He was to go into exile, and to bind himself
by an oath not to return without the Emperor's permission. He soon
afterward passed over to Normandy, where he stayed for two years with
his father-in-law, Henry II. He then passed over with the latter to
England.
The years immediately following the Congress of Venice were, strange
to say, the most brilliant period of Frederick's reign. It was, after
all, only his ideals that had suffered, and a time of prosperity now
settled down upon the nation.
With Alexander the Emperor remained on friendly terms; but the Pope in
1181 died in exile, having been forced by the faithless Romans, as
Gregory VII had been a century before, to flee the holy city.
The peace with the Lombard towns was signed at Constance within the
six years agreed upon, on June 23, 1183. The communal freedom for
which they had fought so long was now accorded them; the Emperor gave
up all right to the regalia and recognized the Lombard League. His
dream of becoming a second Justinian had not been realized.
The cities received the privilege of using the woods, meadows,
bridges, and mills in their immediate vicinity, and of raising
revenues from them; the jurisdiction in ordinary, civil, and criminal
cases; the right of making fortifications.
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