Commune of Florence

Who rules

Name

Not pinned: the consuls of 1199 (names not found) or the podestà Paganello da Porcari

Title

Consuls of the commune, or the commune's first foreign chief magistrate (podestà) of 1200

Since

Paganello da Porcari is attested as podestà in 1200, his term prolonged into 1201; the day he took office is not pinned

Family

Paganello da Porcari is a foreigner, of the lords of Porcari in the countryside of Lucca

Confidence

low

Faini (Firenze al tempo di Semifonte; Il gruppo dirigente fiorentino) names Paganello da Porcari podestà for 1200 and 1201, assisted by councillors, and says Florence alternated podestà with unusually large colleges of consuls (more than ten). Gerardo Rosso Visdomini and Goffredo dei Tosinghi were consuls in 1197 and were confirmed in 1198. The earlier podestà were Gerardo Caponsacchi (1193) and Ranieri Gaetani (1195). No list seen gives the consuls of 1199 or the day the 1200 term began.

Overlord

The Empire in law (kingdom of Italy). No imperial officer holds anything in Florence's countryside that winter. Philip of Swabia holds Henry VI's grant (1195) of the duchy of Tuscany and the lands of Countess Matilda, which the pope also claims (campaign notes Part 5); neither claim is enforced.

What the realm holds

• The city of Florence within the walls of the 1170s, with its suburbs (borghi) and the near countryside
• Fiesole, destroyed by Florence in 1125, and the country of the Fiesole bishopric north and east of the city
• The Arno plain from Signa to Pontassieve, the lower Val di Sieve, the Val di Pesa and Val di Greve as far as San Casciano, Greve and Tavarnelle
• Barberino Val d'Elsa, fortified in 1198 as headquarters for the war on Semifonte
• Vico d'Elsa, taken from the Alberti in 1198
• Certaldo, taken 11 May 1198 from the Alberti (formally ceded by Count Alberto only on 12 February 1200)
• Montegrossi (Montegrossoli) in the Chianti, taken from the Firidolfi (1182 in the Ricasoli family article, 1198 in the Semifonte article)
• Overlordship of Empoli, whose men Florence campaigned against in March 1182; the Guidi keep the lordship
• Half of the toll on the Via Francigena that Count Alberto conceded in 1184 (whether still paid in 1200 is not pinned)

How it was acquired

The commune took over the city's government in the early twelfth century (consuls in the record from 1138), destroyed Fiesole in 1125 and the Guidi castle of Monte di Croce in 1154, forced the Alberti to terms in November 1184 after capturing Count Alberto at Mangona (Certaldo's walls down, Pogna destroyed, half the Francigena toll to Florence, Semifonte dismantled), and campaigned against Empoli, Pontorme and Pogna in 1182. In 1185 Frederick I, at Count Guido Guerra III's plea, took the Guidi county out of Florence's jurisdiction. After Henry VI's death (28 September 1197) the Tuscan League let Florence resume its expansion: the Semifonte war began in 1198.

Allies and rivals

Allies: the Tuscan League (founding members Lucca, Siena, San Miniato, the bishop of Volterra, the Guidi and the Aldobrandeschi; joined in the following months by Arezzo, Prato, Poggibonsi, Colle, Figline, Certaldo, Count Alberto, Count Manente of Sarteano, the bishops of Florence and Fiesole and Perugia). A Florentine, Acerbo, was the League's first rector; Bishop Ildebrando Pannocchieschi of Volterra was named its captain on 4 December 1197. Prato fought beside Florence against the Alberti in 1184.

Rivals: Semifonte and its allies Colle di Val d'Elsa and San Gimignano (alliance of 1199); the Alberti; Siena, a League partner but a rival over Poggibonsi, the Chianti, Semifonte (half of which is held by Scorcialupo da Mortennano, of the Sienese elite) and Montepulciano; Pistoia and Pisa, both outside the League.

The realm that morning

That morning the commune holds the city, Fiesole, the Arno plain, the near Chianti, the Val di Pesa and the Mugello edge, and its war posts in the Valdelsa (Barberino, Vico d'Elsa, Certaldo). Semifonte, held half by Count Alberto IV degli Alberti and half by Scorcialupo da Mortennano and governed by its own consuls, is ringed but not taken, and since 1199 has been allied with Colle and San Gimignano, who are themselves raiding Poggibonsi. Across Florence's borders: the Guidi hold the Casentino, the Romagna valleys, Montevarchi, Empoli and Montemurlo; the Alberti hold the Val di Bisenzio and Mangona; the Ubaldini hold the Apennine valleys north of the Mugello; Prato and Pistoia lie to the north-west; the Firidolfi and Ricasoli hold the central Chianti; Siena's contado begins below Castellina; Arezzo holds the upper Valdarno beyond Montevarchi.

Whether the consuls of 1199 or the podestà Paganello da Porcari govern that morning is not pinned.

Wealth

Cloth finishing and the cloth trade of the merchants' guild, money-changing and lending, the Arno crossing and the roads to Rome (the Via Francigena through the Valdelsa), Bologna and Pisa, the share of the Francigena toll conceded by the Alberti in 1184, and the city markets. Money of account is reckoned in Pisan and Lucchese pennies: the 1200 purchase of Semifonte was priced in Pisan pounds. Whether Florence already strikes its own pennies is not pinned.

Military

The city host of knights and foot raised by sixths and led by the consuls (a consul of the knights is named from 1201); the war posts at Barberino and Vico d'Elsa and the captured castle of Certaldo. In 1202 Clarito Pigli will command the final siege of Semifonte with catapults and Greek fire (Semifonte article). Record: Florence has taken and razed castles steadily since 1125; it has lost field fights to the Guidi (Monte di Croce, 1146-47).

No source gives the size of the host.

Threats

• Semifonte's resistance and its alliance with Colle and San Gimignano
• Siena's rivalry over the Valdelsa, Poggibonsi, the Chianti and Montepulciano
• A German king or his legate reviving the duchy of Tuscany and the imperial rights the League has seized
• The pope's claim to the lands of Countess Matilda and his oversight of the League
• Faction among the consular families (Caponsacchi against Visdomini and Tosinghi)

Councils and offices

Consuls of the commune (a large college, more than ten in some years), with councillors; a general assembly of citizens (parlamento) that ratifies treaties: in November 1197 the Tuscan League's pacts were sworn by 135 councillors of the commune and then by the citizens sixth by sixth (a list of more than 500 men of the sixth of Porta San Pancrazio survives). The city is organised in sixths (sesti). The consuls of the merchants (the later Arte di Calimala) are attested from the 1180s: Gianni di Cavalcante dei Cavalcanti (1192), Giannibello dei Tedaldini (1193); Clarito di Piglio dei Pigli is consul of the merchants in 1202.

A consul of the knights (consul militum) is first named in 1201 (Davizzo Tosinghi), a chamberlain (camerarius) in 1201. Craft guilds as political bodies and the popolo's own officers are later.

Families and factions

Consular families of the 1190s: the Visdomini and Tosinghi (Gerardo Rosso Visdomini, Goffredo, Ottaviano and Davizzo Tosinghi, Aliotto Visdomini), the Caponsacchi (Gerardo Caponsacchi, first podestà 1193), the Uberti (Guido Uberti is podestà of Lucca in 1199), the Tedaldini, the Nerli (Ugolino dei Nerli's house at Settimo), the Pigli, the Cavalcanti, the Ravignani (Bellincione Berti's daughter Gualdrada is the Guidi countess), the Donati, Adimari, Buondelmonti, Amidei and Fifanti. Faini describes a quarrel of the 1190s between the Caponsacchi and the Visdomini-Tosinghi clan. The party names Guelf and Ghibelline do not exist yet; the Buondelmonte murder that later legend makes their origin is 1216.

Bishop

Bishop Pietro (1190-1205), a Church map record; the bishops of Florence and of Fiesole joined the Tuscan League in the months after its founding. The bishop holds Borgo San Lorenzo and other Mugello and Valdelsa estates. Celestine III put Florence under interdict in autumn 1196 at the request of the abbot of Passignano, after Florence attacked Semifonte's outer borgo (Semifonte article); when it was lifted is not pinned.

Coinage

Pisan and Lucchese money; own mint not pinned.

What the year holds

What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.

1. January 1200 (day not pinned)Paganello da Porcari serves as podestà for 1200 (prolonged into 1201), with councillors who include Aliotto Visdomini, Ottaviano di Guido Rosso dei Tosinghi and Tedaldo Tedaldini (Faini).Depends on: the commune keeping the podestà it has chosen Stopped by: a return to consuls or a faction rising
2. 12 February 1200Count Alberto IV sells his half of Semifonte to Florence for 400 Pisan pounds, cedes Certaldo and swears to help besiege Semifonte; Faini places the count's turn at Settimo, in the house of Ugolino dei Nerli.Depends on: the count's weakness after losing Certaldo and Vico, and no Sienese or imperial help reaching him Stopped by: a Sienese or imperial offer to the Alberti, or a Florentine defeat in the Valdelsa
3. 6 March 1200Scorcialupo da Mortennano cedes his half of Semifonte to Countess Tabernaria, Alberto's wife, who passes it to Florence. Florence then holds the lordship of Semifonte in law, but the townsmen and their consuls fight on.Depends on: the Alberti deal of 12 February Stopped by: Scorcialupo keeping his share with Sienese backing
4. 1200-1201Florence tightens the ring round Semifonte while Colle and San Gimignano support it.Depends on: the Alberti staying bought and Siena staying out Stopped by: Siena or a German king's legate taking Semifonte under protection
5. 29 March 1201 (beyond 1200)Peace of Fonterutoli with Siena: Siena is to treat Semifonte as an enemy, Florence to treat Montalcino as one.Depends on: both cities wanting a free hand in their own wars Stopped by: a clash over Poggibonsi or the Chianti
6. 23 March to 3 April 1202 (beyond 1200)Final assault and surrender of Semifonte: terms signed at Vico d'Elsa on 3 April with Albertus de Monteautolo, podestà of San Gimignano; the town is razed and its people resettled below.Depends on: the siege holding through 1201 Stopped by: relief from Siena, Colle or an imperial army

Places of note

• Barberino Val d'Elsa: Florentine headquarters for the Semifonte war, fortified 1198
• Vico d'Elsa: Alberti castle taken by Florence in 1198
• Certaldo: Alberti castle taken by Florence on 11 May 1198
• Fiesole: Bishop's city destroyed by Florence in 1125
• Settimo: Ugolino dei Nerli's house, where Count Alberto came over to Florence in 1200 (Faini)

Where the sources disagree

• campaign notes Part 5 say the Tuscan League was formed in 1197 'with papal favour'. it.wikipedia (Lega di San Genesio) says Innocent III at first condemned the League harshly, rebuked the two cardinals present at its oath, and only on 30 October 1198 took it under papal protection. Papal favour is true on 1 January 1200, not at the founding.
• Florence's capture of Montegrossi (Montegrossoli): 1182 in the Ricasoli family article, 1198 in the Semifonte article.
• Semifonte's founding: about 1177 in the Semifonte article (Sanzanome); the Conti Alberti article says the Alberti built there from 1182 (that is the year Florence first destroyed the building works).

Evidence: The Semifonte war is dated closely in the Semifonte article and Faini's studies. The commune's officers on the morning of 1 January 1200 are not pinned, and the contado line is a reconstruction.

On the map: Drawn from the war posts of 1198 and the later Florence and Siena line of 1203; in 1200 the commune's contado is a patchwork of sworn lords, church lands and directly governed villages. The Firidolfi block in the central Chianti and the Guidi and Alberti castles are drawn separately.

Primary sources for this realm

Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.

• Annals of Pisa, by Bernardo Maragone, with continuation, Bernardo Maragone (1160s to 1175, continued to 1192). Pisa's official annals stop in 1175 and their continuation in 1192, so there is no Pisan narrative for 1200 itself. Read online