Thus bearded at their very gates, insulted, ridiculed, the country a desert, Signa occupied by the enemy, Prato at his mercy, Montemurlo still unsuccoured and ready to fall, the Bolognese army, their only bulwark against Lombardy, defeated, their best chieftains prisoners, their army diminished, their expenses increased, their allies daunted, death raging within the city and destruction without, all things adverse to them, and fortune courting their enemies--under such a pressure the people at last gave way, and despair once more compelled them to a temporary surrender of their independence. Charles duke of Calabria was therefore, and perhaps not unexpectedly, offered the lordship of Florence for ten years on certain conditions. It was decreed that the prince should remain for thirty months consecutively within the Florentine state, or at war in the enemy’s dominions, and the three succeeding summer months in addition should hostilities continue. That in time of war he was to maintain one thousand transalpine cavalry and have an annual allowance from the republic of 200,000 golden florins; half that sum in peace, with the obligation of maintaining only 450 men-at-arms. If in time of peace the duke wished to be absent, he was bound to appoint a lieutenant of the blood royal or of some other great and powerful family; also to nominate a vicar for the administration of justice, who was not to alter any part of the government, but on the contrary defend and maintain the priors and gonfalonier, the executor of the ordinances of justice, and the sixteen chiefs of companies. This decree, which passed on the 23rd of December, 1325, was despatched with a solemn embassy to Naples and finished the transactions of that unfortunate year, which began so brightly for the Florentines. [Sidenote: [1325-1326 A.D.]] Until the dictator’s arrival Florence gave the chief command of her army to Pierre de Narsi, a French knight of exalted rank who was made prisoner at Altopascio; he had just been ransomed, and smarting under the indignity of Castruccio’s triumph sought revenge and distinction ere he was compelled to relinquish his brief and hazardous dignity. Not being able to save Montemurlo which, after a courageous resistance, honourably capitulated on the 8th of January, he exerted himself less worthily by trying to raise insurrections at Signa and Carmignano, and even attempting the life of Castruccio. But his effort came to nothing. CHARLES AND HIS ARMY [Illustration: A FLORENTINE CITIZEN OF THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY]