Frederick drew fresh reinforcements from Germany for the campaign of 1176; but Henry the Lion refused to come, and a personal interview between him and Frederick at Chiavenna did not induce him to change his purpose. Nevertheless, with the help of his Italian friends, Frederick was still at the head of a gallant army, while the warlike Christian of Mainz kept the Normans in check by invading Apulia. The northern campaign opened when Frederick left Pavia and joined the force, which was now brought from Germany, at Como. His object now was to return with his new troops to Pavia. But Milan blocked the direct road, and forced the Emperor to make a circuit to the west. The Milanese anticipated this movement by marching out of the city with their caroccio, hoping to cut off the German host before it could reach Pavia. On 29th May the confederates encountered the imperial army near Legnano, about seventeen miles north-west of Milan, in the plain that stretches from the river Olona westwards to the Ticino. The caroccio was put in the centre of the army, and protected by a select band styled the ‘Company of Death,’ who had sworn either to conquer or never return. The fierce charge of the mail-clad German knights put to flight the knights of Lombardy, and Frederick, who here commanded in person, fiercely assailed the infantry grouped round the caroccio. For a moment the cause of the league seemed undone. But the Emperor was unhorsed in the struggle, and the rumour soon spread that he had fallen. The infantry in close array held their own manfully, until the fugitive cavalry rallied and assailed the Germans in flank. Before nightfall Frederick’s army was hopelessly broken, and the Emperor gained Pavia, almost unattended, with the utmost difficulty. But the citizen-soldiers went home, and did not follow up their victory, and Cremona with other towns became so jealous of the success of Milan that they prepared to make separate terms with the Emperor. Frederick himself had grown weary of the struggle; and the Archbishops of Cologne and Magdeburg, who had brought the last army from Germany, declared that they would no longer support the Emperor, and urged him to reconcile himself with Alexander. In October Frederick reluctantly broke the ill-fated oath of Würzburg, and sent Christian of Mainz and other German prelates to Anagni to conclude peace with the Pope. He still hoped to detach Alexander from the Lombard cities, and resume hostilities against them after he had been reconciled to the Church. Alexander refused to betray either the cities or his older ally, William of Sicily, and Frederick reluctantly brought himself to accept the hard terms of the victors. In March 1177 Alexander and his cardinals journeyed to Venice to be near the negotiations. [Sidenote: The Peace of Venice, 1177.] It seemed as if all Italy were banded together against the Emperor, and as if instead of resisting lawful authority, the papal