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by Anthony Molh
Chapter 3
FLORENTINE
SOCIETY
The Florentines, like every
people in history, were separated into social classes. At the top, as we have seen, were the
members of the important guilds. These
were the aristocrats who controlled the city's financial and commercial
activities. They also dominated the
government and set the "tone" of social life.
Below
the aristocrats were artisans. Some,
like the cloth dyers, were highly skilled in their crafts. Others, like the tanners and cobblers, were
less skilled and consequently less well-to-do.
The great majority of these artisans belonged to the minor guilds, but
some were not even allowed to form guilds.
At
the very bottom of the social scale were the unskilled workers. Often unemployed and living in complete
poverty, they were frequently referred to as the miserabili (the
miserable ones).
THE ARISTOCRATS
By 1300 the aristocracy was
in firm control in Florence. The
wealthiest people in the city belonged to it.
But it was an aristocracy unlike most others in Europe or even in other
Italian cities. Elsewhere the
aristocrats were persons whose ancestors had left them large landholdings
acquired during the Middle Ages. They
were proud of the fact that they did not make their living by commerce and
industry. They looked down scornfully
on merchants and bankers.
In
Florence the greater part of the old nobility took a different attitude. By the mid-1200's the great merchants and
bankers had become so spectacularly, wealthy that they outshone the nobles in
their way of life. These rich merchants
were, of course, the descendants of peasants who had come to Florence only a
few generations earlier. Instead of
scorning merchants, many noble families began to invest in profitable
enterprises in the city. Sons of nobles
became business partners of men who but a
few generations earlier had
come to Florence from the peasant life of the countryside. By 1300 the two groups could not be
distinguished from each other. They had
become a single aristocratic class, bound together by wealth and an interest in
commerce, cloth-making, and banking.
The few noble families unwilling to enter commercial life of the city
paid heavily for their decision. We
shall see that they were barred from political life.
Another
bond which united merchants and nobles was affection for, and commitment to the
land. Noble families kept the vast
landholdings inherited from their ancestors.
They grew crops for themselves or for sale in the city market. Nor did the descendants of peasants forget
their rural origins. Even after they
became successful merchants, they remembered the small villages their families
had come from. Though many tried to
conceal their humble beginnings, they did not cut their ties with the
land. They were likely to maintain
summer homes in the countryside. Or
they bought farms and, like the descendants of the nobility, cultivated their
acres for profit.
Many
a Florentine merchant of the 1300's and 1400's recorded with pleasure his
association with his farm. Giovanni
Morelli was one such person. He was a
merchant who kept a detailed diary of his activities from 1393 to 1411. Three long pages of his diary are devoted to
a lyrical and often wistful description of the Mugello. Here was a region some 20 miles (about 30
kilometers) northwest of Florence where his ancestors had lived. Admitting that his ancestors were "not
rich but needy folk, "Morelli added that they were "honorable
people. "He suggests that their
moral quality was largely derived from "the goodness and perfection"
of the Mugello.
In a subsequent section of
his diary, Morelli fondly recalls childhood days spent in the family's summer
home. The clear brooks and wide meadows
"with grass so soft that it could not hurt even a child's bare feet"
had left a deep impression on his mind.
Such memories held him close to the land. Morelli was not unique in this respect. Repeatedly we read similar statements in the correspondence and
diaries of Florentine aristocrats. And
we understand it was this double commitment -to the world of trade and its
profits, on the one hand, and to the delights and pleasures of the land, on the
other-that united the Florentine aristocracy in a common bond and attitude.
This
fusion of interest and outlook of landowners and merchants deeply colored
Florentine life. It helped descendants
of noble and peasant families to merge into one social class. It also encouraged other rural families to
come to Florence. Throughout the 14th
and 15th centuries, vast numbers of ambitious and restless peasants transferred
their homes to the bustling city. In
the city there was always hope. There
was hope of earning more money. There
was hope of leading a more interesting life.
And, not to be ignored, there was hope of slowly rising to the top of
society. The Florentine aristocracy did
not close its ranks to newcomers. As in
the United States in the 19th and early 20th centuries, an ambitious newcomer
could always hope to break out of his father's social position. He could acquire prestige and wealth like
that of older and already well. established families.
SOCIAL MOBILITY
A good example of a family
that moved up the social scale is that of the Morelli. We recall that Giovanni Morelli's ancestors
had moved to Florence from the Mugello toward the end of the 13th century. They were dyers of cloth and traders in dye
stuffs. By 1372, when Giovanni was
born, his father Paolo had gained a very respectable fortune. Early in the 15th century, Giovanni married
into the Alberti family, one of the city's oldest clans. He also held major political offices.
The
fortunes of the Medici family were somewhat similar. There are already references to the Medici in city records by the
1230's. For a great part, of the
1200's, however, they remained a rather obscure family. By the 1300's economic success had made them
better known. In the early years of the
1400's, the family prospered. We have
seen that under the brilliant guidance of Giovanni de' Medici, the Medici bank
became the largest firm in Florence and later the major European bank of its
day. The Medici family gained power and
prominence in the city. In 1434
Giovanni's son Cosimo de' Medici became the foremost powerful politician in
Florence. We may say he had a place
comparable to that of a political "boss" in a modem American
city. This, then, was the aristocracy
which ruled Florence, It was a class conscious of its economic power, but not
closed to newcomers.
THE FLORENTINE FAMILY
Business, farming, and
politics occupied the greater part of the public lives of Florentine
aristocrats. Their private lives, like
those of all other classes in the society, were focused on their families. To appreciate the crucial role of the family
in Florentine life, it is important first to know what the family was.
Today,
when one refers to his family, he is likely to have in mind his parents,
brothers, and sisters. Seldom does an
American family include a grandparent living in a son's or daughter's
household, or more rarely a spinster aunt or a bachelor uncle. Sociologists speak of today's families as nuclear. Florentine families in the 14th and 15th
centuries can be called extended.
An
extended family includes not only parents and their children but two or three
generations. Grandparents,
grandchildren, uncles, aunts, nephews, nieces -all live in the same house or in
adjoining ones. Often, all share a
common garden. Property may be held in
common. (This practice was not much in
use in Florence during the late 14th century.)
It
is easy to see why the extended family was to be found in Florence. Florentine society was an unstable, fluid,
dynamic one. Competition for social
advancement was sharp. Risks taken in
business were great. Competition in
political life was also keen. Such an
environment was helpful and encouraging to the adventuresome and successful,
but it was tough and brutal to those who were weak or who failed in their
business ventures. Florentines had few
resources on which to rely in case of need or of danger. The family was a necessary source of support
and assistance. Governments might be arbitrary
and unjust. Taxation could ruin a
fortune. Business investments made
abroad might fail. Yet, despite such
reverses, a Florentine could be certain that in his hour of need his parents,
brothers, nephews, cousins, and grandchildren would rally to his help. The family, therefore, served an extremely
useful function in Florence. It was a
stabilizing and cohesive force. And its
importance was clearly recognized and accepted by the Florentines
themselves. A Florentine was likely to
be fiercely proud of membership in his or her family.
The
structure of the family had other results.
Two, three, or even four generations lived close together. Thus, individuals were looked at in two
ways. They were viewed not only in
terms of their own merits and place in society but also in terms of their
family's. What it was, they were. The weight of family tradition bore heavily
on a Florentine's shoulders.
Family Traditions
Often a family became known
as following some one occupation. For
generations, sons continued this tradition.
The number of families in which sons and grand sons followed fathers and
grandfathers in the same profession is legion.
The Medici were known as bankers; the Morelli, as dyers and medium-sized
merchants. The men of these two clans
were expected to earn their livings in the family profession. Each family also acquired, through the
years, certain political and social traditions. Family members were expected to uphold these. Certain clans, for example, were known as
lawbreaking and antisocial. The
Ricasoli, an old household and one of the largest in the city, bore this
reputation. Many of its members, in
spite of the family's great wealth and prominence, got in trouble with the
law. By contrast, from the 1370's to
the 1440's and 14501s, three generations of Medici were active in
politics. They sought to project an
image of trying to help and advance the interest of il popolino
("the little people").
Dozens
of private diaries dating from the 14th and 15th centuries extol the achievements
of a family. Many begin with a brief
summary of the family history.
Buonaccorso Pitti, member of an old and powerful family, began his diary
with these lines:
The year of Our Lord 1412. In this year I, Buonaccorso Pitti, being a descendant of
Buonsignore Pitti-through his son, also Buonsignore, whose son, Maffeo, had a
son Buonaccorso, whose son was my father, Neri -began to keep this diary. It has been my aim to record here everything
I could, discover about our lineage and family connections down to those formed
in my own day.
A kinsman whose branch had
been separated from Pitti's four generations before had destroyed some of the
family's oldest records. For this
reason Pitti "was unable to trace our history back to its very beginnings." Faced with this loss, Pitti used some of his
grandfather's papers which "however were badly written and torn, and
generally in poor condition." He
also recorded "information about our forebears which I heard from my
father Neri. "Giovanni Morelli, who knew Pitti, wrote that he began his
diary so that his sons could know the family's origins. These examples could be multiplied many
times over.
In many ways Florentines were made aware of the past and
of family tradition. The parish church
was one focal point of family life.
Most wealthy Florentines attended mass three or four times a week. Many went to church more than once a
day. Living so close to each other, all
members of a family attended the same church.
They could chat and exchange gossip before or after mass. In the church they prayed before altars at
the family tombs. Important Florentines
who died in the city were buried in the parish church. The Medici, for example, were buried in the
church of San Lorenzo, some 50 yards (about 45 meters) from the Medici palace
where we can see their tombs today.
When a member of a family died, the family gathered for the funeral in
the parish church. Funerals were
numerous because so many people died young.
A funeral was not only an occasion of grief but also a demonstration to
the entire community of the strength of the clan. When the patriarch of the Medici, Giovanni, died in 1429, an
elaborate procession followed the body to the church. It included no fewer than 28 adult male members of the clan. The people of Florence could see that
despite its loss the family was still strong and numerous.
Marriage
The practices of marriage
further illustrate Florentine family attitudes. Marriage was the alliance of two clans. It was arranged by the elders of the families with little regard
to the wishes of the young people themselves.
A proper marriage alliance might strengthen a family's political
position. It might improve its business
connections or enhance its social position.
A young woman was expected to bring her husband a dowry, a gift of cash
or property. This custom is based on a
simple idea. Since it costs a man a
great deal of money to establish a household and raise his children, his wife
ought to help him. The husband had the
right to dispose of the dowry during his life.
Upon his death it went back to the widow. Or, if the wife died before the husband, her heirs-children,
brothers, or parents -inherited it.
A
letter written in 1447 by Alessandra Strozzi to her son, a merchant in Naples,
tells us how one family went about arranging a marriage.
To begin with, I inform you that, with the grace of
God, we have promised our Caterina. to
the son of Parente, son of Piero Parenti, a 25 year old youth, only son of a
good family. He is rich, sober, and
conscientious and owns a silk manufactury.
The Parenti are moderately prominent politically.... I am giving her a dowry of 1,000 florins:
that is 500 florins now, and the other 500 I shall give her in a combination of
cash and presents when she gets married which, if it pleases God, I hope will
be in November. This money is partly
yours and partly mine. Had I not chosen
this husband for her she could not have gotten married this year, for whoever
takes a wife wants money.... Surely, we
have concluded this affair all to the better, for she is sixteen years old, and
it was not advisable to wait any longer to marry her. We tried to place her in a nobler and politically more powerful
family, but we would have needed 1,400 or 1,500 florins, and this would have
meant our ruin. I do not know if the
girl is pleased, for it is true that with the exception of political advantages
this marriage has little else to recommend it.
I, having considered everything, decided to prepare the girl and not be,
too fussy, for I am certain that she will be as happy as any other girl in
Florence.
It
can be seen that marriage, if it did nothing else, at least gave a man a sum of
money to use in advancing his business.
Gregorio Dati records that he was married to his first wife in 1388 when
he was in debt. "I received a
dowry and was able to pay off the debt that year, as well as furnishing the
house decently," he says. Dati was
widowed four times. Each successive
marriage brought him needed capital to invest in his various ventures.
From
our 20th-century point of view it would be easy to believe that Florentine
women were generally unhappy in their marriages. Some of them were.
Francesco Datini and his wife were forever unable to get along with each
other. The two were. always at odds. As a result, Datini became more and more absorbed in his business
affairs, taking long trips and leaving his wife at home. One of his friends scolded him for his
inability to get on with his wife:
I eat roast chestnuts every morning before leaving
the home, but that is because my wife pampers me, as I do her. Not like you do, who are always wrangling
with yours: and yet you say, "I am a good husband!" Leave that rather
to me, who give mine both words and deeds.
But
even though marriages were arranged, many husbands and wives grew to have
respect and affection for each other.
In 1445 a Florentine merchant entered the following in his diary:
I record how Lucrezia my wife, by whom I have eleven
children who are still alive, died on this day at half past two at night, on
Friday evening; which pains me as much as if it had been myself, since she has
been my companion 20 years, one month, and ten days. Priests and friars held the vigil at home on Saturday morning at
11; and she was buried on the same day in Santa Croce, by the side of the Holy
Water font in the church.... And this
woman was a great loss, and all the people of Florence were hurt, because she
was a good and sweet woman, and had a way of making herself loved by all who
knew her. And I believe her soul has
gone to the feet of God's servants, because she had great humility and patience
in the face of death, and had been ill for fifteen days before ... so that God in His great pity will have
taken her into the seat of His angels.
FRIENDSHIP
The highly competitive life
of Florentine society helped create deep bonds of affection and attachment
between men. Friendship was an added
psychological prop in a rough and unsettled world. Friendship was cherished.
Friends were expected to make great demands upon each other. A man would be deeply offended if, in his
hour of need, a friend did not appeal to him for advice and help. When business fortunes foundered, or when
one's political position was threatened by an enemy, friends were expected to
help. Francesco Datini's best friend
was a relatively poor notary, Lapo Mazzei.
For, years Mazzei helped Datini select his business staff. He also offered advice to Datini on his
personal problems. We have a letter of
Mazzei to Datini's wife. In it he
expresses clearly his feelings for her husband:
Were I not afraid of seeming a flatterer, I would
say that he has bewitched me, for since reaching the age of reason I have never
felt more fervid and warmer love for any man in the world, and I look to him as
my second father. May the Lord grant us
to live ... together until the end.
The wealthy Datini, in return, showered his friend with
presents. He sent him barrels of cheese
or kegs of wine. When Mazzei's son grew
up, it was natural that Datini should offer him a position in one of the
numerous branches of his company.
THE ARTISANS AND THE
UNSKILLED WORKERS
The world we have described
above of family and friendships and social customs was really the world of the
Florentine aristocrats. These were the
people who wrote the diaries, letters, and account books which enable us to
examine their lives. Among such people
were also some skilled and better paid artisans. But what of the poorer artisans, and the thousands of unskilled
workers on whose muscles the processing of the raw wool depended? What do we know of their lives?
Few of the poorer people
could write. Those that could did not
have time to write diaries and compose long letters to their friends. Their days were consumed in trying to earn a
meager living. Yet in number, these
people made up the greater part of the Florentine population. Florence had some 90,000 people. In 1338 because of the Black Death, the
population shrank drastically. In the
late 14th and most of the 15th centuries, it stood only at half that number,
approximately 45,000 people. Of these,
perhaps 10 to 12 per cent, some 5,000 persons, belonged to the
aristocracy. Of the rest, the largest
percentage, perhaps 25,000 to 30,000 were members of the skilled or semiskilled
artisan class. The remaining 5,000 to
10,000 were the unskilled workers-those people who received the worst wages,
and then only when they were able to find jobs. Many of them were paupers.
They scraped by on alms and on the small rations of grain from the
government. in many ways, the
differences between the skilled and, semiskilled artisans, on the one hand, and
the unskilled workers, on the other, were as great as those separating
aristocrats from nonaristocrats.
Minor Guildsmen
Artisans had the riot to
form their own guilds; thus their economic interests were protected. As we saw earlier, of the city's 21 guilds,
14 were those of the small artisans.
Membership in these minor guilds, however, was reserved to master
craftsmen. They might be less rich than
the great bankers and merchants, but at least they were men of modest
means. Some owned shops in which one or
two unskilled laborers worked. Some
perhaps owned small homes in one or another of the city's dark and winding
streets. Almost all maintained ties
with their rural backgrounds. They
owned small plots of land, leased to tenant farmers. In exchange they received either money rents or payments in kind.
We have the tax declarations of two such men. Their statements are simple and revealing. Agnolo
di Jacopo, a weaver, declared in 1427 that he, his wife,
and mother lived in a small house, which he owned. Other taxable assets included his loom, and debts amounting to
nearly 64 florins, which were owed to him by four individuals. In that same year, the wool carder Biaggio
di Niccollo declared he had one-third of a house in which he lived together
with his wife and two young daughters.
He had also one-half of a small cottage with a garden, which he rented
out for nearly four florins per year.
Thus, these two men were property owners. And property owners had social status, a standing in the
community. The city government also
reserved certain offices in the city government for members of the minor
guilds.
On
the whole, then, these men were satisfied with the state of things in
Florence. They approved the political
system so long as it kept them in peace.
They supported it so long as it allowed them a chance to keep their
possessions and their status in society.
Only when taxes became too high or when food shortages drove up prices
or when their small businesses suffered were they willing to partake in any
antigovernment activity. Generally,
however, they created a stabilizing influence in the city. Their desire to improve their position was
always balanced off against their fear of losing it.
Unfortunately,
there is little evidence to tell us about the lives of these people. Almost always the information contained in a
source is general and reveals little.
The guild records contain the names of each member. Tax and census records list names of
thousands of unknown men. We see in
these tax records that they often paid an overly large share of their modest
incomes for taxes.
Occasionally,
however, even these impersonal documents allow us a brief glimpse into the life
of one .Individual. "I am
Giovanni, the son of Teruccio," declared a minor guildsman to the tax
commission of 1451. "My arms are
my only asset. I sell my labor with the
aid of tools and equipment in making eye-glasses and repairing harps and
lutes." And another one said: "I am a poor man, and I live from the
labor of my hands. I must follow my
trade to live and to feed my family of four children, all of them small."
These were the statements -simple and impressive-of persons whose humble
condition had not destroyed their sense of dignity and responsibility.
The Miserabili
Below the artisans were the
people at the bottom of the social scale.
Here, leading a wretched and desolate existence, were the several
thousand unskilled workers and the chronically unemployed. Here were those people who even in good
times could obtain no more than miserably paying, temporary work. Historians have calculated that there were
more than 5,000 miserabili in Florence.
They hovered on street comers and in every church door. A contemporary preacher wrote of such a
man. He was caught stealing flour in
the marketplace at night, among the six pigs called St. Anthony's swine, who
were put there to eat garbage. "He
had fastened a bag about his thighs, and a bell, and crawled on all fours, and
when people heard the bell they thought that he was one of St. Anthony's
swine."
We
know from our own experience that great poverty often leads people to
crime. Florence was no exception. Gambling, thefts, assaults, murders, and
infanticides are frequently reported in court documents. In 1407, a woman called Francesca, wife of a
poor man named Cecco Arrighil drowned her newborn son by throwing him into a
stream. In 1399, a young man of 24,
member of a once-rich but now poor family, stole a small sum of money from a
neighbor's house. His parents
petitioned the government for a pardon.
They explained that he was driven to crime because "he and his
parents and sisters are not only poor but destitute, and they have no property
and are heavily burdened with debts."
The prisons were filled with debtors, put in jail for
their poverty. The wool carder Chimento
Noldini had to give "one bed, one pair of shears, one chest with two
locks, one cupboard, and one cape" to his creditors. Probably these items represented everything
he owned. Another prisoner petitioned
the government, from prison, saying that he "possesses nothing in the
world save his own body, his wife, and three small children, another child
having died in prison. He is perishing
of hunger in jail, while his family starves outside." We read also of the
cobbler Niccolo di Salvi. He was forced
to sell his home and shop furnishings to pay his back taxes. But his taxes were larger than the sum he
received by selling his goods. He was
therefore arrested and sent to prison.
There he stayed for six months.
In order to be released he sold a small cottage "which was his last
piece of property in the world." After leaving prison, to support himself,
his wife, and children, he earned a small living as a servant in the prison
"carrying water and other things for the prisoners."
People
like these led the periodic uprisings that disrupted Florence in the 14th and
occasionally the 15th centuries. They
found it exceedingly difficult to protect their interests since they were
prevented from joining guilds. Whenever
they could, they did their best to upset the economic balance that was weighted
so heavily against them. Such a revolt,
the most famous in Florentine history, took place in 1378, when the wool
carders rebelled. These unskilled
laborers, who cleaned and combed the wool upon its arrival in the city, led a
'mass uprising. Their hopes were simple
and easily understood. One of them is
said to have exclaimed: "We will
take over the city, and kill and rob the rich who have oppressed us, and we
will be masters of the city, and rule it as we wish, and we shall be
rich." And another confided to a friend: "The time will come when I
will no longer wander about begging, for I expect to be rich, and we will live in high style in
Florence." Running through the streets to the cry "long live the
people, and death to those who have starved us," they burned and looted
several homes. Though they were quickly
put down, they had the chance to taste power.
Inevitably,
in a conflict with the ruling class, the workers lost. The Florentine aristocrats viewed them as
lawless hooligans. The aristocrats
thought the rebels were forcibly trying to obtain a position in society which
was not properly theirs. An aristocrat,
who was also a historian, wrote about the leaders of the revolution of 1378:
"There was no end or measure to the unbridled desire of the lawless rabble
who lusted after the, property of rich and honored men, and thought of nothing
but robbery, slaughter and oppression."
Political realities in Florence made it clear that the workers would
never gain their ends.
THE BLACK DEATH
We have discussed the
people of Florence as separated into classes.
We have seen the classes pitted against each other. But all class barriers were of no importance
when the terrible Black Death struck the city.
It carried off people of all ages, sexes, and classes without
discrimination. It was the most
improbable and destructive force imaginable.
Florentine society was altered in innumerable ways by it. We can only hint at its impact.
The
Black Death was introduced into Italy by merchants from Genoa returning from
the Black Sea. The disease was a
combination of the bubonic and pneumonic plagues. No cure was known in the 14th century. Spreading with frightening speed from Italy to the northern parts
of Europe, it left behind a staggering toll of human lives. As many as one-third of all Europeans died
within the 15 months from late spring 1348 to the fall of 1349. No region was spared. From England to Spain, and from Poland to
Germany and France, millions of Europeans fell victims to the disease.
Florence
was hit with great force by this disaster.
Perhaps as many as half the people died during the summer and fall of
1348. Scenes like this were typical:
It was the common practice of most of the neighbors,
moved no less by fear of contamination by the putrefying bodies than by charity
toward the deceased, to drag the corpses out of the houses with their own hands
... and to lay them in front of the
doors where anyone who made the rounds might have seen, especially in the
morning, more of them than he could count; afterwards they would have biers
brought up. . . . Nor was it once or
twice only that one and the same bier carried two or three corpses at once; but
quite a considerable number of such cases occurred, one bier sufficing for
husband and wife, and two or three brothers, father and son, and so forth. And times without count it happened that, as
two priests bearing the cross were on their way to perform the last office for
someone, three or four biers were brought up by the porters in rear of them, so
that, whereas the priests thought that they had but one corpse to bury, they
discovered that there were six, or eight, or sometimes more. Nor, for all their number, were their
obsequies honored by either tears or lights or crowds of mourners; rather, it
was come to this, that a dead man was then of no more account than a dead goat
would be today.
The
Black Death set off a massive moral crisis.
Florentines were stunned by the greatness of the blow and by the
overwhelming sense of death which they had observed all about them. They asked if perhaps their fate was God's
punishment for wayward and sinful habits.
Nevertheless,
in fundamental ways the life of Florence continued after the Black Death, much
as it had before. Although the Black
Death was very upsetting to the business life of Florence, in the following years
the city reached new heights of productiveness. The great guildsmen continued to head the society. The poorer members of the population still
lived on in misery, seeking ways to improve their lot. So, let us turn to the problems of
government. These concerned every
Florentine -the mighty who wanted to preserve their freedom and power, and the
powerless who were trying to find ways of bettering their poor estate.
.