after what fashion they should
punish him, whether by beating or killing, Mosca de' Lamberti said the
evil word: 'Thing done has an end'; to wit, that he should be slain;
and so it was done; for on the morning of Easter of the Resurrection
the Amidei of San Stefano assembled in their house, and the said M.
Bondelmonte coming from Oltrarno, nobly arrayed in new white apparel,
and upon a white palfrey, arriving at the foot of the Ponte Vecchio on
this side, just at the foot of the pillar where was the statue of
Mars, the said M. Bondelmonte was dragged from his horse by Schiatta
degli Uberti, and by Mosca Lamberti and Lambertuccio degli Amidei
assaulted and smitten, and by Oderigo Fifanti his veins were opened
and he was brought to his end; and there was with them one of the
counts of Gangalandi. For the which thing the city rose in arms and
tumult; and this death of M. Bondelmonte was the cause and beginning
of the accursed parties of Guelfs and Ghibellines in Florence, albeit
long before there were factions among the noble citizens and the said
parties existed by reason of the strifes and questions between the
Church and the Empire; but by reason of the death of the said M.
Bondelmonte all the families of the nobles and the other citizens of
Florence were divided, and some held with the Bondelmonti, who took
the side of the Guelfs, and were its leaders, and some with the
Uberti, who were the leaders of the Ghibellines, whence followed much
evil and disaster to our city, as hereafter shall be told; and it is
believed that it will never have an end, if God do not cut it short.
And surely it shows that the enemy of the human race, for the sins of
the Florentines, had power in that idol of Mars, which the pagan
Florentines of old were wont to worship, that at the foot of his
statue such a murder was committed, whence so much evil followed to
the city of Florence. The accursed names of the Guelf and Ghibelline
parties are said to have arisen first in Germany by reason that two
great barons of that country were at war together, and had each a
strong castle the one over against the other, and the one had the name
of Guelf, and the other of Ghibelline, and the war lasted so long,
that all the Germans were divided, and one held to one side, and the
other to the other; and the strife even came as far as to the court of
Rome, and all the court took part in it, and the one side was called
that of Guelf, and the other that of Ghibel