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Sienese Society in the Renaissance

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 June 2009

David L. Hicks
David L. Hicks
Affiliation:
Columbia University
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Extract

The traditional explanations of Italy's post-Renaissance decline are almost too well-known to bear repeating: northern economic competition, the opening of new trade routes bypassing the Mediterranean, the French and Spanish invasions and eventual Spanish domination of much of the peninsula, and so on. There is no doubt they were of significance. But explicit in all of them are “foreign” influences of one sort or another: Italy is pictured as simply an unwilling but helpless victim of the rise of the European nationstates. It is suggested that the northern Italian states also posessed within themselves the seeds of decline. Inherent in their economy, in the structure of their society, and in their political institutions were forces which, together with forces from outside, shaped the character of post-Renaissance Italy. It is suggested further that these forces were discernible in many states by the end of the fifteenth century.

Type
Research Article
Information
Comparative Studies in Society and History , Volume 2 , Issue 4 , July 1960 , pp. 412 - 420
Copyright
Copyright © Society for the Comparative Study of Society and History 1960

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References

1 See, for example, Simeoni, Luigi, Le Signorie, 1313–1559 (Milan, 1950), I, 372–389.Google Scholar

2 The Sienese archivists in their recent Inventario ([Rome, 1952], II, 218)Google Scholar note that all the “great signorial families were engaged in commerce.”

3 Luchaire, J., Le statut des Neuf Gouverneurs et Défenseurs de la Comune de Sienne (Rome, 1901), pp. 30–3Google Scholar; Luchaire, J., Documenti per la storia dei revolgimenti politici del Comune di Siena dal 1354 al 1369 …(Lyons, 1906), p. xxvGoogle Scholar.

4 Luchaire, , Documenti per la storia …, pp. xxvii–xxviii.Google Scholar

5 On this revolution see Luchaire, Documenti per la storia…, and especially Rossi, P., “Carlo IV Lussemburgo e la Republica di Siena (1355–69). I, La prima discesa di Carlo IV in Italia e la caduta del governo del Nove,” Bullettino senese di storia patria, n.s., I (1930)Google Scholar.

6 On the revolution of 1638–69 see Luchaire, op. cit., and Rossi, P., “Carlo IV di Lussemburgo e la Republica di Siena (1355–1369). II, Le seconda discesa di Carlo IV in Italia e la caduta del governo dei Dodici,” Bullettino Senese di storia patria, n.s. I (1930)Google Scholar.

7 Cronica di Paolo di Tommaso Mantauri in Muratori, L., Rerum Italicarum Scriptores (new ed., Bologna, 1939), XV, Part VI, 709Google Scholar

8 On the proletarian uprising see Rodolico, N., La democrazia fiorentina nel suo tramonto (Bologna, 1905), pp. 101–112Google Scholar.

9 Petroni, V., Le antiche famiglie che ressero la Republica e lo “Stato Senese” (Siena, 1949), p. 6Google Scholar.

10 Malavolti, O., Historia …de’ Senese… (Venice, 1959), II, 194 bisGoogle Scholar. Between 1459 and 1464, a single Gentiluomo was allowed to sit in the chief magistrature. This concession was made at the urgent request of Pope Pius II, whose family were Sienese nobles, and was withdrawn on the Pope's death; see the archivists, Sienese' Inventaro, I, p. 178Google Scholar.

11 Malavolti, II, p. 194.

12 There has been little examination and analysis of the institution of balìe in Italian medieval and Renaissance government, although their importance is generally recognized. Most revealing are A. Anzilotti's caustic and condemnatory comments on the Florentine batia in the fifteenth century in “Per la storia delle signorie e del diritto pubblico italiano del Rinascimento” Movimentmenti; e contrasti per l’unità italiana [Bari, 1930], pp. 25–26Google Scholar, and La crisi costituzionale delta Republica fiorentina (Florence, 1912), pp. 26–27Google Scholar, although they might not apply to other places. Unfortunately the most thorough work on a single city is unpublished: Petroni, V., Il magistrato di Balìa nella Repubblica di Siena (thesis for laureate in the history of Roman law in the Università degli Studi di Siena, academic year 1945–1956Google Scholar).

13 Nor have historians expressed them. The Sienese archivists (Inventaro, I, 267Google Scholar) make note only of the payment of the real and personal property tax as the requirement for “full civil and political rights.” C. Falletti-Fossati grants a certain importance to party membership, but fails to emphasize its hereditary character; see “Principali cause della caduta della Repubblica senese,” Atti della R. Accadamia dei Fisiocritici di Siena, 3, II (Siena, 1879), pp. 90, 91Google Scholar. Ferdinand Schevill shrewdly perceives the aspect of “caste” attached to the parties, but draws no particular conclusions from it; see Siena, the Story of a Mediaeval Commune (New York, 1909, p. 216Google Scholar. The near-contemporary Donato Giannotti is aware of the hereditary character of political rights, but apparently not of the connection between those rights and party membership, when he writes: “Non dico futti gli abitanti della terra, ma tutti quelli che hanno grado; cioè che hanno acquistati, o eglino o gli antichi loro, facultà d’ottenere i magistrati; e in somma che sono participes imperandi et parendi”; see “Discorso sopra il riordinare la repubblica di Siena, “Opere politiche e litterarie, ed. Polidori, F. I. (Florence, 1850), I. p. 351Google Scholar.

14 A. Aurieri, Raccolta di notizie riguardante le famiglie nobili di Siena … (MS of mid-19th Century, found in the Archivio di Stato di Siena at A. 15), passim.

15 Ibid.

16 di Stato di Siena, Archivio, Balìa, , Deliberazioni, 37, 02 7, 1493 [1494], p. 90 bisGoogle Scholar. This edict was reaffirmed and expanded in late 1497.

17 Ibid., p. 91.

18 Perhaps one in every two adult males possessed political rights, an estimate based partly on fact and partly on guesswork. The population at this time was about 13,000; see Pardi, G., “La populazione di Siena e del territorio senese attraverso i secoli, I, la città,” Bullettino senese di storie patria, XXX [1923], IIIGoogle Scholar; and Beloch, K. J., Bevölkerungsgeschichte italiens (Berlin, 1937–1939), II, 151Google Scholar. Considering family size in those days, probably 4,000 men were eligible for politics. In 1498, 1,180 names were listed as having sat in the Concistoro (ASS, Balìa, , Deliberazionī, 40, 01 4, 1497 [1498], p. 110Google Scholar). At least that many party members had not enjoyed the honor, which would bring the total to over 2,000.

19 The Sienese apparently began buying land as early as the thirteenh century; see Mondolfo, U. G., IL Popolus a Siena nella vita delta città e nel governo del comune fino alia riforma antimagnetzia del 1277 (Genoa, 1911), pp. 22–23Google Scholar.

20 Naturally, there is always some question as to the accuracy of tax reports. The reports were to a certain extent at least prey to a bit of falsification, for, although the small sum exacted in tax (one denaro for each 100 lire, where 12 denari equal one soldo, 20 soldi one lira, and 4 lire one florin) would seem to have made lying unnecessary, the occasional forced loans (preste) were computed on the basis of the reports' total. However, since the conclusions reached above are dependent on the character, not the amount or value, of the property, completely accurate reports are not a requisite.

21 These reports are contained in ASS, Lira, Denunzie di beni, 174, 176, 177, 179, 183, & 184 (1479); 185 & 186 (1481); 201 (1484); and 221 (1488). Those for 1478 were used most extensively, since they preceded the War of the Pazzi, which caused much damage to the Sienese lands.

22 Typical is the figure of 24 lire a year; see the denunzie di beni of Benvenuto di Tommaso Pecci, Nove, in ASS, Denunzie di beni, 174 (1478), bundle 8.

23 Ady, Celia M. in The Bentivoglio of Bologna, a Study in Despotism ([London, 1937], p. 190Google Scholar) notes that “the chief families of Bologna, whatever their avocation within the city, were all landowners.” Anzilotti, in La crisi … (pp. 7–9), notes the trend among the ottomati, including Lorenzo IL Magnifico himself.

24 These reports are to be found in ASS, Lira, Denunzie di beni, 174, 175, 176, 177, 179, 182, 183 & 184 (1478); 202 & 208 (1484); 214 (1483); and 221 (1488). Again, as with the previously cited reports, an attempt was made to use those of 1478 whenever possible.

25 ASS, Lira, Denunzie di beni, 174 (1478), bundles 1, 5, 8, 11; 177 (1478), bundles 1, 6; and 183 (1478), bundles 1, 2.

26 ASS, Lira, Denunzie di beni, 174 (1478), bundles 4, 5; 177 (1478), bundles 3, 5; 185 (1481), bundle 10; and 208 (1484), bundle 6. Pietro di Giuliano Pannilini and his sons Simone, Mino, and Matthio; see 177 (1478), bundles 3, 5; and 208 (1474), bundle 6.

27 In the General Council of Oct. 30, 1482, two Riformatori and one Popolari are identified as speciali; see ASS, Consiglio generale, Delīberazioni, 239, pp. 54–58. The heirs of Ventura d’Antonio de’ Venturi, Gentiluomo, owned a pizzīcheria, today a delicatessen; see ASS Lira, Denunzie di beni, 174 (1478), bundle 12. Pietro di Venaccio dal Cotone, Gentiluomo, was a notaio; see ASS, Lira, Denunzie di beni, 174 (1478), bundle 12. Francesco di Toro Caldaretta, Nove, had “capital in the arte de’ calcinai”; see ASS, Lira, Denunzie di beni, 174 (1478), bundle 4.

28 In ASS, Balìa, Deliberazioni, 35, Aug. 13, 1492, pp. 48–50 bis, and 42, Oct. 16, 1500, pp. 111 bis- 113 bis are lists of doctors hired, courses offered, and pay received. Zdekauer, L. in Lo Studio di Siena net Rinascimento ([Milan, 1894], p. 167)Google Scholar implies that few doctors took part in politics. A comparison of these lists and the lists of the Balia will prove him wrong.

29 Machiavelli, N., lstorie fiorentine (first ed. Florence, 1532; I use ed. Florence, , 1873), VIII, XXXV, p. 419Google Scholar.

30 Segni, B., Storie fiorentine (Milan, 1805), I, 313Google Scholar.

31 Segni Ibid writes of Siena's “four monti (parties)” a few lines earlier.

32 Pecci, G. A., Memorie storico-critiche delta città di Siena che servono alia vita civile de Pandolfo Petrucci dal MCCCCLXXX al MDXII (Siena, 1755), p. 43Google Scholar, footnote a.

33 The first Arringhieri sat in the Concistoro in 1408; see ASS, Riformagioni, , Leoni, Bk. III, p. 15Google Scholar.

34 Some of these newest Popolari were leaders in the revolutions of the 1480's, and there is evidence that they were considered socially unacceptable parvenus. Tommasi, G., in his Seconda Deca delle storie di Siena (MS copy dated 1723 of work written between 1599 and 1604; located in ASS, D. 23), Vol. II, Bk. VII, cols. 130–131, 195Google Scholar, has most uncomplimentary things to say about two of the most important ones, “plebeo insolentissimo” being mild.

35 G. Mancini, Breve reguaglio delle cose di Siena (MS of work written about 1630; located in Biblioteca Comunale di Siena under Benvoglienti, U., Miscellania, C. IV. 18), pp. 34–34bisGoogle Scholar.