i_, xii. c. 108.)
Those nobles who were rendered plebeian by favour, were obliged to
change their name and arms."--Hallam's _Middle Ages_, vol. i. p.
435-6.: London, 1834.

"In the history of Florentine families, a singular feature presents
itself; by a practice peculiar to Italy, nay, it is believed to
Florence, families, under certain circumstances, were compelled to
change their arms and their surnames, the origin of which was as
follows. After having long suffered the insolent factions of the great
families to convulse the state, the middle classes, headed indeed by
one of the nobles, by a determined movement, obtained the mastery. To
organize their newly-acquired power, they instituted an office, the
chief at Florence during the republican era, that of Gonfalonier of
Justice; they formed a species of national guard from the whole body of
the citizens, who were again subdivided into companies, under the
command of other officers of inferior dignity, also styled Gonfaloniers
(Bannarets). As soon as any noble committed violence within the walls
of the city, likely to compromise the public peace, or disturb the
quiet of the state, the great bell at the Palazzo Vecchio raised its
alarum, the population flew to arms, and hastened to the spot, where
the Gonfalonier of Justice speedily found himself in a position, not
merely to put an end to the disturbance, but even to lay siege to the
stout massive fortresses which formed the city residences of the
insolent and refractory offenders to which they then withdrew. But the
reforming party did not stop there; by the new constitution, which was
then introduced, the ancient noble families, termed by cotemporary
historians 'i grandi,' and explained to include those only which had
ever been illustrated by the order of knighthood, were all placed under
a severe system of civil restrictions, and their names were entered
upon a roll called the Ordinances of Justice; the immediate effect was
that, losing all political rights, they were placed in a most
disadvantageous position before the law.

"By a remarkable species of democratic liberality, a man or a family
might be emancipated from this position and rendered fit for office,
born again as it were into a new political life, by renouncing their
connections (consorteria) and changing their arms a