[11] Villani throws doubt on the guilt of the Abbot. There were some cases of churchmen being Ghibelines, as for instance that of the Cardinal Ubaldini (_Inf._ x. 120). Twenty years before the Abbot's death the General of the Franciscans had been jeered at in the streets of Florence for turning his coat and joining the Emperor. On the other hand, many civilians were to be found among the Guelfs. [12] Manfred, says John Villani (_Cronica_, vi. 74 and 75), at first sent only a hundred men. Having by Farinata's advice been filled with wine before a skirmish in which they were induced to engage, they were easily cut in pieces by the Florentines; and the royal standard was dragged in the dust. The truth of the story matters less than that it was believed in Florence. [13] Provenzano is found by Dante in Purgatory, which he has been admitted to, in spite of his sins, because of his self-sacrificing devotion to a friend (_Purg._ xi. 121). [14] For this good advice he gets a word of praise in Inferno (_Inf._ xvi. 42). [15] These mercenaries, though called Germans, were of various races. There were even Greeks and Saracens among them. The mixture corresponded with the motley civilisation of Manfred's court. [16] _Inf._ xxxii. 79. [17] _Inf._ x. 93. [18] Lucera was a fortress which had been peopled with Saracens by Frederick. [19] Manfred, _Purg._ iii. 112; Charles, _Purg._ vii. 113. [20] _Purg._ xx. 67. [21] _Purg._ iii. 122. [22] For an account of the constitution and activity of the _Parte Guelfa_ at a later period, see Perrens, _Hist. de Florence_, vol. iv. p. 482. [23] _Purg._ xx. 68. [24] _Parad._ xi. 89. [25] _Parad._ xvi. 40, etc. [26] _Inf._ xxix. 31. [27] _Inf._ x. 42. Though Dante was descended from nobles, his rank in Florence was not that of a noble or magnate, but of a commoner. [28] The month is indicated by Dante himself, _Parad._ xxii. 110. The year has recently been disputed. For 1265 we have J. Villani and the earliest biographers; and Dante's own expression at the beginning of the _Comedy_ is in favour of it. [29] _Inf._ xxiii. 95. [30] _Inf._ xix. 17; _Parad._ xxv. 9. [31] _Purg._ xxx. 55. [32] _Inf._ viii. 45, where Virgil says of Dante that blessed was she that bore him, can scarcely be regarded as an exception to this statement. [33] In 1326, out of a population of ninety thousand, from eight to ten thousand children were being taught to read; and from five to six hundred were being taught grammar and logic in four high schools. There was not in Dante's time, or till much later, a University in Florence. See J. Villani, xi. 94, and Burckhardt, _Cultur der Renaissance_, vol. i. p. 76. [34] For an interesting account of Heresy in Florence from the eleventh to the thirteenth centuries, see Perrens, _Hist. de Florence_, vol. i. livre ii. chap. iii.