Strozza, son of Ubertino, who fought at Montaperti in 1260, was among those who signed the peace between the Guelphs and the Ghibellines. One of his sons, Pagno, was the first Gonfalonier of Justice of sixteen of his house in 1297, when the foundations of the Palazzo Vecchio were laid, and no less than ninety-four of the family were Priors. Lapo, another son, Gonfalonier in 1309, was the father of Palla Strozzi, one of the twelve ambassadors sent by different potentates to Rome to assist at the coronation of Pope Boniface XIII. who, when he heard that they all came from Florence, remarked that the Florentines were the fifth element.[90] Palla’s son, Francesco, distinguished himself by defeating the Pontifical Legate, Cardinal del Poggetto, at Ferrara and was received with high honour on his return to Florence. He filled various important posts under the Republic, and was the ninth Gonfalonier the Strozzi gave to Florence. From him descended the well-known Palla Strozzi, one of the great merchant princes of Florence. In the _catasto_ of 1427 his property was valued at one-fifth more than that of Giovanni de’ Medici. Born in 1372, his name is included in every embassy between 1410 and 1434 and to him together with Coluccio de’ Salutati was due the establishment of a Greek chair in the University of Florence. Vespasiano tells us that he sent to Greece for countless volumes. The _Lives_ of Plutarch, the works of Plato and the _Cosmography_ of Ptolemy, he got from Constantinople, while the _Politics_ of Aristotle were unknown in Italy until he obtained them. I cannot do better than quote J. A. Symonds’ words about this most pathetic and dignified figure in Florentine history. “Palla degl’ Strozzi devoted his leisure and his energies to the improvement of the _Studio Pubblico_ at Florence, giving it that character of humane culture which it retained throughout the age of the Renaissance. To him, again, belongs the glory of having first collected books for the express purpose of founding a public library. This project had occupied the mind of Petrarch, and its utility had been recognized by Colluccio de’ Salutati, but no one had as yet arisen to accomplish it. Being passionately fond of literature, Messer Palla always kept copyists in his own house and outside it, of the best who were in Florence, both for Greek and Latin books; and all the books he could find he purchased, on all subjects, being minded to found a most noble library in Santa Trinita because it was in the centre of Florence, a site of great convenience to everybody (Vespasiano).”