Heroes of Modern Europe | Page 5

bold enough to grasp
them. Prisoners of war suffered horrible tortures, being hung up by
their feet and hands in the hope that their friends would ransom them
the sooner. Villages were burned down, and wolves howled near the
haunts of men, seeking food to appease their ravening hunger. It was
said that fierce beasts gnawed through the walls of houses and
devoured little children in their cradles. Italy was rent by a conflict

which divided one province from another, and even placed inhabitants
of the same town on opposite sides and caused dissension in the noblest
families.
The Flagellants marched in procession through the land, calling for
peace but bringing tumult. The Emperor's party made haste to shut
them out of the territory they ruled, but they could not rid the people of
the terrible fear inspired by the barefooted, black-robed figures, with
branches and candles in their hands and the holy Cross flaming red
before them.
One defeat after another brought the House of Hohenstaufen under the
control of the Church they had defied so boldly. Frederick's own son
rebelled against him, and Frederick's camp was destroyed by a Guelf
army. The Emperor had lived splendidly, making more impression on
world-history than any other prince of that {18} illustrious family, but
he died in an hour of failure, feeling bitterly how great a triumph his
death would be to the Pope who had conquered.
It was late in the year 1250 when the tidings of Frederick II's death
travelled slowly through his Empire. Many refused to believe them, and
declared long years afterwards that the Emperor was still living,
beneath a mighty mountain. The world seemed to be shaking yet with
the vibration of that deadly struggle. Conrad and Conradin were left,
and Manfred, the favourite son of Frederick, but their reigns were short
and desperate, and when they, too, had passed the Middle Ages were
merging into another era. The "two swords" of Papacy and Empire
were still to pierce and wound, but the struggle between them would
never seem so mighty after the spirit had fled which inspired Conradin,
last of the House of Swabia.
This young prince was led to the scaffold, where he asserted stoutly his
claim to Naples above the claim of Charles, the Count of Anjou, who
held it as fief of the Papacy. Then Conradin dared to throw his glove
among the people, bidding them to carry it to Peter, Prince of Aragon,
as the symbol by which he conveyed the rights of which death alone
had been able to despoil him.

{19}
Chapter II
Dante, the Divine Poet
There were still Guelfs and Ghibellines in 1265, but the old names had
partially lost their meaning in the Republic of Florence, where the
citizens brawled daily, one faction against the other. The nobles had,
nevertheless, a bond with the emperor, being of the same Teutonic
stock, and the burghers often sought the patronage of a very powerful
pope, hoping in this way to maintain their well-loved independence.
But often Guelf and Ghibelline had no interest in anything outside the
walls of Florence. The Florentine blood was hot and rose quickly to
avenge insult. Family feuds were passionately upheld in a community
so narrow and so zealous. If a man jostled another in the street, it was
an excuse for a fight which might end in terrible bloodshed. Fear of
banishment was no restraint to the combatants. The Guelf party would
send away the Ghibelline after there had been some shameful tumult.
Then the fuori (outside) were recalled because their own faction was in
power again, and, in turn, the Guelfs were banished by the Ghibellines.
In 1260 there had even been some talk of destroying the famous town
in Tuscany. Florence would have been razed to the ground had not a
party leader, Farinata degli Uberti, showed unexpected patriotism
which saved her.
Florence had waxed mighty through her commerce, {20} holding a
high place among the Italian cities which had thrown off the feudal
yoke and become republics. Wealth gave the citizens leisure to study
art and literature, and to attain to the highest civilization of a thriving
state. The Italians of that time were the carriers of Europe, and as such
had intercourse with every nation of importance. They were especially
successful as bankers, Florentine citizens of middle rank acquiring such
vast fortunes by finance that they outstripped the nobles who dwelt
outside the gates and spent all their time in fighting. The guilds of

Florence united men of the same trade and also encouraged perfection
in the various branches. Goldsmiths offered marvellous wares for the
purchase of the affluent dilettante. Silk was a natural manufacture, and
paper had to be produced in a place where the School of Law attracted
foreign scholars.