Villani's Chronicle Part 15

-- 45.--_How Manfred, natural son of Frederick, took the lords.h.i.+p of the kingdom of Sicily and of Apulia, and caused himself to be crowned._

[Sidenote: 1252 A.D.]

[Sidenote: 1254 A.D.]

[Sidenote: Purg. iii. 121.]

[Sidenote: 1255 A.D.]

Conrad, called king of Germany, being dead, Manfred remained lord and governor of Sicily and of the Kingdom, albeit through the death of Conrad, some cities of the Kingdom rebelled, and Pope Innocent IV., with a great host of the Church, entered into the Kingdom to regain the lands which Manfred was holding against the will of the Church, and under sentence of excommunication; and when the said host of the Church had entered into the Kingdom, all the cities and villages as far as Naples surrendered themselves to the said Pope; but he had sojourned but a short time in Naples ere he fell sick, and pa.s.sed from this life the year of Christ 1252, and was buried in the city of Naples. Wherefore by the death of the said Pope, and by the vacancy which the Church had after him, which for more than two years abode without pastors, Manfred regained all the Kingdom, and his strength increased greatly both far and near; and with great care he allied himself with all the cities of Italy which were Ghibelline and faithful to the Empire, and aided them by his German knights, making a league and alliance with them in Tuscany and in Lombardy. And when the said Manfred saw himself in glory and state, he thought to have himself made king of Sicily and of Apulia, and to the end this might come to pa.s.s, he sought for the friends.h.i.+p of the greatest barons of the Kingdom, with monies and gifts and promises and offices. And knowing that King Conrad, his brother, had left a son named Conradino, the which was by law the rightful heir to the realm of Sicily, and was in Germany under the guardians.h.i.+p of his mother, he devised guileful practices whereby to become king; wherefore he gathered together all the barons of the Kingdom, and took counsel with them what should be done with the lords.h.i.+p, forasmuch as he had received tidings that his nephew Conradino was grievously sick, and could never rule over a realm; wherefore it was counselled by his barons that he should send his amba.s.sadors into Germany to learn of the state of Conradino, and if he were dead or ill; and meanwhile they counselled that Manfred should be made king. To this Manfred agreed, seeing it was he which had falsely arranged it all, and he sent the said amba.s.sadors to Conradino and to his mother with rich presents and great offers. The which amba.s.sadors being come to Suabia, found the boy whom his mother guarded most carefully, and with him she kept many other boys of gentle birth clothed in his garments; and when the said amba.s.sadors asked for Conradino, his mother being in dread of Manfred, showed to them one of the said children, and they with rich presents, offered him gifts and reverence, among the which gifts were poisoned comfits from Apulia, and the boy having eaten of them, straightway died.

They, believing Conradino to be dead by poison, departed from Germany, and when they had returned to Venice, they caused sails of black cloth to be made to their galley and all the rigging to be black, and they were attired in black, and when they were come into Apulia, they made a show of great grief, as they had been instructed by Manfred. And having reported to Manfred, and to the German barons, and to those of the Kingdom how Conradino was dead, and Manfred having made show of deep affliction, by the call of his friends and of all the people (as he had arranged), he was elected king of Sicily and of Apulia, and at Monreale, in Sicily, caused himself to be crowned, the year of Christ 1255.

-- 46.--_Of the war between Pope Alexander and King Manfred._

[Sidenote: 1255 A.D.]

[Sidenote: 1256 A.D.]

[Sidenote: Purg. iii. 107.]

[Sidenote: Cf. De V.E. i. 12, 21 sqq.]

After the death of Pope Innocent, and the vacancy which followed, there was elected Pope Alexander IV., born in the city of Alagna, in Campagna, the year of Christ 1255, and he sat on the papal throne seven years, and certain months and days. The which Pope Alexander, hearing how Manfred had caused himself to be crowned king of Sicily against the will of Holy Church, by the said Pope Manfred was required to abandon the lords.h.i.+p of the Kingdom and of Sicily, the which he would neither hearken to, nor obey; for the which thing the said Pope first excommunicated and deprived him, and then sent against him Otho, the cardinal legate, with a great host of the Church, and he took many places on the coasts of Apulia; to wit, the city of Sipanto, and Mount Santagnolo, and Barletta and Bari, as far as Otranto in Calabria; but afterwards the said host, by reason of the death of the said legate, returned with labour lost, and Manfred took back and regained all, and this was the year of Christ 1256. The said King Manfred was son of a beautiful lady, of the family of the Marquises of Lancia in Lombardy, of whom the Emperor Frederick was enamoured, and he was beautiful in person, and, like his father, but even more, dissolute in every fas.h.i.+on; a musician he was, and singer, and loved to see around him buffoons and minstrels, and beautiful concubines, and was always clad in green raiment; very liberal was he, and courteous, and gracious, so that he was much loved and in great favour; but all his way of life was epicurean, caring neither for G.o.d nor the saints, but only for bodily delights. An enemy he was to Holy Church, and to priests and monks, occupying the churches as his father had done, and was a very rich lord, alike from the treasure bequeathed to him by the Emperor and by King Conrad, his brother, and from his kingdom, which was rich and fruitful; and, for all the wars that he had with the Church, he kept it in good state so long as he lived, so that he increased much in riches and in power by sea and by land. For wife he took the daughter of the despot of Romagna, by whom he had sons and daughters.

The arms which he took and bore were those of the Empire, save where the Emperor, his father, bore the gold field and the black eagle, he bore the silver field and the black eagle. This Manfred caused the city of Sipanto in Apulia to be destroyed, forasmuch as through the marshes around it was not healthy, and it had no harbour; and by its citizens, at two miles distance upon the rock, and in a place where there might be a good harbour, he caused a city to be founded, which after his name was called Manfredonia, the which has now the best harbour that there is between Venice and Brindisi. And of that city was Manfred Bonetta, count chamberlain of the said King Manfred, a delightsome man, a musician and singer, who caused the great bell of Manfredonia to be made in his memory, the which is the largest that can be found for size, and because of its size cannot be rung. We will now leave speaking of Manfred until fit place and time, and will return where we left off in our subject, namely to the doings of Florence and of Tuscany and of Lombardy, albeit they were much mixed up with the doings of the said King Manfred in many things.

[Sidenote: 1251 A.D.]

[Sidenote: 1252 A.D.]

-- 47.--_How the Florentines discomfited the Ubaldini in Mugello._ -- 48.--_How the Florentines took Montaia and routed the troops of the Sienese and the Pisans._ -- 49.--_How the Florentines took Tizzano and then routed the Pisans at Pontadera, the Pisans having routed the Lucchese._

-- 50.--_How the bridge Santa Trinita was built._

In this time, the city of Florence being in happy state under the rule of the Popolo, a bridge was built over the Arno from Santa Trinita to the house of the Frescobaldi in Oltrarno, and in this the zeal of Lamberto Frescobaldi helped much, which was a noted Ancient in the Popolo, and he and his had come to great state and riches.

[Sidenote: 1252 A.D. Cf. Par. xvi. 50.]

-- 51.--_How the Florentines took the fortress of Fegghine._

-- 52.--_How the Sienese were routed by the Florentines at Montalcino._

-- 53.--_How the golden florins were first made in Florence._

[Sidenote: 1252 A.D.]

[Sidenote: Cf. Par. xviii. 133-136.]

The host of the Florentines having returned, and being at rest after the victories aforesaid, the city increased greatly in state and in riches and lords.h.i.+p and in great quietness; for the which thing the merchants of Florence, for the honour of the commonwealth, ordained with the people and commonwealth that golden coins should be struck at Florence; and they promised to furnish the gold, for before the custom was to strike silver coins of 12 pence the piece. And then began the good coins of gold, 24 carats fine, the which are called golden florins, and each was worth 20 soldi. And this was in the time of the said M. Filippo degli Ugoni of Brescia, in the month of November, the year of Christ 1252. The which florins weighed eight to the ounce, and on one side was the stamp of the lily and on the other of S. John. By reason of the said new money of the golden florin there fell out a pretty story, and worth narrating. The said new florins having begun to circulate through the world, they were carried to Tunis in Barbary; and being brought before the king of Tunis, which was a worthy and wise lord, they pleased him much, and he caused them to be tried; and finding them to be of fine gold, he much commended them, and having caused his interpreters to interpret the imprint and legend on the florin, he found that it said: S. John the Baptist, and on the side of the lily, Florence. Perceiving it to be Christian money, he sent to the Pisan merchants who were then free of the city and were much with the king (and even the Florentines traded in Tunis through the Pisans), and asked them what manner of city among Christians was this Florence which made the said florins. The Pisans answered spitefully through envy, saying: "They are our inland Arabs": which is to say, "our mountain rustics." Then answered the king wisely: "It does not seem to me the money of Arabs. O you Pisans, what manner of golden money is yours?" Then were they confused, and knew not how to answer.

He asked if there were among them any one from Florence, and there was found there a merchant from Oltrarno, by name Pera Balducci, discreet and wise. The king asked him of the state and condition of Florence, whom the Pisans called their Arabs; the which answered wisely, showing the power and magnificence of Florence, and how Pisa in comparison was neither in power nor in inhabitants the half of Florence, and that they had no golden money, and that the florin was the fruit of many victories gained by the Florentines over them. For the which cause the Pisans were shamed, and the king, by reason of the florin and by the words of our wise fellow-citizen, made the Florentines free of the city, and allowed them a place of habitation and a church in Tunis, and he gave them the same privileges as the Pisans. And this we knew to be true from the said Pera, a man worthy of faith, for we were among his colleagues in the office of prior.

[Sidenote: 1253 A.D.]

-- 54.--_How the Florentines marched upon Pistoia and took it, and then upon Siena and took many of their fortresses._

-- 55.--_How the Florentines marched against Siena, and the Sienese came to terms with them, and there was peace between them._

[Sidenote: 1254 A.D.]

[Sidenote: Cf. Inf. x.x.xi. 40, 41.]

The next year, 1254, Messer Guiscardo da Pietrasanta, of Milan, being Podesta of Florence, the Florentines marched against the city of Siena and encamped against the castle of Montereggioni and laid siege to it, and of a surety they would have taken it, for the German garrison was in treaty to surrender it for 50,000 lire of 20 soldi to the gold florin; and in one single night the Ancients found twenty citizens each of whom offered a thousand of them, without counting smaller sums, so well disposed for the good of the commonwealth were the citizens of those days. But the Sienese, for fear of losing Montereggioni, agreed to the terms of the Florentines, and peace was made between them and the Sienese, and they completely surrendered the castle of Montalcino to the Florentines.

[Sidenote: 1254 A.D.]

[Sidenote: 1260 A.D.]

[Sidenote: 1256 A.D.]

-- 56.--_How the Florentines seized the fortress of Poggibonizzi and that of Mortennana._ -- 57.--_How the Florentines routed them of Volterra and took their city in the fight._ -- 58.--_How the Florentines marched against Pisa, and the Pisans submitted to their terms._ -- 59.--_How the great Khan of the Tartars became a Christian, and sent his army, under his own brother, against the Saracens of Syria._ -- 60.--_How the first war arose between the Genoese and the Venetians._ -- 61.--_How the Count Guido Guerra expelled the Ghibelline party from Arezzo, and how the Florentines reinstated it._ -- 62.--_How the Pisans broke the peace, and how the Florentines routed them at the bridge over the Serchio._ -- 63.--_How the Florentines destroyed the castle of Poggibonizzi the first time._ -- 64.--_Incident telling of a great miracle concerning the body of Christ which came to pa.s.s in the city of Paris._

-- 65.--_How the Popolo of Florence drave out the Ghibellines for the first time from Florence, and the reason why._

[Sidenote: 1258 A.D.]

[Sidenote: Par. xvi.]

[Sidenote: Inf. x.x.xii. 118, 119.]

In the year of Christ 1258, when Messer Jacopo Bernardi di Porco was Podesta of Florence, at the end of the month of July they of the house of the Uberti, with their Ghibelline allies, incited thereto by Manfred, purposed to break up the Popolo of Florence, forasmuch as it seemed to them to lean towards the Guelf party. When the said plot was discovered by the Popolo, and they who had made it were summoned and cited to appear before the magistrates, they would not appear nor come before them, but the staff of the Podesta were grievously wounded and smitten by them; for the which thing the people ran to arms, and ran in fury to the houses of the Uberti, where is now the piazza of the palace of the people and of the priors, and there they slew Schiattuzzo degli Uberti and many of the followers and retainers of the Uberti, and they took Uberto Caini degli Uberti and Mangia degli Infangati, which when they had confessed the conspiracy in parliament were beheaded in Orto San Michele; and the rest of the family of the Uberti, with many other Ghibelline families, left Florence. The names of the Ghibelline families of renown which left Florence were these: the Uberti, the Fifanti, the Guidi, the Amidei, the Lamberti, the Scolari, and part of the Abati, Caponsacchi, Migliorelli, Soldanieri, Infangati, Ubriachi, Tedaldini, Galigari, the della Pressa, Amieri, they of Cersino, the Razzanti, and many other houses and families of the popolari and of decayed magnates, which cannot all be named, and other families of n.o.bles in the country; and they went to Siena, which was governed in the Ghibelline interest, and was hostile to the Florentines; and their palaces and strongholds were destroyed, whereof there were many, and with the stones thereof they built the walls of San Giorgio Oltrarno, which the Popolo of Florence caused to be begun in those times by reason of the war with the Sienese. And afterwards, in the following September of the said year, the Popolo of Florence seized the abbot of Vallombrosa, which was a gentleman of the lords of Beccheria of Pavia in Lombardy, for they had been told that at the pet.i.tion of the Ghibelline refugees from Florence he was plotting treason; and this by torture they made him confess, and wickedly in the piazza of Santo Apollinare by the outcry of the people they beheaded him, not regarding his dignity nor his holy orders; for the which thing the commonwealth of Florence and the Florentines were excommunicated by the Pope; and from the commonwealth of Pavia, whence came the said abbot, and from his kinsfolk, the Florentines which pa.s.sed through Lombardy received much hurt and molestation. And truly it was said that the holy man was not guilty, albeit by his lineage he was a distinguished Ghibelline. For the which sin, and for many other deeds done by the wicked people, it was said by many wise men that G.o.d by Divine judgment permitted vengeance to come upon the said people in the battle and defeat of Montaperti, as hereafter we shall make mention. The said Popolo of Florence which ruled the city in these times was very proud and of high and great enterprises, and in many things was very arrogant; but one thing their rulers had, they were very loyal and true to the commonwealth, and when one which was an Ancient took and sent to his villa a grating which had belonged to the lion's den, and was now lying about in the mud of the piazza of S.

Giovanni, he was condemned therefor to a fine of 1,000 lire for embezzling the goods of the commonwealth.

[Sidenote: 1259 A.D.]

[Sidenote: Cf. Inf. xxii. 40-60.]

-- 66.--_How the Aretines took and destroyed Cortona._ -- 67.--_How the Florentines took and destroyed the castle of Gressa._ -- 68.--_How the people of Florence took the castles of Vernia and of Mangona._