CHAPTER II.
THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY—RULE OF THE ALBIZZI—GIOVANNO D’AVERARDO DE’
MEDICI.
THE sanguinary conflict of Campaldino was fought, in 1289, in the
plain on the Arno which is overlooked by Poppi, the principal place
in the Tuscan valley of the Casentino, where stood the stronghold of
those Counts Guidi, who were the protectors of the Guelf cause when
brought to its lowest ebb by the war of the Vespers. Two years after
the battle, in 1291, Ardingo de’ Medici first sat among the Priors of
Florence, and in 1296, when the office was still a new one, he was
appointed Gonfalonier, as also was his brother Guccio three years
later. Of the last-named there exists a memento, the oldest relating to
the family, in the sarcophagus that once held his bones and was immured
in the outer wall of the Baptistery. This antique, which is carved in
relief with a representation of the chase in Calydon, was placed in the
courtyard of the Medici palace, and bears on its modern cover the arms
of the family, as well as those of the Guild of Woolstaplers, to which
the Medici belonged. Thus, at the end of the thirteenth century we see
members of the family in a position of respectable burghers in the
enjoyment of civic honours.
Nothing remarkable is heard of them until the middle of the fourteenth
century. They formed part, in their numerous branches, of the large
family of the people who were increasing more and more their trade and
manufactures, and shared on an equal footing in the government of their
city.
In the second half of the century two of them became remarkable in
different ways, Averardo, called Bicci, son of Salvestro, called
Chiarissimo, and Salvestro, son of Alamanno, two cousins in the fourth
degree. Of the first we shall speak presently. Salvestro played the
chief part in a transaction that shed a lurid light on the history of
Florence of that period, but which was the beginning of that influence
which ended in the sole supremacy of the Medici.
The heroic age of Florence terminated with the first decade of the
fourteenth century. The city, at the head of the Tuscan league, which
bound together the Anjous and the Guelfs of Rome and Upper Italy, had
manfully resisted Henry of Luxemburg, but succumbed to Louis of Bavaria
and the Ghibellines, spite of the aid of foreign auxiliaries. At the
same time the rulers from Naples, as well as the foreigners who were
appointed to enforce established ordinances, were in a certain measure
above the law, and in the exercise of arbitrary power. Fortune smiled
on none of their undertakings, nor was the State guided to any better
state of things by what the poet of the ‘Divine Comedy’ called ‘the new
people and the sudden gains.’ Strength in arms began to decline, and
an undue preponderance of material interests to prevail. No period of
Florentine history is so poor in men distinguished by arms or policy
as that which followed the repulse of Henry VII. Material interests
even were not adequately protected. For although the springs of gain
had yielded copiously, and still continued partially to flow, the cost
of war and the taxes pressed with proportionate weight; and in the
third decade of the century began the failures of the great banking
houses, from which they did not recover for a long time, if they ever
did completely. To this must be added distressing losses occasioned
by inundations and epidemics. Confusion in the government, due on
the one hand to the resentment of the aristocracy, on the other to
the ill-feeling of the lower classes, brought matters at length to
a crisis in 1342. A foreign adventurer, closely connected with the
house of Anjou, Walter de Brienne, Count of Lecce and Duke of Athens,
was enabled by the assistance of the lowest class of artisans, and
some adherents of the nobler families, to make himself for a short
time absolute master of Florence. The tyranny, indeed, was overthrown
in the following year by a union of the upper and lower classes, who
were not, however, long in falling out again, to the great detriment
of the nobility. On the pretext of purging the Guelf party the system
of _Ammonirism_—_i.e._ exclusion from public offices—was put in
practice. It was directed against the decaying nobility on the one
hand, and on the other against certain suspected persons in the
lower classes. In this way, some thirty years after the expulsion of
the Duke, the supreme power was vested in an oligarchy, at the head
of which was the Captain of the Guelf faction. They had the whole
machinery of government under their control, and were mainly supported
by a few families of the wealthier burghers.[4] Among these were the
Albizzi, who, originally from Arezzo, having acquired great riches and
a high position, stood first in the city of Florence.
Salvestro de’ Medici, who in 1370 had held the office of Gonfalonier,
sought to put an end to the tyranny of party when he was again
appointed Gonfalonier in the spring of 1378. The reigning faction,
though mistrusting him, dared not oppose him, for fear of the
multitude, who were in his favour. His attempt to diminish the
authority of the Capitano and re-open the way to office to the excluded
ones (_Ammoniti_) brought on a violent insurrection of the common
people. This ‘tumulto dei ciompi,’ as it was called, placed Florence
for a time under mob-rule, and would have degenerated into the wildest
anarchy but for the energy of one poor man, Michele di Lando, the
woolcomber, whom the infuriated populace had raised to the chief
magistracy, and who, with remarkable instinct, steered the State safely
through the storm which threatened its ruin. This state of things
lasted three years, during which the all-powerful mob became the tool
of designing men, who wreaked their vengeance on the party that had
so lately been supreme. The latter, however, in their turn seized the
opportunity when the better sort among the populace were disgusted with
the tyranny of their fellows, and overthrew the mobocracy, setting up
in its place a conservative government, formed of the _Optimates_,
or better citizens, under the lead of the Albizzi. Salvestro de’
Medici, the original author of the revolt, contributed nothing to its
suppression. It was, perhaps, beyond his power to do anything. He died
in 1388, and the name of the Medici became identical with that of
representatives of the interests of the people. Five years later, when
the oppressions of the Albizzi had excited general discontent, an armed
body of the people marched to the house of Vieri de’ Medici, and asked
him to be their leader. He was of the same branch of the family as
Salvestro, but he prudently declined the proposed honour, and appeased
the revolters.
Averardo, styled Bicci, was the founder of the line that came to be
talked of in the world. Little more is known of him than that in
1357 he was employed on behalf of the Republic in the Mugello. His
grandfather, of the same name, was Gonfalonier in 1314, when Florence,
to escape from the pressure of the Ghibellines, submitted to the
Anjous. He was, it is said, the first of the family that amassed
wealth by trade, and laid the basis of that prosperity which was a
potent factor in the political transactions of his successors. The
real splendour of the family, however, began with his son Giovanni
d’Averardo, commonly called Giovanni di Bicci, who was born in 1360,
and was in the bloom of manhood when the Albizzi held undisputed sway
over Florence. The position of the Medici was a difficult one, for the
favour they enjoyed among the people exposed them to the suspicion and
dislike of the upper class. An attempt made in 1397 to restrict the
power of Maso degli Albizzi, head of his family and of the State, ended
in the exile and execution of the ringleaders, among whom were found
some of the Medici. The prudence and foresight which Giovanni exhibited
not only preserved his authority among his friends, but extorted
respect from his opponents.
There were stirring times in Giovanni’s maturer years. The government
of the conservative party was burdensome on the people and their
friends, who were heavily taxed, but it was a successful government
in the conduct of foreign affairs, and in the production of public
works at home. Florence increased in political importance. The war
against the Visconti of Milan, who were extending their power, and
aiming at the establishment of a kingdom in Italy, was very costly and
not always fortunate to the Guelf republic. Among the vicissitudes
undergone by the latter was the defeat of their German champion, King
Ruprecht of the Palatinate, whom they had summoned across the Alps.
Nevertheless, the ultimate issue was favourable to Florence, which at
this time enjoyed a brilliant and comparatively quiet existence. The
death of Gian Galeazzo Visconti, in 1402, relieved her of an enemy
who had already set foot in Tuscany, and in 1406 she took possession
of Pisa, which, weakened by centuries of war and internal commotion,
surrendered after an heroic resistance. With varying fortune, Florence
made war against Ladislaus, King of Naples, with whom expired in 1414
the male branch of that house of Anjou with whom she had once been so
closely allied. She also extended her political influence to Umbria,
took Cortona in 1411, and, ten years later, Livorno. With all this her
trade and manufactures expanded and matured, increasing her resources
and preparing her for other emergencies. The republic which had been
the most steadfast friend of the Holy See, was in bitter dispute with
it during the later period of the Avignon Papacy. Actively desirous
for the restoration of ecclesiastical unity, Florence, in the midst
of the great schism, witnessed in her newly acquired territory of Pisa
an attempt to reunite the adherents of both Popes, the one at Avignon
and the one at Rome. The attempt was a failure, and only added to the
confusion by setting up a third Pope, but it gave occasion to the next
General Council of Constance, which brought the rupture to a close in
1417.
Notwithstanding so large a military expenditure the wealth of the
republic continued to flourish. There was a discrepancy, indeed, in
the account of private wealth and public revenue. Two hundred thousand
gold guilders were promised for Pisa, sixty thousand were paid to
King Ladislaus for Cortona, and a hundred thousand to the Genoese for
Livorno. In this way the balance of income and revenue was seriously
disturbed. An attempt was made in 1411 to avoid the risks of large
grants of money by increasing the number of courts that had to consider
the projects of law laid before the Signory. In the fourteenth century
was manifested the canker in the finances of Florence that was never
quite eradicated. It is true the income of 1328 amounted to more than
300,000 gold guilders, while the regular expenditure was only 40,000,
showing a surplus of more than 260,000. The sum was raised in great
part by the excise or other indirect taxes, detailed statistical
accounts of which still exist.[5] This surplus was so far inadequate
to meet the oppressive military expenditure, the pay of the Anjou
and other leaders hired by the republic, the cost of fortifications,
the purchase of new territory, and the outlay on public works, that
by degrees a considerable State debt was contracted, which we hear
of under the name of _Monte Comune_. The growth of this debt is made
intelligible by the fact that in the twenty-nine years from 1377 to
1406, eleven and a half million guilders were spent in war, while the
sojourn of Duke Charles of Calabria in the city, cost 900,000, and
that of the Duke of Athens 400,000. In the wealth of families great
changes had taken place. The fourteenth century exhibited remarkable
peculiarities in the matter of private property. Shortly before the
middle of the century, the insolvency of England had brought to
the ground most of the Florentine bankers, some of them for ever.
Immediately after that, famine and the Black Death produced a change,
which was intensified by the measures taken against the families of
those nobles and the ruling party who were hated or suspected. Most of
the old families became poor, while a crowd of small folks grew into
importance; and the haste to grow rich, infinitely greater than it was
in the time of the author of the ‘Divine Comedy,’ whose admonishing
voice we have heard, augmented the recklessness and corruption which
greatly contributed to the great revolution of 1378. In spite of
considerable fluctuation an aristocracy of wealth was formed consisting
chiefly of members of the seven great guilds, in whose hands, after
the close of the thirteenth century, lay the government of the State.
The guilds of the money-changers and of the woolstaplers were the
principal, for the first gave the law to all foreign banks, the last,
to which smaller societies were subject, governed all foreign markets.
Giovanni di Bicci was one of those who knew how to avail himself
skilfully of the favourable opportunities offered by the conclusion of
peace at the beginning of the fifteenth century. At the time of the
Council of Constance, which agitated the world to an unusual degree,
all the great monetary affairs in which Italy was concerned passed
through Giovanni’s hands. He is said to have gained enormous sums of
money, which were increased when the acquisition of Livorno afforded an
advantageous outlet to the commerce of Florence. The advantage would
have been lasting, but for the war with Milan, which broke out a few
years later, and caused grave troubles. If Giovanni gained much, he
was generous with his gains. Where need was, he showed no stint, and
for public works his contribution was always ready. Having promised a
chapel and sacristy for San Lorenzo, when the enlargement of the whole
church was taken in hand (1419) he prompted Filippo Brunelleschi to
design a grand plan for its entire reconstruction, which was begun in
1421, and in which the Medici and seven other families took an especial
interest. Giovanni, though he did not seek offices in the State, never
refused any to which he was called. He conducted negotiations with
Ladislaus, King of Naples, went to congratulate Alexander V. on his
election as Pope by the Council of Pisa, and accompanied Martin V. when
the latter, on his return from Constance, passed through Florence to
Rome. Giovanni was elected to the office of Podestà in Pistoja, and
in 1421 was chosen Gonfalonier in Florence. The choice was not quite
agreeable to the ruling party, for popular traditions were associated
with the name of Medici, and Giovanni stood so high in the favour of
the multitude that he could, if he had wished, easily have stirred up
an insurrection against the oligarchy. Niccolo Uzzano, a prudent and
moderate man, who, after Maso degli Albizzi’s death in 1417, shared
with Rinaldo the leadership of the conservative party, opposed the
election of Giovanni, but did not push his opposition to extremes, for
he saw there was a struggle coming on. Giovanni, on his side, made no
attempt during his term of office at anything that would disturb the
peace.
Ere long external causes placed the party in danger. The antagonism
between Florence and Milan could not be removed by mere treaties of
peace. Gian Galeazzo’s only remaining son, Filippo Maria, was treading
in his father’s steps. He had not only recovered the dominion which,
at his father’s death, fell to pieces, but had added Genoa to it. He
now stretched out his hand to the Romagna, where he came into collision
with the interests of Florence, for the small gentry of that province,
hitherto in connection with the republic, were in danger of being
subjected to the will of a powerful and ambitious neighbour. Out of
this arose the war of 1423, which was far from being successful. As
in earlier times, the Florentine forces in 1424 were unable to cope
with the Milanese, whom they encountered, first in the Romagna and
afterwards in their own territory. The fault lay not so much in the men
and their officers as in the absurd system of directing the movement of
troops by a committee of civilians, called the Board of War, seated at
home. Rinaldo degli Albizzi succeeded in calming the agitation of the
people after the severe defeat of Zagonara on July 24th, but the damage
done to his party only increased the ascendancy of Giovanni di Bicci.
At the beginning of the war he had advised that the Duke of Milan
should not be followed into the Romagna, but should be waited for on
this side of the Apennines, but his advice was overruled.
In the beginning of 1426 Florence succeeded in forming an alliance
with Venice, which, though a rival in mercantile interests, was as
sensitive about the encroachments of Milan in the north as was the
sister republic about his encroachments in the centre of the peninsula.
The lords of Ferrara, Mantua, and others joined the alliance. The
disasters of the war and increase of expenditure gave rise to much
dissatisfaction, more loudly expressed among the higher than by the
lower classes, the fear of whom led the administration to press their
fiscal measures most heavily on the richer citizens. Rinaldo degli
Albizzi thought to effect a change by weakening the democratic element
in the Council. At a meeting of the heads of his party in the Church
of Sto. Stefano, near the old bridge, he proposed that the number
of lesser guilds should be reduced one half, and the votes of the
smaller citizens diminished correspondingly. Changes in the relative
numbers of the guilds had always been the means employed by either
party for securing political preponderance; for the relative position
of the parties was not strong enough to make manœuvres of this kind
superfluous. Besides the twenty-one guilds, there was a number of
smaller corporations representing branches of the different trades. No
less than twenty-five such societies were the offspring of the largest
of the guilds, that of the woolstaplers. They had their delegates too,
but were dependent on the greater guilds, who represented them in the
State. On one occasion, in 1300, the representatives of seventy-two
companies, were gathered together in council. The Duke of Athens, who
relied on the lower classes, made the smaller companies independent,
and put their consuls on a level with the others, but this did not
last. The same thing happened at the insurrection of 1378, but the
members of the small companies were again unable to keep their
independence long. The diminution of the small companies, proposed by
Rinaldo degli Albizzi, was at this time a question of some delicacy.
Nicolò da Uzzano remarked that before anything was proposed against the
people it would be advisable to come to an understanding with their
friends. On this Rinaldo conferred with Giovanni di Bicci, whom, of
course, he found opposed to the innovation. Had he wished to see a
new insurrection he might have agreed to the project, but his native
prudence had increased with years. Anyhow, he reaped this advantage,
that, as the matter could not remain secret, to him would be ascribed
the merit of thwarting a scheme intended for the oppression of the
lower classes. Ere long they had to face another great undertaking.
The distribution of the public burdens among individual contributors
was for a long time connected with serious evils, that were the more
conspicuous in proportion to the severity of the taxation. The scale
was furnished by the _estimo_ or assessment of real and personal
property,[6] which was in use as early as the eleventh century, and
resembled the _colletta_ that prevailed in the Two Sicilies after the
time of King Roger. The tax-system of Florence, where Neapolitan rulers
had often exercised power, bore the mark of Southern Italy. At the time
of its fullest application, when the Anjou Viceroys were supreme the
_estimo_ attached to land, capital and personal income. It extended
from the city to the country, where its operation was regulated in
districts. The framework underwent frequent revisions in the thirteenth
and fourteenth centuries, particularly in the latter, when the example
of Naples increased the rigour of the fiscal authorities and gave rise
to frequent complaints and petitions for a reform of the taxation. The
_arbitrium_ was often called into play before 1346, when the Government
of the Duke of Athens ordered a register of all estates. The _estimo_
was the standard on which the public loans were based. These, with the
excise and other indirect taxes—which, in the palmy days of commerce,
were very productive—served to cover the public expenditure. Loans
were made in the first half of the thirteenth century, and before
its close the _taille_ was introduced by the Viceroy of Anjou for
the maintenance of the French and other mercenaries. There were two
methods of raising a loan. By the first, the treasurers of the commune
made an agreement with one or more of the great banking-houses, who,
on an assignment of the custom duties to them, advanced the money and
distributed the loan among their customers and friends.[7] By the
second method, the government itself announced the loan and allotted it
to the citizens according to their income, as recorded on the _estimo_,
the security being in this case also the customs duties for a certain
definite period. Instead of a percentage the contributors received
a monopoly of salt, with the privilege of selling it to the retail
dealers at an enhanced price.
As the necessities of the State increased, other sources of revenue
were looked for. In 1343 the hearth or fire tax was adopted (_fumanti_
or _focatico_). Before that attempts had been made to tax the clergy.
In the war against Mastino della Scala, Lord of Verona, which ended in
1339, the loans amounted to 350,000 gold guilders, and exceeded the
annual revenue from the excise by 50,000 guilders. The accumulation
of the debt after the expulsion of the Duke of Athens necessitated
the continuance of the _monte comune_, already mentioned, for the
administration of the public debt. In the previous century, when
payment of the debt due to the citizens became impossible, a ‘great
book’ was opened, which in the course of forty years was superseded.
During the war of 1325, against Castruccio Castracane, resort was had
to similar means for raising money, and the Republic, being unable to
pay the debt without borrowing again, established the _monte comune_.
The interest paid was at the rate of five per cent., though at other
times it reached as high as twenty-five.[8]
At the beginning of the fifteenth century the taxation was continually
rising, and in the war with King Ladislaus the whole of the income
registered on the _estimo_ was charged with a tax of five per cent.
for three years. Nonpayment of the tax was punished by exclusion from
office. The defaulter’s name was entered in a register called the
‘looking-glass’ (_specchio_), whence the expression _netto di specchio_
applied to a man eligible for office. According to a regulation of 1421
no man was so eligible unless he, his father, or grandfather, had been
regular in paying his taxes for thirty years.
Of course there were manifold murmurs at these extraordinary
proceedings. The real evil, however, and cause of discontent was
not only the high rate of taxation, but its arbitrary and partial
distribution. When the partition of the burdens was made an arm of
offence against which the citizens rose to defend themselves by
violence it was necessary to find some other basis, if the State
economy were to be preserved from ruin. The regulation of the
_cadastre_ in 1427 had a twofold object in view, namely, first to raise
the public income by putting together the property tax, the income
tax, and the interest on the national debt (_paghe_ or _luoghi di
monte_); secondly, to make the distribution of the imposts independent
of personal and political opinions. This financial reform, which
changed nothing in the nature of the tax, but only established a
better partition of it, was not a new thing. At bottom it was but a
complement of the _estimo_, and the expression _catasto_ for census,
from _accatastare_, to pile together, was used in Florence a century
earlier. That it was brought forward with a view to adjust more equally
the incidence of taxation may be gathered from the preamble of the
ordinance of May 22, 1427: ‘It is hard to express in speech or writing
how much the citizens have suffered in their goods and their liberty by
the inequality of the public burdens. They have been robbed and driven
to desperation. How many, who would gladly have returned to their
homes, have been kept back in doubt and uncertainty, exposed to all the
ills that flow therefrom.’
A commission of ten members was appointed to make within the year a
register of property. Arranged methodically, it was to specify the
various families in each quarter of the town, the name and age of
the several members of the family, the estimated value of each one’s
property, real and personal, in town and country, and in foreign
parts. In the estimate were reckoned the domestic animals of value,
merchandise, ready cash, money in the funds, and all good debts. The
rent of houses was specified, and in the case of land cultivated by
the owner the average crop was taken. The _mezzeria_, or lands let
out to farm, were valued according to the market-price of produce,
allowance being made for the working material furnished to the farmer
by the proprietor. The capitalised value of property was estimated
at 100 for 7 per cent. produce, and on this capital half a guilder,
that is, one-half per cent., was levied. In casting up the various
elements of personal property and income the same principle prevailed
as when it was capitalised. Both sources of revenue united furnished
the total of what was called the _sostanza_, according to which the
quota of taxes was fixed. Certain deductions were allowed by law, so
that the tax-paying portion of the income was only the surplus over
the sum required for the strict necessaries of life. Among these
deductions was the rent of the dwelling-house, and of the warehouse,
stall, or booth used in the way of business. The fiscal legislation
adhered to the principle of burdening the old nobility of the city,
nor did it spare the magnates of the provinces, many of whom, up to
the time of the French Revolution, preserved an exceptional position.
They had to pay twice, nay, three and four times, as much in taxes
as other people, and were charged with rates from which the ordinary
inhabitants of the country were free. The valuation held good for three
years. Five registers were opened. The first was for the burghers; the
second for country-people of various shades and degrees, including
the peasantry; the third for the clergy; the fourth for guilds and
corporations holding land, such as the woolstaplers’, silkmercers’, and
money-changers’ guilds; the fifth and last for persons not belonging to
the State, yet possessed of territory or engaged in commerce.
An examination of the first _cadastre_ for the years 1427-30 gives a
clear insight into the condition of property in town and country. The
gross income of the citizens of Florence, then 90,000 to 95,000 in
number, was estimated in round numbers at 620,000 gold guilders, which,
allowing for the triple value of money, would be equal to 5,000,000
thalers (750,000_l._ sterling) at the present day. The town duties
produced 25,300 guilders, those of the country 18,500. Thirty-two
families paid upwards of a hundred guilders in taxes, two hundred paid
in all more than 12,800 guilders. The highest tax—that paid by Palla
Strozzi—was 507 guilders, which presupposes a fortune of 101,400
guilders, or, in present currency, 820,000 thalers (123,000_l._).
Second in the list of rich contributors is Giovanni de’ Medici,
who pays 397 guilders. Then come two branches of the Panchiatichi,
Francesco Tornabuoni, Niccolò da Uzzano, and Bernardo Lamberteschi,
with more than 200 others. The landed property belonging to the clergy,
to most of the benevolent institutions, and to the guilds within the
jurisdiction of the Republic, was valued at 1,577,000 guilders, while
the revenues of the clergy and the charities were put down at 130,000
guilders. The value of the untaxed monasteries was registered at
152,000 guilders. A few years later than this Cosimo de’ Medici, with
his sons and relatives, were charged with a tax of 428 guilders for his
business transactions. Seventy guilders of this amount were paid by the
bank at Florence, as much by the branches at London and Bruges, 96 by
those of Avignon and Geneva, 65 by that of Venice, and the rest by the
partners in the firm.
Undoubtedly the new mode of taxation distributed taxation more
equally than before. All those—some 3,000 in number—who, divested
of property, lived only by the labour of their hands, were valued
_pro formâ_, and counted by heads; but the payment of rates was not
strictly enforced on them. They constituted a particular class, known
as _miserabili_. Another class, one degree better off than these, and
numbering more than 5,000, came to terms with the revenue officers for
the payment of a small quota of taxes. If, however, the poorer classes
were very lightly burdened, the charges on the rich were enormously
heavy. Many among them paid the _estimo_ ten and twenty times over, and
could not as formerly obtain exemption from any charge on the plea of
expenses incurred in the public service by the discharge of official
duties confided to them. Malcontents were numerous. Those who owned
land and capital, which are easy to get at and to tax, complained of
the favour extended to trade and commerce. The lower classes, however,
still dissatisfied, demanded political power, and a revision of the old
payments. Giovanni di Bicci, by acting as mediator between the classes,
did more than anyone in keeping off injudicious demands and maintaining
peace. To him is generally ascribed the merit of the measure which
aimed at a more just distribution of the public burdens. But in the
deliberations on the subject that took place after 1426 he played but
a secondary part, and at the last sitting declared that his adhesion
to the measure was due not to his confidence in its success, but to
his feelings of deference for the many citizens who had recommended
it.[9] Rinaldo degli Albizzi and Niccolò da Uzzano were, for political
reasons, both secret and avowed, foremost in supporting the proposal,
although, as it happened, they and their friends were the most
seriously affected by the new mode of taxation. There were insinuations
against Medici that he profited by the embarrassments of his country
in time of war, as he did by the distresses of individuals in time
of panic, for all came to him for advances. It must be remembered,
however, that his business extended far beyond Italy to all parts of
France, and to Flanders especially, and that his trading interests
would be best promoted by the peace of his country and the prosperity
of his neighbours. With Pope Martin V., as with his predecessor, John
XXIII., Di Bicci was on the best terms. The former made him Count of
Monteverde, in the province of Fermo, on May 8, 1422.
Giovanni di Bicci lived to be sixty-nine. Only two sons remained to
him, the children of his wife Piccarda, daughter of Odoardo Bueri. She
survived her husband three years. He, on feeling his end approach,
called his sons to him, and bade them follow his example—to be
prudent, benevolent, and on friendly terms with those who wished them
well. ‘Do nothing,’ he said, ‘against the wish of the people, and
if they wish what they ought not, endeavour to turn them from it by
friendly remonstrance rather than by arrogant dictation. Do not make
the government-house your workshop, but wait until you are called to
it, then show yourselves obedient, and avoid big swelling words. Strive
to keep the people at peace, and the strong places well cared for.
Engage in no legal complications, for he who impedes the law shall
perish by the law. Do not draw public attention on yourselves, yet keep
free from blemish as I leave you. Take care of my wife, your mother,
and let her keep the place she now has.’[10] He expired on February
20, 1429, and was carried to San Lorenzo on an open bier. His remains
were followed by his two sons, and twenty-eight members of the family,
accompanied by the ambassadors of Venice and of King Sigismund, with
many other persons, including the magistrates. The obsequies cost more
than 3,000 guilders, and Cosimo and Lorenzo presented to the chapter
a sum of 800 guilders for the institution of an annual festival in
memory of the departed, to be held on the day of his death.[11] There,
in the sacristy built at his own cost, lies Giovanni di Bicci, with
his spouse, in a sarcophagus worked by the hand of Donatello, with
genii holding the coat-of-arms carved in semi-relief on the cover,
and inscriptions cut on the lower parts.[12] The contemporary already
mentioned has described the personal appearance of Giovanni.[13] ‘He
was tall and strong in figure, and broad in the face, with a dark,
sallow complexion. His sense of humour was greater than anyone would
have imagined from his melancholy expression. In business transactions
he was straightforward, though not exactly eloquent, for nature had
not endowed him with the graces of speech. Yet in public he was always
ready with a good argument and sound advice. No one spoke ill of him.
Niccolò da Uzzano, who passed for his rival, said to his sons, with
tears in his eyes, “Your excellent father has left you in favour with
the people, and beloved by the burghers, with splendid and improving
pecuniary prospects.” He loved the good, and pitied the bad. The
wicked, he said, existed for their own misfortune, and the good by
the grace and good providence of God. He never complained of other
citizens, nor they of him. The poor excited his compassion, and the
rich enjoyed his friendship and support. He strove against misery, and
promoted the happiness of mankind, when he could do so without injury
to the Commonwealth. His hands were clean, and not seldom he neglected
his own interests in the service of others. For others, too, he would
often ask favours of the Government, never for himself. Yet, the fewer
the pretensions he had, the more did the duties of State devolve upon
him.’