This is an expanded version of a paper read at the North Central Renaissance Conference which met on 16 February 1962 at Cleveland, Ohio.

1 On the origins of the Monte, see Barbadoro, B., Lefinanze delta repubblica fiorentina (Florence, 1929), pp. 629–687.Google Scholar For a treatment of the Monte in the Quattrocento, see Marks, L., ‘The Financial Oligarchy in Florence under Lorenzo’ in Italian Renaissance Studies (New York, 1960), pp. 123–145.Google Scholar Cf. also G. Brucker, ‘Un documento fiorentino sulla guerra, sulla finanza e sulla axnministrazione pubblica (1375)', Archivio Storico Italiano cxv (1957), 169; E. Fiumi, ‘Fioritura e decadenza dell'economia fiorentina', Archivio Storico Italiano CXVII (1959), 427-502; A. Sapori, L'eta della rinascita (Milan, 1958), pp. 149-154. For the military background, see Bayley, C. C., War and Society in Renaissance Florence (Toronto, 1961), pp. 3–58.Google Scholar

2 G. Brucker, ‘The Ghibelline Trial of Matteo Villani (1362)', Medievalia et Humanistica XIII (1960), 52-54. For materials pertaining to Matteo's political career and patrimony, see Libri Fabarum, 34, f. 26^r (11 September 1355). (All documents cited in this paper are to be found in the Archivio di Stato in Florence.) Cf. also Estimo, 8, f. 77; Prestanze, 83, f. 18; Monte, 442, f. 59. His experience with the Monte adds dimension to the observations he makes in his chronicle (M. Villani, Cronica, ed. F. Dragomanni, Florence, 1844-1845, vm, 71). Another chronicler much involved in state fiscal matters was Donato Velluti, keeper of the best domestic chronicle for the middle years of the Trecento. Cf. La cronica domestica, ed. I. del Lungo and G. Volpe (Florence, 1914); Libri Fabarum, 23, f. 15^r (26 May 1344).

3 Marchionne di Coppo Stefani, Cronica fiorentina, ed. N. Rodolico (Città di Castello, 1903-1955, Rerum Italicarum Scriptores, new ed., xxx), rub. 883-884. For Stefani's career as a communal financial official, see Prestanze, 368, f. I^r ; Consulte et Pratiche, 14, f. 87. (Henceforth this source will be abbreviated as C.P.) Cf. also Camera del Comune, 158, unnumbered folio (27 February 1374). (Henceforth this source will be abbreviated as C.C.) For additional bibliographical detail, see A. Panella, ‘Per la biografia del cronista Marchionne', Archivio Storico Italiano LXXXVIII (1930), 241-253; M. Becker, ‘Un awenimento riguardante il cronista Marchionne di Coppo Stefani', Archivio Storico Italiano CXVII (1959), 137-146.

4 L. Marks, op. cit., pp. 127-128. The number of citizens inscribed in the various Monte of the Trecento ranged from approximately 5,000 to 8,000, die high point being reached just prior to the onslaught of the Black Death. Virtually every Florentine of substance had money invested in the Monte. There was a tendency, however, for the wealthy speculators to buy up large blocks of shares and this was certainly true of such families as the Medici, Da Panzano, Panciatichi, Rinuccini, and others. Cf. P.J.Jones, ‘Florentine Families and Florentine Diaries in the Fourteenth Century', Papers of the British School at Rome XXIV (1956), 196-197.

5 P.J.Jones, op. cit., p. 197, fn. 113, presents the most recent evaluation of the total capital of Florentine citizens as being between eight and nine million florins, of which business capital amounted to 1,100,200 florins. (The statistics cited for the Florentine Quattrocento are from G. Canestrini's La scienza e Varte di stato, Florence, 1862, pp. 151 ff.)

6 Evidence for this statement is derived from the figures presented by Giovanni Villani in his Cronica, ed. F. Dragomanni (Florence, 1844-1845), xi, 92, for the biennium of 1336-1338. For returns from the customs toll for 1343, see C.C., 5, f. 18. It is important to note that when this gabelle was sold on 13 January 1339, it brought in 14,200 florins less than it had yielded in 1336-1338. Figures for the gabelle on wine, contracts, salt, and other communal levies are taken from C.C., 2 bis, passim.

7 The records of the Camera del Cotnune indicate that this occurred in November of that fateful year, and it was at that time that Walter of Brienne, short-lived despot of the city, enacted a decree declaring a moratorium on communal debts. The treasury balance was just above 15,000 florins, barely enough to meet the daily exigencies of government. Cf. Sapori, A., La crisi della compagnie mercantili dei Bardi e dei Peruzzi (Florence, 1926), pp. 148–151 Google Scholar; C.C., 2 bis, f. 7.

8 B. Barbadoro, op. cit., p. 616; A. Sapori, La crisi, p. 138. Among purchasers of communal imposts who were unable to meet their obligations to the treasury were the buyers of the gabella portarwn, the gabelle on wine, cattle, mills, hawkers of foods, and the levy on communal property. Cf. C.C., 2 bis, fols. 157^r-158^r , 187^r , 219, 313.

9 After 1315 the dreaded estimo was suppressed, and only under the despotisms of Charles of Calabria (1325-1328) and Walter of Brienne (1342-1343) was it revived. Cf. M. Becker, ‘Some Aspects of Oligarchical, Dictatorial, and Popular Signorie in Florence, 1282-1382', Comparative Stud, in Society and History II (1960), 434-438. The greater guildsmen who completely dominated the Signoria at this time repeatedly rejected the imposition of the estimo, as well as any levy on the guilds themselves. Cf. Libri Fabarum, 14, ff. 41^r-43, 45; 19, f. 118; 20, f. 59.

10 Time and time again, advisors to the Signoria urged the government to impose new gabelles or to ask for voluntary loans; only when these remedies were exhausted would the speakers consent to discuss more drastic alternatives. In the matter of gabelles the tendency was to oppose the gabella mercantie and other imposts that fell most heavily upon the arti maggiori and to favor levies on such commodities as wine, bread, or meat. In 13 51, Uguccione Ricciardi made a novel suggestion to the Signoria: instead of imposing a tax on mercantie, compel the citizens to serve in the Florentine garrisons without pay. Iacopo Banco Puccio, another speaker, much preferred exacting money through voluntary loans and then hiring mercenaries. When the most democratic of all Florentine regimes (1378-1382) was finally able to enact direct taxation, the advisors to the Signoria demanded that taxpayers be given interest; in effect, this converted an estimo into aprestanza. Cf. C.P., 1, part 1, and C.P., 17 passim.

11 The catasti of Florentine citizens in 1427 yielded 25,341 florins, of which less than a quarter was contributed by commercial wealth. The contadini paid in over three times this amount. See P.J.Jones, op. cit., p. 187; G. Cavalcanti, Istoriefiorentine, ed. G. di Pino (Milan, 1945), IV, 8; P. Berti, ‘Nuovi documenti intorno al catasto fiorentino', Giornale Storico degli Archivi Toscani IV (1860), 32-62. The text of the enabling act founding the catasto was published by Karmin, O., La legge del catasto fiorentino del 1427 (Florence, 1906), pp. 11Google Scholar ff. It should be noted that the interests of the major guildsmen were insured by the proviso that eight of the ten officials in charge of assessing this tax were to be elected by the major guilds.

12 For example, from 1 September 1368 to 31 August 1369 the treasury borrowed 77,556 florins from the Monte. This sum was approximately equal to the revenue from indirect taxes pledged for interest payments to communal creditors. What occurred, then, was that the capital of the Monte was being depleted while the income from gabelles was being used to pay the interest. Cf. C.C., 127-132. A similar situation obtained from July 1372 to August 1373 when 74,457 florins were transferred from the coffers of the Monte to the officials in charge of hiring troops for the republic. During the war with the Ubaldini, which broke out shortly thereafter, the amount involved reached almost 100,000 florins. Cf. C.C., 149-163. Preliminary researches indicate that, beginning in November 1378, the treasury officials borrowed large sums from the Monte, usually at the end of their tenure of office, so that their accounts would balance and the republic would be able to pay its mercenaries. Cf.C.C, 186; C.C., 190; C.C., 193.

13 For returns on the salt tax, see C.C., 6, f. 451“; C.C., 9, f. 59^r; C.C., 14, f. 77“”. For the customs toll, see C.C., 5, f. 18; C.C., 6, f. 47; C.C., 7, f. 115; C.C., 14, f. 18; C.C., 18, f. 102; C.C., 25, f. 104^r . Returns from the gabelle on wine rose from 36,000 florins in 1342 to 45,000 florins just before the Black Death. Cf. C.C., 9, f. 394; C.C., 10, f. 84; C. C.,11, £ 33^r ; C.C., 25, f. 104^r . For the gabelle on contracts, see C.C., 10, f. 108^r ; C.C., 11, f. 34; C.C., 14, f. 18; C.C., 17, f. 6. For the yield of the lesser gabelles, see C.C., 12, f. 41^r ; C.C., 11, f. 34; C.C., 23, f. 26; C.C., 10, f. 107; C.C., 16, f. 102^r; C.C., 10, f. 9. Since these taxes were auctioned off” during this interval, the increased income that accrued to the commune resulted from the judgment of buyers who believed that economic conditions were going to improve. I have been unable to find significant increases in the rates of the gabelles that would account for their greater yield between 1343 and 1348.

14 For example, E. Fiumi in ‘La demografia fiorentine nelle pagine di Giovanni Villani', Archivio Storico Italiano cvra (1950), 78-158, presents population statistics indicating that the period prior to the Black Death was one of urban growth, and yet he views these years as an interval of unmitigated decline. Similarly, his study of the number of ratepayers in the Florentine contado, during the 1350s and 1360s, presents statistics indicating an increase, rather than a decline (pp. 90-94). Also, as we shall see, data from the treasury records, concerning the yield of the estimo on the contado, challenge Fiumi's conclusions on Florentine tax policy and reveal that the Signoria's regimen of the contado grew substantially harsher during the 1350s. In 1356 it produced 35,065 florins; this increase suggests that his contention about the symbiotic relationship between city and contado is inexact. Cf. E. Fiumi, ‘Sui rapporti tra citta e contado nell'eta comunale', Archivio Storico Italiano XIV (1956), 18-68; C.C., 57-62 (January-December 1356). A. Sapori in his study, ‘La gabella delle porte di Firenze’ in L'etd della Rinascita (Milan, 1958), p. 139, speculates as to how Florentine revenues could have held up so well in the second half of the Trecento despite the onslaught of the Black Death and the veritable cyclone of business failures. His statistics, coupled with data from the treasury records, demonstrate that income from the gabella portarum increased sharply during the decade of the 1350s and the early 1360s, leveling off in 1365 and then undergoing a severe decline beginning in 1371. From May 1357 to April 1358, this gabella brought in 47,021 florins; the following year it rose to 56,570 florins. By 1364 it had climbed to 87,563 florins and it remained on this plateau throughout most of the 1360s. Cf. pertinent treasury records for the years in question, and also fn. 57.

15 Returns from the salt tax, imposts on cattle and meat, markets in the contado, and levies on hawkers of foodstuffs demonstrate comparable gains during the 1350s and early 1360s.

16 Cf. Guidice degli Appelli, 122, part II, for the many revocations of sentences and the numerous grants of judicial dispensation issued in 1341.

17 Severe condemnations were launched against the Bondelmonti, who paid fines totaling 5,161 lire, 16 soldi. Cf. C.C., 6, f. 72^r (19 June 1344). The Cavalcanti were fined 3,000 lire, as were the Gherardini and the Giandonati. The family hardest hit by this vigorous enforcement of communal law was the Bardi with sixty-two members of this house convicted on a variety of charges. The Donati, Frescobaldi, Pazzi, and Rossi were but a few of the many magnate houses who were dealt with severely at this time. Cf. C.C., 4-19.

18 The Signoria was authorized to elect officials who would review the accounts of the Parte Guelfa. Cf. Provvisioni, 38, f. 226. (Henceforth this source will be abbreviated as P.) The Signoria also made important reforms pertaining to bequests to pious foundations. Cf. C.P., 4, ff. 87-89.

19 The Signoria elected captains and treasurers of certain religious confraternities and established a special commission to oversee the management of their assets. Cf. P., 36, f. 34r; C.C., 32, f. 50^r; P., 37, f. 70; P., 39, f. i05r . Especially significant were the efforts of the Signoria to compel the captains of the Parte Guelfa to make restitution of communal property and to obey the mandate of the Florentine courts. Cf. C.P., 3, f. 92; C.P., 4, f. 47r; C.P., 5, f. 7.

20 For the bitter debate over the question of admitting minor guildsmen to the captaincy of the Parte Guelfa, see C.P., 8, ff. 1-53 (November 1366-March 1367). Throughout this interval the Parte vigorously resisted this proposal. The chronicler Marchionne di Coppo Stefani blamed the admission of minor guildsmen to the Marcanzia on factionalism and contended that such a step lowered the dignity of this high office. Cf. Stefani, op. cit., rub. 734.

21 M. Becker, ‘La esecuzione della legislazione contro le pratiche monopolistiche delle arti fiorentine', Archivio Storico Italiano CXVII (1959), 8-28.

22 M. Becker, ‘The Republican City State in Florence: an Inquiry into its Origin and Survival (1280-1434)', Speculum xxxv (1960), 49-50.

23 Cf. A. Sapori, La crisi, pp. 141-142. It was at this time that the republic dispatched ambassadors to the imperial court of Lewis the Bavarian. In a letter to the King of Naples —Florence's longtime Guelf ally—the Signoria stated that she was compelled to seek 'other friends’ even if they were Ghibellines, such as the emperor (Missive, 5 ff. 98-99). See also the King of Naples’ letter to the Florentines in which he reproves them for not taking counsel with him on foreign policy questions ( Paoli, C., Delia Signoria di Gualtieri Duce d'Atene in Firenze, Florence, 1862, p. 63 Google Scholar).

24 Members of the lower orders, as well as patricians, took advantage of this opportunity to increase their patrimony at the expense of the church. The Alberti, Albizzi, Bardi, Bondelmonti, Cambi, Medici, Morelli, Pazzi, Peruzzi, Strozzi, and Tolosini clans were numbered among the more prominent beneficiaries. The holdings of the church were placed on the open market and in January 1377 the first payments were recorded in the Camera del Comune. Cf. C.C., 186, unnumbered folio (20 January).

25 Cf. M. B. Becker, ‘Church and State in Florence on the Eve of the Renaissance (1343-1382)', Speculum XXXVII (1962), 509-527.

26 For attacks upon the prerogatives of ecclesiastical courts, see P., 63, f. 73; Libri Fabarum, 40, f. 150 (12 July 1375). For severe regulations against the right of sanctuary, see P., 60, f. 148; Libri Fabarum, 40, f. 52 (21 January 1373). The Signoria also demanded a voice in the selection of high church dignitaries. Cf. P., 63, f. 70^r (7 July 1375).

27 M. Becker, ‘Some Economic Implications of the Conflict between Church and State in Trecento Florence', Mediaeval Stud, xxi (1959), 5-6.

28 M. Villani, Cronica, m, 106; R. de Roover, Tl trattato di fra Santi Rucellai sul cambio, il monte comune e il monte delle doti', Archivio Storico Italiano cxi (1953), 3-34; J. T. Noonan, The Scholastic Analysis of Usury (Cambridge, Mass., 1957), pp. 121-128. The Franciscans tended to defend the institution of the Monte, while the Dominicans and the Augustinians were bitterly critical. Cf. B. Barbadoro, op. At., pp. 666-669. It is interesting to note that the leading Dominican in Florence at this time was Piero Strozzi who preached vehemently against the Monte on the grounds that it was usurious. Members of his family suffered a crisis of conscience at this time and made large-scale restitution of usury. This was the family who commissioned Orcagna and Nardo to do the altarpiece and murals for the Spanish Chapel in S. Maria Novella. The fact that restitution of usury was made before the advent of the Black Death should be taken into consideration when reading Millard Meiss’ Painting in Florence and Siena after the Black Death (Princeton, 1951), pp. 72-73. For the document concerning the restitution on behalf of the deceased Rosso di Geri Strozzi, see Diplomatico, S. M. Novella (12 July 1345).

29 On 15 and 16 July 1329 the communal councils enacted legislation imposing a tax of one-half per cent, on ‘cambium siccum'. There was considerable opposition in the councils. Cf. Libri Fabarum, 55, f. 54. In 143 5 this law was suspended for two years and citizens were permitted to engage in dry exchange operations. Cf. P., 126, f. 313’ (22 November 143 5); Libri Fabarum, 57, f. 42. For an extensive bibliography on cambium siccum and other varieties of exchange, see R. de Roover, L'Evolution de la lettre de change (Paris, 1953), pp. 170-216. Cf. also R. de Roover, ‘What is Dry Exchange?', Jour, of Political Economy III (1944), 262-264; J. T. Noonan, op. cit., pp. 182-187, 315—334.

30 Renzo Sereno, ‘The Ricordi of Gino di Neri Capponi', American Political Science Rev. LII (1958), 1118-1122.

31 Cf. M. Becker, ‘The Novi dues in Florentine Politics (1343-1378)', Mediaeval Stud. XXIV (1962), 35-82.

32 Cf. E. Fiumi, ‘Fioritura e decadenza delTeconomia', Archivio Storio Italiano cxvi (1958), 484-487.

33 C. C. Bayley, op. cit., pp. 7 ff.

34 P., 42, 113 (21 August 1355); P., 49, f. 1 (11 August 1361). In October 1343, five hundred thirty magnati were declared popolani and the chronicler Marchionne di Coppo Stefani states that these men were from the less powerful and less criminal magnati families. Cf. rub. 616-617; G. Villani, Cronica, XII, 22.

35 The highest incidence of these petitions was between 1349 and 1363. Cf. P., 36-51.

36 Cf. M. Becker, ‘Some Aspects of Oligarchical, Dictatorial and Popular Signork in Florence, 1282-1382', op. cit. (n. 9), pp. 421-434.

37 During the Pisan War such prominent patricians as Carlo Strozzi repeatedly exhorted the Signoria to terminate hostilities with a peace treaty, thereby freeing the city from the burden of ‘intolerable expenses'. The blunt Salvestro de’ Medici urged the Signoria either to raise the necessary revenue or make peace with Pisa. C.P., 4, f. 941* (4 September 1363). As soon as the exigencies of war diminished, speakers appealed to the government to reduce substantially the number of mercenaries in the republic's employ. Cf. statements by Messer Niccolo Alberti in C.P., 5, f. 116^r (5 August 1364). For a comparable situation during the Otto Santi War (1375-1378), see C.P., 14, ff. 52 ff.

38 M. Becker, ‘Florentine Popular Government (1343-1348)', Proc. of the American Philosophical Soc. cvi (1962), 363-364. During the year 1345, the republic's military budget totaled 75,000 florins. This figure is derived from the Camera del Comune. Each volume covers a two-month interval; therefore, disbursements averaged 12,500 florins for each two-month period. In the following year expenditures were only 11,534 florins for a comparable interval. In 1347 they averaged 10,080 florins and for the first half of 1348 until the onset of the Black Death they totaled 29,125 florins for a half year, or 1,708 florins for each two-month period.

39 In May and June 1349 expenditures for mercenaries rose to 17,391 florins, their highest figure since the halcyon days of empire-building in the early 1340s. By March and April 1350 they were up to 30,833 florins. Treasury officials were now borrowing regularly from the receipts of the gabelles. Customs revenues and money from the impost on wine were diverted to pay mercenaries; formerly this income had been used to retire the public debt. Soon the gabelle on salt was assigned to the Capsam conducte, and even the revenues obtained from farming lesser imposts were pledged for this purpose. Cf. C.C., 32 (March-April 1349).

40 There was strong sentiment among the advisers to the Signoria for adhering to the terms of the Treaty of Sarzana. This accord, signed with Milan in 1353, bound Florence to strict neutrality in matters north Italian. Communal counselors therefore tended to argue that an alliance with the papacy would be a violation of the provisions of this treaty. In practice, then, those who espoused this position were hostile to any commitments to major Italian powers. Cf. M. B. Becker, ‘Church and State in Florence on the Eve of the Renaissance (1343-1382)', op. tit. (fn. 25), 509-527.

41 C. C. Bayley, op. tit., pp. 3-58. In May 1302, 500 Florentine horse and 6,000 Florentine foot soldiers besieged Pistoia for twenty-three days at a cost of only 12,093 florins.

42 C.P., 1, 1, f. 22 (30 July 1351).

43 C.P., 11, f. 134; Libri Fabarum, 41, f. 32; C.P., 18, ff. 6-91.

44 Cf. G. Brucker, Florentine Politics and Society, 1343-1378 (Princeton, 1962), p. 93. In support of Brucker's contention that this levy was a direct one, cf. C.C., 47, f. 50: ‘Leonardus Bartholini camerarius gabelle fumantum et extimi civitatis Florentie …’ The camera continued to collect belated returns from this direct impost until May-June 1361. Donato Velluti was particularly weE informed upon communal fiscal matters, and he reveals that in July and August 1349, when his brother Piero sat in the Signoria, payment of interest to holders oiMonte shares was prorogued. Only in March-April 1351 when Donato himself became confaloniere di giustizia was legislation enacted authorizing revenue from the gabella portarum to be used to pay interest to these creditors. The implication then would be that without the enactment of an estimo, the gabella portarum would necessarily be diverted to meet the current expenses of the commune. Cf. Donato Velluti, Cronica domestica, ed. cit. (fn. 2), pp. 38-39.

45 C.C., 68, f. I27r (November-December 1357). Notation is made here that on 29 April 1355 officials were appointed to draw up lists of rate-payers to be liable for an estimo in the city. Matteo Villani's observations on the background of this legislation and reactions to it suggest something of the pressures brought to bear upon the Signoria to abandon the principle of direct taxation. According to his testimony, and he was himself a minor official of the Monte, those who made payment into the camera were to be assigned revenue from incoming gabelles at the rate often per cent, a year. The well-to-do paid the assessments of the ‘impotenti', and were to receive interest at the same rate. An important and little studied traffic in the buying and selling ofprestanze comes to be increasingly evident for the balance of the Trecento. See M. Villani, Cronica, ed. F. Dragomanni (Florence, 1846), IV, 83.

46 The magistrate elected was Messer Pino Charde (C.C., 99, f. 189 30, December 1364 ).

47 C.P., 10, f. 110^r (15 May 1369).

48 From the early fifties until the late seventies the question of whether or not to augment communal gabelles was related to the need to satisfy state creditors. C£ C.P., 1, 2, f. 83 (21 October 1354); C.P., 2, f. 41 (16 February 1359); C.P., 4, f. 126^r (24 November 1363); C.P., 12, ff. 10^r-12^r (March 1372). Also it would be possible to use additional revenues from increased gabelles as collateral for new communal loans. One type of gabelle was certain to elicit opposition from government counselors: the gabelle on wool and cloth. Cf. C.P., 1, 1, f. 22 (30 July 1351).

49 M. Becker, ‘Florentine Popular Government (1343-1348),’ op. cit. (fn. 38), 361-362. It rose from 47,021 florins (May 1357 through April 1358) to 56,570 florins (May 1358 through April 1359). By 1364 it was yielding 87,563 florins a year and it remained at approximately this level until 1368, whenit declined to 60,682 florins. If we use the gabella portarum as an index of communal prosperity, we can suggest a recovery in the fifties, a high order of prosperity in the sixties, and then a contraction in the seventies. Conditions in the early seventies seem to have been comparable to those of the fifties. The gabella portarum returned 50,012 florins from March 1370 through February 1371. The following year showed a gain of 8,672 florins. It is well to remember that the substantial increase in the rate of key imposts such as customs, wine, and salt occurred in 13 51; therefore, fluctuations cannot be explained in terms of modifications in rates. Moreover, it is possible to correlate these fluctuations with returns from other gabelles and establish certain communal fiscal trends. Perhaps the best single indicator is the gabelle on contracts which brought in 22,894 florins in 1356, rose during the sixties, only to drop precipitously in 1370, and then, like the gabelle on customs, to recover substantially in 13 71. See also fn. 21.

50 G. Brucker, op. cit. (fn. 44), p. 95. According to the provision of 1358, loans of communal creditors were to be inscribed immediately in a fifteen per cent. Monte. Cf. C.C., 71, ff. 166-166^r (May-June 1358).

51 A petition presented to the Signoria during the July days of the Ciompi revolution proposed that the government make provision for the amortization of the Monte over a twelve-year interval and that the interest rate be pegged at five per cent. The first suggestion was not seriously entertained, while the second did in fact become official government policy over the next four years. Cf. N. Rodolico, I Ciompi (Florence, 1945), pp. 122-123; C.C., 184-210.

52 At first the commune added approximately one-third to the revenues from the gabelle on contracts to keep state fortifications manned and in repair. Soon, however, expenditures from the treasury were reduced and it is possible that additional labor services and castle guard were being demanded from the contado. Cf. C.C., 41-42. In the early 13 50s, treasury disbursements for this purpose averaged some 4,000 florins a month.

53 The impost on the retail sale of baked goods—a most unpopular levy—yielded only 1,350 florins a year. Cf. C.C., 39, f. 101^r (2 April 1350). The return from the tax on weights and measures was a trifling 304 lire. Cf. C.C., 71, f. I53r (15 May 1358).

54 The license charge on pawnbrokers—a fee in the form of a fine—brought in about 2,000 florins a year during this period. On 1 September 1371, Lucia Giorgio, prostitute, was condemned for soliciting in Florence without wearing the seal of her profession. Her fine, 7 lire, 10 soldi, was paid directly into the ‘capsam quattuor clavium', a special division of the treasury designated for money to be applied toward Monte interest payments. On the subject of pawnbrokers, see M. Becker, ‘Nota dei procesi riguardanti prestatori di danaro', Archivio Storico Italiano CXIV (1956), 736-746.

55 In 1373 when the commune was warring against the Ubaldini and hard-pressed for funds, the Signoria received this perplexing advice from the spokesmen for the colleges: suspend restitution of interest to Monte creditors, while at the same time make certain that the public retains confidence in communal fiscal integrity (C.P., 12, f. 121 (5 July 1373)). The entire question of responsible fiscal leadership among the governmental personnel remains to be investigated. In March 1372 communal councilors were faced with a grave dilemma; in order to pay interest to communal creditors it would be necessary to borrow money from these self-same individuals in the form of a prestanza. Among the futile proposals designed to forestall this necessity was a tax on Florentine prostitutes. The old chestnut, a gabelle on baked goods, was also boldly advanced. Cf. C.P., 12, ff. 10^r-38.

56 Matteo Villani's comments on this legislation assume new meaning in the light of the fact that he was one of the officials in charge of the management of the public debt. Added credence must also be given to the remarks of Stefani for the same reason. Cf. Cronica, ed. F. Dragomanni (Firenze, 1846), vm, 71; Marchionne di Coppo Stefani, Cronica, rub. 520, 799, 882.

57 Those novi cives who were among the principal creditors of the republic were Pace Brunetti, tanner (697 lire); Mone Fantini, vintner (1,395 lire); Giovanni Goggio, used clothing dealer (174 lire); Pasquino Telli, blacksmith (139 lire), and numerous others. Cf. C.C., 54, f. 174^r . For additional names, see C.C., 66, 68-71. Other patrician families not mentioned in the text include the Del Bene (1,032); Covoni (3,416 lire); Guidalotti (3,269 lire); Guicciardini (3,406 lire), etc.

58 L. Marks, op. cit., pp. 123-147; G. Brucker, ‘Un Documento fiorentino', op. cit. (fn. 1), p. 169.

59 This war added something over a million florins to the public debt. The wars of the early Trecento left only a small residue of indebtedness. Even a conflict with so formidable an adversary as Castruccio increased the debt by only 50,000 florins. Cf. B. Barbadoro, op. cit. (fn. 1), p. 630. Prestanze were levied at a frantic pace throughout the Pisan War. Cf. Prestanze, 13 (June 1362) through volume 109 (July 1364). In June of the following year advisers to the Signoria expressed concern as to whether there were sufficient funds in the treasury to pay interest on the public debt. Cf. C.P., 7, ff. 87-89.

60 For the most recent summary of the revisionist view of the Tuscan contado, see E. Cristiani, Nobilta e popolo nel cotnune di Pisa (Naples, 1962), pp. 151-161.

61 C.C., 2 bis. This volume of the treasury records contains numerous citations against popoli and rural communes for failure to honor their commitments to the republic. Unpaid estimi and condemnations for negligence dated back into the 1320s and were collected in 1342-1343. This was the period of Walter of Brienne's Signoria.

62 C.C., 45, f. I4r (January-February 1353); C.C., 70, unnumbered folio (March- April 1358); C.C., 139, unnumbered folio (16 December 1370).

63 G. Villani, Cronica, xi, 92; B. Barbadoro, op. cit., p. 201; E. Fiumi, ‘Sui rapporti tra citta e contado', op. cit. (fn. 14), pp. 36-37.

64 C.C., 30, £ 255^r (November-December 1348). The rate was unchanged throughout the decade of the forties; it was only with the advent of the fifties that this gabelle on the contado, like so many others, was raised dramatically. Cf. C.C., 45, f. 7Sr (January-February 1353); C.C., 77, unnumbered folio (May-June 1359).

65 The gabelle on nobles had been 2,000 florins in the biennium 1336-1338. On 22 December 1351 it was doubled by action of the communal councils. The tax on rural markets was 3,400 lire in 1351; three years later it was up some 600 lire, and by 1360 it totaled 5,277lire. Cf. C.C., 45, f. 84 (30 January 1353); C.C., 53, f. 107 (April-May 1354); C.C., 83, unnumbered folio (May-June 1361). The date 1351 is a critical one in the history of Florentine taxation. In that year there was a general upward revision of all gabelles. Cf. M. Villani, Cronica, 11, 46.

66 C.C., 103, unnumbered folio (2 August 1364). A certain Niccolo Cassini was elected treasurer of this prestanza and it was assessed at 30 soldi per lira. The rate of the estimo on the contado was soon upped to 40 soldi per lira. The old rate (1336—1338) had been only 10 soldi per lira. Cf. G. Villani, Cronica, xi, 92; C.C., 139, unnumbered folio (16 December 1370). At the close of the decade of the seventies, an estimo levied on the contado at the rate of 40 soldi per lira was expected to produce 20,000 florins in revenue. The same amount could have been garnered by the state in the biennium 1336—1338 with an estimo imposed at only 10 soldi per lira. In order to obtain the same yield, the Signoria had quadrupled die rates and this burden was to be borne by a much depleted population. For a study of rural population at this time, see E. Fiumi, ‘La demografia fiorentina', op. cit. (fh. 14), pp. 89-94.

67 Provvisioni, 39, f. 75^r (29 December 1351): ‘Tassatio quinque peditum pro centenario'; C.C., 57, f. 2 (23 February 1353). Giovanni Catallini Infangati was camerarius tas sationis peditum which was imposed at a rate of 15 soldi per lira. The return from this tax was 20,915 lire during the first two months of his tenure.

68 Condemnations were visited on country communities by a variety of communal officials, from the captains of war to the regular city magistrates (C.C., 53, f. 89 (16 May 1353); C.C., 85, f. 133 (19 September 1361)).

69 Cf. C.C., 137 (July-August), section entitled, ‘Introytus quatuor clavium'. Also registered in this portion of the volume are the numerous fines paid by castellani and other state functionaries resident in the contado.

70 In the early fifties, Pistoia was supporting a garrison of forty equites Ultramontanni. The stipend for each knight was 26 lire a month, and the total disbursement, including that to foot soldiers, was approximately 2,800 lire for a two-month interval. Soon Pistoia was making additional payments into the camera in the form of subsidies for defense. In 1354 these totaled 7,000 lire. (C.C., 52, f. 70’ (1 April 1354); C.C., f. 215 (22 December 1354); C.C., 69 (January-February 1358).) Proposals that Florence should exact special imposts and levy prestanze on such communities as Pistoia and Volterra were justified in the light of the ‘multa beneficia’ conferred by the republic's benign rule. The subject people ought to be grateful and Florence ‘cum iusticia pecuniam procuretur ab eis'. Cf. C.P., 15, f. 116 (19 May 1378). On Bibbiena, see C.C., 119, unnumbered folio (27 June 1369). San Gimignano is the subject of a recent monograph by Enrico Fiumi, Storia economica e sociale di San Gimignano (Florence, 1961). Fiumi demonstrates the profound crisis Florentine fiscal policy induced in that small community. The incidence of taxation increased almost threefold from the late Duecento to the early Quattrocento, and San Gimignano incurred severe budget deficits. The author wryly observes that by 143 5 imposts were being placed even on locks and keys. Cf. pp. 160-164, 189-191. For San Gimignano's earlier tax assessments, see C.C., 106, entire volume; C.C., 118, entire volume.

71 Soon after the thwarting of the rebellion of San Miniato, Florentine officials were empowered to collect all the important gabelles and to supervise the fiscal administration of this subject town. By 1371 revenues from the courts of San Miniato were being paid directly into the Florentine treasury. Cf. C.C., 135-140 (1370-1371). The communities under Florentine dominion were consistently incurring debts by their steady borrowing from the camera of the republic. On the subject of mercantilism, see R. Davidsohn, ‘Bliite und Niedergang der fiorentinischen Tuchindustrie', Zeitschriftfiir diegesamte Staatswissenschaftixxxv (1928), 225-255. For additional bibliography, see M. Becker, ‘The Republican City State in Florence', op. cit. (fn. 22), p. 50. By the end of the Trecento, a tax was being placed on each piece of imported cloth. Even inexpensive varieties were being excluded from the Florentine market. E. Fiumi has graphically described the impact of Florentine legislation which imposed gabelles on goods exported by citizens of San Gimignano to any other town than the Arno republic. Cf. E. Fiumi, Storia economica, p. 185.

72 Neither Fiumi nor any other investigator of Tuscan rural history has drawn inferences as to the possible effects of Florentine economic policy upon the contado and its many towns. In the case of San Gimignano, the one community whose Trecento history has been carefully analyzed, the heavy tax burden laid on this subject town by her masters certainly discouraged economic development. Florentine tax policy also resulted in ever stricter regulation of those who plied minor trades in the contado. Cf. C.P., 14, 89r (3 October 1377). Here we find a discussion of these regulations as they pertained to innkeepers. Cf. also C.P., 15, f. 100 (10 April 1378) for discussions concerning vintners and butchers.

73 This average for governmental expenditures was frequently exceeded. In 1391, for example, outlays for the hire of mercenaries approached 800,000 florins, while in 1414 they exceeded 1,000,000 florins. By 1424, these disbursements had risen above the 2,500,- 000 florin mark. Cf. Proveditore di Camera, 7, f. 45 (1391), ‘Somma tutte uscite di chondotta'. Cf. also ibid., ft”. 336-337; 25, ft”. 20-43 (1414); 29, ff. 34-8ir (1424). (Henceforth this source will be abbreviated as PC.) Over the entire period expenditures for the maintenance of Florentine castles and fortifications climbed steadily from an annual figure of 90,000 lire in the 1390s to 150,000 in the 1430s.

74 PC, 21, ft”. 250-268 (1408).

75 PC, 17, ff. 157^r-202^r. Returns for 1404 and 1405 remained at the same high level (PC, 19, ff. 166^r-213 (1404); 20, ff. 167-203 (1405) ).

76 PC, 22, ff. 181-196 (1408). Surviving records for other subject cities are much less complete, but for Arezzo, see ibid., 34, ff. 193-193^r , 197-1971“; for Volterra, see ibid., 27, ff. 311^r∼312; for Cortona, see ibid., 28, f. 375^r; 29, f. 344. Imposts on Prato were levied directly by the officials of the Monte. Cf. ibid., 28, f. 413; 29, f. 332.

77 Cf. E. Fiumi, ‘Fioritura e decadenza', op. cit. (fh. 1), pp. 492-493, and also ‘La demografia fiorentina', op. cit. (fn. 14), pp. 127-135.

78 This statement is based upon a survey of rate-payers listed in volumes 64 to 72 of the Campioni del Catasto del cittadini.

79 L. Marks, op. cit., pp. 127-129. The particular Monte in question, called ‘Monte delle Doti', was founded in 1425 at the time of the wars against Filippo Maria Visconti to alleviate pressure on the public debt. Within a generation, the annual obligation of the state to those who had invested in this Monte was 199,000 florins. When this indebtedness is added to the republic's other liabilities to Monte shareholders, a grand total of 347,000 florins would be required simply to meet the annual interest payments. This figure is in excess of annual revenues by some 129,300 florins. Cf. G. Canestrini, La scienza e I'arte di stato (Florence, 1862), 1, 163 ff.

80 Cf. Morelli, Giovanni di, Ricordi, ed. Branca, V. (Florence, 1956), pp. 251–265 Google Scholar; Ser Mazzei, Lapo, Lettere di tin notaro a un mercante, ed. Guasti, C. (Florence, 1880), 1Google Scholar, 9,45-48; F. Sacchetti, Sermoni evangelici, ed. O. Gigli (Florence, 1857), p. III ; Bisticci, Vespasiano da, The Vespasiano Memoirs (London, 1926), p. 159.Google Scholar

81 Garin, E., L'umanesimo italiano (Bari, 1952), pp. 59–60 Google Scholar; H. Baron, ‘FranciscanPoverty and Civic Wealth as Factors in the Rise of Humanistic Thought', Speculum XIII (1938), 16 ff.; R. Roedel, ‘Poggio Bracciolini nel quinto centenario della morte', Rinascimento xi (1960), 51-67.

82 F. Guicciardini, Le Cose fiorentine, ed. R. Ridolfi (Florence, 1945), p. 109: ‘… e el Monte disfara Firenze e Firenze disfara el Monte'. (I wish to thank Mr. Anthony Molho, University of Vermont, for this reference.)