1209 and 1212. All the others are much more recent. Among them there is an especially large number of Genoese, namely, Lanfranco Cigala, who, among other pieces, composed a serventese against Bonifacio III. of Monferrato, Simone Doria, Perceval Doria, Jacopo Grillo, Luchetto Gattilufio, who wrote a serventese belonging to the year 1262 and who was still alive in 1300, and Bonifacio Calvi. A certain Nicoletto of Turin was, in 1238, engaged in a tenzone with Joan d'Albusso. In Ferrara, where the troubadours were welcome guests at the court of the Este, Master Ferrari, in the second half of the century, compiled a collection of stanzas selected from their poems; of his own works, only one cobla has been preserved. The Venetian Bartolommeo Zorzi, who was prisoner of the Genoese from 1266 till 1273, in a canzone defended his native town, with fervent patriotism, against the attacks that had been made on it by Bonifacio Calvi in one of his poems; he also bewailed the deaths of Corradino and of Saint Louis in two beautiful songs of lamentation. The most famous of the Italian troubadours is Sordello of Mantua, who was praised by Dante in his book "De Eloq. Vulg.," and idealised in the "Purgatorio" as the type of noble, patriotic pride. His restless life, which brought him into close contact now with persons of the most exalted rank, and now with the vulgarity, the quarrels, and the petty jealousies of mercenary minstrels, appears to have little in common with the imposing figure created by Dante, and the same remark applies to the majority of his poems. An exception is, however, formed by the serventese on the death of his patron Blacatz, composed in the year 1237: this is filled with the same spirit as the famous invective against the negligent princes which he is made made to utter in the seventh canto of the "Purgatorio," and possibly accounts for Dante's sympathy with the poet. After the death of the noble Blacatz, he can see no way to make good the loss unless the princes eat of the dead man's heart, so as to acquire the courage and nobility they lack; and his enumeration of those in need of this food, develops into a bold and keen satire against the most powerful rulers of his time. In his later years, Sordello was in the service of Charles of Anjou, and probably accompanied him on his expedition to Naples. In 1266 he was prisoner in

Naples, but according to the old biography he died in Provence.

The works of all these poets are contained in the old collections of the troubadour poetry, where they form a portion of Provençal rather than of Italian literature; the Provençal in which they are composed can scarcely be distinguished from that of the other troubadours. In Southern Italy, on the other hand, at the court of Frederick II., such skill in the use of the foreign tongue could only be acquired with difficulty, and poetry written in it could not have been expected to be generally understood: and so the native volgare was adopted. That is probably the reason, why Italian artificial poetry began in Sicily. In Northern Italy, the poets wrote in Provençal; in Central Italy there were no brilliant courts, and the lyrics that were being imitated were court poetry. But the Provençal poetry of the Italians in the North must not be regarded as a transition to that of the South composed in Italian, as has been done; if we except the few verses of the Margraves Lancia and Malaspina, they are both contemporary, and the poems of Zorzi partly belong to a period in which the court poetry of the South had already died out.

In Sicily the good results of the former Arabian rule were still apparent in the prosperous and civilised condition of the island, and Frederick II. did his utmost to preserve this state of things in his kingdom. His new code of laws (the Constitutions of Melfi), while increasing the absolute power of the sovereign, restricted the rights of the restless feudal nobility, and insured order and justice, which was strictly administered. He took the liveliest interest in scientific studies, and, by his brilliant example, gave such an impetus to the general desire for culture as was scarcely equalled by any person during the Middle Ages. He founded the University of Naples (1224), collected in his library many Arabian and Greek manuscripts, and had them translated into Latin. He sent translations of writings of Aristotle that were as yet unknown in the West, and of other philosophers, to the professors at Bologna, so that they might interpret them in their lectures and make them generally known, together with the philosophical works of antiquity that had previously been in use; and it is beautiful to see, in

the letter accompanying these manuscripts, how Frederick regarded the promotion of scientific studies as one of the duties of a ruler, by the side of his other tasks (“ Epistolæ Petri de Vineis," iii. 67).

Rhetoric flourished at the court of the Emperor. His ministers and officials, especially Pier della Vigna, the most eminent among them, were masters in the art of the epistolary and diplomatic style which was at that time cultivated with so much zeal. This is shown by a collection of documents, especially those of Frederick II., which goes by the name of the "Letters of Pier della Vigna," while it is in other manuscripts more suitably entitled "Summa Magistri Petri de Vineis," or "Summa Dictaminum," since it is one of the collections of letters then in vogue which were intended as models of style. Here we note, in contrast to the simplicity to be found in Boncompagno and others, a manifest desire to imitate the fulness and the majesty of the Latin period; but the necessary skill had not been attained, and a diction resulted, that was ponderous, twisted, obscure, and frequently barbarous, with long, involved sentences. They thought they had attained the highest standard of perfection, and were proud of it. In the correspondence of Pier della Vigna with the Archbishop of Capua and the notary Nicolaus de Rocca we have veritable rhetorical contests, the sole purpose of which was to demonstrate the skill of the writer in his use of the pen, each one outvying the other in the employment of exaggerated compliments. During the struggle with the Pope, the style of Frederick's diplomatic documents, which were mostly drawn up by Pier della Vigna, and of the reports of his subordinates relating to public affairs, assumes a special character by reason of the constant note of exaggeration, and of the frequent use of Biblical phrases and images. These notaries always adopted the sanctimonious phraseology common to sermons, and, indeed, the Emperor always desired to have the Word of God on his side, and, as the true defender of the faith in its purity and sanctity, he opposed the corruption of the Church.

Among the followers of the imperial party this style might, in that age of a newly-awakened religious enthusiasm, have been the result of sincere conviction. But this was not the case with Frederick himself. His attitude towards the

religious movement of his time was always regulated by political considerations; he favoured the desire for reform because it threatened the power of the Pope, and had the heretics burnt, because he saw that their alliances were a danger to the order of the State. The Papal party accused him himself of being a heretic and atheist, attributed to him the declaration concerning the three deceivers, and reproached him with denying the immortality of the soul; Dante, in spite of the admiration and respect he felt for Frederick, shared this latter belief concerning him, and placed him in Hell. His enemies may have exaggerated, but everything points to the fact that he was endowed with great freedom of opinions. Though he was himself a sceptic, he pretended to be strictly orthodox, persecuted heresy, that is to say, all sincere doubt, and required his subjects to observe the outward forms of religion; so that he may be said to have initiated in Italy that religious hypocrisy and indolent observance of forms and ceremonials which became general among the cultured at the time of the Renaissance. Towards the Mussulmans the feelings of the emperor were tolerant, even friendly. A division of the Saracen mercenaries of Lucera accompanied the crusading army to the Holy Land. Frederick stood in friendly relations with the Sultan of Egypt; he sent him mathematical problems, in order to procure from him their solution. To Eastern and Western scholars he directed certain metaphysical and theological questions, clearly proving to us that he was a sceptic. These questions were answered by Ibn-Sab'în at the request of the Caliph Rashid at Ceuta.' It may, therefore, be doubted whether his subsequent wish to undertake a great crusade, and his laments at the loss of the Holy Sepulchre, were quite genuine, and whether he was not rather, in this way, playing a trump card against the Pope, who prevented the execution of his pious plans.

In this powerful personality, which made so great an impression on the age, we see at all points a great similarity to Eastern potentates, in his love of science, in his absolute rule, in his unscrupulousness when pursuing his political aims, in the blend of magnanimity and cruelty, in the heart

1 Amari, l. c., p. 702.

lessness, with which he caused the ruin of his most faithful servants, such as Pier della Vigna, as soon as he became suspicious, and, finally, in his sensuality. Amari justly called him and King Roger "i due sultani battezzati di Sicilia” (iii. 365). To the Christians of the West his court appeared to be a court of Mussulmans, at which the luxury and loose morals of the East prevailed. Frederick delighted in Saracen pantomimists and female dancers, kept a harem at Lucera, and employed eunuchs by whom he had his last two wives jealously guarded. Under his predecessors, Arabian poetry was still composed at this court; but in the earliest Italian poetry it is impossible to find any traces of Arabian influence, which could no longer maintain itself against the popularity of the Provençal love poetry.

To the poets of the Italian school belong the Emperor Frederick II. himself, his son Enzo, King of Sardinia, and Pier della Vigna, of Capua. The latter was, after the year 1232, very prominent in public affairs, filling the highest offices of the State in 1247-as Pronotary of the Imperial Court and Logotheta of the Kingdom of Sicily. He died a tragic death in 1249, after falling into sudden disgrace. Of the majority of the others who, according to the old collections, were authors of poems, we know nothing beyond the name, or, at most, also the place of their birth. This is the case with Mazzeo Ricco of Messina, Rugieri Apugliese, Ranieri of Palermo, Rugerone of Palermo, Rinaldo d'Aquino and others. Jacopo of Lentini is always called Notary, and he was himself always fond of giving himself in his poems the title of Notary of Lentini, thus indicating their authorship. Istefano of Messina, is called now "Protonotaro," now "Istefano di Pronto Notaro." Rugieri d'Amici is, perhaps, identical with the Rogerius de Amicis, who was, between the years 1240 and 1242, employed by Frederick II. in important offices of State, and as ambassador to Saracen princes. Guido delle Colonne, of Messina, is called "giudice," and a certain "judex" Guido de Columna is the author of an "Historia Trojana" that was much read in the Middle Ages, being a redaction in Latin prose of Benoît de Ste. More's "Roman de Troie," in the style of historical narrative. According to a note at the end of this work, the first book was written in 1272, and the whole concluded in 1287. If its author be