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greatest political genius of their race, named Rienzi Senator of Rome as a boon to the people. Then, during the four years after 1353, he completed his task with firmness and magnanimity. He utilized the pauses between battles to write a text of common law for the Papal States; and the wisdom of this treatise was to prove its worth down to the time of Napoleon.
The "widowed" Rome uttered many a lament that the absence of the Papacy prevented the renaissance of her ardently desired ancient glory. All but a few persons looked upon the Avignon Popes as legitimate. The master of all places, said Petrarch, can live in any and every place: where the Pope is, there is Rome also. But there was great rejoicing when Urban V (1362-1370) decided to return. The Emperor himself had come to Avignon to persuade this holy, morally impeccable monk, whose labours in behalf of culture were dictated by a lofty purpose, to break the French bonds. Nevertheless the Pope, who returned with his Curia in 1367 and an escort of a fleet of sixty galleys furnished by the Italian sea powers, faced difficult times. As he landed in the harbour of Corneto, Albornoz, now a tired old man, welcomed him on his knees. Certain jealous persons suspected him of having spent money for his own profit; and when he had cleared himself by riding up to the Papal dwelling in a cart drawn by oxen and presenting to the Pope the keys of the cities and fortresses he had conquered, the great Spaniard died assured of the Pope's thanks and confidence. Undoubtedly he was the second founder of the Papal States. Soon Urban was to realize what he had lost in this man. Florence, the most powerful political entity in Italy, fomented a rebel- lion among the citizens of die Papal States against the rule of alien French officials. Naples and the Visconti of Milan profited. Robber bands were the real masters as the gentle Pope, a lonely stranger, waited in Viterbo until the Eternal City had grown sufficiently calm to permit his entry.
What destruction and what misery there were in long abandoned Rome! Grass grew in the streets and on it the sheep pastured. They even found green forage in St. Peter's, and between the broken pave- ment stones of the Lateran. The yellow Tiber flowed over the ruins of fallen bridges; basilicas lay covered with dust and dirt; and the Vatican Palace stared emptily at the signs of decadence everywhere
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