s of Lombardy had formed against Frederick Barbarossa
still continued, and comprehended Milan, Brescia, Mantua, and the
greater number of the cities of Romagna, together with Verona, Vicenza,
Padua, and Trevisa. Those which took part with the emperor, were
Cremona, Bergamo, Parma, Reggio, and Trento. The other cities and
fortresses of Lombardy, Romagna, and the march of Trevisa, favored,
according to their necessities, sometimes one party, sometimes the
other.

In the time of Otho III. there had come into Italy a man called Ezelin,
who, remaining in the country, had a son, and he too had a son named
Ezelin. This person, being rich and powerful, took part with Frederick,
who, as we have said, was at enmity with the pope; Frederick, at the
instigation and with the assistance of Ezelin, took Verona and Mantua,
destroyed Vicenza, occupied Padua, routed the army of the united cities,
and then directed his course towards Tuscany. Ezelin, in the meantime,
had subdued the whole of the Trevisian March, but could not prevail
against Ferrara, which was defended by Azone da Este and the forces
which the pope had in Lombardy; and, as the enemy were compelled to
withdraw, the pope gave Ferrara in fee to this Azone, from whom are
descended those who now govern that city. Frederick halted at Pisa,
desirous of making himself lord of Tuscany; but, while endeavoring to
discover what friends and foes he had in that province, he scattered so
many seeds of discord as occasioned the ruin of Italy; for the factions
of the Guelphs and Ghibellines multiplied,--those who supported the
church taking the name of Guelphs, while the followers of the emperor
were called Ghibellines, these names being first heard at Pistoia.
Frederick, marching from Pisa, assailed and wasted the territories
of the church in a variety of ways; so that the pope, having no other
remedy, unfurled against him the banner of the cross, as his predecessor
had done against the Saracens. Frederick, that he might be suddenly
abandoned by his people, as Frederick Barbarossa and others had been,
took into his pay a number of Saracens; and to bind them to him, and
establish in Italy a firm bulwark against the church, without fear of
papal maledictions, he gave them Nocera in the kingdom of Naples, that,
having a refuge of their own, they might be placed in greater security.
The pontificate was now occupied by Innocent IV., who, being in fear
of Frederick, went to Genoa, and thence t