To you I owe the largest debt of all. It is not only for the writing of a book I thank you here--

Ever sincerely yours,

A. MARY F. DARMESTETER.

Contents.

[The Beguines and the Weaving Brothers.]
PAGE
In 1180, Lambert of Liége founds the first Beguinage; the rapid spread of the Order; invention of the kindred guild of the Beghards or Fratres Textores[8]
In 1216 the invention of the Tertiary Orders of St. Dominic and St. Francis supplies a monastic equivalent for Beguinism[12]
Beguinism is awhile preserved from decadence by the prestige of Mechtild of Magdeburg[14]
After her death, heresy and mysticism swiftly undermine the Beguine Orders[24]
Opinions of the Beguines[25]
The Church resolves on their suppression[29]
The plague of the Wandering Orders[30]
The Beguines are absorbed into the Tertiary Orders[31]
The Beguines of Strasburg join the Dominican Order[32]
And heresy begins to appear among the Dominicans of Strasburg[33]
Meister Eckhart and his doctrines[33]
Swester Katrei[34]
The Beguines are suppressed; but their ideas, stealthily kept alive in quiet places, burst out again in the XVI. century[38]
[The Convent of Helfta.]
Religious distinction of Thuringia in the 13th century[45]
Gertrude of Helfta enters the Convent of Rodardesdorf[Rodardesdorf] about 1234; arrival of her sister Mechtild[46]
Life in the Convent[48]
In 1251 Gertrude is elected Abbess[55]
And removes the Convent to her Castle of Helfta[56]
Mechtild of Magdeburg enters the Convent, 1265[57]
The miracles of St. Gertrude[61]
Death of Mechtild of Magdeburg[67]
Illness of St. Gertrude[68]
Her death[71]
[The Attraction of the Abyss.]
The science of Mysticism[74]
The bottom of the Soul[75]
The Soul and God alone real, the world non-existent[75]
The bottom of the Soul is Nothingness[8]
God is the supreme Non-Existence[82]
And created Matter purum nihil[84]
The world is Nothing[85]
Superiority of the position of the Mystics to the position of Theologians[87]
[The Schism.]
The Pope comes to Avignon. The Popes remain there seventy years. In 1377 the Pope re-enters Rome[95]
Changed aspect of Rome[96]
Robert of Geneva leads the Papal armies against the Italians on revolt[97]
Death of Gregory XI. The Conclave in Rome[97]
Bartolommeo Prignano is elected[97]
Triumph of the Italian party[98]
The unpopularity of Prignano as Urban VI.[99]
The rumour grows that his election was invalid. In September, 1378, Robert of Geneva is elected Pope at Fondi as Clement VII.[100]
The Schism[100]
[Valentine Visconti.]
Birth of Valentine Visconti, 1366[102]
Her parentage and childhood[103]
The rise of her father, Giangaleazzo[104]
Description of Valentine[107]
Conquests of Giangaleazzo[110]
Valentine Visconti is betrothed to Louis, only brother of Charles VI. of France[111]
Reasons for the marriage[112]
The dowry of Valentine[113]
Antagonism of Prince Louis to his uncle of Burgundy[115]
Burgundy resists the marriage[116]
Valentine arrives at Court[118]
Description of the King and Orleans[119]
Mediæval Paris[122]
Ascendancy of Valentine over the King[127]
Her husband acquires the Duchy of Orleans, 1391[128]
The King goes mad[129]
The people suspect Orleans[131]
And say the Duke of Orleans is a wizard[133]
Madness of the King[134]
People say that Valentine is a witch, and that she and her husband compass the King’s madness[137]
Reasons for popular irritation against Valentine[138]
Rivalry of France and Visconti in Genoa[139]
Visconti and Orleans play into each other’s hands[140]
The Kingdom of Adria[145]
Death of Clement VII.[146]
France checkmates Orleans and Visconti in Genoa[147]
There is talk in France of a Lombard campaign[149]
But the disaster of Nicopolis compels the French to keep friends with Milan[150]
Nicopolis[151]
Tyranny of Orleans in France[156]
Death of Giangaleazzo Visconti[162]
Orleans leads an army into Lombardy[164]
And suddenly returns to Paris[165]
The King bestows on him the royal claim to Pisa[165]
The Florentines take Pisa[167]
And Orleans turns his ambition towards Luxemburg, to the detriment of Burgundy[169]
Orleans is murdered in Paris[170]
Burgundy avows the deed[173]
Valentine struggles to vindicate her husband’s memory[174]
She dies broken-hearted[178]
[The French claim to Milan.]
Valentine Visconti brings the Milanese succession into the House of Orleans[181]
Her marriage contract provides that on extinction of male descent she shall inherit Milan[184]
The Duke of Milan thus disposes of an Imperial fief[186]
Ambiguity of his conduct and intention[189]
He intends to secure himself equally against France and against the Empire[190]
Unsubstantiality of Imperial power[192]
The will of Giangaleazzo Visconti confirms the French claim to Milan[193]
Fate of the children of Valentine[196]
Orleans and Angoulême, in 1441, send Dunois to Milan to demand the restitution of Asti from their uncle Filippo Maria Visconti[197]
Illness of the Duke of Milan[199]
The rival claims of his heirs[200]
He talks of adopting the Dauphin Louis[202]
Meanwhile Louis and Savoy plan the conquest of Milan[203]
League between the Dauphin and the Duke of Milan[205]
Death of the Duke of Milan[206]
His will[207]
The French prepare to assert the rights of Orleans[209]
Raynouard du Dresnay begins the campaign[210]
The Duke of Orleans arrives at Asti, October 17, 1447[213]
He sends an embassy to Venice asking aid[215]
The Venetians procrastinate[217]
Intrigues of Savoy[220]
The Venetians determine to assassinate Francesco Sforza[221]
Suddenly the Milanese accept Sforza[229]
His position as regards Orleans, and before the feudal law[231]
The Venetians again determine to assassinate him[233]
Efforts of Sforza to legalize his position[237]
The Dauphin promises the Venetians to invade Italy, and dispossess Sforza[240]
In December, 1453, Venice incites the Dauphin to seize the Milanese and expel Sforza—She professes her readiness to aid him with men or money; or she will do as much for the Duke of Orleans in the same undertaking. (A note quotes Venetian documents to show how, about the same time, Genoa, Milan, Venice, and Florence were taking measures to secure Italy against invasion.)[241]
In April, 1459, Venice makes peace with Sforza[242]
Opposite policy of Charles VII. and the Dauphin[243]
Death of King Charles VII.[245]
Louis XI. becomes the firm ally of Sforza, but discards Savoy, Orleans, Dunois, and Anjou[245]
In December, 1463, Louis XI. cedes to Sforza the French claim to Genoa[245]
Death of Charles, Duke of Orleans[246]
Death of Louis XI., August 30, 1483[247]
January 16, 1484. Venice sends to Charles VIII. and to the young Duke of Orleans pointing out the French claim to Venice and to Naples[250]
The Embassy is renewed in February; but a new peace in Italy and the struggles of Orleans for the Regency in France postpone any further plans for a French invasion[251]
The invasion of Italy by Charles VIII. takes place in 1494 at the instigation, not of Naples, but of Milan[252]
Illness detains Orleans at Asti, within a league or two of Lodovico Sforza at Milan[252]
Venice and Florence begin to intrigue with Orleans, and suggest that the French take Milan instead of Naples[254]
Giangaleazzo Sforza, Duke of Milan, dies in prison[257]
Rights of the Regent, Lodovico il Moro[257]
A diploma from the Emperor declares him Duke[256], [257]
The relation between the French and Lodovico Sforza become strained[258]
In March, 1495, Venice, Milan, the Emperor, Castile, and Arragon unite in a league to expel the French, unless they retire without offence[260]
In June Orleans takes Novara[263]
The blockade of Novara. Orleans is released by composition[264]
Peace between France and the League is concluded in October, 1495—The French evacuate Italy[265]
Florence entreats Orleans to invade Italy, and insists upon his rights to Milan, 1497[266]
Orleans refuses to leave France[266]
Death of Charles VIII.[267]
Orleans becomes King of France as Louis XII.[267]
Louis XII. conquers Lombardy, 1499[268]
The Emperor confirms his victories, and annals the privileges bestowed on Lodovico Sforza[269]
Rights of Louis XII. and of Francis I. to Milan[269]
The French lose Milan at the Battle of Pavia[270]
Efforts to regain Milan, 1527-1536[271]
The treaty of Crépy[271]
The death of Charles II. of Orleans leaves Milan to the Spaniards[272]
[The Malatestas of Rimini.]
Carlo Malatesta, Lord of Rimini, being childless, adopts his dead brother’s three natural sons in 1427[274]
And procures their legitimation before his death in 1429[275]
He is succeeded by the eldest, Galeotto, a visionary ascetic[276]
In 1430 Gismondo, his younger brother, drives back the Papal armies and delivers Rimini, being at the time twelve years of age[279]
Galeotto expels the Jews[279]
And dies[280]
Gismondo succeeds, drives back the armies of Urbino and Pesaro, betroths himself to the daughter of Carmagnola, and marries Ginevra of Este, 1432[281]
He rebuilds the Rocca, and becomes acquainted with Isotta degli Atti[284]
Character of Isotta[285]
In 1440 the wife of Gismondo dies suddenly—In 1442 he marries, not Isotta, but the daughter of Sforza[287]
He rebuilds the church of Rimini in honour of Isotta[287]
Architecture and decoration[287]-294
Sudden death of Polissena Sforza[294]
Triumphs and treacheries of Gismondo as a captain[295]
He deserts from Arragon to Anjou[296]
His reverses begin[296]
At this moment his enemy, Æneas Sylvius Piccolomini, is elected Pope, 1453[296]
The effigy of Gismondo is buried in the streets of Rome, and he is excommunicated[297]
He seeks help in vain of the Angevines at Naples[297]
He marries Isotta, and leaves her as Regent in Rimini[297]
He hires himself to the Venetians, conducts the campaign of the Morea, and brings home the bones of Gemisthus Pletho in 1465[298]
Ruin and death of Gismondo Malatesta[299]
[The Ladies of Milan.]
Murder of Galeazzo Maria Sforza in 1476[300]
The Duchess Bonne and her children leave the conduct of affairs to Cecco Simonetta, secretary of the late Duke and of his father, the great Francesco Sforza[300]
Simonetta exiles the brothers of the late Duke[301]
He falls out with the favourite of the Duchess, who persuades her to recall her brother-in-law, Lodovico il Moro[302]
Lodovico returns secretly to Milan; beheads Simonetta[303]
And shuts his two little nephews in the Tower[303]
He rules Milan by the title of Regent, and exiles the Duchess[304]
His nephew, Giangaleazzo Sforza, marries Isabel of Arragon, granddaughter of the King of Naples[305]
Lodovico Sforza marries Beatrice d’Este, daughter of the Duke of Ferrara[306]
Jealousies of Beatrice and Isabel[306]
Isabel appeals to Naples, and induces her father and grandfather to declare war on Lodovico in defence of the rights of Giangaleazzo[306]
Lodovico invites the French to invade Italy in support of the French claim to Naples, 1494[307]
Death of the Duchess Beatrice, January, 1496[309]
Sforza and Visconti portraits[312]
[The Flight of Piero de’ Medici.]
Charles VIII. invades Italy, 1494[315]
Enthusiasm of the people and of Savonarola for the French[315]-319
Savonarola[319]
Piero Capponi[320]
Piero de’ Medici[321]
His light-minded and frivolous government leaves Florence at the mercy of the French[322]
Piero secretly leaves Florence and goes to make terms with Charles VIII.[325]
Assents to the extravagant demands of the King[331]
Indignation of Florence[335]
Piero is expelled the city[337]
[The French at Pisa.]
Gabriel’ Maria Visconti, Lord of Pisa, declares himself the vassal of the King of France, 1404[340]
Marshal Boucicaut is sent as French Governor to Genoa, 1402[341]
Character of Boucicaut[341]
His schemes for capturing a town in Lombardy[341]
But his allies, the Florentines, are too busy in laying siege to Pisa[342]
Louis of Orleans marches towards Lombardy, 1403[343]
And suddenly returns to France[343]
Boucicaut having accepted Visconti as the vassal of the King for Pisa[345]
The King transfers to Orleans all the royal rights on Pisa[345]
Florence remonstrates with Boucicaut, her ally, asserting that she has more right than the French have to Pisa[345]-8
Meanwhile the Pisans expel Gabriel’ Maria Visconti, who takes refuge at Genoa, and demands succour of the French King, his liege lord[350]
Boucicaut attempts to arrange affairs a l’amiable[351]
The Pisans refuse to accept Gabriel’ Maria, but offer to give themselves directly to France, even as Genoa had done before[351]
Boucicaut induces Gabriel’ Maria to accept a compensation, and sends a French garrison and a galley of provisions to Pisa[352]
The Pisans seize the crew of the galley, cast them into prison, and provision the city for a long resistance at Boucicaut’s expense[352]
Visconti sells Pisa to the Florentines[353]
Boucicaut persuades the King of France to accept the Florentines as his vassals for Pisa[354]
The King agrees and signs a treaty to that effect; yet in the next year he declares Burgundy and Orleans Lords of Pisa, and bids Boucicaut help them against the Florentines. Boucicaut refuses[365]
The Florentines take Pisa. Anger in France. The Duke of Orleans casts the Florentine ambassadors into prison: they are released by his widow after his death
Seventy years of slavery for Pisa[367]
But when, in 1494, Charles VIII. of France invades Italy[368]
He undertakes to maintain the Pisans in their liberties[369]
The Pisans expel the Florentines, and constitute themselves a Free Republic[369]
Divided opinions in the camp of Charles[370]
Charles solemnly swears to Florence that he will restore Pisa on his return from Naples[371]
The Pisans send an advocate to the King in Rome, beseeching him not to deliver them to Florence[373]
Louis de Ligny—Luxemburg, with other adherents of the party of Orleans, favours the Pisans’ cause[376]
Savonarola meets the King at Poggibonsi, and summons him to return by Florence[378]
But the King returns by Pisa, and does not yield the city,[380]
The King promises to let the Florentines know his decision so soon as he arrives at Asti[385]
Meanwhile he leaves Entragues with a French garrison in Pisa[385]
The King, arrived at Turin, summons Entragues to yield Pisa to the Florentines[388]
Entragues refuses[390]
He treats with the Pisans[391]
Pisa becomes nominally a Free Republic[393]
Distress of the French in Naples[394]
Distress of Florence[395]
Milan and Venice intrigue for Pisa[396]
And Pisa never forgives the French her liberty[396]

The Beguines and the Weaving
Brothers.[[1]]

I.

With the approach of the thirteenth century, the world awoke from its long and dreamless sleep. Then began the age of faith, the miraculous century, starving for lack of bread and nourished upon heavenly roses. St. Louis and St. Elizabeth, Dominic the eloquent and the fiery Bonaventura, Thomas Aquinas and Francis the glorioso poverello di Dio, proclaim the enthusiastic spirit of the age. It is an age of chivalry no less in religion than in love, an age whose somewhat strained and mystical conception of virtue is sweetened by a new strong impulse of human pity. The world begins to see; and the green growth of the earth, the birds of the air, the fishes of the sea, become clear and noticeable things in the eyes of the saints. The world awakes and feels. Jean de Matha and Félix de Valois, gentlemen of Meaux, visit the prisons of France, and redeem many hundred captives from Morocco. On all sides men begin to love the sick, the poor, the sinful; even to long for sickness and poverty, as if in themselves they were virtuous; even to wonder whether sin and evil may not be a holy means for mortifying spiritual pride. To rescue the captive, to feed the hungry, to nurse the leper, as unawares Elizabeth of Hungary tended Christ in her Thuringian city—this is the new ideal of mankind. And this age of feeling is no less an age of speculation, of metaphysical inquiry, of manifold heresies and schisms. No new Bernard stops with his earnest dogma the thousand theories which everywhere arise and spread.