. We will leave this and will turn to
the Florentines, how they made war against the Sienese, and took the
castle of Vicchio, and that of Mezzano, and Casciole, which pertained
to the Sienese, and encamped themselves against Siena, hard by the
entrance gate by the monastery of S. Petronella; and there they had
brought to them, upon a knoll which could be seen from the city, a
tower wherein they kept their bell; and in contempt of the Sienese,
and as a record of their victory, they filled it with earth and
planted an olive tree in it, the which, until our own days, was still
there. It fell out at that siege that one day the Florentine refugees
gave a feast to Manfred's German soldiers, and having plied them with
wine till they were drunk, in the uproar they incited them to arm
themselves and mount on horseback to assail the host of the
Florentines, promising them large gifts and double pay; and this was
done craftily by the wise, in pursuance of the counsel of Farinata
degli Uberti which he had given in Apulia. The Germans, beside
themselves and hot with wine, sallied forth from Siena and vigorously
assailed the camp of the Florentines, and because they were unprepared
and off their guard, holding as nought the force of the enemy, the
Germans, albeit they were but few folk, did great hurt to the host in
that assault, and many of the people and of the horsemen made a sorry
show in that sudden assault, and fled in terror, supposing that the
assailants were more in number. But in the end, perceiving their
error, they took to arms, and defended themselves against the Germans,
and of all those who sallied forth from Siena not one escaped alive,
for they were all slain and beaten down, and the standard was taken
and dragged through the camp and carried to Florence; and this done,
shortly afterwards the Florentine host returned to Florence.

Sec. 76.--_How King Manfred sent Count Giordano with 800 Germans to
succour the Sienese and the Ghibelline refugees from Florence._

[Sidenote: 1260 A.D.]

The Sienese and the Florentine refugees, perceiving how ill the
Florentines had fared in the assault of so small a number of German
horsemen, considered that if they had a greater number thereof, they
would be victorious in the war. Immediately they provided themselves
with money, procuring from the company of the Salimbeni, which were
merchants of those days, 20,000 florins of gold, and gave them in
pledge the fortress of Tentennan