Such were the consequences of our fatal bondage to the empire. The people, guided by infallible instincts, showed in this matter more wisdom than their rulers. If we had shaken off the imperial embraces, we might have obtained from the Turks all those privileges which the Venitians had acquired a few years before; nor should we have had rivals to contest our gains. The French were falling into civil commotions which turned their attention from commercial enterprises. The English seldom showed themselves in our seas. The Dutch had not yet thrown off the yoke at which they were fretting, and the Venitians soon after, becoming as inimical as the Spaniards to the Turkish power, were excluded from Eastern markets. The Levant, still rich in silk fabrics, might have been a fountain of vast wealth for Genoese merchants.
[CHAPTER XIV.]
PRINCE GIULIO CYBO.
The revolt of Naples—Andrea Doria subdues it—Plots of the exiles against his life—Giulio Cybo seizes the feud of Massa and Carrara—His schemes for revolutionizing the Republic—Conference of the Genoese exiles in Venice—Capture of Cybo—Doria labours to have the emperor condemn Giulio to death—Punishment of Cybo and his accomplices—Letter of Paul Spinola to the Genoese government—Scipione Fieschi and his disputes with the Republic—Maria della Rovere—Eleonora Fieschi; her second marriage and death.
Andrea Doria had finally extinguished in Genoa the popular conspiracies for liberty, and on the ruins of the Guelph Fieschi house had firmly planted the Spanish tyranny. Still, in every corner of the Peninsula, the people, not yet corrupted by the servility of the great, cherished the memory of better days, and scarcely concealed their antipathy to Spain. The sword of Doria—which is still sacriligiously suspended over the high altar of the church of San Matteo—was once more stained with the blood of the people.
Don Pietro di Toledo, a man of integrity, but haughty and devoted to Rome, was very solicitous to introduce the Spanish inquisition into Naples in order to wash out in blood the stains of heresy. Orchine da Siena, Lorenzo Romano, Montalcino and Vermiglio were preaching the doctrines of Luther and Zuingle and secretly diffusing the works of Melancthon and Erasmus. The people learned the intentions of Toledo, and rose almost to a man, protesting against inquisitors and martyrdoms. Their protests yielded no fruit and they seized their arms, deposed the foreign governors and created new magistrates, promising, however, to maintain their devotion to the empire. Toledo issued a proclamation that he would proceed to the trial and punishment of Tommaso Aniello of Sorrento and Cesare Mormile, who were reputed the leaders of the sedition. The two rebels came before the judges with such a mass of followers, that the court counted it better policy to honour rather than punish them. But the viceroy, determined to terrify Naples, barbarously butchered Gianluigi Capuano, Fabrizio d’Alessandro and Antonio Villamarino, and threatened capital punishment against any who should remove the bloody corpses.
This exasperated but did not awe the populace. They made common cause with the barons, sent deputies to the emperor and signed a truce with Toledo until the imperial answer should be known. The truce was worse than war. The Bisogni, who had taken refuge in the castles, not only destroyed the surrounding houses, but in their frequent sorties killed all who fell into their hands, and the populace retorted by killing the Spanish prisoners whom they had captured.
Toledo saw that he was too weak to make head against the enraged populace, who were already investing the forts and citadels held by his troops, and sent for Doria to deliver him from his embarrassment. Andrea was ill prepared for so grave an undertaking. His galleys were damaged and without crews; for besides the Barbary slaves who fled in that fatal night of the Fieschi, the convicts had first sacked the ships and then taken refuge in the Apennines. But the admiral entered on the project of aiding Toledo with unwonted zeal. He obtained money from Prince Centurione, enlisted new crews and officers, and soon had a fleet ready to sail. The galleys were sent off under his lieutenants Marco Centurione, son of Adamo, and Antonio Doria. Thanks to these ships of Doria, Toledo suppressed the revolt in Naples, took capital vengeance on the leaders and punished the people with heavy taxation. Yet it has been said that the emperor pardoned the rebels! History spoke falsehood. Still, this stormy protest of the people saved Naples from the inquisition. The masses well knew the real object of Toledo. He sought less to crush heresy than to exterminate the spirit of liberty.