In the mean time, the emperor attempted, by all the means in his power, to throw the seeds of disunion among the confederates ; sometimes endeavouring to treat with the pope, with the king of Sicily, or with the cities singly ; but without effect. lie then sent the archbishop of Mentz, vith a considerable body of troops, into Tuscany ; who, taking advantage of the war between Pisa, and its allies the Florentines, with the Genoese, for the sovereignty of Sar dinia, pretended to observe a neutrality, and was chosen arbiter by the contending parties. No sooner, however, had the magistrates of Pisa and Florence appeared at the place appointed, than the archbishop, irritated at their hav ing concluded an alliance with the Grecian emperor, or dered them to be thrown into a dungeon. Putting himself, then, at the head of the armies of Sienna, Pistoia, and Luc ca, with the nobility of Tuscany, Umbria, and Romagna, he proceeded to invade the Florentine territory. But the Pisans having succeeded in making a diversion by attack ing Lucca, Christian was twice defeated, and obliged to give up his designs against Florence. He now, notwith standing, had contrived to collect a considerable army, with which, early in the following year, he began to lay siege against Ancona. In this he was assisted by the fleet of the Venetians, who were jealous of the inhabitants of that city becoming their rivals in the commerce of the Levant. The situation of Ancona is naturally strong ; and the at tempts to assault it by land or sea were unavailable. The wooden towers of the archbishop were burnt by the citi zens, led on by a courageous and patriotic female; and of the Venetian squadron, seven vessels were destroyed and stranded, by divers cutting their cables under water, (luting a violent gale. The town, however, contained 12,000 in habitants; and the preceding harvest having been bad, and all supplies completely cut off, it soon began to suffer all the miseries of famine. An offer to capitulate being re fused by the archbishop, they still continued, with impa ralelled fortitude, their resistance, although their remaining stock of provisions consisted only of 15 sacks of corn, and one dozen of eggs ; and the poorer part of the inhabitants were reduced to feed on the most nauseous and unwhole some substances. At length, the Guelph nobles of Fer rara contrived, by an ingenious stratagem, to raise the siege. Having collected t few hundred cavalry, they con trivcd to pass through the imperial rear-guard ; and, led on by William Mareheselli, who commanded the vassals of the Countess Bertinoro, the zealous friend of Ancona, they encamped on the top of the mountain of Falcognara. At midnight, each horseman fastening several torches to the end of his lance, the whole body proceeded down the moun tain, in line, to attack the imperial camp. Christian, alarm ed by the formidable appearance, gave orders to retreat; and the provisions of his camp were carried to the famish ing inhabitants of Ancona by the Ferraresc troops. The retreat of the archbishop was followed, next day, by the departure of the Venetian fleet. It is satisfactory to add, that the conduct of Marcheselli was magnificently reward ed by the eastern emperor.
In the end of the year, Frederic again entered Italy by the way of Mount Cenis. Having accepted the surrender of Asti, whose citizens were alarmed at the strength of his army, he sat down before Alexandria, which, after some ineffectual attempts to storm, he determined to reduce by blockade. In this he persevered for four months, in the very depth of winter, notwithstanding the sufferings of his soldiers from the cold and scarcity, and the inundations of the rivers. The diet of the League, however, immediately dispatched their troops with a supply of provisions, for the relief of the Alexandrians. A truce during Passion-week
had, in the mean time, been concluded ; but the emperor, apprised of the approach of the Lombard troops, deter mined treacherously to break his agreement, and attempted to assault the town during the night. Fortunately his de sign was discovered, and the Germans repulsed with loss. Frederic the next day marched to Pavia ; the Lombard army, from a remaining respect for the imperial dignity, not impeding his retreat. His repulse had made him readily listen to the negotiation for a peace ; and it was agreed that both armies should be disbanded, and six com missioners appointed to arrange their differences. At the conferences for this purpose, held at Pavia, three legates front the pope attended, but their attempts to promote a re conciliation were unavailing ; and the emperor, having or dered another army to be raised in Germany, was apprized of their arrival at Como early in the following spring.
Putting himself at the head of the troops of Como, Pavia, and Montferrat, he joined the main army, and proceeded to attack the castle of Lignano, 15 miles from Milan. The lilanese immediately prepared for a vigorous resistance ; and, with their own troops and those of Placentia, and a few battalions of light infantry from Verona, Brescia, and No vara, marched to meet the emperor. The battle began by a skirmish between the cavalry of the advanced guards; but the whole German horse, having charged the Lom bards, were repulsed, and fell back in confusion on the main body, pursued by the emperor. But the troops entrusted with the care of the carroccio, perceiving the danger to which it was exposed, at this moment charged the impe rialists with such fury, that Frederic was obliged to save himself by flight, and a total rout ensued. The Germans were pursued for eight miles, and completely dispersed ; the troops of Como almost all cut to pieces; and Frederic, after wandering in disguise for several days, arrived alone at Pavia. He now began seriously to think of peace ; and a congress for that purpose was agreed to be held at Ve nice. He, however, succeeded previously in ncgociating a separate peace with Cremona and Tortona.
The pope having arrived at Venice, after much difficul ty, a truce was agreed on ; the duration of which was to he fifteen years with the king of Naples, and six with the Lombard League. The years of the truce were spent by the emperor in endeavouring to disunite the League : hut in this he was unsuccessful ; and the only towns that joined him were Tortona and Alexandria, to the latter of which, the name of Cesarea was given. In the year 1183, a ge neral diet of the empire was held at Constance, where the emperor's son, Henry VI. was associated with him in the government ; and the deputies of the Lombard cities hav ing attended it, a definitive treaty was at length concluded, in which the emperor acknowledged and restored the rights of the free states ; and Italy at length enjoyed peace. The calm which followed the treaty of Constance was not of long duration. The tranquillity of the free Italian states was soon disturbed by petty wars with their neighbours and the nobility, or by the usurpation of ambitious indi viduals or families, and the fury of contending factions among themselves. To enter particularly into the history of these, would be impracticable in a work of this nature ; and besides, not very interesting to the generality of read ers. We must, therefore, content ourselves with taking occasionally a general review of their effects in the re spective states ; or slightly entering into their details, when productive of any lasting or general results.