Florentine Studies: Politics and Society in Renaissance Florence

578 Pages·1968·19.612 MB·English

by  Nicolai Rubinstein

FLORENTINE
STUDIES
Politics and Society in
Renaissance Florence

edited by
NICOLAI RUBINSTEIN
FABER AND FABER
24 Russell Square
London
Firstpublishedin memlxvit
byFaberandFaberLimited
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© 1968byFaberandFaberLtd
CONTENTS

EpiTor’s PREFACE Page 9
THe MytTH oF FLORENCE 15
Donald Weinstein Associate Professor of History, Rutgers
University,NewBrunswick
In Buon TEMPO ANTICO 45
Charles T. Davis Professor of History, Tulane University,
New Orleans
THE ARMY OF THE FLORENTINE REPUBLIC FROM THE
TWELFTH TO THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY 70
D. P.WaleyReaderinHistory,LondonSchoolofEconomics
Tue FLORENTINE TERRITORIAL STATE AND CIvICc
HuMANISM IN THE EARLY RENAISSANCE 109
MarvinB. BeckerProfessorofHistory, UniversityofRochester,N.Y.
INDIRECT TAXES OR ‘GABELLES’ AT FLORENCE IN THE
FOURTEENTH CENTURY 140
Charles M. de la Ronciére Chargéd’Enseignement d’Histovre,
UniversityofDakar. TranslatedbyJanetSondhermer
From Manor To MeEzzapriA: A TuscAN CASE-STUDY
IN THE MEDIEVAL ORIGINS OF MODERN AGRARIAN
SOCIETY 193
P.J.JonesFellowand Tutor,BrasenoseCollege, Oxford
5
CONTENTS
SANTA MariA IMPRUNETA: A RuRAL COMMUNE IN
THE LATE MIDDLE AGES 242
DavidHerlihyProfessorofHistory, UniversityofWisconsin
LABOUR CONDITIONS IN FLORENCE AROUND 1400:
THEORY, PoLicy AND REALITY 277
RaymonddeRooverProfessorofHistory,BrooklynCollege
THE C1oMPI REVOLUTION 314
Gene A. Brucker Professor ofHistory, University ofCalifornia,
Berkeley
IO How THE MEDICI BECAME THE POPE’s BANKERS 357
GeorgeHolmesFellowofStCatherine’sCollege, Oxford
II FLORENCE AND THE Papacy IN THE EARLIER FIF-
TEENTH CENTURY 381
PeterPartnerAssistantHistoryMaster, WinchesterCollege
12 PIsA AND FLORENCE IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY:
ASPECTS OF THE PERIOD OF THE FIRST FLORENTINE
DOMINATION 403
MichaelMallettLecturerinHistory, UniversityofWarwick
13 FLORENTINE CONSTITUTIONALISM AND MeEpicl1 ASCEN-
DANCY IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY 442
Nicolai Rubinstein Professor of History, Westfield College,
London
14 THE VENETIAN CONSTITUTION IN FLORENTINE POLITI-
CAL THOUGHT 463
Felix Gilbert Professor ofHistory, InstituteforAdvanced Study,
Princeton
15 THE END OF FLORENTINE LIBERTY: THE FORTEZZA DA
Basso 501
J.R. HaleProfessorofHistory, UniversityofWarwick
INDEX 933
ILLUSTRATIONS

afterpage 512
Vasari,Alessandrode’ Medici
Baldassare Peruzzi, The Walls ofFlorence (c. 1520). Uffizi,
360A.
Vasari, The Siege ofFlorence. Detail from the fresco in the
PalazzoVecchio,Florence
CitadellaVecchia. Detailfromno. 8
Francescode Marchi, TheWallsofFlorence. From Trattato
d’ArchitetturaMilitare,B.N.F., I1,1,280,fol. 2r
Detailfromno. 5
Antonioda Sangallotheyounger, projectforimprovingthe
CitadellaVecchiaatPortaallaGiustizia. Uffizi, 761 A.
StefanoBuonsignori, PlanofFlorence (1584)
AntoniodaSangallo,distancerose,Florence. Uffizi, 773A.
FortezzadaBasso,domeofcentralhall
10
Detailfromthe‘Berlin’woodcutviewofFlorence (c. 1470)
II
FortezzadaBasso. Detailfromno. 8
I2
13 Astrological diagram for the foundation time of the ‘Arx
Florentina’.A.S.F., CarteStrozziane, Ser. 1, 129,fol. 196r
14 Antonio da Sangallo. Sketches for a fortress at Porta S.
Gallo. Uffizi, 758A.
15 Antonio da Sangallo, preliminary drawing for Fortezza.
Uffizi, 783A.
16 Antonio da Sangallo, preliminary drawing for Fortezza.
Uffizi, 782A.
17 Fortezza da Basso. Section showing mastio and Porta a
Faenza
18 FortezzadaBasso. Mastiofromrampart
7
ILLUSTRATIONS
19 Antonio da Sangallo, preliminary drawing for Fortezza,
Uffizi, 760A.
20 Bastiano da Sangallo, Fortezza, plan. Uffizi, 315 A. The
back is endorsed to Antonio, and this plan was probably
senttohiminRomefromFlorence
21 Antonio da Sangallo, Fortezza, plan ofcity front. Uffizi,
756A.
22 Antonio da Sangallo, Fortezza, section through stables,
rampartandwall. Uffizi, 1282A.
23 Planofsallyportaccess
24 Fortezza,plan
25 AntoniodaSangallo, Fortezza, inkandwashplanofmastio.
“Torredelaportaafaenza’atbottom. Uffizi, 757A.
26 Pediment(atgroundlevel) oforiginalextrancetomastio
27 Topofearlyentrance,cityfront,rightofmastio
28 DeMarchi,FortezzadaBasso. MS.cit.,fol. gr.
29 FortezzadaBasso.B.N.F.,MS. XIX,62,fols. 14v—15r
30 BastianodaSangallo,detailfromno. 20
31 BastianodaSangallo,detailfromno. 20
32 AntoniodaSangallo,Fortezza,section. Uffizi,931 A.
33 BastianodaSangallo,copyofno. 32. Uffizi, 1659A.
34 Antonio da Sangallo, designforstoneworkofmastio. Uffizi,
726A.
35 Fortezza,mastio
36 Mastio excavated to show stonework below modern earth
level
37 FortezzadaBasso,A.S.F.,R.R. Possessioni, Piante,536
38 Project for new bastion between the Fortezza and Porta al
Prato. A.S.F., Capitani di Parte, cart. XIX, scaffale L,
palchetto 10,no. 58
39 BaldodePaludi’sinscriptionintheFortezza
AcknowledgementsaremadetotheSoprintendenzaaiMonumentiperleProvincie
diFirenze,ArezzoePistoiaforplates 17, 18, 24, 26, 27,35,36and39.
MAP
ThecontadoofPisainthefifteenthcentury,page410
8
EDITOR’S PREFACE

The present volume grew out ofdiscussions among friends who some
years agowereworkingat theArchivio di Stato in Florence. Although
itdoes notmakeanypretenceatcomprehensiveness ofa chronological
or systematic order, it does not entirely lack unity ofpurpose ordirec-
tion. By assembling studies that are representative of contemporary
research in Florentine history, it may not only providethereaderwith
new information onavarietyoftopicsandproblems,butalsoacquaint
him with someof the principal currents and aims of that research.
Its very incompleteness is not entirely accidental, but reflects a similar
incompleteness in historical scholarship. While some aspects andfields
of Florentine history have been thoroughly investigated, othersstill
await elucidation; and as so often, the increase in our knowledge has
not beenwithout an increased awareness ofthe gaps thatremain to be
filled. Even so, our knowledge of Florentine politics and economy
from the 14th to the 16th century has been notably widened and
deepened during the last 20-odd years; and if the present volume
succeeds in conveying to the reader someofthis fuller vision, its plan
wouldseemtohavebeenamplyjustified.
That it could be planned at all on this level and with so great a
variety oftopics, in itselfbears witness to the remarkable flourishing of
Florentinehistorical studiessince the Second World War; thatall but
oneofthecontributorscomefromGreatBritainand theUnitedStates,
shows the popularity of these studies in those countries. The present
activity offers a striking contrast to the situation between the two
world wars; the part played in it by students from outside Italy
provides yet another example ofthe attraction exercized by medieval
andRenaissanceFlorenceonnon-Italianscholarship.
9
EDITOR’S PREFACE
To investigate the causes ofthis attraction would go far beyond the
scope ofthis briefintroduction. The position ofFlorence as one ofthe
chiefcentresofWesterncivilization has nodoubthada largepartinit,
as has the fame ofLorenzo the Magnificent and Niccolé Machiavelli,
and hence the desire to know more about their city and ‘age’. Less
evident, but perhaps in the long run more important as far as the
critical study of Florentine politics and society is concerned, is the
incomparable wealth ofthe Florentine archives which allows a unique
insight into the political and economic structure and the everydaylife
of one of the greatest medieval city states.Jacob Burckhardt has said
that Florence deserved perhaps ‘the nameof the first modernstate’;
it was tempting to see in it at least a prototype of medieval urban
development. At the same time, herhistory could, by the very richness
ofits documentation, serve to demonstrate modern political issues or
theories.Sismondi had,at the beginning ofthe 19th century, written a
historyofthemedievalItalianrepublicsintermsofthestrugglebetween
liberty and despotism; Robert Davidsohn claimed in 1896, in the
preface to his monumentalGeschichtevonFlorenz, that the historyofthat
town was ‘prevalently that ofher people and ofits fight against any
kind of superior power’. Davidsohn was a German, nurtured in the
traditions of German liberalism; Nicola Ottokar, whose book on ‘II
comune di Firenze alla fine del Dugento’ (1926) revolutionized the
study ofFlorentine communal government, was ofRussian origin, and
came to the study of 13th-century Florence from that ofthe medieval
French communes, and hence from a wider vision ofthe problems of
medievalurbandevelopment.
Davidsohn’s Geschichte (1896-1927), in seven massive volumes based
on extensive research, was a turning point in the study of medieval
Florence and will no doubt remainits solid foundation for a long time
to come. The narrative breaks off in 1330, but the three volumes on
Florentinecivilizationandeconomiclife,as well as the four additional
volumes of Forschungen, also cover some of the rest ofthe fourteenth
century. Descriptive rather than analytical, the Geschichte von Florenz
leaves open important problems of social and political development
and oversimplifies others. Gaetano Salvemini’s Magnati e popolant in
Firenze dal 1280 al 1295, on the other hand,has exercized, since its
publication in 1899, a lasting influence, on account not of the dis-
covery of new facts but of its interpretation of Florentine history in
terms ofconflictingeconomicinterests betweensocial classes in thecity,
andbetweenthecityandthecountryside. Inbothrespects, Salvemini’s
views, which were also largely accepted by Davidsohn, have been
10
EDITOR’S PREFACE
subjected to searching criticism by Ottokar and his disciple Johan
Plesner. By detailed analyses ofthe composition and alignments ofthe
rulinggroup Ottokar has demonstrated its basic continuity throughout
the political and constitutional changes of the late Dugento; by
applying similar methods ofenquiry to the immigration into Florence
from twoplacesin the contado, Plesner! has shownthatthe thesis ofthe
exploitation of the countryside by the city cannot be held without
considerablequalification.
Since the last war, muchresearch has been focused on the economic
relations between city and contado, on rural conditions in general, and
thesocialbackgroundofFlorentinepolitics.Whilemuchofthisresearch
hasbeenconcernedwiththe 14thcentury,?therehasalso beenagreatly
increased interest in the 15th century, which hitherto had been mainly
the province ofbiographers. Elio Conti is preparing an extensive study
on the rural foundations ofFlorentine society in the Quattrocento,; to
formthefirstpartofaworkonthesocialhistoryofFlorenceduringthat
century. Raymond de Roover has devoted a fundamental book to the
Medici bank,‘ thus continuing into the 15th century the researches on
Florentine commerce and banking to which A. Sapori and recently
F. Melis have made so many important contributions for the four-
teenth century. This fresh interest in the fifteenth century has not
remained confined to economic history. Lauro Martines, in examining
the social conditions of Florentine humanists,5 has also thrown new
light on the part played by officeholding in Florentine society, while
I have devoted a book to the mechanics and development ofMedicean
government.® Florentine political thought, seen until recently almost
exclusively in relation to Dante and Machiavelli, has been studied
within the context of Florentine politics between the 13th and the
16th century; part ofthis fresh approach has been a reassessment, for
theearlyQuattrocento,ofthepoliticalroleofFlorentinehumanism.7
A few final words ofexplanation may be added. It would have been
tempting to includein this volume studies on Florentine art, literature
and scholarship. However, any attempt to make an even moderately
'L’émigrationdelacampagnealavillelibredeFlorenceauXIIT®siécle(Copenhagen, 1934).
2See esp. Enrico Fiumi, ‘Fioritura e decadenza dell’economia fiorentina’, A.S..,
vols.CXV-CXVITI(1957-59).
3See his preliminary studies, Laformazione della struttura agraria moderna nel contado
fiorentino,vols.IandIII,pt.2(Rome, 1965).
4 TheRiseandDeclineoftheMediciBank, 1397-1494(Cambridge,Mass., 1963).
5 TheSocialWorldoftheFlorentineHumanists(Princeton,N.J., 1963).
© TheGovernmentofFlorenceundertheMedici, 1434-1494(Oxford, 1966).
7Seeesp.H.Baron, TheCrisisoftheEarlyItalianRenaissance(Princeton, 1955;revised
ed., 1966).
II
EDITOR’S PREFACE
representativeselectionofthesewouldhaverendereditunmanageable.
As for the subtitle, some readers might object to its use for a period
which stretches roughly from the 13th to the 16th century. Some
historians describe this period as ‘late medieval’ and ‘early modern’;
like Denys Hay,' I prefer to use the old-established term Renaissance
for a period ofItalian history which, whether or not one defines it in
termsofrevival,hassomeweightyclaimstobetreated,howeverloosely,
asahistoricalunit.
t TheItalianRenaissanceinitsHistoricalBackground(Cambridge, 1961),pp. 14-15.
I2