Not one stone of it was left upon another.[29] Then, with incredible rapidity they enclosed their city with walls, parts of which are still standing, their formidable ruins a witness to the zeal with which the whole population labored on them.
It is natural to think that Francis, then seventeen years old, was one of the most gallant laborers of those glorious days, and it was perhaps there that he gained the habit of carrying stones and wielding the trowel which was destined to serve him so well a few years later.
Unhappily his fellow-citizens had not the sense to profit by their hard-won liberty.

The lower classes, who in this revolution had become aware of their strength, determined to follow out the victory by taking possession of the property of the nobles.

The latter took refuge in their fortified houses in the interior of the city, or in their castles in the suburbs.

The townspeople burned down several of the latter, whereupon counts and barons made request of aid and succor from the neighboring cities.
Perugia was at this time at the apogee of its power,[30] and had already made many efforts to reduce Assisi to submission.

It therefore received the fugitives with alacrity, and making their cause its own, declared war upon Assisi.