FLOOR-CLOTH. 736 FLORENCE. FLOOR-CLOTH. A floor covering, used as a substitute for or protection of carpets. See Linoleum; Oilcloth; and Kamptulicon. FLOR, flor, Roger de (c. 1262-1305). A Cata- lan chief, of German descent. He was born al Brindisi, and at the age of fifteen entered the service of the Templars, and later joined their Order. He fought in Palestine, but was accused of robbery at the capture of Acre by the Moham- medans in 1291 and had to escape. He went to Sicily and became vice-admiral of King Fred- erick's fleet; in 1303 a band of free lances chose him their chief, and he led them to Constanti- nople, where they served Andronicus Palseologus against the Turks. (See Catalan Grand Com- pany.) Roger was married to the Byzantine Emperor's niece-, defeated two Turkish armies, but was recalled by the Emperor and made Caesar, but received no money for his soldiers. When they turned to plunder, the Emperor's son Michael invited Roger to Adrianople, and there assassinated him at the close of a banquet. FLO'RA (Lat., from flos, flower). Among the Romans, the name of the goddess of flowers, and ■of the spring.- and identified by the poets with the Greek Chloris. In Rome she had a temple on the Quirinal and another in the vicinity of the Circus Maximus. The worship of Flora was one of the oldest manifestations of the Roman reli- gious feeling, and is affirmed to have been intro- duced by Numa. The floralia, or festivals in honor of the goddess, first instituted B.C. 238, were celebrated from April 2Sth to May 1st. with much licentious merriment. On coins, Flora is represented with a crown of flowers. FLORA. The aggregate of plants growing ■spontaneously in a country or district, as the flora of Illinois, or the flora of a pond. In the latter example the term is ecological, and is the equivalent of plant society, but in most cases the term flora has no ecological significance. See Distribution of Plants ; Ecology ; Taxonomy. FLORA. A painting by Titian, representing a woman, partially draped, holding flowers. It han^s in the Uffizi Gallery at Florence. FLORA'LIA. A Roman festival. See Flora. FLORDELISE, or FLORDELIS, flar'di lis. The wife of Brandimart in the Orlando of both Boiardo and Ariosto, who. after he dies, spends the rest of her life near his burial place. FLORDESPINA, ftor'dl-spe'na, or FLOR- DESPINE, fldr'de-spln. A princess who takes tin- warlike Bradamant for a man. because of her armor, and falls in love with her. in the Orlando of both Boiardo and Ariosto. FLORE"AL, flo'ra'al'(from Lat. floreus, relat- ing to flowers, from flos, flower). Tin- eighth month in the French Republican calendar. It ex- tended from April 20th to -May 19th in the years [.-VII., and from April 2ls1 to May 20th in I lie years VIII.-XIII. See CALENDAR. FLORE ET BLANCHEFLEUR, flor a blaNsh'flgr'. The title of an old French romance, so called from the names of the lovers — Flore, a Christian knight, and Blanchefleur, a Saracen slave. The story is used in Boccaccio's II Filu- copo, by Chaucer in the Franklin's tale, and appears in a number of English versions. FLORENCE (It. Firen e, Lat. Florentia, from florere, to bloom, from flos, flower). The most important city of Central Italy north of Rome; on the Arno. in latitude 4:i 46' X.. and longitude 110° 15' E., Do mile, east of Leghorn and 140 miles northwest of Rome (Map: Italy, F 4). It was an important Roman colony; du'r- ing the later Middle Ages ami the Renaissance a free city dominant in Tuscany; from 1569 capi- ta] of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, from 1865 to 1S71 of the Kingdom of Italy, and since then of the Province of Florence. Situation and Topography. From its beau- tiful situation at the foot of the Apennines, in a valley bordered with gently sloping hills, cov- ered with olive groves, orchards, and vineyards, and crowned with pines, it has derived the title Firenze la Bella (Florence the Beautiful). The surrounding country, dotted up to the mountain tops with white villages, pleasant villas, and beautiful suburbs, is the fairest imaginable. The title "Beautiful" is even more richly deserved by reason of its clean streets, well preserved ancient buildings, and art treasures, represent- ing the most perfect development of the Re- naissance. More than any other city, Florence was the cradle of Italian, and consequently of modern, culture. She was the first to produce a native literature, which made her vernacular the written language of Italy: the first to take up the study of the ancient languages, art. and science, and to achieve an artistic development rivaled only by that of Athens. The number of her great men is legion, — no city since antiquity can show such a roster; to mention only a few: Dante, Giotto. Masaccio, Donatello, Leonardo, Michelangelo, Galileo, and Alfieri. In Florence, too, perhaps more than in any other Italian city, a glorious past is united with an attractive present. The Arno divides the city into two unequal parts, the chief of which stands upon the north- ern bank. Here lay the Roman city, the rect- angular shape and straight streets of which may be traced in the heart of mediaeval Florence. By the eleventh century new walls were necessary, and in 1285 arose the third and finest circuit. strengthened by 150 towers, "encircling the city like a garland." Although these walls were removed to make room for new driveways, some of the grand old city gates still remain. The Arno is spanned by four ancient stone and two modern iron bridges. Of the former the most interesting is the Ponte Vecchio (1355), which replaced an ancient structure of 1177, affording, with its rows of goldsmiths' simps, an interesting example of the mediaeval custom of using bridges for trade. The most beautiful bridge is the Trinita, built in 1567-70, after Amraanat i's design, SQl RES and MONUMENTS. The general ap- pearance of old Florence is one of republican seriousness and simplicity, — the abode of a pros- perous and industrious lint warlike merchant and artisan class. The well -paved, cleanly streets are narrow, the houses are high, and the very palaces are furl less I ike in character. But all is leavened by an ever present sense of the lit ling and (he beautiful. The principal squares, with famous historical or artistic associations, are named after soi ontiguous church or promi- nent building. The Piazza della Signoria, Ranked by the grim Palazzo Vecchio, and the beautiful open Loggia dei Lanzi, was the centre, of (he civic life of Florence. There the greai state ceremonies were
