Florence and Northern Tuscany with Genoa | Page 9

be Doge"; and seeing the enthusiasm of the people,
this great man allowed himself to be borne to S. Siro, where he was
crowned first Doge of Genoa for life. The nobles seem to have been
afraid to interfere, so great was the eagerness of the people. And it was
about this time that the Grimaldi, driven out of Genoa, seized Monaco,
which by the sufferance of Europe they hold to-day. It is true, that for a
time in 1344 the nobles gathered an army and returned to Genoa,
Boccanegra resigning and exiling himself in Pisa; but twelve years later
he was back again, ruling with temperance and wisdom that great city,
which was now queen of the Mediterranean sea.
To follow the fortunes of the Republic one would need to write a book.
It must be sufficient to say here that by the middle of the century war
broke out with Venice, and was at first disastrous for Genoa. Then once
more a Doria, Pagano it was, led her to victory at Sapienza, off the
coast of Greece, where thirty-one Genoese galleys fought thirty-six of
Venice and took them captive. But the nobles were never quiet, always
they plotted the death of the Doge Giovanni da Morta, or Boccanegra.
It was with the latter they were successful in 1363, when they poisoned
him at a banquet in honour of the King of Cyprus--for they had
possessed themselves of a city in that island. Thus the nobles came
back into Genoa, Adorni, Fregosi, Guarchi, Montaldi, this time; lesser
men, but not less disastrous for the liberty of Genoa than the older
families. So they fought among themselves for mastery, till the Adorni,
fearing to be beaten, sold the city to Charles VI of France, who made
them his representative and gave them the government. And all this
time the war with Venice continued. At first it promised success,--at
Pola, for instance, where Luciano Doria was victorious, but at last
beaten at Chioggia, and not knowing where to turn to make terms, the
supremacy of the seas passed from Genoa to Venice, peace coming at
last in 1381.

Then the Genoese turned their attention to the affairs of their city. In
the first year of the fifteenth century they rose to throw off the French
yoke. But France was not so easily disposed of. She sent Marshal
Boucicault to rule in Genoa; and he built the Castelletto, which was
destroyed only a few years ago in our father's time. In 1409, however,
Boucicault thought to gain Milan, for Gian Galeazzo Visconti was dead.
In his absence the Genoese rose and threw out the French, preferring
their own tyrants. These, Adorni, Montaldi, Fregosi, fought together till
Tommaso Fregosi, fearing that the others might prove too strong for
him, sold the city to Filippo Maria Visconti, tyrant of Milan. So the
Visconti came to rule in Genoa.
This period, full of the confusion of the petty wars of Italy, while
Sforza was plotting for his dukedom and Malatesta was building his
Rocca in Rimini; while the Pope was a fugitive, and the kingdom of
Naples in a state of anarchy, is famous, so far as Genoa is concerned,
for her victory at sea over King Alfonso of Aragon, pretender against
René of Anjou to the throne of Naples. The Visconti sided with the
House of Anjou, and Genoa, in their power for the moment, fought
with them; so that Biagio Assereto, in command of the Genoese fleet,
not only defeated the Aragonese, but took Alfonso prisoner, together
with the King of Navarre and many nobles. That victory, strangely
enough, made an end of the rule of the Visconti in Genoa. For, seeing
his policy led that way, Filippo Maria Visconti ordered the Genoese to
send their illustrious prisoners to Milan, where he made much of them,
fearing now rather the French than the Spaniards, since the Genoese
had disposed of the latter and so made the French all-powerful. This
spoliation, however, enraged the Genoese, who joined the league of
Florence and Venice, deserting Milan. At the word of Francesco
Spinola they rose, in 1436, killed the Milanese governor outside the
Church of S. Siro, and once more declared a Republic. To little purpose,
as it proved, for the feuds betwixt the great families continued, so that
by 1458 we find Pietro Fregosi, fearing the growing power of the
Adorni, and hard pressed by King Alfonso, who never forgave an
injury, handing over Genoa to Charles VIII of France.
Meantime, in 1453, Constantinople had fallen before Mahomet, and the

colony of Galata was thus lost to Genoa. And though in this sorry
business the Genoese seem to be less blameworthy than the rest of
Christendom--for they with but four galleys defeated the whole Turkish
fleet--Genoa suffered