[345] We are told that one cause of the ferocity of the German part of the army of Charles was their anger at the ruinous condition of the imperial palace.
[346] Under the influence, partly of this anti-pagan spirit, partly of his own restless vanity, partly of a passion to be doing something, Pope Sixtus the Fifth did a great deal of mischief in the way of destroying or spoiling the monuments of antiquity.
[347] These campaniles are generally supposed to date from the ninth and tenth centuries. I am informed, however, by Mr. J. H. Parker, of Oxford, whose antiquarian skill is well known, that he is led to believe by an examination of their mouldings that few or none, unless it be that of San Prassede, are older than the twelfth century.
This of course applies only to the existing buildings. The type of tower may be, and indeed no doubt is, older.
Somewhat similar towers may be observed in many parts of the Italian Alps, especially in the wonderful mountain land north of Venice, where such towers are of all dates from the eleventh or twelfth down to the nineteenth century, the ancient type having in these remote valleys been adhered to because the builder had no other models before him. In the valley of Cimolais I have seen such a campanile in course of erection, precisely similar to others in the neighbouring villages some eight centuries old.
The very curious round towers of Ravenna, some four or five of which are still standing, seem to have originally had similar windows, though these have been all, or nearly all, stopped up. The Roman towers are all square.
[348] The Palatine hill seems to have been then, as it is for the most part now, a waste of stupendous ruins. In the great imperial palace upon its northern and eastern sides was the residence of an official of the Eastern court in the beginning of the eighth century. In the time of Charles, some seventy years later, this palace was no longer habitable.
[349] Such as we see it in the later and lesser churches of basilica form.
[350] It was thus that most of the earlier Teutonic Emperors, and notably Charles and Otto, professed to have obtained the crown; although practically it was partly a matter of conquest and partly of private arrangement with the Pope. In later times, the seven Germanic princes were recognized as the legally qualified electoral body, but their appearance on the stage was a result of the confusion of the German kingdom with the Roman Empire, and in strictness they had nothing to do with the Roman crown at all. The right to bestow it could only—on principle—belong to some Roman authority, and those who felt the difficulty were driven to suppose a formal cession of their privilege by the Roman people to the seven electors. See [p. 227] supra: and cf. Matthew Villani (iv. 77), 'Il popolo Romano, non da se, ma la chiesa per lui, concedette la elezione degli Imperadori a sette principi della Magna.'
[351] That which Dante, Arnold of Brescia, and the rest really have in common with the modern Italian 'party of movement' is their hostility to the temporal power of the Popes.