Barbarossa; An Historical Novel Of The XII Century Part 32

"Well said, daughter, you are right. Could I be fortunate enough, Count, to gratify one of your wishes?--Come," continued Bonello, seeing that Erwin was too agitated to speak, "you should at least have courage enough to ask me, but I think I can reward you? Well, if you won't, I must; take her, my son! My children, I betroth you in the sight of Heaven, and before this a.s.semblage."

The people applauded, as Erwin took her hand; he had forgotten the past, and his eyes shone with a courage and a determination which would have defied the universe.

"My dear Bonello, I leave you, full of hope in a brighter future!

Farewell, Hermengarde, and fear nothing; our separation will be only a brief one."

He mounted and rode away, followed by the cheers and good wishes of the crowd.

_CHAPTER XXVIII_.

_THE POPULACE IN THE TWELFTH CENTURY_.

The Milanese were profoundly discouraged by the Chancellor's disloyal conduct and the forcible abduction of their consuls; while the rigid enforcement of the blockade by the Imperial troops rendered the introduction of supplies a matter of impossibility.

The people, full of courage and fort.i.tude, so long as they possessed an abundance of everything, began to murmur, when they became aware that their provisions were nearly exhausted, and even the Archdeacon Sala, once revered almost as a saint, lost his influence, and, with the Archbishop and the other ecclesiastics, was obliged to seek an asylum within the walls of Genoa. With them, all organization disappeared, and the angry crowd threatened to open the city gates to the enemy.

Thousands of infuriated men and women a.s.sembled before the palaces of the consuls Nigri and Oberto, demanding food, and the magistrates were unwillingly obliged to yield, and on the last day of February, 1162, convoked an a.s.sembly of the people.

The mult.i.tude flocked together on the public square, in the centre of the town, their hollow eyes, pallid cheeks, and trembling limbs giving proof of the bitter pangs of hunger. One member alone had lost none of its energy; it was the tongue, which railed out violently against the consuls, who were accused of everything dishonorable and unjust. The boldest of the mob got as close as possible to the tribune, from which the magistrates were to harangue the people, in order that they might interrupt the speakers at their pleasure.

"Trust me, my friends," said a cobbler, with wan cheeks and a hungry air; "I have been obliged to give up mending shoes, and do you know why? It was because my children have eaten the last piece of leather that there was left in the house."

"Leather! why, that's food for a king," interrupted another speaker.

"We eat things that I won't name! We must all die, miserably, of hunger, if the gates are not soon opened to the besiegers."

"Certainly we must!" cried a third. "If our consuls were as hungry as we are, they would soon stop talking about courage, and patriotic devotion, and heroic patience, and other beautiful things of the sort.

However, they can say what they please, comrades, for they have plenty to eat and drink."

"Consul Boriso's red nose, and Grillo's big belly, have made me reflect very seriously for some time past," said a butcher. "We all look awfully, as if we were going to die of starvation to-day. A man can't live on liberty and patriotism; for we have not got cellars and wine vaults as well filled as our consuls."

"Barbarossa will not treat us as badly as the famine will," added another. "What is the use of freedom, if we are to perish with hunger?"

"It is all folly! Look, if you please, to what this freedom has brought us? If we taste its sweets ten days longer, we will all be in the grave-digger's hands."

"Hurrah for bread! Down with liberty!" screamed a thousand voices, as they caught sight of the consuls. Oberto ascended the tribune, and the yells and murmurs gradually subsided as they looked upon the old man, who, sad and dejected, gazed upon the crowd, and thought of the time when he used to speak to the Milanese, once so brave and valiant.

"Fellow-citizens," he said, "it is now a year that you have borne, with a courage and a patience worthy of your ancient renown, all the rigors of a siege. Barbarossa hems us in more closely every day. He desires the destruction of our free inst.i.tutions; his aim is to humble our n.o.ble city, and reduce her citizens to va.s.salage."

A succession of savage yells interrupted the orator.

"Bread! Bread!" was cried on all sides.

"Open the gates! Down with the ranter!"

"Brothers, fellow-countrymen," resumed Oberto, "think of the glories of the past! Are you willing to wear the yoke of slavery?"

"Ah! our past glories. We are too wretched and humble now; it will do to talk of that when we are in prosperity. Give us food!"

"Fellow-citizens, do not torture me with your reproaches. I suffer from hunger, like yourselves; but I prefer death to the loss of that liberty which our ancestors have bequeathed to us."

"Bah! we are not such fools!" yelled the crowd. "Life is better than liberty!"

"The man is mad!" cried a voice; "he advises us to die of starvation!"

"He is mad! Yes, the gold paid him for his treason inspires his tongue!

Comrades, let us go and open the gates!"

"Long live the Emperor! Hurrah for bread!"

Oberto turned, appealingly, towards his audience,--

"Fellow-citizens," he resumed, "your desires shall be gratified; you shall have all that you ask. To-day a delegation will leave Milan to treat for the surrender of the city; but the consequences must rest on your own shoulders; you will regret and bewail them. If the Lombard race is degenerate, if it courts its own slavery with eagerness, let its wishes be accomplished."

There was for a moment a profound silence. Oberto had spoken so sadly, his features expressed such bitter anguish, that the sympathy of many was awakened, but the ringleaders were firm.

"These are only fine words, comrades!" they said. "Barbarossa won't eat us; he may shave off a little of our liberty, and force us to pay the expenses of the war; he will demolish some of the forts, which we can build again when we please; all the rest will be as it was before!"

"Certainly! certainly!" cried many voices.

"Brothers, let us go to the munic.i.p.al palace!" was yelled out; "let us see whether the consuls will keep their promise!"

"Yes, yes! let us go there at once!"

The mob rushed to the official residence and surrounded the building, until the delegation, preceded by a herald bearing a white flag, appeared upon the steps of the palace; and then, as though fearing some trickery, accompanied the commissioners to the city gates, where they watched them enter the enemy's camp. About two hours afterwards, the envoys returned with a message that, on the ensuing day, the Emperor would receive and consider the terms offered by the besieged. Still the news did not give universal satisfaction; for, although the rabble was delighted, the more respectable cla.s.s of the citizens and the n.o.bility winced under the disgrace. On the next day, four of the consuls repaired to the Imperial camp, where they met with a reception which foretold clearly the probable fate of their city. They were not admitted to the Emperor's quarters, but obliged to await his pleasure in the open air, exposed to all the severity of the weather. A violent storm burst forth meanwhile, accompanied by thunder and lightning and torrents of rain, and in a few moments the unfortunate consuls, drenched to the skin, and with their costly robes clinging to their persons, sought in vain a shelter, which was refused to them, amid the jeers and mockeries of the insolent lackeys.

They felt deeply humbled by this treatment, so different to what they had been accustomed to in their native city, where they had always occupied the first place in the public estimation. With bent heads and clothes soiled with water and mire, their faces expressive of sadness and resignation, these n.o.ble old men looked like statues--strangers to all the concerns of earth.

At last they were admitted to the council-hall, where Frederic was seated, surrounded by all the dignitaries of the Empire and the consuls of the allied towns. The Milanese threw themselves at the Emperor's feet, and then Gherardo Nigri laid before him the terms which they were commissioned to propose.

"Sire, ill.u.s.trious princes, n.o.ble lords," he said, "the disasters of a protracted siege have at last inclined my countrymen to submission and peace. It is true that our formidable works would have enabled us for some time to resist the enemy's attacks--"

"Enough!" interrupted Barbarossa, abruptly. "State simply the terms of surrender, without any commentaries."

"I obey," replied Nigri, mortified that he should be obliged to submit tamely to his country's humiliation. "Our terms embrace everything which could possibly be demanded; even were the city taken by storm, your Majesty could exact little more. Milan will demolish her fortifications and build an Imperial citadel at her own expense; she will annul all her treaties of alliance; will admit your army within the walls; will give three hundred hostages to be held for three years; will recognize the supremacy of the German functionaries over all others; will acknowledge fealty to your Majesty, and will pay a tribute which shall be established at a future period."

The German n.o.bles appeared satisfied, but the consuls of the allied towns shook their heads in token of their disapproval.

"Duke," said Frederic to Henry the Lion, "what think you of these propositions?"

"I think that nothing more can be asked for," replied Henry. "I confess, however, to my surprise, that the haughty city of Milan should have consented to draw them up."

The other n.o.bles, as well as the bishops of the Empire, were of a similar opinion.

"However," observed the Bishop of Munster, "should His Majesty consider the chastis.e.m.e.nt as insufficient, I am opposed to the adoption of the enemy's conditions."