Niccolò Fortebraccio […] had been for a considerable time in the service of the city of Florence during the wars with the Duke of Milan Filippo Maria Visconti. Upon the declaration of peace he was discharged by the Florentines […]. Rinaldo degli Albizzi persuaded Niccolò to attack Lucca under some pretext, pointing out to Niccolò that if he did so, he, Rinaldo, would make the Florentines openly declare war against Lucca, and that then Niccolò would be made commander of their forces […]. [Thus Niccolò] with 300 mounted men and 300 infantry, seized, in November 1429, the Lucchese castles of Ruoti and Compito, and then descended into the plain, where he took a large amount of booty. When this became known in Florence people of all sorts gathered in groups throughout the city, the greater part of which wanted war to be waged against Lucca. Of the principal citizens who were in favour of this were the adherents of the Medici with whom Rinaldo had sided, being influenced either by the belief that it would be advantageous for the republic, or perhaps by the ambitious hope that he would have the merit of victory. Those who were opposed to it were Niccolò da Uzzano and his party. It would almost seem incredible that in the same city there should be such a diversity of opinion as to the undertaking of this war; for those very citizens and the same people who, after ten years of peace, had blamed the war undertaken against Duke Filippo in defence of the independence of the republic, now, after the heavy expenditures and affliction in which that war involved the city, eagerly demanded that a war should be undertaken against Lucca to suffocate somebody else's independence.