The chronicle of Dino Compagni

Front matter

THE TEMPLE CLASSICS

THE

CHRONICLE

Preface

The subject of the work and the author's motive in writing it.

The remembrance of the ancient histories has long stirred my mind to write of the events, fraught with danger and ill-fitted to bring prosperity (i), which the noble city, the daughter of Rome (2), has for many years undergone, and especially at the time of the Jubilee of the year 1300. However, for many years I excused myself from writing on the ground of my own incompetence, and in the belief that another would write : but at last, the perils having so multiplied, and the outlook (3) having become so significant that silence might no longer be kept concerning them, I determined to write for the advantage of those who shall inherit the prosperous years (4), to the end that they may acknowledge that their benefits are from God, who rules and governs throughout all ages.

1. I.e. the division of the Guelf party in Florence into the Whites and Blacks.

2. Cf. Dante, Conv. I. 3, 22.

3. The "perils" and " significant outlook " refer to the threatened overthrow of the supremacy of the Black Guelfs at Florence by the Emperor Henry VII. {cf. Preliminary Note).

4. I.e. the prosperous years that may be expected to follow the pacification of Italy by the Emperor, which Dino, writing during the course of the Emperor's expedition into Italy, hoped and confidently expected would be brought to pass.

Chapter I

The author's method of writing. Description of Florence.

When I began, I purposed writing the truth concerning those things of which I was certain, through having seen and heard them, because they were things noteworthy, which in their beginnings no one saw so clearly as I ; and those things I did not clearly see, I purposed writing according to hearsay, But since many, because of their corrupt wills, err in their speech, and corrupt the truth, I purposed to write according to the most authentic report. And in order that strangers may be the better able to understand the things that happened, I will describe the fashion of the noble city which is in the province of Tuscany and under the protection of the sign of Mars ( i ). It is enriched by a copious imperial river (2) of sweet water, which divides it almost in half. The climate is equable, and the city is sheltered from hurtful winds ; its territory is scanty in extent, but abounds in good produce. The citizens are valiant in arms, proud, and quarrelsome. The city is enriched by unlawful gains (3), and, on account of its power, is distrusted and feared, rather 3 than loved, by the neighbouring towns. Pisa is 40 miles (4) distant from Florence, Lucca 40 miles, Pistoja 20 miles, Bologna 58 miles, Arezzo 40 miles, Siena 30 miles, San Miniato 20 miles towards Pisa, Prato 10 miles towards Pistoja, Monte Accenico 22 miles towards Bologna, Fighine 16 miles towards Arezzo, Poggibonsi 16 miles towards Siena. As to all the aforesaid towns, with many other fortresses and villages — and in all the directions aforesaid, there are many nobles — counts and captains (5) — who love rather to see the city in discord than in peace, and who obey her more from fear than love.

The said city of Florence is very well populated, and the good air promotes generation. The citizens are very courteous, and the women very handsome and well attired. The large houses are very beautiful, and better supplied with comforts and conveniences than those in the other cities of Italy. On this account many people come from distant lands to visit the city, not from necessity, but by reason of her flourishing industries, and for the sake of her beauty and adornment.

1. See Inferno, xiii. 143-150 n.

2. The Arno is called an "imperial" river, as being a main stream and not a mere tributary.

3. The "unlawful gains" here spoken of correspond to the "sudden gains" reprobated by Dante, Inferno, xvi. 73.

4. The Tuscan mile was equal to about 1800 yards.

5. The "counts" stand for the feudal nobles, who held their fiefs immediately of the Empire; the "captains," for the vassals of the M counts." The aim of Florence and the other city-states of Italy was to bring the feudal nobility of the surrounding districts under the city government. Cf. III. 34, n. 5.

Chapter II

Traditional account of the introduction of the names of Guelf and Ghibelline into Florence (1215).

Let her citizens, then, weep for themselves and their children, since by their arrogance, wickedness, and struggles for office they have undone so noble a city, have outraged the laws, and in a short time have bartered away the privileges which their forefathers won by much labour through long years ; and let them await the justice of God, which by many tokens is threatening to bring evil upon them, as upon guilty persons who were free to avoid the possibility of its overwhelming them (1).

After much hurt had been received in ancient times through the quarrels of the citizens, there arose in the said city one quarrel which caused such division among them that the two parties gave, one to the other, the two new hostile names of Guelfs and Ghibellines (2). And the cause of this, in Florence, was as follows : A young citizen of noble birth, named Buondelmonte de' Buondelmonti, had promised to marry a daughter of Messer ( 3 ) Oderigo Giantruffetti. One day afterwards, as he was passing the houses of the Donati, a lady, by name Madonna Aldruda, wife of M. Forteguerra Donati, who had two very beautiful daughters, saw him from the balcony of her palace as he was passing, called him, and showed him one of her daughters. Then she said to him, 6 4 Whom hast thou promised to marry ? I was keeping this my daughter for thee." When

Buondelmonte looked at the girl, she pleased him well ; but he answered, " I cannot do otherwise now/' But the lady Aldruda said, u Yes, thou canst, since I will pay the penalty for thee ; " and Buondelmonte answered, "Then I will have her." So he was affianced to her, forsaking the other to whom he had plighted his troth. Wherefore M. Oderigo complained of this to his kinsmen and friends, and they determined to be revenged, and to beat Buondelmonte and do him shame. But when the Uberti, a very noble and powerful family, kinsmen of M. Oderigo, heard this, they said they wished Buondelmonte to be killed, "for" (said they) "the hatred caused by his being killed will be no greater than that caused by his being wounded ; a thing done cannot be undone" (4). So they arranged to slay him on the day he should bring home his bride ; and so they did. There was therefore a division amongst the citizens on account of this murder, and the friends and kinsmen of each party banded themselves so closely together, that the division was never healed, whence arose many dissensions, murders, and fights between the citizens. But since it is not my intention to write of things long past, because sometimes the truth about them cannot be ascertained, I will leave them alone. But I have begun thus in order to open the way to understand the origin in Florence of the accursed parties of the Guelfs and Ghibellines.

And now we will return to the events of our own time.

1. In this paragraph Dino alludes to the misgovernment of the Black Guelfs, with special reference to their intrigues with Boniface VIII. and Charles of Valois (see below, II.

2.ff.) ; and the " evil" which he predicts will fall on them is their subjugation by the Emperor Henry VII. (See Preface, n. 3.)

2. ' ' New," that is, as to Florence. ' ' The names 1 Guelfo,' 1 Ghibellino,' are Italianised forms of the German names Welf and Weiblingen. Of these the former was the name of an illustrious family, several members of which had successively been Dukes of Bavaria in the tenth and eleventh centuries. . . . Weiblingen was the name of a castle in Franconia, whence Conrad the Salic (Emperor, 1024-1039) came, the progenitor, through the female line of the Swabian Emperors. . . . The accession of Conrad III. of Swabia (Emperor, 1138-1152) to the imperial throne, and the rebellion of Henry the Proud, the Welf Duke of Bavaria, gave rise to a bloody struggle between the two houses ; and at the battle of Weinsberg (1140) the names Welf and Weiblingen were for the first time adopted as war-cries " (Toynbee, "Dante Diet.," s.v. Ghibellini), and subsequently Italianised as above. In Italy the Guelfs were (nominally) the supporters of the Pope, as protector of the rights of the Italian city-states. The Ghibellines were (nominally) the supporters of the Emperor, as protector of the feudal nobility. But this distinction had but little bearing on practical politics. ' ' Guelfs and Ghibellines are local parties which fight for local reasons, independent of the struggle between papacy and empire. To liberty, independence, Italian unity, the rights of Pope or Emperor, they do not even give a thought. The only aim that preoccupies them is the control of the commonwealth, from which they alternately try to exclude one another. They call themselves Guelfs or Ghibellines, according as they hope to be helped in their policy by the Pope or by the Emperor" (Salvemini, Magnati e Popolani in Firenze, p. 2).

3. Messer or Messere (abbreviated as M.) was a title regularly prefixed to the names of knights and doctors of law. It was also given to cardinals and princes.

4. Mosca was the name of the man who gave this advice. (See Inferno, xxviii. 106-108; Par. xvi. 136^)

Chapter III

A summary account of the peace between the Guelfs and Ghibellines effected by the mediation of Cardinal Latino, 1279-1280.

In the year of the Incarnation of Christ 1280, the Guelf party bearing rule in Florence, and the Ghibellines having been driven out, there issued from a small source a great stream, namely, from a small discord amongst the Guelf party a great concord with the Ghibelline party (1). For, inasmuch as the Guelfs were suspicious of one another, and angry words were passing in their assemblies and councils, the more prudent began to fear what might come of this, and already to see signs of what they dreaded (2). (For together with other nobles a certain noble citizen, a knight called M. Buonaccorso degli Adimari, a Guelf, powerful on account of his connections and rich in estates, had increased in arrogance, and, heedless of his party's blame, had married his son — a knight named M. Forese — to a daughter of the Ghibelline leader, Count Guido Novello of the house of the Counts Guidi.) For this cause the Guelfs, after holding many councils of the party, decided to make peace with the exiled Ghibellines ; and they wisely agreed to come to terms with them under the yoke of the Church, in order that the bonds of the agreement might be maintained by the Church's power. They secretly contrived also that the Pope should act as mediator in their discord ; and at their request he sent M. the Friar

Latino, a Cardinal (3), to Florence to exhort both parties to peace. When the Cardinal had arrived, he asked each party to appoint delegates who should refer the matter to his award ; and this they did. And by virtue of this reference he decreed that the Ghibellines should return to Florence under many conditions, and in a certain manner, and he assigned to them the offices outside the city ; while for the government of the city itself he appointed fourteen citizens (4), namely, eight Guelfs and six Ghibellines ; and he settled many other matters, imposing fines on both parties [in case of the award being contravened] , and binding them to give account to the Church of Rome. And these laws, stipulations and promises he caused to be written among the municipal laws of the city. He gave sentence that the powerful and proud family of the Uberti, with others of their party, should remain under bounds ( 5 ) for a while, and should enjoy their possessions like the rest in the places where their families might be (6) ; furthermore, that to those who should be suffering the burden of being set under bounds the Commonwealth should give a certain sum of money a day, as compensation for their exile ; but less to those who were not knights than to those who were.

1. Dino follows the Florentine calendar, in which the year began on Lady-day. Therefore he makes his starting point subsequent to all the events related in this chapter ; for the "great peace" was concluded on Jan. 13, 1280, which, of course, fell in the year 1279 according to Dino's computation. Throughout these notes dates are given according to the ordinary calendar.

2. In this sentence and in the two following Dino glances at the period from 1267 to 1280, during the whole of which the Ghibellines had been in exile, their downfall dating from the defeat and death of Manfred at the battle of Benevento (1266) , which made Charles of Anjou master of Naples and Sicily, and proved an irreparable disaster to the Ghibelline cause at Florence (see Villani, vii. 13-15). The dissensions in the Guelf party belong to the time immediately preceding the autumn of 1279 (see Villani, vii. 56) ; but the marriage of Forese degli Adimari to the daughter of Count Guido Novello took place in 1267, and was one of a series of matrimonial alliances between Guelf and Ghibelline houses arranged in the early days of the Guelf supremacy. The project however failed, owing to the opposition of the popular element in the Guelf party to the alliance of their nobles with the Ghibellines, and its only result was to bring about the expulsion of the Ghibellines (see Villani, vii. 15), and to foster dissension between the aristocratic and the popular members of the Guelf party, as Dino intimates. Finally, Dino returns to the closing months of 1279.

The "assemblies" and "councils" alluded to are not those of the Commonwealth, but those of the Guelf party in the narrower sense of the word, viz. an organisation set up originally to administer the property confiscated from the Ghibellines in 1267 and following years (see Villani, vii. 17 ; Villari, p. 230). Throughout the period covered by Dino's narrative this organisation remained under the control of the Magnates.

3. " Messer the Friar Latino" was Latino Malabranca, Bishop of Ostia and Velie tri, son of the sister of the reigning Pope , Nicholas III. (Orsini). He had entered the Dominican order after taking the degree of doctor in canon law at Paris. He died in 1294.

4. The fourteen citizens were styled Buonuomini (good men).

5. I.e. they were banished with fixed limits of residence {confinati).

6. I.e. their confiscated estates were restored to them, and they were at liberty to enjoy the income from them at their place of exile, just as those who were allowed to return enjoyed it at home.

THE FIRST BOOK n

Chapter IV

The violation of the settlement of 1280 by the Guelf nobility, and the consequent institution of the office of Priors of the Trade-Guilds, or "Arts," in 1282.

While both parties were in the city together enjoying the benefits of the peace, the more powerful among the Guelfs began to infringe its terms from day to day. First they deprived the exiles of their pay, then they set about electing the officials without observing the regulations of the peace : they proclaimed the exiles rebels ( 1 ) ; and their arrogance rose to such a height that they entirely deprived the Ghibellines of public office and of their private rights. Hence the dissension between them increased. Wherefore certain men, thinking of what might come of this, went to some of the leaders of the people (2) and begged them to remedy this evil, that the State might not be brought to ruin. For this cause certain men of the people, approving

i the words that had been spoken, called together six of the popolani, among whom I, Dino Compagni,

I was one. Owing to my youth I was not aware of the serious import of the measures [proposed], but only of my singleness of purpose and of the cause of the city's becoming unsettled. I spoke on this subject ; and we succeeded so well in persuading the citizens, that three of them were elected Heads

j of the Guilds to help the merchants and craftsmen in case of need (3). These were Bartolo di (4) M. Jacopo de' Bardi, Salvi del Chiaro Girolami, and

Rosso Bacherelli ; and they met in the church of S. Procolo. The boldness of the popolani was so much increased when they saw that the three officers of their appointing were not opposed ; and the outspoken language of the citizens who talked of their liberty and of the wrongs they had suffered, so stirred up the three that they were emboldened to make ordinances and Jaws which it would be hard to evade. Other great things they did not achieve, but, considering their small beginning, what they did was much.

This office was created for two months, beginning on the 15th of June 1282; and at the end of the term six citizens were appointed, one for each sestiero (5), for two months, which began on the 15th of August 1282. They were called Priors of the Guilds, and they lived shut up in the Torre della Castagna (6), close to the Badia, so that they might not fear the menaces of the nobles. They might carry arms at all times, and other privileges were granted them ; and they were given six servants and six Serjeants.

1. This was in effect a sentence of outlawry such as would have been incurred by the exiles in case of their transgressing their limits of residence. See I. 3, n. 5 ; I. 23 (at the beginning).

2. By the "people" Dino here (and usually elsewhere) means the traders of the greater guilds (see Appendix II.), also known as popolani, popolani grassi, and collectively as popolo grasso.

3. The Priors, now first appointed as Heads of the Guilds in general, presently became the supreme authority in the state. See Appendix II. ; cf. Villani's account (vii. 79). The fourteen Buonuomi?ii (I. 3, n. 4) continued to hold office together with the newly created Priors, but without effective power, and at last disappeared.

4. The preposition di (of) in proper names means " son of."

5. Florence was divided into six districts called Sesti or Sestieri, viz. Oltrarno (i.e. that part of the city on the left bank of the Arno), S. Pancrazio, S. Piero Scheraggio, Borgo, Porta del Duomo, and Por ( = Porta) S. Piero. Each sesto had, in civil actions, its own court and judge of first instance, with an appeal to the Judge of Appeals (always a foreign doctor of law) ; and in the event of the decision of the court of the sesto being reversed, a further appeal to the court of the Podestà (see Appendix II.).

6. This tower is still standing in the Piazza di S. Martino. The Abbey (Badia) of Florence belonged to the Benedictines, and was founded in the tenth century by the Countess Willa, mother of Hugh, Margrave of Tuscany (see II. 12, n. 2).

Chapter V

The beginning of the Priors* administration is marked by judicial corruption and financial malversation in the interest of the Guelf nobility and their connections among the Popolani.

The laws imposed on the Priors were in effect to safeguard the property of the Commonwealth, to provide that the judicial authorities should do right to every one, and to prevent the small and helpless from being oppressed by the great and powerful. And had the Priors acted on these principles it would have been of great benefit to the people. But soon there came a change, for the citizens who entered on this office sought not to observe the laws but to corrupt them. If a friend or kinsman of theirs incurred a penalty, they connived with the magistrates ( 1 ) and officials to hide his guilt, so that he might go unpunished. Nor did they profi tect the property of the Commonwealth, but sought means how best they might rob it, and so they drew much money from the treasury of the Commonwealth on the pretext of rewarding the men who had served it. The helpless were not helped, but were oppressed by the nobles and by the wealthy traders who held office and were connected with the nobles by marriage : and many were shielded by bribery from the penalties due to the Commonwealth which they had incurred. Therefore the good citizens among the popolani were discontented, and blamed the Priors' office because the Guelf nobles controlled the government.

i. Lit. " lordships " (signorie). By the " lordships " are meant the Podestà and the Captain (see Appendix II.).

Chapter VI

In this and the folio wing four chapters Dino touches on the origin and progress of the war between Florence and Arezzo in 1288-1289, which, as its result was the strengthening of the Guelf party in Tuscany, has a bearing on the subsequent division of the party in Florence, the main subject of the work.

At that time the government of Arezzo was shared equally by the Guelf and Ghibelline nobles, who had sworn a lasting peace with one another. Wherefore the people (1) rose and put at their head a citizen of Lucca, with the title of Prior. He led the people very prosperously, and compelled the nobles to obey the laws. But they conspired together and upset the popular government ; and seized the Prior and thrust him into a cistern ; and there he died. The Guelfs of Arezzo [had been] urged on by the Guelf party of Florence to try to seize the government, but whether because they knew not how to do it, or because they could not do it, the Ghibellines perceived their design and drove them out. They came to Florence to complain of their adversaries : those who had counselled them [to revolt] received them, and undertook to help them. But the Ghibellines, unmoved either by embassies or by threats from Florence, did not receive them back, but summoned (2) the Uberti, the Pazzi of Val - darno, the libertini, and the Bishop (who was one of the Pazzi) (3 ), a proud and ambitious man, who understood the business of war better than that of the Church. A dispute had previously arisen between him and the Sienese on account of one of his fortresses (4) which they had taken from him, and the dispute had been referred for settlement to the Guelf party at Florence ; and as that party desired to aid the Sienese and the exiles from Arezzo by falling out with the Bishop, great discord was produced between the Florentines and the Bishop with the Ghibellines. Hence ensued in 1289 the third war of the Florentines in Tuscany (5).

1. By the people are to be understood the wealthier traders, as above, c. 4, where see note (2). The term popular government {popolo) just below is to be taken in a similarlylimited sense. The trade of Arezzo was comparatively unimportant ; the feudal nobility were still powerful, and hence the city was on the whole Ghibelline (see above, c. 2, n. 2).

2. The word used (richiedere) implies a summons to send troops.

3. The Bishop of Arezzo, whose name was Guglielmino, belonged to the libertini family, though he was also connected with the Pazzi.

4. The name of the fortress was Poggio S. Cecilia ; and the Bishop of Arezzo had caused it to rebel against the Sienese, to whom it belonged (see G. Villani, vii. 110).

5. Dino means, not that Florence had only had to wage war twice in Tuscany, for she had been engaged in many previous wars, but that Arezzo was the third of the chief cities in Tuscany (the other two being Pisa and Siena) against which war had been declared by the Commonwealth of Florence. The war with Arezzo began in the spring of 1288 ; it was renewed and terminated by the campaign of 1289. As Dino is more concerned to unfold its consequences than to describe it minutely, he passes over its earlier stages, for details of which see G. Villani, vii. 120, 124, 127.

CHAPTER VII Preparations for war on both sides, 1289

The powerful Florentine Guelfs had a great desire to attack Arezzo ; but to many others — popolani — this did not seem fitting, both because they considered the enterprise was not just, and because of the indignation they felt against them (the nobles) with regard to office (1). Nevertheless they (2) hired a captain, called M. Valdovino of Soppino, with 400 horsemen ; but the Pope detained him, and therefore he did not come (3).

The Aretines summoned many noble and powerful Ghibellines from Romagna, from the March £of Ancona] and from Orvieto ; they displayed great boldness in desiring battle, and prepared to defend their city and to seize the most advantageous positions on the enemy's line of march. The Florentines summoned the Pistojans, the Lucchese, the i7

Bolognese, the Sienese, the Sanminiatese (4), and Mainardo of Susinana (5), a famous captain, who had taken to wife one of the Tosinghi. At that time King Charles of Sicily came to Florence on his way to Rome (6), and was in honourable fashion presented with gifts by the Commonwealth, and entertained with races and tilting (7). The Guelfs requested him to grant them a captain, together with his royal standard (8) ; and he [accordingly] left them one of his barons and noblemen, M. Amerigo of Narbonne, who was young and very handsome, but inexperienced in deeds of arms. His tutor, however, an aged knight (9), remained with him, besides many other knights tried and expert in war, who had high pay and ample provision.

1. It will be remembered that the Guelf nobles and their connections among the popolani had, as we should say, "captured" the machinery of the government, and were working the newly-established Priorate against the bulk of the popolani (I. 5).

2. " They" stands for the Florentine Guelfs, both nobles and popolani — the Florentine government, in short.

3. The Pope was Nicholas IV. (1288-1292). He had been Minister-General of the Franciscan order, and was a supporter of the Ghibellines (see Villani, vii. 119). This need cause no surprise, for the connection between the Papacy and the Guelfs was not an affair of principle, or even of sentiment, but sprang merely from the fact that their interests had happened to coincide. During the long struggle of the Emperor Frederick II. (1220-1250) to make himself master of Northern and Central Italy, it had been of vital importance to the development of the Guelf city-states to shake off the feudal yoke of the Emperor, and of equally vital importance to the Papacy that Frederick, already established in Naples and Sicily (the Norman kingdom he had inherited from his mother) , should not likewise be predominant in Northern and Central Italy. But in 1289 the situation was entirely changed. The kingdom of Naples had passed into the hands of Charles II. of Anjou (see note 6 to this chapter), as the successor of his father, Charles I., who had conquered it from the descendants of Frederick II., the last of whom, Conradin, he had beheaded in 1268. Florence was now the most powerful state in Tuscany, a region which, since the famous bequest of the Countess Matilda, the Popes had (to say the least) considered to be within their sphere of influence : and Florence, which had been in the closest connection with Charles I., was about to welcome Charles II. within her walls. It is therefore easy to see why Pope Nicholas did not wish Florence to be too strong. Baldovino of Soppino (or Supino) was one of the barons of the Campagna of Rome, and therefore a subject of the Pope.

4. The Sanminiatese were the people of S. Miniato al Tedesco, a fortress in the lower valley of the Arno between Empoli and Pisa. It had been, during the reign of Frederick II., the residence of the imperial vicar in Tuscany.

5. Mainardo, or Maghinardo Pagani of Susinana (a mountain fortress on the borders of Tuscany and Romagna), was a great Ghibelline potentate, but aided the Commonwealth of Florence out of gratitude for their protection of him during his minority, he having been entrusted to their guardianship by his father. His valour earned him the nickname of the " devil." (See Purg. xiv. 118 ; Inf. xxvii. 50; and G. Villani, vii. 149.) He died at Imola in 1302. The family of the Tosinghi, or della Tosa, here first mentioned, will come prominently before us later.

6. This was Charles II. of Anjou (known as " the lame "), son of Charles I. by Beatrice of Provence. He was born in 1243. At the time of his father's death (1285) he was a prisoner in Spain, having been defeated and captured in an action with the fleet of Peter III. of Aragon in 1284 (see Purg. xx. 79), when on his way from Provence to help his father to recover Sicily, which had revolted in consequence of the " Sicilian Vespers" in 1282. In 1288 he was released from captivity through the intervention of Edward I. of England, and was now going to his coronation, which took place at Rieti, at the hands of the Pope, on June 19. He styled himself King of Sicily and Apulia {i.e. the "Two Sicilies," over which his father had ruled), but the island had now passed under the rule of the House of Aragon.