_Monte_ used to denote the faction or order that held sway, and this was the beginning of the _Monte dei Nove_, whose adherents were afterwards known as the _Noveschi_. The order that had previously held the supremacy is henceforth known as the _Monte de' Gentiluomini_. The Siena of this epoch of Guelf predominance is that luxurious city of the _gente vana_, the "vain folk," that Dante knew, the city whose paths he trod in the early days of his exile. Senseless extravagance reigned side by side with hectic devotion and mystic enthusiasm. Typical, indeed, of this time are two figures of whom we read in the _Divina Commedia_; the young nobleman, Lano Maconi, who, having squandered all his substance in riotous living, joined in the unsuccessful expedition of the Sienese and Florentines against Arezzo in 1288, and, when the Sienese fell into an ambush at the ford of Pieve del Toppo, instead of saving his life by flight, dashed into the middle of the Aretines and found the death he sought; Pietro Pettignano, Franciscan tertiary and combseller of the Terzo di Camollia, who saved the soul of Monna Sapia by his prayers, saw visions and wrought miracles, and after a life of humility and righteousness died in 1289, and was venerated as a saint.[9] Magnificent processions, gorgeous ceremonies of church and state, sumptuous balls and banquets, celebrated the bestowing of the order of knighthood upon the nobles of city and contado--each aristocratic house striving to eclipse the other in lavish hospitality and brilliant display. Amidst it all we hear the voice of that realist of the Trecento--Cecco degli Angiolieri, who "anticipates Villon from afar"[10]--singing of the three things for which he cares, _la donna_, _la taverna_, _e' l dado_, celebrating his sordid passion for Becchina, the shoemaker's daughter, pouring venomous abuse upon his own father, who persisted in living on and thus keeping him out of his heritage, railing against all mankind in half furious, half humorous style, daring to break a lyric lance even with the divine Florentine, Dante Alighieri himself. More characteristic of Siena is Cecco's contemporary; Folgore da San Gimignano, in his _corona_ of fourteen sonnets addressed to the _brigata nobile e cortese_, a club of twelve extravagant young Sienese nobles. Month by month through the year he sets forth a round of pleasures of every kind, feasting and hunting, music and jousting (the latter, in spite of a reference to Camelot, of a very harmless, carpet-knight description), dallying in pleasant places with lovely women. Nowhere else shall you find so perfect a picture of the splendid life and delicate living of courtly circles in "soft Siena"--_Siena l'amorosa madre di dolcezza_, as another poet called her--with her gay young gallants-- "Who as King Priam's sons might surely stand, Valiant and courteous more than Lancelot, Each one, if need should be, with lance in hand, Would fight in tournament at Camelot."