DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.63447#0376
360
THE HISTORICAL PAST OF ITALY.
Guelph cities submitted to take the oath of fealty to the
King of the Bomans. They promised to defend his person,
honour, and power, on condition that they should not be
called upon to make sacrifices in money or hostages, that
they should not be required to furnish troops out of
Lombardy, and that their League should continue to be
respected and maintained. This very qualified allegiance
was also to be fostered at the expense of Henry, who
promised to “ defend them from all their enemies,” and
to make neither peace nor truce without their consent.
This contract was to be renewed upon oath every ten
years.
When we read of treaties with clauses like the above,
absolutely untenable, and which both parties must have
known to be so, we are reduced to consider them as
mutual contracts based upon a common intention to
deceive and betray ; but their perpetual recurrence makes
it evident that even these hollow truces had immediate
advantages, however momentary, the benefits of which
were considerable enough to outweigh the shame of
perjury 'and the peril of duplicity.
Henry, thus strengthened in Lombardy, published a
manifesto of rebellion in Germany, and leagued himself
closely with his brother-in-law, the young Duke of Austria.
He opened a Diet at Boppart, near Coblentz, with the
view of obtaining the open support of the Bhenish pre-
lates ; and in this he was partly successful. Heretofore
he had met no opposition to his great scheme of overt
rebellion, and deemed himself on the eve of supplanting
his father, when Hermann of Baden, the faithful friend
of the latter, undertook the defence of his interests, and
the chastisement of the guilty son.
Frederick had been unsuccessful against the fortress of
Rocca Bispampani, and had retired to Apulia, having,
notwithstanding this check, rendered Gregory such sub-
stantial aid that his enemies were glad to submit them-
selves to make a truce with him. Thus in the beginning
of the following year, 1235, the Boman Senator, Angelo
Malabranca, stipulated, in the name of the Senate and
THE HISTORICAL PAST OF ITALY.
Guelph cities submitted to take the oath of fealty to the
King of the Bomans. They promised to defend his person,
honour, and power, on condition that they should not be
called upon to make sacrifices in money or hostages, that
they should not be required to furnish troops out of
Lombardy, and that their League should continue to be
respected and maintained. This very qualified allegiance
was also to be fostered at the expense of Henry, who
promised to “ defend them from all their enemies,” and
to make neither peace nor truce without their consent.
This contract was to be renewed upon oath every ten
years.
When we read of treaties with clauses like the above,
absolutely untenable, and which both parties must have
known to be so, we are reduced to consider them as
mutual contracts based upon a common intention to
deceive and betray ; but their perpetual recurrence makes
it evident that even these hollow truces had immediate
advantages, however momentary, the benefits of which
were considerable enough to outweigh the shame of
perjury 'and the peril of duplicity.
Henry, thus strengthened in Lombardy, published a
manifesto of rebellion in Germany, and leagued himself
closely with his brother-in-law, the young Duke of Austria.
He opened a Diet at Boppart, near Coblentz, with the
view of obtaining the open support of the Bhenish pre-
lates ; and in this he was partly successful. Heretofore
he had met no opposition to his great scheme of overt
rebellion, and deemed himself on the eve of supplanting
his father, when Hermann of Baden, the faithful friend
of the latter, undertook the defence of his interests, and
the chastisement of the guilty son.
Frederick had been unsuccessful against the fortress of
Rocca Bispampani, and had retired to Apulia, having,
notwithstanding this check, rendered Gregory such sub-
stantial aid that his enemies were glad to submit them-
selves to make a truce with him. Thus in the beginning
of the following year, 1235, the Boman Senator, Angelo
Malabranca, stipulated, in the name of the Senate and