Villani's Chronicle Part 1

Villani's Chronicle.

by Giovanni Villani.

PREFATORY NOTE

The Editor is responsible for the selection of the pa.s.sages translated, and for the Introduction. He has also compared the translation with the original text, has satisfied himself of its general accuracy, and has made numerous suggestions.

The Translator is responsible for the fidelity of the translation in detail, and for its general tone and style. She has also drawn up the Indexes, and seen the work through the press.

For the selection of marginal references to the works of Dante the Editor and Translator are jointly responsible.

Both Translator and Editor desire to express their obligations to Mr.

A.J. Butler, who has given them his ungrudging a.s.sistance in every difficulty, and whose learning and judgment have been invaluable.

INTRODUCTION

-- 1. _The Text._

This book of selections is not intended as a contribution to the study of Villani, but as an aid to the study of Dante. The text of Villani is well known to be in a very unsatisfactory condition, and no attempt at a critical treatment of it has been made. The Florence edition of 1823, in eight volumes, has been almost invariably followed. Here and there the Editor has silently adopted an emendation that obviously gives the sense intended, and on p. 277 has inserted in brackets an acute suggestion made by Mr. A.J. Butler. In a few cases, by far the most important of which occurs on p. 450, pa.s.sages which appear in some but not in all of the MSS. and editions of Villani are inserted in square brackets.

-- 2. _The References._

It is probable that many more references to Dante's works might advantageously have been inserted in the margin had they occurred to our minds; and we shall be glad to have our attention called to any important omissions.

As a rule we have aimed at giving a reference to any pa.s.sage in Dante's works on which the text has a direct bearing, or towards the discussion of which it furnishes materials, without intending thereby necessarily to commit ourselves to any special interpretation of the pa.s.sage in Dante referred to.

But in some instances such a reference would, in our opinion, distinctly tend to the perpetuation of error. In such cases we have purposely abstained from appearing to bring a pa.s.sage of Villani into relation with a pa.s.sage of Dante with which we believe it to have no connection. For instance, to have given a reference to the _Vita Nuova_ -- 41, 1-11, on p. 320 would have appeared to us so distinct and dangerous a _suggestio falsi_ that we have felt compelled to abstain from it even at the risk of being charged with a _suppressio veri_ by those who do not agree with us.

-- 3. _The Principle of Selection._

Our aim has been to translate all the pa.s.sages from the first nine books of Villani's Chronicles which are likely to be of direct interest and value to the student of Dante.[1] A few chapters have been inserted not for their own sakes but because they are necessary for the understanding of other chapters that bear directly on Dante.

When a chapter contains anything to our purpose, we have usually translated the whole of it. Where this is not the case the omissions are invariably indicated by stars * * * * * *. We have given the headings of all the chapters we have not translated, so that the reader may have in his hand the continuous thread of Villani's narrative, and may have some idea of the character of the omitted portions. By these means we hope we have minimised, though we do not flatter ourselves that we have removed, the objections which are legitimately urged against volumes of selections.

[Footnote 1: The complex and miserable history of Ugolino and Nino we have given only in its most essential portions. Even its connection with one of the most terrible and widely known pa.s.sages in the _Inferno_ cannot make it other than dreary, sordid, and unilluminating.]

The nature of the interest which the Dante student will find in these selections will vary as he goes through the volume.

The early portions, up to the end of Book III., are interesting not so much for the direct elucidation of special pa.s.sages in Dante as for the a.s.sistance they give us in realizing the atmosphere through which he and his contemporaries regarded their own past; and their habitual confusion of legend and history.

From Book IV. on into Book VIII. our interest centres more and more on the specific contents of Villani's Chronicle. Here he becomes the best of all commentators upon one phase of Dante's many-sided genius; for he gives us the material upon which Dante's judgments are pa.s.sed, and enables us to know the men and see the events he judges as he himself knew and saw them. Chapter after chapter reads like a continuous commentary on _Purg._ vi. 127-151; and there is hardly a sentence that does not lighten and is not lightened by some pa.s.sage in the _Comedy_.

Readers who have been accustomed to weary themselves in attempts to digest and remember historical notes (into which extracts from Villani, torn from their native haunts, have been driven up for instant slaughter, as in battue shooting) will find it a relief to have the story of the battles and revolutions of Florence, as Dante saw and felt it, continuously set before them--even though it be, for the present, in the partial and therefore mutilated form of "selections."

When we come to the later portions of Book VIII. and the first part of Book IX. the interest again changes. To the events after 1300 Dante's chief work contains comparatively few and scattered allusions; but as the direct connection with his writings becomes less marked the connection with his biography becomes more intimate. As we study the tangled period of Florentine politics that coincides with Dante's active political life (about 1300 A.D.), the ill-concerted and feeble attempts of the exiles to regain a footing in their city, and later on the splendid but futile enterprise of Henry, we seem to find the very fibres of Dante's life woven into the texture of the history. The dream of the _De Monarchia_ was dreamed by Henry as well as by Dante; but as we read the detail of his failure it is borne in upon us that he not only did fail but must fail, for his ideal was incapable of realization. Italy was not ready for him, and had she been ready she would not have needed him.

Finally, the last pages of our volume, which cover selections from the portion of Book IX., extending from the death of Henry to the death of Dante himself, are for the most part inserted for a very special reason, as to which some little detail is necessary. Strangely enough they derive their importance not from any interest Dante may have taken in the events they record, but from the fact that he did not take enough interest in them to satisfy one of his most ardent admirers. The editions of Dante's collected works include a correspondence in Latin hexameters between Johannes de Virgilio and Dante. Now in the poem that opens this correspondence Johannes refers to Statius and to Lethe in a manner that proves beyond all doubt that the whole of the _Purgatorio_ as well as the _Inferno_ was in his hands. But he alludes to the _Paradiso_--the poem of the "super-solar" realms which is to complete the record of the "lower"

ones--as not yet having appeared. It therefore becomes a matter of extreme interest to the Dante student to learn the date of this poem.

Now one of the considerations that led Johannes to address Dante was the hope of inducing him to choose a contemporary subject for a Latin poem and so write something worthy of himself and of studious readers!

With this object he suggests a number of subjects:--

"Dic age quo petiit Jovis armiger astra volatu: Dic age quos flores, quae lilia fregit arator: Dic Phrygias damas laceratos dente molosso: Dic Ligurum montes, et cla.s.ses Parthenopaeas."

"Come! tell thou of the flight by which Jove's armour-bearer (the Imperial Eagle = Henry VII.) sought the stars. Come!

tell thou of the flowers and lilies (of Florence) crushed by the ploughman (Uguccione da f.a.ggiuola). Tell of the Phrygian does (the Paduans) torn by the mastiff's (Can Grande's) tooth. Tell of the Ligurian mountains (the Genoese) and the Parthenopaean fleets (of Robert of Naples)."

The correctness and security of the interpretation of this pa.s.sage will not be doubted by any one accustomed to the pedantic allusiveness of the age; and it is moreover guaranteed by the annotator of the Laurentian MS., thought by many to be Boccaccio himself. It will be seen, therefore, from the study of the concluding pages of this volume, that when Johannes addressed Dante (after the appearance of the _Inferno_ and the _Purgatorio_, but before that of the _Paradiso_) Henry VII. had died (A.D. 1313), Can Grande had defeated the Paduans (A.D. 1314 and 1317), Uguccione had defeated the Florentines (A.D.

1315), and Robert had collected his fleet to relieve Genoa (February, 1319). It also seems highly probable that Can Grande had not yet suffered his reverses at the siege of Padua (August, 1320). This is perhaps the one una.s.sailable datum for the chronology of Dante's works, and we have therefore included in our selections so much as was needed to establish it. Our readers will perhaps forgive us for having then left the fate of Genoa hanging in the balance, for as Villani says: "Who could write the unbroken history of the dire siege of Genoa, and the marvellous exploits achieved by the exiles and their allies? Verily, it is the opinion of the wise that the siege of Troy itself, in comparison therewith, shewed no greater and more continuous battling, both by sea and land."

-- 4. _The Historical Value of Villani's Chronicle._

An adequate edition of Villani would have to examine his statements in detail, and, where necessary, to correct them. Such a task, however, would be alike beyond our powers, and foreign to our immediate purpose. These selections are intended to ill.u.s.trate the text of Dante; and for that purpose it is of more consequence to know what were the "horrible crimes" of which Dante supposed Manfred to be guilty, than to enquire whether or no he was really guilty of them. To know whether Constance was fifty-two, or only thirty, when she married Henry VI., and whether he took her from a convent or a palace is of less immediate consequence to the student of Dante than to be acquainted with the Guelf tradition as to these circ.u.mstances.

At the same time, the reader may reasonably ask for some guidance as to the point at which the authentic history of Florence disengages itself from the legend, and, further, as to the general degree of reliance he is justified in placing on the details supplied by Villani.

On the first point very few words will suffice. There was probably a Fiesolan mart on the site now occupied by Florence from very remote times; but the form of the "ancient circle" carries us back to a Roman camp and a military colony as the origin of the regular city. Beyond this meagre basis the whole story of "Troy, and of Fiesole and Rome,"

in connection with Florence must be p.r.o.nounced a myth. The notices of Florence before the opening of the twelfth century are few and meagre, but they suffice to prove that the story of its destruction by Totila, and rebuilding by Charlemagne, is without foundation; and of all the reported conquests of Fiesole that of 1125 is the first that we can regard as historical.

The history of Florence is almost a blank until about 1115 A.D., the date of the death of the Countess Matilda.

With respect to the second point, it is impossible to give so brief or conclusive an answer. Villani is as valuable to the historian as he is delightful to the general reader. He is a keen observer, and has a quick eye for the salient and essential features of what he observes.

When dealing with his own times, and with events immediately connected with Florence, he is a trustworthy witness, but minute accuracy is never his strong point; and in dealing with distant times and places he is hopelessly unreliable.

The English reader will readily detect his confusions in Book VII., -- 39, where at one time Richard of Cornwall, and at another Henry III., is called king of England; and Henry of Cornwall and Edward I. are regarded indifferently as sons of Richard or sons of Henry III., but are always said to be brothers instead of cousins.

Here there is little danger of the reader being misled, but it is otherwise in such a case as that of Robert Guiscard and the house of Tancred in Book IV., -- 19. By way of putting the reader on his guard, we will go into this exceptionally bad, but by no means solitary, instance of Villani's inaccuracies.

Tancred, of the castle of Hauteville (near Coutances, in Normandy), had twelve sons, ten of whom sought their fortunes in southern Italy and Sicily. Four of these were successively Counts of Apulia, the last of the four being Robert Guiscard. He was followed by his son Roger, and his grandson William, who died childless. Another of the sons of Tancred was Roger, who became Count of Sicily. He was succeeded by his son Roger II., who possessed himself of the Apulian domains of his relative William, on the decease of the latter. Roger now had himself proclaimed King of Sicily by the anti-pope Anaclete, and united Sicily and Naples under his sway. He was followed by his son William (the Bad), and his grandson William (the Good), on whose death, without issue, Henry VI., who married Roger's daughter Constance, claimed the succession in the right of his wife. (_L'Art de Verifier les Dates._)

The most important of these relations may be set forth thus:

TANCRED OF HAUTEVILLE | +-------------------+ | | Robert Guiscard Roger I.

Count of Apulia Count of Sicily | | Roger Roger II.

| King of Sicily William | +-----------------+ | | William Constance = Henry VI.

the Bad | William the Good

Let the reader construct the family tree from the data in Villani, and compare it with the one given above. He will find that Villani, to begin with, makes Robert Guiscard a younger son of the Duke of Normandy, then makes his younger brother, Roger I., into his son (occasionally confounding him with Roger II.); and, finally, ignores William the Bad, and makes William the Good the brother of Constance.

His details as to the pretender Tancred are equally inaccurate. These must suffice as specimens; but they are specimens not only of a special cla.s.s of mistake, but of a style of work against which the reader must be constantly on his guard if he intends to make use of any detailed dates or relations, or even if he wishes to make sure that the Pope or other actor named in any connection is really the right one.

So, too, even well within historical times, Villani is p.r.o.ne to the epic simplification of events. His account of the negociations of Farinata with Manfred, and of the battle of Montaperti for instance, represents the Florentine legend or tradition rather than the history of the events. These events are conceived with the vividness, simplicity and picturesque preponderance of personality which make them easy to see, but impossible to reconstruct in a rationally convincing form.