CHAP. VII. castle of Fronsac, which was referred to the parliament of Paris, and Edward declared his readiness to abide by Philip's decision in the matter. Meantime Charles of Anjou meditated designs far more vast, and pursued a policy more decided and extreme, than his nephew Philip. Charles' aim was no less than to restore the Latin empire of Constantinople, by expelling Palæologus, and thus subject the Greek Church to the Roman, as well as raise up for himself a throne which might eclipse those of either Germany or France. But Charles, though an able commander, was a rash politician, and wanted altogether those instincts and that prudence which guided St. Louis in the formation of a solid and well affected kingdom. Possessor of Anjou, of Provence, of Naples, and of Sicily, their united resources were quite equal to the task that Charles contemplated. But he knew not how to conciliate or ensure the support even of his subjects, by other means than those of despotism and violence. In Provence he had crushed the free cities, and made the wealthy class his enemies. Crossing the Alps as the friend of the Pope, the Guelphic party in Piedmont had delivered up to him the dominion of their towns; but they soon found him a mere tyrant, and withdrew their allegiance. In Naples and Sicily his government resembled that of William the Conqueror in England, two centuries previous. Instead, however, of the rude and barbarous Anglo-Saxon population, Charles found in Sicily a society more highly developed and cultivated than even the Toulousan. The Sicilians were in the enjoyment of liberty, and of that best kind, which reconciles the rights of aristocracy with those of the citizens and commonalty. All were represented in the Sicilian parliament, and no one can study the records of that time without admitting not only that the southern races of Europe are fit for and capable of constitutional government, but that they were the first to invent and VII. establish it. If such institutions perished from amongst CHAP. them, it was from the same cause that Roman institutions perished in Europe, the influx of northern barbarism and violence. It is much to be regretted that a prince so noble as St. Louis, and so well fitted to appreciate the principles of political liberty, was in no position to study and to know, much less represent and enforce them. Liberties were in the way of his reforms, and he accordingly set them aside. If he did so whilst consulting as much as was within his power the rights of humanity, what could one expect from his ruder brethren and cotemporaries? Charles knew and cared as little for the liberties of the Sicilians as Simon de Montfort did for those of the Toulousans. They as little appreciated such political institutions as the Goths the works of art in Rome. Charles' Provençal soldiers and French lieutenants trod mercilessly under foot the liberties and rights of the Sicilians. When Pope Clement made to him the grant of Sicily, he did so on the condition that Charles should respect the rights and privileges which they had enjoyed under the good King William, and Charles had sworn to do so. But what was an oath to a papal champion? It is but justice, however, to Pope Clement to record that his letters and his remonstrance were humane and wise, beseeching Charles to govern as Frederic or as the good King William had done. Three years passed without a Pope, and in that time Charles might almost be considered Monarch of Italy; for he was King of Naples, Senator of Rome, Imperial Vicar in Tuscany and Lombardy: he had the whole sway in his hands. His arrogance equalled his power. His sole thought was the conquest of Eastern Empire, the only Empire, that of Germany, being as it were extinct. There seemed no obstacle to Charles, when of a sudden there sprung up one, where he could least expect VIL CHAP. it, in the person of a Pope. The cardinals assembled at Viterbo, unable to agree upon the election of a pontiff of either of the dominant parties, agreed to choose a bishop then absent in the Holy Land, and known to be a stranger to Italian feuds. He took the name of Gregory the Tenth, and had truly but one thought and one aim, which was to free Palestine. To this he gave all his energies; and his first efforts were directed to reconcile the contending factions of Italy, to make Guelph and Ghibeline forget their mutual animosity. dwell and rule in the same cities, and unite for the safety of Christendom. This was a reversal of every pope's policy, and the destruction of the power of Charles, who reigned by the Guelphs, and who had in fact superseded the imperial or Ghibeline princes in Italy. The Greek emperor, to overthrow whose throne Charles was mustering forces, offered the union of the Greek and Latin Churches, and all his aid for Palestine. Gregory became reconciled with Constantinople, and of course closed the door upon the scheme of Charles' marching under Papal banners to the conquest of the Greek empire. Another blow dealt by Gregory to Charles was his inciting the Germans to elect an emperor: the choice fell upon Rodolph of Hapsburg. These successive acts of hostility to the power of Charles kept that prince's projects in abeyance, and himself in silent indignation. Death removed Gregory, who had left such strict regulations for the assembling and for the operations of the conclave, that a Pope was necessarily elected in a short time after the death of his predecessor, and also without the possibility of powerful lay princes influencing the choice. Another Pope arose also hostile to Charles. Nicholas the Third was an Orsini, and had asked the King of Naples for his niece to be given in marriage to one of his own nephews. Charles indignantly refused. "Thinks he because he wears red stockings that his blood shall mingle with mine!" Nicholas resented this contemptuous reply, and deprived Charles of whatever power or functions he held from the Holy See in North and Central Italy. Whilst Charles, in despite of the Pope, still struggled to maintain himself as the head of the Guelphic party in Italy, and as the leading spirit of French adventure on the Mediterranean and in the Levant, a rival arose to him in a country which had not yet taken a prominent part in European politics. Charles' ambition had received great impulses from the pride of his wife, Beatrice of Provence, who could not endure to have two sisters Queens, without herself wearing a crown. Don Pedro, King of Aragon, had the same spur to ambition. He had espoused a daughter of Manfred, and the last female relict of the House of Suabia urged her husband to come forward as the avenger of its wrongs. The glove thrown by Conradin from the scaffold, ere he perished, was brought, it is said, to Don Pedro. Trade and communication were then frequent between Palermo and Barcelona. And the noble Sicilians or Neapolitans, whom Charles spurned, preferring to them his own Provençal and French officers, repaired to the court of Aragon and took service there. Amongst these were Roger de Loria, the great sea captain, a Calabrese, and John of Procida, who had been in the service of Frederic and Manfred. Most readers are acquainted with the popular tradition and belief, seized upon and accredited by historians as well as poets, that John of Procida, in concert with Peter of Aragon, planned the deep-laid scheme of extirpating the French from Sicily. There can be no doubt that Peter and his councillors meditated and prepared to attack Charles in that island, and that for this purpose the Aragonese monarch equipped and made ready a powerful fleet, under Roger de Loria, with land forces that himself was to command. The preparations attracted the attention of Europe, and the CHAP. VIL CHAP. French king, among others, sent to ask their aim. Peter replied, that they were destined against the Mussulmans of Africa. But to others his observation was, that if his right hand knew what his left was doing, he would cut it off! It would be tedious to discuss, and difficult to decide, how far the catastrophe which ensued was the result of preparation or of fortuitous circumstances. Certain it is, that in 1281 the reaction against the French in Italy was general. In that year, Pope Nicholas having died, Charles succeeded in procuring the election of a French Pope, Martin the Tenth, who not only restored to Charles his jurisdiction as senator of Rome, but summoned to him French soldiers to garrison and protect the holy city. These soldiers were obliged to besiege and capture the castle of Montefeltro. The Pope and his court being at Civita Vecchia, a quarrel arose between his holiness's French soldiers and the townsfolk. Rainer, the captain of the town, took the part of the citizens, and these rushed upon the soldiers with the same cry that the Sicilians afterwards used, "Death to the French." Charles took advantage of a pope completely in his interest to augment and hasten his preparations for the conquest of the East, assumed the title of King of Jerusalem, and covered his designs upon Greece by superadding to them that of recovering Palestine. His officers at the same time redoubled their zeal in the levying of contributions, and the practice of every kind of extortion and oppression in Sicily. According to Amari, the spirited historian of these events, the chief conspirators against Charles were his own impolicy and misgovernment, with the rudeness and rapacity of his agents. It was the Tuesday after Easter, in the year 1282, a day devoted to the festival of the Holy Spirit. The inhabitants of Palermo repaired in crowds on that fine summer's evening to a village church dedicated to the object of the day's reverence. French soldiers, more |