¹ Cf. Davidsohn, R., Geschichte v. Florenz, iii, 149Google Scholar. Sapori, A., Una Compagnia di Calimala (Florence, 1932), p. 35 nGoogle Scholar.

² Thus the well-known account in the fragmentary ricordanze of Luca di Totto da Panzano (1348): ‘Memoria, che io andai a Prato per uccidere Carlo di Baldovinetto Gherardini,’ etc., Giornale storico degli archivi toscani, v, 1861, p. 62 seqGoogle Scholar.

³ Corsani, G., I fondaci e i banchi di un mercante pratese del Trecento (Prato, 1922), p. 58Google Scholar. The ricordanze preserved in ecclesiastical archives seem to be exclusively account-books.

⁴ Printed by Polidori, F. in A(rchivio) S)torico) I(taliano), iv, 1843, p. 5 seq.Google Scholar, and Castellani, A., Nuovi testi fiorentini del Dugento (Florence, 1952), p. 804 seqGoogle Scholar. Only the first gives incompletely the later fourteenth century ricordi.

⁵ Davidsohn, , Geschichte, iii, 348, 414–415Google Scholar; iv, 2, 310. However, most of the Antellesi were orthodox Guelf: ibid., iii, 277, 401; Luigi, Ildefonso di S., Delizie degli eruditi toscani, xi, 133Google Scholar.

⁶ The only political allusion is the statement that in 1301 Guido broke away from the company of Gio. dei Cerchi ‘per la brigha ove venono cho' Donati e co' Pazi’: Polidori, p. 7, Castellani, p. 805. In 1304 he was still a partner of the Cerchi Bianchi: Davidsohn, , Geschichte, iii, 212 n.1Google Scholar.

⁷ Polidori, p. 12; Castellani, p. 812.

⁸ Polidori, p. 10, Castellani, p. 808 (a. 1297).

⁹ Polidori, p. 15 seq. The Dell'Antella are not listed among the major Florentine business firms in 1369, but no more are families like the Sassetti or Morelli, certainly engaged in trade: Peruzzi, S. L., Storia del commercio e dei banchieri di Firenze, i (Florence, 1868), p. 219 seqGoogle Scholar. Government stock the Dell'Antella will certainly have had, and in November 1378 Alessandro dell'Antella was one of the commission recommending that payments of interest from the Monte should be retained in their established form: Rodolico, N., La democrazia fiorentina nel suo tramonto (Bologna, 1905), p. 275Google Scholar.

¹⁰ Letters and accounts of m. Consiglio dei Cerchi in Castellani, pp. 593–621. Some of the works and renders in kind may be part repayments of loans. See also Maggini, F., ‘Frammenti d'una cronaca dei Cerchi,’ ASI, lxxvi (1918)Google Scholar; Davidsohn, , Forschungen z. Geschichte v. Florenz, iv, 175Google Scholar.

¹¹ A(rchivio di) S{tato), F(irenze), Dono Canigiani-Cerchi, 309–311 (1343 seq.).

¹² At the cost of 800 florins: ibid., 310, fol. 12r. One of the Cerchi had chosen to become popolano already in 1361, changing his name and arms: Ildefonso, , Delizie, xiv, 256Google Scholar.

¹³ Dono Canigiani-Cerchi, 310, ff. 5r seq. Cf. Villani, G., Cronica, xii, 8, 18Google Scholar. Among the properties illustrated were farms at Rovezzano, S. Martino a Cuona, and in the Val di Sieve, where the Cerchi are known formerly to have held: ibid., 309, fos. 44r, 32v, 25r, 23v, 22B, 7r; 310, f. 32r; 311, fos. 3r seq. etc. For their earlier estates there see Marchionne di Coppo Stefani, Cronaca fiorentina, ed. Rodolico, RR.II.SS., new ed., xxx, pt. i, rub. 221, 228; Davidsohn, , Geschichte, iii, 332–333Google Scholar; Forschungen, iii, 315; Castellani, pp. 605, 607, 608, etc.

¹⁴ In 1391, 1393 and 1395 Michele had to borrow money to pay prestanze and sell government stock (at 30 per cent, of face value) to make repayment: Dono Canigiani-Cerchi, 311, fos. 38r, 70r–71r, 72r, 73v, 74, 75r. He also sold his farm at Rovezzano to a tenant in 1390: ibid., 309, f. 22v.

¹⁵ In 1373 and 1378 Michele pawned a ‘frenolla di perle,’ but such practices are no safe measure of economic condition (cf. de Roover, R., Money, Banking and Credit in medieval Bruges, Cambridge, Mass., 1948, p. 118 seq.Google Scholar), and indeed Michele redeemed the pearls and also loaned money himself: ibid., 310, fos. 23v, 25v. Mention should be made of Minestra de' Cerchi, who ‘seemed always to be in debt’ and had to be tricked by the bailiffs into payment: Sachetti, F., Novelle, ccixGoogle Scholar.

¹⁶ Michele's sisters married Agnolo Bonciani and Fr. di Ribaldo de'Bardi (Dono Canigiani-Cerch 309, f. 33r; 310, f. 24r) and other Cerchi were intermarried with the Covoni, Infangati, Altoviti, and Machiavelli: D. Velluti, Cronica domestica, ed del Lungo (Florence, 1914), pp. 292–293.

¹⁷ Maggini, l.c., p. 107; Diario d'anonimo fiorentino, ed. Gherardi, A. (Florence, 1876), pp. 328, 353, 437Google Scholar.

¹⁸ Boccaccio, G., Il comento alia Divina Commedia, ed. Guerri, D., ii (Bari, 1918), p. 213Google Scholar.

¹⁹ Though they may have come near it (Davidsohn, , Forsch., iii, n. 701, a. 1319Google Scholar), while politically they were excluded from office for more than a century according to Fr. Sassetti, Notizie dell'origine e nobiltà della famiglia de' Sassetti (1600), in Marcucci, E., Lettere ed. e ined. di Filippo Sassetti (Florence, 1855), p. xxixGoogle Scholar.

²⁰ Libra del dare e dell'avere di Gentile de' Sassetti e suoi figli (1274–1310) in Castellani, p. 286 seq.

²¹ Castellani, pp. 310–311, 313, 335, 337, 338. For such loans in other parts of Europe, cf. R. de Roover, l.c., p. 164; P. Wolff, Commerce et marchands de Toulouse (1954), pp. 179–180. In the fourteenth century Iacopo and Amerigo del Bene accepted repayment for loans in works and kind (wine): Sapori, , ‘I mutui dei mercanti fiorentini del Trecento e l'incremento della proprietà fondiaria,’ in his Studi di storia economica medievale (Florence, 1946), p. 47Google Scholar. Cf. notes 10 supra and 29 infra.

²² Castellani, pp. 320, 331, 333, 334, 339; some of these grants were ‘a chapo salvo,’ which guaranteed the total repayment of capital, eliminated all risk for the owner, and so in time were condemned by the Church as usury.

²³ ASF. Carte Strozziane, 2a serie, 4. Cf. Marcucci, l.c.

²⁴ Marcucci, l.c.; de Roover, Florence Edler, ‘Fr. Sassetti and the downfall of the Medici banking house,’ Bulletin of the Business History Society, xvii (1943), p. 65 seqCrossRefGoogle Scholar.

²⁵ Here and elsewhere remarks on family origins unless otherwise stated have been based only on the most obvious sources, the chronicles of Villani, G. and Malespini, R. (Istoria fiorentina, Florence 1718)Google Scholar, Santini, , Documenti dell'antica coscituzione di Firenze (Florence, 1895, 1952)Google Scholar, the Libro di Monta perti (ed. Paoli, C., Florence, 1889)Google Scholar, Ildefonso, Delizie (particularly vol. vii)Google Scholar, Davidsohn's Geschich and Forschungen, and Ottokar's Comune di Firenze alia fine del dugento (Florence, 1926)Google Scholar. For the Sassetti cf. Fr. Sassetti, Notizie cit.

²⁶ Both G. Villani (Cronica, v. 39) and Malespin (Istoria, 86, 93) make the Cavalcanti merchants by origin, but this is rejected by Bassermann, E. v. Roon, ‘Die ersten florentiner Handelsgesellschaften in England,’ V(ierteljahrschriftf.) S(ozial a.) W(irtschafts geschichte), xxxix, p. 99Google Scholar.

²⁷ Geschichte, iv (2), p. 135. For the propertie owned by the Cavalcanti about the middle of the thirteenth century see Ildefonso, , Delizie, vii, 219, 224–225, 237Google Scholar; cf. the will of Giannigosso di Aldobrandino dei Cavalcanti ( ?1242), ASF Diplomaiico, Badia, 12.., n. 12.

²⁸ (1290–1324): ASF Carte Strozziane, 2a serie, 1, partly printed by Castellani, p. 578 seq.

²⁹ ibid., fos. 28v, 36r; Castellani, pp. 582, 591. For the Brozzi properties earlier see refs. n. 27 supra, and later see ASF Diplomatico, Certosa, 14.3.1362–1363, 27.3.1363 (division of estate by Andrea del fu Attaviano di m. Filippo Cavalcanti and his brothers). Filippo Cavalcanti also accepted repayment of loans in kind: Castellani, p. 583.

³⁰ D. Compagni, Cronica, ed. del Lungo, RR.II.SS., new ed. ix (2) (1913), p. 263; Salvemini, G., Magnati e popolani in Firenze (Florence, 1899), p. 61, no. 6Google Scholar. In 1382, although by then several of the family had become popolani, changing their names (Ildefonso, , Delizie, xiv, 259, 263, 267, 272Google Scholar), there were still 58 ‘magnate’ Cavalcanti: Rodolico, l.c., p. 166.

³¹ Velluti, l.c. The Rucellai family also produced soldiers as well as merchants in the fourteenth century: Marcotti, G., Un mercantefiorentino e la sua famiglia nel sec. xv (Florence, 1881), pp. 156–157, etcGoogle Scholar.

³² Ildefonso, , Delizie, xiv, 220, 223Google Scholar; the history of two other member s of the family show trade more profitable than politics: ibid., pp. 225, 226–227. The Ricci tax-returns of 1427 disclose the same wide differences of economic condition (ibid., p. 226 n.) as do those of other leading families: see for instance Sieveking, H., ‘Aus genueser Rechnungs- u. Steuerbiichern,’ Sitzungsberichte kais. Akad. Wiss., Phil.-Hist. Klasse, clxii, no. 2 (1909), p. 91 seqGoogle Scholar.

³³ ASF Carte Strozziane, 3a ser., 142, p. 2.

³⁴ See the papal letter of July 1364 recommending ‘mercatores societatum Pazemi (1. Pazzini) militis et Caroli de Stroczis curiam Romanam sequentium, ubi jam per tempora longa nomen legalitatis et fidei meruerunt,’ Rymer, , Foedera, iii (2), p. 738Google Scholar; Renouard, Y., ‘Le compagnie commerciali fiorentin del Trecento,’ ASI, xcvi (1938), pp. 68, 169, 178Google Scholar; Les relations des papes d'Avignon et des compagnies commerciales et bancaires de 1316 à 1378 (Paris, 1941, pp. 83, 113–114, 264, 266, 272, 299, etc.Google Scholar; Beardwood, A., Alien merchants in England 1350 to 1377 (Cambridge, Mass., 1931), pp. 10, 23, 60, 112Google Scholar; cf. notes 50–51 infra. Among the goods of Florentines seized at Marseilles in May 1376 were 84 bales of lana franciesca belonging to Pazzino Strozzi & Co.: Anon, fiorent., p. 308, n. 3.

³⁵ ASF Carte Strozziane, 3a ser., 149, pp. 211–212, 315–317 (from the tamburationes or anonymous depositions against the overmighty. The same source preserves a charge in 1373 against Pierozzo di Biagio Strozzi who ‘per arroganze e maggioranza tiene il giuoco a Monticelli, e presta dadi e tavolieri e ancora danari sopra giuoco e manda parecchi famigliole per lo pane’; the complaint was secret from fear of violence and in fact when witnesses; were called they were afraid to speak: ibid., pp. ni 207–208. Later (1404) Pierozzo was Florentine ambassador to Padua: Epistolario di C. Salutati, ed. Novati, F., iv, 80Google Scholar. In 1366 he had himself been attacked and wounded by Arnoldo de' Rossi, who was declared a magnate: Carte Strozz., 3a ser., 173, fol. 10r).

³⁶ ibid., p. 247 seq.; Anon. Fiorent., pp. 473–474.

³⁷ Indeed many Strozzi were exempted from the proceedings of 1387, including Nofri di Palla (on whom see below), and there is a case later in which one Strozzi tried to have other Strozzi made magnati for an attack ‘chon bastonj nelle reni e capo,’ etc.: Carte Strozz., 3a ser., 122, fol. 58.

³⁸ Sacchetti, , Novelle, cxxxiii, clviiiGoogle Scholar. Soldo however was not destitute of property: Carte Strozziane, 3a ser., 76, f. 35r; 149, p. 244.

³⁹ From a certain Arduino di Rosso: Carlo and Luigi Strozzi, Apparato storico per la famiglia degli Strozzi, ASF Carte Strozz., 3a ser., 76, f. 13v; cf. Santini, l.c., i, 233, 380. A phrase of Villani, G. (Cronica, iv, 13Google Scholar) might indicate an ancient origin for the Strozzi (though Malespini does not mention them), and Carlo Strozzi in the seventeenth century proposed their descent from the Langobardi de Sommaia (Apparato cit.), but this is conjecture, One proof he offers is their ownership of certain castles near Florence, including one at Sommaia (Loiano), which they were obliged by the commune to defend in time of war; however there is no mention of these before the fourteenth century and one, at Campi, was not built until after 1370 (Apparato cit.; cf. Carte Scrozz., 3a ser., 149, pp. 87, 216–217; Strozzi, Lorenzo, Vite degli uomini illustri della casa Strozzi, ed. Zeffi, F. (Florence, 1892), p. 12Google Scholar; Gaye, J., Carteggio ined. d'artisti dei secoli 14–16 (Florence, 1839–1840), i, 528, 530, 533Google Scholar; at Campi the Mazzinghi had a castrum or castellare and part of their property there was passing by purchase to the Strozzi before 1300: Ildefonso, , Delizie, vii, 249 seq.Google Scholar; S. Ammirato, Famiglie nobili fiorentine, p. 85; Ottokar, l.c., p. 97). Similarly the first mention of a Strozzi in connection with a torre (1327) is in a deed of purchase: Apparato cit., fol. 42r This and other cases like it create the suspicion that later genealogists treated as ancient and ancestral estates first acquired with the profits of trade.

⁴⁰ Even so none of them seems to have been chosen ambassador of Florence before 1343 (Carte Strozz., 3a ser., 142, pp. 67–69) and in 1328 when certain business houses loaned money to the commune, five of the Strozzi together produced only 700 florins against the 2,000 florins of the Bardi or Acciaiuoli: Barbadoro, B., Finanze della repubblica fiorentina (Florence, 1929), p. 561 nGoogle Scholar.

⁴¹ For ex. Davidsohn, , Geschichte, iv (2), pp. 227–228Google Scholar.

⁴² ibid., Ottokar, l.c., p. 72, Sa pori, ‘Mutui,’ cit., pp. 43–73; cf. G. Sassetti, supra, p. 185. Sacchet, (Novtlle, lxxxviii)Google Scholar has a revealing story of the Medicitrying to force a prosperous peasant to sell his farm.

⁴³ Davidsohn, , Forsch., iii, nos. 564, 650Google Scholar; Barbadoro, l.c., pp. 422–423; Grunzweig, A., ‘Les origines de la mercanzia de Florence,’ Studi in onore di G. Luzzatto, i (Milan, 1950), p. 223Google Scholar. Cf Ottokar, l.c., p. 97.

⁴⁴ Lapo joined as well with his relatives in buying up houses in Florence to make way for the first piazza Strozzi: Carte Strozz., 3a ser., 82, pp. 1–81; ibid., 76, f. 35v; 123, f. 66; 149, pp. 235 seq.; L. Strozzi, Vite, pp. 8–9.

⁴⁵ ASF Arch, notarile, Atti di Michele di ser Cambi (1342–1344).

⁴⁶ For their ricordanze (1317–1346) see Carte Strozz., 3a ser., 270. They have been analysed several times: Rodolico, l.c., pp. 145–146; Davidsohn, , Forsch., iii, 200–201Google Scholar, and above all Edler, Florene, ‘Eclaircissements à propos des considérations de R. Davidsohn sur la productivité de l'argent au moyen age,’ VSWG, xxx (1937), pp. 375–380Google Scholar.

⁴⁷ Davidsohn, , Forsch., iii, nos. 596, 653Google Scholar. Ubertino (di Rosso) must be distinguished from m. Ubertino (dello Strozza) iudex, who helped compile the Ordinamenti di Giustizia.

⁴⁸ Cf. the Peruzzi at this time: Fanfani, A., ‘Note sull'economia domestica dei Peruzzi e dei loro compagni,’ Riv. internaz. di scienze soc., xliii, 1935, pp. 100–101Google Scholar.

⁴⁹ Particularly property of the bankrupt Amieri: ricordanze cit., fols. 5v, 6r, 6v.

⁵⁰ ASF Arch, notarile, Michele di ser Cambi, i, fols. 52r seq.; but this was after a family settlement and division of properties with Andrea di Ubertino, their uncle: ricordanze cit., fols. 13v seq. In his will Rosso left £1500 picc. in bequests to the poor, etc., and ordered to be restored all interest and money taken ‘in curia romana vel in avinone’: Arch. not., l.c., fol. lr; Carte Strozz., 3a ser., 122, fols. 1–3.

⁵¹ See ricordanze of Rossello di Rosso (1363–1367), Carte Strozz., 5a ser., 1. In 1363 Rossello and his brothers Tommaso, Ubertino, and Niccolo divided 6,400 florins, ‘i quali denari ci trovammo in sulla compagnia di Carlo delli Strozzi e de compagni, cioè in corpo di compagnia’; they remained partners and in 1367 when the company was renewed Ubertino, Niccolo and Rossello subscribed 5,400 florins of a total capital of 53,600 florins, Rossello was also in the company's pay and travelled to Avignon in its service: ibid., fols. 3r–6r. Carlo di Strozza Strozzi was now the leading partner, having entered the firm in 1331, and the two principal Strozzi companies of the 1360's and 1370's were those of Carlo and Pazzino: Peruzzi, l.c., p. 222, and note 34 supra. In 1376–1377 Niccolo di Rosso was evidently in partnership with Pazzino: Cal. Close Rolls (1374–1377), pp. 472–474.

⁵² Carte Strozz., 3a ser., 270, fols. 14v seq. As in Lapo's case, Florentine families are among the sellers (and borrowers), including once more the Amieri, Taddeo dell'Antella (1341), and the syndics in charge of the bankrupt Cocchi company (1342); but contadini are also prominent, and noteworthy are the lands received from a number of people in the popolo of S. Andrea a Botenaccio whose estimi are paid by the Strozzi brothers.

⁵³ Carte Strozz., 3a ser., 123, fol. 58. Details might be filled in from other sources, but a contributary cause of decline may have been the partitions of land and business capital among the brothers, as in 1346 and 1363: ibid., 270, fol. 25v and no. 51 supra.

⁵⁴ Carte Strozz., 3a ser., 271: Rossello was still a tenant in Florence (for a time of another Strozzi), his prestanze were small, he sold up property and he pawned jewellery; but his farms remained intact, he dealt in agricultural produce, sold cloth, took work for a time in a woolshop, and had hired servants. In 1415 occurred a division of lands at Capalle with the heirs of Tommaso d'Ubertino.

⁵⁵ Carte Strozz., 3a ser., 138, fols. 104, 111 (1395 and some time after). Earlier returns (of 1346 and 1355) by his father and uncle, Goro and Niccolo di Iacopo, and Niccolo's will (1348) indicate a larger estate in land than Goro had; partition had again done its work: ibid., 106, 113–114, 116–117; 2a ser., 82.

⁵⁶ 162,925 florins 17s. lid., of which 54,463 florins lid. represented his estate in land, 94,671 florins 4d. government stock, and 14,791 florins 16s. 8d. business investments: Sieveking, l.c., p. 93; however in 1426 Palla in fact held government stock to the value of 126,816 florins (ten times more than that of any other Strozzi) and in 1431 he complained that in the past eight years he had paid 112,000 florins in taxation and sought per-mission to sell shares worth 100,000 florins to foreigners: Carte Strozz., 3a ser., 90, p. 67; 138, pp. 10–11; 142, pp. 95–96; 173, fol. 13r.

⁵⁷ In 1399 he was taxed at 76 florins ls. lld. (giving a taxed capital of 7,600 florins), against the 10 florins each of five other Strozzi. Well above this assessment were Bartolomeo Panciatichi, seven of the Alberti, two of the Medici, a Guicciardini and a Rinuccini: Sieveking, l.c., pp. 90–91.

⁵⁸ Undated and imperfect tax-return of the early fifteenth century: Carle Strozz., 3a ser., 165, fols. 90–92. According to this, Nofri valued his estate in land (with some expenses deducted) at ll,590½ florins; he also had about 70,000 florins of government stock and a claim of 2,000 florins against Guido dal Palagio; his business investments, as always in tax-returns, appear small and unprofitable: for three years past he had been holding ‘tra sichurta e quattro balloni di panni’ 6,200 florins, ‘chene ritraremo intorno di fior. dumila cinqueciento,’ and a further 3,000 florins (of merchandise ?)—’Ritrassene per lunghezza di tempo a fiorini a oro di fior. 42 per cento Rit. 1400.’

⁵⁹ Carte Strozz., 3a ser., 173, fol. 11.

⁶⁰ L. Strozzi, l.c., 23.

⁶¹ ASF MSS vari, 77. Cf. Rodolico, l.c., p. 141 seq. Davidsohn, , Geschichte, iv (2), pp. 275, 337Google Scholar. For Palla's marriage to Margarita see fol. 8r—she remarried within two months of Palla's death: fol. 8v.

⁶² ibid., fols. 7v, 38v. Barna borrowed 1270 florins, but the debt was recorded as 2,000 florins and dated 1340. Shortly before (1336–1338) Barna was working for the Bardi: Sapori, , La crisi delle compagnie mercantili dei Bardi e dei Peruzzi (Florence, 1926), p. 256Google Scholar.

⁶³ ibid., fols. 7v, 9v, etc., 38v–39r.

⁶⁴ ibid., fols. 4r; cf. 7v. In 1317 Lapo was engaged in litigation over properties in Bibbiona with donna Bartola de' Gianfigliazzi, widow of Gherardo di Rosso Buondelmonti: ASF Diplomatico, Certosa, 19.10.1317.

⁶⁵ ibid., fol. 8r.

⁶⁶ Mehus, L., Epistola o sia ragionamento di messer Lapo da Castiglionchio (Bologna, 1753)Google Scholar. For Lapo as humanist see Sabbadini, R., Scoperte dei codici latini e greci (Florence, 1914), ii, 168–173Google Scholar, Davidsohn, , ‘Tre orazioni di Lapo da Gastiglionchio, ambasciatore fiorentino a papa Urbano V,’ ASI, 5th ser., xx, 1897, p. 225 seq.Google Scholar; Weiss, R., Il primo secolo dell'umanesimo (Rome, 1949), p. 55 seqGoogle Scholar. For his books, which included beside legal works certain of Petrarch's writings, see the ricordanze of his sons: ASF MSS vari, 79, fo. 86v; 80, fos. 3r seq.; cf. F. Novati, Il libro memoriale de' figliuoli di M. Lapo da Castiglionchio (1382), Nozze D'Ancona-Cassin, Bergamo, 1893Google Scholar, which I have been unable to consult; I owe the reference to Dr. N. Rubinstein.

⁶⁷ Epistola, 147–148. Filippo Villani, in his life of N. Acciaiuoli, draws the same distinction clearly a common one, between ‘mercatanzie nobili’ and the sale of ‘cose vili.’ One of the Castiglionchi engaged in ‘noble’ trade was Lapo' brother Francesco, who died in England, probably in the service of the Alberti: Curianni, ricordanz cit., fol. 8r; Renouard, ‘Compagnie’, cit., 53; Sapori, , Libri degli Alberti del Giudice (Milan, 1952), pp. 96, 131Google Scholar.

⁶⁸ See the revealing account of Lapo's meeting with the descendant of one of the family's former ‘vassals’: Epistola, 43–45.

⁶⁹ ‘Utinatn litteratoria contentus militia, nunquam ad ambitionis tumidos spiritus animum applicasset,’ Epistolario di C. Salutati, ii, 219Google Scholar.

⁷⁰ Ricordanze di Lapo da Castiglionchio (1362 seq.); Carte Strozz., 2a ser., 3. Cf. the ricordanze cit. his sons: 79, fos. 69r, 87r, 100r seq., 134r; 80, f. 2; also, for property at Castiglionchio, the Curianni ricordanze, fol. 8r.

⁷¹ Ricordanze di Niccolo di ser Ventura Monachi (1348–1380), Carte Strozz., 2a ser., 2, extensively used by D. Marzi for his life of Niccolo, in La Cancelleria della repubblica fiorentina (Rocca S. Casciano, 1910), p. 79 seqGoogle Scholar.

⁷² Ricordanze, fols. 69v–70r; Marzi, l.c., pp. 100–103.

⁷³ Thus he was happy in the system, favoured by the upper classes, of prestanze or government finance); by loans yielding nominally 5 per cent., actually 10 or 15 per cent, interest: Ricordanze, fol. 40r; Rodolico, l.c., pp. 272–273, 297.

⁷⁴ Marzi, l.c., pp. 81, 94, 104. He was able to give his daughters marriage-portions almost as generous as those of Lapo's daughters: Ricordanze, fols. 31v, 34r; Ricordanze of Lapo's sons, 79, fol. 97v.

⁷⁵ He returned in 1388 and died of plague in 1400; Marzi, p. 104.

⁷⁶ ASF MSS vari, 79–81. Cf. Lapo's ricordanze, fos. 14r–16v, 30r, 54, 56r, 108v seq.

⁷⁷ Sapori, , ‘Gli Alberti del Giudice di Firenze,’ Studi Luzzatto cit., i, 161 seq.Google Scholar; Libri degli Alberti, introd.

⁷⁸ Ricordanze of Lapo di Giovanni de' Sirigatti (1379–1426): Carte Strozz., 2a ser., 6, used in detai with similar records by da Camugliano, G. Niccolini, ‘Libri di ricordanze dei Niccolini,’ Riv. delle biblioteche e degli archivi, N.S., ii, 1924, pp. 1–30, 88–91, 172–187, 243–252Google Scholar; ‘A medieval Florentine, his family and possessions,’ Amer. Hist. Rev., xxxi, 1925–1926, p. 1 seq.Google Scholar, and The Chronicles of Florentine family (London, 1933), p. 77 seqGoogle Scholar.

⁷⁹ Plesner, J ., L'émigration de la campagne à la ville libre de Florence au xiiie siècle (Copenhagen, 1934), pp. 142 seq.Google Scholar, 222; cf. the ‘vassals’ of the Castiglionchi, supra.

⁸⁰ In one case the land bought (at S. Biagio di Passignano) was burdened with a fittolino in kind to the abbey: ricordanze, fol. 18v. As other eccles astical records show, particularly those of the bishop of Florence, church land subject to small perpetual rents (and still often involving fealty) had become by 1300 at the latest freely alienable, saving the lord's consent and perhaps a payment to him, and it was often dealt in by citizen families who might like the Niccolini have first prospered as tenants of such holdings.

⁸¹ (1406 seq.), Carte Strozz., 2a ser., 9; Carnesecchi, C., ‘Un fiorentino del sec. xv e le sue a ricordanze domestiche,’ ASI, 5th ser., iv, 1889, pp. 145–173Google Scholar. Like the ricordanze of Luca di Totto (supra n. 2) it contains a full account of a successful vendetta: Carnesecchi, p. 149.

⁸² Carnesecchi, pp. 154–155; they were however among the creditors of the bankrupt Peruzzi in the mid-fourteenth century: ricordanze, fol. 77; Peruzzi, l.c., i, 473–474; Carnesecchi, p. 167; Sapori, Crisi, p. 170.

⁸³ Ricordanze, fols. 116v–117v (1443).

⁸⁴ ibid., fols. 200v seq.

⁸⁵ ibid., fols. 99r, 99v, 145r, 200r, 200v; cf. 170v seq.

⁸⁶ ibid., fols. 6v, 35v–36v, 61v. seq., 125r, 136v, 179v, 200r; cf. 176r.

⁸⁷ Ricordanze of Lapo da Castiglionchio, fols. 12r, 15v, 16, etc., 106r; cf. his sons' ricordanze, 80, fos. lv, 7r, 9r, 14r;81, fos. 9r, 9v, 96r, etc. The Ricasoli too were letting their farms to mezzadri by the early fourteenth century: Casabianca, A., ‘La mezzeria in Toscana in alcuni documenti medioevali,’ Atti dei Georgofili, 5th ser., xx, 1923, pp. 25–26Google Scholar.

⁸⁸ The following remarks on land tenure are based on all the foregoing family records, together with others quoted below (nn. 91, 95), some ricordanze of Sandro di Buono Strozzi (a. 1366) and the ‘libro di possession’ of Gio. di Palla Strozzi (1400–1437): Carte Strozz., 3a ser., 123, fols. 223 seq.; 4a ser., 341.

⁸⁹ See the ricordanze of G. Sassetti, pp. 291–292, and Fil. Cavalcanti, fols. 43v–44v, 48v (Filippo's diary records only fitti). The same tendency is suggested by the acts relating to Marco Strozzi's land ‘purchases’ (supra, n. 45) and the credit operations of Iacopo and Amerigo del Bene (Sapori, Studi, p. 52). It seems also that the Florentine government and the Parte Guelfa let rebel lands for fixed rents: ASF Diplomatico, Archivio generate, 14.2.1330–1331; Rodolico, l.c., pp. 148–149; R. Piattoli, Codice diplomatico dantesco (1940), nos. 164, 167.

⁹⁰ Statute del podestà, ed. Caggese, R. (Florence, 1921), pp. 123, 143Google Scholar. Both leases are already described in the Formularium fiorentinum artis notariae (1220–1242), ed. Masi, G. (Milan, 1943), pp. 29–30Google Scholar.

⁹¹ See ricordanze of P. Sassetti, fol. 56r, and of Michele de' Cerchi, 310, fol. 22r; also the libro mastro of Fr., Gio., Simone and Iacopo di m. Palla Strozzi (1377 seq.), Carte Strozz., 3a ser., 277, fol. 22v. For ecclesiastical estates see P. J. Jones, ‘A Tuscan monastic lordship in the later Middle Ages: Camaldoli,’ Journal of Ecclesiastical History, v, 1954, p. 176, and ‘Le finanze della badia di Settimo,’ Riv. di Storia della Chiesa in Italia, 1956.

⁹² On those specifically of the Dell'Antella, Curianni, and Niccolini, of Ubertino di Rossello Strozzi and Marco di Goro Strozzi. By contrast the 1378 tax-return of Fr. Rinuccini suggests that all his rents were fitti (though more in grain than money), but the forms of lease are not specified: Ricordi storici di Filippo di Cino Rinuccini, ed. Aiazzi, G. (Florence, 1840), pp. 34–46Google Scholar. Cf. Fil. Cavalcanti, supra, n. 89.

⁹³ For ex. Statutum bladi reipublicae Florentines (1348), ed. Masi, G. (Milan, 1934)Google Scholar; ‘Norme agrarie degli statuti del popolo e del comune di Firenze,’ Archivio Vittorio Scialoja, i, 1934, pp. 180 seqGoogle Scholar.

⁹⁴ Legislation following the Black Death required residence for at least three years: Stat. bladi, pp. 167, 179–180.

⁹⁵ Ricordanze of the Dell'Antella, p. 23 n.; P. Sassetti, fol. 39v; Niccolo di ser Ventura Monachi, fols. 59r–60r. Cf. Ricordanze di Paliano di Falco Falcucci (1382–1406); Carte Strozz., 2a ser., 7, e.g. fols. 27v–28r; estate accounts of Nofri di Palla Strozzi (1394), ibid., 4a ser., 64; grant (1342) by Marco d'Uberto Strozzi, Arch, notarile, Michele di ser Cambi, i, fol. 31. The special value of the wine crop is implied in the law that no tenant might sell even his share before the wine harvest, and even then the landlord had first refusal; grain and oil by contrast he could sell in advance, provided again the lord had first refusal: ‘Norme agraria,’ pp. 189–191.

⁹⁶ ‘Li lavoratori delle terre del contado volieno tali patti che quasi cio si ricogliea era lor si potea dire. Ed avevano imparato a torre li buoi dall' oste a rischio dell'oste … erano, si potea dire, loro i poderi tanto di buoi, di seme, di presto e di vantaggio voleano’: Cronaca, rub. 636.

⁹⁷ Cf. remarks of G. Niccolini, ‘A medieval Florentine,’ p. 12, and Chronicles, pp. 91–92.

⁹⁸ Once again the lord often had to lend seed to the tenant.

⁹⁹ See for instance the late fourteenth century lease printed by Castellacci, D., ‘Tre scritte di mezzeria in volgare,’ ASI, 5th ser., xi, 1893, pp. 381–383Google Scholar, and particularly the clause requiring that the tenant ‘mi pogha la mia parte de' sarmenti da parte, ch'io no voglio m'abia piue a vole' ucidere o dirmi vilania.’

¹⁰⁰ Once or twice land is said to be without tenant s at all, in one case since 1348: tax returns of Ubertino di Rossello Strozzi and Nofri di Palla Strozzi (fol. 90v). For some fifteenth century examples on the Niccolini estates see G. Niccolini, ‘A medieval Florentine,’ p. 17; Chronicles, p. 98.

¹⁰¹ ‘Pro suo mangiare’ : ricordanze of Niccolo di ser Ventura Monachi, fol. 62r (a. 1367); but at the end of the lease the tenant had cleared off all debts: fols. 62r–63r (a. 1369).

¹⁰² Sometimes tenants did fall into difficulties. In 1384, P. Sassetti's lavoratore at Campi still owed rent to Piero Spini, his former landlord, who therefore caused his pair of oxen (valued 50 florins) to be seized pending payment: ricordanze, fol. 77v.

¹⁰³ Ricordanze of P. Sassetti, fols. 41r, 63r, and Luca da Panzano, fol. 165. Cf. Niccolini, ‘Medieval Florentine,’ p. 13; Chronicles, pp. 92–93. Very few of the mezzadri mentioned in these diaries were required to produce pledges to guarantee their position.

¹⁰⁴ Rodolico, l.c., p. 130 seq. and ‘II ritorno alla terra nella storia degli italiani,’ Atti dei Georgofili, cxi, 1933, p. 323 seq.

¹⁰⁵ ‘Si comincia con mercanti, e si finisce … con possessori di terre,’ Rodolico, l.c., p. 146.

¹⁰⁶ Supra, p. 189. It should be noted that some of the lands acquired by Rosso and his sons belonged to persons bankrupt or in difficulties, whose creditors doubtless included Rosso and his family : supra, nos. 49, 52.

¹⁰⁷ Supra, nos. 58, 95 and infra, p. 200–1.

¹⁰⁸ Other Strozzi ricordanze contain only domestic detail and estate accounts : thus those of Sandro di Buono and Fr. di Palla (supra, nn. 88, 91), from the last of which Rodolico again inferred a withdrawal from trade to land : l.c., p. 147.

¹⁰⁹ Supra, pp. 183–4, 190–1; Rodolico, l.c., p. 141 seq. Machiavelli reports of Lorenzo de' Medici that after his losses in business he turned to land as more ‘firm and secure riches.’ Cf. Luca da Panzano, supra, p. 194.

¹¹⁰ This may be shown for example of the Frescobaldi, Spini, Compagni, Peruzzi, Bardi and Bonaccorsi.

¹¹¹ Supra, nn. 56, 58.

¹¹² Sieveking, l.c., pp. 96, 99–100; cf. the Panciatichi, ibid., pp. 94–95. Cf. also Luca da Panzano (supra, p. 14) and P. Falcucci (ricordanze, fols. 55v–56v) who though business men, had as much or more money in land and Monte shares than in trade. Already the Alberti had their capital divided about equally between trade and land: Sapori, ‘Gli Alberti,’ p. 188.

¹¹³ Canestrini, , La scienza el'arte di stato, i (Florence, 1862), p. 419 seq.Google Scholar, 428. Lettere di un notaio (ser Lapo Mazzei) etc., ed. Guasti, C. (Florence, 1880), i, 393–394Google Scholar; Sieveking, l.c., p. 103 seq.; Sapori, A., ‘Economia e morale alla fine del Trecento,’ Studi senesi, lxiv, 1952, p. 73Google Scholar seq. Canestrini (pp. 151, 156) states that the catasti of Florentine citizens yielded 25,341 florins of which 5,501 florins represented the contribution of commercial wealth; according to Sieveking (p. 103) the total capital of Florentine citizens was 8–9,000,000 florins of which business capital amounted to 1,100,200 florins.

¹¹⁴ Sieveking, p. 94; Renouard, Y., Hommes d'affaires italiens (Paris, 1949), pp. 123–125Google Scholar. Because liability was unlimited the capital of commercial firms did not need to be very large: Lopez, R. S., ‘Italian leadership in the medieval business world,’ Journal of economic history, viii, 1948, p. 67Google Scholar.

¹¹⁵ Ricordi storici cit., pp. 14, 34 seq., 112 seq.; Monaldi, Guido, Diario, in Istorie pistolesi (Florence, 1733), p. 355Google Scholar.

¹¹⁶ Rodolico, l.c., p. 149.

¹¹⁷ Thus Ghiacente da Panzano (ricordanze of Luca da Panzano, fol. 86r), Puccio Pucci (Merkel, C., ‘I beni della famiglia di Puccio Pucci,’ Miscellanea nuziale Rossi-Teiss, Trento, 1897, p. 164Google Scholar), Fr. Sassetti (Florence Edler de Roover, l.c., p. 68) and possibly Goro Dati (Il libra segrelo, ed. Gargioli, C., Bologna, 1869)Google Scholar. At Prato about three-eighths of Fr. Datini's capital on his death (1410) was invested in land and government stock (Lettere di un notaio cit., i, p. cxxxix), and at Pisa in 1427 the five richest citizens had most of their capital in trade: Sieveking, pp. 107–108. Account should be taken also of families like the Medici (supra, nn. 112–113) whose tax-returns were imperfect.

¹¹⁸ Doren, A., Le arti fiorentine (tr. Klein, G. B., Florence, 1940), i. 162, 192 seqGoogle Scholar. The chronicler Stefani may have been such a scioperato (Cronaca civ), certain of the Strozzi also (supra, p. 189), while D. Velluti complained of young men of merchant families who dissipated their substance in ‘cortesia’: Cronica, pp. 34–36, 139–140.

¹¹⁹ His ideal was the church-going business man : Libro di buoni costumi, ed. Schiaffini, A. (Florence, 1945), pp. 91, 96, 124Google Scholar.

¹²⁰ La decima scalata, in Dialogo e discorsi del reggimento di Firenze, ed. Palmarocchi, A. (Bari, 1932), p. 201Google Scholar.

¹²¹ For example the Strozzi, Sassetti, Compagni, Cavalcanti, Portinari, Capponi, Pitti, Albizzi, Manelli, Tornaquinci (Tornabuoni), Baroncelli, etc.

¹²² See particularly Barbieri, G., Ideali economici degli italiani nell'inizio dell'età moderna (Milan, 1940)Google Scholar, passim. All regions were affected, but some contemporaries still drew a distinction between the ‘Napolitani,’ or ‘Lombardi’ and the Venetians, Genoese and Florentines, who ‘indifferentemente esercitano la mercatanzia; in modo che i più nobili fra loro sono per lo più i mercatanti di maggior faccende’: ibid., p. 113, no. 52. The notion of some trades as more noble than others persisted (ibid., pp. 160, 191 seq.), but there ripened also a division between older noble families and those who, though noble, ‘spe lucri vel etiam propter inopiam exercent viles artes’ (such as commerce) : Rabozzi, M., ‘Lotte in Novara fra antica e nuova nobiltà sotto la dominazione spagnola,’ Boll. stor. per le prov. di Novara, xxxix, 1948, p. 7Google Scholar. For ‘abhorrence’ even of agriculture by noble landowners see Agnelli, G., ‘Relazione dello stato di Ferrara di O. di Rena (1589),’ Atti Dep. Ferrarese di Stor. Pat., viii, 1896, p. 270Google Scholar.

¹²³ Luzzatto, G., Storia economica dell'età moderna e contemporanea, i, Età moderna (Padua, 1955), p. 59 seqGoogle Scholar. Cf. Braudel, F., La Méditerrannée et le monde méditerranéen à l'epoque de Philippe II (Paris, 1949), p. 339 seq.Google Scholar; Lopez, R. S. in Cambridge Economic History, ii, 351 seq.Google Scholar; G. M. Cipolla, ‘The decline of Italy,’ Economic Hist. Review, 1952, pp. 178–187; Renouard, Y., ‘Lumières nouvelles sur les hommes d'affaires italiens au moyen âge,’ Annales, x, 1955, pp. 76–78Google Scholar.

¹²⁴ Varchi, B., Storia fiorentina, ix, 48Google Scholar. Albèri, E., Relazioni degli ambasciatori veneti, 2a ser., i (Florence, 1839), p. 21Google Scholar; cf. p. 327 and ii, 70, 359. Cf. Anzilotti, A., La crisi costituzionale della repubblica fiorentina (Florence, 1912), p. 8Google Scholar.

¹²⁵ See the panegyric of Dei, B. in Pagnini, Della decima, ii (1765), p. 240 seqGoogle Scholar. M. Pisani, Un avventuriero del quattrocento (1923), pp. 86–97. Cf. Sapori, Studi, p. 64.

¹²⁶ ‘Firenze è terra di mercatanzia,’ etc.: Ildefonso, , Delizie, vi, 148Google Scholar. The ‘decline’ of the Florentine textile industry has still to be properly evaluated and its place in the history of Florentine economy correctly assessed : P. Battara, ‘Botteghe e pigioni nella Firenze del '500,’ ASI, 1937, pp. 11, 27 seq.; Sapori, A., ‘Le compagnie italiane in Inghilterra,’ Moneta e credito, iii (1950), pp. 407–408Google Scholar (also in ASI, 1955, pp. 13–17, and Relazioni del X Congresso internaz. di scienze storiche (1955), vi, 846 seq.Google Scholar, 862 seq.); Romano, R., ‘A Florence au xviie siècle,’ Annales, vii, 1952, pp. 508–512CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

¹²⁷ L. Bulferetti for example (following Chabod and Fanfani, and like Barbieri) dates the ‘return to the land’ from the sixteenth century (‘L'oro, la terra e la società. Un interpretazione del nostro Seicento,’ Arch. stor. lombardo, 1954, p. 21), C. Cipolla rather from the fifteenth century or earlier (‘Trends in Italian economic history in the later Middle Ages,’ Ec. hist. rev., 1949–1950, pp. 181–184).

¹²⁸ Florence Edler de Roover, l.c., p. 75. No attempt can be made here to quote the wide variety of figures illustrating Florentine business profits (of the Peruzzi, Alberti and so on) in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.

¹²⁹ Corsani, l.c., p. 5, no. l; Bensa, E., Fr. di Marco da Prato (Milan, 1928), pp. 136, 271–272Google Scholar; R. de Roover, l.c., p. 41; Sapori, Studi, p. 109.

¹³⁰ Rodolico, l.c., pp. 147–149 (partly from the ricordanze, etc., of Fr. di Palla Strozzi, Paolo Sassetti, and Paliano Falcucci, of whom the last two were business men). There is no space here to enquire how representative such examples may be; but it can be noted that in the late thirteenth and fourteenth centuries the return from land was normally reckoned at 4 to 6 per cent. (Canestrini, l.c., pp. 27, 33, Bensa, l.c., pp. 271–272; cf. Ottokar, l.c., p. 169, etc.), by the Florentine catasto of 1427 at 7 per cent., but by the decima of the late fifteenth century at 5 per cent, again, while a tax proposal of the early sixteenth century, though accepting this, adds that ‘la maggior parte de' beni del nostro contado si stimino a quattro per cento’ (Canestrini, pp. 461–462). It is not therefore surprising that the Peruzzi, Alberti, or Del Bene drew higher profits from trade than land (Sapori, Studi, pp. 263–264, 270, 696; Luzzatto, , ‘Per la storia dell'economia rurale in Italia nel sec. xiv,’ Hommage à L. Febvre, ii (Paris, 1952), p. 108)Google Scholar. A more tempting opportunity of speculation was offered by government securities, to obtain which in one period (1358 seq.) men sold up both businesses and land (M. Villani, viii, 71; Stefani rub. 883; Rodolico, l.c., pp. 134 seq., 283 seq.; in 1367 Carlo Strozzi & Co. had Monte investments yielding 28⅔ per cent.: ricordanze of Rossello di Rosso, fol. 6v); they circulated often at very low quotations (Stefani rub. 727, Rodolico, p. 271, Bensa, pp. 190, 273; Sapori, Studi, pp. 110, 414–418; ricordanze of Luca da Panzano, fols. 75r, 81v, 82r; cf. n. 14 supra) and were still evidently a favourite investment in 1500 (Guicciardini, l.c., 204; Anzilotti, l.c., p. 19). For exactly parallel developments at Venice see Luzzatto, ‘Sull' attendibilità di alcune statistiche economiche medievali,’ Giorn. degli economisti (1929), pp. 127 n. 2, 129, 132.

¹³¹ Habakkuk, H. J., ‘Daniel Finch, 2nd earl of Nottingham, his house and estate,’ Studies in social history, ed. Plumb, J. H. (London, 1955), p. 171Google Scholar.

¹³² Alberti, l.c., i, 23.

¹³³ This at least seems implied in Paradiso, xv, 109 (cf. Bensa, p. 236). G. Villani is quite explicit in condemning Florentine extravagance in building country houses: xi, 94 (1336–1338); for the early history of the ville cf. Sapori, Studi, p. 65.

¹³⁴ Giglioli, I., ‘Dante e l'agricoltura del suo secolo,’ Giorn. dantesco, vii, 1899, p. 204Google Scholar; Grayson, C., ‘Studi su L. B. Alberti,’ Rinascimento, iv, 1953, p. 45 seq.Google Scholar; Barbieri, l.c. Cf. remarks of Paolo da Certaldo, supra, p. 198..

¹³⁵ Typical examples among hundreds are the properties acquired by Sir John Hawkwood which included a podere near Florence ‘cum domibus altis et bassis cum logia columbaria giardino stabulis muratis pro domino, cum duabus domibus pro laboratoribus separatis una ab alia,’ and a ‘resedium’ near Poggibonsi ‘cum domibus turri terris,’ etc., and a ‘palactium’ in the same locality: Dini, F., ‘La Rocchetta di Poggibonsi e Gio. Acuto,’ Misc. stor. delta Valdelsa, v, 1893, pp. 14–21Google Scholar.

¹³⁶ Lettere di un notaio, i, 116; cf. p. 130 where ser Lapo teases him about his fine ambition to build a country house, calling him ‘Sir Count.’

¹³⁷ Ildefonso, , Delizie, vii, 203Google Scholar seq. Typical are the Bardi with houses in town and ‘tres turres et unum palatium et tres domos,’ etc., in the popolo of S. Cristoforo de Enticia : ibid., pp. 209, 210, 213.

¹³⁸ Plesner, l.c., p. 10 seq., who gives as one example, from its aspect to-day, the castle of Panzano, where the ricordanze of Luca di Matteo do in fact show his early fourteenth century ancestors buying up houses, etc., inside the walls; there was a family palagio outside the walls of which Luca sold his portion, preferring to build an ‘abituro’ within: fols. 50v, 99v, 170v-172r; Carnesecchi, p. 164, no. l. Lapo da Castiglionchio still had a ‘Torre’ and ‘corte’ in the castello of Castiglionchio as well as a palagio at Garullo: ricord., f. 15r, 15v, and ricord. of his sons, 80, f. 14r.

¹³⁹ Examples of this transformation seem to be the castles, later villas at Castiglioni, Botinaccio, Montegufoni, Montespertoli, Lucardo and Lucignano, of which the first four had passed from feudal families to the Frescobaldi, Acciaiuoli, and Machiavelli: Nardi-Dei, M., Monografia storica di Montespertoli (Florence, 1873), pp. 18, 39, 47, 49, 55–60Google Scholar. Cf. also Patzak, , Palast u. Villa in Toscana, i (Leipzig, 1912), p. 78, 100, 108Google Scholar and figs. 85, 110, 137–139; Carocci, G., Dintorni di Firenze (Florence, 1906), passimGoogle Scholar.

¹⁴⁰ Patzak, i, 72 seq., passim.

¹⁴¹ Libri di commercio dei Peruzzi, ed. Sapori, A. (Milan, 1934), pp. 450, 479–482, 502, 503, 504, etc.Google Scholar (the Baroncelli villa still stands: Patzak, i, 77–78 and figs. 81–84). The Cerchi too had properties (at Remole) ‘loco dicto al Chastellare’: Davidsohn, , Forsch., iii, 315Google Scholar; cf. Carocci, i, 30–31. Of the Alberti, Sapori says they acquired land more than anything to support their social condition : ‘Gli Alberti,’ p. 188; Libri Alberti, p. xliii.

¹⁴² Bulferetti, l.c., p. 30, no. 48.

¹⁴³ Lapo da Castiglionchio owned a copy of Crescenzio (ricord. of his sons, 80, f. 4r), but Crescenzio's teaching was essentially based on the Roman agronomists: G. Padovan (G. Luzzatto), ‘Trasformazioni e sopprawivenze nell'Italia agricola del Medioevo,’ Popoli (1942), pp. 12, 17.

¹⁴⁴ References are too many to give here; for a year's contract (salary 25 florins) between Strozza di Carlo Strozzi and a factor to administer his lands in the Valdera (1390) see Carte Strozz., 3a ser., 123, fol. 219.

¹⁴⁵ As was evidently the case in the later sixteenth century: Barbieri, p. 275 (where the complaint is also recorded that the money spent on villas rendered no benefits to agriculture).

¹⁴⁶ Supra, n. 95. Supervision could be difficult: see the Florentine statute concerning ‘cives florentini habentes terras … quas propter loci distantiam nequeunt assidue custodire,’ Rondoni, G., I più antichi frammenti del costituto fiorentino (Florence, 1882), doc. 34Google Scholar.

¹⁴⁷ Libro cit., p. 93. Cf. L. B. Alberti (with a classical inflection): ‘Tua sia l'industria del comandare, de' servi sia opera ubidirti,’ Grayson, l.c., p. 51.

¹⁴⁸ Examples are common; from the present ricordanze may be noted : ricord. of Niccolo Monachi, fol. 62r; libro mastro of Fr. di Palla Strozzi, fols. 14r, 60r, 129r; ricord. of Paliano Falcucci, fol. 77r cf. Carte Strozz., 3a ser., 123, f. 219 (and possibly the Cerchi ricord., 309, fols. 32, 31, etc.; 311 fols. 3r, 11r, 33r). Though debts might be repaid in opere (supra, n. 21), and though mezzadri might render works (Jones, ‘Camaldoli,’ p. 176), hired labourers were doubtless the rule; hence their prominence in fourteenth century Florentine legislation.

¹⁴⁹ Dietzel, H., ‘Ueber Wesen u. Bedeutung des Theilbaus in Italien,’ Zeit. f. d. gesammte Staatswiss., xl–xli, 1884–1885Google Scholar.

¹⁵⁰ Plesner, p. 211 seq. Cf. infra.

¹⁵¹ Among the ricordanze those of Niccolo Monach offer a good example: fols. 3r, 28; cf. ricord. of the Dell'Antella (supra, n. 8), Cerchi (309, fol. 32r; 310, fol. 31v), Paliano Falcucci (fols. 77r, 86v, etc.). The Libri dei Peruzzi are particularly revealing: pp. 33–34, 37, 320, 325, 334, 399, 400, 405–411, 421, 433, 443, 445, 447, 453, 454, 455, 457, 459, 460, 464–465, 469, 472–473, 481, 485, 503, 507–509, 511–512. Typical is B. Pitti who mentions in the same breath his profits from the sale of English wool and the money spent on properties and vineyards: Cronica (Florence, 1720), p. 39Google Scholar. Cf. Sapori, Studi, p. 60 seq.

¹⁵² Guicciardini, l.c., p. 201. In 1343 Andrea Strozzi raised a popular following in Florence by promising to sell his grain at reduced prices.

¹⁵³ See his accounts, passim. Nearly all the ricordanze mention similar sales and show that crops might be sown and rents varied according to market prices and demand (for example, ricord. of Lapo da Castiglionchio's sons, 80, fols. 14r, 14B). Sales of produce yielded more to Fr. di Palla Strozzi than interest on government stock: Libro mastro, fols. 82r, 93v, 102v, 106v. Paolo da Certaldo (Libro, pp. 124–125) offers advice on methods and seasons for sale.

¹⁵⁴ Marcotti, l.c., pp. 61–62. For Florentine consumption a century earlier, before the Black Death, see G. Villani, xi, 94, Florentine urbis descriptio (in Frey, G., Die Loggia dei Lanzi, Berlin, 1885, p. 122Google Scholar); and in 1527 see Varchi, ix, 35. The grain rents of Fr. Rinuccini (1378) totalled 188 moggia (c. 4,500 bushels): Ricordi storici, p. 34 seq.

¹⁵⁵ Thus Varchi, l.c. A mid-sixteenth century document declared it normal to estimate ‘15 staia per bocca’ per year: ASF Conventi soppressi, 72, vol. 31, fol. 8v.

¹⁵⁶ Libri Peruzzi, pp. 412, 451, 457, 463, 469, 472–473, 510.

¹⁵⁷ Nardi-Dei, p. 59.

¹⁵⁸ v. Francia, , ‘Il contratto di soccida nel Bolognese nei secc. xiii e xiv,’ Arch, giurid., lxxxvii, 1922, pp. 81–82, 84–90Google Scholar (the return could be 30 per cent.; cf. p. 227); Nasalli-Rocca, E., ‘Soccide e contratti medioevali su bestiame nella regione piacentina,’ Arch. V. Scialoja, vi, 1939, p. 171Google Scholar.

¹⁵⁹ Castellani, A., Registro di crediti e pagamenti del maestro Passara di Martino di Cortona (1315–1337) (Florence, 1949), p. 9Google Scholar; I conti fratelli Cambio e Giov. di Detaccomando (Florence, 1948), which shows (pp. 10–11) the return could reach 25 to 35 per cent.

¹⁶⁰ Ricordanze of G. Sassett i (supra, p. 185), Fil Cavalcanti (fol. 49r; Castellani, pp. 580, 581), P. Sassetti (fols. 29r), Luca da Panzano (fol. 3r), and accounts of Nofri di Palla Strozzi; cf. Formularium modernum et universale (1488), pp. lxxxiii–lxxxiv, Sieveking, p. 104; also p. 195 supra.

¹⁶¹ Thus Genoa: Reynolds, R. L., ‘In search of a business class in thirteenth century Genoa,’ Journal ofec. hist., suppl. v, 1945, pp. 12–13, 18–19Google Scholar.

¹⁶² ‘Ma’ fatti vostri sono in iscritture; oggi si, domane no, ec.,’ Lettere, p. 36.

¹⁶³ Tamassia, N., La famiglia italiana nei secc. xv e xvi (Palermo, 1910), p. 129Google Scholar, no. 1. Cf. Barbieri, p. 150. The argument was scarcely new (cf. Cato, De agricultura, pref.) and occurs all over Europe: Lopez, ‘Italian leadership,’ p. 67, no. 8.

¹⁶⁴ Sapori, Studi, pp. 95, 276; ‘II quaderno dei creditori di Taddeo dell' Antella e compagni,’ Riv. Biblioteche Archivi, N.S., iii, 1925, p. 161Google Scholar. Sapori acquits the Peruzzi of using this device, but as early as 1348 and 1349 they were buying poderi again: Codice dip. dantesco, no. 190; ASF Deposito Peruzzi dei Medici: 1.4.1349.

¹⁶⁵ Masi, G., ‘Fra savi e mercanti suicidi del tempo di Dante,’ Giorn. dant., xxxix, 1936, pp. 211–212Google Scholar. In 1357, long after bankruptcy proceedings had been begun, Jacopo Acciaiuoli, when listing in his will his various farms, explains that creditors may still distrain on them: ASF Diplomatico, Certosa, 22.3.1356–1357.

¹⁶⁶ M. Villani, iv, 84, v, 74; Canestrini, pp. 72–75. The case of the Scali-Amieri bankruptcy (1326, etc.), illustrates the difficulty of tracing land : Grunzweig, A., ‘Les fonds de la Mercanzia aux archives de Florence,’ Bull. Inst. hist, belge de Rome, xiv, 1934, pp. 32–33Google Scholar.

¹⁶⁷ Thus the Strozzi acquired land at various times from the bankrupt Mozzi, Amieri, Cocchi, Bonaccorsi and Antellesi, and (just before their bankruptcy) from the Peruzzi.

¹⁶⁸ A law (a. 1784) of Pietro Leopoldo provides for ‘quei denarosi trafficanti che vogliono investire i loro capitali in beni stabili’: G., and Poggi, E., Saggio di un trattato teorico-pratico sul sistema livellare, i (Florence, 1842), p. 227Google Scholar.

¹⁶⁹ For example, Visconti, A., ‘Ricerche sul diritto pubblico milanese nell'alto Medio Evo,’ Annali R. Univ. di Macerata, iii, 1928, p. 102 seq.Google Scholar; ‘Negotiatores de Mediolano,’ ibid., 1929, and ‘Note per la storia della societa milanese,’ Arch. stor. lombardo (1934); Violante, C., La società milanese nell'età precomunale (Bari, 1953), pp. 41 seq.Google Scholar, 115 seq. Sieveking says: ‘Kaufmännische Grundbesitz ist keineswegs immer dadurch zu erklären, das ein Grundherr Kaufmannschaft treibt, sondern häufiger dadurch dass ein Kaufmann seiner Gewinn in Grundstücken anlegt’ (‘Der Kaufmann im Mittelalter,’ Schmollers Jahrbuch, lii, 1928, p. 1037Google Scholar; in Italy only the early law of Aistulf (c. 3, a. 754) seems to define the negotiantes as a class without land, but cf. Violante, pp. 44–5, 127 seq.

¹⁷⁰ See particularly for Genoa and Venice: Sieveking, H., ‘Die kapitalist. Entwicklung in den ital. Stadten d. Mittelalters,’ VSWG, vii, 1909, p. 73 seq.Google Scholar; M. Merores, ‘Der venezianische Adel,’ ibid., xix, 1926, p. 229; Luzzatto, G., ‘Les activites économiques du patriciat vénétién,’ Annales, ix, 1937, pp. 25–57Google Scholar; R. Lopez, ‘Aux origines du capitalisme genois,’ ibid., pp. 429–454, and Studi sull'economia genovese (Turin, 1936), p. 207 seq.Google Scholar; Vitale, V., ‘Vita e commercio nei notai genoves dei secc. xii e xiii,’ Atti Soc. Ligure di S.P., lxxii, 1949, pp. 27 seq.Google Scholar, 92; Bach, E., La cité de Gênes au xiie siècle (Copenhagen, 1955), p. 57 seq.Google Scholar; for Bologna: Gozzadini, G., Delle torri gentilizie di Bologna (Bologna, 1880)Google Scholar, passim; for Siena: Lisini, A., ‘Notizie genealogiche della famiglia Piccoloese mini, Misc. stor. senese, iii–v (1895–1898)Google Scholar; Sayous, A, ‘Dans l'ltalie, a l'interieur des terres, Annales, iii, 1931, p. 193, seq.Google Scholar; Cecchini, G., ‘Il castello delle quattro torri,’ Bull. Sen. di S.P., lv, 1948, p. 6 seq.Google Scholar; V. Petroni, ‘Un doc. ined. sul beato Petrone Petroni,’ ibid., 1949, pp. 133–134. Cf. Lestocquoy, J., Les villes de Flandre et d'ltalie (Paris, 1952), pp. 44–50, 87–102, etc.Google Scholar; ‘Fils de riches ou nouveaux riches?’, Annales, i, 1946, pp. 139–153Google Scholar. Though the complaint against gente nuova recurs from period to period both in Florene and other towns, the distinction of new and old families was soon forgotten and the opposition of landowning and merchant families, so common in northern towns, is not characteristic of Italy.

¹⁷¹ Davidsohn calculates 33 out of 73; Geschichte, ii (2) pp.474–477.

¹⁷² Many More were related by marriage to merchant families: G. Villani,iv, 10–13, Malespini, pp. 50 seq., 89 seq.; cf. n.25 supra and Roon Bassermann,l.c. Villani notes that a further 12 of his 51 families were decayed or extinct; still others had gone into permanent exile where, like the Uberti, they took up trade Davidsohn, , Geschichte, iii, 522, iv (2), pp. 205, 457–458Google Scholar; Renier, R., Liriche ed. e ined. di Fazio degli Uberti (Florence, 1883), p. cxvii seqGoogle Scholar.

¹⁷³ Plesner, pp. 197–198, 210. Cf. Guicciardini(l.c. p. 214): ‘seal mercatante o al danaroso è proibito el comperare quantita di possessione ed assicurare uno stato fermo a' suoi figliuoli, giàbisogna si raffreddi la voglia di fare mercatantie,’ etc.; to buy land is ‘uno di quegli fini per li qualie' mercatanti sogliono travagliare.’

¹⁷⁴ Supra, n. 39.

¹⁷⁵ Velluti, l.c.; B. Pitti, l.c.; G. Morelli, Cronica in Istoria Fiorentina of R. Malespini, cit., and supra, p. 193.

¹⁷⁶ G. Morelli (pp. 227, 232), though ascribing high antiquity to his family, implies that the first to bear the name Morello was born about 1250; Ildefonso (and other later genealogists) says the name was much older, but all he shows is the existence earlier of men with this name whom he arbitrarily relates together and to the M. family: Della istoria geneal. della nobilissima famiglia dei M., Delizie, p. xix.

¹⁷⁷ Delizie, l.c.; cf. Doren, l.c., i, 162. For one Morelli in England in the fifteenth century, see Ruddock, A. A., Italian merchants and shipping in Southampton, 1270–1600 (Southampton, 1951), pp. 74, 98–105, 122–123Google Scholar, etc.

¹⁷⁸ G. Morelli, l.c., pp. 217–279 passim.