Florentia was founded considerably later than Faesulae (Fiesole), which lies on the hill above it; indeed, as its name indicates, it was built only in Roman times and probably in connexion with the construction by C. Flaminius in 187 B.C. of a road from Bononia to Arretium (which later on formed part of the Via Cassia) at the point where this road crossed the river Arnus. We hear very little of it in ancient times; it appears to have suffered at the end of the war between Marius and Sulla, and in A.D. 15 (by which period it seems to have been already a colony) it successfully opposed the project of diverting part of the waters of the Clanis into the Arno (see [Chiana]). Tacitus mentions it, and Florus describes it as one of the municipia splendidissima. A bishop of Florence is mentioned in A.D. 313. A group of Italic cremation tombs a pozzo of the Villanova period were found under the pavement of the medieval Vicolo del Campidoglio. This took its name from the Capitolium of Roman times, the remains of which were found under the Piazza Luna; the three cellae were clearly traceable. The capitals of the columns were Corinthian, about 4 ft. in diameter, and it became clear that this temple had supplied building materials for S. Giovanni and S. Miniato. Fragments of a fine octagonal altar, probably belonging to the temple, were found. Remains of baths have been found close by, while the ancient amphitheatre has been found near S. Croce outside the Roman town, which formed a rectangle of about 400 by 600 yds., with four gates, the Decumanus being represented by the Via Strozzi and Via del Corso, and the Cardo by the Via Calcinara, while the Mercato Vecchio occupied the site of the Forum.
See L.A. Milani, “Reliquie di Firenze antica,” in Monumenti dei Lincei, vi. (1896), 5 seq.
(T. As.)
The first event of importance recorded is the siege of the city by the Goths, A.D. 405, and its deliverance by the Roman general Stilicho. Totila besieged Florence in 542, but was repulsed by the imperial garrison under Justin, and later it was occupied by the Goths. We find the Longobards in Tuscany in 570, and mention is made of one Gudibrandus Dux civitatis Florentinorum, which suggests that Florence was the capital of a duchy (one of the regular divisions of the Longobard empire). Charlemagne was in Florence in 786 and conferred many favours on the city, which continued to grow in importance owing to its situation on the road from northern Italy to Rome. At the time of the agitation against simony and the corruption of the clergy, the head of the movement in Florence was San Giovanni Gualberto, of the monastery of San Salvi. The simoniacal election of Pietro Mezzabarba as bishop of Florence (1068) caused serious disturbances and a long controversy with Rome, which ended in the triumph, after a trial by fire, of the monk Petrus Igneus, champion of the popular reform movement; this event indicates the beginnings of a popular conscience among the Florentines. Under the Carolingian emperors Tuscany was a March or margraviate, and the marquises became so powerful as to be even a danger to the Empire. Under the emperor Otto I. one Ugo (d, 1001) was marquis, and the emperor Conrad II. (elected in 1024) appointed Boniface of Canossa marquis of Tuscany, a territory then extending from the Po to the borders of the Roman state. Boniface died in 1052, and in the following year The countess Matilda.
Guelphs and Ghibellines. the margraviate passed to his daughter, the famous countess Matilda, who ruled for forty years and played a prominent part in the history of Italy in that period. In the Wars of the Investitures Matilda was ever on the papal (afterwards called Guelph) side against the emperor and the faction afterwards known as Ghibelline, and she herself often led armies to battle. It is at this time that the people of Florence first began to acquire influence, and while the countess presided at the courts of justice in the name of the Empire, she was assisted by a group of great feudal nobles, judges, lawyers, &c., who formed, as elsewhere in Tuscany, the boni homines or sapientes. As the countess was frequently absent these boni homines gave judgment without her, thus paving the way for a free commune. The citizens found themselves in opposition to the nobility of the hills around the city, Teutonic feudatories of Ghibelline sympathies, who interfered with their commerce. Florence frequently waged war with these nobles and with other cities on its own account, although in the name of the countess, and the citizens began to form themselves into groups and associations which were the germs of the arti or gilds. After the death of Beginnings of the commune. Countess Matilda in 1115 the grandi or boni homines continued to rule and administer justice, but in the name of the people—a change hardly noticed at first, but which marks the foundation of the commune. After 1138 the boni homines began to be called consules, while the population was divided into the grandi or delle torri, i.e. the noble families who had towers, and the arti or trade and merchant gilds. At first the consules, of whom there seem to have been twelve, two for each sestiere or ward, were chosen by the men of the towers, and assisted by a council of 100 boni homines, in which the arti were predominant; the government thus came to be in the hands of a few powerful families. The republic now proceeded to extend its power. In 1125 Fiesole was sacked and destroyed, but the feudal nobles of the contado (surrounding country), protected by the imperial margraves, were still powerful. The early margraves had permitted the Florentines to wage war against the Alberti family, whose castles they destroyed. The emperor Lothair when in Italy forced Florence to submit to his authority, but at his death in 1137 things returned to their former state and the Florentines fought successfully against the powerful counts Guidi. Frederick Barbarossa, however, elected emperor in 1152, made his authority felt in Tuscany, and appointed one Welf of Bavaria as margrave. Florence and other cities were forced to supply troops to the emperor for his Lombard campaigns, and he began to establish a centralized imperial bureaucracy in Tuscany, appointing a potestas, who resided at San Miniato (whence the name of “San Miniato al Tedesco”), to represent him and exercise authority in the contado; this double authority of the consoli in the town and the potestas or podestà outside generated confusion. By 1176 the Florentines were masters of all the territory comprised in the dioceses of War with the nobles. Florence and Fiesole; but civil commotion within the city broke out between the consoli and the greater nobles, headed by the Alberti and strengthened by the many feudal families who had been forced to leave their castles and dwell in the city (1177-1180). In the end the Alberti, though not victorious, succeeded in getting occasionally admitted to the consulship. Florence now formed a league with the chief cities of Tuscany, made peace with the Guidi, and humbled the Alberti whose castle of Semifonte was destroyed (1202). Later The potestas. we find a potestas within the city, elected for a year and assisted by seven councillors and seven rectores super capitibus artium. This represented the triumph of the feudal party, which had gained the support of the arti minori or minor gilds. The potestates subsequently were foreigners, and in 1207 the dignity was conferred on Gualfredotto of Milan; a new council was formed, the consiglio del comune, while the older senate still survived. The Florentines now undertook to open the highways of commerce towards Rome, for their city was already an important industrial and banking centre.
Discord among the great families broke out again, and the attempt to put an end to it by a marriage between Buondelmonte de’ Buondelmonti and a daughter of the Amidei, only led to further strife (1215), although the causes of these broils were deeper and wider, being derived from the general division between Guelphs and Ghibellines all over Italy. But the work of crushing the nobles of the contado and of asserting the city’s position among rival communes continued. In 1222 Florence waged war successfully on Pisa, Lucca and Pistoia, and during the next few years against the Sienese with varying results; although the emperor supported the latter as Ghibellines, on his departure for Germany in 1235 they were forced to accept peace on onerous terms. During the interregnum (1241-1243) following on the death of Pope Gregory IX. the Ghibelline cause revived in Tuscany and imperial authority was re-established. The tumults against the Paterine heretics (1244-1245), among whom were many Ghibelline nobles favoured by the podestà Pace di Pesamigola, indicate a successful Guelphic reaction; but Frederick II., having defeated his enemies both in Lombardy and in the Two Sicilies, appointed his natural son, Frederick of Antioch, imperial vicar in Tuscany, who, when civil war broke out, entered the city with 1600 German knights. The Ghibellines now triumphed completely, and in 1249 the Guelph leaders were driven into exile—the first of many instances in Florentine history of exile en masse of a defeated party. The attempt to seize Montevarchi and other castles where the Guelph exiles were congregated failed, and in 1250 the burghers elected thirty-six caporali di popolo, who formed the basis of the primo popolo or body of citizens independent of the nobles, headed by the capitano del popolo. The Ghibellines being unable to maintain their Comune and popolo. supremacy, the city came to be divided into two almost autonomous republics, the comune headed by the podestà, and the popolo headed by the capitano and militarily organized into twenty companies; the central power was represented by twelve anziani or elders. The podestà, who was always a foreigner, usually commanded the army, represented the city before foreign powers, and signed treaties. He was assisted by the consiglio speciale of 90 and the consiglio generale e speciale of 300, composed of nobles, while the capitano del popolo had also two councils composed of burghers, heads of the gilds, gonfalonieri of the companies, &c. The anziani had a council of 36 burghers, and then there was the parlamento or general assembly of the people, which met only on great occasions. At this time the podestà’s palace (the Bargello) was built, and the gold florin was first coined and soon came to be accepted as the standard gold piece throughout Europe. But, although greatly strengthened, the Guelphs, who now may be called the democrats as opposed to the Ghibelline aristocrats, were by no means wholly victorious, and in 1251 they had to defend themselves against a league of Ghibelline cities (Siena, Pisa and Pistoia) assisted by Florentine Ghibellines; the Florentine Uberti, who had been driven into exile after their plot of 1258, took refuge in Siena and encouraged that city in its hostility to Florence. Fresh disputes about the possession of Montepulciano and other places having arisen, the Florentines declared war once more. A Florentine army assisted by Guelphs of other towns was cunningly induced to believe that Siena would surrender at the first summons; but it was met by a Sienese army reinforced by Florentine exiles, including Farinata degli Uberti and other Ghibellines, and by the cavalry of Manfred Battle of Montaperti (1260). (q.v.) of Sicily, led by Count Giordano and the count of Arras, with the result that the Florentines were totally routed at Montaperti on the 4th of September 1260. Count Giordano entered Florence, appointed Count Guido Novello podestà, and began a series of persecutions against the Guelphs. The Ghibellines even proposed to raze the walls of the city, but Farinata degli Uberti strongly opposed the idea, saying that “he had fought to regain and not to ruin his fatherland.”
During this new Ghibelline predominance (1260-1266) the old liberties were abolished, and the popolo was deprived of all share in the administration. But when Charles I. (q.v.) of Anjou descended into Italy as champion of New constitution. the papacy, and Manfred was defeated and killed (1266), the popolo, who had acquired wealth in trade and industry, was ready to rise. After some disturbances Guido Novello and the Ghibellines were expelled, but it was not the popolo who triumphed; the pope and Charles were the real masters of the situation, and the Florentines found they had exchanged a foreign and Ghibelline protector for one who was foreign and Guelph. Nevertheless much of the old order was restored; the podestà who represented King Charles was assisted by 12 buoni uomini, and by the council of the 100 buoni uomini del popolo, “without the deliberation of whom,” says Villani, “no great matter nor expenditure could be undertaken.” Other bodies and magistrates were maintained, and the capitano del popolo, now called capitano della massa di parte Guelfa, tended to become a very important person. The property of the Ghibellines was confiscated, and a commission of six capitani di parte Guelfa appointed to administer it and in general to expend it for the persecution of the Ghibellines. The whole constitution of the republic, although of very democratic tendencies, seemed designed to promote civil strife and weaken the central power.
While the constitution was evolving in a manner which seemed to argue small political ability and no stability in the Florentines, the people had built up a wonderful commercial organization. Each of the seven arti maggiori or Florentine trade and the gilds. greater gilds was organized like a small state with its councils, statutes, assemblies, magistrates, &c., and in times of trouble constituted a citizen militia. Florentine cloth especially was known and sold all over Europe, and the Florentines were regarded as the first merchants of the age. If the life of the city went on uninterruptedly even during the many changes of government and the almost endemic civil war, it was owing to the solidity of the gilds, who could carry on the administration without a government.
After Charles’s victory over Conradin in 1268 the Florentines defeated the Sienese (1269) and made frequent raids into Pisan territory. As Charles perpetually interfered in their affairs, always favouring the grandi or Guelph nobles, Cardinal Latino. some of the Ghibellines were recalled as a counterpoise, which, however, only led to further civil strife. Rudolph of Habsburg, elected king of the Romans in 1273, having come to terms with Pope Nicholas III., Charles was obliged in 1278 to give up his title of imperial vicar in Tuscany, which he had held during the interregnum following on the death of Frederick II. In 1279 Pope Nicholas sent his nephew, the friar preacher Latino Frangipani Malabranca, whom he had created cardinal bishop of Ostia the same year, to reconcile the parties in Florence once more. Cardinal Latino to some extent succeeded, and was granted a kind of temporary dictatorship. He raised the 12 buoni uomini to 14 (8 Guelphs and 6 Ghibellines), to be changed every two months; and they were assisted by a council of 100. A force of 1000 men was placed at the disposal of the podestà and capitano (now both elected by the people) to keep order and oblige the grandi to respect the law. The Sicilian Vespers (q.v.) by weakening Charles strengthened the commune, which aimed at complete independence of emperors, kings and popes. After 1282 the signoria was composed of the 3 (afterwards 6) priori of the gilds, who ended by ousting the buoni uomini, while a defensor artificum et artium takes the place of the capitano; thus the republic became an essentially trading community, governed by the popolani grassi or rich merchants.
The republic now turned to the task of breaking the power of the Ghibelline cities of Pisa and Arezzo. In 1289 the Aretini were completely defeated by the Florentines at Campaldino, a battle made famous by the fact that Dante took part in it. War against the Pisans, who had been defeated by the Genoese Battle of Campaldino (1289). in the naval battle of La Meloria in 1284, was carried on in a desultory fashion, and in 1293 peace was made. But the grandi, who had largely contributed to the victory of Campaldino, especially men like Corso Donati and Vieri de’ Cerchi, were becoming more powerful, and Charles had increased their number by creating a great many knights; but their attempts to interfere with the administration of justice were severely repressed, and new laws were passed to reduce their influence. Among other internal reforms the abolition of the last traces of servitude in 1289, and the increase in the number of arti, first to 12 and then to 21 (7 maggiori and 14 minori) must be mentioned. This, however, was not enough for the Florentine democracy, who viewed with alarm the increasing power and arrogance of the grandi, who in spite of their exclusion from many offices were still influential and constituted independent clans within the state. The law obliged each member of the clan (consorteria) to sodare for all the other members, i.e. to give a pecuniary guarantee to ensure payment of fines for offences committed by any one of their number, a provision made necessary by the fact that the whole clan acted collectively. But as the laws were not always enforced new and severe ones Ordinamenti della Giustizia (1293). were enacted. These were the famous Ordinamenti della Giustizia of 1293, by which all who were not of the arti were definitely excluded from the signory. The priori were to remain in office two months and elected the gonfaloniere, also for two months; there were the capitudini or councils of the gilds, and two savi for each sestiere, with 1000 soldiers at their disposal; the number of the grandi families was fixed at 38 (later 72). Judgment in matters concerning the Ordinamenti was delivered in a summary fashion without appeal. The leading spirit of this reform was Giano della Bella, a noble who by engaging in trade had become a popolano; the grandi now tried to make him unpopular with the popolani grassi, hoping that without him the Ordinamenti would not be executed, and opened negotiations with Pope Boniface VIII. (elected 1294), who aimed at extending his authority in Tuscany. A signory adverse to Giano having been elected, he was driven into exile in 1295. The grandi regained some of their power by corrupting the podestà and by the favour of the popolo minuto or unorganized populace; but their quarrels among themselves prevented them from completely succeeding, while the arti were solid.
In 1295 a signory favourable to the grandi enacted a law attenuating the Ordinamenti, but now the grandi split into two factions, one headed by the Donati, which hoped to abolish the Ordinamenti, and the other by the Cerchi, The Bianchi and the Neri. which had given up all hope of their abolition; afterwards these parties came to be called Neri (Blacks) and Bianchi (Whites). A plot of the Donati to establish their influence over Florence with the help of Boniface VIII. having been discovered (May 1300), serious riots broke out between the Neri and the Bianchi. The pope’s attempt to unite the grandi having failed, he summoned Charles of Valois to come to his assistance, promising him the imperial crown; in 1301 Charles entered Italy, and was created by the pope paciaro or peacemaker of Tuscany, with instructions to crush the Bianchi and the popolo and exalt the Neri. On the 1st of November Charles reached Florence, promising to respect its laws; but he permitted Corso Donati and his friends to attack the Bianchi, and the new podestà, Cante dei Gabrielli of Gubbio, who had come with Charles, punished many of that faction; among those whom he exiled was the poet Dante (1302). Corso Donati, who for some time was the most powerful man in Florence, made himself many enemies by his arrogance, and was obliged to rely on the popolo grasso, the irritation against him resulting in a rising in which he was killed (1308). In this same year Henry of Luxemburg was elected king of the Romans and with the pope’s favour he came to Italy in 1310; the Florentine exiles and all the Ghibellines of Italy regarded him as a saviour and regenerator of the country, while the Guelphs of Florence on the contrary opposed both him and the pope as dangerous to their own liberties and accepted the protection of King Robert of Naples, disregarding Henry’s summons to submission. In 1312 Henry was crowned emperor as Henry VII. in Rome, but instead of the universal ruler and pacifier which he tried to be, he was forced by circumstances into being merely a German kaiser who tried to subjugate free Italian communes. He besieged Florence without success, and died of disease in 1313.