481 Dino Compagni, i. 13; Villani, viii. 10.

482 Dino Compagni, i. 13. The author does not explain the nature of these meetings in which nobles and people were brought together. They may have been private or preliminary assemblies. But even at the Councils of the Guelph Society, as also at those of the Podestà, nobles and people sat together, and therefore had continual opportunities for talking over affairs of the State and discussing proposed bills.

483 Dino Compagni, i. 15.

484 We have gleaned this narrative from Villani and Compagni, endeavouring to make their accounts agree, although this is no easy task, seeing that the two are at odds on many points. Accordingly we have tried to collect all the details given by both which are not in contradiction. Compagni, i. 16, 17; Villani, viii. 8.

485 Villani, loc. cit.

486 This famed decree, quoted in Del Migliore's "Firenze Illustrata" (Florence, Ricci, 1821), vol. i. p. 6, and repeated by numerous writers, is certainly a very beautiful one; but the original document of it has never been discovered, and the form in which it has come down to us leads to the belief that some changes at least must have been made in it by a modern hand.

487 Florence Archives, the Strozzi-Uguccioni Collection, 127. This document was discovered by Signor Salvemini, who has kindly placed it at our disposal.

488 This Daddoccio was admitted into the Money-Changers' Guild on the 14th of December, 1283, and on the 1st of December, 1287, paid his rate as member of the same (Strozzi-Uguccioni Collection, 1283, 14th of December).

489 Originally published in the "Nuova Antologia" of Rome, December 1, 1888.

490 Many just observations and important notes on this subject are to be found in L. Chiapelli's work, "L'Amministrazione della Giustizia in Firenze" ("Arch. Stor. It.," Series iv., vol. xv. p. 35 and fol.); and Francesco Novati's "La Giovinezza di Coluccio Salutati" (Turin, Loescher, 1888, chap. iii. p. 66 and fol.). But in my opinion both writers have devoted all their acuteness and learning to proving the corrupt state of justice at the time, without dwelling on the origin of that corruption and its notable increase during the fourteenth century. Its origin should, I think, be sought in the changed conditions of the Podestà, Captains of the People, chancellors, notaries, judges, &c. What was said of judges in the fourteenth century, certainly could not have applied to those of the times of Piero della Vigna, Rolandino dei Passeggieri, or of the numerous mediæval Podestà wielding so much power, that they tried, and often with success, to become absolute tyrants of the communes. These were not men to act as blind tools of others' party passions; on the contrary, they strove for their own ends alone. It may have been owing to the political decline of the Podestà's office, and to his consequent inclination to serve party strife, that, dating from 1290, his term of power was reduced from one year to six months (vide Ammirato, ad annum). Naturally the Captain's term also had to be similarly shortened.

491 "Cronica," i. 13, p. 57.

492 G. Villani, viii. 17.

493 The Calimala, or Guild of Dressers, Finers and Dyers of foreign woollen stuffs; the Changers or Bankers, the Guild of Wool; the Porta Sta Maria, or Silk Guild; lastly, the Guild of Physicians, Druggists, and Mercers, with whom the Painters were also joined. Dante Alighieri was a member of this guild.

494 Lastig, "Entwicklungswege und Quellen des Handelsrechts," Stuttgart, Enke, 1877, p. 251 and fol. Among many other just observations, the author notes that the enactments fixed the number of the guilds at twenty-one, that this number remained unchanged from that time, and that in the statutes of the guilds, the year 1293 is continually referred to as their "normal year," "wiederholt geradezu als Normaljahr" (p. 244). Vide also p. 267 and fol.

495 Villani, bk. viii. chaps. 2 and 39.

496 Vide "Il Comune di Roma nel Medio Evo," in my "Saggi Storici e Critici," Bologna, Zanichelli, 1890.

497 Villani, viii. 12. Vide also the Provision of July 6, 1295, that has been previously quoted.

498 Villani, viii. 12.

499 Del Lungo, "Dino Compagni e la sua Cronica," i. p. 162. The author believes that Dante Alighieri may have been one of the nobles proclaimed men of the people.

500 The chroniclers have much to relate on this subject. Compagni says (pp. 86–7) that the Cerchi "made friends with the people and the rulers;" farther on he remarks that "all holding the views of Giano della Bella gathered round them" (the Cerchi) (p. 106). Stefani (iv. p. 220) states that the people "adhered to the Cerchi from party spirit, and chiefly because they were merchants."

501 Professor Del Lungo supplies special information on this subject in several passages of his work.

502 Villani, viii. 38.

503 The aims of Pope Boniface and his plots with the Blacks have been placed in a new light by the careful researches of Signor Guido Levi and the documents discovered by him. Vide his excellent work, "Bonifazio VIII. e la sue Relazioni col Comune di Firenze," first published in vol. iv. of the "Archivio Storico della Società Romana di Storia Patria," and subsequently in separate form. Rome, Forzani, 1882. My quotations are taken from the latter.

504 Levi, Doc. i.

505 Vide Ficker, "Forschungen," iv. n. 499, p. 506; Levi, p. 49.

506 The words quoted above form the heading of a copy of the document mentioned by Signor Levi (p. 49, note 2), and were taken as a motto for his work.

507 Levi gives the whole passage at p. 51, note 2.

508 Levi, pp. 48, 49, and Doc. iii.

509 Bondone Gherardi and Lippo, son of Ranuccio del Becca.

510 Levi, pp. 39, 40. According to a letter of the Pope, published by Signor Levi, in Doc. iv., the three persons accused were: "Simonem Gherardi familiarem nostrum, nostræque Cameræ mercatorem; Cambium de Sexto procuratorem in audientia nostra; Noffum de Quintavallis, qui tunc ad Curiam nostram accesserat."

511 Levi, Doc. ii.

512 Ibid. p. 66.

513 Villani, too, compares it with the Buondelmonti affair (viii. 39).

514 Levi, p. 42; Dino Compagni, "Cronica," i., xxii. note 9.

515 G. Levi, Doc. iv.

516 Villani, viii. 40.

517 Ibid. viii. 40.

518 Dino Compagni, i. pp. 96–7.

519 Prof. Del Lungo, with his usual careful research, notes that all the exiled were Grandi. Levi, in repeating the remark (at p. 59), considers this a singular fact, "seeing that the evil germs of discord had then spread through the mass of the citizens." Yet the fact seems easily accounted for by the circumstances related above.

520 Villani, viii. 40; Compagni, i. 21.

521 Perrens, "Histoire de Florence," vol. iii. p. 31.

522 Villani, viii. 43.

523 Villani, viii. 42.

524 Signor Levi gives a very clear explanation of the case by distinguishing between various facts confused together by the chroniclers.

525 "Chronicon Parmense," in Muratori, r. i., ix. 843.

526 Del Lungo, vol. i. p. 230; Dino Compagni, bk. ii. 8, note 3.

527 Villani, viii. 43 and 49; Del Lungo, vol. i. p. 206.

528 Villani, viii. 56. Boccaccio also alludes to Franzesi as "a trader turned knight."

529 Fraticelli's "Storia della Vita di Dante" (Florence, Barbèra, 1861) includes at p. 135 and fol. fragments of the debates in which Dante took a part, and the same were republished more correctly and completely in Imbriani's work, "Sulla Rubrica Dantesca del Villani," first published in the "Propugnatore" of Bologna for 1879 and 1880, and afterwards in a separate volume. Bologna, 1880; Del Lungo, p. 209.

530 Fraticelli and Imbriani, op. cit.

531 One of the first writers refusing belief in this embassy was Professor V. Imbriani in his already mentioned essay, "Sulla Rubrica Dantesca del Villani." Subsequently, my colleague and friend, the late Professor Bartoli, applied his learning to a re-examination of Dante's entire career, in vol. v. of his "Storia della Letteratura Italiana," and without explicitly denying that the embassy in question had been sent, expounded the doubts which might be raised about it. He included in the volume an essay by Professor Papa, who, with youthful daring, decidedly disbelieves in the embassy. But that learned scholar, Professor Del Lungo, asserts that it really took place. This is a very important question with reference to Dante's career, but very unimportant as regards the general history of Florence, since even if the embassy were really sent, it produced no practical result. Nevertheless, without presuming to decide the lengthy dispute, I will show my reasons for crediting the fact of the embassy.

Although Villani says nothing on the subject, it is mentioned by Dino Compagni (ii. 25), the authenticity of whose chronicle is maintained by Bartoli, Papa, and Del Lungo. Hence, if any of these writers intends to deny the fact of the embassy, without denying Compagni's authenticity, he must suppose this special passage to be an interpolation. Yet it is impossible that such interpolation could have been made at a later date in the fifteenth century manuscript containing the passage. Besides, the testimony of nearly all Dante's biographers has still to be dealt with. Leonardo Bruno (born 1369) makes very explicit mention of the embassy; Filippo Villani, Giovanni Villani's grandson, who expounded the Divine Comedy in 1401, by order of the government, speaks of a mission undertaken by Dante "ad summum Pontificem, urgentibus Reipublicæ necessitatibus." Boccaccio also alludes to it, but far more indirectly and vaguely. Certainly the latter is no trustworthy historian, nor were the other two contemporaries of Dante. But after acknowledging all this, and even granting that some one of those writers may have borrowed from the others, and likewise admitting the theory of an interpolation inserted during the fifteenth century, in Compagni's chronicle, we are still met by the undisputed fact, that those who studied Dante's works, and wrote Dante's life at a period little removed from his own day, and therefore enjoying better opportunities than we possess for learning its details, all believed in the fact of his mission to Rome.

Until fresh documents are found, what reasons can be alleged to justify us in denying it at this distant date? In no case, says Professor Papa, could such an adversary as the author of the "Monarchia" have gone as ambassador to Boniface VIII. First of all, however, the period in which the "Monarchia" was written is still disputable and disputed. Professor Del Lungo and many others ascribe the work to a much later period. As far as we know, Dante was still a Guelph then, but certainly no favourer of the Papal pretensions against which the Florentine Government sent him to protest. Hence, so far there is nothing to make us think his mission incredible.

But Professor Papa winds up with an argument that, as he thinks, should finally dispose of the question. If, as asserted by Compagni and Aretino, Dante was really sent ambassador to Rome, and departed thence, after a time, without returning to Florence, how is it that the decree sentencing him to banishment should set forth, as it does, that he had been cited by the Nuncio to appear in Rome? According to the statute, forenses, or absent persons, had to be cited by letter. Therefore, if the citation was made through the Nuncio, it proves that Dante was undoubtedly in Florence, and had not gone to Rome. But forensis does not signify an absent person, i.e., one who extra civitatem manet, but, on the contrary, signifies—according to the statute—one having no domicile either in the city, contado, or district.

Accordingly Dante, having a domicile in Florence, was not forensis, and if he went to Rome was only absent; his embassy, decreed in September, must have been speedily ended, since a new and adverse government came into office the 8th of November; and Dante's banishment was only proclaimed on the 27th of January of the following year. Together with three other persons he was cited to appear and be heard in his own defence and exculpation. As neither he nor the others appeared, and none of them would have consented to appear, even if in Florence, they were condemned, as they would have been in any case. Thus, strictly speaking, it cannot be said that even in this instance there was any violation of legal procedure, although in those days legality, justice, and humanity were trampled under foot without the slightest scruple.

Therefore, as Professor Bartoli admits, there is no absolute proof of the impossibility of the embassy in question. Even if Villani's silence may seem strange, Compagni's statement to be considered an interpolation, the fact remains that the embassy was credited at a time little removed from Dante's day, and credited by men better acquainted than we can be with the circumstances of his career. For these reasons, while admitting the weight of often reiterated doubts, pending absolute proof to the contrary, I shall retain my belief in the embassy.

532 Vide Del Lungo, vol. i., Letter in appendix vi. pp. xlv. and xlvi.

533 Compagni, ii. 8.

534 Villani, viii. 49. Compagni says that he saw the sealed (bollate) letters.

535 "Purgatorio," xx. 72–5.

536 Villani, viii. 49, p. 53.

537 Ibid. viii. 49. Many other details are given in the Chronicles of Compagni, Paolino Pieri, Neri degli Strinati, &c., &c.

538 Vide Del Lungo (vol. i., Appendix, Doc. vi. p. xlv.) in the Letter dated 12th of November, sent to the Commune of San Gimignano.

539 Vide the "Provvisione" in Del Lungo, vol. i. p. 290.

540 Compagni, "Cronica," ii. 20 and 21.

541 Potthast, Boniface's Letter in the Regesta Pont. Rom., p. 2006.

542 Vide the notices and documents collected in Professor Del Lungo's monograph, "Sull' Esilio di Dante," Florence, Le Monnier, 1881. Some fragmentary information on this subject had been already published in the "Delizie degli Eruditi Toscani."

543 Bk. viii. chap. 49, p. 53.

544 Dino Compagni, ii. 25; Prof. Del Lungo, pp. 212–13, note 3.

545 Del Lungo, i. p. 305.

546 Vide the "Libro del Chiodo."

547 G. Villani, bk. viii. chap. 49, p. 54.

548 First published in the "Nuova Antologia" of Rome, in issue of 16th of December, 1888, and 16th of January, 1889.

549 Villani, viii. 52, 53; Del Lungo, Appendix xii. to Compagni's "Cronica," p. 562, and fol.; "Le guerre Mugellane e i primi anni dell' esilio di Dante."

550 Villani, viii. 58. Dino Compagni, "Cronica," ii., xxxiv., and notes 13 and 14.

551 Dino Compagni, "Cronica," ii., xxxiv., note 20 (document).

552 Del Lungo, p. 546.

553 Compagni, iii. 11.

554 Ibid. iii. 11.

555 Villani, viii. 68.

556 Vide the letter given by Del Lungo at pp. 556–7.

557 Dino Compagni, iii., vii.

558 Villani, viii. 69; Compagni iii., vii.

559 Villani, viii. chap. 69, p. 87.

560 An anonymous and undated epistle addressed to Cardinal Da Prato by the Captain Alessandro (supposed to be Alessandro da Romena) and the council and university of the Bianchi party, was published among Dante's Letters as one composed by him for the use of his fellow-exiles, and was long attributed to him by his biographers. But the Captain's name is not given in the old manuscript from which the letter was printed, but merely indicated thus: A. ca. (Epistle I. of the Fraticelli edition, Florence, Barbèra, 1863).

This epistle says in reply to letters and advice from the Cardinal that the Bianchi are grateful to him and disposed to peace. "Ad quid aliud in civile bellum corruimus? Quid aliud candida nostra signa petebant? Et ad quid aliud enses et tela nostra rubebant, nisi ut qui civilia iura, temeraria voluptate truncaverunt, et iugo piæ legis colla submitterent, et ad pacem patriæ cogerentur?" Therefore the gist of Dante's words would have been: The desire to have our laws and liberties respected was the sole cause of our rebellion; all that we now wish is to see justice and peace again triumphant. This language is worthy of the poet, we think.

But doubts have lately arisen as to his authorship. Professor Bartoli, after examining the subject from all points, and ingeniously discussing all different theories respecting it, concludes his prolonged and careful inquiry by stating that there is no historical evidence to prove whether the letter were really by Dante or not ("Storia della Letteratura Italiana," vol. v. chaps. 8–10). Professor Del Lungo says that the style of the letter is Dantesque, in its merits as well as in certain defects; but that this fact does not justify him in decidedly attributing it to the poet's pen, since it may have proceeded from some contemporary in similar circumstances. Indeed, after examining the contents of the letter, he considers that it cannot have been written by Dante, and, among other reasons, chiefly because the words candida nostra signa, and enses et tela nostra rubebant, &c., are almost identical with those used by Compagni in describing the fight that occurred at Lastra on the 20th of July, 1304. Hence, he is of opinion that the letter undoubtedly refers to that event, and was therefore only written after that date. And seeing that Dante had separated from the exiles before that time, Del Lungo considers that the letter cannot be by him.

For my own part, I doubt whether the letter really referred to the Lastra affair. Surely the words in question: "Our white ensigns were displayed, and our weapons flashed," may have been used either in reference to Lastra or any other battle fought by the exiles, in spite of their resemblance to, and apparent translation from the passage in Compagni relative to the fight at Lastra. This being the case, without altogether rejecting Del Lungo's view, I will merely remark that his argument is insufficient to disprove Dante's authorship, since the poet may have written the letter in the name of the exiles, when they were carrying on those negotiations with the Cardinal on the subject of peace, afterwards leading, as we have seen, to the despatch of twelve delegates to Florence. The failure of those negotiations, the cruel slaughter of the Cavalcanti and their friends, the wholesale destruction by fire and pillage, the partial junction of the Bianchi with Corso Donati, and the union of the exiles with the Bolognese, Pistoiese, Pisans, and all foes of Florence, immediately followed up by the foolish attempt at Lastra, may well suffice to explain, not only Dante's indignant withdrawal from the exiled Bianchi, but likewise the withdrawal of many other citizens. In fact, the latter's non-appearance at Lastra may be perhaps assigned to the same motive, as we shall have occasion to show later on.

561 Villani, viii. 69. This chronicler dates the Cardinal's departure the 4th of June; Dino Compagni, the 9th; Paolino Pieri and the "Cronica," designated by Del Lungo as the "Cronica Marciana-Magliabecchiana," give the date of the 10th. This is also adopted by Del Lungo, p. 563. Vide Dino Compagni, "Cronica," iii. 7, note 26.

562 Compagni, iii. 8.

563 Villani, viii. 71.

564 Ibid.

565 Villani, viii. 71.

566 "Storia della Repubblica Fiorentina," vol. i. chap. 6, p. 116 (edition of 1875).

567 Villani, viii. 72.

568 Vide the well-known words pronounced by Cacciaguida in Canto xvii. of the "Paradiso":

569 Del Lungo notes this fact (vol. i. p. 577), and observes that it was frequently repeated between 1301 and 1304.

570 Villani, viii. 74; Del Lungo, pp. 578–9.

571 These Catalans, after fighting the Moors in Spain, scattered to different parts of the world, and refused to return to their own country.

572 Villani, viii. 87.

573 This law is placed under rubric lxxxiii. of the enactments. Vide Giudici, "Storia dei Comuni Italiani," vol. iii. p. 119 and fol. Florence, Le Monnier, 1864–66.

574 Other clauses tending to increase the rigour of this law were added on to it in 1307, 1309, and 1324, as may be seen in Bonaini's edition, published in the "Archivio Storico Italiano," new series, vol. i., 1885.

575 Dino Compagni, iii. 18, p. 326.

576 Villani, viii. 89.

577 Ibid.

578 Ibid. viii. 96.

579 Villani, viii. 96; Dino Compagni, iii. 20, 21.

580 Dino Compagni, iii. 20, note 29; Del Lungo, Introduction, p. 607. Prof. Del Lungo, the editor of these documents, does not believe that Corso was favourable at that time to the exiles and Ghibellines. Besides, the latter were no longer the genuine Ghibellines of older days. Therefore the Signory could have no motive for deceiving their friends, the Lucchese, and their letters are likewise corroborated by the previous events we have described.

581 Villani, viii. 100.

582 Villani, iii. 118, 119.

583 Compagni, "Cronica," iii. 35, note. 26.

584 Villani, ix. 10.

585 Villani, ix. 11.

586 Compagni, iii. 32.

587 Villani, ix. 12.

588 Ibid. ix. 18.

589 Vide the letter sent by Florence, June 17, 1311, in Gregorovius (3rd edition), vol. vi. p. 39, note 2.

590 Bonaini, "Acta Enrici VII.," ii., lv., lxxxvi., Florence, Cellini, 1877.

591 Ibid. ii., xcviii., xcix.

592 Published in the "Delizie degli Eruditi Toscani," and given more completely in Prof. Del Lungo's "Dell' Esilio di Dante," &c., p. 107 and fol.

593 Villani, ix. 21, 24, 26, 29.

594 "Ita quod ipsi Florentini possint uti, pro eorum faciendis negotiis et mercationibus, regno vestro, non obstantibus novitatibus antedictis." This letter is dated 1311, and though the month is not indicated, it alludes to Henry's arrival in Genoa as a recent event. Vide Desjardins, "Négociations diplomatiques de la France avec la Toscane," vol. i. p. 12. and fol.

595 The Bishop of Botrintò gives an account of his strange and perilous journey in his work, "De Henrici VII. imperatoris itinere italico." This is to be found in Muratori, R. I., and has been recently republished by Doctor Heyck (Innsbrück, 1888).

596 Villani, ix. 26–29; Del Lungo, p. 632.

597 Villani, ix. 33. The fact of making the Pazzi knights by way of compensation, serves to prove that the title of cavaliere was already losing its former significance. For, at the close of the thirteenth century, when used as a sign of nobility, possession of this title helped to exclude a man from the Government.

598 Perrens, vol. iii. p. 145.

599 This letter was written about the end of 1310 and beginning of 1311. It is No. v. of the Fraticelli edition.

600 Epistola vi. of the Fraticelli edition.

601 Epistle vii.

602 Gregorovius, vol. vi. p. 40; Perrens, iii. 172; "Cronaca di Pisa," R. T. S., xv. 985; Malavolti, par. ii. bk. iv. f. 66; Mussato, bk. i. rub. 10.