',Manfred, in the midst of his victories, was informed of the death of his nephew Conradin in Germany; and im mediately, at the desire of the Sicilian nobility, assumed the title, and was crowned king of the two Sicilies. The arrival of dispatches from Conradin soon proved the falsehood of the report ; but Manfred informed the mes sengers that, having now accepted the crown, he could not surrender it, but declared that Conradin should be his heir, and invited him to reside at his court. At this pe riod, the Ghibeline nobility had been, by the increasing in fluence of the democratic party, banished from Florence ; and, taking refuge at Sienna, easily obtained the protec tion of that republic. The Florentines immediately de clared war against Sienna, and that state was obliged to beg assistance from king :Manfred. The reinforcement granted by him was so small, that, in the first combat with the Florentines, the German troops were cut to pieces, and the standard of the king of Naples conveyed in triumph to Florence. Indignant at this disgrace, and excited by Farinata Ubcrti, the able chief of the Florentine exiles, Manfred immediately sent to Sienna a considerable body of cavalry under the command of Count Giordano'd'An glone, who, joined by their Tuscan auxiliaries, awaited the approach of the Florentines. 'Jinni had, in the mean time, carried on a secret correspondence with those of the Ghibelincs, who still remained in Florence, and persuaded them, on the first opportunity, to desert the standard of their country. He had contrived to persuade the anziani, or chief magistrates, that, on their appearance before the gates of Sienna, it would be immediately surrendered. Ilis stratagem was successful ; the anziani conducted the army, reinforced by the troops of Bologna, and all the forces of Lucca, and the other Tuscan cities, to the plain of Arbia, Lite miles from Sienna, and there awaited the promised surrender.
On a sudden the gates of the city were thrown open, and the Neapolitan cavalry, followed by the Siennese and the Ghibcline exiles, made a desperate charge on the main body of the Florentines. While the astonished magis trates attempted to rally their disordered troops, the GM Wine gentlemen in the army seized the opportunity, and cutting down the standard-bearer, carried off the Floren tine colours, and deserted to the enemy. This act of treachery decided the battle ; the Guelph army was totally defeated; and 10,000 of the Florentines and their allies were left dead on the field. Such was the terror occasioned by this defeat, that the whole Guelph population deserted Florence and retired to Lucca ; and this example was fol lowed by all the cities and towns of Tuscany. Guido Novello, count of Cosentino, was appointed podesta of Florence, and the Neapolitan troops were ordered to be paid out of its revenues. Such was the inveteracy of the Pisans and Siennese, that, at a diet of the Ghibeline cities, they even urged the demolition and total destruction of Florence. This proposition had even met with the con currence of the Assembly ; but the patriotic firmness and manly eloquence of Farinata Uberti was successful in altering their resolution ; and he, who had been the chief cause of the fatal defeat of Arbia, had now the honour of being the sole defender and the saviour of his country.
While these contests occupied the Tuscan states, the republics of Lombardy were, one after another, sinking into a slate of vassalage, and in many of them a few pri vate gentlemen had achieved that victory over their inde pendence, which the princes of Suabia had so often in vain attempted to gain. This was, no doubt, in part owing to
the imperfect nature of their civil constitution ; but what contributed chiefly to the elevation of the nobles, and the decay of the republican spirit, was the great change which had taken place in the military system during the last century. At the period when the Lombard cities were struggling for their liberties, the armies of the emperor were, for the most part, composed of infantry, and the nobles, on horseback, acted as a kind of light cavalry. To such troops the citizens could easily oppose a body of light cavalry equally effective, while their hardy burghers, animated with the ardour of liberty, were more than a match for the half armed and half disciplined serfs of whom the German infantry principally consisted. A very great change had now taken place ; the chief strength of an army now consisted in a heavy armed cavalry, consist ing almost entirely of gentlemen, from their youth trained up to the use of these weighty habiliments of war. The rider was covered from head to foot with massy plates or rings of steel, protected with a buckler, and armed with a lance of such a length as to keep at a distance the swords of the infantry. The front of the horse, who, to support such a weight, required to be of a heavy and powerful breed, was equally secured. Against a charge from a body of cavalry of this description, no body of infantry, before the general use of fire-arms, could possibly stand. A few hundred knights thus armed, could cut their way through the largest bodies of infantry ; numbers were unavallu.g ; and nothing but a troop armed like them ielves could cl,eck their progress. To endure the weight, and acquire the full use of arms of this description, was impossible without early training and continual exercise. From circumstance, the nobles, constantly accustom ed to field sports and manly exercises, soon acquired a decided advantage over the citizens, whose habits dis qualified them from a set vice of this kind. The conse quence of this change afterwards, was to force the re publics to hire a body of mercenaries for their defence, and the frtquency of the wars soon occasioned a race of men, whose sole occupation was war, and whose swords were at the service of those who could pay best, or held out the most favourable expectations of plunder. The very means used, however, for defence against the nobles, frequently occasioned the enslaving of a state; and the popular leader, after overcoming the nobles, not unfre quently made use of the same mercenary troops to secure to himself despotic authority. At Milan, the sovereign power fell into the hands of Avittibo della Torre, who also became lord of Lodi and Novara ; and, from his hu manity and prudence, the same authority continued in his family; and his successor, Philip della Torre, added to' these cities Como and Bergamo. But a powerful rival to this family was raised up by the pope in the person of Otho Visconti, archbishop of Milan, who, siding with the nobles, proved a powerful check to the ambitious designs of Philip.