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6 - The Florentine chancellorship

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 October 2009

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Summary

The chancery of the Florentine commune was divided into a number of sections. One of these was headed by the notary of the Riformagioni, who was in charge of recording the results of meetings of the ancient legislative assemblies and of drafting the legislation approved by these assemblies. Another section was headed by the chancellor himself, whose functions were quite distinct from those of the notary of the Riformagioni; indeed, the chancellor was never head of the entire chancery, the section headed by the notary of the Riformagioni remaining autonomous throughout the life of the Florentine republic. The traditional duty of the chancellor was to compose letters on behalf of the commune and to write the commissions and instructions of communal ambassadors. In a rubric of the earliest extant compilation of Florentine statutes, the Statutes of the Podestà of 1325, it was required that each year an experienced notary from the Florentine guild of lawyers and notaries should be elected chancellor of the commune by the Signoria and colleges; he was to serve as ‘dictator of letters and embassies’ for the commune and the Signoria, and perform all the duties of the chancellor. The chancellor, however, was never in charge of all the business and correspondence of the Signoria. Frequently orders, warrants or announcements were despatched in the name of the Signoria itself rather than of the commune as a whole and were therefore drawn up by the Signoria's own notary, the notary of the Signoria, who, as head of a third autonomous section of the chancery, was responsible for the day-to-day deliberations and business of the Signoria.

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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 1985

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