Under the Carolingian emperors Tuscany was a March or
margraviate, and the marquises became so powerful as to be
even a danger to the Empire. Under the emperor Otto I. one
Ugo (d, 1001) was marquis, and the emperor Conrad II. (elected
in 1024) appointed Boniface of Canossa marquis of Tuscany,
a territory then extending from the Po to the borders of the
Roman state. Boniface died in 1052, and in the following year
The countess Matilda.
Guelphs and Ghibellines.
the margraviate passed to his daughter, the famous
countess Matilda, who ruled for forty years and played
a prominent part in the history of Italy in that period.
In the Wars of the Investitures Matilda was ever on
the papal (afterwards called Guelph) side against the emperor
and the faction afterwards known as Ghibelline, and
she herself often led armies to battle. It is at this
time that the people of Florence first began to acquire
influence, and while the countess presided at the courts
of justice in the name of the Empire, she was assisted by a group
of great feudal nobles, judges, lawyers, &c., who formed, as
elsewhere in Tuscany, the boni homines or sapientes. As the
countess was frequently absent these boni homines gave judgment
without her, thus paving the way for a free commune. The
citizens found themselves in opposition to the nobility of the
hills around the city, Teutonic feudatories of Ghibelline
sympathies, who interfered with their commerce. Florence
frequently waged war with these nobles and with other cities
on its own account, although in the name of the countess, and
the citizens began to form themselves into groups and associations
which were the germs of the arti or gilds. After the death of
Beginnings of the commune.
Countess Matilda in 1115 the grandi or boni homines
continued to rule and administer justice, but in the
name of the people—a change hardly noticed at first,
but which marks the foundation of the commune.
After 1138 the boni homines began to be called consules, while
the population was divided into the grandi or delle torri, i.e. the
noble families who had towers, and the arti or trade and merchant
gilds. At first the consules, of whom there seem to have been
twelve, two for each sestiere or ward, were chosen by the men
of the towers, and assisted by a council of 100 boni homines, in
which the arti were predominant; the government thus came to
be in the hands of a few powerful families. The republic now
proceeded to extend its power. In 1125 Fiesole was sacked and
destroyed, but the feudal nobles of the contado (surrounding
country), protected by the imperial margraves, were still powerful.
The early margraves had permitted the Florentines to wage
war against the Alberti family, whose castles they destroyed.
The emperor Lothair when in Italy forced Florence to submit
to his authority, but at his death in 1137 things returned to their
former state and the Florentines fought successfully against the
powerful counts Guidi. Frederick Barbarossa, however, elected
emperor in 1152, made his authority felt in Tuscany, and appointed
one Welf of Bavaria as margrave. Florence and other
cities were forced to supply troops to the emperor for his Lombard
campaigns, and he began to establish a centralized imperial
bureaucracy in Tuscany, appointing a potestas, who resided at
San Miniato (whence the name of “San Miniato al Tedesco”),
to represent him and exercise authority in the contado; this
double authority of the consoli in the town and the potestas or
podestà outside generated confusion. By 1176 the Florentines
were masters of all the territory comprised in the dioceses of
War with the nobles.
Florence and Fiesole; but civil commotion within
the city broke out between the consoli and the greater
nobles, headed by the Alberti and strengthened by
the many feudal families who had been forced to leave their
castles and dwell in the city (1177–1180). In the end the Alberti,
though not victorious, succeeded in getting occasionally admitted
to the consulship. Florence now formed a league with the chief
cities of Tuscany, made peace with the Guidi, and humbled the
Alberti whose castle of Semifonte was destroyed (1202). Later
The potestas.
we find a potestas within the city, elected for a year
and assisted by seven councillors and seven rectores
super capitibus artium. This represented the triumph
of the feudal party, which had gained the support of the arti
minori or minor gilds. The potestates subsequently were
foreigners, and in 1207 the dignity was conferred on Gualfredotto
of Milan; a new council was formed, the consiglio del comune,
while the older senate still survived. The Florentines now
undertook to open the highways of commerce towards Rome,
for their city was already an important industrial and banking
centre.
Discord among the great families broke out again, and the attempt to put an end to it by a marriage between Buondelmonte de’ Buondelmonti and a daughter of the Amidei, only led to further strife (1215), although the causes of these broils were deeper and wider, being derived from the general division between Guelphs and Ghibellines all over Italy. But the work of crushing the nobles of the contado and of asserting the city’s position among rival communes continued. In 1222 Florence waged war successfully on Pisa, Lucca and Pistoia, and during the next few years against the Sienese with varying results; although the emperor supported the latter as Ghibellines, on his departure for Germany in 1235 they were forced to accept peace on onerous terms. During the interregnum (1241–1243) following on the death of Pope Gregory IX. the Ghibelline cause revived in Tuscany and imperial authority was re-established. The tumults against the Paterine heretics (1244–1245), among whom were many Ghibelline nobles favoured by the podestà Pace di Pesamigola, indicate a successful Guelphic reaction; but Frederick II., having defeated his enemies both in Lombardy and in the Two Sicilies, appointed his natural son, Frederick of Antioch, imperial vicar in Tuscany, who, when civil war broke out, entered the city with 1600 German knights. The Ghibellines now triumphed completely, and in 1249 the Guelph leaders were driven into exile—the first of many instances in Florentine history of exile en masse of a defeated party. The attempt to seize Montevarchi and other castles where the Guelph exiles were congregated failed, and in 1250 the burghers elected thirty-six caporali di popolo, who formed the basis of the primo popolo or body of citizens independent of the nobles, headed by the capitano del popolo. The Ghibellines being unable to maintain their Comune and popolo. supremacy, the city came to be divided into two almost autonomous republics, the comune headed by the podestà, and the popolo headed by the capitano and militarily organized into twenty companies; the central power was represented by twelve anziani or elders. The podestà, who was always a foreigner, usually commanded the army, represented the city before foreign powers, and signed treaties. He was assisted by the consiglio speciale of 90 and the consiglio generale e speciale of 300, composed of nobles, while the capitano del popolo had also two councils composed of burghers, heads of the gilds, gonfalonieri of the companies, &c. The anziani had a council of 36 burghers, and then there was the parlamento or general assembly of the people, which met only on great occasions. At this time the podestà’s palace (the Bargello) was built, and the gold florin was first coined and soon came to be accepted as the standard gold piece throughout Europe. But, although greatly strengthened, the Guelphs, who now may be called the democrats as opposed to the Ghibelline aristocrats, were by no means wholly victorious, and in 1251 they had to defend themselves against a league of Ghibelline cities (Siena, Pisa and Pistoia) assisted by Florentine Ghibellines; the Florentine Uberti, who had been driven into exile after their plot of 1258, took refuge in Siena and encouraged that city in its hostility to Florence. Fresh disputes about the possession of Montepulciano and other places having arisen, the Florentines declared war once more. A Florentine army assisted by Guelphs of other towns was cunningly induced to believe that Siena would surrender at the first summons; but it was met by a Sienese army reinforced by Florentine exiles, including Farinata degli Uberti and other Ghibellines, and by the cavalry of Manfred Battle of Montaperti (1260). (q.v.) of Sicily, led by Count Giordano and the count of Arras, with the result that the Florentines were totally routed at Montaperti on the 4th of September 1260. Count Giordano entered Florence, appointed Count Guido Novello podestà, and began a series of persecutions
