Otto of Freising: GESTA FRIDERICI IMPERATORIS

I.	De electione Friderici ad imperium.
II.	Ratio, quare in eum tam facile consenserit universitas principum.
III.	Quod post acceptam fidelitatem a principibus Aquisgrani consecratur secumque Fridericus Monasteriensis episcopus.

1.   On the election of Frederick to the empire.
2.   The reason why the whole body of princes so easily consented to him.
3.   That, after receiving fealty from the princes at Aachen, he is consecrated, and with him Frederick, bishop of Münster.

IV. Qui legati ad Urbem et in Italiam destinati sint, et quo rex diverterit. V. Quomodo litem duorum consanguineorum de regno Datiae deciderit. VI. Quomodo controversiam, quae in Magdeburgensi aecclesia orta fuerat, terminaverit, et quod Ungaris bellum indicere voluerit.

4. Which legates were designated to the City and into Italy, and whither the king turned aside. 5. How he decided the suit of two consanguineous kinsmen concerning the kingdom of Dacia. 6. How he terminated the controversy which had arisen in the Magdeburg church, and that he wished to declare war upon the Hungarians.

VII. Quod propter litem duorum ducum terminandam aput Herbipolim curiam celebravit et ibidem expeditionem in Italiam iurari fecit. VIII. Quod Gerhardus Magdeburgensis prepositus Gwicmannum Romae accusavit, et epistola papae super hoc. IX. Quomodo per duos cardinales assensu principis quidam episcopi depositi sunt, et de duobus ducibus.

7. That, for the sake of ending the lawsuit of two dukes, he held a curia at Herbipolis (Würzburg) and there caused an expedition into Italy to be sworn. 8. That Gerhard, provost of Magdeburg, accused Gwicmann at Rome, and the pope’s epistle on this. 9. How, by two cardinals with the prince’s assent, certain bishops were deposed, and concerning two dukes.

X. Quod mortuo Eugenio Anastasius subrogatur, et quod cardinalis Gerardus insolenter agere volens prohibitus et in via mortuus est et Gwicmannus in episcopatu confirmatus. XI. Quos legatos in Greciam destinaverit. Quod Heinrico Saxonum duci ducatcus Baioariae adiudicatur, et quod rex in Italiam procinctum movit.

10. That, with Eugenius dead, Anastasius is substituted; and that Cardinal Gerard, wishing to act insolently, being prohibited, died on the road, and Gwicmann was confirmed in the bishopric. 11. Which legates he destined to Greece. That to Henry, duke of the Saxons, the duchy of Bavaria is adjudged, and that the king moved a campaign into Italy.

XII. Quomodo aput Roncalias quibusdam episcopis regalia abiudicata sint. XIII. De situ Italiae et more gentis. XIV. De situ et superbia Mediolani.

12. How at Roncaglia the regalian rights were adjudged away from certain bishops. 13. On the situation of Italy and the custom of the people. 14. On the site and pride of Milan.

XV. De consuetudine et iusticia regni in Italia. XVI. De diversis querimoniis ad principem delatis. XVII. Quibus occasionibus rex in Mediolanenses arma converterit.

15. On the custom and justice of the kingdom in Italy. 16. On various complaints conveyed to the prince. 17. On the occasions on which the king turned his arms against the Milanese.

XVIII. Quedam castra Mediolanensium evertuntur, et de Novaria suoque comite. XIX. De subversione Kayrae et Hastae et de treuga militum. XX. De Terdona, et quare obsessa sit.

18. Certain forts of the Milanese are overthrown, and about Novara and its count. 19. On the overthrow of Chieri and Asti and on the truce of the soldiers. 20. On Tortona, and why it was besieged.

De situ Terdonae et eius presidiis. XXI. Quomodo obsessa et quomodo inpugnata qualiterve a suis defensata fuerit. XXII. De invasione cuiusdam castri.

On the situation of Tortona and its garrisons. 21. How it was besieged and how it was assaulted, and in what manner it was defended by its own men. 22. On the invasion of a certain castle.

XXIII. De audacia cuiusdam scutiferi. XXIV. De miserabili conquestione Terdonensium. XXV. Quod multis malis attriti Terdonenses de pace cogitant.

23. On the audacity of a certain squire. 24. On the pitiable complaint of the people of Terdona. 25. That, worn down by many ills, the people of Terdona are thinking of peace.

XXVI. De eversione civitatis. XXVII. Rex aput Papiam triumphum agens coronatur et inde in Tusciam iter agit. XXVIII. Rex ad Urbem tendens Romanum pontificem obvium habuit, et de Arnoldo scismatico.

26. On the overthrow of the city. 27. The king, at Pavia celebrating a triumph, is crowned, and from there makes a journey into Tuscany. 28. The king, tending toward the City, had the Roman pontiff meet him, and concerning Arnold the schismatic.

XXVIX. De legatis Romanorum et eorum legatione. XXX. Quale responsum a principe acceperint. XXXI. Qualiter hortatu summi pontificis Leoninam urbem et aecclesiam sancti Petri princeps occupari fecerit.

29. Concerning the envoys of the Romans and their embassy. 30. What sort of response they received from the prince. 31. How, at the exhortation of the supreme pontiff, the prince caused the Leonine City and the church of Saint Peter to be occupied.

XXXII. Quomodo in eadem aecclesia coronam imperii acceperit. XXXIII. De excursu et clade Romanorum ac victoria imperatoris. XXXIV. Princeps regressus ab Urbe quo diverterit et quid fecerit.

32. How in the same church he received the imperial crown. 33. Concerning the sally and disaster of the Romans and the victory of the emperor. 34. The prince, returned from the City, whither he turned aside and what he did.

XXXV. De eversione Spoleti, quare et qualiter. XXXVI. De legatis et muneribus Grecorum, et quos imperator remiserit. XXXVII. Quomodo exules Apuliae terram suam receperint, et quod imperator invitus redire disponit.

35. On the overthrow of Spoleto, why and how. 36. On the legates and gifts of the Greeks, and whom the emperor sent back. 37. How the exiles of Apulia have recovered their land, and that the emperor, unwilling, plans to return.

XXXVIII. Quibus viis singuli principum redierunt. XXXIX. De dolo Veronensium ad pontem super Athesam. LX. Item de insidiis eorum in arto montis, et quomodo victi et capti [sint]. LXI. De felici reditu principis in Baioariam.

38. By which routes each of the princes returned. 39. Concerning the deceit of the Veronese at the bridge over the Athesis. 60. Likewise about their ambushes in the narrow pass of the mountain, and how [they were] conquered and captured. 61. Concerning the happy return of the prince into Bavaria.

LXII. Imperator patruum suum hortatur ad transigendum cum duce Saxoniae. LXIII. Quomodo aput Ratisponam Heinricus in possessionem Baioarici ducatus mittitur, et de controversia inter Maguntinum archiepiscopum et palatinum comitem de Rheno. LXIV. Qualiter ibidem Ratisponensis episcopus in gratiam principis redierit.

62. The emperor urges his paternal uncle to settle with the duke of Saxony. 63. How at Regensburg Henry is put into possession of the Bavarian duchy, and on the controversy between the archbishop of Mainz and the count palatine of the Rhine. 64. How there the bishop of Regensburg returned into the prince’s favor.

LXV. De legatis et excusatione Veronensium ac eorumdem reconciliatione. LXVI. Qua satisfactione Maguntinus archiepiscopus et palatinus comes in pacem redierint. LXVII. De obitu Arnaldi Coloniensis archiepiscopi, et quod princeps prenominatos duces ad concordiam revocare satagebat.

65. On the envoys and the apology of the Veronese and the reconciliation of those same men. 66. By what satisfaction the archbishop of Mainz and the count palatine returned into peace. 67. On the death of Arnold, archbishop of Cologne, and that the prince strove to call back the aforementioned dukes to concord.

LXVIII. De nuptiis imperatoris, ubi et quare. LXIX. De legatis a Grecia reversis, et quare Grecorum legati ad presentiam imperatoris non admitterentur. L. Quare expeditionem contra Mediolanenses indixerit, et exemplar litterarum de hoc.

68. On the emperor’s nuptials, where and why. 69. On the legates returned from Greece, and why the Greeks’ legates were not admitted to the presence of the emperor. 50. Why he proclaimed an expedition against the Milanese, and a copy of the letters about this.

LI. De guerra Papiensium et Mediolanensium. LII. De scismate Coloniensis aecclesiae propter electionem Friderici et Gerardi. LIII. De morte Boritii et legatis Grecorum.

51. On the war of the Pavians and the Milanese. 52. On the schism of the Church of Cologne on account of the election of Frederick and Gerard. 53. On the death of Boritius and the legates of the Greeks.

LIV. De contentione Coloniensis cleri coram principe. LV. De transactione duorum ducum. LVI. De pace facta in Baioaria et decisione litis inter Colonienses.

54. On the contention of the Cologne clergy before the prince. 55. On the settlement of the two dukes. 56. On the peace made in Bavaria and the decision of the suit between the people of Cologne.

Expliciunt capitula

Here end the chapters.

Incipit liber secundus

Here begins the second book

Capitulum I.

Chapter 1.

Anno ab Urbe condita M°DCCC°, ab incarnatione vero Domini M°C°LIIII°, decedente ab hac luce vernali tempore XV. Kal. Martii, id est sexta feria proxima, ut dictum est, post caput ieiunii, in civitate Babenbergensi piissimo rege Conrado, III. Nonas Martii, id est tercia feria post Oculi mei semper, in oppido Franconefurde de tam inmensa Transalpini regni latitudine universum, mirum dictu, principum robur non sine quibusdam ex Italia baronibus tamquam in unum corpus coadunari potuit.

In the year from the founding of the City 1800, but from the Incarnation of the Lord 1154, with the most pious King Conrad departing from this light in the vernal season on the 15th day before the Kalends of March, that is the next Friday, as has been said, after the head of the fast, in the city of Bamberg, on the 3rd day before the Nones of March, that is on Tuesday after Oculi mei semper, in the town of Frankfurt, from the so immense breadth of the Transalpine kingdom the entire, wonderful to say, strength of the princes, not without certain barons from Italy, was able to be coadunated as into one body.

Ubi cum de eligendo principe primates consultarent - nam id iuris Romani imperii apex, videlicet non per sanguinis propaginem descendere, sed per principum electionem reges creare, sibi tamquam ex singulari vendicat prerogativa -, tandem ab omnibus Fridericus Suevorum dux, Friderici ducis filius, petitur cunctorumque favore in regem sublimatur.

Where, when the primates were taking counsel about choosing a prince - for that is the apex of the right of the Roman Empire, namely, not to descend by the propagation of blood, but to create kings through the election of the princes, which it claims for itself as by a singular prerogative -, at length by all Frederick, Duke of the Swabians, son of Duke Frederick, is sought, and by the favor of all is exalted as king.

Capitulum II.

Chapter 2.

Huius consultationis summa, in illamque personam tam unanimis assensus ratio haec, ut recolo, fuit. Duae in Romano orbe apud Galliae Germaniaeve fines famosae familiae hactenus fuere, una Heinricorum de Gueibelinga, alia Gwelforum de Aldorfo, altera imperatores, altera magnos duces producere solita. Istae, ut inter viros magnos gloriaeque avidos assolet fieri, frequenter sese invicem emulantes rei publicae quietem multociens perturbarant.

The sum of this consultation, and the reason for so unanimous an assent upon that person, as I recall, was this. In the Roman world, along the borders of Gaul and Germany, there have hitherto been two famous families: the one of the Henries of Weiblingen, the other of the Welfs of Altdorf— the former accustomed to produce emperors, the latter great dukes. These, as is wont to happen among great men and those avid for glory, frequently rivaling one another, had many times disturbed the quiet of the commonwealth.

Nutu vero Dei, ut creditur, paci populi sui in posterum providentis sub Heinrico V. factum est, ut Fridericus dux, pater huius, qui de altera, id est de regum familia, descenderat, de altera, Heinrici scilicet Noricorum ducis filiam, in uxorem acciperet ex eaque Fridericum, qui inpresentiarum est, generaret. Principes igitur non solum industriam ac virtutem iam sepe dicti iuvenis, sed etiam hoc, quod utriusque sanguinis consors tamquam angularis lapis utrorumque horum parietum dissidentiam unire posset, considerantes caput regni eum constituere adiudicaverunt, plurimum rei publicae profuturum precogitantes, si tam gravis et diutina inter maximos imperii viros ob privatum emolumentum simultas hac demum occasione Deo cooperante sopiretur. Ita non regis Conradi zelo, sed universitatis, ut dictum est, boni intuitu hunc Fridericum eius filio item Friderico adhuc parvulo preponere maluerunt.

By the nod of God, as is believed, providing for the peace of his people for the future, under Henry 5 it came about that Duke Frederick, the father of this man, who had descended from the one line, that is, from the family of the kings, should take from the other line the daughter of Henry, namely the Duke of the Noricans, as wife, and from her beget Frederick, who is at present. The princes therefore, considering not only the industry and virtue of the already-often-mentioned youth, but also this—that, as a consort of both bloods, like a cornerstone, he could unite the dissension of these two walls—adjudged to establish him as head of the realm, forethinking that it would be most advantageous to the commonwealth if so heavy and long-standing a feud among the greatest men of the empire, on account of private emolument, should at last on this occasion, with God cooperating, be lulled to rest. Thus, not out of zeal for King Conrad, but with an eye, as has been said, to the good of the whole, they preferred to set this Frederick before his son likewise Frederick, still a very little boy.

Hac consideratione et ordine electio Friderici celebrata est.

By this consideration and order the election of Frederick was celebrated.

Capitulum III.

Chapter 3.

Astrictis igitur omnibus, qui illo confluxerant, fidelitate et hominio principibus, cum paucis, quos ad hoc ydoneos iudicavit, caeteris in pace dimissis, rex cum multa iocunditate quinta feria naves ingreditur ac per Mogum et Rhenum navigans in villa regali Sincichelapplicuit. Ibi equos ascendens in proximo sabbato Aquisgrani venit; sequenti die, id est ea dominica, qua Letare Ierusalem canitur, ab episcopis a palatio in aecclesiam beatae Mariae semper virginis deductus cum omnium qui aderant applausu ab Arnaldo Coloniensi archiepiscopo, aliis cooperantibus, coronatus in sede regni Francorum, quae in eadem aecclesia a Karolo Magno posita est, collocatur; non sine multorum stupore, quod in tam parvo temporis spacio non solum tanta principum seu de regno nobilium confluxerat multitudo, sed et quod de occidentali Gallia, ad quam nondum huius facti rumor pervenisse putabatur, nonnulli advenerant. Nec pretereundum estimo, quod, dum finito unctionis sacramento diadema sibi imponeretur, quidam de ministris eius, qui pro quibusdam excessibus gravibus a gratia sua adhuc privatisequestratus fuerat, circa mediam aecclesiam ad pedes ipsius se proiecit, sperans ob presentis diei alacritatem eius se animum a rigore iusticiae emollire posse.

Therefore, all who had flocked there having been bound by fealty and homage to the princes, with a few whom he judged suitable for this, the rest dismissed in peace, the king, with much jocundity, on Thursday boards the ships and, sailing along the Main and the Rhine, made landfall at the royal villa Sincichel. There, mounting horses, on the next Saturday he came to Aachen; on the following day, that is, on that Sunday on which Letare Ierusalem is sung, led by the bishops from the palace into the church of blessed Mary ever Virgin, with the applause of all who were present he was crowned by Arnold, archbishop of Cologne, others cooperating, and was seated on the seat of the kingdom of the Franks, which in the same church was set by Charlemagne; not without the astonishment of many, because in so small a space of time not only had so great a multitude of princes and nobles of the realm flocked together, but also that from western Gaul, to which the rumor of this deed was thought not yet to have come, some had arrived. Nor do I think it should be passed over that, when the sacrament of unction had been finished and the diadem was being set upon him, a certain one of his ministers, who on account of certain grave excesses had hitherto been deprived of his grace and sequestered, around the middle of the church threw himself at his feet, hoping, on account of the alacrity of the present day, to be able to soften his mind from the rigor of justice.

Ipse vero mentem in priori severitate retinens et tamquam fixus manens constantiae suae omnibus nobis non parvum dedit indicium, dicens non ex odio, sed iusticiae intuitu illum a gratia sua exclusum fuisse. Nec hoc etiam sine admiratione plurium, quod virum iuvenem, tamquam senis indutum animo, tanta flectere a rigoris virtute ad remissionis vicium non potuit gloria. Quid multa?

He, however, keeping his mind in its prior severity and remaining as if fixed in his constancy, gave to all of us no small indication, saying that not out of hatred, but with an eye to justice, that man had been excluded from his favor. Nor was this without the admiration of many: that such glory could not bend a young man—clothed, as it were, with the mind of an old man—from the virtue of rigor to the vice of remission. Why say more?

Non illi misero intercessio principum, non arridentis fortunae blandimentum, non tantae festivitatis instans gaudium suppeditare poterant; ab inexorabili inexauditus abiit. Sed et hoc silentio tegendum non erit, quod eadem die in eadem aecclesia Monasteriensis electus item Fridericus ab eisdem, a quibus et rex, episcopis in episcopum consecratur, ut revera summus rex et sacerdos presenti iocunditati hoc quasi prognostico interesse crederetur, qua in una aecclesia una dies duarum personarum, quae solae novi ac veteris instrumenti institutione sacramentaliter unguntur et christi Domini rite dicuntur, vidit unctionem.

Not for that wretch could the intercession of princes, nor the blandishment of smiling Fortune, nor the pressing joy of so great a festivity supply relief; from the inexorable one he departed unheard. But this too will not be veiled in silence: on the same day, in the same church, Frederick, likewise the elect of Münster, was by the same bishops by whom also the king had been, consecrated as bishop—so that in truth the Most High King and Priest might be believed to take part in the present gladness by this, as it were, prognostic, wherein in one church one day saw the anointing of two persons, who alone, by the institution of the New and Old Testament, are sacramentally anointed and are rightly called christs of the Lord.

Capitulum IIII.

Chapter 4.

Peractis omnibus quae ad coronae decorem spectabant, princeps in palatii secreta se recepit, vocatisque prudentioribus seu maioribus ex numero principum, de statu rei publicae consultans, legatos ad Romanum pontificem Eugenium, Urbem ac totam Italiam destinandos disponit, de promotione sua in regnum significaturos. Mittuntur itaque Hillinus Treverensis electus et Eberhardus Babenbergensis episcopus, viri prudentes et litterati. Dehinc Traiectensium contumaciam, qua, ut superius dictum estin patruum suum Conradum regem usi fuerant, ulturus inferiores Rheni partes adiit, ipsisque pecuniaria pena multatis ac Herimanno episcopo confirmato, ad superiora remeando sanctum pascha Coloniae Agrippinae celebravit.

With all things completed that pertained to the adornment of the crown, the prince withdrew into the secret chambers of the palace, and, having called the more prudent or the elders from the number of the princes, consulting about the state of the res publica, he arranges that legates be dispatched to the Roman pontiff Eugene, to the City and all Italy, to signify his promotion into the kingdom. Accordingly are sent Hillinus, the elect of Trier, and Eberhard, bishop of Bamberg, prudent and lettered men. Thereafter, intending to avenge the contumacy of the men of Utrecht, which, as was said above, they had used toward his paternal uncle King Conrad, he went to the lower regions of the Rhine; and when they had been mulcted with a pecuniary penalty and Bishop Hermann had been confirmed, by returning to the upper parts he celebrated Holy Pasch at Colonia Agrippina (Cologne).

Inde per Gwestfaliam transiens Saxoniam intravit.

Thence, passing through Westphalia, he entered Saxony.

Capitulum V.

Chapter 5.

Erat illo tempore in regno Danorum inter duos consanguineos, Petrum scilicet, qui et Suevus, et Gnutonem, de regno gravis controversia. Quos rex ad se venire precipiens curiam magnam in civitate Saxoniae Martinopoli, quae et Merseburch, cum multa principum frequentia habuit. Eo prefati iuvenes venientes eius se mandato humiliter supposuerunt; eorumque ad ultimum causa iudicio seu consilio primatum sic decisa fuisse dicitur, [ut] Gnuto, relictis sibi quibusdam provinciis, regium nomen per porrectum gladium abdicaret - est enim consuetudo curiae, ut regna per gladium, provinciae per vexillum a principe tradantur vel recipiantur -, Petrus vero, accepto a manu ipsius regno, fidelitate et hominio ei obligaretur.

At that time in the kingdom of the Danes there was a grave controversy over the kingdom between two consanguines, namely Peter, who is also called the Swabian, and Gnuto. The king, ordering them to come to him, held a great curia in the Saxon city of Martinopolis, which is also Merseburg, with a large throng of princes. Thither the aforesaid youths, coming, humbly subjected themselves to his mandate; and their case at last is said to have been thus decided by the judgment or counsel of the primates, [that] Gnuto, certain provinces being left to him, should abdicate the royal name by an outstretched sword — for it is the custom of the curia that kingdoms by the sword, provinces by the banner, are handed over or received from the prince — but Peter, having received the kingdom from his hand, should be bound to him by fidelity and homage.

Ita corona regni sibi per manum principis imposita, in die sancto pentecostes ipse coronatus gladium regis sub corona incedentis portavit. Gwaldemarus etiam, qui eiusdem sanguinis particeps fuit, ducatum quendam Daniae accepit.

Thus, the crown of the kingdom having been imposed upon him by the hand of the prince, on the holy day of Pentecost he himself, crowned, carried the sword of the king proceeding under the crown. Gwaldemarus also, who was a participant of the same blood, received a certain duchy of Denmark.

Capitulum VI.

Chapter 6.

Circa idem tempus Magdeburgensis aecclesia, quae Saxoniae metropolis esse dinoscitur, pastore suoviduata ad electionem faciendam resedit. Dumque alii eiusdem aecclesiae prepositum Gerardum, alii decanumeligerent, divisis hinc inde personis, regem adhuc in Saxonia morantem adire disponunt. Quos dum multis modis ad unitatem et vinculum pacis princeps reducere satageret ac proficere non valeret, alteri parti, id est decano cum suis, persuasit, ut Gwicmannum Cicensem episcopum, virum adhuc iuvenem, sed nobilem, eligerent, eique accersito regalia eiusdem aecclesiae concessit.

Around the same time the Magdeburg church, which is recognized to be the metropolis of Saxony, bereft of its shepherd, sat down to make an election. And while some were choosing Gerard, the provost of the same church, others the dean, the persons being divided on this side and that, they resolve to approach the king, still lingering in Saxony. While the prince strove in many ways to bring them back to unity and the bond of peace and was not able to succeed, he persuaded the other party, that is, the dean with his own, to elect Gwicmann, bishop of Cice, a man still young but noble; and having summoned him, he granted to him the regalia of the same church.

Tradit enim curia et ab aecclesia eo tempore, quo sub Heinrico V. de investitura episcoporum decisa fuit inter regnum et sacerdotium controversia, sibi concessum autumat, quod obeuntibus episcopis, si forte in eligendo partes fiant, principis arbitrii esse episcopumquem voluerit ex primatum suorum consilio ponere, nec aliquem electum ante consecrandum, quam ab ipsius manu regalia per sceptrum suscipiat. Rex, omnibus in Saxonia bene ordinatis cunctisque principibus illius provinciae ad nutum suum inclinatis, Baioariam ingreditur ac Ratisponae, Norici ducatus metropoli, in festivitate apostolorum in monasterio sancti Emmerammi - nam maior aecclesia cum quibusdam civitatis vicis conflagraverat - coronatur. Ad eandem curiam legati ad Eugenium papam Urbem cum caeteris civitatibus Italiae directi, laeta reportantes, redeunt.

The curia transmits and claims that at the time when, under Henry 5, the controversy about the investiture of bishops was decided between kingdom and priesthood, it was conceded to it by the Church that, when bishops pass away, if perchance parties should arise in the electing, it is within the prince’s arbitrium to appoint whatever bishop he wishes with the counsel of his primates, and that no one elected is to be consecrated before he receives the regalia by the scepter from his hand. The king, all things in Saxony well ordered and all the princes of that province inclined to his nod, enters Bavaria and at Regensburg, the metropolis of the Noric duchy, on the feast of the Apostles in the monastery of Saint Emmeram—for the greater church, together with certain quarters of the city, had been consumed by fire—is crowned. To that same curia the legates, sent to Pope Eugenius to the City and to the other cities of Italy, return bringing back happy reports.

Ibi etiam princeps, eo quod, omnibus in proprii imperii finibus ad eius voluntatem compositis, virtutem animi, quam intus gerebat, extra ferri disponeret, Ungaris bellum indicere ipsosque ad monarchiae apicem reducere volebat. Sed cum assensum super hoc principum quibusdam de causis latentibus habere non posset, ad effectum tunc perducere ea quae mente volvebat non valens, ad oportuniora tempora distulit.

There also the prince, for the reason that, with all things within the borders of his own empire composed to his will, he was disposing that the virtue of spirit which he bore within be borne forth outward, wished to declare war upon the Hungarians and to lead them back to the apex of monarchy. But since he could not obtain the assent of the princes in this matter, for certain hidden causes, being unable then to bring to effect the things which he was revolving in mind, he deferred to more opportune times.

Capitulum VII.

Chapter 7.

Erat vero multa serenissimi principis anxietas, cum omnia prospere in regno agerentur, qualiter controversia, quae inter eius carnem et sanguinem, id est Heinricum patruum suum et itidem Heinricum avunculi sui filium duces, de Norico ducatu agitabatur, sine sanguinis effusione terminari posset. Fuit namque Heinricus iste Heinrici quondam Norici ducis filius, quem, ut alibi dictum est, Conradus rex a Baioaria eiectum in Saxonia manere compulerat, ducatumque ipsius primum Leopaldo marchionis Leopaldi filio ac deinde fratri ipsius huic Heinrico concesserat. Rex ergo predictam litem iudicio vel consilio decisurus utrique autumpnali tempore mense Octobre in civitate Herbipoli curiam prefigit; quo dum alter, id est Heinrici ducis filius, veniret, alter se absentaret, iterum et iterum vocatur.

There was indeed much anxiety of the most serene prince, although all things were being done prosperously in the realm, as to how the controversy which was being agitated between his flesh and blood—namely Henry his paternal uncle, and likewise Henry the son of his maternal uncle, both dukes—concerning the Norican duchy, could be terminated without the effusion of blood. For this Henry was the son of Henry, once duke of Noricum, whom, as has been said elsewhere, King Conrad, ejected from Bavaria, had compelled to remain in Saxony, and the duchy of the same he had granted first to Leopold, son of the margrave Leopold, and then to his brother, this Henry. The king therefore, intending to decide the aforesaid suit by judgment or by counsel, appointed for both, at the autumnal time in the month of October, a court in the city of Herbipolis; to which, while the one—namely, the son of Duke Henry—came, the other absented himself; again and again he is summoned.

In eadem curia, exulibus Apuliae, quos Rogerius de solo natali propulerat, lacrimabiliter conquerentibus ac ad pedes principis miserabiliter se proicientibus, expeditio Italica tam pro afflictione horum quam pro corona imperii accipienda paulo minus quam ad duos annos iurata est.

In the same court, while the exiles of Apulia—whom Roger had driven from their natal soil—were lamentably complaining and miserably throwing themselves at the prince’s feet, the Italian expedition, to be undertaken both on account of these men’s affliction and for the crown of the empire, was sworn for a little less than two years.

Capitulum VIII.

Chapter 8.

Porro Gerardus prepositus Romam pergens Eugenium papam adiit eique causam Magdeburgensis aecclesiae aperiens Guicmannum, ut supra dictum est, a principe per electionem alterius partis ibi locatum multis modis de intrusione accusavit. Hanc rem quam gravissime Romanus pontifex exceperit, tam ex litteris, in quibus nonnullis episcopis, qui pro eo ob amorem regis Romanae aecclesiae scripserant, respondit, quam ex cardinalium, qui postmodum ad Transalpina directi sunt, viva voce percepimus.

Furthermore, Gerard the provost, proceeding to Rome, approached Pope Eugene, and, laying open to him the cause of the Church of Magdeburg, accused Guicmannus, as has been said above, who had been placed there by the prince through the election of the other party, in many ways of intrusion. How most gravely the Roman pontiff received this matter we learned as much from letters, in which he replied to certain bishops who had written to the Roman Church for him out of love for the king, as from the viva voce of the cardinals who were afterwards dispatched to the Transalpine regions.

Litterarum autem talis tenor fuit:

But the tenor of the letters was as follows:

Eugeniusepiscopus, servus servorum Dei, venerabilibus fratribus E[berhardo] Salzburgensi, A[rtwico] Bremensi et Hi[llino] Treverensi archiepiscopis, E[berhardo] Babenbergensi, H[ermanno] Constantiensi, H[einrico] Ratisponensi, O[ttoni] Frisingensi, C[onrado] Pataviensi, D[anieli] Pragensi, A[nselmo] Avelbergensi et B[urchardo] Agistadensi episcopis salutem et apostolicam benedictionem. Litteras, quas pro causa Magdeburgensis aecclesiae vestra nobis prudentia delegavit, debita benignitate suscepimus. In lectione autem et cognitione ipsarum stupore nimio et ammiratione repleti sumus, eo quod longe aliud in eis, quam vobis ex officio pontificatus immineat, perspeximus contineri.

Eugenius bishop, servant of the servants of God, to the venerable brothers E[berhard] of Salzburg, A[rtwic] of Bremen, and Hi[llin] of Trier, archbishops, E[berhard] of Bamberg, H[ermann] of Constance, H[enry] of Regensburg, O[tto] of Freising, C[onrad] of Passau, D[aniel] of Prague, A[nselm] of Havelberg, and B[urchard] of Agistad, bishops, greeting and apostolic blessing. The letters which your prudence delegated to us on behalf of the cause of the Magdeburg church we received with due benignity. But in the reading and cognition of them we were filled with excessive stupor and admiration, for we perceived that they contained far other things than what devolves upon you from the office of the pontificate.

Cum enim in aecclesiae vertice sitis ex divina providentia constituti, ut de medio eius quae fuerint nociva propellere, quae utilia debeatis attento studio conservare, in causa ista, sicut ex suggestione litterarum vestrarum nobis innotuit, non quod expediat aecclesiae Dei, quod sacrorum canonum sanctioni concordet, quod exinde a caelesti arbitro approbetur, sed quod terrenis principibus placeat, adtendistis et, qui eorum animos a sua minus recta debuistis intentione deflectere atque ubi esset via Domini demonstrare, non persuasistis quod rectum est nec stetistis murus pro domo Israhel, quin immo, ipsis, ut ait propheta, parietem edificantibus, vos, quod sine grandi animi rancore vix dicimus, linivistis illum luto absque paleis. Non ita sentiebat princeps apostolorum, qui ex fidei suae confessione, ut totius aecclesiae fundamentum esset, accepit, sed comminantibus seculi filiis et apostolis, si predicarent in nomine Ihesu, mortis exterminium intentantibus, confisus de Domini virtute respondit: Oportet obedire Deo magis quam hominibus. Vos autem, ne a terrenis videamini principibus dissentire, illi causae favorem vestrum impenditis, cui et aecclesiasticae auctoritas constitutionis et supernae voluntatis examen pro certo creditur obviare.

Since indeed you are set at the summit of the church by divine providence, to drive out from its midst the things that may have been harmful, and with attentive zeal to preserve the things that are useful, in this cause, as from the suggestion of your letters it has become known to us, you have regarded not what is expedient for the church of God, what accords with the sanction of the sacred canons, what from there would be approved by the heavenly arbiter, but rather what may please earthly princes; and you, who ought to have deflected their spirits from their less right intention and to have demonstrated where the way of the Lord was, you have not persuaded what is right, nor have you stood as a wall for the house of Israel; nay rather, to those themselves, as the prophet says, to the ones building the wall, you—what we scarcely say without great rancor of spirit—have smeared it with mud without straw. The prince of the apostles did not so think, who by the confession of his faith received that he should be the foundation of the whole church; but when the sons of the world were threatening, and were brandishing the extermination of death against the apostles if they preached in the name of Jesus, trusting in the power of the Lord he answered: It is necessary to obey God rather than men. But you, lest you seem to dissent from earthly princes, are expending your favor upon that cause which is believed for certain to run counter both to the ecclesiastical authority of constitution and to the examination of the supernal will.

Cum enim translationes episcoporum sine manifestae utilitatis et necessitatis indicio divinae legisoraculum non permittat, cum etiam multo amplior quam in aliis electionibus cleri et populi eas debeat prevenire concordia, in facienda translatione de venerabili fratre nostro Guicmanno Cicensi episcopo nichil horum est, sed solus favor principis expectatus, et, nec inspecta necessitate illius aecclesiae nec considerata utilitate personae, clero nolente, immo, ut dicitur, ex parte maxima reclamante, in Magdeburgensem eum dicitis aecclesiam supplantandum. Super quo tanto amplius ammiramur, quanto persona illa, cuius gravitatis sit atque scientiae, ab anteactis agnovimus, ac perinde, quantum aecclesiae illi sit utilis, non penitus ignoramus. Quoniam igitur, quicumque temporalis aurae flatibus agitentur, nos in illius petrae soliditate fundati, quae in fundamento meruit aecclesiae collocari, sicut non debemus, ita nec volumus omni vento circumferri doctrinaeaut a sacrorum canonum rectitudine impulsu aliquo deviare, per presentia vobis scripta mandamus, quatinus causae isti favorem ulterius non prestetis et apud karissimum filium nostrum F[ridericum], quem Deus hoc tempore pro servanda libertate aecclesiae in eminentiam regni evexit, efficere vestris exhortationibus studeatis, ut et ipse a sua super hoc intentione desistat et contra Deum, contra sacros canones, contra regiae dignitatis officium eidem causae favorem suum ulterius non impendat, sed aecclesiae Magdeburgensi, sicut et aliis aecclesiis regni a Deo sibi commissi, liberam facultatem quem voluerit secundum Deum eligendi relinquat et electionem ipsam postmodum favore suo, sicut decet maiestatem regiam, prosequatur.

Since the oracle of divine law does not permit translations of bishops without an indication of manifest utility and necessity, and since moreover a much broader concord of the clergy and people than in other elections ought to precede them, in making the translation of our venerable brother, Bishop Guicmannus of Cice (Zeitz), none of these is present, but the sole favor of the prince is expected; and, with neither the necessity of that church examined nor the utility of the person considered, with the clergy unwilling—indeed, as it is said, for the greater part protesting—you say that he is to be foisted into the Church of Magdeburg. Over which we marvel so much the more, inasmuch as that person—of what gravity and knowledge he is—we have learned from past things, and likewise we are not wholly ignorant how useful he is to that church. Therefore, whatever persons may be tossed by the blasts of temporal breeze, we, founded upon the solidity of that rock which deserved to be placed in the foundation of the Church, as we ought not, so neither do we wish to be carried around by every wind of doctrine or to deviate by any impulse from the rectitude of the sacred canons; by the present writings we command you, that you no longer lend favor to this cause, and that with our most dear son Frederick, whom God in this time has raised to the eminence of the kingdom for preserving the liberty of the Church, you strive by your exhortations to bring it about that he also desist from his intention in this matter and no longer expend his favor to the same cause against God, against the sacred canons, against the office of royal dignity, but leave to the Church of Magdeburg, as also to the other churches of the kingdom committed to him by God, the free faculty of choosing whom it will according to God, and thereafter pursue that election with his favor, as befits royal majesty.

Nos enim, si quod de supradicto fratre nostro facere nititur videremus ratione fulciri, nec voluntati eius nec postulationi vestrae duceremus aliquatenus obviandum. Contra Deum autem et sacrorum canonum sanctiones nulli omnino peticioni possumus prebere consensum. Datum Signiae XVI.

For we, if we were to see that what he strives to do concerning our aforesaid brother were supported by reason, would not deem that there should be any opposition offered either to his will or to your petition. But against God and the sanctions of the sacred canons we can grant consent to no petition whatsoever. Given at Segni, 16.

Kal. Septembris.

Kalends of September.

Capitulum VIIII.

Chapter 9.

At rex in proximo pascha Babenberg coronam gestans duos cardinales, videlicet Bernhardum presbiterum et Gregorium diaconem, ad depositionem quorumdam episcoporum ab apostolica sede destinatos, secum habuit. Proximum dehinc pentecosten Wormatiae ferians Heinricum Maguntinae sedis archiepiscopum, virum pro distractione aecclesiae suae frequenter correptum nec correctum, per eosdem cardinales deposuit ac Arnaldum cancellarium suum per quorumdam ex clero et populo, qui illuc venerant, electionem ei subrogavit. Ad predictam curiam prenominati duces ambo Heinrici, pro ducatu Norico, ut dictum est, contendentes, venerunt; sed altero, quod legittime vocatus non fuerit, pretendente debitum finem negotium ibi habere non potuit.

But the king, at the next Pasch in Bamberg, wearing the crown, had with him two cardinals—namely Bernard the presbyter and Gregory the deacon—dispatched by the Apostolic See for the deposition of certain bishops. Then, keeping the next Pentecost at Worms, he deposed through those same cardinals Henry, archbishop of the see of Mainz—a man frequently reproved, and not corrected, for the distraction of his church—and he substituted for him Arnold, his chancellor, by the election of certain of the clergy and people who had come there. To the aforesaid curia the aforementioned dukes, both Henries, contending for the duchy of Noricum, as has been said, came; but as one of them alleged that he had not been lawfully summoned, the business could not there have its due end.

Idem etiam cardinales permissu principis Burchardum Eistetensem, senio gravem, de inutilitate causantes, itidem submoverunt. Dumque post haec in Magdeburgensem et quosdam alios sententiam ferre cogitarent, a principe inhibiti et ad propria redire iussi sunt.

The same cardinals also, with the prince’s permission, likewise removed Burchard of Eichstätt, burdened with old age, alleging unfitness. And while after these things they were considering to pronounce sentence upon the Magdeburg prelate and certain others, they were inhibited by the prince and ordered to return to their own places.

Capitulum X.

Chapter 10.

Ea tempestate Eugenius papa, vir iustus et religione insignis, ab hac luce transiens Anastasio, homini veterano et in consuetudine illius curiae exercitato, sedem reliquit. A quo dum cardinalis quidam Girardus nominead terminandam Magdeburgensis electi causam missus fuissetac principem in eadem civitate natale Dominicelebrantem adisset, cum quaedam ibi secus ipsius nutum tractare vellet, indignationem eius incurrens, infectis negotiis, pro quibus venerat, mandatis sevioribus inglorie redire coactus, in via etiam vita decessit. Verum princeps missis ad Anastasium cum Gwicmanno nunciis non solum facti sui ratihabitionem, sed etiam pallium obtinere eum fecit, non sine quorumdam scandalo, qui, ne umquam id fieret, immobiliter fixum Romanos tenere a proprio ipsorum ore audierant.

At that time Pope Eugenius, a just man and distinguished in religion, passing from this light left the see to Anastasius, a veteran man and practiced in the custom of that curia. By whom, when a certain cardinal named Girard had been sent to terminate the cause of the elected of Magdeburg and had approached the prince celebrating the Nativity of the Lord in the same city, since he wished there to handle certain matters contrary to his nod, incurring his indignation, with the business unfinished for which he had come, compelled by rather harsher commands to return ingloriously, he even departed life on the way. But the prince, having sent messengers to Anastasius with Gwicmannus, caused him to obtain not only ratihabition of his deed, but also the pallium, not without the scandal of certain persons, who had heard from the very mouths of the Romans that they held it immovably fixed that this should never be done.

Exhinc non solum in secularibus, sed et in aecclesiasticis negotiis disponendis auctoritas principis plurimum crevit.

From then on, the authority of the prince grew very greatly, not only in secular but also in ecclesiastical affairs, in the disposing of them.

Capitulum XI.

Chapter 11.

Circa idem tempus, mense Septembre, principes maioresque Baioariae a rege Ratisponae convocantur, sed nichil ibi de bono pacis in illa provincia propter duorum ducum litem terminari poterat. Rex tamen, quia non multo ante haec per apostolicae sedis legatos ab uxore suaob vinculum consanguinitatis separatus fuerat, pro ducenda alia pertractans, ad Manuel Grecorum imperatorem tam pro hoc negotio quam pro Gwilhelmo Siculo, qui patre suo Rogerio noviterdefuncto successerat, utriusque imperii invasore, debellando in Greciam legatos destinandos ordinat, sicque primatum suorum consilio Anshelmus Havelbergensis episcopus et Alexander Apuliae quondam comes, sed a Rogerio cum caeteris eiusdem provinciae nobilibus ob suspitionem dominandi propulsus, eandem legationem suscipiunt. Proximo dehinc mense Decembrio utrique duces Heinricus et itidem Heinricus iudicio principis in civitate Spira adsistunt, sed iterum altero de legittima se vocatione excusante, res protelatur.

Around the same time, in the month of September, the princes and greater men of Bavaria are convoked by the king at Regensburg, but nothing there could be terminated for the good of peace in that province on account of the quarrel of the two dukes. The king, however, because not long before these things he had been separated from his wife by legates of the apostolic see on account of the bond of consanguinity, negotiating for leading another in marriage, arranges that legates be sent into Greece to Manuel, emperor of the Greeks, as much for this business as for the subduing of William the Sicilian—who, his father Roger having newly died, had succeeded him, an invader of both empires. And thus, by the counsel of his primates, Anselm, bishop of Havelberg, and Alexander, formerly count of Apulia, but expelled by Roger together with the other nobles of the same province on suspicion of aiming at dominion, undertake the same legation. In the next month thereafter, December, both dukes Henry, and likewise Henry, appear for the judgment of the prince in the city of Speyer; but again, with one excusing himself on the ground of not having been lawfully summoned, the matter is prolonged.

Itaque Fridericus, dum iam fere per biennium ad decidendam litem duorum principum, sibi, ut dictum est, ex propinquitate sanguinis tam affinium, laborasset, tandem alterius instantia, qui in paternam hereditatem, a qua diu propulsus fuerat, redire cupiebat, flexus, imminente etiam sibi expeditionis labore, in qua eundem iuvenem militem sociumque viae habere debuit, finem negotio imponere cogebatur. Proinde in oppido Saxoniae Goslaria curiam celebrans utrosque duces datis edictis evocavit. Ubi dum altero veniente alter se absentaret, iudicio principum alteri, id est Heinrico Saxoniae duci, Baioariae ducatus adiudicatur.

Accordingly Frederick, while for almost a two-year span he had labored to decide the dispute of the two princes, who, as has been said, were related to him both by proximity of blood and by affinity, at length, bent by the urgency of the one who desired to return into the paternal inheritance from which he had long been repelled, and with the toil of an expedition also impending upon himself—in which he ought to have that same young man as soldier and companion of the road—was compelled to impose an end upon the business. Therefore, holding a court in the Saxon town of Goslar, he summoned both dukes by edicts issued. There, while the one was coming, the other kept himself absent; by the judgment of the princes the duchy of Bavaria was adjudged to the other, that is, to Henry, duke of Saxony.

Post haec princeps de Saxonia in Baioariam se recipiens ac inde per Alemanniam transiens anno regni sui tercio in campania Lici fluminis, termino Baioariae, contra civitatem Augustensem circa principium mensis Octobris militem in Italiam iturus collegit, finitis, ex quo iurata fuerat primo expeditio, pene duobus annis. Nec illustrem animum a tam illustri facto ex recenter prolata in tam magnum imperii principem sententia et exhinc obortum non parvum aliorum principum murmur revocare poterat, quin omnia quae retro erant tamquam floccipendens Deo se committendo in anteriora extenderetur. Per Brixinoram itaque et vallem Tridentinam transiens, emensis Alpium angustiis, in campestribus Veronensium iuxta stagnum Garde castra metatur.

After these things the prince, withdrawing from Saxony into Bavaria and thence passing through Alemannia, in the third year of his reign on the champaign of the Lech River, at the boundary of Bavaria, opposite the city of Augsburg, around the beginning of the month of October, gathered soldiery, being about to go into Italy, with almost two years finished since the first expedition had been sworn. Nor could his illustrious spirit be called back from so illustrious a deed by the sentence recently pronounced against so great a prince of the empire, and the not small murmur of other princes arising from this, but, valuing as a trifle all things that were behind, committing himself to God, he stretched forward to the things before. Therefore, passing through Brixen and the Trentine valley, and the narrow passes of the Alps having been traversed, in the plains of the Veronese near Lake Garda he pitches camp.

Ubi dum de processu ad ulteriora cum principibus consilium iniret, primo caeli principem conciliandum decrevit. Denique miles per claustra montium transiens, ob difficultatem locorum victui necessaria invenire nequiens, dum penuriam magnam, quod in exercitibus molestissimum esse solet, pateretur, nonnulla sacra loca violarat. Ad haec, quamvis predictam necessitudinis excusationem habere viderentur, expianda rex a toto exercitu collectam fieri iubet; et sic non modicam coadunatam pecuniam per quosdam religiosos viros duobus episcopis, Tridentino scilicet et Brixinorensi, remittendam ac per singula sanctorum loca, quae dampnum passa fuerant, dividendam statuit, pulchre communi utilitati consulens, pulchre rectoris officium implens, ut maxima adorsurus negotia ante omnia rectorem et plasmatorem omnium, sine quo nichil bene inchoatur, nichil prospere consummatur, placandum eiusque offensam a populo suo avertendam intenderet.

Where, as he was entering into counsel with the princes about a progress to ulterior parts, he decreed that the Prince of heaven must first be conciliated. Finally, as the soldiery, passing through the defiles of the mountains, by reason of the difficulty of the places were unable to find the things necessary for victuals, while they were suffering a great penury—which is wont to be most vexatious in armies—they had violated some sacred places. To these matters, although they seemed to have the aforesaid excuse of necessity, the king orders an expiation to be made, a collection from the whole army; and thus he resolves that the not small coadunated money be remitted through certain religious men to two bishops—namely the Trento and the Brixen—and be divided among each of the holy places which had suffered damage, handsomely consulting the common utility, handsomely fulfilling the office of a rector, so that, about to undertake the greatest businesses, before all things he might intend that the ruler and fashioner of all things—without whom nothing is well begun, nothing is prosperously consummated—be placated, and that His offense be averted from his people.

Capitulum XII.

Chapter 12.

Inde castra movens, in campo Roncaliae super Padum, non longe a Placentia, mense Novembrio resedit. Est autem consuetudinis regum Francorum, qui et Teutonicorum, ut, quotienscumque ad sumendam Romani imperii coronam militem ad transalpizandum coegerint, in predicto campo mansionem faciant. Ibi ligno in altum porrecto scutum suspenditur, universorumque equitum agmen feoda habentium ad excubias proxima nocte principi faciendas per curiae preconem exposcitur.

Thence moving the camp, he halted on the plain of Roncaglia above the Po, not far from Piacenza, in the month of November. Now it is the custom of the kings of the Franks, who are also of the Teutons, that whenever they have compelled the soldiery to cross the Alps for the taking of the Roman Empire’s crown, they make their lodging in the aforesaid field. There a shield is hung upon a piece of wood stretched aloft, and the whole array of knights holding fiefs is summoned through the herald of the court to keep the watches for the prince on the next night.

Quod sectantes qui in eius comitatu fuerint principes, singuli singulos beneficiatos suos per precones [itidem suos] exposcunt. At sequenti die quicumque nocturnis vigiliis defuisse deprehensus fuerit, denuo ad presentiam regis aliorumque principum vel virorum illustrium evocatur, sicque omnes omnium beneficiati, qui sine bona voluntate dominorum suorum domi remanserunt, in feodis dampnantur. Hunc morem principe secuto, non solum laicorum feoda, sed et quorumdam episcoporum, id est Hartwici Bremensis et Ulrici Halberstadensis, regalia personis tantum, quia nec personis, sed aecclesiis perpetualiter a principibus tradita sunt, abiudicata fuere.

Following this, the princes who were in his retinue, each one summons through heralds [their own likewise] each his own beneficiaries. But on the following day, whoever shall have been discovered to have been absent from the night watches is again called to the presence of the king and of the other princes or illustrious men; and thus all the beneficiaries of all, who remained at home without the good will of their lords, are condemned in respect of their fiefs. The prince following this custom, not only the fiefs of laymen, but also, of certain bishops—that is, of Hartwig of Bremen and Ulrich of Halberstadt—the regalia only against the persons, because they were delivered perpetually by the princes not to the persons but to the churches, were adjudged away.

Sed quoniam huius terrae mentio habita est, de ipsius situ ac ritu, et a quibus prius inhabitata, quove nomine dicta, a quibus postmodum possessa, quo censeatur vocabulo, paucis absolvam.

But since mention of this land has been had, concerning its situation and rite, and by whom it was formerly inhabited, and by what name it was called, by whom afterwards possessed, by what vocable it is to be deemed, I will conclude in a few words.

Capitulum XIII.

Chapter 13.

Haec Pyreneo seu Apennino, altissimis et scopulosissimis alpibus, in oblongum ductis, hinc inde septa, tamquam eorumdem vel potius eiusdem montis umbilicus, ut vere deliciarum hortus, a Tyrreno mari usque ad Adriatici equoris horam protenditur, habens ad septentrionem Pyreneas, ut dictum est, alpes, ab austro Apenninum, qui modo mutato nomine mons Bardonis vulgo dicitur, ab occidente Tyrrenum, ab oriente Adriaticum equor. Padi vel Eridani fluminis, quem unum inter tria Europae flumina famosissima topografi ponunt, caeterorumque amnium decursu irrigua, soli dulcedine caelique temperie frumenti, vini et olei ferax, in tantum ut arbores fructiferas, precipue castaneas, ficeta et oliveta instar nemorum educet. Romanorum colonia ulterior Italia olim dicebatur, tribus distincta provinciis, Venetia, Emilia, Liguria, quarum primae Aquilegia, secundae Ravenna, terciae Mediolanum metropoles fuere.

This region, enclosed on either side by the Pyrenean or Apennine, very high and most craggy Alps drawn out lengthwise, as if the navel of those same—or rather of the same—mountain, truly like a garden of delights, is extended from the Tyrrhenian sea up to the shore of the Adriatic sea, having to the north the Pyrenean Alps, as has been said, to the south the Apennine, which now, with its name changed, is commonly called Mount Bardon, to the west the Tyrrhenian, to the east the Adriatic sea. Watered by the course of the Po or Eridanus river—which topographers place as one among the three most famous rivers of Europe—and by the flow of the other rivers, by the sweetness of the soil and the temperateness of the sky it is fertile in grain, wine, and oil, to such an extent that it brings forth fruit-bearing trees, especially chestnut-groves, fig-orchards, and olive-groves, like forests. A colony of the Romans, it was formerly called Further Italy, distinguished into three provinces, Venetia, Aemilia, Liguria, whose metropolises were Aquileia for the first, Ravenna for the second, Milan for the third.

At in ipso Apennino, ubi et urbs Roma sita noscitur, quae modo Tuscia vocatur, eo quod Apennino inclusa Urbem quoque ipsam in sinu suo contineat, interior Italia iure dicta est. Illa vero, quae post emensionem montium campania excipitur, unde et, a re nomen trahens, Campania adhuc dici solet, ac usque ad Farum, brachium maris, navibus ob sirtes inportunum, Siciliam a solido seiungens, producitur - nam Sicilia Europam terminans Sardiniae caeterisque Italiae insulis adnumeratur -, olim citerior Italia vel Maior Grecia vocabatur, nunc Apulia vel Calabria dicta. Quamvis aliqui hanc et mediam pro una reputantes Italia, Citeriorem seu Maiorem Greciam dicere maluerint Italiam, non tres, sicut premissum est, sed duas tantum, Ulteriorem et Citeriorem, ponentes Italias.

But in the Apennine itself, where the city Rome also is known to be situated, which is now called Tuscany, because, being enclosed by the Apennine, it contains even the City itself in its bosom, is rightly called Interior Italy. That, however, which, after the surmounting of the mountains, the campania (plain) takes up—whence also, drawing its name from the thing, it is still wont to be called Campania—and is prolonged as far as the Faro, an arm of the sea, inopportune for ships on account of the shoals, sundering Sicily from the solid land—for Sicily, bounding Europe, is reckoned together with Sardinia and the other islands of Italy—was formerly called Hither Italy or Greater Greece, now called Apulia or Calabria. Although some, reckoning this and the middle as one Italy, preferred to call Hither Italy or Greater Greece “Italy,” positing not three Italies, as aforesaid, but only two: Further and Hither.

Nonnulli tamen predictas alpes Apenninum et Pyreneum eadem montana esse volunt, eo quod circa eas partes, qua Ianua civitas, in navalibus preliis satis exercitata, super Tyrrenum equor sita est, conveniendo predictam claudant provinciam; in argumentum suae assertionis inducentes, quod Pannonia iuxta Ysidorumtamquam Apennino clausa nomen accepit, quam non Apenninus, qui [modo] mons Bardonis [dicitur], sed Pyreneae attingunt alpes. Patet, ut arbitror, cur hanc terram duorum montium vel eiusdem supraumbilicum dixerim. Barbarorum vero incursionibus ac dominationi, qui a Scanzia insula cum Alboin duce venientes Pannonias primo inhabitarunt, subiacere incipiens ab eisdem, eo quod ad augendum exercitum feminis, reflexis ad mentum crinibus sicque virilem et barbatam faciem imitantibus, et idcirco Longobardis a longis barbis vocitatis, et ipsa Longobardia appellari consuevit.

Nonetheless, some wish the aforesaid Alps, the Apennine and the Pyrenees, to be the same mountain-range, because around those parts where the city of Genoa, quite exercised in naval battles, is situated upon the Tyrrhenian sea, by converging they enclose the aforesaid province; bringing forward in argument of their assertion that Pannonia, according to Isidore, as if shut in by the Apennine, took its name—whereas it is not the Apennine, which [now] is [called] Mount Bardon, but the Pyrenean Alps that touch it. It is clear, as I think, why I have called this land the over-navel of two mountains or of the same one. Beginning to be subject to the incursions and domination of barbarians, who, coming from the island of Scandia with Duke Alboin, first inhabited the Pannonias, from these same it also came to be called Longobardy, because, for augmenting the army, the women, with their hair bent back to the chin and thus imitating a manly and bearded face, and on that account called Longobards from long beards, the land itself likewise has been accustomed to be named Longobardy.

Ex quo contingit, ut circa exarchatum Ravennatensem artatis antiquis eiusdem provinciae incolis ea pars Italiae, quae antea Emilia dicebatur, nunc Romaniola, quod diminutivum a Roma tractum noscitur, vulgo usque hodie dici soleat. Verumtamen barbaricae deposito feritatis rancore, ex eo forsan, quod indigenis per conubia iuncti filios ex materno sanguine ac terrae aerisve proprietate aliquid Romanae mansuetudinis et sagacitatis trahentes genuerint, Latini sermonis elegantiam morumque retinent urbanitatem. In civitatum quoque dispositione ac rei publicae conservatione antiquorum adhuc Romanorum imitantur sollertiam.

Whence it comes about that, around the Ravenna Exarchate, with the ancient inhabitants of that same province having been constrained, that part of Italy which before was called Emilia is now commonly, even to this day, called Romagnola, which is known to be a diminutive drawn from Rome. Nevertheless, the rancor of barbaric ferocity having been laid aside—perhaps from this, that, joined to the natives through marriages, they begot sons who, drawing something of Roman gentleness and sagacity from the maternal blood and from the property of the land or of the air—retain the elegance of the Latin speech and the urbanity of manners. In the disposition of cities also and in the conservation of the commonwealth, they still imitate the skill of the ancient Romans.

Denique libertatem tantopere affectant, ut potestatis insolentiam fugiendo consulum potius quam imperantium regantur arbitrio. Cumque tres inter eos ordines, id est capitaneorum, vavassorum, plebis, esse noscantur, ad reprimendam superbiam non de uno, sed de singulis predicti consules eliguntur, neve ad dominandi libidinem prorumpant, singulis pene annis variantur. Ex quo fit, ut, tota illa terra inter civitates ferme divisa, singulae ad commanendum secum diocesanos compulerint, vixque aliquis nobilis vel vir magnus tam magno ambitu inveniri queat, qui civitatis suae non sequatur imperium.

Finally, they aspire to liberty so greatly that, by fleeing the insolence of power, they are governed by the arbitration of consuls rather than of rulers. And whereas three orders among them are known to exist, that is, of captains, vavassors, and the plebs, in order to repress pride consuls are chosen not from one, but from each of the aforesaid; and lest they burst forth into the lust of dominating, they are changed almost every single year. Whence it comes about that, all that land being almost divided among cities, each has compelled its diocesans to dwell with it; and scarcely can any noble or great man be found within so great a compass who does not follow the authority of his own city.

Consueverunt autem singuli singula territoria ex hac comminandipotestate comitatus suos appellare. Ut etiam ad comprimendos vicinos materia non careant, inferioris conditionis iuvenes vel quoslibet contemptibilium etiam mechanicarum artium opifices, quos caeterae gentes ab honestioribus et liberioribus studiis tamquam pestem propellunt, ad miliciae cingulum vel dignitatum gradus assumere non dedignantur. Ex quo factum est, ut caeteris orbis civitatibus divitiis et potentia [longe] premineant.

Moreover, individuals have been accustomed, each, to call particular territories, from this power of command, their own counties. So that they may also not lack material for pressing down their neighbors, they do not disdain to assume to the militia’s belt or to grades of dignities youths of lower condition, or any craftsmen even of the contemptible mechanical arts—whom the other peoples drive away from more honorable and freer pursuits as if a plague. Whence it has come about that they [far] preeminent over the other cities of the world in riches and power.

Iuvantur ad hoc non solum, ut dictum est, morum suorum industria, sed et principum in Transalpinis manere assuetorum absentia. In hoc tamen antiquae nobilitatis immemores barbaricae fecis retinent vestigia, quod, cum legibus se vivere glorientur, legibus non obsecuntur. Nam principem, cui voluntariam exhibere deberent subiectionis reverentiam, vix aut numquam reverenter suscipiunt vel ea quae secundum legum integritatem sancciverit obedienter excipiunt, nisi eius multi militis astipulatione coacti sentiant auctoritatem.

They are aided toward this not only, as has been said, by the industry of their own customs, but also by the absence of princes accustomed to remain in the Transalpine regions. In this, however, unmindful of ancient nobility, they retain the vestiges of barbaric dregs: that, though they boast that they live by laws, they do not obey the laws. For the prince, to whom they ought to exhibit the voluntary reverence of subjection, they scarcely or never receive with reverence, nor do they obediently accept those things which he has sanctioned according to the integrity of the laws, unless, compelled by the backing of many soldiery, they come to feel his authority.

Ob ea frequenter contingit, ut, quamvis civis lege flectendus, adversarius armis cogendus secundum leges sit, ipsum tamen, quem ut proprium principem mitem suscipere oportebat, sepius iura propria exposcentem hostiliter excipiant. Ex quo duplex rei publicae nascitur detrimentum, ut et princeps ad subiugationem civis in colligendo exercitu distrahatur, et civis non sine magno rerum suarum dispendio ad obedientiam principis [sui] compellatur. Quare eadem ratione qua populum super hoc incusat temeritas, sic principem aput Deum et homines excusare debebit necessitas.

On account of these things it frequently happens that, although a citizen ought to be bent by law and an adversary to be compelled by arms according to the laws, nevertheless they receive with hostility the very one whom they ought to welcome as their own gentle prince, when he more often demands his own rights. Whence a double detriment to the commonwealth arises: both that the prince is distracted in mustering an army for the subjugation of a citizen, and that the citizen is compelled to obedience to [his] prince not without great loss of his resources. Wherefore, by the same reasoning by which temerity accuses the people in this matter, so necessity ought to excuse the prince before God and men.

Capitulum XIIII.

Chapter 14.

Inter caeteras eiusdem gentis civitates Mediolanum primatum nunc optinet. [Que] inter Padum et Pyreneum sita, Ticino et Adua ab eodem Pyreneo nascentibus ac in Pado se recipientibus et ob hoc sinum quendam fertilissimum in modum insulae facientibus media posita, rite Mediolanum vocatur, quamvis nonnulliex quodam portentuoso sue, unam medietatem setas et alteram lanam habente, a fundatoribus Mediolanum dictam putent. Haec ergo non solum ex sui magnitudine virorumve fortium copia, verum etiam ex hoc, quod duas vicinas civitates in eodem sinu positas, id est Cumam et Laudam, ditioni suae adiecit, aliis, ut dictum est, civitatibus celebrior habetur.

Among the other cities of the same nation, Mediolanum now holds the primacy. [Which], situated between the Po and the Pyrenaeus, with the Ticino and the Adda rising from that same Pyrenaeus and emptying themselves into the Po, and on account of this, being set in the middle, the rivers forming a certain most fertile basin in the manner of an island, is rightly called Mediolanum; although some think that from a certain portentous sow, having one half bristles and the other wool, it was named Mediolanum by the founders. This city, therefore, not only because of its own greatness and its supply of brave men, but also because it added two neighboring cities set in the same basin, that is, Como and Lodi, to its dominion, is held more renowned than the other cities, as has been said.

Porro, ut in rebus caducis ex arridentis fortunae blandimento fieri solet, rebus secundis elata in tantam elationis extumuit audatiam, ut non solum vicinos quosque infestare non refugiat, sed et ipsius principis maiestatem non reformidando eius ausa fuerit incurrere recenter offensam. Quod quibus de causis exordium sumpserit, postmodum breviter aperiam.

Moreover, as in caducous things it is wont to happen through the blandishment of smiling Fortune, lifted up by prosperous affairs it swelled into so great an audacity of elation that it not only does not shrink from infesting each of its neighbors, but even, not dreading the majesty of the prince himself, dared to incur his recent displeasure. From what causes this exordium took its beginning, I will afterward briefly lay open.

Capitulum XV.

Chapter 15.

Interea quedam de iusticia regni dicenda videntur. Mosenim antiquus, ex quo imperium Romanum ad Francos derivatum est, ad nostra usque deductus est tempora, ut, quotienscumque reges Italiam ingredi destinaverint, gnaros quoslibet de familiaribus suis premittant, qui singulas civitates seu oppida peragrando ea quae ad fiscum regalem spectant, quae ab accolis fodrum dicuntur, exquirant. Ex quo fit, ut principe adveniente plurimae civitates, oppida, castella, quae huic iusticiae vel omnino contradicendo vel integraliter non persolvendo reniti conantur, ad solum usque prostrata proterviae suae documentum posteris ostendant.

Meanwhile, certain things about the justice of the realm seem to be said. For an ancient custom, from the time when the Roman imperium was transferred to the Franks down to our own times, has been maintained: whenever kings have decided to enter Italy, they send ahead some knowledgeable men from among their household, who, by traversing each city or town, inquire into those things which pertain to the royal fisc, which by the inhabitants are called fodrum. From this it comes about that, when the prince arrives, very many cities, towns, and castles, which try to resist this justice either by altogether gainsaying it or by not paying it in full, are laid low to the very ground, to show to posterity a proof of their petulance.

Alia itidem ex antiqua consuetudine manasse traditur iusticia, ut principe Italiam intrante cunctae vacare debeant dignitates et magistratus ac ad ipsius nutum secundum scita legum iurisque peritorum iudicium universa tractari. Tantam ei quoque iudices terrae recognoscere dicuntur iurisdictionem, ut ex omnibus, quae terra producere solet, usui necessariis, exceptis vix bubus et seminibus ad excolendam terram ydoneis, de caeteris quantum necesse fuerit militi profuturis ad regios usus suppeditare aequum arbitrentur.

Another justice likewise is handed down as having flowed from ancient consuetude, namely that, when the prince enters Italy, all dignities and magistracies ought to be vacant, and that all things be handled at his nod according to the enactments of the laws and the judgment of jurists. So great a jurisdiction also the judges of the land are said to recognize in him, that from all the things which the land is wont to produce, necessary for use—only the oxen and the seeds suitable for cultivating the land being excepted—they deem it equitable, from the rest, to supply to royal uses, as much as shall be necessary of things that will benefit the soldiery.

Capitulum XVI.

Chapter 16.

Igitur rege aput Roncalias per quinque, ut aiunt, dies sedente et ex principum ac de universis pene civitatibus consulum seu maiorum conventu curiam celebrante, diversa hinc inde diversis ex querimoniis emersere negotia. Inter quae Gwilhelmus marchio de Monte-ferrato, vir nobilis et magnus et qui pene solus ex Italiae baronibus civitatum effugere potuit imperium, simul et Astensis episcopus, gravem uterque super Astensium, alter, id est marchio, super oppidanorum Kairaeconquestionem facientes insolentia. Nequeenim multum ad principis triumphi titulum respectu aliorum ipsius gestorum fortium facere arbitramur, si de castellis, rupibus, oppidis villisque magnis, quae ab ingressu suo non solum militari ordine, sed etiam armigerorum tumultuationis assultu subversa sunt, diceremus, ad maiora festinantes.

Accordingly, the king, sitting at Roncaglias for five, as they say, days and, with a convocation of princes and of consuls or elders from almost all the cities, holding a curia, various matters emerged here and there from various complaints. Among these, William, marquess of Montferrat, a noble and great man, and one who almost alone among the barons of Italy was able to escape the imperium of the cities, and likewise the bishop of Asti, each made a grave complaint about the insolence of the men of Asti, and the other—namely the marquess—about the insolence of the townsmen of Cayra. For we do not think it contributes much to the title of the prince’s triumph, in respect to his other brave deeds, if we were to speak of the castles, crags, towns, and great villages which from his entry were overthrown not only by military order, but even by the assault of the tumult of the armigeri (arms-bearers), as we hasten on to greater things.

Aderant etiam Cumanorum seu Laudensium consules de attritionis suae diutina miseria lacrimabilem super Mediolanensium superbia facientes querimoniam, presentibus duobus consulibus eiusdem civitatis, Oberto de Orto et Girardo Nigro. Princeps igitur his de causis superiores Italiae partes aditurus, per Mediolanensium fines transire volens, predictos consules tamquam viae duces futuros et de ydoneis tabernaculorum locis disposituros secum retinuit.

There were also present the consuls of the men of Como or of Lodi, making a tearful complaint about the long misery of their attrition over the arrogance of the Milanese, with the two consuls of that same city present, Oberto de Orto and Girardo Nigro. Therefore the Prince, for these causes about to approach the upper parts of Italy, wishing to pass through the borders of the Milanese, retained with him the aforesaid consuls as though they would be guides of the way and would arrange for suitable places for the tents.

Venerunt etiam ad eandem curiam legati Ianuensium, qui non longe ante haec tempora, captis in Hyspania inclitis civitatibus et in sericorum pannorum opificio prenobilissimis Almaria et Ulixibona, Sarracenorum spoliis onusti redierant, leones, strutiones, psitacos cum caeteris preciosis muneribus principi presentantes.

There also came to the same court envoys of the Genoese, who not long before this time, after the capture in Spain of the illustrious cities Almería and Lisbon, most renowned for the manufacture of silken cloths, had returned laden with the spoils of the Saracens, presenting lions, ostriches, parrots to the prince along with the other precious gifts.

Capitulum XVII.

Chapter 17.

Fridericus ergo ad superiora, ut dictum est, ulterioris Italiae profecturus, a Roncaliis copias ducens, in territorio Mediolanensium castra posuit. Dumque a prenominatis consulibus per arida, ubi nec stipendiainveniri nec ex mercatu haberi possent, circumduceretur loca, indignatione motus, iussis primo, ut ad propria redirent, consulibus, in Mediolanenses arma convertit. Accessit ad huius indignationis cumulum, quod ex maxima ymbrium effusione totus exacerbatus fuisse dicitur exercitus, ut ex hac duplici, inediae videlicet et caeli inclementiae, molestia cuncti, prout poterant, principem adversus eos concitarent.

Therefore Frederick, to the upper regions of farther Italy, as has been said, about to set out, leading his troops from Roncaglia, pitched camp in the territory of the Milanese. And while by the aforementioned consuls he was being led around through dry places, where neither rations could be found nor obtained from the market, moved by indignation, having first ordered the consuls to return to their own places, he turned his arms against the Milanese. There was added to the heap of this indignation that, from the very great effusion of rains, the whole army is said to have been exasperated, so that from this twofold annoyance—namely of famine and of the inclemency of the sky—all, as far as they could, incited the prince against them.

Alia itidem huius commotionis non parva causa fuit, quod princeps temeritatis illorum in hoc tumorem presenserat, quod non solum civitates, quas destruxerant, reedificari pati nollent, quin etiam ad iniquitatis illorum assensum ipsius nobilem et incorruptum hactenus animum pecunia inclinare ac corrumpere satagebant. Rex castra de aridis locis movens, ad fertilia ipsius territorii habitacula non longe a civitate se transferens, militem lassatum refecit.

Another likewise not small cause of this commotion was that the prince had perceived beforehand the swelling of their temerity, in that they not only were unwilling to allow the cities which they had destroyed to be rebuilt, but even strove to incline and corrupt with money his noble and hitherto incorrupt mind to an assent to their iniquity. The king, moving the camp from the arid places and transferring himself to the habitations of the fertile part of that territory not far from the city, refreshed the wearied soldiery.

Capitulum XVIII.

Chapter 18.

Erat in vicino oppidum quoddam satis populosum Rosatum, ubi Mediolanenses circiter quingentorum equitum armatorum presidia locaverant. Iubentur ergo equites ad civitatem redire, direptisque omnibus usui necessariis, ipsum oppidum flammae datur. Ibi quidam ex equitibus principis usque ad portas Mediolanensium progressi, quibusdam vulneratis, quosdam cepere.

There was in the vicinity a certain sufficiently populous town, Rosatum, where the Milanese had stationed garrisons of about five hundred armed horsemen. Therefore the horsemen are ordered to return to the city, and, with all things necessary for use despoiled, the town itself is given to the flame. There some of the prince’s horsemen, having progressed up to the gates of the Milanese, with some wounded, seized others.

Mediolanenses non solum dampno presentium, sed et metu futurorumstupefacti Girardi consulis, tamquam huius mali auctoris, domum, principis iram mitigaturi, diruunt. At princeps huius rei nichil pensi habens ad Ticinum usque amnem, maiores his clades irrogaturus, procedit. Is amnis a Pyreneo, ut supraostensum est, surgens et Padum seu Eridanum iuxta Papiam, quae exhinc Ticinum vocatur, influens insulam Mediolanensium ab occidentali latere cingit.

The Milanese, stupefied not only by the damage of things present but also by fear of things to come, demolish the house of Gerard the consul, as the author of this evil, in order to mitigate the prince’s wrath. But the prince, holding nothing of this matter as weighty, advances up to the river Ticino, about to inflict calamities greater than these. This river, rising from the Pyrenees, as has been shown above, and flowing into the Po, or Eridanus, near Pavia, which from this point is called Ticinum, encircles the island of the Milanese on the western side.

Ibi duos pontes ligneos, quos ipsi ob incursum in Papienses et Novarienses construxerant ac ob illorum impetum reprimendum propugnaculis munierant, occupat transmissoque per eos milite ignibus tradit. Deinde tria ipsorum castra munita et decora, id est Mummam, Gailardam, Tricam, quae ad expugnationem Novariensium in ipsorum territorio firmaverant, expugnata cremantur. Est autem Novaria civitas non magna, sed, ex quo ab imperatore Heinricoolim eversa reedificari coepit, muro novo et vallo non modico munita, comitem habens in sua diocesi Gwidonem Blanderatensem, qui preter morem Italicum totum ipsius civitatis territorium, vix ipsa civitate excepta, Mediolanensium possidet auctoritate, inhiantibus adhuc Mediolanensibus, ut et hanc simul et Papiam sicut alias [predictas] absorbeant civitates.

There he seizes two wooden bridges, which they themselves had constructed for a raid against the Pavians and Novarians and had fortified with bulwarks for checking their assault; and, troops sent across them, he consigns them to flames. Then three of their fortified and well-appointed camps, that is, Mumma, Gailarda, Trica, which they had strengthened in their territory for the storming of the Novarians, are burned after being taken by storm. Now Novaria is not a great city, but, since it began to be rebuilt after it was once overthrown by Emperor Henry, it has been fortified with a new wall and a rampart not small, having within its diocese a count, Guido of Blandrate, who, contrary to Italian custom, holds by the authority of the Milanese all the territory of that city, the city itself scarcely excepted, the Milanese still gaping to absorb both this and Pavia along with the other [aforementioned] cities.

Facta est haec victoria mense Decembrio, nataleque Domini circa predictorum excidium castrorum a principe cum magna celebratur alacritate.

This victory was made in the month of December, and the Nativity of the Lord, around the destruction of the aforesaid camps, is celebrated by the prince with great alacrity.

Capitulum XVIIII.

Chapter 19.

Post haec princeps per Vercellum et Taurinum transiens, transvadato ibi Pado, ad inferiora versus Papiam iter reflectit. Verum oppidani Kairae simul et Astenses cives, eo quod precepto principis de exhibenda marchioni suo Gwilhelmo de Monte-ferrato iusticia minime paruissent, tamquam rebellionis rei hostes iudicati proscribuntur. Ad quorum puniendam contumaciam dum rex exercitum ducit, illi relictis munitionibus, velut viribus suis diffidentes, ad vicina montana diffugiunt.

After these things the prince, passing through Vercelli and Turin, with the Po crossed there, turns his journey downwards toward Pavia. But the townsmen of Chieri and likewise the citizens of Asti, because they had in no way obeyed the prince’s precept about rendering justice to their marquis William of Montferrat, are proscribed, judged as enemies guilty of rebellion. To punish their contumacy, while the king leads the army, they, leaving their fortifications, as if distrusting their own forces, scatter to the neighboring mountains.

Rex primo Kairam veniens, inventis sufficienter victualibus, per aliquot ibi dies mansit; turres, quae nonpaucae ibidem fuere, destruxit oppidumque succendit. Inde Astam procedens vacuamque non opibus, sed habitatore repperiens civitatem, non paucis ibi diebus manens, igni eam et direptioni dedit. Antevero quam abinde castra moverentur, consilio sapientum rex habito, propter crebras, quae in exercitu ortae fuerant, seditiones aliqua militi in posterum profutura ordinare disponit.

The king, first coming to Kaira and having found victuals in sufficient measure, remained there for several days; he destroyed the towers, which were not few there, and set the town ablaze. Thence proceeding to Asti and finding the city empty not of resources but of inhabitant, remaining there for not a few days, he gave it to fire and to depredation. But before the camp was moved from there, the king, having held a council of the wise, on account of the frequent seditions which had arisen in the army, resolves to ordain certain things that would be beneficial to the soldiery for the future.

Non solum ergo edicto dato, sed et a singulis maioribus et minoribus sacramento prestito, legem dedit, ne quis infra castrorum ambitum gladium ad quodlibet commilitonis nocumentum portare auderet, adiciens penam, ut, quicumque hanc treugam violando quempiam de sociis vulneraret, manu mutilaretur vel etiam capite obtruncaretur. Hacque tam sapienti quam necessaria lege data de caetero iuvenilium irrationabilis impetus animorum conquievit.

Therefore not only by an edict having been given, but also with an oath sworn by each, both the greater and the lesser, he gave a law: that no one within the ambit of the camp should dare to carry a sword for any harm to a fellow soldier, adding a penalty, that whoever, by violating this truce, should wound any of his comrades, should have his hand mutilated, or even be beheaded. And with this law, as wise as it was necessary, having been enacted, thereafter the irrational onrush of youthful spirits came to rest.

Capitulum XX.

Chapter 20.

Fuit non longe ab eo loco civitas Terdona, natura et arte munita, Mediolanensibus amica ipsisque contra Papienses federe iuncta. Igitur Papiensibus conquerentibus plus a Terdona se quam a Mediolano molestari, eo quod, quamvis civitas Papia in sinuquidem Mediolanensium posita, robur tamen comitatus sui ultra Ticinum fluvium habeat, isti nullo montis seu fluminisobiectu expositum, iussa est a principe a Mediolani contubernio recedere Papiaeque sociari. Quod dum facere recusaret, dumque magis seditiosae et inimicae quam pacificae et amicae regibus civitati adherere delegisset, tamquam maiestatis rea et ipsa inter hostes imperii adnumerata proscribitur.

Not far from that place there was the city Terdona, fortified by nature and by art, friendly to the Milanese and joined to them by a foedus against the Pavians. Therefore, as the Pavians complained that they were harassed more by Terdona than by Milan, for this reason: although the city of Pavia is set indeed in the bosom of the Milanese, nevertheless the strength of its county lies beyond the river Ticino, exposed to them with no mountain or river interposed—Terdona was ordered by the prince to withdraw from Milan’s contubernium and to be allied to Pavia. But when it refused to do this, and chose rather to adhere to a city seditious and inimical to kings than to one peaceful and friendly, as guilty of lèse-majesté and itself counted among the enemies of the empire, it is proscribed.

Princeps Terdonensium sicut et Astensium vindicaturus insolentiam, ab Asta castra movens, in marchiaquadam quae Buscadicitur tentoria fixit. Ibi per aliquot dies moram faciens quosdam ex militibus cum fratre suo Conrado, Bertholfo Burgundionum duce, Ottone vexillifero suo, ex Baioaria palatino comite, premittendos situmque civitatis exploraturos decrevit. Qui, transmisso amneusque ad ipsam civitatem decurrentes ac omnia circumspicientes non longe ab ea super predictum amnem metantur castra.

The prince of the Terdonenses, as also of the Astenses, being about to vindicate/punish the insolence, moving the camp from Asti, fixed his tents in a certain march which is called Busca. There, making delay for several days, he decided that certain of the soldiers, together with his brother Conrad, Bertholf, duke of the Burgundians, Otto, his standard-bearer, the palatine count from Bavaria, were to be sent ahead to explore the site of the city. They, the river having been crossed and running right up to the city itself and surveying everything, not far from it upon the aforesaid river mark out/pitch a camp.

Tercia dehinc luce rex suos insecutus altera fluminis ripa tabernacula fixit, suis ex predicti amnis inundatione, qui ex subita imbrium multitudine plus solito excreverat, iungi non valens. Attamen non multo post fluviolo aliquantisper mitigato, transvadandi labore suis adiunctus ad civitatem properavit; primoque assultu suburbia, muro, turribus suffulta, cepit et expugnavit, civibus vix ad superiorem civitatis arcem se recipiendi ex noctis, quae iam incumbebat, et supervenientis tempestatis beneficiofacultatem habentibus. Est autem Terdona pene in pede Apennini montis, ex ea, qua Apenninus et Pyreneus, ut supradictum est, iunguntur, parte sita, campaniam Papiae seu Mediolani tamquam e specula prospiciens.

On the third day thereafter the king, following his own men, pitched his tents on the other bank of the river, not being able to be joined to his men because of the inundation of the aforesaid stream, which, from a sudden multitude of rains, had swollen beyond the usual. Yet not much later, the little river having somewhat abated, by the toil of fording, being joined to his men he hastened to the city; and at the first assault he took and stormed the suburbs, supported by a wall and towers, the citizens scarcely having the opportunity to withdraw to the upper citadel of the city by the favor of the night, which was already impending, and of the storm coming on. Moreover, Terdona lies almost at the foot of the Apennine mountain, situated on that part where the Apennine and the Pyrenees, as was said above, are joined, looking out upon the plain of Pavia or Milan as from a watchtower.

In monte terete, scopulosam faciem in prerupto laterum pretendente, posita, turribus et precipue una lateritia, a Tarquinio Superbo olim facta, quae et Rubea nunc ab indigenis dicebatur, superba, in declivo montis suburbio, ex murorum ambitu ac turrium celsarum populique multitudine, cuiusdam amniculiper medium transeuntis nobili insignis. Princeps, capto, ut dictum est, suburbio, arcem ipsam seu civitatem obsidione clausit. Erat autem predicta arx non solum suis viribus, sed etiam Mediolanensium fortitudine et vicinorum baronum, quorum unus marchio Opicius cognomento Malaspina fuit, presidiis munita obque tantae opis confidentiam ad propellendam principis iram instrui ausa.

Situated on a rounded mountain, presenting a craggy face on the precipitous steep of its sides, furnished with towers—and especially one brick-built, once made by Tarquinius Superbus, which now too was called the Red by the natives—proud, in the suburb on the mountain’s declivity, it was notably distinguished as noble by the circuit of its walls and its lofty towers and the multitude of its people, with a certain little river passing through its midst. The prince, the suburb having been taken, as has been said, enclosed the citadel itself, or the city, with a siege. Now the aforesaid citadel was fortified not only by its own forces, but also by the fortitude of the Milanese and the garrisons of neighboring barons—one of whom was the marquis Opicius by the cognomen Malaspina—and, in confidence of so great a strength, it dared to be arrayed to repel the prince’s ire.

Initiata est haec celebris Terdonae obsidio mense Februario incipiente post caput ieiunii prima quadragesimae ebdomada.

This celebrated siege of Terdona was initiated, the month of February beginning, after the head of the fast, in the first hebdomad of Quadragesima.

Capitulum XXI.

Chapter 21.

Receptis igitur ad angustias arcis Terdonensibus tantaque multitudine velut uno carcere inclusis, mons ipse circumquaque a principe, ne ullus effugiendi pateret miseris aditus, obsidione vallatur, principe ipso ex occidentali parte, Heinrico duce Saxoniae in suburbio, quod meridiem versus Apenninum respicit, Papiensibus in campania, quae contra Papiam seu Mediolanum ad orientem vel aquilonem extenditur, residentibus. Nec mora, machinae diversorumque tormentorum genera fabricantur, sagittarii, balistarii, fundibularii arcem circumseptam observant. Temptabatomnia virtus principis et, ubi infirmiora arcis videbat loca, valentiori urgebat manu.

The Terdonans therefore having been received into the straits of the citadel, and with so great a multitude shut in as though in one prison, the mountain itself on every side is walled round with a siege by the prince, lest any approach of escape should be open to the wretched—the prince himself on the western side, Henry, duke of Saxony, in the suburb which looks south toward the Apennine, the Pavians being stationed in the champaign which extends over against Pavia or Milan toward the east or the north. Nor was there delay: machines and kinds of diverse engines are fabricated; archers, arbalesters, and slingers keep watch upon the encircled citadel. The valor of the prince tried all things, and where he saw the weaker places of the citadel, he pressed with a stronger hand.

At Terdonenses artissimis septi claustris, effugii locum non habentes, ex desperatione audatiam sumunt. Nulla enim res, ut ait ille historiographus, promptiorem bello militem reddit quam necessitas preliandi ex prerupto periculorum. Urgentur iaculis, urgentur balistis.

But the Terdonenses, shut in by the tightest enclosures, having no place for escape, take audacity from desperation. For no thing, as that historiographer says, makes a soldier more prompt for war than the necessity of fighting from the steep brink of dangers. They are pressed by javelins, they are pressed by ballistae.

Quodque his gravius est, propria remordentur conscientia, eo quod proprio principi rebellando, quicumque ex eis deprehensi fuissent, patibuli, quod inpresentiarum erectum cernebant, expectabant supplicium. Sicut enim est magna miseris tyrannicae obviantibus immanitati consolatio conscientiae spes, sic e converso tali principi, qui non solum legittimus iudex, sed et pius presul dici potest, reluctari conantibus miseriae miseriam cumulat contra conscientiam debitae sententiae metus. Crebris tamen excursionibus, quasi nullo timoris periculo urgerentur, militem in castris manentem lacessebant, iuvenilesque animi, laudis, ut assolet, avidi, virium suarum experientiam utrobique capessebant, illispro salute, istis pro triumpho dimicantibus.

And what is more grievous for them, they are gnawed by their own conscience, because, by rebelling against their own prince, whoever of them had been caught were awaiting the punishment of the gibbet, which they saw erected at present. For just as, to the wretched confronting tyrannical inhumanity, the hope of conscience is a great consolation, so conversely, for those trying to resist such a prince, who can be called not only a legitimate judge but also a pious prelate, the fear, in conscience, of the sentence due heaps misery upon misery. Yet with frequent sorties, as if they were pressed by no danger of fear, they provoked the soldiery remaining in the camp; and youthful spirits, greedy of praise, as is customary, on both sides were undertaking a trial of their own strengths—the former fighting for safety, the latter for triumph.

Nec hoc sine utriusque partis dampno; nam et ex nostris duo nobiles iuvenes, Kadolus ex Baioaria et Iohannes de Saxonia, pluribus sauciatis, necantur; ex illis vero, exceptis his, quos occisos vel vulneratos intus celabant, nonnulli vivi deprehensi, ligni supplicio in oculis omnium penas meritas luebant. Ferunt quadam die lapidem vi tormenti ex balista, quam modo mangamvulgo dicere solent, propulsum ad superiora meniorum loca conscendisse, ex collisione parietum tribus fractis frustis, tres simul milites armatos inter maiores civitatis iuxta principalem aecclesiam de suae rei publicae statu consultantibus stantes uno ictu percussisse necique dedisse. Quia vero castra Papiensium maiorem incursum caeteris sustinebant, iunguntur eis ex imperio principis Gwilhelmus marchio de Monte-ferrato et quidam alii ex Italicis baronibus.

Nor was this without damage to either party; for from our side also two noble youths, Kadolus of Bavaria and John of Saxony, with several others wounded, are slain; but of theirs, excepting those whom they concealed inside as killed or wounded, not a few, taken alive, were paying before the eyes of all the deserved penalties by the punishment of the wood (the gibbet). They report that on a certain day a stone, driven by the force of the engine from a ballista—which they now commonly are wont to call a mangonel—having mounted to the upper places of the walls, from its collision with the walls breaking into three fragments, struck with a single blow three armed soldiers, standing among the elders of the city near the principal church and consulting about the state of their commonwealth, and gave them over to death. And because the camp of the Pavians was sustaining a greater incursion than the others, there were joined to them, by command of the prince, William, marquis of Montferrat, and certain others of the Italian barons.

Erat enim ex ea parte puteus seu fons, quo solo poterant oppidani uti; et idcirco Papiensibus prohibentibus illisque suprema necessitudine, cuius proprium est periculorum discriminis immemorem <esse>, audacter decertantibus, maior, immo quasi cottidiana instabat conflictatio. Nam amniculus, qui medius, ut supraostensum est, percurrebat suburbium, ex ruina turrium caeterorumve menium a proprio alveo excussus, ne in ipsorum usum etiam feculentus provenire posset, a duce Saxoniae suisque acriter servabatur. Videns princeps plus cupito obsidionem produci - anhelabat enim ad accipiendam orbis et Urbis monarchiae coronam -, non solum turres machinis quati, sed etiam inusitato satis utens artificio cuniculos versus turrim Tarquinii, quae Rubea dicebatur, fieri iubet, ut sic ad turrim ipsam per ipsos subterraneos meatus procedentes, fundamento leso, eam ruinae darent.

For on that side there was a well or spring, which alone the townsmen were able to use; and therefore, with the Pavians preventing it and they, under an ultimate necessity, whose proper quality is to be forgetful of the crisis of dangers, audaciously fighting, a greater, indeed almost daily, clash pressed on. For the little river, which in the middle, as was shown above, ran through the suburb, having been cast out of its own channel by the collapse of the towers or the other walls, lest it might come forth for their use even befouled, was sharply guarded by the duke of Saxony and his men. The prince, seeing the siege prolonged beyond what was desired—for he panted to receive the crown of the monarchy of the world and of the City—orders not only that the towers be rocked by engines, but also, employing a quite unusual artifice, that tunnels be made toward the Tower of Tarquin, which was called the Red, so that thus, proceeding to that very tower by those subterranean passages, with the foundation injured, they might deliver it to ruin.

Nam cum predicta civitas non in modum aliarum civitatum vallo seu fossa, sed preruptis undique prope interclusa rupibus, naturalipresidio muniatur, ex illa tantum parte aliquantisper remissior hispidaeque rupis firmamento carens, predictae turris munimentum magnique fossati robur tamquam huius suae imbecillitatis adiumentum artificialiter admisit. Oppidani, non sine quorumdam ex nostris proditionis suspicione, ingenium presentiunt commentisque usi iuxta fundamentum turris et ipsi cuniculos faciunt, sicque quibusdam ad eversionem turris procedentibus suffocatis, caeteri a coepto desistunt. Post haec rex naturamnaturae ope vincere volens, id est ut naturae presidiis septos per inopiam cogeret potus, predictum fontem humanis usibus inutilem facere disponit.

For since the aforesaid city, not in the manner of other cities by rampart or ditch, but blocked almost on every side by precipitous crags, is fortified by a natural presidiary defense, only on that side somewhat more remiss and lacking the firmament of rough rock, it admitted artificially the muniment of the aforesaid tower and the strength of a great fosse as a help for this its weakness. The townsmen, not without a suspicion of treachery on the part of certain of ours, anticipate the contrivance, and employing counter-devices near the foundation of the tower they too make tunnels, and thus, with certain men who were advancing for the overthrow of the tower suffocated, the rest desist from the undertaking. After these things the king, wishing to conquer nature by the aid of nature—that is, to force those enclosed by the presidia of nature, through lack of drink—resolves to make the aforesaid spring useless for human uses.

Iniciuntur ibi hominum, pecorum fetida et putentia cadavera. Sed nec sic repelli poterat misera oppidanorum [hauriendi] aviditas. Aliud itidem invenitur ingenium.

There are cast in there the fetid and putrid corpses of men and of cattle. But not even thus could the wretched avidity of the townspeople for [drawing] be repelled. Another contrivance likewise is discovered.

Incutiuntur predicto fonti ardentes faculae, sulfureas et piceas flammas ferentes, sicque aquae ipsae humanis usibus deinceps inutiles amaricantur.

Burning torches are cast into the aforesaid spring, bearing sulfurous and pitchy flames, and thus the waters themselves are made bitter and thereafter useless for human uses.

Capitulum XXII.

Chapter 22.

Erat in vicino castrum quoddam Mediolanensium N. vocitatum, natura et ingenio munitum. Fiunt in castris, cernentibus Terdonensibus, scalae caeteraque pro ascendendis muris instrumenta utilia, oppidanis arbitrantibus ad ipsorum haec fieri nocumentum.

There was nearby a certain castle of the Milanese, called N., fortified by nature and by ingenuity. In the camp, with the Terdonensians looking on, there are made ladders and the other implements useful for ascending walls, the townsmen supposing that these things are being made to their own detriment.

Deliguntur gnari quique et fortes de equitum ordine viri, prefectis sibi duobus ducibus, Bertholfo duce et Ottone palatino comite, ad predictumque castrum eo tempore, quo noctis beneficiopropositum celari poterat, diriguntur. Nec mora, iactis ad murum scalis, ad superioris arcis convexa tendunt, castrum ingrediuntur; ac sine dubio, cunctis [pene] sopore depressis, voto potiti fuissent, nisi ex prematurata clamoris concitatione oppidani excitati ad fugamque parati, vix tandem fiducia sumpta, ad arma convolassent.

Men both skilled and brave are selected from the order of knights, with two leaders appointed over them, Duke Bertholf and Otto, palatine count; and they are directed to the aforesaid castle at that time when, by the benefit of night, the plan could be concealed. Without delay, ladders having been cast to the wall, they aim for the rounded heights of the upper citadel, they enter the fortress; and without doubt, with all [almost] weighed down by sleep, they would have achieved their aim, had not, from the premature raising of a clamor, the townsmen, roused and prepared for flight, scarcely at length, confidence having been taken, rushed together to arms.

Capitulum XXIII.

Chapter 23.

Nec pretereundum erit de cuiusdam preruptae audatiae stratoris virtute, qui, dum tedio longae obsidionis affectus caeteris assiliendi arcem exemplum dare vellet, gladio tantum et clyppeo parvaque, ut id genus hominum solet, securi, quae sellae ab eis alligatae portantur, usus aggerem, qui turri Rubeae preiacet, aggreditur viamque securi, qua pedem figeret, faciens montem ascendit. Non illum crebri lapidum ictus, qui a machinis principis contra turrim vi tormentorum propellebantur, deterrere, non eum iaculorum seu saxorum ab arce ad modum imbrium non interpolati iactus revocare poterant; ad turrim usque iam semidirutam processit, ibique viriliter dimicando militem etiam armatum ad terram ictibus deiecit atque inter tot periculorum discrimina illesus ad castra redire potuit. Quem rex ad se vocatum militari cingulo ob tam preclarum facinus honorandum decrevit.

Nor must there be passed over the valor of a certain equerry (strator) of precipitous audacity, who, being affected by the tedium of a long siege and wishing to give the others an example of assaulting the citadel, using only a sword and a shield and a small axe—as that kind of men are wont to do—which are carried by them fastened to the saddle, attacks the rampart which lies before the Red Tower, and, making with the axe a path where he might plant his foot, climbed the height. Neither could the frequent blows of stones, which from the prince’s machines were propelled against the tower by the force of the engines, deter him, nor could the unintermitted hurling of javelins or stones from the citadel, in the manner of rains, call him back; he advanced up to the tower now half-demolished, and there, fighting manfully, by his blows cast down to the ground even an armed soldier, and amid so many hazards of perils he was able to return unhurt to the camp. The king, having summoned him to himself, decreed that he be honored with the military belt for so illustrious a deed.

At ille, cum plebeium se diceret in eodemque ordine velle remanere sufficere sibi conditionem suam, honeste donatum ad propria redire permisit contubernia.

But he, since he declared himself a plebeian and wished to remain in the same order, his condition sufficing for him, permitted him, honorably endowed, to return to his own contubernia.

Capitulum XXIIII.

Chapter 24.

Sed ut ad id unde digressi sumus redeamus: urgentur aquis amaricatis oppidani, intollerabili potus inedia, gravi sitis molestia. Appropinquabat paschale festum, et princeps religionis intuitu quatuor diebus, id est a quinta cenae Domini feria usque ad proximam paschalis ebdomadae secundam feriam, ab arcis impugnatione cessandum statuit. Itaque proxima dehinc feria, id est ea die, qua passio Domini in parasceue a cunctis Christicolis celebratur, clerici et monachi cum oppidanis inclusi, vestibus sacris induti, cum crucibus, turibulis caeterisque Christiani ritus ornamentis portis apertis egressi ad tentoria principis venire cupiebant.

But to return to that whence we digressed: the townsmen are hard pressed by brackish waters, by an intolerable privation of drink, by the grievous distress of thirst. The Paschal feast was approaching, and the prince, out of regard for religion, decided that for four days—that is, from the quinta feria of the Lord’s Supper (Maundy Thursday) up to the next secunda feria (Monday) of the Paschal hebdomad—there should be a cessation from the assault on the citadel. Accordingly, on the next feria thereafter, that is, on the day on which the Passion of the Lord on the Parasceve is celebrated by all Christ-worshipers, the clergy and monks, enclosed with the townsmen, vested in sacred garments, with crosses, censers, and the other ornaments of the Christian rite, with the gates opened, went out, wishing to come to the prince’s tents.

Quos rex delonge aspiciens missis in occursum eorum episcopis virisque litteratis, cur et ad quid venirent, inquisivit.

The king, seeing them from afar, having sent bishops and literate men to meet them, inquired why and to what end they were coming.

Capitulum XXV.

Chapter 25.

At illi: 'Terdonae nos', aiunt, 'infelix portio ad pedes regalis excellentiae venire desiderabamus, calamitates deploraturi, quas sustinemus non nostro merito, sed perditae civitatis perditissimorumque civium contagio. Nunc autem, quia ad presentiam non admittimur principis, liceat interim pedibus vestrae provolvi benignitatis, obnixe postulantes, ut humanitatis gratia nos homines animadvertendo humanae miseriae tamquam vestram sortem in nobis recognoscatis. Neque [enim] pro condempnata civitate nec pro civibus maiestate reis preces afferimus.

But they: ‘“We of Terdona,” they say, “an unhappy portion, desired to come to the feet of royal excellence, to deplore the calamities which we endure, not by our own desert, but by the contagion of a ruined city and of the most ruined citizens. Now, however, because we are not admitted to the presence of the prince, let it be permitted in the meantime to prostrate ourselves at the feet of your benignity, earnestly beseeching that, for the sake of humanity, by observing us as human beings you may recognize the misery of mankind as though your own lot in us. Nor [indeed] do we bring prayers on behalf of a condemned city nor on behalf of citizens arraigned for majesty (treason).”’

Quos o utinam numquam nostri vidissent oculi, numquam eis fors iunxisset, quorum nobis sors tam futura fuerat obnoxia!

O would that our eyes had never seen them, would that chance had never joined us to them, whose lot had been going to be so obnoxious to us!

Numquid insons cum sonte, cum nocente innocens, innoxius cum reo pari pena ab aequo iudice plectendus erit? Vallamur claustrorum diuturnitate, quatimur tormentorum acerbitate, sitis infesta ariditate piceas ac sulfureas usibusque humanis ineptas aquas haurire cogimur; unumque magis dolendum est, non nobis hoc sacrosancto dominicae passionis tempore Deo servire libet, quia nec licet. Astantes enim sacris altaribus sagittarum terremur spiculis, saxorum percellimur ictibus, sicque semper ad omnem etiam naturalem motum pavidi a mentis tranquillitate tamquam amentes circumferimur.

Will the innocent with the guilty one, the innocent with the nocent, the guiltless with the defendant, be to be punished with an equal penalty by an equitable judge? We are walled about by the long duration of confinements, we are shaken by the bitterness of torments, by thirst’s baleful aridity we are forced to draw waters pitchy and sulphureous and inept for human uses; and one thing is more to be mourned: at this most sacrosanct time of the Lord’s Passion it is not our liberty to serve God, because neither is it permitted. For as we stand at the holy altars we are terrified by the barbs of arrows, we are smitten by the blows of stones, and thus always, at every movement, even a natural one, fearful, we are carried about away from tranquillity of mind, as if demented.

Non securi in lectulis, non in oratorio inperculsi, animum ex periculorum instantia distractum ad offerendum Deo sacrificium pacis colligere pacificum non valemus. Quid fecimus? Quid luimus?

Not secure on our little beds, not unshaken in the oratory, we are not able to gather a pacific mind—distracted by the urgency of perils—to offer to God the sacrifice of peace. What have we done? What penalty do we pay?

Numquid Mediolano associati rea contra Papiam arma tulimus? Numquid ex federe seditiosae civitatis iram principis incurrimus? At nos actenus armorum ignari, ne dicam cum factiosis, sed nec ullis mortalibus confederati, soli Deo, armis spiritalibus, non carnalibus instructi, militare consuevimus.

Have we, associated with Milan, as guilty men, borne arms against Pavia? Have we, from a federation with a seditious city, incurred the wrath of the prince? But we, hitherto unacquainted with arms—not to say with the factionaries, but not even confederated with any mortals—have been accustomed to soldier for God alone, equipped with spiritual, not carnal, arms.

Sine nostro consilio miles armatur; nobis inconsultis, immo ignorantibus in prelio concertatur; consulum maiorumque civitatis haec est dispositio, illorum nutu haec geruntur; procerum motus, ut dicitur, haec cuncta secuntur. Ad nos nil spectat nisi aecclesiasticarum excubiarum sollicitudo, pro regum caeterorumve in sublimitate positorum tranquillitate ad regem regum Deum cottidiana efflagitatio. At dicet aliquis: ãEx hostis contubernio et tu iudicaris hostis. Sis eius in pena socius, cuius fuisti in malefactis amicus.

Without our counsel the soldier is armed; with us not consulted—nay, rather, ignorant—battle is contested; this is the disposition of the consuls and the elders of the city, at their nod these things are carried on; the nobles’ movement, as it is said, all these things follow. Nothing pertains to us except the solicitude of ecclesiastical watches, the quotidian petition to the King of kings, God, for the tranquillity of kings and of the others placed in sublimity. But someone will say: "From fellowship with the enemy you too are judged an enemy. Be his partner in penalty, whose friend you were in misdeeds."

Nam tangens picem coinquinatur. Cum perverso manens pervertitur. Dicit enim et psalmista: Cum sancto sanctus eris, et cum perverso perverteris.

For one who touches pitch is defiled. Remaining with the perverse, one is perverted. For the psalmist also says: With the holy you will be holy, and with the perverse you will be perverted.

Numquid nostro magis arbitrio quam divina providentia civibus his ex commanendi necessitudine, non ex malefaciendi assensione adiuncti sumus? Numquid non cum Babilonicis, qui affectu, non loco fugiendi sunt, nos non Babilonici in uno septo esse possumus? Possum cum malefactore esse, nec tamen malefactoris socius vel amicus iure dici.

Are we joined to these citizens more by our own arbitrium than by divine providence—by the necessity of co-dwelling, not by an assent to malefaction? Can we not, with Babylonians—who are to be fled by affection, not by place—we, not Babylonians, be in one fold? I can be with a malefactor, and yet not by right be called the malefactor’s associate or friend.

Possum necessitatis lege sic personae iungi, ut personae non iungar vicio, iure naturae in homine naturam sic hominis diligere, ut naturae abhorream casum. Nam qui ex inducto sapientis vel psalmigraphi testimonio, scilicet quod ex contubernio bonorum bonus, ex consortio malorum malus fiat, probare nititur, non sic auctoritatem notabit, quasi non de quodam sic et de quodam non sic, sed de omni sic et semper accipiatur, verum, etsi ut de quodam sic et de quodam non sic, non tamen de omni sic vel semper, sed ut frequentius dictam putet. Quem usum in naturalibus non mathematicorum, sed phisicorum secuntur artes.

I can, by the law of necessity, be joined to a person in such a way that I am not joined to the person’s vice, and by the right of nature love in a human the nature of the human in such a way that I abhor the fall of that nature. For he who, from the adduced testimony of a sage or of the psalmographer—namely, that from contubernium with the good one becomes good, from consortium with the wicked one becomes wicked—strives to prove it, will not mark the authority as though it were to be taken not of some thus and of some not thus, but of all thus and always; rather, even if as of some thus and of some not thus, yet not of all thus or always, but as something said of what happens more frequently. This usage, in things natural, the arts follow not of the mathematicians, but of the physicists.

Nec rite pix tangiex commanendi, sed consentiendi dicetur ratione. Quamvis et alium predictae auctoritati prophetae precedentia et consequentia generent sensum, ut non de nobis, sed [ut] de creatore haec [dicta] asserantur, qui scilicet, sicut sancto sanctus apparet, misericorditer eum iustificando, sic perverso perversus putatur, iuste illum puniendo, ea locutione vel proportionis ratione, qua linea recta curvo parieti apposita irrationali sensus opinione non recta videtur. Unde et alibi ab eodem propheta dicitur: Quam bonus Israhel Deus his qui recto sunt corde.

Nor rightly will pitch be said to be touched by the rationale of co-dwelling, but of consenting. Although both the preceding and the following of the aforesaid authority of the prophet generate another sense, that these [statements] are to be asserted not of us, but [as] of the Creator, who, namely, just as he appears holy to the holy, mercifully by justifying him, so he is thought perverse to the perverse, by justly punishing him, by that locution or reasoning of proportion by which a straight line set against a curved wall seems not straight to the irrational opinion of sense. Whence also elsewhere by the same prophet it is said: How good is God to Israel to those who are straight of heart.

Et hic subsequenter annectitur: Quoniam tu populum humilem salvum facies et oculos superborum humiliabis. Imitetur princeps terrae caeli principem, et si in eadem civitate cum superbo humilis inveniatur, non tamen cum superbo humilis puniatur.

And here subsequently it is appended: For you will make a humble people safe, and you will humble the eyes of the proud. Let the prince of the earth imitate the prince of heaven, and if in the same city the humble is found with the proud, nevertheless let not the humble be punished with the proud.

Miseremini ergo, domini et patres, condicionis nostrae, respicite in nobis quae gestamus stigmata Christi, et quos ad pietatem non flectit nostrae calamitatis acerbitas, inclinet saltem caracter Domini. Sed heu mortalium sortem! Commenta Papiae luis, Terdona, non tua delicta.

Have mercy, then, lords and fathers, upon our condition; look upon in us the stigmata of Christ which we bear, and those whom the bitterness of our calamity does not bend to piety, let at least the Lord’s character incline. But alas the lot of mortals! You pay the penalty for Pavia’s contrivances, Tortona, not your own delicts.

Accusas de malefactis Papia Terdonam, cum tu, si comparationem dissimilitudo qualitatum admittit, peius feceris. At inquies: ãImprobae civitati suaque contumaci superbia vicinos quosque prementi federe nexa, ab aequo principe iure penas subire debesÒ. Esto: Mediolano associata est Terdona. Quare?

You, Pavia, accuse Tortona of misdeeds, though you—if the dissimilarity of qualities admits a comparison—have done worse. But you will say: ãTo a wicked city, bound by treaty and, with its contumacious pride, oppressing each and every neighbor, you ought by right to undergo penalties from an equitable princeÒ. So be it: Tortona is associated with Milan. Why?

Non illius gratia, sed tuo metu; non ut per illius potentiam imperaret, sed ut per eius vires a tua excuteretur violentia. ãSensi rem meamÒ, inquit Terdona, ãagi, dum paries proximus - Limellum dico - arderet; sub Mediolani confugi alasÒ. Mediolanum iudicas, quod Cumas legittima occasione destruxerit; te ipsam non respicis, quae Limellum, imperiale oppidum, magna et robusta equitum manu stipatum, palatini comitis tui habitatione inclitum, oppidanis ipsis ad colloquium pacis dolo vocatis fraudulenterque captis, ad solum usque sine causa prosternere non timueris. Factus est ille inter Italiae proceres nobilissimus inquilinus tuus, qui debuit esse dominus.

Not for his favor, but from your fear; not that through his potency he might imperate, but that by his forces your violence might be shaken off. ãI perceived my concernÒ, says Terdona, ãto be at stake, while the nearest wall - I mean Limellum - was burning; I fled for refuge beneath Milan’s wingsÒ. You judge Milan, because it destroyed Cumae on a legitimate occasion; you do not look to yourself, who did not fear to lay Limellum, an imperial town, packed with a great and robust band of horsemen, renowned for the residence of your palatine count, the townsmen themselves having been called by guile to a conference of peace and fraudulently seized, down to the very ground without cause. He who ought to have been lord has become, among the nobles of Italy, your most noble tenant.

Reddit tibi nunc vectigal, cui tu principis vicem gerenti vectigal persolvere solebas. Videat princeps et animadvertat, qua honestate sui imperiive honore ipsius lateri iudicium de Italis laturus assideat vectigalis tuus, consideret, quo decore securis, qua rei in Italia iure plectendi sunt, ante ipsum deferatur, qui sub tuis modo militat signis. Iudicetur itaque a iusto rerum arbitro aequa lance primo Tycinum, eiusque exemplo caeterarum Italiae urbium corrigantur excessus.

He now renders tribute to you, to whom, acting in the stead of the princeps, you were accustomed to discharge tribute. Let the princeps see and take note with what respectability of his sovereignty—or honor of himself—there sits at his side, about to deliver judgment concerning the Italians, your tributary; let him consider with what decorum the axe, by which men in Italy are by law chastised, is borne before that man who but now serves under your standards. Let Tycinum, then, be judged first by a just arbiter of affairs with an even balance, and by its example let the excesses of the other cities of Italy be corrected.

Sed quid ad nos de talibus? Tractent fabrilia fabri.

But what are such matters to us? Let the smiths handle smithwork.

Nos miserum vulgus, nos Dei tantum servicio mancipati nostram intueamur sortem. Nichil ad nos de tyrannis terrae. Atque o utinam felix nimium prior aetasatque aurea Saturni redirent secula, ut colonus terrae sarculo ligoneque et rastro non cum naturae consorte, sed cum terra pugnaret, sicque ordo Deo sacratus orationibus ac obsecrationibus libere invigilare posset!

We, the miserable vulgar crowd, we, mancipated only to the service of God, let us consider our lot. Nothing to us concerning the tyrants of the earth. And oh, would that the too-happy former age and the golden ages of Saturn might return, so that the tiller of the soil with hoe and mattock and rake would fight not with his consort in nature, but with the earth, and thus the order consecrated to God might be able freely to keep vigil in prayers and supplications!

Pereat qui ad cruentandum hominum genus arma extulit, qui beluina feritate, hominem se non recognoscens, humanum sanguinem primo fudit! Ad nos redeamus. Nichil fecimus, alienas ob culpas plectimur.

Let him perish who raised arms to blood-stain the race of men, who with beluine ferocity, not recognizing himself as a human, first shed human blood! Let us return to ourselves. We have done nothing; we are punished on account of others’ faults.

Nobis, quesumus, pietas parcat principis et, si miserae non vult ignoscere civitati, nos saltem inermes, iam ex fetore pestilentiae morbidos et iam morti proximos, libertati datos de tam gravibus claustris exire permittat'. - Haec dicunt, et manus ad caelos tendentes lacrimisque obortis rigantes genascum magno eiulatu ad pedes eorum qui missi fuerant se prosternunt.

'Let the piety of the prince spare us, we beseech, and, if he is unwilling to pardon the wretched city, at least allow us, unarmed, now made sick from the fetor of the pestilence and now near to death, being given to liberty, to go out from such heavy prisons'. - They say these things, and, stretching their hands to the heavens and as tears spring up, wetting their cheeks with great wailing, they prostrate themselves at the feet of those who had been sent.

Capitulum XXVI.

Chapter 26.

Cognitis his princeps animum quidem intus ad misericordiam flexum presensit, sed dissolutionis suspicionem vitans extra eum in prioris severitatis constantia servavit, illis, ut ad arcem redeant, iussis. Condescendebat [enim] miserae cleri sorti, sed subridebat superbi populi fortunae, quem hoc inditio quasi desperatum et desolationi proximum animadvertebat. At oppidani nondum tot malis victos se fingentes infra quatuor dies, quibus pro Christiani cultus devotione principem hostibus pacem dedisse diximus, baleare tormentum [artificiose] instruunt, ignorante principe ac eos treugam datam observare estimante.

With these things known, the prince indeed sensed his spirit inwardly bent to mercy, but, avoiding the suspicion of dissolution, outwardly he kept himself in the constancy of his former severity, having ordered them to return to the citadel. For he condescended [indeed] to the wretched lot of the clergy, but he smiled at the fortune of the proud people, whom by this indication he observed as, as it were, despairing and near to desolation. But the townsmen, feigning themselves not yet conquered by so many evils, within four days—during which we have said that the prince, for devotion to the Christian cult, gave peace to the enemies—set up a Balearic engine [artfully], the prince being unaware and supposing them to be observing the truce that had been given.

Finito, ut dictum est, quatriduo, oppidani rursum machinis pulsantur. Illi suo, quod fecerant, vim tormenti propellentes, unum etiam, quo magis infestabantur, quatiendo frangunt. Quo sine mora reparato, acrius solito urgentur.

With the four-day period finished, as has been said, the townsmen are again battered by machines. They, with their own device which they had made, driving back the force of the engine, even break one—by shaking it—by which they were more harassed. When this was repaired without delay, they were pressed more sharply than usual.

Tot impulsionum ac maxime sitis defatigatione fracti ultimaque desperatione correpti Terdonenses tandem de reddenda per deditionis presidium pertractant arce. Igitur tercia post paschalemsollempnitatem ebdomada, mense Aprili, animabus solum ex miseratione et mansuetudine principis saluti et libertati datis, civitas primo direptioni exposita excidio et flammae mox traditur. Eripitur ibi de gravi, qua tenebatur, captivitate quidam ex Grecorum proceribus, quem Opicius cognomento Malaspina male propter pecuniae exactionem ceperat asperisque locis inclusum in ipsa arce tenebat.

Broken by the fatigue of so many assaults and especially by thirst, and seized with ultimate desperation, the Terdonenses at last discuss surrendering the citadel under the safeguard of deditio. Therefore, in the third week after the Paschal solemnity, in the month of April, with only their lives given to safety and liberty through the prince’s pity and mansuetude, the city is first exposed to plunder and soon is handed over to destruction and flame. There, one of the Greek nobles is rescued from the severe captivity in which he was held, whom Opicius, by surname Malaspina, had wickedly seized on account of an exaction of money and was keeping shut up in rough places within the citadel itself.

Videres miseros oppidanos, cum iam securitate concessa de miseris claustrorum ergastulis ad liberam prodirent aeris temperiem, funebri facie tamquam de bustis egredientes imitari, in semet pretendentes quod dicitur, omnium miserabilius esse claudi obsidione.

You would have seen the wretched townspeople, when now, with security granted, coming out from the wretched prison-houses of the enclosures into the free temperateness of the air, with a funereal face, as if going forth from burial mounds, mimicking such as emerge from the pyres; exhibiting in themselves the saying that, of all things, it is most miserable to be shut in by a siege.

Capitulum XXVII.

Chapter 27.

Peracta victoria rex a Papiensibus ad ipsorum civitatem triumphum sibi exhibituris invitatur, ibique ea dominica qua Iubilate caniturin aecclesia sancti Michahelis, ubi antiquum regum Longobardorum palatium fuit, cum multo civium tripudio coronatur. Deductis ibi cum magna civitatis laeticia et impensa tribus diebus, inde per Placentiam transiens iuxta Bononiam pentecosten celebrat, ac ibidem transcenso Apennino, citeriorem Italiam, quae modo Tuscia vocari solet, perlustrat. Illic Pisanos, viros in insulis et transmarinis regionibus potentes, obvios habuit eisque, ut naves contra Gwilhelmum Siculum armarent, in mandatis dedit.

The victory completed, the king is invited by the Pavians to their city to put on a triumph for him, and there, on that Sunday on which Iubilate is sung, in the church of Saint Michael, where the ancient palace of the Lombard kings had been, he is crowned with much jubilation of the citizens. After he had been escorted there for three days with great joy and expense of the city, then, passing through Piacenza, he celebrates Pentecost near Bologna; and there, after the Apennine was crossed, he surveys the nearer Italy, which now is wont to be called Tuscany. There he met the Pisans—men powerful on the islands and in transmarine regions—and he gave them orders to arm ships against William the Sicilian.

Circa idem tempus Anshelmus Havelbergensis episcopus a Grecia reversus Ravennatensem archiepiscopatum per cleri et populi electionem, simul et eiusdem provinciae exarchatum, laboris sui magnificam recompensationem, a principe accepit.

Around the same time Anselm of Havelberg, bishop, returned from Greece and received from the prince the archiepiscopate of Ravenna by the election of the clergy and the people, and likewise the exarchate of the same province, a magnificent recompense of his labor.

Capitulum XXVIII.

Chapter 28.

Igitur rex ad Urbem tendens circa Biterbium castrametatur. QuoRomanus antistes Adrianus cum cardinalibus suis veniens ex debito officii sui honorifice suscipitur gravique adversus populum suum conquestione utens reverenter auditus est. Predictus enim populus, ex quo senatorum ordinem renovare studuit, multis malis pontifices suos affligere temeritatis ausu non formidavit.

Therefore the king, tending toward the City, encamped around Viterbo. Whereupon the Roman prelate Adrian, coming with his cardinals, was honorably received as owed by his office, and, employing a grave complaint against his own people, was respectfully heard. For the aforesaid people, since it strove to renew the senatorial order, did not fear, by an act of temerity, to afflict its pontiffs with many evils.

Accessit ad huius seditiosi facinoris augmentum, quod Arnaldus quidam Brixiensis, de quo supra dictum est, sub typo religionis et, ut ewangelicis verbis utar, sub ovina pelle lupum gerens, Urbem ingressus, ad factionem istam rudis populi animis premolli dogmate ad animositatem accensis innumeram post se duxit, immo seduxit multitudinem. Arnaldus iste ex Italia civitate Brixia oriundus eiusdemque aecclesiae clericus ac lector tantum ordinatus Petrum Abailardum olim preceptorem habuerat. Vir quidem naturae non hebetis, plus tamen verborum profluvio quam sententiarum pondere copiosus.

There was added to the augmentation of this seditious crime that a certain Arnold of Brescia, about whom it was said above, under the type (guise) of religion and, to use evangelical words, bearing a wolf under a sheep’s skin, having entered the City, to that faction—after inflaming the minds of the raw populace to audacity by an over-soft dogma—led after him, nay rather seduced, an innumerable multitude. This Arnold, sprung from Italy, from the city of Brescia, and a clerk of the same church and only ordained as lector, had once had Peter Abelard as preceptor. A man indeed not of a dull nature, yet more copious in a flood of words than in the weight of thoughts.

Singularitatis amator, novitatis cupidus, cuiusmodi hominum ingenia ad fabricandas hereses scismatumque perturbationes sunt prona. Is a studio a Galliis in Italiam revertens religiosum habitum, quo amplius decipere posset, induit, omnia lacerans, omnia rodens, nemini parcens. Clericorum ac episcoporum derogator, monachorum persecutor, laicis tantum adulans.

lover of singularity, desirous of novelty, the dispositions of men of this kind are prone to the fabricating of heresies and the perturbations of schisms. He, returning from his studies from Gaul into Italy, donned a religious habit, by which he might be able the more to deceive, lacerating everything, gnawing at everything, sparing no one. A detractor of clerics and bishops, a persecutor of monks, flattering only laymen.

Dicebat enim nec clericos proprietatem nec episcopos regalia nec monachos possessiones habentes aliqua ratione salvari posse. Cuncta haec principis esse, ab eiusque beneficientia in usum tantum laicorum cedere oportere. Preter haec de sacramento altaris, baptismo parvulorum non sane dicitur sensisse.

For he said that neither clerics having private property, nor bishops with regalia, nor monks possessing estates could in any way be saved. All these things, he declared, are the prince’s, and from his beneficence ought to pass only into the use of the laity. Besides these, concerning the sacrament of the altar and the baptism of infants, he is said not to have thought soundly.

His aliisque modis, quos longum est enumerare, dum Brixiensem aecclesiam perturbaret laicisque terrae illius prurientes erga clerum aures habentibus aecclesiasticas maliciose exponeret personas, in magno concilio Romae sub Innocentiohabito ab episcopo civitatis illius virisque religiosis accusatur. Romanus ergo pontifex, ne pernitiosum dogma ad plures serperet, imponendum viro silentium decernit. Sicque factum est.

By these and other modes, which it would be long to enumerate, while he was disturbing the Brescian church and was maliciously exposing ecclesiastical persons to the laymen of that land who had itching ears toward the clergy, he is accused in a great council at Rome held under Innocent by the bishop of that city and by religious men. Therefore the Roman pontiff, lest the pernicious dogma should creep to more, decrees that silence is to be imposed upon the man. And so it was done.

Ita homo ille de Italia fugiens ad Transalpina se contulit ibique in oppido Alemanniae Turego officium doctoris assumens pernitiosum dogma aliquot diebus seminavit. Comperta vero morte Innocentii, circa principia pontificatus Eugenii Urbem ingressus, cum eam erga pontificem suum in seditionem excitatam invenisset, viri sapientis haut sectatus consilium de huiusmodi dicentis: Ne in eius ignem ligna struas, amplius eam in seditionem concitavit, proponens antiquorum Romanorum exempla, qui ex senatus maturitatis consulto et ex iuvenilium animorum fortitudinis ordine et integritate totum orbem terrae suum fecerint. Quare reedificandum Capitolium, renovandam senatoriam dignitatem, reformandum equestrem ordinem docuit.

Thus that man, fleeing from Italy, betook himself to the Transalpine regions, and there in the town of Alemannia, Zurich, assuming the office of teacher, he sowed a pernicious dogma for several days. But upon learning of the death of Innocent, around the beginnings of the pontificate of Eugene, having entered the City, when he had found it stirred to sedition against its pontiff, not having followed the counsel of a wise man speaking thus of such matters: Do not pile wood onto his fire, he further roused it to sedition, proposing the examples of the ancient Romans, who by the mature deliberation of the senate and by the order and integrity of the fortitude of youthful spirits made the whole orb of the earth their own. Wherefore he taught that the Capitol must be rebuilt, the senatorial dignity renewed, and the equestrian order reformed.

Nichil in dispositione Urbis ad Romanum pontificem spectare, sufficere sibi aecclesiasticum iudicium debere. In tantum vero huius venenosae doctrinae coepit invalescere malum, ut non solum nobilium Romanorum seu cardinalium diruerentur domus et splendida palatia, verum etiam quedam de cardinalibus reverendae personae inhoneste, sauciatis quibusdam, a furenti plebe tractarentur. Haec et his similia cum multis diebus, id est a morte Caelestiniusque ad haec, ab eo incessanter et irreverenter agerentur tempora, cumque sententia pastorum iuste in eum et canonice prolata eius iudicio tamquam omnino auctoritatis vacua ab illo contempneretur, tandem in manus quorumdam incidens, in Tusciae finibus captus, principis examini reservatus est et ad ultimum a prefecto Urbis ligno adactus ac, rogo in pulverem redacto funere, ne a furente plebe corpus eius venerationi haberetur, in Tyberim sparsus.

Nothing in the disposition of the City pertains to the Roman pontiff; the ecclesiastical judgment ought to suffice for itself. But the evil of this venomous doctrine began to prevail to such an extent that not only the houses and splendid palaces of the noble Romans or of the cardinals were torn down, but even certain of the cardinals, reverend persons, were dishonorably handled by the raging plebs, some being wounded. While these and the like things for many days—namely from the death of Celestine up to these times—were being carried on by him incessantly and irreverently, and whereas the sentence of the shepherds, justly and canonically pronounced against him, was by his judgment scorned as altogether void of authority, at length, falling into the hands of certain men, captured on the borders of Tuscany, he was reserved for the prince’s examination; and finally, by the Prefect of the City, he was driven to the stake, and, the corpse reduced to dust by the pyre, lest his body be held for veneration by the raging plebs, his ashes were scattered into the Tiber.

Sed ut ad id unde digressus est stilus redeat, iunctis sibi in comitatu rerum apicibus ac per aliquot dies una procedentibus, quasi inter spiritalem patrem et filium dulcia miscentur colloquia, et tamquam ex duabus principalibus curiis una re publica effecta, aecclesiastica simul et secularia tractantur negotia.

But so that the style may return to that whence it has digressed, with the summits of affairs joined to him in the retinue and proceeding together for several days, as it were sweet colloquies are mingled between a spiritual father and a son, and, as if from two principal curiae one republic had been made, both ecclesiastical and secular business are transacted at the same time.

Capitulum XXVIIII.

Chapter 29.

At Romanorum cives de principis adventu cognoscentes pretemptandum ipsius legatione animum adiudicarunt. Ordinatis ergo legatis industribus et litteratis, qui eum inter Sutrium et Romam adirent, accepto prius de securitate viatico, sicque presentatis regalis excellentiae consistorio viris, taliter adorsi sunt: 'Urbis legati nos, Urbis non parvum momentum, rex optime, ad tuam a senatu populoque Romano destinati sumus excellentiam. Audi serena mente, benignis auribus, quae tibi ab alma orbis domina deferuntur Urbe, cuius in proximo adiuvante Deo futurus es princeps, imperator et dominus.

But the citizens of the Romans, learning of the prince’s advent, adjudged that his mind should be pre-tested by a legation. Therefore, having appointed industrious and lettered legates to approach him between Sutrium and Rome, first having received, for security, a safe‑conduct and viaticum, and thus, when the men had been presented to the consistory of Royal Excellence, they began in such wise: 'We are legates of the City, no small weight of the City, most excellent king, dispatched to your Excellence by the Senate and People of Rome. Hear with a serene mind, with kindly ears, what is borne to you from the nurturing mistress of the world, the City, of which, with God aiding, you are shortly to be prince, emperor, and lord.'

Pacificus si venisti, immo quia, ut arbitror, venisti, gaudeo. Orbis imperium affectas; coronam prebitura gratanter assurgo, iocanter occurro. Cur enim suum [princeps] visitaturus populum non pacifice adveniret, non gloriosa munificentia respiceret, qui indebitum clericorum excussurus iugum ipsius magna ac diutina expectatione prestolatus est adventum?

Pacific, if you have come—nay rather, since, as I reckon, you have come—I rejoice. You aspire to the empire of the world; I rise gratefully to proffer the crown, I run to meet you jocundly. For why would a [princeps] about to visit his own people not arrive pacifically, not regard them with glorious munificence, they who, about to shake off the undue yoke of the clerics, have awaited his arrival with great and long expectation?

Revertantur, opto, pristina tempora; redeant, rogo, inclitae Urbis privilegia; orbis Urbs sub hoc principe recipiat gubernacula, refrenetur hoc imperatore ac ad Urbis reducatur monarchiam orbis insolentia! Talis rector augusti sicut nomine sic induatur et gloria! Scis [autem], quod urbs Roma ex senatoriae dignitatis sapientia ac equestris ordinis virtute et disciplina a mari usque ad mare palmites extendens, non solum ad terminos orbisimperium dilatavit, quin etiam insulas extra orbem positas orbi adiciens, principatus eo propagines propagavit.

Let the former times return, I desire; let the privileges of the renowned City return, I ask; let the City of the world under this prince receive the helm, let the insolence of the world be reined in by this emperor and be brought back to the City’s monarchy over the world! Such an august ruler—let him be invested, as with the name, so also with glory! You know [moreover], that the city Rome, by the wisdom of senatorial dignity and by the virtue and discipline of the equestrian order, extending her tendrils from sea to sea, not only enlarged her empire to the boundaries of the world, but even, by adding to the world islands placed beyond the world, propagated there the offshoots of her Principate.

Non illos procellosi fluctus aequorum, non hos scopulosae et inaccessibiles rupes Alpium tueri poterant: Romana virtus indomita cuncta perdomuit. Sed, exigentibus peccatis, longe positis a nobis principibus nostris, nobili illo antiquitatis insigni - senatum loquor - ex inerti quorumdam desidia neglectui dato, dormitante prudentia vires quoque minui necesse fuit. Assurrexi tuae ac divae rei publicae profuturum gloriae ad sacrum sanctae Urbis senatum equestremque ordinem instaurandum, quatinus huius consiliis, illius armis Romano imperio tu aeque personae antiqua redeat magnificentia.

Neither those stormy billows of the seas nor these craggy and inaccessible crags of the Alps could protect them: unconquered Roman virtus subdued all things. But, with sins demanding it, our princes being set far from us, that noble insignia of antiquity—I speak of the Senate—having been handed over to neglect through the inert sloth of certain men, with prudence slumbering, it was inevitable that the powers too be diminished. I have arisen, to be of profit to your glory and to that of the divine commonwealth, for restoring the sacred Senate of the holy City and the equestrian order, so that by the counsels of this one, by the arms of that one, to the Roman empire, and equally to your person, the ancient magnificence may return.

Numquid hoc placere tuae non debebit nobilitati? Nonne etiam remunerabile iudicabitur tam insigne facinus tamque tuae competens auctoritati? Audi ergo, princeps, patienter et clementer pauca de tua ac de mea iusticia!

Ought not this to please your nobility? Will not so distinguished a deed, so fitting to your authority, be judged remunerable as well? Listen then, princeps, patiently and clemently, to a few things about your justice and mine!

Prius tamen de tua quam de mea. Etenim a Iove principum. Hospes eras, civem feci. Advena fuisti ex Transalpinis partibus, principem constitui.

First, however, about yours rather than about mine. For indeed, from Jove is the origin of princes. You were a guest; I made you a citizen. You were a newcomer from the Transalpine parts; I constituted you prince.

Quod meum iure fuit, tibi dedi. Debes itaque primo ad observandas meas bonas consuetudines legesque antiquas, mihi ab antecessoribus tuis imperatoribus idoneis instrumentis firmatas, ne barbarorum violentur rabie, securitatem prebere, officialibus meis, a quibus tibi in Capitolio adclamandum erit, usque ad quinquemilia librarum expensam dare, iniuriam a re publica etiam usque ad effusionem sanguinis propellere et haec omnia privilegiis munire sacramentique interpositione propria manu confirmare'.

What was mine by right, I gave to you. You ought, therefore, first to provide security for the observance of my good customs and ancient laws, strengthened for me by your predecessors the emperors with suitable instruments, lest they be violated by the rabidity of the barbarians; to give to my officials—by whom you will have to be acclaimed on the Capitol—up to the expense of five thousand pounds; to drive away injury from the commonwealth even to the shedding of blood; and to fortify all these things with privileges and to confirm them by the interposition of an oath with your own hand'.

Capitulum XXX.

Chapter 30.

Ad haec rex tam superbo quam inusitato orationis tenore iusta indignatione inflammatus cursum verborum illorum de suae rei publicae ac imperii iusticia more Italico longa continuatione periodorumque circuitibus sermonem producturis interrupit et cum corporis modestia orisque venustate regalem servans animum ex inproviso non inprovise respondit: 'Multa de Romanorum sapientia seu fortitudine actenus audivimus, magis tamen de sapientia. Quare satis mirari non possumus, quod verba vestra plus arrogantiae tumore insipida quam sale sapientiae condita sentimus. Antiquam tuae proponis urbis nobilitatem, divae tuae rei publicae veterem statum ad sydera [usque] sustollis.

To this the king, inflamed with just indignation at as proud as unusual a tenor of speech, broke off the course of those words—which, after the Italian manner, with a long continuation and the circuits of periods, were about to prolong the discourse—by speaking of the justice of his own commonwealth and empire; and, with modesty of body and the comeliness of countenance preserving a royal spirit, from the unforeseen he replied not unadvisedly, and said: 'Much of the wisdom or the fortitude of the Romans have we heard up to now, yet more, however, of wisdom. Wherefore we cannot sufficiently marvel that we feel your words to be more insipid with the swelling of arrogance than seasoned with the salt of wisdom. You set forth the ancient nobility of your city, you lift up the old state of your divine republic to the stars [up to].

Agnosco, agnosco, et ut tui scriptorisverbis utar, fuit, fuit quondam in hac re publica virtus. ãQuondamÒ dico. Atque o utinam tam veraciter quam libenter ãnuncÒ dicere possemus! Sensit Roma tua, immo et nostra, vicissitudines rerum.

I recognize, I recognize, and, to use the words of your writer, there was—there was once—virtue in this republic. ãFormerlyÒ I say. And oh, would that we could as truthfully as gladly say ãnowÒ! Your Rome—nay, ours too—has felt the vicissitudes of affairs.

Sola evadere non potuit aeterna legeab auctore omnium sanccitam cunctis sub lunari globo degentibus sortem. Quid dicam? Clarum est, qualiter primo nobilitatis tuae robur ab hac nostra urbe translatum sit ad Orientis urbem regiam, et per quot annorum curricula ubera delitiarum tuarum Greculus esuriens suxerit.

She alone could not evade the lot, sanctioned by the eternal law by the author of all, for all who dwell under the lunar globe. What shall I say? It is clear how at first the strength of your nobility was translated from this our city to the royal city of the Orient, and through how many courses of years the hungry Greekling sucked the breasts of your delights.

Supervenit Francus, vere nomine et re nobilis, eamque, quae adhuc in te residua fuit, ingenuitatem fortiter eripuit. Vis cognoscere antiquam tuae Romae gloriam? Senatoriae dignitatis gravitatem?

The Frank arrived, truly noble in name and in fact, and stoutly snatched away that ingenuousness which had still remained in you. Do you wish to know the ancient glory of your Rome? The gravity of senatorial dignity?

Tabernaculorum dispositionem?Equestris ordinis virtutem et disciplinam, ad conflictum procedentis intemeratam ac indomitam audatiam? Nostram intuere rem publicam. Penes nos cuncta haec sunt.

The disposition of the tents?The virtue and discipline of the equestrian order, the intemerate and indomitable audacity of one advancing to the conflict? Look upon our Republic. With us all these things are.

Ad nos simul omnia haec cum imperio demanarunt. Non cessit nobis nudum imperium. Virtute sua amictum venit.

To us at once all these things have flowed down together with the imperium. Not a naked imperium has fallen to us. It has come clothed with its own virtue.

Ornamenta sua secum traxit. Penes nos sunt consules tui. Penes nos est senatus tuus.

It drew its ornaments along with itself. With us are your consuls. With us is your senate.

Penes nos est miles tuus. Proceres Francorum ipsi te consilio regere, equites Francorum ipsi tuam ferro iniuriam propellere debebunt. Gloriaris me per te vocatum esse, me per te primo civem, post principem factum, quod tuum erat a te suscepisse.

Your soldiery is in our hands. The nobles of the Franks themselves will have to govern you by counsel; the knights of the Franks themselves will have to repel by iron the injury done to you. You boast that through you I was called, that through you I was made first a citizen, afterward a prince, that which was yours to have undertaken.

Quae dicti novitas quam ratione absona, quam veritate vacua sit, estimationi tuae prudentumque relinquatur arbitrio. Revolvamus modernorum imperatorum gesta, si non divi nostri principes Karolus et Otto nullius beneficio traditam, sed virtute expugnatam Grecis seu Longobardis Urbem cum Italia eripuerint Francorumque apposuerint terminis. Docet haec Desiderius et Beringarius, tyranni tui, in quibus gloriabaris, quibus tamquam principibus innitebaris.

Let the novelty of what is said—how dissonant from reason, how void of truth—be left to your estimation and to the arbitration of the prudent. Let us turn over the deeds of the modern emperors, whether our divine princes Charles and Otto did not wrest the City, not handed over by anyone’s benefaction, but taken by virtue, from the Greeks or the Lombards, together with Italy, and affix it to the boundaries of the Franks. Desiderius and Berengar, your tyrants, in whom you used to glory, on whom you used to lean as though upon princes, bear witness to these things.

Eos a Francis nostris non solum subactos et captos fuisse, sed et in servitute ipsorum consenuisse, vitam finisse vera relatione didicimus. Cineres ipsorum aput nos reconditi evidentissimum huius rei representant indicium. Sed dicis: ãVocatione mea venistiÒ. Fateor, vocatus fui.

We have learned by a true relation that they were not only subdued and captured by our Franks, but also grew old in their servitude and ended their life. The ashes of them laid up with us present the most evident indication of this matter. But you say: ãVocatione mea venistiÒ. I confess, I was called.

Redde causam, quare vocatus fuerim! Ab hostibus pulsabaris nec propria manu Grecorumve mollicie liberari poteras. Francorum virtus invitationeadscita est.

Render the reason why I was called! You were being driven by enemies, nor were you able to be liberated by your own hand or by the mollity of the Greeks. The virtue of the Franks was enlisted by an invitation.

Implorationem potius quam vocationem hanc dixerim. Implorasti misera felicem, debilis fortem, invalida validum, anxia securum. Eo tenore vocatus, si vocatio dicenda est, veni.

I would call this rather an imploration than a vocation. You implored—the wretched—the fortunate; the weak the strong, the powerless the powerful, the anxious the secure. In that tenor, called—if it is to be called a “vocation”—I came.

Principem tuum militem meum feci teque deinceps usque inpresentiarum in meam ditionem transfudi.

I made your prince my soldier, and you thereafter, down to the present, I have transferred into my dominion.

Legittimus possessor sum. Eripiat quis, si potest, clavam de manu Herculis. Siculus, in quo confidis, forte haec faciet?

I am the legitimate possessor. Let someone snatch, if he can, the club from the hand of Hercules. The Sicilian, in whom you confide, will perhaps do these things?

Ad priora respiciat exempla. Nondum facta est Francorum sive Teutonicorum manus invalida. Deo largiente vitaque comiteet ipse temeritatis suae quandoque capere poterit experimenta.

Let him look back to prior examples. The hand of the Franks or of the Teutons has not yet been made weak. With God granting and life as companion, he himself also will someday be able to experience his own temerity.

Iusticiam tuam, quam tibi debeam, exquiris. Taceo, quod principem populo, non populum principi leges prescribere oporteat. Pretermitto, quod quilibet possessor possessionem suam ingressurus nullum condicionis preiudicium pati debeat.

You inquire after your justice, which I owe to you. I am silent on the point that it ought to be that the prince prescribe laws to the people, not the people to the prince. I pretermit that any possessor, when about to enter upon his possession, ought to suffer no prejudice of condition.

Ratione contendamus. Proponis, ut mihi videtur, trium sacramentorum exactionem. De singulis respondeo.

Let us contend by reason. You propose, as it seems to me, the exaction of three oaths. I answer concerning each singly.

Dicis me debere iurare, ut leges antecessorum meorum imperatorum, eorum privilegiis tibi firmatas, et bonas consuetudines tuas observem. Apponis etiam, quod patriae usque ad periculum capitis tuitionem iurem. Ad ista duo simul respondeo.

You say that I ought to swear that I will observe the laws of my antecessors, the emperors, confirmed to you by their privileges, and your good customs. You further add that I swear to the defense of the fatherland even up to the peril of my head (i.e., life). To these two I reply at once.

Ea quae postulas aut iusta sunt aut iniusta. Si iniusta sunt, nec tuum erit postulare nec meum concedere. Si iusta, recognosco me haec et debendo velle et volendo debere.

Those things which you demand are either just or unjust. If they are unjust, neither will it be yours to demand nor mine to concede. If they are just, I recognize that, as to these things, I both, by owing, will them, and, by willing, owe.

Quare superfluum erit voluntario debito et debitae voluntati sacramentum apponere. Quomodo enim tibi tuam iusticiam infringerem, qui quibuslibet infimis etiam quod suum est servarecupio? Quomodo patriam et precipue imperii mei sedem usque ad periculum capitis non defenderem, qui et ipsius terminos non sine eiusdem periculi estimatione, quantum est in me, restaurare cogitaverim?

Wherefore it will be superfluous to append an oath to a voluntary debt and to an indebted will. For how indeed would I infringe your justice, I who desire to preserve even to the very lowest whatever is theirs? How would I not defend the fatherland, and especially the seat of my empire, even to the peril of my head, I who have even thought to restore its borders, not without an estimation of that same peril, so far as lies in me?

Experta est hoc Danianuper subacta Romanoque reddita orbi, et fortasse plures provinciae pluraque sensissent regna, si presens negotium non impedisset. Ad tercium venio capitulum. Affirmas pro pecunia quadam iuramentum tibi preberi a mea deberi persona.

Denmark has experienced this recently, having been subjugated and restored to the Roman orb; and perhaps more provinces and more kingdoms would have felt more of it, if the present business had not impeded. I come to the third chapter. You affirm that, for a certain sum of money, an oath to be offered to you is owed by my person.

Proh nefas! A tuo, Roma, exigis principe, quod quilibet lixa potius petere deberet ab institore. A captivis haec penes nos exiguntur.

For shame! From your emperor, Rome, you exact what any sutler ought rather to seek from a huckster. Such things are exacted at our hands from captives.

Num in captivitate detineor? Num vinculis hostium urgeor? Nonne multo et forti stipatus milite inclitus sedeo?

Am I detained in captivity? Am I pressed by the bonds of enemies? Do I not sit renowned, thronged by much and strong soldiery?

Cogetur princeps Romanus contra suam voluntatem cuiuslibet prebitor esse, non largitor? Regaliter et magnifice actenus mea cui libuit et quantum decuit et precipue bene de me meritis dare consuevi. Sicut enim a minoribus debitum rite expetitur obsequium, sic a maioribus meritum iuste rependitur beneficium: hunc, quem alibi a divis parentibus meis acceptum servavi morem, civibus [meis] cur negarem Urbemque meo introitu laetam non facerem?

Will the Roman princeps be compelled against his will to be a provider to anyone whatsoever, and not a bestower of largess? Regally and magnificently I have hitherto been accustomed to give what is mine to whom I pleased and as much as was fitting, and especially to those who had well deserved of me. For just as due obedience is rightly demanded from inferiors, so from superiors a merited benefit is justly repaid: this custom, which elsewhere I received from my deified parents and have kept, why should I deny to [my] citizens and not make the City glad at my entrance?

Sed merito non iusta iniuste petenti cuncta iuste negantur'. - Haec dicens et non sine condigna mentis indignatione orationem terminans conticuit.

But deservedly, to one unjustly requesting not-just things, all things are justly denied'. - Saying these things, and not without a condign indignation of mind, terminating the oration, he fell silent.

Capitulum XXXI.

Chapter 31.

Porro quibusdam ex circumstantibus inquirentibus ab his qui missi fuerant, an plura dicere vellent, paulisper deliberantes in dolo responderunt se prius ea quae audierant concivibus suis referre et tunc demum ex consilio ad principem redire velle. Sic accepto commeatu a curia egredientes ad Urbem cum festinatione revertuntur. Rex dolum presentiens consulendum super hoc negotio patrem suum Romanum pontificem decernit.

Moreover, as certain of the bystanders were inquiring of those who had been sent whether they wished to say more, after deliberating a little they answered in guile that they wished first to report to their fellow-citizens the things they had heard and then at length, with counsel taken, to return to the prince. Thus, leave having been obtained from the curia, going out they return to the City with haste. The king, sensing the deceit, decrees that his father, the Roman pontiff, is to be consulted concerning this business.

Cui ille: 'Romanae plebis, fili, adhuc melius experieris versutiam. Cognosces enim in dolo eos venisse et in dolo redisse. Sed, Dei nos adiuvante clementia, dicentis:
Comprehendam sapientes in astucia sua, prevenire eorum poterimus versutas insidias.

To this he: 'Of the Roman plebs, son, you will yet experience their craftiness more fully. For you will recognize that in guile they came and in guile they returned. But, with the mercy of God aiding us, who says:
I will comprehend the wise in their own craftiness, we shall be able to forestall their crafty snares.'

Maturato igitur premittantur fortes et gnari de exercitu iuvenes, qui aecclesiam beati Petri Leoninumque occupent castrum. In presidiis equites nostri ibi sunt, qui eos cognita voluntate nostra statim admittent. Preterea Octavianum cardinalem presbiterum, qui de nobilissimo Romanorum descendit sanguine, fidelissimum tuum, eis adiungemus'. Sicque factum est.

Therefore, with haste, let strong and skilled youths from the army be sent forward, who may seize the church of blessed Peter and the Leonine castle. In the garrisons our cavalry are there, who, once our will is known, will admit them at once. Moreover, Octavian, a cardinal presbyter, who descends from the most noble blood of the Romans, your most faithful one, we will join to them'. And so it was done.

Eliguntur proxima nocte pene usque ad mille armatorum equitum lectissimi iuvenes summoque diluculo Leoninam intrantes urbem, aecclesiam beati Petri, vestibulum et gradus occupaturi, observant. Redeunt ad castra nuncii haec laeta reportantes.

On the next night there are chosen nearly up to a thousand armed horsemen, most select youths, and at the very dawn, entering the Leonine city, destined to occupy the church of blessed Peter, the vestibule and the steps, they keep watch. Messengers return to the camp reporting these glad tidings.

Capitulum XXXII.

Chapter 32.

Sole orto, transacta iam prima hora, precedente cum cardinalibus et clericis summo pontifice Adriano eiusque adventum in gradibus prestolante, rex castra movens, armatus cum suis per declivum montis Gaudii descendens, ea porta, quam Auream vocant, Leoninam urbem, in qua beati Petri aecclesia sita noscitur, intravit. Videres militem tam armorum splendore fulgentem, tam ordinis integritate decenter incedentem, ut recte de illo dici posset: Terribilis ut castrorum acies ordinata, et illud Machabeorum: Refulsit sol in clipeos aureos, et resplenduerunt montes ab eis. Mox princeps ad gradus aecclesiae beati Petri veniens a summo pontifice honorifice susceptus ac usque ad confessionem beati Petri deductus est.

With the sun risen, the first hour now elapsed, while the supreme pontiff Adrian, preceding with the cardinals and clerics and awaiting his arrival on the steps, the king, moving camp, descending armed with his men down the slope of Mount Joy, entered by that gate which they call the Golden the Leonine city, in which the church of blessed Peter is known to be situated. You would have seen the soldiery so shining with the splendor of arms, so becomingly advancing with integrity of order, that it could rightly be said of them: Terrible as a battle-line set in order, and that of the Maccabees: The sun flashed on the golden shields, and the mountains shone from them. Soon the prince, coming to the steps of the church of blessed Peter, was honorably received by the supreme pontiff and was led as far as the Confession of blessed Peter.

Dehinc celebratis ab ipso papa missarum sollempniis, armato stipatus rex milite cum benedictione debita imperii coronam accepit, anno regni sui quarto, mense Iunio, XIIII. Kal. Iulii, cunctis qui aderant cum magna laeticia acclamantibus Deumque super tam glorioso facto glorificantibus.

Thereafter, the solemnities of the Mass having been celebrated by the pope himself, the king, surrounded by armed soldiery, with the due benediction received the crown of the Empire, in the fourth year of his reign, in the month of June, on the 14th day before the Kalends of July (June 18), while all who were present with great joy were acclaiming and glorifying God over so glorious a deed.

Interim a suis pons, qui iuxta castrum Crescentii ab urbe Leonina usque ad ingressum ipsius extenditur Urbis, ne a furente populo celebritatis huius iocunditas interrumpi posset, servabatur. Peractis omnibus imperator cum corona solus equum faleratum insidens, caeteris pedes euntibus, per eandem, qua introierat, egressus portam ad tabernacula, quae ipsis muris adherebant, revertitur, Romano pontifice in palatio quod iuxta aecclesiam habebat remanente.

Meanwhile by his own men the bridge, which next to the Castle of Crescentius extends from the Leonine City as far as the entrance of the City itself, was being guarded, lest the jocundity of this solemnity might be interrupted by a raging populace. With all things accomplished, the emperor, with the crown, alone sitting upon a caparisoned horse, the rest going on foot, went out through the same gate by which he had entered, and returns to the tents which were adhering to the very walls, the Roman pontiff remaining in the palace which he had next to the church.

Capitulum XXXIII.

Chapter 33.

Dum haec agerentur, Romanus populus cum senatoribus suis in Capitolio convenerant. Audientes autem imperatorem sine sua astipulatione coronam imperii accepisse, in furorem versi, cum impetu magno Tyberim transeunt ac iuxta aecclesiam beati Petri procurrentes quosdam ex stratoribus, qui remanserant, in ipsa sacrosancta aecclesia necare non timuerunt. Clamor attollitur.

While these things were being done, the Roman people, with their senators, had gathered on the Capitoline. However, hearing that the emperor had received the crown of empire without their assent, turned to fury, with great impetus they cross the Tiber and, rushing up near the church of blessed Peter, did not fear to kill, in the very sacrosanct church, some of the equerries (stratores) who had remained behind. A clamor is raised.

Audiens haec imperator militem ex estus magnitudine sitisque ac laboris defatigatione recreari cupientem armari iubet. Festinabat eo amplius, quo timebat furentem plebem in Romanum pontificem cardinalesque irruisse. Pugna conseritur.

Hearing these things, the emperor orders the soldiery—wishing to be refreshed from the greatness of the heat and of thirst and from the weariness of labor—to be armed. He was hastening all the more, inasmuch as he feared that the raging plebs had rushed upon the Roman pontiff and the cardinals. A battle is joined.

Ex una parte iuxta castrum Crescentii cum Romanis, ex altero latere iuxta Piscinamcum Transtyberinis. Videres nunc hos istos versus castra propellere, nunc hos illos ad pontem usque repellere. Adiuvabantur nostri, quod a castro Crescentii saxorum ictibus seu iaculorum non ledebantur spiculis, mulieribus etiam, quae in spectaculis stabant, suos, ut aiunt, adhortantibus, ne propter inertis plebis temeritatem tam ordinatum equitum decus ab his qui in arce erant predictis modis sauciaretur.

On one side near the Castle of Crescentius with the Romans; on the other side near the Piscina with the Transtiberines. You might see now these driving those toward the camp, now these repelling those even to the bridge. Our side was being aided, because from the Castle of Crescentius they were not being wounded by blows of stones or by the points of javelins, the women also, who were standing in the viewing-stands, urging on their own, as they say, lest, on account of the rashness of the inert plebs, the so well-ordered equestrian honor be wounded in the aforesaid ways by those who were in the citadel.

Dubia itaque sorte dum diu ab utrisque decertaretur, Romani tandem atrocitatem nostrorum non ferentes coguntur cedere. Cerneres nostros tam immaniter quam audacter Romanos cedendo sternere, sternendo cedere, acsi dicerent: 'Accipe nunc, Roma, pro auro Arabico Teutonicum ferrum. Haec est pecunia, quam tibi princeps tuus pro tua offert corona.

Therefore, with the issue doubtful and while for a long time it was being fought out by both sides, the Romans at length, not bearing the atrocity of our men, are compelled to yield. You might see our men laying the Romans low by yielding, yielding by laying them low, as if they were saying: 'Receive now, Rome, in place of Arabic gold, Teutonic iron. This is the money which your prince offers to you for your crown.'

Sic emitur a Francis imperium. Talia tibi a principe tuo redduntur commertia, talia [tibi] prestantur iuramenta'. Prelium hoc a decima pene diei hora usque ad noctem protractum est. Cesi fuerunt ibi vel in Tyberi mersi pene mille, capti ferme DC, sauciati innumeri, caeteri in fugam versi, uno tantum ex nostris, mirum dictu, occiso, uno capto.

Thus is empire bought by the Franks. Such commercial dealings are rendered to you by your prince, such [to you] oaths are proffered.' This battle was protracted from almost the tenth hour of the day until night. Almost a thousand were cut down there or immersed in the Tiber, about 600 were taken captive, countless wounded, the rest turned to flight, with only one of ours, wondrous to say, slain, and one captured.

Plus enim nostros intemperies caeli estusque illo in tempore maxime circa Urbem inmoderatior quam Romanorum ledere poterant arma.

For the intemperance of the sky and the heat, at that time most immoderate around the City, could harm our men more than the arms of the Romans.

Capitulum XXXIIII.

Chapter 34.

Finito tam magnifico triumpho imperator ad castra rediit ibique, et se et suis fessa lectulis recipientibus membra, nocte illa conquievit. Altera die cum mercatum a civibus amaricatis habere non posset, laborantem ciborum inedia militem ad superiora duxit ac paulisper ad campi planitiem procedens tentoria locavit. Dehinc iuxta montem Soractem, in quo beatum Silvestrum olim persecutionem fugientem tradunt latuisse, Tyberim transvadans, in quadam vallecampi viriditate amena, cuiusdam amniscursu conspicua, non longe a civitate Tiburto militem tam crebris laboribus defatigatum aliquantum quiescere permisit.

With so magnificent a triumph finished, the emperor returned to the camp, and there, with both himself and his own taking their weary limbs back to little beds, he rested that night. On the next day, since he could not hold a market from the embittered citizens, he led the soldier, struggling with a lack of provisions, to the higher ground, and, proceeding for a little to the level plain of the field, he pitched the tents. Then, near Mount Soracte, on which they hand down that the blessed Sylvester, once fleeing persecution, lay hidden, fording across the Tiber, in a certain valley-plain delightful in greenness, made conspicuous by the course of a certain stream, not far from the city Tibur, he allowed the soldier, wearied by so frequent labors, to rest somewhat.

Adventabat toti aecclesiae et precipue Romanae urbis pontifici et imperatori venerabile festum apostolorum Petri et Pauli. Ea ergo die, missam papa Adriano celebrante, imperator coronatur. Tradunt Romanorum ibi pontificem inter missarum sollempnia cunctos, qui fortasse in conflictu cum Romanis habito sanguinem fuderant, absolvisse, allegationibus usum, eo quod miles proprio principi militans eiusque obedientiae astrictus [non solum] contra hostes imperii [et aecclesiae] dimicans sanguinem[que] fundens iure tam poli quam fori non homicida, sed vindex affirmetur.

There was approaching for the whole church, and especially for the pontiff of the Roman city and the emperor, the venerable feast of the apostles Peter and Paul. Therefore on that day, with Pope Adrian celebrating the mass, the emperor was crowned. They hand down that the pontiff of the Romans there, during the solemnities of the masses, absolved all who perhaps, in a conflict had with the Romans, had shed blood, employing pleas, on the ground that a soldier serving his own prince and bound to his obedience, [not only] fighting against the enemies of the empire [and of the church] and [and] shedding blood, by the law both of heaven and of the forum is affirmed not a homicide, but an avenger.

Inde castra movens inter Urbem et Tusculanum resedit. Iam tempus imminebat, quo Canis ad morbidum pedem Orionis micans exurgere deberet, e vicinis stagnis cavernosisque ac ruinosis circa Urbem locis tristibus erumpentibus et exhalantibus nebulis totus vicinus crassatur aer, ad hauriendum mortalibus letifer ac pestifer. Urgebatur hoc incommodo in Urbe civis, hoc tempore ad montana consuetus fugere, in castris miles, tanta desuetus aeris intemperie.

Thence, moving the camp, he settled between the City and Tusculum. Now the time was impending when the Dog, glittering by the morbid foot of Orion, ought to rise, and from the neighboring pools and the cavernous and ruinous places, gloomy around the City, with mists bursting forth and exhaling, the whole surrounding air grows thick, lethal and pestiferous for mortals to inhale. The citizen in the City was pressed by this inconvenience—at this time he is accustomed to flee to the mountains—the soldier in the camp, unaccustomed to so great an intemperance of the air.

Nec dubium, quin civis ad obedientiam pontifici, ad deditionem principi suo venisset, si miles extra tantum incommodum pati potuisset.

Nor is there a doubt that the citizen would have come to obedience to the pontiff, to dedition to his own prince, if the soldier had been able to endure being outside amid so great an inconvenience.

Verum innumeris hac caeli corruptione in morbos gravissimos incidentibus, princeps dolens ac nolens suisque tantum morem gerens ad vicina montana transferre cogitur tabernacula. Itaque proximum ascendens Appenninum, super Nar fluvium, de quo Lucanus: Sulphureas Nar albus aquas, tentoria fixit, circa Tyburtum a Romano pontifice, relictis sibi captivis, divisus. Ibi per aliquot dies manens acceptoque prudentum consilio corruptum, quem biberant, aerem farmatiis propellendum, exercitum quantum poterat recreavit.

But as innumerable men, through this corruption of the sky, were falling into most grievous maladies, the prince, grieving and unwilling and only yielding to the wishes of his own, is compelled to transfer the tents to the neighboring mountains. And so, ascending the nearest Apennine, above the river Nar—of which Lucan: The Nar white with sulphurous waters—he pitched the tents, having been separated near Tiburtum from the Roman pontiff, the captives having been left to him. There, remaining for several days, and having received the counsel of prudent men that the corrupted air, which they had drunk, must be driven off by pharmaceutic remedies, he refreshed the army as much as he could.

Capitulum XXXV.

Chapter 35.

Peractis ibi aliquot diebus, cum fodrum a vicinis civitatibus et castellis et oppidis exquireretur, Spoletani indignationem principis incurrunt. Dupliciter enim peccaverant, cum DCCC librarum facti essent obnoxii, partim defraudando, partim falsam monetam dando. Adauxit huius indignationis cumulum, quod Gwidonem comitem cognomento Guerram, inter omnes Tusciae proceres opulentiorem, de Apulia in legatione imperatoris ad ipsum redire volentem, in sua civitate hospitatum, comprehendere captumque tenere ausi sint.

After several days had been completed there, when fodrum was being exacted from the neighboring cities and castles and towns, the Spoletans incurred the prince’s indignation. For they had sinned in a twofold way, since they had been made liable for 800 pounds, partly by defrauding, partly by giving false money. The heap of this indignation was increased by the fact that they dared to seize, and to hold captive, Guido, count by the surname Guerra, more opulent than all the magnates of Tuscany, who, wishing to return to him from Apulia on the emperor’s legation, had been lodged as a guest in their city.

Quodque his peius erat, preceptum principis eum relaxari iubentis contempserunt. Imperator ergo plus de captivitate proceris sui quam de fraudatione pecuniae motus in Spoletanos transtulit arma. Illi murorum ambitu altissimarumque turrium muniminis multitudine non contenti, extra muros cum fundibulariis et sagittariis egressi, occurrendum principi putantes, quos poterant percutiebant et quos poterant figebant.

And what was worse than these things, they scorned the precept of the prince ordering that he be released. Therefore the emperor, moved more by the captivity of his noble than by the defrauding of money, turned his arms against the Spoletans. They, not content with the ambit of the walls and the multitude of the muniment of the very high towers, went out beyond the walls with slingers and archers, thinking the prince must be met; those whom they could, they struck, and those whom they could, they pierced.

Videns hoc princeps: 'Ludus', ait, 'hic puerorum, non virorum videtur concertatio'. Dixit suosque fortiter in adversarios ruere iubet. Quo sine mora facto vallorumque obstaculis tamquam plano ex ferventium animorum fortitudine transmissis, caeduntur Spoletani ac aliquamdiu viriliter resistentes cedere coguntur. Urbis refugio se recipere volentibus miles, qui a tergo imminebat, simul recipitur, fortuna iuvante virtutem.

Seeing this, the prince said: “This is a boys’ game; this contest seems not of men.” He spoke and orders his own to rush bravely upon the adversaries. This being done without delay, the obstacles of the ramparts, as if on level ground, having been crossed by the fortitude of their seething spirits, the Spoletans are cut down and, though for some time resisting manfully, are compelled to yield. As they wished to withdraw into the refuge of the city, the soldiery, which was pressing from the rear, is admitted at the same time, fortune aiding valor.

Civitas direptioni datur, et antequam asportari usui hominum profutura possent, a quodam apposito igne concrematur. Cives, qui ferrum flammamque effugere poterant, in vicinum montem seminudi, vitam tantum servantes, se recipiunt. Protendebatur conflictus iste a tercia usque ad nonam.

The city is given over to depredation, and before things that would be of use to men could be carried off, it is burned to ashes by a fire applied by a certain person. The citizens who could escape iron and flame, half-naked, preserving only their life, withdraw to a neighboring mountain. This conflict was prolonged from the third up to the ninth hour.

Nullus in illa concertatione privatus principe strennuior, nullus nec gregarius miles ad sumenda arma promptior, nullus ad periculorum exceptionem nec conductitius eo paratior. Denique ea ex parte, qua maioris aecclesiae pontificalem sedem versus ex convexo montis inaccessibilior civitas videbatur, ipse non solum suos ad assultum adhortatione urgebat, minis cogebat, verum etiam aliis exempla prebebat [et] non sine maximo periculo montem in propria persona ascendens eam irrupit.

In that contest no private person was more strenuous than the princeps, nor any rank-and-file soldier readier to take up arms, nor any mercenary better prepared for the taking-on of dangers than he. Finally, on that side where, toward the pontifical see of the greater church, from the convex slope of the mountain the city seemed more inaccessible, he himself not only was pressing his men to the assault by exhortation, compelling them by threats, but also was providing examples to others [and], ascending the mountain in his own person not without very great peril, he burst into it.

Capitulum XXXVI.

Chapter 36.

Transacto Spoletanorum excidio, princeps ea nocte ibi victor remansit. Postera die, eo quod ex adustione cadaverum totus in vicino corruptus aer intollerabilem generaret nidorem ad proxima exercitum transtulit loca, duobus diebus ibi manens, donec igni residua in usus exercitus, non miserorum Spoletanorum cederent spolia. Post haec ad maritima Adriatici equoris loca procedit exercitus.

With the excision of the Spoletans completed, the prince remained there that night as victor. On the following day, because from the burning of the corpses the whole air in the vicinity, corrupted, generated an intolerable reek, he moved the army to the nearest places, remaining there for two days, until the remaining spoils yielded to the fire for the uses of the army, not of the wretched Spoletans. After this the army advanced to the maritime locales of the Adriatic sea.

Ibi in confiniis Anchonae imperator castra ponens Palologum-, quod nos veterem sermonem dicere possumus -, nobilissimum Grecorum regalisque sanguinis procerem, et Marodocum, egregium virum, ex parte principis sui Constantinopolitani venientes muneraque non parva deferentes obvios habuit. Quibus auditis causaque viae cognita, per aliquot dies secum detinuit. Dehinc accepto principum, qui cum ipso erant, consilio, Gwibaldum Corbeiensem simul et Stabulensem abbatem regalem, virum prudentem ac in curia magnum, in Greciam legatione ipsius ad regiae urbis principem functurum destinavit.

There, on the borders of Ancona, the emperor pitching camp encountered the Palologus-, which we can call by the old speech -, a most noble magnate of the Greeks and of royal blood, and Marodocus, an excellent man, coming on behalf of their own Constantinopolitan prince and bearing no small gifts. When these had been heard and the cause of their journey learned, he detained them with him for several days. Then, having taken counsel of the princes who were with him, he appointed Gwibaldus, royal abbot of Corbie and likewise of Stavelot, a prudent man and great in the court, to perform his legation into Greece to the prince of the royal city.

Capitulum XXXVII.

Chapter 37.

Inter haec princeps Capuae, Andreas Apuliae comes caeterique eiusdem provinciae exules Campaniam et Apuliam cum legatione imperatoris ingredientes civitates, castella caeteraque, quae olim habebant, municipia sine contradictione recipiunt, accolis terrae putantibus imperatorem e vestigio ipsos subsecuturum. At princeps diu cum proceribus maioribusque de exercitu consultans plurimum ad inclinandos eorum animos, ut in Apuliam descenderent, laboravit. Verum excandescente amplius in exercitum Canis rabie vixque aliquibus residuis, qui estus fervore et aeris intemperie corruptionem non sentirent, sauciatis quoque de civitatum, castellorum, oppidorum expugnatione pluribus nonnullisque extinctis, non sine cordis amaritudine ad Transalpina redire cogitur.

Meanwhile the prince of Capua, Andrew, count of Apulia, and the other exiles of the same province, entering Campania and Apulia with the emperor’s legation, receive back without contradiction the cities, the castles, and the other municipalities which they once held, the inhabitants of the land supposing that the emperor would follow them on their very heels. But the prince, long consulting with the grandees and the senior men of the army, labored greatly to incline their minds to descend into Apulia. In truth, as the Dog-star’s rage blazed the more upon the army, and with scarcely any remaining who did not feel the corruption from the fervor of the heat and the intemperance of the air, with many wounded also from the expugnation of cities, castles, and towns, and some slain, he is compelled, not without bitterness of heart, to return to the Transalpine regions.

Capitulum XXXVIII.

Chapter 38.

Igitur signo dato cunctis ad patriam licentia repedandi conceditur. Intrabant alii naves, per Adriaticum equor ac insulam, quae modo Venetia dicitur, ad propria reversuri. Inter quos primates fuere Peregrinus Aquilegensis patriarcha, Everhardus Babenbergensis episcopus, Berhtolfus comes, Heinricus Carentanorum dux, Odoacer Stirensis marchio.

Therefore, the signal having been given, license was granted to all to march back to their fatherland. Others were entering ships, about to return to their own homes by way of the Adriatic sea and the island which is now called Venice. Among the primates of these were Peregrinus, Patriarch of Aquileia; Everhard, Bishop of Bamberg; Bertholf, Count; Henry, Duke of the Carentanians; Odoacer, Margrave of Styria.

Alii ad occidentales partes Longobardiae, nonnulli per montem Iovis, alii per vallem Moriannae transituri, carpebant iter. Complures adhuc imperatori adherebant.

Others to the western parts of Lombardy, some intending to cross by the Mountain of Jove, others through the valley of Maurienne, were taking the road. Many still were adhering to the emperor.

Capitulum XXXVIIII.

Chapter 39.

Fridericus itaque, victor, inclitus, triumphator, ab Anconensium territorio castra movens per Senegalliam, ubi Senones Gallos olim Romani mansisse autumant, Fanum et Ymulam transiens, Appennino transmenso, in plano ulterioris Italiae iuxta Bononiam super Rhenum resedit. Inde per planam Italiam, transmisso iuxta beati Benedicti cenobiumnavibusEridano, ad campestria Veronensium revertitur circa principia mensis Septembris. Est autem antiqua Veronensium consuetudo, et quasi [a] longinquo imperatorum utuntur privilegio, ut principes Romanorum seu ad Urbem ex Transalpinis partibus venientes seu inde redeuntes, ne per ipsorum civitatem veniendo depopulationi subiaceant, paulisper sursum a civitate per pontem navibus ab eis factum Adesam transeant.

Frederick therefore, victor, illustrious, triumphant, moving his camp from the territory of the Anconans, through Senigallia, where the Romans aver that the Senonian Gauls once remained, passing Fano and Imola, the Apennine having been crossed, on the plain of farther Italy he settled near Bologna upon the Reno. Thence through level Italy, the Po having been crossed by boats near the monastery of blessed Benedict, he returns to the plains of the Veronese about the beginnings of the month of September. Now there is an ancient custom of the Veronese, and they enjoy as it were [a] a long-standing privilege of emperors, that the princes of the Romans, whether coming to the City from Transalpine parts or returning thence, lest by coming through their city they be subjecting it to depopulation, should cross the Adige a little way upstream from the city by a bridge of boats made by them.

Hunc morem Veronenses fraudulenter secuti pontem quidem ex navibus fecerant, sed ex ligamentorum tenaculis tam debilem, ut potius muscipulam quam pontem diceres. Alio itidem commento pernicioso usi fuerant. Ex superioribus amnis partibus validas lignorum strues in plures congesserant fasces, quatinus per hoc huius rei ignarum deciperent militem, id est ut, postquam altera pars transiret, altera ponte per haec diabolica machinamenta dirupto remaneret, ipsi in alteros irruerent.

The Veronese, having fraudulently followed this custom, had indeed made a bridge out of ships, but with the fastenings of the ligatures so feeble that you would call it rather a mousetrap than a bridge. They had likewise employed another pernicious contrivance. From the upper reaches of the river they had piled stout heaps of timber into several bundles (fasces), so that by this they might deceive the soldiery ignorant of the matter—that is, that after one part had crossed, the other would be left behind, the bridge torn apart by these diabolical machinations, and they themselves might rush upon the others.

Inciderunt iniqui in foveam, iuxta scripturam, quam fecerunt. Denique nutu Dei saluti principis exercitusque sui previdentis factum est, ut et miles periculose, sine dampno tamen, transiret, et predictae strues supervenientes ponte diruto quosdam ex hostibus, qui exercitum subsecuti fuerant, eodem, quo venerant, meatu reverti se putantes interciperent. Qui mox omnes sicut traditores trucidati sunt.

They have fallen, the wicked, into a pit, according to Scripture, which they made. Finally, by the nod of God, foreseeing the safety of the prince and his army, it came about that the soldiery, though in peril, yet without loss, crossed; and the aforesaid bundles of timber, coming down when the bridge was broken, intercepted certain of the enemies who had followed the army, thinking to return by the same channel by which they had come. These all at once, as traitors, were cut down.

Ea nocte fessus laboribus in vicino resedit miles.

That night the soldier, fatigued by labors, sat down nearby.

Capitulum XL.

Chapter 40.

Erant in imminenti fauces montium saxumque fortissimum prope in declivo rupis inaccessibile observans viam. Oportebat per desubtus [illud] exercitum transire. Talis est enim ibi natura locorum: Ex una parte labitur Athesa fluvius invadabilis, ex altera prerupta montis precipicia viam stringunt et vix semitam artissimam faciunt.

There were overhanging mountain defiles, and a very strong rock, close upon the slope of a cliff, inaccessible, overlooking the road. It was necessary for the army to pass beneath [it]. For such is there the nature of the places: On one side flows the Athesa river, unfordable, on the other the sheer precipices of the mountain constrict the road and scarcely make a very narrow footpath.

In hac arce quodam Alberico nobili Veronensium equite auctore latrunculorum predandi causa convolaverat multitudo. Igitur adventante exercitu, quidam ex eis, qui ea die, qua Athesa transmissa est, transire cupiebant, pacifice ex industri dolo angustias a latronibus transpedare permittuntur. Venientibus sequenti luce aliis latrones ad saxorum moles currunt, transmeandi facultatem prepediunt.

Into this citadel, with a certain Alberic, a noble knight of the Veronese, as author-instigator, a multitude of brigands had flocked for the sake of plundering. Therefore, as the army was approaching, certain of them, who on the day on which the Athesa was crossed were eager to pass over, were permitted by the robbers, peacefully and by studied deceit, to thread the narrows on foot. As others were coming with the following light, the brigands run to the masses of rocks and impede the faculty of crossing.

Principem ea latere non poterant. Erant adhuc in comitatu eius duo Veronensium civium illustres equites, qui eum ad Urbem prosecuti ac inde usque ad presentem locum secuti fuerant, Garzabanus et Ysaac. Hos princeps ad predictos latrones destinandos putavit, ut ita communicato concivium suorum consilio a cepta facilius desisterent malicia.

These things could not lie hidden from the prince. There were still in his retinue two illustrious knights among the citizens of Verona, who had escorted him to the City and from there had followed as far as the present place, Garzabanus and Isaac. The prince thought that these should be dispatched to the aforesaid brigands, so that, with the counsel of their fellow-citizens thus communicated, they might more easily desist from the malice they had undertaken.

Illi eos nec audire, sed ictibus propellere. Imperator rursum aliis eo destinatis illos ab incepto desistere iubet. At illi in pertinaci obstinatione sua remanentes lapides itidem iactare ceperunt, dicentes imperatorem ibi numquam transiturum, nisi a singulis equitibus loricam velequum haberent et insuper non modicam pecuniam a principe.

They would not even hear them, but drove them off with blows. The emperor, again dispatching others thither, orders those men to desist from their undertaking. But they, remaining in their pertinacious obstinacy, likewise began to hurl stones, saying that the emperor would never pass there unless from each of the knights they should have a cuirass or a horse, and, besides, no small sum of money from the emperor.

Audiens haec imperator: 'Dura est', inquit, 'haec conditio, durum est latroni principem tributa persolvere'. Quid faceret? Quo se verteret? Flumen transvadaret?

Hearing these things, the emperor said: 'Hard is,' he says, 'this condition; hard it is for a prince to pay tributes to a robber.' What was he to do? Whither was he to turn? Should he ford the river?

At ad transvadandum aptus natura renitente non erat. Ingenio transiret? Pons dirutus fuit.

But for fording across, he was not apt, nature resisting. Would he cross by ingenuity? The bridge had been demolished.

Civitatem versus descenderet? Sed et ibi mons ad flumen se stringens clausuram fecerat, quam Veronensium presidia observabant. Ad consueta priorum virtutum se vertit insignia.

Should he descend toward the city? But even there a mountain, constricting itself to the river, had made a barrier, which the garrisons of the Veronese were keeping watch over. He turned to the accustomed insignia of his former virtues.

Oportebat enim qualicumque predictam arcem expugnari ingenio. Iubet sarcinas deponi, tentoria quasi erigi, acsi eadem ibidem nocte figenda forent tabernacula. 'Hic', inquit, 'tamquam patriae nobis arridente vestibulo, tot decursis periculis, laborum nostrorum consummationem hic habebimus'. Sic suos alloquens, acsi illo Virgilianouteretur:

For it was fitting that, by whatever means, the aforesaid citadel be stormed by ingenuity. He orders the baggage to be laid down, the tents as if to be raised, as though those same tents were to be pitched there that very night. 'Here,' he says, 'as though the vestibule of our fatherland were smiling upon us, with so many dangers run through, here we shall have the consummation of our labors.' Thus addressing his men, as if he were using that Virgilian line:

O socii, neque inexpertes sumus ante laborum,
O passi graviora, dabit deus his quoque finem.
- Forsan et haec olim meminisse iuvabit,

O comrades, nor are we inexperienced in labors before,
O you who have suffered graver things, a god will grant an end to these as well.
- Perhaps even these things one day it will be pleasing to remember,

omnes armari iubet. Deinde vocato Garzabano et Ysaac de situ locorum, quove aperiri possit via ingenio, inquirendo sollerter edoceri petit. At illi: 'Cernis eam, quae super arcem dependet, rupem, eminentia sua terribilem, confragosis locis saxorumque asperitate quasi inaccessibilem?

he orders all to be armed. Then, having called Garzaban and Isaac, he seeks to be skillfully instructed by inquiry about the site of the places, and by what ingenuity a way might be opened. But they: 'Do you see that crag which hangs over the citadel, terrible in its eminence, with craggy places and the roughness of the rocks as if inaccessible?

Illam, nisi forte ab eis observetur, si incautis preripere poteris, propositum tenebis'. Nec mora, mittuntur cum Ottone vexillifero quasi ducenti lectissimi iuvenes armati. Illi per devia silvarum et montium, per concava et confragosa Alpium oberrando loca tandem cum multo sudore ad predictam perveniunt rupem. Quae dum quasi ferro abscisa nullum ascendendi aditum militi offerret, curvatur alius, ut socium dorso levet, alius ad erigendum commilitonem humeros prebet.

‘That, unless perhaps it is kept under watch by them—if you can snatch it in advance from the incautious—you will hold to your purpose.’ Without delay, together with Otto the standard-bearer, there are sent about two hundred most select armed youths. They, through the byways of forests and mountains, through the concave and craggy places of the Alps, wandering about, at length with much sweat arrive at the aforesaid crag. Which, as though cut off by iron, offered no access for ascending to a soldier: one bends, that he may lift a comrade on his back; another offers his shoulders to raise up his fellow-soldier.

Post haec de hastis facientes scalam - nam gravabatur admodum hac naturali, ut ita dicam, scala armatus eques -, cuncti ad summitatem perveniunt rupis. Exeritur ab Ottone imperatoris vexillum, quod ab eo prius latenter gestabatur. Hoc signo tamquam victoriam presagiente clamor et cantus attollitur; exercitus, qui in valle manebat, ad assultum properat.

After this, making a ladder out of spears—for the armed knight weighed down this natural, so to speak, ladder exceedingly—they all reach the summit of the crag. The emperor’s vexillum is drawn forth by Otto, which had previously been borne secretly by him. At this sign, as though presaging victory, clamor and chant are lifted up; the army, which was remaining in the valley, hastens to the assault.

Latrunculi huius rei incauti - putabant enim predictam rupem cunctis mortalibus inpermeabilem, solis avibus perviam fore -, viso, quod ex infernis et supernis urgerentur locis, desperatione corripiuntur fugamque moliuntur. Sed fugae locus non erat. Quicumque enim ex eis precipitii presidio se committeret, ex collisione hinc inde saxorum confractus membratimque discerptus, antequam ad solum perveniret, animam in inani ponebat.

The brigands, incautious in this matter - for they thought the aforesaid crag was impermeable to all mortals, passable only to birds -, upon seeing that they were being pressed from the lower and the upper places, are seized by desperation and set about flight. But there was no place for flight. For whoever of them entrusted himself to the refuge of the precipice, from the collision with the rocks on this side and that, shattered and torn limb from limb, before he could reach the ground, was laying down his life in the void.

Tanta erat saxi eminentia, tanta fuit hispidae rupis scabrosa malicia. Quid plura? Uno, ut aiunt, [excepto] solo, qui cavernosis locis absconsus delitescens mortem evasit, caeteri omnes obtruncantur, duodecim cum Alberico captis ac ad supplicium reservatis.

So great was the rock’s eminence, so great was the scabrous malice of the bristly crag. What more? With one, as they say, [excepted] alone, who, hidden and skulking in cavernous places, escaped death, all the rest are cut down, twelve, together with Alberic, having been captured and reserved for punishment.

Erant pene omnes, qui deprehensi in vinculis tenebantur, equestris ordinis. Presentatis igitur predictis viris principi ad patibulique supplicia adiudicatis, unus ex eis inquit: 'Audi, imperator nobilissime, miserrimi hominis sortem. Gallus ego natione sum, non Longobardus, ordine quamvis pauper eques, conditione liber; casu, non industria his latronibus adiunctus pro resarcienda familiaris rei penuria.

Nearly all who were apprehended and held in chains were of the equestrian order. Therefore, when the aforesaid men were presented to the prince and adjudged to the punishments of the gallows, one of them said: 'Hear, most noble emperor, the lot of a most wretched man. I am a Gaul by nation, not a Lombard, a knight by order, though poor, free by condition; joined to these brigands by chance, not by design, for the repairing of the poverty of my household estate.'

Promiserunt se ducturos me ad loca talia, ubi mea posset relevari inopia. Credidi miser, consensi credulus, ductus sum ab iniquis et seductus ad haec infortunia. Quis enim in quolibet mortalium tam precipitatae mentis speraret insaniam, tam furentis animi expectaret audatiam?

They promised that they would lead me to such places where my indigence could be relieved. I believed, a wretch; credulous, I consented; I was led by iniquitous men and seduced into these misfortunes. For who among any of mortals would anticipate such insanity of a precipitous mind, would expect such audacity of a raging spirit?

Quis a proprio cliente has suo principi, Urbis et orbis dominatori, necti crederet insidias? Parce, princeps, parce misero, parce miserabiliter seducto'! Hunc solum imperator gloriosus de caeteris mortis sententia eripiendum decrevit, hoc ei tantum pro pena imposito, ut funibus cervicibus singulorum appositis ligni supplicio commilitones plecteret. Sicque factum est.

Who would believe that by his own client these snares were being woven against his prince, the dominator of the City and the world? Spare, prince, spare the wretch, spare one pitiably seduced! The glorious emperor decreed that this one alone, out of the rest, should be snatched from the sentence of death, with this only imposed upon him as a penalty: that, ropes placed on the necks of each, he should punish his comrades-in-arms by the punishment of the gallows. And so it was done.

Non illis miserrimis profuit multa, quam pro vita redimenda promittebant, pecunia; a districto iudice patibulo appensi sunt. Caeteri omnes, qui per decliva montium dispersi iacebant, ut cunctis transeuntibus temeritatis suae preberent documenta, in ipsa via in cumulos acti. Fuerunt autem, ut dicitur, quasi quingenti.

That much money which they were promising for the redeeming of their lives did not profit those most wretched; by a strict judge they were hung on the gibbet. All the rest, who were lying scattered down the slopes of the mountains, so that to all passers-by they might furnish a document (object-lesson) of their own temerity, were driven into heaps in the very road. They were, however, as it is said, about 500.

Capitulum XLI.

Chapter 41.

Princeps, transitis [his] locorum angustiis, iam cunctis emensis periculis, nocte illa in Tridentinorum territorio castra laetus locavit. Dehinc per Tridentum vallemque Tridentinam transiens ad Bauzanumusque pervenit. Haec villa in termino Italiae Baioariaeque posita dulce vinum atque ad vehendum in exteras regiones naturale Noricis mittit.

The princeps, with the narrow passes of the places [these] crossed, now with all dangers traversed, that night gladly pitched camp in the territory of the Tridentines. Thence, passing through Tridentum and the Tridentine valley, he came as far as Bauzanum. This town, set on the border of Italy and Bavaria, sends forth sweet wine, and a wine naturally fit for being conveyed into foreign regions, to the Noricans.

Inde, multis se ad propria dispergentibus domicilia, per Brixinoram iter agens ad Baioariae planitiem eodem ferme, quo inde egressus fuerat, temporevertente anno rediit. Haec de expeditionis illius processu et proventu pauca de multis enarrasse sufficiat. Neque enim cuncta ibi fortiter gesta a nobis ea ordinis integritate stilique urbanitate dici poterant, acsi oculis nostris illa vidissemus.

Thence, as many were scattering themselves to their own proper dwellings, making his way by Brixen he returned to the plain of Bavaria at nearly the same turning of the year at which he had gone out from there. Let these few out of many, about the progress and the outcome of that expedition, suffice to have been narrated. For indeed all the things bravely done there could not be told by us with that integrity of order and urbanity of style, as if we had seen them with our own eyes.

Nam antiquorum mos fuisse traditur, ut illi, qui res ipsas prout gestae fuerunt sensibus perceperant, earumdem scriptores existerent. Unde et hystoria ab hysteron, quod in Greco 'videre' sonat, appellari consuevit. Tanto enim quisque ea quae vidit et audivit plenius edicere poterit, quanto nullius gratia egens hac illacque ad inquisitionem veritatis non circumfertur dubie anxius et anxie dubius.

For it is handed down that it was the custom of the ancients, that those who had perceived the things themselves, just as they were done, by their senses should become the writers of the same. Whence also history is wont to be called from hysteron, which in Greek sounds 'to see.' For the more each person will be able to set forth more fully the things which he has seen and heard, the more, needing the favor of no one, he is not carried about hither and thither for the inquisition of truth, dubiously anxious and anxiously doubtful.

Durum siquidem est scriptoris animum tamquam proprii extorrem examinis ad alienum pendere arbitrium.

Indeed, it is hard for the writer’s spirit, as though exiled from its own examination, to hang upon another’s arbitration.

Capitulum XLII.

Chapter 42.

Igitur consummato feliciter viae labore, princeps ad familiaria remeans domicilia alloquitur in confinio Ratisponensium patruum suum Heinricum ducem, ut ei de transactione facienda cum altero Heinrico, qui iam, ut dictum est, ducatum Baioariae iudicio principum obtinuerat, persuaderet. Cui dum ille tunc non acquiesceret, iterum diem alium, quo eum super eodem negotio per internuncios conveniret, in Baioaria versus confinium Boemorum constituit. Quo princeps veniens Labezlaum ducem Boemiae, Albertum marchionem Saxoniae, Herimannum palatinum comitem Rheni cum aliis viris magnis obvios habuit.

Therefore, the labor of the journey having been consummated felicitously, the prince, returning to his familiar domiciles, addresses on the border of the Ratisbonians his paternal uncle, Duke Henry, that he might persuade him about a transaction to be made with the other Henry, who already, as has been said, had obtained the duchy of Bavaria by the judgment of the princes. As he did not then acquiesce to him, he set again another day, on which he would meet him concerning the same business through inter-nuncios, in Bavaria toward the border of the Bohemians. Thither the prince coming, he had Labezlaus, duke of Bohemia, Albert, margrave of Saxony, and Hermann, palatine count of the Rhine, with other great men, come to meet him.

Tantus etenim eos qui remanserant ob ipsius gestorum magnificentiam invaserat metus, ut omnes ultro venirent, et quilibet familiaritatis eius gratiam obsequio contenderet invenire. Quantum etiam Italis timorem incusserit factorum eius memoria, ex legatis Veronensium perpendi potest, quod in proximo, Deo largiente, plenius dicendum erit. At cum multis modis ad transigendum nos, qui mediatorum ibi vice fungebamur, operam daremus, infecto adhuc negotio, insalutati ab invicem separati sunt.

For so great a fear had seized those who had remained behind on account of the magnificence of his deeds, that all came of their own accord, and each strove to find the favor of his familiarity by obsequious service. How much fear the memory of his doings also struck into the Italians can be weighed from the envoys of the Veronese, which, God granting, will shortly have to be said more fully. But while we, who were discharging there the office of mediators, were giving our efforts in many ways toward a settlement, the business still unfinished, they parted from one another without a salutation.

Capitulum XLIII.

Chapter 43.

Post haec mediante Octobre imperator Ratisponam, Norici ducatus metropolim, curiam celebraturus ingreditur, habens secum Heinricum Heinrici ducis filium in possessionem eiusdem ducatus mittendum. Haec civitas super Danubium, qui unus trium famosissimorum fluminum in Europa a topografis dicitur, ex ea parte, qua predicto amni duo navigabilia, Reginus scilicet et Naba, illabuntur flumina, posita, eo quod ratibus oportuna bonaque sit, vel a ponendo ibi rates Ratisbona vel Ratispona vocatur, Baioariorum quondam regum, modo ducum sedes. Venerunt ad eam curiam Arnaldus Maguntinus archiepiscopus et predictus Herimannus Rheni palatinus comes, uterque de altero querimoniam facientes.

After these things, in mid-October the emperor enters Regensburg, the metropolis of the duchy of Noricum, to hold a court, having with him Henry, the son of Duke Henry, to be sent into possession of the same duchy. This city, situated upon the Danube—which is said by topographers to be one of the three most famous rivers in Europe—on that side where two navigable rivers, namely the Reginus and the Naba, flow into the aforesaid stream, is called Ratisbona or Ratispona, either because it is suitable and good for rafts, or from the placing of rafts there; formerly the seat of the kings of the Bavarians, now of the dukes. To that court came Arnold, archbishop of Mainz, and the aforesaid Hermann, Count Palatine of the Rhine, each making a complaint against the other.

Denique manente in Italia principe totum pene Transalpinum imperium seditionibus motum, ferro, flamma publicisque congressionibus turbatum, absentiam sui sensit presulis. Inter quos hi duo principes, tanto ad nocendum efficaciores quanto fortiores, totam pene Rheni provinciam et precipue Maguntinae civitatis nobile territorium preda, caede et incendiis commacularant. Igitur sedente ibi in publico consistorio imperatore iam sepe nominatus Heinricus dux possessionem suam patrumque suorum recipit sedem.

Finally, with the prince remaining in Italy, almost the whole Transalpine imperium, stirred by seditions, troubled by sword, flame, and public engagements, felt the absence of its prelate. Among whom these two princes—so much the more efficacious for harming as they were the stronger—had stained almost the whole province of the Rhine, and especially the noble territory of the city of Mainz, with plunder, slaughter, and burnings. Therefore, with the emperor sitting there in public consistory, the already often-named Duke Henry receives his possession, the seat of his fathers.

Nam et proceres Baioariae hominio et sacramento sibi obligantur, et cives non solum iuramento, sed etiam, ne ullam vacillandi potestatem haberent, vadibus obfirmantur.

For also the nobles of Bavaria are bound to him by homage and by oath, and the citizens, not only by an oath, but also, so that they might have no power of vacillating, are secured by sureties.

Capitulum XLIIII.

Chapter 44.

Impetitur ibi Hardewicus, qui noviter per electionem cleri et populi et metropolitanisui consecrationem pontificatum eiusdem civitatis acceperat. Regalia siquidem, quae iuxta rationes curiae nulli episcoporum militi, antequam de manu principis suscipiantur, tradere licet, ipse huius rei nescius impremeditate, morante adhuc in Italia principe, tradiderat. Ob ea in causam positus, dum et factum inficiari qualitatemve facti defendere nequit, compositionis incurrit noxam.

There Hardewicus is impeached, who had newly received the pontificate of the same city through the election of the clergy and people and the consecration of his metropolitan. For the regalia, which, according to the reasons of the curia, it is permitted to deliver to no knight of the bishops before they are received from the hand of the prince, he himself, unaware of this matter and unpremeditatedly, while the prince was still lingering in Italy, had delivered. On account of these things put on trial, since he can neither deny the deed nor defend the quality of the deed, he incurs the penalty of composition.

Caeteri quoque, qui ab eo susceperant, quique iuxta suam conditionem et sortem in plusve minusve consimili pena dampnantur. Est enim lex curiae, quod quisquis de ordine principum principis sui iram incurrens compositionem persolvere cogatur, centum librarum debitor existat, caeteri minoris ordinis viri, sive [sint] ingenui sive liberi vel ministri, decem.

The others also, who had received from him, and who according to their condition and lot are condemned to a more or less similar penalty. For it is the law of the curia that whoever of the order of princes, incurring his prince’s wrath, is compelled to pay a composition, shall be a debtor of one hundred pounds; the other men of lesser order, whether [they are] freeborn, free, or ministerials, ten.

Capitulum XLV.

Chapter 45.

Ad eandem curiam episcopus Veronensisa populo suo ad imperatorem destinatus venit, habens secum duos predictosequites Garzabanum et Ysaac. Qui cum presentiae principis ad missus fuisset, inquit: 'Princeps gloriosissime, fidelissimi tui Veronenses ad tuam destinaverunt nos magnificentiam. Neque enim ego, qui eiusdem civitatis, quamvis indignus, episcopus vocor, prius hanc legationem suscipere volui, donec, omnibus in maiore aecclesia congregatis, tamquam Deo teste, ea quae ore proferebant corde se tenere unanimiter assererent.

To that same curia the bishop of Verona, dispatched by his people to the emperor, came, having with him the two aforesaid knights Garzabanus and Isaac. And when he had been sent in to the presence of the prince, he said: 'Most glorious Prince, your most faithful Veronese have dispatched us to your magnificence. For neither did I, who am called bishop of that same city, although unworthy, wish to undertake this legation before, until, with all gathered in the greater church, as with God as witness, they should assert unanimously that the things which they brought forth by mouth they held in the heart.

Denique credendum non est populum animi virtute prestantem, rerum habundantia pollentem, pastorem animarum suarum deceptionis [sue] baiolum facere. Alium invenire poterant fraudis ydoneiorem ministrum. Preterea hi mihi collegae iuncti sunt, quorum tu fidem in negotiis, fortitudinem in preliis proxima tua expertus es expeditione.

Finally, it is not to be believed that a people pre-eminent in courage of mind, potent through abundance of resources, would make the shepherd of their souls a bearer of deception [sue]. They could have found another, more suitable minister of fraud. Moreover, these colleagues are joined to me, whose fidelity in affairs and fortitude in battles you have experienced on your most recent expedition.

Crede ergo, domine, crede quod dicimus. Populus tuus Veronensis tuus peculiaris est populus, tibi tamquam domino et imperatori suo fideliter devotissimus et devote fidelissimus. Audierunt, dum per eorum fines transires, quosdam latrunculos angustias viarum observare ausos fuisse; cognoverunt etiam te eosdem debita animadversione punisse.

Believe, therefore, lord, believe what we say. Your Veronese people are your peculiar people, most devoted faithfully to you as their lord and their emperor, and devoutly most faithful. They heard, while you were passing through their borders, that certain brigands had dared to watch the narrow passes of the roads; they also learned that you punished those same men with due animadversion.

Audivit haec Verona et laetata est. Non reputat suos cives maiestatis tuae insidiatores. Absit, ut suos cives putet, qui latrocinio inserviunt.

Verona heard these things and rejoiced. It does not reckon its own citizens to be plotters against your majesty. Far be it that it should deem as its citizens those who serve brigandage.

Audivit rursum, unde non mediocriter indoluit, huius te rei suspitionem de tua habere civitate. Ad hoc missi sumus. Quicumque hoc tuae insinuavit serenitati, criminator fuit, aliena felicitate lividus.

Verona heard again, whereat it was not moderately pained, that you hold a suspicion of this matter regarding your city. For this we have been sent. Whoever insinuated this to your Serenity was a calumniator, livid at another’s felicity.

Delatorem eum scias, non cognitorem. Numquid non sacramento fidelitatis tibi obligata est Verona? Numquid, cum ab ea recederes, in tua non remansit gratia?

Know him to be a delator, not an investigator. Has Verona not been bound to you by the sacrament of fidelity? And when you departed from it, did it not remain in your grace?

Offenderetne sub bonae fidei pallio perfide [proprium] Verona principem, quae hoc modo laedere non solet equalem? Visne amplius? Sed si his credere non placet allegationum rationibus, excusat se super hoc facto Verona.

Would Verona treacherously offend the prince under the cloak of good faith, which is not accustomed in this way to injure an equal? Do you want more? But if it does not please you to believe these reasons of the allegations, Verona excuses itself concerning this deed.

Famam purgare, innocentiam probare iudicio curiae parata est coram tuae maiestatis excellentia. Recipiat ergo bonus princeps devoti populi sui purgationem innocentiae et convertat indignationis suae aculeos contra Mediolanensium et Romanorum superbiam'. Hac legatione accepta imperator cum principibus consilium capit. Postea, sicut cognovimus, in gratiam recepta est Verona.

She is prepared to purge her fame, to prove her innocence by the judgment of the Curia before the excellence of your Majesty. Therefore let the good prince receive the purgation of innocence of his devoted people, and turn the barbs of his indignation against the pride of the Milanese and the Romans. With this legation received, the emperor with the princes takes counsel. Afterwards, as we have learned, Verona was received back into favor.

Nam et magnam pecuniam dedit ac miliciam, quam habere posset, contra Mediolanenses ducere sacramento firmavit.

For she also gave a great sum of money, and by a sacrament (oath) confirmed that she would lead the militia, which she could have, against the Milanese.

Capitulum XLVI.

Chapter 46.

Inde ad partes Rheni se conferens proximum natale Domini Wormatiae celebravit. Ea namque regio, quam Rhenus nobilissimus fluvius, ex trium Europae nominatissimorum fluviorum unus, intersecat, ex una ripa Galliae, ex altera Germaniae limes, in frumento et vino opima, venationibus et piscationibus copiosa - habet enim ex parte Galliae vicinum Vosagum et Ardennam, ex parte Germaniae silvas non mediocres, barbara adhuc nomina retinentes -, in Transalpinis manentes principes diutissime servare potest. Ad hanc curiam Arnaldus Maguntinus archiepiscopus et Herimannus palatinus comes venientes, de hoc, quod absente principe terram illam, ut supra dictum est, preda et incendio perturbarant, in causam ponuntur, ambobusque cum complicibus suis reis inventis, alteri ob senii morumque gravitatem et pontificalis ordinis reverentiam parcitur, alter debita pena plectitur.

Thence, betaking himself to the parts of the Rhine, he celebrated the next Nativity of the Lord at Worms. For that region, which the most noble river Rhine, one of the three most renowned rivers of Europe, cuts through—on one bank the boundary of Gaul, on the other of Germany—rich in grain and wine, abundant in huntings and fishings (for it has on the side of Gaul the neighboring Vosges and Ardennes, on the side of Germany forests not inconsiderable, still retaining barbarian names) -, can keep princes remaining beyond the Alps for a very long time. To this court Arnold, Archbishop of Mainz, and Hermann, Count Palatine, coming, are put on trial for this: that, with the prince absent, they had, as said above, disturbed that land with plunder and fire; and with both, together with their accomplices, found guilty, to the one pardon is granted on account of the gravity of his age and character and the reverence of the pontifical order, the other is punished with the due penalty.

Denique vetus consuetudo pro lege aput Francos et Suevos inolevit, ut, si quis nobilis, ministerialis vel colonus coram suo iudice pro huiusmodi excessibus reus inventus fuerit, antequam mortis sententia puniatur, ad confusionis suae ignominiam nobilis canem, ministerialis sellam, [rusticus aratri rotam] de comitatu in proximum comitatum gestare cogatur. Hunc morem imperator servans palatinum istum comitem, magnum imperii principem, cum decem comitibus complicibus suis canes per Teutonicum miliare portare coegit. Hoc tam districto iudicio per totam Transalpini imperii latitudinem promulgato tantus omnes terror invasit, ut universi magis quiescere quam bellorum turbini inservire vellent.

Finally, an ancient custom has grown up among the Franks and the Suevi as law, that, if any noble, ministerial, or colonus is found guilty before his judge for excesses of this kind, before he is punished by the sentence of death, for the ignominy of his disgrace the noble is forced to carry a dog, the ministerial a saddle, [the rustic the wheel of the plow], from one county into the next county. The emperor, observing this usage, compelled that count palatine, a great prince of the empire, together with ten counts, his accomplices, to carry dogs for a Teutonic mile. With this judgment so strict promulgated throughout the whole breadth of the Transalpine empire, so great a terror seized all, that all preferred to keep quiet rather than serve the whirlwind of wars.

Accessit ad huius tam magni boni augmentum, quod princeps circumquaque non inpigre discurrens nonnullorum raptorum castra, munitiones et receptacula diruit, quosdam comprehensos capitali sententia plectendo, alios patibuli tormento torquendo. Sola Baioaria propter prenominatam litem huius gratiae particeps nondum fieri meruit.

There was added to the augmentation of this so great good the fact that the prince, running about on all sides not sluggishly, demolished the camps, fortifications, and places of refuge of certain plunderers, punishing some who were apprehended with a capital sentence, and torturing others with the torment of the gibbet. Only Bavaria, on account of the afore-named dispute, has not yet deserved to become a participant in this grace.

Capitulum XLVII.

Chapter 47.

Eodem annointer pascha et pentecosten Arnaldus Coloniensis archiepiscopus, vir honestus suaeque aecclesiae reparator, diem obiit. Imperator ad Baioariam rediens, dies pentecostes in quodam castroOttonis palatini comitis privatus erat. Proxima dehinc tercia feria non longe a civitate Ratispona patruum suum Heinricum ducem alloquens ad transactionem cum altero itidem Heinrico faciendam tunc demum inclinavit.

In the same year, between Easter and Pentecost, Arnold, archbishop of Cologne, an honorable man and restorer of his church, died. The emperor, returning to Bavaria, on the day of Pentecost was in private in a certain castle of Otto, the count palatine. Next thereafter, on the following Tuesday, not far from the city of Ratisbon, addressing his paternal uncle Duke Henry, he then at last inclined toward making a settlement with the other Henry likewise.

Preponebat hoc princeps omnibus eventuum suorum successibus, si tam magnos sibique tam affines imperii sui principes sine sanguinis effusionein concordiam revocare posset.

The prince put this before all the successes of his events: that he might be able to recall into concord such great princes of his empire, and so closely akin to himself, without an effusion of blood.

Capitulum XLVIII.

Chapter 48.

Proxima dehinc ebdomada in civitate orientalis Franciae Herbipoli regio apparatu, multa principum astipulatione, iuncta sibi Beatrice Reginaldi comitis filia nuptias celebrat. Reginaldus iste de antiqua et illustri Burgundionum prosapia originem trahens illius Burgundiae comes dicebatur, quae olim a Rudolfo rege imperatori Heinrico, Conradi filio, cum testamento relicta regnum erat. Haec eadem provincia est, a qua Conradus duxeiusque filius Berhtolfus duces vocari consueverunt.

Then in the next week, in the city of Eastern Francia, at Herbipolis, with regal apparatus, with much attestation of the princes, with Beatrice, the daughter of Count Reginald, joined to him, he celebrates the nuptials. This Reginald, deriving his origin from the ancient and illustrious prosapia of the Burgundians, was called count of that Burgundy which once had been a kingdom, bequeathed by King Rudolph by testament to Emperor Henry, son of Conrad. This is the same province from which Conrad the duke and his son Berhtolfus were wont to be called dukes.

Quae vero huius disceptationis causa fuerit, paucis absolvam. Mos in illa, qui pene in omnibus Galliae provinciis servatur, remansit, quod semper seniori fratri eiusque liberis, seu maribus seu feminis, paternae hereditatis cedat auctoritas, caeteris ad illum tamquam ad dominum respicientibus. Ex qua consuetudine factum est, ut Gwilhelmus qui dicebatur Puer, huiusex parte patris consanguineus, Conradi vero ducis sororisfilius, rerum summam, dum adviveret, illa in provincia haberet.

What indeed was the cause of this disputation, I will conclude in a few words. The custom in that region, which is observed in nearly all the provinces of Gaul, remained: namely, that the authority of the paternal inheritance always falls to the elder brother and his children, whether males or females, the rest looking to him as to a lord. From which consuetude it came about that William, who was called the Boy, a kinsman of this man on his father’s side, and the sister’s son of Duke Conrad, held the supreme authority in that province, so long as he lived.

Quo fraude suorum rebus humanis exempto, Reginaldo comiti iure hereditario dominium cessit. Actum est hoc sub Heinrico quinto seu Lothario secundo. Verum predictus comes nimis iusticiae suae confisus - erat enim homo lenis et ex nimia lenitate remissus -, curias principis adire neglexit.

When he had been exempted from human affairs by the fraud of his own men, dominion passed by hereditary right to Count Reginald. This was done under Henry the Fifth or Lothar the Second. But the aforesaid count, overly confident in his own justice — for he was a gentle man and, from excessive gentleness, remiss — neglected to attend the prince’s courts.

Ex quo factum est, ut indignatione motus princeps predictam terram Conrado duci concederet, sicque uterque vicina sibi vendicaret loca. Longa itaque concertatione, in tantum ut etiam in campo congressu publico ab eis pugnaretur, pene usque inpresentiarum deducta est haec controversia, donec recenterab imperatore, sicut cognovimus, eo tenore decisa est, quod Bertolfus predicti Conradi filius in negotii transactionem tres civitates inter Iurum et montem Iovis, Losannam, Gebennam et N.accepit, caeteris omnibus imperatrici relictis. Protenditur etenim haec provincia pene a Basilea, id est a castro quod Mons-Biliardi vocatur, usque ad Ysaram fluvium, de quo Lucanus:

From which it came about that the prince, moved by indignation, granted the aforesaid land to Duke Conrad, and thus each claimed neighboring places for himself. Therefore by a long contestation, to the point that even on the field, with a public encounter, there was fighting by them, this controversy was drawn out almost up to the present time, until recently by the emperor, as we have learned, it was decided on this tenor: that Bertolf, son of the aforesaid Conrad, in the transaction of the business received three cities between the Jura and Mount Jove, Lausanne, Geneva, and N., all the others being left to the empress. For this province extends almost from Basel, that is, from the castle which is called Mons-Biliardi, up to the river Isar, about which Lucan:

Hi vada liquerunt Ysarae, iunctam habens dominatui suo eam terram, quae proprie Provincia vocatur et ab eo flumine porrigitur usque ad ea loca, qua Rhodanus mari recipitur et Arelatum civitas sita est. At Reginaldus iste Symonis Lotharingiorum ducis filiamducens ab ea tantum hanc puellam suscepit ipsamque non multo post moriens secundum predictum morem tocius terrae suae heredem reliquit. Quam imperator, ut ostensum est, in matrimonio sortitus non solum Burgundiam, sed et Provinciam, imperio iam diu alienatas, sub uxoris titulo, ut postmodum plenius dicetur, familiariter possidere coepit.

These left the shallows of the Isara, having that land joined to his dominion, which is properly called the Province, and it is extended from that river as far as the places where the Rhône is received by the sea and where the city of Arles is situated. But this Reginald, taking to wife the daughter of Symon, duke of the Lotharingians, by her begot only this girl, and, himself dying not long after, left her, according to the aforesaid custom, heir of all his land. Whom the emperor, as has been shown, having obtained in marriage, began to possess under his wife’s title, not only Burgundy but also the Province (Provence), long alienated from the Empire, as a familiar/private holding, as will be said more fully afterward.

Capitulum XLVIIII.

Chapter 49.

Ad eam curiam Gwibaldus Corbagensis abbas a Grecia rediensvenit. Nam legati Grecorum, qui cum eo ad imperatorem destinati fuerant, aput Iuvaviam relicti presentiae principis non admittebantur. Cuius rei ratio haec fuit.

To that curia came Gwibaldus, abbot of Corbagium, returning from Greece. For the legates of the Greeks, who had been destined to go with him to the emperor, having been left at Iuvavia, were not admitted to the presence of the prince. The reason for this matter was as follows.

Cum ab eo circa Anconam recessissent, litteras quasdam sigillo suo clausas per surreptionem acceperant. Igitur redeunte ad Transalpina principe, Greci Campaniam simul et Apuliam ingrediuntur ostensisque imperialibus litteris maritima sibi a principe concessa fuisse loca mentiuntur, sicque indigenas quosque non solum auctoritate imperatoris terrendo, sed et auro corrumpendo, totam provinciam ad suam ditionem inclinant. Inde Barrum usque procedentes arcem [etiam], ubi Gwilhelmi presidia posita erant, expugnant.

When they had withdrawn from him around Ancona, they had, by surreption, received certain letters closed with his seal. Accordingly, with the prince returning to the Transalpine regions, the Greeks enter both Campania and Apulia, and, the imperial letters having been displayed, they falsely claim that the maritime places had been granted to them by the prince; and thus, not only by terrifying the natives with the emperor’s authority but also by corrupting them with gold, they incline the whole province to their dominion. Thence advancing as far as Bari, they storm the citadel [also], where William’s garrisons had been set.

Mortuus fuit ibi Palologus et ad terram suam deportatus. Adiuvabantur non solum exulum, videlicet principis Capuani, Andreae comitis aliorumque, qui noviter terras suas receperant, auxilio, sed et Roberti Cavillensiscuiusdam comitis, magni de terra illa viri, quem pecunia sibi allexerant. Preterea totus pene populus in civitatibus oppidisque manens, eo quod iam diu Gwilhelmi huius patrisquesui Rogerii tyrannide premeretur, tamquam de iugo tam gravi liberari optans, illis adherebat.

There Palologus died and was transported to his own land. They were being aided not only by the help of exiles—namely the Prince of Capua, Count Andrew, and others who had newly received back their lands—but also by Robert, a certain count of Cavilla, a great man of that land, whom they had enticed to themselves with money. Moreover, almost the whole populace remaining in the cities and towns, because for a long time it had been pressed by the tyranny of this William and of his father Roger, as if desiring to be freed from so heavy a yoke, adhered to them.

Diffamabatur non solum per vicinas regiones, sed ad nos usque [rumor] pervenit, Gwilhelmum vel vitam finisse vel ex vi morborum sensum amisisse, Grecos iam omnes illas possidere provincias. Audivit hoc princeps indignationeque motus consultabat diutissime, an predicti legati, qui ex parte principis sui Manuel advenerant, presentiae suae admittendi vel tamquam traditores puniendi vel contemptibiliter facultatem redeundi accepturi forent. Tandem inclinatus quorundam precibus audientiam eis prestare disponit, et ob hoc dies eis in Norico castro mense Iulio prescribitur.

It was being spread abroad not only through the neighboring regions, but the [rumor] reached even to us, that William had either finished his life or, by the force of illnesses, had lost his sense, that the Greeks already possessed all those provinces. The prince heard this, and moved by indignation he deliberated for a very long time whether the aforesaid envoys, who had come on behalf of their prince Manuel, were to be admitted to his presence, or to be punished as traitors, or contemptibly to receive the faculty of returning. At length, inclined by the prayers of certain persons, he resolves to grant them an audience, and on account of this a day is prescribed for them at the Noric castle in the month of July.

Ipse vero, quamvis Gwilhelmum odiret, nolens tamen imperii sui limites tyrannica Rogerii rabie usurpatos ab exteris eripi, expeditionem illo iurari fecit. Non multo tamen post, ex quo cognovit Gwilhelmum fusis Grecis Apuliam et Calabriam recepisse, consilium mutavit et ad compescendam Mediolanensium contumatiam iram convertit. Unde eius tale scriptum ad principes destinatum invenitur: Capitulum L.

He himself indeed, although he hated William, yet, not wishing the borders of his empire, usurped by the tyrannical rage of Roger, to be snatched away by foreigners, had a campaign sworn there. Not long after, however, when he learned that William, the Greeks having been routed, had recovered Apulia and Calabria, he changed his plan and turned his wrath to restraining the contumacy of the Milanese. Whence such a writing of his, destined to the princes, is found: Chapter 50.

FridericusDei gratia Romanorum imperator et semper augustus dilecto patruo suo Ottoni Frisingensi episcopo gratiam suam et omne bonum.

Frederick, by the grace of God Emperor of the Romans and ever august, to his beloved uncle Otto, bishop of Freising, his grace and every good.

Quia divina providente clementia Urbis et orbis gubernacula tenemus, iuxta diversos eventus rerum et successiones temporum sacro imperio et divae rei publicae consulere debemus. Cum enim ea quae necessitatis causa instituta fuerint cessante necessitate cessare debeant, expeditionem, quam proxime Wirzeburch propter invasionem Grecorum in Apuliam iurari precepimus, post fugam eorum tibi caeterisque principibus relaxamus, ut ad alia imperii negotia promptiores eos invenire possimus. Verum quia Mediolanensium superbia iam diu caput contra Romanum erexit imperium et modo sua fortitudine totam Italiam subvertere vel suo nititur subiugare dominio, ne tanta presumptio nostro tempore prevaleat, vel gloriam nostram plebs improba usurpare vel conculcare valeat, futuris casibus viriliter occurrere et ad destructionem eorum omne robur imperii excitare intendimus.

Because, with divine clemency providing, we hold the helms of the City and of the world, we ought, according to the diverse events of affairs and the successions of times, to take counsel for the sacred empire and the divine commonwealth. For since those things which have been instituted by cause of necessity ought to cease with the necessity ceasing, the expedition which recently at Würzburg, on account of the invasion of the Greeks into Apulia, we commanded to be sworn, after their flight we release to you and to the other princes, so that we may find them more prompt for other business of the empire. But because the pride of the Milanese has long raised its head against the Roman empire and now by its own fortitude strives either to overturn all Italy or to subjugate it to its own dominion, lest so great a presumption prevail in our time, or a wicked plebs be able to usurp or trample our glory, we intend manfully to forestall future contingencies and to rouse all the strength of the empire to their destruction.

Ex iudicio igitur principum expeditionem contra Mediolanum a proximo pentecosten [usque] ad annum iuratam tibi indicimus, quam intime rogantes et precipientes, quatinus ad eam nobiscum peragendam a vigilia pentecosten ad annum Ulmae nobis indubitanter occurras, certus, quod nec te nec aliquem principum nostrorum montem Appenninum transire cogemus.

Therefore, by the judgment of the princes, we appoint to you the expedition against Milan, sworn from the next Pentecost [up to] a year, most earnestly requesting and enjoining that, for carrying it through with us, from the vigil of Pentecost for a year you without fail meet us at Ulm, assured that we will compel neither you nor any of our princes to cross the Apennine mountain.

Capitulum LI.

Chapter 51.

Denique princeps ad Transalpina rediens, sicut Francis presentia sua pacem reddidit, sic Italis absentia subtraxit. Nam non solum Apulia et Campania huius mali, ut ostensum est, particeps fuit, sed etiam ulterior Italia absentiam sui sentiens principis inmunis ab hoc turbine esse non potuit. Mediolanenses siquidem mox reedificata Terdona Papiensium renovant bellum, duobus super Tycinum fabricatis pontibus, fines eorum irrumpunt, oppidum quoddam Vingevumubi multi ex ipsis simul cum marchione Gwilhelmo fuerunt, obsidione vallant ac tandem artificiose ad deditionem coactos pacem petere, obsides dare compellunt.

Finally the prince, returning to the Transalpine regions, just as by his presence he gave back peace to the Franks, so by his absence he withdrew it from the Italians. For not only Apulia and Campania, as has been shown, were participants in this evil, but even further Italy, feeling the absence of its prince, could not be immune from this whirlwind. Indeed the Milanese, once Terdona of the Pavians had been rebuilt, renew the war; with two bridges constructed over the Ticino, they break into their borders, they surround with a siege a certain town Vingevum, where many of them together with Margrave William were, and at length, having been artfully forced to surrender, they compel them to seek peace and to give hostages.

Sed cum duras nimium pacis conditiones audissent, rursus rebellare temptabant Papienses. Igitur Mediolanenses per pontes, quos fecerant, transmeantes Limellum reedificanttotumque pene territorium Papiensium crudeliter depopulantur.

But when they had heard conditions of peace too harsh, the Pavians were attempting to rebel again. Therefore the Milanese, crossing over by the bridges which they had made, rebuild Limellum and cruelly depopulate almost the whole territory of the Pavians.

Capitulum LII.

Chapter 52.

Ea tempestate defuncto, ut dictum est, Arnaldo Coloniensi archiepiscopo, aecclesia illa ad electionem faciendam conveniens gravissime scissa est, prepositis et abbatibus Gerardum Bunnensem prepositum, maioris vero aecclesiae canonicis, qui tunc temporis preposito et decano carebant, Fridericum Adolfi comitis filiumeligentibus. Itaque imperatore mense Iulio in Norico castro, ubi Greci eius maiestati presentandi erant, morante utraeque istae partes causam suam principi ostensurae veniunt.

At that time, with Arnold, archbishop of Cologne, deceased, as has been said, that church, convening to make an election, was most grievously rent: the provosts and abbots choosing Gerard, the provost of Bonn, but the canons of the greater church—who at that time lacked a provost and a dean—choosing Frederick, the son of Count Adolf. And so, with the emperor lingering in the month of July at the Noric castle, where the Greeks were to be presented to his majesty, both these parties come to show their cause to the prince.

Capitulum LIII.

Chapter 53.

Non longe ante haec tempora Grecorum princeps cum Boricio contra Ungaros copias mittens magnum sui detrimentum accepit exercitus, in tantum ut et Boricius a quodam, qui secum venerat, Cumano, qui et Scitha, sagitta transfixus necaretur. Eapropter predicti nuncii non solum ob firmandum conubiumad imperatorem venerant, sed etiam ad vindicandam suam de Ungaris auctoritate principis iniuriam. In utroque frustrati sunt.

Not long before these times the prince of the Greeks, sending forces with Boricius against the Hungarians, had his army suffer great loss, to such an extent that even Boricius was slain, pierced by an arrow by a certain Cuman—who had come with him—who is also a Scythian. For this reason the aforesaid envoys had come to the emperor not only for the firming of the connubium (marriage alliance), but also to vindicate their prince’s authority against the Hungarians for the injury done. In both they were frustrated.

Nam et imperator aliam sibi, ut predictum est, in matrimonio iunxerat, et expeditio contra Ungaros - postulabant enim in proximo eam Septembre fieri - tam celeriter ordinari non poterat. Admittuntur tamen eius conspectui, scripta recipiuntur. Remittitur cum eis Stephanus capellanus imperatoris, per quem princeps de illius principis voluntate amplius cognoscat.

For the emperor also, as aforesaid, had joined another to himself in marriage, and the expedition against the Hungarians — for they were demanding that it be carried out in the coming September — could not be arranged so swiftly. Nevertheless they were admitted to his presence, the writings were received. Stephen, the emperor’s chaplain, was sent back with them, through whom the prince might learn more fully of that prince’s will.

Sed de Grecis dicta hunc teneant locum.

But let what has been said about the Greeks hold this place.

Capitulum LIIII.

Chapter 54.

Procedunt Colonienses, advocatos exposcunt, de sua utrique electione per triduum coram principe decertant et conrixantur. Tandem princeps, utrorumque auditis allegationibus, consilio et iudicio, quos secum habebat, episcoporum aliorumque principum predictam causam ad curiam Ratisponensem, ubi consilium pro terminanda duorum ducum lite publicari debuit, producendam decrevit. Igitur mediante iam Septembre principes Ratisponae conveniunt ac per aliquot dies presentiam imperatoris prestolantur.

The Colognians proceed, demand advocates, and for three days concerning their respective election they contend and quarrel before the prince. At length the prince, the allegations of both having been heard, with the counsel and judgment of the bishops and other princes whom he had with him, decreed that the aforesaid case be brought to the court at Ratisbon, where the counsel for terminating the lawsuit of the two dukes ought to be published. Therefore, with September now intervening, the princes assemble at Ratisbon and for several days await the presence of the emperor.

Capitulum LV.

Chapter 55.

Dehinc principe patruo suo in campum occurrente - manebat enim ille [pene] ad duo Teutonica miliaria sub papilionibus - cunctisque proceribus virisque magnis accurrentibus, consilium, quod iam diu secreto retentum celabatur, publicatum est. Erat autem haec summa, ut recolo, concordiae. Heinricus maior natu ducatum Baioariae septem per vexilla imperatori resignavit.

Thereafter, with the prince, his paternal uncle, coming out to meet on the field - for he was staying [almost] at two Teutonic miles under pavilions - and with all the nobles and great men running up, the counsel which for a long time had been kept back, concealed in secrecy, was made public. Moreover, as I recall, this was the sum of the concord: Henry, the elder by birth, resigned the duchy of Bavaria to the emperor by seven banners.

Quibus iuniori traditis, ille duobus [cum] vexillis marchiam Orientalem cum comitatibus ad eam ex antiquo pertinentibus reddidit. Exinde de eadem marchia cum predictis comitatibus, quos tres dicunt, iudicio principum ducatum fecit eumque non solum sibi, sed et uxori cum duobus vexillis tradidit, neve in posterum ab aliquo successorum suorum mutari posset aut infringi, privilegio [suo] confirmavit. Acta sunt haec anno regni eius quinto, imperii secundo.

When these had been handed over to the younger, he, with two banners [with], returned the Eastern March together with the counties belonging to it from of old. Thence, from the same march with the aforesaid counties, which they call three, he made a duchy by the judgment of the princes, and delivered it with two banners not only to himself but also to his wife, and, lest in future it might be changed or infringed by any of his successors, he confirmed it by [his] privilege. These things were done in the 5th year of his reign, the 2nd of the empire.

Capitulum LVI.

Chapter 56.

Ita ad civitatem, iuxta quod preoptaverat, inter patruum et avunculi sui filium terminata sine sanguinis effusionecontroversia, laetus rediit ac statim sequenti die in publico residens consistorio, ne Baioaria ulterius totius regni quietis inmunis esset, treugam a proximo pentecosten ad annum iurari fecit. Porro tanta ab ea die usque inpresentiarum toti Transalpino pacis iocunditas arrisit imperio, ut non solum imperator et augustus, sed et pater patriae iure dicatur Fridericus. Enimvero, antequam haec curia terminaretur, presentatis sibi iterum de Coloniensi aecclesia utrisque partibus, alteram electionem, eam videlicet, quae a canonicis maioris aecclesiae facta fuit, validiorem iudicans, Fridericum, Adolfi comitis filium, de regalibus investit sicque eum a Romano pontifice consecrandum ad Urbem misit.

Thus to the city, according as he had pre‑preferred, with the controversy ended without the shedding of blood between his uncle and the son of his maternal uncle, he returned joyful; and immediately on the following day, sitting in public consistory, lest Bavaria should any further be exempt from the quiet of the whole realm, he caused a truce to be sworn from the next Pentecost for a year. Moreover, from that day up to the present such a delightfulness of peace has smiled upon the whole Transalpine empire, that Frederick is said by right to be not only emperor and augustus, but also father of the fatherland. Indeed, before this court was concluded, with both parties concerning the Church of Cologne presented before him again, judging the other election—namely, that which was made by the canons of the greater church—more valid, he invested Frederick, the son of Count Adolf, with the regalia, and thus sent him to the City to be consecrated by the Roman pontiff.

Tanta sunt, quae de tuae maiestatis virtute dici possent, augustorum optime, quod, si simul sine interpolatione insipienter effundantur, scribentis prefocare possent animum. Quare huic secundo operi terminus detur, ut ad ea quae dicenda restant tercio locus servetur volumini.

So great are the things that could be said about the virtue of your majesty, best of the Augusti, that, if they were poured out all at once without interpolation, unwisely, they could choke the writer’s spirit. Wherefore let an end be given to this second work, so that room may be reserved for those things which remain to be said in the third volume.