The death of Pope Adrian IV., which took place a few months before, occasioned a change in the affairs of Italy by no means favourable to the emperor. The college of cardinals, unable to agree in their choice of a successor, had nominated two popes : the one, Alexander III. was generally recognized by the church ; while the other, Vic tor III. had on his side the senate and people of Rome, with whom Frederic, having lately concluded a treaty, was inclined to concur. He, however, summoned a council at Pavia, where he ordered the rival popes to await his de cision. Alexander refused to obey, asserting that the pope was neither subject to emperors or councils. The de cision was accordingly in favour of Victor, who excommu nicated his Ilya]; who, in return, excommunicated Fred eric, and discharged his subjects from their oath of alle giance.
In the mean time, being obliged to send back to many the greater part of his army, he was obliged to carry on his hostilities with Milan on a small scale ; and at sano, was defeated by the forces of the republic. The Milanese had the same advantage at Bulchignano ; but an army of 100,000 Germans having, in the course of the mer, joined the emperor, their city was again invested, and all supplies of provisions completely cut off from the sieged. The people at length, unable any longer to tain their privations, compelled the consuls to surrender at discretion. The keys of the city, and the cal cocci, were, at the emperm's command, reluctantly delivered up to him ; and, after ten days of painful suspence, the whole habitants were ordered to quit the city. The unfortunate exiles having taken refuge in the neighbouring towns and the army of the emperor, assisted by the inhabi tants of Lodi, Cremona, and Pavia, and other enemies of the Milanese, proceeded to put in execution the sentence of destruction ; and, in six days, the city of Milan was com pletely demolished.
This act of severity spread an universal terror through the Italian states ; the authority of Frederic was every where acknowledged ; and even the more independent maritime republics of Pisa and Genoa submitted to his sovereign decision their mutual disputes. Having dis banded his army, he took up his residence with his court at Pavia ; while his ministers and podestas exercised, without controul, the most tyrannical authority, and, by their cru elty and extortions, rendered the imperial sway as much detested as it was dreaded.
The inhabitants of Verona, and other cities which had as yet sided with the emperor, attempted at first to repre sent these grievances to him; but receiving no redress, and finding their complaints overlooked, they-determined to recover their rights by force, and to confine the power of Barbarossa within the same bounds as that of his prede cessors. The league at first consisted of Verona, Vicenza, Padua, and Treviso ; and being joined by the Venetians, who had long been jealous of the power of Frederic, they proceeded to open hostilities, and expelled his German officers from their territories. On hearing of this revolt, the emperor collected the troops of his Lombard depend ants, and marched against the Veronese. He soon, how ever, perceived that his troops were not to be trusted ; ant was obliged to leave his camp in a precipitate manner, and shortly after to depart from Italy, where he found it was now unsafe for him to remain without a German army. On his return home, finding that a civil war had arisen, he was compelled to remain in Germany for two years, and thus allow the Lombard cities time to prepare for a gigot ous resistance. In the mean time, the antipope Victor
died, and his party appointed as his successor Pascal III. who, being acknowledged by none of the European princes, began to be despised even by his own adherents in Rome. The friends of Alexander in Rome, took advantage of this to propose his return ; and it was at length determined in the senate, to invite him to leave France, and take up his residence among them. He was accordingly received with great joy, notwithstanding the opposition of the emperor's lieutenant, Christian, archbishop of Mentz, whose attempts against Rome were frustrated by the troops of William, king of Naples. This prince died soon after, leaving a son in his minority, afterwards called William the Good. In the end of this year, the emperor again crossed the Alps, and, without taking any decisive step against the Veronese, marched into the south of Italy. The confederates, how ever, lost no time in preparing for defence. Having called a general council at Puntido, near Milan, they were joined by the deputies from Cremona, Bergamo, Mantua, and Ferrara ; a general plan of resistance was organized, and an oath agreed on, to be taken by all the members of the confederation, which now assumed the title of the League of Lombardy. Their first measure was to rebuild the walls of Milan ; for which purpose, each city of the League sent a large body of men, and so eager were the Milanese to secure their independence, that, till the forti fications were completed, no attempt was made to repair their ruined habitations. The city of Lodi 11 as forced into the confederacy, which was soon after joined by centia, Parma, Modena, and Bologna, and now consisted of fifteen of the principal cities in Italy. Frederic having in vain assaulted Ancona, which was garrisoned by the troops of the Grecian emperor, Manuel Comment's, proceeded to besiege Rome, which soon yielded to him ; and the pope was obliged to retire for safety to Benevento. In the menu time, the German troops were attacked by the pestilential fever Op• Mart:Male," which, in less than two months, carried • i" .1. prineip d officers, more than 20J0 gentle men, and a proportionate number of common soldiers. Such was the weakness of the German army after this loss, that Frederic, finding himself unable to make any attack on the Lombards, privately recrossed the Alps. On his de p ture all those states whom the terror of his arms had formerly kept back, hastened to join the League, which now consisted of all Lombardy, except the city of Pavia, and William, :11arquess of Montfcrrat. To prevent any junction between these allies, the League determined to build a city between them, and having fixed on a spot at the confluence of the rivers Tanaro and Bormida, whose situation rendered it almost impregnable, the whole armies of the League laboured at the work with such assiduity, that, in a few months, the walls, and a competent number of houses, were finished, and the inhabitants of five neigh bouring villages transported to it, and authorised to con stitute a free and republican government. This city, des tined to be a monument of their alliance, and of their zeal for liberty and the church, was named Alexandria, after the pope, the head of the League ; and so rapid was the increase of its population, that in the course of one year after its foundation, the inhabitants of Alexandria were able to send to the Geld a body of 15,000 armed troors.