Political Science Of The State

CONSTITUTION OF FLORENCE. 71
At this time some changes took place in the councils,* but
far more important was the institution of the
The Guelfic party. . , - , r . . . .
Guelfic party, which had for its prime object to
manage the confiscated property of Ghibellines, and which,
besides receiving the approval of the pope and the king, was
formally established by law of the state. The property
referred to was divided into three parts, one of them assigned
to the commune, another to the Guelphs who had suffered
when their enemies were triumphant, and a third kept to-
gether in the hands of this corporation. The Guelfic party
had captains and other officials, and was partly a police to
watch the Ghibellines, partly a board to give aid and counte-
nance to foreign Guelphs, and partly the guardian of these
extensive estates.
In 1273, Pope Gregory III. spent some time in fruitless
peace of cardinal attempts to reconcile the parties in Florence.
Latino. After his death, his sister's son, Cardinal Latino,
was commissioned by Pope Nicholas III., to carry out
Gregory's projected peace. This was at the solicitation of
Ghibelline exiles, and the court of Rome was the more will-
ing to adopt this policy because the Hohenstauffen family
was now extinct, and Charles of Anjou, the head of the
Guelphs, was not very obsequious. The peace known by
this cardinal's name, the leading provisions of which are
given by Ammirato (i., 159, b. 3) involved, besides some
restitution of estates, and relegations of certain persons
together with promises of reconciliation to be made between
individuals of the parties, the appointment of fourteen men,
eight Guelphs and six Ghibellines, who were to be put at the
head of the state. The fourteen were chosen for two months
by electors appointed by the retiring fourteen, assisted by
citizens called to aid them in this work. They continued to
be the supreme magistrates, or signoria, from 1280 to 1292.
* Comp. Villani, ii., 16, Macchiav., vol. 2, p. 287 of his works,
Milan ed. of 1803.