Alexander III. recognised in the monastery of the Carità, school of P. Veronese; Hall of the Great Council.
the amazing legend of Alexander’s arrival in Venice. Tracked and pursued, the story says, by his imperial enemies, the fugitive Pope reached Venice in disguise and at night. After wandering for hours through the dark and winding ways of the city, he sank down at last upon the steps of a church, worn out with fatigue and sleep, to wait for the day. At dawn he took up his staff again, and on seeing a building which was evidently a monastery, he knocked at the door and asked for shelter. The house was that of Santa Maria della Carità. He was admitted, and, according to at least one chronicler, was installed in the kitchen as a scullion. In this humble office he lived uncomplaining for six months, until a French traveller, who had often seen him in France, recognised him, and hastened to inform the Doge of his presence. The emotion created by the intelligence may easily be imagined. The ducal palace and the whole city were in a ferment of excitement, and a vast procession proceeded at once to fetch the sovereign pontiff from the convent kitchen and conduct him to the palace of the patriarch of Grado. Strong in the support of the Venetians, the Pope now sent ambassadors to Frederick requiring him to restore peace to Church and State. The Emperor, according to the story, sent an arrogant reply, and swore that he would plant his victorious standard before the very door of Saint Mark’s. The natural result of such a reply could only be a war, and the legend did not fail to invent one of the most dramatic nature. Sixty galleys from the Empire, from Genoa, and from Pisa, entered the Adriatic under the command of the young Otho, the Emperor’s son, a boy of eighteen years, endowed with superhuman strength, courage, and experience. Against this powerful fleet
Alexander III. presents the Doge with the sword, Francesco Bassano; same Hall.
the Venetians could only send a force of thirty ships. But right was on their side, and especially the right of legend to give the victory to its favourites. The Doge knelt before the Pope, the Pope blessed him, presented him with a golden sword and promised him the victory. On Ascension Day a great and bloody sea-fight
Battle of Salvore, Domenico Tintoretto; same Hall.
was fought off Salvore, not far from Parenzo, and the Venetians utterly discomfited their enemies, taking from them forty-eight galleys and a vast number of prisoners, including the Prince Otho himself. Like all legendary
The Venetians present Prince Otho to the Pope, A. Vicentino; and other pictures representing scenes from the same legend, in the same Hall.
people, these legendary Venetians were noble and generous beyond words, and at once sent the Prince back to his father with twelve ambassadors. Touched by so much kindness, the Emperor requested a safe-conduct for himself to visit Venice, and having arrived there he was kept waiting an unconscionable time while the terms of a treaty of peace were drawn up. When he was at last admitted to the presence of Alexander III. Frederick was made to lay aside all the insignia of royalty, and was forced to lie down flat upon his face while the Pope placed one foot upon the back of his neck and recited from Psalm xci. verse 13, ‘The young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample underfoot.’ Frederick answered, ‘I bow not before thee, but before Peter.’ ‘Both before Peter and before me,’ insisted the Pope.
The historian Romanin is justified in declaring that it would be hard to accumulate a greater number of absurdities in a single tale, and the most elementary historical criticism has sufficed to destroy all such fables.
