ffice of Podesta of
Florence, a cause came for trial before him accusing M. Corso de'
Donati, a noble and powerful citizen among the best in Florence, of
having slain a popolano, a retainer of his associate M. Simone
Galastrone, in a scuffle and fray which they had together, and wherein
that retainer was slain; for which M. Corso Donati refused to pay the
fine and bade justice take its course, trusting in the favour of the
said Podesta, to be granted at the prayers of friends and of the
lords; whereas the people of Florence looked that the said Podesta
should condemn him; and already the standard of justice had been
brought forth to carry the sentence into execution; but he absolved
him; for the which thing, when the said declaration of innocence was
read from the palace of the Podesta, and M. Simone Galastrone was
condemned for having inflicted wounds, the common people cried out:
"Death to the Podesta," and sallied forth in haste from the palace,
crying, "To arms! to arms! long live the people!" and a great number
of the people flew to arms, and especially of the common people, and
rushed to the house of Giano della Bella, their chief; and he, it is
said, sent them with his brother to the palace of the Priors to follow
the gonfalonier of justice; but this they did not do, but came only to
the palace of the Podesta, and furiously assaulted the said palace
with arms and crossbows, and set fire to the gates and burnt them,
and entered in, and seized and scornfully robbed the said Podesta and
his staff. But M. Corso in fear of his life fled from the palace over
the roofs, for then was it not so walled as it is now. And the tumult
displeased the Priors which were very near to the palace of the
Podesta, but by reason of the unbridled populace, they were not able
to hinder it. But some days after, when the uproar had been quieted,
the great men could not rest, in their desire to abase Giano della
Bella, forasmuch as he had been among the chiefs and beginners of the
Ordinances of Justice, and was moreover desirous further to abase the
magnates by taking from the Captains of the Guelf Party the seal and
the common fund of the Party (which fund was very great), and to give
them to the commonwealth; not that he was not a Guelf and of Guelf
stock, but he would fain diminish the power of the magnates. Wherefore
the magnates, seeing themselves thus treated, created a faction
together with the Council of the College of Judges and of