Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 20.djvu/579

Rh RIMINI 559 was therefore driven to make his submission to the pope but, again rebelling, was summoned to trial in Rome (1460) before a tribunal of hostile cardinals. All the old charges against him were now revived and eagerly confirmed. He was pronounced guilty of rapine, incendiarism, incest, assassination, and heresy. The murder and violation of Borbona's wife was brought up ; he was accused of having tortured his former preceptor, in revenge for punishments received in his youth, and of having killed three wives although it seems that he had only two besides his ever- beloved Isotta, who survived him. He was also severely blamed for the erection of a temple which, as the pope justly remarked, was better adapted for the worship of pagan demons than of the Christian God. Nor was it forgotten how, when Pius II. had proclaimed a crusade against the infidels at the assembly at Mantua, Sigismondo had secretly invited the Grand Turk to make a descent upon Italy. Consequently he was sentenced to the depriva- tion of his state (which was probably the main object of the trial), and to be burnt alive as a heretic. This sentence, however, could not easily be executed, and Sigismondo was only burnt in effigy. But the pope marked the intensity of his hatred by causing the dummy to be carved and dressed with such life-like resemblance that he was almost able to persuade himself that his hated enemy was really consumed in the flames. Malatesta could afford to laugh at this farce, but he nevertheless prepared in haste for a desperate defence (1462). He knew that the bishop Vitelleschi, together with the duke of Urbino and his own brother Novello Malatesta, lord of Cesena, were advancing against him in force ; and, being defeated by them at Pian di Marotta, he was driven to Rome in 1463 to again make submission to the pope. This time he was stripped of all his possessions excepting the city of Rimini and a neighbouring castle, but the sentence of excommunication was withdrawn. For, now that Malatesta's power was crushed, the object of the war was attained. Its continuance would have been inex- pedient, and might have too suddenly roused the fears of the other potentates of Romagna, who were all destined, sooner or later, to share the same fate. The once mighty tyrant of Rimini found himself reduced to penury with a state chiefly composed of a single town. He there- fore took service with the Venetians, and in 1464 had the command of an expedition to the Morea. Here his movements were so hampered by the interference of the commissioners of the republic that, with all his valour, he could achieve no decisive success. In 1466 he was able to return to Rimini, for Pius II. was dead, and the new pope, Paul II., was less hostile to him. Indeed the latter offered to give him Spoleto and Foligno, taking Rimini in exchange ; but Malatesta was so enraged by the proposal that he went to Rome with a dagger concealed on his person, on purpose to kill the pope. But, being forewarned, Paul received him with great ceremony, and surrounded by cardinals prepared for defence ; whereupon Sigismondo changed his mind, fell on his knees and im- plored forgiveness. His star had now set for ever. For sheer subsistence he had to hire his sword to the pope and quell petty rebellions with a handful of men. At last, his health failing, he returned to his family, and died in Rimini on the 7th October 1468, aged fifty-one years. He was succeeded, according to his desire, by Isotta and his son Sallustio. But there was an illegitimate elder son by another mother, named Roberto Malatesta, a valiant and unscrupulous soldier. Befriended by the pope, this man undertook to conquer Rimini for the Holy See, but came there to further his own ends instead (20th October 1469), and, while feigning a desire to share the government -with Isotta and her son, resolved, sooner or later, to seize it for himself. This aroused the pope's wrath, and Roberto instantly prepared for defence. Find- ing an ally in the duke of Urbino, whose eyes were now opened to the aggressive policy of the church, he was able to repulse its forces. Paul II. died soon after, and was succeeded by Sixtus IV. Roberto's position was now more secure, and in order to strengthen his recent alliance he betrothed himself to the daughter of the duke of Urbino. The next step was to dispose of his rival kindred. On the 8th August 1470 Isotta's son was found murdered in a well belonging to the Marcheselli family; and a blood- stained sword, placed in their courtyard by Roberto, made it appear as though they had been guilty of the crime. Towards the end of the same year Isotta died also, apparently of a slow fever, but really, it was believed, by poison. Another of her sons, Valerio, born in 1453, still lived, but he was openly put to death by Roberto on a trumped-up charge of treason. In 1475 the new tyrant celebrated his nuptials with the duke of Urbino's daughter, and, being again taken into favour by the pope, valiantly defended him in Rome against the attacks of the duke of Calabria, and died there in 1482 of the hardships endured in the war. His widow was left regent during the minority of his son Pandolfo, who was nicknamed Pandolfaccio on account of his evil nature. Directly he was of age, he seized the reins of government by killing some relations who had plotted against him, and crushed another conspiracy in the same way. A daring soldier, he distinguished himself at the battle of the Taro against the French ; but his tyranny made him hated by his subjects. In 1500, when Cesare Borgia fell on Romagna with violence and fraud, this Malatesta shared the fate of other petty tyrants and had to fly for his life. After the fall of the Borgia he returned, but, being bitterly detested by his people, decided to sell his rights to the Venetians, who had long desired to possess Rimini, and who gave him in exchange the town of Cittadella, some ready money, and a pension for life. This arrangement was naturally disapproved by Rome, and especially by Julius II., who had already repeatedly vowed that, unless Venice restored the cities she had so unjustly seized Cervia, Ravenna, and Rimini he would turn the world upside down to regain them. And he kept his word. For he contrived the league of Cambray on purpose to ruin the Venetians, who were crushingly defeated in 1509. Thereupon the pope, having accom- plished his own ends, made alliance with the Venetians, who were now prostrate at his feet, and, with them, the Spaniards, and the Swiss, fought against the French at Ravenna in 1512. Here the French were victors, but owing to their heavy losses and the death of their renowned leader, Gaston de Foix, were compelled to retreat. Thus Julius became master of Rimini and the other coveted lands. Malatesta made more than one attempt to win back his city, but always in vain, for his subjects. preferred the papal rule. He returned there for the last time while Marshal Bourbon was laying .siege to Rome; but in 1528 Pope Clement VII. became definitive master of the town. Thus, after two hundred and fifty years, the sway of the Malatesta came to an end, and Pandolfo was reduced to beggary. In fact, we find him petitioning the duke of Fer- rara for the gift of a couple of crowns and promising to ask for no more. He died in 1534, leaving a daughter and two sons in great poverty. The elder, Sigismondo, after various military adventures, died at Reggio d'Emilia in 1543 ; and Malatesta, the younger, went to fight in the Scotch and English wars, and was never heard of again. Sigismondo had left male heirs who made another attempt to regain Rimini in 1555, but Pope Paul IV. declared them deposed in perpetuity in punishment of Pandolfaccio's misdeeds.