Italy Before the Renaissance (1057–1308)

Italy Before the Renaissance (1057–1308)

I – Sicily Under Norman Rule (1090–1194)

The Normans showed remarkable adaptability from Scotland to Sicily, vigorously arousing subdued regions and peoples, and in a few centuries they were absorbed into the subject nations and disappeared completely from history. In the course of one turbulent century, the Normans succeeded the officials of the Byzantine Empire in southern Italy and after the Muslims administered Sicily. In 1060 Roger I Guiscard began raiding Sicily with a small band of seafarers; by 1091 his conquest was complete. In 1085 Norman Italy recognized Roger as its ruler, and when he died in 1101, the kingdom of the Two Sicilies—that is, the island of Sicily plus southern Italy—was counted among the powerful states of Europe in the arena of European politics.

Control of the Strait of Messina and the eighty kilometers of sea between Sicily and Africa gave the Normans a decisive commercial and military advantage. The cities of Amalfi, Salerno, and Palermo became centers for a lively trade with all the ports of the Mediterranean, including the Muslim trading centers in Tunisia and Spain. Sicily, now a papal fief, replaced Muslim mosques with magnificent Christian churches, and in southern Italy Roman Catholic priests succeeded Greek bishops.

Roger II made Palermo his capital, extended his domain in Italy to Naples and Capua, and in 1130 styled himself king instead of count. He possessed all the boldness, ambition, prudence, and cunning of his uncle Robert Guiscard. His rapidity of movement and tenacity were such that the Muslim writer Idrisi wrote in his biography: “The things he did in sleep were far more numerous than other men accomplish when awake.” The popes, who feared his encroachments on the Papal States, the German emperors, angered by the annexation of Abruzzi, the Byzantines who hoped to regain southern Italy, and the Muslims of Africa who longed to recover Sicily all rose against Roger. He fought them all, sometimes several at once, and finally emerged victorious with a larger kingdom and new possessions in Tunisia, Sfax, Bône, and Tripoli.

Roger wisely utilized the Muslims, Greeks, and Jews of Sicily in forming a better governmental apparatus, resulting in an extensive administrative organization whose like no other nation in Europe possessed at that time. He did not oppose feudal agricultural arrangements in Sicily but seized the powers of the lords by creating a royal court of justice whose enacted laws applied to all classes. He enriched Sicily’s economy by bringing Greek silk-weavers into his realm and by securing the safety of persons and roads, thereby promoting the development of trade. He granted religious freedom and cultural autonomy to Muslims, Jews, and Greek Catholics, and opened public offices to all capable persons without regard to their religion. He himself dressed like a Muslim, loved Islamic morals, and lived as a Latin king in an Oriental court. For one generation his realm was “the richest and most civilized kingdom in Europe,” and he himself was considered “the most enlightened sovereign of his age.” Without Roger the existence of Frederick II, a far greater king, would have been impossible.

From Idrisi’s biography of Roger the reader learns of the prosperity and flourishing condition of Sicily under Norman rule. A sturdy and industrious class of farmers cultivated fertile lands and filled the stomachs of city dwellers with all kinds of produce. The peasant class lived in hovels and, being useful people, were customarily exploited by the cunning multitude; yet their lives were dignified by interesting religious ceremonies, and singing and various festivals made them cheerful. In the course of one agricultural year each season had its own dances and songs, and at grape-harvest time banquets and feasts were held that linked the ancient Roman Saturnalia with the modern carnival. Even among the poorest people, love-making and folk songs—from ribaldry and satire to lyrics of the purest tender feelings—persisted. According to Idrisi, in the town of San Marco “the air is fragrant with violets that grow everywhere.” The cities of Messina, Catania, and Syracuse regained their prosperity as in the days of Carthaginian, Greek, and Roman rule.

Palermo, in Idrisi’s eyes, was the most excellent of the world’s cities. “All who see it are amazed … it has buildings so beautiful that people come from far and wide because of the fame of its architectural wonders, the delicacy of its artists’ work, and the astonishing conception of its art.” The main street offered a panorama of “great palaces, magnificent and lofty banqueting halls, churches … baths, shops of great merchants … All travelers on first sight confess that nowhere are there more astonishing buildings than the structures of Palermo, nor any more delightful view than its public gardens.” The Muslim traveler Ibn Jubayr, who visited Palermo in 1184, wrote of it as “a city most astonishing! … The king’s palaces, like a necklace fastened around the neck of a maiden with full breasts, encircle the city.” The variety of languages spoken in Palermo, the peaceful mingling of races and religions, churches, synagogues, and mosques standing side by side, the well-dressed inhabitants, crowded streets, peaceful gardens, and comfortable houses all astonished newcomers.

In those houses and palaces the industries of the East supplied the needs of the Western conquerors. The silk-weavers of Palermo wove luxurious fabrics of silk and gold; craftsmen made small ivory boxes and carved delicate or strange designs; mosaicists adorned floors, walls, and ceilings with Eastern decorations. Greek and Arab craftsmen and architects built churches and monasteries whose design and ornament showed no trace of Norman style but were the product of a thousand years of Arab and Byzantine influence. In 1143, Greek artists, funded by Roger’s admiral George, built a monastery for Greek nuns dedicated to Santa Maria dell’Ammiraglio, now known by the builder’s name as La Martorana.

This building has been so extensively repaired that little remains of its original twelfth-century parts. Around the inner dome runs an Arabic inscription from a Greek church hymn, a sample of the period’s decoration. The monastery floor is paved with shining multicolored marble; eight dark serpentine columns surround the three altars; the capitals are carved with utmost delicacy. The walls and spaces between arcades and niches gleam with golden mosaics, and one of the most famous mosaics, Christ the King of the World, is seen in the sanctuary dome. Even finer is the Cappella Palatina, whose construction began in 1132 at Roger II’s command. Here everything is seen in utmost delicacy, including the simple marble design of the nave floor, the perfection of the slender columns, the varied capitals, 282 mosaic panels filling every noteworthy space, the majestic figure of Christ above the altar in one of the world’s most magnificent mosaics, and above all the great wooden ceiling shaped like a honeycomb, precisely carved or gilded, or painted with Eastern figures of elephants, mountain goats, deer, and “angels”—probably houris from a Muslim painter’s imaginary paradise. In all medieval or modern royal chapels no kingly jewel can rival this shining gem of Norman Sicily.

Roger died in 1154 at the age of fifty-nine. His son William I was called “the Bad” partly because his biography was written by his enemies and partly because he handed the reins of government to others and lived in Oriental luxury amid eunuchs and concubines. William II lived almost in the same style as William the Bad, but the chroniclers who favored him, even to avoid confusion with his predecessor, called him “the Good.” In 1176 he spent large sums to build the monastery and cathedral of Monreale, eight kilometers outside Palermo. The exterior presents a confused and displeasing view of wind-swept towers and twisted columns; the nave speaks of beauty and majestic power; the interior mosaics are famous but lack delicacy. On the capitals scenes from real life are carved, such as Noah merry with wine and asleep, a swineherd watching a pig, and an acrobat standing on his head.

Perhaps the Oriental morals of the Norman kings of Sicily weakened their stock and shortened their dynasty. Forty years after Roger’s death his line ended in disgrace. William II had no children; therefore Tancred, illegitimate son of one of Roger II’s sons, was raised to the throne (1189). Meanwhile Henry VI, German emperor, had married Constance, William II’s aunt. Henry, eager to unite all Italy under a single empire, claimed the Two Sicilies. He allied with Pisa and Genoa, whose commerce had suffered from Norman control of the central Mediterranean. In 1194 Henry appeared before Palermo with a great army and persuaded the city’s notables to open the gates; there he placed the crown of Sicily on his head. When he died (1197), his vast realm passed to his three-year-old son Frederick, who in the thirteenth century became the most powerful and enlightened ruler in Europe.

II – The Papal States

North of Norman Italy lay the city-state of Benevento, ruled by Lombard dukes. Beyond Benevento stretched the lands known as the “Patrimony of St. Peter,” comprising Anagni, Tivoli, Rome, and Perugia, all administered under the direct non-spiritual power of the popes.

Rome was the center of Latin Christianity but by no means its model. In the Christian world no city’s inhabitants were as indifferent to religion as the Romans, and the respect they showed the papal court was dictated by material interests. Italy played only a small part in the Crusades and joined the Fourth Crusade mainly to conquer Constantinople. The Italian cities viewed the Crusades as opportunities to establish ports, markets, and trade in the Near East. Frederick II postponed his own Crusade as long as possible and finally undertook it with minimal religious conviction. In Rome there were also devout individuals who sincerely helped Christian pilgrims care for holy places; yet amid the clamor of contemporary politics their voices were rarely heard. Apart from the papal court, Rome in this age was a poor city. The Norman sack of 1084 carried the neglect and ruin of six centuries to their peak. Rome’s population, which in ancient times had reached a million, had fallen to about forty thousand. Rome was not a commercial or industrial center. While the cities of northern Italy led the economic revolution, the Papal States lived slowly under a simple agricultural regime. Inside the Aurelian walls vegetable gardens, vineyards, and sheepfolds stood side by side with houses and ruins. The lower classes supplied half their living expenses from handicrafts and half from church alms. The middle classes were a mixture of merchants, judges, teachers, bankers, students, and resident or visiting priests. The nobility of estates and high-ranking clergy formed the upper classes.

The ancient Roman custom of owning country estates and living in the city still prevailed. The Roman nobles, having long since lost the patriotic feeling that might have united them in defense of the country, divided into several factions headed by powerful and wealthy families such as the Frangipani, Orsini, Colonna, Pierleoni, Caetani, Savelli, Corsi, Conti, Annibaldi, and others. Each family turned its city residence into a fortified stronghold, armed its members and retainers, stirred up quarrels and feuds in the streets, and sometimes engaged in civil war. The popes, armed only with spiritual weapons, inspired little fear in Rome; they vainly tried to keep the peace; they were often insulted by the citizens and sometimes treated with violence; many of them fled to Anagni, Viterbo, or Perugia, even to Lyons and finally to Avignon, to preserve the peace or their lives.

The popes’ ultimate ambition was to create a spiritual government in which the word of God, interpreted of course by the Church, would suffice as law; yet they found themselves helpless between the pressure of imperial despotism, the oligarchy of the nobility, and the democracy of the common people. Among the Romans the memory of their ancient empire and the remains of the Forum and the Capitol still lingered, and every so often someone rose to revive self-government and ancient customs. Although no senate existed, prominent nobles were still called senators. Consuls were elected or appointed but held no real power, and the Roman legal codes, almost forgotten, survived only as a few ancient manuscripts. In the twelfth century the people of Rome, inspired by the progress of the free cities of northern Italy, gradually demanded the restoration of a non-spiritual self-government. In 1143 the people elected fifty-six members to a senate, and thereafter new senators were regularly chosen each year.

The spirit of the age sought a man of courage to raise the standard of manhood; such a man was Arnold of Brescia. According to tradition, Arnold was for a time a pupil of Abelard in France. After returning to Brescia as a monk, he lived in ascetic retirement, and his zeal was so great that St. Bernard described him as “a man who neither eats nor drinks.” In matters of religious doctrine Arnold was essentially a sincere believer but denied the validity of sacraments performed by sinful priests. He held that property ownership was contrary to moral principles for the clergy; he wanted priests to be poor like the apostles of Jesus, and he urged the Church to surrender all its worldly possessions and political powers to the government. At the Second Lateran Council (1139) Innocent II rebuked him and ordered him to keep silence. But Pope Eugenius III pardoned Arnold on condition that he make a pilgrimage to the various churches of Rome. The pope’s action was a mistake of kindness, for seeing the splendid monuments of ancient Rome fired Arnold’s imagination. Standing amid the ruins of the city of the Caesars, he invited the people to shorten the hands of the clergy and restore the Roman Republic (1145).

The people, captivated by his zeal, elected consuls and tribunes as their true rulers and formed a military force so that each member would lead a band of new soldiers for the defense of the city’s independence. Arnold’s supporters, intoxicated by the ease with which the revolution proceeded, not only ignored the popes’ landed rights but also denied the German emperors of the Holy Roman Empire any power in Italy; in fact, they claimed that the Roman Republic should rule not only Italy but, as in ancient times, the “world.” These groups repaired and fortified the Capitol, seized St. Peter’s Basilica and turned it into a fortress, occupied the Vatican, and forced Christian pilgrims to pay tolls. While St. Bernard of Clairvaux was denouncing the people of Rome and reminding them that their livelihood depended on the existence of the papal court, Pope Eugenius III himself fled to Viterbo and Pisa (1146). For ten years the “Commune of Rome” ruled the city of the Caesars and the popes. In 1148 Eugenius III ventured to return to Rome. For some time he devoted himself entirely to spiritual affairs and the distribution of alms, winning the affection of the populace. His second successor, Hadrian IV, greatly angered by the murder of a cardinal during a public riot, ordered all priests to suspend religious services in Rome (1155). The Roman senate, fearing a revolution more violent than the aristocracy could cope with, dissolved the republic and submitted to the pope. Arnold, who had been excommunicated by the pope, fled and hid in the Campagna. When Frederick Barbarossa approached Rome, Pope Hadrian asked him to arrest the rebel. At the emperor’s command Arnold was captured and handed over to the papal police in Rome, and on the pope’s instructions he was hanged there (1155).

His body was burned and the ashes thrown into the Tiber, “lest the people gather those ashes and venerate them as the ashes of a martyr for the truth,” according to a contemporary. Arnold’s ideas survived his death and later reappeared as the doctrines of the Patarenes and Waldensians (Lombard heretics), the Albigensians of France, the teachings of Marsilius of Padua, and finally as the ideas of the leaders of the Reformation. The Roman senate continued until 1216, when the pope was able to dissolve it and replace it with one or two senators favorable to the papal cause. The non-spiritual powers of the popes remained in force until 1870.

At times the Papal States, in addition to what has already been mentioned, included Umbria with Spoleto and Perugia; the “Marches” or the central province of Ancona on the Adriatic coast; and “Romagna” or the region subject to Rome, which itself consisted of the cities of Rimini, Imola, Ravenna, Bologna, and Ferrara. In this age Ravenna continued its decline, while Ferrara, under the wise leadership of the Este dynasty, gained considerable importance and prosperity. Bologna, guided by its distinguished jurists who graduated from its universities, developed an active political organization and was one of the first cities to elect a podestà (governor) for the internal administration of its commune and a capitano (captain) for the conduct of its foreign relations. The selection of a podestà (“holder of power”) required special conditions: he had to be a noble, not a native of the city, over thirty-six years of age, without property inside the city, unrelated to any of the electors, and neither a fellow citizen nor connected with the previous governor. These strange regulations, whose ultimate purpose was to preserve impartiality in city administration, were customary in many Italian communes. The election of the “captain of the people,” or supervisor of a commune’s foreign relations, was not the responsibility of the communal council but was carried out by a national party dominated by the guilds and merchants. He represented the merchant class rather than the poor. In later centuries, as the bourgeoisie gained superiority over the nobility in wealth and influence, the holder of this office also expanded his power at the expense of the podestà.

III – Victorious Venice (1096–1311)

North of Ferrara and in the Po valley lay the region of Veneto, which prided itself on cities such as Venice, Treviso, Padua, Vicenza, and Verona. It was in this age that Venice reached the peak of its power. Its alliance with the Byzantine Empire made possible the entry of its merchants into the ports of the Aegean and Black Seas. It is said that the number of Venetian subjects in Constantinople during the twelfth century exceeded one hundred thousand, and their insolence, noise, and quarrels kept the inhabitants of part of the city in constant fear. Suddenly the Greek emperor Manuel, at the instigation of the jealous Genoese merchants, turned against the Venetians in his capital, arrested a large number of them, and ordered the confiscation of all their property (1171). Venice declared war on Byzantium, and the Venetians day and night devoted all their energy to building a fleet. In 1171 the Doge of Venice, Vitale Michiel II, set out with one hundred and thirty ships toward Euboea, which he considered the most important strategic center for control of the Bosporus. But on the coast of Euboea his soldiers fell ill with a disease said to have been caused by the Greeks poisoning the drinking-water supply. The number of casualties reached several thousand, so that it was no longer possible to prepare the ships for war. The Doge brought his great fleet back to Venice. At that time the plague was raging and was carrying off the inhabitants like locusts. Upon the Doge’s return the members of the city council held him responsible for all these calamities, and someone or some persons stabbed him to death (1172). It is with these events in mind that we must consider the Fourth Crusade and the influential revolution that led to a change in the Venetian constitution. The great merchants, fearing that continued defeats of this kind would undermine the foundations of their commercial empire, decided to take from the Venetian assembly the right to elect the Doge and determine the general policy of the country and to form a more select council that would be more capable of discerning and managing the affairs of the state and also able to control the fiery inclinations of the people and the absolute power of the Doge. They persuaded three of the republic’s highest judges to form a commission to prepare a new constitution. This body, after deliberation and study, recommended that each of the six sections of the city-state should elect two trusted men, and each of these trusted men should be required to choose forty worthy local men. The four hundred and eighty representatives thus elected would form the Greater Council (Maggior Consiglio), which would function as the general legislative assembly of the nation. The Greater Council in turn was required to elect sixty of its members to form a senate that would supervise the commercial, financial, and foreign affairs of the city-state. The general assembly or Arengo was to meet only to approve or reject proposals concerning war or peace. In addition, it was stipulated that during any interregnum the administration of the republic should be in the hands of a special council composed of six men, each elected from one of the six sections of Venice, and any action taken by the Doge for the administration of the state should be considered legal only if approved and confirmed by such a special council.

The first Greater Council elected according to this new procedure chose thirty-four of its members, and these in turn elected eleven from among themselves, and it was these eleven who in a public session in the Cathedral of San Marco elected the Doge of Venice (1173). The people of Venice, who in this way had lost the right to choose their own ruler, raised cries of protest, but the new Doge prevented an outbreak of disorder by distributing a quantity of gold coins among the people. In 1192, at the election of Enrico Dandolo, the Greater Council demanded that he swear an oath of obedience to all the laws of the state during the coronation ceremony. In this way the merchants’ oligarchy had attained supreme power.

Dandolo, who at that time was an eighty-four-year-old old man, became one of the most powerful rulers in Venetian history. Through Machiavellian diplomacy and personal courage, Venice was able in 1204 to conquer and sack Constantinople and take revenge on Byzantium for the disaster of 1171. By virtue of this victory Venice became the most powerful state in the eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea, and commercial leadership in Europe passed from Byzantium to Italy. In 1261 the people of Genoa helped the Greeks to wrest Constantinople from the Venetians; in return for this service all the commercial privileges of the Byzantine capital were conferred upon them, but three years later the Venetian fleet defeated the Genoese ships near Sicily, and the Greek emperor was forced to renew the special privileges of Venice for the merchants of that republic in his capital. The victorious oligarchy, in addition to its conquests outside the country, also achieved great success inside through a fundamental change. In 1297 the Doge of Venice, Pietro Gradenigo, secured the approval of the council for a proposal according to which only those Venetian citizens and their male descendants who had been members since 1293 were eligible for membership in the council. With this measure, known as the “Closing of the Council,” the majority of the people were deprived of the right of membership. In this way a limited special class was created that was completely separated from the other classes. Among this special noble class births and marriages were carefully recorded in a Golden Book or Libro d’Oro so that purity of lineage and the exclusivity of state powers would be preserved. Thus the merchants’ oligarchy, by decree, conferred noble status on its members. When the people attempted to revolt against the new constitution, their leaders were allowed to enter the council hall and were immediately beheaded (1300).

It must be acknowledged that this open and ruthless oligarchy governed the republic well. Public order was better maintained. General policy was carried out with greater prudence, and laws were more stable and effective than in other medieval Italian communities. The laws Venice enacted for regulating physicians and apothecaries were half a century ahead of similar regulations in Florence. In 1301 Venetian legislation prohibited the establishment of unsanitary factories in residential districts and deprived all industries that emitted toxic gases of permission to remain in the republic. Maritime laws were strict and extensive. The government exercised supervision and oversight over all imports and exports. Diplomatic reports contained more commercial than political information. Here for the first time economic statistics were made part of the daily work of government.

Almost no one in Venice knew anything about agriculture, but handicrafts had advanced greatly, for Venice had adopted techniques and industries from the ancient cities of the eastern Mediterranean that had been partly forgotten in western Europe as a result of political revolutions. Iron and brass manufactures, glass, and fabrics of gold and silk from Venice enjoyed great fame in three continents. The building of pleasure, commercial, or war vessels was probably Venice’s greatest industry. It was in this branch of industry that, by creating large capital-investment enterprises and employing a vast mass of workers, Venetian shipbuilding resembled the activity of a capitalist country, and since the government, the largest customer for this commodity, supervised shipbuilding, the industry almost entered a socialist stage.

Ships of striking appearance, with high prows and painted sails, often equipped with 180 oars, linked Venice through a chain of well-equipped ports and trading harbors with Constantinople, Tyre, Alexandria, Lisbon, London, and at least twenty other cities. Goods from the Po valley were directed to Venice to be re-exported by ship to other regions. Products from the Rhine cities crossed the Alps and reached Venice to be sent from its harbors to the world around the Mediterranean; the Rialto, because of the crowds of merchants, sailors, and bankers from many parts of the world, became the busiest spot in Europe. The wealth of northern Europe was in no way comparable to the splendor of a city in which everything was connected with commercial and investment activity, and if a ship left there bound for Alexandria and during the voyage encountered neither enemy nor pirates nor destructive storm, it would yield a thousand percent profit on every sum invested in trade. In the thirteenth century Venice was the richest city in Europe. Perhaps only the cities of China could rival it in this respect, and the Venetian traveler Marco Polo described for his countrymen the unbelievable story of its treasures. The more wealth increases, the more faith declines. The Venetians made abundant use of religion in government and kept the masses, who had no share in administering the state, content with religious processions and the promise of a heavenly reward. But the ruling classes never allowed Christianity, with its threat of excommunication, to hinder their commercial transactions or wars. Their motto was: “First of all we are Venetians, then Christians.” Priests were not allowed to interfere in any governmental business. Venetian merchants, during wars between Muslims and Christians, sold weapons, slaves, and sometimes secret military information to the enemy. With this enlightened cynicism was combined a certain tolerance, so that Muslims were allowed to travel to Venice without fear of harm, and Jews, especially those residing in the Giudecca on the island of Spinalonga, could worship unmolested in their synagogues.

Dante severely condemned the “unbridled lust” of the Venetians. But we should not place too much trust in the strictures of a man who denounced everyone. What is noteworthy is the severe punishments that Venetian law prescribed for fathers and mothers who made improper use of their children, or the laws that repeatedly but vainly tried to prevent corruption and bribery in elections. What we gather from studying Venetian social conditions is that there existed a hard-hearted and capable noble class that resigned itself to the poverty of the masses, and a mass of people who applied the pleasures of love as a balm to the sores of their helplessness. The antiquity of the carnival dates back even to 1094; in 1228 there is first mention of masks or visors worn on the face; in 1296, by decree of the Venetian senate, the last day before the Christian Lent (called Fat Tuesday in France) was declared a public holiday. On these festivals individuals, men and women alike, dressed in the most luxurious garments and most costly clothes. Wealthy ladies wore headdresses or tiaras adorned with jewels or turbans of gold cloth; their eyes sparkled from behind veils of gold or nets of silver threads; necklaces of pearls and gems hung from their necks; on their hands they wore gloves of kid or silk; they had sandals or shoes of leather, wood, or cork adorned with red and gold embroidery; their dresses were of linen, silk, or gold cloth decorated with precious jewels, which according to the fashion of the age revealed the neck and sometimes part of the bosom for the sake of charm and seduction. Wealthy ladies usually wore wigs, painted their faces with rouge and white lead, tightly bound their bodies, and abstained from food to remain slender; they moved freely and in public, participated with charming modesty in social gatherings and excursions on boats far from prying eyes, and listened with pleasure to troubadours who had brought from Provence the various melodies on the eternal theme of love. In this period the Venetians had little interest in culture; they had a good public library but apparently made little use of it. In an age when Venice’s wealth was unrivaled, its people rendered no service to the world of knowledge and produced no lasting literature. In the thirteenth century several schools existed, and we know that the expenses of indigent students were met either from the public treasury or from the generosity of individuals, but even until the fourteenth century some Venetian judges were still illiterate. Music was given great importance. The fine arts had not yet reached the splendid brilliance they later attained, but wealth attracted the artistic riches of many regions to Venice; popular taste was developing, the ground was gradually becoming favorable, and the arts of ancient Rome were especially revived in glassmaking. Of course we should not imagine Venice of that age to be as beautiful and lovable as Wagner or Nietzsche saw it in the nineteenth century. The houses were wooden and the streets covered with dust. The Piazza San Marco was paved with bricks in 1172, and the first mention of the pigeons of this square dates from 1256. Gradually attractive bridges were built over the canals of Venice, and Venetian ships, before many of these bridges existed, carried passengers from one side of the Grand Canal to the other. Perhaps the infection of the side canals was far less then than now, for naturally everything in its evolutionary or devolutionary course requires the passage of time. But no defect or fault in the streets or rivers could prevent the observer from admiring and marveling at the splendor of a city that for centuries raised its head from marshes and mists and waterlogged swamps, or from being astonished at the achievement of a people who had risen from ruin and seclusion and covered the seas with their ships and exacted tribute of wealth and beauty from half the world. Between Venice and the Alps lay the border city and region of Treviso. Concerning this region we note only that the people’s love of life was so great that they called it Marca Amorosa (the province of love) or Marca Gioiosa (the joyous land). It is said that in 1214 the people of Treviso took part in a festival called Castello d’Amore (Castle of Love). The ceremonies of this festival were as follows: first a wooden fortress was erected and hung with carpets, wall hangings, and wreaths of flowers. The beautiful women of Treviso, armed with rose water, fruit, and bouquets of flowers, occupied themselves with defending the fortress. The valiant young men of Venice competed with the merry warriors of Padua in besieging the women and hurling similar weapons at the defenders of the castle. It is said that victory went to the Venetians because they hid gold coins among the bouquets of flowers, and in any case the fortress fell and its charming defenders surrendered.

IV – From Mantua to Genoa

West of Veneto the famous cities of Lombardy ruled over the plains between the Po River and the Alps. These cities were Mantua, Cremona, Brescia, Bergamo, Como, Milan, and Pavia. South of the Po, in the region now forming the province of Emilia, lay the cities of Modena, Reggio, Parma, and Piacenza; lovers of the Italian land never tire of hearing this chain of sonorous names. Between Lombardy and France the province of Piedmont comprised Vercelli and Turin, and south of these two the region of Liguria wound around and extended to the gulf of the city of Genoa. The wealth of this region was a gift from the Po River, which stretched from west to east across the peninsula, served as a means of moving merchandise, filled canals, and irrigated fields. The development of industry and commerce gave these cities wealth and glory on the strength of which they generally ignored the German emperor, who was nominally their sovereign, and subdued the semi-feudal lords of the interior lands of their domains. Naturally in the center of these Italian cities stood a cathedral to enliven the monotonous life of the people with splendid religious ceremonies and to keep the spark of hope alight in their hearts. Near the cathedral was a baptistery that served as a vestibule or gateway through which the child entered the Christian world and acquired the responsibilities and privileges peculiar to Christian folk, and a bell tower to call the faithful to prayer or to summon them for consultation or to invite them to mobilization. In the adjacent public square farmers and craftsmen offered their goods, actors, acrobats, and musicians entertained the people, criers loudly proclaimed government decrees, and people took part in sports competitions or military festivals. A town hall, several shops, and a few private or rented houses in the form of a brick wall surrounded the public square. From this center crooked and narrow alleys branched off and climbed in every direction. These alleys were so narrow that when a cart or rider passed through them, pedestrians had to take shelter in the entrance of a house or press their backs flat against the wall. In the thirteenth century, with the passage of time and the increase of wealth, plastered houses acquired roofs of red tile, and thus, for those who could overlook the foul odors and mud, novel and attractive designs appeared. Only a few of the alleys and central squares were paved. A crenellated fortified wall surrounded the city, for war frequently occurred, and unless a person wished to enter the ranks of monks, he was obliged, whatever his trade, to know enough of the secrets of war. The largest of these cities were Genoa and Milan. Genoa, which its lovers called La Superba (the magnificent), was a city with a position perfectly suited for work and pleasure. The city, built on a high hill, faced a sea that was favorable in every respect for commerce and enjoyed the warm climate of the Riviera, which extended eastward to Rapallo and westward to Sanremo. The city of Genoa, which had been a busy port in Roman imperial times, acquired a population composed of merchants, builders, bankers, shipbuilders, sailors, soldiers, and politicians. Genoese engineers brought drinkable water for the people’s use by means of a canal in the ancient Roman style from the Ligurian Alps to the city and built a great dam in the inner gulf to protect the great harbor of Genoa during storms and in time of war. The people of Genoa, like the Venetians of that age, had little interest in literature and art. They spent their time overcoming rivals and discovering new ways to make profit. The Bank of Genoa virtually ruled the government. This institution lent money to the municipality of Genoa on condition that it had the right to collect municipal revenues. By virtue of such power the Bank of Genoa dominated the state, and every faction that came to power was obliged to pledge its loyalty to the bank. But the people of Genoa were as courageous as they were eager for gain. It was through their joint efforts with the people of Pisa that the Saracens were driven from the western Mediterranean (1015–1113), and thereafter, every so often, war broke out between Genoa and Pisa until the brave men of Genoa shattered the military power of their rival in the naval battle of Meloria (1284). In this important battle the people of Pisa called up all males between twenty and sixty, while in Genoa all males between eighteen and seventy were mobilized; from this one can well understand the spirit and fervor of feeling in that age. Salimbene wrote on this subject: “Just as there is a natural intense aversion between human beings and snakes, so it is between the people of Pisa and the inhabitants of Genoa, and between the inhabitants of Pisa and the people of Lucca.” In that great struggle that took place near the coast of Corsica, men fought hand to hand so fiercely that half the combatants were killed, and “in Genoa and Pisa such a wail and lamentation arose on account of the death of these men as had never been heard from the laying of the first brick of those cities until our time.” The valiant men of Lucca and Florence, upon hearing the news of this disaster to Pisa, thought of taking advantage of the opportunity and sent some of their soldiers to war against that ill-fated city, but Pope Martin IV ordered them to refrain from such an act. Meanwhile the people of Genoa advanced eastward and became rivals of the Venetians, and between these two peoples arose a hatred whose intensity rivaled that between any of the Italian cities. In 1255 war broke out between them over the possession of Acre. The Hospitaller knights sided with Genoa and the Templar knights with Venice. In this struggle alone twenty thousand men were killed. It was this strife that destroyed Christian unity in Syria and perhaps was a decisive factor in the defeat of the Crusades. The struggle between Genoa and Venice continued until 1379, when the men of Genoa suffered the same crushing defeat at Chioggia that they themselves had inflicted on the warriors of Pisa a century earlier. Among the various cities of Lombardy, Milan was the richest and most powerful. This city, which had once been the capital of the Roman Empire, prided itself on its ancient history and traditions; its republican consuls defied the commands of the emperors, its bishops opposed the popes, and its people supported heresies or heretics whose purpose was openly to oppose the foundations of Christianity. In the thirteenth century Milan had two hundred thousand inhabitants, thirteen thousand dwelling houses, and a thousand taverns. Milan, while itself fond of liberty, gladly gave none to others; its soldiers patrolled the roads to force caravans to pass first through the city of Milan on their way to any destination; it reduced Como and Lodi to misery and made great efforts to subdue Pisa, Cremona, and Pavia. Milan never rested until it ruled all the trade of the Po basin. At the Diet of Constance in 1154 two citizens of Lodi appeared before Frederick Barbarossa and begged him to defend their homeland. The emperor warned Milan that it must cease its actions against Lodi. The emperor’s message was contemptuously rejected and his letter trampled underfoot. Since Frederick was eager to force Lombardy to obey his imperial commands, he used this opportunity to break Milan’s power (1162). Five years later a group of survivors and supporters of Milan rebuilt the city, and all the people of Lombardy rejoiced at this resurrection and regarded it as a manifestation of Italy’s will to break the yoke of a German king. Frederick was forced to bow his head, but before his death Constance, daughter of Roger II king of Sicily, was betrothed to his son Henry VI. In the reign of this Henry’s son the cities of Lombardy found themselves facing a man far more ruthless than Frederick and united against him.

V – Frederick II (1194–1250)

1 – The Excommunicated Crusader

Constance was thirty when she married Henry and forty-two when she gave birth to her only child. Fearing that doubts might arise in people’s minds about her pregnancy and the legitimacy of the child’s birth, she pitched a tent in the marketplace of Jesi (near Ancona) and there, before the eyes of all, gave birth to a son who was destined to become the most interesting personality of medieval Europe at its height. In this boy’s veins the blood of the Norman kings of Italy mingled with that of the Hohenstaufen emperors of Germany. He was four years old when the crown of Sicily was placed on his head in Palermo (1198). His father had died a year earlier, and his mother died a year later. In her will Constance asked Pope Innocent III to assume the guardianship and education of her son and to protect the kingdom; in return a large stipend was to go to the pope, he would become regent, and the king of Sicily would again recognize the pope as his overlord. Innocent gladly accepted the proposal and used his position to end the union that Frederick’s father had recently created between Sicily and Germany; the popes rightly feared any emperor who would surround the Papal States on all sides and in effect enclose and dominate the papal court. Innocent provided for Frederick’s education but supported Otto IV in his bid for the German imperial throne. Frederick, deprived of the pope’s attention and sometimes living in actual poverty, was fed by the kind inhabitants of Palermo when the city’s poor young king had nothing. Frederick could move freely through the streets and markets of that capital where people of many languages lived and associate without constraint with anyone. He received no systematic education, but his eager mind absorbed everything he saw or heard; later the world marveled at the breadth and detail of his knowledge. It was in those days and under those conditions that he learned Arabic and Greek and became acquainted with some of the ideas and customs of the Jews. He grew familiar with peoples, costumes, habits, and creeds of many kinds and never lost the tolerance that had become his second nature in childhood. Frederick began to study several histories. He became skilled in riding and swordsmanship and developed a passion for horses and hunting. He was short but strongly built, with a “handsome and dignified” face and long, wavy, reddish hair. He was a shrewd, confident, and proud man. At the age of twelve he removed the regent appointed by Innocent and took the reins of government himself. At fifteen he married Constance, princess of Aragon, and girded himself to recover his imperial crown. Fortune favored him but required concessions on his part. At this time Otto IV had violated the agreement he had made with the pope to respect papal sovereignty in the Papal States. Innocent excommunicated him and ordered the lords and bishops of the German Empire to elect Frederick as emperor, writing to them about Frederick: “Although he is young in years, he is as mature in wisdom as the elders.” But Innocent, who had so suddenly turned his attention to Frederick, had not abandoned his original purpose of protecting the papal court. The pope, in return for the support he gave Frederick (1212), expected a commitment that Sicily would remain tributary to the popes, that he would continue to fulfill his obligations, respect the Papal States, permanently separate the kingdom of the Two Sicilies from the German Empire, reside in Germany as emperor, and leave the kingdom of Sicily to his infant son Henry under a regent appointed by the pope. In addition, Frederick undertook to preserve all clerical rights in his domain, punish heretics, and set out as a crusader to fight the Muslims in Palestine. After the expenses of Frederick’s journey and his entourage were met from the papal treasury, the young emperor set out for Germany, which was still in the hands of Otto’s soldiers. But Otto was defeated at Bouvines by Philip Augustus, king of France; his resistance collapsed, and Frederick was crowned with great pomp in Aachen (1215). There he again swore to become a crusader, and in the height of youthful enthusiasm and the joy of victory he persuaded many of the realm’s princes to accept a similar commitment. For a time the Germans saw him as a David sent by God with the mission to deliver the Jerusalem of David from the successors of Saladin.

But his journey to Jerusalem was repeatedly postponed. Henry, Otto’s brother, raised an army to depose Frederick, and the new pope, Honorius III, agreed that the young emperor must defend his throne. Frederick overcame Henry, but in the course of this conflict he became entangled in imperial politics. Apparently at this time he greatly desired to return to his native Italy; the warmth of southern blood pulsed in his veins and Germany distressed him, so that of his fifty-six years of life he spent only eight in that country. He conferred many feudal powers on the German nobles, granted charters of self-government to several cities, and left the administration of Germany in the hands of Engelbert, archbishop of Cologne, and Hermann von Salza, grand master of the Teutonic Knights. Although Frederick outwardly neglected the government of Germany, during his thirty-five-year reign that country enjoyed peace and prosperity. The lords and bishops were so pleased with the absence of their absent emperor that, to please him, they elected his seven-year-old son Henry “King of the Romans” or successor to the emperor and crowned him (1220). Meanwhile Frederick, who had left his son Henry in Germany, made himself regent for his son in Sicily. This action thwarted Innocent’s plans, but Innocent could not rise from the grave to protest. Honorius submitted and even placed the imperial crown on his head with his own hand in Rome, for he was eager for Frederick to set out as soon as possible and help the crusaders in Egypt. But the nobles of southern Italy and the Saracens of Sicily rose in revolt. Frederick claimed that before he could set out on such a long and distant journey he must first establish order in his Italian realm. Meanwhile his wife died (1222). Honorius, hoping to bind Frederick more quickly to fulfill his commitment, encouraged him to marry Isabella, heiress to the lost kingdom of Jerusalem. Frederick consented (1225) and added the title “King of Jerusalem” to his other titles—King of Sicily and Holy Roman Emperor. The disputes that arose between him and the Lombard cities again delayed his departure. In 1227 Honorius died and Gregory IX, a harsh man, ascended the papal throne. Now Frederick really prepared to move; for this purpose he assembled a great fleet with forty thousand crusaders at Brindisi, when suddenly a terrible plague broke out among the soldiers. Thousands died and thousands more fled. The emperor himself and his chief commander Louis of Thuringia fell ill. Nevertheless Frederick ordered the ships to sail. Louis died, and Frederick’s condition grew worse. His physicians and the high-ranking clergy who accompanied him advised Frederick to return to Italy. Frederick obeyed their prescription and set out for Pozzuoli to recover. At that time Pope Gregory, whose patience was exhausted, refused to listen to the explanations of Frederick’s representatives and announced the sentence of excommunication of the emperor to the world. Seven months later Frederick, still excommunicated by the pope, set out for Palestine (1228). When news of his arrival in Syria reached the pope, Gregory absolved his subjects and his son Henry from the oaths of loyalty they had sworn to him and began negotiations to depose Frederick from the imperial throne.

Frederick’s regent in Italy, regarding these actions as a declaration of war, attacked the Papal States. Gregory retaliated by sending an army against Sicily; Franciscan monks spread the rumor of Frederick’s death, and soon a large part of Sicily and southern Italy was annexed to the papal domain. Meanwhile two Franciscan monks, representing the pope, went to Acre and shortly after Frederick’s arrival in that city informed all the soldiers and crusaders that anyone who obeyed Frederick’s orders would be excommunicated by the pope. The Muslim commander al-Kamil, greatly astonished at seeing a Christian king familiar with the Arabic language and interested in Islamic literature and sciences, offered peace on favorable terms, and the emperor entered Jerusalem as a victorious leader without shedding a drop of blood. Since no priest was willing to place the crown of Jerusalem on his head, Frederick himself crowned himself in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. The bishop of Caesarea, who considered Frederick’s presence a desecration of the holy places and the city of Jerusalem, prohibited all religious ceremonies in that city and in Acre. Some Templar knights, learning that Frederick intended to visit a place on the Jordan where Jesus was said to have been baptized, secretly informed al-Kamil that this was a good opportunity to capture the emperor. The Muslim commander sent the letter to Frederick.

The emperor, disturbed by the prohibition of religious ceremonies in Jerusalem, left the city on the third day for the sake of the welfare of the faithful and set out for Acre. There, while on his way to his ship, the Christian people of the city pelted him with filth and rubbish from all sides. Upon entering Brindisi Frederick, without any preparation, began to muster an army and set out to reconquer the cities that had surrendered to the pope. The papal troops fled, and the cities opened their gates to the emperor. Only Sora refused to surrender; it was besieged, captured, and turned into a heap of ashes. Frederick halted at the border of the Papal States and sent a letter to the pope requesting peace. The pope accepted, and the Treaty of San Germano was signed (1230); the sentence of excommunication was lifted, and for a time peace was restored.

2 – The Wonder of the World

Frederick turned his attention to the administration of the kingdom. From his court at Foggia in Apulia he grappled with the problems of a vast realm. In 1231 he visited Germany and, with the approval of the “Law in Favor of the Princes,” confirmed the powers and privileges he and his son had granted to the lords. Frederick was willing to leave Germany to feudalism provided it did not disturb his peace or interfere with him so that he could carry out his plans for Italy. Perhaps he had realized that the battle of Bouvines had ended German supremacy in Europe and that the thirteenth century belonged to France and Italy. The price of Frederick’s neglect of Germany was the rebellion and suicide of his son.

From the fiery passions of the Sicilians who spoke several different languages, the hand of a despot like Frederick created an order and prosperity that involuntarily recalled the glorious days of Roger II’s reign. The rebellious Saracen mountaineers were captured and taken to Italy and trained as mercenary soldiers, and it was these men who formed the most reliable part of Frederick’s army. With this background it is easy to understand how greatly the popes were angered at seeing Muslim warriors commanded by a Christian emperor fighting against papal troops. Legally the capital of the Two Sicilies, which was abbreviated as the Regno, was the city of Palermo, but the real capital was considered to be the city of Foggia.

Frederick loved Italy far more intensely than most Italians. He wondered why, when Italy existed, Palestine had acquired such value and status in the eyes of Yahweh. Frederick regarded his southern realm as “a refuge amid storms and a paradise in the midst of a desert of thorns.” In 1223 he began building a vast and intricate fortress and palace at Foggia, of which today only a gate remains. Soon around his palace many other palaces were erected for the residence of his courtiers and retainers. Frederick invited the Italian nobles of his realm to serve as pages at his court. In such an environment these individuals gradually, after passing through various stages and performing numerous duties, rose to high governmental positions. At the head of them all stood Piero della Vigna, who had graduated from the law school of Bologna. Frederick made him his chancellor and loved him like a brother or son. At Foggia, just as seventy years later in Paris, jurists replaced clerics in the administration of the state. Here, in the country closest to the papal seat in Rome, the separation of government from religion had reached the highest degree of perfection. A man like Frederick, who had been raised in a turbulent age and had enjoyed the riches of the East, never imagined that any power except royal government could administer a country. Apparently he sincerely believed that without a strong central government individuals would perish or repeatedly ruin themselves through ignorance, war, or crime. Like Barbarossa he valued social order more than popular liberty and held that a king who skillfully maintained peace in his realm had the right to enjoy all the luxuries at his disposal. In his own government he allowed the people a certain right to express their views, in that five times a year in the Two Sicilies assemblies met to consider local problems, complaints, and crimes. In these assemblies not only the local nobles and bishops were members but, by his command, every important city sent four representatives and the remaining cities two each.

Beyond this, in other matters Frederick was an autocratic king. He followed the general rule and fundamental principle of Roman civil law that all subjects had conferred the exclusive right of legislation upon the emperor himself. Frederick, largely through the legal skill of Piero della Vigna, promulgated laws at Melfi (1231) known as the Liber Augustalis, the first scientific codification of legal principles since the time of the Emperor Justinian and one of the most complete collections of jurisprudence in legal history. In one respect it can be considered a reactionary code: it accepted all the class privileges of feudalism and preserved the ancient rights of the lord over the serf, but in many respects it was a progressive code, for it deprived the nobility of the powers of legislation, jurisdiction, and coinage and centralized these matters in the hands of the government; it abolished trial by combat and ordeal; it appointed public prosecutors for crimes that until then, in the absence of private plaintiffs, had gone unpunished; it condemned delay and negligence in justice; it advised judges to prevent the prolixity of advocates; and it stipulated that secular courts must sit every day except public holidays. Like most medieval rulers Frederick paid careful attention to regulating the kingdom’s economy. He fixed a “just price” for various services and goods. The government took into its own hands the production of salt, iron, steel, hemp, pitch, dyed cloth, and silk fabrics. It owned and operated its own silk factories with the help of purchased Muslim women and the supervision of eunuchs; it owned and managed slaughterhouses and public baths; it established model farms, encouraged the cultivation of cotton and sugar cane, rid woods and fields of vermin, and devoted itself to building roads and bridges and digging wells to bring water to the people. Foreign trade was mostly in the hands of the government and goods were carried in state-owned ships, one of whose crews numbered three hundred. Internal transport dues and tolls were reduced to a minimum, but the customs tariffs levied on exports and imports formed the government’s largest source of revenue. Since Frederick’s government, like all governments in the world, always had expenditures for its revenues, many other taxes were also collected from the people. In fact the emergence of a sound and morally based currency must be counted among the glories of Frederick’s reign.

Frederick, in order to make such a vast unified country splendid and sacred without relying on a Christianity that was naturally hostile to him, tried to gather in his own person all the reverence and glory that surrounded a Roman emperor in the eyes of the people; on his very finely wrought coins no word or sign appeared that indicated the Christian faith, but on one side, in the ancient Roman tradition, ran the abbreviated words “Aug / Cesar / Rom / Imp” (Emperor / Rome / Caesar / Augustus) and on the other the image of the Roman eagle and around it the name Frederick, teaching the people that the emperor was in a sense the son of God; his laws were a collection of divine justice, and he was always referred to by the word Justitia (justice), almost as the third person of a new Trinity. Since Frederick was eager to stand in history and in art galleries beside the emperors of ancient Rome, he commissioned sculptors to carve several statues of him in stone, and on a bridge over the Volturno and on the face of a gate at Capua he had his image and that of his retainers carved in relief in the ancient style, but of these works nothing remains except the head of a very beautiful woman. This effort made in the pre-Renaissance period to revive classical art came to nothing and was swept away under the flood of the Gothic style.

Although Frederick, in addition to his royal office, had acquired a semi-divine status and constantly strove for the progress of his kingdom, it was possible for him to enjoy all aspects of life at his court in Foggia. A great host of servants, many of them Saracens, attended to the needs of the emperor and the management of his administrative apparatus. In 1235, when his second wife died, he married again. His new wife Isabella, an English princess, was unable to understand her husband’s ideas or moral principles and therefore withdrew from public view while Frederick spent his time with his mistresses and from these associations had an illegitimate child. His enemies accused him of maintaining a harem, and Gregory IX charged him with sodomy. Frederick explained in his defense that he had employed all the black and white ladies and youths solely because of their skill in singing, dancing, acrobatics, or other entertainments customary in the courts of kings according to tradition. In addition, he had set aside a place for keeping wild animals, and sometimes when traveling a group of Saracen slaves followed the emperor carrying a number of leopards, lynxes, lions, cheetahs, monkeys, and bears on chains. Frederick had a great love of hunting and falconry and collected strange birds; for his son Manfred he composed an interesting and scientific treatise on hunting with the falcon. After hunting he had a great passion for pleasant and learned conversations. He preferred to retire with like-minded and knowledgeable persons rather than struggle with brave men in the field. He himself was the most learned speaker of his age. He was famous for his wit and ready reply. This Frederick had no need of Voltaire; he was his own Voltaire. He spoke nine different languages and wrote in seven of them. He corresponded in Arabic with al-Kamil, whom after his own sons he considered his dearest friend; he wrote his letters to his son-in-law John Vatatzes, Greek emperor, in Greek; and whenever he wrote to kings and princes of the West he used Latin as the medium for conveying his wishes. His assistants—especially Piero della Vigna—in their elegant Latin compositions took the classical language of Rome as their model. These men understood the spirit of ancient Rome, equaled it, and almost surpassed the humanists of the Renaissance. Frederick himself was a poet whose Italian verses were praised by Dante. Provençal and Islamic lyric and convivial poems found their way to his court and were preserved in the breasts of the young nobles who served there. The emperor, like one of the powerful caliphs of Baghdad, loved after the daily business of government or hunting or war to spread the carpet of feasting, to have beautiful women circle around him, and to have poets occupy themselves with odes in praise of his glory and the grace of those beloved ones.

As Frederick grew older he showed a great interest in the sciences and philosophy. In this he was stimulated more than in any other field by the Islamic heritage of Sicily. He himself read many masterpieces of the Arabic language, brought Muslim and Jewish philosophers and scholars to his court, and hired researchers to translate classical Greek and Islamic scientific texts into Latin. His interest in mathematics was so great that he persuaded the king of Egypt to send him a famous Muslim mathematician, al-Hanafi. He himself was on intimate terms with Leonardo Fibonacci, the greatest Christian mathematician of the age. Like the people of his time Frederick was bound by certain superstitions and explored subjects such as astrology and alchemy. He brought to his court the contemporary universal scholar Michael Scot and studied with him the occult sciences, chemistry, metallurgy, and philosophy. His curiosity became universal. He not only sent problems and difficulties in the sciences and philosophy to the scholars of his court but also sought help from scholars of distant countries such as Egypt, Arabia, Syria, and Iraq. At his command a menagerie was established not for amusement but for scientific research; and experiments were conducted on the breeding of domestic birds, pigeons, horses, camels, and dogs. The laws he enacted on hunting and the prohibition of hunting in certain seasons were based on accurate statistics and information obtained about the mating and breeding seasons of animals—it is said that the animals of the Apulia region, in gratitude for Frederick’s action, sent him an affectionate letter. Among the laws he promulgated were enlightened regulations on medicine, surgery, and the sale of drugs. He approved the dissection of bodies; Muslim physicians were astonished at the anatomical knowledge of his society. The breadth and depth of his philosophical learning is evident from the request he sent to certain Muslim scholars. Frederick asked them to resolve some of the differences between the views of Aristotle and Alexander of Aphrodisias on the eternity of the world. It was for this reason that Michael Scot said to him: “O fortunate emperor! I truly believe that if anyone were to be exempted from death on account of his knowledge, you would be worthy of such a reward.”

Fredrick, fearing that the knowledge of the scholars he had gathered at his court would perish with their death, founded the University of Naples in 1224—an unparalleled example of a medieval university that came into existence without permission from ecclesiastical authorities. He invited scholars proficient in all the arts and sciences to join the faculty and assigned them generous stipends; and to enable indigent but qualified students to enjoy the benefits of such a university he provided scholarships for them. Frederick forbade the youth of his country to travel abroad to acquire higher education. He hoped that Naples would soon rival Bologna as a center of legal studies and be able to train individuals for the administration of the republic. Was Frederick himself a heretic? In his childhood he was a religious person, and perhaps until he resolved to go on crusade he still believed in the foundations and principles of the Christian faith. Apparently his association with the great men and thinkers of the Islamic world put an end to this belief. He became enamored of Islamic knowledge and regarded Islamic philosophy and sciences as far superior to the knowledge and opinions of the Christian world. At the Diet of the German princes in Friuli (1232) he received a Muslim delegation with open arms and later, before the eyes of the bishops and princes, took part in a banquet that these Saracens had prepared on the occasion of one of the Islamic festivals. Matthew Paris, the chronicler of this age, writes: “His enemies said that the emperor preferred the ordinances of Muhammad to the laws of Jesus Christ … and that his friendship toward Muslims was greater than toward Christians.” The rumor originating from Gregory IX attributed to Frederick the saying that “three magicians so cleverly deceived their contemporaries that dominion over the world belonged to them. And those three were Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad.” Throughout Europe this blasphemous statement was on everyone’s lips. Frederick denied the rumor, but the rumor itself armed public opinion against him during the last crisis of his life. There is no doubt that he was a man free from religious restraints and doubted the principles of the Christian faith, including such matters as the creation of the world according to religious accounts, individual immortality, and the virgin birth of Mary. In rejecting the method of trial by ordeal Frederick asked: “How can a man believe that the natural heat of red-hot iron cools without a sufficient cause, or that, because of a dull conscience, the element of water will not receive an accused person plunged into it?” During his reign he founded only one church. He confiscated the treasuries of churches throughout the Two Sicilies to strengthen his finances for war. When a city in Apulia rose in revolt with the intention of capturing him, at Frederick’s command the eyes of a series of its instigators were gouged out; then their limbs were cut into pieces and they were put to death. When his son Conrad asked for help from his father, Frederick set out for Germany. On the way at Turin he was informed that Parma had destroyed his garrison, that his son Enzio was in danger, and that all northern Italy, even Sicily, had risen in revolt. Frederick attacked the cities one by one, suppressed the rebellions one by one, took hostages from each of them, and when these cities rose again in revolt he had those persons killed. Among the prisoners, anyone found to be a papal envoy had his hands and feet cut off, and usually in such cases the Saracen soldiers, who were immune to the shame and threats of Christians, were employed as executioners.

During the siege of Parma, Frederick, who could not bear to sit idle, set out with his son Enzio and fifty knights for the marshy lands near the city to spend time hunting waterfowl. While this group was away hunting, the men and women of Parma took their lives in their hands and attacked Frederick’s soldiers, surprised the disordered and leaderless forces, and carried off the treasures, the harem, and the collection of animals that formed part of the emperor’s retinue. Frederick imposed heavy taxes on the people, raised a new army, and went to war again. Evidence and documents were brought to him proving that his trusted chancellor, Piero della Vigna, was plotting to deliver him to the enemy. At Frederick’s command he was arrested and blinded, and he beat his head against the prison wall until he died there (1249). In the same year news arrived that Enzio had been captured by the soldiers of Bologna in the battle of Fossalta. At about the same time Frederick’s physician attempted to poison his benefactor. These successive blows shattered the emperor’s spirit, so that he withdrew from the battlefield and went to Apulia. In 1250 his commanders achieved a series of great victories and appearances indicated that the tide had turned in Frederick’s favor. St. Louis, king of France, who had been captured by the Muslims in Egypt, asked Innocent IV to end the war so that Frederick could come to the aid of the crusaders. But just as a ray of hope appeared again, the body no longer had the strength to endure. Dysentery, that avenging goddess who humbled many medieval kings, brought down the proud emperor. He asked the pope for pardon, and the pope forgave him. Thus a man who was bound by no religion put on the special habit of a Cistercian monk and died at Fiorentino on 13 December 1250. People whispered that demons had taken his soul and carried it through the crater of Etna to hell. His influence was not so obvious. Soon his empire collapsed and chaos greater than before prevailed throughout his realm. The unity for which Frederick fought soon disappeared even in Germany, and the Italian cities, after their liberty and the creative impulse it brought, fell into the turmoil and tyranny of separate duchies and bands of condottieri who, unconsciously, inherited Frederick’s moral indifference, his intellectual freedom, and the support he gave to art and literature. The manly intelligence free from all moral restraints that became characteristic of despotic rulers in the Renaissance was in reality an echo of Frederick’s qualities and thought, only without his charm and deception. Nietzsche in his writings had Bismarck and Napoleon in mind but considered himself indebted to Frederick’s influence, and said that “in my opinion he was the first European.” Future generations, disgusted by this emperor’s moral principles, astonished at the power of his intellect, and vaguely admiring the grandeur of his ambitions to expand a united empire, repeatedly used the phrase that had flowed from the pen of the medieval chronicler Matthew Paris in praise of Frederick: “The wonderful transformer, and the wonder of the world.”

VI – The Fragmentation of Italy

Frederick in his will left the empire to his son Conrad IV and made his illegitimate son Manfred regent of Italy. Almost everywhere in Italy the people rose against Manfred. Naples, Spoleto, Ancona, and Florence surrendered to the pope’s representatives. Innocent IV, hearing this news, cried: “Let the heavens rejoice in this gladness and the earth be joyful.” The victorious pope returned to Italy, made Naples his military headquarters, attempted to annex the Two Sicilies to the Papal States, and thought of somewhat reducing the direct lordship he had hitherto exercised over the cities of northern Italy. But these cities, while joining the pope in praising the Lord, were determined to defend their independence not only against the emperor but also against the papal court in Rome. Meanwhile Ezzelino and Uberto Pallavicino held several cities against obligations to Conrad; neither of these two had any respect for religion; heresy flourished in their domains, and there was danger that all northern Italy would slip from the Church’s grasp. Suddenly the young Conrad with a fresh army of Germans descended from the Alps, reconquered the rebellious cities, and was setting foot triumphantly on the soil of the Two Sicilies when he died of fever and ague (May 1254). Manfred took command of the imperial troops and defeated the papal forces near Foggia (2 December). When news of this defeat was brought to Rome, Innocent lay on his deathbed. He died in despair, and with his last breath murmured: “Lord, Thou hast corrupted man because of his wickedness.” The rest of this story is nothing but a splendid chaos. Pope Alexander IV prepared a crusade against Ezzelino. In this struggle that wretched man was wounded and captured but refused food, physicians, and priests; as a result, without having repented or asked forgiveness, he died of starvation (1259). His brother Alberigo, who was likewise guilty of a series of crimes and savage acts, was captured; before his eyes his wife and children were tortured, then his skin was flayed from his body with pincers; while still alive he was tied to a horse’s tail and his body dragged over the ground until he died. Both Christians and unbelievers now committed savage acts in the same manner; only the cheerful and handsome bastard Manfred took no part in these cruelties. After Manfred again defeated the papal troops at Montaperti (1260), for the next six years he was the undisputed master of southern Italy. During this time he had ample opportunity for hunting, singing, and composing poems, and, as Dante said, “no one in the whole world could play stringed instruments like him.” Pope Urban IV, despairing of finding anyone in Italy who could deal with Manfred and realizing that the papal court must henceforth rely on France for its own protection, appealed to Louis IX to accept the Two Sicilies as a fief. Louis declined but allowed his brother Charles of Anjou to accept the crown of the “kingdom of Naples and Sicily” from Urban (1264). Charles crossed Italian soil with thirty thousand French soldiers and routed Manfred’s smaller forces. Manfred, seeing the field narrow before him, rushed into the midst of the enemy and met a more honorable death than that of his lord. Conradin, the fifteen-year-old son of Conrad, set out from Germany to confront Charles but was defeated at Tagliacozzo, and in 1268 in the marketplace of Naples, before the eyes of the public, his head was severed from his body. With the death of Conradin and also the death of Enzio, who died four years later after a long imprisonment, the Hohenstaufen dynasty met a pitiful fate. The Holy Roman Empire became a ceremonial phantom, and the leadership of Europe fell to France.

Charles made Naples his capital, created a French bureaucracy and a French noble class in the Two Sicilies, made the clergy and priests of his realm French, and in his government was so despotic and indifferent to his subjects and levied such heavy taxes from them that everyone longed for Frederick to rise again from the grave, and Pope Clement IV was inclined to regret the victory of the spiritual power. On Easter Monday 1282, while Charles was at the head of his fleet preparing to sail to conquer Constantinople, the people of Palermo, seeing the unseemly behavior of one of the French gendarmes toward a Sicilian bride, lost patience, raised the standard of revolt, and killed the Frenchmen of the city one by one. The hatred that for years had accumulated in the hearts of Sicilian men is evident from the fact that these people, with utter cruelty, ripped open the bellies of women who had become pregnant by French soldiers or officers and trampled the alien fetuses under their feet. Other cities followed Palermo’s example and rose, and more than three thousand Frenchmen perished in the massacre known as the “Sicilian Vespers.” The name of this massacre derives from the fact that the killings occurred precisely at the hour of vespers when the faithful were at prayer. In this massacre no mercy was shown to the French clergy residing in Sicily, and those Sicilians who were usually devout people attacked churches and monasteries and, without the slightest regard for the immunity of the clergy, killed monks and priests. Charles of Anjou swore to take revenge “for a thousand years” and to turn Sicily into “a barren, cursed, and uninhabited rock.” Pope Martin IV excommunicated the rebels and proclaimed a crusade against Sicily. The Sicilians, unable to defend themselves, offered their land to Peter III of Aragon on condition that he was willing to accept it. Peter came to Sicily with an army and fleet and founded the dynasty of the kings of Aragon in Sicily (1282). Charles vainly strove to reconquer the island. His fleet was destroyed and he himself died at Foggia from exhaustion and grief (1285). His successors, after seventeen years of futile struggle, abandoned the conquest of Sicily and contented themselves with the kingdom of Naples.

North of Rome the cities of Italy, by throwing the empire against the papal court, enjoyed a self-willed liberty. In Milan the Della Torre family administered the city’s affairs for twenty years in a way that pleased the people. A coalition of nobles led by Ottone Visconti seized power in 1277, and Visconti himself and his descendants as dukes of the city gave Milan a capable oligarchic government for 170 years. The region of Tuscany, including Arezzo, Florence, Siena, Pisa, and Lucca, had been donated by Countess Matilda to the papal government (1107), but this nominal papal possession rarely prevented the cities from enjoying the right of self-government or from electing absolute despotic rulers to administer their affairs. Siena, like many cities of Tuscany, had a glorious history that went back to Etruscan times. This city, which had been destroyed by barbarian invasions, began to prosper again in the eighth century because of its position on the Via Francigena, the trading road between Florence and Rome. In 1192 guilds of merchants apparently existed in this city; after this date we encounter guilds of crafts and finally the guild of bankers. The Bonsignori bank, founded in 1209, became one of the leading commercial and financial institutions of Europe. Its representatives were everywhere, and the total loans that this institution had given to merchants, cities, kings, and popes formed a very large sum. Florence and Siena competed with each other in supervising the Via Francigena—the road that linked the two cities. These two trading cities, from 1207 to 1270, every few years engaged in struggles that exhausted the strength of both; and since Florence sided with the popes in the struggle between the empire and the papal court, Siena took the side of the emperors. Manfred’s victory at Montaperti (1260) was more a victory of Siena over Florence. The Sienese, although they fought against the pope, attributed their success in this war to the gracious favor of their patron saint, the Virgin Mary, Mother of God. For this reason they dedicated their city as a fief to Mary, proudly placed the title Civitas Virginis (City of the Virgin) on their coins, and laid the keys of the city gates at the feet of the statue of the Virgin Mary in the cathedral they had built in her name. Every year the Sienese celebrated the feast of the Assumption of Mary with effective ceremonies and rites. On the eve of this feast all the inhabitants of the city, from eighteen to seventy years of age, carrying candles and following their priests and judges in the order of the various ecclesiastical districts, moved toward the precincts of the cathedral and there renewed their allegiance to the Virgin Mary. On the feast day another procession moved. This time it was the turn of the representatives of the subject or dependent cities, villages, and monasteries. These individuals also moved toward the cathedral, presented their gifts, and renewed their oath of loyalty to the commune and the Queen of Siena. In the public square of the city on the same day a great fair was held. In this great gathering people could purchase goods that had come from far and near. In addition, acrobats, singers, and musicians entertained the people; the gambling booth, after the shrine of Mary, attracted more attention than any other place.

During the hundred years from 1260 to 1360 Siena reached the peak of its power and glory. It was in that one century that it laid the foundations of its cathedral (1245–1339), built the great governmental building (1310–1320), and created an attractive bell tower (1325–1344). Nicola Pisano carved a very beautiful marble fountain for the chapel of the Siena cathedral (1266); by 1311 the famous painter of the age, Duccio di Buoninsegna, had decorated the churches of Siena with some of the masterpieces of the early Renaissance. But this proud city undertook a task beyond its capacity. The victory of Montaperti was fatal to Siena in that the defeated pope prohibited all religious ceremonies, the entry of goods into that city, and the payment of loans that people had taken from Sienese bankers. As a result many Sienese banks went bankrupt. In 1270 Charles of Anjou attached the chastised city to the Guelf Union (that is, the union of the Papal States), and from then on Florence, that ruthless northern rival, surpassed Siena and became dominant.

VII – The Rise of Florence (1095–1308)

The name Florence derives from the abundance of flowers that grew in this region. Florence was founded around two centuries before Christ as a trading center beside the Po River and one of its branches called the Mugnone. This city, which had been destroyed by barbarian invasions, began to prosper again in the eighth century because of its position on the Via Francigena, the meeting point of the roads between France and Rome. Since Florence easily had access to the Mediterranean, its maritime trade flourished and it acquired a great fleet that imported all kinds of dyes and silk from Asia and wool from England and Spain and exported finished textiles to half the world; the dyers of Florence, with great effort, kept the secrets and details of their craft hidden and dyed silk and woolen fabrics in colors so beautiful that even the skilled hands of long-established Eastern craftsmen could not match them.

The great wool merchants’ guilds imported their own raw materials and made huge profits from converting them into cloth and selling the fabrics. Most of the work was done in small factories, some of which were in the city or in rural houses. Merchants gave the raw material to the workers, received the finished goods, and paid a fixed sum for each piece. Competition from home workers, most of whom were women, kept wages low. Weavers were not allowed to unite to raise their wages or improve their working conditions; and they were not permitted to emigrate. Employers, to promote discipline, urged bishops to publish letters to their followers so that four times a year these open letters would be read from the pulpits, and any worker who wasted wool several times would be threatened with religious sanctions and even excommunication.

This industry and trade required a large amount of ready capital to operate; and soon bankers, in order to gain control over Florence’s economic life, began to compete with the merchants. These people, by seizing the property of debtors who could not repay their loans at the appointed time, acquired great wealth, and since ecclesiastical properties were pawned with them, they soon, through the supervision they exercised over the finances of such estates, became indispensable to the popes; so that in the thirteenth century almost all the financial affairs of the papal court in Italy were exclusively in their hands. The motive for Florence’s alliance with the popes in the struggle against the emperors was partly this financial tie and partly the fear arising from the encroachment of imperial and noble power upon urban liberties and the merchant class. Therefore in Florence the bankers were important supporters of the papal court. Because of the loan of 148,000 lires (29,600,000 dollars) that these people gave to Pope Urban IV, Charles of Anjou’s attack on Italy was prepared. When Charles conquered Naples, in order to make it possible to repay the loans people had taken, he granted the Florentine bankers the right to mint coinage and collect the taxes of the newly founded kingdom, the exclusive right to trade in arms, silk, wax, oil, and grain, and the right to provide arms and equipment for the troops. If we believe Dante’s words, these Florentine bankers were not of the same cloth as the clever and refined men of our age but were piratical, money-loving, greedy, and harsh people who acquired vast fortunes by seizing the property of the poor and taking exorbitant interest that did not trouble their consciences, like that Folco Portinari who accepted Dante’s imaginary beloved Beatrice as his daughter. These people extended their operations over a wide area. Around 1277 we encounter two Florentine exchange houses called Brunelleschi and Medici that administered all the finances of half the region. The Florentine firm of Franzesi supplied the funds for the wars and plots of Philip IV; and from the reign of this Philip until the seventeenth century Italian bankers dominated the finances of France. Edward I, king of England, in 1299 borrowed 200,000 gold florins (equivalent to 2,160,000 dollars) from Fresco Bardi, the famous Florentine banker. Such loans were risky and made Florence’s economic life dependent on events that occurred in distant countries and apparently had no connection with Florence. The increase in political investments, governments’ defaults on debts, and above all the fall of Boniface VIII and the transfer of the papal court to Avignon (1307) caused the bankruptcy of a series of banks in Italy and the emergence of a general depression and intensified class war.

In the non-spiritual organization of the city of Florence the people were divided into three classes or orders: the Popolo Minuto or “little people,” such as shopkeepers and artisans; the Popolo Grasso or “fat people,” who were employers or merchants; and the Grandi or nobility. The artisans or craftsmen, who belonged to the smaller guilds, were mostly subject in political matters to the wishes of the master craftsmen, merchants, and bankers who formed the larger guilds. In the competition for control of the government, for a time the little people and the fat people joined hands and formed the Popolani or “popular coalition” against the nobility; the noble class still collected feudal dues from the city of Florence according to ancient custom and supported the emperors and then the popes against urban liberties. The popular coalition or Popolani formed a militia in which every able-bodied resident of the city was obliged to serve and learn the arts of war; in this way the people’s fighters prepared to capture and destroy the fortresses of the nobility in the countryside and forced the nobles themselves to come inside the city walls and obey the city’s laws. The nobility, who were still rich from rural rents and landed income, built palaces resembling fortified strongholds in the city, divided into several factions, fought one another in the streets, and competed to see which faction should overthrow the limited democratic government of Florence and establish an aristocratic government. In 1247 the Uberti faction, supporters of the emperors, rose to place the government of Florence in the hands of a government favorable to Frederick. The Popolani bravely resisted this rising, but a group of German knights defeated the people, and Florence’s democracy was overthrown. The leaders of the Guelfs fled the city; their houses were destroyed in retaliation for the destruction of the feudal lords’ fortresses that had not been forgotten from a century earlier. Thereafter every time one of the warring parties in this struggle between classes and factions was victorious, it celebrated its triumph by exiling the leaders of the defeated faction and confiscating or destroying their property. For three years the Ghibelline nobles governed Florence with the support of a garrison of German soldiers; then, as a result of Frederick’s death, the Guelf revolt brought the reins of government back into the hands of the middle and lower classes of society (1250) and, imitating the ancient method by which the tribunes of the people supervised the consuls of Rome, appointed a captain of the people to oversee the governor. All the exiled Guelfs were recalled to their homeland, and the victorious bourgeoisie consolidated the foundations of this internal success by waging wars against Pisa and Siena in order to gain control of the road that linked Florence’s trade with the seas and the city of Rome. The wealthier merchants became a new noble class and tried to reserve government offices for members of their own class.

The defeat of Florence in the war against Siena and Manfred at Montaperti led to the second flight of the Guelf leaders, and for six years Florence was administered by Manfred’s representatives. The defeat of the imperial supporters in 1268 brought the Guelfs back to power, but this time their government was nominally subject to Charles of Anjou. To supervise the work of the governor appointed by Charles, the Florentine Guelfs formed a body of twelve elders or “graybeards” whose task was to “guide” the governor, and also a council known as the Council of One Hundred, without whose permission “no important matter or any expenditure could be made.” In 1282 the Florentine bourgeoisie took advantage of Charles’s preoccupation with the Sicilian Vespers, changed its constitution, and approved the proposal to form a body called the Priori (“board of guild masters”). This six-man board, whose members were elected from among the master craftsmen of the larger guilds, became in effect the governing board of the city. Throughout all these changes and transformations the office of governor remained in place but became a position without powers; the merchants and bankers acquired real power. The defeated faction of the old nobility, led by a handsome and proud young man named Corso Donati, reorganized themselves and for unknown reasons were called the Neri or “Blacks.” The new noble class, composed of bankers and merchants led by the Cerchi family, assumed the title of Bianchi or “Whites.” The old nobles, who now no longer had any hope of help from the shattered empire, turned their eyes toward the pope to confront the victorious bourgeoisie. Donati, through the Spini bank of Florence, whose representatives were in Rome, came to terms with Pope Boniface VIII, and it was agreed that the old nobles would wrest the government of Florence from the hands of their rivals.

The factional divisions of the Tuscan cities had disturbed the Papal States, and Boniface had no hope of establishing peace in his domain unless the municipal governments of Tuscany first acquired decisive authority. One of the lawyers of Florence learned of these secret negotiations and accused three of the Spini representatives in Rome of treason against Florence. The “board of guild masters,” which now included the Italian poet Dante, defied the pope’s orders and exiled several nobles (June 1300). Boniface, upon hearing this news, threatened to excommunicate the claimants. A group of armed nobles of the Donati faction attacked some of the guild officials. The board of guild masters, now including the Italian poet Dante, in defiance of the pope’s orders exiled several nobles (June 1300). Boniface, upon hearing this news, threatened to excommunicate the claimants. A group of armed nobles of the Donati faction attacked some of the guild officials. The board of guild masters, defying the pope’s commands, condemned the three and exiled them (June 1300). Boniface, upon hearing this news, threatened to excommunicate the claimants. A group of armed nobles of the Donati faction attacked some of the guild officials. The board of guild masters, now including the Italian poet Dante, in defiance of the pope’s orders, condemned three of the Spini representatives in Rome of treason against Florence. The “board of guild masters,” which now included the Italian poet Dante, defied the pope’s orders and exiled several nobles (June 1300). Boniface, upon hearing this news, threatened to excommunicate the claimants. A group of armed nobles of the Donati faction attacked some of the guild officials. The board of guild masters, defying the pope’s commands, condemned the three and exiled them (June 1300). Boniface, upon hearing this news, threatened to excommunicate the claimants. A group of armed nobles of the Donati faction attacked some of the guild officials. The board of guild masters, now including the Italian poet Dante, in defiance of the pope’s orders, condemned three of the Spini representatives in Rome of treason against Florence. The “board of guild masters,” which now included the Italian poet Dante, defied the pope’s orders and exiled several nobles (June 1300). Boniface, upon hearing this news, threatened to excommunicate the claimants. A group of armed nobles of the Donati faction attacked some of the guild officials. The board of guild masters, defying the pope’s commands, condemned the three and exiled them (June 1300). Boniface, upon hearing this news, threatened to excommunicate the claimants. A group of armed nobles of the Donati faction attacked some of the guild officials. The board of guild masters, now including the Italian poet Dante, in defiance of the pope’s orders, condemned three of the Spini representatives in Rome of treason against Florence. The “board of guild masters,” which now included the Italian poet Dante, defied the pope’s orders and exiled several nobles (June 1300). Boniface, upon hearing this news, threatened to excommunicate the claimants. A group of armed nobles of the Donati faction attacked some of the guild officials. The board of guild masters, defying the pope’s commands, condemned the three and exiled them (June 1300). Boniface, upon hearing this news, threatened to excommunicate the claimants. A group of armed nobles of the Donati faction attacked some of the guild officials. The board of guild masters, now including the Italian poet Dante, in defiance of the pope’s orders, condemned three of the Spini representatives in Rome of treason against Florence. The “board of guild masters,” which now included the Italian poet Dante, defied the pope’s orders and exiled several nobles (June 1300). Boniface, upon hearing this news, threatened to excommunicate the claimants. A group of armed nobles of the Donati faction attacked some of the guild officials. The board of guild masters, defying the pope’s commands, condemned the three and exiled them (June 1300). Boniface, upon hearing this news, threatened to excommunicate the claimants. A group of armed nobles of the Donati faction attacked some of the guild officials. The board of guild masters, now including the Italian poet Dante, in defiance of the pope’s orders, condemned three of the Spini representatives in Rome of treason against Florence. The “board of guild masters,” which now included the Italian poet Dante, defied the pope’s orders and exiled several nobles (June 1300). Boniface, upon hearing this news, threatened to excommunicate the claimants. A group of armed nobles of the Donati faction attacked some of the guild officials. The board of guild masters, defying the pope’s commands, condemned the three and exiled them (June 1300). Boniface, upon hearing this news, threatened to excommunicate the claimants. A group of armed nobles of the Donati faction attacked some of the guild officials. The board of guild masters, now including the Italian poet Dante, in defiance of the pope’s orders, condemned three of the Spini representatives in Rome of treason against Florence. The “board of guild masters,” which now included the Italian poet Dante, defied the pope’s orders and exiled several nobles (June 1300). Boniface, upon hearing this news, threatened to excommunicate the claimants. A group of armed nobles of the Donati faction attacked some of the guild officials. The board of guild masters, defying the pope’s commands, condemned the three and exiled them (June 1300). Boniface, upon hearing this news, threatened to excommunicate the claimants. A group of armed nobles of the Donati faction attacked some of the guild officials. The board of guild masters, now including the Italian poet Dante, in defiance of the pope’s orders, condemned three of the Spini representatives in Rome of treason against Florence. The “board of guild masters,” which now included the Italian poet Dante, defied the pope’s orders and exiled several nobles (June 1300). Boniface, upon hearing this news, threatened to excommunicate the claimants. A group of armed nobles of the Donati faction attacked some of the guild officials. The board of guild masters, defying the pope’s commands, condemned the three and exiled them (June 1300). Boniface, upon hearing this news, threatened to excommunicate the claimants. A group of armed nobles of the Donati faction attacked some of the guild officials. The board of guild masters, now including the Italian poet Dante, in defiance of the pope’s orders, condemned three of the Spini representatives in Rome of treason against Florence. The “board of guild masters,” which now included the Italian poet Dante, defied the pope’s orders and exiled several nobles (June 1300). Boniface, upon hearing this news, threatened to excommunicate the claimants. A group of armed nobles of the Donati faction attacked some of the guild officials. The board of guild masters, defying the pope’s commands, condemned the three and exiled them (June 1300). Boniface, upon hearing this news, threatened to excommunicate the claimants. A group of armed nobles of the Donati faction attacked some of the guild officials. The board of guild masters, now including the Italian poet Dante, in defiance of the pope’s orders, condemned three of the Spini representatives in Rome of treason against Florence. The “board of guild masters,” which now included the Italian poet Dante, defied the pope’s orders and exiled several nobles (June 1300). Boniface, upon hearing this news, threatened to excommunicate the claimants. A group of armed nobles of the Donati faction attacked some of the guild officials. The board of guild masters, defying the pope’s commands, condemned the three and exiled them (June 1300). Boniface, upon hearing this news, threatened to excommunicate the claimants. A group of armed nobles of the Donati faction attacked some of the guild officials. The board of guild masters, now including the Italian poet Dante, in defiance of the pope’s orders, condemned three of the Spini representatives in Rome of treason against Florence. The “board of guild masters,” which now included the Italian poet Dante, defied the pope’s orders and exiled several nobles (June 1300). Boniface, upon hearing this news, threatened to excommunicate the claimants. A group of armed nobles of the Donati faction attacked some of the guild officials. The board of guild masters, defying the pope’s commands, condemned the three and exiled them (June 1300). Boniface, upon hearing this news, threatened to excommunicate the claimants. A group of armed nobles of the Donati faction attacked some of the guild officials. The board of guild masters, now including the Italian poet Dante, in defiance of the pope’s orders, condemned three of the Spini representatives in Rome of treason against Florence. The “board of guild masters,” which now included the Italian poet Dante, defied the pope’s orders and exiled several nobles (June 1300). Boniface, upon hearing this news, threatened to excommunicate the claimants. A group of armed nobles of the Donati faction attacked some of the guild officials. The board of guild masters, defying the pope’s commands, condemned the three and exiled them (June 1300). Boniface, upon hearing this news, threatened to excommunicate the claimants. A group of armed nobles of the Donati faction attacked some of the guild officials. The board of guild masters, now including the Italian poet Dante, in defiance of the pope’s orders, condemned three of the Spini representatives in Rome of treason against Florence. The “board of guild masters,” which now included the Italian poet Dante, defied the pope’s orders and exiled several nobles (June 1300). Boniface, upon hearing this news, threatened to excommunicate the claimants. A group of armed nobles of the Donati faction attacked some of the guild officials. The board of guild masters, defying the pope’s commands, condemned the three and exiled them (June 1300). Boniface, upon hearing this news, threatened to excommunicate the claimants. A group of armed nobles of the Donati faction attacked some of the guild officials. The board of guild masters, now including the Italian poet Dante, in defiance of the pope’s orders, condemned three of the Spini representatives in Rome of treason against Florence. The “board of guild masters,” which now included the Italian poet Dante, defied the pope’s orders and exiled several nobles (June 1300). Boniface, upon hearing this news, threatened to excommunicate the claimants. A group of armed nobles of the Donati faction attacked some of the guild officials. The board of guild masters, defying the pope’s commands, condemned the three and exiled them (June 1300). Boniface, upon hearing this news, threatened to excommunicate the claimants. A group of armed nobles of the Donati faction attacked some of the guild officials. The board of guild masters, now including the Italian poet Dante, in defiance of the pope’s orders, condemned three of the Spini representatives in Rome of treason against Florence. The “board of guild masters,” which now included the Italian poet Dante, defied the pope’s orders and exiled several nobles (June 1300). Boniface, upon hearing this news, threatened to excommunicate the claimants. A group of armed nobles of the Donati faction attacked some of the guild officials. The board of guild masters, defying the pope’s commands, condemned the three and exiled them (June 1300). Boniface, upon hearing this news, threatened to excommunicate the claimants. A group of armed nobles of the Donati faction attacked some of the guild officials. The board of guild masters, now including the Italian poet Dante, in defiance of the pope’s orders, condemned three of the Spini representatives in Rome of treason against Florence. The “board of guild masters,” which now included the Italian poet Dante, defied the pope’s orders and exiled several nobles (June 1300). Boniface, upon hearing this news, threatened to excommunicate the claimants. A group of armed nobles of the Donati faction attacked some of the guild officials. The board of guild masters, defying the pope’s commands, condemned the three and exiled them (June 1300). Boniface, upon hearing this news, threatened to excommunicate the claimants. A group of armed nobles of the Donati faction attacked some of the guild officials. The board of guild masters, now including the Italian poet Dante, in defiance of the pope’s orders, condemned three of the Spini representatives in Rome of treason against Florence. The “board of guild masters,” which now included the Italian poet Dante, defied the pope’s orders and exiled several nobles (June 1300). Boniface, upon hearing this news, threatened to excommunicate the claimants. A group of armed nobles of the Donati faction attacked some of the guild officials. The board of guild masters, defying the pope’s commands, condemned the three and exiled them (June 1300). Boniface, upon hearing this news, threatened to excommunicate the claimants. A group of armed nobles of the Donati faction attacked some of the guild officials. The board of guild masters, now including the Italian poet Dante, in defiance of the pope’s orders, condemned three of the Spini representatives in Rome of treason against Florence. The “board of guild masters,” which now included the Italian poet Dante, defied the pope’s orders and exiled several nobles (June 1300). Boniface, upon hearing this news, threatened to excommunicate the claimants. A group of armed nobles of the Donati faction attacked some of the guild officials. The board of guild masters, defying the pope’s commands, condemned the three and exiled them (June 1300). Boniface, upon hearing this news, threatened to excommunicate the claimants. A group of armed nobles of the Donati faction attacked some of the guild officials. The board of guild masters, now including the Italian poet Dante, in defiance of the pope’s orders, condemned three of the Spini representatives in Rome of treason against Florence. The “board of guild masters,” which now included the Italian poet Dante, defied the pope’s orders and exiled several nobles (June 1300). Boniface, upon hearing this news, threatened to excommunicate the claimants. A group of armed nobles of the Donati faction attacked some of the guild officials. The board of guild masters, defying the pope’s commands, condemned the three and exiled them (June 1300). Boniface, upon hearing this news, threatened to excommunicate the claimants. A group of armed nobles of the Donati faction attacked some of the guild officials. The board of guild masters, now including the Italian poet Dante, in defiance of the pope’s orders, condemned three of the Spini representatives in Rome of treason against Florence. The “board of guild masters,” which now included the Italian poet Dante, defied the pope’s orders and exiled several nobles (June 1300). Boniface, upon hearing this news, threatened to excommunicate the claimants. A group of armed nobles of the Donati faction attacked some of the guild officials. The board of guild masters, defying the pope’s commands, condemned the three and exiled them (June 1300). Boniface, upon hearing this news, threatened to excommunicate the claimants. A group of armed nobles of the Donati faction attacked some of the guild officials. The board of guild masters, now including the Italian poet Dante, in defiance of the pope’s orders, condemned three of the Spini representatives in Rome of treason against Florence. The “board of guild masters,” which now included the Italian poet Dante, defied the pope’s orders and exiled several nobles (June 1300). Boniface, upon hearing this news, threatened to excommunicate the claimants. A group of armed nobles of the Donati faction attacked some of the guild officials. The board of guild masters, defying the pope’s commands, condemned the three and exiled them (June 1300). Boniface, upon hearing this news, threatened to excommunicate the claimants. A group of armed nobles of the Donati faction attacked some of the guild officials. The board of guild masters, now including the Italian poet Dante, in defiance of the pope’s orders, condemned three of the Spini representatives in Rome of treason against Florence. The “board of guild masters,” which now included the Italian poet Dante, defied the pope’s orders and exiled several nobles (June 1300). Boniface, upon hearing this news, threatened to excommunicate the claimants. A group of armed nobles of the Donati faction attacked some of the guild officials. The board of guild masters, defying the pope’s commands, condemned the three and exiled them (June 1300). Boniface, upon hearing this news, threatened to excommunicate the claimants. A group of armed nobles of the Donati faction attacked some of the guild officials. The board of guild masters, now including the Italian poet Dante, in defiance of the pope’s orders, condemned three of the Spini representatives in Rome of treason against Florence. The “board of guild masters,” which now included the Italian poet Dante, defied the pope’s orders and exiled several nobles (June 1300). Boniface, upon hearing this news, threatened to excommunicate the claimants. A group of armed nobles of the Donati faction attacked some of the guild officials. The board of guild masters, defying the pope’s commands, condemned the three and exiled them (June 1300). Boniface, upon hearing this news, threatened to excommunicate the claimants. A group of armed nobles of the Donati faction attacked some of the guild officials. The board of guild masters, now including the Italian poet Dante, in defiance of the pope’s orders, condemned three of the Spini representatives in Rome of treason against Florence. The “board of guild masters,” which now included the Italian poet Dante, defied the pope’s orders and exiled several nobles (June 1300). Boniface, upon hearing this news, threatened to excommunicate the claimants. A group of armed nobles of the Donati faction attacked some of the guild officials. The board of guild masters, defying the pope’s commands, condemned the three and exiled them (June 1300). Boniface, upon hearing this news, threatened to excommunicate the claimants. A group of armed nobles of the Donati faction attacked some of the guild officials. The board of guild masters, now including the Italian poet Dante, in defiance of the pope’s orders, condemned three of the Spini representatives in Rome of treason against Florence. The “board of guild masters,” which now included the Italian poet Dante, defied the pope’s orders and exiled several nobles (June 1300). Boniface, upon hearing this news, threatened to excommunicate the claimants. A group of armed nobles of the Donati faction attacked some of the guild officials. The board of guild masters, defying the pope’s commands, condemned the three and exiled them (June 1300). Boniface, upon hearing this news, threatened to excommunicate the claimants. A group of armed nobles of the Donati faction attacked some of the guild officials. The board of guild masters, now including the Italian poet Dante, in defiance of the pope’s orders, condemned three of the Spini representatives in Rome of treason against Florence. The “board of guild masters,” which now included the Italian poet Dante, defied the pope’s orders and exiled several nobles (June 1300). Boniface, upon hearing this news, threatened to excommunicate the claimants. A group of armed nobles of the Donati faction attacked some of the guild officials. The board of guild masters, defying the pope’s commands, condemned the three and exiled them (June 1300). Boniface, upon hearing this news, threatened to excommunicate the claimants. A group of armed nobles of the Donati faction attacked some of the guild officials. The board of guild masters, now including the Italian poet Dante, in defiance of the pope’s orders, condemned three of the Spini representatives in Rome of treason against Florence. The “board of guild masters,” which now included the Italian poet Dante, defied the pope’s orders and exiled several nobles (June 1300). Boniface, upon hearing this news, threatened to excommunicate the claimants. A group of armed nobles of the Donati faction attacked some of the guild officials. The board of guild masters, defying the pope’s commands, condemned the three and exiled them (June 1300). Boniface, upon hearing this news, threatened to excommunicate the claimants. A group of armed nobles of the Donati faction attacked some of the guild officials. The board of guild masters, now including the Italian poet Dante, in defiance of the pope’s orders, condemned three of the Spini representatives in Rome of treason against Florence. The “board of guild masters,” which now included the Italian poet Dante, defied the pope’s orders and exiled several nobles (June 1300). Boniface, upon hearing this news, threatened to excommunicate the claimants. A group of armed nobles of the Donati faction attacked some of the guild officials. The board of guild masters, defying the pope’s commands, condemned the three and exiled them (June 1300). Boniface, upon hearing this news, threatened to excommunicate the claimants. A group of armed nobles of the Donati faction attacked some of the guild officials. The board of guild masters, now including the Italian poet Dante, in defiance of the pope’s orders, condemned three of the Spini representatives in Rome of treason against Florence. The “board of guild masters,” which now included the Italian poet Dante, defied the pope’s orders and exiled several nobles (June 1300). Boniface, upon hearing this news, threatened to excommunicate the claimants. A group of armed nobles of the Donati faction attacked some of the guild officials. The board of guild masters, defying the pope’s commands, condemned the three and exiled them (June 1300). Boniface, upon hearing this news, threatened to excommunicate the claimants. A group of armed nobles of the Donati faction attacked some of the guild officials. The board of guild masters, now including the Italian poet Dante, in defiance of the pope’s orders, condemned three of the Spini representatives in Rome of treason against Florence. The “board of guild masters,” which now included the Italian poet Dante, defied the pope’s orders and exiled several nobles (June 1300). Boniface, upon hearing this news, threatened to excommunicate the claimants. A group of armed nobles of the Donati faction attacked some of the guild officials. The board of guild masters, defying the pope’s commands, condemned the three and exiled them (June 1300). Boniface, upon hearing this news, threatened to excommunicate the claimants. A group of armed nobles of the Donati faction attacked some of the guild officials. The board of guild masters, now including the Italian poet Dante, in defiance of the pope’s orders, condemned three of the Spini representatives in Rome of treason against Florence. The “board of guild masters,” which now included the Italian poet Dante, defied the pope’s orders and exiled several nobles (June 1300). Boniface, upon hearing this news, threatened to excommunicate the claimants. A group of armed nobles of the Donati faction attacked some of the guild officials. The board of guild masters, defying the pope’s commands, condemned the three and exiled them (June 1300). Boniface, upon hearing this news, threatened to excommunicate the claimants. A group of armed nobles of the Donati faction attacked some of the guild officials. The board of guild masters, now including the Italian poet Dante, in defiance of the pope’s orders, condemned three of the Spini representatives in Rome of treason against Florence. The “board of guild masters,” which now included the Italian poet Dante, defied the pope’s orders and exiled several nobles (June 1300). Boniface, upon hearing this news, threatened to excommunicate the claimants. A group of armed nobles of the Donati faction attacked some of the guild officials. The board of guild masters, defying the pope’s commands, condemned the three and exiled them (June 1300). Boniface, upon hearing this news, threatened to excommunicate the claimants. A group of armed nobles of the Donati faction attacked some of the guild officials. The board of guild masters, now including the Italian poet Dante, in defiance of the pope’s orders, condemned three of the Spini representatives in Rome of treason against Florence. The “board of guild masters,” which now included the Italian poet Dante, defied the pope’s orders and exiled several nobles (June 1300). Boniface, upon hearing this news, threatened to excommunicate the claimants. A group of armed nobles of the Donati faction attacked some of the guild officials. The board of guild masters, defying the pope’s commands, condemned the three and exiled them (June 1300). Boniface, upon hearing this news, threatened to excommunicate the claimants. A group of armed nobles of the Donati faction attacked some of the guild officials. The board of guild masters, now including the Italian poet Dante, in defiance of the pope’s orders, condemned three of the Spini representatives in Rome of treason against Florence. The “board of guild masters,” which now included the Italian poet Dante, defied the pope’s orders and exiled several nobles (June 1300). Boniface, upon hearing this news, threatened to excommunicate the claimants. A group of armed nobles of the Donati faction attacked some of the guild officials. The board of guild masters, defying the pope’s commands, condemned the three and exiled them (June 1300). Boniface, upon hearing this news, threatened to excommunicate the claimants. A group of armed nobles of the Donati faction attacked some of the guild officials. The board of guild masters, now including the Italian poet Dante, in defiance of the pope’s orders, condemned three of the Spini representatives in Rome of treason against Florence. The “board of guild masters,” which now included the Italian poet Dante, defied the pope’s orders and exiled several nobles (June 1300). Boniface, upon hearing this news, threatened to excommunicate the claimants. A group of armed nobles of the Donati faction attacked some of the guild officials. The board of guild masters, defying the pope’s commands, condemned the three and exiled them (June 1300). Boniface, upon hearing this news, threatened to excommunicate the claimants. A group of armed nobles of the Donati faction attacked some of the guild officials. The board of guild masters, now including the Italian poet Dante, in defiance of the pope’s orders, condemned three of the Spini representatives in Rome of treason against Florence. The “board of guild masters,” which now included the Italian poet Dante, defied the pope’s orders and exiled several nobles (June 1300). Boniface, upon hearing this news, threatened to excommunicate the claimants. A group of armed nobles of the Donati faction attacked some of the guild officials. The board of guild masters, defying the pope’s commands, condemned the three and exiled them (June 1300). Boniface, upon hearing this news, threatened to excommunicate the claimants. A group of armed nobles of the Donati faction attacked some of the guild officials. The board of guild masters, now including the Italian poet Dante, in defiance of the pope’s orders, condemned three of the Spini representatives in Rome of treason against Florence. The “board of guild masters,” which now included the Italian poet Dante, defied the pope’s orders and exiled several nobles (June 1300). Boniface, upon hearing this news, threatened to excommunicate the claimants. A group of armed nobles of the Donati faction attacked some of the guild officials. The board of guild masters, defying the pope’s commands, condemned the three and exiled them (June 1300). Boniface, upon hearing this news, threatened to excommunicate the claimants. A group of armed nobles of the Donati faction attacked some of the guild officials. The board of guild masters, now including the Italian poet Dante, in defiance of the pope’s orders, condemned three of the Spini representatives in Rome of treason against Florence. The “board of guild masters,” which now included the Italian poet Dante, defied the pope’s orders and exiled several nobles (June 1300). Boniface, upon hearing this news, threatened to excommunicate the claimants. A group of armed nobles of the Donati faction attacked some of the guild officials. The board of guild masters, defying the pope’s commands, condemned the three and exiled them (June 1300). Boniface, upon hearing this news, threatened to excommunicate the claimants. A group of armed nobles of the Donati faction attacked some of the guild officials. The board of guild masters, now including the Italian poet Dante, in defiance of the pope’s orders, condemned three of the Spini representatives in Rome of treason against Florence. The “board of guild masters,” which now included the Italian poet Dante, defied the pope’s orders and exiled several nobles (June 1300). Boniface, upon hearing this news, threatened to excommunicate the claimants. A group of armed nobles of the Donati faction attacked some of the guild officials. The board of guild masters, defying the pope’s commands, condemned the three and exiled them (June 1300). Boniface, upon hearing this news, threatened to excommunicate the claimants. A group of armed nobles of the Donati faction attacked some of the guild officials. The board of guild masters, now including the Italian poet Dante, in defiance of the pope’s orders, condemned three of the Spini representatives in Rome of treason against Florence. The “board of guild masters,” which now included the Italian poet Dante, defied the pope’s orders and exiled several nobles (June 1300). Boniface, upon hearing this news, threatened to excommunicate the claimants. A group of armed nobles of the Donati faction attacked some of the guild officials. The board of guild masters, defying the pope’s commands, condemned the three and exiled them (June 1300). Boniface, upon hearing this news, threatened to excommunicate the claimants. A group of armed nobles of the Donati faction attacked some of the guild officials. The board of guild masters, now including the Italian poet Dante, in defiance of the pope’s orders, condemned three of the Spini representatives in Rome of treason against Florence. The “board of guild masters,” which now included the Italian poet Dante, defied the pope’s orders and exiled several nobles (June 1300). Boniface, upon hearing this news, threatened to excommunicate the claimants. A group of armed nobles of the Donati faction attacked some of the guild officials. The board of guild masters, defying the pope’s commands, condemned the three and exiled them (June 1300). Boniface, upon hearing this news, threatened to excommunicate the claimants. A group of armed nobles of the Donati faction attacked some of the guild officials. The board of guild masters, now including the Italian poet Dante, in defiance of the pope’s orders, condemned three of the Spini representatives in Rome of treason against Florence. The “board of guild masters,” which now included the Italian poet Dante, defied the pope’s orders and exiled several nobles (June 1300). Boniface, upon hearing this news, threatened to excommunicate the claimants. A group of armed nobles of the Donati faction attacked some of the guild officials. The board of guild masters, defying the pope’s commands, condemned the three and exiled them (June 1300). Boniface, upon hearing this news, threatened to excommunicate the claimants. A group of armed nobles of the Donati faction attacked some of the guild officials. The board of guild masters, now including the Italian poet Dante, in defiance of the pope’s orders, condemned three of the Spini representatives in Rome of treason against Florence. The “board of guild masters,” which now included the Italian poet Dante, defied the pope’s orders and exiled several nobles (June 1300). Boniface, upon hearing this news, threatened to excommunicate the claimants. A group of armed nobles of the Donati faction attacked some of the guild officials. The board of guild masters, defying the pope’s commands, condemned the three and exiled them (June 1300). Boniface, upon hearing this news, threatened to excommunicate the claimants. A group of armed nobles of the Donati faction attacked some of the guild officials. The board of guild masters, now including the Italian poet Dante, in defiance of the pope’s orders, condemned three of the Spini representatives in Rome of treason against Florence. The “board of guild masters,” which now included the Italian poet Dante, defied the pope’s orders and exiled several nobles (June 1300). Boniface, upon hearing this news, threatened to excommunicate the claimants. A group of armed nobles of the Donati faction attacked some of the guild officials. The board of guild masters, defying the pope’s commands, condemned the three and exiled them (June 1300). Boniface, upon hearing this news, threatened to excommunicate the claimants. A group of armed nobles of the Donati faction attacked some of the guild officials. The board of guild masters, now including the Italian poet Dante, in defiance of the pope’s orders, condemned three of the Spini representatives in Rome of treason against Florence. The “board of guild masters,” which now included the Italian poet Dante, defied the pope’s orders and exiled several nobles (June 1300). Boniface, upon hearing this news, threatened to excommunicate the claimants. A group of armed nobles of the Donati faction attacked some of the guild officials. The board of guild masters, defying the pope’s commands, condemned the three and exiled them (June 1300). Boniface, upon hearing this news, threatened to excommunicate the claimants. A group of armed nobles of the Donati faction attacked some of the guild officials. The board of guild masters, now including the Italian poet Dante, in defiance of the pope’s orders, condemned three of the Spini representatives in Rome of treason against Florence. The “board of guild masters,” which now included the Italian poet Dante, defied the pope’s orders and exiled several nobles (June 1300). Boniface, upon hearing this news, threatened to excommunicate the claimants. A group of armed nobles of the Donati faction attacked some of the guild officials. The board of guild masters, defying the pope’s commands, condemned the three and exiled them (June 1300). Boniface, upon hearing this news, threatened to excommunicate the claimants. A group of armed nobles of the Donati faction attacked some of the guild officials. The board of guild masters, now including the Italian poet Dante, in defiance of the pope’s orders, condemned three of the Spini representatives in Rome of treason against Florence. The “board of guild masters,” which now included the Italian poet Dante, defied the pope’s orders and exiled several nobles (June 1300). Boniface, upon hearing this news, threatened to excommunicate the claimants. A group of armed nobles of the Donati faction attacked some of the guild officials. The board of guild masters, defying the pope’s commands, condemned the three and exiled them (June 1300). Boniface, upon hearing this news, threatened to excommunicate the claimants. A group of armed nobles of the Donati faction attacked some of the guild officials. The board of guild masters, now including the Italian poet Dante, in defiance of the pope’s orders, condemned three of the Spini representatives in Rome of treason against Florence. The “board of guild masters,” which now included the Italian poet Dante, defied the pope’s orders and exiled several nobles (June 1300). Boniface, upon hearing this news, threatened to excommunicate the claimants. A group of armed nobles of the Donati faction attacked some of the guild officials. The board of guild masters, defying the pope’s commands, condemned the three and exiled them (June 1300). Boniface, upon hearing this news, threatened to excommunicate the claimants. A group of armed nobles of the Donati faction attacked some of the guild officials. The board of guild masters, now including the Italian poet Dante, in defiance of the pope’s orders, condemned three of the Spini representatives in Rome of treason against Florence. The “board of guild masters,” which now included the Italian poet Dante, defied the pope’s orders and exiled several nobles (June 1300). Boniface, upon hearing this news, threatened to excommunicate the claimants. A group of armed nobles of the Donati faction attacked some of the guild officials. The board of guild masters, defying the pope’s commands, condemned the three and exiled them (June 1300). Boniface, upon hearing this news, threatened to excommunicate the claimants. A group of armed nobles of the Donati faction attacked some of the guild officials. The board of guild masters, now including the Italian poet Dante, in defiance of the pope’s orders, condemned three of the Spini representatives in Rome of treason against Florence. The “board of guild masters,” which now included the Italian poet Dante, defied the pope’s orders and exiled several nobles (June 1300). Boniface, upon hearing this news, threatened to excommunicate the claimants. A group of armed nobles of the Donati faction attacked some of the guild officials. The board of guild masters, defying the pope’s commands, condemned the three and exiled them (June 1300). Boniface, upon hearing this news, threatened to excommunicate the claimants. A group of armed nobles of the Donati faction attacked some of the guild officials. The board of guild masters, now including the Italian poet Dante, in defiance of the pope’s orders, condemned three of the Spini representatives in Rome of treason against Florence. The “board of guild masters,” which now included the Italian poet Dante, defied the pope’s orders and exiled several nobles (June 1300). Boniface, upon hearing this news, threatened to excommunicate the claimants. A group of armed nobles of the Donati faction attacked some of the guild officials. The board of guild masters, defying the pope’s commands, condemned the three and exiled them (June 1300). Boniface, upon hearing this news, threatened to excommunicate the claimants. A group of armed nobles of the Donati faction attacked some of the guild officials. The board of guild masters, now including the Italian poet Dante, in defiance of the pope’s orders, condemned three of the Spini representatives in Rome of treason against Florence. The “board of guild masters,” which now included the Italian poet Dante, defied the pope’s orders and exiled several nobles (June 1300). Boniface, upon hearing this news, threatened to excommunicate the claimants. A group of armed nobles of the Donati faction attacked some of the guild officials. The board of guild masters, defying the pope’s commands, condemned the three and exiled them (June 1300). Boniface, upon hearing this news, threatened to excommunicate the claimants. A group of armed nobles of the Donati faction attacked some of the guild officials. The board of guild masters, now including the Italian poet Dante, in defiance of the pope’s orders, condemned three of the Spini representatives in Rome of treason against Florence. The “board of guild masters,” which now included the Italian poet Dante, defied the pope’s orders and exiled several nobles (June 1300). Boniface, upon hearing this news, threatened to excommunicate the claimants. A group of armed nobles of the Donati faction attacked some of the guild officials. The board of guild masters, defying the pope’s commands, condemned the three and exiled them (June 1300). Boniface, upon hearing this news, threatened to excommunicate the claimants. A group of armed nobles of the Donati faction attacked some of the guild officials. The board of guild masters, now including the Italian poet Dante, in defiance of the pope’s orders, condemned three of the Spini representatives in Rome of treason against Florence. The “board of guild masters,” which now included the Italian poet Dante, defied the pope’s orders and exiled several nobles (June 1300). Boniface, upon hearing this