ents
of Maso degli Albizzi, and then by those of Niccolo da Uzzano. The city
remained tranquil from 1414 to 1422; for King Ladislaus was dead, and
Lombardy divided into several parts; so that there was nothing either
internal or external to occasion uneasiness. Next to Niccolo da Uzzano
in authority, were Bartolomeo Valori, Neroni di Nigi, Rinaldo degli
Albizzi, Neri di Gino, and Lapo Niccolini. The factions that arose from
the quarrels of the Albizzi and the Ricci, and which were afterward so
unhappily revived by Salvestro de' Medici, were never extinguished; for
though the party most favored by the rabble only continued three
years, and in 1381 was put down, still, as it comprehended the greatest
numerical proportion, it was never entirely extinct, though the frequent
Balias and persecutions of its leaders from 1381 to 1400, reduced it
almost to nothing. The first families that suffered in this way were the
Alberti, the Ricci, and the Medici, which were frequently deprived both
of men and money; and if any of them remained in the city, they were
deprived of the honors of government. These oft-repeated acts of
oppression humiliated the faction, and almost annihilated it. Still,
many retained the remembrance of the injuries they had received, and
a desire of vengeance remained pent in their bosoms, ungratified and
unquenched. Those nobles of the people, or new nobility, who peaceably
governed the city, committed two errors, which eventually caused the
ruin of their party; the first was, that by long continuance in power
they became insolent; the second, that the envy they entertained toward
each other, and their uninterrupted possession of power, destroyed that
vigilance over those who might injure them, which they ought to have
exercised. Thus daily renewing the hatred of a mass of the people by
their sinister proceedings, and either negligent of the threatened
dangers, because rendered fearless by prosperity, or encouraging them
through mutual envy, they gave an opportunity to the family of the
Medici to recover their influence. The first to do so was Giovanni di
Bicci de' Medici, who having become one of the richest men, and being of
a humane and benevolent disposition, obtained the supreme magistracy
by the consent of those in power. This circumstance gave so much
gratification to the mass of the people (the multitude thinking they had
now found a defender), that not without occasion the judicious of the
party observ