out, with victory and honour, and fattening upon the goods of
the exiled Ghibellines, and through other gains--by reason of pride
and envy began to strive among themselves; whence arose in Florence
many quarrels and enmities between the citizens, with death and
wounds. Among the greater of these was the contest between the house
of the Adimari on the one side, which were very great and powerful,
and on the other side the Tosinghi, and the house of the Donati, and
the Pazzi, all leagued together against the Adimari in such sort that
almost all the city was divided, and one held with one side, and one
with the other; wherefore the city and the Guelf party were in great
peril. For the which thing the commonwealth and the Captains of the
Guelf party sent their solemn ambassadors to the court to Pope
Nicholas, that he should take counsel, and give aid in making peace
among the Guelfs of Florence; if not, the Guelf party would be broken
up, and one side would drive out the other. And in like guise the
Ghibelline refugees from Florence sent their ambassadors to the said
Pope, to pray and entreat him to put into execution the treaty of
peace which Pope Gregory IX. had commanded between them and the Guelfs
of Florence. For the foregoing reasons the said Pope put forth and
confirmed the said treaty, and ordained a mediator and legate, and
committed the said questions to the Cardinal Frate Latino which
represented the Church in Romagna; a man of great authority and
learning, and highly considered by the Pope, who, by command of the
Pope, departed from Romagna, and came to Florence with 300 horsemen,
in service of the Church, on the eighth day of the month of October,
in the year of Christ 1278, and by the Florentines and the clergy was
received with great honour and with a procession, the carroccio coming
out to meet him, with many jousters; and afterwards the said legate on
the day of S. Luke the Evangelist in that same year and month, founded
and blest the first stone of the new church of Santa Maria Novella,
which pertained to the Order of Preaching Friars, whereof he was a
friar; and in that place of the friars he dealt with and ordained
generally the treaties of peace between all the Guelf citizens, and
between the Guelfs and Ghibellines. And the first was between the
Uberti and the Bondelmonti (and it was the third peace between them),
save only that the sons of M. Rinieri Zingane de' Bondelmonte would
not consent thereto, an