LOMBARDY, The historic name of that part of Northeni Italy which •om prises the modern provinces of Bergamo, Bres cia, Como, Cremona, :Mantua, Milan, Pavia, and Sondrio. It lies mainly north of the Po, between Piedmont on the west and Venetia on the east, and embraces the valleys of the Ticino, Adda, Oglio, and Slincio rivers. Lom bardy is in great part a fertile plain, splen didly irrigated, and yielding bountiful crops of maize, wheat, and rice. The northern part is occupied by the Alps. On the borders of Pied mont is Lago Maggiore and on the Venetian bor ders is Lago di Garda. while within the Lombard territories are Lakes Como, part of Lugano. and Iseo. Lombardy produces influence quantities of silk, and is noted for its cheese. \Vine is ex tensively produced. Lombardy is industrially the most important section of Italy. The popu lation. in RIO], was 4.282,72S. The principal city is Milan. Lombardy has its name from the Lombards, who occupied the region in the se«md half of the sixth century. (see LONIRARDS.) In 774 Charles the Great. King of the Eranks, put an end to the Lombard Kingdom. after the dis solution of the Carolingian Empire and the rise of the new German Roman Empire, Lombardy. with a great part of Italy, was held in a nontin•l feudal subjection to the emperors, and those of the Saxon and succeeding houses came down at intervals and held diets in the plains of lb ii caglia. Tn the development of industrial cities in Italy which was so remarkable a feature of the centuries from the tenth to the twelfth. Lom bardy took a leading place, and a strong spirit of independence arose in the rich and 1.ni-perons commonwealths, of which Milan and Pavia were the most notable. A league of the Lombard cities, formed in 1167, was strong. enough to oppose the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa FREDERICK T.). to defeat him at Legnano ( and to wrest from him in the Peace of Constance (11331numerous chartered 'phi: granted such a measure of autonomy to the cities as to make the League. which was officially reeog nized. virtually a republic. recognizing the nomi nal suzerainty of the Emperor. .Tea lousy among the cities of the League prevented their utilizing this opportunity for the creation of a strong federal State. The League soon fell apart. It was revived in 1226 to resist Frederick II. (q.v.), without :tny especial cause, but this only resulted in prolonged dissension and civil war. In the thirteenth century, \Sell characterized as the Age of Despots. the Lombard cities began to fall under the rule of tyrants. Early in the four teenth century the House of Visconti became pa ramou nt in Milan. The Emperor Henry VII.
went down into Italy and was crowned with the iron crown at Milan in 1310. In the warfare of the petty States which characterized the Italy of the Renaissance the Lombard cities and princi palities had their full share, and they suffered from the marauding of the Free Companies that were turned loose upon Daly by this irregular strife. In 1395 Milan, with its extensive terri tory, was erected into a (badly for the Visconti, who in 1447 were succeeded by the House of Sforza. France, under Louis NII. (1493-1515) and Francis 1. (1515-47), attempted ineffectually to achieve the conquest of Milan, which was re peatedly won and lost. On the extinction of the Sforza dynasty in 1535, the Emperor Charles V. took possession of the duchy, which was united with the Crown of Spain. In the War of the Spanish Succession (1701-14) Austria wrested the Milanese from Spain. and simultaneously took possession of the Duchy of Mantua, whose dynasty, the House of Gonzaga, had become ex tinct (1703). Bonaparte in 1796-97 overran Lombardy and erected there the Cisalpine Re public. The country was lost by the French in 1799, but was recovered in the memorable -campaign of 1800 and held tuttil 1814. In 1305 Napoleon had himself crowned with the iron crown as King of Italy. The Congress of Vienna (q.v.) made Lombardy, as well as Ve netin, an Austrian province, as compensation for Belgium. The two provinces were constituted the Lombardo-Venetian Kingdom ( 1815 ) . They were given separate administrations, that of Lom bardy being centralized at Milan, but one of the Austrian archdukes was made viceroy of both. The repressive Austrian system of unchecked ab solutism, maintained by a secret police, reduced Lombardy to the level of a conquered territory. The revolutionary year 1S48 brought with it the inevitable revolt against these intolerable condi tions, and Charles Albert (q.v.), King of Sar dinia, came to the aid of Lombardy. II is efforts to secure the liberation of hely ended in diikaster. (See ITALY.) The defeat of :NOVA La (March, 1849) put an end to the hope of liberation for ten years. during which the Austrian yoke again rested heavily upon Lombardy. In 1859 the statesmanship of Cavour effected that combina tion whose first result was to wrest Lombardy from Austria. The campaign of the allied French and Sardinian armies against Austria was de cided by their victories at Magenta and Solferino (June, 1859). By the Treaty of Zurich, con cluded in November, 1859, Lombardy passed from Austria to Sardinia, and in 1861 it became part of the new Kingdom of Italy. See ITALY.