NOTE TO CHAPTER VIII.
At this point it is necessary to allude to a question that has recently arisen concerning the Enactments of Justice. Signor Salvioli and Prof. Pertile, when describing certain Bolognese statutes of 1271 for keeping the nobles in check, took it for granted that the Florentine enactments of 1293 had been copied from those. But the Bolognese statutes of 1271 having never been unearthed, the hypothesis met with little favour. When Prof. Gaudenzi edited the "Ordinamenta sacrata et sacratissima" of Bologna in 1282–84 (Bologna, the Merlani Press, 1888), he noted their marked resemblance to the Enactments of Justice of 1293, and considered it to be beyond a doubt that the latter had been derived from the former. Indeed, he went to the point of asserting as a fact "Che in genere i rivolgimenti e gli ordini di Firenze non furono che l'imitazione di quelli di Bologna" (Preface, p. v.).
The decided injustice of this last assertion has been already pointed out by Dr. Hartwig, in his recent precious work on Florentine history ("Ein Menschenalter Florentinische Geschichte, 1250–1293" (Freiburg, 1889–91), extracted from vols. i., ii., and v. of the "Deutsche Zeitschrift für Geschichtwissenschaft"). For in truth Florentine laws and institutions issue very directly from the history of Florentine society and Florentine revolutions, which are very different from those of Bologna.
As to the other question, that is, whether the Florentine enactments, of 1293 were really derived from the Bologna statutes of 1282, I feel considerable doubt, and believe that no definite solution can be reached until fresh researches in the Florence Archives have corroborated the result of Prof. Gaudenzi's studies of Bolognese documents. Meanwhile I need merely remark—That the people's struggles with the magnates, and the harsh and often cruel laws promulgated against them, were not exclusively confined to Florence, but incidents of very common occurrence in the history of our communes. Notwithstanding many points of general resemblance, these conflicts and laws varied very much in different communes. Hence, in order to prove to what extent the Bolognese enactments served as models for those of Florence, it is not enough to compare the two codes and note their respective dates. As plainly proved by the events we have related, and additionally confirmed by all the later researches of Hartwig, Del Lungo, and Perrens, the Florentine ordinances are found to be a synthesis of other and much earlier laws against the nobles, and sometimes literal reproductions of them. The enactments themselves quote a law of 1286 frequently mentioned by historians, and, as we have seen, even the "Consulte" of 1282 refer to an earlier law against the nobles. These anterior laws are the veritable source of the Florentine enactments, which, however, are not solely designed, like the Bolognese ordinances, for the repression of the nobles, but to promote the transfer of the government to the Greater Guilds, a change already inaugurated in Florence as far back as 1250. It is this double purpose that constitutes their specific character. It behoves us to unearth more of these laws in the Florence Archives and collate them with those of Bologna before deciding that the Enactments of Justice, so peculiarly connected with the whole course of Florentine history, were mere copies of the Bolognese ordinances. Professor Gaudenzi's publications do honour to his historical research. But I venture to repeat that, in my opinion, the question cannot be really settled without fresh investigation of the Florentine rolls. This task is now being carried on by Signor Salvemini, and I hope that he may make some new and profitable discovery. The problem is interesting enough to claim solution.
DOCUMENTO.[487]
V.
In nomine domini amen. Liber defensionum et excusationum Magnatum Civitatis et comitatus Florentie, qui se excusare volunt a satisdationibus Magnatum non prestandis, receptarum per me Bax. de Amgnetello notarium nobilis Militis domini Amtonii de Fuxiraga de Laude, potestatis Florentie.
In anno currente Millesimo ducentesimo ottuagesimo septimo.
Ad defensionem
| Absoluti | { | Dardoccii quondam domini Uguicionis Manni fratris sui | } | de Sachettis producta fuit |
| intentio singnata per Credo (sic), et ad ipsam probandam producti fuerunt infradicti testes. | ||||
Baldus Brode populi sancti Stephani de Abatia, iuratus die suprascripta de veritate dicenda, et lecta sibi intentione per me Bax., dixit quod bene vidit dictum Dardocium et Mannum eius fratrem facere artem cambii in Civitate Florentie, iam sunt xx anni, et ab eo tempore citra, et credit eos fecisse. Set propter guerram et brigam quam nunc habent, predicti fratres Dardocci non tenent tabulam in mercato, set stat in doma sua, et ibi facet (sic) artem canbii. Interrogatus si ipsi palam tenent banchum et tapetum ante dischum domus sue sicut faciunt alii campsores, respondit non, quia est consuetudo prestatorum et non campsorum tenere tapetum. Interrogatus, dixit quod predictus senper cotidie exercuit.
Lapus Benvenuti qui vocatur Borrectus populi sancti Petri Maioris iuratus die suprascripto (?) ut supra, lecta sibi intentione per Be., dixit quod ipse testis est consocius predictorum Dardoccii et fratris in arte canbii; et vidit dictum Dardoccium et fratrem dictam artem in civitate Florentie continue [exercere], et predictum Mannum vidit in Borgongna facere dictam artem per decem annos et plus, quibus stetit in Borgongna; set dixit quod predictus Dardocius[488] propter guerram quam ad presens habet, non audet uti ipsa arte in mercato sive in pubblico, set ea continue utitur in domo sua, et vidit ipse testis; et vox et fama est in populo dictorum fratrum et in civitate Florentie, quod ipsi fratres fuerunt et sunt campsores.
L. S. Ego Ruffus Guidi notarius predicta ex actibus Communis Florentie exemplando transcripsi, pubblicavi rogatus.