The battle of Montcaperto bowed Florence to the ground; and so withering was its effect on the remaining citizens that the whole Guelphic faction resolved to abandon their country; not from inability to defend the town, for it was strongly walled, the ditches broad deep, and well filled with water; and blood must have flowed and spears have been broken ere its gateways echoed to a hostile footstep; but along with Ghibeline treachery came a dread of future treason; many of that faction remained and insulted the universal grief by their open exultation; recrimination between Guelphic citizens and Guelphic nobles began; the campaign was the headstrong work of the former, and the latter did not spare them.

Besides this some of the richest citizens were becoming too aristocratic, and raised the jealousy of their poorer neighbours at the same time that they.were in open enmity with greater families of their own party, while the plebeians, deprived of honour and office, were indifferent as to which faction governed: for the victory being gained by their countrymen, as they believed, did not stain the national honour, wherefore it was absurd in their opinion to endanger the city by endeavouring to exclude these exiles from their homes: they were Florentines returning to Florence, not a foreign enemy at her gates, and whether Guelph or Ghibeline ruled, they themselves would be equally excluded from a place in the commonwealth.

This state of public feeling was well known to the governing party who were also aware that their own lives as well as property would be perilled by remaining, wherefore every principal family, popular and noble, to the number of sixty and more, retired from the town and with their women and children sought refuge at Lucca and Bologna: the Guelphic families of the other allied cities, with the single exception of Arezzo, in like manner abandoned their country and swelled the population of Lucca which became a place of general refuge for the Guelphs until three years after, when forced out by Ghibeline confederation they sought elsewhere for an asylum.

The Guelphs retired on the thirteenth of September, and on the sixteenth the allied army marched to Florence. An unusual quiet reigned in the suburbs; no sound, no stir, no sign of animation; the city gates were open, the houses closed, the streets desolate, and the whole town a vast and striking solitude. Not a living creature was to be seen, no murmur heard except here and there the low articulation of assembled voices issuing from a church or hospital and then melting in universal silence. The victors struck with awe and full of suspicion entered cautiously, apprehensive of danger from this strange tranquillity; they marched directly to the public palace observing the strictest discipline, and there fixing their head quarters occupied the remainder of the town: at length some bolder citizens confiding in this peaceful demonstration issued from their concealment and throwing themselves at Count Gior­dano’s feet implored protection. Few outrages were committed except on the houses and other property of the absent Guelphs which were plundered and confiscated; but the hatred of faction carried some so far as to insult the dead, and, as already related, the tomb of Aldobrandino Ottobuoni was shamefully violated. The treatment of this worthy citizen’s remains exasperated the people, and their discontent was augmented by the abrogation of many laws passed during the ten years of Guelphic government to secure public liberty: supreme authority was now exclusively vested in the nobles but under the protection of Manfred, to whom all were compelled to take an oath of allegiance. Count Guido Novello was made Podestà for two years and the German troops under Giordano were to be maintained by Florence. The Ghibelines immediately dispatched ambassadors to thank King Manfred for his aid, and request that Count Giordano might be continued as his representative, under whose authority they had no doubt of soon being able to arrange the afiairs of Tuscany. Arezzo was speedily attacked by her banished Ghibelines assisted by the Senese and Florentines, and as stoutly defended by the remnant of Guelphic citizens who had escaped from Monteaperto. A new gate was opened at Florence to communicate more rapidly with Count Guido’s vassals in the Casentino district, which with the adjoining street leading directly to the public palace took and still keeps the name of the ascendant faction.

By this time the ambassadors had returned from Naples and announced tliat the Count of San Severino could only be spared for a few months, so that it became necessary to organize a general plan of government before his departure: a diet of the Tuscan Ghibelines was therefore summoned to meet at Empoli a small town about twenty miles from Florence, where besides the Count Giordano and deputies from all the principal cities, every Lord or Baron of any distinction power or territorial authority repaired and assisted in the deliberations. This congress was opened by the Count of San Severino who informed the assembly that as he was recalled by his sovereign into Puglia it became necessary to adopt a line of conduct calculated to secure King Manfred’s authority and the Gliibeline ascendancy in Tuscany. Upon this the deputies from Siena and Pisa arose and declared that they could conceive no other means so effectual for the general security as the destruction of Florence: it was an opulent powerful and ambitious city which always was and ever would be attached to the party of their adversaries, a city whose ramparts were ever their citadel and which would infallibly reserve its resources for the day of vengeance: nothing therefore but the demolition of her walls and the dispersion of her people they said could insure safety to the Tuscan Ghibelines. There was doubtless much truth in this proposition, and its barbarity did not prevent its being favourably received, more especially by those small towns which Florence had subdued, as well as by many noble Florentines who saw a fair opportunity of recovering their independence by the ruin of that power which had tamed them. The decree seemed likely to pass when Farinata Degli Uberti rose, and in a short energetic speech opposed himself to the whole assembly and saved his country.

“It would have been better,” he exclaimed, “to have died on the Arbia than survive only to hear such a proposition as that which they were then discussing. There is no happiness”, he continued, “in victory itself, that must ever be sought for amongst the companions who helped us to gain the day, and the injury wo receive from an enemy inflicts a far more trifling wound than the wrong that comes from the hand of a friend. If I now complain it is not tliat I fear the destruction of my native city for as long as I have life to wield a sword Florence shall never be destroyed; but I cannot suppress my indignation at the discourses I have just been listening to: we are here assembled to discuss the wisest means of maintaining our influence in Florence, not to debate on its destruction, and my country would indeed be unfortunate and I and my companions miserable mean spirited creatures, if it were true that the fate of our city depended on the fiat of the present assembly. I did hope that all former hatred would have been banished from such a meeting and that our mutual destruction would not have been treacherously aimed at from under the false colours of general safety; I did hope that all here were convinced that counsel dictated by jealousy could never be advantageous to the general good. But to what does your hatred attach itself? To the ground on which the city stands? To its houses and insensible walls? To the fugitives who have abandoned it? Or to ourselves that now possess it? Who is he that thus advises? Who is the bold bad man that dare thus give voice to the malice he hath engendered in his soul? Is it meet then that all your cities should exist unharmed and ours alone be devoted to destruction? That you should return in triumph to your hearths and we with whom you have conquered should have nothing in exchange but exile and the ruin of our country? “Is there one of you who can believe that I could even hear such things with patience? Are you indeed ignorant that if I have carried arms, if I have persecuted my foes, I still have never ceased to love my country, and that I never will allow what even our enemies have respected, to be violated by your hands, so that posterity may call them the saviours, us the destroyers of our country? Here then I declare, that although I stand alone amongst the Florentines I will never permit my native city to be destroyed, and if it be necessary for her sake to die a thousand deaths I am “eady to meet them all in her defence”. Farinata then rose and with angry gestures quitted the assembly; but left such an impression on the mind of his audience that the project was instantly dropped and the only question for the moment was how to regain a chief of such talent and influence.

When this decision was known Farinata proudly resumed his place at the public request and it was resolved that their cause should be strengthened by those measures alone which were generally approved, the first step being to place a thousand men-at-arms under the command of Count Guido Novello, and maintain them at the common expense of the league, independent of the ordinary contingent of each member. This alliance of all the Tuscan Ghibelines against the Guelphic faction was afterwards formally ratified at Siena, and from the contribution of each chief and state took the appellation of “La Taglia di Toscana ”

Count Giordano according to the Florentine writers returned to Naples and Guido Novello, with the title of Manfred’s Vicar General and Chief of the League, established himself in Florence, the Tuscan Guelphs were dispersed, or leading a miserable existence within the walls of Lucca; the power of Manfred was strengthened and extended by the victory of Monteaperto, while he and his Saracens commanded the South of Italy: the Torriaui of Milan had deserted the Church; Mastino della Scala led the Veronese Ghibelines; Eccelino had fallen; but it was more from tyranny than Ghibeline politics and principally by the enmity of certain chiefs of his own faction.

Manfred and his party were thus prosperous when the death of Pope Alexander IV suddenly removed a feeble enemy and made way for a pontiff that very soon altered the aspect of affairs in Italy. Urban IV was the son of a shoemaker of Troyes in Champagne, whose talents raised him to the bishopric of Verdun, the patriarchate of Jerusalem, and finally to the Popedom : Manfred was too little disposed to reverence priests ever to be on friendly terms with such a haughty ambitious pontiff as Urban, who attacked him with a persevering bitterness hardly inferior to the enmity of Innocent the Fourth. His crying sin was independence of the Church; in itself deadly and unpardonable; but his Saracens had also appeared in the Campagna of Rome and Urban instantly published a crusade against him, giving the command of his troops to Roger of San Severino a Neapolitan refugee, whom he ordered to assemble all the rebels of that kingdom and make cruel war on Manfred. Not content with this he cited the king to appear and justify himself against a long catalogue of crimes, and endeavoured to break off an alliance then negotiating between Manfred’s daughter Constance, and the son of John King of Aragon, which originated the claims of that family to the two Sicilies.

Most of the year 1261 was consumed by Count Guido in consolidating the internal government of Florence; but the month of September found him in the field with 3000 men-at-arms and a strong force of infantry: Lucca the only remaining strength of the Guelphic party was the object of this expedition; Castello Franco, Santo Croce, and other places fell before it; several more were restored to Pisa; but Fucecchio was bravely defended and resisted every attack so that the Ghibelines retired without much honour to Florence.

In the last efforts of despair the Guelphs sent ambassadors to Conradine who as legitimate heir to the crown of Sicily they hoped would espouse their cause; but he was still a child: his mother would not part with him; and his furred mantle, given as a pledge of future assistance was the only result of this embassy: yet their misery may be conceived when we learn that the mantle was publicly exhibited at Lucca and worshipped like the brazen serpent in the wilderness as a type of things to come. Once they surprised and attempted to keep the town of Signa, six miles from Florence, but Count Guido after driving them from the place advanced to Castiglione where the Guelphs met him with inferior forces and were defeated: the capture of more towns and the devastation of more territory cooled the friendship of Lucca for her Guelphic inmates and produced a secret negotiation with Count Guido: it however dragged slowly on until the following year when the Guelphs again saw themselves AD 1263 driven with their wives and children to seek a more distant home. Lucca by this treaty was to join the league, receive a Podestà in the name of King Manfred, regain her prisoners taken at Monteaperto  and to have no class of her own citizens of either party molested; but all foreign Guelphs to be instantly banished from her walls. Three days only were allowed to these unfortunate people to remove and after severe suffering on the mountains between Lucca and Modena the greater part arrived at Bologna in a state of extreme miseiy. Here their fortune changed; for a civil war having broken out between the Guelphs and Ghibelines of Modena they were invited by the former to lend them assistance and did so with such effect that their adversaries were driven from the town and the Florentine exiles rewarded and enriched with their spoils. Similar dissensions soon after began at Reggio; the exiles’ assistance was again sought and they were again victorious; but this time with such an increase of wealth as enabled them to appear in knightly harness and form a veteran band of four hundred men-at-arms, which afterwards did good service in the Sicilian wars.

In this last affair a certain Carca da Reggio, a knight of gigantic stature and prowess, with a ponderous iron mace bore down every opponent and almost alone sustained the combat, for none approached within reach of his weapon that was not instantly felled to the earth: the Florentine gentlemen observing this, selected twelve the most valourous of their company, and under the name of the twelve Paladins sent them armed with daggers only against the terrible Carca: a bloody struggle ensued in which many sunk beneath the giant’s arm, but he finally yielded to their close assault and died where he fell, in the market-place of Reggio. This decided the victory, every Ghibeline fled from the city and the Florentines received their reward under the young Forese degli Adimari by whose hand the giant is supposed to have fallen.

The fate of Lucca hastened that of Arezzo where the Guelphs had made a long and gallant defence; but worn out and pressed by their own exiles, by Florence, and Siena; they finally yielded to an adverse fortune and retired.

The abasement of Guelpliic Tuscany seemed now complete and the star of Manfred high in the ascendant; but a cloud arose in the west which at first dimming its lustre finally extinguished it in blood. Urban stimulated from within and without, both by his own hatred and the Guelphic exiles; trained every nerve to accomplish the fall of Manfred: he began a secret negotiation with Saint Louis of France and offered the crown of Sicily to his son; the gift was refused by that conscientious monarch as it was the inheritance of Conradine; but the decree of a council had anathematised Frederic and all his posterity, and though Urban charged himself with the sin, yet would not Louis be tempted. His brother the Count of Anjou more ambitious and far less scrupulous, coveted the prize and was well seconded by the vain temper of his wife Beatrice Countess of Provence: this lady having three sisters enjoying the queenly dignity could not brook an inferior title, although ranking in power and riches next to the crowned heads of Europe. Her husband, says Villani, “was wise and prudent in council, of great prowess in arms, severe, and greatly feared by all the kings in the world; magnanimous, of spiring thoughts, and equal to the greatest enterprises; untamed in adversity; firm and faithful in all his promises; speaking little and doing much: scarcely ever smiling; decent as a monk; a zealous Catholic; severe in justice, and fierce in his aspect. His figure was tall and muscular, his colour olive, his nose long, and he seemed more adapted than any other lord to the kingly office. He scarcely slept. He was generous to his followers, but rapacious in amassing lordships lands and money on every side to supply the expense of his enterprises, and never took any pleasure in jesters troubadours and other court followers.” The negotiations with Charles of Anjou were attended by much difficulty and delay; the pope was too exacting and the prince firm in his purpose to make himself as little dependent as possible on the Roman pontiff, so that one year was thus unprofitably wasted, and another consumed in military preparations for the enterprise. The announcement of these intentions was the first shock to Ghibeline power and his arrival at Rome with a thousand men-at-arms the signal for hostilities: Charles had escaped from a Pisan fleet equipped to intercept him, and after seeing his own squadron dispersed arrived almost alone at a convent outside the walls of Rome, where however he was soon joined by his followers and entered the city on the 24th May 1265 amidst general acclamation.

Urban IV died in 1264 while Charles was in the midst of his preparations and a vacancy of five months threw a damp on Guelphic hopes; but Urban who had found only eight cardinals at his accession completed the list with his own friends, and his counterpart the Cardinal of Narbonne then on a mission to the court of Provence, was chosen pontiff under the name of Clement IV. The enterprise therefore proceeded as vigorously as before and Charles with the aid of his brother, who perhaps was not sorry to see so unquiet a spirit out of his kingdom, besides the riches and even jewels of his wife, assembled an army of 5000 cavalry 15,000 infantry, and 10,000 cross-bowmen, but impatient to arrive at the scene of action ho hurried on to Rome as already related.

Charles was publicly acknowledged as King of Sicily and Puglia by the new pope; and the Roman people wishing to have some powerful prince for their senator, who at that time had great authority, also appointed him to this dignity in preference to Manfred or the Prince of Aragon. The pope only favoured this election because he was enabled to secure his own temporal power by annexing certain conditions that the Count of Anjou’s eagerness for the Sicilian ctowti induced him to accept. His arrival infused new spirit into the Florentine exiles, now rich and powerful through their own gallantry; they therefore sent a formal embassy to the new pope with an offer of their services for the king, and demanding the blessing, and recommendation of the church: they represented their hind as being composed of 400 gentlemen well armed and mounted besides a considerable body of footmen, and added that they would appear with increased dignity before that prince if as soldiers of the church they were presented with a hanner bearing the arms or some other device of his holiness. Clement of course granted all their requests furnished them with money, and gave them a standard emblazoned with his own arms; namely a red eagle in a white field holding a green dragon in its talons, and the exiles afterwards placed a red lily over the eagle’s head which thenceforth became the peculiar badge of the “Party Guelph” a faction that acted so important apart in the subsequent history of Florence. Under these auspices the exiles prepared for war and advanced towards Mantua to unite with the Provençal cavalry commanded by Guy de Montfort fourth son of the Earl of Leicester who had ded to France after the battle of Evesham. The Florentine Guelphs under Count Guido Guerra led them through Romagna and La Marca to Rome where they arrived about Christmas, and were received by Charles with peculiar favour not only on account of their own strength and military reputation, but because they were the first Italians that had joined his standard, were deadly enemies of Manfred, and demanded no reward except a speedy restoration to their country. The rest of the troops joined their sovereign in the month of January 1266. Charles after the ceremony of a coronation, in which he acknowledged himself a vassal of the church, with exhausted resources hurried on to the frontier where he took the pass of Ceperano, crossed the Garigliano without a check, in consequence of the treachery of Manfred’s kinsman the Count of Caserta, and occupying a considerable part of the country prepared for a speedy termination of the contest. Manfred alarmed by the disaffection of his brother­in-law and the subsequent disloyalty of others endeavoured to come to terms and sent an embassy for that purpose; but Charles perceiving his advantage scornfully rejected all communication. “Tell the Sultan of Nocera with him I will have nor peace nor truce, but that ere long I will either send him to hell or he shall send me to Paradise.” The war was a crusade and Charles had persuaded his followers that as they fought for the Catholic faith against an excommunicated heretic and a Saracen, they were sure either of the crown of martyrdom or the glorious triumph of victory. The unexpected capture of San Germano and consequent slaughter of some of his bravest Moslems still further depressed Manfred; treachery appeared on every hand and even the veiy season seemed to side with the enemy; nevertheless he took up a position at Benevento and resolved on battle.

The river Calore flowed between the armies and the fate of prince and kingdom was decided in a few hours: there were from three to four thousand lances on each side according to the lowest statements; the infantry began the attack: the Saracen archers passed the river and with loud shouts assaulted the French; shooting so well that the latter could scarcely withstand them; the cavalry rode up to their support blest by the Pope’s legate with uplifted hands in the midst of the tumult; the Saracens were repulsed and then the German cavalry galloped over the plain of Grandella to encounter the Provencal knights. “Montjoie Chevaliers” “Suabia Chevaliers” was shouted on either side; the Germans bore everything before them, but the French were successively supported at every’ repulse by their second, third, and fourth lines: they out-numbered Manfred’s brigade and striking at the horses, a foul proceeding amongst knights, succeeded in disordering it: Manfred ordered his reserve to their support; it wrs a critical moment and was not lost on the disaffected; his grand treasurer; the Count della Cerra; the Count of Caserta, and and nearly fourteen hundred men-at-arms who had never been engaged shamefully fled and sacrificed their master and the kingdom.

With a handful of still faithful gentlemen Manfred resolved to die gloriously rather than yield the day: while in the act of adjusting his helmet, a silver eagle which formed the crest fell on his saddle-bow. “Hoc est signum Dei,” said he; “I fixed on this crest with my own hands : it has not fallen by chance.” Immediately plunging into the thickest of the fight, but unable to rally his disheartened soldiers, he fell dead amidst a heap of enemies and remained three days before the body was discovered.

Thus died King Manfred, a victim to his own treacherous barons: the ambition of reigning led him into errors that have been distorted by papal hatred and ecclesiastical intolerance into the characteristics of a cruel, faithless and irreligious barbarian; but says Giannone, “If it had not been for his ambition he might be compared with the most famous captains of passed ages; magnanimous, energetic, liberal, and a lover of justice, he always maintained his kingdom flourishing and abundant; he violated the laws only to ascend the throne but in everything else was just and compassionate. Learned in philosophy, a consummate mathematician; not only an encourager of literature but himself most accomplished”. “He was fair and handsome, of gentle aspect, affable with everybody, always smiling and cheerful, of admirable and delightful wit, so that he has by several been compared to Titus son of Vespasian for his liberality, his beauty, and his courtesy.” And Muratori, himself a churchman, agrees substantially in this character.

Benevento soon fell and many of King Manfred’s most uithful adherents were cruelly put to death or reserved for lasting imprisonment. The Florentine exiles bore themselves so bravely at the battle of Grandella that Manfred could not help exclaiming with some bitterness, “O where are the Ghibelines for whom I have done so much! Whatever may be the fortune of the day that band of Guelphic gentlemen cannot lose.”

Dead as he was, the enemy’s hatred still pursued him; his body was thrown across the back of an ass; Charles and the Pope’s legate refused him a tomb in consecrated earth because he died excommunicate; his remains were laid at the foot of Benevento bridge where every soldier in the victorious army threw a stone, and thus a monument was suddenly raised to the memory of a prince a hero and an accomplished gentleman, by the natural sympathy of generous enemies, when the hatred of kings and cardinals sternly refused him the common offices of mortality. Even this resting-place was denied, for the Archbishop of Cosenza with the pope’s approbation, on pretence of its lying in papal ground, ordered Manfred’s body to be disinterred and carried away in darkness to the banks of the Verde, now the Marino river, and exposed to the inclemency of the weather so that all traces of its existence were speedily lost to the inhabitants.

The victory of Grandella was bloody but the pursuit still more so; the kingdom remained at the conqueror’s mercy and he soon entered Naples in triumph: the Florentine auxiliaries still followed his standard while their Ghibeline rivals alarmed at these events drew closer together and resolved on measures of precaution against the fatal consequences of this campaign.

The lull of Manfred was likely to drag them from that pedestal on which the battle of Monte Aperto had placed them; yet there seems to have been no good reason for apprehending a reverse in Tuscany if their affairs had been ably conducted, and with an impartial administration of justice in Florence where public opinion ran fearfully against them, the ancient freedom of a popular government being still fresh in the public mind.

All the Tuscan cities were nominally Ghibeline, but a strong and silent mass of Guelphic matter existed within each, and a stronger and more enterprising set without who only waited for a favourable opportunity to right themselves: Florence above all was essentially Guelph; the citizens openly rejoiced at the death of Manfred, and Count Guido perceived when too late that it would be politic to try and acquire the public favour with some show of beneficial intentions after having forfeited it by every kind of injustice. Since the victory of Monte Aperto the government had nominally been in the hands of the nobles, but Count Guido both as Podestà and royal Vicar was little less than absolute: the names of Guelph and Ghibeline now began to express something more definite and local than the general Italian meaning of these words. Guelph in Florence now signified popular government; Ghibeline that of the aristocracy: and as the latter party in adhering to the empire strove for an oligarchy, so the former being attached to the church desired a democracy, into which by a wider gate all the most able and virtuous of the community whether noble or plebeian would be permitted to enter. Count Guido saw clearly that things were fast drawing to the same state as in 1250 and likely to be attended by similar consequences unless some timely sacrifice were offered to popular feeling: his resolution though wise was useless, for public opinion began to express itself openly without fear or equivocation and his own motives were exactly estimated.

A short time before this a new order of religious knighthood under the name of “Frate Gaudenti” began in Italy it was not bound by vows of celibacy or any very severe regulations, but took the usual oaths to defend widows and orphans and make peace between man and man: the founder was a Bolognese gentleman called Loderingo di Liandolo who enjoyed a good reputation, and along with a brother of the same order named Catalano di Malavolti, one a Guelph the other a Ghibeline, was now invited to Florence by Count Guido to execute conjointly the office of Podestà. It was intended by thus dividing the supreme authority between two magistrates of different politics that one should correct the other and justice be equally administered; more especially as, in conjunction with the people, they were allowed to elect a deliberative council of thirty-six citizens belonging to the principal trades without distinction of party. This little senate aware that apprehension alone had called it into being felt itself under no obligation to Count Guido and determined on a political reformation independent of his authority. Amongst other useful regulations the seven superior “Arts" or Trades seem to have been more regularly organised than formerly and greater powers given to the consul or chief magistrate of each, who administered justice amongst all those belonging to his particular calling or connected with it; and to this was added a standard under which every member assembled when the public service required their aid. These were called the “Arti Maggiori” to distinguish them from the inferior trades which were subsequently embodied under the denomination of “Arti Minori”. Although apparently a trifle this reform was extremely important and afterwards proved the great instrument of emancipating the people from the fetters of the aristocracy, as it gave them a constitutional right to assemble in arms whenever their own interests required it.

As the causes of discontent were similar to those of 1250 so were the feelings of the people and the measures of redress; names alone had changed; the thirty-six chiefs and the Anziani were then created, the same number of governors and seven consuls now; but increased strength and experience made them more determined. On the other hand the nobles, who were far from blind to the consequence of these alterations began openly to condemn them, and Guido taking advantage of this feeling which he secretly encouraged warned them against allowing any more prejudicial measures to be concocted under the plea of maintaining public tranquillity: they were advised to assemble their friends and retainers without delay while he reinforcod his garrison by the contingents of several neighbouring cities to the amount of 1500 men-at-arms: money was necessary to pay the troops, a first attempt to register property for taxation was introduced; additional contributions were imposed; the new assembly demurred; the collection was unusually tardy, the tax unpopular, and Guido full of fear and suspicion resolved on an open demonstration of his force. His intentions could not long be concealed; the nobles were already armed, and the Uberti and Lamberti began the tumult by sallying from their houses in Mercato Vecchio and driving the thirty-six governors from their neighbouring place of assembly. All Florence was soon in arms under the banners of the “Trades” as formerly under those of the “Sesti” the people met in Piazza Santa Trinita a wide street which gave room for their numbers and was easily barricaded at all its approaches : Count Guido took up his position in the Piazza of San Giovanni : he and his nobles moved forward to the attack and the people did not refuse it. Led by Gianni de’ Soldanieri, a noble who for private ambition was false to his own party and not true to any, they poured down showers of stones and other missiles from towers and houses; cross-bows played briskly from the barricades, one German knight cleared them with a bound, but was not followed, and the troops retired with some loss of men and reputation to their previous position. The principal struggle took place about the Loggia of the Tomaquinci now occupied by the palace of the Corsi, and decided an event that governed the future destinies of Florence; for Guido alarmed at the general indignation and extent of the movement and disheartened by its result; fearing as well the disaffection of some nobles of his own party as a night attack from the citizens, determined to evacuate the town without delay. Thus panic-stricken he mustered the troops, and against the advice of his own officers and the two rectors who engaged to tranquillise the people, he hastily called for the keys and on the eleventh of November issued from Porta Bovina six years after his triumphal entry and, with some molestation in Borgo Pinti then outside the walls, was soon in full retreat to Prato.

 

No sooner was he in safety than apprehension vanished and error became palpable; he tried to retrieve his position by immediately moving on Florence, but the people were wide awake, the city all in arms; wherefore seeing that neither threats prayers nor promises made any impression on them he sullenly retraced his steps to Prato, and thence to his feudal possessions while the other Ghibeline nobles dispersed to their several castles.

Thus relieved the citizens hastened to organise a government, the two Frati Gaudenti who had forfeited all public confidence by their peculation and hypocrisy were dismissed; a single Podestà was appointed on the application of Florence with a hundred men-at-arms from Orvieto a Guelphic city. Twelve men were named to execute the duties of the former Anziani; and as almost all the nobles of both factions were now absent it was at once decreed that political crimes should be obliterated and the gates thrown open to every exile of either party.

The people beheld with pride the return of their distinguished countrymen whose fame in arms had shed a new lustre on the Florentine name; and to strengthen the present peace numerous marriages were promoted between the adverse families, so that the whole city rang with merriment: but the factious spirit was deep, the joy shallow and transient, and the Guelphs could never forgive six long years of banishment and sorrow. Public feeling was entirely with them; internal power and external support made them bold and insolent; while the fear of Conradine’s arrival in Italy gave point to their enmity. Charles, whose political interests were now, except in name, the same as Manfred’s, looked to be paramount in Tuscany and an invitation from the Florentine Guelphs gave him a legitimate opening that he was not disposed to neglect. The military preparations of Conradine to recover his Italian states were now heard plainly and alarmed the pope for the fate of those countries; the empire was vacant, the kingdom of Italy left without a chief; and Tuscany composed of various independent republics became in a manner insulated; so that until a new imperial election occurred the pontiff easily persuaded himself that he as the father of Christendom was a proper person to assume the vacant office. Charles also, not being without apprehension and equally anxious to secure himself on the side of Tuscany was appointed vicar-general of that province and according to some, on this authority alone without any invitation from the Guelphs, marched a body of 800 men-at-arms to Florence under Guy de Montfort and Malatesta da Verruchio, one of whom was appointed his vicar in that city. They were received with public rejoicing by every class, for the Ghibelines scared at their approach had hastily retired and assembling in force round Pisa and Siena established themselves permanently at Santo Ellero whence they made a war of incursions up to the very gates of Florence. This became insufferable, wherefore the united French and Florentine forces besieged and took their stronghold after a sharp resistance in which eight hundred Ghibeline gentlemen fell a sacrifice to the rancour of faction and private feuds, hatred at this epoch so deep and deadly that one of the Uberti who had taken refuge in the belfry tower, leaped desperately from its battlements and dashed his brains out, rather than yield to his private enemies of the Buondelmonti race.

Siena next became the seat of hostilities; Poggibonzi, where the Ghibelines were strong in numbers and position, was besieged, and the arrival of King Charles in August as Vicar of Tuscany gave a higher and more brilliant character to the war. lie was welcomed with peculiar honours; the Carroccio issued in full state and accompanied him in triumph to Florence.

This prince was far too energetic to remain long inactive; wherefore after having knighted several citizens, an honour then of the most distinguished class, he repaired in person to the siege of Poggibonzi which the Pisan and Senese armies with a body of Ghibelines had united to raise : but skilful as he was it occupied him for four months incessantly and then onlv surrendered by capitulation from a total want of provisions. Pisa next felt the Guelphic lash, Porto Pisano was taken and its two defensive towers destroyed; the country ravaged and the strong town of Mutrone finally capitulated to the king in person.

The Guelphs with some justice demanded compensation from government for the confiscationpf their property after the battle of Monte Aperto and a similat sacrifice of the Ghibeline possessions was demanded; some opposition took place and the dispute referred to Charles by whose judgment all confiscated property was divided into three parts, one to be given as compensation to the sufferers, one assigned to the state, and one intrusted to the magistracy of the “Party Guelph”; about which a few words are necessary. A public committee had been appointed in 1266 to ascertain the extent of this damage, whose still existing report makes it amount to 132,160 or according to others 130,736 lire perhaps; but there are great doubts about the precise epoch when the permanent magistracy of the Party Guelph was created: according to Leonardo Aretino it had certainly existed before this time though under a different form and most likely was abolished during the Ghibeline administration: its origin is however generally ascribed to this period when by a realisation of solid property in a body corporate it assumed a force and character which di$i not previously exist: this was due to Clement IV and Charles of Anjou who in working zealously together for the ruin of Ghibeline principles promoted even measure that gave strength to their own faction. By their command this tribunal was now composed of three Knights-Rectors chosen from each sesto in succession for two months, and at first denominated “Consuls of the Knights” but afterwards “Captains of the Party Cruel”, under which title with accumulated riches and authority they exercised extreme influence and finally oppressed the Commonwealth. By them too the antagonist faction was annihilated; for power and enmity concentrated and embodied in a corporation, lynx­eyed, sleepless, backed by the force and spirit of the people, and directed exclusively against the Ghibelines, was too much for that faction both withiw and without the city.

Except Pisa and Siena, all the Tuscan states followed the politics of Florence and a Guelphic league was soon organised on the plan of the Ghibelines, commanded as before by the Florentine Vicar of the King of Sicily and Puglia; so that the whole revolution both in the north and south was a simple change of actors, but the same drama.

The Florentines anxious for peace and wishing to reorganise their constitution in safety, thought they could accomplish both objects and also manifest their gratitude to Charles by an offer, which was made in 1267 of the Florentine sovereignty for ten years: Anjou at first refused; declaring himself well contented with their good will without further jurisdiction : he however subsequently accepted it as simple chief of the republic, declining the extraordinary powers with which they were willing to invest him. This dignity involved the right of appointing a vicar to administer the affairs of war and justice in his name, all other offices and the power of changing the form of government still remaining with the citizens; for Charles on being invested with the Seignory only entered into the constitutional authority of that office in whatever form the people were pleased to mould it. The thirty-six governors of Guido Novello were now reduced to twelve “Buonomini” or Good Men, whose term of office was two months: along with these was a council called the “Credenza” of eighty citizens; and also an assembly of one hundred and eighty of the people, thirty from each “Sesto,” which with the Credenza and Buonomini formed the Council General. Another council of one hundred and twenty members created at the same period and composed of every privileged class perfected all measures previously discussed in the preceding assemblies and distributed the various offices of the republic. This at least is Macchiavelli’s account, but there is considerable discrepancy in the statements of different writers about the constitutional reforms of this epoch: Malespini a contemporary author, does not mention the Credenza nor Macchiavclli that of the Podesta which is noticed by the former and Villani, who themselves are silent about the council of one hundred and twenty, asserting that the general council consisted of three hundred members. Cantini, a good authority, tells us that the deliberations of the Buonomini had no effect unless previously approved of in the popular council of a hundred; afterwards in that of the consuls of Trades; then in the Credenza; subsequently in the Podestà’s council of ninety, and finally in the council general of three hundred. Sismondi follows Cantini and Villani, therefore differs from Malespini and Macchiavelli: he tells us that the first council for consultation was that of the people, then on the same day the matter went to the Credenza where the consuls of the seven superior trades had a place, but no nobles or Ghibelines: the next day the same matter went first to the council of the Podestà where nobles and people and consuls of the arts all took part, and then to the council general composed of citizens of every rank. Other disagreements might be quoted from different authors, but Macchiavelli is clear in his statement that all these councils united, (to which may be added the consuls of arts,) formed the general council; and that the council of one hundred and twenty was that which completed any public business under discussion. The reader may choose which account he pleases; but the general result was that a body of continually changing representatives divided into four classes and giving their opinion on all subjects of legislation, each being a check on the other, formed a sufficiently liberal exposition of the public will and maintained a free democratic spirit in the community in opposition both to the aristocracy and any undue power of the Podestà. The machinery of the “Party Guelph” consisted of a secret council of fourteen and a general one of forty or by some accounts sixty members of both classes, which latter elected the “Captain” by ballot besides six priors as treasurers, a public accuser of the Ghibelines, and a keeper of the seal: and so penetrating was its influence tliat in the course of time all the Ghibeline property which had been confiscated to the public treasury found its way into that of the Party Guelph.

Such was the domestic occupation of Florence under the auspices of Charles of Anjou who had now acquired almost all the authority enjoyed by his predecessors Frederic and Manfred, both in the south and Tuscany with the exception of Pisa and Siena which still maintained their positions. Both however would probably soon have fallen had not his course been suddenly checked by Conradine’s advance to Trent, and intelligence of insurrections in Rome and the two Sicilies. Henry and Frederic sons of Alphonso King of Castile having joined the Spanish barons against their father were obliged to fly to Tunis where becoming rich and weary of exile they de termined to try their fortune in Italy: Henry came over to his cousin Charles of Anjou who received him the more favourably because he was able to lend large sums of money, and supported his prayer to Pope Clement for the investiture of Sardinia: he gained the hearts of the Romans while residing amongst them, and in one of their frequent insurrections was made senator of Rome an office which he filled so justly and popularly as to raise the jealousy of Charles who consequently demanded the kingdom of Sardinia for himself, and refused to repay what he had borrowed. These and other injuries raised Prince Henry’s anger and revenge. After an immediate alliance with Conradine he sent for Prince Frederic from Tunis who landed at Sciatta in Sicily with eight hundred Tuscans, Germans, and Spaniards; published a manifesto of Conradine calling on the inhabitants to rise in his favour, and in a short time the whole island with the exception of Messina Palermo and Syracuse, was in a state of revolt. The Saracens of Nocera, Calabria, almost all the Abruzzi, Rome and its whole Campagna soon caught the flame, and the Ghibelines of Tuscany sent a hundred thousand florins to Conradine who after some difficulties arrived at Pisa in the month of May 1268.

Long before this Charles had hurried to the south leaving William de Beiselve with eight hundred men-at-arms as his vicar in Tuscany; Conradine meanwhile marched towards Lucca where Belselve with a strong body of troops was in garrison; the former had been excommunicated, a crusade was even preached against him, and many such crusaders had joined the French and Florentines in Tuscany: both armies drew up at Ponterotto two miles from Lucca on each bank of the Guiscianella; but neither ventured to begin the fight and soon retired out of all danger from each other : Poggibonzi revolted and Conradine marched to Siena where he established himself; upon this Belselve moved on Arezzo to impede his advance to the southward accompanied by the Florentines, whom however he dismissed at Montevarchi, being foolishly confident in his own strength and equally negligent of discipline. At Ponte-a-Valle on the Arno he fell into an ambuscade formed by a detachment of Conradine’s army under the Uberti and other exiles and was completely defeated with the loss of many soldiers. This although a slight affair had considerable effect on the spirits of either party and excited more revolts in Puglia. Conradine soon after marched to Rome where he was received in triumph by Don Henry and the citizens in despite of repeated anathemas from Pope Clement at Viterbo.

This young prince, then only sixteen years of age, who is said to have given good promise of rivalling the spirit and abilities of his uncle and grandfather, marched from Rome on the 18th of August with five thousand men-at-arms and crossing the Abruzzi mountains arrived without any opposition at the plain of Saint Valentino in the district of Tagliacozzo: Charles immediately raised the siege of Nocera and advanced to meet him with only three thousand men-at-arms but strong in having the experienced council of an old French knight called Alard de Saint Valery who was returning from twenty years’ service against the Infidels and happened to touch at Naples in this critical moment. This veteran being well acquainted with German soldiers advised Charles to choose eight hundred Lances and remain concealed while the rest of his army in two divisions began the battle, one being commanded by Henry de Cosence dressed as was then customary in the king’s apparel and resembling him in person. Conradine supposing these two divisions to be the whole force of his antagonist attacked them with such vigour that they were soon routed and Henry de Cosence being slain the victory was supposed complete and the Germans as Saint Valery expected, dispersed to plunder. On seeing this the old knight exclaimed “Now Sire let us charge, for the victory is our own.” The vigour and moral effect of these fresh troops told fatally on the dispersed and heedless Germans and a complete defeat with dreadful carnage was the result. Conradine fled with a few followers, but Charles fearful of a similar stratagem by Alard’s advice remained under arms until night to assure himself of the victory: the young monarch’s destiny pursued him; with his friend the Duke of Austria and other lords he was soon taken and delivered into the hands of his merciless conqueror who on the 29th of the following October brought his head to the block in the market-place of Naples.

It is said and apparently with good reason that Charles consulted Pope Clement IV as was his custom on important occasions, about the fate of young Conradine and received the following laconic answer “Vita Corradini, mors Caroli; mors Corradini, vita Caroli.” But he himself was summoned in the following November to answer for this counsel, if ever given, at a far more awful tribunal than that of mundane history.

Charles’s success was accompanied by the most cruel executions throughout Naples and that unstable people again sighed for the juster sway of a Manfred: but the house of Suabia was no more; with Conradine it became extinct and opened the way for the more fortunate dynasty of Hapsburg which with better auspices has hitherto maintained its position amongst the crowned heads of Europe.

These great events gave new courage to the Tuscan Guelphs without however discouraging their adversaries, for in the month of June Provenzano Salvani chief of the republic of Siena accompanied by Count Guido Novello and other Ghibelines took the field with 1400 men-at-arms and 8000 infantry and threatened the town of Colle by encamping alamt the Abbey of Spugnole not far from that city, where their own Guelphic exileshad taken refuge: the French and Florentines immediately marched under the orders of Charles’s vicar Gianni Bertaldo and uniting with the Senese exiles and some citizens of Colle came suddenly upon them while in the act of changing their ground. After a weak resistance the whole army gave way; Count Guido fled, Provenzano was killed by one of the Tolomei, a private as well as public enemy; and as Monteaperto had not yet been revenged no quarter was given, so that the slaughter is described to have been terrible: this battle occasioned the subsequent return of the Guelphs to Siena through the mediation of Guy de Montfort Vicar of Tuscany, also the present destruction of Ghibeline power in that republic and a more lasting peace with Florence.

The remainder of 1269 was consumed in military inroads on the Pisan country in conjunction with Lucca, and accompanied by the usual boasts and insults common to the age; such as coining money under the enemy’s walls and contemptuously celebrating games and festivals as if in profound peace.

These incursions were followed by the execution of Neracozzo and Azzolino degli Uberti, with other Ghibelines taken in their flight from Siena when that faction was expelled, every one of which Charles immediately ordered to be decapitated: on their way to the scaffold young Neracozzo asked Azzolino the son of Farinato where they were going: “To pay a debt” replied his brother, “which our fathers have left to us.”

The extreme youth of a third brother Conticino degli Uberti who was also taken, only saved him from death to linger in perpetual imprisonment; such was the bitter effect of faction on the fierce disposition of the age, and Charles of Anjou was even beyond the age in cruelty.

Another instance of this revengeful spirit occurred in the year 1271 at Viterbo where the cardinals had assembled to elect a successor to Clement the Fourth, about whom they had been long disputing: Charles of Anjou and Philip of France with Edward and Henry sons of Richard Duke of Cornwall had repaired there, the two first to hasten the election, which they finally accomplished by the elevation of Gregory the Tenth.

During these proceedings Prince Henry, while taking the sacrament in the church of San Silvestro at Viterbo, was stabbed to the heart by his own cousin Guy de Montfort in revenge for the Earl of Leicester’s death, although Henry’ was then endeavouring to procure his pardon. This sacrilegious act threw Viterbo into confusion, but Montfort had many supporters one of whom asked him what he had done. “I have taken my revenge” said he. “But your father’s body was trailed.” At this reproach de Montfort instantly reentered the church walked straight to the altar and seizing Henry’s body by the hair dragged it through the aisle and left it still bleeding in the open street: he then retired unmolested to the castle of his father-in-law Count Rosso of the Maremma and there remained in security! Prince Edward, says Malespini, indignant at Charles for allowing the murderer to escape unpunished, instantly quitted Viterbo and passing through Tuscany remained a while at Florence; he then departed for England earn ing his brother’s heart with him in a golden vase, which was subsequently placed on a column, or as some say in the hand of a statue, erected on London Bridge as a memorial of the outrage.

Although human passions ran thus high amongst the great and their dependants, there were many citizens of a more humble rank that suffered the evil consequences without sharing the fiercer moods of their superiors; on such minds the extraordinary phenomena of nature; storms, floods, and meteors, struck with a melancholy foreboding of national misery. But neither the power nor the cruelty of Charles which were both excessive; nor the severe judgments against themselves, nor their evil fortune, nor the amity of Florence and Pisa the last hold of their party, could subdue the angry spirit of the Ghibelines or stop their rash assaults on the Florentine Guelphs backed by popular authority and public opinion. Amongst these the Pazzi who had the year before incited the town of Ostina to revolt, now with only the assistance of a few unfortunate exiles in addition to their own retainers urged the people of Pian di Mezzo into open rebellion and led them against the whole power of the republic; but they were more troublesome than formidable and soon reduced to terms, when the town was dismantled along with that of Ristuccioli, another stronghold of the same Ghibeline family.

After this feat the army returned to Florence but immediately marched on Poggibonzi where Ghibeline principles had taken deep root and sprouted on every favourable occasion, notwithstanding the heavy trampling they had always suffered from the Florentines. Poggibonzi was not only dismantled but destroyed; its walls and towers, remarkable for their strength beauty and commanding position, were almost entirely demolished, yet some old grey ruins still indicate their ancient position to the traveller; its magnificent churches, marble fountains, rich abbeys, commodious dwellings and manufactories, all were razed to the ground and the inhabitants compelled to descend and settle on the plain : the destruction of this city, considered equal in beauty to some of the first in Italy, was even in those times denounced as a cruel measure but necessary for Guelphic security, besides which the inhabitants had brought down their own destruction by breaking the articles of capitulation which they had signed with Charles, receiving the Florentine exiles, and uniting themselves with every Ghibeline city in Tuscany.

In 1271 a comparative calm succeeded to these struggles; Florence was tranquil, and Tuscany everywhere quiet under the searching eye of Charles, who cruel, rapacious, and insatiate had mastered all his enemies without satisfying his own ambition : monarch of the two Sicilies, paramount at Rome; at once the creature and the master of the church; Vicar of Tuscany, and strongly influencing all northern Italy, he yet looked forward to a more decided sway over that devoted kingdom and even intended to make it an instrument of future aggressions.

 

The house of Suabia was extinct, or existed only in the female illegitimate branch of Spain: Henzius the natural son of Frederic II expired after twenty years’ confinement at Bologna; and although a natural son of Manfred still existed, a poor blinded prisoner in the Castello dell’ Ovo, he was lost to the world and ultimately died of old age and suffering.

All these things therefore conspired to favour the existing tranquillity when Tiobaldo Visconte, of Placentia, although absent in Palestine, was elected pope in 1271 after a vacancy of thirty-three months; he returned to Italy in 1272 and assuming the appellation of Gregory X was the first potentate that checked the ambitious career of Anjou. A long residence in Syria had separated him from the poison of Italian strife and an earnest desire to succour the eastern Christians turned his mind almost exclusively to the deliverance of Palestine: with the extinction of the Suabian family he considered the primitive cause of dissension between Church and Empire to have ceased; pontiffs no longer feared imperial power, and the peace of Christendom was essential to the salvation of Jerusalem. With this view he convened a general council at Lyon for the year 1274 and determined to employ the interval in calming the fury of faction and reconciling man to man: the maritime states were most necessary to his project; but Pisa was uneasy and irritable, Genoa and Venice at war, and the latter threatened by Bologna: all these differences Gregory attempted to reconcile.

Intent on this object he arrived at Florence on the 18th of June 1273 accompanied by Charles of Anjou and the Greek Emperor Baldwin II; where finding party spirit high and the Gliibelines banished he immediately commenced the great work of pacification : Gregory was received in the Mozzi palace by that rich and powerful family then collectors of the revenue and bankers to the Church; Charles lodged with the no less potent family of the Frescobaldi, and the emperor was a guest of the bishop. After a consultation with the king, who gave his consent with a secret determination to counteract the measure, the public ceremony of a general pacification took place on the stony bed of the Arno by the Rubaconte bridge, and was confirmed by the chief families of either faction through their deputies with the kiss of peace and delivery of several hostages, under the penalty of excommunication. Besides this the Ghibelines were compelled to surrender certain castles into Charles’s hands which they probably agreed to with sincerity because their object was self­restoration, while the Guelphs acted throughout with all that hollowness that would have accompanied the conduct of their adversaries had the case been reversed Passions ran too strongly against the benevolent intentions of Gregory, and Charles either spontaneously or at the secret instigation of the Guelphs quietly intimated to the other party that they would all be massacred if they remained another day in Florence, and the latter knew him too well to doubt a punctual execution of the threat. After informing the pope of this they all suddenly withdrew, and the holy father himself soon following their example indignantly retired to the Castle of Cardinal Ubaldini in the Mugello where he passed the remainder of the summer, leaving Florence under an interdict A hatred of this treacherous conduct filled Gregory’s mind, and probably influenced his desire for the speedy election of a German emperor strong enough to check the king's ambition: this led to his approbation of Rodolph of Hapsburg’s election in 1273 and its confirmation by the general council of Lyon the following year.

The feverish sensibility of Florence exposed it to perturbation from any external accident, and the present year was signalised by an expedition to assist the Guelphs of Bologna who were then struggling with the opposite faction for the mastery of that citv: when the Florentines arrived the dissension had ceased by a victory of the former, who however refused to admit them within the town lest their furious party spirit should ruin Bologna as it had done Florence, and the Florentine commander showing some natural resentment at this unamiable reception was unceremoniously murdered by the people. The effect of these unhappy disputes appeared again in the secession of Simone de’ Conti Guidi who separating from his brother Count Guido Novello and the Ghibeline party placed himself under the protection of Florence: Pisa too was in the same agitated state from the two factions which under their chiefs the Visconti, judges or lords of Gallura in Sardinia, and the Counts of Gherardesca and Donoratico eternally tormented the community.

It has already been mentioned that the former did homage to the pope in order to free themselves from the Ghibeline republic and acquire a protector against Henzius King of Sardinia natural son of Frederic II. This was considered as rebellion by Pisa; but more expressively condemned by their rivals the Ghibeline Counts of Gherardesca who hitherto had governed the city while the Guelphic Visconti confined themselves to their insular domains. Two of the Gherardeschi, zealous Ghibelines, had followed Conradine and shared his fate; but Ugolino della Gherardesca; a name immortalised by Dante ; now chief of the family, had marked for himself a different career: he had given his sister to Giovanni Visconti judge of Gallura and without openly renouncing his own party endeavoured to gain an influence with both. His ambition was feared, for its object was the lordship of Pisa; and neither his friendship nor enmity with the Judge, (who had returned to his country after its reconciliation with the pope,) were favourably regarded by the Gualandi, Lanfranchi, Lismondi and other ancient Ghibelines then directing the Pisan government : the attempts of both were dangerous to the commonwealth and both were punished; Visconte with banishment, Gherardesca by incarceration. The first took refuge at Florence, was warmly received and assisted with troops; he made an aggressive war on Pisa, captured the town of Montelopoli and soon after died at San Miniato leaving his son Giovanni or Nino de’ Visconti in possession of all his power and all his ambition.

Ugolino was banished shortly after with the principal Guelphs of Pisa, and making common cause with the Lucchese and Florentines assisted in devastating his native country. A more regular war now became inevitable; Pisa took the field: her army was attacked at Asciano by the united forces of Florence and Lucca and defeated with considerable loss; the castle of Asciano soon surrendered, and being immediately ceded to Lucca the whole country relapsed into its usual state of war and mutual animosity. This perverse opposition to his benevolent intentions incensed the pontiff, now returning from France, and contrary to his wishes he was compelled by a flooding of the Arao to pass through Florence on his way to Rome: determined to show his anger he only took off the interdict for the few minutes necessary to pass through the city and, with a menacing verse from the psalmist, left it still trembling under his displeasure. Gregory X expired at Arezzo on the 10th of Januaiy 1276 after a short and busy pontificate in which he had vainly exerted himself to tranquillise Italy : he had filled the long vacant imperial throne: united the Greek and Latin churches, and held a general council by which many salutary regulations are said to have been passed, amongst them a decree for shutting up the cardinals in Conclave at the pope’s decease and subjecting them to certain privations until a new election were completed. The last long vacancy had alarmed all Christendom and made Gregory almost as eager in preventing the recurrence of such an abuse as he was in sending Rodolph of Hapsburg with no less than four monarchs under his auspices to the delivery of Palestine: he had already accomplished much good and was providentially cut off at the very moment when his honest but mistaken zeal was leading him into mischief.

Adhering to the new system of election the Cardinal of Tarantasia was chosen with the name of Innocent V. He had but just time to restore peace to Genoa ere he followed Gregory to the grave, and a successor was chosen on the 12th of July under the name of Adrian V who also died in little more than a month making room for John XXI. Neither did this pontiff long survive, and Nicholas III who succeeded him in 1277 being alarmed at the increasing power of Charles, played the latter off so dexterously against Rodolph that he diminished the authority of both. Charles under various titles was absolute master of Italy; but Rodolph announced his intention of marching to Rome for the purpose of assuming the imperial crown, and the former could not contemplate this event without uneasiness, while the pontiff’s friendship became necessary to each; Charles had no title to the vicarial dignity in Tuscany and both that and the senatorial rank of Rome were by the terms of his investiture to be renounced on the simple demand of the church. The possession of Lombardy and Tuscany was the cause of dispute between the king and emperor but Charles renounced both along with his Roman honours at the pope’s command: peace was then made between them and the king’s moderation offered as an example to the emperor, who finally consented to grant a formal charter for separating the provinces claimed by the church from those of the empire. This deed, without immediately generating any active assertion of authority on the pontiff’s part, or being much noticed by the people, who saw in it no diminution of their freedom, was yet the foundation of the present temporal power of Rome which had been gradually consolidating itself by a succession of nominal acknowledgments, light and fleecy in the beginning, but finally hardening into weight and density.

While Nicholas thus followed the uniform policy of the church he at the same time was zealously attentive to the pacification of Italy, and employed his own nephew Cardinal Latino Bishop of Ostia, in La Marca, Romagna, Tuscany and Lombardy, with authority to reconcile the conflicting factions. After a successful termination of his mission in Romagna, where the Geremei and the Lambertazzi of Bologna were the most conspicuous, he arrived at Florence with an imposing escort of three hundred Roman knights, and was received with the honours of the Carroccio by all the magistracy, clergy, and citizens, who met him in public procession at some distance from the gates. Scarcely a state in Italy needed so much the presence of a peace-maker; but where human passions or fancied interests are opposed to public tranquillity it must be force not forms, after reason fails, that will presene even its semblance. Florence at this time was relapsing into its usual state of turbulence; the Guelphic nobility had become powerful from union, and insolent from success; they protected murderers and every other species of criminal from the visitation of justice while assassinations and crimes of all descriptions filled the streets of the capital: power and riches had banished forbearance and augmented pride; private war was common; the Adimari, one of the most potent families of the republic, were at variance with the Donati who unable alone to oppose them were aided by the Pazzi and Tosinghi: as these clans, numerous in themselves, were still more powerful in adherents, fierce and frequent encounters disturbed the town, frays that were calculated to draw a whole population not disposed to tumult, into their quarrel and thus again endanger tlie Guelphic interest. The chief magistrates and captains of the Party Guelph therefore determined to repress such disorders and had early implored the assistance of Nicholas, while the Ghibelines seized the same auspicious occasion to have the pacification of Pope Gregory completed and enforced: both were in accordance with the pontiff’s general objects and received with corresponding favour, more especially as the old jealousy of Anjou’s powgf had lately been augmented by a scornful rejection of the holy father’s proposal for the union of their families ; and the pacification of Florence he knew would render Charles less necessary to a community where he had artfully fomented dissension to preserve his own influence.

The popes feared everything greater than themselves in Italy even though it were of their own creation; by attempting to reduce the powerful they filled the peninsula with war, and often raised weakness to such strength as in its turn became an object of political jealousy and apprehension. Manfred was not ruined for Charles but the church, and this prince had now to become a mark for papal indignation. The Cardinal Latino entered Florence on the eighth of October 1279, and was received by the Dominicans of Santa Maria Novella, the convent of his order; he laid the first stone of the present church, and on Sunday the 19th November before the assembled commonwealth, Scurta della Porta being the royal vicar, explained his mission and demanded absolute authority from the people to secure its faithful and efficient execution: this being instantly granted the whole assembly retired from the ancient square of Santa Maria high in expectation from the character and vast influence of this able churchman.

Until the eighteenth of the following January the legate was occupied in reconciling private interests, allaying apprehensions, and removing individual suspicions; but on that day accompanied by the Archbishop of Bari, the Bishop of Lucca, and several Tuscan prelates; having previously delivered an eloquent discourse on the necessity of concord; he commenced his arduous task. The same spot where the former assembly was held being now magnificently adorned for the occasion, the pope’s legate before the Podesta, the party Guelph, the council-general of three hundred, that of the ninety, the Credenza, the twelve Goodmen, with every other magistrate and member of the commonwealth, gave his solemn judgment on the conditions of political and private peace between the Florentine citizens. A general reconciliation was proclaimed between Guelph and Ghibeline within and without the town, to be sworn to by both parties under the severest spiritual and temporal penalties. Confis cated Ghibeline property with the interest due was to be restored by government and all losses made good on either side; every sentence against Ghibelines was to be cancelled and the records of them publicly burned: the exiles were to return, be eligible to office, and free from arrest for debt during four months; and besides the syndics or deputies of the two factions then present, a number of the heads of families were selected to give the public kiss of peace.

Many other conditions, amongst which the ecclesiastical interest was not forgotten, were devised to insure the permanent success of this measure, but a number of Ghibelines, whose pacific disposition was rather doubtful, were to remain at the frontier during the pope’s pleasure as hostages; yet with a promise of release the moment that by marriage or otherwise their private feuds should bo extinguished. The legate then endeavoured with force or persuasion to reconcile the Guelphic families amongst themselves, chiefly by intermarriages between the Adimari, Pazzi, Donati, Tosinghi and many others; but especially the Buondelmonti and Uberti, who however continued such determined foes that all the Cardinal’s authority was insufficient to force the former even into the outward forms of a treaty.

On the seventh of February both factions in great numbers publicly ratified the conditions, and on the eighteenth of the same month they gave securities for the payment of 50,000 marks of silver in case of their violation, half of which was to be paid to the pope’s treasury and the rest to that party which had been faithful to their promise: particular securities were moreover required and given on the twenty-seventh of February, by the Counts Guido, the Counts of Mangone, the Pazzi of Valdamo, and the Ubaldini della Pila; who all bound themselves in a bond of a thousand marks each to observe the articles of pacification. After this the consuls of the arts entered into some further engagement on the seventh of March, and thus finished this great attempt, the effects of which we shall be able to judge of hereafter.

In order to secure a fair division of political power Cardinal Latino new-modelled the government by creating fourteen Buonomini, eight Guelphs and six Ghibelines, or according to Macchiavelli seven of each faction, chosen by the pope: their term of office was two months or perhaps a year, for writers differ. Under these officers assisted by Giovanni di Santo Eustachio proconsul of the Romans and captain of the people, Florence began to enjoy some tranquillity, not however unmixed with apprehension from the power and talents of Rodolph of Hapsburg whose projected descent on Italy disturbed all parties either with hopes or fears.

The emperor and pope were friends, but long experience had proved that such friendships sooner or later were dissolved, and it became a question of prudence whether it were safer to refuse or receive such a visitor; even Charles himself, powerful as he was, seemed to dread the imperial visit and endeavoured to unite his family by marriage with the house of Hapsburg. Besides this some of the Ghibeline cities of Tuscany showed signs of agitatio ; the pope died in August; the Ghibelines were urging Rodolph to make good his pretensions in Italy, and the imperial vicar with a small escort had already taken up his residence at San Miniato al Tedesco. The Florentines and Lucchese refused to obey him, denying any imperial jurisdiction in their cities; and he not being supported by the emperor who was more wisely occupied, fell quickly into contempt; but the Florentines perceiving that considerable advantages might be quietly gained by a trifling expenditure, managed to send him back contented into Germany after formally confirming all the privileges they had ever received from the emperors.

Charles instead of being the lord and arbitrator of Italy now saw with anger that he was reduced to the simple monarchy of the Two Sicilies; even the seignory of Florence had passed from his hands; his enemies were everywhere restored, and the Florentines governing themselves under the protection of a pope whose authority had reduced him to this state of comparative weakness. But in the midst of his mortification Nicholas III suddenly died of apoplexy at Suriano near Viterbo and Charles determined if possible to influence the coming election in his own favour. Hurrying instantly from Florence to Viterbo where the cardinals had already assembled, and finding all the Italian prelates were against him, he made au insurrection in the city, carried off the two Orsini and Cardinal Latino, whom he confined, while the rest were urged to make their choice, and after six months’ hesitation, being intimidated by the continued imprisonment of their colleagues, AD 1281, it fell on Simon Cardinal of Saint Cecilia a Frenchman completely devoted to the Sicilian monarch. The new pope took the name of Martin IV and became the tool of his imperious patron; Bertoldo Orsino a brother of Nicholas was immediately compelled to resign the government of Romagna into the hands of John d’Appia one of Charles’s dependents, with instructions to make sharp war against the Ghibelines of that country, while in Tuscany the Lucchese and Florentines had attacked Pescia which the latter were inclined to spare but being reproached with their slackness in the Guelphic cause they yielded to harsher councils and destroyed it.

Charles, again elected senator of Rome, was fast recovering his former power, and schemes of higher ambition carried his thoughts to Greece when a sudden explosion in Sicily dashed his aspiring edifice to ruins. Ambition, cruelty, and insatiable avarice had rendered liim hateful to his subjects who too late regretted Manfred’s just administration and their own infidelity; human patience was nearly exhausted and all things tended to a change; Sicily which liad so boldly and generally declared for Conradine was the peculiar object of Charles’s hate; new taxes, new duties, new contributions; confiscations, insults, rapes, and every sort of licentiousness, marked in dis­gusting characters the rule of Frenchmen in that unhappy island. In vain did this miserable people implore the protection of the church; in vain did the popes remonstrate: the stem and insatiate Charles kept steady in his course and from the wretchedness of one nation tried to extract the means for rendering others as miserable.

Giovanni di Procida a nobleman of Salerno devotedly attached to the house of Suabia determined to liberate his country from the cruel yoke of Charles and his tyrannical governors: he was a man of great wisdom and profound talent; bold, secret, and indefatigable; an eminent physician, for in those days, and particularly at Salerno, medicine was one of the peculiar studies of the aristocracy and even the highest dignitaries of the church. He had been the intimate friend and physician of Manfred and his father Frederic and had taken up arms for Conradine: in consequence of this or previously, his estates were confiscated, and after the melancholy end of that young prince he sought refuge at the court of Aragon under the protection of Queen Constance the daughter of Manfred. Peter the Great, king of Aragon gave him honours and estates, but attachment to the memory of his friends, hatred of the living tyrant, and pity for his country, moved the heart, of John of Procida more than the allurements of ease and opulence, and led him to stimulate the Spanish princes to the rescue. When Conradine was beheaded; after a short address he threw down a glove amongst the people as a sort of gauge of battle, to revenge his death, or as some say as an investiture of the kingdom to his sister Constance wife of Peter of Aragon. Procida is supposed to have picked up the glove, or ring, for both are mentioned; and now in all the romantic spirit of the day brought it to Constance as a proof of her right to the Two Sicilies.

Peter being thus fully satisfied with his consort’s legitimate claims only mistrusted bis individual power to cope with so potent an adversary; but Procida encouraged him to the enterprise and first selling his own remaining property promised to find money for the cause. He went in disguise to Sicily and thence crossed over to Calabria in 1279 but he was soon convinced that nothing could be accomplished on the Continent; the power of the Freneh barons had become too firm and the monarch’s eye and presence were everywhere. The island presented a different picture; there the conquerors were more scattered; the mountain districts almost clear of them ; the native barons not entirely deprived of their authority, and still retaining considerable influence; the court far distant, and the three great officers who governed the country acting with all the savage insolence of delegated and irresponsible tyranny were at the same time hated and despised.

Charles had assembled immense forces to invade Greece and place his son-in-law Philip on the throne of Michael Palfleologus whose subjects had revolted because he enforced too strict a conformance with the rites of the Roman church to which he had become a political convert; on the other hand he had been excommunicated by Martin IV, nominally for his slackness in performing those religious duties, but really to assist Charles’s enterprise, and a crusade against him was accordingly proclaimed. The costly preparations for this expedition fell heavily on Sicily, and the eloquence of Procida kindled the latent spirit of revenge: from Sicily he repaired to Constantinople and convinced the Emperor of the necessity of fighting the imperial battle in his enemy’s dominions and not on the plains of Greece. Receiving secret assurances of support and a considerable sum of money, Procida returned by Malta where he had an interview with some Sicilian nobles; they confirmed his previous statements in presence of the imperial commissioners who accompanied him, and from Malta he proceeded to Rome, had a secret conference with Nicholas III. who after much discussion and as it has been supposed, with the assistance of the Emperor’s byzants, was finally persuaded to give his written consent that Constance should attempt the vindication of her claims to the throne of Sicily. Armed with this formidable sanction he returned to Spain but the death of Nicholas almost immediately after his arrival at Barcelona threw a damp on the expectations of the king while it seemed only to redouble John of Procida’s energy: preparations continued under the pretext of an expedition against the African Moors and Pedro did in fact make some descents on the Barbary coast while awaiting the commencement of a Sicilian insurrection.

Although widely spread the secret was preserved inviolate for more than two years; so deep was the suffering, so determined the revenge! John of Procida visited Constantinople a second time in 1281 bringing back with him twenty-five thousand ounces of gold for the use of the expedition, and the promise of more; but without any delay he again passed into Sicily and under various disguises, by means of this gold, a good cause, and an eloquent tongue, soon raised the enthusiasm of the people to the same level as his own. Without organising any specific plot be left the passions of the whole nation ready for the first spark that the breath of fortune might blow into the excited mass, and amidst the universal tyranny this was not long in coming. On Easter-Monday the 30th or according to some, the last day of March 1282 the people of Palermo agreeable to their custom assembled for vespers at the church of Montreale three miles from the town, a young Sicilian lady was there insulted by a French officer who instantly fell before the ready weapons of the multitude. “Death to the Frenchmen” immediately resounded on every side, and not a single individual present of that nation escaped; the storm now drove on to the city; no age or sex were spared, all that was French or likely to be French, died under the poniards of an injured people; even native women pregnant by French husbands shared their fate lest any of that detested blood should be warmed by a Sicilian sun. Four thousand victims fell that night in Palermo alone, and the flame spread wildly over all the island, Bicaro, Corileoni, and Calatafimo took up the bloody work and eight thousand of Charles’s followers paid the forfeit of their tyranny.

One bright gleam of benevolence plays across this storm of human passions and exhibits man in the position for which no doubt he was intended by the Creator. William of Porcelets a nobleman of Provence, had alone amongst his countrymen governed justly and humanely; and he with all his family were, in the midst of the tumult, sent honourably across the straits and safely landed in Calabria. The insurrection extended over every province; the banner of the church was everywhere displayed; the spirit of Procida pervaded all, and the arrival of the Aragonese monarch was hailed as the consummation of Sicilian liberty. Messina, where the royal vicar lived and the greatest force was concentrated, remained quiet for a month; then burst with an explosion that shook the French power to atoms and soon became the first object of royal vengeance. Charles, astonished at the first news of this insurrection, was utterly confounded at the loss of Messina; he implored Heaven for a gradual fall, if he were doomed to fall, from his high estate, and instantly turned the strong curreut of his Grecian armament on the rebellious island; the shock was tremendous; but the soul of an injured people was still opposed to the tyrant; yet the French were scarcely repulsed, and only compelled to retire by the timely aid of Spanish auxiliaries. Roger de Loria destroyed their fleet; the two kingdoms were separated, and the Island of Sicily fell to the house of Aragon.

Such were the famous “Sicilian Vespers” which finished the prosperity of Charles: Italy from the first became agitated; the Lambertazzi and Ghibelines of Romagna who had been expelled from Bologna and fled to Forli; after making the most humble submissions to Martin were repelled with insult: they were afterwards attacked by Jean d’Appia with all the bitterness of the tyrant whom he served; but in a treacherous attempt to get possession of Forli he was completely baffled and his troops nearly annihilated by Guido di Montefeltro the Ghibeline chief of that city.

These and other events excited uneasy feelings in the minds of the Florentine Guelphs, who notwithstanding a nominal impartiality in the distribution of offices, really governed the republic; bound therefore both by treaty and inclination they had exerted themselves to assist the Neapolitan monarch in his present need and reinforced his army at Messina with a company of knights and gentlemen, more remarkable for its quality than numbers, under the command of Count Guido de Battifolle to whom with six hundred companions was intrusted the grand pavilion of the republic as a peculiar mark of respect to the royal idol of their faction.

Still however being uneasy at the increasing confidence of the adverse party, and the continued success of Guido di Montefeltro in Romagna, two hundred men-at-arms were dispatched to assist the church in that province under Sinibaldo de' Pulci and Gherardo de’ Tomaquinci, and then a rigid inquiry was ordered about the social condition of the state, where murders, oppression, and every sort of injustice were common, and increasing with alarming rapidity. To restore order, the Podestà Maffeo di Maggi was invested with more extensive authority, not only over civil offenders but those against the church and religion, and the captain of the people was admonished to maintain the peace of the city as settled by cardinal Latino in 1279. In addition to this it was enacted that all the idle and indigent who were generally parties to every outrage; unless they could exhibit some means of honest living, should, as formerly in Athens, be expelled from the city and dominions of Florence.

The members of noble families were at the same time compelled to find security for their general conduct as well as for the cessation of their private wars which filled the town with tumult: but as it was necessary to give force and action to these law’s, the fourteen Buonoimini with certain other reputable citizens were authorised to select one thousand men of good repute, friends of public peace and order and taken unequally from the six divisions of the town, as a civic guard, each company having its peculiar banner and Gonfalonier. That of the Sesto beyond the Arno with the bands of San Pancrazio and Borgo S. Apostolo which bordered the river on the hither side, in all about five hundred men, were commanded by the captain of the people, but the rest obeyed the Podestà; they were annually renewed in great form, and while under arms it was declared unlawful for any of the inhabitants of Florence to assemble in a body or even quit the street they inhabited.

The establishment of this strong police left the government more leisure to strengthen their external relations; and under the Podestà Jacopino da Rodelia; Niccoluccio degli Uguccioni being captain of the people; an offensive and defensive league was concluded for ten years with Prato Pistoia, Lucca, Volterra, and Siena; with room for San Gimignano, Poggibonzi and Colle, if they pleased to join: by this a confederate force of five hundred men-at-arms was to be in constant readiness under the command of Count Guido Salvatico of the Guidi family. None of the allies could legally begin hostilities without the concurrence of two-thirds of the league, and all were bound to assist a state once at war whether foreign or domestic; tolls and duties of every sort either on goods or person were abolished between the confederates and neither truce nor peace could be concluded except by common consent. Thus externally fortified but still tremblingly alive to every Ghibeline movement, the Guelphs applied themselves with new vigour to the reorganisation of the Florentine constitution, and established a form of government which with some alteration continued until the dissolution of the republic in 1532.

Much confusion and inconvenience were experienced from the necessity of assembling fourteen citizens daily to discuss the slightest or the gravest matters of general government; where conflicting ranks and factions lengthened debate and obstructed the public service: a more decided form of civic democracy was therefore resolved on, by which none were to have a place in the commonwealth that did not really or nominally belong to one of the incorporated trades of Florence. It was impossible that the grating enmity of two such factions as Guelph and Ghibeline could ever allow of any concurrent and harmonious movement, and the jealousy which all parties entertained of the aspiring nobles, several of whom were in the council of fourteen, gave an additional check to the operations of government. Although the citizens were not as yet prepared to deprive the great families of political power, they still hoped by compelling them to assume the homely appellation of tradesmen, to tame that pride which had been generated by the vain title of nobility, so that any future distinction arising amongst the citizens from riches or worth should now be reduced to a nominal equality under the general title of Trades which would be common alike to patrician and plebeian. This says Scipione Ammirato “has been well preserved to the present time in the word “Citizen so that the title of gentleman is assumed now more as a foreign than a native distinction.” Instead therefore of the fourteen Buonomini, three citizens of known wisdom and moderation were appointed to form the Seigniory or supreme government of the republic under the title of “Priors of the Arts” a name given to them because they were chosen before their companions for the political mission, as Christ selected his apostles for the sacred mission with the words “vos estis priores”. The design of this new constitution came from the council of the trade of “Calimala” or foreign cloth merchants, who at this period were considered the wisest and most powerful of the Florentine citizens, and whose extensive connexion with foreign countries had probably enlarged and liberalised their ideas beyond the common standard.

The first Priors were Bartolo de’ Bardi, Bosso Bacherelli, and Salvo Girolami, for the respective trades of Calimala, Bankers and Woolmerchants: they remained in office two months and were entitled the “Seignory”; at the second election they were increased to six, one for each sesto which also gave the medical, the silk, and the fur trade a representative prior, while the seventh “Art,” that of the Law, had its peculiar and separate influence in the public councils. This Seignory, which with the captain of the people represented the majesty of the Florentine republic, was obliged to inhabit the chambers appointed for its residence, at first in the Badia of Florence, then in the Palace afterwards built for the especial seat of government: they lived in great state at the public charge and had slx bailiffs and six messengers at their orders besides superior officers and domestic servants: they were not allowed by day ever to leave their residence except on public service, rarely at night, and then only with the express permission of their president.

Thus were they magnificently imprisoned for two months, with great power but no pay, solely intent on the public service; and ineligible for two years; a period which was called the “Divieto” or prohibition: the government was in this way renewed six times a year from the middle of June 1282; and for a long time no great inconvenience seems to have resulted from the frequent changes; but when their wars became more extensive and complicated, alterations suited to the emergencies were found necessaiy and adopted. The priors were eligible from all classes gentle or simple provided they were registered on the books of some trade; and thus the constitution of the executive government continued until the formation of what was called the “Secondo Popolo, hereaftelir to e spoken of when the nobles were entirely excluded from power and a Gonfalonier of Justice created.

The Seignory chose its successors by ballot and at first did well; but soon changed and became partial in its administration; attended more to the corruption than the observation of the laws, screened kinsmen, peculated, neglected the helpless, overlooked the crimes of nobles, and committed other misdemeanors, to tho great scandal of all good citizens who soon began to find fault with a government where the Guelphic aristocracy had supreme power.

Yet this institution proved the ruin of the Florentine nobles, because they were under various pretences at different times entirely excluded from office, which from jealousy of each other they suffered, and by grasping at too much lost all: it also opened the way to an ambitious crowd of rising families who with increasing riches and influence overshadowed the ancient races and gavo a new complexion to the city. Old and noble names, and even arms were changed when pride once ceded to ambition and a strong desire for republican honours; as if ashamed of mixing their time-honoured titles with a body of simple tradesmen. This also assisted in reducing every class to equality, so that which in other states was counted an honourable distinction, in Florence was considered, for the most part, vain useless and even hurt fid. But many still preserved, in pride and poverty, their ancient names aud customs sooner than mix in the society or be dependent for public honours on a community of merchants.

 

Contemporary Monarchs.—England: Henry III., Edward I, 1272.—Scotland: Alexander III., 1249.—France : Louis IX, Philip III, 1270.—Castile and Leon: Alphonso X, 1252.—Aragon: James I (the Conqueror), Pedro III (the Great), 1276.—Portugal : Alphonso III, Denis, 1279. — Germany, Interregnum.—Rodolph of Hapsburg, 1273. Popes : Alexander IV., Urban IV., 1261.—Clement IV., 1265.—Gregory X., 1271. —Innocent V., 1276.—Adrian V., 1276.—John XXI., 1276.—Nicholas III.. 1277.—Martin IV., 1281.—Latin Emperor: Baldwin II., 1237 to 1261. —Greek emperors restored: Michael Palaeologus, 1261.—Andronicus, 1281.