A History of Verona Page: 222 of 493

                                
CANGRANDE I (2)                   2oi
relief of the Paduans, who, so long as the Germans were near,
dreaded that they would sack the city, Henry went off to
Carinthia, only halting on his way north at Bassano to wait for
the money promised him by Cangrande.
In August, I324, Guecello da Camino died and was
succeeded by his son Rizardo, the husband of Verde della Scala.
In spite of this close connexion with Cangrande, and the smallness
of his territories-Serravalle was the only town of any size
belonging to him-Rizardo at first seemed inclined to join the
enemies of the Scaligeri. Cangrande, however, promptly seized
Serravalle.  Rizardo fled, but realizing his powerlessness, on
second thoughts returned, and submitted to Cangrande. On
22nd November an event occurred which might have been
expected to cause a great deal of consternation at Padua, the
death of Jacobo da Carrara. Curiously enough, however, none
of the chroniclers express any sorrow at his loss, though in
earlier years no praise had been too great for him. It may be
that he had never recovered the loss of prestige incurred by the
renunciation of the Captainate. His death, however, removed
the last drag on the turbulence and ambition of the younger
Carraresi, for though his nephew Marsilio succeeded him as head
of the family, he was not nearly so strong a man as Jacobo, and
was unable to exercise any control over his relations, whose
quarrels and excesses kept the whole city in a constant ferment
and eventually led to its overthrow.
No sooner had the truce expired than the Veronese army
took the field. Now that Henry of Carinthia had gone, Cangrande
no longer felt unequal to attacking the Paduans. Early
in 1325 he entered the southern part of the Paduan district,
and encamped at Conselve, half-way between Monselice and the
Piovado. From here he carried on a campaign of systematic destruction,
burning Conselve itself, and Pieve di Sacco, and devastating
all the country-side right up to the walls of Padua. Only
the Euganean hills were spared, because the inhabitants had
already submitted to him. The Paduans, in spite of their experience
of last year, again sent to ask for help from Henry of Carinthia.
Henry took no notice of their appeal, but Louis, to whom
they also applied, sent envoys to Cangrande and arranged for an-