 
 they were translated into Italian, with which language 
 Pierre was but imperfectly acquainted, by his friend Renault, 
 in order that they might be presented to the inquisitors. In 
 this plot Pierre avowed himself to be chief agent ; his pre- 
 tended abandonment of the Duke d'Ossuna forming one 
 part of the stratagem : and ho added that his commission 
 enjoined him to seduce the Dutch troops employed in the 
 late war, who still remamed in Venice and its neighbour- 
 hood ; to fire the city ; to seize and massacre the nobles ,• to 
 overthrow the existing government ; and ultimately to trans- 
 fer the state to the Spanish crown. The sole immediate 
 step taken by the inquisitors in consequence of these reve- 
 lations was the secret execution of Spinosa, a Neapolitan, 
 whom Pierre described as an emissary of the Duke d'Os- 
 suna; and whom he appears to have regarded with jealousy 
 as a spy upon his own conduct. For the rest, the magis- 
 trates contented themselves, as it seems, by awaiting the 
 maturity of the plot with silent vigilance. Ten months 
 elapsed, during which Pierre communicated on the one 
 hand with the Duke d'Ossuna, unsuspicious of his trea- 
 
 chery, and on the other with the inquisitors ; till 
 ,g^^ at the expiration of that term he was seized by an 
 
 order of the Ten, while employed on his duties 
 with the fleet, and drowned without the grant of sufficient 
 delay even for previous religious confession. More, perhaps 
 many more, than three hundred French and Spaniards en- 
 gaged in various naval and military capacities were at the 
 same time delivered to the executioner : and Renault, after 
 undergoing numerous interrogatories, and being placed 
 seven times on the cord, was hanged by one foot on a gib- 
 bet on the Piazzetta, which day after day presen/.ed similar 
 exhibitions of horror. 
 
 This evidence of Pierre remained at the time concealed 
 in the bosoms of the inquisitors to whom it had been de- 
 livered ; and no official declarations satisfied public curiosity 
 as to the cause of the sanguinary executions which de- 
 formed the capital. A rumor indeed spread itself abroad, 
 
 * These papers, according to a despatch of M. Leon Bruslart, dated 
 19th July, 1618, ont estei- trouvrs dedans un roffre de Jacques Pierre ; 
 and thus came into his hands. It is strange that they escaped the vigi- 
 lance of the inquisiUon of slate. 
 
 REPORT OF THE TEN TO THE SENATE. 267 
 
 and, although not traced to any certain authority, was uni- 
 versally credited, that a great peril had been escaped ; that 
 Venice had trembled on the very brink of destruction ; and 
 that the Spaniards had meditated her ruin. Popular fury 
 was accordingly directed against the Marquis de Bedemar ; 
 and so fierce were the menaces of summary vengeance, that 
 the ambassador was forced to protest his innocence before 
 the Collcgioj more in the spirit of one deprecating punish- 
 ment than defying accusation. He then earnestly solicited 
 protection against the rabble surrounding his palace ; for 
 " God knows," affirmed his pale and affrighted secretary 
 more than once, " the danger of our residence is great I" The 
 vice-doge, who during the interregnum between the death 
 of one chief magistrate and the election of another, presided 
 over the Collegio^ replied vaguely, coldly, and formally ; and, 
 the application having been renewed without any more 
 favourable result, Bedemar, justly apprehensive for his 
 safety, seized a pretext of withdrawing till a successor to 
 his embassy was appointed. Meantime, considerable 
 doubts were entertained, not only by the resident foreign 
 ministers, — especially by that of France, better informed 
 than his brethren through the possession of Pierre's 
 minutes, — but by the Venetian senators themselves also, 
 whether any conspiracy whatever had really existed- 
 Nevertheless, in spite of these misgivings not obscurely 
 expressed, it was not till the expiration of five months 
 that the Ten presented a report to the senate, de- 
 tailing the information which they had received, and the 
 views upon which they had acted. That report, however, 
 is so manifestly contradicted in many very important in- 
 stances by Pierre's deposition?, that it must be considered as 
 drawn up and garbled solely with the intention of making 
 a case ; and therefore as revealing only so much truth, 
 dashed and brewed with a huge proportion of falsehood, as 
 it suited the interests of the magistrates to exhibit to public 
 view. All mention of the denouncements of Pierre during 
 the long period of ten months is carefully suppressed, and 
 yet no fact in history is more distinctly proved than that he 
 did so communicate. The first intimation of the plot is 
 there said to have been given but a few days before it was 
 to have been executed, by two Frenchmen, Montcassin and 
 Balthazar Juven, whom Pierre had endeavoured to seduce 
 
 tua^fvi^? 
 
■ x-:'fi^v^"^:':i' :". 
 
 i\ 
 
 268 
 
 FALSE HYPOTHESIS OF ST. REAL. 
 
 " Look at these Venetians," said the daring conspirator 
 one day to his apparent proselytes, " they affect to chain 
 the lion ; but the lion sometimes devours his master, es- 
 pecially when that master uses him ill." According to 
 their further evidence, some troops despatched by the Duke 
 d'Ossuna were to land by night on the PiazzettUy and to 
 occupy all the strongholds of the city ; numerous treason- 
 able agents already within the walls were to master the 
 dep6ts of arras ; and fire, rapine, and massacre were to 
 bring the enterprise to consummation. 
 
 The papers above mentioned, together with a few letters 
 from the doge to the Venetian ambassador at Milan, and 
 one or two other not very important documents contained 
 in the archives of Venice, all printed by Comte Daru, are 
 the sole authentic vouchers for this conspiracy now known 
 to exist ; and it must be confessed that they are insufficient 
 for its elucidation. The Abb^ St. Real, who for a long 
 time was esteemed the chief historian of this dark transac- 
 tion, is an agreeable and attractive writer ; but since he 
 was unacquainted with the report of the Ten, since he 
 does not cite the correspondence of the French ambassador 
 containing Pierre's depositions, and since he frequently 
 varies from a MS. which he does cite, The Interroga- 
 tories of the Accused^* a MS. indeed, which, even when 
 quoted faithfully, is often contradicted by the few established 
 facts, and by numerous well-known usages of the Venetian 
 government, little faith can be attached to his narrative. 
 It was his opinion, and it has been that which has most 
 generally prevailed, that the Duke d'Ossuna, the Marquis 
 de Bedemar, and Don Pedro di Toledo, Governor of Milan, 
 mutually concerted a plan for the destruction of Venice, 
 the chief execution of which was intrusted to Pierre and 
 Renault : and that, on the very eve of its explosion, Jaffier, 
 one of their band, touched by the magnificence of the es- 
 pousals of the Adriatic which he had just witnessed, was 
 shaken from his stern purpose, and revealed the conspiracy. 
 In order to overthrow the latter part of this hypothesis, it 
 may be sufficient to state that the first executions took 
 place on the 14th of May, 1618, and that it was not till the 
 
 ♦ A translation of this document Is given by Daru : the original Italian 
 may be found in the ♦' Memorie recondite" of Vittorio Siri, i. 407. 
 
 COMTE DARU S EXPLANATION. 
 
 269 
 
 24th of that month that the feast of Ascension and its gor- 
 geous ceremonies occurred in the same year. 
 
 Comte Daru, on the other hand, first explains a design 
 which it is notorious was entertained by the Duke d'Ossuna 
 to convert his viceroyalty of Naples into a kingdom, the 
 crown of which, wrested from Spain, should be placed on 
 his own head. And hence he establishes the impossibility 
 that d'Ossuna should at the same moment be plotting the 
 overthrow of Venice ; that power whose assistance, or at 
 least whose connivance, was one of the weapons most ne- 
 cessary for his success. On these grounds, Comte Daru 
 contends that the duke maintained a secret understanding 
 both with the signory and the court of France ; that, refining 
 on political duplicity, he deceived Pierre by really instruct- 
 ing him to gain over the Dutch troops quartered in the 
 Lagune ; not, however, as his emissary supposed, to be em- 
 ployed ultimately for the seizure of Venice, but in truth for 
 that of Naples ; that Pierre's courage was not proof against 
 the dangers with which his apparently most hazardous 
 commission beset him ; and that accordingly he betrayed 
 his employer, and revealed to the inquisitors a plot which 
 they well knew to be feigned ; and, lastly, that when the 
 ambitious plans of Ossuna, partially discovered before 
 their time by the Spanish government, might have com- 
 promised Venice also if they had been fully elucidated ; in 
 order to blot out each syllable of evidence which could bear, 
 even indirectly, upon the transaction, so far as she was 
 concerned, it was thought expedient to remove every indi- 
 vidual who had been even unwittingly connected with it. 
 So fully was this abominable wickedness perpetrated, that 
 both the accused and the accusers, the deceivers and the 
 deceived, those either faithless or faithful to their treason, 
 the tools who either adhered to or who betrayed d'Ossuna, 
 who sought to destroy or to preserve A'^enice, were alike 
 enveloped in one common fate, and silenced in the same 
 sure keeping of the grave. Some few, respecting whose 
 degree of participation a slight doubt arose, were strangled, 
 on the avowed principle that all must be put to death who 
 were in any way implicated*, others were drowned by 
 night, in order that their execution might make no noise,* 
 
 * Laurent Bnilard, concerning whose fate much discussion arose, was 
 strangled par beaucoup de considtirations et par tuie suit du parti qu'oo 
 
 Z2 
 
 ! f 
 
 '■a»iag»i~*'S'**a'^a.rih..,.v. H^- ^.^ 
 
270 
 
 OTWAV S VENICE PRESERVED. 
 
 Moncassin, one of the avowed informers, was pensioned, 
 spirited away to Cyprus, and there despatched in a drunken 
 quarrel ; and if it be asserted that his companion Balthazar 
 Juven was permitted to survive, it is because he is the only 
 individual concerning whose final destiny we cannot pro- 
 nounce with certainty.* 
 
 Of one personage who holds an important station in St. 
 Real's romance, and yet more so in Otway's coarse and 
 boisterous tragedy, which, by dint of some powerful coups 
 de theatre^ still maintains possession of the English stage, 
 we have hitherto mentioned but the name ; and, in fact, 
 even for that name we are indebted only to the more than 
 suspected summary of the Interrogatories of the Accused. 
 Antoine Jaffier, a French captain, is there made chief evi- 
 dence against Pierre and Renault, who are employed by 
 d'Ossuna, as he vaguely states, to surprise some maritime 
 place belonging to the republic. This informer was re- 
 warded with four thousand sequins, and instructed forth- 
 with to quit the Venetian territories ; but having, while at 
 Brescia, renewed communications with suspected persons, 
 he was brought back to the Lagune and drowned. The 
 minute particularities of Jaffier's depositions, and the motive 
 which prompted him to offer them (the latter, as we have 
 already shown, resting on a gross anachronism), are, we 
 beheve, pure inventions by St. Real ; and Otway has used 
 a poet's license to palliate still further deviations from au- 
 thentic history. Under his hands, Pierre— whom all ac- 
 counts conspire in representing to us as a foreign, vulgar, 
 and mercenary bravo, equally false to every party, and 
 frightened into confession — is transformed into a Venetian 
 patriot, the proud champion of his country's liberty ; who 
 declaims in good set, round, customary terms against 
 slavery and oppression ; and who, in the end, escapes a 
 mode of execution unknown to Venice, by persuading the 
 
 a^it pris de mettre & mort tous ceux qui ttaient impliqu^s dans cette 
 affaire. The brothers Desbouleaux were drowned by night in the 
 Canale Orfano, pour ne point ^bruiter I'affaire ; and the instructions 
 sent to the admiral who was to drown Pierre were, to fulfil his commis- 
 sion avec le moins de bruit possible. Accordingly that ruffian and 
 forty-five of his accomplices were drowned at once sans bruit.— Inter- 
 xogatoire des Accuses, translated by Daru, vol. viii. $ x. 
 
 * It IS believed that Balthazar Juven, and a relation of the Marechal 
 de Lesdiguieres, who is stated to have escaped punishment, are one 
 and the eame person. 
 
 REFLECTIONS ON THE CONSPIRACY. 
 
 271 
 
 friend who has betrayed him, and whom he has conse- 
 quently renounced, to stab him to the heart, in order " to 
 preserve his memory." The weak, whining, vacillating, 
 uxorious Jaffier, by turns a cut-throat and a king's-evidence ; 
 now pawning, now fondling, and now menacing with his 
 dagger an imaginary wife ; first placing his comrade's life 
 in jeopardy, then begging it agninst his will, and finally 
 taking it with his own hand, is a yet more imhappy creation 
 of wayward fancy ; and it is only in the names of the con- 
 spirators, in the introduction of an Englishman, Eliot 
 (whom he has brought nearer vernacular spelling than he 
 found him, — Haillot),* and in the character of Rainault, that 
 Otway is borne out by authority. The last-mentioned 
 person is described by the French ambassador as a sot, a 
 gambler, and a sharper, whose rogueries are well known to 
 all the world ; in a word, therefore, as a fit leader of a revo- 
 lutionary crew, wrought up, "without the least remorse, 
 with fire and sword to exterminate" all who bore the stamp 
 of nobility ; and not as the most fitting depository in which 
 Belvidera's honour might be lodged as a security for that 
 of her irresolute husband. 
 
 Whatever hypothesis may be adopted, be this conspiracy 
 true or false, there is no bloodier, probably no blacker page 
 in history than that which records its development. Were 
 it not for the immeasurable weight of guilt which must 
 press upon the memory of the rulers of Venice if we sup- 
 pose the plot to have been altogether fictitious, we should 
 assuredly admit that the evidence greatly preponderates in 
 favour of that assertion. But respect for human nature 
 compels us to hesitate in admitting a charge so monstrous. 
 Five months after the commencement of the executions 
 either a tardy gratitude or a profane mockery was offered 
 to Heaven ; and the doge and nobles returned thanks for 
 their great deliverance by a solemn service at St. Mark's. 
 
 In the dearth of matters of external interest, our atten- 
 tion is forcibly attracted to an attempt made by the Great 
 Council, a few years after tliis conspiracy, to abridge the 
 formidable authority of the Ten. That tribunal, long 
 odious to the majority of nobles who cowered under its 
 
 " Nani, iii. p. 169 He was to have commanded the naval part of the 
 enterprise, 
 
272 
 
 EXECUTION OF FOSCARINI. 
 
 despotism, had greatly lessened the prestige of infallibility 
 to which it was mainly indebted for support, by the dis- 
 covery of a most painful and irreparable error in one of its 
 judgments. The encouragement of secret denunciations 
 mimifestly gives room for the exercise of most of the evil 
 pa&sions of our nature ; and the lions^ mouths under the ar- 
 cade ai the summit of the Giant's Stairs, which gaped 
 widely to receive anonymous charges, were no doubt far 
 more often employed as vehicles of private malice than of 
 zeal for the public welfiire. To that baneful mode of dis- 
 covering offences the constitution of the Ten added a sys- 
 tem of espionage unparalleled in fraudulence and mys- 
 tery ; and the trade of informers had become equally gain- 
 ful, and their number equally great, with that of their de- 
 testable predecessors, the delatores of imperial Rome. It 
 was easy for those hired trackers of crime, by banding 
 together, to partition among themselves the separate char- 
 acters of witnesses and of accusers ; and no innocence 
 could hope to escape the insidious chase if the cry were 
 once up and the blood-hounds were slipped upon its foot- 
 ing. In 1662, Antonio Foscarini, a Cavalier e,* and a 
 senator, who had once filled the honourable office of am- 
 bassador to the court of France, and who appears also to 
 have been intimately known to our own James I., was de- 
 nounced to the inquisitors by two professed spies of mean 
 condition and nearly connected with each other. He was 
 accused of frequenting the Spanish minister's palace by 
 night and in disguise ; and the recent occurrences having 
 rendered the envoy of that cabinet more obnoxious than 
 any other to public jealousy, the charge, which if estab- 
 lished would lead to no less than capital punishment, was 
 greedily entertained. The stipulated reward was paid, the 
 secretary of the ambassador was named as furnishing the 
 information, and the inquisitors, without requiring the tes- 
 timony of that principal and most important evidence, ar- 
 rested Foscarini. After a few private interrogatories, in 
 which the single denial of the unhappy prisoner availed 
 nothing against two concurring witnesses, he was strangled 
 
 * The title of CavaUere was usually given to a noble on his return 
 from an embassy.— Nani, lib. x. p. 561. He wore a golden star embroi- 
 dered on his robe. 
 
 INNOCENCE OP FOSCARINI ESTABLISHED. 273 
 
 in his cell ; and on the next day his body was suspended 
 by one leg from a gallows in the Piazzetta from dawn till 
 sunset. Whether as an additional mark of ignominy, or as 
 an act of grace in order that he might be less easily recog- 
 nised, his features were previously disfigured by being 
 bruised on the pavement. 
 
 Success in this first villanous attempt increased the 
 daring and the avidity of the informers, and a second noble 
 was soon afterward accused of a similar crime. One of 
 the inquisitors, however, more prudent or less obdurate 
 than his coadjutors, now insisted on the examination of the 
 Spanish secretary, who peremptorily disavowed all know- 
 ledge either of the spies or of the denounced senator. 
 The conviction and condemnation of the informers which 
 followed were soon publicly known ; and the family of the 
 murdered Foscarini, still bitterly smarting under the dis- 
 grace which not only affected the memory of the dead, 
 but, according to the rigorous law of Venice, prevented his 
 surviving kindred also from advancement in the state, peti- 
 tioned that the criminals might be examined once more 
 touching their deceased relative. It little accorded how- 
 ever with the policy of the Ten to run the hazard of reveal- 
 ing their incapacity by revising a former sentence ; and the 
 application was refused under a pretext that the false wit- 
 nesses, being already convicted, were legally incompetent 
 to give evidence. Nevertheless, before the execution of 
 the malefactors ample and satisfactory confession was ob- 
 tained from them through a priest, and was published by 
 the injured family ; so that the Ten, no longer able to re- 
 sist their just importunity, issued a solemn exculpatory 
 decree nearly nine months after the punishment of Fosca- 
 rini, declaring that his innocence had been revealed by 
 Divine Providence miraculously and through methods un- 
 imaginable by human wisdom. It might have been more 
 accordant with truth if they had admitted with Bartolo, — 
 a distinguished civilian, who earned in his own times the 
 honourable titles of " The Star and Luminary of Law, and 
 the Lantern of Equity," and who was intimately acquainted 
 with Venetian jurisprudence,* — that the decisions of their 
 
 * ludieia Venetorum inter casus fortuitos reputanda. We have 
 chiefly fpUowod Sir Henry Wottoa in the sad story of Foscarini. He 
 
274 
 
 % 
 
 THE CORNAKI AND THE ZENI. 
 
 A. D. 
 
 1625. 
 
 tribunals were to be reckoned " among the accidents of for- 
 tune." 
 
 The sagacity of Wotton foresaw the results of this fatal 
 exposure : " Surely," he says, " in three hundred and 
 twelve years that the Decemviral Tribunal hath stood, 
 there was never cast upon it a greater blemish, which is 
 likely to breed no good consequence upon the whole." A 
 private quarrel which agitated the capital a few years af- 
 terward contributed to realize this anticipation. 
 The family of Giovanni Cornaro, who then occupied 
 the throne, had long cherished an hereditary feud 
 against that of Zeno ; the head of which noble house, 
 Renieri, happened to fill the high office of one of the chiefs 
 of the Ten. Using the privileges of that great authority 
 for the gratification of private resentment, Zeno in num- 
 berless instances offered vexatious opposition to the doge, — 
 seeking to deprive one of his sons of the enjoyment of the 
 purple which he had just received from the Vatican, and 
 to exclude another from his seat in the Great Council. In 
 the former attempt he failed ; fur although the law forbade 
 the acceptance from Rome of a benefice by any son of a 
 reigning doge, the cardinal's hat did not appear to be in- 
 cluded under that desiornation : but admittance to the coun- 
 cil had been provided for no more than two sons of the 
 prince, and Giorgio, therefore, as the third, was compelled 
 to abandon a privilege afforded him only by courtesy. 
 Fired with indignation at this affront, the hot-blooded youth 
 waylaid Zeno with bravoes as he quitted the council-cham- 
 ber of the Ten at night,* and left him for dead under their 
 
 professes to have made " research of the whole proceeding, that his 
 majesty, to whom he (Foscarini) was so well known, may have a more 
 due information of this rare and unfortunate example." It has been 
 said that the sentence of this miserable victim either of haste or of 
 malice was a voluntary error, — his crime being too great popularity ; 
 and Wotton certainly speaks of some probable "mixture of private pas- 
 sion." Vittorio Siri, upon whose single authority we should by no 
 means rely, writes disparagin«rly of Foscarini's character ; and adds, 
 that his fate might have easily been anticipated Mem. recotid. v. 380). 
 Even to that statement also Wotton is not altogether opposed ; " perhaps 
 some light humour to which the party was subject, together with the 
 taint of his former imprisonment (an illusion which we are unable to 
 explain), might precipitate the credulity of his judges."— ilt/w. Wottcnij 
 p. 310. 
 
 * The Collegia and the Ten held their sittings at all hotirs indiscrimi- 
 nately, as occasion required. Li the Grand Council the introduction of 
 
 DEMUR ON RE-ELECTION OF THE TEN. 275 
 
 stilettoes. The wounded man however recovered, the at- 
 tempted assassination was traced to its contriver, and his 
 punishment was exile for life and the forfeiture of all privi- 
 leges of nobility, — an inscription also, perpetuating the 
 memory of his crime, was fixed on the spot of its commis- 
 sion. Not content with this signal triumph, Zeno persisted 
 in displaying yet more than former virulence towards his 
 rivals ; and he inveighed even against a humane provision 
 of the senate, permitting the doge to issue the decree which 
 banished his son unaccompanied by the usual formality of 
 his own superscription. Angry harangues in the Collegia 
 and in the council won partisans to either side, and the 
 whole body of patricians arrayed themselves in one or other 
 of the factions ; and in the end, when Zeno prepared to 
 submit a revision of the ducal oath to the Great Council, 
 and the Ten forbade the attempt, he disobeyed their in- 
 junction, provoked a tumultuous debate, at which many of 
 the nobles attended with arms,* and so far interrupted by 
 frequent and irregular clamours a temperate explanation 
 which the doge was offering, that it became necessary to 
 adjourn the sitting. The inquisitors visited this unwonted 
 scandal with proportionate severity, and Zeno, who had 
 once before been banished, was condemned to a second 
 exile. 
 
 As the next stated season for the renewal of the Ten 
 approached, this fresh undue exercise of power, as it was 
 termed, was bitterly remembered by Zeno's numerous 
 friends ; and on proceeding to ballot not one of the candi- 
 dates proposed obtained siifficient votes to render his elec- 
 tion legal. The Ten were thus virtually extinguished. 
 But so violent a change in their constitution justly alarmed 
 those who understood and appreciated the infinite value of 
 stability in government, who deprecated any reform, even 
 of abuses, unless it were gradually introduced, and who 
 foresaw in this first specious amendment a dreary per- 
 spective of boundless future revolutions.! By the exertions 
 
 lights was forbidden, so that the sittings of that body always terminated 
 with sunset. 
 
 * In general no person was allowed to enter the council-chamber with 
 any weapon ; but adjoining it was a well-stored armoury which the no- 
 bles might employ in case of necessity. 
 
 t " Da' piii provetii Cittadini s' apprendevano 1 danni dellanovitA sem- 
 premai pregiuditiale, quando sotto titolo di Riforma la mutatione s' itt 
 
 /i 
 
 W 
 
 
276 
 
 DEBATES ON THE TEN. 
 
 of this less extreme party a committee was appointed to 
 review the functions of the obnoxious tribunal ; and when 
 they recommended that the Ten should no longer be per- 
 mitted to interfere with the decrees of the Great Council, 
 they at the same time declared that it was imperatively 
 necessary for the safety of a state governed by an aristoc- 
 racy, that some one supreme power should control the 
 otherwise excessive license of its numerous rulers, and 
 that the Council of Ten performed that duty most satis- 
 factorily. Such a report was little calculated to satisfy a 
 body already encouraging hopes that a tribunal which had 
 long and heavily pressed upon their order was about to be 
 abolished for ever, and stormy debates accordingly ensued. 
 On the first day. the council adjourned without coming to a 
 decision ; on the second, a vehement invective by a popular 
 orator so far carried away the hearers that an annulment 
 of Zeno's sentence was proposed by acclamation, and car- 
 ried by an overwhelming majority. The recommendation 
 of the committee would afterward have inevitably been 
 rejected but for the calm eloquence of Batista Nani, still 
 preserved to us in the pages of his nephew and namesake 
 the historian. Never was a greater triumph won over 
 personal feeling and private inclination than that which 
 Kani here achieved. When he sat down, the resolutions 
 of the committee were accepted and confirmed, their advo- 
 cate himself was elected a chief of the Ten, and in the in- 
 strument which registered this dignity especially honourable 
 mention was introduced of the great service which he had 
 rendered to his country by preserving her from anarchy. 
 Not long afterward also, so far as the patricians were 
 concerned, the power of the Ten was increased ; and in 
 all criminal cases the members of the Grand Council were 
 subjected to the cognizance of the smaller tribunal, instead 
 of being, as hitherto, amenable, in common with the rest of 
 their fellow-citizens, to the jurisdiction of the Forty. 
 Grievous indeed was the yoke which the nobles thus con- 
 sented to retain ; but upon submission to that yoke de- 
 pended the whole framework which bound together their 
 sovereignty. The love of power prevailed, and they were 
 
 trade ; tarlo pessimo, che se non b' estingue da prima, guasta presto e 
 corrode i meglio assodati Governi." — Nani, vii. p. 400. 
 
 Evelyn's picture of Venetian manners. 277 
 
 content to purchase entire despotism over others by the 
 partial surrender of their own freedom. 
 
 Of the state of Venetian manners about the period to 
 which we are now advancing, a few lively particulars have 
 been transmitted to us by one of the most accomplished 
 and observant of contemporary English travellers. Evelyn 
 arrived at Venice in 1645, in sufficient time to witness the 
 pomp of the marriage of the Adriatic : the gondolas ap- 
 peared to him as so many water-coaches ;* the. Canale 
 Grande^ from the throng of nobles who took the air upon 
 it, as resembling Hyde Park : the Exchange (le fabhriche 
 vecchie di Rialto) " as nothing so magnificent as our own ;" 
 but of the street which led from it to St. Mark's he 
 speaks with rapture. " Hence I passed through the Mer- 
 ceria, one of the most delicious streets in the world for the 
 sweetnesse of it, and is all the way on both sides tapistred, 
 as it were, with cloth of gold, rich damasks and other silks, 
 which the shops expose and hang before their houses from 
 the first fioore, and with that variety that, for neere halfe 
 the yeare spent chiefly in this citty, I hardly remember to 
 have scene the same piece twice exposed ; to this add the 
 perfumes, apothecaries' shops, and innumerable cages of 
 nightingales which they keepe, that entertaine you with 
 their melody from shop to shop, so that shutting your eyes 
 you would imagine yourselfe in the country, when indeede 
 you are in the middle of the sea. It is almost as silent 
 as the middle of a field, there being neither rattling of 
 coaches nor trampling of horses. This streete, paved with 
 brick, and exceedingly cleane, brought us through an arch, 
 into the famous piazza of St. Marc."t 
 
 Evelyn's attention, however, appears to have been chiefly 
 attracted by the singularity of costume. " It was now As- 
 cension weeke, and the greate mart or faire of the whole 
 yeare was kept, every body at liberty and joUie. The no- 
 blemen stalking with their ladies on choppijics ; these are 
 
 * Evelyn some years afterward likewise, in 1662, si)eak8 of'gondolat 
 with no great respect : " I saw the rich gondola sent to his majesty by 
 the state of Venice, but it was not comparable for swiftness to' our 
 common wherries, though rowed by Venetians."— Memoir*, ii. 191. Co- 
 ry at (Crudities, 160) has given a bad character of the gondoliers pl>ing at 
 the Rialfo. A pleasant deRcripiion of the modern gondola may be found 
 in Mr. Rose's Letters, i. 272. j « 
 
 t Memoirs, ii. 313. 
 
 Vol. II. — A a 
 
 u 
 
278 
 
 VENETIAN COSTUME. 
 
 high-heeleJ shoes, particularly affected by these proude 
 dames, or, as some say, invented to keepe them at homo, 
 it being very difficult to walke with them ; whence one 
 being asked how he liked the Venetian dames, replied, they 
 were mezzo carne^ mezzo ligyio, half-flesh, half-wood, and 
 he would have none of them. The truth is, their garb is 
 very odd, as seeming allwayes in masquerade ; their other 
 habits also totally different from all nations. They wearc 
 very long crisped haire, of severall strakes and colours, 
 which they make so by a wash, dischevclling it on the brims 
 of a broade hat that has no crowne, but an hole to put out 
 their heads by ; they drie them in the sunn as one may see 
 then; at their windows.* In their tire they set silk flowers 
 and sparkling stones, their peticoates coming from their 
 very arme-pits, so that they are neere three-quarters and an 
 half apron ; their sleeves are made exceedingly wide, under 
 which their shift sleeves as wide, and commonly tucked up 
 to the shoulder, shewing their naked amies through false 
 sleeves of tiffany, girt with a bracelet or two, with knots 
 of points richly tagged about their shoulders and other 
 places of their body, which they usually cover with a kind 
 of yellow vaile of lawn very transparent. Thus attired, 
 they set their hands on the heads of two matron-like ser- 
 vants or old women, to support them, who are mumbling 
 their beades. 'Tis ridiculous to see how these ladies crawle 
 in and out of their gondolas by reason of their choppinesy 
 and what dwarfs they appeare when taken down from their 
 wooden scaffolds; of these I saw thirty near together, 
 stalking halfe as high againe as the rest of the world ; for 
 courtezans or the citizens may not weare choppi?teSj but 
 cover their bodies and faces with a vaile of a certaine glitter- 
 ing taffeta or lustree, out of which they now and then dart 
 a glaunce of their eye, the whole face being otherwise en- 
 tirely hid with it : nor may the common misses take this 
 habit, but go abroad barefac'd. To the corners of these 
 virgin-vailes hang broad but flat tossells of curious Point 
 de Vcnize. The married women go in black vailes. The 
 Nobility weare the same colour, but of fine cloth lin'd with 
 taffeta in summer, with fur of the bellies of squirrels in the 
 
 * At the close of this chapter will be found a cut from Titian, represent- 
 ing a Venetian lady under this operation— la one corner stand her chop- 
 pinea. 
 
 ORIGIN OF THE AVAR OF CANDIA. 
 
 279 
 
 / 
 
 winter, which all put on at a certaine day, girt with a girdle 
 emboss'd with silver ; the vest not much difierent from what 
 our Bachelors of Arts weare in Oxford, with a hood of 
 cloth made like a sack cast over their left shoulder, and a 
 round cloth black cap fring'd with wool, which is not so 
 comely ; they also weare their collar open, to shew the dia- 
 mond button of the stock of their shirt. I have never seene 
 pearlc for colour and bignesse comparable to what the ladys 
 weare, most of the noble families being very rich in Jewells, 
 especialy pearles, which are always left to the son or brother 
 who is destined to marry, which the eldest seldome do. The 
 doge's vest is of crimson velvet, the procurator's, &c. of 
 damasc very stately. Nor was I lesse surprized with the 
 strange variety of the severall nations seen every day in the 
 streets and piazzas ; Jews, Turks, Armenians, Persians, 
 Moores, Greeks, Sclavonians, some with their targets and 
 boucklers, and all in their native fashions, negotiating in 
 this famous emporium, which is always crowded with stran- 
 gers."* 
 
 During Evelyn's visit, preparations were making for 
 another celebrated war which Venice was about to maintain 
 against the Turks ; and, indeed, a voyage which he medi- 
 tated to Jerusalem was prevented in consequence of the ship 
 already engaged by him being pressed for the carriage of 
 stores to Caiulia, then menaced by invasion. Ibrahim, the 
 sultan who at that time fdled the throne of Constantinople, 
 is chiefly known to us by his weakness and his vices ;t but 
 he was governed by an enterprising vizier, Mohammed, 
 pacha of Damascus, who eagerly seized an occasion prom- 
 ising aggrandizement to the Ottomans at the expense ^ ^^ 
 of Venice. A Turkish vessel, conveying to Mecca jg^* 
 one of the sultanas and her son by Ibrahim,t named 
 
 * Evelyn, ibid. 321. Coryat speaks similarly of the throng in tK 
 Piazza : " Here you may both see all manner of fashions of attyre, anl 
 heare all the languages of Christendonie, besides those that are spoken by 
 the barbarous Eihnickes."— rr«(i/f/fi.-, 171. 
 
 t " Noil possedeva alcuna delle doti che passano anche tra i Barbari per 
 necessarie : slolido senza lume, fbrioso senza intervalli, con tal mistura 
 di crudeltA e di timore, di prodigalitA e d' avaritia, che a' suoi medesimi 
 pareva un composto di sensi, di costumi, di viiii contiarii, trailussidel 
 Seraglio dato in preda alle libidiiii e alle delilie."— A'a»/, part ii. lib. i. p. 34. 
 
 i Kor various statements relative to the parentage ol Othman, see Sir 
 Paul Rycaut in his continuation of Knolles, vol. iii. p. 57. Diedo alto- 
 gether rejects the common belief that it was a sultana who was cap- 
 tured.— Tom. iii. lib. V. p. 12. 
 
280 
 
 SURRENDER OF KHANIA. 
 
 SALE OF VENETIAN NOBILITY. 
 
 281 
 
 
 Othraan, had been captured by some Maltese galleys, which 
 anchored with their prize in the first instance off the coast 
 of Candia. Contrary to civilized usages, the prisoners were 
 obstinately detained ; the mother died of grief, the child was 
 baptized, and finally became a Dominican, under the name 
 of- Padre Ottomano. The fury of Ibrahim on the receipt 
 of this intelligence was ungovernable, and he breathed ven- 
 geance against all Christendom indiscriminately. It was 
 in vain that the ambassadors of France and England, the 
 resident of the United Provinces, and the bailo of Venice, 
 when summoned before the vizier, protested that the knights 
 of Malta formed an independent community, for whose 
 acts no other power could be responsible ; they were men- 
 aced with committal to the Seven Towers ; and Moham- 
 med, profiting by the accidental use which had been made 
 of the harbours of Candia, directed his master's views of 
 revenge to the conquest of that island. Against the barren 
 rock of Malta the Turks before now had^ expended their 
 mightiest efforts in vain ; but the rich territory, the large 
 population, and the commercial importance of Candia 
 offered a prize perhaps of easier attainment, certainly of 
 far greater value. 
 
 To write the history ©f the arduous struggle which 
 Venice maintained during the next twenty-four° years for 
 this last remnant of her share in the partition of the Eastern 
 empire, would far exceed our limits, and might, indeed, de- 
 mand a separate work ; so that we must content ourselves 
 A. D. ^^^^^ touching rapidly upon a few of its more promi- 
 1645. "^"^. incidents. In the first campaign, the Turks 
 obtained possession of Khania, after a siege of fifty- 
 seven days' continuance, and the loss of nearly twenty thou- 
 sand men ; and thus they secured, not only a strong mili- 
 tary station, but a port also for the disembarkation of rein- 
 forcements. So important did this loss appear to the sig- 
 nory, that scarcely any sacrifice was deemed too great for 
 its reparation, and recourse was had to extraordinary mea- 
 sures for increase of revenue. Every citizen was required 
 to deliver for coinage at the mint three-fourths of his house- 
 hold plate ; the highest ofllicial dignities were once a^ain 
 exposed to auction ; and even nobility itself was now* for 
 the first time, made venal. The unworthy proposal was 
 met with becoming indignation by some of the more ancient 
 
 H 
 
 k 
 
 famines. " Sell your children," exclaimed the aged Mi- 
 chaelli, " but never, never sell your nobility !"* An anec- 
 dote in a widely different spirit is told by Burnet. " When 
 Correge said to the duke that he was afraid to ask that 
 honour for want of merit, the duke asked him if he had one 
 hundred thousand ducats, and when the other answered that 
 sum was ready, the duke told him that was a great merit."t 
 The conditions of this disgraceful sale announced that what- 
 ever siibject of the state would pay, during a year, the ex- 
 penses of one thousand soldiers, and for that purpose would 
 deposite sixty thousand ducats in the treasury, should bo 
 admitted among the candidates from whom five nobles were 
 to be selected. This lottery was extended to foreigners also 
 on a small additional payment. Legitimate birth, and a 
 satisfactory proof that no mechanical employment had de- 
 graded the family during the last three generations, were 
 the sole requisites demanded from competitors ; but Jews, 
 Turks, and Saracens were peremptorily excluded ; no sum, 
 however great, might be received from them ; no service, 
 however valuable," might be pleaded for admission; and 
 any individual who should be sufficiently daring to pro- 
 pose so gross an abomination, subjected himself to perpetual 
 banishment, and the loss of his whole property. In the 
 end, eighty new patricians, instead of five, were admitted 
 by purchase, and the consequent returns to the treasury 
 amounted to eight million ducats. Other unusual measures 
 were demanded by the greatness of the occasion ; and, in 
 opposition to a state maxim which had been most rarely 
 transgressed, Francesco Erizzo, the reigning doge, was 
 called, like Enrico Dandolo, and at an equally advanced age, 
 to assume the personal command of an expedition for the 
 relief of Candia. Estimating his physical powers beyond 
 their real strength, the veteran warrior died while preparing 
 for his important charge. 
 
 During the second campaign, a singular spectacle was 
 exhibited in the Venetian fleet ; notwithstanding ^ ^^ 
 mutual existing differences, both France and Spain ^Q^, 
 supplied reinforcements ; so that two squadrons, 
 which elsewhere would have met in hostile guise, were 
 here arrayed under a confederate flag. The assistance 
 
 * " Vender i fipli, ma non mai vender la nobilitA I" 
 t Letters, p. 155. Rouerdam, 1686. 
 Aa2 
 
 * V t _ _ 
 
7 
 
 it 
 
 283 DETHRONEMENT AND DEATH OF IBRAHIM. 
 
 Which Cardinal Mazarin thus afforded was repaid by in- 
 scnption m the Golden Book; and the possessor of mo?e 
 than seventy million ducats was, perhaps, but little flat- 
 tered by an honour which the disbursement of seventy 
 thousand might have purchased in the common market 
 In her naval operations, Venice, from the superior ski i 
 of her manners, was eminently successful f and the 
 ^rf* "^ ^'/'\'°. en.^rfl^.* both his civil and militar^ 
 ? ?/u"^'''?^^^ ^^^ P^^P^^^y of Jiis Capudan Pach7 
 
 plunged a dagger into the heart of his vizier Mohammed 
 
 t' t 'k flPT°''^"( '^' ^^^' b^^^"«« the blockade of the 
 Turkish fleet retarded the movements of the army. Retimo 
 
 viTrr;.^).'^ n.?^^ '^^^' ^^'^ ^^" th«"«^^J inhabitants,' 
 yielded to the Ottomans ; before the gates of Suda the^^ 
 
 piled five thousand Christian heads in pyramids ; and they 
 
 fskidTT^ '^f '''^' of Candia, the metropolis of the 
 island, which was to occupy them during a period more 
 than double the term of the resistance of Troy 
 
 Before the close of this year, a revolution at Constanti- 
 nople seemed at first to permit hope of peace. Theex. 
 cesses and the cruelty of IbrahimSoused the janizaries 
 to revolt, and a comparatively trifling incident completed 
 the tyrant's destruction. Not satisfied with the gUded 
 
 ohS^' Ti'^' precious tapestries which decorated the 
 chambers of his palace, under the influence of some new 
 
 ZTnfT''"'^u- ^"^"7' ^' ^^'''^'^ the scarcely^redibTe' 
 sum of four millions of gold in collecting rare and costly 
 furs, especially sables ;t and the extortion! to which he had 
 recourse for the gratification of this expensive folly first 
 awakened deep murmurs, and in the end organized a^ con 
 spiracy among his praetorians. The gates of the seraX 
 were forced ; and the insurgents, rushing ^n called S 
 loud cries for Ibrahim's sol M^hammfd whom, nt 
 withstanding his tender years, they destined for the crown 
 
 Jn.nn^'^'' ' "fT^ ""''^ '^^^ ^"^ terror, seized the b^y 
 unconscious of the purpose to which the tumult environinc; 
 
 Ini;i;?xSroJl3SyX""" '"" by Voltaire for the 
 
 of^h?U?se"suaViT ^TZiS^^l^ T ^'^^ ^^^^^-' -« 
 aphrodi8iacB.-Vol.xup 493 '^*'*'®' ^^^^'"^ed sables to be 
 
 BRILLUNT NAVAL EXPLOIT. 
 
 283 
 
 P 
 
 i 
 
 \4 
 
 him was directed, and would have despatched him with 
 his own hand but for the intervention of the women of the 
 harem. Mohammed, who had not yet completed his sixth 
 year, still in tears and struggling with alarm, was borne 
 off by the janizaries, placed upon the throne, and in- 
 vested with the symbols of empire, while his wretched 
 father was overpowered and strangled in an adjoining 
 apartment. On the receipt of this intelligence, the signory, 
 imagining that a change of rulers might produce a change 
 of counsels also, proposed terms of peace ; these, however, 
 were rejected arrogantly, and not without ferocious outrages 
 upon the minister of the republic. His first dragoman was 
 put to death, under a pretext that he had offered bribes to 
 some inferior officers of the divan ; and the bailo himself, 
 over whom similar punishment was long suspended, was 
 thought happy in escaping with committal to the Seven 
 Towers. 
 
 The war, therefore, continued to rage ; and on almost 
 every occasion during its protracted course in which the 
 Turks encountered the Venetians by sea, they were signally 
 discomfited ; many remarkable incidents being transmitted 
 to us of victory obtained against most disproportionately 
 superior forces. In the engagement which we have before 
 mentioned as costing his life to the Capudan Pacha, and 
 their inheritance to his heirs, a single Venetian ship, 
 commanded by Tommaso Morosini, sustained an attack 
 from five-and-forty galleys, in the strait of Negropont. 
 After a long and desperate resistance, in which Morosini 
 himself was killed, and his ship boarded, but not mastered, 
 the arrival of four of her mates put to flight the entire 
 Turkish fleet, with the loss of their commander, of many 
 prisoners, and of several galleys destroyed. The Darda- 
 nelles were frequently blockaded, and when, in 1649, the 
 Turkish admiral, commanding eighty-three ships, sought, 
 not to engage, but to elude a squhdron of twenty Venetians, 
 under Giacopo Riva, he was pursued to the road of Foschia, 
 not far north from Smyrna, and defeated with a loss, most 
 probably exaggerated by the historians of the republic, 
 but which, nevertheless, must have been laru^e indeed to 
 permit so great exaggeration as they have ventured to 
 employ. We are told that most of the Ottoman ships 
 were burned or driven on shore, that one thousand five 
 
284 
 
 NAVAL EXPLOITS. 
 
 hundred Christian slaves were released, and seven thousand 
 
 I'il r ^"«1' 'V'T 'i '^' conquerors meanwhile not 
 exceeding fifteen dead and ninety wounded '* 
 
 Vpn?.! i"""^ fZ ^Ai\«P'^»<JiJ ^i^tory, Riva despatched to 
 Venice a single British ship, serving under his flaa • her 
 name was the Elizabeth Mary, her commander Captain 
 Thomas Middleton; and it is with peculiar pleasureShat 
 an Englishman will read a special tribute of praise oilered 
 to the pllnntry of one of his own countrymen. Pursued 
 hy tlnrty Turkish sail, this brave sailor, displaying the 
 standard of St. Mark, beat off his assailants so vigorously 
 that they were driven with great loss to refit in MUylcne • 
 and he then proceeded with his own ship to Venice no[ 
 only m safety but in triumph.f A similar instan c'e of 
 English bravery is related by Diedo. He names the ship 
 n Soccorso, v^'hich we are unable to accommodate to our 
 received marine nomenclature. She defended herself, sinalv 
 against the whole Turkish fleet, at the mouth of the Danlv 
 nelles and killed four hundred infidels before she was h f 
 burned and captured.J 
 
 The coast of Paros was the next scene of naval conflict, 
 where victory was won before the main Venetian 
 1651. ^f^ could be brought into action, by two of their 
 advanced ships, commanded by the brothers Monce- 
 nighi ; a name continually illustrious in the annals of this 
 A. D. ;y^^- ^ ^/^<^« --i^-'in also were the Dardanelles bloodily 
 1654^ disputed ; m the first instance by eight Venetians, 
 attacked by thirty-two sail from th? Archinelairo 
 and by seventy-five from Constantinople. Incredil)le\'' 
 ^ may appear, this combat was equally maintain d and 
 himsrVlT""'" f the republic'not only extricated 
 ifX wfn h^ svvarms by which he was surrounded, but 
 If the wind had permitted would have arrain joined bkttle 
 
 "tlf; r "Z; '" ^"?^^- -^i- f-g^^t on tie sle spo 
 hJnrl vr ^^"T'"^' Lazaro, one of the two Monceniihi 
 
 wi[h fonf "^•'?"^'^ ''/"^"^' ^^^'-^^"^^ ^ ^««^P'«te victory 
 with forty sai opposed to one hundred ; and in 1656 the 
 
 S%reTr^'"%'V"'^' «" ^^^ Aa^^^a, 'cove ed 
 with fresh wounds, and honourably disfigured by the loss 
 
 * Nani, part ii. lib. v. p. 244 
 
 t Idern. ibid. p. 264. 
 
 t Tom. iii, lib. viL p. 212. 
 
 THE MONCENIOHI. 
 
 285 
 
 A. D. 
 
 ) 
 
 of an eye, to announce the total destruction of eighty-four 
 Turkish vessels, in the narrowest part of their own strait, 
 under the protection of numerous batteries raised on either 
 shore. Marcello, the Venetian commander-in-chief, was 
 killed during this action, and the popular voice enthusiasti- 
 cally hailed Moncenigo as his successor. The senate, 
 perhaps jealous of dictation, appointed a different officer ; 
 but a vote of the Great Council frustrated the intrigue, and 
 Lazaro Moncenigo returned to the JSgean to immortalize 
 himself by another triumph, and a glorious death. After 
 capturing or destroying twenty Turkish galleys in an 
 attempt to force the Dardanelles, he was separated 
 from his enemy by a severe gale, which lasted during ^^ ^j' 
 two successive days ; on the third morning, when jggy* 
 he renewed the combat, his ship caught fire, and 
 the fall of a mast upon his head deprived him of life. Five 
 hundred men perished in the explosion which followed ; 
 but the Venetians had the melancholy satisfaction of res- 
 cuing from the flames their standard and the body of their 
 admiral. " I know not, however," is the just remark of Nani, 
 " whether the sea might not have been the fittest grave for 
 one who sacrificed his life upon that element for the prize 
 of glory !" 
 
 During these naval events, which, for the sake of greater 
 perspicuity, we have thrown together into a connected 
 series, the land operations against the city of Candia had 
 been tardily progressive. In soliciting aid among the 
 chief European powers, Venice received assurances of 
 important assistance from the Protector Cromwell, at that 
 time wielding the most formidable maritime armament in the 
 world.* He promised them help when a squadron which 
 he was about to despatch to the Mediterranean for the 
 punishment of the corsairs should reach* its destination ; 
 a promise which, as it would have injured his oriental 
 commerce, the wily dissembler was far too politic to fulfil. 
 More than words, however, were obtained from ^^ 
 
 Louis XIV. ; and four thousand of the choicest iggn' 
 French infantry and two hundred cavalry were 
 placed at the disposal of Francesco Morosini, now for a 
 second time during this war generalissimo of the republic. 
 
 * " Che con cento quaranta navi armate dominava il mare." — Nani^ 
 r?t il. lib. vi, p. 830. 
 
286 
 
 RECONCILIATION WITH SAVOY. 
 
 SIEGE OF CANDIA. 
 
 287 
 
 That force was wasted in desultory operations; fifteen 
 hundred men perished by the sword, the remainder by 
 disease ; and the signory, disappointed in their sanguine 
 hope of success, recalled Morosini, and subjected him to 
 prosecution. He had the rare fortune of being acquitted 
 by a Venetian tribunal, and, ere long, of resuming a career 
 which was finally to lead him to the very summit of glory. 
 Aid, ultimately more useful than that of France had 
 proved, was supplied by a reconciliation with the court 
 of Savoy, between which and Venice all intercourse had 
 been suspended during thirty years. A former prince 
 ot that house, after intermarriage with the last heiress 
 of the Lusignani, had been chased from the throne of 
 Cyprus by the Venetians, who in their turn also were 
 despoiled of it by the Turks. The republic, after her loss, 
 wisely abstained from the empty assumption of a title 
 which she was no longer able to support by arms ; but it 
 became a point of honour that it should not be borne by 
 another ; and accordingly, when the reigning Duke of 
 Savoy subscribed himself King of Cyprus and Jerusalem, 
 the signory indignantly withdrew their ambassador from 
 his court. " We wish to heaven," was the quiet sarcasm 
 ot that minister to the duke, on his audience of leave, 
 "that Cyprus really belonged to you, and not to the 
 1 urks . On a new accession, the dispute was compro- 
 mised by an evasion not less silly than the oricrinal claim • 
 and the duke forbore using the offensive title when address- 
 ing the signory, although he assumed it in his communica- 
 tions with every other power.* But the necessities of the 
 republic easily levelled any difficulty which iniaht obstruct 
 an accommodation upon which depended a supply of two 
 picked regiments under the Marquis Villa, one of the ablest 
 generals of his time. Errors similar to those which had 
 before rendered the French unavailable were, unhappily 
 repeated with regard to this force also : it was broken in 
 
 fitvlel''" - Th.°^n?^ a monarchy, was naturally jealous of diplomatic 
 stjles. "J he Doge of Venice, who acknovvle.Jges no superior, uses 
 rs^hJ^rT^;/^'"?^'" P«»^"';i»,««) but only alte^zza or celsi,u)lo?^l 
 l-l. i ' ^'^^'^ '■[ "!'.'">'''•■ Works, iii. 224.) As if in burlesque of this 
 ast.diousness, the little republic of San Marino, comprising a popu- 
 lation m all not exceeding seven thousand souls, used to address Venice 
 as 7iosira carnsima sorclla. ""^cas venue 
 
 detail ; nor did it become of effective use till, after suffering 
 great loss, its remnant was concentrated within the walls 
 of Candia. Long as that city had been invested, the siege 
 can scarcely be said to have been pressed with suflScient 
 vigour to promise conquest till the spring of 1667 ; when 
 the grand-vizier Kieuperegli opened his batteries, having 
 sat down under the ramparts in person, at the head of 
 seventy thousand men, at the commencement of the pre- 
 ceding winter. 
 
 The chief command of the Venetians was now for a 
 third time intrusted to Frajjcesco Morosini ; he was sup- 
 ported by numerous skilful engineers, his garrison ^ ^ 
 mustered about nine thousand men, and his fortifica- ^i^T. 
 tions were strong and in good repair. One side of 
 the city, the form of which was nearly triangular, resting 
 upon the sea, was thus open for supplies poured in from 
 Venice with unsparing cost : for not only munitions of 
 war, but almost every necessary of life, even biscuit and 
 fuel, was despatched from the Lagunc. Towards the land, 
 the approaches were defended by a line of curtain three 
 miles in circuit, flanked by seven bastions, and mounting 
 four hundred pieces of artillery. The ditches were deep 
 and wide, and every outwork had been diligently excavated 
 with mines, yawning secretly, like so many hidden graves, 
 for the countless numbers who were to perish in their 
 abysses. The conduct of these subterraneous works, in- 
 deed, fonned at that time the chief secret of military art in 
 sieges ; and the scene of war, as Rycaut, the continuator of 
 Kn'oUes, expresses himself, " seemed to be transferred ad 
 inferos.'''' An English writer, who visited the neighbour- 
 hood of Candia within a very few years after this siege, 
 appears to have listened with open ears to some very extra- 
 ordinary narrations respecting it. " Another invention," 
 says the excellent Bernard Randolph, " the Venetians had 
 to fish up the Turkes, when they attempted to undermine 
 the walls. They had hooks made in the forme of a boat's 
 grapling, the point sharp, fastn'd to a rope, and four or five 
 feet of chain at the end. These hooks they often cast over 
 the wall amongst the Turkes ; and seldome failed to bring 
 up a Turk, some fastn'd by the clothes, others by the body. 
 I have heard some of the officers say they have taken sev- 
 eral in a night ; for when the hook was fa£tn'd, they gave 
 
288 
 
 SIEGE OF CANDIA. 
 
 SORTIE OF THE FRENCH. 
 
 289 
 
 them not time to unhook themselves, but had them over the 
 wall. And many a Turk have the commmi soldiers eaten."* 
 But it would be tedious if vfe were to attempt to recite 
 " the various assaults and valiant sallies, the traverses ex- 
 traordinary, the rencounters bloody, the resistance viaor- 
 ous," which the same writer assures us were more than 
 were ever known or recorded in any siege before. It may 
 suffice to say that from the opening of the trenches till the 
 Turks retired to cantonments in this year, a period not ex- 
 ceeding six months, no less than seventeen sorties and 
 thirty-two assaults were attempted ; six hundred and 
 eighteen mines were sprung oh one side or the other ; the 
 loss of the garrison amounted to eighty officers and three 
 thousand two hundred men, and that of the Turks to more 
 than twenty thousand. One of the mines is said to have 
 reqi'ired eighteen thousand pounds of powder, and to have 
 blown mto the air, with destruction either of life or limbs 
 one thousand victims. * 
 
 The Marquis Villa, who had most bravely seconded Mo- 
 rosnii in command, was recalled by the Duke of 
 Savoy in the following spring, when the garrison was *^' °* 
 strongly reinforced by three thousand Imperialists. ^^^^• 
 The chief work undertaken by the Turks during the sum- 
 mer was the construction of an enormous mole in the port, 
 by means, of which they commanded the weakest part of 
 the fortifications, and materially annoyed the garrison. 
 They estabUshed themselves also on the site of a ruined 
 bastion, from which no efforts of the besieged could dislodge 
 them. The year was closed by an enterprise among the 
 most remarkable in modern history ; rash, headlong, gen- 
 erous, dazzling, useless, and inconclusive as any of those 
 which belong to more chivalrous and romantic ages. 
 
 The long duration of the war of Candia, and the recent 
 great efforts both of the garrison and of the besiegers, had 
 naturally arrested the regard and fired the imagination of 
 all Europe ; and some youthful nobles of France, passion- 
 ately enamoured of glory, and easily kindling a fancied zeal 
 for religion also, banded together, as for a new crusade, to 
 combat the infidels. Six hundred volunteers, all of gentle 
 blood, many of them scions of the most ancient houses 
 
 ♦PresemStateoffhelslandsin the Archipelago, by B R who resided 
 in those parts from 1671 to 1679. »« , "J o. «. wno residea 
 
 which France could boast, enrolling themselves under the 
 command of the Duke de la FueilJiide and the banner of 
 the Grand-master of Malta, embarked from the coast of 
 Provence, and arrived in Candia towards the end of No- 
 vember. Louis XIV. added his own name to the brilliant 
 list, and commuted his personal service for a contribution 
 of forty thousand golden ducats.* Morosini immediately 
 employed them in defence of one of his most advanced out- 
 works ; a post the danger of which might have amply sat- 
 isfied a thirst for honour in less ardent and restless spirits. 
 But it was not to await attack that these lion-hearted 
 youths had traversed the Mediterranean ; and burning for 
 action, and viewing war chiefly as a pastime, they endea- 
 voured to create opportunities for combat when these failed 
 to offer themselves spontaneously. Almost daily, therefore, 
 some champion would leap the palisades, and rushing singly 
 on the enemies' lines, would either sacrifice his own life in 
 an idle bravado, or bring back a prisoner to encumber the 
 garrison. So thinned were their ranks by these fruitless 
 rencounters, that their leader, fearful lest his numbers might 
 at length become too far diminished to peniiit such an ex- 
 hibition of prowess as he coveted, eagerly conjured the 
 generalissimo to attempt a general sortie ; an operation 
 which, according to the sanguine expressions of the volun- 
 teers themselves, could not do less than compel the enemy 
 to raise the siege. 
 
 It was in vain that Morosini endeavoured to temper the 
 rash fervour of his indiscreet allies, by showing that his 
 force was insufficient cither to support their design in the 
 first instance, or, even if they were successful, to maintain 
 any ground which they might win. The French continued 
 obstinate in their purpose ; and the IGth of December 
 being fixed upon for their enterprise, the preceding evening 
 was employed, as we are told, " in making clean con- 
 sciences."! Two hours before daybreak, the volunteers, 
 accompanied by one hundred Venetians, and amounting 
 altogether to no more than four hundred and fifty men, de- 
 
 * Palatius, Fasti Ducalcs, .?00. 
 
 t " Charun emnloya la veilie A inetlre ordre tout debon a sa conscience." 
 —Journal de i' Expedition de M. de la, Fueiliade par un Volontaire. Ly- 
 ons, 1669. 
 
 Vol. IT.—B b 
 
 VX 
 
 )k 
 
 *f 
 
290 
 
 SORTIE OF THE FRENCH, 
 
 PYRAMIDS OF HEADS. 
 
 291 
 
 scended from the rampart to the fausse-braye ;* not by <me 
 of the gates, nor even by a postern, for those entrances if 
 was considered hazardous to open; but by a breach pre- 
 senting an aperture so scanty that not more than a single 
 file could pass abreast. For the sake of moving over the 
 difficult and intersected ground with greater freedom, the 
 French had disencumbered themselves from their armour ; 
 and the few who retained their morions and scull-caps speed- 
 ily threw aside even those defences. Each of the cavaliers 
 was accompanied by a page armed with a brace of pistols, 
 and with a spontoon in his hand ; for swords were seldom 
 employed against the Turks, who, notwithstandino- their 
 own superior adroitness in the exercise of musketryt could 
 rarely be persuaded to stand an encounter v^^ith firearms. 
 Crouching down on the ground, and awaiting a sianal foi 
 advance, this brave company was thrown into slighl confu- 
 sion by an unexpected cannonade which opened from the 
 batteries of the enemy, treacherously apprized of their de- 
 sign. Not a moment further was delayed. Fueillade, 
 armed only with a whip, rushed forward ; and by his side' 
 and sometimes even before him, strode a Capucin, regard- 
 less of the bul/ets which plunged around, displaying a lifted 
 crucifix, and animating the combatants by his impassioned 
 voice and gestures. The trenches were guarded by two 
 thousand six hundred Turks, of whom more than half were 
 slam and the rest put to flight ; so that after two hours' 
 contest the French remained in possession of seven redoubts 
 But however gallantly those works had been stormed, it 
 was not possible that they should be long occupied. The 
 fugitives had already rallied, and even after their great loss 
 were nearly thrice the number of those before whom they 
 had given way ; the camp was pouring out its hosts in their 
 support ; and the conquerors swept away by a ceaseless 
 cannonade, and pressed on each flank and in front by over- 
 whelming battalions, now hoped for no other gain from their 
 barreji victory beyond retirement within the walls which 
 they had recently been so impatient to quit. So blind, how- 
 ever, was the zeal of the Capucin, that he continued te 
 snout vociferously for advance long after orders had been 
 
 dice's whSwt".''^'' ^'^''""^^ '*'Jr*«'^ '" ""^«^" fortification, at the 
 
 given for retreat ; and some gentle violence became neces- 
 sary to restrain his mischievous enthusiasm. An eyewit- 
 ness tells us, that in spite of the crucifix which he bran- 
 dished, his unseasonable ardour provoked M. de la Fueil- 
 lade to express himself with some little asperity ; and if we 
 do not greatly mistake the sly implication which the writer 
 intends to convey, the angry duke swore roundly against 
 the energetic friar.* Under cover of the guns from the 
 ramparts, the remnant of this little band of heroes at length 
 gained the city, re-entering by the same narrow passage 
 through which they had before issued ; the duke himself, 
 wounded in three places, being the last man who quitted 
 the ditch. One hundred and twenty of their number were 
 left killed or wounded in the trenches ; and all of these 
 underwent the same ultimate fate, their heads being mounted 
 on pikes and exhibited in scorn to the garrison. The 
 delicacy of complexion and the profusion of light bair 
 which distinguished the Marquis of Douradout, one of the 
 slain, rendered him a particular object of admiration to the 
 grand-vizier. On the evening before the sortie, the care- 
 less and unapprehensive youth had tied up those flowing 
 locks with unusual care, in order that they might not in- 
 commode him in the day of battle ; and Kiuperegli, struck 
 by his beauty, even in the grimness of death, set apart the 
 head for several days for the special inspection of his 
 friends ; and then crowned with it the ghastly pyramid 
 which he erected from those of its comrades.t No small 
 alarm had been excited by a similar barbarous trophy during 
 an earlier part of this siege, when it was confidently re- 
 ported that one of the Christian heads both moved and 
 «poke ; and the grand-vizier witnessed this mar^'el with his 
 own eyes, and acluiowledged its astounding truth. Hi« 
 fiagacity however penetrated the natural cause of this mys- 
 tery ; the head, it seems, had been raised somewhat higher 
 than its fellows, and the wind not only gave it motion, but 
 rattled also with a hollow sound through its nostrils. 
 Although those passages were stopped with mortar by 
 
 * " Le cnicifix qull avoit en main n'empAcha pas M. de la Fueillade de 
 s'emporter un peu contre I'indiscr^tion de son 7.^1e : mais il le fit assez 
 d6votement, car il pronon^a plusieurs fois le nomde Dieu dans la petite 
 reprimande qu'il luy fit."— (Journal, &.c. p. 115.) 
 
 t Ibid. p. 118. 
 
 1. 
 
 ^ 
 
 1^ 
 

 292 
 
 THIRD FRENCH EXPEDITION. 
 
 command of Kiuperegli, the miracle had so forcibly seized 
 upon the credulity of the Mussulman soldiery, that they 
 would not be convinced it had really ceased.* A general 
 voice proclaimed that the Giaour had "been converted to the 
 faith of the prophel in the article of death ; and the vizier 
 was not able to put an end to the illusion till the head was 
 thrown into the sea.* 
 
 But a few days after this brilliant extravagance, the vol- 
 unteers, as if the great object of their expedition h&d been 
 completed, re-embarked for France. Of the six hundred 
 warriors, fervid with youth, illustrious by birth, and glitter- 
 ing in equipments,! who had landed in Candia scarcely a 
 month before, only ♦wo hundred and thirty remained alive ; 
 of these, fifty were grievously wounded, many of whom 
 afterward died; and among the rest were scattered the 
 seeds of plague, which fatally exhibited themselves in their 
 homeward voyage. Nevertheless, the ill success of this 
 enterprise by no means discouraged the French, and a much 
 larger armament was supplied, not as before at private cost, 
 A. D. ^"^ ^y ^^^ ^*"« himself. Six thousand men, under 
 1669. "^^ command of the Dukes de Beaufort and Navailles 
 ' entered the harbour of Candia before the following 
 midsummer ; and as Louis XIV. still avowedly maintained 
 amicable relations with the sultan, this breach of neutrality 
 was veiled by transporting his troops under the papal flag. 
 " Miserable indeed was it," writes one of the ofticers ac- 
 companying this expedition, « to beheld the state of Candia 
 when we landed ; the streets were covered with cannon- 
 balls and bullets, splinters of shells and grenades ; the waJls 
 of every church and public edifice were shattered and nearly 
 ruined by bombardment, nor was there one house left which 
 appeared better than a tottering hovel ; pestilential stenches 
 assailed us on all sides ; and turn whichever way we would, 
 dead, wounded, or crippled soldiers met our eyes."t The 
 Turkish camp meanwhile continued to exhibit every ap- 
 pearance of a fixed resolve of conquest ; and so determined 
 were the besiegers not to remove till Candia had yielded, 
 that the grand-vizier and one hundred of his chief officers, 
 
 + P^'^ Guilleti^re, Voyages d'Athenes et de Candie, p. 373 
 . 1 utii apparenrio feroc: per I'eia chiari per la iiobilsi, lucidi e ornali 
 per vestmienu e par I'arnr5e."-Nani, part ii. lib. xi. p. 570. 
 t Desreaux de la Richardiere, Voyage en Candie, cited by Daru. 
 
 ITS UNSUCCESSFUL SORTIE. 
 
 293 
 
 instead of living in tents, had erected substantial houses. 
 That of Kiuperegli himself is described as consisting of. 
 two stories, six feet from the foundation being constructed 
 of stone, the upper part of wood-work and stucco.* 
 
 Strange as it may appear, the dearly purchased expe- 
 rience of M. de la Fueillade was lost upon his successors. 
 The main body of the French troops entered the city by 
 night ; but the royal guard, urged by a fanciful sense of 
 honour, awaited full day, in order that they might march 
 openly under the Turkish batteries. Nor when they 
 manned the walls were they less deaf than their predeces- 
 sors to the sage counsel of Morosini ; but, declining all 
 othar service, they insisted upon an immediate sortie, and 
 refused even the accompaniment of Venetian guides well 
 acquainted with the distribution of the hostile works. The 
 result may easily be anticipated. The Turks wer^ in the 
 first instance chased from their intrenchments, as before, 
 with great slaughter ; but the explosion of a tumbril spread 
 panic among the assailants, whose imaginations were so 
 profoundly imbued with terror of the mines of Candia, that 
 every footstep seemed trodden upon concealed and trea- 
 cherous fires. Soon therefore as the warning cry " a mine ! 
 a mine !" passed through the ranks, every man's heart sank 
 within him, and the flight became general. Five hundred 
 heads, among which were those of the Duke de Beaufort 
 and many other nobles, were displayed on the same even- 
 ing under the walls ; and the remaining French, dispirited 
 by their repulse, and disgusted by the wearisomeness of 
 garrison duty, broke up and re-embarked in scarcely two 
 months after their arrival, in spite of the reclamations of 
 Morosini and the tears and entreaties of the suppliant in- 
 habitants. 
 
 This abandonment by the French was a signal for a like 
 defection of all the other auxiliaries ; and the papal galleys 
 and the Maltese and German troops withdrew in succes- 
 sion : yet although left with no more than three thousand 
 serviceable men, Morosini still had suflScient vigour to re- 
 pulse a general assault. But further defence was now 
 hopeless, and it remained only to obtain such terms as 
 might be accepted consistently with honour. In arranging 
 
 • 
 * D© la Guilletiire, Voyages d'Alhenes et de Candie. 
 
 B b2 
 
 m 
 
 
 ^' 
 
 u^% 
 
294 
 
 SURRENDER OF CANDIA. 
 
 PEACE. 
 
 his capitulation, Morosini, with admirable dexterity, con- 
 verted it into a peace ; and nobly encountering the great 
 hazard of exceeding his powers in a case which promised 
 benefit to his country (a responsibility dangerous under 
 any government, most dangerous under the oligarchy of 
 Venice), he stipulated that amicable relations should be re- 
 newed by the surrender of all Candia, with the exception 
 of three ports ;* which, together with some conquests in 
 Ualraatia, Venice was to retain. When the garrison 
 marched out from the walls which had cost the lives of 
 thirty thousand Christians, and four times that number of 
 inhdels, Its general condition may be estimated from that 
 ot a single corps.—" The regiment of Negron, which I 
 commanded "says Phihbert de Jarry,t "numbered at the 
 beginning of the siege two thousand five hundred men, and 
 1 had received during its course four hundred recruits. We 
 
 Tn in nn' ^;'>'' ^^^/'•^ ^"^ «^JJiers together, but seventy 
 men in all, of whom forty were cripples !" The inhabitants 
 ot Candia were included in this capitulation ; and so faith- 
 ful were they to their former lords, or so suspicious of the 
 granny of those new masters to whom their native seats 
 were about to be transferred, that, as Rycaut assures us, 
 two Orreek priests, one woman, and three Jews were al 
 that remained behmd.t The rest, with their whole property 
 were received on board the Venetian fleet ; and for their 
 conveyance, as well as that of the garrison, which was per- 
 mitted to carry with it all the artillery but such as had 
 been mounted upon the walls before the commencement 
 of the saege, fifteen barks and forty shallops sufficed. The 
 keys of Oandia were presented to the vizier on the 27th 
 of September. The members of thirty noble Venetian 
 families who had colonized the island were readmitted to 
 their seats m the Great Council ; the Candiote nobUity 
 were naturalized as citizens of Venice; and the remainder 
 ot the expatriated population was distributed throuah Istria 
 with allotments of land for its support. Perhaps no clearer 
 
 T Histoire de Siege de Candie, cited by Darn. 
 
 ? Diedo vanes a little from this statement. -Tom. Ui. lib. x. p. 323. 
 
 296 
 
 image can be conveyed of the profound impression stamped 
 upon the national mind by the remembrance of the terrors , 
 of this mighty struggle, than by stating that, even to this 
 h^ur, after the lapse of more than a century and a half, if 
 a Venetian wishes to imply a " war to the knife," he pro- 
 verbially terms it Una Guekra di Candia. 
 
 Venefian Larly dying her hair. 
 From Titian. See page 278. 
 
 U 
 
206 
 
 ACCUSATION OF MOROSINI. 
 
 ACQUITTAL OF MOROSINI. 
 
 297 
 
 ' t . I 
 
 lU 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 PROM A. D. 1670 TO A. D. 1798. 
 
 Trial of Morosini— Annulment of the Election of Giovanni Saeredo- 
 War with Turkey-Conquest of the Morea-Peace of CarKjl 
 Second War with Turkey-Loss of the Morea-Successfbl Defence 
 of Corfu, by Count Schullen,bura-Beace of Passarowitz-Nemramy 
 CoSr aL°1''"'"^ by Venice-Expeditions against the ifS 
 Corsairs-Attacks upon the Ten-Demoralization of Venice-Com 
 rnencementof the French Revolution-Campaigns of nona^n^?„ 
 Jf LVrpn.h v*'" "^ the Signory-BIoody Affmy^t Verona- Cap turS 
 tLGnv^rnZlT\V.^'^''~^''''''P^''^ ^''^^'^^ War-Imbecil,?y of 
 ciny vlnlcTvl";;;!^'^/'*''"^^ of the Doge Manini-The French oc 
 Fo?mio transferred to Austria by the Treaty of Campo 
 
 A. D. 
 
 1674. 
 
 CVII. 
 
 1676. 
 
 CVIII. 
 
 1683. 
 
 cix. 
 
 1688. 
 
 ex. 
 
 1694. 
 
 CXI. 
 
 1700. 
 
 CXII. 
 
 1709. 
 
 CXIII. 
 
 1722. 
 
 CXIV. 
 
 1732. 
 
 cxv. 
 
 1735. 
 
 CXVI. 
 
 1741. 
 
 cxvii. 
 
 1752. 
 
 CXVIII. 
 
 1762. 
 
 CXIX. 
 
 1763. 
 
 cxx. 
 
 17/9. 
 
 CXXI. 
 
 1788. 
 
 CXXII. 
 
 DOGES. 
 
 DOMINICO CONTARINI. 
 
 NicoLo Sagredo. 
 
 LuiGI CONTARINI. 
 
 Marc' Antonio Giustiniani. 
 Francesco Morosini. 
 
 SiLVESTRO VaLIERO. 
 LuiGI MoNCENIGO. 
 
 Giovanni Cornaro. 
 Sebastiano Moncenigo. 
 Carlo Ruzzini. 
 
 LuiGI PiSAM. 
 
 Pietro Grimani. 
 Francesco Loredawo. 
 Marco Foscarini. 
 Alvizzo Moncenigo. 
 Paolo Reniero. 
 LuiGi Manini. 
 
 The last of those islands from the possession of which 
 Venice might once have asserted a title to regalHy haiTnow 
 
 been severed from her rule ; and the sole memorials of hei 
 former sovereignty over Negropont, Cyprus, and Candia 
 were to be found in the standards separately blazoned with 
 the armorial bearings of those kingdoms, and unfurled on 
 festivals from the three lofty flagstaffs in front of St. 
 Mark's ; and in the three golden crowns still preserved in 
 its treasury. Heroic as had been the defence of the lost 
 dominions by the bravery of Morosini, beneficial as was 
 the peace concluded by his wisdom, there were not wanting 
 some base and envious spirits among his countrymen who 
 regarded that bravery and that wisdom with ill-dis- 
 guised jealousy. Not many months after the close ,"1* ^* 
 of the war, Antonio Corrario, an obscure individual ^°'"» 
 who had raised himself into notice by a certain popular 
 eloquence, commenced a series of invectives against the late 
 generalissimo. He denounced the peace as unauthorized, 
 as the work of a private hand, not of the state, and there- 
 fore as affording a most dangerous precedent: he spoke in 
 terms of suspicion both of the courage and of the integrity 
 of Morosini, and he called upon the Great Council to in- 
 stitute a close inquiry into his administration. The 
 council, always pleased with any exercise of authority 
 which contributed to the depression of eminent merit, voted 
 assent by a large majority ; and as a preliminary step, it 
 was moved that the accused should be stripped of his dig- 
 nity of procuraf.ore^ which had been conferred upon him 
 during the latter period of the siege with some slight devia- 
 tion from customary form. After a vehement debate, this 
 cruel and injurious proposition was rejected, chiefly through 
 the exertions of Giovanni Sagredo, a brother procuratorCf 
 and of the historian Foscarini: but Morosini nevertheless 
 was imprisoned and tried. A solemn judgment of the 
 senate ultimately pronounced his honourable acquittal ; and 
 this long process, commenced, as we are told, with rash 
 zeal, and prosecuted with heat and passion, terminated 
 with justice. Such a conclusion was no less rare in Venice 
 than the premises were frequent. 
 
 Whether from a rememl)rance among the nobles that 
 Giovanni Sagredo had thus rescued an illustrious object of 
 their persecution from an unworthy sentence, or from other 
 causes, is by no means to be ascertained clearly, but when 
 
 4' 4 
 
 3M 
 
 •% 
 
298 
 
 TURKISH WAR. 
 
 FERDINANDO D'OfilZZI. 
 
 299 
 
 A. D. ^^^ <5ucal throne became vacant by the death of hia 
 1675 ^'*®^^®^ Nicolo,* and more than the requisite number 
 of suffrages in the last balloting for the dogeship 
 had been given in Giovanni's favour, the council gladly 
 made use of an unprecedented demur to prevent confirma- 
 tion of this choice. The palace of the doge-elect was 
 already filled with a congratulating throng, the officers of 
 his household were arranged, and all preparations were 
 made for the assumption of his new dignity ; but, on the 
 other hand, the usual measure of popular applause was 
 wanting, and during the absence of the nobles in the 
 council-chamber, the Broglio became filled with a fierce 
 and discontented rabble. The gondoliers, who most fre- 
 quently took the lead in Venetian tumults, swelled the 
 seditious uproar by loud clamours, against the parsimony 
 of Sagredo, who on his appointment as procuratore had, it 
 seems, omitted a customary largesse ; and they reproached 
 him besides with a personal defect certainly not redounding 
 to the credit of his moral habits. The friends of the 
 rejected candidates encouraged these demonstrations of 
 resistance, and the council, influenced either by their own 
 jealousy, or by alarm at the popular movement, annulled 
 their first election, and proceeded to choose and to inau- 
 gurate LuiGI CoNTARINI.t 
 
 The reign of Contarini was pacific : that of his succes- 
 sor Marc' Antonio Giustiniani witnessed a renewal of 
 A. D. hostilities with Turkey, during which a brief sunshine 
 1683. ^^ Sf^U shed for awhile, and for the last time, its 
 parting rays upon the arms of the republic. Success 
 in the approaching contest, as we are gravely assured by a 
 professor of canon law in the university of Padua, might 
 have been fearlessly augured from an accident^ wWch oc- 
 curred on the day of Giustiniani's coronation ; when, as he 
 
 * Palatins (without noticing the maxim of Vespasian) relates that this 
 doge died in a standing posture,—" stando excessit, ne videretur impulsus 
 cadere."— Fasti Ducales, 289. 
 
 + Burnett {Letter iii.) declares that Sagredo retired to Terra Firma in 
 disgust; Foscarini, on the contrary, passes a high eulogy on the equa- 
 nimity with wliich he endured his repulse, and afterward administered 
 some of the highest offices in the republic— Lib, ii. ad ann. 
 T» *w ^ V " ^ linguam corrigo — non casu, sed manum Principis dirigente 
 Deo. —Vita M. A. Justinian! raptim in ftinere ejus edicta, apud Palatii 
 Fast. Due. 303. ^ ^ v 
 
 scattered money among the populace before the gates of 
 St. Mark's, a silver coin thrown from his hand struck a 
 Turkish bystander in the eye and deprived him of sight. 
 Since the termination of the war of Candia, Venice, con- 
 scious of inability to resist, had endured a long series of 
 insults and outrages with unremitting patience ; and the 
 Porte, no doubt encouraged by this submission from her 
 most ancient and hitherto her most pertinacious enemy, 
 directed her next aggression against the court of Austria. 
 When the Vizier Cara Mustapha marched at the head of 
 two hundred thousand men on Vienna, he found the garri- 
 son of that metropolis intrusted to a Venetian general, 
 whom a train of romantic circumstances had led to its 
 command. The mother of Ferdinando d'Obizzi, a lady of 
 distinguished beauty, many years since had fallen a victim 
 to the despair and fury of a noble, whose attempts upon 
 her honour she had indignantly repulsed. The rash suitor 
 found means of gaining access by night to the chamber 
 which his mistress occupied with her child. There, stung 
 to madness by failure in his hopes, the disappointed lover 
 poniarded the object of his lawless passion ; and, on the 
 discovery of his atrocious crime, he underwent, not its due 
 punishment, but an imprisonment of fifteen years. On his 
 release after that period, Ferdinando, who had then attained 
 the age of manhood, resolutely pursued the assassin till he 
 avenged his mother's death by the blood of her murderer ; 
 and then, escaping to the Austrian frontiers, he entered 
 into the service of the emperor, in which his merits at 
 length raised him to high military elevation. Thus de- 
 fended, Vienna held out till the chivalrous valour of 
 John Sobieski and his Poles totally overthrew the -yaal 
 invaders, under her walls, in that memorable battle 
 which not only deUvered Austria from her immediate peril, 
 but established also a barrier for Christendom, against 
 which no subsequent efforts of the infidels have been able 
 to prevail. 
 
 Roused by that great and splendid triumph, Venice has- 
 tened to conclude an alliance against Turkey with Poland, 
 Austria, and the Czar of Moscovy, the ruler of a people 
 now first beginning to emerge from barbarism, and to assume 
 a station in civilized Europe. During the negotiation pre- 
 ceding this league, a compliment of great elegance wm 
 
 i j 
 
 11 
 
300 
 
 CONQUEST OF THE MOREA. 
 
 ■ is 
 
 f: 
 
 !' 
 
 :'■ -r 
 
 offered by the Polish ambassador to the distinguished 
 attainments of the doge. The envoy, having addressed a 
 speech to the Collegio in Latin, the vernacular language 
 of his court, was answered by Giustiniani in the "same 
 tongue promptly, fluently, and correctly ; and the minister, 
 struck with admiration, observed, " Cum crcderem me ad 
 Venetos verba facturvrn, Romayios invent /" When the Mos- 
 covite ambassador joined in a like expression of astonish- 
 rnent, he was told that the answer could as easily have been 
 given in French, Spanish, Greek, or Hebrew ; that Turkish, 
 indeed, was the sole language which Giustiniani abomi- 
 nated, calling it fj/mpanum irali Dei.* 
 
 Francesco Morosini was once more appointed general- 
 issimo ; and the brilliancy and rapidity of his conquests 
 fully justified the confidence displayed by his former perse- 
 cutors that all past wrongs would be forgotten at the call 
 of his country. A few weeks sufliced for the attack and 
 capture of the island of Sta. Maura, and of the town of 
 Previsa, on the neighbouring continent. He next invested 
 Coron with eight thousand men, surprised and routed a 
 pacha who hastened to its relief with a greatly superior 
 force, and put its whole garrison to the sword, as a punish- 
 ment for a treacherous breach of faith during the arranae- 
 ment of a capitulation which they had proposed. No cost 
 was spared by Venice to enable her general to pursue these 
 first successes, and troops were levied in every country of 
 Europe which permitted their enrolment. Sweden, Bruns- 
 wick, and Saxony aflTorded reinforcements, which obtained 
 for Morosini an uninterrupted career of victory in the Morea 
 during three campaigns ; till, aided by the suffering natives, 
 he chased the seraskier from post to post, drove him across 
 the isthmus of Corinth, and remained in possession of the 
 entire peninsula, except the single town of Malvasia. 
 
 The isthmus was the main key of the conquered province, 
 and for its greater security, Morosini immediately occupied 
 Lepanto, Patras, and other strongholds on its western 
 gulf. He then commenced similar movements on its 
 opposite shore ; and in the course of those operations, the 
 blind fury of war inflicted on the fine arts, by civilized 
 hands, a blow more fatal, perhaps, than any they had been 
 
 * Palatius, 308, 
 
 HONOURS CONFERRED ON MOROSINI. 301 
 
 doomed to encounter from barbarian violence. The Vene- 
 tians, having marched on Athens, immediately occupied the 
 modern town Setines, which is without walls. Six days' 
 bombardment, however, was directed against the inaccessi- 
 ble Acropolis, to which the Turks had retired ; and a shell 
 discharged at random, and falling on the Parthenon, which 
 • had been converted into a magazine, fired the powder and 
 shattered in pieces the roof hitherto preserved entire. The 
 majestic pile, thus rendered unserviceable for ordinary uses, 
 became worthless in the eyes of the rude masters to whom 
 it was soon afterward to revert ; and they saw in its mag- 
 nificent remains no more than a huge mass of ready-chis- 
 elled stone, from which materials might be obtained with 
 greater ease and at less cost than if hewn from the quarry. 
 In the opinion of the phlegmatic historian Foscarini, how- 
 ever, this irreparable calamity was amply compensated by 
 the surrender of the Acropolis to his countrymen.* Among 
 the trophies which immortaUze this conquest are to be num- 
 bered the two marble l^ions found on the Piraeus, which 
 still sentinel the gates of the arsenal at Venice. t 
 
 Lavish rewards were deservedly showered upon Morosini 
 by the gratitude of his country ; his title of cavalier e was 
 declared hereditary (a rare honour, bestowed as yet on no 
 more than two illustrious houses, the Quirini and the Con- 
 tarini), and since he was without male issue, a remainder 
 was granted to his nephew. Like the Scipios, he received 
 d, cognomen derived from the country which had witnessed 
 his heroic exploits ; his stat ue was erected in the armoury 
 of the Ten, with an inscription of dignified brevity, ^^ Francisco 
 Mauroceno Peloponnesiacoj adhuc viucntij S. P. A. 1687;" 
 
 * " Many of the statues on the posticum (we are fold in the Memoran- 
 dum on the Earl of Elirin's Purstiits in Greece), which had beer, thrown 
 down by the explosion, had been absolutely pounded for mortar, because 
 they furnished the whitest marble within reach."— " Soon atterward, 
 somewhat higher up, we also saw, among some loose stones used as the 
 materials of a wall, a piece of sculpture of white marble, in very bold 
 relief, representing the torso of a male figure. This proved t» be nolhmg 
 less than a fragment of one of the metopes belonging to the Parthenon " 
 —Dr. E. D. Clarke's Travels, Ui. 475. 4to. 
 
 t Their inscription runs as below,— "Francjscus Maurocenus Pelo- 
 ponnesiacus, expugnatis Athenis, marmorea Leonum simulacra trium- 
 phaU manu e Piraeo direpta in Patriam transtulit. futura VeneU LeoniB 
 juas fuerant Minervae Atticae ornamenta." 
 
 Vol. IL— C c 
 
302 
 
 DEATH OF MOROSINI. 
 
 A. D. ^"^ ^" ^^® spring of the following year, on the death of 
 1688. ^^^s^^"^^"^j ^6 was raised, by acclamation and in 
 his absence, to the vacant throne. The general 
 voice forbade all competition ; but the jealous vigilance of 
 the aristocracy deteriorated this high token of national con- 
 fidence and affection, by despatching to Morosini's quarters 
 two senators, who were to share authority with the new 
 doge as assessors of his council. 
 
 The star of Morosini had now attained its highest ascend- 
 ant ; henceforward we shall perceive it in ^^cline. Con- 
 tinuing his functions as generalissimo, he landed before the 
 city of Negropont, and had already driven the Turks within 
 the walls, when the plague showed itself in his camp ; and, 
 after destroying a full third of his troops, exposed the re- 
 mainder, enfeebled by disease and discouraged by the loss 
 of their comrades, to an attack from the seraskier. He 
 was repulsed, but not without inflicting terrific slaughter. 
 Reinforcements arrived soon afterward, and Morosini gave 
 a general assault, which cost hun numerous lives, and gained 
 only a hard-disputed outwork. After six weeks more of 
 unavailing effort, he abandoned the siege with the intention 
 of investing Malvasia ; but there also evil fortune pursued 
 him, and a severe illness compelled his return to Venice. 
 ^^ jj^ The war continued with various success during the 
 
 1693. ^pl'^'wing five years ; in the last of which the Vene- 
 tian commander, Moncenigo, neglected to profit by 
 
 a favourable opportunity for the recovery of Candia. A 
 landing was successfully effected before Canea, regular ap- 
 proaches were made to the walls, and a practicable breach 
 was already reported ; when the besieging general, alarmed 
 at a false rumour of a threatened attack upon the Morea, 
 withdrew at the very moment in which victory appeared 
 almost to woo him. His immediate disgrace ensued, and 
 Morosini, although now advanced in years and struggling 
 with infirmities, was called once more to the command. 
 A. D. ^"^ nature gave way under exertions disproportion- 
 
 1694. ^^^ ^° ^^ remaining vigour ; and, after a campaign 
 spent unsuccessfully in pursuit of an enemy who 
 
 perpetually eluded him, he expired during the following 
 wmter at Napoli di Romania. 
 How greatly Venice had declmed in a few short years 
 
 PEACE OF CARLOWITZ. 
 
 303 
 
 from the uninterrupted pre-eminence on the seas which she 
 had maintained during the war of Candia, was too plainly 
 shown in the issue of four naval battles fought during the 
 reign of Silvkstro Valibro, Morosini's successor. All 
 of these engagements were most sanguinary ; in one, at 
 least, the Turks were superior ; and the result of the others 
 was inconclusive. In theJast year of the seventeenth cen- 
 tury, the great powers of the league hitherto subsisting 
 against the Turks, some weary of the protracted contest, 
 some alarmed at the gigantic projects manifested by Louis 
 XIV. for the attainment of the Spanish succession, readily 
 accepted the mediation of England with the Porte ; 
 and by the peace of Cariowitz, the Morea, the glo- ."t* q* 
 rious fruit of Morosini's prowess, was ceded to Ven- 
 ice. Once again she indulged a vain hope of retaining that 
 important conquest by the feeble barrier of a chain of posts 
 drawn across the isthmus ; and for the third or fourth time 
 in her history, the rampart of the Peloponnesians was re- 
 newed in order to be overthrown. 
 
 During the war of the succession which occupied the 
 first thirteen years of the eighteenth century, Venice, in- 
 different to the quarrel between France and Austria, pro- 
 fessed a neutrality which was hourly invaded. Her prov- 
 inces were traversed by the armies and moistened by the 
 blood of the conflicting parties, in more than one campaign ; 
 and the Bresciano and the Veronese, of which latter dis- 
 trict, in spite of three centuries of possession by the re- 
 public, the emperor still affected to speak as his own, wit- 
 nessed many a hard-fought combat ; and afforded a theatre 
 on which the Mareschals Catinat and Villeroi, the Duke of 
 Savoy, the Duke of Vendome, and Prince Eugene exhib- 
 ited numerous well-known deeds of skill and valour. Even 
 the sacredness of the Adriatic itself did not escape violation ; 
 and many vessels suspected, in most cases not unjustly, of 
 conveying stores to the Austrian ports, under the Venetian 
 or other flags, were captured and destroyed. We are told 
 indeed of an English ship equipped for the service of the 
 emperor, fired and blown up by the French while she lay 
 unapprehensive of danger, in the very depths of the harbour 
 of Malamocco. The treaty of Utrecht terminated 
 these violences, and the republic, although neither a ^' ^' 
 party in the war, nor a mediator of the peace, was ^^^^'' 
 invited to send her plenipotentiary to the congress. 
 
 ^1 
 
 i 
 
304 
 
 RENEWED TURKISH WAR. 
 
 I 
 
 It was little however to be expected that the Ottoman 
 Porte would consent without an opposing effort to the eter- 
 nal renunciation of the Morea ; and scarcely had tranquil- 
 lity been restored in the west, before the din of preparation 
 was heard at Constantinople. The real object of this ar- 
 mament could not be doubted ; and Venice, by her inaction, 
 must be supposed to have persuaded herself that voluntary 
 blindness would afford safety ; like that bird which is said 
 to hope that she will escape capture if she can but once 
 avert her own eyes from her pursuers. Dreading the ap- 
 proach of war far too deeply to beheve it with readiness, 
 the signory affected to credit the pretexts advanced by the di- 
 van. Troops, it was said, were being levied from an appre- 
 hension of revolt at Constantinople ; ships were being assem- 
 bled and stores embarked to chastise some insurgents on the 
 frontiers of Dalmatia. And even when the hailo of Venice 
 was committed to the Seven Towers, and one hundred thou- 
 sand Turks under the grand-vizier, co-operating with a 
 fleet of more than one hundred sail, were greedily advan- 
 cing upon their defenceless prey, Giovanni Delfino, provve- 
 ditore of the Morea, now invested with the sounding title 
 of generalissimo, could number only eight thousand troops, 
 eleven galleys, and eight ships of the line at his disposal. 
 The course of neutrality which Venice had recently adopted, 
 deprived her also of allies. France, England, Spain, and 
 the Netherlands declined further interference than solicita- 
 tion for the release of hi r bailo ; the emperor mediated, but 
 in vain, for peace ; the po})e supplied four of his own gal- 
 leys and procured two others from the Grand-duke of Tus- 
 cany ; and the Knights of Malta added six as their contin- 
 gent to this pitiful confederacy. 
 
 We need not trace minutely the progress of a catastrophe 
 which must have already been anticipated. Tinos, an im- 
 portant island, one of the earliest Venetian possessions in 
 the East, and so strongly fortified that it had maintained 
 itself during the whole war of Candia, capitulated at the 
 first summons ; and its governor expiated his cowardice or 
 
 his treachery by perpetual imprisonment. Corinth 
 1714 ^^^^ ^ parley after four days' investment ; and in 
 
 spite of terms which the vizier had granted, the ma- 
 jor part of its garrison was put to the sword on the spot, the 
 rest, after having been conveyed on shipboard to NapoU di 
 
 ALLUNCE WITH THE EMPEROR. 
 
 305 
 
 Romania, were beheaded in sight of the Venetian soldiery 
 on its ramparts. The isthmus was easily forced ; Egina, 
 Modon, Argos, and Malvasia surrendered without firing a 
 shot ; and Napoli, stormed at night after a brief but gallant 
 defence, itself underwent those horrors of indiscriminate 
 massacre which it had recently seen inflicted on others. In 
 a few months, the whole Morea was reconquered ; and 
 Delfino, who had taken refuge in his fleet, abandoned the 
 lost province to its fate, avoided battle, permitted the cap- 
 ture of Cerigo in his very presence, ;md retired to Corfu. 
 
 By those few cities of Candia which still acknowledged 
 fealty to St. Mark was the only resistance offered worthy 
 of former Venetian renown : but even in them also the Ot- 
 tomans ultimately prevailed ; and the capitulation of Spina 
 Longa and of Suda before the close of 1715, stripped the 
 republic of the last scanty remnant of her once vast oriental 
 dominion. So grievous indeed was the degeneration of 
 that people who in former ages vanquished the capital of 
 the East, and who even recently had defended Candia for 
 more than a quarter of a century, that on the removal of 
 Delfino from his command with disgrace, three elections 
 were necessary before any noble would accept the vacant 
 office ; and even when Andrea Pisani at length departed 
 for the fleet, his instructions were, not to attempt reconquest, 
 but to content himself by protecting the islands at the mouth 
 of the Adriatic. A change in political interests, however, 
 furnished Venice with one important ally ; and the emperor, 
 Charles VI., fearing that tihe Bourbons might establish 
 themselves afresh in Italy, bartered for the aid of the re- 
 public, in that country, if it should be needed, by an imme- 
 diate powerful diversion against the Turks on the frontiers 
 of Hungary. Prince Eugene, accordingly, was despatched 
 on that service ; and he preserved Dalmatia by occupying 
 the infidel force no longer required in the Morea ; and 
 which, but for the presence of an Austrian army, would 
 have poured down unresisted on the colonies of Venice. 
 
 Corfu nevertheless was left open to attack ; but the great 
 strength of its fortifications and the acknowledged 
 skill of its commander gave promise of most vigor- . J, ^' 
 ous resistance. The Venetian army had been com- 
 mitted to the charge of the Saxon Count Schullemburg ; a 
 soldier who has won deserved immortahty by eluding the 
 
 Cc2 
 
306 
 
 BRILLIANT DEFENCE OF CORFU. 
 
 ;!' 
 
 utmost efforts of the Swedish Charles when in the full ca- 
 reer of victory.* Thirty thousand foot and three thousand 
 horse were landed without opposition by the Capudan Pa- 
 cha under the walls of Corfu ; and their first operations 
 were directed against the neighbouring heights of Abraham 
 and St. Salvador, which command the city. Those posi- 
 tions were most vigorously defended, and afforded many 
 opportunities for the display of gre;it personal valour. We 
 read of a Jew who on one occasion discomfited with his sin- 
 gle hand eight assailants by whom he had been surrounded ; 
 and who, upon receiving baptism, was promoted on the 
 spot to the rank of captain. The heights, nevertheless, 
 were at length mastered ; and the besiegers, not attemptino- 
 either to advance by regular approaches or to batter in 
 breach, commenced a series of most harassing and perpetu- 
 ally renewed assaults sword in hand, under cover of an in- 
 cessant bombardment. The inhabitants sought refuo^e 
 within the numerous caverns and excavations with which 
 the rocky site of their town abounds ; and Schullemburg 
 concerted a sortie, in which, while the bravery of his Italian 
 troops defeated the infidels with great slaughter, the mis- 
 conduct of his Germans lost the fruit of victory, by pouring 
 a mistaken, deadly fire upon their confederates, and slayin" 
 at the first volley two hundred picked Sclavonians. It was 
 not possible to restore confidence after this unhappy colli- 
 sion, and the conquerors hurried back to their walls in 
 alarm and disorder. 
 
 At length the seraskier of the Morea, impatient of loncrer 
 delay, and perhaps alarmed at its probable consequences'to 
 his own head, gave orders for a general storm. Pressed on 
 all quarters and overpowered by numbers, the garrison at 
 first everywhere gave way ; but the vacant places of the 
 armed men were rapidly supplied by the citizens, by priests, 
 and even by women, who fought with the courage of despera- 
 tion, and stemmed the onset of the infidels. " What is it 
 you are about to do ]" inquired Schullemburg of a Greek 
 monk who was rushing a second time to the ramparts with 
 a huge iron cross uplifted in his hands. " Let me alone, 
 let me alone, that I may dash this cursed crucifix at their 
 heads !" was the reply of the enthusiast, not peroeiving 
 
 * Voltaire, Charles XIL liv. iii. 
 
 ** ^ 
 
 !in« 
 
 ITTV A T r*T'ccTr»vr ni:' rrTTt-' ii*/-v»Ti-t » 
 
 THE TURKS ABANDON THE SIEGE. 
 
 307 
 
 that his zealous ardour betrayed him into inadvertent blas- 
 phemy.* The besiegers however scaled the walls and 
 planted thirty standards on their summits, and all would 
 have been lost but for the consummate generalship of the 
 Saxon. Placincr himself at the head of eight hundred 
 men, and descending by a postern upon the glacis, he charged 
 the assailants unexpectedly in rear, threw them into com- 
 plete disorder, chased them from the works which they 
 had gained, pursued them to their camp, and slew two 
 thousand of the fugitives. Nor was this repulse their sole 
 disaster. A hurricane on the succeeding night swept away 
 their tents and inundated their encampment with rain ; 
 and so far alarmed them for the safety of their fleet, that 
 with loud and mutinous clamours they demanded instant 
 re-embarkation. At dawn their terror was augmented by 
 the sight of a numerous hostile armament in the offing. 
 It was a Spanish squadron arriving with reinforcements 
 for the garrison : and the seraskier, perceiving that it was 
 no longer possible to arrest the contagion of panic and in- 
 subordination, made arrangements for precipitate retreat 
 on the following night, having sacrificed fifteen thousand 
 men during an unavailinu siege of two-and-forty days. 
 Not many hours after this flight a reconnoitring party from 
 the garrison, struck by the unusual stillness in the enemy*s 
 advanced posts, ventured to penetrate onward to their lines, 
 and was astonished by discovering their abandonment. 
 Numerous wounded, the entire stores, tents, baggage, 
 magazines, and artillery were the prize of the besieged ; 
 and the great services of Schullemburg were rewarded by 
 substantial tokens of gratitude, and by the most honourable 
 of all monuments, — a statue erected during his lifetime on 
 the walls which he had defended. 
 
 Some bloody naval engagements, unproductive of any 
 serious result, and the capture by Schullemburg of 
 Previsa and Wonizza, occurred during the following i^'i-v* 
 year, — in which the Imperialists also under Prince 
 Eugene became masters of Belgrade. The approaching 
 reconquest of the Morea was now confidently and not un- 
 reasonably anticipated by the signory ; but the emperor 
 
 * " Lasciate, lasciate, Christi maledeui su la testa," cited hy Dam 
 from " Voyage dans les Isles et Possessions Venitiennes du Levant,** 
 par A. Gr'isset de St. Saveur, liv, vi. ch. 69. 
 
 i 
 
808 
 
 FINAL CESSION OF THE MOREA. 
 
 ^il 
 
 sought profit from his own victories and those of his alHeg 
 not by extending the dominion of Venice, but by con- 
 cluding an advantageous peace, at a moment in which the 
 progress of the Spaniards in Italy awakened his fears. A 
 congress, under the mediation of England and the United 
 Provinces, was accordingly assembled at Passarowitz in 
 Servia ; and while Venice, borne forward on the tide of 
 propitious fortune, was vigorously pursuing hostilities, she 
 Julv'21 ^^^^"^^ *® ^^^ surprise and indignation that a treaty 
 1718.' ^^^ ^^^^^ signed, by which her final cession of the 
 ' Morea was peremptorily decided. To protract a 
 war with Turkey after this defection of Austria was man- 
 ifestly beyond the power of the republic ; and she reluc- 
 tantly acceded to the proposed conditions. The boundaries 
 then fixed continued unchanged during the remainder of 
 her political existence. Her dominions at that time, and 
 ever afterward, comprised first the original Dogado ; then, 
 on the Terra Firma of Italy, the provinces of Bergamo, 
 Brescia, Crema, Verona, Vicenza, the Polesina of Rovigo, 
 and the March of Treviso ; northward, Friuli and Istria ; 
 eastward, parts of Dalmatia and of Albania, and their de- 
 pendent islands; in the Ionian Sea, Corfu, Paxo, Sta. 
 Maura, Ithaca, Zante, Asso, the Strophades, and Cerigo. 
 The population of these territories altogether, according to 
 a census in 1722, amounted to two million five hundred 
 thousand souls; in 1788 it had reached three millions, of 
 which number the city of Venice alone counted one hun- 
 dred and forty-nine thousand four hundred and seventy-six 
 inhabitants.* 
 
 From the signature of the treaty of Passarowitz to the 
 moment of her dissolution, a period of almost eighty years, 
 the history of Venice as connected with the rest of Europe 
 is one entire blank. Her weakness compelled her to pre- 
 serve unbroken neutrality amid all the great contests in 
 which other powers were from time to time involved, and 
 the sole cares of her government were directed to the 
 maintenance of internal tranquillity by a vigilant police, 
 of foreign peace by an active diplomacy. In this smooth 
 and unruflled course so slight an incident as a briefly sus- 
 pended intercourse with England has been thought worthy 
 
 The census of 1810 gave little more than 103,000! 
 
 CHASTISEMENT OF AFRICAN CORSAIRS. 309 
 
 of somewhat particular record. The British government 
 took oflTence at the distinctions paid to the unfortunate 
 Charles Edward when he visited the Lagune in 1743 under 
 the title of Count of Albany. It seems that when he was 
 present at a balloting of the Grand Council a separate 
 place was assigned him, and he was received on the prin- 
 cipal stairs by a cavalier e. The petty and ungenerous 
 jealousy which wished to deny those few, poor, empty 
 honours a slight mitigation of the bitter remembrances of 
 fallen greatness, demands unqualified contempt; and we 
 relate, not without shame, that the cabinet of St. James's, 
 then swayed by the Duke of Newcastle, indignantly or- 
 dered the Venetian ambassador to quit the kingdom in 
 twenty-four hours ; and that during a period of five years 
 neither the apologies of the senate nor even the mediation 
 of Cardinal Fleury availed any thing towards the renewal 
 of former amicable correspondence.* 
 
 Twice only after the treaty of Passarowitz did Venice 
 appear in arms, and on neither occasion in a European 
 quarrel. In submitting to purchase immunity from plunder 
 at the hands of the corsairs of Africa, the republic only 
 participated in the general dishonour of the civilized mari- 
 time world ; and assented, in common with far more pow- 
 erful states, to an ignoble policy which weighed with cau- 
 tious balance the price of resistance against that of tribute. 
 The tardy execution of vengeance upon those barbarian 
 pirates has been reserved for our own days, — would that it 
 had been for England ! — and posterity will assign its fitting 
 rank of glory to a great action which has passed under 
 the eyes of its peculiar generation almost without regard, — 
 stifled and overwhelmed, as ii were, by more pressing and 
 more immediate, but far less important and less durable, in- 
 terests. Both in 1765 and in 1774 Venice chastised the 
 deys of Tripoli and of Tunis with a spirit which might 
 have shamed into imitation naval powers of yet higher sta- 
 tion ; and the name of Angelo Emo, her admiral in the 
 latter of those expeditions, may be justly classed with 
 many which adorned the better days of his country. 
 
 Much of the period between 1761 and 1779 was passed 
 in struggles between the oligarchy of the Ten and the no- 
 
 i 
 
 ')l 
 
 'I 
 
 m 
 
 )( 
 
 * Diedo, Storia Yen., torn. iv. p. 421. 
 
p. Y' 
 
 310 
 
 LUXURY OF VENICE. 
 
 bles who suffered under its oppression. In the first-named 
 year tue inquisitors of state, by an exercise of despotism 
 more fitted for long-departed ages than for the season to which 
 they ventured to apply it, banished or secretly imprisoned 
 many of the highest magistrates in the state who opposed 
 their political views. So general was the consequent india. 
 nation of the Great Council, that on the next renewal of the 
 1 en an attack similar to that made in the reign of Giovanni 
 Cornaro was repeated ; and no candidate for admission re- 
 ceived enough balls to render his election valid. By tem- 
 porizing the opposition was broken and the difficulty eluded • 
 so that in the end the obnoxious body was confirmed in its 
 overweening authority, greatly to the joy of the populace, 
 by whom the nobles at large were felt to be burdensome 
 and who gladly therefore supported a tyranny weighinff 
 heavily on their own tyrants. Other causes renewed dis- 
 cussions of the same kind in 1773, in 1777, and in 1779- 
 and on each occasion they were conducted with a boldness 
 and a vehemence, proclaiming in a language easily to be in- 
 terpreted how greatly the influence of the mysterious and 
 inexorable tribunal which was attacked had diminished in 
 potency. 
 
 Discarding for the future all projects of aggrandizement, 
 and content if she could but preserve herself unharmed, 
 Venice, during the remainder of her independent existence, 
 Bought distinction as a general mart for pleasure, and en- 
 deavoured to find m luxury a compensation for the sur- 
 render of ambition. Triumphant in pre-eminence of licen- 
 tiousness, she became the Sybaris of the modem world, 
 the loose and wanton realm 
 
 ... her court where naked Venus keeps, 
 And Cupids ride the lion of the deeps. 
 
 Scarcely did a sun rise upon the Lagune uncelebrated by 
 the pomp of some religious or political festival ; the whole 
 year was one continued holyday, in which amusement ap- 
 peared to be the professed and serious occupation,— the 
 pand and universal object of existence among their in- 
 habitants. Besides the numerous fixed and customary 
 ceremonials, occasions for extraordinary joy were greedily 
 sought in the accession of a new doge, the election of a 
 
 DEGRADATION OF THE NOBIUTT. 
 
 311 
 
 :\] 
 
 j>rocuratorey or the entrance of a foreign ambassador ; and 
 the annual recurrence of the carnival seldom attracted fewer 
 than fifty thousand strangers from all parts of Europe to 
 mingle in the sports of St. Mark's. The general use of 
 masks permitted unrestrained indulgence, by removing the 
 strongest of all worldly checks, — a fear of public scandal. 
 National consent rendered this incognito strictly inviolable ; 
 and under its security the professed religious, whether 
 male or female, freely participated in those forbidden 
 pleasures which they had vowed to renounce ; the nuncio 
 of the pope assisted at court balls ; and the gravest senator 
 engaged at the faro bank or resorted to his casino, a small 
 apartment adjoining the Piazza, in most instances avow- 
 edly dedicated to purposes of gallantry. A destructive 
 passion for play was encouraged by the government, not- 
 withstariding some occasional prohibitions compelled by 
 the startling ruin which it produced. In the gorgeous 
 saloon of the Ridotto seldom fewer than eighty gaming 
 tables were spread nightly before a feverish throng who 
 courted fortune masked and in silence. At each board 
 presided one of the nobility unmasked and in his robes of 
 office ; for to that class alone belonged the disgraceful mo- 
 nopoly of banking : and to increase their degradation, they 
 traded in this commerce of vice, not upon their own. account, 
 but as the hired servants of some wealthy capitalist of infe- 
 rior rank, who frequently was a Jew. Enervated by luxury, 
 and far removed from the sight and sound of arms, no per- 
 sonal indignity, however gross, could awaken one spark of 
 honourable resentment in the tame spirit of a Venetian 
 noble. When insulted, he would be content to whisper that 
 the aggressor was " t/n' elefanto ;" and to trust his revenge 
 to the hired arm of a professed bravo, one of those traffick- 
 ers in blood who formed a well-known band ever ready to 
 employ the stiletto at a regulated price. The extreme 
 destitution of many of the patricians reduced them to ex- 
 pedients always unworthy, occasionally dishonest, in order 
 to procure bare subsistence; and a foreign visiter could 
 scarcely escape from the officious civilities forced upon him 
 by a penniless noble, without an oblique, and sometimes 
 even an open, solicitation for his bounty.* The restriction 
 
 * In the sixteenth century, and perliaps later, begging license* were 
 
 I Ssikar jjfatea.VjKa-.fir'a 
 
812 FRIGHTFUL PROFLIGACV OF VENICE. 
 
 ?i 
 
 which custom had for the most part imposed upon those 
 unhappily privileged families, by seldom permitting the 
 marriage of more than a single member in each, the care- 
 lessness of nuptial fideUty which had superseded the former 
 proverbial jealousy of Venetian husbands, and the danger- 
 ous facility with which divorce could be obtained, had 
 destroyed some of the most powerful safeguards of female 
 virtue. The courtesans, who on one occasion had been 
 publicly banished from the capital, were recalled by an 
 equally public edict, — which expressed gratitude for their 
 services, assigned funds for their support, and allotted 
 houses for their residence.* And so lucrative became 
 their trade of misery and dishonour, that we are told of 
 contracts formally authenticated by the signature of a ma- 
 gistrate, and guarantied by a legal registry, through which 
 the yet unsullied innocence of a virgin daughter was bartered 
 away by some shameless parent, dead to all remorse for the 
 guilt and infamy by which she fed the cravings of her 
 profligate and unnatural avarice.f Surely with a people 
 like this the measure of iniquity was not far from being 
 full! 
 
 But not to dwell upon the crying wickedness of this 
 abandoned city, we pass on to the hour of her visitation. 
 
 LuiGi Manini, the doge who reigned at the outbreak 
 178ft ^^ ^^^ French revolution, belonged to the lowest 
 
 class of nobility ; which then for the first and only 
 time obtained the sovereignty. Still safe, as she imagined, 
 in the passiveness which had sheltered her for seventy 
 
 officially granted to the poor of noble blood ; who, in consequence, as- 
 suK.ed a particular dress, and walked abroad under the name of / Ver- 
 gognosiy the shamefaced. They wore an old black linen vest, falling 
 to the feet ; the head and face were covered with a sort of hood, through 
 two apertures of which the wearer could see without being recognised by 
 others ; their shoes were patched, and they carried in their hand a paper 
 rolled conically («n carfoccio), in which passengers deposited their alms, 
 asked more by gestures than by words. After the downfall of the re- 
 public, such of the indigent nobility as applied for it received every day 
 a miserable pittance of two Venetian livres, not quite tenpence English; 
 and even that wretched stipend was diminished by the Austrians. 
 
 * " Nostre benemerite merelrici." The Case Pampntu. were set apart 
 for them, whence the disreputable name Caram;?ana.— Daru. They 
 were much employed as spies. 
 
 t Daru, from Mayer, Descript. ds Venise, torn, ii.; and Archenholz, 
 Tableau de Vltalie, torn. i. ch. ij. 
 
 BONAPARTE'S ITALIAN VICTORIES. 
 
 313 
 
 years, Venice disregarded every warning of the gathering 
 tempest ; and remained inactive, while other states were 
 vigilantly guVirdhig against its approaches. Nevertheless, 
 her inclination in behalf of the fallen monarchy was not in- 
 distinctly revealed by the marked honours which she paid 
 to some of the emigrant princes while they resided in her 
 capital, and by the withdrawal of her ambassador on the 
 establishment of the new republic. It was not till the over- 
 throw of Robespierre that she renewed her diplomatic inter- 
 course with France ; and then, by a weak contradiction, 
 she at the same moment afforded an honourable asylum in 
 Verona to the Comte de Lille, brother of the murdered 
 king, and admitted the entrance of a minister deputed by 
 the regicides. Terrified, however, by the success of the 
 French arms at the close of their first campaign in 
 Italy, she ungenerously listened to the remonstrances , -qc* 
 of the Directory, and agreed to remove from her do- 
 minions that illustrious exile, upon whom, by the more than 
 questionable death of his unhappy nephew, the crown of 
 France had devolved. " I will quit your territories," was 
 the dignified reply of the high-minded prince ; " but I first 
 demand your Golden Book, that I may erase from it the 
 name of my family ; and next the armour which my ances 
 tor Henry IV. presented as a token of amity to your re- 
 public."* 
 
 The early victories of Bonaparte at Montenotte, 
 at Millesimo, and at Lodi had opened to him the lyng' 
 Venetian territories in his pursuit of the routed 
 Austrians ; and his first interview with a provveditore, des- 
 patched to him at Brescia in order to ascertain his further 
 views, was by no means calculated to sooth the alarm 
 created by his invasion in the breasts of the signory. He 
 complained bitterly of their vacillation, and of their permit- 
 ting the Austrians, whom, if really neutral, they ought to 
 have opposed, to occupy the important post of Peschiera, 
 which had cost him a battle. He announced that he had 
 received orders from his government to burn Verona ; and 
 that Massena was already on his march to execute that 
 stern purpose, on the very night of their present conference. 
 This crafty menace produced the effect which he desired ; 
 
 )l 
 
 II 
 
 * Probably the sword worn at the battle of Yvry. Se« p. 845. 
 Vox.. II.— Dd 
 
314 
 
 CONFERENCES AT LEOBEN. 
 
 BLOODY TUMULT AT VERONA. 
 
 315 
 
 
 1^1 
 
 I t 
 
 I 
 
 the gates of Verona were instantly opened, and the city was 
 occupied by a French garrison. Meantime, Bonaparte 
 amused the signory with offers of alliance, and proposed a 
 confederacy with France, the Porte, and Russia, against 
 Austria, the common enemy of them all. But Venice con- 
 tinued unmoved from her neutrality ; and the offer did but 
 tend to confirm her in a fond belief that the French were 
 by no means securely established in their Italian conquests. 
 The fresh successes of Bonaparte, on the renewal of the 
 same memorable campaign, must have dissipated that hope ; 
 yet hatred of the French name, a reasonable mistrust of the 
 smcerity of the negotiator, a natural adherence to long-ap- 
 proved policy, and a fear of the persevering enmity of Aus- 
 tria, if once offended, combined to prevent acceptance of 
 the former proposition when repeated. And although the 
 signory had long since assembled troops, and maintained a 
 war establishment, she professed in reply, that peace and an 
 unarmed neutrality were her only objects. 
 
 Nor were tenders of alliance wanting from another court, 
 equally opposed to the aggrandizement of either France or 
 Austria ; and perhaps the fate of Venice might have been 
 averted, if she had not rejected advantageous overtiires from 
 the Prussian cabinet, at the close of 1796. In the suc- 
 a7 d. needing spring, the hard-fought battle of Rivoli and 
 1797. tne surrender of Mantua placed all Northern Italy 
 withm the grasp of the French, and compelled the 
 emperor to negotiate. Under circumstances thus unfa- 
 vourable to Venice, the conferences at Leoben were opened : 
 and during their progress, the evil feeling entertained 
 against her by the Directory was plainly avowed in mani- 
 festoes. Herdestmy indeed was already fixed; and one of 
 Bonaparte s first communications with his friend and sec 
 retary Bournenne, when he joined him at that moment, re- 
 garded her approaching extinction. « Be at ease," were his 
 remarkable words ; " those rogues shall pay for it ; their re- 
 public has hved !"* In March, a faction which the intrigues of 
 the revolutionary government had loner encouraged at Berffa- 
 mo, Brescia, Salo, and Crema, imboldened by the presence of 
 
 * ": 
 
 ^vicu^-A^m^'yollcUAl^^^^^^^ ""' '' P^'^''^"^' ^^"^ ^^^"^"'l"^ 
 
 French troops, and stimulated, ss there can be little doubt, 
 by their commander, renounced their allegiance, expelled 
 their podesta^ and erected municipalities. To the represent- 
 ations of the signory concerning these insurrections, Bona- 
 parte replied by disclaiming any share in their production ; 
 and he terminated an interview with the prorveditoi-e by an 
 unexpected demand of a monthly subsidy of a million of 
 francs. When the envoy started with surprise, Bonaparte 
 reminded him that the Duke of Modena, a fugitive from his 
 own dominions, had deposited all his treasure in the Bank 
 of Venice. The confiscation of those funds, he said, would 
 afford a ready source for payment, and they were in truth the 
 actual property of France, as the spoil of one of her ene- 
 mies. If this reasoning were not altogether conclusive, the 
 w^ords with which he finished scarcely admitted contradic- 
 tion. Taking the Venetian deputy by the arm, he added, 
 " Either your republic or my army must perish if you de- 
 cline. Think well of your decision ; and do not hazard 
 the valetudinarian Lion of St. Mark against the fortune of 
 conquerors, who will find in their hospitals, and among 
 their wounded, sufficient men to cross your Lagitne /" Two 
 hundred senators assembled to ditcuss this demand, and 
 only seven balls opposed the concession ! 
 
 Meanwhile, the mountaineers of Brescia and Bergamo, 
 who still preserved their fidelity, and were goaded to des- 
 peration by the brutal licentiousness of their invaders, had 
 taken arms, and had gained more than one advantage in de- 
 sultory warfare against the French detachments. Some 
 inquietude was excited by these movements ; and Junot 
 was despatched to the signory with a remonstrance couched 
 in menacing terms, which produced only an evasive answer. 
 A considerable force of regular Italian and Sclavonian 
 troops, and a yet larger body of armed peasants, were con- 
 centrated in and about Verona, while the French retained 
 possession of all its forts ; and on the 17th of April a ca- 
 lamitous struggle occurred in that city. Amid the mani- 
 fold causes of mutual irritation which existed, and the con- 
 flicting statements of the opposite parties, it is not possible 
 to decide upon which of the two must rest the blame of 
 prior aggression ; but in a murderous affray, which lasted 
 during the afternoon of the 17th, the whole of the inter* 
 
 K 
 
 ,ll 
 
w^ 
 
 : ■ 
 
 ii 
 
 316 FIERCE DENUNCIATIONS BY BONAPARTE. 
 
 vening night, and many hours of the following day, the 
 French, much inferior in numbers, were besieged in their 
 forts ; and nearly five hundred of them, scattered in sepa- 
 rate quarters, or lying in the hospitals, were put to death, 
 while the citadel fired red-hot balls upon the town and its 
 infuriated populace. This agitation continued, with more 
 or less violence, during four days ; and it was not until the 
 arrival of a powerful reinforcement from the French hrad- 
 quarters, and a simultaneous announcement that prelimina- 
 ries of peace with the emperor were signed, that the Vero- 
 nese wholly abandoned their hope of deliverance, and sub- 
 mitted in despair. 
 
 This tumult occurred most seasonably for the ultimate 
 designs of Bonaparte. He gladly exaggerated its outrages ; 
 and in order to impress a deeper horror, he brought to mind 
 one of the most savage occurrences in modern history, and 
 assimilating the^ recent conflict to the Sicilian Vespers, he 
 named it Le.<! Pdt/ues Veronaiscs. Plis first question when 
 he received the deputies through whom the signory ad- 
 dressed explanations (as soon as the beginning cf^the affray 
 at Verona was known, but before either party was ac- 
 quainted with its issue), was an inquiry whether certain 
 persons who had been thrown into prison at Venice for dis- 
 seminating revolutionary opinions, and whoso freedom he 
 had demanded, were yet released ] " Every soul," he ex- 
 claimed, " must be delivered : all are friends of France. 
 If they are not restored, I will come in person, and burn 
 your Piombi. Opinion must now be free I" Then, inter- 
 rupting some counter represeniation, and pursuing an ha- 
 rangue evidently prepared for the occasion, he added, " If 
 all who have outraged France are not punished, if the pris- 
 oners are not released, the British minister dismissed, the 
 population disarmed, and choice made at once between 
 France and England, I hereby declare war against you ! I 
 have eighty thousand men and twenty gun-boats. There 
 shall be no more inquisition ; no more senate ; and I will 
 prove another Attila to Venice ! I no longer oflTer you al- 
 liance, but dictation. I will disarm your rabble if your 
 government has too little power for the purpose; and 
 that government is so decjrepit that it must now fall to 
 pieces !" 
 
 If' 
 
 
 BONAPARTE ADVANCES TO THE LAGTJNE. 317 
 
 Before the provvediiori had taken final leave, they re- 
 ceived a despatch from the signory announcing one more 
 untoward event, which it was manifest would fearfully aug- 
 ment the stern, bitter, and vindictive spirit already evinced 
 by Bonaparte. A French vessel had been fired upon at 
 Lido, several of her crew, among whom was Laugier, her 
 captain, had been killed, and the remainder taken prisoners. 
 Once again the trembling deputies obtained a conference ; 
 and the demands which they carried back to the capital 
 were, the surrender of the admiral commanding at Lido, of 
 the governor of its fort,* and of the three inquisitors of 
 state, in order that they might atone, by an exemplary pun- 
 ishment, for the French blood which had been wantonly 
 spilled. Without awaiting a reply, Bonaparte published an 
 indignant manifesto, recapitulating his causes of ofTence 
 against Venice, and immediately advanced upon the Lagvne. 
 So few are the names demanding respect during the rapid 
 catastrophe which followed, that we gladly relieve the tame 
 and inglorious narrative by even a single instance of gene- 
 rous bearing. V^'^hen Bonaparte entered Treviso, on this 
 march, he ordered Angolo Giustiniani, its provvcditore, to 
 quit the city within two hours, on pain of being shot. The 
 noble Venetian, worthy of the illustrious blood which flowed 
 in his veins, replied that he depended solely upon his gov- 
 ernment, and that he could not abandon his post without 
 express orders from the signory. 
 
 To oppose an invasion of her capital, Venice at that time 
 counted within her own circuit nearly fifteen thousand 
 troops ; stores and provisions sufficient for eight months* 
 consumption filled her magazines ; fresh water for two 
 months was contained in her reservoirs on the Lido ; and 
 the sea was open for a continued renewal of supplies. All 
 her ancient fortresses were garrisoned ; some new works 
 had been constructed ; and in the different channels of ap- 
 
 I 
 
 * When the French took possession of Venice, this officer, who had 
 acted under orders, was excluded from all command. Thus reduced to 
 poverty, he applied, under the Austrian government, to the emperor, and 
 received assurances of assistance. He died, however, neglected, and in 
 misery ; and when Mr. Rose was in Venice, in 1817, one of his sons was 
 employed in piecing the tesselated pavement in St, Mark's.— Z«^ter« 
 from the J^orth of Italy, ii. 62. 
 
 Dd2 
 
318 
 
 WEAKNESS OF THE DOGE MANINI. 
 
 DISSOLUTION OF THE GOVERNMENT. 
 
 319 
 
 M 
 
 t., 
 
 i \. 
 
 proach were distributed thirty-seven galleys, and one hun- 
 dred and sixty-eight armed barks, mounting altogether, 
 seven hundred and fifty cannon, and manned by eight thou- 
 sand seamen. This was no insufficient force for the de- 
 fence of a city whose inhabitants, twice before, when pent 
 within the narrow basin of their waters, had broken forth 
 triumphantly ; shattering to the dust the pride of Genoa, or 
 holding in check the might of nearly all confederated Eu- 
 rope. But the spirit of former ages had passed away ; and 
 the gold, the sophisms, and the terror of France were ope- 
 rating, each probably with equal force, upon the treachery, 
 the weakness, and the cowardice of the Venetian noble's, 
 in acceleration of their ruin. 
 
 It was on the 30th of April that the signory commenced 
 their work of self-destruction, by summoning an extraor- 
 dinary assembly (conferenza) of forty-three of the highest 
 magistrates, in the private apartments of the doge ; thus 
 illegally depriving the senate of its constitutional superin- 
 tendence of state aflairs. During their sitting, as it grew 
 late, the port-admiral announced that the French were con- 
 structing batteries on the edge of the Lagunc, and that he 
 only waited orders from the senate to destroy tliem. How 
 ill adapted to such an emergency were the hands in which 
 power was deposited may be judged from the words which 
 escaped the Doge Manini on opening that despatch. Instead 
 of ordering an immediate attack, he turned pale, and stag- 
 gering through the chamber, faltered out, in a tone of de- 
 spair, " This very night we are by no means sure of sleeping 
 securely in our beds !" Half-measures only could be ex° 
 pected from a temper thus miserably pusillanimous ; and the 
 admiral was accordingly instructed, in the same breath, to 
 prevent the continuance of the French works, and to open 
 negotiations for an armistice. Before these orders reached 
 him, the sound of a distant cannonade informed the city 
 that he had already anticipated the bolder part of them on 
 his own responsibility. 
 ^ On the following day consternation spread through the 
 city ; the Piazza was thronged with troops and cannon ; 
 the narrow streets were traversed by patroles ; and amid 
 this general alarm, the Grand Council, having received from 
 the terrified doge such a report of the condition of the re- 
 
 public as his fears engendered, decreed a fresh mission to 
 Bonaparte ; with authority to consent to his latest demands, 
 — a modification in the government. The envoys were re- 
 ceived with fresh bursts of unrestrained indignation ; the 
 blood of Laugier, said the general, could be washed away 
 only by that of his guilty murderers ; and the nobles of 
 Venice should be driven from their hearths to wander 
 abroad as destitute emigrants. An armistice of six days, 
 which he at length granted, afforded time for new proofs of 
 weakness and indecision in the council. A few more ele- 
 vated spirits — and their names ought not to be forgotten in 
 this dearth of virtue, — Priuli, Calbo, Pesaro, andl Erizzo, 
 were among them, — advocated resistance to the last gasp, 
 and would have maintained independence with their lives. 
 But they were silenced contemptuously, and denounced as 
 rash, headlong, and ignorant enthusiasts. It was averred 
 that the Sclavonian garrison had shown symptoms of insub- 
 ordination ; a popular revolutionary movement was declared 
 to be on the very eve of o\'j)losion ; and images of blood, 
 pillage, and massacre floated before the morbid imagination, 
 and prompted the feeble measures of the bribed or infatu- 
 ated assembly. During another sitting, on the 12th of 
 May, when a few straggling musket-shots were heard on 
 the Piazza, the confusion within the chamber became in- 
 stant and general ; and the nobles, as if cither not knowing 
 or not caring how to fail with decency,* rose from their 
 seats with loud cries, " To the vote ! to the vote !" The 
 urns were handed round ; five hundred and twelve affirm- 
 ative balls, in opposition to twelve negative and five neutral, 
 prostrated the republic at the feet of the French general, 
 surrendered the capital at discretion, and proclaimed that 
 the most ancient government in the vyorld, which had just 
 completed the eleventh century of its sway, was no longer 
 in existence. 
 
 A night of tumult and anarchy succeeded ; and it was 
 not till four days afterward that, full preparations having 
 been made for their admission, a Venetian flotilla trans- 
 ported to the Piazzctla a division of three thousand French. 
 The giddy rabble saluted their conquerors with shouts of 
 
 * MIEPHN ttp6voiav axov siiax^nus irecitv 
 
 n 
 
 i- *''^ ^Mai^ailBSiiaSBiiiSttMLg 
 
320 
 
 TREATY OF CAMPO FORMIO. 
 
 ■u, 
 
 ii 
 
 joy ; and the following weeks were employed in some of 
 those empiric mummeries by which the mountebanks of 
 jacobinism were wont to cajole the simplicity of their gap- 
 ing and unsuspicious dupes. The Golden Book was burned 
 at the foot of the tree of liberty, while the patriarch and his 
 clergy administered the oath of fraterni'zation ; and the 
 scriptural legend on the Gospel held by the Lion of St. 
 Mark, having been erased, those vague catch-words of revo- 
 lution, " the rights of man and of citizenship," were sub- 
 stituted in its place. This change of motto was not likely 
 to be passed unnoticed by the ready wit of the careless 
 gondoliers ; and one of them remarked, that " the Lion, 
 for the first time, had turned over a new leaf." 
 
 But the dream of pure republicanism, and of that lib- 
 erty which it was credulously supposed to bestow, was not 
 long to amuse the excited fancy of the now conquered and 
 enslaved Venetians. The treaty of Campo Formio was an- 
 nounced in October, and by its terms, — according to the in- 
 stitutes of that detestable code of robbery by which modern 
 pacifications have so frequently been disgraced ; in pursu- 
 ance of that fraudulent traffic in the rights of independent 
 nations, that mode of wholesale transfer in diplomatic com- 
 merce by which states and kingdoms are valued only as a 
 kind of circulating medium in the balance of political ac- 
 covmts, and are passed from hand to hand like so many 
 bills of exchange, or parchment securities, — the partition of 
 the Venetian territory was ultimately arranged. For her 
 cession of the Low Countries, Austria was indemnified by 
 Istria, Dalmatia, the city of Venice, and the remainder of 
 the Dos^ado ; France claimed the Ionian Islands ; and Ber- 
 gamo, Brescia, and other portions of Terra Firma were an- 
 nexed to the short-lived Cisalpine republic. The French, 
 before their departure, as if unwilling to leave to the people 
 whom they had erased from separate and independent exist- 
 ence any memorial which might recall their former greatness, 
 broke up the Bucentaur, and transported to Paris, among in- 
 numerable other gems of art, the brazen horses recording the 
 glory of Enrico Dandolo. Their cupidity was disappointed 
 in the contents of the arsenal : two sixty-four gun ships, four 
 brigs, and a few transports were all that remained within its 
 basins, as ghosts of departed maritime empire. It was on 
 
 VENICE SUBJECTED TO AUSTRIA. 321 
 
 the 18th of January, 1798, that the Austrians en- 
 tered upon possession of their new province ; and ^'^ 
 transferred to their own annals, — until some fu- ^*^^' 
 ture revolution shall terminate those also, — all that here- 
 after may be related in connexion with the History of 
 Venice. 
 
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