[7] All once great families, but now extinct, or fallen.
[8] Above the gate of St. Peter rose the walls of the abode of the Cerchi, the head of the White faction.
[9] The casting overboard was the driving out of the leaders of the Whites in 1302.
[10] The Count Guido married Gualdrada, the daughter of Bellincione Berti.
[11] Symbols of knighthood; the use of gold in their accoutrements being reserved for knights.
[12] The family of the Pigli, whose scatcheon was, in heraldic terms, gules, a pale, vair; in other words, a red shield divided longitudinally by a stripe of the heraldic representation of the fur called vair.
[13] The Chiaramontesi, one of whom in the old days, being the officer in charge of the sale of salt for the Commune, had cheated both the Commune and the people by using a false measure. See Purgatory, Canto XII.
[14] To high civic office.
[15] The Uberti, the great family of which Farinata was the most renowned member.
[16] The Lamberti, who bore golden balls on their shields.