Mediaeval and modern history . e national movement in theambitions and passions of rival parties and classes, but therewere still greater impediments in the character of the plebeianpatriot himself. Rienzi proved to be an unworthy leader. Hissudden elevation and surprising success completely turned hishead, and he soon began to exhibit the most incredible vanityand weakness. The people withdrew from him their support;the Pope excommunicated him as a rebel and heretic; and the 246 GROWTH OF THE NATIONS nobles rose against him. He was finally killed in a suddenuprising of the populace (1354). Th
Mediaeval and modern history . e national movement in theambitions and passions of rival parties and classes, but therewere still greater impediments in the character of the plebeianpatriot himself. Rienzi proved to be an unworthy leader. Hissudden elevation and surprising success completely turned hishead, and he soon began to exhibit the most incredible vanityand weakness. The people withdrew from him their support;the Pope excommunicated him as a rebel and heretic; and the 246 GROWTH OF THE NATIONS nobles rose against him. He was finally killed in a suddenuprising of the populace (1354). Thus vanished the dream of Rienzi and of Petrarch, of thehero and of the poet. Centuries of division, of shameful sub-jection to foreign princes, — French, Spanish, and Austrian, —of wars and suffering, were yet before the Italian people ere Romeshould become the center of a free, orderly, and united Italy. 269. The Five Great States.—The unification of Italy wasimpossible; yet the later mediaeval time witnessed a movement. Italy about the Middle of the Fifteenth Century in the direction of the consolidation of the numerous petty statesof the northern and central regions into larger ones. By themiddle of the fifteenth century the greater part of the peninsula THE PRINCE OF MACHIAVELLI 247 was gathered into five so-called Great States, — the duchy ofMilan ^^ and the two nominal republics of Venice and Florencein the north, the States of the Church in Central Italy, and theold Kingdom of Naples in the south. The formation of these states and the establishment of a sortof balance of power between them hushed the savage quarrels ofthe individual cities and gave Italy finally a few years of compara-tive peace (1447-1492). But these great states, like the smaller ones, were jealous ofone another. It was their inability to act in concert that enabledthe French king, Charles VIII, to march in such an extraordinaryway from one end of the peninsula to the other (sec. 240).Thus was
Size: 1574px × 1588px
Photo credit: © The Reading Room / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubje, booksubjectmiddleages
