On this account Manfred occupied the state, first as guardian of Corradino, but afterward, causing a report to be circulated that Corradino had died, made himself king, contrary to the wishes of both the pope and the Neapolitans, who, however, were obliged to submit.
While these things were occurring in the kingdom of Naples, many movements took place in Lombardy between the Guelphs and the Ghibellines.

The Guelphs were headed by a legate of the pope; and the Ghibelline party by Ezelin, who possessed nearly the whole of Lombardy beyond the Po; and, as in the course of the war Padua rebelled, he put to death twelve thousand of its citizens.

But before its close he himself was slain, in the eightieth year of his age, and all the places he had held became free.

Manfred, king of Naples, continued those enmities against the church which had been begun by his ancestors, and kept the pope, Urban IV., in continual alarm; so that, in order to subdue him, Urban summoned the crusaders, and went to Perugia to await their arrival.

Seeing them few and slow in their approach, he found that more able assistance was necessary to conquer Manfred.