“Maudire la puissance, c’est blasphémer l’humanité.”
The Visconti had now firmly established their dominion1 in Milan, a dominion destined2, in the story of the unstable3 medi?val governments of Italy, to be equalled by few in duration, and by none in extent. For good or for evil the great city, with her command of the chief passes of the Alps for war and commerce, her wealth as the capital of the vast alluvial4 plain of Lombardy, was delivered into the hands of a race singularly fitted to use these natural advantages for the creation of a mighty5 State. The Visconti, as a family, were characterised by exceptional ability and tenacity6, and above all, by a subtlety7 of brain and suppleness8 of conscience which, under the stress of ambition or necessity, induced a perfidy9 so quiet and so effectual that the Snake upon their shields became for all Italy a symbol of their political methods, and an object of horror and fear. The vices11 and weaknesses which ruined other Italian dynasties seemed to have little power over these Milanese princes. Hot and rash of blood in the earlier generations, they rarely allowed passion to override12 prudence13; those of them who did were quickly rooted out. Even that most fruitful disorder14 in a reigning16 House, the jealous rivalry17 of its own members, could not avail to overcome their political coolness or sagacity, or sunder18 their union against a common enemy. With time this self-control 87became a habit of cold and passionless judgment19, all-powerful in the management of men and States. Even the fatal weakness of remorse20 and superstitious21 fear, to which they were all prone22, could not undermine them; they were able to parry their consciences, and delay repentance23 until their successors were old enough to carry on their unscrupulous policy. Nor did the arrogance24 and cruelty which tyranny bred in this sovereign race prove their overthrow25. In spite of its record of crime, no retributive catastrophe26 ended the dynasty. It died out of itself, and we shall see the last of the Visconti sink into the grave under the burden of an empire greater almost than any other in Italy.
Il Gran Matteo, as posterity27 named the founder28 of the dynasty, was the prototype in character of all the great sovereigns who were to follow him. He ruled from the cabinet rather than from the saddle. Statecraft was his victorious29 weapon, and his calculating and passionless nature had its complement30 in a humanity remarkable31 for his time. But it needed not only his incomparable prudence and foresight32, but also the strong arms of his three elder sons, Galeazzo, Marco, and Luchino, to assure his dominion and restore it to its old extent. The remaining years of the chief, as head of the Ghibelline party in North Italy, were spent in a constant warfare33 with the Guelfs and their allies, King Robert of Naples, and the Church. The awful papal ban fell again and again upon the Visconte and his subjects. Nevertheless Piacenza, Bergamo, Lodi, Como, Cremona, Alexandria, Tortona, Pavia, Vercelli, and Novara were brought one by one beneath his sway by the victory of diplomacy34 or arms. His success was embittered35, however, by estrangement36 from his beloved first-born, Galeazzo, who coveted37 his father’s supremacy38, and jealously resented the rivalry of his brother Marco. But Galeazzo’s hot temper had been chastened 88by exile and time, and in spite of their mutual39 anger, he supported his father’s policy with a wise loyalty40.
The fortunes of the Guelf party sank low before the rapid growth of the Viscontean power. Its hereditary41 leaders in North Italy, the Marquises of Este, were entangled42 in an unnatural43 struggle with the Papacy, which was itself enfeebled by the exile of Avignon, and by the operations of its own selfish greed. But in 1319 the party gathered itself together once more for a mighty effort to overthrow the Ghibelline domination in Milan. The Cardinal44 Legate, Beltrando del Poggetto, in the name of Pope John XXII., formed a great league of the Guelfs against the Visconti, and hurled45 at them afresh the spiritual weapons of the Church. Matteo was summoned repeatedly to answer for his sins at the feet of the Pope. In 1322 he was cited finally before a tribunal of the Inquisition at Alexandria. Instead of him, his son Marco appeared there at the head of an army with banners spread. The Inquisitors hastily retreated to Valenza, where in security they solemnly cursed Matteo for twenty and five different crimes and heresies46, and invoked48 every conceivable penalty upon him and his House, even to the fourth generation. Full remission of sins was offered to all who took arms against them.
The old Ghibelline chief, weakened by age and bodily infirmity, quailed49 before this onslaught. Many of his own adherents50 and kinsmen51 were deserting him. Milan, trembling under the ban of the Church and excited by the papal agents, was verging52 on revolt. Matteo summoned the offending Galeazzo, forgave him, and resigned to him the chieftainship. Retiring to a village at a little distance from the city, he died shortly after, full of years and sorrow.
Galeazzo and his brother Marco, bitter rivals, forgot for the time their mutual wrongs, and with the other 89sons of Matteo stood up in manful union against their foes54. For fourteen days they concealed56 their father’s death from the Milanese, while Galeazzo calmed the city by conciliatory measures, and assumed the supreme57 power. The storm broke heavily upon them now. Immense numbers from all North Italy joined the standard of the Legate, which, impiously displaying the Cross in a worldly quarrel was carried towards Milan, with the avowed58 purpose of overthrowing59 the Visconti and restoring the Torriani. Monza and Piacenza fell (1323), and the capital itself was attacked, the suburbs sacked, and the walls closely blockaded. The straits of the Visconti appeared desperate. But the brothers fought with invincible60 spirit, and they were supported by the Emperor, Louis of Bavaria, who sent succour from Germany. The papal army itself began to dissolve through rivalries61 and dissensions, and sickness. The siege was soon raised, and early in the following year (1324) the Visconti took the offensive and inflicted62 a signal defeat upon the allies at Vaprio. Their fortunes now revived. Within the next few years they recovered many of the lost cities of their father’s State, and the Pope, realising the impossibility of overthrowing them, began to listen to emissaries from Galeazzo with suggestions for peace and reconciliation63.
But the desire of the Visconte for a settlement of the long and exhausting strife64 was baffled by his own party and his own household. The other Ghibelline chiefs, especially the great Can Grande della Scala, viewed unwillingly66 the increase of the Milanese power. Marco Visconte, a splendid warrior67, more skilled and daring in arms than any other Lombard of his day, but unlike the rest of his House none too wise—savio non fu troppo, says Villani—could not brook68 his elder brother’s supremacy. Their kinsman69 Lodrisio fiercely resented his own subordinate position. The citizens 90groaned under the heavy taxes exacted to pay Galeazzo’s great army of German mercenaries. Complaints of the Visconte’s arrogance, and information of his negotiations70 with the Pope, were carried by intriguers to the Emperor.
Louis descended72 into Italy early in 1327, at the general call of the Ghibellines. Galeazzo Visconte alone was silent, foreseeing that the Emperor’s appearance would inflame73 anew the partisan74 strife. Louis appeared shortly in Milan, followed by the Ghibelline lords of North Italy, chief among them Can Grande. He was received with great homage75 and ceremony and crowned in St. Ambrogio by two schismatic bishops77, who alone dared to anoint his excommunicated head. The Visconti appeared to enjoy his full favour, and as vassals79 of the Empire were confirmed by him in various honours and privileges. But intrigue71 was busy at work, and the fair seeming was suddenly broken by a tragic80 event, if the chroniclers tell us true. Stefano, the youngest of Galeazzo’s brothers, as he was offering the cup to the Emperor at the banquet one night, was called upon by the suspicious monarch81 to taste the wine. Having put his lips tremblingly to it, he was struck with mortal sickness, and died shortly after. This evidence of intended treachery naturally inflamed82 Louis’ resentment83 against his hosts. The next day he summoned Galeazzo to a council, and seizing as a pretext84 the refusal of the prince to demand an enormous coronation gift from the almost revolting citizens, he arrested him, with his son Azzo and his brothers, all except Marco. The Visconti, surprised, could make no defence, and were carried off to Monza and thrown into the dungeons85 of the Castle there which Galeazzo himself had lately built.
Thus did the Visconti once more lose Milan. A governor, appointed by Louis, reigned87 in their stead. Marco, if he owed his escape to disloyalty, soon 91rued his mistake. The ruin of his house involved him too, and he wandered in poverty and exile. Louis’ high-handed act was, however, displeasing88 to many of his Ghibelline supporters, and he found it prudent89 to release Galeazzo at the end of a year, at the request of Castruccio, Lord of Lucca, the most powerful member of the Ghibelline party at that time. The Visconte, broken by his sufferings in prison, and unable to recover his State, joined his friend Castruccio, and died a few months later. His son and brothers succeeded soon after, through the intervention90 of Castruccio, in making their peace with the Emperor. For the promise of sixty thousand golden florins, Louis granted to Azzo, the dead prince’s heir, the title of Imperial Vicar of Milan, and the Visconti once more took possession of the city with the full approval of the people (1329).
Once restored to power, they were at little pains to pay the stipulated91 sum to the Emperor, who by this time was fast losing prestige in Italy. They reconciled themselves with the Church instead, and when the enraged92 Louis presented himself with an army beneath the walls of Milan, he was received with derision and jeers93. The Emperor, enfeebled by the contempt and desertion of nearly all his partisans94, was helpless against the renewed strength of the great Milanese House. He was glad to compound with Azzo and to reconfirm him in the position of Imperial Vicar.
From this moment began the unbroken prosperity of Matteo Visconte’s sons and of the great city which they ruled. Secure in the weakness of both Empire and Church from further interference, Azzo was able to devote himself to the expansion and development of his State. The short reign15 of this prince, who had won great fame for his prowess in the Tuscan wars with Castruccio, was wholly fortunate. The menace offered to its prosperity by the rebellious95 attempts of 92his uncle Marco was overcome by the death of that turbulent warrior, who was killed in 1329 apparently96 by a fall from a window in his nephew’s palace, though it was generally believed that he had been first strangled and then flung out by order of his kinsmen. The other enemy within the House, Lodrisio Visconte, was not so easily disposed of. Abandoning Milan, he allied97 himself with the Scaligeri of Verona, with whom the Visconti had come into inevitable98 collision, now that the weakness of their common Guelf foe55 had left the field of North Italy open to the rival ambition of these two great Ghibelline powers. In 1339 Lodrisio, with forces supplied by Martino della Scala, invaded the Milanese territory, and approaching the capital, spread terror and desolation everywhere. At Parabiago they encountered the Milanese, under Luchino Visconte, who, after a tremendous struggle, won a complete victory. Lodrisio was captured with his two sons, and imprisoned99 in a strong castle. A few months later Azzo died of gout, at the age of thirty-seven. In the brief years of his reign he had completely restored the power and prestige of his House. He left Milan fortified100 by new walls, beautified by new palaces, churches and towers, a city fairer and greater than that ruined by Barbarossa, and full of a rich, industrious101 and joyous102 life.
Azzo had no heir. He was succeeded by his uncles, Luchino, and the ecclesiastic103 Giovanni, who was now Archbishop of Milan. The two brothers thus held the whole dominion, spiritual as well as temporal. They worked together with rare unanimity104 for the aggrandisement of their House and State. Luchino pressed with his arms energetically against the Scaligeri, whose empire was fast receding105 before the attacks of the rest of the Ghibelline powers of North Italy, who in uniting with the Visconti to crush this predominant member of the party, were but smoothing the way for the rise of a State destined to be far greater than Verona ever was. The Milanese prince added many cities to the dominion of his House, and was the first to carry the fear of the Visconti across the Apennines into Tuscany, where he had almost acquired Pisa when recalled to Lombardy by the outbreak of war there.
93
TOWER OF S. GOTTARDO FROM THE CATHEDRAL
95Luchino was a careful ruler, thoughtful for the welfare and progress of his subjects, and just towards the lower classes. He promulgated106 new laws for the protection of the poor and weak, and for the encouragement of industry, and refrained from excessive taxation107. Nevertheless, he had the same violent temper as his elder brothers, Galeazzo and Marco, and soon developed the characteristic vices of tyranny—lust, cruelty and suspicion. In Giovanni, on the contrary, all the rarer qualities of the Visconti appeared, the subtle brain, the self-control and power of biding108 their time, combined with a benignity109 which was never disturbed except to good purpose, so that while steadily110 pursuing ends as vast and ambitious as his brothers’, he still kept the respect and love of the people. He well knew how to influence the course of events without falling foul111 of his suspicious brother.
The younger princes of the House, however, the three sons of the dead Stefano, were less cautious, and soon incurred112 the wrath113 of their despotic uncle. He discovered, or perhaps invented, a conspiracy114 on their part to oust115 him from power, and drove them mercilessly into exile and poverty. The eldest116, Matteo, took refuge with his wife’s family, the powerful Gonzaga of Mantua, but Bernabò and Galeazzo had to fly to France to escape from the tyrant117’s snares118. A confederate in their plot, Francesco della Pusterla, head of one of the great Milanese Houses, whose wealth and influence were necessarily a menace to the power of the Visconti, was betrayed into Luchino’s 96hands and beheaded, with his sons and his beautiful wife Margherita, who, according to the chroniclers, had rejected the unlawful love of the tyrant.
Luchino is said to have come himself to an unnatural death in his old age, through poison administered to him by his third wife, the young and lively Elisabetta della Fiesca, in whose hearing the suspicious husband, enraged by a report of light conduct on her part, had declared that he would light a fine fire and do the greatest act of justice which he had ever done in Milan. The accusations119 against this lady may, however, have been trumped120 up to justify121 the persecution122 which she and her son, Luchino Novello, and all the dead tyrant’s children, who had grown too arrogant123 for the peace of the State, had to suffer from the Archbishop after their father’s death. Giovanni imprisoned or banished124 them all. Towards his other nephews, the banished sons of Stefano, whom misfortune had chastened, Giovanni used a different policy. He won their loyalty and obedience125 by recalling them from exile, granting them lands and honours and making them his heirs, and about this time he obtained a solemn act from the General Council of the people, still nominally126 the ultimate authority in the community, recognising him and his nephews after him as the true, legitimate127 and natural Lords of the city, district, diocese and jurisdiction128 of Milan. Thus was the hereditary dominion of the Visconti—already an established fact—formally legalised by the will of the Commune.
Under the able rule of the Archbishop the power of the Visconti advanced steadily, but more by the gentle pressure of a scheming and cunning statesmanship than by the brute129 force of arms. His apparently peaceful temper had lulled130 the jealousy131 and fear of the other powers, when in 1350 they were thunderstruck by his secret acquisition of Bologna—the great object 97of contention132 between the two parties in North Italy—which Giovanni de’ Pepoli sold to him for a large sum. Corio, the fifteenth century historian, relates that Clement133 VI. sent a legate to the Visconte to demand its restoration to the Holy See, and to bid him renounce135 either the spiritual or temporal jurisdiction of Milan, since his exercise of both together was a scandal to Christians136. The high-hearted Archbishop for answer unsheathed his sword in the midst of the Cathedral, and raising the Cross in his other hand, cried—This is my spiritual weapon, and with this sword will I defend my temporal empire undiminished. Summoned to defend his contumacy before the Pope, he sent his people to Avignon to provide lodgings137 and victuals138 for twelve thousand horsemen and six thousand foot soldiers. But when Clement heard of these preparations he called the envoys139, and hastily reimbursing140 them with their charges, sent them back with a message to Giovanni excusing him from coming. Later historians throw doubt upon this circumstantial tale. And certainly it seems strange that the Pope should condemn141 the union of spiritual and temporal dominion. There is no doubt, however, that the Papacy was powerless to check Giovanni’s ambition, and was glad to confirm him in possession of Bologna for a price.
Giovanni’s method was to inflame by unseen agencies the party spirit in the cities which he coveted, and when both factions142 were exhausted144, to step in with his money-bags and quietly establish his own dominion. Thus by a skilful145 manipulation of the vast wealth with which Milan supplied him he succeeded with little expenditure146 of blood in embracing more and more territory within his coil. In 1353 Genoa was yielded to him, and Milan for a short time became a naval147 power, defying the fleets of Venice. The importance of securing maritime148 outlets149 for a commercial community 98turned the Archbishop’s attention on the seaport150 of Pisa also. But here Florence interposed a barrier against both fraud and force, and though he plagued the Tuscan Republic grievously by invading her territories, raising the Barons151 of the Apennines against her and intriguing152 with her foes in Pisa and Lucca, she successfully prevented him from gaining a footing in Tuscany.
While the Visconti were thus extending their dominion far and wide and creating a sovereignty more powerful than any in Italy, the capital itself was making corresponding strides in wealth and civilisation153. The strong and single government, though involving so much cruel sacrifice of rival interests and pride, and carried on by crafty154 and often iniquitous155 means, was for the general advantage of the people. The citizens lacked only freedom, and this very lack saved them from the awful faction143 struggles which hindered the progress of the neighbouring Communes. Under Azzo, Luchino and Giovanni Visconte, the city enjoyed an unexampled length of peace. No hostile banner was seen from the walls, no blood was spilt in fratricidal strife within. The Visconti employed foreign and professional troops in their wars, thus weaning their subjects from the habit of arms, dangerous to a tyrannic supremacy, and sparing them for more profitable work. All classes, noble and plebeian156, engaged in commerce and industrial arts, and produced an ever increasing flow of wealth, wherewith these princes were able to pay handsomely for the hired support of their tyranny. Finding no opportunities of sedition157 or turbulence158, the more restless spirits abandoned the city, and, joining the bands of military adventurers which roamed the country, they fought for any prince or community that chose to hire them. The general security of life and property in the Milanese State was assured by the severe and, on the whole, impartial159 99justice of Luchino and his brother, and the wise statutes160 which they formed aided the development of trade and industry. Safe from depredating troops and robber bands, the fertile territory was brought to high cultivation161, and wildernesses162, untilled before, now submitted to the husbandman. The engineering art was actively163 practised in draining and irrigating164 the country and connecting the city by canals with the great river waterways.
One of the chief sources of Milanese wealth was the breeding of war-horses in the rich and well-watered pastures round the city. At the same time the Milanese merchants were travelling all over England, France and Flanders, buying fine wool, ‘with which in this city,’ says the fourteenth century chronicler Fiamma, ‘very fine and beautiful clothes are woven in great quantities and dyed with every different colour and sent to all parts of Italy.’ Silk was also manufactured here after 1314, when the silk-weavers of Lucca, disturbed by the invasions of Uguccione da Faggiuola and of Castruccio, abandoned their city for Milan. The constant wars abroad encouraged the armourer’s craft, of which Milan became one of the greatest centres in Europe. With wealth, a love of luxury and the soft pleasures of life grew in the people. Fiamma notes with disapproval166 the changes in the antique costume, the superfluous167 embroideries168, the gold and silver and pearls, and the broad fringes used in dress, the richness of the meats, and the esteem169 in which masters of the culinary art were held, things conducive170, according to him, of the soul’s damnation.
Both Luchino and Giovanni lived much in the sight of their subjects, keeping open Court and sharing in the public feasts and pleasures. The benevolent171 Archbishop was much beloved. One of his first acts of undivided sovereignty had been to release Lodrisio Visconte from the dungeon86 in which he had dwelt 100ever since Parabiago, a resounding172 generosity173 which covered many quiet deeds of harshness and oppression. He died in 1354, leaving his dominions174 to Matteo, Bernabò and Galeazzo II., to the entire exclusion175 of Luchino’s sons.
The new sovereigns had much ado at first to preserve their great heritage. Many cities, patient under the Archbishop’s yoke176, rebelled against his successors, including Bologna. The Guelf enemies of Milan tried to enlist177 the new Emperor Charles of Bohemia against the Visconti; but that monarch preferred the large sum which they offered him for his sanction of their rule as Imperial Vicars, rather than the hostility178 of princes who could assemble six thousand men-at-arms and numberless foot soldiers beneath his window as a spectacle for his entertainment when he visited them in Milan. The Gonzaga of Mantua, once their allies and now their bitterest foes, leagued, however, with the Church and the hereditary foes of the Visconti and dealt them some heavy blows. The German company which the Mantuan princes employed invaded the Milanese territories under the formidable Count Lando, and penetrated179 nearly to the capital. But the citizens, in spite of their softness and lack of military practice, went forth180 with the courage of despair and defeated and drove away the Count, who was greatly surprised, since he nothing esteemed181 the Milanese. In other directions the Visconti suffered great losses. Genoa revolted in 1356, and to secure peace they were compelled to surrender Parma and Asti two years later.
The eldest brother, Matteo, had died in 1355. Weak, injudicious and a glutton182, he was only a hindrance183 to the progress of his House. General report laid his death to his brothers’ charge. Bernabò and Galeazzo made a fresh division of the State, and Milan itself was split up between them. They worked together, 101however, with a single aim, in spite of mutual hatred184 and jealousy, to repair the losses of their State. Pavia had set up a free government, headed by the friar, Giacomo de’ Bussolari, who, an earlier Savonarola, sought to purge185 his city from tyranny and sin at once. Steadfastly186 beset187 by Galeazzo’s army, it had to yield at last to famine and sickness. Further afield Bernabò spent years in a desperate struggle to recover Bologna, under a tempest of papal anathemas188, and though baffled himself, he prepared the way for his successor. He was constantly in fierce conflict with the Marquises of Este, whose rebel kinsmen he sheltered while they employed Luchino’s disinherited sons against him. Galeazzo on his side had to sustain the assaults of Savoy and Montferrat, which came near to ruining him.
But multitudinous and determined189 as their enemies were, the inimitable statecraft which was the Viscontean heritage, backed by their vast resources, enabled them to restore their power and to make Milan feared and respected everywhere abroad. These princes rarely took the field themselves, but entrusted190 their enterprises to the foreign companies by whom the Italian wars were now chiefly waged. These bands of hardy191 and unscrupulous adventurers, who were proof against the enervation192 which wealth and civilisation had induced in the Italians, were become powerful factors in the politics of the country. Most formidable of all was the company of Sir John Hawkwood. These English mercenaries, says Azario, were more excellent robbers than any of the other plunderers of the Lombards. By day they mostly slept and waked by night. And so diligent193 and skilful were they in capturing towns that their like had never been seen. After suffering much from Hawkwood’s zeal194 against him in the service of the Pope, Bernabò bribed195 him to his own side; but after a few years the great captain, faithful only to caprice, 102suddenly deserted196 the Visconte, with disastrous197 results to the latter. Later on, Bernabò tempted198 him again by the gift of one of his own daughters in marriage, with a large dowry. Nevertheless, the later part of Hawkwood’s career was spent in the pay of Milan’s inveterate199 foe, Florence.
Milan, unaffected by the quarrels of her sovereigns, was now the richest, most populous200 and luxurious201 city of Italy. The capitals of the great European kingdoms had no such splendid palaces, such comely-paved streets, such fair-fountained gardens and pleasaunces trodden by beautiful exotic beasts and birds, as this seat of citizen princes. The Visconti assumed the dignity and state of royalty202. Galeazzo was himself married to a princess of the ancient House of Savoy, and both brothers pursued the sagacious policy of making alliances for their children with the sovereign Houses of Europe. Bernabò made statesmanlike use of his ten daughters and five sons by his wife Regina della Scala, and his score or so of illegitimate children, wedding them, according to the conditions of their birth, to royal princes and great Italian potentates203, or to lesser204 nobles and successful soldiers, such as Hawkwood and Count Lando. Galeazzo married his one son and daughter with even greater splendour, and endowed them so lavishly205 that it was almost the ruin of his State. For his heir, Gian Galeazzo, he obtained the hand of Isabella de Valois, for a sum of five hundred thousand florins. The maiden207 Violante he gave to Lionel, Duke of Clarence, son of Edward III., with two hundred thousand florins and many fair lands and castles in Piedmont.
This last marriage was celebrated208 in 1368, with unexampled magnificence. The bridegroom arrived in Milan accompanied by the Sire le Despencer and a train of two thousand Englishmen. A splendid cavalcade209 went forth to meet him. First came Galeazzo himself, who was 103said to be more beautiful in person than any other man in Italy, wearing, as his custom was, a wreath of roses on his flowing golden hair, and attended by his greatest vassals. With him was his wife, Bianca of Savoy, and his daughter-in-law, the young French Isabella, and other noble ladies, followed by eighty damsels apparelled in scarlet210, with sleeves of white cloth embroidered211 with trefoils, and girdles so richly worked that their worth was eighty florins each. Gian Galeazzo, a boy of fifteen, came next, leading a company of knights212 on steeds caparisoned as if for a joust213, and after these followed the officers of State and of the household with their pages, all gorgeously arrayed. At the marriage feast the very meats were gilded214, and with each of the sixteen courses splendid gifts were offered to the guests—highly-bred hounds with velvet215 and silken collars and leashes216 of silk; falcons217 with chains of gold and hoods218 of velvet, and silver buttons enamelled with the Snake; richly ornamented220 saddles and other horse furniture; suits of armour165 fashioned by the famous Milanese smiths; brocades of gold and richest silk, silver flagons worked with enamel219, silver-gilt basins, mantles222 and doublets thickly sewn with pearls for the prince, and seventy-six splendid coursers and war-horses, each more generous, beautiful, and gorgeously caparisoned than the one before; and last of all twelve fat oxen. Galeazzo and the bridegroom sat at one table with the noblest of the guests, among whom was Messer Francesco Petrarca the poet, in the most honourable223 place. At another were placed Regina della Scala and a number of ladies. Such scenes as these are dimly pictured for us in primitive224 frescoes225 here and there, in which we see assemblages of ladies in jewelled robes and lofty peaked head-dresses, and gentlemen correspondingly fine stiffly seated at narrow boards, or pacing with slow and stately step through the dance within some spacious227 pillared hall.
104Though extravagantly228 lavish206 for State purposes, the Visconti did not keep open Court like their predecessors230. No tables were set out in the streets for the common people on holidays, no oxen roasted whole or wine-vats broached231 for all who liked to drink. The chroniclers complain of the avarice232 of their Lords. The taxes were continually increased. Pressed by the huge cost of their wars and their alliances, the Visconti were in fact always in need of money, and so assured was their supremacy in Milan, that they no longer feared the discontent of the citizens. With the development of their despotism the social gulf233 between the Visconti and the rest of the community had grown wide. Both brothers were proud, suspicious and cruel. But the severity of the silent Bernabò, and his terrible fits of rage and strange capricious temper, made him the most feared. He was laudably resolved to maintain justice and order, so that a man might go unarmed through any part of his dominions, and to suppress the old faction hatreds234, but his methods were intolerably harsh. No one was allowed to call himself Guelf or Ghibelline on pain of having his tongue cut out. To be found abroad in the city at night, for any reason whatever, was to lose a foot, and so forth. Moreover, on mere235 suspicion people were put to cruel death or torment236. This arbitrary severity was, however, of little avail, and crime was far more rife65 in the city than before Bernabò’s time. The tyrant’s passion for dogs was as extravagant229 as his disregard for human suffering. He had five thousand hounds, which his subjects were compelled to keep and tend for him, and if one were found to be either too fat or too lean for the chase, or to have come to any harm, woe237 to its guardian238. Every sort of game was sacred to the prince’s sport, and the peasants who slew239 wild boars or other forest creatures for food during a severe famine, 105were hanged or blinded. Two Franciscan brothers, who dared to expostulate with the prince for his harshness, were burnt as heretics, an act something ironical240 on the part of one who himself spent nearly all his life under the ban of the Church. There was a certain grim humour in some of Bernabò’s fierce deeds, as in his treatment of two dignified241 Benedictine abbots, who were sent to treat with him by the Pope. The prince met them on a bridge over the Lambro, where, with due reverence242, they presented to him the pontifical243 Bulls. Bernabò read them, and looking up, eyed the legates grimly, and asked them whether they would prefer food or drink. Perceiving a sinister244 meaning in the question, the trembling clerics glanced at the deep river flowing beneath, and said that they would rather eat. Whereupon the papal missives, parchment, seals, silk cord and all, were crammed245 down their throats.
Galeazzo was not so capriciously cruel as his brother, but his rule was equally oppressive. To add to the afflictions of the people, the country was devastated246 by the foreign Companies, who robbed friends and foes alike; and years of famine and pestilence247 came, which their Lords took no more thoughtful measure to relieve than hanging some of the chief ministers. To both brothers clings the horrible reproach of a decree, condemning248 prisoners of State to the so-called Quaresima, a series of tortures lasting249 forty days. Yet Galeazzo was conspicuous250 for domestic virtues251, and both princes were very devout252, and founded many churches and convents, and gave largely in alms. One has to remember in judging these sovereigns that the Florentine chroniclers, who have always held the ear of the world, hated them as the enemies of their city. They depict253 them as barbarous and ignorant tyrants254, sunk in gross vice10. Yet Petrarca, the recognised 106sovereign of thought and letters in fourteenth century Italy, spent several years at Milan, in the service first of Archbishop Giovanni, and afterwards of Galeazzo, and speaks of the city and its Lords with great affection and respect. The high honour which the Visconti paid to the poet shows their regard for the things of the spirit. Their capture of Petrarca was felt to be as great a triumph as the conquest of a province. Boccaccio and other Tuscan writers inveigh255 fiercely against their countryman for his adherence256 to the Visconti, pretending that he who loved freedom had been deluded257 by the vulgar worship of riches and luxury, and had become a slave. But Petrarca, whose close acquaintance could judge better of his hosts, probably appreciated the large and far-reaching political ideas which were the heritage of the Visconti, and perhaps saw in Milan a hope for Italy, outside the conception of the Florentines, the possibility of a larger freedom in national union, which should restore the successors of the Romans to their lost glory.
The Visconti, moreover, took great pains to advance learning and culture in their dominions. They founded the University of Pavia, the once celebrated school of jurisprudence there having long decayed, and richly endowed its chairs, and it was Galeazzo who started the famous library at Pavia, to which all students were allowed access. Bernabò was something of a scholar himself, and had studied the Decretals in his youth; but the anxiety of constant wars and the cares of State hindered him from doing all that he would willingly have done for the intellectual welfare of the capital.
The bitter jealousy which prevailed between the two brothers divided them much in later years, though it could not disunite them in the face of their foes, and Galeazzo had left Milan and removed his Court to Pavia, though still keeping his share of the government 107of the capital. He died in 1378. His son, Gian Galeazzo, was delicate of constitution, of retiring habits, and much given to study. The gentleness with which he began to rule, remitting258 taxes and seeking to propitiate259 his subjects, excited the scorn of the grim Bernabò, who readily accepted the proposal of the young widower—Isabella de Valois having died—for the hand of his daughter Caterina, thinking thus to get an extra hold upon him. Little did the veteran prince suspect that this mild recluse260, who was hardly ever seen out of his palace at Pavia, was the very quintessence of that subtlety, tenacity and ambition which had made the House of the Visconti the most dreaded261 in Italy. Gian Galeazzo’s genius for statecraft had been carefully trained by his father. While Bernabò regarded him as of little account, he was strengthening his position both at home and abroad by quiet diplomacy, and evolving mighty schemes in his mind, while he patiently waited the ripe moment for their accomplishment263.
There is nothing more dramatic in all the sensational264 story of medi?val Italy than Gian Galeazzo Visconte’s sudden spring to power. Seven years had passed since his father’s death, and Bernabò’s tyranny had grown ever more oppressive, in sharp contrast to his fellow-ruler’s. One day in 1385 Gian Galeazzo set forth from Pavia for Milan, escorted by four hundred men-at-arms, having announced his intention of visiting a holy shrine265 near Varese and his desire of embracing his honoured uncle on his way. He had arranged not to enter the capital, but to skirt the walls till he reached the castle beside Porta Giovia, recently built by his father. Laughing at the young man’s caution and his pusillanimity266 in bringing so large an escort, the elder Visconte sent two of his sons on ahead, and swinging himself into the saddle, galloped267 108off, with two or three servants only, to meet his nephew. The two Sovereigns had but exchanged greetings when, Gian Galeazzo signed to the captain of his escort, Jacopo dal Verme, who laid his hand upon Bernabò’s shoulder, and in a moment the tyrant found himself a prisoner. With his sons he was hurried into the Castle of Porta Giovia. Gian Galeazzo entered the city and was received with immense joy. Not vainly had he counted upon the terror and hatred which his uncle had excited. The people, rushing to the houses of the fallen tyrant and his sons, sacked them from end to end, fired and tore them down, and razed268 them to the ground. In a General Council of the citizens the sole and absolute dominion of Milan was unanimously conferred upon Gian Galeazzo and upon his male heirs.
Bernabò was removed soon after to the Castle of Trezzo, and died seven months later, of poison, it was said. His sons, except the two captured, had fled in all directions, and were doing their utmost to raise help against the usurper269. But so perfectly270 had Gian Galeazzo conceived and accomplished271 his great stroke, and with the exercise of such consummate272 diplomacy and such victorious arms did he secure himself afterwards, that not one of Bernabò’s children, in spite of their princely alliances, were able, with all their constant efforts, to overthrow him or recover any part of their heritage.
The usurper’s one excuse for his treachery was that his uncle and cousins had been openly intriguing against him. Immediately after the capture of Bernabò he drew up a solemn indictment273 against him, charging him with a catalogue of appalling274 crimes, and with insidious275 designs against his, Gian Galeazzo’s, life, and sent it to all the Courts of Europe. This characteristic attempt to give legal justification276 to his action deceived nobody. Italy at large regarded the young ruler with 109an admiration277 and dread262 which events soon proved well-founded. The brain which had shown such sovereign dissimulation278 cherished ambitions before which whole cities and states were to fall. It was not long before his schemes began to be fulfilled. The story of Gian Galeazzo’s military enterprises is one of almost unbroken conquest. He was no soldier himself, but he knew how to choose his generals, and he got the best out of them by interfering279 with them little and rewarding them very generously. The chaotic280 state of Italy at the time gave him his chance. So extraordinary was his success, that he was regarded as something almost diabolical281. It seemed to his terrified enemies that he fascinated those whom he marked for destruction, so that they fell with eyes open into his snares. Francesco da Carrara, Lord of Padua, was persuaded to aid him to overthrow the Scaligeri of Verona. That city having been conquered in 1387, Gian Galeazzo picked a quarrel with his ally, besieged282 and captured Padua (1389), and sent Francesco to die in the dungeons of Monza. Master now of Verona and Padua, the Visconte had touched the Adriatic shore. Meanwhile Mantua and Venice looked on stupidly and awaited their own destruction as if paralysed. General fear possessed283 Italy at the rapid progress of the conqueror284, who, unseen himself, directed his instruments with such unfailing insight to his desired ends. The Visconte’s policy was to strike at the weak first and gradually prepare the way for greater enterprises. The Church was at this time in the throes of the Great Schism76, and Gian Galeazzo, protesting conscientious285 difficulties in deciding to which Pope he owed spiritual obedience, played them against one another, while he seized the papal fiefs in the Romagna. His armies climbed the mountains and poured into Umbria and Tuscany. Aroused at last by the example and exhortations286 of Florence, Italy shook 110off her stupor287, and a general effort was made to stem the advance of the Visconte. Yet still he crept on, remedying the checks to his arms by his stealthy diplomacy. The King of France, in answer to the appeal of Florence, sent an army to invade his States, but it was routed by Jacopo dal Verme, and Charles VI. was himself converted into an ally by the Visconte’s flatteries and promises. In 1399 he triumphed over Florence again by acquiring Pisa, without a blow, from Gerardo d’Appiano, while Perugia, Siena and Assisi submitted to his generals.
Already in 1395 Gian Galeazzo’s great increase of power and prestige had been marked by his elevation288 to a new dignity. His untiring negotiations, backed by the offer of an enormous sum, persuaded the Emperor Wenceslaus to constitute the Milanese State, including a number of conquered cities, into a Duchy, and to invest the Visconte and his male heirs with it in perpetuity. The ceremony of investiture took place in the Piazza289 of St. Ambrogio, where upon a great throne the imperial legate robed and crowned the new duke in the sight of all the people, in the midst of every pompous290 circumstance, while in the basilica afterwards the Bishop78 of Novara, destined to become Pope Alexander V., preached the sermon and lauded291 the subject of his oration134 for his illustrious blood, his conspicuous beauty of person and the virtuous292 tranquillity293 of his mind.
Gian Galeazzo was as great an administrator294 as statesman and conqueror. By wisdom, economy, careful distribution of taxation and supervision295 of finances, he relieved the people from the cruel and ill-considered burdens imposed by the bad management of his predecessors, while increasing his own resources enormously. He was the very genius of order. He saw that the law was properly and effectively carried out, justice done to all, and perfect rule maintained throughout the State. 111It was by his generous, just, and wise government of the cities which he conquered that he consolidated296 his vast dominions.
In these favourable297 conditions Milan flourished exceedingly, and could contribute without overwhelming distress298 her share of the duke’s annual revenue of twelve hundred thousand florins, and of the extra levies299 for special purposes, amounting sometimes to eight hundred thousand florins in one year—sums far exceeding those commanded by any other Italian prince.
Gian Galeazzo’s rule, though sometimes oppressive, was not carried on by the harsh methods of his predecessors. Violence and wanton cruelty were probably repugnant to his sensitive physical temperament300 and despicable to his unimpassioned mind. He was never bloody301, except for a purpose, as in the awful sack of Verona after her revolt and recapture in 1390. But for a refined and ingenious cruelty which exercised itself in long worming plots ending far off in some unexpected catastrophe, Gian Galeazzo seems to have had an artistic302 predilection303. It was he, men said, who by Iago-like suggestions drove Francesco Gonzaga of Mantua to slay304 his wife Agnese, one of Bernabò Visconte’s daughters, in a frenzy305 of jealousy, that he himself might be first and loudest afterwards in proclaiming the innocence306 of the lady and exciting general execration307 of the murderer. The beheading of young Obizzo d’Este at Ferrara has been also attributed to evil suspicions which the Milanese prince instilled308 into the Marquis Alberto for political ends. The Visconte’s influence is plainer still in the hideous309 treachery and ingratitude310 of Jacopo d’Appiano, who, with a kiss of peace, slew his protector and friend, the noble Pietro Gambacorti, and made himself Lord of Pisa for Gian Galeazzo’s benefit, as very shortly appeared.
The Duke’s piety311 was as marked as his less estimable 112characteristics. He did not doubt his own righteousness or hesitate to invoke47 the aid of Heaven for all his enterprises. He was assiduous in his devotion to the Saints and observance of the Church’s rites312 and ceremonies. The Cathedral of Milan, the vast Certosa of Pavia, and many other great buildings, were planned and founded by this prince. These works were not done solely313 for a spiritual reward, but also to proclaim his own glory to the world and to encourage art and industry. All Gian Galeazzo’s greatness of spirit showed in his buildings. His engineering schemes were as mighty and daring in conception as undaunted and patient in accomplishment. To subdue314 Padua and Mantua he undertook the gigantic task of diverting the Brenta and Mincio. But here he measured himself too audaciously against natural forces. One night the Mincio, ‘in piena,’ hurled its waters at the huge dam and swept away the work which had cost untold315 labour and gold.
With all his occupations of war and statesmanship, Gian Galeazzo found time to continue his father’s patronage316 of Letters. He had as a youth studied deeply himself in the University of Pavia. An early fresco226 at Pavia, now long lost, represented him as a child standing317 in a crowd of nobles and distinguished318 men in his father’s palace, and in answer to the question, who was the greatest man present, pointing to the poet Petrarca. This allegory recorded the honour which he paid all his life to intellect and learning. He called the greatest scholars to the Chairs of the University, including Emanuel Chrysoloras, who thus brought to Milan the newly reviving knowledge of Greek. He made these men his councillors and familiar associates. They read poetry to him and discussed the new discoveries of antiquity319, so that his castle has been called a temple of wisdom. Architecture, sculpture, painting were equally fostered 113by him. There was no sort of human activity which he did not seek to stimulate320 for the advantage and glory of his State.
Though its operations meant destruction to lesser powers, Gian Galeazzo’s brain was essentially321 kingly and creative. This was the moment in Italy of the formation of great States. The old faction struggles of the era of freedom had come to an end with the establishment of tyrannies, and of these the lesser were now being swallowed up by the greater. In this process Milan under the Visconti was the leader. Its natural outcome seemed to be the foundation of a great settled kingdom in the peninsula, like France and England in the North. The patriotic322 spirits of the time dreamed of such a kingdom as the redemption of Italy from her woes323 of constant dissension and warfare. The idea took practical shape in the mind of the great Matteo’s descendant and heir, in whom character and circumstance united to carry the large political thought and ambition of the Visconti nearest to its supreme fulfilment. And it was to Gian Galeazzo that the dreamers looked for the realisation of their desire, as perhaps Petrarca had looked to the earlier generation. Fazio degli Uberti, the fourteenth century Florentine poet and exile, who lived long at the Viscontean Court, in one of his canzoni makes Rome cry—
‘O figliuol mio, da quanta crudel guerra
Tutti insieme verremo a dolcie pace
Se Italia soggiace
A un solo re....’[2]
2.
‘Oh my son, from what cruel warfare
Should we come all together to sweet peace
Could Italy be subject
To one sole king....’
To such a single crown Gian Galeazzo undoubtedly324 aspired325. And though he was defeated in the end, it was 114by no mortal means. All the efforts of the hostile league of Florence, Venice, the Pope, and the lesser Italian Princes, could not hinder his advance. His dominions at the beginning of the fifteenth century embraced nearly the whole of Lombardy and the Romagna. The Umbrian cities Perugia and Assisi were his. Lucca, Pisa and Siena obeyed him. The tide of his success crept on. He foresaw and discomfited326 every move of his opponents. In 1401 Bologna, long an obstacle in his path, was surrendered to him by the Bentivogli. His bravest and most obstinate327 foe, Florence, lay virtually at his mercy. On every side of her he was supreme. Cut off from all help she waited his deadly attack. The moment of his triumph was at hand.
In July 1402 the Duke instructed his armies to close round the city of the Arno. Retiring from Milan, where the plague had appeared, to his villa53 at Melegnano, he had the mantle221, sceptre and diadem328 prepared for his coronation as King of Italy. He had nothing to fear now from mortal enemies. There was one power only which his arms and calculations could not defy. On the 10th of August he was seized with the deadly contagion329, and a few days later he died, at the age of 49.
Who can tell the thoughts of the man as he lay on his death-bed, in his hands at last all that he had laboured for day and night without ceasing, and they powerless to close upon it. Who can measure the passion of that defeated brain? His death caused infinite joy in Florence, and in Italy generally. Yet there were many who, with an anonymous330 poet of the time, wept for the loss which had deprived
‘questo emisfero
de quel che col pensiero
Sanar volia l’italico payese.’
Their lament331 was justified332. The direct result of the 115tyrant’s death was the release of all the elements of disorder and reaction in Italy, the revival333 of angry faction, the break-up of a great organised State among a host of greedy and warring pretenders, and the terrorism of military adventurers over the whole country, ending in the establishment of a dynasty in Milan destined to sell Italy to her final shame and ruin. What if Gian Galeazzo had lived a few years longer? Florence would probably have fallen before him, Florence whose incurable334 spirit of individualism had been the one barrier between him and his ambition. But was that single little torch of liberty, which itself was soon to waver and be spent, worth the sacrifice of a united and peaceful Italy, strong enough to resist all outside foes, forward enough to lead all Europe in the path of progress?
Yet if that noble fruition of art and civilisation which glorifies335 the fifteenth century in Florence was conditional336 on her independence, then Italy through all the tears of her after centuries of sorrow and humiliation337 might well answer Yes.
THE SNAKE OF THE VISCONTI
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1
dominion
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| n.统治，管辖，支配权；领土，版图 | |
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destined
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| adj.命中注定的；(for)以…为目的地的 | |
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unstable
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| adj.不稳定的，易变的 | |
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alluvial
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| adj.冲积的；淤积的 | |
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mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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tenacity
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| n.坚韧 | |
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subtlety
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| n.微妙，敏锐，精巧；微妙之处，细微的区别 | |
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suppleness
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| 柔软； 灵活； 易弯曲； 顺从 | |
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perfidy
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| n.背信弃义，不忠贞 | |
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vice
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| n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的 | |
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vices
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| 缺陷( vice的名词复数 )； 恶习； 不道德行为； 台钳 | |
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override
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| vt.不顾，不理睬，否决；压倒，优先于 | |
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prudence
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| n.谨慎，精明，节俭 | |
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disorder
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| n.紊乱，混乱；骚动，骚乱；疾病，失调 | |
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reign
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| n.统治时期，统治，支配，盛行；v.占优势 | |
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reigning
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| adj.统治的，起支配作用的 | |
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rivalry
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| n.竞争，竞赛，对抗 | |
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sunder
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| v.分开；隔离；n.分离，分开 | |
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judgment
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| n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见 | |
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remorse
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| n.痛恨，悔恨，自责 | |
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superstitious
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| adj.迷信的 | |
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prone
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| adj.(to)易于…的，很可能…的；俯卧的 | |
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repentance
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| n.懊悔 | |
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arrogance
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| n.傲慢，自大 | |
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overthrow
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| v.推翻，打倒，颠覆；n.推翻，瓦解，颠覆 | |
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catastrophe
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| n.大灾难，大祸 | |
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posterity
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| n.后裔，子孙，后代 | |
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Founder
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| n.创始者，缔造者 | |
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victorious
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| adj.胜利的，得胜的 | |
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complement
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| n.补足物，船上的定员；补语；vt.补充，补足 | |
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remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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foresight
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| n.先见之明，深谋远虑 | |
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warfare
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| n.战争(状态)；斗争；冲突 | |
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diplomacy
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| n.外交；外交手腕，交际手腕 | |
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embittered
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| v.使怨恨，激怒( embitter的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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estrangement
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| n.疏远，失和，不和 | |
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coveted
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| adj.令人垂涎的；垂涎的，梦寐以求的v.贪求，觊觎(covet的过去分词)；垂涎；贪图 | |
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supremacy
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| n.至上；至高权力 | |
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mutual
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| adj.相互的，彼此的；共同的，共有的 | |
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loyalty
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| n.忠诚，忠心 | |
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hereditary
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| adj.遗传的，遗传性的，可继承的，世袭的 | |
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entangled
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| adj.卷入的；陷入的；被缠住的；缠在一起的v.使某人（某物/自己）缠绕，纠缠于（某物中），使某人（自己）陷入（困难或复杂的环境中）( entangle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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unnatural
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| adj.不自然的；反常的 | |
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cardinal
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| n.(天主教的)红衣主教；adj.首要的，基本的 | |
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hurled
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| v.猛投，用力掷( hurl的过去式和过去分词 )；大声叫骂 | |
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heresies
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| n.异端邪说，异教( heresy的名词复数 ) | |
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invoke
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| v.求助于(神、法律)；恳求，乞求 | |
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invoked
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| v.援引( invoke的过去式和过去分词 )；行使（权利等）；祈求救助；恳求 | |
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quailed
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| 害怕，发抖，畏缩( quail的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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adherents
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| n.支持者，拥护者( adherent的名词复数 )；党羽；徒子徒孙 | |
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kinsmen
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| n.家属，亲属( kinsman的名词复数 ) | |
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verging
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| 接近，逼近（verge的现在分词形式） | |
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53
villa
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| n.别墅，城郊小屋 | |
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54
foes
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| 敌人，仇敌( foe的名词复数 ) | |
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55
foe
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| n.敌人，仇敌 | |
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56
concealed
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| a.隐藏的，隐蔽的 | |
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57
supreme
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| adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的 | |
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58
avowed
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| adj.公开声明的，承认的v.公开声明，承认( avow的过去式和过去分词) | |
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59
overthrowing
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| v.打倒，推翻( overthrow的现在分词 )；使终止 | |
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60
invincible
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| adj.不可征服的，难以制服的 | |
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61
rivalries
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| n.敌对，竞争，对抗( rivalry的名词复数 ) | |
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62
inflicted
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| 把…强加给，使承受，遭受( inflict的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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63
reconciliation
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| n.和解，和谐，一致 | |
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64
strife
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| n.争吵，冲突，倾轧，竞争 | |
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65
rife
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| adj.(指坏事情)充斥的，流行的，普遍的 | |
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66
unwillingly
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| adv.不情愿地 | |
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67
warrior
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| n.勇士，武士，斗士 | |
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68
brook
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| n.小河，溪；v.忍受，容让 | |
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69
kinsman
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| n.男亲属 | |
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70
negotiations
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|
| 协商( negotiation的名词复数 )； 谈判； 完成（难事）； 通过 | |
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71
intrigue
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| vt.激起兴趣，迷住；vi.耍阴谋；n.阴谋，密谋 | |
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72
descended
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| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
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73
inflame
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| v.使燃烧；使极度激动；使发炎 | |
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74
partisan
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| adj.党派性的；游击队的；n.游击队员；党徒 | |
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75
homage
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| n.尊敬，敬意，崇敬 | |
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76
schism
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| n.分派，派系，分裂 | |
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77
bishops
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| （基督教某些教派管辖大教区的）主教( bishop的名词复数 )； （国际象棋的）象 | |
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78
bishop
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| n.主教，（国际象棋）象 | |
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79
vassals
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| n.奴仆( vassal的名词复数 )；（封建时代）诸侯；从属者；下属 | |
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80
tragic
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|
| adj.悲剧的，悲剧性的，悲惨的 | |
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81
monarch
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| n.帝王，君主，最高统治者 | |
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82
inflamed
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| adj.发炎的，红肿的v.（使）变红，发怒，过热( inflame的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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83
resentment
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| n.怨愤，忿恨 | |
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84
pretext
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|
| n.借口，托词 | |
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85
dungeons
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| n.地牢( dungeon的名词复数 ) | |
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86
dungeon
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| n.地牢，土牢 | |
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87
reigned
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| vi.当政，统治（reign的过去式形式） | |
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88
displeasing
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| 不愉快的，令人发火的 | |
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89
prudent
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|
| adj.谨慎的，有远见的，精打细算的 | |
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90
intervention
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| n.介入，干涉，干预 | |
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91
stipulated
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|
| vt.& vi.规定；约定adj.[法]合同规定的 | |
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92
enraged
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| 使暴怒( enrage的过去式和过去分词 )； 歜； 激愤 | |
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93
jeers
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| n.操纵帆桁下部（使其上下的）索具；嘲讽( jeer的名词复数 )v.嘲笑( jeer的第三人称单数 ) | |
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94
partisans
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| 游击队员( partisan的名词复数 )； 党人； 党羽； 帮伙 | |
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95
rebellious
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|
| adj.造反的，反抗的，难控制的 | |
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96
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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97
allied
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| adj.协约国的；同盟国的 | |
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98
inevitable
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| adj.不可避免的，必然发生的 | |
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99
imprisoned
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| 下狱，监禁( imprison的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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100
fortified
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| adj. 加强的 | |
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101
industrious
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|
| adj.勤劳的，刻苦的，奋发的 | |
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102
joyous
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| adj.充满快乐的；令人高兴的 | |
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103
ecclesiastic
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| n.教士，基督教会；adj.神职者的，牧师的，教会的 | |
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104
unanimity
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| n.全体一致，一致同意 | |
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105
receding
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| v.逐渐远离( recede的现在分词 )；向后倾斜；自原处后退或避开别人的注视；尤指问题 | |
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106
promulgated
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|
| v.宣扬（某事物）( promulgate的过去式和过去分词 )；传播；公布；颁布（法令、新法律等） | |
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107
taxation
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| n.征税，税收，税金 | |
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108
biding
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|
| v.等待，停留( bide的现在分词 )；居住；（过去式用bided）等待；面临 | |
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109
benignity
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| n.仁慈 | |
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110
steadily
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|
| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
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111
foul
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|
| adj.污秽的；邪恶的；v.弄脏；妨害；犯规；n.犯规 | |
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112
incurred
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| [医]招致的，遭受的； incur的过去式 | |
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113
wrath
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| n.愤怒，愤慨，暴怒 | |
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114
conspiracy
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| n.阴谋，密谋，共谋 | |
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115
oust
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| vt.剥夺，取代，驱逐 | |
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116
eldest
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| adj.最年长的，最年老的 | |
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117
tyrant
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| n.暴君，专制的君主，残暴的人 | |
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118
snares
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| n.陷阱( snare的名词复数 )；圈套；诱人遭受失败（丢脸、损失等）的东西；诱惑物v.用罗网捕捉，诱陷，陷害( snare的第三人称单数 ) | |
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119
accusations
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|
| n.指责( accusation的名词复数 )；指控；控告；（被告发、控告的）罪名 | |
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120
trumped
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| v.（牌戏）出王牌赢（一牌或一墩）( trump的过去分词 )；吹号公告，吹号庆祝；吹喇叭；捏造 | |
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121
justify
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|
| vt.证明…正当(或有理)，为…辩护 | |
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122
persecution
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| n. 迫害,烦扰 | |
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123
arrogant
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|
| adj.傲慢的，自大的 | |
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124
banished
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| v.放逐，驱逐( banish的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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125
obedience
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|
| n.服从，顺从 | |
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126
nominally
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| 在名义上，表面地； 应名儿 | |
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127
legitimate
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|
| adj.合法的，合理的，合乎逻辑的；v.使合法 | |
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128
jurisdiction
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| n.司法权，审判权，管辖权，控制权 | |
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129
brute
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| n.野兽，兽性 | |
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130
lulled
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| vt.使镇静，使安静（lull的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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131
jealousy
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|
| n.妒忌，嫉妒，猜忌 | |
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132
contention
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| n.争论，争辩，论战；论点，主张 | |
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133
clement
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| adj.仁慈的；温和的 | |
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134
oration
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| n.演说，致辞，叙述法 | |
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135
renounce
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| v.放弃；拒绝承认，宣布与…断绝关系 | |
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136
Christians
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| n.基督教徒( Christian的名词复数 ) | |
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137
lodgings
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| n. 出租的房舍, 寄宿舍 | |
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138
victuals
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| n.食物；食品 | |
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139
envoys
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| 使节( envoy的名词复数 )； 公使； 谈判代表； 使节身份 | |
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140
reimbursing
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|
| v.偿还，付还( reimburse的现在分词 ) | |
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141
condemn
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| vt.谴责，指责；宣判(罪犯)，判刑 | |
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142
factions
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| 组织中的小派别，派系( faction的名词复数 ) | |
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143
faction
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| n.宗派，小集团；派别；派系斗争 | |
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144
exhausted
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|
| adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的 | |
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145
skilful
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| (=skillful)adj.灵巧的，熟练的 | |
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146
expenditure
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| n.(时间、劳力、金钱等)支出；使用，消耗 | |
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147
naval
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| adj.海军的，军舰的，船的 | |
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148
maritime
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| adj.海的，海事的，航海的，近海的，沿海的 | |
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149
outlets
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| n.出口( outlet的名词复数 )；经销店；插座；廉价经销店 | |
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150
seaport
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| n.海港，港口，港市 | |
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151
barons
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| 男爵( baron的名词复数 )； 巨头； 大王； 大亨 | |
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152
intriguing
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|
| adj.有趣的；迷人的v.搞阴谋诡计(intrigue的现在分词)；激起…的好奇心 | |
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153
civilisation
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| n.文明，文化，开化，教化 | |
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154
crafty
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| adj.狡猾的，诡诈的 | |
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155
iniquitous
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| adj.不公正的；邪恶的；高得出奇的 | |
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156
plebeian
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| adj.粗俗的；平民的；n.平民；庶民 | |
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157
sedition
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| n.煽动叛乱 | |
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158
turbulence
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| n.喧嚣，狂暴，骚乱，湍流 | |
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159
impartial
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| adj.(in,to)公正的，无偏见的 | |
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160
statutes
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| 成文法( statute的名词复数 )； 法令； 法规； 章程 | |
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161
cultivation
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| n.耕作，培养，栽培（法），养成 | |
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162
wildernesses
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| 荒野( wilderness的名词复数 )； 沙漠； （政治家）在野； 不再当政（或掌权） | |
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163
actively
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| adv.积极地，勤奋地 | |
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164
irrigating
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| 灌溉( irrigate的现在分词 )； 冲洗（伤口） | |
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165
armour
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| （=armor）n.盔甲；装甲部队 | |
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166
disapproval
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| n.反对，不赞成 | |
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167
superfluous
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| adj.过多的，过剩的，多余的 | |
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168
embroideries
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| 刺绣( embroidery的名词复数 )； 刺绣品； 刺绣法 | |
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169
esteem
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| n.尊敬，尊重；vt.尊重，敬重；把…看作 | |
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170
conducive
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| adj.有益的，有助的 | |
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171
benevolent
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| adj.仁慈的，乐善好施的 | |
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172
resounding
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| adj. 响亮的 | |
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173
generosity
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| n.大度，慷慨，慷慨的行为 | |
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174
dominions
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| 统治权( dominion的名词复数 )； 领土； 疆土； 版图 | |
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175
exclusion
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| n.拒绝，排除，排斥，远足，远途旅行 | |
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176
yoke
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| n.轭；支配；v.给...上轭，连接，使成配偶 | |
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177
enlist
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| vt.谋取(支持等)，赢得；征募；vi.入伍 | |
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178
hostility
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| n.敌对，敌意；抵制［pl.］交战，战争 | |
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179
penetrated
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| adj. 击穿的，鞭辟入里的 动词penetrate的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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180
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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181
esteemed
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|
| adj.受人尊敬的v.尊敬( esteem的过去式和过去分词 )；敬重；认为；以为 | |
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182
glutton
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| n.贪食者，好食者 | |
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183
hindrance
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| n.妨碍，障碍 | |
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184
hatred
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| n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨 | |
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185
purge
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| n.整肃，清除，泻药，净化；vt.净化，清除，摆脱；vi.清除，通便，腹泻，变得清洁 | |
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186
steadfastly
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| adv.踏实地，不变地；岿然；坚定不渝 | |
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187
beset
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| v.镶嵌；困扰，包围 | |
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188
anathemas
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| n.（天主教的）革出教门( anathema的名词复数 )；诅咒；令人极其讨厌的事；被基督教诅咒的人或事 | |
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189
determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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190
entrusted
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| v.委托，托付( entrust的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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191
hardy
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| adj.勇敢的，果断的，吃苦的；耐寒的 | |
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192
enervation
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| n.无活力，衰弱 | |
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193
diligent
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| adj.勤勉的，勤奋的 | |
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194
zeal
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| n.热心，热情，热忱 | |
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195
bribed
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| v.贿赂( bribe的过去式和过去分词 )；向（某人）行贿，贿赂 | |
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196
deserted
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| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
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197
disastrous
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| adj.灾难性的，造成灾害的；极坏的，很糟的 | |
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198
tempted
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| v.怂恿（某人）干不正当的事；冒…的险（tempt的过去分词） | |
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199
inveterate
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| adj.积习已深的，根深蒂固的 | |
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200
populous
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| adj.人口稠密的，人口众多的 | |
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201
luxurious
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| adj.精美而昂贵的；豪华的 | |
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202
royalty
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| n.皇家，皇族 | |
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203
potentates
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| n.君主，统治者( potentate的名词复数 )；有权势的人 | |
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204
lesser
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| adj.次要的，较小的；adv.较小地，较少地 | |
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205
lavishly
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| adv.慷慨地，大方地 | |
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206
lavish
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| adj.无节制的；浪费的；vt.慷慨地给予，挥霍 | |
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207
maiden
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| n.少女，处女；adj.未婚的，纯洁的，无经验的 | |
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208
celebrated
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| adj.有名的，声誉卓著的 | |
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209
cavalcade
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| n.车队等的行列 | |
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210
scarlet
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| n.深红色，绯红色，红衣；adj.绯红色的 | |
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211
embroidered
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| adj．绣花的 | |
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212
knights
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| 骑士； （中古时代的）武士( knight的名词复数 )； 骑士； 爵士； （国际象棋中）马 | |
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213
joust
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| v.马上长枪比武，竞争 | |
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214
gilded
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| a.镀金的，富有的 | |
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215
velvet
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| n.丝绒，天鹅绒；adj.丝绒制的，柔软的 | |
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216
leashes
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| n.拴猎狗的皮带( leash的名词复数 ) | |
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217
falcons
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| n.猎鹰( falcon的名词复数 ) | |
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218
hoods
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| n.兜帽( hood的名词复数 )；头巾；（汽车、童车等的）折合式车篷；汽车发动机罩v.兜帽( hood的第三人称单数 )；头巾；（汽车、童车等的）折合式车篷；汽车发动机罩 | |
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219
enamel
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| n.珐琅，搪瓷，瓷釉；(牙齿的)珐琅质 | |
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220
ornamented
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| adj.花式字体的v.装饰，点缀，美化( ornament的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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221
mantle
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| n.斗篷，覆罩之物，罩子；v.罩住，覆盖，脸红 | |
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222
mantles
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| vt.&vi.覆盖（mantle的第三人称单数形式） | |
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223
honourable
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| adj.可敬的；荣誉的，光荣的 | |
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224
primitive
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| adj.原始的；简单的；n.原(始)人，原始事物 | |
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225
frescoes
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| n.壁画( fresco的名词复数 )；温壁画技法，湿壁画 | |
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226
fresco
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| n.壁画；vt.作壁画于 | |
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227
spacious
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| adj.广阔的，宽敞的 | |
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228
extravagantly
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| adv.挥霍无度地 | |
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229
extravagant
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| adj.奢侈的；过分的；(言行等)放肆的 | |
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230
predecessors
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| n.前任( predecessor的名词复数 )；前辈；（被取代的）原有事物；前身 | |
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231
broached
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|
| v.谈起( broach的过去式和过去分词 )；打开并开始用；用凿子扩大（或修光）；（在桶上）钻孔取液体 | |
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232
avarice
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| n.贪婪；贪心 | |
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233
gulf
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| n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂 | |
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234
hatreds
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| n.仇恨，憎恶( hatred的名词复数 )；厌恶的事 | |
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235
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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236
torment
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| n.折磨；令人痛苦的东西(人)；vt.折磨；纠缠 | |
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237
woe
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| n.悲哀，苦痛，不幸，困难；int.用来表达悲伤或惊慌 | |
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238
guardian
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| n.监护人；守卫者，保护者 | |
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239
slew
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| v.（使）旋转；n.大量，许多 | |
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240
ironical
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|
| adj.讽刺的，冷嘲的 | |
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241
dignified
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| a.可敬的，高贵的 | |
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242
reverence
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|
| n.敬畏，尊敬，尊严；Reverence:对某些基督教神职人员的尊称；v.尊敬，敬畏，崇敬 | |
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243
pontifical
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|
| adj.自以为是的，武断的 | |
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244
sinister
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|
| adj.不吉利的，凶恶的，左边的 | |
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245
crammed
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|
| adj.塞满的，挤满的；大口地吃；快速贪婪地吃v.把…塞满；填入；临时抱佛脚( cram的过去式) | |
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246
devastated
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|
| v.彻底破坏( devastate的过去式和过去分词)；摧毁；毁灭；在感情上（精神上、财务上等）压垮adj.毁坏的；极为震惊的 | |
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247
pestilence
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|
| n.瘟疫 | |
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248
condemning
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|
| v.（通常因道义上的原因而）谴责( condemn的现在分词 )；宣判；宣布…不能使用；迫使…陷于不幸的境地 | |
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249
lasting
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|
| adj.永久的，永恒的；vbl.持续，维持 | |
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250
conspicuous
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|
| adj.明眼的，惹人注目的；炫耀的，摆阔气的 | |
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251
virtues
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| 美德( virtue的名词复数 )； 德行； 优点； 长处 | |
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252
devout
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|
| adj.虔诚的，虔敬的，衷心的 (n.devoutness) | |
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253
depict
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| vt.描画，描绘；描写，描述 | |
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254
tyrants
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| 专制统治者( tyrant的名词复数 )； 暴君似的人； （古希腊的）僭主； 严酷的事物 | |
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255
inveigh
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| v.痛骂 | |
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256
adherence
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| n.信奉，依附，坚持，固着 | |
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257
deluded
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| v.欺骗，哄骗( delude的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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258
remitting
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| v.免除（债务），宽恕( remit的现在分词 )；使某事缓和；寄回，传送 | |
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259
propitiate
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| v.慰解，劝解 | |
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260
recluse
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| n.隐居者 | |
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261
dreaded
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| adj.令人畏惧的；害怕的v.害怕，恐惧，担心( dread的过去式和过去分词) | |
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262
dread
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| vt.担忧，忧虑；惧怕，不敢；n.担忧，畏惧 | |
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263
accomplishment
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| n.完成，成就，（pl.）造诣，技能 | |
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264
sensational
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| adj.使人感动的，非常好的，轰动的，耸人听闻的 | |
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265
shrine
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| n.圣地，神龛，庙；v.将...置于神龛内，把...奉为神圣 | |
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266
pusillanimity
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| n.无气力，胆怯 | |
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267
galloped
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| （使马）飞奔，奔驰( gallop的过去式和过去分词 )； 快速做[说]某事 | |
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268
razed
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| v.彻底摧毁，将…夷为平地( raze的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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269
usurper
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| n. 篡夺者, 僭取者 | |
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270
perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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271
accomplished
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| adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的 | |
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272
consummate
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| adj.完美的；v.成婚；使完美 [反]baffle | |
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273
indictment
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| n.起诉；诉状 | |
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274
appalling
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| adj.骇人听闻的，令人震惊的，可怕的 | |
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275
insidious
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| adj.阴险的，隐匿的，暗中为害的，（疾病）不知不觉之间加剧 | |
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276
justification
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| n.正当的理由；辩解的理由 | |
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277
admiration
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| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
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278
dissimulation
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| n.掩饰，虚伪，装糊涂 | |
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279
interfering
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| adj. 妨碍的 动词interfere的现在分词 | |
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280
chaotic
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| adj.混沌的，一片混乱的，一团糟的 | |
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281
diabolical
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| adj.恶魔似的，凶暴的 | |
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282
besieged
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| 包围，围困，围攻( besiege的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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283
possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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284
conqueror
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| n.征服者，胜利者 | |
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285
conscientious
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| adj.审慎正直的，认真的，本着良心的 | |
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286
exhortations
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|
| n.敦促( exhortation的名词复数 )；极力推荐；（正式的）演讲；（宗教仪式中的）劝诫 | |
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287
stupor
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| v.昏迷；不省人事 | |
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288
elevation
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| n.高度；海拔；高地；上升；提高 | |
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289
piazza
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| n.广场；走廊 | |
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290
pompous
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| adj.傲慢的，自大的；夸大的；豪华的 | |
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291
lauded
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| v.称赞，赞美( laud的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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292
virtuous
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| adj.有品德的，善良的，贞洁的，有效力的 | |
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293
tranquillity
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| n. 平静, 安静 | |
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294
administrator
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| n.经营管理者，行政官员 | |
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295
supervision
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| n.监督，管理 | |
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296
consolidated
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| a.联合的 | |
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297
favourable
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| adj.赞成的，称赞的，有利的，良好的，顺利的 | |
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298
distress
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| n.苦恼，痛苦，不舒适；不幸；vt.使悲痛 | |
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299
levies
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| （部队）征兵( levy的名词复数 )； 募捐； 被征募的军队 | |
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300
temperament
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| n.气质，性格，性情 | |
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301
bloody
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| adj.非常的的；流血的；残忍的；adv.很；vt.血染 | |
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302
artistic
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| adj.艺术(家)的，美术(家)的；善于艺术创作的 | |
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303
predilection
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| n.偏好 | |
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304
slay
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| v.杀死，宰杀，杀戮 | |
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305
frenzy
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| n.疯狂，狂热，极度的激动 | |
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306
innocence
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| n.无罪；天真；无害 | |
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307
execration
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| n.诅咒，念咒，憎恶 | |
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308
instilled
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| v.逐渐使某人获得（某种可取的品质），逐步灌输( instill的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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309
hideous
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| adj.丑陋的，可憎的，可怕的，恐怖的 | |
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310
ingratitude
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| n.忘恩负义 | |
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311
piety
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| n.虔诚，虔敬 | |
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312
rites
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| 仪式，典礼( rite的名词复数 ) | |
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313
solely
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| adv.仅仅，唯一地 | |
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314
subdue
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| vt.制服，使顺从，征服；抑制，克制 | |
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315
untold
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| adj.数不清的，无数的 | |
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316
patronage
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| n.赞助，支援，援助；光顾，捧场 | |
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317
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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318
distinguished
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| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
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319
antiquity
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| n.古老；高龄；古物，古迹 | |
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320
stimulate
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| vt.刺激，使兴奋；激励，使…振奋 | |
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321
essentially
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| adv.本质上，实质上，基本上 | |
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322
patriotic
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| adj.爱国的，有爱国心的 | |
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323
woes
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| 困境( woe的名词复数 )； 悲伤； 我好苦哇； 某人就要倒霉 | |
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324
undoubtedly
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| adv.确实地，无疑地 | |
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325
aspired
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| v.渴望，追求( aspire的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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326
discomfited
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| v.使为难( discomfit的过去式和过去分词)；使狼狈；使挫折；挫败 | |
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327
obstinate
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| adj.顽固的，倔强的，不易屈服的，较难治愈的 | |
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328
diadem
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| n.王冠，冕 | |
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329
contagion
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| n.(通过接触的疾病)传染；蔓延 | |
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330
anonymous
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| adj.无名的；匿名的；无特色的 | |
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331
lament
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| n.悲叹，悔恨，恸哭；v.哀悼，悔恨，悲叹 | |
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332
justified
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| a.正当的，有理的 | |
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333
revival
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| n.复兴，复苏，（精力、活力等的）重振 | |
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334
incurable
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| adj.不能医治的，不能矫正的，无救的；n.不治的病人，无救的人 | |
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335
glorifies
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| 赞美( glorify的第三人称单数 )； 颂扬； 美化； 使光荣 | |
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336
conditional
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| adj.条件的，带有条件的 | |
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337
humiliation
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| n.羞辱 | |
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