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Florence

Located on the Arno River in Italy, the city of Florence flourished during the Renaissance as a center of banking, trade, and culture. The arts played a particularly important role in the life of the city, and the influence of Florentine artists, writers, and thinkers spread throughout Italy and Europe. For much of the Renaissance, the powerful and wealthy MEDICI family ruled the city, either officially or behind the scenes. Their patronage* helped make the city a leading force in the worlds of art and culture.

HISTORY AND POLITICS

Florence was a small provincial center in Roman times. During the Middle Ages the city came under the authority of the Holy Roman Empire*, but by the early 1100s it had emerged as a self-governing community ruled by well-to-do merchants and landowners. However, a faction* called the Ghibellines continued to support the Holy Roman Emperor, while an opposing faction, the Guelfs, supported the pope. The struggle between these groups lasted into the 1300s.

Meanwhile, Florence prospered, developing into one of Europe's largest cities, with a population of about 120,000. Then in the 1340s the Black Death* struck, killing about half the city's inhabitants. Additional outbreaks every ten years or so kept the population from recovering completely.

Structure of Government. Florence had a complicated political history. During the Middle Ages, its merchant classes struggled with landowning nobles for political power. In the 1200s the trade guilds* took control of the city's political life. Only guild members—some 5 to 10 percent of the city's population—could hold political office. This law effectively barred nobles from government.

Even guild members had to meet certain standards to serve in government. Officials called accoppiatori screened guild members to determine who was eligible. They placed the names of approved candidates in a leather bag and pulled out names at random to fill vacant posts. Typically, the accoppiatori approved only 10 to 15 percent of guild members as candidates for office. As a result, any group that could influence the accoppiatori could effectively control politics in the city.

The chief governing body in Florence was the Signoria, or city council. Its nine members, known as gonfalonieri (standard-bearers), served two-month terms. Two other bodies existed to advise the Signoria; members of these groups also served short terms of three or four months. Separate departments dealt with such matters as war, public safety, and basic administrative duties. To balance the rapid turnover in government posts, the city also had a few officials who served for life.

The Signoria passed laws and controlled foreign policy. A temporary chairman presented bills for discussion within the group. In some cases, the Signoria invited interested outsiders to join in these discussions before voting. If more than two-thirds of the Signoria voted for a bill, it would pass to two larger councils, each with about 300 members. These councils could accept or reject proposed laws but otherwise had little power.

Florence also had a fairly complex court system. The chief officer of justice was the podestà. To make sure this official would be neutral, the city always selected a foreigner for the position. The podestà and two other courts tried most criminal cases. Another function of the justice system was auditing—reviewing the accounts of those who controlled public funds. Beginning in the mid-1500s, auditors had the power to torture people they suspected of fraud or theft.

Rise of the Medici. The late 1300s and early 1400s saw Florence involved in a series of wars, first with the papacy* and then with other cities in Italy. During this time, the Medici—a family of wealthy bankers—emerged as the dominant power in Florence. The head of the family, Cosimo de' Medici, gained control of the accoppiatori and used his wealth to influence the city's leaders. However, he took care to remain behind the scenes to preserve the illusion of republican* rule in Florence.

Cosimo and his successors, Piero and Lorenzo the Magnificent, dominated the city until 1494. While maintaining the appearance of republican government, they established two new governing bodies that took power away from the older councils. The Medici kept nobles loyal by allowing them to hold important offices, and they made peace with their political rivals through marriage alliances. The Medici also formed ties with powerful families outside of Florence, such as the Orsini family of Rome. The Medici sought to maintain peace and a balance of power among the five major powers in Italy: Florence, Venice, Milan, Naples, and the papacy. They achieved this goal in 1454 to 1455, when the five powers signed a treaty called the Peace of Lodi.

In 1478 the Pazzi family, Medici rivals, tried to assassinate Lorenzo and his brother Giuliano. Lorenzo survived, and the Medici took bloody revenge on the Pazzi. The affair led Florence into war against Naples and the pope. Lorenzo eventually negotiated a truce between the parties, increasing his own political power in the process. However, Lorenzo's death in 1492 signaled the decline of Medici power. Two years later the French king Charles VIII gained control of Florence, and the Medici were exiled from the city. Florence eliminated the two councils the Medici had created and replaced them with a Grand Council of 1,000 members.

Shifts in Power. After the departure of the Medici, Florence fell under the leadership of a Dominican* friar named Girolamo SAVONAROLA. The monk had arrived in the city in 1489 and begun preaching to crowds of Florentines about doom and destruction, urging them to reform their lives and government. In particular, he encouraged them to destroy works of pagan* art and other "vanities." The painter BOTTICELLI fell under Savonarola's spell and burned some of his own works.

The arrival of Charles VIII in 1494 seemed to confirm Savonarola's warnings of disaster. With the Medici in exile, he and his followers seized power. However, Savonarola's policies angered the pope, who excommunicated* him. The monk lost power and was hanged in 1498. After Savonarola's fall, Florence's aristocrats assumed power. However, their leader, Piero Soderini, failed to strike a balance between a broad-based government and oligarchy*. In 1512 he fled the city and the Medici returned, backed by the papacy.

The Medici ruled Florence as lords for 15 years. In 1527, however their power suffered a severe blow. Holy Roman Emperor CHARLES V sacked* Rome, defeating the troops of Pope Clement VII, a member of the Medici family. The Medici left Florence, and the city returned to a republican form of government. However, before long Charles V and Clement VII made peace. Medici forces attacked Florence in 1529, and the republic collapsed the following year.

Many of Florence's public institutions changed when the Medici returned. In 1532 the city's nobles drew up a new constitution inviting Alessandro de' Medici to become head of the city, and a short time later they named him "duke of the republic of Florence." A ruling body called the Supreme Magistrate replaced the Signoria and shared power with the duke. A new council with 200 members, along with a smaller senate, replaced the Grand Council. Members of the new bodies were appointed for life, not elected for short terms. These new arrangements gave the Medici dukes firm control over Florentine political affairs. Under the control of the Medici—especially the talented Cosimo I, who ruled from 1537 to 1564—Florence conquered its long-time rival SIENA and once again became a center of culture and art.

ECONOMY, SOCIETY, AND CULTURE

Florence prospered during the Renaissance, and much of the city's wealth went into promoting the arts. Sponsoring art provided the city's great families with a way to promote both their own glory and that of their city. The works they commissioned made Florence the showplace of Italian Renaissance culture.

Economy. The economic power of Florence came mainly from banking and textiles. By the late 1200s, the city's banks were handling important business for the papacy and the kingdom of Naples. Great banking families such as the Bardi, Peruzzi, and Medici established branches throughout Europe.

The cloth industry had an even greater role in the city's economy, employing about 30,000 people in the early 1300s. Florence imported wool from England, Spain, and other areas and wove it into fine cloth that was sold throughout Europe. During the Renaissance, Florence had about 200 wool firms. The owners of these firms belonged to the wool guild, but most of the workers in the industry were not guild members and had no political power. The silk industry occupied a smaller, but still significant, place in the economy. Women filled many roles in the production of wool and silk, making up two-thirds of the city's wool weavers in the early 1600s.

Florence conducted its business in several types of currency. For international transactions, bankers and merchants used the gold florin, named for the city. This coin, first produced in 1252, contained about 3.5 grams of pure gold. In the 1500s, a less pure coin called the scudo replaced the florin. Local businesses generally used smaller coins of copper and silver. In addition to coins, Florentine banks employed "moneys of account" such as the lira. Money of account did not exist in a physical form, but bankers used it for bookkeeping purposes, such as transferring funds from one account to another.

Society. Various groups played a role in the social life of Florence. Many Florentines identified strongly with their local church parish or with their guild. However, the main unit of Florentine society was the family. Marriages that united two families were an important route for social advancement. The wealthy often hired marriage brokers to find favorable matches for themselves or for their children. Girls of the middle and upper classes generally married by their late teens. Men usually waited until they had established themselves financially, typically in their late twenties. To make a successful marriage, a girl needed a sizable dowry*. The money spent on dowries was exempt from taxes, leading many fathers to overstate the size of their daughters' dowries.

Jews made up a significant community in Florence. Most trade guilds did not admit Jews, effectively barring them from city politics. By the 1400s they were limited to a small number of professions, such as pawn-broking. In general, Jews in Florence fared better under Medici rule than they did when the city was a republic. In 1495 city leaders attempted to drive the Jews out of Florence, but a crisis in the economy caused them to think twice about losing an important source of income within the city.

Culture. Florence played a major role in shaping Renaissance culture. A staggering number of the age's great artists and humanists* worked in Florence. During the 1300s the city was home to the writers Dante Aligheri, PETRARCH, and Giovanni BOCCACCIO. Noted humanists, including Leonardo BRUNI and Coluccio SALUTATI, served as chancellors of Florence. Many famous sculptors and painters—including RAPHAEL, DONATELLO, MICHELANGELO BUONARROTI, and LEONARDO DA VINCI—were active in the city during the 1400s and early 1500s.

Scholars do not know exactly why Florence became the focus of Renaissance culture, but clearly one factor was the many sources of patronage in the city. Florence's guilds, churches, wealthy families, and city government commissioned a considerable amount of public and private art. At the same time, artists such as Leon Battista ALBERTI and Giorgio Vasari also promoted their city's reputation as an artistic center through their writings on painting, sculpture, and architecture. These works remain one of the most important sources of information about Renaissance art.

Architects in Florence produced some of the most notable buildings of the Renaissance. The cathedral, with its famous dome designed by Filippo BRUNELLESCHI, dominated the city. The neighboring baptistery* featured immense bronze doors with scenes from the New and Old Testaments by Lorenzo GHIBERTI. Other well-known examples of Florentine architecture include the palaces built by prominent families such as the Medici and Rucellai.

Churches and palaces were not only works of art in themselves; they also provided a place to display paintings, sculpture, and other forms of art. Even commercial buildings were used to showcase art. For example, the city's grain storehouses, Orsanmichele, featured niches containing sculptures of the patron saints of the city's various craft guilds. Several of the statues were by leading artists such as Ghiberti and Donatello. Brunelleschi designed the gallery of the city's home for orphans, the Ospedale degli Innocenti. Thus, even in the everyday world of business, outstanding art and architecture were hallmarks of Renaissance Florence.

(See also Architecture; Art; Art in Italy; Cities and Urban Life; Factions; Government, Forms of; Guilds; Medici, Cosimo de'; Medici, Lorenzo de'; Money and Banking; Naples; Palaces and Townhouses; Patronage; Popes and Papacy; Representative Institutions; Sculpture; Wars of Italy.)

* patronage

support or financial sponsorship

* Holy Roman Empire

political body in central Europe composed of several states; existed until 1806

* faction

party or interest group within a larger group

* Black Death

epidemic of the plague, a highly contagious and often fatal disease, which spread throughout Europe from 1348 to 1350

* guild

association of craft and trade owners and workers that set standards for and represented the interests of its members

The Giant Killer

One of the most famous sculptures of the entire Renaissance is Michelangelo's David, created in 1504 for public display in Florence. The sculptor Donatello created two pieces on the same subject in the 1400s. One of these, a bronze figure sculpted for Cosimo de' Medici, was the first freestanding nude sculpture since ancient times. David was a popular subject for sculpture because Florence strongly identified with this biblical figure. Many Florentines saw the boy-warrior who took on a giant as a symbol of their small republic struggling against tyranny.

* papacy

office and authority of the pope

* republican

refers to a form of Renaissance government dominated by leading merchants with limited participation by others

* Dominican

religious order of brothers and priests founded by St. Dominic

* pagan

referring to ancient religions that worshiped many gods, or more generally, to any non-Christian religion

* excommunicate

to exclude from the church and its rituals

* oligarchy

form of government in which a small group of people holds all the power

* sack

to loot a captured city

See color plate 4, vol. 3

* dowry

money or property that a woman brings to her marriage

* humanist

Renaissance expert in the humanities (the languages, literature, history, and speech and writing techniques of ancient Greece and Rome)

* baptistery

building where baptisms are performed

See color plate 3, vol. 1