brother and son, or, as some authorities aver, a wife and son,
prisoners in their hands. Sardinia continued to be governed
by native “judges” who were like petty sovereigns, but were
now subject to the sway of Pisa. This was the primary cause
of the jealousy of the Genoese, and of the wars afterwards
made by them upon Pisa and carried on until its power
was crushed. Meanwhile the Pisans flourished more and
more, and continued hostilities against the Saracens. In 1062
their ships returned from Palermo laden with spoil. Thus
it is not surprising that Pisa should already have had its own
code of laws (Consueludmi di mare), which in 1075 were
approved by Gregory VII., and in 1081 confirmed by a patent
from the emperor Henry IV., a document which mentions for
the first time the existence of a magistrate analogous to the
consuls of the republic, although the latter, according to some
writers, already existed in Pisa as early as the year 1080; the
point, however, is doubtful, and other writers place the first
authentic me11tion of the consuls in the year 1094.[1] The oldest
of Pisan statutes still extant is the Breve dei consoli di mare of
1162.
In 1099 the Pisans joined in the second crusade, proved their valour at the capture of Jerusalem, and derived many commercial advantages from it; for within a short time they had banks, consuls, warehouses and privileges of all kinds in every Eastern port Thus, while the commune of Pisa was still under the rule of the marquises of Tuscany, all negotiations with it were carried on as with an independent state officially represented by the archbishop and consuls. The aristocrats were the dominant party, and filled the highest offices of the republic, which, in the 12th century, rose to great power, both on sea and land, by its wars with the Lucchese, Genoese and Moslems. In 1110 Pisa made peace with Lucca after six years of continuous hostilities. And in the years 1113 and 1115 it achieved a still greater enterprise. The Pisan fleet of three hundred sail, cornmanded by the archbishop Pietro Moriconi, attacked the Balearic Isles, where as many as 20,000 Christians were said to be held captive by the Moslems, and returned loaded with spoil and with a multitude of Christian and Moslem prisoners. The former were set at liberty or ransomed, and among the latter was the last descendant of the reigning dynasty. The chief eunuch who had governed Majorca perished in the siege. Immediately afterwards the fourteen years' war with Genoa broke out. The two republics contested the dominion of the sea, and both claimed supreme power over the islands of Corsica and Sardinia. A papal edict awarding the supremacy of Corsica to the Pisan church proved sufficient cause for the war, which went on from 1118 to 1132. Then Innocent II. transferred the supremacy over part of Corsica to the Genoese church, and compensated Pisa by grants in Sardinia and elsewhere. Accordingly, to gratify the pope and the emperor Lothair II., the Pisans entered the Neapolitan territory to combat the Normans. They aided in the vigorous defence of the city of Naples, and twice attacked and pillaged Amali, in 1135 and 1137, with such effect that the town never regained its prosperity. It has been said that the copy of the Pandects then taken by the Pisans from Amalfi was the first known to them, but in fact they were already acquainted with those laws. The war with Genoa never came to a real end Even after the retaking of Jerusalem by the Moslems (1187) the Pisans and Genoese again met in conflict in the East, and performed many deeds of valour. They were always ready to come to blows, and gave still more signal proofs of their enmity during the Sicilian War in behalf of the emperor Henry VI From that moment it was plain that there could be no lasting peace between these rival powers until the one or the other should be crushed. The greatness and wealth of the Pisans at this period of their history is proved by the erection of the noble buildings by which their city is adorned. The foundations of the cathedral were laid in 1063, and its consecration took place in 1118, the baptistery was begun in 1152, and the campanile (the famous leaning tower) in 1174. And all three magnificent structures were mainly the work of Pisan artists, who gave new life to Italian architecture, as they afterwards renewed the art of sculpture.
It is asserted by some writers, especially by Tronci, that in the 12th century Pisa adopted a more democratic form of government. But in fact the chief authority was still vested in the nobles, who, both in Pisa and in Sardinia, exercised almost sovereign power. They formed the real strength of the republic, and kept it faithful to the empire and the Ghibelline party. The Guelph and popnlar element which constituted the force and prosperity of Florence was hostile to Pisa, and led to its downfall. The independence of the former city was of much later origin, only dating from the death of Countess Matilda (1115), but it rapidly rose to an ever-increasing power, and to inevitable rivalry with Pisa. Owing to the political and commercial interests binding Florence to the Roman court, the Guelph element naturally prevailed there, while the growth of its trade and commerce necessarily compelled that state to encroach on waters subject to Pisan rule. And, although Pisa had hitherto been able to oppose a glorious resistance to Genoa and Lucca, it was not so easy to continue the struggle when its enemies were backed by the arms and political wisdom of the Florentines, who were skilled in obtaining powerful allies. The chroniclers ascribe the first war with Florence, which broke out in 1222, to a most ridiculous motive. The ambassadors of the rival states in Rome are said to have quarrelled about a lapdog. This merely shows that there were already so many general and permanent reasons for war that no special cause was needed to provoke it. In 1228 the Pisans met and defeated the united forces of Florence and Lucca near Barga in the Garfagnana, and at the same time they dispatched fifty-two galleys to assist Frederick II. in his expedition to the East. Shortly after this they renewed hostilities with the Genoese on account of Sardinia. The judges who governed the island were always at strife, and, as some of them applied to Pisa and some to Genoa for assistance against one another, the Italian seas were once more stained with blood, and the war burst out again and again, down to 1259, when it terminated in the decisive victory of the Pisans and the consolidation of their supremacy in Sardinia. But meanwhile Florence had made alliance with Genoa, Lucca and all the Guelph cities of Tuscany against its Ghibelline rival. The pope had excommunicated Frederick II. and all his adherents. And, as a crowning disaster, the death of Frederick in 1250 proved a mortal blow to the Italian Ghibelline cause. Nevertheless, the Pisans were undaunted. Suinmoning Siena, Pistoia and the Florentine exiles to their aid, they boldly faced their foe, but were defeated in 1254. Soon after this date we find the old aristocratic government of Pisa replaced by a more popular form. Instead of the consuls there were now twelve elders (anziani), besides the podesta, there was a captain of the people; and there was a general council as well as a senate of forty members. The rout of the Tuscan Guelphs on the field of Montaperto (1260) restored the fortunes of Pisa. But the battle of Benevento (1266), where Manfred fell, and the rout of Tagliacozzo (1268), sealing the ruin of the house of Hohenstaufen in Italy and the triumph of that of Anjou, were fatal to Pisa. For the republic had always sided with the empire and favoured Conradin, whose cruel end struck terror into the Ghibelline faction. The pope hurled an edict against the Pisans and tried to deprive them of Sardinia, while their merchants were driven from Sicily by the Angevins. The internal condition of the city was affected by these events. Owing to the increasing influence of the Guelph and popular side, to which the more ambitious nobles began to adhere for the furtherance of personal aims, the aristocratic Ghibelline party was rapidly losing ground. The first man to step to the front at this moment was Count Ugolino della Gherardesca of the powerful house of that name. He had become the virtual head of the republic, and, in order to preserve its independence and his own sway, inclined to the
- ↑ It must be remembered that the Pisans and Florentines dated the beginning of the year ab incarnatione, i.e. from the 25th of March But the Florentines dated it from the 25th following and the Pisans from the 25th of March preceding the commencement of the common year. The new or common style was adopted throughout Tuscany in the year 1750.
