The melancholy state of the Christians in the east first engrossed the attention of the council, and the French king was persuaded to undertake his expedition to Egypt, which afterwards proved so disastrous. At the second meeting of the council, the emperor was summoned to answer the charges of the pope. His defence was ably pleaded by Taddeo of Suessa ; but the council found him guilty, and solemn sentence of excommunication was pronounced, the throne of the empire declared vacant, and the kingdoms of Sicily placed under the controul of the pontiff. On being informed of this sentence, Frederic at first held it in deri sion, and wrote to all the princes of Europe, appealing against the arrogance of the church; but the domestic treasons which he soon discovered, the election of Henry, landgrase of Thuringia, as king of the Romans, and his sub sequent victory over Frederic's son Cohrad, soon slimed him the fatal effects of the enmity of the pope ; and he made every effort in his power to reconcile himself with the church, but in vain. lfe had even determined to sub mit to the humiliation of a personal confession of his offences to the pope; and for that purpose was on his way to 'I urin, the residence of Innocent, when he was informed ol the re volt of Parma, which had always been attached to his fami ly—a revolution effected by the personal relations of the pope in that city. The emperor's indignation at this event put an end to all ideas of accommodation ; and, collecting some reinforcements from the cities of Piedmont, which remained attached to him, he hastened to join the army or his son Henzius, and lay siege to Parma. This army was increased by the addition of the troops of Padua, Vicenza, and Verona„under the command of Ecceiino ; hut the gar rison of Parma had also been powerfully reinforced by A zzo of Este, who had collected from every quarter the adherents of the Guelphs, and the entire army of Ferrara, at the risk of leaving his own territories exposed to the ravages of Eccelino. The number of its defenders soon occasioned a scarcity of provisions in Parma, and the emperor attempt ed to increase the popular discontent occasioned by this by an act of most atrocious cruelty. Having conducted, in sight of the walls, eight Parmesan prisoners, four of high rank, he ordered them to be beheaded, assuring the be sieged, that they should witness the same spectacle every day till his prisoners (1000 in number) were finished. But this bloody spectacle was not repeated. The troops of Pavia declared that they came to serve as soldiers, not as executioners; and the emperor consented, lest this enor mity should prove more fatal to himself than his enemies. In the mean time, certain of ultimate success, he employed his army, during the winter, in building a new city, called Vittoria, into which, when he had reduced Parma, he pro posed to remove its inhabitants. But the besieged having received a supply of provisions from Mantua and Ferrara, took advantage of the emperor's absence on a hunting ex cursion ; and suddenly making a sally, and assaulting the ramparts of Vittoria, carried the place. The imperialists were put to flight with great loss, and Frederic, veturning from the chace, joined them in their retreat to Cremona. The whole imperial treasure and jewels fell into the hands of the victors, and the new city was burnt and rased to the ground. Notwithstanding this misfortune, and the defeat of his son Conrad in Germany, the spirit of the emperor remained undaunted. Even the intercession of St. Louis had failed in mitigating the rancour of Innocent ; and, aware that no reconciliation could now be effected, Frederic con tinued the war with unabated vigour. Having sent his son, Frederic of Antioch, to the assistance of the Ghibelines at Florence, the Guelphs were at length expelled from the city, and many or their castles in the country were compelled to surrender. In Romagna, success attended the opposite party. The Bolognese, under the command of 12baldmi, the papal legate, succeeded in reducing to obedience the principal cities ; and at length ventured to attack the imperial army under Henzius, king of Sardinia, at Fossalta, a place two miles from Modena. The battle was carried on, during the day, with equal success ; but, at night, the Bolognese renewing their attack, the Ghibcline army was thrown into confusion, and Henzius himself taken prisoner. All the attempts of the emperor to prevail on
the Bolognese to accept a ransom for his son were unavail ing ; and Henzins remained at Bologna in a state of ho nourable captivity till his death in the year 1271.
The consequence of the victory at Fossalta was the ac cession of Modena to the Guelph alliance. On the other hand, at Verona, and Padua, and the surrounding territory, Eccelino, as chief of the Ghibelines, exercised a power now almost independent of the emperor ; and the annals of these cities, during his long reign of blood, exhibit only scenes of diabolical cruelty, into the details of which we rejoice that the limits of this historical sketch preclude us from entering. Frederic had now retired into Apulia, from whence he sent considerable supplies to the army of St. Louis, then in the isle of Cyprus, and made a last and un availing attempt to reconcile himself to the pope. On the 13th of Dec. he died of a dysentery at Fiorentino, aged 56; having reigned 31 years as emperor, 38 as king of Germany,and 52 as king of the Sicilies.
The death of Frederic was followed by an entire change of the state of affairs in Italy. The crown of Germany, after the death of his son Conrad, was contested, for more than twenty years, by many princes of different families; and when Rodolph of Hapsburg (ancestor of the house of Austria), was at length elected, neither that prince, nor his successors, Adolphus of Nassau, and Albert of Austria, felt themselves sufficiently masters of their German do minions to interfere in the affairs of Italy. Sixty years, therefore, elapsed after the death of Frederic II. before the imperial dignity was conferred on any individual ; while the ties which had so long connected the Italian states with the empire were almost completely broken, and the authority of the German Cesar no longer either dreaded or revered.
The pope, now released from his apprehensions, return ed through Genoa and Lombardy to Perugia, being re ceived with the greatest respect, even by the Ghibeline cities, while at Milan, and other states attached to his party, his return resembled a triumphal procession. But Inno cent's ungrateful behaviour to the people of Milan soon alienated their affections ; and their choice of the Marquess Lancia of Montferrat, a zealous Ghibeline, for their captain general, proved their indifference for the papal party. In deed, though the names of the factions continued the same, the interest of the pope, or the emperor, was but little con sidered by either side. The real contest was between the nobles and the people ; and where the former Were of the one party, the latter inclined to the other. At Milan, for example, the people were Guelph, the nobles Ghibeline at Placentia the reverse; and the state inclined to one side or other, as either part of the community acquired the pre ponderance. This circumstance serves to explain the sud den and otherwise unaccountable changes in the policy of the Italian republics.
In the mean time, Conrad, king of the Romans, the em peror's eldest surviving son, had entered Apulia, which had been governed by his natural brother, Manfred, prince of Tarento, where his authority was acknowledged, except in Naples and Capua, which had been excited to rebellion by the pope. These cities, however, were soon forced to surrender, and Conrad remained master of the kingdom; which he did not long enjoy, being suddenly cut off by a fever at Lavello, in the 26th year of his age, leaving his in fant son, Conradin, to the care of Manfred, and the regency to Berthold, margrave of Iloemburg, general of the Ger man troops. The first act of these guardians was to solicit the protection of Innocent for their ward, who was innocent of the offences committed by his ancestors, and whose help less condition ought to recommend him to the papal com passion. But the pontiff, who had not forgiven the house of Suabia, and, in the lifetime of Conrad, had endeavoured to raise competitors against him, now demanded, in his own name, the immediate surrender of the kingdom, promising, at the same time, to bestow it on Conradin when he arrived at the years of puberty, if he could shew any title to it.