Introduction
The Italian peninsula is, if nothing else, volatile. Rooted in the mists of the ancient Roman Empire, Florence has grown and convulsed with a vigor and resilience unseen anywhere else on earth. Its fate dictated by its position on the Via Cassia highway, the city became one of the premier commercial centers of the world.
After becoming the capital of Tuscia in the third century AD the city came disastrously close to destruction. Suffering under devastating periods of Ostrogoth and Byzantine rule it finally found solace in the form of the Lombard Kingdom. Soon after the newcomers were swallowed by Charlemagne’s Holy Roman Empire and Florence united with Lucca to form the Duchy of Tuscany.
The scale and speed of their subsequent economic explosion is largely unparalleled even in modern times. The city’s mercantile success gave birth to a wealthy merchant class that would ultimately usher in a semi-republican government. A civil war in the emerging commune between pro-Imperial Ghibellines and pro-Papal Guelphs degenerated into a bitter feud but was eventually settled with the city’s integrity intact. The florin was introduced in 1251 and was the only European gold coin produced in economically significant numbers for hundreds of years. Florence’s rival city Pisa was defeated by Genoa in 1284 and eventually incorporated into the Florentine Republic circa 1406.
It was perhaps not the unprecedented financial success of the traders or the guild dominated governmental structure but the profound ramifications of the Black Death that most influenced the city’s course in world history. It is generally held that roughly one third of Europe’s population perished during the plague and its indiscriminate killing shook the Italian city states from their medieval obsession with religion and the afterlife.
Florence’s unique political climate was best situated for the new humanist way of thinking to take root, and all over the city new ideas and attitudes began to overrun the long held archaic traditions. The ancient ideals of the Greco-Roman world, seemingly lost in the pious fervor of the past millennium, began to resurface. Great geniuses of the arts and sciences flocked to the city in search of a haven that would nurture their abilities and financially support their endeavors. The magnificently wealthy merchant princes would prove all too happy to oblige.
Perhaps the most evocative dynasty along with the Hapsburg, the Medici family grew from humble bankers into the richest men in the city and on occasion even the whole of Europe. Becoming synonymous with both political ruthlessness and unparalleled creative patronage, they would lead the tenuous Florentine Republic into a new era of great beauty, innovation, wealth, and intrigue.
------------------------------------------------------
Table of Contents
Chapter One – “Reform”
Chapter Two - "Beginnings"
Chapter Three – “Glory”
The Italian peninsula is, if nothing else, volatile. Rooted in the mists of the ancient Roman Empire, Florence has grown and convulsed with a vigor and resilience unseen anywhere else on earth. Its fate dictated by its position on the Via Cassia highway, the city became one of the premier commercial centers of the world.
After becoming the capital of Tuscia in the third century AD the city came disastrously close to destruction. Suffering under devastating periods of Ostrogoth and Byzantine rule it finally found solace in the form of the Lombard Kingdom. Soon after the newcomers were swallowed by Charlemagne’s Holy Roman Empire and Florence united with Lucca to form the Duchy of Tuscany.
The scale and speed of their subsequent economic explosion is largely unparalleled even in modern times. The city’s mercantile success gave birth to a wealthy merchant class that would ultimately usher in a semi-republican government. A civil war in the emerging commune between pro-Imperial Ghibellines and pro-Papal Guelphs degenerated into a bitter feud but was eventually settled with the city’s integrity intact. The florin was introduced in 1251 and was the only European gold coin produced in economically significant numbers for hundreds of years. Florence’s rival city Pisa was defeated by Genoa in 1284 and eventually incorporated into the Florentine Republic circa 1406.
It was perhaps not the unprecedented financial success of the traders or the guild dominated governmental structure but the profound ramifications of the Black Death that most influenced the city’s course in world history. It is generally held that roughly one third of Europe’s population perished during the plague and its indiscriminate killing shook the Italian city states from their medieval obsession with religion and the afterlife.
Florence’s unique political climate was best situated for the new humanist way of thinking to take root, and all over the city new ideas and attitudes began to overrun the long held archaic traditions. The ancient ideals of the Greco-Roman world, seemingly lost in the pious fervor of the past millennium, began to resurface. Great geniuses of the arts and sciences flocked to the city in search of a haven that would nurture their abilities and financially support their endeavors. The magnificently wealthy merchant princes would prove all too happy to oblige.
Perhaps the most evocative dynasty along with the Hapsburg, the Medici family grew from humble bankers into the richest men in the city and on occasion even the whole of Europe. Becoming synonymous with both political ruthlessness and unparalleled creative patronage, they would lead the tenuous Florentine Republic into a new era of great beauty, innovation, wealth, and intrigue.
------------------------------------------------------
Table of Contents
Chapter One – “Reform”
Chapter Two - "Beginnings"
Chapter Three – “Glory”
Last edited:
. I really like the concept. Best of luck!
