so long as the emperor possessed little authority in the province.
But Frederick II. coming into Italy, and the Ghibelline party, by the
influence of Ezelin having grown powerful, seeds of the same faction
sprang up in all the cities. In Milan were the Visconti, who expelled
the La Torres; these, however, did not remain out, for by agreement
between the emperor and the pope they were restored to their country.
For when the pope and his court removed to France, and the emperor,
Henry of Luxemburg, came into Italy, with the pretext of going to Rome
for his crown, he was received in Milan by Maffeo Visconti and Guido
della Torre, who were then the heads of these families. But Maffeo,
designing to make use of the emperor for the purpose of expelling Guido,
and thinking the enterprise not difficult, on account of the La Torre
being of the contrary faction to the imperial, took occasion, from the
remarks which the people made of the uncivil behavior of the Germans,
to go craftily about and excite the populace to arm themselves and throw
off the yoke of these barbarians. When a suitable moment arrived, he
caused a person in whom he confided to create a tumult, upon which the
people took arms against the Germans. But no sooner was the mischief
well on foot, than Maffeo, with his sons and their partisans, ran to
Henry, telling him that all the disturbance had been occasioned by the
La Torre family, who, not content to remain peaceably in Milan, had
taken the opportunity to plunder him, that they might ingratiate
themselves with the Guelphs of Italy and become princes in the city;
they then bade him be of good cheer, for they, with their party,
whenever he wished it, were ready to defend him with their lives. Henry,
believing all that Maffeo told him, joined his forces to those of the
Visconti, and attacking the La Torre, who were in various parts of the
city endeavoring to quell the tumult, slew all upon whom they could lay
hands, and having plundered the others of their property, sent them into
exile. By this artifice, Maffeo Visconti became a prince of Milan. Of