io Avignoh, ànd fuWtted thfcttireîvts io pope Innocent, who abfolved éttm of théf 'erfot.'' To return to the lords of Milan : I will tiy how ' they ftfft obtained' ^oïTeflîon1 df the M%-nefe. Thià archbijhôp, thefr uncle, -teeeived in Milan the new fcmperor/ ôn his retutn from Abe la Chapelle (where hé had performed lthe ufu^l ce-remonies for4 forty days)' with fo much tffegtâ-lcencc and fplcndour that, in * return for this geé£ Cheer and for a loan of one hundred thbufahdïii-cats, the empetof created him vifcourit of Milâr?, and gave to him the territory, of the MiMntfe, ajià to his nephews after hittf,. to hold, during pleaAire, and until the hundred thoufand ducats'were1 repaM in one fum. When the archbtfhop 'died, his hç+ phew, fir Matthew, was acknowledged by die èitt-peror as vifcount of'Milan. His tW brtMiéxè, t fir Galeas and fir Bernàbo,'who theti #efè far fto'til Hch, took council together, " and deterrtiïhéd td feize the government and rule bvtt Lombafdy t to accomplie this, they rcfolved on their brother^ death, by poifon or otherwHê, and then té unite themfelves " fq ftrongly % nlarriage that no ot\é. would dare to anger them. : 1 * " After the death of fir Matthew, they reigned with great power, and were on the beft terfris du-ring their lives. They divideft the country of Lombardy between them ; fir Galeas ' had tetk towns, being the cldeft brother, and fir Bet~ nabo nine ; and Milan was governed alternately • by them for one year. To maintain their govern-ment, and fupply their expenfts, they |aid hcaff VOLT XI. ' R ta*« - '241