long before there were factions among the noble citizens and the said parties existed by reason of the strifes and questions between the Church and the Empire; but by reason of the death of the said M. Bondelmonte all the families of the nobles and the other citizens of Florence were divided, and some held with the Bondelmonti, who took the side of the Guelfs, and were its leaders, and some with the Uberti, who were the leaders of the Ghibellines, whence followed much evil and disaster to our city, as hereafter shall be told; and it is believed that it will never have an end, if God do not cut it short. And surely it shows that the enemy of the human race, for the sins of the Florentines, had power in that idol of Mars, which the pagan Florentines of old were wont to worship, that at the foot of his statue such a murder was committed, whence so much evil followed to the city of Florence. The accursed names of the Guelf and Ghibelline parties are said to have arisen first in Germany by reason that two great barons of that country were at war together, and had each a strong castle the one over against the other, and the one had the name of Guelf, and the other of Ghibelline, and the war lasted so long, that all the Germans were divided, and one held to one side, and the other to the other; and the strife even came as far as to the court of Rome, and all the court took part in it, and the one side was called that of Guelf, and the other that of Ghibelline; and so the said names continued in Italy. Sec. 39.--_Of the families and the nobles which became Guelfs and Ghibellines in Florence._ [Sidenote: 1215 A.D.] [Sidenote: Par. xv. 115.] [Sidenote: Par. xvi. 128. Inf. xvii. 62, 63. Par. xvi. 127. 104.] [Sidenote: Purg. xii. 105. Par. xvi. 105. Convivio iv. 20: 38-41. Par. xvi. 104. 123. 136-139. Cf. 109. 110.] [Sidenote: 66, 135.] [Sidenote: 127. Inf. xvii. 59, 60.] [Sidenote: Par. xvi. 133. 105. 93. xv. 115. xvi. 110. 111. 93. 103.] [Sidenote: 108.] [Sidenote: 104.] [Sidenote: 115-117. 112-114. 130, 131. 93.] [Sidenote: 65, 94-96.] [Sidenote: 121.] [Sidenote: 104. 101.]