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Florentine Society in the Late Sixteenth and Early Seventeenth Centuries*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2019

Samuel Berner
Samuel Berner*
Affiliation:
University of Virginia
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Extract

The study of late-cinquecento Florence might well commence by repeating the plaint voiced by Professor J. H. Elliott with reference to seventeenth-century Spain: ‘… in most of its aspects, our picture of the reigns of Philip III and IV remains very much as it was drawn by Martin Hume in the old Cambridge Modern History over fifty years ago’. Indeed, we might go further by saying that our subject remains pretty much today where Riguccio Galluzzi left it in 1781: a terra incognita even the contours of which are hazy. This essay seeks to adumbrate the shape and texture of this society, to isolate some of its prominent and especially revealing features, to suggest that it retained some of the vitality and tension it had known in the past and, hopefully, to encourage others to turn their attention to this neglected area of Florentine studies.

Type
Research Article
Information
Studies in the Renaissance , Volume 18 , 1971 , pp. 203 - 246
Copyright
Copyright © Renaissance Society of America 1971

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Footnotes

*

The research for this essay was conducted in Florence in 1965-1967 when I was a Fellow of the Social Science Research Council. A Wilson Gee Fellowship from the University of Virginia made it possible for me to spend the summer of 1970 in Florence putting the essay into its final form. I gratefully acknowledge this support.

References

1 J. H. Elliott, ‘The Decline of Spain’, in Crisis in Europe, ed. Trevor Aston (New York, 1967), p. 180.

2 Galluzzi, Riguccio, Istoria del Granducato di Toscana sotto il governo della Casa Medici (Florence, 1781)Google Scholar but my references are to the Florence edition of 1823.

3 Samuel Berner, ‘Florentine Political Thought in the Late Cinquecento’, Il Pensiero Politico, 2 (1970), 177-199.

4 There is no satisfactory biography of Duke Ferdinand. For three crisp treatments, see Gaetano Pieraccini, La Stirpe De’ Medici Di Cafaggiolo, II, Part 1 (Florence, 1947), 293- 316; Giddey, Ernest, Agents et ambassadeurs toscans auprès des Suisses sous le rè gne du granddue Ferdinand I” de Medicis (158J-1609) (Zurich, 1953), pp. 21–38 Google Scholar; and Targioni- Tozzctti, Giovanni, Notizie sulla Storia delle Scienze Fisiche (Florence, 1852) pp. 259–300 Google Scholar.

5 For the following, see the biography of Piero Usimbardi by G. E. Saltini in Archivio Storico Italiano, vi, series 4 (1880), 367-369. Biblioteca Nazionale, Firenze (henceforth BNF), Manoscritti Passerini, 192, no. 31: Usimbardi. Archivio di Stato, Firenze (henceforth ASF), Senato de’ 48, 17, fs. 38r-4or. A genealogy will facilitate the reading of this account:

6 ASF, Miscellanea Medicea, 29, no. 20. The complete text of the reform is found in printed form in Cantini, L., Legislazione Toscana, XII (Florence, 1800-1808), 10–11 Google Scholar.

7 BNF, Manoscritti Passerini, 192, no. 31: Usimbardi.

8 Fulvio seems to have done especially well: in February 1607 he was associated with the wealthy merchant Bardo Giovanni Corsi, and he had sufficient liquid assets to make an investment of 7,000 scudi. It is interesting to note that one of the recipients of this investment was Luca Gherado Gianfigliazzi. ASF, Tribunale di Mercanzia, 10838, fs. 53r-v.

9 This institution will be discussed further in this essay. For now, it will suffice to note that it was the highest court of appeal and that it represented the Duke's person.

10 ASF, Magistrato Supremo, 1146, f. 8yr.

11 Ibid., f. 1491:.

12 ASF, Magistrato Supremo, 1147, f. 22r.

13 ASF, Magistrato Supremo, 1146, f. or. According to Tuscan law, anyone with twelve living children was exempt from taxation.

14 ASF, Magistrato Supremo, 1147, f. 166r.

15 Silli, Grazilla, Una Corte alia fine del 500 (Florence, 1928) pp. 35 Google Scholar, 87.

16 See Appendix.

17 Relazioni degli Ambasciatori Veneti, m, ed. Arnaldo Segarizzi (Florence, 1916), pp. 74, 82. The Ambassador added that Duke Ferdinand also doubled the number of expensive horses, ‘disegnando di formare una bellesima stalla’ (p. 74).

18 Fynes Moryson, ‘Unpublished chapters of Fynes Moryson's Itinerary’, in Shakespeare's Europe, ed. C. Hughes (London, 1903), p. 107. Also, in contrast to Contarini, Moryson writes: ‘For my part, I could only see in Florence two stables, each having some 32 horses, which seemed to me of his owne Races, and not of any extraordinary woorth, and twice or thrice I saw his Coaches drawne with very ordinary horses… . ‘, he. cit.

19 Moryson, p. 121.

20 The court: ‘I thinke it may hardly compare with the houses of the Nobility of England, comprehending in this number none but such as live and have their dyet in Court, whereof there are very few’. Frugality: ‘To conclude this point, it appeareth, that the great Duke hath two Revenues whereby he groweth rich; that is, great impositions, and great sparing (for sparing is a great revenue)’. Dallington, Robert, Survey of the Great Dukes state of Tuscany. In the yeare of our Lord 1596 (London, 1605) pp. 38 Google Scholar, 43.

21 ‘Notizie dello stato fiorentino (sotto il Granduca Ferdinando I)’, BNF, Manoscritti di Gino Capponi, CCL, f. li6v. We will momentarily emerge from this dilemma, but for the record it is only just to note that according to the official wardrobe accounts in October 1606 the ducal ‘family’ numbered 712. For example, there were nine gardeners, twentyeight musicians, fourteen employed in the wardrobe, three trumpeters (a disappointing number!), and so on. ASP, Guardaroba, 279, fs. 2r-28v. Also, see ASF, Miscellanea Medicea, 29, no. 18, ‘Nota de Paggi de Serenissimi … Sino al presente giorno [1629]’. Here there are 260 names.

22 ASF, Miscellanea Medicea, 29, no. 35.

23 ‘Notizie dello stato …’, BNF, Manoscritti di Gino Capponi, CCL, fs. 112r, 113V.

24 ‘… la quale però usa in quella cose che reguardano la dignità e la satisfazione sua. …’, Relazioni, III, 74.

25 ‘Notizie dello stato …’, BNF, Manoscritti di Gino Capponi, CCL, f. H4r.

26 Ibid., f. 113V. ASF, Manoscritti, 130, £ 319r.

27 ASF, Manoscritti, 130, f. I73r.

28 ‘Diario e Cerimoniale della Corte medicea, tenuto da Cesare Tinghi, aiutante del randuca Ferdinando I (dal 22 Luglio 1600 al 9 Novembre 1623)’, BNF, Manoscritti di Gino Capponi, CCLXI, I, £ 2ir.

29 Quoted in Aiazzi, Giuseppe, Narrazioni Istoriche delle Piit Considerevoli Inondazioni dell'Amo (Florence, 1845) p. 29 Google Scholar. Also, see ASF, Manoscritti, 130, fs. I73r-I76r. Duke Ferdinand was indeed immensely popular. When he died, all of the minor poets in Florence (there were no major poets in Florence at this time) waxed eloquent with grief and praise. Witness:

É morto il Serenissimo Granduca Ferdinando,

II Serenissimo Granduca Ferdinando è morto

É morto. (Quoted in Silli, p. 90)

Ahi nostra luce, ahi nostro sostegno, ahi nostra

unica felice è morta! Ecco si sente gia dalla

Toscana miserabile mormorio di sospiri… ma

ohimè! dico, ohimè. (Quoted he. cit.)

All of this in contrast to Duke Francesco, who continues to receive an astonishingly bad press. One modern historian points to Francesco's ‘fatal’ passion for Bianca Capello and argues that this had profound repercussions. For example, ‘I numero dei battezzati tornò, infatti, a decrescere’. Pardi, G., ‘Disegno della storia demographica di Firenze’, Archivio Storico Italiano, LXXXIV, 1 (1), 197 Google Scholar.

30 ‘Notizie dello stato’, BNF, Manoscritti di Gino Capponi, CCL, f. I I4r.

31 Archivio Segreto Vaticano, Roma, Nunziatura di Firenze, 14, f. 32or.

32 In a forthcoming essay in Medieval and Renaissance Studies, ‘The Florentine Patriciate in the Transition from Republic to Principato: 1530-1609’, I develop this theme.

33 Braudel, Fernand and Romano, Ruggiero, Navires et merchandises à l’entrèe du Port de Livourne, 1547-1611 (Paris, 1951) pp. 18–19 Google Scholar.

34 Ruggiero Romano, ‘A Florence aux XVIIe siècle. Industries textiles et conjuncture’, Annates Economies Sociétes Civilisations, 7e année (Octobre-Decembre 1952), 508-512, passim.

35 Quoted in Galluzzi, I, 382.

36 Galluzzi, 11, 220-221.

37 Relazioni degli Ambasciatori Veneti, 1, Ser. 11, ed. E. Albéri (Florence, 1839-1853), 324, 346.

38 Braudel and Romano, p. 20.

39 ‘Quelles que soient les erreurs de Francois, il est certain que son regne a eu la malheur de coincider avec un crise economique… .’, ibid., p. 19. This table is reproduced from Braudel and Romano, p. 109. For the economy during Francesco's reign, also see Sapori, Armando, Studi Di Storia Economica (secoli XIII-XIV-XV), 1 (Florence, 1955) 35 Google Scholar.

40 Galluzzi, II, 338, 459-480.

41 Braudel and Romano, p. 20. For further evidence of economic prosperity in the period 1587-1610, see Guido Pampaloni, ‘Cenni Storici sul Monte di Pietà’, Archivi Storici Delle Aziende di Credito, 1 (Rome, 1956), 549. Martin, F. Ruiz, Lettres marchandes echangées entre Florence et Medina del Campo (Paris, 1965)Google Scholar passim.

42 Romano, ‘A Florence …’, p. 509.

43 The number of shops connected with the wool guild in the year 1586 was 111; in 1596, 100; in 1606, 98; in 1616, 84; in 1626, 49; in 1636, 46 (loc. cit.). On investments in the wool trade, see José-Gentil Da Silva, ‘Au XVIIe siecle: La stratégie du capital Florentin’, Annates Economies Sociétés Civilisations (Mai-Juin 1964), p. 486.

44 Braudel, Fernand, Civiltà e imperi del mediterraneo nell'età di Filippo II (Turin, 1953) P. 373Google Scholar.

45 Lapini, Agostino, Diario Fiorentino, ed. G. O. Corazzini (Florence, 1900), pp. 310– 313 Google Scholar. ASF, Manoscritti, 130, fs. 25ir, 433V; 131, fs. 33r, 267r. Ammirato, Scipione, Discorsi… Sopra Comelio Tacito (Florence, 1594), p. 246 Google Scholar. ‘Diario di ser Francesco di Abramo Canonico di S. Friano da’ lanno 1587 al 1619’, ASF, Carte Strozziane, 1, cvin, fs. 5v, IIV , I2v, 3or, 32r, 44V. The most comprehensive analysis of this problem deals with the Papal States. See Delumeau, Jean, Vie Économique et Sociale de Rome dans la seconde moitié du XVIe siècle, II (Paris, 1957), 521–646 Google Scholar.

46 Dallington, p. 35.

47 Ammirato, pp. 246-256. Cavriana, Filippo, Discorsi… Sopra I Cinque Libri Di Cornelio Tacito (Florence, 1597) p. 371 Google Scholar.

48 Contarini, p. 42.

49 Lapini, p. 311. Also, see ASF, Manoscritti, 130, f. 229r-v.

50 ASF, Manoscritti, 130, fs. I02V, I73r, 25ir, 255V, 338V, 395r; 131, f. 57V. ‘Diario di ser Francesco …’, ASF, Carte Strozziane, 1, CVIIII, fs. I4r, 23V, 27r. ‘Diario … Cesare Tinghi’, BNF, Manoscritti di Gino Capponi, CCLXI, f. 2ir.

51 Braudel, Civilta, pp. 870-894.

52 ‘Ricordo come da 12 maggio inquà passato al di 7 di giugno 1584 molti banditi di diversi lochi sono venuti nel paese nostro Aretino, et hanno fatto molto male, et ne faranno se non ci si ripara, si fanno dar da mangiare per forza danno et ammazzano, et tolgono 1'honore alle donne, et anche peggio, di modo che non si esce fuori molto alia sicura per non capiter male.’ Quoted in Giuseppe Ghizzi, Storia Delia Terra di Castiglione Fiorentino, II (Arezzo, 1885), 51.

53 Harding, Alan, A Social History of English Law (London, 1966) p. 16 Google Scholar.

54 Delumeau, II, 544.

55 The literature on Piccolomini is a measure of his impact. Indeed, he rates a full biography: Lorenzo Grottanelli, Alfonso Piccolomini storia Del secolo XVI (Florence, 1892). Also, see Giddey, pp. 256-261. Delumeau, 1, 94; n, 544-550, 552, 556, 559. Braudel, Civiltà, pp. 888-889. Cantini, XIII, 186-187. Cavriana, p. 473. ASF, Manoscritti, 130, fs. 22iv, 225r, 226r, 237r-v. ‘Casi occorsi in Firenze dall'Anno 1557 fino al 1590: In forma di Diario’, ASF, Manoscritti, 166, f. 32r. ‘Il governatore di Roma fa quello che può contro i banditi, ma non ci chi voglia spendere. Il Ghisilieri [generale delle milizie pontefice] e bravo, ma pare che o non valga contro il Piccolomini, o lo tenga in dietro qualcuno che favorisce il Piccolomini. Si vorrebbe togliergli il comando, ma non è possibile, perche e sostenuto da alcuni del collegio [di cardinali] che proteggono il Piccolomini’ (Belisario Vinta to Duke Ferdinand, 6 October 1590), quoted in Fusai, Giuseppe, Belisario Vinta (Florence, 1905) p. 49 Google Scholar. ‘Ci pareva strano alcun tempo fa; che Alfonso Piccolomini non si potesse corre alia rete … al Grand Duca di Toscana per averlo, convenne mandarvi il suo Generale … con molti buoni soldati, e capitani: de quali feriti e morti alcuni, vi resto anche ferito il Generale medesimo’, Ammirato, p. 148.

56 ASF, Miscellanea Medicea, 33, no. 2, f. 6r-v. This volume is exclusively devoted to the problem of brigandage; most of the documents are for the seventeenth century.We read of thefts and murders during Ferdinand's reign, ‘… a ogni hora nelle nostre provincie di Casentino, et di Romagna… .’, f. 2r.

57 Galluzzi, II, 265.

58 ASF, Manoscritti, 130; 131, passim.

59 Cantini, XII, 21-23.

60 Ibid., 120-121.

61 Ibid., 112-116.

62 Ibid., 290-391.

63 Ibid., 233-236, 248, 305.

64 ASF, Manoscritti, 130, f. 2531:.

65 ASF, Manoscritti, 131, f. 3051:.

66 ASF, Manoscritti, 130, f. 397r-v.

67 ASF, Magistrate Supremo, 1149, f. icyr-v. Cantini, XIV, 86-91, 200-215. ‘Diario … Cesare Tinghi’, BNF, Manoscritti di Gino Capponi, CCLXI, fs. 24r-25v. ‘Diario di ser Francesco …’, ASF, Carte Strozziane, 1, CVIII, f. 3or. ASF, Manoscritti, 130, fs. 385r, 386r; 131, f. 25ir.

68 Cantini, XIV, 88-89.

69 ‘Diario di ser Francesco … ‘ , ASF, Carte Strozziane, 1, cvni, fs. I2v-I3r. Settimanni's account (ASF, Manoscritti, 131, f. 36r) is exactly the same as that of ser Francesco, except that he gives the total loss as 400,000 scudi. Cantini, xiv, 200-215.

70 Ruiz Martin, pp. lvii, lxiii.

71 Lynch, John, Spain Under the Habsburgs (New York, 1964) 1 Google Scholar, 134.

72 ASF, Magistrato Supremo, 1147, f. 99r and the following unpaginated folios.

73 ASF, Magistrato Supremo, 1150, fs. I83r ff.

74 ASF, Magistrato Supremo, 1148, f. 32r.

75 ‘A di 5 Luglio 1600. Sul tramontar del Sole, si sentirono due grosse scosse di Terremoto, una dopo l'altra, e la mattina veniente sul far del giorno, si senti altra scossa assai maggiore, quale durd per lo spazio d'un Credo continovo; per la quale scossa caderono molti Cammini, e Colombaie della Città: lo spavento fu si grande, che tutte le gente scapparono su le piazze e lungo la mura, ed ivi ad alta yoce chiedavano la Confessione, chiedendo perdono a Dio delle sue colpe, per la qual cosa in diverse piazze si portarono dei Confessionari, e per tutto si predicava, durando tal cosa tre giorni, e tre noti continue; ma visto che l'altissimo era placato, a poco, a poco ciascuno tornò alia sua casa, ma pero sempre vivevano con del timore.’ ‘Diario Istorico Fiorentino D'Autore Anonimo Dal 1600 al 1640’, in Modesto Rastrelli, Notizie Istoriche Italiane, IV (Florence, 1781), 104- 105.

76 In what follows the word ‘processional’ is used in a generic sense. Hence, it encompasses festivals, weddings, funerals, and public games—in short, social activities in which a processional, in the strict sense, figures prominently.

77 See Durkheim, Emile, The Elementary Forms of Religious Life (Glencoe, 111., 1947) pp. 299–407 Google Scholar. Also, see Shils, Edward and Young, Michael, ‘The Meaning of the Coronation’, The Sociological Review, N.S. I, no. 2 (2), 63–81 Google Scholar. This is subjected to some telling criticism by Birnbaum, Norman, ‘Monarchs and Sociologists: A Reply to Professor Shils and Mr. Young’, The Sociological Review, N.S. III, no. 3 (3), 5–23 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

78 Bouwsma, William J., Venice and the Defense of Republican Liberty (Berkeley-Los Angeles, 1968) p. 413 Google Scholar.

79 The concept of latent and manifest functions is used here in precisely the same way as in Merton, Robert K., Social Theory and Social Structure (Glencoe, 111., 1961) pp. 60–84 Google Scholar.

80 Silli, p. 58.

81 Borsook, Eve, The Companion Guide to Florence (London, 1966), p. 206 Google Scholar, Miss Borsook describes this as ‘an elegant scheme of manufactured tradition’. The Medici had not yet mastered the difficult art of royal etiquette; their behavior displays signs of uncertainty: in 1589, the Ambassador from Lucca wrote of’ un nobilissimo e sontuosissimo banchetto a quale non intervene alcun ambasciatore, cagionato, per quanto si disse e si crede, per dubio di poter par disgusto a qualcheduno per conto di precedentia’. Relazione inedite di ambasciatori lucchesi die corti di Firenze … sec. XVI-XVII, ed. A. Pellegrini (Lucca, 1901), p. i a i.

82 ASF, Storia di etichetta, p. 3.

83 ASF, Manoscritti, 130, fs. I07r, I59r.

84 ASF, Storia di etichetta, p. 10

85 ASF, Manoscritti, 131, fs. 575V, 588v-589r. Silli, p. 75.

86 Galluzzi, 1, 164.

87 Borsook, Eve, ‘Art and Politics at the Medici Court I: The Funeral of Cosimo I De' Medici’, Mitteilungen Des Kunsthistorischen Institutes in Florenz, Zwölften Band-Heft I-1 1 (1), 31 Google Scholar.

88 Ibid., 49.

89 ASF, Manoscritti, 283, ‘Giorni ne quali non suona compano d'offizii in Firenze’, p . 1. Professor Hill, Christopher has written that ‘ … in Catholic countries in the seventeenth century, the year was marked out by over a hundred holy days, on which no work was done’, The Century of Revolution 1603-1714 (New York, 1966) pp. 84–85 Google Scholar. Genoa in the eighteenth century confirms Hill's estimate: the average number of workdays per year was 280. Giacchero, Giulio, Storia economica del settecento genovese (Genoa, 1951) p. 213 Google Scholar.

90 For some examples, see ASF, Magistrato Supremo, 1146, fs. 2r, 26r, 4ir, 28yr, 322r, 324r, 34ir, 356r.

91 Ibid., f. 20ir. For another example, see ibid., f. I5ir.

92 Durkheim, p. 348.

93 Ibid., p. 427.

94 Lapini, p. 317.

95 The connection between violence and processionals is brought into sharper focus when the former is defined as ‘situations in which the rules are suspended, the forces fluid, the outcome uncertain….’, Charles Tilly and James Rule, ‘Measuring Political Upheaval’, Center of International Studies, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University, Research Monograph no. 19 (1965), p. 7.

96 ASF, Manoscritti, 130, f. i5or. These affairs were attended by as many as 40,000 Florentines. See ASF, Manoscritti, 129, f. 337r. ‘Piccolo Diario Delle Cose della Citta di Firenze dall Anno 1580, alii 30 Aprile, sino al 1589’, Biblioteca Moreniana, Firenze, Fondo Palagi, 70, f. 25V. Not the least interesting aspect of these gatherings was the juxtaposition of savagery and elegance. For example, after one such affair which consisted of two hours of bull fights and two hours of gioco di calcio, the following madrigal was sung:

Nobil dessio di onore

Pria ne divise in due nemiche schiere

Che robuste e leggiere

Marte seguir l'ardente tuo favore

Noi per opera di amore insieme unite

Bramar piu dolce e fortunata lite

Per voi Guerriere, e crude

Voi di Pieta ignuda

Sifidian con chiaro Suon di altri sospri

Son l'Arme di Gucrriero pronti desiri

(Ibid., f. 25r)

97 Quoted in Cochrane, Eric, ‘The End of the Renaissance in Florence’, Bibliothèque D' Humanisme et Renaissance, XXVII (1965), 21 Google Scholar.

98 For details of the game and the carnival that inevitably followed, see Lacy Collison- Morley, Italy After the Renaissance (New York, n.d.), pp. 286-288.

99 Nagler, A.M., Theatre Festivals of the Medici 1539-1637 (Hartford, Conn., 1964) p. 71 Google Scholar.

100 Moryson, p. 169. Moryson's favorable impression was no doubt heightened when he compared his treatment in Tuscany to other parts of Italy. As a result of religious antagonism, he ‘… spent a good deal of time in disguise, in Rome and elsewhere, now dressed in Dutch, now in Italian or French costume’, Hale, J.R., England and the Italian Renaissance (London, 1963) p. 25 Google Scholar. Also, see BNF, Manoscritti Gino Capponi, CCL, ‘ N O - tizie dello stato …’, f. n6v.

101 Contarini, pp. 67-68.

102 Arnaldo D'Addario, ‘Burocrazia, economia e finanze dello Stato Fiorentino alia metà del Cinquecento’, Archivio Storico Italiano, cxxi (1963), 435.

103 Cantini, i, 38-44, 48-53, 198-209.

104 The best discussion of this institution is to be found in Anzilotti, Antonio, La Constituzione interna dello Stato Fiorentino sotto il Duca Cosimo I de’ Medici (Florence, 1910)Google Scholar passim.

105 ASF, Magistrato Supremo, 1146, f. 761 (3 November 1589).

106 ASF, Magistrato Supremo, 1149, f. 48r (March 1601).

107 ASF, Magistrato Supremo, 1147, f. I09r-v (October 1594).

108 ASF, Magistrato Supremo, 1146, f. ioir.

109 Ibid., f. 368r (May 1592).

110 Ibid., f. 3ir (June 1589).

111 ‘… accio la detta causa si termini, et insieme si tolglino per quanto si pu6 gli scandali’. ASF, Magistrate Supremo, 1148, f. 255r.

112 Ibid., f. 27r.

113 Ibid., f. 87r.

114 ‘ … Pauolo Vinta, dicendo essere parente in qualche grado, et compatriotta del Minucci. …’, ibid., f. 107r.

115 Ibid., f. I74r.

116 Stone, Lawrence, The Crisis of the Aristocracy 1558-1641 (Oxford, 1965) p. 240 Google Scholar.

117 This definition was derived from a study of the Principato; no claim is made for its applicability to the republic. For a suggestive essay on conservatism—one which cautions against generalization in this area—see Huntington, Samuel P., ‘Conservatism as an Ideology’, The American Political Science Review, II (June, 1957) 454–473 Google Scholar.

118 ‘Memorie Florentine’ in Miscellanea Fiorentina di Erudizione e Storia, I, 3 (March 1886), 37. The lady responsible was Caterina di Matteo Strozzi. One can only speculate on what would have happened if her husband, Ghcrardo di Bartolommeo Frescobaldi, had still been alive.

119 Ibid., p. 38.

120 ASF, Pratica Segreta, 71, f. 3r.

121 ASF, Manoscritti, 131, f. 443r.

122 Berner, pp. 179-182.

123 ‘Ma che l'auctorita che e solita havere et al presente ha la Signoria si intenda a essere et sia applicata et si exerciti nel modo et forma [che segue]….’, ASF, Senato di ‘48, f. iv.

124 Ibid., f. 3v.

125 Quazza, Romolo, Preponderanza Spagnuola (Milan, 1950), p. 123Google Scholar. In his funeral oration, Giuliano Giraldi praised Duke Ferdinand for having respected old laws and customs. Prose Florentine, 1 (Florence, 1716), 270.

126 Martines, Lauro, Lawyers and Statecraft in Renaissance Florence (Princeton, 1968)CrossRefGoogle Scholar p. 191.

127 ASF, Magistrato Supremo, 1123, f. 2o6r-v and the unpaginated folio preceding.

128 ASF, Magistrato Supremo, 1147, f. 47r.

129 Ibid., f. 123r-v.

130 ASF, Magistrato Supremo, 1148, f. 242r and the following unpaginated folio.

131 ‘… la casa grande non possa alienarsi fuor di quella famiglia ne pure darsi a locatione à breve tempo se non a uno della famiglia de Soderini… .’, ASF, Magistrato Supremo, 1146, f. 373r.

132 ASF, Manoscritti, 131, f. 5411:. This care for the preservation of name and property was so pervasive that the Venetian Ambassador Fedeli mistakenly assumed in 1561 that primogeniture prevailed throughout Tuscany:'… il primogenito perviene alia total successione di tutto il dominio… .’, Fedeli, p. 342.

133 ‘investire il prezzo in altri beni stabili die fussero surrogati in tutto et pertutto al detto fidecomisso… .’, ASF, Magistrato Supremo, 1146, f. 398r.

134 Contarini, p. 77. Also, see pp. 69-70.

135 Here were gathered the most distinguished and ardent supporters of the Medici regime in the critical period which saw the end of the republic and the formation of the Principato.

136 ASF, Carte Pucci, 21: Della Stufa. Manni, Domenico Maria, Il Senato Fiorentino (Florence, 1771) pp. 124–125 Google Scholar.

137 ‘Cose occorse in Firenze, e fuor di Firenze in Forma di Diario fatto da Autore incerto, die comincia l'anno 1557 adi 8 di Luglio, e finisce l'anno 1586 del mese d’ Agosto’, ASF, Manoscritti, 238, pp. 405-462. The following account is based on pp. 444-446; internal evidence makes it clear that Bastiano di Tommaso di Santi Arditi was the author. Also, see ASF, Manoscritti, 129, f. nor.

138 There is other evidence to suggest that Delia Stufa was a violent character. On 29 September 1564 he killed Giovanbattista Dati. See ‘Casi Occorsi dall'Anno 1557 fino all'Anno 1590 in forma di Diario’, ASF, Manoscritti, 166, f. I5r.

139 The following account is based on: ‘Piccolo Diario …’, Biblioteca Moreniana, Fondo Palagi, 70, fs. I47r, 148V. ASF, Manoscritti, 130, fs. 67V, 90v-91r. Pompeo Litta, Famiglie Celebri d'ltalia, xxx (Milan, 1819-1891), Tav. VII: Soderini. Archivio Storico Italiano, XVIII (1863), 61–79.

140 The chain, from beginning to end, may be followed in: Manni, p. 99. Litta, XXXVII, Tav. vi: Pucci. ASF, Manoscritti, 754, fs. 21r-23r. ‘Memorie … scritte da Antonio da San Gallo’, BNF, Manoscritti Gino Capponi, XCI, fs. 21v-22v. Descrizione dei Deliquenti condannati amorte inFirenze (Florence, 1801), p. 12. Galluzzi, n, 246-248. ASF, Manoscritti, 238, p. 432. BNF, Manoscritti Gino Capponi, 2, f. 249r. ASF, Manoscritti, 126, fs. 293r, 296r, 303r; 128, fs. I53v-154r, 155r; 129, fs. 34r, 36r-37r, 40V, 43V, 108v, 116r-v, 119r-v, 127V, I43r.

141 Cavriana, pp. 38-39.

142 Galuzzi, I, 147-148.

143 Fedeli, pp. 354-355. ‘Tiene eziandio un altr'ordine; che gli ufficiali ed il bargello che vanno di notte per la citta, mandano le liste al detto secretario di criminale di tutti quelli che da loro sono incontrati la notte, o con armi o senz'armi, o con fuoco o senza, o soli o accompagnati ‘, ibid., p. 353. The Venetian ‘relazioni’ are a justly famous source for students of sixteenth-century Europe. They must, however, be used with care and read in the light of Venetian history. When they turned to such subjects as spies, the Ambassadors often superimposed the internal Venetian situation on the locale they were describing. The Medici system of terror was not flawless. In 1547, Angelo de’ Medici, one of Duke Cosimo's secretaries, described security conditions inside the Florentine prisons: ’ … si expone … come in decte carcere non si trova alcuna specie da offendere o diffendere, talmente che quando i carcerati sono nella corte a nel Mallevato si trovano in maggiore numero che le ghuardie, et li potrebbono forzare et torre loro le chiavi… .’, Miscellanea Fiorentina Di Erudizione e Storia, 1, Num. 12 (December 1886), 185.

144 BNF Manoscritti Gino Capponi, 2, fs.

145 In 1589, the population of Florence was 70,000. Pardi, p. 198.

146 Bocchi, Francesco, Le Bellezze della città di Firenze (Florence, 1591) p. 3 Google Scholar.

147 Antonelli, G., ‘La magistratura degli Otto di Guardia in Firenze’, Archivio Storico Italiano, 1 (1), 31 Google Scholar.

148 Cavriana, p. 142.

149 Berner, pp. 189-191.

150 Contarini, pp. 71-72. In 1561, another Venetian Ambassador spoke of the Cassetta: '… le cose sue secrete sono da lui tenute in una sua cassetta coperta di velluto verde, della quale esso tiene la chiave …’, Fedeli, p. 355. Cavriana suggested that the news of a prince's death should not be immediately revealed. Cavriana, p. 68.

151 ‘Piccolo Diario… .’, Biblioteca Moreniana, Fondo Palagi, 70, f. 65V.

152 Ranum, Orest, Richelieu and the Councillors of Louis XIII (London, 1963) pp. 2–3 Google Scholar.

153 Ibid., p. 3.

154 Relazioni, 1, 376.

155 Relazioni inedite di ambasciatori lucchesi, pp. 125-128.

156 Contemporaries agreed that the Archbishop was the chief among the Duke's favorites. Carlo Antonio Pozzo was a Lombard. He was a lawyer and had served the Medici as an Auditore Fiscale. Duke Francesco had taken a liking to him and arranged his appointment to the Archbishopric in 1582 (Pozzo was 3 8 at the time). Under Duke Ferdinand he was assigned the task of supervising all appeals made to the Duke; he was described as a severe minister. Moryson, p. 167. Contarini, p. 87. BNF, Manoscritti di Gino Capponi, CCL, ‘Notizie …’, f. 114.V. ASF, Manoscritti, 129, f. 282r. Galluzzi, 11, pp. 436-439.

157 ‘… true it is that the great Duke [Ferdinand], though all matters do absolutely and plenarily depend upon his will and pleasure, yet notwithstanding he will for the most part have the judgement and counsaile of the Archbishop of Pisa, a man who for his dextertie of wit, and experience in matters of State, hath purchased himselfe great credit and reputation with his Prince; next unto him he hath other his Courtiers, to whom sometimes he will communicate some causes, but neither all, nor alwayes: which causeth the Prince to be more absolute, procureth his Counsels a more secret proceeding, givedi his actions a more speedy dispatch, and peradventure also a more happy issue: so that it cannot properly be said of this Court, that there is a Counsell of State, but that every thing immediately hath his motive, processe, and ending of the Princes will and pleasure’, Dallington, p. 56. This distrust, even of those closest to the Duke, found especially clear expression in a clause of the reform of the secretariat in 1587: ‘Vuole però ancho Sua Altezza che nessuno si ingerisca nell'altrui carica, che se alle loro mani capiterà cosa attenente all'altro lettere suppliche o informazioni, che si mandino a quello a cui toccherà senza ingerirsene in modo alcuno. Tenga ciascun di loro il suo registro separato, & uno sigillo. …’, Cantini, XII, 11. This was obviously designed to prevent any cooperation between the three principal secretaries (Piero Usimbardi, Antonio Serguidi, and Paolo Vinta). Also, see Relazioni, III, 86-88, 137. BNF, Manoscritti di Gino Capponi, 2, fs. 239V-240V.

158 ASF, Manoscritti, 127, f. 465V.

159 ASF, Magistrato Supremo, 1146, f. 33ir.

160 Ibid., f. 65r.

161 Ibid., f. 436r. For other examples, see ibid., fs. 55r, 147r.

162 Ibid., f. 40or.

162 Ibid., f. 40or.