The Signoria of Florence (
Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional Ita ...
: "lordship") was the
government
A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state.
In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government i ...
of the medieval and Renaissance
Republic of Florence
The Republic of Florence, officially the Florentine Republic ( it, Repubblica Fiorentina, , or ), was a medieval and early modern state that was centered on the Italian city of Florence in Tuscany. The republic originated in 1115, when the Fl ...
, between 1250 and 1532. Its nine members, the ''Priori'', were chosen from the ranks of the
guilds
A guild ( ) is an association of artisans and merchants who oversee the practice of their craft/trade in a particular area. The earliest types of guild formed as organizations of tradesmen belonging to a professional association. They sometimes ...
of the city: six of them from the major guilds, and two from the minor guilds. The ninth became the
Gonfaloniere of Justice
Gonfaloniere of Justice () was a post in the government of medieval and early Renaissance Florence. Like Florence's Priori, it was introduced in 1293 when Giano Della Bella's Ordinances of Justice came into force.
He was one of the nine citi ...
.
Selection of members
The names of all guild members over thirty years old were put in eight leather bags called ''borse''. Every two months, these bags were taken from the church of
Santa Croce, where they were ordinarily kept, and in a short ceremony drawn out at random. Only men who were not in debt, had not served a recent term, and had no relation to the names of men already drawn, would be considered eligible for office.
Service in the Signoria
Immediately after they were elected, the nine were expected to move into the
Palazzo della Signoria, where they would remain for the two months of their office. There they were paid a modest sum to cover their expenses and were provided with green-liveried servants. The ''Priori'' had a uniform of crimson coats, lined with
ermine and with ermine collars and cuffs.
In undertaking their governmental duties, the Signoria was required to consult two other elected councils collectively known as ''Collegi''. The first was the ''Dodici Buonomini'', with twelve members, while the second, the ''Sedici Gonfalonieri'', consisted of sixteen people. Other councils, such as the Ten of War, the Eight of Security and the Six of Commerce, were elected as the need arose.
See also
*
Boule (ancient Greece)
In cities of ancient Greece, the boule ( el, βουλή, ''boulē''; plural βουλαί, ''boulai'') was a council of over 500 citizens (βουλευταί, ''bouleutai'') appointed to run daily affairs of the city. Originally a council of nobles ...
*
Guilds of Florence
The guilds of Florence were secular corporations that controlled the arts and trades in Florence from the twelfth into the sixteenth century. These ''Arti'' included seven major guilds (collectively known as the ''Arti Maggiori''), five middle gui ...
*
History of Florence
Florence ( it, Firenze) weathered the decline of the Western Roman Empire to emerge as a financial hub of Europe, home to several banks including that of the politically powerful Medici family. The city's wealth supported the development of a ...
*
History of Italy
The history of Italy covers the ancient period, the Middle Ages, and the modern era. Since classical antiquity, ancient Etruscans, various Italic peoples (such as the Latins, Samnites, and Umbri), Celts, ''Magna Graecia'' colonists, and other a ...
**
Medieval Italy
The history of Italy in the Middle Ages can be roughly defined as the time between the collapse of the Western Roman Empire and the Italian Renaissance. The term "Middle Ages" itself ultimately derives from the description of the period of "obsc ...
**
Italian Renaissance
The Italian Renaissance ( it, Rinascimento ) was a period in Italian history covering the 15th and 16th centuries. The period is known for the initial development of the broader Renaissance culture that spread across Europe and marked the trans ...
*
Italian city-states
The Italian city-states were numerous political and independent territorial entities that existed in the Italian Peninsula from the beginning of the Middle Ages until the proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy, which took place in 1861.
After t ...
*
Maritime republics
The maritime republics ( it, repubbliche marinare), also called merchant republics ( it, repubbliche mercantili), were Thalassocracy, thalassocratic city-states of the Mediterranean Basin during the Middle Ages. Being a significant presence in I ...
*
Sortition
In governance, sortition (also known as selection by lottery, selection by lot, allotment, demarchy, stochocracy, aleatoric democracy, democratic lottery, and lottocracy) is the selection of political officials as a random sample from a large ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Signoria Of Florence
Government of Italy
Italian Renaissance
Medieval politics
Political history of Italy
Politics of Tuscany
Republic of Florence