It was noticed that the mode of life in Rome during his reign struck a just balance between license and austerity, and that general satisfaction pervaded society.[70] Outside the city this contentment did not prevail.

Gregory threw his States into disorder by reviving obsolete rights of the Church over lands mortgaged or granted with obscure titles.

The petty barons rose in revolt, armed their peasants, fomented factions in the country towns, and filled the land with brigands.

Under the leadership of men like Alfonso Piccolomini and Roberto Malatesta, these marauding bands assumed the proportion of armies.

The neighboring Italian States--Tuscany, Venice, Naples, Parma, all of whom had found the Pope arbitrary and aggressive in his dealings with them--encouraged the bandits by offering them an asylum and refusing to co-operate with Gregory for their reduction.
[Footnote 70: Giov.