Villani's Chronicle / Being Selections from the First Nine Books of the Croniche Fiorentine of Giovanni Villani

by Giovanni Villani

1303 a.d.

In this year Edward, king of England, made peace with King Philip of France, and recovered Gascony, doing homage to him therefor; and to this the king of France consented, by reason of the contest which he had with the Church after the capture which he had made of Pope Boniface, and by reason of the war in Flanders, to the intent the said Par. xix. 121-123. king of England might not be against him. And in this same year, the said King Edward being ill, the Scots marched into England, for which cause the king had himself borne in a litter, and went out with the host against the Scots, and defeated them, and became lord over all the lands of Scotland, save only the marshes and rugged mountains, wherein the rebel Scots had taken refuge with their king, which was named Robert Bruce, which, from lowly birth, had risen to be king.

§ 68.—How there were in Florence great changes and civic battles through desire that the accounts of the commonwealth should be examined.

1303 a.d.

In the said year 1303, in the month of February, the Florentines were in great discord among themselves, by reason that M. Corso Donati did not consider that he was so great in the commonwealth as he desired, and thought himself worthy to be; and the other magnates and powerful popolani of his Black party had gotten more authority in the commonwealth than seemed to him good; and being already at enmity with them, either through pride, or through envy, or through desire of lordship, he made a new faction, leaguing himself with the Cavalcanti, whereof the most part were Whites, saying that he desired that the public accounts of those which had held office, and had administered the monies of the commonwealth, should be examined; and they made their head M. Lottieri, bishop of Florence, which was of the family of the Tosa of the White branch, with certain magnates, against the priors and the people; and there was fighting in the city in many places and for many days, and they set engines in many towers and strongholds of the city after the ancient manner, which should hurl missiles and shoot at each other; and upon the towers of the Bishop's Palace they raised a mangonel directed against his enemies hard by. The priors strengthened themselves with people and men-at-arms of the city and of the country, and boldly defended the palace, for many assaults and attacks were made upon them; and the house of the Gherardini held with the people, with a great following of their friends from the country; and likewise the house of the Pazzi, and of the Spini and M. Tegghiaio Frescobaldi with his branch of the family, which were a great aid to the people; and M. Lotteringo de' Gherardini was slain by an arrow in a battle which was fought in Porte Sante Marie. Other houses of the magnates did not hold with the people, but some were with the bishop and with M. Corso, and some which liked him not stood apart from the strife. For the which dissension and civil fighting much evil was committed in the city and in the country, of murders, and burnings, and robberies, as in a city ungoverned and disordered, without any rule from the government, save that each should do all possible harm to the other; and the city was all full of refugees, and strangers, and folk from the country, each house with its own following; and the city would have utterly destroyed itself had not the Lucchese come to Florence at the request of the commonwealth, with great number of foot and horse; who took in hand the matter, and the guardianship of the city, and general authority was of necessity given to them, so that for sixteen days they freely ruled the city, issuing a proclamation on their own authority. And when the proclamation was made throughout the city in the name of the commonwealth of Lucca, it seemed evil to many Florentines, and a great outrage and wrong; wherefore one Ponciardo de' Ponci di Vacchereccia struck the herald from Lucca in the face with his sword while he was reading the proclamation, for which cause afterwards they sent forth no more proclamations in their own name; but so wrought that at last they quieted the uproar and caused each party to lay down arms, and restored the city to quiet, calling for new priors to promote peace, the people remaining in its estate and liberty; and they inflicted no punishment for misdeeds committed, but whoever had suffered wrong had to bear his loss. And in addition to the said plague there was great famine that year, and grain was worth more than twenty-six shillings the bushel, level measure, of fifty-two shillings to the golden florin; and if it had not been that the commonwealth and the rulers in the city had made provision beforehand, and had caused to be brought by the hand of the Genoese from Sicily and from Apulia full 26,000 bushels of grain, the citizens and the country people could not have escaped from famine: and this traffic in grain was, with others, one of the causes why they desired to examine the accounts of the commonwealth, by reason of all the money which was passing; and certain, whether rightly or wrongly, were spoken evil of and blamed thereanent. And this adversity and peril of our city was not without the judgment of God, by reason of many sins committed through the pride and envy and avarice of our then living citizens, which were then ruling the city, and alike of the rebels therein, as of those which were governing, for they were great sinners, nor was this the end thereof, as hereafter in due time may be seen.

§ 69.—How the Pope sent into Florence as legate the Cardinal da Prato to make peace, and how he departed thence in shame and confusion.

1303 a.d.

During the said discord among the Florentines, Pope Benedict, with good intent, sent to Florence the Cardinal da Prato as legate to set the Florentines at peace one with another, and likewise with their exiles and all the province of Tuscany; and he came to Florence, on the tenth day of the month of March, 1303, and was received by the Florentines with great honour and with great reverence, as by men who felt themselves to be divided and in evil state; and those which had the disposition and desire to live rightly, loved peace and concord, and it was the contrary with the others. This Cardinal Niccolo, of the city of Prato, was a preaching friar, very wise in learning, and of natural intelligence, subtle and sagacious, and cautious, and very experienced; and by descent he was of the Ghibellines, and it was afterwards seen that he favoured them greatly; albeit at the first he showed good and impartial intentions. When he was in Florence, in a public sermon and discourse in the piazza of San Giovanni, he showed forth his privileges as legate, and made manifest his intention, by command of the Pope, of setting the Florentines at peace one with another. The good popolani which ruled the city, seeing themselves in evil estate by reason of the disturbances and riots and strifes, brought about in those times by the magnates against the people to abase and undo them, took part with the cardinal in the desire for peace; and by way of reconstruction of the Occasional Councils, they gave him full and free right to set the citizens at peace one with another within the city, and with their exiles without, and to appoint the priors and gonfaloniers and rulers of the city at his pleasure. And this done, he gave his mind to making peace among the citizens, and renewed the order of the nineteen gonfaloniers of the companies after the fashion of the ancient Popolo of old, and he summoned the gonfaloniers and gave them the banners after the fashion and devices that still are, save that they bore not the label of the arms of the king in chief. And by reason of these reforms of the cardinal the people were much heartened and strengthened, and the magnates were brought low, so that they never ceased trying to bring about changes and to hinder the cardinal to the end they might disturb the peace, that the Whites and the Ghibellines might not have state nor power to return to Florence, and that they themselves might enjoy their goods which had been confiscated as of rebels, both in the city and in the country. For all this the cardinal did not cease from pursuing peace, with the aid and favour of the people, and he caused twelve plenipotentiaries of the exiles to come into Florence, two for Cf. Epistola i. each sesto, one from amongst the chief Whites and one Ghibelline; and he had them to sojourn in the Borgo di San Niccolo, and the legate sojourned in the palaces of the Mozzi of S. Gregorio, and often he had them to take counsel with the leaders of the Guelfs and of the Blacks in Florence to find out means and security of peace, and to order alliances between the exiles, and the nobles within. In these negotiations it seemed to the powerful Guelfs and Blacks that the cardinal was too much supporting the side of the Whites and of the Ghibellines, and they took counsel subtly to the end they might disturb the negotiations, to send a counterfeit letter, with the seal of the cardinal, to Bologna and into Romagna, to his friends the Ghibellines and the Whites, that they should, without any hindrance or delay, come to Florence with men in arms on horse and on foot to his aid; and some say withal that it was true that the cardinal sent it; wherefore some of those people came as far as Trespiano and some to Mugello. By which coming there arose in Florence great murmuring and ill-feeling, and the legate was much blamed and reproached therefor; and he, whether he were guilty or no, denied it to the people. Through which ill-feeling, and also through fear of suffering harm, the twelve White and Ghibelline plenipotentiaries departed from Florence and came to Arezzo, and the people which had come to the legate, by his command returned to Bologna and to Romagna, and the ill-will was somewhat quieted in Florence. Those which were ruling the city counselled the cardinal that, to avoid suspicion, he should go to Prato, and should reconcile the citizens thereof among themselves, and likewise the Pistoians, and in the meanwhile in Florence a way might be found of making general peace with the exiles. The cardinal, not being able to do otherwise, did this, and, whether in good faith or no, went to Prato and requested the inhabitants to trust in him, and he would reconcile them. Now the leaders of the Black party and of the Guelfs of Florence marked the ways of the cardinal, how that he greatly favoured the Ghibellines and Whites and would fain restore them to Florence, and saw likewise that the people followed him; wherefore they feared it might turn out perilous to the Guelf party, and ordained with the Guazzalotti of Prato, a powerful house of the Black party, and strong Guelfs, to bring to pass in Prato a schism and riot against the cardinal, and to raise a tumult in the city; wherefore the cardinal, seeing the inhabitants of Prato to be ill-disposed, and fearing for his person, departed from Prato, and excommunicated the inhabitants, and laid the city under interdict, and came to Florence, and proclaimed war against Prato, and offered remission of sins and of penalties to whosoever would march against Prato; and many citizens prepared to go thither on horse and on foot, folk that were, in faith, more Ghibelline than Guelf, and they went as far as Campi. In this assembling of the host much folk gathered in Florence of folk from the country and foreigners, and the fear and jealousy of the Guelfs began to increase; wherefore many which at the first had held with the cardinal, changed their purpose through the turbulence which they observed; and the magnates of the Black party, and likewise they which were temporising with the cardinal, furnished themselves with arms and with men, and the city was all in disorder, and they were ready to fight one another. The cardinal legate, seeing that he could not carry out his purpose of leading an army against Prato, and that the city of Florence was disposed to civil strife, and that of those which had held with him, some were now against him, became fearful and uneasy, and suddenly departed from Florence on the 4th day of June, 1304, saying to the Florentines: "Seeing that ye desire to be at war and Cf. Inf. x. 79-81. under a curse, and do not desire to hear or to obey the messenger of the vicar of God, or to have rest or peace among yourselves, abide with the curse of God and of Holy Church"; thus he excommunicated the citizens, and left the city under an interdict, whence it was held, that by this curse, whether just or unjust, there fell judgment and great peril on our city through the adversities and perils which came to pass therein but a short time after, as hereafter we shall make mention.

§ 70.—How the bridge of Carraia fell, and how many people died there.

1304 a.d.