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130 MANUEL (Virgiliana), now chiefly used as a school of drawing, a chamber of commerce and indus- try, a monte di pietd, a general house of cor- rection, a military arsenal, a theatre, and an elegant amphitheatre. The manufactures, in- cluding silk, linen, sail cloth, woollens, soap, pa- per, and parchment, are limited, and the princi- pal article of trade is silk. Mantua is supposed to have been founded by the Etruscans 400 years before the building of Rome, and it came un- der Roman power in 197 13. C. It derives its chief classical celebrity from associations with Virgil, who has celebrated Mantua as the place of his birth in several passages of his works. Charlemagne gave it its first fortifications, which in modern times were completed in their present form by the Austrians. In the middle ages it was one of the most important cities in Italy, and was greatly improved and embel- lished by the Gonzaga family, under whom it became with the surrounding territory a duchy. (See GONZAGA.) In 1630 it was seized by the imperialists and subjected to terrible calamities, from which the city has never recovered. In 1796-7 Bonaparte, hopeless of reducing the fortress by force of arms, kept it under strict blockade for five months till famine com- pelled it to capitulate, Feb. 2, 1797. The Aus- trians regained it in July, 1799, and the French again, after Marengo, in 1800. It belonged to the kingdom of Italy till 1814, when it was restored to Austria. In July, 1842, the Jews, who formed a considerable portion of the pop- ulation, then confined in a separate quarter (ghetto), were subjected to great persecutions. In the war of Sardinia with Austria in 1848, the victory depended on the possession of Man- tua; it was blockaded for several months by the troops of Charles Albert, till his defeat by Marshal Radetzky in the battle of Cus- tozza (July 25). During the wars of 1859 and 1866 Mantua was again of high strategical importance, as one of the most formidable strongholds of Austria. By the treaty of Vil- lafranca, July 11, 1859, it was excepted from the territory ceded to the king of Sardinia; but it was annexed to Italy Oct. 11, 1866. MAM EL, the name of two Byzantine em- nre. 1. Manuel I. Com urn us born about 1120, Sept. 24, 1180. The valor which he had displayed against the Turks induced his father John II. (Calo-Joannes) to bequeath the crown to him rather than to his elder brother Isaac, and he succeeded him in 1143. He was at once involved in wars both in the East and the West, which lasted with brief intermissions through his reign. In 1144 he subjected Raymond, the Latin prince of Antioch. In 1145 he de- feated the sultan of Iconium in successive pitched battles. In 1147 he promised his aid to the new crusade headed by Louis VII. of France and Conrad III. of Germany ; and he allowed them a passage through his dominions, but gave secret information to the Turks. In 1148 he began the most important war of his reign with Roger, the Norman king of Sicily, MANUMISSION | who had taken Corfu and prepared to invade Greece. He formed an alliance with the Vene- tians, who within a year joined him before the fortress of Corfu, which was surrendered after an obstinate siege. He was prevented from invading Sicily by hostilities of the Ser- vians and Hungarians, instigated by Roger, the former of whom were vanquished in two cam- paigns, but the latter protracted the war till 1152. In that year he suffered a reverse from the Turks in Cilicia, but his general John Ducas gained so great successes in southern Italy that Manuel conceived the project of reuniting the eastern and western empires. The defeat of Alexis, the successor of John Ducas, by Wil- liam, the successor of Roger, soon followed ; the Sicilian admiral Maius routed the Greek fleet off Negropont, and advanced toward Con- stantinople ; and Manuel therefore accepted an honorable peace in 1155. Those Greek prisoners who were silk weavers were retained in Italy, and gave origin to the Italian silk manufac- tures. In the following years he waged suc- cessful wars with Raymond, prince of Antioch, and Az ed-Din, the Turkish sultan. A .new war soon broke out with Gejza II., king of Hun- gary, which was terminated by the defeat of the Hungarians. In 1176 he was defeated by Az ed-Din in the mountains of Pisidia, and was obliged to sign a disadvantageous peace. By breaking the treaty and renewing the war he obtained honorable terms. Depressed by this disastrous expedition, he never recovered his former militarv enterprise and ambition. II. Mannel II. Palseologns, bora in 1348, died July 21, 1425. At the death of his father John V. in 1391, he fled to Constantinople from the court of the sultan Bajazet, with whom he had been left as a hostage. The consequence was a war with Bajazet, in which Manuel was supported by an army of Hungarians, Germans, and French. The allies, under the command of Sigismund, king of Hungary and afterward emperor of Germany, were defeated in the bloody battle of Nicopolis in 1396, with the loss of 10,000 men. Constantino- ple was besieged, and its fall seemed impend- ing, when the conquests of Tamerlane diverted the arms of the sultan. Manuel visited Italy, France, England, and Germany, vainly seeking assistance from the western princes. In the conflict between the Tartars and the Turks, he acted with diplomatic skill, and secured peace to his empire. He sent ambassadors to the council of Constance with instructions to urge a union of the Latin and Greek churches; but his real object was only to obtain aid from the kingdoms of the West, and to alarm the Turks by the negotiations. MANOIISSION, in Roman antiquity, the form by which slaves, or other persons not mi ju- ris, were released from their condition. There were three modes of effecting a legal release, by vindicta, census, or will, by any of which the freedman might obtain the rights of a citizen. The vindicta was the oldest, and as