The guilds of Florence : with bibliographical and chronological tables

£

CO

951

THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

A FLORENTINE MERCHANT ENJOYING THE FRUITS OF HIS ENTERPRISE!

FOURTEENTH CENTURY

THE

GUILDS OF FLORENCE

BY

EDGCUMBE STALEY

ILLUSTRATED AFTER MINIATURES IN ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
AND FLORENTINE WOODCUTS

WITH
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL AND CHRONOLOGICAL TABLES

METHUEN & CO.

36 ESSEX STREET W.C.

LONDON

First Published in igod

PREFACE

" T7IRENZE, la Bellissima e Famosissima Figlia di Roma"
A — was no mere metaphor of Dante, but a very true title
of the First of Modern States.

The cumulative energies of the Florentines had their focus
in the corporate life of the Trade- Associations, and in no other
Community was the Guild-system so thoroughly developed as it
was in Florence.

A complete and connected History of the Guilds has never
been compiled. The present work is put forth, perhaps rather
tentatively than exhaustively, to supply the omission.

The subject is a large one, and the founts of information are
many and various. I have tasted at many springs and drunk
from many wells — and my subject-matter has been drawn from
the following sources : — ( i ) Manuscripts — Twelfth to Sixteenth
centuries ; (2) Printed matter — Books and Periodicals; (3) Letters
from Authorities and Friends ; (4) Personal Knowledge of Florence
and the Florentines.

In the study of Manuscripts I have entered largely into
the labours of such experts as Emily Baxter, Guido Biagi,
R. Davidssohn, Lewis Einstein, F. T. Perrens, J. A. Symonds,
and Pasquale Villari, and I have freely used their readings.

This I have done because of initial difficulties of time and
emolument for original research. The early Constitutions and
Statutes of many of the Guilds were written in an almost
insolvable mixture of abbreviated Latin and vernacular Tuscan
—the deciphering of which would easily consume any man's
natural life-time. When I sought for some student to undertake,
even a superficial survey, I was met with the crushing but prac-
tical reply — " the game is not worth the candle ! "

vi PREFACE

In the Catalogue of Printed Books, etc., in my Bibliography,
I wish to indicate the following as most helpful : — Biagi's " Private
Life of the Renaissance Florentines," Cantini's " Legislazione
Toscana," Cibrario's " Delia Economia Politica del Medio Evo,"
Davidssohn's two works, Einstein's " Italian Renaissance in
England," Hyett's " Florence : her History and her Art," Ilde-
fonso's " Delizie degli Erudite Toscani," Perrens' " Histoire de
Florence," Peruzzi's " Storia del Commercio e dei Banchieri di
Firenze," "Leader Scott's" Works, Symond's Works, Villanis'
(G., F., and M.) Works, and Villari's Works.

Quite invaluable have been " Collections of Tuscan Laws,
etc.," " Le Consulte," " L'Osservatore Fiorentino," " The Florence
Gazette," and " Statuta Populi et Communis Florentiae, 1415,"
published at Friburg in 1778 — indeed, the last of these authori-
ties I have used fully as representative of the middle period of
the epoch of the Renaissance.

My correspondence has placed at my disposal most useful
assistance from the late Rev. S. T. Baxter and Mrs Baxter
(" Leader Scott "), Dr Biagi and Dr Villari, of Florence ; Signore
Lisini, of Siena, and Mr Langton Douglas, of London. To all of
whom I beg to offer my heartiest acknowledgments.

In the same category I tender sincere thanks to Mr G. F.
Barwick and the Staff of the Reading Room at the British
Museum — for useful services always courteously rendered ; to Miss
A. R. Evans — the devout student of Florentine lore — for helpful
research work ; to Miss E. De Alberti — for excellent translations
of Italian works ; and to my publishers — for urbanity and kindly
consideration.

Omissions are unavoidable in a work of this character and
scope, and further, I readily admit that I have not completely
brought down my information to the latest date of my period : —
e.g. " The Guild of Bankers and Money-Changers " and "The Guild
of Silk." This in no sense affects the purpose I have had in view,
nor tells against the usefulness of my work.

PREFACE vii

Where dates are in dispute I have chosen those which best fit
into my general scheme. The British equivalents, which I have
attached to the various coins current in Florence, are those which
most nearly express the mean of the constant variations in value —
for example, I have taken the gold florin of 1252 as worth about
ten shillings throughout the whole work.

In many places, and especially in the last four chapters, I
have followed my own line in attribution and criticism, regardless
of conventional ideas. What I say, for instance, about Giotto and
his Campanile, about the Comacine Guild, and about the Religion
of the Florentines, I maintain upon their simple merits. My
generally optimistic view of the pre-eminence of Florence and her
people over all her rivals I am entitled to hold and to set forth,
from the nature of the case. She was not only the Head of the
Tuscan League, but the Head of Modern Civilization.

I have purposely avoided giving prominence to individuals —
except the Medici, and I have abstained from dealing critically
with the work of the Renaissance artists and writers — all of whom,
it has been my effort generally to show, were the protege's of the
Guilds, in their corporate capacity, or of influential merchants.

With respect to the Italian words which are plentifully and
necessarily scattered all through the publication, something must
be said. First of all, I have chosen obsolete and old spellings as
being more in harmony with the times and circumstances under
notice than modern renderings, for example : — Cronica not
Cronaca, Calimala not Calimara, Tiratolo not Tiratoio, or Tira-
torio, Notaio not Notaro — and so forth. In the second place —
the meanings, — which I have usually added in the text to Tuscan
words, — are those which I consider best suited to the subject in
hand. Where Dictionary meanings have failed me I have not
hesitated to supply my own, in absolute accord with the context.

The Illustrations are from many sources. Illuminated Manu-
scripts at the British Museum and at the Laurentian Library in
Florence have been laid under contribution. Whilst unhappily
not retaining the exquisite colouring of those gem-like miniatures

viii PREFACE

they have been reproduced both in their original dimensions and
also by enlargement, but this has undoubtedly coarsened their
delicate penmanship.

A very interesting feature in these beautiful pictures is to be
noted — that, whereas the Florentine artists who drew them so
skilfully have given us figures in Florentine costumes of the
periods, they have added accessories of architecture, furniture,
foliage, and the other details of the backgrounds, in terms of
local environment. Both in Paris and in Flanders the superiority
of the handiwork of Florentine illuminators was fully recognised,
and such artists received warm welcomes and handsome re-
munerations.

The production, in the text, in their original sizes, of some
of the splendid Florentine woodcuts of the fifteenth and sixteenth
centuries has laid me under obligation to many kind people, and
among them, Messrs Kegan Paul & Co. for numbers 2, 15, 37,
41, 48, 54, 56, 59, 60, 61, from Kristeller's "Early Florentine
Woodcuts," Bernard Quaritch, Esq., for numbers 68 and 69 — and
also for the reproduction, from a MS. Miniature, of number 28.

I have further to acknowledge the kindness of Messrs.
Sampson, Low & Co. for permission to reproduce woodcut
number 52, of J. M. Dent, Esq., for number 7, of the Archivio
di Stato Sienese (Signore A. Lisini) for Plate XXIX., and of
Dottore G. Biagi for three plates from his " Private Life of the
Renaissance Florentines."

The small shields of arms, which appear at the end of certain
chapters, are reproduced from drawings I made for the purpose.
They are copied from sculptural and pictorial adornments upon
the facades of the Guild Shrine of Or San Michele and the
Palazzo della Mercanzia, and upon the overdoors of Guild Resi-
dences, the Zecca, and other buildings — some of which indeed
were removed in the last century.

The indexing of such a comprehensive work has been no
light matter. I have endeavoured to give prominence to trades,
traders, trade-customs, and trade-processes rather than to enume-

PREFACE ix

rate ordinary historical names and facts. This holds true also in
the Chronological Table.

The inception, development, and completion of my task have
enriched me with all the pleasurable toil and profitable enjoy-
ment of my fascinating subject. My enthusiastic love of the
" City of the Lily " has been a hundredfold enlarged as I have
worked through my story of " The Guilds of Florence."

E. S.
LONDON, 1906

LIST OF CONTENTS

CHAP. PAf}K

I. FLORENTINE COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY i

II. GENERAL HISTORY OF THE GUILDS 33

THE SEVEN GREATER GUILDS
LE ARTI MAGGIORI

(CHAPTERS III.— IX.)

III. THE GUILD OF JUDGES AND NOTARIES ... 75

L'ARTE DP GIUDICI E NOTAI

CALIMALA" GUILD ..... 105
L'ARTE E UNIVERSITA DE' MERC A NT I DI CALIMALA

HE GUILD OF WOOL ..... 139
L'ARTE E UNIVERSITA DELL A LANA

HE GUILD OF BANKERS AND MONEY-CHANGERS . 170

L'ARTE DEL CAMB1O

VII. THE GUILD OF SILK ..... 204

L'ARTE DELLA SETA, OR " FOR SANTA MARIA"

VIII. THE GUILD OF DOCTORS AND APOTHECARIES . . 236

L'ARTE DE' MEDIC f E DEGLI SPEZIALI

IX. THE GUILD OF FURRIERS AND SKINNERS . . 274

L'ARTE DE' VAIAI E PELLICCIAI

THE FIVE INTERMEDIATE GUILDS
LE ARTI MEDIANS

(CHAPTERS X.— XI.)

X. THE GUILDS OF BUTCHERS, BLACKSMITHS, AND SHOE-
MAKERS ...... 296

LE ARTI DE' BECCAI, DE' FABBRI, E DE' CALZOLAI

. XI. THE GUILDS OF MASTERS OF STONE AND WOOD, AND OF

RETAIL CLOTH-DEALERS AND LINEN-MANUFACTURERS 320

LE ARTI DE' MAESTRI DI PIETRA E DI LEGNAME, E DE RIGATTIERI

xi

xii LIST OF CONTENTS

THE NINE MINOR GUILDS
LE ART1 MINORI

(CHAPTERS XII.— XIV.)

CHAP. PAGE

XII. THE GUILDS OF WINE-MERCHANTS, AND INN-KEEPERS,

AND TANNERS ..... 358

LE ARTI DE' YINATTIERI, E DEGLI ALBERGATORI, E DE GALIGAI

XIII. THE GUILDS OF OIL-MERCHANTS AND GENERAL PRO-

VISION DEALERS, OF SADDLERS, AND OF LOCKSMITHS 385

LE ARTI DEGLI OLIANDOLI E PIZZICAGNOLI, E DE' COREGGIAI
E D£ CHIAVAIUOLI

XIV. THE GUILDS OF ARMOURERS, CARPENTERS, AND BAKERS 416

LE ARTI DE CORAZZAI E SPADAI, E DE' LEGNAIUOLI,
E DE' FORNAI

XV. LIFE AND WORK IN THE MARKETS . . . 444

MERC A TO VECCHIO—MERCATO NUOVO

XVI. THE STREETS, THE SQUARES, AND THE BRIDGES, — WITH

SOME OF THEIR STORIES .... 470

XVII. THE RELIGION OF THE GUILDS .... 494

XVIII. THE PATRONAGE OF THE GUILDS . . . 516

XIX. THE CHARITY OF THE GUILDS . . . -535

XX. "FlRENZE RlCCA PER INDUSTRIA ! " . . . 554

(FLORENCE PROSPEROUS THROUGH HER INDUSTRIES)

BIBLIOGRAPHY ....... 585

CHRONOLOGY .... . . 600

INDEX ........ 607

LIST OF PLATES

TO FACE PAGE

FRONTISPIECE. A FLORENTINE MERCHANT ENJOYING THE

FRUITS OF HIS ENTERPRISE . . . i

Subject I. Miniature. Illuminated MS., late XIV. Century — " Valeur

Maxime." Simon de Hesledin et Nicholas de Coiresse.

British Museum. Harl. 4.375, fol. 179.
,, II. Print. A View of Florence, XVI. Century — "La Raccolta

di Vedtite della Citta di Firenze" 1774.
,, III. The Border. Illuminated MS., early XV. Century. British

Museum. Add. 21.412.

AN EARLY MARKET-PLACE BY THE BAPTISTERY OF SAN

GIOVANNI . . . . . -4

Miniature. Illuminated MS. — " Biadajolo." Biblioteca Laurenziana,
Florence. [By special permission of Dottore Guido Biagi.]

PATRONESS OF INDUSTRIES — COUNTESS MATILDA (?) .8

Miniature. Illuminated MS., middle XV. Century — " Des Clercs et
Nobles Femmes" J. Boccacce. British Museum. Bib. Reg. 16, G. v.,
fol. ii.

CAMPANILE AND DUOMO . . . . . .12

Photograph — Alinari, Florence.

ARMS OF THE "TRIBUNALS DELLA MERCANZIA" . . .32

Terra-cotta Rondel — Exterior of Or San Michele, Luca Delia Robbia.
Photograph — Alinari, Florence.

GIOTTO'S " HISTORY OF LABOUR " . . . . .42

Five panels from the Campanile :— i. Boatmen of the Arno ; 2. Plough-
ing in the Contado ; 3. Weaving Wool ; 4. Blacksmithing ; 5. Doctor and
Pottery. Photograph — Alinari, Florence.

WORKMEN — LATE XIV. CENTURY . . . . -56

Miniature. Illuminated MS., XIV. Century — " Valeur Maxime"
Simon de Hesledin et Nicholas de Coiresse. British Museum. Harl.
4.375, fol. 123.

WORKMEN — MIDDLE XV. CENTURY . . . 56

Miniature. Illuminated MS., XV. Century — " Des Cases des Nobles
Hommes et Femmes" J. Boccacce. British Museum. MS. 18.750,
fol. I.

AN APPRENTICE — A TYPICAL FLORENTINE YOUTH . . 68

"David" — Andrea del Verrocchio. National Museum, Florence.
Photograph — Alinari, Florence.

THE BARGELLO — PALACE OF THE PODESTA — STAIRS OF HONOUR 74

Photograph — Alinari, Florence.

xiii

xiv LIST OF PLATES

TO FACE PAGE

AN AUDIENCE WITH THE PODESTA . . . . 76

Miniature. Illuminated MS., XV. Century — "Des Cases des Nobles
Homines et Femmes" J. Boccacce. British Museum. Bib. Reg. 14, E.
v., fol. 5.

DOCTORS OF LAW IN CONSULTATION . . . 76

Miniature. Illuminated MS., XV. Century—"/^ Cases des Nobles
Homines et Femmes" J. Boccacce. British Museum. Bib. Keg. 14,
E. v., fol. 392.

SUPREME COURT OF JUSTICE — XV. CENTURY . . .84

Miniature. Illuminated MS., 1478 — " M. Ciceronis Orationes. " British
Museum. Had. 2.681, fol. I.

WOMEN LITIGANTS BEFORE THE PODESTA . . . .90

Miniature. Illuminated MS., late XIV. Century — " Valeur Maxime. "
Simon de Hesledin et Nicholas de Coiresse. British Museum. Harl.
4.735, fol. 179-

A WEALTHY CITIZEN AND HIS GROOMS

J. . . • 104

A KNIGHT AND HIS PAGE J

Carte cC Italia — " Tar roc hi." Playing cards. Baccio Baldini, 1473-4.
British Museum. Early Italian Prints, Vol. 16.

A CALIMALA MERCHANT^

I . . . . . . no

A SERVING YOUTH J

Carte d* Italia — " Tarrochi" Playing cards. Baccio Baldini, 1473-4.
British Museum. Early Italian Prints, Vol. 16.

POPULAR PASTIMES — PALLONE AND SCACCHI . . .114

Miniature. Illuminated MS., late XIV. Century — " Valeur Maxime"
Simon de Hesledin et Nicholas de Coiresse. British Museum. Harl.
4.735, fol. 151, B.

COURT OF CONSULS — WITH NOTARIES AND LITIGANTS — XV.

CENTURY . . . . . . .118

Print. C. Bonnard's "Costumes," vol. ii. p. 93.

AN OLD ROLLING -MILL FOR FINISHING FOREIGN CLOTH,
RECENTLY EXISTING IN A " CALIMALA " FACTORY IN THE
VIA PELLICCERIA, FLORENCE . . . . .130

Photograph — C. Baccani, Florence.
ARMS OF "THE CALIMALA GUILD" . . . .138

Carved in stone over a house-door in the Via Calimarugga, XV.
Century. Photograph — G. Brogi, Florence.

WOMEN WORKERS IN WOOL . . . . .142

Miniature. Illuminated MS., middle XV. Century — "Des Clercs et
Nobles Femmes" J. Boccacce. British Museum. Bib. Reg. 16, G. v.,
fol. 56.

DYEING AND DYERS . . . . . . 151

Miniature. Illuminated MS., XV. Century — Libre des Proprietez^ des
ChosesJ' Jehan Corbachon, 1482. British Museum. Bib. Reg. 15, E.
iii., fol. 264.

A CLOTH FULLING-MILL, WITH A WATER-GATE . . .154

Tiratolo della Porticciuola (fArno — XIV. and XV. Centuries. Photo-
graph— Specially taken.

LIST OF PLATES xv

TO FACE PAGE

STREET SCENE — THE GAME OF " CIVETTINO " . . . 162

Oil Painting, Tuscan School, XV. Century. Uffizi Gallery, Florence.
Photograph — Alinari, Florence.

RESIDENCE OF THE CONSULS OF "THE GUILD OF WOOL," AND

FACADE OF OR SAN MICHELE (RESTORED 1308) . .164

Photograph — Alinari, Florence.

ARMS OF THE " GUILD OF WOOL " . . . . .168

Terra-cotta Rondel. Museo dell' Opera del Duomo — originally outside
the residence of the Arte della Lana. Luca Delia Robbia. Photograph
— Alinari, Florence.

BANKERS SETTLING ACCOUNTS . . . . . 174

Miniature. Illuminated MS., late XIV. Century— "£»* Septem Vitiis"
British Museum. £ 27.695, fol. 8.

MONEY-CHANGERS — A DISPUTE BEFORE THE PODESTA . .180

Miniature. Illuminated MS. — late XIV. Century — " Valeur Maxime. "
Simon de Hesledin et Nicholas de Coiresse. British Museum. Ilarl.
4.735, fol. 135, B.

BANKERS' LOGGIA — MERCATO Nuovo . . . .184

Work of Giovanni Battista del Tasso, 1549. Photograph — Alinari,
Florence.

PAYING TAXES — XV. CENTURY (1467) . . . .189

Fresco after the manner of F. and G. Martini. R. Accademia Senese di
Belle Arti, Siena. [With acknowledgments to Signore Alessandro Lisini
of Siena.]

A MUSICAL PARTY ! . . . . . .198

Miniature. Illuminated MS., late XIV. Century — " Valeur Maxi me. "
Simon de Hesledin et Nicholas de Coiresse. British Museum. Harl.
4.735, fol. 151, B.

RESIDENCE OF THE CONSULS OF "THE GUILD OF SILK," VIA DI

CAPPUCCIO ....... 208

Photograph — Alinari, Florence.

A " RELIGIOUS " TEACHING A WOMAN SILK-WEAVER . .214

Miniature. Illuminated MS., XV. Century — "Ovide Metamorphos"
Complainte des Malheureux. British Museum. Bib. Reg. 17, E. iv.,
fol. 87, B.

DETAIL OF BLACK AND WHITE MARBLE PAVEMENT IN THE

BAPTISTRY, 1200 — EARLIEST PATTERNS FOR SILK WORKERS . 222

Photograph — Alinari, Florence.

ARMS OF " THE GUILD OF SILK " ON WALL OF RESIDENCE —

DONATELLO . . . . . . .228

Photograph — Alinari, Florence.

SURGEONS AND DOCTORS WITH PATIENTS . . . .250

Miniature. Illuminated MS., middle XV. Century. "Libre des Pro-
prietez des Chases." Jehan Corbechon, 1362. British Museum. Bib.
Reg. 15 E. II., fol. 165.

ARMS OF "THE -GUILD OF DOCTORS AND APOTHECARIES" . 264

Terra-cotta Rondel. Originally upon the Exterior of Or San Michele.
Luca Della Robbia. Photograph — Alinari, Florence.

xvi LIST OF PLATES

TO FACE PAGE

SKINNERS IN CAMP . . . . . . .276

Miniature. Illuminated MS., late XIV. Century — " Valeur Maxitne. "
Simon de Hesledin et Nicholas de Coiresse. British Museum. Harl.
4«375> fol. 106, B.

COSTUMES — TWELFTH TO SIXTEENTH CENTURIES . . . 288

Courtyard of the Bargello. From the Corteggio Storico of May 1887.
Photograph — Alinari, Florence.

COSTUMES — MARRIAGE OF BOCCACCIO ADIMARI AND LISA RICA-
SOLI, 1420 ....... 294

From a Cassone. Accademia delle Belle Arti, Florence. Photograph
— Alinari, Florence.

ARMS OF " THE GUILD OF BUTCHERS " .... 298

Terra-cotta Rondel. Exterior of Or San Michele. Fabbrica Ginori,
after the Delia Robbia. Photograph — Alinari, Florence.

BLACKSMITHS AND THEIR TOOLS ..... 306

Miniature. Illuminated MS., XIV. Century — " Albumazar Astronomic
Latin*." British Museum. Sloan, 3.983, fol. 5.

A STUDY IN BOOTS AND SHOES ! . . . -314

(The figure below the step represents Cimabue. ) Courtyard of the
Bargello. From the Corteggio Storico of May 1887. Photograph —
Alinari, Florence.

" MASTERS OF STONE AND WOOD," GIVING EVIDENCE OF SKILL IN
THEIR CRAFT BEFORE A CONSUL OF THE GUILD — XIV.
CENTURY . . . . . . .324

Miniature. Illuminated MS. — "Libre des Proprietez des Choses"
Jehan Corbechon, 1362. British Museum. Bib. Reg. 15, E. ii., fol.
265.

ROAD-MAKING AND QUARRYING — XV. CENTURY . . . 331

Miniature. Illuminated MS., Libre des Proprietez des Choses. Jehan
Corbechon, 1482. British Museum. Bib. Reg. 15, E. iii., fol. 99.

BRICKLAYER — STONEMASON — ARCHITECT — AND SCULPTOR . . 334

Relief on Fa9ade, Or San Michele. Nanni di Banco, 1418. Photo-
graph— Alinari, Florence.

SCAFFOLDING AND BUILDING — 1470 .... 338

Fresco, Campo Santo, Pisa — " Building the Tower of Babel." Benozzo
Gozzoli. Photograph — Alinari, Florence.

ARMS OF "THE GUILD OF MASTERS OF STONE AND WOOD" . . 342

Terra-cotta Rondel — Exterior, Or San Michele. Luca Delia Robbia.
Photograph — Alinari, Florence.

DOORWAY OF THE RESIDENCE OF THE CONSULS OF " THE GUILD
OF RETAIL DEALERS AND LINEN MANUFACTURERS " — WITH
SHIELDS OF ARMS ...... 356

Photograph — G. Brogi, Florence.
AT AN INN ........ 362

Miniature. Illuminated MS., late XIV. Century— " De Septem Vitiis.
British Museum. J 27.695, Vol. 14.

LIST OF PLATES xvii

TO FACE PAGE

THE VINTAGE — DURING THE RENAISSANCE, 1470 . . . 365

Fresco. Campo Santo, Pisa — "The Vineyard of Noah." Benozzo
Gozzoli. Photograph — Alinari, Florence.

RESIDENCE OF THE CONSULS OF "THE GUILD OF INNKEEPERS" 371

Photograph — C. Bacconi, Florence.
A CONTADINA AND HER CHILD ..... 389

"The Madonna and Child." Terra-cotta Lunette, Via dell' Agnolo,
Florence. Luca Delia Robbia. Photograph — Alinari, Florence.

CORN-CHANDLER AND BAKER ..... 394

Miniature. Illuminated MS. — " Biadajolo^ " Biblioteca Laurenziana,
Florence. [By special permission of Dottore Guido Biagi.]

AGRICULTURAL OCCUPATIONS — 1362 .... 400

Miniature. Illuminated MS. — "Libre des Proprietez des Chases" —
Jehan Corbechon. British Museum. Bib. Reg. 15 E. ii., fol. 248.

A LOCKSMITH AND HIS APPRENTICE .... 410

Carted1 Italia — "Tarroccki" — Playing-cards. Baccio Baldini. Florence,
1473-4. British Museum. Early Italian Prints, Vol. 16.

A TYPICAL YOUNG FLORENTINE SOLDIER .... 424

St George — Patron of the Guild of Armourers. Originally on the
fa£ade of Or San Michele — Donatello. Photograph — Alinari, Florence.

SANTA MARIA IN CAMPIDOGLIO, IN THE OLD MARKET . . 449

Photograph — specially taken.

THE MERCATO VECCHIO, WITH THE COLONNA DELLA DOVITZIA

AND THE LOGGIA DI PESCE ..... 450

Photograph — Alinari, Florence.

THE MERCATO VECCHIO, WITH THE TABERNACOLO DELLA TROMBA,
THE CASA E TORRE DE' CAPONSACCHI, AND THE CASA DEGLI
AMIDEI ........ 462

Print. Florence, 1830.
THE VIA LONTANMORTE, BY THE OLD MARKET . . . 474

Photograph — Bacconi, Florence.

THE PIAZZA DELLA SIGNORIA, WITH THE PALAZZO VECCHIO AND

THE LOGGIA DEI LANZI ..... 479

Print. Florence, 1830.

THE PORTE VECCHIO — SAN MINIATO-AL-MONTE IN THE DISTANCE . 484

Photograph.

ON THE PONTE VECCHIO, WITH THE TORRE DEI AMIDEI. ~\

Thirteenth century Photograph of Drawing after F. Gambi, Florence.

r 486

THE PONTE ALLE GRAZIE — (RUBACONTE) .

Photograph specially taken. J

THE BAPTISTERY OF SAN GIOVANNI .... 496

Photograph — Alinari, Florence.

xviii LIST OF PLATES

TO FACE PAGE

A SPORTELLO) OR HOLY-DAY WlCKET .... 502

Fourteenth Century. National Museum, Florence (Collezione Carrand).
Photograph — Alinari, Florence.

THE GREAT BAPTISMAL FONT IN SAN GIOVANNI BATTISTA, 1371 . 518
Photograph— Alinari, Florence.

THE GUILD CHURCH, OR SHRINE OF OR SAN MICHELE, 1336 . 525

Photograph — Alinari, Florence.

INTERIOR OF THE GUILD CHURCH, OR SHRINE OF OR SAN MICHELE
—WITH ORCAGNA'S TABERNACLE OF THE MADONNA DEL'
ORTO, 1359 . . -S31

Photograph — Alinari, Florence.

A TYPICAL BEGGAR AT THE SHRINE OF OR SAN MICHELE . -534

Carte cC Italia — " Tarrochi" — Playing Cards. Baccio Baldini, 1473-4,
Florence. British Museum. Early Italian prints. Vol. 16.

FEEDING THE HUNGRY^

538
VISITING THE SICK

Terra-cotta Frieze — Spedale del Ceppo, at Pistoja. Giovanni Delia
Robbia. Photographs — Alinari, Florence.

COSIMO DE' MEDICI — " fz. PADRE DELL A PATRIA" AND ARCH-^
BISHOP ANTONINO SUPERINTENDING THE BUILDING OF THE
MONASTERY OF SAN MARCO, FLORENCE . . h 542

ARCHBISHOP ANTONINO VISITING A FOUNDRY IN THE CONTADO\

Coloured prints — " // Tesoro d* Affreschi 7"oscane." Florence, 1864. J

THE APPOINTMENT OF THE FIRST TWELVE " BUONUOMINI DI SAN

MART/NO" BY ARCHBISHOP ANTONINO, 1441 . . • 551

Coloured print — " // Tesoro a" Affreschi Toscane" Florence, 1864.

PANORAMA OF FLORENCE, WITH THE CAMP OF THE PRINCE OF

ORANGE, SIEGE, 1529-30 ..... 563

Fresco. Sala di Clemente VII., Palazzo Vecchio, Florence, by Giorgio
Vasari. Photograph — Alinari, Florence.

THE PORTA DI SAN GALLO \

Photograph — specially taken.
THE " STINCHE" PRISON (demolished)

Photograph of drawing after F. Gambi, Florence. J
" IL PRESTO" — THE PAWNSHOP . . . . -573

Miniature. Illuminated MS., late XIV. Century — De Septem Vitiis.
British Museum— MS. 27.695, fol. 7.

THE MEDICI . . . . . . -578

"The Adoration of the Magi," Sandro Botticelli. Gallery of the
Uffizi. Photograph — Alinari, Florence.

ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE TEXT

TO FACE PAGE

A BIRD'S-EYE VIEW OF FLORENCE ABOUT THE YEAR 1391 . i

From a large Print in the National Museum, Berlin.

PAGE

A LATIN-GRAMMAR MASTER AND HIS PUPILS . 1 7

Woodcut. '''Flares Poetarum" Florence, 1492.

A COMMERCIAL TRAVELLER OR AMBASSADOR . . .22

Woodcut. Jacopo de Cessoli's " // Giuoccho delle Scacchi." Florence,
H93-

A GALEE DE MERCATO — MERCHANT VESSEL . . .28

Woodcut. Giovanni della Strada's " Orbis Longitudinis" Florence,
1550.

ARMS OF THE "PEOPLE OF FLORENCE" . . . 32

A CALENDAR, WITH MONTHLY OCCUPATIONS, ETC. . . 34

Woodcut. Frontispiece of the " Suite of the Planets" by Sandro
Botticelli and Baccio Baldini. Florence, 1460-1465.

A GROUND-PLAN OF FLORENCE — THIRTEENTH AND FOURTEENTH

CENTURIES — WITH NAMES OF PRINCIPAL FAMILIES . . 38

(By kind permission of J. M. Dent, Esq.)

VARIOUS CRAFTS IN OPERATION WITH STREET ARCHITECTURE . 60

Woodcut. The " Suite of the Planets, " ' ' Mercury," by Sandro Botticelli
and Baccio Baldini. Florence, 1460-1465.

MODES OF TRANSIT, COUNTRY PURSUITS, ETC., ETC. . . 64

Woodcut. " Suite of the Planets,'' "Luna," by Sandro Botticelli and
Baccio Baldini. Florence, 1460-1465.

ARMS OF "THE PRIORS OF LIBERTY" . . . • 74

LOGGIA OF THE BARGELLO — PALACE OF THE PODESTA . .81

Print. " La Toscane et le Moyen Age^ Geo. Rohault de Fleury, Vol. I.,
Plate XIII. 1870.

REGISTERED MARK, OR SIGNATURE, OF THE NOTARY NICCOLO DA

FERENTERINO, 1236 . ..... 95

Muratori's " Antichite Itah'ane." Vol. VI. p. 9.

A NOTARY — WOOL MERCHANT . . . . . 101

Woodcut. Jacopo di Cessoli's "// Giuoccho delle Scacchi" (" Dellarte
della Lana "). Florence, 1493.

ARMS OF "THE GUILD OF JUDGES AND NOTARIES" . . 104

A "CALIMALA" MERCHANT IN HIS GARDEN . . . 109

Woodcut. Chiarastella's " Storia di Flonnda." Florence, 1550.

xix

xx ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE TEXT

PAGE

EXPERIMENTING WITH DYES. SIXTEENTH CENTURY . .124

Woodcut. J. Ammon, " Le Moyen Age" P. Le Croix, Vol. V.

FINISHING CLOTH. SIXTEENTH CENTURY . , . .129

Woodcut. J. Ammon, " Le Moyen Age," P. Le Croix, Vol. V.

MERCHANTS BARGAINING OVER BALES OF CLOTH . . . 133

Woodcut. J. Ammon, " Le Moyen Age" P. Le Croix, Vol. V.

A FUSTA DI MERCATO — A LIGHT MERCHANT VESSEL . -158

Woodcut. "Carte d' Italia " " Tarrochi" Playing Cards, by Baccio
Baldini. Florence, 1473-4.

British Museum. " Early Italian Prints," Vol. XVI.

MERCHANT-BANKER-MONEY-CHANGER . . . 177

Woodcut. Jacopo di Cessoli's " Giuoccho delle Scacchi" (" Detuercatan'i
e Cambiatori"}. Florence, 1493.

PAYING TAXES . . . . . . . 193

Woodcut. Giorgio Chiarmi's "Libro di Mercatatie e Uranze" Florence,
1493-

ARMS OF "THE GUILD OF BANKERS AND MONEY-CHANGERS" . 203
SPINNING SILK FROM COCOONS . . . . .220

Engraving. Giovanni della Spada's " Vermis Seriens" Florence, 1550.

INTERIOR OF A GOLDSMITH'S WORKSHOP . . . .231

Woodcut. Signed — Stephanus fecit, Augusta, 1576. Print Room,
British Museum.

DOCTOR VISITING A FEVER PATIENT .... 240

Woodcut. Petrus de Montagnaia's ' ' Fasicuhis Medecine. " Venice,
1500.

DOCTORS IN CONSULTATION ..... 243

Woodcut. Petrus de Montagnaia's " Fasicuhis Medecine." Venice,
1500.

SURGEONS OPERATING ...... 248

Woodcut. Petrus de Montagnaia's " Fasiculus Medecine." Venice,
1500.

THE BOTTEGA OF AN APOTHECARY .... 255

From a Miniature in an Illuminated MS. in the University Library at
Bologna — a Hebrew translation of Avicenna's "Canon of Medicine,"
Bk. V. Fourteenth Century.

(By kind permission of Bernard Quaritch, Esq.)

FLORENTINE GENTLEMAN PURCHASING SCENT AT AN APOTHE-
CARY'S . . . . . . . -259

Woodcut illustrating the Canzone — " Lo Tavernario con lo Speziale"
Florence, 1596.

[Notice the " Sportello" behind the apothecary, and the " Albarelli" in
the window, ]

FLORENTINE LADY AT HER TOILET .... 260

Woodcut illustrating the Canzone — " Belle Donne" Florence, 1596.

ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE TEXT xxi

PAGK

DIRECTOR OF TOURNAMENT DISTRIBUTING CANDIDATES' BADGES

BEFORE A GlOSTRE ...... 284

From a Print — Sixteenth Century. Florence.

[Notice : The Capes of Vair.]

ARMS OF "THE GUILD OF FURRIERS AND SKINNERS" . . 295

METHOD OF FUSING METALS, AND METHOD OF BEATING OUT

METAL PLATES ...... 309

Woodcuts. Vannucci Biringuccio's " Delia Pirotechnia," 1540.

A SHOEMAKER'S SHOP . . . . . .316

Woodcut. G. Boccaccio's " Decamerone. " Venice, 1492.

ARMS OF "THE GUILD OF BLACKSMITHS " AND OF "THE GUILD OF

SHOEMAKERS . . . . . . .319

MASTERS IN STONE, WOOD, AND METAL . . . .328

Woodcut. Jacopo di Cessoli's "// Giiioccho delle Scacchi" (" De Fabri e
de Maestri"}. Florence, 1493.

OUTLINE VIEW OF FLORENCE — XV. AND XVI. CENTURIES . . 336

Woodcut. Bernardo da Firenze's " Le Bellezze e Chasate di Firenze"
Florence, 1495.

MARKS, OR SIGNATURES, OF CONSULS OF "THE GUILD OF RETAIL

CLOTH DEALERS AND LINEN MANUFACTURERS" . . 347

Code of Statutes — Thirteenth Century.

ARMS OF "THE GUILD OF RETAIL CLOTH DEALERS AND LINEN

MANUFACTURERS" . . . . . -357

INNKEEPER ........ 369

Woodcut. Jacopo di Cessoli's " // Giuoccho delle Scacchi" (" Del-
lauerniere e Albergatore "). Florence, 1493.

KITCHEN OF AN INN ...... 373

Woodcut. "// Contrasto del Carnesciale e della Quaresima" Florence,
1495-

ARMS OF "THE GUILD OF WINE MERCHANTS," "THE GUILD OF

INNKEEPERS," AND "THE GUILD OF TANNERS" . . 384

FARM LABOURER ....... 390

Woodcut. Jacopo di Cessoli's "// Giuoccho delle Scacchi''' ("Del-
lauortore "). Florence, 1493.

OLIVE PRESS — END OF XVI. CENTURY f 392

Engraving. Giovanni della Spada's " Nova Reperta " (Oleum Olivarum).
Florence, 1596.

STIRRUP-MAKER'S SHOP — END OF XVI. CENTURY . . . 406

Engraving. Giovanni della Spada's "Nova Reperta" (Staphce sive
Stapedes). Florence, 1596.

ARMS OF "THE GUILD OF OIL MERCHANTS AND GENERAL
PROVISION DEALERS," "THE GUILD OF SADDLERS," AND
"THE GUILD OF LOCKSMITHS" . . . .415

xxii ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE TEXT

PAGE

TYPES OF ADULT FLORENTINES . . . . .422

Woodcut. Michael Angelo Buonarroti's Cartoon — Portion of the Battle
of Pisa, originally in the Palazzo Vecchio, Florence.

THE FAT CARPENTER . . 431

Woodcut. Giovanni Boccaccio's " Novella del Grasso Legnaiuolo"
Giunti's Edition, 1516.

THE SHRINE OF OR SAN MICHELE, WITH THE CORN MARKET,

AND THE NOTARY FOR AFFIDAVITS .... 435

Outline Drawing. Miniature Illuminated MS., " Biadajolo. " Biblio-
teca Laurenziana, Florence.

A FLOUR-MILL ON THE ARNO— XVI. CENTURY . . . 438

Print. " La Toscana et le Moyen Age" Geo. Rohault de Fleury, Vol.
II., fol. 67, 1870.

ARMS OF " THE GUILD OF ARMOURERS AND SWORD MAKERS,"
"THE GUILD OF CARPENTERS," AND "THE GUILD OF
BAKERS" ....... 443

PALAZZO DE' TOSINGHI — "/z, PALAZZO " — MERCATO VECCHIO

(DESTROYED IN THE XIV. CENTURY) . . . 446

Print. Special Drawing, Leader Scott's "Cathedral Builders." (By
kind permission of Messrs Sampson Low & Co., Limited.)

LATE DONE I LATE FRESCA ! — MILKMAN . . . -452

Woodcut. Giovanni Antonio da Brescia, 1452-1582. " La Gravitre
en Italic avant M. L. Raimondi" H. Delaborde.

A MARKET SCENE — MERCATO VECCHIO .... 456

Woodcut. "// Contrasto di Carnesciale e della Quaresima." Florence,
1495-

STREET ARCHITECTURE — SPORTS AND PASTIMES . . . 467

Woodcut. British Museum. Florence, 1494.

GROUP OF FLORENTINES — A STREET DISPUTE . . . 472

Woodcut. Lorenzo de' Medeci's (II Magnifico) "La Compagnia del
Mantellaccio con Laggiunta, " Florence, 1584.

PIAZZA DI SANTA CROCE — A TOURNAMENT IN THE XVI.

CENTURY . . . . . . .482

Print. Florence, 1521. British Museum.

IL CALCIO — FLORENTINE FOOTBALL IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY . 492

Woodcut. British Museum. Florence, 1494.

AN " AVR MARIA" BEFORE A STREET SHRINE . . . 504

Woodcat. Piero Pacini da Pescia's "Latide Devote di Diver si Autori."
Florence, Early Sixteenth Century.

SAVONAROLA PREACHING IN LENT IN SANTA MARIA DEL FIORE . 511

Woodcut. Girolamo Savonarola's " Compendia di Revelazione,''1
Florence, 1496.

A DYING MERCHANT . . . . . • 5J3

Woodcut. Girolamo Savonarola's " Predica deW Arte del Ben Morire"
Florence, 1496.

ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE TEXT xxiii

FAGI

SANTA MARIA DEL FIORE AND CAMPANILE . . . 521

Woodcut. A. Poliziano's " Conjurationes Pactiana Commentaria,"
1498 (J. Adimari, 1769). Florence.

THE CORN-GRANARY — OR SAN MICHELE . . . -527

Print. <: La Toscane et le Aloyen Age" Geo. Rohault de Fleury, Vol.
L, Plate VI., 1870.

ARMS OF "THE CAPTAINS OF OR SAN MICHELE" . . 534

A SICK MAN IN HOSPITAL ..... 537

Woodcut. Giovanni Boccaccio's " Genealogie des Dienx. " Paris, 1531.

SEVEN CORPORAL ACTS OF MERCY .... 545

Drawing, attributed to Girolamo Savonarola, in the National Collec-
tion of Drawings, Florence.

THE BIGALLO ....... 547

Print. " La Toscane et le Moyen Age" Geo. Rohault de Fleury, Vol.
I., Plate II. 1870.

RELIEVING THE NEEDY — STREET BEGGARS . . . 553

Woodcut. Agnolo Hebreo's " Rapprezentazione. " Florence, 1496-
1500.

(By kind permission of Bernard Quaritch, Esq.)

A MERCHANT'S DINNER PARTY IN THE LOGGIA OF HIS HOUSE . 560

Woodcut. "Novella Pincevoli chiamata da Viola." Florence, 1496-
1500.

(By kind permission of Bernard Quaritch, Esq.)

IMPRESSIONS OF COINS IN CIRCULATION IN FLORENCE IN THE

THIRTEENTH CENTURY . . . . 571

AMERIGO VESPUCCI ON THE SHORES OF SOUTH AMERICA . 582

Engraving. Giovanni della Spada's '•'•Nova Reperta."1 Florence.
1550.

THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

LE ARTI DI FIRENZE

CHAPTER I
FLORENTINE COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY

I. FORMATIVE FORCES. Geographical position. Climate of Tuscany. "A
favoured Race." Origin of Florence. Roman influences. Barbarian inroads.
Charlemagne. " Firenze la Bella" The Popes. Collegium. The Commune.

II. POLITICS AND PARTIES. Countess Matilda. Grandi and Popolani.
Six Sestieri. Six Consuls. Early Records wanting. The Umiliati. Feuds
and warfare. " Mutar lo Stato'" Guelphs and Ghibellines. Battle of
Campaldino. Machiavelli's views.

III. EDUCATION AND CULTURE. The Campanile — "Gospel of Labour."
Boastings — "// Spirito del Campanile" Shopkeeper — gentlemen. Dante's
opinion of " Le Genti di Firenze" Learning — the companion of daily life.
Petrarch's aphorism. The University of Florence. Boccaccio. English
travellers in Tuscany. Thomas's Diary.

IV. TRADE ROUTES AND SEA POWER. Roman roads. Commercial
agents. Buonaccorso Pitti. Ostellieri. Commercial Treaties. Vastness of
Florentine commerce. Foreign Consuls. Six maritime Consuls. The " Arte
del Mare \ " Florentine navy. International law. Reprisals. Florence head
of the Tuscan League.

THE classic Vale of Arno was, in latest of the Dark Ages, the
wholesome nursery, where fair Florence — gentle nurse —
fostered three young sisters : — Art, Science, and Literature.

No invidious Paris fared that way, casting apples of discord
before the fascinating Graces of the Renaissance. No question
ever arose as to whose was the subtlest witchery, but each de-
veloped charms, distinct and rare, yet not outrivalling one the
other. With harmonious voices blended, and ambrosial tresses
mingled, the three interlaced their comely arms, and tossing with
shapely feet the flowing draperies of golden tissue, which softly
veiled the perfect contours of their beauteous forms, they gaily
danced along. Their enchanting rhythm was the music of the new

A X

2 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

Civilisation : — it we know — and them — but what of their origin ?
whence came they ? and who were their forebears ?

Commerce and Industry, — well-matched and well-mated pair,—
very early made their busy home by Arno's healthful bed. Sheltered
by the gracious cliffs of Fiesole and the umbrageous woods of San
Miniato, they stretched their vigorous limbs along the virgin fields
and pregnant uplands, dipping themselves anon, and theirs, in the
tonic stream. Invigorated by the crisp Tuscan breezes, and
cheered by the sunlit cerulean skies, they set about the rearing of
their sturdy family.

Industry,— fond Mother, — kept by the domestic hearth, un-
wearyingly nourishing and encouraging her children, — some of
whom are chiselled upon Giotto's famous Campanile, — whilst Com-
merce,— energetic Father, — ranged the wide world over for markets
for his wares, returning, ever and a day, with hands well filled with
gold and other treasures rare.

Together this strenuous pair evolved, from Nature's generous
womb, the woolly web, the silky tress, and brilliant dye, which,
sagely intermixed, by cunning hands, well dowered her growing
offspring with health, and wealth, and wisdom too.

To the intelligent student of Florentine History it comes as a
matter of no surprise that her people, — so violent in political
quarrel, so refined in culture, and so magnificent in circumstance,
— was all the while a nation of shrewd business men — enterprising
merchants, skilful artisans, and diligent operatives.

From the twelfth to the end of the sixteenth centuries Florence
easily held the first place in the life and work of the known world :
she was in fact Athens and Rome combined ! The reason of this
pre-eminence must be adjudged to three potentialities : — accidents
of climate, geographical position, and peculiarities of race.

The climate of Tuscany, — a highland country of hills and
plains, — partook neither of the enervating temperature of the
indolent south, nor yet of the rigour of the frozen north. Men

FLORENTINE COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY 3

throve mightily under stable atmospheric conditions which aided
healthful labour and inspired enterprise.

Geographically, Florence was the Mistress of the intercourse
of the world. In her hands she held all the northern roads to
Rome, whilst, Colossus-like, her feet were placed upon the water-
ways of Venice and Genoa — the emporiums of the south. From
Pisa she ruled the seas.

The race of Tuscans was a fusion of many vigorous strains ;
Etruscan, Greek, Latin, and Teuton. Each ingredient had its
special function in forming a people, physically and mentally,
equal to any and every task they chose to set themselves. Dino
Compagni describes the Florentines of the fourteenth century as
" formati di bella statura oltra le Toscani" and calls them, "the
favoured race."

Vigour of mind and body, and the free exercise of industrial
instincts, were the germs whence sprang all the splendid character-
istics of the Florentines of the Renaissance.

The Muse of Shelley sings thus : —

" Florence, beneath the Sun,
Of cities, fairest one ! "

The origin of Florence is wrapped in mystery and obscurity.
Fiesole is said to have been one of her maternal forbears, and
Dante calls : —

"Etruscan Fiesole — the hilly cradle of a noble race." J

Anyhow at a very remote period the warlike people of the hills
were wont to descend to the river banks to barter with such
intrepid lowlanders as adventured themselves so far.

At the junction of the Fiesolean stream, — the Mugnone, — with
the Arno, gradually sprang up a small settlement of peaceful men
and women, and there centred the primitive markets of the country-
side. This settlement speedily became a town of considerable size
and importance, and was known to the Romans, civilly, as Fluentia.

1 "Inferno," xv. 61-3.

4 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

When Julius Caesar came to Fiesole to avenge a Roman defeat,
wherein the Consul Fiorinus had been slain, he changed its name,
— marked on his military chart as Campus Martis, — to Fiorentia, in
honour of his kinsman's memory.

Florus ranks Florence with Spoletium, Interamnium, and
Praeneste as, "those splendid municipia of Italy"; and Pliny in-
cludes " Fluentini vel Fiorentia " in his list of Romano-Etruscan
Colonies.

Whilst dates are all uncertain we know that the Romans
re-built the town on the usual Castrum plan of intersecting streets,
and lived there amid all the usual edifices of a Roman commercial
city. A great impetus was given to her growth and trade by the
making of the splendid Flaminian road, which crossed the Arno
at the point where the Ponte Vecchio still unites the two portions
of the modern city.

The civilisation and prosperity of the Roman Castra were
swept away by the wild inroads of the barbarians from the North.
Wave after wave of savagery rolled over all the land. Goths,
Vandals, Longobarbs, and Saxons worked their will amid Arno's
smiling fields and pleasant gardens. Last of all came Totila, — the
" Scourge of God," — and hewed in pieces the remnants of her folk,
and made of fair Florence nothing but a dunghill and a waste.

Roman farmsteads, villas, baths, and theatres were levelled to
the ground. Where, by busy gate and teeming quay and mart,
had gathered crowds of skilful toilers, — from fruitful fields and
prolific flocks, from sea and riverside, from busy looms and noisy
shops of smiths, — instead were ruined walls and battered portals.
Behind the scattered stones slouched the craven sons of hard-
working sires. Their hands, devoid of honest crafts, sought only
their fellow's pelf.

Along with the conquering Longobarbs, or Lombards, came
many a German family, to whom tracts of Italian land were
assigned for habitation and for culture. Attracted by its fruitful
promise many a bearded and fur-clad barbarian settled on Tuscan
soil, and there, too, their chieftains built their castles — employing

AN EARLY MARKET-PLACE BY THE BAPTISTERY OF SAX GIOVANNI

FLORENTINE COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY 5

the pressed labour of the wretched people of the land. From
these strongholds did they exercise over-lordship on plain lab-
ourers and rough workmen, whilst they, one and all, rendered
due homage to their liege.

The barbarians came, and the barbarians went, hundreds of
years rolled by, and nought but the ancient Christian shrine of
San Giovanni remained to tell where Florence once had been.
There, under its sheltering eaves, the good Baptist, — the second
Patron of their weal : warlike Mars deposed, — rallied the frightened
relics of a city's throng, and the driven refugees from Fortune's
frown.

By the river bank clustered frail hovels, — the homes of simple
fisher-folk, — adding their quota to a new township ; and boats
began once more to drop adown the stream in search of food and
gain. Men breathed again, their hopes revived, and dreams of life
and peace, of health and work were theirs. The old fire in their
blood awoke the lion of their energies, and up, out of the ashes of
the dead, phcenix-like, sprang another Florence.

Under the virile rule of good Queen Theodolinda who, at
Ravenna, held her Court, in the years between 556 and 625, busy
hands unearthed the blocks of Roman masonry, and around the
budding city they threw the Primo Cerchio — the first mediaeval
wall. A turn in the tide of misfortune had set in and fair Florence
raised proudly aloft her head to greet the Monarch of the West.

In 786, Charlemagne entered through her gates with an
imposing retinue. He found her people rebuilding the Romano-
Lombardic town and bestirring themselves in many useful
industries.

The wise king noted the vigour and the intelligence of the
townsfolk, and recognised especially their skill in dressing skins
and wool. Greatly did he encourage these worthy crafts and
granted new privileges. By decree l he extended the Comitatus or
Contado to a three miles radius from the Baptistery. The tears
he is said to have shed at Leghorn over the sight of intrusive

1 G. Villani, Lib. iii. cap. 1-3.

6 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

Viking ships sapping the resources of Tuscany, must have been
brushed aside, as, approvingly, he bestowed upon the new city the
title : — " Firenze la Bella ! " — and beautiful she was — a flower-
basket — in the words of Faccio degli Uberti : — " Che lira posta una
gran cest dei fiori ! "

Two sapient Popes — Adrian I. and Leo III. — did much in the
eighth and ninth centuries to encourage the arts and crafts. No
Italian could at that time do foundry work, consequently Greek
artificers in gold and bronze, especially, were invited to settle in
Rome. Rich silken hangings, which could not be manufactured
in Europe, were imported from the East, and men were set to work
to imitate them.

Paschal I., Gregory IV., and Sergius II. took up the mantle of
their predecessors, and encouraged industrial arts of all kinds.
Bas-reliefs in metal and sanctuary lamps, glass vessels for the Mass
and ornamental glass work, mosaics in pottery, lapidary objects
encrusted with gems, enamel painting, fresco decorations, and
many other ornamental and useful crafts were fostered not only
in the Eternal City, but by craftsmen who travelled all over Italy
and made settlements in Florence, and other places.

And still the toilers toiled and still the city grew until, in 825,
there was established, as in other centres of population, a Collegium^
— a commercial university for the Arts and Crafts, — under the
auspices of the Emperor Lothair. This was the Coronation of
Florence. Every head of a family, and every captain of a trade,
became a ruling councillor in the popular government by public
meeting.

Fief of the Romano-German Empire in the tenth century,
Florence commercially governed, taxed, and defended herself.
Her influence and her example were extended on every side.
Her markets attracted dealers and adventurers from every land :
her industries workmen and apprentices. By liberating the
peasants of the soil from the sway of feudal lords she became the
mistress of their destinies as well as of her own.

By all these means Florence laid the foundations of the only

FLORENTINE COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY 7

free government possible in the Middle Ages — that of the
Commune.

It is a question of unusual difficulty to determine precisely the
end of the Middle Ages and the beginning of the Renaissance.
Italians, and Florentines in particular, never quite sank to the
dismal level of other peoples — their faculties and energies were
always far more acute and less benumbed than those of most of
the inhabitants of the States around them. In a word Florence
was a precious lantern, which burnt with unquenchable brilliance,
and illuminated all the cities of Europe.

Bonifazio III., Marquis of Tuscany, died in 1076, and left his
titular sovereignty to his daughter, the Countess Matilda.
Popularly known as " The great Countess," she dwelt at Lucca,
holding frequent Courts in Florence — when not engaged sword in
hand upon the field of battle. Her fame was such that very many
of the children born in Florence, and the Contado, were ever after
named " Tessa," or " Contessa " in her honour.

Matilda was renowned for her strict administration of justice,
and, in the earlier years of her reign, she presided in person in the
Court of Pleas, aided by assessors, whom she chose from among
the Grandi^ or leading citizens. She greatly encouraged the
industries and the commerce of the Commune, and readily
sanctioned the warlike expeditions of the Popolani, or traders,
against the aggressive nobles of the Empire. The Countess,
nevertheless, had ambitions, beyond the circumscribed limits of
the Contado, and left the city magnates to govern its affairs,
pretty much as they liked.

In 1078 Florence was encircled by her Second Wall, and, at the
same date, she was divided into six Sestieri — or Wards — each
under the presidency of a Buonuomo, chosen by Matilda from the
families of the Grandi. This magistrate administered justice,
governed the population, and commanded the armed men, of his
ward.

In noi the Countess made a prolonged stay in Florence, and

8 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

called together into Council the Anziani, or Ancients — heads of
Grandi families, and also the Capitudini or heads of Popolani trades,
— to frame a Constitution for the government of the Commune. In
this instrument the Buonuomini adopt a new style, one indicative
of personal authority and independence, namely : — Consul — a title
hitherto borne only by supreme rulers of States.

Upon the death of Matilda in 1115 no one took her place as
ruler of Florence, but the government of the city was carried on
by the Six Consuls — who thus became the Rulers of the Commune.
Florence at the same time threw off her allegiance to the Emperor,
and proclaimed herself mistress of her own fortunes.

The yearly records of the city which have been preserved, begin
only in the twelfth century. Eighteen of these, — written on the
back of Sheet 71 of Codex 772 in the Vatican Palatine Library,
— cover the years 1 1 10 to 1 173. A longer series of Records, running
from 1 107 to 1247, is preserved in Codex 776 in the Magliabecchian
Library in Florence. In these documents are entries of the names
of Consuls and other officers of State, together with notes of
contemporaneous events connected with the progress, — political
and commercial, — of the inhabitants of Florence. It has been truly
said : " Merchants made her history, and merchants have
chronicled the same." 1

All the while another agency was at work, in the Middle Ages,
which kept alive skilful toil and enterprising trade — the agency of
the monasteries. In these institutions manual labour was pre-
scribed to prevent idleness. Some communities indeed were
founded mainly upon co-operative principles : for example, the
Umiliati or The Humble Fathers of St Michael of Alexandria.2

The Order originated in the banishment of numbers of Italians,
chiefly Lombardians, into Germany by the Emperor Henry I. in 1014.
These exiles associated themselves together, in religion and in toil,
by working at various trades, more particularly that of dressing
wool. Returning to their own homes in 1019, they retained their

1 Dr Davidssohn, "Geschichte von Florenz " (Preface).

2 L. Pignotti, "Storia della Toscana," vol. iii. p. 266, note.

PATRONESS OF INDUSTRIES (COUNTESS MATILDA?)

FLORENTINE COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY 9

organisation, and kept up their occupations, whilst their diligence
and integrity were renowned far and wide.

Down to 1 140 the Umiliati were laymen, but in that year the
Order was changed into one composed solely of men of Holy
Order. It is true that they no longer worked themselves, but they
gathered around their monasteries and cells, everywhere, great
numbers of lay-workers, of all ages and of every class, whose
labours they directed, and whose morals they protected. The
head of this early Labour Bureau was called " Mercato"

In no other city or republic did the Humble Fathers
achieve anything like the success which marked their work in
Florence. Indeed, in some places, the industry entirely failed
to attract workers ; for example, in Pisa, — where they had com-
menced operations about the same time as in Florence, — they
were obliged, in 1302, to beg alms to maintain their factory ; and,
a few years later, they were obliged to give up operations and quit
the place entirely. In Florence it was very different, and their
advent in 1238 was warmly welcomed, and its importance
recognised by the shrewd manufacturers and operatives.

Three conditions appear to have been constant in the political.)
and commercial history of Florence, which, viewed in connection J
with their possible effect upon one another, were absolutely con- J
tradictory. First: — the incessant warfare — feuds, brigandage, and
reprisals, which kept the population in a constant turmoil.
Florence herself fomented some of these, as, by degrees, she
acquired rural districts, and went on to conquer and to annex more
distant townships and lands. Second : — the extraordinary fre-
quency with which the form of government was changed : " Mutar
lo State " became a household proverb. Magistrates one day
acclaimed and trusted, were on the morrow disgraced, dismissed,
and even slain. Third : — the amazing prosperity of the city, and
the rapid increase of trade associations or Guilds, under fixed
rules and duly elected officers. In truth, on one and the same
day, a man might be called upon to fight to the death in

10 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

some fell conflict, to exercise his privilege with respect to the
franchise of the city, and to undertake some new industrial
enterprise !

The following is the refrain of a Folk Song of Old Florence,
sung by the sorrowing women, as they looked in vain for the
return home of the bread-winners : —

" Gather up his tools and bring them

With his apron of brown leather.
Father, wilt thou not be going

To thy work this summer weather ?
Father slain and brother wounded —

They have struck them down together ! " 1

The strife between Guelphs and Ghibellines which actually
commenced soon after the death of the Countess Matilda, was a
struggle for supremacy on the one hand, between a democracy of
merchants and traders, — aided by their work-people, — and, on the
other, an aristocracy of nobles and soldiers of fortune, — backed up
by their retainers. The names were first used in Florence in 1215,
but were originally given by the Emperor Frederic II., — the
former to designate the upholders of the Pope, — the latter to
distinguish the adherents of the Empire.

The Battle of Campaldino on June 1 1, 1285, proved, by the victory
won for Florence, the progress made in commercial enterprise and
prosperity. In spite of the many and lengthy wars with all her
neighbours, Florence was in a good and happy condition. Her
population was increasing rapidly in number and in wealth. Every
man was making money in his trade, and everything went merrily
like a marriage bell. Festivals and feasts were multiplied,
children went about clothed in new garments of fine cloth and silk,
and women, with garlands of fresh flowers and coronets of silver
and of gold, — the work of cunning craftsmen, — sang and danced
the livelong day.2

But the triumph of Campaldino was brief. Beneath the brilliant
robes of her nobles and her merchants and the goodly garments

1 Old Tuscan Folk Songs, " Vocero" 2 G. Villani, " Cronica," vii. 131.

FLORENTINE COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY 11

of her artisans and her peasants, there rankled still the class-hatred,
which had ever threatened her internal peace.

The constant feuds and factions which distracted Florence,
from the first day, when, in 1 177, the Uberti tried to seize upon the
Lordship, until the very end of the Republic, did nothing more
or less than winnow parties and thresh out policies, leaving
behind as a substantial result a solidarity which had no equal in
Europe. Her rulers were men of sterling grit, and her laws, —
forced by exigency of circumstances, — were perspicuous for liberty,
large mindedness, and justice.

Merchants of the " Calimala " — the finishers of foreign woven
cloth — for example, carried on their business undaunted by troubles
at home. Its members belonged to all and every party in the
State. When the feud of the Donati and Cerchi was at its height,
thirty-eight merchant-families sided with the former — the Neri or
"Blacks," and thirty-two with the latter— the Bianchi or " Whites "
— whilst as many more were neutral.1

Machiavelli has, in his " History of Florence," given an ex-
cellent and sententious view of the vicissitudes to which govern-
ments are subject. He says : — " The general course of changes
that occur in States is from a condition of order to one of disorder,
and from the latter they pass again to one of order. For as it is
not the fate of mundane affairs to remain stationary, so when they
have attained their highest state of perfection, beyond which they
cannot go, they of necessity decline. And these again, when they
have descended to the lowest, and by their disorders have reached
the very depth of debasement, they must of necessity rise again,
inasmuch as they cannot go lower." 2

" Cities that govern themselves under the name of Republics,
and especially such as are not well constituted, are exposed to
frequent revolutions in their government." 3

" The causes of nearly all the evils which afflict Republics are
to be found in the great and natural enmities that exist between

1 Villani, v. 38. 2 Machiavelli, " Le Istorie di Firenze," Lib. v. sect i.

3 Machiavelli, Lib. iv. sect i.

12 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

the people and the nobles, which result from the disposition
of the one to command, and the indisposition of the other to
obey."1

Perhaps the most perfect, and certainly the most beautiful,
building in Florence is the famous Campanile. Vasari says: —
" Giotto not only made the design for this bell-tower, but also
sculptured part of these stories in marble, in which are represented
the beginnings of all the arts." These stories are told in panels of
hexagonal shape, not in the conventional and devotional manner
of the age, but freely from the standpoint of everyday life. Giotto
gloried in his Florence and in her progress, and so he has adorned
his Campanile with the records of her industries and of her
commerce.

His first subjects are " The Creation of Adam," and " The
Creation of Eve " ; next he presents " The labours of Adam and
Eve " — the man working patiently with his spade, the woman with
her laden distaff; — and then "Jabal — the father of such as have
cattle," — setting forth man's pastoral work. After Jabal follows
his brother, " Jubal — the father of all who handle harp and organ."
Tubal Cain is next in order, — the instructor of the art of working
in metals. Labour in the vineyard, personified in Noah, succeeds ;
and here ends the Scriptural subjects so called. The seven Arts
and Sciences follow in turn — Astronomy, Arithmetic, Geometry,
Grammar, Logic, Rhetoric and Music, — each pourtrayed in a
separate panel.

Three panels are devoted to the crafts of Building, Pottery,2

1 Machiavelli, Lib. iii. sect. i.

2 Some say this panel represents a Physician in his chair, attending to his patients.
His pose is that commonly depicted in the examination of urine, and a similar pose
is seen in woodcuts of the end of the fifteenth century : e.g. Jacopo de Cessolis's //
Gitwccho delle Scacchi, printed by Antonio Miscomini, in 1493, where the doctor, or
apothecary, as the Quenis Pawne, is testing some ointment or other mixture. Others
assert that the panel exhibits a master-potter examining earthenware vessels, made in
the Contado, and brought into the city by women with wicker bearing-baskets, as was- the
custom. Probably the panel represents both Medicine and Pottery— the row of boccalit
albarelli, etc., on the shelf indicating the useful purposes served by the Potters' craft, and
indispensable in the prosecution of the Science of Healing.

CAMPANILE AND DUOMO

FLORENTINE COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY 13

and Wool-weaving — the special industries of Florence. A dignified
group comes next, — probably illustrative of the Judicial function, —
and then three subjects, setting forth man's mastery over land, and
air, and sea — a horseman, an aeronaut (Daedalus), and a ship with
its crew of navigators.

Pastoral industries follow : — Ploughing and Transport, with
Painting — Apelles, and Sculpture— Pheidias. These chiselled
pictures of life and life's activities have made of Giotto's Campanile
a pulpit, whence for all time is preached the " Gospel of Intelligent
Labour."

The Florentines of old looked down with ill-disguised contempt
upon the citizens of other States, and especially upon the in-
habitants of cities which they had conquered. These in their turn
had petty rivalries amongst themselves — Siena, Pisa, Volterra,
Montepulciano, San Gimignano, and the rest. Nothing pleased
the citizens of Florence more than to boast of their victory in
1260 at Montaperti, and of other successes, when they met people
from the defeated cities.

This peculiarly Tuscan characteristic led every city to boast of
its own importance, and of the superiority of its public institutions
and buildings. The " Spirito del Campanile" as it was called, was
nowhere else more rampant than in Florence, where everybody
seemed to be only too ready to disparage his neighbour, whilst he
vaunted his own eminence, or the excellence of his craft, or the
superiority of his City.

The Florentines were essentially a nation of shopkeepers, but,
at the same time, they were a Republic of independent gentlemen.
Whilst industrious beyond all their contemporaries, and frugal
beyond the generality of men, their leisure was marked by
creations in Art, Science and Literature, and their table
distinguished by mirth, erudition and hospitality.

Each party in the State in turn sought to outdo the other
in the advancement and adornment of his well-beloved city.
Fine work set on foot by one party was elaborated by another.
Wealth, honour, and dear life itself, were ever at the service

14 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

of the State. Each man was, first of all, a citizen, and then a
private individual. The glory of " Firenze la Bella " was the true
seal of family distinction.

The Commune flourished amazingly amid the invigorating
influences of constant political disturbances, and became the centre
of such a high and generous mental culture as has not a compeer
in the world's history. This culture was a democratic trait, not the
exclusive possession of the few ; and, as a true characteristic of
the Florentines of the twelfth to the sixteenth century, it is
exhibited in the architecture of Arnolfo, the painting of Cimabue,
the sculpture of Giotto and the poetry of Dante.

Speaking of the Acts, Statutes, and Laws of Florence, Dante
represents the people as superior to all others in Italy for civil
virtues, incorrodible faith, sincerity in religion, and noble charity.
He considered that all these excellent qualities were the foundation
upon which rested the commercial pre-eminence of the city.

Florence was a Republic of merchants and artisans, and her
citizens, distinguished as Nobili and Popolani, were united in the
general designation " Le Genti di Firenze" — " The People of
Florence."

A very important feature in the extraordinary enterprise and
success of the merchants and craftsmen of Florence was the
influence of education and literature upon all classes of the
population. The commonest people were casuists, metaphysicians,
diplomatists, keen observers of human nature, and instinctive
judges of character.

In the Middle Ages learning was regarded almost exclusively
as the handmaid of religion, but in the era of the Renaissance
it was looked upon as the companion of everyday life.

One of the civil phenomena of the times of the Republic of
Florence, — and one very difficult to understand from our present
point of view of educational economy, — was the union in the persons
of merchants and artisans, of fine literary taste and scholarly
culture, with rare qualifications for political office and keen
instincts for commercial enterprise.

FLORENTINE COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY 15

Industry, the object of which is ordinarily the supply of
necessaries and luxuries, was, from the first, a means of power or
at least amelioration in all the regions of human civilisation. It
furnished Florentines with a Royal Road to the highest summits
of Art, Science, Literature and Discovery. Whether nobles,
merchants, craftsmen, or operatives, they have come down to us
as philosophers, rhetoricians, astronomers, writers, poets, painters,
sculptors, architects, and the rest.

So keen was the interest displayed by all classes in all and
everything which made for greater knowledge and ability in the
prosecution of their various crafts, that teachers of every degree
did not lack attentive audiences. In a letter of Petrarch to
Boccaccio he calls the Florentine intellect quick and subtle
rather than grave and mature : — " O ingenia magis ceria quam
matura ! "

Historians, such as Ricordano Malespini, Dino Compagni,
and Giovanni Villani, tell us many interesting stories about the
universality of education in Florence in their days. Tailors left
their benches to attend the Greek lecture, Blacksmiths laid aside
their hammers for the pen of history, Woolcarders found time to
study law, Barbers sought the chair of poetry, and Butchers went
in for literary research, and so forth. There was " no one," says
Dino Compagni, " in Florence who could not read," and " even
the donkey-boys sang verses out of Dante ! "

The initiation of the University of Florence was accomplished
in the same manner as that which called the Guilds into ex-
istence. It was the consequence of the great movement towards
association which began to sweep over Europe early in the
eleventh century.

By the middle of the thirteenth century the association of
learning and industry was fully recognised as a necessity for
successful commercial pursuits. Classes were, from time to time,
established for higher technical culture, and at length, in 1349, the
" Studio Florentine* " was founded with an annual endowment of two

16 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

thousand five hundred gold florins, — about .£1200 sterling, — Clement
VI. granting the Papal Bull for the recognition of the faculties.1

The development of the University was rapid : — in 1348 there
were only six scholce, — faculties, — under as many teachers, whilst
in 1421, there were forty-two Professors, and by 1472, a great
number of branch academies and technical schools were thriving
amazingly. To the University of Florence belongs the distinction
of the foundation of the first chairs of Greek and Poetry in Italy—
the former in 1360 and the latter in 1373.

Among the earliest professors was Messere Filelfo, who had, in
the latter part of the fourteenth century, as many as four hundred
pupils belonging to leading families. In 1360 Giovanni Boccaccio
— the first Professor of Poetry — introduced Leontius Pilatus to the
Signoria^ by whom he was appointed first Professor of Greek.
His appointment proved to be a great incentive for the Florentines
to enter enthusiastically into the study of antique monuments,
whence resulted their superiority in the subtilties of the plastic art.

The Statutes of the" Universitas Scholarum" — as the legal title
had it, — were submitted to the " Approbatores Statutarum Artium
Communis Florentice" — "The Revisers of Guild Statutes for the
Commonwealth of Florence." They were drafted in the same
spirit and order as the Statutes of the Guilds, with corresponding
offices, byelaws, etc.

Quite young boys were admitted to matriculate, as in the
Guilds, and it was possible for a pushing youth to attain his
doctorate or degree at the age of seventeen.

Every student was required to be of legitimate birth, and a
registered native of Florence. There was no age limit and no
class qualification. Each was allowed an honorarium of one gold
florin per month, — a beggarly amount in truth, — but medical
students, who lived under very strict rules with respect to dissec-
tions, etc., — were privileged to receive an allowance of red wine and
spices — "just to keep up their spirits ! " 2

1 Rashdall, "Universities of Europe," vol. ii. pp. 46-50.
'2 Statuta Populo Florentine, p. 74.

v \ _> \ V X ""T"

%. \ \ \ \ \ \

>5^ \ \ \ \ \ \

A LATIN GRAMMAR MASTER AND HIS PUPILS, FLORENCE. FIFTEENTH CENTURY.

18 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

Four licensed merchants were appointed money lenders, or
pawnbrokers, for students, who were forbidden to borrow of any
other persons ; these officials were styled " Feneratori " — usurers.
No student might carry arms of any kind.

The Rector was elected annually by the votes of the whole
of the students, who had attained the age of eighteen, and
to him were accorded discretionary powers over the whole
University.

Theological students looked to Rome for preferment and
benefactions. In a Roll of the University of the year 1404 some
students are mentioned as having asked the Pope for, and having
obtained, two or three or more benefices — mounting up in their
gross revenues to the annual value of three hundred gold florins
more or less apiece ! 1

Strict sumptuary laws were enacted. Students were forbidden
to wear garments of fine or " noble cloth " — as the highly finished
Florentine cloth was called ; whereas Professors were allowed this
rich material. Black was prescribed for ordinary use, but on State
occasions scarlet robes were worn ornamented with fur and gold
embroideries.

A few only of the distinguished men connected with the
University of Florence can be named here : — Leonardo Bruni
Aretino, (1369-1441) — the reviver of the study of Greek, Leon
Battista Alberti, (1405-1472) — architect and scientist, Angelo
Poliziano, (1414-1494) — philosopher and writer, Antonio Minucci,
(1431-1487) — reader-in-law and history, Pico della Mirandola,
(1461-1494) — theologian and moralist, and Leonardo da Vinci,
(1452-1519) engineer and humanist.

English travellers in Tuscany, — and there were many especially
in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, — saw of course very much
to astonish them. Two of these, Sir Richard Guylforde and Sir
Richard Torkington, were the first to give expression to their
impressions in writing. Their " Diaries," — made in 1506 and 1516
respectively, — were dictated by the spirit of medievalism. The

1 Statuta Populo Florentiae, p. 383.

FLORENTINE COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY 19

civilisation of the Renaissance, which they encountered, seems to
have been quite beyond their comprehension. The things which
struck them most strongly were the manufacture of glass at Murano,
and the use, by the Venetians, of basins and ewers in their daily
ablutions ! 1

In the middle of the fifteenth century two other English
travellers went on their separate ways through Italy. They were
far and away more intelligent, and more in touch with the
movements of the age, than the pair which had preceded them.
Great admirers of the Florentines, they eulogise both their charac-
teristics and their customs.

Hoby's " Diary " is full of personal experiences. Everybody
with whom he had intercourse charmed him by their gentlemanly
manners. He was, later on, induced, solely from this experience, to
write his famous translation of " // Cortigiano" The richness of
domestic decoration also impressed him. He slept, he says : " in a
chamber hanged with cloth of gold and velvet," whilst on the bed
was, " silver work, and the bolsters were of rich silk." 2

Thomas's narration 3 is of a more ambitious character ; he con-
trasts the universities of Italy, wherein the students were mostly
gentlemen, with similar English centres of education, where, as he
writes, " there mean men's children are set to school in hope to live
upon hired learning." The Italians, he says: "are modest in dress
and neat at table and sober in speech." Regarding the division of
classes he was impressed by the fact that the leading merchants
were, for the most part, gentlemen. " If there are," he writes, " three
or four brothers, one or two of them go into a trade ; and, in case
there is no division of their father's patrimony, then the merchants
work for their brothers' benefit, as well as for their own. And in-
asmuch as their reputation does not suffer by reason of their trade,
it follows that there are more wealthy men in Italy than in any other
country."

He admired too the skill and comparative wealth of the

1 Camden Society, 1881. 2 Egerton MSS. 2148. British Museum.

3 "A Historic of Italic," 1549.

20 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

working classes. " I regard," he writes, " the Italian artificers as
being the finest and most inventive workmen of all others." He
adds, later on, — speaking of the cities of Lombardy in particular,
— " there is almost no craftsman's wife that hath not her gown of
silk, and her chain of gold ! "

With respect to Florence, all classes struck him by their talka-
tiveness, and their manifest desire to appear eloquent. " He is
not," he writes, "reputed a man among them that cannot play
the orator in his tale, as well in gesture as in word." The
Academy was one of the most interesting sights he saw during
his visit. He describes how the learned Florentines, from various
grades of society, met there, — the Duke amongst them. One,
chosen beforehand, would ascend the pulpit and deliver an
oration lasting more than one hour. " Never have I heard," writes
the narrator, " reader in school, nor preacher in church, handle
themselves better."

After the fall of the Roman Empire the trade routes, with
their hostelries and posts for horses, were restored by Charlemagne,
and maintained by successive Emperors and their feudatories.
Three kinds of establishments were provided by the Imperial
Government for their couriers and for foreign expeditions,
I. Civitates, in the towns — where numbers of horses were kept for
despatch anywhere throughout the State. 2. Mutationes, in
the villages — where relays of animals were stabled for immediate
use. And 3. Mansiones, in the country — where men and horses,,
engaged in long and wearisome journeys, might rest awhile.

Generally commercial travellers from Florence were men
travelling in companies, but frequently enough all the members
of a family went abroad with father or son, who had received
the appointment of resident agent, in a foreign city, of some rich
business house.

The interests of the forwarding company were supposed to be
the principal object of these journeys, but, as a rule, a good deal

FLORENTINE COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY 21

of quite natural self-interest was associated with the expedition,
which was never devoid of adventure and romance.

A notable soldier, merchant, diplomatist and man of letters,
Buonaccorso Pitti, in his Chronicle,1 relates how he accomplished
his journeys in France and Germany in the year 1395. "Being
obliged," he writes, " for the service of the Florentine Republic
to undertake a mission to Paris I set out on the 28th of January
of the same year. I took the road to Friuli, and spent thirty-five
days among the snow with the diggers clearing the glacier, before
I was able to pass with ten oxen. I stopped in turn at Constance,
Basel, and Langres. ... I returned by way of Burgundy and
Germany. After my arrival at Treviso, I sent on my laden pack
horses to Padua, whilst I went on to Venice. I left Venice on the
22nd of March, rested at Mestre, and was at Padua that night.
On the morning of the 23rd I set out, with two good riding horses
belonging to the Lord of Padua, and, without eating and
drinking, I reached Ferrara at eight o'clock that evening. Here
I hired some of the Marquis' horses, and went on to San Giorgio,
within ten miles of Bologna. In the morning, before sunrise, I
arrived at Bologna, and taking two fresh horses I reached
Scarperia late at night. I arrived in Rome early in the morning
of March 25th.

This distinguished Florentine, who had already, in 1374, been
sent as Ambassador to Paris was also something of a financial
plunger. He made hazardous investments, gave and accepted
loans at high rates of interest, and was addicted to selling for a
fall — as we now say. One day he was rolling in riches, and the
honoured guest of princes and wealthy merchants; the next, he
was out of elbows, and could not raise a few soldi for a shave at
Burchiello's !

Many of the agents of Florentine commercial houses became
famous in the annals of their city no less than in the greater world
of Europe. Filippo degli Scolari, — a traveller for the " Calimala" in
Hungary, — was appointed cashier to the king, and director of

1 Cronica, (?) 1396.

22

THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

the currency. He restored the kingdom and was named Governor
of Servia and Captain-General. Castruccio Castracani, — a
member of the Interminelli banking-house, — who was exiled in
his youth for a trivial offence, raised himself as a soldier and a
statesman until he was elected Lord of Lucca. Farinata degli
Uberti — merchant, soldier and statesman, became the master of

COMMERCIAL TRAVELLER OR AMBASSADOR. FIFTEENTH CENTURY.

Tuscany. Niccolo Acciaiuoli — a member of the noted steel manu-
facturing house, — ruled the kingdom of Naples as dispenser of
Justice.

Along the trade routes were Ostellieri — Commercial Inns — at the
disposition of the members of the Guilds. The Ostellani undertook
to lodge and feed Florentine merchants and their agents upon their
journeys, and to store their merchandise. These men were under
the observation and order of the Guild Consuls and visiting in-
spectors. They were forbidden, under penalty of losing their
licences, to participate in mercantile speculations. They were

FLORENTINE COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY 23

established in Paris, Caen, Aries, Perpignan, S. Gilles, and other
places in France, and also throughout Flanders and Germany.

Trade routes crossed and re-crossed one another, but all
converged upon Florence ; and over these her merchants entered
into arrangements with their respective rulers. In early days,
however, it was a common practice for the hill tribes to swoop
down upon pack trains, which conveyed to and fro consignments
of merchandise. To safeguard her commercial interests Florence
entered into many treaties with her neighbours : Pisa — 1171 ; Lucca
— 1184; Signori del Mugello, who were robber chieftains — 1200,
for safe cond ucts ; Bologna — 1 203, against reprisals ; Faenza — 1204,
with respect to jurisdiction ; Perugia — 1218, concerning the wool
and silk trades; Maremma chieftains — 1251, for security of cattle
droves, etc. Several treaties were made with Siena and Pisa which
treated of territorial as well as commercial policy.

With respect to sea-borne merchandise, the chief ports for the
trade of Florence were Ancona, Rimini, and Venice, on the east,
and on the west, Pisa, Leghorn, and Genoa.

The commercial relations of Florence grew apace. Goro Dati
glories in the fact that, — as he puts it, — " The Florentines were
well acquainted with all the holes and corners of the known
world."1 In the fourteenth century more than three hundred
agents were despatched every year upon commercial journeys.

Resident Florentines were first appointed Consuls at foreign
ports in 1329. The qualification for this important office was
simply citizenship, but only such men as might be expected to
extend the fame and influence of Florence, by their own personal
force of character and aptitude for business, were chosen.

These officers were established in Eastern ports, where each
was assisted by a secretary, — with a monthly salary of four gold
florins, — two assistants and a native dragoman. Each Consul had
three horses at his disposal. He was forbidden to engage in trade,
or to act in any way for other States. His salary was paid by rates
levied upon merchandise entering and leaving the port.

1 Goro Dati, '' Istoria di Firenze," Lib. iv. p. 56.

24 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

In London the income of the Florentine Consul was obtained
by percentages upon the Lettere di Cambio^ — bills of Exchange,
— and upon the values of cargoes sold and bought At Con-
stantinople, Lyons, Bruges, and other principal trading centres
similar rates were in force. Florentine merchants and bankers
were found in numbers everywhere, in Turkey there were fifty-
one houses, in France — twenty-four, at Naples — thirty-seven, and
so on.

The first substantial gain to the Republic was the concession
of land at various foreign ports for the erection of residences for
the Consuls, offices, warehouses, hospitals, and churches. Between
the year 1423 and the end of the century resident Florentine
Maritime Consuls had been appointed at Alexandria, Naples,
Majorca, Constantinople, in Cyprus, and away on the shores of
the distant Black Sea, and in Persia, India, and China.

To each of these high officials were attached Chancellors,
Purveyors, Interpreters, Inspectors of all kinds, and clerks, and
quite a numerous body-guard of men-at-arms. In short, miniature
Florences sprang up everywhere, and claimed, and obtained, equal
rights, privileges, and honours as were accorded to the mother
city. The expenses of these establishments were borne by freight
dues on cargoes entering and leaving port. Pisa was the most
accessible port in Tuscany, and she was well worth all the sacri-
fices which the wars with her brave and industrious inhabitants
cost the men of Florence. She had a Consul all to herself, who
ranked as the chief magistrate of a great maritime Guild, or
University, in connection with the " Calimala " merchants of the
capital city. The bulk of the raw wool imported by the Woollen
Manufacturers, and the foreign cloth consigned to the " Calimala"
was landed on her quays, and despatched thence to Florence, or
to the several depots established at Prato, Empoli, Volterra, and
Poggibonsi.

It is impossible to say exactly when the Florentine merchants
and venturers first turned their attention to the acquisition of
maritime facilities. Probably the successes of the Pisans, the

FLORENTINE COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY 25

Genoese, and the Venetians, opened their eyes to the possibilities
before them. Naturally the three cities did all they could to
impede the rivalry of their inland sister, and probably, had not
their own internal dissensions played such an important part in
their commercial prosperity, they would have succeeded in
hampering her ambitions.

Apparently the first actual step taken by Florence to acquire
seaboard rights was in 1254, when Pisa granted free import and
export to Florentine merchandise. The treaty of that year was
the ground-work of the many disputes between the rival cities
which led to the ultimate downfall of Pisa. For many a long
year however Florentine merchants were content to make use, by
hire, of the ships of maritime States.

Rosso Bazzaccari, a ship-master of Pisa, in 1279, lent his fine
new vessel the San Pietro to Nasico Nassi, — a merchant of
Florence, — to transport from Porto Pisano two hundred mule loads
of goods to Palermo.1

The power of Florence was so great in 1285 that the people
of Pisa, wishing to maintain good relations, sent an embassy to the
Florentine Government. The ambassadors took with them great
opaque glass bottles of what purported to be rich white Vernacera
wine by way of presents ; but they were found to be full of gold
florins ! 2

Many treaties were made with Pisa for the benefit of Florentine
transport trade. These were all more or less favourable, although
the Pisans did not hesitate to tax Florentine goods when and how
it suited them. In 1329 Florence was placed upon the same
footing as Pisa, and her merchandise was relieved of all restrictions.
In 1356 the port of Talamone was acquired from the Sienese, in
consequence of Pisa's reversion to taxation, and the Florentine
merchants hired fourteen war galleys to protect their trade from
the Genoese and Pisans. The capture of Pisa in 1406 gave
Florence possession of the whole seaboard of Tuscany.

Two other ports were acquired by Florence in the early part

1 Archivio di Pisa, Atti Pubblichi. - Villani, vii. 97.

26 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

of the fifteenth century : — Porto di Venere, a small harbour in the
Gulf of Genoa, in 141 1, for the sum of eight thousand four hundred
gold florins — as a check to Genoese trade ; and Livorno — Leghorn
— in 1421 for one hundred thousand gold florins.

In 1421 / Set Consoli del Mare — Six Maritime Consuls — were
elected over and above the trade Consuls already established at
Pisa. All six resided at Pisa till 1426, when three were stationed
in Florence. Their duties were in the main similar to those of the
Consuls of the Guilds. In fact the sea and its navigation were
annexed to the Republic of Florence and were enrolled among
her Arti!

The three Consuls at Pisa were occupied mainly as follows : —
i. To watch all the commerce of the Port. 2. To encourage
traders and navigators to use that Port. 3. To prevent contra-
band and to protect Florentine merchandise. 4. To prepare the
way for commercial treaties with other cities and states. 5. To
examine all bills of lading and ships' business papers. 6. To
inspect the crews, and supervise the wages paid out. 7. To inspect
the vessels, and undertake repairs. 8. To keep accurate ledger
accounts, etc. etc.

The three Consuls resident in Florence were required : — I. To
receive and file reports from Pisa. 2. To furnish every sort of
shipping information, which they were required to post in the loggia
of the Mercato Nuovo and in other public places. 3. To approve
the appointment, or the reverse, of all men named for foreign
consulates. 4. To receive complaints and suits in respect of
marine matters, and to adjudicate thereupon. 5. To make
representations to the Council of State in cases requiring official
interference, etc. etc.

The Sea Consuls settled the number of the crew of each vessel
and its armament, and appointed the officers ; but relatives of the
Consuls could not be enrolled. Vessels taking the Eastern route
sailed usually in September, those to the west in February.
Fifteen days before their departure public notice was posted.
Merchants, skippers, and crew, were permitted to reside at Pisa

FLORENTINE COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY 27

fifteen days before departure and ten days after arrival, but on no
account for a longer period.

Contracts with seafaring-men were drawn up by the Maritime
Consuls. Sometimes they loaned galleys at a monthly, or yearly,
rental, reserving certain rights and extorting certain conditions.
For example, in 1429, to Domenico Dolfini a galleon was con-
signed for five years, on condition that he made five voyages
annually, freighted his vessel with gold, silver, wax, and some
thousand pieces of Florentine made cloth, and discharged his
cargoes only at Porto Pisano.

Both at Pisa and in Florence the Maritime Consuls were
charged with numberless responsibilities outside their technical
authority. For example, at Pisa, the three Consuls performed the
functions of the old city magistrates, and had the superintendence
of the forests, fisheries, etc., in the neighbourhood of the city, and
of the export of native grown corn, together with the duties of the
drainage and cultivation of the land.

The " Arte del Mare" was an immediate and immense success.
In the year of its initiation six guardships were completed in the
Port of Livorno — which had been declared a free port for Florentine
merchandise. Through her Maritime Consuls Florence encouraged
foreign workmen to settle at Pisa and Livorno, and at her minor
ports, who were masters of shipbuilding. To each man was
granted a gold florin a month for the space of two years with free
quarters for ten years. Shipwrights and caulkers were exempt
from all taxes for a period of twenty years.

Four broad beamed galleons — Galee di Mercato, and six
shallow bottoms — Fuste, were put on the stocks forthwith, and one
of each was launched month by month. The timber came from
the Forests of Cerbaie in Tuscany, which were declared State
property, in 1427, and the Mugnone saw-mills were erected at the
public expense.

The cost of this first Florentine mercantile fleet was charged
upon the revenues of the Corte di Mercansia, — Tribunal or Chamber
of Commerce, — whereof one hundred thousand gold florins were set

28

THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

apart each month. The command of the squadron was given to
Andrea Gargiolli, a citizen and merchant of Florence, and he was
appointed also Superintendent of Marine at Pisa.

Direct sea-borne commercial relations with England seem to
have existed since 1329, and in 1385 Sir John Hawkwood was
sent as ambassador to Florence to negotiate a Treaty of Commerce ;
but not until the year 1441, did the Republic despatch a Florentine

A "GALEE DE MERCATO." A MERCHANT VESSEL, SIXTEENTH CENTURY.

built and manned fleet to English ports. Ten galleons sailed that
year to England and ten to Barbary, whilst the ensign of " The
Florentine Lily " flew in every port in Europe and the East.

Freights by other than Florentine galleons were subjected to a
rigid tariff, which had a tendency to rise with the increase of
trade. In 1457 the tax upon each piece of foreign cloth delivered
at Porto Pisano, amounted to one gold florin, but some years after
the large sum of sixty gold florins was extorted.

By the year 1458 quite a considerable fleet of armed vessels
was collected at the mouth of the Arno, to convoy the galleons of

FLORENTINE COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY 29

commerce. The earliest trade routes by sea were, — eastward,
Tunis, Alexandria, Cyprus, Jaffa, and Constantinople, westward,
Sicily, Majorca, Barcelona, Marseilles, Algiers. Certain vessels
traded direct with British and Flemish ports. The voyages were
accurately timed, and so regulated that a serviceable connection
was maintained between all ships at sea. Porto Pisano was
the ultimate rendezvous of all freight vessels.

The first private merchant ships were built in 1480, and to
their owners were conceded the rights hitherto held by the six
Maritime Consuls. They were permitted to sail when and how
they liked, and to load whatever freight their owners, or skippers,
desired ; but all parties interested in the enterprise were placed
under the same conditions as had obtained previously. Beyond
this owners paid toll for the use of the piers, harbours, and ware-
houses.

By the end of the fifteenth century the merchant navy of
Florence numbered eleven great and fifteen small galleons — all in
full commission, and her special galleon-florin, — coined in 1422, —
at the instance of Taddeo Cenni, a Florentine merchant at
Venice, was in free circulation at high exchange. In short the
" Arte del Mare;' " the Guild of the Sea," was the parent of the
present day syndicate of Lloyds !

The invention of the compass did very much to simplify the
trade routes by sea — voyages were shortened, coasting pirates were
eluded, and ports of call became unnecessary.

The oversea commerce of the Renaissance and its development
led to the world's supremacy of Florence in material prosperity
and social progress. Goro Dati, writing about this ascendancy,
valued the stationary funds of the Republic in his day — the middle
of the fourteenth century — at twenty million gold florins.1

What is now called International Law was entirely unknown in
old Florence and her borders. Nothing appeared to those busy
traders more reasonable than to shut the door against neighbours

1 Goro Dati, " Istoria di Firenze," c. viii. pp. 129-131.

30 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

who would not submit to their terms, and to impose taxes upon all
foreign products. Hence the treaties with Siena, Volterra, Pisa,
Genoa, Lucca, Arezzo, and other communes and cities, were dictated
rather from commercial than from political motives.

Contracts of assurance were usually made out for all consign-
ments whether of goods or bullion. They were aimed against
three chief contingencies — accidents by land, risks by sea, and
depredations of light-fingered gentry in general. The premiums
paid by Florentine merchants ranged from six to fifteen per cent,
of the declared value of the goods.1

The question of reprisals or retaliation was always very important
in the policy of the Florentine merchants. The origin of the
system goes far back to the days of Frederic II. In 1239 the
Podesta of Pisa, having failed to forward to the Vicar of the
Empire, Gebhard d'Arnstein, the sum of nearly five thousand
pounds due to Count Ridolfo di Capraja, the latter received
authority and license to "make distraint for that sum upon the
goods and persons of the Pisans." The custom grew apace, until in
1298 the merchants of Florence put reprisals into force against
Perugia — for the sum of six hundred lire, Fano — for two thousand,
Spoleto — for two hundred and fifty, Pisa — for fifty-five, and Forli
— for fourteen hundred. Each of these towns had borrowed money
from Florentines, or had distrained merchandise on its way to or
from Florence. Viterbo, Venice, and Padua came in for similar
treatment.2

Against Sinola, where, in 1297, a sumpter-mule laden with fine
Florentine cloth had been stolen, the Podesta, with the advice of
the Consuls of the Seven Greater Guilds, accorded a sum of two-
hundred and forty gold florins, for the value of the goods,, two
hundred for damage, and forty for expenses attached to the suit.
The same year the Pisans were adjudged a fine of eight hundred lire
against the pillage of a ship laden with corn.

Under date August 14, 1329, Ser Nerio Mici di Bibbiena com-

1 G. A. L. Cibrario, " Delia Economia Politica del Medio Evo," vol. ii. p. 244.

2 Provvisione ix. 174, 185, 208, etc.

FLORENTINE COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY 31

plained to the Officials of the Mercanzia that he had suffered
highway-robbery, in the Borgo Ghiaceti. He asserted that he
cried out, "Accor^ uomo ! AccoS uomo!" — "Help! — Help!" — but
that no one came to his assistance. Then he tabled a list of
the articles of which he had been despoiled : — a wreath of gold
and silver, four fine mitre ornaments, six fine linen mitres, three
dozen broad decorated belts, two dozen embroidered filagree
belts, three dozen black leather belts, three dozen belts of plaited
hair, two dozen pairs of breeches, two dozen San Ghalgano
belts, twenty yards of imitation Piste^ — woollen cloth, — two pairs
of tailor's scissors, two ounces of crushed silver, twelve feet
embroidery in fine gold, eighty measures of silver, one red fur
lining for a man's cloak, one knife chest with four knifes, three
dozen fine leathern pouches, six dozen plain pouches, one purse
wrought in gold, and very many other articles of various
kinds. The unfortunate man then entered a legal process, and
claim for damage, against two unknown inhabitants of Borgo
Ghiaceti.1

With respect to the levying of retaliations upon cities and
towns outside Tuscany, the difficulties were, naturally, very great.
It frequently taxed, to the utmost, the patience and the ingenuity
of her merchants and their agents to avoid a resort to arms.
Indeed many of the minor military expeditions, of which the
Florentines were so lavishly fond, were due to this question and
its solution.

Questions of retaliation were constantly cropping up between
Florence and her great rivals Genoa and Venice, and, as a rule, they
were settled to the advantage of the tactful and resourceful men
who led her destiny. With respect to foreign nations, the immense
wealth and influence of the Florentine merchants, and the heavy
monetary responsibilities incurred by rulers and leading men with
Florentine bankers, had undeniable force in the settling of trade
disputes.

All questions of retaliation or reciprocity were submitted to a

1 Dr Davidssohn, " Forschungen ziir Alteren Geschichte von Florenz," p. 190.

32 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

Tribunal sitting in Florence, composed of a Judge from the
establishment of the Podesta, and one from that of the Captain
of the People, and their findings were approved, or not, by the
Priors and their assessors. As head of the "Tuscan League of
Cities," Florence held a predominant place, and her law was
smartly laid down for the acceptance of her allies.

In later days such matters came before the Tribunal of the
Mercanzia with the assistance of the three resident Maritime
Consuls and delegates from the interested states or cities.

Stemma del Popolo di Pirenze.
A red cross upon a white field.

ARMS OF THE MERCANZIA— FLORENTINE LILY OX BALE OF CLOTH

f See page 84 \

CHAPTER II
GENERAL HISTORY OF THE GUILDS

I. ORIGIN. — Collegia Opificum et Artificium. Community of interest.
Mutual protection. Lothair. First Florentine Consuls . Potcnte, Grasso, Minuto.
Ancient families. Consorterie, or " Society of Towers." Compagnie, or " Trade
Corporations." Early notices of Trades.

II. DEVELOPMENT. — Buonuomini, or Trade Consuls of Guilds. The council
of the " Heads " or " Priors " of the Seven Greater Guilds. First List of Guilds
— seven Greater — fourteen Lesser. Podesta — Guido Novelli. Gonfalonieri.
Standard Bearers. Military element. Charles of Anjou. Five Intermediate
Guilds. Struggles between Capital and Labour. Giano della Bella. Second
List of Guilds — twelve Greater, nine Lesser. " Defender of the Guilds." Freedom
of industry. The " Ordinamenti della Giustizia? A Code of Guild Statutes.
Financial Position of the Guilds. Duke of Athens. " Le Potense" The
" Parte Guelfa." The " Ciompi " Rising. Michele Lando. Three Workmen's
Guilds — Artieri e operai. Numberless minor trade associations. Third List of
Guilds. Four Universities of Trades under the Medici. Shrinkage and decay.

III. CONSTITUTION. — Compulsory Guild membership. Scioperati! Con-
ditions and Rules. Apprenticeship. Women eligible. Officers. Differences and
disputes. Emigration of Artisans. Pains and Penalties. Sundry Prohibitions.
Hours of work. Public clocks.

Origin of the Florentine Guilds has been rightly traced to
the Corporations of Merchants and Artisans, which existed
in Rome under Numa Pompilius. They were called " Collegia " or
" Corpora Opificum et Artificium"

These " Colleges," which by their constitutions could be mobi-
lised for military purposes, also bore the name of " S choice" —
u Schools " or " Professions." In times of peace they were styled
" Scholce Artium" but in war they were enrolled as " S choice

Men of like age, instincts, tastes, and occupations forgathered in
the several " Scholce" which safeguarded their common interests
and looked after their morals and general well-being. Each

1 Dr Giuseppe Alberti, " Arti e Mestieri," Milano 1888, chap. i.
C 33

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34

GENERAL HISTORY OF THE GUILDS 35

" Schola " was furnished with a staff of duly qualified and legally
appointed teachers, who instructed young men and boys in the
duties and responsibilities of craftsmanship. Under the supreme
authority of the State each " Schola " or " Collegium " was governed
by its own officers chosen from among, and by, its admitted
members, the chief of whom were designated " Consuls."

For a lengthy period the " Scholce " flourished exceedingly, and
were productive of immense benefit to all classes. From the fall
of the Roman Empire, however, until well into the ninth century,
the "Scholce" seem to have suspended their benevolent operations :
anyhow very little is heard of them or their members. Ceaseless
feuds and devastating wars scattered far and wide merchants and
artisans alike. The lamp of industry and the torch of commerce
were extinguished. The land was laid bare, cities and towns
were destroyed, or became camps of mercenary soldiery.

Still some of the industries and enterprises which the " S choice"
had fostered were carried on fitfully and uncertainly in families,
or by individuals working alone, without regular organisation.
When the stress of adversity became less severe, and security of life
and property were more assured, traditions, which had been handed
down in secret from father to son, again became formularies.

Community of interest — the needs of mutual defence, and
the advantages of co-operation, once more asserted themselves.
Here and there sprang up revivals of something of the economy
of the old Roman " Collegia" This was the condition of things
in Italy when, in 825, the Emperor Lothair issued his "Constitu-
tiones Olonenses" wherein eight cities and towns of northern Italy
were named as suitable centres of population for the establishment
of new " Collegia " or " Scholcz"

These were Bologna, Cremona, Florence, Ivrea, Milan, Padua,
Turin, and Venice. The "Scholce" in each place bore a different
designation, each indicative of the special industrial economies of
the several cities. For example : — at Bologna — " Compagnie" at
Florence — "Capitudini" or "Arti" at Padua — " Fragili" at Venice
— " Consorti " or " Matricole " ; whilst Rome retained the original

36 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

style of " Collegium " or " Universitas" It is not a little interest-
ing to note that in the case of Florence, the title " Capitudini"-
Heads of Families, exactly expresses her political constitution,
whilst the designation " Arti" indicates her industrial character-
istics.

Apparently the Florentines were somewhat slow in availing
themselves of the provisions of Lothair's " Constitutiones" Rome had
Consuls at the head of her industries in 901, Ravenna in 990, —
where the Corporations of Butchers, Fishermen, Merchants and
others were regularly organised, — and Ferrara in 1015. Florence
made no distinct sign until the first year of the twelfth
century. For nearly three hundred years she had been going
through an almost countless succession of petty strifes and class
jealousies until at length we find her people in two camps,
Grandi — the nobles and Popolani — the traders.

These nobles were the lineal descendants of the old Teuton
lords, who, after playing the role of robber-captains, made over-
tures to the traders, and were by them received as leaders of
punitive and aggressive expeditions against raiders and their
strongholds. As early as 1081 a joint expedition against bands
of robbers, which infested the territory of Florence, and despoiled
the trains of pack mules passing to and fro, proved the wisdom of
united action between noble and trader.1

Some of these Grandi, such as the Uberti, the Donati, the
Alberti, the Caponsacchi, the Gherardi, the Lamberti, and the
Ughi united the life of landed proprietors with the occupation of
city magnates.2

Many noble families were also allowed a ruling influence in the
affairs of the trade associations, and not a few scions of nobility
sought admission as active agents in commercial pursuits.3 These
nobles laid aside their titles, and even changed their names that
their absorption into the industrial life of the Commune might be

1 F. T. Perrens, " Histoire de Florence," vol. i. p. 190.

2 P. Villari, "Two Centuries of Florentine History," vol. i. p. 93.

3 S. Ammirato, "Dell' Istorie Florentine," Lib. Hi. pp. 288-290.

GENERAL HISTORY OF THE GUILDS 37

complete. The Tornaquinci, Popoleschi, Tornabuoni, Giachiotti,
Cavalcanti, Malatesta, and Ciampoli were among the Grandi who
thus threw in their lot with the Popolani. Speaking of the early
noble families associated with the trade of Florence Dante says : —

" Already Caponsacco had descended
To the market from Fiesole : and Guida
And Infangato were good citizens." ]

In this way the division of the population into two parts was
modified, and we find Florence arranged in three classes : I.
Potente — the ruling-class, 2. Grasso — the middle-class, and Minuto
— the working-class.

The population of Florence, her trade, and her fame, increased
by leaps and bounds ; but along with her prosperity a dangerous
rivalry was developed between the noble families and their
retainers, and the merchants and their workpeople. The latter,
whilst readily admitting nobles into their trading and industrial
societies, resented the Grandi claims to pre-eminence in the control
of public affairs.

Usurpation of power, on one hand, was met by encroachment
of privilege, on the other. A spirit of rancour was engendered
which for many generations embittered the conditions of Florentine
life. The breach between the two extreme parties in the Commune
widened gradually, and the influence of the middle-class was
ineffectual to bridge the gulf.

The nobles formed themselves into defensive organisations
under the designation of Consorterie — or Societa delle Torre —
Society of the Towers. Each Consorteria consisted of a noble
family, — or a union of noble families, — their households and
dependants. They built embattled palaces, which served them
as residences in times of peace, and as fortresses in times
of popular tumult : " Famiglie di Torre e Loggie " became a
common expression for families of distinction.

Early in the thirteenth century there were upwards of seventy

1 " Paradise," canto xvi. 121-123.

GROUND PLAN OF FLORENCE IN THE THIRTEENTH AND FOURTEENTH CENTURIES
WITH THE NAMES OF THE PRINCIPAL FAMILIES

GENERAL HISTORY OF THE GUILDS 39

" Towers," and twenty of them had " Loggie," or arcades, for
festivities and show. Some of them rose to a height of 270 feet,
but in 1250 they were all pulled down to a height of fifty feet in
compliance with the demand of the Popolani. It is a thousand
pities that no pictured representation of Florence and her Towers
has been preserved ; probably she presented a far more imposing
appearance than even San Gimignano does to-day.

Of the noble families who as early as 1186 had Towers within
the city boundaries were the Uberti, Malespini, Amidei, Buondel-
monti, Donati, Adimari, Pazzi, Tosinghi, Ubaldini, Caponsacchi,
Amieri, Nerli, Vecchietti, Tornaquinci, Soldanieri, Abati, and
Infangati.

To counteract the power of the nobles the traders ranged them-
selves in Compagnie — Companies or Corporations ; each one being
made up of families of merchants engaged in similar industries, and
their workpeople. These Compagnie were not only associations, with
fixed rules and regulations for the prosecution of the trades, but
they were also bands of men, trained in the art of self-defence,
and quite able to give a good account of themselves in days of
conflict.

Researches into the Archives of Florence 1 reveal the existence
of the following traders and trades during the eleventh and twelfth
centuries : —

934. "Amalpertus — diaconus et
medico"

1021. " Florentius — paliarius "

1028. "Ursus — pistor"

1031. " Martinus — caballarius "

1032. " Casa Florentii Sarti "

1038. " Johannis, qui tornario vocatus

est"

„ " Olivus— faber "
1050. " Setherimus — pellicarius "
1070. " Paganus, qui vocatur vinadro"

Minister and doctor.
Straw-seller.
Baker.

Horse- jobber.
Tailor's shop.

Turner.
Smith.
Skinner.
Wine-merchant.

1 Dr Davidssohn, " Forschungen ziir Alteren Geschichte von Florenz."

40

THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

1073. " Aezo — sellarius"

1076. " Barone — scutarius "

1084. " Bonus f. Johannes baro" (for

"barullo")

1087. "Rusticus — Calzolarius "
„ ' Ildebrandus q. Petri qui fuit

vocatur marmorajo "

1089. "... — tegularii"

1090. "Johannes f. Rodolfo, pugni-

tore "

1091. " Benzolus — pentelarius "

1094. " .... Curtis di Marmorio"

1095. "Vivenzo — aurifex "

1096. " Petrus — tintore "

1098. " Paganuccio— galligario "
1 101. " Sichelmus — stafarius "
1 104. " Bonizo — olearius "
1 1 08. " Florentius — clavajolus "
1 1 10. " Martinus — beccadore "
1113. " Johannes — zocolarius "
1 1 28 " Florentius — spaliarius
1132. "Beriguallo f. — barlittario"
1 1 36. " Scartone — pettinario "
1 1 39. " Lupaccia — lo tricco "
1141. " Bernerius — Campanarius "

1 146. " Johannes(faber)f. — Brictonis"
„ " Uguicione — calderarius "

1147. "Bernardus — mugnarius"

1148. " Petrus f. Petri— pelliparius "
1 1 58. " Marcellus — tabernarius "

1 184. " Ildebrandus — catularius "
1 1 88. " Angito— piezicario "
1191. " Ugolinus — granario "

„ " Martinus — pignolajuo "
1 193. " Guerius— tonditor "

Saddler.
Shield-maker.

Hawker.
Shoemaker.

Stonemason.
Tilers.

Dagger-maker.

Potter.

Stone-sculptor.

Goldsmith.

Dyer.

Tanner.

Stirrup-maker.

Oil-merchant

Lock-smith.

Butcher.

Wooden-shoe maker.

Armourer.

Cooper.

Woollen-comb maker.

Fruit and vegetable seller.

Bell-founder.

Knife-maker.

Copper-smith.

Miller.

Clothpresser.

Tavern-keeper.

Paper-maker.

Victualler.

Corn chandler.

Maker of fine linen.

Fleece-shearer.

GENERAL HISTORY OF THE GUILDS 41

1195. u Martinellus — orciolarius " Dealer in glazed-pots.

1198. " Bartholus — speciale" Apothecary.

1199. "Reinaldus — pancone " Carpenter's - bench and

Loom-maker.

1205. " Perinus — corregiarius " Strap-maker.

1207. "Guillelmus — barbiere" Barber.

1209. " Cice — pergamenarius " Parchment-dresser.

121 1. " Ristoro f. Pieri — buorsajo " Purse-maker.

„ "Servodeo — osste" Inn-keeper.

„ " Ispenello — kasciajulo " Cheese-merchant.
„ " Albizi di Fferrare — pezzaio

di Lung' Arno" Ragseller.

Ammirato gives an account of how the city was governed in
I2O4,1 and the order of precedence for the magistrates. At the
head were two Consuls — called the Military Consuls, — precursors of
the Podesta and Capitano del Popolo, — then three Priors of the
three principal Guilds, — " Calimala" " Wool," and " Bankers," — next
six Senators of the City, one Officer of Justice, twelve " Buonuomini"
" Good Men " — two representing the people of each sestiere, — and
lastly, Special and General Councils of influential citizens, — the
latter including all the above officials with the exception of the
members of the Special Council. In addition six Syndics or
Inspectors were appointed by the three Priors — one for each
sestiere, who reported to them daily all that passed — public and
private — in their several quarters.

This magistracy exhibits the immense power of control in
public business, — both commercial and political, — exercised by the
representatives of the Guilds, for the six Senators of the city were
appointed — one by each of the six Greater Trades, — in fact they
were the Consuls of the Guilds.

The year 1204 is also memorable for a treaty between Florence
and Siena, which, whilst safeguarding the liberties of the Sienese,
vastly increased the renown and the fortune of the Florentines.

1 Ammirato, Lib. i. pp. 62-67.

42 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

This document is the first which bears the signatures of the Priors
of the Trades or Guilds.

In the Government of Florence several sub-councils bore their
part. One of these, — the third in dignity and authority, — was the
" Consiglio delle Capitudini delle Sette Arti Maggiori" — the " Council
of the Heads of the Seven Greater Guilds." This Council was
summoned whenever new taxes had to be levied, and in all matters
which concerned the trade and progress of the city.

In 1236 Thirty-six Buonuomini assembled in council at the
residence of the Consuls of the " Calimala " merchants, by special
ordinance, to determine the styles and precedence of the principal
trade-corporations working in Florence. They placed them in
two divisions which they called " Greater " and " Lesser Guilds,"
respectively — accentuating thus the distinction between the popolo
grasso and the popolo minuto. In the former category they arranged
in the following order : — I. " Giudicie Notai " — Judges and Notaries ;

2. Mercatanti o Arte di Calimala — Merchants of the "Calimala" ;

3. " Cambio " — Changers of Money ; 4. " Lana "-— Woollen-Manu-
facturers ; 5. " Seta" Silk-Manufacturers; 6. " Medici e Speziali" —
Doctors and Apothecaries ; 7. " Pellicciai e Vaiai " — Skinners and
Furriers.

In the second category were placed the following Crafts : — I.
" Beccai"— Butchers; 2. " Calzolai"— Shoe-makers ; 3. " Fabbri"—
Black-smiths; 4. " Cuoiai e Caligai" -Leather-dressers and
Tanners; 5. " Muratori e Scarpellini" — Builders and Stone-
masons; 6. " Vinattieri" — Wine-merchants; 7. "Fornai" — Bakers;
8. " Oliandoli e Pizzicagnoli " — Olive-oil merchants and Provision-
dealers; 9. " Linaiuoli — Linen-manufacturers; 10. " Chiavaiuoli—
Lock-smiths; n. " Corazzai e Spadai" — Armourers and Sword-
makers; 12. " Coreggiai" — Harness-makers and Saddlers; 13.
u Ltgnaiuoli" — Carpenters; and 14. " Albergatori" — Inn-keepers.

The year 1266 was a most important one in the annals of the
Guilds. Count Guido Novell!, who had been Podesta for two
years in succession, and was virtually absolute master of Florence,
invited two members of a quasi-religious Order in Bologna, to follow

GENERAL HISTORY OF THE GUILDS 43

him in the Chief Magistracy. The Order, or Club — for such it
really was, — was called " Fratelli delta Santa Maria Vergine" ; but,
in jest, " Capponi di Chinto " — " Crowing cocks " ! Its members
were young men of good family of the degree of knight, who,
through the gaiety and luxury of their lives, were popularly known
as Pratt Gaudenti — Jolly- Fellows !

The two " Frati " in question were Roderigo degli Andalo, and
Catalamo de' Malavolti, — the former a Ghibelline and the latter a
Guelph.1

The new Podestas were duly installed in the Badia — the official
residence of the Head of the State. To assist them a Council of
Thirty-six Buonuomini was chosen by Novelli, composed of
Merchants and Artisans in equal numbers, and one half Ghibellines
and one half Guelphs.

This Council met daily in the Offices of the" Calimala" Merchants
to give counsel to the Podestas to deliberate for the common
good, and to provide for the expenses of the Government of the
Republic. The business that first engrossed their attention was
the reorganisation of the Guilds. Two aims were kept in view ;
First, their greater efficiency in industrial and commercial enter-
prise, and, Secondly, their adaptation to the warlike circumstances
of the times.

The Council drew up a list of the six more important Corpora-
tions, placing the professional "Guild of Judges and Notaries" at
the head, as in 1236. After a careful and detailed examination of
all existent regulations and provisions, — the outcome of traditions
and customs, — the Council drafted a tentative Constitution gene-
rally suitable for the several Guilds.

In each Guild were appointed three chief officers: — (i),
" Consul " — as the representative of the Guild in the supreme
Government of the Republic; (2), "Capitudo" — Head or Master,
— as the controller of the internal affairs of each Guild ;
(3), " Gonfaloniere" — Standard-bearer or Leader, — as the director
of civil functions and military affairs.

1 Villani, vii. 13.

44 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

The last appointment was an absolute novelty, and it indicated
an important development of the political character of the Guilds,
no less than a new departure in the Government of the Republic.
To each " Gonfaloniere" was committed the care of a Standard, or
Banner, upon which was emblazoned armorial bearings there and
then assigned to each Guild, the free use of the same being
allowed to the craftsmen, who thus became bands of armed
citizens, to be called to their Standards when occasion required.
" These Standards, Banners, and Ensigns," says G. Villani, " were
ordered to the intent that if any one of the city rose with force of
arms, the members and associates of each armed Company or Band,
might under their Gonfalon stand for the defence of the people and
Commonwealth." x

These Bands were called " Companies of Militia," which in the
city numbered twenty and in the Contado ten to twenty. Accord-
ing to the same authority, there were in the year 1338 twenty-five
thousand men between the ages of sixteen and seventy capable of
bearing arms.

Documents 2 of the year 1266 prove conclusively that the policy
which dictated, and brought to a successful issue, the arrangement
of the Guilds in that year, was strongly opposed by the Ghibelline
Podesta, acting in sympathy with the Grandi. But the popular
movement was too strong for him, and he had not only to yield,
but to smooth the way for an alliance with the Pope.

The new constitution of the Guilds was distinctly democratic
in character, and raised violent opposition from the aristocratic
party in the State, who ultimately succeeded in sweeping away
the Thirty-six Buonuomini, and restoring the ascendency of the
Ghibelline nobles.

King Charles of Anjou, who in 1268 usurped the office of
Podesta, revived the Guelphic influence. He recalled the
" Thirty-six," but appointed a sort of private advisory Council
of twelve Grandi. To allay popular feeling against reactionary
government, Charles accepted a Council of One Hundred, taken

1 Villani, xi. 92. - Archivio Fiorentino, Atti Pubblichi, 1259-75.

GENERAL HISTORY OF THE GUILDS 45

exclusively from the Popolani, to assist his Privy Council. At
the same time the Consuls of the Seven Greater Guilds were
constituted a Court of Final Appeal in all causes, political and
commercial.

The Popolo Minuto, — the members of the Lesser Guilds, — were
entirely ignored, and consequently a vast political and social
antagonism was called into existence, which, later on, broke out in
destructive revolution.

Below the Popolo Mtnuto, — which consisted really of only those
members of the Lesser Guilds who had received the franchise, —
was the great body of the population, — the Ciompi, or working
classes, — " Wooden Shoes," as they were called derisively, with no
civic rights of any kind. They were denied the privilege of free
association, in Companies, Corporations, and Craft Guilds, and the
conditions of labour were nearly as hard as had been those of the
early inhabitants of Florence, under the system of the old Lombard
lords.

Times however were changing, and there was an ever rising
ambition among the lowest classes to attain at all events the
freedom of the franchise, and the power of trade-association, if
not the right to a share in the government of the Republic.
Forces were slumbering which needed very little awakening, and
that awakening was not far off.

Gradually, but surely, the Lesser Guilds were rising in im-
portance, not only on account of the number of their members and
the social status which their increased wealth gave them, but
because of the investment of money which members of the Greater
Guilds effected in the various minor Crafts.

What was really a levelling-up of classes was achieved in 1280, \J
when five of the Lesser Guilds had attained such influential J i
positions, that they were publicly acknowledged as a group apart J
from the other nine, and were designated Arti Mediant, "The
Intermediate Guilds." They were in order of importance as
follows : —

46 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

1 . " Beccai" Butchers — wholesale and retail.

2. " Calzolai" Shoe-makers and leather workers.

3. " Fabbri" Smiths and workers in metals.

4. " Maestri di Pietre e di Legnami" Master-masons of stone
and wood.

5. " Rigattieri" Retail-cloth and Linen-merchants.

The Five Intermediate Guilds — to whose chief officers the
distinction of Consul had not yet been accorded, — were often invited
to join the deliberations of the Consuls of the Seven Greater Guilds
on equal terms. Such occasions were April, 1285, September, 1287,
July, 1293 and January, I29/.1

At the election of Priors in 1293, — among whom was Giano
della Bella, — along with well known members of the families of
Albizzi, Gualterotti,and Peruzzi there spoke Lapo Salterelli — a Judge,
— and Dino Pecora — a butcher. These associated consultations
were usually held in the Baptistery of San Giovanni, and were
presided over by the Podesta and by the Capitano del Popolo.

These Five Intermediate Guilds do not appear to have taken
any steps for actual enrolment among the Seven Greater Guilds.
The reason may possibly have been that their antecedents and
associations were dissimilar. There is ever a social gulf between
the leisured and professional classes and the ranks of the tradesman
and the artisan.

Probably however we must look a little more thoroughly into
a question which presents such an unexpected aspect. Eman-
cipation from a position of inferiority — social and political — and
incorporation by a higher circle of prestige and influence, must
have had vast attractions for the shopkeepers and superior
workmen of Florence. On the other hand the danger of absolute
absorption into an elaborate system of civic life, wherein the
dominant powers were supreme in rank, wealth, and authority was
quite apparent.

The role of the Five Intermediate Guilds was that of holding

x. a balance between the two political elements of the time — the

1 " Le Consulte della Repubblica Fiorentina," vol. i. pp. 75-97.

GENERAL HISTORY OF THE GUILDS 47

aristocracy and the democracy. By joint action they were enabled /
to check the ambitious usurpations of the nobles and merchants /
and, at the same time, to restrain the revolutionary aspirations of /
the working classes.

A very well written manuscript,1 preserved in the British
Museum, entitled " // Foro Fiorentino overo degli Uffizi antici della
Citta di Firenze. Trattato di J^ommaso Forli" has the following
"List of the Guilds" under the date 1282 :—

I. Twelve Greater Guilds.

1. Giudici e Notai.

2. Kalimala.

3. Lana.

4. Cambio.

5. Seta.

6. Medici e Speziali e Merciai.

7. Vaiai e Pellicciai.

8. Beccai.

9. Calzolai.

10. Fabbri.

11. Maestri di Pietre e Legnami.

12. Rigattieri.

II. Nine Lesser Guilds.

1. Vinattieri — Wine-merchants.

2. Albergatori maggiori — Greater Innkeepers.

3. Venditori del Sale — Dealers in salt.

4. Galigai grossi — Master Tanners.

5. Corazzai e Spadai — Armourers and Sword-makers.

6. Chiavaiuoli e Ferraiuoli — vecchi e novi — Lock-smiths and
workers in iron old and new.

7. Sanolacciai e Coreggiai e Scudai — Harness-makers,
Carriage-builders and Shield-makers.

8. Legnaiuoli grossi — Master-carpenters.

9. Fornai — Bakers.

The same authority says that this order was retained until
1 MS. no. 28.178. B. M.

48 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

1415, when the Guilds were again arranged as Seven Greater and
Fourteen Lesser, and so continued until 1534.

In 1282, Bartolo de' Bardi, of the " Calimala " merchants, sitting
for the sestiere of Oltrarno, Rosso Bacherelli, of the " Bankers,"
sitting for San Piero Scheraggio, and Salvi del Chiaro Girolamo,
of the " Wool-merchants," sitting for San Pancrazio, were elected
Priors. They held office for two months, and assumed the right of
residence with the Captain of the People, in the Badia, and " by
their lordly manner, created an aristocracy among the Traders." x

During their tenure of office a new officer was created, with the
title of" Difensore del? Arti e degli Artefici^ e Capitano e Conservatore
delta Pace " — " Defender of the Guilds and Crafts, and Captain and
Keeper of the Public Peace." The first holder of this dignity was
Bernardino della Porta — a wool-merchant of renown. Thus there
were three supreme magistrates — the Podesta — or President of the
Republic — a foreigner ; the Captain of the People — a noble ; and
the Defender of the Guilds — a merchant.

To the " Defender " were attached two councils composed
exclusively of members of the three Senior Guilds. The following
year, through the incessant representations of their Consuls, three
more Priors were added, Ghanus Detaineti for the " Arte della Seta " /
Viezus Vecosii for the "Arte de' Medici e Speziali" ; and Toginus
Aurifex for the "Arte de' Pellicciai e Vaiai" At the same time the
title of the " Defender of the Guilds " was changed to " Captain of
the Guilds," and he took precedence of the " Captain of the People,"
immediately after the Podesta.

The ever-growing wealth of the Merchant Guilds and the
strongly aristocratic tendencies of their members awakened feelings
of discontent and jealousy in the Craftsmen of the Lesser Guilds.

Whilst in theory all citizens strove for the common good,
in practice differences arose from time to time, and, under many
pretexts, became more or less acute between the members of the
several Guilds with respect to customs, processes, privileges, and
monopolies.

1 "Le Consulte," pp. 116-140 (Dr Hartwig).

GENERAL HISTORY OF THE GUILDS 49

Merchant and artisan alike did not hesitate to break with old
established methods. Questions as to price and sample, and
business agreements, which had ruled industries for years, were
openly disregarded. Each man sought to take advantage of
his neighbour, in short a sort of inner-toll system was erected
between trade and trade, and between man and man.

To such a pitch did these vexations reach, that on June 3<Dth
1290 the Priors issued a Decree which re-established the freedom
of trade, and prohibited custom-dues, and compositions, of every
kind within the limits of Florentine territory. Secret Inspectors
were appointed to see that no craftsman, whether belonging to the
Greater or to the Lesser Guilds, attempted infractions of the liberty
of labour and of sale.1

On July 3rd of the same year two Decrees were passed by the
Priors, which prohibited Merchant Guildsmen under heavy penalties
from creating monopolies, compacts, and agreements, for spurious
sales. Every sort of business procedure calculated to lead to the
imposition of arbitrary prices for commodities was also strictly
prohibited.2

Any merchant or trader guilty of neglect of these provisions
was subject to legal proceedings and was liable to a fine of one
hundred pounds. Moreover the Guild, to which such an one
belonged, was mulcted in a penalty of five hundred lire for not
enforcing the decrees ; and the Consuls, Rectors or Priors were
each fined two hundred lire.

Other Decrees were passed in 1291 and 1292. In the latter year
the Consuls and Heads of all the Guilds met in Conference, and
added one more severe regulation to the Code of Prohibitions —
namely, erasure from the Matriculation Registers of the respective
Guilds, of the names of offenders convicted of fraud and falsifica-
tion of every sort and kind.

Appeals to the Pope, to the Emperor, or to any foreign power
or prince, were severely punished ; and the Notaries who assisted

1 Archivio del Stato di Firenze, Provvisione iv. p. 29.
2Provvisioni ii. c. 24-25, c. 30-31, and iv. c. 175-177-

50 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

in drawing up such appeals, were punished by suspension from
their offices. These measures, — Draconian almost in character,—
formed efficient bulwarks against usurpations and encroachments
on the part of the Merchant aristocracy upon the liberties and
rights of the Artisan democracy.

Liberty of industry was always a distinguishing mark in the
political constitutions of the Republic. In 1475 the Signoria
actually passed a Law enacting that every man was free to gain
his living as he liked, without reference, as to capacity, to judges
of law and doctors of medicine ; and without let or hindrance from
unscrupulous citizens.

A conspicuous and important landmark in the liberties and
trade of the Republic was fixed by the passing of the " Ordinamenti
della Giustizia" which became law on January i8th, 1293. They
have been called the Magna Charta of Florence. Their sponsor,
if not actually their author, was the famous Giano della Bella, who,
although belonging to the noble house of Pazzi espoused the
popular side.

This famous Edict, which contained twenty-four paragraphs or
provisions, was promulgated for the protection of the people
against the increasing usurpations of the nobles. The three
principal provisions were : —

1. The exclusion of the Grandi from the Government.

2. The punishment of the Grandi for offences against the

Popolani.

3. The extension of the powers of the Craft-Guilds.

Up to this period the office of Prior had been always open to
any Grande who was a member of a Guild. This privilege was
henceforth to be enjoyed only after the noble had renounced his
rank with the public approval of the Council of State.

Among the penalties was sentence of death upon any noble
who, either by his own hand or by that of a paid agent, took the
life of one of the people. His property was also ordered to be
confiscated, and his house razed to the ground.1

1 P. E. Giudici, " Storia dei Comuni Italian!," Bk. vi.

GENERAL HISTORY OF THE GUILDS 51

The " Ordini" — as they were also called, — confirmed the
number and order of the Guilds ; and, at the same time, enacted
that every member and apprentice should be required, upon
entry, to take a solemn oath, for the maintenance of peace and
concord.

The promotion of trading companies alien to the Constitutions
of the Guilds, and agreements and contracts, unsanctioned by
recognised commercial law and custom, were made capital offences.
Any Guild entering upon such transactions, or condoning them,
was declared liable to a fine of one thousand lire, and its Consuls,
five hundred each.

The passing of the " Ordini" of course roused angry and powerful
opposition on the part of the nobles and aristocratic merchants.
Their resentment was in a sense shared by many of the craftsmen
and shopkeepers, who depended upon the patronage of the richer
citizens.

By the end of the thirteenth century a vast number of trade
customs and business usages had become fixed, which, whilst in
some measure safe-guarding the interests of the Guilds, led to
more or less confusion and uncertainty in commercial matters.

In 1300 a revision of these Statutes, Regulations and Bye-laws
was determined upon by the Heads of the Guilds in consultation
with the Chief Magistrates. On April 4th a " Commission of
Seven Merchants" was appointed with power to choose other
seven members, Neri Berri being named President, and hence the
Commission is known by his name. The fourteen Commissioners
were secluded in the monastery of the Servite Brothers for many
days ; food, stationery and thirty-two lire being allowed to
each Commissioner.1 Their deliberations were attended with
unanimity, and they embodied their resolutions in the form of
Statutes which, in 1301, received the approval of the Consuls of
the Guilds and of the Chief Magistrates of the Republic. They
were entitled " The Statutes of the University of Commerce of
Florence."

1 Provvisione x. 216-226.

52 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

The Statutes were made generally applicable for all the Guilds,
and the embodiment of them, in the form of a charter of incorpora-
tion, provided each Guild, whether of merchants or craftsmen, with
the main part of its corporative constitution. The " Calimala "
Guild, as being the leading trade organisation of the city, led the
way by adopting the new Code.

The signatures x attached to the report of these deliberations
are interesting as showing not only the order of precedence at that
date of the Seven Greater Guilds but also the various degrees and
styles of the signatories. The names of "Judges and Notaries"
come first, they are six — one for each sestiere, and of these three
are judges, styled "Dominus ," and three are notaries — one being
styled " Dominus" and the other two simply Ser or Messere.
Next in order come the signatures of the four Consuls of the
" Guild of Doctors and Apothecaries ; " two are styled " Magister
medicus " — the others have no title.

Then follow the names of the three Consuls of the " Guild of
Bankers and Money-changers," they have no titles, but one is
distinguished as " Piero Borgi who has his office in the old market,"
and so forth. Four Consuls of the " Merchants of Calimala " come
next, without any distinguishing titles ; and they are followed by
the six Consuls of the " Guild of Wool," also untitled, except
the first, who is styled " Ser Notarius " — a lawyer wool-stapler !

The " For San Maria Merchants " are represented by four Consuls
— three untitled and the fourth is styled "Dominus " ; and last come
the four Consuls of " the Skinners," each of which has the name of
his special constituency added : i. " de populo Sancti Stephani a
Ponte" 2. " de populo Sancte Cicilie" 3. " de populo Sancte Marie
Ughi" and 4. " de populo Sancte Liber ale"

The financial position of the several Guilds at the beginning of
the fourteenth century may be understood by their proportionate
co-relation in the payment of taxes levied by the State. On
October 1321 the Guilds were mulcted in the following
amounts : —

1 " Le Consulte," vol. i. p. 27.

GENERAL HISTORY OF THE GUILDS 53

The Guild of Wool .... 2000 gold florins.

The Guild of Silk .... 400 „

The Guild of Doctors and Apothecaries . 330 „

The Guild of Butchers .... 325 „

The " Calimala " Guild . . . . 320 „

The Guild of Judges and Notaries . . 100 „

The Guild of Bankers .... 100 „

The Guild of Masters of Stone and Wood . 80 „

The Guild of Locksmiths and Workers in Iron 80 „

The Guild of Carpenters . ... 50 „

The Guild of Flax .... 38 „

The Guild of Skinners and Furriers only 20x3 lire, whilst the
smallest contribution was that of the " Society of Cross-bow
Makers "—eight lire!

The Duke of Athens began his term of office as Podesta in
1342, by yielding to the solicitations of the nobles and more
prominent merchants, but, when he saw that his overtures met
with distrust, and that a movement was being made to curtail his
authority, he looked about him for some other source of support.1
By way of currying favour with the lower people, at the head of
the Priors, whom he nominated, he placed a butcher, and with
him three merchants and three artisans. This course met with
violent opposition, but the Duke persevered in his democratic
policy.

His own position was largely due to the favour of the populace,
and consequently he was bound to make some returns. Of the
inferior classes he always spoke as " Le bene Popolo " — " The good
people." — Among smaller, but quite significant, measures, he
permitted the "Association of Wool-Carders," — subordinate
hitherto entirely to the Guild of the Wool-merchants, — to have
and to display a baiiner of their own, bearing upon it a Lamb. To
the*" Association of Wool-Dyers," — who represented that they were
oppressed by the two great Guilds of " Calimala " and " Wool," he

1 Villani, xii. 8.

54 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

conceded the privilege of being ruled by Capitudini of their own
free choice.

For the benefit of the lowest orders of the population the Duke
formed six Brigate or Societies — one for each sestiere, with the style
of "La Potenza " or Local Authority. The duties of these Societies,
which were comprised of the more prominent men or leaders of the
lower classes, in each quarter, were to elevate the tastes and
pursuits of the people, and to encourage them to emulate the
fashions of the better-to-do citizens.1

These measures proved to be encouragements and incentives
to the people to seek, by fair means or by foul, a general better-
ment of their social and political conditions The way was thus
made clear for the terrible "Rising of the Ciompi" in 1378,
which registered the high-water mark of democratic ascendency.
Several causes contributed to the accomplishment of this coup
d'etat.

Jealousies and feuds between the nobles and the aristocratic
merchants of the Greater Guilds were incentives to imitation on
the part of the operatives. The Parte Guelfa through its
immense wealth and power had become an instrument of op-
pression. The promise of liberty and equality made by the dis-
comfiture of the Ghibellines was not redeemed. Espionage and
tyranny were rife. Every man's hand seemed raised to oppress
those beneath him in position or in wealth. Such were the
embers of a smouldering fire, which only needed the torch of
revolution to kindle into a portentous conflagration.

Piero degli Albizzi in 1370 made no secret of the intention of
his family to convert the Republic into an Oligarchy. The Ricci,
the Strozzi, and other influential families sided with the Albizzi.
The Popolo Minuto saw the danger which threatened the liberty of
the tradespeople and artisans, but in Salvestro de' Medici, — whose
family ranked among the first of the Popolo Grasso, — the popular
cause found a true champion.

Salvestro was appointed to the office of Gonfaloniere di Giustizia

1 Marchionne di Coppo Stefani, " Delizie degli Eruditi Toscani," viii. 566.

GENERAL HISTORY OF THE GUILDS 55

in 1370, and he at once summoned an assembly of the people in
the Palazzo Vecchio. An immense throng filled, not only the
Palace, but the Piazza della Signoria. Upon Salvestro's threat to
retire from office, under the opposition of the oligarchical party,
dire confusion arose, and, at the height of the excitement, Benedetto
degli Alberti looked out of a window and shouted : — " Viva il
Popolo ! "

This was the spark which fell upon inflammable material.
The cry was re-echoed through the city. Shops were closed and
the whole of the populace was under arms. TheParte Guelfa also
armed, but did not dare to provoke an encounter with the masses,
who surged up from every quarter of the city.

The Consuls of the Greater Guilds intervened, but to no effect,
and the armed Companies of the Guilds under their banners
marched into the Piazza. The"£V0;«//" supposed these Bands
were arrayed against them, and at once the spark blazed into
flame, which devoured the palaces of the Albizzi, Pazzi, Strozzi,
Soderini, Castiglionchi, Caviccioli, Buondelmonti, Serragli and
of other noble families. Fire was put to the Residences of the
Consuls of the Guilds, and some of them were wholly destroyed,
whilst the archives, documents, and the rolls of matriculation,
of many of the Guilds were ruthlessly consumed.

A reign of terror followed, and the city was given over to pillage
and outrage. At length an attack was made upon the Supreme
Magistracy sitting at the Palazzo Vecchio. The magistrates fled,
and the mob, headed by a wool-comber called Michele Lando,
bearing the Gonfalon of Justice, which had been seized at the
Office of the Gonfaloniere, rushed into the Council Chamber.

Lando turned about, and facing his followers, cried out, " See
the Palace is yours, and the city is wholly in your hands. What
will you do now ? "

"Make you Gonfaloniere di Giustizia!" was the tumultuous
reply.

A new Government was installed on July 23rd, consisting of
nine Priors, — three from the Seven Greater Guilds, three from the

56 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

Fourteen Lesser Guilds, — and three from three new Guilds of Opera-
tives,— the latter being enrolled in response to the demand of the
victorious democracy.

Lando was confirmed in the office of Gonfaloniere di Giustizia^
" who," as writes Dino Compagni, " in courage, prudence, and
goodness surpasssed any citizen of that time, and deserved to
be remembered among the few who have done good to their
country."

The other demands of the " Ciompi " were agreed to, namely :—
i. The reduction of the taxes, 2. The increase of State interest
upon workmen's savings, 3. The rescinding of laws against small
debtors, 4. The recall of exiled workpeople, and 5. The ex-
tension of the municipal franchise. The three new Guilds, with
the assistance of the "Nine of Commerce" and the "Ten of
Liberty," were established under rules and regulations similar to
the Statutes of the Greater Guilds.

The first of these Subordinate Guilds was made up of nine
or ten thousand Wool-washers, Wool-sorters, Wool-beaters, Wool-
combers, and Wool-carders, who had hitherto been attached to
the Great Wool Guild. To this Corporation was granted a banner
bearing a figure of the Angel of Judgment with a sword and a
cross.

The Second Guild was composed of Dyers, Fullers, Carding-
comb-makers and Loom-makers, and Weavers of wool, silk and
flax : their banner displayed a white arm upon a vermilion field,
the hand holding a sword upon which was inscribed " Giustizia " —
" Justice."

The Third Guild united together Sheep-shearers, Butchers,
Menders of skins, Hosiers, Knitters, Tailors, Makers of doublets,
of banners, of church ornaments, of sandals, etc. etc. Their
banner bore the Divine Arm with a red sleeve, thrust out of a
cloud and holding a branch of olive.

The latter two Guilds numbered only some four thousand
members between them, hence the first of the three held a position
of greater importance ; and, by reason of its members belonging

WORKMEN

LATE FOURTEENTH CENTURY

WORKMEN

GENERAL HISTORY OF THE GUILDS 57

to one industry alone, — that of wool, — it presented a much more
homogeneous appearance than did the other two Corporations.1

There is much uncertainty as to the manner in which the
Statutes of 1301 were adapted to the peculiar conditions of the
new Corporations. Nevertheless there are entries in the Records
of the six sestieri, and in those of the Councils of the Capitudini
or Priors of the Three new Guilds, which show that their officers
ranked as equals with those of the other Guilds in the tenure of
public office. For example : — in Santo Spirito are named Giovanni
dei Capponi, Woollen-manufacturer of the " Guild of Wool-
merchants," and Leoncino de Francino, Carder, of the "Guild of
Wool-workers"; in San Giovanni — Giovanni di Bartolo, Spicer
and Apothecary of the " Guild of Doctors and Apothecaries," and
Benedetto da Carlova, Sandal-maker of the " Guild of Workmen
and Artificers.2

The Incorporation of these three Guilds gave much satisfaction
to the humbler and rougher citizens. The labouring class, though
viewing with natural envy the pleasanter lot of their richer fellow-
citizens, were really animated with the grand old Florentine
spirit. This natural leverage, which was a constant force for the
amelioration and advancement of every class, was based upon the
universal sense and appreciation of high ideals.

Prospects of contentment, however, were speedily dimmed, and
the newly enfranchised craftsmen became once more restive.
They began to assume the manners, and even the dress of the
richer citizens, and to cultivate a taste for the exercise of arms.

The old spirit of insubordination was not dead, and men re-
fused to work under the existent conditions of labour. Gwstre, or
Tournaments, and feasting in the Markets, had fascinations which
were undeniable. Workshops were closed, and the streets were
filled with idlers and merry-makers. Disorder and rioting soon
became the order of the day. The axiom, " if a man wishes to eat
he must work," was ignored, and famine stared the city in the face.

1 M.S. Strozzi, Diario d' Anonimo, p. 517.

2 Marchionne di Coppo Stefani, " Delizie degli Eruditi Toscani," x. 797.

58 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

The Three new Guilds made a further demand that a staio —
bushel — of corn should be given free to every man who asked for
help. They also proposed a division of public money. The whole
of the " Ciompi" assembled in the Piazza Santa Maria Novella and
prepared to urge these demands by force of arms.

Michele Lando again proved his grit. He set the great bell
tolling, and, when the militia companies of the Guilds had
assembled, he led them in person against his former associates,
crying : — " Long live the Trade Guilds and the People ! " The un-
disciplined mob gave way, and the wool-comber Gonfaloniere
yielded up his gonfalon, a pledge that peace was assured. This
was the end of the " Ciompi " Rising.

The predominance, nevertheless, of the democratic power was
of short duration, for the year 1382 was marked by the strenuous
exertions of the nobles and aristocratic merchants to reduce the
ascendency of the Popolo Minuto. Reforms were introduced
into the election of dignitaries : — the office of Gonfaloniere di
Giustizia was again limited to members of the seven Greater
Guilds, that of Prior was shared equally by the seven and by the
fourteen Lesser Guilds. The Three new Guilds were suppressed,
and the number of recognised Guilds was reduced to the original
Twenty-one.1

In 1387 a concession was however made to the claims of the
operative members of the community, whereby two new Priors
were appointed to represent particularly the working population.
Thus the eight Priors, who formed the new Signoria, stood by
twos for each of the four quarters of the city ; and this arrange-
ment was confirmed by the Council of State in I393-2

The subject of the Precedence of the Guilds, and their several
degrees of honour on the Roll of the Guilds, is one which can
never be satisfactorily explained. Some of the Guilds which
appear low down in the scale were composed of men of the highest
distinction, for instance, the great architects and sculptors of the

1 A. von Reumont, "Tavole Cronologiche."
2L. Cantini, " Legislazione," vol. i. p. 29.

GENERAL HISTORY OF THE GUILDS 59

Renaissance belonged to the Lesser Guild of " Masters of Stone
and Wood!" Again, why should the "Butchers" be thirteen
degrees higher than the "Bakers"? Probably in old Florence
herself this inconsequent arrangement could not have been made
clear. After all it was not so much a comparative table of
industries as a relative scale of operators which fixed each trade
and its agents in a conventional position upon the tablets of
Florentine Society.

Below the fourteen Lesser Guilds were, from time to time,
groups of workpeople, who enrolled themselves in trade associa-
tions, which were never recognised as Guilds in the generally
accepted meaning of the term. Under date 1285 there is a
paragraph in a Codex : Manoscritti varii, referring to the Arte de*
Frenai, — the " Guild of Bridle and Bit-makers," — and the payment
made to the Guild on behalf of some land between the Porta Balli
and the Porta Via Nuova.

The Records1 of 1309-1316 name many such associations under
the general term Arte, Guild : — " Bottariai" — Coopers, " Arcariai"
-Bow and Arrow-makers, " Madiariai" — Trough-makers,
" Cerckiariai" — Basket-makers, " Baldrigariai panni" — Cloth-
remnants and cuttings-dealers, " Ritagliai" — Retailers of Sundries,
" Fcrravccchiai" — Scrap-iron dealers, •* Pollaiuoli" — Poulterers, and
" Materassai " — Mattress-stuffers.

The Archives have a curious entry under date February 6th,
1321, in the shape of a list of Guilds which had paid their propor-
tion of the Gabella, or war loan, levied the previous year. The
loan in question amounted to the sum of 300,000 gold florins,
— ;£i 50,000, — and was undertaken not only by the whole of the
Merchant and Craft Guilds of the time, but also with the co-
operation of the all-powerful Parte Guelfa.

The number of Guilds or Corporations scheduled rises to
forty-four \ They include " Fornaciariai" — Iron founders, — ninety-
two lire, " Dadat2toli" — Dice-makers, — two and two-thirds gold
florins, and " Prestatori Ronzoni" — Horse-jobbers, — sixty-seven lire.

1 Archivio del State di Firenze, 245.

60 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

In 1327, among the Corporations which are scheduled as con-
tributories to the year's public taxes, the following additional

VARIOUS CRAFTS IN OPERATION — THE BUSTLE OF CITY LIFE.

"Guilds" are named: — "Vaginariai" — Scabbard-makers, "Maestri
d' Abace e Gramatici" — Rope and Hemp-merchants, " Cuociai"-
Cooks, and " Fabbricanti deW Utensili di Cucina " — Makers of

GENERAL HISTORY OF THE GUILDS 61

cooking-utensils. " Sarti " — Tailors, and " Cunatori " — Cradle and
chest-makers, are named in 1378 as separate associations, and so
are " Barbieri" — Barbers and Hairdressers, " Ricamatori" — Em-
broiderers, and " Tessitori di Drappi " — Stuff- weavers. These five
associations are also grouped together as a distinct Arte or Guild.
The why or wherefore of this alliance it is impossible to state.

Again reference is made frequently to Conciatelli — House-tilers,
" Conciatori di Fornace " — Glass-blowers, " Rivenditori " — Old-
clothes Dealers, 4< Incisori in Rame " — Engravers in brass, " Vemi-
catori" — Varnishers, " Velettai" — Canvas-makers, " Cereriai" —
Wax-moulders, "Tintori" — Dyers, and "Cardatori" — Wool-carders.
These groups of workpeople, however, were generally subordinated
to one or other of the Greater Guilds, and to the more important
of the Lesser Guilds.

Throughout the fifteenth century the number and precedence
of the Guilds remained unaltered. In 1415, the order was as
follows : —

I. Le Arti Maggiori — the Greater Guilds (7) : —

1. L' Arte dei Giudici e Notai — Judges and Notaries.

2. V Arte di Calimala — Merchants of Foreign Cloth.

3. L? Arte della Lana — Woollen-manufacturers.

4. L Arte de' Cambiatori — Bankers and Money-changers.

5. L Arte della Seta — Silk-manufacturers.

6. L' A rte d£ Medici e Speziali — Doctors and Apothecaries.

7. L Arte dey Pellicciai e Vaiai — Skinners and Furriers.

II. Le Arti Minori — the Lesser Guilds (14) : —

1. L' Arte de* Beccai — Cattle-dealers and Butchers.

2. U Arte dJ Fabbri— Blacksmiths.

3. L Arte de' Calzolai — Shoemakers.

4. L' Arte dey Maestri di Pietre e di Legnami — Master

Stone-masons and Wood-carvers.

5. L1 Arte de* Rigattieri e de3 Linaiuoli — Retail-Dealers

and Linen Merchants.

6. L Arte de' Vinattieri— Wine-merchants.

62 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

7. L* Arte degli Albergatori — Inn-keepers.

8. V Arte de* Galigai — Tanners.

9. L* Arte degli Oliandoli — Oil-merchants.

10. L' Arte de1 Coreggiai — Saddlers.

11. L? Arte de' Chiavaiuoli — Locksmiths.

12. L* Arte de* Corazzai — Armourers.

13. D Arte de* Legnaiuoli — Carpenters.

14. Z,' Arte de' Fornai — Bakers.

An attempt was made in 1426 by the aristocratic party in the
State to reduce the number of the fourteen Lesser Guilds to seven.
The leaders in this movement were the Albizzi, — ever opponents of
the popular cause, — under the leadership of Niccolo da Uzzano ;
but they were thwarted in their endeavours by the chivalrous
opposition of members of the rising Medici family, who consistently
posed as the friends of the people.

Early in the fifteenth century, — in view of the increased import-
ance of the operative classes and the improved conditions of labour
and wages, — two new Arti^ or Guilds, were enrolled, though not
formally incorporated. One of these, — called DArte de1 Merciai,
"Guild of Haberdashers," — was an association of small shop-keepers
and traders; the other, — UArtede' Lavori^ — comprised the inferior
class of operatives and unskilled labourers.

The Guild system had by the year 1530 reached the zenith of
its magnificence and power, but then new economic forces came
into action, which led to the decadence of much that was
characteristic of the Florentine industry and commerce. These
forces had perhaps little effect upon the Greater Guilds, but in the
Lesser Guilds and among their members they were productive of
many reforms and rearrangements.

A final grouping of the Lesser Guilds was effected in 1534.
By a Provvtsione dated July 17 of that year, the "Fourteen Lesser
Guilds " were divided into four Universities. Each University was
ruled by one Consul, one Chancellor, two Provveditori, three
Treasurers, three Syndics or Inspectors, and four Donzelle —

GENERAL HISTORY OF THE GUILDS 63

Sergeants or Porters — as the word came to mean. The Consuls
were chosen from each associated Guild or Corporation, in turn,
and served for six months.1

In the First University were placed : — " Beccai" — Butchers and
Cattle-dealers, " Oliandoli" — Oil and General Provision Merchants,
and " Fornai^ — Millers and Bakers; with the common title of
" L'Universita di For San Ptero"—" University of Saint Peter's
Gate " — so called from the locality of greatest activity.

In the Second were: — " Calzolai" — Shoemakers, " Galigai" —
Tanners, and " Coreggiai" — Saddlers; under the style of "LUni-
versita de' Maestri di Cnoiame" — " University of Master- workers in
Leather."

The Third included '.—« Fabbri"— Blacksmiths, " Ckiavaiuoli"
— Locksmiths, " Maestri di Pietre e di Legnami " — Master
Builders, " Corazzai e Spadai " — Armourers and Sword-makers,
and " Legnaiuoli" — Carpenters; and they collectively bore the
designation of "LUniversita de' Fabbricanti" — "University of
Artisans."

With this third University were incorporated the trade associa-
tions of " Incessori in Rame" Copper-plate workers, " Ottanai " —
Copper-smiths, " Calderai " — Braziers, " Ferraiuoli" — Edge-tool
makers, " Ferravecchiai " — Scrap-iron dealers, and " Stagnaiuoli " —
Makers of pewter. In fact all workers in metal, wood, and stone
were allied in one University. The privilege of matriculation into
the " Arte e Universita de' Fabbricanti" was extended, soon after
the incorporation of the Guild, to residents in the City and
district of Pistoja and other districts. Members living more than
three miles beyond the Contado of Florence proper were required
to pay fourteen piccioli, every six months, for the privilege of
membership, whilst city workmen paid five piccioli?

The Fourth University united five dissimilar corporations:—
" Rigattieri" — Retail cloth-dealers, " Vinattieri" — Wine-merchants,
"Albergatori" — Inn-keepers, " Linaiuoli"— Workers in flax, and

1 Benedetto Varchi, " Storia Fiorentina," 1721.

2 L. Cantini, " Legislazione,'' iv. 247.

MODES OF TRANSIT, COUNTRY PURSUITS, ETC.

GENERAL HISTORY OF THE GUILDS 65

" Sarti" — Tailors; their title was "DUniversita de* Linatuoli" —
" University of Linen Drapers."

This system of amalgamation was necessary for various reasons.
First and foremost, the shrinkage in Florentine industries through
foreign competition ; secondly, changing fashions and customs,
and the invention of fresh trades; thirdly, absorption of the
richer members of the Craft Guilds into the more aristocratic
society of the nobles and merchants.

The fifteenth century closed upon a Florence so prosperous,
beautiful and salubrious that she was without a rival in Europe.

The shutting of manufactories and shops, which was re/narkable
in the sixteenth century, did not however prove decadence in
wealth and influence, but simply that fewer men found it needful
to engage in humble callings. The ranks of the monied and
leisured classes were being steadily fed by new made men ; whilst
at the other end of the social ladder there was a marked decrease
in poverty and mendicancy. In fact by the middle of the
sixteenth century — the limit of this volume — Florence presented
the rare spectacle of a State whose citizens were either all
wealthy, or, at least, comfortably off. Not till then did the spirit
of leisured ease begin to enervate the mental and physical vigour
of her enterprising people.

The old Florentine proverb, which ran as follows : — " Chi vuol
che il mento balli alle mani faccia i calli " — " Who wants his mind
active must make his hands hard," had proved its truth !

Some idea must now be given of the general conditions of
Guild-membership.

Every man and boy, turned sixteen years of age, was obliged
to become a member of a Guild or Trade Corporation. Any one
who failed in this respect was dubbed " Scioperato " — " Loafer," and
had no voice in the city's affairs. He was a bye-word and a
mocking to every passer-by, and was treated to more kicks than
denari, and, not uncommonly, was taken up and lodged in a
dungeon, or his feet placed in the stocks, as being a useless in-

66 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

j cumbrance and a disgrace to the city. Moreover, his family lost
caste in whatever circle it was, and had even to pay a penalty for
possessing such a good-for-nothing fellow !

On the other hand, the strenuous life of good Florentines in
the prosecution of their many industries is very strikingly ex-
emplified in a will of the year I395.1 A certain Lapaccino del
Toso de' Lapaccini, who died during that year, left an instruction
that a penalty of one thousand gold florins should be paid by
each and all of his sons who, between the ages of sixteen and
thirty-five, should spend a whole year without working at some
trade or undertaking some commercial enterprise.

To enter a Guild five conditions had to be fulfilled : —

1. To be a native born Florentine.

2. To have two sponsors for family and personal character.

3. Never to have been before magistrates for any misdemeanour.

4. To be possessed of a property qualification — either his own
or accruing at the death of his father.

5. To pay a tax of silver to the State by way of caution-

money.

6. To pay an Entrance-fee to the particular Guild.

The silver tax varied, — it was fixed from time to time by the
Signoria, — and was looked upon as a poll-tax or capitation-fee.
The payment of this tax conferred immediate political rights upon
the payee. The Entrance-fee, — generally a fairly good round sum,
— varied according to the circumstances of the individual or his
family. Its payment entitled the payee to full membership in
his Guild.

A considerable difference was made in the amount of each of
^these payments as Members of the ^Merchant Guilds, or as
members of the Craft Guilds. The members of the former were of
two classes: — (i) Maestri — Masters or full members — and (2) Dis-
cipuli — Probationers or apprentices. In Latin manuscripts, and
early printed books of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, " dis-

1 L'Osservatore Fiorentino, Vol. iv. p. 193. D. M. Manni, Osservazione e Giunte
Istoriche sopra i, etc., Sigilli, Tom. xi. p. 106.

\

GENERAL HISTORY OF THE GUILDS 67

cipulo " is used in a general sense. The members of the latter, —

the Craft Guilds, — were of three classes: — (i) Maestri — Masters,

(2) Lavoranti — Workmen, and (3) Garzoni — Apprentices.

The Tirocinia — or Apprenticeship — was for five to seven years,

but sons of Masters were entitled to easier and shorter terms —

generally four or five years.

At the end of his time the apprentice was still bound to

work for his master for three years with a small annual recompense.

At the end of that period the workman was entitled to call himself

Capo lavoro — Master-workman. The sons of Masters were also

permitted to serve a workman's probation of two years only ; they

also paid reduced taxes and lower fees.

In his tenth year each individual paid his Master's Recognition

fee, or Buona Entrata, and became a full-blown Master of his

Craft.1

A few extracts from the records of Apprenticeships will be

interesting as showing the variety of employments and the details

of mutual arrangement between master and apprentice at certain

dates : —

1272. A father, from ^Ema, binds his boy to a Tanner for eight
years. The lad to receive " clothes and board as befits a
merchant and artisan of that trade."

1274. A man binds his son for two years as discipulo to a Retail
cloth-dealer to learn the trade — the father paying down
three lire.

1291. A man "of the parish of San Giovanni di Chuota, in the
country of Count Guido Novelli, gives his son, as discipulo
for three years, to Messere Cambizzino , a Shoemaker, of
Uberti in the parish of Santa Felicia in Piazza. The
master to give yearly a tunic, a vest, hose, and a pair
of good shoes."

1293. Another binds his nephew for one year to his master — an Inn-
keeper— the latter to give the apprentice " wine and food
and bed all of good kind and worthy of the trade."

1 Dr G. Albert!, " Le Corporanzione d'Arti e di Mestiere."

68 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

1295. A young man "from Castelnuovo is apprenticed as
discipulo to a Locksmith for one year, the master being
bound to pay him forty soldi"

1300. A man " binds his orphan brother for five and a half years
to Ricchio Bonsignori and Venturi Ammanti, Merchants —
dwelling in a house upon the new bridge of Rubaconte.
The discipulo to receive food and clothing, — good and
decent, — as well as shoes ; and to be cared for, whether well
or ill, up to anything less than a month."

1306. A certain man from San Savino in Monte Carelli engages
himself as discipulo to a Baker, of the parish of S. Pancrazio,
for seven years — to receive clothing and board and lodg-
ing," and so on.1

That women were not disqualified by their sex from enjoying
the rights of membership in the Guilds is proved by many entries
in the articles of matriculation and the records of association.
For example in 1294, in the Council of Capitudini, Donna Santa,
wife of Palmerio of the popolo of San Ambrogio, who wished to be
admitted as a worker into the "Arte e Universita Zonariorum" — " the
Company of Belt and Girdle-makers," — states that she has paid, to
the Treasurer of the Guild, three pounds, by way of Entrance-fee.
Thereupon, by the approval of the Council, she swears to observe
all the statutes and regulations of the Guild ; and Messere Lapo
Benci, the Rector, admits her to full membership. A witness's
signature is appended to the instrument of enrolment, — " Corsus
Guellilme, — Rector artis Coregiariorum" — Rector of the " Guild of
Strap-makers."

In the earliest records of the Trades we find the style of
"Consul" borne by the Heads of each Craft — the title also
accorded to the rulers of the Commune. This led to considerable
confusion, for example, in the negotiations entered into with the
people of the Commune of Pogna, in 1 1 84, for the protection of
the latter, the "Consuls of Florence" attach their signatures above
those of the " Consuls of the Trades."

1 Davidssohn, " Forschungen zur Alteren Geschichte von Florenz."

AN APPRENTICE: A TYPICAL FLORENTINE YOUTH

" DAVID," — VERROCCH1O

GENERAL HISTORY OF THE GUILDS 69

A document1 of 1193 contains an account of the Convention
between the Commune of Florence and the Lords of the Castle of
Trebbio, in which the confusion of titles is overcome by the use
of the designation " Rettore" — Rector, for the Heads of the
Trades.

Again another change was effected in the style of the " Rettore "
in 1 204, when " Priore " — Prior — was adopted ; but this was very
shortly dropped, because it also clashed with the designation of
the three Priors of the Three Great Guilds. " Consul " was
again used as the title of the Heads of the Guilds, when that
style ceased to be borne by the Head of the State.2

No citizen might serve the office of Consul unless he was in the
active exercise of his calling, and resided at his shop or place of
business. All who were elected were required to be natives of
Florence, except in the Guilds of "Judges and Notaries" and " Masters
of Stone and Wood " — both of which were open to foreigners.

Every citizen appointed to the supreme office of the Guild was
compelled to serve his term or submit to the payment of a fine of
one hundred gold florins.3

Divided counsels, as might have been expected, constantly
broke the unanimity of the Council of Consuls of all the Guilds.
Something of the sort occurred with respect to the peace negotia-
tions instituted, in 1280, by the Cardinal Latino dei Frangipani
acting as Papal Legate.4

These were attempts at a reconciliation of the adherents of the
two great parties in the State, — the Guelphs and the Ghibellines,
—for the repatriation of the latter. Among the commissioners
were Lapo del Prato, Orlando Baldovini, and Cervo del Foro, re-
presenting respectively the Intermediate Guilds of Butchers, Black-
smiths, and Shoemakers. They, along with the Consuls of the
Judges and Notaries, the Silk Merchants, and the Doctors and

1 Archivio delle Riformagione, Bk. xxvi.

2 L. Cantini, " Legislazione," vol. i.

3 Statuta Populi et Communis Florentiae, collected 1415. Friburg, 1782, vol. ii. p.
159. Rub. i., ii., iii., iv.

4 Marchionne di Coppo Stefani, " Delizie degli Eruditi Toscani," vol. ix. 96.

70 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

Apothecaries, promised, in the names of their Guilds, to do all in
their power to carry out the conditions proposed, and vigorously
to oppose all attempts to set the peace settlement at nought.

The names of the Consuls of Calimala, Wool Merchants,
Bankers and Money-changers, Skinners and Furriers, and Retail
Cloth Dealers were not appended to the document. Hence we
may conclude that they were not favourable to the Cardinal's
terms. Anyhow the Settlement came to nothing, and the Parte
Guelfa waxed still stronger.

The constant and erratic changes which took place in the
standing and powers of the Guilds and of their Consuls, are
nowhere better set forth than in a Codex of the thirteenth century.1
In the list of Consuls from October 1295 to May 1296 two were
appointed to sit in the General Council of the Guilds by each of
the Twelve Greater Guilds, except that of the "Judges and Notaries/'
whose representatives had the prescriptive right of presiding at the
meetings without special election.

The same Codex goes on to state that the number of Consuls
elected for the above, and other purposes, was variable and
disproportionate, for example : " Calimala " had only three ;
" Bankers " — four to six ; " Wool " and " Shoemakers " — five to six ;
" Silk," " Doctors," and " Butchers "—four ; " Smiths "—three to
five; "Retail-dealers" — two to seven, "Furriers" — one to six
and "Masters of Stone and Wood" — three. Doubtless these
variations were caused by the nature of the business which
engaged the attention of the General Council, or by special trade
circumstances.

From time to time disputes and jealousies arose about the
election of Consuls of the various Guilds, and caused heart-burnings
and even feuds among the members of the several Corporations.
Many efforts were made by the Priors to put an end to these
quarrels. In 1329 they summoned a general representative
Council to consult as to the best measures to adopt in face of the
universal dissatisfaction with the current state of affairs.

1 Archivio delle Tratti Fiorentini, Codex LIX.

GENERAL HISTORY OF THE GUILDS 71

From each duly-constituted Guild they chose two members
with the Gonfaloniere of each. The result of their deliberations
was that no man should be elected to the office of Consul, in any
Guild, who failed to receive at least fifty votes of fully qualified
members. The candidates elected were authorised to hold office
for four months.

The voters' list for each Guild in the election of Consuls was
enclosed in a small box, the keys of which were held by the
Consuls for the time being. All these boxes were packed into
a large chest of which only the Captain of the People, the Priors
of the Guilds, and the Standard-bearer of Justice had keys. Such
precautions were numerous, and were necessary to preserve in-
tact the good faith and just practice of the members, and the
Constitution of each Guild.

Disputes between the Guilds, — whether in their corporate
capacity or in relation to individual members, — which could not be
arranged in the courts of the Consuls, nor terminated by the
Consuls of all the Guilds in united session, were referred, first
of all to the * Tribunal of the Mercanzia/ and finally laid before
the Podesta, the Captain of the People, and the Defender of the
Guilds, as a Supreme Court of Appeal. The ruling of these
three dignitaries was accepted as decisive.

Once every year, in January, each of the Guilds appointed a
Syndic to assist the Consuls in carrying out their injunctions.
They were required to swear before the Captain of the People, in
the presence of the two Councils and the Heads of the Greater
Guilds, to render true and laudable service to the State, and to
cause the members of their Craft to observe just obedience to
Magistrates. They were required to examine the credentials of
all companies, leagues, conventions, undertakings, obligations, and
contracts, which they found existing among the people. All such
as were contrary to, or deviated from, the strict letter of their
Constitutions were annulled and forbidden.

They were also required to enter, in the Registries of their
Crafts and Districts, the names and dates of baptism of all men

72 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

from eighteen to seventy years of age, with their trades or occupa-
tions, and habitations ; and to add notes as to health, character,
ability and diligence.

The Companies of families, or traders, numbered usually
many persons ; for example, in the State Archives, there is
a notice dated October 28, 1304, of a declaration of bank-
ruptcy, before the Court of the Podesta, of the Ranieri Ardinghelli
Society, or Company, with eighteen partners, — fourteen of the
latter family and five of the former, — merchants of the " Calimala"
The total liabilities were one hundred and twenty-three thousand
lire!

The emigration of skilled artisans and artificers was strictly
forbidden by several Provvisioni issued at various times. The
classes of workmen mostly indicated were of the " Calimala " Guild,
— finishers of foreign cloth, of the " Wool Guild," — dyers and
fullers, of the " Silk Guild," — weavers of gold and silver cloth.
With intense earnestness and constant watchfulness the merchants
and manufacturers strove to retain to Florence the production of
all merchandise, in the manipulation of which the Florentine workers
excelled other workpeople. In nothing was the keen spirit of
monopoly more conspicuously exhibited.2

Offences of every sort and kind, whether against the Guild
Statutes, or against individual Guilds, were heavily punished, as
were those committed against persons not members of the Guild
in question. In the " Council of the Hundred" a petition was pre-
sented in 1 292, by the Priors of the " Calimala" Merchants praying
that felonies, or other misdemeanours, committed by members of
Guilds, should be punishable only through the Courts of the
Consuls of each Guild. The petitioners undertook: — (i) to be
answerable for such persons on pain of fine for breach of promise
and (2), to subject delinquents to expulsion from their Guilds, and
to prohibition from engaging in the several industries connected
therewith.

1 Archivio del Stato di Firenze, 65 f., 146.

2 L. Cantini, "Legislazione," viii. p. 225.

GENERAL HISTORY OF THE GUILDS 73

Among a number of prohibitions set forth by the Signoria and
put in operation by the Consuls of the Guilds were the following : —

1. No animal suffering from disease shall be allowed to drink
at the public fountains.

2. Swallows shall not be interfered with, and frogs shall not
be carried through the city.

3. No one shall be allowed to spin tops in the streets, and
boys shall be whipped for throwing stones at fish in the river.

The hours of work of course varied from time to time, and
were different in the several industries. From dawn to dusk was,
as elsewhere, the rule, with breaks for food and rest. There were
not more than two hundred and seventy-five working days in the
year, for Church Festivals and other holidays consumed the remainder.

Clocks were not common in old Florence and only well-to-do
people carried watches, consequently the time of day was regulated
by the striking of bells. Perhaps the earliest record of a public
clock is dated March 15, 1352, on which day the big clock of
the Palazzo Vecchio struck the hours for the first time.

The first bell used to mark the flight of the busy hours was
that hung up in the Campanile of the ancient Church of Santa
Maria Ughi, which was situated in the Piazza delle Cipolli, just
behind the Palazzo Strozzi. Every afternoon at three o'clock
sundry strokes told workmen to cease from their toil. This early
hour was due to the fact that in winter at dusk, the city gates were
closed alike to egress as to entry, for many labourers lived in the
Contado outside the city walls.

There is a legend of an attractive flower and herb-seller called
Berta, who left a sum of money to the Church of Santa Maria
Maggiore, that at four o'clock a supplemental bell should be rung,
winter and summer, to indicate the completion of the day's paid
labour. This bell was called "La Trecca"—"the Fruiterer's bell,"
and, from its shape, " La Cavolaia" the " gentle cabbage ! " The
first Grand Duke, Cosimo I., transferred the functions of the
workmen's bell to the big bell of the Duomo, and directed it to
be rung at half-past three daily the year round.

74 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

The bell of the Bargello went by the name of " La Montanara"
from the name of the town whence it was taken by the Florentines
in 1302. This bell tolled every evening to warn loyal citizens to
lay aside their arms and withdraw themselves indoors. To this
custom was due another name, "La Campana delle Armi"
Cosimo I. ordered that any servant found idling in the streets,
or hanging about for want of work, at the evening tolling of this
bell, should have his right hand amputated ! At all public execu-
tions " La Montanara" tolled during the progress of the condemned
to the gallows.

On the succession of Alessandro de' Medici to the place of his
fathers, on May I, 1532, Florence became the capital of a Duchy.
By his order " La Campana " was taken down and broken in pieces,
" lest its sound should awaken echoes of lost freedom ! " The
last knell tolled on October 1st, 1532, and it marked the close of
an eventful strenuous life. The liberties of a free people, and of
a free parliament were buried in the grave of the Republic of
Florence !

Stemma de' ''Priori de' Liberia," 1434.
(Red " Liberia " on a white field.)

THE BARGELLO (PALACE OF THE PODESTA)- STAIRS OF HOXOl/R

CHAPTER III
THE GUILD OF JUDGES AND NOTARIES

V ARTE DE' GIUDICI E NOT A I

I. ORIGIN. — Judicial system built up upon the requirements of Trade.
Florentine love of Equity. Bologna in 1262. College of Judges. Early
mention of Consuls of the Guild.

II. CONSTITUTION. — Proconsul and his Court. Matriculation obligatory
for a legal career. The two sections of the Guild and their precedence. Guild
jealousies. Rules of membership and examinations.

III. TRIBUNALS.— The Podesta and the Capitano del Popolo. Their Courts.
Courts of the six Sestieri. Or San Michele. The Contado. Giudici alia Rota.
The Mercanzia. Court of Appeals. "// Statuto di '96." Sessions of Courts.
Sentences. Debtors. Capital Offences. Trivial Suits. Stinche. Sumptuary
matters. Women litigants. Amusing cases. The "Stick"! Gambling.

IV. JUDGES.— High esteem. Messeri. Dress. Salaries. Sportelli. Veniality
Sacchetti's skit. Boccaccio's strictures. Knighthood. The Ringhiera.

V. NOTARIES. — Special training. Each his own manual sign. Guarantees
required. The Notaio della Riformagione. Chancellors of the State. Lucra-
tive fees. Each Department of State, Guild, Business-house, etc., their own
special Notary. Advisers and pleaders. Special commissions. Everybody
happy to go to law with his neighbour I Disqualifications and tricks. Dress.
Statistics of Legal Profession. Ser Lapo Mazzei. Demeanour of legal
functionaries. College of Judges and Notaries, 1597.

IT seems, at first sight, to be somewhat of an anachronism to
include a Guild of legal and professional persons among the
Trade Corporations of the Republic of Florence.

Although the members of the Guild of Judges and Notaries
were in no sense men of business, strictly so called, their functions
were absolutely necessary to the prosecution of the industries and
the commerce of the artisans and merchants around them. On
the other hand, the judicial system of Florence was built up
mainly upon the requirements of trade, the interests of which

75

76 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

were paramount in the political constitutions of the city and its
territory.

Extraordinary characteristics of the Florentines of the Middle
Ages were their love of equity and reverence for justice, and their
administration by persons and councils without bias or partiality.
Throughout the whole history of Florence nothing is more
remarkable than the frequency and regularity with which the aid
of individuals and powers wholly external to the purposes in view
was evoked. The most notable example of this is offered in the
selection of foreigners to fill the highest office in the State — that
of Podesta. It was considered, — quite rightly, — that a stranger
would be likely to bring to bear upon all questions submitted to
his judgment a mind absolutely free from all leanings to one side
or the other.

The application of this principle was looked for by the
pioneers of the industrial and commercial activities of Florence,
in the settlement of all matters relating to trade and traders.
Whilst family ties and class distinctions were exacting and pro-
hibitive in the allocation of judicial functions to men brought
up and educated within the bounds of the Commune, no such
limitations existed with respect to men trained in other centres
of learning.

Bologna, the mother of universities, was at an early date
the source to which the men of Florence looked for their legal
advisers. Her fame as the teacher of jurisprudence was un-
rivalled, and her faculty of law attracted students from every
city and country in Europe. In 1262 there were upwards of
twenty thousand men engaged in the study of canon and civil
law within her confines. Many a clever young Florentine found
his way thither, and having made his name as a legal expert, he
was welcomed home again as a valuable assistant to his father or
his father's partners in business.

The prosperity of the city, and the prospect of honour and
emolument at the hand of the rich citizens, also attracted men
of other States, who had qualified in law. Upon all such

AN AUDIENCE WITH THE PODESTA

FIFTEENTH CENTURY

\_Sef page 32}

DOCTORS OF LAW IX CONSULTATION

FIFTEENTH CENTURY

THE GUILD OF JUDGES AND NOTARIES 77

graduates of the University the degree of " Doctor-juris " was
conferred.

The constant and increasingly numerous questions, disputes,
and settlements, inseparable from all intercourse between man
and man, trade and trade, created the necessity of a publicly
recognised body of men learned in law and equity.

A College of Judges existed in Florence during the twelfth
century, but the actual date of its establishment is conjectural.
Anyhow rolls of membership and records of acts are extant of
the year 1 187.

The first mention of a Tribunal of Judges is in a document
of the year 1 197. This probably led to the formal incorporation
of a Guild of Judges, at the same period that the early Compagnie,
or Companies of the merchants and artisans, were developed into
the more ambitious Arti or Guilds.1

A document2 of the year 1 193, preserved in the Archives of
Florence, contains an account of a convention made between the
Commune of Florence and the Lords of the Castle of Trebbio, in
which are named the Seven Rettori — Rectors of the Guilds. This
is especially interesting as the instrument in question was drawn
up for signature by certain Judges and Notaries of the city.

In the Treaty of 1204 between Florence and Siena, the
signatures of the Consuls of five Guilds are appended, namely :
— Judges and Notaries, Call mala, Wool-merchants, Bankers and
money-changers5 and Silk-merchants. Again in 1229 the Treaty
with Orvieto is similarly signed, and it is noteworthy that the
Consuls of the " Guild of Judges and Notaries " come first in each
case. Such records prove that the Guild had been in active and
honourable existence for many years.

At a State Council, held on April I5th, 1279, summoned to
discuss matters relating to the Court of Rome, — whereat all the
Guilds were represented by their Consuls, — the signatures of
Dominus Ugo Altoviti, Dominus Jacobus Gerardi, Dominus Alberti

1 L. Cantini, " Legislazione," i. 105-107 and iii. 62.

2 Archivio della Riformagione, Bk. xxvi.

78 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

Ristori, Ser Benzi Dandi : Notarius, Dominus Gerardus Maneti :
Notarius, Ser Cioe fil. Jacobi Buere— " Consules Judicum et
Notariorum" are appended first.

The precise meaning of the title " Consul " is clearly set forth
in distinction to that of "Judge." The former's office was "pro
manutendum Justitice" — for the maintenance of Justice, — the
latter's was " ad causas cognoscendum et termination" — for the
searching and determining of causes. This distinction is
strikingly brought out in the use of the two terms in documents
of i 197, 1225, 1227 and 1235.

These documents, and the Statutes of the Guild, were always
written in Latin, and never exhibited in the vernacular. All such
authorities and enactments, however, were required to be copied
out in the ordinary language of the time : the erudition of the
notaries employed being evidenced by the use, more or less, of
the " della Crusca " or polished manner. The exemption of the
" Guild of Judges and Notaries " from this custom was a mark of
the superior learning of the members, who were habituated to the
study and use of the classic tongue.

In the Archives, and other authorities, the infrequency of
reference to the "Guild of Judges and Notaries" is quite remarkable.
Whilst the different industries were being gradually formed into
Corporations the legal faculty appeared to have no cohesive exist-
ence. This may have been due to the fact that judicial and notarial
functions were originally called into play as complementary and
subservient to the interests of the various commercial operations.
Goro Dati, however, in speaking of the Guild, says : — " It has a
Proconsul at the head of its Consuls ; it wields great authority,
and may be considered the parent stem of the whole Notarial
profession throughout Christendom, inasmuch as the great masters
of that profession have been leaders and members of this Guild.
Bologna is the fountain of doctors of the Law, — Florence, of
doctors of the Notariate." *

1 " Storia di Firenze," ed. 1775, p. 133.

THE GUILD OF JUDGES AND NOTARIES 79

The magistracy of the Guild was composed of the Pro-
consul and eight Judges, who were styled Consuls as in the
Merchant Guilds. The Proconsul was the co-opted head of the
Consuls, and it was requisite that he should have exercised the
legal profession, for at least twenty years, and that without
reproach of any kind. This highly placed dignitary, at all
public functions took precedence immediately after the Podesta
and the Captain of the People. He was the first of all the
Consuls of all the Guilds, and to him was accorded a supremacy
in their jurisdiction. He was accorded a Palace for his residence,
in the street, later on, called Via del Proconsolo.1

The Proconsul and Consuls could at any time summon a
meeting of the whole of the members, both judicial and notarial.
They could also associate with themselves, as assessors, any
number of judges when occasion demanded. They sat in all
civil and criminal causes affecting members of the Guild. Their
advice was sought whenever new laws were proposed to the State
by any section of the inhabitants.

With respect to the Guild itself, the Proconsul and Consuls
presided at the matriculation and enrolment of new members.
The examination incumbent upon candidates was conducted by
the same high officials.

Membership in the Guild was sought by the sons of noble
families and of the influential merchant citizens, quite as much on
account of the social position it bestowed, as for its professional
endowments.

Matriculation was obligatory upon all who sought legal
appointments. No person however was eligible for matriculation
who had resided ten or more years away from Florence ; or whose
father, brothers, or uncles had failed to pay in full all dues required
by the State. Capacity for legal functions, and ability in notarial
exercises, were incumbent upon all candidates, who were subject
to a rigorous public examination by the Consuls.

The association of the Judges and the Notaries in one Society

1 Cantini, iii. 169.

80 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

was an early necessity of commercial convenience and legal juris-
prudence. The delivery of judgments, and their registration,
involved two distinct but inseparable functions.

Whilst in the internal economy of the Guild all members were
equal in brotherhood, in all public business priority of position
was accorded to the Judges. There was, at all times, no little
jealousy on the part of the Notaries at their apparent inferiority
of station. Sometimes the rivalry became serious, and in 1287
it led to a partial separation of the two branches of the
Guild.

Each division, in that year, elected separate Consuls to
manage its affairs apart. All Guild business which required the
consent, or dissent, of both divisions, — Judges and Notaries, — had
to be voted upon, first in separate Session ; and then, an adjourn-
ment was made to the Church of San Piero Scheraggio, where a
final decision was arrived at by a union of votes.

By the end of the century the disagreement was suppressed,
and the labours and honours of the Guild were loyally borne by
both sections together. Henceforth the high tone which charac-
terised the bearing of Judges and Notaries raised the Guild in
honour and reputation to the highest place in the hierarchy of
Corporate Life.

The Residence of the Consuls of the " Guild of Judges and
Notaries " was at the corner of the Via de' Pandolfini, a modest
building which offered little rivalry with the fine palaces of the
Consuls of the Merchant Guilds. Over its principal entrance was
put up the Stemma or escutcheon of the Guild — a gold star in a
blue field. These armorial bearings were varied in later times
and four blue stars in a golden field were substituted.

The Podesta was the Supreme Judge in all criminal causes,
but he delegated his authority to the three Senior Judges of the
Guild — not being Consuls ; and rarely, if ever, sat in Court,
except in special cases, which involved the honour of the State.
The first Podesta, — appointed in 1207, — was Gualfredotto

THE GUILD OF JUDGES AND NOTARIES 81

Grasselli, of Milan. He had for his Council four Judges and
fourteen Notaries. The "faimliga" — household, — of the Podesta
usually consisted of seven Judges — called " Collaterali" three

LOGGIA OF THE BARGELLO — PALACE OF THE PODESTA

Knights, eight Esquires, eighteen Notaries, ten Horsemen, two
Trumpeters, twenty Javelin-men, and one page.

The Capitano del Popolo had three Judges, two Knights, four
Notaries, eight Horsemen, and nine Javelin-men attached to his
person. He took cognisance of civil causes — such as trade
disputes, commercial frauds, and industrial questions generally.

82 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

His functions were commonly discharged by a Court of three
Senior Judges. Uberto da Lucca was appointed first Captain of
the People in 1251.

These two Chief Magistrates always subscribed the oath of
allegiance to the Commune before the Proconsul and the Consuls
of the " Guild of Judges and Notaries." The former was bound
over to defend the Republic, and to lead her forces in time of war ;
whilst the latter was charged with the protection of the Guilds,
and of the peace of the city.

In each sestiere of the city as originally divided under the
rule of the good Countess Matilda, was a Tribunal presided over
by the Buonouomo, whose title was early recognised as Consul.
From the year 1242 he was assisted in the discharge of his duties
by two Judges, two Notaries and two Provveditori^ or Superin-
tendents of the Court.

The two Judges took cognisance respectively of civil and
criminal causes, under the styles of u Giudice Civile dei Quatieri "
Civil Judge of the Quarter — and "Giudice dei Malafizi"- —Judge of
Misdemeanants. Each Tribunal displayed a sign or banner with
armorial bearings, which were also worn by the officials attached
to each court in addition to the escutcheon of the Guild.

By the middle of the thirteenth century, however, all causes
and trials were removed to the Central Tribunal established at
Or San Michele. This was first held in the church or oratory,
and then in the granary, but the inconvenience of crowding
became so great, that buildings were erected in the Orto or garden
attached to the Sanctuary. Over the entrance were put up the
escutcheons of the Guild, — a great golden star upon a light blue
field.

To the Judges, — who presided here in rota, — were assigned
the investigation of claims and dues, the interpretations of rules
of precedent and procedure, the meanings of enactments, and the
determination of all matters affecting custom and antiquity which
arose in any and all of the Guilds. Criminal suits also were heard
in this Central Court of Justice and determined.

THE GUILD OF JUDGES AND NOTARIES 83

In the fourteenth century a return was made to the earlier
system of Courts of the Sestieri, — a step made imperative by the
increase of the population, and the inability of the Central
Tribunal at Or San Michele to deal with the business which
came before it.

Tribunals were established at Santa Maria Novella — for the
Sestiere of San Pancrazio and Borgo SS. Apostoli ; at Santa
Croce — for the Sestiere of San Piero Maggiore, or Porta San
Piero, and San Piero Scheraggio ; at San Giovanni — for the
Sestiere of Santa Maria Maggiore and Porta del Duomo ; and at
San Spirito — for the Sestieri in Oltrarno.

To these four Courts were assigned, in 1343, equal portions
of the Contado, where population and building had increased in a
wonderful manner. The old Central Tribunal was retained for
special causes, and consequently the duties of Judges and Notaries
were largely augmented.

Another addition to the facilities of suitors was made in
connection with the extension of the municipal jurisdiction to the
Contado in the creation of a movable Court of " Doctores et
Sapientes Juris" or men skilled in legal technicalities — under the
presidency of the Priors of the Greater Guilds, who attended by
rota and attached their names to the decisions of the Court. This
council of experts, — practically a Court of Assize, as we understand
the term, — was served by six Judges appointed by the Proconsul
and Consuls of the Guild. They were well paid, in considera-
tion of the inconveniences and difficulties attending the
exercise of their authority ; but they were required to deposit
caution money to the amount of two hundred lire each, as a
guarantee of just and equitable conduct when beyond the city
boundaries, and so, in a way, were a law unto themselves.

The "Consiglio di Giustizia" or "Giudici alia Rota? — Council of
Justice — was appointed in 1502. Five Judges — Doctors of Law
— were elected for a term of three years. They sat twice a week
in the lower and inner chamber of the Palace of the Podesta.
This hall had a pavement of circular blocks of red and green

84 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

marble like a wheel — hence the alternative title of the Court,
" Judges of the Wheel." Their decisions were laid before the
Proconsul, to whom the delivery of sentence was assigned.

This arrangement, which was maintained until the end of the
century, was very excellent and far more conducive to the
despatch of legal business than the former haphazard systems.
At the same time ecclesiastical suits were wholly removed from
the purview of the Court, and ecclesiastical personages were no
longer appointed assessors, as had been the custom.

The " Giudici alia Rota " was removed in the sixteenth century
to the Piazza dei Castellani — renamed Piazza de' Giudici,
and now the quarters of the National Library.

The most important legal Tribunal in Florence was "La Corte
delta Mercanzia? Founded somewhere about the year 1296 it
embraced the attributes of a Court of Justice and the functions of
a Chamber of Commerce. It was composed of six Senior Judges,
— members of the " Guild of Judges and Notaries," — under the
presidency of a foreign juris consult or doctor of laws, — generally
a graduate of the University of Bologna. This President bore
the style of Ufficiale Forestiere^ a title which reveals, quite char-
acteristically, the innate desire of the Florentines of old for the
absolutely free expression of an unbiassed and impartial
judgment in matters concerning the general well-being of the
Commonwealth.

The President of the Court, by the way, as a matter of form,
was required to be enrolled a member of the " Guild of Judges
and Notaries." He had the power to summon before him all
citizens who, by themselves, or by their partners, incurred
liabilities abroad ; and also all persons who were supposed to be
in possession of information or evidence relative to any suit. In
agreement with the six Judges he could requisition all merchants'
and tradesmen's books, and could compel defaulters to make such
restitution as the Court directed, at the demand of any foreign
suitor.

The Code which this bench of judicial dignitaries were called

•f. -±

- -

~ ;

—

" :

w i.

.L -

THE GUILD OF JUDGES AND NOTARIES 85

upon to administer went by the name of " // Statute di 'p6." Its
objects, which were threefold, were : —

1. To insure that Florentine merchants, and their merchandise,

should go with all possible security and freedom
throughout the whole world.

2. To secure that the credit of the State should be maintained

under all circumstances and at all hazards.

3. To provide that foreigners should have no just cause of

quarrel.

The jurisdiction of the Court was, at first, confined to the
interests of the six Greater Guilds ; but, as the inferior crafts
grew in influence, it was extended over the members of the
fourteen Lesser Guilds, and later on, over all sorts and conditions
of men.

The greatest difficulties with which the Mercanzia had to con-
tend were in connection with international questions. These arose
from the fact that every Florentine trader in a foreign land was
regarded as a surety for his fellow-citizen at home. It was to
this Tribunal that all questions affecting the interests of Florentine
commerce beyond Tuscany were submitted for adjudication.1

It is interesting to note, in the records of Florentine history,
how strikingly the highmindedness and judicial probity of her
merchants and craftsmen were exhibited in the favourable view
taken by the Mercanzia of appeals addressed to it by foreigners.
The most elaborate precautions were taken that the subjects of
other States should have no excuse for complaining of partial or
unfair treatment.

The Mercanzia was also the final Court of Appeal in cross
suits between members of the various Guilds.2 One of the many
and customary disputes which arose daily between traders in the
Market and their customers came before the Tribunal of the
Mercanzia on March 31, 1315. Two innkeepers sought to

1 Giudo Benoli, " La Giurisdizione della Mercanzia di Firenze nel Secolo, xiv.
Saggio Storico Giuridiceo,*' Firenze, 1901.

2 Archivio del Stato di Firenze, "Mercanzia" 1030, f. 13.

86 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

restrain two fishmongers from selling eels, salted and fresh. The
fish in question had come from Padua, and was offered for sale
in the Mercato Nuovo, and the innkeepers declared it unfit for
use although they had purchased it, and now they declined to pay
for it.

Among other functions, almost too numerous to mention, the
Court took charge of the goods and effects of deceased members
of the Guilds, and appointed trustees to manage such estates for
the benefit of the lawful heirs.1

In 1327 the seven Magistrates of the Mercanzia had been
appointed collectors of the Assay, or Masters of the Mint, for the
" preservation of the good fame of the city, which is spread
abroad through the whole world, for the lawfulness and value of
the good coin and the golden florins made therein." A later
decree in 1394 gave the Mercanzia the right to proceed against
forgers and depreciators of the coinage, as well as against makers
of " corners " for the hardening of the money-market.

Powers were also exercised by the seven magistrates to re-
open closed accounts, to inquire into misapplication of monies, to
tax debtors' statements, and to sit as a Court of Bankruptcy. In
the latter behalf the Mercanzia acted during the severe banking
disasters which followed the course of the war between England
and France in 1340.

In 1347, by a further extension of its powers, it embraced in
its jurisdiction questions and offences touching maritime affairs.

Indeed, the " University of the Mercanzia," as it was fully
styled, was to all intents and purposes the prototype of our
modern Courts of Arbitration.

The Tribunal of the Mercanzia was held at the residence of
the Vfficiale Forestieri, a massive edifice in the Piazza della
Signoria between the Palazzo Vecchio and the Palazzo Uguccione.
There also resided, during their tenure of office, the six assistant
Judges. Within the Hall of Audience, immediately over the seats

1 Lapo Mazzei, " Lettere di uno Notario a uno Mercante del Secolo, xiv.," vol. ii.
42, note 2.

THE GUILD OF JUDGES AND NOTARIES 87

of the Judges, were frescoes of the Seven Virtues, designed by
Antonio Pollaiuolo. On the facade Taddeo Gaddi painted his
celebrated fresco — " The Six Virtues and the Six Judges."
Although this, alas, has long ago disappeared, the shields bearing
the coats-of-arms of the Greater Guilds, cut in stone, still remain
over the principal entrance. Above all runs the legend : "Omnis
sapientia a Domino Deo est."

The greatest period of the Mercanzia was from 1391 to 1470.
In the latter year Lorenzo il Magnifico arrogated to himself much,
if not all the functions of the Ufficiale Forestiere, and greatly
reduced the authority of the Tribunal.

Lorenzo's successors, as Rulers of Florence, were, many of
them, not too scrupulous in their administration of public affairs :
law and order frequently yielded to circumstances and expedi-
ency. In 1532 the Signoria was abolished and Alessandro de*
Medici proclaimed Gonfaloniere di Gzustisia for life. Hence-
forward Florence became the victim of what she had striven for
centuries to avoid — il governo (Tun solo.

Certainly, at times, glimpses of freedom and good government
are seen as the years roll on. For example, in 1568, Cosimo I.,
first Grand Duke of Tuscany, gave a new constitution to, and
bestowed many privileges upon, the Tribunal of the Mercanzia.

With respect to the Sessions of the various Courts in old
Florence little is known of the hours or the procedure. Business
was, however, greatly interrupted by the frequency of public
holidays and ecclesiastical festivals. No Judges sat on Sundays,
and on Saints' Days, of which there were upwards of thirty in
the year. At Christmas, Epiphany, Easter, Pentecost, Corpus
Christi, feasts of Saint Mary, and of Saint John the Baptist,
many days of vacation were observed.

In addition to the public courts the Councils of the various
Guilds in council required the assistance of Judges, who not only
acted as assessors, but were the actual proclaimers of the decisions
arrived at.

The laws against debtors were very severe. Not only was it

88 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

permissible for creditors to subject unfortunate debtors to personal
ill-treatment, but they were liable to imprisonment at the instance
of the Magistracy, " with scant provision, crowded and packed
together in a filthy place."

At a council of the Twelve Greater Guilds held December 7,
i 304, Guilio, Vanno, and Chelo, silk-manufacturers, merchants of
the "For Santa Maria" were declared defaulters, and the Syndics
were instructed to sell their goods. The same course was followed,
in February 1305, when the Society or Company of Lamberteschi
Lamberti, failed.1

A law of I3982 compelled debtors to act as executioners.
On the other hand it was provided that whenever the great Bell
sounded, summoning the citizens to general meeting, no one
should be liable to arrest for debt.

Judicial sentences erred often enough on the side of severity.
It was consequently a common practice for appeals to be
addressed to higher courts for a redress of penalties. The re-
duction of a sentence in no way lowered the position or prestige
of a Judge. If they were accounted rigorous they were always
in accord with the directions of the Statutes, and with the
Code of morals of the time. License was ever associated with
harshness.

As indicative of the methods pursued against the perpetrator
of a capital crime there is an interesting record 3 of the case of
a man named " Lorenzo Fieri Chorus, of the Popoli of Santa
Felicita, who, on February 1 8, 1318, was adjudged, by the Council
of One Hundred, to pay three thousand lire for wounding to the
death a certain person unnamed of the Popoli of SS. Apostoli,
with whom he was at peace. The father of the criminal having
paid fifty lire, according to the decision of the same Council in
the November following, — and the said Lorenzo, who is now

1 Archivio del Stato cli Firenze, Provvisioni xii. f. 100, and f. 104.

2 Ademollo, Lib. ii. 425.

3 Archivio del Stato di Firenze, under date December 30, 1318, noted by Davidssohn,
" Geschichte von Florenz," vol. ii.

THE GUILD OF JUDGES AND NOTARIES 89

banished and an outlaw, having concluded friendship and
marriage with the family of the deceased, his petition for resti-
tution of civic rights is granted, and he is directed to be brought
into the city, and conducted to San Giovanni without having to
submit to the ignominy of wearing a fool's cap or mock-mitre."

44 In Florence," to quote the words of Francesco Guicciardini,
the famous historian (1483-1540), it commonly happens that
when a man has committed some violent offence no attempt is
made to punish him with severity, but efforts are made to assist
his escape on his engaging to disarm and not to renew his evil
conduct." 1

Capital punishment and physical torture were resorted to
only in extreme cases, or in times of popular tumult. Fines and
imprisonment were the punitive measures meted out by the
Judges to delinquents. Suspension, too, from the prosecution of
his craft was the ordinary punishment of an artizan found guilty
of misdemeanour.

The Archives are full of references, of course, to the rulings
of all the Courts. Generally the suits were of a trivial character ;
but, in those days, as now, when a man was determined not to be
mulcted in costs, he did not hesitate to carry his case to the Court
of Appeal. For an instance of this, a tavernaio, — a small tavern-
keeper, — in 1279, appealed to the Superior Court against the
sentence of twenty soldi imposed by the four Consuls of the
" Guild of Butchers." The man appears to have lost his appeal
because he had, upon the evidence of one of the Consuls, sold
drink in contravention of the regulations of the trade.

The State Prison, called Stinche, was erected in 1307. The
name was derived from the Castello di Stinche in the Val di
Geve, which belonged to the Cavalcanti. A popular movement
against the growing power of this ancient family led to the
capture of the castle. Its garrison were made prisoners and con-
signed to the dungeons under the prison, which thus gained its
appellation.

1 F. Guicciardini, "Opere Inedite," vol. iii. § 177 (Counsels of Perfection).

90 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

It not unfrequently happened that prisoners were left to die
miserably and alone in the Stinche and the other prisons of
Florence. Condemned criminals were imprisoned, if sentenced
for a life incarceration, or for a respite before execution, in the
dungeons of the Bargello, where also was an oubliette. Human
skulls and bones have frequently been discovered under this
building.

The release of a prisoner was a somewhat rare occurrence ;
it was usually effected on a Sunday or Saint's-day, when, by a
touching religious ceremony, the prisoner was conducted to the
Church of San Giovanni, and offered at the altar, which he
quitted a free man.

Women, — to judge by a great number of legal enactments,
— gave the authorities much trouble. They were absolutely for-
bidden to enter a Court of Justice, and Judges were warned not to
give ear to their complaints. A Statute of 1294 gives this
quaintly ambiguous caution : — " Women are a sex to be looked
upon as most dangerous in disturbing the course of justice ! "

Many sumptuary laws were, during the fourteenth century,
directed against the excess of feminine adornment, and these
Judges were called upon to administer strictly. Many they very
cunningly evaded by invoking the aid of Notaries, upon whom
reposed the worry of investigation and the odium of correction.

A tale is told by Sacchetti x of Messere Amerigo Amerighi
of Pesaro, — a Judge, during Sacchetti's priorate, — who was directed
to execute certain orders for the regulation of the fashions of the
time. He instructs a Notary well versed in such matters to
prepare a statement. The Notary reported that one woman,
whose headdress was too high, refused to lower it, saying, " Why,
no, don't you see it is a wreath." Another, wearing many buttons
on her dress, defended herself with the remark, " Yes, I can wear
these, they are not buttons, you see they have no hanks." A
third, accused of wearing ermine, replied, " This is not ermine,
it is the fur of a suckling." When the unhappy Notary asked :

1 F. Sacchetti, "Novelle," cxxxvii. vol. i. p. 327.

WOMEN LITIGANTS BEFORE THE PODESTA

I.ATE FOURTEENTH CENTURY

THE GUILD OF JUDGES AND NOTARIES 91

" What is this suckling ? " she replied : " Oh, it is only an
animal ! "

A good woman and a bad one equally require the stick!"
was an old and familiar saying of the Florentines : somewhat
harsh and ungallant perchance, but never more applicable than to
would-be female litigants !

The Statutes with respect to gambling, card playing, etc., are
frequent and minatory, and their application gave the Judges
endless trouble and presented many inconsistencies. The " Archi-
vio delta Grascza" preserve many such acts, and also show how
greatly worried judicial dignitaries were in Florence in the
enforcement of such decrees. A friend of Messere Amerighi
indeed scribbled upon the margin of one of the excellent Judge's
sumptuary Summings-up : —

" If there is a person you do hate.
Send him to Florence as a magistrate ! Wl

The ability, integrity, and urbanity of the Florentine Judges
soon gained approval all over Europe. This recognition had a
reflex influence upon the individuals, and encouraged them to
live up to their high reputation. The esteem in which the office
of Judge was held in Florence is evidenced by the honourable
title of "Messere" which was generally accorded to the judicial
members of the Guild.

Judges were accorded equal precedence with Knights and
Doctors of Medicine in all ceremonies, whether public or private.
They were always invited to marriage feasts as guests of the
highest distinction. In common with their equals, Judges wore
long red cloaks, lined with miniver, and an inner and tighter
fitting garment of the same colour. Degrees in official rank
were exhibited by variations in the length and fulness of their
robes, and in the quality and quantity of fur adornments. The
head covering, — a close fitting cap, with a falling curtain or
sash, — was also red.

1 See Guido Biagi, "The Private Life of the Renaissance Florentine," p. 46.

92 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

Some counsels of perfection, almost whimsically written, are
found by any who have time to search the Archives of Florence
for matters relating to the " Guild of Judges and Notaries " and
its individual members.

One learned and sententious scribe says : — " Bear well in
mind that when you pronounce a sentence you go on straight-
forwardly, loyally, and justly ; and do not let yourself be swayed
aside from this, either by bribes, love or fear, by relationship or
friendship, or for the sake of a companion. For the person
against whom you give your sentence will be your enemy, and
he whom you would serve will hold you neither honest, nor loyal,
nor straightforward, and will instead always distrust and despise
you."

The payment of Judges depended as much upon the man as
upon circumstances. Each was required to be possessed of a
certain private income as an essential qualification for office.
This income might accrue from inheritance, or from practice as
advocate in the Supreme and Foreign Courts. The amounts paid
by the State to Judges for judicial services were not so much in
the way of salaries as commissions upon the business transacted.
For example, in 1290 two "jurisprudents," to assist the Treasurer
of the Commune, received each only one gold florin a month ! l

Civil causes of first instance were heard before the Judge of
the Court of each Sestiere. He was required to have attained
the degree of Doctor of Law at Bologna, or at some other legal
University, and to be an enrolled citizen of Florence. His term
of office was six months, and he might be re-elected, or not, as the
Council of State decided. The salary was hardly commensurate
with the dignity of the office — a paltry sum of twenty-five lire \
In 1291 the Judge of a certain Sestiere received, however, as
much as twenty-five lire a month, whilst another only obtained
twenty-four, for four months. 2

The Judges who sat as assessors or delegates of the Chief
Magistrate were well remunerated. In 1292 the judicial assis-

J Prow. ii. 144, Oct. II. 2 Prow. iii. 17, 1291 ; 85, 1292 ; IOO, 1292-

THE GUILD OF JUDGES AND NOTARIES 93

tants of the Captain of the People were paid forty-five lire each
for presiding at the drawing of the " Taglia" x

Judges of Appeal, however, were regarded as superior digni-
taries, and were paid on a still more liberal scale. In 1286 one
such personage received five hundred lire for himself and his two
Notaries.2 In 1358 a Judge of Appeal received as much as
fifteen hundred lire per annum.

Judges were forbidden to exercise their functions privately,
as well as publicly, on all Festivals and Fasts. Their sportelli, or
wickets, might indeed be open on the days of obligation, but only
for the delivery of messages and for brief replies to inquiries.

The dignity of their position, and the high esteem with which
they were regarded generally by people of all classes, did not, all
the same, prevent the miscarriage of justice, nor the degradation
of their office at times by both Judges and Notaries. The common
experience of noble ideals failing to enforce themselves at all
times; and under all circumstances, was confirmed, alas, often
enough, in busy, turbulent Florence.

Boccaccio, Sacchetti, and other popular writers and critics of
the various periods, adduce numbers of instances where right and
justice were made to yield to veniality and fraud. Bribes were
freely offered, and often enough as freely taken. One litigant
having offered the Judge a fat ox to obtain a favourable verdict,
his opponent promptly sent in a fine cow in calf: the wily magis-
trate accepted both, and dismissed the case ! u I would rather see
my son," said Sacchetti, "a sportsman than a Judge"3

Whilst travesties of justice were made the occasion of ridicule,
they had their effect upon the public opinion. The strictures of
Boccaccio upon unrighteous Judges are very severe. " They," he
says, " pretend that they are ministers of justice, and of God, but
they are indeed the executors of injustice and the friends of the
devil." 4

The mention of Knights in connection with a Republic of

1 Villani, xi. 92. - Prow. pp. I, 14, 1286.

3 F. Sacchetti, " Novelle," 77, t. ii. pp. 17, 21.

4 Boccaccio, "Giorni," iii. nov. 7, t. II, p. 89.

94 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

Merchants seems to be an anachronism, nevertheless Knighthood
was not only generally recognised, but greatly sought after by men
of position.

The creation of Knights in Florence depended upon three
circumstances : — The visit of a foreign monarch, the assumption
of the Podestaship by an alien sovereign, — both Charlemagne and
Charles of Anjou bestowed the accolade, — and the will of the
people, either expressed by the rulers of the State in public
meeting, or vehemently pronounced in tumultuous assembly. In
the latter category were Michele Lando and sixty-four citizens,
who were created Knights by the popular voice in the Ciompi
Rising in 1378.

New Knights were invested publicly, and to their care
were committed in the name of the Republic a standard, a lance,
a sword, and a shield, — the latter bearing the arms of the State.
Of the symbols of Knighthood Dante sings how :—

" . . . . Galigaio show'd
The gilded hilt and pommel.' l

Their ennoblement required also the attestation of the Superior
Court of Judges, to whom they were required to present their
credentials after preparation by Notaries.

The Investiture was held after 1323 at the Ringhiera, a raised
platform erected along the front of the Palazzo Vecchio, whereon
the Supreme Magistrates were solemnly admitted, Decrees of
State publicly promulgated, and Military Commanders received
their insignia of office. It was the Florentine Agora or Forum.

No one desired more earnestly the distinction of an Order of
Chivalry than Judges and Notaries, — the former to qualify for the
highest offices in the State and for ambassadorial appointments to
foreign States, and the latter to attain, at a bound, the step whereby
they might exchange their humble writing equipage for the golden-
sheathed dagger of knighthood.

1 "Paradise," Canto xvi.

THE GUILD OF JUDGES AND NOTARIES 95

Turning now to the other section of the Guild, — " the body
of honourable Notaries," as they were called, we must remember
that, unlike their lordly brethren of the Judicial Bench, they were
men who had been born, educated, and trained in Florence.
As boys attending monastery schools, or later, the elementary
schools of the Studio, or Academy, they obtained the rudiments of
notarial law at the feet of one or other of the many teachers of
legal studies who were to be found in every part of north and
central Italy in the twelfth, thirteenth, and fourteenth centuries.
These preceptors were for the most part graduates in law of
Bologna, looking out for
posts as judges in the
civil and criminal courts.

All Notaries, before
pleading in Court, were
obliged to appear before
the Proconsul and the
eight Consuls of the
"Guild of Judges and
Notaries," and to produce
a guarantee of two hun-
dred lire that they would REGISTERED MARK OR SIGNATURE OF THE
" exercise their profession NOTARY NICCOLO DA FERENTERINO, 1236.
faithfully, and lawfully,

and would never be guilty of the least exaction or extortion."
Each was required to register his special signature, or mark, on
admission to plead.

One of the Statutes of the Guild decreed that no Notary
should be qualified to plead or to practise within the judicial
boundaries of the Republic who had not lived for the last ten
consecutive years in Florence. A Notary was required also to
be of a respectable family, whose members had duly paid all the
taxes and rates for at least twenty years. Regularly admitted
Notaries were styled in documents " Sapientes juris." They
were attached to every court and to all the principal offices of State.

urns

96 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

One of the most important officers of the Republic was the
Notaio delta Riformagione. His duties were those of Secretary
to the Priors, and his business was to keep a register of their
decisions. He was always a foreigner, generally a Lombard, and
his salary ranged from one hundred lire in 1358 to four hundred
and fifty.1 Three days before quitting office he had to hand to
the Gonfaloniere di Giustizia a copy of all acts issuing from the
Supreme Council of State. For serious dereliction of duty he
was liable, not only to heavy fines, but even to imprisonment.

A special Notary was appointed annually to assist the State
Treasurer to keep the public accounts, and to prepare the annual
Exchequer balance-sheet. By way of auditors of this department
of the Government, two senior Notaries or advocates, doctors of
law, were named, whose duty it was to examine, check, and
pass or refuse, all statements of receipts and disbursements of
public money.

Two Notaries were attached to the person of the Gonfaloniere
di Giustizia. One acted as personal secretary, and retired from
office with his chief. The other was the permanent secretary of
the office, and had charge of the law-books, registers of business,
list of reforms carried out or proposed, and all other documents
relating to the department. His salary was only one hundred lire
a year. Another officer of this Department of State was the
Cancelliere^ who was also a Notary. He held the privy-purse of
the Gonfaloniere, and conducted his correspondence.

These three offices, though quite subordinate, were greatly
sought after by young men endued with literary tastes, or
ambitious to rise in the employment of the State. Coluccio de'
Salutati, Leonardo Bruni, Carlo Marsuppini, Poggio Bracciolini,
Marcello Vergilio and Niccolo Machiavelli were among those
who in turn held the Chancellorship.

Four Notaries, " duly matriculated and of good fame and
intelligence," were appointed annually for service in the Supreme
Council of State. Whilst holding these appointments they were

1 M. de C. Stefani, "Delizie," xii. 351.

THE GUILD OF JUDGES AND NOTARIES 97

forbidden to undertake any other professional duties. They kept
the State Records, and had at hand all documents and materials
which would be likely to be asked for in the course of delibera-
tions. They were paid so much for the copies they wrote,
ranging from seven lire for complete lists of citizens chargeable
with the " Catasto " or Income-tax, to seven soldi for drafts of the
motions before the Council.1

Lucrative fees were often paid by the State to Notaries for
copying Statutes and other documentary matter. In 1291 two
Notaries received forty-two lire for copying, illuminating and
binding two new Statutes. To a Notary, who compiled an alpha-
betical register of the names of exiles, from the time of the
Podesta Pietro dei Stefaneschi to the year 1291, was granted a
sum of forty gold florins. Six Notaries were bidden, in 1246, to
copy out the Register of Citizens for the " Estzmo" — Valuation
of Property, — and they were paid thirty lire?

Each Guild had its own special Notaries, whose nominations
and appointments were generally made at a joint meeting of the
Consuls of the Guilds. Under date December 31, I326,3 the
following Guilds were thus provided for six months : — Bakers,
Armourers and Swordmakers, Oil, Cheese, and Provision Mer-
chants, Woollen Merchants, Tanners, Doctors and Apothecaries
Judges and Notaries, Butchers, Skinners and Furriers, Retail
Cloth Dealers and Linen Merchants, Wine Merchants, Carpenters,
Innkeepers, Locksmiths and Metal Workers, Silk Merchants and
Blacksmiths.

These legal officials were engaged daily, either in the Superior
Courts, or in the Consular Courts of the several Guilds. In the
latter Tribunals they acted as confidential advisers to litigants,
and also as pleaders in Court. They were allowed to take fees
from the persons seeking their assistance, and they received, in
addition, fixed biennial payments from the Guilds on whose
behalf they acted.

1 L. Cantini, " Legislazione, " Hi. p. 12.

2 Prow. iii. 8 v°-, Sept. 3, 1291. Prow. 20 v°-, Sept. 3, 1291. Prow. vi. 146
v°-, Dec. 3, 1246. 3 "Archivio del Stato di Firenze," R.A. fol. 96.

98 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

This twofold avocation led gradually to the creation of a new
order of legal functionaries — an intermediate degree, so to speak,
in the membership of the Guild. Senior or more ambitious
Notaries obtained general recognition as Leaders, Advocates of
Appeal, and so forth, and were entrusted with the higher duties
of the profession, and at times were admitted as Assessors in
certain suits to the Judges on the bench. This is an interesting
development in legal procedure, and was no doubt the parent of
the British system of barristers and solicitors.

Much of the time of Notaries was taken up with drafting
charters — commercial and political ; drawing up business agree-
ments, contracts, and adjudications ; preparing balance-sheets
and other auditorial matters ; conducting foreign correspondence
for merchants ; and dealing, generally, with the thousand and one
clerical details of the immense trade of Florence.

Every business house and bank had its own special Notary,
and so had the richer nobles, and the more important private
citizens. Besides this, Notaries were despatched, for longer or
shorter periods, to the many foreign cities and districts in which
Florentine merchants had branch houses and agencies. One,
Lamberto Velluti, — a member of the wealthy silk-manufacturing
family, — was employed as Notary on one of the ships of the
Peruzzi Company. Of him it is recorded that, after he had gained
sufficient capital by fees and charges, he set up in business on
his own account as a shipper of merchandise.

All embassies to foreign Courts, and all special missions for
signing treaties and other international engagements, required
the services of Notaries. They were bound to give notice
at the Monte Contune, — public Pawn Office, — of all instru-
ments drawn up by them for the payment of taxes, and, within
a month of their execution, to deposit copies at the Offices of
State.

Notaries, too, were employed in drawing up wills, — copies of
which they were required to file within thirty days after the
testator's death. They were forbidden to draft instruments

THE GUILD OF JUDGES AND NOTARIES 99

benefiting themselves, or any member of their families, under a
penalty of fifty lire — the instrument so drawn was also declared
null and void.

Notaries were appointed from time to time to inquire into,
and to report upon, disorders among the hired soldiery of the
Republic. These mercenaries were originally members of mili-
tary companies, which were first enrolled under Condottieri, —
Foreign Captains, — in 1250, when the faction fights between the
Grandi and the Popolani were at their height. Their duties, in
the first instance, were defence of the Contado, but their services
were retained, later on, for the safeguarding of the city also.
Four hundred were required each night to patrol the following
streets : — Porta Rossa, Calimala, Baccano, For Santa Maria,
and the Corso degli Adimari, and other streets and squares,
where were situated most of the Residences and Offices of
the Guilds, the principal Banks, and the great Mercantile
Companies, together with the shops of the more considerable
tradespeople.

If women troubled worthy Judges with their fashions and
their witchery, out-of-elbows Notaries worried the fair sex, in
their quest for citations-at-bar, for breaches of the sumptuary
laws. The protocols concerning dress were written out by
the gentlemen of the long robe, who, not content with their
faultless penmanship, busied themselves in the application of the
prohibitions.

The officials of the " Grascia " were quick-witted Notaries.
It was their amusement and their profit to interrogate all the
women they met. When they saw one wearing, for example, two
rings ornamented with fine pearls, or a little cap or wreath em-
broidered and embellished with gold, they noted down her name.
A summons was probably issued against her and her husband,
and the latter, to avoid a public spectacle, paid the fine and the
Notaries' costs to boot ! 1

It may be truthfully said that every walk in life in old

1 Archivio della Grascia.

100 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

Florence was associated with the busy ministrations of these
universal clerks and pleaders. Indeed, so much had the functions
of the Notaries entered into the private life of the citizens, that
whilst on the one hand every one was only too happy to go to
law with his neighbour ; on the other, the curse of the law became
a byeword. Those who had experienced the miseries of litigation
were wont to greet their more fortunate neighbours with the
trite saying : — " May sorrow, evil, and lawyers be far from
thee ! "

The position of the Notaries in Court was immediately under
the seats of the Judges. They were accommodated with raised
desks, over which they were accustomed to bend for conference
with their clients.

Their dress was more sombre than that of the Judges. They
originally wore black or dark grey cloaks without fur, but, at a
later date, they obtained the right to add that decoration.
Attached to the cincture of their long tunics they carried pouches
or bags, — much after the fashion of the merchants' Scarselte, —
containing writing materials, and these were the distinctive marks
of their profession. They were usually worn quite plain and un-
adorned, in contrast to the elaborate emblazonments upon the
money-bags of the nobles and merchants.

Strict regulations were enforced against Notaries contumacious
or delinquent. For example, if any were ten days behind in pay-
ment of taxes, dues, and contributions of all kinds, he was dis-
barred, and not permitted to practise until he had fully discharged
his indebtedness.

Antonio Miscomini in " // Giuoccho delle Scacchi " has a
woodcut of the Bishop's Pawn, as we call the dignitary on the
King's right in the game of chess ; and this pawn is thus
described by William Caxton in his " Playe of Chesse" in
1481 :-

" The third pawne, which is sette tofore the Alphyn on the
right side, ought to be figured as a clerk, and this is reson that he
should so be. For as moche as among ye common peple of

THE GUILD OF JUDGES AND NOTARIES 101

whom we speke in this book they plete the differences, contencions,
and causes while the whiche behoveth the Alphyn to gyve sentence
and juge as juges. This pawne holdeth in his right hand a pair
of sheres or forcetis, and with the lifte hand a great knyf, and on
his gyrdell a penner and an ynkhorn, and on his eere a penne to
wryte wyth. ... It appertayneth to them to cut the cloth

NOTARY— WOOL MERCHANT. FIFTEENTH CENTURY.

signefied by the forcetis, as the coupers, coryers, tanners,
skynners, bouchers, and cordwanners being signefyed by the
knyf . . . and certain other crafty men ben named drapers,
or cloth workers, for so they werke wyth wolle . . . Notayres
. . . work by skynnys and hydes as parchemyn, velume, pittrye,
and cordewan and tayllours, cutters of cloth, wevars, fullars,
dyers ..."

This extract, from the old French moralist, translated by
Caxton, is interesting as indicative of the intimate relations which
existed between the Notaries and the craftsmen of all kinds.

102 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

The integrity of industrial methods was ever under the ken of
legal personages. Besides this, Notaries were permitted to deal
wholesale in textile and other commodities. In several docu-
ments they sign their names with the twofold qualification — for
example, Ser Notaio-Lanaiuolo, Notary Woollen-merchant, or
Dominus Lanarius-Notarius, Wool-stapler — Notary.

Whilst the senior Notaries assumed all the dignified and
supercilious airs of their more highly-placed brethren of the
Guild — the Judges — the younger were denied the title of Messere,
until they had absolutely mounted the judicial bench, but were
classed merely as Notaries whatever their attainments and
influence might happen to be. In 1495 the Notaries were made
a class apart, and were disqualified from entering any commercial
house or accepting any trading agency. They were forbidden
also to undertake retail business of every kind.

With respect to the numbers of Judges and Notaries, who
from time to time exercised their functions within the boundaries
of the State, it is difficult to deal. The latter were, as might
have been expected, always in a considerable majority. In the
year 1358, Villani says, "there were nearly one hundred Judges
and upwards of five hundred Notaries." This is a high average
for a population which had been decimated by famine in 1346
and by pestilence in 1348. Boccaccio records that the latter
scourge slew, between March and September, as many as 96,000
out of a total of 1 60,000 inhabitants ! x

No writer has given posterity a more vivid and unvarnished
story of the legal profession in old Florence than has Ser Lapo
Mazzei, the good Notary of Prato, the wise man of " rough soul
and frozen heart." A man of ascetic spirit, with sound religious
sympathies, and a well-versed moralist, his letters are full of
interest.

At jousts and during public festivals, if any member of

1 G. Villani, " Cronica," xi. p. 93.

THE GUILD OF JUDGES AND NOTARIES 103

the " Guild of Judges and Notaries " did anything whatever
against ordinary decorum and convention, he at once became
an object of satire, and no one hesitated to make fun of him.
Breaches of correct manners often enough led to some funny
fellow or other placing a thistle under the tail of the legal
functionary's horse, and, as the poor beast tore back to his
stable at a wild gallop, the air was rent with the derisive cries
of the passers-by !

The Guild continued to thrive all through the " reigns " of
the earlier Medici princes, although many of the prerogatives of
the Judges were greatly curtailed and the peculations of the
Notaries were covertly connived at.

Almost the last record, in the Archives, of the " Guild of
Judges and Notaries" was that of December 28, 1597, on
which date a decree was signed by the Grand Duke Ferdinand I.
which abolished the ancient title of the Guild and substituted
that of " College of Judges and Notaries." Membership was
made of three degrees: — I. Judges, 2. Advocates, 3. Notaries;
thus recognizing the intermediate order framed in the last
century.

Eight consuls were elected, two of the degree of Judge, two
of that of Advocate, and four of that of Notary. The Council
of the "College" was made to consist of eight members — four
Judges and four Notaries. A Matriculation Board was also
formed, composed of two Judges, two Advocates, and four
Notaries. Each year, it was ordered that two Advocates should
be appointed as Counsel for the poorer citizens in criminal cases,
who should plead for their clients, without taking any fee or
emolument, the Guild undertaking to pay them.

The great reputation of the Judges and Notaries, despite
many and serious blots and blemishes, has been handed down
to modern times. To-day, the legal profession is still the most
important in Italy, and the most popular. The ambition, even
of small tradesmen, well-to-do farmers, and skilled artizans is to
see their sons graduates at law and advocates in the Court?.

104 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

Of the ornaments of the Profession, the aphorism of good old
Francesco Guicciardini is as true now, as it was in his time: — " In
Florence he who is a wise is also a good citizen, since were he
not good he would not be wise." l

1 "Opere Inedite," vol. iii. (Counsels of Perfection).

" Stemma dell' Arte de Giudici e Notai"
Four Gold Stars on a blue field, 1343 ; originally only one .star.

CHAPTER IV
THE "CALIMALA" GUILD

VARTE E UNIVERSITA DE1 MERCANTI DI CALIMALA

I. ORIGIN. — Meaning of the name. " Panni Franceschi" The dressing of
foreign cloth. Merchants of the Calimala, 1190. Cavalcanti. The Chiefs of
the Muggello. Early predominant influence of the Guild.

II. CONSTITUTION.— Statutes— Code, 1201-1209. Pious Uses. Usury. Legal
Procedure. Trade Restrictions. Matriculation. Associated Trades. Games.
Hours of Work. Disputes. ^ Le bone usanze di Kalimala? Accounts. Official
marking of cloth. Sharp dealers summarily dealt with. Tricks of the trade.
Officers, and method of election. Consular Courts. Couriers. Inspectors.
Sbirri. Agents. Dyers. Patchers. Cutters. Folders. Finishers. Bernardo
Alamanno. Scarlatto tfOricello. Pre-eminence of Florentine dyers, 1279.
Spots and blemishes. Defaulters and fines.

III. DEVELOPMENT.— Superiority of Florentine methods. Mercantile Com-
panies. Friction between the Guilds. Guido del' Antella and his " Ricordanze."
The "Calimala" in France. Famous Florentine Commercial Agents. A tor-
sello — packing, freight, and invoice. Credit. Expansion of Trade in 1338.
Tariffs. Dangers of commercial journeys. Fame of Florentine cloth. Leading
"Calimala" families. Foreign Competition. The Record of five hundred
years.

A 7ARIOUS names and styles are given in documents and
* authorities for the Master Merchant-Guild of Florence : —
" The Guild of Merchants," " The Guild of Merchants in Foreign
Cloth," "The Guild of Calimala," "The Guild of Calimala Fran-
cesca," etc., etc.

The spelling of the distinctive name "Calimala" also varies : —
" Kallismale" " Calimara" etc. etc. Its most probable derivation
comes from the fact that the Residence and Offices of the Guild
were situated in the Via di Calimala, a narrow street which led
into the Mercato Vecchio, — the Old Market, — where also the

chief business of the merchants of the Guild was transacted.

105

106 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

Over the doorway of the Residence was stuck up a shield
bearing the arms of the Guild : — a golden eagle perching upon a
white bale of wool in a red field ; and the same was blazoned
upon the Gonfalon.

Machiavelli, writing about the enterprise of the merchants of
the " Calimala" says : — " The production of tissues of wool was so
flourishing, that the work-people had only to dye and finish them
, in order to export them at once. The merchants who were
S engaged in this industry founded an "important Guild, called
y ' Calimala,' from the name of the street." 1

With respect to the term " Francesca" or " Franceschi" as
applied to the Guild, it is noteworthy that Fernando Arrivabene,
in speaking of Religious Orders, says : — " In 1 182 the celebrated
St Francis, founder of the great religious Order, was born at
Assisi, in Umbria, being the son of Pietro Bernadones, a man of
humble birth. At the sacred font he was given the name of
Giovanni, but when quite young he was called " Francesco,"
because of the facility with which he spoke French — a language
then necessary to the Italians in commerce, for which he was
destined by his father."

This may be taken to prove that before the year 1 182 there
was active commercial intercourse between Italy and France.
Doubtless the words " Francesca " and " Franceschi " were used
originally in Florence as applicable to France and French markets
alone, but they were quite easily extended to the produce of other
countries. Thus " Panni Franceschi " signified cloth manufactured
in England, Flanders, and Spain, as well as in France.

From a remote period wool was the staple industry of the

g Florentines, which they manipulated with such admirable assiduity

Oand skill, that very soon the output of their looms was in excess

jof the home consumption. Markets were sought beyond the

^confines of the growing town, and traders, moving about in com-

1 " Le Istorie di Firenze," 1. iv.

- F. Arrivabene, " II Secolo di Dante," vol. i. chap. i. See also Dante, "II
Paradise," xi. 88.

THE "CALIMALA" GUILD 107

panics for mutual (protectiori, undertook systematic journeys
through the neighbouring States.

With England commercial relations were in existence in the
reign of Henry II. At all events that monarch established
a biennial Cloth Fair within the precincts of the Priory of Saint
Bartholomew in the city of London ; and he also encouraged
the incorporation of a Guild of Weavers, taking as his pattern
similar associations in Florence and in Flanders.

With rare acumen the Florentine traders bartered their stuffs"") » Jj
for rich fleeces and fine woollen yarns, and, as they traded, the /
eyes of both parties were opened — the Florentines, to the superiority \,
of the native raw material : the people of the countries, to the ,
superior workmanship.

In addition to skill in weaving, Florentine workers excelled as
cutters and folders ; whilst as dyers they were unrivalled. The J
business of the Guild was exclusively the re-dressing and finishing J
of foreign-woven woollen cloth. Foreign cloth submitted to the
methods of the Florentine merchants became a material which
had no peer, and which when put upon the markets of Europe
obtained the very highest quotations.

Whilst it is impossible to fix an actual date for the first
formal incorporation of the " Calimala Francesco, Mercanti" it
may be safely asserted that the initial steps were taken in that
direction at the end of the eleventh century. At that period,
under the fostering rule of the Countess Matilda, the industrial
progress of Florence was already remarkable.

Perhaps the earliest documental evidence of the existence of
the " Calimala " as a body-corporate is in the year 1 190, when the
" Merchants of the Calimala " are named. Under the same date
it is recorded that the Florentine family of Cavalcanti bore a
leading part in the foreign cloth trade ; and that they gave up
their house in the Via di Calimala to serve as Offices for the
purposes of the Merchants.1 It may be interesting also to note
that the very first names entered in the earliest extant Roll of

1 Archivio di Firenze, No. xvii. 1422. " Spoglio Strozziano," v. i. p. 25.

108 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

Matriculations of the Guild of " Calimala Francesco, " were those
of the two sons of the donor of this property.1

From 1 1 90, and onwards, notices of the " Calimala " and its
operations are frequent enough in the Archives of Florence ; for
example, under date October 21, 1190 — a document speaks of
the Guild as in active operation.2 It is in the form of a deed of
gift of land and buildings for the benefit of the Guild, whereby
Giambone di Ceffuli and Diede, his son, with the consent of
their wives, make over irrevocably to Giovanni di Buoninsegna
and Ugone d'Angiolotti, " Consuls of the Old Merchants of the
Calimala," such and such property.

The earliest entry in the List of the Consuls is dated 1192,
when the names of Giano Cavalcanti, Ranerio di Ugone della
Bella, and Ugo d'Angiolotti are recorded as having served the
office.

The importance of the " Calimala " Guild was duly recognised in
the year 1 1 99 in a document, which states that in the Superior
Council of the Commune the " Consules Mercatorum" — Consuls of
the Merchants' Guild, — sat along with the three representative
Priors of the Guilds and the ten Buonuomini under the presidency
of the Podesta, Pagano de' Porcari.3 At that date the number
of the " Calimala " Consuls was six, their chief being Stoldo da
Musetto. The business before the Council was the framing of
a treaty of peace and amity with the robber chieftains of the
Muggello, and other districts belonging to Lombardy, Venice, and
Bologna, through which lay very important trade-routes.

Stoldo da Musetto and Raniero della Bella, — two of the
Consuls of the " Calimala" — were appointed to sign the treaty
in which the Chiefs promise : —

1. To protect Florentine Merchants and their Merchandise

throughout the feudal territory.

2. To consider the requirements of Merchants as their own.

1 Codex Ricciardini "Register, or Roll of dell' Arte dei Mercanti di Calimala,
1235-1495," Lib. i. R. i. xxvii.

2 Archivio del Stato Fiorentino " Cartapecora Strozziana Uguccioni."

3 L. Cantini, i. 150, ii. 65.

THE "CALIMALA" GUILD

109

3. To supply trustworthy Guides for convoys, etc.

4. To compel all their followers to observe these conditions.
In i 202 Chiarito Pigli, — a Consul of the Merchants of the

" Calimala" — was invested with full powers by the State Council
to reduce Semifonte, a turbulent little republic, which long

A CALIMALA MERCHANT IN HIS GARDEN. SIXTEENTH CENTURY.

withstood the growing power of Florence,
incited opposition by his effusion : —

" Florence stand back
That 1 too may be a city."

One of her poets

In the treaties with Siena and Capraia, — both in 1204, —
with Prato in 1212, and with Bologna in 1216, the first signa-
tures are those of the Consuls of the " Calimala" Indeed the
influence of the Guild had already assumed a potential position in
the counsels of the Commune.1

1 S. Ammirato, "Dell* Istorie Florentine," vol. i. p. 76.

110 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

The official designation of the " Calimala" during the first
twenty years of the thirteenth century, was : — " L'Arte e Universita
de1 Mercanti di Calimala''

The Statutes of the " Calimala " Guild are found in Latin in
many manuscripts preserved in the Florentine Libraries. The
earliest Codex bears the date 1301-1309; it is in the Maglia-
becchian Library, and is in the handwriting of Matteo Beliotti and
of Giovanni Ser Lapi, — both Notaries of Florence, — and of their
assistants.1

It opens with a dedication to the Deity which states that
the Constitution of " the Craft and University of the Merchants
of the Kallismale of Florence" is projected in reverence of
St Mary, St John Baptist, SS. Peter, Paul, Philip, James and
Miniato, and all the Saints ; in honour of the Holy Roman
Church and the Sovereign Pontiff; the Lord Podesta, the Lord
Capitano, and the Commonwealth of Florence ; and, finally, in all
due respect for all worthy merchants and companies belonging to
the " Calimala? 2

The First Part consists of thirty-two Sections, which treat, as
the quaint heading says, " of all things pertaining to God and to
the Soul." It speaks of pious observances, good works, integrity of
conduct, obedience to magistrates, and of all else which goes to
make a virtuous, industrious, and respectable citizen.

The^^iQ^^rjofession o£ faith, with which the First Section
deals, is noteworthy as indicating the intimate relation which
existed^ in the Middle Ages and early Renaissance, between the
religion of daily life and its industrial and commercial activities.
Every morning monks chanted Mass, in the ancient church of
San Giovanni, on behalf of the members of the Guild and in
furtherance of their enterprises.

Guildsmen were constrained to observe the annual church
festivals7~wHrcH~ numbered forty without reckoning the Sundays.

1 Archivio del Stato di Firenze, Statuti dell' Arti, 1301-9.

2 S, L. Peruzzi, " Storia del Commercio e dei Banchieri di Firenze."

_ a

gl

- i

•j^.s-'g-xz: JL^:Z .z ^LJJL^. z'xz^xz^ < JL^^:^

THE "CALIMALA" GUILD ill

On the Eve of St John Baptist, — the Patron Saint of Florence, —
every member of the Guild was required to visit the church, and
to deposit a wax candle of the weight of nearly half a pound as
an offering to the Patron Saint.

The " Merchants of the Calimala " bound themselves never to
use blasphemous language. Usury was forbidden " because it is
a sin specially displeasing to God."

Among the pious uses of the Guild were numerous annual / nj^ '
contributions to the monasteries of money and gifts in kind for / \\
the relief of the poor and sick of the city. Several hospitals J
also were maintained at the cost of the " Calimala"

In matters of food and drink moderation and abstinence were
advocated among all persons connected with the Guild. Forty
pounds per annum was the very modest sum allocated for the
table of the Consuls, who were boarded during their six months of
office at the expense of the Guild at the Residence in the Via
di Calimala.

The workmen employed by the "Calimala" in the repairs and
decoration of the churches of San Giovanni and of San Miniato al
Monte were subject to strict rules of conduct. They, and indeed
all the members of the Guild, were admonished, under pain of
heavy penalties, — including exclusion, — to maintain unblemished
lives, and to treat women, children, and domestic servants with
respect and kindness.

The Second Part of the Statutes contains forty-five Sections,
which have to do with legal questions, pecuniary matters, disputes
affecting members of the Guild, rules of membership and
apprenticeship, and regulations affecting trading companies and
associations of operatives.

The First Section deals with the powers of the Consuls, who
are decreed to be supreme over all persons and causes within the
Guild. Methods of procedure, employment of legal assistance,
and obedience to the ruling of the Court of Consuls, are all fully
explained.

The Statutes dealing with the customs and laws of debtor and

112 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

creditor are emphatic, and provision is made for winding up
estates in bankruptcy. The sale of a bankrupt's effects could
only be made at the instance of the Consuls in Council. Earnest
money, — ranging from ten to fifty per cent., — was due at the
initial stage of all transactions, and payments are required to
be made by instalment. All receipts required the seal of a
cashier, before whom they were signed, and they were attested by
the Syndic of the Treasurer. Defaulting merchants, or agents,
were posted at the Guild Office in the Via di Calimala ; but a
time limit of ten days was allowed before resource to extreme
measures.

All disputes, whether with respect to the interpretation of
Statutes and Bye-laws of the Guild, or of the associated companies,
or affecting the interests or customs of the Guild, were submitted
to the Consuls in Court. A Special Commission of merchants
was appointed by the Consuls, at their pleasure, to examine into
all such matters.

Merchants were not allowed to sell any other kind of cloth
except that which was named in the Statutes, nor to export fine
wool and any of the ingredients necessary for the industry.

\jSales were confined to the interior of shops, and pieces of cloth

, for sale were not permitted to be exposed outside. The exchange

of stuffs between the warehouses of merchants was also forbidden.

Nobody was authorized to deal in foreign cloth, unless furnished

^with the formal permission of the Consuls. Persons seeking such

"x. authorization were required to make an affidavit, before the Guild

Notary, of the respectability of their family connections, the

u integrity of their own character, and the probity of their pecuni-
ary relations.

Membership and participation in the privileges of the Guild
were only obtainable through Matriculation, as the formal and
pu^lic_recognition_of the applicant's fitness. Accepted candidates
made a money deposit by way of caution-money. They were
required to have exercised, at least for one year previously, one or
other of the callings in connection with the " Calimala'' and to

.

THE "CALIMALA" GUILD 113

have been in habitual attendance at the Offices of the Guild, and
at the warehouses of members, jponsors were required for good
behaviour. The Matriculation-fee averaged four lire. Members
of the Guild could introduce their sons without guarantees^ and
without the payment of fees, but they were held responsible for
their good conduct until they had reached maturity.

It was competent for the Consuls, upon advice of the Notary,
and with the consent of the General and Special Councils, to
withdraw the privileges of membership, but a full statement of
delinquency was required to be prepared, and to be posted in the
" Calimala " Offices. The property of absconding merchants was
confiscated by the Guild, and disposed of as determined by the
Consuls.

Operative societies, or companies, were affiliated to the
" Calimala " only with the view of avoiding confusion with similar
organizations under the Wool Guild. Their privileges, and scope
of operations, were strictly limited. No workmen, or group of
workers, were permitted to work for both Guilds. The " Calimala "
operatives were exclusively engaged in dealing with foreign-made
woollen cloth. As a rule the " Calimala \ employed sets_ of
families rather than aggregates of individuals. The Statutes and
Bye-laws of the " Calimala " are full of records of names and
occupations where these limitations are obvious.

On the other hand " Calimala " merchants welcomed the sons
of merchants of the other Guilds, and especially of the Guilds of
" Judges and Notaries " and " Doctors and Apothecaries." The
sole condition of the apprenticeship in such cases was abstention
from the avocation of the parents. Sometimes premiums were
paid for introduction into the leading mercantile houses, but gener-
ally a mutual arrangement was effected, which not unfrequently
had a matrimonial alliance in view.

Apprentices were obliged to be the offspring of Florentine
parents, but the actual place of birth was immaterial. They were
forbidden to work for other masters than their own. When living
under their master's roof, — as was the rule, — they were not

H

114 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

allowed to be about in the streets after the last stroke of the
evening bell.
x--— Admission to the Guild, whether as apprentice or full work-

X / man, required that the candidate should appear personally before

Lthe Consuls and a Special Council of twelve merchants, who gave
their unanimous testimony that he was satisfactory and worthy.1

Against apprentices and work-people generally severe penalties
were enforced for tale-bearing, idle gossip and stirring up quarrels.
Prohibitive bye-laws were passed which made the use of indecent,
blasphemous, injurious, and provocative language, within the
neighbourhood of the Markets, Old and New, punishable by
imprisonment.

All games of chance were forbidden after dark upon any
premises belongmg~£cTTITe Guild, or its affiliated associations of
work-people. Wagering at any time was strictly forbidden. The
only amusements tolerated indoors were Scacchi, — chess, Merella,
— back-gammon, — and Tavole, — draughts.

It was only permissible to work in foreign cloth between the
matins bell and that of vespers. Operatives were forbidden to
roam from w^rkshog_to^ workshop seeking work. Those who
worked at home, or at factories, outside the city proper, were not
allowed to visit the offices of the Guild, nor the establishment of
their employers in the " Calimala " district ; but were required to
receive and deliver their pieces of cloth, and to make all com-
plaints to the syndics and overseers of the Guild, in their respective
neighbourhoods.

Certain Sections of the Second Part of the Statutes treat of
the deaths of members, and the arrangement of their affairs.
Whenever a full member, an associate, an apprentice, or the son
of a member not yet matriculated, at least of the age of eighteen,
died, the Consuls did not sit in Court that day. All workshops
as well as the Guild Offices were closed until after the funeral,
only ilsportello, — the wicket, — being open just as when looms were
idle on a Festival.

1 Archivio di Calimala, Codex vi. I, R. 87, Statuti 1309.

THE "CALIMALA" GUILD 115

The Third Part of the Statutes has fifty-six Sections dealing
with " le buone usanze di Kalimala" — the customs, practices, and
regulations of the " Calimala"

The First Section fixed the value of the denario, — the standard
coin of the Market, — and enacts that any deviation in value can
only be authorized by the Consuls in Council.

Several Sections treat of the methods of payment of accounts,
the length of credits, etc. These were, — touse our modern phrase, —
" bills " at three months, two months, eight days, or at sight, issued
upon notice of the forwarding of cloth, whether for finishing
through the agents of the " Calimala " merchants from foreign
sources, or handed to foreign buyers after completion of the
process of improvement in Florence.

It is distinctly stated that only cloth in whole pieces, imported
from " beyond the mountains and from England/' may be sold
retail by merchants of the " Calimala " in Florence, and by a fixed
tariff"; but they were permitted to sell remnants of any kind of
cloth to the Retail Dealers.

All pieces of foreign cloth which had been " finished " in
Florence by the workmen of the " Calimala" after receiving the
official stamp of the Guild, were required to be put upon the
market before the expiry of eight days. The reason of this is
made clear by the Statute, which warns merchants against holding
back stocks so as to raise the prices.

At the time of the drafting of the Statutes, — I 301-1 309, — the
price for dressed cloth of good quality was one silver florin per
canna — inferior pieces were cheaper. The canna, a yard measure,
was the official standard.

Sales were confined to the interiors of shops, and pieces and
samples were not allowed to be exposed in doorways or windows.
Very likely this was enacted in deference to representations of
the Consuls of the Wool Guild, whose interests might have been
prejudiced by rival sales of woollen-cloth. Garments made of
foreign cloth, finished by the " Calimala" were prohibited as
articles of merchandise in the markets of Florence.

\i

116 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

Upon every piece or length of the finished cloth, of every
kind and colour, was attached an official ticket or card, easily
visible, bearing the fixed price, the name of the villa or factory,
and the name of the maestro or maker.

An officer was enjoined to traverse all the streets, and to
visit all the houses, wherein the industry was carried on, to see
that every detail of the work was fully up to the standards, or
models, which were deposited in the central hall of the " Calimala "
Offices. All such matters were done with the utmost exactitude,
and the smallest deviation, — even in the size, or the writing upon,
the tickets, — was visited with fines and removal.

Sometimes a manufacturer was wayward, but he had to pay
for his folly by double fines, and, if he continued negligent, he lost
his " Bollo" — the Guild guarantee, — and his name was removed
from the Guild-Roll.

As early as 1292, the Consuls of the " Calimala " had received
the ratifications of the Greater and the Special Councils of the
Craft to their punishment of delinquents by fines and by striking
off the Matriculation Registers all members, who transgressed the
rules and customs of the Guild, together with their accomplices
and the receivers of all illegal material.1

Many Statutes in this Third Part are directed against fraud
and irregularity in dealing. The aim of the " Calimala " was to
conduct the business of the Guild in a strictly honourable and
almost religious manner. Every contract begins with an ascription
to the Trinity, and supplicates the benevolent aid of Saint Mary
and all the Saints.

The well-known profanity whereby a dishonest or grasping
salesman passed his canna along the piece whilst each name of
the Trinity, or names of the Saints reckoned so many bractia, —
forearm lengths, — was constantly practised. Sales too by guess
work on the part of the buyer, whereby a bid exceeding the actual
value by Statute was accepted, was another scheme to defraud.

Dipping cloth in water and, when soaked, stretching it beyond

1 Prow. i. 3, p. 112.

THE "CALIMALA" GUILD 117

its standard length, and then selling it at the excess measurement,
was a common trick in the baser shops. Sacchetti tells in one
of his charming " Novelle " what happened to a certain Soccebonelli
of Friuli, who went to buy some cloth. The merchant measured
out four yards, but managed to steal some back again ; to cover
the fraud he said to Soccebonelli : " If you want to do well with
this cloth, leave it to soak all night in water, and you will see how
excellent it will become." Soccebonelli did as he was told, and
then he took the cloth to the cutter, and asked him to measure it.
" It seems to me," said the latter, " to be five braccia" Socce-
bonelli told how he had been cheated, but he gained little sym-
pathy, indeed one man he met told him about a person " who
bought a braccio of Florentine cloth, kept it in water all night, and
by next morning it had shrunk so that there was none of it left ! " 1

It was believed that many pieces of cloth, which came from
Milan, and other places, and which were sold before the bales were
opened, were dyed there. Andrea del Castagno, — a naturalist-
painter and cynical diarist, who lived 1390-1457, — writes as
follows : — " I heard that a certain agent, — Giovanni del Volpe by
name, — seeing that this sort of cloth sold well, thought of saving
money for his firm by dyeing it in a cheaper and inferior way."

Against all these and other sorts of fraud the Consuls con-
stantly issued denunciations and penalties, the first offence
counting for three gold florins, and the sale being pronounced
null and void. Repetitions of dishonesty, or questionable dealing,
were visited with still heavier fines, and even incurred suspension
and expulsion from the Guild.

The Fourth Part of the Statutes contains fifty-eight Sections,
which deal exclusively with the election of the officers of the
Guild and their functions.

At the head were four Consuls, and a Treasurer, who were
elected every six months by the votes of the Master-merchants
generally, and confirmed by the Masters of the various Companies
incorporated into, or affiliated to, the " Calimala " Guild : — such as

1 G. Biagi, "Private Life of Renaissance Florentines," p. 23.

118 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

Dyers, Pressers, Cutters, Dressers, etc. Candidates had to be
" adherents of the Parte Guelfa, lovers of the Holy Roman Church,
and of untarnished reputation, in the Guild and in the Commune."

The mode of election was as follows : — the names of eligible
candidates were first inscribed upon paper and placed in an urn,
whence, under the direction of three merchants chosen as scrutators
for the purpose, the oldest merchant present drew five slips. The
five candidates, thus selected, could not be partners in the same
business house or company, nor associated with any of the retiring
five officials.

Electors, who were fully matriculated and active members of
the Guild, resident within the Contado, had, for each retail shop
held by one individual, one vote ; whilst the possession of a whole-
sale factory, gave the company two votes. The voting was by
casting black and white beans. If any chosen candidate was
'* white beaned " the three scrutators caused another selection of
names to be drawn from the urn ; — and so on until the election
was consummated. Failure on the part of merchants to attend,
and to vote, was punishable by fines ; whilst those who were
finally elected were obliged to serve their terms of office, or forfeit
twenty-five lire. Each Consul received a salary of about forty
lire, and the Treasurer ten lire, for their terms of office.

The four Consuls were bound by strict rules. They were
not allowed to go beyond the boundaries of the Contado, except
for religious purposes, or on behalf of the interests of the Guild-
er, when so nominated, as ambassadors of the Republic to foreign
States.

The duties of the Consuls were : — (i) to grant matriculation to
those whom they considered worthy ; (2) to decide civil and
criminal suits between members of the craft, and their work-
people ; (3) to protect the factories, shops, and agencies of the
members of the Guild, whether at home or abroad ; (4) to assist
merchants in the recovery of credits ; (5) to disburse the charities,
and superintend the pious works of the Guild ; (6) to represent
the Guild on all official and ceremonial occasions ; and (7) gener-

COURT OF CONSULS, WITH NOTARIES AND LITIGANTS

FIFTEENTH CENTURY

THE "CALIMALA" GUILD 119

ally to safeguard the interests of the Guild and of its individual
members.

The Consuls were also called upon to nominate repre-
sentatives of the Guild in all foreign countries, with which there
were commercial relations. Lastly they had authority to appoint,
when necessary, a Court of Arbitration to settle all trade disputes,
whether within or without the obedience of the " Calimala" This
court was composed of six influential merchants, to whom was
entrusted the interpretation of the Statutes and Ordinances of the
Guild.

Every month the Consuls of the " Calimala " met the Consuls
or Heads of the other Guilds of the City, in consultation, upon
general commercial matters preparatory to the preservation of
measures and provisions to the Council of State. These meet-
ings bore a political aspect, and were all powerful in the govern-
ment of the Republic.

The Consuls were assisted in the exercise of their functions
by two Councils. The first, — called " General," — was composed of
twelve members, — merchants belonging to separate houses or
companies within the Guild. All matters of general interest
were submitted, during three successive days, to this Council for
approval or the reverse. The second Council, — styled " Special,"
— had eighteen members, chosen from among master-merchants,
who had knowledge of special departments in the operations of
the Guild and the affiliated Crafts. To them were submitted by
the General Council all matters which required expert advice ;
their session also extended over three days. Their report was
handed to the General Council, who, after arriving at a final
decision, placed the matter before the Consuls. To avoid packing
the Councils no companies, or affiliated trades in connection with
the " Calimala" were permitted to have more than two repre-
sentatives. All votes were taken by means of beans.

The Treasurer, who was required to be at least thirty years
of age, was called upon to deposit a sum of one hundred lire, by
way of caution money upon taking office. To his charge were

120 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

committed the cash books and the keys of the Guild. He was
not allowed, however, to make any payments on behalf of the
Guild, without the approval of all four Consuls. To prevent
undue influence, and to protect him from claims and bribes, no
member of his family, or of his company, was eligible to succeed
him until two whole years had passed after his term of office had
expired.

In addition to these principal officers there were a number of
officials who assisted them in the discharge of their duties : —

1. The Notary, — a member of the "Guild of Judges and
Notaries" — was attached to the persons of the Consuls. He was
always non-Florentine by birth and training, and was forbidden
to be on social terms with the members of the Guild, and on no
account to eat or drink with them ! He acted as spokesman for
the Consuls in Court and at meetings — a very sensible arrange-
ment seeing that there was no educational or elocutionary quali-
fication for the superior office ! It was his duty to instruct the
Consuls in the execution of their functions, to explain to
them the bearings of the Statutes, Provisions, and Bye -laws,
etc., upon all questions of procedure, and to see that every regu-
lation was duly observed by the Guildsmen at large, and by
the Consuls in particular. He was directed to render his report
every month to a special panel of merchants — chosen by lot. In
cases where matters required investigation and correction, the
report with notes was submitted to a second panel consisting of
twelve master-merchants. His office was for one year, at the
termination of which his acts and general conduct were reviewed
by three experienced examiners. They imposed upon the unfor-
tunate fellow, fines, in proportion to the heinousness of his dere-
lictions of duty ; and, so far as we can discover, Notaries never
escaped scot-free, nor, it goes without saying, were they ever
recompensed for faithfulness and impeccability !

2. The Treasurer, too, had an Assistant, or executive officer,
whose title was Sindaco, — perhaps Cashier. His duty was to
check the current expenditure, and to keep the daily cash account

THE " CALIMALA " GUILD 121

at the Headquarters of the Guild. All payments passed through
his hands after their delegation by the Treasurer, and he acknow-
ledged receipts of all kinds. To his charge consequently was
committed the common seal of the " Calimala" without the impres-
sion of which no acts were deemed official. At the end of each
day he submitted his report to the Treasurer, and transferred to
him all cash in hand.

3. In the month of January each year, three Sindacatori or
General Inspectors, were chosen from those who had already
served the offices of Consul or Treasurer. Their duty was :
(i) to check the acts of officers of the Guild; (2) to expose
irregularities and to publish the names of offenders ; (3) to
institute legal proceedings against such persons ; (4) to endorse
good government and praiseworthy services ; and (5) generally to
point out and prevent impositions of all kinds.

4. Once a year also twelve master- merchants, called Statutari,
were empanelled for five days, — generally in December, — and
housed and fed at the expense of the Guild. Their functions
were to examine carefully the wording, and the sense of each
Statute, with a view to any correction, or alteration, required in
furtherance of new objects and interests connected with the Guild.
They were called upon to read the charters of incorporation, and
the regulations of affiliated companies of workpeople, and to
listen to any complaints or requests made by them. Their labours
were not ended until they had issued, in the vernacular, all additions
or alterations, suggested or agreed to, and had posted them for
public examination at the Offices of the Guild.

Minor offices were Nunzii — Heralds, Corrieri — Couriers, and
Chiavari — Registrars. The first, — two in number, — made public
proclamation of the acts of the Consuls, and published all matters
necessary for the members of the Guild and their workpeople to
know.

There were three Corrieri — two travelled between Florence
and France, and one between Florence and Rome. Their duty
was to fix, upon the spot, the amount of earnest money in all

122 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

transactions of the merchants, and to hand over the balance, or
to receive the same, upon the completion of all contracts and
orders. The Chiavari were Registrars of population, member-
ship, deaths, wills, etc., as well as auditors of the cash-accounts
of the affiliated operative companies. They kept the keys of all
the minor offices, and acted as cashiers for deposits by work-
people and small dealers made in the Guild Treasury. Their
number varied according to circumstances.

Besides these officials there were small Committees of
merchants appointed from time to time, who scheduled the
wage-tables of operatives employed by the " Calimala" They
superintended the numbering and labelling of foreign cloth before
and after it had been finished in Florence. Once a year, in July,
two merchants were deputed to fix the price of dyeing, to which
all dyers were bound to adhere, unless, of course, they chose to
take lower prices on their own account.

The testing of weights and measures belonged to the care
of another sub-committee, together with the examination of cloth
lengths for the prevention of short measure, deficient weight, and
inferior quality.

The watching, cleaning, and lighting of the vicinity of the
Residence of the Consuls was in the hands of a Watch Com-
mittee of three or four members, who employed twenty or more
sbirri or watchmen for the purpose, each armed with a stout staff
and a lantern.

Members of the Guild and their workpeople were subject to
severe disciplinary measures, with respect to their behaviour in
the streets, particularly in the Via di Calimala and in the
( Mercato Nuovo. The entertainment of friends and social inter-
course were subject to restrictions. The Consuls had plenary
powers for dealing with all unruly citizens. Fines and imprison-
ment in the Stinche — city prison — were impartially served out to
friend and foe alike.

The Fifth Part of the Statutes treats, in twenty Sections, of the
Sensali — Brokers or agents, the Tintori — Dyers, the Racconciatori

THE "CALIMALA" GUILD 123

— Patchers,the Tagliatori — Cutters, the Piegatori — Folders,and the
Compitori — Finishers employed by the merchants of the " Calimala"

The duties of the Sensali were to inspect all imports of foreign
cloth on arrival, and to distribute it to the various associations of
workpeople. Within twenty-four hours of delivery in Florence at
the Offices of the Guild, Periti detf Arte di Calimala, — experts,—
made a careful examination of every piece of foreign cloth, with
respect to quality of wool, manner of manufacture, and length and
weight. Satisfactory pieces were at once sent on to the work-
shops, whilst those which failed to satisfy the requirements of the
trade were set apart for further consideration.

Any citizen might be admitted to the position of Sensale who
had a good character for piety in religion and uprightness in his
business capacity. Such were required before being enrolled upon
the books of the "Calimala" to give personal security in money, and
bail in the persons of their friends.

They had to render, once a month, to the Consuls sitting at
the Residence, a detailed report of their operations with respect
to the origin and condition of all cloth received, and to the pro-
cesses to which it had been subjected. Their report also was the
medium of complaints made by the work-people, and of delin-
quencies on the part of those with whom the Sensali had dealings.

The first operation in the treatment of foreign cloth was not
the actual dyeing, but the preparation of the pieces for that pro-
cess. When first unrolled they were generally found to be
covered with knots and blemishes which coarsened the surface.
These required the very greatest care to eradicate and smooth
over, and this process was carried through by women as well as
men, who used very fine plyers and needles and hot irons. Some-
times even darning was necessary, but this had to be done with
extreme delicacy, and with foreign wool of exactly the same
quality as the piece.1

1 Note: Three old " Tiratoli" — Fulling-Mills, — belonging to members of the Guild
were still standing in 1898 :— in the Via de' Servi, del Castelluccio, and degli Alfani—
each bearing the name of " detf Aquila" — the Eagle = the arms, or trade mark, of the
Guild.

124

THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

The Dyers of the " Calimala " were required to weigh and
measure all pieces of foreign cloth directly they received them
from the Sensali.

No piece of cloth was handed over to the dyeing cauldrons
until it had been inspected in detail by the foreman of that group
of workers.

Most foreign cloth, by reason of its finer texture, — in which

it greatly surpassed the
native manufacture, — was
also far more sympathetic
in the absorption of colour-
ing matter, and in the
production of far more
beautiful tints. After being
dipped many times, and
stirred by the introduction
of smooth wooden poles,
in the colour bath, the
pieces were hung up to
dry, stretched on frames.
The opinion of expert
dyers was asked at this
stage, and attention was
paid to fashion and fashion's
behests. Every faulty
piece was at once returned
to the cauldron for a further
soaking. Upon a successful result in the dyeing process, the
pieces of cloth were again weighed and measured by the Sensali.
Losses in weight and dimension were charged to the Dyers,
who had the power of recovery by a fixed set-off price against
shrinkage.

The introduction of dyes and dyeing materials, and the rules
concerning their use, were immediately under the administration
of the merchants of the " Calimala? Vegetable dyes only were

EXPERIMENTING WITH DYES.
SIXTEENTH CENTURY.

THE "CALIMALA" GUILD 125

employed, and they were sought in every accessible land. The
time and abilities of the most prominent citizens were given
ungrudgingly to the discovery of new colouring plants and to their
export to Florence. The acquisition of a new dye was just as
much a question of State policy as was that of obtaining mordants
and other adjuncts of the dyeing industry. The war with
Volterra, for example, was made solely for the possession of the
famous alum pits of that district, the use of which material was
essential.

The chief plants used for dyeing were Guado or woad — for
blue, Robbia or madder — for red, and Oricello or white moss — for
scarlet.

Woad grew in abundance all about Florence, but careful
cultivation produced a wealth of growth, and ensured a richness
of product, that made its rearing a lucrative employment along the
countryside.

Madder, too, was common enough in Tuscany, but the finest
kind was found in the neighbourhood of Rome, where it had been
a speciality ever since the time of Pliny.1 The country about
Chiana, and the valley of the Tiber, produced, in the fifteenth
century, madder to the value of many thousand florins, almost all
of which was bought up by the " Calimala " merchants.2 Very much
madder was imported from the valley of the Rhone.

The introduction of White Moss was due to a Florentine
" Calimala " merchant named Bernardo, or Nardo, Alamanno. His
discovery of its property as a colouring medium was due to mere
chance. He observed during a commercial exploration in the
Levant, in 1261, that a little plant, when moistened with uric
acid, gave out a crimson-violet liquid. Experimenting with this
colouring matter he soon noted its value for distinction of hue
and fastness of stain. Bernardo accordingly made up a goodly
bale of the moss and took it back with him to Florence.

Once home he called in the assistance of some members of
the " Guild of Doctors and Apothecaries," and presently the eyes

1 Pliny, Lib. xix. c. 3. - Targioni-Tozzetti, " Viaggi in Toscana."

126 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

of the inspectors of the " Calimala " opened wide at the brilliancy
of the new dye. Nothing so splendid had ever been seen in a
Florentine dye-shop. The fortune of Bernardo was made, and he
assumed for his family the cognomen of " Rucellai" which his
descendants still retain, carrying on to-day in Florence their
ancestral industry. One of his most famous descendants, Giovanni
Rucellai, was a perfect type of the noble merchant who valued the
dignity of his position. He not only knew the secret of making
money, but he also understood how to spend it well. " I think,"
he wrote in his " Zibaldone" — "Stray-thoughts," — "that it has
brought me more honour to have spent well than earned well."

The method of extracting the superb scarlet-purple dye was

very simple. Bunches of oricello were cut after flowering, and

hung up in the sun to dry. The dried moss was then reduced to

very fine powder, in a mortar, and mixed in a wooden vessel with

a sprinkling of sour wine. Whilst stirring Uric acid was added

gradually, and the mixture was well shaken once a day. To this

liquid soda-ash was added, in the proportion of twelve parts to one

of the powder, and the whole was filtered through chalk or lime.

\ The utmost stringency was enforced upon dyers to ensure the

^ perfection of the colours. Only the purest and most expensive

\^ qualities were allowed to be used in the treatment of the. finest

cloths. Woad was guarded with as much care as the white moss.

No one was allowed to sell it outside the membership of the

Guild, under penalty of a fine of five hundred pounds (£20). Each

dye had its strict sale price and official quotation in the markets.

The privilege of selling colouring ingredients of all kinds for
the purpose of dyeing woollen cloth was possessed exclusively by
certain members of the Guild, and all other persons were for-
bidden to offer such for sale. There is a note in the Florentine
Archives to the effect that in the year 1347 a Company of
" Calimala" merchants sold, to two merchants of Valencia, forty-four
thousand pounds weight of woad for a sum of eight hundred
gold florins (£400). 1

1 S. L. Peruzzi, p. 95.

THE "CALIMALA" GUILD 127

The export of robbia, beyond the limits of the State-
especially what was called " di Romandiola" — was strictly pro-
hibited by a Rubric in the Statutes of 1415, a fine being imposed
in fractions of one hundred lire.1

It was forbidden, moreover, to pass off one colour for another,
and to imitate recognised tints, by a blending of various shades so
as to deceive the dyer or the purchaser. Cochineal, Brazil-wood,
and various other dyeing ingredients were used for other cloths
than those classed as " the finest." Blending of colours was quite
allowable, when special names were attached to cloth so dyed ; but
all such names were required to be written on large white labels,
and fastened upon each length or roll. Madder might be used
freely in dyeing cloths other than fine white or grey of foreign
manufacture, which were classed as Scarlattini.

The favourite colour, — Scarlatto d'oricello as it was called, —
in the fourteenth, fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, was a rich
purple red, the product of the oricello dye, with a small admixture
of madder. This shade was prescribed for all robes of state and
for ceremonial tapestries and hangings. It was also used for the
berretta, or cap, worn by all who had the right of entry to the
Superior Courts. This scarlet colour was most carefully guarded.
Any dyer who ventured to produce "Scarlatto di Colpo" — imitation
scarlet, — was excluded from his trade, and all pieces of cloth so
dyed were seized and burnt. Tuscan painters have preserved to
us this rich colour in the backgrounds of their pictures and in
the garments of their figures.

As early as 1279 the pre-eminence of the Florentine dyers
was affirmed by a correspondence which was conducted between
the Papal Court and the Consuls of the "Calimala" Guild. The
latter maintained the exclusive right of the Florentine dyers to
dye and to finish the cloth used for the red robes of the
Cardinals, and for other ecclesiastical purposes where that descrip-
tion of cloth and colour was used.

The dyers of Florence rapidly became famous the world over

1 Statuta Florentiae, Rub. clxxii., 1415.

128 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

Rosetti says : " The Venetians must confess that they have learnt
their art from the Florentines." l Their skill and care are evi-
denced to-day also by the fineness of condition, and freshness of
colour of the hangings, tapestries, banners, costumes, etc. etc.,—
which are preserved to us in many of the public museums and
private collections. They rival, if indeed they do not surpass,
the best workmanship of the present day.

When dry, the cloth which was considered sufficiently and
satisfactorily dyed was taken in hand by the Cutters, Patchers,
and Piecers, who prepared the pieces for the final stage of its
manipulation. These workpeople were often of inferior ability,
and, as their work was comparatively easy and unimportant, they
were very indifferently paid. Nevertheless their handiwork was
rigorously inspected by the foremen of the Folders and Finishers
lest they should make blunders in cutting the prescribed lengths
of the pieces, and in joining pieces of cloth of dissimilar quality
and shade of colour. Scrutiny was also exercised very keenly
concerning remnants and cuttings, which might serve as market-
able commodities for the Rigattieri or Retail Cloth-dealers and
other hucksters of the markets. Patching was only resorted to
in the second qualities of foreign cloth. The aim of the process
was to hand on to the Folders and Finishers a perfectly even
texture.

The Folders and Finishers were, along with the Dyers, the
most important and most highly instructed of the labouring classes
of Florence. They had first to detect and set right the blunders
of the intermediate workers and their slipshod ways. Constant
jealousies raged between the two sets of operatives, the former
chaffing the latter for their fastidiousness, and the latter chiding
the former for their carelessness.

The Folders were required to test once more the weights and
measures of the pieces of cloth, and to note the various qualities
with a view to their several destinations. In the case of transit
the rolls and pieces had to be folded in a peculiar way, which

1 G. Venturi Rosetti, " L'Arte del Tingere."

THE "CALIMALA" GUILD

129

should do nothing to disturb the " nap " of the cloth, or cause
friction.

The Finishers had to smooth the cloth and correct its surface,
by the employment of heat either applied by weighted rollers, or
by heated flat-irons. The methods which they used have never
been exactly stated, but that they were laborious, and not a little
technical, may be gath-
ered from the fact that
every yard of finished
cloth was submitted to
rigorous examination.

A special Committee
of Experts, entitled,
Ufficiali delle Macchie e
Magagne, — Inspectors
of Spots and Blemishes,
— was employed by the
" Calimala " Guild to go
the round of the Cloth
Finishers' workrooms to
test the cloth in hand
under every condition.
Work, whether cutting,
piecing, patching, finish-
ing and folding, was
submitted to the minu-
test examination. Inferior workmanship, presence of blemishes
and roughness of surface were all heavily penalised. Fines
were imposed, and, in case of non-payment, the whole guarantee
or bail of the delinquent, or a portion of it, could be seized.
The defaulters' names were posted at the " Calimala " Offices, and
in serious cases they were deprived of the right to prosecute their
trade within the boundaries of the city.

Such then were the Statutes of the "Calimala" Guild, and
such their interpretation and uses which, promulgated in the

FINISHING CLOTH. SIXTEENTH CENTURY.

130 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

first decade of the fourteenth century, and many times revised
and added to in the succeeding centuries, became the substance
of the Constitutions of all the other Guilds.

In documents preserved in the Florence Libraries, and among
the archives of many noble families, very interesting notices are
to be found, treating of the members, their duties, their charities,
and of the general progress of the Guild. Among them are many
directions dating from the middle of the twelfth century concern-
ing the upkeep, decoration, etc., of the Baptistery of San Giovanni ;
and records of the purchase and sales of land in 1 192, i 193, and
1216, on behalf of the Hospital of Sant' Eusebio. In 1228 and
1237 many Provvisioni, or agreements, were made with respect to
the ancient Church of San Miniato al Monte, which was placed under
the protection of the " Calimala" In the latter year the cere-
mony of taking an oath by all members of the Guild was enjoined.
This oath, which was registered before the Consuls, bound each
member to observe for the year all the regulations and bye-laws,
customs, and privileges, of the Guild.

The constitution of the first Florentine mercantile company
was, in connection with, and under the auspices of the " Calimala"
The Provvisione creating it bears date 1234, and it was enrolled
for the sale of foreign cloth after it had been redressed and
finished by the workmen connected with the Guild. One of the
earliest companies was that of the Scali, which failed in 1326,
after being in existence for nearly one hundred years.

In a Codex of the fourteenth century the following list is
given of mercantile companies, working in correspondence with
the " Calimala" Guild1 : — de' Canigiani, degli Spini, de' Migliori
de' Guadagni, di Lapo Bounagrazia, di Buonaccorso Soldini, de'
Marino Soldani, di Diotifici Filippi, di Lapo Marini, di Lapo
Soldini, di Simone Giamini, and di Diotisalvi Artimisi. A parch-
ment of the year 1300 contains twenty-one other names, including
Cenchi, Bardi, Pazzi, Frescobaldi, Peruzzi, Scali, and Nerli.

1 Archivio del Stato di Firenze, Statuti dell' Arti, 1301.

UNO ANTICO MANGANO—XN OLD ROLLING MILL FOR FINISHING FOREIGN CLOTH

THE "CALIMALA" GUILD 131

It should be remembered that the " Calitnala " merchants
dealt with foreign-made cloth only. It was expressly prohibited
for them to dress, finish, keep, or sell, cloth manufactured in
Florence. This regulation was due not only to the risk of
damage to the native industry in wool-weaving under the Guild
of Woollen Merchants, but it was also a necessary precaution
against difficulties with the operatives.

There was, as might have been expected, a constant danger
of confusion and friction between the agents and the workpeople
employed by the Guilds. Many Provvisioni, or regulations, were
passed to minimise and to remove all clashings of interests
Separate communities of Dyers, Piecers, Patchers, Cutters,
Folders, and Finishers, were established in connection with the
*' Calimala " merchants, in order to prevent workpeople engaging
themselves under the two Guilds. On no account would a
" Calimala " merchant employ an operative who did not belong
to a " Calimala " organisation.

There was also from time to time friction between the merchants
and workpeople attached to the " For Santa Maria " — " the Guild
of Silk Manufacturers." This Guild had also dyers, carders, and
other operatives, as well as agents and salesmen. In 1324
mutual arrangements were made whereby certain associations of
operatives, and certain workshops and stalls for the sale of the
merchandise of the two Guilds, were set apart so as to avoid the
clashing of interests. The same year saw too the first official
Register of " Calimala " merchants in foreign lands.

With respect to the foreign relations of the merchants of the
41 Calimala " there were equally precise and minute regulations as
there were concerning the details of the home industry.

By the end of the thirteenth century there was not a country
in Europe where Florentines were not the chief controllers of
trade. The " Calimala " Consuls obtained the authorization of
the Government of the Republic to establish Agencies in
all the principal wool-producing and cloth - manufacturing
centres.

132 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

One of the agents of the " Calimala " Guild, who travelled far
and wide, was Guido di Filippo di Ghidone dell' Antella. He was
born in Florence in 1254, and has left the " Ricordanze," * or
diary, of his journeys and experiences. In 1267 he went, he
says, to Genoa on business connected with the Company of
Lamberto dell' Antella, and dwelt there eighteen months. In
1270 the Company of Rinuccio Cittadini sent him to Venice, and
there he remained two years. With his father he visited Ravenna
in 1273 on business connected with a loan. His next employ-
ment was at home — five years in the office of Lamberto delT
Antella, and twelve years in the counting-house of the Scali
Company. During the last period he was sent as representative
of his house at various times to Pisa, to Naples, to St Jean
d'Acre, into France, and to the Court of the Pope. Leaving the
Scali, of which company he had been made a partner in 1290, he
lived in France three years, working with the Franzesi. In 1296
with two partners, Neri Filippi and Lapo Ciederni, he rented a
tavola^ — banker's table, — in the Mercato^Nuovo from the banking
house of Bacchejrelli. Two years later he threw in his lot with,
Giovanni de' Cerchi and his Company, but quitted them in 1301
when the quarrel between the Cerchi (Bianchi) and the Donatt,
(Neri) began.

In every part of France, — which now became a second
Fatherland to the Florentines, — the " Calimala " merchants had
agencies : — in 1'lle de France — Paris, and St Denis ; in Cham-
pagne— Provins, Lagny, and Troyes ; in Berri — Bourges ; in
Provence — Marseilles, Toulon, Aries, Saint Gilles, and Avignon ;.
in Languedoc — Nimes, Montpellier, Narbonne, Beziers, Perpignan,,
Carcassonne, and Toulouse.

In all these places Florentine agents and traders abounded,,
receiving and executing orders, and, whilst they rendered obedience
to the laws of the land wherein they resided, they laboured under
the same regulations as these which ruled their countrymen at
home. The agency at Nimes was established in 1296, and that

1 Archivio Storico Italiano, I. Series, vol. iv. p. 5.

THE "CALIMALA" GUILD

133

in Paris in i 325, — the same year which saw Montpellier become a
residential and commercial centre for Florentines.

The French agencies were placed under the direction of a
resident Consul, or Consuls, — for later on there were two or three
such magistrates, — chosen by the votes of the resident "Calimala"
merchants and traders. They were received at the Court of the
King, and treated with
the honours of an am-
bassador from a foreign
power. Their duties and
powers were exactly simi-
lar to those of the Consuls
in Florence. They had
jurisdiction over posts,
couriers, and communica-
tions of every kind. They
confirmed dates, routes,
and payments, for all com-
mercial travellers, and re-
ceived reports as to the
transit of merchandise.
They also controlled all
transactions between mer-
chants of the Guild and
native traders at the
country wool-sales and
cloth-fairs, which were very numerous all over France, and
especially in Champagne.

In these and other multitudinous duties the Consuls were
assisted, as in Florence, by Councils and officials of various
degrees. Appeals were allowed to the Court of the Consuls in
Florence, and the ruling of these Magistrates was accepted as
final.

Paris was, of course, the central seat of the "Calimala" Guild in
France, and there the scions of many influential mercantile houses

MERCHANTS BARGAINING OVER BALES OF CLOTH.
SIXTEENTH CENTURY.

134 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

were employed from time to time. Among the more famous were
Brunetto Latini, Cino da Pistoja, Dante, Petrarch, Boccaccio and
the Giovanni Villani.

Pieces of cloth consigned to Florence were carefully measured
and weighed before despatch. Each bore in two places the
seal of the agency, making the consignment, and, in addition, a
label indicating the length, the width, the price in gold florins, the
name of the manufacturer, and the name of the town of origin.

From ten to twelve pieces made a torsello or bale, which was
wrapped in felt, and covered with two thicknesses of canvas
sacking. The bales were conveyed generally direct to one or
other of the General Depots at Narbonne, Montpellier or Mar-
seilles, and thence, after inspection by " Surveyors of cloth-in-
transit," stationed at each centre, despatched to Florence.

The twofold trade of the " Calimala " merchants in the
purchase of native cloth, with its transport to Florence for
redressing, and the sale of finished pieces received from the
workshops of the Guild, was of course not confined to France
alone. Agencies and offices were opened in Italy, in Spain, in
Portugal, in Flanders, in England and in Germany.

The following is a copy of an invoice of the contents of a
torsello — forwarded from Avignon by Piero di Borgognone and
Company to Alberti di Borgognone, their principal in Florence,
by way of Nice, under date December I4th, I3481: —

" Nel Torsello segnato I. si tra —

i Melle (piece of cloth) violetto di Borsella da Gian di Lintotto.

i Bianco di Borsella de' p : e di macchero.

i Melle verdetto di Borsella Gilis taccho.

i Violetto di Borsella Gilis di Veduena.

i Violetto di Bors : Gian di Businghen.

i Melle Alcipresso di Bors : Gian fenpo.

1 1 Scarlattini di Loano Gualteri Vilignalla.

i Verde fistichino di Loano franco Randolfo.

1 G. F. Pagnini, vol. ii. p. 99.

THE "CALIMALA" GUILD 135

I Melle bruschino Domenico Pietro Vanselfelt.
i Melle mandorlato d'Ordinaido d'Angela Chiaro.
I Nera di Bernai rubino nattino.
I Bigio di Guanto Gran locrano.

fu questo per invoglia, ebbevi feltro, e tela doppia (packed in
felt and double corded).

Segnato II. Soretti e uno Cappucia di Cafaggino di Gherardo."

This bale consequently contained thirteen pieces of cloth and
also a garment and hood for a special customer. Francesco
Balducci says 1 that only ten pieces went to a bale.

The Guild of " Calimala " forbade its members to give credit
beyond three months under severe penalties for non-observance.
Later on the time was extended to six months for consignments
of foreign cloth to or from Florence, and to eight for bales of wool
from beyond the seas.

Under date 1338 Villani 2 records that: — "the 'Calimala'
merchants receive annually more than ten thousand pieces of cloth,
from over the mountains and from France, to be improved in
Florence. Their value exceeds three hundred thousand gold
florins, all sold in Florence, without including such as was sent out
of the city, and sold in the East, along the Mediterranean and in
all the principal cities of Europe."

The demand for the finished cloths of Florence became
enormous, and there was consequently a tendency to keep up the
prices not alone of the commodity, but of the freights. This
condition of things culminated in the middle of the fifteenth
century, when the means of communication became more ex-
tended, and the business relations of the " Calimala " merchants
increased prodigiously.

To retain their hold upon the markets of Europe, they
absolutely forbade the emigration of skilled workpeople, and the
export of materials, and objects pertaining to the Guilds.3 Heavy

1 " Manuale del Mercante Florentine," torn. 2, p. 45.

2 G. Villani, Lib. xi. cap. 94. 3 Villani, xi. 5.

136 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE ,

rates were charged upon cloth manufactured in, and finished for,
countries which erected tariffs against Florence ; as much as five
gold florins was the impost for pieces of thirty-four braccia in
length.1 " The objects of this policy, as Pagnini rightly says,'2
was to create reciprocity, to prevent competition, to check the
output, and to limit the traffic."

The " Calimala " Consuls and Council in their corporate
capacity, and also the individual companies of merchants, were
accustomed to send Visiting Inspectors from time to time on
tour to look after the interests of the Guild and of the Trade.
Matters which concerned private interest and enterprise were
no more thoroughly investigated than questions of international
importance.

The dangers to which merchants and agents were exposed at
the hands of hostile and oppressive rulers of foreign states, or con-
trollers of foreign manufactures, were plainly indicated by the
seizure, in 1271, by order of King Philippe le Bel,3 of all Floren-
tine traders in France. He and his rapacious counsellors extorted
heavy ransoms, making no discrimination between honest and
fraudulent merchants.4

The Visiting Inspectors had no light work to do, but they
entered upon their adventurous undertakings bravely. They
generally started on the journey in companies, and were joined
by others desiring to visit France and other European states for
business or for pleasure.

The sole means of locomotion was by horseback. Gaily
attired, and accompanied by their wives and other lady friends,
and many retainers, and much baggage, the cavalcades assumed
imposing dimensions, and became occasions of much revelry and
of many adventures. When time hung heavy, or when darkness
set in, a common occupation was to count their beads and to
recite Pater-Nosters in fulfilment of vows taken before they started

1 Statutes 1309-1316, Bk. iv. 3. 2 Pagnini, vol. ii. 88.

3 Note: Dante calls Philippe le Bel "Mai di Francia" Evil Star of France.—
" Purgatorio," canto vi. 4 G. Villani, vii. c. I and 6.

THE "CALIMALA" GUILD 137

at the altars of their Patron Saints. Every voyager had also
before leaving his casa, or his podere, or his villa, taken the wise
precaution of making his will, and of committing his soul, and
all his earthly belongings too, to the protection of St Mary and
St John the Baptist.

The fame of the Florentine cloth was vastly enhanced by the
high reputation of the " Calimala " merchants. Whilst eagerly
seizing every opportunity for self-enrichment and for the aggran-
disement of their beloved city, and the honour of their Guild, they
were, all the while, quite remarkable for self-restraint and nobleness
of character.

Between the years 1401 and 1548 we find, in the public
records, that the following families contributed most members to
the Guild : — Altoviti, 108 ; Strozzi, 107 ; Marbegli, 75 ; Ghiudetti,
72 ; Acciaiuoli, 71 ; Capponi, 61 ; Nasi, 59 ; and Solderini, 55.
The names also of the following appear many times : — Alberti,
Albizzi, Adimari, Amidei, Buondelmonti, Cerchi, Frescobaldi,
Guicciardini, Lamberti, Medici, Pazzi, Peruzzi, Ridolfi, Ricci,
Spini, Tornabuoni, Vettori, and Villani. Still earlier families were
Cavalcanti, Donati, Bardi, Corsini, Rinucci, Pucci, Ardinghetti,
Rinuccini, Chermonisti, Bandinelli, Buonaccorsi, and Dell' Antella.

All Europe looked on amazed at the enterprise, the wealth,
and the power of the city on the Arno, and for many a long day
no merchants and no manufacturers but hers ruled the inter-
national commerce of the world.

The methods and the secrets of their craft had the " Calimala "
merchants safely guarded, but there was springing up in England^
and in Flanders a spirit like unto their own. There was no reason ^/
why other men should not do what the Florentines had done, and ^X
many a student, and many a statesman, as well as many a trader,
set their minds to work to find out the why and wherefore of the ^y
ascendancy of Florence.

England stepped first of all into the arena, and, under Henry
VII., a law was passed by the British Parliament to prohibit the
export of unshorn cloth. Other countries followed suit. This

138 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

was a blow to Florence from which she never recovered, for,
together with the prohibition of export, there appeared upon
the scene native workmen, who had learnt something of the
methods of the Florentines.

Before she had got over the effects of adverse legislation and
treatment on the part of her erstwhile customers the Grand Duke
Cosimo I., with fine old Florentine protectionist instinct, issued,
in I 561, a decree of the Government, which forbade the importation
of serges and light woollen cloths from England and Flanders !
This action was by way of " cutting off one's nose to vex one's
face ! " This was a final and a deadly blow, and the whole stately
edifice of the " Arte e Universita de Mercanti di Calimala"
tottered to its fall !

In 1359 the State had bestowed upon the " Calimala" Guild
a site for the erection of a Residence for the Consuls and their
Courts, in lieu of their narrow quarters in the old Cavalcanti
Palace. The doors of this Temple of Commerce were opened in
prosperous times, but they were closed in days of waning power.
Who closed them, or when they were shut, — never to open again, —
no historian has recorded. After the Republic was abolished, in
the year 1532, the grand old Guild drooped slowly but surely,
but its death and burial are alike unnoted, and no Scrivano has
left even one word to tell of its last moments.

The " Calimala " Guild had held a preponderating position-
industrial, commercial, social, and political, in the history of
Florence for five hundred years and more !

ARMS OF "THE GUILD OF CALI MALA "-EAGLE AND BALE OF CLOTH

CHAPTER V

THE GUILD OF WOOL

L'ARTE E UNIVERS1TA DELIA LANA

I. ORIGIN.— Wool the oldest textile industry. A quaint old "Tract." An
ancient Florentine document. The Countess Matilda. A fulling-mill of 1062.
Early workers in wool. Actual origin of Guild uncertain. Destruction of
documents by Ciompi in 1378. Home consumption. Foreign markets. Two
sections of original craftsmen. Separation of " Calimala " merchants.

II. CONSTITUTION.— Similar to that of " Calimala " Guild. Particular legis-
lation to avoid confusion. Code of 1301-1309. Duties of Stimatori and
Sensali. Adulterations. Standard weights and measures. Payments in ad-
vance. Letters of credit. Many revisions of the Statutes.

III. THE UMILIATI. — Their influence, methods of work, and example.
Borgo d'Ognissanti workshops and workpeople. Great encouragement of wool
industry. A new bridge. " Pittiglioso ! " The Cascine. An anachronism.
The " Brethren ;; retire from business.

IV. DEVELOPMENT OF THE GUILD. — Many classes of workpeople. Pro-
cesses. The Carding-comb. Dyers. Cost of dyeing. The Duke of Athens.
Favourable regulations. Good wages. Fixity of tenure. Pawning. Noises.
Games. Emigration. An old loom. Supply of wool. Inferiority of Tuscan
products. Lana di Garbo. Trade with Great Britain. Prices of raw wool
Freights. Tariffs. Wool sales. Transport. Leonardo da Vinci's ship-canal.
Description of woven cloths. Allied mechanical trades. Foreign workpeople
welcomed. Florence covered with cloth. Prosperity. Cloth sales. Residence
of the Consuls. Factories in the Contado. Momentous questions. Protection.
Strikes. Hardening of prices. Foreign competition. Taxable articles. ''''Fare
il Signore!" Tapestry and Cosimo de' Medici. The Military Order of the
Knights of St Stephen. A new Constitution. Silent looms.

THE manufacture of woollen cloth is doubtless one of the
most ancient industries of the human race. In an old
volume, entitled " Trattato della Pittura, Scultura, ed Archi-
tettura," written by Giovanni Paolo Lomazzo, — painter of Milan,
— with the sententious legend out of Ecclesiastes : " In the
hands of the skilful shall the work be approved," there is the
following quaint reason for the existence of the wool industry1 : —

Published in English. Oxford, 1598.

«39

140 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

"In so much as our bodies being borne naked by Nature were
diversly annoyed by the intern perateness of the ay re, it most in-
geniously invented the Art of Weaving and Tailery ; not so
much for defence and safegarde of our bodies from iniury of the
wether, as for ornament and decencie ; and to the selfe same end
hath it also found out (in a word) all the other Mechanical
Artes."

The historical records of every civilized nation give early and
prominent position to the working of, and the trading in wool. The
Persians, the Egyptians, the Greeks, and the Romans, — the great
civilizing and commercial races of the world, — used and improved
the manufacture of woollen cloth. Under the universal dominion
of the latter power the extension of the woollen industry syn-
chronised with that of military and civil jurisdiction, — the trade,
then as now, followed the flag.

The first reliable notices of the woollen industry in Tuscany
present it to us as already in a flourishing condition, and giving
employment to the majority of the inhabitants of the towns and
villages. From a document,1 dated May 10, 846, it appears that
the weaving of wool was carried on in Lucca, under terms of
trade association, and with a code of regulations.

We may fairly presume that Florence was not far behind her
neighbour in the matter of date. The capital of an enlightened
succession of Marquises and Dukes of Tuscany, we may be
sure that the principal industry of all time was not without
encouragement and co-operation, within the limits of her
influence and jurisdiction, during the ninth, tenth, and eleventh
centuries.

Under the beneficent rule of the Countess Matilda the
prosperity of Florence advanced greatly. The workmen at her
looms and the merchants in her marts spread her fame far and
wide. The Commune became a Republic of Industry and
Commerce, and her wool merchants and manufacturers were
enrolled among the earliest of the Consuls.

1 Peruzzi, p. 64.

THE GUILD OF WOOL 141

Among the many trades which were actively prosecuted in
the eleventh and twelfth centuries the following are noted in the
portions of the State Archives which are preserved : —

14 1062. Gualchiera — a fulling-mill."

11 1096. Petrus — tentore — wool dyer."

" 1136. Scartone — pettinario — woollen-comb maker."

" 1148. Petrus fil. Petri — pelliparius — cloth-presser."

" 1193. Guerius — tonditor — sheep-shearer."

The scenes of these early industries was well within the
Secondo Cerchio, — Second Wall, — of 1074 : security of life and pro-
perty not being assured in the Contado beyond. In the Prato, —
which along with Monte Orlando, — was enclosed within the city's
boundaries, in 1107, were located a great number of workers in
wool. The dressing of wool was also carried on in Via Alfani,
Via dei Servi, Via Ginori, Borgo Pinti, Via della Pergola, and in
the Piazza delle Travi, in the twelfth century.

In a State paper of the year 1197 is a law concerning the
cities and lands of Tuscany, wherein the people of Florence are
described as : — " wool-workers from Olivero." 1

The precise date of the first incorporation of the " Guild of
Wool," in Florence, is quite uncertain. Much of the knowledge
we can obtain of its inauguration is from presumption, for
during the memorable riots of the Ciompi in 1378, most of the
documents of the Guild were destroyed by fire. This fact, taken
in connection with the poverty of the remnants of the State
Records, leaves us very much in the dark with respect to the
initial organization and early development of the Guild. Perhaps
the earliest record preserved is a list of the names of the Consuls
up to the year 1 138.2

Almost certainly the " Wool Guild " was the first Corporate
Society or Trade Corporation in Florence, and was in existence
before her wool and cloth merchants began to travel through

1 L. Cantini, *'Saggi," vol. iii. p. 73.

~ Pagnini, "Delia Decima," vol. ii. p. 83.

142 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

Europe. The output of the Florentine looms was in excess of
the demand on the spot, consequently enterprising manufacturers
looked abroad for markets.

This development led to the division of the wool-workers of
Florence, and the establishment of a separate Corporation of
dealers and finishers of foreign-made cloth — the " Calimala" In
a very true sense the " A rte delta Lana " was the mother of the
"Arte di Calimala" but as time went on, the greater profits
obtainable by the latter drew into membership the more consider-
able of the citizens, and hence the " Calimala " merchants took the
first place in wealth and influence, whilst native manufacturers
had to be content with the second place.

Notices of the Guild are frequent during the first thirty
years of the thirteenth century, and the Consuls signed their
names to Treaties with other States along with the Consuls of the
Guilds of " Judges and Notaries," " Calimala;' " Silk Merchants,"
and " Bankers."

The organisation of the Wool Guild marched with that of the
" Calimala" merchants. Before the promulgation of the Statutes,—
drafted 1301-1309, — the "Guild of Wool" was ruled by Priors,
later called Consuls, whose number in that year was eight. They
had power to make regulations and laws for the direction and
benefit of the Guild, and had full jurisdiction in all civil and
criminal causes over all enrolled members. They were chosen
by lot from among the most skilful masters of the craft.

Matriculation followed the rule observed by the " Calimala "
Guild, — qualifications of birth, education, and parental income,
were necessary. The relations between the matriculated members
of the Guild and the operatives, engaged in all the various pro-
cesses of the wool industry, were quite the same for the two
Guilds.

About the year I 300 three separate sets of master-merchants
were empanelled to assist the Consuls in the execution of their

WOMEN WORKERS IN WOOL

FIFTKKNTH CENTURY

THE GUILD OF WOOL 143

office. These were called ConsigUeri, — Advisers or counsellors,
Regolatori — Officers of byelaws and regulations, and Provveditori
degli Ordini — Superintendents of enactments.1

The adoption of the Code of Statutes, enacted for general
use by all the Guilds in 1301-1309, was agreed to by the
members of the Wool Guild almost in its entirety.

At first sight it seems probable that difficulties and confusion
would arise between the " Calimala " Guild and that of Wool.
Certainly there were some inconveniences, at an early period, due
to the similarity of the merchandise in which each was interested.
However it was soon seen that the business of the former had
exclusively to do with the finishing of foreign made woollen
cloth, and had nothing in common with the treatment of raw
wool and the manufacture of cloth.

Regulations and rules were passed by the Consuls and
Councils of each of the two Guilds, which rendered it practically
impossible for one to injure the other. No member of the Wool
Guild was allowed to keep or sell foreign-woven cloth. The
weaving of expensive cloth was restricted — perhaps with a view
to avoid competition with the trade of the " Calimala " Guild in
redressing fine foreign-made materials. On the other hand cloth
made up of inferior cardings was condemned to be burnt — a
wise precaution against any temptation to force shoddy pieces
upon the market.2

The right of the " Guild of Wool," and of its Consuls and duly
elected officers, to control the business and the workpeople of
the Guild was affirmed by a special rubric. At the same time
the members were bound not to interfere in any way with
members of other Guilds. Persons not matriculated in the Wool
Guild were forbidden to make and sell woollen pieces, and further
were restrained from mixing dyes or doing other things connected
with the wool industry.3

The Stimatori and Sensali, — the official measurers and brokers

1 L. Cantini, "Saggi," p. 96. 2 Statutes of 1309-1316, Bk. iv. 45.

3 Statuta P.et (C.) F. 1415, Rubs. xlv. and xlvii.

144 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

of the Guild, — acting under the express orders of the Consuls,
made scrupulous examination of the pieces before they were
placed upon the market. Each piece had to be of the exact
standard length and weight — the latter varied considerably after
the processes of fulling and dyeing.1

Falsifications, adulterations, and irregularities of all kinds
were severely visited by fines, destruction of the cloth, and post-
ing the names of all offending manufacturers and merchants at
the Offices of the Guild. The mixture of linen thread with woollen
was condemned, except its quality and description were plainly
marked upon the woven cloth. This industry however was
fairly prosperous, especially for exportation : cloth thus manu-
factured bore the name of Moscolato, — mixture, — and Tintilano^
— grained.2

A piece of woollen cloth usually measured from thirty to
thirty-two ulne, — the yard-measure of the workshops was a
little longer than the canna of the " Calimala," the yard-measure
of commerce. The canna, as used by the " Guild of Wool,"
measured one and a half braccio, or a forearm's length, each
braccio being 22.97 inches, English.

The average weights of woollen yarn in the bundle were as
follows : — Garbo serges, one pound, — for fine qualities, either white
or coloured, one pound four ounces ; for San Martina, — finest
qualities only, — one pound five ounces ; each weight being that
shown by the scales of the Battitori, — Wool-beaters.

It was permissible to buy and sell pieces of cloth, boldronir
— whole fleeces of lambs' wool without the skin, woollen yarn, and
all-woollen sundries, in packs or bundles ; but, in each transaction,
absolute honesty was enjoined, in the deduction from the pur-
chase-money of the weight and value of the tare, whether sacks,
exuding moisture, pieces of fat or skin, dust or any other
extraneous matter.

Sensali of the Guild were warned to pay particular attention

1 T. Truchi, " Difesa del Commercio dei Fiorentini," p. 17.

2 Cantini, iv. p. 45.

THE GUILD OF WOOL 145

to these matters, and to make careful entries in their sale and
transfer books. Disputed tares were to be at once taken before
the Consuls for their decision. Any person attempting to pass
off rubbish of any kind as good sound wool was punished by a
fine of one hundred lire. The use of unjust weights, and undue
pressure of the hand upon the scale incurred a penalty of two
hundred lire.

The office of Sensale, — agent, — was quite as important in
connection with the Wool Guild, as it was with the " Guild of
Calimala" Many of these " middle men " made huge profits, and
became influential merchants ; but, in the archives, under the
year 1326, is a curious entry, which states that a certain
wool-broker declared he had not earned more than fifty lire that
year !

The Consuls of the Guild required that all payments for yarn,
cloth, raw-wool, and the adjuncts of the industry should be made
in advance, for sales effected within a distance of one hundred
miles from the city ; and further, they forbade discounts of every
kind. Payments to customers, or agents, beyond that distance
were managed by " Letters of Credit," under special notes of
interest, agreed upon with the co-operation of the " Guild of
Bankers and Money Changers."

The Statutes of the Guild were revised in 1317, 1331, 1333,
1338, 1362, 1415 and 1428; additions were made in 1319,
I333> J337> 1361, 1427 and many times in the sixteenth
century. In all of these proceedings the Wool Guild bears its
full title of " Arte e Universita della Lana" *

The arrival and settlement of the Umiliati^ — the Humble
Fathers of Saint Michael of Alexandria, — in Florence, in 1238,
had an instantaneous and beneficent effect upon the woollen
industry at large. Their fame had preceded them, and they were
welcomed by manufacturer and by operative alike. The former
saw the possibilities of greater gains through the application of

1 G. Gonetta, " Bibliografia Statuaria delle Corporanzie d'Arte e mestieri d'ltalia."
K

146 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

better technical knowledge ; whilst the latter judged that higher
wages would rule.

In 1237 the State granted the church and convent of San
Donato a Torre, just outside the Prato Gate, for the use of the
Fathers ; and the benefaction was confirmed by Giovanni de'
Mangiadori, the Bishop of Florence. After labouring here for
five years, more roomy quarters were sought, where, under the
direction of the " Mercato" or Merchant of the Monastery, the
various processes of manufacture could be more conveniently
carried on.1

At a Council of State held on May 21, 1250, — at which it
is interesting to note that the Consuls of the Wool Guild took
part along with the Consuls of the other four leading Guilds,—
lands and buildings, in the district of Santa Lucia sul Prato, were
allocated to the use of the Umiliati for the furtherance of their
industry. In the same year the Brethren purchased for a sum of
four hundred and ninety-seven florins (silver) a piece of land and
two dwelling-houses from the Tornaquinci family for the purpose
of still more enlarging their establishment.2

The responsibilities of the Monastery vastly increased, but
were greatly lightened by the direct patronage and emulation of
the "Guild of Wool." In 1256 the Brethren were again on the
move ; and this time, on their own initiative, they established
themselves upon the banks of the Arno, just at the foot of the
Second Wall of 1074. Here they erected a church, — which they
dedicated to Saint Catherine of Alexandria, — monastery buildings
and workshops. Upon them they carved their heraldic arms,
or trademark, — a wool-pack crossed with ropes, — and they named
their establishment in honour of Ognissanti — All Saints.

Quite near these new quarters was already a considerable
population, — labourers at the river quay, — whilst not very far
away were the public fishing-grounds, and a water-mill owned
by the State. The Umiliati were accompanied by many
families of workers to whom they had imparted their methods

1 Cantini, " Saggi," vol. iii. p. 73. 2 Cantini, " Legislazioni," iii. p. 81.

THE GUILD OF WOOL 147

of woollen manufacture. For them they built dwelling-houses
and a corn-mill, along with warehouses and factories, where
now-a-days runs the fashionable Lung' Arno. Pens for dipping
fleeces and dye works were erected by the river-side. In the
meadows, and under the old wall, and beneath the projecting
eaves of the roofs of the monastic buildings, were great wooden
frames whereon the pieces of woven cloth were stretched to
dry. The district soon became the centre of an industrious and
well-conducted community, and Borgo d'Ognissanti, — with the
Via Gora running through it, — grew into an important and
wealth-producing suburb of the city.

As the trade of the Monastery increased, — and by this
increase the commerce of the Florentine wool merchants also
grew enormously, — the necessity for a bridge across the Arno
became obvious. In 1218 a wooden structure was thrown over
the river by permission of the Podesta, Otto da Mandola, to which
was given the name of "Alia Carraia" on account of the number
of carts and waggons laden with wool, and pack-mules, which
constantly crowded it, coming out of the country, or going down
to Porto Pisano.

This bridge also served another useful purpose, for it provided
the inhabitants of the three Borghi or Suburbs, — across the river
collectively known as Oltrarno, — with a ready means of access to
the new woollen factories. One of these Borghi was ignominiously
called " Pittiglioso" because of the poverty and squalor of its
denizens. These poor people were thus enabled to obtain work,
and speedily an entire transformation of their district was effected
Later on in the history of Florence Oltrarno became known by
the name of Via de' Bardi, after one of the rich banking families
who built their palace there.

Many provisions and laws were passed by the Government
of the Republic, between 1250 and the end of the century, which
extended the privileges and powers of the Umiliati.1 In 1 267,
for example, the " Porto," so called, — or landing stage, — the islands

1 L. Cantini, " Legislazioni," vol. i. p. 297.

148 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

in the Arno, and the whole riverside from the Ponte alia Carraia
to the junction of the river Mugnone, — with all the adjoining
fields and gardens, — in fact the beautiful Cascine of modern
Florence — were allocated to the use of the Order for building
new factories and workmen's houses.

The woollen cloth manufactured in the workshops of the
Order was marked with their arms, — a bale of cloth tied with
cords in the form of a cross, — with the letters O. SS. C. in
the corners — " Omnium Sanctorum Conventus" — the Monastery
of All Saints.1 The Monastery became the heart and soul of
the trade of Florence, whilst the lives of the " Brethren," — as
they preferred to be called, — furnished models of self-control,
business application, and religious zeal, each of which had an
immense influence upon the sympathetic nature of the people.

Towards the end of the thirteenth century, however, a marked
relaxation of zeal was seen in the conduct of the Umiliati, so far
as their efforts were concerned in directing and encouraging the
woollen industry. Whether their religious Rule became more
exacting, or whether the anachronism of monks competing in the
world's markets with merchants, or prudence in view of political
controversies, or lukewarmness in the prosecution of their manu-
facturing enterprise, suggested the relaxation, no authority has
recorded.

Gradually the work of the Monastery dwindled away, and
the operatives began to ally themselves more closely with the
" Guild of Wool." At last, in I 330 a resolution was arrived at by
the Generals of the Order, which shut their factory doors, and
for ever closed the labours of nearly one hundred years. The
monks retained possession of the Monastery of Ognissanti till
1564, at which date Pope Pius V. suppressed their Order.

Among the trade associations subordinated to the Guild of
Wool Merchants were 2 : —

1 L'Osservatore Fiorentino, iii. 169.

2 G. Capponi, '* Storia della Repubb. di Firenze," vol. ii. pp. 3-5.

THE GUILD OF WOOL

149

Tosatori and Cimatori.

Lavatori.

Scompatori.

Cardatori and Scardassieri.

Filatori and Filatore.

Tessitori.
Folloni.
Tintori.
Filatrice.
Stamaiuoli,
Battilani.
Lanini.
Pettinatori.

Vergheggiatori and Battitori.
Pettinagnoli.
Conciatori.

Shearers.

Washers.

Sorters.

Carders.

Spinners, — male and

female.
Weavers.
Fullers.
Dyers.
Winders.
Master-spinners.
Carding-machine oilers.
Special workers.
Combers.
Beaters.
Comb makers.
Curriers.

The methods, employed by the various sets of operatives in
the manufacture of cloth, were to a great extent the same which
obtain to-day in countries where the introduction of modern
machinery has not been made.

After the fleeces had been cut off, — preferably in one whole
piece, — from the sheep, they were washed, but not with hard
water, for that was found to make the wool harsh to the touch.
Ammonia, in one form or other, was usually mixed with the
water. This had the further recommendation of rendering the
dressed wool more susceptible of even dyeing. Scouring in
hot soap-suds in hollow vats required the services of two men
to a vat, for they kept on tossing, one to the other with strong
poles, the bundles of wool, separating thus the dirt and dissolving
the grease.

The next process was lifting the scoured and cleansed fleeces
out of their bath and allowing them to drain, meanwhile rinsing
them with pure Arno water to remove suds. Drying slowly was

150 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

found best in draughty warm air, but the aim was not to let
the wool become too dry, for fear of cracking and splitting.

Combing the wool followed. Big brushes or rakes were used
at first, their teeth being bent into stout leather backs, which
offered a more yielding medium than wood. Later on, cylin-
drical combing machines of iron and leather were introduced.

Oiling was an important point, to avoid harshness and
undue curling. The oil was applied to the combed-out wool
by sprinklers with rose mouthpieces. This process was found
to be useful in promoting adhesiveness when the spinning stage
was reached.

Blending the wool was a special science apart, practised by
the most experienced workpeople, but essential from an economic
point of view, and also from the point of view of the production
of novel materials.

Carding, the initial step to the processes of making yarn,
was a very important matter, and required the skill of well-trained
workmen. The carding-comb for weaving rascia, — white serge, —
was ordinarily about sixteen inches wide, with wires of such
a number as would allow one hundred and ten threads to be
laid upon the loom. For sky-blue serges the comb was seven-
teen inches wide, with wires for one hundred threads ; for pale
and faded blue serges the comb was the same, but one hundred
and five wires were laid upon the loom. There was no restric-
tion in the size of comb or in the number of thread wires for
other kinds of coloured cloth.

Spinning and winding followed closely on the heels of one
another. They were usually done by women and girls ; but all
apprentices were expected to know both these processes ex-
perimentally, and to be skilled in them.

It was the duty of the Stamaiuolo to give out woollen yarn to
the Filatrice in knots or bundles, and to register the name of each
woman, and the number and quality of the knots, and at the
same time to agree with her about the price for winding each
particular job. The winders were forbidden to transfer their

DYEING AND DYERS

F.ND OK FIFTEENTH CENTUKY

THE GUILD OF WOOL 151

work one to the other, and to make use of any yarn not delivered
to them by the master spinners.1

The actual making of cloth required many processes, of
course, between the delivery of the wound yarn and the output
of the pieces of finished woollen cloth. Weavers, Fullers, and Dyers
each in turn manipulated the lengths of cloth before they reached
the presses of the Finishers and Folders.

The Dyers of Florence formed a considerable and numerous
element in the population. They seem to have been divided into
three classes : — I. Dyers of foreign cloth for the "Calimala Guild " ;
2. Dyers of native cloth for the " Wool Guild " ; and 3. Dyers of
silk for the " Silk Guild." All were dependent upon the " Calimala "
for the supply of dyes, mordants, and all other ingredients of their
trade. Each Dyer paid the sum of three hundred and ten gold
florins to the Treasurer of the Guild, by way of guarantee or bail
that he purposed to execute his calling in good faith, and, in
return, received an official permission to carry on the industry.
Each Dye-house and all its contents, together with samples of
dyed goods, were required to be prepared annually for a thorough
inspection by the officials of the Guild.

Whilst the Dyers were not permitted to incorporate them-
selves into a separate Arte or Guild, they were allowed to associate
themselves in families and groups, in the pursuit of any special
operations of their craft. All such companies were subordinated
to the " Wool Guild," with respect to their political and social
status, the only exception being made in the case of certain
foreign dyers employed by the " Silk Guild," who did not come
under the authority of the " Guild of Wool."

Dyers were obliged to show diligence in their work, and render
prompt and faithful service to their employers. They were bound
to enter in a book, within twenty-four hours, all the cloth which
they received for dyeing. They were not allowed to go about the
city, or Contado, seeking work, but were to remain in their work-
shops, until they obtained pieces from the Sensali.

1 L. Cantini, " Legislazione," i. p. 366.

152 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

The cost of dyeing woollen cloth per one hundred pieces in
Florence in the fifteenth century may be estimated by the
following List 1 : — Sbiadato — sky-blue, Smeraldino — emerald, and
Azzuro — light blue, three florins ; Pelo di Leone — tan colour, and
Verde chiaro — bright green, four florins ; Bigio di mezzo — middle
grey, and Cupo di bianco — shaded white, five florins ; Rosa secca —
dead red, Sanguigno di sbiadato — pale carmine, and Gherofanato
— pink, six florins ; Celestino — sky-blue, Violetto — pale purple, and
Bruschino — coffee-colour, eight florins ; Verde-Bruno — dark green,
Berrettino di guado — Monk's-hood red, and Morello di grana —
ivy black, ten florins ; Monachino — monkish grey, twelve florins ;
Rosato — deep rose, twenty-five florins ; Lucchesino — Lucca
scarlet, twenty-eight florins, and Scarlatto — vermilion, thirty-five
florins.

These prices were fixed by the Consuls and Council of the
" Wool Guild," with the expert advice of the officers appointed to
examine into the subject. It was imperative that the colours used
in dyeing should be fixed, not fugitive. Any cloth badly dyed
was either remanipulated, cut up and sold to the hucksters, or
burnt. Dyers could, if they wished, use inferior colours, but they
were obliged to declare the fact, and to place tickets stating it,
upon the dyed pieces.

Alum, — indispensable as a mordant for fixing the colours, — was
brought from mines in the Maremma, where the debris of early
excavations had been pulverised by the action of the air.

The Duke of Athens, on assuming the government of Florence,
extended his favour to the Dyers — who by the way did much to
support his authority, — by granting the petition they offered to him
in i 342.2 In this document, after paying the Duke some flattering
compliments, the petitioners go on to say : " Grant us Consuls of
our own, chosen out of our Corporation of Dyers and Washers
and free us from the yoke of the ' Wool Guild,' that we may carry
on our industry without let or hindrance in your Highness's

1 Pagnini, vol. iv. 170.

- Archivio Giornale Toscana, vi. 210, Doc. 83.

THE GUILD OF WOOL 153

service." Three Consuls were appointed, but they were not
recognised by the " Guild of Wool."

No workman could be employed by any merchant who had
not first proved his ability, and obtained a formal written
testimony thereof. Employers were required to provide their
workpeople with all the instruments of their trade. For mutual
convenience workers engaged in the same process were employed
in groups, and worked in the same rooms. The manufacture of
woollen-cloth was forbidden in private dwellings.1

Each manufacturer was required to pay his work-people suffi-
cient daily or weekly wages — the amount of which had to be
submitted to the Consuls of the Guild for their approval. The
normal prices paid to Filatori and Lanini were, for each bundle of
serge yarn, one soldo, ten denari or piccioli. Filatrice received
generally one soldo, five piccioli, for the same quantity. The average
daily wage of an adult worker was one soldo, six denari, about one
shilling and sixpence. In times of trade depression prices naturally
declined, and a day's wage amounted to no more than thirty
piccioli — perhaps about eightpence.

Every workman had security of tenancy in his home. A Prov-
visione prevented manufacturers expelling their hands,— either
from their employment or their houses, — save for grave reasons,
which had to be stated in the Council of the Consuls, and
approved by vote. House-owners also were forbidden to raise
the rents of dwellings except by express permission of the
Consuls.

All citizens were strongly cautioned not to take in pledge,
from woollen operatives, any instrument or implement used in
their trade. Sales of wool, woollen-yarn, or woollen-cloth by
workpeople were strictly prohibited. No money-changer, or lender
of the market, was allowed to lend money upon whole pieces
of woollen-cloth, remnants of cloth, woollen-yarn, or raw wool.
Every such transaction, in spite of the prohibition, was visited with
a fine of fifty lire.

1 V. Follini, " Firenze Antica e Moderna Illustra," vol. vi. cxxi. p. 207.

154 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

Wool-sorting and beating were forbidden within the walls of
the city, as was also the scutching of cotton and all other noisy
employments, from the tolling of the three o'clock bell to the
striking of the bell at Matins. Overtime, — as we call it, — was
forbidden, no worker being permitted to carry on his trade even
secretly after Compline^

The care which the State extended to the well-being of the
woollen operatives is evidenced in a number of Provvisioni
regulating the hours of work and rest. It was strictly prohibited
for any noise to be made in the streets during the night.

In all the workshops of the Guild games of chance were
strictly forbidden, indeed the only indoor game allowed was
chess, which as a quaint old chronicler has it, — " hath in it the
element of patience and quietness." •

Certain Provvisioni dealt with the questions of the emigration
of operatives and of the location of foreign agencies. No
merchant, agent, workman, or apprentice, was permitted to leave
Florence, and establish himself in any foreign land except by
express permission of the Consuls of the Guild. Later on — in
the fifteenth century — the emigration of workpeople was wholly
forbidden. These measures were doubtless necessary for the
safeguarding of the secrets of the trade, and for the protection of
the Florentine monopoly of foreign markets. In the same way
the export of raw native wool and woollen yarn, as well as of
madder, woad and other dying materials was forbidden.

It is a thousand pities that all the old looms, implements, and
accessories of the industry have disappeared. As late as 1 8 5 8 an
ancient telaio — woollen-cloth loom — was still in working order in
an old house, of the time of Arnolfo di Cambio, in the thirteenth
century, in the Piazza delle Travi on the Lung' Arno degli
Alberti.

Neither Tuscany, nor the whole of Italy, could supply any-
thing like the quantity, much less the quality, of wool needed to
meet the requirements of the Florentine looms. The rearing

1 Statuta, 1415, Rub. xlix. a Statuta Populi Florentiae, Book iii. 191.

A CLOTH-FULLING MILL WITH A WATKK-r.ATK

FOURTEENTH AND FIFTEENTH CKN I I RIKS
[See page l6f\

THE GUILD OF WOOL 155

of sheep was not, in early times, a paying occupation in
Tuscany. The breed was certainly hardy, but the scant eatage
of the barren hill-sides, — where the flocks were pastured because
the better land was under cultivation, — was not productive of
the opulent fleeces of more generously nourished flocks. In the
fifteenth century the number of sheep in Tuscany exceeded one
million ; but whereas some, in good condition, only gave three
or four pounds' weight of coarse wool, a Spanish, English, or
Flemish sheep rendered up a fleece which averaged eight and
nine pounds of excellent wool.1

The determination and the thoroughness which the shepherds
and their masters, — most of them wealthy members of the Wool
Guild, — threw into the rearing of sheep produced good results.
Tuscan raw wool, — which eventually took the place of the famed
produce of Puglia, Taranto and Modena, — obtained profitable
quotations in all markets for the manufacture of strong and
serviceable cloth.

The woollen industry of Florence had active and enterprising
rivals at Pisa, Genoa, Venice, Bologna, Ferrara, and in Lombardy
and France. At the same time, in each of these manufac-
turing centres, there existed Statutes and Provisions, which
absolutely forbade the importation of foreign wool, and the
manipulation of foreign-made cloth. Florence, on the other hand,
followed an entirely different policy, with results, as remarkable
for their benefit to the home industry, as they were for their pre-
eminence in all foreign markets.

The wealth, which poured into the coffers of her merchants,
enabled them to purchase the pick of the wool offered at all
foreign fairs. England, France, Spain, and Portugal, readily sold
their rich fleeces to the agents of the " Guild of Wool." Prices
ranged from sixteen soldi per hundred pounds' weight of raw
Tuscan wool, to sixteen hundred soldi for the same weight of
the best French, Narbonne, and Portuguese raw wool.

From the Algarves came the best of all wool — Tuscanized into

1 L. Pignotti, "Storia della Toscana," p. 27.

156

THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

fj

tw

" Garbo" Hence " Panne di Garbo " was the finest cloth woven
in Florence, and the street in which it was chiefly manufactured
was called Via di Garbo. Spanish wool was also of very excel-
lent quality. The merino sheep introduced into the country by
the Romans centuries before, and crossed with the native breed, had
established a high reputation for purity of colour and silkiness of
texture. No wool was so useful as this pure white variety for fine
manufactures : it also went under the name of " Lana di Garbo''

Henry II. was the first English king who granted facilities
to Florentine traders for the purchase of British-grown wool.
As early as 1284 the quantity of raw wool bought by
Florentine merchants from English monasteries was considerable.
Several wool-trading companies were established in London, and
elsewhere, — among them being that of Messer Tommaso Spigliati
e di Lapo Ugho Spini.1 Letters are in existence, written by one
of their travellers, — Simone Gherardi, — who, in rendering an
account of his commercial journey in 1285, speaks of the excel-
lence of the wool offered for sale by the British monasteries.
Other companies were Messeri di Bindo Isquarta, di Jacopo, Ric-
comanno, de' Mozzi, Peruzzi, and Pulchi, with representatives of
the Bardi family.

By the year 1315 more than two hundred monasteries in
England, France, Spain, Portugal, and Flanders, were supplying
the Florentine Guild of Wool. The names of these look very
funny in their Italian dress, for example : —

Vichamo-in-costa-Rivalsi for Wykeham near Rivaux.
Boccheselle in Chenti „ Bexley in Kent.
Stalleo in Guarvicche
Guizzopo presso Abliada

Stoneleigh in Warwick.
Worksop near Nottingham.

GuesameinChondisgualdo „ Eversham in Worcestershire.

Miense in Picardia
Provino in Campagna
Bosella in Brabante
Inghiemino in Arnaldo

1 Pagnini, vol. :

„ Amiens in Picardy.

„ Provins.

„ Brussels.

„ Engheim in Hainault.

Appendix xvi. p. 324.

THE GUILD OF WOOL 157

Melrose they called Merusotte, Galloway — Gonellasso, and
Kelso — Chilosola, and so on.1

The best British wool came from the Cotswolds and from
Chichester, — Tuscanised into Codignaldo and Scrisestri.

" The wool of Britain," wrote an old historian, " is often spun
so fine that it is, in one sense, comparable to the spider's web."
This excellence was the result of carefully following the plans of
the old Roman settlers, who established immense sheep farms in
various parts of the country and set up woollen manufactories at
the old capital Winchester. Doubtless they were duly apprecia-
tive of the splendid breed of sheep which they found in the island
and their rich yield of long silky fleeces.

The raw wool imported from England was of three qualities,

—"Buona" — fine, " Moiana" — soft, and "Locchi" — still-born lamb's

wool. The prices, per sack, of Scotch wool were, — for fine

qualities, twenty marks, English, — for coarse, twelve marks, and

for still-born, nine marks (English coinage).2

One hundred pounds weight English were equal to about one
hundred and forty Florentine, and each English sack contained
about fifty-two pounds. For ease of transport by mule-back the
sacks were packed in two equal bales, — each weighing about two
hundred and fifty pounds Florentine.

The exports of raw wool from England assumed vast propor-
tions, and excited the jealousy and opposition of native producers
and manufacturers. The annual consignments from Great Britain
to Florence, in the fourteenth century, — and indeed earlier, — filled
2,800 sacks or bags, and were of the average value of £25,000
to £30,000.

Vexatious Acts of Parliament were passed to limit the facilities
of the Florentine traders. Edward III. invited dyers, fullers, and
weavers from Flanders to settle in his dominions, and teach his
people their methods ; and, at the same time, he directed that

1 The whole list is given by Balducci Pegolotti for the year 1315, from the MS.
Riccardiana, "La Pratica della Mercatura," vol. ii.

2 Peruzzi, p. 324.

158

THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

exorbitant duties should be placed upon the exports of wool to
Italy.

In 1455, under Henry VI., a law was made forbidding Italian

A "FUSTA DI MERCATO," A LIGHT MERCHANT VESSEL. FIFTEENTH CENTURY.

merchants to buy wool and woollen yarn and cloth except in
London, Southampton, and Sandwich. A few years later this
was made more stringent by the absolute refusal of Parliament to
allow sales to Italian wool merchants.

Legislation under Edward IV. forbade aliens to export wool,

THE GUILD OF WOOL 159

and restricted natives from consigning bales or bags, to all
foreign ports except Calais. All these repressive measures led
to the commissioning by Italian merchants of blocade-running
ships, by which risk}* means valuable consignments were got
through to Italy and elsewhere.

Such embargoes could not be tolerated, and so the Florentine
shippers appointed Bindo da Staggio, — a resident in London and
a persona grata at Court, — their ambassador, to plead for a relaxa-
tion of the prohibitive regulations. The outcome was favourable
to the foreign traders, and by way of securing their advantage,
two wool merchants — Francesco de' Strozzi and Gierozo de'
Pigli, — both residents in London,- — -were appointed Consuls of the
Florentine colony in England.1

In 1483 a Royal decree was issued regulating sales to
Florentine merchants, and again restricting their trade. Under
Henry VII. more enlightened counsels prevailed, and in 1486
a commercial treaty, between England and the Florentine Republic,
was signed, by which English merchants undertook to carry every
year sufficient wool to supply all the States of Italy ; and Floren-
tine traders promised to buy no wool unless carried in English
ships. The Florentines obtained on their side corresponding
privileges with respect to the import into England of redressed
foreign cloth and dyed Florentine weavings.2 In 1493 modifica-
tions of the treaty were made. Greater freedom was allowed in
the purchase of raw wool for sole consumption in Florence, but
her merchants were forbidden to re-sell their imports, except six
hundred bales annually to the Venetians.

The reigns of Henry VIII. and Elizabeth were full of enact-
ments for and against the Florentine woollen-cloth merchants.
The former sovereign encouraged their enterprise, and had per-
sonal dealings with the Frescobaldi, Bardi, Corsi, Cavalcanti, and
other leading houses. The policy of Elizabeth was however
repressive, and under her the export of raw wool was once more

1 Archivio di Firenze, Filza Strozziana. 294, etc., 135-136.
- L. Cantini, " Legislazione." i. p. 301.

160 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

absolutely and entirely forbidden. This prohibition cut both ways
but the greater sufferers were the English sheep farmers, whose
loss was estimated at ten million pounds sterling !

At the same time no such restrictions or prohibition affected
the export of Spanish and Portuguese wool. From a document
of the year 1326 we learn that prices ranged as follows : — l
A whole fleece of " Garbo" — less the skin, — one hundred gold

florins.
Undressed wool of " S. Matteo," and Majorca, — one lira, eleven

soldi per pound.

Undressed wool of Minorca — one lira, eighteen soldi per pound.
Washed wool of Majorca — two lire, five soldi per pound.
Woollen yarn of " Garbo " — two lire, eight soldi per pound.

With England as the greatest wool-producing country in
Europe, from the thirteenth to the fifteenth centuries, the com-
mercial intercourse of the Florentines developed rapidly. At first
the trade with the English grower was only through the medium
of the French and Flemish markets, and was carried overland—
from which circumstance English wool was called " lana
francigena" After Florence had obtained possession of the ports
of Livorno and Porto Pisano, the bales were shipped direct from
London, or Southampton, — which was the chief wool-shipping
depot. One of the favourite trade routes was from London to
the coast of France by sea, then up the rivers Gironde and
Dordogne, as far as Libourne, thence overland, by Montpellier to
Aigues Mortes in Provence, whence by canal and sea to Porto
Pisano, and by river boat up the Arno to Segna, and finally by
road to Florence ! Another was by Bruges in Flanders, through
Germany to Basel, and over the passes of the Alps.

The expenses of the land transport were enormous, and added
immensely to the value of the wool when it reached the hands of
the craftsmen in Florence. The freight from London to Leghorn
or Porto Pisano was two soldi per mule load, and the charge for
porterage, trans-shipment, repacking, etc., on the way, added

1 Archivio di Firenze, " Tassa delle Gabelle."

THE GUILD OF WOOL 161

considerably to the cost. Warehouse dues also were paid upon
consignments of wool stored in transit, even for brief periods :
the charge at Porto Pisano, for example, was six denari per
mule load.

In the fifteenth century a ship-canal to connect Florence with
the sea was projected by merchants of the " Calimala " and
" Wool " Guilds. Leonardo da Vinci actually made elaborate
surveys and drafted plans for the enterprise. The scheme how-
ever fell through because the Republic had other costly projects in
hand.

During the course of the thirteenth century Florentine manu-
facturers were engaged almost exclusively in weaving cloth of
coarse quality made out of native wool. These went by various
names : — bigello — coarse camlet or frieze, frustagno — fustian,
arabasio — canvas-cloth, pignolato — rough hard cloth, schiavina —
blanketing or slave-cloth, villaneschi — peasants' serge, baracane
— coarse camlet, moscolato — moss-like mixture, and other rough
and inferior descriptions.

" Xhese stuffs," writes Villani, " were coarse, and of only low
value, the which indeed they had not learned to dress with the
skill afterwards acquired." x

One description of the native manufacture was certainly of
finer texture. It was called " Tintilanor — fine grained cloth, —
made from the silky fleeces of young lambs, and was further
distinguished as locchi, — still-born, — and moiana — soft and light.
This woven material was greatly esteemed for the tight-fitting
body hose and drawers worn by men, and is referred to by
Boccaccio as thoroughly Florentine.'2

Not only did the wool industry thrive under the auspices of the
L 'miliati, but also through the energy of the Consuls of the " Wool
Guild," who welcomed artizans from Greece, and elsewhere, skilled
in the making of carding-frames and weaving-looms, and the
other machines and appliances required by the Craft.

The enterprise and the liberal wages, which marked the

1 Villani, vol. xi. c. 94. 2 Boccaccio, "Novelle" ill, Giomo 7.

1

162 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

business policy of the Florentine manufacturers, attracted a great
number of foreign workmen. The Government of the Republic
accorded to all these the same exemptions and privileges which
had been bestowed upon the Umiliatt.1

This immigration made it absolutely necessary, for the sake
of the public health, and to avoid inconvenience and overcrowding
in the quarters already inhabited by the craftsmen, to allocate to
the new-comers new areas. Hence we find that settlements of
mechanics and makers of carding-combs were established in
Oltrarno.

By the end of the thirteenth century Via Maggio, Via San
Felice in Piazza, Fondaco San Spirito — in Borgo San Jacopo, and
about San Martino and San Procolo — in the Vigna, and near
Porta Rossa, had received a new population, which, added to the
original wool workers in that quarter, became, later on, a very
powerful factor in the destinies, not merely of the Craft, but of
the Republic at large. Many of the more skilful foreign artificers
were located also in the botteghe — small shops of the Via de'
Pellicciai and around the Residence of the Consuls of the " Guild
of Doctors and Apothecaries."2

Thus, early in the fourteenth century, nearly the whole of
Florence was given up to the woollen industry. Streets were
named after the various avocations in subordination to the
41 Guild of Wool," for instance : — Via dei Cimatori, — Street of the
Shearers, — Via delle Caldai, — Street of the Cauldrons, — and the
Corso dei Tintori, — Road of the Dyers.

All round Or San Michele, and in every street and lane in the
neighbourhood of the Residence, and away down the more impor-
tant thoroughfares, right along to Borgo d'Ognissanti, and the
monastery and manufactory of the Umiliati, almost every house
and building had iron upright rods fitted to all the windows, sup-
porting wooden cross-bars, upon which were hung out, to stretch
and to dry, great hanks of spun-wool and long pieces of woven-
cloth. Some of these rods and bars may still be seen in the

1 Stat. Fio. Lib. iv. Rub. 38. 2 Benedetto Dei, "Cronica," p. 22.

STREET SCENE: THK C.AMK OF CIVETTINO

FIFTEENTH CKNTL KV
NOTE (l) THE IRON RODS AND BRACKETS ON THE BUILDINGS. K<>R HANGIXii WonLl.KN-CLOTH PIECES

TO DRV AFTER DYEING. ~ See Chapter .\~l'f\
(2) THE STYLE OF HAIR-DRESSING. .S,r Chaff,

THE GUILD OF WOOL 163

-window- frames of the Palazzo d'Alessandri in the Borgo degli
Albizzi. Indeed, when the woollen industry was at the height of its
prosperity, Florence appeared to be one vast drying and stretching
ground. Cloth of all kinds and colours waved in great lengths in
every quarter, and imparted an extraordinary aspect to the streets !

More than thirty thousand hands were engaged in the manu-
facture of woollen-cloth, all, or nearly all, of whom, were working
in connection with the " Guild of Wool." Villani, speaking of the
year 1308, says there were in Florence and its immediate Contado,
two hundred workshops belonging to the Guild, wherein were
manufactured from seventy to eighty thousand pieces of woollen
cloth. The value of this output amounted to two hundred
thousand gold florins. Thirty years later there were three
hundred woollen-cloth manufactories, which produced upwards of
one hundred thousand pieces of cloth.

At the levying of the Catasto, — income-tax, — in 1427 it was
found that there were one hundred and eight large manufactories
to be taxed ; and in that of 1 460 the number had risen to two
hundred and twenty-three wholesale houses doing an enormous
business. These figures do not include the small manufactories,
the number of which was variable, but which were always quite
as numerous if not more so than the leading houses.

In the latter year Benedetto Dei relates that Florentine woven
•cloth was sold largely in Rome, Naples, Sicily, Constantinople,
Pera, Adrianople, and all over the East. At the same time
woollen-yarn spun in Florence was not allowed to be sold to
foreign customers.

Trade was flourishing in the declining years of Lorenzo de'
Medici, inasmuch as fourteen thousand pieces of cloth, made out
of Spanish wool called " Garbo" were woven in one year, and sold
abroad for twenty-one gold florins the piece. In the same year five
thousand pieces of cloth, made out of fine English wool called " San
Martino" were woven, and realized sixty gold florins the piece.1

The Piazza della Signoria was the original site of the biennial

1 Marco Foscari, " Discorsi Del. Ev. Tus." torn, xxiii.

164 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

cloth sales, but, in the fifteenth century, the fair had attained such
large proportions, that it was removed to the Piazza di San Spirito,
in Oltrarno, and the Via Maggio and the neighbouring streets. The
Venetians were great purchasers of Florentine-made cloths, which
they exported in considerable quantities to Syria, Candia, and Istria.

In the very centre of the city resided the Consuls, — within the
precincts of Or San Michele ; and their Residence, — the ancient
Palazzo de' Comprobbisi, — communicated by an arched-covered
stairway, built in the sixteenth century, with the Shrine and
Granary across the street. From the massive and battlemented
tower they could survey the operations of their workpeople in the
immediate neighbourhood, and the waggons and strings of mules
bearing in and out the materials of their craft across the bridges.
It bore the name of " Archivio de' Contratti" — "the Registry of
Contracts," — because within it were preserved the Registers of
Commissions made on behalf of the Guild.

This tower still exists and bears the sculptured arms of the
Guild, which were emblazoned also upon the Gonfalon, and
cunningly united the devotional instincts of the Florentine people
with the emblems of their city and of their craft. They were :—
Upon a red field, a white ''Agnus Dei" bearing a red-crossed white
banneret, under four blue lilies, and a wool-comber's iron-rake.

The interior of the Residence was richly decorated. The
Hall of Audience, which occupied the whole of the first floor,,
had a finely painted ceiling with plaster mouldings supported
upon massive marble pillars, and the walls were covered with
frescoes. A wide staircase communicated with an upper storey,
which was lighted by large stained glass windows. Upon a
slab of pietra serena were the sculptured arms of the Guild,
with an inscription:—

MCCCVIII INITOE VII
DIE XI SEPTEMBRIS DO
MUS. ET CURIA ARTIS LANE
CIVITATIS FLORENTIE

RESIDENCE (R) OF THE CONSULS OF THE GUILD OF WOOL, AND FACADE OF

(L) OR SAN MICHELE

THE GUILD OF WOOL

165

This date synchronises with the restoration of the Residence
in the year 1 308.

The Guild possessed not only palaces, houses, shops and
farms, but also six great cloth stretching grounds at Orbetello,
between the Via degli Alfani and the Via della Pergola, on the
Lung' Arno dell' Aquila, along the Via de' Servi, the Via San
Piero Gatolino, and the Via dell' Uccello ; and many Fulling-mills.1

The " Guild of Wool " owned and rented many factories in
the Contado, among them the Fabbrica Castagnolo on the Pisa
road, which was sold to the Delia Stuffa family in 1220, a date
remarkably early, and indicative of the pristine expansion of the
woollen industry. Very many convents and family dwellings,
within easy reach of the Residence of the Consuls, were the
quarters of busy workers under the Guild auspices. The
monastery of Santa Maria della Disciplina was, in 1340, in the
occupation of the famous Capponi family, and sheltered quite a
number of woollen spinners and weavers.'2

Two questions constantly gave rise to fresh legislation —
wages and foreign competition. The workpeople knew per-
fectly well what enormous profits the wool merchants and
manufacturers made in their relations with outside markets.
They understood without the least difficulty that on the one
hand, their employers had command of the best supplies of the
raw material, whilst on the other, the prices for Florentine cloth
everywhere ruled the highest. This pre-eminent position, they
also judged quite rightly, was due very largely to their own
individual and collective skill in workmanship.

Joining forces, the operatives of the two Guilds — " Calimala "
and "Wool" — placed the question of wages in the forefront of
the reckonings of the merchants.

1 Note : The following old Tiratoli,— Fulling-mills,— belonging to members of the
" Guild of Wool," were still in existence at the end of the nineteenth century : — "dell*
AgHolo" and "del Cavallo ;!— both near Porta Romana, "della Pergolla"—\]& di Sant'
Egidio, " delle Convcrtite" — Via Chiara, and " degli Agricoli " — Via degli Alfani, with
dell' Uccello, and della Porticciuola d'Arno — both on the river bank.

- L. Cantini, " Legislazione," i. p. 303.

166 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

Another element also contributed to the urgency of the
matter — the constant hardening of prices in the commodities
of daily life. This response of the shopkeepers and dealers in
breadstuff's to the constantly heightening quotations for wool
and cloth made the pinch upon the working classes a double
one. The only relief to be found was in asking for better pay,
and, when masters were obdurate, coming out on strike.

Strikes were a constant phase of Florentine life, and often
enough they developed into political feuds and revolutionary
outbreaks. The culmination of the unrest was the Ciompi
Rising in 1378. The Ciompi were, for the most part, work-
people in the employment of the " Guild of Wool," and they
generally obtained all they asked for.

Together with the granting of workers' demands, employers
of labour found themselves faced by the constant tendency of
prices to fall, through the competition of foreign woven cloth.
The convergence of these two opposite forces led directly to
decadence of the woollen industry of Florence, which had, all
along, been supported upon a more or less insecure foundation.

Avidity of gain had led to the establishment of factories by
Florentine adventurers in many parts of Europe, where, in addition
to the piling up of huge stocks of raw wool, large quantities of
woollen-cloth were manufactured. These establishments became
actually technical schools, wherein the native workmen employed
were instructed in the methods followed in Florence.

Not only so, but the natural mechanical instinct of British and
Flemish operatives led to improvements in the making of looms
and in the various implements required by the industry. Thus
a class of artizans sprang up equal in ingenuity and adaptive-
ness to their Florentine prototypes. Whilst timber was, perhaps,
less an important natural product than it was in Tuscany, iron
and coal were greater assets in England and Flanders than in the
Vale of Arno.

Florence, thus, in the sixteenth century, found herself matched
by enterprising rivals, and her wool merchants and manufacturers

THE GUILD OF WOOL 167

had to contend with superiority of foreign wool combined with
equality of manipulative processes.

A remedy was sought in a Policy of Protection — which,
whilst for the moment offering a solution of the difficulties that
confronted the members of the Wool Guild, really led to disastrous
consequences.

There is a long list in Cantini of articles and materials used
in the woollen industry, which in the sixteenth century, were
forbidden exit at the gates of the city except by special permission
of the Consuls of the Guild. Among them are the following : —
Wool-pickings and doffings, woollen-thread — white and coloured,
cuttings of woollen-cloth, pressed wool in the form of feltings,
woollen rags, iron nets for beating wool, carding-combs and
teazels — both old and new, iron-looms, stays, shuttles, glossing-
cards for serges, wine-lees — white and red — in casks, madder in
bags, white moss or lichen, woad — fresh or dried, all crimson and
red dyes — liquid or powder, brazil-wood, gall-nuts, indigo, rock-
alum and alum-scum, vitriol, cloth-soap, presses or boards for
bales, leaden marks and labels, etc. etc.

A marked decline in the prosperity of the woollen industry
continued all through the sixteenth century. This was due in
great measure to hostile legislation on the part of the Rulers and
Governments of foreign countries. A law, for example, of Edward
IV. was passed which ran as follows : — " No person, under the
estate of Baron shall wear any manner of woollen-cloth manu-
factured out of the King's dominions, nor any furs of sable under
a forfeit of £10." In the reign of Cosimo — the first Grand
Duke — the number of business houses, in Florence, connected
with the " Guild of Wool " was reduced to one hundred and
sixty-six ; and before the end of the century only eighty-eight
remained to tell the tale of former prosperity.

The decadence of the woollen industry, no less than of the
general commerce of Florence, was marked by idle habits which
were induced by lengthened and unchequered prosperity. "Fare
il Signore " meant, that if one wished to be considered somebody,

168 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

all that was necessary was to cease from active participation in
trade, and to put on the airs of persons in a superior station !
This was undoubtedly, all through the Renaissance period of
history, a marked characteristic of the people of Florence ; and it
was the natural, though destructive, outcome of the conditions of
life in a community wholly commercial, where everybody belonged
to the middle class. No branch of trade felt this more than that
of wool with its preponderance of operatives, and the withering
pinch of decay fastened tightly upon the members of the " Guild
of Woollen Merchants."

The Via degli Arazzieri — named after Arras in Flanders —
recalls almost the last despairing effort to revive the prosperity of
the "Guild of Wool." In 1543 the Grand Duke Cosimo I.
wished to embellish his new palace with woven tapestries. He
applied to the woollen manufacturers of the city to carry out his
commission, but, alas, manipulative skill and commercial enterprise
were dying, if not dead ; and no one would undertake it. Cosimo
then induced a number of tapestry workers from Flanders to
settle in Florence. He established a weaving manufactory for
the public benefit, in a house, later on, called " Uffizio deW
Ipotece" Under the direction of Johannes Rotter, — better known
by his Italian name of Giovanni Rosto, — the industry developed
quickly. The Florentine painters Bronzino and Salviati designed
cartoons for the weavers. The pieces, which were woven, bore
Rotter's, or Rosto's, mark — a piece of meat roasting on a spit.
Fifty years later Cosimo II. brought master weavers from Paris, and
in a short time Florentine tapestries excelled all like productions.
A splendid collection may be seen in Palazzo della Crocetta.

The final ruin of the woollen industry was due to the institu-
tion by Cosimo II. in 1561 of the " Military Order of the Knights
of St Stephen." Many wealthy merchants and manufacturers, —
wishing to secure, in perpetuity for their families, the honour and
distinction of the military cross with its accompanying privileges,
— founded commanderies, and, fearing to demean themselves,
disdained to continue the exercise of their trade.

ARMS OF "THE GUILD OF WOOL

LUCA DELLA ROBBIA
\See page 164}

THE GUILD OF WOOL 169

The same Prince accomplished in the same year a complete
revolution in the Statutes and in the standing of the Guild. The
old order of magistrates was abolished and four new Consuls were
appointed, who held office for four months only. Their powers
were limited to the cognisance of civil causes between members of
the Guild, and with respect to sums in dispute exceeding thirty
pounds.

A Council was created entitled, Congregazione dei Conservatori
deir Arte delta Lana ; composed of a Senator — not a member of the
Guild, — a merchant, and two manufacturers, under the presidency of
the Proweditore del? Arte — Superintendent of the Guild — with the
assistance of a legal dignitary styled Giudice delF Arte — Judge of
the Guild — as assessor. The functions of this Council dealt with
Criminal Causes between members of the Guild.

It was all in vain that periodic efforts were made to rouse the
moribund body. The spirit of enterprise had departed from the
dying industry. The stones, which, one time, mischievous
apprentices and quarrelsome artizans had hurled one at another,
and they two at everybody else, were suffered to lie in the streets
and corners of the Piazzas, until blades of green grass and verdant
moss spread the mantle of idleness and sleep over them.

Busy fulling-mill and humming loom were left to rust and rot
as they might. The beautiful blue lilies of the garden of the
" Agnus Dei" were faded, and the sharp teeth of the woolcomber's
rake had lost their brightness and their bite !

The exact date of the suppression of the " A rte e Universita
delta Lana " is not known, but in the reign of Ferdinand I. the
Residence of the Consuls was closed and handed over to the
Canons of Or San Michele.

CHAPTER VI

THE GUILD OF BANKERS AND MONEY-CHANGERS
L'ARTE DEL CAMBIO

I. ORIGIN. — " Peter's Pence." Campsores Papa;. Rivalry of Tuscan cities.
" Mercatores Tusae" First mission of Florentine Bankers to England. The
Gold Florin of 1252. Agencies throughout Europe. Affluence of " Calimala "
and Wool Guilds called into existence the Guild of Bankers, 1201 (circa}.

II. CONSTITUTION. — Earliest Statutes of Guild, 1289-1299. Special officials.
Esecutore. The use of the Rack ! Strict rules for admission. Sureties.
" Company of the Table." " Cum vela, vel tapeto, vel sine." Books and book-
keeping. " £ s. d." Financial terms. Dowries. " The Kynges Pawne."

III. BANKS AND BANKERS.— Professional piety. Banking families—
Bardi, Peruzzi, Frescobaldi, etc. The Papal Schism. Francesco Balducci,
an enterprising Ministro. Couriers. Salaries. Peep into a Florentine bank,
" On change ! " Jobbing. Vastness of financial business. " Letters of Credit."
Brokerage. Loans. // Monte Comune. Public taxes : — Prestanza, Arbitrio.
Detima, Catasto. Rates of interest. Dante's strictures. Money-lending
tricks. Boccaccio and Sacchetti's satires. Usury. Sermons of Bernardino da
Feltre and Savonarola in 1336. Climax of Florentine prosperity. Foreign
relations. Edward III. of England. King of Sicily. Colossal disasters.
The Medici. " Counsels of Perfection."

ROME in the Middle Ages was the actual ruler of all material
interests, as she was the teacher of all moral conduct. It was
an axiom of the Papacy that : — " Wherever Christianity prevails
everything, by right divine, belongs to the successor of Saint
Peter." Her faithful sons never thought of disputing her claims,
and consequently wealth flowed into her coffers in an ever
increasing stream.

The offerings of pilgrims, the revenues of vacant benefices, the
• contributions of Peter's Pence, the fortunes of the Cardinals, the
tributes of dependent States, the plunder of Jews and heretics,
and what not, called for skilful and experienced administration.

Throughout the twelfth, thirteenth, and fourteenth centuries,
Florentine merchants competed with those of Siena, Lucca, and

BANKERS AND MONEY-CHANGERS 171

other cities for the control of the Papal treasure. The term
" Campsores Papa " was first appropriated by the Sienese, although
they belonged to the Ghibelline party.

The victory of Montaperti, — which made the Ghibellines
masters of Tuscany, with the exception of Lucca, — led however
to their humiliation in another direction. In 1260 Pope
Alexander IV. excommunicated the Sienese, and decreed that
no debts should be paid them until they had made peace with
the Church. This excommunication became effective after the
Sienese had ravaged Radicofani — a fief of the Papal See.1

The ingrained dislike of the Curia, however, to changes of
any kind prevailed to secure to the Sienese bankers their privi-
leges with respect to the Holy See. As late as 1263 Sienese
were still acting as Papal agents in England Flanders, and
elsewhere.2

Florence stoutly resisted the continuance of the Pope's favours
to her rival, and advanced her superior claims as the upholder of
the Guelphs — or Pope's party. Besides this the handling of the
vast Papal treasures was exactly suited to the keen commercial
instincts of her citizens ; and Florence too stood like a toll-house
upon the high-road to Rome.

Commercial relations had existed between Florence and the
States of Europe from very early times. Agents of the " Merca-
tores Tuscte" — as they were called in King John's reign, — visited
the great fairs held in Champagne and other French centres of
trade at the end of the eleventh century, bartering their woollen
stuffs against raw wool, and carrying on financial negotiations.3

The first record of a mission of Florentine bankers to England
was in 1199, when Otto degli Gherardini settled and acquired
property and place. When the Pope laid the kingdom under an
interdict as many as sixty-nine different Italian Banking-houses
were represented collecting Peter's Pence and otherwise exploiting
the wealth of the country.

1 F. Patetta, " Bollettino Senese di Storia Patria," vol. iv. p. 331.

- Calendar of Papal Registers relating to Great Britain, etc.,W. H. Bloss.

2 Einstein, "Italian Renaissance in England," p. 230.

172 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

The issue in 1252 of the gold florin by the Commune of
Florence proved to be a decisive step in the race for financial
pre-eminence among the cities. Up to that date every State, and
every banker, had dealt largely, if not exclusively, in debased
silver money, not only in Italy but throughout Europe. The
Florentines discovered that honesty was the best policy, and the
world accepted them and their convenient new coin as the standards
of commerce.1

Everywhere Florentine merchants pursued an enterprising line
of conduct, whilst the Sienese and others haggled on still upon
the old lines. Then too the constant struggles between the cities
of the Tuscan league produced a revulsion of feeling until — as
the star of Florence rose higher and higher — the party of peace-
at-any-price gained the ascendancy, and the Sienese and Lucchese
gradually retired from the contest. The Bankers of Florence
thus made good their exclusive claim to the style and place of
Campsores Papce.

In this capacity, and also in their relations with foreign courts,
it is not too much to say that Florence inaugurated the modern
system of Banking, and her merchant Bankers are regarded as the
fathers of the financial methods of to-day.

Many names were given at different times to the Banker-mer-
chants : — Cambiatori — Bankers, Banchieri — Changers, Tavolieri —
Petty-cash dealers, Prestatori — Lenders, Feneratori — Spot-dis-
counters, Usurai — Usurers, and, — in an evil sense, — Cant
Lombardi — Lombard bloodhounds ! 2

The origin of the " Guild of Bankers and Money-Changers "
may be sought in the affluence of the three great manufacturing
Guilds — " Calimala," "Wool " and "Silk." These wealthy merchants
had need of some safe depository for their capital, and, in accord-
ance with that unfailing characteristic of the Florentines, — which
ever sought unbiassed assistance outside their own particular

1 Langton Douglas, " History of Siena," p. 34, etc.

2 Pagnini, vol. ii. p. 132.

BANKERS AND MONEY-CHANGERS 173

interests, — they discovered what they wanted in the incorporation
of the fourth Great Guild. Dante sums this up : —

" Commerce and Exchange combined made Florence great." 1

Her citizens early discovered, however, that farming money
was a far more remunerative pursuit than manufacturing articles
of commerce ; and, quite early in the thirteenth century, Florence
became the banking centre of Europe. The surplus capital, which
her Bankers were able to hold unemployed in their hands, was the
guarantee and the security of her merchants.

One of the earliest records of the Banking business of
Florence is of the year 1194, when the Marchese Aldobrandino
d'Este was obliged to have recourse to Florentine capitalists for
money to support the party and policy of Pope Innocent III. In
return for the advance which he then received he pledged all his
available property.

Perhaps the first mention of the Bankers, as forming an Arte
or Guild, is in a document of 1201, which describes a concession
of land, made by the Commune of Florence, to a certain Gonnella
di Guidaccio, wherein the Consuls of the " Guild of Bankers " are
named.

The signatures of the Consuls of the Guild of Bankers,
together with those of the other Guilds of Florence, in 1204 to
the treaty with Siena, also indicate that the corporation was in
existence and in full working order before the end of the twelfth
century.

Between 1220 and 1230 agencies of Florentine Bankers were
established in many parts of Europe, and were forwarding remit-
tances to Rome direct, or through the parent houses in Florence.
In this business they were joined by Sienese merchant-bankers,
and they were especially associated together in 1233, when
Pope Gregory IX. issued a "Rule" authorising them to collect
the Papal revenues in France, England, Spain, and Flanders.2

In founding exchange offices in connection with their agencies
in foreign lands for the purchase of raw materials and the sale of

1 "Paradise," Canto xvi. 6. - Muratori, "Antichite Italiane," torn. i. p. 118.

174 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

manufactured articles, the Florentine Merchant-Bankers, by the
middle of the thirteenth century, had possessed themselves of the
key of the wealth of all nations.

The general commercial activities of the Florentine bankers,
no doubt, led to some confusion from the fact that they were
carried on in friendly rivalry with the enterprises of the merchants
of the " Calimala " and of the Guilds of " Wool " and " Silk." Pro-
bably there was a system of Freemasonry at work between them,
whereby each and all of them were at once dealers in wool and
cloth, and operators in money and financial securities.

The earliest Statutes of the Guild preserved in the Archives
of Florence are of the year 1299. They are in thirty-four para-
graphs. An earlier code, which was compiled in 1280, but no
longer exists, appears to have been the foundation for all sub-
sequent Statutes.1

The commission of Merchants and Judges which was em-
panelled at the end of the thirteenth century for the purpose of
reviewing the Statutes and Bye-laws of all the Guilds and Crafts,
and which compiled the Code already described, as adopted in
1301-1309 by the " Calimala" Guild, drafted, in 13 07, special rubrics
and regulations for the " Guild of Bankers and Money-Changers."

This Code was amended and enlarged to seventy-three rubrics
in 1334. Two copies of the latter have been preserved, written
in a peculiarly beautiful hand ; one is in perfect condition, but
the other has suffered greatly by the handling of thousands of
inquirers, who in early days had occasion to consult its rulings.

The officers of the Guild were the same in number and name
as those of the other Guilds, except that a special official was
appointed whose title was Esecutore — Executor, perhaps Prose-
cutor. It was his duty to proceed against debtors, as well as to
administer properties in the names of heirs during their minority,
and to order generally the affairs of deceased merchants. As
regards the first part of his duties the Esecutore had authority to

1 Pagnini, vol. ii. p. 132, etc.

BANKERS IX CONFERENCE

LATE FOUKTKKN I'M CENTURY

BANKERS AND MONEY CHANGERS 175

summon the wife and the brothers, if any such exercised a similar
profession or trade, and ultimately to detain them in custody until
the debts were completely paid.

Rubric 56 is a very curious one, and proves the jealousy
which existed at the period between the Ghibelline nobles and
the merchants of the Guelphs. It enacts that, " should any noble
of the city or Contado of Florence presume to enter unasked the
Residences or the Offices of the Guild he would thereby incur a
fine of ten lire, and would not be set free until he had paid in full."

Another Rubric — No. 70 — is also quaintly punitive. The
Consuls were permitted to have a rack and other corrective instru-
ments at the Residence, to which recourse was had by the Judges
attached to the Guild, in their examination, by word of mouth, of
delinquents charged with concealing the truth about monetary
negotiations. This process was grimly stated as " enabling the
Judge to give a just judgment ! "

The Judge, or Syndic, himself comes in for sharp treatment
under Rubric No. 71. He was fined one hundred pounds for
•every malversation of justice which might be brought home to
him after an inquiry by a panel of disinterested Judges !

Strict rules were laid down in the Statutes concerning admis-
sion to the Guild. Candidates were required, before engaging in
the profession of Banking, to enter their names upon the Matricu-
lation Roll. They had to undergo a rigorous examination before
the Consuls, which passed in purview each of the necessary per-
sonal qualifications. Approval by this Board led to the payment
of the Admission Fee, which ranged rather high in amount in
proportion to the capital at stake.

The father, grandfather, and even the great-grandfather incurred
the same liability for a descendant, who engaged in trade, as
though they actually stood surety for him. To escape responsi-
bility they were obliged to make a formal disclaimer of liability.
Individual freedom was obtained after a public process before the
Council of the Consuls of all the Guilds.1

1 Statuta Populi Florentiae, torn. ii. 10.

176 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

Bankers and Money-changers belonging to the Guild alone
were recognised by the State, and they were assigned positions in
one or other of the markets, — generally in the Mercato Nuovo and
along the Via de' Tavolini. This privilege gave the right to a
table and a chair, which were placed conveniently for the trans-
action of business. The table bore a cover of green cloth, and
upon it were placed the Day Book and a layer of clean parchment,
for entries of the day's business. On one side was the " Bank,"
which consisted of a pouch or bag of gold, and a wooden, or
metal, bowl, full of small coins for change. The pouch was
usually a very decorative ornament, of cunningly stamped or
painted leather, embroidered in silk, — perchance bysome innamorata^
— and generally bearing the banker's arms or monogram. This
custom of the money-changer's table gave a special designation
to the registered Bankers of the Markets : — " The Company of the
Table."

There were, of course, many uncovenanted money-dealers —
for every Florentine who had a spare gold florin was ever ready
to lend it to his neighbour at a rate of interest agreed between
the two. The operations of these men were more or less shady,
but were in a sort of way useful if not indispensable, in view of
the speculative proclivities of the citizens, and in regard to the
constantly congested state of business. They were allowed to
place tables in the Markets, but without cloths and no chairs.
Old documents discriminate the two classes as : Cum vela, vel
tapeto, vel sine — " with and without table-cloths ! "

In the " Giuoccho delle Scacchi" published in 1493, by Antonio-
Miscomini, with the moralisation of Jacopo de' Cessolis, and several
woodcuts, the Florentine Banker-Money-changer is represented as
the King's Pawn.

" The fourth pawne is sette before the Kynge and is formed
in the forme of a man holding in his right hand a balance, and
the weyght in the lifte hand and to fore hym a table. And at
his gurdell a purse full of monoye redy for to gyve the marchans
of cloth, lynen, and wollen, and of all other marchandises. And

BANKERS AND MONEY-CHANGERS 177

by the table that is to fore hym is signefied ye changeurs and they
that lene monoy and they that bye and selle by the weyght
being signefied by the balance and weyght and the customers,
totters, and resseyvours of rentes and money being signefied by
the purse."

The books of all the Money-lenders were required to be open
to the inspection of the agents of the Guild, who paid periodical

MERCHANT-BANKER-MONEY-CHANGER. FIFTEENTH CENTURY.

and surprise visits to every lender's table. Want of neatness in
entry and illegibility were quite as severely censured as were
inaccuracies and falsifications.

Money-changers were not allowed to transact business pro-
miscuously, but only at their tables, or within their own dwellings —
the latter privilege was a later concession, and led to the con-
stitution of Banks — as we now understand the term.1

No strangers and no ecclesiastics were permitted to become

1 Pagnini, vol. ii. p. 135.
M

178 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

members of the Guild, and such persons were forbidden to
conduct public money transactions in the Markets.

The Statutes of the Guild ordered, moreover, that the daily
entries in the " Table " Ledgers should, invariably, be made in clear
cursive characters, the figures Roman, not Arabic, and no capital
letters, paragraphs, or points of punctuation.

Up to the time of the Medicean ascendancy Florentine
accounts were kept by single entry, although the double system
of the Venetians was recognised as superior. To safeguard, and
to check the simpler plan, duplicate books were endorsed, and
deposited in strong boxes ; these were called Libri deW Asse,
check-board books, or Libri rossi, bianchi^ neri, etc., according to the
colour of the cover. Each volume contained, on the first page,
an invocation of the Deity, and a dedication of the owner and
scribe to the protection of Heaven. Of these books, which were
made of ordinary Florentine-made cotton paper, and bound in
leather, nearly all traces have disappeared. The Alberti certainly
still possess many of the ancient banking books of their ancestors,
and there are besides, in the Biblioteca Riccardiana^ several volumes
and sheets belonging to the Peruzzi Company of the years 1292-
1343, in which latter year that Bank suspended payment.

From these Day-books copies were made at stated times into
the Libri Maestri, — Master Journals — which were formidable
volumes with parchment leaves and heavy wooden or leathern cases,
clamped and locked with metal fittings. These volumes were
preserved at the offices of the Guild for consultation and correction,
and many of them are still in existence.

The Florentine bankers and merchants made their cash-
reckonings in lire, soldi, and denari — the origin of our £. s. d.
Twenty soldi went to the pound and twelve denari to the soldi.
The spot values of these coins were constantly varying, hence the
standard coin for all important transactions was the florin in gold,
first struck in 1252.

It may be noted in passing, that many terms still currently
used in monetary transactions originated with the " Guild of

BANKERS AND MONEY-CHANGERS 179

Bankers and Money-Changers " of Florence : — cassa — cash,
banco — bank, bancarotta — bankruptcy, giornale — journal, debito and
debitore — debt, debtor, and " Dr," credito and creditore — credit,
creditor, and " Cr.," — whilst detto is our " ditto " and " do."

Every year the Consuls called into conference the financial
officials of all the Guilds and the Priors of the Monastic Orders
to strike a balance in accounts in dispute, and to lay down regula-
tions to rule money values and loan interest for the current year.
Each year also the Consuls held a consultation with a number of
their predecessors in office for the purpose of passing in review
the names, characters, and methods of all the Money-changers
and Money-lenders carrying on business in the city. Any dealer
in money who had become in any way notorious, or unjust, in his
terms, was crossed off the Register, and his name was posted as a
delinquent at the Offices of the Guild.

The Residence of the Consuls, and the headquarters of the
*' Guild of Bankers and Money-Changers " were established, at an
early date, in the Mercato Nuovo, near the Porta Santa Maria.
This building was destroyed by fire in 1304, but in its place was
erected an edifice which quite outdid all the other Consular
Residences in dignity and splendour — as indeed was befitting the
wealth and influence of the members of the Guild. The interior
was adorned with polychromatic ceilings, and the walls overhung
with rich hangings in embossed and gilt leather. Many fine oil
paintings, and noble statues in marble, found places, along with
splendid cabinets, — the work of excellent carvers and inlayers, —
and beautiful coloured windows.

Over this edifice was a bell, placed there by the benevolent
solicitude of a wealthy Money-changer, by name Giovanni della
Gheradesca. Rung twice a day, it heralded the opening of
financial business, and proclaimed the closing of the money
market. In jjji6,««when Cosimo I. put up the clock in the
market, the " Bankers-bell " was moved to the top of the Casa del
Saggio — the Public Assay Office for gold and silver — and still
went on ringing in and ringing out the cashiers of the Guild.

180 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

The arms of the Guild were set up on the facade of the
Residence, and were of course emblazoned on the Gonfalon
intrusted to the Guild Standard-bearer in 1266. They were quite
significant of the purposes of the Guild — a red field strewn with
gold florins.

An excellent system of dowries for young citizens of both
sexes was established in 1343. Parents and friends loaned sums
during a period of fifteen years, — more or less, — to the State ; and
received guarantees of repayment within certain time limits. The
interest at first was at the rate of 1 8 per cent, and it naturally
attracted many depositors. The administration of this fund was
committed to the Consuls and Council of the " Guild of Bankers
and Money-changers." Special officers were elected by the Guild,
who also had the superintendence of matters of bail and security,
and a base neglect of duty, or unfaithfulness of stewardship, were
rigorously punished by fine and imprisonment.

Bankers professionally were remarkable for their piety ! Not
only did each head of a house open the day's duties with prayers
in his family circle, but the avocations of the bank were inaugurated
by a reunion of all the staff for religious exercises. No class
of citizens was more regular in attendance at Mass and other
Church duties, than the Bankers and Money-changers. Their
calling too made demands upon their charity, and, in proportion
as they throve, they bestowed alms. The old-world sentiment,
that those who deal in the most mundane matters must put away
most deposits of heavenly treasure, was an ever-present con-
sideration.

The dates at which the great banking families of Florence
first made their marks were pretty much as follows : — Acciaiuoli—
1252, Alberti — 1244, Bardi — 1215, Buonaparte — 1260, Fresco-
baldi — 1252, Pegolotti — 1317, Peruzzi — 1260, Sassetti — 1260,
Scali — 1235, Villani — 1298. Unhappily the diaries, business
books and parchments of nearly all the families have perished,
and almost all we know is gathered out of the private records of

MOXEY-CHAXGERS. A DISPUTE BEFORE THE PODESTA

LATE FOURTEENTH CENTURY

BANKERS AND MONEY-CHANGERS 181

the Cavalcanti, dell' Antella, dei Salimbeni, della Sega, and Valori
families.

As early as 1228 there were Banks in Florence bearing the
names of Benevieni, Lamberti, Alamanni, and Ugolini, who
were already doing business with France, England and Flanders.
In 1264 the houses of Simonetti, Bacarelli, Ardinghi, and Spinelli
had agents in London, whose chief business was the collection of
Peter's Pence. Branch banks were opened by Giovanni Vanno
and his company at Dover and Canterbury in 1302, as well as in
London.

The Peruzzi had sixteen such agencies : — Pisa and Genoa —
1302, Paris — 1303, Avignon and Chiarenza, in the Morea — 1305,
Tunis and Venice — 1306, Naples and Rhodes — 1310, London
and Bruges — 1312, Castel di Castro (Caligari) — 1332, Barletta
on the Adriatic, and Palermo — 1335, and Majorca — 1336. The
number of their agents, in the middle of the fourteenth century,
was one hundred and thirty.

The Papal Schism — 1305-1377 — gave the Florentine Bankers
rare opportunities for reaping golden harvests. The contributions
of the faithful were unavoidably diverted into two rival channels.
Much money was either entirely lost or misapplied, and the con-
fusion added immensely to the business and the commission of
the Campsores Papce. The houses of Mozzi, Bardi, Acciaiuoli,
Scali, Spini, and Alberti rose to eminence during this period.

Two books are extant which show that in 1348 the company
of Jacopo and Caroccio degli Alberti was employed in collecting
Peter's Pence and other ecclesiastical dues, in the name of the
Avignon Pope, and had agencies at Paris, Bruges, Venice, Siena,
Perugia, Brussels, Naples, and Rome.

Other Florentine Bankers, whose names were well known in
the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, were Strozzi, Medici, Cap-
poni, Salviati, da Uzzano, Albizzi, Badesi, Bartolini, Corsini, Dini,
Ricci, and Covoni.

Perhaps the most famous of them all were the Bardi, who
made their mark as enterprising merchants along with the Caval-

182 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

canti, Rossi, and Mozzi as early as 1215. They were concerned
in the feud between Cosimo de' Medici and Luca Pitti in 1434,
and, along with the Castellani, Ardinghelli, Rondinelli, Brancacci,
Guardagni, Baldovinetti and others, were exiled for a long term
of years. This severe treatment however obtained the substitution
of the title " Priori di Liberta " — for that of " Priori delle Arti " for
the Heads of the Guilds, so that the people " might," as Machia-
velli says, "at least preserve the name of the thing they had
lost."1 '

On May 29, 1311, the Bardi Company, which numbered nine
partners, appointed legal representatives in France, England, and
Ireland, Tuscany, Lombardy, and Germany. In August of the same
year another such official was appointed for Cyprus and Rhodes.2
The power of the Bardi Company grew enormously, as did their
generosity. They certainly held tight to their monopolies, which
were many in number and various in character ; but, at the same
time, they opened branch offices everywhere, and gave employ-
ment to very many small houses and to individuals. Builders,
dealers, merchants, tradespeople, and others, shared with them in
the success of their business relations. To be connected with such
a house as that of the Bardi meant, not only the enjoyment of
much social and personal comfort and emolument, but the respect
and confidence of everybody with whom contact was shared.3

Villani calls the Bardi, the Peruzzi, the Acciaiuoli, the Buon-
accorsi, and the Scali : — " The Pillars of Commerce and of Chris-
tianity."

An enterprising Minis tro^ or agent, of the Bardi Company, in
1 3 1 5, in Flanders, — Francesco Balducci, — procured from the Duke
of Brabant certain privileges for Florentine merchants: — (i) a
reduction of the duty on silk per ship load, and (2) a maximum
tax of two denari per one hundred and twenty pounds weight of
wool. In 1324 he went for his Company to Cyprus, where an
oppressive tariff was laid upon all Florentine merchandise. He

1 Machiavelli, " Le Istorie di Firenze," p. 272.

2 Archivio del Stato di Firenze.

3 F. Truchi, " Difesa del Commercio dei Fiorentini."

BANKERS AND MONEY-CHANGERS 183

gained terms as favourable as those in Flanders, for in 1326 a
concession was granted to his house for five years, whilst in 1327
Florentine goods were granted free import for ever.

Such agents were not men of inferior position or attainment.
The heads of the large Banking-houses were too keenly alive to
the possibilities of business to appoint any representatives but
those who possessed the very highest qualifications. Among them
we come across scions of the great houses of Donati, Guicciardini,
Villani, Strozzi, Soderini, Machiavelli, Pazzi, and Portinari and
many others. In after years seven of these agents served in their
time the office of Gonfaloniere di Giustizia, and as many as
twenty-seven the high dignity of Prior.

All of the agents or couriers not only were matriculated
members of the Guild, but their names were registered upon the
Foreign Agents' Roll. In addition to fixed liberal salaries they
received ample funds for the expenses of their journeys, and letters
of recommendation and of credit. Each one had a medal, or token,
bearing the heraldic cognisance of his house, as a further pledge of
official responsibility.1

Some idea of the salaries annually paid to agents, couriers,
and clerks of the great Banking-houses may be gathered by con-
sulting the books of the Peruzzi Company for the years 1335-
I338.2 The amounts range from ten lire, three soldi — paid to a
discipulo, or apprentice, — Giusto di Beno Battelli by name, — to
three hundred and twenty-two lire paid to Bartolo Uguccioni — an
agent.

No more interesting and exciting scene could be witnessed in
old Florence than the daily transactions of the Bankers and
Money-Changers.

Let the reader transport himself in imagination to one of the
numerous Banks of Florence during the epoch of her prosperity.
In the hall he will see great parchment ledgers, wide open upon
solid wood desks, awaiting the entries of the day's business as it

1 Pagnini, Vol. ii. 135 ; Cantini, Vol. iii. 165; Peruzzi, pp. 261-266.

2 Peruzzi, p. 260.

184 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

ebbs and flows. All about are the agents and travellers of the
house, either just returned from, or starting off to, Armenia, China,
and the East, and London, Paris, Antwerp and other Western
capitals.

The home-comers are seated busily revising their cash-state-
ments of business done, and consulting their order books, pre-
paratory to their inspection by the cashiers at the counter. Some
are walking up and down and exchanging greetings and informa-
tion with the couriers about to start upon outward journeys. All
is bustle and excitement, — men are bragging about their travels,
and showing off the cranks and foibles they have picked up by
the way, — whilst others are boasting of what they are about to
achieve and are swaggering up and down !

The heads of the house are either closeted in their private
office, discussing high finance, or maybe are haughtily wending
their way in full official attire to participate in some important
affair of state in the Council at the Palazzo Vecchio.

If the Bank has attached to it a Loggia or Borsa, — a vestibule
or clearing-office, — the scene is still more animated. In addition
to the ordinary staff, customers of all sorts and kinds are popping
in and out, and voices are discussing in shrill tones the state
of the money-market, and the rise and fall of stock, etc. etc.

Under the Loggia, — portico, — of the Mercato Nuovo, especially,
bankers and merchants and their clients foregather. Speculators,
and plungers — " Bulls and Bears " — are there as they are in our
day in the purlieus of the Stock Exchange.

" The shares of the Monte (Pawn Office) are at thirty. Can
we do business ? " cries one. " Say, this time next year, I'll sell
or I'll buy as you like."

" What's your price ? " is the reply. " What premium do you
propose ? " l

Stock changed hands constantly, and accordingly a tax was
imposed, of two silver florins, upon every transfer, which vindicated
the love of levying money for State purposes in every imaginable

1 Marchionne di Coppo Stefani, '* Delizie degli Eruditi Toscani," Lib. viii. p. 97.

BANKERS LOGGIA-MERCATO XUOVO
\Sce Chapter XV _

BANKERS AND MONEY CHANGERS 185

direction, and also established the regularity of the contract.
" Jobbing," — as we call it, — was in full swing in the Mercato Nuovo
all through the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. In the year
1371 a tax of two per cent, was established and imposed upon
every completed bargain.1

The Palaces of the great banker families made quite a
distinctive feature in the street architecture of old Florence.
Sometimes the whole of a street was occupied by members of
a single family, for example : — Via de' Peruzzi, Via de' Tornabuoni,
Borgo degli Albizzi, Borgo de' Greci, Via de' Bardi and Via de'
Cerchi.

The Peruzzi Bank, at the beginning of the fourteenth century,
consisted of three brothers, who lived with their wives and children
in the Via de' Peruzzi. The combined families numbered thirty-
one persons, who were served by upwards of twenty domestics of
all grades. The annual expenditure of these united establishments
reached the considerable figure of three thousand gold florins,
equivalent to £1500.

Very much of the expansion of the banking business of
Florence was directly due to the wanderings about of Guelphic
exiles, who became, for the moment, agents of their houses in
foreign lands.

Charles of Anjou, before he set out from France on his way
to Italy, not only received many loans from Florentine bankers
and merchants, but surrounded himself with Florentine judges,
notaries, doctors, apothecaries, armourers, saddlers, and the rest.
Four hundred exiled Guelphs formed his Body-Guard, chiefly
Florentine Bankers. Through his influence the greater part of
the trade of Naples passed into the hands of Florentine merchants.
Exclusive shipments of wine, corn, and oil, from Manfredonia and
Ravenna, were made by the same enterprising traders under
Charles's patronage.

In 1338 the number of Banking Houses in Florence was
eighty. Thirty years later, owing to the privileges and encourage-

1 Marchionne di Coppo Stefani, Lib. ix. Rub. 727,

186 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

ments conferred by the peace with Pisa, the business of Banking
increased greatly, and by the end of the century, there were fully
one hundred and twenty Companies in active operation.1

Towards the end of the fourteenth century Florentine
Commerce had made such an immense advance that a whole
body of Statutes and Regulations, dealing with the financial
matters, came into existence. Among them was a series of
enactments enabling all mercantile affairs to be conducted with
greater speed by the avoidance of legal details, and releasing
merchants' credits from mortgage and sequestration. At the
same time attempts were made to effect a codification of the
laws of perjury, fraud, and bankruptcy.

The vastness of the Banking business, which Florentines were
doing in the fifteenth century, drew a remarkable admission from
the unwilling lips of the ruler of a rival Republic — Venice. Doge
Tommaso Mocenigo declared that : — " Florence is drawing out of
Venice 392,000 gold ducats a year!"

Troubles came in their turn, and by 1422 there only
remained seventy-two firms engaged in Banking and Money-
changing, and these were for the most part small houses. Further
shrinkage was experienced, until, in 1474, not more than thirty-
two Banks were able to keep open their doors. This low-water
mark was the commencement of the decadence of Florentine
commercial prosperity.

The extreme complication and variety of monetary values,
which existed in the Middle Ages and early Renaissance, in
every city and town of Europe, made the existence of an
association of exchange agents an absolute necessity.

The foreign coinage which found its way to Florence was
remarkable for variety and fluctuation in value. The standard
piece of Naples was the Carlin, of Venice — the Mark or Ducat,
of London — the Pound sterling, of Paris — the Livre Tournois,
and of Rhodes and Tunis — the Besan. All these were current
in Florence.

1 Villani, xi. 94.

BANKERS AND MONEY-CHANGERS 187

If Jews, and Greeks on the one part, and Venetians and
Genoese on the other, were the great original factors in the
monetary expansion of the Middle Ages, Florence was undoubtedly
the centre of all banking interests in the Renaissance.

To Florentine initiative is wholly due the admirable facility
of exchanging cash values against paper. This system revolu-
tionised and vitalised the entire conduct of commerce, not only
in Florence herself, but throughout the known world.

" Leltere di Cambio" — Letters of change, or of credit, — became
an indispensable means of transacting the international business
of bankers and moneylenders. The transmission of bullion became
more and more risky, and its bulk increased the difficulty of
transit. The depreciation of coinage in habitual use was also
a serious objection to dealing in cash directly. These admir-
able and convenient money drafts provided a ready and secure
means of dealing in credits. They were first used in Florence
in 1260, but possibly, they had their origin in Venice, during
the middle of the twelfth century, where they were confined to
certain business houses dealing together.

The system of " Letters of Credit " made the transmission
of money, even to such distant places as Jaffa, and Tana on
the Sea of Azof, a matter of comparative ease. For example,
when a Florentine citizen wished to transmit, say, a couple of
hundred pounds to Antwerp, he had but to saunter into the
office of some " CalimcUa? "Wool" or "Silk" Merchant, who,
in a few words addressed by courier to his agent there, caused
the payment to be made.

The use of " Letters of Credit " made it possible for vast
operations to be carried through, like those of the Bardi and
Peruzzi, up to the year 1340, for well-nigh a million and a half
gold florins, equal to £750,000, — to be placed at the disposal of
King Edward III.

A table of time-limits between Florence and the principal
cities of Europe and the East, — copies of which were displayed
at all the Banks, — shows the days required for consignments

188 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

of specie and goods to reach their destinations, as follows : —
Bologna — 3, Pisa — 5, Genoa and Rome — 15, Venice and Naples
— 20, Milan — 30, Sicily, Provence, and Tunis — 45, Flanders — 70,
England and Constantinople — 75, and Cyprus — 90.

The days occupied by the couriers of the Florentine Mer-
cantile and Banking houses, in travelling were as follows : — Rome
and Genoa, each five to six days ; Milan, Venice and Naples, ten
to twelve ; Paris, Bruges and Barcelona, twenty to twenty-five ;
London, Sicily and Constantinople — twenty-five to thirty.

The brokerage sanctioned by the Guild varied according to
the standard value of the money employed, whether gold or
silver ; the average amount was from ten to fifteen per cent.
Probably one of the principal causes which contributed to make
Florence so prosperous was the system of loans at interest.1

In Florence it was rather a sound system of finance than a
sordid love of money that influenced her commercial policy.
Very early her merchants discovered that capital, borrowed at
a high rate of interest, was not the readiest way to advance
their operations. Speculators doubtless there were, and even
4< plungers," — to use a modern term, — who craved money for its
own sake, but these men were regarded with little esteem, and
their methods were not generally attractive.

At first the ecclesiastical powers opposed the lending of
money at interest, and the making of profit upon a temporary
loan was deemed usurious. Even to the end of the fourteenth
century, " it was considered usurious for any one to make a loan,
which was not drawn upon an official form, and where, in the
instrument itself, it was not stated that the loan was made
gratuitously." 2

Public loans were raised in the following way : — The
State named certain citizens, — members of the chief Banking
Companies, — with full power to find the money required,
assigning to them, by way of security, taxes placed upon certain
commodities entering the gates of the city — such as salt and

1 Peruzzi, p. 81. 2 Lapo Mazzei, "Lettere," vol. i. 246.

11

a

BANKERS AND MONEY-CHANGERS 189

wine ; or commissions upon the rents of the shops on the Ponte
Vecchio. The Companies accepted the contract, and furnished
the necessary sum wholly or in part, raising the remainder among
the citizens, upon certain conditions, and at a reasonable interest.
Another method was adopted when it was desired to force the
citizens to take up the loan, — the amount of the sum required
was publicly proclaimed, and part assigned to every street in
accordance with the wealth and number of the inhabitants.
After the portion to be paid by each had been fixed, it was then
delivered to the State Treasurer, who repaid it to the creditors
when the loan expired, from the proceeds of the customs. To
facilitate this the contributors were also granted a quantity of
salt at 6 lire the bushel, and were allowed to sell it at the
ordinary fixed rate, which was higher.

The loaning of money to the State for a fixed time at a
certain rate of interest, led to the creation, in 1222, of a new
Government Office, which came to be known popularly under the
name of " // Monte " — " The Money-pile ! " Instead of calling on
the Banks for a loan, as had been usual before, the Government
divided the money required for the public exchequer into portions
according to the assessment of each citizen, and each was expected
to contribute his full share. The rate of interest placed to the
credit of each contributor in the " Monte " Books varied from
three to twenty-five per cent. This Book was known as " // Libro
de* Settamilioni" — " The Book of Seven Millions," — from the
amount of the original loan.

In 1 307 the credit of the Republic was staked to the Bankers,
the " Calimala," and the Parte Guelfa to the amount of seven
million gold florins. In the war with Arezzo, the " Guild of
Bankers and Money-changers " gave the State credit for eight
million gold florins, which amount was repaid by a Provvisione,
or Order in Council, of the year I3O7.1

The Republic was a community of Merchant- Bankers whose
aim was the scientific exploiting of money. Their ingenuity and

1 Prow. xiii. 132 v°-

190 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

resourcefulness were the consequences of their systematic training
in the adaptability of capital. When one expedient appeared to
have gained the end in view, these wideawake capitalists were
never at a loss for another.

Up to the middle of the fourteenth century the State Revenues
had been raised without difficulty by customs and duties on con-
tracts called " Gabelle" Among Provvisioni of the year 1 290 is one
which shows how the " Gabella " was raised, and how the different
Guilds not only contributed, in their corporate capacity, but how
individual members were appointed to undertake the collection.
Millers and Bakers, Masters of Stone and Wood, Tailors, and
Barbers, of the Contado were specially taxed ; each man paying
forty soldi a month, and the tax ranging over two months.1
In 1336, however, the expenses incurred in the many warlike
expeditions were far and away too heavy to be met by ordinary
taxation. A national debt, — as we should say, — was created
by forced loans, and was called " Prestanza " from prcestigium —
tribute.

The allocation of the amount required was quite arbitrary, but
contingent upon seven separate assessments of the property of
which each individual was possessed. An average was struck,
which was the sum accorded to each citizen of sufficient means.
Failure to pay this impost within seven days led to the delinquent's
name being entered in a book which was called " il Specchio"—
" the Looking-glass," — and he was subjected to fines and dis-
qualifications.

Several registers for the " Prestanza " are preserved in the
Archives of Florence. One, — a paper book, in good condition,
has the following entry : —

" In the name of God, Amen. Hereinafter is inscribed all
the money which I, Tano di Lapo della Bruna, have received for
Gherardo Lanfredini, Camarlingo of the Commune of Florence,
towards the impost of Fifty thousand gold florins, levied by the
Commune, which has been collected by the four companies

1 Prow. ii. 117 v°-

BANKERS AND MONEY-CHANGERS 191

Peruzzi, Bardi, Scali, and Acciaiuoli. The said money is to be
paid as a loan to the said Commune, to pay to our Lord the
Duke of Calabria 33,000 gold florins, — a third of which was
assigned to the Bardi on the feast of S. Piero Scheraggio, the
25th of March 1325."

The " Gabella" of the year 1339 produced a great sum of
money, from very many sources. Some of the items were : —

The Porte, or Gate, dues . . about Flo. 90,200

The tax on Wine .... 50,300

The rate levied on the people of the Contado at 1
10 soldi per lira . . . . J

The tax on Salt at 49 soldi a bushel for a citizen, 1

> 1 4)4 5 o
and 20 soldi for a peasant . . . J

Tax for cattle killed in the Market . . 15,000

Rate levied on the goods of Rebels and Exiles . 7,000

Tax on Corn ground into flour . . . 4,250

A poll-tax upon members of the Guilds . . 3 ,000

House-tax in Florence and Hut-tax in the Contado 1,000

and many other items, amounting to a total sum of 343,300 gold
florins.

The public debt in 1344 amounted to thirty thousand gold
florins, which the State could not pay. To clear the amount a
" Monte" — or Public Bank, — was opened that persons, who were
patriotically disposed, might contribute their quota. Each
depositor received in exchange, credit or a promise to pay, which
became a negotiable asset capable of being transferred from one
to another, very much after the manner of our present cheque
system.

The " Prestanza " having done its work, there was not the
least difficulty about the further manipulation of the revenues of
the State with respect to the absorption of private resources.
In 1345 a "Monte Comune" was raised to meet the rapacity
of the Duke of Athens and his party. By it all loans made to
the Republic were merged into one consolidated fund or debt,

192 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

which was made to bear interest at five per cent., and secured
upon the State revenues. This was actually the creation of
Government Stock for each person interested in the loans was
entitled to buy, sell, pledge, or exchange his share as he willed.
The market prices in the Mercato Nuovo fluctuated with the rise
or fall of the credit of the State. The Florentine "Monte
Comune" was the first National Debt, as such, ever called into
existence.

The " Arbitrio" — an individual valuation, and the "Decima"
— a general percentage of property, were other means employed
by the State, acting upon the advice of the Consuls of the
" Guild of Bankers and Money-changers," for raising loans easily
and quickly. The former was a tax upon the conjectured earn-
ings of the citizens. It was very unpopular, and failed to realise
the purpose of its inception. Cosimo I. finally abolished it after
an existence of sixty years. The latter, — the " Decima" — was an
impost of ten florins upon every hundred gold florins of the
net income of each individual. Hence it was the rate of a tenth
part of the income, and thus gained its name. The assessments
were subject to a triennial revision. Fraudulent returns led to
confiscation of unscheduled properties.

The " Catasto" — Income Tax, — called so from the book in
which the names of all taxpayers with descriptions and values of
properties, were entered, — was devised by Filippo Ghiacceteo, but
actually introduced by Giovanni de' Medici in 1427. The name
was derived from accatastare, — to accumulate. It was the most
elaborate and exhaustive register of persons, and properties, which
had ever been undertaken by any civilised State, and is a monu-
ment to the financial capacities of the people of Florence. Each
person's exact monetary position was stated from every point of
view, and the sum total arrived at was charged half a florin to
every hundred gold florins. The " Catasto " worked very smoothly,
and did much to increase the popularity of the Medici. Between
1427 and 1453 the loans raised amounted to the enormous
sum of 6,374,000 gold florins, contributed by seventy-six Banks;

BANKERS AND MONEY CHANGERS 193

whilst four successive wars, which the Republic had waged, cost
more than 1 1,500,000 gold florins ! l

The system of raising money by " Gabella " for ordinary
expenditure and by " Catasto " for extraordinary outlays re-
mained in force until 1494.

Banking for the Republic, whilst attended with risks and

PAYING TAXES. FIFTEENTH CENTURY.

dependent upon the will of fickle Fortune in the shape of
frequent and erratic changes of Government, was the aim and
ambition of all the financial houses of Florence. Competition
to secure loans and other business was as keen as keen could be.
Many a wealthy and noble house became eminent upon the suc-
cessful negotiation of a State loan. The Medici owed their rise
and their prosperity to the skilful way in which members of the

1 C. Landino,
N

Dante Alighieri Florentine," Lib. xi. c. 91 ; and Lib. ix. c. 264.

194 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

family, in successive generations, manipulated public accounts.
Whilst posing as the friends of the people, they were enabled,
without compunction, to help themselves pretty liberally to the
contents of the public purse !

Lorenzo "il Magnifico" was the first Medici to give up entirely
all connection with commercial and banking interests, whilst his
tenure of office marks the termination of the financial liberty of
Florence — apparently a paradox, but nevertheless a fact !

The wealth amassed by the merchant banking families may
be judged from the example of the Medici — whose pre-eminence
in the political and social life of the State was an important
factor. Giovanni de' Medici left 179,221 gold florins, Cosimo I.
235»I37J an<3 Piero 237,982; whilst each leading member of
the family bestowed enormous benefactions upon the city and
its inhabitants — Cosimo alone, it is said, gave away more than
500,000 gold florins!1

The rates of interest paid upon borrowed capital varied con-
siderably not only in general use but in relation to particular
classes of the population. Going back to the days of Justinian,
when fixed rules and rates were first codified, it is not a little
interesting to learn that persons of rank and influence paid
usually four per cent on loans, whilst merchants were charged
eight, and unfortunate dealers in grain and other breadstufifs
were mulcted in eleven per cent. ! 2

It was sought to strike a balance, and an attempt was made
to charge generally from six to seven per cent. For a time this
succeeded until the Duke of Athens, in revenge for the lukewarm-
ness to his cause on the part of merchants and bankers, declared,
in 1345, that the original figures of Justinian should be restored.

The irregular quotations in the value of the gold florin caused
a similar sliding scale in the rates of interest. With respect to
State Loans the interest varied considerably with times and
circumstances. In 1345 the creditors of the "Monte Comune"

1 J. Burckhardt, " Die Cultur des Renaissance in Italien," vol. i. 141.

2 Peruzzi, p. 205.

BANKERS AND MONEY-CHANGERS 195

received five per cent., whilst between I 349 and I 380, the rate paid
was between twelve and twenty per cent. ! l

On the other hand the rate for extraordinary business trans-
actions was moderate. The Bardi Company charged the King
of Sicily only two per cent., and in Seville their price was but
five per cent. The Peruzzi Company made similar charges.

The wide extent and importance of the Banking-trading in-
terests of the Bardi and Peruzzi Companies is evidenced by the
interesting fact that, the King of Armenia excused merchandise
cleared to or from Florence, in the names of either of the houses,
at one half the usual dues. The King's official permit had his gold
seal attached by a broad green silk ribbon.

Money-changers and Money-lenders appear to have been fre-
quently at variance in their operations. To the former were due
almost all the Statutes passed after 1394, affecting the status and
privileges of the latter. These became so oppressive that all
interest was looked upon as theoretically usurious, though
practically as much as fifteen per cent, was permissible.2

Dante is very severe, in his " Inferno" upon the crime of unjust
usury, as prostituting the fair role of Nature and Nature's laws : —

. . . "Your Art is,

As it were, grandchild of God, and it behoves
Mankind to gain an honest livelihood ;
But, since the usurer takes another part,
Disdaining Nature and her just behests,
Placing elsewhere his fickle hope. . . . " 3

He speaks too of

..." that seventh circle, where the mournful tribe were seated." . . . 4

and he finds his examples, not in the persons of persecuted Jews,
but in those of well-known Merchant-bankers, the Gianfigliazzi,
the Ubbriacchi, and, worst of all, Giovanni Bujamonti.

In his eighth circle he places sellers of justice, evil councillors,
corrupt barterers, and public deceivers of all kinds, and says : —

1 M. Villani, lib. Hi. c., cvi. 3 " Inferno," Canto xi. 105.

2 Statuti, 1415, lib. ii. 19. 4 " Inferno," Canto xviii.

196 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

. . . " All men are there,

Except Bontaro, barterers of 'no' rights as ply,
For filthy lucre's sake, an ' aye ' becomes."

Money lending became a precise science, a fine art, a fraud,
and a burlesque in turn. Men's wits were sharpened to gain
money, — honestly if it might be, — by the practice of every con-
ceivable artifice. The dignitaries of the Church were as keen as
the laity to borrow, and to lend, with the sole view of their own
ultimate benefit. If a Money-lender died, who had been known
as a sharp fellow, sepulture was denied his remains, until a
recompense had been paid to the bishop ! Men were adjured to-
make honourable terms with heaven, before they came to their
deaths, by handing over considerable sums, or property, to the
safeguarding of those who held the Celestial keys !

An appearance of respectability, and even sanctity, in Money-
dealing was not unattainable. The nomenclature of the period
presented reprehensible and doubtful transactions under pleasing
euphemisms, such as : — dono di tempo — quick returns, merito —
— slight recompense, interesso — smart gain, cambio — tit-for-tatv
civanza — unexpected profit, baroccolo — sly advantage, ritrangola —
trifling advance on quotation, and so on.1

Sacchetti tells the story of one Sandro Tornabello, who had
an extortionate love of money. Meeting an old creditor, who
threatened to arrest him for the non-payment of an account,
which had actually been settled by his father and of which no
record had been kept, he paid a visit to his Notary, who advised
him to let the man proceed against him in the ordinary course.
When the legal official appeared to take him into custody, he
proposed that he should pay him one-half the claim of three
hundred gold florins, and obtain in exchange the quashing of the
suit in the Podestds Court ! 2

Boccaccio levelled many a cutting shaft of sarcasm at the
monetary insincerities of his day : — Que e poca civanza e men
guadagna, " He who steals a trifling benefit, thereby acquires an

1 Sacchetti, "Novelle," xxxii. vol. i. p. 136.
a Sacchttti, "Novelle," Hi.

BANKERS AND MONEY-CHANGERS 197

ample gain ! " l And he sums up his indignation in the expres-
sion— " Grossa usura ! "

" That man," wrote Machiavelli, " will never be regarded as
good who for the purpose of always making a profit from an
occupation which he carries on proves himself rapacious, fraudu-
lent and violent." 3

Constant efforts were made to restrain usurious interest.
Unhappily they were usually rendered nugatory by the action of
the Government, which aimed at extorting the highest possible
rates from citizens who dealt directly with its officials. In 1420
usury, or, — as we should now call it, — interest upon money, was so
high and so arbitrary, that the State took steps to issue fixed
rates and prices. One decree ordained that no more than five
denari might be charged per lire per month.

A banker's ledger of the year 1427 is still preserved. It
belonged to the company of Guiliano di Nannino dei Bardi and
Piero di Francesco Piccioli, and reveals the fact that the interest
upon a capital of 2928 lire amounted to 878 lire a year — a rate
of nearly thirty per cent. ! A goldsmith, Oderigo da Credi by
name, borrowed twenty lire for six months, and paid four lire
interest thereupon, and in addition deposited his rich green
doublet, lined with velvet, as a guarantee for the repayment of
the amount !

The exactions of Money-lenders, — whether licensed by the
Guild, or uncovenanted operators in the Market, became at the
end of the fifteenth century so excessive that not only was the
State forced to issue repressive Provvisioni^ but the forces of the
pulpit were arrayed in violent opposition.

Between 1430 and 1436, — when the city gates were once more
opened to the Jews, — the " Guild of Bankers and Money-changers "
forbade all Money-lenders under its authority to ask more than
four denari for a lira per month — a rate of twenty per cent.

The extravagant way of managing the finances of the

1 Boccaccio, " Decamerone " Giorno i. Novella i. vol. iv., p. 42.
- Giorno viii. Nov. x. vol. iii. p. 308.
3 Machiavelli, "II Principe," chap. xi.

198 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

Republic gave the preaching friars, — the Augustinians and
Dominicans in particular, — much matter for vehement invective.
They attacked the " Monte Comune" where the subscribers paid
ten per cent, upon the valuation of their annual incomes. The
mode in which this tax was levied pressed hardly upon the
labouring and poorer classes. They, in their difficulty, turned for
assistance to the Jews, who had become numerous in the city,
and whose operations had escaped the notice of the authorities.

The hardships which their exactions brought upon families in
humble circumstances inflamed the zeal of a famous preacher at
the end of the fifteenth century. Preaching in the church of
Santa Croce, in the year 1488, Bernardino da Feltre raised his
voice on behalf of the unfortunate citizens, and violently
denounced the rapacity of the Jew money-lenders. He proposed
the institution of a Pawn-shop, where the distressed and im-
poverished might receive just dealing. This proposition was
carried out, but not until 1495, after Matteo Strozzi had led a
raid against the Jews who were banished the city.

Savonarola entered heart and soul into the contest between
might and right. He espoused the people's cause and advocated
the overthrow of the selfish and opulent oligarchism which
threatened the liberties of Florence. His preaching had an
immense effect, and led to the creation of two parties in the
city — " Arrabbiati" the party of reaction, and " Piagnoni? the
friends of reform. Through the influence of the Frate, the
" Tribunate della Mercanzia" which had become inoperative, was
revived. He attained a position of unparalleled power, and
ultimately inflicted great disasters upon the richer citizens, which
entirely changed the conditions of Florentine business and
society.

The fame of the Florentine Bankers for brilliancy in financial
operations, backed up by their reputation for honourable conduct,
and equitable administrative ability, spread far and wide. Many
States and Cities all over Europe called in members of the Guild
to regulate public business and direct the issue of coinage. From

•f. u

L, -

BANKERS AND MONEY-CHANGERS 199

the end of the twelfth century the management of the revenues
and mints of London, Naples, Halle, Aquiela, and many other
places, was in the hands of Florentines.

Among the earliest recorded loans to foreign States made by
the " Guild of Bankers and Money-changers " were, Faenza —
1257, Arezzo — 1278, and Citta di Castello — 1290.

Before the end of the reign of Henry III. Florentine bankers
had obtained a firm footing in England. They issued " Letters
of Credit " to ambassadors, and bills of exchange were monopolies
in their hands. Money was scarce, and it was raised only with
difficulty, consequently not only Henry III. but the three first
Edwards had recourse to Florence.1

Edward I. incurred heavy expenses in Palestine, but he got
help from Florence. Interest in such negotiations was rarely
promised, for it spelt usury, and usurers were treated as heretics ;
and so the king paid £10,000 to the Frescobaldi, by way of
compensation. He also appointed their London agent to correct
the mistakes made by London banks, and named him " Director of
the Currency " of the Kingdom. The same house and many others
furnished the Queen also, and several of the nobles of the Court,
with advances of money, receiving, by way of security for pay-
ment, imposts upon wool, hides, and other native produce.

The Salimbeni and Peruzzi Companies had similar dealings
with Edward II:, and also with the Dukes of Burgundy.

The climax of Florentine prosperity was reached in 1336,
when her population amounted to 1 80,000 inhabitants, and fifteen
hundred nobles were inscribed upon the Rolls of the Greater
Guilds ! The value of the currency was 400,000 gold florins —
£200,000, and the State revenue amounted annually, to 300,000
gold florins — £150,000, whilst the ordinary expenditure was only
40,000 gold florins — £20,000.

At this epoch in her history Edward III. was at war with
France. Having need of supplies he applied to the " Guild of
Bankers and Money-changers " of Florence through the banking-

1 " Archivio Florentine," xxviii. 214, etc.

200 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

agents resident in London. The Bardi, Peruzzi, Frescobaldi, and
Scali took the lead in supplying the monarch's needs, and in
exchange received the farming of the customs of the kingdom,
the superintendence of all royal revenues, and the monopoly of
exporting wool.

The expansion of the financial business of Florence produced,
as might be expected, anomalies and vicissitudes. The specu-
lative operations of the Scali company for example, led in 1326
to stoppage of payment. Their failure was to the amount of
400,000 gold florins, and, although the most considerable, was by
no means the only disaster on the Florentine money-market
Moreover it involved misery and litigation far and wide. Among
the creditors were the Holy See itself, and the two Queens of
Naples — Sancia and Joan. The Spanish Cardinal Pietro di
Santa Sabina appealed to the Avignon Pope Clement, and they
together importuned the Government of Florence to compel the
Company to pay the claim ; but their debt to the Papal chair was
upwards of seven thousand gold florins, and the only result was the
issue of an Interdict, not only against the Bankers in particular,
but against the entire City, which was not removed until 1347.

In !339> like "a bolt shot out of the blue," an English
Royal decree was promulged, suspending the payment of monies
due to creditors of the Crown. This involved the companies of
Bardi and Peruzzi alone in a loss of 1,355,000 gold florins —
nearly £700,000 — a colossal sum, which Villani quaintly says
was " worth as much as the kingdom itself." 1

This was a disaster of the first order, and the whole banking
interest of Florence reeled under the blow. " All Christendom,"
says the old chronicler, " came to suspect and distrust every
merchant and every Bank." The catastrophe led to the undoing
of other Banks. The failures, between 1340 and 1345, of the
Acciaiuoli, Buonaccorsi, Corsini, Cocchi, Antellesi, da Uzzano, and
other influential Companies, provided a succession of crises which
had far-reaching results.

1 Villani, "Cronica," xii. chap. 55.

BANKERS AND MONEY CHANGERS 201

The smitten houses liquidated in full. Their credits, their lands,
their houses, and all their available possessions, were sold, but at
an enormous sacrifice — quite thirty per cent, of loss. The Bardi
succeeded in paying their creditors seventy per cent., but the
Peruzzi did not do so well — only totalling fifteen to twenty per
cent.

Giovanni Villani, — whose writings are so frequently quoted
in this volume, — was a Banker by profession. He served the
office of Director of the Mint whilst a member of the Signoria.
He failed along with the Acciaiuoli, Buonaccorsi, Corsini and
Cocchi, and was involved with many other bankers and banking
companies, in the great smash of the Bardi and Peruzzi. Being
completely ruined he was, according to the law, imprisoned for
life. He was one of the victims of the terrible plague which
ravaged Florence in the year 1350!

From another source the members of the " Guild of Bankers
and Money-changers " were also heavily hit. The King of
Sicily, — imitating his brother of England, — refused to honour his
engagements, which included debts to the unfortunate Bardi and
Peruzzi of over 200,000 gold florins — £100,000.

Troubles came in legions, and one more blow was struck at
the stability of Florentine finance when the King of France, con-
tinuing the traditions of his house, persecuted and deprived all the
Florentine merchants and Bankers in his realm !

These financial crashes and political defeats were followed by
a calamitous plague, — "The Black Death" — which slew one-third of
the population of the city and its suburbs. The Rising of the
" Ciompi" too, in 1378, led to the destruction by fire and pillage
of the palaces and offices of many of the leading bankers. In fact
the fourteenth century closed over a broken and bereaved Florence,
and men wondered whether recovery were possible, and whether,
Phoenix like, she would ever rise again.

The Archives of Florence contain a contract drawn up on
May 13, 1446, between Cosimo de' Medici and Giovanni Benci on
the one side, and Gierozo de Pegli on the other, for the purpose of

202 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

carrying on a banking business, with purchases of wool and cloth in
London. It shows how that new men and new methods had come
to the front. The senior partners are to find the capital — £2500
— and Gierozo is to go to London to establish and manage the
branch-house. His salary is a paltry pittance — £33 — a year,
and he is only to receive one-fifth of the net profits !

Strict directions were given for Gierozo's guidance, with limi-
tations of his buying powers, whilst rules for the consignment
of bullion were carefully laid down. He had to promise not to
gamble or play dice. Winnings of any kind over ten gold florins
in value, were to be placed to the credit of the Company, and the
same figure limited his acceptance of gifts ! Balance-sheets were
to be regularly submitted to the parent house. Rulings of the
Corte delta Mercanzia were to be observed by all parties concerned
in any trade dispute.1

Another Medici branch house was established in London in
1465, — the partners being Piero de' Medici and Tommaso
Portinari, and their agents Gherardo Canigiani and Giovanni de'
Bardi, — with a capital of ^2000. One-tenth part of all profits were
dedicated to charity and church building in Florence.

Henry VIII., Cardinal Wolsey, and Thomas Cromwell, greatly
encouraged Italian enterprise, and protected the Florentine Bankers
and merchants whenever the populace assaulted them, which, by
the way, was no very uncommon occurrence. " Very great
vengeance was taken on them, and his Majesty showed great
good-will to the strangers." 2

We cannot do better than close this chapter with some wise
remarks of a noted Florentine.

Francesco Guicciardini in his " Counsels of Perfection " gives
excellent warning and advice with respect to money transactions.
He says : — " Draw not where you have no assets, nor discount
prospective gains, for often enough they cannot be realised. We
see the common cause of the bankruptcy of great merchants to be

1 Archivio di Firenze, — Carteggio Mediceo avanti il Principato, Filza 94.

2 " Calendar of State Papers, Venetian," vol. ii. 385.

BANKERS AND MONEY CHANGERS 203

this, that anticipating large future returns, they draw bills of
exchange bearing high interest, which have to be met at a fixed
date." Again he says : — " Spend not on the strength of future
gains, for often these either fail altogether, or else fall short of
expectations." 1

1 " Opere Inedite/' vol. iii. p. 79.

Stemma del? Arte del Cambo
Gold Florins upon a red field

CHAPTER VII
THE GUILD OF SILK

L'ARTE DELL A SETA, OR "FOR SANTA MARIA"

I. ORIGIN. — Early History of Silk industry. Introduced into Tuscany, 1200
circa. The Father of the Silk industry of Florence. The Pavement of the
Baptistery. Guild incorporated end of twelfth century. A costly material. Early
" Libro di Matricola" Alternative title. A splendid Residence.

II. CONSTITUTION. — Customs lead to Regulations. Codification. "//
Statute Vecchio" Congregazione d£ Deputati. Officers. " Memorie antiche
c moderne? Guild Registers. Matriculation. " Setaiuoli grossi " and " Setaiuoli
minuti" Agents. Relations with other Guilds. An entirely new Code, 1557.

I 1 1. D EVELOPMENT. — Trade Associations. Affiliated industries. " Rottura
delta Seta" Silk-workers from Lucca. Lombard dyers. Importance of the
Mulberry. Sir Richard Dallington's testimony. Processes. Balducci Pego-
lotti's instructions. Silk velvet and the Velluti family. Lapo Mazzei and the
" Treatise upon the Craft of Silk." Directions about dyeing. Prices of raw
silk. Weights. Sizes. Sale-prices for Silk-pieces. Workers in Gold and Silver.
"LArte degli Orefict" Goldsmiths' apprentices. Rich attire of Floren-
tines. Beautiful lace. " Opera de" Monache? Embroideries. Gold-filagree.
Veil-makers. Painted silk. Immense trade and wealth. Royal Patronage.
" Field of the Cloth of Gold." The Guicciardini family. Song of the Silk Girls.

THE Silk industry was brought from India to Europe in the
reign of Justinian. It is said that two monks, just home
from the East, presented to the Emperor, at Constantinople, in
the year 550, some silk-worm eggs and cocoons, which they had
brought, concealed in a bamboo ; and, at the same time, exhibited
the methods of hatching and unwinding used in China.1 These
worms were the forebears of all those varieties, which for wellnigh
one thousand years kept Europe supplied with raw silk.2

The Emperor immediately recognised the importance of these
natural curiosities, and their potentialities in the arena of commerce,
and took the monks under his special protection. Turkey thus

1 Muratori, "Antichite Italiane," Dissert. 25, vol. i. p. 379.

2 Francesco Mengotti, " II Colbertismo."
204

THE GUILD OF SILK 205

became the mother of silk-worm cultivation and of silk-manu-
facture in Europe.

The first extension of the area of the silk industry was to
Greece, in the eighth century, almost at the time of its introduction
into Spain by the Moors. Greek emigrants, colonising the shores
and islands of the Mediterranean, still further increased the
commerce in silk.

The date of the introduction into Italy of silk-worms and
cocoons, if somewhat late in time, was effective in result. In
1148 King Roger of Sicily led an expedition against Thebes,
Athens, and Corinth ; and, having subdued them, and the sur-
rounding country, he took back to Palermo, among the spoils of
the conqueror, a number of Greek artizans skilled in the manu-
facture of silk-brocade and gold-work. These people settled
down wherever the King placed them, and immediately set about
their various callings.

Within fifty years of the establishment of the Silk industry in
Palermo a number of silk-workers had emigrated to the mainland
of Italy ; and, of these, a considerable party found their way by
sea to Leghorn and Pisa, and thence to Lucca, Milan, and Venice,
— in each of which cities silk-manufacture was actively going on
late in the twelfth century.

How exactly silk-worms, and the making of silken goods, first
reached Florence are matters of uncertainty. Probably the suit-
ability of the Vale of Arno for the cultivation of the mulberry
was known to the inhabitants of Lucca, and by them imparted to
the new settlers.

The earliest silk-worker, however, in Florence, whose name
has been recorded, was a Neapolitan, — called after the name of
his birthplace Napoleone, — who, in the Archives dealing with the
year 1200, is described as "a merchant in silk-cloth." Anyhow
before the end of the twelfth century, not only the precious verme
— silk-worm, but the indispensable erba di vermini, — silk- worm
food, — the mulberry-leaf, were introduced into the Contado of
Florence.

206 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

Of course the manufacturing of silken textures was chiefly
dependent, for many a long day, upon the import of raw silk.
However this may have been there are ample records of the
flourishing state of the new industry in the first decade of the
thirteenth century.1

The brocades first woven by the immigrant silk-workers,
from Lucca and Naples, were after classical patterns, learnt in
Greece, and handed down, but varied by the influences of Sicilian
environment.

Almost, if not quite, the earliest specimens of silk-brocade
made in Florence are especially interesting in that they reproduce
the designs of the magnificent tessellated pavement of San
Giovanni Battista, which was completed in 1204.

The silk trade, it may be frankly admitted, did not thrive, in
early days, as prosperously as did that of wool. There were
differences between the two. First of all the cultivation of the
silk-worm was attended with greater risks than the rearing of
sheep, and the value of raw silk in foreign markets was far in
excess of that of wool.

The manufacture of tissues of silk, and of gold and silver,
represented a far higher value of material, and required more
costly manipulation, than did woollen cloth. The capital involved,
even on a small scale, was also greater. On the other hand the
sale price of silken goods did not bear so high a ratio to the cost
of production as was the case in woollen manufactures.

The profit upon spun silk was considerably less than that on
spun wool. For example : — a pound weight of raw Spanish wool,
which cost about two and a half lire, could be manufactured
into fine cloth worth forty lire ; whilst a pound of raw silk, before
dressing, fetched not less than thirty lire, and the simple
silken tissue, woven therefrom, realised no more than one hundred
and twenty lire.2 The admixture of gold and silver thread, or
cord, of course, increased greatly the cost of production, whilst the
prices realised did not bear a proportionate value.

1 " L'Osservatore Florentine," vol. iv. p. 103. - Pagnini, vols. ii. and iii.

THE GUILD OF SILK 207

The silk industry therefore grew slowly but surely, and by the
beginning of the thirteenth century a goodly number of looms
were at work, and manufacturers began to organise themselves
into Companies and Corporations.1

The Origin of the " Guild of Silk " is coeval with that of the
" Guild of Wool " and of the " Calimala Guild." The Consuls
of the three Guilds signed the treaty of Peace with Siena in 1204.
Again in 1224, and 1229, the signatures of the Consuls of the
" Silk Guild " are appended to the Treaties with Volterra and
Orvieto, along with those of the other Consuls. The Guild was
so far incorporated in 1224 that a moral Code was issued for the
government of its members.2

A Codex is preserved among the Archives of the City, for the
year 1225, belonging to the " Por Santa Maria"* It is entitled
" Libro di Matriculo" and is the earliest Matriculation-Roll
existing. It records that Claro, son of Guido Arlotti, d' Oltrarno ;
Simbaldo, son of Bartolo Caccialupi, son of Caccia, della Porta
Santa Maria ; Cardinale, son of Marcoaldo, di Santa Cecilia ;
Dono Spinelli ; Arrigo di Renucciai of the " Pressa di Calimala''
were matriculated in that year. The Roll goes on to 1233, and
contains three hundred and sixty other names ; it is further
referred to, under date 1308, when the Statutes for all the Guilds
were subjected to thorough revision.4

The full title of the Guild was originally: — " Ars et Uni-
versitas della Seta Civitatis Florentines" and this appears, — along
with the arms of the Guild, — still on the tower of the Residence,
which abuts upon the Via Capaccio. These heraldic bearings
consist of two closed and barred doors — borrowed doubtless from
the Porta Santa Maria, one of the Gates of the City in the first
wall of old Florence. Amorini and wreaths were late decorative
additions.

The alternative style of the Guild : — " L'Arte della PortaSanta
Maria " — " the Guild of Saint Mary's Gate," — which has crept

1 Ammirato, Lib. i. p. 67. 2 Cantini, " Legislazioni," i. 176.

3 " Archivio dell' Arte della Seta," Letter G. 4 Pagnini, vol. ii. 108.

208 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

into all the manuscripts and documents, was due to the fact that
the Residence of the Consuls was next door to the church of Santa
Maria sopra la Porta. This building was known as the Palazzo
de' Lamberti, and it was assigned to the use of the Silk Guild by the
State. Within it also were the headquarters of the Parte Guelfa,
which powerful political association extended special patronage to
the " Guild of Silk." This Residence was, perhaps, the most
splendid of all the Guild Palaces of Florence. Established in the
old church of San Biagio, — formerly Santa Maria della Porta, — the
artists employed by the Guild covered the exterior of the building
with fine stucco, which they then lavishly decorated in fresco and,
as they then called it, sgraffiti — finely scratched designs. The
Audience Hall contained superb oriental alabaster columns,
gorgeous mosaics, beautifully tooled gilt bronze work, rich silken
hangings and embroideries, and brilliantly stained-glass windows.
Goro Dati speaks of the brave show the Consuls of the Guild
made at the annual Feast of San Giovanni : — " All along the Via
Porta Santa Maria were displayed, over the shops and offices of the
silk merchants, magnificent brocades of silk and gold, bearing the
emblazoned arms of ten kingdoms, whose sovereigns and courtiers
were decked with the produce of the Florentine silk-looms."

As was the case with the other Guilds very many bye-laws
and regulations had, from time to time, been adopted by silk-
manufacturers and merchants. These were of a somewhat contra-
dictory character, for, whilst the development of the silk industry
had been comparatively slow, many new ideas and methods had
been introduced into Florence. At the general revision of the
laws of the Guilds in i 301-1 309, — when the General Code for all
of them was drafted, — the technicalities of the commerce in silk
were examined, and a council of experts was empanelled to adopt
a full Constitution for the " For Santa Maria"

Their work had so far progressed by 13 28, that a serious step
was taken towards the codification of the Statutes of the Guild.
The original number of four Consuls was restored, and was more-

kl SIDENCE OF THE COLSULS OF THE (iUILD OF SILK (RK1HT) VIA CAPACCTO

THE GUILD OF SILK 209

over retained until the ancient merchant oligarchy made way for
the princely rule of the Medici family.1 At the same date three
Consiglieri^ — Councillors, — were added to the Court, or Tribunal,
of the Consuls, whose powers were little inferior to those reposed
in the Chief Magistrates. One of the Councillors was a notary,
and the two others were chosen from among leading manufac-
turers not hitherto officially connected with the Guild.

In 1335 a complete Code of Statutes was put out. These were
written in Latin, upon parchment, in the form of a book, which was
afterwards referred to as " // Statute Vecchio " — " The Old Code."

The rules of procedure for the election of officers were the
same as in the case of officials of the " Calimala " Guild ; whilst
their duties and functions were also similar. All superior offices
were required to be filled exclusively by persons of Florentine
parentage and birth, who were generally recognised as chief
among silk-manufacturers and merchants.

The Tribunal of the Guild was composed of the four Consuls,
together with two Conservatori — "Guardians " — who superintended
severally the civil and criminal affairs of the Guild. The business
of this Court was twofold : — i. The direction of all that apper-
tained to the commerce in silk ; and, 2. The administration of
justice to every person connected with the Guild.

Among higher officials was the Congregazione dey Deputati, —
Council of Deputies, — which undertook all questions and matters
relating to the practical development of the silk industry, and the
interests of the various groups of workpeople employed. The
Deputies, — the number of whom varied from time to time, — were
representatives of the subordinate trade associations in connection
with the Guild.

The Proweditori, — two in number, — were the Administrators
of the goods and chattels of the Guild ; the Cancelliere, — the
Chancellor, or Keeper, — had care of the registers, documents, and
charters of the Guild ; the Cassiere or Camerlingo, — Treasurer of
the petty-cash, — whose duty it was to receive and book the sub-

1 Cantini, " Legislazicne," i. 176.

210 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

scriptions and donations of members of the Guild ; and the
Computistiy — Accountants, — who directed the official correspond-
ence of the Guild, were important officers of the Tribunal.

Two Inspectors were annually appointed by the Consular
Tribunal to visit regularly and rigorously the manufactories,
workshops, and dwelling-houses, of persons connected with the
Guild. They took note of the time, weight, and value, of all
deliveries of raw silk, and of the manufactured article in its various
stages — as they passed from masters to workpeople. Not only so,
but they were instructed to have an eye to the moral conduct,
manipulative ability, and arduous application, of each operative,
and to report such to the Consuls.1

The annual report of the Inspectors also included returns of
description and condition of machinery employed, and notes upon
all new inventions and novel methods. Under them were two
Assistant Inspectors, whose attention was mainly directed to tests
of quality, and to the correctness of weights and measures. They
were instructed to examine carefully every bale of unspun silk,
every reel of silk-thread, and every piece of silk texture, with
respect to length, breadth, weight, colour, etc.

The Tribunal possessed many valuable Archives. One of these
contains a "Meinorie antiche e moderne" — Ancient and Modern
Review, — which fills several books.2 Two Registers of Matricula-
tion of the years i 247 and 1 289, written upon parchment, — Similar
registers of 1368, and of 1397-1480, on paper, — Voters' lists,
1374-1418, — a Register of payments to the Palazzo di San
Michele in Orto for the years 1345 and r346, — Books of Matri-
culation of the years 1328-1520, — a List of Consuls, 1435-1500, —
and many volumes and tracts dealing with wills, codicils, donations,
etc. etc., appertaining to members of the Guild, — legal processes, —
and endless details, concerning the work and the workers of the
Guild, with inventories of goods, etc. etc. Most of these are
preserved in one or other of the great Libraries of Florence.

Matriculation into the " For Santa Maria " followed, generally,

1 Statuti dell' Arte della Seta, Rub. 34. 2 pagninij voi ^ l^2

THE GUILD OF SILK 211

the lines of admission to the " Calimala " and Wool Guilds, so far, at
all events, as personal qualifications, and entrance fees, were con-
cerned. Nevertheless the act of Matriculation did not necessarily
give admission to the general benefits of the Guild. Candidates
were usually enrolled members of some special branch in the
operations of, and under the control of, the Guild. Hence a man
was asked to state the exact trade he wished to follow, and also to
give an exhibition, before the Consuls, of his skill in that calling
before he was granted the freedom of Membership.1

The members of the Guild were divided into two classes —
Setaiuoli Grossi — master silk merchants and Setaiuoli Minuti — silk-
makers. The first were required to be possessed of a capital of
at least twelve thousand gold florins. They were privileged to
manufacture silk-tissues at their pleasure, and to sell wholesale,
both in Florence and abroad. All merchandise disposed of, by
them, required the official stamp of the Guild. They were for-
bidden to sell retail, and in any way to undersell the retail silk
dealers. The Setaiuoli Grossi formed the aristocratic section of the
Guild, and many of them were among the wealthiest and most
influential of the citizens.

The Setaiuoli Minuti, who were also called " master silk
workers," were those who sold in retail quantities everything
.appertaining to the silk industry, and most of them were also
practical silk spinners and weavers. They required also the
qualification of capital, but the amount was unfixed, although
considerably less than in the case of the Setaiuoli Grossi. Many
indeed were permitted to enter the Guild with no money
qualification at all, skill in manufacturing ability and smartness
fn business aptitude being regarded as equivalents. The Setaiuoli
Minuti were not permitted to spin or weave silk without the
license of the Consuls, although they were allowed to own
machinery and implements of their craft without taxation. Their
shops and warehouses also required license, and their manu-
factures the official stamp of the Guild.

1 Pagnini, vol. ii. p. 114.

212 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

The other Guilds largely employed the services of Sensali
or agents, but the " For Santa Maria " was far too wide awake
to the interests of masters and workpeople to tolerate unneces-
sary interposition of middlemen. Consequently, in 1376, a
Provvisione was passed, prohibiting anybody to act as a broker
or dealer, who had not taken an oath before the Consuls, or the
Notary of the Guild, that he would do nothing contrary to
the spirit and the letter of the Statutes. Moreover such an
one was bound over by the payment of certain money, and by
the production of two good sureties. The matter was further
dealt with in Rubric 1 8 of the Statutes, which expressly states
that it was not permitted for any person connected with the
Guild to have dealings with Sensali, whose names were posted as
defaulters upon the notice-board of the Tribunal of the
Mercanzia.

With respect to the system of payments of accounts, the
Silk Guild only allowed eight months' credit, except among
members; but in 1429 the limit was advanced to one year for
amounts exceeding twenty-five pounds.1

Merchants of the " Calimala " and " For Santa Maria " were
forbidden to exchange shops or offices, and to share such. No
silk merchant was permitted to deal in foreign cloth within the
boundaries of the State, nor beyond the seas, unless by special
leave of the Consuls of the " Calimala''

The Statutes of the "Guild of Silk" were revised in 1386,
and again in 1415, when many alterations and additions were
made in accordance with the progress and prosperity of the
Guild. In 1557 an entirely new Code was promulgated under
the rule of the Medici.

A very large number of crafts were subordinated or
affiliated to the "Guild of Silk." Pagnini gives the following
list 2 :—

1 Statuti del Popolo e Comune Florentine, 1415, Rub. xxxvii. and xxxix.

2 Pagnini, vol. ii. p. 63.

THE GUILD OF SILK 213

I. Setaiuoli Grossi

Orefici e Banchieri Gold and Silver-workers and Store-

keepers.

Ritagliatori e FondaM Retail-dealers and Drapers.

Battilori e Tiratori Gold-beaters and Wire-pullers.

Velettai e Linaiuoli Silk-gauze makers and Linen-

makers.
II. Setaiuoli Minuti

A ccavigliatori Bobbin- winders.

Banderai Makers of Church Vestments.

Giubbonai e Farsettai Vest and Doublet-makers.

Maestri di trarre Seta Overseers of Export Goods.

Materassai Mattress-makers.

Merciai Dealers in Raw-silk.

Orditori Weavers.

Pettindgnoli Silk Comb-makers.

Pettinatori di Staccio Carders of coarse Silk.

Ricamatori e Stampatori Embroiderers and Printers.

Tintori di Seta e di Raso Dyers of Silk and Satin.

Tessitori di Drappi d* Oro Weavers of Cloth of Gold.

In addition to these were Calzaiuoli — Hosiers, and Sarti —
Tailors, working specially in silk, and in gold and silver thread
and cord, under strict trade regulations, and with the license of
the Consuls of the Guild.

The fees on admission to any of the above subordinate trades
were nominally only three lire x a head, but they were increased
for certain associations as follows : — The Master Silk Merchants,
Retail Dealers and Drapers, Gold and silver workers, and
Store-Bankers, — holders of valuable metal used in the manu-
facture of gold and silver tissue, etc., — paid fourteen gold florins ;
whilst the allied trades of Hosiers, Armourers, Scales-makers,
Banner- workers and Embroiderers, and Gold and Silver Vest-
makers, — belonging to the " For Santa Maria" — Silk-dyers, and

1 Cantini, "Legislazioni,:> vol. vii. p. 217.

214

THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

the " Setaiuoli Minuti" generally paid eight gold florins. This
privilege of recognition was accompanied by actual emolument as
working members or associates of the Guild.

The following classes of workpeople were also attached to
the Guild : —

Acquajuoli

A rmaiuoli

Bandieri

Bilanciai

Calderai

Conduttori de' Bozzoli

Dipintori

Disegnatori

Distenditori

Doratori

Filatori e Filatore

Forbiciai

Incannatori

Lavatori dell' Opere

Manganatori

Piegatori

Rimettitori

Saponai

Stenditori

Tiratori Minuti

Torcitori

Trattori

Sprayers of Cocoons.

Armourers.

Banner-makers.

Scales-makers.

Steamers of Cocoons.

Sorters of Cocoons.

Painters on Silk.

Designers.

Stretchers of cloth of gold and silver.

Gilders.

Spinners — male and female.

Gold and Silver thread-cutters.

Reelers.

Cleaners of gold and silver work.

Wringers.

Folders and platters.

Rovers.

Washers.

Dyers of special textures.

Wire-pullers.

Throwsters or twisters.

Winders.

Many of these groups of operatives worked together under
self-imposed regulations, but care was taken that no person
laboured in more than one category. Over each set of similarly
employed workpeople were officials styled "Maestri di far
Macchie " — Inspectors of Flaws and Blemishes. These men
were master-craftsmen in their special branch of the industry, and
acted as overlookers in the finishing of work.

A "RELIGIOUS" TEACHING A WOMAN SILK-WEAVER

FIFTEENTH CENTURY
(A LESSON FROM THE Sl'lUEK !)

THE GUILD OF SILK 215

Most of these workpeople lived and worked in the vicinity of
the little street, — the Vicolo della Seta, — which ran along the
side of the Church of Santa Maria next the Palazzo Lamberti,
and wherein, in later years, the rich family of the Acciaiuoli
erected a splendid palace. In this crowded quarter of the city
was the meeting-place of all persons interested in the silk
industry, and outsiders were wont at times to be treated with
scant courtesy if they ventured to traverse its limits.

The Via della Colonna had a massive stone column upholding
the roof over a great drying terrace, where silk stuff was dyed
and stretched. Around this building were many warehouses
belonging to the Guild, and dwellings inhabited by workpeople.

It was not within the power of any of the Setaiuoli Minuti to
fix the scale of wages, but they were obliged to apply to the
Setaiuoli Grossi for the terms sanctioned by the Consuls. Once
every year, in June, the Consuls issued a " Rottura della Seta" a
Current Price-list, which ruled buyers and sellers alike, and by this
means inflated wages and speculative quotations were prevented.1

By Rubric 84 of the Statutes no one was allowed to prose-
cute any industry in connection with the manufacture of silk, with-
out the written and endorsed license of the Consuls of the Guild.

Among protective regulations, which dealt with the liberty of
the subject, Rubric 62 enacted that no silk-worker, or worker in
gold and silver, should be ejected from his house, or his shop,
until after a special sentence of the Consuls in Council.

Pawnbrokers, under Rubric 2 I , were forbidden to accept raw
silk and silken textures, and implements and objects required
and used in the trade.

No Guild worker, male or female, was permitted to leave
the city, or go beyond the Contado, unless armed with a written
permit, which was only granted upon certain strict conditions of
purpose and period : Rubric 84 indicates what penalties were
incurred by disobedience.

Many Rubrics deal with the treatment of silk worms, eggs, and

1 L. Cantini, i. 178.

216 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

cocoons. For example, cocoons were not to be touched between
the sounding of the evening bell and that of matins.

In 1315 an important accession to the strength and efficiency
of the Guild workers was effected by the arrival in Florence of a
number of silk and gold craftsmen from Lucca, after its sack by
Uguccione della Fagiola. The emigration was due to the severe
repressive laws which were imposed by the victorious Florentines.
There was doubtless a reason for this policy — the shattering of
the local industry, and the aggrandisement of the Florentine
Guild ! The emigrants were treated, at first, with suspicion by
their rivals, and were not allowed to settle in the silk quarter of
the city.

The Setaiuoli Grossi^ however, knew what they were about ;
and, whilst Rubric 84 of the Statutes contained a rider, which
forbade Florentine workers holding communications, and carrying
on transactions, with the new-comers, the Consuls gave instructions
for them to be quartered in the Prato district, and provided
dwelling-houses and workshops for them.

This set of immigrants was not the only one that helped to
swell the population, and to develop the silk industry of Florence.
Quite early in the thirteenth century a number of Dyers found
their way out of Lombardy, and took up their residence just
beyond the Porta San Gallo in a tenement belonging to the
monastery of the Augustinian monks.1

Naturally a rivalry was set up between this party and the
Dyers already working under the Guilds of " Calimala " and
" Wool," and the workpeople attached to the manufacturers of
the Umiliati, in the Borgo d'Ognissanti. They received however
overtures from the " Guild of Silk " ; and attached themselves to
that corporation, on the understanding that they manipulated
solely silk and silken goods.

This Lombardian Company became very prosperous under
their new auspices, and were known, far and wide, for their
hospitality and benevolence. They established shelters for Dyers,

1 F. L. Migliore, " Firenze citta nobilissima, " p. 364.

THE GUILD OF SILK 217

who had passed fifty years of age, to which they gave the name
of Gerolocomio — perhaps " Home for the distressed and aged."
Here pensioners dwelt with their families, upon whose earnings
they were dependent.

Later on again another Company of Dyers found their way to
Florence. They were also from Lucca, and were tempted doubt-
less by the high wages of the workpeople employed by the
" Guild of Silk." Under their banner, — Christ upon the Cross,
clothed from head to foot in a long silken vestment, — they settled
in houses belonging to Ser Girolamo Baldesi, near the Hospital of
Santa Maria Nuova.

The policy of admitting skilled workmen from outside was as
excellent as it was far sighted. Every trade is bound to profit
immensely by the infusion of new blood, and this proved conspicu-
ously to be the case of the " Guild of Silk " and its workpeople.

The importance of the mulberry in connection with the
manufacture of silk cannot, of course, be overestimated. For
nearly two centuries, however, the Florentine silk merchants made
little or no attempt to cultivate the tree in the neighbourhood of
Florence. They were content to collect the eggs and cocoons of
the silkworm, by means of their agents in the East, and elsewhere,
who transported them, together with immense consignments of
mulberry leaves.

The success, or failure, of the silk trade depended absolutely
upon the supply of the raw material, and consequently, as the
industry became more and more prosperous, it behoved manu-
facturers to find increased sources of production. Hence, at the
end of the fourteenth century, and early in the fifteenth, many
Provvisioni were passed by the Consuls and Council of the " Guild
of Silk," which were approved by the State Council, for increasing
the cultivation of the Mulberry. These are apparently the first
intimations of its introduction into Tuscany. In 1440 it was
enacted that on every podere, — or farm, — there should be planted,
at least, five mulberry trees annually, until the number in vigorous
growth reached fifty.

218 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

The trees throve wonderfully, and manufacturers reflected
upon their want of prescience in the past. Two classes of
agriculturists were especially interested in the propagation of the
silk-worm food, and they were enrolled under two designations, by
the Consuls of Guild, namely : — Padroni de* Terreni, owners of
suitable land for the growth of mulberry-trees, — and Maestri di
Mori e di Foglie, — " Mulberry growers and Purveyors of mulberry-
leaves." The Guild acquired the land of the former, by direct
purchase, or by lease, and employed the latter to carry on the
cultivation, under rules and bye-laws specially drawn up.

The success of the new enterprise was manifest immediately.
The climate admirably suited the tree, and, in richness and
luxuriance, the yield equalled that of other lands ; whilst the
silk worms benefited immeasurably by their fresh and luscious
pasturage. Probably the scientific methods of these sapient
cultivators had much to do with this favourable result. Moreover
other silk manufacturing cities in Italy began to send their
merchants and dealers to Florence for the purpose of buying silk
worms, cocoons, and mulberry leaves. The " Guild of Silk " met
this commerce in a spirit of protection, and in 1442 a Provvisione
was passed forbidding the export of everything connected with the
manufacture, — worms, cocoons, raw-silk, and mulberry-leaves being
distinctly named.

Sir Richard Dallington, an intelligent English traveller in
Italy in the middle of the sixteenth century, writes thus about
the cultivation of silk worms and mulberry trees, and the prospects
of the Silk industry generally l : — " I will speak of the Mulberry,
for that the mention thereof draweth consequently therewith all
the discourse of the Silke-worme, which being another of the
greatest commodities of Tuscany. In the months of May and
June this worme laboureth . . . when they are laid in the Sunne,
and so hatched, but for want of heate, and to have of them
betimes, the wormes will hatch them in their bosoms. So soon
as they be wormes they have of mulberie leaues given them,
1 "Survey of the Great Duke's Estate of Tuscany," 1596.

THE GUILD OF SILK 219

whereof they only feed, to which purpose are daily great store of
trees planted : the leaues is sold at foure quattrini the pound. . . .
The rest of the year they be only kept in some warme and
close places, where they may be neither endangered by cold
nor thunder, for either destroyeth them. When she hath
wrought herselfe into a bottome, they put it into warme water to
finde the end thereof, but if they would preserve the worme for
seed, then they finde the end without putting the bottome into
water (for this killeth the worme). . . . And whereas heretofore
the Silke workers of Florence, besides their owne, were usually
wont to buy from Naples, Lombardie, and Greece, so much silk
as yearly amounted to three hundred thousand duckets, it is now
thought that shortly they shall have enough of their owne. . . .
It is thought there are yearly made of Florence Rashes to the
worth of two million of duckets, and of Silkes and Cloathes of
gold and silver, to the value of three millions. . . ."

In spite of the increase of mulberry plantations and of silk-
worms in Tuscany it was necessary for the Florentine manu-
facturers to import both leaves and worms largely from abroad,
and especially from the Valley of the Rhone.

At various times, especially during epidemics, much suspicion
was directed to the possibility of the introduction of fever, and
other ailments, by means of the raw silk and cocoons imported
from the East. It was commonly said too, in later days, that the
cultivation of the mulberry was pernicious : — " for in the most
places where it hath been planted plague and sickness hath
broken out ! "

Perhaps of all the processes the most important were those
which dealt with the earliest stages of the manufacture — the
treatment of the cocoon. No cocoons containing dead worms, or
double cocoons, or any which had suffered injury, or dis-
colouration in transit, were allowed to pass the tables of the
Conduttori, who were the first to deal with cocoons in the
rough.

Steaming in hot water — by the Calderai, was the next step.

220

THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

This process was needful to kill the worm swiftly, so that no
discharge of foul matter might exude, and injure the " gum," or
lining of the cocoon. The cocoons were placed in hot water for
a few minutes, and a little alkali was added. The temperature
was kept quite equable, — about 80° Fahrenheit, — until the silk-
case softened of itself, and the stray strands of silk floated. To
assist this natural unwinding, girls were employed, who kept

SPINNING SILK FROM COCOONS. SIXTEENTH CENTURY

the cocoons in gentle movement in their bath, by means of small
brushes made of tree twigs.

Reeling, from the steamed and softened cocoons, was the
gathering into one thread, so to speak, of strands from many
submerged cocoons. This formed the raw silk of commerce.
Great care had to be exercised by the Filatori and Filatore —
male and female spinners or reelers, — to avoid thick pieces or
lumps being drawn through the eyelet of the reeling machine.

The Torcitori, — silk-throwers or twisters, — wound together

THE GUILD OF SILK 221

several strands of raw silk in hanks. The raw silk singly treated
was far too delicate for manipulation. The weft-thread was
composed of two or three strands of raw silk not " thrown," and
this gave the material its silky appearance and feel.

No doubt the introduction of raw silk to Florence was due, in
the first instance, to the agents of the Merchants and Bankers,
who, traversing lands and seas, failed not to pick up novelties of
all kinds, and especially such objects as appeared likely to be
profitable commercial assets. Thus samples of unwound cocoons,
and thrown-silk, found their way into their consignments of
foreign produce.

The finest quality of raw silk was imported from Spain,
which, in the fourteenth century, was valued at from two lire,
teri soldi, to eleven soldi per pound : that of Catanzano being
the least highly esteemed, out of nineteen or twenty other
varieties.

Balducci Pegolotti, in his " Manuale del Mercante Fiorentino
o Divisamenti" gives precepts for preserving the silk in transit.
He speaks of " raw silk which comes in bales, and is of many
kinds and qualities, but of whatever kind it is, it must be smooth
to the touch, and according to the quality, the thread must be
fine, round, and free from fluff, dross, and knots. . . ."

" It is also necessary to see that it is not rubbed, which
means that on the road, when it is brought by beasts of burden,
or in waggons, the bales do not come into contact with the
hedges, the waggon, or the ground, so that the canvas or outer
covering is torn, and the silk is exposed. . . ."

" To preserve silk well it must be packed tighter than any
other merchandise, and kept in a place neither too damp nor
too dry, covered with good matting. If it is so kept it will
never be spoilt."

The travellers' bales also contained consignments of silken
stuffs and velvets and gold and silver brocades produced by the
silk looms of India, Persia and China.1 Hence Florence became

1 Pagnini, vol. ii. 115.

222 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

the emporium of the precious tissues of Bagdad, Damascus,
Teheran, and other manufactures of the Far East.

One other element contributed to the fame of Florence as
a Silk-mart. Many a courier and agent brought home with him
natives of the countries through which he travelled. These
people carried with them, to the service of their new masters,
secrets and methods known only in the East, and, by the terms
of their purchase, they were held in a state of quasi-slavery,
and gave their time and abilities to the prosecution of their craft
for the benefit of their masters.

Thus, in a comparatively short time, beauty of design,
richness of colouring, and fineness of workmanship raised the
value of Florentine silk immeasurably. Just as in the case
of foreign cloth, redressed by Florentine workpeople, the output
of the silk looms of Florence commanded far and away better
prices, in the European markets, than did the like produce
of any other city or country.1 Her craftsmen excelled those
of Lucca, Milan, Naples, Pisa, Genoa, Bologna, and Ferrara,
as well as those of Bergamo, Bassano, Vicenza, Verona, Padua,
and other centres of the silk industry in Lombardy.2

The two most important branches of the silk manufacture, —
pure and simple, — were plain silk and silk-velvet or plush. The
invention of velvet was due to the enterprise of the Velluti
family, — hence the name, — who were already doing a thriving
business in the thirteenth century. Inconvenienced by want
of room, in their original workshops, off the Vicolo della Seta,
they removed, along with other families and workmen engaged
in the same kind of silk manufacture ; and, somewhere about
1285, crossed the river, and established themselves in more
spacious quarters in Oltrarno. The Velluti erected large ware-
houses and factories, in a new street, to which they gave the
name of Via de' Velluti. This street soon became an important
thoroughfare, and, because many other rising families built fine

1 Statuti dell' Arte della Seta, Rub. xviii. , xxv., xxxiv., xliii., Ixii.

2 Pagnini, vol. ii. 115.

THE GUILD OF SILK 223

edifices along it, it was re-named Via Maggiore — the Via Maggio
of to-day.

There exists a Chronicle, — the original manuscript of which
is in the possession of the present Duca di San Clemente, Simone
Velluti Zate, — which deals with the history of his house and
its success in trade ; it was begun in 1300 by Donato di Lam-
berto dei Velluti. A good many leaves are wanting in the first
part, and there is the following suggestive note by Paolo Velluti,
who continued the Chronicle : — " Whatever is obliterated in these
pages, I have done it to wipe out the memory of the enmities
and vendettas of the men of our house." *

A light kind of silk-tissue was much made called Drappi
delle Ermisini, — Sarcenet, — which admitted of the admixture of
inferior and watered down materials, a sort of " shoddy silk."
This manufacture was discouraged, and under certain conditions,
forbidden, as detracting from the reputation of the Florentine
silk manufacturers. Silk-tissue, which was sold everywhere by
weight, was woven in pieces measuring ordinarily twenty ulne —
fore-arm's lengths.2

Lapo Mazzei, the Notary, makes some sententious remarks
in his " Letters " upon the morals and aims of the Florentine
methods. He rather optimistically avers that they had in their
minds more noble things than mere money gains, and he cites a
" Treatise upon the Arte della Seta," written by an anonymous
member of the Guild. The manuscript is preserved in the
Laurentian Library at Florence ; the author inculcates not only
admirable rules and recommendations for the successful carrying
on of the industry, but also the more excellent way of transacting
worldly business, by way of making accommodations with
heaven !

The work is entitled : " A Manual of Theoretical and
Practical Instruction for the use of Silk-manufacturers." 3 Its
value is enhanced by many miniatures, — exquisitely drawn and

1 Donate Velluti, "Cronica," 130x3-1370. 2 Cantini, vol. vii. 176.

3 Girolamo Gargiolli, " Trattato del Secolo XV."

224 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

coloured, — of workpeople of both sexes, wearing the work-a-day
dress of the period, and engaged in their several occupations.

This " Manual " is based upon manuscripts and codices in
the Biblioteca Ricciardiana, — bearing dates in and about 1453, —
the Biblioteca Magliabecchiana, and in the Biblioteca Laurenziana
of the approximate date of 1517. The anonymous author makes
use of the public records of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries,
and quotes freely from Goro Dati and Dino Compagni. He
enters fully into all the details concerning raw-silk, its import,
and its manipulation, together with descriptions of the machinery
used, and the method of dyeing, with current values and sale-
prices, etc. etc.

At the beginning, — after the customary invocation and dedica-
tion,— Lare instructions for the treatment of pelo — raw-silk and
cuttings, orsoio — sewing-silk, and Irama — silk-thread for weaving
the woof. The preparatory stages before dyeing were : sorting,
steaming, boiling, and reeling. Recipes are given for dyeing
green, brown-green, blue, vermilion, tawny, fustic-yellow, grey,
and black. The methods of dyeing crimson and black, for
example, are as follows : — Crimson : — " In dyeing crimson the
silk must be left for a day, or better for a day and a night,
in a solution of alum. In the morning wash out the alum in a
trough of clear water, and fold the stuff in clean linen cloths.
Have a cauldron of hot water ready, with a moderate amount of
lye in it, add half the crimson dye, which has been well ground
and sieved, and bring the mixture to a boil. It is very important
that there be not too much lye, — for the inexperienced dyer is
often too liberal in its use, fearing that the solution in the
cauldron is not thick enough, — or the result will be a yellowish
colour, and the process will have been useless."

" Dip the alumed silk warily in the cauldron, then take it
out, and place it in the alum bath again, for an hour or two.
Again remove it, and dip in the cauldron again, then take it out,
wash it well, and rinse it several times. This part of the process
should be done in Arno water, or better still in water of the

THE GUILD OF SILK 225

Mugnone, which is harder ; and the harder the water the greater
its cleansing power."

" The remaining part of the crimson dye is added from time
to time, during the progress of the various dippings. So far as
the dyeing process has gone, it has merely fixed the first strain of
colour. The dyer must now consider whether he has used coarse
or fine crimson, and also the quantity of each. If he has had
the fine crimson he must dip the substance in tepid alum-solution,
then shake it five or six times in clean linen cloths, and dip, and
leave it in the cauldron until the liquid is quite cold."

" The next part of the process consists in shaking out a piece
to see if it is to the dyer's liking ; if it is, nothing further need
be done : if it is not red enough, make the alum a little hotter
again, and put it in as before, and continue repeating this until it
is quite satisfactory."

" Remember that the more leisurely the process, and the colder,
the better, clearer, more unblemished the stuff will be. Fine
crimson stands wringing better than the coarse, and has more
colour, pound for pound, — for one pound of fine is equal to two
pounds of the coarse, — besides the fine is redder, and takes the
alum better. The coarse crimson dyes very slightly, so that if
the alum-solution is too hot all will be spoiled."

" Remember that it is never a waste of time to stand and
watch patiently the steeping in the cauldron, for loss may
otherwise be incurred in the selling value of the material. If
very deep red is required add a little Roman vitriol to the alum ;
but this forced colouring is bad, and does not last, but fades
easily."

Black : — " The stuff must be steeped in gall a whole day, or
a day and a night. The gall must boil for one hour in the
cauldron, taking care that the latter is well filled, and boiling
when the silk is put in. When it has boiled for an hour or
more, take it out, wring it, and put it to cool — repeat this
three times. If it is pelo or orsoio do not boil it in the
cauldron, — for it has to endure hard wear, and boiling it in the

p

226 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

black dye weakens it, — but pour the boiling solution over it.
Take it out and put it to cool as many times as necessary, until
the sample shows that it is finished. When this has^een done
three times, put the material in the cauldron, so that it is com-
pletely covered, and let it stand all night — then take it out and
wash it. Place a pan ready with washing-soap dissolved in it,
put the stuff in, and soap it well, — for this soaping makes it
lustrous, bright, and soft, — as otherwise it would be dark and
harsh, and would split"

" Many kinds of silk require great care in dyeing them black,
such as the silk of Bruges, and others of weak fibre, which, if
boiled in black dye, become so fragile that nothing can be done with
them — this is not the case with Spanish and other stout qualities."

The author goes on to give several tables of figures which are
interesting, as illustrations of the actual conditions under which the
silk industry throve so greatly in Florence.1 The first table is :—
" Of Descriptions and Prices of Raw Silks " : — there are twenty
varieties, including Seta Spagnola — quoted at Fl. 2, 10 picdoli
per pound weight, Seta Strana — foreign — Fl. 2, 4 piccioli, Seta
a7' Almeria — Fl. 2, 5 piccioli, Seta da Messina — Fl. I, 10 piccioli,
Seta da Modigliana — Fl. 2, 13 piccioli, Seta d* Abruzzi — Fl. 2,
5 piccioli and Seta Crespolina — 1 1 piccioli.

The second table deals with the "Winding of Silk." All
masters who employ silk-winders are required to pay the following
prices per pound : — For all double skeins, five piccioli per pound, —
for raw silk, six piccioli, — for the woof used in weaving, seven
piccioli, — for single white skeins, eight piccioli, — for white sewing
silk, six piccioli, — for the woof for Taffetta, nine piccioli, — for raw
knotty silk, seven piccioli, — for fine Raso, — lustrous silk or satin,—
ten piccioli. The prices, in ready money, for twisting and spinning
silk were, for white sewing-thread — six piccioli, for single skeins-
four piccioli, for spinning-silk-thread — eight piccioli per pound.
When booked and paid for after the work was completed, these
prices were increased fifty per cent.

1 Pagnini, vol. iii. p. 117.

THE GUILD OF SILK 227

Another table gives the scale of payment for weaving per
braccio — Broccato d'Oro, — gold brocade, — from eighteen to six
silver florins, according to the weight per ounce of gold ; Velluto
and Damaschino — silk woven with floral and other patterns, like silk
from Damascus — one florin each ; Raso — sixteen piccioli ; Taffetta
— five piccioli ; Ciambellotto, — silk-camlet, roughish surface like
modern Como rugs, — twelve piccioli ; Saia — silk-serge, — mixed
with wool — a favourite and strong material for the body-hose
and doublets worn by men — one florin eighteen piccioli.

The weight of silk warp, per braccio, varied considerably : —
Tebano Raso, — thin satin, — and Ciambellotto weighed each twelve
danari ; Velluto — fourteen danari ; and Damaschino — twenty-four
danari. The woof also varied in weight per braccio : — Velluto,
Damaschino and Taffetta — each one ounce, six danari; Zetano-Raso,
— raised satin, — one ounce, eighteen danari ; Ciambellotto — two
ounces ; and Seta di Capitone — stout silk serge, three ounces.

Woven tissues of silk were of different weights, per braccio : —
Damaschino and Raso — Colorato Scempio — single-coloured satin,
each two ounces six danario ; detto doppi — ditto double, two ounces
sixteen danari ; Taffetta colorata — coloured taffettas, one ounce
sixteen danari ; Velluto colorato — coloured velvet, three ounces ;
detto nero — ditto black, three ounces twelve danari ; Ciambellotto
— three ounces ; and Saia — four ounces.

The sizes too of the silk pieces were dissimilar in breadth :
Velluto piano — plain velvet, and Raso — satin — each measured one
braccio ; Damaschino — one and a quarter braccio ; Brocatella — a
light brocade, — Taffetta, and Saia, each one braccio seven-eighths.

Another table deals with the " Prices paid for dyeing silk per
pound weight " : — Cremisi, crimson, two dips — Verde Bruno,
olive-green, — Alessandrino, pale blue, each two silver florins ; Pago-
nazzo-Cermisi, di Grana, and di Verzino — violet crimson, violet ivy-
red, and violet Brazil-red — one florin fifteen piccioli ; Zafferano —
saffron, Vermiglio, — vermilion, and Azzuro — light-blue, each one
florin five piccioli ; Verde — green, and Cermisi — crimson — a single
dip, each one florin ; Bigio — grey, Tane — tan-colour, Giallo di

228 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

Scotano — fustic-yellow, each twelve piccioli ; Nero — black, cost
fifteen piccioli.

The sale-prices of silk materials, per braccio, in the Retail shops
of the For Santa Maria ranged as follows : —

Brocades: — Deep crimson — Flo. 2, 6, 8 ; Violet-crimson —
Flo. 2, 5, o ; Parti-coloured — Flo. i, 13, 4 ; Black — Flo. i, 18, o.

Satins: — Deep crimson — Flo. 2, 3, o; Violet-crimson-
Flo. 2 ; Parti-coloured — Flo. I, 6, 8 ; Black — Flo. i, 5, o.

Damasks: — Deep crimson — Flo. 2 ; Violet-Crimson, Flo. i,
17,6; Parti-coloured — Flo. I, 2, o; Black — Flo. i.

By weight — per pound — the prices were as follows : —

Satins: — Deep crimson — Flo. 6 ; Violet-Crimson — Flo. 5, 5 ;
Parti-coloured — Flo. 4, i 5 ; Black — Flo. 3, 17, 6.

Taffettas : — Deep - crimson — Flo. 7, i o ; Violet - Crimson-
Flo. 6, 10 ; Parti-Coloured — Flo. 3, 17; Black — Flo. 3, 15;
and Dull red — Flo. 4, 10.

Other qualities and descriptions of silk-tissue are also quoted
in the " Manual," but the foregoing will suffice to show the values
which obtained generally in the sixteenth century.

During the fourteenth century the full style of the Guild was :
" V Arte delta Seta e di Drappi d'Oro, e degli Orafi " — " The Guild,
of Silk and Cloth of Gold Manufacturers and Goldsmiths."

The addition of " Goldsmiths " to the title of the Guild points
to the importance of that group of artists and artificers. The
working in precious metals established a new profession for
artistically disposed Florentines : a profession which ranked on
an equality — if it did not indeed surpass them — with the
Company of Painters attached to the " Guild of Doctors and
Apothecaries," and the Society of Sculptors and Architects affiliated
with the lesser " Guild of Masters in Stone and Wood."

So much the vogue did gold and silver work become that
a special Guild sprang into existence, early in the fourteenth
century, which bore the title of " L Arte degli Orefici" — "Guild
of Workers in Gold and Silver." Every boy who displayed art
talent was apprenticed to a goldsmith, and thus almost every

ARMS OF f.UILD OK SII.K

DOXATELLO

THE GUILD OF SILK 229

one of the famous painters, sculptors, potters, and decorative
workers of all kinds, were enrolled members of "The Guild of
Goldsmiths." In the middle of the century there were actually as
many as forty-four goldsmiths' shops upon the Ponte Vecchio, — a
position assigned to them by the Council of State, — the united
rentals of which amounted annually to upwards of eight hundred
gold florins.1

In 1322 three Examiners were appointed by the " Por Santa
Maria" to look into the Statutes and Regulations of the sub-
ordinate " Guild of Goldsmiths." The result of their inquiries was
seen in the admission of the Master-craftsmen to full membership
in the Greater Guild on the same terms as the existent members.
All disputes between Masters and Apprentices were to be
decided by the Consuls of the Silk Guild.2

Goldsmiths were authorised to work in all metals, but every
article made had to be submitted for approval to appointed
Inspectors, and each thing passed required the stamp of the
maker's name and his trade mark. For gold work the metal
employed had to be of equal value to that used for the gold
florin, but gold, worked into wreaths and personal ornaments,
required the admixture of sulphur. No goldsmith was allowed
to exercise his craft outside his own dwelling-house or workshop.

The Consuls of the Silk Guild had the right to visit and
inspect workers, work done, and materials in preparation, when-
ever they were so minded.

Severe measures were, from time to time, taken to prevent
the use of imitation, or base, gold and silver thread. For church
vestments, especially, care was taken that the gold and silver were
of the best quality, from Cyprus, Olivio, and Colonia. Ecclesiastics
and the Generals of the Monasteries were forbidden to make use
of any but the best metal for the decoration of altars, sacred
Images, etc. etc. ; and they were also forbidden to dispose of
such objects to Second-hand Dealers and Pawnshops.

1 Vasari, vol. ii. 14.

2 Archivio del Stato Florentine, Strozzi Uguccioni,— quoted by Davidssohn, vol. iii.
1273, p. 212.

230 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

Early in the fifteenth century the weaving of spun " cloth
of gold " as it was called was introduced by members of the
Guild who had travelled in the East, and had learned something
of the manufacture of this magnificent texture.1

According to Gino Capponi, the introduction of gold and
silver-tissue spinning and weaving took place in 1422. He
also asserts that the best gold-thread came from Sicily and
Cyprus.2

Along with its manufacture by the Florentine silk-looms
came a marked enrichment of the attire of private citizens and
of the State-robes of public dignitaries.

As early as the year 1296 two rich pieces of cloth of gold
were manufactured in honour of Cardinal Pietro di Piperno, which
were valued at thirty- nine gold florins. The robe of Filippa di
Giotti Peruzzi, — on her marriage to Carlo degli Adimari, — of fine
silk velvet embroidered in gold, cost two hundred and sixty-nine
gold florins, whilst her going away dress cost twenty gold florins
more, but it comprised a rick silk gonnella — a petticoat or shirt,
and a guarnacca — a full embroidered morning-gown.

Notwithstanding this great prosperity of the trade, the " Guild of
Workers in Gold and Silver " had but a very ephemeral existence.
At the revision of the Statutes of the Silk Guild in 1335 it was
suppressed, and its members were drafted, with ^/ull and equal
rights and privileges, into the greater corporation.3

"The Guild of Goldsmiths," — " Arte degli Orafi" — in contra-
distinction to the "Guild of Workers in Gold and Silver," — " Arte
degli Orefici" — continued its operations, and became, in the six-
teenth century, one of the most important and wealthy corporations
in Florence.

Among famous goldsmiths were, Andrea Arditi, Bernardo
Cenni, Lorenzo Ghiberti, Tommaso degli Ghirlandaji, L. Nero,
Antonio di Sandro, Antonio Salvi, Paolo Uccello, Benvenuto
Cellini, and Filippo Brunelleschi. The latter was enrolled in the

1 Burckhardt, " Der Cultur des Renaissance in Italian," i. 77.

2 Ammirato, Lib. xviii. p. 998. 3 G. Gonetta, " Bibliografia Statutaria."

THE GUILD OF SILK

231

"Arte degli Orafi" under the great "Silk Guild" in 1398, and
he was made a freeman of the latter in 1414.

These dates point to the fact that the " Silk Guild " extended
its patronage and protection over goldsmiths in general, and not
merely over workers in gold and silver-tissue. The creations
however of the former hardly belong to the history of the " For

INTERIOR OF A GOLDSMITH'S WORKSHOP. SIXTEENTH CENTURY.

Santa Maria'' but form a subject apart from the industry of silk
and precious-metal weaving.

There is no doubt that in Florence the goldsmith's art stood
very high in the times with which we are dealing. The gold-
smiths were artists, and therefore most of the workers in chiselled
gold and silver, and engravers of gold and precious stones attained
a high reputation, and it may be truly said, the work of the Florentine
goldsmiths far surpassed, in exquisiteness and originality of design,
that of any other city.

The combination of silk with gold and silver led to the

232 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

introduction of a new and beautiful art — the making of laces.
This specially found votaries in the Convents, where the nuns
instructed their lay sisters in the elegant manipulations of bobbin
and stiletto. Savonarola rebuked the Religious for " devoting their
time to the vain fabrication of gold laces with which to adorn
persons and houses." This exquisite work, — of which every
important collection of vestures possesses an example, — is still
called " opera de' monacke " — " nun's work."

Henry VIII. of England and his queens were very partial to
Florentine lace. He granted to two Florentine merchants the
privilege of importing for three years " all manner of frynges and
parsements, wrought in gold and silver and otherwise."

The embroiderers and embroideries of Florence were more famous
than any others. Philip, Duke of Burgundy, was a great patron and
collector of cloths of gold sewn over with pearls, corals, and other
valuable materials. Antonio Pollaiuolo, and many other painters
and goldsmiths, designed small cartoons to be worked in silk-
tissue and ornaments. One, Paolo, — a Venetian artist settled in
Florence, — occupied quite twenty-six years in embroidering altar
hangings representing the life of Saint John the Baptist for the
Baptistery, which had all the appearance of brush work.

Women specially excelled in this artistic craft, and their
energies were turned towards making ecclesiastical vestments in
which the richest textures were covered with gold filagree-work
and gems. Pope Paul III. gave many commissions to the Floren-
tine embroiderers.

Another very beautiful art was the painting and gemming of
fine muslins and laces. The Florentine Velettai — veil-makers—
were celebrated, not only for their taste, but also for their skill in
weaving mixtures of silk, wool, and cotton with the finest
strands of metal.

Doubtless ideas were gathered, and patterns drawn, from
Eastern fabrics imported from the Orient. For a lengthened
period such influences were apparent in the work turned out, but
in the fifteenth century — if not earlier — a marked emancipation

THE GUILD OF SILK 233

from restraint and convention is noticeable in the output of the
Florentine workshops and studios.

Painting on silk and satin was greatly admired in old
Florence. This form of decorative art developed in two direc-
tions : first, blending of colours, purely in the style of a pig-
ment-master, and, secondly, mosaic painting, in which the colours
were not mixed together but laid side by side in patches. This
added much to richness of effect, because strips and borders of
the material were left showing. In all the Sacristies of Florence,
and many more in Europe, there are preserved exquisite examples
of this method. No doubt the development of this art was due
to the fashion of painting the gonfalons of the Guilds and Com-
panies, and the shields and bucklers of cavaliers. The baldachinos
of churches, and the frontals of altars were generally treated in this
manner with adornments of gold and silver lace.

Codices written in 1487 by Balducci Pegolotti, and by
Giovanni da Uzzano, descriptive of the Catasto of 1427, preserve
many very interesting details concerning the silk trade. Several
minute instructions are given concerning the methods of manu-
facture, and lists are added with respect to quality, weight, and
value of different sorts of raw silk.1

The " For Santa Maria " contributed greatly to the wealth
and magnificence of Florence during the fourteenth, fifteenth
and sixteenth centuries. "In 1472," says Benedetto Dei,2 " the
number of workshops belonging to the Guild was eighty-four,
wherein the industry of weaving cloth of gold, silver brocade,
and silk tissue of every colour and texture, was carried on."
Upwards of sixteen thousand operatives and superior workmen
were employed in the manufacture of silk, and its adjuncts, within
the city and Contado.

Silk stuffs were despatched to Lyons, Geneva, Antwerp,
Naples, Rome, Sicily, Provence, Roumania, Spain, Levant,
Morocco, Barbary, and elsewhere. No consignments of such goods
were made, strange to say, to England and Germany for general

1 No. xvii., 1427, Biblioteca-Laurenziana. 2 "Cronica," pp. 22-44.

234 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

sale. Royal patronage however was not wanting, for Henry VII.
of England, — ever a patron of foreigners of ability and research, —
appointed, in 1516, Leonardo Frescobaldo and Antonio Cavallari,
Purveyors of gold and silver cloth to the Court, with salaries of
£20 each. The last-named Florentine was also employed to gild
the tomb of Henry VIII. at Windsor.

There is extant a letter of Henry VII. addressed to the
Signoria^ recommending Antonio Corsi, — a Florentine agent, high
in the favour of the king, — whom he was sending to Florence,
" to purchase gold cloth and silks, sufficient to load three
mules."

The household book of Henry VIII. contains records of pay-
ments to the Florentine banker-merchants Frescobaldi, Bardi,
Corsi, Cavalcanti, and others for pieces of cloth of gold.1
These were required, doubtless, to furnish the magnificent
uniforms and decorations of the famous " Field of the Cloth of
Gold," as well as for use by the King and the Court in England.

Ser Antonio Guidotti, — the negotiator of loans for the
King, who was knighted for his successful financial measures, —
was a great promoter of the silk industry. In a letter to Thomas
Cromwell, written in 1536, he offered to bring over to England a
party of silk-weavers from Messina. He was a Florentine, and
employed many craftsmen from his native place.

During the fifteenth century Duke Filippo Maria Visconti of
Milan was a patron of the Florentine silk industry. He invited
silk workers to settle in that city, for the purpose of instructing
the native Milanese in the details of manufacture, and in spite of
prohibitions, some accepted the Duke's liberal terms : — " a generous
monthly stipend, full political rights, and ten years' exemption
from taxes, both for themselves, and for any agents who might co-
operate with them."

The founders of the celebrated French manufactories of silk
and velvet at Lyons, Montpellier, Avignon and other centres, were
undoubtedly Florentines. Traditions and traces of their works

1 Archivio Fiorentino, " Atti Pubblichi," 1498. 2 Brit. Museum MSS., 2481.

THE GUILD OF SILK 235

and methods still linger among the operatives there. The same
may be said of England.

A notable family held a prominent place in the Silk Guild,
that of the Guicciardini. The historian, man of affairs and
courtier, Francesco Guicciardini, who flourished in the middle of
the sixteenth century, — from whose literary works many quotations
are made in this volume, — had a share in a silk manufactory, along
with Jacopo and Lorenzo di Bernardo Segni and their Company.
His " Ricordi Politici e Civili de Firenze " was written during the
siege of Florence by the Emperor and the Pope in I 529-30.

Sir Richard Dallington, in his " Survey of the Great Duke's
Estate," makes lengthy references to the Silk Industry, and to the
cultivation of worms and mulberries. The late date, — 1596, —
of this characteristic record, suggests, too, the fact that the same
Grand Duke, and his two immediate predecessors, by their un-
called for and unwise interference in the Silk-industry, — as well
as in the other trades of Florence, — practically led to the ruin
of the commercial life of the splendid old city and her princely
merchants.

Signs of decadence in the trade made their appearance in the
middle of the sixteenth century. Foreign competition, with a
more general spread of the industry, and the improvement of
communications, may be set down as reasons ; but, doubtless,
the principal contributory causes were the amazing prosperity of
the City, and the self-indulgence of her citizens.

Workgirls and their companions began to sing : —

"Lunedi, — lunediai ; " Monday, — Mondayish.
Martedi, — non lavorai ; Tuesday, — nobody works.

Mercoledi, — persi la rocca ; Wednesday, — take up the distaff.
Giovedi, — la retrovai ; Thursday, — lay it down again.

Venerdi, — la 'uconocchiai ; Friday, — willy-nilly.
Sabato, — mi lavai la testa ; Saturday, — let us wash our

heads.
E Domenica, — Uerafesta ! " Sunday, — well, that's the festa!"1

1 Girolamo Gargiolli, " L'Arte della Seta in Firenze e Dialoghv' p. 229.

CHAPTER VIII
THE GUILD OF DOCTORS AND APOTHECARIES

L'ARTE DE' MEDICI E DEGLI SPEZIALI

I. ORIGIN. — Elemental knowledge of Medicine and Surgery in the Middle
Ages. Salerno. Occult sciences. Earliest Florentine Physician, 934. Guild
in existence, 1197. College of Doctors, 1218. Taddeo d3 Alderotti— " PIppo-
cratisto"

II. CONSTITUTION. — Strict examination of candidates for membership.
Matteo Palmieri. Two divisions of the Guild. Code of 1313. Apprentices.
Midwives.

III. DOCTORS. — Their assumptions of superiority. Dress. Manners.
Etiquette. Petrarch's squib. Strange remedies. " The sea (or river) washes
away all human ills ! " Cabbages. " Pratica di Niccolo da Ftrenze" Recipes.
Guglielmo di Saliceto. Anatomy. Professional fees. Quacks. Mercato
Vecchio.

IV. APOTHECARIES. — Social inferiority. Caution-money. Licenses. Sales
of drugs safeguarded. Famous Pharmacies. Greek scholars welcomed by
Cosimo de' Medici. Albarelli. Funerals. Records of Prioriste and Zibaldoni.
Perfumes. Buccheri. Haberdashery. " DArte d<? Merciai, Velettai, Pro-
fumieri e Cartolai" Many affiliated trades. Agents and salesmen. Pro-
fessional Banks.

V. PATRONAGE OF THE GUILD. — Literature. Famous men of letters.
Dante. Printing. Woodcuts. Scrivani. Librai. Painting. Celebrated
painters. Cimabue. " UArte di Pittori." Florentine Lodge of Guild of St
Luke. Trattato delta Pittura. Stained-glass windows. Geographical re-
search. Toscanelli and Vespucci. " A Great Guild ! "

IN the Middle Ages the science of Medicine was in a deplor-
able condition, and the knowledge of Chemistry was quite
elementary. Surgery was hardly practised at all, and, as it
was deemed impious to dissect the dead human body, anatomy
was practically unknown.1

Herbalists and dealers in simples were held in higher esteem
than medicine-makers, apothecaries, and distillers. As a science
the cult of medicine did not go beyond the use of the horoscope,

1 Targioni-Tozzetti, " Prodromio," p. 83.
236

DOCTORS AND APOTHECARIES 237

the examination of urine, and a few carefully guarded secrets,
of which the Jews were the chief depositories.1

The use of the knife had practically died out. Cautery and
the setting of bones represented the whole of experimental
surgery. The extraction of teeth, phlebotomy, and all such
minor operations, were complacently submitted to the skill of
the ubiquitous barber, or dubiously committed to the tender
mercies of the casual empiric.

The influence of the occult sciences upon human destiny and
human suffering ever excited the imagination of the curious.
The alchemist's robe, the astrologer's wand, and the doctor's
spectacles, betokened the possession of mystic powers, which were
the admiration of the credulous. Wealth seemed to be linked
to fame in the exploitation of medicine and its sister sciences,
and that was quite a sufficient recommendation in the eyes of
shrewd business men.

The lamp of science had doubtless been kept alight in the
Monasteries, but its glow did not illuminate the outside darkness.
Consequently, when the founding of Universities became a feature
of the times, much that was known only in secret chambers and
cells, began to be revealed to the growing intelligence of mankind
in general.

Bologna, Ravenna, Padua, and Salerno, and other centres of
light and leading, opened their doors to an expectant world.
Among the earliest faculties sought there were the sciences of
Practical Medicine and Experimental Surgery. Thither went many
a Florentine lad, the bearer of his parents' hopes. In due time
these pioneer-adventurers returned home again to preach and to
practise what they had heard and seen in school and hospital.

The earliest mention of physicians, in the Florentine Archives,2
bears the date of 934 ; when it is noted that one " Amalpertius,"
a deacon of the Church, was also a medico, and was styled
Domino Messere" In 1070 " Britulus " is named, "who was a

1 "L' Osservatore Florentine," vol. vi. p. 147.

2 Archivio del Archevescovo Fiorentino.

238 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

well-known doctor." Piero, Abbot of the Badia, speaks, in 1090,
of " Giovanni, our most estimable doctor and friend."

The names of many doctors and physicians are recorded in
subsequent years. Their incorporation in a Guild was accomplished
early in the twelfth century. This was probably due to the
same considerations which led to the incorporation of the
Merchant Guilds — the benefit of mutual and united action.

That a Guild of Doctors was already an active body in 1 197
is proved by the fact that in that year the signatures of the
Consuls are appended, along with those of the Consuls of other
Guilds, to the anti-imperial League of Tuscan cities, — at the head
of which was Florence, — and they signed as representing " The
Guild of Doctors and Apothecaries." This fact also proves the
association in one community of two classes of men, quite distinct
in social importance, but each depending upon the other for
existence and opportunity.

Somewhere about the year 1218 we first come across the
existence of a College of Doctors and Apothecaries, established
very much upon the lines of the old Roman and Imperial
Collegia. Its members included not only doctors, apothecaries,
physicians, and chemists, but also surgeons and midwives —
the two latter classes were, however, quite insignificant and
subordinate.

The founder of the Florentine School of Medicine was Taddeo
d'Alderotti. He was born in Florence in 1223, and was sent by
his father, — a Corn-chandler, — to study at Bologna. He first of all
gave his attention to Greek literature and philosophy, of which
faculty he became in due time the professor. His translations of
Aristotle's "Ethics" and his commentaries of Galen and others,
gained him much fame. Dante speaks of " Taddeo's lore." *
Hippocrates, and his history of human disease, greatly attracted
him, and he gained the name of " /' Ippocratisto " — " The Hippo-
cratean," as recorded in Dante's " Convito."

The date of Taddeo's establishment as a professor of medicine

1 «' Paradise," Canto xii.

DOCTORS AND APOTHECARIES 239

in Florence is uncertain ; but two circumstances seem to point to
the year 1278, for there are records, which give the name of one
of his earliest Florentine pupils, — Dino del Garbo, who after-
wards became a preacher of the Order of Cistercians, — and also
state that he united the teaching of medicine with the calling of a
Corn-chandler, in the public granary at Or San Michele, in that
year.

Dino del Garbo's son, Tommaso, was also a pupil of Taddeo,
and both are referred to at length by Villani.1

Taddeo's fame was great. Among his patients was Pope
Honorius IV., a sufferer from gout, which quite incapacitated him
from saying Mass. His Holiness having been restored to health,
thankfully bestowed six thousand ducats ( = .£3,000) upon the
great doctor. Taddeo's reputation, and his fees also, rose im-
mensely. From a wealthy merchant he demanded as much as
fifty to one hundred gold florins for a brief consultation ! 2

Other famous professors of the medical and surgical faculties
in Florence were Giambattista Torregiano and Michele Vieri —
both pupils of Taddeo d' Alderotti.

What the exact relations of the Guild with the College or
School were, no records appear to state ; but that the latter was
subordinate to the former is certain.

A Statute of the Guild lays down that : — " no doctor may be
admitted a member of the College, nor be allowed to practise,
unless he has first been publicly examined by the Consuls of the
Guild." 3 This was doubtless, more or less, a perfunctory exercise,
for the candidate had already obtained his degree and qualification
at his university. It had reference, probably, to social standing,
and, not a little, to the good conceit the applicant had of
himself !

Another Statute names the Apothecary members of the
Guild, but imposes no examination, as in the case of the Doctors.

1 F. Villani, " Vita di Taddeo d'AIderotti."

2 L' Osservatore Fiorentino, vol. i. 134, p. 301.
* Statuti, Lib. iv. Act ii. Stat. 53.

240

THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

The activities and importance of the Guild grew proportion-
ately. In 1282, at the second election of Priors, one of the
number chosen was a member of the " Guild of Doctors and

DOCTOR VISITING A FEVER PATIENT. 1500.

Apothecaries." A few years later, in 1296, the Matriculation
Roll of the Guild was adorned with its most celebrated name in
the annals of Florence, — the immortal writer of the " Divina
Commedia" — Dante Alighieri.

DOCTORS AND APOTHECARIES 241

A very distinguished member of the Guild, who matriculated
in 1333, was Matteo Palmieri. He was also a writer of poetry,
his " Citta di Vita " is very reminiscent of the work of Dante.
He realised the highest ambition of all Florentines by being
appointed ambassador ; his mission was to the Court of the
King of Naples. " The ambassador," says a quaint old historian
— Giovanni Battista Gello, who was a tailor by trade but a free
student in the university also, — " behaved himself very wisely, and
the king did aske what manner of man he was in his own
countrey, and it was told him that he was an Apothecary. ' If
the apothecaries/ quoth the king, ' be so wise and learned in
Florence, what be their physicians ? ' " l

A Code of Statutes was issued by authority in 1313. Its
provisions corresponded in general terms with those of the
" Calimala" Statutes of 1301-9, and additions were made in 1316,
and again in 1349. Complete revisions of Statutes, Regulations,
Bye-laws, and of the whole Constitution of the Guild, were
effected in 1415 and 1468, and further additions were made in
1558 and 1571.

In the recension of 1415, it was enacted that no one
under the age of fifteen years should be apprenticed to a doctor
of medicine, surgeon, barber, midwife, or any one else who had
care of the sick. All such persons were required to establish
their reputation for honesty, morality, and mental and physical
fitness before being matriculated.2

Doctors were permitted to enter into partnership with apothe-
caries, on mutual terms : the former sending patients to the latter
with their prescriptions, and the latter recommending patients to
the former.3

Under all these laws the number of Consuls was always four.
They had unlimited jurisdiction over all physicians and apothe-
caries, as well as over all surgeons, midwives, herbalists, distillers,

1 " Pensoso d'Altrui," 1537.

2 " Statuta Populi et Communis Florentiae," 1415, collecata 1775, Freiburg, Rub. Hi.

3 Rub. liv.

242 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

and all persons connected, directly or indirectly, with the faculties
of medicine and surgery.

In Jacopo di Cessolis' moralisation upon the " Playe of
Chesse," — published by Antonio Miscomini, and already referred
to, — the personality of a Doctor-apothecary is exhibited by the
Queen's Pawn as follows : l " The pawne that is sette to fore the
Quene signefyeth the Physicyen Spiceo and Apotyquaire and is
formed in the figure of a man and he is sette in a chayer on a
maystre and holdeth in his right hand a book and an ample or a
boxe wyth oynementis in his left hand and at his gurdelle his
instruments of yron and of sylver for to make incysions and to
serche woundes and hurtes and to culte apostumes, and by these
thinges ben knowen the cyrugyens. By the book ben under-
standen the phisicyens and all gramaryens, logicyens, maistres of
lawe, of geometrye arismetuyque musique and of astronomye and
by the ampole being signefied the makers of pigmentaries spicers
and apothequayres and they that make confections and confytes
and medecynes made wyth precyous spyces and by the ferrement
and instrumentis that hangeing on the gurdell ben signefied the
cyrurgens and the maistres."

The Residence of the Consuls of the Guild was one of the
finest in the city. It was formerly the Palazzo de' Lamberti, at
the corner of the Via di Sant' Andrea, massive and imposing in
appearance. The Hall of Audience was specially handsome, it was
adorned with fine marble sculptures, and a finely painted ceiling.
Each of the allied or subordinated Guilds, or divisions, contributed
some characteristic adornment : — painters, miniaturists, porcelain-
makers, haberdashers and silk agents, perfumers, etc. etc. The
ceiling is now preserved among the treasures of the Museo di San
Marco. On the facade of the Residence was displayed the
escutcheon of the Guild — the Madonna and Child supported by
two pots of growing Annunciation lilies. The same device was
repeated in white upon a red field in the Guild gonfalon.

1 " Guioccho delle Scacchi," 1493.

DOCTORS AND APOTHECARIES

243

Doctors, physicians, and surgeons, numbered no more than
sixty during the first half of the thirteenth century, out of a
total population of nearly one hundred thousand ; but their im-

srl

DOCTORS IN CONSULTATION.— 1500

portance, not to say arrogance, increased in an inverse ratio.
Their functions were very much more theoretical than practical,
and, for the most part, they were content to wear the habiliments
peculiar to their profession, and to pose as men of science, rather
than actually to practise the faculty to which they belonged.

244 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

Doctors, who had graduated at a university, never appeared in
public except with full and long robes, ornamented with scarlet
and vair-skin, after the fashion of knights, and a fur hood
depended from their shoulders, after the manner of Capuchin
monks. A velvet cap or hat, and gloves completed their pro-
fessional costume. Generally they were accompanied by a groom
leading a horse, which they usually made a show of mounting in
the Mercato Vecchio.

In common with doctors of laws, and men of upwards of
seventy years of age, doctors of medicine were exempt from
serving with the military companies of their sestieri.

It was a custom, common enough in the thirteenth and
fourteenth centuries, for doctors of medicine to fix their pro-
fessional residence and consulting-room at an apothecary's : a
mutual agreement was come to, whereby the doctor prescribed
only drugs sold by his own apothecary. In later times, when the
dignity of the profession had suffered somewhat at the hands of
commercial agents, doctors set up as independent retailers of
drugs ; but such " double dealing " does not appear to have been
very profitable either to them, or to their patients.

The diagnosis of physical ailments, no less than the casting of
psychical horoscopes, had little to do with the actual treatment of
sickness. The Doctor seated upon his horse, or ensconced in his
easy-chair, spectacles on nose, pompously prescribed the remedy,
writing it out in almost illegible characters, which became a fruitful
source of maladministration of drugs.

Professional etiquette required, first of all, the feeling of the
pulse, and the exhibition of the tongue, and these amenities were
enjoyed as readily in the open market as in the consultation-room.
The next stage was the elaborate swathing of an afflicted member
in linen cloths, dipped in water, and the commission of the patient
to the tender mercies of the Apothecary.

That profane babbler, Nello the barber, so amusingly described
in " Romola " running his rigs at the Doctors and Apothecaries,
asks : — " What sort of inspiration do you expect to get from the

DOCTORS AND APOTHECARIES 245

scent of nauseous vegetable decoctions ? — to say nothing of the
fact that you no sooner pass the threshold, than you see a doctor
of physic, like a gigantic spider, disguised in fur and scarlet,
waiting for his prey, or even see him blocking up the doorway,
seated on a bony hack inspecting saliva." 1

Petrarch had a jovial appreciation of the doctors of his day :
— " When I see a doctor coming I know all that he is going to
say to me," he laughingly exclaimed, — " Eat a pair of young
pullets, drink much warm water, and use the remedy that the
storks teach us ! " 2

A very favourite process for any malady of the head, —
whether simple headache, or more serious ailments, — was to shave
off all the hair, and then to hold the bare pate to the scorching
heat of a blazing fire ! An excellent embrocation, for any part of
the body, was considered to be soap made of myrrh, boiled in
water impregnated with crushed ivy flowers, and mixed with the
yoke of egg.

For stiff neck, or stiffness of the bones and limbs, a wash was
used compounded of wine and tincture of assafcetida, which was
rubbed in with force until the skin began to bleed, or the bone of
the skull was laid bare !

The favourite poultice was made of honey and assafcetida with
betony powder, and other ingredients, and applied hot. Warm
drinks, — sweet and nauseous, — were commonly imbibed, and men
in armour were plied with steaming potions to keep off the cold
shock of the steel they wore.

Persons suffering from fever were advised to plunge into cold
water ! Profuse bleeding was stopped by cautery — binding the
source round with stout cord, and setting it on fire with a
candle ! 3

Obstructions in the ear were treated with hot poultices for
thirty days, if relief was not obtained, smart raps were adminis-
tered to the unoffending ear ! " This practice," — as it was quaintly

1 George Eliot, "Romola," chapters iii.-xvi., etc.

2 J. F. A. de Sade, " Memoires pour la Vie de Petrarque/' vol. iii. 768.
* G. Boccaccio, " Decamerone," Giorn. iv., Nov. 10, vol. ii. p. 260.

246 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

said,1 — " is founded upon the fact that when a dagger gets jammed
in its sheath, the final resource for its release is a sharp blow." 2

Water-treatment, accompanied by applications of syrups and
purgatives, was a favourite remedy for all stomachic ailments, and
for skin diseases. For the richer citizens, a course of baths at
Siena was prescribed. This was a fine satire ; for nothing did
the ordinary Florentine love more than to score off his worsted foe
of old, by pacing with lordly step up and down those crooked
streets, and such advice was acted upon with alacrity !

For the poorer classes, who could not afford the Sienese
villegiatura, there was the bath in the loggia of the Ponte Vecchio,
fed by the water of the Arno, the medicinal virtues of which were
always loudly extolled by the medical and pharmaceutical faculties.
It was specific, they averred, in all poor men's ailments, and of
it was said, in old Florence, as of the ocean deep : — " The sea
washes away all human ills." 3

The humble cabbage was greatly extolled, — as were, in turn,
all the vegetable treasures of the garden and the field, — as a
panacea for all the aches and pains of poor humanity. It was
eaten raw, or cooked, and even the water in which it was prepared,
was deemed a health-giving beverage.4

The following is a satirical rhyme, which an old chronicler puts
into the mouth of many a despairing patient of the old Florentine
medicos : —

" There's never a herb nor a root,
Nor any remedy to boot
Which can stave death off by a foot ! " 5

One of the most celebrated doctor-surgeons of the fourteenth

and fifteenth centuries was Messer Niccolo di Francesco Falucci,

who was styled " Medicus doctissimus" He wrote many tractates

— the most highly esteemed being, " Pratica di Niccolo da

Firenze" — for such was his common name. Among medicines

1 F. Sacchetti, " Nov." 37, vol. i. p. 159.

2 Sacchetti, "Nov." 168, t. iii. p. 41.

3 L'Osservatore Fiorentino, Lib. vi. p. 35.

4 C. Sprengel, " Hist, of Medicine," vol. i. 138.

5 G. A. L. Cibrario, vol. i. p. 371.

DOCTORS AND APOTHECARIES 247

which he introduced was that of " Giuleppo di Niccolo" a famous
medicament in those days. Niccolo died in 1412.

What has become of all the countless scrips and scraps
whereon the famous doctors of old time scored their recipes — who
can say ? No more than five books of prescriptions remain to us,
and the oldest of them bears the date 1498. These were doubt-
less printed from the original manuscripts, and of them a copy is
preserved in the Sacristy of the Cathedral of Florence.1

It is stated that during his last illness Messer Piero Guicciar-
dini made use of certain pills to be taken at dinner and supper
time, which were made for him by Meo da Siena. The following
is the prescription : 2 —

Dramme.

Magnetised storax \

Colocynth . . . . 4^

Rhubarb ..... 4^

Powder of fine wax . . . . I \

Tree-mallow I

Fine turpeth i

Rectified scammony . . . .4

Clove and lavender \

Hepatic aloes .... 6

All steeped in white wine and made into pills.
The multiplicity of compounds very likely did little to
preserve the old man's life — possibly it was shortened ! Lorenzo
de' Medici's end, in 1492, was certainly hastened by his medical
treatment. The famous Milanese specialist, — Messere Lazaro da
Ficino, — was called into consultation by the " Magnifico's " resi-
dent physician, — Messere Piero Leoni da Spoleto, — but the case
was hopeless. As though to mark the high human value of the
patient's life they lavishly prescribed a potion of crushed pearls
and rubies !

One of the earliest Florentine surgeons who made a name,
was Guglielmo di Saliceto da Piacenza. He was the author of

1 Haller, " Biblioteca Medica," vol. i. p. 481. 2 MS. Diario di Monaldi, p. 98.

248

THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

a Treatise on Surgery, which appeared in the second half of the
thirteenth century.

Some progress was made in the science of surgery by the
foundation in Naples, in 1249, by Frederic II. of a Chair of

SURGEONS OPERATING. — I5OO

Anatomy, but the Emperor's laudable example was not followed
anywhere else. Not until well on in the fifteenth century was
any serious attempt made to take up the study of surgery, and
then traces are discernible of an attempt to tackle the science at
Ferrara.1

1 Cibrario, vol. i. p. 444.

DOCTORS AND APOTHECARIES 249

No very celebrated Florentine surgeon made his mark before
the sixteenth century. The greatest master was probably
Antonio Benevieni a member of an erudite family.

The disesteem with which practitioners were regarded in the
fifteenth century, at all events, is quaintly told by the author of
" Romola " : — " Is it the Florentine fashion," asks Maestro Tacco
of Nello the barber, " to put the masters of the science of medicine
on a level with men who do carpentry on broken limbs, and sew
up wounds like tailors, and carve away excrescences as a butcher
trims meat ? A manual art such as any artificer might learn,
and which has been practised by simple barbers like you — on a
level with the noble science of Hippocrates, Galen, and Avi-
cenna. . . ! " 1

Villani, in his record of the Population of Florence in 1300,
says the Doctors and Surgeons numbered sixty whose names were
entered upon the Matriculation Roll of the Guild.

The fees paid to doctors and surgeons were undetermined by
the College Rules and by the Guild Statutes. They varied con-
siderably in amount, and were, perhaps, in direct ratio with
individual purses and reputations.

The State paid its medical assistants, for professional work
in connection with its officials, and with criminals, at a niggard
rate. For example, in 1292, Ser Guido di Jacopo and Ser
Orlando di Giovanni were called in to treat the feet of five men
injured in the pillory. Their recompense was a beggarly sum of
fifty soldi each ! On the other hand, established practitioners
received from two to five gold florins for each ordinary consulta-
tion, whilst they, and less well known physicians, were content
also to take payment in kind, — merchandise, wine, and market
produce.

The high fees paid to Taddeo d'Alderotti were not excep-
tional, for, in 1336, Bonifacio Peruzzi summoned the celebrated
doctor Messere Alberto da Bologna, to cure him of a bad throat,
and paid him sixty gold florins.2

1 George Eliot, " Romola," chap. xvi. 2 Peruzzi MSS., iii. 33.

250 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

Notwithstanding the laws and limitations circumscribing the
avocations of Doctors and Apothecaries alike, very many travelling
charlatans wended their way daily through the streets of Florence.
They came in mostly from Padua and the surrounding cities, bent
on picking up some of the superabundant wealth of the rich
Republic. Well-mounted on hardy ponies, with capacious saddle-
bags, they rode into the Markets as though ordinary merchants.
Well concealed too were their stores of secret medicines, against
the vigilance of the guardians of the gates. Wide berth they
gave to the shops of the Apothecaries, and sidled off when
Florentine medical dignitaries approached. But here and there
fat capons and plump pigeons found their way into hands, which
as readily reaped a harvest of small coins from the unwary, for
worthless salves, and pills, and powders.

Of one such George Eliot wrote : " Let any Signore," says the
Medico, " apply his nostrils to this box, and he will find an honest
odour of medicaments — not indeed of pounded gems or rare vege-
tables from the East, or stones found in the bodies of birds . . .
and here is a paste, which is ever of savoury odour, and is infallible
against melancholia, being concocted under the conjunction of
Jupiter and Venus, and I have seen it allay spasms."1 Never-
theless, under certain conditions of man and nostrum, quacks were
recognised as members of the affiliated and subordinate " Arte de'
Ciurmadori" — "Association of Registered Empirical Practitioners
of Medicine."

The Mercato Vecchio was the favourite meeting-place of
quack doctors. Their raucous voices in advocacy of one or other
of their nostrums mingled a daily note of discordance to the
terrible clatter of that busy mart ; but none gathered together so
many open-mouthed hearers and cash-in-hand customers.

A real Florentine doctor, on the other hand, held his head
high ; he was accorded the style of " Messere" and sometimes that
of "Algebrista" — algebraist, — because one of his prerogatives was
the solution of abstruse problems connected with the ancient science

1 George Eliot, " Romola," chap. xvi.

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DOCTORS AND APOTHECARIES 251

of astrology. He was always a superior sort of person, and never
condescended to social intimacy with his inferior fellow-guildsmen
— the Apothecaries.

The reason of the union, in one Corporation, of a professional
class and a commercial, — in the person of Apothecaries, — may be
seen in the dependence of the one upon the other. It was ever
so in old Florence, the aristocratic temperament of her people
ever gave hostages to their democratic proclivities.

If Apothecaries were regarded by their more magnificent
fellow-Guildsmen much in the light of poor relations or inferiors,
their importance in the commercial and social economy of
Florence was undoubted. They were not looked upon as men of
science, and in early times, at all events, they were not obliged
to undergo any educational test, beyond that of being able to
decipher the infamous handwriting of the Messeri Medici — " Gen-
tlemen Doctors." They were regarded in the light of assistants to
the medical faculty, and convenient agents for the sale of various
small commodities.

In the early days of the Commune, Apothecaries merely
bought and sold medicinal herbs, which grew within easy reach
of Florence, and which were daily brought to market by the
country people. Later on apothecaries were obliged to take out a
license before opening houses or stores for custom, and each
applicant undertook " to keep his shop open daily, except on feast
days, and to sell only genuine articles." 1 Each was required to
lodge with the Treasurer of the Guild a sum of money, — which
varied in amount according to circumstances, — by way of guar-
antee and which was recoverable at death by the relatives.

The brilliant commercial enterprise of the " Calimala " and
Wool Guilds opened out vast new fields for research, and for the
acquirement of precious pharmaceutical treasures. The " Guild of
Doctors and Apothecaries " became a living power in the Republic,
and its members entered enthusiastically into the race for com-

1 Statutes, Lib. iv. chap. ii. Rub. 55.

252 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

mercial supremacy. In all the travelling companies of the period
Apothecaries were found who carried home in triumph their spoils.
Fine cloth finished by skilful Florentine operatives, and other
European commodities, were accepted, in the East, in exchange
for drugs and spices.

The sale of medicines and their ingredients was strictly
limited by the authority of the Guild to the shops of duly qualified
Apothecaries ; and no citizen was permitted to sell, or expose any
foreign drugs or spices, who was not at the same time a member
of the Guild.

The sale of drugs and spices was safely guarded so as to
protect the public from danger to life and from fraud. Annually
the Consuls of the Guild appointed a Sindaco, or Inspector, to
visit all the shops of the Apothecaries, and the stores of such
Doctors as were accustomed to keep medicines and other articles
for the use of their patients. l They had the power to confiscate
and destroy all properties, which did not bear the official stamp
of the Guild, or which, — even bearing that seal, — in any way
contravened the bye-laws. At the same time the names of those
who were guilty in such matters were posted at the Offices of the
Guild, and were forbidden, for a time determined by the Consuls,
to practise their faculty, or to traffic in their commodities.

One of the best known Apothecaries' shops was the Far-
macia del Moro — " The Moor's-Head Pharmacy." It stood at the
corner of the Borgo di San Lorenzo, and was founded early in
the sixteenth century. Here Antonio Francesco Grazziani, —
whose nickname was " il Lasco" — " Idle-dog " ! — carried on the
business of a chemist. He was nevertheless a poet and a novelist.
His family came from Staggia to Florence in the fourteenth cen-
tury, and he was registered upon the Matriculation Rolls of the
Apothecaries. He is famous as the founder of the " Accademia
della Crusca" — the polite speech of Tuscany.

Cosimo de' Medici — " Father of his Country " — greatly
encouraged medical research and surgical manipulation. On

1 Statuta Populi et Communis Florentiae, 1415, Rub. Iv.

DOCTORS AND APOTHECARIES 253

the fall of Constantinople, in 145 3, he welcomed a numerous band
of Greek scholars. One of the earliest evidences of their influence
was the translation into Italian of an ancient manuscript, dealing
with the science of Surgery. This was followed by excerpts from
other manuscripts of ancient naturalist writers.1

Cosimo employed the new teachers also to prepare a new
Florentine Pharmacopoeia, comprising the formulas in local use,
and others, gathered from various Schools of Medicine in Europe,
or extracted from the stores of ancient lore. To assist his medical
staff, he founded a Laboratory of botanical science, in which he
applied himself energetically to the study of herbs.2

This was the first Florentine Laboratory, or School of Critical
Research, in which Apothecaries were able to learn to amend the
simple and unscientific methods which they had hitherto followed
in the compounding of medicines.

Another famous Laboratory, or Pharmacy, was established
under the sign of " The Lily," late in the fifteenth century.3
There the Rosselli family, — Romolo, Stefano, and Francesco, —
carried on the business of Apothecaries, and also wrote several
learned treatises upon medical and surgical subjects ; and, in the
person of Cosimo, gave proof of artistic proclivities as well. A
Dominican Father, Agostino del Riccio, who wrote a " Treatise
on Agriculture," names the Apothecary Stefano Rosselli with
particular honour, and says : — " the city of Florence owes a debt
of gratitude to this noble man, because he has cured many citizens
by the secret remedies which he compounded in his shop."

In the cloister of the monastic church of Santa Maria Novella
a Spezieria, or Drug Store, was opened for the manufacture of
medicines, the rendering of medicinal oils, unguents and perfumes,
under the direction of a council of incorporated Apothecaries.
The Farmacia delta Pecora, in the Mercato Nuovo, was another
important establishment for the dispensing of medicines under the
control of " The Guild of Doctors and Apothecaries."

1 In the Laurentian Library. Collated by Dr Cerchi.

2 L'Osservatore Florentine, vol. vi. p. 147.

3 MS. of Giovanni Battista Teobaldi, Magliabechian Library, Codex 192.

254 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

The " Pinadoro " was a well-known Apothecary's shop, and
was the training school for many a famous Florentine — Perino
del Naga among the number. Each of the Monasteries had its
Spezieria, or Dispensary as we say, where medicaments, condiments
and many necessary comforts were distributed gratis, or at a very
low figure, to sick and needy applicants. The members of the
religious orders were past-masters in the subtle arts of pharmacy,
and undoubtedly made use of their powers to advance the cause
of Religion.

With respect to the number of Apothecaries, whose names
were enrolled upon the Matriculation Registers of the Guild, G.
Villani records that, in 1300, they were wellnigh one hundred.
Benedetto Dei gives the number of registered Apothecaries in
1479 as sixty-six — the shrinkage being due, doubtless, to trade
competition, whereby the smaller and less enterprising men suffered
extinction.

The botteghe of the Apothecaries were not the least ornamental
and attractive of the many shops of Old Florence. Their internal
arrangement followed on strictly conventional lines. Two rooms
at least were required, the one giving upon the street or market
was the shop in particular, whilst the room behind served for the
mixing and preparation of the multitudinous variety of objects
offered for sale, and for the accommodation of apprentices and
assistants.

Across the centre of the shop ran a counter with drawers and
cupboards, and upon it, together with tettt—pots of ointment,
tazzine — tasting cups, and fiole — cruets, were displayed .small and
interesting articles, such as scents, gloves, satchets, buckles, and
nicknacks of all kinds from beyond the seas. Upon a firm
pedestal stood the big mortar made of metal or earthenware, with
strong outside ribs like buttresses of masonry to bear the heavy
pounding of condiments. On a side-table were sets of Vast di
puerperali — accouchement services, and canestralle — dessert dishes.

Behind, along the walls, were ranged shelves of wood, hold-
ing in due order earthenware albarelli and boccali — dry drug jars

DOCTORS AND APOTHECARIES

255

and jugs for liquids. These albarelli held artists' pigments,
sweetmeats, candied apples, quince, and plum jams, with dates,
manna, and spices' from Syria and Africa, perfumes, soap, and
endless luxuries and foibles of the day. They and the boccali

THE "BOTTEGA" OF AN APOTHECARY. FOURTEENTH CENTURY

were always beautifully shaped and decorated, and bore the
names of their contents. A lower shelf contained round and
oval boxes of wood or metal, generally decorated with painting
and adorned with work in gesso, and boiled leather, for bandages,
sponges, brushes, etc. etc. The lower shelf was reserved for

256 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

glass flasks bound in plaited rush and wicker-work, for infusions
and decoctions, and closed with cotton wool or straw stoppers.

All these articles bore the owner's initials, arms, or name,
with the name of the drug, etc., painted upon a ribbon decoration.
In handy little heaps were small flasks, bottles for medicines, and
little boxes for pills, etc., all bearing evidence of artistic taste.
The walls of the shops were adorned with painted tiles of
majolica, carved and painted wood, with tapestry or leather
hangings. Convenient benches for customers were placed by the
counter upon the clean plaited straw matting. Generally little
metal flags were hung outside the door, like Inn signs, bearing
the proprietors' names and special notices, whilst albarelli further
proclaimed their calling.

A branch of the Apothecaries' business, — and by no means an
insignificant one, in view of the large population of Florence and
its Contado^ and in relation to the many visitations of fire, flood,
famine, and pestilence, — was that of undertaker. The funerals,
at all events of the wealthier citizens, — whether noble or merchant,

—were conducted by the Apothecaries. They supplied every
requisite, — coffins, biers, bearers, palls, torches for use in the street,
candles for the ecclesiastical functions, trappings, ornaments of all
kinds, baked meats, burial drinks, and all accessories. Oddly
enough the most popular refreshments at funerals were just those
which still are offered at country burials in Great Britain, — confetti

— sugared sponge-cakes, and alchermes — a spiced liquor flavoured
with cinnamon and cloves.

In each bottega was exhibited a tariff or price-list with quota-
tions of mortuary expenses. These were arranged in classes to
suit every pocket, and the friends of the deceased were, as now,
" waited upon at their residences " for the registration of arrange-
ments.

Undertaker-apothecaries did not bear the best of names for
honesty and moderation of charges, and when one of the fraternity
hung up a " Melon," by way of a shop sign, it was hailed with
derisive laughter as an apt token of the unblushing tricks of the trade !

DOCTORS AND APOTHECARIES 257

Public records and the Prioristi and Zibaldoni — private note-
books for jotting down at the moment interesting items of news,
and carried and used by Florentines of every class, age, and sex,
— contain numberless paragraphs relating to burial ceremonies.
None of the latter were more scrupulously written up than those
of the Alberti, Cavalcanti, Peruzzi, Rucellai, and Valori families.

For example, among other items in the account x of the burial
of Monna Piera de' Valori Curonni, in 1365, are biscuits and sweet-
meats, a cloth baldaccino, poles for bearing the coffin, wax-candles
for the night watch, sweet herbs for perfuming the chamber, torches
for the street procession, etc. etc. The amount paid to Giovanni
di Bertoldo, the Apothecary, for all these reached fifty-three gold
florins. An additional account for tapers, candles, and torches,
used at the interment, — also supplied by the same undertaker, —
came to eleven gold florins. The fees paid to the good lady's
two doctors, — Messeri Niccolo da Mantova, and Piero de' Pulchi?
— for " medical attendance and for testifying the death," amounted
to seventy gold florins.

The expense of the funeral of Niccolaio di Jacopo degli
Alberti, who died on August 1377, was enormous. "He was
buried," says the old chronicler, " at Santa Croce, with the greatest
honours in tallow and wax." The sum total came out at three
thousand gold florins — nearly .£1500 !

In fact the serious expenses attaching to funeral ceremonies
led to repressive legislation by the State, and the " Guild of
Doctors and Apothecaries " was called upon to investigate the
matter. Many regulations were adopted throughout the fifteenth
century, and at length some new Statutes were enacted in 1536,
which dealt with torches, candles, and various other objects
modelled in wax. These confirmed to the Guild the exclusive
right to make, keep, and sell all such things, and further limited
the trade in illuminations and fireworks, — which at the period had
become indispensable adjuncts at all funerals, — to members of the
Guild.

1 Valori MS., p. 23.

258 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

Quite the most fashionable and lucrative department in the
Apothecaries' shops was that of Perfumery and Haberdashery.
Indeed the Perfumer's sanctum, — with its delicious odours and rich
stores of attractive trifles, — was a dangerous rival to the gossipy
saloon of the versatile barber.

When a man required a pick-me-up it was, in the ordinary
course of events, for him to drop into his chemist's. There, in
addition to the usual town's topics, he was able to discuss interesting
items from foreign parts, handle samples of scents and silks from
the East, taste curious sherbets and essences, and chat to his
heart's content with the gay frequenters of the emporium. High-
born gentlemen and well-to-do contadine thronged these busy marts,,
and lent their graces and their foibles to the animation of the
scene. Flirtations and assignations were the order of the dayr
behind shady jalousies and amid cushioned divans ; whilst the
discreet and spectacled master busied himself, not with their tittle-
tattle, but with their petty cash.

The general use of perfumes was a characteristic of the
prosperity of Florence, and of the luxury of her citizens. Almost
every one became a connoisseur of delicate and pungent odours.
The fashion was introduced from Spain, whence came the recipes,
which bore the names of the " Infanta Isabella " and the " Donna
Fiorenza del Ullhoa" and which became the rage.

Count Lorenzo Magalotti tells us that a pair of small silk
sachets, filled with these delights, sold easily in Florence for four
hundred gold florins. The Count also wrote a sonnet entitled :
— " To the orange flower," 1 wherein he recites with rapture the
fascinating ingredients of his own best-loved perfume — orange
blossom, honeysuckles, roses, jessamines, lilies of the valley, elder-
flowers, sweet mint, thyme and geranium blossoms. He gives
a recipe for the manufacture of a delicious fragrance : — " Take,"
he says, " the empty skin of an orange, with a little powdered
benzoin, two pounded cloves, and a small stick of cinnamon ;
cover them with finest rose water, and set to boil upon a brazier.""

1 " Diterambo sul Fiore d' Arancio."

DOCTORS AND APOTHECARIES

259

Then he gossips with a genial friend, — perhaps a worthy
Apothecary, — showing that in the matter of perfumes one must
be sparing, or generous, according to circumstances, and in pro-
portion to the appreciation of the company. Liberality at all
times was to be required in polite society. Ornaments, dress,
kerchiefs, utensils, beds, hangings, rooms, and even food and
beverages, all came under the category of objects worthy of being

FLORENTINE GENTLEMAN PURCHASING SCENT AT AN APOTHECARY'S.
LATE SIXTEENTH CENTURY

perfumed with musk, amber, and the extracts of sweet-smelling
flowers, herbs, and earths.

No forms of scent or perfume were anything like so popular
with the smart folks of old Florence as the Buccheri, and none found
Apothecaries more keen in their supply. By the term was meant
odoriferous earths or paste, and also small ornamental unglazed
vessels made of sweet-smelling clay. The finest Buccheri were
distinguished by a brilliant black colour, and came from Portugal.
When baked into pottery the colour was rich brown and red, and

260

THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

the little vessels were polished by the hand and ornamented with
rich gilding. The odour of the Bucchero, when dipped in water,
was delightfully refreshing, and resembled the aroma which rises
from the parched ground, on a hot summer day, after a copious
shower.

Fashionable belles of the period were accustomed to wear on
their uncovered breasts miniature Buccheri as lockets. They were

FLORENTINE LADY AT HER TOILET. LATE SIXTEENTH CENTURY

pierced with tiny holes, whence issued the most delicate of
flowery fragrances. Ever and anon they would press these little
vases to their lips to gather the delightful tingling sensation which
the impact produced. In every Apothecary's shop these attractive
toys were sold, as well as the Cunziere — perfume jars filled with
fragments of bucchero earth and other odoriferants, — which were
to be found in the luxurious apartments of wealthy citizens.

The rage for this delectable compound became enormous.
It was made into pastilles for eating, and was added, as an

DOCTORS AND APOTHECARIES 261

acceptable flavour, to the most delicate viands : — saporetti — subtle
sauces, pani levati — dessert-wafers, cappone di galera, — egg-flip and
whipped cream, — the forebears of our meringues.

Magalotti also descants1 upon the charms of Buccheri, and
says sententiously : — " What a delight it would be to put to boil
in a Bucchero delta Maga, with Cordova water, four or five pieces
of Bucchero di Guadalaxara ! Such a confection would keep its
perfume for a year, if wrapped in amber-scented leather, with a
denaro worth of lacrima di Quinquina, and would be meat and
drink combined ! "

Under the general term Merciai, — Haberdashers, — which by
the way was added to the title of the Guild in the year 1282,
and which, henceforth, was known as " LArte de' Medici e degli
Speziali e de' Merciai" " The Guild of Doctors, Apothecaries, and
Haberdashers," — were included many small fancy dealers.

Merciai strictly meant traders who purchased raw silk in the
Levant and Persia and shipped it to Florence. They were also
keen in picking up endless articles which promised remunerative
sales at home. They ministered greatly to the splendour of
marriage feasts, which in the fifteenth century were celebrated
without fear of sumptuary prohibition. The weddings of Baccio
Adimari and Lisa Ricasoli in 1420, of Bernardo Rucellai and
Nannina de' Medici in 1 460, and of Lorenzo de' Medici and Clarice
Orsini in 1 469 were remarkable for the richness and variety of the
beautiful presents of Eastern origin — embroidered cushions, belts,
purses, veils and fringes of fine silk, inlaid thimbles and needle-
cases, ivory combs, feathered fans, and whatnots. The wedding
trousseau of Giovanna de' Medici, in 1466, excelled all others
in the cunning beauties of its unnamed trifles of rare and
goodly workmanship, sought out of the endless stores of the
Apothecaries.

Certain Provisions were passed during the first half of the
sixteenth century in connection with the " Guild of Doctors and
Apothecaries," which prescribed rules and regulations for the

1 Magalotti, " Lettere Scientifiche/' No. 18, 19.

262 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

conduct and procedure of all and sundry traders connected with
the Guild.

"L'Arte de* Merciai, Velettai, Profumieri e Cartai" — "The
Guild of Mercers, Veil-makers, Perfumers, and Stationers," was
duly enrolled and placed under the direction of the Greater
Guild.1 All such merchandise had to be packed in boxes, cases,
barrels, casks, or bales, bearing the mark of the exporting house,
with the name of the agent attached, who was also directed to
stamp each consignment with the official seal of the " Guild of
Doctors and Apothecaries."

The following is a list of some of the Crafts which were sub-
ordinated to the " Guild of Doctors and Apothecaries " : —

Barbieri Hairdressers and Barbers.

Battilori Gold-beaters.

Berrettai Beret or cap- makers.

Bicchierai e Fiasci Glass-blowers and Bottle-makers.

Boccalieri e Scudalieri Jug and dish-makers.

Borsai Purse-makers.

Brachierai Truss and Suspender-makers.

Cappellai di paglia e feltro Straw and Felt Hat-makers.

Cartolai Paper-makers.

Cartai Stationers.

Ceraiuoli e Fabbricanti dell* \ Wax chandlers and makers of

Imagine di Cera j waxen figures.

Ciurmadori Quack-doctors.

Coltellinai Cutlers.

Guainai Sheath and case-makers.

Imbiancatori Makers of Bleaching media.

Lanciai e Funaiuoli Well-rope and gearing-makers.

Lanternai Lantern-makers.

Lintai Makers of .small linen articles.

Librai Booksellers.

Mascherai Mask-makers.

1 Cantini, iii. p. 343.

DOCTORS AND APOTHECARIES 263

Merciai Dealers in raw-silk and sundries.

( Makers of catgut for musical
Minugiat

\ instruments.

Orpellai Makers of gilded leather articles.

Pallai Tennis-bat and ball makers.

Pettinagnoli Comb-makers.

Pettini stracci Makers of silk carding-combs.

Profumieri Perfumers.

Sellai Saddlers' fancy articles dealers.

Spadai Ornamental sword- makers.

Stagnai e Acconciastagni Pewterers and platers.

Stovigliai Potters.

Stacciai e Vagliai Sieve-makers.

Velettai Veil-makers.

Vendi di Spago, Canapo^ e \ c . , ~ j 1

\ String, Rope and Cord-makers.
Fune )

etc. etc. etc.

All through the fifteenth century as the fame of Florence was
wafted further and further afield, her Merchants and her Apothe-
caries entered more and more into friendly rivalry in exploiting
the treasures of distant lands. The " Guild of Doctors and
Apothecaries " despatched travellers and agents into every known
land, who quickly sent back valuable consignments of goods.
Everything of an aromatic nature, or pleasing to the eye, no less
than every ingredient useful in the Pharmacopoeia, became articles
of barter and of traffic.

Each vessel, from the East, which entered the harbour of
Leghorn, or which sailed up to the quays of Pisa, brought
immense stores of precious oriental merchandise. These were
unladen and promptly packed on mule backs or placed in
shallow river-boats, and despatched direct to the shops of the
Apothecaries.

The number of Sensali — agents — and Mezzani — Middlemen
« — was very large. They were either engaged in foreign travel, or

264 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

at depots in Italy and abroad, or in Florence itself. As early
as the middle of the thirteenth century such assistants of the
Guild were fully recognised and generally employed. Regula-
tions were put into force, from time to time, which not only
limited both the numbers and the activities of persons acting
as agents and salesmen, but also required that all who should
engage themselves in such occupations should obtain the sanction
of the Consuls of the Guild.

The co-operative feature, which marked all trade undertakings
in Florence, did not fail to assert itself with respect to agents and
salesmen. Consequently it is not a matter of surprise to find that,
by the middle of the fourteenth century, a subordinate corporation
had come into existence: — "L'Arte de Sensali e di Mezzani"
— " The Guild of Agents and Middlemen." This association
was without separate political attributes, and was entirely under
the auspices of the " Guild of Doctors and Apothecaries."
Each member received, upon Matriculation or admission, a
metal token, which he was obliged to wear during the exercise of
his calling. The same badge he was also permitted to exhibit
over the door of his house or office.

Agents and Salesmen were not allowed to effect sales of any
kind except by the authority of the Greater Guild ; transgression
of this rule led to fines, for each offence, of one soldo, and re-
peated infractions to expulsion.

So greatly did the commerce of Florence increase during the
fifteenth century that the principal Apothecaries, in addition to their
staffs of travellers, established Banking Agencies in all the prin^
cipal centres of population, and especially in those countries which
were most productive of the manifold commodities of their trade.

These " Professional Banks " — if we may call them such for
want of a better name — became important business-houses, and
were largely concerned in granting loans of money to members of
the Guild in furtherance of exploring expeditions. They also
assumed the character of general money-lending offices, and,
being well managed, were very prosperous undertakings.

ARMS OF GUILD OF DOCTORS AND APOTHECARIES

LUCA DEl.LA ROHBIA

DOCTORS AND APOTHECARIES 265

With something of the catholicity of a beneficent Alma Mater
the '* Guild of Doctors and Apothecaries " extended its sheltering
patronage to numbers of objects and interests not, at first sight,
necessarily associated with medicine, surgery, and drugs.

Literature, Painting and Geographical Discovery alike bene-
fited from the fostering care of the Guild. If a man had a
book, a pigment, or an adventure, he had nothing to do but to
drop in at one of the considerable pharmacies of old Florence.
There he could rub shoulders with others of his kind, and chat
affably with the dignified and bespectacled medicos ; and, after
cajoling the patient but wide awake apothecary, he rarely departed
without having got what he asked.

Dante, Cimabue, and Toscanelli may be rightly called the
fathers of these glorious families of writers, artists and explorers,
which have shed such undying lustre upon their Alma Mater ; and
have illuminated all lands and all periods by the effulgence of
their genius.

The Men of Letters of the Renaissance, whose sun rose and
shone in Florence, form a paradise of celebrities which have
placed the Fair City upon the premier throne of the Valhalla of
Learning.

" Boccaccio's Garden and its faierie
The love of joyaunce and the galantrie,"

Her sons wielded the pen with the same splendid spirit of
enterprise and success as did their brethren of the loom. Her
writers, her merchants, and her bankers, together built up her
fortune and her glory.

Dante Alighieri, (1265-1321), was the son of a notary
belonging to the sestiere of For San Piero. He was sent to
study law at Bologna, and philosophy at Padua ; but having no
taste for either faculty he matriculated in 1296 in the "Guild of
Doctors and Apothecaries." His choice may have been dictated
by his fondness for literature, because books were among the
wares sold exclusively in the pharmacies.

266 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

He entered public life soon after his marriage in 1295, and
took an active part in the debates of the magistrates. In 1300
he was elected Prior, and was instrumental in causing the exile
of the Neri and Bianchi. This led to his own exile upon a
trumped up charge of " barratry," — the pecuniary misuse of office,
— extortion, and illicit gains.

If Petrarch, (1304-1374), and Boccaccio, (1313-1375),
were never matriculated into the Guild, their sympathies were
with its beneficent characteristics. Their writings were nowhere
more accessible, and their clever sayings more constantly repeated,
than in the Apothecaries' shops of their beloved Florence.

Matteo Palmieri, (1364-1427), Apothecary and Poet; Leo
Battista Alberti, (1404-1475), Physician, Astronomer, Architect,
and Writer; Marsilio Ficino, (1433-1499), Surgeon, Philosopher,
Writer; Antonio Benevieni, (1453-1 542), Physician and Man of
Letters ; were among those who were matriculated in the u Guild of
Doctors and Apothecaries." But who shall write out the names
of all that mighty Florentine Phalanx of literary men, who have
brilliantly adorned, not alone their Guild, and their city, and
their time, but the great world at large for eternity !

No effort appears to have been made to establish a corpora-
tion for the enrolment exclusively of men of letters in the case
of painters.

Printing, and making, and selling of books and other literary
matter, no less than wood and copper block-engraving were
recognised as appertaining to the professional " Guild of Doctors
and Apothecaries."

Bernardo Cennini, — Ghiberti's partner in designing and cast-
ing the famous Baptistery Gates, — was the first Florentine printer
from type. His earliest book, — " A Commentary of Virgil," — was
published in 1471.

To Aldus Manutius, (1450-1516), is due the type called
"Italic" It was modelled upon the handwriting of Petrarch.
The cutting of it was done by Francesco da Bologna, — Francesco
Raibolini, — the painter-goldsmith, who signed himself, indiffer-

DOCTORS AND APOTHECARIES 267

ently, " aurifex" and " pictor" He was a member of the Florentine
" Guild of Doctors and Apothecaries."

In 1472 Piero da Moguntia — another German — issued at
Florence the " Filocopo " of Giovanni Boccaccio. Five years later
Nicholaus of Breslau printed the "Monte Sancto di Dio" of
Bettini ; and in 1481, — under his assumed name of Niccolo di
Lorenzo di Firenze, — an edition of Dante's works. This was
quite the finest example of Florentine printing which had yet
appeared. The first notice of wood-engraving in Florence appears
in an entry for the Catasto, — Income-tax, — of 1430, which relates
that an artificer, unnamed, returns as rateable property, " many
wood-blocks for the printing of playing-cards and images of saints
useful to him in his profession." However no print is extant of
an earlier date than 1490, which date appears upon a bird's-eye
view of Florence now in Berlin.

Jacopone da Todi's " Laudi" — printed by Francesco Buon-
accorso, — and similar Books of Devotion, appeared in 1490 with
wood-block illustrations. In the same year Buonaccorso, — who
was related to Savonarola through his mother, — published the
eloquent Frate's tract, " Libro delta Vita viduata" Savonarola
himself flooded Florence with illustrated tracts and sermons. These
were done in two or three special workshops, where they were
designed and executed, and publishers applied to the Masters
when they required cuts for their publications. Luigi Pulci's
" Morgante Maggiore" which contains more than two hundred
woodcuts, was published in 1500. Many old Florentine wood-
cuts between 1516 and 1546 are signed Giovanni Benvenuto, a
leading publisher and member of the " Guild of Doctors and
Apothecaries."

The earliest Florentine copper-plate engraving was probably
a "Paschal Table for finding Easter from the year 1461," of
which there is a copy in the British Museum. The first illus-
trated books published in Florence and containing copper-plate
engravings were the Monte Sacro di Dio and Dante's Works.
For the latter, which goes under the name of Landino, Botticelli

268 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

was responsible, and expressions of his skill, as an engraver, may
be seen at the Berlin Museum. Filippo Lippi, who filled the
office of Consul of the Painters' Guild more than once, did fifteen
plates of the "Life of the Madonna," published in 1482.

Apparently the mechanical difficulties of printing letterpress
and plates, on one and the same page, were too great even for
ingenious Florentine workmen-artists, for, between 1472 and
1490, fewer than two hundred illustrated books were published
in Florence. Another reason for this moderate output may pro-
bably be noted in the general preference for illuminated manu-
scripts, in the execution of which no Scrivani excelled those of
Florence for exquisite and correct penmanship. The art of writing
and illuminating manuscripts required two classes of artists : I.
Miniatori-caligrafi — Writers and Capital-letter designers, and
2. Miniatori-pittori — Illuminators. At the early date of 1150
Florentine scrivani had made their names famous for fine clear
and correct pen work. The beginning of the fourteenth century
saw the pen laid aside for the brush.

The last of the Master-Copyists was Vespasiano da Bisticci
(1421-1498). He was matriculated into the "Guild of Doctors
and Apothecaries," and published a book entitled — " The Lives
of Illustrious Men." He is known to posterity as the first of
modern booksellers, and his shop near the Mercato Nuovo was
the earliest emporium for the exclusive supply of printed books.

A vast number of craftsmen were engaged in the Book-
industry : — Typefounders, press-makers, paper and parchment
dressers, compositors, printers, illustrators, engravers, binders,
cloth-shearers, vellum-stretchers, boss-carvers, etc. All these
artificers were under strict rules of workmanship, and their work
was further subject to severe censorship before publication by
officials connected with the Great Guild. There does not appear
to have been separate organisations for these workers, but pro-
bably they were matriculated in the subordinate Association of
Librai — Book-makers and Book-sellers.

In the Early Renaissance the great Comacine Guild em-

DOCTORS AND APOTHECARIES 269

braced workers in all the decorative arts — architects, builders,
mosaic-workers, workers in gold and bronze, carvers in wood and
stone, painters, etc. etc. The Magistri pittori — Master-painters—
formed the fourth branch of that famous Guild, until the begin-
ning of the fourteenth century, when painter communities were
founded outside the parent organisation.

Every state and every town, where the Comacine Masters
worked, had its Lodge of Painters. One spirit moved the
brethren in friendly rivalry, and produced individual styles to
each of which the name of " School " was given. Thus Cimabue,
Giotto, Lorenzetti, Memmi, Gaddi, Aretino and others worked
together, and apart, quite characteristically.

Every wall space, not allocated to the sculptor or the mosaic-
master, was smoothed and stuccoed to receive the pigments of
the painter. Scratch where you will — at Fiesole, in San Miniato
or in Santa Croce — plaster peels off and reveals a Comacine Master
of painting. The Cappella degli Spagnuoli, at Santa Maria Novella,
is an undefaced treasure-house of Comacine frescoes.

Somewhere about 1297 the Florentine painters, "being be-
holden for their supplies of pigments to the Apothecaries and their
agents in foreign lands," placed themselves under the banner
of the " Guild of Doctors and Apothecaries," but with no distinct
organisation.

The first incorporation of the Painters appears to date from
1303, and was the natural reflexive acti6n of the commercial
economies of the period. Certain rules and regulations were
compiled, but the first serious enactment of Statutes was
accomplished in November 1339, when L'Arte de* Pittori — the
" Guild of Painters," became a duly constituted corporation.
At the same time it was ruled that the new confraternity
should be dependent upon the Greater " Guild of Doctors and
Apothecaries," and should possess no peculiar political or social
pre-eminence.1

1 D. Giovanni Gaye, " Carteggio inedite d'Artisti," (xiv., xv., xvi., Secoli), vol. ii.
P- 39-

270 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

In 1349 a further development of the Guild of Painters took
place and its members enrolled themselves as the " Compagnia e
Fraternita di San Luca " under the special protection of the
Virgin Mary, Saint John Baptist, Saint Zenobbio and Saint
Reparata. The rallying-point of the members was transferred
to the disused church of San Matteo, and they added their
alternative title, — " La Confraternita de' Pittori" — and acknow-
ledged their dependence upon the great Guild of Doctors and
Apothecaries. The Confraternity reckoned its members not
only from makers of pictures, frescoes, and designs, but enrolled
also decorators of stone, wood, metal, glass, stucco, leather, etc.
etc.

The Statutes of the Guild,1 which were duly registered before
a Notary on August i8th, 1354, named as the Governing Body-
four Consuls, four Councillors, two Treasurers, and two Secretaries.
These officers were generally men of the highest artistic attain-
ments, for example, Luca Delia Robbia, — although not a pigment
master in the ordinary sense of the term, — served the office of
Consul several times ; he was moreover elected thirty times a
member of Council, three times Sindic and twice Treasurer.

The marticulation-fee was only five lire, and other payments
of members were upon the same modest scale. One Statute
provided : — " that those who inscribed themselves on the Roll of
membership, — whether men or women, — should be contrite, and
should confess their sins ; and that, whilst members of the Guild, they
should go to confession and to the Communion at least once a year."

All members were required to recite daily five Paternosters and
five Aves ; but should memory fail, the omission had to be made
up the following day. Complaints were rife in 1 406 that members
of the Guild were remiss in their religious duties and in obedi-
ence to officers. Penalties were inflicted of temporary durance
in the Guild House, with money fines — ranging from twelve
denari — for each dereliction of duty.

Cennino Cennini, in his quaint " Trattato della Pittura" put

1 Archivio di Stato Fiorentino.

DOCTORS AND APOTHECARIES 271

forth in 1437, — when its author was in his eightieth year,—
makes the following pathetic appeal to all art students : — " O ye
of the gentle spirit who are lovers of the Art, and devoted to its
pursuit, adorn yourselves with the garments of love, of modesty,
of obedience, and of penance."

St Luke's Day was a famous festival in Florence, when all the
finest pictures not actually in situ were gathered together from the
studios and exhibited in the cloisters of La Nunziata. In this
observance we note the origin of the Accademia di San Luca, re-
named, in i 562, by Cosimo I.," Accademia delle Belle Arti," wherein
he united the three Fine Arts — Sculpture, Painting and Archi-
tecture,— under the splendid motto : " Levare di terra al cielo nostro
intelleto" — " Heaven and earth are united by our genius ! "

Genius indeed ! What pen could name all the great lights of
that firmament, much less do justice to the magnificent pageant of
the Painters of Florence ! If Benvenuto Cellini wrote : — " Leonardo
da Vinci, Raphael Santi and Michel Angelo Buonarroti are the
Book of the World," who shall add laurels to their crowns, or
who shall tell the glories of their brethren ?

Under the patronage of the " Guild of Doctors and Apothe-
caries," many eminent artists turned their attention to stained -
glass. Ghiberti, Ghirlandajo, Perugino, Lorenzo di Credi, Pierino
del Vaga, Vivarini were only a few of those who designed subjects
and also undertook the process of staining.

They ground their pigments very fine, mixed them with water
containing gum or some other adhesive medium, sketched in
lightly dark touches and shadows, and then burnt the glass.
When cool, colours were dabbled and stippled over the surface, and
left to dry : a soft brush was passed over the picture, high lights
were scratched out, and the sheet was re-burnt.1

The vitreous glories of the Duomo, Santa Croce, Santa Maria
Novella, San Spirito,La Nunziata, Or San Michele, and many another
shrine of Religion and of Art, owe their creation to these renowned
masters. Working with them were Moise — in 1350, Domenico di

1 N. H. J. Westlake, " History of Design in Painted Glass."

272 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

Gambassi — in 1431, Guaspare di Giovanni, a priest of Vol terra,
— in 1440, and Alessandro Fiorentino — in 1491. Guaspare's
contract directed that his work at Siena " must be as good as
that at Florence in Santa Maria del Fiore." x

Other Master window-painters were Fra Giovanni d' Ulma and
Giovanni da Udine, who did the stained glass at the Certosa di
Val d'Ema.

Turning lastly to Discoverers and Explorers of lands and
seas, who were all under the ^Egis of the Guild, we encounter two
great Florentines — Paolo Toscanelli and Amerigo Vespucci—
among a host of worthy compatriots in adventure.

Paolo Toscanelli, the son of a physician, was born in 1397.
After reading the classics in the " Studio Fiorentino," — where
Boccaccio used to expound Dante, — he graduated at the
University of Padua. On his return to Florence, in 1425, he
became a member, without fees, — beneficio patris, — in the " Guild
of Doctors and Apothecaries." He took up the study of Natural
Science, especially devoting himself to Astrology — " the crazy
daughter of a wise mother, Astronomy." Under his philosophy
was revived the Miletan theory as to the spherical form of the
earth. His opinions, together with the ever increasing needs of
Florentine Commerce in the direction of new dyes, new drugs and
new spices, prompted the idea of reaching Prete Janni — the fabled
herbarium of the West.

The route traced on his map by Toscanelli enabled Christopher
Columbus to place his foot upon the New World. The many
letters which passed between Toscanelli, the King of Portugal,
Columbus, and many other worthies have a romantic, as well as
a scientific, interest. Alas, he never lived to see the crowning of
his life's work, but died in 1482, just ten years before the dis-
covery of Columbus. He was buried in the Church of San
Spirito. The disc, on a marble slab, placed by Toscanelli, in
1450, in the North Transept of the Duomo, and a "Treatise upon
the Movements of the Comets," are all the relics we have of

1 C. F. L. F. Rumohr, " Italienische Forsclningen," V. ii. p. 381.

-

DOCTORS AND APOTHECARIES 273

the great Florentine fisico, who inspired the intrepid Genoese
mariner.

The mantle of Toscanelli fell upon the shoulders of Amerigo
Vespucci, who was born in Florence in 1451. He was the son
of a Notary, but embraced mercantile life in one of the Medici
Companies of Adventurers, and became the Cadiz agent of that
house in 1492. He was thrown into the company of Christopher
Columbus, and contracted for the provisioning of two of his
expeditions. He was spoken of by the famous explorer as :
" into hombre muy de bien? " a very tidy sort of fellow ! "

In 1497 King Ferdinand of Portugal entrusted him with the
command of an exploring expedition, and he went to Florence for
information and assistance. Whilst in his native city he was
enrolled a full member of the " Guild of Doctors and Apothe-
caries." He afterwards sailed away to the New World, taking with
him Hojeda, Pinzon, and Cabral, all famous Portuguese explorers ;
and had the satisfaction of discovering the coast of the Northern
Continent — to which he gave his own name, Amerigo — " America."
The news of his success excited immense excitement and enthu-
siasm in Florence. For three days and three nights the whole
city was decorated with wreaths and banners, and illuminated with
torches and lamps. Vespucci died at Seville in 1512. His
portrait, painted by Ghirlandajo, has been discovered in a fresco
at the Church of Ognissanti in Florence.

From the very nature of their enterprises explorers and
navigators were so situated that they could not form a co-
operative Society of their own. Membership in the Great Guild,
which patronised and subsidised their efforts, was sufficient for
their purpose.

And Great Guild it truly was, for though the " Guild of
Doctors and Apothecaries " held no higher place in the Guild
Hierarchy of Florence than that of sixth, it yielded to none in the
loftiness of its aims, and in the splendour of its achieve-
ments,
s

CHAPTER IX

THE GUILD OF FURRIERS AND SKINNERS
L'ARTE D£T VAIAI E PELLICCIAI

I. ORIGIN. — The wearing of skins and furs. Carlovingian kings. Early
craftsmen. Guild added to Seven Greater Guilds, 1197. Few early notices.
A. Pucci's " Centiloquio."

II. CONSTITUTION. — Avoidance of confusion with Tanners and other leather
workers. First Consuls, 1270. Guild Books. Various divisions of Guild-
members. Officers. Low fees for matriculation. The " Tasso di Torcetti"
" Squeezers " or " Pepperboxers ! " Street regulations with respect to trade pro-
cesses. Sumptuary laws affecting furs.

III. DEVELOPMENT. — Kinds of skins and furs. Meaning of double title
of Guild. Values. Processes. Treaties. Exports. An early restrictive law.
Wearing vair and other furs marked the prosperity of Florence. The " fool
in vair ! " Curative properties of fur. Cinderella.

IV. A Dissertation upon the Dress of the Florentines during the Era of the
Renaissance.

THE wearing of skins and fur was doubtless the earliest
sartorial fashion indulged in by the unclothed races of
mankind. Quite without contradiction we associate such cover-
ings with savage and semi-civilised life. What more natural, or
what more easy, when winter storms beat cold, or old age and
sickness thinned the blood, than to up and slay a beast, and with
his pelt to protect the human frame ?

Textile garments are the garb of civilisation and of peace.
So when, in the early Middle Ages, wild war-lords from the north
overran the fair plains of Italy, no man wondered to behold their
brawny limbs arrayed in the furs of the animals they had slain
upon their way. Of Ausprando, King of the Lombards, in 772,
it is recorded that he came clothed in fine skins and rare furs.1

1 Paolo Diacono, Lib. vi. cap. 35.

274

GUILD OF FURRIERS AND SKINNERS 275

The Carlovingian kings followed the same mode, and
Charlemagne was wont to wear thick otter-skins in winter, and,
when in summer time he went a-hunting, he sported serviceable
sheep skins. During his progresses through Italy he wore,
generally, a large robe lined with vair and fox-skin. His officers
and courtiers were arrayed in like fashion, and doubtless their
appearance struck the quick-witted Florentines, and gave them
ideas which they were not slow in carrying out.1

The early inhabitants of Tuscany — their erstwhile industries
dispersed — were fain to clothe themselves, for peace and war alike,
in what came handiest, and offered least temptation to their
robber enemies. Consequently at the period of the inception of
the Guilds many sartorial relics of a troubled past remained and
skins and furs were all the vogue.

The first notices of Furriers and Skinners in the Archives of
Florence are the following : —

"7050 — Sethimus — pellicarius"

"1075 — Vivulo^filius Stefani, — pellicarii" 2

Under date 1054 there is the following entry: — Crosna (?), cum
Capello de Vulpe, and in 1077, "Vesta una de Vulpe" — perhaps
mantles or cloaks of fox-skin, — and in the former year the value
•of the fur garments is set down at five hundred lire. In 1197
there is the record of a worthy Rector of Santa Maria Novella
who wished to pawn, " pelles suas lupi cerverii" — his robes of red-
deer skin !

The earliest distinct mention of the " Guild of Furriers and
Skinners" was in 1197, when, together with the Guilds of
41 Judges and Notaries " and " Doctors and Apothecaries," its first
incorporation took place. Already the four principal Guilds : —
" Calimala" " Wool," " Bankers " and " Silk " were in existence,
and were exercising potential influence in the Commune.

Why the " A rte de' Vaiai e Pellicdai " was chosen over
and above the " Guild of Linen " or that of " Masters of Stone

1 San Gallo, Monochus, " Carolus Magnus," Lib. ii. cap. 27.

2 Davidssohn, "Geschichte von Florenz," p. 785.

276 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

and Wood," or that of "the Butchers," for example, to fill the
seventh place in the Guild Hierarchy it is quite impossible to say.
Probably its craftsmen were of a more ancient lineage, or
represented a higher social grade in public estimation, or again
they may have formed the most considerable industrial class
outside the charmed circle of the three leading commercial
corporations.

Anyhow, in 1266, the full style of the Guild was bestowed,
together with the banner of armorial bearings, — the Agnus Dei,
holding a white red-crossed flag, in the corner of a blue
field, — and to its Consuls and other Officers like precedence was
accorded as to the officials of the other Greater Guilds. After this
date, of course, notices of the Guild are abundant both with respect
to its standing and its activities in the industrial life of the city
and Contado.

At a conference of Consuls of the Guilds, held in April 1280,
there were present Salvi Aldobrandini Feo Bonci, Baldo Cald-
erusci, and Cambio Rusticucci, Consuls of the " Guild of Skinners." 1
Among those who attended and spoke at a similar conference,
in December 1293, was Caruccio della Verra, of the "Guild of
Furriers." He was one of the most distinguished citizens, but
about him very little is known, though he travelled far and wide.
In May 1296 the Consuls of the Guild took an active part in the
discussions affecting the Hospital of San Gallo, and, with the
Consuls of the Guilds of " Bankers and Exchangers " and
" Doctors and Apothecaries," were appointed guardians and
visitors.

Antonio Pucci sings thus of the Guild in his " Songs of
the Mercato Vecchio " :—

" Florence of commerce wide the home
Counts one and twenty trades in all
Of equal rank, and the seventh

We ' Furriers and Skinners' call."2

The Residence of the Consuls was in the Via de' Lambert-

1 " Le Consulte," i. 27. A. Pucci, "Centiloquio."

SKINNERS IN CAMP

LATE FOURTEENTH CENTURY

GUILD OF FURRIERS AND SKINNERS 277

eschi Gherardini, at the corner of the Chiasso de' Baronelli, and,
as was the custom with all the Guilds, the escutcheon of the
Guild was carved up over the entrance.

Originally only two Consuls were elected to preside over the
affairs of the Guild, but, between 1270 and 1280, the number
was increased to three, and later on, — after the revision of
Statutes, 1301-1309, — to four. They held office for four
months, their names having been drawn, as was the general
practice, from an urn containing slips of paper.

As in the constitution of the other Guilds, the Consuls took
cognisance of all civil and criminal causes between members of
the Guild, they granted Matriculation to candidates, and superin-
tended the subscriptions of members and other corporate
property.

The Consigliere, — Chancellor, — was entitled to certain fees : —
for each person matriculated — ten soldi, for written agreements
between master and apprentice — ten soldi, for each license to
keep untanned skins or hides — ten soldi, for each dissolution
of matriculation and renunciation of membership — ten soldi, for
the valuation of stock in any retail shop — ten soldi, for each
written agreement between slaughterer -skinners and leather-
tanners — ten soldi, — and various other smaller fees. The Chan-
cellor's office was a yearly one, and an occupant was ineligible
for re-election.1

The Provveditore, — Director, — was required to keep fully
entered up the following Guild Books : — A Journal of debtors
and creditors, — together with the Salaries and expenses of the
Consuls and other officials ; a Matriculation Register, with the
payments and obligations of the persons matriculated in the
city ; a similar Register for the Contado ; a Note-book containing
the registered trademarks of all tanners and dealers in leather,
etc. etc. He also received fees, smaller in amount, for the same
purposes as the Chancellor.2

1 L. Cantini, xi. p. 24. - L. Cantini, xi. 28.

278 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

The Cameriere, — Chamberlain, — had to do with the finances
of the Guild. He kept accounts with respect to the rents of
slaughter and skinning-houses, tanyards and pits, leather-dressers'
workshops, and the shops and stalls of all persons connected
with the trade. To him it also appertained to administer the
charitable contributions of the Guild, and to relieve distressed
craftsmen and their families. The last two officers were elected
for a year, but were eligible for re-election.

The Stimatori, — Inspectors, — and the Tassatori^ — Taxing
masters, — of whom there were two respectively, elected bi-
annually, were enjoined to keep the two divisions of the Guild
members as distinct and separate as possible — so far at least
as concerned all the details of the various occupations.

In one group were the Vaiai — Miniver-dressers, the Pelliciai
— Furriers in general, the Conciatori di pelli col pelo — Cutters of
skins with the hair on, and the Incettiatori di bossette — Dressers
of Lamb-skins.

In the other group were the Cuoiai — Leather-dressers in
general, the Conciatori di cuoio grosso — Cutters of heavy leathers,
the Conciatori di sottili — Cutters of fine leathers, and the
Orpellai — Leather-embossers and gilders.

A third division was added in later times, made up of the

Calzolai — Shoemakers, the Pianellai — Slipper-makers, the Collettai

—Collar and Belt-makers, Coloristi di pelli — Leather-stainers, and

various minor but artistic crafts, among them, perhaps, the Pelacani

— Dog-clippers !

There was also a fourth class containing the Sellai — Saddlers,
Brigliai — Bridle and reins-makers, and the Cintiai — Makers of
sword-belts and bandoliers.

Some of these workmen however appear to have been at-
tached also to the Lesser Guild of Galigai — Tanners — and
probably the crossing of the interests of the two Guilds led to
some confusion. The trade of tanning, however, was a distinct
industry, and no member of the " Guild of Furriers and Skinners "
was permitted to engage therein. In the same way the

GUILD OF FURRIERS AND SKINNERS 279

Shoemakers, employed by the Guild, were workers in fancy
goods only, which required the addition of fur to complete
them.

The Matriculation fee was very low — namely four soldi to
each Consul, and two to the Chancellor ; but the guarantee
required, as to a candidate's qualification for enrolment, was fixed
at ten to twenty gold florins. An Annual Poll-tax was levied
by the State upon every matriculated member of the Guild, and
this by the way gained very suggestive nicknames : " Tassa del
Pepe" — " Pepper-boxes," or " Tassa de Torcetti" — " Squeezers " !

It was not allowed to mix native products with skins and
furs from " beyond the mountains," or the boundaries of the
State ; nor to treat with sulphur, dye, or oil, any skin or fur.
Skins snipped, or those stretched out by means of size or
lime, or by any other media, were not to be bought or sold.

All breaches of these and similar regulations were visited with
fines and forfeiture, and the wrongdoers were liable to dismissal
from the Guild.1

Furriers and Skinners were forbidden to buy or sell wholesale
from or to the Popolo Minuto, or to any unemployed person,
knives and implements of all kinds used in the craft ; but such
persons might purchase small quantities of cat and rabbit skins
and stoat's fur for the linings of garments.

The premier designation of the Guild " Vaiai" comes from
the word Vaio — speckled — as applied to the darkest grey fur
or coat of the stoat and squirrel.2 Vaiaio was a furrier who
dressed such skins. These small animals abounded in the forests,
which surrounded old Florence, and afforded sportsmen and
craftsmen alike, attractive and lucrative occupation. The colour
of the back was darker much than that of the belly, which was,
in young creatures, of dazzling whiteness — and valued much on
that account. This variety of colour gave rise to the use of

1 Statuta Populi et Communis Florentiae, 1415, vol. ii. Rub. Ivi.
Domenico M. Manni, " Osservazione e Guinte Istoriche," vol. xxv.

280 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

three words for the fur — the back-fur, and the whole coat of older
animals, was called " Miniver," the rarer white or belly piece was
named " Ermine," as being like the real Ermine, and " Rosetello "
was the name given to the brown and yellow fur of spring
growth.

The second part of the title of the Guild " Pellicciai" indicates
the union of the two industries — the dressing of furs and the
treatment of skins ; although, for the matter of that, Pellicciaio
meant " Furrier " also. The Latin name, as written by the
Notaries of old, was Pelliparius, which indicated a dresser of skin
after the process of tanning had been completed.

The skins offered for sale in Florence, with the view of the
purchase and treatment by the operatives employed by the " Guild
of Furriers and Skinners," were usually those of wolves, lambs,
polecats, foxes, deer, lynxes and rabbits, together with the furs
of miniver, marten, sable and ermine.

Ermine and sable were rare commodities, it is true, and
commanded high prices — indeed they were almost unknown till
late in the fifteenth century. They were used, as was marten
fur, for borders, trimmings, and decorations, and were never em-
ployed as whole garments. Very wealthy men and ostentatious,
indeed, had their state robes lined with these costly furs, and
later in the history of the furrier industry, the same dignified
personages added skins and furs and tails of rare Eastern animals
to the splendour of their habiliments.1

Only indirectly, and quite in a subsidiary sort of way, did
the Guild deal with heavy skins such as those of horses, cattle,
mules, asses, goats, and sheep. These formed the staple of the
industry of tanning, and provided materials for manipulation by
members of the minor Guilds of " Saddlers," " Shoemakers," and
" Buckle-makers," etc.

Pagnini has preserved records of the varieties and values of
skins and furs which ruled in the middle of the fourteenth
century : 2 —

1 Pagnini, ii. 141. 2 Pagnini, iv. p. 132.

GUILD OF FURRIERS AND SKINNERS 281

i — Stoat Bellies, dressed per hundred — 3 florins.

Do. Backs do. do. 5 do.

Scheruoli — Squirrel, undressed do. 2 do.

Do. dressed do. 2j do.

Lattizi — Sucklings, undressed do. 4 to 6 do.

Do. dressed do. 5 to 7 do.

Faine — Polecats, undressed do. 22 do.

Do. dressed do. 30 do.

Martore — Martens, undressed do. 36 do.

Do. dressed do. 40 do.
etc. etc. etc. etc.

In thus reckoning by hundreds, a curious, and perhaps char-
acteristic, custom prevailed, namely that of counting upon a start
of from four to ten — probably each word of the established divine
or saintly invocation reckoning at the outset of the enumeration
for one skin or fur !

In the Gabella of 1402 the following rates were charged
upon skins and furs offered for sale in the city — per hundred,
dressed : — Vaio and Faina — two pounds, Lattizi, Ermellino, and
Martora — three pounds. Vair being so largely used was naturally
a prominent object for taxation, not only in the annual special
Gabelle, — raised for extraordinary State purposes, — but also at the
gates of the city in the ordinary way of customs on imports.

In a MS., entitled : " A Summary of Commerical Dues of
the City of Florence," 1 written with the pen subsequent to the
year 1411 under the heading " Guild of Furriers and Skinners,"
there are following entries : —

Vair Skins — belly and back — dressed per I oo, 2 pounds 4 denari.
Vair Skins — belly and back — undressed per 100, I pound

1 6 soldi 4 denari.
Vair Skins — bellies only — dressed per 100, I pound 2 denari.

Do. backs only do. I do. 4 do.

Linings of cut Vair — bellies per 1 60, 1 8 soldi.

Do. with the hair worn off, per 160, 8 soldi.

1 D. M. Manni, " Sigilli," etc.

282 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

Raw fur was made ready for use by softening the pelts,
skins, or hides, with sweet olive oil, and then trampling upon
them in tubs filled with fine hardwood sawdust at bloodheat.
The pelt was removed and drawn over sharp knives to remove
portions of flesh or other adhesive substances. The thickest hide
was in this way rendered as soft and pliable as the thinnest kid
used for gloves.

The Furrier then sorted the skins treated, with respect to
colour and texture of hair, and cut them to the model required.
The pelt was next nailed down to a board damp and stretched
by pins. The last process was trimming and softening the
edges.

The greater number of the workshops and sale emporiums
of the Guild were situated along the fine Via de' Pellicciai. No
more attractive thoroughfare could be found in old Florence,
and in none other did so many men and women of fashion
congregate daily to admire and covet the splendid furs exhibited by
the merchants of the Guild. Here the Lamberti, the Toschi, the
Cipriani, the Pilli and others vied with one another in the variety
of their stocks and in the perfection of their methods and styles
of dressing.

The commerce in skins became greatly extended and very
important. Treaties were entered into with Ferrara and Mantua
with respect to export and import. In 1307 a convention was
signed between the Commune of Florence and the Counts of
Mugnone concerning the making and keeping of a certain
trade route between Florence and Bologna. The expenses of
the enterprise were laid upon the values and weights of goods
transported there along. Among the taxes was that of one
pound upon each load of fox or cat skins.

The value of the mixed furs exported by the " Guild of
Furriers and Skinners " was very great, and the transport convoys
were constantly in danger of attack and robbery. Among re-
prisals addressed by the Priors of Florence in this behalf was one
delivered to the Council of State of Siena in 1329, seeking

GUILD OF FURRIERS AND SKINNERS 283

restitution for two bales of coverlets of miniver, consigned by
Florentine merchants from Grosseto to Siena, or compensation in
money upon the finding of the joint Court of Arbitration.

Cibrario has many entries of the exports and values of furs
dressed by the "Guild of Furriers and Skinners" in Florence.
For example, under the date 1367, eighty-seven marten skins,
for the lining of a cloak for Amadeo VI. of Savoy, to be delivered
in Rome — twenty-seven gold florins.

Everybody wore furs, more or less valuable, and even the
austere rules of clothing observed in the religious houses were
relaxed, until luxury and ostentation in clerical dress became a
scandal. A council held in London in 1127 passed a decree
forbidding Abbesses and other holy nuns from wearing skins of
any kind except those of lambs, cats, and rabbits.1

Again in 1225 Cardinal Sant' Angelo regulated the habits
of monks, so that none were allowed new fur garments oftener
than every third year, and these were not to be lined with the
skins of fox, or leopard, or firstlings of sheep. Two sorts of capes
were allowed — one, of white fur, for the summer, and one of
darker shades of grey, in winter : the latter only were of a large
size to reach to the ground.

In the thirteenth century every one wore a pellucid, — short
cloak, — lined with vair, ermine, or other fur. Many better-to-do
citizens also possessed long cloaks lined with vair, and bordered
with finer furs. Caps of latizzi, — young vair-skin, — and of vair
mixed with other furs, were in general use.

The fur-lined tunics of soldiers, — especially cavalry, — gave
fashions to civilians, who, of both sexes, understood well enough
the comfort and grace of tight-fitting but yielding clothing. The
vogue for the wearing of fur increased along with that of silken
ornaments, and marked the prosperity of Florence, and the
sumptuousness of her merchants and people.

The great use made of vair or miniver by the superior clergy
is evidenced in a register of the expenses of the Papal Court at

1 Balducci Pegolotti, vol. iii. p. 263.

284

THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

Avignon in January 1327. Therein is an entry, which states that
Francesco, merchant of Florence, and Giovanni Anastasio, furrier,
of Spoleto, supplied sixty-nine heavy cloaks and hoods, made of
miniver, for winter wear by persons attached to the Court of the
Pope. The sum paid by Ugone de' Cardaltiacci, the Papal Trea-
surer, was 763 gold florins. Another entry records the supply,

DIRECTOR OF TOURNAMENT DISTRIBUTING CANDIDATES' BADGES BEFORE A GIOSTRE.

(Note the Capes of Vair)

on June I2th, 1327, by the same Francesco, — "merchant and
furrier," — of one hundred and seventy-eight summer vestures,
edged with miniver for summer use at the Papal Court, at a
total cost of 1 1 o gold florins.1

Vair or miniver was the fur most commonly in use, but
certain restrictions confined it to the State robes of dignitaries,
and to the official dress of Judges, Doctors and Knights. The

1 Archivio del Vaticano, folio 45.

GUILD OF FURRIERS AND SKINNERS 285

former were called " abiti di riguardo" and were also adopted by
ecclesiastics, — a use which has remained to our own day in the
capes of canons and other dignified clergy.

Boccaccio, ever observant of customs and fashions, says :
" Esteemed are the garments lined with vair whereon falls oft-
times the sword of knighthood."1 By way of contrast, and to
show the fondness of Florentines for ridicule, and their hatred of
assumption of dignity by citizens, that inimitable critic, Antonio
Pucci, tells how in his day : " they clothed the fool in vair." 2
This has reference to Villani's story of Giudetto della Torre,
who sent a buffoon to yell at the cowardly Matteo Vincenti of
Milan. The fool brought back an answer which so pleased
Giudetto that he bestowed upon his witty messenger the furred
robe of a baron, and gave him a good palfrey to boot ! 3

In a very quaint brochure written by one Charrier, and pub-
lished in Paris in 1634, many curious customs and superstitions
connected with the wearing of fur in the sixteenth century are
recorded. He says : " Bachelors (Knights ?), Doctors of Law,
Emperors and Doctors of Medicine are vested in the furs which
represent the mysteries of Theology, the maxims of politics, and
the secrets of medical science ! " " For the use of furs cures
headache and stomach-ache ; rheumatism, which defeats the most
powerful remedies, is removed by the skins of cats, of lambs, and
of hares."

Charrier goes on to assert with pride that : " of all the orna-
ments which luxury has invented there are none so glorious, so
august, and so precious as fur." " The privileges and honours
of Furriers and Skinners," he adds, " surpass quite rightly those
of all other Crafts!"

The story of " Cinderella and the Glass Slipper," by the way,
has a connection with the use of this fur. It is of French origin,
but quite early the equivalent for "glass" was translated and

1 Boccaccio, " Labirinto del Amore." 2 A. Pucci, Canto XL., iii. 40.

3 Villani, vol. viii. cap. 61.

286 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

copied erroneously — the original pantoufle de vair became pan-
toufle de verre. The princess cast her miniver shoe — not a
glass slipper !

DRESS OF THE FLORENTINES DURING THE
RENAISSANCE.

The question of dress was always more or less important in
the ethics of Florence, and, inasmuch as the chief industries, and
the bulk of the commerce of the city and Contado, were intimately
concerned with such things as clothes are made of, it is a sub-
ject which cannot be overlooked in any true appreciation of the
life and work of the Guilds.

Florentines in the twelfth century preserved many of the
customs of their Roman forebears.1 They continued to wear the
woollen shirt, or vest, with the big round cloak, or toga, made of
their native wool. These garments were plain and undyed for
the use of the lower classes, and coloured and ornamented for
better-to-do folks.

In his " Paradiso " Dante speaks of primitive Florence thus : —

" Florence, within her ancient limit-mark,
Which calls her still to matin-prayers and noon,
Was chaste and sober, and abode in peace.

The sons I saw

Of Nerli and of Vecchio, well content
With unrobed jerkins, and their good dames handling
The spindle and the flax ; O happy they ! " 2

Ricordano Malespini records that, up to the year 1260,
Florentines did not disdain coarse stuffs, and many were satisfied
to clothe themselves in skins, and to wear fur caps and low
leather shoes. The men had a close tight-fitting garment of
woven goats' hair dyed scarlet. All wore girdles, generally of
fine leather, to which the better dressed added buckles. The

1 Livy, xiii. 52 ; Virgil, yftneid, I. v. 286. 2 " Paradiso," Canto xv.

GUILD OF FURRIERS AND SKINNERS 287

women were wont to cover their heads with cloth, or linen,
mantles and veils.

The habits of the Religious Orders were adapted from the dress
of the peasantry, which consisted of a tunic or shirt of rough
frieze, reaching well below the knees, with a woollen girdle. The
legs were bare, but in winter and wet weather leather buskins were
worn by all classes and orders.1

The manners, and life generally, of the people of Florence,
towards the end of the thirteenth century,2 were marked by
gravity, sobriety, and frugality. Their homely fare cost them
little, they cared not for rich eating. Each household lived very
much by itself, and few and far between were public entertain-
ments. Nevertheless they were a cheerful race, and, whilst above
all things seriously in earnest about business affairs, they were
fond of mirth, and song, and the dance, in their proper seasons.
Certainly some of their ways were somewhat rough and rude, but
in their intercourse with strangers they were given to marked
consideration and courtesy. In speech they were not fluent, but
chatting gave them more pleasure than a polished oration or a
witty dialogue.

Both men and women were coarsely clad, mostly in leather
jerkins and skirts, with dressed skins for extra covering. The
better to do affected valuable furs, but these were worn without
ostentation. Small tight-fitting leather caps, or woven woollen
berrette, were sported by both sexes upon their heads. All wore
plain hose, and when not bare of foot, they had heavy boots and
shoes of leather. The richer married women donned tight petti-
coats, of coarse red " Ipro " or " Camo" — Camoiardo — cloth, gathered
at the waist with a leathern belt and metal buckle. Some also put
on, in winter time, fur-lined mantles, with hoods attached, — called
tasselli, — to cover the head. The poorer women wore gowns of
rough green Cambiagio stuff made in the same way as the
garments of their more wealthy sisters.

1 Ricordano Malespini, " L'Istoria Antica di Firenze," cap. xi.

2 Villani, Lib. vi.

288 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

The younger women exercised great continence, and rarely
accepted marriage until they were well over twenty years of age.
A hundred lire was considered an ample dowry for a bride, whilst
two or three hundred were regarded as a splendid fortune by the
fortunate bridegroom.

Among prohibitions, — sumptuary and otherwise, — enacted from
time to time for observance by members of the Guilds, was an
Order of the Priors in 1 296 with respect to the emblazonment of
arms. It runs thus : — " Let no one venture to establish a private
club, society, or company with unauthorised arms. Let no one
bear painted arms, except according to the Statutes of his Guild,
or the Order of the Commune. Every Master of a Trade with his
sons, brothers, and nephews, are permitted to wear, and to use, the
painted arms and signs of his Craft. Let no one presume to bear
painted arms not in use by his house. On payment of the pre-
scribed fee of two hundred lire any man may assume the arms
of King Charles, in addition to those of his house. Nopopolano, —
tradesman, — may use the arms of a magnifico, — merchant or
magistrate, — or have such in his house unless he is a famulus, or
a member of his household. Nevertheless painters may colour
arms, and tailors may sew them on garments, as also may
armourers and shield-workers engrave them in metal and leather.
All such badges are permitted to be exposed for sale by the
Rigattieri, — Retail dealers, — in their shops."

With the advance of artistic craftsmanship there appeared a
more correct taste in the matter of personal attire and adornment.
Excellence of material, and its adaptability to the human figure,
introduced not only simplicity in arrangement but correctness of
cut and shape. Exuberance of colour gave way to artistic contrast,
unity of effect, and sobriety in enrichment.

Woollen fabrics were considered correct wear for ordinary
days, whilst silken stuffs became the garments of joy and festivity.
Everyday costumes were usually unadorned, but not inartistic,
for the quality of the cloth, and even the make up of the raiment,
were matters of moment.

GUILD OF FURRIERS AND SKINNERS 289

Older people wore the stately neck to ankle lucco of scarlet
silk, on occasions of ceremony ; but in ordinary times, of
black silk, or finest black serge. Round the neck was wrapped
the white silk, or woollen, becchetto, whilst the hoary head was
covered with the large berretta and its hanging curtain of
red.

Young men of eighteen years or so wore surcoats of black
serge, or rascia^ — rough cloth, — sometimes lined with taffetta, which
reached to their heels. In winter the lining of the surcoats of such
as were scions of rich families, were of fur, or wadded rich silk bro-
cade. Ermisino, a light Eastern silk, was worn by rising Doctors
of Law. The pantaloons of wool or silk, according to season,
and the wearer's circumstances, were tight fitting, and slashed
at the knee and hip. The colours were matters of taste. " La
berretta alia civico" — was worn upon the head, made of black
serge, or rascia, and lined with silk — the curtain was often
green. Another form of headdress was the cappuccio, — a hood
used by older people, and also universally in winter time, —
made of cloth also, but trimmed with fur. Men upon a journey
wore a gabbano — a felt cloak. Clothes were changed most
scrupulously every Sunday : clean things being worn first to
Mass!

The dress of the peasantry was scanty but suitable. Luca
Delia Robbia, in his twelve " Rondels " of the Seasons, has shown
us the Tuscan countryman at work in the different duties of his
calling.1 A plain shirt of wool or linen, or of a mixture, tied
at the waist, covered the body, leaving the head and legs bare.
Stockings of wool were added in winter, and shoes of leather were
put on for digging and felling timber. When going to town, or
to Mass, they wore long buttoned-up gowns, or tunics, without
sleeves, the shirt sleeves coming through, and a belt of leather was
added, or not, as it pleased the wearer. Peasant women, in the
fields, were clad in dingy clothing made of rough woollen cloth, or
coarse linen canvas ; but, when going into market or to Mass, they

1 At V. and A. Museum, South Kensington.

290 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

superimposed a skirt of black or green, and covered their heads
with white linen kerchiefs, or woollen shawls.

Operatives of the city were attired in the garments best suited
to their various industries. These were never rags, but were made
specially for their purpose, and sometimes donned over the home
dress. Men and women alike were proud to be seen in the garb
of the Guild to which they belonged. Wool, linen, canvas, and
leather, were the materials used. The superior workmen were
careful also to sport the crest or arms of their Guild upon their
tunics : the wearing of such decorations however upon the head
covering was forbidden, as offering a party or a trade badge, and
inciting to disorder.

Merchants, Judges, Notaries, Doctors, and Apothecaries, all wore
garments of distinctive and appropriate shape, colour, and rich-
ness, and such costumes were compulsory, both in their public
occupations and in their private life.

Magistrates, in the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries,
were known by their long grey or yellow surtouts, and scarlet
berrette with red curtains. Adornments of gold and silver, silk and
velvet, fur and leather, came later. The Podesta, Gonfalonieri di
Giustizia, Captains of the People, Priors or Consuls, and other
Dignitaries were habited in scarlet and gold, with fur linings and
trimmings to their cloaks. They usually wore red cappucci or
berrette vf\\h deep curtains, all turned up with miniver and laced
with gold. Their stockings were scarlet, and their boots light tan
or black leather embroidered in gold. The Consuls' headgear
resembled cardinals' hats, and they wore uncut diamonds and
sapphires. Pearls were reserved for the use of the Podesta and
Gonfaloniere di Giustizia, whose State robes were spangled with
golden stars.

An excessive taste for wearing finery sprang up during the
fourteenth century, somewhere about the year 1330, and the
attention of sober-minded men was directed to its vagaries.
Eight citizens were appointed to make the round of the city, and
report upon the interior economy of private houses. The wearing

GUILD OF FURRIERS AND SKINNERS 291

of certain kinds of dress, regarded as superfluous, was forbidden.
The only persons who appear to have escaped condemnation
were the wives of Knights and Doctors — both of law and of
medicine.

A check was put upon the extravagance of State ceremonial,
and upon the expenses of marriage feasts. It was ordered that
bridesmaids and other guests should be simply clad, and that the
outfit of the bride should be upon a modest scale.

Sumptuary laws, which were passed from time to time, dealt
largely with all forms of sartorial extravagance. The Catasto of
1427 was especially severe against pride and ostentation of
vesture. One rubric was as follows : " No female — woman or girl
— of whatever rank or condition, married or unmarried, shall dare
or presume, in the city of Florence or in the Contado, to wear any
sleeve, bodice, mantle, robe, or other garment, lined with the
fur of any animal, whether domestic or wild, coarse or fine, by
whatever name it may be known. ..."

Another rubric enacted that no person of whatever rank or
condition, nor any tailor, dressmaker, vair merchant or furrier, shall
dare, or presume, to cut out, make, line, or cause to be cut out,
made, or lined, any of the following garments : cioppe — long tunics,
and cottadite villani — blouses (?) whereof fur is a principal
part.

The wearing of gold embroidery and jewellery was strictly
regulated, the women were, nevertheless, " allowed to wear, upon the
collars of their garments, — to a depth of the third of a braccio, —
gold, silver, and gilt embroidery." 1

Damasks, figured silks, and brocades were forbidden for
ordinary wear, and the colours and decorations of such robes as
were permissible, were regulated by simplicity. The following
were some of these enactments : — " No one shall presume to
wear more than one pound of silver in garlands, or buttons,
or anything else, upon the head or person . . . over and
above this they may wear a silver belt, weighing, with the
1 L'Osservatore Fiorentino, vol. vi. p. 86.

292 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

clasp, fifteen ounces, and no more . . , the said silver may be

No woman is permitted to have more than two silk dresses at
the same time. Sleeves and linings are not to be of silk or fur,
but of wool, linen, or cotton.

" They shall not dare to wear any intaglio, — open lace-work, —
of more than a braccio in width . . . nor any fringe of gold,
silver, or silk, on the dress, except upon the bodice. . . . The hem
of the garments may be enriched, but no skirt may be more than
ten braccia round." Very many other details follow, prescribing,
with singular precision, every portion of the clothing — male and
female.

In the matter of jewellery — ostentation was to be avoided.
" Women shall not presume to wear . . . more than two rings,
and the rings shall not have more than one pearl and one other
precious stone."

With respect to the wedding Cassoni, or coffers, strict in-
junctions were given, for example : — " No one shall dare to send
in the caskets of women or girls, when promised or betrothed,
jewelled necklaces, nor to give them garlands or brooches of pearl,
precious stone, gold, and silver."

Some of the sumptuary measures passed and put into execu-
tion, have already been referred to in earlier chapters, and also the
manner in which they were met and avoided by the people. The
pressure became so excessive and irritating that a recoil was the
only possible outcome.

Gradually the prosecution of these sartorial reforms was
slackened, and, in the fifteenth century, they ceased to have any
force, not only on account of the difficulty of maintaining them,
but because of the vastly increased import and manufacture of
costly objects and fabrics.

In the frescoes at Santa Maria Novella we see the new
fashions just come in, and the mural pictures in other city
churches, and in the palaces, carry on the sartorial story.
Strangely enough men set the fashion in those days, but

GUILD OF FURRIERS AND SKINNERS 293

the vagaries, or the reverse, of male attire were quickly adopted
by the fair sex. Cavaliers wore close-fitting tunics, with the
points of their wristbands lined with vair, reaching to the ground.
Smart women took the cue, and reformed their modes in
accord.

The fashion came in of wearing parti-coloured hose, crossed
in three or four colours. Shoes had very long points, and the
wearers' legs were so enwrapped with ribbons and laces, that
they could hardly sit down. Young men went about in silken
or woollen tights, and wore silk or velvet mantles, depending
from their shoulders. Their hair hung down their backs, and
long feathers were stuck into their jaunty red caps. The fair
sex improved upon these styles, and their skirts were skin-tight
— cumbering their feet.

Sacchetti says " some women had their dresses cut so low that
the armpits could be seen ; they then gave a jump, and made the
collars come up to their ears ! "

The trousseau and the marriage feast of Giovanna de' Medici
were remarkable for the splendour of the robes and decorations.1
Four chief merchant princes of the city, Messeri, Manno Temper-
ani, Carlo Pandolfini, Giovannazzo Pitti, and Tommaso Soderini
were the bride's supporters, each clad in festal attire of crimson,
silk and scarlet cloth, lined with miniver. The bride herself was
gowned in cloth of gold with an ermine mantle, whilst her dinner
dress was of white zetana, — very thick satin, — powdered with
pearls, and trimmed with sable and ermine.

Rich furs were worn by all the guests. The fifty gentle-
women and fifty gentle-youths, who formed the bodyguard of
the fair Giovanna, vied with one another in the decoration of
their tight-fitting jackets edged with sable, and their capacious
sleeves, with pointed wristbands lined with miniver and ermine,
reached to the floor ; and their shoes were embroidered with gold,
and bordered with sable.

Giovanna de' Medici's marriage Cassone contained a necklace

1 Guido Biagi, *« Private Life of the Renaissance Florentines."

294 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

of diamonds, rubies, and pearls, — valued at 100,000 gold
florins, a hood embroidered with pearls, a fringed Milanese
hat, eight pairs of silk stockings, four pairs of gloves, a
cape of silver and pearls, a fine lawn shift, many robes with
trains of brocade, and velvet edged with fur, and many more
fine things.

In the latter years of the Republic personal adornment and
extravagance in dress reached a phenomenal height. Doctor
Biagi says: — "In 1467 Benedetto Salutati, for the State
Tournament, put upon the harness, headgear, and the trappings
of two horses, one hundred and seventy pounds of pure
silver, which he caused to be worked by the hands of Antonio
Pollaiuolo ; and, around the robes of the heralds, he strung thirty
pounds of pearls, — the greater part of which were of great
value ! "

Many amusing stories are told by the topical writers of the
Renaissance concerning the fashions, and their constant changes.
" Poor Messere Valore di Buondelmonte, an old man cut on the
ancient pattern, was forced by his relations to change his cloak
and hood. Everybody marvelled, and stopped him in the
streets, asking : — Oh what is this, Messer Valore, I do not
know you ? What is the matter with you ? Have you the
mumps ? " When ruffs came in, " Salvestro Brunelleschi, while
eating some peas with a spoon, instead of putting them
into his mouth, slipped them inside his ruff and scalded
himself!"1

Under the Medici no limits were set to the liberty of the
person, so far as clothing and ornaments were concerned. Only
one law was passed, — and that under the Grand Duke Ferdi-
nand II., — prohibiting in detail dress, furniture, and other house-
hold and private matters, but it was rescinded after a nine months'
probation.

We must always remember, in reviewing the dress and
fashions of the Renaissance, that the physical culture of the

1 " Private Life of the Renaissance Florentines.''

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GUILD OF FURRIERS AND SKINNERS 295

Florentines, acting upon their naturally fine forms, produced
grace of deportment and elegance of bearing in every
class of life. " Fine feathers make fine birds " elsewhere, but
in Florence it was rather the fine figures that set off the fine
clothes !

11 Stemma del? Arte & Vaiai e Pellicciai"
White Agnus Dei on blue field on first quarter of field of Vair

CHAPTER X

THE GUILDS OF BUTCHERS, BLACKSMITHS, AND
SHOEMAKERS

LE ARTI VE BECCAl, DJ? FABBRI, E Dtf CALZOLAI

I. BUTCHERS. — War-lords, graziers and slaughterers. Scant pasturage
of Tuscany. Custom dues and evasions. Clever salesmen. Mercato Vecchio.
Ponte Vecchio. Heads must be attached to carcases. Florentine delicate
palettes. Fishmongers and fish. Fines and litigation. " Cheats ! " and
" Wooden-shoes ! "

II. SMITHS.— Tuscany rich in minerals. St Eloy. Scions of nobility.
Primitive forges and smelting yards. " Old iron and brass to sell ! " Re-
naissance wrought iron-work. A money-grabber. Renowned workers in
metals. The Acciaiuoli family.

III. SHOEMAKERS.— " Nothing like leather!" Many associated trades.
Dependent upon the Guild of Tanners. Shoemakers warned not to harbour
wandering fellows. Lining of armour. Buskins worn by all classes.
Flirtations.

I. L'ARTE DE' BECCAI

IN every list of the Florentine Guilds the "Arte de' Beccai" heads
the Second Division, or Lesser Guilds, and occupies the first
place among the Five Intermediate Guilds.

The term Beccai was originally applied to the highest families
in Italy. The war-lords, who set out from Germany in the
Middle Ages, possessed themselves of the fat of the lands they
traversed — seizing cattle and stock of all kinds, and robbing castles
and villages with impunity. The use of the word in this sense by
Dante, it is said, greatly offended Francis I.

Something of the same feeling seems to have been shared by
the Renaissance Florentines, who strove to differentiate between
Beccai — graziers — and Macellai — slaughterers. Anyhow the Guild

was, at its first inception in the thirteenth century, composed of
296

GUILD OF BUTCHERS 297

wholesale dealers : the corporation of retail butchers being a later
arrangement.

The earliest mention of a "butcher" in the Archives of
Florence is of one " Martinus — beccadore "in 1 1 1 o, but whether
he was a member of such a Guild as that in Paris, to which King
Philip, in 1 162, granted a charter, nobody can say.1

It is true that in every country in Europe in the Middle Ages
" butchers " played a leading role, not alone in the arena of com-
mercial enterprise but in that too of political activity. This pre-
eminence was in part due to hereditary antecedents and traits,
and in part to effective physical culture. Bodily strength and
force of character were ever potential attributes of success in
life generally, and these were marks of the Beccai of Florence in
particular.

There can be no doubt that two motives largely influenced
the incorporation of the Beccai. First, the breeders and graziers
of cattle and sheep needed to protect themselves, their lands, and
their stock, from the attacks of robber captains and cattle raiders :
and secondly, they wished to control the supply of meat, and to
keep the retail-butchers and slaughterers out of the wholesale
market.

The latter precaution was soon seen to be unwise, for, with
the rapid growth of the population, retail-butchers became a
necessity, and amicable terms between the two sections of meat-
merchants proved to be the best policy.

The first distinct mention of the "Arte de' Beccai" was in 1 236,
when the Buonuomini, who took in hand the reformation and
classification of the trades of Florence, placed it eighth in the
order of the Guilds, and named it first among the Fourteen Lesser
Guilds. This priority of position was due to the influential
character of the first members of the Corporation. They were not
only simple country breeders and peasant traders, but many
among them were prosperous city manufacturers and merchants.
These rich men found, in the possession of poderi, farm lands

1 Davidssohn, " Geschichte von Florenz."

298 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

and stock, safe and profitable investments for their capital. This
economical condition affords an interesting parallel to the much
earlier absorption of the landed Grandi by the city Popolani — a
reflexive movement of high political importance.

The " Guild of Butchers " retained its premier rank at the
revision and enlargement of the Guilds in 1266, by which date
probably, the two sections, — Beccai and Macellai, — had discovered
the advantages of co-operation and mutual respect.

In the list of Guilds, revised in 1280 and 1282, a further
distinction was awarded the " Guild of Butchers." It was placed
first of the " Five Intermediate Guilds," which were for many
years classed among the " Twelve Greater Guilds."

This arrangement proved the importance and influence of the
butchering confraternity in the Commonwealth, and it also led
to the addition of a powerful company to the trained bands of the
city. No Guild company carried its gonfalon with a higher hand,
or was capable of giving a better account of itself in times of
stress, than the slaughterers who were born fighting men.

By the end of the thirteenth century the position and
character of the Guild were fully recognised. No Confraternity
possessed a finer or more sumptuously furnished Residence than
that which housed its Consuls by the side of Or San Michele, and
no banner flaunted more proudly than that of the black goat
upon its yellow field — the armorial bearings of the Guild.

The Beccai were, from the first, faced by a great natural
difficulty which needed brains and means to overcome. The Vale
of Arno was a fruitful garden and land could hardly be spared
for grass. The uplands and the Tuscan hills afforded only poor
pasture, quite sufficient perhaps for the growth of wool, but un-
suitable for fattening purposes. Consequently flocks and herds
had to be driven to distant localities where richer eatage could
be found.

Journeys to and fro, in and out of Tuscany, called for
heavy outlay in shepherding, and involved duties at the frontiers
of foreign States. The risks of travel and the losses by the way

ARMS OF THE GUILD OF BUTCHERS

GUILD OF BUTCHERS 299

were great, and everything conspired to harden the selling price
of live stock and dead meat. At the same time an embargo was
placed upon, and maintained against, the export of live stock
beyond the Contado. The first restriction of this character of
which there is a record was in I285.1

With such a considerable importation of live stock and of
dead meat it is conceivable that many tales were rife, in the
Markets, of clever ruses adopted to escape payment of the Gate dues.
It was not an uncommon practice to place two carcases upon the
back of a mule or donkey, and to cover them well with green stuff,
so that only one was exposed and paid for ! The risk however of
discovery was serious, for on detection, by an over conscientious
official, the beast of burden, as well as his load, was confiscated :
whilst, it was within common knowledge that, the distrained car-
cases were shared by the staff" of the Dogana \ A Provvisione was
passed in the thirteenth century which directed the arrest of the
dishonest dealer, but he usually squared the authorities by paying
a fine !

The Gate customs against commodities of all kinds affected
largely the interest of the stock-dealers and of the retail-butchers.
Towards the end of the thirteenth century, whilst the selling price
of a fat ox ranged from twelve to sixteen lire, the tax upon the
animal amounted to ten per cent. In 1319 the Gabella, or tax
on live-stock at the gates, levied upon the breeders and butchers,
realised the high total of 1.185 g°ld florins, — nearly £6oo.z

Indeed it was, as a rule, more remunerative to kill the beasts
outside the city, and to carry through, separately, the carcases and
the hides or fleeces.

This question of customs was, ever and again, cropping up ;
and the need of organised efforts to counteract illiberal legislation
rendered the services of the Consuls of the Guild of the utmost
importance, not only to the members of the Guild, but to the
whole community of the city.

1 "Le Consulte," i. 118, July 20, 1285.

2 Cibrario (1253 — 1278), 16. 5 ; 16. 9, 10. Prow. xvi. 116 V°

300 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

Florence early became a profitable centre of the meat trade
of Tuscany, which assumed very considerable proportions in the
early years of the fourteenth century. The annual average of fat
stock which entered the city was as follows : — Four thousand
bulls and cows, sixty thousand sheep and lambs, twenty thousand
goats and bucks.1

A decree of Duke Charles of Calabria, issued on May i6th,
1327, ordered the " merchants of the Guild of Butchers " to drive
more oxen and cows out of Apulia for the provisioning of the city.

Raisers of stock were obliged to go themselves to market and
to drive only their own beasts. Agents or brokers were not
allowed to come between them and the retail butchers. This
injunction held for a good hundred years or more — I346-I477.2

The driving of cattle, — whether to the shambles or not, — was
subject to strict regulations, and each animal was taxed, — the
bigger cattle at eight to twelve, and small animals at four
denari per head. Each beast had a label or ticket attached to
his horn or throat with the owner's name written upon it.3 Foreign
cattle driven by strangers, and sold in the Market, or at the Gates,
had to be killed and the meat exposed the same evening. On no
condition were wholesale butchers allowed to sell to hawkers until
the amount of fresh meat usually required, day by day, by the
citizens had been provided and disposed of to the ordinary retail
dealers.

Clever salesmen were in the habit of underselling, by four
denari in the pound, the daily market official prices ; and this
evasion of the regulations was not only condoned but encouraged
by the authorities. What the intention of this irregularity was it
is difficult to understand, only it might have been due to a
paternal wish that all citizens, — even the very poorest, — might
enjoy, at least during public festivals, — a better diet than was
possible in ordinary days.4

The Mercato Vecchio was for a long period the principal centre

1 Villani, xi. 93. '2 Statuti de' Beccai, Cod. i., Rub. 10.

3 Statuta, 1415, Rub. cclxxiii. 4 Prow. 1465 ; Reg. 157, 216.

GUILD OF BUTCHERS 301

of the Butchers. Around its four sides open stalls were placed,
whereon meat for retail sale was exposed. It was strongly for-
bidden to keep meat for sale inside a house or store within the
city, and not until well on in the fourteenth century were covered
shops allowed.1

The new Ponte Vecchio, built by the State in 1345, at a cost
of sixty thousand gold florins, had a double row of shops. Forty-
four of these were claimed by, and granted to, the " Guild of
Butchers," and remained in the occupation of members until 1 490,
when the Goldsmiths obtained them from Cosimo I.

Retail-butchers of the Market were not suffered to enter into
partnership with cattle-dealers. They could not keep more than
one assistant. They were required to live within five hundred
yards of the Piazza Santa Croce, — in the vicinity of which were the
shambles.2 Every butcher before he was licensed, either to kill,
or expose meat, was compelled to be enrolled or matriculated in
the " Guild of Butchers."

During the Patronal Festival of San Giovanni in June there
was always a great increase in the supply of butcher's meat, and
this called into work many extra hands. At all such festivals the
prices to be charged by the Macellai were fixed by the Consuls of
the Guild, and a tariff was ordered to be exposed at every stall.
The licence also of the Guild was required by all temporary assis-
tants, and the amount of their wages was arranged by the Consuls.8

The Macellai could only buy fat cattle at the weekly public
sales, and they were, by a Provvisione of 1415, obliged to
slaughter the animals within eight days of purchase. The
slaughtering and dressing of meat were subject to strict regula-
tions, and only in certain localities, outside the city, and at fixed
hours, was it permissible to carry out these processes. The tax
demanded by the State for the slaughtering of beasts was the
same as that fixed for killing bears and wild boars, but it varied
in amount considerably from time to time.

1 Sacchetti, "Nov:" 160, p. 372. 2 Prow. 1504, Reg. 20.

3 Prow. 1413, Reg. 164, 202.

302 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

The sale of pigs was wholly prohibited in the Old and New
Markets, and in front of the Podesta's Palace. Fat pigs were not
allowed to be kept in any dwelling-house in Borgo d'Ognissanti,
or any locality bordering upon the river.1

Butchers were forbidden to carry beef bellies, bullock and
rams' heads, and the skins of recently killed animals through the
Mercato Vecchio.2

Butchers, Slaughterers, and Innkeepers, selling recently killed
meat and cooked joints, were required to appear before the
authorities of the Market in the month of January each year. They
had to deposit a security of fifty lire> and to swear that they
would exercise their calling honestly and loyally.

Tripe-sellers, — whether men or women, — sausage-makers, and
cooks of "snacks " at the smaller inns, were also ordered to appear in
the month of January each year before the Notary of the Captains
of Or San Michele to swear obedience to the Statutes.3

In some way, as showing an early refinement in the gustatory
tastes of the people, their fondness for delicate meat became more
and more marked as the era of the Renaissance advanced. Beef
and mutton for example, although excellent in quality and cheaper,
were held in less estimation than were veal and lamb. This
preference has been remarked by many writers both serious
and hypercritical. It held out a temptation to the butcher con-
fraternity to substitute coarser joints for the finer " tit-bits," to which
very many of them yielded ; but such tradesmen gave a bad name
to the trade, and added force to the popular opinion concerning
unfair dealing.

To prevent fraud and substitutions it was required by the
Consuls of the Guild that the carcases of lambs and calves should
always be exposed for sale at the butchers' stalls with the heads
attached.4

Associated with the butchers were the Pescivendoli — Fish-
mongers— who were regularly organised and under strict byelaws.

1 Rub. cclix., 1415. a Rub. cclx., 1415.

3 Rub. ccxvii., 1415. 4 L'Osservatore Florentine, iv. 9-11.

GUILD OF BUTCHERS 303

Fresh fish could only be sold in the loggia by the Ponte
Vecchio, and at certain butchers' shops, which were specially
licensed by the Market authorities. These were furnished with
tanks wherein the fish had to be deposited, because wholesale
display upon the stalls was absolutely forbidden. To poison fish
in the river, or marshes, was a criminal offence, and was dealt with
severely.1

Tinche — tench — from the lake in the Val Chiana, was sold as
follows : — Big fish, — weighing one pound or more, — two soldi per
pound ; small fish, — under a pound, — one soldo eight denari. Tench
from Pado, and out of Lombardy, followed the same quotations.
Tench from Brentina, Gusciana, and other places, — not being so
highly esteemed, — was charged lower rates. Eels from Val
Chiana, and other localities, varied in price from three soldi to one
soldO) four denari. Lampreys, sardines, and other small fry, were
sold in the gross. Upon all fish, dues were levied, at the Gates
and Quays, at so much per cent, upon the wholesale market price.

Innkeepers, Butchers, and Fishmongers, were not allowed to
enter into partnership with people living in the country for the
supply of fish, but they had to go to the Markets, or shops, like
other people.2 Cooks were restrained from purchasing fresh fish
and then selling it again uncooked. The,y were also forbidden, as
were all citizens, to keep fish in aquaria, water-baskets, or other
enclosures, for indefinite periods.3

By injunction of the Captains of Or San Michele and other
Market Magistrates, fresh meat, fresh and salt fish, and all
comestibles which were perishable, were not allowed to be
exposed for sale more than for one day.4

The Councils of the Podesta and of the Captain of" the People,
and later on the State Council of the Signoria, were almost daily
besieged by persons who had complaints to make of the bad
quality of the meat and fish offered for sale in the Market, and of
the fraudulent practices of the butchers. Under date May 10,

1 Rub. cxxii., 1415. 2 Rub. cxxvii.,1415.

3 Rub. cxxviii., cxxxi., 1415. 4 Rub. ccxx., ccxxi., 1415.

304 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

1281, a case was dealt with wherein Brunette Latini — Dante's
Master — proposed that the " Quattordici "- —The Fourteen — should
appoint expert Inspectors, who should, without being known,
make purchases of meat and fish indiscriminately, and thus
detect any possible fraud or irregularity on the part of the retail-
dealers.1

Heavy fines were imposed upon all unskilful and untidy
workmen, and especially for carelessness in the disposal of offal,
fish-bones, etc. The bundling of hides and fleeces, and their
prompt removal from the shambles were insisted upon. No class
of tradesmen revelled so thoroughly and constantly in legal
processes as did the Beccai, the Macellai and the Pescivendoli :
and somehow or other they generally gained the day !

At the enactment of the General Code of Statutes for all
the Guilds in 1301-1309, and again in 1346, and 1415, the
" Guild of Butchers " retained its position in the hierarchy of the
Guilds. Under the Medici the importance of the Guild was
constantly affirmed and duly acknowledged : for example, in the
Parliament held on August i8th, 1343, in the Church of Santa
Maria del Fiore, Francesco di Giovanni, a member of the " Guild
of Butchers," was nominated, as representing the Popolo Minuto ;
together with Filippo de' Bardi, and Tegghia de' Bonacotti, — re-
presentatives respectively of the Grandi and the Popolo Grasso, —
to consult for the public security. At this conference, by the way,
the final step was taken by the Signoria to expel the Duke of
Athens.

Under the Medici the Guild throve amazingly. The prosperity
of all the citizens led to the increased enjoyment of all pleasures
— those of the table always being foremost. During the cele-
bration of Giostre, and other festivals, hospitality was general and
profuse : everybody feasted himself and his neighbour, greatly to
the profit pecuniarily of the Beccai.

On the enrolment of the Fourteen Lesser Guilds in four
Universities in 1534, the Arte de' Beccai was placed first in

1 " Le Consulte," t. i. 9 and 13, pp. 15, 16.

GUILD OF BUTCHERS 305

order in the premier University, along with the Oliandoli^ and
Fornai — the other two food-supplying Guilds of the city. The
style " Universita di For San Piero, " — " The University of Saint
Peter's Gate," — was given to this Union, a title derived from
the proximity of the activities of the Guilds to the Gate of that
name.

By the members of the Greater Guilds at large the Arte dey
Beccai was looked upon with disdain. No citizens were considered
of less estimation than the indispensable breeders and slaughterers
of cattle. In fact the proud manufacturers of the " Guild of
Wool " ridiculed the Butchers on the score of dishonesty and
dubbed them ladroncelli — Cheats !

On their part, the Butchers were wont to return the compli-
ment : " You, Ciompi care only for the wool of which you fleece
your customers, whilst we, honest men, sell good sound meat
to feed you, and fit you for your work ! " *

Anyhow the Butchers of Florence did not bear a good reputa-
tion for straight dealing, but in this opinion they had for comrades
the Vinattieri — wine-merchants and the Albergatori — Innkeepers !

The Florentines of old time were for the most part abstemious
in their consumption of animal food. Sir Richard Dallington,
writing at the close of the sixteenth century, says : " The working
people average not more than a stone weight of fresh meat per
man per annum." 2 This is probably under the actual mark con-
siderably, for other travellers noted with astonishment and admira-
tion the good eating and drinking of all classes of the community.

Indeed it is not untrue to say that much of the thew and
sinew of the citizens, — whether rich or poor, — was, in a great
measure, due to generous and nourishing diet. This opinion is
confirmed when it is remembered that flesh-eating peoples have
ever been the rulers of cities and of empires — Romans, Floren-
tines, and Britons to wit !

1 Sacchetti, "Novelle," 160, t. ii. p. 377. 2 " Survey," p. 35.

306 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

II. L'ARTE DE' FABBRI

The fact that Tuscany is particularly rich in minerals, and
especially so in lead, tin, copper, lignite, and iron-oxides, must
be borne in mind when attention is directed to her workers
in metals. The Etruscans were among the forbears of the
Florentines, and their skill in the manipulation of iron and gold,
in particular, has placed them in the foremost ranks of smithery.
Doubtless they learned their art from Greek colonists, and in turn
they became teachers of the Romans.

The island of Elba was an important source of mineral wealth
away back in ancient days, and the prosperity of the city of
Popolonia was in a great measure due to the mechanical arts of
her citizens. At Monte Amiata was mercury, and other deposits
included boracic crystals, siena earths, and salt.

Whilst marble in endless variety and richness abounded
all over the country, — epecially at Carrara and Massa, — there
do not appear to have been any coal deposits in Tuscany.

The earliest form of an iron forge was merely an excavation
in the windward side of a hill or crest. The date of cast iron is
uncertain , but it was produced in the fourteenth century. The
discovery of the process was due to the adoption of larger furnaces
and higher pressure bellows.

Steel was evolved in the middle of the sixteenth century.
It was noted by Biringuccio in 1540, and described by Agricola
in " De Re Metallica" 1561 — that a bar of wrought iron, kept
immersed long in molten cast iron, became acierated by taking
up the carbon of the cast iron.

St Eligius was regarded as the Patron of Blacksmiths. He
worked as a journeyman in a smithy, but, coming under the notice
of King Dagobert, was made Court-treasurer and Mint-master.
In 640 he was advanced to the Bishopric of Noyon. Among his
good works was the founding at Soligniac, near Limoges, of a
monastery of smiths, in connection with which he further estab-
lished a school for artificers in metal.

GUILD OF BLACKSMITHS 307

Many extraordinary stories are told of the saintly Blacksmith
and his spiritual powers. On one occasion, at all events, he is
reported to have worked an astonishing miracle. A horse brought
to his smithy to be shod became possessed of the devil, who
caused him to plunge and kick so violently that no one could
shoe him. St Eligius determined to accomplish the job, and at
once chopped off one of the horse's legs, and having without
difficulty nailed a shoe to the hoof, he immediately restored the
separated member, and thus defeated the Evil One !

After the death of the Countess Matilda the industries of
Florence and of all Tuscany prospered exceedingly. Her
artizans no less than her merchants displayed admirable enter-
prise and resourcefulness. Many of the scions of ancient noble
houses, who had happened on evil days under the competition of
the Popolani and the Popolo Minuto, threw in their lot with the
citizens. The crafts which most attracted them were such as
appealed to their warlike instincts, and they enrolled themselves
as apprentices in the trade associations which dealt in metal, and
stone, and wood.

Quite the most popular handicraft was that of smithing, as
one may easily understand by noting the great number of
noble names which figured early on the Matriculation Rolls of
the " Blacksmiths," the " Locksmiths," " the Armourers," and the
" Masters of Stone and Wood." These young fellows brought to
their adopted work the thew and sinew begotten of an active
life in the open air.

The Archives of Florence contain the following records in the
eleventh and twelfth centuries : —

" 1038, Olivus.faber — Blacksmith."

" 1141, Bernerius.fil. Barlittario — Bellfounder."

" I 1 46, Uguccione, Calderarius — Coppersmith."

In the year 1038 as many as six Blacksmiths are named, in
1065 two more, and in 1080 six others, all exercising their craft
within the bounds of the Contado. In 1 1 74 a piece of land in

308 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

Oltrarno, near the Ponte Vecchio, was sold for the purpose of a
Bell-foundry.

The Arte de' Fabbri came tenth in the List of the Guilds in
1236, and it retained that position in the Revisions of 1266,
1280-2, and 1301-9. In 1415, however, the "Guild of
Blacksmiths " ranked ninth, displacing the " Guild of Shoe-
makers."

• *tt<«..

Little or no trace remains of the early Statutes of the Guild.
What has been preserved, — as was the case with the other Lesser
Guilds, — is written in a mixed jargon of low Latin and
abbreviated vernacular — very difficult to decipher. A document
of the year 1274 states that the Smiths had then twelve Rectors,
who, according to the regulations of the Guild received salaries
ranging from eighteen to six denari for their terms of office.1
This number being found too large, only six Rectors were
elected in the following year. The number of Consuls varied
from three to five in later times. The larger number indicated
prosperous times and vice versa.

At a council of Consuls and Capitudini of Guilds, held in
1286, a petition was presented to the Priors of the Guilds, on
behalf of the Rectors of the " Guilds of Blacksmiths " and
" Locksmiths," praying first that no one should be permitted,
within the confines of the city and Contado, to set up a Smith's-
forge, a Smelting-furnace, or a Puddling-yard, for the manu-
facture of metal wire, thin plates, and objects in metal, except
members of the two Guilds, under pain of a fine of one thousand
lire.

The Second Article in the Petition prayed that no one, ex-
cept members of the said Guilds, should be allowed to run metal
wire in sheets, or do metal-work of any kind, within the same
limits, save under a fine of one hundred lire. The Third Article
required that all such manufactures should be confiscated and
destroyed, whether found in the smithies and shops, or loaded

1 Archivio del Stato Fiorentino, Sept. 14, 1274.

GUILD OF BLACKSMITHS

309

upon draught animals for sale beyond the boundaries of the
Commune.

The style " Fabbri " covered a number of workers in metals,

METHOD OF FUSING METALS. SIXTEENTH CENTURY.

METHOD OF BEATING-OUT METAL PLATES. SIXTEENTH CENTURY.

for example, the following all came under the category of
Blacksmiths: Calderai — Copper-smiths, Ferraiuoli — Edged-tool
makers, Ferravecchi — Scrap-iron dealers, Fornadai — Furnace-
men, Manescalchi — Farriers, Ottonai — Workers in brass and
Stagnaiuoli — Pewter-smiths.

310 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

Fornaciai and Calderai were subject to strict rules with
respect to the situation, build, and contents, of their fires and
cauldrons. Inspectors, from time to time, visited all foundries
and iron workshops to see that the quality of the metals, and the
values of the mixtures, were exactly maintained. Fines were
imposed for inferior materials and bad workmanship, and the
confiscation of the blend, whether in fire or bath, was effected.1

Manescalchi were forbidden to charge ordinary citizens more
than three to four soldi for a shoe for a horse, a mule, or a pony.
The price of a shoe for a young mule, or an ass, was two soldi
six denari. Very big shoes were charged as much as six soldi.
The removal of a shoe or the part, cost a third of each of these
amounts. Smithies for shoeing purposes were required to be
open from dawn to dusk every day, except Sundays and Festivals,
when it was forbidden to do any farriers' work.2

Ferravecchi were restrained in the prosecution of their calling.
On no account were they suffered to go through the streets
crying out : " Ferro vecchio, vel rame vecchio a vendere ! " " Old
iron and brass to sell ! " Offenders were visited with fines of fifty
lire, and they were required to furnish a surety for good behaviour
to the tune of fifty silver florins. Smiths worked only for
ready money, and allowed no credit.3

An idea of the financial position of the Guild may be
obtained from the fact that in the general taxation of the
Guilds, which took place in 1321, the Arte de* Fabbri was
mulcted in a sum of four hundred lire, a comparatively insignifi-
cant amount, whilst the Fornaciai were charged a separate assess-
ment of ninety-two lire.

The Statutes of the Guild were revised and enlarged in 1 3 44,
1415, 14/2, 1525, and 1541. The last date records a proposal
of union between the Fabbri of Florence and Pisa.

When Cosimo, the first Grand Duke, established four
Universities to include the Fourteen Lesser Guilds, the third was
styled " Universita de Fabbricanti" — " The University of Iron-

1 Cantini, vi. p. 357. 2 Rub. xcviii., 1415. 3 Rub. xcvii., 1415.

GUILD OF BLACKSMITHS 311

workers." It included i. Fabbri — Smiths, 2. Chiavaiuoli — Lock-
smiths, 3. Maestri di Pietra e di Legname — Masters of Stone and
Wood, 4. Corazzai e Spadai — Cuirass and Sword-makers, or
Armourers, and 5. Legnaiuoli — Carpenters.

The Residence of the Consuls of the Guild was behind the
Zecca — Mint, just out of the Via de' Lamberteschi. On its
front were some finely moulded and hammered iron torch-sconces
and banner-holders. In the latter were placed the Gonfalon of
the Guild, charged with the armorial bearings, assigned to the
Blacksmiths by Count Guido Novelli in I 266, — a pair of furnace
tongs upon a white field.

The wrought-iron work of the Italian Renaissance was
essentially sui generis. Gothic models were not known, and the
influence of Byzantine artificers, and of the masters of antiquity,
was of the faintest. Apparently the ordinary manner of working
was to beat out a thin flat surface of metal, and punch holes
through it, or stamp designs upon it. No finer example of this
flat-work exists than the Screen at Santa Maria Novella which
is dated I366.1

At the beginning of the fourteenth century the casting of
metals had become a staple industry in Florence. Among early
workers, — artists and artificers combined, — were Cione, Ugolino,
Giglio, Piero, Leonardo, and Nofai. The Duke of Athens, fearing
personal violence, introduced, in 1343, a novel window protection
— iron gratings or bars, and caused the " Guild of Blacksmiths "
to erect such defences at his Palace. The fashion grew, and
window-gratings were among the finest examples of the Black-
smith's skill. This vogue was further developed in 1506 and the
following years, by Michael Angelo, who introduced what was
called "kneeling-gratings," that is to say bowed protections to
windows.

The " Masters of Stone and Wood " impressed their style of
workmanship upon their " iron " brethren, and many wrought

1 Meyer, " Handbook of the Art of Smithery," 1876, p. 63.

312 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

iron lanterns, and numberless other objects, are manipulated
as though the material were stone or wood. This manner was
exhibited in its ultimate perfection by a famous member of the
Guild, Niccolo Grosso — 1455-1 509. Vasari calls him "// Caparra"
— " Money Grabber " from his habit of demanding payment for
his work in advance ! His speciality wasfanati, — flare-baskets or
lanterns, — such as still exist on the walls of the Strozzi, Guardagni,
Pazzi, Borgherino, Riccardi and Quaratesi Palaces.

The Grille-work of Florence has no superior outside Tuscany.
Fineness of the iron wire and bars, perfection of hammering,
beauty of scrolls and curves, naturalness of floral ornament, high
finish of bosses and masks, neatness of joints and knobs, and
grace of moulded volutes — with their curling tendrils — are the
chief features of Florentine workmanship.

The exquisite grilles, in the Campo Santo, at Santa Croce,
which were put up in 1371, are of punched iron-work, with
chiselled caps, bases, and mouldings, and are finished by patient file
and pincer-work. It is interesting to notice again the influence
of the " Masters of Stone and Wood " in iron joinery and iron
carving, which are like fine wood-work rather than smithery.

In contradistinction to the florid work of Flemish and
German craftsmen, Florentine smiths preserved all the while
a reticence, and a dignity, quite in accord with their natural
temperament.

The fifteenth century saw the art of working in metals
brought to its highest pitch. The great sculptors were wont to
employ the services of smiths in forging and casting their splendid
works in bronze. Quite an army of intelligent artificers were busy
at metal doors and gates for the Baptistery and the Duomo —
the precious creations for all time of the Pisani, L. Ghiberti, and
Luca Delia Robbia.

Other skilled members of the Guild assisted Donatello,
Verrocchio, Giovanni da Bologna, and Benvenuto Cellini, to
produce the chefs d'oeuvre which bear their names. Men of the
forge and of the bellows, men of the anvil and the hammer, men

GUILD OF BLACKSMITHS 313

of the soldering-iron and smoothing-file, all worked as Florentines
always worked, diligently and with intelligence.

Combinations of wrought-iron work, with brass and bronze,
were Tuscan in origin. Endless objects come under this category : —
Sockets, Shields of Guild Arms, Tavern-signs, Font-covers, Read-
ing-desks, Candelabra, Knockers for doors, Gargoyles, Weather-
vanes, Architectural ornaments, and articles for domestic use,
together with workmen's tools — which were never wholly free
from decorative attributes.

The iron fixtures — brackets and rings — attached to the walls
of Palaces and elsewhere, were designed to hold torches. They
were provided with iron rings for athletic torch-bearers to cling to
as they fixed their flaming trophies in the sockets. They were
also used to support banner-poles at festivals. They evidence art
adaptability to common objects.

Fan-lights, balcony rails, fire-backs and dogs, frame -work of all
kinds, and many other objects, which required strength, as well as
elegance, formed another category. Once more the smiths went
to the " Masters of Stone and Wood," and sought their models and
patterns in floors, wall panels, and ceiling groinings, in intarsia-
tura or mosaic.

Among curiosities of the Blacksmith's Craft were the iron tongs
used for stamping the Festival cakes of the Guilds, consumed upon
St John Baptist's Day and upon the anniversaries of the Guilds.
The impressions produced were effigies of Saints or Guild emblems :
for example, the Blacksmith's cakes showed a hammer embossed
in the centre, the Butchers had a cow, or a ram, and so on.

In their work Smiths wore thick and heavy leather aprons, which

/ they could tie tightly round their legs, by strands of leather cut

from the same piece. The whole outfit of a blacksmith, in the

way of tools, cost about a gold florin, or about twelve shillings of

our money.

The sixteenth century presents the Smiths of Florence revelling
in the excellences and refinements of their Craft. Each workman
was an artist, able to work from any design submitted to him, or to

314 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

create original and beautiful objects on the spur of the moment.
Two especial lines of superior manipulation in metal were portrait
medallions, and historical plaques and bronzes. Those whose
fame among workers in metal is most widely diffused were : —
Niccolo Fiorentino, Giamgallo Poggini, Bertoldo, Petrellino,
Niccolo Domenico, Antonio del Pollaiuolo, Andrea Guazzoloti of
Prato, Domenico Poggini, Antonio Averlino, Michelozzo Michel-
ozzi, and, last but not least, Donatello, whose dates range from
1460 to 1557.

Nothing can exceed, in any school or nation, the delicacy,
naturalness, brilliancy of composition, and high finish of the works
of these " Masters of metal." Examples of their skill may be seen
in every Archaeological and Art Museum, but none is so rich as
the Bargello in Florence.

Many names of scions of famous noble families were enrolled
upon the annals of the " Guild of Blacksmiths." To mention one
among the many, the Acciaiuoli, manufacturers of steel, — as their
name implies, — who came from Brescia in the year 1 1 60, and
rose to high estate. After the banking disasters in the fourteenth
and fifteenth centuries Niccolo raised once more the honour of
his house, whilst he ruled the kingdom of Naples. He married
the widowed Empress of Constantinople, built the Certosa near
the Porta Romana, and founded a School of Liberal Arts for
studious apprentices.

III. L'ARTE DE' CALOZLAI

In every land foot-wear, both useful and ornamental, plays an
important role. Protection during working hours, and decoration
in times of leisure, are alike necessary and attractive.

As to who first wore coverings on the feet nobody knows, and
probably nobody cares ; but no age, and no nation, has ever been
without them. Every conceivable material, — natural and manu-
factured,— has been laid under contribution, and man's skill has
been called forth throughout all time in adaptive measures.

A STUDY IN BOOTS AND SHOES. THE BARGELLO
[THE FIGURE BELOW THE STEP REPRESENTS CIMAUUE]

GUILD OF SHOEMAKERS 315

Leather has always been the ideal material for boots and shoes
of all kinds : strong, impervious, yielding to pressure, and cleanly,
it has outrun all other competitors. The making of foot-wear has
also enriched countless artists of the last, whilst the vagaries of
Dame Fashion have called forth artistic workmanship, and added to
the joys and sorrows of human life.

Early in the Middle Ages Tuscan leather was famous, and before
the Renaissance, Florentine shoemakers had made themselves a
name, and had acquired riches. A document exists in the
Archives of the City, which records that, in the year 1139, one
"Johannes filius Petri qui vocatur Calzolarius, bestowed a bene-
faction upon the Spedale de' Calzolai, in the Val di Pesa, near
Florence."

Very little can be gathered from the Archives of the City of
the inception and progress of the Shoemakers' Guild. The earlier
codes of Statutes have perished and the later records are either
very fragmentary, or written in an abbreviated and illegible
manner, and in a tongue not understood of ordinary readers and
students, — partly Latin, partly vernacular.

At first sight the " Guild of Tanners " should have occupied the
place in the Hierarchy of the Guilds which is filled by the Shoe-
makers, both on account of the more general character of its
interests, and of the social importance of its members.

The earliest notices in the Archives of persons working in the
trade of shoemaking are as follows : —

" io8j. Rusticus — Calzolarius — Shoemaker."

" 1113. Johannes — Zocolarius — Wooden-clog maker."

In the first List of the Guilds — that of 1236, the " Arte de
Calzolai" is placed ninth in order. This position was maintained
at the revision of the Statues of all the Guilds in 1266, 1282, and
1301-1309, but in 1415 the "Guild of Blacksmiths" was raised
over the head of the Shoemakers, then relegated to the tenth step
in the Guild ladder. This was the final position of the Guild.

When Cosimo de' Medici, in 1534, grouped the Fourteen
Lesser Guilds in four " Universities," the Second was styled

316

THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

" Universita de' Maestri di Cuoiame" and included the three Guilds
of Shoemakers, Tanners and Saddlers in due order.

The number of Consuls varied between three and six. This
was a common feature in relation to the Chief Officers of the
Guilds generally, and probably was due to the nature of the
business which from time to time engaged the attention of the
Consuls in General Council. Their Residence was in the Chiasso
de' Baronelli, nearly next door to that of the Consuls of the

"Guild of Skin-
ners and Furriers."
The Arms of the
Guild were dis-
played there, as
well as on the
Gonfalon, and con-
sisted of alternate
stripes of red and
white.

The Matricula-
tion-fee was very
low, almost the
lowest of any such
payments made for
Guild-membership. Under the year I 290 the Archives of Florence
record that one " Ricchus Borredicti, a shoemaker of the Popoli
di San Giorgio, Syndic of the Guild, received forty soldi a head
for the entrance of new members.

There appear to have been several divisions of craftsmen
/under the Guild rules : — i. Calzolai — Shoemakers, 2. Zoccalai—
Wooden shoe-makers, 3. Zoccholi — Sandal-makers, and 4. Ciabattini
— Cobblers, an inferior class. The first three had shops and stores
in or near the Mercato Vecchio, whilst the last were allowed work-
ing room, either in the open market, or in some of the basements
of the houses.1 In the time of G. Villani the number of craftsmen

1 Prow. x. 7.

SHOEMAKER'S SHOP. FIFTEENTH CENTURY.

GUILD OF SHOEMAKERS 317

was considerable: he has placed on record that, in 1299, there
were as many as three hundred shoemakers' shops and cobblers
stalls in Florence.

The Statutes of 1415 contain the following rubrics : — " Shoe-
makers, slipper-makers, and any other persons selling fine skins
or cuttings or any kind of leather, are warned not to offer common
dressed goatskins for Spanish morocco, and not to pass off
inferior leathers for better qualities. Eighty soldi were exacted,
by way of fine, in each case of substitution." *

" Shoemakers are forbidden to open their shops, and to keep
their assistants at work, on Sundays and Festivals. The Consuls
of the Guild are required to make all Masters of the craft swear
to observe this regulation, subject to a penalty of one hundred
lire for each offence.2 To avoid unfair rivalry and trade disputes
with the " Guild of Tanners," Shoemakers, and all members of
their Guild, are strictly ordered not to dress, or cause to be dressed,
upon their premises horse skins and cattle hides." 3

" Sandal and clog-makers seem to have been rather a vagabond
set of fellows, for, in one of the Rubrics, there is an amusing
caution to Shoemakers and other respectable members of the
Guild not to harbour any such wandering personages. No chests,
coffers, boxes, and trunks, were to be left unlocked and open least
any poor fellow should hide therein. The object no doubt was to
prevent Masters profiting by the illicit work of unrecognised
workmen. Perhaps, even with all the elaborate rules and regula-
tions which favoured honourable trading, inferior operatives were
subject to " sweating." 4

" Leather shoes are not to be sold if made of horse and goat
skin mixed, and advertised as of horse only. Thigh pieces of
armour may be lined with goat-skin, and kid is permissible as
a decorative addition to shoes and footwear generally." 5

The importance of the Guild was recognised in 1282 by
Cardinal Latino, who called into consultation about the peace

1 Rub. Ixxiii., 1415. z Rub. Ixxx., 1415. 3 Rub. Ixxxi., 1415.

4 Rub. Ixxxii., 1415. 5Rub. Ixxxiii., 1415.

318 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

between the Ghibellines and Guelphs, its Capitudini or Consuls,
along with the heads of the Twelve Greater Guilds.

In December 1292, the Heads or Consuls of the Arte de*
Calzolai took part in the deliberations of the Consuls of the
Seven Greater Guilds, and again in December 1293 with the
Consuls of the Twelve Greater Guilds.1

That the dignity of the Guild and its Consuls was on a par
with that of the other Trade Corporations, is proved by the appoint-
ment in I 30 1, of Benedetto da Carlona, a Sandal-maker, as one of
the Priors of the Sestiere of San Spirito.

On the other hand the financial position of the Guild was
inferior, and in 1321, when a pro rata tax was levied upon the
Guilds, the sum required from the " Shoemakers " was only one
hundred lire, as against two thousand gold florins contributed by
the " Guild of Wool," and fifty gold florins by the " Guild of
Carpenters."

The Zibaldoni) and other private records, are singularly
deficient in notices of the " Guild of Shoemakers." It is how-
ever narrated that one of its members made his name famous at
the siege of Capraia in 1249, when the Guelphs were besieged
by the Emperor Frederic II. Going to the gates of the town
Giovanni del Tosco, who had been one of the ancients and was a
man of wealth and influence, shouted that the place could only
hold out for one day. This disheartened the besieged so greatly
that they surrendered at discretion. Two years after del Tosco
paid for his treachery. He entered Florence among other return-
ing exiles, but being recognised he was stoned to death by the
people, and his body was cast into the moat !

The kinds of footwear most in vogue would appear to have
been high boots or leggings, — used by the market people and
working men generally, Galosce^ — a kind of pattern, — made of
stout leather with wooden soles, — Charlemagne is said to have
worn such shoes when he visited Florence, — and Borsacchini-
buskins, so-called from the particular kind of leather used — soft,

1 " Le Consulte," ii. 228, 396.

GUILD OF SHOEMAKERS

319

thin, and pliable, and worn generally by Judges and the Clergy.
Military boots and strong riding gauntlets were also in the
province of the Shoemakers.

It does not appear that the Guild undertook other objects,
useful or ornamental, in leather, but confined the attentions of
its members to the supply of all kinds of stout and elegant
" understandings."

I. " Stemma delf Arle d£ Fabbri"
Black tongs in a white field, a gold florin in corner

2. " Stemma del? Arte dt? Calzolai."
Two red stripes upon a white field

CHAPTER XI

THE GUILDS OF MASTERS OF STONE AND WOOD,
AND OF RETAIL CLOTH-DEALERS AND
LINEN MANUFACTURERS.

LE ARTI Dtf MAESTRI DI PIETRA E DI LEGNAME, E DE> RIGATTIERI

I. MASTERS OF STONE AND WOOD

I. ORIGIN. — The great Comacine Guild. Freemasons. Ambulatory
lodges. Grandi and artisans. Early workers in stone and wood. The
Florentine Lodge. S choice, Laborerum, and Opera Fabbrica. Guild Style first
used.

II. CONSTITUTION.— Architects, Scaffold-builders, Masons, Bricklayers.
Bricks and Kilns. Workers in Wood. Wages. Good Native Stone. Fine
Native Timber.

III. DEVELOPMENT. — The Duomo. Francesco Talenti. Arnolfodi Cambio.
Giotto. Orcagna. Brunellesco. " An Idle Fellow ! " Disputes. " Rustic "
Style. True Version of Columbus and the Egg. Immense Building Operations.
Street Laying. Ceraiuoli. Gem-engraving. Fine Ceilings. Leon Battista
Alberti. Lorenzo Ghiberti. Luca Delia Robbia. Donatello. Florentine
influence in Europe. Leonardo da Vinci. Michael Angelo Buonarroti.
Torrigiano. " Those beasts the English ! " Siege of Florence. A note on
Pottery.

II. RETAIL CLOTH-DEALERS AND LINEN MANUFACTURERS
(Two Branches of Guild — Rigat fieri and Linaiuoli.}

I. RIGATTIERI. — Early Tailors, Linen-makers, and Hawkers. An Associa-
tion of retail tradesmen. A "Sandwich" Guild. Codex Membranaceo
Consuls unable to sign their names ! What might, and might not, be sold in
shops of the Guild. Fraudulent tradesmen. Fines. Taxes. Prices, etc.

II. LINAIUOLI. — Early use of Linen. Monasteries. Methods of Cultivation
of Flax. Processes. Regulations. Fees. Veditori delle Coltrid. Surveyors.
Valuers. Agents. Official stamps. Localities of manufacture. Sales. Church
vestments. Women-workers. Scolpi — Lace. Prosperous Guildsmen. Uni-
versita de? Linaiuoli.

I. L'ARTE DE' MAESTRI DI PIETRA E DI LEGNAME

IN any book dealing with the subject of Guilds it is quite
impossible to overlook that great organisation of the Early

Middle Ages — " The Guild of Comacine Masters." The origin
320

MASTERS OF STONE AND WOOD 321

of this Confraternity is lost in antiquity : probably it was
a survival of ancient Jewish and Egyptian times.1 Fugitive
craftsmen from all parts of Italy, driven from their homes and
craft by the invading barbarians, sought refuge upon the
little islet of Comacina in the lake of Como, and the Lombard
chieftains extended to them protection and patronage. The
settlement became known as the Casari or Casarii — house-builders. —
Muratori first discovered traces of its existence in an edict of
November 22, 643, signed by King Rotharis the Lombard, which
makes mention of " Magistri Comacini" as being designers and
superintendents of buildings and builders, and whom we may class
together under the term architects.

These Master-builders, evidences of whose creative skill are
scattered all over Italy, had in 590 formed themselves, for mutual
protection and advancement, into a vast University but with no
Central College or Residence. According to their motto, their
" Temple was made without hands."

" The old Records," writes a quaint and sententious writer,2
" of Masons afford large hints of their Lodges from the beginning
of the world in polite nations. . . . Masons were ever the favourites
of the Eminent, and became necessary for their grand under-
takings in any sort of materials, not only in stone, brick, timber,
plaister, but even in cloth or skins, or whatever was used for tents,
and for all sorts of Architecture. . . . Painters also and Statuaries
were always reckoned good Masons as much as Builders, Stone-
cutters, Bricklayers, Carpenters, Joiners, Upholsterers, or Tent-
makers."

Two early patrons of the Comacine builders were Queen
Theodolinda, who in 737 instructed them to draw plans for, and
proceed with, the erection of the Cathedral of Monza, and
Saint Calixtus, to whom the Cathedral of Friuli is due.

Lodges of this Order were ambulatory. Wherever fine buildings
were required, — and all that were erected between the years 800

1 Leader Scott, " The Cathedral Builders," p. 10.
2Desagulier, " Constitutions of the Free Masons."

322 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

and 1000 A.D. were the handiwork of the Comacine Masters, —
there were established : I. Scholcz — Schools for novices ; 2. a
Laborerum — Shop for workmen ; and 3. an Opera fabbrica —
Office for architects.1

The operatives employed by the Guild were of two classes —
" murarii — builders, and operarii — labourers.

The Senior Master-builder was styled Capo Maestro, and he
had for assistants two or more Soprastanti, who were charged with
the drafting of specifications, etc., and with the monetary affairs
of the members respectively. Thus all the machinery required for
a regularly constituted guild of craftsmen was ready to hand, and
at an early date the Comacine Masters were recognised as
members of a worldwide Order of Freemasons.2

Members of these Lodges, of every degree, were treated as
belonging to a privileged class, and were excused local military
service : they enjoyed too, liberty of travel and freedom of
employment.

The term " Freemason," as applied to Master-builders, ap-
pears first in manuscripts of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries,
wherein " Sculptores lapidum liberorum " and " Latonii vocati
fremacconi" are used indiscriminatingly for workers in freestone.
Master workers in stone and wood, originally, came under the
designation of Freemasons, and were regarded as a class apart
from ordinary stone masons and working carpenters.

Matriculation made all the difference in the world between
master and man. Hence in Florence the Intermediate " Guild of
Masters in Stone and Wood " was named with absolute fitness to
fact and custom.

The actual work of a " Maestro di Pietra " was in virgin stone,
— freestone, — not in marble. There was a clear distinction be-
tween a worker in " lapis liber" and a worker in " saxum vivum "
— the former was a simple stone-mason, the latter a skilled
sculptor, or " Maestro"

1 Ossia Libri Muratori, "Gli Instituzioni, Riti e Ceremonie dell' Ordine de' Francs
Ma9ons." 2 C. Guasti " Santa Maria del Fiore."

MASTERS OF STONE AND WOOD 323

With respect to workers in wood, " Maestro di Legname "
was one who could construct scaffolds and build roofs, whilst
"Maestro a" Intaglio" was a carver or inlayer of wood. This
division into four classes of craftsmen was complemented by a
fifth, entitled " Maestri del Disegno " — " Masters of Design," or
" Architects."

Every ambulatory " Lodge " or stationary " Temple " of the
Guild or Order was manned by representatives of each of these
sorts of workmen, and the longer the works lasted so much more
permanent did the terms and conditions become which controlled
and directed building operations. One such permanent centre
was established in the thirteenth century in Florence, where
stupendous undertakings were in hand.

Probably the Craft of stone-cutting and wood-working was the
earliest trade corporation in Florence in the Middle Ages. Under
Charlemagne, who repeatedly visited Florence, the industry
developed steadily, and, in the reign of Lothair it became pros-
perous throughout Tuscany.1

During the period, when was gradually built up the Primo
Popolo, or middle class — wherein were united nobles and mer-
chants,— another alliance was cemented, that of outcast sons of
ruined Grandi and working artisans. Descended from a race of
robber captains, many a lad had to put his family pride in his
pocket and to throw in his lot with honest craftsmen rather than
beg his bread. Trained to follow in the ranks of the Condottieri, —
leaders of mercenary troops, — implements of toil came as handy
as instruments of warfare.

The two callings which appealed most to these men were
those of stone-mason and wood-worker ; and this is evident on
glancing over the Matriculation Registers of the Guild, wherein
names of ancient noble families appear over and over again.

It is almost impossible to give the exact date when the
Florentine Lodge of Freemasons, or Master Builders of the great
Comacine Guild, was merged in the " Arte de Maestri di Pietra

1 Muratori, " Antichite Italiane," Dis. 75, torn. vi. Col. 455.

324 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

e di Legname" The use of the word " Lodge " comes from the
custom of holding meetings of brethren in the " Loggie " or porticoes
of houses. The first mention in the Archives of Florence of
Master-builders, — masons or wood-workers, — is under the year
1038, when " Johannis qui tornario vocatus est" — a wood-turner —
is named. In 1094 appears the first record of a stone-mason as
follows : — " Baldus (?) curtis de Marmorio" Doubtless they had
many fellow-craftsmen. All through the eleventh and twelfth
centuries the Scholce, the Laborerum^ and the Opera Fabbricay
were administered under constantly improving auspices and
equipment.

The Scholce, whilst giving primary attention to the great elements
of construction, gradually placed their pupils in possession of the
technicalities of architecture, sculpture, and even painting. Sons
and nephews of Masters were entitled to enrolment without any
novitiate as by hereditary right, but outsiders were subjected to a
severe preparatory course. Certain Masters were appointed to
teach pupils and apprentices privately in their own studios as well
as in the public work of the Scholce. These teachers were chosen
from among the most distinguished of those who had passed
through the Laborerum.

The Laborerum^ or shop for workmen, afforded opportunities
for employment to every matriculated and approved member who
was not yet advanced to the dignity of Master. Such men were
called "fratres " in the old manuscripts, and were, so to speak,
the graduates of the University. A successful course in the
Laborerum opened out the way to commissions and renown. Here
it was that genius had full play, and brotherly rivalry led to
glorious results.

The Opera Fabbrica, Office of Works, was the headquarters
H of the Master-builders. There all plans, specifications, estimates^
etc. etc., were prepared and exhibited. Contracts were signed
between patron and builder. Earnest money was paid over.
Registration of workpeople and their allocation to the various
operations were undertaken. Communications between the Opera

MASTERS OF STONE AND WOOD GIVING EVIDENCE OF SKILL IN THEIR CRAFTS
BEFORE THE CONSUL OF THE GUILD

FOURTEENTH CENTURY

MASTERS OF STONE AND AVOOD 325

and the Laborerum were carried on by a Provveditore specially
appointed, and contracts were signed in presence of a Notary.

In the early years of the thirteenth century separate
associations appear, from time to time, in the public records,
for example : — " Maestri dettAscia " — " Master Wood-cutters,"
"Maestri di Muratori" — "Master-bricklayers," and "Maestri a"
Architetti" — " Architects."

In the classification of the Guilds in 1236 and 1266, "Mura-
tori e Scarpellini " — l< Bricklayers and Stone-masons," come tenth
on the list, and this was the earliest designation of the Guild
of Master-builders in Florence.

The style " Maestri di Pietra e di Legname " was first used in
1282, but the origin of it must be sought in the year 1260.
Jacopino Rangoni da Modena was then Podesta of Florence, and
he undertook energetic measures in preparation for the war with
Siena.

Twelve Captains of War were chosen — two for each sestiere,
or quarter of the city — to raise companies of cavalry and infantry.
Of these companies two were made up of men accustomed to the
use of picks, axes, saws, planes, and other similar tools ; and
to them was assigned the name of "Maestri di Pietra e di
Legname'.' They formed the van of the city companies — the
place of conflict and honour.

At the revision of the Statutes and Bye-laws, of all the Guilds,
in 1282, and 1301-1309, these companies retained their military
organisation, and united to it the system of industrial incorpora-
tion. They thus became a powerful and enterprising order in the
Hierarchy of the Guilds.

A further honour was bestowed upon the Guild in 1293 by
Giano della Bella. Just before vacating the office of Prior, he
carried through the State Council a Provvisione augmenting the
personal guard of the Chief Magistrate to the number of one
thousand. He called upon the Consuls of the " Guild of Stone-
masons and Wood-workers " " to provide the first, or leading,
company of two hundred men, fifty of whom were to be armed

326 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

with heavy picks." Of course all these military levies were made
up of operative stone-masons and wood-workers — not of Master-
builders. Of the latter, Villani records, there were, at the begin-
ning of the year 1299, not less than one hundred and forty-six
holding the license of the Guild, and directing the labours of
upwards of two thousand working stone-masons and wood-workers.
Certain of them, moreover, were put over the foreign workmen who
thronged the city and besieged the officials of the Guild for work.
Renaissance Masters, — whether designers or architects, scaffold
or roof projectors, stone-masons or bricklayers, sculptors or carvers,
— were the lineal descendants of time-old hewers of wood
and cutters of stone. Hence a natural and hereditary trait
became apparent in the plays and pastimes of their children.
Quite little mites set about the building of palaces and churches
in miniature, with all the zest of their parents and big brothers.
Every Chiasso and Cortile became, for the nonce, a brickfield and
a masons' yard ; whilst many an embryo " master " displayed his
dexterity and constructiveness in mud, sand, and shavings !

The Consuls of the Guild are named as taking part in the
negotiations instituted, in 1280, by Cardinal Latino dei Frangi-
pani, acting as Papal Legate, for the purpose of reconciling the
Guelphs and the Ghibellines. They, together with the Consuls of
the Guilds of " Calimala" " Wool," " Bankers " and " Money-
changers," " Skinners and Furriers," and " Retail Cloth Dealers,"
were not favourable to the negotiations, and nothing was done,
except to augment still more the power of the Parte Guelfa.

The number of Consuls, in the thirteenth and fourteenth cen-
turies, seems to have been three ; at all events that number is
named, as in attendance, at the combined conferences of the
Twelve Greater Guilds. Undoubtedly they exercised the same
functions as the Comacine Capo Maestro ; and, for assistants,
they also had two Soprastanti, who bore the titles of " Cancelliere "
and " Camerlingo " — like their brother officials in the other Guilds.

It would fill a biggish volume to reproduce all the regulations,

MASTERS OF STONE AND WOOD 327

cautions, and notices which were, from time to time, issued for the
better ordering and discipline of the craftsmen. One example
will suffice. On June of 1456, the Provveditore put out the
following notice : — " It is desired that on no account shall any
Master go to work outside the Opera, without the deliberation
and consent of all four Operai. If any absent himself without
this permission, he shall be considered as discharged." l

The office of Provveditore was no sinecure, by reason of the
constant differences between masters and men ; but he had by
way of assessors two Buonuomini, who acted as arbitrators in
trade disputes, and also as auditors of the accounts of the Guild.

When " Masters " were dissatisfied with their salaries, — for all
commissions were undertaken in the name of the Guild and were
not matters of personal or direct payment by patrons to the actual
worker, — or when workmen refused to work, it was the custom to
call in the assistance of independent people. For example, in the
Opera del Duomo — the cathedral building, all disagreements came
before the Consuls and Council of the " Guild of Wool," which was
charged with the various undertakings. They called for the
estimates, and for reports of progress, and, after prolonged dis-
cussion, the matter was usually settled by compromise, fixing
averages of price and time.

In questions which affected the internal working of the Guild
the members of the Opera Fabbrica and the instructors of the
Laborerum formed a deliberative Council. All Masters were
bound by contract to the Laborerum. Sometimes payment was
by the day ; at other times piece work was agreed for.

Very many men, — skilled and unskilled, — were, of course,
employed from time to time in the vast building contracts under-
taken by the Guild. These men were not enrolled on the Craft-
major, but were incorporated in trade-unions or associations
during the continuance of the works, each under its own special
officers and regulations ; but all subordinated to the Guild proper.

What working members of the Guild looked like in the

1 Archivio dell' Opera del Duomo, Caesare Guasto's abstracts.

328

THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

fifteenth century may be seen in the woodcut of the Knyghts
Paune in Jacopo de Cessoli's Guioccho delle Scacchi. He says : —
" The seconde paune yl standeth to fore the Knyght on the right
side of the Kynge hath the forme and figure of a man as a Smyth.
And that is reson For it apperteyneth to ye knyghtes to have
bridellys, sadellys, spores and many other thynges made by the

*n^^

MASTERS IN STONE, WOOD, AND METAL — " DE FABRI E DE MAESTRI.
FIFTEENTH CENTURY

handes of smythes and ought to hold a hamer with his right
hand and in his lyfte hande a dolabre and he ought to have in
his gyrdell a trowell for by this is sygnefied all manner of worke-
men as goldsmiths, marchallis, smithes of all forges, forgers and
makers of monoye. . . . The carpenters ben signefyed by the
dolabre or squyer and by the trowell we understand all masons and
kervars of stones and all them that make howses, castels and tours."
The Council of the Guild also held periodical discussions upon
designs, methods, materials, etc. etc. for public works ; and ex-

MASTERS OF STONE AND WOOD 329

perts were employed to examine every branch of the various
undertakings.

When Francesco Talenti was Capo Maestro many meetings
were held to settle matters of detail. In June 1553 one such
meeting ordered the removal of the scaffolding from the new
Baptistery. In August of the same year scale models in wood of
the Campanile were ordered to be made, to judge of dimensions
and decorative features. The following month found the
" Masters " anxious about the financial position of the Guild. A
Notary was appointed to press the Signoria for the payment of
one hundred and fifty lire due to the Guild ; and further to
consult with the " Regolatori " — perhaps " auditors," and the
captains of the Misericordia with respect to the settlement of
certain legacies under the wills of deceased members of the
Guild.1

At another meeting in the following year, the free supply of
wine to master-builders, architects when engaged in operations,
was docked off owing to the lowness of the Guild funds !

At the recension of the Constitutions of the various Guilds in
1415 the " Guild of Masters of Stone and Wood " came in for its
share of amendment. Many Rubrics were passed affecting opera-
tives, etc.

Paviors, brick-kiln men, masters of stone and wood, and
labourers were bound to make and keep strictly accurate measure-
ments of quantity, and to maintain an even quality in their work.
Surveyors were appointed to examine and test all deliveries of
stone and brick, and to inspect thoroughly each stage of building
operations. Inferiority of material, and inefficiency of workman-
ship, were visited with prompt punishment. The surveyors were
themselves visited with pains and penalties if they performed their
duties merely in a perfunctory manner ; indeed they were liable
to expulsion from membership in the Guild.2

Paviors and workers in stone and wood were forbidden to

1 C. Guasto, " Opere del Duomo in Firenze. "

2 Statuti Pop. et Com Florentiae, 1415; Rub. Ivii.

330 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

have direct dealings with dealers in paving stones. They were
constrained to work for their masters alone, and with materials
provided by their masters.1

Kiln-men and brickmakers generally were admonished to pack
their kilns with lime of the best quality only, and to see to it that
the bricks they burnt were free from blemishes, and well and truly
shaped, according to the customary standards. Each brick had
to be stamped on all four sides with the arms of Florence, and the
sides had to measure exactly four times the size of the ends. The
ends were required to be evenly finished so that joinings could be
made as neatly and closely as possible. Tiles, troughs, and edging
squares followed in the same category.

Wall measurements were taken with an iron yard-measure, the
exact length of the " Calimala " canna. Clay-fields and lime works
were under direct State supervision. Rents and percentages were
paid for the right of working, and State imposts were made at the
Gates upon loads of bricks and tiles, which went under the names
of mattoni, mezzane^ tegole^ pianelle, quadrucchi, according to shape
and purpose.2

Strict regulations were in force with respect to the situation
and dimensions of the brick-kilns. All such erections were
required to be beyond the three-mile radius of the old Contado,
and were not to exceed a height of nine braccia — arm's-length.3

The price, of bricks per thousand, and the scale of wages per
week, were settled from time to time by the Consuls of the " Guild
of Masters in Stone and Wood " ; and the values were exposed in
all brickfields and workshops of the city.4

By the Statutes of 1415, precise regulations were laid down
with respect to timber. Stocks of wood were not allowed to be
kept merely for sale through brokers. The quantity permitted
in the workshops was in strict proportion to the work in hand.
Masters in wood, and their apprentices, were required to work
only in timber which bore the stamp of the Guild. Much greater

1 Rub. Iviii., 1415. 2 Rub. lix., 1415.

3 Rub. lx., 1415. 4 Rub. lxv.,lxvi., 141

ROAD-MAKING AND QUARRYING

FIFTEKXTH CENTURY

MASTERS OF STONE AND WOOD 331

liberty was extended to foreign workers, although they were
required to be affiliated to the Guild, and to submit to the ruling
of the Consuls. Inducements were held out especially to Lom-
bardian workmen, who were housed free of rent for a time, and
were permitted to bring in their tools and implements free of
custom dues.1

The wages of an ordinary stone-mason or bricklayer were one
lira a day, with half a lira for his labourer. A carpenter's mean
wage was the same. These amounts compared favourably with
the wages of agricultural labourers, who could rarely earn more
than ten soldi a day.

The Residence of the Consuls was in the Chiasso di Baronelli,
not far from the Loggia de' Lanzi. Over its portals were sculptured
the arms of the Guild, which of course were also blazoned upon its
banner — a white axe upon a red field.

In the neighbourhood of Florence two or three kinds of stone
were easily accessible.

1. Pietra forte — a durable sandstone with calcareous in-
gredients— excellent for building purposes and for paving, but
found generally in small pieces only. The most used quarry
was at Camfora outside the Porta Romana.

2. Pietra serena — or Macigno, — a siliceous sandstone of a dark
grey or bluish-black colour, with singular black patches, which
assumes, in course of time, a bronzy hue. Benvenuto Cellini
says this stone is found in the hilly country round Florence —
especially at Settignano, Signa, Montelupo and Fiesole. " It is,"
he adds, " marked by beauty and fineness of texture, and is easily
worked ; but, as it does not resist water nor stand open - air
exposure, it is best suited for inside work and statuary under
cover."

3. Pietra morta is also mentioned by Cellini, who praises its
rich tan colour, and its softness and ease in chiselling. It with-

1 Rub. Ixvii. , Ixviii., 1415.

332 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

stands winds and rains and every action of time, and is excellent
for ornamental work and for the frames of windows and doors.

" There is," says Sir Richard Dallington, " digged out of the
Tuscan hills a kinde of freestone, passing hard, of colour — accord-
ing to the nature of its place wherein it is taken — white, red and
black, of all of which there are in Florence many very gallante
and stately palaces. They have also in many places pits of
marble — white, blue and parti-coloured excellently good." The
old chronicler speaks too of the well paved streets, " long and
straighte and wide and fair laid with hastia" — broad setts — " so
as no weather fouls them."1

Statuary marble came chiefly from Massa and Carrara, but
Michael Angelo, at the instance of Pope Julius II., worked also
in marble from Seravezza. The prospecting, quarrying, and trans-
porting of the huge blocks which were required by the Masters of
stone in Florence, called forth big inventive faculties and great
engineering abilities on the part of the members of the Guild.

Rare marbles too for the enrichment of monuments, and for
use in mosaic work, were imported from far and wide. Very
many costly examples came directly from Rome — the ancient
" Marmorata " being the marble emporium of the world.

With respect to the timber needed for scaffolding and build-
ing generally, and the finer woods used in decorative work, there
was no difficulty about supply. The Vale of Arno was an
arboretum of trees of all kinds. Pines, oaks, elms, and planes
furnished the builders, and walnuts, ashes, briars, and many an-
other, the carvers with all that they required. Plantations too
of useful trees were constantly made by the sapient rulers of the
city to replenish garnered plots. In 1534, for example, Duke
Alexander converted river-mud and sandbanks into the um-
brageous Casdne, and he and his successors planted many a
podere, — farm lands — with trees and shrubs.

Arnolfo di Cambio, born in 1232, was a native of Colle di
Val d'Elsa and was the first great Master-builder of the Floren-

1 " Survey of the Great Duke's Estate."

MASTERS OF STONE AND WOOD 333

tine Guild. He must not be confused with Arnolfo di Lapor or
with Arnolfo Florentine — both of whom were sculptors of the
School of the Pisani.1

Di Cambio's training, of which we have few records, was pro-
bably carried out at Siena, with, perhaps, a chance visit to Pisa,
and to Niccola Pisano there. His father, — Jacopo Tedesco da
Campione or di Cambio, — had, in a sense, exercised the office of
Capo Maestro of the Florentine Guild, and had, in 1258, built the
Bargello. Thirty years later Arnolfo became the architect of the
Church of Santa Croce.2

Arnolfo's fame, however, rests mainly upon his work at Santa
Maria del Fiore, where he acted as chief architect and builder from
1294 up to the day of his death in I3io.3 The Palazzo Vecchio
also looks to him as its creator. It was indeed a tour de force
which incorporated the old tower of the Foraboschi, called later
the Torre della Vacca, and crowned it with its crenelated mural
cap !

An entry in the " Archives " records the grant by the State,
in 1300, of certain privileges, — freedom from taxation and a seat
in the Signoria, — " for his industry, his experience, and his talent."
He is styled : — " Caput Magister laborerii et 'operis ecclesia beate
Reparate" * A special feature of his manner was the use of
panels or slabs of variously coloured marble, an example followed
by all his successors.

From 1340 to 1348 Giotto was Capo Maestro and Consul of
the Guild. For his glorious Campanile four Master-masons were
sent in 1350 to Carrara to buy marble.

Other famous Master-builders and Consuls were Taddeo Gaddi,
who rebuilt the Ponte alia Carraia in 1337, and prepared plans
for the new Ponte Vecchio and Ponte alia Santa Trinita ; and
Andrea Orcagna, who built the shrine of Or San Michele and the
pillars of Santa Maria del Fiore.

1 Crowe and Cavalcaselle, " History of Painting in Italy," vol. i. p. 127.
'2 Gaye " Carteggio inedite," vol. i. p. 445.

3 " Archivio del Duomo — Antica Necrologia di Santa Reparata" Carta 12.

4 Prow., No. X., p. 235.

334 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

The Registers of the Guild contain the names and commissions
of many Master-builders right down to the year 1418. Among
them, Simone Giovanni del Pino who in 1363 carved the twisted
columns of red marble in the windows of the Duomo ; Taddeo
Ristori, — one of the Cione family, — the architect, in I 3 36, of Or San
Michele and of the Loggia de' Lanzi ; and Giovanni Stefani, in
1381, a noted builder of scaffolding and a specialist in foundation
work.

In i 349 the Ringhiera — Speaker's Tribune — was erected
outside the Palazzo Vecchio by Brother Lorenzo, at a cost of
one thousand gold florins. Ten years later the plans for the
facade of the Duomo were made public. They were the joint
production of the following members of the Guild : — Neri di
Fioravante, Benci di Cione, Francesco Salvetti, Niccolo Tommasi,
who, with Taddeo Gaddi and Andrea Orcagna, formed a Special
Commission for the purpose. All these we may suppose were
serious and able Architects and Master-builders, but in 1418 we
have a record of one Piero d' Antonio, who, although elected a
Consul and Capo Maestro, was nicknamed " Fannullone " — Brag-
gart, or idle fellow !

Six Master-builders competed in 1418 for the erection of the
dome of the Cathedral ; among them were Nanni di Banco,
Lorenzo Ghiberti and Donatello. None of them were, however,
successful, and the commission was given to Filippo Brunellesco,
who, by the way, was not a member of the Guild. He had been
matriculated in the "Arte della Seta" in 1398, and later, in 1404,
had enrolled himself a member of the new " Arte degli Orafi"-
" Guild of Goldsmiths," — which was a subordinate corporation of
the greater Guild of Silk.

The selection of Brunellesco to build the cupola, and also, in
1434, to complete the lantern, gave great offence to the " Masters
of Stone and Wood." They insisted upon his matriculation in
their Guild, but, to show that a man need not be a Freemason
to build a church, Brunellesco ignored their protests, and never
paid his fees ! This led to an amusing, but irritating, process at

MASTERS OF STONE AND WOOD 335

law — the Masters of the Laborerum sued him for debt and the
successful architect was imprisoned ! The offender's cause was
nevertheless championed not only by the " For Santa Maria" but
also by the " Guild of Wool," — the former doubtless on account
of his membership therein, and the latter probably from its steward-
ship of the Cathedral works, — and he was released, whilst a scape-
goat was found in an unfortunate, but nameless, member of the
" Guild of Masters of Stone and Wood," who was pitched without
trial into Brunellesco's cell upon a trumped-up charge of being an
idle fellow!

The story of Columbus and the egg may be, with far more
probability, ascribed to Brunellesco in relation to the famous
dome of the Duorno. The art of building a cupola like that
of the Roman Pantheon had been lost, and Brunellesco re-
created it. None of the scientists consulted by the authorities
could do it, but he proposed that the man who could make an
egg stand upright upon a flat base should be chosen as architect.
With a gentle tap he broke in one end and thus easily set it up
upon the slab !

Of Brunellesco's achievement the familiar Tuscan proverb is
applicable : — " Piu rondo che di I'O Giotto " — " Rounder than the
O of Giotto" — anything more perfect is impossible. Indeed the
reverberation of sounds is extraordinary. No echo is discernible,
but words and music appear to be carried up through the lantern
and never return again !

The erection of the cupola put the builders of scaffolding
upon their mettle. The whole city seems to have taken the
matter in hand, for public meetings were held whereat all were
asked to give expression to their opinions. Models in brick,
plaster and wood were projected to scale with and without
scaffolding. Very ingenious plans were devised for the hoisting
up of heavy material, among others by Antonio da Vercelli — a
leading Maestro di legno. The workmen were kept at their giddy
posts all day to avoid the loss of time in descending and ascend-
ing for their mid-day meal. For their accommodation, moreover,

336

THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

a kitchen and a dining-room were provided at the top of the
scaffolding ! 1

One of the most striking evidences of the immense prosperity
of Florence was the erection of magnificent edifices of all kinds
— public and private.

OUTLINE VIEW OF FLORENCE. I5TH AND l6TH CENTURIES

In harmony with the devotional spirit of the period, the
thirteenth-century buildings were principally ecclesiastical : — The
Baptistery of San Giovanni, — founded in the seventh century,—
was rebuilt 1202-1294 ; Santa Reparata, — founded in the eighth
century, — was rebuilt as Santa Maria del Fiore — 1101-1298;

1 C. Guasti, " La Cupola di Santa Maria del Fiore," p. 61.

MASTERS OF STONE AND WOOD 337

Ognissanti dates from 1256, La Nunziata — 1258, Or San
Michele — 1285, Santa Maria Novella — 1279, Santa Croce and
San Spirito — 1295 and San Marco — 1299. San Miniato al
Monte, — first built under Charlemagne in 774, — was rebuilt in
1093 ; and was much added to in the thirteenth century by
the munificence of the " Calimala " Guild.

Civil architecture also engaged the attention of master-
builders in the thirteenth century. Designs for all these under-
takings were prepared, and estimates made out, by the first
descendants of the old Comacine Masters ; and the work was
taken in hand by their sons and grandsons in travail. Of Palaces
were erected: — Bargello — 1258, Badia — 990-1285, and Vecchio
—1294; Bridges: — Alia Carraia — 1218, Santa Trinita — 1252,
Alle Grazie, or Rubaconte — 1237, and Vecchio — 1080-1333;
Gates: — Al Prato, San Gallo, and San Ambrogio in 1284, and
Ghibellina in 1290 ; Hospitals : — San Gallo — 1218, Santa Maria
Nuova — 1267 and San Bartolommeo — 1295. The City Walls
were rebuilt and extended 1285-1299, and the Stinche — Prison —
was erected in 1260.

The fourteenth century, so far as architecture was concerned,
was notable for the completion and decoration of many noble
edifices. Sculptors in stone, wood, and metal, mosaic-masters,
workers in terra-cotta, and fresco painters were all hard at work
under the auspices of the Guild. It was the epoch of the
greatest workers of the Fine Arts. Even the humblest labourer
felt the influence of their personalities, and the meanest
work was marked by boldness and elegance combined. The
very tools they used were ornamented with decorative
features.

The Foundation-masters too had their work cut out in the
laying out of the city in fine squares, and well paved streets,
and the removal of unsightly and incommodious premises. The
Piazze: — di' San Giovanni — 1300, della Santa Maria Novella —
1302, della Signoria — 1307; and the Loggie : — del Bigallo —
1330, de1 Lanzi — 1334, della Zecca — Mint — 1361, and Mercato

Y

338 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

Nuovo — 1362, were some of the principal undertakings of the
" Masters in Stone and Wood."

Other Operai — Masters of Works — took in hand the interior
decoration of Churches, Palaces, Guild-Residences and the private
homes of wealthy citizens. Splendidly designed and decorated
wooden ceilings were a marked feature. That in the Biblioteca
Laurenziana, by Tasso and Carola — shows what manner of arti-
ficers the Masters of wood-carving were. The favourite style
was what we call " King Post," concealed by panelling. Rood-
screens and Shrines, the work of Donatello and Brunellesco, are
to be seen in Santa Croce.

The fifteenth century was famous for the construction of
superb Palaces, which wealthy families erected in noble rivalry.
Never were the Master-builders and their workmen busier.
Florence resounded with the significant music of the trowel, the
chisel, the hammer, and the plane. Bulky scaffoldings trans-
formed the whole city into a huge woodyard, but there arose
edifices artistic and grandiose, which will for all time command
admiration and emulation.

The Palazzi Antinori, Borgherini, Guadagni, Guicciardini, Nic-
colini, Panciatichi, Pandolfini, Pitti, Pecori-Geraldi, Rucellai, Serris-
tori, Torrigiani, Uguccione, and many another followed in quick
succession. In 1430 the Palazzo Riccardi was completed for the
Medici. The old Palazzi Strozzi, Albizzi, Pazzi and Buondel-
monti had been burnt to the ground by the Ciompi in 1378,
and now — phoenix-like — new structures took their place. The
protection of the city edifices, the erection of lordly villas in the
Contado, and the dedication of country shrines, all called for the
skilful labours of architect and sculptors.

An examination of these masterpieces of a century's domestic
architecture reveals at once the striking fact, that every character-
istic of the Florentine race has been preserved and perpetuated
in stone and wood and metal. Solidity, boldness, and dignity,
are joined to elegance, simplicity, and reserve, and the product
is a special style, somewhat inappropriately called " Rustic."

-

g I

MASTERS OF STONE AND WOOD 339

The sixteenth century has been called the period of the
" Late Renaissance," rather should we designate it as the
" Finished Renaissance." Florence was built up, her architecture
was complete. She was adorned by statues and carvings in
stone, wood, and metal, and little more required to be done in
the decoration of the fair city.

There remained only the placing of the cap-stone of her
architecture, the finishing touch of her sculpture, the removal of
her scaffolds, and the unveiling of her latest art treasures. These
duties were undertaken by the most commanding personality of
the century — Michael Angelo Buonarroti. The son of a city
magnate, born amid the attributes of wealth and culture, he, a
motherless child, was brought up by a simple mason's wife at
Settignano. He was thus in himself the representative of all
the noblest traits of citizenship.

The models of Buonarroti's life's work were the well pro-
portioned virile figures of his daily companions, hence his ideals
realised in architecture, sculpture, and painting the highest aspira-
tions of the Masters of all times.

During the siege of Florence by Clement VII., in 1529,
Buonarroti was appointed Commissary-General of the Forces of
the Republic. He gathered round him the " Masters of Wood and
Stone," and with their assistance threw up earthworks and walls of
defence which were quite remarkable for their correct and scientific
form.

The century was marked by a rage for wax-modelling.
Every man with artistic tastes set up to be a Ceraiuolo — Wax-
worker. No class took to the art with more earnestness than the
" Masters of Stone and Wood." Apprentices were instructed
and encouraged in its pursuit, and in a very short time quite a
school of artists had arisen, who displayed their skill in por-
traiture and other fine work. One of the most famous modeller-
portraitists was Orsino, who made many wax casts of the features
of Lorenzo de' Medici — il Magnifico.

The cutting of gems and cameos became a specialty of the

340 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

Florentine sculptors in the fourteenth, fifteenth and sixteenth
centuries. Among the better-known engravers of gems may be
placed Giovanni and Bernardino Peruzzi — 1300-1379, Giovanni
delle Corniole, with his portrait of Savonarola — 1494, Pietro
da Pescia, the friend of Michael Angelo — 1513, and Domenico
da Pola — 1527. These were all matriculated members of the
" Guild of Masters of Stone and Wood."

Florentines set themselves the agreeable tasks of entering into
the labours of their ancestors, and of taking full enjoyment out of
the glories of their environment. The Medici were past masters
in the art of entertaining, and open square and narrow street
revelled in the daily pageants. The magnificent buildings and the
noble bridges were the boast of the citizens, for had not their
fathers made them, and were they not their custodians !

To give a mere list of the members of the " Guild of Masters of
Stone and Wood," who have made their names, their Guild, and
their City famous, and to compile a bare catalogue of their
achievements, would be a work of supererogation, seeing that for
their memorial, one has only, — as in St Paul's Cathedral, with
respect to Sir Christopher Wren, — " to look around ! "

Nevertheless, the following Masters, along with those already
named, gave character and life to their centuries : Jacopo della
Quercia, Benedetto da Maiano, Mino da Fiesole, Desiderio da
Settignano, II Cronaca, Baccio d'Agnolo, Baccio Bandinelli with
the Della Robbia, the Rossellini, the Sansovini, the Pollaiuoli, the
Ammannati, and the San Gallo or Giamberti.

Leon Battista Alberti, 1405-1472, stands out as a great
figure — architect, sculptor, painter, mechanician, etc. His " De Re
sEdificatoria " was the first systematic treatise on Art since the
days of Vitruvius ; and his ten books on Architecture, Sculpture,
and Painting, rank as classics.

Lorenzo Ghiberti, Luca della Robbia, and Donatello, were
"the three brightest stars of the Renaissance," and Leonardo da
Vinci, Raphael Santi, and Michael Angelo Buonarroti were " the
School of the World ! "

MASTERS OF STONE AND WOOD 341

All Europe felt the force of these vigorous craftsmen.
The Emperor's Court attracted numbers of Florentine Masters ;
whilst, in Paris, Francis I. welcomed with royal honours
Leonardo da Vinci, Benvenuto Cellini, Primaticcio and other
members of the Guild.1

, Artistic settlements of Italians, chiefly from Florence, were
scattered all over England, especially about Winchester and
Southampton. Their members did work of all kinds in stone,
bronze, wood, leather, etc., in many public buildings and private
dwellings. The exhibition of their skill was a tremendous
revelation and a mighty incentive to native craftsmen.

Piero Torrigiano came in 1513, and, with the help of his
Schola at Westminster, he erected the glorious shrine of Henry VII.
and Queen Eleanor — a perfect example of the art of the
Florentine Renaissance. It is said the Master paid his assistants
in the Abbey at the rate of three gold florins a month each for the
first year, and forty ducats with bed and board and horse-hire
each following year.

Antonio di Lorenzo, Toto della Nunziata, Benedetto da
Rovezzano, Giovanni da Maiano, Pietro Baldi, Giovanni Utricci,
with "the famous engravers Ruccieri and Ambrogio" were all
greatly encouraged by Henry VIII. and Cardinal Wolsey, and
employed at Windsor, Oxford and Hampton Court.2

The wooden screens and stalls in King's College Chapel,
Cambridge, were sculptured by Florentine Masters of Wood. The
Tuscan " Rustic " style became the foster-mother of a native school
of architects and carvers ; and very many country mansions still
exist to indicate how those skilful guildsmen prepared the way
for what we call the " Elizabethan style."

" Those beasts the English," — as Torrigiano called our
ancestors of his day, — were, in spite of his spleen, among the
most appreciative patrons of the Florentine Arts and Crafts. When
Elizabeth visited Greenwich in 1583, Roger Manners writing to

1 M. Vasari, iv. 262, note.

2 J. A. Gotch, "Architecture of the Renaissance," vol. I. xxii.

342 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

the Earl of Rutland, says : — " She was never in any place better
pleased, and sure the house, garden, and walks may compare with
any delicate place in Italy." l

The decline in the fortunes and enterprise of the Guild may
be traced to the appointment, in 1434, of Brunellesco, after his
deliverance from prison, as chief architect to all the public build-
ings in Florence. This action proved to be something of a death-
blow to the great Masonic Guild. Its influence remained, but its
organisation was broken up into separate corporations. The great
Laborerum was shut up, and the Scholce dwindled to very moderate
dimensions.

Lorenzo de' Medici tried hard to revive the work of the Guild
by opening and endowing munificently a School of Sculpture in
his garden at Villa Larga, and it certainly had a measure of
success. Anyhow to this Schola is due the collection of, and pre-
servation of, all the finest models and examples of wellnigh three
centuries of splendid achievements of "Masters of Stone and Wood.""

It appears to be necessary to say a few words upon the
subject of Pottery and to account for the silence of authorities
upon the existence of a Corporation or Guild of Potters.2

The Potter's art was of course as familiar to Florentines as
any other. It was the custom on many poderi in the Contado^
early and late, not only to make utensils for ordinary domestic
and business purpose, but also to fashion figures out of the
•> tenacious subsoil of the Arno valley. Some of the latter were
of ambitious, dimensions and were finished in colours in the city
workshops. Among modellers in terra-cotta were Bicci di
Lorenzo (1373-1452) and the Delia Robbia (1430-1529).
All these men were artists and were members of the " Guild
of Workers of Stone and Wood." Hence the higher styles of
Pottery were regarded as the province of sculptors, whilst the

1 Historical MSS., Report 12, app. iv. p. 150.

2 See p. 12, note 2, and pp. 254, 255.

ARMS OF THE GUILD OF MASTERS IN STONE AND WOOD

LUC A DELL A KOBRIA

RETAIL-CLOTH AND LINEN 343

more homely output of the Potters'-wheel was classed among
articles for consignment to the apothecaries' and corn-chandlers'
shops.

There was, perhaps, no scope for a separate Corporation
solely composed of workers in clay and glaze. Besides this
the best descriptions of earthenware were of foreign origin, for
example, the finest pottery was made from the opaque white
clay of Siena commonly called " St John's Earth."

On the other hand the first artificial porcelain known to have
been made in Europe was produced in Florence about the year
1580 under the patronage of Francesco de' Medici, the second
Grand Duke of Tuscany, who died in 1587. It was composed
of soft or hybrid paste unlike that required for hard crockery.
The manufactory was in the Boboli Gardens, but only continued
for a few years. The usual trade-mark, stamped in blue, was
the Dome of the Duomo, with the letter " F " below.

II. L'ARTE DE' RIGATTIERI

A. Retail Cloth-dealers.

B. Linen-Manufacturers.

The history of the two branches of this Guild, the twelfth
in order in the Hierarchy of the Guilds, is not a little difficult
to disentangle from confusion and disparity of notice in the
Archives of Florence.

The earliest notices of the various trades and callings in-
cluded within the operations of the Guild are apparently as
follows : —

" 1032. Casa Florentii Sarti — Shop of a Tailor."

" 1084. Bonus, fil. Johannis, baro — Hawker."

" 1191. Martinus, pignolajno — Maker of fine linen."

" 1 2 1 1 . Ristoro, fil. Fieri — buorsajo — Pouch-maker."

" „ Albizi di Fferrare, pezzaio di Lung* Arno — Ragseller."

Indeed the " Guild of Retail Dealers " seems to have grown

344 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

out of the fact that very many minor Crafts, somewhat similar
in character, gradually formed themselves into a union, upon
the usual Florentine co-operative principle, for mutual benefit
and defence.

The " Guild of Linen Manufacturers " one would have thought
would have had precedence alongside the Guilds of the kindred
industries of wool and silk, but, for some reason or other, quite
impossible of solution, the growers of flax and the makers of
linen had to put up with an inferior role.

A. — LArte de' Rigattieri

This Guild had a most comprehensive character, and included
in its membership retail-traders of almost every kind. In old
Florence there was always a goodly number of men who were
not exactly " Idlers " but who, having matriculated probably into
their father's Guild, had not entered heartily into its industries.
Some of them were doubtless men of want of application, but
many felt that they could do better than by remaining in the
orthodox ranks of their family avocation.

The constant increase of commerce, with the inflow of attractive
objects and the creation of fresh wants, introduced new interests
and opened out new pursuits. The Sensali, or agents of the
Greater Guilds, in their travels, took note of novelties, and
learned foreign customs, which their keen eye to business taught
them might be profitably transported to Florence.

Then again, it was seen that the activities of the Greater
Guilds were of a wholesale character, and that the employers of
labour had neither place nor opportunity for the sale of small
quantities. Gradually, therefore, shops were opened, whereat
citizens and passing visitors might purchase articles, useful and
ornamental, in retail. The buyers of remnants of silk tissue and
of woollen and linen cloth, at the workshops, saw a margin of
profit on sales of such things in the open market. The doffings,
cuttings, and waste of materials had their values, and old clothes
•' and rags, with cuttings of fur and hide became negotiable assets.

RETAIL CLOTH-DEALERS 345

Buyers too went about purchasing the woven and knitted work
of industrious housewives.

Very many objects exposed for sale by the Apothecaries
appeared to fall under the category of " Odds and Ends," hence,
a certain number of traders came into market daily as pedlars or
barterers.

In some of these avocations, — for example, silk and cloth
remnants, articles of clothing, strips of leather, etc. etc. — a goodly
fortune might be amassed. Sons of merchants and merchants
too themselves entered largely into these new lines of trade, and
the estimation in which such dealers were held grew, until the
necessity of union for the mutual defence of common interests was
obvious.

Conditions of life and occupation in old Florence were
surprisingly like those which rule our time. Men made fortunes
" round the corner," and in all sorts of unwonted ways, and out of
all kinds of unexpected sources. The knowing how and what to
buy was an initial desideratum for every salesman, whether he
were an opulent " Calimala " merchant, or an indigent hawker
of haberdashery.

The " Arte de* Rigattieri" — the Guild of Retail-Dealers — was
first incorporated in 1266, and received its banner — charged half
red, half white. With it was incorporated the "Arte de' Linaiuoli"
— " the Guild of Linen Drapers."

At the same date the place of the Guild in the order of
precedence, was fixed — immediately after the " Masters of Stone
and Wood," or twelfth in rank ; and consequently, when the Five
Intermediate Guilds were called into conference with the Greater
Guilds, the " A rte de' Rigattieri " was always included. This dis-
tinction of position however was rather depreciated by the fact
that the Retail-Dealers were regarded as a " Sandwich " Guild,
and a link with the Nine Lesser Guilds.

The Consuls of the Guild are named as voting in 1293
among the Consuls of the twelve Greater Guilds. Statutes of
" LArte de' Rigattieri delta Magnifica Citta di Firenze" — to give

346 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

the Guild its full official and courtly title, — were drafted in 1295,
and were amended and adopted in the following year.1

The Codex Membranaceo? under date March 1295, has two
manuscripts, numbered respectively " No. i " and " No. 1 9." The
former contains the Statutes, etc., of the Rigattieri, Linaiuoli,
Sarti) and Venditori di panne ', and begins with the dedication : —
" In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. This
is made and composed in honour of Almighty God, of the Virgin
and St. John the Baptist, by the men who are Consuls and
Rectors of the ' Arte deF Ementium ' (Remnant-dealers?), vendors
of cloth, and vendors of fur linings."

The manuscript is well written, as are most of the records of
the period, but the language employed — that also common to all
— is a mixture of base Latin with many abbreviations and local
colloquialities, almost, if not quite, undecipherable.

The earlier sections of the manuscript deal, as usual, with the
Statutes and rules for the election of Consuls and other Guild
officers. One rubric deals with apprentices convicted of theft,
who were visited by a fine of twenty-five gold florins and the
cancelling of their indentures.

Several rubrics prescribe observances at the burial of
members — such as the burning of ceremonial candles in the
chamber of death, the display of banners, with arms of the Guild
and of the family, — at the doors of the deceased's house, etc.
etc.

Sarti — tailors — are specially named in the manuscript. They
are not to make or use stuff mixed with Struppa (stoppa) — fine
hemp or tow, — and Bambix (bambagia) — coarse cotton, such as was
used for lamp wicks. In short, " Sartia mzsta" — mixtures, — of
every sort were forbidden.

The second manuscript is the document dealing with, and
settling, the purchase of a house — it is entitled " Compra de resi-
denza de Rigattieri" etc. ; but it goes on to name the Linaiuoli^
the flax weavers, — as the actual owners of the property on behalf of

1 " Le Consulte," iii. 396. * Archivio di Firenze.

RETAIL CLOTH-DEALERS

347

the united trades of " Rigattieri, Venditori di panj-linj, Linaiuolj e
Sartjr

The signatures at the end of the Code of Statutes are crosses,
more or less ornamental, with the names of the Consuls written
underneath in a different hand — quite suggestive of the inability
of these Magnificos to append their own signatures !

EGO JACOBUS, INDEX APPROBATORO
ET OFFICIATOR FLOR

<c Mark "of a Consul of " The Guild of
Retail or Second- Hand Dealers "

CONSULONI JACOBI DI
CIONIS

" Mark '' of a Consul of" The Guild of
Retail or Second- Hand Dealers "

These Statutes of the Guild were revised in 1317 and further
additions were made in 1323 and in 1326. At the revision of
the Statutes in 1415, the following rubrics, among many others,
were enacted with respect to the Guild.

Any one selling woollen cloth or Sargia d'Irlanda, — Irish
frieze, — was required to use not only the Canna measure of the
" Calimala" but also the Passetto, — yard measure of the Market.
This regulation was rendered necessary by reason of the custom

348 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

of selling fine cloth when fully stretched. Breaches of this rule
laid the offenders under a penalty of one hundred lire!

The Retail-dealers were not allowed to sell Zendado — the
richest silk taffeta, or Imbacciacinato — highly-raised brocade, to
any of the Popolo Minuto. The fine for infraction was fifty lire,
which was accompanied by the withdrawal of the selling license of
the dealer, and the confiscation of the illicit merchandise.2

Retail-dealers, — called frequently members of the " Arte de'
Boldagiori"-—wert allowed to sell woollen cloths of the following
descriptions — Romagniuolo — Roman wove, Bigello — frieze, Burello
— coarse cloth, Cremonense — Cremona wove, Pignolati — fine linen,
and all other kinds except redressed foreign cloths, whether manipu-
lated in Florence, Milan or elsewhere. They were forbidden to sell
pouches stamped or decorated, caps, belts, fine silk scarves, veils
and any sort of stuff of greater weight than one pound. Small
metal basins, mortars, pieces of ivory and other small articles were
to be sold at so much the pound weight.3

With the Retail-dealers and Linen-drapers were generally
classed Pennaiuoli — stationers, Copertolari — coverlet-sellers,
Farsettori — doublet-makers, and Coltellinai— cutlers, together with
Dealers in raw flax, hemp, canvas, and string nets. Their shops
were not to be opened before the ringing of the bell for matins,
and had to be shut before the stroke of four in the afternoon.4

All tailors were directly under the jurisdiction of the Ufficiali
delta Grascia, — the Surveyors of Markets and Trades, — who care-
fully inspected and noted the quantities and qualities of cloth-
woollen and linen — which they had in their shops. Not only so
but the price which they were permitted to charge for each
garment they made was fixed, and upon each value a certain tax
was levied by the State. For example a Roba, — robe of red fine
cloth, — paid five lire ; a Cottardita, — tunic of blue cloth, — three lire\
a gammurra, — petticoat with stitching in front and buttonholes
behind, — two lire, five soldi ; a Guarnello, — a fustian gown for a

1 Statuti C. e P. Florentiae, 1415, Rub. xliii. 2 Rub. xliv., 1415.

3 Rub. xlv., 1415. 4 Rub. xcix., 1415.

RETAIL CLOTH-DEALERS 349

woman open at the front, — one lira, fifteen soldi ; a Giubba, — jerkin
with folds or tucks, — four lire, five soldi ; a Villano, — cloth cloak
with a turn-down collar or hood, — one lira ; a Tagliatura, — a pair
of trousers made of cloth, — seven soldi ; a Gonnella, — a pair of
trousers made of thin linen and lined, — one lira, fifteen soldi, and
so on.1

No tailor was allowed to put in pawn woollen or linen cloth,
or cloth of mixed wool and flax, — whether cut or uncut, — or any
garment, — finished or unfinished, — or anything pertaining to the
Craft. Fines of twenty-five lire, and above, were inflicted,
not only upon the spendthrift tailor, but upon any person who
accepted the pledge.2

Fraudulent and fugitive tradesmen were of course found in
connection with all the Guilds, but possibly the " Arte de*
Rigattieri" furnished the largest proportion of such unfortunate
persons. When such a man fell on evil days, he not only suffered
himself, but the partners in his business and his family also were
declared delinquent, and mulcted in penalties. A case in point is
recorded in the Archives under date January 17, 1330, when the
partners of a merchant and artificer in the trade of the " Guild of
Second-hand Dealers," for the sale of old remnants of woollen
cloth and of linen cloth, belonging to the popoli of Santa Cecilia,
who had become bankrupt, are declared outlaws.3

The Retail-dealers were allowed to keep in stock, and sell the
following descriptions of goods : — 4

Panni Milanese e Bresciano . Milanese and Brescia cloths.
Bigelli Romagniuoli . . . Roman friezes, plain and

coloured.

Giubboni e Farsetti . . . Doublets and under vests.
Coltre e Coltroni . . . Coverlets and quilts.
Panni lini-tinti . . . Cloths with coloured threads.

Berrette e Cappelli . . . Caps and hats.
Calze, Calzini e Calzone . . Stockings, socks, and drawers.

1 Rub. Ixxii., 1415. 2 Rub. Ixxii., 1415.

3 Archivio del Stato Fiorentino, "della Riforma." 4 Cantini x., p. 66.

350 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

Feltri e Baracani . . . Felt cloaks and capes.
Tappeti e Celoni . . . Table cloths and striped tester-

stuffs

Sargie ..... Coarse serges for men's gar-
ments.
Spalliere ..... Tapestry hangings, and chair

backs.

Ciambellotti e Mocaiardi . . Camlets and hair-cloths.
Dobbletti ..... Stuffs with cotton and flax

mixtures.

Saie e Rense . . . . Light serges and cambrics,
and many other kinds of woollen materials.

It was permitted also to deal in all kinds of silken goods and
in sewing silks. Ivy-berries — for the red dye called grana,
dried kermes, — whence the crimson dye chermisi was derived, gold
and silver — in cakes, powder, flake, and leaf. Pearls and jewellery of
all kinds, veils, thin capes, and fichus, every sort of gilt leather and
tinsel work, were also exposed for sale. Many other objects, far
too numerous to mention, but still each with the special permission
of the Council of State, and under the direction of the Consuls
and officials of the Guild, were allowed to be sold by the Rigattieri.

B. L'Arte de Linaiuoli

J Linen is probably the oldest manufactured material for
domestic use in existence. Thousands of years ago the art of
weaving linen cloth was known and practised in India, Egypt and
Greece. Linen was known too to the peoples of the Stone age
and to the Lake dwellers. The Romans held flax in high esteem
for personal clothing.

Apuleius, the wise old monk of the fifth century, says
sententiously : — " Wool, the excretion of a sluggish body taken from
a sheep, was deemed a profane attire even in the times of Orpheus
and Pythagoras ; but flax — that cleanest production of the field,
is rightly used for the inmost clothing of man."

LINEN-MANUFACTURERS 351

Every monastery on the plains of Italy had its flax patch, and
the monks encouraged the peasants around them to cultivate the
useful little plant, with its thin verdant blade and delicate blue
flower. The Religious, further, engaged themselves everywhere in
the manufacture of linen-thread and cloth, and gave instruction to
their neighbours in the mysteries of the craft.

^Sacristies of churches became treasuries of fine linen, for, by
Canon Law, this material was exclusively prescribed in the ritual
of the Mass and for other functions.

^ From the point, too, of domestic economy, linen was known
to be practically indestructible, consequently noble and peasant
alike had in it the most durable material for ordinary uses.

The cultivation of flax was very general in the Vale of Arno
all through the period of the Renaissance. In extent it vied with
that of the vine and the olive, but it far exceeded both in the
intelligence and labour demanded by its cultivators. Special
methods of tillage, manuring, sowing, and harvesting, were in
operation which have remained until to-day.1

* The four processes of harvest were as follows : I . Pulling —
The plant being in boll and browned was pulled up by the roots —
never cut ; 2. Rippling — the bolls were removed on the field by
a combing-frame with iron teeth. Two men were engaged
together — one gathered up the seeds, the other the stalks ;
3. Retting — two kinds, water and dew. In the first, pure water
from the Arno was used, without any addition of lime or iron.
The stalks of the flax were laid flat in bundles, in hollowed out
dams or pits, four feet in depth. On the top of the last layer a
cover of fresh cut rushes was laid, over which were placed heavy
stones. Fermentation quickly set in when the fibre and the stalk
became separated — the sheath falling away. The dew Retting
required that the bundles of flax should be opened and spread
upon close growing grass, without any protection from sun, wind,
and rain, and in full contact with air and dew. This was, of course,
a tedious process, and only resorted to by the less enterprising
1 Encyclopaedia Britannica, "Flax," 1900.

352 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

harvesters ; 4. Scutching — the fibre of the flax was separated by
hand from the wood or stalk, and then passed between grooved
wooden or iron rollers, which required very careful adjustment to
avoid, on the one hand, matted skeins, or lumps, and on the other,
the too complete crushing of the flax, which resulted in a breakage
of fibre and the production of lint. Flax thus treated was ready to
be placed upon the market. In the fourteenth century the average
price for one hundred pounds weight of raw flax was five gold florins.1

The first mention of the " Guild of Linen-Manufacturers " seems
to be in 1236, when the "Arte de* Linaiuoli" was placed sixteenth
in the Hierarchy of the Guilds. Probably it was the offspring
of a humble association of flax growers and linen-thread spinners.

An early notice of the linen industry is found in the Florentine
Archives of the same year — 1236 — when Guido, Abbot of
Coltibuono, received from lacopo son of Bellioto dei Albertischi a
loan of one hundred and fifty lire, for the payment of a debt due
to Buonosegno Malcristiano, who had sold the crops, which fed
the Abbot's household, and which furnished flax for their clothing.

At the reformation of the Guild Statutes in 1266, the name
of the Guild does not appear: but the " Arte de' Rigattieri" is
scheduled. Again in the revision of 1280-1282 the "Arte de*
Regattieri" figures but no "Arte de' Linaiuoli''

There is a record in the Florentine State Archives of the year
1 294 of a Company of four merchants trading in lino — flax, accia —
hemp, stoppa — oakum, capecchi — flocks, and every sort of material
for the manufacture of linen, and in all things pertaining to the trade.
This firm had one warehouse in the house of the Cipriani family
of the popolo of San Pietro Bonconsiglio, another in the house of
Petracchio de' Cipriani and his partners of tt\t popolo of Sant'
Andrea, and a third in the house of the Admidei of the popolo of
San Stefani. Each partner in the business contributed one
hundred and fifty lire to the capital — the senior member of the
firm bore the name of Matteo di Beliotto.2

1 Peruzzi, Albert! Accounts, p. 367.

2 Davidssohn, " Geschichte von Florenz," p. 49.

LINEN MANUFACTURERS 353

At the General Revision of the Statutes of all the Guilds—
1301-1309 — there was still no mention of the old "Arte de'
Linaiuoli" \ but in 1340 there appeared a body of regulations and
laws for the " Guild of Linen-Manufacturers." These, which were
based upon the common model of the Statutes of the " Calimala
Guild," were accepted unanimously by the workers in flax.

Between I 340 and 1350, the Guild was exceedingly flourishing,
and the manufacturers of linen shared in the general prosperity of
the city to such an extent, that negotiations were set on foot for
inclusion amongst the Greater Guilds.

The Consuls and the Council of the Guild undertook a search-
ing revision of the Statutes of the Guild. The result of their
labours was a disappointment for the ambitious aims of the
members, for they were denied admittance among the Seven Great
Guilds, and had to be content with union with the twelfth guild
in order, that of the "Arte di Rigattieri"

All the same the Linaiuoli retained the right to elect their
own officers, without restriction of any kind, and to put forth
bye-laws for the observance of the members, irrespective of their
articles of association with the " Guild of Retail-Dealers."

Matriculation into the Guild was conducted upon the same
terms as in the Greater Guilds — so far as men were concerned ;
but, unlike them, women were admitted to full privileges and duties.
The fees upon matriculation were, for candidates residing in the
city, twenty-eight lire : for those living in the Contado, fourteen
lire.

The officers, in 1342 and onwards, included two Consuls, one
Chancellor and two Provveditori — Managers. Two leading agri-
culturist members were appointed Veditori delle Coltrici — Inspectors
of the flax-beds. They not only inspected the seed, the soil, and
the labour, but also made agreements with the Custom -House
officials with respect to the Dogana duties payable by growers.
They delivered written agreements to the landed proprietors and
to the peasants which were endorsed by the custodians of the Gates
of the city. These documents dealt with the weights and condition

354 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

of the bundles of cut flax. In busy years when the area under
cultivation was extended, assistant Veditori were elected.1

The Staff of the Guild was further augmented by the appoint-
ment of six Misuratori, — Surveyors of Weights and Measures, —
at the flax-grounds, at the Gates, and in the Market : they were
generally chosen from the smaller manufacturers of linen. Stima-
tori, — -Valuers, — generally two in number, were elected to examine
the peasants' pledges, as the rightful growers of the flax cut for
sale, to appraise the value of the beaten flax, and, in disputes
about the quality of the linen-cloth, to decide its value. The
officials of the Guild also included four Donzelli — Porters, who were
specially employed at the Residence and Office of the Consuls.

As in the case of the sister industries the growers of flax and
the manufacturers of linen suffered from the existence and intrusion
of Sensali or Middle-men. These agents, as we might call them,
or brokers received the reports of the Stimatori, and fixed the
actual sale-prices of raw beaten flax and of spun thread and
woven linen — whether of native or of foreign origin. They were
bound by the articles of their admission, as Sensali, to render copies
of such values each month to the Consuls for their official approval.

No flax-worker was permitted to purchase the raw produce
direct from the grower, but only through six senior Sensali
appointed by the Consuls — sales of linen came under a similar
regulation. Breaches of these bye-laws were visited severely —
fines were enforced of from one lire twenty-five piccioli for a first
offence, to one hundred lire in an aggravated case.

The Sensali appear to have been unusually tenacious of their
rights and of their fees ; and Provvisioni^ and Bandi — provisions
and cautions — were constantly enacted for or against their
interests. Every piece of linen-cloth woven in Florence required
the official stamp of the Guild, and a bullettino or label had to be
attached, marked with the length, width, quality, and any special
points. Imported pieces required also the seal of the Custom-
House authorities, and only cloth so marked was permitted to be

1 Cantini, viii. 286, etc.

LINEN MANUFACTURERS 355

sold. Any Retail-dealer, or salesman, offering other cloth pieces or
linen-thread, became liable to fines ranging from five lire upwards
according to the gravity or craftiness of his offence.

Localities where the manufacture might be carried on, and
where stalls or shops for the sale of linen-cloth and thread might
be opened, were fixed by the Consuls. The neighbourhood of the
church of San Lorenzo and the Via dei Servi were particularly
set apart for the prosecution of the linen industry. Public sales
were held, in the Market, each Wednesday and Saturday.

In the fifteenth century fustian cotton-cloth was used for
church chasubles. The Cistercian Order of Monks were forbidden
to wear any other kind. Fustian was also generally in vogue for
doublets and jackets for laymen.

In the process of manufacture in Florence, the spindle, upon
which the thread spun from the distaff, or rack, was run, was
usually about twelve inches in length. After the application of
the bobbin, a whorl of stone, or glazed terra-cotta, was fixed upon
the top of the spindle to give steadiness in the rotatory movement.
These whorls were often enough the handiwork of artistic
persons, indeed such great masters as the Delia Robbia did not
disdain to mould, paint and glaze them beautifully for such of their
lady friends as desired to make their spinning-wheels ornamental.
Very many such objects are to be found in all art collections, but
unknowingly they have been labelled " Terra-Cotta Beads " !

Graceful kindred industries also sprang up, and women of
leisure, as well as ordinary workers in linen-thread, took up the art
of Lace-making. In this very soon the nuns were acknowledged
as proficient teachers. Their work was known in the Market as
"punto tagliato " — " cut point," because bits of the linen base were
cut out, and the holes worked with needle and thread. Flax-
thread and silk-tissue were generally used for ordinary laces, but a
very delicate fibre, — that of the aloe, — and withal strong, was pre-
ferred for the finest work. This aloe thread is used to-day for
sewing the well-known Florentine show plaits together.

Agnolo Firenzuola in his " Elegia sopra uno Collaretto " in I 520

356 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

speaks much of " scolpi" — carved in relief — really highly raised
point-lace, which was not only woven, or handmade upon cushions,
but was further subjected to the points of fine scissors, and cut to
add to its sculpturesque appearance.

Catherine de' Medici, when she entered Paris as a bride, intro-
duced Florentine point, which became a perfect rage at the French
court. A sister of Francis I., in 1545, purchased " soixante aulnes
fine dantelle de Florence? and Madame Elizabeth de France, upon
her marriage with Philip II., in 1559, added to her trousseau ,
" passements et de bisette en fil blanc de Florence''

At the great upheaval of society in 1378 caused by the
Rising of the Ciompi, very many groups of aspiring craftsmen came
to the front. In the Second Operative Guild, established under
Michael Lando's auspices, an Arte, or Associazione de' Linaiuoli—
"Association of Flax Weavers" — took an active part under the
common banner of " Giustizia" These people doubtless were only
workers in flax and linen, not merchants or manufacturers. This
organisation was a further proof of the importance of the industry,
and of the prosperity of the " Guild of Linen-Manufacturers."

The Residence of the Consuls and the General Offices of the
two United Guilds was in the large Casa d' Anzio in the Piazza de
Sant' Andrea at the corner of the Mercato Vecchio. In 1387
the foundation stone of a fine new building was laid, and the
edifice, when completed, became the headquarters of the " Arte
e Universita de Rigattieri, e Linaiuoli, e Sarti"- — as was then
the title, — with armorial escutcheons above the principal door.
The arms were very simple, just a shield divided longitudinally
into two halves, red and white. The Audience Hall was one of
the most noble in the city, and was full of marble statuary, wood-
carvings, and polychromatic decorative painting by rising artists.
A Guild record of 1466 is preserved which says the Residence
" is splendidly adorned with every artistic treasure."

The shops of Guild members, and their private rooms also,
were remarkable for their elegance and rich decoration. The
wealth of the Guild was further attested by the commission

DOORWAY OF THE RESIDENCE OF THE CONSULS OF THE GUILD
OF RETAIL-DEALERS AND LINEN-MANUFACTURERS

THE SHIELDS BEAR THE ARMS (l) THE PEOPLE, (2) THE I'OPE, (3) THE CITY,
(4) THE "PARTE GUELFA "

LINEN MANUFACTURERS 357

confided to Donatello in 1411, and to Fra Giovanni Angelico in
1433, for the enrichment of Or San Michele.

At the last general reform of the Guilds, in 1415, the union
of the two Guilds was still effective although the name of the
Linaiuoli did not appear. This arrangement and nomenclature
— "Arte de' Rigattieri" — continued until the year 1534.

During all these strenuous years the flax industry of Florence
had made remarkable progress, keeping well abreast of the general
development and prosperity. Quite late however in the industrial
history of the City of Merchants, the Linen-Manufacturers came,
in a sense, to their own. At the end of the last-named year, under
the rule of the Medici, there blossomed forth the " Universita de'
Linaiuoli " — " the University of Linen-drapers," and the Guild,
which had for three hundred years hidden its name, now came
to the front and dominated a union of Lesser Guilds : the
Vinattieri — Wine-merchants, Albergatori — Innkeepers, the Sarti
— Tailors, and its senior in the long partnership — the Rigattieri.

The Guild continued to flourish until 1537, when the new
order of things, introduced by the Medici, greatly altered and
modified the character of the industry of Florence. Facilities and
monopolies were created and abolished, at almost one and the same
time. The march of new ideas, and the introduction of new
methods, sounded the death-knell of the old shopkeepers. One
by one their shutters went up, and Guild-life was extinct.

Stemma del? Arte de Rigaiiieri"
Half white, half red

CHAPTER XII

THE GUILDS OF WINE-MERCHANTS, AND INN-
KEEPERS, AND TANNERS

LE ARTI DE> V1NATTIERI, E DEGLI ALBERGATORI, E DE' GAL1GAI

I. WINE-MERCHANTS.— The famous red wine of Tuscany. Cultivation
of the vine. Early barterings. Pergolas. First wine-seller, 1070. Growers
and consumers. First tavern-keeper, 1189. Rectors in 1291. Two casks of
wine only : Red — White. Measures. Drinking-shops limited. Wine-presses.
Utensils duly stamped. Wine-merchants not to sell food. Time limits.
Wooden casks. Famous members of the Guild. Sir Richard Dallington's
observations. Sorts of Grapes. Processes. The Vintage. Favourite wines.
Festivals.

II. INN-KEEPERS. — Hostels and Inns indispensable. Reception of em-
bassies. Commercial travellers, etc. Albergatori Maggiori. First Innkeeper,.
121 1. Distinction between taverns and inns. Early Roll of Matriculation.
Camere Locande taxed. Dogana. Triennial tenure of premises. Monopoly
of foreign wines. The Canto degli Speziali. Sign — a bottle of wine. Rules
affecting lodgers. Supply of food. Pack-mules. Games. Ancient inns and
hostelries. Cooks and cooking. Supper clubs. Sandro Botticelli, Andrea
del Sarto, and Giovanni Boccaccio — good fellows. La Cena Florentine
Costly Banquets. Boiled peacocks and roasted cranes. Cook's fees.

III. TANNERS. — Natural elements : — Animals, oaks, marsh-mallows. The
father of Florentine tanners. Filii Galigai. Guild expenses. Precedence.
Various allied Crafts. Relations with other leather Guilds : — Shoemakers,
Skinners, etc. Capitudo. Agents and their duties. Rules and regulations*
No secret work allowed. No tanning within the city bounds. A tanner's out-
fit. Methods of the trade. Arno douches. Test of dryness. Parchment-
making. Cartolari. Bookbinding. Tomasso Maioli. Boiled leather work —
Cuoio lesso — for armour. Block-stamping.

I. L'ARTE DE' VlNATTIERI

" /TAUSCANY is pre-eminently fitted for agriculture" was an

-*• old and trite saying ; so, also in a special sense, were her

soil and climate suited for the cultivation of the Vine. The

undulating character of the ground, with its rolling uplands,

358

GUILD OF WINE-MERCHANTS 359

averaging four hundred feet or so above the sea, is that most
desirable for the perfection of the grape.

The red wine of Tuscany is the most generous and the most
famous of all the vine products of the world, and, when it is
added that the neighbourhood of Florence yields more than one-
half of all this rich vintage, the importance to her of the vine will
be at once apparent.

The cultivation of this invaluable plant in primitive times was
very uncertain. Whilst cereal crops may be raised with little
difficulty amid scenes of political unrest and combats of con-
tending forces of armed men, fruits of all sorts require periods of
tranquillity and fixture of tenure to come to maturity.

Such was the condition of affairs in Tuscany all through the
Middle Ages. The vine however was indigenous in the Vale of
Arno and grew wild up the hill sides. Men, as they trudged
along upon warlike expeditions, or on peaceful errands, plucked
the luscious bunches to quench their thirst. If only a short re-
spite was afforded, during the ripening of the fruit, its expression
filled the ample skins and bulky gourds of the wayfarers with
crude but refreshing wine.

When times became more settled, and the peasantry were left
with some measure of freedom, one here and another there turned
his attention to the wild vine, which threw its trailing branches
across his land and over his habitation. The labourer who
digged and dunged, pruned and watered, tasted with zest the
rich fruit of his toil.

Owners and landlords were quick to see the possibilities of this
harvest, and encouraged their farm servants in its development ;
indeed, some of these worthies, with instincts keen for commercial
enterprises, took in hand a thorough system of cultivation with
the view to profitable sales. The law of Mezzaria, — "going
halves," — was observed in the matter of grape-culture — the first
half going to the land-owner, the second to the labourer-farmer.

The year's produce in early days, doubtless rejoiced the
hearts of the owners and producers, first of all, and what was

360 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

to spare, they bartered or sold immediately to their neighbours
or their friends in the city or elsewhere. A commerce so
primitive in its inception speedily developed as harvest followed
harvest, and vine growers' gains bulked larger in their year's
accounts as they added to their vineyard occupations the business
of wine-merchants in the city.

The methods adopted in the thirteenth century or even
earlier, were almost exactly those which prevail to-day generally.
Where the vine grew there it remained. With the least amount
of labour the plants were trained up growing tree stems, and
where these were absent Testucchi^ — testers or wooden supports,
— were fixed under the weighty branches. These were of two
kinds — espaliers or lengths of trellis work, and single posts stuck
up at certain distances apart.

In the vineyards of the richer proprietors the Testucchi gave
way to substantial stone or brick pillars, to which the name
of Pergole was given. In either case the plant was allowed to
grow as it willed, forming a distinctive and characteristic note
of beauty in the landscape. It was encouraged too to yield
as many bunches of grapes as possible ; the art of lopping or
close pruning being unknown to the Tuscan vinegrowers.

The situation and the aspect of the vineyard excited a
mighty influence upon the yield both in quality and quantity.
On the hill terraces, which were made with infinite care and
patience, the grapes produced a drier and more alcoholic wine
than on the lowlands. A Southern aspect made for a sweeter
and richer vintage.

At first probably the people in the Mercato Vecchio brought
in and sold their vintages along with their other country pro-
duce. There sprang up gradually the custom of separating wine
from the market commodities, and the opening of shops speci-
ally concerned in its sale. Each important landowner found
this a convenient way of dealing with his proportion of the
year's yield, and either he occupied a wine-shop himself, or
appointed some friend or other to open one. In this way no

GUILD OF WINE-MERCHANTS 361

doubt the business of wine-merchant came into existence. The
first record of such an individual in the Archives of the city is as
follows : — " 1 070 — Paganus, qui vocalur vinadro "- —Wine-seller.

Whether this good man had what we call a license, who
can say, but apparently he sold only beverages in his little wine-
shop : and we must regard him — for want of earlier records —
as the father of Florentine Wine-merchants. Paganus had
many followers, whose names figure in the Archives, but at
the end of the twelfth century there is a novel entry: — " 1189
— Marcellus — tabernarius " — Tavern-keeper. This worthy
citizen, unlike his neighbour of the wine-shop, sold both food
and drink. He was an important personage in the estimation
of his fellows, and for want of a scion of earlier pedigree
must be held as the first eating-house keeper in Florentine
history.

Thus by the end of the twelfth century there were two distinct
classes of sellers of wine alike dependent upon the produce of the
vintage. The year 1211 however reveals a third class by an
entry in the Archives: — " Servodeo — osste" — Host or landlord —
the first recorded parent of the Innkeeper proper.

Not much can be gathered from the Statutes, which have
been spared destruction, of the exact Constitution of the Guild.
The first mention of Officers is in a petition which the Rettori
presented on April 3rd, 1291, at the Council of State, seeking
the refunding of a sum of money due to the Guild as a rebate
of a tax lately paid.1

Certainly the Guild followed the example of the other
Guilds and adopted, early in the fourteenth century, many of
the Statutes enacted for the "Calimala " Guild, at the same time
adding such rubrics of a special character, as were necessary
for the efficiency of the Guild, and for the well-being of its
members. In the years 1339 and 1341 alterations and additions
were made in the Statutes, and a Register of Matriculation,
down to the year 1335, has been preserved.

1 "Le Consulte," ii. 177.

362 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

One of the earlier enactments was to the effect that Wine-
merchants were forbidden to have broached at the same time
more than two casks of wine in their vaults or cellars for retail
use. The casks had a fixed capacity, and were ordered to hold,
one red, and the other, white wine. Wine in quantities was
usually sold by the barrel or cask. Two casks made up the
burden of a pack-horse or mule. The highest liquid measure
in Florence was called Cogno — and was equal to ten casks.

The general revision of Guild Statutes in 1415 contained
rubrics enacted for the benefit of "the Guild of Wine-Mer-
chants," and many of these are interesting.

The porch of San Giovanni Battista was a favourite lounging-
place for the poorer sort of people and for beggars. Wine-
merchants were strictly forbidden to sell wine and other beverages
therein or within a distance of fifty yards.1

Wine-merchants were not allowed to have vine-pits or presses
within the city bounds nor vats for unfermented grape juice.
They were not permitted to treat grapes or wine-mash with water
or other liquids, anywhere where smell or waste would cause a
nuisance.2

Every utensil, jug, and measure, required to be stamped with
the arms of the city, and to bear upon it the quantity it held,
whether Terzeruola — quart, Metreta — pint or Mezzetta — gill.
Failure to observe this rubric led to a fine of one hundred
soldi.

Wine-shops were forbidden to take in travellers, and to sell
beverages to be drunk on the premises. They were not to
supply bread, wine, meat, cooked fish, or any other comestible.
Sellers of wine were not allowed to stand opposite the Palace of
the Priors, and the House of the Captain of the People, nor
within a distance of two hundred arm's-lengths. No wine-shop
was permitted in the neighbourhood of the Monastery of San
Giovanni Evangelista.3

No private person who sold wine to the poorer people was

i Rub. Ixxxv., 1415. 2 Rub. Ixxxvi., 1415. 3 Rub. xc., 1415.

AT AN INN

FOURTEENTH CENTURY

NOTE : — THE SPOHTELLO — WITH GLASSES READY, AND THE REGULATION TWO BARRELS OF WINE —

RED AND WHITE

GUILD OF WINE-MERCHANTS 363

allowed to provide food also, — whether in the city or in the Con-
tado, — either in a retail wine-shop or in his own house. Any one
selling wine to citizens after the final stroke of the Compline
bell incurred a penalty of one hundred lire. The sale of pro-
visions was forbidden also within fifty arm's - lengths of any
wine-shop or wine-cellar.1

Wine-merchants and tavern-keepers were not allowed to have
on the front of their premises bushes or signs, either of laurel,
olive, or of any other tree.2 Wines both new and old were
ordered to be transported in wooden barrels. Each barrel required
the official seal of the Podesta.3

No victualler was permitted to make or to buy unfermented
wine or crude wines fortified with spirit during the time of vintage
and up to the feast of All Saints, under a penalty of ten lire ;
and no wine merchant or innkeeper could sell such beverages to
the public before that festival.4

From the Registers of Matriculation of 1335 and 1415 may
be learnt how that the following families of Wine-merchants,
among many others, gave their sons to the membership of the
guild : — Albizzi, Ricasoli, Strozzi, and Guicciardini, of Florence
proper, — Niccolini, of Carmignano, — Pucci, of Siena and also of
Val d'Elsa, — Salviati, of Pisa, — Toscanelli, of Pontedera, — Cocconi,
of Montepulciano, — and Caspelli, of Pontascieve. These names
are interesting, not only in themselves, but as indicative of the
wide diffusion of the members of the Guild. They were in truth
landed gentry, who owned many acres of vineyards and olive
orchards, and who engaged in the profitable and agreeable trade
of Wine-merchants at the same time.

In the first List of Guilds, in 1236, we find vinadro, taber-
narius, osste, all merged in the " A rte de' Vinattieri " — " The
Guild of Wine-Merchants." This association continued for fifty
years, — for the nomenclature of the Guild remained the same in

1 Rub. xci., 1415. 2 Rub. cclxiv., 1415.

a Rub. cclxxi., 1415. 4 Rub. clxxxiii., I4I5-

364 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

that important year of reform, 1266, — and the Guild was
reckoned the thirteenth in order in both lists.

Under the year 1267 there is a curious entry in the Archives,
which indicates a sort of fusion of the Guilds of Bakers, Wine-
Merchants, and Innkeepers. For some purpose, not distinctly
stated, " Ciprianus Pane, son of Vincente, a Tavern-keeper of
the sestiere of St Pancrazio, late Rector of the said Guilds, was
appointed Syndic by the votes of twenty-three members of the
Guilds, and in the name of the absent members, to negotiate a
loan of forty-two pounds from Giovanni Alboni Bilicozi of the
sestiere of Oltrarno.1

The first cleavage in the constitution of the " Guild of Wine-
Merchants " took place in the year 1282, when the Order of the
twenty-one Guilds was re-arranged. In the List of Guilds
the thirteenth place was still occupied by the " Arte de'Vinattieri"
but the fourteenth was occupied by a perfectly new Corporation with
the title "Arte degli Albergatori Magg iori "-— " Guild of the
Greater Innkeepers." Probably the sale of victuals was proved to
be inconvenient in the wine-shops, or possibly the influx of strangers
required to be dealt with on a larger and more enterprising scale.

The order of 1282 was maintained at all the subsequent
revisions of the Statutes until 1539, when in the fourth University
established by the Grand Duke Cosimo I. were included the
" Guilds of Retail-Drapers and Linen-Manufacturers," " Wine-
Merchants," and " Innkeepers," under the style of " Universita
e Arte de* Linaiuoli"

The Residence of the Consuls of the Guild was next the
side-door of the Church of San Stefano, in Via de' Lamberteschi.
Over the entrance was, as usual, stuck up a shield with the Guild
arms : — a blue cup in a white field ; and the same badge
figured upon the Gonfalon confided to the Guild Standard-
bearer in 1266.

Sir Richard Dallington, — that most worthy traveller and most
interesting historian, — records many matters dealing with the

1 Archivio Fiorentino, SS. Annunziata.

•j£ X

ac

H

GUILD OF WINE-MERCHANTS 365

cultivation of the vine. He says that " Grapes were, in the
sixteenth century, a very important item in the dietary of the
Tuscan country people. In August and September they eat
their grapes, with the leaves they feed their oxen and dung the
land, upon the pips their pigeons feed, and even the strippings of
the plant they riddle out and sell at twenty soldi the staio. The
Vine-dressers used to hang up the bunches of grapes in the Palco,
or roof, of their dwellings, and keep them to eat in Lent."

" There are divers sorts of grapes, the names of such as I
remember are these : — Uva Canaiuola, good either to eate or for
wine ; Passerina, a small grape, whereof sparrows feed, good
only for wine ; Trebbiana, the best sort of white grapes for wine,
whereof they make them Vino Trebbiano ; Zibibbo, dryed for
Lent ; Moscatella, with a taste like muske, not for wine but to
eate ; Uva Grossa, not to eate nor for wine, but a few of these
put among a great vessell of wine, giveth it a colour, for which
it only serveth ; San Columbana and Riinaldesca, a very delicate
grape, either for wine or to eate ; Lugliola, which hath his name
of the month of July, wherein it is ripe, better to eate than for
wine ; lastly, Cerisiana, named for the taste it hath like a cherry,
better for wine than to eate." *

So far as may be gathered from scattered notices in many
authorities the gathering of the vintage was very much the same in
Tuscany, in the Renaissance, as it is to-day. On the first day the
peasants of the estate, and hired labourers from the city, accompanied
the Vine-growers, with shears and baskets, into the vineyards.

White grapes were picked first, and left to dry in the sun
for some weeks, until the juice began to drop from them. This
was the Vino Santo — the favourite white wine of honour, and that
prescribed for use in the Mass.

The best black grapes were cut and left to ferment by
themselves, whilst those of inferior quality were cast into big
wooden vats. When full the vats were drawn by white oxen
to the vat-house, where, twice a day, for a week, bare-legged

1 Sir R. Dallington, "Survey," p. 32.

366 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

lads and lassies stamped and danced, upon the fruit, to their
hearts' content. The first draughts of this expressed juice, which
had of course been fermenting all the time, were poured over the
richer black clusters placed carefully in the winepress, whilst the
rest of the mixture, called " il Primo Vino" was the beverage of
the well-to-do citizens. Second and third qualities were also
produced — the latter by the addition of water whence its name
" il Mezzo Vino " the drink of the common people. The wine-
press was of wood strongly though clumsily constructed, with a
big wooden screw and flat wooden slabs.

The Florentines of old were a pleasure-loving race despite the
many serious traits in their character. Nothing pleased them
more than to sit in the wine-shops after their meals, and there to
sing and dance, to wager and to drink, to their hearts' content ;
but, like sensible men, they knew when they had had enough !

The wines most in demand at these jovial scenes were Ver-
naccia, Leatico^ Trebbiano^ and Vino Santo. They were all sweet
and aromatic, and of a rich and flashing golden colour, yet not
too potent to interfere with the full enjoyment and exhilaration
of their votaries.

To this list must be added the sweet wines of Montecalcino^
Pescianico, and Verdea^ named by many writers. Carmignano^
Pomino, and Chianti were alike celebrated, — the latter grown on
the sides of the rocky hills around Siena, both red and astringent,
and white and luscious. The wine of Artimino had the character
of the claret of to-day, whilst Montepulciano, — by far the most
famous, — combined luscious flavour, with aromatic sharpness and
a remarkably brilliant purple colour. The finest blend of Tuscan
wine was that which has been held in the highest estimation for
more than four hundred years, namely: — 7/io Sangiogheto grapes,
2/10 Canaiuolo and i/io Malvasia or Trebbiano.

The amount average of wine consumed per annum in Florence
in the middle of the fourteenth century was upwards of fifty-five
thousand cogni — measures containing each ten barrels. In years
of public rejoicings the total attained to sixty-five thousand cogni.

WINE-MERCHANTS AND INN-KEEPERS 367

And wine was cheap in those days. Mazzei 1 says that he
had " heard of an entire vineyard offered for sale at sixty gold
florins ! " The wine served to the Priors during their tenure of
office cost only thirty gold florins (£l$)t a sum marking the
moderation of their Magnificences !

The extraordinary love of the Florentines for fixing and re-
gulating quantities, qualities, weights, bulks, prices, etc., descended
to the merest trifles. Nothing which could in any way be called
a marketable commodity was forgotten. The common cheap
drink of the peasantry, — clover juice, — was free in the Contado
but taxed in the city.2

The value of the Vine industry and the wealth of the Wine-
merchants were attested in a curious way in the year 1435.
During the Patronal Festival of San Giovanni Battista of the
previous year, the immense canvas and silk awnings, which had
been from early days provided by the " Guild of Calimala " to cover
over the Piazza di' San Giovanni, were almost completely de-
stroyed by fire. To assist the " Calimala " merchants to bear the
heavy expense of restoration, a decree of the Council of State
was passed on April I4th, 1435, placing, for a space of three
years, a tax on all wines sold in barrels in the Piazza del Vino.
From each year's gross yield fifty- two gold florins were to be
deducted by way of compliment to Messere Bino de' Pecori, Prior
of the Monastery of San Piero Scheraggio, and twenty-nine gold
florins in payment to the collector of the tax.

II. L'ARTE DEGLI ALBERGATORI

No symptom of the fame and prosperity of Florence as the
Mother of Commerce was more pronounced and characteristic than
the inauguration and incorporation of a Guild of " Innkeepers."

The mere hamlet needs no guest house, and the village is
satisfied with a modest house of call, but the rising town requires

1 Mazzei, i. 158, 395. 2 Perrens' " Histoire de Florence," vi. 492.

368 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

to lodge the visitors who wish to spend some time within her
walls. This was the condition of affairs created in Florence in con-
sequence of the enterprise of her travelling agents and merchants.
Wherever they went trade routes opened, and along their course,
hostelries sprang up to meet the needs of passers-by.

Reflexive action was imperative in Florence herself for the
reception and entertainment of man and beast — in the form of
foreign traders and their equipages. Embassies from other States
and cities began to visit the home of industry, intent quite as
much upon commercial aims as upon political achievements.

The origin of the " Guild of Innkeepers " is not difficult to
trace ; its actual incorporation, and its inclusion in the Hierarchy
of the Guilds of Florence, took place in the year 1282. Its style
was " Arte degli Albergatori Maggiori " — "The Guild of Greater
Innkeepers," and this is significant.

The first record, of an Innkeeper, in the Archives of Florence,
which has been preserved, appears under the date 121 1, when one
Servodeo — osste^ — Host, or Innkeeper, — is named. He was prob-
ably a superior and prosperous sort of tabernarius, — tavern-keeper,
-who opened his house specially to such visitors as came to
reside for some days at least in the city, and as we say, " catered
for a better class of custom."

Up to the year 1282, — as has been related in the history of
the " Guild of Wine Merchants," — Wine Shops for the sale of
beverages only, and Taverns for the supply of food and drink
sufficed for the needs of the city. They continued to minister to
the wants of ordinary strangers, and of citizens of the lower and
lower middle classes, whilst the landlords of the more pretentious
and roomy Inns set up for a class apart from their former fellow
Guildsmen.

Antonio Miscomini in the "Giuoccho delle Scacchi" has given a
woodcut of the Quene's Alphyns' or Judge's Paune in the person of
an Innkeeper of the fifteenth century. " For it is a man," as
William Caxton printed in his translation of 1481, "that hath
the right hande strached oute as for to calle men, and holdeth in

GUILD OF INN-KEEPERS

369

his lyfte hande a loof of brede and a cuppe of wyn, and on his
gurdelle hangythe a bondell of keyes and this resembleth the
Taverners, Hostelers and sellars of vitaylle . . . and it apperteyneth
to them for to seke and enquyre for good wyns and good vitaylle
for to gyve and selle -to the byers. It appertyneth to them to
kepe their herberowes and innes and all the thynges that they

INN-KEEPER — " DELLAUERNIERE." FIFTEENTH CENTURY

brynge in to theyr loggyuge and for to putte hyt in seure and
sauf warde and kepynge, ben represented by the keyes hangynge
on ye gurdell. . . ."

Little can be gathered from the Statutes of the Guild of any
special features in the constitution. The Statutes of 1266, — so
far as they related to the section of the " Guild of Wine-Merchants,"
to which Innkeepers belonged, — were approved in 1282. The
general revision of the Statutes of the Guilds in 1301-1309, and
the additions of 1324 and 1327, made little alteration in the

2 A

370 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

status or economy of the Guild. Revisions were also undertaken
in 1334, 1338, 1357, 1415, 1440, and 1529. There is also in
existence a Roll of Matriculations of the year 1353, but most of
the documents relating to the origin, and containing the constitu-
tions, were destroyed during the Rising of the Ciompi in 1378.
From the sources at command we are able to gather some
interesting facts, and to obtain some definite knowledge of the
working of the Guild.

It appears that Innkeepers were rather hardly dealt with in
the matter of taking out what we call licenses. The tax levied
by the State upon the Camere Locande — lodgings for strangers —
as the Inns were sometimes called, was pretty heavy. As many
as forty, fifty, and even eighty gold florins were extracted every
third year, at which period all Innkeepers were compelled to appear
before the officials of the Dogana to render up their accounts.1

Triennial tenure seems to have been the usual custom, and
any man might bid for any particular Inn, and might even outbid
the occupier, who, in such an event, was compelled to vacate his
house. This auction, for such it was, was marked by a quaint
custom, — the lighting of a candle, and, only whilst it lasted, was
it lawful to bid.

Whereas the sale of native wines was restricted to the shops
of the Wine-merchants, and to the houses of the Tavern-keepers,
Innkeepers were allowed a monoply in the import of foreign
wines, both for immediate consumption and for storage.

Strangers visiting Florence, and seeking accommodation, were
instructed, by the officials at the gates, to apply at the Offices
of the Guild, at the Canto, or corner of the Via de' Speziali.
Certain Inns were set apart for the reception of foreigners, and
others, for natives of Tuscany, living outside the city boundaries.
All these hostelries were directed to advertise their willingness to
take in visitors by exposing, in some doorway or window, a bottle
of wine.

By one of the 1357 Statutes no Innkeeper was allowed to

1 "Sir R. Dallington," "A Survey, etc.," p. 50.

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THK SHJF.I.OS BEAK I UK AKMS OK (l) FI.OHKNCK, (;) THK I'KOI'I.K. (0 THK " 1'AKTK GL'KI.FA

(4) THK Ciril.n

GUILD OF INN-KEEPERS 371

exhibit, inside or out, any other public sign than that of the
Guild arms ; and none were permitted this privilege who had not
paid all Guild dues, State taxes, and any fines, which had been,
from time to time, incurred.

Innkeepers were expressly warned not to admit on any
pretext men and women of evil fame. There were also strict rules
affecting the food and drink supplied by landlords to their guests,
for example : No host, innkeeper, cook or any one else was allowed
to cook in his house, hostelry, or kitchen, liver, sausages, kidneys,
and sweet-breads, nor to offer such for sale.1

Innkeepers were strictly warned not to sell wine or potables
of any kind to the poorer people. They were in no way to do a
rival trade to that of Wine- merchants. They might sell beverages
to guests and persons in their houses, but not to outsiders. All
wines required the stamp of the Custom-house.2

With respect to the housing of pack mules and horses, no
stables were permitted immediately under the windows of rooms
occupied by visitors. Certain streets and localities were set apart
for the purpose, for example, the Via Lontanmorte had ranges of
stables for baggage animals, and sheds for the deposit of loads.
The affluence of visitors became so great that in 1290, only eight
years after the incorporation of the Guild, there were as many as
eighty-six Innkeepers and retail Wine-merchants in Florence and
the Contado.

Games of chance were forbidden in Inns, Taverns and
Hostelries within the city and the Contado, as they were in all
places, within three hundred braccia of any public thoroughfare.

The Residence of the Consuls of the " Arte degli Albergatori
Maggiori" was situated in the Palazzo Lamberti Simonetti, in
Via de' Cavalieri, and opposite the Palazzo de' Pilli. The front
was finely carved in hard stone. The architrave had four shields
•with arms, among them the escutcheon of the Guild, — a red star on
a silver field. Within, in the Council-chamber, was a finely
painted ceiling of the fifteenth century, borne upon marble

1 Rub. ccxxii., 1415. 2 Rub. xcii., 1415.

372 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

pilasters inlaid with mosaic. Very many relics of this fine
building are preserved in the National Museum in Florence.

Among the ancient Inns which were destroyed in 1878 in the
clearing away of the Mercato Vecchio and its neighbourhood, were
the following : —

" del Cammello," near Porta Rosa, formerly the Palazzo

Soldanieri.

" della Corona," Via del Proconsolo, in the house of the
Buonafi family. In 1427 it was held by Ambrogio di
Giovanni, called " Romanello " from his affectation of
Roman manners and dishes.

" del Guanto," Via di San Romeo. This Inn was a fore*

gathering place for the workers in kid and fine leathers.

" della Marciana," at the corner of Via dell' Arciveccordo, in

a house belonging to the Pecori family.

" del Moro," Via Vacchereccia, the property of the Fantoni
family, and a famous lounge for the superior silk-
workers — the Setaiuoli Grossi.

" dell' Ossa," Via del Piazza, belonging to the Bizzini family.
" del Re," Piazza de' Macci, the property of the Macci, and

later, of the Garliani families.
" di San Luigi," corner of Via alia Paglia, appertaining to

the Marignolli family.

The families named here were all members of the " Guild of
Innkeepers," their houses were registered in the Guild books, and
they received periodical visits of inspection from the Guild officials.
In Via de' Speziali were four much frequented hostelries :—
" del Giglio," " del Cervo," " della Rondina," and " del Falcone."
Near San Martino stood the popular hostelry of " delle Bertucche,"
— the Baboons, so called from the fancy of its worthy hosts for
the rare and curious animals brought to Florence by her merchants
and their agents in foreign parts. It was too a favourite centre for
the Cerretani, — conjurers, — whose command of racy dialect and
tasty expletive was unlimited.

GUILD OF INN KEEPERS

373

A peep into any of these Inns, and into the Eating-houses,
which abounded in and near the Old Market, revealed not only a
curious array of cleanest dishes and plates and brightest pots and
pans, but discovered a great wooden and iron wheel revolving
over a steady fire. Upon its spokes and tyre hissed fowls and
ducks, pheasants and partridges, thrushes and larks, wild duck
and pigeons, and many another feathered favourite. Stuffed well

KITCHEN OF AN I NX. 1500 A.D.

with soft bread-crumbs, bits of fat pork and sage leaves, they gave
forth, as they went round, the most grateful of odours, and caused
many a watering mouth to anticipate the pleasures of the feast.

In frying-pans Polenta, — is frying in oil, Migliaccio, — chestnut
and millet pudding, — is turning a rich golden brown, and Fritto
mistO) — that mystic agglomeration of tasty bits and toothsome
scraps, — is scenting the air.

Risoto con regalia — perhaps Englished by " Hash " — using up
odds and ends of chickens' livers, cocks' combs, oyster bones and

374 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

the like delicious trifles, ever a favourite with all classes, offers-
irresistible attractions !

Yes, there was good eating to be had for the paying, almost
anywhere in the Mercato Vecchio, although the grimy-looking
basements and dark cavernous chambers were not quite inviting.
If you would, you might sniff the grateful incense of stuffed
boar's-head, and well-larded venison as you passed the open
doorways.

Supper clubs were always the rage in old Florence and none
maintained their popularity with greater brilliancy than the
" Societa delle Cene poetiche " — " the Poetical Supper Society."
Associates of the Club observed two primary rules : — I . The Bill
of Fare was a nightly competition in smart poetic quips ; 2. Each
member, in turn, was responsible for the ordering of the supper.
The convivial meetings of this club were held at Fico's Osteria
or Tavern in the Mercato Vecchio. The ground landlord was of
the family of Adimari, who also owned another well-known
Inn in the Old Market, which went by the name of "del
Porco " — perhaps " Wild-boar " — and which was worthy of its
designation by reason of the excellence of its Risoto and the
cunning delicacy of its Salame. No Osteria had anything like so-
numerous a clientele of artists and young bloods. And no
habitue was more jovial and more brilliant than Sandro Botticelli,
the leader of a merry crew of artists and good fellows.

The window-sills of Fico's, and the doorway used to be
decorated with dishag of Fritti, — fried meats, — and small birds on
spits. Inside were large open fires for grilling and frizzling.
Salame and figs usually did duty as hors-d'ceuvre. The favourite
fish was Tzncke, from the marshes, fried in oil with rosemary
leaves, but Arnotti, — a river fish, — served in vinegar, ran it very
close for first honours.

Thrushes, when in season, stuffed with sage and bread, were
always very acceptable ; but Beccafichi, — fig-pickers, — stuffed with
mushrooms and toast, was quite the most popular " bird."

The wine most in demand at Fico's was Malvasia, hence the

GUILD OF INN-KEEPERS 375

Tavern was also known as " Osteria della Malvasia." A great
specialty was Macciana or Maccheroni — crisp macaroons, which
went very well with the favourite beverage.

Andrea del Sarto, "Andrea senza errore" as his title runs,
had another side to his character. He belonged to the cele-
brated artists' club called, " Societa del Calderai" — " Society
of the Cauldrons," — whose members excelled in modelling in wax
and chiselling in stone, comestibles of every sort and kind after
the -manner of a modern Italian chefs highly decorative sugar con-
fectionery !

" La Cena Fiorentma" " The Florence Supper," became a
proverb, so vastly grew the fame of her cooks and the joviality
of her guests. In 1388 no cuisine in all Italy was anything like
so famous, for not only did her dinners and her suppers surpass
all others, but her delicious confitures and her tasty snacks
between meals, washed down with delicate and luscious wine, both
red and white, recalled the historic days of the Greek epicures.

Nothing pleased the successful members of the Guilds more
than to sit in their Loggie giving on the Market, or on the
streets, and invite their friends to join them in discussing light
refreshments for the admiration of the passers-by. For more
substantial repasts the custom was to adjourn to some well-
known Inn, and then to feast upon the good things served up
by the worthy landlord.

By 1472 a rage for costly banquets had set in, both public
and private. These functions were marked by extravagance and
luxury before which the notable entertainments of the noble and
wealthy Romans almost paled. Arrayed in richest garments,
and adorned with precious stones and gold, the magnates of
the city reclined upon softest silk and fur. Waited upon by
small armies of gaily liveried attendants, both white and coloured,
each great man vied with his neighbour in the magnificence of
his hospitalities, and the literary and poetic culture of his guests.

Such festivities culminated in the public Festivals of Christ-
mas, Easter, Pentecost, and the Patronal Feast of San Giovanni

376 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

Battista. Each Guild had its Commemoration with its pro-
cession, its games, its music, and its banquets. Rich men too
were wont to show off their wealth by ostentatious entertainment
of their poorer brethren. These celebrations were usually held
in connection with Marriage-feasts, and the like, and were
undertaken by some well-known Innkeeper, whose cook was
famed for his culinary skill.

A goose baked in the oven, and stuffed with garlic and
quince, was an exquisite dish in the days of Francesco Sacchetti.1
The same racy author relates that, at a supper given by the Gon-
faloniere, in his Palace, to a celebrated physician, the first dish
brought to table was a calf s belly, followed by boiled partridges
and stewed sardines. Chichibio, cook to the Gianfigliazzi family,
according to Boccaccio, served his master with a roasted crane.2
Leeks were ordered as a special dish by the Constitutions of the
Chapter of San Lorenzo, when the Canons were in residence.
Sweet tarts were served with the roast and counted as a single
dish. Saffron was an ordinary condiment both in soup and
other dishes. As an appetiser Liverwort was eaten first.3 Soup
was flavoured with marjoram and other herbs. Kid was served
boiled in white wine. On great occasions boiled peacock, with
the feathers on, was displayed but not eaten, and wine and fruit
jellies coloured and moulded into shapes was a dish of honour.4

The salaries, or fees, payable to cooks varied with the occa-
sion which demanded their services. For a banquet at the
Investiture of Knighthood — two gold florins ; for a Wedding-
breakfast — one gold florin ; for a repast of twelve covers — twenty
to thirty soldiy and so on.5

III. L'ARTE DE' GALIGAI

The history and practice of Tanning and Currying leather
marches hand in hand with the records of the " Skinners and

1 F. Sacchetti, "Nov." 185. * Boccaccio, "Nov." 8.

3 L'Osservatore Florentine, vol. vi. p. 108. 4 Firenzuola, "Nov." 8.

5 Rub. ccxvi., 1415.

GUILD OF TANNERS 377

Furriers." The mediaeval wearing of skins and furs, both by
warring robbers from the north, and by peaceful inhabitants of
Tuscan lands, called forth early enterprise to render such primitive
coverings strong and durable.

Together with prolific animal life — wild and tame — there
flourished on the hillsides great groves of lordly oaks, whilst in
the marshy lands, and by the river sedges, grew patches of the
humble mallow. Oak-bark and the ruddy robbia furnished, ready
to hand, the basis of tanning and of dyeing. It needed but the
awakening intelligences of the dwellers by the banks of Arno,
and on the Fiesolan hills, to co-apply these natural riches in the
production of the very useful and the very profitable leather
industry.

In the absence of earlier records, we must hail one, Paganuccio^
who under date 1098, is called in the Archives of the State,
— " Galligario " — " Tanner," as the father of the Leather workers
of Florence, and this appears to be the first mention of the
industry.

In the Roll of the Guilds of the year 1236, the " Arte dei
Cuoiai e Caltgai" — " Leather-dressers and Tanners," — is placed
eleventh, and consequently fourth in the order of the Lesser
Guilds. In a Latin document, dated August 9th, 1245, mention
is made of a Society of Tanners under the designation of " Filii
Galigai"

The Archives of Florence record a meeting held on December
iith, 1276, in the church of SS. Apostoli, at which forty-two
tanners were present — all inhabitants of \h&popoli of SS. Apostoli.
The business transacted was the nomination, by the Rettori, —
Rectors, — of a Syndic, " who shall take up a loan on behalf of
the Guild, in order to pay the tax levied that year upon the
members of the Guild, and also to meet the general expenses of
the Guild." The latter included salaries of officials, hire of pre-
mises for Guild purposes, river freight-dues, and various other
items. Provision was also made, at the same meeting, for the
" rent of the Residence of the Rectors, or Consuls, and of certain

378 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

workshops and a leather warehouse." At the same time agree-
ments were come to, whereby members of the Guild might purchase
materials required in the exercise of their industry, at two per
cent, discount off retail prices.

The revision of the Title and Statutes of the Guilds in 1282
considerably altered the former, and confirmed the latter. The
style " Cuoiai e Caligai" disappears, and instead we have "L'Arte
dei Galigai Grossi" — "The Guild of Master-Tanners." The
Guild moreover is now placed sixteenth in the order of pre-
cedence. Why this degradation was accomplished no one can
say, possibly the increasing prosperity of the city affected more
favourably the " Masters of Stone and Wood," " the Retail Cloth-
Drapers and Haberdashers," "the Wine-Merchants," "the Inn-
keepers " and " the Salt- Merchants — or General Provision Dealers,"
— all five Guilds being scheduled before the Tanners.

In the fourteenth century no alteration in the position of the
Guild was effected. A minor Corporation, probably affiliated to
the " Arte de' Galigai" came into existence in 1327, called
" Compagnia de Vaginari" — Company of Scabbard-makers. Of
the three operative Guilds, formed at the Rising of the Ciompi, in
1378, the third was made up of "Sheep-shearers," " Patchers of
Skins and Hides," and " Sandal-makers," in addition to other minor
Crafts, all of which had relations with the " Guild of Tanners."

The Order of the Guilds in 1415 raised the " Arte de Galigai"
one step in precedence over the " Salt- Merchants," who henceforth
were styled the "Arte degli Oliandoli" — "Oil-merchants." At
the final grouping of the Lesser Guilds, in the year 1534, when
four " Universities " were created, the second of them included
" Calzolai" " Galigai" and " Coreggiai" and bore the title of
" Universita de' Maestri di Cuoiame " — the " University of
Masters of Leather."

The " Tanners " doubtless had all along dealings with
" Skinners and Furriers," " Shoemakers," and " Saddlers," but
apparently no details have been preserved of such intercourse.

GUILD OF TANNERS 379

From the scrappy references to the " Guild of Tanners," in the
Archives of Florence, and in consequence of the wholesale destruc-
tion of documents during the Ciompi riots, and other city tumults,
very little information can be gathered of the Constitution of the
Guild. Among the Archives, however, is a Roll of Matriculation for
the year 1320, which gives little information beyond a record of
names. That there were earlier codes and rolls than the above
is obvious, but probably no complete set of Statutes was put out
until after the General Revision of 1301-1309.

The title of Consul was not bestowed upon the chief officer of
the Guild until the fourteenth century, before which period he was
merely called " Capitudo " or " Head." His Residence was in the
Via delle Torre, near the Buondelmonti tower, where the armorial
bearings of the Guild were carved, — a white field divided by a
broad red stripe, — the same device appearing on the Guild gonfalon.

The Sensali, — agents, — numbered four, and were practical and
experienced workers in leather of every description. They were
appointed by the Consuls and held office for a year. They fixed
the price of skins, hides, leather in the rough, and also the rates
for tanning, dressing, etc., and kept registers of all workpeople
employed by the Guild. They received a percentage upon all
imports of skins and hides, — for each hundred pairs of skins and
hides from India, Greece, England and Norway, seven lire, — for
each roll of leather dressed abroad one lire, and so on. The
consignments were made to the Sensali, and by them distributed
to the various tanners and dressers.1

No tanner, currier, or scrap-leather dealer, was allowed to offer
for sale hides of oxen, cows, and other large animals, within the
city and Contado unless they had been soaked in brine and cold
water for eight months, or for at least three months in hot water.
The fine for infraction was two hundred lire?

All such persons were warned against currying hides with
cinders or ash, or treating leather to any tanning mixture which
would become a nuisance to the neighbourhood. Leather could

1 Rub. Ixxv., 1415. 2 Rub. Ixxvi., 1415.

380 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

not be sold in the market, or at the tanyards, which was not per-
fectly dry, and well cured, and free from putrefaction, under risk
of fines of not less than one hundred lire.1

Tanners and scrap-leather dealers were forbidden to burn the
hoofs and horns of cattle, and the hard corns upon horse skins
and cow hides for use in the process of currying.2

All workers in leather were forbidden to work in secret.
Every tanyard and dresser's shop was inspected from time to time.
Stringent regulations were in force dealing with offal and other
unsavoury and insanitary matters. Cuttings and rubbish were
ordered to be burnt or removed. The skinning of dead carcasses
was not permitted within the city, and the limits were constantly
enlarged wherein such prohibition held good, until, in the six-
teenth century, no Beccai^ — slaughterer-skinner, — was allowed to
exercise his calling within a radius of ten miles from the Palazzo
Vecchio.3

The ordinary outfit of a " Tanner " and " Currier " cost the
rather considerable sum of eighteen gold florins ; probably this
sum included expenses incurred through the distance of the scene
of operations.

' The methods of the Florentine Tanners would seem to have
been much as follows : The raw hides were first salted to check
putrefaction, and limed in weak lime liquor and brought to a
suitable condition for dishairing and fleshing, within somewhere
about three months. Then they were placed between layers of
coarsely ground oak bark in pits until full, when a thick topping
of bark was put over them. No water or any other kind of liquid
was allowed to get into the pits. These packs were taken up
and reversed several times, fresh oak bark being introduced.
This kind of tanning occupied somewhere about eighteen
months.

/ Oak-bark was the only tanning medium used in early days,
and of it there was no limit in the supply. All around Florence
were thick forests of oak trees, which not only provided the

1 Rub. ccxxvii., 1415. 2 Rub. Ixxviii., 1415. 8 Cantini, xi. pp. 106, 107.

GUILD OF TANNERS 381

u Galigai" with their material, but also fed the fires and furnaces
of all the houses and workshops in the city and Contado.

Quick-witted Tanners however disregarded the rule about
the introduction of water, and, knowing the virtues of the Arno,
they freely used douches, and were able to secure rapid absorption
of tannin by the skins.

The next process was " handling," in which the hides were
transferred to larger pits, and then turned over every day in a
liquid or ooze made of oak-bark. This process lasted five or six
weeks. In later times robbia and other dyes in liquid form were
introduced in the Tanning process, so as thoroughly to saturate
the skins which it was wished to finish coloured or dyed. For the
last manipulation the skins were hung over big wooden bars im-
mersed in the tanning-dyeing medium.

The drying process was the most difficult and uncertain, so
far as the looked-for result was concerned. Too rapid action led
to discoloration and cracking, whilst a slow method made for
moulding and unevenness. The drying shed was a wooden
building, provided with many openings at the sides, to admit of
currents of air, but excluding the direct rays of the sun.

The usual test of dryness was the holding of a mirror, or some
other highly polished object, close to the hanging skin — if moisture
was condensed upon the bright surface the Tanner knew the piece
was not ready, and vice versa.

Foreign tanned and curried skins and hides were imported to
make shoe-soles and sandals, but were treated, by the Florentine
Tanners, with baths of brine and oak. Sometimes to get a
quicker market they limited the period of re-soaking but thereby-
incurred fines and penalties.

j An important and profitable branch of the currying industry
was the preparation of parchment. Up to 1209 its use for
writing was confined to the Monasteries and to Notaries, but
thenceforward the sale was thrown open to the public. Good
sheets were usually rare and costly, but in Florence the same
address which characterised her sons' skill in other industries was

382 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

not wanting in the production of superior quality and in a
sufficiency of supply.

White parchment, smooth and nearly transparent, was best
suited for fine penmanship, and it took the overlay of gold and
silver better than skins which had been stained yellow or purple.
Only the very finest quality of kid skin was used for this purpose,
whilst other descriptions were rendered for more general and
rougher purposes — for example, the binding of books.

The market prices were moderate, hence the number of
Zibaldoni and other private diaries, as well as public records and
business journals. The " Cartolai" or Stationers — were a trade
corporation affiliated to the " Guild of Doctors and Apothecaries " ;
they retailed the produce of the parchment-makers, and always
appear to have had a large stock on hand, from which they
exported prepared skins to every European country.

Bookbinding was an important section of the leather industry,
but whether it was undertaken by the " Guild of Tanners " or by
that of " Saddlers " or by an association of leather workers employed
by the " Guild of Doctors and Apothecaries," or by all three
separately, no one can say. Anyhow the skill possessed by the
Florentine workers and stampers of leather could not have been
turned to better account, and, from the first, Florentine books were
turned out in peculiarly attractive forms.

The most common bindings were of white smoothly dressed
sheepskin and polished vellum, either perfectly plain or with orna-
mental markings in black ink and gold. Tooling leather covers
for books, — that is to say the art of impressing small dies in
a running or connecting pattern, — undoubtedly originated in
Florence. Rich skins, — often enough with the fur retained and
closely clipped, — were used and associated with clamps of silver
and copper. About the middle of the sixteenth century books
were — as an old rhymer has it : —

" Full goodly bound in leather coverture,
Or of satin damask, or else of velvet pure."

Tommaso Maioli, of Florence, was a famous book-collector,

GUILD OF TANNERS 383

who stamped his treasures " // Maioli et Amicorum" His style
of binding set the fashion of the day for delicacy and richness of
material and workmanship. His favourite material was the finest
white kid, with gold enrichments. His chaste manner however
soon gave way to an almost embarrassing richness of decorative
detail, so that Florentine books of the sixteenth century are
remarkable for the variety and elaboration of their bindings.
Wood, silver, ivory, parchment, enamelled plaques, papier-mache,
embroidered textures, and every possible material, was put under
contribution, and enrichments of pearls, precious stones, and gold-
work were added.

It would of course be quite impossible to describe at length
the various uses to which the skilful Florentine Tanners put the
leather they manipulated. They produced in short the whole of
the base-material which formed the industries of such indispensable
craftsmen as Shoemakers, Saddlers, Bookbinders, Shieldmakers,
Wall-hangers, Chair-upholsterers, etc. etc. Painters, Modellers,
Bas-relief workers, and many other artistic artificers looked to the
Tanners for the substance upon which to place their beautiful
workmanship.

Quite a speciality of the leather-workers' trade was the ren-
dering of the hides of various animals, by repeated soakings and
boilings in the tan pits, soft and malleable for mouldings. Cuoio-
2esso} — boiled leather, — as it is called, was shaped by pressure,
when damp, and then upon, and in, its surface were stamped and
cut ornaments of all kinds, both in high and low relief, after the
manner of wood-carving. This decorative process was called
41 block stamping."

Articles in leather so treated were usually stained black or
rich dark madder-brown, and examples are to be found in every
collection of Art Treasures, in the various shapes of: — Bellows,
book-backs, chair-backs and seats, writing-cases, picture-frames,
door-panels, wall-friezes and hangings, pouches and bags, boxes of
all kinds, etc. etc. Cuoio-lesso was employed in the thirteenth
and fourteenth centuries by the fitters of suits of armour, as elbow,

384

THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

knee, and loin guards. Thanks to this fashion very many most
valuable documents have been preserved in their ornamental
leather cylindrical cases.

The Guild continued its successful career far on into the
sixteenth century; but, inasmuch as Francis I. of France and
other royal patrons encouraged workmen to settle in their
dominions, Florentine Tanners and Leather-dressers were amongst
those who found homes in foreign lands, and, thus, uniting with
native workers, carried on their industry, whilst in consequence
Florence was the poorer.

I. " Stemma deir Arte
de1 Vinattieri"

Blue cup in a white
field

2. * * Stemma delP Arte degli
Albergatori "

Gold star upon a silver
field

3. Stemma delf Arte
de* Galigai"

A red stripe upon a
white field

CHAPTER XIII

THE GUILDS OF OIL - MERCHANTS AND GENERAL
PROVISION DEALERS, OF SADDLERS, AND OF
LOCKSMITHS

LE ARTI DEGLI OLIANDOLI E PIZZICAGNOLI, E DP COREGGIAI
E DE CHIAVAIUOLl

I. OIL MERCHANTS. — Tuscany an agricultural country. Land-tenure.
Mezseria. " Share-and-share alike." The Mezzadro and his Podere. Sir
Richard Dallington's comments upon the soil, etc. Farm labourers. Cattle.
Crops. Sheep. Poultry. Silk-cocoons. Fruit. Vegetables. Fine physique
of peasantry. Leonardo da Vinci's models. "David." Contadinc. Luca
della Robbia's models. Happy people. Cantastorie. Cultivation of the olive.
La Mosca olearia. Fattori. Sales of land. The Guild of Oil-merchants
essentially the Guild of the country people. Many small dealers. Early sales-
men. Importance of pork and salt. Biadaiuoli join the Guild. Shops in the
Mercato Vecchio. Standard weights and measures. Limitations of sales.
Unlicensed persons fined and imprisoned. Women beaten ! Sunday closing.
No loiterers allowed. Perfect wholesomeness of comestibles. Fines. Risks
from fire. Straw and fire-wood. Bargemen of the Arno. List of saleable
articles at the shops. Cheese of Lucardo. Custom dues on imports. No
goose ! Monopoly of salt. Italian warehousemen of to-day.

II. SADDLERS. — Horsemanship. Agnolo Pandolfini. Duke Federigo's
broken nose ! // Cortigiano. Giostre — Games. " To win one's spurs." Saddles,
Harness, Stirrups, Scabbards, Shields, etc. Brunette Latini " On Horses."
Jobbers and Horse-dealers. Pack-animals. Many Crafts affiliated to the
Guild. Six classes of members. Imitation pig-skin. Kinds of shields.
Scarselle, — Pouches. The " Guild of Painters " and good workmanship.

III. LOCKSMITHS. — An ancient Craft. Diversarium artium Schedula.
Early Florentine craftsmen. Affiliated trades. Scrap-iron. Engravers in copper.
Ill-written and ill-spelled documents. Tests of skill required before admission
to the Guild. Early prosperity. Fashionable trifles. Cardinal Wolsey's horse-
harness. Sunny skies affect workmanship. Wax models. Fine bronze-work.
Famous " Masters of metal." Damascening. Rich cabinets. Benvenuto
Cellini. Embossing. Francesco del Prato. Artistic tools. Salve!

I. L'ARTE DEGLI OLIANDOLI E PIZZICAGNOLI
" T A Toscana e regione eminentemento agricola " — " Tuscany is
pre-eminently an agricultural country," — was a well-worn
axiom erstwhile the civilisation of the Renaissance dawned upon
the fruitful Vale of Arno.

2 B 3*s

386 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

The form of land tenure in Tuscany during the period of the
Renaissance, and that still largely in vogue, was the Mezzeria —
" share and share alike." It was the outcome of the Feudal
system, and preserved many of its features. Each estate was
divided into so many/ft&FVj or fields, averaging between thirty and
forty acres. Half the produce went to the landlord and half
was retained by the Mezzadro — peasant-farmer. There was
however a tacit understanding that the year's harvest was split
into three portions, one of which was always kept out of the
reckoning !

The Mezzadro held his land by a contract with the landlord,
which, although nominally only binding for a year, or from year
to year, was treated practically as a life-interest, and commonly
passed on from father to son.

Sir Richard Dallington speaking of the sterility of the soil
of Tuscany, and of the extraordinary patience and diligence
of the peasantry in cultivating " fruites, herbages, and graine,"
says l : — " The nature of the soile is generally light and sandy.
But by reason of the cities and great towns neare, and the
number of the people it is much forced, and made more fruitful.
For there are those who all their life-time doe nothing but
with their asse go up and downe the cities, gathering up the
dung in the streets, and carrying it to the land of those with
whom they have bargained." He also refers to the system of the
divisions of the poderi, and says : — " The country man will stirre
of them eighteen with his two yoke of oxen, — the one yoke
feeding while the other laboureth, — in one day. He hath for his
labour foure crazie apiece, which is three halfpence sterling, so
that he and his beasts earne som foure shillings, sixpence sterling
the day. . . ."

The same old chronicler goes on to say : — " On the hill sides
they grow acorns, olives and chestnuts, for acorns," he continues,
" they eat, and so do their pigs. Olives they eat not, but crush
them to export the oil, chestnuts are the countryman's bread as

1 " Survey of the Estate of the Great Duke," pp. 30-36.

GENERAL PROVISION DEALERS 387

•water is his drink." He remarks also that Florentines appeared
to be excessively fond of green-stuff, and says : — " Herbage is the
most generall food of the Tuscans, at whose tables a sallet is as
ordinary as salt is at ours." Figs too formed, in the fifteenth
and sixteenth centuries, a profitable source of revenue to the culti-
vator ; the best kinds were called " Brugiotti?

Expenses necessary for the upkeep of the farm-buildings, and
for the plantation of trees, were met by the landlord, who also was
part owner of the spans of oxen used on the podere^ and in
addition paid the taxes upon the land. On the other hand,
labour, which was beyond the strength of the mezzadro, was paid
for by him, such payment generally consisting simply of board
and lodging. The mezzadrrfs usual helpers were his younger
brothers and his sons, who lived somewhat hugger-mugger in the
farmhouse. Hired labourers were at a discount, as they were
usually townsmen out of work, or spare hands who bore doubtful
reputations.

Upon each/0dkr£ were a roomy labourer farmer's cottage, a
stable and yard for cattle, a shed for fodder, a vat-house for
grapes, and an oil-press, all of which were the property of the
landlord.

The mezzadro knew exactly the capabilities of each portion of
his holding, and understood all about the proper rotation of crops.
His principal objects of cultivation were vines, olives, wheat, beans,
.and millet for forage, which kept him pretty busy the year
through. Mulberry-trees, chestnuts, and oaks, with flax, hemp,
fruit, and vegetables claimed also his care and labour.

Whilst he looked after his pigs his spouse minded the poultry,
.and she too made the butter and the cheese, and grew her flowers
.and sweet herbs, and other items, for the market. To her was
assigned the care of the bees and the rendering of the honey.
Many a goodwife had, besides, her trays and drawers of silkworms
.and silk-cocoons, under the patronage of the " Guild of Silk," and
she also spent much of her time in spinning flax, plaiting straw,
and in assisting her husband to make wicker baskets.

388 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

The breeding of cattle and of sheep, only indirectly, formed
part of the peasant-farmer's occupation, for, generally speaking,,
in the neighbourhood of Florence, the herds and flocks, were the
property and business of the Beccai, — wholesale breeders and
butchers, — and chiefly ranged almost wild through the Maremma,
the low lands by the seaside. Horses, however, and mules and
goats, claimed the attention of the mezzadro, along with his oxen
and his dogs — the latter he used to watch his crops and his stock,,
and to give notice of intruders.

The Tuscan peasants were a fine well-developed race with
handsome brown faces and intelligent expressions. The vigour
begotten of healthy open-air life and constant toil and exercise
conduced to sobriety, and simplicity, which made for natural
courtesy of manner.

The " David " of Donatello, — the first nude bronze of the
Renaissance, — represents truthfully the peasant-boy of Tuscany
just budding into manhood. It was characterised by Leonardo
da Vinci as a " perfect figure." Michael Angelo's " David " was
modelled from just such a youth, alert and conscious of strength
and fine condition. Many handsome farm lads like the shepherd
boy of Israel found their way daily into Florence with market
produce. The two statues are quite typical of the race to which
the young peasants belonged.

Leonardo, himself a son of the soil, was possessed of immense
physical strength and high spirits. He used to go out into the
poderi and chat with the farm-labourers. Nothing pleased him
more than to make well formed youths jump, wrestle, and climb
trees, that he might behold their muscular charms, and transfer
their bodily perfection to his pictures. In 1506 he painted a
comely young man, seated upon a grassy mound, his head crowned
with vine leaves. The form is purely Florentine, and the physical
beauty of every part indicates the fine qualities of the Tuscan
peasant. The picture is entitled " Saint John Baptist," but it is
more truly a representation of a trimmer of vines and a presser of
olives — a Renaissance "Bacchus"!

GENERAL PRO\7ISION DEALERS 389

The great Florentine was also in his element when telling
groups of lounging peasants ridiculous stories, which convulsed
them with laughter, for then he swiftly sketched their attitudes
and expressions.

And if these great artists have preserved to us the traits of
manly character and vigour, the Delia Robbia, Raphael, and
Andrea del Sarto, and many more beside, have given us the
no less striking charms of the contadine, old and young. The
terra-cottas of Luca Delia Robbia, in particular, reproduce faith-
fully the two types of the women of the Renaissance. Stateliness
of carriage and solemnity of manner are characteristic of the silent
country-life of the hills, where the drama of nature is ever being
enacted. In the other type, the abandon of town life in the valley
where all is gay and busy lends assurance to the bearing. The
*' Madonna and Child " of the Via dell' Agnolo is at once the
true representation of a healthy, radiant peasant woman and her
babe, and the symbol of the intelligence of the Renaissance.

The peasants of the Contado and beyond were happy people,
and beguiled the monotony of their daily toil with jests and songs.1
As soon as one ended what he knew, another burst forth with the
melody, each vieing with his neighbour in friendly rivalry. Who-
ever could sing the most songs was acclaimed the leader. Parties
of songsters were wont to frequent the fairs and public games, and
exhibit their vocal powers, getting for their recompense many a
flowing bowl of good red wine, and a supper fit for a king, at one
or other of the hospitable hostelries ! These popular ditties were
known by the name of " Cantastorie" and none went with a better
swing than those which they sang on May mornings.

Something of what a country-man looked like in the fifteenth
century may be seen in a woodcut of the Rooke's Paune in Jacopo
de Cessolis* " Giuoccho delle Scacchi" " This manner of people," he
says, " is figured ... in the shape of a man holdynge in his
right hand a spade or shovell, and a rodde in the left hand. The
spade or shovell is for to delve and labour therewith the earth, and

1 " Italian Folk-Lore Songs."

390

THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

the rodde is for to dryve or conduycte with all the bestes into the
pastures. Also he ought to have in his gyrdell a crokyd hachet
for to cutte of the superfluytees of the vignes and trees. . . . "
The cultivation of the olive-tree was a very important branch
of country life. Planting, irrigating, pruning, and shaking, called
for constant attentions, for no tree is more fickle in the matter of

TIR^

" DKLLAVORATORE" — FARM LABOURER. FIFTEENTH CENTURY

bearing. The oliveyards of Tuscany vied with the vineyards
in area under cultivation. Wealthy citizens owned scores and
hundreds of trees, whilst the humblest contadino had his two or
three.

Agricultural ways are slow to change, for, in the present day,
the methods of shaking and collecting the dark purple-green
fruit are exactly those of five hundred years ago. Big canvas
sheets are spread upon the ground under each tree, into which
nimble youths climb armed with long thin sticks to shake gently
each branch and cluster, so that the berries shall not be injured

GENERAL PROVISION DEALERS 391

by their fall. The value in ordinary years of the yield of each
tree-beating averaged ten to twelve gold florins, equal to £5 or
£6 of our money.

Tuscan oliveyards were always more or less troubled by
visitations of the dreaded Mosca olearia, the olive pest. Expedients
of many kinds were employed year after year to check its ravages,
which sometimes caused the entire failure of the crop, and more-
over weakened the tree for future bearings.

The methods employed for the extraction of the oil were
pretty much those now in use all over Italy. Each podere had
its olive-press and clearing-mill, — generally lumbering construc-
tions of wood and iron, — which were worked both by hand and
by ox-power. The price of good average olive-oil in the fifteenth
century was six lire ten soldi a barrel — equal to one-half a pack-
mule or ass burden. The best oil was produced at Lucca, Calci
and Buti to the north of Florence.

That there was an ample and constant supply of fruit of all
kinds for consumption in Florence, is borne out by the character-
istic summary which Buonaccorso Pitti gives in his " Chronicle " of
the fruit trees in his garden. He says : " On the twenty-fourth
of April in the year 1419, being my natal day, I counted all the
fruit trees in my garden and vineyard, and found that, exclusive of
hazel-nuts, they amounted to five hundred and sixty-one, of fig
trees — sixty four, of peaches — one hundred and six, of plums —
eighty, of cherry trees — fifty-eight, of almond-trees — twenty-four,
of apples — twenty five, and of pears — sixteen. There are besides
six orange trees, seven pomegranates, two quinces, four walnuts,
and nine Amarini — bitter cherry. In addition to sixty olive trees
in full bearing there are a great many more fruit trees of all kinds,
which have not yet borne any crop, but maybe they will if the
drought does not trouble them." *

The Fattore — bailiff — was the owner's agent, and superintended
the working of the different poderi^ and rendered his master a
bi-annual account. These men were sometimes cruel to the

1 "Cronica," p. 112.

392

THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

mezzadrt, and not always too honest in their relations with the
landlord ; but, generally speaking, they were conspicuous for
fairness and discrimination in their dealings. Many of them,
after serving a lengthy stewardship on the land and having
acquired some considerable property, settled in the city, and
became Wine-merchants, General provision dealers and Innkeepers.

OLIVE PRESS — END OF SIXTEENTH CENTURY

Indeed it was no uncommon custom for a Fattore to be matri-
culated in one of the Arti, " de Vinattieri? " degli Oliandoli?
or " degli Albergalori " ; and this spread to the better- to-do
mezzadri) who thus were able to carry on the combined trade
of growers and salesmen.

Some idea of the conditions of property, and of the relations
between landlord and tenant, may be gained from the example
of Guido del Antella, who has been already named in this book.
That he was a man of means is shown by the fact of his letting
certain premises for shops. One of these had a rental of fifteen

GENERAL PROVISION DEALERS 393

gold florins a year, with "a fat goose at the Feast of All
Saints each year according," as he is careful to add, " to the
feudal custom." In 1379 he let a piece of land, — or podere, — on
condition that the tenant should yield him at Christmas, one
hundred and fifty pounds weight of pork, with a couple of capons,
and five dozen eggs ; and at Easter, a couple of capons and five
dozen eggs. In addition the farmer was bound to deliver by his
waggon the portions of wheat, oats, and oil, and half the portion of
wine which were his due as proprietor. The farmer too had to
tend certain vines belonging to his landlord, and had to break in
each year two span of oxen which he had to part-purchase.

Sales of land were generally effected at Or San Michele
where a number of Agremensori — Surveyors — were in daily attend-
ance. Their fee was one gold florin for each sale effected, with
what we now call a stamp-duty of nine soldi.

This Guild, — the eighth in the order of Precedence among the
fourteen Lesser Guilds, — was essentially the Guild of the Market
people. Under its white banner, charged with the singularly
appropriate arms of the Guild, — a red lion gardant under a green
tree, — were ranged not only lordly growers of olive trees, owners
of fruitful orchards, makers of country cheese, and sportsmen
keen after game, but every sort and kind of great and small
dealers in the numberless necessaries of daily life.

The Guild provided a common union of persons occupied in
avocations of an agricultural character, just in the same way as the
" Arte de* Rigattieri" furnished a comprehensive Corporation for
citizens engaged in small industrial pursuits.

The precise date of the first enrolment of the " Arle degli
Oliandoli e Pizzicagnoli" is, as with most of the other Guilds,
absolutely uncertain. Early records have disappeared, and the
first historical notices of the existence of some of the trades,
united in the Guild, appear to be as follows : —

" 1 02 1. Florentius — -paliarius — Straw-seller."

" 1084. Bonus / Johannes — baro (for barullo) — Hawker."

394 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

" 1104. Bonizo — olearius — Oil-merchant."
" 1 139. Lupaccia — lo tricco — Fruit and Vegetable-dealer."
" 1 1 88. Arizito — piezicario — Victualler."
" 1191. Ugolinus — granario — Corn-chandler."
" I 2 1 1 . Ispenallo — kasciajuto — Cheese-monger."
In the first list of the Guilds, that of the year 1236, the
"Arte degli Oliandoli e Pizzicagnoli" is placed fifteenth. The
revision of 1266 preserved the same order, but gave to the
" Guild of Oil- Merchants and General Provision Dealers " suitable
armorial bearings.

The list of Guilds, made in 1282, makes no mention of the
" Arte degli Oliandoli e Pizzicagnoli" but instead we see, in the
fifteenth position, the "Arte dei Venditori del Sale" — "the Guild
of Salt-merchants." This was still the designation of the Guild in
1295, in which year the " Guild of Salt " is named in the Archives.
The reason may be found in the fact, that as the city grew in
population, so grew in estimation the merchants and dealers whose
business relations were of the greatest value to the citizens.

At the reformation and rearrangement of the Guilds in 1415
the fifteenth place was taken by the "Arte de* Galigai" "the
" Guild of Tanners " and the " Guild of Oil-Merchants and General
Provision Dealers " was put sixteenth. Why this loss of pre-
cedence was effected it is impossible to say, anyhow the Tanners
maintained their superiority till the very break-up of the Guilds in
the sixteenth century.

There is an entry in the Archives of the Mercanzia dated
1328, of judgment delivered against a certain Granaiuolo — grain-
merchant of the " Guild of Bakers," and in favour of the Consuls of
the " Guild of Oil-merchants." The title of the Guild is given
in full, and it includes a variety of curiously linked industries :
Biadaiuoli — Corn-chandlers, Casciaiuoli — Cheese-factors, Bicchierai
— Glass-blowers, Funai — Twine-pullers, and Saponai — Soap-
boilers. In 1380 the Biadaiuoli threw in their lot with the
Oliandoli and ceased to be a separate association.

Although no special proofs are at hand to show, there can be

CORN-CHANDLER AND BAKER

NOTE '.—THE CIRCULAR FESTIVAL CAKES

GENERAL PROVISION DEALERS 395

no doubt that the " Guild of Oil-Merchants and General Provision
Dealers " followed the example of the Crafts in the adoption of
the Statutes of the " Calimala " of I 301-1 309, with certain adjust-
ments to circumstances, as a code of moral and commercial
procedure.

Early memorials and acts of Consuls or Councils have
perished, consequently we cannot discover the exact number, or
the duties, of the various officers, nor indeed can we obtain a
complete list of all the trades and callings which were allied under
the banner of the Guild.

That the chief officials had the rank at all events ultimately
of Consul is perhaps shown by the fact of their Residence being
situated in the basement of the Palazzo de' Lamberti, the upper
part of which edifice was occupied by the Consuls and Courts of
the " Guild of Doctors and Apothecaries." It is however of
special interest to record that Savonarola established his famous
''Monte di Pieta" in the same basement which also bore the
name of " La Casa di Pzgli" — as a set-off to the exactions and
rapacity of the Jewish money-lenders.

Happily the Statutes of 1415 have been preserved, and in
them we see ample evidence of the importance, prosperity, and
admirable government of the members of the Guild.1 The fol-
lowing are some of the interesting items which may be gathered
from a perusal of the three portly volumes.

All Provision dealers, whether members of the " Guild of Oil-
Merchants and General Provision Dealers " or not, were required
to provide themselves with weights and measures strictly in
accordance with the established standards, and were further
obliged to exhibit them to the State official inspectors. All
utensils of capacity were to be approved by the Consuls of the
Guild, and patterns of those articles approved were kept at the
Residence for imitation.2

On no account were such dealers to sell fresh fish but only
such descriptions as had been salted or dried. Eggs, cheese,

1 Statuta P. et C. Florentiae, 1415, vol. ii. in. 2 Rubs, xciii. and xciv., 1415.

396 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

chickens, mushrooms, small birds, venison, and game of all kinds,
were all marketable commodities on their stalls.1

The export of foodstuffs from Florence, — city and Contado, —
was very strictly prohibited. Included in the prohibition were : —
Grain of all kinds, ears of corn, vegetables, olives and olive oil,
fat beasts, oxen, pigs, wine, fresh meat, fish, undressed hides, fruits,
cheese, and victuals of every kind.'2

It was strictly forbidden to offer grain for sale mixed with
chaff, seeds, or any other matter. Blades of wheat were not to be
steeped in water to swell them before being exposed in the Market,
Granaiuoli, — Corn-chandlers, — guilty of such conduct were mulcted
in heavy penalties. They were moreover required to state the
place of origin of their merchandise, and on no account to sub-
stitute the crop coming from one locality for one issuing from
another.3

Vegetable-dealers, whether men or women, were not allowed
to offer for sale any sort of grain in quantities exceeding two
staioi — bushels — unless with the special license of the Officials of
Or San Michele. No dealers in vegetables were permitted to
purchase fruit or vegetables before the hour of " Nones," nor to
frequent public places where wholesale salesmen were before that
hour. Women were forbidden to hawk green produce about the
streets. Green nuts were also forbidden to be sold. It was strictly
prohibited to carry through the streets, or to offer for sale, more
than three bunches of unripe grapes. Ripe wine grapes were also
forbidden as marketable commodities.4

On Sundays, and all through Holy Week, the sale of green-stuff
in the Mercato Vecchio was absolutely prohibited. All fruiterers
and dealers in vegetables were required to appear in the month
of January each year, before the Market Officials, and swear to
carry on their business honestly, peacefully, and diligently.5

The sale of certain articles was absolutely forbidden in the
squares, bridges, and certain other localities : — Olives, fruit, vege-

1 Rubs, xcv., xcvi., 1415. 2 Rub. clviii., 1415.

3 Rub. clix., 1415. 4 Rub. clxi., 1415.

5 Rubs, ccxxiii., ccxxiv., ccxxv., ccxxvi., ccxxvii., ccxxviii., 1415.

GENERAL PROVISION DEALERS 397

tables, grass, straw, cheese, eggs, fish, geese, small birds, chickens,
foxes, hares, and venison. Hawkers of such were not allowed to
stand in front of the Market-stalls or street shops of established
tradesmen.

Poultry, vegetables, fruit, eggs, game, venison, and other like
produce could not be offered for sale in the Markets or shops if
the place of origin was outside a nine-mile radius. Thrushes and
blackbirds were on no account allowed to be offered for sale in
Florence. Quails might be sold only in August, September and
October.1

No Innkeeper, Vegetable-dealer, or anybody who traded in
such things, was allowed to buy in the streets, bridges, or squares
the following comestibles : — pigs, kids, calves, chickens, pigeons,
eggs, cheese, and joints of fresh meat, or sows with litters. The
last prohibition held good also in the case of butchers. Pork-
butchers were not allowed to use the same slaughter-houses as
those occupied by the Beccai. Pigs indeed could only be killed
between September and March. In the shops of the Guild every
kind of salt meat was on sale, and also fish salted and dried.2

If any fruiterer or poulterer of whatever condition ventured to
buy mushrooms, cheese, eggs, chickens, or poultry of any kind
and venison, or to loiter about where such things were offered for
sale before the hour of " nones " — with or without license — or
to wait within two hundred yards, he or she was liable to a fine
of ten lire, which if he or she could not, or would not pay, then the
man was put in prison for a month, and the woman was beaten
through the streets with a stick ! 3

All Provision dealers were obliged to appear in the month of
January each year before the Market authorities and their notary,
and to pay over a sum of fifty silver florins by way of security
for their honest dealings with the poorer people. They were
under the same schedule of Statutes as were the millers and
bakers with respect to the sale of grain and baked meats.4

1 Rub. ccxxix., 1415. 2 Rub. ccxxx., 1415.

3 Rub. ccxxxii., 1415. 4 Rubs, ccxl., ccxli., 1415.

398 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

The olive-oil they offered for sale had to be pure and clear
and sweet-smelling, and meat stuffs of whatever kind required
correct marking — substitution of inferior for superior qualities were
closely watched. If any comestible was found to be bad or
mouldy, the dealer was visited with a fine of twenty lirel

The measures for oil were the same as for wine, and each
cask, jar, bowl, ewer, bottle, or other utensil, had to bear in clear
figures the quantity which it was reputed to hold. No oil-
merchant could have in his shop at the same time more than four
jars of olive oil, which were labelled with the name of the olive
yard and the olive-grower. Dealing in oil between private persons
was forbidden, as also was its hawking about the city.2

Provision dealers who supplied candles were enjoined to see
that they were made of good tallow, and had serviceable cotton
wicks. All inferior descriptions were seized and destroyed by the
Market officials. The boiling and melting of tallow for making
candles was forbidden within sixty yards of any principal street.3

Sellers of straw, fire-wood, and other burning materials, were
required to appear each January before the Market officials, and
to promise solemnly to observe all the regulations and bye-laws
affecting their calling : failure to appear incurred a fine of fifty
lire. At the same time no combustible matter was allowed to be
stored for sale within the city walls.4

Cautions were further addressed to the packers of loads of
straw and inflammable materials. The burden for each donkey
was not to exceed two hundred pounds in weight, and to be com-
pactly and evenly ordered. Vegetable-dealers, and others of like
calling, were also cautioned about the bulk of fire-wood they led
into the city. No timber of more than two yards in length and
two hundred pounds in weight was permitted for each animal.6

Restrictive laws were in force also with respect to the amount
of firing which a citizen might purchase. In the case of private
houses no more than two ass loads were allowed, at factories and

1 Rub. ccxlii., 1415. 2 Rubs, ccxliii., ccxliv., ccxlv., 1415.

3 Rubs, ccxlvi., ccxlvii., 1415. 4 Rubs, cccxlviii., cccxlix., 1415.

5 Rubs, ccl., cell., 1415.

GENERAL PROVISION DEALERS 399

shambles larger quantities were permissible. No one was per-
mitted to hawk about, in carts or on pack animals, coals, pitwood,
straw, or any other such matters.1

The barge and boat men of the Arno were under strict regu-
lations and bye-laws. Once a year in the month of January they
were required to give security to the amount of one hundred lire^
that they would neither lade, carry, nor land, any contraband or
merchandise which was contrary to the laws of the State. They
were forbidden to load for export grain, vegetables, olive-oil, fruit,
bulls, oxen, pigs, wine, cheese, — beyond an hundred pounds in
weight, — salt- meat, fish, lake-tench, baked-bread above a bushel,
mushrooms, and all other comestibles, scheduled for home con-
sumption by the officials of Or San Michele.2

In spite of all these careful, not to say restrictive, measures,
the operative classes, and many even among the better to do
•citizens, were remarkable for their disregard of the ordinary rules
of eating. Improper food, ill-fed meat, and bad qualities, were as
little considered as were, in badly managed homes, the simple and
cleanly laws of cooking. Many Provvisioni were passed against
purveyors supplying inferior descriptions of food to the poor, and
against uncleanliness in the preparation of the people's table.

The Statutes of the Guild were revised and added to in 1345,
1415, and 1529. At the final grouping of the Lesser Guilds
in 1534, the " Arte degli Oliandoli e Pizsicagnoli" was included in
the first University of the four along with the Beccai, and the
Fornai, and the Association was styled " Universita di For San
Piero " — " University of Saint Peter's Gate."

Whilst a complete list of all the articles sold by the Oil-
merchants and General Provision Dealers would be a very lengthy
document, it will suffice to schedule the following, as being the
principal items : — Olives — fresh and bottled, olive-oil — of various
qualities, olive-wood ashes — for religious and domestic purposes,
crushed olive beans, cedar fruit, dried cedar-wood — for fumigations,
1 Rub. cclii., 1415. 2 Ruh- ccliv-»

400 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

pine-cones — for burning, mulberry leaves — for silk-worms, chest-
nuts— whole and powdered, sweet oranges, cucumbers — fresh and
pickled, beans — whole, crushed, and salted, herbs — fresh and dried,
cereals and corn stuffs, all sorts of fruit and vegetables, cheese,
butter, eggs, salt, pork — fresh and salted, beans, sausages, lard,
dried fish of all kinds, dried meat — whole or in powder, and every
other sort of foodstuff.

In another category were : — Straw — in bundles, or made into
bands and mats, rope and string, sieves, hoops for tubs, tubs,
casks, barrels baskets, nets, wicker-cases for oil-jars and wine-
flasks, willow-withs, bottles and glass articles of all kinds,
pitchers and pots— in stone, earthenware, and metal, flails — for
thrashing corn, canvas — of all lengths and strengths, soap, tallow,
grease, candles — wax and tallow, pitch, tar, and what not.

In Franco Sacchetti, Simone della Tosa, the Peruzzi Codex,
the " Libra di Montaperti" the accounts of the Alberti, the Prov-

visioni, and other sources, we find a great number of interesting
details about the values and prices of commodities of all kinds

in Florence during the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth

centuries.1

The best cheese came from Lucardo, in the Val d'Elsa,

"where they make good cheese," as the common report had it.

Much also was imported from Sicily and Sardinia, as well as from

Apulia, but upon all such foreign supplies a tax of ten soldi was

charged, for each thirty pounds of weight.

On October I3th, 1330, notice was given to the Officials of

the " Mercanzia" of the arrival at Leghorn, of a ship laden, among

other things, with three hundred and fifteen jars or casks of

clear olive-oil, eighty-five of unrefined oil, and forty thousand

pounds of Apulian cheese.2

The Customs officials at the Gates were a very acute sort of

men, and in truth they had need to be, for in a trice they could

detect the massive gold chain of a Siena Magnifico underneath his

1 See Perrens, vol. iii., Appendix.

2 Mercanzia, 1415, f. 127.

GENERAL PROVISION DEALERS 401

silken jerkin, and punish him by annexing not only it, but the
good cob he was riding also ! The Market people suffered greatly
at the hands of these nimble gentry. Sir Richard Dallington
says : " I saw a poore country-woman, who coming to the
gate to pay her tolle for a basket of Lettice she brought in :
one of the foxes, who I thinke could smell a goose, for he could
not possibly see any, searched under the hearbes, and finding one
dead without feathers, sent the poore woman away halfe dead for
sorrow, without her goose ! " 1

Whilst Florentines were moderate in the consumption of
butchers' meat, they were very partial to a preparation called
41 Mischiasto" — desiccated beef, — an import from Barbary. This
meat powder was on sale at all the shops of the Guild.

The worldly wisdom of the Florentines in their aptitude for
striking good bargains is amusingly illustrated by a wise saw of
the period with respect to the purchase of grain : — " When you buy
oats look out that the measure is not filled too quickly, for it will
always sink two or three per cent ; but when you sell, fill quickly
and your oats will grow ! " 2

The monopoly of salt was in the hands of the State, which
owned the ancient pits at Volterra, Portoferraio, and Castiglione ;
but upon the " Guild of Oil-Merchants and General Provision
Dealers " devolved the retail-sale of this indispensable commodity.
So important to the community at large was its supply that in
1 266 the Guild became popularly known as the " Arte dei Venditori
del Sale"—" The Guild of Salt-Merchants."

The price charged at the shops of the Guild for salt varied with
the circumstances of the time, for upon no other article did the
legislators of the Republic fasten new taxes so readily and stiffly.

The treatment of Salt was on a par with the exercise of the
other industries of the city, and Florentine Salt-Merchants became
famous. A document, dated November i6th, 1564, is in the
possession of the Paganelli family, by which Queen Elizabeth of

1 " Survey of the Great Duke's Estate," p. 67.

2 G. Biagi, " The Private Life of the Renaissance Florentine," p. 24.
2C

402 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

England grants to Tommaso Baroncelli of Florence, the privilege
of introducing into England the art of refining and bleaching salt,
as practised in Florence, and the monopoly of manufacturing white ,
salt, for a period of twenty years.

The "Arte degli Oliandoli" was after all not wholly confined to
Florence, but sent out branches far and wide. Under the style of
" Italian Warehousemen " General Provision Dealers have long
been known in England. In the shop of any such a tradesman may
be seen to-day most, if not all, the heterogeneous articles which
used to make the salesmen of old Florence busy in supplying
daily wants.

II. L'ARTE DE' COREGGIAI

Few things were regarded with more pride among Florentines
of the Renaissance than the art of Horsemanship. To begin with
the ownership of a riding-horse was esteemed as a passport to
good society, although with respect to the use of mounts by the
Messeri of the " Guild of Doctors and Apothecaries " very little
attempt was made by such worthies to ride a horse for riding's
sake !

The curriculum of all the physical-culture schools of the
fourteenth and fifteenth centuries included skill in horse exercise,
Agnolo Pandolfini, — "The Peaceful Citizen" (1360-1446), as he
was acclaimed by his fellow citizens, — had at his villa at Segni
twenty highly bred and trained horses. He was an adept at
every sort of physical exercise, and in the pursuit of every fashion-
able sport ; and he trained his sons, his apprentices, and his
servants, to follow in his footsteps.

Vittorino da Feltre also (1397-1446), the founder of the
celebrated Physical-Culture School at Mantua, placed horseman-
ship and hunting in his list of obligatory exercises for the noble
youths who were committed to his charge.

The great Duke Federigo d'Urbino, — himself a pupil of
Vittorino, — was a proficient in all manly sports. He adopted the
profession of arms, and joined the troop of the Condottiere Niccolo

GUILD OF SADDLERS 403

Peccinino. He bore in his body honourable marks of his prowess,
inasmuch as at a Jousting, outside the town gate, he had the
misfortune to lose an eye and to break his nose !

Among the exercises necessary for a gentleman, laid down by
Conte Baltazzare di Castiglione, in his world-famous book, "//
Cortigzano" — " The Courtier," — published in 1531, was horse-
manship. " I would have," he says, " that a gentleman should be
a perfect horseman in every respect — skilled in riding, running at
the ring and tilting, . . . hunting the wild-boar and bull. . . ."

In the days of the " olde chivalrie," when not engaged in
active hostilities with foreign foes, young warriors found outlets for
their exuberant vigour in the tournaments. These were at first
bloody combats wherein one, sometimes both, of the combatants
were slain. Such sanguinary encounters were suppressed by
Sacred Canon from Rome, and instead were instituted less
sanguinary pastimes. To these Florentines applied the title
" Giostre."

The great Giostre were held at the principal Church Festivals.
The Tilting-ground was of considerable extent to allow of a free
gallop for the horses. Each knight had to ride three courses.
Tilting at " // Saracino " — the Moor — our " Turk's Head ! "—
offered opportunities for fearless horsemanship.

To " win his spurs " was the ambition of every esquire, and
indeed the dream of every youthful page. The esquire could
wear only short and plain silver spurs, whilst the knight was
spurred in gold. The use of spurs was a mark of independence
and authority.

Such being the fashion of the times there was an immense
scope for the employment of manipulative skill in the making of
saddles, bridles, stirrups, and all the adjuncts of the stable and
the course. Saddlers, Harness-makers, Shield-makers, Scabbard-
makers, and the like had their hands full of commissions, which of
course called for greater skill, and provided greater gain, than the
world-old manufacture of ordinary cart and carriage harness and
accoutrements.

404 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

" There are," says Brunette Latini, " horses of all kinds —
chargers, or tall horses, for the combat, others for gentle exercises
use palfreys — which are also called amblers and hackneys, others
again employ pack-horses to carry loads.1 Mares were never used
for saddle purposes — indeed to offer a mare to a knight was
considered an insult : they were reserved for traction and pack-
horse purposes.

Horse-dealers and Horse-Jobbers formed a not inconsiderable
portion of the Guild : at least Guildsmen were the acknowledged
agents between the raisers of stock in the Contado and beyond,
and the horse-buyers of the city. Doubtless, in this trade, they
were in a sense partners with the Albergatori, — Innkeepers, —
many of whom owned, or rented, stables for the baiting of travellers'
horses and mules.

The numbers of pack-animals and draught-horses were of
course considerable on the trade routes between the sea and
Florence, and upon the more distant lines of communication with
France and Germany. Merchants and commercial travellers
looked to the dealers and jobbers of Florence, and the neigh-
bouring cities and townships, for their relays of convoy animals.

The Archives of Florence contain several records of Saddlers
and allied craftsmen, for example : —

" 1031. Martinus — Cabellarius " — Horse-jobber.

" 1073. Aezo — Sellarius" — Saddler.

" 1076. Barone — Scutarius" — Shield-maker.

" 1 1 o I . Sichelmus — Stafarius " — Stirrup-maker.

" 1 2 1 1 . Ristoro fit. Fieri — Buorsajo " — Pouch-maker.

These various branches of the leather industry and others like
Bookbinding, Gauntlet-making and many fancy trades having a
common material and ministering to the wants of the fashionable
and the literary classes of Society, were quite naturally drawn
together, to the mutual advantage of all.

The " Arte de' Coreggiai" first appears in the list of Guilds in
1236, when it was placed twelfth in the order of the Fourteen

1 " II Tesoro," I3th century.

GUILD OF SADDLERS 405

Lesser Guilds. The same position was retained in the revisions
of 1266 and 1280-82. In the latter year the style of the Guild
was added to and became' * LArte de' Sanolacciai e Coreggiai e
Scudai" — "The Guild of Harness-makers, Saddlers, and Shield-
makers." Incorporated as a branch of the Guild an Association
of Bridle and Reins-makers is recorded in 1285 under the style
of"L'Arte de Frenair

Among minor Associations affiliated to the Guild was that of
" Prestatori di Ronzoni" — "Horse-dealers and Jobbers," which is
frequently named in the years 1309-1316. In 1321 another
Company is mentioned — the " Vaginari" — "Scabbard-makers."

The Guild must have prospered, for in 1415 it no longer
occupied its very lowly position in the Hierarchy of the Guilds,
but had advanced to the tenth place among the Lesser Guilds.

The first regular Statutes of the Guild were put forth in
1301-1309, as was the case with all the Guilds, Greater and
Lesser. They were revised and added to in 1342, 1415, and
1501. Under Consuls, whose numbers as usual varied as circum-
stances required, but were always in excess of some other Lesser
Guilds, as representing the various associated trades — were the
usual Guild officials.

The Saddlers were arranged in six classes: — (i) Makers of
saddles and harness — for heavy haulage, and stirrups, (2) Car-
riage-reins and Bridle-makers, (3) Gold and silver spurriers and
Horse armourers, (4) Makers of saddle-bows and pack-frames —
all of wood, (5) Curriers, who covered the wood-work with
leather, and (6) Saddle-painters and decorators.

The Shield-makers also were sub-divided : — ( I ) Workers in
metal-frames, (2) Turners of the wooden foundations, (3) Stretchers
and liners in leather, (4) Embossers and Painters. The other
constituents of the Guild were similarly sub-divided : — Harness-
makers, Scabbard-makers, Gauntlet-makers, Bookbinders, etc. etc.

Under Cosimo I. in 1530 the "Guild of Saddlers and Shield-
makers " was amalgamated with the " Shoemakers " and " Tanners "

406

THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

in the third University of Lesser Guilds, under the style of
" L Universita de' Maestri di Cuoiame " — " the University of
Master Leather-Workers."

The Arms of the Guild were two red stripes upon a white
field. They were emblazoned upon the Banner, first given to the
Guild in 1266, and also appeared upon the Consuls' Residence.

With respect to saddles, their use for military purposes,

STIRRUP-MAKER'S SHOP. END OF SIXTEENTH CENTURY

came in with steel and iron armour. Men in armour could not
keep their balance without support, consequently for combats not
only were leather seats provided, but the flaps of the saddle were
made to enwrap the thighs of the horseman, and so give him a
steadier perch.

Saddles were by degrees provided with : — (i) the Tree or
Stretcher upon which to fix the leather — this was made of wood,
(2) the Seat proper, (3) the Skirt, and (4) the Flaps. The
" Tree " was usually made of beechwood upon an iron framework.

GUILD OF SADDLERS 407

Pig-skin was the customary leather used, but tricky saddlers were
not beneath using imitation skins, as many a horseman found to
his cost !

Pillions and litters for ladies and for the sick, with saddle-
cloths and horse-caparisons, were made by saddlers, who had
recourse to embroiderers and to stampers of leather for enrich-
ments.

Saddlers were also engaged in cutting and sewing bridles,
reins, and stirrup-straps for riding horses, and the heavier harness
for draught-teams and pack-animals. For these articles, which
were required to be at once light and strong, they made use of
uncoloured strips of hardened well seasoned leather which had
also undergone the process of pressing.

Stirrups were first made in France, and were of various shapes
and sizes to suit military and civil equestrians. The tournament
stirrups were bulky and heavy, but richly adorned and strengthened
with iron bearings. They were essential in combat, whether
in the field of battle or in the lists of chivalry, but ordinary
horse-exercise was taken without them.

A list of Saddlers' ironmongery is quite a long one : — Buckles,
bits, snafHe-chains, head-pieces, collar-steels, saddle-bearings, gear-
ing-chains and bolts, spurs for civilian use, straps of all sorts and
kinds, whips and whip-bands, etc.

With respect to Shields, — the making of which appertained
to the Craft of Saddlery, — in the twelfth century, they were
kite-shaped or triangular. Smaller shields of much the same
shapes were introduced in the thirteenth century, with holes
cut on the right hand upper corner to serve as a rest for
the spear or lance. Round bucklers were worn upon the hand
in the fourteenth century, and pear-shaped shields upon the arm.
In the fifteenth century knights' shields had a bulge, and were
about two feet and a half long.

Various names were given by the Florentine Shield-makers
to the different kinds of bucklers for example : — Rotella — round,
Scudo — oblong, Brocchiere — a small shield worn upon the arm

408 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

and bulging, Targa — a large square or round shield, and Pavese
— a shield which covered the whole body.

The materials used were iron, copper, wood, and leather, but
generally in combination. When two materials were used the
shield was bound with an iron rim. Tournament shields were a
speciality of the Florentine " Scudai" and were made rather for
show than for use. They were elaborately adorned with paint-
ings, or embossed with mouldings of gesso, or inlaid by patterns in
wood and metal, and were decorated, often enough by artists of
the first rank.

Pouches, Purses, and Gauntlets all came under the category
of Saddlery. Their manufacture and adornment formed an at-
tractive trade and one of no little profit to the skilful craftsman.
Each class of citizens had a distinctive shape of pouch or purse,
and it was possible to distinguish the wearers' Guild by the shape
each affected. Civilians were accustomed to display their arms,
or those of their Guild, upon their Pouches, — " Scarselle" as they
were called.

Very much rivalry and considerable variety were excited by
this custom. The smarter a man was in his dress and in the
style of his belt and pouch and his gauntlets the more considera-
tion did he receive in public.

Dante refers to this fashion in the " Inferno " : —

" . . pendant from his neck each wore a Pouch
With colours and with emblems various mark'd
On which it seemed as if their eyes did feed." *

" Scarselle " and gauntlets of leather were sold by the
" Rigattieri? as well as by the Saddlers, who were also the
makers of gloves of all kind.

The Scarselle were often works of art, wherein the finest effort
of the dresser of leather, or the stitcher of cloth, was coloured
with the pigments of acknowledged artists, and decorated with
the embroideries of skilful silk-workers and goldsmiths. They
were suspended from the belt, on the right side, or from the

1 " Inferno," Canto xvii.

GUILD OF LOCKSMITHS 409

neck, and contained the wearer's petty-cash, daily tablets, and
other fashionable nicknacks.

As time went on more and more care was expended on the
finishing and adorning of leather work. As a case in point, it
is on record that in the middle of the fifteenth century the
Saddlers of Florence had introduced a debased style of work-
manship. Fashion demanded pictorial embellishment on saddles,
shields, book-backs, and other objects in leather ; and the " Guild
of Painters " stepped in, and passed a rubric which forbade their
members to paint or decorate any kind of leather but the very
best ox-hide or pig-skin — and on no account were they allowed
to use inferior colours.1

III. L'ARTE DE' CHIAVAIUOLI

The Renaissance made demands upon all sorts and conditions
of artizans for finer and more artistic workmanship than had been
sufficient in mediaeval times. No industry felt this influence more
keenly than that of metal-workers. The " Guild of Blacksmiths,"
by reason of the bulk and character of their materials, no less
than by the solid requirements of their trade, were entirely un-
equal to cope with the thousand and one tasteful objects which
skilled hands could fashion out of base metal.

As early as the fifth century Ampelius, the monkish historian,
in his " Legends of the Saints," speaks of a " Corporation of Lock-
smiths," and instances the intricacies of their craft. Another
monkish historian, Theophilus, in his " Diver sarium Artium
Schedula" put out in the early part of the twelfth century, gives
descriptions of methods of embossing, and damascening, and
other work, in iron, steel, copper, and bronze. He further adds
a list of locksmiths' tools, including hammers, chisels, screw-jacks,
saws, scalpers, burins, scratching-needles, burnishers, etc. etc.

In the Archives of Florence of the twelfth century there are
the following records of locksmiths : —

" 1 1 08. Florentius — Clavajulus"-— Locksmith.

1 Rub. Ixxix., 1415.

410 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

" 1 1 46. Johannes (faber) f. Brictonis "- —Knife-maker.
" 1147. Uguccione — Calderarius" — Copper-smith.

In the first List of the Guilds— 1236— the "Arte de*
Chiavaiuoli" is reckoned tenth in the Fourteen Lesser Guilds.
This position was maintained in 1266, but in 1280-82 the Guild
was promoted to the sixth place, and received an extension of
its title, namely: — " LArte de' Chiavaiuoli e Ferraiuoli-Vecchi e
Nuovi" — "The Guild of Locksmiths and Workers in old and
new Metal."

In 1301-9, when the Statutes underwent a strict revision in
consonance to the general adoption, by all the Guilds, of the
model code prepared for the " Calimala " merchants, an alteration
was made in the designation of the Guild as follows : — "LArte de*
Chiavaiuoli, Ferraiuoli, e Calderai" — "The Guild of Locksmiths,
Iron- Workers and Braziers." In 1415 the original style of 1236
was restored and the Guild was classed eleventh in the Fourteen
Lesser Guilds.

Very many trade Associations were affiliated to the Guild,
for no industry presented fuller opportunities for varied workman-
ship, both useful and ornamental. These Associations ranged
from groups of most skilful artists in metal, — both precious and
common, — to the very dregs of the population, for example, in
1311 the " Ferravecchi" — " Scrap-iron Dealers," a recognised
trade apart, were incorporated, and in 1327 the " Incisori in
Rame " — " Engravers in copper," were included in the Guild-
membership.

If the custom which Ampelius the Monk cites in the fifth
century, of electing two Consuls, and which he calls, " the good
old Republican title," was continued in the twelfth and thirteenth
century, by the Locksmiths of Florence, then the Guild was quite
in line with the other trade corporations with respect to its chief
officers.

Who and what the remaining officials were can only be traced
after a laborious search through ill-written, ill-spelt, and much
abbreviated vernacular documents. We may however take it

AKT1XAN -111

A LOCKSMITH AND HIS APPRENTICE

FIFTEENTH CENTURY

GUILD OF LOCKSMITHS 411

for granted that much of, if not all, the system carried out in the
" Laborerum " of the " Guild of Masters of Stone and Wood " was
adopted by the Masters of iron and copper.

Tests of skill in workmanship were required before admission
to the Guild, and not only had the candidate to produce samples
of his work, but he was further called upon to give evidence before
the Consuls of his dexterity in the use of tools of all kinds, by then
and there manipulating metals of various sorts.

The Residence of the Consuls of the Guild was a small house
opposite Or San Michele and contiguous to the Offices of the
" Guild of Wool." On the wall were carved as usual the Arms of
the Guild, — a big black key, — which appeared also upon the red
field of the Guild gonfalon.

Some idea of the progress and prosperity of the Guild may
be gained by comparing the amount contributed, at the tax-
ing of the Guilds in 1325, to pay the expenses of the warlike
enterprises of the Republic, with that furnished by the " Guild
of Masters of Stone and Wood" — the amounts were exactly
alike, namely, eighty gold florins. This sum was in excess
of that raised by the " Guild of Tanners and Skinners." This
test of development holds true with respect to the number of
members of the Guild, their financial capacities, and their ability
and fame.

Workshops abounded in old Florence for the artistic working
of metals, sometimes two or three trades shared the same
premises, and carried on their work side by side. In Fico's
basement, in the Mercato Vecchio, was a furnace for Glass-blow-
ing, and a shop for Locksmiths and Gimlet-grinders, where one
could purchase a flattering hand-mirror, or a tasteful flower-vase,
and inspect the latest fashions in metal belt-clasps, dress buttons,
cinctures, the fittings for purses, and other personal ornaments.

Florence very soon became the rival of lordly Milan in the
art and craft of Locksmithery. Indeed, on one occasion at least
she bore off the palm — when Cardinal Wolsey ordered in Florence

412 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

two thousand sets of horse-harness, with embossed and damas-
cened metal work. The price was sixteen shillings per set — a
large sum in those days.

Much of the fineness and delicacy of Florentine Locksmithery
was undoubtedly due to the sunny, tonic climate of Tuscany. In
the very characteristic workmanship there is an entire absence of
deep furrows and profound shadows, whilst low relief and light-
ness of touch are evident in every object. The designs are
instinct with life and cheerfulness. If the mask of tragedy scowls
menacingly, there is something about its expression which sug-
gests merely a passing mood. The features of comedy never
relax their merry laughter : every smile, every dimple, and every
blush, are exactly marked with sympathetic touch.

In nothing so much as in the making of locks and keys, and
the hinges of doors and cupboards, etc., did the nimble-fingered art-
workers in metal exhibit this influence of atmosphere, in the
perfection of skill and adaptability.

These articles were almost always constructed in connection
with wood and leather, hence locksmithery, joinery, and curriery,
marched hand-in-hand, absorbing and assimilating like ideas and
methods. For an example of this statement it is only needful to
compare the tongued and grooved work of the Middle Ages with
the framed and morticed treatment of the Renaissance. The
long, over-strapped, hinge of a door, or chest, was changed into
the dove-tailed " bull-hinge," as it is called.

The making of locks attained such a degree of excellence,
that they were accounted rare objects of art, and taken, with the
utmost care, from place to place. The designs most commonly
carried out in Florence were armorial bearings, letterings, and
grotesques, with conventional foliage and ribbon work — all in
sympathetic relief. Keys followed suit : they were first dis-
tinguished in Florence as " male " and " female," — the former had
solid shanks, the latter were barrelled.

The models of these objects, and others similar in character,
were invariably made in wax. The wax-modellers of Florence

GUILD OF LOCKSMITHS 413

excelled those of all other art cities. It is curious, perhaps, that
they never associated themselves as a Guild or Corporation. Their
finest workmanship resulted in glorious bronze medallions, which
are the pride and the joy of artist, artificer, and collector alike.
They are remarkable for the lowness of their relief, nothing more
delicate was ever achieved by the hand of man working in metal.

The following are some of the more prominent Masters
in bronze, who worked in the shops of the Locksmiths : —
Antonio Avertino, Giovanni Petrecini, Michelozzo Michelozzi,
Andrea Guazzalotti, Niccolo Fiorentino, in the fifteenth cen-
tury ; and in the sixteenth, Benvenuto Cellini, Giovanni da
Bologna, Francesco di Sangallo, Antonio Pollaiuolo, Domenico
Poggini and the brothers Gianpaolo — who were all of them matricu-
lated members of the Guild.

The damascening of metal — a beautiful Art — consists of the
incrustations of gold and silver upon steel and bronze. The
method pursued in Florence was that introduced from the East,
namely the spreading of the stamped-out design laid flat and
close upon the surface of the metal. Pressure and blows were
applied both under heat and cold. Artificers called it "Air
Azzimina" — like a "coat of mail," and "Alia Gemina" — "after
the original."

The finest work of this description was exhibited in the
magnificently wrought iron cabinets, inlaid with gold and silver,
which became the craze of wealthy citizens in the sixteenth
•century.

Benvenuto Cellini is very warm in his praise of the damascening
of steel by Florentine craftsmen. He says : — " With their needle-
like chisels they turn up every twist and curve of the most
intricately overlapping acanthus leaf, and their introduction of
little singing birds and playful animals seems to make the bare
metal a living entity."

The embossing of metal was by no means the least admirable
of the output of the Florentine Locksmiths. In this art-craft
.they emulated the workers in leather and the carvers of wood.

414 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

Indeed so skilful did all three classes of workmen become that,
given a subject to be done in each of the three materials, it was
their aim to produce a common result, wherein nobody could say
at sight which was metal, wood, or leather !

Few artificers were greater in this beautiful craft than Fran-
cesco dal Prato di Girolamo : he worked on the lines of Michele
Agnolo, who perhaps introduced it into Florence from Germany.

The greatest artists were not above making the most simple
things, for instance, Benvenuto Cellini made salt-cellars, Jacopo
Sansovino — inkstands, Donatello — mirror-frames, the Pollaiuoli—
candlesticks, and so on. That these objects were strong as well
as beautiful one has but to recall the feat of Leonardo da Vinci
in wrenching off door-knockers with one hand alone in response
to a wager. A favourite style of door-knocker was a chiselled
figure of a naked child, much after the lovely bambini of the
Delia Robbia, holding a scroll inscribed " Salve?

Endless are the objects which the clever members of the
" Guild of Locksmiths " have left to posterity to admire and to
imitate. Among the most striking, as evidences of thoroughly
artistic proclivities and practical convenience combined, were the
everyday working tools. These were not, as now, mainly, and
often obtrusively, utilitarian, but they were designed and made by
men who have taught the eternal lesson that the useful and the
ornamental need never be parted.

Many humble but indispensable implements of daily life have
beautiful enrichments, for instance, cloth smoothing-irons with
coiled snakes for handles, carpenters' compasses with floral designs
impressed and chiselled, nut-crackers, trays, scent-caskets with
delicately fine pierced work, farriers' tools have richly embossed
work, surgical saws, of the sixteenth century, have handles of ivory
inlaid with silver and amber, other instruments have ebony
handles, with incrustations and small plaques of bronze. Snuffers
were embellished with patterns in stamped diaper. Braces for
drilling, pincers, fire-irons, knives, forks, spoons, skewers, thimbles,
candle-prickets, hand-planes, and the tools and instruments used

GUILD OF LOCKSMITHS

415

in all the trades of Florence, were all of them made for work but
adorned by art.

In a word the Locksmiths' Art was an absolute affirmation of
all the mighty powers of the Renaissance. Without the clever
artificers of metal much of the charming revelation of that precious
awakening would have been non-existent. The " Guild of Lock-
smiths " supplied the instruments with which the secrets of orna-
mental craft and useful art have been revealed to a delighted
world. They gave spatulas to sculptors, paint-boxes to painters,
compasses to architects, sextants to explorers of nature, pestles
and mortars to doctors and apothecaries, combs to silk-carders,
fine frame wires to silk weavers, smoothing-irons to " Calimala "
cloth finishers, needles to lace-workers and embroiderers, sensitive
scales to coiners at the Mint — and many more indispensable
implements and apparatus.

When Cosimo, the first Grand Duke, in 1534 established his
four Universities of the Crafts, the " Guild of Locksmiths " was
incorporated as the Third in order along with the " Blacksmiths,"
the " Masters of Stone and Wood," the " Armourers and Sword-
makers," and the " Carpenters." The style of the " Combination "
was " L Universita de' Fabbricanti " — " University of Artificers."

I. " Stemma dell1 Arte

degli Oliandoli "
Green tree, red lion, in a
white field, wit

2. " Stemma del? Arte de

Coreggiai"

Two red bars upon a

white field

" Stemma delf Arte
de' Chiavaiuoli"
A black key in a
white field

CHAPTER XIV

THE GUILDS OF ARMOURERS, CARPENTERS, AND

BAKERS

LE ARTI DE CORAZZAI E SPADAI, E DE' LEGNAIUOLI,
E DE' FORNAI

I. ARMOURERS. —Italy the battlefield of Europe. Mediaeval armour.
Renaissance armourer-smiths. Early Florentine craftsmen. Cuirass and
sword-makers united. Thirteenth-century Guild Officers. Dispute about a
banner. Many linked industries. Tent-making. The Condottieri. Tourna-
ments. A knight's kit. Price of a Ronzone — a charger. Duels. Feats of
strength. "Treatise on Military Arts." The artillery of 1530.

II. CARPENTERS.— At first subordinate to "Masters of Stone and Wood."
Fabri-tignarii of Charlemagne. Many kinds of workers in wood. Price of
tools. Rules about obstructions. Fines. No litter. Furniture. The "festive
board." Cassoni. Intarsiatura— Mosaic. Walnut and pear wood abundant.
Carvings. Gesso. Certosatura. Families of skilled craftsmen. " // Grosso
Legnaiuolo \ " Giovanni Rucellai's dressing-table.

III. BAKERS.— Contado produced little corn. The " Annona? or Magis-
tracy of Abundance. Foreign supplies. Gate-dues and ruses. An ancient
custom. Qualities of wheat. The Vacca. Or San Michele — Shrine and Market.
Affidavits. Chopping-off fingers ! Ill fame of bakers. Sweating. Distinction
in the Guild between Mugnai — millers, and Fornai — bakers. Storage of corn
and flour. Boccaccio's satires. Byelaws. Pastry-cooks. Carnival song.
Yearly inspections. Fuel. Bakers prosperous and ostentatious.

I. L'ARTE DE' CORAZZAI E SPADAI

A LTHOUGH the primitive arms of the Etruscans came
JL\ originally from Greece, and were famed for the excellence
of pattern and manufacture, and although the legions of the
conquering Roman armies crossed and recrossed Tuscany, and
impressed the solidity and workmanship of their weapons and
armour upon the subjected races ; it is a matter of certainty
that Florentine arms and armour came directly from Germany.
In Italy the business of making armour and weapons —

especially swords — was a specialty of Milan and other towns in
416

GUILD OF ARMOURERS 417

Lombardy. The patterns and workmanship exhibited in these
workshops were undoubtedly Teutonic, but, in the skilful hands
of Italian workmen, the plain and practical instruments of attack
and defence received the addition of artistic decoration.

One of the earliest armourers of fame in Milan was Galvano
Fiamino, who, in 1288, had established a great renown for making
helmets, breastplates, shields, and other portions of body-armour,
in burnished metal. The Giulino family too was famous for
making steel-armour, but excelled especially in defensive armour
for horses.

From the eleventh to the fourteenth century armoured men
wore iron shirts only. In the thirteenth century cross-bows were
generally used, with a variety of arrows, for example : — Verrettoni
— sharp, short darts, Moschette — ball-pointed medium length, and
Quadrelli — long four-feathered shafts.

Before the invention of gunpowder, — in the middle of the
thirteenth century, — the instruments used for artillery were as
numerous in variety as they were extraordinary in form. Their
manufacture required the services, not only of armourers and
workers in metal, but the assistance of carpenters, rope-makers
and other artificers. After the application, in 1280, of gunpowder
to artillery, this class of offensive weapons became a distinct and
largely employed industry. With the introduction of fire-arms
there came into activity a rival class of workman — gunsmiths,
who, as the science of warfare developed, ousted by degrees
armourers from their place and employment.

Throughout the whole of the fourteenth century knights con-
tinued the practice of wielding lance, sword, and battle-axe.
Foot-soldiers were armed with short swords, bows and arrows,
darts, short axes, slings, knives, daggers, and javelins. Scale
armour was rarely, if ever, used after the fourteenth century.

In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries Tuscan infantry were
armed with steel or iron breastplates, but were unarmed on their
backs. They carried pikes of iron, set upon stout wooden poles,
seventeen feet long, with swords, rounded at the point. Head

2 D

418 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

armour was not worn. Arquebuses made their appearance only
at the beginning of the sixteenth century.

The work of Armourer-smiths seems to have reached its highest
point of excellence in the second half of the fifteenth century.
The influence of the Renaissance made itself felt in the richness
of decorative attributes rather than in the quality of the metal
used.

Very evident too was the advance made, — intelligent as well
as artistic, — in the output of the armourers' shops. Ill-fitting
pieces yielded to well moulded articles, much in the same way
that badly-made cloth garments never leave the table of an
observant and diligent tailor.

.Bronze armour came in during the sixteenth century and was
worn until the year 1558. Its adoption was mainly due to the fact
that it was far easier to keep clean than was steel. Black armour
followed on the heels of bronze armour, and its sombreness
brought into vogue the splendid decorative qualities of gold and
silver damascening. Embossed and fluted armour was quite the
latest adaptation of defensive dress, and became fashionable at
the end of the sixteenth century, rather for State functions and
parades, than for use in field or at joust.

As early as the end of the eleventh century Armourers were
in existence In Florence — if not much before that period. The
Archives have the following entries : —

" 1090. Johannes, fit. Rodolfo — -pugnitore" — Dagger-maker.

" 1128. Florentius — Spaliarius " — Armourer.

Workmen who had been trained in the Milan workshops found
their way to Florence, along with very many other artificers, when
her sun began to rise so gloriously in the early Renaissance.

Florentine armourers, along with those of Pisa and Pistoja,
very soon attained to fame as proficient in the art of making arms
and armour. To the latter city is due the distinction of having
manufactured the first " Pistol," — a lethal weapon with a wheel
lock and a barrel a foot long. The increase of the industry led

GUILD OF ARMOURERS 419

naturally to an incorporation of the artizans, and so it is not to
be wondered at that in the first list of the Guilds, — that of 1236,
— the " Arte de* Corazzai e Spadai" finds a place.

Certainly the rank of the " Guild of Armourers and Sword-
makers " was very humble — eleventh among the Fourteen Lesser
Guilds. This position was maintained in 1266, but in the List
of 1280-82 the Guild displaced that of the "Locksmiths," and
retained the step in 1301-1309, and right on till 1415. In the
latter year the " Armourers and Sword-makers " gave way to their
rivals in the industry of artistic metal-work, and even lost one
place more, coming out as last but two of all the Twenty-one
Guilds.

Upon the last re-arrangement of the Lesser Guilds in 1534,
the " Armourers and Sword-makers " were scheduled with the other
workers in metal, stone, and wood, — the " Blacksmiths," " Lock-
smiths," " Masters of Stone and Wood," and " Carpenters," under
the comprehensive title of the "LUniversita de' Fabbricanti" — the
third of the four Universities incorporated under the Grand Duke
Cosimo.

In a document of the thirteenth century, to which no date is
attached, it is stated that " those who hammer their metal plates
and make steel cuirasses are a Guild apart, and exercise their
craft under Consuls, or Rectors, like the other Guilds of Florence."

Another entry, dated 1303, names nineteen individuals "who
are declared to be more than two-thirds of the members of the
Guild, and who in full meeting elected two Consuls or Rectors."
Among other matters which came before these officials was a
dispute between the " Armourers' Guild " and that of the
" Escutcheon and Shield-makers' Guild." They appointed two
members of the Guild to act as arbitrators. The disputants, who,
it is stated, had, or ought to have had, a common Banner, were of
different opinions as to who should pay for a new one, and who
should have the care of it. The decision arrived at charged the
" Armourers " with two-thirds, and the " Escutcheon and Shield-
makers " with the remaining one-third of the cost. Further,

420 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

because the latter had held possession of the Banner for one whole

year, to the former was allocated its custody for two years in

succession.

Another matter in dispute, — the share of grain which the two

Guilds were called upon to contribute to the Florentine army in

the field, — was arranged in the same way.

Hardly anything can be gathered out of the Archives and

Records of Florence which relates to the Constitution of the

Guild.

Statutes were first put out in 1300, up to which date custom

and convenience appear to have been considered sufficient for the

purposes of government and development. These were revised in

1305 upon the model of the " Calimala " Code. Additions and
alterations were made in 1314-1316, 1321, 1342, and 1463,
in the same way as in the case of the " Guild of Carpenters." x
Among the Statutes of 1315 was one which required every horse-
man, serving in a campaign, to provide himself with a helmet,
breastplate, gauntlets, cuishes, and leg-pieces, — all of iron, — made
by acknowledged armourers of Florence.

That there were many linked industries included in the
membership of the Guild goes without saying, but what were
their relations one with another it is not easy to say. One such
association is recorded in 1309-1316: — the " Compagnia degli
Arcariai" the " Company of Makers of Bows and Arrows."

Armourers were looked to to supply camp equipage generally
as well as the arms and armour of the soldiers. Trabacche—
bell tents, and Padiglioni — pavilions, were made of stout canvas,
and were, in early days, provided by the soldiery themselves.
The latter were often of immense size, very handsomely adorned
with painting and embroidery, and were much beflagged.

Doubtless the progress of the Guild was much assisted by the
ample native supply of metals for which Tuscany was ever famous.
As significant of the expansion there is a record in the Archives
which states that: — In September 1294 an Assisi merchant pro-

1 G. Gonetta, "Bibliografia Statutaria delle Corporanzic d'Arti e Mestieri d'ltalia."

GUILD OF ARMOURERS 421

mised to pay Nato Melliorati and Pela Lapi, — partners in business
and citizens and merchants of Florence, — a sum of seventy lire,
payable within a month, for a certain consignment of merchandise
— belts, hats, breeches, bucklers, helmets, and swords. In the
following year also there is a record of a credit sale by three
Florentine armourers and merchants to a tradesman from Assisi,
of a number of breastplates, breeches, helmets, caps, and short
swords, etc.1

In the Taxing List of 1321, when the Guilds were mulcted in
proportionate charges for the benefit of the State, the " Arte de*
Corazzai e Spadai" is put down for one hundred and fifty lire — a
very small sum indeed as compared with the contribution of two
thousand gold florins by the "Arte della Lana" In the same
List the " Compagnia degli A rcariai " is charged separately the
very modest sum of eight lire — the least amount of all.

In the days of the Condottieri, when the spirit of warfare
and the scourge of brigandage were joined hand in hand, lethal
weapons and body armour were greatly in demand. Florentines
however were an industrial race, not a warlike folk, and managed
their battles by proxy.

Vast sums of money were paid for the arming, mounting, and
provisioning of the trained bands of mercenary troops, who, led
by Florentine commanders or alien captains, vindicated the
honour of the " City of the Lily " and proclaimed her power over
rash opponents. Such leaders were Uguccione della Faggiola,
Castruccio Castracane, Bartolommeo Colleoni, Giovanni de' Medici
(delle Bande Nere), Guarnieri, and Hawkwood.

Each Condottiere regarded his troop, — and some of them num-
bered thousands of soldiers, — as the arbiter of peace and war, and
took the utmost pains to keep his armaments abreast of his times.

Every young Florentine of birth was trained in some such
school as that of Urbino, and quickly assimilated the teaching of
Castiglione's " Courtier." " I would have," wrote the Count, " a
complete gentleman to be of good shape, and well proportioned in

1 " Archivio della Citta di Firenze," i. f. 26.

422

THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

his limbs, yet light and easy, and to be well acquainted with all
exercises becoming men of arms. To handle, besides, well all
kinds of weapons, and to wrestle well, which generally accompany
all exercises of arms on foot." l

TYPES OF ADULT FLORENTINES — SIXTEENTH CENTURY — MICHAEL ANGELO

The kit of a Florentine warrior was by no means a small one,
nor one cheaply to be obtained. In October 1365 an armourer,
Barna da Valorino by name, presented his bill for goods supplied
to a knight, one Paolo Sassetti, — which bill by the way was made
out by the hands of Ser Lorenzo di Ser Lando, a notary : —

One Cuirass — with screw and lace holes.

1 "II Cortigiano," 1531.

GUILD OF ARMOURERS 423

One Helmet — with an iron band or chin-chain.

One pair Gauntlets of fine chain-work.

One armoured Neck-piece.

One pair of Armlets, and Cuffs of leather.

One pair of Thigh-pieces of thin metal.

One pair Leather Greaves.

One Tilting-Helmet or Casque.

One Pennon with its staff.

One cavalry Lance.

Two Saddle-bags.

Two Knights' coffers.1

Although the prices of these articles are not appended, we
gather, from a Price List of the year 1372, that it was no incon-
siderable undertaking to furnish a knight with his body armour,
weapons, horse, and banners. A ronzone, — charger, — cost forty to
fifty gold florins, and his daily keep at a public-stable came to the
fifth part of a gold florin, or more. A pair of spurs cost half a gold
florin, a bridle three-fourths, and a chased chafing-bit nearly one
gold florin. For the Page, a mule cost twenty gold florins, a pair
of stirrups half a gold florin, and the bridle three quarters.
A sumpter-horse for a servant cost at least twenty-five gold
florins.1

If Milan was the acknowledged mart for warlike armour,
Florence was no less renowned as the source of weapons of
display. Her " Armourers and Sword-makers " were chiefly em-
ployed in making outfits for knights for the Giostre or Tourna-
ments— things of beauty and of price rather than of strength and
of use.

As early as the year 1260 young Florentines of all classes
were accustomed to go out to Peretola, — a famous jousting-field, —
three miles away, and practise with lance and sword in friendly
rivalry. The ancient rule had been that only young men of
noble birth, and soldiers of fame, were eligible to take part in
these contests ; indeed the right to wear weapons was denied

1 See Perrens, " Histoire de Florence," Appendix.

424 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

the lower classes. Under the rule of the Medici however the
Giostre were thrown open to all classes.

These tests of skill, strength, and agility, were always carried
out at the chief Church festivals. Tilting-grounds were formed in
the larger squares of the city and in all the more important
villages.

One of the most famous duels, fought to the death, was during
the siege of Florence in 1530, when the gigantic Dante da Cas-
tiglione encountered Bertino Aldobrandi, a renowned Florentine
champion. With one crushing blow the latter, — although his
right arm was crippled, — clove his adversary's helmet and skull
right down to the shoulder !

Another celebrated Florentine renowned for all time as pro-
ficient in many arts and sciences — Leon Battista Alberti — was
also a great athlete. He thought nothing of leaping in full
armour upon the back of a galloping horse !

Much encouragement was thus given to the craft of the
armourer, and the members of the " Arte de* Corazzai e Spadai"
became extremely skilful and also extremely wealthy.

The Residence of the Consuls of the Guild was in the Piazza
del Duomo — in the same building as that occupied by the offices
of the " Mzsericordia" One of the most important workshops of
the " Armourers " was situated in the Via de' Spadai, by the side
of the Church of Sant' Andrea of the Mercato Vecchio, and con-
tiguous to the famous Market-shrine of the Madonna. The Arms
of the Guild were put up over both buildings : a red sword and
a blue cuirass in a white field.

In the year 1472 appeared a "Treatise on Military Arts" by
a Florentine called Giovanni Valturio : in it is the first mention
of guns, and the like engines of war, as being wrought by the
"Guild of Armourers and Sword-makers." Up to 1474 Floren-
tines had only iron guns drawn by bullocks — more or less for
show — for after each discharge these primitive weapons required
several hours to cool before they were again available ! The
standing army of the Republic was small. It had no artillery

A TYPICAL YOUNG FLORENTINE SOLDIER

ST. GEORGE, PATRON OF THE GUILD OF ARMOURERS. OOXATELLO

GUILD OF CARPENTERS 425

until 1530, except a few clumsy pieces called " Moschetti" which
were limbered about on mule-back.

II. L'ARTE DE' LEGNAIUOLI

The Guild of Carpenters was one of the least esteemed in the
Hierarchy of the Guilds, and occupied in every List the penulti-
mate position, taking precedence only of the " Arte de* Fornat"
The why and wherefore of this inferiority it is quite impossible
to state. Possibly the mutual relations between the Guild and
the " Masters of Wood," — incorporated with the "Arte de' Maestri
di Pietra e Legname" — were such as to associate in the latter all
the more skilful and artistic, no less than the richer and more
influential, workers in wood.

It is quite probable that the rougher wood-craftsmen were
originally peasants of the Contado — accustomed to felling trees
and preparing them for the Master-builders in the city. Some
too were doubtless gatherers of fuel and loose timber, and such
men would be quite able to put together, more or less crudely,
the huts and cottages in which they dwelt, and the sheds and
barns wherein they sheltered their cattle and stored their harvests.

What the "Guild of Carpenters" failed to attain of high
place in the Guild economy they undoubtedly possessed in the
question of origin. Priority of existence of the trade is without
contradiction.

In the days of Charlemagne there are records of a " Society
of Carpenters " in Tuscany, under the designation of " Fabri-
tignarii" — "Workers in wood." The Robber-captains in the war-
like times before Countess Matilda, like her ancestor Boniface,
created first Marquis of Torscia or Toscana in 828, found plenty
of occupation in clearing forests and planting stockades, and in
manufacturing pike sticks and bows and arrows. Many sons of
such wild sires, in later days, apt in their manipulation of timber,
became members of the first Carpenter Associations in Florence.1

1 Perrens, " Histoire de Florence,' vol. i. p. 190.

426 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

In the Archives of the State the earliest preserved entries of
handicrafts in wood are as follows : —
" 1038. Johannes, qui tornario vocatur "- —Turner.
" 1132. Berignallo, fil. barlittario" — Cooper.
" 1136. Scartone — pettinario " — Comb-maker.
" 1199. Reinaldus — pancone" — Carpenter's-bench and Loom-maker.

In 1209-1213 mention is made of certain workmen under the
designations of "Bottariai" — Coopers, and " Madiellariai "—
Trough-makers. Reference is made in 1327 to two other allied
trades : — " Cunatori " — Chest and cradle-makers, and " Vernicia-
tori " — Varnishers.

In the List of Guilds at the various revisions of the Statutes
in 1236, 1266, 1280-82, 1301-1309, and 1415, the " Arte
deLegnaiuoli " is placed twentieth : in the latter year it is
entitled "Arte dey Legnaiuoli Grossi "--" Guild of Master
Carpenters."

A set of carpenters' tools in early days cost a man a very
small amount, for example : a broad-axe — 5 soldi, a plain saw—
3 soldi, a plane — 4 soldi, an adze — 2 soldi, a square, a spoke-
shave, and a chisel — i soldo each !

The Statutes of the Guild, first put out in 1300, — as was the
case in the similarly situated Guilds of " Armourers," " Lock-
smiths," and " Saddlers," — were written in characters so difficult
to decipher that no one has yet succeeded in making known
fully the details of its Constitution. The General Code, drawn up
for use by all the Guilds, with adaptations to their peculiar re-
quirements, in the years 1301-1309, was adopted in 1305 by the
Carpenters.

As to the peculiar Officials, elected to adminster the affairs of
the Guild, we seem to have no information. That there were
Consuls, as in the other Guilds, goes without saying, and is proved
by the fact that their Residence was situated in the Via de'
Lamberteschi, next door to the Zecca — Mint ; over which their

GUILD OF CARPENTERS 427

coat-of-arms was emblazoned :— a green tree and a red house in
a white field.

No carpenter or dealer in wood in the Mercato Vecchio was
allowed to move timber by night under the penalty of ten lire.
They were forbidden to place their benches outside their houses
and to make litter in the public thoroughfares. Articles in course
of making, such as benches, chairs, chests, etc., were not permitted
to encumber the footpaths.

Projections of any kind into the street or Market-place were
subject to measurement, and anything which exceeded the canna
of the " Calimala " had to be removed, and the owner incurred a
fine of ten lire. In the Mercato Nuovo wooden frames with
hooks for stretching and drying woollen cloth ; and along the
Ponte Vecchio tubs, boxes, blocks, and other articles or encum-
brances of wood, were prohibited, and the offenders were fined ten
lire for each offence.

Carpenters were forbidden to work in the two Markets, and
also in front of Or San Michele. Any work absolutely necessary
there had to be completed within three days, and every care
exercised to remove shavings, sawdust, and litter, without delay.
No carpenter was allowed to leave timber beyond three days
lying in front of his workshop, but he had the right to a foot's
width beyond his wall, where to store wood he was actually
using.1

Whether an arbitrary line can be drawn between the avoca-
tions of the " Masters of Wood " and those of the " Carpenters " is
a matter of opinion. Apparently scaffoldings, roofings, and panel-
lings, and all such important matters, which required strict archi-
tectural knowledge, were undertaken by the former Guild, together
with the designing of artistic decorations and, possibly, their
manipulation. The " Carpenters " were doubtless more especially
concerned with frame-work, flooring, and fitting, and repairing
jobs, whilst much of their time was absorbed in cabinet-work.

The furniture of the Renaissance was by no means the least

1 "Tractatus Extra-ordinatus," Lib. IV., Rub. xlii., etc.

428 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

considerable object of artistic workmanship. In the varied forms
of bedsteads, cupboards, chests, — for marriage outfits, and other
purposes, — couches, chairs, tables, picture-frames, etc. etc.,
Florentine workmen gained a high reputation for skill and
thoroughness.

Up to the fifteenth century, with few exceptions, the table for
meals was nothing but a loose board, or boards, laid upon trestles
—hence the term " festive board ! " With respect to chairs, until
the end of the first decade of the sixteenth century, the only chair
set by the board was that occupied by the Master of the house,
the Bishop or General of a Monastery, or the Head of a business
house. " Taking the chair " is an expression directly traceable to
this custom, meaning thereby the place of honour. Only gradu-
ally did the long hard benches disappear, and chairs, — seated, first
in plain wood, and then with leather, and lastly, upholstered,—
take their places.

And who is not familiar with the splendid Cassoni, — marriage
coffers, — belonging chiefly to the sixteenth century, — with their
grandeur of outline, and substantiality of workmanship, which
the whole School of Florentine painters, man by man in turn,
adorned with superb paintings, forming, in a way, a running
history of the men and the women, the manners and the fashions
of the Renaissance.

Cabinetmakers were not satisfied with crude effects or simple
treatment, but added enrichments of all kinds. Veneering was
the mother of mosaic-work, and it was an early accomplishment
in Florence. At first it was confined exclusively to the addition
of various sorts of cane and foreign wood. Gradually a more
solid surface became the fashion, and almost imperceptibly
Florentine mosaic became the characteristic of her Carpenters and
workers in wood.

The surface of the wood, — in this art, — is no longer visible,
or only visible in part, for upon the plain timber foundation is
laid a solid mass of stone and metal, — -Lapis-lazuli, malachite,
and jasper columns, with gilt capitals and enwreathments, and

GUILD OF CARPENTERS 429

pedestals of gilt bronze, are associated with medallions of agate,
carnelian, bloodstone, and onyx. By an easy transition this
inlay, or encrusting work was applied to stone foundations, and
here was obtained that class of artistic work which commonly
goes by the name of " Mosaic." The Grand Duke Ferdinand I.
introduced the style from Milan, in the year 1580, for the adorn-
ment of the Medici tombs at San Lorenzo.

Another form of artistic carpentry was an especial favourite
in the sixteenth century — the overlaying of ivories upon ebony
groundwork. This was called " Scagliuola" and in it was pro-
duced the latest expression of the artistic taste of the
Renaissance.

Walnut and pear were the favourite woods in the hands of
the carvers of wood, who probably belonged to the " Masters of
Wood " ; whilst the workmen of the " Carpenters' Guild " did the
roughing out of panels, borders, balustrades, etc. etc.

The secrets of the manufacture of Florentine picture-frames
have never left the fair city on the Arno. Wood gilding was a
fine art as much as was the carving of the wood. The mouldings
were covered with red lead and then with coatings of thinnest
white glue, — thicker in the burnished parts, — and sometimes as
many as ten coats were applied.

Polishing too of wood-work, whether on the flat or carved,
was a serious art A mixture of turpentine and beeswax was
brushed carefully and repeatedly over the surface, and then
rubbed down with hard brushes. Olive-oil was poured unstint-
ingly over the parts, and then heavy heated irons were applied,
and the whole finished with the swift manipulation of soft leather
and silk waste.

Gesso, — which was a very ancient process, — was revived in
Florence in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Cennino
Cennini, in his " Treatise upon Painting," throws much light
upon the different methods of working in this material.

The material was calcined chalk, or whiting, mixed with
viscid liquid such as glue or size. This formed an admirable

430 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

medium for low-relief, and was much used by carpenters and
cabinet-makers in the decoration of ceilings, marriage-coffers, wall-
panels, tournament-shields, and very many kinds of furniture.
" Pastiglia " was the term applied, in the workshops, to this fictile
substance, which was laid on almost like pigment, with hog's-hair-
brushes and metal spatulas. Indeed this form of decorative art
was actually relief painting, and engaged the attention and energies
of many a craftsman who had a feeling for beauty.

Intarsiatura, — called also briefly " Tarsia" — was employed for
the floors and walls of rooms, and consisted of a simple inlay of
various sorts of wood. The term " Certosiatura " was applied to the
finest descriptions especially the inlaid work put down in Churches
and religious houses, hence the name — " work of the * Certosa! "
This furnishes an interesting proof that the monasteries bore their
part in the advancement of the arts and crafts.

A common practice was to glue together long rods of various
kinds of wood, and, when dry, to saw through the block, whereby
a chequered pattern was disclosed. The favourite blend was
black or very dark wood, and the palest strain of white, which
produced the effect of a draughtboard, and was much in vogue in
the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.

That the Guild was prosperous, and its members profitably
engaged in their calling, is evidenced by the position occupied
by the Guild with respect to the raising of taxes. In 1 3 2 1 , for
example, the Carpenters are mulcted in the proportionate amount
of fifty gold florins, the Guild counting tenth in order of affluence
among the whole Twenty-one !

Some of the names of worthy craftsmen and their special
branches of carpentry have been preserved, for example : — Antonio
Leopardi was a well-known maker and inlayer of tables, 1450-
1525; the family of d' Agnolo, Bernardo the father, and Domenico
and Giovanni, his sons, were celebrated as designers of inlay-
work and as carvers of wood in the churches of Florence, 1460-
1563 ; and the brothers Tasso, — Domenico and Giovanni, — who
worked with Michael Angelo, were renowned wood-carvers.

GUILD OF CARPENTERS

431

An amusing tale is told in one of the Novelle, " // Grasso
Legnaiuolo " or " The Fat Ebony-Carver " : — A good-natured
fellow of thirty-five, by name Manetti Ammanotini, in 1409,
opened a shop in the Popolo San Giovanni. He was an agreeable
and amusing butt for the wags of the quarter, very fat and good
looking, and quite hail-fellow-well-met with everybody. A party

" THE FAT CARPENTER." EARLY SIXTEENTH CENTURY

of young bloods, seeing him very busy in his new holding, got
round him, and talked and talked, until they fairly persuaded him
that he was another man. Supping with him later on the same
Sunday evening, at Tommaso de' Pecori's, they tricked him, and
made the poor fellow so thoroughly miserable, that he waddled
home, and made up his mind to commit suicide. The jest became
so serious that the larrikins had the greatest difficulty in unravelling
the muddle they had caused. However Manetti recovered his
senses and his own personality once more. He was all the same

432 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

a very skilful workman, and was overdone with commissions from
rich merchants. One of his creations was a remarkable inlaid
dressing-table for Giovanni Rucellai.1

Almost the last movement in connection with the Guild was
that of 1534, when, under Grand Duke Cosimo I., the Lesser
Guilds were divided into Four Universities. The third in number
was styled LUniversita dey Fabbricanti, and included "Smiths,"
" Lock-smiths," " Masters of Stone and Wood," " Armourers and
Sword-makers," and, last but not least, — " Carpenters."

.*••••••

Note : — Much of the information concerning the Guilds of
" Armourers " and " Carpenters " has been derived from " cuttings "
collected by the late Rev. S. T. Baxter and most kindly placed
at the Author's service.

III. L'ARTE DE' FORNAI

In spite of the natural pre-eminence of Tuscany as an agri-
cultural country, her inhabitants were singularly unappreciative of
their advantages with respect to the growing of cereals.

Vines, olives, mulberries, and flax, seem to have claimed the
attention of the old-time agriculturists, to the exclusion, relatively
speaking, of grain crops; This is the more remarkable because the
Florentine instinctive far-sightedness in the making of money in
this matter, at all events, was actually at fault. Possibly industrial
pursuits engrossed them, as offering better prospects of financial
success.

The Contado produced little corn, certainly not more than
three or four months' consumption. Montepulciano, Arezzo, the
higher parts of the Val d' Arno, and around Pisa, were the most
favourable home granaries. The provisioning of a city of the size
of Florence, with her rapidly growing population was a very
serious business.

A Magistracy of Abundance, or " Annona" as it was called,
existed from very early times, but no records of its institution

1 Roscoe's "Famous Italian Novelists," vol. iv.

GUILD OF BAKERS 433

have been preserved. Originally this Magistracy was composed
of eight Capitudini, — Heads of Families, — but in 1352 their duties
were assumed by the Council of State.

The officials of the " Annona " were chiefly occupied in buying
and importing foreign grain. In ordinary times their operations
were carried on in Romagna, the country north of Siena, and in
Sicily, whilst in years of scarcity recourse was had to the more
remote supplies of Egypt, Barbary, and the East.

This system however set up a monopoly, and the working of
the Government contracts became a matter of oppression and of
scandal. No regular reports were issued of the supply and
demand. Prices were not fixed, and losses were not examined
into. As long as the daily supply of foreign corn in the public
market of Or San Michele amounted to fifty or sixty loads, at
ordinary price, no questions were asked.

On the other hand all the roads leading into Florence from
the country districts were placed under the surveillance of six
officers, whose duty it was to see that no hindrance was placed in
the way of the easy access of grain.

Nevertheless taxes were imposed at the Gates upon all loads
of corn from districts not directly under the rule of Florence.
Many were the ruses adopted to evade this impost. Messengers,
spies, and agents in disguise, intercepted convoys, and either
purchased the loads on the spot, or relabelled the consignments
before they reached the city. The successful running in of grain
packs entitled the bold driver and the skilful agent to security
from arrest for debt and to other privileges.

Many Statutes, Rubrics, and Provvisioni were put forth by
the Government during the years 1296-1299 to regulate this
contraband commerce.1

The prices current for grain of course varied with circum-
stances ; for example, between the years 1224 and 1232, the
limits were from fifteen to two soldi per staio or bushel.

The annual fixing of the price of corn, flour, and bread, was

1 Prow. vi. 126; viii. 98; x. 39.
2 E

434 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

the subject of a very quaint and primitive ceremony. " The
Officers of Abundance," as they were called, mounted to the top
of the ancient Granary of Or San Michele, just before the harvest,,
and settled the year's quotations by the impressions they got on
viewing the country from that coign of vantage — the greener the
crops the higher were the rates ! l

Corn in the market at Or San Michele was sorted into four
descriptions : — I . Calvello — big barley which would not pass-
through the standard sieve, — the highest priced ; 2. Sicilian wheat,
second in value ; 3. Grano Comunale, — the last Florentine harvest,
— sometimes mixed with barley ; and 4. Grano Grosso, — coarse
varieties of corn.

All grain for human use was exposed for sale in Bigoncier
baskets or trays, made of rushes or wood, each generally holding
seven or eight staii. As many as three hundred of these recep-
tacles were to be seen in the Corn-market in times of plenty.

Another duty of the Officials was to go about amongst the
sacks, bags, and baskets of grain, brought into the market for sale,
and make personal examination of quantities and qualities. The
amount of wheat required for daily consumption in 1427 was
one hundred vioggi — about a bushel. Daily when the great
" Vacca " struck the hour of nine the " Officers of Abundance "
seated themselves on a platform, within the Loggia of Or San
Michele, and from thence watched the orderly distribution of the
certified stocks.

In front of the Shrine of the Madonna del' Or San Michele was
placed an office, — a desk and a bench, — where sat daily at certain
hours one or more Notaries. These legal officials were appointed
for the purpose of receiving the affidavits of Corn-chandlers and
writing out contracts. These were couched in stringent terms, so
as to bind buyer and seller alike to act honourably, and to
prevent the imposition of inferior qualities, and the inflation of
prices. Appeals in disputes on the spot were referred to the
Notary, who, not uncommonly, was accompanied by a Dominican

1 Cantini, iii. 60.

GUILD OF BAKERS

435

or other religious personage, the duty of the latter being to set up
burning candles before the Shrine as witnesses of straight dealing
before God and man.

THE SHRINE OF OR SAN MICHELE, WITH THE CORN MARKET AND THE
NOTARY FOR AFFIDAVITS

In times of dearth or distress well-disposed merchants, and
others, were accustomed to send in waggons laden with corn, to
be sold as the " Officers of Abundance " directed to the poorer
citizens. Very often too, wealthy and ambitious men, in order to

436 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

curry favour with the populace, placed supplies of grain at the
disposal of the Officers for gratuitous apportionment.

Sometimes, when the pinch of want became severe, people
clamoured and fought around the Granary-shrine for daily doles
of wheat. Among relics of the " good old times " preserved for
years, in the Sacristy, was a fearsome instrument in the shape of
an axe, and a wooden block. The latter used to stand by the
platform whereon the " Officers of Abundance " presided under
the Loggia, and was used in connection with the very summary
method to which these worthies resorted, when they quietly chopped
off a finger or two from the hands of the more unruly claimants !

The effect of the intervention of the " Uffiziali delta Grascia "
and " dell' Abbondanza" — the Market authorities, — was not wholly
conducive to the cheapening of comestibles. The constant suc-
cession of new men and new laws made for confusion and
difficulty, and hence the sales of corn in the Markets and the
shops of the Granaiuoli^ — Corn-chandlers, — no less than the prices
of flour and bread at the bakehouses of the members of the
44 Guild of Bakers " varied considerably and perpetually.

The preponderating influence of the " Annona " had a great deal
to do with the subordination of the " Arte de' Fornai" Members
of the Guild were wholly dependent upon their good offices — or
bad — in the prosecution of their trade.

Whilst at Pisa the " Guild of Bakers " ranked amongst the
Seven Greater Guilds, in the Florentine hierarchy it came last of
all the Twenty-one Corporations ! This inferiority of precedence
lends colour to the story of the ill-fame of the trade in general in
the capital city.

Certainly in reading through the acts of the Council of State
of Florence one is struck with the frequency with which the
" Guild of Bakers " and its members appear as delinquents. It
was constantly necessary to take measures against them, in
common with " the Guild of Butchers," in consequence of " the
dishonour they do the Commune, and the Podesta, by the bad
quality of the flour and of the mutton they offer for sale."

GUILD OF BAKERS 437

A light is thrown upon the reason of the disesteem in which
the Guild was held in a speech made in the Council of the
Captain of the People on January 30, 1282, by Bernardo Rossi—
a baker. He maintained that " there were many wealthy citizens,
who had money interests in the trades of milling and baking ;
but who took no part in the business themselves. By the high
prices they charged for flour they encouraged working bakers to
mix inferior qualities, and by the high rents they demanded for
the hire of bakehouses they compelled the tenants to make
excessive charges for inferior bread. The latter indictment had
its complement in the use of unjust weights. This state of
things," he went on to say, " affected the poorer classes more than
the better-to-do citizens, and consequently excited popular
prejudices against the ill-used bakers, rather than against the
grasping capitalists ! " 1

Of the actual date of the establishment of the Guild there are
no records ; indeed the early Archives of Florence, — such at
least as have been preserved, — contain only very scanty notices of
milling and baking, and hardly any of a Corporation of Craftsmen.

That avocations so essential for the public weal were actively
and largely in operation goes without saying from the earliest
period. Doubtless a goodly number of customs and methods had
grown with the lapse of time, and out of these quite naturally
more or less regular codes of procedure and conduct had been
elaborated.

In the Archives there are early notices as follows : —
" 1028. Ursus . . . pistor — a Baker."
"11 47. Bernardus — Mugnarius — a Miller."

In the year 1236 the " Arte de1 Fornai" was duly scheduled
with the rest of the Twenty-one Guilds, and placed seventh in
the order of the Fourteen Lesser Guilds. This pride of place was
retained only for a few years, for in 1282 the "Guild of Bakers"
appears last of all the Guilds, and so it continued to the end.

1 " Le Consulte," torn. i. Quad C. p. 48.

438

THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

Certainly in 1534 the Guild received something like promotion
for it was included with the Guilds of " Butchers " and " Oil-
Merchants and General Dealers " in the Universita di For San
Piero — the first of the four Unions of Lesser Guilds established by
the Grand Duke Cosimo I.

Whatever special features or peculiar Officers the Guild may
have had in earlier days, seem to have disappeared by the end of
the thirteenth century, and the Guild fell into line with the rest,

A FLOUR MILL ON THE ARNO. SIXTEENTH CENTURY

and accepted as a model for its new constitution the reformed
Statutes of the " Calimala" Guild of 1301-1309.

Probably at first the chief officers were styled " Capitudini "-
" Heads " rather than " Consuls," although their Residence was
called consular, and was a fine house situated in the Chiasso del
Buco by the Mercato Vecchio. Upon its front was emblazoned
a white star in a red field — the armorial bearings of the Guild,
which were assigned to the " Arte de* Fornai" by the Priors in
1266.

From the first a distinction was drawn between the two
different classes of citizens who formed the membership of the
Guild : — the Mugnai — Millers and Fornai — bakers, The former

GUILD OF BAKERS 439

were engaged in grinding flour at their mills in the Contado, or
along the river side, and in carrying their full sacks to the Corn-
market at Or San Michele. The latter were employed in knead-
ing and baking bread and in selling it retail.

Millers were forbidden to retail flour in Florence on their own
account. Three pounds of grain went to the bushel. Millers
were expected to deliver the ground flour within three days of the
receipt of the grain.1

The wholesale storage of corn and flour, which would have
a tendency to harden the market, and which could be sold at
higher rates in times of scarcity, was absolutely forbidden.
Persons evading the prohibition were liable to have the whole of
their stock confiscated and to see their names exposed to public
infamy.2

Probably much of the obloquy which attached to the bakers
must be laid at the door of the millers. Boccaccio throws out
many a hint that, in spite of their well-lined doublets and fair
white aprons, the latter class passed in general for sharp fellows,
not to say cheats. It was said that they invariably kept back
one-half the flour which every grinding produced ! 3

In 1296 full powers were granted to the Priors to draw up a
Statute against this dishonest way of dealing, and also a Provvisione
to determine the retail-price of bread.4 This was all the more
needful seeing the great variations which existed in the value of
corn, flour, and bread, at different periods. In 1224, for example,
a staio, — bushel, — of wheat cost fifteen soldi ; whilst, during the
great famine, in 1328 the price rose to one gold florin — ten
shillings.5

A Statute was passed fixing four denari for a staio , — one
third of a sack of corn, — of bread ; but inasmuch as fuel, —
always more or less a scarce commodity, — cost more in winter
than in summer, it was impossible to sell at one price the
year round. Naturally people wished to buy at the lowest

1 Rub. ccvii., 1415. 3 Boccaccio, "Giorn." vi. "Nov." 2, torn. iii. p. 26.

2 Rub. ccix., 1415. 4 Prow. vi. 25, v. 5 "Le Consulte," i. 114.

440 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

summer prices, and consequently any rise on the part of
the baker led to disputes and sometimes to the raiding of
their shops. They complained that they were the wronged
persons, and made appeals to the State for protection. At
last it was agreed that the bakers should charge four denari
in the summer and five in the winter, for the same quantity
of bread.

Villani says the bakers were the gainers by the new arrange-
ment, and daily made into bread as much as one hundred and
fifty loads of grain. Each loaf had to bear the mark of the baker
stamped upon it. Any bread offered for sale unstamped was at
once confiscated by the " Officers of Abundance," and the offend-
ing baker was mulcted in heavy damages.1

Bakers, however, felt the strain of taxation, because they had
to pay a tax, not only on the flour they baked, but also for the
privilege of keeping their shops open and their ovens heated.2
The constant alterations in bye-laws pressed arduously upon the
bakers. One day, for instance, a man might bake and sell bread
of a certain quality and weight, which the next were deemed
illegal.3

Kneaders of dough, and bread-bakers, were not allowed to
work on Sundays and other days of solemnity. Any one so
doing was fined forty soldi. The " Sportello " however might be
open on such days after Mass for the sale of bread.

Makers of maccaroni and vermicelli were required to take out
their licences in the month of January, and all unlicensed bakings
were fined ten lire for each sale effected.5

Citizens were warned not to purchase nor to keep large
quantities of bread, unless they were Innkeepers. Bread for
the family had to be purchased fresh daily, and no private indi-
vidual, or person unconnected with the Guild, might sell bread
under any conditions.6 Foreigners visiting Florence and residing

1 Villani, xi. 93. 2 M. Villani, i. 57.

a Villani, 1347, xii. 72, xiii. 956. 4 Rub. cc., 1415.

5 Rub. ccxiv., 1415. 6 Rubs, clxxxix., cxli., 1415.

GUILD OF BAKERS 441

for a period were permitted to bake, cook, and sell, as they
liked, regardless of the embarrassing regulations which hampered
the Florentine bakers.

Bakers never gave credit beyond the value of ten lire, and
they were obliged to furnish the Consuls of the Guild, at stated
periods, with lists of their customers and the amount owed by
each.

Bread was not by any means the only commodity which
bakers might sell, but flour of all kinds, as well, and bran and
sifted grain of every description. There was consequently a sort
of rivalry set up between them and the Granaiuoli, — Corn-chandlers,
— who were associated with the " Arte degli Oliandolil'

A very important, and withal popular, branch of the Bakery
business was that of the Panattieri — Pastry-cooks — but this was
a later development of the art of baking. Pastry made with eggs,
butter, sugar, milk, and flour, however, is never named in Records
before the end of the sixteenth century, when a company of pastry-
cooks migrated from Milan to Florence, and introduced their
special delicacies.

In the Canti Carnascialeschi — Carnival Songs — where all the
Guilds and Crafts are celebrated, or caricatured, there is no mention
of Pastry-cooks. First sung by Berni in his " Orlando Innamorato"
pastry supplied the epicure with delights he had never even
dreamed of: —

" To live delicately in every way
Needs the aid of foreign culinary.
Pastry goes well with your savories and with your
Poultry, boiled and roast, and with baked meats." r

The Pastry-cooks' shops, it need hardly be added, were, in later
times, irresistible attractions to the merry Florentines. Many a
pretty young contadina, tripping along with her lover, picked up
some toothsome trifle or other. Just off the hot iron plates of the
oven, and temptingly set out in dainty wicker-baskets, were such
delicacies as berlingozzi — puff-pastry, cialdoni — thin spiced wafers,

1 Lib. iii. chap. vii. sect. 51.

442 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

ciambelle — jam rolls, bericuocoli — ginger-bread cakes, bracciatelli
— crisp sweet biscuits, lasagne — maccaroons, and many other
delights, along with whole cakes and confectionery of all descriptions.

All bakers and pastry-cooks — whether men or women — were
required to exhibit a sign over their bakeries and shops emblazoned
with the Lily of Florence in blue.1 Once a year, in the month of
December, they were required to appear before the Officials of Or
San Michele, and to swear solemnly that they would well, truly,
and honestly, prosecute their calling, and commit no fraud against
the State and the public, but observe, strictly and intelligently, all
the regulations of their Guild, and the laws of the State.2

The weights and measures used by members of the Guild
were under the inspection and correction of the officials appointed
by the " Captains of Or San Michele " ; who also had power to
examine and test the weight and quality of all bread baked in
Florence.

Within the first month of their assumption of office Podestas
and Captains of the People caused a careful inquiry to be made
into the position, construction, and inofTensiveness, of all public and
private bakeries and ovens. All nuisances or dilapidations were
pointed out, and time given for their amendment. Failure to
comply with the directions of the officials led to fines of one
hundred lire, or more.3

Attention was also paid to the amount of fuel, — wood or other
inflammable matter, — stored by each baker, and strict rules were
enjoined as to its storage and protection from fire.4

The Guild, — in spite of let and hindrance, — flourished exceed-
ingly. The members built fine bakehouses and shops, and palatial
residences, which they furnished handsomely, encouraging thereby
many a rising artist and craftsman. In their Sunday and gala
dress they were not a whit behind their more aristocratic fellow-
Guildsmen, whilst in their hospitality, and the upkeep of their
tables, they yielded to none.

1 Rub. ccxxxviii., 1415. - Rub. cxcv., 1415.

3 Rub. ccii., 1415. 4 Rub. cciii., 1415.

GUILD OF BAKERS

443

They apparently cared little enough for their arbitrary position
of inferiority in the Guild Hierarchy and each individual did his
best to show that he was as good a citizen, if not better, than
his neighbour the Butcher and the Provision-Dealer !

I. " Stemma del? Arte
de* Corazzai e Spadai "

Red sword, blue cuirass,
in white field

2. " Stemma del? Arte
de" Legnaiuoli "

Red house, green tree,
in white field

3. " Stemma delf Arte
d<? Fornai"

White star in
red field

CHAPTER XV
LIFE AND WORK IN THE MARKETS

MERCATO VECCHIO— MERCATO NUOVO

MERCATO VECCHIO. — The lungs of commerce. Tradition. Dante's
testimony. Conrad II. Palaces. Origin of the Loggia, A ghost story.
Oratorio delta Tromba. The Market language. " The Echo of the Market."
Antonio Pucci. " La Proprieta di Mercato Vecchio" Market churches. Dona-
tello's Dovitzia. Market bells. A day in the Market. Silence unknown.
Market games. " Accorr 'Uomo\" — Help! The Stocks for knaves. Chaos
and dirt. Strict Market bye-laws. Market porters. Story-tellers. A mermaid.
Sbirri. Good food and drink. Cattle. Fish. Poultry. The " Giglio." Fruit.
Thirsty souls. " Salate / " Barbers. Burchiello. Voce Toscana. Legend of
the White Hen.

MERCATO Nuovo. — Rise of silk industry required a new Market-place.
The Loggia for Bankers. Tables of Money-changers. No comestibles in
Mercato Nuovo. The " Carroccio" Whipping bankrupts. Debtors privileged.
Bearing of arms in the Market forbidden. Goldsmiths' shops. Benvenuto
Cellini. Hat-raising. Le genti di Firenze. " Making the fig ! " Sad days.
Party strife. Great prosperity. Junkettings, A terrible storm. "// Centra
di Firense."

THE lungs of the Commerce of Florence were the two Markets
— the Mercato Vecchio and the Mercato Nuovo. The
home-trade of all the Guilds and Crafts, for more than five
hundred years, was transacted within their precincts. Here went
up for ever and a day the hue and the cry after gain. Men, and
women too, toiled, as only those busy Florentines of old knew
how, both for individual success, and for the prosperity of their
beloved city. The keenness of her barterers and hucksters, no
less than the alertness of her manufacturers and her merchants,
have their cue in the words of Boccaccio : —

" Those who have no possessions are little better than dumb
cattle ; he who has most is reputed the most worthy." x

1 Boccaccio, "Centi Novelle," Giorno viii. "Nov." 10, fol. 195.

LIFE AND WORK IN THE MARKETS 445

The Mercato Vecchio was the most venerable site in Florence.
The first portion of the city to be built, it was geographically the
centre of the municipal area, and became, judicially, the seat of
the most ancient legal tribunal, socially, the residence of the old
aristocracy, and, commercially, the emporium of the known world.1

An old tradition marks out the Old Market as the exact spot
where the fierce Fiesoleans of old, coming down armed from their
stronghold on the hills, bartered with the peaceful dwellers by the
river banks.

Dante says, that before 1150 Etruscans, Romans, and Lom-
bards had all spoken of the Mercato Vecchio : at which date one
of the earliest important buildings was erected — the tower of the
Caponsacchi family.

Among traditions of the Old Market, perhaps, the earliest
relates that Conrad II. visited Florence in 1037, and took up his
abode in the Market-place. Already there were well-known
residents of the Market : a wealthy noble — Conte di Martino, a
rich dealer — Rufo, and certain well-to-do artisans — Olivo and
Giovanni. At least, it is said, that Conrad seized the dwellings
of the three latter and bestowed them upon the canons of San
Giovanni, who had championed his cause.

The earliest historical record gives the year 1079 as the date
when the Mercato Vecchio received its name. Markets seem to
have been held in various parts of the old-world city, and old
woodcuts represent trafficking as going on just outside the doors
of San Giovanni Battista ; but such " pitches " were of uncertain
and inexact prescription.2

Around the Old Market were the houses, or palaces, of many
of the principal inhabitants : — the Adimari, Amieri, Agolanti,
Alamanni, Alfieri, Altieri, Caponsacchi, Cacciaguide, Macci,
Manfredi, Medici, Nerli, Pegolotti, Sizi, Soldanieri, Tosinghi,
Tornaquinci, Vecchietti, and others.

The Palazzo Tosinghi, — called also " II Palazzo," because it
1 F. L. del Migliore, p. 572. 2 Follini, iv. 188.

446

THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

surpassed the rest in size and dignity, — was an excellent

specimen of the city palaces, which were

marks of the liberty of the Commune. Across

the whole of the front ran open galleries

called Laubie, — from the German, the origin

of the English word " lobby," — supported upon

pillars or arcades. They were used, by the

inmates, for taking the air, enjoying their

meals, viewing the movement of the Market and

f// j ./K. ii....«ti..f .. . //.in.. 1.1 in i\ \\itt ti.,.rfiii

VVmrVi jjffi \\ ia>.riilLUI» ii tiri fitlfrl frLiMi >

PALAZZO DE' TOSINGHI, " IL PALAZZO," MERCATO VECCHIO

addressing crowds. Later on Laubie gave place to Loggie.

The Amieri Palaces formed a range of fine buildings in the

LIFE AND WORK IN THE MARKETS 447

Old Market. Their Ghibelline towers looked down upon many a
strange scene, but on none so weird as the shrouded figure of
Ginevra di Niccolo degli Amieri knocking helplessly at the big
door of her father's house. Married to Francesco Agolanti, she
sickened of the plague in 1400, and was laid out for dead.
Funeral rites were duly performed, and the poor young wife was
left in her grave ; but she had only swooned, and, awaking in
alarm, she cast off her grave clothes, and, wrapping the burial
shroud around her, she hurried to her husband's house. Terrified
at what he was convinced was a ghost, he rushed away from her.
All her friends, affrighted, refused her assistance, and the poor
girl was like to perish really from exposure and hunger, when
a boy-lover appeared upon the scene. Ginevra returned his im-
passioned embrace, and Antonio Rondinelli led her to her second
bridal, and, as the story books say, " they lived happy ever
after ! " Via della Morta was named from Ginevra's Wake.

At the corner of the Market, where enters the Via degli Speziali,
was a tabernacle with an altar, to which the name was given of
" Oratorio di Santa Maria della Tromba." It was built in com-
memoration of the ministrations of Saint Peter Martyr, and more
especially as a thank-offering for his miracle in exorcising the
Evil One, who, in the shape of a black horse, terrified the neigh-
bours. In 1361 the care of the Shrine was entrusted to the
" Guild of Doctors and Apothecaries." It was adorned with a
painting of the Madonna and Saints by Jacopo del Casentino.
Mass was said daily, and devotions were addressed to the Mother
of God and the Saints, by devout passers-by. Moreover every
poor criminal condemned to death was dragged past this Madonna
and compelled to bend the knee on his way to execution.

The Mercato Vecchio was distinguished for its possession of a
language of its own — a conglomeration, in truth, of all the dialects
of the Contado, intermixed with popular renderings of classical
Latin.

Whilst Dante fixed the Tuscan language of the Early Renais-
sance, and laid the foundation of "della Crusca" — the polite speech

448 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

of the Florentines, — Boccaccio,1 Sacchetti and Pucci harked back
upon ancient usage, and have preserved for us the vernacular—
" La Lingua Fiorentina di Mercato Vecchw"-—used alike by rich
and poor. Francesco Sacchetti has been justly called " The Echo
of the Old Market"; born in 1335, of the family of Benci
d'Uguccione, he died in 1410. His " Novelle " are precious
repositories of the topical slang of the Market.

Frate Passavanti, of the " Order of Preachers," and chaplain to
Archbishop Acciajuoli, in his " Specchio delta vera Penitenza"-
written in the support of the Accademia delta Crusca, — reproaches
Tuscans, and especially Florentines, for their indiscriminate use of
vulgarisms, for clipping their words, and for the affected pitch of
their voices : " the idiotic style of the Mercato Vecchio," — as
he calls it, — " which has sacrificed both grace and vivacity, but
which, nevertheless has preserved honourable traits."

Antonio Pucci, the inimitable poetaster of the Markets, who
rejoiced in the style of poetry called " Satirico-giocoso" — perhaps
" satirical banter," — has given us a living picture of the life and
work of the Mercato Vecchio.2 His "La Proprieta di Mercato
Vecchio" written very early in the fourteenth century, — long
before " The Chronicle of Villani " saw pen and parchment, — -is
composed of many stanzas, some of which, freely translated, are as
follows : —

" Our old Market, for all the world, finds ample food,
And beats all other marts in produce rich and good,
You could not match it, out of Florence, an' you would !

It is highly bless'd for busy occupation,

At each corner, a church for godly contemplation ;

Whilst streets branch out in every direction.

Physicians are at hand for every human woe,
Flax-merchants display yarns and linen-cloths also,
About are pork butchers — apothecaries too.

Here they sell fine glasses, and plates, and pitchers stout,
Taverns, too, with food and drink temptingly laid out,
And pretty serving maids, with whom to flirt no doubt !

1 Boccaccio, "Giorn." i., "Nov." 9.

2 Delizie degli Eruditi Toscani, torn. vi. p. 267, etc.

SANTA MARIA IN CAM P1DCK1LIO IX THE OLD MARKKT, AS IT AIM'KAKKD
IN THE NINKTKKXTH ( KXTURY

LIFE AND WORK IN THE MARKETS 449

Good woollen cloths and silks attract, the world well dress'd,
And look where e'er you will, in spite of jeer and jest,
Are open butcher's stalls with joints quite of the best.

On one side poulterers with many luring words

Sell hares, and boars, and kids, — prey of sportive shepherds,

And pheasants, starlings, pigeons and all kinds of birds,

And here and there and everywhere are keen bargainers,
With seats and desks for ready-money changers
Needful in the push of commercial undertakers.

Pawnbrokers also — and dealers in quaint old guise
Are ready with their loans ; whilst others cast the dice,
So that none need be hindered be he fool or wise.

And where else can a man so fair a garden view —
As that presented in the Markets — old and new, —
Which daily feasts the eyes of Florentines so true ? "

Lnd so he runs on.

Well may he speak, as he does, in the last verse ; for the
Mercato Vecchio was called " Giardino di Firenze " — " the Garden
of Florence "- —just because it was always full of abundance and
delights, and because it was the fruitful source of the life and
enterprise of the whole community.

Pucci places first — as all devout Florentines would — the
temples of religion. Santa Maria in Campidoglio — just behind
the old Fish-market — adjoined a popular tavern, the Osteria della
Croce di Malta, the social meeting-place of the members of the
various Associations of commercial travellers. Its site was that

of the ancient Roman Capitol. San Piero Buonconsiglio,

abbreviated to San Pierino, — at the south-west corner, — was
founded in the eighth century, and was the Sanctuary and Parlia-
ment-House combined, of the " Guild of Judges and Notaries."
It had a little outside pulpit, whence it was customary for orators to
address general audiences, and for doctors of the law to deliver
public lectures.

San Tommaso, — at the north-east angle, — became later on
the church of the Medici. " The Guild of Doctors and Apothe-

2 F

450 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

caries " used this temple for private and public devotions. Here
too many of the Wool-merchants were wont to attend the daily
early Mass. Sant' Andrea, — the senior parish church of Florence,
— was a very ancient edifice, having been founded as a convent of
Nuns, in 852. Near at hand was the Piazzetta di Sant' Andrea
— where the members of the " Guild of Linen-Merchants " were
wont to forgather. In the church was the chapel and altar of
the Guild. Merchants also of the " Calimala Guild " used to pop
in, as they passed, and count their beads.

In the centre of the Mercato Vecchio was erected a fine
column of oriental cipollino, which came out of the Baptistery of
San Giovanni. Upon it was placed, in 1430, a marble figure
emblematic of Abundance — the " Dovitzia " of Donatello. Two
iron rods ran up the shaft, one connected with the bell, which was
rung at the opening, and at the closing of the day's business ; the
other rod smartly jangled a similar bell when it was necessary to
warn all and sundry that there were thieves and evil persons
prowling around !

Before dawn rumbling wheels bore in the day's supply of
country produce. The clatter of iron hoofs upon the big flat
stone setts mingled discordantly with the harsh imprecations of
drivers and dealers. The barking of country dogs, and the
yelping of town curs — cuffed perchance by lusty yokels or trod
upon by belated carousers — accompanied inharmoniously the
cackling of geese and the bleating of lambs and calves.

The Florentines of old were -early risers, for before the bells
for " Lauds " had ceased their clang in the belfries, artisans were all
thronging the portals of the churches, euphemistically at least, assist-
ing at the hurried low Mass, as for a brief space they checked
their course to smithy, tanyard, and loom. Yes, work began at
daybreak the year round ; aye, and before the shades of night had
passed, many a flickering lantern danced its way across the grim
old Market-place.

Mingling in the throng were leather-aproned smiths and
armourers, bare-armed cloth dressers of the " Calimala" silk-

1 1
1 II 1

THE MERCATO VECCHIO, WITH THE COLOXXA DELLA DOVIZIA AND THE
LOGGIA DI PESCE

LIFE AND WORK IN THE MARKETS 451

spinners wending their way to San Bigio, carders and weavers
hurrying to their workshops from Oltrarno, goldsmiths' artificers
in tidier guise, dyers and tanners with stained hands and arms
and clothes, and many another honest working man and working
woman, — greeting one another with kindly words of cheer or taunt-
ing cries in jest

The day wears on and simple housewives, in their plain
woollen gowns and linen kerchiefs, basket on arm, and child at
breast, range themselves along the rows of market-people ready
for their custom, — seeking their husbands' breakfasts and other
homely needs. The Albergatori — the Innkeepers — too, are early
afoot to pick up cheap food stuffs for good wives to cook to set
before their hungry guests.

The Messeri of the Great Guilds pick their way through the
chattering, chaffering crowd, to and from their palaces. Possessed,
as most were, of pleasant villas in the suburbs, where true villeg-
giatura was ever to be had, they loved the Old Market, and all its
dirt and noise. It was to every Florentine the well of his life, the
fulcrum of his fortune, and the show-ground of his pride.

Some of these Magnificos are wending their way to the Resi-
dence of the Consuls of their Guild, or to the offices of their various
companies, to meet travellers and agents from abroad. Others are
going to see how their workpeople are getting on in the workshops,
and to inspect new machines and new methods. Many too are
bound to the Palace of the Podesta, or to the Palazzo Vecchio to
transact affairs of State, or to advance their own political interests.
Each wears the lucco, or gown, of his class, with its distinctive
marks.

Judges too and Notaries in the habits of their callings are on
their way, with befitting dignity, to their seats in the Courts —
carefully shunning, as they pass, all familiarities and jocular
greetings.

Silence was unknown in the Old Market. Early and late, by
night as well as by day, the good year round its many voices rose
up far beyond the roof-ridges of the houses, and climbed away

452

THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

into the belfries of the four churches, where they were re-echoed
amid the jingle-jangle of the bells. At all seasons there were noisy
clinking at the Money changers' tables, and highly vociferated prices

"LATE DONE! LATE FRESCHA ! " — MILKMAN

of exchange. The banging of pots and pans daily met the chal-
lenge of hucksters and cheap-jacks of every kind. The harsh
" Chiabbratta-baratta, Vratta ! " — " who wishes to exchange or to

sell I " not unlike the creaking of a cart-wheel, — sounded here and

there and everywhere.

LIFE AND WORK IN THE MARKETS 453

As noon approaches the animation of the Market mounts still
higher. Into the Square begin to pour batches of frolicsome
apprentices, set free until the bell tolls them back to their work.
With empty stomachs and hungry mouths they snatch and toss
one to the other, onions and chunks of bread and cheese, casting
anywhere their piccioli — small money — as often as not throwing
down no coin at all ! On they surge, munching as they go, and
cutting down many a fat sausage hung in their way, on the stalls
of the Pork-butchers. Unheeded are the protests of the contadine
and the salt-meat sellers. Their empty flasks and drinking cans
replenished with good Trebbiano, at wine-shops by the way, they
jostle to and fro, — a merry, noisy, mischievous throng, to finish
their frugal meal on the steps of Santa Maria in Campidoglio, and
then to play impromptu at Calcio or Pallone among the stalls and
tethered beasts — heedless of place and circumstances.

Artists too, and artisans, with brief respite for their hands,
flock into the Market precincts — dirty, hungry, and tired. Some
are bent on dining simply in the open, on fruit and eggs, perchance
with Donatello, Luca della Robbia, and their set ; and some, with
pockets better lined, are intent on richer fare, with the Ghir-
landaji and Pollaiuoli, and with men of fashion — a Rucellai,
an Alberti, or a Medici.

The siesta is not forgotten, and many a brawny limb and

curly head of hair lie prone on steps, nay even on the bare ground

— in later days with fragrant weed or smoking pipe between their

teeth. But, hark ! the work-bell rings, and in a trice, the dreamers

rise and stretch themselves, and hie them to their tasks again.

But, "Accorr 'uomo f Accorr 'uomo !" — "Help! Help!"—
sounds out alike for a runaway horse and for a personal assault.
Taken up, the cry became, often enough, the signal for the prompt
closing of shops and dwelling-houses, as conflict broke out between
class and class and trade and trade. Riots in the Market were
normal events. Perhaps a clumsy porter, or a pack mule, acci-
dentally kicked a Ricci, who at once struck the offender, and he
in his turn was belaboured with blows from every Albizzi within

454 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

reach, until the two families and their adherents were involved in
a grim death struggle.1

Rival trades were wont to join in battle-royal over the merest
incident. The dyers and the finishers of the " Calimala Guild "
fought out to a finish disputes with the operatives of the " Guild
of Wool," and so on.

Stone-throwing was ever a ready means to an end. Many a
time the street-boys, — " Hooligans " great and small, — bent on
mischief, formed light troops in the van of the opposing parties.

The Podesta and the Magistrates sat long and wearily dealing
with troubles of the Market. Litigants were as fierce as they were
numerous. Often enough no other remedy was readier than
to clap the lot in the town's Stocks to cool their ardour !
Such unfortunates, it need hardly be said, became the butt of
all that passed them by. Sometimes the poor wretches suffered
grievous bodily injury, but the Market overseers were wont to
punish the aggressors by placing them cheek by jowl with their
victims !

Was that busy Mart ever swept and garnished ? Garnished
indeed it was, but with such materials as only made the litter
greater. Vegetables, stripped by the side of their natal beds,
went through a further toilet. Chestnut shells lay thick around
the barrows of Brucciata and his brother roasters. Bits of cloth
and linen, and oddments of silk and velvet, with many a tuft of
fur and leather-shavings, were tossed hither and thither. Offal,
filth, and rags vied with rascality, brutality, and disorder, in
offering unsavoury and forbidding objects to the gaze of noble and
simple wayfarers.

Notwithstanding all this chaos and dirt, strict rules governed,
not only the traders in the Old Market, but also their customers :
contraventions of which were treated with severity. The accused,
— whether guilty or not, — were usually tied to the column in the
centre of the Market, with fools' caps upon their heads, and labels,
— stating the nature of their offence, — upon their breasts ! More

1 G. Biagi, " Private Life of the Renaissance Florentines.

LIFE AND WORK IN THE MARKETS 455

serious infractions of the Market Bye-laws were visited by periods
spent in the Stocks, with a heavy iron collar locked round the neck,
and attached by a chain to a post ! l

The market porters, — and mighty men were they, — were of
course under strict rules and subject to special bye-laws. For
instance, no man was to undertake loads of more than two
hundred pounds in weight, for a course of two hundred and fifty
yards, and his wage was fixed at six denari. For greater, or
less distances, and with lighter loads or heavier, the payment was
to be pro rata. Refusal to pay the recognised tariff, attempts at
over charges, or disputes about the weight and distance, landed
the offender in prison for a month.

As the sun westerns, preparations are made by the country
people for trooping home, but are intermitted whilst quiet groups
steal into the four churches, at the bidding of the Vesper bell, and
there, whilst mechanically counting down their beads, they mentally
cast up their day's accounts !

If a lull comes over the busy scenes of trafficking, it is but
a cover for the activities of unfortunate beggars : whilst dicers,
gamblers, and rogues of every degree look out of their hiding
places. Vagabond boys, whose tongues were wont to wag in
concert at brutal street games, pilfer where they will and can, and
little children, running home from school, carry scares and tales
amid bitter tears and rippling laughter.

Evening coming on apace finds many a group of interested
hearers gathered around the seats of the story-tellers, for few things
did Florentines more thoroughly enjoy than tales — romantic or
of war. Now laughing, now crying till salt tears ran down the
cheeks of all, the speaker's pathos touched sympathetic chords, and
every one dipped into a shallow pocket for a coin of some sort or
another to cast into the charmer's proffered cap.

At times strange exhibitions amused the leisure hours of the
busy workers : for example, in 141 3, a great sensation was caused
by the capture, in the Mediterranean, of a mermaid or syren.

1 Rub. cclxii., 1415.

456

THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

Presented to the Signoria, it was exposed to public view in the
Palazzo Vecchio, and excited universal astonishment. Very fitly
it was called in the public notices — " The Fish out of Water " — a
term ever after offensively applied to any foolish freak, and
especially when an official of the State proved himself an unskilful
workman ! Night settles down upon a sleeping city, whilst
ghostly sbirri, — watchmen, — steal along the streets with clanking
iron-shod staves and glowing lanterns.

A MARKET SCENE — MERCATO VECCHIO. FIFTEENTH CENTURY

All the public wants in food and drink were supplied in the
Mercato Vecchio. Originally the cattle and sheep market was
held in the Old Market, but the inconvenience became intoler-
able, and a more suitable site was found in Borgo d'Ognissanti.
In the same way the stalls of the Butchers were later on felt to
be unsuitable and encumbering in the Market, and they were
removed to the shops upon the Ponte Vecchio.

Fish was first sold, of course, on the banks of the Arno, as
soon as it was landed from the river boats, but, later on, its sale

LIFE AND WORK IN THE MARKETS 457

was taken in hand by dealers in the Mercato Vecchio. This
proved a nuisance, and as early as 1 177 a small fish-market was
opened in a shed erected at the Lung' Arno end of the Ponte
Vecchio. The Grand Duke Cosimo I. rebuilt the Loggia del
Pesce, and put up the inscription —

" Forum piscariuui q. usq. ad hue temporitur
Quadragesimalibus ad Pontem Veterum frequentabatur?

Attached to this Fish-market was a small market for the sale
of fruit and vegetables which could not find room in the Mercato
Vecchio.

Poultry, game, and pork, — alive and dead, — were brought daily
to market by the country people, and were sold at the shops of
the " Arte degli Oliandoli" The cries of these creatures added not
a little to the hubbub of the scene. Falcons, goshawks, and other
birds of prey, were not allowed to be sold publicly, whilst faddists
and lovers of feathered songsters, — among the latter being Leonardo
da Vinci, — went about buying up the little birds to give them
again their liberty !

With Poulterers were allied Greengrocers, and no stalls in the
market were gayer than those which were daily decked with
flowers, and fruit and vegetables. The Giglio of course was the
prime favourite — the famous iris-lily of Florence, but roses and
pinks filled the air with fragrance, as did the bunches of sweet
herbs and lavender. The painters have preserved the form and
colours of the floral treasures of the hillsides and gardens of the
Contado — Botticelli and his mates.

Of fruit there was no dearth, and endless was the variety.
Yellow apricots divided first honours with pine fruit and prickly
pears ; brown medlars, piled up in baskets, had for neighbours
what looked almost like strawberries, but were luscious arbutus
berries. Children spent their piccioli upon the glossy brown
berries of the Giuggiolo— jujube-tree, and the oval cherry-berries.

In summer time water-melon sellers reaped rich harvests, but
many a thirsty soul preferred the acid juice of the Nespolo, — the

458 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

yellow medlar, — or the fresh made lemonade of the lemon
squeezers from the Vicolo de' Limonai.

Nuts too were in universal demand, and none were more
toothsome or more in favour with the apprentices than the little
kernels of the stone-pine. Chestnuts raw and roasted were ever
a Florentine fancy. Pinocchiato, — pine seeds, eaten with honey
and sugar, never came amiss.

Vegetables were as plentiful as they were decorative. Strings
of crimson capsicums, piles of scarlet tomatoes, heaps of purple
Petronciani, — pumpions or mad-apples, mounds of golden pome-
granates, mingled their attractions with cabbages of all colours,
creamy marrows, yellow Ceci, — chick-pea, — and beans of all sorts
and sizes. Tender sprays of dark green fennel, strange looking
Fungi with succulent Radicchio, — endive, — and tasty Gobbi, — the
market name for Carciofi because of their " humpy " appearance,
— artichokes, and many a toothsome herb besides.

Cries of " Salate ! Salate ! " daily rent the air, — for all Floren-
tines understood how to make and how to enjoy a salad, — whilst
everybody made a point of patronising the itinerant vendors of
salted lupine seeds.

Under the Vecchietti Palace lived the famed Cavolaja, or
cabbage woman, who made her fortune by coining into the
Market every day to sell the produce of her little podere, or farm.
When she died the bells of the four Market churches and of Santa
Reparata were rung from All Saints' Day till Ash Wednesday—
so she willed. She was buried with much pomp in the Baptistery
in Bishop Rannucci's tomb.

In sunny weather, and amid winter rain, covers were allowed
over the stalls in the Market, and awnings were permitted over
the fronts of the shops, but none of these might extend beyond
the width of the stalls, nor more than five yards beyond the
buildings.1

Naturally a great number of private interests and personal
perquisites, if not absolute rights, sprang up in connection with

1 Rub. Ixxxix., 1415.

LIFE AND WORK IN THE MARKETS 459

the Mercato Vecchio. For example in the " Petition of the
Guilds," presented to the Signoria in 1378, clause 15 runs
as follows : — " That Giovanni de'Mone, honourable citizen of
Florence, always zealous in the service of the Commune, and
already rewarded by the belt of Knighthood, shall receive, during
his natural life, three hundred gold florins annually in respect of
Market-dues, paid by the butchers and the retail-dealers in meat
and poultry."1

These dues were really the annual rents paid for the botteghe
or shops, which were arranged all round the Mercato Vecchio,
immediately in front of the entrances to the houses and palaces.
Giovanni de' Mone was a Corn-chandler, who, with Guido Bandiera
and Salvestro de' Medici, was knighted by acclamation of the
Popolo Minuto in the Cioinpi rising.2

The merriest busiest botteghe, in and around the Old Market,
were the shops of the Apothecaries and the saloons of the Barbers.
All the fashion of the day forgathered at the former to deluge
the city with gossip, whilst at the Barbers men congregated alone
to hear and tell the latest scandal.

The operations of the Florentine Barbieri were usually con-
ducted in fair weather in the open : each barber having the right
to place a chair, a shaving basin, and a looking glass, outside his
shops. They were permitted to keep open on Sundays, and to
employ their apprentices ; but were not allowed to place their
shaving stools and other articles of their craft outside their doors.

On Sundays and Festivals they were forbidden to go or send
out to shave their customers at their homes. Among other pro-
hibitions, barbers were on no account to exercise their calling by
candle-light. If any customer ventured to wash his hands or his
face in public the accommodating barber was fined ten soldi for
each offence ! 3

Perhaps the most famous of all the barber confraternity was
Domenico di' Giovanni Burchiello — "the son of a barber, and

1 G. Capponi, " Storia della Repubblica di Firenze," vol. i. p. 346.

2 Prow. i. 80, 1288. 3 Rub. Ixxv., 1415.

460 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

the grandson of a barber" — as he liked to call himself. His
bottega, in 1408, was close to the Residence of the Consuls of the
" Calimala Guild " ; and it became the most celebrated shaving
saloon of the century.

Burchiello, who matriculated in the " Calimala Guild "in 1432,
was by way of being a poet, and versified the current topics
of the day in the vernacular and style of the Old Market.
Indeed he is justly famous as the originator of the "Lingua
Burchiellesca" — the inimitable Society slang of Florence. Noth-
ing was more taking than his witty verses and his pointed jokes,
— perhaps, at times, a little strong, and unsuitable for general
repetition! They were published, in Florence, in 1480 — one of
the earliest prints of the Printing Press.

His keen razor kept time with laugh and splutter. Many a
smart lucco^ and many a tight-fitting hose suffered from soapsuds
shot out of choking roaring mouths ! Still no one could give a
clean shave better than Messere Domenico Burchiello, and in the
fifteenth century at all events a smooth face was the fashion.
George Eliot puts into the mouth of the Florentine barber Nello
— " Here at Florence, we love not to see a man with his nose pro-
jecting over a cascade of hair." *

Quite the most favourite fashion of hairdressing, in the fifteenth
and sixteenth centuries, was known as " Zazzera" • The crop was
cut square on the shoulders and not thinned downwards. A saucy
finish was added with the curling-tongs, for the love-locks were
disposed as an aureole, or, as they said, " like a moon in a mist."
This was par excellence^ in Paris, London, and elsewhere, known
as the " Florentine cut " ! Machiavelli, it is said, was cute enough
to value the delicacy of the barber's art, and to discern in his mani-
pulation of il pelo deir uovo, — "the skin of the teeth," — as we say
— the quickening of his faculties.

Barbers and Apothecaries were rivals in the Market, but the
former pointed jestingly at the crowds thronging " // Moro "-
" the Moor " — and other famous botteghe degli Speziali, as bereft of

1 G. Eliot, " Romola," chap. iii. - See Plate xxiii. p. 162.

LIFE AND WORK IN THE MARKETS 461

the joys which alone a sharp razor and a lively wit could
bestow !

Antonio Alamanni, born in 1480, was a disciple of Giovanni
Burchiello, and kept up the cult of "La Burchia " — the Burlesque.
He too produced topical melodies and established " La Trottola "
—banter-songs. It must have been a very funny sight to watch
grimacing Alamanni, arm in arm with his eccentric and serious
friend Antonio Magliabecchi, — the great Librarian, — crossing the
Market-place with Giovanni Pegolotti tagging on behind ! The
latter was the inexhaustible author of jokes and gibes at the
expense of the clergy and the medical faculty, capricious and
bizarre, but entirely characteristic of the lighter side of life in
the Market.

Music too, vocal and instrumental, was not wanting from the
purlieus of the Old Market. Living in a hilly country, and by a
swiftly running river, the Florentines were naturally endowed
with sweet and full toned voices, and with correct and musical
ears — the " Voce Toscana " became a proverb. Dante has preserved
the name and the fame of Belacqua, a musical instrument-maker
in the Market, and of Casella, his skilful musician friend.1

The Mercato Vecchio was a treasury of local traditions and
stories. One, — " The Legend of the White Hen," — is as follows : —
There was in the Old Market-place of Florence an ancient house
and shop, over the door was the figure, in bas-relief, of a good
fat hen, to show that eggs could be got there. The old body who
kept the shop was called Furicchia, and she was a mystery to her
simple minded neighbours. She had always on hand an enormous
quantity of eggs, but where they came from nobody knew. She
did a splendid trade, and rapidly became rich — especially as her
eggs had the virtue of curing sick people and bewitched children.

One day a poor but high born Florentine dame, who was very
jealous of Furicchia's prosperity, determined to discover the secret.
She visited the little shop, and found its mistress out, but she
heard a hen clucking in a cupboard : —

1 " Purgatorio," Canti ii. and iv.

462 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

" Coccode ! Dear me ! —Where can Furicchia be ?
Coccode ! Furcchia mine — Bring me some warm red wine,
Coccode ! These eggs I have laid. Coccode ! now six for your trade,
Coccode ! Now these are mine. Bring me quickly the warm red wine.
Coccode ! Take them away ; Many more further will I lay,
And thou wilt be a lady grand, As fine as any in all the land ;
And should it happen that any one, Drinks of this wine as I have done,
Eggs like me she will surely lay ; That is the secret, that is the way.
Coccode! Coccode!"1

Sure enough on the fire there was a pot of red warm wine, and
without more ado the Signora drank a big mouthful and hastened
home. Alas for her curiosity and her thirst, for she began to sing
to everybody's amazement : —

" Coccode ! what a pain in my leg !
Coccode ! I must lay an egg.
And if any eggs I cannot lay
I shall surely die to-day."

And so she went on laying, laying, and pecking at crusts like a
hen. Soon she began to shrivel up until she became a hen and
hatched mice from her eggs, which all ran away — and then
she died ! This is the " Legend of the White Hen."

The name " Mercato Nuovo " was first applied to the auxiliary
of the Mercato Vecchio in the fourteenth century. The destruc-
tion of many houses and towers laid bare a site, within easy reach
of the Old Market, at a time when the daily barterings were
overtaxing its capacities.

The rise of the silk industry, and the immense number of
crafts and trades associated with it, required almost a separate
mart. Together with the increase of industrial output, the
" Guild of Bankers and Money-Changers " found the Mercato
Vecchio very unsuitable for the discharge of their daily monetary
business. Accordingly an area was cleared of rubbish and sur-
rounded by fine buildings — residences, shops, and offices. The
principal families resident in the Mercato Nuovo were the Caval-
canti, Giandonati, Infangati, and Mangiatori. Among the offices
1 Leland, C. G., "Legends of Florence," p. n.

LIFE AND WORK IN THE MARKETS 463

newly erected was a branch agency of the " Calimala " Guild,
where the banking business of the " Mercanti Francesca " was
chiefly conducted.

At one side of the Market was erected a Loggia, and here the
" Guild of Bankers and Money Changers " established an
Exchange, where couriers and agents might be matriculated, and
where also those already in commission might forgather to render
their accounts, and compare the daily bulletins of foreign Bourses.

Tables with seats for Money-changers were set up all around
the Market : those of the Matriculated Guild members covered
with green cloth, and those of uncovenanted exchangers merely
bare boards. In the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries there
were nearly a hundred such " Banks " set up. The number of
" Banks " was adjusted to the accommodation of the Market — for
conservatism of locality was ever a canon among Florentines.
Not till the sixteenth century did bankers presume to extend
their business-holdings to other Piazze and along the streets.

The Mercato Nuovo differed from the Mercato Vecchio, in
that no comestibles were sold within its precincts. The sale of
flowers however was allowed, especially for Church festivals and
public ceremonials, — a form of merchandise and a delightful
custom which continues to the present day.

Cosimo de' Medici, — " The Father of his Country," — ever loyal
to his native city and to his family, noted the inferiority of the
Florentine Loggia to the Borsa of Amsterdam, and other capitals,
and determined to erect a more worthy edifice. Two architects
undertook the commission, — Bernardo Tasso and Buono Talenti,
but the former did most of the work, and the present beautiful
building was completed in 1548. By the side of one of the
pillars stands the famous bronze Boar, calmly regarding the
cool fountain — it was cast by Tacca, a pupil of Giovanni da
Bologna.

The Loggia presented a fine sight when filled, as it was every
day, at the hour of " Tierce" with merchant nobles in their stately
robes, and distinguished foreign visitors, swarming like bees, and

464 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

discussing the state of the Florentine money-market and foreign
financial quotations. The crowd was divided into three sets,
according to the order of the columns, which supported the roof
of the building : — ( I ) the venerable fathers of banking interests,
(2) the vigorous middle-aged operators and speculators, and (3)
the pushing young men clerks and aspirants to fiscal prominence.

In the centre of the Mercato Nuovo used to stand the " Car-
roccio" — the old Florentine battle-chariot, — for thirty days before
the armies of the Republic moved out to meet the foe. Kept in
the Baptistery, it was in troublous times drawn by two milk-white
oxen, covered with vermilion cloths, into the New Market. Over
it was raised the red and white banner of the people, and, at an
altar, erected upon its square platform, Mass was said daily. A
guard of youths, dressed all in white, kept watch around this Pal-
ladium of the city.1 The use of the " Carroccio " began early in the
thirteenth century, when it preceded the Florentine army on their
way to Siena, in 1230. Strange to say, the sacred car was last
used in another war against the same city, during which it fell
into the hands of the Sienese, by whom it was destroyed.

In place of the " Carroccio" the Signoria ordered a marble device
to be laid in the centre of the Market, where the car had been
wont to stand. This took the shape of a wheel with six alternate
spokes of black and white marble, let into the paving.

On this spot, later on, was erected a stone pillar, or post, to
which bankrupts were tied, and publicly beaten three times with
every mark of personal indignity. Doubtless the present-day
custom of " hammering " a delinquent on the London Stock
Exchange had its origin in this Florentine usage !

There was no way for a man to obtain his discharge but by
undergoing this degrading flagellation. If there was one thing
the Banking community of the Mercato Nuovo feared and hated
more than any other it was, of course, failure. A man, or a
business house, who could not meet payments was an object of
universal contempt and persecution. The same measure was also

Delizie degli Eruditi Toscani, vol. vii. p. 84.

LIFE AND WORK IN THE MARKETS 465

meted out to all citizens who persisted in " playing games with
cards and dice, which distract honest men from work." l

A special privilege however was allowed, by custom and law,
to debtors, who were free from arrest, so long as they remained
within the precincts of the Market.

Another law was passed, and generally observed, which made
for the dignity and the liberty of the Mercato Nuovo — no person
bearing arms was permitted to enter. In times of public tumult,
no doubt, this regulation was inoperative : nevertheless the
trained bands of the " Guild of Bankers and Money-changers "
were always on guard to defend the interests, and fight for the
privileges of the money-market.

Many goldsmiths' workshops were established in the base-
ments of the houses bordering the Market. The studio of
Giovanbattista Sogliani, — Benvenuto Cellini's third master, — who
admitted his distinguished pupil to share his quarters, was here.
They did such a thriving business that they required three shops,
which were held from the " Guild of Goldsmiths " by Salvadore and
Michele Guasconti, workers in the precious metals.2

It was not the fashion to raise the hat in old Florence, and
this was nowhere more evident than in the Market. Even the
Messeri of the " Doctors " and the " Judges " Guilds were received
with scant courtesy, for were not the frequenters also mostly
members of honourable Crafts, and possessed of full civic rights,
or aspiring thereto ?

There was a good deal of " I'm-as-good-as-my-neighbour "
about the genti of Florence. To salute an equal betokened
inferiority : to cap a superior — well there were none in the
opinion of the artizan-aristocrats ! All were members of a great
and progressive industrial and commercial Republic, wherein the
meanest citizen had the power of attaining to the highest seats of
dignity. Ceremonious customs came in with the rule of the
Medici, and marked the downward course of Florentine greatness.

On the other hand not a few were the gestures of contempt

1 Ademollo, i. 179. 2 J. A. Symonds, " Life of Benvenuto Cellini."

2 G

466 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

and indifference. To turn sharply away upon the heel from a
person whom it was wished to insult, or to pay out, and to
" make the fig," were very common and offensive customs in the
Markets. The thumb was pushed between the laid down two first
fingers of the hand, and then pointed at the disesteemed person.
Dante refers to this gesture in his " Inferno " : —

" When he had spoken, the wretch just raised his hand
Pointing in mockery, and cried, ' Take them, the deuce,
At thee I jerk my fig.' " l

And certainly our English expression — " don't care a fig " — has its
origin in this Florentine custom.

Sad days however, — as in all human affairs, — befell the
Markets. Riot, Famine, Flood, Fire, and Plague, in rapid
sequence avenged the frolics and the crimes of heedless and
treacherous citizens. The cry of AWArme ! AW Anne ! resounded
many and many a time, from side to side of the busy Market-
place, and re-echoed down the streets and lanes, until it was
caught up at river side, and wafted across to Oltrarno and right
over the Contado.

In 1304 terrible encounters were witnessed between the
Bianchim& the Neri — the "Whites" and the " Blacks," — under the
Cerchi and the Donati respectively. Fierce popular passions were
aroused, and many a lusty craftsman, as well as many a noble
merchant, lay weltering in his life's blood. Whole families were
wiped out, and industries were checked and destroyed. Fire was
laid to the houses of the rival factions, and the Cavalcanti and
Gherardini, of the Markets, were burnt out.

Again in 1312 party strife broke out with renewed frenzy,
and Guelphs and Ghibellines fought out their feuds in the Markets.
Operatives and people from the country joined in the fray, and
every workman plied his axe, his knife, his mallet, and his saw,
in the bloody work of civil war. " Men," says Dino Compagni,
" kill each other regardless of law." 7

The fourteenth century found Florence torn and distraught

1 "Inferno," canto xxv. 2 Dino Compagni, "Cronica," p. 312.

LIFE AND WORK IN THE MARKETS 467

by party strife. Headed by the Acciaiuoli, the Bardi, and the
Frescobaldi, — the Donati, the Pazzi, and the Cavicciuli, — the
Adimari, the Albizzi, and the Medici — respectively, the populace
was divided into three hostile camps. Day and night resounded
in the Markets and in the streets — " Evviva il Popolo ! " — each
party was the people's party ! — " Shut your shops — follow us !—

STREET ARCHITECTURE — SPORTS AND PASTIMES

pay no more tolls and taxes !— down with the despots ! " Such
were the rallying cries,

Machiavelli, in commenting upon those times of disorder,
says : " They demonstrated forcibly how perilous it is to free a
people who prefer slavery." x

A few years later saw the city at the very pinnacle of her
prosperity, when citizens and their wives paraded Market and
street arrayed in rich attire and bedizened with jewels and gold.
Music and dancing shortened the hours of labour, and the tourna-

1 Machiavelli, " Le Istorie di Firenze," iii. 51 A.

468 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

ments and shows reduced the daily Market throng. The whole
city went mad with excesses, and the Mercato Vecchio and the
Mercato Nuovo were the scenes of wild debauchery.

The junketings however were rudely stopped in November
I333j when a fierce storm raged for four whole days and nights.
The terrified citizens, sobered by the catastrophe, sought the
sanctuaries of the churches, until they too were washed by the
flood. The Market was four feet under water, and many houses
fell : the bridges over the Arno were washed away. Very many
people were drowned and much cattle was carried off. When
the waters, — after a week of destructive action, — abated, a foetid
slime was left behind, which covered everything and, — emitting an
evil odour, — caused a pestilence to break out in the cramped
houses of the city. The wells too and springs of water were
polluted, and stacks of corn and hay and other food stuffs were
rendered useless. Famine seemed to threaten completion of the
fateful work of an avenging Providence.

" // Centra di Firenze " became a social and political expres-
sion in the middle of the last century. Decay, dirt, and dissolute
habits, had combined to invest the Mercato Vecchio and its
precincts with an evil reputation. Schemes for restoration, or
amelioration, were raised and dropped : questions of private com-
pensation and of public convenience were ranged against one
another. Financial obligations became the doom of many a sane
suggestion. At last people tired of a project which seemed to be
insoluble, but the cry for the demolition and removal of ancient
buildings became fierce and urgent.

The Municipality yielded, not unwillingly, to the demand, and
the fell work of destruction was commenced. At first tentatively,
and timidly, the housebreaker plied his calling ; but getting bolder,
and casting to the winds his reverence for antiquity, a vast area
was cleared of buildings.

The palaces, towers, shops and taverns of the Old Market
have disappeared. Its four churches have gone, and the Colonna

LIFE AND WORK IN THE MARKETS 469

del/a Dwitzia, with all its spiral stories of a busy past, has been
laid low.

The living, though choked up lungs, which had breathed in
and out the life of centuries in Florence — " the Beautiful and the
Busy," ceased for ever their functions ! The Mercato Vecchio
was no more !

Memories of long past deeds, and perhaps the ghosts of long
dead worthies still linger, and mingle in a weird maze of "Inferno"
with " Paradiso" Time and distance have mellowed the cries of
the traders, and stilled their tramping feet. A dim figure glides
off, and a hushed voice proclaims : — " Here once was the Old
Market ! "

Stemma del Popolo di Firenze.
A red cross upon a white field.

CHAPTER XVI

THE STREETS, THE SQUARES, AND THE BRIDGES,
WITH SOME OF THEIR STORIES

STREETS : — A maze of streets and lanes. Description of Florentine houses.
Linen windows. Street noises. Children's games. Straw-matting. Fires —
Pace da Certaldo's expedient. Via di Calimala and its State awnings. " Rowdy
Row." Bernardo Cennini's printing office. Gorgeous banners of the For Santa
Maria. Apprentices and their tricks. Artists' workshops. A great blaze.
Bufifalmacco's jokes. II Diavolo del Mercato. A street of Palaces. Narrow
Chiassi. Dark deeds. Charles Dickens.

SQUARES : — Piazza della Signoria the focus of official life. Giants at the
Gates. Palazzo della Mercanzia. Loggia de' Lanzi. Piazza, di San Giovanni
and great religious festivals. Palla e Maglio. The Crusades. // Pallone.
Santa Croce. // Calcio. Annual fairs. Love philtres.

BRIDGES :— Ponte Vecchio. A bridegroom done to death. Butchers and
Gold-smiths. Ponte alia Carraia. Loads of wool. A link between past and
present. Ponte Rubaconte, or Alle Grazie. Shop signs — animals. The quay of
the sand-men. Ponte alia Santa Trinita. Trysting-place for lovers. Dante
and Beatrice.

Scenes and stories : — Street violence. Bordone Bordoni. Wedding-bells.
Practical jokes. Horse races in the Duomo ! Solemn Processions. Madonna
dell' Impruneta. The Misericordia. Festival of St John Baptist. Banners.
Towers. // Palio. Burle e Beffe ! The curfew. The Spirits of the past.

A PERFECT maze of streets and squares, with tall irregularly
built houses, of every kind and degree, extended all around
the Markets. Mostly paved with big hard flat stones, and, here
and there, a range of river cobbles set upon their roughest ends,
they were the substantial but the noisy stage upon which the
comedies and the tragedies of old Florence were enacted.

The houses of Florence bore many designations — for ex-
ample : — Palazzo — a town mansion, Palagetto — a smaller edifice,
Casolaro — an old palace inhabited by many poor people, Casa
— an ordinary house, Casella — a small dwelling, Bottega — a
shop, and Loggia — a porch or arcade.

47°

THE STREETS, SQUARES, AND BRIDGES 471

Some of the buildings were all that remained of the grim
castles of the Societa delle Torre : others showed the crenelated
battlements characteristic of Guelph and Ghibelline days of con-
flict. As a rule the basements were arcaded, or at least big
pilasters and arches bore up the superimposed floors, leaving
cavernous depths, into which scarce glinted the light of the sun.

By day these arcades and loggie were thronged by small
dealers in every conceivable commodity, who kept up a never-
ending babel of voices, pitched in every possible key.

At night time, and in days of stress, — domestic or political, —
big doors or shutters and strong iron bars were wont to be shot
into position for the security of the inmates and their property.1

Many were the gaming dens of ill-repute which flourished in
those dark entries. Tables for " Chess " and for " Woman," — the
two popular games, — were laid out, and others for risky and
nameless games of chance. On rough forms sat the players, whilst
around were grouped idle and dissolute persons wagering upon
the play. A charge of cheating, or a run of ill-luck, set gamblers,
spectators, and the proprietors of the tables, at maddened variance.
Knives were whipped out, and e'er the cry " Accor* uomo ! " had
reached the outside world a poor wretch lay prostrate and done
to death.

Shabby enough were the fronts of many of those grand old
houses, in spite of titanic stones and massive metal-work, for, were
not their windows, — if such we may call the many shaped open-
ings for light and air, — covered only with dirty strips of oiled
linen, stretched tightly over wooden frames ? Window-glazing
was a luxury of the rich, and even many of the Magnificos were
content to live in the semi-darkness of their poorer neighbours.

The street noises were intolerable. What with the raucous
ejaculations of vendors of merchandise puffing their multifarious
wares, the fierce oaths of drivers of pack-animals and carts, the
imprecations of the jostled hucksters and passers-by, the ribald
and obscene snatches of song and jest, and the howling of un-

1 G. Biagi, " Private Life of the Renaissance Florentines."

472

THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

controllable ragamuffin boys, the air was rent with bewildering

uproar, which no poorly fitting oiled-skin could possibly keep out.

The merry laughter of school children, passing to and fro,

or indulging in happy games, and the pert tones of winsome

GROUP OF FLORENTINES — A STREET DISPUTE

maidens giving back as much as they had taken from their bold
lover lads, were wont to be harshened by the scudding rush of
cutting stones, as one hooligan band gave battle royal to its rival
from the adjoining street.

Of all the children's games played in the streets of old Florence
rone was more characteristic than that of " Guelfi o Ghibellini"

THE STREETS, SQUARES, AND BRIDGES 473

—doubtless the parent of our " Oranges or Lemons." Two strong
youths or maidens, grasping tight each other's hands, stood and
sought to encircle the waists of passers-by, as well as of their play-
mates, asking each captive to which party he or she belonged.
The prisoner was released only to hold on to the tail of his chosen
side. When enough recruits were obtained the two strings pulled
as hard as ever they could, the conquerors tugging their weaker
opponents where and how they listed.

Full of people in every sort of costume, rich and poor, old and
young,^merry and grave, all the live long day, no time was ever
found to sweep away the litter and the dust. Happily rain ran
in rivulets, and washed betimes the gutters free from refuse, but
this cleansing swept the people's " porkers," which grubbled in
the dirt, into the basement of the houses, and made the disorder
indescribable. The straw-matting, which was on the floors of rich
and poor alike, harboured both dirt and vermin !

The houses were, as to their interiors, swept once only in the
week — on the Saturday, so well may be imagined the accumu-
lations which choked every corner, and dusted the tangled veil-
ings of prodigious spider-webs ! x

The dwellings of the Florentines were much exposed to fire :
their linen windows, the wooden frame-work of their fittings, and
their doors, the vast expanse of drying clothes, — woollen and
linen, — waving their lengths from the topmost stories, all these,
and many another object, favoured conflagration. Ill-contrived
too were the measures of security from fiery outbursts.

Pace da Certaldo, — a fourteenth-century writer, — advised all
and sundry, " to keep handy at least twelve capacious canvas
sacks, in which to put your things, whenever there is a fire in
your neighbourhood, and also a thickish piece of rope, to reach
the ground, to help your escape through a window ! " 2

1 " Florence Gazette," 1891-92. 2 MS. Biblioteca Riccardiana.

474 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

I. STREETS

Of all the streets which debouched into the Mercato Vecchio
by far the most important was the Via di Calimala — some-
times called Strada Francesca. Not only did the most consider-
able merchants daily frequent it, but it gave its name to the
greatest of all the Guilds. Its principal building was the Palace
of the Cavalcanti, which they gave over as a Residence for the
Consuls of the Great Guild. Upon the feast of the Patron Saint
of the city the whole street was covered with a State awning of
blue canvas richly embroidered.

This was always the rallying-point for friends, and for foes
too, of the merchants. At times the solemn tread of venerable
city fathers and their subdued and serious conversation gave way
to the hurried march of armed Ctojnpi, seeking, — with protest
first and then with fire, — the removal of some trade injustice, or
the granting of some political privilege.1

At the end of the Via Calimala, where it entered the Mercato
Nuovo, was a narrow lane, leading to the Via de' Calzaiuoli —
called " // Baccano" — " Rowdy Row ! "- — because of the hoarse
and profane cries made by apprentices to attract customers to
fare that way. In 1470 a change came over the scene, and the
discordant voices of disorderly lads, gave place to the metallic
music of the first type-foundry of Florence. Here Bernardo
Cennini established himself as a printer and publisher, and his
machines have revolutionised the world. In the Via Baccano
was situated the first banking-house of the Medici. From " //
Baccano" to the little Via del Garbo, was but a pace or two,
and there only a short time after printing became the step-
mother of learning, was set up the first Florentine Booksellers'
Row.

The Via Por Santa Maria yielded to none in importance,
wealth, and romance. Here was the Residence of the great Silk

1 L'Osservatore Fiorentino.

THE VIA LONTAMORTE BY THE OLD MARKET

THE STREETS, SQUARES, AND BRIDGES 475

Guild, whose fa$ade was wont to bear the finest banners of the
city, and whose Consuls and merchants walked with heads erect,
and pockets full of gold florins, prouder than their fellows. And
just because of this swagger the street was famed for its practical
jokers, with crossed chains and unexpected obstacles, to trip up
the finest of all the fine folk !

A favourite trick of the apprentices and practical jokers of the
Via For Santa Maria was to place before the doors of the
houses of the merchants, and under the deep shadows of the
Torre degli Amidei, and of the other towers, butts or pails of
dirty water. The unwary pedestrian tumbling into one of them,
was the signal for uproarious mirth, whilst skilful stone-throwing
boys, at the corners, sent in deadly volleys ! It was in the Via
For Santa Maria that Benvenuto Cellini, when only sixteen years
old, routed five opponents who had basely stricken down his
brother.

In the street leading from the For Santa Maria to the Piazza.
della Signoria was situated the ancient church of Santa Cecilia,
where were held the joint meetings for mutual advantage between
the two great Guilds of Wool and Silk. Sometimes these con-
ferences led to disturbances through the mutual jealousy of
individual members.

Via de' Calzaiuoli was originally divided into three parts : —
Corso degli Amidei, Via de'Pittori, and Via de'Caciaiuoli. The
latter was ever odoriferous with the merchandise of cheese-
mongers,— members of the " A rte degli Oliandoli" — and many an
epicure came dawdling along on tasting bent. Via de'Pittori
appealed to the art instincts of the people, as did the other to
their olfactory senses. The new name came about through the
prosperity of the " Guild of Shoemakers," and their cutting,
knocking, punching, and the other noisy details of the trade, were
in full operation. In Via de' Calzaiuoli was the Palazzo Macci,
the residence of the Duke of Athens during his tenure of the
Chief Magistracy. The shops too of the makers of body-hose and
stockings were in this street. This manufacture was a speciality

476 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

of Florence, so that when Charles V. entered the city in 1506,
wearing light breeches, he was hailed as a true Florentine ! l

Just beyond the Bigallo, in the Via de' Calzaiuoli, Donatello,
Luca Delia Robbia, Michelozzo, and Masaccio, worked as brothers
for the common cause of art and craft.

The Corso was the scientific frontier between the Cerchi and
the Donati. The Via de' Cerchi, — a quaint narrow lane, — ran
parallel to the Via de' Calzaiuoli. At the corner, where the Via
di Cimatori joined it, a stone pillar stood displaying three circles
— the arms of the redoubtable " Whites," — it was part of their
loggia. The Borgo degli Albizzi, at the other end of the Corso,
contained the houses of the " Blacks."

During a street fight, between these hostile parties, in the
year 1302, a great many candles were burning at the shrine of
Or San Michele. One evening the flames ignited some waxen
votive offerings hanging there. The blaze so greatly excited the
populace, that, catching up the burning fragments, they madly
set fire to all the houses in the neighbourhood !

Just beyond the Church of San Pierino, of the Market, was
the Vicolo del Guanto — Glove Lane, where dwelt the dressers of
kid and calf skin, and the makers of gloves and gauntlets, — a
favourite trysting-place for cavalier and maiden bent on tasteful
hand wear. Sometimes the narrow lane was called Vicolo del
Leoncino, from its noted hostelry and world-famous banking-
house.

In the Via di Mellone — now Via Ricasoli — forgathered
thirteenth century artists and artificers, and playful wags. Tafi,
long gowned and almost giddy with his mosaic-fixing within the
dome of the Baptistery, had to put up with the daily girdings of
Buffalmacco — the champion joker. Giotto cast his quaintly-
capped shadow adown that way, after ceasing his toilsome
" Gospel of Labour " on the Campanile — his chisel and his
measure stuck in his belt. Jostling them came many an
enthusiastic comrade, with song and jest and gossip, and coy

1 Florence Gazette, 1891-92.

THE STREETS, SQUARES, AND BRIDGES 477

glances from buxom lassies, at the street doors, excited many a
palpitating heart !

In the Via di Vaccherecia the musical tintinabulations of
goldsmiths' hammers, and niellists' gimlets subdued the harsher
melodies of engravers' scratching needles and burnishers' rasping
files. The Pollaiuoli, with Maso Finiguerra and many and many
more, made pleasant and profitable metal harmonies, amid the
chitter-chatter of Brunellesco and his boon companions. Hard by,
in the Via di Sant' Egidio, at the Casa Delia Robbia, Ghiberti
cast his glorious gates, whilst from Cellini's furnace, next door, in the
Via della Pergola, issued the celebrated pewter-fatted " Perseus "
of the Loggia dei Lanzi.

Andrea del Sarto with Franciabigio had their shop at the
corner of the Piazza dell' Or San Michele, a famous gathering
place for artists and for wits. Peals of laughter arrested ofttimes
the passers by, and caused many a curious step to pace the dark
threshold in search of sport. Fra Bartolommeo della Porta, — the
painter par excellence of Florence, — gained his name from his
birthplace near the Roman Gate, and there his faithful companion,
Albertinelli, exchanged his brush and palette for the wine-flask
and glass-beaker of the Vinattiere.

The Via de' Pelliccieri, — with its palaces and towers of the
Lamberti, Toschi, Cipriani, Pilli, and other families connected with
the " Guild of Skinners and Furriers," was equally frequented by
the Goldsmiths. In this historic street too, pigment masters
dallied, as they chose the fairest pieces of vellum for their minia-
ture illuminations, or the finest grained panels for their Madonna
pictures.

From the elegant and comely avocations of the Via de' Pellic-
cieri to the dirt and reek of the Via del Fuoco, — just round the
corner of the Residence of the " Guild of Wool," — was but a step
in distance, yet a league in sentiment. With its image and shrine
of the Virgin, and her ever-burning lamp, — a votive offering for
the staying of a city conflagration, — the Street of the Furnaces
was always grimy as grimy could be. Charcoal-dealers, iron

478 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

moulders, and traders in fiery elements, were ever a strenuous and
a noisy race.

At the corner of the Via de' Vecchietti and the Via de' Ferri-
vecchi — where once stood the Palazzo Cavolaia — the Palace of
the " Cabbage-woman," — -was put up the uncanny bronze figure of
" // Diavolo del Mercato" cast by Giovanni da Bologna. Appro-
priate enough was its fixture there — -the scene of the labours of
scrap-iron dealers, wrangling and blaspheming the live-long day !
The principal workshops of the " Armourers " and " Locksmiths "
were hard by — scenes of noisy machinery and voluble machinists.

The Via de' Bardi was and is a characteristic thoroughfare of
the city, where every course of stone, and door of wood, and heavy
bits of iron, speak of warlike times, and of old-world romance.
Its palaces have gone, — gone by fire, pillage, and flood, — but
there still remain the spirits of strenuous, busy woolworkers and
the subtle-minded bankers.

The Chiasso de' Ricci, and the Chiasso de' Erri, and many
another lane and ginnel of the busy centre of old Florence, were
alive with human interests. Almost shut out of the light of the
sun, by the contiguity of the sheltering eaves of opposite buildings,
the silent warning to wayfarers — " only can you pass an' we will "
— seemed to be as effective to arrest locomotion, as the notorious
street chains in times of unrest and uproar.

Weird entries and courtyards existed, — fringes of the lanes
and streets, — and well designed for tragedy and oblivion. Secret
histories and plots, as well as noble enterprises and literary memo-
ries, invest those narrow, busy thoroughfares with the romance and
the reality of a living humanism.

" Magnificent, stern, and sombre," wrote Charles Dickens, " are
the streets of beautiful Florence."

II. SQUARES

The Piazza della Signoria was the focus of the legislative and
official life of old Florence, and at the same time the rallying

THE PIAZZA BELLA SIGNORIA, WITH THE PALAZZO VKCCHIO AND THE
LOGGIA DE' LANZI

NOTE "THE GIANTS AT THE GATE," — "DAVID" AND "HERCULES"

THE STREETS, SQUARES, AND BRIDGES 479

place of the armed bands of the Guilds in times of unrest.
Dominated by the Palazzo Vecchio, — built in 1298, — it was a
secure residence for the Priors. The tower, — world famous, — is
that of the old Foraboschi Palace, and it gained the name of
Torre delta Vacca, because the great bell of Florence was hung up
there — the bell whose notes called citizens to fight, or to work,
as times were warlike or peaceful.

" The Giants at the Gates," as they were fittingly termed, were
heroic marble statues of " David " by Michael Angelo, and " Her-
cules slaying Cacus " by Baccio Bandinelli. Over the great portal
of the Palazzo may still be read the proud legend, carved in the
fifteenth century : — " Rex Reguin et Dominus Dominantium"
Along the front of the Palace ran the Ringhiera, or public orator's
platform, completed in 1349.

Close at hand was the Badia, — the official residence of the
Podesta, — in it was kept the " Banner of the People," — half red
and half white. Not very far away was the Bargello, the Palace
of the Capitano del Popolo, he had the custody of the Banner of

Republic — the Giglio or Lily of Florence.

On one side of the Piazza was the Palazzo della Mercanzia — the
Chamber of Commerce — the Parliament so to speak of the Guilds.
At an angle of the Piazza stood originally the Church of San
Piero Scheraggio — removed to make way for the Uffizi — or Offices
of the Government, and next it the Loggia de' Lanzi — begun in
1374 by Orcagna, and named after his lancer legendaries by
the Grand Duke Cosimo I. in 1541.

Beyond the Palazzo Vecchio was the great Neptune Fountain,
— constructed by Baccio Bandinelli, — and called by Florentines,
" // Biancone " — " the great White Figure " — when, by time-
honoured custom, they invariably bade it a respectful farewell
before starting upon a foreign journey.

The Piazza di San Giovanni Battista was the most venerable
square in Florence, and the most highly venerated by the
Florentines. It was the scene of all the great public religious
festivals. In 1283 the Rossi family and their adherents, to the

480 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

number of one thousand persons, dressed all in white under a
leader styled " the Lord of Love," presented a series of miracle
plays during the Festival of the Patron Saint.

Marriages of prominent citizens were sometimes held in the
open Square, for example, in 1419, Salvestro di Messere Filippo
Adimari wedded Lisa del Abbatacchio de'Ricasoli, amid great
magnificence, in the presence of Pope Martin V. The bride-
groom's best man was the Condottiere Braccio da Montone, a
successful adventurer and Lord of Perugia.

This circumstance called forth the doggerel verse :—

"Braccio valente "Brave Braccio waring

Vince ogni gente. Conquers every nation.

// Papa Martino But not worth a farthing.

Non vale un quattrino /" Is Pope Martin's station ! "

— the poverty and gentleness of his Holiness making no appeal to
the practical Florentines.

In 1526, when a new armed force of young cavaliers was
raised to oppose another Pope, — Clement VII., — a richly decorated
altar was placed in the centre of the Piazza, whereat officers and
simple knights publicly took the oath of allegiance to the
Republic, in the presence of the magnificent Signoria.

Naming great things and small together — not a few Bull-
fights were celebrated on the quasi-holy ground for the delectation
of foreign princes and ambassadors, whilst, in 1453 a Goose Fair
was established as an annual observance upon the Feast of All
Saints, greatly to the advantage of the members of the "Arte degli
Oliandoli" who kept high festival in consequence.

The Piazza di San Marco contains in its Monastery and
Library the most lasting memorials of Cosimo de' Medici — " the
Father of his Country." Memories too of the good Archbishop
Sant' Antonino, and of Fra Angelico, the " Divine " painter, linger
lovingly around. But by way of contrast the Piazza was the
playground of the young men of the city. The popular game
played was " Palla e Maglio " — " Ball and Bat." The " Maglio "

THE STREETS, SQUARES, AND BRIDGES 481

was a bat of wood like a flat club, the wicket — a single stump, and
runs were scored much as in modern single-wicket cricket. The
" Palla " was a small hard ball. This was without doubt the
parent of the British national game, brought to England's public
schools and colleges in the sixteenth century at the time of the
so-called " Tuscan Fever," when so many Florentine customs took
root in Great Britain.

The Piazza di Santa Maria Novella was ever the scene of
religious fervour and warlike romance. Here was unfurled, in
1287, the banner of the Florentine Company of the Second
Crusade, which had been committed to the charge of proud
Pazzino de' Pazzi, by the Bishop, in the neighbouring church of
San Donato alia Torre. Thither too he rode back, at the head
of his knights, wearing the mural crown placed upon his brows
by Godfroi de Bouillon.

To mark his gratitude to Almighty God, Pazzino set apart a
sum of money to pay for a perpetual annual remembrance of the
exploits of his command. This festival is still celebrated on
Holy Saturday with the ceremony of the Sacred Fire, but it has
been transferred to the Piazza del Duomo.

In this famous Square there were wont to gather the ring-
leaders of the city's tumults. Brave were the speeches and stout
were the hearts of those fierce " Wooden Shoes," as shouldering
tool and weapon, they rallied to the cry " Evviva il Popolo \ "

Sports and pastimes too found place and partizans under the
shadow of the glorious church. "// Pallone" the foster-father of
Lackets and Court Tennis, was the special game, and the ball was
tossed up merrily against the massive walls and traceried windows,
until prudence and the sense of fitness led to the players
migrating to the Cascine.

The Piazza di Santa Croce yielded to none in the magni-
ficence of its pageants, nor in the romance of its associations.
In early days given over to the solemn chants of monks and the
harmless plays of children, it became the scene of the city's
welcome to, and entertainment of, her distinguished visitors.

2 H

482

THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

Together with exhibitions of skill in arms, — the Tournament and
the Parade, — was displayed the special Florentine game — " //
Calcio"-— the parent of Rugby Football, and introduced at that
celebrated School by Florentines in the sixteenth century.

Twenty or more noble youths formed equal sides, clad in red
and blue respectively. The rules, the players, and the ball, were
all as we see them to-day, only the artistic proclivities of the
Florentines surrounded them with splendid pageantry. By the

PIAZZA DI SANTA CROCE— A TOURNAMENT IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY

middle of the sixteenth century " // Calcio " reached its climax : as
great a sum as £1600 was spent in mounting the spectacle, and
the spectators, ranged around the Square, numbered upwards of
forty thousand. All that was noble and lovely forgathered, and
true was the saying : — " None but the brave deserve the fair."

The spirits of the mighty dead still hover over the Piazza :—
for do not the bodies of the greatest men of Florence lie buried
within the sacred walls of the grand old church !

The Piazza dell' Annunziata had its annual fair, not a
serious traffic mart in cloth and silken tissue, but a winter
festival and feast combined, in honour of the Conception of Saint

THE STREETS, SQUARES, AND BRIDGES 483

Mary. To it was given the name of "Fiera collina " from the con-
tadine, who came yearly out of the hill country of Pistoia and
the Casentino, to sing their plaintive hymns to the Virgin Mary}
and to sell their yarn and dried mushrooms, — the former the
produce of the past year's home-industry, borne in big bundles
upon their sturdy backs. Devotions completed and sales effected,
the residue of the day was devoted to pleasure in the booths and
among other attractions of the fair ground.

It was a mothers' and a children's revel, with every innocent
deception and delight. Quack-doctors, conjurers, and cheap-
jacks roared out from their different pitches their nostrums, their
tricks, and their bargains. Mystic pills to allay headache, ear-
ache, and may be, heartache too, were to be had cheap enough,
and antidotes against drowning, burning, and the like uncanny
ills, were moderate enough.1

But the Square, quiet enough at other times, was the gracious
scene of much kindly benevolence on the part of the saintly
Servite Brethren. There too, in later days, many a returned
explorer related to his fellow-citizens, and the members of his
Guild, — the Doctors and Apothecaries, — tales of adventure and
of success.

The Piazze de' Brunelleschi, and di Cipolle, were ever much
frequented. In the former, also called Piazza di Marroni, were,
along with candied-chestnut vendors, shops of the " Arte de'
Rigattieri" where the newest things in tasteful nick-nacks to deck
a maiden's boudoir attracted many a loving couple. The latter,
just behind the Strozzi Palace, was the dumping-ground of the
less odoriferous but ever popular onions. The salesmen dis-
played them on the big stone benches, which surrounded the
Square, and, whilst fashionables rarely risked a visit, many an
amorous little city lass stole furtively along to secure a love
philtre, from one or other of the old " gossips," who sat meditating
and soliloquising there.

In almost every Square and open space young fellows of good

1 G. Biagi, "Private Life of the Florentines of the Renaissance."

484 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

birth and manners were accustomed to engage in a curious sort
of game or posing called "// Civettino" — " The Fop." Generally
three youths were engaged together, and their movements partook
of the graceful steps of a minuet and the elegant postures of the
gymnasium.1

III. BRIDGES

The building of bridges has ever been regarded as a token of
vigorous political and commercial life. Florence easily took a
lead over other cities by her early enterprise in bridging the
Arno. Much of the life and business of the city was carried on
upon, as well as over, her four substantial bridges, whose stones
were polished by the hurrying feet of craftsmen, and their beasts
of burden.

The most famous bridge, as well as the oldest, — the Ponte
Vecchio, — dates from Roman times, when the Roman- Etrurian
street was conducted over the river upon a stone archway. The
first structure was washed away, but in 1080 another bridge was
thrown across — a kind of herald of the Renaissance. The vicis-
situdes of the Ponte Vecchio were countless in number and
various in effect, and aptly illustrate the fortunes of the city itself.
Flood, fire, pest, and bloodshed, swept those ancient piers, and
assailed those venerable superstructures time out of mind.2

It was upon this bridge, and at the foot of the mutilated
statue of Mars, — the city's earliest Palladium, — that, on Easter
Day in 1215, a comely bridegroom was dragged from his richly
caparisoned steed, and done to death by the daggers of the
enraged Fifanti. Buondelmonte de' Buondelmonti had jilted a
daughter of the Amidei, and had espoused Beatrice Donati : it
was Mosca de' Lamberti who said, " Let him die ! " This murder
gave rise to the two great factions, — the Guelphs and Ghibellines.

The present most interesting bridge was built by Taddeo
Gaddi in 1345, at a cost of sixty thousand gold florins. Upon
a buttress may still be seen the original inscription : —
Gaddi me fece, il Ponte Vecchio sono."

1 See Plate xxiii., p. 162. 2 G. Villani, " Storia Fiorentina," Lib. ix.

THE STREETS, SQUARES, AND BRIDGES 485

In 1378, in recognition of his devotion to the cause of the
Popolo Minuto, Salvestro di Messere Alamanno de' Medici was
awarded, together with his knighthood, by the leaders of the
Ciompi government, the annual rental of all the forty-four shops,
which had been erected upon the bridge. This produced in 1281
only the paltry amount of five hundred lire, but a hundred years
later the shops were worth at least a thousand gold florins a year.

These shops appear at first to have been occupied by any and
all comers, but from 1422 to 1490 they were rented exclusively
by members of the " Guild of Butchers," whose trade had out-
grown the Old Market precincts. Under Cosimo I., the Capitani
di Parte Guelfa signed an order for the Butchers to abandon the
bridge, and in their stead were installed the Goldsmiths.1 Thence-
forward have resounded the lusty voices of jolly young appren-
tices, assailing all who pass their way, to purchase some of the
pretty trinkets which their skilful hands have made.1

In 1564 Cosimo I. constructed the covered corridor which
connects the Pitti and the Uffizi, and completely altered the
appearance of the venerable bridge.

The Ponte Alia Carraia, — built and washed away, and built
again by turns, — was the workman's bridge. None was so greatly
thronged by hastening operatives to and from the woollen factories
of the " Umiliati " and of the merchants of the " Wool Guild."

Its very name betokens toilsome enterprise, for daily were
its approaches blocked by laden carts and burdened pack-mules.
Its earliest designation, however, was " II Ponte Nuovo," and
that it bore in the opening years of the thirteenth century. The
first bridge was of wood, and thrown across in 1218. The Ponte
alia Carraia is, metaphorically, the link between the mediaeval
seclusion of the monasteries and monastic influences and the
Renaissance freedom of the arts and crafts. Gaddi's bridge was
finished in 1337, and cost seventy-two thousand gold florins.

The Ponte Rubaconte — first built under the Podesta Ruba-

1 D. Manni, "Delia Vecchiezza Sovraggranda del Ponte Vecchio."
- " Tractatus Extraordinatus" Rub. xlv., Lib. iv.

486 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

conte da Mandola by Messere Lapo, master of Arnolfo di Cambio
in 1237, — suffered like its fellows, but it came to be regarded as
the fashionable bridge of Florence, and its houses were lofty and
handsome.

There is a notice in the Archives dated August 22, 1297,
of the letting of fourteen or fifteen shops newly erected upon the
Ponte Rubaconte. The average rental was fixed at from five to
forty lire, per annum, according to proximity to the Via di Por
Santa Maria. Among the traders on the bridge were six Strap
and Stirrup-makers and five Pouch or Purse-makers — members
of the " Guild of Saddlers." Each shop was required to bear
a separate sign, — and these signs were all of animals, for ex-
ample :_« The Two Lions," " The Unicorn," " The Wolf," " The
Leopard," " The Stag," " The Cat," " The Panther," " The Bear,"
"The Camel," etc.1 In 1333, when the disastrous flood, which
carried away the other four bridges over the Arno, spared the
Ponte Rubaconte, the name was changed, as a token of thank-
fulness to the Almighty, to Ponte alle Grazie, and a votive chapel
was erected over the centre arch.

On the Oltrarno side of the bridge was the Piazza, de' Mozzi.
Tommaso de' Mozzi built his palace where the river was after-
wards embanked by the Via dei Renai or the Quay of the
Sandmen. They were a very vigorous set, but given, so report
had it, to personal violence and robbery. Nevertheless they
figured as models for Michael Angelo's " Slaves" and Benvenuto
Cellini's " Perseus" and their Trade-association was not the least
considerable among its fellows.

The Ponte alia Santa Trinita was the last of the four bridges
to be built. It is said that the Frescobaldi, who with many other
merchant families settled in the erstwhile poor suburbs of Oltrarno
in 1252, threw a private wooden bridge across the river from the
Borgo San Jacopo. This was a favourite trysting-place for lovers.
The young men were wont to lounge upon the bridge, and
because it was unencumbered with houses and shops, its parapets

1 Archivio del Stato Fiorentino, cap. xxiv. fol. 165.

ON THE
PONTE VECCHIO,

WITH THE

TORRE DEGLI

AMIDEI

THIRTEENTH CENTURY

NOTE : —

I. THE TOKCH-SCONCE,
2. THE BANNER-HOLDER,

AND THE
3. WOOLLEN-CLOTH

BRACKET
TO THE LEFT

THE PONTE ALLE GRAZIE (RUBACONTE)

THE STREETS, SQUARES, AND BRIDGES 487

gave directly upon the Lung 'Arno right and left. Thence could
the maidens of their choice, or the reverse, be seen, modestly
walking hand-in-hand, along the pavement, by the river walls.
Dante was not the only Florentine youth who saw and loved his
Beatrice there !

Taddeo Gaddi built a new bridge in 1339, at a cost of
twenty-six thousand gold florins, after the flood of 1333, and the
present structure was completed in 1346.

Chronicles of faction fights are not the only records of
interest in the story of the Streets and Squares of Florence.
Amusing and diverting are very many of the old narratives.
At one time, for example, robbery with violence became rife
and unbearable. Houses and persons were alike attacked, and
the whole scheme was arranged upon an elaborate system.

A band of thieves organised themselves to sweep the city
bare. Many carried instruments of music and serenaded the
occupants of houses, who felt bound to unbar door and window,
and bow to their visitors ; but, when thus engaged, confederates
of the musicians effected an entrance, and of course ransacked
the premises !

A charming and unique feature of their exploits was the
engagement of the best connected children, who might be
accessible, to accompany them as dancers, singers, collectors,
and the like. Some of these were posted at the ends of streets
to be " burglared," to warn wayfarers not to venture there, as
danger was brewing ! One of the leaders was a young fellow
called Bordone Bordoni, well connected and rich. He was at
last caught and beheaded, and his band of prowling miscreants
scattered.

Wedding bells too rang in and out of tell-tale belfries, as,
with jingling spurs and chafing bits, cavaliers pranced along to
their bridal with maidens fair of high and noble mien and par-
entage. The frou-frou of silken skirt and the sheen of flashing
gems sweep many a time over the pages of the history of old

488 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

Florence. Where eye spoke to eye, and heart beat for heart,
there they stretched right across the narrow streets, striped
awnings, and greenery festoons. On house fronts were em-
blazoned proud coats of arms, gay banners waved aloft, and,
hanging over balcony and window sill, were tapestries and skins
of beauty and of worth.

The Via della Vigna was crowded from end to end with
people in gala dress and spectators of the show, and all was gay
for Romola or Caterina, or some other lovely bride. And then,
the marriage over, with music, flowers, and sunshine, the Tilting-
match attracts the crowd.

On such days the bouquet of fine vintages pervaded the air,
as streets and lanes ran deep with red and yellow wine ; whilst
workmen, serving folk, and beggars, were regaled with much good
cheer.1

High days were days of frolic too for gay young Florentines.
Inflamed perhaps with game and wine, or with the mere excess
of animal spirits, companies of festive youths were wont to course
through the city, entering houses and breaking up the many
parties they contained, or constraining the hospitable hosts to
make open house and to admit them to the feasts.

Young bloods would, as Benvenuto Cellini records, resort to
practical jokes, which became sometimes outrages upon decorum
and sanctity. It was considered quite a first-rate prank to seize
the ink-horns of passing Notaries, and, — rushing with them into
the churches, — pour their contents into the holy-water stoups !
Raids too were made upon the cringing Apothecaries, and assa-
fcetida and other ill-odoured concoctions were seized to mingle
with the incense stocks in the sacristies ! No sport, however,
equalled in jest and desecration that of driving market animals
into the churches, and racing on horseback around the Tribune at
the Duomo !

But days of gloom, and hushed with the tread of heavy feet,
came oftentimes to the good people of Florence. The solemn

1 G. Biagi, " Private Life of Renaissance Florentines."

THE STREETS, SQUARES, AND BRIDGES 489

dirge of monks tramping in from La Pineta with the sacred image,
of the Madonna def Impnineta, in propitiatory procession to the
Duomo, in face of some disaster or catastrophe, brings all men to
their knees. With a hastily marked cross upon the breast and a
whispered " Ave" working men and women kneel for a moment
side by side on the causeway with their employers and their
rulers. The Guilds are prostrate before the emblems of the
Christian faith. Church candles are all ablaze, whilst the loom
lights are extinguished, and hands skilful in the Crafts are dropping
rosary beads one by one in silent reverent pause.

" May God, Saint Mary and the Saints — especially the good
Saint John — avert the plague or stay it, — give needful rain, or dry
up the flood-waters, — defend the right against the public enemy, —
compose the feud of rival houses : may God protect Florence ! " —
such were the orisons which pierced the blue Tuscan vault of heaven.

Still other sights, affecting and arresting, were witnessed day
in day out in old Florence. Through spacious Square and narrow
Street pass the silent hooded bearers of the sick, the dying, and
the dead. The Misericordia Brethren have, time out of mind,
picked up a poor body in some dingy corner — an outcast or a
waif — perchance the victim of another or of himself, and passing
through the buyers and the sellers in the busy Markets, have
struck a pathetic chord in many a rugged heart, and have called
forth the quiet cry " Miserere nobis Domine " from many a pursed -
up mouth.

The Festival of San Giovanni Battista, the Patron of Florence,
was always an occasion of rejoicing in the Markets and the Streets.
The ceremonies of the day began in front of the Palazzo Vecchio,
in the Piazza della Signoria, where every one, noble and simple,
in holiday attire, went to pay their respects to the Gonfaloniere di
Giustizia and the other Magistrates. These dignitaries, arrayed
in robes of State, took their places upon the Ringhiera early in
the day.

One hundred gorgeous banners were unfurled, and displayed
by as many richly apparelled gonfalonieri. They represented not

490 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

merely the various sestieri of the city, and the Twenty-one Guilds,
— with the pennons of allied trade companies and confraternities —
but among them were many trophy flags — the captured emblems
of vanquished cities.

Greetings over, the Magnificos led a vast procession to the
Baptistery — there to lay their offerings upon the altar of the Saint.
A splendid feature in the cavalcade was the succession of gaily
ornamented cars belonging to the several Guilds, each attended
by the Consuls and Officers and a full complement of members.
Famous artists were employed to decorate the cars — for example
Andrea del Sarto painted one for the " Guild of Wool," and Piero
di Cosimo another for the " Guild of Silk." The cars were drawn
by richly bedecked horses and oxen, and many bore curious
waxen towers, painted and adorned, which were made to revolve.

At San Giovanni costly offerings were dedicated by the
Officers of State, by the Consuls, and by the richer citizens ;
whilst even the poorest person presented his humble tallow-candle,
which he had purchased at one of the Apothecaries' shops.

The towers of wax were always hailed with delight, but often
as not with jests. Generally young fellows, up at house windows
on the route, tried to upset the towers and the boys inside them,
with long wands. Others varied the joke by jerking out of the
hands of the processionists their candles and their lamps, which
they did with long wands or rods. Such scapegraces were dubbed
" bel Ceio" — "Impudent stupid fellow": but nevertheless their
pranks were always condoned.

For the Festival the whole of the Piazza di San Giovanni was
covered with a vast awning of light blue linen canvas, at the
expense of the " Calimala Guild." It was made up of five pieces,
three of which covered the Piazza and the space between the
Baptistery and the Duomo — the middle strip before the doors
bearing the embroidered arms of the Republic. The other two
pieces were stretched over the side of the Misericordia Office and
formed a canopy to San Giovanni. The purpose of the awning
was, first of all, to afford shelter from the heat of the midsummer

THE STREETS, SQUARES, AND BRIDGES 491

sun, and next to lend dignity to the festive ceremonies. It was
originally put up in the year 1349. An entry in the Archives of
the Guild is as follows : — " By the direction of the Consuls of the
* Calimala Guild,' the awnings were made for San Giovanni : they
were light blue, sprinkled with yellow lilies, which numbered
fifteen hundred." x

At noon a general feast was held. Every tavern and eating-
house in the Market and its contiguous streets was crammed with
hungry, thirsty, and rollicking, merry-makers, perhaps, each one
realising for himself a favourite saying of the Market people : —
" caught like a flea in a bundle of tow ! "

Then, after the briefest of siestas under the Market loggie, or
elsewhere in the shade, every one moved off to find a place for
the " Palio " — the great annual horse-race. The course lay right
through the city from the Porta al Prato to the Porta alia Croce,
along the Borgo degli Albizzi, the Via Vigna Nuova, and the
Borgo d'Ognissanti.

The " Palio " invariably formed a foremost feature in all
public rejoicings. If a victory had been won over Siena, Lucca,
Pisa, Prato or any other rival city, horse-races were the natural
and popular adjuncts. They were held immediately Hinder the
walls of the vanquished stronghold by the victorious troops, as
well as in Florence by the peaceful citizens.

This spectacle over, a further adjournment was made, either
to the sports ground at Peretola, or to the Piazze della Croce and
Santa Maria Novella, to view the giostre^ or tournaments and
games. The merry, noisy, perspiring, throng of the city, swelled
by the incursion of visitors from the Contado and the neighbour-
ing towns and villages, passed to and fro with burle and beffe —
jokes and pranks.

An ancient Carnival song ran thus : —

" To the CW£7<?-field, up comrades and away.
The bounding football there invites us all to play
No game so full of sport to occupy the day."

1 Vasari, " Vita di Cecca Inseguere."

492

THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

Whilst exquisite forms of youthful manly beauty displayed
their perfect physical charms in sportive exercises, fair maidens —
Tessas, Giovannas, and Marias — smiled approvingly, and, by the
language of the eye, bespoke the lover's tryst.

Fun and frolic ran wild, and many a broken head with
tattered clothes and empty pockets, was carried painfully home
by weary feet, long after the curfew had sounded !

IL CALCIO — FLORENTINE FOOTBALL IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY

And oh ! how, what is left us of venerable palace and ancient
shop, of well worn street and busy mart, speaks, in solemn tones,
of the sternness and the grandeur, of the frolic and the fray, of
those far-off scenes in old Florence !

Those stout and massive buildings are like the serried ranks
of armoured city companies, those open doorways and secluded
basements resemble busy toilers. Those solid towers, — with
square headed merlins of the Guelphic builders, or forked, after
the manner of the Ghibellines, — proclaim watchful captains of the
Guilds, and proud nobles of the Signoria — all bent and hoary,

THE STREETS, SQUARES, AND BRIDGES 493

but full of dignity and pathos still. Her buildings are in truth
human entities, with the features, on their fronts, of a Dante,
a Farinata, a Soderino, a Lando, a Savonarola, a Machiavelli,
an Alberti, a Pazzi, and a Medici, all sons, fathers and makers
of Florence !

And out, beyond the city gates, the fruitful Contado and the
fair hill country, with the clear blue Tuscan sky overhead, are
eloquent witnesses of the joys and of the sorrows of Florence the
Busy and the Beautiful.

Her lilies still emit the time-old sweet odours, and her silk-
worms are still spinning the web of industry and romance. From
Fiesole come echoes of the past caught up by shady San Miniato,
and silent spirits of the dead, from the historic Streets and
Squares, and Bridges, linger whispering around the Campanile of
Giotto, the Dome of Brunellesco, and the Torre della Vacca !

Stemnta de* " Priori dJ Liberia" 1434.
(Red " Liberia " on a white field.)

CHAPTER XVII
THE RELIGION OF THE GUILDS

Humanism. Greek ideals. Roman methods. Pleasure, ambition and
avarice. The Church non-aggressive. The Pope's party : the People's party.
Campsores Papce. Types of the great artists of Florence. The Baptistery.
Early system of registration of births. Religious associations. " The Watchers
and Servants of Mary." The Umilitati. Public participation in daily " Hours."
No cant, no hypocrisy ! The Madonna. Prayers before business. Obscure
" Beatitudes." " Candle-spikers " and " Breast-beaters." Poor and rich alike
affected. Private chapels. The Certosa di Val d'Ema. "Apostles of the
Lord." Days of religious obligation. The Sportelli. Ex votes. Facilities for
attending Mass. Free thought. Religious equality. Platonic philosophy.
Writings of Leonardo da Vinci, Leon Battista Alberti, Francesco Guicciardini,
Niccolo Machiavelli, and of others. Church festivals. "The Feast of
Love." Superstitions. San Giovanni Battista. Lorenzo de' Medici's image.
Miracles of healing. " How to extinguish a big blaze ! " Cleanliness next
godliness. The " Evil Eye." The Brevi. Large families. Fatalistic tenden-
cies. Monks and nuns. " Firenze la Prima ! " The Council of Florence.
The Inquisition. Savonarola. Sermons. "Imitate Barletta ! " Burial
customs. Michael Angelo's torch. The Paterini. The " Black Company."

THE Religion of the Florentines of the thirteenth century was
simple humanism. The blending of the various strains of
human life, which formed the Tuscan race, produced also a
spiritualism which inspired men and women with virile devotional
sentiments.

A people so conspicuous for keenness of mind and vigour of
body could not be otherwise than affected strongly by religious
instincts. Essentially practical in everything which concerned
human progress, the Florentines were ready to assimilate all
spiritual truths which presented themselves in sympathetic
measure.

Together with simple trust in all the generally accepted
traditions of their race and land, there was mingled a tenacious
hold upon Greek ideals and Roman methods.

494

THE RELIGION OF THE GUILDS 495

In the days when the law of might was superior to that of the
law of right, and when households were broken up and men became
fugitives, the scattered details of a warlike people held on to all
they knew of nobility of aim, energy of will, and effectiveness of
accomplishment. Into their personalities entered the character-
istics of Dante's three weird animals — the nimble panther, the
haughty lion, and the lean-looking wolf, — pleasure, ambition and
avarice.1 Whereas in most States and cities in the Middle Ages
the action of the priesthood was aggressive, the Religious, who
settled in Florence, were remarkable for their reserve and reti-
cence. Probably this characteristic was induced by the spirit of
freedom, which early breathed throughout Tuscany ; and which
was indeed the guiding influence in all her pre-eminence in later
years. Hermit clergy, in their cells on hillside and by river bank,
— the self-denying pioneers of Catholic Rome, — bore their part
nobly in the softening and refining of the minds and lives of the
wild people they dwelt among. The favourable bearing of the
Papal See did much to control and to subordinate the passions of
the lower classes, and to encourage and to foster the goodwill of
the ruling citizens. The Pope's party became also that of the
People, and, under the title of Guelphs, stood for liberty and pro-
gress. The Church of Rome was regarded as a political govern-
ment to negotiate with, rather than a spiritual institution to
submit to.

Florentines were essentially of a non-theological cast of mind :
religious doubts and differences of belief had little or no interest
for them. Rome, ever wise, and able at once to feel the public
pulse and to recognise the popular temperament, never trenched
upon the liberties of the city. If Pontiffs launched now and
again their Interdicts, they were pretty soon persuaded to remove
them, and to consult the People's prejudices and wishes ; whilst
they profited not a little by the sapient industrial enterprise, and
far-reaching commercial policy, of their adherents.

That the Florentines were emotional goes without saying — the

1 " Inferno, "Canto I.

496 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

Greek and Etruscan in their blood provided this characteristic,
just as clearly as did the Roman and the German reticence fashion
their stoicism. There was a good deal of the Greek in the expres-
sion of their religious feelings. Fine forms, fine features, and fine
movements, were ever held in just reverence. Simplicity, natural-
ness, and grace, marked their public functions, and their private
devotions.

The singing boys and girls of Luca Delia Robbia's " Cantoria "
with the trinity of " Davids " : — Donatello's goat-herd, Verro-
cchio's town-apprentice, and Buonarroti's young giant-hero, — pre-
serve the comely types of the youth of those days. Masaccio,
Ghirlandaio, and Botticelli, have fixed, with their rare pigments,
the features of the men and women who worshipped God and
reverenced perfect manhood.

San Giovanni Battista was the earliest centre of the religious
life of Florence. There, in the midst of stalls and carts of market
people, with sales going on almost within the sacred portals, stood,.
— like the heart in a human body, — the venerable temple of God,,
sanctified by the baptism, first vows, and earliest Mass, the
marriage and the death rites, of the whole population.1

The black and white beans, respectively, registered at one and
the same time a child of God and a child of the Commune.
Prayers and bargains were in close comradeship, and were joined
together in every contract and statute, as they were in every
church ceremony and civic feast.

Candles too were burnt there, not for meaningless show and
illumination, but, in some sort of a way, as sure accommodations
with heaven.

Catechisms and sermons were taught and preached by priests

sons of the people — to their own kith and kin, with a freedom

and a sincerity quite as profound as were those traits in the
characters of the hearers. Each and all worked as hard at
religious duties as in the ordinary avocations of life. They
judged that, as groups and companies in industry and commerce

1 Biblioteca Laurenziana, " Biadaioli '* MS.

THE BAPTISTERY OF SAX CilOVAXM

(\\ITH A TOUCH OF MODERN TIMES !)

THE RELIGION OF THE GUILDS

497

prospered by the contact of interest and respect, so association in
worship brought with it consolation and refreshment. The voices
of laymen and the conduct of lay devotions were heard and seen
in every sacred building, as people spared time to count their
beads and recite their " Pater-nosters."

The Monastery and the Church of La Nunziata, for example,
was built by the Servites, — an Order of working monks, founded
in 1239, — by seven rich and noble citizens of Florence. They
were in the habit of meeting daily to sing " Ave Maria" in the
chapel of San Zenobio, then standing on the site of Giotto's
Campanile. It is said that their piety and charity were so con-
spicuous, that passers-by in the streets pointed them out as
Guardatori e Servi di Maria" — "Watchers and Servants of
[ary." The walls of their sanctuary quickly became covered
with votive offerings from all conditions of men of like passions.

Great as was the influence of the " Umiliati" upon the in-
lustrial life of the Florentines, it was even more emphatic in its
iligious and charitable bearings. Their example and teaching
ippealed irresistibly to all classes of the population. The peers
>f merchants and manufacturers in mental calibre, the " Humble
Brethren " were also the equals of artizans and operatives in
lanual skill. They were laymen, and as such with no special
lass distinctions, they were in full accord with the human in-
irests of their neighbours. Brethren in labour they were at the
tme time fathers in religion.

The " Umiliati" exhibited daily how it was possible and pro-
"able to combine toil and worship. To fear God and to honour
lan was the initial tenet of this faith. The daily recitation, in
leir chapel, of " The Hours " and various lay devotions, attracted
lasters and workpeople alike. There was something virile about
leir way of serving God, which agreed admirably with the in-
:incts of the Florentines.

Very soon there sprung up in groups and families the self-
ime spirit of sobriety, morality, and devotion. The churches
-ere visited regularly, and serious men and women joined heart

2 I

498 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

and soul in the daily offices. This was nowhere more remark-
able than at Santa Reparata. The clergy, ever tactful, gauged
the temper of the people, and admitted them freely to choir and
lectern. Immense psalters, with their great big black square notes,
were set up at the entrance of the Sanctuary, in order that men
and lads might stand around and join their voices to the clerical
recitations. This admirable observance was continued in the
new church of Santa Maria del Fiore, and it is still to-day
regarded as a special and highly valued privilege, by all the right-
minded men-folk of the city.

No less admirable was the effect of the example of the
" Umiliati" upon the charitable instincts of the people among
whom they settled. Their ready sympathy with every form of
suffering and adversity, their loving care of children and the
aged, and their own self-denying lives, won the affection and
imitation of all with whom they were thrown in contact. In-
tolerant almost to brutality of any mere mawkish sentiment
and maudlin ministration, the thirteenth century Florentines
were greatly affected by all that was manly and chivalrous. A
high-toned piety and a discriminating charity became guiding
lights upon their life and their work.

Florentines shared with all other Catholics a profound vene-
ration for the Madonna, regarding her under many attributes.
Early art had fixed her personality and her power upon the
intelligence as well as upon the vision of her devotees. The
whole city, for example, kept holiday when Cimabue's famous
picture was ceremoniously escorted through the streets to its
place in the Rucellai Chapel in Santa Maria Novella.

Santa Maria di Cigoli, near San Miniato al Monte, Santa
Maria della Selva, Santa Maria Primavera di Fiesole, Santa
Maria del' Impruneta, and Santa Maria dell' Or San Michele
were, in turn and often enough simultaneously, objects of enthu-
siastic devotion.

Merchants and agents about to undertake a foreign journey,
and manufacturers and citizens at the outset of some important

THE RELIGION OF THE GUILDS 499

enterprise, were wont to throng the altar of their favourite
Madonna to beseech her patronage and aid.

The little chapel of Santa Maria alle Grazie, upon the Bridge
of that name, was daily thronged with worshippers. So small
was the sanctuary that the candles offered on one day had to be
removed to make space for the morrow's offerings.

Perhaps the most famous Madonna of them all was that of
" Impruneta." In the early years of the sixteenth century at
times of political excitement the " Black Madonna," — as she
"was also called, — was conducted from her shrine, along the seven
miles of road to the Porta Romana, by immense crowds of clergy
and people, with mounted guards furnished by the Seven Greater
Guilds. At the Gate she was taken charge of by the monks of
.S. Trinita, who bore her in solemn procession, and placed her
upon a throne in the midst of the Duomo. There she remained
until the tumult was abated, and where she received the deferential
visits of thousands of the inhabitants. Her prerogative was the
calming of popular passion and the peaceful administration of the
city. Consequently it became a rule to transport the Madonna
into the cathedral before each election of the Signoria, " in order
that God may give us good and wise leaders." 1 The " Madonna
del Impruneta" was also regarded as possessing the power of
healing the sick, curing persons stricken down by wounds, and
driving away evil spirits. The road up to her shrine was daily
traversed by bands of Guildsmen seeking a guerison, or rendering
a thank-offering.

Next to the cult of the Madonna came, oddly enough, irregular
devotions to the least authentic and most obscure worthies of the
saintly calendar. Florentines cared little about the Papal im-
primatur in such matters, but when they listed they dubbed this
or that individual a " Beatitude ! "

The Umiliati naturally furnished many a saintly personage

—great in prayer and great in toil. Of such were San Gherardino

-di Villamagna — a popular monkish teacher in the woolshops ; and

1 Perrens, ii. 411.

500 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

San Barduccio — a virtuous wool-carder, who simply did his duty
to God and to man.

The figures and features of such blessed examples of industrial
excellence, reproduced by " Masters in Wood and Stone," or in metal
and pigment, were always accompanied by the halo of canonisation.

Every family had its Patron Saint, in imitation of the Patrons
of the Guilds. These were often enough obscure citizens, the
founders of the families' name and fame. To them something
like ancestor-worship was accorded in the annual commemoration
of worthy lives and meritorious deaths.

The peasants of Marignolle canonised a blind poet whose
cantos had enchanted them, and also a poor village girl, who had
lost her girdle and her purse, and discovered them in answer to
vehement prayer. At the graves of such as these their relatives
and friends burnt candles and sang litanies. These country-side
observances spread far and wide, and almost every village had its
cottage-chapel, its orchard-shrine or its roadside ex voto. These
devotees gained, the designation of" Spigolistri"- — " Candle-spikers"
— and " Picchiapetti"- — " Breast- beaters "- —by the profane, who
regarded them all as hypocrites !

Not merely were the peasantry and the poorer townspeople
affected by these devotions, but they spread their charm over the
inmates of many a country villa — the residences of wealthy Floren-
tines. At Montebuoni were the Buondelmonti, the Gherardini,
the Fenzi, and the Machiavelli ; at Signa dwelt the Alberti, the
Altoviti, the Morelli, the ' Cavalcanti, the Pitti-Leparelli, the
Passerini, and other rich Merchant-princes.

The Medici villa was at Poggio a Caiano, the Strozzi and the
Borgherini had country houses at Bellosguardo, and at Peretola
were the Panciatichi and the Vespucci. The Capponi, the Nerli,
the Gianfigliazzi, and the Sacchetti were at Marignolle, and at

Legnaia, where were grown the best vegetables which were sold

in the Mercato Vecchio, — resided the Rinuccini, the Caducci, the
Artinini, and others. All these families, and many another too,,
have left splendid evidences of their pious zeal and lordly charity

THE RELIGION OF THE GUILDS 501

in frescoed church and sculptured cloister — witnesses too of the
wealth and influence of the Guilds.

The Certosa di Val d'Ema especially attracted members of
the Guilds. Some aged and tottering to their graves, and some
in the prime of life, but all weary of the worry and the whirl of
commerce and industry, and yearning for quiet, sought within
those silent courts, by acts of self-abasement, the peace of God.
You may see what those craftsmen were like in the flesh, by con-
templating their features characteristically sculptured in glazed
terra-cotta busts by Giovanni Delia Robbia upon the walls of the
cloister. The Acciaiuoli family has left a great name at the
Certosa. Xiccolo of that ilk endowed the monastery and dedi-
cated it to Saint Lawrence, the patron of his Guild, and
bequeathed to it his precious marbles, pictures, and bronzes.

At times a serious mood affected rich and poor alike both in
the city and in its suburbs. Men and women affected the monastic
habit, and went about with heads downcast and uttering pious
phrases. At home they spent their leisure in saying prayers, and
in making repeatedly the sign of the cross, to render their lonely
hours harmless. They called each other u Brother " — " Sister," and
spoke about the Society to which they belonged as " The Apostles
of the Lord."

Sacchetti, and his kind, did not spare these gloomy religionists,
both he and Boccaccio dubbed them " Buonapostoli " — good
only in that they revealed as much of the old Adam in their
natural lives, as did most other people ! l To call them hypocrites
would perhaps be too strong, but at all events they were almost
the only individuals in Florentine history to whose tenets and
observances the term " cant " may be truthfully ascribed.

Cant and bigotry were alike distasteful to the Florentines of
old. They were a good deal too sincere and too downright in
character to tolerate anything which made for creed respectability
and religious professionalism.

1 Sacchetti, "Lettere," t. Hi. p. 375. Boccaccio, " Giorn." iii., " Nov." iv. t. ii. p.
54, etc.

502 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

Days of religious obligation were scrupulously observed in old
Florence. Not only were the individual duties of citizens, with
respect to attendance at Mass and other functions, exactly laid
down by the Church authorities ; but members of the Guilds were
admonished to visit the churches in their corporate capacity.1

On Holy-days no public business of any kind was permitted
between early Mass and Vespers. Times of fasting and abstinence
were marked by an entire cessation of labour, and the closing of
workshops and market stalls.

Drivers of carts and other vehicles, and mule and horse
teamsters, were forbidden to carry merchandise, and to work their
animals. Farriers might, under exceptional circumstances, shoe
horses and mules, but they were not allowed to forge iron. Cattle
and horses might be treated medically, and, of course, there was
no restriction in the matter of feeding and watering stock.

Haberdashers, Tailors, Shoemakers, Cobblers, Pork-Butchers,
Cattle-Slaughterers, and Retail Cloth-dealers were especially
warned to keep their places of business strictly closed all day*
Cuirmadori — quacks of all kinds — were penalised for taking
money during prohibited hours.

The Sportelli — wickets — of the Apothecaries, — for the sale of
medicines, and of the Retail-butchers, — for the sale of fresh meat
and fish, were allowed to be partially open. The stalls of Poul-
terers and Game-dealers, and those of certain fresh pork sellers,
were suffered to be half open between Mass and Vespers. " Stare
a sportello " — " open half the shop," and " La mia bottega sta a
sportello oggi" — " I open my shop only half to-day," were common
sayings with respect to days of obligation.

Bakers, Sellers of Macaroni and Vegetables, and Fishmongers
were permitted to hawk their merchandise in public places, without
restrictions all the year round. Millers were allowed, when it was
necessary for public convenience, to work upon days of obligation, —
but with closed doors, — and they were forbidden to deliver flour.

Church candle-makers were required to keep their shops half

1 L. Cantini, i. 370.

A SPORT ELLO, OR HOLY-DAY WICKET

FOURTEENTH CENTURY

THE RELIGION OF THE GUILDS 503

open for the sale of ecclesiastical objects, and ex voto images,
but on no account were they to sell other goods, or candles for
secular purposes.

Roasters of chestnuts, whilst not allowed to roast them in
public, might do so at home, and they were permitted to offer
them for sale between Mass and Vespers. Hawkers of small
objects could not dispose of their wares during prohibited hours
by stealth, and, if caught secretly bartering, they were cast into
prison, and their goods were confiscated.

Doctors, Surgeons, and Barbers, were required to stay in doors
on Holy Days and Fast Days, and on no account to seek patients
and clients in the streets. Taverns and Inns, for the sale of food
and drink, were kept closed until mid-day. Domestic servants,
except those of colour, were free after Vespers ; and masters
and mistresses were exhorted to grant facilities for the attendance
of their dependants at Mass.1

The churches were the homes of the people, for no city could
boast so many, at once so beautiful and so eloquent of personal
devotion. The Republican sentiments of the population, — rich
and poor, — were nowhere so evident. In every group of kneeling
worshippers at Mass, or in any congregation listening to the
impassioned words of a preaching-friar, — the noble, the merchant,
the tradesman, the artizan, the peasant, and the beggar, — knelt
and stood, shoulder to shoulder, each the peer of the other.
Religious equality was ever a mark of Florentine citizenship.

Free thought undoubtedly was permitted in Florence, and it
existed to such a degree that the Academy of Florence raised
Platonic philosophy to the second throne in the religious hierarchy
of the State. The officers of the Guilds, men of culture, merchant
princes, and successful men of business, generally caught up the
spirit of theological inquiry, and no assemblage or reunion of
such persons, was complete without a debate wherein Christianity
and Paganism each had adherents.2

1 L. Cantini, " Legislazioni," and the Rubrics of 1415.
a Grimm, " Michael Angelo," i. 55.

504

THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

Still it is obvious, from a careful study of the writings of such
men as Leonardo da Vinci, Leon Battista Alberti, and Francesco
Guicciardini and many others, that pure Scepticism was far re-
moved from the minds of those quick-witted makers of Florence.

The soundness and strength of the hold of the commercial
and industrial classes upon the faith of the Church is evidenced
by the abundance, in the streets and squares, of shrines and

AN "AVE MARIA" BEFORE A STREET SHRINE. SIXTEENTH CENTURY

religious objects. Many still bear their pendant lamps, where
once flickered the devotions of a religious people. These objects
are not mere inartistic manufactures of ill-conditioned hucksters,
but they are chefs d'ceuvre of Masters in Stone, in Wood, in Iron,
and in Terra-cotta.

Nevertheless the men of the Renaissance were imbued with
something not inconsiderable of a Pagan spirit, for many came to
regard Christianity as a guide to private morality, and in no
sense as a controlling power in corporate life. Machiavelli, over
and over again, emphasises this in his " Prince " and " Discourses."

THE RELIGION OF THE GUILDS 505

The phrase, originally uttered by Gino Capponi, " those who love
their country better than the safety of their souls are wise," was
often on his lips. He contrasts too, vividly, the power of their
religious rites over the lives and characters of the Romans with
the feebleness of the Keys over the morals and intelligences of the
Florentines of his day. The halting between Christian morality,
so called, and political expediency was a danger and a deceit in
the life of many a Florentine worthy.

There was also a striking medley of things serious and
profane in the religious observances of the citizens. If they went,
as was their wont, on the first Sunday in each month, to say
their prayers and count their beads at San Gallo, — just beyond
the Gate, — it was in order that the craftsmen and their friends
might spend a merry afternoon and evening in eating, playing,
dancing, and courting !

The Feast of the Epiphany — " Befana " — as they called
it, from the Doll which was carried about on the Eve,
provided both religious services and pleasant entertainments.
Each house, workshop, convent, and church, had its Bambino,
sometimes beautifully dressed by artists. Every child carried
about by day its sacred doll, and exhibited it in keen rivalry
with others ; whilst at dusk, they were placed upon a window
sill, or in the doorway, and flanked by burning candles and gaily
painted paper lanterns. Pageants and cavalcades of the Three
Holy Kings passed through the streets whilst " Bethlehems " were
decked out by the Altars of the Nativity, and were visited by
merchant and artizan, noble and simple, young and old, as though
upon a solemn pilgrimage.

The First of May was the " Feast of Love." After hearing
Mass, and making offerings at the Shrines of Or San Michele,
and La Nunziata, apprentices with their sweethearts made off to
the hills and woods, to spend the day in amorous sports.

" Youths and maidens enjoy to-day,
Naught ye know about the morrow ! " l

1 From a Sonnet by Michael Angelo.

506 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

Many a city lad won his country lass, but many an one was
jilted that happy sad May Day !

The choice of lad and lass was hotly discussed in the home
circle, for marriage was to the Florentines as much a commercial
contract as it was an union of hearts. Florentine mothers were
much addicted to match-making. Alessandra Machinghi degli
Strozzi used to go to Mass every morning in Santa Maria del
Fiore, to have a good look at the girls her son Filippo admired,
and returned with critical remarks, to which she chided him to
attend. Whilst a good figure and a pretty face went far towards
securing the maternal approval, still more conclusive points were
family influence and financial means.1

Superstition, — as has Nature's occult science been named,—
had its place, and that not an unobtrusive one, both in the
individual life, and in the collective activities of the Florentines.

Mars, — earliest patron of the city's destiny, — had hearty
devotees in every class in spite of his supersession by Saint
Giovanni Battista. For years his statue graced the temple on
the Citadel, then what was left of him by barbarian invaders
was erected upon the Ponte Vecchio. Whilst his marred
effigy brooded over the hurrying river below, Florence was
triumphant. His destruction meant for her unheard-of woes, so,
when at length in 1337, the disastrous flood, which claimed
almost all Florence as its prey, bore away bridge and Palladium
together, lamentations loud arose to propitiate a vengeful
Providence.

The attributes of the warrior god, — his strength, his boldness,
and his victory, — were transferred to the peaceful Forerunner, who
had for co-ordinates the saintly virtues of the Gospel. Monkish
tradition and popular fancy, fond of blending like natures, joined
St Sebastian to Apollo, St Mary to Venus, and made of Mercury
the valiant St George.

Every unusual circumstance was magnified and ascribed to-
occult influences : — a comet in the sky portended war and blood -

1 G. Biagi, p. 64.

THE RELIGION OF THE GUILDS 507

shed ; lights shooting at night like falling-stars betokened personal
danger to men of eminence; thunder in clear moonlight threatened
industrial pursuits ; the fall of a monument, or of masonry, pointed
to family troubles, and so forth.

No one was in the least surprised, when Lorenzo de' Medici
died, to hear that his votive image in wax in the church of La
Nunziata had fallen, and was broken in pieces. The cry went
from lip to lip : — " Boto, caduto in Santissima Nunziata ! " and
some added " May God pardon him," " Rest his soul," and " The
price of wax will rise ! " — referring, doubtless, to the subsequent
stately obsequies of the departed prince.

The folk-lore of the Florentines embraced ghosts, witches,
spells, and were-wolves ; but many of their superstitions — so
called — were harmless and even childish. If a woman, as an
instance, lost her cat, her best resource was to burn a candle to
the Madonna — by preference at Or San Michele. If a man
could not avoid beginning a new enterprise or making a bargain
on a Friday, he was careful to slip into the nearest church to say
a hurried " Pater-noster"

Green was regarded as the colour of the unspeakable Turk,
and even suggested the pallid hue of the " Inferno " ; hence no-
self-respecting citizen would willingly wear clothes dyed with that
hue, although for hood or cap it was admissible.

The loss of reason was recoverable by the superimposure, on
the head of the unfortunate person, of the mitre of San Zenobio,
the Saintly Bishop of Florence in the fifth century, whose
memory was and is still highly venerated. A further infallible
cure was the clothing of a deranged person in the mantle of San
Giovanni Gualberti, Abbot of San Miniato, who died in 1073.
The miracles wrought by these two beatified patrons of Florence
have furnished Ghiberti, Ghirlandaio, and Benedetto da Rovezzano
with subjects for artistic representation.

Here is a famous recipe : — " How to extinguish a big blaze " :—
" Write the following words on three round flat stones, and throw
them into the fire, which will at once be put out — ^ In the

508 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

Name of the Father — Shadrach ; ^ In the Name of the Son —
Meshach ; ^ In the Name of the Spirit — Adenago." l

Any uncanny or unusual noise sent off young and old in
quest of holy-water, with which to sprinkle the locality and thus
to exorcise the disturbing spirit. If a murderer could, unmoved, eat
his supper placed upon the body of his victims, he was excused
execution.

Strange views were held with respect to the curing of
ailments : — for example, jumping three times upon a skein of
boiled twine, and rubbing the person with oil dripping from the
frame work of church bells, were considered efficacious and very
commonly were they carried out !

Florentine mothers of the poorer sort also had a superstitious
dread of children's clean hands and feet ! The more dirt which
the little toddlers acquired, in their grubbings in the gutter, the
more likely were they to escape illness and death. When
ablutions became absolutely necessary they were followed by
visits to the shrine of the favourite Madonna, where an " Ave"
was said to avert the evil consequences of such unavoidable
cleanliness !

The cult of the Evil-eye was followed by all classes of the
community, but sometimes the hasty presentation of the pointing
fingers led to recriminations with knife or stone ! No people
were swifter in resentment of imagined insult than were the
toilers in the Markets and streets of Florence. Any leading
citizen whose name came to be even accidentally associated with
the city's misfortunes, or with personal and party sufferings, was
always an object for point and cross. Sometimes the superstition
held true against every member of his family. Thus the Soderini,
— Niccolo, Lorenzo, and Piero, — were regarded with suspicion and
aversion. This custom originated probably in the general fear
and contempt of the Jewish race. Anyhow no one would think
of passing through the Ghetto — the Israelitish adjunct of the
Mercato Vecchio — without extending the protective sign.

1 Biblioteca Riccardiana, Codex 3632.

THE RELIGION OF THE GUILDS 509

Every one wore, suspended by a silken or a woollen cord,
around the neck, a little crooked horn of brass or bone or coral,
which they were accustomed to touch if any evil shadow seemed
about to cross their path. This token was often accompanied by
a little silken or cotton bag called the " Breve" containing, as often
as not : nothing but harmless powder ! Conjurers and charlatans
sold such charms readily to their simple-minded audiences.
" Wear this," they said, " next your breast, it will help you in
danger and in love." Many a lass took her " Breve " to her con-
fessor to obtain the blessing of the Church upon her destiny.

The course of human life was regarded pretty much as an
experience of the inevitable. Man was born, the Florentines
considered, primarily to reproduce his kind, and secondarily to
resign his offspring absolutely to the mercies, — tender or other-
wise,— of the overruling powers.

To have twenty, or more, children was quite a natural con-
dition of family life. If they lived to maturity the parents
fervently exclaimed : — " Heaven be praised " ; and, if they died
in childhood, they sanctimoniously ejaculated : — " Yes, and for
everything heaven be praised. Amen ! " 1

This fatalistic tendency exhibited itself also in their dealings
with aged and distressed dependants. Gregorio Dati, in his
" Libro Segreto" writes about the epidemic of 1426: — "The
pestilence was in our house. It began with our man servant
Piccino, within three days later our slave Martha died. On the
first of April my daughter Sandra, and on the fifth, Antonia.
We left the house and went into one opposite. In a few days
Veronica died. Again we moved, and went to live in Via Chiara.
Here Vandecca and Pippa were taken ill, and, on the first of
August, both went to heaven. They all died of the plague.
Heaven help them ! "

Among the private records of the Strozzi family are the fol-
lowing particulars of two old people, — the only survivors of a
family of labourers on the estate : — " Piero and Monna Cilia are

1 G. Biagi, p. 57.

510 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

both alive and infirm. I have overflowed the field for the next
year, and as I must put it in order, these two old people, if they
do not die, must go and beg. Heaven will provide." In a letter
written in the same hand a few months later we read : — •" Piero is
still alive, so he must put up with it, and go and beg. It would
be best, of course, if heaven would take him ! "

Religious persons abounded — indeed occasionally they bore
an abnormal ratio to the whole population. In the beginning of
the sixteenth century — "The Golden Age of Florence" — there
were upwards of one hundred monasteries and convents, with,
perhaps, thousands of inmates, besides the great number of
secular clergy who served the parish churches.

The dignified clergy, — from the Archbishop downwards, no
less than the youngest priests, — were, as a rule, scions of Florentine
families. The noblest citizens rendered up willingly their sons
for the work of the priesthood. There was always more or less
resentment expressed against alien clergy, and the men who
were admitted to Holy Orders were, as a rule, actuated by patriotic
and popular motives. " Firenze la prima " — " Florence first "-—was
their motto. This happy condition of things ecclesiastical was
provocative of nothing but good in the intercourse between the
Altar and the Home.

The Council of Florence, held in the Duomo, in 1439, was
marked, not alone by the distinction of the personages attending
its deliberations, and by the unanimity of its decisions, but by the
profound respect and sympathy of the public at large. Perhaps
this was due to two causes — the popular element in the constitu-
tion of the Council, and the absorption of merchants and artisans
in their worldly callings, with little time and will to study matters
-of religious order.

There was in Florence little or no scope for the operations of
the " Holy Office of Inquisition." Only one authenticated burning
is recorded, that of Giovanni da Montecatini in 1450. Whether
the reason for this exemption was to be found in the undoubted
ort odoxy of the people, or in their absolute indifference to

THE RELIGION OF THE GUILDS

511

dogmatic questions, no one can say. Probably the tacit policy of
the Vatican, not to interfere with the religious ardour of a popula-
tion triumphant in the world of commerce and industry, had a
good deal to do with the immunity of the city from the rigours of
the stake. Only in the day of Savonarola's domination did eccle-
siastical disputes assume an acute stage.

Perhaps no movement stirred so thoroughly the great heart of

SAVONAROLA PREACHING IN LENT IN SANTA MARIA DEL FIORE

Florence as the coming of the great preaching friars in the fifteenth
century. Girolamo Savonarola and his brethren proclaimed aloud
" Jesus Christ is King of Florence ! " The city was groaning
under a load of tyranny, jealousy, and veniality, well nigh unbear-
able. The lust of money, the pride of life, and the affectation of
culture, were leading men to view commercial probity, political
freedom, and domestic virtue, with distorted vision.

Savonarola opposed the Medici and their usurpations with all
his energy, and preached unweariedly against excess of worldly
power in high places. His dogmas he formulated generally, as

512 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

follows : — i. The fear of God in the reform of personal liberty and
habits, 2. The love of religion in the subserviency of all, 3. Peace
among men and forgiveness of injuries, and 4. Government upon
sound Republican principles.

The eloquence of the famous Frate created a three-fold division
among the population: — "Palleschi"-—hom the Pawnbroker's
balls — was the name adopted by the adherents of the Medici ;
" Fratesehf" or " Piagnoni" — "Tears arid Treachery" — were the
party of Savonarola ; and "Arrabbiati? — perhaps " Irreconcilables "
was the designation of the general body of opponents.

Florentines loved /sermons, but those which treated least
of Religion were most to their liking. Their highly cultured
intellects were more attuned to sceptical emotions, and sarcastic
utterances. At first Savonarola failed to touch them, and, not
until he began to deal in metaphors, did they rally to his preach-
ing. His vehemence, and a somewhat brusqueness of manner,
and speech, offended them.

The preachers who drew the largest audiences were those
who belonged to the school of Gabriele Marietta of Naples, about
whom it was said : " No one knows how to preach if he cannot
imitate Barletta." His eloquence was fantastic, unqouth, and
extravagant.

Savonarola's doctrines were ridiculed by the profaner sort of
men. A goodly number of young fellows, — apprentices, students,
and well-to-do loiterers, — associated themselves together for the
purpose of turning the impassioned eloquence of the Frate and his
companions into ridicule. The " Compagnacci" as they were
dubbed by the populace — " good for nothing chaps " — revived
old Bacchanalian revels, as a set-off to the bands of children sent
out to divest citizens of worldly vanities. They poked fun at
the asceticism and self-abasement of the followers of the monk.
" If," they said, " Savonarola enters the fire he will undoubtedly
be burnt : if he refuses to enter it, he will lose all credit with his
followers." * Marini Sanuto, — an observant Venetian of the Savon-

1 P. Villari, "Savonarola," ii. 300.

THE RELIGION OF THE GUILDS

513

arola period, — sententiously wrote : " Florence is in extremis, since
after being under the hands of the Medici (doctors) she is now
suffering under those of the monks."

A DYING MERCHANT. 1496

Customs of mercy and religion attended the bestowal of the
bodies of the dead. Notice of death was at once despatched to
the Office of the Misericordia, and beccamorti, — mutes, — were
detailed to take up their station at the door of the house of
mourning, and to render the last offices. They also registered

2 K

514 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

the deceased person's name, age, and calling, at the Palazzo
Vecchio. The corpse was first moved to the " Guardamorto," at
the corner of the Piazza, di San Giovanni, but, within eighteen
hours, the relatives were obliged to accompany it to the grave.

Mourning colours were brown, or dull red, and some people
affected the unlucky green. Mortuary Masses, in the presence
of the departed, became customary in the thirteenth century.
Very careful were people of all classes to have the bodies of
relatives, who died in foreign lands, brought home for interment.1

Notorious evil-doers, and those to whom absolution had been
denied, received scant courtesy in death. Their bodies, — un-
washed and unshrouded, — were cast out naked into the ditches
like dead dogs. The unknown and unclaimed dead, found in
the city or river, were disposed of to the hospitals, and to sculptors
for anatomical purposes. It is said that Michael Angelo was
wont to study, in a room lent him by his early patrons, the
monks of San Spirito, with a flaming torch stuck into the breast
of a corpse !

Criminals were wont to be harshly treated, no less for small
offences than for great crimes. Those condemned to death were
left to the tender mercies of the gaolers, and no provision was
made for their spiritual wants. Many efforts were made by
citizens to ameliorate these sad conditions, but nothing was
actually accomplished till 1361. In that year twelve young
Guildsmen, influenced by religious enthusiasm, which still re-
mained as a token of " Paterini" influence, went boldly to the
Signoria, and asked for a piece of waste land outside the city,
but near the Piazza di Santa Croce — where executions were per-
formed. On this site they erected a chapel, wherein the con-
demned might hear Mass before ascending the scaffold, and under
the walls of which their bodies might be decently interred.

The founders of the charity called themselves " La Compagnia
de Neri " — " The Black Company." Their numbers increased to
fifty in 1442, when fifty names were drawn by lot from the

1 Cibrario, p. 262.

THE RELIGION OF THE GUILDS 515

Compagnia delta Maria Vergine delta Croce — a religious Guild
connected with the Church of Santa Croce, — and recruited from
the competitors in the annual Giostre. The Society continued
its operations all through the sixteenth century, and there is still,
at Santa Croce, a Confraternity with similar objects.

CHAPTER XVIII
THE PATRONAGE OF THE GUILDS

Machiavelli's maxims. Pious trusts of Guilds. Man's usefulness to the
State. Self-restraint and unselfishness. Guicciardini's aphorism. " Calimala
Guild" and San Miniato al Monte, the Baptistery, and the Piazza di San
Giovanni. The workpeople of the Guild. The " Wool Guild " and the Duomo.
The Board of Works of the Cathedral. Poll-tax,— £225,000. The "Guild of
Judges and Notaries" and San Ambrogio. "Feast of the Miracle." The
*' Guild of Skinners and Furriers " and the Cappella del? Arte in San Apollinare.
Endowments. The "Guild of Shoemakers" and the Cappella del? Arte
at La Nunziata. Frescoes. The " Guild of Carpenters " and the Cappella dell1
Arte at Santa Maria Maggiore. Distressed carpenters. Patron saints. Altars
and sacred observances. "The Society of Dyers." Association of foreign
workmen, — Flemish and German, — at La Nunziata. Merchants of Lorraine at
San Spirito. Society of Lombard cooks at San Piero del Mugnone. Chapels
and altars in foreign cities for Florentines. Or San Michele^ the Shrine of
the Guilds. Corn-market and Church combined. "The Company of the
Pillar." Munificence of the " Compagnia delF Or San Michele" Orcagna's
Tabernacle. The Statues of the Guilds. Mendicity. Sacchetti's "Three
blind beggars." Private Benefactions. The Chapels of noted families at
Santa Croce, Santa Maria Novella, and San Lorenzo. Employment for all
the grand artists of Florence. "The lovely peasant-maid." The chapel of
the Chestnut-Roasters. Palaces, Libraries, Art-Collections, etc.

FROM the very first outburst of Florentine prosperity, when
money began to flow into the pockets of her merchants
and her artizans as pleasantly as the waters of the Arno mur-
mured under the arches of her bridges, notions of benevolence
guided the hands of generous givers.

Human nature, nature's wants, and nature's mistakes ever
occupied the first place in Florentine economics. Thus not alone
the kindly disposed householder and the sympathetic good-wife
gave of their substance in private charity, but the Guildsmen in
their corporate character rendered toll of the good things they
possessed, and the State, taking up the same parable, marked
liberality as an alliteral anagram upon its Priors' shield of "Liberia"

516

THE PATRONAGE OF THE GUILDS 517

Among the maxims of Machiavelli, with respect to duties
of religion and charity incumbent upon the State, are the
following : —

" Governments," he says, " that wish to preserve themselves
incorrupt, must above all else maintain religious ceremonies incor-
rupted, and hold them always in the very highest reverence.
Amongst all the qualities that distinguish a citizen in his country
is his being above all other things liberal and munificent —
especially in the construction of public edifices, such as churches,
monasteries, and retreats for the poor, for the infirm, and for
pilgrims." *

The Statutes of all the various Guilds in addition to a formal
dedicatory preface, contain, in their opening entries, lists of piou-
trusts undertaken by the Guilds with explicit directions how,
where, and when, fitting observances are to be performed.

This is quite in keeping with the characteristics of the people
of Florence, and though such provisions appear to us somewhat
perfunctory, and, in a way, hypocritical, they were in no sense
regarded as such in old Florence.

The intimate union of religion and work was as natural as it
was conventional, and betrayed no unreasoning deference to
dogma and doctrine ; but, on the contrary, it manifested a sane
view of the spiritual power in the republic of industry.

In the same way there was in the Florentines of old time an
entire absence of professional Christianity and mock religion. The
Catholic Faith offered to one and all a reasonable and a practical
means of grace, which appeared to them exactly suited to their
needs, their work, and their rest.

There was a good deal of mutual sincerity as well as a vast
amount of individual sympathy in all the religious exercises of
those sensible and wide-awake people. Next to the man came
his usefulness in the State : love of human progress was the keys
note of the religion of Florence.

Lorenzo Guicciardini writes thus : — " Whoso in Florence

1 " II Principe," chap. i.

518 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

would be well-liked by the people, must avoid a name for
ambition, nor betray, even in the most trivial matters of every-day
life, any desire to appear grander or more refined than his fellows.
For in a city, which has for its foundations equality, and brims
over with jealousies, every man must of necessity be odious, who
is suspected of wishing to stand on a different level to the rest,
and to deviate from the common way of living." l

The lead in pious enterprises was taken, as one would expect, by
the Master Guild — the " Calimala" When the ancient Basilica of
San Miniato al Monte — originally built in 1013, out of the ruins
of the third century Oratory of St Peter, by the Emperor Henry,
Queen Cunegonda, and Archbishop Hildebrand — fell into dis-
repair, what more natural than that an appeal should be made to
wealthy citizens to undertake its restoration ? The Guild stepped
into the breach, and expended money and labour upon its adorn-
ment. In addition to structural work, Spinello Aretino painted
the fresco of Saint Bernard, and Luca Delia Robbia put up
glazed terra-cotta medallions of the Virtues, all at the expense of
the Guild.

Dante mentions San Miniato in his " Purgatorio " ; —

" That Steep upon whose brow, the chapel stands,
O'er Rubaconte looking lordly down." 2

Many Rubrics in the Statutes of the " Calimala " Guild make
provision for the works, and earlier records — even before 1220 —
exist, which show the devotion of the Merchants of Foreign Cloth
to the interests of piety. The Guild retained the privilege of
repairing and guarding San Miniato al Monte until Piero de*
Medici took it out of their hands.

The restoration of the Baptistery of San Giovanni, — one of
the most ancient churches in Florence, and originally a Temple
of Mars, — was undertaken by the " Calimala " Merchants, and a
new building was completed in 1150, mainly at their expense.
" Already," says an early historian, " in the middle of the twelfth
century certain merchants of the Commune gave money to assist

1 " Opere Inedite," vol. iii., " Counsels of Perfection" 2 Canto xii.

THE GREAT BAPTISMAL FONT IN SAN GIOVANNI BATTISTA

1371

THE PATRONAGE OF THE GUILDS 519

building up the battered old church."1 In 1451 they erected
the fagade, and later on, employed the most famous artists of the
day to do the wood-carving and intarsiatura of the choir.

In 1292 when every citizen of Florence, young and old, was
fired with religious enthusiasm by the miracles wrought at the
shrine of Or San Michele, the " Calimala " Guild, — quite in touch
with the spirit of thankfulness and liberality then engendered, —
undertook once more the repair and the completion of the
Baptistery.

Old columns and worn-out stone-work were removed and
replaced by splendid marbles brought at great cost from the
East. Mosaics were commenced in the tribune by Giacomo da
Turrita, and carried on by Andrea Tafi, — the greatest of all the
mosaic masters. Much of this elaborate work was done whilst
the feud between the Buondelmonti and Amidei was at its
height.

Andrea Pisano, in 1339, and Lorenzo Ghiberti, in 1452, put
up the famous bronze doors which bear their names. Andrea
was enrolled as a freeman of Florence by way of reward and was
matriculated into the " Calimala " Guild. The latter commission
was by way of being a thankoffering for the passing of the great
plague. The workmanship is characteristic of the intelligence of
the people of Florence, for the faces and figures are " la gente di
Firenze" in miniature.

The interior was enriched by costly offerings — the product
of silk-loom, goldsmith's tool, sculptor's chisel, and painter's
palette, provided in religious emulation by "the Merchants of
Calimala, the wisest and the powerfulest in Florence."

Every year, eight days before the Patronal Festival, six
Buonuomini — or Deputies — were designated by the Consuls to
attend at the Baptistery on the morning of the Feast, and there
to receive the offerings, made at the Altar of the Saint, in money
and kind, by each matriculated member of the Guild, and by
well disposed members of the other Guilds. The Podesta was

1 Lami. " Sanctae Ecclesiae Florentinae Monumenta."

520 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

always careful to remind the Consuls of their duty on this behalf,
and not un frequently he joined the Buonuomini in person, or
named his deputy, to assist in their pious duty.1

The Guild, hi 1341, zealous for the embellishment of the
city, and wishing to enlarge the Piazza di San Giovanni, purchased
a piece of land near the Archbishop's Palace.2 The Consuls had
already, in 1338, bought two houses belonging to the Adimari
family, near San Cristofano, which they gave to the Chapter of
the Cathedral, in exchange for the Canons' houses near the
Archbishop's tower. In 1339 they acquired a third house for the
sum of seventy-three gold florins from the brothers and sons of
one Martellino ; the title-deeds being drawn up by the Guild
notary, Ser Giovanni Ugolino. The several tenements were
pulled down, and their sites thrown into the Piazza, which added
much to the dignity of the venerable Baptistery.

The salaries or wages paid to those employed by the Guild,
in their various public works, were strictly moderate, for
example : — the Superintendent of works at San Giovanni
Battista had only twelve lire a year ! Payments to builders, and
others, appear to have been made through foremen, who were
required to render accounts of work done, together with reports
upon the moral conduct and assiduity of those under them.
All moneys were paid by scale, deductions being made for
delinquencies.

The Cathedral, — at first known as Santa Reparata, — had
fallen into a ruinous condition, and cried aloud for restoration.
A decree accordingly was issued by the State Council, in 1294,
which commanded the immediate building of a new church.
Among the instructions given to Arnolfo di Cambio, the architect,
was one requiring him to design a church, " of such magnificence
that neither the industry nor the genius of man shall be able to
invent anything that shall surpass it." 3

1 E. J. Delecluze, " Florence et ses Vicissitudes," xiii. 276.

2 Archivio di Calimala, Lib. " O."

3 A. von Reumont, "Tavole Cronologiche," xiii. Secolo.

THE PATRONAGE OF THE GUILDS 521

Arnolfo's plan was unanimously approved, and the solemn
blessing of the first stone took place on September 8th, 1298,
when the new dedication of Santa Maria del Fiore was bestowed
upon the edifice, by popular vote. The expense was undertaken
by the whole community, with the imposition of a tax of four
denari in the gold florin, — equal to about one and a half per
cent, — upon all citizens who were in respectable circumstances,
and a poll-tax of two soldi levied on all inhabitants of the city

SANTA MARIA DEL FIORE AND CAMPANILE. 1478

and Contado. The average yearly yield amounted to upwards of
twelve thousand gold florins.

Wars and feuds greatly hindered building operations, but in
1331 work was again resumed, and the Signoria confided the
superintendence of the enterprise to the great and flourishing
" Guild of Wool." This privilege accorded to the Guild by the
Civil Power was confirmed in 1427 by a " Bull " of Pope Martin V.
The members entered enthusiastically upon their responsibilities.
The Consuls nominated the " Operai di Santa Maria del Fiore;'
— " Board of Works of the Cathedral," in order that its members

522 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

should be able to bring expert knowledge to bear upon each part
of the undertaking.1 This body still carries on the work of
restoration, with the title of " Operai del Duomo"

The amount realised by the two taxes was wholly inadequate,
therefore the Consuls directed that every factory and shop —
wholesale and retail — connected with the Guilds, should place a
box at all entrances and exits, into which visiting merchants,
buyers, and strangers generally, should be invited to deposit
offerings. At first a precise sum was named, — a denaro per
person, — hence the name of " Deodenaro " — " God's penny "-
was given to the contribution. This produced in one year the
goodly sum of two thousand gold florins.2

The "Guild of Wool," between 1282 and 1527, spent upon
Santa Maria del Fiore, the sum total of four hundred and fifty
thousand gold florins = £2 2 5,000 !

Savonarola also threw his influence into the Cathedral Com-
pletion Fund. He directed that all Wills should, at Probate, bear
a Duomo stamp of seventy soldi, and allowed no letters of ad-
ministration to be granted, until this condition had been fulfilled,
It is said that this provision is still in force in Florence.

By a decree of the Signoria the superintendence and upkeep
of the Chapel of the Holy Miracle in the Church of Sant' Ambrogio
was assigned to the " Arte de' Giudice e Notai "- — " the Judges' and
Notaries' Guild." Every year upon the Feast of the Holy
Miracle, which was celebrated during the octave of Corpus Christi,
the Consuls and officials of the Guild assisted ceremoniously at
High Mass, and gathered in the offerings of the members. A
kind of Court was held in the Chapel, when any members accused,
or disbarred for minor misdemeanours, or breaches of the Guild
rules, were set free. At the same time and place a review was
had of the public pious works of the Guild, and distribution of
alms was made to necessitous cases.

The "Arte de' Vaiai e Pellicciai"-— Skinners and Furriers-
had a chapel of their own. It is named in the Statutes of the

1 Follini, torn, vi., chap, xxi., p. 212. * Villani, vi. 226.

THE PATRONAGE OF THE GUILDS 523

Guild under the designation, " Cappella deW Arte di Sant
Apollinare" The Consuls of the Guild accepted lawful control
of the chapel, and the nomination of a chaplain, in the year
1448, when good Antonino was Archbishop of Florence.

The chapel was originally built and painted at the expense of
one Bartolommeo, son of Costello di Giacherio, of the parish of
Sant' Apollinare, — a furrier by trade and member of the Guild, —
who, by his Will, desired to be buried in his own vault, below the
Chapel of SS. Bartholomew and Christopher. The Chapel was
endowed with "the proceeds of several pieces of land — olive
groves, orchards, woods, and vineyards, — in all thirty-nine staiori
— acres ; with three cottages in the parishes of San Martino da
Guigabanda and San Stefano da Calcinaia." x

The chaplain, or rector, was obliged to celebrate weekly Mass,
and High Mass upon the Feast of Saint Bartholomew, for the
repose of the soul of the pious founder — for ever. This last
provision was still being religiously carried out both in 1636 and
in 1663, and was so certified by the registrars of the chapel at
these dates. The arms of the Guild were stuck up over the
chapel, and were also sculptured on the fagade of the church.

At La Nunziata, among the chapels were those of the "Artede*
Calzolai" — "The Shoemakers' Guild" — and of the subordinate
"Arte dj Pittori" — or "Society of Saint Luke." The latter had
frescoes painted by Vasari and Pontormio. Rich Guildsmen,
moreover, made numberless offerings of artistic treasures to the
Church — splendid works by Andrea del Sarto, Ghirlandaio,
San Gallo, Alesso Baldovinetti, the Rossellini, Giovanni da Bologna,
Perugino, and Bandinelli.

The " Compagnia di San Giuseppe'' — the Company of Saint
Joseph, — was a religious confraternity of members of the " Arte de'
Legnaiuoli" — the Carpenters5 Guild, — founded in the time of the
Duke of Athens, when he sought supporters from among the
Lesser Guilds. The chapel and altar of the Compagnia was in the
Church of Santa Maria Maggiore, and the Office of the Guild for

1 Manni, " Sigilli," Inventory made 1589.

524 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

the relief of distressed carpenters was hard by, in the old palace
of the Carnesecchi family.1

Almost all the trade associations, and industrial companies,
subordinated to the Guilds proper, had their Religious Confrater-
nities with their special Patron Saints, Altars, and sacred obser-
vances, with which were usually joined offices for the administra-
tion of charity and the encouragement of art.

In 1300 the " Society of Dyers" had a Church, Guild-House
and Hospital in the Via de' Malcontenti, where the Capuchin
monastery more recently stood. Their coat-of-arms may still be
seen upon the front of the building.

The example of the Florentine Guildsmen and members of
trade unions, with respect to religious and charitable observances,
was heartily followed by the various bodies and groups of foreign
workmen, who flocked to Florence from every European country,
and settled down with their wives and families, or else married
Florentine girls and established new families.

At La Nunziata the Companies of Flemish and German
Artizans had their Altar, dedicated to Saint Barbara, where they
resorted for the daily and weekly Masses, and told their beads
and made their confessions. At San Spirito the Merchants and
Artizans of Lorraine had a Chapel, in the Sacristy of the Church,
to which the dedication of Sau Felice was given. They had
also a separate burial-place within the sacred precincts.

Among minor associations was the " Society of Lombard
Cooks." They had many privileges — sacred and profane.
They were accustomed to recite their hours, first in San Piero
del Mugnone, in the Via San Gallo, but later on, they trans-
ferred their devotions to a Chapel within the church of their
patron saint, San Carlo, in the Piazza del Or San Michele.

On the other hand Florentine Merchants were very careful to
retain as much of their home life as possible during their residence
in foreign cities. Hence in Rome, Naples, Paris, Montpellier, and
other centres and depots of Florentine trade, they established

1 F. L. del Migliore, p. 436.

I \ I KRIOR OF THK (iUILI) CHURCH OF OK SAN MICHKLK
1336

THE PATRONAGE OF THE GUILDS 525

Religious Confraternities, and founded Chapels and Altars in one or
other of the town churches. These were almost always dedicated to
Saint John the Baptist, and everywhere traders, agents, and work-
people, gathered together periodically for religious exercises, and
wise counsel in the local Chapel of the Saint.

The devotional corporate life of the Guilds centred in the
Guild Shrine of Or San Michele. The very name bespeaks its
origin, — the " Garden-Chapel," — for, away back in the eighth
century, holy monks from Lombardy dedicated a small church to
the patron of their country — the Archangel Michael, and then
planted trees around it. Rebuilt somewhere about the year I ooo,
and made a parish church for the extension of the city between
Santa Reparata and the river, the Garden was still preserved
and tended by Cistercian fathers. A Piazza was formed by the
Uberti, Abati, Cavalcanti, Caponsacchi, Macci, and other rising
families, who built their houses around the Church.

Despite the encouragement of the Popes — especially Inno-
cent III. and IV. — the venerable building became greatly dilapi-
dated, so much so that, in 1249, the Signoria intimated their
intention of pulling it down. This was accomplished in 1284,
and in consequence of the inadequacy of accommodation in the
Mercato Vecchio for the Hay and Corn-dealers, it was determined
to build in the middle of the Piazza a Loggia for the purposes of
a Grain-market.

Arnolfo di Cambio was commissioned to supply a plan, which
he did ; and he also undertook the erection of the Church of
San Carlo di Mercato, in lieu of the more ancient shrine.
Arnolfo's work was destroyed by fire in 1304. The new Loggia
for the market was opened in 1317, Taddeo Gaddi being the
architect. He worked in pietra forte of the best kind, and he
and his assistants, were placed under the special observation of
the " For Santa Maria " — the Guild of Silk.

Whilst the Loggia was in building, a famous Byzantine-like
Madonna, painted by Ugolino da Siena, which was attached
to the wall of a house in the Piazza, became famous by reason

526 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

of the many miracles which she was supposed to work.
Transferred solemnly to an alcove under the Loggia, and
fixed to one of the supporting pilasters, the Sacred Picture
continued to carry on its beneficent mission, until it became daily
the object of the devotions of great numbers of pilgrims.

So vastly grew the cult of the Madonna del Orto that in 1291
a Confraternity was founded, which included many members of the
Greater Guilds and other influential citizens. They called them-
selves "La Compagnia del Or San Michele" — but were more
familiarly known as " La Compagnia del Pilastro " — " The Com-
pany of the Pillar."

The Statutes of the Company contained forty chapters, which
were mainly concerned with the receipt and application of the
offerings of pilgrims. These consisted of many objects of value,
and in kind, with votive waxen images. A Notary was in con-
stant attendance to inscribe the names of visitors, to enter the
amounts of their donations, and to chronicle the effects of their
religious exercises. He also enrolled the names of new associates
of the Company, and kept a list of those, who when dying,
desired the prayers of the faithful.

Every day " Lauds " was sung by the lay brethren, who
attended in rota, whence came a new designation of the Com-
pany : — " Laudesi di Santa Maria " — " The Singers of Saint
Mary." Allocutions were constantly addressed by brethren to
groups of worshippers, counselling piety and charity ; and per-
sonal visits were made to the bedsides of aged, crippled, and
dying people. Processions of the brethren were held every year
to the Churches of Santa Croce, Santa Maria Novella, San Marco,
San Spirito, del Carmine and La Nunziata, where litanies and
hymns were sung : the streets through which they passed being
decorated, and crowded with devotional spectators.

Undoubtedly the great glory of the " Company of Or San
Michele" was the munificence of its charities, which benefited,
not only the dwellers in the city, but those who lived far away
in the Contado and beyond.

THE PATRONAGE OF THE GUILDS 527

In the conflagration of 1304 the Sacred Picture escaped,
almost miraculously, and this added enormously to the reputa-
tion of the " Madonna del Orto" The Corn Market became

THE CORN GRANARY— OR SAN MICHELE

thronged not with the buyers and sellers of grain only, but with
pilgrims at their devotions. Business was greatly impeded, and
consequently, in 1336, the Signoria closed the Loggia, and con-
verted it into a church, by building up the arches and inserting
mullioned sculptured windows.

For some years the dual avocation of selling corn and singing

528 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

hymns went on simultaneously, and those who came to buy and
those who sold alike left their offerings. Thus into the fierce
commercial life of the Florentines entered a new and enthusiastic
spirit — that of unwearied piety. The offerings in money received
in 1348 reached the great sum of three hundred and fifty thousand
gold florins.

In 1350 a staff of priests was attached to the Oratory, who
said Masses daily at the altars of the Church, which, nine years
later, was adorned by the exquisite Tabernacle of Orcagna. The
old records say that, " the members of the ' Company of Or San
Michele,' having amassed very great wealth, resolved to erect a
tabernacle for the Madonna."

By an old decree of the State Council it was enacted that all
property left to Hospitals must be sold within two years and its
value devoted to pious uses. Failure to observe this law caused
the benefaction to lapse to the " Company of Or San Michele." 1

At one time the annual income of the Confraternity amounted
to eighteen thousand gold florins from estates bequeathed directly,
or lapsed, and seven thousand gold florins from other sources.
During the ravages of plague, in the middle of the fourteenth
century, legacies and gifts produced, in one year, the sum of one
hundred and twenty-five thousand gold florins.2

The greatest respect and veneration was paid not alone to the
Shrine but to its precincts. The tethering of asses, beasts of
burden, and cattle under the Loggia or by the columns, or any-
where near the building, was visited with fines of forty soldi. No
rubbish or merchandise was suffered to be deposited within the
sacred area under pain of similar penalties.3

The first united action on the part of the Guilds, with respect
to Or San Michele, was taken in the year 1406. The building,,
which was a parallelogram, had niches let into its exterior walls.
Inside one of these the " Guild of Silk " obtained permission to
erect a statue in marble of their patron saint — Saint John the
Evangelist. As a matter of fact the Statue was not completed

1 Varchi, ii. 109. 2 S. Ammirato, i. 373. 3 Rub. cclii., 1415,

THE PATRONAGE OF THE GUILDS 529

and installed until two hundred years had passed, when Baccio
da Montelupo, a pupil of Michael Angelo, finished it.

The application of the " Silk Guild " however stirred up the
Consuls of the other Guilds, and they secured, from the Signoria,
the right to regard the building as the peculiar property of the
Guilds of Florence.

Each Craft, — great and small, — offered to supply a statue
without and a painting within. At the same time the members
of each Guild bound themselves to make an annual collection, on
the Festival of their Patron Saints, which should be handed over
to the " Company of Or San Michele," for distribution amongst
poor and ailing folk. As a gauge of ownership the Consuls of
the Guild were pledged to receive, once a year, on Michaelmas
Day, a visit from the Signoria, and there and then, to pledge
them in libations of wine — newly made and blessed.

The " Calimala Guild," — ever foremost in good works, — in
1 406, commissioned Lorenzo Ghiberti to chisel their Patron Saint
— Saint John the Baptist, and in 1428 he was put up in his
niche, being the first statue actually placed in position.

The " Wool Guild " following suit the same year, put up in
the third niche on the west side, the figure of Saint Stephen in
bronze — also by Ghiberti. The first niche, on the south
side, that of the " Guild of Doctors and Apothecaries," was the
most richly adorned of them all. Simone da Fiesole sculptured
the Arms of the Guild — the Madonna and Child — with a rich
framework of statuettes. Twice subsequently was this statue
removed — once in 1493, when a fanatical Jew threw a stone
at it, and again, under the Grand Duke Ferdinand, because a
rumour went abroad that it possessed miraculous powers, and
crowds were attracted to pay their devotions before the new
shrine.

The " Guild of Furriers and Skinners " had St James for
their patron, and Nanni di Banco or Niccolo d'Arezzo was
entrusted with the commission for a statue. The third niche was
occupied by St Mark, by Donatello, ordered in 1411 by the

2 L

530 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

" Guild of Retail Cloth-dealers and Linen Merchants," and set up
in 1430.

On the western front of the church, the statue of Saint
Eligius, — the patron of the " Guild of Blacksmiths," by Nanni di
Banco, was put up in 1431. The next position was originally
assigned to St Lawrence, — Patron of the " Guild of Bakers,"
but. their funds running short, they yielded their niche to the
" Guild of Bankers and Money-Changers," who, in 1419,
employed Michelozzo Michelozzi to do St Matthew — in 1422
Ghiberti became his partner in the work.

Undoubtedly the finest statue of the whole series, and one of
the chefs d'ceuvre of the Renaissance, was on the north side —
St George — chiselled by Donatello, in 1416, for the "Guild of
Armourers and Sword-Makers." This splendid figure exactly
preserves all the physical attributes of a manly young Florentine
— alert, serious, strong, and virtuous. When Michael Angelo saw
it, he exclaimed in delight, " Commina /" — " March ! " — it seemed
so life-like.

The " Guild of Masters in Stone and Wood " erected in
1417-1420, in the next niche, a group of four sculptors martyred
under Diocletian. Nanni di Banco carved them, but Donatello
adapted them to fit into their places.

" St Philip," who comes next, — likewise by Nanni di Banco,
was commissioned by the " Guild of Hosiers " — an ambitious
corporation not included in the Hierarchy of Twenty-one Guilds.
The Guild of Butchers, in 1408, commissioned their patron —
Saint Peter — next in order. Donatello was again the sculptor.
Their arms appeared in a medallion above the niche as il Becco —
the Goat — which is said to have given them their name " Beccai."

In addition to St John Baptist of the " Caltmala" the east front
of the church has Saint Luke — the protector of the " Guild of
Judges and Notaries." It was the work in bronze of Giovanni
da Bologna, late in the sixteenth century. A fine group occupies
the next niche, " Christ and Saint Thomas," erected at the
expense of the Corte della Mercanzia — the Chamber|of Commerce

INTERIOR OF THK GUILD CHURCH OF OR SAN MICHELE— ORCAGNA'S SHRINK

THE PATRONAGE OF THE GUILDS 531

—and done in 1483 by Verrocchio, after a dispute about terms
with Ghiberti and Donatello.

All around the four sides are medallions and bas-reliefs : the
former reproduce the Coats of Arms of the Guilds, and the
latter are mostly scenes from the lives of the different Patron
Saints. The curious lean-to arch-way joining the Shrine to the
Residence of the " Guild of Wool " was an afterthought.

The interior of Or San Michele is very striking. The walls
.and pillars were richly painted by artists in the fifteenth century,
at the charge of the various Guilds, who also contributed funds
for the rich stained glass. The Tabernacle of the Madonna is
one of the most magnificent monuments of the Renaissance
Orcagna has given his masterpiece the appearance of having been
carved out of a single piece of marble. The Altar itself, dedicated
to the Patron Saint of Florence, was erected by the Signoria in
1349. The whole building is a unique example of the life,
thought, and work, of the great Guild system of Florence, and
preaches eloquent sermons to the religious and the industrious
alike.

Mendicity — unknown in the earlier years of the Renaissance,
became, by the natural devolution of things mundane, in course
of time a scourge and a bye-word. Loafers, cripples, beggars,
and the other human atoms of a submerged tenth, infested the
Markets, the Bridges, and the doors of Monasteries, Palaces, and
Churches. Or San Michele, by reason of the immense concourse
of worshippers and pilgrims, became their favourite dumping-
ground. There assembled daily a mass of human misery, which
invited at once commiseration and abhorrence. At one time, as
many as eighteen thousand destitute and reprobate persons are
said to have crowded the portals of the Shrine.

Dante speaks of the begging confraternity in pathetic terms : —

" So those blind beggars that- have lost their all
Frequent the churches to supply their need." 1

The tricks and subterfuges of these wastrels and sufferers

1 " Purgatorio, " Canto xiii.

532 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

were infinite in variety and viciousness, and created a tradition
in the annals of Florence, which exists at the present day.
Writers of the times sought to throw obloquy upon the public
disgrace, and to rid the city of the undesirables by jibes and
sarcasm.

Sacchetti's tale of " Three Blind Mendicants " is highly amus-
ing. They agreed to beg in certain separate districts of the city,
and to divide the gross proceeds. They met at a small wine-shop
in the suburbs, and immediately began to disagree and to beat each
other. In their struggles they unwittingly demolished much of
the furniture of the room, but when the landlord came in to quell
the riot they beat him too. The worthy landlady however was
something of a virago for she belaboured the quartette and made
off with the poor men's plunder ! :

Not satisfied with the benefactions offered to the cause of
religion, and to the adornment of churches by the members of the
Guilds, in their corporate capacity, very many of the richer nobles
and merchants made individually munificent contributions, and
employed leading artists, for the decoration of Chapels and Altars.
Indeed, there appears to have been quite a fierce rivalry between
influential citizens in the erection of artistic memorials in con-
nection with the offices of the Church.

These memorials, — at once the imperishable records of
commercial prosperity, and the most splendid- achievements of
modern art, — exist in every sacred building in Florence, and
especially in the magnificent churches of Santa Croce, Santa
Maria Novella, and San Lorenzo. At Santa Croce the Choir
belonged to the great Alberti family, and the surrounding chapels
to the Cavalcanti, Pazzi, Bardi, Peruzzi, Riccardi-Guigni, Soderini,.
Morelli, Baroncelli, Castellani, Medici, Rinuccini, Tosinghi-Spinelli,
Ricasoli, Conti-Bardi, Pulci, and Niccolini.

This is a roll of famous Merchant-princes such as no other city
could produce, and at the same time an honour list of glorious
artists. It contains the great names of Giotto, Margaritone,

1 Sacchetti, "Nov." cxl.

THE PATRONAGE OF THE GUILDS 533

Agnolo Gaddi, Mainardi, Giovanni da Milano, Andrea del Sarto,
Giottino, Donatello, Mina da Fiesole, Desiderio da Settignano,
Perugino, Michelozzo, the Delia Robbia, the Rossellini, and
others !

One family — Pazzi — further ennobled their name, in 1410,
by the erection of the contiguous and beautiful chapel of Santa
Maria Maddalena, after plans by Brunellesco, with its chef cCceuvre
of Perugino, "The Crucifixion," ordered in 1493.

In Santa Maria Novella are the chapels of the Merchant-
princes Rucellai, Strozzi, Filippo-Strozzi and Gaddi. These art
patrons employed Cimabue, Orcagna, Uccello, Filippino Lippi,
Ghirlandaio, Bronzino, Bernardo Rossellino, Benedetto da Maiano,
and Neri di Bicci to beautify their family shrines.

The Cappella degli Spagnuoli, — the name was perhaps given
from the fact that Spanish merchants and artizans assembled in
the chapel for their daily Mass and devotions, — unrivalled for its
frescoes by Taddeo Gaddi, Simone di Memmi, Andrea da Firenze,
and Antonio Veneziano, — is a further witness, if such were needed,
of the prosperity of the Florentine Guildsmen, of their whole-
hearted encouragement of the Fine Arts, and of their admirable
devotion to the services of Holy Church. Giovanni Rucellai in
1470, after the designs of Leon Battista Alberti, erected at his
sole cost, and to the honour of God, the fine fagade of Santa
Maria Novella — the noblest example of Tuscan Gothic ever built.

San Lorenzo, with its Sacristies, is the superb memorial of the
Medici family. Its re-erection, however, after the calamitous fire
of 1417, was undertaken by the Medici and seven other merchant
families, as a thankoffering for success in business and in the
State. It was due to Giovanni de' Medici that San Lorenzo
became the shrine of his family. Brunellesco, Donatello, and
Filippo Lippi were associated in the new building and its decora-
tion ; whilst Michael Angelo made the " New Sacristy," —
built in 1529, by Guilio de' Medici, Clement VII., — a treasure-
house of masterpieces of sculpture.

By way of affirming the adage that " money is made in

534 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

humble callings," and to point the moral of Florentine prosperity,
it is not a little interesting to note that a well-known chestnut-
roaster in the Mercato Vecchio amassed quite a considerable
fortune. The worthy huckster, when an old man, gave a com-
mission to Andrea del Sarto, to decorate the " Chapel of the
Chestnut Roasters " in the Church of San Frediano.

Castello Quaratesi, — a Wool-merchant, — bequeathed to the
" Guild of Wool," in 1450, a sum of money to erect the fagade of
Santa Croce, but insisted that his coat of arms should appear over
the principal portal. The Franciscan monks objected specially to
honour one man, when so many had so munificently adorned the
church. Quaratesi, in a huff, altered his will, and built instead
the Church of San Salvadore al Monte. He employed II Cronaca
as his architect, and when the building was completed, in 1508, it
was so perfect that Michael Angelo called it " La Bella Villanella"
— "The lovely peasant maid !'"

The Arms of the "Captains of Or San Michele"

i. •-

MIS ERG I-

A TYPICAL BEGGAR AT THE SHRINE OF OR SAN MICHELE
M73-4

f See page jtf/J

CHAPTER XIX
THE CHARITY OF THE GUILDS

A large subject. The Calimala Guild an example for the rest : — Monasteries,
Hospitals, Schools, Homes for aged persons, and the insane, Poor-houses, etc.
etc. Spedali — di Sant' Eusebio, di Santa Maria e San Gallo, di Santa Maria
Nuova and its drug-store, di San Lazaro, di Santa Maria della Scala, del
Ortebello, di San Giovanni, di San Matteo and the Notary Lapo Mazzei, di San
Giovanni di Dio, di San Paolo, the Convalescent Hospital of "For Santa
Maria? and degli Innocenti. Home for widows. Hostel for young men. Muni-
ficence of Niccolo da Uzzano and of Francesco da Mantoa. Marriage dowries.
The Misericordia — its origin and development. The Contpagnia del Bigallo.
A dead body. Sylvanus da Samosata. Fra Pietro da Verona. Paterini.
Congregation* di San Martina. Archbishop Antonino. 7 Poveri Vergog-
nosi. List of the first twelve Buonuomini. Money-boxes. The Buonuomini
della Stinche. The Buonuomini di San Bonaventnra. Bankrupt merchants.

FT would be quite impossible, save only at very considerable
-L length, to tabulate all the Charitable and Pious Works of
the Guilds, during the period of the Renaissance. Perhaps a
brief list of such benefactions in connection with the " Calimala
Guild " will serve as an example for the rest, and substantiate the
contention that the Florentines were inspired with all the noblest
instincts of humanity.

The " Calimala " Statutes, and other records affirm that the
" Merchants of Foreign Cloth " maintained the following bene-
volent institutions, in and about Florence : —

Monasteries : — at Montecalvoli, Ripoli, San Donato in Torri,
Faventia, Le Mura, Borgo San Lorenzo da Mugello, Santa Maria
al Prato, San Jacopo in Vincoli, Bibbiena, Maiano, San Matteo d'
Arcetri, Santa Lucia in Quaraceshi, Sant' Egidio, Podio della
Croce, San Giovanni Battista da Mugello, San Spirito, del
Carmine, etc., etc.

Hospitals : — San Gallo, di Bigallo, Giambuoni di Val d'Ema,

535

536 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

Bella Gionalina, Santa Maria Nuova, Sant' Eusebio, Santa Maria
di Cafaggio, San Lazaro, San Miniato al Monte, San Giovanni
Battista, etc. etc.

And what the premier Guild did, on such a munificent scale,
all the other Guilds emulated, and, in their degree of competency,
achieved relatively splendid records of beneficence.

Monasteries were endowed for a variety of purposes. They
served not only as sacred refuges for religious persons, who gave
up their whole time to divine exercises ; they were also retreats
from the world for many a weary worker in the Market and the
shop.

Some of them were schools for the young in sacred and pro-
fane knowledge, whilst in others the Brethren were taught useful
Crafts. Many too were homes for the aged, the crippled, and the
mentally afflicted, and some were hospitals for the sick, and
some shelters for the needy.

Their custodians were, at first, Religious, the clergy, — regular
and secular, — and holy and devout women. Later on the laity
were entrusted with these charitable offices, in concert with the
Religious, and at last the priestly element was entirely
superseded.

For example: — In 1344 the Duke of Athens, during his
Podestaship, confided the sole charge of the Spedale di Sant'
Egidio to the " Calimala " Guild ; and the Monastery of San
Barnabo was, in 1350, placed, by the State, under the exclusive
care of the " Guild of Doctors and Apothecaries." These lay
holdings were confirmed by Papal " Bulls."

Every considerable building enterprise, and every great
industrial establishment, had its complement of trained charit-
able assistants. At San Miniato al Monte, San Giovanni Battista,
and Santa Maria del Fiore, the workpeople and their families
were looked after, both in health and in sickness, and were placed
under disciplinary and beneficent regulations.

Machiavelli records the temper of his time with respect to
such matters : — " Public works," he says, " should be carried on

THE CHARITY OF THE GUILDS

537

with the utmost becoming and kindly treatment of the work-
men, so as not to drive them to despair." l

There were Hospitals, Refuges, and Homes, for all sorts and
conditions of men and women. Such Guilds as had no special
Hospitals under their care, maintained their poor sick members in

A SICK MAN IN HOSPITAL

their own dwellings or in small Lodges ; and not only so, but
paid handsome pensions to the aged sufferers and, often enough,
to their relatives as well. Many Hostels for poor travellers had
their useful and charitable mission. Persons out of work were
registered at their respective Guild Offices, and assisted out of
Guild funds. Leper stations were placed near the Gates of the
city, supported wholly by the gifts of members of the Guilds. In

1 " II Principe," chap. vii.

538 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

1338 there were thirty fully equipped Hospitals, — great and
small, — in the city, with more than one thousand beds for the
accommodation of sick, needy, and aged, people.

In Lorenzo de' Medici's time there were at least forty Hospitals
of various descriptions in active operation, with a total annual
income, from investments alone, of more than sixty thousand gold
florins. During the same period the monasteries and convents
numbered upwards of one hundred large, — and very many
small houses.

The following is a list of the more notable Guild Charitable
Institutions : —

I. Spedale di San? Eusebio.

Probably the Hospital of Sant' Eusebio in Prato d'Ognissanti
was the earliest charitable institution founded in Florence for the
relief of suffering humanity. Primarily the building was a convent
of the Nuns of Saint Ann, and among early benefactors were
members of the Donati family. In 1 186 the Religious added, to
their duties in religion, the care of the afflicted ; and they retained
their pious charge till the year 1278, when the Captain of the
Parte Guelfa, with the consent of the Papal See, relieved the nuns
of their charitable functions, and entrusted the care of the sick to
a mixed commission of Umiliati and " Calimala" and "Wool"
merchants, under the direction of the Mercato of the monastery.

2. Spedale di Santa Maria di San Gallo.

Early in the thirteenth century Guidalotto di Volto dalP Oreo
founded this Hospital, for the relief and maintenance of the poor,
and of pilgrims. In 1218 he bequeathed his benefaction to the
Church, by whom it was greatly extended, especially as a refuge
for young children deserted by their parents. In 1292 the
Hospital was placed under the protection of the "Guild of Merchants
of Porta Santa Maria." New buildings were erected in a garden
near the Piazza dei Servi belonging to the Guild ; but, owing to
the " Scarsezza de' denari" — as the record quaintly has it, — they

FEEDING THE HUNGRY

GIOVANNI DELLA ROBBIA

VISITING THE SICK

GIOVANNI DELLA ROBBIA

THE CHARITY OF THE GUILDS 539

were not finished until 1444, under the direction of Francesco
della Luna. In 1463 the " Brefotrofio di San Gallo," — as it was
then called, — was amalgamated with the Hospital of Santa Maria
degli Innocenti.

3. Spedale di Santa Maria Nuova,

The Hospital of Santa Maria Nuova, — which still exists,—
was founded in 1285 by Folco Portinari, two years before the
marriage of his daughter, — Dante's Beatrice, — to Simone de' Bardi.
Dante describes him as "a man of exceeding goodness." He
held in turn all the highest Offices of State, and was often elected
Consul of his Guild — the " Calimala" The Hospital was opened
on January 23, 1288, with seventeen beds. In 1329 bye-laws
were made for the government of the Hospital. Two wards were
established, — one for men and one for women, — which were daily
visited by members of the first Order of the " Guild of Doctors
and Apothecaries."

A Medical School was attached to the Hospital in 1350, and
a Library of Medical Books, a Museum of Drugs, — chiefly foreign
and constituted by the Apothecaries, — and an Anatomical Theatre
were added.

The patronage of the Greater Guilds assured to the charity
permanence and competency : indeed the amount of benefactions
was so considerable, that in the fifteenth century, the Governors
had, at one time, a yearly revenue of upwards of fifteen thousand
gold florins. The year of the Great Plague, — 1348, — a sum of
at least twenty-five thousand gold florins was contributed to the
funds of the Hospital.1

4. Spedale di San Lazaro.

In the year 1338, the " Calimala Guild" built this Hospital
outside the Porta a Faenza, in a hamlet called Campoluccio, and
endowed it with food, clothing, and medical treatment, for old and

1 Varchi, ii. 109.

540 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

infirm poor persons. This institution carried on its charitable
work until 1529, when, during the famous siege of Florence, it
was demolished to make way for the fortifications of Michael
Angelo.

5. Spedale di Santa Maria della Scala.

The Spedale di Santa Maria della Scala was founded in 1306,
by Cione di Lapo Pollini, a member of the S. Maria Novella
chapter of the " Guild of Wood-carvers," on the lines of an hospital
established at Siena, in the ninth century, for travellers and persons
in distress. Cione was by way of being a cobbler — the humble
trade of the least esteemed division of the " Guild of Shoemakers."
His connection with the Wood-carvers' Guild is not very obvious :
perhaps pride of place, if not of trade, had its influence : but then
it was of course a common practice for a member of an inferior
Guild to seek honorary enrolment in one of higher degree.

Anyhow the benevolent operations of the Hospital, with the
upkeep of its buildings, etc., were taken in hand by a " Company
of Shoemakers " which, under the title of " La Contpagnia di SS.
Crespino e Crespigniano — was established in 1502. Their Offices,
for the relief of poor craftsmen, were in the old Palazzo Marucelli,
where assistance was freely given to German, and other foreign
workers in leather-shoes and slippers, and to jobbing cobblers.
In 1531 the Hospital of Santa Maria della Scala was incorporated
with the Hospital of Santa Maria degli Innocenti.1

6. Spedale del Ortebello.

Niccolo degli Alberti, — a wealthy Wool-merchant, — founded
a charity in 1377, for the benefit of aged poor women, who should
act as nurses to unfortunate young mothers. It was, perhaps, the
earliest Florentine Lying-in Hospital, and was originally reserved
for wool operatives.2

1 Pagnini, ii. p. 121. '2 Ademollo, ii. 419.

THE CHARITY OF THE GUILDS 541

7. Spedale di San Giovanni.

Bonifazio Lupi, Marchese di Soragna, who was one of the
famous Condottieri, employed by the Republic of Florence in the
wars with Pisa, built a Hospital, in 1377, for insane people, to
which the name of " Manicomio di Bonifazio " was given. It
was the only asylum for these unhappy people, who hitherto had
been assigned to the Stinche — the Debtors' prison ! The build-
ing and endowment cost twenty-five thousand gold florins, and
was a thankoffering for the freedom of the city, which had been
conferred by a grateful people, upon their successful General.
Lupi also left, at his death, an annual income of seven hundred
gold florins, and confided its administration to the " Calimala
Guild." !

8. Spedale di San Matteo.

Lemmo da Montecatini, — a Banker, — towards the end of the
fourteenth century, commenced to build a Hospital for poor
country people visiting Florence, which he dedicated to Saint
Nicholas, and, dying in 1389, he left an ample endowment.
Early in the fifteenth century the " Guild of Bankers and Money-
Changers " took over the completion of the buildings, and the
administration of the charity. The name of the Patron Saint of
the Guild, — Saint Matthew, — was joined to the original dedica-
tion, but ultimately it was known as the Spedale di San
Matteo. Its special function was also changed, and it became
an Asylum for aged men and women. The Consuls of the Guild
were appointed sole governors, whilst each member of the Guild
was taxed — pro rata — to contribute towards the expenses of the
upkeep. Among administrators of the Hospital was the well-
known Notary Lapo Mazzei. He has left several interesting letters
bearing upon the question of chanties. " There are many
merchants," he says, " who after their yearly accounts are made
up, come to me to ask which are the more worthy charities, in
order that they may judiciously apportion certain proportions of

1 Cavalcanti, ii. 496-498.

542 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

their profits." With respect to the accommodation provided,
Mazzei says, " at one time the inmates numbered two hundred
and fifty." l

The Hospital of Saint Matthew still continues its useful
mission, but it has been removed, for in 1784 the Grand Duke
took the building for the purposes of the A ccademia delle Belle A rti.

9. Spedale di San Giovanni di Dio.

In the same century, somewhere about 1411, Simone Ves-
pucci endowed the Convent of Santa Maria dell' Umilita, in the
Borgo d'Ognissanti, for poor and infirm workmen. After the death
of its founder, it was placed under the direction of the Captains
of the Bigallo. In 1580 the Hospital was transferred to the care
of the Order of San Giovanni di Dio — better known as the
" Frati dei Bene Fratelli " — " The Brotherhood of Good Brethren,"
and received its new name.

TO. Spedale di San Paolo.

Within the building, which became known as the " Hospital
of Saint Paul," had settled a body of Franciscan Pilgrim Fathers,
and the house served as a resting-place for religious persons on
their way to and from Rome. In 1413 the monks opened a
wing, as a lay Convalescent Hospital, which, in 1457, was trans-
ferred to the care of the Proconsul and the Consuls of the " Guild
of Judges and Notaries" — the Arms of the Guild are still upon
the facade. Somewhere about 1500 sick poor were admitted,
and the scope of the foundation was enlarged. Another change
awaited the Hospital, for at the end of the sixteenth century, the
sick folk made way for other inmates, and an Industrial School
for Girls, especially devoted to the silk trade, was established
within its portals by the Grand Duke Piero Leopoldo.

1 1. The " For Santa Maria" erected, in the middle of the little
town of Segna, somewhere about 1430, — a Convalescent Hospital

1 L. Mazzei, i. 39, 244.

COSIMO DE' MEDICI, "IL PADRE BELLA P ATRIA." AND ARCHBISHOP ANTONIXO
SUPERINTENDING THE BUILDING OF THE MONASTERY OF SAN MARCO, FLORKNCK

ARCHBISHOP ANTONINO VISITING A FOUNDRY IN THE CONTADC)

THE CHARITY OF THE GUILDS 543

and Loggia, for the reception of their workpeople, who had been
taken ill in the prosecution of their industry, and who, upon
partial recovery, required country air. The Hospital, which had
no saintly dedication, was furnished with every convenience, and
even luxury, as befitted the wealth of the Guild.

1 2. Spedale di Santa Maria degli Innocenti.

Perhaps the best-known Hospital in Florence in the present
day is the " Hospital for Foundlings," with its portico splendidly
decorated with medallions of bambini by Andrea Delia Robbia.
Moved by a stirring speech of the learned Leonardo Aretino in
142 1, upon the urgent question of the great increase of illegitimate
births in Florence, the Signoria determined to erect a Foundling
Hospital, where such unfortunate children might be received and
nursed.

Designs for the edifice were prepared by Brunellesco, and the
Hospital was opened for its little inmates in 1444. The care of
it was bestowed, by the Signoria, upon the wealthy and rising
" Guild of Silk." The number of children within the Hospital
in 1579 was sixteen hundred. A sum of ten thousand gold
florins was raised for the purpose of apprenticing the boys
between the ages of twelve and sixteen to shipmasters of
Livorno.1

At the corner of the Piazza Santa Maria Novella and the
Via della Scala, in 1430, Lisa di Ranieri Paganelli, the wife of
Gentile di Vanni degli Albizzi, — a member of the " Guild of
Wool, — founded a Home for four indigent widows of the poorest
•class of woollen workers of Oltrarno.

In connection with the University of Florence, Niccolo da
Uzzano — a wealthy " Calimala" merchant, by his will, in 1432,
bequeathed a sum of money to build, and to endow, a Hostel
for the reception of fifty poor but honest and promising young
men, natives of Florence. He nominated, as his trustees, the
Consuls of the " Calimala " Guild. Da Uzzano was quite the

1 Diario de' Settimani.

544 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

most prominent citizen of his day, the leader of the aristocratic
party, and the opponent of the ambitions and aims of the Medici.
His disinterestedness and absolute loyalty have been memorialised
by Machiavelli, who puts into his mouth the saying : " God deliver
this city from private usurpation." l

By way of example of the charitable liberality of Florentine
citizens in connection with their Guilds, the will of Francesco da
Mantoa, in 1400, may be quoted. To the Spedale di Santa
Maria della Scala he left six hundred gold florins " for marrying
girls and maintaining children," — to the Spedale di San Giam-
battista, two hundred gold florins, — to the Spedale di San Gallo,
two hundred florins, — to the Compagnia del Bigallo, four hundred
gold florins for distribution to the occupants of the debtors' prison,
and eight bushels of bread a month for twenty years ; and many
bequests to churches for completion, decoration, and repair.2

The Linen Manufacturers were not a whit behind the other
Guilds in religious and charitable proclivities. Two members of
the Guild, — Antonio di Antonio and Giuliano Carracci, — left by
their wills in 1475 certain sums of money to be invested for the
benefit of the daughters of deceased matriculated members as
dowries upon marriage. The choice of the maidens rested
annually with the whole of the living members, — as did also the
approval of the fortunate swains, — preference for whom was always
given to youths matriculated in the Guild.3

It is interesting to note that every popolo or parish in
Florence had a number of " marriage portions " for deserving
poor girls of good character.

In old Florence there were three great and influential general
organisations of a corporate character : — " La Misericordia " —
" La Compagnia del Bigallo " and // Congregazione di San
Martino.

1 Machiavelli, " Le Istorie di Firenze," pp. 175-177.

2 L. Mazzei, i. 253. 3 L Cantini, ix. 87.

THE CHARITY OF THE GUILDS

545

La Misericordia.

The founder of this great institution was a plain market
porter of the name of Pietro Borsi. Its history may be briefly
told.1 At the time of the great annual fairs in the early part
of the thirteenth century, which were held in October and
November, and which were chiefly concerned with the sale of

SEVEN CORPORAL ACTS OF MERCY

NOTE. — In the foreground are rich men forming a Monte di Pieta, whilst others
are relieving poor pilgrims,

woollen cloth of native manufacture, many porters were employed
to carry goods from the manufactories to the Market. Whilst
looking for jobs the men were accustomed to congregate in and
about the Piazza di San Giovanni, and, in bad weather, they were
permitted to shelter in the cellar of a house belonging to the

1 Florence Gazette, March 1898.
2 M

546 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

Adimari family. Here they spent their leisure in gambling,
drinking, and blasphemy. When a mere stripling, in 1240,
Pietro Borsi joined this vicious society. He had been carefully
and religiously brought up, and he was greatly shocked by the
scenes and sounds around him. Waxing bold one day, he
approached a set of men, who were the leaders in infamy, and
reproved them, suggesting that it would not be a bad thing if
they were to impose upon one another, and upon all the
frequenters of the locality, a small fine every time a man uttered
a blasphemous word, — blasphemy was ever held as a grievous sin
by the Florentines. His proposition was received seriously, and
he was emboldened to plead that the men should form themselves
into a Society to help the sick and needy. This also was agreed
to and, with the amount raised by fines, they purchased six litters,
— one for use in each of the six sestieri of the city, — to convey
victims of street accidents, and sick persons generally, to the
Hospitals, and the dead to burial. Contributions in money and
kind flowed in, for example, during the Great Plague, in 1348,
thirty-five thousand gold florins represented the amount of public
alms bestowed upon the Fraternity.

Part of the house, under which they were accustomed to
meet, was purchased, and converted into a street hospital, with an
Oratory attached; and in 1250, without ceremony, the erstwhile
company of blasphemers blossomed out into the " Company of
Brothers of Mercy." A distinctive dress was adopted, for the
protection of the Brethren, when engaged in charitable duties, and
for the prevention of undue curiosity, and inconvenient demon-
strations— this was at first a dull red colour, but black being
thought more suitable, that colour was adopted.

Somewhere about the year 1350 plans were approved for the
erection of a Loggia wherein Brethren engaged in their daily
duties of mercy might rest for a while ; and where, also, little
children, — strayed or abandoned, — might be retained until
claimed by their parents, or some benevolent sympathiser. This
was but the expansion of the beneficent work carried on since

THE CHARITY OF THE GUILDS

547

I 242, when the Orfanotrofio del Bigallo was founded for the care
of parentless children. Andrea Orcagna was the architect of this
exquisite building — with its delicate iron grille by Francesco
Petrueci.

Among daily duties were included the nursing at their homes

THE BIGALLO

of the sick poor, and the regular visitations of such sufferers as
had been conveyed to Hospitals and Hostels. As time went on
many other duties of benevolence were undertaken by the
Brethren : their one aim being to render effective help in the
readiest and best manner. The status of the members, moreover,
underwent considerable change.

No longer were the members only market-porters, or confined

548 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

to the humblest ranks in society, but the scions of noble families
and the sons of wealthy Guildsmen gladly assumed the habit of
the Order, undertook its duties, and shared its privileges, — thinking
themselves happy if allowed to bear their part in sustaining the
terrible weight of human suffering. A rota was arranged, and a
bell was hung in the Loggia, so that when it sounded the
Brethren, down for duty in the streets, might hasten to render
their service.

Mass was said every morning in the Oratory, and Litanies
were sung by the Brethren in attendance, the objects of their
devotions being the pious intention of the Brethren, and the
repose of the souls of the departed. Boxes for the receipt of
contributions were placed in several parts of the city, each
adorned with a pictured " Pieta" They bore the legend :—
" Give alms for the poor and needy sick," and by the side of each
stood a Brother-guardian in his habit. It is said that the box
placed outside the Baptistery, in one day, received more than five
hundred silver florins and small coins.

In 1425 the " Misericordia" united with the " Compagnia del
Bigallo" but the fusion did not work well, for members of the
latter Society refused to carry sick persons.

A sad circumstance led to the reconstitution of the " Brothers
of Mercy." Early in the year 1475 the corpse of a man was
found in the Via de Macci, with no one to bury it. A market-
porter passing by, threw down his load, and, taking the dead body
reverently upon his shoulders, staggered with it to the Palazzo
Vecchio, and deposited it at the feet of the Gonfaloniere di
Giustizia.

This act determined the " Misericordia " to sever their con-
nection with the " Compagnia del Bigallo " and again to undertake
the burial of the dead, as well as to resume their other distinctive
organisation. At first bodies interred by the Brethren were
buried in a pit, which they dug, and railed in, upon the site of
the Torre della Guardamorto, — destroyed by the Ghibellines.
This was soon found to be wholly inadequate for the demands of

THE CHARITY OF THE GUILDS

549

sepulture, and a petition was presented to the Operai di Santa
Maria del Fiore, for the grant of facilities for burial. Three
vaults, below the Cathedral, were granted for this pious purpose,
which may still be recognised by the sculptured arms of the
"" Misericordia" The Brethren continued to use the Bigallo
until the year 1524, when they gave it up to the " Compagnia
del Bigallo? and transferred their headquarters to the Church of
San Cristofano, which stood in the Corso degli Adimari. The
last removal of the "Misericordia" was in 1576 — to the present
Oratory and Office in the Piazza del Duomo.

La Compagnia del Bigallo.

Another charitable organisation, very much upon the lines of
the " Misericordia? was evolved from an emotional movement far
away in the Middle Ages, which played an active role in the lives
of the Guildsmen of the Renaissance.

In the seventh century one Silvanus of Samosata, an un-
reasoning disciple of the Apostle Paul, denied the Incarnation of
Christ. His followers became out and out Manichaeans. One of
them found his way to Florence, in 1212, and claimed the title
of Bishop. Many converts, — chiefly Ghibellines, — flocked to his
banner. He was a plain Milanese working-man enthusiast, and
called Filippo Paternono.

Dominicans and Franciscans joined their forces against these
heretics, and, under a young monk, — Fra Pietro da Verona, better
known as Saint Peter Martyr — as leader, the " Society of the
Captains of Holy Mary " was enrolled, from the ranks of young
cavaliers, for the suppression of the sectaries.

The sufferings these misguided people endured gained for
them the designation of " Patermi" In 1245, the Captains,
robed in white, attacked and routed them, and finally drove them
from the city. The victors set up the Colonna di Santa Felicita
and the Croce al Trebbio, as tokens of the triumph of the Catholic
Faith.1

1 Dino Capponi, torn i. p. 32.

550 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

On their part, the scattered " Paterini" accepted their defeat,
and wisely turned their energies into another and more sensible
direction. In and around Florence were a number of small
Hospitals and Asylums, ill-supported and ill-conducted. These
the " Paterini " took in hand, and made their headquarters in one,
on the way to Arezzo, which bore the title of " II Bigallo."

Very many members of the Guilds, especially of the Lesser
Guilds, who sincerely sympathised with the sufferings of the
poor heretics, gave their support, and even joined hands with the
new hospitallers, who assumed the style of " La Compagnia del
Bigallo"

At first they assembled for united worship in the small church
of Santa Maria di San Gazzio — or San Cajo, — but, amending
their errors, they were ultimately granted a Chapel in Santa
Maria Novella, for their religious devotions, and for the adminis-
tration of their charities.

For generations the influence of the tenets of Paternono was
felt in the minds and lives of many a wool-carder and dyer of
Oltrarno. This probably had something to do with their indiffer-
ence to public opinion, and with their political unrest. There
was in the religious character of the average Florentine working-
man and woman, not a little of the rigour of the latter-day
Methodists !

La Congregazione di San Martina

Florence, with her perpetual succession of new Governments,
the continually varying ascendency of parties, and the private
rivalries between families, was exposed to greater vicissitudes of
fortune than are the inhabitants of industrial centres, who are
merely victims of the caprices of trade.

Men, who one day held power and office and the making of
wealth in their hands, were liable, on the morrow, to charges,
incurring fines, imprisonment, exile, and even death. The result
of such a state of things was a large amount of misery, nobly

THE CHARITY OF THE GUILDS 551

borne and of poverty, carefully concealed. The finest palaces
often enough sheltered the greatest suffering. Gently born and
delicately reared, their inmates were the pathetic victims of
untoward circumstances.

Private, unostentatious charity failed to reach these objects of
misfortune, until the year 1435, when Frate Antonino di Niccolo
Pierozzo was elected first Prior of the Monastery of San Marco.
He at once took up the Apostolic mantle of benevolence, for he
saw and understood the suffering around him, and thought out
very earnestly the means of helping i poveri vergognosi — the
shame-faced victims of poverty — as they were called.

The good Prior sent for twelve of the most upright men in
Florence, — men of all classes, a merchant, a manufacturer, a
banker, a wool-carder, a furrier, a silk-winder, a shoemaker and
others, — members of the Guilds, laid before them the harrowing
details of distress, and unfolded his ideas for their relief.

The twelve Buonuomini, touched to the heart by Frate
Antonino's revelations, and by his unaffected disinterestedness,
warmly offered themselves as assistants in carrying out the
charitable programme. In this way arose, in 1441, an institu-
tion, which still survives and prospers, " La Congregazione di San
Martino " — so called from the little church of that name, where
the meetings — devotional and conversational — of the " good men "
were held.

The names of the first " Congregation" have been preserved :

Michele di Messere Piero Benini.
Francesco di Benedetto di Caroccio degli Strozzi.
Luigi d' Urbano Bruni.

Bernardo di Maria di Messere Foresse Salviati.
Ser Alessio di Matteo di Pello — Notaio, Notary.
Nofri d' Agnolo — Drappiere, Cloth-dresser.
Primerano di Jacopo — Calzaiuolo, Hosier.
Giovanni di Baldo — Lanaiuolo, Woollen-draper.
Pasquino d' Ugolino del Vernaccia — Setaiuolo, Silk-manu-
facturer.

552 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

Antonio di Matteo da Barlienio.

Giuliano de' Staggi — Drappiere, Cloth-dresser.

Jacopo di Bragio — Testore, Weaver.

They established a Central Office in a room in the Badia,
granted to them by the Signoria, where, along with a store of
medicines and surgical appliances, were always in attendance
members of the " Guild of Doctors and Apothecaries," with nurses
— both male and female. In 1470, however, Primerano di Jacopo
presented the Congregation with a house in the Piazza di San
Martino, to which the agencies of the Buonuomini were removed.

Outside the Church of San Martino and the Office of Charity,
were money-boxes placed to receive offerings from passers-by.
The former was put in its place by Prior Antonino, and is still in
situ. The alms thus gathered were divided each month among
the twelve Buonuomini, who, in pairs, visited each of the six
sestieri of the city, and made direct distribution among impover-
ished and decayed nobles and merchants and their families.

" The Good Archbishop," — as he was affectionately and
popularly called, — after his consecration, in 1446, as fifth Arch-
bishop of Florence, — forbade the Congregation to hold capital, or
to purchase land, and other securities ; at the same time he coun-
selled the Buonuomini to conduct their charitable work without
charge on the Congregation. Every benefaction, in kind, was
quickly reduced to its best marketable cash value, and the money
was distributed promptly and without distinction of any sort.
The story of the foundation and early work of the Congregazione
di San Martino was preserved upon the walls of the Church of
San Martino.

The u Twelve Good Men of Saint Martin " found very helpful
coadjutors in their works of charity in the twelve Buonuomini
della Stinche, empanelled in 1470, for the purpose of distributing
discriminatory relief to unfortunate persons condemned to prison,
A few years later, in the first decade of the sixteenth century,
another benevolent " Twelve," the Buonuomini di San Bona-

THE CHARITY OF THE GUILDS

553

ventura, added their kindly offices to the alleviation of distress in
the families of merchants, and of all others who came under the
category of " / Poveri Vergognosi" Their aims were chiefly the
assistance and direction of merchants who had become bankrupt
through no fault of their own.

RELIEVING THE NEEDY — STREET BEGGARS

CHAPTER XX

"FIRENZE RICCA PER INDUSTRIA ! "

(FLORENCE PROSPEROUS THROUGH HER INDUSTRIES)

I. POPULATION AND PROSPERITY.— First Register of Baptisms— black and
white beans. Podesta Torcello di Strado's census. Villani's testimony.
Ariosto's rhyme. Numbers and classes of the people. Factories and opera-
tives. Banks. Bake-Houses. Pestilence, Flood, and Famine. A State
Balance-Sheet. Objects of Commerce. Taxation. Self-denial and extrava-
gance. Embassies. " Florence is the Fifth Element in the Universe ! " A
Millionaire. Ratepayers. Marriage portions. Machiavelli on soundness in
finance. The siege of Florence. Noble shopkeepers. An ancient pocket-
book. Guido del' Amelia's " Ricordanze" Slaves and slavery. Baldovinetti's
"Zibaldont?

II. MINT, COINAGE, AND PAWNSHOP, OF FLORENCE.— The Zecca. Maestri
della Zecca. Testing gold florins. Minting coins. Touchstones. Price of
gold and silver. Official assayers. Foreign mints. Leather money. Coins of
all countries pass current. The Silver florin of 1150. The gold florin of
1252. Money values. Penalties against coiners of bad money. Bargellini.
The "Presto" or Lending Office. Accumulation of money. Jews invited to
settle in Florence. Their prosperity and their expulsion. Preaching monks.
Growth of the "Presto" Strict laws and regulations.

III. THE GOLDEN AGE OF FLORENCE. — The era of the Medici. Salvestro
di Alamanno de' Medici, — Capitano di Parte Guelfa. Giovanni de' Medici, —
Gonfaloniere di Giustizia. II Catasto. Cosimo de' Medici, — " the Great Mer-
chant," — " Padre della Patria ! " Lorenzo de' Medici,—" Capo della Repubblica."
"The Splendour of all Italy ! " Piero and Giulio de' Medici. Precarious con-
ditions. The discovery of America. The passing of Florence. Florence the
Queen of the Crafts.

IT was an old saying that : — " The Sienese are the richer in
land, the Florentines in industry," and this may be compared
to Aristotle's maxim : — " The more barren the soil the richer the
city."

In a sense this was true of Florence and of Tuscany, —
although the fruitful Vale of Arno can in no way be called
barren, — perhaps in the sense implied in the distich :—

554

" FIRENZE RICCA PER INDUSTRIA ! " 555

" Ma ne si bella seta, ne fin oro.
Nai Fiorentini industri tesser fanno ! "

" Not for lovely silk nor for finest gold,
But for her industry the fame is told
Of busy Florence ! "

Yes, it was industry that made her fortunes !

The Florentines were perhaps the very first people who kept
a Register of Baptism. Every baby born in Florence was, from
the earliest time, baptised by immersion in the big font at San
Giovanni. A box was originally placed near the font, in which
the sex of each child presented was marked by dropping in
beans — black for a boy and white for a girl. An old chronicler
says this " became a very unreliable and a very dirty habit, as
dust accumulating destroyed the colour of the beans." 1 In 1450
a better method was adopted for the registration of the popula-
tion— the keeping of written records of all baptisms performed
within the Baptistery.

Some idea of Florence and her population at different epochs
in her history may, of course, be gathered from historians.

At the period of Totila's invasion of Tuscany, in the sixth
century, Florence was a large city, counting upwards of sixty
thousand souls. In Dante's time she numbered as many as one
hundred and fifty thousand inhabitants, inclusive of the Contado.
An attempt was made in 1233, by the Podesta, Torcello di
Strado, to schedule the population. All the male inhabitants of
Florence were ordered to appear before the Notaries of their
several sestieri, to declare whether they were nobles, knights,
doctors, judges, merchants, men of leisure, soldiers, tradesmen,
mechanics, artizans, operatives, and what not.

Villani says that in the year 1300 there were in the city
90,000 inhabitants enjoying the full rights of citizenship.
Of rich Grandi there were 1500, and of those able to bear arms
25,000. Strangers passing through the city numbered about
2000. In the elementary schools were 8000 to 10,000 children.

1 Lastri, " Richerche della Populazione Fiorentina."

556 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

From 1000 to 1500 boys were studying arithmetic, and 500 to
600 grammar and rhetoric.

The churches and religious houses numbered one hundred
and ten. In twenty-four nunneries were five hundred Religious,
and there were also ten monastic houses of Regulars. Thirty
hospitals and poorhouses afforded aid and shelter to upwards of
one thousand sick and needy people, who were served by more
than three hundred monks or nurses.

Within the city were very many palaces and considerable
private buildings, as well as the public edifices. The Contado^ —
within which boundary there were upwards of 80,000 armed
men, — was full of villas, and handsome country residences, sur-
rounded by fine gardens and fruitful orchards. Ariosto refers to
this token of the wealth of Florence :—

" While gazing on thy villa-studded hills

'Twould seem as though the earth grew palaces."

Villani also furnishes many very interesting notes with respect
to the industry and commerce of Florence in the first half of the
fourteenth century. The taxes raised at the gates represented, on
the average, fifty-five to sixty-five tuns of wine, four thousand
fat oxen and calves, sixty thousand sheep, thirty thousand pigs,
twenty thousand goats, three to four thousand loads of melons.

The factories, warehouses, etc., belonging to the " Guild of
Wool " numbered more than two hundred ; wherein were manu-
factured seventy to eighty thousand pieces of cloth, valued at
1,200,000 gold florins. The woollen operatives were upwards of
30,000 all told. The value of foreign woven cloth imported by
the " Calimala " Guild after being redressed and finished in
Florence was well over 300,000 gold florins. Of Exchange
Banks there were eighty. The value of the gold coinage in
circulation ranged about 350,000 gold florins, in addition to
20,000 pounds in weight of small silver and bronze money.

The morals and legal rights of the inhabitants were looked
after by members of the " Arte de Giudici e Notai" — eighty-four

" FIRENZE RICCA PER INDUSTRIA ! " 557

Judges and six hundred Notaries or lawyers, — whilst their bodily
health and wellbeing was attended to by sixty Physicians and
Surgeons, who handed them on to the hundred shops of
Apothecaries for dose and medicament. That there might be an
ample supply of bread, one hundred and fifty bakehouses, and as
many more bakers, were busily at work.

Within fifty years of Villani's computation the population
had decreased in an extraordinary fashion. Years of Pestilence,
Flood, and Fire, followed in quick succession, so much so indeed
that in the year 1348 the first of these terrible scourges alone
accounted for forty thousand deaths — nearly one-half of the
whole number of inhabitants !

Fluctuations occurred as years rolled on, but in 1478 signs of
permanent decrease were apparent, the census only showing a
total of seventy-one thousand people of all kinds and conditions
in the city. Fifty years later, in I 532, — the year of the silencing
of the Campana — and the end of the Republic, the numbers of
Totila's Florence were again reached, namely 67,000, but then
" Ichabod " was written big over the workshops of the one time
busy city, and her population was numbered upon a downward
grade ; the lowest figure — fifty thousand — was reached in 1574.

The financial prosperity of the Republic in the middle of the
thirteenth century is shown by extracts from the annual accounts
of Receipts and Expenditure.1 The average of the former
totalled up to three hundred thousand gold florins, the latter to
less than fifty thousand : a yearly balance on the right side of the
account of nearly £130,000 was no mean profit.

The following rough and abbreviated Balance-Sheet may
aptly show the financial position in the fourteenth century : —

Expenditure (i 320) : —

Salaries — Podesta, and his attendants .
Do. Captain of the People, and do.

1 Villani, lib. xi. cap. 91-94.

I 5,240 piccioli.2
5,880 do.

2 Picciolo = six pence.

558

THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

Salaries — Defender of the Guilds, and fifty

horse, and one hundred foot

soldiers .....

Judge of Appeal ....

Expenses — Executing Judicial Orders against

the Grandi ....

Inspectors of sumptuary offences

Table of the Consuls .

Musicians, Heralds, Criers, etc.,

etc

Feeding Lions, Torches, Candles
for Consuls ....
Prizes for " // Palio," etc.

8,400 gold florins
1,100 piccioli

4,900
1,000
3,600

do.
do.

do.

1,000 do.

2,400 do.
100 gold florins

In addition to this very modest statement the Signoria spent
an annual amount upon public edifices, — in fact the moiety of the
whole cost of upkeep, repair, and alterations, — the other moiety
being shared among the Guilds, the Religious Corporations, and
Private citizens.

Revenue (1366) : —

Gate-tolls upon Merchandise, Food-stuffs, etc.
Duty on retail sale of Wine (one-third the

value) .... . .

" // Estimo " — Property-tax in Contado

Tax on Cattle slaughtered .

Duty on Salt

Tax on House-porches, Loggie, and shop

projections ......

Duty on Flour Mills .....

Taxes or Licenses upon Money Lenders
Licenses to carry Arms (at 20 soldi a head) .
Tax on Sweepings of the Corn-Market
Tax upon Green-grocers' Stalls .
Tax on Timber Rafts on the Arno

90,200 gold florins

58,300 do.

30,100 do.

19,400 do.

14,450 do.

7,000

do.

4,250

do.

3,000

do.

1,300

do.

750

do.

450

do.

50

do.

" FIRENZE RICCA PER 1NDUSTRIA ! " 559

The Total Revenue reaching upwards of 300,000 gold florins
on an average for the ten years, I366-I376.1

The almost endless variety of articles of commerce, which
were despatched to and from Florence, in the early years of the
fourteenth century, may be seen in an inventory of goods,
forwarded in 1321, from Pisa to Florence.2 The following are
some of the items : — Old cloth-remnants, sea-fish, old iron, palm-
branches, a bundle of veils and shawls, books, Tunisian washed-
wool, sugar, chests full of men's clothes, pike-staffs, drawn silk
in hanks, silk-worm eggs, silk fibre unwound, Siena wine, saddles,
donkeys, mattresses, etc. etc.

In another inventory are tabled : — Nine hundred and fifteen
pieces of gold and white tinsel for leather embossing, one parcel
new keys, a cloak-bag of leather, velvet saddle-bags, seven balls
of raw Sardinian lambs' wool, dogs' collars, linen gloves, Greek
wine, a bale of horse brushes, a bundle of sundries from Bulgaria,
etc. etc.

During the greater part of the fifteenth century the mean
price of wheat was one lira, two soldi, eight denari per bushel ;
wine — both red and white — twenty-seven soldi, eight denari a
barrel ; oil, six lire, ten soldi a barrel ; fresh butchers' meat, four
soldi to two soldi per pound.

Artizans, bankers, and merchants, were the founders of the
wealth of the Republic. The rolls of Gonfalonieri and other
State officials contain the names of men of all sorts and con-
ditions. Every man paid his quota to the common purse, and
undertook the share of the common burden. In this connection
it may be interesting to note the amounts received from direct
taxation in each of the six sestieri vary, not with respect
to their class superiority from rich to poor, but rather the
reverse.

In 1340 the sum total raised in this way was 100,000 gold
florins, as follows: — Oltrarno — the poor man's quarter — 28,000,
San Piero Scheraggio — the official quarter — 25,000, San Piero

1 Napier, ii. p. 573. 2 Archiviodel Stato di Firenze,— Mercanzia, 14, 1441.

560

THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

Maggiore — 12,000, San Pancrazio — 13,000, Borgo d' Ognissanti
— 12,000, and Porta del Duomo — I I,OOO.

This equality, or indeed superiority of the Popolo Minuto
contributions to the Public Exchequer had very much to do
with the manners, the dress, and the food of the people. The
responsibility of upholding the State raised the character and

A MERCHANT'S DINNER PARTY IN THE LOGGIA OF HIS HOUSE

demeanour of all classes of the population. There was a level-
ling up, as we call it, throughout the whole of Florentine society.
The hovel became a small house, the small house — a town resi-
dence, and the town residence — a palace. Fittings, furniture,,
decorations, utensils, etc. etc., all followed suit, and ennobled
festive boards and homely meals alike.

Still the old-world habit of hoarding and of self-denial held its
ground, with respect to certain private indulgences. The use of

"FIRENZE RICCA PER INDUSTRIA!" 561

silver plate, for example, until well on in the fifteenth century, was
regarded as ostentatious, even upon the table of the richer citizens.
At most, forks and spoons and cups were allowed in the precious
metals, other vessels were of brass — including candlesticks, basins,
and dishes. It was nevertheless quite customary to emblazon
the owner's coat-of-arms, or crest, in silver upon each of such
articles.

At public banquets, however, these limitations were disregarded,
and no community could offer such regal magnificence in their
table equipage as could the Merchant-princes of Florence. They
gloried in the fact that, whilst in private life they kept up the
good old rules of simplicity and frugality, in their public entertain-
ments they surpassed reigning monarchs in prodigality.1

This characteristic had been all along very marked in the
private life and public service of the merchants. None were too
proud not to put one hand upon shuttle, scale, knife, or other
implement, in the exercise of their craft, whilst with the other they
directed the great policies of the State.

Never perhaps was the wealth and importance of Florence
more strikingly exhibited than during the Jubilee of Pope Boniface
VIII. in 1300. She sent to Rome an embassy splendidly equipped,
and representative of every era in her history. Not only so, but,
through her bankers and her merchants resident in, or dealing
with, foreign states, she contrived that the representatives, specially
accredited to the Papal Court for the ceremonies of the Jubilee by
almost all the European Powers, were actually Florentines. Ver-
miglio Alfani represented the Emperor of Germany, Simone de'
Rossi — the Emperor of Byzantium, Musciatta Franzesi — the King
of France, Ugolino de' Cerchi — the King of England, and so on,
Florence herself being directly represented by Palla de' Strozzi.
A large suite of knights, superbly mounted and attired, escorted
the ambassadors, who were all equipped in the State uniforms of
the countries represented.

Boniface, amazed at the magnificence of the cavalcade, and

1 Borghini, "Discorso della Moneta Fiorentina," vol. ii. p. 163.
2 N

562 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

astonished at the opulence of the gifts brought to his feet, cried
out, as records an old manuscript : " Whatever sort of a city is
this Florence ? " No one was found ready with an answer, but at
last a Cardinal, — fearing the Papal displeasure, — timidly remarked :
" Your Holiness, the city of Florence is a good city."

" Nonsense," replied the Pope, " she is far away the greatest of
all cities \ She feeds, clothes, and governs us all ! Indeed she
appears to rule the whole world ! She, and her people, are in
truth, the fifth element of the universe ! " *

Of all the rich men of Florence in the fourteenth century
probably Niccolo degli Alberti was the richest. He died in 1377,
possessed of at least three hundred and forty thousand gold florins
— .£150,000 — an enormous sum in those days !

Florence in 1422 was considered the richest city in Europe:
every useful trade and ornamental art flourished exceedingly.
No less than two million gold florins were in effective circulation
— an amount not arrived at in London until the year 1838!
The expenses of the wars with Genoa, Pisa, and Leghorn,
amounted, in 1427, to two and a half millions of gold florins —
a further proof of prosperity and wealth.2

In the same year the number of Sopportatori, — Ratepayers,—
those who contributed to the year's " Catasto" came up to 37,225 ;
in 1470 they were 40,238. The Revenue at the end of the
century totalled 345,540 gold florins, — without taking into account
the " Decimal' — and the Expenditure — 226,000. The average
yearly yield of the latter impost between, say, 1470 and 1520,
was from 40,000 to 50,000 gold florins.

" At that period the city," writes Giovanni Cambi, " appeared
to be richer than ever before, for whereas forty years before
fourteen hundred gold florins were given as a marriage portion on
both sides among citizens of the Greater Guilds, they now give as
much as two thousand five hundred, and even three thousand, gold
florins ! " 3

1 Bibl. Laurenziana, — Osserv. Fior. vi. 21.

2 Lorenzo Pignotti, " Storia della Toscana," vol. iii. pp. 21-38.

3 " Istorie" (Delizie degli Eruditi Toscani, vol. xxii.).

"FIRENZE RICCA PER INDUSTRIA!" 563

Machiavelli has a sententious economic axiom which exactly
places the condition of industrial and financial matters in their
true and sound relative positions, when he writes as follows of the
Florentines, — merchants and citizens, — of his time. He says : —
" The people are rich when money does not go out of their country,
when they are content with what their land produces, and when
money is constantly brought in by those who want the products
of their industry, which they supply to foreign countries." l

The wealth of the city during the first decade of the sixteenth
century attracted princely usurpers and beggars from all lands.
To the King of France the Republic paid 100,000 gold florins,
and the same amount to the Emperor, whilst the King of Spain
received fifty thousand.

In 1527, however, owing to the numbers of armed bands,
marching to and fro, the city was strongly fortified ; and the
liberty of the citizens was greatly curtailed. No person was
allowed to go more than sixteen miles beyond the city boundaries.
Provisions for a period of fifteen days were not permitted to enter
the city without paying duty, except wine and oil, upon which
the tax was reduced fifty per cent.2

The famous siege of Florence by Pope Clement VII. and his
mercenaries, under the Prince of Orange, in 1529-30, found
Michael Angelo Buonarroti at the head of affairs as generalissmo
of the forces and director-in-chief of the fortifications. The
enemy approached the city crying : — " Prepare, Florence, your
brocades of gold, we are coming to purchase them with the
measure of our pikes ! "

A very interesting relic of the ancient commercial greatness
of Florence is seen in the existence of the little wicket-gates, or
small shop doors at the corner of the palaces of nobles. Over
them one reads the words, " Canova di Vino" " Canova di Torchi
di Cera;' " Canova delF Olio" etc. etc., indicating that the produce
of the princely owners' estates or factories might be purchased

1 Machiavelli, " Le Istorie di Firenze," chap. viii.

2 Lorenzo Pignotti, " Storia della Toscana," vol. iv. pp. 123, 159.

564 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

retail within. As a case in point, the Strozzi family still keeps a
large candle-factory and shop.

In the Buondelmonte Palace a few years ago was discovered
hidden away a pocket writing-tablet. The leaves of this memo-
randum book are of wood, covered with a cake of wax. Upon
this medium the merchant to whom it had belonged had, with a
stile, made many entries and marks concerning the day's business.
Unhappily the outer cover, which probably bore the owner's name,
has disappeared, but the date, I 300, is quite legible.

Guido del' Antella, has left in his " Ricordanze" not only his
trade-journal, but also a diary of domestic life, which is full of
interest, and reveals much of the inner life of the Florentines of
the fourteenth century. These " Ricordanze " were continued by
his sons and their descendants.

In 1375 the head of the family says that he has taken as
domestic servant, one Caterina del' Passa, at a wage of six gold
florins a year, with a three weeks' annual holiday. To another
maid servant, — whom he calls schiava — slave, — he arranged to
give only thirty lire a year. The worthy man seems to have
been blessed with many olive-branches, for he notices the engage-
ment of four or five nurses in succession, whose average wage was
sixteen gold florins. Some of his children were put out to nurse
on equally favourable terms.1

This revelation of the domestic hearth of a typical Florentine
home introduces a subject affecting the private life of the citizens,
which has been hardly touched upon by historians — that of slaves.

Domestic service was abhorrent to the freedom-loving and
proud Florentine : men and women shirked it, and difficulty was
constantly experienced in the matter of servants. The extension
of the trade of the city, and the enterprise shown by the agents
of merchants in foreign lands, led to an alien supply of a common
want.

At first, by ones and twos, returning merchants introduced
young boys and girls, who had attracted them in Eastern or

1 Archivio Storico Florentine, I. Series, torn. v. p. 5.

" FIRENZE RICCA PER INDUSTRIA ! " 565

Southern lands. They came as pages and playmates for them-
selves and their children, and every well-to-do establishment
boasted coloured dependants — they became the fashion and the
fad of the time.

The custom grew, being fed by the vagabond lives led in
foreign lands by Florentine traders, until the traffic in slaves
became a feature of the commerce of the thirteenth, fourteenth
and fifteenth centuries. " Oriental slaves bought as live goods,"
says Doltore G. Biagi, " generally through Genoese, Venetian, and
Neapolitan, brokers, were chiefly Tartars, Greeks, Turks, Dalma-
tians, and Circassians. . . ." 1

An ancestor of Baldovinetti, — the painter, — has left drawings
of three slaves in the margin of his Zibaldone, whom he bought
in 1377, 1380, and 1388: — "Dorothea, a Tartar, from Russia,
eighteen years or more of age ; Domenica, of white skin, from
Tartary ; and Veronica, sixteen years old, whom I purchased
almost naked from Bonaroti, son of Simon de' Bonaroti." Such
women entered the houses of wealthy citizens to perform humble
offices, and to take care of the children.

Alessandra Macinghi, the mother of the Strozzi, in 1469,
wrote thus to her son Filippo, when at Naples : — " Let me re-
mind you of the need we have of a slave, for so we have always
had one. If you give orders to have one bought, ask for a
Tartar, for they are the best for hard work, and are simple in
their ways."

" Slaves often enough obtained by faithful labour, good be-
haviour, and general aptitude, many a liberal bequest on the
death of their masters. Indeed not infrequently the child of the
female slave was looked upon as legitimate, and passed by the
name of the master, — thus Alessandro de' Medici was the reputed
son of Lorenzo, Duke of Urbino — but in all probability Clement
VII. was his father. His mother was a mulatto slave, and he
had dark skin, thick lips, and the curly hair of a negro !

Slaves were common in all the cities and States of Italy in

1 Guido Biagi, " Private Life of the Renaissance Florentines," pp. 30, 31.

566 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

the era of the Renaissance, and their treatment varied with the
characters of their masters. Pistoja in 1205 led the way in
freeing her slaves, Bergamo followed in 1237, Vercelli, in 1243,.
Bologna, in 1256, and Florence — by three stages — severally in
1289, 13 44, and 1415. The last date was not only that of absolute
emancipation for all persons held in bondage, but of the proclama-
tion which forbade citizens of the Republic to have, or to buy,
slaves, whether old or young, male or female, under severe penalties
in cases of contravention.

The character of the population and the greatness of the
prosperity of Florence — beautiful and busy — proved the truth of
the ancient distich : —

" Gens trepidat cuncta datqtte tributa,
Ceu Longobardi, ceu Tuschi^ sunt tremefacti
Cum Florentibus ! "

The old Mint of Florence was behind the Church of Santa
Croce, but in 1252, when the currency was thoroughly overhauled,
and when the financial transactions of her Merchants and Bankers
had attained vast proportions, a new Mint was erected at the
Uffizi, where the present-day Post Office is situated.

Two officials called Maestri delta Zecca — Masters of the Mint
— presided over the manufacture and circulation of coinage. They
were chosen by the Head of the State : one was required to be a
member of the " Calimala " Guild, the other — of the " Bankers and
Money-changers." Their term of office was six months, like the
Consuls.

In addition to these presidents a goldsmith, of proved probity
and intelligence, was employed twice every year at the incoming
of the new " Masters " to test and to weigh a number of gold
florins in circulation, and newly minted. Such as failed in his
tests were rejected, and of those approved, a number were enclosed
in a small leathern bag, which was firmly sealed and labelled,
as a guarantee or proof of quality — hence the designation " fiorino
di suggello"

THE
PORTA

THE
MOST
IMPORT-
ANT

DI SAX
GALLO

OF THE

NINE

ORIGINAL

GATES

THE "STIXCHE"— PRISON-AS IT APPEARED AT ITS DEMOLITION

"FIRENZE RICCA PER INDUSTRIA ! " 567

Gold and silver coins were generally struck without alloy of
any kind. The minters were well accustomed to the mysteries of
cupellation, for frequent mention is made, in the Archives of the
Zecca, of acqua prima, acqua filosofica al primo grado, mixtures of
nitre and acetic acid, and their property of separating gold and
silver, and of oxidising metals, etc.

Florentines in the thirteenth century understood the use of
touchstones in dealing with valuable metals. The family papers
of Balducci Pegolotti, and the records of the Peruzzi Company,
explain that the testing of the currency of Florence was done by
means of paragoni or touchstones. The Company, for example,
received four gold florins every year from the Mint for the hire of
a touchstone, which they sold outright in 1329 for twenty gold
florins. The charge for testing coins with a touchstone was six
denari. It appears likely that the Money-changers kept a touch-
stone by them, and made a charge for its use by their clients on
the spot.

The following is an extract from a manuscript.1 " For four
touchstones which we have in Florence, we are to receive in
the kalends of July 1335 one hundred and sixty-four gold
florins, to be paid to Giotto Peruzzi and our Company as in
the book 'del Asse' No. 5, p. 14. One is in the gold Mint, for
the hire of which we receive four florins a year ; the other three
are with Bartolo Uguccioni in his house at the shop."

In the Balducci Pegolotti manuscript is a dissertation on the
practice and method of treating and alloying gold and silver. The
formula for refining gold with cement required the composition of
the cement, — brick-dust and salt, — to be absolutely pure, and free
from earth and sand. Separating gold and silver was done with
sulphur and lighted charcoal. Many other instructions follow, the
gold being always reckoned by the carat, and the alloy by the
pound and ounce.

Balducci Pegolotti further says : — " For the expenses of the
Mint of Florence it may be calculated that the cost of melting

1 Riccaidiiia MS.

568 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

10 Ibs. of gold will be one denari of gold. And in refining the
gold, — that is the gold and silver taken from the cement, — from
six ounces of gold you will receive five ounces of refined gold.
And the cost of refining a pound of gold is 10 soldi (piccioli) for
the expenses of the chief refiner. And the cost of one fuoco, —
firing, — in the mint, as decreed for the better safeguard of the
Commune, costs 4 soldi 7 denari (piccioli) per pound, for the
expenses of the Rimettitori of the said mint. And for melting the
cement and cleansing, — a mass which they make of 90 pounds of
cement, — costs 35 soldi in florins of 29 soldi to the gold florin.
And the cost of parting the gold and silver taken from the cement
is 2 soldi and 6 denari {piccioli) per pound. And the cost in
Florence for a carat of gold parted from the silver by cementation
is 10 soldi a fiorini of 29 soldi to the gold florin. And the cost
of the rough silver parted from the gold is 14 soldi a fiorini an
ounce. And the cost in Florence of the slag from the melted
cement of each mass is 5 soldi {piccioli). " It may be calculated
that for gold carried to the Florentine exchangers for sale, either
flat or in bars, the price will be — for 21 carat gold, 9 soldi,

7 denari a fiorini, and downwards according to the carat. And

8 denari a fiorini for each carat of silver."

Thus far Balducci Pegolotti. The reader will observe that
the lire, soldi and denari are designated a fiorini, which means a
"florin of account" and not a " market florin " — that is a con-
ventional or imaginary florin of 29 soldi, like the scudo and
pezza.

The ancient Registers of the Florentine Mint, which fortunately
remain to us, give particulars every six months of the administra-
tion of the mint, and striking of the currency. But as no register
was kept before 13 03, the chronicler Villani, who was one of the
heads of the Mint in 1316, introduced an official book called the
"Fiorinario? which explained the stamp or symbols impressed
upon the coins struck every six months, — this book is in the
Magliabecchian Library. These symbols ceased to be described
in 1373, for the Masters of the Mint, being members of the

"FIRENZE RICCA PER INDUSTRIA!" 569

leading families, suppressed the stamps, and struck the money with
the arms of their houses.

In 1327, the Duke of Calabria appointed two principal mer-
chants to execute the offices of assayers of the gold and silver
coinage for a period of six months. They were Giovanni Villani,
of the " Calimala Guild," and Bartolommeo de' Simonetti, of the
41 Guild of Bankers and Money Changers."

Balducci Pegolotti also gives a description of the correspond-
ing foreign Mints, their locality, the metallic compositions in
use> — that is silver, gold, and alloy, — according to the currency
to be struck, with their prices and the expense of each Mint.
The Mints mentioned by Pegolotti are the following — Tana
on the Black Sea, Torrisi in Persia, Ajazza, Famagosta, Tunis,
Chiarenza, Castel di Castro, Majolica, Messina, Naples, Ancona,
Aquileia, and Venice. In Cambalu, capital of the Chinese
Empire, there was only a paper currency.1

The fame of the Florentines for skill in minting was great,
and many foreign Mints were actually in their hands. In 1269
the Tornaquinci Company held the Mint of Bologna. Under
Edward II. a Frescobaldi was made director of the London Mint, —
to correct its errors. In 1338 Angiolo Vernaccia and Francesco
Benacquisti held the Mint of Aquileja : those of Rome, Naples,
and Perugia, were also governed by Florentines.

Paolino Fieri, — in his "Chronicle" — from 1080 to 1305, —
and Targioni-Tozzetti, Vettori, and Borghini, agree that, before the
time of Federigo Barbarossa, several kinds of coins were struck,
and were in circulation in Florence.

Nevertheless Antonio Pucci relates that leather money was in
circulation, stamped with the Emperor's head. He goes on to
say that Frederick II. in 1240 coined at his own expense a gold
" Augustus," and put a number of such coins into the hands of
the merchants and artizans. This favour was " highly valued by
the people of Florence, who were very sorry for themselves at
having only leather money, and gladly exchanged it." 2

1 B. Pegolotti, " Manuale del Mercante Florentine/' z " Centiloquio," 6, 17.

570 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

Whilst the coins of all the nations and cities with which
Florentines had business connections were accepted and passed
current in the city ; and whilst each had its market value, and
was subject to the daily vicissitudes of exchange, there was, of
course, a system of coinage peculiar to Florence herself.

The currency was in silver — lire and fiorini. The former
was the value of a pound weight of various coins of the same
metal. Probably the earliest Florentine pound was issued in the
reign of Charlemagne. It had an arbitrary value of twenty soldi y
of twelve denari each, — which, it need scarcely be pointed out, was
the origin of our own British coinage.

The "florin," which contained twelve denari, first made its
appearance in 1150. The name was of course derived from
the name of the city. It was worth the twentieth part of the
pound originally, and was, in 1181, equal in value to four-pence
English. Both it and the pound, or pezza, were silver coins.

By another system of values the lira was divided into twelve
crazie or sixty quattrini, or two hundred and forty denari.
The following table shows the value in grains of the lira in
pure silver at different dates : —

1252—770 350—225^ 1471 — 136

1305 — 39iTTT 1417—140 1531 — looj

The higher figures of course point to periods of prosperity, the
lower to seasons of depression.

In 1252, " the Signoria determined," says Peruzzi, "to strike
a gold coin like the ancient nummo aures, which should be with-
out equal for intrinsic value and artistic workmanship." 1 The coin,
to which the name of Fiorina d'oro was first given, weighed
seventy-two grains, or the eighth of an ounce, and its standard
value was put at twenty-four carats. It bore upon its face the
effigy of St John the Baptist, the city's saintly patron, — and on the
reverse, the floral emblem — the lily, or iris. It was worth about
ten shillings English.

1 Peruzzi, " Storia del Commercio," p. 125.

"FIRENZE RICCA PER INDUSTRIAL 571

A DENARIO, 1150

A SOLDO, 1252

In addition to its official designation it bore several names
according to its variations of shape and face value : — " fiorino di sug-
gello " — mint stamped
florin, "fiorino di galea " :
— exchange florin, "fior-
ino largo" — florin ster-
ling ; but each kind was
of standard value.

This splendid coin
was at once universally
accepted and became
the model for the gold
coinage of England,
France, and Spain. The
Zecca was called upon
to mint as many as four
hundred thousand gold
florins annually to keep
up with the demand.

As in the case of
the silver florin the face
value of the gold florin
varied considerably. At
first it contained twenty
soldi like the silver coin,
but as early as 1291 its
value had risen to thirty
soldi. In 1301 the
Consuls of the Guilds
in conference deter-
mined the arbitrary
value of twenty-nine
soldi. This value was adopted by the Banks of Florence, and
was registered as obligatory.1

1 Paolino di Fieri, "Cronica," Rub. i. Suppl. ii. 33.

A SILVER FLORIN, 1 150

A GOLD FLORIN, 1252

IMPRESSIONS OF COINS IN CIRCULATION IN
FLORENCE IN THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY

Note. — The last one is the famous gold florin of 1252,
actual size

572 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

Gold florins, however, of the 1291 value, were in extensive
circulation, and consequently much confusion ensued. By a
Provvisione the new values were called " small florins," and their
component parts were renamed piccioli in place of soldi and denarii

It was after the Fall of the Republic, that the gold florin
became known as a ducato, a scudo, or a corona.

The silver florin was used for the daily market transactions,
and from shop to shop, and the gold florin was reserved for
financial business, exchange, and transportation. Salaries also
of magistrates and officials were paid in gold. In the Statutes of
1415 : — " all merchants and artizans in the City and Contado are
required to make use of the silver and copper coinage, and not
the gold florin of commerce, in their dealings among themselves,
except members of the " Calimala" " Wool," " Silk," " Bankers,"
" Doctors and Apothecaries," and " Furriers and Skinners " — the
Seven Greater Guilds.2

During the fifteenth century the smallest coins current were
of bronze: — -piccioli or denari — four of these made a quattrino
nero, — first coined in 1332, — and five went to a quattrino bianco.

Moneta bianca, and moneta nera or di ramc, — silver money and
silver mixed with baser metal, — were first distinguished in 1316.

The quattrino was the amount of the tax upon a barrel of
wine at the Gates — it was also called " Battefzone? and bore St John
Baptist's effigy on the obverse, like the florins. Five quattrini
made one crazia — the twelfth part of a lira. These quattrini
were equal to seven soldi, which was also the value of a coin
little used, but a value often quoted, namely, a grosso or grossone.

On March 21, 1307, ordinances were enacted against all such
as had, or passed, false gold, silver, and copper coins, or who
cut, or debased, good money. Every month all coins in
circulation were ordered to be returned to the Mint for examina-
tion, and for comparison with new genuine issues. At the same
time all Bankers and Money-changers were directed to keep, and
expose prominently, tables of values. Such tables also were

1 Prow. vi. 118 vo. 2 Rub. xxxvi., 1415.

CL,

o

1 1

"FIRENZE RICCA PER INDUSTRIA!" 573

ordered to be stuck up in the Mercato Vecchio, the Mercato
Nuovo, at Or San Michele, on the Ponte Vecchio, and in other
public places.1

Base coins were constantly issued by dishonest speculators,
and such were generally called " Bargellini" a name given to the
debased coinage of the four months' Podesta, Lando da Gubbio.

The " Presto" or Lending-office, had really been tacitly in
existence, for many a long day, in Florence, before the Govern-
ment of the Republic took the question up, and made laws to
regulate the borrowing and lending of money. Perhaps to state
the fact more clearly, we may say that every man who had a
spare florin or two was ipso facto a " Presto ! "

In 1430 public attention was effectively directed to an evil
which had grown by degrees until it was no longer soluble. The
accumulation of money in the hands of Bankers and Merchants,
and such like, had assumed such vast proportions, that the poorer
citizens were actually ground down under an unbearable yoke,
and had little or no chance of raising themselves out of their
misery.

The borrowing of money had become a glaring pretence for
demanding exorbitantly usurious interest. At last the Magistracy
took the matter in hand, and after much debate the solution they
discovered, — to us so extraordinary, — was effective. They deter-
mined to invite Jews to come and settle in Florence and bring
their money with them ! 2

These wary money-makers had of course made their influence
felt all over Europe, but, up to the date named, they had never
been suffered to set foot in Florence. An intimation was ad-
dressed through the agents of the " Calimala " and the - other
Guilds to all centres of Jewish population, extending a cordial
welcome to all Jews possessed of means, and offering them in-
ducements to make Florence their home and their market.

The invitation, it need hardly be said, was eagerly accepted,
although it was accompanied by some stringent and ungracious

1 Prow, xiii., fo. 72. 2 " Florentine Gazette," March 1899.

574 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

restrictions. A Jewish settlement was formed in Oltrarno — to
which was at once applied the name Via dei Giudei. The Jews
were compelled by law to wear yellow badges to distinguish them
from the citizens. They were forbidden to carry arms, and to
take part in any way in the government of the City and Republic.
They were also forbidden to engage in any wholesale business,
and they were denied admittance into the Craft Guilds. Their
trading instincts were to be confined within reasonable bounds, and
in no case were they allowed to levy interest upon loans of money
to citizens in excess of 20 per cent.

In spite of all these disabilities the Jews prospered exceed-
ingly in Florence. Their wealth and their influence mounted up
far beyond anything the Bankers and Merchants could attain.
They had not been in Florence fifty years when they had col-
lectively made upwards of fifty million golden florins !

The discovery of this condition of affairs stirred the anger of
the populace, which rose in a body, and demanded the expulsion
of all and every Jew from Florence. The voice of the people
prevailed, as usual, and a decree was promulgated by the Signoria,
in 1495, expelling the whole of the Jewish inhabitants. Only a
few months however passed before fickle public opinion veered
round, and the decree was withdrawn.

The Jews, nevertheless, found themselves faced by another,
and even stouter enemy — the Church. The preaching friars—
both Dominicans and Franciscans — took up their parable, not
only against the Jewish money-lenders, but generally against
the corrupt practice of loans at exorbitant rates. Antonino,—
"the good Archbishop," — Bernardino da Feltre, and Girolamo
Savonarola, in turn, denounced the iniquities of the money-
dealers. Like the wise men they were, they did not cry down
a corrupt system without advocating amelioratory measures.
Their ideas were much as follows, either: — (i) loans should be
effected without any interest at all, or (2) money should be lent
on the receipt of a pledge, and a very low rate of interest should
be charged only to meet the expense of the transactions.

"FIRENZE RICCA PER INDUSTRIAL 575

The Signoria were unanimously affected by the pleadings and
reasonings of the good monks, and they advocated the adoption
of the second plan suggested, with a view to the protection of
the people against exactions and overcharges by men of means.
In fact the solution reached gave to Florence her first Pawn-
shop, or "Presto? — established by the law of the State, and it was
further confirmed by the approval of the Church in decrees issued
from the Vatican.

The "'Presto" began its work in 1495 upon the small capital
of 2890 florins (about £1500) collected by means of private alms
and gratuitous loans and deposits, In 1530, after the defeat of
the rebels at Pisa, a grant was made to the " Presto? out of the
property confiscated, so that the funds in reserve for carrying on
the State Pawnshop amounted to upwards of ^9000.

The work of the " Presto " increased rapidly, and consequently,
to meet the convenience of the people, three distinct Offices
were opened in different parts of the city. By degrees another
development came into use, and several dependencies of the Head-
offices were authorised, under the control of private individuals,
but subject to the inspection of the State officials. These private
pawnshops, — so to speak, — were allowed to keep open doors
when the Head - offices were closed. Here money could be
obtained, on pledges left, by those who could not wait for the
ordinary business hours. These pledges were transferred every
day to the Head-offices, where only owners could redeem them.

The Pawn-shops became a source of danger to the public,
inasmuch as it was possible for any one to give himself out as a
" Presto-dependency," and thereby confiding and unwary clients
found themselves mulcted in charges in excess of the legal rate,
and also repeatedly lost their pledges through their premature sale
by the pseudo Pawn-brokers.

From the middle of the sixteenth century the Statutes of the
Republic are full of enactments passed to regulate these rogueries,
for example, no man or woman was allowed to practise the trade
of Pawn-broker, or " Vetturino" except possessed of a license

576 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

issued by the Administrator of the " Presto'' l The name " Vettu-
rino" was due to the fact that a " Vettura" or vehicle, was
necessary for the transport of the pledges to the Head - office
day by day.

A very interesting Codex is still preserved in the " Presto]"
which gives the laws and regulations by which the Institution has
been managed ever since its inauguration.

The headquarters of the " Monte di Pieta " are now in Via,
Palazzuolo, in the old monastery of San Paolino, which is itself a
link with worthy monkish founders in the fifteenth century.

The era of the Medici was the " Golden Age of Florence."

If the foundations of the Commune and of her industry have
been well and truly laid, and the superstructure of the Republic
and of her commerce wisely and nobly reared, the brains and
hands which planned and placed the capstone of the splendid
edifice, were none other than those of the great Merchant-princes
— the Medici.

The attitude of the makers of the family towards the industry
and commerce of Florence was marked by admirable and con-
sistent diligence, loyalty, and enthusiasm. If it be opposed that
they did but seek to serve their own ends, it should be remem-
bered that the pre-eminence, riches, and glory, of family were
ever the chief aims of all Florentines.

In this characteristic emulation the Medici did, through
natural ability and force of genius, outrun all competitors. They
were entirely sympathetic with respect to popular aspirations and
prejudices. They lived as citizens among citizens, keeping un-
obtrusive their private affairs, and their public conduct unostenta-
tious. Risen from the middle class they first entered upon the
profession of medicine, but later took up the more influential
occupation of banking.

Salvestro di Alamanno de; Medici was the first member of the
family who rose to eminence. A rich and ambitious popolano, he

1 Cantini, " Legislazione," vol. viii., p. 99, etc.

" FIRENZE RICCA PER INDUSTRI A ! " 577

was tactful enough to conceal his bent, but acted upon the maxim
he was never tired of quoting : — " Never make a show before the
people."

In 1376 he became Capitano di Parle Guelfa, and, two years
later, Gonfaloniere di Giustizia — the nominal head of the State.
His rivalry with Benedetto degli Alberti threw him into the arms
of the Ciompi — " the wooden shoes " — as the mass of woollen
operatives were called. He and the popular leader, Michele
Lando, swayed that tumultuous rising, and steered the ship of
State safely through the troubled waters.

The patriotic and statesmanlike course taken by Salvestro
inspired the confidence of the populace, and also of the middle
•classes — both in himself and in his family. His death in 1388
was the dawn of the Medicean dominion.

Giovanni de' Medici, who was born in 1360, belonged to
another branch of the family — that of Averardo de' Medici. He
was a man of extraordinary strength of character — a born ruler
of men. He gained the goodwill of his fellow-citizens by his
unselfishness and generosity.

In 1421 Giovanni was elected Gonfaloniere di Giustizia^ as
the representative of the middle classes, in opposition to Rinaldo
degli Albizzi and Niccolo da Uzzano. The Republic sighed for
peace, the Crafts for quietness, but immense liabilities, incurred by
many costly warlike enterprises, had to be met. Giovanni pro-
posed, in 1427, a tax which should not weigh too heavily upon
any body. Each citizen, who possessed a capital of one hundred
gold florins, or more, was mulcted in a payment to the State, of
half a gold florin — five shillings. This tax, which was called " //
Catasto" was unanimously accepted : it was said " it pleased the
people greatly." Giovanni himself was taxed as high as any one,
namely, three hundred gold florins.

Giovanni associated himself with Agnolo Pandolfini, the leader
of the Peace Party, who is remembered in the annals of Florence
as "The Peaceful Citizen." The tenets of the party were: I.
Peace abroad, 2. Prosperity at home, and 3. Low taxation.

2 o

578 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

Giovanni was also instrumental in the founding of the Studio
Generale — the University of Florence — whence such excellent fruits
were gathered by craftsmen of all kinds. He died in 1429.

Cosimo de' Medici, — Giovanni's eldest son, — was, perhaps, the
greatest of all that noble family. Born in 1389, he early evinced
mercantile proclivities, and was placed by his father, when he was
a mere lad of seventeen, in charge of the foreign agencies and
correspondence of the family's banking business. He used his
opportunities so well that he speedily excelled all the men of his
house as a successful financier and merchant. He placed the
fortunes of his family in such an unassailable position that their
bankruptcy would have meant the irremediable insolvency of the
State.

Cosimo was not unworthily acclaimed as " The Great Mer-
chant." He could give commercial advantages to all who asked.
As the richest citizen he had absolute control of all markets.
Bribes influenced rivals, whilst gifts controlled the Church and the
poor. He never interfered with the middle classes, but left them
to their business and their pleasure. On the other hand he did
all he could to conciliate the lower classes, carrying on the
democratic policy of Salvestro. Assuming the office of Gon-
faloniere di Giustizia in 1455, he made little or no effort to
alter the form of government. His administration of public
funds gave rise to the proverb : — " Taxation must be used as a
dagger!" The introduction in 1447 of the " Scala " or "Slid-
ing Scale," and its application gave this saying its point. For
example, incomes of under fifty gold florins were rated at eight
per cent., whilst those over fifteen hundred were taxed at fifty
per cent.

Cosimo dealt with the luxury and extravagance of his times
quite characteristically. He induced rich merchants to undertake
public office as a matter of pride, and clothed them with increasing
dignity and circumstance.

Certainly, as a counterpoise perhaps to his own aspirations, he
curtailed some of the political power of the Guilds. By advancing

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fl

fs

p c
<

" FIRENZE RICC A PER INDUSTRIA ! " 579

families rising to affluence, but belonging to the Popolo Minuto,
to association with the Greater Guilds, he checked the exclusive
influence of the latter, whilst he diminished the growing power of
the Lesser Guilds. He was wont to say jokingly : — " Two
yards of scarlet cloth is enough to make a citizen ! "

Cosimo lavished enormous sums of money in charity and in
the adornment of the city. Every Craft felt the impulse of his
munificence, for his heart and soul were set upon the pros-
perity of his city and of her people. The five years of his exile
furnished an object lesson to friend and foe alike — the absence
of the Medici meant ruin and decay.

One of Cosimo's famous sayings was : — " One must always
consult the will of the people," and " the People " replied by
acclaiming him " Padre della Patria " — " Father of the Country."
He died in 1464. He has been called "a great merchant and
party leader — the first of Florentines by birth, and the first of
Italians by culture." He will be remembered for all time as a
perfect example of the great Florentines of the fifteenth century.

Lorenzo de' Medici came to the headship of the family when
the noontide sun of its glory was at its greatest brilliance. Born
in 1449, he entered upon his inheritance, — a structure of princely
magnificence and financial security, — as one fully fitted for his
position. The wealth of his house provided him with the means
and with the leisure he desired.

Unanimously elected Capo della Repubblica, — " Chief of the
Republic," — in succession to his grandfather, in 1470 he emphati-
cally enforced the axiom, " the family is the unit of Florentine
life." The authority of the Podesta and the judicial power of the
Tribunale della Mercanzia, — " The Chamber of Commerce," — were
at once diminished by the assumption of princely attributes by
Lorenzo for himself and his heirs.

The combined powers of the Consuls also called for reform,
and Lorenzo made an effort to reduce the number of the Guilds.
The latter move was made probably rather against the accumula-
tion of capital than for political ascendency. Anyhow it was

580 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

aimed principally at the Greater Guilds. Indeed matters went
so far that the realisation of the assets of the Parte Guelfa, and
of the Mercanzia, was effected.

Lorenzo's charities, and his patronage of the Arts and Crafts,
gained him his title " // Magnifico " — an acknowledgment of his
claim to be addressed as " Your Magnificence." He was much
more of a Prince than a Merchant, and the men who gathered
round him thought more of display than of business. In truth
extravagant idleness began to take the place of frugal industry.

Nevertheless he invited and patronised artizans and men of
good parts from every land. Printing and Engraving, Embroidered
Tapestry, Engraving on Cameos, Painted Porcelain and many
other useful and ornamental handicrafts blossomed forth in the
Florentine home of their adoption. He himself was entirely
devoid of interest and knowledge with respect to commercial
matters. Indeed the principal foreign agents of his house at
Paris, Lyons, Bruges, Brussels, London, and elsewhere, speedily
took his measure, and were not slow to profit by his unbusiness-
like proclivities.

Lorenzo de' Medici was far and away the greatest of all the
Medici in the universality of his attainments. Magistrate,
Orator, Poet, Artist, Benefactor, Athlete, Lorenzo took first
honours in the " University of Humanism " which he had so
lavishly endowed. He is, so to speak, the epitome of the spirit
and life of the Renaissance. His was the epoch of the Platonic
Academy — his villa at Careggi was a second Areopagus.

There was in short nothing that he could not do. One of
his favourite sayings was : — " Whatever is worth doing at all,
is worth doing well." This had its pendant in his boast :—
"I am a Florentine, and a Florentine is a citizen of the great
world." With the death of Lorenzo de' Medici in 1492, — whom
Benedetto Dei describes as : — " The splendour not of Tuscany
only, but of all Italy," — disappeared the most brilliant period of
the Renaissance.

Piero de' Medici, son of Lorenzo the Magnificent, proved the

"FIRENZE RICC A PER INDUSTRIA!" 581

truth of the adage : — " Ability rarely runs in two consecutive
generations." He was just as feeble as his father was strong.
Entering upon an unique heritage he frittered it away, and by
his pusillanimity brought ruin and disaster upon Florence and her
commerce. He died miserably in 1503.

Decay in the merchant-spirit of the Florentines set in with
his death, and the later Medici, with few exceptions, did nothing
to arrest the decline of industry and commerce.

Cardinal Giulio de' Medici, during his temporary charge of
the destinies of the city and people in 1518, certainly retrieved
some of her fading glories. He reduced the public finances to
order, checked the power of monopolies, lightened taxation, re-
stored prestige to the Guilds, and entered into new commercial
treaties.

Acceptable to the populace on account of his ecclesiastical
dignity, and to the better-to-do citizens by reason of his name
and family, he was wise enough to dissociate himself from all the
parties in the State. "It was," records Nardi the historian, " the
universal opinion that never since the city had been under the
rule of the Medici had it been governed with a greater appear-
ance of civil liberty."1 In 1523, Giulio became Pope under the
style of Clement VII. and died in Rome in I 534.

Three conditions existed from the middle of the sixteenth
century which rendered the position of Florence uncertain and
even precarious :

1. The instability of political institutions.

2. The insecurity of property through frequent commercial

failures.

3. The competition of other markets, and the discovery of

America.

With respect to the latter it is not difficult to understand
how dreams of the New World drew off men's attention from
the steady prosecution of their wonted occupations. The dis-

1 Nardi, " Storia di Firenze," vol. ii. p. 64.

582

THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

coveries of Christopher Columbus, Vasco de Gama, and especially
of Amerigo Vespucci, the Florentine, caused an appreciable dimi-
nution in the commercial pursuits and prosperity of the old
channels of business.

AMERIGO VESPUCCI ON THE SHORES OF SOUTH AMERICA
(Note the Soul hern Cross}

A new light, still more brilliant than that of the Medici,
had burst in upon an expectant hemisphere, and Tribaldo de'
Rossi wrote of it thus : " A letter has come to the Signoria
saying that certain youths, gone out in sailing ships, have arrived
at an immense island, to which never before have any people
sailed, which is inhabited by men and women all naked ! " l

This was the proclamation of the discovery of the New

1 " Ricordanze di " (Delegie degli Erudite Toscani, vol. xxiii. p. 281).

"FIRENZE RICCA PER 1NDUSTRIA!" 583

World. Dante, in mystic vision, had, with prophetic voice, away
back in 1306, foretold this new terrestrial paradise: —

" To the right hand I turned, and fixed my mind
On the other Pole attentive, where I saw
Four Stars ne'er seen before save by the ken
Of our first parents. Heaven of their rays
Seem'd joyous."—" PURGATORIO," canto i.

With the beginning of the sixteenth century dawned a new
era, gilding alike the sky of Poetry and the Arts, and the river of
Literature and the Crafts. The preliminary signs had made them-
selves felt in the growth of wealth, in enfranchisement from its
prejudices, and in release from primitive rules of living. Egotis-
tical tendencies, which had been working very quietly but surely,
prepared the way for the evolution of what we now call " Indi-
vidualism."

Here we have the limits and the tokens of the Spirit of the
Renaissance. The love of country, and the ties of the family,
were weakened by an universal craving for pleasure and self-
gratification. Idleness, sensuality, scepticism, — three baneful
sisters, — gained the upper hand, and loosened the fabric of Floren-
tine society.

The gradual extinction of public spirit, the slow deterioration
of general character, and the sapping of personal energy, are
the dull tones which tinge with melancholy the later pages of
Florentine History.

Ring down the curtain ! Merchant and Artizan have doffed
their workaday garments of leather, cloth, and fustian ! The
ghosts of Guildsmen pass silently along, stretching out their
hands helplessly : their time has come and gone ! But, hark !
Into the slumbers of the past, there steals softest, sweetest, music,
and many melodious Tuscan voices are singing in unison : —
" Firenze — riccaper industria ! "

"Firenze— Regina del? Arti>»
" Firenze la Bella!"

" Eirviva ! Firenze la Bella !—la Bella /"

BIBLIOGRAPHY

MANUSCRIPTS
In Florence

Archivio Antichete Italiane

„ degli Archivescovo Fiorentino

„ dell' Arte della Seta — Cartapecore Strozziane-Uguccini
„ di Calimala— " O "

„ di Firenze— Filza Strozziana (1448-1457)
„ — Atti Pubblichi (1498-1502)

„ — Carteggio Mediceo avanti il Principato, Filze 94-99
„ — Membranaceo (1295)
„ Fiorentino— Atti Pubblichi

„ — Santissima Annunziata
, Giornale Toscana
„ delle Grazie

„ del Opera del Duomo (Cassare Guasti)
„ „ dell' Antica Necrologia

„ „ Santa Reparata — Carta 12

„ della Riformagione in Firenze
„ delle Trattati Fiorentini, No. LIX

„ del Stato Fiorentino, or, di Firenze — Provvisioni della Repubblica
„ Mediceo — Officiates Forenses Civitatis Florentiae
„ „ Diario Fiorentino

„ „ Diario di Monaldi

„ Storia Italiana — Series IV. and V.

„ Storico Italiano dell' Arti — Provvisioni, etc. (Gasparo Bencini)
Biblioteca Laurenziana— II Biadajolo

„ „ —No. XVII. Della Seta (1427)

„ Magliabechiana— No. XVII.— 17

„ — Diario d' Anonimo Fiorentino

—No. XXV.— 53 (Strozzi)

„ —No. CXCII. (Giovanni Battista Teobaldi)

„ — Cronica degli Speziali (1440-1542)

„ Ricciardina — No. 3632. Roll of Merchants (1235-1495)
„ „ — Valori MS.

Zibaldoni e Prioristi del XV., XVI. Secoli
In Pisa

Archivio del Stato — Atti Pubblichi
In Rome

Archivio del Vaticano— Folio 45

585

586

THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

In Siena

Archivio del Stato— Caleffo Vecchio

» „ — Consiglio della Campana

Libreria Comunale — K-X 29
British Museum

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Sloane MSS.— 18 B (Sir Edward Unton)

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Florence, 1787

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Sismondi, J. C. L. S. de.

Do.

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Florence, 1780

Storie Fiorentine (1527- Florence, 1723

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Geschichte von Florenz.
Histoire des Rdpubliques
Italiennes du Moyen Age
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Histoire de la Renaissance
de la Libertd en Italic
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Delle Excellenze e Gran-
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Sprengel, C. Histoire de la Me'decine Paris, 1815, etc.

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Springarm, J. E. Literary Criticisms on the New York, 1899

Renaissance.
"Statuta Populi et Communis Florentine Collecta, 1415" Friburg, 1782

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Statuta Populi Florentine. Florence, 1778

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Targioni-Tozzetti, G.
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THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

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Do. Matteo e Filippo.

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Cronica Fiorentina.

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Storia Fiorentina.
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Florence, 1730 (?)
Florence, 1550

Florence, 1731
Florence, 1738
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CHRONOLOGY

B.C.

200. Roman Camp of Florentia

The Flaminian Road assists early development, and crosses the Arno by
the earliest " Ponte Vecchio "

A.D.

488. Baptistery of San Giovanni founded

542. Totila, King of the Goths, besieges the settlement

556. First Wall,— Primo Cerchio,— built

625. Theodelinda, Queen of the Lombards, encourages industry

724. Church of Santa Reparata so named

774. Church of San Miniato al Monte built

786. Charlemagne, Emperor of the West, visits the town

816. Pope Leo III. encourages the Crafts of Tuscany

825. A Collegium Artium founded under the Emperor Lothair's Constitutiones
Olonenses

852. Wool trade flourishing in Florence

934. Medical faculty in practice

962. Otto I. extends the Contado to six mile radius

990. Benedictines settle and build the Badia
1003. Florentine Cloth-merchants finish San Miniato al Monte
1036. Bonifazio III., Marquis of Tuscany, a friend to Florence
1038. Smithing and kindred trades flourishing
„ "Consuls" first named (Burello, Florenzetto, Broccada, and Servolo)

1062. Fulling-mill first mentioned

1063. Great Religious Revival

1074-78. Second Wall, — Secondo Cerchio, — begun : Oltrarno taken in
1076. Countess Matilda of Tuscany greatly encourages Crafts

1079. Mercato Vecchio first so called

1080. Old Roman bridge rebuilt in stone and called Ponte Vecchio
1096. First Wool Dyer named, Petrus-tentore

1 101. Consuls for the Crafts first appointed by Matilda

1107. Expansion of city : Monte Orlandi and Prato taken in

1115. Death of Matilda: Birth of Commune— Florence declared independent

of all external rule

1138. City divided into Six Wards— Sestieri : Buonuomt elected for each
1150. Silver Florin first used

„ Calimala Consuls take in hand the Battisterio di San Giovanni
1154. First record of Florentine merchants trading with Great Britain — chiefly

wool
1165-1177. "Society of the Towers "for the Grandi, and "Corporations" for

the Popolani established
600

CHRONOLOGY 601

1183. The Peace of Constance confirms self-government to Florence and other

Tuscan Communes
1187. College of Judges founded
1190. First mention in documents of the "Calimala Guild "

1192. Federigo I. visits Florence, and extends the Contado to a radius of ten

miles

„ Consuls of the Lana, Calimala and Seta Guilds sign documents — first of
such Records

1 193. Title " Rector" replaces that of Consul

1194. First record of Florentine Bankers

1197. Legal Tribunals fully established

„ First distinct mention of Seven Greater Guilds — the Calimala Guild being
entirely separated from that of " Wool "

1198. Tuscan League under lead of Florence established by Pope Innocent III.

at San Miniato al Monte

1199. First recorded mission of Florentine Bankers to London

1200. Commercial Treaty with the Lords of the Mugello for the Protection of

Trade Routes

„ Silk industry in a thriving condition. Early patterns for weaving ob-
tained from the pavement of the Baptistery

1201. First mention of the Guild of Bankers

1202. Florentines capture Castles and protect Communes
1204. The Rectors of the Guilds styled "Priors"

„ Ammirato's Census of the population and occupations

1206. Old title of Consul replaces that of Prior

1207. First Podesta — Gualfredotto Grasselli da Milano — elected
1208-1228. Wars with Pisa, Pistoja, Semifronte, Siena and other cities

1215. Tragedy at the Buondelmonte-Amidei marriage originates the two great

parties- the Guelphs and Ghibellines
1 218. College of Doctors and Apothecaries in existence

„ The Ponte alia Carraja built in stone

„ Inhabitants of the Contado required to take oath of allegiance to Florence

1222. The first Monte Comune or Pawnshop opened

1223. School of Medicine and Surgery founded

1228. First State enactment affecting the Guilds issued

1233. The Podesta — Torcello da Strada — orders every adult male to register his

name, age, and occupation

1234. Mercantile Companies affiliated to the various Guilds

1236. First Scheduled List of the Guilds— Twenty-one

„ Influential position held by Butchers and Graziers

„ Streets of Florence paved with hard stone setts

1237. The Ponte alle Grazie— Rubaconte— built

1238. The " Umiliati" — Humble Fathers — arrive and settle
1240. The " Misericordia" founded

1247-49. Party feuds and the encroachments of Federigo II. and of the Uberti

retard trade and commerce

1250. Podesta deposed — Capitano del Popolo appointed instead
„ Foreign Condottieri first employed

602 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

1250. Thirty-six representatives of Trades chosen — six to each Sestiere — the

first really popular Government of Florence

1251. First Capitano del Popolo — Uberto da Lucca — elected

1252. Zecca— Mint — established. The Great Gold Florin coined
„ The Ponte alia Santa Trinita built

1254. Pisa grants free import for all Florentine merchandise
1258. Bargello built

1260. " Lettere di Cambto" first issued by Bankers
„ The Roman Ponte Vecchio rebuilt

„ Battle of Montaperti

1261. Count Guido Novello assumes supreme authority
„ The Public Prison — Stinche — opened

1266. Second Scheduled List of the Seven "Greater" and Fourteen "Lesser'"

Guilds

„ The Consuls of the Seven Greater Guilds constitute the Supreme
Magistracy of the State

1267. The " Parte Guelfa" enrolled

„ First record of a Florentine Commercial Journey in Europe by Guido del

Antella

„ Council of Capitudini delle Arti Maggiori
„ Charles of Anjou, Lord of Florence, makes many Knights
1269. Disastrous floods destroy bridges, factories, etc.
1271-79. Serious family and party feuds prevalent. No checks to industry, but

spurs to enterprise !

1278. Taddeo d' Alderotti established as Professor of Medicine in Florence
1280. First " Signoria" assume office

„ First five Lesser Guilds designated Arti Mediane—" Intermediate Guilds "
— and their Consuls admitted to the conferences of the Consuls of the
Seven Greater Guilds

1282. Three "Priors of the Guilds" elected : their powers second only to that

of the Chief- Magistrate of the State
„ The Guild of Wool undertake the charge of Santa Maria del Fiore

1283. Third Scheduled List of the Guilds — their Precedence settled
1284-85. Third Wall,— Tertio Cerchio,— built

1284. Great additions made to the number of Mercantile Companies

1285. Hospital of Santa Maria Nuova founded

1287. Piazza di San Giovanni enlarged for the Patronal Festival

„ Feuds between the Cerchi and Donati hinder work
1289. Great Fire destroyed many workshops and much merchandise

„ Battle of Campaldino

„ Abolishment of slavery in Florence

1291. Many miracles at the Shrine of Or San Michele

„ Banners and coats-of-arms allotted to nine lowest Guilds

1292. Giano della Bella in power

1 293. " Ordinamenti di Ginstizia " promulgated

1294. Duomo, Palazzo Vecchio, Santa Maria Novella, and Santa Croce begun
1294-1310. Arnolfo di Cambio flourished, great builder and architect

CHRONOLOGY 603

1296. "// Statute" put out as a tentative General Code for the Guilds upon the

founding approximately of the Corte della Mercanzia
„ Calimala Guild established many agencies in France

1300. Many countries represented at Jubilee of Pope Boniface III. by Floren-
tines as ambassadors

„ Feud between " Blacks " and " Whites," Neri e Bianchi
„ Dante Alighieri elected Prior, instrumental in expelling Neri and

Bianchi
1301-1307. Full revision of the Statutes of all the Guilds. The New Code

adopted first by the "Calimala" Guild
1305-1377. Papal Schism. Increased activities and privileges of Florentine

Bankers

1307. Piazza della Signoria laid out and paved
1310. Walls and moats finished. Great scarcity and bad trade

1312. Census and description of Florence by Dino Campagni

1313. King Robert of Naples Lord of Florence

1315. Many silk-workers from Lucca settle in Florence

1315-1327. Francesco Balducci Agent of the Bardi in Flanders and elsewhere
1318. Troubles among the wool workers
1320. University, — Studio di Firenze, — founded

1322. Constitution of subordinate Guild of Goldsmiths revised by officials of
" For Santa Maria "

1324. First official Register of Florentine merchants abroad

1325. Charles, Duke of Calabria, Lord of Florence

1326. Scali Bank failed, 400,000 gold florins

1328. Revision of the Squittino

„ Consiglio del Popolo and Consiglio del Comune empanelled

1329. Statutes of Society of Painters and of Society of Goldsmiths passed
„ Ringhiera, — public platform, — fixed outside Palazzo Vecchio

1330. Factory doors of Umiliati closed by General of the Order
!335- "-# Statute Vecchio" of the Silk Guild promulged

1336. Alliance between Florence and Venice
„ Shrine of Or San Michele decorated by the Guilds
„ A new Ponte Vecchio built by Taddeo Gaddi

1339. Florentine merchants expelled from France
„ Guild of Painters incorporated

„ First record of resident Florentine Consular Agents at foreign ports
„ Disastrous failure of the Bardi and Peruzzi Banks

1340. The Campanile projected by Giotto

1335-1410. Francesco Sacchetti, "The Echo of the Old Market ! "

1342. The Duke of Athens, appointed Conservator of Peace and Lord of

Florence, favoured Grandi and Popolani in turn

1343. Buonaccorsi Bank failure

„ Attack by Popolani on palaces of Grandi
„ The Popolo Minuto in the ascendency

„ Niccolo Acciaiuoli founded Certosa at Montaguta for fifty apprentice
youths

604 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

1344-5. Many Grandi families enrolled among Popolani
1345. Re-enactment of the Ordinamenti di Giustizia
„ Butchers occupied the forty shops in the new Ponte Vecchio

1 347. Powers of the Corte delta Mercanzia enlarged
„ Artizans strike for higher wages

1348. Great Plague. Three-fifths of the inhabitants die
„ Bargello rebuilt

1355. Condottiere system first created. Many Florentines became soldiers

1358. Florence had one hundred Judges and six hundred Notaries

1362. Loggia di Pesci in the Mercato Vecchio erected

1364-1427. Matteo Palmieri flourished, — famous Apothecary and poet

1372. " Ten of Liberty " elected

1373- Giovanni Boccaccio, Professor of Literature at the University

1374-1410. Buonaccorso Pitti's "Chronicle"

1376. Salvestro di Alamanno de' Medici, Captain of the Parte Guelfa

1378. Papal Schism beneficial to banking business of Florence

„ Rising of the Ciompi. Three operative Guilds formed

„ Michele Lando, Gonfaloniere de Giustizia
1386. Thorough revision of the Statutes of the Guilds
1388. "La Cena Fiorentina?— The Florentine Supper,— all the rage
1391. Tribunal of the Mercanzia at zenith of its power
1395. Buonaccorso Pitti's Commercial Journey and Diary
1399. "White Penitents" made pilgrimages
1404. Pisa captured. Florence very prosperous
1404-75. Leon Battista Alberti flourished— Physician and astronomer
1411. Cortona purchased for 60,000 gold florins
1413. Hospital of San Paolo founded
1415. Fourth Scheduled List of the Guilds — twenty-one

1419. Martin V. resides in Florence, and gives the "Golden Rose" to the

Government

1420. Bishopric of Florence raised to an archbishopric

1421. Giovanni de' Medici Gonfaloniere di Giustizia
,, Spedale degli Innocenti founded

„ Port of Livorno purchased for 100,000 gold florins

„ Six Maritime Consuls appointed — L: Arte del Mare
1427. New system of taxation — "the Catasto"

„ Grandi attempt to reduce fourteen Lesser Guilds to seven
1430. Jews allowed to settle in the Ghetto

„ First date of Wood-engraving in Florence

1436. Consecration of the Duomo

1437. Cennino Cennini's " Trattato della Pittura" written

1439. Church Council held at Florence

1440. Compulsory planting of mulberry trees

1441. Congregazione di San Martina enrolled by Archbishop Antonino
1451. Florentine commerce suffers through Venetian protective tariff

„ Cosimo de' Medici hailed " Padre della Patria "
1458. Priori della Liberia elected
1463. Piazza della Signoria completed

CHRONOLOGY 605

1466-67. War and peace with Venice

1470. Lorenzo de' Medici styled " Capo della Repubblica"

1471. Bernardo Cennini's printing-press first in operation
Luca Delia Robbia President of the Guild of St Luke

1472. Lavish hospitality by members of the Merchant Guilds

1475. Unwritten law affirmed : " Every Florentine-born adult is free to gain his

living as he wills "
1478. Conjuration of the Pazzi
1480. Many fiscal reforms agreed to
„ First private Florentine merchant-ship launched at Livorno

1482. Paolo Toscanelli, the discoverer, died

1483. Savonarola preaches in Lent

1489. Francesco Guicciardini's account of the State of Florence

1490. The Guild of Wool undertake charge of the Duomo
1492. Death of Lorenzo de' Medici

1494. Great constitutional changes. Curtailment of liberty

1495. Government Pawnshop— il Presto — opened

1497. Amerigo Vespucci sailed from Cadiz to discover America

1498. Vespasiano da Bisticci, the last Scriptorius, died
1502. Corruption creeps into Florentine Legal Tribunals

„ Giudici alia Rota — Council of Justice — appointed

„ Piero Soderini elected Gonfaloniere for life

1509. Florentine militia established by Machiavelli

1511. Great frost. // Ca/cw, and other games, played on the frozen Arno

1527. Florence a prey to disorders and plague

„ Population divided between " Palleschi " — adherents of Medici — and
" Arrabbiati"— the popular party

1528. Michael Angelo fortifies the city

1529-30. Siege of Florence by Prince of Orange for Pope Clement VII.
1530. Manufactory of Tobacco established

„ Honesty and patriotism of Niccolo Capponi
1532. Alessandro de' Medici created Duke of Florence by the Pope

„ The "Signoria" abolished

1534. Fourteen Lesser Guilds arranged in four Universities. Many privileges
curtailed

1536. Charles V. visits Florence. Great Illuminations

„ Burial Reforms instituted by Statute of the Guild of Doctors and

Apothecaries
„ Cascine laid out

1537. This is the usual date assigned to the end of the Republic and the

transformation of Florence into a Principality
1 540. First notice of casting steel in Tuscany at Florence
1543. Duke Cosimo I. induced Flemish tapestry workers to settle

1546. New Loggia erected in Mercato Xuovo

1547. Inundation and famine

1557. New Code of Por Santa Maria provided by the Medici

606 THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE

1561. Cosimo II. forbids imports of woollen cloth from England and

Flanders— the death-knell of the Calimala !
„ Cosimo II. institutes Military Order of St Stephen

1562. Accademia delle Belle Arti founded by Cosimo II.
1564. Last of the Umiliati

1568. Cosimo II. gives new Constitution to the Tribunal of the Mercanzia
1580. Decline of merchant spirit evident in every sphere
1595. Sir Richard Dallington's visit and Diary

1597. Guild of Judges and Notaries abolished. "College of Judges and
Notaries" incorporated instead

INDEX

ACADEMIES : — di San Luca, 271 ; delle

Belle Arti, 271 ; della Crusca, 252 ; of

Florence, 504

Accounts, Payment of, 115
Admission to Guilds, 114
Advocates, 39, 98, 103
Affiliated Companies, 113
Agents: — of Commercial Houses, 21 ; do. of

Guilds, 123; Association of do., 122;

Qualifications and Duties of do., 123;

do. of "Calimala," 131 ; do. in France,

182

Agriculture, Court of, 358
Alamanni, Antonio, Barber-Poet, 461
Alderotti, Taddeo d', Founder of School of

Medicine, 238

Algarves, Wool from the, 155
Amerighi, Messere Amerigo, a Notable

Judge, oo, 91

Ampuleius on " Linen," 350
Anatomy, Chair of, 248
Angelico, Frate Giovanni, 356, 357, 480
"Annona," Magistracy of Abundance, 432,

433- 434, 435
Antella, Guido dell', Agent and Chronicler,

132

Antonino, Archbishop, 480, 551, 552, 574
Anziani (Ancients), 8
Apothecaries: — Licences of, 251 ; Guarantees

of, 251; " Farmacia del Moro," 252;

do. "del Giglio," 253; " Spezeria di

Santa Maria Novella," 253; do. "della

Pecora," 253 ; do. " del Pinadoro," 254 ;

other famous Drug Shops, 252-254 ;

number of Apothecaries, 254; under-
takers, 256

Appeals, Supreme Court of, 71, 88, 89
Appeals : — to Pope and Emperor, 49 ; do.

of Debtors, 88 ; Judges of do., 93
Apprentices, 67, 68, 113, 114, 228; Age of

do., 241

Arbitration, Court of, 86
" Arbitrio,'' The (Tax), 192
Architects, 325, 336, 337, 338
Architecture, " Rustic " Style of, 338
Arezzo, Commercial Treaty with, 30 ; Money

Credit of War with do., 189
Armenia, King of, favours Florentines, 195
Armour, Kinds of, 417, 418 ; do. for Giostre,

423

Arno, Water of the, 149
" Arrabbiati," The, 198, 512 —

Articles used in Woollen Industry, 167 ; do.

sold in Shops of Oil-merchants, 309, 400 ;

do. do. Apothecaries, 254, 255, 256 ; do.

do, Retail Cloth-dealers, 349, 350

Artillery, 424, 425

Artists, List of famous, 532, 533 ; do. in

Stained Glass, 271
Artizans from Greece, 161
Assay, The, 86
Assurance, Contracts of, 30
Athens, Duke of, Podesta, 53 ; Expelled,
; his novel Windows, 311 ; favoured
yers, 152 ; Revenge on Bankers, 194

Dve

BACARELLI Bank, 181

Badesi Bank, 181

Badia, The, First Residence of the Podesta,

Bakers fond of Litigation, 436 ; Disesteem
of do., 437; Regulations concerning,
439, 440 ; Weights and Measures of do.,
442

Balance-sheet of the State, 557, 558
Balducci, Francesco, Agent of Bardi Com-
pany, 182

Bale of Cloth, A (TorseHo), 134
Bandinelli, Baccio, Sculptor, 340, 479
BANKS AND BANKERS :— Mercatores Papae,
171 ; do. in London, 171 ; Various
designations of, 172 ; The Gold Florin
of 1252, 172 ; Dante on, 173 ; Treat-
ment of Capital, 173, 188 ; Exchange
Offices, 173 ; Esecutore— a special Bank
Official, 174 ; Rack for Delinquents,
175 ; Sureties for Members of Guild,
175 ; Money-lenders Uncovenanted.
176 ; Tables in the Market, 176 ;
Books of do. open for Inspection, 177 ;
Entries in Ledgers, 178 ; System of
Book-keeping, 178 ; Florentine Cash-
reckonings, 178 ; Yearly Balance of
Accounts, 179 ; Piety of Bankers, 180 ;
List of Banks, 181, 182; A Day on
'Change, 183, 184; Loggia of Mercato
Nuovo, 184 ; Transfer of Stock, 184 ;
Jobbing, 185 ; Number of Banking-
Houses, 185, 186 ; Palaces of Bankers,
185 ; Vastness of Banking Business,
186 ; Brokerage, 188 ; Amount of Money
raised for State Loans, 192, 193 ;
Universal Fame of Florentine Bankers,
198 ; Foreign Mints, 198 ; Failures, 200 ;
Professional Banks of the Guild of
Doctors and Apothecaries, 264
Bankruptcy, Declaration of, 72 ; Court of

do. , 86

Banner-makers, 213
Banquets, Costly, 375, 561
Baptismal Register, 555 ^

Baptistery of San Giovanni, 5, 46, 130 206,
607

608

INDEX

312, 336, 362, 367, 445, 496, 518, 519 ;

Gates of do. , 266
Barbers and Hairdressers, 61, 241, 244, 249,

262, 459, 460
Bardi Bank, 181
Bargains, Striking, 401
Barge and Boat-men of the Arno, 378
Bargello, The, Residence of the Captain of

the People and afterwards of the Podesta,

73. 333- 476
tolini Bank, 181

Mar

Bartoli

Basket-makers, 59

Baths, 246

Bazzaccari, Rosso, Ship-master of Pisa, 25

Beaters, Wool, 149

Beggars, 362

Bella, Giano della, Prior, 46; his " Ordina-
menti della Giustizia," 50

Bells, — Work, 73, 74; "La Trecca," 73;
"La Montanana," 74; "La Campana
dell' Armi," 74 ; Bankers' do., 179 ; " La
Vacca," 479

Belt and Girdle-makers (Women), 68

Bencivenni Bank, 181

Benevieni, Antonio, Surgeon, 249, 266

Berta the Flower-seller, Legend of, 73

Bibliographical Tables, 585-599

Bisticci, Vespasiano da, Chronicler, 268

Black Company," " The, 514

" Blacks and Whites," 132, 266, 465

Blacksmith's Outfit, A, 313

Bobbin Winders (Silk), 213

Boboli Gardens, 343

Boccaccio, Giovanni, 16, 93 ; Agent of Cali-
mala Guild, 134 ; on Money Dodges, 196,
266, 272 ; on Vair, 285 ; on Cooking,
on Bartering, 444 ; on the
larket Language, 448 ; on Hypocrites,

SGI

" Bollo," The, a Guild Guarantee, 116
Bologna, Commercial Treaty with, 23, 109 ;

University of, 76 ; Functionaries from,

76 ; Doctors of Law of, 78 ; Legal De-

grees, 84 ; other Degrees, 92, 94 ; Faculty

of Medicine, 237

Bologna, Giovanni da, Sculptor, 312, 478
Bonifazio III., Marquis of Tuscany, 7
Bookbinders and Bookbinding, 383
Book Collecting, 382
Book-keeping, System of, 178
Books, Early, 267 ; Numbers published,

268 ; Book Industry, 268
Booksellers, 262
Botticelli, Sandro, Painter, 268
Bow and Arrow-makers, 59, 421
Brass Workers, 309
Braziers, 53, 64

Bread, Weight and Price of, 439, 440
" Breve," The, 509

Bricklayers, Master, 313 ; do. Wages, 331
Bridges : —

Ponte Vecchio, 229, 246, 427, 484 ; Shops

on, 189, 301, 333
Alia Carraia, 147, 333, 337, 485
Rubaconte (Alle Grazie), 337, 485
Alia Santa Trinita, 333, 337, 486

Bridle, Bit, and Reins-makers, 59, 137, 278, 405

" Brigate," The, or Social Societies, 53

Brokerage sanctioned by Bankers, 188

Brokers and Agents, 122, 374, 457

Bronze, Famous Workers in, 413

Brunellesco, Filippo, Architect, 340, 479

Bruni, Leonardo, Aretino, 18, 96

Buccheri (Scent), 257, 261

Buffalmacco, Painter and Joker, 476

Builders' Wages, 331

Building Contracts, 327 ; do. Materials, 330 ;
Vast Operations— XIII. Century, 336 ;
XIV. Cent., 337; XV. Cent., 338;
XVI. Cent., 339

Buonarroti, Michael Angelo, 271, 311, 339,
340, 388, 479, 514

"Buonuomini" — under Matilda, 7, 82; be-
ginning of XIII. Cent., 41 ; " Thirty-Six
B.," 41, 43, 44; "Ten B.," 108

Burchiello, Dominico di Giovanni, Barber,
459, 460, 461

Burial Observances, 346

Butchers' Shambles, 301 ; Restrictions con-
cerning do., 301 ; "Tit-Bits," 302; Dis-
esteem of do. , 305

CABINET-MAKERS, 428

" Calcic," II (Florentine Football), 457, 482

Calimala Guild, 105-138

Cambio, Arnolfo di, Architect, 14, 154, 332,

525

Campaldino, Battle of, 10
Campanile, Giotto's, 12, 13; "II Spirito del

Campanile," 13
" Campsores Papae," 171, 181
Candles, 398

" Canna " (Standard Yard Measure), 144, 330
" Canove" (Private Shops), 563
Canvas-makers, 61
Capital, Treatment of, 173
Capitano dell' Arti (Captain of the Guilds), 48
Do. del Popolo (Captain of the People),

48, 71 ; Household of do. , 81
Capitudini (Heads of Guilds), 8, 43, 53
Cap-makers, 263
Capponi Bank, 181

Capraia, Commercial Treaty with, 109
Carders, Wool, 131, 149

Do., Silk, 213
Carding-Machine Oilers, 149
Cargoes, Premiums on, 30
Carnival Songs, 491
Carpenters, Association of, 425 ; Tools of

do., 426; Restrictions concerning do.,

427 ; Famous Carpenters, 430 ; ' ' The

Fat Carpenter," 431
"Carroccio," The, 464
Cascine, The, 148, 332, 481
Cash Reckoning, 178
"Cassoni," Wedding, 292, 428
Castiglione, Count Baltazzare, and " II Cor-

tigiano," 403
Castrum, The Roman, 4
" Catasto," The (Income Tax), 97, 192, 267
Cattle Grazing, 297 ; do. Slaughtering, 297 ;

do. Eatage, 298, Import of do., 299;

INDEX

609

Driving of do., 300; Prices of do, 300;

Taxes on do., 301 ; Breeding of do., 388
Cavalcanti Bank, 181
Caxton, William, "The Playe of Chesse,"

ICO, 101

Ceilings, Fine, 338

Cellini, Benvenuto, 271, 312, 341, 413, 475,
477. 488

Cenni, Taddeo, Florentine Merchant at
Venice, 27

Cennini, Bernardo, Printer, 266

Do. Cennino and his " Trattato della
Pittura," 270

Centre di Firenze," "II, 468, 469

" Cerchi " or Whites, u, 466

" Cerchio " — Prima, Secondo, e Tertio
(Walls), 5, 7

Cereals, 432

Certosa di Val d'Ema, 501

'Change, A Day on, 183, 184

Charrier's Brochure on Fur, 285

Cheese Factors, 394 ; Cheese, the best, 400

Chestnut Roaster, A famous, 534

Chief Ports for Florentine Commerce, 23

Church Vestments Makers, 213.

CHURCHES AND CHAPELS in their relation to
the Guilds : — Sant' Andrea, 450 ; Sant'
Ambrogio, 522 ; Santa Cecilia, 475 ; San
Carlo di Mercato, 524 ; Santa Croce,
269, 271, 312, 333, 337, 515, 532 ; San
Donato alia Torre, 481 ; San Frediano,
534 ; San Giovanni Battista, 5, 46, 130,
206, 312, 336, 362, 367, 445, 496, 518,
519 ; San Lorenzo, 355, 532, 533 ; Santa
Maria in Campidoglio, 449 ; Santa Maria
Maggiore, 73, 523 ; Santa Maria Madda-
lena, 533 ; Santa Maria Novella, 253,
269, 271, 292, 337, 498, 532, 533; Santa
Maria Ughi, 73 ; San Martino, 552 ; San
Matteo, 269 ; San Miniatoal Monte, 130,
269. 337. 5X8 ; La Nunziata, 270, 271,
337, 497, 523, 524; Or San Michele,
271. 334, 357, 525: d'Ognissanti, 146,
273, 337 ; San Piero Buonconsiglio (San
Pierino), 449, 476 ; San Piero Scheraggio,
80, 479 ; San Pietro del Mugnone, 524 ;
Santa Reparata, or Santa Maria del
Fiore (Duomo), 271, 272, 312, 333, 334,
336, 498, 499, 520, 521 ; San Salvatore
al Monte, 534 ; San Spirito, 271, 272,
337 ; San Tommaso, 449.

Cimabue, 14, 265, 269, 498.

Cinderella's Slipper of Vair, 285

Ciompi, "Wooden Shoes," 48, 54, 55, 56, 58,
94, 141, 165, 200, 305, 338, 356, 370, 378,

379. 459, 473. 485

" Civettino," II (Handy Pandy Game), 484

Civil Causes in Court, 92

Climate of Tuscany, 2 ; do. affects Lock-
smithery, 412

Climax of Florentine Prosperity, 199

Clocks, 73

Cloth, Foreign, 115; Sales of do., 115;
Treatment of do., 125 ; Value of Imports
of do., 135; Demand for, 135; Drying
of, 162, 163 ; Stretching Grounds, 105

2 Q

Cloth of Gold, 230 ; Remnants — Dealers in
do., 89; Cloth Cutters, 123, 128, 130

Clover -Juice, Popular Beverage, 367

Cobblers, 316

Cocoons, Steamers of, 214 ; Sprayers of, 214 ;
Sorters of, 214 ; Treatment of, 219, 220

Code of Prohibition, 49 ; do. of Guild Statutes,
110-129

Coinage, Depreciation of, 86 ; Foreign do.
in Florence, 186

Collar and Belt-makers, 278

"Collaterali," Podesta's Judges, 81

College of Judges, 77

" Collegia," Roman, 33, 238

" Collegium," Lothair's, 6

Columbus, 272

Comacine Guild, The, 268, 269, 320, etc.

Combmakers, Wool, 149 ; do. Silk, 213 ;
do. Hair, 264

Commission, Neri Berri's, on Statutes of
Guilds, 51

Commune, Foundations of the, 14
i "Compagnacci," The, 512
i Compagnia del Bigallo, 544, 549, 550

Do., di San Martino, 550, 551, 552
j Companies, Trading, 39, 51 ; Credentials of
do., 71; do. of Families, 72; do. of
Militia of Guilds, 44, 55, 58 ; Affiliated
do., 113; Mercantile do., 130
i Compass, Invention of the, 29
i Competition, Foreign, Effect of, 64, 165, 166
I Concessions at Foreign Ports, 24

Condottieri, Famous, 99, 421

Conjurers, 272

Consignments, Time Limits of, 187, 188

" Consorterie," The, of the Nobles, 37

Constitutiones Olonenses of Lothair, 33

Constitutions, Tentative, for Guilds, 43 ;
Democratic do., 44

Consul, Title of, first named, 8 ; do., Head
of Roman Industries, 36

CONSULS resident at Foreign Ports, 23 ;
their Staffs, 24 ; Special Duties of Consul
at Pisa, 24; "Six Consuls of the Sea,"
26, 27 ; Military do., 39 ; do. of the
Guilds, 41, 43, 55, 77, 79, 118 ; do. of the
Four Universities, 63; Number of do.,
70 ; Disputes at Election of do. , 70 ;
Qualifications of do. , 71 ; Voting at
Election of do., 71 ; Meaning of the Title,
78 ; Calimala do. at Paris, 133

Contracts, Registry of, 164 ; with Seamen,
27 ; do. of Assurance, 30

Cooks, 60 ; Restriction of do. , 303 ; Salaries
of do. , 376 ; Society of Lombard do. ,

524

Coopers, 426

Copper-plate Workers, 63, 267 ; do. Smiths,

63, 309

Copyists, Last of the Master, 268
Corn, Price of, 433, 434 ; Kinds of do., 434 ;

Daily Consumption of, 434
Corn Chandlers, 394 ; Affidavits of do., 434 ;

Shops of do. , 436
Corsini Bank, 181
Council of Florence, 510

610

INDEX

Councils:— "Special," 41 ; "General," 41;

of the "Captain of the Seven Greater

Guilds," 42; of the State, 58, 77, 96;

of Justice (Rota), 83 ; of "The Hundred,"

44, 72 ; of the Consuls of the Guilds,

119

" Counsels of Perfection," 92.
Court of Final Appeal, 45, 85 ; Movable do.

for the Contado, 83 ; do. of Bankruptcy,

86 ; do. for Arbitrations, 86 ; Sessions of

do. , 87

Coverlet-makers, 348
Covoni Bank, 181
Cradle and Chest-makers, 61
Credit of Calimala Guild, 135
Credit, Letters of, 145
Cremona — Collegium et Scholae, 35
Crimes, Capital, 88
Criminals, Treatment of, 514
Cross-bow-makers, 53
Crusade, The Second, 482
Crusca," " The della, 78, 252
Culinary Matters, 373, 374, 375, 376
Cultivation of Land, 386, 387
Curriers, 149
Cutlers, 263, 348
Cutters of Cloth, 123, 128, 130 ; do. of Skins,

278 ; do. Leathers, 278 ; do. of Gems and

Cameos, 339

DALLINGTON, Sir R., " Survey of the Grand
Duke's Estate," 218, 219, 235, 305, 364,

365

Damascening of Metals, 413

Dante Alighieri, Poetry of, 14 ; Early
Trading Families, 37 ; on Knighthood,
94 ; Agent of " Calimala " Guild, 134 ; on
Sales of Woollen Cloth, 163 ; on Bankers,
173 ; on Usurers, 195, 196 ; on the Silk
Industry, 233 ; his Matriculation, 240,
265 ; on Dress, 286 ; on Purses, 408 ;
the "della Crusca," 447; on "Making
the Fig," 465; on the New World,

583

Dead, Offices of the, 513, 514
Dealers in Raw Silk, 263
Death, Sentence of, 50 ; Deaths of Guild

Members, 114
Debt, Public, 191, 192
Debtors, Laws against, 87; do., act as

Executioners, 88

" Decima," The (Income Tax), 192
Decline of Wool Industry, 167 ; do. of

" Masters," 342
Defaulters, 88

Delinquent Guild Members, 116
"Denario" or Danario, Standard Coin, 115
Depreciation of Coinage, 86
Devotions, Popular, 500
Diaries, Private, 18
" Diavolo del Mercato," 478
Dice-makers, 59
' ' Difensore dell' Arti e degli Artifici, e

Capitano e Conservatore della Pace,"

48, 71
Dini Bank, 181

Dirt in Houses, 472

Discovery of America, 273

Dishes, Favourite, 373, 374

Disputes, Trade, 327

Distaff for Flax, 355

Distillers, Apothecary, 241

"Doctor Juris," 77

Doctors' fees, 239, 249 ; do. Appearance,
242 ; do. Methods, 244 ; Petrarch's
Appreciation of, 245 ; Remedies, 245,
246 ; Recipes, 246, 247 ; Number of
Doctors, 243, 249; Pride of do., 250;
Quack Doctors, 250

" Dogana " (Custom House), 299, 353, 370,
400, 433

Dog-clippers, 278

Doge Tommaso, Mocenigo's Testimony, 186

Dome of the Duomo, Competition for, 330

Donatello, 312, 388, 476 ; do. the "Dovitzia"
in the Old Market, 450

" Donati," The, or " Blacks," 466

Doublet-makers, 348

Dress of Florentines, 286-295

Dressers of Vair, 278 ; do. Lambskins, 278

Duels, 424

Dues, Summary of Commercial, 281

Duomo, The. See " Churches"

Dyers, Association of, 56, 61, 122, 131, 523 ;
Duties of do., 124 ; Three Classes of, 150 ;
Rules for do., 151 ; Pre-eminence of their
Workmanship, 127 ; Wool Dyers, 149 ;
Silk Dyers, 213

Dyers and Dyeing Materials, 124, 125, 127 ;
Cost of do., 151

EARLIEST Craft, 323

Eating- Houses, 373, 375

Ecclesiastical Buildings, 336

Edge-tool-makers, 64, 309

Education, Influence of, 14 ; do. of a Gentle-
man, 402, 403

Election of Guild Officers, 117

Eligius, Story of St, 306

Embossing of Metals, 413 ; Famous Em-
bossers, 414

Embroiderers, 61 ; do. Silk, 213 ; do. Gold
and Silver, 232

Emigration of Artificers forbidden, 72, 135,

*54
England, Direct Communication with, 28,

107

English Travellers in Tuscany, 18
Engravers of Gems and Coins, 140 ; do. on
Copper, 410 ; do. on Brass, 61 ; En-
graving, 267

Entrance Fees to Guilds, 66
Equity, Florentine Love of, 76
Escutcheon and Shield-makers, 419
"Esecutore," The, a Special Bank Official,

194

"Estimo," The (Tax), 97
Euphemisms concerning Usury, 196
Evil-Eye, The, 508
Exchange Offices, 173
Executioners, Debtors as, 88
Exemptions from Military Service, 242

INDEX

611

Expenses of Land Transit, 160; do. of

Funerals, 257

Experts of Woollen Cloth, 123, 129
Explorers and Discoverers, 272
Exports of Dressed Furs and Skins, 282 ; do.

of Food Stuffs, 394

FAENZA, Commercial Treaty with, 23
Failures hated, 464

Falucci, Niccolo di Francesco di, Doctor-
Surgeon, 246

" Famiglie di Torri e Loggie," 37
FAMILIES, COMMERCIAL : — Abati, 39 ; Ac-
ciauoli, 22, 137, 180, 191, 200, 215, 314,
467, 501 ; Adimari, 39, 137, 374, 467, 520 ;
Adimei, 39, 137, 484 ; Alamanni, 125,
461 ; Albierti, 18, 36, 137, 180, 266, 424,
500, 532; Albizzi, 46, 54, 55, 62, 137,
453, 467; Altoviti, 137, 500; Amieri, 39,
137 ; Ammanati, 340 ; Antella, 132, 137,
181 ; Antelessi, 200; Antinini, 500;
Ardinghelli, 137, 182

Baldovinetti, 182 ; Bandinelli, 137 ; Bardi,
130. 137. 180, l89. I9I> IQ4. 200, 234,
464 ; Baronelli, 137, 532 ; Bibbiena, 30 ;
Bizzini, 372 ; Borgherini, 500 ; Brancacci,
182 ; Brigamonti, 195 ; Buonaccorsi,
137, 200; Buonafi, 372; Buonaparte,
180 ; Buondelmonte, 39, 55, 137, 484, 500

•Caducci, 500; Caponsacchi, 36, 39;
Capponi, 137, 165, 500; Castellani, 182,
532 ; Castiglionchi, 55 ; Cavalcanti, 37,
107, 108, 137, 181, 234, 462, 466, 500,
502 ; Caviccioli, 55, 467 ; Ceffuli, 107 ;
Cenchi, 130; Cherchi, n, 132, 137, 466;
Chermonisti, 137; Ciampoli, 37; Cip-
riani, 282 ; Cocchi, 200 ; Conte-Bardis
532 ; Corsi, 234 ; Corsini, 137, 200

Donati, 36, 39, 132, 137, 183, 467

Fantoni, 372 ; Fenzi, 500 ; Fifanti, 484 ;
Foraboschi, 333 ; Frescobaldi, 137, 180,
199, 200, 233, 467, 486

Gaddi, 533 ; Garliani, 372 ; Gherardi. 36 ;
Gherardini, 466, 500 ; Giacchiotti, 37 ;
Giamberti, 340 ; Gianfigliazzi, 195, 500 ;
Giandonati, 462 ; Guicciardini, 137, 183,
238 ; Giudetti, 137 ; Gualterotti, 46

Infangati, 39

Lamberti, 36, 137, 282

Macci, 372 ; Machiavelli, 183 ; Mala-
testa, 37 ; Malespini, 39 ; Marignolli,
372; Medici, 137, 193, 209, 304, 340,
357, 467, 480, 532 ; Morelli, 500

Nasi, 137 ; Nerli, 39, 130, 500 ; Niccolini,

S32

Pazzi, 39, 55. Il8- W J37, 183, 481,
467, 532, 533; Passerini, 500; Peruzzi,
46, 137, 180, 185, 191, 195, 199, 200;
Pegolotti, 180; Pilli, 282; Portinari, 183 ;
Pulchi, 532; Pollaiuoli, 340, 477 ; Peccori,
372 ; Pandolfini, 452

Quaratesi, 534

Jticci, 54, 453 ; Ridolfi, 137 ; Rinucci, 137 ;
Rinuccini, 137, 500, 532; Rondinelli,
182 ; Ricasoli, 532 ; Riccardi-Guigni,
532 ; Rucellai, 126, 533 ; Rossi, 479

Families, Commercial — continued
Salembi, 181 ; Sansovini, 340 ; Sassetti,
180 ; Scali, 180, 191, 200; Segni, 235;
Serragli, 55 ; Soderini, 55, 183, 508, 532 ;
Soldanieri, 137; Spini, 137; Strozzi, 54,
55, 137, 183, 198 ; Filippo-Strozzi, 533
Tornabuoni, 37, 137 ; Tornaquinci, 37,
39, 146; Toschi, 282; Tosinghi, 39;
Tosinghi-Spinelli, 532
Ubalducci, 39 ; Ubbrucchi, 195 ; Uberti,
3, ii, 22, 33, 39; Uzzano, 62, 200, 233.
Valori, 180; Vecchietti, 39; Velluti, 222,
223 ; Vespucci, 500 ; Vettori, 222, 223 ;
Villani, 15, 134, 137, 180, 185

"Fare il Signore, 167

Farms and Farming, 386, 387 ; Crops, 387 ;
Bailiffs, 392

Farriers, 309.

Fatalistic Tendencies of Florentines, 509

" Feast of Love," 505

Fees, Doctors', 239

Feltre, Frate, Bernardino da, 574
Do. Vittorino da, 402

"Feneratori" (Money-lenders) for the Uni-
versity, 18

Ferrara, Trade Corporations at, 36

Festival Eating, 375 ; do., Festive Board, 428

Festivals, Church, 73, 505; do., St John
Baptist, 489, 490, 519

Fever Epidemics among Silk-Workers, 219

Ficino Marsilio, Surgeon-Writer, 266

Fico's Tavern, 374 ; Favourite Dishes and
Wines at do., 374; Locksmith's shop
do., 411

Field of the Cloth of Gold, 234

Fiesole, 3, 269

Fiesole, Mino da, Sculptor, 340

Filelpo, Messere, Professor at University, 16

Financial Position of Guilds (i4th century),
52

Fines : — Breach of Trade Customs, 49 ; Un-
sanctioned Agreements, 51 ; Bad Work-
manship, 129 ; Butchers', 304

Finiguerra, Maso, Engraver, 477

Finishers, Associations of Cloth, 123, 128, 129,

I3.1

Fire Risks, 472

Firenzuola, Agnolo, on "Lace," 355

Firewood and Firing, Restrictions about, 398,
442

Fishmongers, 302 ; Kinds of Fish, 303 ; Fish-
ing-Grounds, 146

" Fish out of Water," 456

Flaminian Way, 4

Flax, Cultivation of, 357 ; Regulations con-
cerning do., 354 ; do., Weavers' Associa-
tion, 356

Flood, Great (1333), 468

FLORENCE :— Origin of, 3 ; Peculiar Condi-
tions of, 9 ; Folk-Songs of, 10 ; Prosperity
of, 10, 65, 235 ; University of, 15 ; Head
of the " Tuscan League," 30 ; Collegium
et Scholae, 35 ; Judicial System of, 75 ;
Climax of Prosperity, 199 ; as a Silk
Mart, 222 ; Siege of, 339 ; "The Florence
Supper,"375 ; " Firenze la Bella," 6, 14 ;

612

INDEX

" Le Genti di Firenze," 14; "Studio
Fiorentino," 14

Florentines, a Nation of Shopkeepers, 13 ;
Talkativeness of, 30 ; Characteristics of,
74, 76 ; Language of, 78 ; Doctors of
the Notariate, 78 ; Skilfulness of do.
Workmen, 107 ; Artists of do. in Eng-
land, 341 ; Types of do., 388, 389

Florin, Galleons, coined, 29 ; Varied values
of do., 194

Folders, Cloth, 123, 128, 129, 131

Folk-lore, 507 ; do. Songs, 10, 389

Food Stuffs, Export of, 394 ; do. Sales, 396

Foot Wear, Kinds of, 318

Foreign Cloth, Superiority of, 115, 124
Do. Coinage, current in Florence, 186

Forges, Iron, 306

" Fortunes round the Corner," 345

Founders of School of Medicine, 238

" Franca Pietra," 439

France as Second Fatherland, 132

Franciabigio, Painter, 477

Francis, Saint, of Assisi, 106

" Frateschi," The, 512

" Frati Guadenti," The, 43

Frauds in Trade, 116, 117

Freemasons, 321, 322, 323

Free Thought, 503

Freights, Prices of, 160

French Silk Manufactures founded by Floren-
tines, 234

Friars, Preaching, 198, 571

Fruit, Kinds of, in Market, 392, 457 ; do.
abundant in Contado, 392

Fruiterers, 397

Funerals, 256, of Monna Piera de' Valori
Curonni, 257 ; of Niccolo di Jacopo
degli Alberti, 257; do., Expenses and
Customs, 257

Furniture, 427, 428

Furs : — Treatment of Skins, 279; Kinds of
do., 279, 280 ; Prices of, do. , 281 ; Wear-
ing of do. 283, 284, 285, 377 ; Cnarrier's
Brochure on Wearing do.. 285

' ' Fuste, " or Shallow Vessels, 27

Fustian-cloth, 355

"GABELLE" (Taxes), 59, 190; Items of do.,

191
Gaddi, Taddeo, Bridge-builder, 87, 269, 333,

484, 487

' ' Galle di Mercato " (Merchant Vessels), I, 27
Gambling, 91 ; do. Dens, 471
Games: — of Chance, 114; do. forbidden,

154 ; Kinds of, 371 ; do. Sports, 57, 304,

403 ; Children's do., 473
" Garbo," Wool of, 156 ; Price of do., 160 ;

Value of Cloth of, 163
Gargiolli, Andrea, First Florentine Naval

Commander, 28
Gates ( Porte) and Custom House (Dogana): —

San Ambrogio, 337 ; alia Croce, 491 ;

San Gallo, 337 ; Ghibellina, 337 ; Santa

Maria, 179; San Piero, 63, 305, 399,

438 ; al Prato, 145, 216, 337, 491 ;

Romana, 498 ; Rossa, 162, 372

Gates, Dues and Tolls, 299, 353, 378, 400-,.

433

Gauntlet-makers, 405
Gauze, Makers of Silk, 293
Genoa, Commercial Treaty with, 30
"Genti, Le, di Firenze," 14
Geographical Position of Florence, 3; do.

Research, 265, 272
German War-Lords, 296
Gesso, Work in, 429, 430
Ghetto, The, 508

Ghibellines, 10, 54, 69, 171, 333, 466
Ghiberti, Lorenzo, 266, 317, 334, 360, 477,.

Si9

" Giants at the Gates," 479
" Giglio," The, 457
Gimignano, Towers of, 39
Giostre (Tournaments), 57, 102, 304, 403
"Giotto," 12, 269, 476
Giovanni, Ancient Shrine of San Battista,.

5, 46; Decoration of do., 130; Tessel-
lated Pavements of, 206
Glass, Artists in Stained, 271
Glass-blowers, 61, 262, 394
Gold, Makers of Cloth of, 228
Gold and Silver- workers, 213, 228
Gold-beaters and Gold Wire-pullers, 213,.

262

Goldsmiths, 228, 229, 465, 485
" Gonfalonieri " (Standard Bearers) of the

Guilds, 43, 44, 55, 71, 106 ; di Giustizia,

54, 55. 58. 7L 78, 96

Grain, Kinds of, in the Market, and Prices
of do., 433

"Grandi," The, under Matilda, 7, 37, 323;
do. under Charles of Anjou, 44 ; Faction
Fights of do. , 99

Grascia," " Archivio della, 91; Officials of
the, 99, 348, 436

Grasselli, Gualfreddo, First Podesta, 80

"Grasso, Popolo," 54

" Grave of the Republic," 74

Guelfa," "La Parte, 54, 55, 59, 70

Guelphs, 10, 54, 69, 171, 466

Guicciardini, Francesco, 89, 103, 235, 517;
do., " Counsels of Perfection," 202

GUILDS: — in General— Origin of, 33; Captains
of, 48; Membership in, 65, 66, 375;
Entry into, confined to Florentines, 69 ;
Women Members, 68 ; Erratic Changes
in, 70; Disputes, 49, 71; Registers of,
71 ; Offences against Statutes, 72 ;
Administration of Estates of Deceased
Members, 84, 86 ; in General Council,
87 ; Suspension from, 89 ; Admission to,
113, 114; Deaths of Members, 114;
Penalties, 114, 175; "The Bollo " or
Guarantee, 116 ; Taxation of, 190 ; Books
of the Guilds, 277 ; Annual Commemora-
tions, 376
Seven "Greater Guilds" specially named,

42, 47, 52, 58, 62
Fourteen " Lesser Guilds " do., 42, 45, 46,

47, 58, 62

Five "Intermediate" do., 45, 46, 47,
296

INDEX

613

•Guilds — continued

Twelve ' ' Greater Guilds " specially named,

138, 326, 345, 352
Three "Subordinate Guilds" do.. 56, 58,

60, 62

Final Grouping of the " Lesser Guilds,' '62
Hierarchy of the Guilds, 276, 315, 343
Companies of Militia of the Guilds, 39, 44,

Guild of the Market People, 393
Guild of Religious Persons, 515
•GUILDS, THE TWENTY-ONE : —

I. Judges arid Notaries, 74-104

References to, 42, 47, 52, 53, 61, 69,
80, 97, 113, 142, 449, 522, 530, 536

II. Calimala Merchants, 105-138

References to, 42, 47, 52, 53, 61, 69,
70, 72, 77, 151, 168, 172, 208, 216, 251,

III. Wool, 139-169

References to, 42, 47, 52, 53, 61, 69,
70, 72, 77. 97. 151, 172, 211, 216, 251,
305, 485, 521, 529, 556

IV. Bankers and Money-Changers, 170-203
References to, 42, 47, 52, 53, 61, 70,

77, 142, 145, 462, 530

V. Silk, 204-235

References to, 42, 47, 48, 52, 53, 61,

69. 72, 77, 88, 97, 131, 142, 335, 528
\ I. Doctors and Apothecaries, 236-273

References to, 42, 47, 48, 97, 113, 125,
228, 265, 272, 382, 449, 483. Mercers,
Veil-makers, Perfumers, and Stationers,
262 ; Painters, 269, 523

VII. Skinners and Furriers, 274-286
References to, 42, 47, 48, 52, 53, 61,

70, 97, 276, 378, 522, 529

VIII. Butchers, 296-305

References to, 42, 46, 47, 53, 61, 63,
69, 89, 97, 456, 485, 530

IX. Blacksmiths, 305-314

References to, 42, 46, 47, 61, 63, 69, 97,

315. 530

X. Shoemakers, 314-318

References to, 42, 46, 47, 61, 63, 69,
378, 475- 523

XI. Masters of Stone and Wood, 319-342
References to, 42, 46, 47, 53, 59, 61, 63,

228, 307, 311, 378, 530

XII. Retail Cloth Dealers and Linen
Manufacturers, 342-356

References to, 42, 46, 47, 53, 61, 65, 97,
128, 229, 288, 345, 378, 463, 544 ; Haber-
dashers, 378

XIII. Wine Merchants, 357-366
References to, 42, 47, 62, 63, 97, 305,

XIV. Inn-Keepers, 366-375
References to, 42, 47, 62, 64, 89, 97,

302, 305, 378, 451

XV. Tanners, 375-383

References to, 42, 47, 62, 68, 278, 315

XVI. Oil Merchants and Provision Dealers,
384-401

References to, 42, 62, 63, 97, 305, 457,
480 ; Salt Merchants, 47, 378, 394

Guilds, The Twenty- one — continued

XVII. Saddlers, 401-408
References to, 42, 47, 62, 64, 486

XVIII. Locksmiths, 408-415
References to, 42, 47, 53, 62, 64, 97,

307, 308, 311, 478

XIX. Armourers and Sword Makers, 416-
424

References to, 42, 47, 62, 63, 97, 123,

307.3U. 379- 478, 530

XX. Carpenters, 424-431

References to, 42, 47, 62, 63, 97, 311,
318, 425, 523

XXI. Bakers, 431-442

References to, 42, 47, 62, 63, 97, 305

HABERDASHERS ("Merciai"), 62, 262, 378

Haberdashery, 258, 261

"Hammering" in the Money-Market, 464

Harness-makers, 405

Hat, Raising the, 465

Hawkwood, Sir John, Condottiere, 28

Herbalists, 241

Hierarchy of the Guilds, 276, 315, 343

Highway Robbery, 30, 282

Hinges, Makers of, 412

Hire of Merchant Ships, 25

Hoby, Thomas, and his Diary, 19

Horse-Jobbers, 59

Horsemanship, 402

Horses, Kinds of, 404

Hosiers, Silk, 213, 404, 405

HOSPITALS : — List of " Calimaia" Hospitals,
536.> 537 ; San Bartolommeo, 337 ; Sant'
Egidio. 536 ; San Eusebio, 130, 538 ;
San Gallo, 337 ; San Giovanni, 541, 544 ;
San Giovanni di Dio, 542 ; San Lazaro,
539 ; Santa Maria degli Innocenti, 543 ;
Santa Maria di San Gallo, 544, 538 ; San
Maria della Scala, 540, 544 ; Santa Maria
Xuova, 217, 337, 539: San Matteo, 541 ;
del Orbetello, 540 ; San Paolo, 542 ;
Por Santa Maria, 542 ; di Niccolo da
Uzzano, 543

Hours of Work, 114, 154

Houses. Kinds of, 470

House-Tilers, 61

ILLUMINATORS of MSS., 268

Imitation Gold and Silver, Measures against,

22Q

Immigration of Foreign Work-people, 162
Imports of Mulberry Leaves and Silk Worms,

219 ; do. of Corn, 433
Impruneta, Madonna dell', 489, 498, 499
Income-Tax (Prestanza), 190
Industry, Florentine Royal Road of, 15 ;

Liberty of do., 50
Inlayers of Wood, 430
Innkeepers, 366-375; Regulations for do.,

371; Number of do., 371
Inns : — for Strangers, 370 ; Signs of do., 370 ;

List of Famous do. , 372 ; Purchase of, 397
Inquisition, The, 510
Inspectors : — of Spots and Blemishes,

Woollen Cloth, 129; do. Silk Piece*,,

614

INDEX

214 ; do. of the Calimala, 136 ; do. of
Gold and Silver Work, 229 ; do. of Flax
Beds, 353

Interdict, Papal, 200

Interest, Rates of, 194; Usurious do., 195;
Private do. in the Mercato Vecchio, 459

Interior Woodwork, 338

International Law, 29 ; do. Questions, 88

Inventories of Imports and Exports, 559

Invoices of Contents of Bales (Torsello), 134

Iron :— Ironfounders, 59 ; Dealers in Scrap
do., 309, 410 ; Wrought Iron, 311 ; Cast
Iron, 311 ; do. Grille Work, 312 ; various
objects made of do. , 313 ; Ironmongery,
Saddlers', 407

Italian Types, 266 ; do. Warehousemen, 402

Items of Gabelle (Taxes), 191

Ivrea Collegium et Schola, 35

JEWS, 187, 195, 197, 198, 237, 395, 573, 574

Jobs, Repairing, 422

Jokes, Practical, 475, 488, 490

Jousts, or Tournaments, 57, 102, 304, 403

JUDGES, 75-104 ; Early College of, 77 ; do.
(1597), 103; Tribunal of, 77; Payment
of, 83; Movable Courts of, 83; do. of
the "WTheel," 84; High Reputation of,
91 ; Precedence of, 91 ; Title of Messere
accorded to, 91 ; Dress of, 91 ; Payment
of, 92 ; do. of Appeals, 93 ; Veniality of,
93 ; Seek Knighthood and Embassies, 94

Judicial System, 75 ; Severity of Sentences, 88

Jug and Dish Makers, 262

Justice, Reverence for, 76 ; Sessions of Courts
of do. , 87

Justinian, Emperor, Statutes about Money,
194 ; Protects Silk Industry, 204

KINGS, and Queens, and Commerce : — Theo-
dolinda, Queen of the Lombards, 5, 321.
— Charlemagne visits Florence, 5 ; ex-
tends the Contado, 5 ; bestows the Title
"Firenze la Bella," 6; makes Knights,
94 ; encourages Industries, 275, 425. —
Lothair, 6 ; " Constitutiones Olonensis,"

?5, 36 ; " Scholae dell' Arti, " 35. — Frederic
I. gives the names "Guelph" and
"Ghibelline," 10; Chair of Anatomy,
248. — Charles of Anjou, Podesta, 44 ;
makes Knights, 94 ; his Patronage, 185.
English Sovereigns :— Edward I. and II.,
199; Edward III. repudiates Debts to
Bankers, 200 ; Edward IV. forbids Ex-
port of Wool, 158 ; issues Sumptuary
Laws, 167 ; Elizabeth, Decree against
Florentine Merchants, 159; Henry II.,
107, 156; Henry III., 199; Henry IV.,
158; Henry VII., Commercial Treaties,
159, 341 ; Henry VIII. encourages Flor-
entines, 159, 202, 232, 341. Robert of
Sicily repudiates Bankers' Advances, 201.
French King persecutes Merchants, 201.
Francis I. encourages Florentine Mer-
chants, 296, 341 ; invites Flemish Wool-
workers to compete \\ith Florentines,
*57> J99- Ferdinand of Portugal, 272

KNIGHTS :— Their Precedence, 91 ; Creation
of, 94 ; Investiture of, 94 ; of St Stephen,
168 ; Wearing of Fur, 285 ; Banquets on
Investiture, 376 ; Three Famous, 459 ;
Kits of Knights, 422, 423

LABORATORY, First Florentine, 253
"Laborerum" (Comacine Guild), 322, 324,

327. 335

Labour," "The Gospel of Intelligent, 12
Labourers, 62
Lace, Gold and Silver, 232 ; do., Painted and

Gemmed, 232 ; Thread, etc., do., 355
Land Cultivation, 387
Lando, Michele, Wool-comber, 55, 58, 94,

356

Language of the Florentines, 78
Lantern-makers, 262
Latini Brunetto, 134 ; do. on Butchers, 304 ;

do. on Horses, 404
Latino, Cardinal de' Frangipanni, Conference

of, 69, 70. 317, 326

Laurentian Library, Ceiling of the, 338
Law, International, 29
Leather, Boiled, 385 ; Artistic Work in do.

409 ; do. Makers of Gilded Leather

Articles, 263 ; do. Dressers, Stainers,.

and Embossers, 278
Ledgers of Bankers (1427), 197
Legal Functionaries from Bologna, 76
Legend of " Berta, the Flowerseller," 73 ; do.

of "The White Hen," 461, 462
Legislation, Adverse Foreign, 138
Lending Office, Public, 573, 574, 575, 576
Leper Stations, 537

" Lettere di Cambio," 24, 145, 187, 199
Liberty of Labour, 50

"Librai," Bookmakers and Booksellers, 268
Licenses, Apothecaries', 257 ; do. Inn-
keepers', 320
Linen Manufacturers : — 350 - 356 ; Early

Account of, 352 ; Companies of, 352 ;

Localities for Manufacture, 355
Literature and Writers (Guild of Doctors and

Apothecaries), 265
Litigation, Florentine Love of, 100 ; do.

Butchers and Customers, 303 ; Women

Litigants, 90, 91
Livorno, Port of, acquired by Florence, 26,.

160

Loafers ("Scioperati"), 65
Loans to Workmen, 153; Public do., how

raised, 188 ; do. to Foreign States, 199.
Local Authority, The (" Le Potenze"), 53
Locksmiths : — 408-415 ; Tools, 407 ; Work

of, affected by Climate, 412 ; Kinds of

Locks and Keys, 412 ; Wax Models,

412 ; Embossed Metalwork, 413 ;

Damascening, 413 ; Useful Articles

made by, 414 ; Fine Tools for Artists,

4X5

Locomotion, means of, 136

Lodgings for Strangers, 370

Loggie:— dei Lanzi, 334. 337; del Bigallo,
337; della Zecca (Mint), 337; del Mer-
cato Nuovo, 337, 463; di Pesce(Fish), 457

INDEX

615

Lombards, Inroads of, 4

London, Cloth Fairs of, 107 ; Banking and

Trading Companies in, 201, 202
Loom, An Old Woollen -cloth, 154
Lothair, Emperor, 6 ; " Constitutiones Olon-

ensis," 35, 36 ; "Collegium et Schola," 35
Love-philtres, 483
Luca, Company of the Brothers of San, 270 ;

St Luke's Day, 271 ; Accademia di San,

271
Lucca, Silkworkers from, 216; do. Dyers of

Silk, 217; Early Wool-weaving at,

139 ; Bankers of, 171, 172 ; Commercial

Treaty with, 23, 30
Lung' Arno, 147, 154, 165

MACHIAVELLI, Niccolo (Chancellor of the
Republic), 96 ; on the Wool Industry,
106 ; on Liberty, 182 ; on Money, 197 ;
on Public Order, 467 ; on a Pagan
Spirit, 505 ; on Religious Duties, 517 ;
on the Treatment of Workpeople, 536

Madder ("Robbia") for Dyeing and Tan-
ning, 125

Madonna, Reverence for the, 498 ; Popular
Madonnas, 498 ; Madonna dell' Im-
pruneta, 489, 498, 499 ; Madonna dell'
Orto, 525

Magistracy of Abundance, The (" Annona "),

432. 433, 435, 436
Magistrates, Dress of, 290
Magliabecchi, Antonio, Librarian, 461
Maiano, Benedetto da, Sculptor, 340
Maioto, Tommaso, Book Collector, 382
Malafizi, Giudici dei, 82
Malespini, Ricordano, on Dress, etc., 15,

286

Manual for Silk Manufacturers, 223-228
Manutius Aldus, " Italic " type, 266
Maremma, The, 152
Maritime Development of Florence, 24 ; Six

Consuls of Maritime Guild, 26
Markets, Life and Work in the, 446-469 ;

Disputes in do. , 85 ; Language of do., 447
Marriage Feasts, Cost of, 376, 480; do. of

Giovanna de' Medici, 293, 294
Marriageable Age for Girls, 288
Marsh Mallow for Tanning, 377
Marsuppini, Carlo, Chancellor of Republic,

96

Masaccio, Painter, 476
Mask-makers, 262
Masters of Stone and Wood, 318-344 ; List

of Famous Sculptors, 340
Master Wool-spinners, 149
Matilda, The Countess, 7, 8, 107; her Legal

Tribunal, 82 ; Encourages Industries,

140, 307
Matriculations : — at University, 16 ; Register

of Guild do., 49 ; Rolls of do. burnt, 55 ;

Obligations and Conditions of do. , 79 ;

Board of do., 103; do. Fees, 113, 279;

Earliest Silk Guild Roll of do., 207;

Registers of do., 227; do. of Minor

Guilds, 307; do. of Women, 353
Mattress-makers and Stuffers, 59, 213

Mazzei Lapo — Notary, 102 ; on Lending
Money, 188 ; on Prices of Vineyards,
367 ; on Hospitals, 542, 544

Measurements of Wool Guild, 144

Meat Trade, 300

Medicine in Middle Ages, 286 ; do. Sales of,
252 ; Official Stamps for do., 252

Media, Makers of Bleaching-, 262

Medical Research and Cosimo I., 253

Medici : — Salvestro de', 54, 459, 485, 576 ;
Giovanni de', 203, 463, 578 ; Cosimo de'
(" Padre della Patria"), 253, 463, 578;
Piero de1, 194, 580 ; Lorenzo de' ("II
Magnifico"), 87, 163, 194, 247, 339, 341,
507 ; Grand Dukes : — Cosimo de', I., 73,
74, 87, 168, 192, 194, 271, 310, 315, 364,
485 ; Alessandro de', 74, 87 ; Ferdinando
de', I., 103, 169; Ferdinando de', II.,
294 ; Cosimo de', II., 80, 168 ; Giovanna
de', 293 ; Francesco de', 343 ; Caterina
de', 356 ; Cardinal Giulio de,' 581

Mendicity, 531

Mercanzia : — Tribunal of the, 27, 84 ; Re-
prisals settled by do., 32; Code of do.,
85 ; Jurisdiction of do. , 85 ; Foreign
Merchants' Appeals, 85 ; Final Court of
Appeal in Commercial Suits, 85 ; Deals
with Depreciation of the Coinage, 86 ;
Maritime Suits, 86 ; the ' ' Universita della
Mercanzia," 86; New Constitution, 87

" Mercato," or Labour Master of Monasteries,
9 ; do. of the " Umiliati," 146

Mercato Xuovo, 84, 122, 132, 176, 179, 184,
192, 253, 427

Mercato Vecchio, 106, 244, 249, 279, 300,

356, 360. 374. 4", 424
Mercatores Tuscie, 171
Merchant Navy of Florence, 28, 29
Merchant Princes, List of, 532, 533
Merciai— Raw Silk Dealers (Haberdashers),

62, 262, 378

Messere, Title of, 91, 290
Metal- Workers, Restrictions on, 308 ; List of

leading do., 314

Methods of Working in Wool, 149, 150
" Mezzaria," System of (Land Divisions), 359,

386

Michelozzo Michelozzi, Architect, 476
Midwives, 241

Milan — Collegium et Schola, 35
Military Arts, Treatise upon, 424
Militia, Guild Companies of, 39, 44, 55
Militum Schoke, 33

Millers, 438 ; Regulations affecting do., 439
Mineral Wealth of Tuscany, 306
Miniato, San, al Monte, 130, 269, 337, 518
Miniver or Vair, Dressers of. 278; Wearing

of do., 285 ; Cinderella's Slipper of Vair,

285
Mint. Masters of the, 86 ; do. Regulations,

567, 568, 569

" Minuto Popolo," 37, 45, 55, 58
Mirandola, Pico della, " Phoenix of the Age,"

18

Miscomini Antonio, Printer, 100
"Misericordia," The, 489,513, 545, 546, 547, 548

616

INDEX

Monasteries, Influence of, on Industry, 8; do.

and the Supply of Wool, 156 ; the

" Lamp of Learning," 237 ; List of

" Calimala" Hospitals, 536
Money Lending and the Church, 188 ;

Pleasing Euphemisms about do., 190;

Disputes concerning, 195 ; a Precise

Science, 196 ; Repressive Measures, 197 ;

Limited Interest, 197

Money Values, Florentine, 569, 570, 571, 572
Monopolies, 49 ; Character of, 72 ; do. of

Salt, 40

" Montanana, La," 74

Montaperti, Battle of, 13; Effect of do., 171
"Monte Comune " or Public Bank, 98. 184,

189, 191, 192, 194, 198, 395, 575, 576
Mosaic, Florentine Wood, 428, 429
Mugello, The, Signori del, Commercial

Treaty with, 23, 108

Mugnone, The River, 27 ; do. Saw Mills, 148
" Mutar il Stato ! " 9

NASSI-NASCIO, and the Hire of the Ship
San Pietro, 25

" Nine of Commerce," 56

"Nobili," The, 14

Noises in Streets, 471

NOTARIES — Punishments of, 50 ; desire
Knighthood, 94 ; Training of, 94 ;
Qualifications of, 95 ; Signatures of, 95 ;
Registration of, 95; " Sapientes Juris,"
95 ; Payment of, 96, 97 ; Offices held by,
96 ; Public Auditors, 96 ; Keepers of
State Records, 97 ; attached to Business
Houses and to Guilds, 97, 98 ; employed
on Ships and Embassies, 98 ; Position in
Court and Dress of, 100 ; Notary — Wool
Merchants. 100, 101, 102 ; Numbers of,

OAK-TREES and Bark for Tanning, 380, 381

Oaths of Allegiance, 82, 130 ; do. of Syndics, 71

Observances, Religious, 396, 501, 502, 503

Occult Sciences, 237

Odds and Ends, 345

Offences against Guild Statutes, 72

Officers of Justice, 41

Oil-Merchants and Provision Dealers, 384-401

Old-Clothes Dealers, 61

Olive-Cultivation, 390, 391 ; Export of Oil,

391, 398

Olivero, Wool-workers of, 141
"Olonensis Constitutiones " of Lothair, 35
Oltrarno, 147, 162, 164, 222
" Opera del Duomo," 327
" Opera Fabbrica" of Comacine Guild, 322,

324, 327

Operatives, 54, 290

' ' Oratorio di Santa Maria della Tromba," 447
Orbetello, Cloth-stretching Grounds at, 165
Order of Precedence of Guilds, 42, 51, 58, 61
" Ordinamenti della Giustizia," 50, 51
41 Oricello,"or White Moss, 123, 125, 126, 128
Origin of Florence, 3
Origin of Guilds, 33
Orlando, Monte, 141

Ornamental Sword-makers, 263
Orvieto, Commercial Treaty with, 77
" Ostellani " (Innkeepers), 22
" Ostellieri " (Commercial Inns), 22
Or San Michele, Tribunal of, 62 ; Precincts
of, 164 ; Woollen-cloth Frames at, 162
Canons of, 169 ; Stained glass, 271
Captains of, 302, 303, 333 ; Officials of
396 ; Corn Market at, 429 ; Corn Supply
433 ; Shrine of, 434 ; Orcagna's Taber
nacle, 531

Oubliette, Stinche, 90
Overlaying Wood-workers, 429
Overseers of Silk Exports, 213

PACK-HORSES and Mules, 371

Padua, Collegium et Schola, 23 ; do. Faculty
of Medicine and Surgery, 237

Painters and Painting (under the Guild of
Doctors and Apothecaries), 265 ; Incor-
poration of do. , 269 ; Matriculation, 270 ;
Religious Duties of, 270

Painting on Silk and Satin, 233

PALACES of Members of the Guilds :— Adi-
mari, 445 ; Agolanti, 445 ; Alamanni, 445 ;
Albizzi, 338 ; Alfieri, 445 ; Altieri, 445 ;
Amidei, 475 ; Amieri, 445 ; Antinori,
338 ; Badia, 337, 479 ; Borgherini, 312,
338 ; Buondelmonti, 338 ; Cacciaguda,
445 ; Caponsacchi, 445 ; Cavalcanti, 138,
473 ; Cavolaia, 478 ; Cipriani, 477 ;
Comprobbosi, 164 ; Foraboschi, 479 ;
Geraldi, 338 ; Guicciardini, 338 ; Guad-
agni, 338; Lamberti, 208, 215, 395;
Lamberti Simonetti, 371 ; Macci, 445,
475 ; Manfredi, 445 ; Medici, 445 ;
Mercanzia, 479 ; Mozzi, 486 ; Nerli, 445 ;
Pandolfini, 338 ; Panciatichi, 338 ; Pazzi,
312, 338 ; Pegolotti, 445 ; Pecori, 338 ;
Pilli, 371, 477; Pitti, 338; Podesta
(Bargello); 73, 85, 302, 333, 337, 476,
479 ; Quaratesi, 312 ; Riccardi, 312, 338 ;
Rucellai, 338 ; Serristori, 338 ; Sigi, 445 ;
Soldanieri, 445 ; Strozzi, 73, 312, 338,
483 ; Tornaquinci, 445 ; Torrigiani, 338 ;
Toschi, 477 ; Tosinghi, 448 ; Uguccioni,
86, 338 ; Vecchietti, 445, 458 ; Vecchio,
55. 73, 86, 94, 333, 334, 337, 479, 481

" Palio " II (Horse- Races), 491

" Palla e Maglio " (Bat and Ball), 480

" Palleschi," The, 512

Palmieri, Matteo, Apothecary and Poet, 241,
266

" Palone II " (Rackets), 451, 481

Pandolfini, Agnolo, " Peaceful Citizen," 402

Papal Schism, The, 181

Paper-makers, 262

Parchment, Preparation of, 381, 382; Prices
of, 382

Paris, Central "Calimala" Agency, 133

Parte Guelfa," " La, 54, 55, 59, 189, 208, 326

Passavanti, Frate, on the Language of
Florence, 448

Pastry-Cooks, 441 ; do., kinds of, 441, 442

Patchers, Cloth, 123, 128, 130 ; do. of Skins
and Hides, 378

INDEX

617

" Paterini," The, 514, 549

Patrons of Silk Industry :— Philip, Duke of

Burgundy, 232; Pope Paul III., 232;

Henry VII. and VIII. of England, 234 ;

Filippo Maria, Duke of Milan, 234
Pawn Office, Public, 98, 573, 574, 575, 576 ; do.

Brokers', 215, 229 ; do. Shops, 573, 574,

575- 576
Payment of Accounts, 145 ; do. of Silk Guild,

212

Pazzino de' Pazzi (Second Crusade), 481

Peasant Dress, 287, 289

Peasant Farmers, 386, 387 ; do. Boy of

Donatello (" David "), 388
Pegolotti, Balducci, " Manuale" (Silk), 221,

233

People, Guild of the Market, 393
Peretola, Sports Ground at, 491
Perfection," " Counsels of (Giucciardini), 92
Perfumery, 258 ; Count Magolotti on, 258 ;

Perfumes, 259, 260, 261, 263
Perugia, Commercial Treaty with, 23
Peter's Pence, 181
Petrarch, Agent of Calimala, 134 ; do. Letter

to Boccaccio about Florentines, 15 ; do.

apprenticed to Guild of Doctors and

Apothecaries, 245, 266
Pewterers and Pewter - smiths, 64, 263,

3°9

Physical Culture of Florentines, 402

" Piagnoni," The, 198, 512

PIAZZE — Squares connected with the
Guilds :— d'Alessandri, 163 ; dell' An-
nunziata, 482; de' Brunelleschi, 483; di
Cipolli, 483 ; del Duomo, 424, 488 ; de'
Guidici, 84; de' Macci, 372 ; de' Marroni,
488 ; de'Mozzi, 486; dell' Or San Michele,
486 : Sant1 Andrea, 356, 450 ; Santa
Croce, 301, 481, 491, 543 ; San Giovanni
Battista, 337, 479, 490, 514, 520; San
Marco, 480 ; Santa Maria Novella, 58,
337, 481, 491, 543; San Spirito, 164;
della Signoria, 55, 86, 163, 337, 475, 478,
479 ; della Travi, 141, 154

Piecers, Cloth, 123, 128, 131

Pilatus, Leontius, Professor of Greek, 16

Pisa, Commercial Treaty with, 23, 25, 30 ;
Importance of Pisa to Florentine Mer-
chants, 24 ; Free Imports to Florence,
25 ; Restrictions removed from Floren-
tine Commerce, 25; Capture of do., 25

Pisani, The, Sculptors, 312, 332, 519

Pitti, Buonaccorso, Chronicle of, 21

Plague, "The Black Death," 201; do. of
1426, 509

Plantations of Wood, 332

Pledges, 155

Podesta, The, President of Republic, 48 ;
always a Foreigner, and why, 48, 74,
76 ; Supreme Magistrate, 80 ; Council
of do., 81 ; Household of do. , 81. Some
Prominent Podestas : — Gualfredotti
Grasselli da Milano (First Podesta), 80;
Count Guido Novelli, 42 ; I due Frati
Gaudenti, 43; King Charles of Anjou,
44 ; Duke Walter of Athens, 53 ; Pietro

de' Stefaneschi, 97 ; Pagano di Porcari,

108 ; Otto da Mandola, 147 ; Jacopono

Rangoni da Modena, 325 ; Rubaconte

da Mandola, 486

Poliziano, Ambrogini, Angelo, Scholar, 18
Pollaiuoli, The, Painters, etc., 87, 340, 477
" Popolani," The, 7, 14, 36, 37, 39, 45, 50, 99
" PopoloGrasso," 37, 54

do. "Minuto," 37, 45, 54, 58, 279, 307

do. " Potente," 37

do. " Le Bene," 53

do. "II Primo," 323
" Popoleschi," The, 37
Population of Florence, 555
" Por Santa Maria." Guild of. See "Guild

of Silk," 204-235
Porta, Bartolommeo della, 477
do. Bernardino Delia (First " Defender of

the Guilds"), 48

Porto, II, River Landing-stage, 117
Porto Pisano, 27, 147, 160, 161
Porto Venere, 26

" Potenze, Le" (Local Authority), 54
Potters, 59, 263
Pouches and Purses (Scarselle) Makers, 262,

408

Poulterers, 397

Poveri Vergognosi," " I, 551, 552
Prato, Commercial Treaty with, 109, 141
Preaching Friars, 198
Precedence of the Guilds, 42, 51, 58, 61 ; do.

of Magistrates, 79
Premiums on Cargoes, 30
" Prestanza," The (Income-Tax), 190
" Presto," The, 573, 574, 575, 576
Prices :— General Trading, 167 ; Raw Silk,

Woven Silk, etc., 228
Printers and Printing (under the Guild of

Doctors and Apothecaries), 266
Printers and Publishers, 267
" Prioristi," Family Records, 257
Priors: — "Three," 41, 46; their Signatures,

42; "Six," 48, 49; "Nine," 55, 70;

" Eight," 58 ; do. of the Guilds, 69, 70,

71, 72, 182 ; Secretary to the Priors, 96 ;
Priors of Liberty, 182

Prison, Public (Stinche), 337 ; Date of Erec-
tion, 89 ; Fates of Prisoners, 96 ; Place
of Detention for Irregular Guild Mem-
bers, 122

Proconsul, The, 78, 95

Prohibitions, Code of, 49 ; General do. , 73 ;
Action of Foreign States concerning do.,
137 ; do. affecting Dress, 288 ; Policy of
do., 167, 218 i

Property, Conditions of Landed, 392, 393

Prosperity of Florence, 199, 556, 557

Protection of Materials, 136 ; do. of Work-
men, 153 ; do. of Wool and Woollen
Cloth, 155 ; do. of Silk, 215

Pucci, Antonio, 276 ; Language of Mercato
Vecchio, 448 ; Stanzas upon Activities of
Mercato Vecchio, 448, 449

Pulchi, Luigi, Court Poet, 267

Punishment of Delinquent Guild Members,

72, 116

618

INDEX

Purse, The Public, 559

QUACK-DOCTORS, 262, 483

Qualifications for Doctors and Surgeons, 239 ;

do. Notaries, 95
Quartieri, Guidice Civile dei, 82
" Quattordici," The, 304

RACE of Tuscans, 3

Rack, The, for Banking Delinquents, 175.

Raphael Santi, " Book of the World," 271 ;
do. " School of the World," 340

Ratepayers, 562

Ravenna, Trade Corporations at, 36 ; Facul-
ties of Doctors and Apothecaries, 237

Recipes for Dying Silk, 224, etc.; do. Doctors',
246, 247

Records, Early, destroyed, 8

Rectors of Guilds, 69, 77

Refreshments, Fashionable, 375

Registers of Guilds, 71 ; do. of Contracts, 164

Religious Observances, 501, 502, 503

Remedies in Sickness, Doctors', 245, 246

Remnant Dealers, 346

Reprisals or Retaliation in Trade, 30, 31 ;
Disputes concerning do. , 32

Residences of Consuls of Guilds : — Calimala,
42, 55, 106, 138; Judges and Notaries,
80, 86; "Wool," 164; Bankers and
Money-Changers, 175, 179 ; "Silk," 207,
208 ; Doctors and Apothecaries, 162, 242 ;
Furriers and Skinners, 276 ; Butchers,
298 ; Blacksmiths, 311 ; Shoemakers,
306 ; Masters of Stone and Wood, 331 ;
Retail Cloth Dealers and Linen Manu-
facturers, 346, 356 ; Wine Merchants,
364 ; Inn-Keepers, 371 ; Tanners, 379 ;
Oil-Merchants and General Provision
Dealers, 395 ; Saddlers, 406 ; Lock-
smiths, 411 ; Armourers, 424; Carpenters,
426; 'Bakers, 438; and of the Ufficiali
Forestiere, 86

Retail Cloth Dealers, Early, 64

Retail Cloth Dealers, Guild of, 343-367 ; do.
List of Goods on Sale at Shops of Mem-
bers, 349, 350

Retail Dealers and Drapers (Silk), 213

Retailers of Sundries, 59

Do. Small Linen Articles, 262

Revenue, State, how Raised, 190

Revision of Guild Statutes, 51

Rich Men, Some, 562

" Ringhiera," The (Public Platform), 94, 334

Rising of the " Ciompi," 54, etc.

Rivalry between Guilds of "Calimala" and
"Wool," 115

Robber Captains, 36, 425

Robbia, Della,The, and Glazed Terra-cotta,
270, 289, 312, 340, 389, 426, 501

Roll of Matriculations, Earliest, 107

Roman Castrum, 4 ; do. Road, the Flam-
inian, 4

Rome, Collegium et Universitas, 3, 36

Rope and Hemp Merchants, 60

Rossi Bank, 182

" Rota," Giudici alia, 83, 84

Rottes, Johannes, Maker of Tapestry, 168

SACCHETTI, Francesco, "The Echo of the
Old Market," 448 ; on Judges and Liti-
gants, 90, 93 ; on Love of Money, 196 ;
on Usurers'-Practices, 196 ; on Doctors'
Remedies, 246 ; on Dress, 293 ; on
Butchers' Tricks, 305 ; on Good Eating,
376 ; on the Language of the Market,
448, on Hypocrites, 501 ; on Beggars,
532

Saddlers, 278, 383, 402-409
Saddlers, Dealers in Fancy Articles, 265
Saintly Patrons, 500

Salaries of Bankrupts, 183

Salerno, Faculty of Medicine and Surgery,
237

Sales, Spurious, of Finished Cloth, 115 ;
Annual do. of Woollen Cloth, 164 ; do.
of Foodstuffs forbidden, 396, 397

Saliceto, Guglielmo di, a famous Surgeon,
247

Salt-Merchants, 378 ; Monopoly of do., 451 ;
Treatment of Salt, 402

Salutati, Coluccio, Chancellor of the Republic,
96

Sandal-makers, 316, 378

Sansovini, The, Sculptors, 340

Sarto, Andrea del, Painter, 375, 477

Savonarola Girolamo, 198, 395, 522, 574 ;
Books by, 267

Sbirri (Police), 122

Scabbard-makers, 60, 378, 405

Scaffold-builders, 335, 338, 427

Scales-makers, 213

"Scarlattod'Oricello," 127; do. "diColpo,"
127; " Scarlattini," 127

"Scarselle" (Pouches), 408

Scholae Artium, 33, 35 ; do. Militum, 33 ; do.
of Comacine Guild, 322, 324 ; do. at
Westminster, 341

Sciences, Occult, 237

Scolari Filippo degli — Commercial Traveller
for "Calimala" Guild, 21

Scrap-iron Dealers, 59, 64

" Scrivani," Writers of Manuscripts, 268

Semifonte conquered, and Commercial Treaty
with, 157

Senators of the City, 41

Sentence of Death, 80

Sessions of Courts of Justice, 87

Settignano, Desiderio da, Sculptor, 340

Severity of Judicial Sentences, 88

Shambles, Butchers', 301

Shearers, Wool, 149

Sheath and Casemakers, 263

Sheep-farming, 154

Sheep-shearers, 56, 378

Shieldmakers, 383, 405 ; Kinds of Shields.

. 407

Ship, First Private Merchant, 29 ; do. Canal,
161

Shoemakers, 278, 316, 317, 385

Shops, on Ponte Vecchio, 189 ; do. Apothe-
caries, 256 ; do. Retail Cloth Dealers,
356 ; do. Wine Merchants, 362 ; do.

INDEX

619

Goldsmiths, 465 ; do. on Ponte alle
Grazie, 486

Shopkeepers, Florence a Nation of, 13
Shrines, Street, 504
Shrinkage of Industries, 64
Siege of Florence, The, 329, 563
Siena, Commercial Treaty with, 23, 30, 41,

77, 107, 173, 207
Sievemakers, 263

Signatures of Consuls, 77 ; do. of Notaries,

95 ; do. of Retail Cloth Dealers, 347 ;

do. Oil Merchants and General Provision

Merchants, 396

" Signoria," The, 50, 58, 66,73; abolished,

87

SILK : — Industry introduced from the East,
204 ; Established in Italy and Sicily, 205 ;
First Florentine Silk Merchant, 205 ;
Silk-worm first noticed, 205 ; Mulberry
Trees in the Contado, 205 ; Industry
less thriving than Wool, 206 ; Raw Silk,
206 ; Manufacturers, 206 ; Earliest Pat-
terns for Textures, 206 ; Profits on Spun
Silk, 206 ; Archives of Early Corpora-
tion, 210; Classes of Workers, 211, 216;
Subordinate Crafts, 213 ; Workpeople's
Fees, 213 ; Allied Trades, 213 ; Dealers
in Raw Silk, 213 ; Warehouses, 215 ;
Wages, 215 ; Lucca Workers settle in
Florence, 216 ; Lombardy Silk-dyers
do., 216 ; Importance of Mulberry
Trees, 217 ; Legislation concerning the
Cultivation of do., 217; Lucca Silk —
Dyers settle in Florence, 217 ; Suitable
Land for Mulberry, 218 ; Sir Richard
Dallington's Testimony, 218, 219, 235 ;
Imports of Mulberry Leaves, 219 ; Fever
due to do,, 219; Imports of Silk
Cocoons, 219; Best Raw Silk from Spain,
221 ; Silk Workers emigrate to Oltrarno,
222 ; Velvet Plush, 222 ; Sarcenet
discouraged, 223; "Manual for Silk
Workers," 223-228 ; Recipes for Dyeing
Silk, 224, etc. ; Tables of Raw Silk, 226 ;
do. of Winding Silk, 226 ; Sizes of Silk
Pieces, 227 ; Payments for Silk Weaving,
227 ; Weights of Silk Pieces, 227 ; Prices
of do. , 227, 228 ; Number of Silk Work-
shops, 233 ; do. of Operatives, 233 ; Silk
Stuffs exported, 233 ; Signs of Decay of
Silk Industry, 235 ; Work Girls' Song,
235 ; Silk Carding-combs, makers of,
263

Skins and Fur, Treatment of, 279, 282
Slaughterers, Restrictions against, 301
Slaves and Slavery, 563, 564 ; Freedom of

Slaves, 566
Slipper-makers, 278
Soap-boilers, 394, 511, 512
Social Societies (" Brigate "), 54
"Societa delle Torre," 37
Soldier's Kit, A, 99
Spagnuoli, Cappella degli, 269
" Specchio," II (Taxing Books), 190
Spindles, Flax, 355 ; Whorls on do., 315
Spinners, Wool, 149

" Sportello," The, 93, 114, 502

Spurs," "To win his, 403

Standard Coin, The Denario, 115

State Revenues, how raised, 190 "

Stationers, 263, 348, 382

STATUTES :— Revision of Guild Statutes,
51 ; Neri Berri's Commission on do., 51 ;
of the " University of Commerce," 51 ;
of the Three Subordinate ("Ciompi")
Guilds, 57 ; of the Guilds generally, 78 ;
Written in Latin (Greater Guilds), 78 ;
do. with respect to Gambling, 91

" Statute, II, di' 96," 85

"Statute Vecchio, II," of Guild of Silk,
209

Stinche, The (Public Prison), 89, 122, 337;
Fates of Prisoners, 90

" Stocks," The Public, 455

Stone-cutting, the Earliest Craft, 323 ; do.
Masons, 325 ; Kinds of Stone, 331, 332 ;
do. throwing, Street-Boys, 454

Story of Berta the Flower Seller, 73 ; of
Giudetto della Torre, 285 ; of Valore de1
Buondelmonti, 294 ; of St Elegius, 306 ;
of Giovanni del Tosco, 318 ; of the
" Fat Carpenter," 431 ; of Ginevra di
Niccolo degli Amidei, 447 ; of the Three
Blind Beggars, 532

Straw and Felt Hat Makers, 262

Straw and Hay Dealers, 398

Street-paving, 337

Strikes, Workmen's, 166

String, Cord, and Rope Makers, 263

Strings, Makers of Catgut, and Musical In-
struments, 263

"Studio Fiorentino," 15; Notaries at, 98;
Students at, 272

Stuff Weavers, 61

Summary of Commercial Dues, 281

Sumptuary Laws, 90, 99

Superstitions, Popular, 506, 507, 508

Supper Clubs, 374 ; The "Florentine Supper,"

375
Surgeons, Famous, 247, 249 ; Numbers of,

243, 249 ; Fees, 249
Surgery in Middle Ages, 236 ; Treatise on

do. , 247

Surveyors of Weights and Measures, 354
Swordbelt Makers, 378
Syndics, 41 ; do. of Guilds, 71 ; their Oaths,

71 ; sell Defaulters' Goods, 88

TAFI, Mosaicist, 476

"Taglia," The, 93

Tailors, Silk, 61, 65, 213, 346 ; Regulations
concerning do., 348, 349

"Taking the Chair," 428

Talamone, Port of, acquired from Siena, 25

Talent! , Buonaccorso, Architect, 464

Talenti, Francesco, Capo Maestro, 329

Tanners, Guild of, 376-384 ; do. Regulations,
379, 380 ; Outfit of, 380 ; Methods of
Tanning, 380, 381 ; Use of Marsh-
mallows and Oak-bark, 377

Tapestry, 168

Tares, 145

620

INDEX

Tariffs on Freights, 28

Tasso, Bernardo, Architect, 464

Tavern Keepers, 361

Taxes or " Gabelle," 59; " Arbitrio," 192;
" Catasto," 192 ; " Decima," 192 ; " Pres-
tanza," 190; "Monte Comune," 191,
194; do., on Silver, 66; do. on
Commodities at the Gates, 188 ; do. on
Cattle, 301

Taxing-masters of Furriers, 278

Teachers of Medicine, Early, 239

" Ten of Liberty," 56

Tennis Bat and Ball-makers, 263

Theodolinda, Queen of the Lombards, 5, 321

Thieves and Rogues, 487

Thomas, William, and his Diary, 18

" Tit-Bits," Butchers', 302

Titles of Guild Members, 52

Timber, Kinds of, for Buildings, 332

Time Limits for Consignments, 187

Tolls, Dogana or Gate, 299

Tools, Carpenters', 426

Torkington's, Sir Richard, Journey, 18

Torrigiano, Piero, Sculptor, 341

Torture, in Extreme Cases, 89

Toscanelli, Paolo, Explorer, 265, 272

Totila overruns Tuscany, 4

Touchstones, 567

Tournaments, 57, 403 ; do. at Peretola, 423

Trade Customs, 20, 29, 51 ; do. Disputes,
327 ; do. Routes, 20, 29, 160

Traders, nth and i2th Centuries, 39, 40, 41,
141 ; do. expelled from France, 136

Trading Companies :— General, 51 ; Creden-
tials of do., 71 ; Acciauoli, 191, 200,
215; Antelesi, 200; Bardi, 130, 467;
Buonaccorsi, 200 ; Cenchi, 130 ; Cerchi,
132 ; Cocchi, 200 ; Corsi, 234 ; Corsini,
200 ; Frescobaldi, 130, 200 ; Medici, 201,
202; Nerli, 130; Pazzi, 130; Peruzzi,
130, 185, 191, 195, 200 ; Salembeni, 199 ;
Scali, 130, 131 ; Segni, 235 ; Uzzano,
200

Traditions of the Mercato Vecchio, 454, 461

Travellers, Commercial, 20, 159

Travelling Companies, 136

Treasurers of Guilds, 120

Treaties, Commercial : — Arezzo, 30 ; Bologna,
23, 107 ; Capraia, 107 ; Chieftains of the
Maremma, 23 ; Faenza, 23 ; Fano, 30 ;
Genoa, 25, 26, 30, 31 ; Lucca, 23, 30,
172 ; Lords of the Mugello, 23, 108 ;
Lords of Trebbio, 69, 77 ; Orvieto, 77,
207; Padua, 30; Perugia. 23, 30; Pisa,
23> 25> 3° ! Pogna, 68 ; Prato, 109, 141 ;
Rome, 77 ; Semifonte, 107 ; Siena, 23,
30,41, 77, 107, 173, 207; Spoleto, 30;
Venice, 30, 31 ; Viterbo, 30 ; Volterra,
30, 207

Treatise on the " Arte della Seta," 233
Tribunal of Judges, 77 ; Central do., 82 ; do.
of the Sestieri, 83, 92 ;" alia Rota," 83 ;
della Mercanzia, 84-87 ; of the Guilds,
87, 88

Tripe-Sellers, 302
Trough Makers, 59, 426

Trousseaux, Marriage, 293

Truss and Suspenders Makers, 263

Turin Collegium et Schola, 35

Tuscan Race, 3 ; do. " Fever," 481

Tuscany : — Climate of, 2 ; Geographical

Position, 3 ; English Travellers in, 18 ;

Agriculture of, 358, 385 ; Peasants of,

388 ; Sheep of, 115 ; Wines of, 359, 365,

366

Twine- pullers, 294
Types of Florentines, 388, 389

UGOLINI BANK, 181

Uberti, Farinata degli, 22

Uberto da Lucca, First Captain of the People,
82

Ufficiali Forestiere, 84 ; Residence of, 86

"Umiliati," or "Humble Fathers," 8, 145,
146, 147, 148, 485, 497, 498, 499 ; sup-
pressed, 148 ; Manufactories of, 162, 216

Undertakers (Apothecaries), 256

Universities, Four Trade, incorporated under
Cosimo I., 62. I. St Peter's Gate, 63,
305, 438 ; II. Master Workers in Leather,
63. 3*6> 378, 406 ; III. Artizans, 63, 310,
415, 419, 432 ; IV. Linen-Drapers, 64,

357. 364

University of Florence, 15 ; Statutes of, 16 ;
Matriculation, 16; Conditions of Student-
ship, 16 ; Students and Money-lenders,
18 ; Rector of, 18 ; Roll ot Members, 18 ;
Sumptuary Laws, 18 ; Distinguished
Graduates, 18
Upholsterers, 383
Urbino, Duke Federigo d', 402
Usanze di Calimala," " Le Buone, 115
Usurious Interest, 195 ; F. Sacchetti and G.
Boccaccio on, 196 ; Efforts to Check, 197

VACCA, Torre del, 479

Valuers of Flax, 354, 355

Values: — Imports of Foreign Cloth, 135; do.
Woollen Manufactures, 163 ; do. Dressed
Furs and Skins, 282, 283 ; do. Wine
Industry, 367

Varnishers, 61, 426

Vegetable-Dealers, 296, 457

Vegetables, Kinds of, in the Market, 457, 458

Veilmakers, 232, 263

Venice, Collegium et Schola, 35 ; Commercial
Treaty with, 30, 31

Verra, Carnucceo della, Distinguished Fur-
rier, 276

Verroccio, Andrea del, Sculptor, 312

Vespucci, Amerigo, Explorer, 273, 582

Vest and Doublet Makers, 213

Vestments, Makers of Church, 213, 351, 355

VIE DELL' ARTI — Business Streets : — Corso
degli Adimari, 99; Via degli Alfani,
123, 141, 165 ; Borgo degli Albizzi,
163, 185, 476, 491 ; Corso degli Amidei,
475 ; Via dell' Arciveccordo, 372 ; Via
degli Arazzieri, 168 ; Viadi Baccano, 99,
474; Via de' Bardi, 147, 185, 478;
Chiasso del Buco, 428 ; Chia>so de'
Baronelli, 277 ; Via de' Cacciauoli, 475 ;

INDEX

621

Via delle Caldai, 162 ; Via di Calimala,
99, 106, 107, 122, 474; Via de' Calzaiuoli,
474, 475, 476 ; Via del Castelluccio, 123 ;
Via de' Cavalieri, 371 ; ViadeiCimatori,
162, 476; Via de' Cerchi, 185, 476 ; Via
de' Chiara, 165 ; Via della Colonna, 215 ;
Via del Corso. 476; Chiasso de Erri,
478 ; Via del Fuco, 477 ; Via de' Ferre-
vecchi, 478 ; Via del Garbp, 156, 474 ;
Via de' Ginori, 141 ; Via di Gora, 147 ;
Borgo de' Greci, 185 ; Vicolo del Guanto,
476; Via de' Lamberteschi, 277, 426;
Vicolo del Leoncino, 476 ; Via di Lontan-
morte, 371; Via Maggio, 161, 164; Via
de' Malcontenti, 524; Via della Morta,
447 ; Via di Mellone, 476 ; Borgo d'Og-
nissanti, 147, 162, 216, 456, 491 ; Via alia
Paglia. 372 ; Via de' Pandolfini, 80 ; Via
de' Pellicciai, 162, 282, 477 ; Via alia Per-
gola, 141, 165, 477 ; Via de1 Peruzzi, 185 ;
Via del Piazza, 372 ; Borgo de' Pinti, 41 ;
Via de' Pittori, 475 ; Via di Por Santa
Maria, 99, 474, 486 ; Via deila Porta
Rossa, 99 ; Via de' Renai, 486 ; Chiasso
de' Ricci, 478 ; Via del Proconsolo, 79,
372 ; Sant' Egidio, 165, 477 ; San Felice
in Piazza, 162 ; San Gallo, 524 ; Borgo
San f acopo, 162 ; San Piero Gatolino,
165 ; San Romeo, 372 ; Fondaco San
Spirito, 162; Via della Scala, 543;
Vicolo della Seta, 215, 222 ; Via de'
Servi, 123, 141, 165, 355 ; Viade' Spadai,
424 ; Via degli Speziali, 370, 372, 447 ;
Via de' Tavolini, 176; Corso de' Tin-
tori, 162 ; Via de' Tornabuoni, 85 ; Via
delle Torre, 379 ; Via dell' Uccello, 165 ;
Via di Vacchereccia, 372, 437 ; Via de'
Vecchietti, 478; Via de' Velluti, 222;
Via della Vigna, 162, 488, 491

Villani, Giovanni : — Testimony to Woollen
Industry, 161, 162, 163 ; to Banking
Business, 181, 201; to Dress, etc.,
287

Vinci, Leonardo da, 18 ; do. Ship-Canal, 161 ;
do. "Book of the World," 271; do.
1 ' School of the World, " 340 ; do. with
Peasant Models, 388; and Little Birds,

Vine, Cultivation of the, 360

Vintage, 365, 366

Visitors, Influx of, 368, 370

Viterbo, Commercial Treaty with, 30

" Voce Toscana," 461

Volterra, Commercial Treaty with, 30, 207

Voting, Rules of, 119

WAGES of Wool-workers, 153 ; do. of Silk-
Workers, 215, 217

Wall Hangers, 383

War, Twelve Captains of, 325

Warrior's Kit, 422, 423

Watching Streets, 122

Wax-modelling, 339 ; do. Moulding, 334 ;
do. for Locks, 412 ; do. Chandlers, 262

Wealth of Florence, 562, 563

Weapons, Kinds of, 417, 418

i Wearing Skins and Furs. 283, 537

Weavers of Silk and of Cloth of Gold,
213

Weddings, 261 ; do. Cassone, 292 ; do. Bells,
487, 488

Weights and Measures: — Wool, 122; do.,
Silk, 227 ; do. , Bakers, 442

Well Rope and Gearing Makers, 262

Whorls on Spindle, 315

Will, A Strange, 66

Windows (House), 471

Wines, and Wine Merchants :— Guild of,
358-367 J Sellers of, 361 ; Shops of,
362 ; Regulations and Measures, 362,
363 ; Distinguished Wine Merchants,
363 ; Amount consumed in Florence,
366 ; Prices of, 367 ; Foreign Wines, 370 ;
Kinds of Native Wine, 371

Woad, or Guado, 125

Women : — Disabilities of, 90 ; do. and
Notaries, 99 ; " Require the Stick ! " 91 ;
Matriculation of, 353

Woodwork : — 427, 428, 429 ; Kinds of Wood,
429 ; Polishing do., 429 ; Inlaying do.,
430; Famous Workers, 430 ; Wooden
Shoe-makers, 316 ; Master Wood-
cutters, 325

! WOOL :— Carders, Association of, 53, 68;
Dyers, do., 53; Sorters, do", 56;
Washers, do., 149 ; Weavers, d ;
Winders, do,, 149; the Staple Industry
of Florence, 106 ; First Notices of
Woollen Industry, 139, 140; Early-
Trade in Wool, 141 ; Kinds of do., 156,
157, 160; Supply of Native do., 1^4;
Prices of Raw do., 155, 260; Wool
from British Monasteries, 156 ; Wool
Merchants in London and elsewhere,
159 ; Biennial Wool Sales, 164 ; Hours
of Workers in Wool, 73, 114, 154 ; For-
bidden do., 153; Numbers of Wool-
workers, 163 ; Methods of Working in
Wool, 149; Kinds of Woollen Cloth,
144, 161 ; Weights of do., 144; Annual
Value of Woollen Manufactures. 163 ;
Wages of Workers, 153 ; Foreign Work-
people attracted, 162 ; System of Wages,
165 ; Weights and Measures, 122 ; Dues
upon Warehousing Wool, 161 ; Articles
used in Woollen Manufactures, 167; Sort-
ing and Beating forbidden, 154 ; Wool-
len-Cloth Merchants in Engfand, 159 ;
Difference between British and Spanish
Woollen Cloth, 163; Decline of Industry,
167 ; G. Villani's Testimony to the
Prosperity of Industry, 161, 163 ; Guild
of Wool, the First Trade Corporation of
Florence, 141 ; do. not to Clash with
"Calimala," 143

Work and Workers :— Master Workmen, 67 ;
Classes of Workmen, 122, 123; Emigra-
tion of Workers forbidden, 135 ; Charit-
able Care of Workpeople, 537 ; Workers
in Metals, 308 ; Association of Workers
in Gold and Silver, 228 ; do. in Silk, 211 ;
Silk Workgirls' Song, 235

622

INDEX

World, Discovery of the New, 273
Writers and Designers, Association of, 268

YOUNG Men, Dress of, 289

"ZAZZERA" the Fashionable Style of Hair-
dressing, 460

Zecca,— Mint and Minting, 566-573
Zenobio, Saint, Bishop of Florence, 507
Zibaldoni (Diaries), Giovanni Rucellai, 126 ;
Alberti, Cavalcanti, Peruzzi, and Valor i
Families, 257, 318 ; Parchment used for
do., 382

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Staley, John Edgcumbe
The guilds of Florence