CHAPTER V.
The state of Italy--Beginning of the greatness of the house of Este--Guelphs and Ghibellines--Death of the Emperor Frederick II .-- Manfred takes possession of the kingdom of Naples--Movements of the Guelphs and Ghibellines in Lombardy--Charles of Anjou invested by the pope with the kingdom of Naples and Sicily--Restless policy of the popes--Ambitious views of pope Nicholas III .-- Nephews of the popes--Sicilian vespers--The Emperor Rodolph allows many cities to purchase their independence--Institution of the jubilee--The popes at Avignon.
At this time the states of Italy were governed in the following manner: the Romans no longer elected consuls, but instead of them, and with the same powers, they appointed one senator, and sometimes more.

The league which the cities of Lombardy had formed against Frederick Barbarossa still continued, and comprehended Milan, Brescia, Mantua, and the greater number of the cities of Romagna, together with Verona, Vicenza, Padua, and Trevisa.

Those which took part with the emperor, were Cremona, Bergamo, Parma, Reggio, and Trento.

The other cities and fortresses of Lombardy, Romagna, and the march of Trevisa, favored, according to their necessities, sometimes one party, sometimes the other.
In the time of Otho III.

there had come into Italy a man called Ezelin, who, remaining in the country, had a son, and he too had a son named Ezelin.