第26章

The next day he proposed to present himself before the Signoria, but when he arrived at the Piazza del Palazzo Vecchio,, he perceived the gonfaloniere Jacopo de Nerli coming towards him, signalling to him that it was useless to attempt to go farther, and pointing out to him the figure of Luca Corsini standing at the gate, sword in hand:

behind him stood guards, ordered, if need-were, to dispute his passage.Piero dei Medici, amazed by an opposition that he was experiencing for the first time in his life, did not attempt resistance.He went home, and wrote to his brother-in-law, Paolo Orsini, to come and help him with his gendarmes.Unluckily for him, his letter was intercepted.The Signoria considered that it was an attempt at rebellion.They summoned the citizens to their aid; they armed hastily, sallied forth in crowds, and thronged about the piazza of the palace.Meanwhile Cardinal Gian dei Medici had mounted on horseback, and under the impression that the Orsini were coming to the rescue, was riding about the streets of Florence, accompanied by his servants and uttering his battle cry,"Palle, Palle." But times had changed: there was no echo to the cry, and when the cardinal reached the Via dei Calizaioli, a threatening murmur was the only response, and he understood that instead of trying to arouse Florence he had much better get away before the excitement ran too high.He promptly retired to his own palace, expecting to find there his two brothers, Piero and Giuliano.But they, under the protection of Orsini and his gendarmes, had made their escape by the Porto San Gallo.The peril was imminent, and Gian dei Medici wished to follow their example; but wherever he went he was met by a clamour that grew more and more threatening.At last, as he saw that the danger was constantly increasing, he dismounted from his horse and ran into a house that he found standing open.This house by a lucky chance communicated with a convent of Franciscans; one of the friars lent the fugitive his dress, and the cardinal, under the protection of this humble incognito, contrived at last to get outside Florence, and joined his two brothers in the Apennines.

The same day the Medici were declared traitors and rebels, and ambassadors were sent to the King of France.They found him at Pisa, where he was granting independence to the town which eighty-seven years ago had fallen under the rule of the Florentines.Charles VIIImade no reply to the envoys, but merely announced that he was going to march on Florence.

Such a reply, one may easily understand, terrified the republic.

Florence, had no time to prepare a defence, and no strength in her present state to make one.But all the powerful houses assembled and armed their own servants and retainers, and awaited the issue, intending not to begin hostilities, but to defend themselves should the French make an attack.It was agreed that if any necessity should arise for taking up arms, the bells of the various churches in the town should ring a peal and so serve as a general signal.Such a resolution was perhaps of more significant moment in Florence than it could have been in any other town.For the palaces that still remain from that period are virtually fortresses and the eternal fights between Guelphs and Ghibellines had familiarised the Tuscan people with street warfare.

The king appeared, an the 17th of November, in the evening, at the gate of San Friano.He found there the nobles of Florence clad in their most magnificent apparel, accompanied by priests chanting hymns, and by a mob who were full of joy at any prospect of change, and hoped for a return of liberty after the fall of the Medici.

Charles VIII stopped for a moment under a sort of gilded canopy that had been prepared for him, and replied in a few evasive words to the welcoming speeches which were addressed to him by the Signoria; then he asked for his lance, he set it in rest, and gave the order to enter the town, the whole of which he paraded with his army following him with arms erect, and then went down to the palace of the Medici, which had been prepared for him.

The next day negotiations commenced; but everyone was out of his reckoning.The Florentines had received Charles VIII as a guest, but he had entered the city as a conqueror.So when the deputies of the Signoria spoke of ratifying the treaty of Piero dei Medici, the king replied that such a treaty no longer existed, as they had banished the man who made it; that he had conquered Florence, as he proved the night before, when he entered lance in hand; that he should retain the sovereignty, and would make any further decision whenever it pleased him to do so; further, he would let them know later on whether he would reinstate the Medici or whether he would delegate his authority to the Signoria: all they had to do was to come back the next day, and he would give them his ultimatum in writing.

This reply threw Florence into a great state of consternation; but the Florentines were confirmed in their resolution of making a stand.

Charles, for his part, had been astonished by the great number of the inhabitants; not only was every street he had passed through thickly lined with people, but every house from garret to basement seemed overflowing with human beings.Florence indeed, thanks to her rapid increase in population, could muster nearly 150,000 souls.