Siena, the story of a mediaeval commune . was divided into milites and pedites, that is, intocavalry and infantry, the enrolment in one or the otherof the two services being determined exclusively bywealth. The individual whose lira or property taxreached a certain sum had to keep a horse for the com-mune, and present himself for service with lance, shield,and other accoutrements exactly prescribed, while hewhose lira fell below a certain sum served on foot andarmed himself according to a humbler arms, it will be observed, were in each case fur-nished by the citizen and not by
Siena, the story of a mediaeval commune . was divided into milites and pedites, that is, intocavalry and infantry, the enrolment in one or the otherof the two services being determined exclusively bywealth. The individual whose lira or property taxreached a certain sum had to keep a horse for the com-mune, and present himself for service with lance, shield,and other accoutrements exactly prescribed, while hewhose lira fell below a certain sum served on foot andarmed himself according to a humbler arms, it will be observed, were in each case fur-nished by the citizen and not by the commune. How-ever, milites and pedites did not exhaust the militarycategories, for the development of war had favored theformation of certain special troops, composed of pickedmen drafted from the terzi. Thus we hear of a body ofpavesai or shield-bearers, carrying immense bucklerswhich were tied together for attack and afforded theappearance of a moving wall, of a body of arcadori orlong bowmen, and of a company of balestrieri, armed. The Palazzo Buonsignori THE RIVALRY WITH FLORENCE 167 with balestre or cross-bows. Among the special armsthe crops-bows held the most prominent place, for, whenbuilt on a large scale, according to a great variety ofpatterns, they formed a primitive artillery for hurlingstones and arrows, and proved themselves particularlyeffective in the conduct of a siege. If we add a baggageservice of pack-asses, destined to carry the tents and theprovisions, we can see that the army, on passing out ofthe gates, each division under a leader and following agonfalon or pennon gayly fluttering in the wind, wasalready far beyond the stage of primitive organization.*But of all the curious and attractive features of amediaeval host upon the march none would haveexercised such fascination upon a spectator of our timeas the carroccio. We heard from Villani, the Florentinechronicler, that his countrymen carried the carrocciowith them in the campaign of 1230, and it i
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