As in OTL, in 1250 the people of Florence elected for the first time the 36 caporali di popolo, a political counterweight to the nobles. The use of cannons in Europe was first mentioned 1326 in a Florentine document. Since 1327, after the fall of Constantinople many Byzantines fled to Florence. The knowledge they brought to Western Europe helped spawning the "Rinascita" (it wasn't called that at this time) that already started in the last century. 1348, the displaced Constantinopolitans helped founding a Platonic Academy in Florence. The knowledge of Greek started to spread throughout Italy.