Whilst Poggio was living in a kind of exile in England, the sovereign pontiff was in a manner banished from his capital. On his arrival in Italy, Martin V. found the states of the church in the hands of troops of banditti, who had taken advantage of the disorders of the times, to spread ruin and devastation through every quarter of the pontifical dominions. The passes, and places of strength, were so generally occupied by these adventurers, who were in the pay of a noted chieftain, named Braccio di Montone, that the pontiff did not dare to expose himself to their outrages, by attempting to establish himself in Rome. The inhabitants of Bologna also, espousing the cause of John XXII., had shut their gates against him. He was therefore reduced to the necessity of taking refuge in some friendly territory. In this extremity, the Florentines offered him an asylum, and Martin accordingly removed his court from Mantua to their city, into which he made his public entry with extraordinary pomp, on the twenty-sixth of February, 1419.[127] His residence in Florence did not, however, produce within his mind any friendly sentiments towards his hosts. The Florentines indeed, by their behaviour to their illustrious guest, greatly diminished the value of the favour which they had conferred upon him, in affording him a place of rest. At this period, they were elated with the self-confidence occasioned by a long series of almost uninterrupted prosperity. Filippo, who upon the death of his brother, Giovanni Maria, had succeeded to the ducal throne of Milan, disclaiming the hostile views of his predecessors, had lived in a state of friendship with his Tuscan neighbours, and did not even interpose to prevent them from reducing the district of Pisa under their dominion. In the year 1408 the repose of the Florentines had been disturbed by an invasion of their territories by Ladislaus, king of Naples, who had taken possession of a considerable portion of the ecclesiastical states; but with the assistance of Louis of Anjou, they had discomfited the usurper, and had expelled him from the dominions of the church. By his death, which happened in the year 1414, they had been freed from all fear of hostile incursions, and for the space of five years from that event, they had enjoyed the blessing of peace. During this period they had extended their commerce, and greatly encreased their opulence and power. In the insolence of their pride, they looked upon the wandering pontiff with contempt. Insensible to those delicate impulses which prompt man to regard the unfortunate with respect, they wantonly published the sentiments of their hearts; and Martin was irritated and disgusted by hearing his name made the subject of ridicule, and the burden of contumelious songs.[128] The Florentine populace were betrayed into these violations of decorum by their attachment to the interests of Braccio di Montone; and this undisguised partiality to his enemy