[320] Cf. W. Heywood, Palio and Ponte (Methuen, 1904), pp. 7-9. These races or palii seem to have originated in the thirteenth century (cf. Villani, Cronica, Lib. I, cap. 60, and Dante, Paradiso, xvi 40-2). Benvenuto da Imola says, "Est de more Florentiæ, quod singulis annis in festo Iohannis Baptistæ currant equi ad brevium in signum festivæ laetitiæ..." He goes on to say that the race was run from S. Pancrazio, the western ward of the city, through the Mercato Vecchio, to the eastern ward of S. Piero. Goro di Stazio Dati, who died in 1435, thus describes the palio of S. John in Florence. I quote Mr Heywood's excellent redaction from Dati's Storia di Firenze (Florence, 1735), pp. 84-9, in his Palio and Ponte, u s "... Thereafter, dinner being over, and midday being past, and the folk having rested awhile according to the pleasure of each of them; all the women and girls betake themselves whither the horses which run the palio will pass. Now these pass through a straight street, through the midst of the city, where are many dwellings, beautiful, sumptuous houses of good citizens, more than in any other part thereof. And from one end of the city to the other, in that straight street which is full of flowers, are all the women and all the jewels and rich adornments of the city; and it is a great holiday. Also there are always many lords and knights and foreign gentlemen, who come every year from the surrounding towns to see the beauty and magnificence of that festival. And there, through the said Corso, are so many folk that it seemeth a thing incredible, the like whereof he who hath not seen it could neither believe nor imagine. Thereafter, the great bell of the Palagio de' Signori is tolled three times, and the horses, ready for the start, come forth to run. On high upon the tower, may be seen, by the signs made by the boys who are up there, that is of such an one and that of such an one (quello è del tale, e quello è del tale). And all the most excellent race-horses of the world are there, gathered together from all the borders of Italy. And that one which is the first to reach the Palio is the one which winneth it. Now the Palio is borne aloft upon a triumphal car, with four wheels, adorned with four carven lions which seem alive, one upon every side of the car, drawn by two horses, with housings with the emblem of the Commune thereon, and ridden by two varlets which guide them. The same is a passing rich and great Palio of fine crimson velvet in two palii, and between the one and the other a band of fine gold a palm's width, lined with fur from the belly of the ermine and bordered with miniver fringed with silk and fine gold; which, in all, costeth three hundred florins or more.... All the great piazza of S. Giovanni and part of the street is covered with blue hangings with yellow lilies; the church is a thing of marvellous form, whereof I shall speak at another time...." Boccaccio must often have seen these races. Cf. Decameron, Day VI, Nov. 3.

[321] Lydgate, op. cit., Lib. IX.

[322] We do not know when, if at all at this time, Boccaccio returned to Naples. The only testimony by which Baldelli, Witte, and Koerting hold that he was in Naples in 1345 is the passage in the De Casibus Virorum Illustrium, Lib. IX, cap. 25, where he narrates, as though he had been present on the occasion, the terrible end of Philippa la Catanese (see infra). Witte, however, wishes to support this evidence by an interpretation of certain words in the letter to Zanobi, Longum tempus effluxit (see Corrazini, op. cit., p. 33). Hortis, Gaspary, and Hauvette, however, assert that in the De Casibus, u.s., Boccaccio does not actually say he was present on the occasion mentioned, but only says, quæ fere vidi, while the passage in the letter to Zanobi, they say, refers to Acciaiuoli. Lastly, Hecker observes that the words of Boccaccio seem to prove that he was in Naples in 1345. In fact, speaking of the condemnation and torture of the Catanese as accomplice in the assassination of King Andrew he says: "quædam auribus, quædam oculis sumpta meis describam."

[323] See Arch. St. per la prov. Nap., An. V, p. 617. For an excellent account of King Robert's reign, as of Giovanna's, see Baddeley, King Robert the Wise and His Heirs (Heinemann, 1881). It is a good defence of the Queen.

[324] Gio. Villani, who did not love the Angevins, tells us that King Robert was full of every virtue, admitting, however, that in his last years he was very avaricious; and in this he agrees with Boccaccio. He says, however, that he was the wisest monarch of Christendom after Charlemagne. Boccaccio too calls him Solomon. In a poem attributed to Convenevole da Prato he is hailed as the sovereign of United Italy. But it is to Petrarch he owes his fame. Robert was a great patron of the Franciscans, then utterly rotten. Boccaccio doubtless saw enough in Naples to give him justification for his stories later. See infra.

[325] Petrarch, Egloga, II.

[326] Here is the genealogical table:—

Charles I of Anjou, K. of Naples (1226-85)
Charles II == Mary of Hungary (1285-1309)
Hungary Naples Durazzo TarantoProvence
Charles Martel Robert John, D. of Durazzo Philip, P. of Taranto
(1309-43)
Charles Robert Charles
LouisAndrew== GiovannaMaria== CharlesLouis Louis
m. Giovanna
after Andrew's
death		 Philip
m. Maria
after Charles
of Durazzo's
death
(1343-82)
Margaret== Charles III
K. of Naples

[327] I quote Mr. Hollway-Calthrop's redaction in his Petrarch (Methuen, 1907), p. 112. He adds: "Knowing nothing of what he was to see, Petrarch was taken to a spectacle attended by the sovereigns in state; suddenly, to his horror, he saw a beautiful youth killed for pastime, expiring at his feet, and putting spurs to his horse, he fled at full gallop from the place." These gladiatorial games took place in Carbonara.

[328] Baddeley, op. cit.