DUKE OF CALABRIA DIES: LUDWIG RETIRES
[1328-1329 A.D.]
The death of the formidable and ambitious Castruccio saved Florence from the greatest danger which she had yet incurred; and, to complete her good fortune, the sovereign she had chosen to oppose Castruccio, the duke of Calabria, died also about the same time. He had distinguished himself only by his vices, his want of foresight, and his depredations. Ludwig of Bavaria, too, ceased to be formidable; he completed his discredit by his perfidy towards those who had been the most devoted to him. Salvestro de’ Gatti, lord of Viterbo, had been the first Ghibelline chief to open a fortress to him in the states of the church; Ludwig arrested him and put him to the torture to force him to reveal the place where he had concealed his treasure. The emperor had rendered himself odious and ridiculous at Rome by the puerility of his proceedings against John XXII, and his vain efforts to create a schism in the church. Having returned to Tuscany, he deprived the children of Castruccio of the sovereignty of Lucca, on the 16th of March, 1329, and sold it to one of their relatives who, a month afterwards, was driven out by a troop of German mercenaries which had abandoned the emperor to make war on their own account, that is to say, to live by plunder. Ludwig passed the summer of 1329 in Lombardy. Towards the end of the autumn he returned to Germany, carrying with him the contempt and detestation of the Italians. He had betrayed all who had trusted in him; and completely disorganised the Ghibelline party which had relied on his support.