DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.63447#0301
FREDERICK II. AND THE POPES.
285
But soon after, Salinguerra, head of the Ghibelline
faction, entered the place by surprise, and, as usual,
slew or exiled the more dangerous partisans of the other
side.
All the chiefs of the factions met in the presence of
Otho of Brunswick; and yet, such was their mutual
exasperation that even the ceremonial of a Court could
scarcely restrain them from open violence to one another.
Otho behaved, according to the accounts that remain,
with apparent courtesy and impartiality, and caused an
assembly of barons to be held at Bologna. He there re-
ceived homage, and also the tribute lawfully due to him;
and took possession of the greater part of the “ Donation
of the Countess Matilda,” in the name of the Holy See
(in conformity with the treaty made by his perfidious
father with Rome). He then pushed on to Viterbo, where
he met Innocent HI. with every profession of friendship
and reverence, assuring him that, immediately after his
coronation, he would restore to him the entire patrimony
of St. Peter in its integrity. As, however, he evaded
binding himself by writing to the performance of this
promise, even a less able man than Innocent would have
penetrated the intended treachery. It was, however, too
late to retract then; and Otho and his army and
partisans encamped on Monte Malo (or Mario, as it is
now called), near Rome. But the Roman senator, a few
of the cardinals, and a great proportion of the people,
showed extreme objections to the coronation, and the
ceremony was therefore performed in the Leonine city,
4th of October, 1204, in the presence of a vast crowd of
adherents of the Imperial cause. The rest of the city
had been (as we remember on former occasions) separated
by powerful barricades from the Leonine.
Otho went through his part of the Roman ritual with
the most accomplished appearance of humility; it is not
possible but that the penetrating eye of Innocent should
have suspected the sincerity of a bold warrior, who offered
not one objection to the puerile humiliations designedly
imposed on him by the childish arrogance of the Middle
285
But soon after, Salinguerra, head of the Ghibelline
faction, entered the place by surprise, and, as usual,
slew or exiled the more dangerous partisans of the other
side.
All the chiefs of the factions met in the presence of
Otho of Brunswick; and yet, such was their mutual
exasperation that even the ceremonial of a Court could
scarcely restrain them from open violence to one another.
Otho behaved, according to the accounts that remain,
with apparent courtesy and impartiality, and caused an
assembly of barons to be held at Bologna. He there re-
ceived homage, and also the tribute lawfully due to him;
and took possession of the greater part of the “ Donation
of the Countess Matilda,” in the name of the Holy See
(in conformity with the treaty made by his perfidious
father with Rome). He then pushed on to Viterbo, where
he met Innocent HI. with every profession of friendship
and reverence, assuring him that, immediately after his
coronation, he would restore to him the entire patrimony
of St. Peter in its integrity. As, however, he evaded
binding himself by writing to the performance of this
promise, even a less able man than Innocent would have
penetrated the intended treachery. It was, however, too
late to retract then; and Otho and his army and
partisans encamped on Monte Malo (or Mario, as it is
now called), near Rome. But the Roman senator, a few
of the cardinals, and a great proportion of the people,
showed extreme objections to the coronation, and the
ceremony was therefore performed in the Leonine city,
4th of October, 1204, in the presence of a vast crowd of
adherents of the Imperial cause. The rest of the city
had been (as we remember on former occasions) separated
by powerful barricades from the Leonine.
Otho went through his part of the Roman ritual with
the most accomplished appearance of humility; it is not
possible but that the penetrating eye of Innocent should
have suspected the sincerity of a bold warrior, who offered
not one objection to the puerile humiliations designedly
imposed on him by the childish arrogance of the Middle