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CAPITOLO DUODECIMO. _6i
si potea conoscere la fede; ma ognuno confesser_t che
vincendo, stavano i Fiorentini a sua discrezione. Sforza
ebbe sempre i Bracceschi contrari, che guardarono 1' uno
1' altro. Francesco v61se 1' ambizione sua in Lombardia ;
Braccio, contro la Chiesa e il regno di Napoli. Ma
venghiamo a quello che h seguito poco tempo fa. Fecero
notice during the course of the war which broke out between Florence
and Plsa in 1362. The P1sans m July 1363 took into their pay the
_Compagnia Bianca' of Englishmen under Albert Sterz. Among
them Hawkwood served. V_rhen in 1364 the rest of the troops were
bribed by the Florentines to withdraw, Hawkwood alone with his
i2oo lances remained faiththl to Pisa. Peace was concluded the
same year. In 1375, when Prato was threatened, the Florentmes
bought off Hawkwood's opposition by granting him a yearly pension
of 12oo florins, 'il che astrinse si valoroso capitano ad esser sempre
amico de' Florentini' [Ammirato, Bk xfii. p. 693 ; ef. Ist. Fior. hb. iii ;
Op. i. 152]. The events more especially referred to in the text are
as follows: in 139o, when all Italy was disturbed by the ambition
of Gian Galeazzo Vlsconti, Hawkwood was appointed general ot
the Florentine forces. He was to co-operate with the Count
d'Armagnac, who was to enter Lombardy from France; both
together were to advance towards Milan. But Armagnac's mismanagement
led to his being defeated before the union was effected,
and Hawkwood was consequently placed in the greatest danger.
He managed however to make good his escape in the teeth of Jacopo
del Verme's victorious forces, and successfully defended the Florentine
territory from the Milanese troops. The story of Hawkwood's
fanlous retreat, to which Machiavelli refers in the words 'non vinse,'
is given at length in Ricott b vol. iL I91 foll. and cf. Napier, Florentine
History, vol. ii. ch. 27. That Florence would have remained at his
discrenon, if he had been successful in Lombardy, is probably correct.
He died at Florence, March i6, i394 ; see Ist. Fior. lib. i, Op. I. 51.
There is an interesting account of this _right valiant English Knight'
in Froissart. [The spelhng of the name, which gave some trouble
to Ammirato, is consistent with Italian usage ; in Machiavelli's day
foreign names were regularly spelt according to their sound; thus
Acuto = Hawkwood ; Plata Giannetta = Plantagenet (Op. ii. 348, of
Perkin Warbeek); Brongivie=Brunswick; Litestan=Lichtenstein,
&e.]
_. Sforza ebbe sempre i Braoeesehi, &c.] The history of the
Sforzas, Muzio Attendolo and Francesco, and of Andrea Braccio of
Montone and his followers, has been so often related that it is only
needful here to refer the reader to Ricotti's second and third volumes.