Page:Bohemia An Historical Sketch.djvu/86

 incredible rapidity. Within the first three months of the year 1331 the towns of Bergamo, Crema, Parma, Modena, Novara, Vercelli, and many others, of their own free will accepted King John as their over-lord. Even the powerful Azzo de' Visconti, Lord of Milan, acknowledged the supremacy of the King of Bohemia. King John remained in Italy till June (1331), when dangers nearer home obliged him to recross the Alps; he, however, left his son Charles as his representative in Italy. Charles, though only seventeen years of age, for a time successfully defended himself against the Italians, who had soon become tired of the supremacy of the Bohemian princes. Mastino della Scala of Verona, King Robert of Naples, the lords of Mantua and Ferrara, and Azzo de' Visconti of Milan, who had already changed sides, concluded an alliance against Prince Charles. Charles, who fixed his residence at Parma, one of the few Italian towns that remained faithful to the Bohemian princes, defeated the confederates in a very sanguinary engagement that took place at San Felice, near Parma (1332). This victory was not decisive, and Charles appealed to his father for aid. King John recrossed the Alps, but with very insufficient forces; the Bohemian dominion in Italy collapsed as quickly as it had arisen, and both King John and his son left the country before the end of the year 1333.

King John's rapid departure from Italy in 1331 had been caused by troubles north of the Alps, which were the consequences of his Italian conquests. The German king considered that King John had encroached on the rights of the Empire by these conquests; John's old enemy King Casimir of Poland, the dukes of Austria, Charles Robert, King of Hungary, and his uncle Robert, King of Naples, all joined him in opposing the ambitious King of Bohemia. King John succeeded in pacifying the King of Germany by the promise that all lands conquered by him in Italy should become the joint property of the two sovereigns. He then hurried to Poland, and by besieging his town of Posen forced King Casimir to conclude a truce. King John then proceeded to Paris with his usual rapidity, leaving Henry the younger of Lipa to meet the attack of the Austrian dukes, who, however, defeated him. King John's second disappearance from Italy has already been mentioned.

"Whilst King John was thus wandering through distant