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CREMONA

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Originally appearing in Volume V07, Page 408 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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CREMONA , a See also:

city and episcopal see of See also:Lombardy, See also:Italy, the See also:capital of the See also:province of Cremona, situated on the N. See also:bank of the Po, 155 ft. above See also:sea-level, 6o m. by See also:rail S.E. of See also:Milan. Pop. (Igor) See also:town, 31,655; See also:commune, 39,344. It is See also:oval in shape, and retains its See also:medieval fortifications. The See also:line of the streets is as a See also:rule irregular, but the town as a whole is not very picturesque. The finest See also:building is the See also:cathedral, in the Lombard Romanesque See also:style, begun in 1107 and consecrated in 1190.' The See also:wheel window of the See also:main See also:facade See also:dates from 1274. The transepts, added in the 13th and 14th centuries (before 1370), have picturesque See also:brick facades, with See also:fine terra-See also:cotta ornamentation. The See also:great Torrazzo, a See also:tower 397 ft. high,which stands by the cathedral, and is connected with it by a See also:series of galleries, dates from 1267-1291. It is square below, with an octagonal See also:summit of a slightly later See also:period. The main facade of the cathedral was largely altered in 1491, to which date the statues upon it belong; the See also:portico in front was added in 1497. The building would be much improved by See also:isolation, which it is hoped may be effected. The interior is fine, and is covered with frescoes by Cremonese masters of the 16th See also:century (See also:Boccaccio Boccaccino, Romanino, See also:Pordenone, the See also:Campi, &c.), which are not of first-See also:rate importance.

The See also:

choir has fine stalls of 1489-1490, upon one of which there is a view of the facade of the cathedral before its alteration in 1491. The See also:treasury contains a richly worked See also:silver crucifix 9 ft. high, of 1478, the See also:base of which was added in 1774-1775. It contains 408 statues and busts altogether, the central three of which belong to an earlier See also:cross of 1231. Adjacent to the cathedral is the octagonal See also:baptistery of 1167, 92 ft. in height and 75 ft. in See also:external See also:diameter, also in the Lombard Romanesque style. The so-called Campo Santo, See also:close to the baptistery, contains a See also:mosaic See also:pavement with emblematic figures belonging probably to the 8th and 9th centuries, and See also:running under the cathedral. Of the other churches, S. Michele has a See also:simple and See also:good Lombard Romanesque 13th-century facade, and a See also:plain interior of the loth century; and S. Agata a good campanile in the former style. Many of them contain paintings by the later Cremonese masters, especially Galeazzo Campi (d. 1536) and his sons Giulio and See also:Antonio. The latter are especially well represented in S. Sigismondo, 12 m. outside the town to the E.

On the See also:

side of the Piazza del Comune opposite to the cathedral are two 13th-century See also:Gothic palaces in brick, the Palazzo Comunale and the former Palazzo dei Giureconsulti, now the seat of the commissioners for the See also:water regulation of the See also:district. Another See also:palace of the same period is now occupied by the Archivio a ,Notarile. The See also:modern Palazzo Ponzoni contains a museum and a technical See also:institute. In front of it is a statue of the composer Amilcare See also:Ponchielli, who was a native of Cremona. The Palazzo Fodri, now the See also:Monte di Pieta, has a beautiful 15th-century See also:frieze of terra-cotta bas-reliefs, as have some other palaces in private hands. Cremona was founded by the See also:Romans in 218 B.C. (the same See also:year as Placentia) as an outpost against the Gallic tribes. It was strengthened in 190 B.C. by the sending of 6000 new settlers and soon became one of the most flourishing towns of upper Italy. It probably acquired municipal rights in 90 B.C., but See also:Augustus, owing to the fact that it did not support him, assigned a See also:part of its territory to his veterans in 41 B.C., and henceforth it is once more called colonia. It remained prosperous (we may See also:note that See also:Virgil came here to school from See also:Mantua) until it was taken and destroyed by the troops of See also:Vespasian after the second See also:battle of Betriacum (Bedriacum) in A.D. 69; the See also:temple of Mefitis alone being See also:left See also:standing (see See also:Tacitus, Hist. iii. 15 seq.).

One of the See also:

bronze plates which decorated the exterior of the See also:war-See also:chest of the legio III. Macedonica, one of the legions which had been defeated at Betriacum, has been found near Cremona itself (F. Barnabei in Notiz. scavi, 1887, p. 210). Vespasian ordered its immediate reconstruction, but it never recovered its former prosperity, though its position on the N. bank of the Po, at the See also:meeting-point of roads from Placentia, Mantua (the Via See also:Postumia in both cases), Brixellum (where the roads from Cremona and Mantua to See also:Parma met and crossed the See also:river), Laus Pompeia and Brixia, still gave it considerable importance. It was destroyed once more by the See also:Lombards under Agilulf in A.D. 605, and rebuilt in 615, and was ruled by See also:dukes; but in the 9th century the bishops of Cremona began to acquire considerable temporal See also:power. Landulf, a See also:German to whom the see was granted by See also:Henry II., was driven out in 1022, and his palace destroyed, but other Germans were invested with the see after-wards. The commune of Cremona is first mentioned in a document of 1098, recording its See also:investiture by the countess See also:Matilda with the territory known as Isola Fulcheria. It had to sustain many See also:wars with its neighbours in See also:order to maintain itself in its new possessions. In the war of the Lombard See also:League against See also:Barbarossa, Cremona, after having shared in the destruction of See also:Crema in 116o and Milan in 1162, finally joined the league, but took no part in the battle of See also:Legnano, and thus procured itself the odium of both sides. In the See also:Guelph and Ghibelline struggles Cremona took the latter side, and defeated Parma decisively in 1250.

It was during this period that Cremona erected its finest buildings. There was, however, a Guelph reaction in 1264; the city was taken and sacked by Henry VII. in 1311, and was a See also:

prey to struggles between the two parties, until Galeazzo See also:Visconti took See also:possession of it in 1322. In 1406 it See also:fell under the sway of Cabrino Fondulo, who received with great festivities both the See also:emperor See also:Sigismund and See also:Pope See also:John See also:XXIII., the latter on his way to the See also:council at See also:Constance; he, however, handed it over to Filippo Maria Visconti in 1419. In 1499 it was occupied by Venetians, but in 1512 it came under Massimiliano See also:Sforza. In 1535, like the See also:rest of Lombardy, it fell under See also:Spanish domina- tion, and was compelled to furnish large See also:money contributions. The See also:population fell to ro,000 in 1668. The surprise of the See also:French See also:garrison on the 2nd of See also:February 1702, by the Imperialists under See also:Prince See also:Eugene, was a celebrated incident of the War of the Spanish See also:Succession. The Imperialists were driven from Cremona after a See also:sharp struggle, but captured See also:Marshal See also:Villeroi, the French See also:commander. Hence the celebrated See also:verse: " See also:Francais, rendons See also:grace A. Bellone; Notre See also:bonheur est sans egal; Nous avons conserve Cremonee, Et perdu notre See also:general." In the 18th century the prosperity of Cremona revived. In the See also:Italian See also:republic it was the capital of the See also:department of the upper Po. Like the rest of Lombardy it fell under See also:Austria in 1814, and became Italian in 1859.

See Guida di Cremona (Cremona, 1904). (T.

End of Article: CREMONA

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CREMONA, LUIGI (1830-1903)

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