In the 1370s and 1380s in some cities of central Italy, in particular in Florence, Siena, Lucca and Perugia, political movements emerged that involved wage labourers - namely, but not only, woolworkers - and small artisans. Italian historiography has not shown great interest for these episodes, with the sole exception of the Florentine Ciompi. This article, however, is not, in a strict sense, an analysis of the “workers’ revolts” of the 1370s and 1380s. In line with the concept of «disciplined dissent», particular attention is focused on the mechanisms and dynamics through which social groups excluded - or almost excluded - from political institutions developed a political consciousness, organized themselves, opened comunication channels with the governing boards, claimed to actively take part in the redefinition of political space. Violent mobilization is only one - albeit the most visible - of the instruments through which the lower classes in Florence, Siena, Lucca and Perugia tried to negotiate a more active participation in political life. Revolts were only one component of a continuum of political communication that can be investigated in its complexity. Political mobilizations of the 1370s and 1380s were not based on guilds. In all the cities here considered some neighborhoods (contrade) socially very characterized, inhabited mainly by wage labourers, small craftsmen, immigrants and families with a low income, were the breeding ground of opposition movements. These social groups organized themselves through spontaneous meetings in the church or the squares of the contrada. Their political maturation did not originate in corporative structures, but in the interlacement of professional, kinship and friendship solidarities which derived from sharing the same social spaces. As a matter of fact, the agitation of the lower classes in the 1370s and 1380s was rooted in important socio-economic developments. In most of the cities of northern and central Italy the fourteenth century saw the take-off of the wool industry. From the 1320s-1330s on, industrialization caused a considerable rise in the number of the labourers employed in the many stages of wool processing, and the formation of real “working-class neighborhoods”. Territorial concentration favoured the spread of a new political consciousness. Economic factors, however, are not sufficient in themselves to explain why these movements emerged in these cities, and not in others, and at that moment, and not another. In Florence, Siena, Lucca and Perugia in the second half of the fourteenth century, for different reasons which the article tries to clarify, the processes of oligarchization that had characterized the years between 1315 and 1340 - the «golden age of oligarchy», to use John Najemy’s words - had come to a stop, ruling elites had get weaker, political equilibria were very fluid and the distribution of power was disputed. In the new, open political context of the 1370s, social groups that had so far been totally marginalized from political participation began to aspire to negoziate a representative space in the city councils and even in the governing boards. Political mobilization of workers and the lower classes, in its various forms, from disciplined dissent to peaceful pressure on institutions to violent action, was not a reaction to processes of closure of the political system. On the contrary, it was a reaction to the expansion of political space to levels never reached before, not even in the popular revolutions of the years between the end of the thirteenth and the beginning of the fourteenth century.
The political mobilisation of wage labourers and artisans in Siena, Florence, Lucca and Perugia in the second half of the fourteenth century
POLONI, ALMA
2016-01-01
Abstract
In the 1370s and 1380s in some cities of central Italy, in particular in Florence, Siena, Lucca and Perugia, political movements emerged that involved wage labourers - namely, but not only, woolworkers - and small artisans. Italian historiography has not shown great interest for these episodes, with the sole exception of the Florentine Ciompi. This article, however, is not, in a strict sense, an analysis of the “workers’ revolts” of the 1370s and 1380s. In line with the concept of «disciplined dissent», particular attention is focused on the mechanisms and dynamics through which social groups excluded - or almost excluded - from political institutions developed a political consciousness, organized themselves, opened comunication channels with the governing boards, claimed to actively take part in the redefinition of political space. Violent mobilization is only one - albeit the most visible - of the instruments through which the lower classes in Florence, Siena, Lucca and Perugia tried to negotiate a more active participation in political life. Revolts were only one component of a continuum of political communication that can be investigated in its complexity. Political mobilizations of the 1370s and 1380s were not based on guilds. In all the cities here considered some neighborhoods (contrade) socially very characterized, inhabited mainly by wage labourers, small craftsmen, immigrants and families with a low income, were the breeding ground of opposition movements. These social groups organized themselves through spontaneous meetings in the church or the squares of the contrada. Their political maturation did not originate in corporative structures, but in the interlacement of professional, kinship and friendship solidarities which derived from sharing the same social spaces. As a matter of fact, the agitation of the lower classes in the 1370s and 1380s was rooted in important socio-economic developments. In most of the cities of northern and central Italy the fourteenth century saw the take-off of the wool industry. From the 1320s-1330s on, industrialization caused a considerable rise in the number of the labourers employed in the many stages of wool processing, and the formation of real “working-class neighborhoods”. Territorial concentration favoured the spread of a new political consciousness. Economic factors, however, are not sufficient in themselves to explain why these movements emerged in these cities, and not in others, and at that moment, and not another. In Florence, Siena, Lucca and Perugia in the second half of the fourteenth century, for different reasons which the article tries to clarify, the processes of oligarchization that had characterized the years between 1315 and 1340 - the «golden age of oligarchy», to use John Najemy’s words - had come to a stop, ruling elites had get weaker, political equilibria were very fluid and the distribution of power was disputed. In the new, open political context of the 1370s, social groups that had so far been totally marginalized from political participation began to aspire to negoziate a representative space in the city councils and even in the governing boards. Political mobilization of workers and the lower classes, in its various forms, from disciplined dissent to peaceful pressure on institutions to violent action, was not a reaction to processes of closure of the political system. On the contrary, it was a reaction to the expansion of political space to levels never reached before, not even in the popular revolutions of the years between the end of the thirteenth and the beginning of the fourteenth century.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
