se were damned
souls, and that to similar pains was condemned the soul of the Marquis
Hugh by reason of his worldly life, unless he should repent. With great
fear he commended himself to the Virgin Mary, and when the vision was
ended he remained so pricked in spirit, that after his return to
Florence he sold all his patrimony in Germany and commanded that seven
monasteries should be founded. The first was the Badia of Florence, to
the honour of St. Mary; the second, that of Bonsollazzo, where he beheld
the vision; the third was founded at Arezzo, the fourth at Poggibonizzi,
the fifth at the Verruca of Pisa, the sixth at the city of Castello, the
last was the one at Settimo; and all these abbeys he richly endowed,
and lived afterwards with his wife in holy life, and had no son, and
died in the city of Florence on St. Thomas's Day in the year of Christ
1006, and was buried with great honour in the Badia of Florence.
Tronci[52] says, that beside the Badia di S. Michele di Verruca outside
Pisa, "this most pious Marquis" founded also the Church of S. Niccolo,
for the use of the Monks of S. Michele Fuori. The Church of S. Niccolo
has been altogether restored. The Campanile, however, the oldest tower
left in the city, is strange and lovely. It has been given to Niccolo
Pisano, but is certainly older than his day, and, resembling as it does
the tower of the Badia at Florence and of the Badia at Settimo, seems to
be of the same date as the church. There is a gallery joining the church
with the palace of the Grand Dukes, to which it served as chapel.

Coming as one does out from this narrow deserted street of S. Maria into
the space and breadth of the Piazza del Duomo, one is almost blinded by
the sudden light and glory of the sun on those buildings, that seem to
be made of old ivory intricately carved and infinitely noble. Standing
there as though left stranded upon some shore that life has long
deserted, they are an everlasting witness to the Latin genius, symbols
as it were of what has had to be given up so that we may follow life at
the heels of the barbarian Teuton.

It was in 1063,[53] after the great victory at Palermo, that the ships
of the Republic returning full of spoil, "after much discourse made in
the Senate,"[54] it was decided at last to build "a most magnificent
temple" to S. Maria Assunta, for it was about the time of her Festa,
that is to say, the 15th August, that the victory had been won. This
having been de