[410] The frequent repetition of this phrase is worthy of note, since it enables us to understand the manner in which associations were usually constituted.
[411] "Statuta Florentiæ," ii. 66.
[412] State Archives, "Statuti" 9, ii. 30. The same provision is found in the statutes of 1324 (ii. 87), and was already comprised in those of Pistoia dated 1296 (ii. 6), having been copied from another Florentine statute of earlier date.
[413] The Mezzeria system obtains not only throughout Tuscany and Lucca, but over a considerable part of Romagna. But the terms and contracts most favourable to the peasantry are to be found near Florence and in the Pistoian district. Contracts implying a system of Mezzeria more or less rudimentary, and dating from about the close of the twelfth century, are still extant.
[414] Two of 1250 and 1251, in the Florentine territory, have been edited by Ruhmor (vide also Capei in the "Atti dei Georgofili," vol. xiv. p. 228); other hardly less ancient examples have been found at Cortona by the Notary L. Ticciati, and published by him in the "Archivio Storico Italiano," Series v., vol. x., No. 4, 1892. Nevertheless, contracts on the true Mezzeria system cannot have been in general use earlier than the commencement of the fourteenth century. A common contract drawn up in 1331 on Siennese territory was communicated by Prof. C. Paoli to Baron S. Sonnino, and published by the latter in 1875 Florence, in his work "Sulla Mezzeria in Toscana." In a review, entitled "L'Agricoltura Italiana," nineteenth year (1893), Nos. 274–5, Marquis L. Ridolfi justly remarks that the difficulty in finding old Mezzeria contracts in the Florentine territory proceeds from the custom prevailing there of seldom referring to a public notary for the purpose. As a rule, the parties concerned merely exchange written copies of the agreement.
[415] "Statuta Florentiæ," ii. 18.
[416] Ibid. ii. 21.
[417] Ibid. ii. 23. Vide, on this subject, Salvetti, "Antiquitates Florentinæ."
[418] "Nuova Antologia," Florence, July, 1869.
[419] G. Villani, "Cronica," xi. 96.