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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 July 2011
Massacre at Cesena.
Gregory XI. entered the Vatican with the firm determination of restoring Rome. But was it possible to accomplish the work under conditions so unfavourable? The thought of Florence robbed him of sleep. This republic incessantly goaded Italy to save the liberty which she believed to be threatened by the Pope. She therein showed herself a prophetess; for her independence was to perish in after times at the hands of a pope who was her own citizen. The horrors committed by the mercenaries in the service of the Church afforded terrible corroboration of the complaints of the Florentines. On February 1, 1377, Cesena, which had hitherto remained faithful to the Church, and where the Cardinal of Geneva dwelt, rose in despairing resistance to the Bretons, who formed its garrison; 300 Bretons were slain, when the legate, furious with anger, summoned the English from Faenza and commanded them to punish the town. The order was mercilessly fulfilled. About 8000 inhabitants escaped to the neighbouring towns; the bodies of some 4000 murdered citizens covered the streets. A cry of indignation re-echoed throughout Italy against the Church, which had consecrated her return with massacres in Faenza and Cesena. The Florentines called on all the princes of Christendom to have pity on Italy.
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