INDUSTRIAL AND I'oUTICAL HISTORY OF CO 



was a small but prosperous republic. Tho foreign possessions 

 of Piaa were Sardinia, Corsica, and tho Baloario Islands, all of 

 wln<-h were taken from tho Moors. Those conqm t ;m.l ti. 

 iii< I tlio Piaanese had rendered to tho oruaadors, made their power 

 respected, and their alliance Bought both by tho Genoese and 

 the V< : \V'o read of them as being at first leagued with 



the former against tho latter, and as being bought off by the 

 il'-T of mercantile privileges denied by Venice to other states. 

 Thin th. -\ wore allowed to trade with tho Venetian possessions, 

 paying only a quarter of the customary dues, and at Con-t uiti 

 t hey shared on equal terms tho privileges which tho Veno- 

 njoyril. When Genoa succeeded Venice in influence at 

 Constantinople, in 1261, the Pisaneso had their privileges con- 

 tinue 1, in order to secure their co-operation, and to sever them 

 from Venice. 



During this flourishing period there arose in Pisa those 

 m:irvfl!'!i-; c.lil'n'cs which made the city the school of European 

 li Dome, the Baptistry, tho Leaning Tower, and 

 tho Arcades of tho Campo Santo or Cemetery. Tho Brotherhood 

 <>f Humility, a company partly ecclesiastical and partly secular, 

 established also at this time Eastern trading settlements which 

 materially extended the Pisan commerce. The bitter feeling 

 against the Saracens eventually toning down, the ports of Bar- 

 bary, Spain, and Sicily were filled with Pisanose merchantmen. 



Trimming between Genoa and Venice, Pisa made real friends 

 of neither. For two hundred years a growing envy had 

 smouldered in the Genoese mind, and at length it burst forth 

 into a flame. Both states raised armaments so prodigious that 

 they read like fabulous exaggerations. Tho success which had 

 crowned their contests with the Moors did not attend tho 

 i'i-anc.-io when opposed to Genoa. On every occasion they were 

 met by a superior fleet, and in the final battlo of Meliora 5,000 

 Pisanese fell, and 11,000 were taken prisoners, most of whom 

 perished in chains. " If you wish to find Pisa," it was commonly 

 said, " you must look for her in the dungeons of Genoa." The j 

 port of Pisa was destroyed by the Genoese, and the mouth of the 

 harbour was filled up. From this reverse the republic never 

 recovered. It was vain any longer to contend for empire. Her 

 colonies fell rapidly, and her commerce dwindled away. One of 

 tho Visconti family usurped the dominion over the city, and 

 subsequently sold it to Florence for 400,000 florins ; and with 

 this state, after a century of intermittent struggles, it became 

 permanently united. 



FLORENCE. 



Florence, the capital of Tuscany, a part of the ancient Etruria, 

 with but a scanty history till the end of the twelfth century, when 

 Rudolf of Austria, the reigning prince, sold the citizens their free- 

 dom for .70,000, ultimately became one of the leading cities of 

 Italy in luxury and wealth. Manufactures rather than commerce 

 were the source of its riches, and tho foundation of the fortunes of 

 ita most eminent citizens, of whom tho Medici attained regal 

 power, though without the name. 



The industry of the free republic was directed and controlled 

 by guilds or arts, seven of which were styled the greater guilds, 

 and five (afterwards increased to fourteen) the lesser guilds. 

 The seven greater arts were lawyers, bankers, physicians, 

 merchants, salesmen, and two guilds of manufacturers. The 

 lower arts were smiths, shoemakers, carpenters, masons, butchers, 

 and others. The Pisanese at first acted as maritime carriers 

 for the Florentines, but, urged by jealousy, eventually cut 

 themselves off from this profitable trade. The Florentines 

 then turned their own attention to ship-building, buying Livorno 

 (Leghorn) of the Genoese as a convenient site for the purpose, 

 and in the end they acquired an important commerce both by 

 land and sea. Among their chief manufactures were woollens, 

 silks, and jewellery, of which the first was pre-eminent. They 

 possessed agencies everywhere, and acted as the exchangers or 

 bankers of Europe. Their mercantile fleet consisted of twenty- 

 six vessels eleven large and fifteen small galleys the sailing 

 and return of which, as well as the nature of the cargo, were 

 subjected to statutory regulations, after tho example of Venice. 

 The importance which their foreign trade attained was exem- 

 plified on the occasion of Boniface VIII. receiving the courtesies 

 of foreign states on his elevation to tho Papal chair, when 

 twelve envoys out of the number proved to bo citizens of 

 Florence. 



The name of the Medici is associated with science and art, 

 letters and poetry, architecture, sculpture a:ul painting, and 



with colossal wealth. As prince*, they forgot their former 

 thrift, and lout vaut fortune* in commerce through the mis* 

 management of their agent*. The expenditure of the family 

 in thirty-Heven years (14341471) in buildings and charities 

 amounted, according to Sismondi, to 82,000,000 francs of our 

 present money. 



A simple and a correct taste distinguished the Florentines, 

 and even when their virtue had degenerated, and their Tolnptuoo*- 

 ness had become a proverb, they still possessed their fine apprecia- 

 tion of the beautiful. 



Florentine dyers, especially of scarlet, were unequalled. 

 French cloths were finished off at Florence. Scarlet staffs 

 alone employed 200 manufacturers, producing annually 80,000 

 pieces or rolls of cloth. Silk fabrics and tapestries, straw 

 hats and artificial flowers, soaps, essences, and perfumes, hus- 

 qnered ware, and artistic work in mosaic, metal, and alabaster. 

 glass, musical, mathematical, and philosophical instruments, and 

 carriages, were all products of Florentine genius and industry. 

 In the chronicle of Benedetto Dei we meet with the following 

 quaint contrast between Venice and Florence : 



" Know that we in Florence have two guilds, which are more 

 estimable and noble than any in your city of Venice ; we mean 

 the woollen and cloth manufacturers. They are known at the 

 court of Rome as well as at that of Naples, in Sicily, and at 

 Constantinople, Pera, Scio, Bursa, Gallipoli, Saloniki, Adrian- 

 ople ; and wherever the Florentines send their cloths, there they 

 have banks, chambers of commerce, agencies and consulates. 

 In silk wares, gold and silver stuffs, we make and shall always 

 make more than Genoa, Venice, and Lucca together. Ask your 

 merchants who frequent Marseilles, Avignon, Lyons, Geneva, 

 Bruges, Antwerp, and London. They find everywhere respect- 

 able banks, splendid exchanges, estimable trade-societies, chnrche", 

 and consulates belonging to the Florentines. Inquire at the 

 banks of the Medici, Pozzi Capoui, Buondelmonti, Corsini, 

 Falconieri, Pontinari, and as many other houses as would fill a 

 hundred pages with their names. These houses do no trade in 

 merceries, quinquillas, sewing-threads, fringes, rose wreaths, or 

 glass-ware, but in ducats, brocade, and cloth. When you Vene- 

 tians want to buy spiceries, cottons, and wax from Alexandria 

 you must pay for them in hard cash. The Florentines give, on 

 the contrary, their cloths and other stuffs in exchange for their 

 commodities, which they, moreover, get still more conveniently 

 from Bursa." 



AMALFI. 



The republic of Amalfi, a small state in Naples, had the 

 singular fortune of uniting the ancient Roman refinement with 

 the new civilisation of the Middle Ages. It rose, reached the 

 height of its power, and declined, between the sixth and the 

 twelfth centuries. Its career as a free trading state was bril- 

 liant, till checked by tho arms of Roger Guiscard, King of Sicily ; 

 from this period its splendour was lost, though even to tho 

 present day it retains some trade. Its citizens were renowned 

 as sailors, and took an active share in the crusades. The port 

 extended its trade to Egypt, Syria, and Constantinople, and was 

 a great mart of Eastern merchandise frequ >nted by Africans, 

 Hindoos, Arabs, and Sicilians. French cloths formed a large 

 item in its trade. Amalfi, scarcely referred to as a commercial 

 port after its capture, has its name often repeated in connection 

 with interesting historical incidents. Its citizens founded in 

 Palestine the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem, from which the 

 military order took its name. Flavio Gioja, a citizen, introduced 

 or improved the mariner's compass. Justinian's Pandects, after 

 having been lost for ages, are said to have been brought to light 

 at the siege of Amalfi in 1137. Hallam, however, states that 

 the discovery of the Pandects and the compass is falsely im- 

 puted to this state. 



ANCONA. 



Ancona, in the Papal States, was founded by the Syra- 

 cusans about four centuries before Christ, and has ever been, 

 next to Venice, the most considerable port on the Adriatic coast 

 of Italy. Its early Eastern trade, chiefly with Cyprus, was 

 supervised by a consul residing at St. Joan d'Acre. From the 

 countries of tho Levant it obtained raw cotton, spices, sugar, 

 and alum, giving in return Florentine and French cloths, soap, 

 and wine. At a later date, the area over which its commerce 

 extended comprised Northern Europe, and the number of its 

 imports and exports was greatly increased. Home produce, 

 grain, hemp, pulse, linseed, fruits, wine, and oil ; cattle, sheep, 



