Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 07.djvu/824

* FLORENCE. 738 FLORENCE. higher gymnasium. The most important of the art schools, the Accademia delle Belle Arti, pos- sessea a fine collection illustrative of rally Flor- entine painting, and Michelangelo's "David." Chief among the incomparable art collections of Florence are those of the Pitti and I'tlizi palaces (see these titles). The Archaeological Museum, rich in Etruscan antiquities, is now- housed in the Palazzo Crocetta, and the Museo Nationale, important for early Florentine sculp- ture, in the Bargello. The Opera del Duomo con- tains many treasures made for the Baptistery and tin- Cathedral, and in the old house of Michelangelo is the Museo Buonarroti, a collec- tion of his works and designs. Among the many and important Florentine libraries are the Laur- entian, begun in 1444 by Cosmo de' Medici, and incomparably rich in classic manuscripts; the National Library, composed principally of the Biblioteca Magliabecchiana, founded by Maglia- beechi in 1747. and possessing almost half a million volumes, besides pamphlets, letters, prints, etc.; the Marucelliana (1713), with a fine collection of prints; and the Ricciardana. The Florentine archives (Archivio Centrale) are unusually rich and well organized. Industries, etc. The great wool and silk in- dustries, which formed the economic basis of the past greatness of Florence, have long since de- cayed; at present the manufacture of art objects is the most important. Especially celebrated are modern Florentine mosaics of colored marbles, the finest of which are made in the royal factory, founded in 1574. and there are numerous establish- ments for sculpture in marble, alabaster, and serpentine, for wood-carving, and for the manu- facture of stained glass. There are also silk and hat manufactories, jewelry-works, porcelain pot- teries, and glass factories. The water supply, derived from reservoirs seven miles north of Flor- ence, is supplemented by a modern hydraulic sys- tem which draws the water from the river. There are an American consul and vice-consul. Popu- lation in 1881, 109,901; in 1901, 205,589. History. Originally a market place situated at the base of the high hill crowned by the ancient Etruscan city Faesulas (Fiesole), Flor- ence was probably founded in the second cen- tury B.C. Its importance begins with the estab- lishment of a Roman military colony in its pre- cincts, decreed by Sulla, but carried out by Augustus. Under the Emperor Hadrian the Via Cassia was extended through Florence, greatly increasing the town's fmportance. In the fourth century A..D. it became the seat of a Christian bishop, and was tin- capital of the Province of Tuscia-Umbria. In 401 Radagaisus, at the head of an innumerable horde of barbarians, besieged the city, but was defeated, and his army was destroyed by Stilicho, general of the Emperor Honorius. In 542 Totila, Hie Gothic King of Italy, besieged Florence, but did not capture it. Under Hie Lombards Florence was the capital of a duked mm i. Uthough Charles the Great may have itlj benefited Hie city, tin' former belief that it lay desolate until in 799 he ordered iis walls .'Hid public buildings rebuilt is untenable. - early as the eleventh century the Floren tines were European traders ami the possessors ommercial depots in Hie seaports and cities rai and England. The city's manufac tore, of wool and -ill, were exported, and the skill of its workers in gold and jewels was proverbial. Its government developed into a progressive form of administration, the grandi or nobles being represented by six consuls, and the citi- zens by an elected Senate of one hundred buonuo- mini. In 1115 Florence, with a part of Tuscany, was bequeathed to the popes by the Countess Matilda, who had inherited the civic jurisdiction from her mother, the Countess Beatrix. It received an influx of population from the inhabitants of Fiesole, when their hill town was destroyed in 1125. During the bitter wars between Pope and Empire, Florence and Tuscany for a time stood aloof from the civil feud which raged throughout Italy; but in 1215 Florence became involved in the great party struggle, and for thirty-three years the city was distracted by the deeds of bloodshed and violence of two "rival fac- tions, who assumed the names and adopted the respective causes of Guelph and Ghibelline. (See Guelph and Ghibelline.) In 1250 the citizens rebelled against the nobles and overthrew their authority. Twelve magistrates, or anziani, were chosen annually in place of the consuls. Two other magistrates, strangers by birth, were elected — one. the podeati, was invested with supreme authority in civil and criminal cases: the other, with the title of the captain of the people, had the chief command of the militia, in which were enrolled all the youth of the State, who were bound at the call of this magistrate, and the 'sound of the bells.' the historic Florentine toc- sin, to join their countrymen fully equipped for fight; twenty companies defended the town, ninety-six the country. After the death of the Emperor Frederick II., the great protector of the Ghibellines, the Guelph or Papal party gradu- ally rose in power in Florence, and during ten years of grandeur and prosperity under their aegis the city stood not only the first in Tuscany. but one of the first of all Italy. In 1254 the Florentines first coined their golden florin, which commemorated a period of great success in the annals of Florence, whose forces had humbled Siena. Arezzo, Pisa, and Pistoja, in 1252, and in 1254 captured Vol terra. In 12U0 the standard of civil war was again raised by the Ghibellines of Florence, who, in league with Manfred of Naples, attacked the Guelphs and cut their forces to pieces in the -a ogu i na ry battle of Monte Aperto. The conquerors entered Florence in the name of Manfred, abolished the popular institutions, es- tablished an exclusively aristocratic executive, and even strongly advocated the entire destruc- tion of the city as the hot -bed of tiuelphism. This barbarous scheme was strenuously and success- fully resisted by their leader, Farinata degli I'liei'ti, immortalized by Dante. Pope Urban IV.. French by birth, summoned against Manfred a French army, led by Charles of Anjou ( brother of King I. >uis l), to whom he offered the King- dom of the Two Sicilies. Mantle, 1 was defeated and slain in the battle of Kenevento. and tluclpli ascendency was restored throughout Italy and in Florence. In 1266 Charles fully restored lo the Flor- entines their internal institutions, and received their offered allegiance tor ten years. In 1282 the priori, a new executive and commercial power, consisting of the presidents of the seven greater aits or guilds, was established in F'lor- ence in i 193, bj the consent of the priori, a higher chief was elected, with the title of gon- faloniere. In 1300 Dante was one of the priori,