VI.

The little army of Charles, dragging its artillery with lacerated hands across the Apennines, cutting its way through the Venetian forces at Fornovo, arrived at last in Asti; and, when August came, theprospect of peace began to brighten before them. The King had come to terms with Florence; and—granted the inevitable treachery of the situation—the Treaty of Turin was not unkind. It is true that the King agreed to restore the city of Pisa, with the other Tuscan fortresses, to his ally of Florence; but on the express proviso of not merely an amnesty for the Pisans. Henceforth they were to trade by sea and land on equal terms with Florence, they were to enjoy the same civil rights, their ancient arts of navigation and ship-building were to be released from embargo, and their sequestered property was to be given back to their possession. Charles had put his muzzle on the hound; Pisa, though restored to her immemorial energy, should henceforth be protected by the chief ally of Florence.

It was, in fact, a comparative equality that Charles proposed. Still remaining an intrinsic part of the Florentine territory, as indeed the safety and prosperity of that Republic demanded, henceforth the admirable commercial situation of Pisa was not to be turned merely to a Florentine profit, nor were the Pisans to be entirely governed for Florentine ends and by a Florentine Council. In their government henceforth the Pisans themselves should have a place and a right; and the only exclusive advantage which the Florentines should retain would be that superior dignity, that reserve of power, with which a powerful mother-country inevitably controls her colonies and her dependencies. Henceforth in law, in all that can be assessed by franchise and by jurisdiction, the Pisans should stand on an equal footing with the Florentines.

This decided, Charles, satisfied he had been unfair to nobody, on August 16th, wrote from Turin a letter to Entragues, signed with his own signature and countersigned by Orange, Vincula, Briçonnet,GiéGié, De la Trémouille, Commines, and (somewhat to our surprise) Piennes. This list of names is eloquent of the triumph of the diplomatic party; Ligny is not there, nor D’Amboise nor Étienne de Beaucaire, though these were among the nearest of the Royal counsellors. It was, in fact, necessary that something should be done at once. Orleans and his men were still starving in beleaguered Novara; Montpensier and the army were fighting at desperate odds in Naples. Peace with Florence would immediately place in the hands of the King 70,000 ducats and 250 men-at-arms;[131]besides releasing the soldiers in Pisa, Murrone, Leghorn, Sarzana, Pietra Santa, and Librafatta, who with the Florentine contingent would be an efficient succour to Montpensier. But Florence would not pay the money until the fortresses were in her hand.

The King’s letter to Entragues arrived in Pisa on the 29th of August. “You may feel,” the letter ran,[132]“on account of your oath, a certain difficulty in placing the new Citadel of Pisa in other hands than ours, but we absolve and discharge you of that oath, and command you, so soon as you receive this letter, incontinent to deliver the said Citadel of Pisa into the hand of the Commissioners of Florence, provided thatone or any of our Councillors assure you that the Government of Florence have accorded and agreed to our Articles.”

“A cause du serment que vous avez fait, vous pourriez différer de ne mettre la dicte Citadelle neufve de Pise en aultres mains que les nostres.”This phrase conveys the suggestion that on leaving Pisa, Charles had promised a permanent French protection to the city. At least it seems clear that Entragues had sworn to yield his position only to the French.

These three months Entragues and his men had lived as the saviours of Pisa with the Pisans, feted by the citizens, lodged not only in the citadel but in the palace of the Medici upon Lung’ Arno; no longer an insignificant portion of the motley hosts of France, but the beloved guests and masters of this exquisite Southern city. They had the advantage of the port from which to ship a succour to or from the armies in the South; they enjoyed the great pine-woods of the sea, full of game for hunting; they had grown to love the wide, soft views of fertile plains bounded by a dim line of blue mountains where their comrades held the frontier castles. The position of the French in Pisa was not only felicitous, but strong; and they were required to abandon it into the hands of the Florentines, allies, it is true, of their king, but to them desperate and deadly enemies with whom, in defiance of the truce, they had continually waged an aggravated and embittering guerilla war of raids and plunder. And these three months, which had increased the original suspicion and dislike which the French army entertained of Florence, had been spentin befriending and helping the Pisans, for whom even at the first they had felt so divine a rage of pity, and whom they were now commanded to betray. Most of the men had probably made relations in the town. Entragues as we know from Guicciardini, was much in love with, and probably deeply influenced by, the daughter of Messer Luca del Lante; and a little later he married either this or some other Pisan lady, for Marin Sanuto speaks of San Cassano, the Pisan Ambassador at Venice, as“el cugnato d’Andrages.”Thus passion, no less than resentment, and the sense of well-being as well as compassion bound Entragues to Pisa. Add to this, incredible as it may seem, the sentiment of loyalty; for long as was the reign of Louis XI., it had not been long enough to extirpate the feudal idea, and Entragues, although the subject of the King, felt himself in a far more intimate degree the vassal of Orleans, and the lieutenant of Ligny. Now, as I have said, the names of Orleans and Ligny are conspicuously absent from the signatures below the letter of the King. To yield Pisa would have been to reverse their policy; and it is possible (to Commines, Guicciardini, Giulini, Porto Venere, and other contemporaries, it appeared quite certain) that Orleans or Ligny wrote to Entragues, and bade him resist the decision of the King. This much at least is sure:Entragues refused to yield the fortresses.

Vainly the King reiterated his urgent letters—imploring letters, still preserved in the Florence Archives under the dates of the 29th and 31st of August, the 25th of September, the 1st and 22nd of October—letters, beseeching, commanding theevacuation of the garrisons, but all in vain. Not only Pisa, but Sarzana, Pietra Santa, Librafatta, and Murrone, obstinately held out against the royal mandate; only the Governor of Leghorn, on the 17th of September, yielded to the entreaties of his sovereign. Meanwhile in Naples, in Gaeta, Taranto, and Atella, in all the desolate villages of the wild Abbruzzi, the famished and abandoned army looked northwards, in vain, day after day across the mountains. Winter began to whistle shrilly across the windy hills; blue mists and subtle fevers rose out of the marshy valleys; corn failed, and a cruel famine began to devastate the land; and still the promised reinforcements never came. Of that gallant army nearly every soldier should perish by hunger, shipwreck, or malaria; for the troops that were to bring them a succour out of Tuscany never left the cities where they dwelt.

On the 18th of September, Entragues drew up a formal treaty with the Signory of Pisa. If in three months the King did not re-enter Tuscany, he bound himself to evacuate the citadel, and leave it in the hands of Pisa. Meanwhile they were to supply him every month with the two thousand ducats necessary to pay and provision the garrison; and on his abandonment of the fortress they were to purchase his artillery and to give him the sum of 20,000 (or as Sanuto has it, 30,000) ducats for himself. These terms were not excessive: the Florentines a few years ago had cheerfully paid 150,000 ducats as the price of Pietro Santa, a less important place. It was, however, as much as Pisa could pay: and to raisethe sum the ladies of Pisa cheerfully sold the brightest of their jewels. And the Pisans in their gratitude for the staunchness and moderation of Entragues awarded him a large estate, newly confiscated from the Florentines, and a palace in the city. “It cannot be for money that he did it,” remarks Guicciardini, “for certainly the Florentines would have given him twice as much.” It was probably out of friendship and pity, out of a genuine enthusiasm, out of an antiquated sentiment of feudal devotion, combined with a desire to make a profit, that Entragues committed this fatal and disastrous error.

The Florentines were indeed in a peculiarly evil case; for Charles, who was their ally, found himself powerless to procure them the restitution of Pisa; and the Italian cities were resolved that, at no risk, must Pisa pass to the ally of Charles. That post, in the hands of the friends of France, would mean not merely a door always open from Marseilles into Tuscany, but a continual supply of help to the French garrisons in Naples. It was certain that Pisa must be kept, yet Pisa was too weak to stand alone; plot and counter-plot darkened the decision as to which great State the port of Pisa should belong.

From the 16th of September to the 14th of December, Captain Fracassa, the Duke of Milan’s captain, held the town, dogged by the jealous surveillance of a Venetian commissary, while Entragues and his Frenchmen shut themselves inside thecitadel. A few months later the Sienese, Lucchese, and Genoese, united in a secret league with Pisa against the Florentines. Milan and Venice wove a ceaseless web of intrigue around the place. And it is quite possible that by persisting in the citadel, Entragues may have been animated by a lofty and heroic disobedience, hoping by his presence to maintain Pisa in fidelity to France, and to prevent it from strengthening the hands of the deadly enemies of his country.

Be this as it may, on the 1st of January, Entragues, having some days ago assisted at the expulsion of Fracassa, placed the citadel in the hands of the Pisan Signory. Great was the joy. Before the falling of the night, the hated fortress, built by the Florentines to dominate the town, was a shapeless heap of ruins. New money was struck, bearing the head of Charles VIII.; and salvo on salvo of artillery rang right across the plain to the very walls of Florence, announcing with a threat the dawn of the New Year, which had begun with liberty in Pisa.

Entragues himself, rich in the price of the gems of Pisan beauty, retired for a month or two to Lucca, to conclude his traffic on the fortresses. Pietra Santa he sold to Lucca, Sarzana to Genoa. He did a good turn to Pisa, distributing them, for a round sum, among her allies. But if he hoped that Pisa would maintain her independence by the protection of these humbler friends he must easily have been deceived: it was no later than the 26th of January when Messer Gianbernardin del Agnolo was sent to Venice with a humble message, entreating the august protection of thatcity for the young Republic. It was Venice, rather than Milan, to whom the Pisans turned—Venice preponderate now in the Peninsula, sheltering in secret Pisa and Taranto under her wide-reaching ægis. During thirteen years from this date the shifting fortunes, the greeds and jealousies of the great Italian cities, fostered an artificial liberty in Pisa. Thrown like a ball from Milan to Venice, Venice to Maximilian, Max again to Venice, and thence to Cæsar Borgia, the unhappy Republic described the whole circle of desperate hope, agonized courage, misery, poverty, cunning, and betrayal. But with the anguish of her heroic vicissitudes we have, at this moment, no concern. The conduct of Entragues is our affair.

From that New Year’s Day all hope was over for the French in Naples. Gaeta, Taranto, Atella, Ostia fell; Montpensier died of heartbreak, the troops of fever; the great Guelf kingdom, the vision of so many centuries, disappeared like fairy gold as soon as the French had grasped it.

In France, the Count of Ligny, Entragues’ patron, was banished from the Court in disgrace. “He is gone to his estates in Picardy,” wrote Antonio Vincivera, “like a desperate creature. The King has disgraced him because of the affair of Pisa.” Thus Entragues, in the most effectual manner, had ruined his master’s chances: and though in time Ligny was pardoned by the King, it was not in the lifetime of his bride. In February, 1498, the daughter of the Mages expired, far from the arms of Ligny, in her Nunnery at Naples.

But if the action of Entragues proved unfortunate to his friends, it had a more deadly consequence to his enemies in Florence. The party of Savonarola never recovered that failure of the French to give back Pisa. For some time, amid famine, pestilence, and ruin, they kept a weakening hold upon the city: “And still they stand in hope of the things above,” mocks Maron Sanuto, in the spring of 1497, “and still they expect the coming of the King.” A year later, in the May of 1498, Savonarola expiated that delusion by the flaming penance of the stake.“Questa è la fine dei cattivi!”ejaculates the Venetian Secretary.

Of all the actors in this complicated drama, the one person who suffered not at all was that dishonoured liberator, Entragues himself. He went back to live in Pisa where he seems to have displayed an eminent and almost official dignity. Twice in moments of difficulty it was proposed that Entragues should be sent as envoy to Venice, in place of his brother-in-law; but the necessity passed away. He remained in comfort and splendour in Pisa, where we read of his receiving the Lucchese ambassadors and conducting the diplomacy of the Republic. Pisa herself—unhappy devotee of liberty!—grew poorer and ever poorer, a humble pensioner on Venetian bounty: “They adore us,” remarks Sanuto with some fatuity, “and, of a verity, they would starve without us.” But, shorn of all her territories as she was, Pisa housed her liberator in a palace, and little did it matter to this voluntary exile that his King declared a readiness to decapitate him with royalhands. Meanwhile he remained the natural centre of all dignity in Pisa. Here we catch a last glimpse of him in that sinister spring of 1498 which witnessed in Florence the martyrdom of Savonarola and in France the sudden death of Charles VIII. The whirlwind that destroyed these mighty vessels allowed the idle straw to float unharmed. “Entragues is back in Pisa,” writes Sanuto, “which city is very poor now, having lost all her lands and subsisting only on that which we afford her. He has returned some time from his visit to Jerusalem. He lives with certain families in Pisa. He has money of his own, and gives himself his pleasures.”

Five years later, when the eminence of Venice was dangerously threatened by Italian jealousy, the Pisans began to look about for a new Protector. “We will offer ourselves to the Devil,” they declared, “rather than to Florence.” As a matter of fact they offered themselves to Cæsar Borgia. They made very few conditions: two of them are noteworthy in view of the present history:

“The Pisans will bestow themselves upon Il Valentino if neither he nor the Pope will ever make peace or truce with Florence.

“The new Duke must promise the city never to make any peace or league with France.”

118. On October 30, 1403, he wrote to Florence and offered to take one of the finest cities of the Milanese between Milan and Piedmont if Florence would afford him (as indeed she offered to do) an aid of 200 lances (Florence Archives, Filza II. dei Dieci 3). Nothing appears to have come of this arrangement, which appears to have been quite uncountenanced by the King.

119. See the preceding chapter on Valentine Visconti.

120. See a manuscript letter, I believe imprinted, in the Florence Archives,Dieci di Balia, Classe x. dist. iii. No. 2, fo. 56:Istruzione data a Pierotto Fidini: “Andrai a Pisa e sarai con Madonna Agnese e dicele che tu ciai (ci hai) referito quello chella ta detta (ch’ella ti ha detta) e, uditolo, noi siamo contenti seguitare il ragionemento, cioè di contrarre con lei buona pace e sicura si che tra lei e noi non abbia da essere guerra. Ma che, per fare contento il nostro popolo, e mostrargli come cosa sia sicura che guerra non glisiasiafatta a noi, è bisogno chella metta nelle mani del Comune nostro quatro Castella colle loro forteze, di quelle del Terreno di Pisa che per noi si nomineranno et vogliendo ella fare questo noi verremo alla pace e alla concordia realmente.“Se ella dinegasse questo volere fare, avendo tu prima provato e riprovato chella il consento, et ella dicesse di volere mettere le dette castelle colle forteze loro in mano di terza persona fidata a lei ed a noi, dirai in ultimo che noi siamo contenti. E se questo ella non movesse a te ma stessesi pure in su la negativa—di non ci volere dare le dette castella—allora moverai tu a lei dicendo che, poi che non le dia piacere mettere le dette castella nelle mani nostre, chella le metta nelle mani di terza persona di lei e di noi fidata. E che a questo ella consente e volere che tu nommassi le castella, dirai Livorno, Librafacta, Casena e Ponteacra. E se d’alcuni di questiellaelladicesse non potere fare, saprai quali. E in scambio loro dirai Palaia e Marti se fossino più d’uno. Se ella ti venisse a domandare chi noi porremo per terza persona, dirai che tu non ne sei informato ma che tu ci lo riferirai, e se ella te ne nominasse alcuno, tiengli a mente. E poi ne vieni subito alla presentia nostra, bene informato d’ogni cosa. Et eziandio d’ogni novettà e cosa che sentire puoi” (April 17, 1404).

“Se ella dinegasse questo volere fare, avendo tu prima provato e riprovato chella il consento, et ella dicesse di volere mettere le dette castelle colle forteze loro in mano di terza persona fidata a lei ed a noi, dirai in ultimo che noi siamo contenti. E se questo ella non movesse a te ma stessesi pure in su la negativa—di non ci volere dare le dette castella—allora moverai tu a lei dicendo che, poi che non le dia piacere mettere le dette castella nelle mani nostre, chella le metta nelle mani di terza persona di lei e di noi fidata. E che a questo ella consente e volere che tu nommassi le castella, dirai Livorno, Librafacta, Casena e Ponteacra. E se d’alcuni di questiellaelladicesse non potere fare, saprai quali. E in scambio loro dirai Palaia e Marti se fossino più d’uno. Se ella ti venisse a domandare chi noi porremo per terza persona, dirai che tu non ne sei informato ma che tu ci lo riferirai, e se ella te ne nominasse alcuno, tiengli a mente. E poi ne vieni subito alla presentia nostra, bene informato d’ogni cosa. Et eziandio d’ogni novettà e cosa che sentire puoi” (April 17, 1404).

121. Dieci di Balia, Classe x. distinzione iii. No. 2, fo. 58. I translate the whole of this interesting letter, hitherto, I believe, unpublished:“Istruzione data a Bonaccorso di Neri Pitti ... di quello che abbia fare a Genova.April 28, 1404: Andrai a Genova. E sarai al Governatore Messer Giovanni Bouciquaut, Luogo tenente del Re. E lui saluterai affetuosamente per parte del Comune nostro.“Di poi gli dirai come di questo mese egli manda al nostro comune suo Ambasciatore Maestro Piero di Nantrone, suo secretario. Il quale, per sua parte, ci notifica come egli aveva ricevuto per vasallo e feudatorio del serenissimo Re di Francia Messer Gabriello Maria di Visconti colla città di Pisa e col suo terreno che possedea. Et aveva presa la sua difesa. E che darà per censo al detto Re ogni anno uno cavallo e uno falcone pellegrino. Secondaria, ci prega che ci piacesse per lo avvenire non offendere lacittàcittànil (ne il) terreno di Pisa predetto, per rispetto delSerenissimoSerenissimoRe predetto. Et agli aveva preveduto che di quelli di Pisa non sarebbe fatta alcuna offesa nel nostro terreno.“Tertio disse che noi possiamo colle nostre mercatantie usare et trafficare a Pisa sicuramente come a Genova e in qualunque altra terra del Re di Francia.“Al quale Ambasciatore fu risposto in effecto che noi ci maravigliamo et dolevamo, come essendo noi in guerra colla dicta città di Pisa e con chi la teneva—et essendo noi al disopra per liberare la detta città di tirannia et avendo rispetto quanto noi siamo sempre frati, e siamo servidori della detta Corona di Francia; et egli aveva presa la difesa loro contro a noi; e che questa non era honesta cosa.“Alla seconda parte—di non offender—egli fu detto, che in ciò noi terremo tali modi come vedessimo convenirsi e che non gli darebbero dispiacere.“E alla terza parte, diciamo che l’usare in luogo dove avesse a fare alcuno dei Visconti di Milano non ci fu mai sicuro, non potrebbe essere, considerati le inimicitii e odii antichi stati da detti Visconti al comune nostro; Conchiudendo che sopra le dette cose noi faremo risposta più pienamente al detto Signor Boucequaut per nostri Ambassadori.“E poi gli direte che—se mai noi avevamo maraviglia di alcuna cosa—noi abbiamo dello avere gli, in nome del Serenissimo Re di Francia, presa la difesa di Pisa e di quello che gli possiede, contro a noi, figludi devotissimi della corona di Francia stati sempre, in favore dei Pisani che sempre sono stati inimici della detta Corona. Et maximamente essendo noi in guerra con Pisa e con chi la tiene, non di nascosa ma pubblicamente e non di guerra hora cominciata ma durata lungamente. Et essendo noi con nostro esercito in punto et in ordine per esser intorno alla città di Pisa, sperando in brevissimo tempo liberarla della Tirannia dei Visconti. E per poter meglio e con maggiore forza cosa fare, abbiamo fatta grandissima spesa nello apparecchio di questo, il quale possiamo dire per cagione sua avere tutta perduta. E con lui di questo vi direste amichevolmente, subiungnendo che noi ci rendiamo certi che quando il Serenissimo Re di Francia e suo Consiglio sapranno questo, essi n’avranno dispiacere come di cosa non honesta et iniusta. Il che non fu mia usanza della Corona di Francia fare, et come di cosa fatta contro a i suoi figluoli e divoti in favore di un Tiranetto e d’una città stata sempre nemica della Corona di Francia. A presso gli direte, che, per riverentia della Maestà Reale la quale egli rappresenta (come che duro e malagevole ci paresse per le ragioni di sopra assegante) già sono più di passati, noi facciamo commandamento a tutta nostra gente d’arme e subditi: Che nel terreno di Pisa nondovessenodovessenofare alcuna offesa o cavalcata, e così è stata observata: la qual cosa fare grava molto il nostro popolo per gli rispetti scripti di sopra. E mai non si sarebbe creduto per nessuno Fiorentino che Messer Bouciquaut il quale abbiamo reputato a noi e reputiamo amico singolarissimo avesse mai fatta tale cosa contra a noi ma pensiamo che questo sia proceduto da altri con velati colori che gli le hanno dato a dividere; ma veramente questo che fatta ha non è cosa punto honesta ne iusta ne utile ne honorevole per la Maestà Reale. E per tutto il pregherate che gli piaccia, veduta la verità del fatto, renonciare questo che ha ordinato in questa materia, ed essere contento che noi possiamo seguitare contro a Pisa, e chi la tiene, la nostra impresa. E questo sarà a lui honore et a noi, figluoli della Corona, singolarissimo piacere.“Alla parte del trafficare et usare a Pisa i nostri cittadini e mercatanti colle loro mercatantie, direte che niuno cittadino se ne fiderebbe mai ne vorebbero trafficare, essendo Pisa nella mani d’alcuno dei Visconti, come ella è. E non che ivi—ma in alcuna terra dove alcuno dei Visconti avesse a fare, per che essi sono antichi nostri nemici e molte volte lanno (l’hanno) dimostrato—e romperci la fede e pace e tregua; e bene lo vedevamo dove, essendo colligati colla Serenissima Corona di Francia, il Conte di Vertus ci ruppe la Pace e manifestò tradimento contra Dio a vergogna della detta Corona, si che in modo alcuno non ci potremo mai fidare in luogo done alcuno di loro avesse a fare.”Here the document leaves politics to defend the quarrel of private Florentine merchants in Genoa, to complain of the conduct of the Pisans who have made a raid on to the lands of Messer Gherardo d’Appiano, feudatory of Florence, and to complain of the sequestration of the goods of certain Florentine merchants of Genoa. The Ten also state that they are sending Messer Rinaldo Gianfigliazzi and Messer Filippo Cosimi on an embassy to France to state their case to the King. Fo. 60 instructs us that Boucicaut liberated the sequestered goods and that a truce was signed between Florence and Pisa for so long as Pisa should continue subject to the King of France.

121. Dieci di Balia, Classe x. distinzione iii. No. 2, fo. 58. I translate the whole of this interesting letter, hitherto, I believe, unpublished:

“Istruzione data a Bonaccorso di Neri Pitti ... di quello che abbia fare a Genova.April 28, 1404: Andrai a Genova. E sarai al Governatore Messer Giovanni Bouciquaut, Luogo tenente del Re. E lui saluterai affetuosamente per parte del Comune nostro.

“Di poi gli dirai come di questo mese egli manda al nostro comune suo Ambasciatore Maestro Piero di Nantrone, suo secretario. Il quale, per sua parte, ci notifica come egli aveva ricevuto per vasallo e feudatorio del serenissimo Re di Francia Messer Gabriello Maria di Visconti colla città di Pisa e col suo terreno che possedea. Et aveva presa la sua difesa. E che darà per censo al detto Re ogni anno uno cavallo e uno falcone pellegrino. Secondaria, ci prega che ci piacesse per lo avvenire non offendere lacittàcittànil (ne il) terreno di Pisa predetto, per rispetto delSerenissimoSerenissimoRe predetto. Et agli aveva preveduto che di quelli di Pisa non sarebbe fatta alcuna offesa nel nostro terreno.

“Tertio disse che noi possiamo colle nostre mercatantie usare et trafficare a Pisa sicuramente come a Genova e in qualunque altra terra del Re di Francia.

“Al quale Ambasciatore fu risposto in effecto che noi ci maravigliamo et dolevamo, come essendo noi in guerra colla dicta città di Pisa e con chi la teneva—et essendo noi al disopra per liberare la detta città di tirannia et avendo rispetto quanto noi siamo sempre frati, e siamo servidori della detta Corona di Francia; et egli aveva presa la difesa loro contro a noi; e che questa non era honesta cosa.

“Alla seconda parte—di non offender—egli fu detto, che in ciò noi terremo tali modi come vedessimo convenirsi e che non gli darebbero dispiacere.

“E alla terza parte, diciamo che l’usare in luogo dove avesse a fare alcuno dei Visconti di Milano non ci fu mai sicuro, non potrebbe essere, considerati le inimicitii e odii antichi stati da detti Visconti al comune nostro; Conchiudendo che sopra le dette cose noi faremo risposta più pienamente al detto Signor Boucequaut per nostri Ambassadori.

“E poi gli direte che—se mai noi avevamo maraviglia di alcuna cosa—noi abbiamo dello avere gli, in nome del Serenissimo Re di Francia, presa la difesa di Pisa e di quello che gli possiede, contro a noi, figludi devotissimi della corona di Francia stati sempre, in favore dei Pisani che sempre sono stati inimici della detta Corona. Et maximamente essendo noi in guerra con Pisa e con chi la tiene, non di nascosa ma pubblicamente e non di guerra hora cominciata ma durata lungamente. Et essendo noi con nostro esercito in punto et in ordine per esser intorno alla città di Pisa, sperando in brevissimo tempo liberarla della Tirannia dei Visconti. E per poter meglio e con maggiore forza cosa fare, abbiamo fatta grandissima spesa nello apparecchio di questo, il quale possiamo dire per cagione sua avere tutta perduta. E con lui di questo vi direste amichevolmente, subiungnendo che noi ci rendiamo certi che quando il Serenissimo Re di Francia e suo Consiglio sapranno questo, essi n’avranno dispiacere come di cosa non honesta et iniusta. Il che non fu mia usanza della Corona di Francia fare, et come di cosa fatta contro a i suoi figluoli e divoti in favore di un Tiranetto e d’una città stata sempre nemica della Corona di Francia. A presso gli direte, che, per riverentia della Maestà Reale la quale egli rappresenta (come che duro e malagevole ci paresse per le ragioni di sopra assegante) già sono più di passati, noi facciamo commandamento a tutta nostra gente d’arme e subditi: Che nel terreno di Pisa nondovessenodovessenofare alcuna offesa o cavalcata, e così è stata observata: la qual cosa fare grava molto il nostro popolo per gli rispetti scripti di sopra. E mai non si sarebbe creduto per nessuno Fiorentino che Messer Bouciquaut il quale abbiamo reputato a noi e reputiamo amico singolarissimo avesse mai fatta tale cosa contra a noi ma pensiamo che questo sia proceduto da altri con velati colori che gli le hanno dato a dividere; ma veramente questo che fatta ha non è cosa punto honesta ne iusta ne utile ne honorevole per la Maestà Reale. E per tutto il pregherate che gli piaccia, veduta la verità del fatto, renonciare questo che ha ordinato in questa materia, ed essere contento che noi possiamo seguitare contro a Pisa, e chi la tiene, la nostra impresa. E questo sarà a lui honore et a noi, figluoli della Corona, singolarissimo piacere.

“Alla parte del trafficare et usare a Pisa i nostri cittadini e mercatanti colle loro mercatantie, direte che niuno cittadino se ne fiderebbe mai ne vorebbero trafficare, essendo Pisa nella mani d’alcuno dei Visconti, come ella è. E non che ivi—ma in alcuna terra dove alcuno dei Visconti avesse a fare, per che essi sono antichi nostri nemici e molte volte lanno (l’hanno) dimostrato—e romperci la fede e pace e tregua; e bene lo vedevamo dove, essendo colligati colla Serenissima Corona di Francia, il Conte di Vertus ci ruppe la Pace e manifestò tradimento contra Dio a vergogna della detta Corona, si che in modo alcuno non ci potremo mai fidare in luogo done alcuno di loro avesse a fare.”

Here the document leaves politics to defend the quarrel of private Florentine merchants in Genoa, to complain of the conduct of the Pisans who have made a raid on to the lands of Messer Gherardo d’Appiano, feudatory of Florence, and to complain of the sequestration of the goods of certain Florentine merchants of Genoa. The Ten also state that they are sending Messer Rinaldo Gianfigliazzi and Messer Filippo Cosimi on an embassy to France to state their case to the King. Fo. 60 instructs us that Boucicaut liberated the sequestered goods and that a truce was signed between Florence and Pisa for so long as Pisa should continue subject to the King of France.

122. Brit. Museum MSS. 30, 669, f. 238; a treaty between the King of France and G.M. Visconti, Lord of Pisa. The Tower and Fort of Leghorn are to be given to the French, the King promising that no one shall be allowed to enter Leghorn against the will of Gabriele Maria Visconti. Alsoquod absitshould the Castle of Leghorn be taken by the enemies of the said Gabriele Maria, or should it in any way rebel against him, the King and his Lieutenant bind themselves to allow free passage to any army the said Gabriele Maria may send for its subjection. The King explicitly promises that if any of Gabriele Maria’s possessions be lost by the treachery of guards or other means, he will make war upon thefraudulentfraudulentpossessors and attempt their recovery. The King invests Gabriele Maria, with a gold ring, in all his possessions save the Tower and Fort of Leghorn.

123. So far I have no documentary evidence for these articles, which are to be found in the“Livre des faicts du Marischal Boucicaut,”part iii. chap. 10. I give them and I believe in them, because in every instance I have found the documents of Archives to confirm or explain the assertions of this particular chronicle; because the articles breathe the very spirit of Boucicaut; and because I think it is to this agreement that the Florentines refer in the letter quoted further on (Spoglio del Carteggio i. ii. fo. 221), under date 15th of August, 1406. The act by which the Florentines constitute themselves vassals of France for Pisa is well known. It is printed in Dumont.

124.“Arch. Nat.”, Paris, Carton K. 55, No. 11, prèce 8; July 27, 1406: ”Charles par la Grâce de Dieu Roy de France, à nos amés et féaulx gens de nos comptes et trésoriers à Paris et à tous nos aultres justiciers et officiers ou à leur lieutenant, Salut et dilectation!“Savoir vous faisons que nos très-chers et très-amés frère et cousin les Ducs d’Orléans et de Bourgoigne, nous ont au jour dit fait foy et hommaige lige des ville terre et Seigneurie de Pise et de toutes terres appartenans et appendans quelconque, à eulx appartenir communément. Auquel hommaige nous les avons reçus sauf notre droit et l’autrui. Vous mandons, et à chacuns de vous sicomme à luy appartiendra que, pour cause du dit hommaige à nous faict, vous ne faictes ou souffrey nos ditz frère et cousin ne aulcun d’eulx estre molestez, troublez ou empeschez ès dictes ville terre el seigneurie de Pise ni es terres appartenans et appendans en aucune manière. Mais si pour la dicte cause elles estoient empeschées mettez les leur ou faictes mettre a plaine delivrance. Donné a Paris le 26 jour de Juillet, 1406, et de nostre regne 26. Pour le Roy, le Comte de Tancarville et aultres princes.”

“Savoir vous faisons que nos très-chers et très-amés frère et cousin les Ducs d’Orléans et de Bourgoigne, nous ont au jour dit fait foy et hommaige lige des ville terre et Seigneurie de Pise et de toutes terres appartenans et appendans quelconque, à eulx appartenir communément. Auquel hommaige nous les avons reçus sauf notre droit et l’autrui. Vous mandons, et à chacuns de vous sicomme à luy appartiendra que, pour cause du dit hommaige à nous faict, vous ne faictes ou souffrey nos ditz frère et cousin ne aulcun d’eulx estre molestez, troublez ou empeschez ès dictes ville terre el seigneurie de Pise ni es terres appartenans et appendans en aucune manière. Mais si pour la dicte cause elles estoient empeschées mettez les leur ou faictes mettre a plaine delivrance. Donné a Paris le 26 jour de Juillet, 1406, et de nostre regne 26. Pour le Roy, le Comte de Tancarville et aultres princes.”

125. Corio.

126.“Filza xxii. della Signoria”: seefo. 283, Spoglio del Carteggio, October 10, 1406, a Florentine army enters Pisa:“La città di Pisa si rende al comune di Firenze: l’esercito vi entra vittorioso nel di senza commettere alcune violenza e prende il possesso di tutte le Fortezze.”On the 14th of October a certain number of Pisans were sent as hostages into Florence; arms of offence and defence were taken from all the Pisans. On the 12th of November a further number of hostages to the amount of one hundred of the Pisan citizens,“dei più atti alle fazioni,”were ordered to be sent into Florence. Civil order was established under the government of a Magistrate and eight Priors.

127.“Spoglio del Carteggio,” i. ii., fo. 221 (Filza xx. della Signoria), 15th of August, 1406:“Lettera della Signoria responsiva a quella del Re di Francia in commendazione dei Pisani ai quali si annunciava di aver’ data un Signore.Si lamenta la Signoria di questa procedere dopo che l’acquisto di quella città fatto della Signoria per compta era stato confermato del Re con figlio e già erano state pagate diverse somme a Gabriel’ Maria Visconti e a Giovanni Le Meingre(Boucicaut)Luogotenente Generale della Corona e Governatone di Genova.”A replica of this is sent to Orleans, Burgundy, and Berry.

128. There are a number of documents concerning this detention of the Florentine Ambassadors to be found:“Signori Cart. Miss.”Reg. 1. Cancelleria 27, fo. 26et seq., in the Florence Archives, under dates 10th of May, 3rd of June, 25th of June, 11th of July. The letters are too long to publish here, see also“Spoglio del Carteggio,”fo. 286, for summary of an embassy sent by the Signory to the King of France, Orleans, and Burgundy, in justification of the purchase of Pisa and the siege. The Ambassadors“erano stati spogliati e ritenuti dal Duca d’Orliens, per el che, seguito l’acquisto della detta città, si spedisce ivi Bonaccorso Pitti.”Pitti was to join Alberto degli Albizzi already in France, and, going by Avignon, they were to interview the Antipope, to treat of the union of the Church, to expound to him the policy of the Republic, and to obtain from him commendatory letters to the Court at France. But the Antipope was a less formidable ally than in the days of Clement.It is curious to observe that the Signory instruct their ambassadors, if they cannot obtain from the King the liberation of the imprisoned Ambassadors, to appeal finally to the Parliament. This is assuming that the Parliament was stronger than the King or even than Orleans—a piece of trans-Alpine provincialism.

It is curious to observe that the Signory instruct their ambassadors, if they cannot obtain from the King the liberation of the imprisoned Ambassadors, to appeal finally to the Parliament. This is assuming that the Parliament was stronger than the King or even than Orleans—a piece of trans-Alpine provincialism.

129.“Archives of Florence: Spoglio del Carteggio universale dellaRepubblicaRepubblicaFiorentina dell’ anno, 1401-1426,”tome 2, fo. 273:“Ricuse la Signoria di pagare la rata dovuta a Gabriel’ Maria Visconti, non essendo egli in sua libertà, ma in poter’ del Duca di Milano, che serbava convertire il denaro in suo servigio.”Vide“Filza II de’ Dieci,” fo. 170. June, 1406.

130. See the speech—true, we may suppose, in fact if not in phrase—as reported in Guicciardini’s “History.”

131. A man-at-arms was a varying quantity of soldiers, from five in France to three or sometimes one in Italy.

132. Archives de Florence, No. 52, quoted by Cherrier, ii. 294.

The Gresham Press,UNWIN BROTHERS,CHILWORTH AND LONDON.

The Gresham Press,

UNWIN BROTHERS,

CHILWORTH AND LONDON.

Transcriber’s NoteThe footnotes are moved to follow the paragraph within which they are referenced, and are sequenced numerically for uniqueness.Hyphenation of compound words can be variable. Where it occurs on a line break, the most commonly used form is assumed. Many footnotes contain extended transcriptions in 14th or 15th century Italian, and it is difficult to ascertain their correctness. With a few exceptions, noted below, the text is printed verbatim.The name of the Convent of ‘Roderdesdorf’ in the Contents is everywhere given in the text as ‘Rodardesdorf’. The Contents’ entry has been corrected to facilitate searches.The page references in the Contents direct the reader to the indicated topics. Be forewarned, however, that those references to the chapter on ‘The French at Pisa’ go astray after p. 354, and one entry is missing entirely, but is most likely referring to p. 358.Obvious printer’s errors or printing flaws have been corrected, and are noted here with their resolutions. The corrections are indicated by page and line number, or, where the correction is to a note, by note and line number within the note.iv.8and, half afraid, [ /I] told youRestored.viii.1the Convent of Rod[e/a]rdesdorf>Replaced.n1.3Beginen-häuser [i]m MittelalterRestored.n1.5Geschic[h]te der deutschen MystikAdded.8.29the [the ]Alexandrian theories of the pseudo-DionysiusRemoved.14.1the poor vain min[s]trelsAdded.33.28suspected of her[se/es]y.Transposed.37.17the panth[ie/ei]st ideaTransposed.38.3By the middle of the fifteenth century, [T/t]he BeghardsReplaced.59.27so many hours?[’]Added.64.19for the sins of the ungo[l]dlyRemoved.61.17thanksgi[v]ingAdded.82.21this unconscious bea[u]titudeRemoved.n5.1Bib. Nat. Fran[c/ç]aisReplaced.120.9Que cette Bergère jolie.[’/”]Replaced.148.17supers[ti]titionRemoved.149.21“And that journey,” say[s] FroissartAdded.n41.7pour en avoir garde.[”]Added.182.28of his uncle Berna[d/b]ò>Replaced.193.27[(]if we may trust the verdict of Corio)Added.n57.6(Pièces Originales Fontanieu, dossier 1185, No. 38[)]Added.200.13the Duke was afraid of Sforz[o/a]Replaced.207.16proved irres[is]tibly fascinatingAdded.221.5resolution of Count Francesco Sforz[o/a].Replaced.n90.1promised to assis[t] the DauphinRestored.262.251,300 men-at[ /-]armsReplaced.277.3What was the magnificence of earth [ ] to him?sic: ‘to him’?282.23he fought almost contin[u]ouslyAdded.294.4mocking the sacred mon[o]gram>Added.302.30to take counsel with the wise old statesm[e/a]n and learn his viewsReplaced.n113.13et diceva non si voller p[ui/iù] curar ne de figlioliReplaced.309.21he weary of his life[.]Added.326.1and to poor [l]ittle LorenzioRestored.321.24in making improm[p]tu> versesAdded.330.25with the said Peter[./,]>” says ComminesReplaced.335.20Pietra Santa, which [which ]had cost them 150,000 ducatsRemoved.340.15A Medite[rannean/rranean]> seaportReplaced.n120.9guerra non gli [f/s]ia fatta a noiReplaced.n120.24di questi ell[ /a]Restored.n121.17la citt[a/à] nilReplaced.n121.18del Seren[e/i]ssimo Re predetto.Replaced.n121.62Che nel terreno di Pisa non dovess[o/e]no fare alcunaReplaced.n122.12he will make war upon the fra[u]dulent possessorsAdded.358.13detention of the Florentine Ambassadors by Orleans[,]Added.n129.2della Repubb[l]ica> FiorentinaAdded.368.2writes an eye-witness,[” to/ “to] hear themReplaced.369.30could not attempt to justify[-/.]Replaced.388.4Gi[e/é]Replaced.

Transcriber’s Note

The footnotes are moved to follow the paragraph within which they are referenced, and are sequenced numerically for uniqueness.

Hyphenation of compound words can be variable. Where it occurs on a line break, the most commonly used form is assumed. Many footnotes contain extended transcriptions in 14th or 15th century Italian, and it is difficult to ascertain their correctness. With a few exceptions, noted below, the text is printed verbatim.

The name of the Convent of ‘Roderdesdorf’ in the Contents is everywhere given in the text as ‘Rodardesdorf’. The Contents’ entry has been corrected to facilitate searches.

The page references in the Contents direct the reader to the indicated topics. Be forewarned, however, that those references to the chapter on ‘The French at Pisa’ go astray after p. 354, and one entry is missing entirely, but is most likely referring to p. 358.

Obvious printer’s errors or printing flaws have been corrected, and are noted here with their resolutions. The corrections are indicated by page and line number, or, where the correction is to a note, by note and line number within the note.

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