Finally, in a manner peculiar to the Perugians, they met together in
council to dictate the action of the person they had called in to act
for them, and it was settled that the Pope should have full power as
arbitrator of peace between themselves and the _Raspanti_. The Pope did
exactly as he was asked. He recalled the _Raspanti_, and they entered
the city on the 17th October 1393, not merely as a body, but headed by
a powerful personality--Biordo Michelotti, one of Perugia's greatest
citizens, and the first of the _condottieri_ who ever got rule in the
city.
Exiled in early youth from his native town, Biordo Michelotti had chosen
the career of a _condottiere_, and roamed through the length and breadth
of Italy, fighting the battles of different princes. Some say he had
fought for the French king against the English. He was essentially a
captain of adventure. His manner was kindly, he was brave, honest,
frank, and popular among the people wherever he happened to go. Beloved
all over Umbria, many of the towns which directly opposed Perugia's
tyrannical rule had submitted to that of Biordo. All these successes did
not, however, satisfy the man in him, for the ruling ambition of his
life was to get the dominion over his native city, and events were now
combining to procure for him his heart's desire. The _Raspanti_ rallied
round him in their exile, and he became their leader, and the champion
of their liberty. The nobles, seeing the power of his popularity,
offered him bribes to keep out of their way. But Biordo lay low in his
fortress at Deruta, and when the Pope's offers of peace arrived he
hailed them with delight. A month later he entered Perugia at the head
of about 2000 _Raspanti_, who had been exiled from their homes for
years. They at once visited the Pope in token of homage and gratitude,
and their new lease of power within the city was opened by the
re-election of the priors, who were chosen half from the burgher faction
and half from the nobility. By this means it was hoped that a lasting
reconciliation might be made and an evenly balanced government
established. Yet such seemed impossible. Peace endured for the space of
one short month, and at the very first opportunity--on the occasion of
Biordo's absence from the city--the smouldering fires of party feuds
burst out in flames as rampant as before. One of the _Raspanti_ was
murdered by the nobles, and, just as the _Podestà_ was preparing to pass
sentence on the assassin, Pandolfo dei Baglioni, "that Perugian Satan,"
as Bonazzi calls him, interfered on behalf of the criminal.[16]
Whereupon the _Raspanti_ vowed vengeance, assassinated Pandolfo and
Pellini Baglioni on their own threshold, and murdered sixty of their
clan. The Ranieri, another noble family, with their friends, took refuge
in the strong Ranieri tower, where they were forced to go without food
for three days. At last the people dragged them before the _Podestà_,
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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