with
moats and palisades and towers, and houses roofed and walled, to which
he gave the name of Vittoria; and by the said siege he had much
straitened the city of Parma, and it was so poorly furnished with
victuals, that they could hold out but a short while longer, and this
the Emperor knew well by his spies; and for the said cause he held
them for folk well-nigh vanquished, and troubled himself little about
them. It came to pass, as it pleased God, that one day the Emperor was
taking his pleasure in the chase, with birds and with dogs, going
forth from Vittoria with certain of his barons and servants; and the
citizens of Parma, having learnt this from their spies, as folk
reckless, or rather desperate, all sallied forth from Parma in arms,
foot and horse together, and vigorously attacked the said camp of
Vittoria in divers parts. The Emperor's soldiers, unprepared and in
disorder, with insufficient guards (as they who took little thought of
their enemies), seeing themselves thus suddenly and fiercely attacked,
and being unable to defend themselves in the absence of their lord,
were all put to flight and discomfiture, albeit there were three times
as many horse and foot as there were in Parma; in which defeat many of
them were taken or slain, and the Emperor himself, when he heard the
news, fled with great shame to Cremona; and the Parmesans took the
said camp, wherein they found great store of muniments of war, and
victual, and vessels of silver, and all the treasure which the Emperor
had in Lombardy, and the crown of the said Emperor, which the
Parmesans still have in the sacristy of their bishop's palace; whereby
they were all enriched. And when they had spoiled the said place of
its booty, they set fire thereto, and destroyed it utterly, to the end
there might be no trace of it, whether as city or as camp, for ever.
And this was the first Tuesday in February, in the year of Christ
1248.

Sec. 35.--_How the Guelf refugees from Florence were taken in the
fortress of Capraia._

[Sidenote: 1248 A.D.]

[Sidenote: 1249 A.D.]

[Sidenote: 1248 A.D.]

A short time afterwards the Emperor departed from Lombardy, leaving
there his natural son Enzo, king of Sardinia, with many horsemen, as
his vicar-general over the Lombard League, and came into Tuscany, and
found that the Ghibelline party which was ruling the city of Florence
had laid siege in the month of March to the fortress of Capraia,
wherein were the leaders o