The Black Prince of Florence by Catherine Fletcher

Author:Catherine Fletcher
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781448182084
Publisher: Random House

BOOK THREE

The Prince Alone

21

‘Their eyes were veiled with ambition,’ wrote Filippo Nerli of Alessandro and Ippolito in his Commentaries, ‘so that they could not make out the righteous way, and walk on the straight road; through their discord matters deteriorated, and they diminished the reputation of their house and state.’1 In the opening canto of Dante’s Inferno, the narrator has also lost sight of ‘the straight road’: he is on his way to Hell. Nerli’s readers would have known exactly what he meant.

The population of Rome rejoiced at the death of Clement. In Florence, and among the Florentine exiles, the mood was less certain. While Clement had been alive, he had been able to head off trouble between his nephews. Now, without their patriarch, the Medici were vulnerable. It was hard to see how a vicious struggle for power could be avoided. As the bells of Florence tolled for Clement, Alessandro made best use of his great advantage in the conflicts with Ippolito and the republicans: the control of the Florentine state that gave him power to pass laws, raise money, raise troops. Existing restrictions on the bearing of arms were extended. In 1534 the Otto di Guardia e Balìa banned the carrying of daggers or pointed knives within three miles of the city, under pain of a twenty-five ducat fine and three lashes. Fathers were obliged to pay their sons’ fines. New fortifications were ordered for the port of Livorno. Work on the Fortezza in Florence itself was hurried on. Another forced loan was imposed on the reluctant citizens of Florence; workers were drafted in from across the ducal territories. Troops were raised to pre-empt any risings by supporters of the republic.2

The autumn of 1534 saw a series of arrests and trials for offences against the state. In October, Antonio Bonis was arrested for possession of eight illegal weapons: a halberd, two polearms, a half-pike, two large lances, one small one, and a spear. Under torture, he confessed that he hoped that one day the popular state would return. He was executed. Girolamo di Filippo Bonciani and Francesco di Piero Serragli were arrested after a man cleaning their former stable found a chest of arms concealed beneath the straw. Brought before the magistrates, it was found to hold an arquebus, its lead pellets, a flask of gunpowder, a mail doublet, sleeves and collar, and other banned weapons besides. The pair were fined 1,400 gold florins apiece. In November, Silvano di ser Silvano was hanged for sedition and possession of four illegal weapons. All his goods were confiscated. Francesco di Giovanbattista de’ Nobili, who had gone on the run after the failed rising in Pieve Santo Stefano, was tracked down and arrested. The magistrates heard that Nobili had been to Venice, Ancona, Urbino, Pesaro and other places ‘where many rebels were gathering’. According to letters intercepted by Florentine spies they were scheming to raise troops and take the town of Bagno, halfway between Rimini and Florence. Along with an associate, Francesco Graziani of Borgo San Sepolcro, he was sentenced to beheading.

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