_CHAPTER XIV_.
_THE SIEGE_.
Erwin was soon able to realize the devastations committed by theEmperor's army. In the place of smiling hamlets and rich villas,nothing could be seen but smoking ruins; the fruit-trees had beenuprooted, the vines pulled up, the crops laid waste. Here and therewere the bodies of peasants swinging from the trees, the ground wasstrewed with booty abandoned carelessly by the marauders. The plainonce so green and smiling, appeared as sad and barren as a Russiansteppe.
This desolation afflicted. Erwin painfully, and he rode rapidly forwardto escape the mournful spectacle. Soon could be seen the tents of theImperial camp, with the varied standards floating proudly above thesharp roofs of the canvas city. The vague hum of the multitude wasmingled with the clang of arms and the strains of martial music, andthe noise of the workmen in the trenches. From the elevated point onwhich he stood, Erwin could distinguish the beleaguered city with itsmighty walls above which towered the brilliant edifices and loftyturrets. As he gazed with admiration upon the town, Rechberg could notbut experience a feeling of sorrow at the thought that all thisgreatness and power was doomed to destruction. After a short ride hefound himself in the interior of the camp, where it was easy toperceive that he was almost entirely surrounded by the Italiancontingents.
The complete investment of the city was impossible, and Frederic, inconsequence, had established four distinct attacks, surrounded bystrong palisades and deep ditches as a protection to the sorties of thebesieged. Although, at intervals of distance, the camps commanded allthe avenues of approach, and it was impossible for the garrison toreceive any supplies or reinforcements, or hold any communication withthe exterior. As it had been decided to reduce the place by famine, arigid blockade was enforced, and the different leaders were relievedfrom the necessity of constructing any of those clumsy machines, undercover of which in those days the assaults upon the works wereconducted. However, Henry the Lion had ordered the building of animmense tower whose proportions excited general astonishment. It wasupon wheels, six stories in height, and could accommodate beneath it athousand soldiers. The upper part was narrower and provided with doors,through which the garrison could pass, by means of temporary bridges,on to the walls of the city. Sorties from the town were of almost dailyoccurrence, and the personal hatred of the combatants gave to theseengagements a most sanguinary character. Whilst the Italians wereengaged in this work of mutual self-destruction, Frederic was preparingto submit them all to his Imperial sway.
While the besieged were ready to suffer every extremity in defence oftheir sacred rights, the greatest agitation reigned in the camp of theItalian auxiliaries. Sworn enemies, for years detesting each other,they were now compelled to live in the forced proximity of a narrowcamp. Leagued together by their common hatred for Milan, the old leavenstill, at times, broke out into open violence, and it required the moststern and almost cruel severity of the Emperor to preserve anythinglike order among them. Frederic had learned, by experience, that fearwas the only master whom they would obey.
Rechberg perceived an immense crowd of strangers pressing towards thevast open space in the middle of the encampment. Jousts and militarygames were, in that age, so much the fashion, that, even under thewalls of a beleaguered town, a place was set apart for the purpose. Buton this occasion it seemed as though the crowd's attraction had anothermotive than mere amusement. Frederic's banner floated in the air, andthe Imperial eagle fluttered bold and haughty above the multitude. Onhorseback, in the midst, stood a herald in a scarlet tabard and with asilver-mounted truncheon in his hand, and immediately behind him, aman, who, in a few weeks' time, had become the terror of the Italians.It was Hesso, the chief of the Imperial police, surrounded by his menfully armed. He glared fiercely upon the crowd.
"What does that blood-thirsty dog want here?" was muttered on allsides. "See how he is looking for some new victims! the poor devilswhom he hung this morning are hardly cold, before he wants to beginagain!"
Although Hesso could not understand their words, he could read theirthoughts.
"You hate and fear me, do you!--Ah well! there's no love lost betweenus," he growled, with a still fiercer expression in his eyes.
The loud blast of the trumpets resounded, and the herald commandedsilence. Thousands awaited with trembling anxiety. The man of thescarlet tabard made another sign; but still the dull murmur went onunceasingly; he raised his truncheon, and when, after many efforts,silence had been enforced, he proclaimed, in a clear and distinctvoice, the wishes of the Emperor.
"In the name of our sovereign liege, listen to the punishments to beenforced against all evil-doers. All fighting in the camp is strictlyforbidden. Should the offender be a knight, his arms will be taken fromhim, and he will be expelled from the army. If he is a varlet, he willbe flogged, his head shaved, and his shoulder marked with a red-hotiron, unless his master redeems him by the payment of fifty pennies."
The herald paused to give his hearers time for reflection. The firstarticle had produced a bad effect upon the Italians, who wereaccustomed to great license in respect to their personal quarrels, andon all sides black and angry glances were exchanged.
"Flogged, shaved, and marked with a hot iron, for that trifle!" saidthe crowd. "It is too severe!"
"Do you hear that, Migleo?" said a voice. "He values us at fiftypennies a piece--it's absurd!"
The herald again commanded silence.
"If any one wounds a soldier, he shall lose his hand; whoever kills oneshall be decapitated!"
"I say, Migleo, what would you look like, with a shaved head?"
"Don't you think, Robbio, that in the course of a fortnight, the mostof us will have neither heads nor hands? For my part, it is asimpossible for me to keep my hands off a Pavian, as it is to meet achicken without wringing its neck?"
"And I can't look at a Novara man, without wanting to spit in hisface," said a Pavian, who stood by; and it was with difficulty the twowere kept from fighting, even under the eyes of Hesso himself.
"Silence, fools!" said Robbio; "do you want to get into theexecutioner's clutches, already?"
"For the first theft, a varlet shall be flogged, shaved, and markedwith the iron; for the second, he shall be hanged!" added the herald.
"There is one omission in the law about theft," said a voice. "It isforbidden to the varlets to rob, but there is nothing said about themasters. What would happen if the offender were a count, a duke, or aking?"
"Silence," cried another voice, whose piercing tone bore a greatresemblance to that of the jester Lanzo. "Don't you know that thenobles never steal? they merely indulge their illustrious desires!"
"Whoever shall hold any communication with the Cardinal Roland, falselystyling himself Pope Alexander III., shall be put under the ban of theEmperor; it is permitted to kill him wherever found!"
"Do you hear that? to pillage is not to steal; the Emperor can permitanything."
"Alexander is the true Pope; Victor is the anti-Pope; is that not so,comrades?"
"Certainly. Long live Alexander!"
"Whoever shall obtain supplies for the Milanese, shall lose his hand;the informer shall be rewarded."
This last article, although the most barbarous, met with generalapproval among the Italians, who only found fault with the punishmentas being too mild. They forgot the iron yoke under which Frederic keptthem, to remember only their hatred for their detested rival Milan.
"Long live the Emperor! Down with Milan! Death and destruction to theMilanese!"
The trumpets again sounded, and while the soldiers gave free vent tothe expression of their hatred, the herald and his escort left theground.
Rechberg had listened to the proclamation, and would have pursued hisjourney, but the dense crowd forced him to remain and hear theimprecations lavished upon the Emperor, as soon as Hesso was out ofsight.
"Laugh on!" thought the young man. "You may laugh as much as youplease, but you will no
t be able to violate those orders withimpunity."
At this moment, two asses' ears ornamented with bells, approached theCount. Lanzo, with a good deal of difficulty, had elbowed his waythrough the crowd, and had gained a neighboring spur-post, where heclimbed up, and then sprang, with the agility of a monkey, upon theCount's stirrup; a moment after, he was behind his saddle. The crowdlaughed and applauded the jester's activity, and Rechberg allowed himto retain his seat, for he saw nothing impertinent in the proceeding ofthe fool, whose loyalty he esteemed, and whose jests would serve toamuse him.
"Whence come you, Lanzo?"
"From the fulfilment of my duty, noble Count."
"Yes; but how?"
"How? I have only just discovered it; I had no positive end in view,until now. But I perceive, my lord, that your mission is of vastimportance. The Emperor, the Pope, and the kings, are veryinsignificant personages compared with you."
"And why so, Lanzo?"
"Because you have the court-fool behind you!"
"But I cannot see in that an omen of greatness."
"Oh, I will explain, if you will only try to understand me!" said thejester. "I will begin with the Pope, that is, providing Victor bereally the Pope,--a matter, about which some quite sensible peoplebegin to doubt. For the last two years, Barbarossa has been holdingcouncil upon council, and yet all of them together have not succeededin proving that Victor is the Pope. This establishes clearly, eitherthat Victor is a fool, or else that he is a puppet of the Emperor,since he is so ready to accept what Alexander refuses. If he had anybrains, he would know that an honest monk is better that what he is."
"You have a bad tongue, Lanzo."
"Possibly! But you will see that it tells the truth. Then we have theking of England and the king of France. They are fools too. I made thereflection when I saw their ambassadors kneel before the Emperor. Ifthey had brains, they would guess that Frederic means to catch themall, one after the other, in his nets."
"You are a statesman of wonderful foresight, Lanzo!"
"Of course I am; my ears show that;--and then, the Emperor is as mad asthe others.--But, I forgot.--Ah! after all I cannot see that there ismuch harm in having a madman for one's godfather! If Frederic werewise, he would not try to conquer the world. He is getting ready toswallow Milan, the head of Italy. After the head, the rest will comeeasily enough; but it is a food not easily digested. The earth belongsto God, and not to the Emperor, and one of these days Frederic'smadness will draw upon himself the wrath of an avenging God."
"Well spoken, Lanzo! you ought to be a member of the Emperor'sCouncil."
"God preserve me from it! my honesty would be exposed to too soretemptations.--But I see in the steel of your helmet a little spritewhich mocks at me. My argument has a weak point, then?--Tell me, wheredid you get that splendid gold chain?"
"Why do you ask me?"
"Answer me first."
"From the knight Bonello,--him whose cause you espoused so warmly."
"Tell me, my lord, how did it happen that you became so deeplyinterested in this traitor's misfortunes? All the camp was astonishedat the boldness with which you braved the Emperor's displeasure. No onebut you would have risked his sovereign's anger to save a traitor'slife. Was it craft on your part, or wisdom?"
"How dare you ask such questions? Is it not our duty to aid all who areunfortunate?"
"Well answered! But the sprite in your helmet is mocking at me again, Ifear you have not told me all the truth. When you pleaded Bonello'scause, had you no other motive than pity?"
"You are right."
"Ah! I have a little intelligence sometimes!--Bonello has adaughter!--Some men of sense saw her without being dazzled--that is,another species of madness! I would ask some more questions, if I werenot afraid that your steel scabbard might make an intimate acquaintancewith my back."
"Still, you are not going to stop there?"
"Certainly not, if I may go on!"
"Go on, then!"
"Well," said the little man, "your heightened color confirms what I hadalready more than half guessed! But have you reflected on what you are,and what this girl is? I am afraid, in this, you have actedinconsiderately. Go to your godfather, and ask him permission to marrythe daughter of ----, a traitor!"
Erwin's countenance changed.
"Ah, how pale you become!" said Lanzo. "You see, dear Count, wisemen should always look to the issue of their projects. But don't bedown-hearted; this Lombard angel is still only a child, and, in a fewyears' time, things may change a good deal." And he sprang to theground.
"You are not leaving me thus, Lanzo? Methinks, a light collation, withme, in the Imperial tent, should not be refused."
"Many thanks, Count! Believe me, there are other things to be done inBarbarossa's tent, besides giving lodgings to a poor devil."
And Lanzo turned boldly to the pavilion of Henry, the Lion.
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