READING HALL

THE DOORS OF WISDOM

BOOK THE FIRST. CHAPTER XIV. FROM A.D. 1300 TO A.D. 1308.

The year 1300 commenced with great rejoicing throughout Christendom; it was that of the first jubilee. By a natural and sagacious union of religion and finance Pope Boniface the Eighth granted complete absolution to all who passed a given number of days in visiting the several Roman shrines and confessionals with sincere and humble repentance; and as the existence of this virtue was believed on the sinner’s affirmation, it is probable that none were disappointed; wherefore two millions of fortunate souls were saved from perdition during that happy year, and with marvellous gain to the treasury. Indeed so serious and universal was this new devotion that for twelve months together Rome had never less than two hundred thousand pilgrims within her walls independent of the native population, while multitudes of every rank age and sex thronged the Italian roads. And in this well-imagined pilgrimage all the great thorough­fares of Italy are described as presenting the appearance of a continual procession, or rather an array in full march; peace was universal, and perfect security, with abundance of everything for everybody who had the means of payment: Rome was plentifully supplied and enriched; its inhabitants made fortunes by the vast concourse of visitors that crowded their streets, where however numbers of both sexes were trampled to death in the midst of their sacred occupation. Continual streams of gold and silver kept pouring into the church-coffers, the spontaneous overflowings of religious love; and two priests were stationed night and day at the shrine of St. Paul with purse in hand to receive these incessant offerings for eternal salvation.

To this singular display of festive piety repaired also the annalist Giovanni Villani; and there like his prototype Malespini, did the contemplation of ancient Rome inspire him with the idea of writing a history of his own country, which he commenced at his return to Florence.

Peace still reigned in this capital, but a rich ambitious and high-spirited nobility were unwilling to succumb, and the source of civil dissension was still unexhausted: the tire though buried was not extinct; deep and still burning, but scarcely visible, it threw out occasional warnings that were only lost upon the young the gay and the thoughtless. Superstition also lent its aid: the old wasted statue of Mars, at the base of which Buondelmonte was murdered, had been dismounted the year before to complete some new buildings, but by mistake instead of looking east as formerly, it was replaced with the face northwards, and this was received as a sinister augury although no symptoms of misfortune then appeared. According to Dino Compagni Florence was at this time ruled with little justice; some powerful and dishonest men had contrived to raise an indigent gentleman of Padua to the dignity of Podestà, a man willing to be the tool of private vengeance and cupidity; justice was therefore openly sold, the innocent oppressed and the guilty absolved at the will of these rulers which always was law to their creature. But public spirit ran too high to bear this, the citizens soon rose, and putting him and his minions to the torture detected his iniquity: Monfionto of Padua was therefore imprisoned and although he finally escaped, the republic twice refused to deliver him over to the Paduans who had sent successive embassies to demand the release of their countryman.

The general calm of Florence was first disturbed by a private quarrel between two neighbouring families. Vieri de’ Cerchi chief of a race, ignobly descended, but wealthy merchants, with a princely establishment and numerous clients, was in common with the rest of his family, a man of general popularity and of an easy disposition not unmixed with talent: they were all liked by the Popolani for their amiable and unambitious temper; by every class of Ghibeline because they were not persecutors when in power; by the poor nobility for the convenience of their wealth; and by the plebeians for their decided disapproval of Giano della Bella’s banishment: so that without much trouble, it was thought they might have mastered the republic if talents and ambition had seconded the opportunity. The Donati and Pazzi, near whom they had houses in town and country, were of ancient and illustrious families but not near so rich, and felt mortified by the overshadowing pomp of their upstart neighbours, whom they despised for their vulgarity and hated for their ostentation. At the head of these was Corso Donati the same who had fought at Campaldino, a man, according to Compagni, resembling but more cruel than the Roman Catiline: “gentle of blood, beautiful in person, polished in manners, of pleasing conversation, a subtle intellect and a mind ever intent on evil. By habit and genius a soldier, he carried his warlike propensities into civil life and assembled a crowd of followers, all obedient to the nod of this popular chieftain. He performed great services, did much mischief, caused numerous burnings and robberies, amassed considerable spoil, and raised himself to high authority: vainglory was his idol, and from his excessive pride he was surnamed “ The Baron ” so that when he rode through Florence he was frequently saluted with cries of Long life the Baron!”

The enmity between these potent families was augmented by Corso’s recent marriage with an heiress of the Gaville race, against the wishes of her own relations as well as her kinsmen the Cerchi; also by a subsequent suspicion of his having been accessory to the death of two young men of the latter house who were poisoned in the prisons of the Podestà while in confinement for a private affray. This mutual ill-will continued long without any overt act that disturbed the public peace, while both parties were assiduously strengthening their alliances. Pope Boniface who, as was said, “got into the pontificate like a fox, ruled like a lion, and died like a dog,” was closely connected with his bankers the Spini, and other monied men of Florence friends of Donati, therefore endeavoured to reconcile the families, and sent for Vieri to Rome; but the Cerchi was intractable, assured the pontiff that he had no quarrel with anybody and therefore needed no reconciliation: this nettled the pride of Boniface, who was accustomed to prompt obedience, and estranged him from that party. Matters continued getting worse: the Cerchi although Guelphs and Popolani had all the old Ghibeline families on their side, some from hatred of Donati and others from private feuds or personal injury; amongst the last was Guido Cavalcanti, the celebrated friend of Dante, a bold melancholy man who loved solitude and literature; but generous brave and courteous, a poet and philosopher and one that seems to have had the respect and admiration of his age. Corso Donati by whom he was feared and hated, would have had him murdered while on a pilgrimage to Saint James of Galicia; on his return this became known and gained him many supporters amongst the Cerchi and other youth of Florence: he took no regular measures of vengeance but accidentally meeting Corso in the street rode violently towards him casting his javelin at the same time: it missed by the tripping of his horse and he escaped with a slight wound from one of Donati’s attendants. Cavalcanti was son-in-law to Farinata degli Uberti and therefore perhaps not altogether indisposed to the Ghibelines, but the Cerchi were his intimate friends and accompanied him in the assault on Donati: all this embittered the feud and Corso’s continual sarcasms on Vieri which were duly reported by the buffoons, (the gossips of that age), were not calculated to soften their mutual asperity. Thus was the storm fast gathering when, like two angry clouds, the stubborn factions of the Bianchi and Neri poured in their influence and brought it down in blood.

“Arise ye wicked citizens filled as ye are with infamy: take the sword and the torch in your hands and spread wide your malevolence. Proclaim aloud your iniquitous desires, your infernal purposes. Delay no longer; go, and destroy the beauty of your city; shed the blood of your brethren; divest yourselves of faith and of love; deny aid and service to each other; sow all your falsehoods, they will fill the granaries of your children; do even as Sylla once did in Rome: for all the crimes he committed in ten long years Marius revenged in a single day. Think ye that almighty justice hath fainted? Even that of the world will render one for one. Look at your ancestors; see if they gained by contention! Delay no longer miserable men, for one day of war consumes more than is regained in many years of peace, and small is that spark that brings a mighty empire to destruction f. Such is the impassioned burst of indignation with which Dino Compagni reproaches his countrymen, and it was no imaginary picture! Very soon there was neither male nor female, great or small, noble, popolano, or plebeian; priest or friar; that were not divided on one side or the other of this unhappy quarrel, the connexion of which with Pistoia now demands our attention.

Twenty miles north-west of Florence under the mountains that divide Tuscany from Modena lies the city of Pistoia on a spot traditionally mentioned as the scene of Catiline’s defeat and death by Petreius, and the ferocious disposition of her earlier inhabitants might encourage a superstitious belief in the assertion; for she is better known in history by the virulence of her factions and the peculiar malignity of her private feuds than by any act of virtue or magnanimity in her citizens. One of these petty dissensions not only destroyed her own peace, such as it was, but in kindling the inflammability of Florence spread over Tuscany and even contaminated a great part of Romagna .

The noble houses of Cancellieri and Panciatiche had early assumed the leading of the Guelph and Ghibeline factions of Pistoia, and during the whole of the thirteenth century had continued fighting with such bitterness that even these party names, the cause of their original enmity, were lost in the fury of private war the two factions becoming distinguished by family appellations alone. The chiefs of these parties were formidable even to the republic itself, whose wars crimes and misfortunes were all laid by the people to their charge: the democratic government of Pistoia therefore naturally detested the nobles, and in 1285 declared them ineligible to public office, published a particular code of regulations affecting them alone, and decreed that when any commoner disturbed the public peace he should immediately be ennobled as the severest chastisement for his turbulence. In the general revolution of parties after Manfred’s death, the Cancellieri had chased their Ghibeline adversaries from the town and a cruel war was waged in the beautiful and romantic mountain of Pistoia, where the possessions of both were situated. The Cancellieri although excluded from government were rich and numerous and the exile of their rivals gave them a complete ascendancy: eighteen knights of the golden spur, and a hundred men-at-arms, all bearing the name, and none beyond the fourth degree of blood, besides numerous allies and dependants, rendered this family one of the most powerful of the Italian nobility. They domineered over the city and contado, outraged everybody, committed many cruel actions, put numbers to death, were tyrants everywhere, yet none dared even to accuse them; so great was their power of vengeance!

It happened, about the year 1295, that several young kinsmen of the Cancellieri race were carousing in a wine-house, and when heated by drink Carlino son of Gualfredi maltreated his cousin Amadore or Dore son of Guglielmo: they belonged to different branches of the same family long distinguished by the surnames of Bianchi and Neri in consequence of an ancestor having married two wives one of whom called Bianca gave the appellation to her descendants while the collateral race was contradistinguished by the opposite colour. Saint Peter in his definition of thank worthiness asks “What glory is it if when ye be buffeted for your faults ye shall take it patiently? But if when ye do well and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God.” And something of this sort the ancient Pistoians appear to have taken inversely as their standard of revenge: it was no satisfaction to wreak their malice on him who did the injury; that was but simple retaliation, an unoffending victim was in their code indispensable to perfect vengeance. They argued that as an innocent person had first suffered there could not be complete reciprocity unless avengement also struck the guiltless head; the offender’s death was the simple vindication of justice, and expected; therefore could not inflict so sharp a pang on his kindred as the sudden murder of an unoffending man, more especially if he were peculiarly amiable and well-beloved. To earn out this principle Amadore who was of the Black faction retired from the company and hid himself armed in a convenient place, where the same evening seeing Carlino’s brother Vanni passing, immediately called him, and ignorant of the quarrel the latter approached without hesitation; Dore then suddenly fell upon him, gashed his face, and nearly succeeded in cutting off a hand: thus mangled he escaped and his relations prepared for revenge. Guglielmo apprehensive of family strife at once delivered his son into Gualfredo’s power to receive any punishment that pleased him to inflict; the latter insensible to the spirit of this conduct coolly led the offender into a stable and chopped off his right hand upon the edge of the manger; but revenge was not considered perfect until he had also gashed his face. “Now,” said he, “go and inform thy father that with deeds, not words, such injuries are revenged ”.

This was considered too cruel even for Pistoian ferocity; Bianchi and Neri flew to arms intent on vengeance for the double outrage; and as the Cancellieri were connected with almost all the noblesse of Pistoia the city was soon in a general tumult: the spirit spread like a conflagration, their vassals caught the flame, all the country armed, and from that time forth civil war in various forms incessantly filled the Pistoian territory until stopped by the iron hand of Cosimo de’ Medici in the middle of the sixteenth century. If one man were more particularly respected for his virtues and peaceable habits, or in any way distinguished beyond his associates, he was sure to be marked as the peculiar victim of adverse vengeance: thus the judge Pero de’ Pecoroni was murdered on die bench while in the act of administering justice; Bertino de’ Virgiolese an adherent of the “Whites,” the most noble and virtuous knight of Pistoia, was afterwards stabbed by the same parties; Benedetto, or Detto, de’ Cancellieri was in his turn sacrificed for this, because he was the most beloved, the wisest, and the ablest of the Neri; Braccino de’ Fortebracci fell in a similar manner; houses and towers were armed and attacked with fire and sword, darts, cross-bows, stones, and mangonels showered death into the streets; frequent sallies brought the factions hand to hand, and then the lance the sword and the poniard decided the day’s encounter. Such was the habitual state of this distracted town until 1299, when even the Podestà’s guard was resisted, beaten, and one of his principal officers and companions killed, by Chello de’ Cancellieri and Vanni Fucci; upon this he instantly broke his official wand in presence of the seignory, renounced his high office and retired to his native town of Bergamo. The city thus left without a governor remained in complete anarchy; a new Podestà arrived but accomplished little; the “Whites” gained ground and completely ruled Pistoia; the Contado was equally distracted and the whole frame of society had nearly given way when die leading popular citizens determined to call in the aid of Florence.

It cannot be supposed that such violent contentions could continue, without affecting opinions in a city so closely connected by neighbourhood, politics, and family alliances, as the latter was with Pistoia: exiles from either faction had already been received by their friends, and the relationship of the Donati with the Neri, of the Circhi with the Bianchi, prepared the way for a similar division of Florentine parties. The wise and prudent of either city at length assembled to devise some cure for this increasing madness, and it being of great importance to Florence that Pistoia should remain tranquil, she gladly accepted the seignory or Balia of that republic for three years as offered by its ambassadors. The lordship of a state in those days was an extrajudicial and legislative power conferred for a given time and a particular object; a dictatorship which concentrated within itself the whole power of the republic without being supposed to infringe its liberty or political rights: it was an unsafe proceeding, yet often resorted to in perilous times, as if to show more conspicuously the imperfection of pure republican government. The Priors immediately nominated a new Podesta and Captain of the People; new Anziani were chosen in equal numbers from each faction, elected monthly, and presided by a Gonfalonier of Justice; the chiefs on both sides were banished to Florence, where it was vainly hoped a reconciliation might in time be effected by the authority of that powerful government. But men are more prone to absorb the vicious passions than the better qualities of their neighbours; the latter are troublesome and involve some acknowledgment of inferiority; the former are insensibly imbibed, more congenial, alas, to man; and Florence was not in that temperate state that might receive with impunity an importation of such firebrands as the Cancellieri of Pistoia. Discontent was still deep, and a powerful aristocracy deprived of its just share of public honours could not long run smoothly with a stem determined democracy, unless accompanied by some great external object of common and absorbing interest. In Florence there was an absorbing interest, but it was the struggle for power; and begat turbulence. Della Bella was in exile, but discontent had not been banished with him: the discontent of a nation is never the work of an individual; a single hand may collect and concentrate the ill humours of a state and adapt them to its own purposes good or bad; but their root must have previously existed and an individual’s destruction or banishment will leave the evil unabated.

The Frescobaldi, friends of Corso Donati, were appointed to receive the Neri while the Bianchi became inmates with Vieri de’ Cerchi and his kinsmen: twelve of the principal families supported Corso Donati besides many others of inferior note, and a multitude of the rich popolani divided on both sides; about eighteen great houses followed the Cerchi, including most of the old Ghibelines, because this family having arisen since the great struggle between the factions, its members although Guelphs had no enmity against them and had spent much in conciliating an impoverished nobility. Thus the city was once more divided; the Guelphic party was itself divided; nay each house was divided; and Guelph and Ghibeline again frowned in open hostility: from the nobles the poison dropt among the people; and here also were families divided against themselves, father against son, brother against brother; but as yet no blood was spilt.

It was then the custom at the beginning of May to indulge in universal festivity; young men and maidens uniting in gay and festive companies sung and danced in the open places of the city for many days together: amongst others there was one in the Piazza of Santa Trinita on the 1st of May where all the most beautiful women of Florence were to be assembled to dance, and in consequence a great concourse of people bad crowded the street; amongst them were the Cerchi and Donati on horseback in complete armour, on account of their mutual and increasing enmity. There were about thirty mounted gentlemen on each side besides servants and followers, and whether from unavoidable pressure or their prompt intemperance, disdainful glances were reciprocally exchanged, swords followed, and after a sharp skirmish in which many were hurt, the combatants parted with increased bitterness of feeling. This was the first blood drawn, and both parties bent on revenge were soon employed in gaining friends and increasing their forces: they now first assumed the distinctive names of “Bianchi” and “Neri” which without affecting their political principles as Guelph or Ghibeline sufficiently marked their party.

The captains of the party Guelph and other citizens seeing the whole population engaged on either side and the great power of the Bianchi and Ghibelines in the state councils, became fearful of altogether losing their old Guelphic character, and had already sent an embassy to beg the Pontiff’s interference. The Cardinal of Acquasparta was accordingly dispatched with full authority to accommodate all differences: he demanded equal powers from the Florentines and they were granted; he was received with every mark of honour and respect due to his high dignity as Pope’s Legate; but when he asked for authority to reform the state it was plumply refused. The Cerchi were predominant; the Legate wished to distribute honour and office equally amongst all parties, and failing in this he departed, leaving the city under an interdict.

The Bianchi were well aware that their adversaries possessed the Papal countenance, and became still more convinced of this when on Saint John’s Eve they saw the Consuls of the Arts, as they walked in procession with their annual offerings, insulted and beaten by a party of nobles who exclaimed, “We are the men that gained the victory of Campaldino and you have ousted ns from office and honour in our native city”. Such an outrage coupled with a secret meeting of Donati’s faction, (who resolved to ask the Pope’s assistance in sending for one of the French princes to assume the lordship of Florence and reduce the Bianchi), roused the general anger. The Priors, and Dante amongst the number, called a meeting of the government and many citizens, in which the historian Dino Compagni was included, and there determined to banish several chiefs of both factions; the Neri to Castel della Pieve on the Roman frontier, the Bianchi to Sarezzano: amongst those so exiled were Corso and Sinibaldo Donati with some of the della Tosa, Pazzi, Spini, and Manieri families: and of their rivals, Gentile, Torrigiano and Carbone de’ Cerchi with Guido Cavalcanti and others. The latter immediately obeyed, but the Neri were more obstinate and had even organised a conspiracy with the knowledge of Acquasparta who had engaged a Lucchese army to cooperate; but they were finally induced to yield, and the Lucchese being intimidated by the vigour of government Florence was saved from a bloody revolution.

Some time before this however, in the month of December, many families had assembled to celebrate the obsequies of a lady in the Piazza de’ Frescobaldi: it was the custom at such meetings for the citizens to sit in the lowest place on rush­mats, and the cavaliers and doctors higher up on the surrounding benches, so that the Cerchi and Donati who did not enjoy this dignity were opposite to each other on the ground: it so happened that one of them either to arrange his dress or for some other purpose stood suddenly upright; full of suspicion the adverse party instantly started to their feet and laid hands on their swords; their rivals did the same and an affray began, but was soon arrested by the interference of other citizens.

Florence nevertheless became more and more tumultuous, for the poison had spread even to the country districts: the Bianchi assembled and attacked the Donati, but were repulsed with loss from Porta San Piero: soon after a band of the Cerchi were intercepted on their return from the country by a strong body of the Donati and many wounded on both sides: for these tumults several of each faction were heavily fined; the Donati went to prison sooner than pay, and some of their antagonists followed this example against the advice of Vieri: the whole population even to the priesthood was now divided between the two factions; nobles, middle classes, poorer citizens, all partook of the general frenzy: the Ghibelines in expectation of better treatment held to the White Faction; the friends of Giano della Bella did the same from indignation at his fate; Guido Cavalcanti embraced this cause from hatred to Corso Donati; Naldo Gherardini from a private feud with the Manieri, kinsmen of Donati; the Scali and Lapo Saltarelli because they were related to the Cerchi; Berto Frescobaldi being in debt to the Cerchi, broke from his family and attached himself to his creditors; Goccia Adimari did the same from a quarrel with his kinsmen; Bernardo Adimari because he was their companion; and three of the della Tosa family from hatred to Rosso their chief, who had deprived them of certain honours: besides these there were the Mozzi, the greater part of the Cavalcanti, and several other noble families who followed their standard.

The Donati’s adherents were attached by similar ties, and in this as in most political and religious factions, where public good or the love of morality rarely enter, the Cerchi having most wealth and most power had consequently most followers; but Corso Donati was far beyond Vieri Cerchi as the leader of a party, although Macchiavelli asserts that the latter was equal to him in every quality.

As the Bianchi were only banished to maintain an appearance of impartiality their recall was soon procured on pretence of the unwholesome air of Sarezzano, where Guido Cavalcante hail already fallen sick, and died soon after his return. “It was a great misfortune,” says Villani, “because he was a philosopher and a virtuous man in many things, but a little too sensitive and passionate”. In the meantime Corso Donati and his friends took advantage of their place of exile, and knowing Pope Boniface’s strong leaning towards the Neri, repaired to Rome where they insisted on the necessity of immediate support by the presence of a French prince.

At Pistoia whose citizens, says Dino Compagni, “are naturally cruel, wild, and quarrelsome,” the Neri were completely discomfited and driven from the town: Siena escaped these factions altogether, but at Lucca the Whites in attempting to expel their antagonists were themselves overcome and banished; amongst them the Interminelli to which family belonged the celebrated Castruccio Castracani then about twenty years of age: they retired to Ancona; there he lost both parents and proceeded the same year to England, where under the auspices of Edward the First he is supposed principally to have learned the art of war and laid the foundation of his future greatness.

The intrigues of Corso Donati had filled the mind of Boniface with apprehension for the fate of the Guelphic rule in Florence, and Charles of Valois who happened to be then at Rome on his way to Sicily, was easily persuaded to employ a vacant interval in governing, no matter how, a city so wealthy as Florence. A popular and well-intentioned seignory had been elected in October 1301, and the citizens indulged in hopes of peace: the captains of the Party Guelph also supported them and they tried hard but without success to restore tranquillity: every overture was suspected by the Neri; no tranquillity they said could be permanent until the Cerchi were destroyed; and this could not be without the ruin of the city itself, so extensive was their influence.

In this state of parties Charles of Valois arrived at Siena and immediately dispatched an embassy to Florence, nominally to announce him as a peace-maker but really to sound the public mind about his reception: they were very soon satisfied, for the Bianchi had already become unpopular from the arrogance of power, and a thousand tongues were ready to welcome the royal governor. The seignory determined to reply by their own envoys and immediately ordered the council-general of the party Guelph and the several trades that were governed by consuls to state in writing whether it was their pleasure that Charles of Valois should be admitted into Florence. All answered in the affirmative both by acclamation and in writing except the Bakers who boldly insisted that he neither should be admitted nor honoured, for he only came to ruin the city. Messer Donato d’ Alberto Restori was then dispatched to announce his free admission, but only, after having executed a formal instrument in writing pledging himself neither to interfere with their laws nor liberties; at the same time advising the prince not to make his entry on All-Saints-day, a festival at which the populace were usually excited with new wine whence disagreeable consequences might ensue.

Dino Compagni made one more attempt to reconcile parties, and for this purpose assembled all the chief citizens in the Baptistry, where with a short impressive speech he induced them to an apparent reconciliation which they confirmed with solemn oaths at the very fount where they had all been baptized; amongst these Rosso dello Strozza was the first to weep and take the proffered oath, as he was soon the first that with cruel acts and furious aspect led on his frantic followers to the destruction of their country.

Charles of Valois entered Florence on the fourth of November 1301 with eight hundred horse of his own immediate retainers; but on various pretences, from Lucca, Siena, Perugia and other places, in sixes and tens and twenties he mustered four hundred more; so that with the support of a reckless faction and twelve hundred men-at-arms he was perfect master of die city. He was received with great honour, and dismounting at the houses of the Frescobaldi in the place of the same name occupied that post along with the Spini Palace at the opposite end of the bridge of La Trinita; thus with the possession of all the left bank of the river he commanded one of the principal communications with the right.

So posted and prepared he negotiated with and deceived the Priors; at his desire the Florentine guard of the Oltr’ Arao gates was withdrawn and replaced by Frenchmen: the people were confounded and alarmed; the Bianchi prepared but not vigorously for defence; the government was weak and vacillating; fearful suspicious and aware of danger, they yet trusted to royal protestations and were overreached by royal villany. The rich fortified their towers and houses ; the Scali in whom great confidence was placed by the Whites, lived opposite to the Spini and both houses were strong and important: the Spini tried to soften their neighbours by false declarations of their own real object; they called it the old cause of nobles against the people, not Neri against Bianchi; the Buondelmonti did the same to the Gherardini, the Bardi to the Mozzi; and thus with many others. These arts succeeded in softening several adverse chiefs, and their followers began to lose courage; the Ghibelines seeing this apprehended treachery to themselves by the very men in whom they had most confided, and a fearful suspicion pervaded all that faction.

The gate of San Brancazio was seized by the Tomaquinci in despite of the government, which soon saw itself abandoned and powerless; the baser-minded citizens made a merit of protecting the Neri who now no longer wanted their aid; or compared with great complacency the late tumults with the tranquillity they were now about to enjoy under the wing of a foreigner: the republican standard was displayed at the palace windows, but none came to defend it; the rural forces were ordered to arm; but they hid their ensigns and dispersed; even the exiled Bianchi of Lucca in consequence of ill-usage departed full of suspicion, and many other adherents went over to the opposite party.

Such was the state of Florence when Corso Donati returned from exile and by the connivance of Charles passed the Amo from Ognano, but the gates of the old walls being shut he went round to the postern of Pinti near San Piero Maggiore, situated between his own houses and those of the Uccellini: by the aid of his friends inside he soon forced this barrier and with only twelve companions entered the city. “Long live Corso, long live the Baron” was echoed everywhere, and with a rapidly-collected but numerous following he instantly proceeded to the prisons and Podesta’s residence both of which he forced open; and finally mastering the Prior’s palace dismissed those magistrates to their homes.

On the first news of his coming Schiatta de’ Cancellieri who commanded three hundred men for the city wanted to oppose him and might easily have prevailed; but Vieri de’ Cerchi trusting to public feeling, which however was no longer with the Bianchi, would by no means suffer it and thus put the finishing hand to his own destruction. The Priors bad complained of Charles’s connivance at this outrage as an infraction of the treaty, but he disclaimed any knowledge of Corso’s proceeding, spoke high and loudly of taking vengeance on the culprit, and aided by the Podesta deceived so skilfully as to induce Schiatta Cancellien and Lapo Salterelli, two of the principal Bianchi, to propose that hostages from the chiefs of both factions should be delivered over to him in order that he might have a clear field for justice and put an end to the existing disorders.

The suggestion was adopted and the Neri submitted cheerfully, conscious that they were going to a friend, but the Bianchi with fear: Charles instantly dismissed the former, the latter he “kept that night without straw or mattress like condemned criminals.” This was the climax of public consternation; the Campana tolled and tolled but no citizen answered; no horseman was seen; no armed footman; two of the Adimari alone came with their retainers to the palace and hastily retired at sight of its desolation: the people were amazed and confounded, “for that very evening appeared in the heavens over the public palace a vermilion cross a palm and a half in breadth and twenty braccia long in appearance, with the arms something shorter; it remained about as long as a horse would take to run two courses in the lists; whence those who saw it, and I that clearly saw it, could easily comprehend that God’s anger was kindled against our city.”

The priors at length resigned, and the Neri rode triumphant over the whole city; prisoners and vagabonds of every description were let loose and in full activity; there was no government; man was left to himself and his passions, his own prowess saved or his weakness lost him; the timid hid from their enemies, the brave fought, the innocent bled; there was no redress: the hand of murder was abroad and red; the torch flew wildly and rapidly on the storm; plunder heaped up its bloody hoard; the Bianchi were despoiled, their daughters married by force for their inheritance; their sons slaughtered; and this continued six long days and nights without a pause; and ever and anon as the blaze of some fired palace suddenly flared up against the sky, Charles would ask in mockery “What bright light is that?” and smiled when told it was a common hut or poor man’s cabin, while screams and yells and lamentations filled the heated air.

Throughout this infernal drama the armed form of Donati was seen like a fiend at every turn, seeking in vain for the Cerchi with furious aspect, and voice calling on them in loud and passionate defiance. lie was disappointed. The Cerchi amazed at this bloody crisis and fearing the frenzy of the populace more than the fury of the great, were for the most part in safety; but Donati had revenge, for much and noble blood then flowed to drown his hatred.

When food for murder, flames and plunder was exhausted in Florence, this still insatiate maniac sallied into the country and for eight days longer performed the second act of the eventful tragedy; robbing burning and murders, rooting up vines and olives, ravaging a whole district without cessation or remorse, were the dismal changes of the drama.

Charles who during the above transactions had failed in a plot to assassinate the Priors, thus completed his first step towards the pacification of Florence; a new set of priors were appointed by the Neri, “infamous citizens, but powerful in their faction,” and to perfect the transaction Canti de’ Gabrielli d’Agobbio wus made Podesta; a man who with much evil performed some good; and Tedici Manovelli became Gonfalonier of Justice.

With these tools Charles of Valois, a prince of inordinate expense and rapacity, began his work of cruelty and extortion, and at the very “fountain-head of gold” as Pope Boniface designated Florence he asked the pontiff for a subsidy !

But the dreadful scenes in that unhappy town outstripped even the pontiff’s anger and at the prayer of Vieri and the exiled Bianchi he again despatched Cardinal Acquasparta to restore tranquillity: a formal but hollow reconciliation took place cemented as usual by intermarriages between the rival families; but when the legate again began to talk of office and public honours, Donati and his party like their opponents refused any compromise and the cardinal was once more compelled to quit the anathematized city.

Parties thus nominally but not really at peace and money being Valois’ object, no means were spared, no nice scruples prevented its accomplishment: death, exile, torture, fines, imprisonment; all were put in activity under legal forms and official authority, prince and podesta dividing the spoil between them, while inferior chiefs were allowed to attend to their own individual interest. Thus the Donati, Rossi, Tomaquinci and Bostichi were everywhere tyrants extortioners and oppressors; the last not even scrupling to apply the torture at midday within their own palace in the Mercato Nuovo.

They undertook to protect the dwelling of a friend for a hundred florins, received the money and plundered it themselves; then offering to exchange this property for a certain farm of superior value, they took possession and refused with a sarcastic answer to pay the difference. This was friendship! what then was their enmity? False accusations, perjury, rape, torture, robbery, threats, and incarceration; every evil that springs from avarice, hatred, revenge, anarchy, and boundless power. many in this way acquired state and riches while their victims were pining in exile and poverty; none escaped from private or public rapacity; no tie however sacred diminished it; friendship, kindred, marriage; nothing could turn men from their insatiate avarice and inextinguishable hate: friends became enemies, brother abandoned brother, the son his father, all affection, all humanity was spent, and neither mercy nor pity remained in the breast of any.

On Christmas-day according to ancient custom, a sermon was preached in the great square of Santa Croce to which Simone Donato the favourite son of Corso was listening with his armed attendants, when Niccola de’ Cerchi, his mother’s brother, passed with some followers on his way to a villa at Rovezzano: but scarcely had the latter reached Ponte ad Affrico when he was unexpectedly overtaken and attacked by Simone who without any quarrel, excited alone by fiery blood and party spirit, without preconceived plan or provocation, in the middle of a discourse from the pulpit on Christ’s nativity, and its blessings of peace and goodwill to man, suddenly determined to murder his own maternal uncle! He succeeded, but received a mortal stab from the expiring victim, of which he died the following evening; and thus sowed new seed for next year’s harvest.

Although the Cerchi were entirely innocent of this affray their rivals found many defenders in an administration directly, though unofficially, almost entirely by themselves; and while the affair was pending a real or false conspiracy became public the object of which was to reinstate the Bianchi by means of Pierre Ferrant one of Valois’ officers: certain letters were produced; but supposed to have been forged by the Donati to screen Simone’s guilt; which inculpated the Cerchi, Adimari, Tosinghi, Gherardini and all their white adherents: they were cited to appear, condemned for contumacy, banished, their houses ruined and their estates confiscated. About six hundred citizens of distinction were by this and other decrees dispersed over the world on various charges: amongst them Dante Alighieri, who was condemned by a retrospective law which empowered the Podestà to take cognizance of crimes supposed to have been committed by any of the Priors during their official capacity, notwithstanding the customary legal absolution given at the expiration of office.

The revolutionary judge of a successful faction could never be at a loss for a crime wherewith to charge an absent enemy; and as Dante appears to have opposed a grant of public money to that judges rapacious master Charles of Valois, and also leaned strongly to the white faction; there is abundant reason for this iniquitous punishment; but if any credit be due to the novelist Sacchetti his misfortunes were remotely occasioned by a piece of double-dealing with one of the Adimari whose part he promised to take before the Executor of Justice, and yet not only deceived him by a malicious trick but suggested a fresh accusation by which the penalty was doubled; an offence which the Adimari never forgave. Dante’s first condemnation was on the twenty-seventh of January 1302 his second on the tenth of March following by which he and fourteen more are faithfully promised to be burned alive if ever they should fall into the hands of the Florentine government: there is a strange mixture of Latin and Italian in the first decree as if they had purposely chosen, says Sismondi, the most barbarous combination of language to condemn the poet and founder of Italian literature.

This great poet’s name is placed by Dino Compagni in the same list of proscription with Petracco the son of Parenzo dall’ Ancisa and father of Petrarca; but as the stream of banishment was kept continually flowing under the malign influence of Valois, the exiles of many days are probably there included, and at no time can the chronological order of this historian’s facts be entirely depended on.

The Bianchi being thus in a manner destroyed as a faction Florence remained in the power of their rivals Corso Donati, Rosso della Tosa, Pazzino de’ Pazzi, Geri Spini, Betto Bruneleschi, the Buondelmonte, Tornaquinci Frescobaldi, Nerli, Rossi, Pulci, Bostici, Agli, Bardi, Bisdomini Rucellai and many others in town and country, all stained by their participation in the recent outrages. Schiatta de’ Cancellieri retired to Pistoia which with several other places he put into a state of defence; Charles and the Neri attacked it and were repulsed; Montale was occupied, Serravalle taken by the Lucchese and Florentines, the Pazzi and Ubaldini of Val d’Arno were chastised, and the Bianchi everywhere beaten; after which the army, seven thousand strong, returned to Florence. The arch-fiend of Valois with teeming coffers and gratified passions finally left that devoted city on the fourth of April 1302 followed by one deep and universal curse: he had been sent there to make peace and kindled a blaze of domestic war; he went to Sicily to make war, and concluded an ignominious peace; then slunk back to France with eternal disgrace to himself and his country.

The remainder of this year was spent in detecting real or fancied conspiracies between the exiles and their friends in Florence, and under the Podestà Folcieri da Calvoli di Romagna a fierce and cruel instrument of the black faction many were tortured and executed without mercy and even a poor idiot of the Galegai family was inhumanly beheaded: Tignoso de’ Macci expired under the tormentor’s hands; and when the frantic mother of two young Donati (who had been condemned) with dishevelled hair, and arms crossed upon her breast, kneeled in the street, and in the name of God implored Messer Andrea da Cerreto to save her innocent children. “I am on my way to the Palace for that purpose” replied the inexorable judge and instantly led them forward to execution.

In the month of March the exiles with an auxiliary force from Bologna, the Ghibelines of Romagna, and the Ubaldini clans, entered the province of Mugello with eight hundred men-at-arms and six thousand infantry, and led by Scarpetta degli Ordilaffi da Forli, took Policciano along with another fortress and endeavoured to reduce the whole province: the Florentines quickly mustered their forces, and joined by the Lucchese, marched against them, but the Bolognese, who had been deceived about the internal condition of Florence, on seeing so vigorous a demonstration retreated in alarm, and the remainder of this formidable array retired as they best could with the loss of their baggage, many killed, and some of the principal leaders of the white Guelphs made prisoners. Amongst these was the judge Donato Alberti a zealous Guelph: he was led into the town tied on the back of an ass and cruelly tormented; then, while still hanging in agony to the instrument of torture, was exposed for the derision of the citizens and afterwards beheaded by virtue of a law of which he himself was the author. All the prisoners were put to death and unjustly, even according to the prevailing customs, which allowed refugees to make such attempts for their own reestablishment without being more liable to the extreme penalty than prisoners of war who break from confinement. Guelph and Ghibeline captives were nevertheless indiscriminately executed, and the consequence was a closer union of the survivors of both factions under the common name of Bianchi; for until then there never had been perfect cordiality between these two branches of the white faction, and this made Corazza Ubaldini of Signa observe, “There were so many Ghibelines, and so many more who wished to be, that the making them by force was a foolish action.”

The confidence of the Neri now was so much increased that in concert with the Marquis of Ferrara they secretly attempted to get possession of Bologna trusting to the cooperation of their friends within that town; the white refugees however discovered the plot and baffled them, so that the only result was an accession of influence to this faction in Bologna and a league with Forlì, Faenza, Pisa, Pistoia, Count Frederic of Montefeltro, Bernardino da Polenta and the Bianchi of Florence.

These plots, persecutions, and destruction of banished men scarcely affected the general tranquillity; Corso Donati alone was discontented at not occupying that place in the state government which he felt both his talents and rank deserved; for in despite of revolution the government was still democratic, and Corso with all his influence, though he might have made the priors his tools, could never change its character nor materially alter the ordinances of justice. Rosso della Tosa, Pazzino Pazzi and Geri Spini with a powerful train of rich citizens or “Popolo grasso” completely directed the seignory, and it was this party that Corso Donati attempted to pull down: complaining that the people were oppressed with taxes and other vexations, and despoiled of their substance, while the great were enriched, he demanded an investigation of the public accounts in order to see where such enormous sums had been expended. There was some foundation for the charge; great scarcity of food had reduced the city almost to famine, and increased discontent was produced by general suffering, while every one knew that large sums had been levied which were never expended on war : the government however had only been able to avert starvation by an enormous outlay on corn, and this was the principal source of the expense and accusation, winch was pressed in the various councils and warmly applauded by the people. Donati now joined the Cavalcanti and Lottieri della Tosa Bishop of Florence, both of the white faction, besides several other nobles; many remained neutral while some few joined the priors and popolani who between pride and anger were determined not to yield, so that after satisfying the people by an inquiry into each oppressive and violent act that was alleged to have occurred, they prepared to repel both Donati’s accusation and ambition by force of arms.

Towers and houses were instantly fortified, the bishop’s palace was turned into a stronghold, streets were barricaded, and every thing prepared for civil war: many of the middle classes joined Donati from a belief in his honest intentions and the necessity of controlling public expenditure, others because they had the same views as himself; but the general government was far from being unpopular. The Gherardini reenforced it with a powerful following of their country retainers; the Spini, Pazzi, and Frescobaldi lent their aid; Florence was filled with rural forces, returned exiles, and foreigners; every house mustered its vassals and clients, and terror was again busy in the town. Battle, robbery, murder, and conflagration again roared triumphant; law, order, government, were again trampled in the dirt; and another straggle of evil passions, of unmitigated crime, and universal wickedness began; the flame once more spread into the country where similar scenes were repeated, and the whole frame of society seemed rent asunder when at the request of the seignory a strong body of Lucchese troops appeared and reduced everything to order.

The “Balta” or Dictatorship of the republic was immediately decreed to them, and although with considerable jealousy on the part of many Florentines, they by a firm determined conduct, without any bloodshed, succeeded in restoring tranquillity. New priors were appointed, both parties were disarmed, the people were left in full possession of their liberties, and then the pacificators returned with distinguished honour to Lucca.

Corso Donati’s attempt at supremacy was thus checked; but it cost nearly two months of civil war and sixteen days’ sacrifice of national independence to a powerful neighbour who might have taken advantage of it to the detriment of the republic. The priors and their party were indignant that any single citizen should at his own caprice be able to plunge the whole commonwealth into anarchy! now for the sake of a minion, again for his own misdeeds; sometimes for a faction, sometimes for the disputes of nobles and people; and above all for questioning their honest administration of the public money, in which according to Villani, they were perfectly blameless.

Boniface VIII was dead; a life of pride ambition and intrigue was closed in misfortune madness and suicide, but his successor Benedict IX a pontiff of mild and indulgent character and free from party spirit, sent the Ghibeline cardinal of Prato invested with full powers by the government to accommodate matters at Florence, and for a while his exertions were successful; he soon perceived that amongst nobles only was the return of the Bianchi positively displeasing, while to the popolani it was not only indifferent but in a manner desired as a counterpoise to the aristocracy of the black faction. Every effort of banished men they argued, was directed against the whole city, but if restored, their exertions would be exclusively opposed to the nobility which would weaken both, and leave the government still with the people.

The cardinal therefore cautiously introduced this subject, and favoured by the popolani made some progress in settling the conditions of restoration; even Ghibeline deputies from Arezzo; where Dante, Petracco, and the Cerchi had assembled; were introduced, and the treaty drew towards a conclusion when the black nobles fearful of consequences forged letters, as if from the legate to the Bianchi; which they pretended to have intercepted, inviting them to profit by actual circumstances and surprise the town. This set the whole people in a tumult, no explanation was suffered for an instant; the cardinal retired to Prato where he was equally unsuccessful and even in personal danger; no better fortune awaited him at Pistoia, so that angry and mortified he laid the first city under an interdict and returned to Florence where he was once more baffled by the Neri. He nevertheless had strengthened the people by reviving the old gonfaloniers of companies, and reestablished concord between many families; but tumults hourly augmented and the cardinal seeing the impossibility of restoring order quitted Florence in despair exclaiming in an indignant tone to the assembled people, “Since you will have war and anathemas and will neither hear nor obey the messenger of Christ’s vicar, nor have peace or repose amongst yourselves, remain as you list, with the malediction of Heaven and the Holy Church upon your heads.” So saying he pronounced the sentence of excommunication, and joined the pope at Perugia who confirmed the curse and sanctioned all his proceedings.

Scarcely had the cardinal departed when civil war resumed its terrors; the party which had acted with him including all the “Whites” and Ghibelines in Florence both nobles and popolani united against the Neri, the Bianchi from hatred and the rich popolani from a jealousy of aristocratic power which was again fast increasing. The principal chiefs of the white faction were the Cavalcanti, the Gherardini, the Pulci and Cerchi, with the popular houses of the Magalotti, Peruzzi, Antellesi, Albizzi, Strozzi, Ricci, Alberti, Acciaioli, Mancini, Baroncelli and many others, all strong in arms and followers. On the other side were Rosso della Tosa, Pazzino Pazzi, Geri Spini, Betto Brunelleschi and the Cavicciuoli branch of the Adimari; Corso Donati was ill of the gout, and remained neuter from anger against these chiefs as well as from a desire of weakening both parties by mutual struggles while he prepared to take advantage of their lassitude. Battles first began between the Circhi and Giugni at their houses in the Via del Garbo; they fought day and night and with the aid of the Cavalcanti and Antellesi the former subdued all that quarter: a thousand rural adherents strengthened their bands, and that day might have seen the Neri’s destruction if an unforeseen disaster bad not turned the scale. A certain dissolute priest called Neri Abati prior of San Piero Scheraggio, false to his family and in concert with the Black chiefs; consented to set fire to the dwellings of his own kinsmen in Orto-san-Michele; the flames, assisted by faction spread rapidly over the richest and most crowded part of Florence: shops, warehouses, towers, private dwellings and palaces, from the old to the new-market-place, from Vacchereccia to Porta Santa Maria and the Ponte Vecchio; all was one broad sheet of fire: more than nineteen hundred houses were consumed; plunder and devastation revelled unchecked amongst the flames, whole races were reduced in one moment to beggary, and vast magazines of the richest merchandise were destroyed: the Cavalcanti one of the most opulent families in Florence beheld their whole property consumed and lost all courage; they made no attempt to save it, and after almost gaining possession of the city were finally overcome by the opposite faction. The artificial fire used by Neri Abati on this occasion was a peculiar composition which left a blue mark on the earth where it fell; it could be carried in a pipkin into which arrows were dipped and shot off to any distance so that no house was safe; and with this did Rosso della Tosa from the Mercato Vecchio set all Via Calimala in a flame; it was also used as a torch or ball, and in such form Sinibaldo Donati wrapped the Cavalcanti property in one wide sheet of inextinguishable fire. The Podesta appeared during this conflagration with a strong guard, but government was also a faction, or rather for the moment annihilated: Maruccio Cavalcanti and others proposed to fire the Neri’s houses and as the former were still strong in arms though homeless, this would have probably secured the victory, but being utterly cast down they slunk away and concealed themselves among the dwellings of their friends, but found no shelter; so that again attacked and driven from the city they fled to Siena, or took refuge in their own castle of the “Stinche” and other places.

Meanwhile the citizens remained terror-struck and astounded at the extent of their calamity yet fearful of complaining, because those who did it; many of whom having alike suffered; tyrannised at the head of the government: there was a general apprehension too that the nobles would attempt to annul the ordinances of justice and resume all their ancient power as they had already their wonted insolence; and this would certainly have been accomplished if jealousy and quarrels amongst themselves had not compelled the whole to court the people.

This catastrophe, which occurred on the tenth of June, confirmed and justified the legate’s judgment and so discomposed the pontiff that he summoned twelve of the principal chiefs to answer for their conduct. Amongst these were Corso Donati. Pazzino de’ Pazzi, Geri Spini and Rosso della Tosa, who being the great leaders in every revolution the legate advised should be with all their friends and followers, (a hundred and fifty men-at-arms besides retainers) detained at court in order to leave a clear field for the operations of the Ghibelines whom he was so anxious to reinstate in their honours and possessions. For this purpose letters were clandestinely despatched to Pisa, Bologna, Arezzo, Pistoia, and even Romagna to all the Ghibelines and white faction urging them to assemble promptly and secretly on a given day near Florence and make themselves masters of the town. As there was a hint that the pontiff had sanctioned this proceeding every exile rose with fresh courage, and most of them, with more zeal than wisdom, arrived two days before the time at Lastra, a small village about two miles from Florence on the Bologna road, yet with such conduct and secrecy that except by their friends nothing was known in that city about their coming or numbers, which amounted to sixteen hundred men-at-arms and nine thousand infantry.

Tolosato degli Uberti with a considerable force from Pistoia was to have taken the chief command but as this officer being more true to his time, had not yet arrived, Il Baschiera de’ Tosinghi, a young nobleman of no experience, pushed rashly on next morning with all but the Bolognese contingent and entering by the Porta san Gallo, for the walls were as yet unfinished, carried a strong barricade across the street of that name and established himself on the twentieth of July in the heat of a burning sun, at the present Piazza di San Marco without any means of procuring water. Here the troops remained under aims with white banners, olive garlands, and naked swords, shouting nothing but “Peace Peace,” and using no violence: they expected to be welcomed by a large body of citizens and would have been so but for the number of Tuscan Ghibelines in their ranks, all enemies to Florence, wherefore every citizen held to the ruling party and determined to resist.

A detachment of Ghibelines pushed on and carried the Porta degli Spadaj, then entering the Place of San Giovanni they found scarcely seven hundred men of all arms to oppose them: had they been supported complete success must have followed, but being promptly attacked and galled with large cross-bows they were forced to retire: the bad news soon reached Lastra with the usual exaggeration, whereupon the Bolognese took fright and retreated. Meeting Tolosato degli Uberti on their way they were detained by him for a moment but neither prayers, menaces, nor the truth of the fact would induce them to return, and their conduct being by this time known to the main body filled them with a similar panic, they fell back in confusion abandoning their arms without even being followed by the townsmen. Some few masnadieri pursued them, some prisoners were taken, many were killed, and several perished from excessive heat; the whole army finally dispersed, and thus ended this well-planned expedition by a too eager zeal and premature execution.

Just about this epoch Pope Benedict expired at Perugia and left the Neri of Florence more at liberty to carry on their wars against the Bianchi but without any cessation of disorder within the city. Talano degli Adimari was confined in the public palace and about to be condemned on some serious charge when the whole family suddenly rising attacked and wounded the Podestà and many of his attendants; forcibly entered the palace and rescued their kinsman without any opposition or subsequent punishment; wherefore that officer, by name Giliolo Puntagli da Parma, broke his wand of office and left the city in disdain. Twelve citizens were immediately elected to execute the duties under the name of the twelve “Podestadi” who ruled until a new magistrate was appointed. A desultory but active warfare still continued against the Ghibelines without; the town or Castello delle Stinche in the val-di-greve, which its lords the Cavalcanti had excited to revolt, was taken, and the captives confined in a prison just at that time erected on some ground formerly belonging to the Uberti which ever since has borne the name of the “Stinche”, the Valdipesa was next invaded, Montecalvi taken, and a brisk war everywhere maintained against the exiles. The rest of this year was quiet, but measures were in progress to reduce Pistoia which under Tolosato degli Uberti, supported by Pisa Bologna and Arezzo, had hitherto been the great rallying point of the white faction.

In 1305 negotiations were begun with Lucca and finally both republics agreed never to quit the siege of Pistoia until it surrendered. Charles the Second of Naples was requested to send his son Robert Duke of Calabria as commander of the allied armies, who arrived in April with three hundred Aragonese and Catalonian horse and a strong body of infantry; the Florentines marched on the 22nd of May 1305 and joined their allies under the walls of Pistoia which was closely invested at about nine hundred yards distance with compact lines of circumvallation connected by strong redoubts. The Duke then issued a proclamation that all who wished to leave the city might do so within three days, safe in goods and person, but those who remained should be held as rebels and traitors to the king of Naples, and men whom anybody might put to death. Such was the style and authority of generals in those heroic days! Many of both sexes took advantage of this, and then there began a cruel warfare of retaliation; of hanging, blinding, cutting off men and women’s feet and noses, and driving them back to the city walls thus mutilated to wring the hearts of their families. Battles were fought and gallant deeds accomplished, the besiegers from their number having always the advantage, and war went briskly on until Clement V who had succeeded Benedict; by the Cardinal of Prato’s advice despatched two legates to the army as peace­makers; the Lucchese and Florentines refused any obedience and were excommunicated; but the Duke obeyed so far as to withdraw personally from the war, leaving his troops under Diego della Ratta to continue the siege. Distress amongst the inhabitants increased; provisions failed, and starvation drove away every finer feeling of humanity; the ties of affection were forgotten, men became savage, the father expelled his son and his daughter from his home, and the son his father; the once-loved wife was driven from her husband’s arms, and the young girls thus cast upon the world were sold as slaves to the highest purchaser! Yet the Pistoians still held out, vainly expecting their deliverance from Pisa; Pisa indeed supplied them with money but dared not march or venture to offend the Florentines; and all hope of succour from Bologna whence the Bianchi had been recently expelled, was also abandoned, wherefore on the tenth or eleventh of April 1306 after eleven months’ siege Pistoia capitulated. A Florentine and Lucchese assumed the offices of Podestà and Captain of the People; the contado was divided between the two allied states only a mile of territory being left to the citizens; the walls were razed, the ditches filled, the towers houses and palaces of the white faction demolished; contributions of the most grinding nature were levied; justice was sold by the two victor chiefs; the exiled Bianchi of Piteccio devastated the surrounding country and robbed the now open city with impunity, often hanging up the citizens in derision near the town; such was war in those dark days of personal enmity; and such it may be again, even in these enlightened times, if the patience of mankind be once exhausted by excessive suffering.

A siege of such duration was felt severely both by the army and the two allied states; the Florentine troops were relieved every twenty days by the train-bands of each sesto, but great numbers of the peasantry were ruined by a forced service during the whole siege at their own expense; to Florence the cost was so great that a new and oppressive mode of taxation emphatically called the “Saw” was adopted; it was a diurnal poll-tax of one, two, or three lire according to circumstances, on all the Ghibelines and Bianchi whether present or absent, even though in exile : besides this every father of a family who had sons able to serve was compelled to pay a certain tax if within twenty days the latter were not seen in arms before Pistoia.

The Cardinal Napoleone Orsini, who had just excommunicated the Bolognese and deprived them of their university for banishing the Ghibelines, a consequence of Florentine intrigue, having also failed to succour Pistoia and seeing the articles of capitulation shamefully broken, retired in anger to Arezzo and in 1307 by the pope’s command assembled a formidable army to chastise the Florentines. The latter nothing daunted mustered a force of three thousand men-at-arms and fifteen thousand foot with which they took the field in May and marched straight into the enemy’s territory by the Val d’ Ambra, ravaging the country and reducing many towns, until they at last sat down before Gargonza a place about thirty miles south-east of Arezzo leaving Florence completely exposed. The prelate was too well advised not to perceive their error, and wishing to rid the country of such intruders marched with his whole force due north by Bibbiena and Romena giving out that Florence itself was his object, where he was sure of a strong party; his advance was soon known at the capital and a messenger instantly dispatched to recall the troops; the latter were already in march, yet so hurried and disordered that a thousand soldiers from Arezzo might by a night attack have completely defeated them. The cardinal had been before urged to bring the Florentines to a decisive engagement, which they studiously avoided, and he constantly refused; being probably deceived by their artful promises of obedience; but the Ghibeline chiefs seeing the occasion neglected and having no confidence in their leader gradually fell off and never assembled more. The Neri then sent Bette Brunelleschi and Geri Spini as envoys rather to turn him into ridicule than really to treat of peace but at the same time performing the real object of their mission which was to sow the seeds of dissension amongst the people of Arezzo, in which they were for the moment successful. The cardinal was soon removed from his military post and retired with no credit and almost universal contempt to the easier duties of the capital.

These wars and tumults had so much increased the nobles’ power and audacity that other citizens took the alarm and resolved on a revisal of the constitution; Niccolò di Prato had done something by reviving the long disused companies which were for some reason now unknown reduced to nineteen, but with great and important powers. This prelate whose great object was a restoration of the Bianchi, immediately perceived that his views were likely to meet with less opposition from the popolani than the nobles, for reasons already given; also that the latter were comparatively weak unless supported by their clients and adherents amongst the people themselves, and that union amongst the last was alone wanting to insure their safety. Wherefore to court their good will he commanded that every citizen should be enrolled in these companies, not according to his trade, but, for the sake of more rapid union, according to his street and parish; none of the nobles were permitted to belong to these corps nor even to quit their houses while the latter were under arms; and in case of outrage done by a noble to any inhabitant the Gonfalonier of his company was bound to give him immediate redress and defend him if necessary by force of arms. If a popolano happened to be killed instant vengeance was to be taken on the noble homicide by the whole company, and even public money supplied on occasion to the nearest kinsman: thus as regarded the aristocracy the humblest citizen in Florence on receiving an injury found himself instantly at the head of a greater following than the proudest noble, and with a certainty of additional support. The same regulation was extended to some parts of the Contado, not however so much for the sake of mutual aid as to prevent the inhabitants having recourse for protection to any of the rural nobility. “After this,” said the cardinal, “let me hear no more complaints of the people against the nobles”.

Such was the rigorous system that became now reorganised, in which every company had its peculiar banner with some honorary distinction and privileges at public festivals; heavy fines were levied for being absent when the gonfalon was displayed; the Gonfaloniers were elected half-yearly, and during that time were liable to be called to the councils of the priors under the name of colleagues. Another important alteration was the institution of a new office under a magistrate of great authority called the “Executor of the Ordinances of Justice” whose especial duty was to prosecute the aristocracy for offences against the people and this was often performed with excessive rigour: the first executor of justice was Matteo Temibili d'Amelia who coming in the month of March was knighted by a public decree and soon infused a salutary dread into the nobility amongst whom these reforms awakened a deeper feeling of discontent anger and mortification. In order to distinguish themselves in a more decided manner from the new and unnatural mixture of Guelph and Ghibeline which had been formed under the aristocratic names of Bianchi and Neri, the citizens on the present occasion determined to assume the more homely denomination of “The Good Guelphic People”, while at the same time they charged all their standards of companies as well as the red-cross banner with the arms of their ancient hero Charles of Anjou .

The city still remaining under an interdict, (for Cardinal Orsini had for the third time cursed it on leaving Arezzo,) and the people becoming heedless of papal indignation as well as hopeless of pardon, bethought themselves of making the most of their damnation as regarded finance by levying a heavy tax on the clergy to support the war; this was executed with such rigour that the monks of Florence Abbey rebelled, and shutting their gates against the tax-gatherers rang all their bells in defiance, the people became exasperated broke into the convent and robbed and outraged them; and as a punishment for having rung their bells pulled down the belfry-tower to nearly half its height by order of the government.

Notwithstanding all these troubles the city was embellished, the streets and squares improved and enlarged, and the common stream of business, except where interrupted by a positive misfortune like the late conflagration, ran smoothly. In August the seignory reconciled the two powerful families of Tosinghi and Cavalcanti which were both afterwards released from exile; sixteen citizens were elected to control the expenditure of public moneys and reduce superfluous officers, who had multiplied so much as to impede business while the public treasure was wasted in unnecessary salaries: the holders of clipped money were fined if they were bankers or dealers in the precious metals: sumptuary laws against the vanity of women were renewed; no chaplets or crowns of gold or silver nor any jewels could be longer worn, and fathers, brothers, and husbands were made answerable for all female transgressions of this vain and venial nature. So ended the year 1307.

Contemporary Monarchs.—England : Edward I, Edward II (1307).—Scotland : Robert Bruce, (1306).—France : Philip IV (the Fair).—Aragon: Jacob II.—Castile and Leon: Ferdinand IV.—Portugal: Denis.—Germany: Albert of Austria.—Naples : Charles II (of Anjou).—Sicily : Frederic II (of Aragon). Popes: Boniface VIII, Benedict IX (1303), Clement V (1305).— Greek Emperor: Andronicus Palaeologus.—Ottoman Empire: Othman, 1306.

BOOK THE FIRST. CHAPTER XV. FROM A.D. 1308 TO A.D. 1317.

READING HALL

THE DOORS OF WISDOM