|
"L'aquila grifagna Che per più divorar due becchi porta." Luigi Alamanni. |
[*11] This may be, and indeed is so; but see Lanzani, St. d. Comuni Italiani dal. Orig. al 1313 (Milano, 1882), lib. I., passim. Nevertheless, the relation of all the Dukes and Signori to the Empire or to the Church was absolutely feudal as I understand the term, as in essence was, in turn, the relation of a city to its contado. Cf. D. Winspeare, St. d. Abusi Feudali (ed. 1883), to which is added as appendix an article by F. de Coulanges on the feudal régime. See also C. Cantù, St. d. Italiani (Torino, 1854), tom. III., cap. LXXIV., pp. 224-39. C. Calisse, St. d. Diretto Italiano (Firenze, 1891), vol. II., parte II. e III.
[*12] For the malaria in Italy in the Middle Age, see Aquarone, Dante in Siena (Siena, 1889), p. 47-9.
[*13] I doubt a true democratic element anywhere; perhaps for a few decades in Perugia.
[*14] So far as the Malatesti are concerned this is absolutely untrue. Carlo Malatesta went to infinite trouble to legitimise Galeotto and Sigismondo, his brother's illegitimate children. See Edward Hutton, Sigismondo Malatesta (Dent, 1906), p. 19.
[*15] The Malatesti were, without doubt, just as great and beloved as the Montefeltri. Sigismondo was as great and enthusiastic a patron of the arts, and in contemporary opinion a greater soldier than Federigo di Montefeltro. See Edward Hutton, op. cit., p. 86 note 1.
[16] This was written under Gregory XVI. Time will show how far the more enlarged and generous policy essayed by his successor can abate long and deeply rooted prejudices on the one hand, without fostering undue expectations on the other. As yet (1850) the experiment has signally failed.[*A]
[*A] As we know, it succeeded ten years later.
[17] Mariotti's Italy, II., p. 298, first edition.