(Vol. iii., p. 188.)
The Volpes were an ancient, noble Florentine family of the second class,
some branches of which according to the usage of Florence, changed their
name, and adopted that of Bigliotti. The object of the change was to remove
the disqualification which attached to them, as nobles, of holding offices
under the republic. In illustration of this singular practice, the
following extracts may be cited:
"Le peuple nomma une commission pour corriger les statuts de la
république, et réprimer par les lois l'insolence des nobles. Une
ordonnance fameuse, connue sous le nom _d'Ordinamenti della Giustizia_,
fut l'ouvrage de cette commission. Pour le maintien de la liberté et de
la justice, elle sanctionna la jurisprudence la plus tyrannique, et la
plus injuste. Trente-sept familles, les plus nobles et les plus
respectables de Florence, furent exclus à jamais du priorat, sans qu'il
leur fùt permis de recouvrer les droits de cité, en se {245} faisant
matriculer dans quelque corps de métier, ou en exerçant quelque
profession.... Les membres de ces trente-sept familles furent désignés,
même dans les lois, par les noms de grands et de magnats; et pour la
première fois, on vit un titre d'honneur devenir nonseulement un
fardeau onéreux, mais une punition."--Sismondi, _Histoire des
Républiques Italiennes_, tom. iv. pp. 63-4.: Paris, 1826.
"The people, now sure of their triumph, relaxed the Ordinances of
Justice, and, to make some distinction in favour of merit or innocence,
effaced certain families from the list of the nobility. Five hundred
and thirty persons were thus elevated, as we may call it, to the rank
of commoners. As it was beyond the competence of the Republic of
Florence to change a man's ancestors, this nominal alteration left all
the real advantage of birth as they were, and was undoubtedly an
enhancenent of dignity, though, in appearance, a very singular one.
Conversely, several unpopular commoners were ennobled in order to
disfranchise them. Nothing was more usual, in subsequent times, than
such an arbitrary change of rank, as a penalty or a benefit. (Messer
Antonio de Baldinaccio degli Adimari, tutto che fosse de più grandi e
nobili, per grazia era misso tra 'l popolo.--_Villani_, xii. c. 108.)
Those nobles who were rendered plebeian by favour, were obliged to
change their name and arms."--Hallam's _Middle Ages_, vol. i. p.
435-6.: London, 1834.
"In the history of Florentine families, a singular feature presents
itself; by a practice peculiar to Italy, nay, it is believed to
Florence, families, under certain circumstances, were compelled to
change their arms and their surnames, the origin of which was as
follows. After having long suffered the insolent factions of the great
families to convulse the state, the middle classes, headed indeed by
one of the nobles, by a determined movement, obtained the mastery. To
organize their newly-acquired power, they instituted an office, the
chief at Florence during the republican era, that of Gonfalonier of
Justice; they formed a species of national guard from the whole body of
the citizens, who were again subdivided into companies, under the
command of other officers of inferior dignity, also styled Gonfaloniers
(Bannarets). As soon as any noble committed violence within the walls
of the city, likely to compromise the public peace, or disturb the
quiet of the state, the great bell at the Palazzo Vecchio raised its
alarum, the population flew to arms, and hastened to the spot, where
the Gonfalonier of Justice speedily found himself in a position, not
merely to put an end to the disturbance, but even to lay siege to the
stout massive fortresses which formed the city residences of the
insolent and refractory offenders to which they then withdrew. But the
reforming party did not stop there; by the new constitution, which was
then introduced, the ancient noble families, termed by cotemporary
historians 'i grandi,' and explained to include those only which had
ever been illustrated by the order of knighthood, were all placed under
a severe system of civil restrictions, and their names were entered
upon a roll called the Ordinances of Justice; the immediate effect was
that, losing all political rights, they were placed in a most
disadvantageous position before the law.
"By a remarkable species of democratic liberality, a man or a family
might be emancipated from this position and rendered fit for office,
born again as it were into a new political life, by renouncing their
connections (consorteria) and changing their arms and surnames. They
were then said to be made plebeian or popular (fatti di popolo).
Niebuhr has noticed the analogy of such voluntary resignation of
nobility to the 'transitio ad plebem' of the Romans.
"This practice of changing arms and surnames originated from the
Ordinances of Justice promulgated about that time, which expressly
requires this as a condition to the enjoyment by any of the old
families of popular rights. It gave rise to great varieties of surnames
and armorial bearings in different branches of the same house. But it
has nevertheless been noted that in all these mutations it was still
the endeavour of the parties to retain as much as possible of the
ancient ensigns and appellations, so that traces of descent and
connexion might not in the progress of years be altogether obliterated.
Thus the Cavalcanti took the name of Cavallereschi, the Tornaquinci
that of Tornabuoni. Sometimes they obtained the object by a play upon
the name itself thus; at other times by making a patronymic of the
Christian name of the first or some other favourite ancestor; thus a
branch of the Bardi assumed the name of Gualterotti, and a branch of
the Pazzi that of Accorri. Sometimes they took their new name from a
place or circumstance calculated to preserve the memory of their
origin; thus the Agolanti designated themselves Fiesolani, the Bostichi
from the antiquity of their stock, Buonantichi. In mutation of arms a
similar object was borne in mind. Thus the Buondelmonti simply added to
their ancient bearings a mountain az. and a cross gu. The Baccelli, who
were a branch of the Mazzinghi, replaced the three perpendicular clubs,
the ancient ensigns of the family, by two placed in the form of a
cross.
"As the object of these provisions was to discriminate for the future
those of the ancient families who had acceded to the principles of the
popular institutions from their more haughty kindred, who remained true
to the defence of their feudal and aristocratical pretensions, the
change either of arms or surname was not required if the whole family
became converts to the new doctrines; for then there was no need of
discrimination, and the law was not framed out of any dislike merely to
particular ensigns, but only to the principles and opinions which they
had up to a certain time been understood to represent."--_Mazzinghi._
The identity of the Volpes and Bigliottis is attested by ancient sepulchral
monuments of the family in Santo Spirito at Florence. To mark the ancient
origin, they retained or assumed the fox (_volpe_) as their arms. Borghini,
in his _Discorsi_ (Florence, 1584-5), mentions the family as an instance of
the name giving rise to the arms, and mentions Sandro Biglotti, 1339, as
the first who assumed the fox as his ensigns. The distinction and influence
enjoyed at Florence by the family is indicated by its having contributed
ten Gonfaloniers of Justice to the republic; an office corresponding in
rank with those of Doge of Venice {246} and Doge of Genoa. Details of
several branches of the family will be found in _Saggi Istorici D'Antichità
Toscane di Lorenzo Cantini_: Firenze, 1798.
Among the junta of twenty noblemen of Venice, chosen in 1355, on the
discovery of the conspiracy of Marino Faliero, Doge of Venice, we find the
name of "Ser Niccolò Volpe":--
"Questi [que' del Consiglio de' Dieci] elessero tra loro una Giunta,
nella notte, ridotti quasi sul romper del giorno, di venti nobili di
Vinezia de' migliori, de' piu savii, e de' piu antichi, per consultare,
non pero che mettessero pallottola."--_Vitæ Ducum Venetorum_,--though
the title is in Latin, the work is in Italian,--published in Muratori's
_Rerum Italicarum Scriptores_, tom. xii. p. 634.
The following particulars are extracted from the _Biographie
Universelle_:--
"Ivo. Biliotti, d'une famille patricienne de Florence (qui avoit fourni
dix Gonfaloniers de Justice à cette république, et placé ses armes sur
les monnaies de l'état), fut un des derniers défenseurs de la liberté
de sa patrie, et un des meilleurs capitaines de son temps. En 1529, il
defendit le fort de Spello, en Toscane, contre les troupes liguées du
pape et de l'Empereur Charles Quint. Il obligea le prince d'Orange, qui
les commandait, à se retirer, et se distingua aussi au siége de
Florence. Il passa au service de Francois I^{er}, roi de France, avec
de Gondi et Pierre de Strozzi, ses parents, et fut tué au siége de
Dieppe. Une partie de la famille Biliotti, proscrite par les Médicis,
se refugia à Avignon et dans le comtat Venaissin, vers la fin du 15^e
siècle. Le 29 juillet, 1794, le chef de cette maison, Joseph Joachim,
Marquis de Biliotti, chevalier de St. Louis, âgé de soixante-dix ans,
aussi distingué par ses vertus que par sa naissance, fut la dernière
victime du tribunal révolutionnaire d'Orange, qui fut suspendu le
lendemain de sa mort."
The only particulars of Iovanni Volpe furnished by the Gwerclas MSS. are
given in the annexed pedigree. The marriage of his daughter Frances with my
ancestor, Richard Hughes of Gwerclas, arose from the latter (before his
accession to the family estates and representation, consequent on the
decease without issue--February 6, 18 James I., 1620-1--of his elder
brother, Humffrey Hughes, Esq., of Gwerclas, Baron of Cymmer-yn-Edeirnion,
High Sheriff of Merionethshire in 1618) having been secretary of the
princely Cliffords, Earls of Cumberland, to whom Iovanni Volpe had been
physician. There can be little doubt that Iovanni was descended from a
branch of the Italian Volpes which had retained the ancient name; a
supposition confirmed by the tradition of my family, and by the fact of the
fox being assigned to his daughter Frances as her arms, in an emblazoned
genealogy of the house of Gwerclas compiled in 1650 by the most accurate
and eminent of Welsh antiquaries, Robert Vaughan of Hengwrt, Esq.
I may add, that among the Gwerclas pictures are portraits of Richard Hughes
and Frances; the latter exhibiting in features an complexion the
unmistakeable impress of Italian lineage.