The Eleventh and Twelfth Books of Giovanni Villani's "New Chronicle"

Rala I. Diakité, Matthew T. Sneider

• Publisher: Medieval Institute Publications
• Year: 2022
• ISBN:
  9781501514081
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Italian Literary Criticism
• Index: Literature

Giovanni Villani's New Chronicle traces the history of Europe, Italy, and Florence over a vast sweep of time – from the Tower of Babel to the great earthquake of 1348. In the eleventh and twelfth books, Villani depicts a particularly eventful period in the history of Florence, whose grandeur is illustrated in several famous chapters describing the city's income, expenses, and magnificence. The dramatic account follows Florence's internal affairs as well as its conflicts with powerful lords like Castruccio Castracani and Mastino della Scala. The chronicler's perspective, however, ranges beyond his city, as he documents such events as the imperial coronation of Louis of Bavaria, the penitential pilgrimage of Venturino da Bergamo, and the first campaigns of the Hundred Year's War.

The Eleventh and Twelfth Books of Giovanni Villani’s New Chronicle

Book Eleven

I

Here begins the eleventh book, which recounts the arrival in Florence of Charles, Duke of Calabria and son of King Robert, whose coming was the reason the elected king of the Romans came from Germany to Italy.

Charles, Duke of Calabria¹⁴⁵ and firstborn of King Robert of Jerusalem and of Sicily¹⁴⁶ entered the city of Florence on Wednesday at midday on the 30th of July 1326, with his wife the duchess, daughter of Messer Charles Valois of France, and with the following lords and barons: Messer John, brother of King Robert and Prince of the Morea¹⁴⁷ with his lady; Messer Philip, Despot of Romania, son of the Prince of Taranto, who was nephew of the king;¹⁴⁸ the Count of Squillace, Messer Tommaso di Marzano; the Count of Sanseverino; the Count of Chiermonte; the Counts of Catanzaro and Sangineto in Calabria; the Count of Ariano; the Count Romano di Nola; the Count of Fondi nephew of Pope Boniface; the Count of Minervino; Messer Guglielmo lo Stendardo; Messer Amelio de Baux; the Lord of Berra and the Lord of Merlo; Messer Geoffroy de Joinville; Messer Giacomo di Cantelmo; Carlo Artus of Provence; the Lord of Sanguino; Messer Bernardo di Siri Grori d’Aquino; Messer Guglielmo Lord of Eboli; and many other lords and knights, Frenchmen, Provençals, Catalans, and men Naples and the Regno. When combined with the Provençals who came by sea, they numbered around fifteen hundred knights, not counting the four hundred who served the Duke of Athens. Among these men there were as many as two hundred knights with golden spurs, very handsome and noble men, well-horsed and well-furnished with weapons and equipment—indeed they had as many as fifteen hundred mules decorated with little bells to carry their baggage.¹⁴⁹ He was received by the Florentines with great honor and a procession, after which he lodged in the Palace of the Commune, next to the Badia, where the podestà used to reside and try cases; the podestà and the law courts were moved to Orsanmichele, to the houses that once belonged to the Macci. And one should take note of this great undertaking of the Florentines, for, having suffered so many afflictions and such losses of men and possessions, and having been so broken down, in less than one year, through their efforts and money, they had brought to Florence such a lord and such barons and such chivalry, and also the papal legate—and this was thought a great thing by all Italians, and by everyone, wherever it was known. After the duke had been in Florence for a few days, he sent for the allies: the Sienese sent four hundred fifty knights, the Perugians three hundred knights, the Bolognese two hundred knights, the Orvietans one hundred knights, and the Manfredi Lords of Faenza one hundred knights; Count Ruggero sent three hundred soldiers and Count Ugo came in person with another three hundred soldiers and the levy of foot soldiers from our contado. Everyone believed that the duke was making ready his army, since the preparations were great and since he imposed a levy of sixty thousand gold florins on the wealthy citizens. But then, for whatever reason, the army did not set forth. Some said that this was because his father the king was opposed, hearing that all the tyrants of Lombardy and of Tuscany were preparing to come to the aid of Castruccio to fight against the duke. And some said that because of the way the duke had prepared his forces and laid his plots, and also because the Florentines were exhausted by the expenses, there was little chance of success. Still others said that Castruccio had been in peace negotiations with the legate and with the duke, and that during these negotiations he was receiving aid from the Ghibelline League of Lombardy and had been gathering supplies (and in this way Castruccio fooled the duke, whose undertaking came to nothing). We, who were present, give most credence to this last opinion.¹⁵⁰ Nonetheless, many people said that if the duke, who had so many barons and knights under his command, had been a bold lord and without halting his advance at Siena or Florence had ridden towards Lucca in the months of July and August when Castruccio was very sick, then he would certainly have won the war.¹⁵¹

II

How the duke began a dispute with the Florentines in order to extend his lordship.

Then on the 29th of the following August, the duke insisted on declaring his lordship to the Florentines, and extending the powers granted to him by the pacts. Specifically he wished to be able to freely appoint priors at his will, and appoint judges and officials and those in charge of guarding castelli both in the city and in the contado, and to be able to make war and peace at his own discretion, and to accept exiles and rebels back into Florence, regardless of the terms granted in the earlier pacts. And he had himself reconfirmed in lordship for ten years, starting on the first day of September 1326. And this change caused great fear in Florence, because the grandi and the powerful people were conspiring to break the Ordinances of Justice of the popolo and wanted to give unlimited rule to the duke for an indefinite term, that he should answer to no one; and they did this neither out of love for or faith in the duke, nor because they wished him to rule in this manner, but solely in order to undo the popolo and the Ordinances of Justice. The duke received wise counsel in this matter and took the side of the popolo, which had given him lordship, and thus the city was calmed, and the grandi were very disappointed.

III

How the cardinal publicly passed sentence against Castruccio and the Bishop of Arezzo.

Now, the cardinal legate realized that Castruccio and the Bishop of Arezzo had kept him occupied in negotiations about an accord and about following his commands. And so, on the 30th of August, in the Piazza Santa Croce, in the presence of the duke and all his men, and the Florentines, and foreigners, as mentioned on the previous page, the cardinal legate publicly passed harsh sentence of excommunication against him on several counts—as a schismatic, and supporter of heretics, and persecutor of the Church—stripping him of every dignity, pronouncing that any man could harm him or his followers in their goods and in their persons without sin, and excommunicating whoever might give him help or favor; the cardinal legate excommunicated the Bishop of Arezzo of the Tarlati family in a similar way, and deprived him of his bishopric, both spiritually and temporally.¹⁵²

IV

On the failure of the Scali company of Florence.

In those days, on the 4th of August, the company of the Scali and the Amieri and the Petri sons of Florence, a company that had lasted more than one hundred twenty years, failed, and its partners found themselves in debt to Florentine citizens and to foreigners for more than four hundred thousand gold florins. This was a greater defeat for the Florentines than that of Altopascio—though without the casualties—since whoever had money in Florence lost it when the company failed. And so, the Florentines that year suffered great persecution from all sides, by defeats, by sickness, by loss of possessions burned and ruined, and by loss of money. Many other good companies of Florence, because of the failure of this one, were no longer trusted, which caused them great harm.¹⁵³

V

How walls were built for the castello di Signa by the Florentines.

In the said year 1326, on the 14th day of September, the Florentines, seeing that the duke their lord was not prepared to lead an army or conduct raids against Castruccio, the Lord of Lucca, nor attack with his knights that year, ordered that Signa and Gangalandi be rebuilt and strengthened, so that the plain and the contado on that side could be cultivated—and this was done. Signa was walled with beautiful tall walls, and with beautiful and strong towers, using money from the Commune of Florence, and any inhabitant of Signa who rebuilt his house was given a certain immunity and reprieve from taxes. And Gangalandi decided to rebuild the parish church on the hill that descends towards the Arno River, above the head of the bridge; they dug the ditches, but the work was not completed at that time.

VI

This chapter recounts the Duke of Calabria’s first campaign against Castruccio.

In the said year, at the beginning of October, the Duke of Calabria, Lord of Florence, arranged with Spinetta, the Marquess Malaspina,¹⁵⁴ that the marquess would enter his lands in Lunigiana so as to make war against Castruccio from that side. The duke hired three hundred knights in Lombardy for him while the legate of Lombardy¹⁵⁵ gave him two hundred knights from the Church and he brought one hundred from Verona from his lord Messer Cane.¹⁵⁶ And he crossed the mountains from Parma and came into his lands, and laid siege to the castello di Verrucola Bosi—a castello that Castruccio had captured from him. At the very same time, from the other side, some exiles from Pistoia, acting at the behest of the duke but without the knowledge or the advice of anyone in Florence, caused two castelli in the peaks and mountains of Pistoia—Cavignano and Mammiano— to rebel against Castruccio. Seeing himself assailed in such a manner, even though the month before, in August, he had nearly died from an injury to his leg, Castruccio prepared to defend himself as a valiant lord, with vigor and energy, and found a way to protect his position by immediately placing an encampment and very strong fortifications—or forts—near these two castelli. And he and most of his cavalry rode to Pistoia to supply his host and to block the duke and the Florentines, so they would not be able to come to the aid of the castelli. It now seemed to the Duke of Calabria and his council that their plan had not been wise, but since he had promised his aid to those castelli he sent them the German company of two hundred knights in the hire of the Florentines, and another one hundred soldiers with five hundred foot soldiers, captained by Messer Biagio de’ Tornaquinci of Florence. The troops made their way into the mountains, but because of the difficult passes and the great snowfall in those days, they did not dare march down to relieve the castelli. The duke, hearing of the siege by a strong force of Castruccio’s men, had almost all his men and allies ride to Prato—there were around two thousand knights and many foot soldiers. Messer Tommaso, Count of Squillace, split off from this army, departing from Prato with three hundred chosen knights; with him were Messer Amerigo Donati and Messer Giannozzo Cavalcanti with one thousand foot soldiers; they went up into the mountains to attack and to resupply the two castelli by force. The other knights and the popolo which was in Prato rode all the way to the gates of Pistoia, made camp at the castellare del Montale, and stayed encamped there for three days. And during this time, there was a most fierce storm of wind and water, and in the mountains, snow—worse than anything people could recall for the longest time—and so the men who were at Montale, unable to keep their tents up, were forced to break camp and return to Prato. And once they had broken camp, they withdrew in such an undisciplined fashion that if Castruccio had been in Pistoia, they would have had much to do to defend themselves. In the meantime, our men in the mountains were barely surviving, because of the great cold and snow, and their provisions were running out, and so because they were suffering from want, and because Castruccio and all his men had ridden from Pistoia and reinforced the host and captured the passes that led to the said castelli, it was impossible for the duke’s men to in any way resupply the said castelli—indeed they were at risk of being ambushed. If they had waited a little for Castruccio’s men to gather in larger numbers and to spread across the mountain passes, not one of them would have escaped, and even as it was, they had much trouble and left many horses and exhausted pack animals in the mountains, and were forced to return through the contado of Bologna. When the duke’s men had left, the people inside the said two castelli fled by night, but most were killed and captured. And our men returned to Florence on the 20th of October with dishonor and shame. After Castruccio took the said castelli, he did not return to Pistoia or go back to Lucca, but, like an attentive and worthy lord, crossed through the mounta...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Introduction I – Historical Introduction
• Introduction II – The Transmission of Villani’s Nuova Cronica: Manuscripts, Rewritings, and Print
• Notes on the Translation
• The Eleventh and Twelfth Books of Giovanni Villani’s New Chronicle
• Bibliography
• Index