It Still Stands, Opposite The
Church Of St. Matthew, Though It Has Passed From The Possession Of The
Family.
On the striped marble facades, both of the Church and of the
Palace, inscriptions of that age, in excellent preservation, still
commemorate Lamba's achievement.[23] Malik al Mansur, the Mameluke Sultan
of Egypt, as an enemy of Venice, sent a complimentary letter to Doria
accompanied by costly presents.[24]
[Illustration: Church of San Matteo, Genoa]
The latter died at Savona 17th October, 1323, a few months before the most
illustrious of his prisoners, and his bones were laid in a sarcophagus
which may still be seen forming the sill of one of the windows of S.
Matteo (on the right as you enter). Over this sarcophagus stood the Bust
of Lamba till 1797, when the mob of Genoa, in idiotic imitation of the
French proceedings of that age, threw it down. All of Lamba's six sons had
fought with him at Meloria. In 1291 one of them, Tedisio, went forth into
the Atlantic in company with Ugolino Vivaldi on a voyage of discovery, and
never returned. Through Caesar, the youngest, this branch of the Family
still survives, bearing the distinctive surname of Lamba-Doria.[25]
As to the treatment of the prisoners, accounts differ; a thing usual in
such cases. The Genoese Poet asserts that the hearts of his countrymen
were touched, and that the captives were treated with compassionate
courtesy. Navagiero the Venetian, on the other hand, declares that most of
them died of hunger.[26]
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