The Two First Centuries of Florentine History: The Republic and Parties at the Time of Dante. Fourth Impression. — Dante Alighieri — John Shaqi
The Two First Centuries of Florentine History: The Republic and Parties at the Time of Dante. Fourth Impression.
Dante Alighieri · en
According to Villani this union of two separate peoples proved the
chief cause of the continual wars by which Florence was harassed,
together with the fact of the city being built "under the sway and
influence of the planet Mars, the which always leads to war and
discord." Then again, as though forgetting he had already made the
same statement regarding the times of Charlemagne, he repeats the
almost equal anachronism that the Florentines "then made common laws
and statutes, and lived under the rule of two consuls and a council of
senators, consisting of a hundred men, the best of the city, according
to the custom introduced in Florence by the Romans."[74] It is plain
that he does not know how the Commune arose, but feels persuaded its
origin was derived from Rome, and therefore records the fact as having
occurred at the moment suiting him best, or seeming least improbable.
But it is hard to see why he assigned the war and destruction of
Fiesole to the year 1010 when aware that those events occurred, on the
contrary, in 1125, as he afterwards relates in due place. The most
probable explanation is, that finding the legend gave an account of
the war and overthrow of Fiesole _more than five hundred years_ after
the destruction of Florence by Totila, whose invasion occurred _five
hundred years_ after the city was founded, the chronicler described the
destruction twice over, namely, in 1010 and 1125; thus following first
the legendary account, which had retraced its steps in a very vague
fashion, and next the historical account, commonly known in his day.
As for the causes of civil war being derived from the forced junction
of two hostile nationalities, it may be observed that the diversity
between the Germanic strain in the nobility and the Latin blood of the
people, really constituted a strong element of discord, and this may
have been felt, if not understood, by the chronicler.
It is certain that from the Frankish times downward the prosperity of
Florence slowly but surely increased. Nevertheless it is true that, as
Villani says, its whole territory bristled with the castles of feudal
barons of Germanic descent, all hostile to Florence, and many of whom,
safely ensconced on the neighbouring hill of Fiesole, were always ready
to swoop down on Florentine soil.