Chit-Chat; Nirvana; The Searchlight Part 29

"During this period of exile the church government of Italy was conducted by proud and avaricious legates, who lived as dukes or provincial kings, and in the name of the church a.s.sumed to dictate the policy of government to many small potentates, maintaining a standing array of condottieri made up of English, Dutch and Breton recruits.

"Sir John, reasonably satisfied that he would be employed in Italy at some point east of Casale, left his soldiers behind, except thirty troopers, and set out for Avignon. Ten days later he came down the Rhone valley, into the 'City of Bells,' just as the sixth hour, or vesper bells, were ringing.

"We fed our horses, washed away the stains of travel, and, supper ready, took our places at a long table, Sir John at the head, I at the foot and fifteen troopers on either side. We refreshed ourselves, a very hungry and thirsty company, with red Rhone wine, macaroni, cheese, fish, mutton, brown bread and a salad.

"Sir John and I were a.s.signed quite sumptuous quarters in the palace, while our soldiers remained at the inn.

"That night Sir John saw the Pope and was recommissioned in his service.

His orders were that half of his company should report to the legate at Pisa, while I in command of the other half, about three hundred hors.e.m.e.n, should report to the legate at Bologna. An invasion of Tuscany was contemplated under the direction of these two legates, having in view the humiliation of the Florentines.

"The reason a.s.signed for the campaign was that the Ricci faction had entered into a league with Barnabo of Milan against the church and the Albizzi party.

"The Pope thus expressed himself to Sir John; 'These plebeians are too ambitious. Let the n.o.bility, not the populace, form a federation, living like brothers with the church at its head, an all-wise and benign father. Thus, by a combination of miter and helmet the church, first in Italy and then throughout the world, shall become not alone the spiritual but the temporal head of government. Inst.i.tuting this plan, we intend to subdue the plebeian faction now in power at Florence.'

"Sir John, at the close of the audience, said to me; 'If it were not for the interference of the church, the republic of Florence and certain other Italian states might hope for the accomplishment of great things.

What the Pope wants is the peace of decay and temporal and spiritual supremacy for the church throughout the land. Experience has taught me that adversity is a great teacher. It tolerates no compromises and rewards only patience and strength. Therefore a state is most fortunate that occupies a position of bare supremacy in arms, where it is punished for mistakes and grows strong from reverses.

"'On the other hand, if a government is too strong, the peace of strength brings repose, repose decay, and decay dishonor.

"'Florence, more than any other Italian city, is embarra.s.sed by the natural enmities between the populace and the n.o.bility. The n.o.bility wish to command. The populace, aware of their numerical supremacy, are disinclined to obey, and insist upon ruling the city. Clashes between the two keep the city in a constant uproar and will eventually extinguish its greatness. The populace when in power drive the n.o.bility from the city. When they lose out the banished n.o.bles return and the populace are oppressed. a.s.sociated with the people, who are the usual conquerors, are certain adaptable n.o.bles, who, styling themselves reformers, a.s.sume to live and think as the common people until they have acquired a sufficient following to control the city, then they a.s.sume the government and the n.o.bles are recalled.'

"A member of the Connechi family was legate at Bologna. In the fall of 1374 I reported to him with my three hundred hors.e.m.e.n.

"The preceding summer had been extremely dry, causing a failure of crops through all of central Italy. The people suffered and many died of privation. The legate, aware of this, looked upon the time as auspicious for his invasion and inst.i.tuted his campaign by seizing provisions in transit, purchased by the Florentines from the northern countries. The following spring he invaded Tuscany.

"The hungry inhabitants, seeing no hope for even the future harvest, offered but feeble opposition. Quite a few castles and small towns were taken and pillaged.

"Our army moved slowly, and despite the legate's commands, never followed up a victory. It mattered little to us that his enemies lived to fight another day; our business was to line our pockets with plunder.

It was no serious affair to defeat our opponents whenever we met. They were untrained in war and were usually officered by mercenaries, who cared little whether they won or lost.

"One night a messenger from Sir John Hawkwood brought word that I should confer with the captains of the Dutch and Breton troops, and if they agreed, we were to mutiny and desert the legate's standard, when I should proceed with my men to Florence, where he would await us.

"At the conference I learned from the other captains that their commanders had made peace with the Florentines, having been paid one hundred and thirty thousand florins; and that Sir John, having quarreled with the legate at Pisa about our pay had referred the matter to the Pope, who responded; 'The affair is wholly within the discretion of the legate.' Whereupon he sent back word; 'Henceforth I am an opponent of temporal church rule in Italy and quit your service.' He then made a contract with the Florentines to a.s.sist them in repelling the legate's armies.

"On the next day, when the condottieri were ordered to attack a small town southwest of our camp, the inhabitants of which had treated us decently, knowing that we bore them no ill-will, we disregarded the order. By prearrangement, each captain at the head of his men a.s.sembled in front of the legate's quarters, when as spokesman I asked an audience.

"In a short while he came forth in his regalia, surrounded by a group of carpet knights and peremptorily demanded:

"'What do you want and why have not you and your comrades begun the a.s.sault as ordered?'

"'As spokesman for the English, Dutch and Breton condottieri, I am directed to inform you that we have concluded to sever our connection with your army and seek more satisfactory employment. Our sympathies are with the Florentines rather than the church.'

"'Those of you who refuse to execute my commands shall be put to death.'

"'Who will execute your order? Surely not your three thousand carpet knights, who can scarcely sit their horses and are coached by their squires. They know nothing of warfare; they but wear their swords as ornaments. Why, my three hundred hors.e.m.e.n alone are more than a match for your knights. They and you do your fighting by proxy. It takes something more than a jeweled sword, bright armor and a coat of arms to make a soldier, and something more than a miter, a string of beads and a colossal capacity for deception, torture and persecution, to make a commander whom men trust and obey.'

"'So it is your intention to quit my service?'

"'Yes, and immediately, we shall leave your camp today.'

"Whereupon I returned to my men. After a brief conference we raided the general stores and appropriated a week's supplies; then, loading our pack horses, mounted and by easy stages rode to Florence.

"The legate, finding himself deserted by his mercenaries, his forces reduced to less than three thousand undisciplined troops, with no one competent to command, hastily retreated to Bologna and sought to make peace with the Florentines.

"But they, justly resentful of his avaricious and unprovoked invasion, refused to make peace, and until his death, nearly three years thereafter, having entered into a league with Barnabo of Milan and certain cities hostile to the church, conducted a successful war against him.

"Three days thereafter we crossed through the pa.s.s and camped on the south mountain slope within sight of Florence. The city from the foothills as you look out upon it seems an island forest of tall towers, surrounded by a verdant plain.

"A wall 9350 meters in length, protected by a deep moat, surrounds the city. Every one hundred and sixty meters there is a tower forty meters high and fourteen meters broad. The twelve gates, six on the left bank of the river and six on the right, are strengthened by barbicans.

"No other city presents such striking contrasts or combinations of ant.i.theses, adding much to its picturesque life and appearance. Within arms length of each other you see the n.o.ble in his brilliant attire and the laborer in rags; the prelate gorgeously arrayed and the monk in sober gown; almost next door to a cathedral or monastery and which has taken a century to build, and beneath its very shadow, is the hovel of some poor beggar. It is a city of violence, where dominion is maintained by force; yet the pilgrim, with thoughts on G.o.d and atonement, may pa.s.s in peace. Some are given over to lives of the vilest licentiousness, while their neighbors lead lives of frugality and sanct.i.ty.

"We came in by the gate north of the church of San Lorenzo and I found quarters at an inn on Via Por. S. Marcia, near the Ponte Vecchio. I spent several months at this inn, reporting each day to Sir John for orders.

"Sir John was the guest of Silvestro de Medici, the head of one of the n.o.blest of the popular families. In this way I became acquainted with Marcella, the sister of Silvestro, and after a courtship of several months we were married.

"My savings amounted to more than eight thousand florins. The florin is a small gold coin with a lily on one side and the word 'Florentina' on the other.

"For sixty-five hundred florins I purchased a small but substantial house on Via Calimara, near the Arte della Lana, the guildhouse of the wool weavers. The armorial design of the art, embossed above the portal, is a lamb bearing a cross.

"Two of my friends, who lived on a side street in the neighborhood, were Michael di Lando, a wool-comber who had considerable influence with his guild, and Ser Nuto, a bailiff of the Signory.

"I had been in Florence six months and married more than a month when Sir John disposed of our services to the eight commissioners of war; when, with great unwillingness, I was forced to leave wife and home and resume command of my three hundred hors.e.m.e.n.

"After having been thus engaged for more than four months, I procured a furlough, expecting to have ten days of quiet at home. It was the month of May and the city at its loveliest. On the third night after my return, my wife and I were eating a late lunch, after a visit to her brother's palace, when the servant announced that a man was at the door with a message from Sir John, asking that I come at once to the inn of the Golden Hat on the Via de Bardi.

"Buckling on armor and sword, and telling the good wife not to wait up for me, I accompanied the messenger.

"When crossing the Ponte Vecchio in the darkness of its many butcher stalls, the messenger, walking behind, leaped upon my back, seeking to throw me to the floor. He was almost instantly aided by a half-dozen men wearing black robes and cowls covering the head, having eyeholes only; in other words, dressed as friars of the order of Misericordia. One of these struck me on the head with a heavy short sword, and when I regained consciousness I learned I was a prisoner in a dungeon under the cloisters of the monastery of Agnoli. My friend, Ser Nuto, had engineered the capture, which had been ordered by the Bologna legate for my gross insults to him and consequently to the church. My captors, who belonged to the Guelph faction, had cheerfully executed the commission because of my relationship by marriage with the Medici family.

"My dungeon was simply a cistern of huge stones beneath the floor of the cell of a friar of the order and the same size as his cell. The only aperture was in the floor of the cell above and closed by a heavy grating, the key to which, kept by the head of the order, was never entrusted to the friar, who was as powerless to open the grating as I.

"The walls of immense stone were made the more impervious by iron bars, which prevented contact with them, and made my prison an iron cage encased in a stone dungeon. Food was let down by a cord through the grating by a narrow copper bucket, and in the same manner each day the refuse of the cell was removed. The friar who occupied the cell above and who was my jailer was the only person I ever saw except when tortured.

"At the end of a week Ser Nuto came into the cell and, calling down through the grating, said; 'Climb up; you are to go before the holy tribunal.' The grating was opened, a ladder let down and I climbed up and was led across the open court through a long hall into a large room, where twelve men, laymen and ecclesiastics, sat, the prelate acting as presiding officer. It must have been near midnight. I remember when I crossed the court how brilliantly the stars shone.

"When I came into the room, the prelate said; 'You are charged with the heinous sin of sacrilegious utterances against the holy church, which you will confess and for which you will be tortured even after confession. Your torturing, because of your insults to the church and its high officials, will be a compound of duty and pleasure to us. Until you confess your sins, express sorrow for same and consent to serve the church with loyal and unselfish devotion in whatever tasks shall be a.s.signed you, one of which will be to a.s.sist Ser Nuto in decoying Sir John Hawkwood to this monastery you will be tortured the limit of your bodily endurance once a week.'

"From the four corners of the room near the ceiling and extending to the center, were suspended four ropes rigged with pulleys. My hands and feet were tied to these, when they were drawn tight and I was suspended in midair; then I was repeatedly hoisted back and forth from the floor to near the lofty ceiling until my joints were dislocated from the strain and I lost consciousness from pain, though I am glad to say, not once did I utter a cry, give forth a groan or ask mercy of my tormentors.

"When consciousness returned I was on the pallet in my cell and lay there for several days suffering as from severe sprains.

"My jailer was not unkind. His life I felt was not a happy one. He seemed to enjoy conversing with me, though he was forced to lie on the floor and call through the grating.

"This encouraged the hope that in sympathy or for reward I might persuade him to carry word to my wife of my place of imprisonment, when she, through the influence of Sir John or her brother, would be able to procure my release.