whomsoever becomes head of the people; and thus armed, at the foot of the house of the Soldanieri, the popolani gathered in very great numbers and put up barricades at the foot of the tower of the Girolami. Count Guido Novello, with all the horsemen and with the Ghibelline magnates of Florence, was in arms and mounted in the piazza of S. Giovanni; and they advanced against the people, and drew up before the barricade on the ruins of the houses of the Tornaquinci, and made some show and attempt at fighting, and some mounted Germans passed within the barricade; the people defended it boldly with crossbows and by hurling missiles from the towers and houses. When the Count saw that they could not dislodge the people, he reversed the banners and returned with all the horsemen to the piazza of S. Giovanni, and then came to the palace on the piazza of S. Apollinari, where were the two Podestas, M. Catalano and M. Roderigo, the Jovial Friars; the horsemen meanwhile having command of the city from Porte San Piero as far as San Firenze. The Count demanded the keys of the gates of the city to depart from the town; and for fear missiles should be hurled at him from the houses, he had for his safety on one side of him Uberto de' Pucci, and on the other Cerchio dei Cerchi, and behind him Guidingo Savorigi, which were of the said Thirty-six, and among the greatest in the town. The said two friars were crying from the palace, demanding with loud voices that the said Uberto and Cerchio should come to them, to the end they might pray the Count to return to his house and not depart; and they themselves would quiet the people, and see that the soldiers were paid. The Count being in greater suspicion and fear of the people than was called for, would not wait, but would only have the keys of the gate; and this showed that it was more the work of God than any other cause; for that great and puissant body of horse had not been opposed nor driven out, nor dismissed, nor was there any force of enemies against them; for albeit the people were armed and gathered together, this was more from fear than to oppose the Count and his horsemen, and they would soon have been quieted, and have returned to their houses, and laid down their arms. But when the judgment of God is ripe, the occasion is ever at hand. When the Count had gotten the keys, during a great silence, he caused a cry to be made whether all the Germans were there; he was told that they were. Then the same was asked concerning the Pisans, and likewise concerning all the cities of the league; and when he knew that all were there, he gave orders to his standard-bearer to advance with banners, and this was done; and they took the wide road of San Firenze, and behind San Pietro Scheraggio and San Romeo to the old Ox Gate, and when this was opened, the Count, with all his horsemen, sallied forth, and held on by the moats behind San Jacopo, and by the piazza of Santa Croce, where as yet there were no houses, and along