Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 19.djvu/131

Rh PISA 121 fury. But Pisa s freedom was for ever lost. He was succeeded by other lords or tyrants, of whom the most renowned was Castruccio Castracane, a political and mili tary adventurer of much the same stamp as Uguccione himself. With the help of Louis the Bavarian, Cas truccio became lord of Lucca and Pisa, and was victorious over the Florentines; but his premature death in 1328 again left the city a prey to the conflicts of opposing factions. New lords, or petty tyrants, rose to power in turn during this period of civil discord, but the military valour of the Pisans was not yet extinguished. By sea they were almost impotent Corsica and Sardinia were lost to them for ever ; but they were still formidable by land. In 1341 they besieged Lucca in order to prevent the entry of the Florentines, to whom the city had been sold for 250,000 florins by the powerful Mastino della Scala. Aided by their Milanese, Mantuan, and Paduan allies, they gave battle to their rivals, put them to rout at Altopascio (2nd October), and then again excluded them from their port. Thereupon the Florentines obtained Porto Talamone from Siena and established a navy of their own. By this means they were enabled to capture the island of Giglio, and, attacking the Pisan harbour, carried off its chains, bore them in triumph to Florence, and suspended them in front of the baptistery, where they remained until 1848. Then, in pledge of the brotherhood of all Italian cities, they were given back to Pisa, and placed in the Campo Santo. The war was now carried on by the free companies with varying fortune, but always more or less to the hurt of the Pisans. In 1369 Lucca was taken from them by the emperor Charles IV. ; and afterwards Giovan Galeazzo Visconti, known as the count of Virtu, determined to forward his ambitious designs upon the whole of Italy by wresting Pisa from the Gambacorti. For at this time the conflicts of the Raspanti faction, headed by the Gherar- desca, with the Bergolini led by the Gambacorti, had left the latter family masters of the city. At Visconti s instigation Piero Gambacorti, the ruler of the moment, was treacherously assassinated by Jacopo d Appiano, who succeeded him as tyrant of Pisa, and bequeathed the state to his son Gherardo. The latter, a man of inferior ability and daring, sold Pisa to the count of Virtu, receiving in exchange 200,000 florins, Piombino, and the islands of Elba, Pianosa, and Monte Cristo. Thus in 1399 Visconti took possession of Pisa, and left it to his natural son Gabriele Maria Visconti, who was afterwards expelled from its gates. But even during this century of disaster the Pisans continued to cherish the fine arts. In the year 1278 they had entrusted the erection of their fine Campo Santo to Niccola and Giovanni Pisano, by whom the architectural part of it was completed towards the end of the century. In the following year the first artists of Italy were engaged in its decoration, and Orcagna painted his celebrated frescos on its walls. Others were after wards supplied by Benozzo Gozzoli and men of lesser note, and the labour of ornamentation was only discontinued in 1464. Meanwhile, in 1406, the Florentines made another attack upon Pisa, besieging it simultaneously by sea and land. Owing to the starving condition of its defenders, and aided by the treachery of Giovanni Gambacorti, they entered the city in triumph on the 9th October, and sought to &quot;crush every germ of rebellion and drive out its citizens by measures of the utmost harshness and cruelty.&quot; Such were the orders sent by the Ten of War to the repre sentatives of the Florentine Government in Pisa, and such was then the established policy of every Italian state. Consequently for a long time there was a continual stream of emigration from Pisa. The Medici pursued a humaner course. In 1472 Lorenzo the Magnificent tried to restore the ancient renown of the Pisan university. To that end he filled it with celebrated scholars, and, leaving only a few chairs of letters and philosophy in Florence, compelled the Florentines to resort to Pisa for the prosecution of their studies. But nothing could now allay the inextinguish able hatred of the conquered people. When Charles VIII. made his descent into Italy in 1494, and came to Sarzana on his way to Tuscany, he was welcomed by the Pisans with the greatest demonstrations of joy. And, although that monarch was ostensibly the friend of Florence, they did not hesitate, even in his presence, to assert their own independence, and, casting the Florentine ensign, the Marzocco, into the Arno, made instant preparations for war. Between 1499 and 1505 they heroically withstood three sieges and repulsed three attacking armies. But their adversaries always returned to the assault, and, what was worse, yearly laid waste their territories and destroyed all their crops. Soderini, who was perpetual gonfalonier of Florence, and Machiavelli, the secretary of the Ten, urged on the war. In 1509 the latter encamped his forces on three sides of the distressed city, which at last, reduced to extremity by famine, was forced to surrender on the 8th June 1509. Thenceforth the Florentines remained lords of Pisa. But now, mainly owing to the efforts of Soderini and Machiavelli, the conquerors showed great magnanimity. They brought with them large stores of provision s, which were freely distributed to all ; they tried to succour the suffering populace in every way, and gave other assistance to the wealthier classes. Nevertheless, emigration continued even on a larger scale than in 1406, and the real history of Pisa may be said to have ended. In Naples, in Palermo, in all parts of Italy, Switzerland, and the south of France, we still find the names of Pisan families who quitted their beloved home at that time. The Florentines immediately built a new citadel, and this was a great bitterness to the Pisans. The Medici, how ever, remained well-disposed towards the city. Leo X. was an active patron of the university, but it again declined after his death. The grand-duke Cosmo I., a genuine statesman, not only restored the university, but instituted the &quot; Uffizio dei Fossi,&quot; or drainage office for the reclama tion of marsh lands, and founded the knighthood of St Stephen. This order played a noble part in the protection of Tuscan commerce, by fighting the Barbary pirates and establishing the prestige of the grand-ducal navy (see MEDICI). Under the succeeding Medici, Pisa s fortunes steadily declined. Ferdinand I. initiated a few public works there, and above all restored the cathedral, which had been partly destroyed by fire in 1595. These dreary times, however, are brightened by one glorious name that of Galileo Galilei. A native of Pisa, he taught in its university ; he made his first experiments in gravity from its bell tower, discovered, by observing the swing of the cathedral lamp, the law of the oscillation of the pendulum, and began there his stupendous reform of natural philosophy. But the sufferings inflicted on him by the Inquisition prove the depth of ignorance to which Tuscany and all Italy had then sunk. As to Pisa, it is enough to mention that its population within the walls had been reduced in 1551 to 8574 souls, and that by 1745 it had only risen to the number of 12,406. Under the house of Lorraine, or more correctly during the reign of that enlightened reformer Pietro Leopoldo (1765-1790), Pisa shared in the general pro sperity of Tuscany, and its population constantly increased. By 1840 it contained 21,670 souls, exclusive of the suburbs and outlying districts. At the present day Pisa is again one of the most flourishing cities of Tuscany. It counts 26,863 inhabitants within the walls, and in- XIX. 1 6