Footnotes

1. Sigonius (de Regn. Ital., lib. ii. A.D. 1134) speaks of this as follows: "When the Milanese saw themselves excommunicated and deprived of their metropolitan's dignity for following Anselm in his support of Anacletus and Conrad, moved by repentance for their misdoing, they sought, through their Bishop Ribault, whom they had chosen in the room of Anselm, to recover favour with Innocent and Lothaire; and they wrote a letter with this object to Bernard, the power of whose influence they knew to be great. Bernard being summoned by Innocent to the Council of Pisa, as he was hastily passing through Lombardy wrote to congratulate them on having laid aside their error, and promised to help them by his intercession and to come to them on his way back. Having arrived at Pisa the Council was opened and its business happily ended, mainly by his sagacity and wisdom. The acts of that Council were many. The chief one was an anathema directed against Anacletus and his supporters. To the Milanese, who had been persuaded by their Bishop to return to their allegiance to Innocent, many honours were given; Ribault, whom they had themselves elected, was allowed to retain his dignity, and was gifted with the pall, so that the city regained its metropolitical dignity, and a most honourable embassy was sent to them to give them pardon. Guido of Pisa, and Matthew, Bishop of Alba, were sent as legates a lutere, and with them was joined the man they most asked for, Bernard, to extinguish the schism caused by Archbishop Anselm, and to set the people free from their wickedness by the ministry of religion. The Milanese, when they heard that Bernard was close by, immediately rushed out of the city with great joy, went seven miles to meet him, with such a multitude of all orders and ages, both men and women, that a stranger might have thought that they were abandoning the city to settle elsewhere. Then when the two companies met, they vied with each other in their eagerness to see him, to speak to him, and even to kiss his feet. They plucked hairs from his garments to keep them as remedies against disease, thinking everything that he had touched holy, and supposing that they themselves would become so by having touched him; and in this manner they brought him with shouts and rejoicing into the city. Then on a day appointed a conference was held. At it they first of all repudiated Anacletus, and acknowledged Innocent as true and Catholic Pontiff. Next they forswore Conrad and publicly recognized Lothaire as their king and lord, and received him, as did the rest of the world, as the august Roman Emperor, and promised on the Holy Gospel that they would give satisfaction for their past contumacy according to the counsel and command of Innocent. Afterwards they agreed to submit to Bernard's decision, and they accepted the penalty which he imposed. While Bernard was at Milan he cured by the power of God, to the great wonder of all, a vast number of sick, who were brought to him, lame, blind, halt, and especially he set free very many who had been possessed by a devil because of the schism. Then by the order of Innocent he set out to Pavia and Cremona to make peace between the States of Lombardy. But being unsuccessful in his efforts at Cremona, he announced their obstinacy to Innocent in these words: " The people of Cremona have hardened their hearts, and their prosperity is leading them to their ruin. They despise the Milanese, and their confidence is their snare. They put their trust in chariots and horsemen, they have frustrated my trust in them, and rendered my labour useless." ↩