Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume IX.djvu/467

 ITALY 449 cini, Vestini, Hernici, (Enotrians, Daunians or Apnlians, Japygians, Peucetians, Messapians, and numerous other tribes, besides various Grecian colonies in the southern part or Mag- na Gnecia. The name Italy, however, which replaced the Greek appellation of Hesperia or Hesperia Magna, was originally applied only to the peninsula stretching southward from Squillace on the gulf of that name, and grad- ually extended to more northern parts, until the time of Augustus, when it received its full extension, embracing the provinces of Liguria, Gallia Cisalpina, Venetia, and Istria, in the north; Etruria, Umbria, Picenum, Samnium, Latium, and Campania, in the centre or Italy proper; and Apulia, Calabria, Lucania, and Bruttiuin, in the south or Magna Greecia. Po- etically the country was also called (Enotria, Ausonia, Opica, Tyrrhenia, and Japygia, from various parts of the whole, and Saturnia, be- cause Saturn was said to have once reigned over it. Augustus divided Italy into 11 re- gions, which division prevailed during the lat- ter period of the history of the Roman empire. Since the downfall of the western division of that empire the Italian peninsula has been the theatre of a political history which in its gen- eral features resembles that of Germany, being a continuous shifting of boundaries and contest of dynasties, relieved by temporary successes of municipal self-government in the free cities of upper Italy, and by the brilliant develop- ment of literature, commerce, and the fine arts. Odoacer, having dethroned the last West Ro- man emperor, Romulus Augustulus (A. D. 476), assumed the title of king of Italy ; but in 493 he succumbed to Theodoric the Great, king of the Ostrogoths, and for a time the entire pen- insula was united under Gothic dominion. The Byzantine generals Belisarius and Narses conquered it for the emperor Justinian about the middle of the 6th century, and it was ruled by Byzantine viceroys (exarchs). In 668 the Lombards (Longobards) invaded Italy and es- tablished a powerful kingdom, the name of which has been preserved to this day for a small portion of its territory. They introduced Germanic feudal institutions, and thus comple- ted the transition of Italy from the ancient forms of political and social life to those of the middle ages. Venice, founded by fugitives during the barbarian invasions of the 5th cen- tury ; the exarchate of Ravenna, reduced to a small .portion of the late Papal States ; Rome, and a portion of the coast districts of lower It- aly (duchies of Amalfi and Gaeta), maintained their independence after having for some time remained in a nominal relation of vassalage to the Byzantine empire. During the latter half of the 8th century, the Lombards threatening Rome, which until then had been ruled by pa- tricians, the aid of Pepin, king of the Franks, was invoked by the pope. Pepin, having con- quered the exarchate, ceded it to the head of the church. Charlemagne, following up the victories of his father, subjected the Lombard kingdom (774) and annexed it to the Frankish empire. On Christmas day, 800, Charlemagne was crowned by Pope Leo III. Roman em- peror, and thus the occidental empire was re- established. Practically that title, which was eagerly coveted for many centuries by the rulers of Germany, was a pretext for territo- rial conquests in Italy. When in 843 the empire of Charlemagne was divided among his grandsons, the Italian provinces fell to the share of Lothaire, but the rule of the Carlo- vingians lasted scarcely for a generation. Du- ring a period of anarchy and civil war Guy of Spoleto, Berenger of Friuli, Hugh of Pro- vence, Berenger of Ivrea, and Lothaire, son of Hugh, successively obtained an uncertain mastership. Lothaire having been poisoned in 950 by Berenger, his widow Adelaide ap- pealed to Otho I., king of Germany, who mar- ried her, conquered Lombardy (951), and in another campaign obtained the imperial crown. In lower Italy, the duchy of Benevento and the republics of Naples, Gaeta, and Amalfi, though undisturbed by the strifes in the north- ern and central divisions of the peninsula, had for a long time to contend against the Sara- cens, who had conquered Sicily in 827, and invaded lower Italy during the latter half of the century. Their attacks having at last been definitely repulsed, lower Italy once more re- turned under Byzantine rule, and remained so for nearly a century more, while the great- er portion of the peninsula was held in sub- jection by Germany. For 50 years the Ger- man dominion was comparatively undisturbed. From the year 1000 the hatred of the Italians against the foreign rulers, diligently fostered by the clergy, manifested itself in frequent lo- cal insurrections and civil wars; but during the llth century the German kings succeed- ed in maintaining their authority. In lower Italy the Byzantine rule was gradually over- turned by the Normans, who, having con- quered Apulia and Calabria, also wrested the islands of Sicily and Malta from the Arabs. This new realm, consolidated by Robert Guis- card (1057-'85) and the two Rogers (1085- 1154), became a strong point of support for the popes in their contests with the German sovereigns. Their power increased so rapidly that Henry IV., the successor of the mightiest of all the German rulers over Italy (Henry III.), was compelled to humble himself before Greg- ory VII. (1077). The Lombard kingdom thence- forward gradually resolved itself into several prosperous municipalities, some of which be- came powerful commonwealths, able to contend successfully even against the mighty Swabian (Hohenstaufen) dynasty of Germany. Milan, Venice, Pisa, and Genoa became the centres of the movement for national independence. Milan formed the league of the Lombard mu- nicipalities, which, allied with the popes, op- posed the exertions of the Hohenstaufen to erect Italy into a hereditary kingdom for their own dynasty. The national party subsequent-