A short history of Florence

Franco Cardini

• Publisher: Pacini Editore
• Year: 2012
• Print ISBN: 9788877814937
• eBook ISBN: 9788863150964
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Italian History
• Index: History

II ristampa. Edizione in inglese della "Breve storia di Firenze".
Una breve storia ha lo scopo di cogliere in pochi, forti tratti della città, di rivisitare il passato alla luce del presente per comprendere i caratteri originali.

The apogee

A complete “revolution of the road system” was brought about in the thirteenth century.

Thanks to the influence of its wide-ranging trades and to a series of firm military initiatives in the surrounding countryside, Florence, which had been cut off the Francigena, managed to reconnect to it through a land road system, thus forcing important trade to pass through its centre. By doing so, the town solidly and firmly conquered - thus replacing the power of the bishop - the surrounding countryside, subjecting it to the logic of its military needs and interests. At the same time it was however evident that the countryside was conquering the town, through a continuous flow of high quality immigration that conveyed inside the town individuals with capitals and initiative, who were ready to multiply their capitals by using their intelligence and daring.

Naturally enough, the increase and the greater articulation of economic activities attracted also growing throngs of underprivileged in search of work, drawn into town by the illusion of being able to rapidly and easily earn fortunes. A dream that would never come true in the vast majority of cases. Yet a great amount of cheap labour was exactly what florid factories and rich Florentine workshops needed. And on the other hand, feverish building activities, typical of a town in growth, were always desperately searching for labour at low cost.

This throng of underprivileged, which could be perhaps defined a sort of industrial working class, to use a strained interpretation, did not obviously find asylum in the centre dominated by aristocratic case-torri and embellished with large and beautiful buildings that already represented the true spirit of the town. Other miserable suburbs had already been built in unhealthy locations around the city walls in 1172-1175 (on the eastern and western banks of the river Arno, often on marshy and polluted lands).

These underprivileged classes were soon supported, aided and at the same time given a religious education by the mendicant orders, the new great reality of the 13th century that were specifically founded to meet the needs of the urban reality and “new poverty” originating from the commercial and entrepreneurial growth. Franciscans established themselves in the western area of the town, in the unhealthy area known as “Prato di Ognissanti”, where a group of penitents - the “Humiliated” - started an activity linked with the production of wool, and in the eastern area where they founded the church of Santa Croce. The Dominicans established themselves close to the north-western section of the walls, in Santa Maria Novella. The Silvesters chose the northern side of the town, San Marco, which was later passed over to the Dominican order; the Serviti also established themselves in the north, in a suburban area surrounded by woods known as “Il Cafaggio”, where they built the church of Santissima Annunziata. The Oltrarno, on the right bank of river Arno, was instead occupied by the Carmelites and the Augustians who respectively founded the churches of S. Maria del Carmine and Santo Spirito. In other words, the 13th century town was almost “encircled” by a circular chain of mendicant settlements, each characterised by a large church and by a wide square in front of it, which became necessary as a result of the increasing success of preachers and especially of Franciscan and Dominican friars.

Meanwhile the on-going strife between Guelphs and Ghibellines became more acute because of the participation of the noblemen of the country - mainly the families of the Guidi and the Alberti - and because of the wars against other Tuscan towns - mostly Siena and Pisa - fighting for the hegemony of the region. The discontent for the corrupt behaviour of many clergymen created the ideal conditions for the flourishing of heretical propaganda. Apparently the 13th century Florence offered the Cathar sect the opportunity of propagandising a theological vision that strikingly contrasted Christian faith hidden behind a Christianity that was as pure and poor as in the origins, and appeared to be animated by the Neo-manichean principle of the struggle between the eternal principles of Good and Evil. Following the surge of controversies against the Papacy, the heresy apparently managed to gain the favour of some of the most important Ghibelline families and in particular of the Uberti. The Church responded to this attack with the mendicant Orders, which somehow joined charity and preaching, and with the Inquisition that was actually controlled by the very same orders (the Dominicans up to 1244 and later by the Franciscans of the Church of Santa Croce). The struggle between Frederick II and later between his son Manfred on the one side, and the Papacy on the other, radicalised the conflicts even within the boundaries of Florence. Here, as in many other towns, the opposition against heretics became more acute due to the strife against the Ghibellines and in some cases it actually became the same thing, also thanks to the Guelph propaganda. In 1244, the Dominican preacher Pietro da Verona galvanised a vast part of the population, who had adhered to the renewal stimulated by the mendicant orders and formed laic brotherhoods dedicated to devotion and repentance. The Ghibellines, who ruled the town at that time and included some members of the Cathar sect, responded by institutionalising the professional organisations and guilds that formed the People and by introducing two representatives to collaborate with the podestà.

Frederick II failed in his attempt to directly control the commune, even though his son Frederick of Antiochia, who became podestà in 1246, ruled the town with extremely harsh systems, managing to fight back a Guelph insurrection in 1246.

This was perhaps the first sign of the decline of the Ghibellines in town. Guelph exiles spread almost everywhere, together with a part of the wealth, but also with their prestige and friendships, and above all the Papacy. This facilitated the organisation of a counteroffensive. On September 21st 1250, in Figline, the Florentine army that had been patched together without too much conviction, was defeated in an ambush organised by the Guelphs. As the Guelph nobles in town had long since been exiled, guilds, that is the People, had to arm and upturn the tyranny. An unexpected insurrection in October 1255 marked the collapse of the Ghibelline regime and the permanent exile of the important families that had supported it.

It was the beginning of the most flourishing period in the history of Florence, which is also known with the name of the period of the Vecchio Popolo (Old People) or the Primo Popolo (First People). It is only an apparent ironical aspect of history that those who organised the insurrection against the Ghibellines ended choosing the same government institutions that the Ghibellines had created between 1244 and 1246. In reality nothing could have been more coherent. In both cases, entrepreneurs and Florentine merchants had reacted to decisions imposed from above and from foreigners, that is from the Papacy with the Inquisition first and from the Emperor through the Ghibellines later. While confirming their alliance with the Pope and keeping their distance from Manfred of Swabia (Frederick had died in 1250 and the throne had been vacant since 1254), the inhabitants of Florence were very careful not to call themselves Guelphs.

The institutional organisation of the government established after 1250 was characterised by two parallel bodies. The Commune on the one hand, ruled by the podestà and by two councils and the People on the other hand, directed by a Captain (who was also a foreigner and a knight like the podestà) assisted by other two councils. The former, formed by 12 members, was elected by the 20 military companies that represented the topographical areas where the citizens resided. The latter, formed by 24 members, was constituted by the consuls representing the Guilds. The captain and the “eldest” (that is the Council of the Twelve) represented the executive and legislative power, although the laws they issued had to be validated by the Councils of the Podestà. Although most of the Ghibelline aristocrats had been exiled from town, the Guelph ones - who had returned in 1250 - did not appear to be able to gain the favour of the people. It is true that they were used for several military and diplomatic actions and their prestigious relations with the Papacy, the feudal courts and most of the Italian signorias were often exploited. Yet, the Guilds were dominated by strong anti-aristocratic feelings; they could not forgive the “haughtiness” of the aristocrats and knew that they were dangerous because of their military strength. The “levelling” of the towers down to an height of 50 braccios, which was the equivalent of about twenty-five metres, was both a public order - because of the threaten of weapons that could be thrown down from them - and a moral and symbolic order.

The government of the “First People” was characterised by the extraordinary flourishing of the activities of the merchants and entrepreneurs of those Guilds that were later called the “Greater Guilds”, which grouped importers of goods from foreign lands, bankers, wool manufacturers, silk manufacturers and fur and leather manufacturers. Their wealth influenced also the wealth of local merchants and craftsmen grouped in the so-called “middle” and “lesser” guilds. The newly established trades could rely on loans of large sums of money and contracts for the collection of Papal tithes. The necessity of maintaining the freedom of the countryside and of responding to the pressure of the neighbouring and nearly all Ghibelline towns - that hated Florence - led to the reorganisation of the military forces both on horse and on foot. These were divided into “sixths” or “wards” according to the new town districts. Even the town started to embellish itself. The Palazzo del Popolo (later renamed into Palazzo del Podestà, then Bargello) was built in 1255 in front of the Badia Fiorentina, followed by the bridge of Santa Trinità, five years later.

The necessary instrument to strengthen this economic growth would have been a prestigious currency. The Western world however did not mint coins, except for rather inferior silver ones, although the coins minted in Lucca, Pisa, Siena and Pavia were rather valued. Certainly not as much as the currency minted in Provins, which was used for trading purposes during the trade fairs of Champagne. As far as gold was concerned, gold coins were minted only in Byzantium and in some Muslim potentates. Emperor Frederick II had attempted to mint his own coin, the “Augustale”, which did not however survive his death. In 1252, it was the turn of Genoa, who minted its “Genovino”; a few months later Florence triumphantly presented to the world its “Florin”, a 23 carat gold coin weighing 3 grams and 55, which showed the image of John the Baptist on one face and the lily, the emblem of the town, on the other. It was the very same silver lily on a vermilion background represented on the ancient gonfalon with which the Ghibellines had fled and the People had decided to adopt, after “reversing” the colours into vermilion on a silver background, according to a typical heraldic opposition procedure. The “big Florin”, or silver Florin, already existed. It was an important coin, whose value had been theoretically fixed at the time of Charlemagne as equivalent to 390 grams of fine silver. It was now decided that the gold Florin was to correspond to a value of 20 silver Florins, that is to a pound (or “lira”). As a matter of fact, the silver coin progressively and continuously lost value, while the value of the gold one remained unaltered for several years and actually acquired an enormous credit in the whole of Europe and in the Mediterranean area. The gap between the gold Florin and the silver lira had become so great, that towards the end of the 14th century a Florin amounted to 4 silver liras and to 7 silver liras at the end of the 15th century.

The Florin was obviously the currency used for important economic transactions; it was employed for the payment of large sums of money and for international loans. Entrepreneurs who traded using this beautiful and gold coin, usually paid their employees with inferior silver coins or in nature. By doing so they could make profit even on exchanges.

Nevertheless the situation of the government started to become critical when Manfred of Swabia - after eliminating his most prestigious Ghibelline enemy in Italy, Ezzelino da Romano, in 1259, deceased soon after because of the wounds suffered during the battle - thought it was time to conquer Tuscany and sent its officials to rule it. Florence could not obviously accept this hegemony and was consequently obliged to start a new war against Siena, whose ruling class formed by bankers was openly in contrast with the Florentine ones, Pisa and the exiled Ghibellines. The conflict broke out into a war that was settled for good with the battle of Montaperti, on September 4th 1960.

The Guelph army was exterminated, the “carroccio” - the symbol of the freedom of the Commune - was captured by the Siennese. The Ghibelline exiles returned to their town and fiercely put into practise their revenge, which consisted - as usual - in exiles, confiscation of property and destruction of houses rather than executions. However, when the Tuscan vicar of Manfred suggested, in 1264, to actually raze Florence, as Frederick I had suggested a century earlier, the acknowledged leader of the Ghibellines, Farinata degli Uberti, who was known to be a Cathar heretic, determinedly opposed the plan, “openly”, as Dante quotes in his work.

The battle of Montaperti inaugurated a period of Ghibelline government, although it was difficult to set aside the Guilds, which had been cut out from the government of the town and from the exploitation of trades closely connected with the interests of Ghibellines. When Pope Urban IV excommunicated the Florentine and Siennese Ghibellines, in an attempt of reducing the power of Manfred and replacing him with Charles of Anjou, the brother of Luis IV, in Southern Italy, he authorised all good Christians not to pay the sums that had received as loans from the excommunicated. An order that was immediately obeyed. It was made clear that all merchants who declared themselves good Christians would have received a Papal document proving their faith, which would have allowed them to claim for their credits. Obviously enough, all or almost all the Ghibelline mercantile companies - even the Ghibelline ones - of Florence paid their homage to the Pope in the years between 1263 and 1264. This explains why the Florentine people found the courage to rebel against their domination and exile the Ghibellines after the defeat of Manfred in February 1266 in the battle of Benevento and the victory of Charles of Anjou.

Despite this political change, the government of the “First People” could never be restored. Although it soon became evident that the Florentine people were gradually acquiring specific Guelph characteristics, the Guelph movement and the people’s movement were really never the same thing. Soon after the victory over Manfred, the Pope and Charles of Anjou, the new king of Sicily, clearly proved they had designs on this town of bankers, who had risked their capitals to allow the defeat of Manfred between 1263 and 1266. The “determined” representatives of the most important Guelph families, supported by two French knights of Charles, managed to impose their power and to appoint Charles as podestà of Florence for seven years from 1267.

The relation between Charles of Anjou and the Popes was always very troubled. The excessive power of the new king of Sicily in Italy and in the Mediterranean area was becoming rather worrisome. This explains why some Popes, like Nicholas III tried to limit it by supporting some of the fringes of the Ghibelline movement. Businessmen who still supported this view and had been exiled in Siena and Pisa obviously took advantage of this opportunity to restore their interests. As a consequence and as a result of a peace that was signed in January 1280 in Florence, thanks to the mediation of Cardinal Latino Malabranca, many Ghibellines were able to return to their homes.

It was only an artificial balance. The most important Ghibelline and Guelph families understood far too well that a conflict could not be avoided, since the stake was the rule over the town itself. The People, sticking close to the Guilds, were just waiting for the right moment to come and were determined not to be excluded as in 1260 and 1267.

Taking advantage of a new conflict that had broke out between the Guelphs and Ghibellines, the elders of the Guild of Calimala, the Bankers’ Guild and the Wool Guild managed to have their representatives sit in the government of the Commune and gradually took over public functions through a council formed by six “priors of the Guilds”, one for each district of the town. The change originated from the oath of loyalty made to the Tuscan communes by the new emperor Rudolf of Hapsburg, by the supremacy gained by the Ghibelline party in Romagna under the leadership of Guido da Montefeltro and by the “Sicilian Vespers” that had managed to shake the power of Charles of Anjou. At a later stage, the twelve “greater” and “middle” Guilds were authorised to elect a leader, arm troops and sit in the Council of the Podestà.

All these institutional changes took place in the two years from 1282 to 1284. Despite some turbulence yet without great upturns, the Guilds managed to impose a kind of government, which granted professional associations a greater power through the support of some of the most important Guelph families, the entrepreneurs and the bankers, assisted by local tradesmen and craftsmen.

This could not obviously meet the favour of the members of ancient noble families or of those were related or supported by these families, who shared their same poli...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title page
• Copyright
• Preface
• A river, a bridge, a road
• Celestial patrons, earthly protectors, surrounding walls
• A city of warriors and merchants
• The apogee
• Crisis and redefinition of a “bourgeois” city
• A town for the prince
• Sons of Jove and of the rain of gold
• The age of the Lorraine family