Note 253 — Chapter IV · ITALY.

Raynald. ann. 1357, No. 38-9; 1258, No. 1-4; 1259, No. 1-3.--Rolandini Chron. Lib. IX.-XII. (Muratori, S. R. I. VIII. 299-352).--Monach. Patavin. Chron. (Ib. VIII. 691-705).--Nic. Smeregi Chron. (Ib. VIII. 101).--Wadding, ann. 1258, No. 6.--Mag. Bull. Rom, I. 118. The ferocity of the age is seen in the treatment bestowed on Ezzelin’s brother Alberico, when captured with his family. He was gagged and tied to a tree, his wife and daughters were burned alive before his eyes, his sons were slain and their limbs thrown in his face, and then he was deliberately hacked in pieces.--Laurentii de Monacis Ezerinus III. (Muratori, S. R. I. VIII. 150). Alberico was a man of culture, a troubadour, and a patron of the gai science (Vaissette, Éd. Privat, X. 313).