THE WAR OF FREDERICK I AGAINST THE COMMUNES OF LOMBARDY.

BY

GIOVANNI BATTISTA TESTA

PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE.

PART THE FIRST.

CHAPTER I. How civilization, having put an end to barbarian invasions, works for the regeneration of the peoples

CHAPTER II.  Reign of Otho I.

CHAPTER III. Rivalry between Ardoin and Henry II

CHAPTER IV.  Reign of Henri III

CHAPTER V.  Reign of Henry IV.

CHAPTER VI. 1.Reign of Conrad III 

PART THE SECOND.

CHAPTER I.  Of the qualities of heroic times. How they died away in Lombardy

CHAPTER II. Cause of the decadence after the Peace of Constance.Conclusion

BOOK I. (1152-1155).  Character of Frederick I 

BOOK II. (1155-1157).  Condition of the Milanese 

BOOK III. (1157.1158). Frederick’s military expeditions

BOOK IV. (1159). Frederick's atrocious cruelty 

BOOK V. (1160).  League between Milan, Brescia, Piacenza, and the Pope

BOOK VI. (1161-1162). Destruction of Milan

BOOK VII. (1163-1164).  Frederick's difficulties in Italy and Germany

BOOK VIII. (1165-1167).  Frederick’s return into Italy

BOOK IX. (1168-1174). Frederick’s return to Pavia 

BOOK X. (1175).   Diet of the League in Modena

BOOK XI. (1176-1183). Battle of Legnano. Frederick consents to a peace with the Communes

TO THE

RIGHT HONOURABLE W. E. GLADSTONE.

To YOU do I dedicate this work, in which I have undertaken to narrate the rise of Italian liberty, in order to have an opportunity of expressing to you the high opinion which I formed of the goodness and greatness of your soul, when, with that grave moderation which adds grace and authority to truth, you undertook to make known to all the good in Christendom, with how great injustice so many Italians are kept shut up in the wretchedness of the Neapolitan prisons; men to whose charge no offence can be laid, excepting that, by reason of the unhappy condition of the times, they have failed in their attempt to recover for their country that liberty which in the Middle Ages appeared with such glory in Italy, as the dawn of the present civilization of Europe.

Your name, now one of the first in this kingdom, will never cease to be loved and honored by Italians, until love of justice, and compassion for the unfortunate who have deserved well of their country, no longer find a place amongst the virtues which exalt human nature.

Be pleased to have regard, most of all, to the spirit in which I send you this offering of respect and gratitude. Receive it kindly, were it only for this, that it comes to you attended by fervent prayers, which I shall never cease to offer up to the Great Source of every good, that upon you, and upon this your land, in which for so many many years I have found a safe abiding-place, and kindnesses not a few, He may long shower every blessing.

G. B. TESTA.

May 24, 1853.