Montorio possessed great
influence over it. The duke of Calabria was upon the banks of the Tronto
with his men-at-arms, under pretense of appeasing some disturbances
among the peasantry; but really with a design of reducing L'Aquila
entirely under the king's authority, and sent for the Count di Montorio,
as if to consult him upon the business he pretended then to have in
hand. The count obeyed without the least suspicion, and on his arrival
was made prisoner by the duke and sent to Naples. When this circumstance
became known at L'Aquila, the anger of the inhabitants arose to the
highest pitch; taking arms they killed Antonio Cencinello, commissary
for the king, and with him some inhabitants known partisans of his
majesty. The L'Aquilani, in order to have a defender in their rebellion,
raised the banner of the church, and sent envoys to the pope, to submit
their city and themselves to him, beseeching that he would defend them
as his own subjects against the tyranny of the king. The pontiff gladly
undertook their defense, for he had both public and private reasons for
hating that monarch; and Signor Roberto of San Severino, an enemy of the
duke of Milan, being disengaged, was appointed to take the command
of his forces, and sent for with all speed to Rome. He entreated
the friends and relatives of the Count di Montorio to withdraw their
allegiance from the king, and induced the princes of Altimura, Salerno,
and Bisignano to take arms against him. The king, finding himself so
suddenly involved in war, had recourse to the Florentines and the duke
of Milan for assistance. The Florentines hesitated with regard to their
own conduct, for they felt all the inconvenience of neglecting their own
affairs to attend to those of others, and hostilities against the church
seemed likely to involve much risk. However, being under the obligation
of a League, they preferred their honor to convenience or security,
engaged the Orsini, and sent all their own forces under the Count
di Pitigliano toward Rome, to the assistance of the king. The latter
divided his forces into two parts; one, under the duke of Calabria, he
sent toward Rome, which, being joined by the Florentines, opposed the
army of the church; with the other, under his own command, he attacked
the barons, and the war was prosecuted with various success on both
sides. At length, the king, being universally victorious, peace was
concluded by the intervention of the ambassadors of th