Antiquarians and Historians

Here's the difference between an antiquarian and an historian: the former cares about the past for its own sake, while the latter seeks to understand the present more deeply through knowing about historical developmnets that still shape our world. As an historian, this is what I would say the Ciompi revolt can teach us-- the elite's hold on power is always weak, the masses may seize power whenever they are so inclined. However, elites are like the moles in whack-a-mole: eventually they pop back up, and start screwing things up for the rest of us until we whack 'em again! Peace out, brothers and sisters...

Aftermath of Ciompi Revolt in Florence

After the Ciompi succeed in seizing power in Florence they find a leader in a wool carder named Michele di Lando. From 1378-1381 Florence is someting of a medieval workers' paradise. In 1381 the elites take back power, but some of the workers' gains are maintained in a power structure that requires the cooperation of the less poweful guilds  Forty years later, in the spring of 1424. the Florentines were very unhappy with what they perceived as an unnecessary foreign war. A crushing defeat at Zagonara was especially galling, with an enormous loss of men and money. Heavy new taxes were of course imposed to pay war debts.  

Machiavelli tells us that the Florentine councils in 1424 [Florentine Histories, Book IV, chapter 8]

  “created twenty citizens to levy a new tax, who, inspired by seeing the powerful citizens depressed by the last defeat, loaded them down without giving them any consideration… [the tax collectors had] authority to be able to kill anyone who might defend himself against the public agents. From this arose many grievous accidents, with the death and wounding of citizens, from which it appeared that the parties [Albizzi v. Medici (allies of Ricci] would come to blood… [the leading citizens] “decided they  should all meet again together…

 [ IV, 9]  Messer Rinaldo degli Albizzi spoke to all.  He pointed out the condition of the city and how through their own negligence it had come again under the power of the plebs… He reminded them of the iniquity of the state that had ruled from 1378 to 1381 and how, of all those present, this one’s father and this one’s grandfather had been killed by it; that they were returning to the same dangers and disorders; for already the multitude had levied a tax to suit itself, and very soon, if it were not restrained by greater force or better order, it would create magistrates according to its own arbitrary will. If this should happen, it would seize their places and would wreck the state… Therefore, he declared, it was necessary for everyone who loved his fatherland and his own honor to come to his senses and and remind himself of the virtue of Bardo mancini, who, with the ruin of the Alberti, had got the city out of the dangers it was in then… He concluded, therefore, that he saw only this mode by which to remedy it: restore the state to the great and take away authority from the lesser guilds by reducing them from fourteen to seven.  This would make the plebs have less authority in the councils both because their number would be fewer and also because the great, having more authority there, would be unfavorable to them on account of old hostilities… And as for carrying out these things, there was deceit or force to which they could easily have recourse, since some of them as members of the War Council of Ten, could bring men secretly into the city… and there was no other remedy than winning Giovanni  de’ Medici over to them. So the commission was given to Messer Rinaldo to go to Giovanni and see if he might attract Giovanni  to their judgment…”

As it turned out, Giovanni de’ Medici wasn’t willing to betray the common people, and so the city became openly divided between an elitist faction adhering to the Albizzi, and a more populist faction that favored the Medici family. Eventually the Medici do take advantage of their populist reputation to slowly gain total control over Florence, first under cover of republican forms, and eventually (in the sixteenth century) ruling the city for generations as the dukes of Florence.  Indeed, the Medici also marry into the royal House of France, and give the Church three Popes, thus becoming pretty much the most powerful family in early modern Italy.

We'll have a bit more to say about all this next time...

The Ciompi Revolt appears victorious

Well, Machiavelli tells us (Florentine Histories, Book III, chap. 14), this kind of talk from a rebel leader soon came to the attention of

“the Signori, for they had in their hands one Simone dalla Piazza, from whom they learned the whole conspiracy… when the danger had been seen, they gathered the Collegi… before everyone was together, night had already come. By these men the Signori (leading city officials) were advised that they should have the consuls of the guilds come, who then all advised that all the men-at-arms in Florence should come and that the Gonfaloniers (Standard-Bearers) of the people should be in the piazza (plaza) in the morning with their armed companies. While Simone was being tortured and the citizens were gathering, the palace clock was being regulated by one Niccolò da San Friano. As Niccolò became aware of what was happening, he returned to his home and filled all his neighborhood with tumult so that in an instant more than a thousand armed men gathered in the Piazza Santo Spirito. This uproar reached the other conspirators, and [the churches of] San Piero Maggiore and San Lorenzo, the places designated by them, were filled with armed men.
… in the piazza not more than eighty armed men in favor of the Signori had appeared; not one of the Gonfaloniers had come because, having heard that the whole city was filled with armed men, they feared to leave their homes. The first of the “plebs” (Ciompi ) to be in the piazza were those who had gathered at San Piero Maggiore, and at their arrival the armed men did not move. After these appeared another armed crowd, and, finding no opposition, with terrible cries they demanded their prisoners… and so as to have the prisoners by force since they had not been given up by threats, they burned the houses of Luigi Guicciardini: so the Signori gave them over for fear of worse… This tumult lasted the whole day; and when night came, the Ciompi stopped at the palace of Messer Stefano behind the Church of San Barnaba. They numbered more than six thousand; and before day came, with their threats they compelled the guilds to send them their ensigns. Then when morning came, with the Standard of Justice they went to the palace of the chief Justice (Podestà); and as the Podestà [always a very distinguished judge from another city—Ulysses] refused to give them possession of it, they fought for it and won.”

So, now the lowest-paid wool workers have seized control of the city! What will they do with their newfound power? Stay tuned…

Ciompi Revolt: Florence, 1378

So, Machiavelli puts us at the scene in the spring of 1378, when the Albizzi faction in Florence hesitates to use force to put down a workers' revolt that aims to put the elite families who dominate the Parte Guelfa out of business.

The spark that ignites the flame of revolution in Florence is the stirring resignation speech of one Salvestro de'Medici, a wealthy man who was sympathetic to the demands of the Ciompi (unskilled wool workers). Powerful men are killed, and many houses are burned. After some days of unrest, many of the rebels are ready to stop and ask for mercy from the authorities. But one intelligent leader has another plan:

"If we had to deliberate now whether to take up arms, to burn and rob the homes of the citizens, to despoil churches, I would be one of those who would judge it was a course to think over, and perhaps I would agree to put quiet poverty ahead of perilous gain. But because arms have been taken up and many evils have been done, it appears to me that one must reason that arms must not be put aside and that we must consider how we can secure ourselves from the evils that have been committed... You see the whole city full of grievance and hatred against us: the citizens meet together; the Signoria is always on the side of the magistrates. You should believe that traps are being set for us and that new forces are being prepared against our strongholds. We must therefore seek two things, and we must have two ends in our deliberations: one is to make it impossible for us to be punished for the things we have done in recent days, and the other is to be able to live with more freedom and more satisfaction than we have in the past... If we wish that our old errors be forgiven us, [we need] to make new ones, reoubling the evils, multiplying the arson and robbery-- and to contrive to have many companions in this, because when many err, no one is punished, and though small faults are punished, great and grave ones are rewarded." (Florentine Histories, III, 13) to be continued...

We'll have more to say about all this soon-- I hope that Leftsiders are enjoying the words of Niccolo Machiavelli!!

Machiavelli's class analysis of the ancient Roman and medieval Florentine republics

So here's Niccolo Machiavelli (Florentine Histories, Book III, chapter 1)on the different results of class struggle in Rome and Florence:

"The grave and natural enmities that exist between the men of the people and the nobles, caused by the wish of the latter to command and the former not to obey, are the cause of all evils that arise in cities. For from this diversity of humors all other things that agitate republics take their nourishment. This kept Rome disunited, and this, if it is permissible to compare little things with great, has kept Florence divided... For the enmities between the people and the nobles at the beginning of Rome that were resolved by disputing were resolved in Florence by fighting. Those in Rome ended with a law, those in Florence with the exile and death of many citizens... for the people of Rome desired to enjoy the highest honors together with the nobles, while the people nof Florence fought to be alone in the government without the participation of the nobles. And because the desire of the Roman people was more reasonable... the nobility would yield easily and without resorting to arms. Thus, after some differences, they would come together to create a law whereby the people would be satisfied and the nobles retain their dignities... the desire of the florentine people was injurious and unjust, so that the nobility readied greater forces for its own defense, and that is why it came to the blood and exile of citizens... in the victories of the people the city of Rome became more virtuous, for as men of the people could be placed in the administration of the magistracies, the armies, and the posts of empire together with the nobles... but in Florence, when the people conquered, the nobles were left deprived of the magistracies, and if they wanted to regain them, it was necessary for them not only to be but to appear similar to men of the people in their conduct, spirit,and mode of living."

O.K. Leftsiders, let's chew on that for a moment... we'll be back tomorrow with some ideas on how these general ideas about class conflict will shape Machiavelli's whole historical understanding of the Ciompi revolt in Florence.