Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 20.djvu/820

Rh 796 HOME [HISTORY. united a species of greater council. Therefore the transition from a senate divided into two parts to the greater and lesser councils must have been very easy and natural. And, seeing that later, when the nomination of a single senator had become a constant practice, the meet- ings of the two councils are frequently mentioned without the slightest remark or hint as to their origin, it is clear that they had been gradually formed and long established. Not long after the revolution of 1143 the grandees sought to re-enter the senate; and the popes themselves, partly from dread of the people and partly to aggrandize their own kindred, contributed to build up the power of a new and no less turbulent nobility. This class, arising between the 12th and 13th centuries, was composed of families newly created by the popes, together with remnants of the old aristocracy, such as the Frangipani, Colonna, &c. These nobles, regaining possession of the senate, so com- pletely eliminated the popular element that, when the popes again opposed them, and, obtaining from the parlia- ment the right of electing the senators, adopted the expedient of appointing one only, the senator was always chosen from the ranks of the nobles. And then the people, unable and unwilling to renounce republican forms, replaced their suppressed senate by a greater and a lesser council. This was an easy task a natural consequence of the fact that the people now began to constitute the real strength of the republic. Later, with an increasing detestation for their nobility, the Romans decreed that the single senator should be of foreign birth, and, as we shall see, chose Brancaleone in the middle of the 13th century. Thus, after a long series of frequent changes and revolu- tions, the Roman republic became a commonwealth, with an increasing resemblance to those of the other Italian cities. The people were organized and armed, the guilds almost established, the two councils gradually constituted, and the aristocracy, while retaining special local character- istics, assumed its definitive shape. It is not surprising aan to find that Rome, like other Italian cities, now possessed utes. statutes of its own. There has been much controversy on this point. Certain writers had alluded to a statute of 1 246. As no one, however, could discover any statute of that date, others decided that it had never existed. A statute of 1363 was recently published by Professor Camillo Re, who asserted it to be the first and most ancient that Rome had possessed. But the still more recent researches of Messrs La Mantia and Levi prove that Professor Re's assertions were some- what too bold. There is certain evidence of a statutum senatus existing between 1212 and 1227, of a statutum vel capitulare senatoris vel senatus of 1235, followed in 1241 by a statutum urbis. This brings us very near to the statute of 1 246 mentioned by Vitale and others. So it is well ascertained that, in the first half of the 13th century, Rome possessed statutes at large composed of older limited statutes. The consuls of the trade guilds were from 1267 regular members of the councils ; and the merchants' guild held general meetings in 1255. Its statutes were confirmed in 1296 by the senator Pandolfo Savelli, and the compilation of these, published in 1880 by Signer Gatti, refers to 1317. le- Meanwhile the struggle between Frederick IT. and the II. pope was once more renewed. The former sought to domi- i the nate Italy, separate the state from the church, and repress the republics. The latter, although really hostile to the Roman free Government, joined it against the emperor, who on his side favoured the republic of Rome and the nobles most adverse to the pope. Thus the new nobility, composed, as we have seen, of two different elements, was again split into a Guelf party headed by the Orsini and a Ghibelline party under the Colonna. And in 1238 it was deemed advisable to elect two senators instead of one, in the hope of conciliating both factions by simultaneously raising them to power. Afterwards one onjy was elected, alternately an Orsini and a Colonna, then again two, and so on. But all these changes failed in their aims, since the struggle between emperor and pope exasperated party feeling in Rome. The political genius of Frederick might have wrought great harm to the city had not his mind teemed with contradictory ideas. Although desirous to emancipate the state from the church, he was opposed to the communal democracy, which was then the chief strength of the secular state in Italy. While combating the church and persecuting her defenders, he yet sent heretics to the stake ; although excommunicated, he undertook a crusade ; he feasted at his table philosophers, sceptic and atheist poets, bishops, and Mussulmans; he proclaimed anti-Christian the possession of wealth by the church, yet made lavish gifts to altar and monastery. Thus, although he had a strong party in Rome, it seemed to dissolve at his approach, inasmuch as all feared that he might abolish the statutes and liberties of the commune. It fact, when he advanced towards Rome on the death of Gregory IX. in 1241 he was energetically repulsed by the people, and later even by Viterbo, a city that had always been faith- ful to him. But after he had withdrawn his adherents gained strength and put to flight his opponent, Innocent IV. (1243-54), the newly elected pope, who then from his asylum in France hurled an excommunication against him. Frederick's death in December 1250 deter- mined the fall of the Ghibelline party and the close of the imperial epoch in Italy. The pope instantly returned to Rome with the set purpose of destroying the power of the Hohenstaufens. This was no longer difficult when, by the decease of Conrad IV. (1254), the child Conradin became the last legitimate representative of that line, and negotia- tions were already on foot for placing the Angevins on the Neapolitan throne. The republic meanwhile preserved its independence against the pope, who, among other concessions, had entirely given up to it the right of coinage. Never- theless, being much harassed by the factiousness of the nobility, it was obliged in 1252 to decide on the election of an alien senator armed with ample powers, precisely as other communes gave the government into the hands of a podesta. Accordingly a Bolognese noble, Brancaleone degli Branca Andalo, count of Casalecchio, and a Ghibelline of much lco ? , nergy and talent, was invited to Rome. But before j^ 1 ^ accepting office he insisted on making definite terms. He first' desired to hold the government for three years ; and this, ibreigr although contrary to the statutes, was granted. Further, to senato nsure his personal safety, he demanded that many scions of the noblest Roman houses should be sent as hostages to Bologna ; and to this also the republic consented. Then, in August 1252, he came with his judges and notaries, made oath to observe justice and the laws, and began to govern. He was head of the republic in peace and in war, supreme judge and captain in chief. He nominated the jodestas of subject territories, despatched ambassadors, ssued coin, concluded treaties, and received oaths of obedience. The pope, who was then at Perugia, was reatly afflicted by the arrival of this new master, but, despairing of aid from any quarter, was forced to make a virtue of necessity. Thus Brancaleone was able to seize the reins of power with a firm grasp. The parliament still met in the square of the Capitol, and the greater and lesser councils in the church of Ara Coeli. There were resides frequent assemblies of the college of Capitoline udges or assectamentum. Unfortunately, no records having 3een preserved of the proceedings of the Roman councils and parliament, little can be said of the manner in which affairs were conducted. Certainly Brancaleone's govern-