vanni Cavalcanti's memoirs of the period
between 1420 and 1452, Leo Battista Alberti's narrative of Porcari's
attempt upon the life of Nicholas V., Vespasiano's 'Biographies,'
and Poliziano's 'Essay on the Pazzi Conspiracy.' Gino Capponi, born
about 1350, was Prior in 1396, and Gonfalonier of Justice in 1401
and 1418; he died in 1421. Giovanni Cavalcanti was a zealous admirer
of Cosimo de' Medici; he composed his 'Chronicle' in the prison of
the Stinche, where he was unjustly incarcerated for a debt to the
Commune of Florence. Vespasiano da Bisticci contributed a series of
most valuable portraits to the literature of Italy: all the great
men of his time are there delineated with a simplicity that is the
sign of absolute sincerity, Poliziano was present at the murder of
Giuliano de' Medici in the Florentine Duomo. The historians of the
sixteenth century will be noticed together further on.

The arguments against the authenticity of Dino Compagni's 'Chronicle'
may be arranged in three groups. The _first_ concerns the man himself.
It is urged that, with the exception of his offices as Prior and
Gonfalonier, we have no evidence of his political activity, beyond what
is furnished by the disputed 'Chronicle.' According to his own account,
Dino played a part of the first importance in the complicated events of
1280-1312. Yet he is not mentioned by Giovanni Villani, by Filippo
Vallani, or by Dante. There is no record of his death, except a MS. note
in the Magliabecchian Codex of his 'Chronicle' of the date 1514.[1] He
is known in literature as the author of a few lyrics and an oration to
Pope John XXII., the style of which is so rough and mediaeval as to make
it incredible that the same writer should have composed the masterly
paragraphs of the 'Chronicle.'[2] The _second_ group of arguments
affects the substance of the 'Chronicle' itself. Though Dino was Prior
when Charles of Valois entered Florence, he records that event under the
date of Sunday the fourth of November, whereas Charles arrived on the
first of November, and the first Sunday of the month was the fifth. He
differs from the concurrent testimony of other historians in making the
affianced bride of Buondelmonte dei Buondelmonti a Giantruffetti instead
of an Amidei, and the Bishop of Arezzo a Pazzi instead of an Ubertini.
He reckons the Arti at twenty-four, whereas they numbered twenty-one. He
places the Coronation o