nello abed, he
arose and joined his bandits. With Hawkwood he went to the Palazzo dei
Anziani, bound the guard and had the Elders summoned, and told them a
tale of how the Blessed Virgin had bidden him assume the lordship of the
city. Well, he had his way, his bandits saw to that; so the Anziani
agreed and swore obedience. Next day Pisa acclaimed her Doge.

Agnello remained Doge, or Lord as he preferred to be called, for four
years. Then Charles IV marched back over the Alps into Italy. Bought off
and thwarted in Lombardy, he came towards Lucca, which the Lucchesi
exiles again offered to buy from him. Agnello was terrified. In haste he
sent to Charles offering to give him Lucca if he were made sure in Pisa.
Outside the walls of Lucca, Charles knighted this astute tradesman.
Agnello ran back to Pisa and conferred knighthood on his nephews. Then
he built a platform and awaited the Emperor. His end was in keeping with
his life. As he stood on the insecure "hustings" which he had built,
that in sight of all the people Charles might declare him Imperial Vicar
of Pisa, the platform collapsed and Agnello's leg was broken. Now,
whether the comic spirit, so helpful to justice, be strong in our Pisans
still, I know not, but on learning of the misfortune of their Lord, they
rose, and, without noticing their Imperial Vicar, appointed Anziani to
rule by the old laws.

Then the burghers and nobles--"Cittadini amatori della Patria," Tronci
calls them--formed the Campagnia di S. Michele, for it bore on its
gonfalon St. Michael Archangel, and the black eagle of the Empire. It
was the business of this company to restore peace and unity to the city.
The leaders resolved to recall the exiles, among them Pietro Gambacorti.
He came, and the city greeted him, and he swore to serve the Republic
and to forgive his enemies. A riot followed; the Bergolini armed
themselves and burnt the Gambacorti palaces. But Pietro Gambacorti
called to the city, which had risen to defend itself and to make
reprisals, saying, "I have pardoned them--I, whose parents they slew. By
what right do you refuse to do what I have done?"[45] The Bergolini took
the government, and there was peace. Then the Campagnia di S. Michele
broke up.

Not for long, however, could there be peace in Pisa. The Raspanti still
held one of the gates; and thinking to better themselves, they sent an
embassy to Charles, who was in Lucca, asking his help. He imprisoned the
embassy, and at on