[Sidenote: 1154 A.D.]
_Here begins the Fifth Book: How Frederick I. of Staufen of
Suabia was Emperor of Rome, and of his descendants, and
concerning the doings of Florence which were in their times,
and of all Italy._
[Sidenote: Epist. vi. (5) 135, 136. Purg. xviii. 119, 120. Cf. Par.
iii. 119.]
[Sidenote: 1154 A.D.]
[Sidenote: Epist. vi. (5) 137.]
[Sidenote: 1159 A.D.]
[Sidenote: Epist. vi. (5) 136.]
[Sidenote: 1157 A.D.]
[Sidenote: Purg. xviii. 119-120. Epist. vi. (5) 135, 136.]
[Sidenote: 1167 A.D.]
[Sidenote: Cf. Inf. xix. 70.]
Sec. 1.--After the death of Conrad of Saxony, king of the Romans,
Frederick Barbarossa was elected Emperor, called Frederick the Great,
or the First, of the house of Suabia, and surnamed of Staufen. This
Frederick, when he had received the votes of the electors, proclaimed
himself, and then came into Italy, and was crowned at Rome by Pope
Adrian IV., in the year of Christ 1154, and reigned 37 years between
king of the Romans and Emperor. He was liberal and a man of worth,
eloquent and noble, and glorious in all his deeds. At the first he was
friendly to Holy Church in the time of the said Pope Adrian, and
rebuilt Tivoli, which had been destroyed; but the same day that he was
crowned there was a great scuffle and fight between the Romans and his
followers in Nero's meadow, where they were waiting for the said
Emperor, to the great loss of the Romans; and again within the portico
of St. Peter's; and it was all burnt and destroyed, to wit, the part
of Rome which is around St. Peter's. And when he returned to Lombardy
in the first year of his reign, because the city of Spoleto would not
obey him, forasmuch as it pertained to the Church, he brought an army
against it, and overcame it, and destroyed it utterly; and through his
desire to usurp the rights of the Church, he soon became her enemy:
for after the death of Pope Adrian, in the year of Christ 1159,
Alexander III., of Siena, was made Pope, who reigned 22 years; and he,
to maintain the rights of Holy Church, had great war with the said
Emperor Frederick for long time; which Emperor raised up against him
four schismatical anti-popes at divers times, one after the other, and
three thereof were cardinals. The first was Octavianus, which took the
name of Victor; the second, Guy of Cremona, which took the name of
Pascal; the third was John of Struma, which took the name of Calixtus;
the fourth was called Landone, which took the name of Innocent; whence
came great schism and affliction to the Church of God, forasmuch as
these Popes by the power of the Emperor Frederick held all the
patrimony of St. Peter and the Duchy, so that the said Pope Alexander
had no authority. But the said Pope Alexander fought valiantly against
them all, and excommunicated them: the which all, one after the other,
during his reign, died an evil death. But whilst they were reigning by
the power of Frederick, the said true Pope, Alexander, not being able
to abide in Rome, went to the French court to King Louis the Pious,
which received him graciously. And it is said in France that when the
said Pope was coming to Paris secretly with a small company in the
guise of a lesser prelate, immediately that he came to St. Maure, near
to Paris, albeit they had not had news of the Pope, yet by Divine
miracle there rose a voice: "Behold the Pope! behold the Pope!" and
the bells began to ring, and the king, with the clergy and the people
of Paris, went out to meet him, whence the Pope marvelled greatly,
forasmuch as none knew of his coming; and he thanked God, and made
himself known to the king and to the people, and began to give the
benediction. And afterwards in France the said Pope called a general
council in the city of Tours in Touraine, in the which he
excommunicated the said Frederick, and deposed him from the Empire,
and absolved all his barons from their oaths, and deposed them of the
house of Colonna in Rome, that neither they nor their successors
should ever be allowed to hold any office in Holy Church, seeing that
they all held to the aid and favour of the said Frederick against the
Church. And in that council all the kings and lords of the West
promised and leagued themselves with Louis, king of France, in aid of
the said Pope Alexander and of Holy Church, against the said
Frederick, and likewise many cities of Lombardy rebelled against the
said Frederick, to wit, Milan, and Cremona, and Piacenza, and held
with the Pope and with the Church; for the which thing, when the said
Frederick was passing through Lombardy to go into France against King
Louis, who was supporting Pope Alexander, and found that the city of
Milan had rebelled against him, he laid siege thereto, and, after long
siege, he took it, in the year of Christ 1157, in the month of March,
and destroyed the walls thereof and burnt all the city, and caused the
ground to be ploughed and sown with salt; and the bodies of the Three
Kings or Magi which came to adore Christ by the guiding of the star,
which were in the city of Milan, in three tombs hewn out of porphyry,
he caused to be taken from Milan and sent to Cologne, whence all the
Lombards were very wrathful. And afterwards, crossing the mountains
to destroy the realm of France, with the aid of the king of Bohemia
and the king of Dacia--that is, Denmark--he entered into Burgundy; but
King Louis of France, with the aid of Henry, king of England, his
son-in-law, and with many lords and barons, was ready to oppose him,
so that by the grace of God he had no power, nor gained any land
there, but through lack of victuals those kings returned to their own
countries and Frederick to Italy. And he made war against the Romans,
forasmuch as they had come over to the side of the Church and of Pope
Alexander; and when the said Romans with their host were in the region
of Tusculum, they were defeated by the chancellor of the said
Frederick and his German troops in the place called Monte del Porco,
and many Romans were taken and slain in such great numbers that
cartloads of dead bodies were taken to Rome to be buried, and this
defeat is said to have been by reason of the treachery of the
Colonnas, which were always with the Emperor and against the Church;
wherefore they were by the Pope deprived of all temporal and spiritual
benefit; and because of the said defeat the Romans drove the Colonnas
away from Rome, and destroyed an ancient and very beautiful fortress
pertaining to them, which was called La Gosta, which is said to have
been built by Caesar Augustus, and this was in the year of Christ 1167.
And after this the Emperor came to Rome to besiege it and to destroy
it, and brought it into great straits. The Romans caused the clergy of
Rome to take the heads of St. Peter and of St. Paul and to carry them
in procession all through Rome, for the which thing the Romans all
took the cross against the Emperor, and the first which took it was M.
Matteo Rosso the Elder, of the Orsini family, grandfather to Pope
Nicholas III., and by reason of old age he had abandoned arms, and
taken the habit of a penitent; and for this cause he put off the said
habit and took his arms again, for which he was much commended, and by
reason of this he and his came into favour with the Church, and
increased greatly. After the said M. Matteo, Gianni Buovo, a great
citizen of Rome, took the cross, and afterwards all the others with
great zeal and desire; for the which thing, when the Emperor heard
thereof, either through fear, or rather through a miracle of the
blessed Apostles, straightway he departed from the siege of Rome with
his followers, and returned to Viterbo, and the city of Rome was set
free.
Sec. 2.--_How Pope Alexander returned from France to Venice, and the
Emperor returned to obedience._
[Sidenote: 1168 A.D.]
Then, after the said Pope Alexander had been long time in France, by
the aid of the kings of France and of England he returned with his
court into Italy by sea, and, landing in Sicily, he was devoutly
received and favoured by King William, which then was king thereof,
and which declared himself faithful to Holy Church, and that he held
the island from him; for the which thing the said Pope confirmed him
king of Sicily, and gave him Apulia, wherefore the said King William
with his fleet bore him company by sea as far as the city of Venice,
whither the Pope desired to go for more security, that the Emperor
Frederick might not hurt him; and to show favour to the faithful
believers in Holy Church in Lombardy, he sojourned in the said city of
Venice, and by the Venetians was reverently received and honoured; and
by his favour the Milanese rebuilt the city of Milan in the year of
Christ 1168. Then, a little while after, the Milanese, with the aid
of Piacenza and Cremona, and of the other cities of Lombardy which
obeyed Holy Church, built a city in Lombardy, to be a rampart and
defence against the city of Pavia, which always was against Milan, and
held with the Empire; and since this city was built, to the honour of
the said Pope Alexander, and to the end it might be more famous, they
called it Alessandria; and afterwards it was surnamed City della
Paglia [of Straw], in contempt, by the Pavians; and at the prayer of
the Lombards the Pope gave it a bishop, and deposed the bishop of
Pavia, and took away from him the dignity of the Pallium and of the
Cross, forasmuch as he had always held with the Emperor Frederick
against the Church.
Sec. 3.--_How the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa was reconciled with the
Church, and went over seas, and there died._
[Sidenote: Inf. iv. 129.]
[Sidenote: 1188 A.D.]
The Emperor Frederick, seeing himself much cast down from his state
and sovereignty, and that many cities of Lombardy and of Tuscany were
rebelling against him and holding with the Church and with Pope
Alexander, which had greatly increased in estate by the favour of the
kings of France and of England, and of William, king of Sicily, sought
to reconcile himself with the Church and with the Pope, to the end he
might not wholly lose the honour of the Empire, and he sent a solemn
embassy to Venice to Pope Alexander to ask for peace, promising to
make all amends to Holy Church, and the Pope graciously hearkened to
him, wherefore the said Frederick went to Venice and threw himself at
the feet of the said Pope, and asked for mercy. Then the said Pope set
his foot upon his neck, and said the verse of the psalter: "_Super
aspidem et basiliscum ambulabis, et conculcabis leonem et draconem_"
[Ps. xci. 13]; and the Emperor answered, "_Non tibi sed Petro_" [Not
to you, but to Peter, was it said], and the Pope answered, "_Ego sum
vicarius Petri_" [I am in the place of Peter]; and then he forgave him
every offence which he had committed against Holy Church, causing him
to restore that which he held from Holy Church; and this he promised
and did, under compact that whatsoever should be found held in
possession by the Church on that day throughout the Kingdom, should
pertain for ever to Holy Church; and it was found that Benivento was
so held; and this was the cause why the Church holds as hers the city
of Benivento. And this done, he reconciled him with the Romans, and
with Manuel, emperor of Constantinople, and with William, king of
Sicily, and with the Lombards; and as amends and penance he imposed
upon him, and he promised, to go over seas to the succour of the Holy
Land, forasmuch as Saladin, the soldan of Babylon, had retaken
Jerusalem and many other fortresses held by the Christians; and this
he did. Then the said Frederick, having taken the cross in the year of
Christ 1188, departed from Germany with an immense host, and went by
land through Hungary to Constantinople as far as Armenia [Pisidia];
but when the said Frederick was come into Armenia, it being summer and
very hot, as he was bathing for his solace in a little river called
the river of Ferro [Iron], he was miserably drowned. And this, it is
believed, was the judgment of God by reason of the many persecutions
which he had brought upon Holy Church: and he left a son, which was
named Henry, whom he had caused to be elected king of the Romans
before he passed over seas in the year of Christ 1186; and when the
said Frederick was dead, his wife, with her son and with their
followers, albeit many of them died on this voyage, returned from
Syria to the West without having gained anything. We will now return
to our subject of the doings of Florence and of other things which
were in the time when the said Frederick was reigning; but first we
will tell of King Philip of France and of King Richard of England,
which went over seas to the succour of the Holy Land in this same
time.
[Sidenote: 1170 A.D.]
[Sidenote: 1174 A.D.]
Sec. 4.--_How the king of France and the king of England went over seas._
Sec. 5.--_How the Florentines defeated the Aretines._ Sec. 6.--_How the
first war of the Florentines against the Sienese began._ Sec. 7.--_How
the noble and strong castle of Poggibonizzi was first built, and that
of Colle of Valdelsa._
Sec. 8.--_Of the great fires which were in the city of Florence._
[Sidenote: 1177 A.D.]
In the year of Christ 1177, fire broke out in the city of Florence on
the 5th day of August, and spread from the foot of the Ponte Vecchio
as far as the Mercato Vecchio. And afterwards, in the same year, fire
broke out at San Martino del Vescovo, and spread as far as Santa Maria
Ughi and to the Duomo of S. Giovanni, with great hurt to the city, and
not without the judgment of God, forasmuch as the Florentines had
become very proud by reason of the victories they had gotten over
their neighbours; and some among them were very ungrateful towards
God, and full of other wicked sins. And in this year, because of a
great flood of the river Arno, the Ponte Vecchio fell, which also was
a sign of future adversities to our city.
Sec. 9.--_How civil war began in Florence between the Uberti and the
government of the Consuls._
[Sidenote: 1177 A.D.]
Wherefore in the selfsame year there began in Florence dissension and
great war among the citizens, the worst that had ever been in
Florence; and this was by reason of too great prosperity and repose,
together with pride and ingratitude; forasmuch as the house of the
Uberti, which were the most powerful and the greatest citizens of
Florence, with their allies, both magnates and popolari, began war
against the Consuls (which were the lords and rulers of the
commonwealth for a certain time and under certain ordinances), from
envy of the Government, which was not to their mind; and the war was
so fierce and unnatural that well-nigh every day, or every other day,
the citizens fought against one another in divers parts of the city,
from district to district, according as the factions were, and as they
had fortified their towers, whereof there was great number in the
city, in height 100 or 120 cubits. And in those times, by reason of
the said war, many towers were newly fortified by the communities of
the districts, from the common funds of the neighbourhood, which were
called Towers of the Fellowships, and upon them were set engines to
shoot forth one at another, and the city was barricaded in many
places; and this plague endured more than two years, and many died by
reason thereof, and much peril and hurt was brought upon the city; but
this war among the citizens became so much of use and wont that one
day they would be fighting, and the next day they would be eating and
drinking together, and telling tales of one another's valour and
prowess in these battles; and at last they ceased fighting, in that it
irked them for very weariness, and they made peace, and the Consuls
remained in their government; albeit, in the end they begot and then
brought forth the accursed factions, which were afterwards in
Florence, as hereafter in due time we will make mention.
[Sidenote: 1182 A.D.]
[Sidenote: 1184 A.D.]
Sec. 10.--_How the Florentines took the castle of Montegrossoli._ Sec.
11.--_How the Florentines took the castle of Pogna._
Sec. 12.--_How the Emperor Frederick I. took their territory from the
city of Florence, and many other cities of Tuscany._
[Sidenote: 1184 A.D.]
In the said year of Christ 1184, the Emperor Frederick I., as he went
from Lombardy into Apulia, passed through our city of Florence on the
31st day of July in the said year, and abode there some days; and
receiving a complaint from the nobles of the country that the
commonwealth of Florence had taken by force and occupied many of their
castles and strongholds against the honour of the Empire, he took from
the commonwealth of Florence all the whole territory and the lordship
thereof up to the walls, and in the territory he set vicars of his own
throughout the villages to administer the law and execute justice; and
he did the like to all the other cities of Tuscany which had held with
the Church when he was at war with Pope Alexander, save that he did
not take the territory from the cities of Pisa and of Pistoia, which
held with him. And in this year the said Frederick besieged the city
of Siena, but did not take it. And these things he did to the said
cities of Tuscany, forasmuch as they had not been on his side; so
that, albeit he was at peace with the Church and had cried the said
Pope mercy, as afore has been narrated, nevertheless, he did not cease
from manifesting ill-will against the cities which had obeyed the
Church; and thus the city of Florence was left without any territory
for four years, until the said Frederick set forth on his voyage over
seas, when he was drowned, as afore we have narrated.
Sec. 13.--_How the Florentines took the cross, and went over seas to
conquer Damietta, and therefore recovered their territory._
[Sidenote: 1188 A.D.]
In the year of Christ 1188, all Christendom being moved to go to the
succour of the Holy Land, there came to Florence the archbishop of
Ravenna, the Pope's Legate, to preach the cross for the said
expedition; and many good people of Florence took the cross from the
said archbishop at S. Donato tra le Torri, or at S. Donato a Torri,
beyond Rifredi, or the Monastery delle Donne, forasmuch as the said
archbishop was of the Order of Citeaux [the Cistercian Order]; and
this was on the 2nd day of the month of February in the said year, and
the Florentines were in such great numbers that they made up an army
in themselves over seas, and they were at the conquest of the city of
Damietta, and among the first which took the city, and for an ensign
they brought back thence a crimson standard which is still in the
church of S. Giovanni; and because of the said devotion and aid given
by the Florentines to Holy Church and to Christendom, the jurisdiction
over the territory around was restored to the city of Florence by Pope
Gregory and by the said Emperor Frederick, to the distance of ten
miles around the city of Florence.
[Sidenote: 1188 A.D.]
Sec. 14.--_How the Florentines got the arm of the blessed apostle S.
Philip._ Sec. 15.--_How the Pope brought the Pisans and the Genoese to
peace, thereby to strengthen the expedition over seas._
Sec. 16.--_How Henry of Suabia was made Emperor by the Church, and how
Constance, queen of Sicily, was given him to wife._
[Sidenote: 1192 A.D.]
[Sidenote: Par. iii. 109-120.]
Henry of Suabia, son of the great Frederick, as we said before, whilst
his father was alive, had been elected king of the Romans; and when he
returned from over seas, and had ordered his government in Germany, he
passed into Italy and came to Rome at the request of Pope Clement, and
was received with honour by the Romans, forasmuch as he restored to
them the city of Tusculum and its territory, which had rebelled
against the Romans; which city was all destroyed and laid waste by the
Romans, and was never afterwards rebuilt. And when the said Henry was
come to Rome he found that the said Pope Clement was dead, which had
sent for him; and Pope Celestine, a native of Rome, had been elected
by the cardinals, so that the said Henry was present at his
consecration, which took place on Easter Day of the Resurrection, in
April, in the year of Christ 1192; and he lived as Pope six years and
eight months and eleven days. And when Celestine had become Pope, on
the second day after his consecration, he crowned the said Henry
emperor. And before the said Henry departed from Germany, the Church
was at variance with Tancred, king of Sicily and of Apulia (son to the
other Tancred, which was sister's son to Robert Guiscard, as we made
mention in the chapter wherein we treated of the said Robert), by
reason that he did not, as he should, faithfully pay tribute to the
Church, and that he presented bishops and archbishops to benefices at
his pleasure to the shame of the Pope and of the Church; wherefore the
said Pope Clement treated with the archbishop of Palermo to take away
the kingdom of Sicily and Apulia from the said Tancred, and gave order
to the said archbishop that Constance, sister of King William and
rightful heiress of the realm of Sicily, which was a nun in Palermo,
as we afore made mention, and was already more than fifty years old,
should leave the convent, and he gave her dispensation that she might
return to the world and enter into matrimony; and the said archbishop
caused her secretly to depart from Sicily and come to Rome, and the
Church gave her to wife to the said Emperor Henry, whence a little
while after was born the Emperor Frederick II., which brought such
persecutions upon the Church, as we will tell hereafter in treating of
him. And it was not without Divine occasioning and judgment that such
a baneful heir must needs be the issue, being born of a holy nun, and
she more than fifty-two years old, when it is almost impossible for a
woman to bear a child; so that he was born of two contradictions--against
spiritual laws, and, in a sense, against natural laws. And we find,
when the Empress Constance was pregnant with Frederick, there was
doubt in Sicily and throughout all the realm of Apulia whether, by
reason of her advanced age, she could be pregnant; for the which
thing, when the time came for her to be delivered, a pavilion was
erected on the piazza at Palermo, and a proclamation was put forth
that any lady who desired might go and see her, and many went thither
and saw her, and therefore the doubt came to an end.
[Sidenote: 1196 A.D.]
[Sidenote: 1200 A.D.]
[Sidenote: 1203 A.D.]
[Sidenote: 1192 A.D.]
[Sidenote: 1197 A.D.]
[Sidenote: 1198 A.D.]
Sec. 17.--_How the Emperor Henry conquered the kingdom of Apulia._
Sec. 18.--_How the Emperor Henry rebelled against the Church, and
persecuted it, and how he died._ Sec. 19.--_How Otho IV. of Saxony was
elected Emperor._ Sec. 20.--_How the whole orb of the sun was eclipsed._
Sec. 21.--_How they of Samminiato destroyed their whole city by their
discords._ Sec. 22.--_How the Florentines bought Montegrossoli._ Sec.
23.--_How Innocent III. was made Pope._
Sec. 24.--_How the Order of the Minor Friars began._
[Sidenote: Par. xi. 43-117.]
In the time of the said Pope Innocent began the holy Order of the
Minor Friars, the founder whereof was the blessed Francis, born in the
city of Assisi in the Duchy, and by this Pope the said Order was
accepted and approved with privilege, forasmuch as it was altogether
founded on humility, and love, and poverty, following in all things
the holy gospel of Christ, and shunning all human delights. And the
said Pope saw in a vision S. Francis supporting the Church of the
Lateran upon his shoulders, as he afterwards, after the same manner,
beheld S. Dominic, the which vision was a figure and prophecy how by
them should be supported Holy Church and the faith of Christ.
Sec. 25.--_How the Order of the Preaching Friars began._
[Sidenote: Par. xi. 118-123; xii. 46-105.]
[Sidenote: 1216 A.D.]
And still in the time of the said Pope, after the same manner began
the Order of the Preaching Friars, the founder whereof was the blessed
Dominic, born in Spain. But in this Pope's time it was not confirmed,
albeit in a vision it seemed to the said Pope that the Church of the
Lateran was falling upon him, and the blessed Dominic sustained it on
his shoulders. And by reason of this vision he purposed to confirm it,
but death overtook him, and his successor, Pope Honorius, afterwards
confirmed it the year of Christ 1216. The visions of the aforesaid
Innocent, concerning S. Francis and S. Dominic, were true, for the
Church of God was falling through many errors and many licentious
sins, not fearing God; and the said blessed Dominic, through his holy
learning and preaching, corrected it, and was the first exterminator
of heretics therefrom; and the blessed Francis, through his humility
and apostolic life and penitence, corrected the wanton life, and
brought back Christians to penitence and to the life of salvation. And
truly the Erythraean Sibyl, tracing out these times, prophesied of
these two holy Orders, saying that two stars would arise to illuminate
the world.
Sec. 26.--_How the Florentines destroyed the castle of Frondigliano._
[Sidenote: 1199 A.D.]
[Sidenote: Cf. Par. xvi. 62, 63.]
In the year of Christ 1199, Count Henry della Tosa and his colleagues,
being consuls of the city of Florence, the Florentines laid siege to
the fortress of Frondigliano, which had rebelled and was making war
upon the commonwealth of Florence, and they took it and destroyed it
to the very foundations, and it was never built again. And in the same
year the Florentines marched against Simifonte, which was a very
strong place and did not obey the city.
Sec. 27.--_How they of Samminiato destroyed Sanginiegio, and went back
to live on the hill._ Sec. 28.--_How the French and Venetians took
Constantinople._ Sec. 29.--_How the Tartars descended from the mountains
of Gog and Magog._
Sec. 30.--_How the Florentines destroyed the strongholds of Simifonti and
of Combiata._
[Sidenote: 1202 A.D.]
[Sidenote: Cf. Par. xvi. 62, 63.]
In the year of Christ 1202, when Aldobrandino, of the Barucci of Santa
Maria Maggiore (a very ancient family), and his colleagues were
consuls in Florence, the Florentines took the stronghold of Simifonti,
and destroyed it, and took the hill into possession of the
commonwealth, forasmuch as it had been long time at war with the
Florentines. And the Florentines gained it by the treachery of a
certain man of Sandonato in Poci, which surrendered a tower, and
claimed for this cause that he and his descendants should be free in
Florence from all taxes; and this was granted, albeit the said traitor
was first slain, in the said tower, by the inhabitants, as it was
being attacked. And in the said year the Florentines went with their
army against the fortress of Combiata, which was very strong, at the
head of the river Marina, towards Mugello, which pertained to Cattani
of the country which would not obey the commonwealth and made war
against it. And when the said strongholds were destroyed, they made a
decree that they should never be rebuilt.
Sec. 31.--_Destruction of Montelupo, and how the Florentines gained
Montemurlo._
[Sidenote: 1203 A.D.]
[Sidenote: 1207 A.D.]
[Sidenote: Par. xvi. 64.]
[Sidenote: 1209 A.D.]
In the year of Christ 1203, when Brunellino Brunelli de' Razzanti was
consul in Florence with his colleagues, the Florentines destroyed the
fortress of Montelupo because it would not obey the commonwealth. And
in this same year the Pistoians took the castle of Montemurlo from the
Counts Guidi; but a little while after, in September, the Florentines
went thither with an army on behalf of the Counts Guidi, and retook
it, and gave it back to the Counts Guidi. And afterwards, in 1207,
the Florentines made peace between the Pistoians and the Counts Guidi,
but afterwards the counts not being well able to defend Montemurlo
from the Pistoians, forasmuch as it was too near to them, and they had
built over against it the fortress of Montale, the Counts Guidi sold
it to the commonwealth of Florence for 5,000 lbs. of small florins,
which would now be worth 5,000 golden florins; and this was in the
year of Christ 1209, but the Counts of Porciano never would give their
word for their share in the sale.
Sec. 32.--_How the Florentines elected their first Podesta._
[Sidenote: 1207 A.D.]
[Sidenote: Inf. xxiii. 105-107.]
In the year of Christ 1207, the Florentines chose for the first time a
foreign magistrate, for until that time the city had been ruled by the
government of citizen consuls, of the greatest and best of the city,
with the council of the senate, to wit, of 100 good men; and these
consuls, after the manner of Rome, entirely guided and governed the
city, and administered law and executed justice; and they remained in
office for one year. And there were four consuls so long as the city
was divided into quarters, one to each gate; and afterwards there were
six, when the city was divided into sesti. But our forefathers did not
make mention of the names of all, but of one of them of greatest
estate and fame, saying: 'In the time of such a consul and of his
colleagues'; but afterwards when the city was increased in inhabitants
and in vices, and there came to be more ill-deeds, it was agreed for
the good of the commonwealth, to the end the citizens might not have
so great a burden of government, and that justice might not miscarry
by reason of prayers, or fear, or private malice, or any other cause,
that they should invite a gentleman from some other city, who might be
their Podesta for a year, and administer civil justice with his
assessors and judges, and carry into execution sentences and penalties
on the person. And the first Podesta in Florence was Gualfredotto of
Milan, in the said year; and he dwelt in the Bishop's Palace,
forasmuch as there was as yet no palace of the commonwealth in
Florence. Yet the government of the consuls did not therefore cease,
but they reserved to themselves the administration of all other things
in the commonwealth. And by the said government the city was ruled
until the time of the Primo Popolo in Florence, as hereafter we shall
make mention, and then was created the office of the Ancients.
[Sidenote: 1208 A.D.]
Sec. 33.--_How the Florentines defeated the Sienese at Montalto._ Sec.
34.--_How the Sienese sued for peace to the Florentines and obtained
it._ Sec. 35.--_How Otho IV. was crowned Emperor; and how he became the
enemy and persecutor of Holy Church._
Sec. 36.--_How during Otho's lifetime Frederick II. of Suabia was
elected Emperor by the desire of the Church of Rome._
The said Otho being the enemy of the Church, and being deposed by the
general council of the Empire, the Church arranged with the electors
of Germany that they should elect to be king of the Romans, Frederick,
the young king of Sicily, who was in Germany, and he won a great
victory against the said Otho; and afterwards the said Otho, returning
to his duty, went on crusade to Damietta over seas, and there died,
and the election was left to Frederick; and afterwards, in the time
of Pope Honorius III., who succeeded to the aforesaid Innocent, the
said Frederick of Germany came to Venice, and then by sea into his
kingdom of Apulia, and then to Rome; and by the said Pope Honorius and
by the Romans he was received with great honour, and crowned Emperor,
as hereafter in treating of him we will make mention. We will leave
speaking of the Emperor for a time, and will tell of the doings of the
Florentines up to the time of his coronation.
Sec. 37.--_Concerning the death of the old Count Guido, and of his
progeny._
[Sidenote: 1213 A.D.]
[Sidenote: Par. xvi. 64, 98.]
[Sidenote: Par. xv. 112, xvi. 99.]
[Sidenote: Par. xvi. 94-99. Inf. xvi. 37.]
[Sidenote: Cf. Epistolae Dant. Allig. adscriptae, i.-iii.]
[Sidenote: Inf. xvi. 34-39. Inf. xxx. 73-78. Cf. Epist. ii. Cf. Purg.
xiv. 43-45.]
In the year of Christ 1213, there died the Count Guido Vecchio, which
left behind him five sons; but one died, leaving those who had Poppi
as the heirs of his portion, forasmuch as he left no children; and
from the other four sons were descended all the Counts Guidi. As to
this Count Guido, it is said that in ancient times his forbears were
great barons in Germany, which came over with the Emperor Otho I., who
gave them the territory of Modigliana in Romagna, and there they
remained; and afterwards their descendants, by reason of their power,
were lords over almost all Romagna, and made their headquarters in
Ravenna, but because of the outrages they wrought on the citizens
concerning their wives, and other tyrannies, in a popular tumult they
were driven out of Ravenna, pursued, and slain in one day, so that
none escaped either small or great, save one young child which was
named Guido, the which was at Modigliana at nurse, which was surnamed
Guido Besangue [drink-blood], through the disaster of his family, as
in the story of the Emperor Otho we before made mention. This Guido
was the father of the said Count Guido Vecchio, whence all the Counts
Guidi are descended. This Count Guido Vecchio took to wife the
daughter of M. Bellincione Berti of the Rovignani, which was the
greatest and the most honoured knight in Florence, and his houses
which were at Porta San Piero above the Old Gate descended by heritage
to the Counts. This lady was named Gualdrada, and he took her for her
beauty and her fair speech, beholding her in S. Reparata, with the
other ladies and maidens of Florence. For when the Emperor Otho IV.
came to Florence, and saw the fair ladies of the city assembled in
Santa Reparata, in his honour, this maiden most pleased the Emperor;
and her father saying to the Emperor that he had it in his power to
bid her kiss him, the maiden made answer that there was no man living
which should kiss her, save he were her husband, for the which speech,
the Emperor much commended her; and the said Count Guido being taken
with love of her by reason of her graciousness, and by the counsel of
the said Otho, the Emperor, took her to wife, not regarding that she
was of less noble lineage than he, nor regarding her dowry; whence all
the Counts Guidi are born from the said Count and the said lady after
this fashion; for, as aforesaid, there were left four sons which were
the heirs: the first was named William, from whom was born Count Guido
Novello and Count Simon, who were Ghibellines; but by reason of wrongs
which Count Simon endured of Guido Novello, his brother, concerning
his heritage, he became a Guelf and entered into league with the
Guelfs of Florence; and from this Simon was born Count Guido of
Battifolle; the second son was named Roger, from whom were born Count
Guido Guerra and Count Salvatico, and these held the side of the
Guelfs; the third was named Guido of Romena, whence are descended the
family of Romena, which have been both Guelfs and Ghibellines; the
fourth was Count Tegrimo, whence are the family of Porciano, which
were always Ghibellines. The aforesaid Emperor Otho gave said Count
Guido the lordship of Casentino. We have spoken at such length of the
said Count Guido (albeit in another place we have treated of the
beginning of his race), forasmuch as he was a man of worth, and from
him are descended all the Counts Guidi, and because his descendants
were afterwards much mixed up with the doings of the Florentines, as
in due time we will make mention.
Sec. 38.--_How the parties of the Guelfs and Ghibellines arose in
Florence._
[Sidenote: Par. xvi. 136-144.]
[Sidenote: 1215 A.D.]
[Sidenote: Inf. xxviii. 103-111. Par. xvi. 136-138.]
[Sidenote: Par. xvi. 145-147.]
[Sidenote: Cf. Par. xvi. 128.]
In the year of Christ 1215, M. Gherardo Orlandi being Podesta in
Florence, one M. Bondelmonte dei Bondelmonti, a noble citizen of
Florence, had promised to take to wife a maiden of the house of the
Amidei, honourable and noble citizens; and afterwards as the said M.
Bondelmonte, who was very charming and a good horseman, was riding
through the city, a lady of the house of the Donati called to him,
reproaching him as to the lady to whom he was betrothed, that she was
not beautiful or worthy of him, and saying: "I have kept this my
daughter for you;" whom she showed to him, and she was most beautiful;
and immediately by the inspiration of the devil he was so taken by
her, that he was betrothed and wedded to her, for which thing the
kinsfolk of the first betrothed lady, being assembled together, and
grieving over the shame which M. Bondelmonte had done to them, were
filled with the accursed indignation, whereby the city of Florence was
destroyed and divided. For many houses of the nobles swore together to
bring shame upon the said M. Bondelmonte, in revenge for these wrongs.
And being in council among themselves, after what fashion they should
punish him, whether by beating or killing, Mosca de' Lamberti said the
evil word: 'Thing done has an end'; to wit, that he should be slain;
and so it was done; for on the morning of Easter of the Resurrection
the Amidei of San Stefano assembled in their house, and the said M.
Bondelmonte coming from Oltrarno, nobly arrayed in new white apparel,
and upon a white palfrey, arriving at the foot of the Ponte Vecchio on
this side, just at the foot of the pillar where was the statue of
Mars, the said M. Bondelmonte was dragged from his horse by Schiatta
degli Uberti, and by Mosca Lamberti and Lambertuccio degli Amidei
assaulted and smitten, and by Oderigo Fifanti his veins were opened
and he was brought to his end; and there was with them one of the
counts of Gangalandi. For the which thing the city rose in arms and
tumult; and this death of M. Bondelmonte was the cause and beginning
of the accursed parties of Guelfs and Ghibellines in Florence, albeit
long before there were factions among the noble citizens and the said
parties existed by reason of the strifes and questions between the
Church and the Empire; but by reason of the death of the said M.
Bondelmonte all the families of the nobles and the other citizens of
Florence were divided, and some held with the Bondelmonti, who took
the side of the Guelfs, and were its leaders, and some with the
Uberti, who were the leaders of the Ghibellines, whence followed much
evil and disaster to our city, as hereafter shall be told; and it is
believed that it will never have an end, if God do not cut it short.
And surely it shows that the enemy of the human race, for the sins of
the Florentines, had power in that idol of Mars, which the pagan
Florentines of old were wont to worship, that at the foot of his
statue such a murder was committed, whence so much evil followed to
the city of Florence. The accursed names of the Guelf and Ghibelline
parties are said to have arisen first in Germany by reason that two
great barons of that country were at war together, and had each a
strong castle the one over against the other, and the one had the name
of Guelf, and the other of Ghibelline, and the war lasted so long,
that all the Germans were divided, and one held to one side, and the
other to the other; and the strife even came as far as to the court of
Rome, and all the court took part in it, and the one side was called
that of Guelf, and the other that of Ghibelline; and so the said names
continued in Italy.
Sec. 39.--_Of the families and the nobles which became Guelfs and
Ghibellines in Florence._
[Sidenote: 1215 A.D.]
[Sidenote: Par. xv. 115.]
[Sidenote: Par. xvi. 128. Inf. xvii. 62, 63. Par. xvi. 127. 104.]
[Sidenote: Purg. xii. 105. Par. xvi. 105. Convivio iv. 20: 38-41. Par.
xvi. 104. 123. 136-139. Cf. 109. 110.]
[Sidenote: 66, 135.]
[Sidenote: 127. Inf. xvii. 59, 60.]
[Sidenote: Par. xvi. 133. 105. 93. xv. 115. xvi. 110. 111. 93. 103.]
[Sidenote: 108.]
[Sidenote: 104.]
[Sidenote: 115-117. 112-114. 130, 131. 93.]
[Sidenote: 65, 94-96.]
[Sidenote: 121.]
[Sidenote: 104. 101.]
By reason of the said division these were the families of the nobles
which were at that time and became Guelfs in Florence, counting from
sesto to sesto, and likewise the Ghibellines. In the sesto of
Oltrarno, of the Guelfs were the Nerli, gentlemen, who dwelt at first
in the Mercato Vecchio; the family of the Giacoppi, called Rossi, not
however of great antiquity of descent, but they were already beginning
to be powerful; the Frescobaldi, the Bardi, the Mozzi, but of small
beginnings; of the Ghibellines in the sesto of Oltrarno, among the
nobles, the counts of Gangalandi, Obriachi, and Mannelli. In the sesto
of San Piero Scheraggio, the nobles which were Guelfs were, the house
of the Pulci, the Gherardini, the Foraboschi, the Bagnesi, the
Guidalotti, the Sacchetti, the Manieri, and they of Quona, fellows to
them of Volognano, the Lucardesi, the Chiaramontesi, the Compiobbesi,
the Cavalcanti, but these were descended recently from merchants. In
the said sesto of the Ghibellines were, the family of the Uberti,
which was the head of the party, the Fifanti, the Infangati, and
Amidei, and they of Volognano, and the Malespini, albeit afterwards by
reason of the outrages of the Uberti their neighbours, they and many
other families of San Piero Scheraggio became Guelfs. In the sesto of
the Borgo of the Guelfs were the family of the Bondelmonti, and they
were the leaders of the party; the family of the Giandonati, the
Gianfigliazzi, the family of the Scali, of the Gualterotti and of the
Importuni. Of the Ghibellines of the said sesto, the house of the
Scolari which were by origin fellows to the Bondelmonti, the house of
the Guidi, of the Galli and of the Cappiardi. In the sesto of San
Brancazio of the Guelfs were the Bostichi, the Tornaquinci, the
Vecchietti. Of the Ghibellines of the said sesto were the Lamberti,
the Soldanieri, the Cipriani, the Toschi, and the Amieri, and
Palermini, and Migliorelli, and Pigli, albeit afterwards some of them
became Guelfs. In the sesto of the Porte del Duomo, of the Guelf party
in those times were the Tosinghi, the Arrigucci, the Agli, the Sizii.
Of the Ghibellines of the said sesto were the Barucci, the Cattani of
Castiglione and of Cersino, the Agolanti and the Brunelleschi; and
afterwards some of them became Guelfs. In the sesto of the Porte San
Piero of the Guelf nobles were the Adimari, the Visdomini, the Donati,
the Pazzi, the della Bella, the Ardinghi, and the Tedaldi which were
called della Vitella, and already the Cerchi began to rise in
condition, albeit they were merchants; of the Ghibellines of the said
sesto were the Caponsacchi, the Lisei, the Abati, the Tedaldini, the
Giuochi, the Galigari. And many other families of honourable citizens
and popolani held some with one side, and some with the other, and
they changed with the times in mind and in party, which would be too
long a matter to relate. And for the said cause the accursed parties
first began in Florence, albeit before that there had been a division
secretly among the noble citizens, whereof some loved the rule of the
Church and some that of the Empire; nevertheless they were all agreed
as to the state and well-being of the commonwealth.
Sec. 40.--_How the city of Damietta was taken by the Christians, and
afterwards lost._
Sec. 41.--_How the Florentines caused the dwellers in the country around
to swear fealty to the city, and how the new Carraia Bridge was
begun._
[Sidenote: 1218 A.D.]
[Sidenote: Inf. xxxii. 56, 57.]
In the year of Christ 1218, when Otto da Mandella of Milan was Podesta
of Florence, the Florentines caused all the dwellers in the country
around to swear fealty to the commonwealth, seeing that before that
time the greater part had obeyed the rule of the Counts Guidi, and of
them of Mangone, and of them of Capraia, and of Certaldo, and of many
Cattani which had taken possession of the lands by privileges and some
by force of the emperors. And in this year the building of the
bastions of the Carraia Bridge was begun.
[Sidenote: 1220 A.D.]
Sec. 42.--_How the Florentines took Mortennana, and completed the new
bridge called Carraia._
END OF SELECTIONS FROM BOOK V.