It must, however, be remembered that at the time when Varchi wrote, the younger branch of the Medici were firmly established on the throne of Florence.

Between this branch and the elder line there had always been a coldness.

Moreover, all parties had agreed to accept the duchy as a divinely appointed instrument for rescuing the city from her factions and reducing her to tranquillity.[2] [1] 'It passed, I say, from the condition of a corrupt and ill-conducted commonwealth to tyranny, rather than from a healthy and well-tempered republic to principality.' [2] See _Arch.

Stor._ vol.i.p.

xxxv.
It would be beyond the purpose of this chapter to enter into the details of the history of Florence between 1527 and 1531--those years of her last struggle for freedom, which have been so admirably depicted by her great political annalists.