DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.63447#0373
TRIUMPH OF THE TIARA.
857
common people rose also in Rome, sacked the palaces of
the wealthier cardinals, and even attacked the palace of
the Lateran; their passions speedily became so inflamed
with plunder and want, and by the awful severity of the
weather,1 that Gregory IX. was once more compelled to
retreat to Rieti; from whence he launched his anathema
against the Senator of Rome and the people, and wrote
letters to the sovereigns and prelates of Europe, seeking
aid against oppression.
He claimed the assistance of Frederick amongst the
rest, as the Romans threatened the siege of Viterbo, and
would gladly have doomed it to the fate of ancient Tus-
culum—have obliterated from the world even the remains
of its walls and edifices.
The treacherous and evil conduct of Henry, Vicar-
General of the Empire, had made his father Frederick of
late deeply and justly uneasy ; and he was, therefore, not
averse to answering promptly and favourably the appeal
of the Pope, hoping to assure himself of the support of
the latter against his ungrateful and rebellious son. He
marched up from Apulia with his infant son, Conrad, in
his train, presented him to the Pope, and then sent him
back in safety to his own kingdom; whilst he himself
undertook the defence of Viterbo, with the aid of the
Pontifical troops, under the command of the Count of
Toulouse and the Bishop of Winchester.
The campaign was commenced by cruel devastation of
the country ; but the allied forces found a greater diffi-
culty in subduing the stronghold of Rocca Rispampani,
a great fortress near Toscanella; before which they lost
fruitlessly much time.
The novel alliance of the Pontiff and the Emperor
threw the Guelph party into the greatest alarm. Notwith-
standing all the assurances of the Pontiff that he had
never wavered in his fidelity to them, they refused to
grant passage to the German Papal auxiliaries across
the Alps into Italy; and began a series of active negotia-
1 “ The cold was so intense that the Lagoons froze hard, and men
walked from the mainland to Venice.” Chron. Eph ord., 256.
857
common people rose also in Rome, sacked the palaces of
the wealthier cardinals, and even attacked the palace of
the Lateran; their passions speedily became so inflamed
with plunder and want, and by the awful severity of the
weather,1 that Gregory IX. was once more compelled to
retreat to Rieti; from whence he launched his anathema
against the Senator of Rome and the people, and wrote
letters to the sovereigns and prelates of Europe, seeking
aid against oppression.
He claimed the assistance of Frederick amongst the
rest, as the Romans threatened the siege of Viterbo, and
would gladly have doomed it to the fate of ancient Tus-
culum—have obliterated from the world even the remains
of its walls and edifices.
The treacherous and evil conduct of Henry, Vicar-
General of the Empire, had made his father Frederick of
late deeply and justly uneasy ; and he was, therefore, not
averse to answering promptly and favourably the appeal
of the Pope, hoping to assure himself of the support of
the latter against his ungrateful and rebellious son. He
marched up from Apulia with his infant son, Conrad, in
his train, presented him to the Pope, and then sent him
back in safety to his own kingdom; whilst he himself
undertook the defence of Viterbo, with the aid of the
Pontifical troops, under the command of the Count of
Toulouse and the Bishop of Winchester.
The campaign was commenced by cruel devastation of
the country ; but the allied forces found a greater diffi-
culty in subduing the stronghold of Rocca Rispampani,
a great fortress near Toscanella; before which they lost
fruitlessly much time.
The novel alliance of the Pontiff and the Emperor
threw the Guelph party into the greatest alarm. Notwith-
standing all the assurances of the Pontiff that he had
never wavered in his fidelity to them, they refused to
grant passage to the German Papal auxiliaries across
the Alps into Italy; and began a series of active negotia-
1 “ The cold was so intense that the Lagoons froze hard, and men
walked from the mainland to Venice.” Chron. Eph ord., 256.