Two and Two Make Four

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1914 Excerpt: ...violence offered to the venerable head of the faith. But Colonna and de Nogaret sternly silenced the malcontents and drove the pope to the castle of a noble in the town, who had sought his own advantage by entering into a league with the French. There an attempt was made to starve the pope into an agreement to abdicate, but neither blows nor privation could shake the spirit of that old man. He bore his ordeal with weakening bodily but unimpaired spiritual strength. De Nogaret had hoped to return to France with the pope's abdication, but he was doomed to disappointment. The horrified townspeople, who had been awed by the military strength of de Nogaret's following, began to murmur, and the sense of outrage emboldened them. There were little assemblages in the smithy, in the shop of the barber, in front of the doors of the substantial citizens; the tradesmen in the market-place glowered at the swaggering free companions in their iron headpieces. It needed but a leader to gather these together, and the leader was found in Cardinal del Fiesco. Three days after the attack upon Boniface the cry of Long live the pope! Death to the traitors! resounded in the quiet streets of Anagni, and de Nogaret and his band found themselves furiously assailed by a mob of townspeople headed by the cardinal. Despite their discipline, they were driven outside the walls. The pope was released. He called a consistory at once, and his first words were a proclamation of pardon to those who had subjected him to so much pain and indignity. Meanwhile the Colonnas had gathered partisans and were besieging Anagni. The news of the attack spread over the country, and in Rome the Orsini, hereditary enemies of the Colonnas, prepared to take partisan advantage of the situation. Gathe...