Classic republican institutions (1328-1343)

6The institutional and political edifice to which Bruni alludes, and which would long remain in place, came into being with the establishment of the Priori system (the priorate) and then with its fundamental reform in 1328. [15] To mitigate certain aspects of this system which were seen as demagogic, a series of reforms was gradually introduced, such as the selection of officers on the basis of an election (squittino), or by drawing lots, [16] which conversely might discourage selection on merit. The priorate was the principal executive body of the state. It was composed of eight priors and a Gonfaloniere of Justice (standard-bearer of the Republic of Florence, and charged with maintaining public order) who occupied their roles for two months, following the drawing of lots from leather bags (borse) containing the names of the winners of the elections which had been carried out in the four districts which comprised the city. This judicial body enjoyed significant power, which was not, however, allowed to degenerate into tyranny. This first political institution, whose members spent the two months during which they were in charge in isolation in the Palazzo della Signoria, were flanked by two other Collegi (elected councils): that of the Dodici Buonomini (twelve good men), and of the Sedici Gonfaloniere (sixteen gonfalonieres), which were set up to protect the popolo (non-aristocratic citizens) from the magnates (the elite families which had traditionally held power) [17] but which rapidly assumed a political role. These main organs of government, the tre maggiori (three main offices), [18] considered all matters pertaining to the running of the state. Draft bills, once approved by the Signoria, [19] were submitted for approval to the city’s Councils: the people’s council and the communal council. Bruni showcases the “perfection” of the organisation of the Commune, particularly in how justice is administered, via the striking image of the communal palace – the Palazzo della Signoria – which, as much by its height as by its bulk, stood out from all the other buildings in the city. [20] Physically, it signalled the centre of the city; symbolically, it stood for communal society: a place which embodied the supremacy of the law over the different factions, institutions and consorterie [21] which tended to create or maintain their own spheres of authority, and thus a place which represented the victory of public authority over the various bonds of solidarity, and expressed its superiority over the loyalties which linked families and individuals.

7However, this institutional edifice was subject to the effects of a series of changes. The initial system, which enjoyed its heyday at the end of the 1330s, rapidly came undone in the following years, partly due to a series of unfortunate coincidences, such as the bankruptcies which resulted from the insolvency of Edward III, King of England (1343), and affected the big commercial companies (belonging to the Peruzzi, Acciaiuoli, Bonaccorsi, and Bardi families) and thus a large section of Florentine society. These bankruptcies were followed by attempts by the Bardi, Frescobaldi, Rossi and Nerli families to assume control of the city’s government in order to better protect their own economic interests worldwide. Additionally there were problems concerning the food supply, [22] as well as the aborted attempt to conquer Lucca, which threatened to plunge the city into chaos. The Republic believed it could put an end to these troubles by appointing a signore – initially for a limited period of one year, and then extended to a life appointment – to regain control over the violent tensions opposing the nobility (the magnates) and the other social groups. They chose Gautier de Brienne, who had led the Florentine troops in the war against Lucca. As early as 1343, de Brienne was ousted by a coalition comprising all social groups who, for a brief period, managed to formulate unified demands and work together; subsequently the political class once again allowed the magnates access to power, [23] but also, for the first time, representatives of the arti minori (minor guilds). [24] Despite the rapid disintegration of this unified front, and the subsequent exclusion of the magnates from government once again, the 1343 reform remained a key moment in the history of the Commune, and a challenge to the political and social order which, in seeking to promote “new men” (novi cives), [25] created a ruling class which had never previously been represented in the Signoria. [26]

Increasing centralisation, social struggle, and the quest for consensus within the ruling class (second half of the fourteenth century)

8The chronicler Giovanni Villani reported that 3000 citizens were preselected by the electoral commissions for the 1343 election, of which around 300 were approved and saw their name go into the leather bag. Their number increased: 500 qualified in the 1361 election, even though the population had experienced a sharp decline when compared to the previous elections. Between October 1343 and August 1348 no fewer than 163 families held priorate positions for the first time. During this period, on average half the priors were “new men”. [27] The trend persisted, though at a much slower pace, in the decades which followed, at least until 1387 when the selection process for appointments began to be based on other criteria. There was then a marked decline in social mobility, but only from 1393, although the Republic remained open to new families penetrating the traditional power base. [28] The divieto limited how often a single individual could be elected. [29] For example, a prior could not take up the same office for the two years following the end of his term, and his family members were prevented from doing so for one year. This served to prevent the wealthiest families from monopolising the exercise of power, and worked to the benefit of those who did not have family connections. The large number of positions available and the frequent changes of personnel meant that the system achieved the political education of a significant number of citizens. Their involvement in the legal and political system, in administrative and financial offices, with the guilds, in assemblies, Councils, commissions and embassies provided them with enviable political training and a unique understanding of the problems and techniques of government. Despite the short-term nature of the positions, political continuity in the city was ensured both by overlapping political offices, and by referral to special balìe, which ensured continuous leadership and policy control, particularly when it was a matter of seeing through long-term enterprises, such as wars, which required consistent decision-making over a long period. [30] Moreover, small groups of citizens (including magnates) were regularly coopted to advise the Signoria and the Colleges on problems of both interior and exterior policy. These were people who held great political influence, who were called upon for their understanding of economic or international circumstances; even if, at the point at which they were co-opted, they held no specific institutional office. [31]

9The new ideological direction heralded by Salutati – from the time of the so-called War of the Eight Saints against Pope Gregory XI (1375-1378) and the tumultuous period of the Revolt of the Ciompi [32] (1378) until the fortunate and satisfactory outcome of the struggle against the Visconti (1402) – and the construction subsequently attributed to this by Bruni in which he exalted Florentine freedom, corresponded to a period of enormous change in Florentine history.

10The collapse of the government formed by the minor guilds (which lasted for only a short time from the Revolt of the Ciompi to the beginning of the 1380s) then, to an even greater extent, the reforms of 1393 confirmed the domination of the merchant and financial bourgeoisie, and the decline of a Commune which was based on the autonomy of each guild and their equal participation in the government, within which the differences and divisions were formally recognised. The resulting government represented these differences and exercised its power as a federation of autonomous parties. [33] The city thus now sought a new institutional foundation in order to protect itself from internal divisions, which had already proved fatal to the survival of a number of self-governing or citizen-controlled communes, and had even seriously threatened the survival of the Florentine Republic itself on several occasions. Such a new institutional foundation was also intended to enable it to tackle and bring to fruition its foreign policy objective of expanding its dominio. [34] The ideological programme set out by Bruni clearly articulated this break with what had gone before, with its new emphasis on loyalty to the state, considered more important than any other family or professional loyalty. The common good was thus designated as a reality more powerful than that exerted by all other partial associative structures, such as professional or associative interests.

11These demands led to a debate concerning the traditional norms and, following the parlamento (citizen’s general assembly) of 1378, to demands for the sovereignty of the city to be enshrined in the Signoria and the Colleges, the highest structures of government, which met with the approval of both Councils, that of the People and of the Commune. Power was then concentrated in the hands of the Signoria, and a selection process for the city’s rulers was developed. Those recognised as belonging to the reggimento [35] were recruited via the electoral borse of the tre maggiori, and were destined over time to become a hereditary ruling group who monopolised public office. Similarly, although with partial success, the simple drawing of lots for offices was also put up for discussion, the feeling being that they should in fact be elected so that the merit of the persons selected could be truly guaranteed. [36] Bruni’s insistence in describing the priorate as enjoying the quasi royal prerogatives of a city which had inherited the right of conquest from Rome was a reaction to the resistance to this project and the strong regime within many strata of the city. [37]

12Florence’s affirmation of its sovereignty and its ambitions for territorial expansion went hand in hand with increasing concentration of power at the highest level, until the social representation of the Commune was jeopardised and the endemic conflict between the debates in the Signoria and the vote in the Councils resurfaced. In addition, the context of war and crisis meant that power was delegated and, passing out of the hands of the usual Councils, was instead entrusted to select committees such as the Dieci di Balia (Ten of the Balia) or the Council of Eighty, which were made up of members of the main organs of government. These members, instead of the Councils within whose jurisdiction these matters fell, were authorised to debate the most controversial (financial and fiscal) matters. The coup d’état led by Maso degli Albizzi in 1393 led to the expulsion of the opposition faction, notably the Alberti and Acciaiuoli families, who were competing for the very structure of Florence’s institutions. Maso then proposed that the city statutes be revised in order to take into account Florence’s new position, a “powerful city”, capital of a rapidly expanding territory.

The quantitative importance of citizen participation in the city’s government: some numerical data

14The regime which came to power in 1343 when the Duke of Athens was ousted was the first to appreciably widen the social base and scope of the political class. However, after an initial period during which magnates and representatives from the minor guilds were able to participate in government, the regime returned to strict observance of the Ordinances of Justice which, since 1293, had barred the magnates from occupying the city’s highest political offices. Participation in government remained open to representatives of the minor guilds who – although numerically inferior – took their seats alongside the major guilds. [38] The traditional system of co-optation to the political class consisted of submitting to the electoral commissions the lists of those guild members who had been nominated and fielded by various institutions, from the Guelph party to the guilds themselves. The names of the winners of the vote were placed in the relevant leather bags – one for each of the tre maggiori – and were then selected at random from the bags when required. For the three major offices alone, the priors, the Sedici Gonfaloniere, and the Dodici Buonomini – in other words Florence’s real government – 150 citizens were elected each year. Florence’s two legal councils, the consiglio del popolo, with 300 members, all from the popolo, and the consiglio del comune, with 200 members, of which 40 were magnates, were responsible for debating and voting on the draft legislation sent to it by the executive. Since this membership of 500 was renewed every four months, these councils comprised 1500 individual citizens every year, often the same who had been elected to hold major offices. These two large legislative assemblies had no mandate to initiate the legal process; only the executive authority of the Signoria could do this. Despite this limitation, the councils played a fundamental role in Florentine public life. Although they were largely composed of members who had been chosen to occupy the highest levels of government, because of their numbers they were difficult for the executive to control; in fact, they often opposed it and rejected its draft legislation, especially when it concerned questions of taxation.

15Other public offices existed, in addition to the legal councils and the tre maggiori, and the numbers of such offices multiplied during the oligarchic regime (1383-1434). [39] The Otto di Guardia (Eight of the Guard) were a type of police force in charge of overseeing public order, established in 1378 just after the Revolt of the Ciompi. The Dieci di Balia, created shortly afterwards in 1384, were in charge of military affairs and the conduct of war. The Ufficiali dell’Onesta (Office of Honesty) controlled prostitution and sexual behaviour; and the Conservatori di Leggi, set up in 1429, oversaw the qualification requirements for holding public office. The Cinque del Contado [40] were responsible for the economic and fiscal administration of the surrounding area and the districts. The numbers of external offices dealing with the administration of justice and the defence of Florentine territory grew significantly during the oligarchic period as a result of Florence’s territorial expansion and the acquisition of Arezzo (1384), Pisa (1406), Cortona (1411), and Livorno (1421) which – along with earlier annexations of Prato and Pistoia – increased the size of the Florentine state to the area it would occupy until it acquired the state of Siena in the middle of the sixteenth century. These offices employed around 100 people each year; additionally there were between 60 and 100 people employed as officers responsible for the military posts dotted across Florentine territory. These latter positions, although their social status was considerably lower, represented an immediate and valuable economic resource for families who might be experiencing temporary financial difficulties. Moreover, all these territorial offices required a huge number of salaried employees (judges, solicitors, men-at-arms, servants) working in the entourage of an officer for whom the guaranteed and permanent nature of their employment meant a reliable source of income; such offices created a set of long-term personal connections within Florentine society. Overall there were around 2200 political and administrative posts to be filled annually, a figure which did not correspond to the number of people employed each year, as the same person might occupy more than one role per year. In any case, when we consider that, according to the land register of 1427, Florence had around 40,000 inhabitants, a large number of citizens were called on to serve in the government and administration of the Florentine state for one reason or another. [41]

16A sizeable proportion of the citizens who carried out public duties were those who were qualified to hold major offices (more political in nature), and were considered by their contemporaries as regime insiders. Over 70 per cent of those with a seat in the legislative councils were also qualified to hold the three major offices; in addition, they carried out a series of administrative duties, or duties which were economic or financial in nature. The number of those qualified to hold general office was probably not much greater than those qualified for the three major offices. [42] If we look closely at the careers of these politicians, there is evidence of a cursus honorum, starting with minor offices with the aim of reaching the higher echelons when they reached the age required to hold offices of greater responsibility; they alternated political and administrative posts, on Florentine territory and within the professional guilds, and were involved in diplomatic and advisory missions in the select consultative committees of the consulte e pratiche.

17In 1343, of 3,000 “nominated” citizens, [43] 300 were declared eligible to hold the city’s main offices. This number only increased over time, despite the considerable ongoing fall in the Florentine population following the 1348 plague and the repeated epidemics which succeeded it. In 1361, 500 emerged victorious from the vote; in 1382, 750 out of the 5000 whose names had been put forward; and in 1433 there were 6354 nominated and 2084 elected. [44]

18This system, which had been devised to avoid the ever-present danger of the regime become an absolutist one, controlled by a single individual or family, was based on an extensive political class participating in government in a spirit of solidarity. Although its members successively alternated positions of power, and enjoyed the prestige which involvement in public office could confer whilst also gaining extensive political experience, the system did not allow the continuity of office necessary to pursue long-term political projects. For the latter, the Signoria relied on a body of civil servants, first among whom was the chancellor, who worked in the service of the Republic for long uninterrupted periods, and were its historic and administrative memory. The civil servants were consulted on various aspects of policy, both internal and external, and also on the establishment of special committees (balìe), which were responsible from beginning to end for special missions such as war, taxes, or electoral policies. The use of such committees was particularly frequent and regular from the middle of the fourteenth century, when Florence set the course which would lead to the constitution of its territorial state.

19This complex yet well-proportioned system, in which each element was balanced, rapidly experienced the emergence from within of forces of disunity, which would bring it to the brink of destruction. Initially this took the form of two rival factions within the ruling class. The first faction, supported by the Guelph party and drawing on its tradition, was led by the Albizzi family, and defended the alliance with the papacy and with Naples; in terms of interior policy, it was in favour of a regime based on a limited group of families from the old aristocracy and excluding those elements more recently admitted into the political elite. The Ricci family was at the head of the rival faction, and espoused a more flexible foreign policy, less rigidly associated with Guelphism, and, at home, embraced a more open approach towards those strata of society constituted by craftsmen and, more generally, towards the “new men”. These tensions culminated in a period of extreme turbulence in the early months of 1378, leading to the Revolt of the Ciompi in the summer of the same year, and thence to the short-lived government of the minor guilds. January 1382 saw the major guilds and the city’s historically important families take back the reins of power and the beginning of a remarkable period in Florence’s history which lasted until 1434, when Cosimo de’ Medici, who had returned to his homeland after a year in exile, took the running of Florence and its city-state firmly in hand.

The ruling class during the oligarchic period (1482-1434)

20Historians have defined this as an oligarchic period because power was held mostly by the old Florentine families and, even if the door remained open to newcomers to the ruling class, their numbers diminished when compared to the previous decades. This change was not introduced suddenly, but gradually and over time, and the regime never directly opposed the craftsmen and the minor guilds, who were always present in public office, thus avoiding alienating their support. Nevertheless, the regime slowly developed a series of electoral checks to guarantee the selection of its politicians. Public offices were reserved for citizens who had both economic resources and a background in politics and who – either themselves or their fathers – had paid communal taxes continuously for at least 30 years. Special borse were introduced for the names of citizens in whom the regime placed the most trust, borse which guaranteed that a certain number of these preferred citizens would be presented each time lots were drawn for major offices. The regime which emerged in the aftermath of the shock caused by the uprising of the lower social groups feared its possible recurrence. Without closing its doors and toppling into authoritarianism, it sought to protect itself from such an eventuality and made attempts to build social harmony through consensus politics. The loyalty of each social group meant that all individuals might hope to be accepted into the political sphere; an ideology which both Salutati and Bruni – especially Bruni – fervently espoused.

21At the height of the Medici period several writers, railing against the contemporary political context, harked back wistfully to the oligarchic decades when the Republic experienced its greatest successes, which they attributed to the men who had then been in charge: their capabilities and their virtues, it was claimed, made them comparable “to the wisest of the Romans, whom the Ancients thus celebrated”. [45] The ruling class, as we have seen, could at that time be identified with the whole system of government, the central element of which was constituted by the priorate; a political class separate from all those who did not have the right to exercise executive office. In a more limited sense, this same ruling class meant those who had received the approval of the ballot box to occupy a role within the highest echelons of the political system: the priorate and the auxiliary colleges, the Dodici Buonomini and the Sedici Gonfaloniere. [46] The highest political success was judged as being attained when an individual or a family qualified to exercise these offices. [47] Fulfilling the office of prior meant becoming a part of the regime; and a particularly special place was reserved within the regime for those families who had been continuously represented on the priorate from the earliest year of its inception (1282) to the present day. The anticati del civile reggimento (“ancients of the civil regime”), as Giovanni Cavalcanti called them, [48] tended to constitute a small and highly influential inner circle within the ruling group, which was made up of all those connected to the priorate.

22Their awareness of their role is evident from a number of private documents, [49] which clearly set out – somewhat disdainfully – the distance which separated the sorte maggiore families [50] from other families who were nonetheless part of the regime. Alessandra Macinghi Strozzi, who for financial reasons married her eldest daughter off to Marco Parenti, a young silk merchant and member of a family which had only been admitted to the priorate in 1351, emphasised the young bridegroom’s personal qualities, whilst highlighting the social gap between the two families. [51] Social and political pre-eminence was not so much a function of wealth – a significant proportion of Florence’s richest families were not part of the ruling group – as of a close combination of a long-standing family presence on the economic and political stage with economic activity conferring prestige and honour. The families who enjoyed such circumstances found themselves always in conflict with the families newly admitted to public office after the expulsion of the Duke of Athens in 1343. Such opposition gave rise to the political divisions of the second half of the fourteenth century, and subsequently remained a fundamental faultline in terms of the social status that Florentine families enjoyed.

23When analysing the vote of 1433, the last before Cosimo de’ Medici’s return to the political stage, it is possible to ascertain the date of first admission to the priorate for 307 of the successful families. For 77 of these families, this was after 1383, thus demonstrating the persistence of upward mobility at the highest echelons of Florence’s government. [52] Their participation in government demonstrates that Florentine political life tended to reward families more than isolated individuals putting themselves forward for the first time at the start of their political career without the support of socially pre-eminent relatives. The selection process paid more attention to the family from which an individual came – seen as the unit of reference which qualified a candidate to join the ruling political class – than to the individual himself.