Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 11.djvu/800

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PERUGIA


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PERUGIA


modicine, letters, sciences, and political economy. There are also the Universities of Saint Thomas of Cuzco, Saint Tlionia-s of Trujiilo, ami Saint Aufjus- tine of Ar<'(mii)a. Xorinal, agricultural, and manual training scliools arc hirgclv attended.

LoRKXTE, «is(ori<i lift I'cni (Lima, 1803-76); 1'hescott, Ilis- lory of the Conquest oj fcru (Boston, IS.')9); Raimondi, Bl Feru (Lima, 1890-1902); Bebmldez. Atiates de la CateJral ile Lima (Lima, 1903); Enock, The Andes and the Amazon (London, 190S); Idem, Peru (New Yorli, 1908) ; WRtatlT, The Old and New Peru (Philadelphia. 190S); Gablanu. Peru in I'JOe (Lima, 1907); Seebee, Notes on Peru (London, 1901) ; Bulletin of the Pan- American Union (August, 1910).

J. Moren-Lacalle.

Perugia, .\rchdiocese of (Perusina), in Umbria, Central Italy. The city is situated on a hill on the right of the Tiber. The Gothic cathedral is of the fourteenth centurj', its facade being yet unfinished; it contains paintings by Baroccio, Manni, and Signo- relli; there is a marble sarcophagus in which are the remains of Urban IV and Martin IV; in the chapel del Santo Anello is preserved an onyx ring, which is saitl to have been the marriage ring of Our Lady, and which was venerated first at Chiusi, where it was stolen, and then taken to Perugia in the fifteenth cen- turj'; in tiie chapter library is preserved a codex of the Gospel of St. Luke, of the sixth century. Other churches are: San Pietro dei Cassinesi, the church of a monastery founded by St. Peter Vincioli about 1000; San Ercolano, the high altar of which is made of an ancient sarcophagus; Sant' Angelo, a round building, dating from the sixth century ; the Madonna della Luce, a graceful little temple by Galeazzo Alessio; San Francesco del Prato, now the seat of the "Acca- demia" of fine arts. The university, founded in 1320, has three faculties, and contains a museum of Etrus- can, Roman, and Christian antiquities, with many sculptures and inscriptions, among the latter, the "Tabulae Perusinse", discovered in 1822. The most notable ancient monuments of the town are the Porta Augusta; the tomb of the Volumnii, which was dis- covered in 1840 by VermighoU; and the Etruscan walls.

Perugia was among the most important cities of the Etruscans, with whom it took part in the wars against Rome in 310 and 295 b. c, as also in the Sam- nite \Aar. The Perugian War (41 b. c.) is famous; the troops of Anthony were shut up here, where they were compelled to surrender. During the Gothic War, Pe- rugia suffered various sieges, by the Byzantines in 537 and in 552, and by the Goths in 546 and 548. The Lombards at the time of their first incursion had taken possession of the city, but in 592 it came again under the Byzantine power and was made the seat of a dux. In 749 it was besieged by the Lombard King Rachis, who, however, was persuaded by Pope Zacharias to raise the siege. Pepin gave the city to the Holy See. From the beginning of the eleventh century, Perugia was established as a free commune and was in struggles with the neighbouring cities of Umbria and of Tuscany (Chiusi, 1012; Cortona, 1049; Assisi, 10.54; Todi, 10.56; Foligno, 1080 and 1090); it was governed by consuls (from 5 to 16), for whom were substituted in 1303 the priori delle arti; after 1174 there was a podesta, and later a capilano del popolo.

Perugia,friendly toFlorence and faithful to theHoly See, was essentially a Guelph city, and in the thir- teenth century the popes established their residence here for a long time; four of them were elected here (Honorius III, ITonorius IV, Celestine V, and Clement V). On the otlier hand, continuing its wars with neighbouring cities (Spoleto, from 1:524, was besieged for two years), Perugia extended its sovereignty over the greater portion of Umbria, and over a part, of Tuscany. In 1375 it was among the first cities that revolted against Gregory IX at the instance of the Florentines. Meanwhile, there had been formed two


parties: the Raspanti (the popular party) and the Beccarini (the party of the nobles), and between them they had made it possible for Biondo Mi<-h<'lotti to become lord of the city in i;590; he, however, was killed in 1:393, and th(>n Gian Galeazzo \'isconti took possession of the town ; but in 141)3 it became sub- ject to Boniface IX. Afterwards it fell into the power of Ladislao di Napoli ; in 141G the city was taken by Braccio da Montone, who was recognized as lord of Perugia by Martin V. At his death in 1424 the nobles came into power, but contention soon devel- oped among them, and eventually the Baglioni made away with the Oddi family. Finally, Gian Paolo Baglione became a tyrant of the city, making himself detested by his cruelty and dissolute habits. He was reduced to order in 1506 by Julius II; but fresh cruelties against his own relations led to his decapita- tion by order of Leo X in 1520; Perugia then came once more into immediate dependency upon the Holy See.

In 1534 Rodolfo Baglione set fire to the Apos- tolic palace, and the vicelegate was slain; and no sooner had order been established after these events, than a rebellion broke out on account of the tax on salt, which Paul III had increased in 1540; Perugia declared itself a "city of Christ", and confided its keys to the care of a crucifix. On 5 July, however, it was compelled to surrender to the troops of Pierluigi Farnese and lost its freedom. Paul III built a fortress to prevent further revolts of the Perugians, while Julius III restored to them the greater part of their privileges. In the rebellion of 1848, the first act of the Perugians was to demolish the tower of Paul III. In 1859 there was a provisional Government estab- lished, but the Pontifical troops soon took possession of the city, though they did not commit the acts of cruelty of which they have been accused. Finally in 1860 General de Sonnaz took possession of the town in the name of the King of Sardinia.

Blessed John of Perugia, one of the first companions of St. Francis, died in 1230. In the martyrologies are found the names of the martyrs Constantius (Con- stantinus, whom some believe to have been a bishop), Florentius, and Felicissimus, who died at Perugia. LTnder Decius one Decentius was bishop, according to the tradition ; but the first bishop of whom there is any certain knowledge was St. Herculanus, killed by King Totila in 546; manj' admit there were two bishops and saints of this name, of whom the first is said to have died either in one of the great persecutions or under Julian the Apostate (Cappelletti).

St. Herculanus was succeeded by Joannes, who consecrated Pope Pelagius I (566); Aventius (591); Laurentius (649); Benenatus (679) ; St. Asclepiodorus (about 700), whose relics were later taken to Metz; Conon (998) and Andreas (1033), who had various controversies with the abbots of San Pietro; Joannes (1105), who consecrated the monastery of Monte Corona; Vivianus, who was present at the council of 1179; Giovanni (1206), who gave a convent to St. Francis; Salvio de' Salvi (1231), a pious and learned prelate, who restored San Stefano, the ancient cathe- dral; Francesco Poggi, O. Min. (1312), who built S. Domenico nuovo; Andrea Bontempi (1339), a car- dinal, and legate general of Umbria; Andrea Giovanni Baglione (1434), who filled several convents with reformed religious; Dionisio Vannucci (1482), who erected the altar of the chapel del Sacro Anello; Giovanni Lopez (1492), a cardinal who enjoyed in- fluence under Alexander VI; Trilo Baglione (1.501), deposed by Alexander VI for having taken up arms against Cssar Borgia and restored to his see by Julius II; Antonio Ferreri (1506), who suspected by Julius II died in the Castle of S. Angelo in 1508; Cardinal .Ygostino Spinola (1510), under whom the canons of the cathedral, who since the twelfth century had lived according to the Rule of St. Augustine, were