Henry did go south, but there were greater obstacles in his way than Dante imagined. The spirit of the age was against him. It was vain to try to bring back the past. Florence shut her gates, manned her walls, sent more money to his enemies, and headed a league of the Guelf cities in Tuscany and Umbria. Even Rome was half against him. The Ghibelline nobles received him and took him to their part of the town; but the Guelfs held St. Peter's, and though there was fierce fighting in the streets, the Guelfs stood their ground, and Henry was forced to receive the Imperial crown from the papal legate (the Pope was too prudent to leave Avignon) in the basilica of St. John Lateran. Here the luckless Emperor stayed for a time in the midst of ruin, material, political, and moral. Then he attempted to crush Florence, the ringleader of disobedience, but her walls were too strong; the impotent Emperor could do no more than harry the country-side. He fell back upon Ghibelline Pisa, and set patiently to work to gather together a new army. The Ghibellines gallantly responded to his call, and Henry actually set forth on his way to Naples, to punish the House of Anjou and avenge the Hohenstaufens, but death cut short his lofty plans. He died in a little town near Siena (1313), and the hopes of Dante and the Ghibellines were ruined forever. The last flicker of the Empire had gone out. Other Emperors, it is true, crossed the Alps, but not as masters. The connection of Italy with the Holy Roman Empire ends with the death of the gallant Henry. The mediaeval Papacy and the mediaeval Empire had passed away, for the Middle Ages themselves had come to an end. FOOTNOTES: [12] _Storia di Firenze_, lib. ix, cap. cxxxv. CHAPTER XVII A REVIEW OF THE STATES OF ITALY (ABOUT 1300) Now that the two great actors, whose long-drawn quarrel has been the main thread of Italian history, have made their exits, and left us, as it were, with a sense of emptiness, it becomes necessary to call the roll and make a better acquaintance with the lesser _dramatis personae_, who step to the front of the stage and carry on the plot of history. The programme reads as follows:-- DRAMATIS PERSONAE The Papacy An absentee. The Empire A shadow. The Kingdom of Naples House of Anjou reigning. The Kingdom of Sicily House of Aragon reigning. Florence A Guelf democracy. Siena Ghibelline city. Pisa Ghibelline city. Genoa A maritime aristocracy. Venice A maritime oligarchy. Milan A Lombard commune. Savoy A feudal county. Guelf cities of Tuscany, communes of Lombardy, petty marquisates of the northwest, etc.