FLORENTINE REPUBLIC IN 12-13TH CENTURY

FLORENTINE REPUBLIC IN 12-13TH CENTURY    

12th C. Consular Commune: Florence 1138    (Siena 1125)

13th C. Podestà: outsider, executive brought in to curb noble family violence

Emperor Frederick II (1220-50) asserts Imperial power in Italy,

               Florentine factions choose sides between

Guelfs  (papacy)   or  Ghibellines (Empire): urban civil war
              legendary origin of conflict:  Buondelmonte murder of 1216 (see web site posting)
1248 Guelfs exiled from city by Ghibellines (Uberti) -- level Guelf towers

“FUORUSCITI” = EXILES:   central fact of medieval Italian politics

"PRIMO POPOLO" 1250-60:  slogan "Popolo e Libertà" = GUELF victory
     Captain of People:  head of popular militia (armi) allied with guilds (arti)
     1255 Palazzo del Popolo built (later Bargello)

1258 rising of Florentine Ghibellines:  defeated & exiled by Guelfs as traitors (pro-Siena)
            towers of Uberti & other Ghibellines razed in revenge for 1248 exile of Guelfs
               (site of Uberti houses in center of city later becomes Piazza della Signoria)

1260 BATTLE OF MONTAPERTI:     Florentine (Guelf) army wiped out by Ghibellines & Siena
         victory of Siena & Ghibellines over Florentine Guelfs
            historical estimate 10,000 dead; 20,000 prisoners (from Florentine army of 70,000 men)
            Florentine Ghibelline leader = FARINATA DEGLI UBERTI (Dante, Inferno, Canto X)
            Ghibellines take over Florence, exile Florentine Guelf leaders

GUELF ALLIANCE: Papacy, France, Guelf city states

            Pope calls on Charles of Anjou (Angevin/French) against Empire

1265 BATTLE OF BENEVENTO: Guelf alliance stops Imperial military threat     

GUELF VICTORY in  Florence: = final political ruin of Florentine Ghibellines

            Exile of Ghibellines: houses of exiles razed, property divided up

GUILD REGIME in FLORENCE 1282-1434:  new office of priors:  elected for 2 month terms
            priors elected from 21 guilds (7 greater guilds, 14 lesser guilds)                

  Anti-noble agenda:  1289 serfdom abolished in Florentine countryside by popolo

    1293 Ordinances of Justice: exclude nobility from office holding; only guild members eligible  
    1295 amendment: lesser nobility permitted to hold office, if they join guild

           Dante: Guild of Physicians & Apothecaries  Offices: Prior, Ambassador to Rome 1301-

1290’s  Factional split:

  BLACK GUELFS versus WHITE GUELFS: origins in family disputes
            Black Guelfs: older Guelf aristocracy allied with Papacy
                leader Corso Donati: Dante’s brother-in-law
            White Guelfs: newer families, banking and trade: Vieri dei Cerchi
                        leader Guido Cavalcanti = Dante’s best friend

1301 POPE BONIFACE VIII sends French army of Charles of Valois
            Blacks put in power; Whites exiled, condemned as Ghibellines
                   exiles include Dante Alighieri; Petrarch's father (moves to Avignon)

1305-1378 AVIGNON PAPACY : conflict between Boniface VIII & Philip IV
                   Papacy moves to southern France during most of 14th century