UBERTO AND EZZELIK 993 zealous would find the Holy See benignant to them in their " op- portunities." The significance of this is not to be mistaken, and it would be difficult to set limits to the power thus concentrated in the hands of the ex-Catharan.^ Territorially, however, his authority w^as circumscribed by the possessions of Uberto and EzzeMn, within which no inquisitor dared venture. In this very year, 1257, Piacenza, which had fallen un- der control of Uberto, was placed in such complete hostility to the Church that it was deprived of its episcopate, and its bishop, Al- berto, w^as transferred to Ferrara. In Yicenza, which was ruled by Ezzehn, matters were even worse. There the heretics had a recognized chief named Piero Gallo, of the Borgo di San Piero, whose name was adopted by them as a rallying cry, to which the Catholics responded with "viva Volper—2. member of the family of Volpe being the leader of their faction ; and so thoroughly did this become encrusted in the habits of the people that we are told in the seventeenth century that the cry of the citizens of the Borgo (then corruptly caUed Porsampiero) was still "viva Gallo r while that of the dweUers in the Piazza and Porta IN'uova was " viva Volpe r Ezzehn would permit no persecution, and when the blessed Bortolamio di Breganze, one of the immediate disciples of St. Dominic, was made Bishop of Yicenza, in 1256, he was reduced to seeking conversions by persuasion. After preaching for a while with httle effect he had a public discussion with Piero Gallo, and so impressed him by argument that the heretic w^as converted. ' We may reasonably doubt the assertion that Ezzehn's displeasure at this feat was the cause of Bortolamio's banishment from his see but, whatever was the motive, he was consoled by Alexander lY.' who sent him as nuncio to England. During his absence, in 1258,' his archdeacon, Bernardo JS^iceUi, was bolder, and made a capture of importance in the person of the Catharan Bishop, Yiviano Bo- golo. He endeavored to convert his prisoner, but his powei^ of persuasion were insufficient, and Ezzehn interfered and set the heretic at liberty. f So long as these Ghibelline chiefs retained power it was e^^dent
- Ripoll I. 300, 326, 327, 399.-Potthast No. 16292.
t Campi, Deir Hist. Eccles. di Piacenza, P. 11. pp. 214-15.— Barbarano de' Mironi, Hist. Eccles. di Vicenza, II. 99, 104.
