379 "Statuta Romæ," Romæ, 1519, ii. 110, 111, and iii. 17.

380 "Statuta Pisauri, noviter impressa," 1531, ii. 79, 84, 106, 107.

381 "Statuta Pisauri, noviter impressa," 1531, ii. 79, 84, 106, 107.

382 "Etiam nullis probationibus, quia volumus quod nuda patris assertio plenam probationem faciat." Vide "Statuta Civitatis Lucensis," 1539, ii. 66, 67, 68.

383 "Statuta Civitatis Urbini, impressa, Pisauri," 1519, vi. 30. Quod pater pro filis, dominus pro famulo teneatur in damnis datis.

384 "Statuta Florentiæ" (edition dated from Friburg), ii. 110.

385 "Statuta Florentiæ" (edition dated from Friburg), ii. 110.

386 Vide "Statuti Pisani," edited by Bonaini.

387 "Statuta Florentiæ," ii. 61, 62, 63.

388 "Statuta Florentiæ," ii. 64.

389 Ibid. ii. 65. Vide also the statutes of 1324 (ii. 36 and 74) and of 1355 (ii. 39) in the State Archives.

390 "Nisi promiserit de continuo habitando in dicta civitate, vel comitatu Urbini" ("Statuta Urbini," Pisauri, 1519, ii. 54).

391 "Liber juris civilis urbis Veronæ," chap. xliv. Verona, 1728.

392 See Gans, op. cit. This author made a very careful examination of the Pisan law in the statutes (then unpublished) contained in a MS. Codex at Berlin.

393 Vide the "Consuetudini della città d'Amalfi," edited and annotated by Scipione Volpicella, p. 22; and the "Consuetudini della città di Napoli," under the heading, "De successionibus ab intestato." The same provisions are found also in the "Consuetudini Sorrentine." See also Dr. Otto Hartwig's work, "Codex iuris municipalis Siciliæ." Heft 1, "Das Stadtrecht von Messina." Cassel und Göttingen, 1867.

394 "Statuta Comunis Mantuæ," Rubric li., "De successionibus ab intestato." Cod. MS. F. T., 1, fourteenth century, Mantua Archives. Similar terms are used in the Veronese statutes ("Statuta Veronæ." Veronæ, 1588, bk. ii. chap. 82). "Ut bona parentum in filios masculos et cæteros per lineam masculinam descendentes conserventur, pro conservandis domibus et oneribus Communis Veronæ sustinendis, statuimus," &c.

395 "Statuta Florentiæ," ii. 130.

396 Statutes 4 (of 1324), ii. 70, and 9 (of 1355), ii. 73, in the State Archives, declare in fact that when there are no surviving sons, but only brothers or their sons, the woman is entitled to have the usufruct of her father's, grandfather's, or great-grandfather's estate: "Tunc ipsa mulier habeat usufructum omnium bonorum talis patris, avi, vel proavi defuncti." This is the usufruct for which alimony is afterwards substituted.

397 State Archives, "Statuti," 4, bk. ii. 50, and 9, bk. ii. 51.

398 "Statuta Florentiæ," ii. 32.

399 Ibid. ii. 130.

400 "Statuta Florentiæ," ii. 126.

401 Ibid. ii. 129.

402 "Constitutiones Marchiæ Anconitanæ." Forolivii, 1507.

403 "Statuti della honoranda Universitate deli Mercanti de la Citade di Bologna," 1530, file 98 and following.

404 "Statuta Florentiæ," ii. 51.

405 Ibid. ii. 76.

406 "Statuta Florentiæ," ii. 75.

407 Ibid. ii. 77.

408 Ibid. ii. 108.

409 Ibid. ii. 109.

410 The frequent repetition of this phrase is worthy of note, since it enables us to understand the manner in which associations were usually constituted.

411 "Statuta Florentiæ," ii. 66.

412 State Archives, "Statuti" 9, ii. 30. The same provision is found in the statutes of 1324 (ii. 87), and was already comprised in those of Pistoia dated 1296 (ii. 6), having been copied from another Florentine statute of earlier date.

413 The Mezzeria system obtains not only throughout Tuscany and Lucca, but over a considerable part of Romagna. But the terms and contracts most favourable to the peasantry are to be found near Florence and in the Pistoian district. Contracts implying a system of Mezzeria more or less rudimentary, and dating from about the close of the twelfth century, are still extant.

414 Two of 1250 and 1251, in the Florentine territory, have been edited by Ruhmor (vide also Capei in the "Atti dei Georgofili," vol. xiv. p. 228); other hardly less ancient examples have been found at Cortona by the Notary L. Ticciati, and published by him in the "Archivio Storico Italiano," Series v., vol. x., No. 4, 1892. Nevertheless, contracts on the true Mezzeria system cannot have been in general use earlier than the commencement of the fourteenth century. A common contract drawn up in 1331 on Siennese territory was communicated by Prof. C. Paoli to Baron S. Sonnino, and published by the latter in 1875 Florence, in his work "Sulla Mezzeria in Toscana." In a review, entitled "L'Agricoltura Italiana," nineteenth year (1893), Nos. 274–5, Marquis L. Ridolfi justly remarks that the difficulty in finding old Mezzeria contracts in the Florentine territory proceeds from the custom prevailing there of seldom referring to a public notary for the purpose. As a rule, the parties concerned merely exchange written copies of the agreement.

415 "Statuta Florentiæ," ii. 18.

416 Ibid. ii. 21.

417 Ibid. ii. 23. Vide, on this subject, Salvetti, "Antiquitates Florentinæ."

418 "Nuova Antologia," Florence, July, 1869.

419 G. Villani, "Cronica," xi. 96.

420 P. E. Giudici, "Storia dei Comuni Italiani," bk. vi., paragraphs 53 and 54. Florence, Le Monnier, 1866. Vannucci, "I primi tempi della libertà fiorentina," chap. iv. p. 161 and fol. Florence, Le Monnier, 1861. Napier's "Florentine History," vol. i. chap. xiii. p. 342. London, 1846. T. A. Trollope, "A History of the Commonwealth of Florence," bk. ii. chap. iii. p. 212. London, 1865. It should be noted that although Mr. Trollope failed to overcome every difficulty, he was enabled to avoid various blunders on this head by merely translating certain parts of the enactments without explaining the more obscure items. Mons. Perrens, in a recent work, written after the first publication of this chapter, has generally accepted its conclusions and corroborated them by fresh researches of his own.

421 Vide chaps. v. and vi. of the present work.

422 It is impossible to believe that there were no duties of any kind. Villani himself (bk. xi. chap. xcii.) enumerates a great many imposed between 1336 and 1338, and certain of these were unquestionably of earlier origin. Perhaps he meant to express that the duties were few and slight.

423 "Per non mettere gravezza." Whenever taxes were imposed on the property of citizens, an estimate was made of it, as the tax in question was paid in lire or libbre, the term far libbra, allibbrare, was often used to signify making valuations of property as well as the imposition of taxes.

424 G. Villani, viii. 2.

425 Vide the preceding chapter.

426 Dino Compagni, bk. ii. p. 201, the Del Lungo edition. I quote from this edition, as being far more correct than the others, although it was only published in 1879, ten years after the first appearance of this chapter in the form of a separate essay.

427 Vide in Padre Ildefonso's "Delizie degli Eruditi Toscani," the document appended to vol. viii. It consists of a petition presented by certain inhabitants of Castelnuovo after having been attacked by the Pazzi and others, armata manu, cum militibus et peditibus, who had burnt their houses, killed several persons, and compelled others to sign a contract, under false pretence of a law suit, that had never occurred, et scribi faciendo litem contra eos esse super renovationem servitiorum.

428 G. Villani, vii. 16.

429 Vide the "Statuto della Parte Guelfa," chap. xxxix. It may be found in vol. i. (1857) of the "Giornale storico degli Archivi Toscani," that was published for some years jointly with the "Arch. Stor. It." This statute of 1355 (edited by Bonaini) is the earliest known statute of the Parte Guelfa, but does not appear to be the first that was compiled. In the above-mentioned "Giornale," vol. iii. (1859), Bonaini began a monograph, entitled, "Della Parte Guelfa in Firenze," which was continued in several numbers, but then left incomplete. Vide also G. Villani, vii. 17, describing the original formation of the Society. Its precise condition in 1293 is as yet imperfectly known, but this may be inferred from what it was shortly before and after that period.

430 G. Villani, viii. 1.

431 The first of these laws, already known to the public, and the others which were then inedited, have been fully examined in chap. v. of this work and are printed in the appendix to the same.

432 In fact the "Ordinamenti" (rubric xviii. of the Bonaini edition) refer to this law, dated October 2, 1286 ("Provvisioni," i. 27), and comprised in the statute. Both the rubric and title are quoted in the "Ordinamenti." A Consulta (or decree) of March 20, 1280 (81), given in Gherardi's collection, p. 33, had also cited a similar and still older law: "De securitatibus prestandis a magnatibus," which was afterwards amended by that of 1286.

433 Ammirato, at commencement of bk. iv.; also in "Provvisioni," ii. 72, Florentine Archives.

434 Dino Compagni, bk. i. p. 56.

435 G. Villani, viii. 8.

436 Ammirato, bk. iv. p. 348.

437 In fact, many neglected to give surety (sodare), and several laws were framed to compel the contumacious to obey.

438 This is known from the terms of the debate, which has been published by Bonaini in the "Arch. Stor. It.," New Series, vol. i. p. 78, document B.

439 At the period there were twelve Greater and nine Lesser Guilds.

440 Many historians assert that he was among the priors when the "Ordinamenti" were compiled. But these are officially dated the 18th of January, and Compagni states that Giano entered the Signory on the 15th of February. This statement is supported by the list of priors given by Coppo Stefani, in his "Delizie degli Eruditi Toscani," and likewise by documentary evidence.

441 Another inedited compilation also exists in the Florence Archives. Certain new rubrics were inserted in this at a later date, and even, as we shall show further on, among the first twenty-eight.

442 Dr. K. Hegel, "Die Ordnungen der Gerechtigheit," Erlangen, 1867. This is a Prolusion, in which the learned author of the "Storia della Costituzione dei Municipi Italiani," very carefully examines the code edited by Bonaini, and compares it with others. But he does not investigate the value or intrinsic importance of the enactments, and merely gives a brief summary of them.

443 "Arch. Stor. It.," New Series, vol. i. (1855) p. 38, note 1.

444 Until this draft was published, we could only refer to posterior compilations, and had no means of ascertaining to what extent they differed from the law in its original form. Although Bonaini had failed to discover the original document of the law as approved, his publication of the first draft brings us very near to the real thing. And this is a point of no small importance, seeing that the laws of the Florentine Republic underwent such radical changes from one day to another, that a compilation, dated only two or three years after the original law, might be very different from it. For instance, Document A, published by Bonaini ("Arch. Stor. It.," New Series, vol. i. p. 72), contains a rider or addendum to the Ordinamenti passed on the 9th and 10th of April, 1293. This was inserted as part of the original law in the compilations edited by Fineschi and Giudici.

In the following bibliographical notices I shall be obliged, for the sake of greater clearness, to occasionally repeat or sum up previously related facts.

1. Of the various compilations of the enactments, that included among the printed statutes was the first to be published.

2. P. F. Vincenzo Fineschi published a second compilation in his "Memorie storiche, che possono servire alle vite degli uomini illustri di Santa Maria Novella," &c., Florence, 1790.

3. The third published compilation was given by Prof. P. E. Giudici in the appendix to his "Storia dei Municipi Italiani," Florence, Poligrafia italiana, 1853; reprinted in 3 vols., Florence, Le Monnier, 1864–66. The Italian compilation, divided in 118 rubrics, the last of which is mutilated, was published from a codex in the State Archives of Florence ("Statuti," No. 8). By some oversight the author chanced to omit the three concluding rubrics.

4. The last published compilation is that brought out by Bonaini in the "Arch. Stor. It.," New Series, vol. i, No. 1, 1855, of which we have already spoken, and shall have to mention again farther on.

5. Another compilation, to which previous allusion has been made (p. 89, note 92), is also deserving of notice. It is among the MSS. of the Florence Archives (ch. ii., dist. i., No. 1), and is still inedited. Padre Ildefonso published certain fragments of it, however, in vol. ix. of the "Delizie degli Eruditi Toscani," and Bonaini published an index of its rubrics, 134 in number.

6. In conclusion, we may mention the Miscellany or "Zibaldone," likewise referred to before, which in addition to many decrees issued between 1274 and 1465, some of which augment the force of the enactments, also includes a petition presented by the people of Florence in June, 1378—namely, the year in which the Revolt of the Ciompi occurred, imploring that the Enactments of Justice should be again enforced, the which request was granted. This codex is also a useful contribution to the history of the enactments.

Recently both Prof. Del Lungo (vide "Bullettino della Società Dantesca," Nos. 10, 11, of July, 1892) and Sig. G. Salvemini, undergraduate of the Instituto Superior, Florence (vide "Arch. Stor. It.," Series v., vol. x. 1892), have published the provision of July 6, 1295, introducing several modifications and mitigations in the enactments. Although this provision was already known to the world, by Prof. Del Lungo's previous careful examination of it in his work on "Dino Compagni" (vol i., 1078–80), Salvemini's clever commentary has gleaned fresh information from it. This provision includes all the modifications made in the enactments in 1295, and often gives fragments of the law as it previously stood, together with the changes then introduced. Hegel, having examined all the documents edited in his day, was the first to prove, on assured evidence, that the rough draft edited by Bonaini, although, as he thinks, omitting certain rubrics and comprising some disparities, mostly of form, contained the real gist of the original enactments. This in itself was an important result. Regarding the disparities noted by Hegel, and the missing rubrics, Salvemini was enabled, by studying the document of July 6, 1295, to make some novel remarks, to which we shall refer later on.

445 Rubric iii. of the draft states that "De prudentioribus, melioribus et legalioribus artificibus civitatis Florentiæ, continue artem exercentibus, dummodo non sint milites." Also farther on: "Aliquis qui continue artem non exerceat, vel aliquis miles non possit nec debeat modo aliqui eligi, vel esse in dicto officio Prioratus." "Arch. Stor. It.," New Series, vol. i. pp. 44, 45. Rubric xviii., p. 66, enumerates the persons bound to give guaranty as nobles, although exercising a trade, "non obstante quod ipsi vel aliquis eorum de dictis domibus et casatis ... sint artifices vel artem seu mercantiam exerceant."

446 Vide on this point a document of 1287 appended to this chapter. It proves that the practical exercise of a trade or craft was held indispensable before 1293, and shows what precautions were required to prevent the law from being easily evaded.

447 Rubric iii., G. We generally quote from Giudici's Italian compilation as being more widely known than the others. But we are careful to collate it with the versions of Fineschi and Bonaini, taking note of significant divergences. The letters B. G. F. are used to indicate the respective editions of Bonaini, Giudici, and Fineschi.

448 Mons. Perrens (vol. ii. p. 385, note 2) doubts this fact, and states that it only occurred in 1305. It is certain that the Gonfalonier's function was to enforce the enactments, and that when released from this duty by the creation of an "Executor" in 1306, he then began to be more specially considered as the chief of the Signory; but it is none the less certain, that among seven magistrates, all of the same legal standing, the one possessed from the first of loftier attributes and more direct command of the army, was virtually, if not nominally, their president and chief.

449 Rubric iv., G. and F. We should note that the Latin draft reduces the Gonfalonier's interval of ineligibility to one year only, while the other compilations extend it to two years, as in the case of the Priors and as subsequently enforced. We have followed the Latin draft, for the additional reason that, in the law of 1293, edited by Bonaini (Doc. A. at p. 74), we find it ordained that Priors and Gonfalonier should share the same benefits and privileges, "salvo et excepto quod quæ in Ordinamento iustitie, loquente de electione Vexilliferi, continentur circa devetum et tempus deveti ipsius Vexilliferi, et circa alia omnia in ipso ordinamento descripta, in sua permaneant firmitate." This is repeated even under rubric xxxi., G. and F., whence we are forced to conclude that the prescribed interval before re-election to the Gonfaloniership was originally different from that established with regard to the Priorate, and only equalised with the latter at a subsequent time. Besides, in Compilations F. and G. no thought was given to correcting the rule laid down in rubric xxxi., where it is taken for granted that the original diversity was still in force. Florentine laws were always made and amended bit by bit. All doubts, however, are solved by the document from which we have quoted, dated July 6, 1295, extending the term of prohibition, as regarded the Gonfalonier, from one to two years. Salvemini has found proofs in the "Provvisioni" and "Consulte" that this rule had been already applied in December, 1294.

450 As we shall see farther on, Dr. Lastig was the first writer to point this out.

451 Rubrics i. and ii. in Compilations B., F., and G.

452 Rubrics lxiii.-lxv., which, as we have noted, were added by another hand in 1297, to the codex edited by Fineschi, and correspond with rubrics lxxxii.-lxxxiv. of the codex edited by Giudici, there is renewed reference to the tricks employed in order to avoid giving guarantees or nullifying their effect. When a noble committed a crime and refused to pay the prescribed fine, his nearest relation was legally bound to pay it in his stead. But in this case the said relation frequently made declaration, "that the guilty person who had either failed to give guarantees or offered pledges unsuited to the case, possessed one or more legitimate or natural children, aged one year, or more or less; and that for this reason the next of kin, or those supposed to be responsible in virtue of the said enactment, are exempt from the penalty prescribed by the same." (Rubric lxxxii., G., lxv., F.)

453 Rubric xvii., G. The law quoted here is of October 2, 1286 ("Provvisioni," i. 27).

454 Rubric xvii., B., F., G. The two later compilations have an addition tacked on at the end, that is not included in Compilation B. In the Italian codex (G.) this addition is undated, but in the Fineschi compilation is dated July 6, 1295. Its purpose is that of attenuating the law by declaring that all omitted from the list of nobles in the statute, or who have changed their name, and are known by another, are not to be considered nobles. This addition was contemporaneous with the extension of the legal number of witnesses from two to three.

455 Rubrics xviii. and xix., F., G. These and rubric xx. also are not in the Latin draft, as we shall have again to remark farther on.

456 Compagni, i. 11; Villani, viii. 1.

457 "Storie," bk. ii. p. 80, Italy, 1813.

458 viii. 1.

459 The nobles frequently employed friends or dependents to execute their deeds of vengeance or assault—hence the enactments nearly always refer to authors of crime in the plural as those chiefly charged with the deed. The law of the 6th of July, 1295, was attenuated on this point, as we shall see, by its recognition of a single leader or "captain" of the crime, the others being only punished as accessories.

460 Rubric vi., F. G. and V. B.

461 This is derived both from the terms of the enactments and from the chroniclers. According to the latter, criminals occasionally obtained partial compensation because the destruction of their property had been carried too far.

462 Rubric xii., F. G., vii., B.

463 Rubric xiii., F. G. This being a codicil added in 1295, it is not comprised in Compilation B.

464 Rubrics vi., vii., F. and G. Not comprised in B, having been added in 1295. It should be remarked that in the legal phraseology of the time "common law" signified Roman law; the law as prescribed by the statutes being held almost in the light of a special or exceptional code. But as the enactments constituted in themselves an exception, with regard to the statutes, the latter are referred to wherever common law is mentioned. When the question was of two municipalities, one of which was subject to the other, the subject municipality was always allowed (excepting in political concerns) to retain its own statutes; but in cases where these proved insufficient, it had recourse to those of the dominant city, as though these constituted the common law.

465 Rubric ix., F. G., and vi., B. In this case two witnesses were always needed to prove the offence, and on this point all the compilations, including the rough draft, are agreed. Regarding the other cases, Compilation B (rubric v.) only says per testes, meaning more than one, that is, two or three. On the 6th of July, 1295, per testes was changed to per tres testes, and so it stands also in rubric vi., F. and G.

It should be remarked that in the Italian compilation this rubric ix. has a codicil that is neither comprised in the draft nor even in Fineschi's compilation, and this is an additional proof that the Italian compilation was of later date than the Latin text, of which it is generally the faithful translation. The codicil decrees that the fine is to be paid to the Commune either by the offending party himself or his nearest relation.

Rubric xi., F. and G., answering to rubric xvi., B., treats of the rights acquired by nobles over real property appertaining to the people, and alludes in this connection to the associates or relatives of the popolani. This proves that the custom of joining in associations was very general at the time, and likewise shows how nearly the ties of association resembled ties of relationship.

466 Rubric xvi., F. and G., rubric ix., B.

467 Rubric xxvi., G., xxi., B.

468 This "Conclusion" is mutilated in the xxii. and final rubric of Compilation B. It exists in full in rubric xxvii., F., and rubric xxv., G.

It should be noted at this point that, leaving aside other partial disparities, those rubrics, included in Compilations G. and F., and entirely omitted from Compilation B. (whether as the results of later decrees, or actually passed at the time when the draft was engrossed in its definite official shape, we have no means of really ascertaining), were those indicated in Compilations G. and F. by the numbers xviii., xix., and xx.

469 This law, drawn up in full official form, is contained in Document A. of the Bonaini Compilation, but still as a separate law. On the other hand, in Compilations F. and G. we find it incorporated with the enactments it was designed to strengthen. In Compilation G. it is dated April 10, 1293, so also in the Latin Codex, but is undated in Compilation G. We should remark in this connection that the law edited by Bonaini is not only incorporated with the enactments in Compilations F. and G., but in both comprises codicils of a later date—such, for instance, as giving power to call nearly the whole of the city and territory to arms, up to the number of 12,200 men. Had this clause been passed in Giano's time, the chroniclers could not have failed to record it. Villani states that at first one thousand men only were enrolled—that is, the same number authorised by the earlier enactments; the number was afterwards raised to two thousand, as enjoined by the new law, and later still to four thousand (viii. 1). Therefore, even according to Villani, the number was progressively enlarged.

470 Villani, viii. 8.

471 After Villani, Ammirato wrote: "For in addition to the measures ordained, Giano had deprived the Captains of the Society of their seal; and had provided that the funds of the said Society, which amounted to a large sum, should be consigned to the Commune" (vol i. bk. iv. p. 346, Batelli edition, Florence, 1846–49).

472 Villani, viii. 2.

473 Villani, viii. 2; Ammirato, ad annum, vol. i. pp. 339.

474 Ibid. viii. 2; Ammirato, vol. i. pp. 340, 341.

475 Villani, viii. 2; and "Cronica" of the pseudo B. Latini, ad annum.

476 Ibid. viii. 1. Compagni gives a different version in vol. i. 12. He relates that the offenders were of the Galigai family, and that he, being Gonfalonier at the time, had to demolish their dwellings. We have adhered to Villani, who states the fact to have occurred under the first Gonfalonier, Baldo Ruffoli (in office from February 15th to April 15th), whereas Compagni held the Gonfaloniership from June 15th to August 15, 1293, and it is scarcely probable this could have been the first occasion on which the enactments were enforced. It is known that Compagni's Chronicle is only extant in copies dated after his time, and therefore probably containing blunders, alterations, and additions made by its transcribers. Compagni's chronology is often extremely vague. While Gonfalonier he may have undoubtedly seen some sentences executed; but the first sentence on the nobles seems to have been carried out as related by Villani, and also corroborated by Coppo Stefani, bk. iii., rubric 198, Ammirato, vol. i. p. 338, and other historians of weight. Some years after the first publication of this essay, Professor Scheffer Boichorst produced the famous work (vide "Historische Zeitschrift," xxiv. p. 313, 1870) that raised the very heated controversy as to the authenticity of Dino Compagni's Chronicle. At a later period Professor Del Lungo's learned volumes induced the German scholar to cede many of the points in dispute. Accordingly we may still continue to refer to Dino Compagni, although not without careful sifting and discrimination.

477 Compagni, i. 12, p. 55.

478 Vide chap. vi. of this work.

479 Jean of Châlons in Burgundy.

480 It is known that the Podestà, Captain, and many other magistrates were subjected to an investigation or sindacato, on retiring from office.