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into a hereditary duchy by purchasing the title of duke from the emperor in 1395. Under Giangaleazzo’s direction, the duchy of Milan extended its power over all of Lombardy and even threatened to conquer much of northern Italy until the duke’s untimely death before the gates of Florence in 1402.

REPUBLIC OF FLORENCE Florence, like the other Italian towns, was initially a free commune dominated by a patrician class of nobles known as the grandi (GRAHN-dee). But the rapid expansion of Florence’s economy made possible the development of a wealthy merchant-industrialist class known as the popolo grasso (PAWP-ooloh GRAH-soh)—literally the “fat people.” In 1293, the popolo grasso assumed a dominant role in government by establishing a new constitution known as the Ordinances of Justice. It provided for a republican government controlled by the seven major guilds of the city, which represented the interests of the wealthier classes. Executive power was vested in the hands of a council of elected priors—the signoria (seen-YOR-ee-uh)—and a standard-bearer of justice called the gonfaloniere (gun-fah-loh-NYAY-ray), assisted by a number of councils with advisory and overlapping powers. Around the mid-fourteenth century, revolutionary activity by the popolo minuto, the small shopkeepers and artisans, won them a share in the government. Even greater expansion occurred briefly when the ciompi, or industrial wool workers, were allowed to be represented in the government after their revolt in 1378. Only four years later, however, a counterrevolution brought the “fat people” back into virtual control of the government. After 1382, the Florentine government was controlled by a small merchant oligarchy that manipulated the supposedly republican government. By that time, Florence had also been successful in a series of wars against its neighbors. It had conquered most of Tuscany and established itself as a major territorial state in northern Italy.

REPUBLIC OF VENICE The other major northern Italian state was the republic of Venice, which had grown rich from commercial activity throughout the eastern Mediterranean and into northern Europe. A large number of merchant families became extremely wealthy. In the constitution of 1297, these patricians took control of the republic. In this year, the Great Council, the source of all political power, was closed to all but the members of about two hundred families. Since all other magistrates of the city were chosen either from or by this council, these families now formed a hereditary patriciate that completely dominated the city. Although the doge (or duke) had been the executive head of the republic since the Early Middle Ages, by 1300 he had become largely a figurehead. Actual power was vested in the hands of the Great Council and the legislative body known as the Senate, while an extraordinary body known as the Council of Ten, first formed in 1310, came to be the real executive power of the state. The Venetian government was respected by contemporaries for its stability. A sixteenth-century Italian historian noted that Venice had “the best government of any city not only in our own times but also in the classical world.”13

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CHRONOLOGY The States of Western and Central Europe

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England

Edward III

1327–1377

Richard II

1377–1399

Henry IV

1399–1413

France

Philip VI

1328–1350

John II

1350–1364

Capture at Poitiers

1356

Crushing of the Jacquerie and Étienne Marcel

1358

Charles V

1364–1380

Charles VI

1380–1422

German Monarchy

Golden Bull

1356

Italy

Florence

Ordinances of Justice

1293

Venice

Closing of Great Council

1297

Milan

Visconti establish themselves as rulers of Milan

1322

Giangaleazzo Visconti purchases title of duke

1395

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The States of Italy in the Fourteenth Century

In the fourteenth century, Venice also embarked on a policy of expansion. By the end of the century, it had created a commercial empire by establishing colonies and trading posts in the eastern Mediterranean