Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 16.djvu/76

* PISA. 56 PISA. feet, and possesses a remarkable echo. The bap- tister.v font«ins a Mn .v Uiovanni Pisano, anil a' pulpit — a cclpbrati'il masterpiect' — by N'ic- cola I'isaiu). The l)eautiful marble campanile, or Leaning Tower (q.v.), rises in the rear of the church. The view from the top. reached by near- ly .'JOO steps, is sui)erb. embracing the Carrara ami Apuan .Mountains, the city, and the blue sea. Northwest of the cathedral is the quadrangu- lar Campo Santo (cemetery). It was laid out in the beginning of the twelfth century. Its soil was brought in ships from Mount Calvary, that the ilcad licrc might lie in truly consecrated grunnd. A decorative Tuscan-Gothic structure, j)lanned by Giovanni Pisano. incloses the ceme- tery. Onthc outside are numerous flat arches borne by pilasters. Inside, an arched and covered colonnade surrounds the burial plot. Here are found very interesting and suggestive frescoes by Tuscan artists of the close of the media-val era. Of these paintings the most remarkable is the "Triumph of Death." There is also a notable "Last .Judgment." The niimuments, sarcophagi, urns, friezes, memorial tablets, etc.. in the ceme- tery proper are of exceptional interest. The Basilica San Paolo a Ripa d'Arno, founded by Charlemagne, but belonging in its present form probably to the thirteenth century, possesses a rich facade of yellow, gray, and black marble. Siinta Maria dclla Spina is a beautiful little diurch in the French Gothic, dating from the same period and built for seamen.- It was re- stored in 1872. Among the palaces the attractive brick Gothic Agostini of the fifteenth century deserves men- tion, as does also the Toscanelli, where Lord Byron sojourned in 1822. In the Loggia de' Banchi is the present corn exchange. Xear by is the Palazzo del Comune, containing the valuable Pisan archives. The university, founded in 1:538, is in a huge building dating from the latter ])art of the fifteenth century. (See Pis., Uxiver.sity OF.) The munici]ial museum (founded in ISIl.'i) contains works by Tuscan masters, but nothing of great interest. The Palazzo Conventuale dei Ca- valier! is at present a high normal school. The Academy of Fine .rts w"as founded by Napoleon in 1812. The Cateriniana Library contains about (iO.OOO vohimes. Pisa has statues of the (ijand Duke Leopold L, Garibaldi, Mazzini. and (irand Duke Cosimo L, by (iiovanni da Bologna, near which last once stood the historic Tower of Hun- ger of horrible memory, described by Dante in the Inferno. (See Guerardesca.) The house where Galileo was born is shown. Pisa is wealthy and in a thriving condition. Cottons are largely n«inufactured. Oil and marble from the vicinity constitute important shipments. The city was formerly a port on the sea. but the silting up of the .rno caused Leg- horn to grow in importance. There are fine mar- ket halls, an extensive hospital, and four the- atres. The rich ganlened plain around Pisa, lined with lonely poplars, is interesting despite its flatness. The population of the commune of Pisa in 1901 was r)l..'i21, of whom only about half resided within the city. The city was probably of Etruscan origin. It fell to Rome in n.r. ISO. The Romans embellished it and made it important. About ..t>. 1000 it be- came a formidable commercial and naval rival of Venice and Genoa. Strongly religious, it played in that era a prominent rflle in the defense and diffusion of Christianity, the Republic taking a conspicuous part in the Cru.sades. Its warring citizens took Sardinia from the Saracens, and finally destroyed their naval power in the Medi- terranean. Corsica and the Balearic Islands fell to them. The city was in the full flower of its greatness in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. It held the coast from near (Senoa to the vicinity of Rome, It had many contests with Lucca and Florence; it wa- aggressively Gliibellinc. But the fall of the Hohenstaufens was at length a blow to the city, and it met decisive defeat by Genoa in a great sea-figlit off Meloria, near Leghorn, in 1284. A few years later the Genoese destroyed its harbor. It began to decline, gradually losing all its possessions, and in 1400 it fell under the sway of Florence. It shook off the Florentine yoke in 1494, only to be resubjected in 1509. Henceforth its history was part of that of the Florentine State and of Tuscany. About KiOO Pisa had only aljout 15.000 inhabitants. In the height of its prosperity it had no less than 150,000. In art history Pisa earned a worthy name un- til supplanted by Florence. Its cathedral marks the beginning of Italian art of the Middle Ages. The only branch of art, however, in which Pisa left an important inlluence was architecture (particularly ecclesiastical architecture), though it gave no little impetus to sculpture, being the native city of Niccola Pisano and his son (iio- vaiuii. Consult Schiibring, i'isH (Leipzig. 1902) . PISA, Council of. A council held in the year 1409; not reckoned among the ecumenical coun- cils. It was assembled in the time of the great schism which followed the removal of the popes to Avignon (see Schism, VestI';rx ; P.pacy). for the purpose of restoring the ])eace of the Church. The cardinals of both parties, desiring to put an end to the anomalous condition which existed, united to call a general council. Both claimants to the Papacy, Gregory XII. and Benedict XIII. (antipope), were notified by their adherents and requested to appear at its sessions. Both, however, refused and called synods of their owTi. The cardinals persisted, and proceeded to de- liberate upon the case. Twenty-two of them were present, besides some 80 bishops and repre- sentatives of over 100 more, with a vast body of abbots, doctors, and other eminent eccle- siastics. After a formal citation of the rival popes the council, on their nonappearance, pro- ceeded to declare them contumacious, and to ex- amine their respective claims as though they had appeared. The result, after a protracted in- quiry, was a decree by which they were both de- clared schismatics, and deposed from the Papal dignity, and their followers released from obedi- ence. In the seventeenth session the cardinals entered into conclave to the number of 24. and unanimously elected Peter Philargi. who took the name of Alexander V. The council proceeded after his electicm to pass a number of decrees, for the purpose of giving validity to the acts done on either side during the schism. A vain attempt was made to obtain the submission of the still recusant rivals, and it was resolved that a new council should be held within three years. The authority of this council, like that of the Council of Constance, is alleged by some Galilean divines to establish the superiority of a gen- eral council over the Pope. But the contention is made in reply that both these councils, and