Chapter LXIX: State Of Rome From The Twelfth Century.—Part IV

After his decease, the tedious and equal suspense of the conclave
was fixed by the dexterity of the French faction. A specious
offer was made and accepted, that, in the term of forty days,
they would elect one of the three candidates who should be named
by their opponents. The archbishop of Bourdeaux, a furious enemy
of his king and country, was the first on the list; but his
ambition was known; and his conscience obeyed the calls of
fortune and the commands of a benefactor, who had been informed
by a swift messenger that the choice of a pope was now in his
hands. The terms were regulated in a private interview; and with
such speed and secrecy was the business transacted, that the
unanimous conclave applauded the elevation of Clement the Fifth.
79 The cardinals of both parties were soon astonished by a
summons to attend him beyond the Alps; from whence, as they soon
discovered, they must never hope to return. He was engaged, by
promise and affection, to prefer the residence of France; and,
after dragging his court through Poitou and Gascony, and
devouring, by his expense, the cities and convents on the road,
he finally reposed at Avignon, 80 which flourished above seventy
years 81 the seat of the Roman pontiff and the metropolis of
Christendom. By land, by sea, by the Rhône, the position of
Avignon was on all sides accessible; the southern provinces of
France do not yield to Italy itself; new palaces arose for the
accommodation of the pope and cardinals; and the arts of luxury
were soon attracted by the treasures of the church. They were
already possessed of the adjacent territory, the Venaissin
county, 82 a populous and fertile spot; and the sovereignty of
Avignon was afterwards purchased from the youth and distress of
Jane, the first queen of Naples and countess of Provence, for the
inadequate price of fourscore thousand florins. 83 Under the
shadow of a French monarchy, amidst an obedient people, the popes
enjoyed an honorable and tranquil state, to which they long had
been strangers: but Italy deplored their absence; and Rome, in
solitude and poverty, might repent of the ungovernable freedom
which had driven from the Vatican the successor of St. Peter. Her
repentance was tardy and fruitless: after the death of the old
members, the sacred college was filled with French cardinals, 84
who beheld Rome and Italy with abhorrence and contempt, and
perpetuated a series of national, and even provincial, popes,
attached by the most indissoluble ties to their native country.

79 (return) [ See, in the Chronicle of Giovanni Villani, (l.
viii. c. 63, 64, 80, in Muratori, tom. xiii.,) the imprisonment
of Boniface VIII., and the election of Clement V., the last of
which, like most anecdotes, is embarrassed with some
difficulties.]

80 (return) [ The original lives of the eight popes of Avignon,
Clement V., John XXII., Benedict XI., Clement VI., Innocent VI.,
Urban V., Gregory XI., and Clement VII., are published by Stephen
Baluze, (Vitæ Paparum Avenionensium; Paris, 1693, 2 vols. in
4to.,) with copious and elaborate notes, and a second volume of
acts and documents. With the true zeal of an editor and a
patriot, he devoutly justifies or excuses the characters of his
countrymen.]

81 (return) [ The exile of Avignon is compared by the Italians
with Babylon, and the Babylonish captivity. Such furious
metaphors, more suitable to the ardor of Petrarch than to the
judgment of Muratori, are gravely refuted in Baluze’s preface.
The abbé de Sade is distracted between the love of Petrarch and
of his country. Yet he modestly pleads, that many of the local
inconveniences of Avignon are now removed; and many of the vices
against which the poet declaims, had been imported with the Roman
court by the strangers of Italy, (tom. i. p. 23—28.)]

82 (return) [ The comtat Venaissin was ceded to the popes in 1273
by Philip III. king of France, after he had inherited the
dominions of the count of Thoulouse. Forty years before, the
heresy of Count Raymond had given them a pretence of seizure, and
they derived some obscure claim from the xith century to some
lands citra Rhodanum, (Valesii Notitia Galliarum, p. 495, 610.
Longuerue, Description de la France, tom. i. p. 376—381.)]

83 (return) [ If a possession of four centuries were not itself a
title, such objections might annul the bargain; but the purchase
money must be refunded, for indeed it was paid. Civitatem
Avenionem emit.... per ejusmodi venditionem pecuniâ redundates,
&c., (iida Vita Clement. VI. in Baluz. tom. i. p. 272. Muratori,
Script. tom. iii. P. ii. p. 565.) The only temptation for Jane
and her second husband was ready money, and without it they could
not have returned to the throne of Naples.]

84 (return) [ Clement V immediately promoted ten cardinals, nine
French and one English, (Vita ivta, p. 63, et Baluz. p. 625, &c.)
In 1331, the pope refused two candidates recommended by the king
of France, quod xx. Cardinales, de quibus xvii. de regno Franciæ
originem traxisse noscuntur in memorato collegio existant,
(Thomassin, Discipline de l’Eglise, tom. i. p. 1281.)]

The progress of industry had produced and enriched the Italian
republics: the æra of their liberty is the most flourishing
period of population and agriculture, of manufactures and
commerce; and their mechanic labors were gradually refined into
the arts of elegance and genius. But the position of Rome was
less favorable, the territory less fruitful: the character of the
inhabitants was debased by indolence and elated by pride; and
they fondly conceived that the tribute of subjects must forever
nourish the metropolis of the church and empire. This prejudice
was encouraged in some degree by the resort of pilgrims to the
shrines of the apostles; and the last legacy of the popes, the
institution of the holy year, 85 was not less beneficial to the
people than to the clergy. Since the loss of Palestine, the gift
of plenary indulgences, which had been applied to the crusades,
remained without an object; and the most valuable treasure of the
church was sequestered above eight years from public circulation.
A new channel was opened by the diligence of Boniface the Eighth,
who reconciled the vices of ambition and avarice; and the pope
had sufficient learning to recollect and revive the secular games
which were celebrated in Rome at the conclusion of every century.
To sound without danger the depth of popular credulity, a sermon
was seasonably pronounced, a report was artfully scattered, some
aged witnesses were produced; and on the first of January of the
year thirteen hundred, the church of St. Peter was crowded with
the faithful, who demanded the customary indulgence of the holy
time. The pontiff, who watched and irritated their devout
impatience, was soon persuaded by ancient testimony of the
justice of their claim; and he proclaimed a plenary absolution to
all Catholics who, in the course of that year, and at every
similar period, should respectfully visit the apostolic churches
of St. Peter and St. Paul. The welcome sound was propagated
through Christendom; and at first from the nearest provinces of
Italy, and at length from the remote kingdoms of Hungary and
Britain, the highways were thronged with a swarm of pilgrims who
sought to expiate their sins in a journey, however costly or
laborious, which was exempt from the perils of military service.
All exceptions of rank or sex, of age or infirmity, were
forgotten in the common transport; and in the streets and
churches many persons were trampled to death by the eagerness of
devotion. The calculation of their numbers could not be easy nor
accurate; and they have probably been magnified by a dexterous
clergy, well apprised of the contagion of example: yet we are
assured by a judicious historian, who assisted at the ceremony,
that Rome was never replenished with less than two hundred
thousand strangers; and another spectator has fixed at two
millions the total concourse of the year. A trifling oblation
from each individual would accumulate a royal treasure; and two
priests stood night and day, with rakes in their hands, to
collect, without counting, the heaps of gold and silver that were
poured on the altar of St. Paul. 86 It was fortunately a season
of peace and plenty; and if forage was scarce, if inns and
lodgings were extravagantly dear, an inexhaustible supply of
bread and wine, of meat and fish, was provided by the policy of
Boniface and the venal hospitality of the Romans. From a city
without trade or industry, all casual riches will speedily
evaporate: but the avarice and envy of the next generation
solicited Clement the Sixth 87 to anticipate the distant period
of the century. The gracious pontiff complied with their wishes;
afforded Rome this poor consolation for his loss; and justified
the change by the name and practice of the Mosaic Jubilee. 88 His
summons was obeyed; and the number, zeal, and liberality of the
pilgrims did not yield to the primitive festival. But they
encountered the triple scourge of war, pestilence, and famine:
many wives and virgins were violated in the castles of Italy; and
many strangers were pillaged or murdered by the savage Romans, no
longer moderated by the presence of their bishops. 89 To the
impatience of the popes we may ascribe the successive reduction
to fifty, thirty-three, and twenty-five years; although the
second of these terms is commensurate with the life of Christ.
The profusion of indulgences, the revolt of the Protestants, and
the decline of superstition, have much diminished the value of
the jubilee; yet even the nineteenth and last festival was a year
of pleasure and profit to the Romans; and a philosophic smile
will not disturb the triumph of the priest or the happiness of
the people. 90

85 (return) [ Our primitive account is from Cardinal James
Caietan, (Maxima Bibliot. Patrum, tom. xxv.;) and I am at a loss
to determine whether the nephew of Boniface VIII. be a fool or a
knave: the uncle is a much clearer character.]

86 (return) [ See John Villani (l. viii. c. 36) in the xiith, and
the Chronicon Astense, in the xith volume (p. 191, 192) of
Muratori’s Collection Papa innumerabilem pecuniam ab eisdem
accepit, nam duo clerici, cum rastris, &c.]

87 (return) [ The two bulls of Boniface VIII. and Clement VI. are
inserted on the Corpus Juris Canonici, Extravagant. (Commun. l.
v. tit. ix c 1, 2.)]

88 (return) [ The sabbatic years and jubilees of the Mosaic law,
(Car. Sigon. de Republica Hebræorum, Opp. tom. iv. l. iii. c. 14,
14, p. 151, 152,) the suspension of all care and labor, the
periodical release of lands, debts, servitude, &c., may seem a
noble idea, but the execution would be impracticable in a
_profane_ republic; and I should be glad to learn that this
ruinous festival was observed by the Jewish people.]

89 (return) [ See the Chronicle of Matteo Villani, (l. i. c. 56,)
in the xivth vol. of Muratori, and the Mémoires sur la Vie de
Pétrarque, tom. iii. p. 75—89.]

90 (return) [ The subject is exhausted by M. Chais, a French
minister at the Hague, in his Lettres Historiques et Dogmatiques,
sur les Jubilés et es Indulgences; la Haye, 1751, 3 vols. in
12mo.; an elaborate and pleasing work, had not the author
preferred the character of a polemic to that of a philosopher.]

In the beginning of the eleventh century, Italy was exposed to
the feudal tyranny, alike oppressive to the sovereign and the
people. The rights of human nature were vindicated by her
numerous republics, who soon extended their liberty and dominion
from the city to the adjacent country. The sword of the nobles
was broken; their slaves were enfranchised; their castles were
demolished; they assumed the habits of society and obedience;
their ambition was confined to municipal honors, and in the
proudest aristocracy of Venice on Genoa, each patrician was
subject to the laws. 91 But the feeble and disorderly government
of Rome was unequal to the task of curbing her rebellious sons,
who scorned the authority of the magistrate within and without
the walls. It was no longer a civil contention between the nobles
and plebeians for the government of the state: the barons
asserted in arms their personal independence; their palaces and
castles were fortified against a siege; and their private
quarrels were maintained by the numbers of their vassals and
retainers. In origin and affection, they were aliens to their
country: 92 and a genuine Roman, could such have been produced,
might have renounced these haughty strangers, who disdained the
appellation of citizens, and proudly styled themselves the
princes, of Rome. 93 After a dark series of revolutions, all
records of pedigree were lost; the distinction of surnames was
abolished; the blood of the nations was mingled in a thousand
channels; and the Goths and Lombards, the Greeks and Franks, the
Germans and Normans, had obtained the fairest possessions by
royal bounty, or the prerogative of valor. These examples might
be readily presumed; but the elevation of a Hebrew race to the
rank of senators and consuls is an event without a parallel in
the long captivity of these miserable exiles. 94 In the time of
Leo the Ninth, a wealthy and learned Jew was converted to
Christianity, and honored at his baptism with the name of his
godfather, the reigning Pope. The zeal and courage of Peter the
son of Leo were signalized in the cause of Gregory the Seventh,
who intrusted his faithful adherent with the government of
Adrian’s mole, the tower of Crescentius, or, as it is now called,
the castle of St. Angelo. Both the father and the son were the
parents of a numerous progeny: their riches, the fruits of usury,
were shared with the noblest families of the city; and so
extensive was their alliance, that the grandson of the proselyte
was exalted by the weight of his kindred to the throne of St.
Peter. A majority of the clergy and people supported his cause:
he reigned several years in the Vatican; and it is only the
eloquence of St. Bernard, and the final triumph of Innocence the
Second, that has branded Anacletus with the epithet of antipope.
After his defeat and death, the posterity of Leo is no longer
conspicuous; and none will be found of the modern nobles
ambitious of descending from a Jewish stock. It is not my design
to enumerate the Roman families which have failed at different
periods, or those which are continued in different degrees of
splendor to the present time. 95 The old consular line of the
_Frangipani_ discover their name in the generous act of
_breaking_ or dividing bread in a time of famine; and such
benevolence is more truly glorious than to have enclosed, with
their allies the _Corsi_, a spacious quarter of the city in the
chains of their fortifications; the _Savelli_, as it should seem
a Sabine race, have maintained their original dignity; the
obsolete surname of the _Capizucchi_ is inscribed on the coins of
the first senators; the _Conti_ preserve the honor, without the
estate, of the counts of Signia; and the _Annibaldi_ must have
been very ignorant, or very modest, if they had not descended
from the Carthaginian hero. 96

91 (return) [ Muratori (Dissert. xlvii.) alleges the Annals of
Florence, Padua, Genoa, &c., the analogy of the rest, the
evidence of Otho of Frisingen, (de Gest. Fred. I. l. ii. c. 13,)
and the submission of the marquis of Este.]

92 (return) [ As early as the year 824, the emperor Lothaire I.
found it expedient to interrogate the Roman people, to learn from
each individual by what national law he chose to be governed.
(Muratori, Dissertat xxii.)]

93 (return) [ Petrarch attacks these foreigners, the tyrants of
Rome, in a declamation or epistle, full of bold truths and absurd
pedantry, in which he applies the maxims, and even prejudices, of
the old republic to the state of the xivth century, (Mémoires,
tom. iii. p. 157—169.)]

94 (return) [ The origin and adventures of the Jewish family are
noticed by Pagi, (Critica, tom. iv. p. 435, A.D. 1124, No. 3, 4,)
who draws his information from the Chronographus Maurigniacensis,
and Arnulphus Sagiensis de Schismate, (in Muratori, Script. Ital.
tom. iii. P. i. p. 423—432.) The fact must in some degree be
true; yet I could wish that it had been coolly related, before it
was turned into a reproach against the antipope.]

95 (return) [ Muratori has given two dissertations (xli. and
xlii.) to the names, surnames, and families of Italy. Some
nobles, who glory in their domestic fables, may be offended with
his firm and temperate criticism; yet surely some ounces of pure
gold are of more value than many pounds of base metal.]

96 (return) [ The cardinal of St. George, in his poetical, or
rather metrical history of the election and coronation of
Boniface VIII., (Muratori Script. Ital. tom. iii. P. i. p. 641,
&c.,) describes the state and families of Rome at the coronation
of Boniface VIII., (A.D. 1295.)

Interea titulis redimiti sanguine et armis Illustresque
viri Romanâ a stirpe trahentes Nomen in emeritos tantæ
virtutis honores Insulerant sese medios festumque
colebant Aurata fulgente togâ, sociante catervâ. Ex
ipsis devota domus præstantis ab _Ursâ_ Ecclesiæ,
vultumque gerens demissius altum Festa _Columna_ jocis,
necnon _Sabellia_ mitis; Stephanides senior, _Comites_,
_Annibalica_ proles, Præfectusque urbis magnum sine
viribus nomen. (l. ii. c. 5, 100, p. 647, 648.)

The ancient statutes of Rome (l. iii. c. 59, p. 174, 175)
distinguish eleven families of barons, who are obliged to swear
in concilio communi, before the senator, that they would not
harbor or protect any malefactors, outlaws, &c.—a feeble
security!]

But among, perhaps above, the peers and princes of the city, I
distinguish the rival houses of Colonna and Ursini, whose private
story is an essential part of the annals of modern Rome. I. The
name and arms of Colonna 97 have been the theme of much doubtful
etymology; nor have the orators and antiquarians overlooked
either Trajan’s pillar, or the columns of Hercules, or the pillar
of Christ’s flagellation, or the luminous column that guided the
Israelites in the desert. Their first historical appearance in
the year eleven hundred and four attests the power and antiquity,
while it explains the simple meaning, of the name. By the
usurpation of Cavæ, the Colonna provoked the arms of Paschal the
Second; but they lawfully held in the Campagna of Rome the
hereditary fiefs of Zagarola and _Colonna_; and the latter of
these towns was probably adorned with some lofty pillar, the
relic of a villa or temple. 98 They likewise possessed one moiety
of the neighboring city of Tusculum, a strong presumption of
their descent from the counts of Tusculum, who in the tenth
century were the tyrants of the apostolic see. According to their
own and the public opinion, the primitive and remote source was
derived from the banks of the Rhine; 99 and the sovereigns of
Germany were not ashamed of a real or fabulous affinity with a
noble race, which in the revolutions of seven hundred years has
been often illustrated by merit and always by fortune. 100 About
the end of the thirteenth century, the most powerful branch was
composed of an uncle and six bothers, all conspicuous in arms, or
in the honors of the church. Of these, Peter was elected senator
of Rome, introduced to the Capitol in a triumphal car, and hailed
in some vain acclamations with the title of Cæsar; while John and
Stephen were declared marquis of Ancona and count of Romagna, by
Nicholas the Fourth, a patron so partial to their family, that he
has been delineated in satirical portraits, imprisoned as it were
in a hollow pillar. 101 After his decease their haughty behavior
provoked the displeasure of the most implacable of mankind. The
two cardinals, the uncle and the nephew, denied the election of
Boniface the Eighth; and the Colonna were oppressed for a moment
by his temporal and spiritual arms. 102 He proclaimed a crusade
against his personal enemies; their estates were confiscated;
their fortresses on either side of the Tyber were besieged by the
troops of St. Peter and those of the rival nobles; and after the
ruin of Palestrina or Præneste, their principal seat, the ground
was marked with a ploughshare, the emblem of perpetual
desolation. Degraded, banished, proscribed, the six brothers, in
disguise and danger, wandered over Europe without renouncing the
hope of deliverance and revenge. In this double hope, the French
court was their surest asylum; they prompted and directed the
enterprise of Philip; and I should praise their magnanimity, had
they respected the misfortune and courage of the captive tyrant.
His civil acts were annulled by the Roman people, who restored
the honors and possessions of the Colonna; and some estimate may
be formed of their wealth by their losses, of their losses by the
damages of one hundred thousand gold florins which were granted
them against the accomplices and heirs of the deceased pope. All
the spiritual censures and disqualifications were abolished 103
by his prudent successors; and the fortune of the house was more
firmly established by this transient hurricane. The boldness of
Sciarra Colonna was signalized in the captivity of Boniface, and
long afterwards in the coronation of Lewis of Bavaria; and by the
gratitude of the emperor, the pillar in their arms was encircled
with a royal crown. But the first of the family in fame and merit
was the elder Stephen, whom Petrarch loved and esteemed as a hero
superior to his own times, and not unworthy of ancient Rome.
Persecution and exile displayed to the nations his abilities in
peace and war; in his distress he was an object, not of pity, but
of reverence; the aspect of danger provoked him to avow his name
and country; and when he was asked, “Where is now your fortress?”
he laid his hand on his heart, and answered, “Here.” He supported
with the same virtue the return of prosperity; and, till the ruin
of his declining age, the ancestors, the character, and the
children of Stephen Colonna, exalted his dignity in the Roman
republic, and at the court of Avignon. II. The Ursini migrated
from Spoleto; 104 the sons of Ursus, as they are styled in the
twelfth century, from some eminent person, who is only known as
the father of their race. But they were soon distinguished among
the nobles of Rome, by the number and bravery of their kinsmen,
the strength of their towers, the honors of the senate and sacred
college, and the elevation of two popes, Celestin the Third and
Nicholas the Third, of their name and lineage. 105 Their riches
may be accused as an early abuse of nepotism: the estates of St.
Peter were alienated in their favor by the liberal Celestin; 106
and Nicholas was ambitious for their sake to solicit the alliance
of monarchs; to found new kingdoms in Lombardy and Tuscany; and
to invest them with the perpetual office of senators of Rome. All
that has been observed of the greatness of the Colonna will
likewise redound to the glory of the Ursini, their constant and
equal antagonists in the long hereditary feud, which distracted
above two hundred and fifty years the ecclesiastical state. The
jealously of preeminence and power was the true ground of their
quarrel; but as a specious badge of distinction, the Colonna
embraced the name of Ghibelines and the party of the empire; the
Ursini espoused the title of Guelphs and the cause of the church.
The eagle and the keys were displayed in their adverse banners;
and the two factions of Italy most furiously raged when the
origin and nature of the dispute were long since forgotten. 107
After the retreat of the popes to Avignon they disputed in arms
the vacant republic; and the mischiefs of discord were
perpetuated by the wretched compromise of electing each year two
rival senators. By their private hostilities the city and country
were desolated, and the fluctuating balance inclined with their
alternate success. But none of either family had fallen by the
sword, till the most renowned champion of the Ursini was
surprised and slain by the younger Stephen Colonna. 108 His
triumph is stained with the reproach of violating the truce;
their defeat was basely avenged by the assassination, before the
church door, of an innocent boy and his two servants. Yet the
victorious Colonna, with an annual colleague, was declared
senator of Rome during the term of five years. And the muse of
Petrarch inspired a wish, a hope, a prediction, that the generous
youth, the son of his venerable hero, would restore Rome and
Italy to their pristine glory; that his justice would extirpate
the wolves and lions, the serpents and _bears_, who labored to
subvert the eternal basis of the marble column. 109

97 (return) [ It is pity that the Colonna themselves have not
favored the world with a complete and critical history of their
illustrious house. I adhere to Muratori, (Dissert. xlii. tom.
iii. p. 647, 648.)]

98 (return) [ Pandulph. Pisan. in Vit. Paschal. II. in Muratori,
Script. Ital. tom. iii. P. i. p. 335. The family has still great
possessions in the Campagna of Rome; but they have alienated to
the Rospigliosi this original fief of _Colonna_, (Eschinard, p.
258, 259.)]

99 (return) [ “Te longinqua dedit tellus et pascua Rheni,” says
Petrarch; and, in 1417, a duke of Guelders and Juliers
acknowledges (Lenfant, Hist. du Concile de Constance, tom. ii. p.
539) his descent from the ancestors of Martin V., (Otho Colonna:)
but the royal author of the Memoirs of Brandenburg observes, that
the sceptre in his arms has been confounded with the column. To
maintain the Roman origin of the Colonna, it was ingeniously
supposed (Diario di Monaldeschi, in the Script. Ital. tom. xii.
p. 533) that a cousin of the emperor Nero escaped from the city,
and founded Mentz in Germany.]

100 (return) [ I cannot overlook the Roman triumph of ovation on
Marce Antonio Colonna, who had commanded the pope’s galleys at
the naval victory of Lepanto, (Thuan. Hist. l. 7, tom. iii. p.
55, 56. Muret. Oratio x. Opp. tom. i. p. 180—190.)]

101 (return) [ Muratori, Annali d’Italia, tom. x. p. 216, 220.]

102 (return) [ Petrarch’s attachment to the Colonna has
authorized the abbé de Sade to expatiate on the state of the
family in the fourteenth century, the persecution of Boniface
VIII., the character of Stephen and his sons, their quarrels with
the Ursini, &c., (Mémoires sur Pétrarque, tom. i. p. 98—110,
146—148, 174—176, 222—230, 275—280.) His criticism often
rectifies the hearsay stories of Villani, and the errors of the
less diligent moderns. I understand the branch of Stephen to be
now extinct.]

103 (return) [ Alexander III. had declared the Colonna who
adhered to the emperor Frederic I. incapable of holding any
ecclesiastical benefice, (Villani, l. v. c. 1;) and the last
stains of annual excommunication were purified by Sixtus V.,
(Vita di Sisto V. tom. iii. p. 416.) Treason, sacrilege, and
proscription are often the best titles of ancient nobility.]

104 (return) [

————Vallis te proxima misit, Appenninigenæ qua prata
virentia sylvæ Spoletana metunt armenta gregesque
protervi.

Monaldeschi (tom. xii. Script. Ital. p. 533) gives the Ursini a
French origin, which may be remotely true.]

105 (return) [ In the metrical life of Celestine V. by the
cardinal of St. George (Muratori, tom. iii. P. i. p. 613, &c.,)
we find a luminous, and not inelegant, passage, (l. i. c. 3, p.
203 &c.:)—

————genuit quem nobilis Ursæ (_Ursi?_) Progenies, Romana
domus, veterataque magnis Fascibus in clero, pompasque
experta senatûs, Bellorumque manû grandi stipata
parentum Cardineos apices necnon fastigia dudum Papatûs
_iterata_ tenens.

Muratori (Dissert. xlii. tom. iii.) observes, that the first
Ursini pontificate of Celestine III. was unknown: he is inclined
to read _Ursi_ progenies.]

106 (return) [ Filii Ursi, quondam Clestini papæ nepotes, de
bonis ecclesiæ Romanæ ditati, (Vit. Innocent. III. in Muratori,
Script. tom. iii. P. i.) The partial prodigality of Nicholas III.
is more conspicuous in Villani and Muratori. Yet the Ursini would
disdain the nephews of a _modern_ pope.]

107 (return) [ In his fifty-first Dissertation on the Italian
Antiquities, Muratori explains the factions of the Guelphs and
Ghibelines.]

108 (return) [ Petrarch (tom. i. p. 222—230) has celebrated this
victory according to the Colonna; but two contemporaries, a
Florentine (Giovanni Villani, l. x. c. 220) and a Roman,
(Ludovico Monaldeschi, p. 532—534,) are less favorable to their
arms.]

109 (return) [ The abbé de Sade (tom. i. Notes, p. 61—66) has
applied the vith Canzone of Petrarch, _Spirto Gentil_, &c., to
Stephen Colonna the younger:

Orsi, lupi, leoni, aquile e serpi Al una gran marmorea
_colexna_ Fanno noja sovente e à se danno.]