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The Republic of San Marino 637 Rimini, who came to Monte Titano, and decided in favor of its in- habitants on the ground that they were " free and exempt from any exterior suzerainty and rule whatsoever." A similar demand, made in 1296 by the " Podesta di Montefeltro," was referred by the na- tives to Pope Boniface VIII., who ordered an enquiry to be held. We have a long account of this enquiry, which was conducted on tlie spot by Ranieri, a neighboring abbot, and which forms a Great Charter of Sammarinese liberties. The witnesses, summoned before them, quoted Palamede's decision, and derived their liberties from Marinus himself A Socratic dialogue ensued, the learned abbot trj-ing to pose the simple mountaineers by pressing them for defi- nitions of " liberty," to which they made excellent replies. But Uberto, bishop of Montefeltro, soon renewed these vexatious claims on San Marino, so that the inhabitants saw themselves compelled to take up arms in their own defence, first arresting some of his envoys on suspicion. They are mentioned as parties to the general pacifi- cation of the diocese, which was determined upon at the peace con- ference held at San Leo in 1300. But the next bishop, Benvenuto, adopted a more subtle line of attack. He asked permission at Rome in 1320 for the sale of the community, which he could not conquer, to the Malatesti, lords of Rimini. The contract was, however, never executed, and the Malatesti soon afterwards made peace with San Marino, although it had just lost its powerful friend, Frederico, count of Urbino, who was the victim of a popular tumult in the latter city. His relative, Speranza di Montefeltro, found a refuge among the Republicans, whose relations with the Casa Fcl- tria had been as friendly as they were hostile with the bishops of Montefeltro. Yet, when their old enemy, Bishop Benvenuto, was an exile, they were so magnanimous as to receive him, too. His suc- cessor, for a pecuniary consideration, ceded to them all rights which he possessed, and the little land had a respite from troubles. The citizens were now able to devote themselves to works of public utility. They built a hospital, and appointed a commission of experts to revise their statutes, the result of whose labors was published in 1353. But a new danger soon threatened this small community. Innocent VI., in his palace at Avignon, had resolved to restore the papal power in Italy, and despatched Cardinal Albornoz to subdue the Italian cities over which he claimed dominion. Albornoz, in the course of his career of conquest in the Romagna, found that the closest friendship existed between San Marino and the counts of Montefeltro, and in a treaty concluded with the latter, specially stipulated that the fortress of San Marino should remain under his own immediate control, until such time as the Malatesti