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Outline of Universal History

G >> George Park Fisher >> Outline of Universal History




Of this great pontiff, Sir James Stephen says: "He found the Papacy
dependent on the empire: he sustained it by alliances almost
commensurate with the Italian peninsula. He found the Papacy electoral
by the Roman people and clergy: he left it electoral by a college of
papal nomination. He found the emperor the virtual patron of the holy
see: he wrested that power from his hands. He found the secular clergy
the allies and dependants of the secular power: he converted them into
the inalienable auxiliaries of his own. He found the higher
ecclesiastics in servitude to the temporal sovereigns: he delivered
them from that yoke to subjugate them to the Roman tiara. He found the
patronage of the Church the mere desecrated spoil and merchandise of
princes: he reduced it within the dominion of the supreme pontiff. He
is celebrated as the reformer of the impure and profane abuses of his
age: he is more justly entitled to the praise of having left the
impress of his own gigantic character on the history of all the ages
which have succeeded him."

LAST DAYS OF HENRY IV.--In 1085 Henry IV. returned to Germany, having
been crowned emperor by his Pope, _Clement III_. The _Saxons_
were tired of strife; and, on the assurance that their ancient
privileges should be restored, they were pacified. _Hermann_ of
Luxemburg, whom they had recognized as their king, had resigned the
crown (1088). The last days of _Henry_ were clouded by the
rebellion of his sons, first of _Conrad_ (1093), and then of
_Henry_ (1104), who was supported by the Pope, _Paschal
II_. The emperor was taken prisoner, and obliged to sign his own
abdication at _Ingelheim_ in 1105. The duke of Lotharingia and
others came to his support, and a civil war was threatened; but
_Henry_ died at _Lüttich_ in 1106. His body was placed in a
stone coffin, where it lay in an unconsecrated chapel, at _Spires_,
until the removal of the excommunication (1111).

CONCORDAT OF WORMS.--_Henry V_. (1106-1125) was not in the least
disposed to yield up the right of investiture. Hence he was soon
engaged in a controversy with _Paschal II_. Henry went to Rome
with an army in 1110, and obliged the Pope to crown him emperor, and
to concede to him the right in question. When he went back to Germany,
the Pope revoked the concession, and excommunicated him. The German
princes, as might be expected, sided with the pontiff. The conflict in
Germany went on. The emperor's authority, which was established in the
South by means of his powerful supporters, was not secured in the
North; but, during the last three years of his life, he was at peace
with the Church. By the _Concordat of Worms_ in 1122, it was
agreed that investiture should take place in the presence of the
emperor or of his deputies; that the emperor should _first_
invest with the scepter, and then consecration should take place by
the Church, with the bestowal of the _ring_ and the
_staff_. All holders of secular benefices were to perform feudal
obligations.

LOTHAR OF SAXONY.--The princes over whom Henry V. had exercised a
severe control opposed the elevation of _Frederick_ of
Hohenstaufen, the son of his sister _Agnes_. At a brilliant
assembly at _Mentz_, _Lothar_ of Saxony was chosen emperor
(1125-1137). He allowed all the Pope's claims, and was crowned at Rome
by Innocent II., accepting the allodial possessions of _Matilda_
of Tuscany, as a fief from the pontiff. He carried on a war with the
Hohenstaufen princes, _Frederick_ of Swabia, and his brother
_Conrad_, who finally yielded. _Lothar_ was helped in the
conflict by _Henry the Proud_, the duke of Bavaria, who also
became duke of Saxony. Germany under _Lothar_ extended its
influence in the north and east.

CULTURE IN THE ELEVENTH CENTURY.--The tenth century, owing to causes
which have been explained, was a dark age. In the eleventh century
circumstances were more favorable for culture. Under the Saxon
emperors, intercourse was renewed with the Greek Empire. There was
some intercourse with the Arabs in Spain, among whom several of the
sciences were cultivated, especially mathematics, astronomy, and
medicine (p. 232). The study of the Roman law was revived in the
Lombard cities, and this had a disciplinary value. The restoration of
order in the Church, after the synod of _Sutri_ (1046), had
likewise a wholesome influence in respect to culture. There were
several schools of high repute in France, especially those at
_Rheims, Chartres, Tours,_ and in the monastery of _Bec_, in
Normandy, where _Lanfranc_, an Italian by birth, a man of wisdom
and piety, was the abbot.




CHAPTER II. THE CHURCH AND THE EMPIRE: PREDOMINANCE OF THE CHURCH: TO
THE END OF THE CRUSADES, A.D. 1270.


THE TWO RELIGIONS.--The Crusades were a new chapter in the long
warfare of Christendom with Mohammedanism. "In the Middle Ages, there
were two worlds utterly distinct,--that of the Gospel and that of the
Koran." In Europe, with the exception of Spain, the Gospel had sway;
from the Pyrenees to the mouths of the Ganges, the Koran. The border
contests between the two hostile parties on the eastern and western
frontiers of Christendom were now to give place to conflict on a
larger scale during centuries of invasion and war.

STATE OF THE GREEK EMPIRE.--The Greek Christian Empire lay between the
Christian peoples of the West and the dominion of the Arabs. That
empire lived on, a spiritless body. After _Justinian_, there is
an endless recurrence of wars with the Arabs, and with the barbarians
on the North, and of theological disputes, either within the empire
itself, or with the Church of the West. The Greeks complained that a
phrase teaching the procession of the Spirit from the Son had been
added in the West to the Nicene Creed. The Latins complained of the
use of leavened bread in the sacrament, of the marriage of priests,
and of some other Greek peculiarities. The separation of the two
churches was consummated when, in 1054, the legate of the Pope laid on
the altar of _St. Sophia_, at Constantinople, an anathema against
"the seven mortal heresies" of the Greeks.

ATTACKS OF RUSSIANS AND BULGARIANS.--Left to itself, the empire showed
some energy in repelling the attacks of the Russians and Bulgarians. A
number of capable rulers arose. The Russians, of the same race of
Northmen who had ravaged Western Europe, kept up their assaults until
their chief, _Vladimir_, made peace, accepted Christianity, and
married the sister of the emperor, Basil II. (988). The empire between
988 and 1014 was invaded twenty-six times by King _Samuel_ of
Bulgaria. But the Bulgarian kingdom was overthrown, in 1019, by
_Basil II_. In the twelfth century it regained its independence.

THE GREEK EMPERORS.--In the ninth century the Greeks made head against
the Arabs, especially by means of their navy. In the tenth century
_John I_. (_Zimisces_) crossed the Euphrates, and created
alarm in Bagdad. The tenacity of life in the Greek Empire was
surprising in view of the languishing sort of existence that it
led. After _Heraclius_, there were three dynasties, the last of
which, the _Macedonian_ (867-1056), produced three remarkable
men, _Nicephorus Phocas_, _Zimisces_, and _Basil
II_. But the dynasty of _Comneni_, which, in the person of
_Isaac I_., ascended the throne in 1057, had to combat a new and
vigorous enemy, the _Turks_, who had now made themselves masters
of Asia. One of this line of emperors, _Alexius I_., appealed to
the Germans for help. This had some influence in giving rise to the
first of the Crusades. In these conflicts the Latins bore the
brunt. The exhausted Greek Empire played a minor part.

CONQUESTS OF THE TURKS.--The Mussulman dominion of the _Arabs_
had become enfeebled. The _Ommiad_ dynasty at _Cordova_ had
disappeared under the assaults of Christians, and of the _Moors_
of Africa. The _Fatimite_ caliphs were confined to Egypt. The
rule of the _Abassids_ of Bagdad had been well-nigh demolished by
the Seljukian Turks in 1058. They founded in the eleventh century an
extensive empire. The sultan, _Alp Arslan_, took the emperor,
_Romanus IV. Diogenes_, prisoner (1071), and conquered
_Armenia_. _Malek Shah_ invaded Syria, Palestine, Jerusalem,
and carried his arms as far as Egypt, while a member of the Turkish
family of _Seljuk_ wrested Asia Minor from the Greeks, and
established the kingdom of _Iconium_, which was called
_Roum_, extending from Mount Taurus to the Bosphorus. After the
death of _Malek Shah_, there were three distinct sultanates,
_Persia_, _Syria_, and _Kerman_,--the last being on the
shores of the Indian Ocean.

THE PILGRIMS TO JERUSALEM.--The immediate occasion of the Crusades was
the hard treatment of the Christian pilgrims who visited the sepulcher
of Christ in Jerusalem. There the Empress _Helena_, the mother of
Constantine, had erected a stately church. Pilgrimages--which had
become more and more a custom since the fourth century--naturally
tended to the sacred places in Palestine. Especially was this the case
in the eleventh century, when piety had been quickened by the
_Cluny_ movement. In 1064 a great pilgrimage, in which seven
thousand persons, priests and laity, of all nations, were included,
under _Siegfried_, archbishop of _Mentz_, made its way
through Hungary to Syria. Not more than a third of them lived to
return. The reports of returning pilgrims were listened to with
absorbing interest, as they told of the spots to which the imagination
of the people was constantly directed. What indignation then was
kindled by the pathetic narrative of the insults and blows which they
had endured from the infidels who profaned the holy places with their
hateful domination! In the ninth century, under caliphs of the temper
of _Haroun Al-Raschid_, Christians had been well treated. About
the middle of the tenth century the Fatimite caliphs of Egypt were the
rulers at Jerusalem. _Hakem_ was fierce in his persecution, but
his successors were more tolerant. When the Seljukian Turks got
control there, the harassed pilgrims had constant occasion to complain
of insult and inhumanity.

THE CALL OF THE GREEKS.--The Greek emperor, _Alexius Comnenus_,
threatened by the Mussulmans on the opposite bank of the Bosphorus,
sent his call for succor to all Christian courts. Two popes,
_Sylvester II._ and _Gregory VII._, had in vain exhorted the
princes to rise in their might, to do away with the wrong and the
shame which the disciples of Jesus were suffering at the hands of his
enemies.

MOTIVES TO THE CRUSADES.--After this, only a spark was needed to
kindle in the Western nations a flame of enthusiasm. The summons to a
crusade appealed to the two most powerful sentiments then
prevalent,--the sentiment of _religion_ and that of
_chivalry_. The response made by faith and reverence was
reinforced by that thirst for a martial career and for knightly
exploits which burned as a passion in the hearts of men. The peoples
in the countries formed by the Germanic conquests were full of vigor
and life. Outside of the Church, there was no employment to attract
aspiring youth but the employment of a soldier. Western Europe was
covered with a net-work of petty sovereignties. Feudal conflicts,
while they were a discipline of strength and valor, were a narrow
field for all this pent-up energy. There was a latent yearning for a
wider horizon, a broader theater of action. Thus the Crusades
profoundly interested all classes. The Church and the clergy, the
lower orders, the women and the children, shared to the full in the
religious enthusiasm, which, in the case of princes and nobles, took
the form of an intense desire to engage personally in the holy war, in
order to crush the infidels, and at the same time to signalize
themselves by gallant feats of arms. There was no surer road to
salvation. There was, moreover, a hope, of which all in distressed
circumstances partook, of improving their temporal lot.

THE COUNCIL OF CLERMONT.--The prime author of the first Crusade was
Pope _Urban II_. He authorized an enthusiast, _Peter the
Hermit_, of Amiens, to travel on an ass through Italy and Southern
France, and to stir up the people to the great undertaking of
delivering the Holy Sepulcher. With an emaciated countenance and
flashing eye, his head bare, and feet naked, and wearing a coarse
garment bound with a girdle of cords, he told his burning tale of the
inflictions endured by the pilgrims. At the great council of
_Clermont_, in 1095, where a throng of bishops and nobles, and a
multitude of common people who spoke the Romanic tongue, were
assembled, _Urban_ himself addressed the assembly in a strain of
impassioned fervor. He called upon everyone to deny himself, and take
up his cross, that he might win Christ. Whoever would enlist in the
war was to have a complete remission of penances,--a "plenary
indulgence." The answer was thundered forth, "God wills it."
Thousands knelt, and begged to be enrolled in the sacred bands. The
red cross of cloth or silk, fastened to the right shoulder, was the
badge of all who took up arms. Hence they were called _crusaders_
(from an old French word derived from _crucem_, Lat. acc. of
_crux_, a cross).

THE UNDISCIPLINED BANDS.--The farmer left his plow, and the shepherd
his flock. Both sexes and all ages were inspired with a common
passion. Before a military organization could be made, a disorderly
host, poorly armed and ill-provided, led by _Peter the Hermit_
and _Walter the Penniless_, a French knight, started for
Constantinople by way of Germany and Hungary. They were obliged to
separate; and, of two hundred thousand, it is said that only seven
thousand reached that capital. These perished in Asia Minor. They left
their bones on the plain of _Nicoea_, where they were found by
the next crusading expedition.

FIRST CRUSADE (1096-1099).--"The Crusades were primarily a Gaulish
movement:" in French-speaking lands, the fire of chivalric devotion
was most intense. The first regular army of soldiers of the cross
departed by different routes under separate chiefs. First of these was
_Godfrey of Bouillon_, duke of Lower Lorraine, the bravest and
noblest of them all. With him were his brothers, _Baldwin_, and
_Eustace_, count of Boulogne. Prominent among the other chiefs
were _Hugh_, count of Vermandois; _Robert_, duke of
Normandy, who had pawned his duchy to his brother, _William II_.,
the king of England; _Robert_, count of Flanders; _Raymond_,
count of Toulouse; _Bohemond_ of Tarentum, son of Robert
Guiscard; and _Tancred_, Robert Guiscard's nephew. The Spaniards
were taken up with their own crusade against the Moors. In consequence
of the late absorbing struggles between emperors and popes, the
Germans and Italians did not now embark in the enterprise. The
relation of the Norman dynasty in England to the conquered Saxons
prevented the first crusading host from receiving substantial aid from
that country. The leaders of the army finally consented to become the
feudal dependents of the emperor _Alexius_ while they should be
within his borders, and to restore to him such of their conquests as
had been lately wrested by the Turks from the Eastern
Empire. _Alexius_ was more alarmed than gratified on seeing the
swarm of warriors which he had brought into his land. After a siege of
seven weeks, _Nicea_ was surrendered, not, however, into the
hands of the European soldiers who had conducted the siege, but to the
shrewd _Alexius_. At _Doryleum_, in a desperate battle the
Turks were defeated; but, on their march eastward, they wasted the
lands which they left behind them. The crusaders suffered severely
from disease consequent on the heat. A private quarrel broke out
between _Tancred_ and _Baldwin_. _Baldwin_, invited to
_Edessa_ by the Greek or Armenian ruler, founded there a Latin
principality. After besieging _Antioch_ for several months, by
the treachery of a renegade Christian, _Bohemond_, with a few
followers, was admitted into the city. The Christians slew ten
thousand of its defenders; but, three days after, _Antioch_ was
shut in by a great army of Turks under the sultan _Kerboga_. The
crusaders were stimulated by the supposed discovery of the "holy
lance," or the steel head of the spear which had pierced the side of
Jesus. The Turks were vanquished, and the citadel of Antioch was
possessed by _Bohemond_. The wrangling chieftains were now
compelled by the army to set out for Jerusalem. When they reached the
heights where they first caught a glimpse of the holy city, the
crusaders fell on their knees, and with tears of joy broke out in
hymns of praise to God. But, not accustomed to siege operations, and
destitute of the machines and ladders requisite for the purpose, they
found themselves balked in the first attempts to capture the city. Yet
after thirty days, their needs having been meantime in a measure
supplied, _Jerusalem_ was taken by storm (July 15, 1099). The
infuriated conquerors gave the rein to their vindictive passions. Ten
thousand Saracens were slaughtered. The Jews were burned in the
synagogues, to which they had fled. When the thirst for blood and for
plunder was sated, feelings of penitence and humility took possession
of the victors. The leaders, casting aside their arms, with bared
heads and barefoot, entered into the church of the Holy Sepulcher, and
on their bended knees thanked God for their success. After debate, the
princes united in choosing _Godfrey of Bouillon_ as ruler of the
city. He would not wear a royal crown in the place where the Saviour
of the world had worn on his bleeding forehead a crown of thorns. He
designated himself Protector of the Holy Sepulcher. Shortly after, at
_Ascalon_, he won a great victory against the vastly superior
forces of the Egyptian sultan. Godfrey died the next year (1100), and
was succeeded by his brother _Baldwin_, who first took the title
of King of Jerusalem. The force of the Moslems, and the almost
incessant strife and division among the crusaders themselves, made the
kingdom hard to defend.

THE NEW KINGDOM.--Venice, Genoa, and Pisa had the most to do with the
defense and enlargement of the new kingdom. It was organized according
to the method of feudalism. It continued until the capture of
Jerusalem by _Saladin_ in 1187.

THE MILITARY ORDERS.--The principal supporters of the new kingdom at
Jerusalem were the orders of knights, in which were united the spirit
of chivalry and the spirit of monasticism. To the monastic vows of
chastity, poverty, and obedience, they added a fourth vow, which bound
them to fight the infidels, and to protect the pilgrims. These
military orders acquired great privileges and great wealth. Each of
them had its own peculiar apparel, stamped with a cross. The two
principal orders were the Knights of St. John, or the
_Hospitallers_, and the _Knights Templar_. The Hospitallers
grew out of a hospital established in the eleventh century near the
Holy Sepulcher, for the care of sick or wounded pilgrims. The order,
when fully constituted, contained three classes of members,--knights,
who were all of noble birth, priests and chaplains, and serving
brothers. After the loss of the Holy Land, the island of _Rhodes_
was given up to them. This they held until 1522, when they were driven
out by the Turks, and received from the emperor, _Charles V._,
the island of _Malta_. The Templars gained high renown for their
valor, and, by presents and legacies, acquired immense wealth. After
the loss of their possessions in Palestine, most of their members took
up their abode in _Cyprus_: from there many of them went to
France. Not a few of them became addicted to violent and profligate
ways. They were charged, whether truly or falsely, with unbelief, and
Oriental superstitions caught up in the East from their enemies. These
accusations, coupled with a desire to get their property, led to their
suppression by _Philip V._ in the beginning of the fourteenth
century. A third order was that of _Teutonic Knights_, founded at
Jerusalem about 1128. In the next century they subjugated the heathen
_Wends_ in Prussia (1226-1283).

WELFS AND WAIBLINGS.--The emperor _Lothar_ died on a journey back
from Italy in 1137. _Henry the Proud_, of the house of
_Welf_, to whom he had given the imperial insignia, hoped to be
his successor, and hesitated to recognize _Conrad
III_. (1137-1152) of the house of _Hohenstaufen_, who was
chosen. Conrad required him to give up _Saxony_, for the reason
that one prince could not govern two duchies. When he refused,
_Bavaria_, also, was taken from him, and given to _Leopold_,
margrave of Austria. This led to war, in which the king, as usual, was
strongly supported by the cities. Henry the Proud left a young son,
known later as _Henry the Lion_. Count _Welf_, the brother
of Henry the Proud, kept up the war in Bavaria. He was besieged in
_Weinsberg_. During the siege, it is said that his followers
shouted "_Welf_" as a war-cry, while the besiegers shouted
"_Waiblings_,"--_Waiblingen_ being the birthplace of
_Frederick_, duke of Swabia, brother of Conrad. These names,
corrupted into _Guelphs_ and _Ghibellines_ by the Italians,
were afterwards attached to the two great parties,--the supporters,
respectively, of the popes and the emperors. _Henry the Lion_
afterwards received _Saxony_; and the mark of _Brandenburg_
was given in lieu of it to _Albert the Bear_.

_Welf I._ was a powerful nobleman, who received from _Henry
IV_. the fief of _Bavaria_. When _Henry V_ died, the
natural heirs of the extinct Franconian line were his nephews,
_Frederick_ of _Hohenstaufen_, duke of Swabia, and
_Conrad_. But the Saxons supported the wealthy _Lothar_, who
was chosen emperor, and won over to his side _Henry the Proud_,
grandson of _Welf I._, to whom _Lothar_ gave his daughter in
marriage, and gave, also, the dukedom of _Saxony_, in addition to
his dukedom of _Bavaria_. In these events lay the roots of the
long rivalship between the _Welfs_ and the
_Hohenstaufens_. _Henry the Lion_, as stated above, was the
son of _Henry the Proud_.



GENEALOGY OF THE WELFS.


WELF, Duke of Bavaria, 1070-1101.
|
+--HENRY the Black, Duke of Bavaria, 1120-1126.
|
+--Judith, _m._ to Frederic, Duke of Swabia (d. 1147),
| the son of Agnes, who was the daughter of HENRY IV. FREDERIC I
| (Barbarossa) was the son of Judith, and this Frederic of Swabia.
| The Swabian dukes were called _Hohenstaufens_, from a
| castle on _Mount Staufen_ in Wurtemberg.
|
+--HENRY the Proud,
Duke of Bavaria 1126, of Saxony 1137; deprived, 1138.
|
+--HENRY the Lion, _m_.
Matilda, daughter of Henry II of England.
|
+--HENRY the Young, _d_. 1227.
|
+--OTTO IV, _d_. 1218.



SECOND CRUSADE (1147-1149).--The preacher of the second Crusade was
_St. Bernard_, whose saintly life and moving eloquence produced a
great effect. _Louis VII._ of France and _Conrad III._ were
the leaders. The expedition was attended by a series of calamities. The
design of recapturing _Edessa_ from _Noureddin_, the sultan of
Aleppo, was given up. The siege of _Damascus_ failed
(1148). _Conrad_ returned home with broken health. Soon after,
Damascus fell into the hands of _Noureddin_, who was a brave and
upright leader. Through one of his lieutenants, he conquered
Egypt. After his death, _Saladin_, who sprung from one of the
tribes of _Kurds_, and was in his service, rose to power there, and
set aside the Fatimite caliphate (1171). He was not less renowned for
his culture and magnanimity than for his valor. _Saladin_ united
under his scepter all the lands from Cairo to Aleppo. In the battle at
_Ramla_, not far from Ascalon (1178), the crusaders gained their
last notable victory over this antagonist, which served to prolong for
some years the existence of the kingdom of Jerusalem. Afterwards victory
was on his side: the crusaders were overthrown in the fatal battle of
_Tiberias_, and _Jerusalem_ was taken by him (1187). Thus the
Latin kingdom fell. The Saracen conqueror was much more humane after
success than the Christian warriors had been in like circumstances.

FREDERICK BARBAROSSA.--_Frederick I.--Barbarossa_, or Redbeard, he
was called in Italy--(1152-1190) was one of the grand figures of the
Middle Ages. He was thirty-one years of age at his election as emperor,
and had already been with the crusaders to the Holy Land. In him great
strength of understanding and a capacity for large undertakings were
combined with a taste for letters and art. His aim was to bring back to
the empire the strength and dignity which had belonged to it under the
Saxon and Franconian emperors. The rulers of _Bohemia_ and
_Poland_ he obliged to swear fealty as vassals. He put down private
war, and restored order in Germany. The palatinate on the Rhine,
formerly a part of Franconia, he gave to his half-brother _Conrad_,
who founded _Heidelberg_ (1155).

STRUGGLE WITH THE LOMABARD CITIES.--The principal conflict of Frederick
I. was in Italy, where he endeavored to restore the imperial supremacy
over the Lombard cities, which had grown prosperous and freedom-loving,
and were bent on managing their own municipal affairs. They had thrown
off the rule of bishops and counts. The burghers of _Milan_, the
principal town, had obliged the neighboring nobles and cities to form a
league with them. The smaller cities, as _Como_ and _Lodi_,
preferred the emperor's control to being subject to Milan. _Pavia_
clung to the empire. But most of the cities prized their independence
and republican administration. The Pope and the emperor were soon at
variance, and the cities naturally looked to the pontiff for sympathy
and leadership. In 1158 _Frederick_ again crossed the Alps, bent on
establishing the imperial jurisdiction as it had stood in the days of
Charlemagne. The study of the Roman law was now pursued with enthusiasm
at _Bologna_ and _Padua_. At a great assembly in the
_Roncalian Fields_, Frederick caused the prerogatives of the empire
to be defined according to the terms of the civil law. The emperor was
proclaimed as "lord of the world,"--_dominus mundi_. In the room of
the consuls, a _Podesta_ was appointed as the chief officer in each
city, to represent his authority. _Milan_, which had submitted,
revolted, but, after a siege of two years, was forced to surrender, and
was destroyed, at the emperor's command, by the inhabitants of the
neighboring cities (1162). In 1159 _Alexander III_. was elected
Pope by a majority of the cardinals. _Victor IV_. was chosen by the
imperial party, and was recognized at a council convened by
_Frederick_ at _Pavia_. On the death of Victor, another
anti-pope, _Paschal III_., was elected in his place; and, on the
fourth visit of Frederick to Italy (1166-1168), he conducted Paschal to
Rome. In 1167 the cities of Northern Italy, which maintained their cause
with invincible spirit, united in the _Lombard League_. They built
the strongly fortified place, _Alessandria_,--named after the
Pope,--and took possession of the passes of the Alps. The emperor, whose
army was nearly destroyed by a pestilence at Rome, escaped, with no
little difficulty and danger, to Germany.

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