expected--the Palazzo and the Piazza outside rang with the old
cry--"_Liberta!_" "_Liberta!_" "_Evviva il Popolo!_" "_Evviva il
Gonfaloniere!_" Salvestro de' Medici was master of the situation--the
first of his family to attain the virtual, if not the real, control of
the State.

The revolution spread through the city; the palaces of the Ghibelline
nobles were sacked and burnt. A period of discord and disaster followed,
but, with the firm hand of Salvestro de' Medici upon the helm of the
ship of the Republic, matters settled. In 1376 he was unanimously chosen
_Capitano della Parte Guelfa_--an office of still more personal
influence than the Gonfaloniership. No one questioned his authority. He
was, as the historian, Michaele Bruto, has recorded, "The first of his
family to show his successors how that by conciliating the middle and
lower classes they could make their way to sovereignty."

Another crisis in the history of Florence arose in 1378, during
Cavaliere Salvestro de' Medici's second Gonfaloniership, when the
_Ciompi_--"Wooden Shoes" they were called in derision--the
wool-workers--rose _en masse_, and besieged the _Signoria_ sitting at
the Palazzo Vecchio. They claimed to rule the city and to abolish the
nobles, and a second time Salvestro was "the man of the hour!"

Acting upon his advice, terms were arranged with the revolutionaries,
and Michaele Lando--a common woolcarder by trade, but a born leader of
men--was elected _Gonfaloniere di Giustizia_, and a new government was
set up. Upon Salvestro, "the Champion of the People," was again
conferred by public acclamation the accolade of knighthood; moreover, as
a further mark of popular estimation, to him were allocated the rents of
the shops upon the Ponte Vecchio and other prerogatives.