104. Hubert of Lucca—How came they, think you, to choose him out of a stranger city, and that a poorer one than their own? Was there no Florentine then, of all this rich and eager crowd, who was fit to govern Florence?
I cannot find any account of this Hubert, Bright mind, of Lucca; Villani says simply of him, "Fu il primo capitano di Firenze."
They hung a bell for him in the Campanile of the Lion, and gave him the flag of Florence to bear; and before the day was over, that 20th of October, he had given every one of the twenty companies their flags also. And the bearings of the said gonfalons were these. I will give you this heraldry as far as I can make it out from Villani; it will be very useful to us afterwards; I leave the Italian when I cannot translate it:—
105. A. Sesto, (sixth part of the city,) of the other side of Arno.
Gonfalon | 1. Gules; a ladder, argent. | |
2. Argent; a scourge, sable. | ||
3. Azure; (una piazza bianca con nicchi vermigli). | ||
4. Gules; a dragon, vert. | ||
B. Sesto of St. Peter Scheraggio. | ||
1. Azure; a chariot, or. |