after the introduction of that office, they conti- in office." The gonfalonier, by the duty of his office, was bound to fend out, with the confent and participation of the anziani, the standard of justice, to affemble together the armed militia, and go out to do execution against any of the grandees (magnati); which gonfalonier of juftice, fays the law, hall be bound by the obligation of an oath, and under the penalty of five hundred pounds, upon the commiffion of any homicide, to draw forth the ftandard of juftice, and, together with the captain of the people, to go to the houfe of the grandee committing fuch homicide, or caufing it to be committed, and to caufe his goods to be destroyed, and not to fuffer the faid ftandard to repofe,: until all the property of fuch delinquent shall be totally deftroyed and laid waste, both in the city and the country; and to caufe the bell of the people to be rung, if to the lords, the anziani and the gonfalonier of juftice, it fhall feem expedient, or the major part of them; and all the shops, ftores, and warehouses, shall be shut immediately upon the commiffion of fuch homicide, and shall not be opened till execution fhall be done as aforefaid. But in all other offences perpetrated against against the perfon of any popular man by any grandee, it fhall be in the difcretion of the faid lords, the anziani and the gonfalonier of juttice, or the major part of them, to draw out the faid ftandard or not. Such a rigorous kind of juftice, as it regarded the grandees, who gave themselves a licence to commit exceffive diforders against the popular men, was thought to be the best adapted to their infolence. And to undeceive thofe who may imagine that in Piftoia, at that time, the title of grandees was a refpectable title, and diftinctive of the true nobility of the place, it is neceffary to have recourfe to the ufual municipal laws, which fay, that the magnati (grandees) were all thofe, of whatever condition, who, abandoned to an ill life, offended the popular men, and held the city and country in inquietude; and for this reafon were called Magnates, became feparated from all public affairs, and excluded entirely from all magiftracies and offices, and fubjected to penalties ftill more 1330. rigorous. By the laws of the years 1330 and 1344. 1344, to be declared a grandee was rather an infamy than an honour. The words of the law are thefe; viz. "But if it fhall happen that men of any race, or noble houfe, or any one of them from fuch a noble houfe or ftock, born of the male line, or any others, live wickedly and flagitioufly against the people, hurt the popular men, and terrify and disturb the peaceful ftate of the people, or fhall endeavour to do fo by himself or by others, and this fhall be made known by public fame to the captain of the people, and the anziani and gonfalonier of juftice for the time being, thefe magiftrates, at the petition of any of the people of Pistoia, fhall be obliged to propofe to the council of the people, that fuch a noble houfe or progeny, fuch a man or number of men, thus defamed, be written and 2 placed placed in the number of grandees, and as fuch be accounted."* And as the Piftoians were driven to great perplexities to maintain, in peace and quiet, their popular government, and in order to punish feverely all thofe who fhould take the licence to disturb the pacific ftate of their city, they proclaimed this penalty on all delinquents, by a law of the year 1418, rubric 9. "But if it (hall 1418 happen that any one of any noble house or race, or any one of any other condition, fhall live wickedly and profligately, or fhall commit, or attempt to commit, any fuch crime or misdemeanor against the people, and the pacific state of the people of the city of Pistoia, they fhall be recorded in the number of grandees, and accounted as fuch." To fuch extremes of caprice and violence, destructive of all liberty and fafety, are fuch governments naturally and neceffarily reduced. The city of Piftoia had alfo in its regimen a fyndic. This was an officer who was called an Elder, or Syndic General, who must be forty years of age, and live forty miles from the city. His duty was to look over the accounts of the podefta, the captain of the people, the anziani, and all the magiftrates and officers of the city and its diftrict, when they refigned or were difmiffed * Scribantur et ponantur in numero magnatum et potentuin, et pro magnatibus et potentibus habeantur. Fioravanti, p. 22. + The devices on the standards, feals, and coins of the republic, as well as all other antiquities, are not within the defign of this effay; but there was on one of their ftandards an idea that contained the trueft emblem of their government-a lamb purfued by a wolf, with the motto, Pace, richezza, fuperbia; guerra, poverta, umilta: Peace, riches, and pride; war, poverty, and humility. If the wolf is conftrued to fignify the majority, and the lamb the minority, as there was neither a fhepherd nor thepherd's dog to interpofe between them, the refemblance is perfect.. C VOL. III. from from their charges. There were, moreover, according to the law of 1402, judges of appeals in all caufes, civil, criminal, and mixed; and to them belonged the cognizance of all difputes and regulations concerning provifions: they alfo fuperintended the fumptuary laws, against all luxurious exceffes in the drefs and ornaments of the ladies; and they entertained a number of notaries, and a numerous family and court, for the execution of all fervices appertaining to their offices. The city of Pistoia being in this ftate of go1355. vernment, in 1355 the emperor Charles the Fourth arrived at Pifa, and the citizens appeared before his Imperial majefty, and gave him the demonstrations of vaffalage and obedience due to the fovereignty which he held over their city. The emperor confirmed to them all the privileges granted by his auguft predeceffors; and defirous of fixing the reputation and reverence for the dignity of the gonfaloniers of justice, he enlarged their authority, as well as that of the anziani; and wishing to make the Pistoians enjoy, quietly, fome fpecies of liberty, he gave them, by a diploma of the 26th of May, the faculty of living and governing themselves, according to their laws and laudable customs, in a free, popular state, under the regency of the anziani and the gonfaloniers of juftice, declaring both the anziani and the gonfaloniers, for the affairs of Piftoia and its dominion, his vicars, and vicars of the empire, for the whole term of his own life. "The anziani," fays the diploma," and the gonfalonier of justice of the people, and commons of Piftoia, who now are, and for the time to come fhall be, in office, and no others, we conftitute our general and irrevocable vicars, for the whole term of our life, with the full adminiftration in the city, country, and 2 diftrict district of Pistoia, and in all its lands, castles, and places." Piftoia maintained itself in this state of a republic as long as Charles the Fourth lived; and, taking advantage of the diftance and negligence of his fucceffors, they perfevered in the fame government until the year 1401, when the 1401. emperor Robert, by his charter, declared the gonfalonier and priors of the arts of the city of Florence his vicars, and vicars of the empire, and gave them the government of Arezzo, Volterra, Piftoia, and the other places of Tufcany. But in the interval between these periods, the Pistoians were never quiet; for, governing themselves in what they called a free popular state, they were for reducing all to a level, and thought, or pretended, to make all the citizens enjoy equally the public honours and offices of their city. In this ftate of things, the rebellion of Sambuca was fomented by fome of the citizens of Pistoia, at the head of whom was Riccardo Cancellieri, who had Cancelmade himself mafter of feveral caftles in the moun- lieri. tains; from whence he made inroads on the whole territory of Pistoia, and kept the inhabitants in continual alarms, with the defign of delivering his country into the hands of John Galeazzo Visconti, duke of Milan. Upon this occafion the imperial vicars in Florence fent, for the protection of Piftoia, two thousand infantry, fome cavalry, and three commiffaries, who, calling together the general council, impofed upon the counsellors the neceffity of doing whatever was required of them, that they might not incur ftill greater miferies. In the first place, they required that every refolution and ftatute of liberty, and every condition, article, and confederation, which the city had, fhould be annulled; and then, by another refolution, that they should fubject themfelves to the people of C 2 Florence, |
