[34] Alluding to the old proverb, _Fiorentini ciechi, Senesi matti, Pisani traditori, Lucchesi signori_. Niccolò Fortebraccio, formerly in the service of the Florentine Republic, was the great rival of Francesco Sforza. These two condottieri had both seized on separate portions of the Marches, and while Sforza’s fortress was Ancona, Assisi was that of Fortebraccio. The two captains fought for the mastery in the Marches, and in the end Fortebraccio was defeated and slain. [35] _Cosmi Vita_, &c., _op. cit._ ii. 110 (Ex Filza 18). [36] _Cosmi Vita_, &c., _op. cit._ ii. 133. [37] _Cosmi Vita_, &c., _op. cit._ ii. 131. [38] Ibid., ii. 126. [39] _Cosmi Vita_, &c., _op. cit._ ii. 124. [40] Ginevra Cavalcanti, wife of Lorenzo de’ Medici, Cosimo’s younger brother. [41] _Arch. Med. ante Prin._, Filza xvi. No. 8. [42] _Cosmi Vita._, op. cit. ii. 135. [43] _Cosmi Vita_, op. cit. ii. 161. [44] _Arch. Med. ante Prin._, Filza viii. No. 336. [45] Addressed on the outside of the letter: Giovanni di Chosimo de Medici in Sienna o al Bagnio a Petriulo. (_Archivio Mediceo innanzi il Principato_, Filza 8, No. 336.) [46] _Arch. Med. ante Prin._, Filza. v. Avanzi, No. 274. [47] _VII Lettere di Contessina Bardi nei Medici_, per nozze Zanichelli-Mariotti. Edizione di lxxv. esemplari. September 6, 1886. [48] A long, loose robe, generally tied round the waist, worn by Florentine citizens in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. _Mettersi il lucco_ became a common saying for putting on fine clothes. [49] _Arch. Med. ante Prin._, Filza ix. No. 262. [50] _Arch. Med. ante Prin._, Filza xvi. No. 30. [51] The letter is addressed in a different handwriting: Spettabili Viro Piero di Chosimo de’ Medici, Magnifico onorando in Firenze. (_Arch._, &c., Filza 13, No. 20.) [52] Her younger son. [53] VII. _Lettere_, &c., _op. cit._ [54] Ibid. [55] Cosimo’s illegitimate son by a slave-girl. [56] “Pieve,” chief church of a parish, and the only one where baptisms took place. [57] _Cosmi Vita_, op. cit. ii. 194. [58] _VII. Lettere_, &c., _op. cit._ [59] _VII. Lettere_, &c., _op. cit._ [60] Only son of Lorenzo de’ Medici, Cosimo’s brother, who was dead. [61] _VII. Lettere_, &c., _op. cit._ [62] _Istorie di Giovanni Cambi_, Delizie degli Eruditi Toscani, xx. 273. [63] Ibid., _op. cit._, xx. 281. [64] A piece torn out of letter. [65] _Arch. Med. ante Prin._, Filza ix. No. 147. [66] Ibid., No. 171. [67] _Donne Medicei avanti il principato_, Berta Felice, Rassegna Nazionale, 1907. [68] _Ricordi di Firenze dell anno 1459_, di Autore Anonimo, a cure di Guglielmo Volpi. Città di Castello, S. Lapi, MDCCCCVII. [69] _Istorie di Giovanni Cambi._ [70] A piece of the letter is torn out. [71] _Arch. Med. ante Prin._, Filza xvii. No. 124. [72] Husband of Bianca de’ Medici, Piero’s daughter. [73] _Arch. Med. ante Prin._, Filza ix. No. 509. [74] _VII. Lettere_, op. cit. [75] _Cosmi Vita_, op. cit. ii. 234. [76] _Cosmi Vita_, op. cit. ii. 235.