Este--Guelphs and Ghibellines--Death of the Emperor Frederick
II.--Manfred takes possession of the kingdom of Naples--Movements of the
Guelphs and Ghibellines in Lombardy--Charles of Anjou invested by the
pope with the kingdom of Naples and Sicily--Restless policy of
the popes--Ambitious views of pope Nicholas III.--Nephews of the
popes--Sicilian vespers--The Emperor Rodolph allows many cities to
purchase their independence--Institution of the jubilee--The popes at
Avignon.

At this time the states of Italy were governed in the following manner:
the Romans no longer elected consuls, but instead of them, and with the
same powers, they appointed one senator, and sometimes more. The league
which the cities of Lombardy had formed against Frederick Barbarossa
still continued, and comprehended Milan, Brescia, Mantua, and the
greater number of the cities of Romagna, together with Verona, Vicenza,
Padua, and Trevisa. Those which took part with the emperor, were
Cremona, Bergamo, Parma, Reggio, and Trento. The other cities and
fortresses of Lombardy, Romagna, and the march of Trevisa, favored,
according to their necessities, sometimes one party, sometimes the
other.

In the time of Otho III. there had come into Italy a man called Ezelin,
who, remaining in the country, had a son, and he too had a son named
Ezelin. This person, being rich and powerful, took part with Frederick,
who, as we have said, was at enmity with the pope; Frederick, at the
instigation and with the assistance of Ezelin, took Verona and Mantua,
destroyed Vicenza, occupied Padua, routed the army of the united cities,
and then directed his course towards Tuscany. Ezelin, in the meantime,
had subdued the whole of the Trevisian March, but could not prevail
against Ferrara, which was defended by Azone da Este and the forces