READING HALL

THE DOORS OF WISDOM

BOOK THE FIRST.

CHAPTER XII. FROM 1282 TO 1292.

The year 1283 commenced at Florence with unusual tranquillity; the new constitution was popular and respected, and the sweets of equality and freedom were tasted by the great mass of citizens: but like other precious things their preservation was coupled with great anxiety, and the course of political events was scanned with a degree of piercing jealousy that left nothing unexamined or indifferent. For this reason the now declining fortune of the Ghibelines and consequent peace of Romagna, as well as some recent hostilities between Pisa and Genoa were events that gave as much undisguised satisfaction as the Sicilian Vespers did, in secret, to the Florentine nation: not that Charles had lost their affections or that they desired to see any new potentate commanding in Italy, but his military talent, his fortune, and his extreme ambition alarmed them for their own independence. In his rage against Peter of Aragon he had defied him to stake the fate of Sicily on single combat at Bordeaux before Edward Plantagenet, and the crafty Spaniard immediately accepted this challenge too happy at having such an opportunity of withdrawing his adversary from the immediate direction of a war in which he was so much superior in resources; but predetermined never to bring the duel to an issue. Charles visited Florence on his way to France and was received with high honour by a people who besides being personally attached to him were in full enjoyment of a prosperity to which he had mainly contributed. The town abounded in festivities, and Anjou promoted them by knighting several of the most distinguished inhabitants, the honour of knighthood being then considered the greatest dignity that could be conferred and scarcely less prized by the city than the individual citizen.

Native industry and the last few years of peace had done much for Florence, riches were abundant and extensively disseminated, families were thriving and hearts were gay and contented; conviviality of all kinds enlivened the town “Corti Bandite” or open houses, were common to the age and nowhere more frequent or splendid than in Florence. The extent of these entertainments was sometimes excessive; amongst others the Rossi with their friends and companions amounting to one thousand persons dressed in white under one chief called the “Lord of Love” gave a constant succession of festivities for two months; every stranger of any note that visited the city was received like a prince, feasted and attended upon with marked courtesy during his sojourn amongst them and made a distinguished guest at all their convivial meetings. Balls, suppers, dinners, music, a parading of the town in bands with flags and trumpets, military exercises and every species of amusement formed the occupation of this joyous company. Amongst the military exercises was that of the “Armeggiatori” so prevalent about this period, and borrowed probably from the Saracens; “a number of young nobles assembled on horse­back in a species of uniform with light-coloured floating mantles and very short stirrups in the Moorish fashion, and when wishing to break a lance they stood upright in these stirrups, showing off their fine figures and activity to the greatest advantage.”

Such festivities, the most splendid ever seen until then in Florence, were but brief, a mere pause in the storm of discord which ended the following year by the returning blast of strife.

Hostilities as above mentioned had recently broken out between Genoa and Pisa; the latter although nearly alone in the late Guelphic war had displayed great courage and resources; her riches were on the waters, her dominions on the coast and bosom of the Mediterranean: from Corvo to Civita Vecchia she ruled the Italian shore; Corsica, Sardinia, Elba, and other islets in the adjacent sea for the most part obeyed her, and in the Levant and Euxine she had her commercial establishments. She could arm from one to two hundred gallies and other vessels of war, and rivalled Genoa and Venice as one of the three great maritime powers of Italy; this embroiled her with the former but need not have raised any jealousy of Florence, which not being a naval but an inland manufacturing state was almost dependent upon Pisa for the principal transit of her merchandise. It was therefore the interest of both republics to be on friendly terms, and this seemed well understood as long as Florence was decidedly inferior; but when the latter began to unfold her growing powers, the countenance of Pisa changed, and being of opposite factions they became the most deadly enemies. The interests of Venice and Pisa clashed but faintly and common hatred to Genoa prevented greater collision: they had fought together severely and successfully against her in the Levant, and Pisa had succeeded in impressing such a salutary respect on the mind of the Genoese as served to maintain a sort of shadowy peace until the year 1282 when the restless temper of Sinoncello judge of Cinarca in Corsica, a traitor to both nations, first roused them from this state of dormant hostility. Sinoncello had been justly driven from Corsica by the Genoese and implored the protection of Pisa, which in spite of his former treachery, through mere hatred to Genoa embraced his cause, and derided her ambassadors who were sent to remonstrate: insult was returned with insult and a war was the consequence, which ruined Pisa as a naval power, destroyed her commerce, and finally subverted her liberty.

Porto Venere was sacked by the Pisan squadron, seventeen of which were immediately afterwards lost in a gale; the malcontents in Sardinia, who bad shown symptoms of revolt were awed by a fleet of fifty-four gallies which on its return was blockaded and partly destroyed by the Genoese; another squadron was defeated in 1285, and then assistance was asked of the Venetians, but refused.

The energy of rage and disappointment animated Pisa, a fleet of seventy-two galleys was rapidly equipped and manned with her bravest and noblest citizens, every family was afloat under the command of Count Ugolino della Gherardesca; but all they did was to threaten Genoa with idle boasting and shoot silver arrows into the town as a token of contemptuous superiority. The Genoese galleys were dismantled; but stung with the insult they soon armed a fleet of eighty-eight sail under Uberto Doria, appearing off the Porto Pisano with but fifty-eight, the rest being kept out of sight to deceive the Pisans and induce them to give battle: the device succeeded and both fleets were engaged on the 6th of August 1284 off the island of Meloria in one of the most famous and sanguinary conflicts recorded in the annals of Italy.

The Pisans were inferior in force but strong in valour, and the battle was long doubtful when the captain-galley surrendered after a desperate struggle hand to band; for the vessels were closely grappled and the fight was less like a naval than a land action. At a critical moment the detached squadron dashed into the fight, Count Ugolino with three galleys fled, the rest were disheartened and the glory of Pisa set for ever in the bloody waters of Meloria. From four to five thousand are said to have been killed, from ten to fifteen thousand were made prisoners; an immense number of galleys surrendered, and the bravest, of Pisan chivalry perished in this sanguinary conflict. Pisa never rose from the blow; for Genoa with a cruel but certain policy refused all ransom, and the few captives that remained after fifteen years’ imprisonment, returned a broken and dejected remnant to their country.

This disaster which left Pisa in mourning and desolation was considered as a judgment of heaven for the sacrilegious capture of the prelates at the first battle of Meloria in 1241: but to Ugolino, who aspired to the lordship of the republic, it is supposed not only to have been welcome but he is accused of having fled from the combat on purpose to produce such a result; a fact which it would be difficult to substantiate.

The helpless state of this unhappy people was taken direct advantage by Florence and Lucca who backed by all the antagonist force of Tuscany made common cause with Genoa for their destruction: a treaty was therefore concluded by Brunette Latini and Manetti di Benecasa on the part of Florence, which was to continue for twenty-five years after the conclusion of peace. In this her mercantile interests were not forgotten either with Genoa or Lucca, or even with the Bishop of Volterra who ceded several places under his jurisdiction to the Florentines, which had been recaptured from Pisa. The result of all tins was an immediate invasion of the Pisan territory by the allied Tuscan forces while the Genoese attacked the coast and especially Porto Pisano with success. Pisa now reduced to the last leaf looked to Count Ugolino della Gherardesca as the citizen of most ability in this exigence. He strongly advised immediate peace with Florence which never could rival Pisa as a naval power, but had need of her for commerce, and which really sought no increase of territory but made war from mere party hatred, whereas Genoa had ever been a rival and impediment to their greatness. Others were of a contrary opinion and prevailed; terms were offered to and rejected by Genoa; conditions were then granted by the Florentines, but of extreme rigour and not without bribery: Count Ugolino being podestà of Pisa and captain of the people, also a Guelph and friend of Florence, was considered most fit to conduct this negotiation and readily undertook the task as seconding his endeavours to become ruler of his country. He without hesitation surrendered Santa Mana a Monte, Fuccechio, Santa Croce, and Monte Cal vole to Florence; exiled the most zealous Ghibelines from Pisa and reduced it to a purely Guelphic republic: he was accused of treachery, and certainly his own objects were admirably forwarded by the continued captivity of so many of his countrymen, by the banishment of the adverse faction, and by the friendship and support of Florence. But whatever might have been his ruling motive he acted wisely for Pisa which must have immediately fallen under the united force of three such antagonists: Genoa was not consulted, Lucca would not be a party to this peace, and Florence was blamed by both for saving Pisa and breaking her solemn engagement. She was in fact becoming jealous of the Ligurian republic and felt the want of Porto Pisano as a commercial outlet: yet there was much difficulty in the work of peace, and it is even asserted that the Florentine commissioners were bribed with wine-flasks full of golden florins sent with other refreshments by Ugolino during the negotiations. The conduct of this ambitious chief seems however to have been correct and politic; he certainly saved Pisa from destruction, and if by a lucky accident his own private views and the safety of his country were identified it makes no difference in the immediate policy of the act and an able man would naturally take the best means of preserving that which he intended for his own subsequent aggrandisement.

During Charles’s romantic expedition to Bordeaux Roger di Loria had been active on the Calabrian shore, and afterwards by repeated insults succeeded in drawing the Prince of Salerno from his anchorage at Castel-a-Mare to give him battle in the open sea where on the fifth of June 1284 the latter was defeated and made prisoner with nearly all his squadron. As the victors afterwards passed by the promontory of Sorrento a deputation from the inhabitants came on board with an offering of money and fruit; but seeing the Prince of Salerno on deck in splendid armour surrounded by his barons they mistook him for Loria and kneeling presented their gift, saying, “My Lord Admiral deign to receive this little present from the people of Sorrento and may it please God that as you have taken the son so may you also take the father: and remember that we were the first to come over to you.” The Prince, unhappy as he was could not forbear laughing, and turning to the Admiral said, “These people are wonderfully faithful to my lord the king.” Charles returned to Naples a few days after with a reinforcement, and finding both in that town and other parts of the kingdom a strong disposition to revolt, became so exasperated by these repeated misfortunes that in his fury he was with great difficulty prevented from setting fire to the former city: he indignantly hurried on to Brindisi and collecting all his army sailed to Reggio which with other places had fallen into the hands of his enemy: but too much time had been lost in the wild chase of Don Pedro; the town resisted, the siege was soon raised, and the baffled monarch returned to Brindisi and dismantled his armament for the winter. On his return to the capital he heard of more disasters in Calabria, but still unconquered although oppressed by misfortune, he died at Foggia in January 1285 just as he was making a final effort for the recovery of his lost dominions.

Pope Martin IV who had been the humblest of his slaves in this world soon followed him to the next, and in the following April was succeeded by Jacopo Savelli a noble Roman, under the name of Honorius IV. Charles was a bold determined and aspiring prince, of that high-reaching and vindictive spirit that relentlessly trampled down every form of humanity whenever it moved between him and the strong excitement of his ambition. He was sincerely regretted by the Guelphs of Florence who although they began to feel some apprehension of his increasing power were always attached to his person, for Charles was wise in council, firm in promise, grave and decent in his habits, generous to his followers, and zealous in everything that he once undertook to accomplish. He was a favourite because they had all the benefit of his good qualities without his tyranny, and his great personal strength and courage were no small recommendations in an age of chivalry like the thirteenth century.

The unusual tranquillity of this and the following year at Florence induced the government to attend to domestic improvements and one of the most urgent of them was to restrain the worldly habits of the clergy within such decent bounds as might at least insure some quiet to the community; for whether arising from the extreme power of the church and the consequent insolence of its minions, or from the continual feuds of a pugnacious age, it was not only the clergy themselves that habitually carried offensive and defensive arms beneath their frocks, but their dress served to screen less sacred ruffians from the visitation of justice. A decree was therefore made which, as the priests were inviolable, condemned their nearest male relation by the father’s side to bear the punishment awarded for such crimes as having arms concealed under the clerical habit. Continued peace now afforded leisure for inquiry and several other grievances pressing in divers ways on various parts of the community were removed; amongst other things was the appointment of six commissioners to inquire into the double payment of a property-tax under the name of “Allirazione” to which many had become illegally subject from having possessions both in the Contado and metropolis, the taxes levied in the latter under the above denomination freeing all rural possessions within the former, so that the infringement of this regulation had been attended with considerable who were now deprived of the freedom from arrest which they enjoyed at fairs and under other peculiar circumstances, besides being denied the liberty of defence in courts of justice unless sufficient security were offered for their appearance. The selling price of bread was also meddled with in this year of peculiar scarcity, and seems to be one of the earliest notices of that direct official interference which afterwards became so frequent and mischievous. Nor did the spirit of regulation thus confine itself; the aristocracy was always an object of jealous vigilance, and its continual and overbearing insolence was too sensibly felt to leave it long untouched by some biting legislation. The better to protect the people all nobles were now compelled to find security for their conduct towards artisans; and if the property of the latter were damaged the offender was bound to purchase it at the requisition and probably at the price of the owner. That these pinching laws were necessary to check the oppressive conduct of a fierce nobility there can be little doubt, but that the latter had abundance of provocation from the gross manners and truculent insolence of a body of untutored artisans who mistook brutality for independence seems equally probable.

The population of Florence had now so much increased that the ancient town formed only the centre of a larger city embracing it on every side; so that a new circuit of walls became an object of positive necessity and were so designed as to inclose all the suburbs, leaving a considerable space for buildings which still have to be called into existence: Arnolpho the famous architect of the cathedral was intrusted with the work, and this year he first laid the foundation of the principal gates and existing walls of Florence.

The primitive edifices beyond Arno were scattered dwellings interspersed with gardens; afterwards three regular streets or suburbs rose gradually into notice, two of them lying along the river above and below the old bridge, and the other leading directly to it: these remained long without walls and therefore private towers were built for self-defence, but ultimately the whole suburb including the adjacent hill was protected by a wide sweeping rampart with three fine gates leading to Arezzo, Pisa, and Siena. Several other useful works were undertaken at the same time, such as the restoration of the Badia then crumbling from age, the erection of Orto-San-Michele and the fortification of several towns in the Florentine territory.

During these domestic transactions some changes had occurred in the neighbouring states as well as the foreign kingdoms immediately connected with Italian politics: Peter of Aragon died from a wound received in an affair with a French detachment during the siege of Gerona, and Philip himself died soon after: Sicily was left to James, the second son of the Aragonese monarch; Guido di Montefeltro finally submitted to the pope leaving the church paramount in Romagna, and Count Ugolino continued his ambitious schemes at Pisa. Raised to the highest offices of the republic for ten years, he would soon have become absolute had not his own nephew Nino Visconte judge of Gallura contested this supremacy and forced himself into conjoint and equal authority: this could not continuo and a sort of compromise was for the moment effected by which Visconte retired to the absolute government of Sardinia. But Ugolino still dissatisfied sent his son to disturb the island; a deadly feud was the consequence, Guelph against Guelph, while the latent spirit of Ghibelinism which filled the breasts of the citizens and was encouraged by priest and friar, felt its advantage: the Archbishop Ruggiero Rubaldino was its real head, but he worked with hidden caution as the apparent friend of either chieftain. In 1287 after some sharp contests both of them abdicated for the sake as it was alleged, of public tranquillity; but soon perceiving their error again united and scouring the streets with all their followers forcibly reestablished their authority. Ruggieri seemed to assent quietly to this new outrage, even looked without emotion on the bloody corpse of his favourite nephew who had been stabbed by Ugolino; and so deep was his dissimulation that he not only refused to believe the murdered body to be his kinsman’s, but zealously assisted the count to establish himself alone in the government and accomplish Visconte’s ruin. The design was successful; Nino was overcome and driven from the town, and in 1288 Ugolino entered Pisa in triumph from his villa, where he had retired to await the catastrophe: the archbishop had neglected nothing and Ugolino found himself associated with this prelate in the public government; events now began to thicken, the count could not brook a competitor much less a Ghibeline priest: in the month of July both parties flew to arms and the arch­bishop was victorious. After a feeble attempt to rally in the public palace, Count Ugolino, his two sons Uguccione and Gaddo; and two young grandsons Anselmuccio and Brigata surrendered at discretion and were immediately imprisoned in a tower afterwards called the “Torre della fame”, and there perished by starvation. Count Ugolino della Gherardesca whose tragic story after five hundred years still sounds in awful numbers from the lyre of Dante was stained with the ambition and darker vices of the age; like other potent chiefs he sought to enslave his country and checked at nothing in his impetuous career: he was accused of many crimes; of poisoning his own nephew, of failing in war, making a disgraceful peace, of flying shamefully perhaps traitorously, at Meloria, and of obstructing all negotiations with Genoa for the return of his imprisoned countrymen. Like most others of his rank in those frenzied times he belonged more to faction than his country and made the former i to his own ambition; but all these accusations even if well-founded would not draw him from the general standard; they would only prove that he shared the ambition, the cruelty, the ferocity, the recklessness of human life and suffering, and the relentless pursuit of power in common with other chieftains of his age and country. Ugolino was overcome and suffered a cruel death; his family was dispersed and his memory has perhaps been blackened with a darker colouring to excuse the severity of his punishment; but his sons who naturally followed their parent’s fortune were scarcely implicated in his crimes although they shared his fate, and his grandsons though not children were still less guilty; though one of these was not unstained with blood. The archbishop had public and private wrongs to revenge, and had he fallen his sacred character alone would probably have procured for him a milder destiny.

While these transactions were going forward at Pisa an incident a d 1237 occurred in Florence which exemplifies both the manner and difficulty of executing justice against powerful citizens in those turbulent times of nominal liberty and real licence. Totto Mazzinghi of Campi chief of a ferocious race, was condemned for murder but on his way to the scaffold a rescue was attempted by Corso Donati at the head of a numerous following : before this could be accomplished the Campana sounded the citizens ran to their arms and horse and foot rallied round the Podesta crying aloud for justice; seeing himself so supported this magistrate immediately changed the nature of his sentence, such was their notion of liberty, and instead of the more dignified punishment of decapitation ordered Mazzinghi to be drawn ignominiously through the public streets and then hanged like a common malefactor. After imposing a fine on the ringleaders of this outrage the Podestà Matteo da Fogliano of Reggio dropped all further proceedings “and was much commended by everybody, as well for the spirit he displayed in carrying the sentence into execution as for his prudence in declining to brace the power of so great a citizen as Corso Donati by a criminal prosecution against his person”

Another law of this period exhibits an example of the blind severity of punishment awarded to a crime which was becoming very prevalent throughout Italy in the thirteenth century, and which in Florence may perhaps have been encouraged by the increasing amount of marriage portions, a circumstance which rendered it difficult for any but the opulent to marry their daughters, as Dante makes Cacciaguida lament in the fifteenth canto of his Paradise. The custom of concubinage though not strictly moral even in its most decent aspect and which is so subversive of all the generally received principles of civilised society, was not in that rough age visited with the same indulgence as at present; population in those times was esteemed the strength of a country, and as tins pernicious habit diminished the number of marriages it was visited with the cruel punishment of the stake and the faggot. How much of this severity was due to pure morality and how much to the cupidity of the clergy whose fees were proportionally diminished, no documents inform us, but it may be fairly supposed that each had its peculiar influence.

Towards the beginning of the preceding winter some warlike symptoms began to appear in and about Arezzo a city whose political movements were closely connected with the welfare of Florence in consequence of the numerous Ghibeline faction in that neighbourhood: the Ghibeline Bishop Guglielmino, a powerful and ambitious prelate more fitted for the sword than the Breviary, had surprised the strong-hold of Saint Cecilia in the contado of Siena as a step towards further operations against the Guelphic administration of that state, which in 1283 had imitated Florence in the formation of its executive government, under the name of the “Nine Governors and Defenders of the community and people of Siena,” or as they were commonly called “The Nine”. Pope Honorius IV who had followed the politics of his family rather than those of the church expired in April 1287 unregretted by the Florentines; but his vast power coupled with the Neapolitan monarchs captivity and the long vacancy of the holy see, had inspirited the Ghibelines, so that the warlike Bishop of Arezzo with great temporal dominion was eager for any movement, and Florence deemed it expedient to renew the Guelphic league and increase its force to fifteen hundred horsemen. Arezzo, whether less embittered by faction, or from having the two parties more equally balanced in public opinion, was about this epoch governed by an union of both and peace sworn to between them: the citizens however after the example of Florence and Siena were not disposed to sleep over their liberty but rising in a body elected a man of Lucca as Governor under the simple denomination of “Prior”.

This officer held the reins with a determined hand; he humbled the Pazzi of Val d’Arno, reduced the Ubertini, and besieged their castles: invested the Bishop himself in his stronghold of Civitella, and made the laws respected everywhere: but the capture of Civitella would have fallen too heavily on the whole aristocratic body; wherefore they suspended all private quarrels and excited a mutiny in the investing army which obliged the Prior to raise the siege and return to Arezzo; still following up their blow they suddenly entered that city, killed this worthy magistrate, and usurped the supreme power, with the usual severities of death and banishment.

Thus left to themselves their old quarrels revived, for the nobles agreed in nothing but their hatred to popular government; the Guelphs after the example of Florence, and perhaps stimulated by her secret councils, attempted to overpower the Ghibelines; but Guglielmino with the aid of his kinsmen the Pazzi, the Ubertini, and other adherents, drove their opponents from the town and remained its masters. Two parties were thus expelled, that of the murdered Prior, or of popular government, and that of the Guelphic nobles: both were powerful, a common interest united them, with combined forces they captured the towns of Rondine and Monte San Savino, and even menaced Arezzo itself. The aid of Florence was solicited on the strength of former friendship and a common hatred of Ghibelinism; they maintained that her true policy was to establish a Guelphic government in Arezzo, and more especially to prevent their constant enemies the Pazzi and Ubaldini from becoming paramount in that state which would inevitably happen if now allowed to consolidate their power. Although the Florentines ever alive to the dangers of a Ghibeline ascendancy were predisposed to the task, there is still reason to believe that both entreaties and menaces were first tried without effect in behalf of the exiles but the bishop exasperated at the recapture of Saint Cecilia to which Florence had mainly contributed rejected every proposal. Five hundred men-at-arms were therefore sent to their assistance and the whole strength of the League was promised, but coupled with a stipulation that no peace should be made without the consent of Florence and the Guelphic confederation.

War, thus ready to break out between these two states, exhibited a more favourable aspect to the Ghibelines; the Imperial Vicar Prezzivalle dal Fiesco of Genoa, chaplain and favourite of Pope Honorius IV, was through his influence appointed to that office two years before and vainly endeavoured to reestablish the emperor’s ancient rights in Tuscany: at Florence his pretensions were haughtily repelled, nor did he then succeed better at Arezzo, where the Guelphs rejected him as an imperialist, and the Ghibelines from a particular dislike to his Guelphic family and nation. He was now however invited to Arezzo and soon joined the bishop with some troops and all the imperial influence: to this was added the implied favour of Pope Nicholas IV, whose opinions were generally supposed to be Ghibeline.

In February 1287 Guglielmino opened the campaign by desultory inroads on the Senese and Florentine territories, strengthening himself by close alliances with a Il Tuscan Ghibelines that ventured to declare themselves: he governed Arezzo despotically, drew succours from Romagna La Marca and Spoleto, drove the Guelphs from Chusi and triumphed over a great portion of Tuscany. Florence perceived the coming storm and instantly prepared to meet it; feeling the need of a vigorous effort they assembled the finest army that had ever left their state since the return of the Guelphic faction and determined to make war in the enemy’s country. The confederates had about three thousand horse and twelve thousand foot, all, according to some writers, under command of Rinuccio Farnese, general of the league; eight hundred men-at-arms led by the Podestà Foseracco of Lodi were composed of the “Cavallate” or train-bands of Florence, in which every opulent citizen enrolled himself, clothed, armed, and mounted at his own expense.

Towards the end of May 1288 war was formally declared against Arezzo by displaying the republican standard on the abbey of Ripoli for eight days previous to taking the field; and this, says Villani, “was the custom of the Florentines in those days through a lordly pride and greatness of mind, for they wished that their issuing forth to war might be made known to their enemies and all the world.”

In the beginning of June the confederates invaded Arezzo and being too strong for any opposition soon reduced about forty places in the Val d’Ambra with the usual devastations: Laterino alone withstood them for eight days but finally sur­rendered at discretion through the treachery of Lupo degli Uberti the governor while Guglielmino, a prince of the empire in his quality of bishop, and the most powerful prelate of Italy remained in Arezzo, not being strong enough to take the field against them. The allies soon appeared before that city and according to the prevalent manners insulted the Aretines by celebrating the usual Florentine game of the “Polio” on Saint Johns day under their very gates; by cutting down their great elm tree which it was then the custom to preserve outside the walls of towns and cities as a spot of recreation for the inhabitants, and by amusing themselves in other peaceful diversions as if no enemy were at hand. Arezzo however was too strong for a sudden assault and after a while all the forces but those of Siena returned in triumph to Florence, the latter commanded by Rinuccio Farnese moving by Val-di-Chiana where two of the enemy’s captains Buonconte da Montefelto and Guglielmo de’ Pazzi, undertook with two hundred men-at-arms and two thousand infantry to discomfit them : this was accomplished by an ambuscade at the Pieve del Toppo when three hundred of the principal citizens of Siena were killed or taken; and the loss was more aggravated by the death of Farnese himself, one of the best commanders of the day although here out-generalled.

As aw example of the public spirit in these wars it may be mentioned that a citizen of Siena named Lano, who had expended all his property in order to appear with some distinction in the confederate camp, having the power of saving himself in this encounter chose rather to die in the ranks than return poor and dishonoured to his native city and fell in a desperate attack which he made singly against the victors.

This defeat, which was soon followed by the death of Ugolino and the destruction of the Pisan Guelphs, gave fresh spirit to their adversaries whoso faction, identified with that of the emperors, by a curious anomaly now prospered under the auspices of two powerful bishops, while the pope himself was imagined to be secretly attached to it; so much had the original source of these party names ceased to influence them while the angry spirit still remained active and unmitigated.

Notwithstanding their powerful league the probable union of Pisa and Arezzo discomposed the Florentines, for young diaries of Naples still occupied the prisons of Aragon and both pope and emperor were supposed to be entirely against them: nevertheless they showed a bold countenance, and granted the ambassadors of Lucca and Nino, or Ugolino Visconti, a hundred men-at-arms, while they interdicted all communication with Pisa, commanding every Florentine subject to leave that city within eight days. Lucca lost no time about commencing operations and in August took Asciano only three miles from Pisa, the latter being too unsettled to prevent its surrender. The Florentines followed this up by defeating a reenforcement of two hundred horse coming from the Maremma under the Conticino d’Ilci of that country who with most of his people was made prisoner after a bloody conflict, an exploit considered of such consequence that the captured banners were hung up in the principal churches and the constable Bernardo da Rieti who commanded the Florentines was dubbed a knight and otherwise distinguished. Nor was Arezzo inactive; for the Guelphs having incited the inhabitants of Corciano, a town in that contado to revolt in favour of Florence the former rapidly assembled an army for its recapture while the latter felt its own reputation equally involved in its preservation. This was an affair of time, wherefore only about a thousand cavalry and four thousand infantry assembled of which about two hundred and fifty were paid troops, the remainder being the regular battalions of independent citizens. In this expedition was first unfurled the royal banner bestowed on the Republic by Charles of Anjou, an honour which the Florentines prized so much that they gave it in charge to one of their most distinguished citizens Berto de’ Frescobaldi, and it ever after was borne as a standard of supreme dignity. Corciano being now closely pressed the Florentines hurried on to its relief, and the Aretines unwilling to hazard a night assault in the neighbourhood of such an enemy retreated to Arezzo, but to save themselves from the imputation of a shameful flight defied their adversaries to a pitched battle: the Florentine general accepting this took up a position near Laterina on the left bank of the Arno about ten miles from Arezzo in expectation of their arrival: he did not wait long, for the enemy was soon observed to occupy a piece of rising ground on the opposite bank, the river being so dry that neither cavalry nor infantry could have found much difficulty in crossing, but as the Ghibeline force was composed of seven hundred men-at-arms and eight thousand foot, the Florentine spared his troops a double fatigue in passing the river, mounting the hill, and going breathless into action: wherefore challenging his antagonist to descend and fight on equal terms he was answered by the wary Ghibeline who had been busily reconnoitring, that it was not his custom to choose a position at the pleasure of an enemy, and the latter returned to Arezzo with what in those days was considered little honour After remaining under arms until nightfall the Florentine army pursued its march, and with the capture of some towns and much additional injury to the country, finally arrived at Florence. But scarcely had they withdrawn when wild Ghibeline bands from Arezzo and the Casentino poured into the plains and ravaged all the country as far as Sieve within ten miles of the capital: thus went the war, the peasantry suffering equally from friend and foe; for the Masnadieri of either host maintained a tolerable impartiality in their inflictions, and neither mercy nor discipline were their peculiar attributes.

The year 1288 finished by a tremendous flood which overflowed great part of Florence, demolished the palaces of the Spini and Gianfigliazzi with many other houses, and devastating much of the contado made a melancholy termination to the calamities of war: this was the fourth of such sweeping visitations in less than twenty years, alternating with conflagrations of a more destructive nature, which coupled with a new attempt to register property for increased taxation threw a general gloom over the community.

The new year began as the last had terminated with universal war, Florence being the great centre of hostile movement: in conjunction with Siena she opposed the Aretines in the south, and assisted by Lucca fought Pisa in the west: the new Podesta Ugolino de Rossi of Parma had much upon his hands, for the whole country was in arms and the fortune of war various and fluctuating. There were many Ghibeline families at Florence, and it may be imagined that in the surrounding tumult and the prosperous state of their faction beyond the walls they were not unconcerned spectators within; the Guelphs were so well aware of this, that when the Aretines at the beginning of March invaded them, carrying fire and sword almost to the gates, they did it with impunity; for the citizens were afraid of internal tumults if they issued out to chastise an enemy whom they suspected of having a secret correspondence within. A rigid investigation was consequently instituted into the conduct of all Ghibelines and the most suspicious banished: active preparations for a vigorous warfare were made by all parties, the Pisan army being commanded by Count Guido of Montefeltro a chief who after his gallant conduct in Romagna had been banished by the late pope, but now broke every restriction and with all his family was excommunicated; the anathema including even the city of Pisa itself.

In November 1288 Prince Charles of Anjou received his liberty, the conditions of which had been long under discussion but rejected as too severe by the late pontiff: the reigning pope Nicholas IV who in conjunction with Edward I interested himself like his predecessor about the prince’s freedom had better success. The principal articles were that Charles of Anjou should move the French king’s brother Charles of Valois to renounce all claims on the kingdom of Aragon, which had been given to him by Pope Martin IV when he excommunicated Pedro: to leave James brother of Alphonse in quiet possession of Sicily, pay thirty thousand marks of silver, and deliver up his three sons with sixty Provencal nobles as hostages, and if he failed in the first condition he was to return in a year and be again a prisoner.

His cousin of Valois would not consent to any such compromise of his rights, and Nicholas like Honorius was much too sagacious to allow the Sicilian article to remain; even James urged his brother of Aragon not to consider him as he could take good care of himself, wherefore that article was expunged from the treaty. Charles passed through Florence where he was received with marked distinction in May 1289 and after three days proceeded towards Rome with a weak escort; but the Florentines hearing that the people of Arezzo intended to waylay him, quickly assembled three thousand infantry and eight hundred men-at-arms, overtook him on his road and escorted him safely to Bricola on the confines of Orvieto and Siena. For this service permission was asked to carry his banner at the head of their armies as they had already done, and for one of his nobles as their general; both requests were granted and Americ de Narbonne a young man of distinguished rank was appointed to that office. Charles continued his journey to the papal court then held at Rieti where on the twenty­ninth of May he was crowned King of Sicily Puglia and Jerusalem, and reinstated in all his father’s rights; for Nicholas although at heart a Ghibeline knew too well the value of a prince who acknowledged the pontiff as his liege lord and held his dominions only by permission of the church. By the same authority was he absolved from all his oaths to Alphonso, who with James of Sicily was excommunicated, and the ecclesiastical tenths granted to Charles for three years to recover that island. James in order to keep the war out of Sicily attacked Calabria but unsuccessfully, then besieged Gaeta where he was hemmed in by Charles, and so embarrassed that had not ambassadors from England and Aragon arrived on a mission of peace he could have scarcely escaped.

By the King of England’s mediation a truce was concluded for two years to the great discomposure of the Count of Artois who had governed Naples during Charles’s captivity and now with several other French barons quitted him in disgust as a man who would never do anything worthy of record. Charles nevertheless governed his kingdom in comparative peace and wisdom; encouraged arts and learning, and gained more real glory than his stern and relentless sire with all his victories.

After this monarch’s departure Florence assembled all her legions; as the great Guelphic families whose influence had begun the war were still eager for its continuance; but many of the more peaceable citizens, being as doubtful of its justice as they were jealous of its authors, held contrary opinions: Guglielmino on the other hand foresaw that the ensuing campaign would endanger his own possessions and wished to negotiate; he was disposed to abandon Arezzo and give some of his principal towns in pledge to the Florentines on having an annuity secured to him of three thousand florins in lieu of their revenue. But we are informed by Dino Compagni that there was at this moment a good deal of dissension amongst the Florentine priors, of whom he was one; some wished to treat, some not; while others were anxious to avoid the certain misery of war: it was at last decided to accept the proffered garrisons but not dismantle them: Prior Dino di Giovanni a citizen of great influence was accordingly intrusted with full powers to treat and immediately dispatched Messer Durazzo, a lately dubbed knight; to secure the most favourable conditions from Guglielmino. This prelate now wavered, feeling that his negotiating alone might be considered as treachery; wherefore assembling his supporters of the Pazzi, Ubaldini, Tarlati, and other powerful families, with Bonconte di Montefeltro brother to the Pisan general, besides many barons of Spoleto and La Marca, he advised them to conclude a peace with Florence declaring that he could not risk Bibbiena, which if they did not reinforce he would make his own terms. These suspicious words filled them with doubt and anger both of which would however soon have been allayed by assassinating the bishop if his kinsman Guglielmo de’ Pazzi had not opposed it: Pazzi ingenuously declared that he could have been well contented had the thing been done without his knowledge, but being once consulted he would never consent to the shedding of his own blood!

Intelligence of these events having reached Florence an immediate invasion was the result, but the precise point of attack remained undecided until put to the ballot, when an inroad on the province of Casentino carried the greater number of suffrages.

The new royal banner was now intrusted to Gherardo Ventraia de’ Tomaquinci, and the republican standard hoisted as before upon the towers of Ripoli Abbey with the apparent intention of penetrating into the Aretine state by Incisa and the upper Valdarno. The army under Narbonne marched on the 2nd of June, but instead of following up the river line suddenly crossed it, moving by Ponte a Sieve and the mountain roads, though with considerable danger, and after mustering on Monte a Pruno halted near Poppi on the high road to Bibbiena. The combined forces amounted to nineteen hundred men-at-arms and eight thousand infantry, all old soldiers and equal to any warlike enterprise: amongst them were a hundred Bolognese knights and the young Ghibeline chief Maghinardo da Susinana with all his followers, who notwithstanding his adverse faction had attached himself to the Florentines from gratitude, for their honest administration of his domains while a minor under their guardianship.

The possessions of their old enemy Count Guido Novello, now Podestà of Arezzo, were the first to feel the Florentine brand; all this green and beautiful district with its gushing streams and woods and breezy hills now lay at their mercy; and Bibbiena must soon have surrendered if the Aretine forces had not rapidly advanced to its relief. The relative strength of these armies is variously stated; the Ghibelines do not appear to have assembled more than nine hundred men-at-arms and eight thousand foot; but flushed with last year’s victory and confident in the skill of their generals’ and their soldiers’ valour, they taunted the Florentines with paying a womanish regard to personal appearance rather than to the manly occupation of polishing their arms, and scoffingly dared them to the combat.

The two armies met on the plain of Campaldino in the district of Certomondo just under the walled town or “Castello” of Poppi and not far from Bibbiena. The confederates were drawn up in four divisions of unequal strength; the front was composed of a hundred and fifty knights called “Feditori” who under Veri de’ Cerchi were destined either to give or receive the first assault; these were supported on each flank by cross-bowmen and heavy armed foot carrying long and slender lances, and marshalled in die form of a crescent, the. centre of which was a compact body of chosen infantry and men-at-arms. The second line was called the “Heavy Division”, and arrayed at a short distance in rear of the Feditori to support their advance or cover their retreat; and behind all stood a third line where the baggage under a sufficient guard was so arranged as to constitute a sort of defensive work behind which the front divisions might retreat and reform their line Apart from these three divisions was a reserve of two hundred men-at-arms and a strong body of Lucchese and Pistoian infantry under the famous Corso Donati, then Podesta of Pistoia, who had orders not to stir from his post without orders from the general on pain of death.

The Aretines made a similar disposition of their troops, but put three hundred horsemen in their line of skirmishers and amongst them twelve knights of great prowess whom they called their Paladins. Thus marshalled, both armies awaited the signal of battle, “Narbonne,” “Cavaliers” being the Guelphic cry and “San Donato” the rallying word of their enemies Almeric used few expressions of encouragement further than reminding his men that in front were the same Ghibelincs whom they had so often overcome; but Messer Barone de’ Mangiadori of Samminiato, a veteran soldier, thus addressed the men-at-arms. “Gentlemen, in our Tuscan battles it was once the custom to seize on victory by an impetuous onset, they lasted but a brief space and few were killed, for it was not then usual to shed much blood: now these things are changed and victory is secured by remaining steady in our ranks; wherefore I advise you to stand firm and let your adversaries begin this day’s attack.” On the other side the bishop, who commanded in person and was probably forced into the field by the suspicions of his colleagues, made a long encouraging harangue, urging the Aretines to remember their ancient greatness and fight gallantly for their own glory and the imperial cause. The Senese still burned with the shame of their late discomfiture; Almeric de Narbonne was indignant at the recent insult to his king; and the bishop’s life, honour, and estate; all depended on that day’s combat. It was like most of these conflicts, a battle of individual courage and almost personal hatred, therefore the more deadly; the mere frenzy of internal war: the chiefs of either army were well known to each other; many of the soldiers must have been intimate; they spoke the same language, professed the same faith, were alike in manners customs and country; connected by ties of kindred and commerce; even choosing their governors from amongst each other, and only divided by a spirit of discord whose source had long vanished, whose existence was desolation, and whose object was incomprehensible.

Both armies now only awaited the signal, the trumpets blew a charge, and their brazen notes reverberated from rank to rank until the air was filled with the warlike clangour: the Aretines sprung boldly forward; the Guelphs stood firm fierce and resolute: the former charged so vigorously that the Guelphic Feditori were driven back and recoiled on their second line: knighthood was bestowed on both sides, the battle now became rough; the Guelphic Feditori rallied and the supporting wings closed round their antagonists; but the bishop and his chiefs pushed fiercely forward and the Ghibeline knights, flushed with success by a vigorous charge, broke boldly through the Guelphic infantry: the dust now rose in one dense mass dimming the light of day, and beneath this murky cloud, amidst the storm of battle many Ghibeline soldiers crawled under the horses’ bellies and with long sharp knives ripped them asunder; divers knights were thus treacherously unhorsed, and the day for a while went hard with Florence : her second line was borne back on the third and the shouting Ghibelines were pressing on bravely though carelessly, as being assured of the victory. At this crisis Corso Donati who bound by the rigid orders of his chief had remained an impatient spectator of the fight, could no longer contain himself. “What! Soldiers,” he exclaimed, “are we to look thus tamely on in order to relate the accidents of this day’s battle to the Priors of Florence after our comrades have perished, or must I risk my head for the safety and honour of the army? Rather let us charge bravely, and if we fail, why then let us die gloriously with our companions like valiant men and in the thickest of the fight: but if, as I hope, God gives us the victory, let who will come to Pistoia for my head.” So saying, with his two hundred knights he dashed deep into the enemy’s flank and being rapidly followed by his own infantry ere that of the Ghibelines could support their horse, he checked the enemy’s onset and rallied the Guelphic legions. The bishop ordered up his reserve under Count Guido Novello who first delayed, and afterwards fled when he saw the Ghibelines baffled and retreating. The gallant bishop tried hard to rally his followers but in vain, the day was lost: so seeing his men falling on every side he charged madly into the thickest of the fight when he could easily have escaped, and died like a soldier. Guglielmo fell nobly by his side; Buonconte and Lotto da Montefeltro were also slain with other chiefs of note; many Guelphs had not even come into action until the rout began, and the Ghibelines overcome by superior numbers lost the day through the cowardice of Guido Novello and the skill and courage of Corso Donati.

The carnage was great in battle, greater in the pursuit; the peasantry, plundered by both sides, had no pity on the losers, and seventeen hundred Ghibeline soldiers lay bleeding in the green woods and valleys of the Casentino. Many Guelphs were wounded, but few killed, and had they promptly marched on Arezzo the war might have been finished by its capture; but delay gave time for preparation, and the Aretines proved as they did after the battle of Monteaperto, that there was still spirit enough left to defend their city when everything had perished in the field. 

The immediate effect of this victory was the surrender of Bibbiena Civitella, Rondine and many other strongholds, and a wider range for plunder devastation and bloodshed: eight days were thus wasted against the express orders of the Florentine government which directed an immediate march on Arezzo, and when that city was at last invested the army found an ill-fortified place, but brave defenders, all under the command of Tarlato a chief of spirit and ability who now governed the Aretines. Twenty days did they remain before Arezzo, wasting the country round and continually insulting the people; thirty dead asses with mitres on their heads were thrown in derision over the ramparts; games were celebrated and a Palio was run for under the walls; every means of conquest were tried, with but little impression on the place, and none on the hearts of the citizens. Some of the Florentine leaders appear to have been bribed, for when an opening was at last made in a weak point and the storming party already in the breach they suddenly turned and retreated, no man knew why, and the Aretines making a vigorous sally during the same night demolished engine, tower, and camp, and forced their enemy to raise the siege.

Leaving garrisons in all the captured towns the army returned to Florence with diminished triumph, but its recent failure covered by the splendour of previous exploits, and was received with great pomp in the capital: Almeric de Narbonne, with the Podesta Ugolino de’ Rosso of Parma made their entry under rich canopies of cloth of gold held by the knights of Florence, and the gallant Bishop of Arezzo’s helmet was suspended as a trophy in the church of San Giovanni where it remained until the reign of the Medici. The Guelphic influence rose high by this fortunate campaign; Chusi expelled the Ghibelines; Lucca attacked the Pisans with the aid of four hundred Florentine horse; a party in Arezzo became jealous of Tarlato; they offered to betray the city and the Florentine troops were already on their march when all was discovered by the dying confession of a conspirator, so they returned a to Florence. But that republic being still bent on subjugating Arezzo, fresh armies were equipped without better success; fifteen hundred horse and six thousand infantry made no impression on anything except the defenceless inhabitants; they wreaked their vengeance on Guido Novello’s town of Poppi, burned his palace and brought off his armoury in triumph, an armoury that had been furnished with cross-bows from the stores of Florence while he revelled there in all the enjoyment of supreme Ghibeline power. The Florentines now required their own with usury, as had been foretold him by Count Tegrino when he ostentatiously exhibited these stolen arms: some assistance was afterwards afforded to Nino Visconti, and a desultory warfare waged in the Pisan state: Leghorn and Porto Pisano were taken, four towers which stood in the sea at the latter place, and the lighthouse of Meloria, were demolished; and villas and palaces and even the port itself shared the same destiny, for vessels filled with stones were sunk at its mouth in order to render it impassable to ships of burden.

Similar scenes were acted during the next year when Almeric de Narbonne was chosen to command the League: in 1292 the Pope endeavoured to reestablish tranquillity but died ere he could accomplish it, and under Gentile Orsino a Roman Guelph, un army of 2500 horse and 8000 foot was led against the Pisans.

In the last expedition to Arezzo the Feditori received a pennon from the state bearing the arms of Charles of Anjou quartered with the red lily of Florence; in the present, this pennon and the royal standard of Anjou were given in charge to Nanni de’ Mozzi and Geri de’ Spini, both of them knights and of distinguished families: the army then invested Pisa but accomplished little although Guido was too weak to oppose it in the field, and after the usual round of insult and devastation for three-and-twenty days, returned to Florence which they found in all the ecstasy of religious excitement. A painting of the Virgin on one of the pilasters of Orto-san-Michele had performed miracles, and the whole population bowed in reverential awe; the domenican and minor orders had the honesty or jealousy to doubt the fact and oppose themselves to the universal delusion but only lost the good opinion of the Florentines for their pains.

While rejoicings still ran high for the victory of Campaldino a deputation of two hundred inhabitants of the Mugello country made a complaint against the chapter of Florence cathedral to which they owed some suit and service: it appeared that the canons wanted to sell them to the Ubaldini family, much to the injury of themselves and the republic, and they prayed that two thousand five hundred lire might be paid to the chapter in order to free them from such bondage: their request was granted and a law immediately passed prohibiting either Florentine or foreigner from presuming to purchase any such jurisdiction in the republican dominions under penalty of a hundred lire for every legal agent employed and the nullity of the purchase.

When enthusiasm had somewhat abated and the expenses of war began to sober public feeling, new cares, new fears, and old jealousies sprang up apace and shadowed for a while the general brightness: the whole war charge amounting to thirty-six thousand golden florins was to be defrayed by Florence, and a tax of six and a quarter per cent, on property was to be levied to meet it: but the people suspecting the nobles of a design to throw most of this burden on the shoulders of merchants and artisans lost no time in preparing new measures of defence against this expected aggression : the result was that five more trades, called “Arti minori” or inferior arts, with arms and shields and banners, were added to the original seven and formed a body of twelve powerful corporations united and equipped for mutual support and protection.

Florence was now in a more flourishing condition than it had ever before attained; wealth had augmented, population increased, every class of the people could easily live and thrive by their own industry, and this growing prosperity lasted for some years: in consequence of such joy, says Viliani, “Every year at the beginning of May parties of young gentlemen freshly attired and holding temporary courts inclosed with boards and covered with drapery, were to be seen in various quarters of the city ; and others of dames and damsels dancing through the streets with comely youths in graceful order with instruments, and garlands of flowers upon their head, and in a continual round of enjoyment of dinners, and suppers, and games, and other diversions.” This prosperity had however been considerably affected by two events which occurred the preceding year in the East and West; one was the storming of Acre by the Sultan of Egypt, in consequence of an infamous breach of peace by the Christians, and the consequent destruction of that great commercial centre of the two extremities of the civilised world. The other was the seizure of every Italian in his kingdom by Philip-le-Bel of France, on pretence of usury, but really to extract enormous ransoms for their release ; now the Florentine merchants were exceedingly numerous in that country and the commonwealth almost entirely depended on its foreign trade, wherefore this act of tyranny was sensibly felt throughout the whole state, and by such slender threads is the welfare of a purely commercial nation bound together! How precarious such prosperity, how unstable, how fleeting such national power!

Contemporary Monarchs.—England: Edward I.—Scotland: Alexander III, Margaret, John Baliol (1292).—France : Philip III., Philip IV. (1285).— Castile and Leon: Alphonso X, Sancho IV. (1284).—Aragon: Pedro III., Alphoso III. (1286), James II. (1291).—Portugal: Dennis (1279).—Germany : Rodolph, Adolphus (1292).—Popes: Martin IV. (1281), Honorius IV. (1285), Nicholas IV. (1287).—Greek Emperors: Andronicus (1281).

BOOK THE FIRST. CHAPTER XIII. FROM A.D. 1293 TO 1300.

READING HALL

THE DOORS OF WISDOM