In the foregoing pages we have seen Florence poor and dependant but gradually shaking off all foreign influence and asserting her individual freedom; we have beheld her small domain almost insensibly spread into a respectable state; and while perpetual fever rioted within we have witnessed a rapid extension of outward authority, until she was able from fear or friendship to unite in her cause all the warlike resources of Tuscany. We have seen that this was achieved for the most part by a self-governed nation of shop-keepers in its strictest sense, and under an executive power formed generally from the same materials; and although it is not from official titles that the excellence of any government can be estimated, we must join with Sismondi in acknowledging that there is something noble in the choice of those by which the Florentine ministers were designated. The names of justice, goodness, and national industry, were all invoked to assist public administration, and the commonwealth was ruled by a College of Good-men, the Priors of Arts and the Gonfalonier of Justice. Such was the government of ancient Florence; and if the disaster of Monteaperto sprang from the same source it was through diplomatic deception, and individual presumption, an error arising more from obstinacy, mortified pride, and the insatiate love of glory than any deliberate judgment of the nation: but the same people who had so ably conducted their foreign affairs were no less attentive to the progress of domestic improvement, of commerce, and civilisation, a slight account of which will be attempted in the present chapter.

The public architecture of Florence probably commenced about the year 1078 along with the second circuit of walls and the general erection of those lofty towers which serving as strongholds for the noble and opulent gave a fiercer and more decided character to civil war: at these early periods much timber was used in the construction of private dwellings and therefore by tumults or accident the town suffered from frequent and extensive conflagrations. By these visitations nearly all the city had perished in successive portions and was more solidly reconstructed, each fire abating on ancient nuisance; confined and numerous dwellings were huddled together in the centre of the town amongst markets and stalls and storehouses, and choked by a dense population which was crowded into a set of small chambers separated by wooden partitions and timbered floors.

The frequency of civil conflicts, the slackness of neighbourly assistance, and even the very execution of justice, multiplied the chances of such misfortunes, nor was it until the year 1116 that any preventive laws or regulations were applied. The bridges of Florence seem to have been the first architectural results of increasing commerce and refinement, but long before this the architect Buono who was probably a Florentine, assisted in the revival of a better taste of which an example may be seen in the tower of Saint Mark at Venice: afterwards came Fuccio who built the church of St. Maria sopr’ Arno and the more celebrated Castel dell’ Uovo at Naples; he was cotemporary with Lapo who advised and superintended the paving of Florence. The streets had in most parts been previously laid with brick for which small stones were now substituted and afterwards rectangular flags, the present polygonal form being of a much more recent date and like its prototypes the so-called Cyclopean walls, was most likely adopted to economise time, labour, and material. It is doubted whether Lapo was a German or a Florentine but probably the son of Cambio da Colle in Vai d’Elsa; he however resided at Florence and built the church of San Salvatore del Vescovado: his son and scholar or fellow-student Amolpho far exceeded him in celebrity and has left still existing marks of his architectural genius in the present walls, the Palazzo Vecchio, the vast fabric of Santa Croce and the more finished and magnificent cathedral. About the same period lived the two lay brothers of Saint Domenic; Sisto and Ristoro; who commenced the church of Santa Maria Novella which Michael Angelo used to call his “Sposa”; but it was completed by Giovanni da Campi a third brother of the same order. Another great and justly celebrated building of this age was the hospital of Santa Maria Nuova erected at the expense of Falco Portinari a benevolent Florentine he father of Dante’s Beatrice: it was an act of beneficence that the frugal manners of his country enabled him to perform; for except on rare occasions, little expense was lavished on anything but horses, arms, and war. Hospitals which, besides the present meaning of the name, were in those days places of general hospitality, so abounded in town and country during the middle ages that it appears as if the whole social state were then divided into pilgrims, invalids, and hospital establishments There was scarcely a single rich convent or other ecclesiastical society that had not something of the sort administered almost exclusively by the clergy, and after the fall of Rome supported by large and frequent acts of individual piety and beneficence: the religious and charitable impulses sprang from their usual source, strengthened perhaps by the unhappy condition of the times; but hospitality became absolutely necessary in an age when war or religion had set half the world in pilgrimage to Rome, Compostella, Palestine, or to some other of the various shrines that then attracted reverence from superstition. The general insecurity was such that, except in towns, there were few inns, so that the rich usually lodged with their friends while the poor sought shelter in hospitals, which were commonly found in the wildest and most dangerous parts of the country, at the fords of rapid rivers and the roughest passes of the mountains. The hospital of La Scala at Siena founded in 898, is one of the first of these establishments although some were existing at a much earlier date, and a society of Augustine monks, (the order generally deputed for such services) appointed as a college to take the management of similar institutions in foreign states: hence in 1316, the branch establishment of La Scala was erected at Florence and endowed by the republic. The Misericordia, another institution springing from die same benevolent feelings is also due to the Florentines of this epoch: founded in 1244, this society had for its object the alleviation of human misery in its most helpless form; by night or day, in every season, in storm or sunshine, mingling indiscriminately with common sickness and the most consuming pestilence; the members of this body formed then as now of all ranks, from the sovereign downwards; were found to visit the sick and hurt and carry them to their own house or to the hospital; to save disconsolate survivors the distressing office of funerals; to bear the poor and abandoned dead, to their tombs; and perform all those painful duties which humanity dictates and man most wants when he is himself least able to perform them. This association soon became rich but never idle, yet was suppressed in 1425, to the great regret of the people, and continued dormant for half a century.

Its memory was cherished notwithstanding, and we are told of a citizen who having stumbled on a dead body in the street immediately took it over his shoulders to the public palace and throwing it down before the priors reproached them for the folly of abolishing the Misericordia and then departed leaving the corpse in the council-chamber. This hint, the indication of both weakness and license, would appear to have answered its intent for the Misericordia was almost immediately restored to the wishes of a people who amidst all their own turbulence and the ferocious character of the age seem to have nourished much of the kindlier feelings of nature; and there must have been periods of soft reaction when natural gentleness, religion, and even its mask, superstition, asserted their authority and corrected if they did not balance the stormy temper of the time.

Years of misery and the rough contact of barbarian nations had in fact shaken ancient Italian luxury into primitive rudeness while southern manners reacted on and softened the northern conquerors: Malespini’s and Villani’s accounts of Florentine customs in the thirteenth century are almost the only regular notice we have on this subject; but amongst the old poems and private chronicles a few particulars may be collected, and more detailed accounts are extant of the customs of other Italian states which reflect considerable light on those of Florence. From the notion that a mercantile nation should supply the wants of strangers without sharing that luxury it creates, an extreme frugality of manners and simplicity of dress were encouraged by the Florentines, and minutely prohibitive laws in later times frequently but unsuccessfully promulgated. Such laws may for a while check the first approaches of luxury but never finally prevail against the growing desires of man: yet the Florentines preserved their simplicity for a long time after the age we now treat of, and as late as 1467 at the marriage of Niccolo Martelli, and on the arrival of the Duke of Calabria, the same scanty unostentatious service of plate as among the Romans of old was seen at each entertainment. The simplicity of Florentine maimers in 1260 described by Villani and Malespini, justifies a similar picture as drawn by their great poet: “Then,” say these writers, “ the Florentines lived soberly on the simplest food at little expense; many of their customs were rough and rude and both men and women went coarsely clad; many even wearing plain leather garments without fur or lining: they wore boots on their feet and caps on their head : the women used unornamented buskins, and even the most distinguished were content with a close gown of scarlet serge or camlet, confined by a leathern waist-belt of the ancient fashion, and a hooded cloak lined with miniver: and the poorer classes wore a coarse green cloth dress of the same form. A hundred lire was the common dowry of a girl, and two and three hundred were then considered splendid fortunes: most young women waited until they were twenty years old and upwards before they married. And such was the dress, and such the manners and simple habits of the Florentines of that day; but loyal in heart, faithful to each other, zealous and honest in the execution of public duties: and with their coarse and homely mode of life they gained more virtue and honour for themselves and their country than they who now live so delicately are able to accomplish.

Although this praise is probably coloured by the usual imaginative excellence of bygone times, there seems good reason to believe that luxury did not penetrate into Florence to the same extent at the same epoch as it seems to have done at Siena, Pisa, and in Lombardy after the termination of the thirteenth century. Those cities, such as Milan, Venice, Padua, Pisa, Genoa, and Lucca, which in consequence of favourable mercantile positions or richness of soil naturally led the march of civilisation, far exceeded the Florentines in refinement, and Pisa even as late as the middle of the thirteenth century affected to hold them in contempt as a parcel of wild mountaineers.

All accounts however agree in asserting that luxury augmented rapidly after the commencement of the fourteenth century when the spread of commerce war and foreign travel brought with them increased riches, new wants, and deeper sensuality : Dante who was well acquainted with Italy joins in the general outcry with all that proneness to exalt the merits of the olden time which through every age has shown itself so remarkably in the human heart, because men still retain the vivid impressions of youthful pleasures and confidence amidst all the cares and sorrows and forced suspicions of our afterlife : yet Dante’s lamentation, in its moral aspect, at least is scarcely justified by the punishment to which he condemns not only his great preceptor, but some of those also who were considered the most virtuous of Florentine citizens.

Nevertheless we may gather from all these relations that a certain homely style of domestic manners was more prevalent in Florence than amongst the surrounding nations through the whole of the thirteenth century. Celibacy was not common because an increasing commerce supplied the means of family subsistence; and the less so, because the turbulent character of those times made a numerous progeny and powerful connexions of the last importance : from this it would naturally follow that infidelity and licentiousness were more rare than afterwards, when Boccaccio wrote, and when Florentine women were not ashamed to read the Decameron. Yet concubinage, as we have seen, augmented to such a degree in the latter part of the thirteenth century that the most severe laws even to burning at the stake were promulgated against it. The consequence of these manners was populous clans all bearing the same name and generally united both for good and evil. At a somewhat later period we read, amongst other instances, of a certain Pier degli Albizzi who having five married sons was on the occasion of a private feud in 1355 enabled to assemble no less than thirty cousins and nephews under arms. But notwithstanding all their intestine jars the Florentines seem to have been a cheerful festive race, fond of mirth, attentive to business, and addicted to practical jokes, with a quick wit and smartness of reply which gave their opponents no advantage: they displayed much fancy and ingenuity with considerable expense in pageants and festivals, and the genius of their artists was successfully employed on every great occasion: but their joyous temperament was much deadened by the poison of the Bianchi and Neri factions, which as we have seen, in the year 1300 spread through the community. Before this says Villani “the citizens used to solace themselves with continual repasts, social meetings and divers amusements; the city was in profound peace and a constantly increasing prosperity enlivened the whole nation: each year in the beginning of May gay companies of either sex were to be seen in all parts of the metropolis with music dancing and pastimes.” The cool marble steps of the cathedral became a favourite resort in the summer evenings after the piazza was enlarged and that magnificent edifice completed; and when dinners were given it was a common custom, arising probably from the confined apartments in towers and houses, to collect the guests together in the public street before the house door previous to being summoned to the guest-chamber, where after washing, they shared the owner’s hospitality. In these crowded dwellings, divided and subdivided by the partition of property between the children of either sex, according to the ancient Lombard law on allodial possessions, the whole family resided; some members having only a single chamber and a small kitchen for their individual portion, sometimes they lived separate, sometimes together, with a common kitchen and a common hall where round the blazing fire they assembled during winter evenings; but in summer time the “Loggia” was the great place of social reunion and amusement.

A family did not often separate until compelled by its increasing numbers, when one of them either enlarged the house or sold his share to those who remained, and then generally settled in the neighbourhood; so that whole streets were frequently filled with the same race and bore, and still bear the family name. But besides the share of each individual there seems to have been also a common purse made up, as it would appear from the rent of shops or warehouses, which paid the expenses of repairs and alterations for the general good.

The lordship of “Loggia e Torre” or tower and portico was an undoubted distinction of the very ancient nobility although shared by some of the most powerful and opulent Popolani, and extreme jealousy was shown by every member of the “Consorteria” or family, to preserve their individual right to the ancient tower of their race: extraordinary pains were taken to divide it into just proportions and secure to each his particular share by minute legal forms and precise distinctions, all confirmed by public instruments and arranged with the solemnity of a public treaty. By common consent one or two of the most aged or respected of the family were chosen as chiefs and consenators of the general right over the tower as well as the especial claim of each individual : the same care was extended to the Loggia where all family meetings were held, public and private affairs discussed, marriages settled, visits made and received: chess, draughts, and dice with other amusements carried on in sight of the public, and many had an open space of ground in front of the Loggia where they exercised their horses. These lodges were held sacred, and it was the boast of some families that no public officer would dare to lay his hand on any fugitive that had sought protection there: among such the Adimari were conspicuous, and there was a common saying that no unworthy alliance was ever made in the Loggia of that family.

At their marriages the simple presentation of a ring constituted the solemn act of affiance; and after the priestly benediction and the donation of the “Morgincap” the union was considered to be complete. The latter however formed a very important part of the ceremony as it was given the morning after marriage and endowed the bride with part of her husband's possessions, sometimes even in fee-simple, as a mark of belief and confidence, and a pledge of enduring affection : the custom was of German origin but very early introduced amongst the Florentines and preserved a long while.

This assumed inviolability of Tower and Loggia could only have existed prior to the great and final contest between the citizens and nobility after the expulsion of the Duke of Athens in 1343; or more probably before the banishment of Giano della Bella. About the same period we are told that Florence was happy; and especially towards the year 1283 Giachetto Malespini like Villani describes the city as abounding in mirth and festivity; jugglers and buffoons and mountebanks of every sort poured in from the Italian states to share the bounty of lordly Florentines, who nevertheless lived frugally themselves while they were hospitable and even generous to their guests. There were at this time in Florence more than three hundred “Cavalieri di Corredo” and a multitude of gentlemen that maintained an equal state with belted knights, kept many horses and retainers, and applied themselves to the acquirement of virtue and knowledge and courtesy; and they did eat often together of plain meats and lived in domestic familiarity with each other and did not dress richly; but at Easter they were careful to give to the usual frequenters of courts and to jesters various presents of dress and ornaments : and from many parts of Lombardy and other places and from every corner of Italy came to the said Florence the said jesters to the said festivals and they were warmly greeted. To these “Corti Bandite” or open houses, so common and so celebrated amongst some of the great lords of Italy, came multitudes of poets, musicians, dancers, jesters, players, and charlatans of every sort; all under the generic name of “Uomini di Corte” who amused the great, night and day by the exercise of their various talents and made themselves so acceptable that they never departed without a considerable largess.

The custom of the age would allow of no great lords coming to these entertainments without presenting some rich and friendly offering to their host, and the splendid vestments so acquired were generally transferred to these itinerants. On occasions of great moment such gifts were often magnificent; fine horses, jewels, rich mantles, silver rases, and other presents were received and immediately made use of to reward the minstrels and charlatans whose number often amounted to many hundreds. At the marriage of one of the Gonzaghi, lords of Mantua, in 1340, but more particularly at that of Lionel Duke of Clarence to Violante daughter of Galeazzo Visconte of Milan (where the most sumptuous “Corte Bandita” ever known in Italy was held for many days) presents were given to no less than five hundred wandering poets, musicians, dancers and jesters.

We are also made acquainted with some of the fashionable amusements in Tuscany by the writings of Folgore da San Gimignano a poet of the year 1260 who addresses a series of somewhat satirical sonnets, one for each month, to a joyous company of Senese gentlemen in which he pretends to instruct them how they should pass their time in the most agreeable manner amongst a people noted in that age for their epicurean indulgences: these sonnets were parodied by Cene della Citarra of Arezzo a contemporary poet who reverses the picture with some humour, and probably with some truth as regards the habits of the poor.

The poet embodies his instructions in the form of a gift and beginning with the month of January gives his young friends large fires in well lit rooms; bed-chambers splendidly furnished and beds with silken sheets and fur coverlets; plenty of confectionary; and attendants snugly clad in woollens and cloth of Douay: they are then to take the air and amuse themselves by throwing soft snowballs at the young ladies whom they happen to meet in their walks, and when tired return to their repose.

Dressed in short frocks and strong shoes and stockings, he sends them in February to hunt the boar, deer, and wild goat, with good dogs, full purses, and agreeable company: at night they were to come merrily home to excellent wine a smoking kitchen and a song.

In March their sports were to be changed to fishing for eels, trout, and salmon; or dolphin lamprey and sturgeon, with every other kind of fish, and painted boats and greater barks fit for the roughest season: skilful revellers were to attend their will in villas and palaces, and procure every delight that would make time fly smoothly; but without monk or priest. “Let those crazy shavelings go and preach for they abound in lies,” saith the poet.

In April the scene changes to flowery fields, fountains, young soft grass, and no discomforts; but in their place fair mules and palfreys and steeds from Spain, and the song and the dance from Provence, and new instruments of music fresh from Germany, and dames and damsels sauntering along with them through beautiful gardens where all would honour them, and bend the knee before their chief, to whom the poet offers a crown of jewels the finest of those possessed by Prester John the far-famed king of Babylonia.

May also was to bring them troops of light well-trained horses, springy, spirited and swift; with head and breast well armed; and tinkling bells, and banners, and rich trappings: many-coloured mantles, light round shields and polished weapons, and breaking of spears and shock of lances; flowers of every hue, showers of garlands fluttering from balcony and casement and flights of golden oranges tossed up in turn; and youths and maidens kissing mouth and cheek, and discoursing of happiness and love.

Their sojourn for the month of June is described in a beautiful sonnet where he assigns them a fair hill covered with pleasant shrubs, and thirty villas and twelve castles glimmering about a small and pleasing city, in the centre of which springs a delightful fountain that breaking into a thousand branches and streamlets cute gently through lawns and gardens refreshing the short and tender herbage, while the orange the citron the date the sweet lemon and every other saporific fruit embowered the paths and roads, the natives loving and courteous to each other and pleasing to all the world.

In July they are removed to Siena with full flasks of Trebbiano and iced Vaiano wine; and breakfasting and supping together eat heartily of roasted partridge, young pheasants, boiled capons, kids and jellies; with veal and garlic ragouts for those that liked them; shunning exposure to the great heats, dressing lightly, avoiding all worries, steady to their pleasures and always having their table well supplied.

For their August dwellings he gives them thirty castles in a mountain vale where no pestilential sea-wind blowing across the marshes can penetrate, and where they will shine in serene health like the stars of heaven: here a single mile should limit their evening and morning rides between two small towns and their return through cool valleys where a perennial stream flowed smoothly and attractively as if leading them to their noontide sleep, while their purse lay always open to provide the best repasts in Tuscany.

The cooler month of September was to bring many amusements : hawks, hounds, falcons, decoy birds, gosshawks, game, gloves, and setting dogs with bells: cross-bows well fitted and true to their mark; bullets, bows, arrows, bags, and fowls of every kind fit for striking or the snare: each sportsman friendly with his companions, taking every joke in good humour and hailing other hunters with open purse and smiling countenance.

The recommendation for October is to visit those that keep a good stud, follow sports on foot or horseback, dance at night, drink good wine, get tipsy; “as in good truth there is no better life.” And after the morning’s ablutions wine and roast meat are once more an excellent medicine, for it would give them spirits and “preserve them in better health than that of fishes in a lake a river or the sea, because they would thus be leading a more Christian life.”

In November the baths of Petriola were to be their station with a large stock of money and comforts; such as tin flasks, silver cups, torches, flambeaus, confectionary and every other kind of food : each was to drink, and solace his companions, and all to comfort themselves with good fires, wines, pheasants, partridges, doves, hares, kids, roast and boiled meats, Bologna sausages, and appetites always ready: and when wind and darkness and pouncing rain were altogether raging without; why then; they were only to make themselves the more comfortable within.

The last month of the year was to find them in some city of the plain, established on the ground-floor with warm hangings, blazing fires, lighted torches, benches and chess-tables; plenty of food, and the dice-box in their hand. Large wine-casks, the host a toper, all warmly clad in night-gowns great coats and cloaks and fine capacious hoods; then they might laugh at the miserable, mock the miserly, and hold no communication with either.

Such we may suppose was the “beau-idèal” of Senese gentlemen’s amusements in the thirteenth century, and it must be confessed that they were not ill chosen; but though Florence had probably not yet reached this point of luxury the two communities were so closely connected that there must have been a considerable degree of similarity in their manners.

This poet wrote seven other sonnets for the seven days of the week in which certain occupations either usual or poetically adapted to each day are enumerated and run nearly over the same ground as the others. We learn from these that Sunday was the peculiar day of recreation for all ranks of Florentines. Lords and citizens dames and damsels gave up that day to pastimes: arms, dances, music and singing were to be heard in every quarter, palaces and gardens were alive with pleasure, and the “Armeggierit” or Moorish exercise of arms already described, with other military accomplishments, were especially practised: the whole community lived in public, and balls and musical entertainments were enjoyed by all ranks in the open streets either as spectators or performers.

It was at one of these dances, as we have said, in the Place of the Holy Trinity that the first open rupture took place between the families of the Cerchi and Donati; the second was at a funeral meeting in the Piazza Frescobaldi at the opposite side of the Arno, and in one of the tumults proceeding from this event we have an example of that state of helpless insecurity which generally attended the vanquished when there existed a single enemy to take advantage of their weakness. Neri Strinati in his family chronicle tells us that during the troubles occasioned by Charles of Valois’ fatal visit to Florence in 1301 the “Masnada” or followers of the Strinati’s private enemies belonging to the La Tosa family broke by night into their dwelling plundering almost everything worth carrying off, and they were only saved from worse usage by the sudden appearance of a friend of both parties who with difficulty succeeded in expelling the intruders: but the house was scarcely cleared when the “Masnada” of the Medici family came on a similar errand and plundered the little that remained, tearing even the clothes and bed-clothes away from men women and children, and leaving them thus naked and helpless, proceeded to their other possessions, so that no less than three houses in town and country were sacked or destroyed that night by these implacable foes. Such were the customs of the great, but it would be more satisfactory if we had data sufficient for a detailed account of the condition of the Florentine peasantry, if such a race of beings existed in the thirteenth century: it is not improbable that an incipient class of freemen distinct from the “Servi” and “Masbadieri”; a class which had the right of selling its own labour, may about this time have been gradually forming; but whether it had augmented sufficiently to constitute any considerable part of the rural population and what were its habits and general condition, there appear to be few if any means of judging correctly. Ricobaldo of Ferrara, a writer of the thirteenth century quoted by Muratori, gives an account of manners that can scarcely apply to any but the lower classes of that state, more especially as ecclesiastical luxury had been previously reprehended by San Damiano, and the gentlemen were probably not much behind the priesthood either in external pomp or more sensual enjoyments.

In the times of this emperor, says Ricobaldi speaking of Frederic II. about the year 1334; the manners and customs of the Italians were unpolished; at supper man and wife eat from the same dish and they did not use wooden trenchers at meals: there were but one or two cups in a family: by night when at supper they lighted the tables with lanterns or torches, one of the servants or children holding the torch, for they had not the convenience of wax or tallow candles. The men wore leathern cloaks without ornament or woollen cloaks without fur, and caps of “Pignolato”(?). The women gowns of the latter, and they attended weddings even after they were married. At that time the dress of both sexes was mean; of gold and silver they had little or none on their clothes; their diet also was sparing; the common people fed on fresh meat three times a week cooked with herbs for dinner, and at supper the remainder was eaten cold. All did not use wine in the summer time; there were few wine-cellars: the rich kept for themselves but moderate sums of money; the granaries were not large; they were satisfied with storehouses; the women married with slender portions because their means were very spare. At home maidens were content with a tunic of “Pignolato” which was called a “Sotanus” or cassock and with a linen robe named “Xoccam”. The headdress for maids or matrons was not costly; the married bound their temples and cheeks with broad ribands. The pride of the men then consisted in fine horses and arms; the pride of the rich nobility was to have towers, and at that time all the Italian cities had a noble appearance from their numerous towers.

This however does not entirely agree with Saint Damiano’s reproof to the bishops and cardinals whom he accuses of a thirst for wealth in order that “Indian perfumes may scent the lofty vases at their feasts; that a thousand wines may grow yellow in their crystalline vessels; that wherever they come their bed-chambers may be covered with curiously wrought and admirably woven hangings ready at hand; and thus also they conceal the walls of the churches from the eyes of the spectators during the performance of funerals: they spread the seats with tapestry bearing strange pictures, and they fix rich hangings to the ceilings lest any decayed part should fall. Then a crowd of attendants stand around, some of whom reverently assist their lord and, like watchers of the stars, regard his nod with exceeding inquisitive observation lest by chance he should command anything.” “It is considered madness,” he afterwards says, “and is not unlike it, when a bed is sculptured with such prodigious cost as to exceed the endowment of any holy shrine, even the apostolic altar itself: and notwithstanding that sobriety should grace the priesthood they are now become gluttons from wealth. The royal purple is even despised because it is but a single colour; coverlets dyed with various brightness are esteemed for the decoration of the lofty bed, and as native garments might seem foul they delight in the furs of other countries because they are purchased at an exorbitant price; and thus the spoils of both sheep and lambs are despised for those of ermines sables martens and foxes. It would be irksome to add the remainder of their vanity: absurdities to be groaned over not laughed at; and it is painful to enumerate the consequences of such ambition and prodigious folly: the very Papal mitres denied in various parts with glittering gems and golden plates, and the horses while they pace swiftly with arched necks, fatigue by their untamed fierceness the hands of those who hold the reins. I omit the rings set with great pearls and the wands, not glittering only but buried in gems and gold; certainly I never remember to have seen even pontifical staves so covered with a blaze of radiant metal as were those carried by the bishops Franensi and Esculano”.

Several writers of the tenth, eleventh, and twelfth centuries describe the luxuries of those times; but as such habits are merely comparative, the luxuries of the grandsire being the necessaries of the grandson, it is only when particulars are given that any judgment can be formed, and a few such particulars may be found in the relation of a dispute which happened in the year 1149 between the canons of Saint Ambrose at Milan and the monks of their order, about the dinners to which they were entitled when they dined with the abbot.

The canons claimed the right of having nine different kinds of meat in three courses: “First cold fowls, ‘gambas de Vino’, and cold pork; in the second course stuffed fowls, beef with pepper, and “Turtellam de Lavezolo” (?). Thirdly roast fowls, loins of meat with bread, and little stuffed pigs.”

At Rome luxury is supposed never to have been entirely extinguished and the reception of Conradine in 1268 was an occasion for exhibiting it with advantage. Saba Malespini as quoted by Muratori tells us “that a varied dress, of different colours and sumptuous materials, worn over the armour distinguished the troops of attendants. Choruses of female musicians performed in concert within the city on cymbals, drums, trumpets, violins, and every sort of musical instrument; and as it is the delight of luxury to display its abundance of precious articles, ropes were stretched across the street in the guise of arches from house to house, and decorated, not with laurel, not with branches, but with rare drapery and various furs; girdles, bracelets, fringes, strings of costly rings; diadems, buckles, clasps, necklaces of sparkling gems, silken bags, woven coverlets, linen fabrics, purple hangings, curtains, tablecloths, and fine linen interwoven throughout with silk and gold: veils knotted together, and gilded mantles which skilful artists both native and foreign had worked up with rare and costly materials”.

This sort of magnificence so nearly allied to luxury, was probably confined to the great cities, and more especially to Rome where the riches of an aggregated priesthood and the peculiar pomp of the religious ceremonies combined to promote it; but the general tastes and customs of Italy are supposed to have undergone considerable alteration by the introduction of French customs after the conquest of the two Sicilies by Charles of Anjou: he was soon followed by many thousands of his countrymen bringing with them the airiness of French manners and the splendour of the court of Provence, which were first admired and then imitated by the Italians.

The entry of this prince and his consort Beatrice into Naples in 1266 delighted the natives with its magnificence. “Four hundred French cavaliers well clothed, in surcoats and plumes, and a fine company of Frisons also dressed in handsome liveries, and more than sixty French lords with golden chains around their necks, and the queen in a chariot covered with blue velvet and sprinkled within and without all over with golden lilies so that in my life I never saw a finer sight”.

The close connexion between Charles of Anjou and the Florentines must have greatly assisted in shaking their primitive customs, and with the influence of increasing riches, also in laying the foundation of future luxury, so that they too were included in the general prohibition of Gregory X by the authority of the Council of Lyon, which checked the excessive indulgence of female vanity in dress throughout all Christendom; and again in 1299 the Florentine government itself was compelled to publish a similar edict.

This growing luxury was one of the effects of their rapid extension of domestic industry and foreign commerce; for the Florentines being at first confined to a narrow territory traffic were restricted to the exchange of a few superfluous necessaries for the moderate comforts their frugal habits required; but in the twelfth century their views began to enlarge with their new fledged liberty, and an augmented population engendered fresh desires, industry, and commerce.

The progress of trade will always have a certain relation to the condition of surrounding nations, near or distant; it therefore became impossible that encircled as she was by such cities as Siena, Lucca, Pisa, Genoa and others, Florence could remain for a moment stationary after her freedom and independence were confirmed; we accordingly perceive in her early history occasional indications of that attention to foreign trade which gathered so much strength in after times. Thus in 1135 she humbled the Buondelmonti, then powerful lords of Montebuono for their treatment of Florentine merchants; in 1171 she signed a commercial treaty with the rich and flourishing city of Pisa; in 1191 she became a powerful member of the Tuscan league; in 1201 she concluded a treaty with the Ubaldini, lords of the Mugello for the safe conduct of merchandise into Lombardy, and in 1281 a similar convention with Genoa. In the following year treaties with Siena, Lucca, Prato and Pistoia succeeded, by which all tolls and duties on goods and persons were reciprocally renounced.

These acts indicate a considerable expansion of mind and domestic industry, an industry not springing from the land, which was neither rich in quality nor great in surface, but because the natural faculties and activity of the people had been left unfettered by the establishment of free institutions, because they were not as yet contaminated by luxury, and were to a certain degree dependant on strangers for those necessaries which a small territory denied to an increasing population.

The mercantile character of the Florentines in the thirteenth century appears to have resembled that of the Dutch in their most prosperous days and was the cause of similar effects; they produced much and consumed little; administered to the luxury of strangers and repressed their own, and the result was public riches and prosperity, perhaps virtue, according to the spirit of the age. Their form of government was particularly favourable to commerce, and the early belief in a supernatural destination to mercantile affairs because the city was founded under the influence of Aries, may have somewhat assisted in producing it.

We have seen that in very early times the citizens were divided into a certain number of “Arts” or trades from which all public functionaries were eventually drawn even to the supreme governors of the country; it was an apiary without drones, for the nobles were ultimately compelled to enrol themselves amongst tradesmen as their only way to public honours. Trade thus presenting the single medium for attaining political power all minds were naturally directed towards it, perhaps even without any previous inclination or peculiar desire of gain; and in this manner political ambition became subservient to national industry and commercial enterprise. The great energy of Florentines soon carried them far away from their home to seek a livelihood in foreign countries and finally return with independence; in this way there was scarcely a region in the world left unexplored by their activity, and everywhere and in every station they made themselves useful if not necessary, besides improving their native country by the introduction of all that was likely to be serviceable in the customs of strangers. This love of enterprise soon became general and an acute mercantile spirit pervaded all ranks of society to such a degree that he who was not a trader, or who had not made a fortune in foreign parts, had little consideration at Florence. Commerce thus became a second nature, few speculations were neglected, and as the merchants personally conducted their own adventures a race of quick intelligent citizens grew up who were perfectly acquainted with the necessities, power, and resources of foreign nations and generally with the leading men of each, both Christian and infidel: and as the rank of a Florentine citizen was considered noble and sufficient for admission to any order of knighthood, so whether merchant or not, was he a fit companion for the highest personages of other states. But these identical merchants being also the chief rulers and ambassadors of the republic they carried such a mass of useful knowledge into the state government and public assemblies as gave them considerable advantages in their foreign political relations; and there being no permanent embassies the frequent change of diplomatic missions increased this knowledge; more especially as it was the custom of ambassadors particularly the Venetian, to send home detailed relations of the power, resources objects and peculiar policy of the several courts. Thus from youth upward were this people formed to intellectual activity and liberality of sentiment by a constant intercourse with all nations, ranks, and professions, while some of their neighbours with a richer soil and less necessary labour followed a slower and less brilliant course; and therefore when war came, with all its cost misery and exhaustion, the value of Florentine industry also became apparent and with it her national ascendancy.

Numerous regulations beneficial or pernicious, ludicrous or severe, were compiled and published from time to time for the purpose of securing freedom of action and commercial probity : by these the arrest of any merchant was prohibited on the exchange during the time of business and for three hours after; and bankrupts, besides the legal penalties by which they and their male descendants were deprived of all public honours and employment and almost considered enemies of the state; were further condemned to have their bare posteriors bumped on a circular stone of black and white marble still existing under the arcade of the Mercato Nuovo of Florence. Even the mischievous establishments of the “Grascia” and “Abbondanza” were directed with more plausibility than forecast to the success of trade, and created the scarcities they were intended to prevent; for agricultural produce was insecure from frequent wars, and larger profits were more safely drawn from commerce and manufactures; thence it became an object to keep down the price of food so as to undersell all competitors by the low rate of Florentine labour ; and here may be sought, if not the origin of those victualling offices, which was of high antiquity, at least the reason of that blind support of them and their fallacious principles until the days of Leopold.

The early progress and organised system of trade and manufactures in the Florentine republic may be gathered from various public treaties in which the “Consuls of the Arts” are named and officially employed; but more especially from a public instrument executed in 1204 where besides the banking trade, which was perhaps the most lucrative as well as one of the earliest sources of Florentine wealth, we find the judges and notaries; the “Calemala di Panni Franceschi” or foreign cloth merchants; the city retail traders; and the silk and wool trades. Although the two last not only existed, but at this time were regularly organised branches of trade and government, they were both so much improved by two subsequent events as to cause some mistakes about the real date of their introduction : the first was the arrival of the Lucchese emigrants after the plunder of their city by Ugguccione da Faggiola in 1314 which gave new spirit to the silk trade; the second by the establishment of the Padri Umiliati in 1239, or according to Richa in 1206.

Many Lombards, especially Milanese, were banished to Germany in 1014 by the emperor Henry the First, and in order to subsist they united and formed a society under the lowly appellation of the “Umiliati” in allusion to their unhappy condition; professing to live by their own labour they applied themselves to various arts but particularly to the manufacture of wool, and on their return to Italy in 1019 still held together under their chief or minister. Afterwards, instead of periodical meetings in a common hall they permanently united in convents to continue their occupation. Until 1140 they were all laymen but afterwards became a religious society whose priests instead of working themselves superintended the labour of others under a president called “il Mercatore” and assumed a lamb as their badge, which was subsequently adopted by the wool-trade of Florence. Innocent III confirmed the order, and they acquired great riches as well as employment from various governments for their known zeal and honesty in places of great trust: thus did they preside over the weights and measures of Cremona; were attached to the Italian armies as commissaries for the payment and subsistence of the troops, and became treasurers of the Florentine republic: they produced preachers, authors, and poets, and having finally reached their meridian, began like all mundane institutions to decline. Their religion and industry gradually melted into luxury and idleness; crime followed, and finally even their protector Cardinal Borromeo nearly fell a victim to their vengeance in his endeavours to reform them: this was the signal of suppression, which by command of Pius V took place in 1571 after several centuries of useful labour : during which, by admitting artists of every country into the society they collected all the skill and professional experience of the age and mainly contributed to the commercial prosperity of Florence, which aware of their importance gave them every possible encouragement : they first settled at San Donato close by the town, but afterwards came nearer, and in 1259 established themselves on the spot, (then without the walls) where now stands the convent of Santa Caterina d'Ognissanti which they built, and were in common with all foreign artificers, exempted from taxation.

But the Florentines were not satisfied with what they had learned from the Umiliati and soon became famous beyond other nations in every branch of the art, particularly in the brilliancy of their colours: the demand for their home manufacture soon exceeded the supply and induced them to purchase rough undressed materials from English, French, and Flemish looms as well as to establish Florentine workmen in those countries. The cloth thus imported underwent the process of shearing, scouring and folding, but more especially dyeing, in the Florentine workshops and recrossed the Alps to be sold at an enormous profit. This system continued until Henry VII of England prohibited the exportation of unshorn cloths and even restrained the Italian manufactures in his kingdom, for he granted this privilege to few besides Lorenzo and Giuliano of Medicis.

The dyers formed a body of tradesmen dependent on the wool company, and sureties for good behaviour to the amount of 800 florins were required from every member: to prevent fraud the cloths were, placed under the inspection of experienced manufacturers called the “Officers of Stains and Blemishes” and on the detection of false colours all offenders were denounced as cheats and expelled from the trade. The game of chess was allowed to be played, but all gambling strictly prohibited in every shop and warehouse belonging to the wool trade, and its integrity was, at least nominally, secured by a minute network of regulations all directed to insure honest dealing and a perfection of manufacture calculated to promote its celebrity amongst foreigners.

For the finest cloths the wools of Spain and Portugal were imported; England, France, Majorca, and Barbary supplied the second quality, and Italian sheep yielded the coarsest kind. On those foreign supplies therefore almost all the domestic manufacture rested, but the foundation was precarious, for the moment those nations began to manufacture at home the supply diminished and Florence commenced her decline. Dazzled by present profits, the blindest commercial act of the Florentines was the establishment of manufactories in England, France, and the Netherlands; for just so many schools of native industry were thus established and awakened the trading spirit of those countries; yet the old Florentines used to ridicule the simplicity of our ancestors for allowing these large profits to be made by strangers in their country, forgetting the valuable knowledge which they left in exchange but apparently not blind to its future reaction on their own prosperity.

That this direct trade with England began very early may be conjectured from the existence of the “Calimala” as a corporate body in 1204, and that it was in activity in 1284 is proved by a letter still extant dated London Saturday the sixth of January in that year (or 1298 by our computation) written by Simane Oherardi of the company of Tommaso Ispigliati Gherardi and Lapo Ughi Spini which informs his partners of the various contracts for wool that he had concluded with a number of English convents, but the names of most of them are hard to identify. That branch of the wool trade which under the name of “Calimala” or vendors of French cloth, comprehended all Transalpine fabrics of this material, was quite distinct from the domestic manufacture: the merchants of the “Calimala” were not allowed to traffic in Cisalpine cloths of any description, but a part of their business was to dye and finish up the rough commodity to the highest state of perfection or in a manner most suitable to the taste of the different markets; a point much studied by the Florentines. Some of these cloths were the manufacture of France, some of England, others of Brabant, and some also came fro in the Florentine looms working in all those countries, imported by way of Paris, Avignon, Marseilles, Nice, Germany and Lombardy; in the memoirs of Francesco Baldacci and Niccolo da Uzzano the principal situations of these woollen manufactures and markets in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries are mentioned, and the goods described as being made up into bales containing from ten to thirteen pieces wrapped in felt and double packing-cloths for transmission to Florence. There after strict examination by a committee of the trade and due preparation for new markets, the device of the “Calimala” (an eagle holding a bale of cloth) was stamped on both ends of the piece, which thus increased in value, was disposed of not only in Italy, but sent again beyond the Alps and resold to the original producers as already mentioned.

Severe laws governed these trades; a rigid inquisition was established into the colour and quality of the dyes, the prices fixed, the importers forbidden to combine for the purpose of raising it, and no dyeing materials were allowed to come through any other channel. But a commerce founded on the ignorance of surrounding nations in a progressive state of civilisation could not last, and the Florentines themselves unconsciously accelerated its decay: for when their sphere of action became more extended they could no longer terminate their trading missions or voyages within the year and therefore sought for some central position as a depot: they found it in Flanders and especially at Bruges which places concentrated their commerce with Germany France and England and became the principal focus of trade in the west of Europe. This stimulated the Flemings who pro­fiting by the occasion soon learned to supply their own wants from their own resources; they became manufacturers and ex­porters, and were soon followed by the English: thus the chief nourishment of Florentine industry, the raw material and unfinished cloth, was withheld; and this lucrative trade after sus­taining itself until the beginning of the sixteenth century declined with the declining republic and almost expired under the monarchy,

With more passive times a softer art began to flourish and the silk manufacture seemed to gather fresh spirit from the decay of the wool-trade; for government perceiving the inevitable fate of the latter lost no time in giving encouragement to the former. Until the twelfth century Greece alone of all Christendom was acquainted with, and made the silkworm sub­servient to human wants or fancy: the Arabs had however already introduced both the art and insect into Spain, and this manufacture flourished at Lisbon and Almeria long before its appearance in Italy. From Spain it might have come to Genoa during the expeditions of that city against the Saracens, but there is a general belief that it entered Tuscany direct from Palermo where Count Roger the Second introduced it about the year 1117 or 1148, after plundering Corfu, Cephalonia, Corinth, Thebes, Athens, and other places. Amongst his numerous captives were many silk-workers whose value he so well understood that he excepted them, both male and female, in a subsequent negotiation for the restitution of prisoners and settled them permanently in the royal palace of Palermo.

The period when this trade became one of the established corporations of Florence is also uncertain; public documents prove its existence there in 1204 either as a manufacture or an article of regular traffic, but certainly as the former in 1225 although die raw material still continued to be imported during the whole of the fifteenth century, because the worm had not then been generally introduced.

The laws and regulations for this art were similar in their objects and equally minute with those of the wool-trade: by one of these, all members of the company connected by family ties were compelled to submit to a compromise before its tribunals in every dispute between them; and by another no silk-manufacturer could quit the country without a license; but their jealousy of Lucca which had been their mistress in the art, was manifested at a later period by a prohibition against any dealings in silk with that republic. During the whole of the thirteenth century the silk manufacture of Flo­rence seems not to have made any progress comparable to that of the wool-trade; the early competition of Lucca Genoa and other states probably impeded it; but the “Arte del Cambio" or money trade in which Florence shone pre-eminent soon made her bankers known and almost necessary to all Europe.

Some have supposed that bills of exchange were invented by the Jews during their persecution in France and England about the twelfth century, while others assert that the Florentine exiles devised this mode in the following age to save a portion of their estates from party vengeance: but where commerce had taken such root as to require a permanent resident in foreign countries for the superintendence of mercantile affairs, it seems likely as a natural consequence of trade that letters of exchange would have been invented without the goad of persecution. As the Jews therefore were probably the first traders who in consequence of their dispersion maintained such a connexion between foreign states and had need of secrecy, it is more than probable that they were the first to make use of this universal medium of circulation.

Confined within a narrow territory unequal to their wants, with a growing population, and increasing commerce and in­dustry, the Florentines were compelled to find new sources of living beyond the confines; frugal habits surpassing those of sur­rounding nations rendered their profits more than sufficient to supply their moderate necessities ere they were augmented by increasing riches, and an expanding commerce very soon opened more easy roads for the employment of surplus capital. The banking trade was therefore very early established, and the sharp intelligent Florentines soon became the principal agents of popes, cardinals, and other great people for the collection and management of their mints and revenues : of the church revenue they were also sometimes the farmers, especially during the papal residence at Avignon ; and in this way the Mozzi and Spini acted for Pope Gregory X and Boniface VIII. The extent and ramification of their business was sometimes enormous; the house of Carroccio degli Alberti alone having regular banking establishments at Avignon, Bruges, Brussels, Paris, Rome, Naples, Venice, Perugia, Siena and Barletta; and it may here be noticed that this close acquaintance with eccle­siastical finance naturally united the interests of the church and Florentines and affected their political relations more probably than appears on the surface of history.

The vast sums flowing in from all these sources enabled Florence to assume that strong and leading part in Tuscan politics that so greatly distinguished her during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, and which we shall see her still maintain in the fourteenth and fifteenth; for personally frugal, their country’s glory was the pride of her people, its honours and offices their chief ambition, and in peace or in war they were ready to open their coffers either to humble an enemy or decorate their own capital with sumptuous edifices.

The Italian bankers were generally known by the various names of “Tavolieri” “ Feneratori” “ Usurai” “Toscani” “ Lombardi” “ Cambiatori" “ Prestatori” and “Banchieri,” as their interest or profits was by the appellations of “Gift” “Merit”  Guerdon" “Feneration” and “Usury”: by the two last it was known in England and France, where the bankers had the general name of Tuscans and Lombards. But amongst all foreign nations they were justly considered, according to the admission of their own countrymen, as hard, griping, and exacting; they were called “Lombard dogs”; hated, and insulted by nations less acquainted with trade and certainly less civilized than themselves, when they may only have demanded a fair interest for money lent at a great risk to lawless men in a foreign country.

And after all the money seems to have been worth its price to borrowers, for we are told that the Marquis Aldobrandini of Este in order to sustain the cause of Pope Innocent III not only pawned all his allodial domains but afterwards his own brother Azzo VII to the Florentine merchants for money advanced to him by them! This shows how early riches began to accumulate in the republic.

The extreme attention with which they conducted mercantile business and their very minute knowledge of all its de­tails may be discovered in the above-mentioned trading memoirs of Francesco Balducci and Niccolo da Uzzano which contain a mass of very interesting information on the com­merce of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries in which they respectively lived. Much of this is connected with the mint, the course of foreign exchanges, and the banking trade; the oldest laws of which, now said to be extant as regards Florence, are of the year 1299, referring however to others of 1280 which probably governed it in principle during the existence of the republic. By this code, according to Pagnini, all counting­houses of Florentine bankers were confined to the old and new market-places, where alone they were allowed to transact business: before the door was placed a bench, and a table covered with carpet on which stood their money-bags and account-book for the daily transactions of trade: no ecclesiastics or foreigners were allowed to be members of the bankers’ company, which in 1422 consisted of seventy-two firms, but in the next fifty years had dwindled to less than half that number, still however with branches established all over the world.

The laws of Justinian which allowed from four to twelve per cent, interest on money, according to the profession or quality of the person, are supposed to have governed the pecuniary affairs of Florence until the beginning of the fourteenth century when the rate of interest had risen considerably and some­times reached twenty per cent, per annum; at first under the veil of equivocation, afterwards openly and regularly as the lowest interest. This subsequently ascended to thirty and forty, and the government paid from twelve to twenty in 1336; but the ordinary amount between individuals was twenty per cent., which continued with various fluctuation until 1130 when to regulate the growing evil in a period of great public difficulty and suffering, an attempt was made to correct Christian rapaciousness by introducing Jews into the city on condition that they were not to demand more than twenty per cent for their money. As there was no paper currency in Florence nor any other indication of a decrease in the precious metals except the vast accumulations of Pope John XXII and his successor Benedict XII the cause of this augmenting value of money must be attributed to the drain for the expenses of foreign wars combined with great profits in foreign trade, more especially tgat of banking, which branching all over the world required a considerable and permanent amount of specie in the coffers of each establishment.

Although these three branches of commerce were considered the principal sources of national wealth, and all the other trades rather contemned as vulgar; Florence as may be imagined was replete with every species of industry: the trade of physician and druggist which included the sale of all sorts of oriental spices and foreign productions formed a very extensive and lucrative branch of commerce, and that of the furriers was still more so, for the most expensive furs continued to adorn the clergy and Italian nobility of both sexes long after the general custom had ceased, so that we have a list of no less than two-and-twenty kinds of skins in the usual course of importation: many of these probably came from the northern parts of Asia; for Venice having succeeded in monopolising the trade and closing the ports of Egypt to the Florentines, the latter with incredible perseverance worked their way by land from “Tana” the present Asoph; by Astracan, and round the head of the Caspian, through a number of places now very difficult to identify, as far as what they called “La Nostra Citta” or capital of China. Here they established a trade in the fourteenth century, but always on their arrival at Pekin (which is by them denominated “Gambaluc” or “ Gambalecco”) the whole of their specie was taken away from them in the emperor’s name and deposited in his treasury, and the same nominal value in paper money given in exchange; but it does not appear whether they received any part of it back on their return or were compelled to buy the precious metals with other merchandise. This paper money, was named “Babisci” coloured yellow, and bore three different values according to the stamp; it was a legal tender, but does not appear to have raised the value of commodities: the whole route is described minutely by Balducci who wrote as is supposed about the middle of the fourteenth century.

While this traffic was maintained in the east their golden florin and excellent mint-regulations secured a pecuniary reputation in the west, and Florentines were accordingly made directors, managers, and even farmers of both mint and ex­chequer in several European states: thus in England, Aquilea, and Naples, the Frescobaldi, Vernacci, Buonaccorsi, Gherardo Gianni and others were so employed, the latter even giving his name to a current Neapolitan piece of the day. But of all the coins of this century the golden florin was the most celebrated for its beauty and purity: before this, copper and silver money only had been struck at the Florentine mint, and probably no Tuscan city had as yet issued gold pieces on its own authority, although an imperial coinage of this metal such as that of “Agostari” and other moneys struck at Pisa. Genoa, and Lucca in the name of Frederic II. were current all over Italy.

The golden florin on the contrary was coined by the victorious government of the “Primo Popolo” in 1252 on its own independent authority, stamped with the image of their tutelar saint and device of the Lily, and issued as the peculiar currency of the republic. This florin was composed of one dram or seventy two grains of fine gold of twenty four carats, and this has been scarcely or very little altered since.

The proportion of gold to silver in those days, and until the effects of western discovery were felt in the sixteenth century, was, we are told, as one to ten and nine sixteenths; therefore the golden florin was equal to twenty silver florins which altogether weighed ten drams and nine sixteenths or about seven hundred and seventy grains, and were each of the same size and stamp as the golden coin. The “Silver Florin” “Popolano” “Silver Soldo” or “Guelpho”; for it went by all these names; was divided into twelve “Denari” each of them, if the relative value of the two metals had not altered, equal to, or coinciding with the present “Soldo” as the twentieth part of a “Lira.” The gold florin also had various denominations in after times, but those most noted were the “Fiorino di Galea” or galley florin and the “Fiorino di Suggello” or sealed florin, called so because a certain number of them after being carefully weighed at the mint were sealed up together in a leathern purse and passed current unopened. The galley florin was so named at its first coinage in 1422 to rival the Venetian ducat in the Egyptian trade which began that year by permission of the Sultan and for which a squadron of galleys was first equipped. The florin was also divided into an imaginary coin called “Lira” the name of which, origin­ating in the pound of silver, seems to have long existed in Florence, and in 1202 equalled in value the golden florin of Malespini's time; which indeed seems to have been coined to represent it; but soon became only a fraction of the latter, being affected by the proteus-like nature of commerce, espe­cially by the everchanging value of the silver into which the golden coin was divided and which kept steadily declining. The imaginary Lira was divided as at present into twenty “Soldi" and each “ Soldo” into twelve “Denari”.

The agio or premium on gold was at first a natural consequence of its superior estimation and convenience, but when this mounted up to twenty and thirty per cent, it was evidently increased by the depreciated value of the silver florin: if twenty of these only contained seven hundred grains of silver instead of seven hundred and seventy; which were necessary to equal a golden florin of seventy two grains; and that the remainder was made up of baser metal, the sagacity of money­dealers would soon discover the change and exact so much more in proportion for their gold. To this cause must be referred all those variations which we read of in Villani and other old writers of the relative value of the golden florin and lira; for sometimes a lira and a half was equal to the former and afterwards two, three, four, seven, and so forth; nor was it until the reign of Cosimo the First that the imaginary lira of former days became a real coin, of which thirteen and one-third were equal to a “ Zecchino” or golden florin, which may always be adopted as a permanent standard of reference for the value of Florentine silver. A new silver florin appears to have been coined also in 1252; and one of somewhat more value under the simple name of “Florin” in 1282 : to these were added in 1290 the “Soldo Grosso” of less value than either. Afterwards in 1305 came the “Grossi Popolini” of the same value as the last, and in 1314 the “Guelfi del fiore” (with its half and quarter) not greatly differing from the others.

The physical and moral forces that first shook the German power in Italy were probably acquired by this rising commerce with its resulting intelligence, and the influence of liberty soon reacted on the human mind: learning began to revive, and the cultivated talents of Frederic the Second and his natural sons Hensius and Manfred gave it every encouragement; universities sprung up in various cities, that of Bologna alone having as is said contained ten thousand students, amongst whom Thomas a Becket of England was once conspicuous!. In the thirteenth century the colleges of Pisa, Pistoia, Arezzo and Siena existed; the discovery of the Pandects had given a new interest to legal science and the study of jurisprudence became one of the first objects of free Italian genius.

When under Theodoric, the Gothic armies conquered Italy they found the Theodosian code of Roman jurisprudence in full activity, and which this wise prince not only left untouched but made his people obey it: Justinian’s code succeeded but did not last, for the Lombards hated everything Greek and preferred their own laws while they allowed the Italians to continue under those to which they had been previously accustomed: but the laws of all these conquerors, first collected under the title of “The Edict,” swelled in the course of time to a complete body of jurisprudence which governed the greater portion of Italy.

When this province fell under the power of Charlemagne many settlers arrived from France and Germany with the privilege of still being ruled according to their native regulations; and hence the “Salique” the “Ripuarian,” the “Bavarian” and the “Alamanni” laws were all in simultaneous action with the Roman and Lombard codes. Jurisconsults although nominally bound to study every one of these, could have had little labour with Justinian’s, there being scarcely a copy then extant; its place was however supplied by a very meagre compendium suited to the commonest necessities of the time, in which were reduced to a few simple points the whole Roman jurisprudence, all the rest being left to the equity of the judge. “ And a great blessing it was,” says Muratori, “to be enabled to finish a law-suit at once without being doomed to watch its endless course”.

General laws for Italy were passed, not by the mere will of the prince, but by a Diet of the temporal and spiritual barons and the chief commanders of the army, held at Pavia on the first of March, and under the Francs two classes of laws governed the country; first the particular code of each people which regulated contracts, succession, and punishment of crime; and secondly the general laws which equally affected all the Italians. Each man was bound to declare the law by which he desired to be governed; ecclesiastics of all nations generally and wisely chose the Roman, and hence arose their subsequent pretensions to exemption from the power of secular courts. In the thirteenth century this custom began to decay in consequence, as is supposed, of the increasing influence of the Roman code the advantages of which would no doubt be perceived and felt in proportion to the growth of that civilization for which it was originally intended; and this influence which had commenced in the preceding age now almost exclu­sively guided the schools and Forum.

After the peace of Constance in 1183 municipal statute laws began to sprout in great abundance, not only in the larger cities but in every petty burgh and town, each clamouring for its own peculiar statute, a natural consequence of newly-achieved independence and succeeding tranquillity. These municipal codes were called “Statutes” and were originally composed of few, but afterwards of a greater number of laws; at first only regulating the duties of the Podesta and other functionaries and rarely diverging from the Homan and Lombard codes which had ruled before them; but sub­sequently changing and reforming these to suit their altered circumstances, as in Florence, where a commission was periodically appointed to revise old statutes; thus ceased the salique, ripuarian and bavarian laws, but the Lombard though gradually declining was still vigorous after the year twelve hundred.

In Florence the Theodosian code was never completely disused and always considered as national, while on the contrary that of Justinian was as much opposed there as in many other parts of Italy, and treated as alien. Under the former therefore, combined with the Lombard and mixed up with remnants of the other three; all perhaps affected by the municipal statutes; did the citizens live until the year 1413 when Paolo da Castro a famous jurisconsult of the day, compiled the “Florentine Statute” and the disentangling and explaining all this mingled mass of legislation was what probably gained for the celebrated Accorso his uncommon reputation and the lasting influence of his Commentaries.

Taddeo Accorso, or Accursius, seems to have been the first great lawyer that the Florentine republic produced; for though Cipriani had preceded him and gained some reputation in law and philosophy at Ravenna, Accorso soon acquired the confidence of all the Italian peninsula. He was born about the year 1182 of low parentage in the small village of Bagnolo, then belonging to the Gherardini family about six miles from Florence, and after long, persevering, and solitary labour, lived not only to dispel the darkness in which all legal science was then involved, but to see his opinions and expositions received as law by the spontaneous consent of every state in Italy, and where the law was silent his own private judgment was confidently appealed to: thus the force of his single genius is said to have swayed the jurisprudence of Italy for nearly three centuries.

His three sons Francesco, Cervolto and Guglielmo were all famous in the same studies, particularly Francesco who for eight years was high in the confidence of Edward I of England and probably compiled many of our own statutes. After Francesco Accorso, Dino di Mugello who flourished about the same period was held in the highest esteem, and so well maintained the reputation of the Florentine bar that by a decree of the Veronese people wherever law and the Commentaries of Accorso were silent Dino’s opinion should be received as law. He was the master of Cino da Pistoia a man of undoubted ability but more known by the fame of his pupil Petrarca and the beautiful sonnet on his death, than by those of his own writings that have come down to posterity; yet the friend and instructor of such a poet and the subject of such praise could have been no common man.

Florence also produced some medical men of great celebrity in the thirteenth century: amongst these the most renowned was Taddeo Alderotti who at first is said to have led a life of want and extreme ignorance, and was even supposed to be deficient in understanding until about thirty years of age: he then suddenly changed, became eager for instruction, rapidly acquired knowledge, soon mastered the rudiments of general learning, studied hard at Bologna, gained considerable honour, and ultimately became the most celebrated physician of his age and country. He was followed by his pupil Dino del Garbo, by Torrigiano, and by Tommaso del Garbo, son of the former, till distinguished for their learning and medical abilities, but all resident at Bologna the focus of Italian erudition.

Taddeo Alderotti  according to Villani died at Bologna in 1303. He was considered in Italy as another Hippocrates and was even surnamed “Taddeo Ipocratista”, but his value was more substantially manifested by the high remuneration usually given for his services when called to a distance from the scene of his usual practice, as exemplified in the following anecdote. Pope Honorius IV having been taken suddenly and dangerously ill sent instantly for Taddeo from Bologna: the doctor would not move under a hundred golden ducats a day which the pontiff finally consented to give, but on his arrival gently expostulated with him: Taddeo affected to be very much surprised, saying that as all the temporal lords of Italy had voluntarily given him fifty ducats a day he marvelled greatly that the holy father being the chief potentate of Christendom should have hesitated about a hundred; thus vindicating himself while he reproved the known avarice of the pontiff. Honorius was cured, and whether from gratitude or a desire of repelling the charge of avarice, presented him with ten thousand ducats which Taddeo expended in the endowment of churches and hospitals,

In mathematics or astronomy Florence does not at this epoch seem to have produced any distinguished men except Cecco d’ Ascoli, Dante’s preceptor, who was burned in 1327: but that the celestial motions must have been observed with some accuracy is proved, independent of the existence of judicial astronomy, by the early construction of a gnomon in the baptistry of Saint John, mentioned by Villani, of which there are still some traces; and although a small aperture in the cupola which formerly admitted the solar rays at the summer solstice is no longer to be found, the point on which the light fell may still be perceived in a representation of the sun encircled by a curious legend which contains the same words whether read backwards or forwards.

The want of any Florentine mathematician of eminence during the thirteenth century was compensated by Pisa a city much more advanced in refinement, which produced one to whom Christian Europe is probably indebted for the introduction of algebra. Leonardo Fibonacci was the son of a mercantile agent or consul of the Pisan republic at Bugia on the Barbary coast who there had him instructed in all the mathematical acquirements of the Arabians, and improved his general knowledge by frequent journeys into Greece, Egypt, and Syria: he is thought by some to have also been the first introducer of Arabic numerals, perhaps without sufficient grounds, though he may have extended their use; but the original manuscript of his treatise on algebra still exists in the Magliabechiana Library with the date 1202, and is dedicated to the famous astrologer Michael Scott, at his own desire.

Nor was the literature of this century confined to the abstruse sciences f, the Italian tongue also had its share of regard, and the emperor Frederic II became so sensible of its beauty as to raise it from rustic homeliness to the dignity of a courtly dialect, the language of music chivalry and love: the taste of his sous Manfred and Hensius with the talent of Piero delle Vigne, all assisted in thia noble work until the court of Sicily became the nurse of Italian language and poetry, and awakened the sounds of the Bolognese, Paduan, Pisan, and Florentine lyres, nearly a century before the music of Dante and Petrarca awed and delighted the world.

Long before this however a few flashes of poetry had occasionally broken forth and Ciullo d’ Alcamo in 1197, Folcachiero and Lodovico della Vernaccia in 1200, and even San Francesco himself in 1210 all gave indications of that approaching flame which the two groat Florentines afterwards kindled into so amazing a brightness. Bologna was the first to echo the Sicilian lyre; and there Onesto Ghisilieri, Fabricio, and Guido Guinicelli, all sung in their native language about the year 1220 and the last is particularly praised by Dante in three of his works.

Tuscany soon rang to similar strains, for love is everywhere and love is the real muse of poetry: Ser Noffa d’ Oltr’ Arno who wrote some amorous poetry in 1240 appears to have been the first of the Florentines whose verse has reached us; but he was quickly followed by Amorozzo and Migliore da Firenze, Monte d’ Andrea, Dante da Maiano, and thirteen or fourteen others who filled up the remaining part of the thirteenth century. Amongst these Florentines is placed the celebrated name of Farinata degli Uberti and the still more distinguished Brunette Latini: of Farinata’s verse we have nothing except the strange jumble of proverbial rhyme which he chose for the text of his famous discourse at Empoli; but some manuscript poems of his still exist it is said in the Vatican and Barbarini libraries. It was the custom of those days to speak from some text applicable to the subject, as clergymen now preach, and Farinata chose two ancient proverbs when he indignantly rose to speak against the contemplated destruction of Florence : these were “Come asino sape cost Minuzza rape, Si va capra zappa sc il lupo non la 'ntoppa ”, which (his head all intent on higher matters) when asked from what text he was going to speak, he confused thus, “Come asino sape si va capra zoppa cost minuzza rape se lupo non la 'ntoppa” yet applied it well to the interested views and ignorance of his audience who like the animals he named were still guided by their petty instincts, and followed their habitual baseness in extraordinary times and circumstances without peering beyond them.

The Fra Guittone d’ Arezzo also flourished about this period and though not strictly a native yet lived and died in Florence where he founded the Convent of the Angioli: he was one of the Frati Cavalieri Gaudenti, an order more epicurean than ascetic. Dante blames his stylo as cold and void of feeling, and Petrarca does not let him off unscathed.

Brunette Latini was perhaps the most generally distinguished Florentine of his age, but more known to modems as the friend and instructor of Dante than for the superior excel­lence of any works that have reached us: he was a lawyer, statesman, philosopher, and poet; had an extensive influence over his countrymen; he instructed his cotemporaries and formed the rising generation, was admired while he lived and regretted when he died, but was far from being untainted with the vices of the world. The year of his birth is unknown, but as Malespini says he was “a man of great wisdom” in 1260, it may be supposed that he had no little share in the revolution of 1250 and the formation of the “Primo Popolo” or go­vernment of the Anziani. He was learned witty and sagacious, and is described by Giovanni Villani as a consummate master of rhetoric both in speaking and writing; Brunetto was the first who began to teach and refine the Florentines; showing them how to express their thoughts, and instructing them in the art of civil government: Dante and Guido Cavalcanti were his most celebrated disciples and the year 1297 is especially mentioned as one of unusual tranquillity in which many young men who had been educated in the school of Brunetto Latini began to give a literary and philosophic tone to society; where­fore if stamping a better form on the barbarous character of the age be a proof of genius Brunette Latini is entitled to the appellation of a great man. Philip Villani describes him as kind and courteous, and happy in the practice of every virtue if with a more steady mind he could have supported the inju­ries of his distracted country; but this eulogy can scarcely be reconciled with the post assigned to him in the Inferno by his great pupil along with other distinguished Florentines, nor does his crime allow us to admit without dispute the boasted simplicity and virtue of those primitive times, more especially as he almost acknowledges it in the twenty-first chapter of his “Tesoretto”

This poem which is a moral vision has by some been consi­dered as a compendium of the “Tesoro” and is also supposed to be what gave Dante the first notion of his own celebrated production: its visionary form and the circumstances of the author supposing himself to be lost in a wood where he gives an imaginative description of the virtues and vices, might perhaps have suggested a similar idea in the mind of Dante; but still we should bear in memory the words of the Abate Zannoni that if it were so, a “slight and almost invisible spark served to kindle a vast conflagration.” The Tesoro, on which Brunetto principally relied for fame; seems to be the promised prose explanation of the Tesoretto, and is a compilation from the Bible, Aristotle, and Pliny the naturalist; being probably an abstract of all the knowledge of that age. The French original never was printed and the present Italian translation by Buono Giamboni was first published in 1474 one hundred and eighty years after the author’s death.

Besides these two Brunetto has left the “Favoletto” and several prose works; amongst them a compendium of Aristotle’s Ethics, a work on the poverty of the learned, and another on the glory of ignorant pedants. The subjects of the Tesoro are metaphysics, Bible and other ancient story; astronomy, geography, natural philosophy and history; the Ethics of Aristotle above mentioned; morality rhetoric and civil govern­ment. It was composed during his exile after the battle of Monteaperto in 1260. “And if any one ask,” he says, “why this book is written in the French language since we are of Italy?” I will answer that it is for two things: one because we are in France; and the other because the French tongue is more agreeable and more common than all the other languages Such is the influence of a military and a conquering nation which France has been, with few intermissions, from Charlemagne downwards. Another passage in this little volume merits some notice because in conjunction with a well-known passage in Dante’s Purgatory it would argue more intimate knowledge of the southern hemisphere amongst the people of that day than they are generally believed to have possessed. The author after some discourse on astronomy continues. “Thus follow in order all times, days, and nights according as the firmament turns continually from east to west under its two eyes, which are two stars, one the south and the other the north star; and these never change except as the axle of a wheel. Thence it comes that mariners navigate by the sign of these stars which are called pole-stars by every people; and those of Europe and Africa navigate by the northern star, and other people towards the south navigate by the southern star. And to prove this truth take a loadstone and you will find that it has two faces the one lying towards the north and the other towards the south pole-star, and therefore mariners would be laughed at if they did not take care of this. And since these two stars do not change their position it follows that some stars in the firmament turn in smaller circles, and others in larger according as they are nearer to or further from these pole­stars. And know that by these two stars we can understand the point of the needle and towards which pole it lies He died in 1294 says Gio. Villani, and “was a man of extensive erudition in his day, extremely active, an eminent citizen, often employed in public matters, and of great celebrity”.

The last but not the least distinguished author of this age was Ricordano Malespini: born of an ancient family he is the well and source of all subsequent historians. Villani copies him in silence, probably because his history was too generally known to require any notification: the early part of his chronicle is full of fables; then of course believed, or Villani would scarcely have ventured to transcribe them word for word; but for everything that occurred about his own times he is much relied on and is indeed the only authority we have: the extreme simplicity of his style and the artless manner in which he relates the most important events at once impress the reader with a conviction of his sincerity. His chronicle was continued from the year of his death 1281 until 1286 by his nephew Giachetto Malespini so that from the year 1230 or 1240 when he is supposed to have visited his relations at Rome and first collected materials, to the conclusion of Giachetto’s chronicle it may be considered as a cotemporary history. Dino Compagni continued the history of his own times with un­common eloquence and deep feeling, from 1280 until 1312. Although at heart a Ghibeline he acted with the Guelphic government but denounced their crimes with honest indignation.

Connected with literature are the fine arts, which do not appear to have received the same inspiration from love and beauty that the Provencal and Italian poetry, and even the manners of this heroic age give signs of: it is true that the Troubadours began to decline about the middle of the thir­teenth century, and their tongue, eclipsed by the Italian, became only a dialect; but the latter replete with youth and genius, and stimulated by love, expanded into a permanent noble and beautiful language. Love itself about this period assumed a more platonic and unreal form; ladies were worshipped for the mere fame of their charms which sometimes existed only in the imagination of the knight; they were served for the honour of such slavery without hope of recompense; vows were made at feasts before them and the peacock, to dare any danger that might be commanded by the beloved object; and her surpassing excellence was asserted both with sword and pen in every court of Christendom ; indeed the insensibility to this more refined devotion was considered as a reproach to gentle blood, and those who frequented the lower female society were denounced as wanting true nobility. Such was the devotion of Petrarch for Laura, of Dante for Beatrice, of Cavalcanti for Giovanna, and perhaps of Cino for La Selvaggia; but the painters and sculptors of the thirteenth century do not seem to have been thus strongly affected. Painting although never totally extinct in Italy yet for many centuries remained inanimate or was only kept alive by Greek artists who occasionally left Constantinople to display their talents in the west. It was about the first quarter of the thirteenth century that some feeble efforts were made to escape from the harsh outlines of Grecian saints and virgins, their pointed wooden fingers and stiff drapery, and advance one step towards a more natural taste: the first symptoms of returning vitality appeared at Siena and Pisa where Guido and Giunta painted with  some little variation from the Greek manner in 1221 and 1230; but Bartolommeo of Florence made a bolder stride in 1236 and may be considered the first of the Florentine school: his picture of the Annunciation in the Servites’ convent is far from a common work and required a Giotto to surpass it. Giovanni Cimabue, who died in 1300 at the age of sixty, made the next attempt; but judging by his Florentine pictures, a very feeble one, to break from the trammels of Byzantine artists; and neither of his Madonnas at Florence impress the spectator with any high idea of the pictorial art as it then existed: a some­what softer expression perhaps; a slight relaxation and increasing roundness of the joints and muscles are all that distinguish them from Greek compositions, unless it be inferiority of colouring. One of these pictures however so pleased the natural taste, all ready to be awakened to greater things, in the Florentine people, that they crowded about the painter’s study with such expressions of delight as to gain for the street w here he resided the distinctive name of “Borgo Allegri” which it still retains. This universal feeling for the fine arts was again manifested, with a certain mixture of religious sentiment, on the same picture being removed to its destination in the church of Santa Maria Novella where the whole population united in public procession with shouts and music, to accompany their favourite Madonna : when such enthusiasm is excited in a comparatively civilised people amongst whom learning had already made considerable progress, our wonder ceases that the early inventors of more useful things should have been adored as gods by the ruder inhabitants of the ancient world. It is for artists to judge of Cimabue’s genius; but none can dispute his judgment in bringing forward the shepherd’s boy Giotto whom he discovered at ten years old drawing one of his sheep on a smooth slate as he tended the flock amongst the green pastures of Vespignano about fourteen miles from the capital.

Angiolotto Giotto di Bondone was a sculptor, painter, and architect who soon pushed the pictorial art far beyond the powers of his master: relieving his figures from the iron stiffness of Cimabue he endowed them with a grace and spirit that were heightened by the superiority of his composition and colouring. One of Giotto‘s finest works on a great scale is a representation of the Last Supper, still to be seen nearly perfect in the refectory of Santa Croce, a picture excellent in its expression and drapery; the composition good, and the colouring still bright after an exposure of five hundred years: perhaps this picture may have excited the imagination of Leonardo da Vinci, in the same manner as the spark of Brunetto Latini is said to have kindled the flame of Dante’s muse; yet Giotto’s produc­tion is no spark. The best specimens of his painting are at Padua and Assisi, but he also worked at Ravenna, Pisa, Naples, and in the sacristy of Saint Peter’s at Rome: he was a friend of Dante and painted his portrait as well as that of Brunette Latini and Corso Donati, and his architectural taste still stands conspicuous in the magnificent belfry of the Duomo and the church of Orto San Michele at Florence; for the former of which he received the high honours of citizenship and 100 golden florins a-year as a pension from the republic. The cathedral church to winch this tower is attached was designed and partly finished by Arnolfo di Lapo if, as Lanzi asserts, the latter name did not designate a distinct person; he was also a sculptor and disciple of Niccolo Pisano and executed works at Pisa, Rome, and other parts of Italy.

Mosaic work also began to make its appearance at Florence towards the middle of this century; it was introduced by Andrea Tafi who although an older man studied, according to Baldinucci, as a painter under Cimabue : born in 1213 he felt his powers, and a strong inclination to the arts, and resolved, in spite of the rudeness and consequent disadvantages of the age to pursue their study. As at this time Mosaic pictures were perhaps the most esteemed he determined to gain a name, if not from superiority of hand at least by the durability of his materials; therefore repaired to Venice then the best school of this art, studied under those that were employed in decorating the Church of Saint Mark, particularly Apolonio Greco whom he persuaded to accompany him to Florence, and there learned his secret of composition for Mosaic pictures; they were after­wards employed together to adorn the Baptistry, where Gaddo Gaddi a better artist than either ultimately joined them.

The latter was born in 1239 and died twelve years after his supposed master Cimabue, having painted in Florence, Pisa and in Rome, where he had been invited by Clement the Fifth; but his talents survived in his son Taddeo and grandson Agnolo, both distinguished artists; and besides this the family of Gaddi acquired some reputation in the subsequent affairs of their country.

Perhaps the three sister arts would have remained long if not entirely dormant had not the powerful stimulus of religion assisted in their revival: that strong and prevalent inclination to please whom we love, and deprecate those we fear, has in ancient and modern times produced more temples, statues, and paintings, than any inherent taste or mental necessity for the beautiful alone.

In the early ages of modern civilisation the superior riches and refinement of the clergy, their comparatively domestic life, and the policy of alluring devotees by agreeable objects, which they well knew how to invest with a peculiar sanctity, turned their attention more immediately to the fine arts; these were as much encouraged within their churches and cloisters as in the outward world, wherefore they became essentially the patrons of art, and were enabled to be so not only from their religious influence but their extensive temporal power and unbounded wealth.

The episcopacy in these early times was anything but clerical; its sacred calling was no exemption from military service, and in the character of feudal Barons the Bishops were often compelled even by popes and emperors to carry arms, besides being in constant collision with their no less warlike neighbours. Amongst the most powerful churchmen of those days were the Bishops of Arezzo and Florence, whose temporal jurisdiction was enormous : the ample means and belligerent disposition of one of the former has already been noticed, but something may be now said about the authority of the latter.

It is commonly supposed that the first bishop of Florence was Frontino a disciple of Saint Peter who with Saint Paolino Bishop of Lucca preached Christianity there in the year 50 and was cotemporary with Saint Romulus first bishop of Fiesole : how these facts are ascertained would now perhaps be difficult to discover; but ancient documents are adduced to prove that the primitive title of the Florentine prelates was “servants of Saint John and unworthy bishops.” The last epithet was probably not long retained, but its truth was often manifested especially about the last quarter of the ninth century when the increasing temporal power of the Italian prelates sadly interfered with their spiritual office.

Charles the Bald’s contention with his brother Louis and others for the kingdom of Italy was decided by bribery, the clergy forming a considerable part of the elective body; their support therefore was not given for nothing, and in the long tempest of internal war which began with the struggle between Berenger the First and Guido Alarquis of Spoleto,' both spiritual and temporal lords acted with more sagacity than patriotism. The dignified clergy were then bribed like laymen, with temporal lordships, with counties, cities, castles, marquisates, dukedoms, and public revenues, and the Hungarian and Saracenic incursions gave them in common with others a fair excuse for building strongholds and fortifying towns; and thenceforth they gradually assumed the character and authority of military nobles and counts, that is governors of cities and their surrounding country: this clerical thirst for power be­came epidemic and each prelate strove hard to combine spiritual and temporal authority by ousting the civic counts and usurping the functions of their office while they still retained the empty name.

The abbots of convents, and even lady-abbesses strove with the bishops in this worldly race, and at every fresh succession to the Italian crown managed by the power of gold to have old grants confirmed, and generally augmented: this system had arrived at such a height in the eleventh century as to make the sovereign insist that those prelates who enjoyed temporal dignities under the crown should also receive the investiture of their abbeys and bishoprics from his hands. A new source of fraud and simony was thus opened; unholy treasures were poured into imperial coffers, papal interests were affected, and the system ultimately terminated in open warfare between the church and empire under Hildebrand and his successors: the abbots, increasing in pride and power, disdained longer to acknowledge any superiority in the ancient episcopal authority, and assuming the staff and mitre surpassed the bishops them­selves in pomp and splendour. The result in both cases was a total neglect of the pastoral duties to follow a court which in those days was never stationary; they sent their vassals to war and as we have said were sometimes even forced to take the field themselves in defiance of all church canons, while their feudal neighbours tempted by the riches and false position of the clergy lost no opportunity of attacking them under a regular system of spoliation.

On this commanding position of double authority were placed from very early times the bishops of Florence, and their ancient power great as it was, augmented after the fall of the Lombard dynasty; first under the general protection of Charlemagne, and subsequently by the bounty of devout sinners; but more especially after the commencement of Florentine independence by the spontaneous obedience of the “Cattani” or feudal chieftains, who became willing vassals of the church in order to avoid the less agreeable domination of that republic. In this way the Bishop of Florence rose into a powerful chieftain, the lord of between forty and fifty castles and towns within its territory, and was purposely spared by that city at a time when the surrounding chiefs were successively disappearing in the spreading shadow of its power.

Florence had not in fact the same causes of quarrel with these prelates as with other feudal barons, the Cattani, all of Lombard or German blood held strongly to the emperors; were proud, aristocratic, impatient of control, and despised the persons while they feared the power of the citizens. The republic on the contrary followed Matilda’s example by supporting the church: the bishops were naturally on that side and therefore allowed to enjoy their estates in peace and almost independence while willing to acknowledge the same paramount authority in Florence that formerly belonged to the dukes and marquises of Tuscany. This supremacy was demanded from all, and these prelates virtually submitted by appearing before the Florentine courts in disputes with their own vassals. The Cattani on the other hand endeavoured to shelter themselves under that reverence which was then shown to every­thing ecclesiastical by giving their allegiance to the bishop alone, and so becoming vassals of the church. The lords of Castiglione were the first to do this in 1072, and their example was followed as occasions offered through nearly the whole of the thirteenth century, but generated much political disturbance and finally brought the republic and the episcopacy into hostile collision.

Nor were these disputes confined to the government; the election of Florentine bishops by the free votes of the inhabitants and clergy had occasioned sharp struggles, bad blood, and often double returns; to check such squabbles Honorius IV first violated the custom in 1286, and it was entirely abolished for a similar reason by John XXII in 1322; the republic prudently reserving to itself a right of nominating candidates and simultaneously breaking the ancient custom of receiving a foreign ecclesiastic as bishop of Florence. Many of these Cattani after having been subdued and made citizens of Florence still maintained their feudal following and were usually attended by troops of retainers, half slaves half freed­men, called “Uomini di Masnada” who held certain possessions of them by the tenure of military service, took oaths of fidelity, and appear to have included every rank of person in the different Italian states according to the quality of the chief; but without any degradation of character being attached to such employment.

This kind of servitude, which could not be thrown off without a formal act of manumission, was common in the north of Italy and began in the eleventh century, when innumerable chieftains started up owning no superior but the emperor. Being at constant war with each other they sought every means of creating a military following by granting lands to all ranks of people, and it is probable that many slaves were then partly emancipated for the purpose: such a condition, though not considered dishonourable, was thus essentially tinged with the colours of slavery, and so far differed from the “Vassi” and “Vassali” as well as from the Vavasours. This union of “Servi” slaves, or vassals of one chief, was called “Maxnada ” and hence the name “Masnadieri” so often recurring in early Italian history; for the commanders of these irregular bands were often retained in the pay of the republic and frequently kept the field when the civic troops had returned to their homes, or when the war was not sufficiently important to bring the latter out with the Carroccio. Hence the distinction between the common expressions “Fare Esercito” and “Fare Masnada.”

Besides these military Villains who were also called “Fedeli” there were two other kinds of slaves amongst the early Italians, namely prisoners of war and the labourers attached to the soil, who were considered as cattle in every respect except that of their superior utility and value: the former species of slavery was probably soon dissolved by the union of self-interest and humanity: the latter began to decline in the twelfth century: partially continued through the thirteenth and vanished entirely in the fourteenth century. This emancipation does not appear to have been so much the effect of any particular Christian influence or direct moral improvement; although both might have materially assisted; as that of utility and necessity: masters began to feel more sensibly the inconveniences of slavery while its advantages were subject to many drawbacks. The high price of the slave, his sickness death or flight; his crimes if capital, for which his owner was so far responsible as to be compelled to pay the consequent fines; the cost of tracing and identifying deserters which frequently involved long and expensive suits if the runaway denied his being a slave; marriages between bondsmen and women belonging to different masters, involving the separation of man and wife; till these tended to undermine the hideous fabric of predial and domestic slavery.

But the most powerful agent in the destruction of this deep-seated injustice was the blaze of liberty which in the twelfth century overran northern Italy and left so many independent altars burning on its plains. The frequent wars of the new republics caused a demand for soldiers and rendered the flight and concealment of slaves comparatively easy; for the ancient laws of the Franks and Lombards against enlisting and secreting them had ceased with the imperial sway; incipient freedom found a new interest in relaxing antique rigour and arming slaves with the buckler of liberty for the defence of their common county. At Bologna about the year 1256 rural slaves belonging to no less than a huudred citizens were not only emancipated by a public decree but their freedom was purchased with the public money at the rate of ten Lire a head for man, woman and child above fourteen years of age, and eight for all below; a price which approaches in value to perhaps near thirty pounds of our present money.

The condition of these slaves was not however at any time so hopeless as to darken that prospect of future liberty which might open on them from their own conduct or the benevolence of their master: this boon was frequently granted by all but priests, who are supposed to have considered such beneficence as an alienation of ecclesiastical property and therefore against the canons of the church. But sons of slaves if sufficiently educated and manumitted were often received into holy orders, and thus a slight compensation was sometimes offered for the almost hopeless condition of their parents. These bondsmen were nevertheless allowed to accumulate capital by their own industry and finally purchase their freedom; many were emancipated by the dying commands of their masters; many for long service, fidelity, ability; at the birth of children, and for the good of their deceased owner's soul: thus by degrees the public mind was influenced by more liberal senti­ments, liberty generated liberty, and this milder form of an inhuman system gradually though not entirely mouldered away.

The same free spirit, the offspring of commerce and intelligence, which so stooped to remove the shackles of slavery had already risen under the stranger’s yoke and repelled his aggressions; freedom rode triumphant on the plains of Lom­bardy; each city stood nobly for itself yet all so united in the common cause that the German felt he was no longer lord and master of Italy. It was a long and bloody contest, but the people had been prepared by many concurring events: industry had enlarged commerce, commerce had enlarged wealth, and both together had enlarged knowledge; knowledge begat freedom of thought and juster notions of human dignity; men began to perceive that they were not placed aright, and a thousand grievances which had previously been overlooked, disregarded, perhaps unfelt, were now by the prying eyes of innovation magnified beyond their real size and natural deformity. Neither had the art of war been neglected; necessity had forced upon the Italians a profession which is in general as hastily taken up as it is too reluctantly abandoned, yet one that brings many noble spirits, many private virtues, with much public wickedness into strong relief, and by which nations are blinded to the infamy of such crimes as would fill their individual members with disgust.

The savage inroads of fierce Hungarian tribes and ruinous descents of the Saracens in the beginning of the tenth century totally changed the aspect of Italy: under the Frankish dynasty a long-continued calm, unruffled by the sweeping tempests of barbarian violence, had accustomed the people generally to inhabit unfenced places so that even the old civic fortifications had mostly fallen to decay; but first the civil wars of Guido and Berenger, and then the Hungarian inroads, created a different state of things throughout the land. Cities and towns were rapidly surrounded with walls, numberless castles seemed ns it were to grow out of the massive rocks, grey lines of ramparts circled every crag, and scarcely a hamlet or even private gentleman that did not demand the royal permission to secure themselves and their property: the whole country had thus assumed a warlike aspect in the tenth and eleventh centuries ; and even thus early those lofty towers of the city nobles which multiplied so rapidly in the Guelph and Ghibeline frenzy of the twelfth and following ages, are said to have originated; when even the very stones seemed to share the general madness, and the battlements took a different form according to the faction they defended. These towers were in Florence a sign of high nobility, because nobles alone had in general the power or the privilege of erecting them; but the means probably constituted the privilege, as Malespini tells us that several of those destroyed in 1250 belonged to opulent citizens who were not nobles. The number of these buildings at Florence was enormous but in Pisa incredible; ten thousand of them it is said living once existed there in a warlike state; and at Luccapastruccio ordered three hundred lofty towers to be reduced to the level of the neighbouring houses: state policy and party rage in like manner lowered and demolished those of Florence but the ground story of multitudes may still be traced by the curious nimbler in the more ancient streets of that metropolis. These high and slender towers clustering so thickly against a cloudless sky must have given a bright and lively aspect to the city when first bursting upon the view of the traveller; a show of peace from the abodes of strife! The town of San-Gimignano, still called “San Gimignano delle belle torre” by the people, where many still remain; and even Siena, will now perhaps afford the best example of this rich antique appearance, unaccompanied by the more revolting features as well as the daring and romantic energy of those turbulent ages. Some of these buildings leaned out of the perpendicular, as the belfry of Pisa and the rougher built Garisenda of Bologna which furnished Dante with so striking a simile; this position is doubtless accidental in both; in the former certainly, as recent excavations have proved; but all were intended in Florence as fortresses, while at Siena, as we have seen, a different origin is ascribed to them and some doubt exists about the real object of their erection.

The massive tower in the midst of a castle was called as with us the “Donjon” or “Maschio”: the “Cassero” was a building of the same description but walled round (of which there is a fine specimen at Vol terra) attached to the citadel or “Rocca”. This last name was however more particularly applied to the strong fortified hamlets on precipitous hills, those on the plains being for the most part larger and generally called “Castelli” a denomination which should not be mistaken for a simple castle according to our English meaning. Some of these Castelli had, like that of Santa Maria a Monte mentioned by Villani, no less than three circuits of walls besides the Rocca; and some had a barbacan or lower wall beyond the rampart and sloping outwards which seems to have inclosed a narrow space between itself and the latter to prevent the application of scaling-ladders; (like the “Cordon” of modern works) and the approach of other warlike engines. That this could not have been very high from the ground or for from the rampart, is evident from a circumstance quoted by Muratori: a knight called Ghinozzo being in 1329 prisoner in a certain Senese fortress, one day mounted his horse and riding near the walls suddenly gave him the spur, leaped over the ramparts and alighting on the barbacan reached the outer ground with a second spring, then spurring on apace gained the friendly fortress of Sassoforte.

 The “Bastie,” which seem to be identical with the “Battifolli” so frequently mentioned in Italian chronicles, were a sort of redoubt built of timber in a flat country, and generally round some tower or houses, as a blockading station against a fortress or other besieged place : they were encompassed by a ditch and earthen rampart and were garrisoned by both cavalry and infantry.

After the year 1000 but especially in the twelfth century, the northern Italians having become warlike and republican, acquired also a taste for wealth industry and dominion: the two former were then indispensable to maintain their state; population became necessary for industry, and land for popula­tion. They all therefore set themselves to recover their ancient landmarks by reducing the neighbouring aristocracy to obedience; they then opposed the emperors on the plea of their infringing ancient rights and customs and loading them with unjust taxation; and thus a warlike spirit sprang up from the force of circumstances, but it is supposed that the Sicilian Normans were the first to introduce a more regular discipline and inspire the Italians with a professional love of arms and military glory.

The age of castle-building brought with it also an improvement or perhaps a revival of military besieging engines. After filling the ditch, moveable wooden towers called “Castra”and “ Phalas” were pushed close up to the walls and a bridge let fall from them upon the battlements, so that nothing but fire or hard fighting could defend the city : then there were various instalments for casting stones either in solid masses or in showers, such as the “Mangani” and “Manganeli”, the last a mere diminutive of the first; the “Troja” or Sow, the “Ballistum” called also “Lupa” or the Wolf; and several others, all under the general appellation of “Petriere”, The Troja used by the Genoese in 1372 is said to have thrown stones of from eighteen hundred to two thousand seven hundred pounds weight, a thing scarcely credible. The Lupa threw a weight of three hundred Modenese pounds and the effects corresponded; wall, and house, and tower, came crashing down under their ponderous strokes, while a storm of smaller stones kept beating from the mangonels and other artillery. The besieged had little shelter from such tempests; their general defence was a strong netting hung loosely before the place exposed to such attacks, but the mischief was often terrible: the killed and wounded were said to be “Manganati” or mangonelled (mangled) and this is frequently used by the Italian writers in a general sense for being wounded or annoyed by missiles or projectiles of any kind; thus F. Viliam says, “Their horses were more annoyed and manganati by the English arrows; hence probably our own word mangle both verb and substantive”.

The Italian “Cavalleria” a name common to those gentlemen who had received the knightly belt and sword, had its origin among the northern conquerors of Italy : after the tenth cen­tury this honour was more strictly confined to persons of noble birth, and in general none but those who already wore the spur could confer it; this was either done in the field before or amidst the clang of arms or victory, or on the peaceful celebration of some great festival. It however was not uncommon for independent states to exercise this power as was often done at Florence, where the people appointed a commissioner or public representative to perform the ceremony. Gilt spurs were buckled to the heel, a golden fringe was attached to the knightly hood and the hilt and pommel of the sword was gilded. There wore several sorts of knights: those generally called “Cavalieri a Spron d'Oro” knights of the golden spur, corresponded in all respects with the knights of English chronicles and were thus distinguished from the noble squires or “Donzelli” who wore silver spurs but fought in armour on horseback, and ranked above the “Scudieri” or esquires. Such knights were also denominated “Cavalieri di Corredo” from the arms they wore, or as some suppose from the public feast usually given by them at their installation; but we do not gather this from Sacchetti who in his Novelle describes four distinct ceremonies for as many kinds of knights, namely; the “Cavalieri di Corredo”; “Cavalieri Bagnati” or knights of die bath; “Cavalieri di Scudo” and “Cavaliere d'Armi.”

“The Cavalieri di Corredo,” he says, “are those who in a deep green habit and a golden garment take the order of knighthood: Knights of the Bath are made with exceeding great ceremony and should be washed from every vice: Knights of the Shield are those that are made by the people or great lords, and receive the honour of knighthood armed, and with the Barbuta or crested helmet on their head. Knights of Arms are those that in the beginning or even in the midst of a battle receive this distinction.” Besides these there were “Cavalieri di Cavallate” “ Cavalieri d' Elmo” and simple “Cavalieri” none of which were terms of honour, and only signified men-at-arms on horseback belonging to the Cavallati or civic companies of cavalry.

 Towards the latter end of the eleventh century armorial bearings were emblazoned on the shields to distinguish the several knights in battle or tournament; those of princes, pass­ing from their shield to their money, carried the name along with them and hence the pecuniary denominations of the Italian “Scudo” and tho “Ecu” of France; but the French lilies did not appear as armorial bearings until 1150 under the reign of Louis the Seventh.

A cavaliere or man-at-arms was accompanied by one “Destriero” or strong war-horse, and one or two, sometimes three mounted squires who led the animal fully caparisoned; or carried the helmet lance and shield of their master: these “Destrieri” (“rich and great horses” as Villani calls them,) were so named because they were led on the right hand without any rider, and all ready for mounting: the squire’s horses were of an inferior kind called “Ronzini”, and on the “Palafreni” or palfreys the knight rode when not in battle. The number of squires usually attending on men-at-arms was very great, sometimes even trebling their nominal force as given in historical relations: by the contract between France and Venice for transporting troops to the Levant in 1281, the French demand that the Venetians should carry in their vessels four thou­sand five hundred men-at-ars, as many horses, and nine thousand squires besides twenty thousand infantry; but what became of the squires’ horses in this expedition does not appear .

Sometimes the squires were banded together in close army and sent forward to the onslaught before the knights, who cased in iron charged after them with a tremendous shock: a few of the bravest knights, as already noticed, called Feditori or Feritori were always selected to begin the fight, because if they succeeded in breaking the adverse line their comrades’ spirit and confidence increased, while the enemy’s diminished at the signal to charge the whole army cheered, drums and trumpets sounded, and the Feditori dashed forward to the onslaught: if repulsed they fell back through intervals in the main line and rallied on the reserve which sometimes won the battle as at Campaldino.

Amongst the usual pieces of defensive armour worn in these days was one called the “Cervelliera” or iron scull-cap in­vented by the famous Michael Scott, which was worn under the helmet and much celebrated: the lance, the mace, the shield, the sword, the knife, and the poniard, were the offensive arms of horsemen: footmen handled the long spear, the javelin, the bow, the axe, the sling, the crossbow, the sword, the long knife, the dagger, and other offensive anus; with the shield and helmet for defence. Of shields there were various sorts in Italy; such as the “Scudo”, the “Rotella”, the “Brocchiere,” the “Targa”, and the “Pavese”, all differing in form, size, and material : they were of iron, brass, wood, and leather; round, oblong, square and pointed : the Pavese were shields made after the fashion of Pavia; the Rotelli were named from their circular form; the Brocchieri because they bulged out into a pointed boss and spike, which in close com­bat might serve as a weapon of offence. The crossbowmen served on foot or on horseback; they were sometimes arrayed in divisions or sections, shooting alternately, so that a constant discharge was kept up against the men-at-arms: the crossbow arrows were commonly called “Moschette” also “ Quadrilli” either from the form of the head or being four-feathered : the “ Bolzoni ” were something of the same kind, but knobbed instead of pointed, and the “Verrettoni” a short light arrow, also discharged from the crossbow, was very generally used, especially in the civil tumults of Florence.

After the eleventh century when an Italian republic declared war everybody that could carry arms was forced to take the field, and if any place were besieged the different Quarters, Sixths, or Thirds, of the city, according as it was divided, took their turn and were regularly relieved about every thirty days. War was not wade in those ages without previous notice and reasons given: the enemy was often challenged to fight at a particular time and place; a herald threw down the gauntlet of defiance, and the sun, wind, and all local advantages were duly balanced; a custom preserved long afterwards in duelling. Winter campaigns were rare. May being the usual time of commencing war, especially the “Guerra Guerriata” or a ravaging desultory warfare without coming to serious combat: armies were attended by irregular troops called “Ribaldi” and “Gualdani” who it is supposed did not differ materially from each other and were used to scour the country for plunder forage and intelligence; they fought without order as occasion offered, running in between the regular battalions and under the horses of the men-at-arms whose bowels they ripped up with long knives.

The “Masnade” have been already noticed; but besides regular vassals we have early accounts of paid bands of soldiers who with the former constantly kept the field when unpaid citizens had withdrawn to their occupations: they were commonly foreigners, and probably deserters or fragments of imperial armies disbanded at the death of emperors in Italy, or dispersed from other causes. These mercenaries however did not consist of Germans only; English, Flemings, and even Hungarians, found out that the Italians were in need of troops and paid well for them; so that as early as the thirteenth century this custom had already begun to undermine the martial; skill and spirit of some communities and paved the way for future Condottieri and their robber companions. The Italian genius afterwards revived, but in an unwholesome form, and Florence although richer, perhaps more powerful, yet never was so great as when her citizens willingly took the field at their own expense to fight for their own country under the shadow of the time-honoured Carroccio.

“It was drawn forth with joy and honour when the state,  went out to war, and above it on a lofty sail-yard was borne the bright and triumphant banner to which the whole army looked: neither was there any castle in the territory, whether on mountain or in plain, to defend which the people would fight so manfully, or so readily expose both life and soul to every chance and danger for on this car depended the honour, strength, and glory of the republic”.

These are not the words of a Florentine but the spirit was alike, and when kings or emperors came into Italy the highest honour that could be offered was to meet them on their way with the Carroccio, and all public ceremonies were rendered more solemn by the presence of this banner and its gorgeous accompaniments. The Carroccio only went to the field “a Oste” or with the whole military force of the commonwealth; at other times the colours were carried by a single man who was never to retreat or lower them under pain of eternal infamy. Prisoners who declined joining the ranks of a victorious army were despoiled of their horses and arms and held to ransom, or sent about their business ; but the Florentines were considered so opulent that their ransom was always more exorbitant than other prisoners of war, and this is one of the reasons alleged for their gradually renouncing the military profession. Sometimes the captives, especially when taken in a fortress, were released on their parole not to serve for a certain period; sometimes they were kept in prison for months and even years, but generally exchanged when both parties became encumbered with them: they were often dismissed under certain conditions and in case of decisive victories the vanquished obliged themselves to obey the victors whenever called upon, either in paying tribute or receiving a Podesta at their nomination, or perhaps in supplying them with a body of auxiliaries in their expeditions; these were all marks of homage and lost national independence ; but not of diminished internal freedom.

There was a strong and proud spirit of jealous patriotism amongst all the Italian republics that burned as fiercely in Florence as anywhere, and in their own estimation placed her above every other country: this encouraged rivalry implacability and war, and probably brought out both the bad and good qualities of the people in deeper colouring.

All served, from sixteen to sixty, either in garrison or the field; and although all were not equally soldier-like there were few who could not manage the arms then most commonly in use, because their holiday amusements were athletic, military, and the skilful management of arms. The more disciplined troops were distinguished by their peculiar weapons, their horses, or the cars on which in some places they went out to battle; or else from their known station in the line, or the particular time or occasion when they were to join in the fight: for instance one body defended the Carroccio, another led or sustained the first attack, while a third was held in reserve. It does not appear that the Florentines made use of cars for sending their troops to the field, like the Milanese, who according to Denina had three hundred and the people of Asti a thousand; on each of which ten armed soldiere issued to the war.

The military resources of some of these republics were astonishing when any great effort required them: Milan offered Frederic II ten thousand men to accompany him into Pales­tine; the Bolognese armed forty thousand against Venice! and the tyrant Eccelino maintained amongst his other troops a legion of twelve thousand Paduans alone! Florence at one time could bring a hundred thousand fighting men at a few days’ notice into the field from the capital, contado, and dis­trict; all organized under captains of tens, hundreds, and thousands, and completely equipped according to their various nature. The greater part of these were agricultural labourers well used to carry arms, and while thus employed the common­wealth supplied them with provisions and even a certain allow­ance of pay equivalent to the average wages of the time ; thus when Florence made a sudden demonstration of her forces before Arezzo in 1384 as will be hereafter noticed, twenty thousand cavalry and sixty thousand infantry were rapidly and almost instantaneously assembled to gain their object.

In these expeditions a camp equipage accompanied the troops, the tents being as at present made of canvas, but probably at the expense of the soldier: they were called “Trabacche” and “Padiglioni” and were of various shapes and sizes according to the rank and wealth of the owner: those of kings, princes, and other great people were magnificent, and some are described as being so spacious as to startle all common belief; but that considerable cost and ingenuity were lavished on these vast tabernacles is indubitable, and the national pavilion being considered second only to the Carroccio in honour; it was in especial charge of the general and had a guard of honour amongst the Florentines.

National pride and hatred rendered every insult personal, and produced a punctilious sensibility which often vented itself in sudden fiery expeditions without adequate cause; during these hostilities, and even in times of peace, everything was done by adverse states to insult and aggravate each other: dead asses were thrown into besieged places; races, particularly of infamous women, were run under the city walls ; the sports of peace were celebrated in similar situations, as if to show the perfect safety in which the invaders considered themselves, with their utter contempt of the enemy: money was struck on the stock of a felled tree; generally one of those that formed a shady resort for the citizens beyond the walls; as if to exercise the rights of sovereignty and insult the vanquished: and even permanent inscriptions and other abusive emblems were placed over the gates as the Pisans did near Lerici in 1256; or on some lofty tower as the marble arms of Carmignano. All these customs and feelings made the wars of this early period between neighbouring states more like the personal quarrels of individuals than the conflicts of contend­ing nations and often stamped a bitter and bloody character on the contest to which except in civil contentions, we now are happily strangers.