ABSTRACT
The baronial bishops were deprived of their temporal jurisdictions; and Popes, who had trodden on the necks of kings, were defied by the citizens of Milan and of Florence. It was also the interest of the Pope to oppose the increasing influence of the Emperors; and by joining what was then considered as the liberal party, he became for a period united in alliance with the free States. The Emperor would hear nothing from the Florentine ambassadors, as long as Florence affected to maintain an independent government: the Pope would listen to no terms, but those which should place his family upon the throne of Tuscany. The Pope's army was composed of the soldiers who had lately besieged him in his retreat in St. Angelo, and was made up of all the Spanish and Austrian corps, which had not fallen victims of their own excesses in the dreadful sacking of Rome.
