FRA PIERO DI AQUILA. 277 honor of an edition printed at Speier. A man so gifted was warmly welcomed, and the repubUc thanked the Franciscan Gen- eral for the selection. I have already detailed how he fell into the same courses as his predecessor in cheating the papal camera, how he was prosecuted for this, and for what the republic offi- cially denounced as " estorsioni nefcmde committed on the people, and how, within two years after his appointment, he was a fugi- tive, not daring to stand trial. There is another phase of his ac- tivity, however, which is worth recounting in some detail, as it illustrates perfectly how useful an instrument was the Inquisition m carrying out the wishes of the Eoman curia in matters wholly disconnected with the purity of the faith. -^ The Cardinal of Santa Sabina, while visiting various courts in the capacity of papal legate, had had occasion to collect large sums. In charity to him we may assume, what doubtless was the truth, that the money belonged to the pope, although it stood in the cardinal's name on the books of his bankers, the great Floren- tine company of the Acciajuoli. In receiving it the members of the company had bound themselves jointly and severally for its repayment, agreeing to subject themselves to the judgment of the Court of Auditors of the Apostolic Chamber. In 1343 there was due the cardinal some twelve, thousand florins, which the Accia- juoli were unable to pay. A commercial and financial crisis had paralyzed the commerce and industries of the city. Its bankers had advanced vast sums to Edward III. of England and to Eobert the Good of Naples, and clamored in vain for repayment. The Lombard war had exhausted the pubhc treasury and the whole community was bankrupt. Not only the Acciajuoli, but the Bardi, the Peruzzi, and other great banking-houses closed their doors, and ruin stared the Florentines in the face. There ^vas at least one creditor, however, who was resolved to have his money, f On October 9, 1343, Clement YI. wrote to the repubhc, stat- ing the claim of the cardinal and ordering the Signoria to compel
- Wadding. T. III. App. p. 3.-Ughelli, Italia Sacra, Ed. 1659, II. 1075 -
Archiv. di Firenze, Riformag. Classe v. No. 129, fol. 55. t Archiv. di Firenze, Riformag. Atti Pubblici, Lib. xyi. de^ Capitolari, fol 15.— Villani Chron. xi. 138 ; xii. 55, 58.
