Toynbee "Bianchi"

Ciacco (in Circle III of Hell) refers to the Bianchi as la parte selvaggia (in allusion, as is supposed, to the fact that their leaders, the Cerchi, 'uomini salvatichi ed ingrati', as Villani ({Villani viii. 39}) calls them, came from the forest-lands of Val di Sieve in the Mugello), and after adverting to the bloody strife between the two parties, foretells their expulsion of the Neri (in 1301), their own downfall (in 1302), and the triumph of their rivals with the help of an ally (Boniface VIII), adding that the latter will keep the upper hand for a long period, during which they will grievously oppress the Bianchi, [Inf. vi. 64-72] [Cerchi: Ciacco]; Vanni Fucci (in Bolgia 7 of Circle VIII of Hell) foretells the expulsion of the Neri from Pistoia (in 1301), and the expulsion of the Bianchi from Florence (1301-1302), and (according to one interpretation) the defeat of the latter at Campo Piceno, and the siege and capture of Serravalle (in 1302) by the Neri of Florence and the Lucchesi under Moroello Malaspina, [Inf. xxiv. 143-150] [but another interpretation would have this a reference to the siege and capture of Pistoia by the Florentines and the Lucchesi in April 1306; see M. Barbi, BSDI, xii (1905), 265-266] [Fucci, Vanni]; Hugh Capet (in Circle V of Purgatory) refers to the mission of Charles of Valois to Italy (1301) and his treachery against the cause of the Bianchi, [Purg. xx. 70-78] [Carlo_4]; Cacciaguida (in the Heaven of Mars) refers to the exiled Bianchi (from whom D. held aloof after 1303) as la compagnia malvagia e scempia, [Par. xvii. 62] [Dante].

A letter, said to have been written by D., was addressed to the Cardinal Niccolò da Prato in the name of the Florentine Bianchi (Albi), Epist. i. 1 [Nicholaus]; the hopes of the Bianchi vanish at the death of Alessandro da Romena, Epist. ii. 3 [Guidi, Conti].

The parties of the Bianchi and Neri had their origin in the year 1300 in Pistoia, in a feud between two branches of the Cancellieri, a Guelph family of that city, who were descended from the same father, one Ser Cancelliere, but by different mothers. These two branches adopted distinctive names, the one being known as the Cancellieri Bianchi, as being descended from Cancelliere's wife Bianca, the other as the Cancellieri Neri, according to Machiavelli:

. . . perchè i Cancellieri erano discesi da messer Cancelliere che aveva avute due mogli, delle quali l'una si chiamò Bianca si nominò ancora l'una delle parti per quelli che da lei crano discesi bianca, e l'altra, per torre nome contrario a quella, fu nominata nera. ({Istorie Fiorentine ii. 16.})

A strong feeling of rivalry existed between these two branches, which at last, on the occasion of a trifling quarrel, broke out into actual hostilities. Benvenuto relates that one day the father of Focaccia, who belonged to the Cancellieri Bianchi, chastised one of his nephews, for assaulting another boy with a snow-ball. The nephew in revenge a few days after struck his uncle, for which he was sent by his father to receive such punishment as the uncle should think fit to administer. The latter however laughed the matter off, and sent the boy away with a kiss. But Focaccia, catching his cousin as he came out of the house, dragged him into the stable and cut off his hand on the manger, and then, not content with this, sought out the boy's father, his own uncle, and murdered him:

Accidit . . . a casu, quod pater Focacciae tempore hiemis, cum luderetur ad nivem, verberavit unum puerum nepotem suum . . . quia ille dicebatur percussisse inepte alium puerurn cum nive; ex quo puer post aliquos dies simulans se velle loqui isti patruo suo, dedit illi alapam in vindictam. Pater pueri dolens de temerario excessu filii, misit ipsum ad fratrem ut faceret correptionem de eo ad placitum suum. Et ille tamquam prudens risit, et remittebat filium patri non tactum nisi solo osculo. Sed Focaccia sceleratus expectans puerum in limine domus, traxit ipsum in stabulum patris, et amputavit illi manum impie cum ense super praesepe equi; et non contentus ista crudelitate indignissima, continuo accessit ad domum patris pueri, qui erat patruus suus, et illum crudelissime obtruncavit.

This atrocious crime naturally led to reprisals, and in a short time the whole city was in a ferment. One half the citizens sided with the Neri, the other half with the Bianchi, so that Pistoia was reduced to a state of civil war. To put an end to this state of things the Florentines intervened. In the hope of extinguishing the feud they secured the leaders of both factions, and imprisoned them in Florence. Unhappily this measure only led to the introduction of the feud among themselves. In Florence also there happened to be two rival families, the Donati, who were ancient but poor, and the Cerchi, who were rich upstarts. The former, headed by Corso Donati, took the part of the Cancellieri Neri, while the Cerchi, headed by Viero de' Cerchi, took the part of the Cancellieri Bianchi. So it came about that, through the private enmities of two Pistoian and of two Florentine houses, Florence, which was ostensibly Guelph at the time, became divided into Black Guelphs and White Guelphs. These two divisions, which had originally been wholly unpolitical, by degrees became respectively pure Guelphs and disaffected Guelphs, the latter, the White Guelphs finally throwing in their lot with the Ghibellines. [Cancellieri: Cerchi: Donati: [Focaccia.]

The commencement of actual hostilities in Florence between the Bianchi and Neri was due to a brawl one evening in the spring of the same year (May 1, 1300) between some of the Cerchi and Donati on the occasion of a dance in the Piazza di Santa Trìnita. Two parties of young men on horseback belonging to either side, while looking on, began hustling each other. This soon led to serious fighting, during which one of the Cerchi had his nose cut off. The peace having once been broken, the conflict was carried on without intermission, until at last in 1302 the Neri, with the aid of Charles of Valois, finally expelled the Bianchi from Florence, D. being included in the decree of banishment. The incident is described by Villani:

Avvenne. . .che andando a cavallo dell'una setta e dell'altra per la città armati e in riguardo, che con parte de' giovani de' Cerchi era Baldinaccio degli Adimari, e Baschiera de' Tosinghi, e Naldo de' Gherardini, e Giovanni Giacotti Malispini co' loro seguaci più di trenta a cavallo; e con gli giovani de' Donati, erano de' Pazzi, e Spini, e altri loro masnadieri; la sera di calen di Maggio anno 1300, veggendo uno ballo di donne che si facea nella piazza di santa Trìnita, l'una parte contra l'altra si cominciarono a sdegnare, e a pignere l'uno contro all'altro i cavalli, onde si cominciò una grande zuffa e mislea, ov'ebbe più fedite, e a Ricoverino di messer Ricovero de' Cerchi per disavventura fu tagliato il naso dal volto; e per la detta zuffa la sera tutta la città fu per gelosia sotto l'arme. Questo fu il cominciamento dello scandalo e partimento della nostra città di Firenze e di parte guelfa, onde molti mali e pericoli ne seguiro appresso. ({Vilanni, viii. 39.})

The following list of the various families which joined the Bianchi and the Neri, respectively, many of whose names are familiar as occurring in the D.C., is given by Villani:

E' detti Cerchi furono in Firenze capo della parte bianca, e con loro tennero della casa degli Adimari quasi tutti, se non se il lato de' Cavicciuli; tutta la casa degli Abati, la quale era allora molto possente, e parte di loro erano guelfi e parte ghibellini; grande parte de' Tosinghi, spezialmente il lato del Baschiera; parte di casa i Bardi, e parte de' Rossi, e così de' Frescobaldi, e parte de' Nerli e de' Mannelli, e tutti i Mozzi, che allora erano molto possenti di ricchezza e di stato; tutti quegli della casa degli Scali, e la maggiore parte de' Gherardini, tutti i Malispini, e gran parte de' Bostichi e Giandonati, de' Pigli, e de' Vecchietti e Arrigucci, e quasi tutti i Cavalcanti, ch'erano una grande e possente casa, et tutti i Falconieri, ch'erano una possente casa di popolo. E con loro s'accostarono molte case e schiatte di popolani e artefici munuti, e tutti i grandi e popolani ghibellini; e per lo seguito grande ch'aveano i Cerchi, il reggimento della città era quasi tutto in loro podere. Della parte nera, furono tutti quegli della casa de' Pazzi quasi principali co' Donati, e tutti i Visdomini, e tutti i Manieri e' Bagnesi, e tutti i Tornaquinci, e gli Spini, e' Bondelmonti, e' Gianfigliazzi, Agli, e Brunelleschi, e Cavicciuli, e l'altra parte de' Tosinghi, e tutto il rimanente; e parte di tutte le case guelfe nominate di sopra che quegli che non furono co' bianchi, per contrario furono co' neri. E così delle dette due parti tutta la città di Firenze e 'l contado, ne fu partita e contaminata. ({Villani viii. 39.})