6
The documents cited by Paoli prove conclusively that the story, told by Giovanni Villani, of Farinata contriving that the Germans should be annihilated at Santa Petronilla and the royal standard lost, in order that Manfred might be induced to send a larger force, has no historical foundation. Neither is it a fact that the Sienese were forced to induce the Florentines to resume hostilities because the Germans had been hired for only three months.
7
The Sienese accounts of the battle by Domenico Aldobrandini and Niccolò di Giovanni Ventura (in which, says Prof. d’Ancona, the narrative has “una grandezza veramente epica”) are in Porri’s Mi 1 Rondoni ( 2 Printed in the 3 Siena is still divided into 4 Rondoni, 5 Letter of August 11th, 1259, still preserved in the Archivio di Stato of Siena, quoted by Paoli, 6 The documents cited by Paoli prove conclusively that the story, told by Giovanni Villani, of Farinata contriving that the Germans should be annihilated at Santa Petronilla and the royal standard lost, in order that Manfred might be induced to send a larger force, has no historical foundation. Neither is it a fact that the Sienese were forced to induce the Florentines to resume hostilities because the Germans had been hired for only three months. 7 The Sienese accounts of the battle by Domenico Aldobrandini and Niccolò di Giovanni Ventura (in which, says Prof. d’Ancona, the narrative has “una grandezza veramente epica”) are in Porri’s 8 9 10 J. A. Symonds. 11 12 Agnolo di Tura, 13 Malavolti, ii. 7. p. 132. 14 Neri di Donato, 15 In the continuation (wrongly ascribed to Agnolo di Tura) of the 16 17 18 Augusta Drane, vol. i. p. 83. I think that this author unquestionably deserves to be called the best of Catherine’s modern biographers; but the reader must be warned against her historical inaccuracies and her treatment of some of the Saint’s political letters. 19 Raimondo da Capua, 20 21 Letter 273. 22 Letter 272. 23 Letter 11. 24 Letter 28. 25 Letter 29. 26 Letter 109. 27 Letter 140. 28 Letter 168. 29 Letters 185, 196, 206, 209, 218, 229. She has no thought of the Pope’s return as a temporal sovereign. ( 30 Letter 207. 31 Letter 240. 32 Letter 247. 33 Letter 252. 34 Letters 270, 267. These have obviously been transposed in chronological order. 35 Letter 285. 36 Letter 291. 37 Letter 295. 38 Letter 303. 39 The Dialogue, 40 Letter 306. 41 Letter 310. 42 Letter 317. 43 Letter 349. 44 Letters 350, 362, 357, 372. 45 Letter 370. 46 Letter 373. 47 Barduccio’s letter to a nun at Florence, describing every detail of Catherine’s death, will be found in the Appendix to the 48 49 Pastor, II., p. 147. 50 Armstrong, 51 52 Zdekauer, 53 Letter of August 18th, 1500, published by F. Donati in 54 Letters of January 6th, 8th, 10th, and 13th from Machiavelli to the Signoria. In the