Chapter 14

CHAPTER VII

The Emperor at Rome--The Florentines refuse to purchase Lucca, and
repent of it--Enterprises of the Florentines--Conspiracy of the
Bardi and the Frescobaldi--The conspiracy discovered and checked--
Maffeo da Marradi appeases the tumult--Lucca is purchased by the
Florentines and taken by the Pisans--The duke of Athens at
Florence--The nobility determine to make him prince of the city.

The emperor, being arrived at Rome, created an anti-pope, did many
things in opposition to the church, and attempted many others, but
without effect, so that at last he retired with disgrace, and went to
Pisa, where, either because they were not paid, or from disaffection,
about 800 German horse mutinied, and fortified themselves at
Montechiaro upon the Ceruglio; and when the emperor had left Pisa to
go into Lombardy, they took possession of Lucca and drove out
Francesco Castracani, whom he had left there. Designing to turn their
conquest to account, they offered it to the Florentines for 80,000
florins, which, by the advice of Simone della Tosa, was refused. This
resolution, if they had remained in it, would have been of the
greatest utility to the Florentines; but as they shortly afterward
changed their minds, it became most pernicious; for although at the
time they might have obtained peaceful possession of her for a small
sum and would not, they afterward wished to have her and could not,
even for a much larger amount; which caused many and most hurtful
changes to take place in Florence. Lucca, being refused by the
Florentines, was purchased by Gherardino Spinoli, a Genoese, for
30,000 florins. And as men are often less anxious to take what is in
their power than desirous of that which they cannot attain, as soon as
the purchase of Gherardino became known, and for how small a sum it
had been bought, the people of Florence were seized with an extreme
desire to have it, blaming themselves and those by whose advice they
had been induced to reject the offer made to them. And in order to
obtain by force what they had refused to purchase, they sent troops to
plunder and overrun the country of the Lucchese.

About this time the emperor left Italy. The anti-pope, by means of the
Pisans, became a prisoner in France; and the Florentines from the
death of Castruccio, which occurred in 1328, remained in domestic
peace till 1340, and gave their undivided attention to external
affairs, while many wars were carried on in Lombardy, occasioned by
the coming of John king of Bohemia, and in Tuscany, on account of
Lucca. During this period Florence was ornamented with many new
buildings, and by the advice of Giotto, the most distinguished painter
of his time, they built the tower of Santa Reparata. Besides this,