cio
injurious to the church, received into his pay Francesco, the son of
Sforza, who went in pursuit of Braccio to L'Aquilla, where he routed
and slew him. Of Braccio remained Oddo, his son, from whom the pope took
Perugia, and left him the state of Montone alone; but he was shortly
afterward slain in Romagna, in the service of the Florentines; so that
of those who had fought under Braccio, Niccolo Piccinino remained of
greatest reputation.

Having continued our general narration nearly to the period which we at
first proposed to reach, what remains is of little importance, except
the war which the Florentines and Venetians carried on against
Filippo duke of Milan, of which an account will be given when we speak
particularly of Florence. I shall, therefore, continue it no further,
briefly explaining the condition of Italy in respect of her princes and
her arms, at the period to which we have now come. Joan II. held Naples,
La Marca, the Patrimony and Romagna; some of these places obeyed the
church, while others were held by vicars or tyrants, as Ferrara, Modena,
and Reggio, by those of the House of Este; Faenza by the Manfredi;
Imola by the Alidossi; Furli by the Ordelaffi; Rimini and Psaro by the
Malatesti; and Camerino by those of Varano. Part of Lombardy was subject
to the Duke Filippo, part to the Venetians; for all those who had held
single states were set aside, except the House of Gonzaga, which ruled
in Mantua. The greater part of Tuscany was subject to the Florentines.
Lucca and Sienna alone were governed by their own laws; Lucca was under
the Guinigi; Sienna was free. The Genoese, being sometimes free,
at others, subject to the kings of France or the Visconti, lived
unrespected, and may be enumerated among the minor powers.

None of the principal states were armed with their own proper forces.
Duke Filippo kept himself shut up in his apartments, and would not
allow himself to be seen; his wars were managed by commissaries. The
Venetians, when they directed their attention to terra firma, threw off
those arms which had made them terrible upon the seas, and falling into
the customs of Italy, submitted their forces to the direction of others.
The practice of arms being unsuitable to priests or women, the pope and
Queen Joan of Naples were compelled by necessity to submit to the same
system which others practiced from defect of judgment. The Florentines
also adopted the same custom, for having, by their frequent