Pistoja, being accompanied by two of the Eight of the guard. The
mountaineers presented to me wax and grain as though I had been an
ambassador. On the 5th I left and arrived at Fassano in the territory
of the Marquess of Ferrara, accompanied by more than twenty of the
mountaineers. On the 6th I reached Modena, and the governor met me on
behalf of his lord, presented gifts, and next morning went with me as
companion and guide. On the 7th I was at Bondeno and next day went by
water to Francolino, where I waited two days for Antonio Uguccione de’
Contrari, who made me many offers of service from the Marquess. On the
11th I arrived at Venice, being met by many gentlemen, our friends,
together with Lorenzo. I was received like an ambassador, not like an
exile. Next morning I visited the Signori to thank them for all they
had done for my welfare, saying that I owed my life to them. I was
received with more honour and affection than I can describe; they
pitied my sufferings and offered the Signoria, the city, and their
treasure for my needs, and a house. Many gentlemen visited me and
brought me gifts. On the 13th I left for Padua according to command,
and Messer Jacopo Donato went with me and lodged me in his fine
house, furnished with linen, beds, and eatables fit for the greatest
personage, and he remained with me until I returned to Venice about
the 20th. At Padua, by order of the Signoria of Venice, they offered
to place at my disposal anything I wanted. I have recorded these
honours that were paid to me in order not to seem ungrateful by not
mentioning them, and also because it is incredible that, banished from
home, I should yet be treated with so much honour; for generally one
loses one’s friends with one’s fortune. Lorenzo was informed with what
honour I had been treated by some merchants, and also by a servant of
the Signoria who came to Padua with me, and who had been ordered not
to speak about it.
Bartolommeo de’ Ridolfi being Gonfalonier of Justice, I asked leave of
the Signori to be allowed to live at Padua, Venice, or elsewhere, in
the Venetian territory, and the permission was given, but with orders
not to approach within 140 miles of Florence. This was done to please
the Signoria of Venice who, through their ambassador, Messer Andrea
Donato, asked it. It is true that severe penalties were attached to
the grace, as can be seen in the document.
After giving the names of the new Gonfalonier and Priors (who were
elected every two months), Cosimo continues:
The people and all good citizens being discontented, Antonio di Ser
Tommaso Nasi came to me at Venice and begged me to draw nigh to
Florence, offering to escort us home in case we were attacked. Also
many of our relations and friends wrote to us. We thought it better to
first ascertain the intentions of the Signori, and replied we would
do nothing against their wishes. For this we sent Antonio Martelli
from Venice to learn what they wished. From him we got the good news
that we were to come. On receiving the letter Lorenzo and I, Cosimo,
left on the 29th of September; Averardo, being ill of fever, remained
in Venice. On the 30th we reached Ponte a Lago and lodged in the
house of the Magnificent Uguccione who, together with the Marquess,
had collected at our request a large body of foot-soldiers in the
mountains of Modena and Frigano, together with 200 horsemen he had
in his pay, to accompany us as had been previously arranged. On the
1st October, while we were at mass, a courier arrived from Antonio
Salutati with letters stating that the intentions of the Signori
having become known in the city, and our arrival being expected, our
enemies, that is to say Messer Rinaldo degl’ Albizzi, Ridolfo Peruzzi,
and others had taken up arms on the 26th to the number of 600. But
their heart failed them towards evening, and being persuaded by
Messer Giovanni Vitelleschi, then Bishop of Recanati, and afterwards
Archbishop of Florence and a Cardinal, who was my good friend, they
went to S. Maria Novella, where dwelt the Pope.[24] Hearing that our
friends were well provided with arms and with men, and being in fear
for their lives, Messer Rinaldo, Ormanno his son, and Ridolfo Peruzzi
remained there that night, and their companions dispersed and put away
their arms. The Signori summoned a large force of infantry to come
into the city, while from the Mugello, the Alps, and Romagna more
than 3000 men came to our house. Niccolò da Tolentino was called with
his company, and on the 29th, the day of S. Michael, a parliament was
held on the Piazza, at which the people assisted fully armed. Their
number was great, and good order was kept. Balìa was given to ...
citizens and they annulled all that had been ordained the year before.
First they decided that Cosimo and Lorenzo should be reinstated in
their former positions--there were not four contrary votes--so we
were pressed to come home with all speed. Having read the letter, we
at once sent it to Venice, where it caused much rejoicing, and we
then went to visit the Marquess, who showed even more pleasure than
ourselves. After thanking him for all the favours he had shown us
we left Ferrara on the 2nd and got to Modena next day. The Governor
and the Podestà came out to meet us with many citizens, and we were
received most honourably in the Marquess’s house. All our journey
was at his expense, and everywhere we found men-at-arms who had been
ordered to accompany us; but there being no need for them we dismissed
them. On the 5th we reached Cutigliano and then Pistoja; and exactly
at the expiration of a year, on the very same day, _i.e._ the 5th
October, we again set foot in the Commune at exactly the same place.
I record this because when we were banished some well-affected and
kindly persons told us that before the year was out we should be
recalled, and once more find ourselves in Florence. Many citizens came
out to meet us on the road, and at Pistoja the whole population was at
the gate to see us pass fully armed, for we would not enter the town.
On the 6th we arrived at our own house, Careggi, to dinner, and found
much people. The Signori sent to tell us not to enter the city until
they told us, and this we did. At sunset they sent to bid us come and
we set forth with a great following. But as the road we were expected
to take was crowded with men and women, Lorenzo and I with one servant
and a mace-bearer of the Commune rode round the walls. Going behind
the Servi, and then behind S. Reparata and the Palazzo del Podestà,
we entered the Palazzo de’ Signori without being seen, as every one
was in Via Larga, waiting for us near our house. The reason why the
Signori did not wish us to enter by daylight was lest we should be the
cause of an uproar in the city. By the Signori we were received most
graciously. We thanked them with fitting words, and they insisted on
our remaining in the Palace with them and some other citizens. We did
so. We found that before we arrived Messer Rinaldo and Ormanno his
son, Ridolfo Peruzzi, and many other citizens had been banished. The
city was quiet, though the people were always in the Piazza, and in
the Palace were many armed men for security.
Cosimo gives the names of the Signory for November and December and
continues:
They banished many citizens and set down (_i.e._ made _Grandi_ or
nobles) many disloyal families and did many things favourable to the
city. During their rule the Balìa given to various citizens expired,
the Squittini, or Scrutinies, came to an end, and the borse, or
ballot-bags, remained for five years in the hands of the Accopiatori,
that is to say, the borse of the Priors, so that they could make
whomsoever they would Priors and Gonfaloniers of Justice. In January
my name was the first to be drawn from the borse as Gonfalonier, and
in my time no one was banished nor was ill done to any one. I caused
the sentence of death passed upon Francesco Guadagni, and upon some
others whom I found in the hands of the Captain of the Balìa, to be
commuted to perpetual imprisonment. Also I ordered the armed men who
stood at the door of the Palace to be removed and the Palace and the
Piazza to be kept as they were before the revolution, and I prolonged
the league with the Signory of Venice for ten years.
“Seldom has a citizen returning triumphant from a victory,” writes
Machiavelli, “been received by such a concourse of people and with such
demonstrations of affection as was Cosimo on his return from exile,
saluted by all as the benefactor of the people and the father of his
country.”[25]
It was probably while at Venice that Cosimo bought the slave girl
by whom he had a son, Carlo, who was brought up for the Church and
recognised as belonging to the family. He inherited his father’s
tastes, and was employed by him and by Piero to buy books,
manuscripts, statues, &c., in Rome. He became a Canon of the cathedral
in Florence and Arciprete at Prato, where he died. The number of female
slaves imported into Florence in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries
was a most disturbing element in family life and the cause of much
jealousy, as can be gathered from the novelists of the time. Nearly
all came from Caffa (Theodosia in the Crimea) and from the mouth of
the Tana. Caffa must have been practically a Genoese settlement, as
the Genoese consul levied a tax on every slave that passed through the
town, and they were many. Hundreds of Circassian, Tartar, Armenian,
Georgian, Arab, Turkish, Russian, and Greek girls were shipped, chiefly
to Genoa and to Venice, where the trade had existed since the eighth
century. In Florence the duty paid on every slave that entered the city
must have brought in a considerable sum to the Commune, as owners were
obliged to register every newly-acquired slave within two months and to
have him or her baptized, if the rite had not been already performed.
One would have thought that good Catholics might have had some qualms
of conscience about keeping a Christian as a slave, but Sacchetti
writes:
“May a slave being born a pagan who becomes a Christian be sold? I say
yes. None may be free who do not believe that Christ will come again.
Even though I buy a slave who is then baptized, he or she is baptized
as a servant and a subject and is like unto one in prison, who cannot
give a bond or go bail, and most of them go to baptism like oxen.
Baptism does not make them Christians, and no one is obliged to set
them free even if they be Christians unless they wish. I do not say
that if you perceive them to be good, and that they desire to be good
Christians, you should not set them free, but you would commit a sin if
your slave is like most, even if he or she be a Christian, to set them
free, for you take the stick from off their backs and give them full
scope to do every sort of evil.”[26]
The saintly Archbishop Antonino is of the same opinion as the novelist.
He declares that baptism does not free a person from slavery, _quia
servitus introducta est etiam de jure divino et per jus gentium et jus
canonicum approbata_.
By a law of 1366 the flight of a slave was declared a serious offence;
any one aiding or inciting a slave to run away was fined 200 florins
(piccoli), half to go to the Commune, half to the owner. The seduction
of a slave was still more severely punished, and the seducer was held
responsible for her price if she died in childbirth. If the father was
a free man the child was also free, and the father was bound to provide
for it.
From 1366 to 1397, 259 Tartars, 27 Greeks (from Constantinople or from
Rhodes), 7 Turks, 3 Slavonians, 3 Circassians, 2 Bosnians, 1 Arab, 1
Saracen, and 1 Candiote, nearly all girls from nine to twenty-four
years of age, and 26 little boys or lads, are carefully described in
the register. They cannot have been handsome, as many were marked with
small-pox, others had scars (_margines_) which were probably tribal
marks.[27]
They were sold either _sub jugo perpetue servitutis_, or for a certain
number of years. Thus Rucellai bought a slave for eight years, but
finding that she was with child he sent her back to her former
owner; many were bought, or rather hired, for two or three years as
wet-nurses. Baldovinetti in his _Ricordi_ or Memoirs notes: “On May
7, 1376, I bought a slave for thirty-five florins from Bartolommeo
of Venice, named Tiratea, or Dorothea, a Tartar from Russia. She was
about eighteen years of age, and Cieci the broker only put twenty-five
florins into the bill of sale on account of the duty. With brokerage
and duty she cost me one florin, and four florins for clothes, as she
was almost naked when I bought her. I sold her in September 1379 for
thirty-six florins.
“In 1380 I bought on November 28th a slave for forty-five florins, her
name is Domenica, she is fair-skinned and comes from near Tartary. I
bought her of Bartolommeo of Venice, who in writing declares her to be
sound in all ways. With brokerage and other expenses she cost me before
I got her home eleven golden florins, and as she was almost naked,
altogether forty-seven florins.”[28]
[Illustration:
_Alinari_
COSIMO DI GIOVANNI DE’ MEDICI.
_By Jacopo da Pontormo. In the Convent of S. Marco, Florence._]
In the fifteenth century prices rose, as the Florentines insisted on
having Russian or Circassian girls as being better-looking. Their
reputation for honesty and morality did not stand high, and they were
often brutally ill-treated and imprisoned in the dreaded prison of
the Stinche for stealing, &c. Alessandra Strozzi, writing to her son
Filippo at Naples in 1465, warns him about two he thought of buying.
“Thou tellest me in thy letter of the 28th that a slave is offered
thee who was here with Lionardo Vernacci and that thou wouldest have
taken her but for the old one thou hast in the house. I must tell
thee that she is not fit for thee according to my ideas. Lionardo’s
wife had her four or five years, and as she did not learn and was of
a bad disposition they feared she might do some ill to herself or to
others, so they got rid of her; she was also dishonest. They sold her
to Antonio della Luna, with whom she remained but a short time, as
he would not have her and sent her back; so she was sent down there
[Naples]. Lionardo’s wife had her for sewing, but she had no aptitude
for it. Had she been a good servant they would have kept her for
themselves. Thou sayest thou hast one now who belonged to Filippo degl’
Albizzi; she was highly thought of and well treated, but was sold
because wine began to affect her and made her extremely lively, and
also she was immoral. Having a wife and children in the house he would
not keep her. She is praised for loyalty and intelligence. Now do as
thou wilt.... I have told thee what I know.”[29]
Towards the end of the fifteenth century the manumission of slaves
begins to be mentioned in wills together with bequests to hospitals
and convents. By the word _este civis romana_ the slave became a free
man or woman, could own property, buy and sell, and act in all other
respects as if free-born.[30]
Cosimo de’ Medici _to his son_ Piero de’ Medici _at Venice_
Send by the women who are returning the things mentioned in the list
given to Ser G., and look closely yourself, as is but right, after
what is sent here and what remains there.
Put the books that are in my desk into a small strong-box so that
they should not be opened, and see that the others which we lent
should be sent back in such a manner as not to spoiled.
It seems to me that thou shouldest remain at Venice this winter, for
there is nothing doing here, and thus thou canst devote thyself to
learning something of the affairs of the bank and of book-keeping. I
have ordered a book which thou art to keep according to instructions
which Antonio Martelli will send thee. In this way thou wilt learn
book-keeping properly, and canst return here at Lent.
Be careful to conduct thyself well at home and abroad, so as not to
put either me or thyself to shame. Consort with our friends according
to usage; make thyself acquainted with what is doing in the company,
and learn what is going on.
Try to get back that book on ethics from the son of Messer P.
Corro,[31] and the Sallust and Suetonius I lent to G. Lignacci, in
one volume. If they have done with them get them back before S. Lucia
(13th December). Also get back a small volume of Chrysostom which
they say they want to translate. Keep the books from Nicola de Servi,
as is said in the minute given to Ser G., and send back twenty or
twenty-five volumes of our books of each subject. Thou canst put
them with the quilts, or in other bales, so that they should not be
spoiled, and take care that those which remain are not gnawed or
spoiled.
As I said before, for many reasons I think it would be better for thee
to remain at Venice, for nothing of any good is doing here. But if
thou wishest to return here, do as thou wilt. Nought else to say.--[No
date.]
Cosimo.[32]
The letter of Lorenzo de’ Medici and those of Francesco Sforza to
Cosimo relate to a second war with Lucca, and need some explanation.
The recall of Cosimo from exile, as told in his diary, was followed
by a wholesale banishment of his enemies from Florence, and left him
practically master of the Republic. The exiled Florentines naturally
desired to return, and according to the custom of the time were eager
to invoke foreign aid. The times for long offered no opportunity. But
in 1436 Genoa at last shook off the yoke of the Duke of Milan and
became a republic. The sister republics of Florence and Venice at
once allied themselves with the new free State, and Filippo Visconti
believed himself to be seriously threatened by the new league. He had
at the same time lost the services of one of his two great generals.
Francesco Sforza, determined to acquire a principality for himself,
had seized part of the Marches which nominally belonged to the Popes.
In these circumstances the Duke of Milan resolved to attack Florence,
the one of the allies which lay nearest to him. While the Florentines
engaged mercenary troops (Taliano, or Tagliano, mentioned in the
letters, being one of the leaders of small bands) and named Sforza
the General of the Republic--a very untrustworthy general, as events
proved. In the war which ensued Lucca was attacked by the Florentines
and defended by the troops of Milan. In 1438 Florence was twice
threatened by Visconti’s army, then in the territory of Lucca. The
second time they were led by the famous condottiere Niccolò Piccinino,
and Francesco Sforza had orders to oppose him and if possible to seize
Lucca. The attempt failed, partly because Sforza, always hoping to
obtain the hand of Madonna Bianca, Visconti’s illegitimate daughter,
did not wish to offend him by fighting against his troops, partly
because Venice, jealous of the possible acquisition of Lucca by
Florence, laid claim to his services and refused to pay her share of
his stipend unless her commands were obeyed. Cosimo went to Venice
“thinking,” writes Machiavelli, “to be able to persuade her. To the
Senate he pointed out the condition of Italy, the power of the Duke of
Milan, his reputation and the number of his troops, and concluded by
saying that if the Count (Sforza) went over to him they would together
command the sea, and the liberty of Venice would be endangered. To this
the Venetians replied that they well knew their own power and the power
of the Italians, and believed they could defend themselves. Adding that
they were not in the habit of recompensing soldiers for serving others,
and that the Florentines, having made use of the Count, might pay him
themselves. They considered it more necessary for the safety of their
State to lower his pride than to give him money; and the ambition of
men being unlimited, if he were paid now without serving them, he would
eventually advance far more dishonest and dangerous demands. Thus it
seemed to them desirable to curb his insolence before it became too
great. But if out of fear, or for any other reason, the Florentines
desired to retain his friendship, they were at liberty to pay him. Thus
Cosimo returned without concluding anything.”[33]
Cosimo never forgave the Venetians for traversing his plans, and the
enmity between the two Republics began from that day.
Niccolò Fortebraccio _to_ Cosimo de’ Medici _and_ Neri di Gino Capponi
_Magnifico Domino et spectabili viro Fratibus carissimus Cosme de
Medicis civitatis Flor. Vexillifero et Nero Gino de Capponibus._
_Magnifice Domine ac spectabilis vir frates carissimi_,--In order
that you may be kept informed of what sometimes happens here I tell
you that the messengers of your magnificent General Count Francesco
[Sforza] had the courtesy to come rather to us than to those to whom
they were sent. For your information I send you the enclosed copy
of a letter from the aforesaid Count found in the bosom of one of
his people, by which you will understand, &c. You will no doubt take
counsel about it with your friends, so that I shall not have to call
you blind Florentines,[34] as others have called you before. By my
faith you ought not to be, but rather you should have a hundred eyes
like Argus.--Assisi, January 5, 1436 (1437).
Nicolaus Fortebraccis.[35]
Lorenzo de’ Medici _to his brother_ Cosimo de’ Medici, _ambassador to
Ferrara, in the name of the “Dieci di Balìa”_
_Spectabilis collega noster carissime_,--Yesterday I wrote to thee
by Messer Alexio. Since then we have nought from thee. Now we write
because having turned over in our own minds this affair of Taliano and
consulted with other citizens about it, it seems to us that it would
be an excellent thing for the State of Count Francesco and for the
League if some arrangement could be come to between His Holiness the
Pope and the aforesaid Count as to the Marches, as thou art aware was
once proposed. We therefore tell thee to employ every possible means
to achieve this, which would be a most excellent thing, and as soon as
thou canst learn aught about the intention of the Holy Father let us
know, because until we hear from thee we shall not communicate with
the Count.
To-day we have received a letter from our ambassadors to the Count, of
which we enclose a copy. It appears to us a new departure, of which
we know nothing, which we do not understand, nor can we judge how the
Signoria of Venice will take it when they hear. Think over it well,
and if it seems good to thee to tell them or to take any other steps,
do so, only make them understand perfectly that we have nothing to do
with this affair, which is quite outside our intentions, and above
all declare that it is our desire to live in perfect brotherhood and
friendship with that Signoria, and thus to cause the Count to keep on
good terms with them. If this letter finds thee at Ferrara, and thou
thinkest well to send or to write to Venice about this business, or
if thou thinkest better neither to send or to write, do as it seemeth
best to thee, for we place complete trust in thy well-known prudence.
To-day Messer Giuliano Davanzati has been named ambassador to Venice
by the Signori and the Colleges, and they have sent for him to
Pisa.--Florence, January 29, 1437 (1438).
Decem Balie.[36]
Count Francesco Sforza _to_ Cosimo de’ Medici
_Spectabilis ac Magnifice vir tanquam pater carissime_,--I have
read your letter and see you suspect that Niccolò Piccinino is not
following the course traced by the Illustrious Duke of Milan, and you
beg me to come to a good understanding with Niccolò, lest danger to
the Magnificent Commune of Florence and to myself should ensue. As
to the said Niccolò, I cannot believe he would act thus. First, on
account of the great honours he has received and is receiving from the
Illustrious Lord Duke, who only now has with great pomp declared him
Marquess and Count of the house of Visconti with the right of bearing
their arms. Secondly, because being of a certain age and with so great
a reputation in the past, I do not believe that he would run the risk
of being reviled in the present. Also he must know that he cannot
swallow the world, and that it might happen to him as it does to oxen
when they leave their stables in the morning, who think they are going
to pasture, but are put to the plough; to him also the contrary might
happen to what he expected. Thirdly, as you know, he has published
everywhere a letter declaring his allegiance to the Duke of Milan.
As to your advice about being good friends with him, I think you
say well; and by the copies of my letters to Niccolò, which Lorenzo
must have sent you, you will see whether it is my fault or his that
this has not succeeded. It is true, and I declare to you, that I do
not intend to lose my honour or my possessions for the sake of his
friendship, and it would be a strange thing if in order to gain the
friendship of the said Niccolò, I, who have always transacted and
settled all disputes between the Duke and myself, and those arising
from them, should be the first to lose what is mine, and what has
been gained by my own exertions. I am certain that even should I wish
to give away my possessions, or to make any sort of compromise which
would indicate a doubt as to my ownership, you, whom I regard as a
father, would not allow it, seeing how my reputation would suffer.
* * * * *