Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 11.djvu/259

Rh Ferrara and Mantua, Bergamo and Brescia. step in this direction was the division of the towns them- selves into Guelf and Ghibellin parties. The struggle for the imperial throne between Philip of Swabia and Otto of Branswick (–) enlisted the sympathies of Italy. The Guelfic towns Milan, Piacenza, Brescia, Reggio, Modena, took the part of the Welf Otto. The witnessed a great increase of the jealousies between rival towns, and more serious divisions of the leading families in the towns themselves. Examples of this were the quarrels between the Montecchiand Capelletti at Verona, the Lambertazzi and Geremei at Bologna, the Rossi and Coregei at Parma, the Doria and Spinola, the Grimaldi and Fieschi at Genoa, the Buondelmonti and Amedei, the Donati and Uberti at Florence, the Colonna and Orsini at Rome, the Bagnacavalli and Polenta at Ravenna, the Delle Torre and Visconti at Milan, the Cancellieri and Panciatichi at Pistoia, the Salimbeni and Tolomei at Siena. Of the principal towns in North and Central Italy, Arezzo was generally Ghibellin. Bergamo was torn in sunder by party quarrels: the Suardi fought against the Coleoni, and afterwards both these against the Rivoli and Bonghi; it was generally more Guelf than Ghibellin. Bologna was generally Guelf. Brescia was much divided. It was generally Guelf, but was conquered by the Ghibellins in. It came under the power of the Visconti of Milan in. Cremona was generally Cuelf, but occasion- ally Ghibellin. Always unhappy, it was wasted by the most violent party conflicts. The family of Cavalcabo led the Guelf party in this town in the. Ferrara was Ghibellin under the Torelli; it became Guelf under the Este. Florence, after, was the chief support of the Guelfs. The struggles which desolated it were between different branches of the Guelf—the Bianchi, and Neri, and cthers. Forli was Guelf till, afterwards Ghibellin under the Ordelaffi. Genoa was divided between the two partics. Lucca was generally Ghibellin, but had hard work to maintain its position against the attacks of Florence. Mantua was Guelf up to, afterwards mainly Ghibellin. Padua was the enemy of Venice; in it was Guelf, fighting against the Ghibellin Vicenza; about it became Chibellin under the house of Carrara. Parma was divided in its sympathies. It was generally more Guelf than Ghibellin. Pavia was Ghibellin unless compelled to be otherwise. Perugia became Guelf in. It was much torn by party quarrels. Piacenza was generally Guelf. Pisa was chiefly Ghibellin during a great part of its history. Pistuia was divided up to, after which time it became mainly Guelf. Ravenna was chiefly Guelf under the family of Polenta. Rimini belonged to the family of Malatesta, which was divided between Guelf and Ghibellin. Siena was at first Ghibellin; in it became Guelf. Venice was scarcely touched by these party quarrels. Verona was much divided. Up to it was mainly Guelf; under the Della Scala it was Ghibellin. Vicenza was Ghibellin after ; at a later period it followed the fortunes of Padua. Viterbo was Ghibellin after. It would be generally true to assert the principle that the Guelfs were more attached to liberty than the Ghibellins. The town of Alessandria was the creation of the Lombard league, a protest against the reduction of Italy under a German sovereign. Yet Dante, the keenest patriot, the most ardent aspirant towards the unity of Italy, was a Ghibellin. With him Ghibellinism meant (1) unity under a strong head, and (2) the abolition of the temporal power of the popes. No one, he thought, but an emperor could sit firmly in the saddle or guide the reins of so fierce a steed. The best hope of obtaining this object lay in Henry VII. of Luxembourg. But the object itself was probably impos- sible of realization. The death of Henry at Buonconvento extinguished the last hope of uniting Italy under the supremacy of Ceesar. To give a full account of the party quarrels of Guelf and Ghibellin would be to write the history of medieval Italy. The names began to die out gradually at the. the two parties had united in opposing John of Bohemia. The expedition of Charles IV. into Italy destroyed what shreds still remained of respect for the authority of the empire, and with the extinction of Ghibellinism Guelfism perished also; yet we find the name of Guelf appearing in Milan in , after the death of Gian Galeazzo Visconti, and also in , in the struggle between Ludovico Sforza and the Duchess Bona of Savoy. In the conquest of Milan by Louis XII., in the, we find the supporters of the emperor and Sforza called Ghibellins by Roman writers, and the French party called Guelf. Of the literary supporters of either cause we can only mention a few. Brunetto Latini, the master of Dante, was a Guelf. Dante himself, as we have seen above, was a Ghibellin ; so was his friend Guido Cavalcanti. Petrarch was a Guelf; the three historians Villaniare singularly impartial. For further information, see Wachsmuth, Ge- schichte der Politischen Partetiungen, vol. 1.  GUELPH, the chief town of Wellington county, Ontario, Canada, is situated in a fine agricultural district on an elevation on the river Speed, a branch of the Grand River, and on the Grand Trunk Railway and the Wellington, Grey, and Bruce division of the Great Western Railway, 45 miles west by south of Toronto. The river is navigable at this point, and there is a considerable shipping trade in wheat. Abundant water power is obtained for flour-mills, saw-inills, and woollen-mills, and there are also breweries, tanneries, and manufactories for agricultural instruments and sewing machines. The population in 1871 was 6878.  GUERCINO. See.  GUÉRET, a town of France, chief town of the depart- ment of Creuse, is situated on a mountain declivity near the Creuse, abont 250 miles south from Paris. It has a church of the, a communal college, a normal school, two hospitals, a botanical garden, a library, a picture gallery, and a museum for natural history and antiquities. The principal industries are the manufacture of beer, leather, potash, combs, and buttons; and there is a consider- able trade in wood and cattle. Guéret grew up in the round an abbey founded by Clotaire in. The population in 1876 was 4973.  GUERICKE, (–1686), an experimental philosopher, distinguished by his original discoveries of the properties of air, was born at Magdeburg, in Prussian Saxony, November 20,. Having studied law at Leipsic, Helmstadt, and Jena, and mathematics, especially geometry and mechanics, at Leyden, he visited France aud England, and, returning to Saxony, took up the profession of engineer-in-chief at Erfurt. In 1627 he was elected alderman of Magdeburg, and in 1646 mayor of that city, end a magistrate of Brandenburg. It was whilst holding these offices that Guericke devoted his leisure to scientific pursuits, especially in pneumatics. Incited by the dis- coveries of Galileo, Pascal, and Torricelli, he attempted the creation of a vacuum, a desideratum in science from before Aristotle. He began by experimenting with a pump on water placed in a barrel, but found that when the water was drawn off the air permeated the wood. He then took a globe of copper fitted with pump and stopeock, and dis- covered that he could pump out air as well as water. Thus Guericke became the inventor of the air-pump (1650). This important discovery was publicly explained before the emperor Ferdinand III. at the imperial diet which assem- bled at Ratisbon im 1651. Guericke at the same time