LAST FLICKER OF THE EMPIRE (1309-1313)
After the Papacy had been dragged in servitude to France, the Empire,
like a dying soldier who gets on his feet to shout one shout of triumph
over his enemy's fall, made a last gallant effort to recover life and
strength. The effort was very gallant but very ineffectual, and owes its
chief celebrity to its connection with the great man, who summed up and
reiterated the Imperial creed, somewhat in the same way that Pope
Boniface had summed up and reiterated the papal creed. Both creeds were
dead, but each man believed his fervently, and as Boniface's bulls set
forth the doctrines of Hildebrand and Innocent III, so Dante's treatises
and letters set forth the beliefs of Barbarossa and Frederick II.
The year of Boniface's jubilee is the year to which Dante assigns his
journey to the abodes of departed spirits, and as the jubilee marked the
close of the mediaeval Papacy, so the "Divine Comedy" marks the close of
mediaeval theology, and Dante himself stands as the greatest mark at the
boundary between the old world passing away and the modern world coming
in. Giovanni Villani, who was about fifteen years younger, described him
in this way: "He was deeply versed in almost all learning, although he
was a layman; he was a very great poet, a philosopher, and a complete
master of rhetoric in prose and verse as well as in public speech; a
most noble writer, very great in rhyme, with the most beautiful style
that ever was in our language up to his time and since. In his youth he
wrote the book on 'The New Life of Love,' and then when he was in exile
he composed twenty ethical poems and many admirable poems on love; and
he wrote among others three noble epistles; one he sent to the
government of Florence, complaining of his banishment from no fault of
his; another he sent to the Emperor Henry, when he was at the siege of
Brescia, blaming him for his delay, in the tone of a prophet; the third
to the Italian cardinals, during the vacancy after the death of Pope
Clement (V), that they should come to an accord and elect an Italian
Pope; all in Latin, in lofty style, with excellent reasonings and
appeals to authority, which were much praised by men of judgment. This
Dante by reason of his knowledge was somewhat arrogant, haughty, and
disdainful, and, like an ungracious philosopher, he could not talk
easily with unlearned men; but because of his other merits, the learning
and the worth of this great citizen, it seems fitting to give him
perpetual remembrance in this chronicle of mine, notwithstanding that
his noble works left to us in writing bear true testimony to what he was
and confer honourable fame upon our city."[12]
Dante, by passages in his "Divine Comedy," but more particularly by his
treatise "De Monarchia" (On Universal Empire), enables us to understand
how the Empire could raise its head in Italy sixty years after
Frederick II had died. In Germany after an interregnum, the House of
Hapsburg had mounted the throne, but no one had ventured to cross the
Alps for the Imperial crown. Nevertheless, Dante and the Ghibellines
could not bring themselves to believe that the old familiar institution
had fulfilled its function and was to be cast aside. The conception of
Europe as a group of equal nations had not yet arisen, and Ghibellines
still believed that a Roman Emperor could put down confusion, anarchy,
political chaos, and cure all the ills of Italy. The Ghibellines
believed in the Emperor as Mohammedans believed in Mohammed; if he
should return, exiles (like Dante) would be restored, peace would bloom,
and Rome again become the head of a just and universal empire. Dante, in
the "De Monarchia," first contends that universal empire is necessary to
the well-being of the world; having established that proposition, he
argues that this universal empire rightly belongs to the Roman people,
and proves his point by appeals to Virgil and the New Testament; then he
proceeds to show that the authority of the Empire is derived directly
from God. "Some say," he says, "that Constantine when he was cleansed of
the leprosy by the prayers of Silvester, then Pope, gave the seat of the
Empire, to wit Rome, to the Church, together with many other dignities
appertaining to the Empire. Therefore, they argue, since then no one can
receive those dignities, except he shall receive them from the Church,
to whom they belong.... This proposition I deny; and when they put
forth their proof, I say it proves nothing, because Constantine could
not alienate the dignities of the Empire, nor the Church receive
them.... No man has a right to do things by means of an office entrusted
to him, which go directly counter to that office.... Therefore an
Emperor has no right to divide the Empire ... and the Church in no wise
is able to receive temporal things because the precept expressly forbids
it, as we have it in Matthew 'Provide neither gold, nor silver, nor
brass in your purses, nor scrip for your journey,' etc."
This Ghibelline theory was in flat contradiction to Boniface's theory,
just as the Imperial creed had always contradicted the papal creed. In
Dante's time the two conflicting theories seemed to have become mere
ghosts; when of a sudden the Imperial theory started up in reality. A
new king of the Romans, Henry VII, announced that he was coming into
Italy to take his Imperial crown. The Ghibellines welcomed him with
boundless enthusiasm. Dante, in undeserved exile from Florence, flushed
with the hope of return to his dearly beloved city, wrote a circular
letter to all the princes of Italy:--
"Behold now is the acceptable time, in which arise signs of consolation
and peace. For a new day begins to shine, showing the dawn that shall
dissipate the darkness of long calamity. Now the breezes of the East
begin to blow, the lips of heaven redden, and with serenity comfort the
hopes of the peoples. And we who have passed a long night in the desert
shall see the expected joy.
"Rejoice, O Italy, pitied even by the heathen, now shalt thou be the
envy of the earth, because thy bridegroom, the comfort of the world and
the glory of the people, the most merciful Henry, Divus, Augustus,
Caesar, hastens to thy espousals. Dry thine eyes, put off the trappings
of woe, O thou Fairest; for he is at hand who shall free thee from the
prison of the ungodly, who shall smite the malignant, and destroy them
with the edge of the sword, and shall give his vineyard to other
husbandmen, who will render the fruits of justice in the time of
harvest."
The hope that Henry would restore peace and establish order warmed even
the Guelfs; and almost all the Italian cities, excepting stubborn
Florence, sent envoys to greet him as he came to take the Imperial
crown. The French Pope was greatly perplexed as to what to do. On the
one hand, he had begun to wish for an Emperor to subdue the Roman barons
and to be a counterweight to the French king, whom he found too
masterful a protector; on the other hand, he was afraid to displease the
French king, and to do anything that might set the Ghibellines on their
feet again. So he played a double game: he encouraged Henry in the
North, and in the South he strengthened the Angevin King of Naples, the
leader of the Guelfs. Henry VII crossed the Alps in October, 1310. He
was brave, honest, and just; he believed devoutly in his Imperial
mission, desired peace, and wished to be Emperor of Guelf and Ghibelline
alike. At first all went well; many cities opened their gates and
received Imperial vicars; Milan lowered her flags as Henry entered, and
her Guelf archbishop put the iron crown of Lombardy upon his head. But
this happy calm could not last long. Henry was poor, he asked Milan for
a great deal of money, and then demanded, ostensibly as a guard of
honour for his journey to Rome but really as hostages, fifty noblemen
from each of the two parties. The Ghibellines assented: but the Guelfs
suspected treachery and refused; their leaders fled and their houses
were sacked and burned. This was the end of peace. Henry attempted to
enforce obedience. He sacked Cremona, razed her walls to the ground, and
laid siege to Brescia. The horrors of the siege were fearful; the
citizens fought with desperation, but yielded at last to famine and
pestilence. The unfortunate Henry had now been forced into the old
position of German tyrant and Ghibelline party chief; and, instead of
marching directly on Rome, or on rich Florence which was the head and
front of the Guelf cause in the North, he had wasted valuable time in
taking unimportant cities. The Ghibellines were in a fever of
impatience. Dante wrote:--
"To the most holy Conqueror, and only lord, our lord Henry, by divine
providence King of the Romans, ever Augustus, your Dante Alighieri, a
Florentine and undeserving exile, and all Tuscans everywhere, who wish
for peace on earth, kiss your feet.
"For a long time have we wept by the rivers of confusion, and have
incessantly prayed for the protection of a just king, who should ... put
us back in our just rights. When you, successor of Caesar and Augustus,
crossing the ridges of the Apennines, brought back the venerable
insignia of Rome ... like the sun suddenly uprising, new hope of better
time for Italy shone out. But now men think you delay, or surmise that
you are going back ... and we are constrained by doubt to stand
uncertain and to cry, like John the Baptist, Art thou he that should
come, or do we look for another?... Do you not know, most excellent of
Princes, do you not see from the watch-tower of your exalted height,
where the stinking little fox lurks, safe from the hunters? In truth,
the evil beast does not drink of the headlong Po, nor of your Tiber,
but its wickedness pollutes the rushing waters of the Arno, and the name
of this dire, pernicious creature (do you not know?) is Florence. She is
the viper turned against the breast of its mother; she is the sick sheep
that contaminates the whole herd of her master. Indeed with the
fierceness of a viper she strives to tear her mother; she sharpens the
horns of rebellion against Rome, who made her in her own image and
likeness....
"Up, then, break this delay, take confidence from the eyes of the Lord
God of Hosts, in whose sight you act, and lay low this Goliath with the
sling of your wisdom and the stone of your strength; for with his death
the dark night of fear shall cover the camp of the Philistines, and they
shall flee, and Israel shall be set free. And just as now, exiles in
Babylon, we mourn remembering holy Jerusalem, so, then, citizens and at
home, we shall breathe in peace and turn the miseries of confusion into
joy.
"Written in Tuscany ... fourteen days before the kalends of May, 1311,
in the first year of the coming into Italy of the divine and most happy
Henry."
Henry did go south, but there were greater obstacles in his way than
Dante imagined. The spirit of the age was against him. It was vain to
try to bring back the past. Florence shut her gates, manned her walls,
sent more money to his enemies, and headed a league of the Guelf cities
in Tuscany and Umbria. Even Rome was half against him. The Ghibelline
nobles received him and took him to their part of the town; but the
Guelfs held St. Peter's, and though there was fierce fighting in the
streets, the Guelfs stood their ground, and Henry was forced to receive
the Imperial crown from the papal legate (the Pope was too prudent to
leave Avignon) in the basilica of St. John Lateran. Here the luckless
Emperor stayed for a time in the midst of ruin, material, political, and
moral. Then he attempted to crush Florence, the ringleader of
disobedience, but her walls were too strong; the impotent Emperor could
do no more than harry the country-side. He fell back upon Ghibelline
Pisa, and set patiently to work to gather together a new army. The
Ghibellines gallantly responded to his call, and Henry actually set
forth on his way to Naples, to punish the House of Anjou and avenge the
Hohenstaufens, but death cut short his lofty plans. He died in a little
town near Siena (1313), and the hopes of Dante and the Ghibellines were
ruined forever. The last flicker of the Empire had gone out.
Other Emperors, it is true, crossed the Alps, but not as masters. The
connection of Italy with the Holy Roman Empire ends with the death of
the gallant Henry. The mediaeval Papacy and the mediaeval Empire had
passed away, for the Middle Ages themselves had come to an end.
FOOTNOTES:
[12] _Storia di Firenze_, lib. ix, cap. cxxxv.