In  the  fall  of  the  house  of  Suabia,  Rome  appeared  to  have
consummated  her  triumph ;  and  although  the  Ghibelin  party
was  for  a  little  time  able-  to  maintain  itself,  and  even  to  gain
ground,  in  the  north  of  Italy,  yet  two  events  that  occurred
not  long  afterwards  restored  the  ascendency  of  their  adver-
saries.   The  first  of  these  was  the  fall  of  Eccelin  da  Romano,
whose  rapid  successes  in  Lombardy  appeared  to        ^^
threaten  the  establishment  of  a  tremendous  despot-
ism, and  induced  a  temporary  union  of  Guelf  and  Ghibelin
states,  by  which  he  was  overthrown.    The  next  and  far  more
important  was  the  change  of  dynasty  in  Naples.  Affairs  of
This  kingdom  had  been  occupied,  after  the  death  NaPles-
of  Conrad,  by  his  illegitimate  brother,  Manfred,  in  the  be-
half, as  he  at  first  pretended,  of  young  Conradin
the  heir,  but  in  fact  as  his  own  acquisition.     He
was  a  prince  of  an  active  and  firm  mind,  well  fitted  for  his
difficult  post,  to  whom  the  Ghibelins  looked  up  as  their  head,
and  as  the  representative  of  his  father.    It  was  a  natural  ob-
ject with  the  popes,  independently  of  their  ill-will  towards
a  son  of  Frederic  II.,  to  see  a  sovereign  on  whom  they  could
better  rely  placed  upon  so  neighboring  a  throne.  Charles  of
Charles  count  of  Anjou.  brother  of  St.  Louis,  was  Al'J°u-
tempted  by  them  to  lead  a  crusade  (for  as  such  all  wars  for
the   interest  of   Rome   were  now  considered)  against   the
Neapolitan  usurper.     The  chance*  of  a  battle  de-
cided  the  fate  of  Naples,  and  had  a  striking  in-
fluence upon  the  history  of  Europe  for  several  centuries.
