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The War of the Eight Saints (1375–1378) was a war between Pope Gregory XI and a coalition of Italian city-states led by Florence that contributed to the end of the Avignon Papacy.
The causes of the war were rooted in interrelated issues, Florentine opposition to the expansion of the Papal States in central Italy (which the Avignon Popes had set as a condition for their return), and antipathy toward the ''Parte Guelfa'' in Florence.Peterson, David S. 2002.
The War of the Eight Saints in Florentine Memory and Oblivion
" In ''Society and Individual in Renaissance Florence'', Ed. William J. Connell. Specifically, Florence feared in the autumn of 1372 that Gregory XI intended to reoccupy a strip of territory near Lunigiana, which Florence had conquered from Bernabò Visconti, and that the Ubaldini might switch from Florentine to Papal allegiance.Lewin, Alison Williams. 2003. ''Negotiating Survival: Florence and the Great Schism, 1378-1417''. Fairleigh Dickinson University Press. . pp. 39-56. Gregory XI also harbored various grievances against Florence for their refusal to aid him directly in his war against the Visconti of Milan. When Gregory XI's war against Milan ended in 1375, many Florentines feared that the pope would turn his military attention toward Tuscany; thus, Florence arranged a nonaggression pact with the English '' condottiere'' John Hawkwood, who was Gregory XI's main military commander, at a cost of 130,000 florins, extracted from local clergy, bishops, abbots, monasteries and ecclesiastical institutions, by an eight-member committee appointed by the Signoria of Florence, the ''Otto dei Preti''.Najemy, John M. 2006. ''A History of Florence 1200-1575''. Blackwell Publishing. . pp. 151-155. Hawkwood also received a 600-florin annual salary for the next five years and a lifetime annual pension of 1,200 florins. The transalpine mercenaries employed by Gregory XI against Milan, now unemployed, were often a source of friction and conflict in papal towns.Holmes, George. 2000. ''Europe: Hierarchy and Revolt, 1320-1450''. Blackwell Publishing. . p. 131.
Florence formed an alliance with Milan in July 1375, immediately prior to the outbreak of the war, and the prosecution of the war was entirely delegated to an eight-member committee appointed by the Signoria of Florence: the ''Otto della Guerra''.
Florence incited a revolt in the Papal States in 1375. Florentine agents were sent to more than forty cities in the papal states—including Bologna, Perugia, 
Pope Gregory XI excommunicated all members of the government of Florence and placed the city under interdict on March 31, 1376, banning religious services in Florence and legalizing the arrest and enslavement of Florentines and the confiscation of their property throughout Europe. Initially, rather than attempting to disobey the interdict, Florentines organized extra-ecclesiastical processions (including
The Eight Saints ( it, Otto Santi) may refer to one, or both, of two eight-member ''Balìa'' appointed by the Signoria of Florence during the war.Trexler, R.C. 1963. "Who were the Eight Saints?" ''Renaissance News''. 16, 2: 89-94. When Florence arranged a nonaggression pact with Hawkwood at a cost of 130,000 florins, a special commission of eight citizens was created to levy a one-year, forced loan on the clergy of Florence and Fiesole to cover the sum. A second council of eight men was later created to make the military and diplomatic arrangements necessary to carry on a war against the Pope.
The group identity of the Eight Saints remains a controversial subject. The levy committee is most widely accepted as the ''Otto Santi'' by scholars, though some argue that ''Otto Santi'' refers to the war council. The first historical reference to the Eight of War ( it, Otto della Guerra) as the ''Otto Santi'' occurs in 1445 with the account of Florentine historian Domenico Buoninsegni; it does not appear in the accounts of contemporaries of the war such as Leonardo Bruni and Giovanni Morelli. Buoninsegni had applied the appellation—used in August 1378 to refer to an eight-member group (''Gli Otto Santi del Popolo di Dio'') formed by the
Causes
The causes of the war were rooted in interrelated issues, Florentine opposition to the expansion of the Papal States in central Italy (which the Avignon Popes had set as a condition for their return), and antipathy toward the ''Parte Guelfa'' in Florence.Peterson, David S. 2002.The War of the Eight Saints in Florentine Memory and Oblivion
" In ''Society and Individual in Renaissance Florence'', Ed. William J. Connell. Specifically, Florence feared in the autumn of 1372 that Gregory XI intended to reoccupy a strip of territory near Lunigiana, which Florence had conquered from Bernabò Visconti, and that the Ubaldini might switch from Florentine to Papal allegiance.Lewin, Alison Williams. 2003. ''Negotiating Survival: Florence and the Great Schism, 1378-1417''. Fairleigh Dickinson University Press. . pp. 39-56. Gregory XI also harbored various grievances against Florence for their refusal to aid him directly in his war against the Visconti of Milan. When Gregory XI's war against Milan ended in 1375, many Florentines feared that the pope would turn his military attention toward Tuscany; thus, Florence arranged a nonaggression pact with the English '' condottiere'' John Hawkwood, who was Gregory XI's main military commander, at a cost of 130,000 florins, extracted from local clergy, bishops, abbots, monasteries and ecclesiastical institutions, by an eight-member committee appointed by the Signoria of Florence, the ''Otto dei Preti''.Najemy, John M. 2006. ''A History of Florence 1200-1575''. Blackwell Publishing. . pp. 151-155. Hawkwood also received a 600-florin annual salary for the next five years and a lifetime annual pension of 1,200 florins. The transalpine mercenaries employed by Gregory XI against Milan, now unemployed, were often a source of friction and conflict in papal towns.Holmes, George. 2000. ''Europe: Hierarchy and Revolt, 1320-1450''. Blackwell Publishing. . p. 131.
The war
Florence formed an alliance with Milan in July 1375, immediately prior to the outbreak of the war, and the prosecution of the war was entirely delegated to an eight-member committee appointed by the Signoria of Florence: the ''Otto della Guerra''.
Florence incited a revolt in the Papal States in 1375. Florentine agents were sent to more than forty cities in the papal states—including Bologna, Perugia, Orvieto
Orvieto () is a city and ''comune'' in the Province of Terni, southwestern Umbria, Italy, situated on the flat summit of a large butte of volcanic tuff. The city rises dramatically above the almost-vertical faces of tuff cliffs that are compl ...
and Viterbo—to foment rebellion, many of which had only been re-submitted to papal authority by the efforts of Cardinal Gil Álvarez Carrillo de Albornoz. Humanist Chancellor of Florence Coluccio Salutati disseminated public letters urging the cities to rebel against the "tyrannical" and "corrupt" papal rule, instead urging a return to ''all'antica'' Republicanism.
Pope Gregory XI excommunicated all members of the government of Florence and placed the city under interdict on March 31, 1376, banning religious services in Florence and legalizing the arrest and enslavement of Florentines and the confiscation of their property throughout Europe. Initially, rather than attempting to disobey the interdict, Florentines organized extra-ecclesiastical processions (including flagellant
Flagellants are practitioners of a form of mortification of the flesh by whipping their skin with various instruments of penance. Many Christian confraternities of penitents have flagellants, who beat themselves, both in the privacy of their dwel ...
s) and confraternities
A confraternity ( es, cofradía; pt, confraria) is generally a Christians, Christian voluntary association of laity, laypeople created for the purpose of promoting special works of Christian charity or piety, and approved by the Christian Churc ...
, including the re-emergence of groups such as the Fraticelli
The Fraticelli (Italian for "Little Brethren") or Spiritual Franciscans opposed changes to the rule of Saint Francis of Assisi, especially with regard to poverty, and regarded the wealth of the Church as scandalous, and that of individual church ...
, who had previously been deemed heretical. The edifice of the Florentine inquisition was destroyed, and the Signoria rolled back legal restrictions on usury and other practices frowned on by the (now defunct) ecclesiastical courts.Becker, Marvin B. 1959. "Florentine Politics and the Diffusion of Heresy in the Trecento: A Socioeconomic Inquiry." ''Speculum''. 34, 1: 60-75.
However, in October 1377, the government of Florence forced the clergy to resume religious services causing Angelo Ricasoli, Bishop of Florence, and Neri Corsini, Bishop of Fiesole
The Diocese of Fiesole ( la, Dioecesis Fesulana) is a Roman Catholic diocese in Tuscany, central Italy, whose episcopal see is the city of Fiesole. Fiesole was directly subject to the pope until 1420, when the archdiocese of Florence was created a ...
, to flee Florentine territory. The heavy fines and confiscations issued by the Signoria on prelates who left their posts, the "most extensive liquidation of an ecclesiastical patrimony attempted anywhere in Europe before the Reformation," may have been motivated to pay for the increasingly expensive conflict. The total cost of the war for Florence would reach approximately 2.5 million florins.
As a result of Gregory XI's economic sanctions, merchants of the Florentine "diaspora" were hurt economically throughout Europe, particularly the Alberti bankers in Avignon
Avignon (, ; ; oc, Avinhon, label=Provençal dialect, Provençal or , ; la, Avenio) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Vaucluse Departments of France, department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region of So ...
, although the interdict was ignored by many, including Charles V of France.
Hawkwood honored his agreement with the Florentines not to make war in Tuscany, limiting himself to putting down the various rebellions within the papal states; in 1377 Hawkwood abandoned Gregory XI entirely and joined the anti-papal coalition. Gregory XI's other '' condottieri'' also limited their activities to Romagna
Romagna ( rgn, Rumâgna) is an Italian historical region that approximately corresponds to the south-eastern portion of present-day Emilia-Romagna, North Italy. Traditionally, it is limited by the Apennines to the south-west, the Adriatic to t ...
, notably the savage sacking of Cesena in February 1377 in what came to be known as the Cesena Bloodbath. In the spring of 1377, papal mercenaries recaptured Bologna, which up until that point had been a key Florentine ally.
In 1377, Cardinal Robert of Geneva (future Avignon Pope Clement VII) led the army of Gregory XI in an attempt to quell the revolt, and Gregory XI himself returned to Italy to secure his Roman possessions, ''de facto'' ending the Avignon Papacy. Gregory XI arrived in Rome in January 1377, after a difficult journey (including shipwreck), and died there in March 1378.
Resolution
The war ended with a peace treaty concluded atTivoli
Tivoli may refer to:
* Tivoli, Lazio, a town in Lazio, Italy, known for historic sites; the inspiration for other places named Tivoli
Buildings
* Tivoli (Baltimore, Maryland), a mansion built about 1855
* Tivoli Building (Cheyenne, Wyoming), a ...
in July 1378, negotiated with Pope Urban VI following the death of Gregory XI and with the beginning of the Western Schism. Under the treaty, Florence was to pay the Pope 200,000 florins (as opposed to Pope Gregory XI's original indemnity requirement of 1 million florins), repeal all laws placed against the Church by the secular government, and restore all property confiscated or looted from the clergy. The Pope, in return, was to repeal the interdict placed on Florence and mend the ecclesiastical community's diminished favor of Florence.
The Eight Saints
The Eight Saints ( it, Otto Santi) may refer to one, or both, of two eight-member ''Balìa'' appointed by the Signoria of Florence during the war.Trexler, R.C. 1963. "Who were the Eight Saints?" ''Renaissance News''. 16, 2: 89-94. When Florence arranged a nonaggression pact with Hawkwood at a cost of 130,000 florins, a special commission of eight citizens was created to levy a one-year, forced loan on the clergy of Florence and Fiesole to cover the sum. A second council of eight men was later created to make the military and diplomatic arrangements necessary to carry on a war against the Pope.
The group identity of the Eight Saints remains a controversial subject. The levy committee is most widely accepted as the ''Otto Santi'' by scholars, though some argue that ''Otto Santi'' refers to the war council. The first historical reference to the Eight of War ( it, Otto della Guerra) as the ''Otto Santi'' occurs in 1445 with the account of Florentine historian Domenico Buoninsegni; it does not appear in the accounts of contemporaries of the war such as Leonardo Bruni and Giovanni Morelli. Buoninsegni had applied the appellation—used in August 1378 to refer to an eight-member group (''Gli Otto Santi del Popolo di Dio'') formed by the Ciompi Revolt
The Ciompi Revolt was a rebellion among unrepresented labourers which occurred in the Republic of Florence, from 1378 to 1382.Cohn, Samuel K., Jr. ''Popular Protest in Late Medieval Europe: Italy, France, and Flanders''. Manchester, Manchester UP, ...
,The word "ciompi", of uncertain etymology, refers to the florentine wool-carding workers which ensued immediately after the War of the Eight Saints—to the ''Otto della Guerra''. In contrast, the moniker is used in the March 31, 1376 bull of excommunication to refer to the ''Otto dei Preti'' (the levy committee, literally meaning "Eight of Priests").
The ''Otto dei Preti'', appointed July 7, 1375 to carry out the taxation of the clergy for the nonaggression pact included:
*Matteo Malefici
*Antonio di Forese Sacchetti
*Bardo di Guglielmo Altoviti
*Salvi Filippo Salvi
*Giovanni d'Angiolo Capponi
*Antonio di Filippo Tolosini
*Recco di Guido Guaza
*Michele di Puccio
The ''Otto della Guerra'' (war council) were appointed August 14, 1376 and consisted of four guild representatives and four members of the nobility.
;Major guild representatives
*Giovanni Dini – Spices
*Guccio Gucci – Woollen-cloth manufacturing
;Minor guild representatives
*Matteo Soldi – Wine retail
*Giovanni di Mone – Grain manufacturing
;Members of elite Florentine families
*Alessandro de' Bardi
*Giovanni Magalotti
*Andrea Salvati
*Tommaso Strozzi
See also
* Catherine of Siena * Bridget of SwedenReferences
Further reading
*Chambers, D.S. 2006. ''Popes, Cardinals & War: The Military Church in Renaissance and Early Modern Europe''. I.B. Tauris. . p. 32-33. {{DEFAULTSORT:War Of The Eight Saints Conflicts in 1375 Conflicts in 1376 Conflicts in 1377 Conflicts in 1378 Wars involving the Papal States Wars involving the Republic of Florence Wars involving the Duchy of Milan Warfare of the Middle Ages 14th century in the Papal States 14th century in the Republic of Florence Avignon Papacy 1370s in Europe