Pagina 273 van 310

During this time the Florentines, who were much enraged that

Castruccio should have seized Pistoia during the truce,

considered how they could tempt the city to rebel, to do which

they thought would not be difficult in his absence. Among the

exiled Pistoians in Florence were Baldo Cecchi and Jacopo

Baldini, both men of leading and ready to face danger. These men

kept up communications with their friends in Pistoia, and with

the aid of the Florentines entered the city by night, and after

driving out some of Castruccio's officials and partisans, and

killing others, they restored the city to its freedom. The news

of this greatly angered Castruccio, and taking leave of Enrico,

he pressed on in great haste to Pistoia. When the Florentines

heard of his return, knowing that he would lose no time, they

decided to intercept him with their forces in the Val di Nievole,

under the belief that by doing so they would cut off his road to

Pistoia.