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MODERN AUTHORITIES .-Tillemont'sHistoiredesempereurs(6 vols., 1690-1738), supplemented by his Memoires pour servir a l'histoire ecclisiastique, a laborious and erudite compilation, furnished Gibbon with material for his Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (17761788), which has never been superseded as a history of the entire imperial period, and has been rendered adequate for the purposes of the modern reader by Professor J. B. Bury s edition (18971900). The history of the empire has yet to be written in the light of recent discoveries. Mommsen's fifth volume (Eng. tr., as Provinces of the Roman Empire, 1886) is not a narrative, but an account of Roman culture in the various provinces. C. Merivale's History of the Romans under the Empire (8 vols., 1850-6z, to Marcus Aurelius) is literary rather than scientific. H. Schiller's Geschichte der romischen Kaiserzeit (188388) is a useful handbook. For the later period we have Bury's History of the Later Roman Empire (1889), beginning from A.D. 395, and T. Hodgkin's Italy and her Invaders (8 vols., 188o-99), which tells the story of the barbaric invasions at great length. The imperial constitution is described by Mommsen in the second volume of his Staatsrecht (v. supra) ; divergent views will be found in Herzog's Geschichte and System der romischen Staatsverfassung (188491); the working of the imperial bureaucracy is treated by O. Hirschfeld, Die romischen Verwaltungsbeamten (1905). The Prosopographia Imperii Romani, compiled by Dessau and Klebs (1897-98), is a mine of information, as is the new edition of Pauly's Realencyklopadie der classischen Alterthumswissenschaft (in progress). Von Domaszewski's Geschichte der romischen Kaiser (2 vols., 1909) is popularly written and gives no references to authorities. See further the articles on individual emperors and provinces. A general history of Rome to the barbarian invasions, popular in character and richly illustrated, was written in French by Victor Duruy (Eng. tr. in 6 vols., 188386). The 2nd, 3rd and 4th vols. of Leopold von Ranke's Weltgeschichte deal with Roman history. An outline of Roman history is given by B. Niese in the 3rd vol. of Muller's Handbuch der klassischen Alterthumswissenschaft (3rd ed., 1906). A. H. J. Greenidge's Roman Public Life (1901) is an excel-lent guide to Roman institutions. The principal authorities on Roman chronology are: Ideler, Handbuch der mathematischen and technischen Chronologie (182526); Fynes-Clinton, Fasti Romani (1845) (a continuation of the same author's Fasti Hellenici, 183041, which goes down to A.D. 14); Fischer, Romische Zeittafeln (1846); Mommsen, Romische Chronologie (2nd ed., 1859) ; Matzat, Romische Chronologie (188384) and Romische Zeittafeln (1889); Holzapfel, Romische Chronologie (1885); Soltau, Romische Chronologie (1889); Unger, " Romische Zeitrechnung " in the 1st vol. of Muller's Handbuch der klassischen Alterthumswissenschaft (2nd ed., 1892). Goyau's Chronologie de l'empire romain (Paris, 1891) is a useful handbook. (H. s. J.) IV. The Roman Republic in the Middle Ages The history of the Roman commune as distinguished from the papacy during the middle ages has yet to be written, and only by the discovery of new documents can the difficulties of the task be completely overcome. Although very different in its origin, the Roman Republic gradually assumed the same form as the other Italian communes, and with almost identical institutions. But, owing to the special local conditions amid which it arose, it maintained a distinct physiognomy and , character. The deserted Campagna surrounding the city checked any notable increase of trade or industry, and prevented the establishment of the gilds on the solid footing that elsewhere made them the basis and support of the commune. There was also the continual and oppressive influence of the empire, and, above all, the presence of the papacy, which often appeared to absorb the political vitality of the city. At such moments the commune seemed annihilated, but it speedily revived and reasserted itself. Consequently there are many apparent gaps in its history, and we have often extreme difficulty in discovering the invisible links connecting the visible fragments. Even the aristocracy of Rome had a special stamp. In the other republics, with the exception of Venice, it was feudal, of German origin, and in perpetual conflict with the popular and commercial elements which sought its destruction. The history of municipal freedom in Italy lay in this struggle. But the infiltration of Teutonic and feudal elements broke up the ancient aristocracy of Rome, gave it a special character and left it at the mercy of the people. Then the popes, by the bestowal of lucrative offices, rich benefices and vast estates, and, above all, by raising many nobles to the purple, introduced new blood into the Roman aristocracy, and endued it with increasing strength and vitality. Always divided, always turbulent, this irrepressible body was a continual source of discord and civil war, of permanent confusion and turmoil. Amidst all these difficulties the commune struggled on, but never succeeded in preserving a regular course or administration for long. What with continual warfare, attacks on the Capitol and consequent slaughter, pillage and incendiarism, it is no wonder that so few original documents are left to illustrate the history of the Roman Republic. Nor have chroniclers and historians done much to supply this want, since, in treating of Roman affairs, their attention is mainly devoted to the pope and the emperor. Nevertheless, we will attempt to connect in due order all the facts gleaned from former writers and published records. The removal of the seat of the empire to Constantinople effected a radical change in the political situation of Rome; nor was this change neutralized by the formation of the weak Western empire soon to be shattered by the Germanic invasions. But we still find Roman laws and institutions; and no sign is yet manifest of the rise of a medieval municipality. The earliest germ of this new type of municipality is seen during the barbarian invasions. Of these we need only enumerate the four most importantthose of the Goths, Byzantines (who, however, were not mere barbarians but civilized and corrupt), Lombards and Franks. The Gothic rule merely superimposed upon the Roman social order a Teutonic stratum, that never The penetrated beneath its surface. The Goths always Goths. remained a conquering army; according to the German custom, they took possession of one-third of the vanquished territory, but, while forbidding the Romans to bear arms, left their local administration intact. The senate, the curiae, the principal magistrates, both provincial and municipal, the prefect of the city, and the Roman judges enforcing the enactments of the Roman law, were all preserved. Already, under the empire, the civil power had been separated from the military, and this separation was maintained. Hence there was no visible change in the constitution of the state. Only, now there were conquered and conquerors. All real and effective power was on the side of brute force, and the Goths alone bore arms. In every province they had their comites, or heads of the army, who had judicial power over their country-men, especially in criminal cases. Here, then, was a combination of civil and military jurisdiction altogether contrary to Roman ideas. Nor can it be denied that the comites, as chiefs of the armed force, necessarily exerted a direct or indirect influence on the civil and administrative power of the provinces, and especially upon the collection of the imposts. The civil arm, being virtually subordinate to the military, suffered unavoidable change. Notwithstanding the praise lavished on Theodoric, the kingdom founded by him in Italy had no solid basis. It was composed of two nations differing in race and traditions and even in religion, since the Goths were Arians and the Romans Catholics. The latter were sunk in degeneracy and corruption; their institutions were old and decrepit. It was necessary to infuse new life into the worn-out body. This was difficult, perhaps impossible; and at any rate Theodoric never attempted the task. Little wonder then if the Gothic kingdom succumbed to the Byzantine armies from Constantinople. The wars of Belisarius and Narses against the Goths lasted twenty years (535-55 A.D.), caused terrible slaughter and The devastation in Italy, and finally subjected her to Byzantine Constantinople. In place of a Gothic king she was rule. now ruled by a Greek patrician, afterwards entitled the exarch, who had his seat of government at Ravenna as lieutenant of the empire. In the chief provincial cities the ruling counts were replaced by dukes, sub- ordinate to the exarch; and the smaller towns were governed by military tribunes. Instead of dukes, we sometimes find magistri militum, apparently of higher rank. The praefectus praetorio of Italy, likewise a dependent of the exarch, was at the head of the civil administration. The pragmatic sanction (554), promulgating the Justinian code, again separated the civil from the military power, which was no longer allowed to intervene in the settlement of private disputes, and, by conferring on the bishops the superintendence of and authority over the provincial and municipal government, soon led to the increase of the power of the church, which had already considerable influence. The new organization outwardly resembled that of the Goths: one army had been replaced by another, the counts by dukes; there was an exarch instead of a king; the civil and military jurisdictions were more exactly defined. But the army was not, like that of the Goths, a conquering nation in arms; it was a Graeco-Roman army, and did not hold a third of the territory which was now probably added to the possessions of the state (fist). The soldiery took its pay from Constantinople, whence all instructions and appointments of superior officers likewise proceeded. In Rome we find a magister militum at the head of the troops. The Roman senate still existed, but was reduced to a shadow. Theodoric had left it intact until he suspected it of hostile designs and dealings with the Byzantines, but then began to persecute it, as was proved by the wretched fate of Boetius and Symmachus. Nevertheless the senate survived, added the functions of a curia or municipal council to those of a governmental assembly, and took part in the election of the popealready one of the chief affairs of Rome. So many senators, however, were slaughtered during the Byzantine War that it was commonly believed to be extinct. The pragmatic sanction, conferring on senate and pope the superintendence of weights and measures in Italy, might seem a convincing proof to the contrary, although, In the general chaos, now that Rome was a mere provincial city, constantly exposed to attack, we may imagine to what the senate was reduced. All Roman institutions were altered and decayed; but their original features were still to be traced, and no heterogeneous element had been introduced into them. The first dawn of a completely new epoch can only be dated from the invasion of the Lombards (568-72). Their conquest of a large portion of ItalY was accompanied by the harshest The 4ombards. oppression: They abolished all ancient laws and institutions, and not only seized a third of the land, but reduced the inhabitants almost to slavery. But, in the unsubdued parts of the countrynamely, in Ravenna, Rome and the maritime citiesa very different state of things prevailed. The necessity for self-defence and the distance of the empire, now too worn out to render any assistance, compelled the inhabitants to depend solely on their own strength. Thus, certain maritime cities, such as Naples, Amalfi, Pisa and Venice, soon attained to a greater or less degree of liberty and independence. This is the moment in which ancient society seems to disappear completely and a new one begins to rise. Ancient customs disappear, Christian processions take the place of the ancient games, ancient temples are transformed into churches and dedicated to new saints. If Roman tradition in Italy can ever be said to have been completely broken, this could only be during the Longobard domination. It is certain, however, that soon the elements of ancient culture began to revive once more. A special state of things now arose in Rome. We behold the rapid growth of the papal power and the continual increase of its moral and political influence. This had already The begun under Leo I., and been further promoted by the popes. pragmatic sanction. Not only the superintendence but often the nomination of public functionaries and judges was now in the hands of the popes. And the accession to St Peter's chair of a man of real genius in the person of Gregory I., Bresorysurnamed the Great, marked the beginning of a new era. By force of individual character, as well as by historic necessity, this pope became the most potent personage in Rome. Power fell naturally into his hands; he was the true representative of the city, the born defender of church and state. His ecclesiastical authority, already great throughout Italy, was specially great in the Roman diocese and in southern Italy. The continual offerings of the faithful had previously endowed the church with enormous possessions in the province of Rome, in Sicily, Sardinia and other parts. The administration of all this property soon assumed the shape of a small government council in Rome. In the middle ages the owner of the land was also master of the men who cultivated it, and exercised political authority as well; these administrators therefore protected and succoured the oppressed, settled disputes, nominated judges and controlled the ecclesiastical authorities. The use made by the pope of his revenues greatly contributed to the increase of his moral and political authority. When the city was besieged by the Lombards, and the emperor left his army unpaid, Gregory supplied the required funds and thus made resistance possible. And, when the defence could be no longer maintained, he alone, by the weight of his personal influence and the payment of large sums, induced the Lombards to raise the siege. He negotiated in person with Agilulph, and was recognized by him as the true representative of the city. Thus Rome, after being five times taken and sacked by the barbarians, was, on this occasion, saved by its bishop. The exarch, although unable to give any help, protested against the assumption of so much authority by the pope; but Gregory was no usurper; his attitude was the natural result of events. " For twenty-seven years "so wrote this pontiff to the imperial government of Constantinople" we lived in terror of the Longobards, nor can I say what sums we had to pay them. There is an imperial treasurer with the army at Ravenna; but here it is I who am treasurer. Likewise I have to provide for the clergy, the poor and the people, and even to succour the distress of other churches." It was at this moment that the new Roman commune began to take shape and acquire increasing vigour owing to its dis- The tance from the seat of the empire and its resistance Roman to the Lombard besiegers. Its special character commune. was now to be traced in the preponderance of the military over the civil power. A Roman element had penetrated into the army, which was already possessed of considerable political importance. The prefect of Rome loses authority and seems almost a nullity compared with the magister militurn. Hardly anything is heard of the senate. " Quia enim Senatus deest, populus interiit," exclaims Gregory in a moment of despair. The popes now make common cause with the people against the Lombards on the one hand and the emperor on the other. But they avoid an absolute rupture with the empire, lest they should have to face the Lombard power without any prospect of help. Later, when the growing strength of the commune becomes menacing, they remain faithful to the empire in order not to be at the mercy of the people. It was a permanent feature of their policy never to allow the complete independence of the city until they should be its sole and absolute masters. But that time was still in the future. Meanwhile pope and people joined in the defence of their common interests. This alliance was cemented by the religious disputes of the East and the West. First came the Monothelite controversy regarding the twofold nature of Christ. Later a long and violent struggle ensued, in which the people of Rome and of other Italian cities sided so vigorously with the popes that John VI. (7or5) had to interpose in order to release the exarch from captivity and prevent a definitive rupture with the empire. Then (7r011) Ravenna revolted against the emperor, organized its armed population under twelve flags, and almost all the cities of the exarchate joined in a resistance that was the first step towards the independence of the Italian communes. A still fiercer religious quarrel then broke out concerning images. Pope Gregory II. (71531) opposed the celebrated edict of the iconoclastic emperor Leo the Isaurian. Venice and the Pentapolis took up arms in favour of the pope, and elected dukes of their own without applying to the emperor. Again public disorder rose to such a pitch that the pope was obliged to check it lest it should go too far. In the midst of these warlike tumults a new constitution, almost a new state, was being set up in Rome. During the conflict with Philippicus, the Monothelite and heretical emperor who ascended the throne in 711, the Liber The duchy of t2ome. Pontificalis makes the first mention of the duchy of Rome (ducatus Romanae urbis), and we find the people struggling to elect a duke of their own. In the early days of the Byzantine rule the territory appertaining to the city was no greater than under the Roman Empire. But, partly through the weakness of the government of Constantinople, and above all through the decomposition of the Italian provinces under the Lombards, who destroyed all unity of government in the peninsula, this dukedom was widely ex-tended, and its limits were always changing in accordance with the course of events. It was watered by the Tiber, and stretched _ into Tuscia to the right, starting from the mouth of the Marta, by Tolfa and Bleda, and reaching as far as Orte. Viterbo was a frontier city of the Lombards. On the left the duchy extended into Latium as far as the Garigliano. It spread very little to the north-east and was badly defended on that side, inasmuch as the duchy of Spoleto reached to within fourteen miles of the Salara gate. On the other side, towards Umbria, the river Nera was its boundary line. The constitution of the city now begins to show the results of the conditions amid which it took shape. The separation of the civil from the military power has entirely dis- The first appeared. This is proved by the fact that, after the constituyear 600, there is no further mention of the prefect. Lion of His office still survived, but with a gradual change the com- mune. of functions, until, in the 8th century, he once more appears as president of a criminal tribunal. The constitution of the duchy and of the new republic formed during the wars with the Lombards and the exarch was substantially of an aristocratico-military nature. At its head was the duke, first appointed by the emperor, then by the pope and the people, and, as his strength and influence grew with those of the commune, he gradually became the most respected and powerful personage in Rome. The duke inhabited the palace of the Caesars on the Palatine Hill, and had both the civil and the military power in his hands; he was at the head of the army, which, being composed of the best citizens and highest nobility of Rome, was a truly national force. This army was styled the felicissimus or florens exercitus Rem anus or also the militia Romana. Its members never lost their citizen stamp; on the contrary they formed the true body of the citizens. We find mention of other duces in Rome, but these were probably other leaders or superior officers of the army. Counts and tribunes are found in the subject cities bound to furnish aid to the capital. In fact during the pontificate of Sergius II. (844), when the duchy was threatened by a Saracenic invasion, they were requested to send troops to defend the coast, and as many soldiers as possible to the city. At that time the inhabitants of Rome were divided into four principal classesclergy, nobles, soldiers and simple citizens. The nobles were divided into two categories, first the The genuine optimates, i.e. members of old and wealthy different families with large estates, and filling high, and often classes of hereditary, offices in the state, the church and the society army. These were styled proceres and primates. The in Rome. second category comprised landed proprietors, of moderate means but exalted position, mentioned as nobiles by Gregory I., and constituting in fact a numerous petty nobility and the bulk of the army. Next followed the citizens, i.e. the commercial class, merchants and craftsmen, who, having as yet no fixed organization and but little influence, were simply designated as honesti cives. These, however, were quite distinct from the plebeians, plebs, vulgus populi, viri humiles, who in their turn. ranked above bondsmen and slaves. The honesti cives did not usually form part of the army, and were only enrolled in it in seasons of emergency. Nevertheless the army was not only national, but became increasingly democratic, so that in the roth century it included every class of inhabitants except churchmen and slaves. At that period we sometimes find the whole people designated as the exercitus, those actually under Scho/xe arms being distinguished as the militia exercitus Romdhum, mani. This again was divided into bands or "numbers," i.e. regiments, and also, in a manner peculiar to Rome, into scholae militum. These scholae were associations derived from antiquity, gaining strength and becoming more general in the middle ages as the central power of the state declined. There were scholae of notaries, of church singers, and of nearly every leading employment; there were scholae of foreigners of diverse nationalities, of Franks, Lombards, Greeks, Saxons, &c. Even the trades and crafts began to form scholae. These were at first very feeble institutions, and only later gained importance and became gilds. As early as the 8th century there were scholae militum in the army, which was thus doubly divided. But we have no precise definition of their functions. They were de facto corporations with separate property, churches and magistrates of their own. The latter were always optimates, and guarded the interests of the army. But the real chiefs of the bands or numeri were the duces or tribunes, and under the Franks the latter became comiles. These chiefs were styled magnifici consules, optimates de militia, often too judices de militia, since, as was the custom of the middle ages, they wielded political and judicial as well as military authority. The title of consul was now generally given to superior officers, whether civil or military. The importance of the scholae militum began to decline in the roth century; towards the middle of the 12th they disappeared altogether, and, according to Felix Papencordt, were last mentioned in 1145. It is probable that the scholae militum signified local divisions of the army, corresponding with the city wards, which were twelve in number during the roth and r1th centuries, then increased to thirteen, and occasionally to fourteen. It is certain that from the be-ginning the army was distributed under twelve flags; after the scholae had disappeared, we find it classified in districts, which were subdivided into companies. The division of cities into quarters, sestieri or rioni, corresponding with that of the army, and also with that of the municipal government, was the common practice of Florence, Siena and almost all the Italian communes. But, while usually losing importance as the gilds acquired power, in Rome the insignificance of the gilds added to the strength of the regioni or rioni, which not only became part of the army but finally grasped the reins of government. This was a special characteristic of the political constitution of the Roman commune. We now come to a question of weightier import for all desiring to form a clear idea of the Roman government at that period. The `'What had become of the senate? It.had undoubtedly senate lost its original character now that the empire was in the extinct. But, after much learned discussion, historical middle authorities are still divided upon the subject. Certain ages. Italian writers of the 18th centuryVendettini, for exampleasserted with scanty critical insight that the Roman senate did not disappear in the middle ages. The same opinion backed by much learned research was maintained by the great German historian Savigny. And Leo, while denying the persistence of the curia in Lombard Italy, adhered to Savigny's views as regarded Rome. Papencordt did the same, but held the Roman senate to be no more than a curia. This judgment was vigorously contested, first by Hegel and Giesebrecht, then by Gregorovius. These writers believe that after the middle of the 6th century the senate had a merely nominal existence. According to Gregorovius its last appearance was in the year 579. After that date it is mentioned in no documents, and the chroniclers are either equally silent or merely allude to its decay and extinction. In the 8th century, however, the terms senator, senatores, senatus again reappear. We find letters addressed to Pippin, beginning thus: Omnis senatus atque universi populi generalitas. When Leo III. re-turned from Germany he was met by tam proceres clericorum cum omnibus clericis, quamque optimates et senatus, cunctaqu.e militia (see Anastasius, in Muratori, vol. iii. 198c). But it has been noted that the senate was never found to act as a political assembly; on occasions when it might have been mentioned in that capacity we hear nothing of it, and only meet with it in ceremonials and purely formal functions. Hence the conclusion that the term senator was used in the sense of noble, senatus of nobility, and no longer referred to an institution but only to a class of the citizens. Even when we find that the emperor Otto III. (who sought to revive all the ancient institutions of Rome) addressed an edict to the " consuls and senate of Rome," and read that the laws of St Stephen were issued senatus decreto, the learned Giesebrecht merely remarks that no important changes in the Roman constitution are to be attributed to the consuls and senate introduced by Otto III. Thus for the next glimpse of the senate we must pass to the i 2th century, when it was not only reformed, as some writers believe, but entirely reconstituted. But in this case a serious difficulty remains to be disposed of. Gregorovius firmly asserts that the nobles acquired great power between the 7th and loth centuries, not only filling the highest military, judicial and ecclesiastical offices, " but also directing the municipal government, presumably with the prefect at their head." He further adds: " Notwithstanding the disappearance of the senate, it is difficult to suppose that the city was without governing magistrates, or without a council." Thus, after the 7th century, the optimates at the head of the army were also at the head of the citizens, and " formed a communal council in the same manner in which it was afterwards formed by the banderesi." 1 Now, if the nobles were called senatores and the nobility senatus, and if this body of nobles met in council to administer the affairs of the republic, there is no matter for dispute, inasmuch as all are agreed that the original senate must have had a different character from the senate of the middle ages. And, since the absence of all mention of a prefect after the 7th century is not accepted as a proof of his non-existence, and we find him reappear under another form in the 8th century, so the silence as to the senate after the year 579, the fresh mention of it in the 8th century, and its reappearance in the 12th as a firmly reconstituted body reasonably lead to the inference that, during that time, the ancient senate had been gradually transformed into the new council. Its meetings must have been held very irregularly, and probably only in emergencies when important affairs had to be discussed, previously to bringing them before the parliament or general assembly of the people. Historians The are better agreed as to the significance of the term consuls. consul. At first this was simply a title of honour bestowed on superior magistrates, and retained that meaning from the 7th to the i rth century, but then becameas in other Italian citiesa special title of the chief officers of the state. During this period the Roman constitution was very simple. The duke, commanding the army, and the prefect, presiding over the criminal court, were the chiefs of the republic; the armed nobility constituted the forces, filled all of superior offices, and occasionally met in a council called the senate, although it had, as we have said, no resemblance to the senate of older times. In moments of emergency a general parliament of the people was convoked. This constitution differed little from that of the other Italian communes, where, in the same way, we find all the leading citizens under arms, a parliament, a council, and one or more chiefs at the head of the government. But Rome had an element that was lacking elsewhere. We have already noted that, in the provinces, the administrators of church lands were important personages, and exercised during the middle ages, when there was no exact division of power, both judicial and political functions. It was very natural that the heads of this vast administration resident in Rome should have a still higher standing, and in fact, from the 1Gregorovius, Geschichte, vol. ii. pp. 42728 and note (2nd ed.). 6th century, their power increased to such an extent that in the times of the Franks they already formed a species of papal cabinet with a share and sometimes a predominance /udrees clero. in the affairs of the republic. There were seven principal de administrators, but two of them held the chief powerthe primicerius notariorum and the secundicerius, i.e. the first and under secretaries of state. When, on the constitution of the new empire, these ministers were declared to be palatine or imperial as well as papal officials, the primicerius and the secundicerius were also in waiting on the emperor, who sat in council with them when in Rome. Next came the arcarius, or treasurer ; the sacellarius, or cashier; the protoscriniarius, who was at the head of the papal chancery; the Primus defensor, who was the advocate of the church and administered its possessions. Seventh and last came the nomenclator, or adminiculator, who pleaded the cause of widows, orphans and paupers. There were also some other officials, such as the vestiarius, the vicedominus or steward, the cubicularius or major-domo, but these were of inferior importance. They were ecclesiastics, but not bound to be in priest's orders. The first seven were those specially known as proceres clericorum and oftener still as judices de clero, since they speedily assumed judicial functions and ranked among the chief judges of Rome. But as ecclesiastics they did not give decisions in criminal cases. Thus Rome had two tribunals, that of the judices de clero, or ordinarii, presided over by the pope, and that of the judices de militia, leaders of the army, dukes and tribunes, also bearing the generic title of consuls. First appointed by the exarch and then frequently by the pope, these decided both civil and criminal cases. In the latter they were sole judges under the presidency of the prefect. The pope was thus at the head of a large administrative body with judicial and civil powers that were continually on The popes the increase, and, in addition to his moral authority and the over Christendom, was possessed of enormous revenues. papal So in course of time he considered himself the real power. representative of the Roman Republic. Gregory II. (71531) accepted in the name of the republic the sub-mission of other cities, and protested against the conquest by the Lombards of those already belonging to Rome. He seemed indeed to regard the territory of the duchy as the patrimony of the church. The duke was always at the head of the army, and, officially, was always held to be an imperial magistrate . But the empire was now powerless in Italy. Meanwhile the advance of the Lombards was becoming more and more threatening; they seized Ravenna in 751, thus putting an end to the exarchate, and next marched towards Rome, which had only its own forces and the aid of neighbouring cities to rely upon. To avoid being crushed by the brute force of a foreign nation unfit to rule, and only capable of oppression and pillage, it was necessary to make an energetic stand.Accordingly, the reigning pope, Stephen II. (75257), ap- pealed to Pippin, king of the Franks, and concluded with that monarch an affiance destined to inaugurate a new TheaipeJ epoch of the world's history. The pope consecrated to the Pippin king of the Franks, and named him patricius foreid Romanorum. This title, as introduced by Constantine, had no longer the ancient meaning, but now became asign of lofty social rank. When, however, it was afterwards conferred on barbarian chieftains such as Odoacer and Theodoric, and then on the representative of the Byzantine empire in Italy, it acquired the meaning of a definite dignity or office. In fact, the title was now given to Pippin as defender of the church, for the pope styled him at the same time patricius Romanorum and defensor or protector ecclesiae. And the king pledged himself not only to defend the church but also to wrest the exarchate and the Pentapolis from the Lombards and give them to Rome, or rather to the pope, which came to the same thing. This was considered as a restitution made to the head of the church, who was also the representative of the republic and the empire. And, to preserve the characterof a restitution, the famous " donation of Constantine " was invented during this period (75277). Pippin brought his army to the rescue (75455) and fulfilled his promise. The pope accepted the donation in the name of St ofP,= Peter, and as the visible head of the church. Thus in 755 central Italy broke its connexion with the empire and became independent; thus was inaugurated the temporal power of the papacy, the cause of so much subsequent warfare and revolution in Rome. Its first consequences were speedily seen. In 767 the death of Paul I. was followed by a fierce revolt of the nobles under Duke Toto (Theodoro) of Nepi, who by violent means raised his brother Constantine to the chair of St Peter, although Constantine was a layman and had first to be ordained. For more than a year the new pontiff was a pliable tool in the hands of Toto and of the nobles. But the genuine papal faction, headed by a few judices de clero, asked the aid of the Lombards and made a formidable resistance. Their adversaries were defeated, tortured and put to death. Toto was treacherously slain during a fight. The pope was blinded and left half dead on the highway. Fresh and no less violent riots ensued, owing to the public dread lest the new pope, Stephen III. (76872), elected by favour of the Lombards, should give them the city in return. But Stephen went over to the Franks, whom he had previously deserted, and his successor, Adrian I. (77295), likewise adhered to their cause, called the city to arms to resist King Desiderius and his Lombard hordes, and besought the assistance of Charlemagne. This monarch accordingly made a descent into Italy in 773, and not only gained an Charle- easy victory over Desiderius, but destroyed the magne in Lombard kingdom and seized the iron crown. Entering ~ta1y' Rome for the first time in 774, he confirmed and augmented the donation of Pippin by the addition of the dukedom of Spoleto. He returned several times to Italy and Rome, making new conquests and fresh concessions to Adrian I., until the death of the latter in 795 The position of Rome and of the pope is now substantially changed. Duke, prefect, militia and the people exist as heretofore, but are all subordinate to the head of the church, who, by the donations of Pippin and Charlemagne, has been converted into a powerful temporal sovereign. Henceforth all connexion with Byzantium is broken off, but Rome is still the mainspring of the empire, the Roman duchy its sole surviving fragment in Italy, and the pope stands before the world as representative of both. And, although it is difficult to determine how this came about, the pope is now regarded and regards himself as master of Rome. In the year 772 he entrusts the vestiarius with judicial powers over the laity, ecclesiastics, freemen and slaves nostrae Romanae reipublicae. He writes to Charlemagne that he has issued orders for the burning of the Greek ships employed in the slave trade, " in our city of Civita Vecchia " (Centumcellae), and he always speaks of Rome and the Romans as " our city," " our republic," " our people." The donations of Pippin and Charlemagne are restitutions made to St Peter, the holy church and the re-public at the same time. It is true that Charlemagne held the supreme power, had an immensely increased authority and actively fulfilled his duties as patricius. But his power was only occasionally exercised in Rome; it was the result of services rendered to the church, and of the church's continual need of his help; it was, as it were, the power of a mighty and indispensable ally. The pope, however, was most tenacious of his own authority in Rome, made vigorous protest whenever rebels fled to Charlemagne or appealed to that monarch's arbitration, and contested the supremacy of the imperial officials in Rome. Yet the pope was no absolute sovereign, nor, in the modern sense of the term, did any then exist. He asserted supremacy over many lands which continually rebelled against him, and which, for want of an army of his own, he was unable to reduce to obedience without others' help. Neither did the republic acknowledge him as its head. It profited by The Papacy, the re-public and the Franks. the growing power of the pope, could not exist without him, respected his moral authority, but considered that he usurped undue power in Rome. This was specially the feeling of the nobles, who had hitherto held the chief authority in the republic, and, being still the leaders of the army, were by no means willing to relinquish it. The Roman nobles were very different from other aristocratic bodies elsewhere. They were not as they pretended, descendants of the Camilli and the Scipios, but neither were they a feudal aristocracy, inasmuch as the Teutonic element had as yet made small way among them. They were a mixture of different elements, national and foreign, formed by the special conditions of Rome. Their power was chiefly derived from the high offices and large grants of money and land conferred on them by the popes; but, as no dynasty existed, they could not be dynastic. Every pope aggrandized his own kindred and friends, and these were the natural and often open adversaries of the next pontiff and his favourites. Thus the Roman nobility was powerful, divided, restless and turbulent; it was continually plotting against the pope, threatening not only his power, but even his life; it continually appealed to the people for assistance, stirred the militia to revolt and rendered government an impossibility. Hence, notwithstanding his immense moral authority, the pope was the effective head neither of the aristocracy, the army nor of the as yet unorganized lower classes. The lord of vast but often insubordinate territories, the recognized master of a capital city torn by internecine feud
Leo III. (796816) further strengthened the ties between Charlemagne and the church by sending the former a letter with the keys of the shrine of St Peter and the banner of Rome. Charlemagne had already joined to his office of patrician the function of high justice. The new symbols now sent constituted him miles of Rome and general of the church. The pope urged him to despatch an envoy to receive the oath of fealty, thus placing himself, the representative of the republic, in the subordinate position of one of the bishops who had received the immunities of counts. And all these arrangements took place without the slightest reference to the senate, the army or the people. Much resentment was felt, especially by the nobles, and a revolution ensued headed by the primicerius Paschalis and the secundicerius Campulus, and backed by all who wished to liberate the city from the papal rule. During a solemn procession the pope was attacked and barbarously maltreated by his assailants, who tried to tear out his eyes and tongue (799). He was thrown into prison, escaped and overtook Charlemagne at Paderborn, and returned guarded by ten of the monarch's envoys, who condemned to death the leaders of the revolt, reserving, however, to their sovereign the right of final judgment. Charlemagne arrived in December 800, and as high justice assembled a tribunal of the clergy, nobles, citizens and Franks; he pronounced Leo to be innocent, and confirmed the capital sentence passed on the rebels. But through the intercession of the pope, who dreaded the wrath of the nobles, this was presently commuted into perpetual exile . And finally on Christmas day, in St Peter's, before an assemblage of Roman and Frankish lords, the clergy and the people, the pontiff placed the imperial crown on Charlemagne's head and all proclaimed him emperor.Thus the new emperor was elected by the Romans and consecrated by the pope. But he was their real master and supreme judge. The pope existed only by his will, since he alone supplied the means for the maintenance of the temporal power, and already pretended to the right of controlling thepapal elections. Yet Charlemagne was not sovereign of Rome; he possessed scarcely any regalia there, and was not in command of the army; he mainly represented a principle, but this principle was the law which is the basis of the state. The pope still nominated the Roman judges, but the emperor or his missi presided over them, together with those of the pope, and his decision was appealed to in last resort. During the Carolingian times no mention is found of the prefect, and it would seem that his office was filled by the imperial missus, or legate, the judices de clero and judices de militia. The power of the pope was now entangled with that of the republic on the one hand and that of the empire on the other. The consequent confusion of sacred and secular functions naturally led to infinite complications and disputes. The death of Charlemagne in 814 was the signal for a fresh conspiracy of the nobles against the pope, who, discovering their design, instantly put the ringleaders to death, and was severely blamed by Louis for this violation of the imperial prerogative. While the matter was under discussion the nobles broke out in fiercer tumults, both in Rome and the Campagna. At last, in 824, the emperor Lothair came to re-establish order in Rome, and proclaimed a new and note-worthy constitution, to which Pope Eugenius II. (82427) gave his oath of adherence. By this the partnership of pope and emperor in the temporal rule of Rome and the states of the church was again confirmed. The more direct power appertained to the pope; the supreme authority, presidence of the tribunals, and final judgment on appeal to the emperor. The new constitution also established the right of contending parties to select either the Roman or the Teutonic code for the settlement of their disputes. During the Carolingian period it is not surprising that the commune should have been, as it were, absorbed by the church and the empire. In fact, it is scarcely mentioned in history throughout that time. And when, no longer sustained by the genius of its founder, the Frankish empire began to show signs of dissolution, the popes, finding their power thereby strengthened, began to assume many of the imperial attributes. Soon, however, as a natural consequence of the loss of the main support of the papacy, the nobles regained vigour and were once more masters of the city. Teutonic and feudal elements had now largely penetrated into their organization. The system of granting lands, and even churches and convents, as benefices according to feudal forms, became more and more general. It was vain for the popes to offer opposition, and they ended by yielding to the current. The fall of the Frankish empire left all Italy a prey to anarchy, and torn by the faction fights of Berengar of Friuli and Guido of Spoleto, the rival claimants to the crowns of Italy and the empire. The Saracens were advancing from the south, the Huns from the north; the popes had lost all power; and in the midst of this frightful chaos a way was opened for the rise of the republics. Anarchy was at its climax in Rome, but the laity began to overpower the clergy to such an extent that the judices de militia prevailed over the judices de clero. For a long time no imperial missi or legates had been seen, and the papacy was incredibly lowered. The election of the popes had positively fallen into the hands of certain beautiful women notorious for their evil life and depravity. The aristocracy alone gained strength; now freed from Renewed the domination of the emperor, it continually wrested of he fresh privileges from the impotent pontiffs, and aristoc-~aer became organized as the ruling force of the republic. Gregorovius, notwithstanding his denial of the continuation of the senate after the 6th century, is obliged to acknowledge that it appeared to have returned to life in the power of this new baronage. And, although this body was now permeated with the feudal principle, it did not discard its ancient traditions. The nobles claimed to be the main source of the empire; they wished to regain the dignity and office of pairicius, and to make it, if possible, hereditary in some of their families. Nothing is known of their system of organization, but it seems Charlemagne crowned emperor. Decline of the empire. that they elected a chief bearing the title of consul, senator, princeps Romanorum, who was officially recognized by the pope, as a patricius presided over the tribunals, and was the head of the commune. Theophylact was one of the first to assume this dignity. His wife Theodora, known as the senatrix, was one of the women then dominating Rome by force of their charms and licentiousness. She was supposed to be the concubine of Pope John X. (914-28), whose election was due to her influence. Her daughter Marozia, in all things her worthy rival, was married to Alberic, a foreign mercenary of uncertain birth who rose to a position of great influence, and, although an alien, played a leading part in the affairs of the city. He helped to increase the power of Theophylact, who seemingly shared the rule of the city with the pope. In the bloody war that had to be waged against the Saracens of southern Italy, and at the defeat of the latter on the Garigliano (916), Theophylact and Alberic were the Roman leaders, and distinguished themselves by their valour. They disappeared from the scene after this victory, but Marozia retained her power, and bore a son, Alberic, who was destined to greater deeds. The pope found himself caught in this woman's toils, and struggled to escape, but Marozia, gaining fresh influence by her marriage with Hugo, margrave of Tuscany, imprisoned the pontiff himself in the castle of St Angelo (928). This fortress was the property of Marozia and the basis of her strength. The unfortunate John died within its walls. Raised to the chair by Theodora, he was deposed and killed by her daughter. The authority of the latter reached its culminating point in 931, when she succeeded in placing her son John XI. on the papal throne. On the death of her second husband she espoused Hugh of Provence, the same who in 928 had seized the iron crown at Pavia, and now aspired to the empire. Dissolute, ambitious and despotic, he came to Rome in 932, and, leaving his army outside the walls, entered the castle of St Angelo with his knights, instantly began to play the tyrant, and gave a blow to Alberic his stepson, who detested him as a foreign intruder. This blow proved the cause of a memorable revolution; for Alberic rushed from the castle and harangued the people, crying that the time was come to shake off the tyrannous yoke of a woman and of barbarians who were once the slaves of Rome. Then, putting himself at the head of the populace, he closed the city gates to prevent Hugh's troops from coming to the rescue, and attacked the castle. The king fled; Marozia was imprisoned, Alberic pro-claimed lord of the Romans, and the pope confined to the Lateran in the custody of his own brother. Rome was again an independent state, a republic of nobles. Rid of the temporal dominion of emperor and pope, and having expelled the foreigners with great energy and courage, it chose Alberic for its chief with the title of princeps atque omnium Romanorum senator. The tendencyof the Roman Republic to elect asupreme authority, first manifested in the case of Theophylact, was repeated in those of Alberic, Brancaleone, Crescenzio, Cola di Rienzo and others. One of the many causes of this tendency may be traced to the conception of the new empire of which Rome was the original and enduring fountainhead. As Rome had once transferred the empire from Byzantium to the Franks, so Rome was surely entitled to reclaim it. The imperial authority was represented by the office of patrician, now virtually assumed by Alberic. That he gave the name of Octavian to his son is an additional proof of this fact. In the Eternal City the medieval political idea has always the aspect of a resurrection or trans-formation of classic antiquity. This is another characteristic of the history of the Roman commune. Alberic's strength was due to his connexion with the nobility, to his father's valiant service against the Saracens at the battle of Garigliano, and to the militia under his command, on which everything depended amid the internal and external dangers now threatening the new state. As yet no genuine municipal constitution was possible in Rome, where neither ,the people nor the wealthy burghers engaged in industry and commercehad any fixed organization. All was in the hands of the nobles, and Alberic. as their chief, frequently convened them in council, although obliged to use pressure to keep them united and avoid falling a prey to their disputes. Hence the whole power was concentrated in his grasp; he was at the head of the tribunals as well as of the army. The judices de clero and judices de militia still existed, but no longer met in the Lateran or the Vatican, under the presidency of emperor and pope or their missi. Alberic himself was their president; and, a still more significant fact, their sittings were often held in his private dwelling. There is no longer any mention of prefect or patricius. The papal coinage was inscribed with Alberic's name instead of the emperor's. His chief attention was given to the militia, which was still arranged in scholae, and it is highly probable that he was the author of the new division of the city into twelve regions, with a corresponding classification of the army in as many regiments wider twelve flags and twelve banderesi, one for every region. The organization of the scholae could not have been very dissimilar, but doubtless Alberic had some important motive for altering the old method of classification. By means of the armed regions he included the people in the forces. It is certain that after his time we find the army much changed and far more democratic. It was only natural that so excellent a statesman should seek the aid of the popular element as a defence against the arrogance of the nobles, and it was requisite to reinforce the army in order to be prepared for the attacks threatened from abroad. This change effected, Alberic felt prepared for the worst, and began to rule with energy, moderation and justice. His contemporaries award him high praise, and he seems to have been exempt from the vices of his mother and grandmother. In 933 Hugh made his first attack upon the city, and was repulsed. A second. attempt in 936 proved still more unfortunate, for his army was decimated by a pestilence. Thoroughly disheartened, he not only made peace, but gave his daughter in marriage to Alberic, thus satisfying the latter's desire to ally himself with a royal house. But this union led to no conciliation with Hugh. For Alberic, finding his power increased, marched at the head of his troops to consolidate his rule in the Campagna and the Sabine land. On the death of his brother, Pope John XI., in 936, he controlled the election of several successive popes, quelled a conspiracy formed against him by the clergy and certain nobles instigated by Hugh, and brilliantly repulsed, in 941, another attack by that potentate. At last, however, this inveterate foe withdrew from Rome, being summoned to the north by the victories of his rival Berengarius. But Alberic, after procuring the election of various popes who were docile instruments of his will, experienced a check when Agapetus II. (946-55), a man of firmness and resource, was raised to the papal throne. The fortunes of Berengarius were now in the ascendant. In 950 he had seized the iron crown, and ruled in the Pentapolis and the exarchate. This being singularly painful to the pope, he proceeded to make affiance with all those enemies of Berengarius preferring a distant emperor to a neighbouring and effective sovereign, with the Roman nobles who were discontented with Alberic, and with all who foresaw danger, even to Rome, from the extended power of Berengarius. And Agapetus recurred to the old papal policy, by making appeal to Otto I., whose rule in Germany was distinguished by a prestige almost comparable with that of Charlemagne. Otto immediately responded to the appeal and descended into Italy; but his envoys were indignantly repulsed by Alberic, and, being prudent as well as firm, he decided to wait a more opportune moment for the accomplishment of his designs. Meanwhile Alberic died in 954, and the curtain fell on the first great drama of the Roman Republic. He had reigned for twenty-two years with justice, energy and prudence; he had repelled foreign invaders, maintained order and authority. He seems, however, to have reaiized that the aspect of affairs was about to change, that the work he had accomplished would be exposed to new dangers. These dangers, in fact, had already begun with the accession of an enterprising pope to the Holy The revolt of the Romans. Alberic at the head of the commune. See. The name of Octavian given by Alberic to his son leads to the inference that he meant to make his power hereditary. But, suddenly, he began to educate this son for the priesthood, and, assembling the nobles in St Peter's shortly before his death, he made them swear to elect Octavian as pope on the decease of Agapetus II. They kept their word, for in this way they freed themselves from a ruler. Possibly Alberic trusted that both offices might be united, and that his son would be head of the state as well as the church. But the nobles knew this to be a delusion, especially in the case of a nature such as Octavian's. The lad was sixteen years old when his father died, received princely honours until the death of Agapetus, and was then elected pope with the name of John XII. He had inherited the ungoverned passions of his grandmother Marozia and great-grandmother Theodora, but without their intelligence and cunning. His palace was the scene of the most scandalous licence, while his public acts were those of a baby tyrant. He conferred a bishopric on a child of ten, consecrated a deacon in a stable, invoked Venus and Jupiter in his games, and drank to the devil's health. He desired to be both pope and prince, but utterly failed to be either. Before long, realizing the impossibility of holding in check Berengarius, who still ruled over the exarchate, he sought in 96o the aid of Otto I., and promised him the imperial crown. Thus the new ruler was summoned by the son of the man by whom he had orro!. been repulsed. Otto vowed to defend the church, to crowned restore her territories, to refrain from usurping the emperor. power of the pope or the republic, and was crowned on the 2nd of February 962 with unheard-of pomp and display. Accordingly, after being extinct for thirty-seven years, the empire was revived under different but no less difficult conditions. The politico-religious unity founded by Charlemagne had been dissolved, partly on account of the heterorr^neous elements of which it was composed, and partly becau.,e other nations were in course of formation. Now too the feudal system was converting the officers of the empire into independent princes, and the new spirit of communal liberty was giving freedom to the cities. Otto once more united the empire and the church, Italy and Germany, in order to combat these new foes. But the difficulties of the enterprise at once came to light. John XII., finding a master in the protector he had invoked, now joined the discontented nobles who were conspiring with Berengarius against the emperor. But the latter hastened to Rome in November 963, assembled the clergy, nobles and heads of the people, and made them take an oath never again to elect a pope without his consent and that of his son. He also convoked a synod presided over by himself in St Peter's, which judged, condemned and deposed Pope John and elected Leo VIII. (863-65), a Roman noble, in his stead. All this was done at the direct bidding of the emperor, who thus deprived the Romans of their most valued privilege, the right of choosing their own pope. But the people had now risen to considerable importance, and, for the first time, we find it officially represented in the synod by the plebeian Pietro, surnamed Imperiola, together with the leaders of the militia, which had also become a popular institution since Alberic's reign. It was no longer easy to keep the lower orders in subjection, and by their junction with the malcontent nobles they formed a very respectable force. On the 3rd of January 964 they sounded the battle-peal and attacked the Vatican, where the emperor was lodged. The German knights repulsed them with much slaughter, and this bloodshed proved the beginning of an endless feud
But, although the emperor thus disposed of the papacy at his will, his arbitrary exercise of power roused a long and obstinate resistance, which had no slight effect upon Another the history of the commune. Leo VIII. died in 965, revolu- and the imperial party elected John XIII. (965-72). tlon. Upon this the nobles of the national party joined the people and there was a general revolt. The nobles were led by Pietro, prefect of Rome. As we have noted, this office seemed to be extinct during the Carolingian rule, but we again meet with it in 955, after an interval of a century and a half. The leaders of the people were twelve decarconi, a term of unknown derivation, but probably indicating chiefs of` the twelve regions (dodecarchi, dodecarconi, decarconi). The new pope was seized and confined, first in the castle of St Angelo, then in a fortress in the Campagna. But the emperor quickly marched an army against Rome, and this sufficed to produce a reaction which recalled the pope (November 966), sent the prefect into exile , and put several of the rebellious nobles to death. And shortly after the emperor sacked the city. Many Romans were exiled, some tortured, others, including the twelve decarconi, killed. John XIII. died in 972 and Otto in 973.All these events clearly prove how great a change had now taken place in the conditions of Rome. The people (plebs) had made its appearance upon the stage; the army had become democratic; the twelve regions were regularly organized under leaders. Opposed to them stood the nobles, headed by the prefect, also a noble, precisely as in Florence the nobles and the podesta were later opposed to the gilds and the people. So far, it is true, nobles and people had made common cause in Rome; but this harmony was soon to be interrupted. The feudal spirit had made its way among the Roman aristocrats, had split them into two parties and diminished their strength. It was now destined to spread, and, as it was always vigorously detested and opposed by the people elsewhere in Italy, so the same consequence was inevitable in Rome. Another notable change, and a subject of unending controversy, had also occurred in the administration of justice. So Judlces aetrv+ far there were the judices de cleao, also known as ordinary or palatine judges, and the judices de militia, also styled consules or duces. These judges generally formed a court of seven, three being de cleao, four de militia, or vice versa, under the presidency of the papal or imperial missi. In criminal cases the judices de militia had the prefect or the imperial missus for their president. But there was a third order of judges called pedanei, a consulibus creati. It seems clear that the duces, being distributi per judicatus, found them-selves isolated in the provinces, and to obtain assistance nominated these pedanei, who were legal experts. In Rome, with its courts of law, they were less needed, but possibly in those sections of the city where cases of minor importance were submitted to a single magistrate reference was made to the pedanei. But many changes were made under the Franks, and when the edict of Lothair (824) granted free choice of either the Roman or Germanic law, and the duces were replaced by comites and gastaldiones, chiefly of German origin, the use of legal experts became increasingly necessary. And the custom of employing them was the more easily diffused by being already common among the Franks, whose scabini were legal experts acting as judges, though not qualified to pass sentence. Thus the pedanei multiplied, came to resemble the scabini, and were designated judices dativi (a magistratu dati) or simply dativi. These were to be found in the exarchate in 838, but not in Rome until 961, when the judices de militia had ceased to exist. The great progress of the German legal procedure may then have contributed to the formation of the new office.Meanwhile Pope John XIII. had been succeeded by Benedict VI. (97374) and Otto I. by his son Otto II., a youth Rising Importance of the people. of eighteen married to the Byzantine princess Theophano. Thereupon the Romans, who had supported the election of another pope, and were in no awe of the new emperor, rose to arms under the command of Crescenzio, a rich and powerful noble. They not only seized Benedict VI. by force, but strangled him in the castle of St Angelo. The national and imperial parties then elected several popes who were either exiled or persecuted, and one of them was said to be murdered. In 985 John XV. was elected (98596). During this turmoil, Giovanni the national party, composed of nobles and people, ores- led by Giovanni Crescenzio, son of the other Crescenzio cenzio. mentioned above, had taken complete possession of the government. This Crescenzio assumed the title of patrician, and sought to imitate Alberic, although far his inferior in capacity. Fortunately for him, the reigning pope was a detested tyrant, and the emperor a child entirely guided by his mother. But the new emperor Otto III. was backed by a powerful party, and on coming to Rome in 996 was able, although only aged fifteen, to quell the rebellion, oust Crescenzio from public life, and elect as successor to John XV. his own cousin, Pope Gregory V. (99699). But this first German pope surrounded himself with compatriots, and by raising them to lofty posts even in the tribunals excited a revolt that drove him from the throne (29th September 999). Crescenzio, being master of the castle of St Angelo, resumed the title of patrician or consul of the Romans, expelled the German judges, reconstituted the government, prepared his troops for defence, and created a new pope. But the following year Otto III. came to Rome, and his party opened the gates to him. Although deserted by nearly all his adherents, Crescenzio held the castle valiantly against its besiegers. At last, on the 29th of April 998, he was forced to make terms, and the imperialists, violating their pledges, first put him to torture and then hurled him from the battlements. Gregory V. dying shortly after these events, Sylvester II., another native of southern France, who had been tutor to the emperor Otto III., was raised to the papacy (9991003). Thus Otto III. was enabled to establish his mastery of Rome. But, as the son of a Greek mother, trained amid Greek influoao lu ences, his fantastic and contradictory nature seemed only to grasp the void. He wished to reconstitute a Romano-Byzantine empire with Rome for his capital. His discourse always turned on the ancient republic, on consuls and senate, on the might and grandeur of the Roman people; and his edicts were addressed to the senate and the people. The senate is now constantly mentioned, and its heads bear the title of consuls. The emperor also gave renewed honour to the title of patrician, surrounded himself with officials bearing Greek and Roman designations, and raised the prestige of the prefect, who, having now almost the functions of an imperial vicar, bore the eagle and the sword as his insignia. Nevertheless Otto III. was thoroughly German, and during his reign all Germanic institutions made progress in Rome. This was particularly the case with feudalism, and Sylvester II. was the first pope to treat it with favour. Many families of real feudal barons now arose. The Crescenzii held sway in the Sabine hills, and Praeneste and Tusculum were great centres of feudalism in the 1th century. The system of feudal benefices was recognized by the church, which made grants of lands, cities and provinces in the feudal manner. The bishops, like feudal barons, became actpal counts. And, in consequence of these changes, when the emperor, as head of the feudal system, seeks to impose his will upon the church (which has also become feudal) and control the papal elections, he is met by the great question of the investitures, a question destined to disturb the whole world. Meanwhile the Roman barons were growing more and more powerful, and were neither submissive nor faithful to the emperor. On the contrary, they resented his attitude as a master of Rome, and, when he subjected Tivoli to the Holy See, attacked both him and the pope with so much vigour as to put both to flight (16th February roof). There-upon Rome again became a republic, headed by Gregory of Tusculum, a man of a powerful family claiming descent from Alberic. By the emperor's death in January 1002 the race of the Ottos became extinct, the papacy began to decline, as at the end of the Carolingian period, and the nobles, divided into an imperial and a national party, were again predominant. They reserved to themselves the office of patrician, and, electing popes from their own ranks, obtained enlarged privileges and power. At the time when Ardoin, marquis of Ivrea, profiting by the extinction of the Ottos and the anarchy of Germany, was stirring Italy in the vain hope of constituting a national kingdom, the Roman Republic was being consolidated The under another Giovanni Crescenzio, of the national second faction. He was now elected patrician; one of Giovanni his kinsmen was invested with the office of prefect, Cresand the new pope John XVIII. (10039) was cenzio. one of his creatures. Although the power of Henry of Bavaria was then gaining ascendancy in Germany, and giving strength to the imperialist nobles, Crescenzio still remained supreme ruler of the city and the Campagna. Surrounded by his judges, the senators and his kinsman the prefect, he continued to dispense justice in his own palace until his death in ror2, after ten years' rule. And, Pope Sergius IV. having died the same year, the counts of Tusculum compassed the election of Benedict VIII. (101224), one of their own kin. This pope expelled the Crescenzii, changed the prefect and reserved the title of patrician for Henry II., whom he consecrated emperor on the 14th February 1014. A second Alberic, bearing the title of " eminentissimus consul et dux," was now at the head of the republic and dispensed placita in the palace of his great ancestor, from whom the counts of Tusculum were also descended. The new emperor endeavoured to re-establish order in Rome, and strengthen his own authority together with that of the pope. But the nobles had in all things the upper Henry II hand. They were regularly organized under leaders, held meetings, asserted their right to nominate both pope and emperor, and in fact often succeeded in so doing. Even Henry II. himself was obliged to secure their votes before his coronation. The terms senate and senator now recur still more frequently in history. Nevertheless, Benedict VIII. succeeded in placing his own brother, Romano, at the head of the republic with the title of " consul, dux and senator," thus making him leader of the nobles, who met at his bidding, and chief of the militia and the tribunals. The prefect still retained his authority, and the emperor was by right supreme judge. But, a violent revolt breaking out, the emperor only stayed to suppress it and then went to Germany in disgust. The pope, aided by his brother, conducted the government with energy; he awed the party of Crescenzio, and waged war against the Saracens in the south. But he died in 1024, and in the same year Henry II. was succeeded by Conrad II. There was now beheld a repetition of the same strange event that had followed the death of Alberic, and with no less fatal consequences. Benedict's brother Romano, head of the republic, and still retaining office, was, although a layman, elected pope. He took the name of John XIX. (102433), and in 1027 conferred the imperial crown on Conrad the Salic, who, abolishing the Lothairian edict of 824, decreed that throughout Rome and its territory justice should be henceforth administered solely by the Justinian code. Thus, notwithstanding the spread of feudalism and Germanic procedure, the Roman law triumphed through the irresistible force of the national character, which was already manifested in many other ways. Meanwhile John XIX. was succeeded by his nephew, Benedict IX. (103345), a lad of twelve, who placed his own brother at the head of the republic. Thus church and state assumed the aspect of hereditary possessions in the powerful house of the counts of Tusculum. But the vices and excesses of Benedict were so monstrous that the papacy sank to the lowest depth of corruption; there followed a series of tumults and reactionary attempts, and so many conflicting elections that in 1045 three popes were struggling for the tiara in the midst of scandal and anarchy. The streets and neighbourhood of Rome swarmed with thieves and assassins; pilgrims were plundered; citizens trembled for their lives; and a hundred petty barons threatened the rival popes, who were obliged to defend themselves by force. This state of things lasted until Henry III. came to re-establish order. He appointed a synod to depose the three popes, and then, with the consent of the wearied, and anarchy-stricken Romans, assuming the right of election, proposed a German, Clement II., who was consecrated at Christmas 1046. Henry III. was then crowned, and also took the title of patrician. Thus the emperor was lord over church and state. This, however, stirred both people and pope against him, and led to the terrible contest of the investitures, although for the moment the Romans, being exhausted by past calamities, seemed not only resigned but contented. In fact, the idea of reform and independence was already germinating in the church and was soon to become tenacious Nude- and irresistible. Hildebrand was the prompter and brand hero of this idea. He sought to abolish the simony and the and concubinage of the priesthood, to give the papal question of laves- elections into the hands of the higher ecclesiastics, titure. and to emancipate the church from all dependence on the empire. Henry III. procured the election of four German popes in succession, and Hildebrand was always at hand to inspire their actions and dominate them by his strength of intellect and still greater strength of will. But the fourth German pope, Victor II., died in 1057, and Henry III. had been succeeded in 1056 by the young Henry IV. under the regency of a weak woman, the empress Agnes. Hildebrand seized this favourable moment for trying his strength and procured the election of Stephen IX. (1057-58), a candidate he had long had in view. Stephen, however, died in 1058; the nobles instantly rose in rebellion; and Gregory of Tusculum, who had assumed the patriciate, caused an incapable cousin to be named pope (Benedict X.). Upon this Hildebrand postponed his design of maintaining the papacy by the help of Italian potentates and had recourse to the empress. In a synod held at Siena with her consent Benedict was deposed and Nicholas II. (1059-60 elected in his stead. This pope entered Rome escorted by the troops of Godfrey of Tuscany, and, when also assured of help from Naples, assembled a council of one hundred and thirteen bishops (1059), who condemned the deposed pontiff and renewed the prohibition of simony and concubinage among the priesthood. Finally Nicholas instituted the college of cardinals, entrusting it with the election of the pope, who was in future to be chosen from its ranks. The assent of the clergy and people was left purely formal. The decree also contained the proviso" saving the honour and reverence due to the emperor ";.but this too was an empty expression. The new decree was a master-stroke of Hildebrand's genius, for by means of it he placed the papal election in the hands of a genuine ecclesiastical senate and gave a monarchical form to the church. Backed by the Normans who were in Rome, and whose commander, Richard of Capua, did not scruple to strike off the heads of many recalcitrant nobles, Hildebrand and the pope could now pursue their work of reform. Nevertheless the nobles again revolted on the death of Nicholas II. in 1061, and declared their purpose of restoring to Henry IV. the patriciate and right of election; but Hildebrand, by speedily convoking the cardinals, procured the election of Alexander II. (1061-73). This pope, although friendly to the empire, did not await the imperial sanction, but, protected by the Romans, at once entered the Lateran and put some other riotous nobles to death. The German bishops, however, elected Honorius II., who had the support of the barons. Thus the city was split into two camps and a deadly civil war ensued, terminating, despite the vigorous resistance of the nobility, in the defeat of Honorius II. But the nobles persevered inthe contest and were the real masters of Rome. By conferring the patriciate on the emperor, as their feudal chief, they hoped to organize themselves under the prefect, who now, with greatly increased authority, presided over both the civil and criminal courts in the absence of the pope's representative. In a general assembly the Romans elected their prefect, whose investiture
Alexander died on the 21st April 1073, and thereupon Hildebrand was at last raised to the chair as pope Gregory VII. (1073-85). He reconfirmed his predecessors' decrees, dismissed all simoniacal and non-celibate priests, Gregory and then in a second council (1075) forbade the clergy to receive investiture
Pope Paschal II. (1099-1118) found himself entirely at the mercy of the tyrannous nobles who were alike masters of Rome, of its government, and its spiritual lord. As they paschal were divided among themselves, all the pope could H. and the do was to side with one party in order to overcome nobles. the other. With the help of his own nephew Gualfredo, the prefect Pietro Pierleone, and the Frangipani, he was able to keep down the Corsi, and hold the Colonna in check. Being compelled to repair to Benevento in 1108, he left Gualfredo to command the militia, Tolomeo of Tusculum to guard the Campagna, and the consuls Pierleone and Leone Frangipani, together with the prefect, in charge of the government. The consulship was no longer a mere title of honour. The consuls seem to have been elected, as at Ravenna, in imitation of those of the Lombard cities, and were at the head of the nobles and senate. The expressions " praefectus et consules," " de senatoribus et consulibus," are now of frequent occurrence. We have no precise knowledge of the political organization of the city at this moment; but it was an aristocratic government, similar to that originally formed in Florence, as Villani tells us, with a senate and consuls. The nobles were so completely the masters that the pope, in spite of having trusted them and the provinces. Also, as we have before noted, the Roman aristocracy was by no means an exclusive caste. Between the great aristocrats and the people there stood a middle or new nobility, which made common cause with the people, whose chief strength now lay in the army. This, divided into twelve and then into thirteen or fourteen regions, assembled under its banners all arm-bearing citizens. Thus the exercitus was also the real populus Romanus, now bent on the destruction of the temporal power. This purpose, originating in the struggle of the investitures, was the logical and inevitable result of the proposals of Paschal II., which, despite their rejection, found a loud echo in Italy. Lucius II. (114445) tried to withstand the revolution by seeking Norman aid and throwing himself into the arms of the feudal party, but this only precipitated the course of events. The people, after having excluded nearly all aristocrats from the senate, now placed at its head the noble Giordano dei Pierleoni, who had joined the revolutionary party. They named him patrician, but without prejudice to the authority of the empire, still held by them in respect, and also conferred on him the judicial powers appertaining to the aristocratic and imperial office of prefect. The pope was requested to resign the temporal power, the regalia and every other possession, and content himself with the tithes and offerings of the faithful according to the scheme of Paschal II. He indignantly refused, marched at the head of the nobles against the Capitol, but was violently repulsed, and received a blow on the head from a stone, which is supposed to have occasioned his speedy death on the 15th February 1145. Eugenius III. was then elected (114553), but soon had to fly to Viterbo in quest of armed assistance, in consequence of the senate's resolve to prevent his consecration by force until he recognized the new state of things in the Eternal City.It was at this moment that Arnold of Brescia arrived in Rome. His ideas, already well known in Italy, had inspired and promoted the Roman revolution, and he now with the government, could only return to Rome with the aid of the Normans. Being now absorbed in the great investiture question, he had recourse to a daring plan. He proposed to Henry V. that the bishops should resign all property derived from the crown and depend solely on tithes and donations, while the empire should resign the right of investiture. Henry seemed disposed to accept the suggestion, but, suddenly changing his mind, took the pope prisoner and forced him to yield the right of investiture and to give him the crown (1111). But the following year the party of reform annulled in council this concession, which the pope declared to have been extorted by force. By the death of Countess Matilda in 1115 and the bequest of her vast possessions to the Holy See, the pope's dominions were greatly enlarged, but his authority as a ruler was nowise increased. Deeds of violence still continued in Rome; and then followed the death of the prefect Pietro. The nobles of the imperial party, joined with the people, wished to elect Pietro's son, also nephew to Tolomeo of Tusculum, who then held the position of a potent imperial margrave, had territories stretching from the Sabine mountains to the sea, was the dictator of Tusculum, master of Latium and consul of the Romans. The pope opposed this election to the best of his strength; but the nobles carried the day, and their new prefect received investiture from the emperor. Upon this the pope again quitted Rome, and on his return, two years later, was compelled to shut himself up in the castle of St Angelo, where he died in 1118. The popes were now the sport of the nobles whom they had aggrandized by continual concessions for the sake of peace. New And peace seemed at hand when Innocent II. (1130-43), power after triumphing over two antipopes, came to terms of the with Roger I., recognized him as king of Sicily, and uoctton time from the day of the restoration of liberty. Arnold of senate of Brescia was not, as has been incorrectly stated, the and author of this revolution, for he had not yet arrived in republic. Rome. It was the outcome of an historic necessity above all, of the renewed vigour of the people and its detestation of the feudal aristocracy. This body, besides being divided into an imperial and a national party, had almost excluded from the government the powerful baronage of the Campagnacame to determine its method and direction. Born Arnold of Brescia. at Brescia in the beginning of the 12th century, Arnold had studied in France under the celebrated Abelard, who had instructed him in theology and philosophy, inspired him with a great love for antiquity, and stimulated his natural independence of mind. On returning to his native land he assumed the monkish habit, and proved the force and fervour of his character by taking part in all struggles for liberty. And, together with political reform, he preached his favourite doctrine of the necessary renunciation by the clergy of all temporal wealth. Expounded with singular eloquence, these doctrines had a stirring effect on men's minds, spread throughout the cities of northern Italy, and were echoed on all sides. It seems undoubted that they penetrated to Rome and helped to promote the revolution, so that Arnold was already present in spirit before he arrived there in person. It is known that at the Lateran council of 1139 Innocent II. had declared these doctrines to be inimical to the church and enjoined silence on their author. And, as at that time the party hostile to liberty was triumphant in Brescia, Arnold left his native place, crossed the Alps and returned to France, where other struggles awaited him. He professed no anti-Catholic dogmas,only maintaining that when the pope and the prelacy deviated from the gospel rule of poverty they should not be obeyed, but fearlessly opposed. In France, finding his master, Abelard, exposed to the persecutions of St Bernard
Bernard
Three different elements entered into his nature and inspired his eloquencean exalted and mystic temperament, a great and candid admiration for classic antiquity added to an equal admiration for republican freedom independent of the church people. gained his friendship and protection. But now still graver tumults took place. In consequence of the division of the nobles neither party could overcome its foes without the aid of the people, which thus became increasingly powerful. Throughout upper and central Italy the cities were being organized as free and independent communes on a democratic basis. Their example soon followed in the ancient duchy of Rome and almost in the immediate neighbourhood of the city. Even Tivoli was converted into a republic. This excited the deepest jealousy in the Romans, and they became furious when this little city, profiting by its strong position in the Teverone valley, not only sought to annex Roman territory, but dared to offer successful resistance to the descendants of the conquerors of the world. In 1141 Tivoli openly rebelled against the mother city, and the pope sent the Romans to subdue it. They were not only repulsed, but ignominiously pursued to their own gates. Afterwards, returning to the assault in greater numbers, they conquered the hostile town. Its defenders surrendered to the pope, and he immediately concluded a treaty of peace without consulting either the people or the republic. The soldiery, still flushed with victory, were furious at this slight. They demanded not only sub-mission of Tivoli to the Roman people, but also permission to demolish its walls and dwellings and expel its population. Innocent II. refused consent to these excesses, and a memorable revolution ensued by which the temporal power of the papacy was entirely overthrown. In 1143 the rebellious people rushed to the Capitol, pro-claimed the republic, reconstituted the senate, to the almost Popular entire exclusion of the nobles, declared the abolition +evolu- of the temporal power, issued coin inscribed to the Ron. senate, the people and St Peter, and began to reckon and the empire, and a profound conviction, derived from the Vaudois and Paterine doctrines, that the church could only be purified by the renunciation of temporal wealth. Finding Rome already revolutionized in accordance with his own ideas, he immediately began to preach there. His mystic exhortations against the riches of the church had an inflammatory effect, while his classical reminiscences aroused the enthusiasm of the Romans, and his suggestion that they should imitate the republican institutions of upper Italy met the necessities of the time that had created the revolution. He urged the reconstitution of the ancient senate and senatorial order, which indeed was already partially accomplished, and of the ancient equestrian order, and the reconstruction and fortification of the Capitol. His proposed senate was a body somewhat resembling the communal councils of upper Italy, his equestrian order a mounted force composed of the lesser nobility, since at Rome, as elsewhere, the lower classes had neither time nor means to form part of it. All his suggestions were accepted; the citizens laboured strenuously on the fortification of the Capitol. The pope soon beheld the revolution spread beyond the walls, and several cities of the state proclaimed their independence. The barons of the Campagna profited by the opportunity to act as independent sovereigns. Thus the whole domain of the church was threatened with dissolution. The pope marched towards Rome with his newly gathered army, but hoped to come to terms. The Romans in fact recognized his authority, and he in his turn recognized the republic. The office of patrician was abolished, and seems to have been replaced by that of gonfalonier, and the prefect, answering to the podesta of the other republics, was revived. The senators received investiture from the pope, who returned to Rome at Christmas 1145. There public now seems to have been fully constituted. The senate was drawn from the lower classes and the petty nobility, and this was the special characteristic of the new revolution. In 1144 there were fifty-six senators, probably four to each of the fourteen regions, but the number often varied. By the few existing documents of the period we notice that the senators were divided into senatores consiliarii and ordinary senators. The former constituted a smaller council, which, like the credenza or lesser council found in other cities, consulted with the head or heads of the republic on the more urgent and secret affairs of the state. And, conjointly with the rest of the senators, it formed the greater council. Thus classic traditions were identified with new republican usages, and the common-wealth of Rome resembled those in other parts of Italy. But, of course, every republic had special local customs of its own. So the Roman senate had judicial as well as political attributes, and there was a curia senatus composed of senators and legal experts. As was easily to be foreseen, the agreement with the pope was of short duration. The revolution could not be checked; the Romans desired independence, and their spiritual lord fled to France, whence, in 1147, he proclaimed a new crusade, while the Romans were employed in demolishing Tivoli, banishing its inhabitants, and waging war on other cities. Giordano Pierleone was gonfalonier and head of the republic, and Arnold, supported by the popular favour and the enthusiasm of the lower clergy, was preaching with even greater fervour than before. But the pope now re-entered Italy, proclaimed Arnold a schismatic, and then advancing to Tusculum assembled an army in order to attack Rome. In this emergency the Romans applied to Conrad III., the first emperor of the house of Hohenstaufen; and their urgent letters are clearly expressive of Arnold's theories and his medley on ancient and modern, sacred and profane, ideas. " Rome," so they said, " is the fountain of the empire confided to you by the Almighty, and we seek to restore to Rome the power possessed by her under Constantine and Justinian. For this end we conquered and destroyed the strongholds of the barons who, together with the pope and the Normans, sought to resist us. These are now attacking us on all sides. Haste to Rome, the capital of the world, thus toestablish thy imperial sway over the Italian and German lands." After long hesitation the king of the Romans at last replied to these appeals, stating that he would come " to re-establish order, reward the faithful, and punish the rebellious." These words promised ill. In fact Conrad had already arranged terms with the pope; but his life came to an end on the 15th of February 1152. He was succeeded by Frederick I. surnamed Barbarossa, who took no notice of the numerous letters urging him to come and receive the empire from the Roman people, which alone had the right of conferring it. In accordance with his design of subduing all the independent cities, he made an agreement with the pope, in which he vowed to give no truce to the Romans, but subject them to their spiritual lord, whose temporal power should be restored. The pope, on his side, promised to crown him emperor. Thereupon the people again rose to arms, and Arnold broke off all negotiations with Eugenius III. The senate was reorganized, formed of one hundred members, and, according to the old Roman precedent, had two consuls, one for internal and the other for external affairs. Frederick was a daring statesman, a valiant soldier in command of a powerful army, and was no friend of half measures. Accordingly the nobles ventured on reaction. Finally, to increase the gravity of the situation, an English pope, Adrian IV., was elected (1154-59), who was also a man of strong and resolute temper. In fact, even before being able to take possession of the Lateran, he requested the Romans to banish Arnold, who, with greater eloquence than ever, was directing his thunders against the papacy. These utterances increased the wrath of Adrian, who, encouraged by the knowledge that Frederick and his host were already in Italy, at last launched an interdict against Rome. It was the first time that a pope had ventured to curse the Eternal City. The interdict put a summary stop to the religious life of the inhabitants. Men's minds were seized with a sudden terror, and a fierce tumult broke out. Thereupon the senators, whose opposition to the pope was less courageous than that of the fallen magnates, prostrated them-selves at his feet and implored pardon. But Adrian demanded the expulsion of Arnold before consenting to raise the interdict. Arnold was therefore obliged to leave Rome. After having for nine years preached successfully in favour of liberty, after having been the moving spirit of the new revolution, the new constitution, he was now abandoned by all, and forced to wander from castle to castle, in the hope of reaching some independent city capable of shielding him from the fierce enmity of the pope. Meanwhile Frederick I. had achieved his first victories in Lombardy, and, leaving ruined cities and bloodshed in his track, was rapidly advancing towards central Italy. The pope sent three cardinals to him, with a request for the capture and consignment of Arnold, who had taken refuge in the castle of the Visconti of Campagnatico. Frederick without delay caused one of the Visconti to be seized and kept prisoner until Arnold was given up, and then consigned the latter to the papal legates. The pope in his turn gave the reformer into the hands of the prefect, Pietro di Vico, who immediately hanged his Arnold's prisoner, burnt his body at the stake and cast his execu- ashes into the Tiber. The execution took place in June tiOn. 1155 The exact date and place of it are unknown; we only know that Arnold met his fate with great serenity and firmness. But the Romans who had so basely deserted their champion would not give up their republic. Their envoys went to meet Frederick near Sutri, and made an address in the usual fantastic style on the privileges of the Roman people and its sole right to confer the imperial crown. But Frederick indignantly cut short their harangue, and they had to depart full of rage. He then continued his march, and, entering Rome on the 18th of June 1155, was forthwith crowned in St Peter's by the pope. There-upon the Romans rushed to arms, and made a furious attack on the Leonine city and the imperial camp. A desperate battle went on throughout the day; and the knights proved that the equestrian order instituted at Arnold's suggestion was no empty Frederick I. 672 sham. About a thousand Romans .perished by the sword or by drowning, but their fellow-citizens made such determined preparations to continue the struggle that Frederick, on the 19th of June, hastily retreated, or rather fled, and was escorted as far as Tivoli by the pope and the cardinals. After all, the temporal power of the papacy was not restored, and the republic still sur- The vived in the form bestowed on it by Arnold of Brescia. republic Its existence was in truth favourable rather than still injurious to Frederick, whose aim was to rule over remains. Rome and treat the bishops as his vassals. He had not yet discerned that his best policy would have been to use the republic as a lever against the pope. The latter, with keener acumen, while remaining faithful to the feudal party in Rome, made alliance with the communes of Lombardy and encouraged them in their resistance to the emperor. Adrian IV. died in 1159, and the national party elected Alexander III. (1159-81), who energetically opposed the pretensions of Frederick, but, having to struggle with three antipopes successively raised against him by the imperial party, was repeatedly driven into exile. During these schisms the senate quietly carried on the government, administered justice, and made war on some neighbouring cities and barons. An army comprising many nobles of the national party marched against Tusculum, but found it defended by several valiant officers and a strong band of German soldiery, who, on the 29th of May 1167, inflicted on the Romans so severe a defeat that it is styled by Gregorovius the Cannae of the middle ages. Shortly afterwards the emperor arrived in Rome with his antipope Paschal III., and Alexander had to fly before him to Benevento. Then, at last, Frederick came to terms with the republic, recognized the senate, which accepted investiture at his hands, re-established the prefecture as an imperial office, and bestowed it on Giovanni, son of Pietro di Vico. He then hastily departed, without having advanced outside the Leonine city. Meanwhile Pope Alexander continued the crafty policy of Adrian and with better success, for the Lombard cities had agree- now formed a league and inflicted a signal defeat on menthe- the emperor at Legnano on the 29th of May 1176. One tween the of the results of this battle was the conclusion of republic and the an agreement between the pope and the emperor, the pope. latter resigning his pretensions on Rome and yielding all that he had denied to Adrian. And by the treaty of Venice (1st of August 1177) the antipope was forsaken, Alexander III. recognized and hailed as the legitimate pontiff, and the prefect of Rome again nominated by the pope, to whom the emperor restored the temporal power, acknowledging him the in-dependent sovereign of Rome and of the ecclesiastical state, from Acquapendente to Ceprano. Frederick's troops accompanied the pope to Rome, where the republic was forced to make submission to him. But, proudly conscious as it still was of its strength, its surrender wore the aspect of a voluntary concession, and its terms began with these words: " Totius populi Romani consilio et deliberatione statutum est," &c. The senators, elected yearly in September, had to swear fealty to the pope, and a certain proportion of nobles was included in their number. On his return to Rome, Alexander received a solemn welcome from all, but he had neither extinguished nor really subdued the republic. On the contrary, men's minds were more and more inflamed by the example of freedom displayed in the north of Italy. He died on the 3oth of August 1181. The fact that between 1181 and 1187 there were three popes always living in exile proves that the republic was by no means crushed. During the same period another blow was inflicted on the papacy by the marriage of Henry VI., son and successor to Frederick I., with Constance, sole heiress of the Norman line in Naples. For thus the kingdom was joined to the empire, and the popes were more than ever in the latter's power. On the loth of December 1187 Clement III. (1187-91), being raised to the pontificate, made a solemn agreement with the government of the Capitol before coming to Rome. And this peace or concordia had the air of a treaty between potentates of equal importance. Rome confronted [MIDDLE AGES the pope from the same standpoint from which the Lombard cities had confronted the emperor after Legnano. This treaty, the basis of the new constitution, was confirmed on the last day of May 1188 (Anno XLIV. of the senate). It begins with these words: " Concordia inter Dominum Papam Clementem III. et senatores populumque Romanum super regalibus et aliis dignitatibus urbis. The pope was recognized as supreme lord, and invested the senators with their dignity. He resumed the privilege of coinage, but allowed one-third of the issue to be made by the senate. Almost all the old pontifical rights and prerogatives were restored to him. The pope might employ the Roman militia for the defence of his patrimony, but was to furnish its pay. The rights of the church over Tivoli and Tusculum were confirmed; but the republic reserved to itself the right of making war on those cities, and declared its resolve to dismantle and destroy the walls and castle of Tusculum. In this undertaking the pope was to co-operate with the Romans, even should the unhappy city make surrender to him alone. From all this it is clear, that the church had been made independent of the empire, and that the republic, despite its numerous concessions, was by no means subject to the church. Rome In-The pope, in fact, had obtained liberty of election, and dependent Frederick I., by resigning the investiture of the pre- of the feet, had virtually renounced his claim to imperial empire. power in Rome. The republic had no patrician nor any other imperial magistrate, and preserved its independence even as regarded the pope, who merely granted investiture to magistrates freely chosen by the people, and had no legislative nor administrative power in the city. His temporal dominion was limited to his great possessions, to his regalia, to a supreme authority that was very indefinite, and to a feudal authority over the barons of the Campagna and many cities of a state that seemed ever on the point of dissolution. The senate continued to frame laws, to govern, and to administer justice. The army carried on the wars of the republic, as we see by the tragic fate of Tusculum, which was razed to the ground on the ,9th of April 1191. Thus the powerful counts of Tusculum disappeared; they sought refuge in the Campagna, and according to all probability the no less potent family of the Colonna sprang from their line. In consequence of these events, the nobles realized that the papacy sought to reduce them to vassalage. And, seeing that the The republic remained firmly established arid able to help nobles them, they began to adhere to it and succeeded in re-enter obtaining admission to the new senate. In fact, the whereas since 1143 plebeians and petty nobles senate. had prevailed in its ranks, nobles of ancient descent are now found outnumbering the knights and burghers. But in 1191 this state of things caused a sudden popular outbreak which abolished the aristocratic senate popular and gave the headship of the republic to a single revolusenator, summus senator, named Benedetto " Carissi- tion and mus " or " Carus Homo " or " Carosomo," of unknown, but undoubtedly plebeian, origin. During awl of the two years he remained in office this personage the arisstripped the pope of his revenues, despatched tocracy. justitiarii even to the provinces, and with the aid of the parliament and other popular assemblies promulgated laws and statutes. But he was overthrown by a counter-revolution, and Giovanni Capoccio of the party of the nobles became senator for two years, and had been succeeded by one of the Pierleoni when, in 1197, a fresh revolution re-established a senate of fifty-six members, chiefly consisting of feudal barons in high favour with Henry VI., who had revived the imperial faction in Rome. But this emperor's life ended the same year as the pope's, in 1198, and the new pontiff, Innocent III. (1198-1216), began to make war on the nobles, who were again masters of the republic. Their leader was the prefect Pietro di Vico. Owing to the revolution of 1143, most of the prefectorial attributes were now vested in the senate; nevertheless, Pietro still retained a tribunal of police both within and without the city. But his main strength was derived from the vast posses-The sions of the Vico family, in which the office of prefect office of now became hereditary. Very soon, however, these prefect prefects of Vico were chiefly regarded as the great becomes heredl- feudal lords of Tuscia, and the independent municipal tarn office lost its true character. Then the popes made a point of according great pomp and dignity to this nominal prefect, in order to overshadow the senator, who still re-presented the independence of the republic and had assumed many of the attributes wrested from the prefect. But Innocent III., dissatisfied with this state of things, contrived by bribing the people to arrogate to himself the Innocent right of electing the senator, who had now to swear ui. elects fealty and submission to the pope, and also that of the nominating the provincial justitiarii, formerly chosen senate. by the government of the Capitol. This was a deadly blow to the republic, for the principal rights of the peoplei.e. the election of pope and emperor, prefect and senatewere now lost. The general discontent provoked fresh revolutions, and Innocent III. employed all his political dexterity to ward off their effects. But shortly afterwards the people made a loud outcry for a senate of fifty-six members ; and the pope, again making a virtue of necessity, caused that number to be chosen by twelve mediani specially named by him for the purpose. Even this did not calm the popular discontent, which was also stirred by other disputes. The consequence was that when, six months later, the pope again elected a single senator the Romans rose to arms, and in 1204 formed a government of Buoni Uomini in opposition to that created by the pope. But an amicable arrangement being concluded, the pope once more nominated fifty-six senators; and when, soon after, he again reduced them to one, the people were too weary to resist (1205). Thus the Capitol was subdued, and Innocent III. spent his last years in tranquillity. On the 22nd of November I220 Honorius III. (121627) conferred the imperial crown on Frederick II., who confirmed to the church the possession of her former states, of those bequeathed to her by Countess Matilda, and even of the March of Ancona. But it was soon seen that he sought to dominate all Italy, and was therefore a foe to be dreaded. The suc-The cessor of Honorius, Pope Gregory IX. (1227-41), was republic speedily insulted and put to flight by the Ghibelline regains nobles, whose courage had revived, and the republic indepen- began to subdue the Latian cities on its own account. dente. Peace was several times made and unmade by pope and people; but no enduring harmony was possible between them, since the former wished to subject the entire state to the church, and the latter to escape from the rule of the church and hold sway over " the universal land from Ceprano to Radicofani " formerly belonging to the duchy. Accordingly, the Roman people now appointed judges, imposed taxes, issued coin, and made the clergy amenable to secular tribunals. In 1234 the senator Luca Savelli published an edict declaring Tuscia and Campania territories of the republic, and sent judges thither to exact an oath of obedience. He also despatched the militia to the coast, where it occupied several cities and erected fortresses; and columns were raised everywhere in-scribed with the initials S. P. Q. R. The pope, unable to prevent but equally unable to tolerate these acts, fled from Rome, hurling his anathema against Savelli, " et omnes illos consiliarios urbis quorum consilio," &c. The Romans sacked the Lateran and the houses of many cardinals, and marched The on Viterbo, but were driven back by the papal troops. republic When Savelli left office and Angelo Malabranca was submits elected in his stead, the people made peace and sub- to the mission in 1235, and were obliged to give up their peOAI@' pretensions of subjecting the clergy to ordinary tribunals and the urban territory to the republic. Thus matters were virtually settled on the footing established by Innocent III., thanks to the aid given to the pope by Frederick II., who had been one of the promoters of the rebellion, %XIII. 22 It may appear strange that, at this period of their history, the Romans, after showing such tenacious adherence to the republic and senate, should have accepted the rule of a single senator without rushing to arms, and passed and repassed from one form of government to another with such surprising indifference. But on closer examination it is plain that these changes were greater in appearance than reality. We have already seen, in treating of Carosomo, how the single senator convoked the people in parliament to pass sanction Forma- on the laws. But, whenever there is only one senator, tlon we also continually meet with the expression " con- greater silium vel consilia urbis." It is evident that when, and lesser instead of laws to be approved in parliament by a counclts simple placet or rejected by a non-placet, matters requiring consideration had to be discussed, the senator convoked a much smaller council, consisting only of the leaders of the people. These leaders were the heads of the twelve or thirteen regions of the guilds, now becoming organized and soon to be also thirteen in number, and of the militia. As in the other Italian republics, all these associations had been formed in Rome. The senator therefore held consultation with the leading men of the city; and, although, especially at first, these meetings were rather loosely organized, it is clear that they took the form of two councilsone numerous (consiglio maggiore), the other limited (consiglio minore or speciale), co-operating with and forming part of the first. Such was the prevailing custom throughout Italy at the time when Roman institutions most nearly resembled those of the other republics. We already know that, from the date of Arnold's reforms, the senate, with its junta of counsellors, had been divided into two parts, forming when united a species of greater council. Therefore the transition from a senate divided into two parts to the greater and lesser councils must have been very easy and natural. And, seeing that later, when the nomination of a single senator had become a constant practice, the meetings of the two councils are frequently mentioned without the slightest remark or hint as to their origin, it is clear that they had been gradually formed and long established. Not long after the revolution of 1143 the grandees sought to re-enter the senate; and the popes themselves, partly from dread of the people and partly to aggrandize their own kindred, contributed to build up the power of a new and no less turbulent nobility. This class, arising between the 12th and 13th centuries, was composed of families newly created by the popes, together with remnants of the old aristocracy, such as the Frangipani, Colonna, &c. These nobles, regaining possession of the senate, so completely eliminated the popular element that, when the popes again opposed them, and, obtaining from the parliament the right of electing the senators, adopted the expedient of appointing one only, the senator was always chosen from the ranks of the nobles. And then the people, unable and unwilling to renounce republican forms, replaced their sup-pressed senate by a greater and a lesser council. This was an easy taska natural consequence of the fact that the people now began to constitute the real strength of the republic. Later, with an increasing detestation for their nobility, the Romans decreed that the single senator should be of foreign birth, and, as we shall see, chose Brancaleone in the middle of the 13th century. Thus, after a long series of frequent changes and revolutions, the Roman republic became a commonwealth, with an in-creasing resemblance to those of the other Italian cities. The people were organized and armed, the gilds almost established, the two councils gradually constituted, and the aristocracy, while retaining special local characteristics, assumed its definitive shape. It is not surprising to find that The Rome, like other Italian cities, now possessed statutes Roman of its own. There has been much controversy on statutes. this point. Certain writers had alluded to a statute of 1246. As no one, however. could discover any statute of that date, others decided that it had never existed. A statute of 1363 II was recently published by Professor Camillo Re, who asserted it to be the first and most ancient that Rome had possessed. But the still more recent researches of Messrs La Mantia and Levi prove that Professor Re's assertions were somewhat too bold. There is certain evidence of a statutum senatus existing between 12I2 and 1227, of a statutum vel capitulare senatoris vel senatus of 1235, followed in 1241 by a statutum urbis. This brings us very near to the statute of 1246 mentioned by Vitale and others. So it is well ascertained that, in the first half of the 13th century, Rome possessed statutes at large composed of older limited statutes. The consuls of the trade gilds were from 1267 regular members of the councils; and the merchants' gild held general meetings in 1255. Its statutes were confirmed in 1296 by the senator Pandolfo Savelli, and the compilation of these, published in 188o by Signor Gatti, refers to 1317. Meanwhile the struggle between Frederick II. and the pope was once more renewed. The former sought to dominate Frederick Italy, separate the state from the church, and repress ii. the republics. The latter, although really hostile to and the the Roman free government, joined it against the pope. emperor, who on his side favoured the republic of Rome and the nobles most adverse to the pope. Thus the new nobility, composed, as we have seen, of two different elements, was again split into a Guelph party headed by the Orsini and a Ghibelline party under the Colonna. And in 1238 it was deemed advisable to elect two senators instead of one, in the hope of conciliating both factions by simultaneously raising them to power. Afterwards one only was elected, alternately an Orsini and a Colonna, then again two, and so on. But all these changes failed in their aims, since the struggle between emperor and pope exasperated party feeling in Rome. Frederick was king of southern Italy and emperor; had he been able to enforce the whole of his authority he would have been absolute master of all Italy, a state of things which the popes could not in any way tolerate. Hence the obstinate and uninterrupted struggle which proved injurious both to the papacy and the empire. The political genius of Frederick might have wrought great harm to the city had not his mind teemed with contradictory ideas. Although desirous to emancipate the state from the church, he was opposed to the communal democracy, which was then the chief strength of the secular state in Italy. While combating the church and persecuting her defenders, he yet sent heretics to the stake; although excommunicated, he undertook a crusade; he feasted at his table philosophers, sceptic and atheist poets, bishops and 1\Iussulmans; he proclaimed anti-Christian the possession of wealth by the church, yet made lavish gifts to altar and monastery. Thus, although he had a strong party in Rome, it seemed to dissolve at his approach, inasmuch as all feared that he might abolish the statutes and liberties of the commune. In fact, when he advanced towards Rome on the death of Gregory IX. in 1241 he was energetically repulsed by the people, and later even by Viterbo, a city that had always been faithful to him. But after he had withdrawn, his adherents gained strength and put to flight his opponent, Innocent IV. (1243-54), the newly elected pope, who then from his asylum at Lyons hurled an excommunication against him. Frederick's death in December 1250 determined the fall of the Ghibelline party and the close of the imperial epoch in Italy. The pope instantly returned to Rome with the set purpose of destroying the power of the Hohenstaufens. This was no longer difficult when, by the decease of Conrad IV. (1254), the child Conradin became the last legi |
