[167] A castle and townlet belonging to the Orsini.
[168] Directors of feasts. Festaiuoli still go about in the villages in Tuscany to collect money for processions and church festivals.
[169] Laurentii Medicis Vita, &c., op. cit. ii. 27.
[170] This and the letters from the Cardinal of Pavia (pp. [167-171]) relate to Lorenzo’s desire that his brother Giuliano should be created a cardinal in order to have a voice in the Consistory. What he was unable to achieve for his brother he afterwards obtained for his son Giovanni.
[171] Laurentii Medicis Vita, op. cit. ii. 62.
[172] The catasto of 1427 was a register or list of all who were bound to pay taxes to the Commune of Florence. It runs: “1. Ten officials are to be appointed to compile the register. 2. All families liable to be taxed are to be inscribed in four books; their number, ages, health, capacity, and occupation. 3. All their possessions, movable and immovable, are to be inscribed, whether within the confines of the State or abroad, monies in existence, or what is owing to them, their slaves and whatever belongs to them. 4. In the same way other partial catasti shall be drawn up, as of peasants, universities, and guilds, foreigners and other persons not generally liable to be taxed. 5. The income of each separate possession is to be noted, so that the capital value may be ascertained, and 100 florins shall be taken as the valuation for every 7 florins of income. 6. From such valuation shall be deducted the inherent expenses, rent of houses, of shops, the price of horses for personal use, and 2 florins per head. 7. The net income being thus reduced, 10 golden soldi are to be paid on every 100 golden florins, equal to the tenth part of a percentage at 5 per cent. 8. On every person deducted as above, between eighteen years of age and sixty, an arbitrary tax shall be imposed, not to exceed 2 florins. 9. It is left to the discretion of the officials, in case no surplus remains after the above deductions, to impose a tax to be arranged with the persons taxed. 10. Whoso declares a false income shall have his possessions confiscated. 11. Should any contention arise the decision of the officials is final; they may not diminish the amount of the tax, save for the repayment of a dower, until the new catasto, without the approbation of the Great Council, but they may augment it. 12. The catasto is to be corrected and compiled anew every three years. 13. All taxes are henceforward to be regulated by the catasto.” Osservatore Fiorentino, i. 91. Signor A. Rabbini, Dell’ accertamento catastale, &c., defines the catasto as at present existing as “a public document serving as an absolutely legal and fundamental base for the imposition of taxes on landed property and a guide in judicial or administrative procedure involving the settlement of questions regarding landed property and the rights and obligations of the owners thereof.”
[173] Luca Landucci in his Diary (1450-1516) notes: “On June 18, 1472, came a horseman with the olive branch [from Volterra] announcing the capitulation; the people and their property to be respected. Great was the rejoicing. But when we entered the city one of their officers, a Venetian, shouted “Pillage,” and our men began to pillage and we could not stop them or observe the articles of capitulation. The Count Federigo d’Urbino caused the Venetian and a Sienese to be hung.” Diario Fiorentino di Luca Landucci. Firenze, 1883. See also La Vita Italiano nel Rinascimenta, Lorenzo de’ Medici, E. Masi, i. 31. Milano, 1893.
[174] Laurentii Medicis Vita, op. cit. ii. 63.
[175] Francesco Filelfo, born at Tolentino in 1398, was a famous classical scholar. He studied at Padua, was sent as Secretary of Legation to Constantinople by the Signoria of Venice, and afterwards taught Greek in Venice, Bologna, Florence, &c. When Cosimo de’ Medici was imprisoned he urged the Signoria to put him to death and poured out abominable accusations against him and his friends in the Book of Exile. Poggio replied, accusing Filelfo of the most heinous crimes, and the war of words went on for years. When Cosimo returned to Florence Filelfo fled to Milan and allied himself with Albizzi and the other exiles, but soon made abject advances to Cosimo, which were treated with silent disdain. After Cosimo’s death he sent humble letters to Lorenzo and his brother and wrote Cosmias, a poem in praise of the man he had abused. Lorenzo at length allowed him to return to Florence where he died in 1481. He was mean, arrogant, and intensely vain.
[176] Laurentii Medicis Vita, op. cit. ii. 75.