been built by Caesar Augustus, and this was in the year of Christ 1167. And after this the Emperor came to Rome to besiege it and to destroy it, and brought it into great straits. The Romans caused the clergy of Rome to take the heads of St. Peter and of St. Paul and to carry them in procession all through Rome, for the which thing the Romans all took the cross against the Emperor, and the first which took it was M. Matteo Rosso the Elder, of the Orsini family, grandfather to Pope Nicholas III., and by reason of old age he had abandoned arms, and taken the habit of a penitent; and for this cause he put off the said habit and took his arms again, for which he was much commended, and by reason of this he and his came into favour with the Church, and increased greatly. After the said M. Matteo, Gianni Buovo, a great citizen of Rome, took the cross, and afterwards all the others with great zeal and desire; for the which thing, when the Emperor heard thereof, either through fear, or rather through a miracle of the blessed Apostles, straightway he departed from the siege of Rome with his followers, and returned to Viterbo, and the city of Rome was set free. Sec. 2.--_How Pope Alexander returned from France to Venice, and the Emperor returned to obedience._ [Sidenote: 1168 A.D.] Then, after the said Pope Alexander had been long time in France, by the aid of the kings of France and of England he returned with his court into Italy by sea, and, landing in Sicily, he was devoutly received and favoured by King William, which then was king thereof, and which declared himself faithful to Holy Church, and that he held the island from him; for the which thing the said Pope confirmed him king of Sicily, and gave him Apulia, wherefore the said King William with his fleet bore him company by sea as far as the city of Venice, whither the Pope desired to go for more security, that the Emperor Frederick might not hurt him; and to show favour to the faithful believers in Holy Church in Lombardy, he sojourned in the said city of Venice, and by the Venetians was reverently received and honoured; and by his favour the Milanese rebuilt the city of Milan in the year of Christ 1168. Then, a little while after, the Milanese, with the aid of Piacenza and Cremona, and of the other cities of Lombardy which obeyed Holy Church, built a city in Lombardy, to be a rampart and defence against the city of Pavia, which always was against Milan, and held with the Empire; and since this city was built, to the honour of the said Pope Alexander, and to the end it might be more famous, they called it Alessandria; and afterwards it was surnamed City della Paglia [of Straw], in contempt, by the Pavians; and at the prayer of the Lombards the Pope gave it a bishop, and deposed the bishop of Pavia, and took away from him the dignity of the Pallium and of the Cross, forasmuch as he had always held with the Emperor Frederick against the Church.