CHAPTER VII.

FOREIGN AFFAIRS. PEACE AND WAR. COUNCIL OF UNION.

War with Milan and Naples—Filippo Maria Visconti and Alfonso of Naples—End of the Visconti—Francesco Sforza, Duke of Milan—Relations of Sforza with Florence and Cosimo de’ Medici—Alliance of Venice and Naples against Florence—War in the Valley of Chiana and in the Maremma—Peace of Lodi—The Sack of Constantinople—Triumph of the House of Aragon in Naples—Pope Eugene IV.—Contest of the Holy See with the Council of Basle—Council of Union at Florence—Reunion of the Churches of the East and West—Sojourn of Pope Eugenius IV. in Florence—Consecration of the Cathedral and of the Church of Sta. Croce—The Eugenius College—Political Complications—René of Anjou in Florence—Return of the Pope to Rome—Pope Pius II. in Florence—Death of Archbishop St. Antonine—Charlotte of Lusignan in Florence 139