Villani's Chronicle: Being Selections from the First Nine Books of the Croniche Fiorentine of Giovanni VillaniVillani, Giovanni
History
Villani's Chronicle: Being Selections from the First Nine Books of the Croniche Fiorentine of Giovanni Villani
Villani, Giovanni
Florence (Italy) -- History
And truly thus
was fulfilled the prophecy and revelation made to him by the devil by
means of incantation, though he did not understand it; for having
invoked him to learn how he would fare in that expedition, he made a
lying answer and said, "Thou wilt go and fight; thou goest to conquer
not to die in the battle, and thy head shall be the highest in the
field;" and he, thinking to have the victory from these words, and
thinking he would remain lord over all, did not put the stop in the
right place and detect the fraud, where he said, "Thou goest to
conquer not, to die," etc. And therefore it is great folly to believe
in such counsel as is that of the devil. This M. Provenzano was a
great man in Siena in his day after the victory which he gained at
Montaperti, and he ruled all the city; and all the Ghibelline party in
Tuscany made him their head, and he was very presumptuous in will. In
this battle the said M. Giambertaldo bore himself like a valiant lord
in fighting against his enemies, and likewise did his followers and
all the Guelfs of Florence, making great slaughter of their enemies to
avenge their kinsfolk and friends which were slain at the defeat of
Montaperti; and none, or scarce any, did they lead to prison, but put
them all to death and to the sword; wherefore the city of Siena, in
comparison with the number of its inhabitants, suffered greater loss
of its citizens in this defeat than Florence did on the day of
Montaperti; and they left on the field all their belongings. For the
which thing a little while after, the Florentines restored the Guelf
refugees to Siena and drave out the Ghibellines and made peace between
one commonwealth and the other, remaining ever after friends and
allies. And in this manner ended the war between the Florentines and
the Sienese which had endured so long.
[Sidenote: 1269 A.D.]
Sec. 32.--_How the Florentines took the castle of Ostina in Valdarno._
Sec. 33.--_How the Florentines, serving for the Lucchese, marched upon
Pisa._
Sec. 34.--_How there was a great flood of waters which carried away the
Santa Trinita Bridge and the Carraia Bridge._
[Sidenote: 1269 A.D.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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