Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 19.djvu/129

Rh PISA 119 and later it became their ally and was defended by them from the ferocious onslaughts of the Ligurian and Apuan tribes. Thus the Romans acquired great power over the city, and finally subjected it to their rule. In Caesar s time according to some writers, in that of Augustus according to others, they established a military colony there. Nevertheless, excepting some inscriptions, sarco phagi, statues, and columns, very few remains of Roman buildings have been discovered in Pisa. Little is known of the history of Pisa during the barbarian invasions, but it is an ascertained fact that it was one of the first towns to regain its independence. Under the Byzantine dominion Pisa, like many other of the maritime cities of Italy, pro fited by the weakness of the Government at Constan tinople to reassert its strength. And even during the first years of the harsh Lombard rule the need recognized by these oppressors of defending the Italian coast from the attacks of the Greeks was favourable to the development of the Pisan navy. Few particulars are extant concerning the real condition of the town; but we occasionally find Pisa mentioned, almost as though it were an independent city, at moments when Italy was overwhelmed by the greatest calamities. According to Amari s happy expression, &quot;it was already independent by sea, while still enslaved on land.&quot; Its prosperity notably declined after the re-estab lishment of the Lombard rule and under the Franks. It again began to flourish under the marquises of Tuscany, who governed it in the name of the emperor. In 1003 we find records of a war between Pisa and Lucca, which, according to Muratori, was the first waged between Italian cities in the Middle Ages. But the military development and real importance of Pisa in the 11 th century must be attributed to the continuous and desperate struggle it maintained against the tide of Saracenic invasion from Sicily. And, although the numer ous legends and fables of the old chroniclers disguise the true history of this struggle, they serve to attest the importance of Pisa in those days. In 1004 the Saracens forced the gates and sacked a quarter of the town ; and in 1011 they renewed the attack. But the Pisans repulsed them and assumed the offensive in Calabria, Sicily, and even in Africa. Still more memorable was the expedition afterwards undertaken by the united forces of Pisa and Genoa against Mogahid, better known in the Italian chronicles as Mugeto. This Moslem chief had made him self master of Sardinia, and was driven thence by the allied fleets in 1015. Again invading the island, he was again attacked and defeated by the same adversaries, leaving a brother and son, or, as some authorities aver, a wife and son, prisoners in their hands. Sardinia con tinued to be governed by native magistrates, who were like petty sovereigns, but were now subject to the sway of Pisa. This was the primary cause of the jealousy of the Genoese, and of the wars afterwards made by them upon Pisa and carried on until its power was crushed. Mean while the Pisans flourished more and more, and continued hostilities against the Saracens. In 1062 their ships returned from Palermo laden with spoil. Thus it is not surprising that Pisa should already have had .its own code of laws (Consuetudini di Mare), which in 1075 were approved by Gregory VII., and in 1081 confirmed by a patent from the emperor Henry IV., that supplies the first authentic notice of the existence of consuls in mediaeval Italy. 1 The oldest of Pisan statutes still extant is the Breve dei Consoli di Mare of 1162. 1 It must be remembered that the Pisans and Florentines dated the beginning of the year ab incarnatione, i.e., from the 25th March. But the Florentines dated it from the 25th following and the Pisans from the 25th March preceding the commencement of the common year. The new or common style was adopted throughout Tuscany La the year 1750. In 1099 the Pisans joined in the second crusade, proved their valour at the capture of Jerusalem, and derived many commercial advantages from it ; for within a short time they had banks, consuls, warehouses, and privileges of all kinds in every Eastern port. Thus, while the com mune of Pisa was still under the rule of the marquises of Tuscany, all negotiations with it were carried on as with an independent state officially represented by the archbishop and consuls. The aristocrats were the domin ant party, and filled the highest offices of the republic, which, in the 12th century, rose to great power, both on sea and land, by its wars with the Lucchese, Genoese, and Moslems. In 1110 Pisa made peace with Lucca after six years of continuous hostilities. And between 1114 and 1116 it achieved a still greater en terprise. The Pisan fleet of three hundred sail, com manded by the archbishop Pietro Moriconi, attacked the Balearic Isles, where as many as 20,000 Christians were said to be held captive by the Moslems, and returned loaded with spoil and with a multitude of Christian and Moslem prisoners. The former were set at liberty or ransomed, and among the latter was the last descendant of the reigning dynasty. The chief eunuch who had governed Majorca perished in the siege. Immediately afterwards the fourteen years war with Genoa broke out. The two republics contested the dominion of the sea, and both claimed supreme power over the islands of Corsica and Sardinia. A papal edict awarding the supremacy of Corsica to the Pisan church proved sufficient cause for the war, which went on from 1118 to 1132. Then Innocent II. transferred the supremacy over part of Corsica to the Genoese church, and compensated Pisa by grants in Sardinia and elsewhere. Accordingly, to gratify the pope and the emperor Lothair II., the Pisans entered the Neapolitan territory to combat the Normans. They aided in the vigorous defence of the city of Naples, and twice attacked and pillaged Amalfi, in 1135 and 1137, with such effect that the town never regained its pro sperity. It has been said that the copy of the Pandects then taken by the Pisans from Amalfi was the first known to them, but in fact they were already acquainted with those laws. The war with Genoa never came to a real end. Even after the retaking of Jerusalem by the Moslems (1187) the Pisans and Genoese again met in conflict in the East, and performed many deeds of valour. They were always ready to come to blows, and gave still more signal proofs of their enmity during the Sicilian war in behalf of the emperor Henry VI. From that moment it was plain that there could be no lasting peace between these rival powers until the one or the other should be crushed. The greatness and wealth of the Pisans at this period of their history is proved by the erection of the noble buildings by which their city is adorned. The foundations of the cathedral were laid in 1063, and its consecration took place in 1118; the bap tistery was begun in 1152, and the campanile (the famous leaning tower) in 1174. And all three magnificent struc tures were mainly the work of Pisan artists, who gave new life to Italian architecture, as they afterwards renewed the art of sculpture. It is asserted by some writers, especially by Tronci, that in the 12th century Pisa adopted a more democratic form of government. But in fact the chief authority was still vested in the nobles, who, both in Pisa and in Sardinia, exercised almost sovereign power. They formed the real strength of the republic, and kept it faithful to the em pire and the Ghibelline party. The Guelf and popular element which constituted the force and prosperity of Florence was hostile to Pisa, and led to its downfall. The independence of the former city was of much later origin,