church from the West to the Cupula is one hundred paces the bredth fortie sixe the Cupula is in circute three hundred paces with a guilt Ball of Brasse on the toppe wherein twenty men may stand vpright of the Church of San Lorenzo is a very faire and beautifull Librarie built and furnished with Bookes by the familie of Medici the roofe is of Cedar very curiously wrought with knots and flowers and right vnder each knot is the same wrought with no lesse Arte in the pauement In this Library I told three thousand nine hundred bookes very fairely bound in Leather after one sort all bound to their seates which were in number sixtie eight and which is the greatest grace and cost also very many of the bookes were written with the Authours owne hands There is also â—t the farther end of this Librarie one other of prohibited bookes which I could not see The great Seale of Florence is the Lyon and Hercules their Armes were in former times a Flower de Lise argent in a field gules but vpon the banishment of the Ghibelline faction they are altered to the contrary the Field to the colour of the flower and the flower to the colour of the field Within these hundred yeares haue beene of this Cittie three Popes Iohn and â—â—lius Medici Lâ—â— the tenth and Clement the seauenth and Hippolisus Aldebrandiui called Clement the eight that yet liueth Here haue also flourished many famous men in matter of learning as Francesco Guicciardini for a iudiciall Historiographer Nicolas Machianelli for a worldly Politician Michel Angelo for an excellent Painter Petrache and Dante for singular Poets and Boccace for his pleasant garbe and refining their language and many others Hauing gazed your fill vpon the beauties of this Towne if for varieties sake and your better recreation you will walke abroade into the Villa per spasso as the Italian saith you shall haue there in view so many and such goodly Pallaces for the space of six or seauen miles compasse as they say would make one other Florence But aboue all the great Dukes Pallace of Pratolino built by his brother Francesco is the most admirable not for the Pallace it selfe or manner of the building for there are many can match it if not excell it But for the exquisite and rare inuention of Water-workes wherein it is excellent and thought to exceede Tiuoli by Rome so much in this kinde commended The house it selfe is built in forme of a Romaine T the head of the letter which is the front of the house being in length seauenty paces the other part fifty foure the roomes for offices of Court and lodgings are seauenty whereof these are all of one bignesse forme and furniture with three goodly Halles richly furnished running along the middest of the Pallace from the one end to the other and the one opening into the other so as according to the winde or sunne he may giue his intertainement for the best ease of them he feasteth It is seated betweene two high Hilles vpon a third lower then they from which hilles yee descend some quarter of a mile by a way set with quick-set kept after our English fashion yee mount vp to the Terreno of the Front by twelue staires very faire of Stone directly wherevpon at the head of a Garden set round with Statues of the Muses in a ground sencibly ascending is seene a huge Giant cut out of the maine Rock with all his parts as armes hands legges and feete symmetricall to his head wherein may stand a dozen men In it are kept Pigeons the loouers whereat they come in and out are his eares the windowes which giue light to the roome are his eyes Out of his mouth falleth into a very fine poole all the water that serues the worke on the other side the Pallace among which are many sights yeelding very great content as Noes Arke with all kinds of beasts Hercules fighting with a Dragon Birds artificially singing Organs musically playing showers of Raine plentifully downe powring and infinite sort of such deuise more delightsome to be seene then pleasant to be discoursed of To conclude the deuise so good the workmanship so rare and the charge so great as it is said constantly that it cost Duke Francesco three hundred thousand Crownes The great Duke hath another Pallace two miles from Florence called Castello onely for pleasure but not so beautified nor full of water-workes as this of Pratolino an other distant 10. miles off called Il Poggio Imperiale more profitable then they both in forme quadrangular fifty six paces square Where besides the pleasure it yeelds of hunting it yeeldeth also summering and Haye for his Horses and keepeth the great Duches a dairie of three hundred Kine a commodity worth the remembring in this state where in three-score miles are not seene three-score head of Cattle nor so much good pasture ground that I saw in the whole countrey I am now before I proceede to the other chiefe Citties to remember in a word how and when the Florentines came impatronized of diuers other states of Tuscany and what forme of gouerment they had in former times vntill Leo and Clement for I must there needs begin when I shall come to speake of the great Dukes title This Cittie of Florence after many conflicts with the olde Citty of Fesulae whereof now almost remaineth no memory but the hilles whereon it stood getting the vpper hand and many of that olde towne following the fortune of the winner comming hither to dwell it grew to beare the name of a great and rich Cittie which till then euer since the time of Sylla by whom they say it was first founded and made a Collony of the Romaines bare rather the name of a Bourough then otherwise And after a combination of these two Citties into one Comminalty they quartered the Armes of Fesulae which were a Moone Azure in a field Argent with those of Florence being a Flower de Lise Argent in a field Gules It was afterward subiect to diuers sackings and subuersions by the Gothes Gaules and Lomgobards partaking with other Citties of Italy in those miseries which these Nations inflicted Insomuch as there was nothing remaining of their auncient glory but ruines and desolation what the barbarous crueltie of such an enemie could not tyranise vpon In these tearmes Charles the great found it who caused it to be reedified appointing for the gouerment thereof two Consuls and a Senate of an hundred After this they altered the gouerment conferring it vpon ten called Antiani Aldermen as I take it in the yeare 1254. Shortly after in the yeare 1287. they wan the Citty of Pistoia and about the same time they purchased their liberty of the Emperour Rodolphe for three-score thousand Duckets And againe changed their forme of gouerment to eight Priori and a Gonfalonier of Iustice who was to hold his place for 2. moneths only Presently after they bought Arezzo of
di Bracciano that now with the Dutchesse his wife sister to the Cardinal Mont ' Alto is in Court is sonne of another of his Sisters The Duke of Montona married Madama Leonora of this house he hath also neere alliance with the family Zforza And it was said in the Court at my comming from Liuorno that Rannuio Fernese Duke of Parma should marry Maria sister to Leonora both daughters to Francesco his brother Howbeit it was afterwards reported that he should marry the sister of Cardinall Mont ' Alto neece to Sixtus Quintus whom sinde he hath married and Maria is wife to Henry the 4. King of France His Armes are six Apples or Balles of gold in a field Azure vnto which some say is added since his obtaining the Scepter the Armes of Florence the Flower de Lise But hauing the authoritie of one so approued as is Guicciardine to the contrary I rather say with him that this addition was giuen of speciall fauour to the familie Medici by the house of France by whom in his first booke page 16. it is plaine that when Charles the eight entended his voyage for Naples he sought as a league much importing that action the friendship of the Florentine State and that as he there saith if they would not ioyne with him in the seruice yet at least they would grant him passage for his armie and victuals for his money whereto he laboured by letters both the State in generall and Piero Medici in particular in which his letters to Medici he putteth him in minde of the maâ—ie fauours and honours done by Lewes the eleuenth to Lorenzo his father and to his auncestors that they had giuen molte dimostrazioni per conseruation della grandezza d'essi Many proofes of willingnesse to preserue the Medicies greatnesse and that they had honoured in testimonio de beneuolenza l'insegneâ—ora con l'insegne proprie della casa di Francia in shew of their loue their armes with theirs of France Concerning his Stile it is to be obserued that since the gouernment came to the haÌ„ds of this familie it hath altered foure times for first when by Clement the 7. his meanes who was a Medici Alexandro had obtained the signory of Florence he was entituled Prior perpetuall after that matching in the house of Austria he was created Duke of Florence The title yet changed twice more in the person of Cosmo father to this great duke now liuing for hauing vnited the States of Florence and Siena he was entituled Dux Florentiae et Senarum And after by Pius Quintus he was created Magnus Dux Hetruriae for some speciall seruice done to the Church This title of Duke is not of any great antiquitie in Italy for although Titus Liuius speaketh of Duces yet he meaneth Captaines of Souldiers or rather such as had the leading of an Armie by the Senates appointment and not such as haue absolute authoritie ouer Citties and Countries The first bringer in of this name into Italy was Longinus King of the Lombardes one hundred sixtie sixe yeares after the declination of the Romaine Empire By him at the first were created foure which bore their title of these places Beneuentum Turine Fruily and Spoleto At which time also were instituted the two Marquesarts of Ancona and Treuiso which still liue in the names though dead in the persons that should haue them and it should seeme in some sort this title of Marquesse was better then that of Duke For in their language saith Biondo it signifieth Perpetuum Magistratum because they might leaue their title and Signorie to their heires which the Dukes could not doe but by the leaues of the Kings of Lombardie Some say this word of Marques is deriued from the French Marque which signifieth a Prouince as that a Marques should signifie the President of a Prouince Others thinke it is deriued of the Dutch word Marchk among whom this title is in great honor signifieth a Signor ouer a Country to some limit or marke for so Altimeri in his Scholia vpon Cornelius Tacitus interpreteth As for this title of great Duke there neuer was any before in Italy nor I thinke in Europe but he of Musconia Of Dukes there be diuers in this Countrie of Italy as the Dukes of Ferrara Muntoua Parma Vrbino besides foure and twenty in the kingdome of Naples Concerning his claime and right to the Crowne it is beyond the compasse of a bare relation as this is to dispute how good it is but rather to discourse what it is neither to determine how iustly his Predecessors got it but how lineally it is deuolued from theÌ„ to him The meanes how this house rose to such superioritie in a coÌ„mon-wealth where was alwaies maintained such equallitie is by the Florence historie easily discerned to be their popularity insinuatiue stealing into the peoples good opinions ouer whoÌ„ they oftentimes in cases of insolencies oppressions by the nobler sort vndertooke the Patronage became as it were the Tribunes of the people in Rome or the Auogadori del Commune in Venice who as I take it are Aduocates Intercessors for the câ—tizeÌ„s preferring their sutes to the Courts Howbeit there is a difference for this is an office instituted that was a fauor enchroched vpoÌ„ this is by law limitted that was by maÌ„s nature so infinite as it staid not running on this plausible race till the wished goale was gotten Venice hath beene wise in this case where it hath been danger for a great man to deserue too well and be loued too much for which cause only as in their Annals appeareth some of theÌ„ haue lost their liues fearing what this popularitie of theirs might effect if it were put to the triall holding belike that principle good in a coÌ„monwealth which is a ground in matters of the Church which saith Melius est pevire vnuÌ„ quaÌ„ vnioneÌ„ It is better one perish then vnitie factions being as daÌ„gerous in the one as schismes in the other To which purpose Athens and Rome can afford many fit examples indeed so many as it were needlesse to recount either that of Scilla and Marius Caesar and Pompeius Octavius and Anthonius or any other particulars either of the one state or the other And but that the colours Noble and Popular were in seuentie sixe in good time vnited in the Citty of Genoa there had not wanted at this day an example in that Citty also eyther of the family Doria Spinoli Grimaldi or Fieschi as by Oberto Foglietta a very iudiciall writer of these times is proued But to returne to the history of the family Medici it is to be vnderstood that Lorenzo grand-child to the first Cosmo who for his well deseruing of the Common-wealth was sir-named Pater Patriae vncle to Clement the 7. who for deserts cleane contrary merited the title of Ruina Reipub He I say after the death of his brother Guigliano who was slaine by the families
determine And sure I am of this that besides many particulers heere remembred as also the Rents and Reuenues of his proper lands belonging by many descents to him of others not accounted in this valuation of his yearely Entrate there is yet one thing behinde vntouched or thought of by others which will appeare no small matter and is this In euery Citty and towne corporate as I may say in Tuscanie there was before their subiection to the family Medici a CoÌ„munità that is an Entrate in coÌ„mon of the Citty by which all publick charges were defrayed all officers maintained and many other good and charitable workes performed This Entrate arose vpon the Tenths Tithes of euery mans crop or fruite for in Tuscany the parish Priest hath them not he hath onely his offering Church-rights with a house and some certaine ground thereto belonging as yee would say Glebe-land It grew also vpon the bread and flesh thus euery file of bread as they terme it cost a quatrino the signing euery Bullock cost foure Liuers the killing euery Swine two euery Weather cost two guigly There were also in times past people of charitable disposition who dying without children made the Communità their heâ—re to their goods and land which they call the Entrate of the Geppo that is the Stock and is a member of the Communist Now that which did yearely remaine of the Entrate all charges deducted was put to the common Treasurie for to helpe in time of dearth or warre or such like publick necessity An example hereof I will take the towne of Prato Here the Entrate of the Communità is twenty six thousand Duckets the yeare the Entrate of the Ceppo is eight thousand in all thirty foure hereout they allow the Pâ—desta one thousand the Captaine of the trained Souldiers six hundred the Chauncellor fiue hundred they allow for a feast euery two moneths among the eight Pricori at the choosing of their Gonfalioniere twenty duckets They allow their Iudge who is a Doctor of the Ciuill law fiue hundred also the wages of the Bargello and Sbirri as one would say the Vnder-shiriffe and his Sergeants the wages of the Trumpetters the stipend of foure Schoole-maâ—sters the salarie of two Phisitions and two Chirurgions the keeping often Schollers at the Vniuersitie in Pisa also the maintaining of two Hospitals one of Bastards th' other of sick aged and impotent persons whereof there are in all to the number of three hundred and fiftie besides the giuing of portions to poore maides that are married from hence or to young boyes that are put to some occupation as also the Almes euery Friday of fourteene Staia of Corne two barrels of Wine and one of Vineger giuen to the poorer sort And lastly that which they giue to the Poueri Vergognosi that is such housholders as are poore and are ashamed to beg whereof there is consideration had by the foure that are in office for that purpose These and all other their common charges as trimming of Churches repairing of Bridges mending of high wayes and such like being defrayed it is certaine that there yearely remaineth one fourth part ' at the least which now goeth not to the common treasure as in times past but to the great dukes coffers the like is to be said of all other places in this Dukedome But it is to be obserued that before this money which resulteth of the Communità be carryed to Florence to the dukes Exchequer it is put into the Monte di Pietà the Bancke of Pitty a place where any poore man may pawne his houshold stuffe or cloathes or whatsoeuer els is worth money prouided alwayes the gage be worth more then the money he taketh this money he hath for a day and a yeare after fiue in the hundred And if at the time he returne not to redeeme the thing engaged it is sold by Trumpet for what can be gotten where-out the principall and interest being taken the poore man shall haue the rest So that the great Duke hauing this ouerplus for now it is their Prouerbe Il'Duca è la Communità in euery Citty and great towne and the vse besides for the money which will amount to a round summe through the whole State for there be of these Banckes in euery place it is to be coniectured that his whole Entrate is a greater matter then it is ordinarily taken for of them who esteeme it at one Million and one hundred thousand Duckets I should rather condiscend to them that rate it at one Million and a halfe Concerning his expenses it is harder to guesse at then his Entrate those of the Duke Francesco were supposed about fiue hundred thousand Duckets these of this Duke they say be much lesser And as the Duke his brother had diuers Captaines and men of commaund his Stipendaries who receiued of him some three thousand fiue huÌ„dred duckets the yeare some three thousand some two and some lesse according to their nobility and the qualitie of the place wherein they had charge so is it to be thought that the Generall of the foote the Collonell of his horse the generall of his Galleis and other inferiour Commanders who vpon occasion are bound to serue him in their places are with sufficient pension rewarded each particulers pension how much it is without more certaine information then I had I dare not presume to say choosing rather to be defectiue in a generallity then being too particuler to erre As for his expence vpon his troope of horse the Lance hath 7. Piastras 1. fiue shillings 3. pence a peece a moneth the light-horseman hath three now in the time of peace in warres a better proportion The Souldier in all his garrisons hath foure Piastras a moneth the officers proportionate each in his place to this rate As for the trained Souldier he is in peace no charge to the Duke for he findeth himselfe shot powder armour weapon and all things necessary and is bound to keepe them in good order the Captaines and officers of these are paid out of the Communità as hath beene abouesaid The charge of his Galleys allowing as Don Antonio Doria in his discourse how to resist the Turke at Sea doth proportion that is each moneth fiue hundred gold crownes a Galley coÌ„meth in the halfe yeare which time they be commonly at Sea to the sum of eighteene thousand gold crownes The charge of his Court as by the number of persons therein aboue enformed may be collected cannot be great I haue heard one of his seruants say that the Steward is allowed for Spezierie Spicery fifteene thousand duckets that all other charges may treble so much more As for all officers of Court but these few before remembred they feede at their owne tables His Pages which are Gentlemens sonnes of the Citty or other places in number as I take it sixteene are at his charges kept at Schoole at dyet in the Citty His Staffieri