Due to the abolition of direct taxation in 1315 for city residents, Florence’s government was funded by borrowing. Interest would be paid off by an indirect tax called a gabelle. Gabelles were essentially tariffs, fees, and sales taxes for certain goods. If the government borrowed more money, the gabelles would have to be raised in order to pay off the interest. Thus, the poor, who spent a higher proportion of their wages on consumer goods and services than the wealthy, would be hit hardest by increased government debt.[1]
During the crises leading up to the 1340s, Florence borrowed massive amounts of money and had to raise gabelles significantly which greatly harmed the poor and the working class. Due to the slowing economy of the 1340s, wages stagnated, and workers only made about 70% of living costs. At the same time, gabelles were raised significantly. The gate gabelle on wheat was doubled from 6 denari per staio in the 1324 to 12 denari per staio in 1341. The gate gabelle on oil was raised from 6 denari per staio in 1334 to 10 denari per staio in 1341. The livestock gabelle increased tenfold from 6 soldi per head in 1333 to 60 soldi per head by 1351. Gabelles on wine increased by half from 20 soldi per cogno in 1336 to 30 soldi per cogno by 1340.[2] Although direct conversions between Italian currency denominations and units to modern ones is difficult, it still stands to be seen that there was a significant relative increase in taxes on important consumer goods. Combined with the stagnating wages, many workers became greatly upset as they began to struggle to feed themselves and their families.
The struggle of the poor and working class manifested in crowds of workers taking to the streets from 1343-5. However, the most serious effort to lead the working class was due to a lowly wool textile worker named Ciuto Brandini. His official condemnation for attempting to organize low-level cloth workers into a primitive union is as follows:
…Ciuto Brandini, of the parish of S. Piero Maggiore, a man of low condition and evil reputation…Together with many others who were seduced by him, he planned to organize an association…of carders, combers, and other laborers in the woolen cloth industry in the largest number possible. In order that they might have the means to congregate and to elect consuls and leaders of their association…he organized meetings on several occasions and on various days of many persons of lowly condition.[3]
Ciuto’s movement was such a threat to the guild-dominated government that he was executed for his crimes. It is telling that he was joined by so many other lowly workers that it was reported by the government upon his sentencing. Times were hard not just for Ciuto, but for most of his coworkers. Even more amazing, he was also accused of collecting dues at his “union” meetings for the furthering of his cause.[4] The fact that so many willingly paid what little they had into the cause shows that there must have been an intense motivation behind their organization. Their meetings and structure are also testament to an unusually strong uniting force.
That force was the demand for higher wages, reflecting the misery of increasing taxes and economic downturn. According to a merchant’s diary from the day of Ciuto’s arrest, Ciuto’s associates initiated a strike, demanded his safe return, and higher wages. However, they were quashed and Ciuto was hung.[5] Just like the Peruzzi family, the working class struggled and suffered due to the shockwaves of the economic crash of the 1340s. However, their lives were not safe. Death was brought to challenged authority to end their suffering and the rest were doomed to hunger and poverty. Those at the bottom of the socioeconomic field were touched by the same crisis as those at the top, but in a much more concrete, tangible, and physically devastating way.
[1] Najemy, A History of Florence, 118-119.
[2] edited by Nicolai Rubenstein, Florentine Studies: Politics and Society in Renaissance Florence (Evanston [Ill.]: Northwestern University Press, 1968), 152-154.
[3] edited by Gene Brucker, The Society of Renaissance Florence: A Documentary Study, Renaissance Society of America Reprint Texts; 8 (Toronto; Buffalo: Published by University of Toronto Press in association with the Renaissance Society of America, 1998), 235-236.
[4] Brucker, The Society of Renaissance Florence, 235-236.
[5] Gene A. Brucker, Florentine Politics and Society, 1343-1378, Princeton Studies in History; 12 (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1962), 110-111.
