105. A. Sesto, (sixth part of the city,) of the other side of Arno.
Gonfalon 1. Gules; a ladder, argent. 2. Argent; a scourge, sable. 3. Azure; (una piazza bianca con nicchi vermigli). 4. Gules; a dragon, vert.
1. Azure; a chariot, or. 2. Or; a bull, sable. 3. Argent; a lion rampant, sable. 4. (A lively piece, "pezza gagliarda") Barry of (how many?) pieces, argent and sable.
You may as well note at once of this kind of bearing, called 'gagliarda' by Villani, that these groups of piles, pales, bends, and bars, were called in English heraldry 'Restrial bearings,' "in respect of their strength and solid substance, which is able to abide the stresse and force of any triall they shall be put unto." [1] And also that, the number of bars being uncertain, I assume the bearing to be 'barry,' that is, having an even number of bars; had it been odd, as of seven bars, it should have been blazoned, argent; three bars, sable; or, if so divided, sable, three bars argent.
[Footnote 1: Guillim, sect. ii., chap. 3.]
1. Or; a viper, vert. 2. Argent; a needle, (?) (aguglia) sable. 3. Vert; a horse unbridled; draped, argent, a cross, gules.
1. Vert; a lion rampant, proper. 2. Argent; a lion rampant, gules. 3. Azure; a lion rampant, argent.
1. Azure; a lion (passant?) or. 2. Or; a dragon, vert. 3. Argent; a lion rampant, azure, crowned, or.
1. Or; two keys, gules. 2. An Italian (or more definitely a Greek and Etruscan bearing; I do not know how to blazon it;) concentric bands, argent and sable. This is one of the remains of the Greek expressions of storm; hail, or the Trinacrian limbs, being put on the giant's shields also. It is connected besides with the Cretan labyrinth, and the circles of the Inferno. 3. Parted per fesse, gules and vai (I don't know if vai means grey--not a proper heraldic colour--or vaire).
106. Of course Hubert of Lucca did not determine these bearings, but took them as he found them, and appointed them for standards; [1] he did the same for all the country parishes, and ordered them to come into the city at need. "And in this manner the old people of Florence ordered itself; and for more strength of the people, they ordered and began to build the palace which is behind the Badia,--that is to say, the one which is of dressed stone, with the tower; for before there was no palace of the commune in Florence, but the signory abode sometimes in one part of the town, sometimes in another.