Albert Azo the Second was no more than seventeen when he first drew the sword of rebellion and patriotism, when he was involved with his grandfather, his father, and his three uncles in a common proscription.

In the vigour of his manhood, about his fiftieth year, the Ligurian Marquis governed the cities of Milan and Genoa as the minister of Imperial authority.

He was upwards of seventy when he passed the Alps to vindicate the inheritance of Maine for the children of his second marriage.

He became the friend and servant of Gregory VII., and in one of his epistles that ambitious pontiff recommends the Marquis Azo, as the most faithful and best beloved of the Italian princes, as the proper channel through which a king of Hungary might convey his petitions to the apostolic throne.

In the mighty contest between the crown and the mitre, the Marquis Azo and the Countess Matilda led the powers of Italy.