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Education and Society in the Middle Ages and Renaissance Editors
Jürgen Miethke (Heidelberg) William J. Courtenay (Madison) Jeremy Catto (Oxford) Jacques Verger (Paris)
VOLUME 29
Education and Society in Florentine Tuscany Teachers, Pupils and Schools, c. 1250–1500 Volume I
By
Robert Black
LEIDEN • BOSTON 2007
This book is printed on acid-free paper. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Black, Robert, 1946– Education and society in Florentine Tuscany : teachers, pupils and schools, c. 1250–1500 / by Robert Black. p. cm.—(Education and society in the middle ages and renaissance) ISBN 978-90-04-15853-5 (hardback : alk. paper) 1. Education—Italy—Florence— History. 2. Education—Italy—Tuscany—History. 3. Educational sociology—Italy— Florence. 4. Educational sociology—Italy—Tuscany. I. Title. II. Series. LA799.F55B58 2007 370.945'51—dc22 2007019979
CONTENTS Preface ......................................................................................... xi Abbreviations .............................................................................. xxv Editorial note regarding citations from manuscripts ................. xxix Chapter One Literacy in Florence, 1427 ................................ Conclusion .............................................................................. Chapter Two The school curriculum in Florentine Tuscany and in the city of Florence .................................................... The shape of the curriculum ................................................. Elementary reading ............................................................ Latin composition ............................................................... Latin literature .................................................................... Stylistics and rhetoric .......................................................... Abacus ................................................................................. Writing ................................................................................ The school curriculum in Florentine Tuscany outside Florence .................................................................. Prato .................................................................................... Arezzo ................................................................................. Colle Valdelsa ..................................................................... Volterra ............................................................................... Pisa ...................................................................................... San Gimignano ................................................................... Poggibonsi ........................................................................... Poppi ................................................................................... Pescia ................................................................................... Pistoia .................................................................................. Sansepolcro ......................................................................... San Miniato and Fucecchio ............................................... Other towns in Florentine Tuscany ................................... The school curriculum in the city of Florence ..................... Pre-school ............................................................................ The reading curriculum in Florence ..................................
The secondary theoretical grammar syllabus in Florence ........................................................ The fourteenth century .................................................. 1400–1450 ....................................................................... 1450–1470 ....................................................................... 1470–1500 ....................................................................... The auctores minores in Florence ........................................... The fourteenth century .................................................. The fteenth century ...................................................... Boethius in Florentine schools ............................................ The auctores maiores in Florence ........................................... Rhetoric and stylistics in Florence ..................................... Abacus and writing in Florence ......................................... Latin drama in Florence .................................................... Humanism at school in Florence and Florentine Tuscany: a comparison ....................................................................... Chapter Three The decline of church education and the rise of lay schools in Tuscany ....................................................... Church schools before 1200 ................................................... The decline of ecclesiastical education in Tuscany during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries ............................. The rise of lay teachers and schools in Tuscany ................... Notaries ............................................................................... Family men ......................................................................... Citizens ................................................................................ Military service ................................................................... Untitled teachers ................................................................. Women ................................................................................ Schools, teachers and lay institutions: universities and guilds ............................................................................... Private teachers in Tuscany outside Florence in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries .................................... Private teachers in Florence during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries ............................................................ Elementary teachers of reading and/or writing ............... Private grammar teachers .................................................. Private tutors ....................................................................... Private abacus teachers and schools in Florence during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries ......................... Conclusion ..............................................................................
contents Chapter Four The rise of communal schools in Florentine Tuscany: 1262 to 1400 ........................................................... Communal subsidies for rent ................................................. San Gimignano ................................................................... Fucecchio .............................................................................. Pistoia, San Miniato, Castiglion Fiorentino, Castelfranco di Sotto, Arezzo .............................................................. Communal salaries ................................................................. Grammar teachers .............................................................. Elementary teachers ........................................................... Abacus teachers .................................................................. Shortage of teachers outside Florence ................................... Monetary inducements for teachers outside Florence ........... Rising communal salaries for grammar teachers .................. Aims of communal education ................................................ Quality assurance and control in communal teaching .......... Florence and Florentine Tuscany in the fourteenth century: an educational comparison ................................................. Conclusion ..............................................................................
Chapter Five Teachers, schools and pupils in Florence during the fteenth century .................................................... Elementary teachers and schools of reading (and writing) ... Elementary teachers before 1427 ....................................... Elementary teachers in the 1427 Catasto .......................... Elementary teachers at or near Orsanmichele in the earlier fteenth century .................................................. Elementary teachers in the mid-fteenth century ............. Elementary teachers in the later fteenth century ............ Abacus teachers and schools .................................................. Grammar (Latin) teachers and schools .................................. Public grammar teachers .................................................... Private grammar teachers .................................................. Private tutors in fteenth-century Florence ........................... Patterns of education in fteenth-century Florence .............. The earlier fteenth century .............................................. The mid-fteenth century .................................................. The late fteenth century ...................................................
338 339 348 362 385 385 401 423 446 446 457 462
Appendix One Education in the Florentine Catasto, 1427 ... Appendix Two Education in the Florentine Catasto, 1458 ...
469 529
327 327 329 331
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Appendix Three Communal schoolteachers in Florence up to 1500 .................................................................................... Appendix Four Communal schoolteachers in Florentine Tuscany (and Siena) up to 1400 ............................................ Appendix Five Education in unpublished Florentine Ricordanze (up to 1507) ............................................................ Appendix Six Education in the matriculation records of the Florentine Company of the Purication ............................... Appendix Seven Additional documents on education in Arezzo discovered since 1996 ................................................. Appendix Eight Documents on education in Sansepolcro up to 1400 ....................................................................................
Index of names ...........................................................................
791
PREFACE Education emerged as a driving force in Italy from the twelfth to the sixteenth century. This was a period which saw both the triumph of urban culture in the form of the city-states and the revival of classicism linked to humanism and the Renaissance. Both these decisive movements were underpinned by educational developments. Civic expansion was dependent on economic growth; commercial, industrial and nancial development required increasing literacy and numeracy to be diffused throughout the urban population for the conduct of business affairs and the keeping of business records. The triumph of lay education and literacy marks a great watershed in European history, and the late-medieval Italian cities were at the forefront of this cultural revolution. It was here that mass literacy reached a majority of the population. Burgeoning classical culture also relied on education to underpin, improve and extend latinity, not only among the professional literary classes but also within the social and political elite who patronised humanism and the Renaissance. Florence and Tuscany were at the heart of Italy’s urban and classical owering. Not only was Florence a great centre of Italy’s commercial revolution beginning in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, but it was also the rst permanent hub of the Renaissance classical revival from the later fourteenth century. Nevertheless, there has never been a comprehensive study of the educational infrastructure which supported the rise of both urbanism and classicism in Florence and Tuscany. Scholarly literature has been dominated by empirical research on schools in individual towns (e.g. Pistoia,1 Lucca2 and Volterra3) or by general syntheses of Italian education (e.g. by Manacorda4 and Grendler5), studies that tend to see a general educational pattern for Italy as a whole; the approach of this work has been different, attempting as it does to discern crucial regional and local variations in Italian education. Indeed, school education in no region of Italy during the 1 2 3 4 5
Renaissance period (apart perhaps from Piedmont)6 has ever been the subject of a thorough study. Florence and Tuscany—the hub of the Renaissance—have long deserved such attention, but the vast quantity and extreme dispersal of archival material have discouraged this kind of regional study of education. Within this ourishing lay culture, the city of Florence was doubtless one of the greatest centres of the Renaissance revival of antiquity, but it has always been puzzling why the leading citizens of Florence tended to be patrons rather than active participants in the Renaissance’s new learning; in the earlier fteenth century, amateur humanism was noticeable among the Florentine élite, but there were scarcely any professional humanists from Florence until the end of the century, and few Florentine amateurs wrote extended Latin compositions.7 This idiosyncratic situation needs to be understood in an educational and cultural context. The results of this work’s intensive study of educational structures both inside and outside the city of Florence show, I think conclusively, that, in the earlier Renaissance period, Latin school education was relatively weak in Florence, in comparison with outlying towns of Tuscany; Florentines gave preference to commercial education (abacus schools) over grammar (Latin) schools. The opposite was true in the other towns of Florentine Tuscany, where a traditional preference for Latin (grammar) over abacus remained, even in towns where regular abacus teaching was ultimately provided. The result was the migration of Latin scholars from the provinces to ll the void in Florence, supported by the Florentine élite, increasingly concerned at the overly commercial bias of the wider Florentine population, and anxious to differentiate themselves and their households from the petty-bourgeois attitudes of the middle and lower classes. This study will go some way to answering the question: why the Florentine Renaissance? Because of the quantity of unpublished source material underpinning this study, it has been necessary to publish the text in two volumes. The rst consists of ve chapters and eight appendices; the second will comprise four further chapters and four more appendices. A bibliography will be attached to volume 1, while a further comprehensive bibliography for both volumes will appear at the end of volume 2. A comprehensive general index, as well as an index of manuscripts, will be published at the end of volume 2.
6 7
Gabotto (1895); Nada Patrone (1996). Martines (1963), pp. 105–44, 147–91, 306–50; Black (2004), pp. 29 ff.
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As in my recent book on the history of the Latin school curriculum in medieval and Renaissance Italy,8 I should like to clarify that the subject of this book is pre-university education. The institutions discussed, as well as their teachers and pupils, will be elementary schools of reading and writing, secondary schools of commercial arithmetic (abacus schools), and secondary grammar, i.e. Latin, schools. Humanist teachers ran schools as well, but these establishments catered not only for children but particularly for young adults, often over the age of eighteen. Such teaching frequently ran parallel to university courses, or indeed was sometimes an alternative to university study, and, in this sense, falls outside the scope of this study. Many of the famous humanist teachers in Florence (e.g. Sozomeno, Bernardo Nuti, Giorgio Antonio Vespucci or Poliziano) taught pupils beyond school-age; their activities at this higher level have been excluded here, although their work with younger pupils (e.g. Poliziano’s activity as a tutor to the children of Lorenzo de’ Medici) has been germane. The focus of this study is Florence and Florentine Tuscany from the mid-thirteenth to the end of the fteenth century. Of course, the Florentine territorial state did not exist in the thirteenth century, only gradually emerging in the Trecento, to reach its mature extent in the earlier fteenth century. The term Florentine Tuscany is used to refer to what would become the Florentine subject territories in the fteenth century. This is a comparative study, therefore, of Florence and its dominions in terms of school education, not of Tuscany as a whole. Lucca and Siena have been largely omitted from this work. Siena has been the subject of a particularly comprehensive educational document collection up to 1357.9 For the period after 1357, Peter Denley has been working for many years on the city’s educational institutions, so precluding any research on Sienese schools in this study. Since Siena could not be included, it was logical to exclude the other major independent Tuscan city—Lucca, itself the subject of the best of the early twentieth-century monographs on Tuscan education.10 Barsanti’s research, careful though it is, is not comprehensive, but a complete treatment of Lucca’s schools will have to await a Lucchese specialist. Nevertheless, I have referred to Lucca and Siena for comparisons particularly in the medieval period up to the earlier fourteenth century,
8 9 10
Black (2001). Cecchini and Prunai (1942). Barsanti (1905).
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when there is a general paucity of source material. In following the careers of Tuscan teachers, the exclusion of Siena in particular has caused occasional problems, because a number of important teachers worked not only in Florentine Tuscany but in Siena too. Here I have been able to follow their careers in Siena too, owing to the generosity of Peter Denley, who has provided me with information before the publication of his own important research. Chapter 1 provides an analysis of Florentine male literacy, as revealed by the tax (Catasto) returns submitted by all Florentine citizens and residents in 1427. This unique source, which survives in its entirety and so documents nearly 10,000 households, reveals that at least 69.3% of the adult male population were literate enought to write their own reports to the tax ofcials. The main illiterates or semi-literates were poor workers or artisans; the vast majority of middle- and upper-class male householders wrote for themselves. Many indigent and low-born members of the working classes even wrote their own tax returns. Social expectations tended to preclude women from writing submissions themselves, but the Catasto records disclose more than a few literate women as well. Giovanni Villani renowned statistics from the late 1330s, implying that 67 to 83 percent of males went to school in Florence, have frequently been called into question but they are borne out by the 1427 Catasto. The city of Florence embraced a remarkably literate society. Mass literacy was the product of a highly developed education system and syllabus, and so Chapter 2 opens with an outline of the curriculum of reading and grammar (Latin) education, as reconstructed in my recent book,11 adding a discussion not only of what was taught in commercial arithmetic (abacus) schools but also an analysis of how pupils were taught to write, focusing particularly on when writing was taught and on the idiosyncratic vocabulary used to describe learning to write in documentary sources. I then turn to localizing the school curriculum as a whole (reading, writing, abacus, grammar [Latin]), moving from a generic picture to a discussion of what is known to have been taught in the particular towns of Florentine Tuscany as well as in Florence itself, based on surviving documentary and manuscript sources from the thirteenth to the fteenth century. The chapter ends with a comparison of the curriculum in the city of Florence, on the one hand,
11
Black (2001).
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and in the Florentine subject towns, on the other. The evidence points, perhaps surprisingly, to the slow progress of latinity at the school level in Florence, as compared to its precocious development in the subject towns of Florentine Tuscany, so reecting different educational and cultural values. School education in the city of Florence, beginning in the late thirteenth century and then for the next 150 years, was dominated by abacus teaching, which ourished to an extent unmatched elsewhere in Tuscany or indeed Italy. These vernacular, commercially orientated establishments upstaged traditional grammar (Latin) schools at the secondary level. It was only with the increasing penetration of humanism within the Florentine upper classes during the Quattrocento— possibly rst evident in the early fteenth century but unmistakable by the last thirty years of the century—that Latin schools and classical education began effectively to compete with abacus education at the secondary level in the city of Florence. In the subject towns of Florentine Tuscany, abacus teaching was patchy and never supplanted grammar schools as the main form of secondary education. Classical studies developed precociously in Tuscany outside the city of Florence at the school level beginning in the later Duecento and then throughout the fourteenth century. This powerful Latin and classical tradition would prevail in Florentine Tuscany, maintaining the predominance of the subject towns as the hub of classical school education until the later Quattrocento. Chapter 3 treats the decline of church education and the rise of lay schools in Tuscany up to the fourteenth century. Before the Duecento, medieval Italian (including Tuscan) school education was dominated by the church: the Italian lay aristocracy often achieved a notable degree of literacy, acquired, however, under ecclesiastical auspices. Skills provided by formal school instruction for earning a living did not the preoccupy the educated classes—either the clergy or the nobility. The clerical monopoly over school education waned rapidly in the thirteenth century. The triumph of the communes brought in its wake the dominance of lay society with its civic and commercial aims and values. Parents were no longer willing to put up with the long and slow approach to latinity offered by ecclesiastical schools. Pupils now had to be prepared for entry into the professional and business worlds. Rapid results were increasingly delivered by private lay teachers, who would displace clerical masters by the end of the thirteenth century. From the late Duecento, the scope of education extended to the language itself of the laity—the vernacular—especially in the abacus schools,
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themselves geared to furnish future businessmen with the arithmetic skills necessary for the sphere of commerce and industry. In the earlier middle ages, instruction had been a sacred duty, precluding remuneration. After 1300, teachers expected payment for lessons. A competitive ethos now entered the classroom. Masters formed companies to sell education; they even attempted to form cartels to keep up the level of fees. Teachers who did not receive payments due took defaulting parents to court. Masters attempted to undermine competitors, sometimes using less than professional methods. As far as school education is concerned, so weak had the eccesiastical sector become that some Tuscan convents actually brought in lay teachers to teach their novices, paying them just like the private teachers of the laity. The educational world of the earlier middle ages had now been turned on its head: instead of the church instructing the laity, it was now laymen educating clerks. Teachers also entered lay households as private tutors: school instruction had descended from the lofty heights of a holy ofce to the humble status of domestic service. Education was no longer removed from the secular world, as in the earlier middle ages, when the Italian elite took their children, at least temporarily, out of the secular environment of the lay household, placing them in schools in monastic, episcopal or parochial premises; now teachers were physically brought into the midst of the lay ambience of aristocratic or elite households. By the fourteenth century, the proto-capitalistic and laissez-faire world of the communes had recast school education throughout Tuscany in its own image. This was especially true in Florence, where abacus schools—with their thoroughly commercial and secularized ambience—would soon prevail in secondary education to an extent unparalleled anywhere else in Tuscany or, indeed, Italy. Chapter 4 treats the rise of communally funded education in Florentine Tuscany. Civic schools—with teachers receiving salaries and subsidies for rent—became the norm in Florentine Tuscany (except for the city of Florence) during the fourteenth centuries. Public education was an inevitable outgrowth of lay teaching: with the demise of education provided without payment by ecclesiastical institutions, there was nothing to stop secular teachers from taking fees. School education now became subject to market forces: teachers worked wherever they could to earn the most, and so inevitably communes had to begin to offer subsidies and salaries to retain teachers. A further result of the emerging educational marketplace was the steady increase in salaries during the fourteenth century—a trend encouraged by the various economic and
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demographic crises, especially the Black Death. In the end, communal subsidies and the teacher shortage brought about the waning of private schools: teachers were increasingly unwilling to work without public salaries, and it became impossible to rely on private payment to ensure continuity in school education throughout Florentine Tuscany. The dearth of teachers in Florentine Tuscany during the fourteenth century encouraged communes to articulate why they were subsidising school education. City governments and councils had to justify expenditure on education to the wider public and to themselves. Particularly strong was the emphasis on grammar as the essential step to further study and higher education. The Florentine subject territories were emerging as the fount of the learned secular professions—medicine, law, the notariate—and so communal schools had become an essential part of local economies. Even in the fourteenth century, a contrast was developing between the city of Florence and its subject territories as far as school education was concerned. The Florentines themselves placed a high value on basic literacy and commercial education: the city was lled with elementary and abacus teachers and schools, and the demand was so great that it was never necessary to provide subsidies for education at these levels. Most elementary and abacus teachers in the city were native Florentines: these were buoyant occupations, encouraging recruitment from the ranks of the Florentine citizenry themselves. It was a different matter with grammar (Latin). Indigenous Florentine grammar masters were rare in the city and throughout the subject territories. Grammar teaching was a profession evidently hard pressed in the city itself: teachers had to be drawn from the subject territories and beyond. Grammar (Latin) was increasingly becoming a marginal subject in Florence itself, sustained mainly by providing training for the literate lay professions of law, medicine and the notariate—themselves in decline in the city of Florence by the later fourteenth century.12 The hard-headed Florentine elite and populace, preoccupied with money and business, were reluctant to pursue Latin either for its own sake or for higher moral and civic goals: hence the unwillingness of the Florentines to provide regularly for public grammar teaching during the fourteenth century. The contrast between abacus and grammar schools in Florence and its subject territories sums up the story: in Florentine Tuscany, public grammar schools were omnipresent but abacus schools were sporadic;
12
Martines (1968); Park (1985).
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in the city of Florence, the opposite situation prevailed, with abacus teaching thriving but with grammar education in decline. Chapter 5 deals with schools in the city of Florence during the fteenth century. Reading and writing were taught privately there, and it has been possible to identify many such teachers, particularly thanks to the Catasto of 1427, which reveals elementary schools spread throughout the city: these were neighbourhood establishments, parents usually choosing to send their young children to a local school. It was otherwise with the numerous abacus schools, many of which were concentrated in the area near S. Trinita: older pupils were obviously considered able to pursue this form of secondary education regardless of where they lived in the city; what mattered in abacus teaching was whether the teacher suited the children and the parents, not so much where the school was located in the city. The fteenth century represented the zenith of the great Florentine abacus tradition, with numerous schools staffed by prominent and sometimes even famous teachers. It was different with Florentine grammar teaching: the city had only one principal grammar school for most of the century, located near Orsanmichele. The teachers there often coincided with the few publicly funded grammar masters, employed under the auspices of the Florentine university but who, as in other Italian university cities, were simply secondary-level public schoolmasters. As far as the Florentine elite is concerned, there was a tendency to bring private tutors into their households; this extravagant practice allowed the Florentine upper classes to differentiate themselves from the common elements of society, who had to send their children to elementary, abacus or, occasionally, grammar schools outside the family home. Grammar (Latin) remained a weak subject in Florence for at least the rst seventy years of the century: a variety of evidence suggests that the largest sector of school education was elementary reading and writing, followed by the abacus, with grammar running a poor third. This situation changed in the last three decades of the century, when humanism nally found its way into the Florentine elite classroom: not only were avant-garde humanist textbooks now purchased frequently for upper-class pupils, but the numbers attending grammar schools or receiving Latin tuition from private tutors now came close to equalling the children attending abacus schools. The Florentine upper classes had found yet another way to differentiate themselves from the lower orders, whose education was largely limited—in the traditional Florentine manner—to reading, writing and abacus. A grammar (Latin) education had become another badge of social exclusivity for the Florentine elite.
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Volume 2 will open with an extended treatment of communal schools in Florentine Tuscany during the fteenth century (chapter 6). The main theme here will be the relative weakness of abacus schools in the Florentine subject towns compared with the city of Florence itself: although several towns had regular abacus teachers in the fteenth century (e.g. Prato and Pistoia), a number provided only intermittent abacus instruction (e.g. Arezzo, S. Gimignano, Colle Valdelsa, Volterra) or none at all (e.g. Pescia, Poggibonsi, S. Miniato). Other topics will include the effect of the nancial crisis in the earlier fteenth century on the provision of school education, the trend towards free education for children of local taxpayers in Florentine subject towns, the role of Florentine patronage (especially the interventions of the Medici family) in communal schools and the growth of charitable institutions in the provision of communal education. There will follow a treatment (chapter 7) of the revival of ecclesiastical schools during the fteenth century, mainly in the city of Florence. The waning of ecclesiastical schools in Italy had not only sometimes meant a weakening of Latin at the expense of the vernacular, but, more signicantly, a decline in the standards of instruction in liturgy and church music; important patrons sought to address the shortage of trained indigenous priests with the foundation of two major ecclesiastical schools in Florence during the fteenth century: the Cathedral School, subsequently known as the Collegio Eugeniano (after its founder Pope Eugenius IV), and the School of San Lorenzo (founded by Cosimo de’ Medici and Pope Pius II). Chapter 8 will be devoted to female education. Although women in the fourteenth and fteenth centuries were rarely given grammar (Latin) instruction, they often learned to read and sometimes to write. Moreover, the education of girls in the city of Florence, like that of their brothers, became ever more elitist in the course of the fteenth century. Not only were girls increasingly given expensive music and dancing lessons, but they were not infrequently sent to live in convents, where they would be educated in the wider sense, acquiring the desired female virtues in addition to basic literacy; this custom of serbanza (monastic seclusion) was extremely expensive, and so served to differentiate elite girls from their more common counterparts. Chapter 9 will offer a comparison between educational developments and the cultural and social context of education in Florence and Florentine Tuscany, on the one hand, and the rest of Italy, on the other. Overall the study is provided with extensive hitherto unpublished documentary appendices. Volume 1 offers educational extracts from the Florentine Catasti of 1427 and 1458, and from family diaries
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now found in the Florentine State Archives, as well as lists of publicly funded teachers in Florentine Tuscany up to 1400 and in the city of Florence up to 1500. Volume 2 will provide educational extracts from the Catasto of the Florentine subject territories in 1427–29, as well as lists of publicly appointed teachers in Florence’s dominions during the fteenth century; it will also include a selection of letters written by schoolmasters in the fourteenth and fteenth century. Finally, volume 2 will offer a comprehensive series of bio-bibliographic proles of schoolteachers known to have worked in Florence and Florentine Tuscany from the mid-thirteenth to the end of the fteenth century. An attempt has been made to examine the relevant documents in the signicant public archives of Florentine Tuscany with collections extant for the period before 1500. Unfortunately, this was not possible for Montepulciano, which has a large medieval archive but whose documents have been stored in boxes for the past several years and therefore inaccessible both to the public and to archivists. The most important collections for the period up to 1400 (the subject of this rst volume, as far as Florentine Tuscany is concerned) provide rich documentation for Colle Valdelsa, Fucecchio, Pistoia, Poggibonsi, Prato, San Gimignano and Volterra; there are also signicant holdings for Arezzo, San Miniato, Pescia and Sansepolcro, particularly from the later fourteenth century. With regard to the city of Florence, the principal sources for this study, besides the Catasti of 1427, 1457 and 1480,13 have been Florentine ricordanze preserved mainly in the Archivio di Stato di Firenze (but also occasionally in the Biblioteche Nazionale, Laurenziana and Riccar-diana). I began examining this rich body of material in 1986–87, rst reading the ricordanze from which a few extracts had been published.14 After the reopening of the Archivio di Stato in its new seat at Piazza Beccaria in 1988–89, this work was continued, culminating in a project that I directed in Florence from 1992–94 entitled ‘Patterns of education in Renaissance Florence: the evidence of family diaries’. The research group (comprising Jonathan Davies, Jane Black and myself ) examined, as far as possible,15 all the extant family ricordanze in the Florentine state archives (besides the three libraries mentioned above) up to 1500, running to some 700 registers;
13 14 15
This last published by Verde (1973–95), III. See Anselmi, Pezzarossa and Avellini (1980). In a few cases, catalogued ricordanze could not be located.
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I myself transcribed personally the relevant educational passages in the ricordanze. The result, consisting of extracts from 87 ricordanze, is published for the rst time in Appendix 5 below. It has not been possible to offer translations of the numerous documents cited in this work. To have included English versions would have prohibitively increased the length of text. However, I have attempted to paraphrase documents as far as possible in the narrative. As a further aid to the reader, I have indicated in bold type the names of teachers, especially when rst encountered. The research for this book, begun in the mid 1980s, would have been impossible without generous support for lengthy stays in Florence and for research assistance there. In 1988 and 1990 I beneted from two research grants from the British Academy enabling me to work for several months in Florence and Tuscany. In 1992–93, I enjoyed a fellowship at I Tatti, the Harvard University Center for Renaissance Studies in Florence. From 1992 to 1994 I had a generous grant for research assistance from the Leverhulme Trust. In 1993, I also beneted from a Major Research Grant from the British Academy, also for research assistance. From 1994 to 1997, I enjoyed generous funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities for research assistance and for repeated visits to Florence. In 2004–5, I was fortunate to be awarded a major project grant from the Arts and Humanities Research Board (now Council), enabling me to work for an uninterrupted year in Florence, as well as to employ a full-time research assistant. The Arts and Humanities Research Council also provided me with a further semester’s leave of absence in 2005–6, permitting me to nish the rst draft of the book for the publishers. I am also grateful to the School of History and the Faculty of Arts in University of Leeds for several terms and semesters of research leave over the long period that I have been preparing this work. I should like to express my profound gratitude to all the above grant-awarding institutions and funding bodies. I have numerous personal debts too. I owe most to my dedicated series of research assistants, who unselshly made possible a study of primary sources dispersed throughout Tuscany, too diffused and extensive for one person unaided to examine and transcribe. First, Jonathan Davies, now the author of a signicant study of the University of Florence in the fteenth century,16 worked for me full-time in 1992–93, not only
16
Davies (1998).
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identifying educational material in about 700 unpublished family diaries (ricordanze) in Florence, but also tackling the extensive archival material on schools in Prato as well as working on the Florentine cathedral school in the Archivio dell’Opera di S. Maria del Fiore and on the school of San Lorenzo in the Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana. In this work, he was joined part-time by my wife, Jane Black. From 1993 to 1997, the eminent palaeographer, Gabriella Pomaro, worked as my research associate, making it possible for me to analyze, date and localize the school manuscripts now extant in Florence; this collaborative research formed the basis of a previous book,17 but it was also essential for the portrait of the curriculum found in chapter 2 of the present work; we were assisted in this endeavour by my wife, Jane Black, too. In 2004–5, I was extremely fortunate to secure the full-time services of Lorenz Böninger, himself a highly experienced archival researcher and now the author of two important books on Florentine history;18 he not only helped me with one reading of the 1427 Catasto (see below ch. 1 p. 12 n. 1), besides working on other important archival series in Florence, but he also laboured to complete my earlier research in the various local archives of Florentine Tuscany. I should like to emphasize that, without the generous and devoted help of these highly competent and learned individuals, this work could never have been completed. I should also like to thank the directors and staff of the following archives and libraries for permitting my research group to examine materials in their custody: Archivio Capitolare di Arezzo; Archivio Comunale di Buggiano; Archivio della Comunità di Castiglion Fiorentino; Archivio del Comune di Castelfranco di Sotto; Archivio Storico Comunale di Cortona; Archivio Storico del Comune di Montaione; Archivio Comunale di San Gimignano; Archivio Storico della Comunità di San Miniato; Archivio Comunale di Sansepolcro; Archivio di Stato di Arezzo; Archivio di Stato di Pescia; Archivio di Stato di Pisa; Archivio di Stato di Pistoia; Archivio di Stato di Prato; Archivio di Stato di Siena; Archivio Storico del Comune Montaione; Biblioteca della Città di Arezzo; Biblioteca Comunale Indro Montanelli di Fucecchio, Archivio Comunale; Biblioteca Comunale di Santa Croce sull’Arno, Archivio Preunitario del Comune; Biblioteca Guarnacci di Volterra, Archivio Storico Comunale; Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana; Biblio-
17 18
Black (2001). Böninger (1995) and (2006).
preface
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teca Medicea Laurenziana; Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Firenze; Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana; Biblioteca Riccardiana; Biblioteca del Sacro Convento di Assisi; British Library; Columbia University Library. I should like to offer a special expression of gratitude to Florence’s Archivio di Stato, which has been the central fount of this research; without the cooperation and support of the directors and staff of this unique institution over many years, this work could never have been written. I have also been generously pointed to unpublished educational material by fellow scholars. Here I should like to mention Vanna Arrighi, Antoniella Astorri, Rolf Bagemihl, James Banker, Lorenz Böninger, Luca Boschetto, Alison Brown, Niccolò Capponi, Teresa D’Alessandro, Jonathan Davies, Laura De Angelis, Arthur Field, Paul Gehl, James Hankins, John Henderson, Michael Hirst, Megan Holmes, F. W. Kent, Pierluigi Licciardello, Stephen Milner, Reinhold Müller, Jacqueline Musacchio, Oretta Muzzi, John Nadas, Renzo Ninci, W. Keith Percival, Giuliano Pinto, Lorenzo Polizzotto, Brenda Preyer, Elaine Rosenthal, Karl Schlebusch, Marco Spallanzani, Elisabetta Ulivi, Alison Wright and Diane Zervas-Hirst. I want to offer thanks as well to my editors at Brill, Julian Deahl, Marcella Mulder and Caroline van Erp, for their help and support throughout the publication process. I am also grateful to my daughter, Emily Ellis, for having transferred many transcriptions from handwritten to computer format. I should like to dedicate this work on school education in Tuscany from the thirteenth to the fteenth century to someone who is about to embark on the long educational journey in the twenty-rst century: my grandson, John Benjamin Ellis. School of History, University of Leeds 26 November 2006
anno/annis (year/years) Lucca Archivio arcivescovile Arezzo Archivio capitolare Buggiano Archivio comunale Cortona Archivio storico comunale Castiglion Fiorentino Archivio della comunità Castelfranco di Sotto Archivio del comune Fucecchio Biblioteca Comunale Indro Montanelli Archivio comunale Montaione Archivio storico del comune Santa Croce sull’Arno Biblioteca Comunale Archivio preunitario del comune San Gimignano Archivio comunale San Miniato Archivio storico Comunità di San Miniato Deliberazioni dei priori e del consiglio Sansepolcro Archivio comunale Volterra Biblioteca Guarnacci Archivio storico comunale Florence Archivio dell’Opera di S. Maria del Fiore Arezzo Archivio di stato Deliberazioni del Consiglio Generale Florence Archivio di stato Archivio Cerchi Arte della Lana Archivio Gherardi-Piccolomini d’Aragona Compagnia poi Magistrato del Bigallo Carte Bardi Carte del Bene Carte Gondi Compagnie religiose soppresse dal governo francese Compagnie religiose soppresse da Pietro Leopoldo Corporazioni religiose soppresse dal governo francese
xxvi CRSPLAM SPM CS Dipl. DPPP MAP MSS NA Pupilli RPALA SCS SG UdN ASP ASPescia Delib. ASPistoia Cam. Provv. ASPrato C CD CN CV ASS Colle Poggibonsi BAV Ottob. Lat. Vat. Lat. BCIS BGV BL Add. BML Ashb. AD CS Pl.
abbreviations Corporazioni religiose soppresse da Pietro Leopoldo e aggregate alle Montalve S. Piero a Monticelli Carte Strozziane Diplomatico Dono Panciatichi Patrimonio Pecori Mediceo avanti il principato Manoscritti Notarile antecosimiano Magistrato dei pupilli avanti il principato Ricasoli, Parte antica, Libri di amministrazione Statuti di comuni soggetti Comune di San Gimignano Ufciali di notte Pisa Archivio di stato Pescia Archivio di stato Deliberazioni Pistoia Archivio di stato Camera del comune Consigli Provvisioni Prato Archivio di stato Comune Comune Diurni Ceppo Nuovo Ceppo Vecchio Siena Archivio di stato Comune di Colle Valdelsa Comune di Poggibonsi Vatican City Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana Ottobonianus Latinus Vaticanus Latinus Siena Biblioteca Comunale degli Intronati Volterra Biblioteca Guarnacci London British Library Additional Manuscripts Florence Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana Ashburnham Acquisti e Doni Conventi Soppressi Pluteus
abbreviations BMV BNCF CP CS LF Magl. NA Pal. BRF BSCA CUL DBI . fol. Hain IGI n. NN ob. OBL
xxvii
Venice Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana Florence Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale Carte Passerini Conventi Soppressi Landau Finaly Magliabechiano Nuove Accessioni Palatino Florence Biblioteca Riccardiana Assisi Biblioteca del Sacro Convento New York Columbia University Library Dizionario biograco degli Italiani, Rome 1960– ourished folio/folios Ludwig Hain, Repertorium bibliographicum, Stuttgart 1826–36 Indice generale degli incunaboli delle bibloteche d’Italia, ed. T.M. Guarnaschelli and D. Valenziani, Rome 1943–81 born not numbered died Oxford Bodleian Library
EDITORIAL NOTE REGARDING CITATIONS FROM MANUSCRIPTS 1. All dates have been modernized, except where otherwise indicated. 2. [ ] mean that letters or words enclosed appear in the manuscript but are thought to be erroneous; they are also used to enclose editorial comments such as [sic] [ms.:] [spatium]. [. . .] means an editorial deletion. 3. < > mean that letters or words have been added for the sake of coherence; their omission may have been due to scribal error, or they may no longer be legible. means a now illegible series of letters or words. 4. Letters or words enclosed in round brackets ( ) indicate an uncertain expansion of an abbreviation. 5. Question marks immediately following letters or words indicate an uncertain reading. 6. The orthography and latinity of manuscripts have been retained, although the punctuation and capitalization have been modernized. [sic] has been indicated where there is a notable or gross divergence from correct grammatical or classical usage. 7. Latin place names for which it has not been possible to identify a modern Italian equivalent have been italicized.
CHAPTER ONE
LITERACY IN FLORENCE, 14271 Writing at the end of the 1330s, Giovanni Villani provided the following statistics of children attending school in the city of Florence: Troviamo ch’e fanciulli e fanciulle che stanno a leggere, da otto a dieci mila. I fanciulli che stanno ad imparare l’abbaco e algorismo in sei scuole, da mille in milleduegento. E quegli che stanno ad apprendere la grammatica e loica in quattro grandi scuole, da cinquecentocinquanta in seicento.2
According to one interpretation, this estimate suggests that ‘Florence had a male schooling rate of 67 to 83 percent’.3 Although the accuracy of Villani’s gures has been doubted,4 they tally with the picture of literacy disclosed by the Florentine Catasto of 1427. On 10 June 1427 the ten Florentine ofcials, appointed to impose and administer a new universal tax on the population of city of Florence and its subject territories, made the following public order: Fanno bandire, ricordare et noticare i dieci ufciali di catasti nuovamente ordinati per lo commune di Firençe, che ogni et ciascuno cittadino et ogni altra persona la quale nella città di Firençe sopporta o sopportare dovesse prestançe o altre qualunque graveççe di qualunque stato o conditione, 1 The Catasto volumes (see note 9 below) have been read in the original and in their entirety on four separate occasions: 1987–1989, 2004 and 2005 (twice). I am grateful to my research assistant, Dr Lorenz Böninger, for undertaking the 2004 reading; the three others were all undertaken by me exclusively. The two in 2005 were made in order to ensure palaeographical consistency in forming judgements whether certain portate (returns) were or were not autograph: see below pp. 31–35. 2 Villani (1991) 12.94, vol. III, p. 198. 3 Grendler (1989), p. 72. Grendler’s percentage is calculated on the basis of a population of 120,000, as estimated by Herlihy and Klapisch-Zuber (1978), p. 176. ‘These school attendance estimates for 1338 are extrapolated from the distribution of the Florentine population by age and sex in 1427. In that year, boys aged 6 through 15 comprised 11.82 of the total population, and boys and girls combined made up 21.65 percent of the population [Herlihy and Klapisch-Zuber (1978), pp. 660–63]. Imposing these percentages on a Florentine population of 120,000 in 1338, one nds 14,184 boys, and 25,980 boys and girls combined, aged 6 through 15. Hence, the 9,550 to 11,880 boys and girls in school were 36.76 percent to 45.42 percent of the school-age population in 1338. If 90 percent of the students were male, then 8,595 to 10,620 boys aged 6 through 15, or 67,333 percent to 83.19 percent of the male population aged 6 through 15, attended school in 1338.’ (Grendler [1989], p. 72 n. 3) 4 E.g. Grendler (1989), pp. 72–74; Fiumi (1953), pp. 239–241.
2
chapter one si sia etiandio che avesse alcuno spetiale privilegio o inmunità, che ciascuno di loro sieno tenuti et debbano, per di qui a tutto dì dodici del mese di luglio proximo che viene, rapportare per scriptura dinanzi a’ decti ufciali tutti et ciascheduni loro beni inmobili posti ne la città o contado di Firenze o in qualunque altra parte del mondo, et etiandio ogni quantità di pecunia e animali di qualunque ragione degni di preço con la loro stima, et ogni mercatantie et trafchi et altri qualunque beni et crediti, etiandio denari di monte di qualunque ragione o conditione si sia, et tutte ragione et substantie che avessino in qualunque luogo, così dentro al territorio del commune di Firenze come di fuori in qualunque parte del mondo, rapportando per decta loro scriptura i poderi et altri loro beni inmobili co’ loro vocaboli, qualità et conni con le prestançe de’ lavoratori et co’ buoi et altre bestie a lloro pertinenti per rispecto di lavorare essi poderi et beni con la stima d’essi animali, destintamente et chiaramente ciaschuna cosa di per se per modo che ciaschuno di decti beni cognoscere et ritrovare si possa, con la quantità de’ fructi che i decti beni immobili ciaschuno anno rendono, socto questo exempio, cioè: Tale podere o peçço di terra posto in tale luogo, al quale ai etcetera. Et tale quantità la quale tale lavoratore à per prestança, et tali buoi o animali di tanto pregio et la rendita o fructo che cavano overo ricevono d’essi beni anno per anno; et tutti altri loro beni et ragioni, animali degni di preço, crediti mercatantie et trafchi con le stime loro, cioè a ciascuna delle predecte cose con la stima ridocte ad pecunia numerata. Anchora possino et debbino rapportare i loro debiti et incharichi et con cui gli ànno, et oltre a cciò tutte le loro bocche per nome et sopranome et la loro età, excepto fanti, factori, balie, ministri o discepoli maschi o femmine.5
Thus, all Florentine citizens, as well as every resident in the city subject to previous taxation, regardless of any immunities, were ordered to submit, by 12 July 1427, a full report of their real property, together with its location and its income, their business assets, their animals, their shares in the consolidated public debt (monte) and their cash; they were also required to declare all their debts and nancial obligations, as well as the names and age of all members of their household (excluding servants, business employees, apprentices and wet-nurses). The penalties for failure to comply included conscation of half the value of unreported assets,6 which were deemed to be no longer under the 5 ASF Catasto 3, fol. 9r–v. This is a complete version of the later copy of the ban, contained in ASF Catasto 1, and published by Karmin (1906), pp. 52–55, which omits the details the announcement, the herald and his report, as well as the date (10 June) when this announcement was made. 6 ASF Catasto 3, fol. 10v: Noticando a ciaschuno di sopranominati et ne’ sopradetti capituli et bandi et ciaschuno d’essi conpresi che non rapporterà interamente ogni sua substantia come di sopra si dice di facto si intende essere et è tutto ciò che mancasse incorporato et conscato per l’una metà al decto comune di Firençe.
literacy in florence, 1427
3
protection of Florentine courts;7 denunciations of non-submission were to be rewarded by a quarter of the value of unreported assets, and the secrecy of any such denunciations was guaranteed.8 The returns ( portate) of Florentine citizens and residents from the Catasto of 1427 are fully extant.9 With regard to literacy, the key phrases are ‘per scriptura’ and ‘per decta loro scriptura’. It has long been recognized that the majority of the portate were written by the heads of households themselves.10 Most Florentine citizens and residents interpreted the phrase ‘per decta loro scriptura’ as a requirement to write the tax returns themselves. Indeed, many Florentines signed their own portate, explicitly afrming that their returns were autograph documents, e.g.: Queste sono la scrita delle sustanzze di Giovanni e Lorenzo di Ser Falchone iscrita per mano di me Giovanni detto; arecovi alquna chosa di me [e] Lorenzo sopraditto.11 Io Michele di Iacopo di Beninchasa ò fatta [e] arechata la sopradetta scritta a dì 8 di luglio 142712 Io Ser Giovanni [di Ser Guardino d’Andrea] ò facta questa scripta di mia mano.13 E questa scripta ò fata io Bindo di Giovanni [da Ricasoli] pievano di San Giusto in Salci sopradecto.14 Et io Domenicho del Maestro Andrea predicto ò fatta questa predicta portata di mia propria mano, non obstante che di sopra io dica in forma di terza persona.15 Io Brigido Piero [di Ser Monte di Ser Giovanni Pacini da Monteridol] scripsi.16 7 ASF Catasto 38, fol. 703r: per chagione d’uno bando messo per vostra parte per la citta di Firenze [. . .] che qualunche persona della città di Firenze non fusse schritto nella distribuzione del chatasto non potesse essere udito o in una chorte né in defesa né inn ofesa né in civile né in cherminale. 8 ASF Catasto 3, fol. 10v–11r: et ciascuna persona ne può esssere noticatore in secreto et in palese et guadagna la metà di decta metà, come si dispone per decta riformagione, et sarànne tenuto il segreto a chi in segreto vorrà noticare. On the reliability of the 1427 Catasto, see Conti (1966), pp. 31 ff. 9 The portate from the 1427 Catasto constitute 45 volumes: ASF Catasto 15–31, 34–38, 40–62, with one further volume (ASF Catasto 63) of additions and late submissions. 10 Conti (1966), p. 35: ‘La maggior parte delle denunce dei proprietari cittadini sono autografe’. 11 ASF Catasto 15, fol. 720r. 12 ASF Catasto 16, fol. 279r. 13 ASF Catasto 16, fol. 455v. 14 ASF Catasto 17, fol. 333r. 15 ASF Catasto 20, fol. 673r. 16 ASF Catasto 22, fol. 271r.
4
chapter one Io Piero di Ser Francescho [di Ser Piero] notaio ò fatto questa scripta di mia mano.17 Io Bernardo di Cinoço ò fato le prese[nte] ischrita.18 Io Giuliano di Ghoro di Bernardo [sensale] ò fatto la sopradetta portata quessto dì XI di luglio MCCCCoXXVII.19 Io sopradetto Bartolomeo di Beninchasa ò fatta questo iscritta di mia propia mano.20 Io Mariano di Giovanni [legnaiolo] ò scrito questa ischritta.21 Io Lorenzo di Stefano Randegli legnaiuolo ò fatto la sopradetta iscritta di mia propia mano ano e mese e dì detto di sopra.22 17
ASF Catasto 26, fol. 778r. ASF Catasto 30, fol. 173v. 19 ASF Catasto 40, fol. 835r. 20 ASF Catasto 48, fol. 482v. 21 ASF Catasto 62, fol. 271v. 22 ASF Catasto 63, fol. 439r. Other examples: ASF Catasto 15, fol. 76r (Astore di Niccholò di Gherardino Gianni), 153r (Antonio d’Angnolo de’ Bardi), 172v (Andrea di Fruosino pizighangniolo), 226r (Bernardo d’Antonio Danzano), 279r (Bartolomeo d’Andrea de’ Bardi), 293r (Bernardo d’Antonio Paghanegli), 333r (Benedetto di Guido calzolaio), 345r (Bartolomeo d’Aghostino di Cupo), 346r (Bartolo di Filipo di Ser Franciesco), 487r (Ciapo di Matteo ischardasiere), 524v (Ser Domenicho di Tommaso Moschardi), 535r (Domenicho di Tomaso), 762v (Guaspare di Giovanni di Ser Nicholò da Teranuova), 800r (Guaspare di Bino lavorante di calze), 805r (Giovanni di Luigi Canigiani), 820r (Gabriello di Domenicho sarto), 832r (Guelfo d’Anbruogio sensale), 835v (Ser Giovanni di Iachopo di Piero Berardi), 854r (Nanni di Fruosino ottonaio), 905r (Ser Giovanni di Ser Fruosino da Radda); Catasto 16, fol. 30r (Iapocho di Giovanni Charletti), 39r (Giovanni di Iacopo), 102r (Andrea de’ Bardi), 104v (Ilarione di Lippaccio de’ Bardi), 111r (Luigi di Bartolomeo Schali), 146r (Lionardo di Bartolomeo di Giovanni barbiere), 244r (Matteo d’Antonio stamaiuolo), 247r (Pantalione d’Andrea), 255r (Ser Michele d’Antonio dalla Badia di Montemuro di Chianti notaio), 267v (Michele di Francescho orafo), 273v (Miniato di Bertaldo Benci), 316v (Niccolò Danzano), 323v (Bernardo d’Antonio Danzano), 356v (Niccolò di Franciescho di Fedeuccio Falconi), 397r (Nicholò d’Andrea chapelaio), 427v (Nicholaio di Nicholaio Lottini), 489r (Piero di Lionardo di Vanelo fornaio), 568v (Stoldo di Matteo de’ Bardi), 613r (Salvestro di Lionardo di Puccio vinattiere), 637r (Sandro di Bartolo Bencini), 715r (Piero Antononio di Vencenzo da Chamerino); Catasto 17, fol. 21r (Antonio di Michele Velluti), 99v (Matteo di Piero Benizi), 184r (Ser Alberto di Donnino di Luca, coadiutore del notaio alle riformagioni), 197v (Antonio di Iachopo vocato Barberino), 397v (Corso di Lorenzo speziale), 421r (Francescho del Buono di Francescho bechaio), 465r (Cianghio di Lucha orafo), 616v (Filippo d’Andrea di Berto maestro [di murare]), 713r (Giovannozo di Francesco di Neri Pitti), 723r (Giovanni di Micho Capponi), 760v (Guido di Tommaso Deti); Catasto 18, fol. 841r (Nanni di Lorenzo), 915r (Giovanni d’Antonio di Iachopo Martini), 924r (Francesco di Ser Orlando di Giovanni), 990r (Bartolomeo di Berto di Giovencho), 1033r (Lottino d’Andrea di Lottino), 1126r (Tommaso di Boninsegna di Manetto), 1213r (Nuccino di Filippo fornaio), 1219v (Niccholò di Gherardo Piaciti), 1229r (Nicholaio di Gieri di Michele righatiere), 1235v (Nuccio di Piero becchaio), 1418r (Rinieri di Christofano del Pane), 1488v (Salvestro di Seghieri da Certaldo), 1529r (Spinello di Lionardo de’ Rossi), 1535v (Tommaso di Bartolomeo Barbadori); Catasto 19, fol. 19r (Ser Andrea di Ciaperino degli Strozzi), 27r (Antonio di Lionardo di Ceccho), 131r (Antonio di Nicholò vochato la Lido), 169r (Antonio di Bartolo conciatore), 175r (Antonio di Simone becchaio), 232r (Agnolo di Chiricho lavorante di purgho), 250v (Bernardo di Iachopo di Puccio da la Laccia), 18
literacy in florence, 1427
5
Some Florentine heads of households, however, did not write their own portate. The largest such group were women.23 Of the 9677 Florentine 287v (Ser Bindello di Dore da Certaldo), 294r (Bernardo di Tieri di Puccio), 341r (Bernardo di Bernardo di Vanni di Masino), 353r (Bartolomeo di Michele di Rosso sarto), 378r (Bastiano di Sandro di Ciere), 427r (Bartolomeo di Venturino petinnatore), 455r (Bartolomeo di Tommaso schardassiere), 487v (Chiarozo di Piero di Ser Chiaro), 500r (Chimento di Alesso stamaiuolo), 645r (Dato di Bernardo), 715r (Domenicho di Bartalomeo fornaio), 817r (Ser Filippo di Ser Michele da Poggibonsi), 836r (Francesco di Cristofano di Francesco della Mavagia), 839r (Giovanni di Niccholò Mannelli), 905r (Ghirighoro d’Antonio d’Ubaldo di Fetto), 958r (Giovanni di Lando istampatore), 1021r (Giovanni di Brizzi), 1094r (Girolamo di Nicholò Benizi speziale), 1099r (Giovanni di Ser Bindo), 1112r (Giovanni di Iachopo di Ser Vanni); Catasto 21, fol. 50r (Iachopo di Ser Francescho da Charmignano), 55r (Iachopo del Maestro Dando sensale di chanbi minuti i’ merchato nuovo), 65v (Iachopo d’Andrea orciolaio), 72r (Iachopo del Fede divettino), 88v (Lucha di Cino choregiaio), 130r (Lionardo di Piero di Ser Antonio), 166r (Lucha di Christofano Sannini), 180r (Lanbertto d’Antonio del Bugliafo), 201r (Lucha di Nicholò d’Ottolino attore a’ pupilli), 291r (Michele di Manetto vende vino), 314v (Martino di Marchionne di Domenicho Marioncini), 318r (Matteo di Cristofano cimatore), 326r (Matteo di Ser Piero Mucini), 356r (Michele di Christofano chalzoliaio), 360v (Meo di Zanobi), 356r (Michele di Cristofano chalzolaio), 416v (Giovanni di Francescho righattiere), 448v (Nicholò di Piero Martini); Catasto 22, fol. 37v (Niccolaio di Giovannozo Biliotti), 63r (Nicholò di Matteo Chorsini), 114v (Piero di Giovanni vochato Secha tessitore di drappi), 143v (Piero di Giovanni Chardini lanaiuolo), 156r (Antonio di Miniato dipintore), 207v (Piero di Nofri Bonachorsi), 278r (Pippo di Piero lanino), 315r (Salvestro di Tomaxo d’Ugholino), 353v (Simone di Giovanni di Iachopo piliciao), 360r (Stefano di Bartolo Beringhi), 374v (Maso di Goro di Stagio Dati), 391r (Tommaso di Messer Giovanni di Maso Chavalchanti), 411v (Vieri d’Ugholino di Vieri), 422r (Ruberto di Marchione), 426r (Uberto di Giovanni d’Uberto Benvenuti), 432v (Mariotto di Ser Michele del Campana); Catasto 23, fol. 12v (Giovanni di Bartolomeo Seragli), 16r (Antonio d’Antonio di Giovanni galigaio), 19r (Amerigho di Matteo dello Scielto Tinghi), 73r (Antonio di Bartolo lanaiuolo), 92v (Antonio di Benedetto tessitore di drappi), 130r (Angnolo di Bartolomeo di Bertino dalla Tavernella scioperato), 153v (Andrea di Domenicho chalzolaio), 195r (Ser Antonio di Bartolomeo da Empoli), 207v (Antonio di Donato), 216v (Angnolo di Donato d’Ugholino), 245r (Ser Adovardo di Giovanni de’ Nerli), 324r (Bindo di Gherardo Piaciti), 397r (Bernardo di Pegolotto Balducci), 479r (Baldo di Giovanni lavora d’orpegli), 603r (Cristofano di Bernardo di Tura giaiuolo); Catasto 26, fol. 916r (Stefano d’Antonio dipintore); Catasto 29, fol. 94v (Bernardo di Ser Lodovico Dof), 102r (Charlo del Rosso speziale), 106v (Cristofano del Maestro Cristofano), 119v (Duccio di Ghuido Tolosini), 175r (Francesco di Cino Rinuccini, 576r (Iachopo d’Andrea legnaiuolo); Catasto 30, fol. 2r (Agnolo di Piero Benici), 17r (Ser Filippo di Bonetto Biffoli), 46r (Ser Antonio di Ser Lionardo Peruzzi), 51v (Ser Antonio del Berna), 70r (Antonio di Cuovani di Spigliato banderaio), 120r (Bernardo di Giovanni da Meleto), 130r (Bernardo di Piero da Magniale), 133r (Batista di Giovani fue chomandatore), 139v (Anselmo di Snadro Talani), 151v (Bernaba di Giovanni divettino), 195r (Bartolomeo di Duccio malischalcho), 236v (Chorso di Lapo Chorsi), 238v (Cristofano di Piero di Ser Christofano Benucci), 247r (Cristofano d’Antonio di Piero Guidi choreggiaio), 255r (Cipriano di Giovanni di Francesco), 262r (Cienni di Nanni di Ser Salvi di Ser Fracho di Val di Seve riveditori di panni), 293v (Domenicho di Nicholò di Migliorozo Maghaldi), 306r (Messer Domenico di Ser Mino), 327r (Filippo di Ser Nofri di Ser Piero delle Rimformagioni), 331r (Fabrino d’Antonio de’ Tolosini), 337v (Iachopo di Nofri di Giovanni da Chastiglione), 342r (Francescho di Iachopo di Bartolomeo della Gatta chartolaio), 364r (Franciescho di Mariano di Niccholò setaiuolo), 382r (Francesco di Martino lanaiuolo),
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households submitting portate, 1560 (or 16.1%) were headed by women—mainly widows, but also spinsters,24 married women owning property in their own right,25 servants,26 orphans,27 liberated slaves,28 383r (Francescho d’Iachopo ttesitore), 389v (Francesco di Lorenzo che sta allo speziale), 415v (Ser Giovanni di Gherardo Bechi), 420r (Giovanni d’Andrea purghatore), 431v (Giuliano di Chanbinzo Binzi), 450r (Giovanni d’Antonio Chalderini), 463r (Ser Giovanni di Ser Bindo Ciardi), 470r (Guido di Giuliano), 476v (Guaspare di Zanobi di Taldo da Charmignano, 479r (Giovanni di Simone da Panzano); Catasto 31, fol. 55r (Iachopo di Polta detto Bientina), 79v (Iachopo di Piero del Maestro Iachopo da Prato cittadino orentino), 83v (Lorenzo di Giovanni di Lorenzo chorreggiaio, 91r (Lodovicho di Mamerigi cimatore), 100r (Lionardo di Lorenzo Ghucci), 123r (Luca di Matteo da Panzano), 211v (Matteo di Ghuido di Tribaldo da Castiglionchio), 221v (Chele di Lucha del Fatore), 282r (Napolione d’Antonio Franzesi), 311r (Nigi di Giovanni Alfani), 313v (Neri di Nuto righattiere), 316r (Nuccio di Maso pelachane), 322r (Giovanni di Bandino de’ Chalici), 343v (Nanni di Berto chardatore), 362v (Piero di Ser Bruno di Ser Piero delle Riformagioni), Piero di Bartolo Rinaldi), 391r (Papi di Iachopo Lapi), 398r (Piero di Betino), 446r (Simone di Pierozzo istovigliaio), 450r (Salvestro di Lucha Verochi), 465v (Simone di Ser Antonio Fazi, 528v (Zelone di Ser Firenze di Piero Teci); Catasto 35, fol. 970r (Lorenzo di Franciescho senssale di schiave); Catasto 42, fol. 137r (Angiolino di Nicholò della Magna donzello della Mercanzia); Catasto 52, fol. 131r (Agnolo di Istagio merciaio), 391v (Benedeto de Gerolimo sarto). 23 For the few women who did write portate, see below pp. 36–42. 24 ASF Catasto 57, fol. 500r: Dinanzi a voi signori uciali de chatasto del popolo e chomune di Fire[nze], raporto dinazi a voi siniori la Ghostanza gliuola fu d’Ardovino Falivi; non ebi mai marito; sono d’età d’anni trentacinque. Ò 1a chasetta posta nel popolo di Sa’ Piero Magiore in Vie Fiesolana ne la quale isto e 1o pocho di maseriza [. . .] Altro non ò e ò faticha di vivere. 25 ASF Catasto 36, fol. 241r: A voi signori uciali io v’arecho la portata di ciò ched’io possegho di mobile. Io òne chomperato una chasetta dal munistero di Sancto Ambruogio 25 orini. Non è stimata a venderla in trasacto orini 40. È in Via Ghibellina e nel popolo di Sancto Anbruogio ed è a vita di me Mona Benedetta e d’una mia gliuola che à nome Francescha e d’un mio fratello ch’è monacho di Valembrosa. Io non ò né danari né d’entrate e non ò avere né a ddare [. . .] Mona Benedecta donna di Lorenço di Guido purgatore nel popolo di San Piero Maggiore. ASF Catasto 46, fol. 171r: Monna Appolonia gluola fu di Nicholò da Rada e dona di Piero di Francescho legniaiuolo [. . .] Si produce suoi beni che lla detta Monna Appolnia à, de’ quali el detto Piero suo marito non sa nulla [. . .] e quali danari è intentione della detta Mona Apollonia di da[r]gli per l’amor di dio e tene[r]gli per acrescere per la dota d’una sua nipote popilla che à nome Mechera gluola d’una sua gluola e non à padre. ASF Catasto 47, fol. 570r: Monna Salvaticha altramente chiamata Monna Nonna donna di Duccio di Fino cartolaio [. . .] e qua’ beni sono della detta Monna Salvaticha di suo patrimonio e non se n’apartiene frutto niuno a Duccio suo marito. 26 ASF Catasto 15, fol. 116r: Dinançi a vi signiori uciali del catasto vi fo ricordo come io Monna Antonia di Romagnia sono stato [sic] in casa di Giovanni di Lodovicho Banchi e de’ glioli et sto ancora a loro servigi prima per balia et poi per fante circha d’anni venticinque et resto avere da detto Giovanni et da suoe rede per mio salario circha di Fl. centocinquanta et questa et la verità et ò fatto schrivere questa dinaçi alla vostra signoria per mia parte Fl. 150. ASF Catasto 18, fol. 1144r: Mona Margherita istata per fante chon Ser Istefano di Michele Martelli. ASF Catasto 30, fol. 5r: Io Mon’Andrea sopradetta mi trovo instare per fante in chasa Nicholò di Francesco Sachetti e sonvi instata ani dicecci o ccircha per orini dicecci l’ano. Ò mi
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tertiaries of religious orders,29 nuns30 and residents of hospitals.31 Wives deserted by32 or separated from33 their husbands, women who were
avançatti nell tenpo sopradetto orini cinquantaccinque e questa prestai a Ser Lorenzo di Ser Tomaxo da Ghanbasi e a glio suo e questa è la sustança si può trovare di me Mon’Andrea sopradeta. 27 E.g. ASF Catasto 16, fol. 546r (La Piera fu di Iacopo di Gelio Gili [di 8 anni]); fol. 627r (Simona e Elena gliuole furono di Marcho di Lemmo [di 14 e 12 anni]). Orphans in custody (serbanza) also could submit their own portate: ASF Catasto 36, fol. 304r–v (Katerina gluola fu di Salviato Salviati, al presente habitatrice nel munistero di San Piero Maggiore [. . .] è debitore del munistero di San Piero del tempo v’è stata, che sono Fl. 25 per anno, che è ora uno anno Fl. 25. À di charicho la sua persona ch’è d’età d’anni 15 in circha et ogni dì sta per maritarsi). 28 ASF Catasto 16, fol. 722r: Zita fu schiava di Pagholo di Zanobi da Ghiacciato oggi libera. ASF Catasto 50, fol. 355r: Luccia che fu ischiava di Cinozo di Govanni ispeziale [. . .] Io òne avere da Cinozo di Govanni chon chui io stòne in chasa per me salaro e danari ch’io gli ò prestati Fl. 70 d’oro, e tornomi in chasa cho’ lui per Fl. 9 l’anno. Altro non n’ò al mondo. 29 ASF Catasto 16, fol. 472r: Mona Papera pinzochera de l’ordine di San Francesco, e donna che ffu di Nicholò Girolami. ASF Catasto 18, fol. 1038r: Mona Lisa donna fu di Rinieri Moschi e gla fu di Nicholò Bonagi e oggi pinzochera. ASF Catasto 22, fol. 343r: Mona Savia pinzochera moglie che ffu di Giovanni di Giunta Giuntini commessa delle donne di San Giovanni Giersolimtani cioè de’ Frieri. 30 ASF Catasto 23, fol. 398r: Mona Bonda glola di Nicholo Folchi religiosa di Sancto Agostino. ASF Catasto 25, fol. 561r: Le donne povere religiose e mantellate del ordine de’ Frati Heremitani di Santo Agostino, le quali ànno [. . .] Mona Nicholosa gliuola che fu del Bene e Mona Girolama gliuola fu di Nicholò. ASF Catasto 43, fol. 768r: Monna Francia gluola fu d’Ambruogio di Benincasa, religiosa ammantellata di Sancto Augustino. 31 ASF Catasto 16, fol. 386r–v: Mona Nanna gliuola di Ser Pancione da Tignano [di anni 65] commessa a Santa Maria Nuova. ASF Catasto 22, fol. 51r: Mona Nastasia chomessa nello Spedale di Messer Lorenzo Ridol a vita. 32 ASF Catasto 25, fol. 233r: Monna Narda dona di Becio di Filipo, e circha d’anni XXXV no’ ssepe novele del mio suo maritto, no’ sa se s’è vivo o mortto. ASF Catasto 26, fol. 752r: Monna Pippa gliuola che fu d’Alberto di Tano e moglie di Giovanni d’Antonio, il quale è più anni non n’è stato a Firenze. ASF Catasto 40, fol. 660r–v: Mona Francesca donna di Vanuccio soldato da Siena, vecchia e inferma e abandonata. ASF Catasto 44, fol. 266r: Monna Mea donna di Nanni delgli Istrozzi. La detta Monna Mea dice avere anni 9 non avere auto nulla dal marito e a anni sei non se è novelle di lui né mai auto niuno sisidio da lui. ASF Catasto 47, fol. 470r: Mona Papera gliuola di Bartolo di Pagholo cieraiuolo e moglie di Berardo d’Antonio di Ser Francesco, il quale Bernardo è circha di XV anni si partì di qui e il detto tenpo sono rimasa in chasa di Bartolo mio padre. ASF Catasto 56, fol. 153r: Monna Angniesa gluola fu d’Antonio e donna di Simone di Lapo, el quale è ito chon dio già fa anni, el quale abita a Vinegia [. . .] vecchia e inferma e vo achactando. 33 ASF Catasto 41, fol. 525r: Vi noticho e raporto per Monna Piera donna di Bonaiuto di Francesco da Chascia sichome moglie del detto Bonaiuto la schritta sua chon quegli beni ch’ella tiene e posiede, avisando el vostro magnicho ucio chome el detto Bonaiuto chaciò e diè chommiato di chaxa sua alla detta Mona Piera cho’ chondizione di no’ lla volere mai più a chaxa sua. La detta Monna Piera gli diè una petizione per la quale ferono chonpromesso per detti albitri chome albitratori delle detti parti lodorono che lla detta Monna Piera dovesse starxi per se chon quegli beni
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themselves independent earners,34 whose husbands had entered religious orders35 or whose husbands were away from Florence as soldiers,36 workers,37 exiles,38 bankrupts39 or debtors40 also submitted portate in their own names.41 These female portate were written by notaries, husbands, e quali ella aveva dati per sua dota, chon questi patti che, s’ella detta Monna Piera muore innazi a Bonaiuto suo marito, la detta roba rimane al detto Bonaiuto e, s’egli muore innazi a llei, ella possa fare della detta roba quello che le piacie. ASF Catasto 43, fol. 746r: Monna Francescha gluola fu di Ser Guido di Ser Grifo, abita con Ser Pagholo di Ser Guido suo fratello. Questa è donna maritata e non sta col marito né stette già fa 30 anni che si partì dal marito avelentata da llui. ASF Catasto 44, fol. 59r: Questi sono i beni di Monna Isabetta donna di Richovero di Bindo da Sa’ Miniato, presi per sua dota per Antonio di Marcho da Sancto Miniato procuratore della detta Monna Isabetta chome separata dal marito. Gli posiede per suo vivere e per quantità di orini centoventicinque d’oro. ASF Catasto 59, fol. 43r: A vivere la detto Monna Nenci [donna di Giovanni di Bartolo sensale] à in su queste rendite. La rechata dice in Giovanni di Bartolo sensale. El detto Giovanni si sta di per se e tiensi e usufrutta la dota di Mona Nencia detta e no’ lla aiuterebbe d’uno pane. La sopradetta Monna Nencia à vivere in su la sopradetta rendita e vesti’ sene e ogni altro suo bisogno ché no’ lle resta la sopradetta rendita i’ Fl. dieci l’ano. Se ne va chon uno peçço, l’altro chon un’altro. 34 ASF Catasto 45, fol. 642r: Monna Pera donna di Lappo di Guntino da P[r]atto lavaratore, guarda le donne. 35 ASF Catasto 31, fol. 447r: Mona Salvaggia gliuola fu di Bernardo de’ Bardi maritata che fu a Pagolo di Lionardo Lanfredi[ni], che oggi si dice Frate Pagolo de l’ordine terzo di San Francescho. ASF Catasto 53, fol. 222r: Monna Francescha donna fu d’uomo di dio. 36 ASF Catasto 26, fol. 657r: Monna Papera d’Iachopo da Prato donna di Charlo di Domenicho da Firenze provigionato in cittadella d’Arezzo. ASF Catasto 63, fol. 648r: Monna Giovanna di Cristofano da Cholle, wife of ‘Cristofano di Michele, va al soldo’. 37 ASF Catasto 22, fol. 389r: Io Mona Petra donna del detto Tomme di Bartolomeo ò fatta fare questa iscritta a sSerano di Piero perché il detto Tomme mio marito si sta in Siena a cchucire farsetti e me lascia istare sola. 38 ASF Catasto 41, fol. 482r: Monna Piera gliola di Piero Vanucci da Rincine delle tere del Chonte Francescho da Poppi; el marito à nome Lorenzo di Guiducio ed à bando del chapo di quello di Firenze e di quello del Chonte di Popi. ASF Catasto 50, fol. 214r: Monna Lisa, dona d’Orlando d’Antonio di Franncia, il quale è in bando e no’ più istare in Firenze né ‘n chontado né distreto ed è ani sei o circha ch’ebe bando. 39 ASF Catasto 23, fol. 227r: Monna Apolonia donna di Vanni di Fiorino calzolaio, il quale è a Vinegia già più tenpo falito. ASF Catasto 55, fol. 180r–v: Mona Papina donna di Lucha di Ser Chonte [. . .] Lucha di Ser Chonte fallì già anni undici e non à ‘uto mai achordo cho’ sua chreditori ed à bando ed è a Siena. Ebono i sua chreditori e libri ed ogni sua sustanza. ASF Catasto 56, fol. 269r: Monna Agnola donna di Luigi Chovoni, scritta per me Alessandro d’Antonio Chovoni; à il marito fallito et in bando. 40 ASF Catasto 24, fol. 1019r: Monna Filippa donna di Giano di Giovanni per adietro vinattiere in Firençe [. . .] et gliuola che ffu di Sandro Moççichoni [. . .] expone et dicie chome il detto Giano di Giovanni suo marito predetto già sono più anni passati si partì da Firençe et andòssene a Siena per molti danari debiti. ASF Catasto 55, fol. 59r–v: Monna Nastasia gluola fu di Lipo di Lorenzo e donna di Ghaspare di Nicholò di Ghottolo maestro; il marito mio s’è ito chon dio per debito g[i]à è più anni. 41 In a few cases, wives living with their husbands still submitted portate in their own names, possibly because the husband was incapacitated: ASF Catasto 24, fol. 1172r
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sons,42 brothers,43 fathers,44 uncles,45 nephews,46 sons-in-law,47 fathersin-law,48 brothers-in-law,49 grandsons,50 cousins,51 stepsons,52 stepfathers,53 other unspecied relatives,54 guardians,55 domestic employers,56 (Monna Giovanna di Giovanni da Farneto [. . .] va facciendo servigio per la terra e ghuarda le donne, altro nonn à nula [. . .] e deta Monna Giovanna d’anni cinquantaotto e Giovanni suo marito apresso à settanta anni). ASF Catasto 44, fol. 369r: Monna Nana d’Antonio suo marito. La detta Mona Nana d’ettà d’anni 50 istante i’ chasa de lo spedale di San Salvi, pagane di pigione l’anno lire sette [. . .] El marito de la detta Mona Nana d’ettà d’anni 70 ed à la detta Mona Nana 1 gliuolo frate di Santa Crocie d’età d’anni 22 ed à 1 gliuolo ch’à nome Frate Piero del Charmino d’ettà d’ani 15. 42 ASF Catasto 30, fol. 39v: Io Ser Arrigo di Michele notaio da Sa’ Miniato et gluolo della detta Monna Andreuola [vedova donna fu di Michele di Messer Rinaldo da San Miniato] ò prodocto questa scripta. 43 ASF Catasto 19, fol. 9r: Io Sandro d’Agnolo Biliotti fratello della detta Angelicha [gliuola d’Agnolo di Sandrio Biliotti] ò fatta la presente [. . .]. 44 ASF Catasto 20, fol. 798v: Io Nicholò di Bencino Bencini sichome padre de la deta Mona Filippa [vedova donna fu di Iacopo di Novello] ò fata la sopradetta scrita. 45 ASF Catasto 25, fol. 122r: Io Cullo del Bonella sichome zio delle sopradette fanculle [Lionarda gliuola rimase di Draghonetto del Bonella, Piera sua sirochia monacha del munistero di Ripoli] ò fato questa iscrita. 46 ASF Catasto 42, fol. 42r: portata of ‘Mona Antonio donna fu di Piero delle Ceste’, written by ‘Ser Piero di Nofri prete e nipote della detta Mona Antonia’. ASF Catasto 55, fol. 27r: portata of ‘Monna Nanna vedova et donna che fu di Simone choncciatore’, written by Frate Lorenço di Francescho; she is his ‘zia’. 47 ASF Catasto 17, fol. 161v: Io Franciesco di Lorezo gienero da la deta Mona Brogina [donna fu di Nicholò Ambertini] ò fata questa ischrita. 48 ASF Catasto 29, fol. 160r: Io Francho di Nicchol[ò] Sacchetti a pregho della detta Monna Celia [donna di Filippo di Franco Sacchetti] scripsi la detta scripta. 49 ASF Catasto 41, fol. 276r–v: ‘Margherita donna fu di Ser Falchoniere di Francescho et gluola di Guilghlielmo di Piero speziale’, written by her brother-in-law ‘Marcho di Bernardo speziale’. 50 ASF Catasto 23, fol. 249r: Io Bernaba di Franciescho ò fata quaesta scrita perch’è mia avola la sopradeta mona Apolonia [dona fu di Simone]. 51 ASF Catasto 16, fol. 703r: Io Bernardo di Bartolo de’ Bardi ò fatto questo raporto per parte di dette donne [III sirochie gliuole di Iohanni di Messer Bindo de’ Bardi maritate] perché sono mie chugine. 52 ASF Catasto 41, fol. 222r: Monna Margherita dona fu di Sandro di Dato da Palaia e Giuliano suo gliuolo, ista a torciere la setta, ista per lavorante. Io Mariotto di Zanobi òne arechata questa scritta a preghera di loro decti di sopra. La decta Mona Margherita ène mia matrigni[a] e Guliano detto è mio frattello; siamo dovisi. 53 ASF Catasto 61, fol. 997r: Chaterina gliuola d’Iachopo Ghaci da Sa’ Miniato; la detta Chaterina è mia gliastra e tenghola in chasa perch’è abandonata da’ parenti, è d’età d’anni 11, fatta per me Francesco di Filippo de l’Antella. 54 ASF Catasto 25, fol. 333r: Monna Maria dona fu d’Adamao d’Albizo da Petroio, portata written by ‘Giovanni di Guernieri Benci suo parente’. 55 ASF Catasto 16, fol. 147r: ‘Lisa di Ruberto di Luigi Chanigiani popilla [di anni 3½], ghovernata per me Daniello di Luigi Chanigiani tutore suo’, who wrote the portata. The portate of orphans were also written by their attori, who were not legally identical with their guardians: ASF Catasto 31, fol. 412r (Io Bastiano di Ser Manieri attore della detta fanciula [Pippa rede di Ser Filippo di Giovanni da lLaterina (di anni 15)] rechai e scrissi la detta scritta). 56 ASF Catasto 31, fol. 109r: ‘Mona Lisa d’Andrea da Chascia di Valdarno di
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landlords,57 tenants,58 practitioners of the same trade as the dead husbands,59 priests,60 bishops,61 friars,62 monks,63 chaplains,64 physicians,65 procurators,66 manovaldi (legal representatives)67 and schoolmasters.68 In a few cases it was explicitly stated that such women were unable to write: Io Ser Salvestro di Ser Tomaso notaio orentino ò fatta la detta scritta pella detta Mona Ginevra [vedova gliola fu di Baldassare Ubriachi e donna fu di Alamanno di Giovanni Manni e poi di Ruberto di Luigi Chanigiani] e Chosa [sua glia], però non sanno scrivere.69
sopra’, portata written by Nicholò di Nastagio Bucelli (in whose house she had worked ‘più tempo’). 57 ASF Catasto 17, fol. 345r: ‘Mona Benedetta donna che fu di Nicholò di Giovanni’, portata written by Iacopo Belfredelli, in whose house she lives. ASF Catasto 36, fol. 215r: ‘Monna Bartolomea donna fu di Vinci di Villano’, portata written by Iachopo di Matteo Barucci, in whose house she lives. 58 ASF Catasto 56, fol. 237r: portata of ‘Mona Antonia dona che fue di Troccio d’Atenno vedova’, written by Francescho d’Antonio vochato Naccio, her tenant. 59 ASF Catasto 21, fol. 316r: E io Oderigho d’Andrea orafo a preghiera della detta Mona Manetta [donna che fu di Piero del Vagliente orafo] ò fatta questa iscritta. ASF Catasto 38, fol. 43r: ‘Mona Checha donna che ffu di Biagio di Lorenzo ghalighaio’, written by Lorenzo di Achesio ghalighaio. ASF Catasto 56, fol. 676r: ‘Mona Chaterina donna fu di Nofri di Baldo choregiaio’, written by Lucha di Cino choregiaio. 60 ASF Catasto 21, fol. 134v: Io Ser Bindo di Roba Squarciallupi piovano di S. Agnese della lega di Chianti e veschovado di Siena ò ffatta questa schritta di mia propia mano di volontà de la deta Mona Lisa [donna fu di Mani del Chalccia da Monterinaldi de la lega di Chianti]. 61 ASF Catasto 20, fol. 613r: Io Messer Francescho vescovo da chonsentimento della predecta Mona Chaterina [donna fu (di) Iachopo di Neri] e gliuola fu del Pace ò scripta le sopra decte chose. 62 ASF Catasto 18, fol. 1554r: E io Maestro Antonio di Salvi da Marcalla frate di Sancto Spirito di Firenze ò fatta questa scripta a richiesta e priegho della decta Mona Tomassa [donna fu di Gieppo spetiale]. 63 ASF Catasto 19, fol. 514r: Questa scritta ò fatta io Don Piero abate di San Filice per la detta Monna Chaterina [di Piero del Forte]. 64 ASF Catasto 47, fol. 676r–v: Monna Tessa pinçochera di San Domenicho e donna fu d’Antonio d’Arigho [. . .] Io Ser Piero d’Antonio chapellano in San Pagholo ò ffatta questa portata per pregheria di Monna Tessa. 65 ASF Catasto 19, fol. 349r: E io Maestro Bandino del Maestro Giovanni Banducci ò fatta la presente scritta di chonsentimento della detta Mona bBancha [donna fu di Ser Lapo di Piero da Certaldo]. 66 ASF Catasto 38, fol. 371r: ‘Monna Isabetta donna fu d’Andrea di Massio armaiuolo’, written by her procurator ‘Bartolomeo di Berto di Giovencho speziale’. 67 ASF Catasto 59, fol. 511r–512r: portata of Tona gliuola che fu di Niccholò di Francesco de’ Medici, written by Giuliano d’Averardo de’ Medici, suo manovaldo. 68 ASF Catasto 34, fol. 361r: Io Bernardo d’Antonio Falchoni ò fatto la presente scritta a preghiera della decta Mona Betrice [Mona Betrice fu di Rondello, treccha in Vinegia]. On Bernardo Falconi, a reading teacher in Florence, see below pp. 330–31. ASF Catasto 57, fol. 622r: Monna Gilia vedova dona che fu de Lorenzo di Giovanni da Rabatta [. . .] Io Bartolo di Lorenzo ò scritta questa iscrita per Mona Gilia. On Bartolo di Lorenzo Gerini, also a reading teacher in Florence, see below pp. 332–33. 69 ASF Catasto 15, fol. 936r.
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Io Ser Salvestro di Ser Tomaso notaio orentino ò fatta la detta scritta pella detta Salia [di Antonio Ubriachi] però che non sa scrivere.70 Et io Francesco di Ghuidolotto popolo di Santa Filicita ho fatta detta schritta di volontà di detta Mona Cilia [donna fu di Ser Betto di Maestro Giovanni] perché non sa schrivere.71 E io Luigi di Bartolo d’Alinari ò fatta la detta scritta a preghiera della detta monna, Monna Paghola [donna fu di Ser Andrea di Francescho da Radda], perché non sa schrivere.72 Questa scritta ò fatta io Don Piero abate di San Filice per la detta Monna Chaterina [di Piero del Forte], non sa scrivere.73 Io Ser Antonio d’Aringhieri notaio, perché la detta Mona Iacopa [donna fu di Giovanni di Bartolo vocato Ballerini] non sa scrivere, di sua volontà et comandamento ò fatta questa scritta.74 E io Chardino di Piero ò fatta la sopradetta ischritta per preghiere de la detta Mona Lena [d’Arigho da Modigliana e donna d’Alderigho de la Magna], perché non sa ischrivere.75 Io Antonio di Piero barbieri da Choiano ò fatta questa ischritta di mia mano e a prieghi della Piera mia donna perché non sa iscrivere.76 Io Lucha di Bonarlo a sua preghiera s[c]risi questa scrita perché [Mona Agniola dona fu di Nofri di Francesco] no’ sa scrivere.77 Monna Migliore vedova donna fu del Buono, tesse panno lino, scripta per me Lodovicho di Bertino cittadino et notaio in servigio et a preghiera della detta Mona Migliore, perch’ella diceva et disse non sapeva scrivere.78 Io Iachopo d’Antonio vi fòne fede chome io òne fatta questa ischritta perché Mona Marcherita [donna che fue d’Iachopo di Christiano] no’ sa iscritta.79 Io Bartolomeo di Ser Giovanni Amiati notaio orentino ò fatta questa scripta di mia mano di volontà delle detti Monna Piera [vedova donna che fu di Nicholò di Donato] et di Monna Ermelina [sua gliuola] perché non sanno scrivere.80 Io Salvetto di Mastino di Salvetto òne fatto la sopradetta ischritta di mia propia mano perché [Mona Nicola donna che fue di Giovanni di Tigniosaro Belandi] no’ sapeva ischrivere.81 La detta scripta à fatta Ser Antonio di Mafo notaio orentino et nipote della detta Monna Bartolomea [gluola fu di Reghalo Maringhi et donna
chapter one per llo adrieto di Biagio Vespucci] perché la detta Monna Bartolomea non sa scrivere.82 Io Pagholo de Guaspare ò fatta questa iscritta a preghiera della detta Monna Ghilla [donna che ffu di Meo di Lorenzo detto Forname] perch’ella non sa scrivere.83 La detta scritta ò fatta io Ser Piero di Nofri a preghiera della detta Mona Betta [vedova e donna che fu di Bandino di Lorenço stovigliaio] perché lei non sa scrivere.84 Io Brunetto di Domenicho bechaio ò fato questa iscritta perché Monna Chaterina [donna fu di Damiano di Ventura maestro di murare] me ne priegha, ché no’ sa iscrivere.85 Io Michele d’Andrea chalzolario ò fatta questa scritta a preghiera della detta Monna Franciescha [vedova donna che fu di Marchi di Chanbio da Popi] perché diccie che non sa scrivere.86 Io Maretto d’Andrea di Maretto ferovecchio ò ffatta questa iscritta di mia mano a preghiera della sopradetta Monna Filicie [vedova donna che ffu di Iachopo di Stefano legniaiolo] perché non sa iscrivere.87 Io Maso di Franciescho ò fatta questa iscritta a priegho de la detta Mona Lippa [di Giovani vocatto Targa dona fu di Nani di Domenicho Belemaniche vedova] perché non sa iscrivere ela.88 Io Rammolo di Maretto Manelli, fratello della sudetta Monna Pippa [donna fu di Nichola di Neri], di sua voluntà et consentimento ò fatto questa presente scritta perch’ella non sa scrivere.89 Io Francescho di Iacopo Cennamelli [. . .] di Firençe, di licença et volere di decta Monna Andreuola [vedova donna fu di Senni di Iacopo et gliuola fu di Manno di Sennuccio], feci deta scritta perché non sa scrivere.90 Io Tomaxo di Salvestro ò fatta la presente scritta a preghiera de la detta Monna Caterina [donna fu d’Agnolo di Boninsegna] perché lei non sa scrivere.91 Io Bartolo di Lorenzo ò scritta questa iscrita per Mona Gilia [vedova dona che fu de Lorenzo di Giovanni da Rabatta] per chagione ch’ella non sa iscrivere.92 Io Giovanni di Torsellino bottaio ò fatta la presente scritta di mia propia mano a preghiere della detta Monna Betta [vedova donna fu del Domine] perché non sa e non può scrivere.93
Io Niccholaio di Niccholò Bettini l’ò fatta questa schritta [di Monna Zanobia donna che ffu di Michele di Francesco barbiere] perché non sa schrivere.94
More often, it was taken for granted that a woman would not write her own portata and so, without offering a reason, a substitute was found. Another signicant group of Florentines who did not write their own portate were men away from Florence over the days preceding and following the deadline of 12 July 1427. There were 327 such absentees from home (usually for reasons of business, work or study95 but also sometimes because of debt,96 bankruptcy,97 exile,98 vendetta99 or imprisonment),100 constituting 3.4% of the total number of households and 4% of the 8117 male portate. In their absence, these portate were written and/or submitted by fathers, brothers, uncles,101 nephews,102 sons,103 brothers-in-law,104 cousins,105 other unspecified relatives,106 94
ASF Catasto 62, fol. 730r. ASF Catasto 48, fol. 638r, 639r: Biagio d’Agnolo di Lippo sta a Bolognia col padre che fa le nestre di vetro [. . .] Biagio d’Agnolo studia. 96 ASF Catasto 30, fol. 105r: el detto maesttro [Alesandro di Messer Antonio di Pepo Friani buffone] no’ c’è, a[n]dòsene in U[n]geria. No’ ci potteva isttare per debitto. 97 ASF Catasto 26, fol. 1015r–v: Tomaso di Piero chalzaiuolo [. . .] fallito e nonn è in Firenze. 98 ASF Catasto 26, fol. 589r: el detto Nicholò [di Dello farsettaio] à bando del chapo ed è a Vinegia. 99 ASF Catasto 48, fol. 13v: [Andrea e Francesco di Lorenzo d’Andrea di Benintendi] sono in brigha mortale et abitano fuori di chasa loro e non possono asercitare le loro persone per detta chagione. 100 ASF Catasto 40, fol. 626r: Francesco [d’Attaviano Davizi] si trova inn Inghilterra in chonpangnia chon Pinamo deli Strozi; Antonio [d’Attaviano Davizi] si trova i[n]fermo ne le stinche per più bandi di chomune. ASF Catasto 51, fol. 359r: Lipo [di Giovani el quale fu isatore a chontrati] è ne le isti[n]che [. . .] Io Antonio di Ghugliemo [. . .] ò fata questa iscrita di mia mano [. . .] perché detto Lipo à male e ne le istiche. 101 ASF Catasto 19, fol. 416v: portata of Bartolomeo di Gherardo di Tura Pugliesi, written by his ‘zio e chommessario Piero Kambini Bartoli’. 102 ASF Catasto 15, fol. 123r: scritta fatta per Ristoro di Charlo Chanigiani nipote [di . . .] Antonio di Luigi Canigiani in Avignone. 103 ASF Catasto 24, fol. 1280r: Io Noso di Giovanni di Noso Fantoni sopradeto ò fato la detta rechata di tuto ciò che di sopra si chontiene perché il detto Giovanni [di Noso Fantonni] no’ ci’è et non l’à potuta fare. 104 ASF Catasto 17, fol. 169v: Io Lodovicho di Pino di Lodovicho suo chongniato [di Antonio di Cione Freschobaldi] ò fatta la presente iscrita di mia mano [. . .] la fatta i’ò perché non ci è. 105 ASF Catasto 36, fol. 446r: Io Federigho d’Iachopo chugino del detto Franciescho e a preghiera del detto Franciescho [di Manetto del Cervelliera di Manghona] ò fatta questa iscritta di mia propia mano perché il detto Franciescho non è in Firenze da poterla fare [. . .] ista in bottegha di Ghuasparre di Filippo da cCità di Chastello ispeçiale in Pisa chome per fante, ché llui uscito di Firençe per no’ potere vivere. 106 ASF Catasto 20, fol. 591r–592r: portata of ‘Chiaro e Giovanni d’Angnolo Arcangeli’ 95
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godfathers,107 notaries,108 priests,109 other ecclesiastics,110 procurators,111 or practioners of the same occupation as the absentees;112 wives,113 sisters,114 or mothers-in-law115 often provided the required information but rarely wrote the portate themselves; sometimes other relatives organized the information on behalf of absentees but found other scribes for portata.116
(both at ‘Rodi’) written by ‘Agostino di Tedaldo Benozi e Altobianco Giandonati come parenti’. 107 ASF Catasto 59, fol. 379r: Saladino e Francesco di Zanobi di Guido al soldo in Lombardia [stanno a Brescia]. E più ch’ànno lasciato a ghuardia e a ghoverno la detta chasa a Frate Piero spedalingho dello spedale di Sam Pagholo di Pinti perché detto Frate Piero è chompare del padre e [. . .] fàne queste loro faciende e vanno et venghono alchune volte a Firenze e non ci’ànno tornata niuna né maserizia niuna. Io Franciescho di Salvi di Francesco oliandolo a preghiera e chon volontà dello infrascritto Frate Piero òne fatto la sopradetto scritta perch’e gharzoni sono di fuori. 108 ASF Catasto 19, fol. 442v: Io Ser Uberto di Martino Berti cittadino et notaio orentino ò fatta questa scritta di mia propria mano a prighi e in presenza di detto Bartolomeo [di Grazia scardassiere habitante a San Donato in Poggio]. 109 ASF Catasto 15, fol. 467r: Ed io Prete Antonio di Francescho rectore di S. Lorenzo a Monte Robiolo in quell di Prato ò scritto a priegho di Mona Chosa donna del detto Cristofano [di Giovanni di Chuota di Casentino] perché esso Cristofano era absente. 110 ASF Catasto 47, fol. 410r: Io Stefano di Zanobi di Giovanni priore di Santa Maria in Chanpidoglio in Firenze feci questa schritta di mia mano chon volontà di detto Piero e Antonio [di Gieri choltelinai a Pisa]. 111 ASF Catasto 15, fol. 686r: Io Antonio di Bernardo Ridol ò fatta questa scritta di mia propria mano chome prochuratore del sopradetto Giovanni [di Iacopo Bochacci]. An example of a female procurator: ASF Catasto 40, fol. 132r: Monna Chaterina donna che fu d’Antonio di Berto et gliuola d’Alesandro di Benedetto chome prochuratrice d’Antonio di Domenicho d’Alesandro, il quale Antonio è in Pugla a Trani. 112 ASF Catasto 17, fol. 444r: Io Antonio di Iachopo speziale ò soscritto et fatta questa scritta di mia propria mano per chagione non ci è il detto Cristofano [di Iacopo speziale]. 113 ASF Catasto 15, fol. 122r: Antonio di Nicholò chiamato Frulano tronbeta, va cho’ retori vostri citadini ne le vostre tere [. . .] stanno a chasa in su la chosta di San Giorgio [. . .] e stanvi dentro io e Antonio mio marito quando è a Firençe [. . .] El deto Antonio è di Frigoli e Mona Istefana sua dona è da Vicho chontado di Bolognia. E dicie più la deta Mona Istefana che del mese pasato o pocho prima aveva orini tredici in oro e sesanta grosi in ariento [. . .] This portata was dictated by Stefana in Antonio’s absence: hence, the Tuscan, and not Bolognese, dialect. 114 See the case of Matteo di Pagolo di Francesco Pacini and his sister Mona Pippa, below pp. 40–41. 115 ASF Catasto 15, fol. 587r–v: Francesco di Bartolomeo Cambi abita et sta al salario ne le parti di Dalmazia overo di Schiavonia [. . .] io Francescha gliuola che fu d’Andrea di Francesco Peruzzi [. . .] suocera del sopradetto Francesco di Bartolo ò fatto fare questa presente schritta. 116 ASF Catasto 24, fol. 817r: Ferante di Lorenzo di Bartolomeo [. . .] è sopradetto Feranche in ghalea chon eso Nicholò di Barttolomeo Chorbinegli [. . .] Ed io Giuliano di Piero chalzolaio òne fatta questa ischritta chon chonsettimento e a preghiera di Barttolomeo di Barttolomeo chalzaiuolo suo zio del sopradetto Ferante.
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In many cases, the writer, the informant or their exact relationship to the absentee is not specied. Usually it is unknown whether, if such absentees had been in Florence, they could have written their own portata, although in some cases written information by absent heads of households is mentioned;117 in the latter case, evidence of literacy therefore exists, although an autograph portata is not available. Another group of households whose portate were not autographs were minors under the age of 18 (although now and again orphans continued to have guardians or administrators of their estates as adults).118 There were 276 households of minors in 1427, constituting 2.9% of the total portate and 3.4% of the male portate. Often these minors had no surviving close relatives, but sometimes they lived with their mothers,119 grandmothers,120 uncles,121 aunts,122 unspecied relatives,123 stepfathers,124
117
ASF Catasto 18, fol. 1215r: schriverò io Antonio di Michele Velluti le sustanze di Nofri di Salvestro Velluti, il quale abita a Vinegia chola sua famigla questo dì 6 di settembre 1427 chon suo chonsentimento. Che quello io schriverò qui a piè io mi serbo la chopia di suo [sic] mano ma perché no’ mandò il foglo intero, m’è suto detto ch’io la schriva in su foglo intero e chosì fo. ASF Catasto 21, fol. 78r–v: Io Zanobi di Barone di Tingho fornaio a 4 Paghoni in Firenze òne fatta questa iscritta di mia propia mano chon volontà del detto Iachopo [di Domenicho di Pedone fornaio abita a Pisa], c[i]oè rasenpere(r)la e chopiarla a una scritta fatta di sua propia mano detto dì e nella medesima forma, la quale riscevetti da lui da Pisa a dì 29 di luglio 1427. 118 ASF Catasto 18, fol. 1066r: Io Maestro Bartolo di Lorenzo ò scrita questa iscrita di mia mano perché sono atore del deto Lionardo di Lucha Malici [di 19 anni] e di questo vi fo buona fede ogi questo dì 11 di luglio 1427. 119 ASF Catasto 15, fol. 460r: Damiano di Bartolomeo di Niccholò chiamato il Poggiese, aged 13, and his mother Mona Checcha. 120 ASF Catasto 15, fol. 128r: Andrea di Bruno da Greve, aged 12, together with his ‘avola Mona Antonia d’Agnolo donna fu d’Andrea di Bruno’. 121 ASF Catasto 28, fol. 104r: gliuoli rimas[t]i di Tommaso d’Andrea Campelli, aged 15 to 4 and living with their uncle Niccolò Campelli. 122 ASF Catasto 53, fol. 43r: Chimento di Domenicho di Lorenço di Gianni Buti, il qual Chimenti è d’età d’anni undici e sta a bottegha d’Antonio Borghi e Antonio di Ser Bartolo linaiuoli, e danogli al deto Chimento per suo salario orini nove in due anni inchominciando l’anno a dì 15 di maggio anno sopradetto [1427]. Anchora il detto Chimento si torna in chasa cho’ Mona Ghita donna che fu di Ghirighoro di Chomo e çia del deltto [sic pro del detto] Chimento. E lla detta Mona Ghita gli da le spese e chalçalo e vestelo. 123 ASF Catasto 15 fol. 656r: Francesco d’Aghostino d’Amato di Stinchese [di anni 10 o circha], sorella [di anni 9], ‘per loro non n’ànno persona se non è Iachopo di Giovanni Sachini suo parente e stano in chasa detto Iachopo nel po[po]lo di San Giorgio di Firenze’. 124 ASF Catasto 21, fol. 350r: Martino di Francescho di Giovanni biadaiuolo, pupillo di 4 anni, torna con Pagholo Sovegli tavernaio suo patrigno. ASF Catasto 31, fol. 191r: Data questa iscritta per me Francesco di Pagholo Pichardi perché [Mariotto di Baldo di Giovanni Ghalli, di 4 anni] si torna in chasa cho’ la madre ch’è mia donna.
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masters (as apprentices)125 or foster parents.126 Occasionally such minors submitted portate personally as proprietors in their own right, although their fathers were still alive.127 Their portate were normally written by attori (estate administrators),128 guardians,129 grandfathers,130 uncles,131 cousins,132 practioners of the same trade as their dead fathers,133 masters (of apprenticed orphans)134 or notaries, although occasionally such minors actually wrote their own portate: Questa scripta ò facta io Ricciardo [di Giachinotto Cavalcanti] sopradecto [di 14 anni] di mia propria mano per chagione che Lazero et Francescho sopradecti [suoi fratelli maggiori] stanno a Pisa obrigati a certe gabelle di comune et secondo mio ricordo è la propria verita.135
In some cases, on the other hand, it was stated that these minors could not write or at least had not yet learned to write adequately: Io Zanobi di Ghualtieri sensale di chanbi grossi del popolo di Sa’ Nicholo ò fatta questa ischritta chome preghato e perché il detto Giovanni [gli125 ASF Catasto 42, fol. 302r–303r: Bartolomeo di Mone di Cecho di Porta Travaglio da Prato [di 17 anni] pupillo, ista al malischacho cho’ Nanni di Tincho in Pistoia. Dàgli in tre anni orini nove e lle spese. Il primo ano orini due, il sechondo orini tre, il terzo anno orini quatro. 126 ASF Catasto 52, fol. 30r: Adamo di Lorenço [di 15 anni o circha] tornasi in chasa chon una Mona Petra di Pichio da Siena che llo batteççò, ritiello per lo amore di dio. 127 ASF Catasto 16, fol. 38r–39r: Iacopo di Giovanni di Iacopo [aged 12], and his brothers Piero [aged 10], Nicholò [aged 8] and Francescho [aged 7], written by their father Giovanni. 128 ASF Catasto 15, fol. 489r: ‘Io Nicholò di Simone Feduci vi fòne fede chome loro atore’ for ‘rede di Mona Checha dona fue di Charlo Chanigiani’, boys aged 15 and 13, a girl aged 11. 129 ASF Catasto 16, fol. 54r–59r, 65r–57r, 75r–76r: Ligi [aged 16], Franciesco [aged 14] and Giovanni [aged 11], gli e rede di Giovanni di Ligi Quaratesi, written by their ‘tutore Iacopo di Giovanni Villani’. 130 ASF Catasto 16, fol. 363v: Io Lucha di Cino choregiaio avolo de’ sopradetti Nicholò [di anni 7] e Simone [di anni 4] [glioli di Gianni di Nicholò dalla Felice de’ Bardi] essendo mio debito ò ffatta questa scritta di mia propia mano. 131 ASF Catasto 19, fol. 74v: Ed io Piero di Giovani vo(ca)to Secha ò fatta la presente iscritta per Angnolo sopradetto mio nipote [rede d’Andrea di Giovanni vochato Sella tessitore di drappi, di anni 7]. 132 ASF Catasto 18, fol. 1269r: Io Giovanni di Taccio suo chugino ò fatta la presente ischritta [per Orlando di Nicholò di Nino Orlandi, di 13 anni] di mia propia mano. 133 ASF Catasto 23, fol. 631v: Io Vincenzo di Ghuaspare bilanciaio ò fato chuesta iscripta cho’ chosentimento de’ sopradecti pupili [three sons (aged 5 to 10) of the late] Aghostino di Bencivenni bilanciaio. 134 ASF Catasto 26, fol. 834r–v: Rinaldo di Giovanni Ghini, orphan aged 14, ‘sta in bottegha con Donato di Nicholò [Donatello] et Michelozzo di Bartolomeo intagliatori’, portata written by ‘Michelozzo di Bartolomeo’. 135 ASF Catasto 28, fol. 884–89r. ASF Catasto 16, fol. 247r: 15-year-old son Pantalione wrote the portata for his mother Mona Margherita d’Andrea and himself (a later copy on fol. 469v, where ‘Pantaleone’ now listed himself as aged 16).
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uolo maggiore che fu di Bartolomeo di Nicholò bastiere, di anni 12] non sapeva troppo bene ischrivere.136
Another group who did not write their own portate were incapacitated men, of whom there were 144 in 1427, constituting 1.5% of total returns or 1.8% of the male household heads. Such incapacities included old age,137 blindness,138 muteness (the possible result of a stroke),139 deafness / muteness,140 insanity,141 injury,142 inrmity,143 paralysis,144 apoplexy145 and leprosy.146 136
ASF Catasto 15, fol. 786r. ASF Catasto 17, fol. 454r: Io Giobbo di Iachopo ò fatto questa iscritta a priego e chon volontà de detto Choncio [di Francescho di Choncio, di 85 anni, nello spedale di Santa Maria Nuova)]. ASF Catasto 19, fol. 228r: Agnolo di Lucha Casini, aged 91. ASF Catasto 19, fol. 329r: Truovasi il detto Benino [di Francescho di Benino] d’età d’anni ottantasette sanza donna e sanza gliuoli et con axai più incarichi; no’ dicie secondo quello che io, Bernardo di Benino, comprendo, posto che questo dice pocho. ASF Catasto 21, fol. 452r: [Niccholò di Lucha di Feo Ugholini] sono vechio di più d’ani 81 e sono infermo d’una infermità inchurabile e truovomi solo qui in Firenze ma ò tre gluoli di fuori, l’uno in Inghilterra ch’era chon Salamone deli Strozzi e compagni ma per lo chaso loro rimane sanza aviamento, due ne sono in Ungheria che non so chome si stieno. ASF Catasto 22, fol. 268r: Pagholo di Neri, di 95 anni, rinbanbito, solea stare cho’ gli oliandoli; io Antonio di Giovanni Benci ò fatta questa schritta di mia propria mano. ASF Catasto 46, fol. 643r: ‘per chagione ch’el detto Francesco [d’Agnolo Vernacci, vechio di 90 anni] è vecchio, non può né saprebbe dirvi i suo’ fatti’, his portata was written by his nephew Agnolo di Bindo Vernacci. 138 ASF Catasto 15, fol. 355r: Biagio di Guiducio ciecho; fol. 756r: Io Giovanni detto [di Piero da Chastello Francho di sopra] sono d’età d’anni 76 e sono ciecho a fatto e ghotoso e infermo e sto del chontinovo in chasa e ne’ letto con grande spesa [. . .] Io Simone di Giovanni di Pier’ ò fatto il presente raporto di volontà di Giovanni mio padre. ASF Catasto 20, fol. 685r: Domenicho di Piero torcie al latoio della seta perché è ciecho. ASF Catasto 21, fol. 154v: Ed io Lionardo di Piero Singnorini sopradetto ò fatta fare la presente scritta ad Aringhieri di Iachopo a mia preghiera però che non vegho lume a scrivere di mia mano. ASF Catasto 35, fol. 1050r: Io Bernardo d’Antonio Falchoni [the teacher, see p. 10 above and pp. 330–31 below] ò fatto la presente scritta a preghiera del decto Mariano [d’Andrea lavorante di tinta, vede pocho lume]. 139 ASF Catasto 46, fol. 647v: Franciescho di Bartolo Sanguingni [di 70 anni], è gli chaduta la ghocciola; dice la molgle à debito più di sei orini e non sa il detto Franciescho favellare e non può per detta chagone; io Bartolomeo di Govanni di Charlluzzo lanaiuolo chon volontà e preghiera di Mona Tanora sua donna ò fatta la detta scritta. 140 ASF Catasto 56, fol. 19r: Antonio di Torigiano de’ Cierchi, mutolo e sordo; fol. 20r. Io Bartolomeo di Michele del Choraza actore di detto Antonio di Torigiano ò fatta detta rechata. 141 ASF Catasto 16, fol. 536r: portata di Piero di Giovanni di Bertazza vaiaio et paçço [. . .] arechò detta scritta Chanbio di Domenicho chonciatore e fece fare a Ser Tomaso prete di San Nicholò. ASF Catasto 35, fol. 940r: lui [Lodovicho di Giovanni Gualtieri Cimabue] si truova vesato da malingni e benigni spiriti, istasi chontinuo ogi per li monti e chave di Fiesole, dorme a champo e se alchuna volta al choperto si emancuolì né mai si spogla; portata written by his uncle Ridolfo Peruzzi. ASF Catasto 38, fol. 451r: Meo di Mainardo fu donzelo della parte pazzo d’anni 28, sta a Stia ed è pazzo, tiello uno Cione di Nanuccio suo parente in chasa. ASF Catasto 42, 137
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A large category of men who did not write their own portate in 1427 were potential functional illiterates. Functional illiterates can be dened as individuals whose reading and / or writing skills were insufcient to full the requirements of their own society. In this case, Florentine society imposed the obligation to submit a portata for the Catasto, and so functional illiterates were those residents who could neither read nor write, who could read but not write, or whose writing skills were inadequate to enable the personal completion of a tax return. Of the 8117 male portate in 1427, 254 heads of household (3.1% or 2.6% of the total submissions) were explicitly declared unable to write their own returns owing to their inability to read, write, or read and write. The following table breaks down this group according to occupation:
fol. 248r: per noi Giannotto, Charlo e Pagholo di Iachopo di Giannotto vi si fa fede delle sustanzie di Baldassare nostro fratello non sano della mente. ASF Catasto 47, fol. 8r: Iachopo di Dino di Stefano, d’età d’anni quaranta o circho e ifermo, no’ ha buono sentimento [. . .] iscioccho e non è i’ suo sentimento; his portata written by Iachopo di Piero del Mazza churatore del detto Iachopo. ASF Catasto 59, fol. 387r: Io Mariano di Gioanni legniaiolo ò fatta questa isschritta per sSalvestro di Giutta legnaiulo [. . .] mi sso’ mosso ssichome suo gienero e perch’egli egli [sic] non è i’ ssuo ssenttimentto e fuori d’ogni ssettimento. 142 ASF Catasto 16, fol. 281v: Io Berto di Francescho ò fata la sopradetta iscrita perché Marioto [di Cristofano righattiere] à male: gli chade adoso i’ sul chapo la chaterata de la botegha, speçogli la testo i’ più parti, stava male. 143 ASF Catasto 19, fol. 151r: Io Antonio di Iachopo ò fatto questa iscritta di mia mano a prieghiera del detto Antonio [di Vannozzo fornaciaio], che no’ ll’à potuta fare egli perché infermo. ASF Catasto 20, fol. 910r: Guido d’Ambruogio ischamatino, commesso della Badia di Passignano [Vallombrosa], infermo. ASF Catasto 28, fol. 204v: È infermo il detto Nicholò [Nicholò di Francesco Baroncelli, di 18 anni] istato già sei ani e più con grande ispesa et co’ infermità inchurabile [. . .] Io Bartolomeo di Sandro Baroncielli ho fatta la sopradetta iscritta a preghiera del detto. ASF Catasto 38, fol. 122r: Bernassa di Simone [Cavalcanti] detto d’età d’anni sesanta tanto più quanto da otto di dicenbre in qua sono perduto di golglie; già è una brighata d’anni non posso andare né nulla; portata written by his son Simone. ASF Catasto 54, fol. 160v: Io Giovanni di Pietro di Ser Mino malischalcho perché ‘l detto Lotto [di Charoccio malischalcho, di 40 anni] non può scrivere per sua infermità m’à preghato che scriva per lui ed io cho’ suo chonsentimento l’ò fatta. 144 ASF Catasto 23, fol. 126r: Il detto Antonio di Santi [. . .] è istato a tratto degli anni più di trenta e più di venti che non ucì mai di chasa chon sua pie; portata written by his son Filippo. ASF Catasto 62, fol. 379r: Nicholò di Ligi fabro soleva fare le pianele [. . .] è ne infermo [. . .] perduto de le mani e de’ piedi per ghotte. 145 ASF Catasto 42, fol. 4v: [Antonio di Iachopo del Vignia, di 77 anni] infermo ch’è stato più di mesi 6 in chasa che non è potuto né può ire fuori ed è stato la magiore parte de’ detti 6 mesi apolopesto; portata written by son Iachopo. 146 ASF Catasto 58, fol. 207r, 208r: Lionardo di Filippo Banchini [di 40 anni], il quale è tra per infermità grande e altro non può venire dinanzi da voi, infermo di lebra.
drappiere (draper) vaiaio (vair-garment worker) linen-worker (linaiuolo) latoio della seta (silk spinner) oste (innkeeper) corregaio (belt maker) fa le nestre (glazier) maestro di tavole di gesso (plaster-tablet maker or sculptor) tavolaccino (waiter) lavoratore di ferravecchio (scrap-metal worker) tiene poderi (farm labourers) lastraiuolo (paviour) brigliaio (bridle makers) no occupation provided
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 37
These functional illiterates included three individuals who could not read: Ed io Giovanni di Piero de Toghagliera ò fata questa iscrita perché detto Simone [Domenicho di Simone detto Batatino ischardassiere] no’ sa legiere.147 Io Giobbo di Iachopo l’ò fatta a priego detto Bartolomeo [di Michele tessitore di drappi] di mia propia mano perché non sa legiere.148 Io Cenni di Francesco alberghatore ò fata la sopradeta ischrita perché e’ sopradeto Piero di Mateo [lavoratore] no’ sa legiere.149
31 who could neither read nor write, e.g.: Io Lucha di Bartolomeo pesatore degl’Uciali de la Charne ò fata questa schrita di mia propia mano a prighiera del deto Lucha [di Ghuglelmo da Todi famiglio de’ Signori] perché non sa legere né scrivere.150 Io Lucha di Bartolomeo ò fata questa questa iscrita di mia propia mano perché deto Bartolo [di Marcho vocato Charonbela] non sa legere e schrivere.151 Questo Giovanni [di Buto] [. . .] è lavorante di purgho e d’età d’anni dicianove e à il dì quando lavora S. XII. Per chagione che ‘l detto Giovanni non sa né llegiere né scrivere a sua preghiera [. . .] io Marcho d’Iachopo ò fatta questa scritta.152
147 148 149 150 151 152
ASF ASF ASF ASF ASF ASF
Catasto Catasto Catasto Catasto Catasto Catasto
22, 23, 51, 18, 19, 20,
fol. fol. fol. fol. fol. fol.
365r. 363r. 151r. 1030r. 449r. 952r.
literacy in florence, 1427
21
and two Germans who could not write Italian: Io Nicholò di Frizi chalzolaro ò facto questa scritta a pregiera del sopradecto Bregoldo [di Giovanni della Magnia chalzolaio], ché non sapeva iscrivere egli italiano.153 Io Chavalchante di Giovanni sellaio ò ischrito [. . .] [di] chonsentimento del detto Giovanni [d’Ormanno della Magna choregiaio di choregie di peltro] perché non sapeva iscrivere taliano ma te[de]scho.154
The remaining 220 could not write, e.g.: Io Domenicho d’Angnolo ò ffatta questa iscritta chon volontà d’Andrea di Nofri [lavorante di tinta] sopradetto perché non sa iscrive[re].155 Io Giovanni Torsellini ò fatta la presente portata a preghiera del sopradetto Niccolò di Ciuto [da Cieticha lavorante di scharpette] perch’egli non sa scrivere di sua mano.156 Io Giovanni di Iachopo li[n]aiuolo ò fatto questa iscritta di mia mano a preghiera detto Simone [lavorante di tinta] chagione non sa scrivere.157
Less explicit were the capacities of semi-literates, that is, individuals who had some ability to write, but not sufcient to enable them to complete a portata personally. There were 153 portate from semi-literates (1.9% of the male returns or 1.6% of the total portate). In the case of twenty, it was explicitly declared that they did not write well enough to complete the return themselves: Io Simone di Francescho ricevetti detta scritta perché [Andrea d’Agnolo di Ser Bondi] non sapea bene o punto scrivere e chosì dise avere fatto fare detta scrita chon suo chonsentimennto.158 Io Pagholo di Bonarcho Chorselini merciaio ò fatta questa scritta di mia mano a preghiera del detto Andrea di Giovani tesitore di drapi perché lui dicie che non sa bene schrivere.159 Io Antonio di Barnaba notaro orentino perché il detto Domenicho di Niccolò Bagloni [pizicagnolo] non sa bene scrivere di sua volontà ò ffata la detta scripta.160 Io Antonio [di Francesco maestro di balestre abita a Pisa] sopra isscrito à lo fato isscrivere perché io no’ ne isscrivo sì bene le sopra iscrite chose mobile e immobile sichome dite di sopra.161 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161
chapter one Io Agniolo di Franciescho ispeziale ò fatta questa iscritta i’ nome detto Giovanni [di Ser Piero d’Andrea Franceschi di 15 anni] perché no’ ssa bene iscrivare ed anche me lasciò el padre al ghoverno su[s]o el detto fanciullo.162 Io Torniello di Salvestro ò fatto questa schritta di mia propria mano questo dì XI di luglio 1427 perché [Piero d’Agnolo chardatore] sa male scrivere.163 Io Michele di Primerano de’ Pigli ò fatto questa scritta in servigio del detto Landino perché Landino [di Bernaba farsettaio] iscrive molto male.164 Io Donino di Stefano ò fata questa scritta di chonsentimento di detto Maso [di Stefano lavatore] mio fratelo [. . .] perché deto Maso sa male scrivere.165 Io Lorino di Bartolo [sta all’orafo] sono cho[n]teto a la sopra dedetta [sic] iscritta e però mi sono iscr[i]tto di mia prop[i]a mano perch’io non so tropo bene iscrivere no’ l’ò iscr[i]tta tuta di m[i]a mano.166 Queste quatro face iscrite de le mie sustaze sopra al chatasto ogni chosa è scrito di mia voluntà e i’ò iscirito la verità e per chariza di ciò io Teghia di Pero [Villanuzzi sensale] ò scrito ogi di mia propa mano [. . .] e ò lo fato iscrivere perché io non sono buono iscritore.167 Io Michele d’Antonio Chacci ò fatta questa schritta di mia propia mano perché il detto Christofano [del Pace chalzolaio] non sapeva bene schrivere.168 Io Ghuido [di Guido di Persolatini] sopradetto ò fato fare la sopradeta iscrita al sopradeto Ser Piero perch’io so male scrivere.169 Ugholino di Lenzo vochato Bolognino, isto per fante chon altrui per le s[p]ese e chalzare e vestire [. . .] Io Bolognino ò fato fare la deta iscrita perché scrriise meglio.170 Io Giemira di Schiata [fabro] sopradetto ò fato fare qesta ischrita atrui perché ischrivo male.171 Io Micho di Mat[e]o [chiavaiuolo] sopradeto ò fata fare questa scrita a[l]trui pe[r]ché iscrivo male.172 Piero di Zanobi di Ser Forese [. . .] è d’età d’anni 25 et è sança arte o exercitio alcuno. Io Ferrantino di Niccholaio ò fatta questa scripta a volontà del decto Piero. Io Piero di Zanobi chonfesso che’l detto Ser Ferantino à fatto la detta ischritta di mia voluntà perché io non so bene ischrivere.173
Io Manetto d’Andrea di Manetto ferrovecchio ò ffatto questa iscritta a preghiera del detto Reccho [di Cristofano di Reccho da Ghiacceto, che sta cho’ chosoli del Mare,] perché il detto Reccho non sa iscrivere per modo non vi desse tedio.174 E io Antonio di Giovanni [fabro] sono chontento a la sopra detta iscrita perch’è fata di mia volontà per no’ sapere bene ischivere.175 Io Giuliano di Batista ò fato questa iscrita di mia propia mano ché no’ sa’ iscrivere [Giovannozzo e Francescho di Battista] eglino itropo bene.176
Other semi-literates signed their returns in a hand different from that of the text of the portate or else made additions or annotations similarly different from the main body of the return itself; in all these cases, the quality of the handwriting was so poor as to suggest that the individuals could not have written their own portate. The following table breaks down these semi-literates according to occupation: maniscalchi, fabbri (smiths) scardassieri, cardatori (carders) tessitori (weavers) calzolai (shoemakers) muratori (builders) barbieri (barbers) farsettai (doublet makers) bottai (coopers) pettinatori (combers) famigli, fanti (servants) fornai (bakers) divettini (wool beaters) coiai, galigai (leather dressers) lavoranti all’arte della lana (wool workers) forzerinai (safe makers) legnaiuoli ( joiners) purgatori (cleaners) tintori (dyers) messi, corrieri (messengers) chiavaiuoli (locksmiths) dipintori (painters) corregai, corazzai (belt makers) bastieri (saddlers) pizzicagnoli (spice dealers) sensali (brokers)
The larger number and percentage of possible non-artisans here (45 or 29.4% in contrast to 37 or 14.6%) suggests a higher social level (corresponding to their slightly higher educational achievement) among the semi-literates in comparison with the illiterates. Similarly, it will be seen that the semi-literates included twice the percentage of households with surnames as the illiterates.177 A large group of potential functional illiterates consists of individuals who found another person to write their portate without giving a reason why the head of household did not write himself, e.g.:
177
See p. 29 below.
literacy in florence, 1427
25
Io Bonacchorsso di Piero ò fatto questa scritta di mia propia mano chon volontà del sopradetto Domenicho di Francescho [scarpellatore].178 Io Giovanni di Ser Guarano ò facta questa scripta con voluntà del detto Giovanni [di Corso, che tesse il panno lino].179 E io Lorenzo di Francho sto a linaiuolo ò fatta la sopradetta iscritta sechondoché Iachopo di Simone [tessitore di panni lini] predetto m’à preghato e questa è ne la sustança e verità sua sechondo mi chonfesa.180
This category of portate, numbering 776 returns (8.0% of the total submissions or 9.5% of the male reports), were written by brothers, 181 sons, 182 fathers, 183 nephews, 184 uncles, 185 brothers-inlaw,186 sons-in-law,187 stepfathers,188 unspecied relatives,189 notaries,190 procurators,191 fellow tradesmen,192 colleagues,193 business partners,194 178
ASF Catasto 15, fol. 537r. ASF Catasto 15, fol. 807r. 180 ASF Catasto 62, fol. 35r. 181 ASF Catasto 15, fol. 348r: E io Lottino d’A[n]drea di Lottino fratelo del sopradetto Bernardo [maestro di frusti da basti] ò fatto la sopradetta ischritta a preghiera del detto Bernardo. 182 ASF Catasto 15, fol. 492r: Io Giovanni di Cristofano maestro [di murare] ò fata questa iscrita di mia propia mano a pregiera di Cristofano mio padre. 183 ASF Catasto 56, fol. 347r: Io Antonio d’Andrea suo padre ò fata la sopradetta ischita chon sua volontà [cioè di Andrea d’Antonio lavorante di tinta]. 184 ASF Catasto 19, fol. 410r: Io Antonio di Giovanni Corbizi nipote del detto Betto [di Giovanni Stefani] ò fatta questa scritta di volere e chonsentimento di detto Betto. 185 ASF Catasto 37, fol. 838v: per chiareza io Appolonio di Ser Nicholò Ugholini suo zio ò fatta questa di mia mano perché esso Lodovicho [di Giovanni di Monte di Mugello] non vengha in chontumace della vostra signioria. 186 ASF Catasto 21, fol. 184v: Dise detto Lipo [d’Andrea di Lippo] deta scritta avea fatta Maria[no] di Stagnio suo chognato chon suo chonsentimento. 187 ASF Catasto 31, fol. 74r: Scritta per me Salvestro di Cienni Nini gienero del sopradetto Iachopo [di Lionardo Chapponi istradiere alle porti]. 188 ASF Catasto 30, fol. 345v: portata di Bartolomeo di Michele di Bartolomeo del Ciecie, fata per Bartolomeo di Lorenzo di Chresci, suo patrigno. 189 ASF Catasto 27, fol. 460r: Io Amerigho Chavalchanti ò fatta la detta scritta [per Giannozzo di Vanni di Messer Uberto Chavalchanti]. For two cases of wives writing on behalf of husbands, see p. 37 below. 190 ASF Catasto 15, fol. 421r: Io Niccolaio Pardi notaio ò facta questa scripta a ppreghi di decto Buto [di Stefano da Frenze scardassiere] e di sua volontà. 191 ASF Catasto 55, fol. 197r: Iscritta per me Deo di Deo Bechuti prochuratore del detto Pagholo [di Dono dipintore]. 192 ASF Catasto 17, fol. 648r: Io Mafo di Tomaso orafo ò fatto il sopradetto raporto a preghiera del detto Franciescho di Lucha [orafo] in sua presenza. 193 ASF Catasto 40, fol. 832r: Io Piero di Lorenzo notaio dell’arte de’ fornai ò facta la detta portata di licença del decto Giovanni [di Domenmicho di Lapo fornaio]. ASF Catasto 56, fol. 253r: Io Giovanni di Giovanni d’Andrea famiglo del prochonsolo ò fatto questa scritta di mia propia mano dì VIIII di luglio 1427 di sua volontà [cioè Antonio di Bettino donzello del prochonsolo]. 194 ASF Catasto 25r: Io Federigho di Tommaso Sassetti chon volontà del sopradetto Andrea e Nicholò e Gieri di Giovanni Ghondi [loro compagno] ho fatto la detta ischritta di mia propria mano. 179
26
chapter one
schoolmasters,195 landlords,196 priests,197 friars,198 chaplains,199 monks,200 but in most cases there was no discernible relationship between the head of household and the writer of the portata, nor any apparent reason why a particular scribe was chosen. The follow table gives the distribution of this category of non-writers according to occupation: tessitori (weavers) scardassieri, cardatori (carders) calzolai (shoemakers) famigli, fattori, donzelli, lavoranti (servants, attendants) pettinatori, pettigannoli (combers) purgatori (cleaners) sarti (tailors) tintori (dyers) barbieri (barbers) muratori (builders) esattori alla gabella, stanno a gabella [del vino ecc.], stradieri, cardieri (collectors of gabelles) divettini (wool beaters) legnaiuoli ( joiners) messi, corrieri (messengers) riveditori (quality controllers) fornai (bakers) maniscalchi, fabbri (smiths)
74 52 45 37 29 25 23 20 18 16 15 14 13 11 11 10 9
195 ASF Catasto 15, fol. 533r: Io Bernardo d’Antonio Falchoni ò fatto la decta scritta a preghiera del sopradecto Domenicho di Lorenzo malischalcho oggi questo dì decto di sopra. On Bernardo Falconi, see p. 10 above and below pp. 330–31. For other portate written by him, see p. 336 below. ASF Catasto 18, fol. 1388r: Io Maestro Bartolo di Lorenzo ò iscrita questa iscrita di mia mano a preghiera del deto Piero [di Iachopo mangniano di tompe e chiave]. On Bartolo di Lorenzo Gerini, see p. 10 above and below pp. 332–33. 196 ASF Catasto 19, fol. 98r: Io Giunta di Tugio [il suo padrone di casa] ò iscritto questa ischritta di mia propia mano a prechiera del detto Aricho [di Giovanni della Magna tessitore di panni lini]. 197 ASF Catasto 21, fol. 13r: Io Ser Antonio di Bartolo prete hòne fatto questa portata a preghiera di Iachopo [vochato Bogia ischardassiere]. 198 ASF Catasto 24, fol. 1182r: Io Frate Giovanni del Maestro Bartolo da Firenzze de l’ordine di Santo Iachopo d’Altopascio iscrissi a priegho di deto Farsettino [Giovanni d’Andrea vocato Farsetino famiglio de’ Priori] tuta questa iscritta. 199 ASF Catasto 36, fol. 96r: Io Ser Anselmo prete e capellano in Sancto Piero Maggiore ò scritto questa scritta a preghiera del detto Antonio [d’Avitale apenechino]. 200 ASF Catasto 47, fol. 143r: io Dom Bene(detto) cappellano del monistero di Sancta Anna ò scritta la sopradetta scritta a prego del sopradetto Lorenzo [di Nicholò d’Amadore vocato Chorane legnaiuolo.
The greater number of possible non-artisans here (154 out of 776 or 19.8%) suggests a higher social level for this group than the illiterates; indeed, it is clear that a number of individuals in this category must have been literate, but simply preferred to have persons write on their behalf. This impression is conrmed by comparing surnames in the three groups so far examined. Among the illiterates, there are 7.1% of individuals (18 out of 255) identied by surname;201 three only (Ammirati, Lenzi, Vespucci) are possibly from upper-class202 families. The semi-literates include 15.7% (24 out of 153) identied by surname;203 four (Manovelli, Rucellai, Pucci, Niccolini) are potentially from the upper-classes. The unexplained non-writers include 13.3% (103 out of 776) identied by surname;204 however, 30 (Bardi [3 different
households], Serragli, Rossi, Cavalcanti [2 different households], Pitti, Biliotti, Sachetti, Ricasoli, Capponi, Pepi, Peruzzi, Gherardini [2 different households], Busini, Covoni, Altoviti, Spini, Gondi, Vecchietti, Lippi, Girolami, Giraldi, da Filichaia [2 different households], Agli [2 different households]) are possibly from upper-class families. It is clear that the identied but unexplained non-writers included a signicant number of literates. Nevertheless, the predominant number of lowly artisans in this group (weavers, carders, shoemakers, combers, servants, cleaners, tailers, dyers, barbers, pruners, messangers, bakers, smiths, millers, doublet makers, labourers, locksmiths, butchers) corresponds to the occupation distribution among the declared illiterates, thus suggesting that this group of identied but unexplained non-writers was mainly illiterate.
The nal category of non-writers among the heads of household submitting portate for the 1427 Catasto has been the most difcult to identify. A signicant number of portate were set out and written professionally or prociently, often by notaries, notarial or Latin copyists, skilled vernacular copyists or able writers of mercantesca (mercantile script), without declaring that they were not the autograph products of heads of household. However, the heads of household corresponding to these particular portate were neither notaries nor professional copyists nor merchants with sufcient business activity to develop a highly practised mercantesca hand. There is in fact an inverse relationship between the economic, social and educational level of the writers of these portate and the quality of their handwriting and presentation: whereas middleand upper-class Florentines—indubitably literate and normally writing their own portate—usually submitted reports of a non-professional quality, this present group consistently presented portate whose writing and layout were well above their humble economic and social station. Such discrepancies have allowed this nal group of non-writers to be identied. It consists of 1076 portate, whose distribution according to occupation is as follows: tessitori (weavers) scardassieri, cardatori, lanini, lavoranti di lana (carders) calzolai (shoemakers) famigli, fattori, donzelli, lavoranti (servants, attendants) pettinatori, pettigannoli (combers) muratori (builders) purgatori (cleaners) tintori (dyers) divettini (wool beaters) esattori alla gabella, stanno a gabella, stradieri, cassieri (gabelle collectors) legnaiuoli ( joiners) barbieri (barbers) sarti (tailors) fornai (bakers) maniscalchi, fabbri, ferraiuoli (smiths) messi, corrieri (messengers) manovali (labourers) mugnai, farinaiuoli (millers) conciatori, pelachani (tanners) farsettai (doublet makers) cuoiai, lavoranti di cuoio, galigai (leather dressers) riveditori (quality controllers)
literacy in florence, 1427 ricamatori (embroiderers) becamorti (grave-diggers) forbiciai, forbicini (scissors makers) passeggeri (ferrymen) saponai (soap makers) campanai (bell ringers) sta a speziale (apothecary assistant) linaiuolo (linen merchant) sta al linaiuolo (linen worker) tavolaccino (waiter) lastraiuolo (paviour) cassettaio (box maker) scamatino (carpet beater) stampatore (engraver) prestatore di bestie a vettura, prestatore di ronzi (liveryman) coltellinaio (knife sharpener) spadaio (sword maker) massaio alla camera del comune (steward) merciaio (haberdasher) lavorante di capegli (wig maker?) pezzaio (sole-maker) resaiuolo (= risaiuolo [rice worker] or refaiuolo [string maker]) lavorante alla zecca (mint worker) rivenditore di erbuccie (vegetable and fruit seller) stagnaio (tinsmith) fa i cardi (maker of carding tools) va accattando (beggar) da la lana (a latrici) (wool porter) al tiratoio dell’arte della lana (woollen cloth stretcher) da la biada a’ passigieri (grain porter) segatore (sawyer) ista al refaiuolo (string worker) tenditore di lana (wool stretcher) sta a ritagliatore (second-hand clothes worker) sceglitore (sorter) cuce foderi (lining seamster) acattafanti (domestic service agent?) traversatore d’arme (emblem-maker?) porciaio (pig man) maestro ingeniere (master engineer) lavora d’osso (bone worker) bbiaio (buckle maker) lavorante di drappi (cloth [silk] worker) fa le nestre del vetro (glazier) pollaiuolo (poulterer) banditore (town crier)
sacatore (sack maker?) lavorante di mattonaia (brick maker) tavernaio (tavern keeper) taglia il verzino (woodcutter) balestra (bow maker) occupation unspecied
1 1 1 1 1 156
The lower percentage of possible non-artisans (156 out of 1076 or 14.5%) here, as compared with the identied but unexplained nonwriters (19.8%) suggests a lower social level for the unidentied nonwriters—an impression conrmed by a comparison of surnames. The identied but unexplained non-writers included 13.3% of households with a surname; in contrast, the unidentied non-writers included only 57 individuals (5.3%) with a surname.205 Similarly, there are considerably fewer upper-class households in this group of unidentied non-writers (9: Bartoli, Mancini, Pepi, Mellini, Bucelli, Manovelli, dello Scarfa, Popoleschi, Pucci) as compared with the 30 for the identied but unexplained non-writers. The low percentage of possible non-artisans without specied occupations among the unidentifed non-writers cor205 Peroni (ASF Catasto 15, fol. 385r), Corselli (ASF Catasto 16, fol. 629v–630r), Bartoli (ASF Catasto 17, fol. 224v–226r), Bencini (ASF Catasto 17, fol. 343r), Benzivene (ASF Catasto 18, fol. 1040r), Petrini (ASF Catasto 19, fol. 49v–51r), Chamici (ASF Catasto 21, fol. 136r), Delle Vignie (ASF Catasto 21, fol. 398r), Del Soldato (ASF Catasto 23, fol. 45r–46r), Ghocci (ASF Catasto 23, fol. 371r), Betti (ASF Catasto 24, fol. 1035r–1036r), Del Soldato (ASF Catasto 23, fol. 136r), Totti (ASF Catasto 27, fol. 18r), Mancini (ASF Catasto 31, fol. 371r–372r), Chavriuoli (ASF Catasto 30, fol. 47r), Charcherelli (ASF Catasto 30, fol. 203r), Malavolti (ASF Catasto 31, fol. 534r–535r), Pepi (ASF Catasto 34, fol. 82r–v), Ferrini (ASF Catasto 34, fol. 336r–338r), Mellini (ASF Catasto 34, fol. 395r–v), Buccelli (ASF Catasto 34, fol. 529r–v), Benucci (ASF Catasto 34, fol. 611r–612v), Ghaluzi (ASF Catasto 37, fol. 918r–919v), Passerini (ASF Catasto 37, fol. 1057r–v), Manovelli (ASF Catasto 40, fol. 108r), Baldinotti (ASF Catasto 40, fol. 378r), Compagni (ASF Catasto 40, fol. 384r), Chasini (ASF Catasto 43, fol. 958r–963r), Guidi (ASF Catasto 48, fol. 544r), Montini (ASF Catasto 41, fol. 19r), Bossi (ASF Catasto 43, fol. 1149r), Betti (ASF Catasto 45, fol. 588r), dello Scharfa (ASF Catasto 45, fol. 618r–621v), Santilli (ASF Catasto 46, fol. 169r–v), Popoleschi (ASF Catasto 47, fol. 375r–377r), Toni (ASF Catasto 48, fol. 117r), Pucci (ASF Catasto 48, fol. 536r–v), Guidi (ASF Catasto 48, fol. 544r), Giambullari (ASF Catasto 49, fol. 669r), Mazzetti (ASF Catasto 52, fol. 132r), Avedotti (ASF Catasto 52, fol. 137r), Mini (ASF Catasto 54, fol. 162r), Dalla Chasa (ASF Catasto 54, fol. 406r–v), Buattieri (ASF Catasto 55, fol. 164r–v), Amerighi (ASF Catasto 56, fol. 206r–207v), Bocci (ASF Catasto 56, fol. 614r), Schambrilla (ASF Catasto 57, fol. 483r), Pacini (ASF Catasto 58, fol. 345r–v), Chalchagni (ASF Catasto 58, fol. 430r–v), Cassi (ASF Catasto 59, fol. 260r), Chalandri (ASF Catasto 59, fol. 266r), Valduci (ASF Catasto 59, fol. 464r), Bonini (ASF Catasto 62, fol. 127r–128v), Narduci (ASF Catasto 63, fol. 240r), Fini (ASF Catasto 63, fol. 352r), Cieri (ASF Catasto 63, fol. 642r), Tigliamochi (ASF Catasto 63, fol. 757r).
literacy in florence, 1427
35
responds most closely to the declared illiterates (14.6%) and suggests that the category of identied but unexplained non-writers was largely illiterate—a conclusion substantiated by the lowly occupations that this group overwhelmingly pursued: weavers, carders, shoemakers, combers, servants, cleaners, tailors, dyers, barbers, builders, gabelle collectors, pruners, joiners, messengers, bakers, millers, doublet makers, labourers, trimmers, tanners and leather dressers. The overall gures for male literacy in Florence, as disclosed by the Catasto of 1427, are thus as follows: Total portate Women heads of household Male portate Heads of household away from Florence Minors as heads of household Incapacitated heads of household Able-bodied adult male heads of household in Florence Declared illiterate male heads of household Declared semi-literate male heads of household Identied non-writers without reason Non-identied non-writers Potential adult male illiterate heads of household Potential adult male literacy rate
It needs to be emphasized that the gure of 69.4% represents a potential, not a certain rate of literacy. But potentially, the percentage would be higher, not lower. It has been seen that the category of identied non-writers certainly includes a number of literates, who simply did not care to write their own portate.206 The same caveat exists for the non-identied non-writers: these too could have included some literates (although probably fewer, given the signicantly lower numbers of surnames here, as well as the fewer possible upper-class families included). So, the conclusion remains that 69.3% represents the bottom line of adult male literacy in Florence: Giovanni Villani’s gure of 67 to 83% from about ninety years before the Catasto of 1427 looks spot on. There is no doubt that late-medieval and Renaissance Florence was an extraordinarily literate society. Indeed, literacy could extend to the very lowest rung of the populace. An example is the return in 1427 206 See above pp. 29–30. ASF Catasto 16, fol. 709r: Io Vincilao di Mateo de’ Bardi òne fatta fare la sopradetta ischritta per durare meno faticha [. . .].
36
chapter one
of Lorenzo di Domenico dell’Ongorgia, a wool comber aged 54. He was a mere day-labourer, earning 8 soldi a day, and yet he wrote his own portata. His spelling and grammar were basic, his handwriting was crude, and yet he was able to write on his own behalf: A voi signiori uciali de chatasto. Lorenço di Domenicho de l’Ongorgia petinatore i’ via Pentolini di te[m]po [ms.: tepopo] d’ani ciqu[a]ntaquatro. Una chasa di pregio di orini dicioto e una faciulo d’ani cique. Choni Meo di Giovanni Matoni e le rede di Vicho e di Cahvano da Setignano e Sa[n]t’Abruogio. E la dona grosa. Guadagno S. oto i’ dì. Cuatiere Sa’ Giovanni, gofalone de le Chiave.207
Another example is the autograph portata of Lorenzo di Stefano Randegli, an unmarried joiner, who shared quarters with his brother Iacopo in a house owned by Giovanni di Marco Strozzi; in this instance Lorenzo not only wrote but signed his own portata: Al nome di dio a dì 8 di marzo 1428. Dinazi a v[o]i signio[ri] uciali del chatasto della città e chontado di Firenze. Io Lorenzo di Stefano Randegli legniaiuolo, el chuale abito ‘nn ghonfalone de Li[o]ne Roso chuartiere di Santa Maria Novella chon Iachop[o] di Stefano Randegli legniaiuolo mio fratelo ne la chasa di Bernardo di Giovani di Marcho degli Istrozi ne la Via Largha de’ Legniaiuoli, fo raporto di miei beni e incharichi, cioe: Debo avere da Mariotto di Messer Albizo de’ Rosi orini sesanta—Fl. 60. E debo dare a l’abate di Chamaldoli orini tr[e]ntasei, e chuali sodai per uno tto d’Antonio di Stefano da le Ruose, el chuale è morto—Fl. 36. Io Lorenzo di Stefano sono d’età d’anni 32. Io Lorenzo di Stefano Randegli legnaiuolo ò fatto la sopradetta iscritta di mia propia mano, ano e mese e dì detto di sopra.
Literacy in Florence not only extended to the majority of the male population, but was widespread among women too. Social and legal expectations meant that women did not normally write their own portate; nevertheless, there are many instances in the 1427 Catasto of female autographs. Caterina, daughter of Albertacio degli Alberti and widow of Piero di Messer Filippo Corsini, announced to the Catasto ofcials that she herself had written her own portata: Katerina, che fui gluola d’Albertacio degli Albe[r]ti et che fui dopnna di Piero di Messer Philipo Corsini, a voi sopradecti uciali mando questa portata, la quale io oe scrita di mia propia mano.208
Similarly, Gana, widow of Tommaso di Giovanni Fini, declared that she had personally penned an addition to her earlier return: A dì 31 d’agosto 1428. Questa è una ag[i]unta fatta alla portata di Mona Gana gliuola fu di Filippo di Messer Ruberto e donna fu di Tomaso di Govanni Fini fatta pella detta Mona Gana achatastata ne’ Lione Biancho [S. Maria Novella . . .] Io Gana detta ò fatta la detta agunta di mia propia mano dì detto di sopra.209
Bartolomea, a native of Cortona and the wife of a German tailor, wrote the household’s portata in his place: Io Bartolomea ò scritto questa scritta con volontà del detto Liso [di Nicholò de la Magnia sarto] de mia propria mano.210
While her husband Nanni di Francesco Canbrilla was away as a soldier in Lombardy, his wife Pippa wrote the family’s portata: Nanni di Franciescho Chanbrilla, a chagione che Nani mio marito sopradetto è nel chanpo per la legha in Lanbardia ed è saldato del chomune di Firençe, però io Mona Pippa sua donna fo iscivere il mio nome; in prima dirò qui le nostre sustançe [. . .] E io Mona Pippa abito in chasa una [di] mia madre. El detto Nanni mio marito è d’anni 36 ed io Mona Pippa sono d’età d’anni 26 e abianno una fanciulla, à nome Ermellina d’anni 9.211
Ciglia, widow of Ruggieri di Taddeo Carucci, wrote herself to the Catasto ofcials, stating that she was satised with the portata written by her daughter, Caterina: Io Cilia [donna fu di Rugieri di Taddeo Charucci] sono chontenta che lla Chateria mia ola e donna fu di Bartolomeo di Giovani de’ Rosi abia fatta questa scritta e cho’ mia volotà l’à fatta.212
Simona, widow of Messer Gerardo Buondelmonti and daughter of Simone de’ Bardi, although she herself could not write, nevertheless had her own daughter, Mea, a nun in a Florentine convent, draw up a portata on her behalf: Mona Simona, donna fu di Messere Gierardo Buondelmonti gliuola di Simone de Bardi, gluola cioè Suora Mea di Messer Gherardo Buondelmonti, la quale è d’età d’anni 30 o circha, religiosa [n]el nostro munistero
209 210 211 212
ASF ASF ASF ASF
Catasto Catasto Catasto Catasto
63, 35, 50, 17,
fol. fol. fol. fol.
421r. 962r. 760r. 428v.
38
chapter one di Monte Domini fuori della porta di Sanghallo del populo di Sancto Marco vecchio, e decta scrita io predecta Suora Mea di Messer Gierardo Buondelmonti ò ffacta a prieghi della sopradecta Mona Simona mia madre, perché ella non sa scrivere.213
One woman writer made a condent and matter-of-fact report of her assets: Io Monna Mea [40] donna fu di nNani di Christofano da Parato [= Prato?] raportto dinanzi a vo’ le mie sustanze.214
whereas ‘Mona Lisa dona che fue di Nofri d’Açço Dini lanaiuolo’ had doubts about her capacities to provide a report at all: I’ò fata di mia mano, non ò saputo me[glio] dire. Cristo vi guardi e diavi la sua grazia.215
One woman writer seemed content and well able to live within her means: Al nome di dio amen. Facta a ddì 11 di luglo 1427. A voi signori uciali io v’arecho la portata di ciò che d’io possegho di mobile. Io òne chomperato una chasetta dal munistero di Sancto Ambruogio 25 orini. Non è stimata a venderla in trasacto orini 40. È in Via Ghibellina e nel popolo di Sancto Anbruogio ed è a vita di me Mona Benedetta e d’una mia gliuola che à nome Francescha e d’un mio fratello ch’è monacho di Valembrosa. Io non ò né danari né d’errate e non ò avere né a ddare [. . .] Mona Benedecta donna di Lorenço di Guido purgatore nel popolo di San Piero Maggiore.216
But many such female writers could not resist the temptation to grumble about personal circumstances. ‘Mona Rosa’, a widow aged 80, complained: Di questa pigione io me nne vivo cho lle mia bracuola ladomi un pocho di stame e anche sono sì vechia ch’i’ non posso,217
while a linen-weaver, ‘Mona Biagia vedova donna fu d’Antonio di Niccholo vocato ragionato tesso i pani lini’, scratched a living from day to day, bemoaning her inability to make ends meet, her isolation and her poor health: 213 214 215 216 217
ASF ASF ASF ASF ASF
Catasto Catasto Catasto Catasto Catasto
38, 16, 18, 36, 22,
fol. fol. fol. fol. fol.
613r. 253r. 1081v. 241r. 300r.
literacy in florence, 1427
39
Non ebbi mai prestanza e non posso vivere perché sono sola e guadagnio di dì in dì la vita mia e sono pocho sana.218
Isabetta, widow of Bartolomeo di Bonifazio da Prato, had a different set of complaints, mainly about her son and daughter-in-law, who had retained her dowry and with whom she was in legal dispute: Io Mona Isabeta dona fu di Bartolomeo di Bonifaçio da Prato ò di dotta Fl. 200 e piatischogli cho’ la Simona dona di Ser Bonifaçio mio gliuolo ed è 5 anni mai non ò auto da lui solo uno granelo di grano. La nuora mia si tiene ongni chossa. Io mi torno chon una mia gliuola e chon uno mio gienero a nome Giovani Chasini in Sa[n]ta Crocie nel Charo. Istiamo a chasa. La detta Mona Isabette è d’ettà d’anni 65 e non à prestança né estimo.219
Another widow similarly deplored her inability to gain access to her dowry: Questi sono i beni di Monna Isota dona che fu di Sere Simone di Gunta da Vi[n]egia [. . .] E più ò avere orini cento d’oro da le rede di Sere Simone detto di sopra e no’ ne poso avere per a[n]chora né rendita né chapitale. Io sono vedova e sola ed ò circha d’ani cinqanta.220
‘Mona Piera donna che ffu di Nicholo di Francescho d’Agnolo pezzaio’, bemoaned her eldest son’s reluctance to do a day’s work: Bernardo gluolo del detto Nicholò non vuole fare nulla né stare a bottegha, d’età d’anni 22.221
‘Mona Chosa, dona di Salvestro di Domenicho’, who lived by looking after incapacitated women, did not know whether her husband was alive or dead: Raporto di me Mona Chosa, dona di Salvestro di Domenicho. Isto a pigione in uno palcho d’una chasa d’Orlandino di Francesco di Ser Orlandino posta ne’ chiaso del forno de’ Vechietti nel popolo di San Donato. Pagho l’anno L. quatordici piccioli di pigione. Ò un pocho di maserizuola. Vo ghardando le donne [. . .] Non so s’e’l marito mio è vivo o morto.222
One woman writer bewailed her diminished status, having been born a gentlewoman and consequently unable to earn her own living: 218 219 220 221 222
ASF ASF ASF ASF ASF
Catasto Catasto Catasto Catasto Catasto
23, 28, 31, 38, 46,
fol. fol. fol. fol. fol.
497r. 100r. 59r. 106v. 390r.
40
chapter one Mona Albizina vedova, dona fu di Nicholò di Giovanni Bugliafero e gliula fu d’Albizo Belandi, trovomi vechia e [in]ferma e istare a pigione sanza veruno aiuto di persona. Preghovi ch’io vi sia rachomandato ch’i’ò grande faticha di potere vivere e isto sanza fante; epure sono nato [sic] di persona da bene per no’ potere fare altro.223
A spinster declared that she had never had a husband, lamenting her difculties in making ends meet: Dinanzi a voi signori uficiali de chatasto del popolo e chomune di Fire[nze], raporto dina[n]zi a voi siniori la Ghostanza figliuola fu d’Ardovino Falivi. Non ebi mai marito. Sono d’età d’anni trentacinque. Ò 1a chasetta posta nel popolo di Sa’ Piero Magiore in Via Fiesolana, ne la quale isto e 1o pocho di maseriza, che da primo via, ssechondo Govanni di Ser Mateo, a 1/3 non so, 1/4 Marcho d’Antonio Palmieri. Altro non ò e ò faticha di vivere.224
An eighty-year-old widow, ‘Mona Ghostanza vedova glia di Piero di Dinozo [Mazuoli] e donna fu di Francesco di Tatteo’, still managed to write her own portata, pointing out that, ill and impoverished, she had never been taxed by her local district (gonfalone): Io Monna Ghostança ò anni ottanta e sono inferma e per miserabile il gonfalone no’ m’à mai prestantiata.225
Several literate women went no further than to sign portate written for them by men: Io Monna Filippa sopradeta [donna che fu del Maestro Giovanni di Giusto medicho] ò fato iscrivere questa mia portata a Ser Bartolomeo di Ser Giovani, la quale à scrita di mia volontà.226 I[o] Domencha [di Francesco pinçochera di quelle della Vergine Maria] so’ chote[nt]a a la sopradeta iscrita.227 Io Piera [dona che fu di Ser Giovanni Charucci e filolla che fu di Tomaso de’ Figovani] sono chonteta a la sopradetta iscritta fata per mano d’Ugolino [di Tomasso de’ Figovani da Canello, suo fratello] e così cofeso esere vero la sopra detta iscrita e cosegnio e questo è vero.228
But the most interesting female writer in the 1427 Catasto was doubtless Pippa, daughter of Paolo di Francesco Pacini. Her brother, Matteo, had been forced to leave Florence because of a vendetta set in motion 223 224 225 226 227 228
ASF ASF ASF ASF ASF ASF
Catasto Catasto Catasto Catasto Catasto Catasto
56, 57, 20, 35, 46, 59,
fol. fol. fol. fol. fol. fol.
161r. 500r. 912r. 1220v. 480r. 236v.
literacy in florence, 1427
41
after the death of another Florentine. He had settled in Marseilles and taken a local wife, but when the city was taken by the Catalans, he lost everything there and was forced to live in a hovel. In Florence, his devoted sister looked after his property, sending him his annual income; she managed to update herself on his circumstances via another Florentine, Giovanni Guicciardini, who had himself recently returned to Florence after a long residence in Marseilles and Provence. Matteo di Pagholo di Francescho Pacini abita nella citta di Marsilia cho lla sua famiglia donna e gliuoli [. . .] I’ deto Mateo è d’età d’ani ciquataquatro e la dona sua è d’età d’ani tretasei ed à gliuoli tre: i’ primo à nome Govanni d’età d’ani quatordici; e’ secodo à nome Colino, è d’età d’ani oto. I’ terzo à nome Atonio, è d’età d’ani ci[n]que e la dona de’ deto Mateo è di Marsilia ed ivi abitano co’ questi loro gliuoli in una povera caselina, ché i’ deto Mateo fuor s’à la chasa avev’a Marsilia qua[n]do i Catelani presono la deta cità di Marsilia, che è circha d’ani quatro. E i’ deto Mateo perdè alora c[i]ò ch’egli aveva a mo[n]do ed ogi à gra’ faticha di potere vivere. Ed io Mona Pipa sua sirochia gli ma[n]do ogni ano, ed è dua ani, una nota quelo poso avere qui de suo ò ritrare, come dice i’ questa facia di soto. E più à debito a Marsilia con uno Marsiliese a nome Gaberoseta padro’ di nave, Fl. ceto di muneta di Proveza: Fl. 100 L. S. E più à debito Fl. seta[n]ta con uno Marsilese a nome Govanni Basomini, merchata[n]te de la cità di Marsilia di muneta di Proveza Fl. 70 L. S. E i’ deto Mateo è degli ani tre[n]ta no’ fu a Fireze per una briga àno co’ ge[n]te di Fireze di morte d’uomini. Ed io Mona Pipa sua sirochia che abito i Fire[n]ze so tuto lo stato suo per Giovanni di Fracescho Guicardini, che è istato più ani a Marsila e i’ Proveza ed è circha di mesi quatro è tornato qui a Fireze e dicemi. Questa è la pura verità.229
No less for her capacity to take over family affairs than for her ability to articulate her family’s circumstances and travails in her own words and in her own hand, Pippa’s story shows how the famous Alessandra Macinghi Strozzi230 was not an isolated case in fteenth-century Florence.
229
ASF Catasto 47, fol. 264r–v. (1877) and (1987). Other examples of female literacy in the 1427 Catasto: ASF Catasto 16, fol. 249r (Mona Mea vedova donna fui d’Antonio di Bartolomeo); ASF Catasto 17, fol. 539r (Mona Domenicha di Giovani da Vinci); ASF Catasto 18, fol. 876r (Contessa Gherardescha donna di Gualterotto di Lorenzo Gualterotti), 938r (Giovanna donna fu di Simone da Volterra), 1352r (Monna Chaterina donna che ffu di Bartolomeo de’ Rossi); ASF Catasto 20, fol. 613r (Mona Chaterina vedova gliuola fu del Pace di Nicholò e donna fu di Iachopo di Neri), 618r (Mona Chaterina sirochia di Lionardo donna fu di Mino del Chiaro), 992r (Monna Giovanna donna fu di Salvestro di Franciescho); ASF Catasto 25, fol. 152r (Monna Lena vedova), 299r 230
42
chapter one Conclusion
The city of Florence was a remarkably literate society. The 1427 Catasto (tax) returns, which survive in their entirety, reveal that at least 69.3% of the adult male population were sufcently literate to write their own submissions to the tax commission. The principal illiterates or semi-literates were humble workers or artisans; the vast majority of middle-class and elite male heads of households wrote for themselves. Many poor and low-born members of the working classes even wrote their own tax returns. Social expectations meant that most women did not write themselves, but the Catasto records disclose more than a few literate women as well. Giovanni Villani’s famous statistics from the late 1330s, suggesting that 67 to 83 percent of males went to school in Florence, are borne out by the 1427 Catasto.
(Monna Mattea donna fu di Giovanni di Benozzo linaiuolo); ASF Catasto 26, fol. 966r (Monna Tancia donna che fu di Benedetto calzolaio da Prato e sirochia fu di Ghano), fol. 997r (Mona Tadddea donna fu d’Albiço di Charlo de’ Nerli); ASF Catasto 27, fol. 235r (Bartholomea donna che fui di Messer Michele di Messer Vanni Castellani e gliuola di Messer Iovanni di Messer Gherardo Gambacorta); ASF Catasto 28, fol. 208r (Nanna donna fu di Nicholò Baroncelli e gluola di Durante d’Ughuiccione Giandonati); ASF Catasto 30, fol. 248r (Monna Niccholosa lgluola che fu d’Antonio di Benintendi e dona che fu d’Arrone di Salvestro scodellaio vedova); ASF Catasto 31, fol. 127r (autograph aggiunta by ‘Mona Elena gliuola di Gerardo di Renaldo rettaiuolo e donna fu di Martino choriere’), fol. 179r–v (Mona Madalena donna che fu di Pucio d’Ugholino); ASF Catasto 34, fol. 428bis r (Monna Chatalana vedova e gliuola che fu di Stefano di Vanni Chastelani); ASF Catasto 36, fol. 141r (autograph aggiunta by ‘Monna Lisabetta donna che fu di Bancho di Fruosino da Vereççano’); ASF Catasto 38, fol. 164r (Monna Caterina vedova donna fu d’Antonio da Mino), fol. 165r (Mona Chaterina fue di Nicholaio di Leonardo da Prato); ASF Catasto 42, fol. 320r (Mona Betta delle pinzochera di Sancto Domenicho); ASF Catasto 43, fol. 768r (Monna Francia gluola fu d’Ambruogio di Benincasa, religiosa ammantellata di Sancto Augustino); ASF Catasto 46, fol. 109r (Monna Antonia d’Antonio da Pratto); ASF Catasto 48, fol. 490r (Monna Bartolomea vedova giuola fu di Iacopo di Lapo Brigliai), fol. 750r (Mona Chaterina gluola di Cristofano di Tomaso); ASF Catasto 53, fol. 97r–v (Dionigia donna che fu di Bartolomeo Luchardesi gliuola di Gricio di Bonifçio degli Uba[l]dini da Gaglianno), fol. 226r (Mona Francesca vedova donna fu di Bernardo di Cambio); ASF Catasto 55, fol. 327r (Mona Sandra vedova gluola fu di Bartolomeo degli Agli da Firenze et donna fu d’Aççolino di Geri Bostichi); ASF Catasto 59, fol. 568r (Mona Çanobia donna che fu di Iachopo di Giovanni); ASF Catasto 63, fol. 15r (autograph aggiunta by ‘Monna Checha di Piero di Biagio da Monte Alcino’), fol. 648v (Monna Giovanna di Cristofano da Cholle).
CHAPTER TWO
THE SCHOOL CURRICULUM IN FLORENTINE TUSCANY Mass literacy, as illustrated by the Florentine Catasto of 1427, was the product of a highly developed education system and syllabus. The rst stage of the Italian school curriculum consisted of learning to read; this skill was always acquired through the medium of the Latin language. For pupils who continued to study Latin (grammar was a synonym for Latin), the next step was learning the parts of speech and memorizing the varying forms (morphology) of nouns, verbs, adjectives and participles (regarded, unlike today, as a separate element during antiquity, the middle ages and the Renaissance). Immediately after morphology, pupils were introduced to reading elementary Latin texts, and, at about the same time, they began learning how to write. The next stage for Latin pupils was studying syntax and learning how to write their own phrases, sentences and short compositions; this level was accompanied by reading more Latin texts. At the end of the Latin syllabus, pupils were composing their own letters and reading more advanced texts, including the classical authors. At this nal stage, Latin stylistics, taught by reference to simplied rhetorical treatises, were introduced.1 An alternative syllabus focused on elementary arithmetic, known as the abaco (abbaco), involving not the instrument for calculation now known as the abacus (by the turn of the thirteenth century, abacus was a synonym for arithmetic2), but rather consisting of a course, beginning with elementary arithmetic and culminating in basic commercial knowledge (such as the monetary system) and skills (occasionally for example, double-entry bookkeeping); the abacus was taught entirely in the vernacular, and always followed elementary reading.3 Often it 1
On the reading and grammar curriculum, see Black (2001); Rizzo (2002), pp. 125–217; Grendler (1989), pp. 107 ff; Gehl (1993). 2 Ulivi (1994), p. 33. 3 The leading active scholar of abacus schools is Elisabetta Ulivi. See Ulivi (1993) (1994) (1996) (1998) (2001) (2002a) (2002b) (2004a) (2004b) (2006a) (2006b). See also the important contributions of Warren Van Egmond: Van Egmond (1976) (1977) (1980) (1986). Useful summaries are provided in Franci (1988) (1992) (1993) (1996) (1998). The foundations for study in this eld were laid by Gino Arrighi; see Arrighi (2004) for a convenient anthology of his publications. The rst important article in English
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was an alternative to the Latin curriculum: pupils, having learnt how to read through the medium of Latin, immediately progressed to the vernacular abacus syllabus; many children never learned Latin as such, simply acquiring the skills of reading on the basis of Latin texts and thereafter either leaving formal education or passing to a vernacular abacus school.4 Sometimes, on the other hand, the abacus was learnt in addition to more advanced Latin learning, either before5 or after the study of grammar.6 Pupils normally learned how to write after getting the knack of elementary reading, sometimes while studying the abacus curriculum but before more advanced work in grammar (Latin).7 The Shape of the Curriculum Elementary reading The rst textbooks were usually called tabula or carta, salterium and donatus. Tabula or carta was a sheet of parchment or paper which began with the the alphabet and concluded with syllables to sound out; it was xed on a wooden board and took its name either from the parchment or paper (carta) or from the board (tabula).8 The next stage was reading words and phrases, accomplished on the basis of the salterium, which, in later medieval Italian education, rarely meant the psalter: psalms had been replaced by common prayers and devotional texts, a process which was completed by the fteenth century.9 The nal stages of elementary education in medieval and Renaissance Europe were presided over by Donatus. But it has long been recognized that in Italy during the high and late middle ages the principal textbook in elementary schools was not Aelius Donatus’s Ars minor (4th c. A.D.) but the manual spuriously attributed to Donatus which Sabbadini christened Ianua after the rst word of its verse prologue and which, as a parsing grammar focusing was Goldthwaite (1972–73), which offered a major discovery, besides containing a still useful account of the topic in general. Grendler (1989), pp. 306–19, provides an accessible introduction. 4 E.g. the sons of Antonio Rustici (see below Appendix 5 pp. 632–34) or Guarieri de’ Rossi (see below Appendix 5 pp. 695–705). 5 E.g. Niccolò Machiavelli: see Black (1996c). 6 E.g. Donato Velluti’s son Lamberto (see below ch. 4 p. 323) or Bartolomeo Valori (see below ch. 4 pp. 322–23). 7 See below pp. 56–58. 8 Lucchi (1978), p. 599; Grendler (1989), pp. 142–146. 9 See Black (2001), pp. 35 ff.
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on morphology, dominated the Italian manuscript tradition and early printing.10 The techniques for learning to read were straightforward, if unfamiliar today. First, pupils mastered the names and sounds of the letters of the alphabet with the aid of an alphabet sheet (tabula or carta). Then the sounds of syllables were learned by reading already familiar prayers contained in the psalter. The nal reading skills were attained through a two-staged process. Elementary texts such as Ianua were rst read phonetically without understanding the contents. This was described in contemporary terminology as ‘per lo testo’, ‘a veduta’, ‘testualiter’ or ‘cum textu’. The purpose here was to gain the skill of sounding out the syllables on the page phonetically (compitare in contemporary terminology). The second stage consisted of reading with understanding and memory. Ianua was read again, but now the emphasis was on meaning and particularly on memory: the text was actually memorized at this level. Here the contemporary terminology was ‘per lo senno’, ‘cum sensu’, ‘sensualiter’ or ‘per l’insenno’.11 A curious fact in the history of Italian pre-university education during the thirteenth, fourteenth and fteenth centuries is that the vernacular was not used at what must seem—given widespread literacy in the vernacular—the most obvious point (at least to us) in the curriculum: the elementary stages of learning to read. It may have been educationally problematic, if not impossible, to teach basic reading technique in a language without xed orthography, such as the Italian volgare (vernacular) before the sixteenth century. Indeed, in the middle ages and early Renaissance, Latin was regarded as an articial, created, unchanging language, an ars (discipline) suitable for teaching, whereas the vulgar languages were considered changeable and unstable, regarded literally as forms of babble, learnt naturally but formally unteachable; only with the triumph of the humanist view of Latin as itself a natural, historically changing language in the sixteenth century did it become conceivable to teach fundamental language skills in the vernacular. It is important to remember the close association, even identication, of ars and teaching in the middle ages; Latin was teachable precisely because it was considered an articial language, whereas teaching the 10 Sabbadini (1896), pp. 35, 42–44; Schmitt (1969), pp. 43–80; Grendler (1989), pp. 174–182; Gehl (1993), pp. 82–106; Law (1986), pp. 138–141; Pinborg (1982), pp. 65–67; Black (2001), pp. 44 ff. 11 Black (2001), pp. 34–63.
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vernacular was inconceivable because it was natural, not articial, not an ars.12 The elementary curriculum was often extended to include a late ancient school text: Disticha Catonis. This syllabus—beginning with tabula / carta, progressing to salterium and culminating in Donatus and Cato—was considered distinct from Latin (in contemporary parlance, grammatica). Its purpose was generic reading skill, whereas the grammar syllabus was intended to teach Latin composition and introduce pupils to Latin literature. The division between elementary and grammar education was made clear by an Aretine document of 1396: Cum videatur et sit utile ac necessarium habere in civitate Aretii unum magistrum qui instruat pueros in primis litteris ac etiam doceat Donatum et Catonem et alios libros antequam inttroducantur ad gramaticam [. . .]13
This elementary curriculum remained untouched by humanist educators. Even a renowned humanist pedagogue such as Guarino Veronese relied heavily on Ianua in his school,14 and curriculum outlines throughout Italy (including, as will be seen below, Tuscany) conrm that the traditional syllabus of tabula / carta, salterium and Ianua remained omnipresent in Italy throughout the fteenth century.15 The only signicant change here had been the shortening Ianua’s text in the course of the later thirteenth and fourteenth centuries in order to accelerate the initial reading process, but this was a development antedating the arrival of humanist pedagogues in the fteenth century.16 Latin composition The secondary Latin curriculum in Italy was devoted, at the theoretical level, to learning to write in Latin (lactinare in contemporary terminology). In the earlier middle ages, Latin syntax had been taught by what foreign-language teachers now call ‘total immersion’. Latin was spoken exclusively in the classroom; the texts to be read were all in Latin. Eventually pupils began spontaneously to be able to write in Latin.
12
See Black (2001), pp. 41–44, 378 n. 35 for a more detailed discussion. ASA Provv. 3, fol. 105r. See Appendix 7 p. 737 for the entire text and the context. 14 Sabbadini (1896), pp. 45 ff. 15 For Italy, see Black (2001), p. 36 n. 14; for Tuscany, see below pp. 77–118 passim. 16 Black (2001), pp. 55 ff. 13
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This approach was acceptable as long as pupils and parents were in no hurry to nish secondary education; it was a method admirably suited to monastic and ecclesiastical schools, with their leisurely pace and long duration, prevalent in the earlier middle ages. However, with the rise of the Italian communes in the eleventh and twelfth centuries came greater pressure for rapid literacy. The burgeoning lay professional classes needed Latin to be able to pursue careers as lawyers, notaries and physicians; merchants too needed Latin to be able to read simple legal and business documents; Latin was also necessary for the conduct of civic and public affairs. The pressure for rapid Latinity became even greater with the rise of the universities in the later twelfth and thirteenth centuries: Latin was a prerequisite for professional university courses in law and medicine.17 The possibility of teaching Latin syntax rapidly and methodically was offered by developments in linguistic theory and logic which took place in French schools, and particularly in Paris, during the twelfth century. A philosophical / scientic approach to language was responsible for the emergence of comprehensive theory of Latin composition.18 These concepts and methods rapidly found their way into school-level grammar textbooks, beginning with Alexander of Villedieu’s Doctrinale19 (1199) and Evrard of Béthune’s Graecismus 20 (c. 1210, before 1212), both widely circulated in Italy,21 and soon into indigenous Italian manuals, such as Pietro da Isolella da Cremona’s Summa (1252).22 A major development in teaching Latin composition was the use of the vernacular. To help with vocabulary building, Latin-vernacular wordlists were drawn up; the vernacular was used to explain the meaning of parts of speech; prose composition was taught by translating passages from the vernacular into Latin (so-called thematic composition). The introduction and ever increasing use of the vernacular to teach Latin was an achievement of fourteenth-century Italian grammar teachers, ever responsive to demands for increasing and ever more rapid literacy. Theoretical grammar books before the end of the thirteenth century had been entirely latinate works. But the second half of the thirteenth 17
Black (2001), pp. 64–69. See Black (2001), pp. 69–74. 19 Ed. Reichling (1893). 20 Ed. Wrobel (1887). 21 Black (2001), pp. 82–84. 22 Ed. (anonymously) by Fierville (1886); actual authorship discovered by Novati (1888), p. 72 n. 3. For its date and circulation, see Black (2001), p. 83, nn. 126–127. 18
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century of course saw the rst stages of the great burgeoning of the Italian vernacular—a development that had its effect on the teaching of formal Latin grammar at the secondary level.23 All these simplied terms and methods would become ubiquitous in Italian secondary grammars throughout the fourteenth and fteenth centuries, universally adopted by non-humanist and humanist teachers alike.24 Once again, fundamental change in Italian school education had been accomplished before the advent of the famous humanist pedagogues in the fteenth century. Latin literature The other major task of pre-university schools was teaching Latin literature. Here the syllabus had been divided since the twelfth century into two groups of authors: the auctores minores, a cycle of late-ancient pagan, early Christian and medieval texts (ranging from Disticha Catonis to poems by Prudentius, Theodulus and Henry of Settimello); and the auctores maiores, the Roman classics, mainly poetry (e.g. by Ovid, Lucan, Horace and Vergil) but also some prose texts (e.g. Sallust or Cicero).25 Probably in the thirteenth century, another important text was added to the canon: Boethius’s Consolation of Philosophy, a work normally seen to stand between the shorter texts by the minor authors and the longer Latin classics.26 From the thirteenth century, there were strenuous attempts to make this formidable literary curriculum ever more accessible to pupils. Teachers began to offer vernacular synonyms for Latin words in literary texts to explain their meaning to pupils. This technique, now surviving in interlinear and marginal glosses written by pupils and teachers in manuscript (and eventually printed) schoolbooks, marked the rst attempt to bring the vernacular into the Italian educational system, antedating its use as aid to teach theoretical grammar by as much as a century.27 The development of the theoretical grammar curriculum had offered little room for intervention by the Renaissance humanists; they did, however, ultimately make a greater contribution in the study of Latin literature, although even here it would be inappropriate to speak of a 23 24 25 26 27
Black Black Black Black Black
(2001), pp. 106 ff, 275–281. (2001), pp. 82–172. (2001), pp. 173–4. and Pomaro (2000). (2001), pp. 275–281.
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‘revolution in the classroom’.28 The most radical change in the literary curriculum had already occurred between the twelfth and thirteenth century. Surviving manuscript schoolbooks from eleventh- and twelfthcentury Italian schools show that the Latin classics continued to be read widely in the classroom.29 However, with the thirteenth century, the same kind of evidence indicates that there was a marked decline in school-level reading of the Latin classics.30 This waning of the Roman pagan authors in the thirteenth century provoked a reaction by the turn of the fourteenth century: once again, in the fourteenth century, surviving manuscript school books demonstrate that the Latin classics were once again being read in the pre-university classroom.31 Fourteenth-century Italian schoolmasters deserve credit for restoring the traditional Roman school authors (Horace, Lucan, Ovid, Vergil) to the curriculum, as well as for introducing some new texts (such as Seneca’s Tragedies and Valerius Maximus).32 But here more room was left for humanist pedagogues to inuence the curriculum. Although the classics were already being read widely at the school level by the fteenth century, humanists did make some important adjustments to the literary syllabus: some texts previously at the centre of the literary curriculum were now moved to the sidelines (e.g. Horace’s Ars poetica, Lucan, Seneca’s Tragedies) whereas other authors previously little read (e.g. Terence, Juvenal, Persius) now assumed key positions. Most important here was the changed status of Cicero and Vergil. Cicero’s shorter moral treatises (De amicitia, De senectute, Paradoxa stoicorum, De ofciis and Somnium Scipionis) and Vergil had been read in the twelfth-century Italian classroom, but then dropped out of the syllabus during the thirteenth century. Now in the fteenth century, Cicero’s moral treatises and Vergil’s poetry became the most popular prose and verse classics in the Italian school curriculum.33 Another accomplishment of humanist pedagogues was the eventual elimination of the minor literary authors from schoolroom, although this occurred less rapidly than was once thought. Surviving fteenthcentury schoolbooks show that, throughout the rst half of the fteenth
28 29 30 31 32 33
Grendler (1989), pp. 140–41, 404. Black (2001), pp. 184–191; Black (2006), pp. 40–41, 57–70. Black (2001), pp. 192–198. Black (2001), pp. 204–18. Black (2001), pp. 200 ff. Black (2001), pp. 238–270.
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century, the non-classical minor authors remained dominant at the early stages of the literary school curriculum.34 Thereafter their position became increasingly tenuous, especially following the introduction of the printing press. Humanist editors occupied a central role in the production of schoolbooks, and so it is not entirely surprising to nd that the minor authors gured less and less in the syllabus beginning in the 1470s.35 Time-honoured theoretical grammar texts such as Ianua36 or Alexander’s Doctrinale 37 remained at the heart of the school curriculum in Italy during the age of the press, but traditional minor authors, not to mention Boethius’s Consolation, went into rapid decline in late fteenth-century Italy. Stylistics and rhetoric The Latin school curriculum in medieval and Renaissance Italy was not limited to elementary reading, Latin grammar and Latin literature. Towards the end of the syllabus, attention shifted to stylistics and rhetoric. At rst the dominant textbook was Geoffrey of Vinsauf ’s Poetria nova (1208–1213). Poetria nova’s treatment of style begins with the distinction between natural and articial word order: the former meant the logical order of the natural world (e.g. actor or subject coming before action or verb), as found in the vernacular languages; the latter signied the artful manipulation of word order to achieve literary effect. Although natural word order might have been thought appropriate for purely grammatical study, it was now considered sterile, and the articial approach was regarded as more felicitous. It is clear from Geoffrey’s text that the work at this new, rhetorical / stylistic level of school education involved kinds of exercises similar to the those already encountered at the earlier secondary grammatical stage. Again the key term here is the theme, but this now became the grammatically correct but plain Latin passage to which the pupil had to apply his art; the theme was given in natural Latin order and wording, and it had to be rendered elegant and articial.38
34 35 36 37 38
Black (2001), pp. 225–238. Black (2001), pp. 270–273. Grendler (1989), pp. 413–416. Black (2001), pp. 153–159. Black (2001), pp. 342–349.
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The concept of artical order played a central role in Italian humanist schools too. For example, in Niccolò Perotti’s best-selling Rudimenta grammatices (1468), it is difcult not to be struck by the resemblance between Geoffrey’s discussion of variation in word order to achieve greater elegance and the treatment in Perotti’s epistolography. Just as in Poetria nova, in fact, much of Perotti’s epistolography consists of listing alternative and more elegant ways of phrasing simple Latin statements.39 Similarly, Agostino Dati’s Elegantiolae (1470)40—a work perhaps even more popular than Perotti’s Rudimenta—have a striking overall resemblance to Geoffrey of Vinsauf ’s Poetria nova. Both texts are preoccupied with teaching stylistic elegance. Like Geoffrey with his distinction between natural and articial style, Dati begins by contrasting grammatical and eloquent style. Both start where grammar leaves off: Geoffrey’s point of departure is natural style, whereas Dati’s is the terminology for the parts of the sentence developed by contemporary (medieval) grammarians. Just as the purpose of Geoffrey’s work was to convert natural into articial style, so Dati’s aim was to turn the inelegant language of contemporary grammarians into eloquent prose. Geoffrey, as has been seen, made continual reference to natural and articial language, and Dati too distinguished throughout between grammatical and rhetorical standards. Geoffrey had written from the point of view of the stylist, scofng at the inelegance of so-called natural Latin, and Dati too ridiculed grammatical style, not only calling it, as has already been seen, trite and vulgar, but also referring to the ignorance of grammarians. Moreover, like Geoffrey, Dati began his treatment with word order, suggesting, as in Poetria nova, that it was more elegant to abandon the natural sequence of subject-verb-predicate. As in Poetria nova, variety is paramount, not only in phrases but also in individual words.41 This perspective on the levels of discourse inherited from the middle ages has consequences for evaluating the impact of humanist education at the rhetorical level in Renaissance Italy. Again the impact of humanist educators in Italy was in fact more limited than was once believed. It was universally assumed that language acquisition was a two-staged 39
Black (2001), p. 357 and nn. 143–44. Actually called Isagogicus libellus in the rst edition (Cologne, Ulrich Zell, 1470) and in a second edition (Ferrara, André Belfort, 1471). 41 Black (2001), pp. 360–361. 40
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process, in which the pupil had rst to master natural before proceeding to articial order. The result was that humanist educators in Italy followed traditional methods in the earlier stages of Latin education. It has been seen that associated with natural order was a whole apparatus of methods for learning syntax. This system had been developed as a simple method of teaching Latin syntax to non-native Latin speakers. Hardly any Italian educators of the fteenth century attempted to tamper with this eminently pragmatic system: a few purists may have been repelled by this unclassical approach, but almost every Italian grammar teacher ended up employing the educational practices inherited from the middle ages for teaching natural order.42 It was another matter with articial order. Humanists saw themselves as the successors of Cicero, whose own discipline was not grammar but rhetoric. They may not have known how to replace medieval grammar in the educational syllabus but no such problem existed with rhetoric. The ancient Romans left a series of pragmatic rhetorical textbooks which provided the possibility for radical reform of rhetoric in a way that was lacking in the discipline of grammar. Moreover, just as Geoffrey of Vinsauf had provided a quick route to eloquence and elegance according to medieval standards, so now Niccolò Perotti and Agostino Dati provided a comparable shortcut to Ciceronian prose in the later Quattrocento. The place in the syllabus occupied by simple handbooks of eloquence was the same as in the middle ages, but the contents were different. Ciceronianism replaced Geoffrey of Vinsauf ’s articial system of stylistics. At the grammatical level, Italian Renaissance education might have been ‘old wine in new bottles’, but at the upper stages of school learning, when the preoccupation was more rhetorical than grammatical, it was doubtless ‘new wine in old bottles’.43 Abacus There are numerous literary products associated with the abacus curriculum, known as Libri di abaco (abacus books), of which about three hundred survive.44 Unlike psalters and copies of Ianua, however, these abacus books were not school textbooks: in more than 100 inventories of books owned by orphans in Florentine Tuscany from the period 1471
42 43 44
Black (2001), ch. 3. Black (2001), pp. 357–365. See Van Egmond (1980).
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to 1500, numerous salteri da fanciulli / salteruzzi 45 and especially donadelli 46 (as school psalters and copies of Ianua were known) are indicated, but few libri di abaco.47 Knowledge of what was actually taught in abacus schools comes primarily from two documents: a curriculum outline written in the earlier fteenth century by a Pisan teacher, Cristofano di Gherardo di Dino (b. 1398)48 and placed at the beginning of his Libro d’anbaco49 and a contract entered into by a Florentine abacus teacher, Francesco Galigai and his assistant, Giuliano di Buonaguida in 1519.50 The course was divided into levels called mute. The rst was devoted to multiplication and to learning the multiplication tables (called librettine). The succeeding mute were dedicated to division (known as partire). The next muta concerned fractions (called rotti). In Galigai’s school, the so-called rule of three (regola delle tre cose) came next; this involved nding an unknown fourth quantity when three other quantities are known, in terms of simple proportion or on the basis of the principle that the product of the means equals the product of the extremes. The seventh and last muta in Galigai’s course concerned the Florentine monetary system. In Cristofano’s syllabus, on the other hand, there was greater emphasis on the commercial applications of
45
Verde (1987), pp. 62, 66, 69, 70, 79 (2 copies), 81, 85, 96, 112, 171. Bec (1984) gives the following numbers of salteri for the period from 1413 to 1471: pp. 152, 154, 158, 159 (2 copies), 161 (2 copies), 161, 168 (3 copies), 170 (2 copies), 182. However, it is to be noted that Bec’s research is not entirely reliable. Armando Verde was transcribing the same material from the registers of the Magistrato dei Pupilli, when Bec (1984) was published; see his comments in Verde (1987), p. 8: ‘Il libro del Bec ha suscitato, tuttavia, forti dubbi sull’attendibilità dei documenti pubblicati perché questi non soltanto non sono riprodotti integralmente, cioè con tutti gli elenchi contenuti negli originali, ma risultano anche seriamente compromessi da una moltitudine di omissioni, deformazioni ed errori riguardanti parole o interi righi’. Nevertheless, Bec’s ndings, albeit unsatisfactory and incomplete, do ll out Verde’s more reliable research from the same archival series. 46 Verde (1987), pp. 44, 45 (2 copies), 62, 67, 79 (2 copies), 81, 85 (2 copies), 87, 90, 93, 96, 100, 101, 148, 163 (8 copies), 171 (2 copies), 174. For donadelli in the period from 1413 to 1471, see Bec (1984), p. 151 (3 copies), 152 (4 copies), 153 (6 copies), 154 (2 copies), 155 (2 copies), 158 (2 copies), 159, 161 (2 copies), 162, 163, 172, 173, 174, 175, 177 (2 copies), 183 (3 copies), 184, 185, 187. 47 Verde (1987), pp. 56, 69, 70, 79, 146, 149. There are no libri di abaco in the inventories published by Bec (1984) for the period 1413–1471. In view of the large numbers of Florentine boys who attended abacus schools (see below ch. 5 pp. 446–66), this small number of libri di abaco indicates that these theoretical treatments were not used directly by pupils. 48 Casini (1964), p. 99. 49 Published by Arrighi (1965–67). See Ulivi (2000), pp. 107–109. 50 Published by Goldthwaite (1972–73). See Ulivi (2000), pp. 107–108.
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arithmetic skills at the end of the syllabus: interest, discount, quantities of gold and silver in currency, land measurement. The teaching method used consisted of memorizing rules (regole) and applying them to problems (ragioni).51 A notable feature in both these syllabuses is that there was no level devoted to addition or subtraction; similarly abacus manuscripts usually leave out these fundamental operations.52 It is possible to speculate that these skills were learned in elementary reading schools, although no documentary evidence has emerged to support this hypothesis. Sometimes abacus teachers also taught elementary reading. For example in Colle Valdelsa on 21 April 1364, it was stated: ‘Cum pueri de Colle devientur et nichil discant, provisum est per oftium priorum dicte terre quod Magister Iohannes Naldi de Abaco eligatur [. . .] in magistrum ad docendum legere pueros ac etiam artem arismetrice’.53 On 13 November 1366 the commune elected ‘Magistrum Iohannem Naldi de Colle magistrum del abbacho in magistrum [. . .] ad docendum pueros legere et eos in arte arismetrice instruere’.54 There are similar examples from Arezzo on 22 May 1471 and 11 November 1507.55 However, when reference is made to the textbooks used by these abacus / elementary reading teachers, it is to the standard Latin reading text, carta / tabula, salterium and Donatus: e.g. on 19 March 1420, Pistoia provided for the ‘electio [. . .] Ser Federigi [. . .] qui docet pueros legere tabulam, salterium et donatum ac etiam abbacum’,56 while in Arezzo a teacher was appointed on 11 November 1507 ‘obligandosi insegnare la carta, il salterio ai fanciulli ve andranno, et l’abocho’.57 Even in vernacular abacus schools, elementary reading was taught in Latin and on the basis of Latin texts. Writing Reading, grammar and abacus are well documented phases of education in Italy from the thirteenth to the fteenth centuries, but little has been known hitherto about learning to write. In 1982, Piero Lucchi
51 52 53 54 55 56 57
Van Egmond (1976), p. 130. Van Egmond (1976), p. 127. ASS Colle 105, fol. xlv verso. ASS Colle 107, fol. liii recto. Black (1996a), pp. 564, 749. Zanelli (1900), p. 38 n. 2. Black (1996a), p. 749.
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published a text from a Genoese notarial cartulary with the date March 1311, in which an apparent pupil wrote the following sentence four times: ‘Pero Pumoso de Zoane a fatto cosse inver lo maistro de le quae elo se pentirà’. Lucchi regarded this as a writing exercise in the vernacular, handed out as a less violent punishment than the usual corporal variety,58 but this interpretation is uncertain, especially in view of the grammatical construction in the sentence: if the sentence were translated into Latin, it would involve use of the the impersonal verb ‘p[a]enitet’. The sentence looks more like deriving from an exercise in the translation of an active verb in the vernacular into an impersonal construction in Latin: a favoured topic in translation exercises intended to provide practice in Latin syntax (themata).59 The fact that the sentence was repeated only four times suggests probationes pennae rather than punishment or indeed a writing exercise. The document can perhaps be interpreted more suggestively as associated with the teaching of Latin composition rather than of writing.60 There is no doubt, however, that the vernacular exercises published by Paolo Cherubini in 199661 were connected with learning to write. These consist of ve fragments, including alphabets, simple Latin prayers and standard phrases (‘[. . .] de’ dare’ [. . .], ‘[. . .] de’ avere [. . .]’) from account books; the date 1481 and the locality Foligno are mentioned. Numerous repetitions of the same sentences, phrases and characters indicate that the principal concern was the teaching of writing: one of the alphabet exercises is repeated 13 times, another 17 times, a third 18 times, a fourth 7 times; the two prayers are repeated 16 times each; two of the accounting formulas are repeated 6 times, while the third is repeated 9 times. Because of the inclusion of accounting extracts, Cherubini suggests that the exercises came from an abacus school. This interpretation is supported by gures he summarizes62 on the basis of the educational
58
Lucchi (1982), pp. 106–7. See e.g. Black (1996b), pp. 730, 732, 734–736, 739. 60 Similarly, the other sentence written by ‘Pero’ (cited by Lucchi [1982], p. 107 n. 17) also has the appearance of a syntactical exercise in translation, in view of its reference to a [school] ‘compagno’, its articial sense and its contorted construction. The ‘sgrammatico’ latinum, referring to beatings by the teacher (‘verbera magistri’), is obviously a translation exercise; without the text, it is hard to judge the ctitious letter, but epistolography with the translation of an entire letter from the vernacular into Latin was the ultimate goal of secondary Latin syntactical study. On this evidence and its meaning, see also De Blasi (1993), p. 385. 61 Cherubini (1996). 62 Cherubini (1996), p. 237. 59
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extracts published by Verde from the Florentine 1480 Catasto.63 These indicate that the age of learning to read preceded that of learning the abacus and writing; the latter two skills appear to have been learned at approximately the same age.64 This interpretation is conrmed by a similar table based on Florentine pupils in pre-university education, as revealed by the Florentine Catasto of 1427.65 Again, learning to read is concentrated before the abacus, which seems to have been roughly concurrent with learning to write. All this evidence suggests that, for pupils embarking into the educational stream where reading was followed by abacus, the teaching of writing took place after elementary reading and at the same time as the abacus. For pupils progressing to grammar (Latin) education, curriculum outlines conrm that writing was learnt after elementary reading (tabula / carta, salterium),66 often simultaneously with the donadello or sometimes immediately thereafter; it was always taught before Latin composition (lactinare): Florence (1313): Bettus q. Feduccii dicti pop. promisit . . . Salimbeni Salti pop. S. Mauri, docere . . . Iohannem l. dicti Salimbenis legere et scribere, ita et taliter quod . . . sciat . . . legere[,] et scribere omnes licteras et rationes . . . et quod . . . sit sufciens ad standum in apotecis articis . . .67 Colle Valdelsa (1352): qui magister sic eligendus ultra salarium percipiendum a dicto comuni habeat [. . .] nomine salarii quolibet anno a pueris et scolaribus qui morabuntur cum eo infrascriptas quantitates pecunie, videlicet a scolaribus facientibus latinum maius dimidium orenum, a facientibus latinum mediocre solidos XX, et a facientibus latinum minus solidos XV, ab aliis legentibus donatum libricciolum vel cartam vel scribentibus pro quolibet solidos XII in anno.68
63
Verde (1973–2005), II, pp. 1003–1202. For the table (slightly modied), see chapter 5 pp. 462–63 below. 65 Based on Appendix 1 below. See chapter 5 p. 447 for the table. 66 De Blasi (1993), p. 93: ‘la scrittura [. . .] era insegnata dopo la lettura’. De Blasi (p. 386) gives a perceptive and suggestive analysis of how the phonetic technique of learning to read had an impact on the orthography of unskilled writers, citing the case of one Ghezzo Senese in 1314, whose spelling actually appears to have derived from his crude attempts to sound out (‘compitare’) words. 67 Debenedetti (1906–7), p. 346. The text below from Fucecchio (1484) suggests that a comma should be inserted after the second occurrence of ‘legere’. The terms ‘lettere’, ‘licterae’, ‘litterae’ etc. are normally associated with writing, not reading. The text makes better sense with that punctuation: in order to work in a bottega, the pupil needs to be able to read, and to write all characters and gures; it is unclear what it would mean to read characters and gures. 68 ASS Colle 94, fol. li recto. 64
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Pistoia (1353): pro docendo pueros et adolescentes legere et scribere gramaticam et dictamen et auctores [. . .]69 S. Gimignano (1359): quod ipse Ser Dore [Ser Iohannis de S. Giminiano] doceat [. . .] omnes et singulos pueros ab eo audire et discere volentes legere, videlicet tabulam psalterium donatum, et licteras et scribere pro salario a dictis pueris eidem quolibet mense solvendo, videlicet, ab illis qui legent tabulam et psalterium S. duorum sp. pro quolibet eorum, et ab illis qui legent Donatum, vel licteras et scribere S. duorum et den.sex pro quolibet et quolibet mense.70 Poggibonsi (1373): possit accipere salaria infrascripta, videlicet: pro carta S. II pro mense; pro salterio S. tres pro mense; pro Donato S. quatuor pro mense; pro gramatica S. quinque pro mense; pro hiis qui legunt et scribunt S. quatuor pro mense et non ultra pro quolibet.71 Pescia (1388): Magister Niccholaus Dominici de Decimo comitatus Lucani [. . .] intelligatur electus in magistrum et doctorem puerorum et adoloscentium de Piscia ad docendum legere et scribere ac gramaticam.72 Sansepolcro (1394): Magister Honofrius [de Piro] accipere possit et sibi liceat a quolibet scolari [sic] latinante, habitanti familiariter in dicto burgo, tres bononenos de argento mense quolibet; et a minoribus non latinantibus unum bononenum de argento quolibet mense; et a volente adiscere scribere etiam unum bononenum pro quolibet et quolibet mense.73 Prato (1410): ad docendum pueros hominum dicte tere Prati videlicet eis tabulam salterium donadellum et legere libros et scripturas et scribere.74 Buggiano (1417): magister eligendus ad docendum scientiam habeat pro suo salario, si docet gramaticam, L. quinquaginta secundum formam statutorum, et si docet legere et scribere, habeat L. triginta, et si docet solum legere, habeat L. vigintiquinque.75 Bibbiena (1423): sia condocto uno buono et sofciente maestro di gramatica, il quale continuamente debba habitare a Bibiena et insegniare leggiere, scrivere et gramatica.76 Ripomarance (1476): maestro della schuola debba tenere publicamente la scuola et insegniare leggiere et scrivere et gramaticha.77
69
ASPistoia Provv. 11, fol. 17r. ACSG 123 fol. lxxviiii verso–lxxx recto. 71 ASS Poggibonsi 81, fol. 50v. 72 ASPescia Delib. 10, fol. 163r. 73 ACSS serie II vol. 1, fol. 79v. See below Appendix 8 for the entire text and context. 74 ASPrato CD 82, fol. 41v. 75 ACB 12, fol. 161r. 76 ASF SCS 80, fol. 26v. 77 ASF SCS 718, fol. 38r. 70
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chapter two Pistoia (1483): ad habendum tres preceptores in civitate Pistorii qui doceant legere scribere grammaticam et poesim pueros et iuvenes [. . .]78 Fucecchio (1484): habeat [. . .] a quolibet puero pro quolibet mense infrascriptum salarium per la tavola S. 2, pel saltero S. 3, per le lettere a scrivere S. 4, el Donadello latini et regole S. 5, regole maggiori S. 8.79 Pescia (1484): Magister Franciscus de Villafranca habitator Camaioris [. . .] sit electus magister scolarum comunis Piscie [. . .] ad docendum pueros legere, scribere et grammaticam. Pistoia (1487): Maestro Giovanphilippo di Maestro Simone [. . .] s’intenda essere conducto a insegnare leggere, scrivere et grammatica.80 Pistoia (1488): Prete Antonio da Castilione di Lunigiana [. . .] s’intenda et sia conducto a insegnare leggere et scrivere et latinare.81
Writing was taught by specialist elementary teachers (often called doctores puerorum),82 abacus teachers83 or grammar teachers;84 on one occasion
78
ASPistoia Provv. 46, fol. 36v–37r. ACF 197, fol. 290v. 80 ASPescia Delib. 38, fol. 53r. ASPistoia Provv. 48, fol. 139v. 81 ASPistoia Provv. 48, fol. 172v. 82 Fucecchio 1319 19 April, 1326 30 June, 1481 (ACF 25 NN, 30 NN, 48 fol. 181v); Florence 1427 (ASF Catasto 17, fol. 341r (see Appendix 1), 1456 (ASF Arte della lana 201, fol. 237r; Colle Valdelsa 1359–60 (ASS Colle 101, fol. xli verso); S. Croce sull’Arno 1390 (ACSC 2, 141r); Volterra 1370 (ACV A nera 21 IV, fol. 5r); Prato 1358 (ASPrato CD 64 parte 8, fol. 32r; 883 parte 7, fol. 3r), 1362 (ASPrato CD 65 parte 4, fol. 3v), 1366 (ASPrato CD 66 parte 1, fol. 32v), 1409–1411 (ASPrato CD 82, fol. 27r, 41v; 83 fol. 38v–39r), 1413 (ASPrato CD 84, fol. 52v–53r); S. Miniato 1371 (ACSM Delib. 2293 fol. 81r), 1378 (ACSM Delib. 2298, fol. 16r), 1379 (ACSM Delib. 2300, fol. 46r); Pistoia 1474 (ASPistoia Provv. 43, fol. 174r–v), 1476 (ASPistoia Provv. 43, fol. 439r–440r; 44, fol. 23r), 1483 (ASPistoia Provv. 47, fol. 30r); S. Gimignano 1359–1361 (ACSG 123, fol. lxxvi recto, lxxviiii verso–lxxx recto). 83 Volterra 1331 (ACV A nera 11, fol. 15v); Colle 1370–71 (ASS Colle 110 fol. 82v), 1373 (ASS Colle 116, fol. 6v); Prato 1362–63 (ASPrato CD 65 parte 4, fol. 3v), 1365 (ASPrato CD 65 parte 10, fol. 4v), 1366–1368 (ASPrato CD 66 parte 2, fol. 10r; parte 4 fol. 3v; parte 6 fol. 19v; parte 7, fol. 42v; parte 8, fol. 39r), 1373–1375 (ASPrato CD 67 parte 11, fol. 7; parte 9, fol. 12r), 1377–78 (ASPrato CD 67 parte 5, fol. 14v), 1481 (ASPrato CD 102, fol. 382v); Pistoia 1461 (ASPistoia Provv. 41, fol. 239r–v). 84 Fucecchio 1318 31 October (ACF 25 NN), 1484 (ACF 197, fol. 290v), 1491(ASF Comune di Fucecchio Reformationes a. 1488–1496 [not yet catalogued], fol. 96v); Buggiano 1385–88 (ACB 9, fol. 205r, 236r, 274v–275r, 331r); Pistoia 1353 (ASPistoia Provv. 11, fol. 17r), 1472 (ASPistoia Provv. 43, fol. 211r–v), 1487 (ASPistoia Provv. 48, fol. 139v), 1488 (ASPistoia Provv. 48, fol. 172v), 1493 (ASPistoia Provv. 50, fol. 30v); Pescia 1388 (ASPescia Delib. 10, fol. 163r), 1391 (ASPescia Delib. 11, fol. 171v), 1484 (ASPescia Delib. 38, fol. 39r); Bibbiena 1423 (ASF SCS 80, fol. 26v); Ripomarance 1476 (ASF SCS 718, fol. 38r); Volterra 1391 (ACV A nera 24, fol. 271v), 1398 (ACV A nera 24, fol. 428v); Poggibonsi 1373 (ASS Poggibonsi 81, fol. 50v); Prato 1372–73 (ASPrato CD 67 parte 13, fol. 26r), 1374–75 (ASPrato CD 67 parte 9, fol. 12r), 1380 (ASPrato CD 78, fol. 118r), 1383 (ASPrato CD 79, fol. 322v); Sansepolcro 1394 (ACSS ser. II, 1, fol. 79v); Colle Valdelsa 1352 (ASS Colle 94, fol. li recto); S. Gimignano 1372 (ACSG 131, fol. cxi verso–cxiiii verso, xcv recto-verso), 1379 (ACSG 136, fol. 34v–36r). 79
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the writing teacher also taught grammar and abacus.85 There are rare instances of specialist writing teachers: Joachim Riß aus Rothenburg (Maestro Giovacchino di Giovanni d’altro Giovanni, Giovacchinus de Gigantibus de Rotenburga), later a famous illuminator,86 was appointed by the Ufciali dello Studio to teach writing in Florence for the academic year 1444–45;87 he was reappointed, probably for the same purpose, in 1451.88 A specialist writing teacher was also mentioned in Pescia in 1497.89 Whoever the teacher in charge, however, the preceding evidence suggests that reading and writing were not taught simultaneously, and that writing followed elementary reading, was roughly concurrent with the abacus90 and / or donatus and preceded Latin composition. The vocabulary for learning to write was idiosyncratic. The key word was littere—lictere—lettere. This is made clear by the ricordi of Tribaldo de’ Fucecchio 1327 26 July (ACF 50 NN: Coram vobis [. . .] pro parte Magistri Iohannis artis gramatice et abbaci [. . .] civitatis Pistorii [. . .] pro parte Ser Iohannis notarii et magistri artismetice sive albaci [. . .] civitatis Pistorii et parte Guelfe, exponitur quod ipse paratus est manere Fucecchii tamquam terr(igin)a guelfa et docere pueros et quoscumque volentes predictam scientiam adiscere et doctrinam scribendi et legendi, tamquam delis et devotus vester tam ratione sanguinitatis quam amore partis prefate que domini vigeat in onore dei, suplicat vobis humiliter ac etiam reverenter quatenus vobis placeat et velitis tenere consilium et in eo facere solempniter reformari quod camerarius comunis de pecunia et avere comunis possit et debeat dare et solvere pro pensione domus quam habitaverit illam pecunie quantitatem que ipso conpsilio videbitur et placuerit, pro docendo et instruendo pueros et alios quoscumque de scientia prelibata, et relevare ipsum ab honeribus. 86 See now Böninger (2006), pp. 286–291. 87 Park (1980), p. 302. 88 Gherardi (1881), pp. 460, 462. He is referred to as ‘magister scolarum’ in an archival document from autumn 1452: Böninger (2006), p. 287. 89 ASPescia Delib. 39, fol. 264r: Item ut supra, obtinuerunt quod Ser Antonius Michaelis Cialdini notarius de Piscia capiat mansionem et stantiam in palatio d. Priorum quam ve[l]let pro retinendis pueris, et similiter magister [. . .] qui docet pueros ad scribendum capiet mansionem et locum in dicto palatio quem ve[l]let. 90 Pupils could learn to write remarkably late. For example, Matteo di Matteo Strozzi, had evidently already learnt to read and been through abacus school, when, at the age of 15 in 1447, he was learning to write, as recorded by Alessandra Macinghi Strozzi: ‘non può esser preso per le gravezze insino a sedici anni ed egli ebbe undici di marzo. Hollo levato dall’abbaco, e appara a scrivere; e porrolo al banco, che vi starà questo verno’. Strozzi (1987), p. 63. Matteo was still not an experienced and uent writer at the age of sixteen, more than a year later, as Alessandra wrote to her son Filippo in 1448: ‘fo iscriverti a Matteo; e si perchè s’avvezzi a dettare un poco le lettere; ché quando iscrive adagio, e che ponga il capo a quello ha fare, iscrive bene: e così dice Antonio Strozzi, e Marco (che ho mostro loro de’ fogli ch’ egli scrive), che ha buona forma di lettera: quando iscrive ratto, diresti che non fussi di suo’ mano; e tal differenza è da l’una a l’altra, quanto il bianco dal nero: e no gli posso tanto dire, che voglia iscrivere adagio.’ Strozzi (1987), p. 66. 85
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Rossi, describing the beginnings of his son Guarieri’s writing instruction in the spring and summer of 1493. Guarieri had already learned to read Ianua (donadello) phonetically (a veduta, al testo): A dì 17 d’aprile 1493 fe’ lasciare el donadelo a Ghuarieri. Aveva lo imparato a veduta.
Now his father wanted him to learn to write, and so he had his son put aside the donadello and begin to learn writing: here, peculiarly, the phrase he used as a synonym for ‘[g]li inparasi le lettere e schrivere’ was leggere le lettere: Voli inparasi le lettere e schrivere; però lo fe’ abandonare el donadelo e detto [dì] chominciò legier le lettere, nel nome di dio.
The educational activity now was centred on writing, since Tribaldo now bought his son his rst pen and inkpot in order to learn how to write soon after the lessons began: choperai lo penaiuolo e’l chalamaio a Ghuarieri, el primo per chominciare a ‘nparare a scrivere. Chostò S. 4. D. 4.91
It seems that the phrase leggere e scrivere could actually mean just writing. Tribaldo de’ Rossi entitled one paragraph of his ricordanza ‘A scrivere di nuovo mando Guerieri’, but the ensuing text referred to imparare a leggere e scrivere, and, since Guarieri had already learned to read the tavola, salterio and donadello al testo, the activity that this phrase described was not learning to read but learning to write: A scrivere di nuovo mando Ghuerieri: [. . .] lo rimando anchora a la schuola a ‘nparare a legiere e scrivere.92
Reading was taught rst by sounding out letters and then syllables (tabula / carta), and then whole words, and apparently the same technique was used to teach writing. This ‘building-block’ approach is described by Alberti in De pictura: Voglio che i giovani, quali ora nuovi si danno a dipingere, così facciano quanto veggo di chi impara a scrivere. Questi in prima separato insegnano tutte le forme delle lettere, quali gli antiqui chiamano elementi; poi insegnano le silabe; poi apresso insegnano comporre tutte le dizione.93
91 92 93
BNCF II.ii.357, fol. 99r. See Appendix 5 below for the full text and context. BNCF II.ii.357, fol. 99r. See Appendix 5 below for the full text and context. Alberti (1960–73), III, p. 94, cited by Avesani (2001), p. 4.
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The School Curriculum in Florentine Tuscany Outside Florence Prato The rst specic information on the school curriculum in what would eventually become Florentine Tuscany is found at Prato in 1248, when Giustamonte del fu Messer Torigno entered into a contract with a private teacher, the notary Bernardo del fu Benvenuto di Piacito, to provide elementary instruction for his brother Bandeluccio. He was to teach him to read the psalter and Donatus, as well as to read (and understand) public documents and the dating system; he was also to learn both to copy and compose private contracts (‘pactiones’): In dei nomine amen. MCCXLVIII VIIII d(ie) martii indictione VIIa. Actum Prati ante domum Domini Bernardi Angiorini, presentibus Benvenuto qui vocatur alionde Gamba Grossa, Parlerio quondam Diotaviti et Pratese lio Aldobrandini testibus rogatis. Giustamonte quondam Domini Toringni posuit Bandelluccium fratrem eius cum Bernardo notario lio quondam Benvenuti Piaciti, cui Bandellucio dictus Bernardus promisit et convenit docere ipsum legere salterium totum et Donatum et calendarium et cartas publicas et annos domini, ita quod ipse sciat et scribere et componere pactiones bene [et] condecenter et dictus Giustamonte promisit et convenit dicto Bernardo pro dicta doctrina solvere et dare XII soldos pisane monete in hunc modum, scilicet VI soldos in contantis et alios VI soldos in ne ipsius doctrine, et ita facere et curare quod dictus Bandeluccius cum eo morabitur ad dictam doctrinam, que omnia una pars alteri parti adinvicem actendere facere et observare promiserunt et convenerunt inter se [. . .]94
The contract reveals that the elementary Italian reading curriculum (salterium, Donatus) was already well in place in Tuscany during the thirteenth century. It also highlights the latinate world in which businessmen and merchants were still operating during the thirteenth century: there is no hint of reading and writing skills transferable to vernacular texts, as would occur in the fourteenth century, when abacus teaching became increasingly disseminated in Tuscany. After reading and grammar teaching began to gain public subsidies at Prato beginning in the late thirteenth century, there is no further documentation of the curriculum until 1336, when two grammar
94 ASPrato Spediali della Misericordia e Dolce 2596, fol. 41v. The contract was discovered and partially published by R. Frantappiè in Storia di Prato (1981), I, p. 279 n. 79.
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masters were appointed: Ser Duccio di Amadore da Prato and the renowned teacher of Petrarch, Maestro Convenevole del fu Ser Acconcio da Prato. Duccio was in charge of Latin composition, divided into two classes, latinum minus and latinum maius; in addition to his communal salary, he was allowed to make charges to his pupils: dictus Ser Duccius pro quolibet qui fecerit latinum minus S. XXV. Item qui fecerit latinum maius S. triginta et pro quolibet dormiente in nocte S. XL pro quolibet et quolibet anno.95
Latinum minus and maius were two common divisions of the secondary theoretical grammar syllabus, found for example in the grammar curriculum of Francesco da Buti; the former rst focused on the syntax of verbs, while the latter ended with syntactical properties of conjunctions and gures of construction.96 Convenevole was in charge of the upper echelons of the Latin curriculum; here he lectured on the pseudo-Ciceronian Rhetorica ad Herennium: dicto Magistro Conveonevoli pro salario lecture nove Tullii pro quolibet orenum auri unum et non ultra.97
The Ad Herennium was normally a rhetorical, not a grammatical textbook, and indeed there was some ambiguity about Convenevole’s appointment; generically the two masters were conated as grammarians, but then the document goes on to describe Convenevole as teaching rhetoric: Qui quidem domini octo defensores populi et vexillifer iustitie [. . .] eligerunt infrascriptos sapientissimos viros in doctores et magistros gramatice, videlicet Magistrum Convonevolem quondam Ser Acchoncii de Prato in magistrum et doctorem in terra Prati in retoricha et Magistrum Duccium quondam ________ [spatium] de Prato in doctorem magistrum gramatice in terra Prati.98
Petrarch himself had learned the entire reading and Latin curriculum, including rhetoric, from Convenevole,99 but now, in view of the reputation he had achieved at the end of his teaching career and life, 95 ASPrato CD 77 (formerly 293), fol. 11r. Previously published (inaccurately) by Giani (1913), p. 78. 96 See Black (2001), pp. 100–101 and below pp. 88–89. 97 ASPrato CD 77 (formerly 293), fol. 11r. Previously published (inaccurately) by Giani (1913), p. 78. 98 ASPrato CD 77 (formerly 293), fol. 11r. Previously published (inaccurately) by Giani (1913), p. 78. 99 Debenedetti (1906–7), p. 328.
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and particularly given the specic text that he was teaching in Prato, it seems likely that Convenevole was appointed primarily as a rhetorician rather than a grammarian. The rst indication at Prato of medieval and classical literary manuals and authors in the grammar syllabus comes from the generation after Convenevole. Maestro Spigliato di Cenne da Firenze taught grammar in Prato from 1359 to 1364 and again from 1382 to 1384;100 he had been teaching grammar in his native city of Florence up to 1382101 and he returned there in 1388, when he was appointed to teach grammar for a year by the Ufciali dello Studio.102 Two manuscript schoolbooks are associated with Spigliato’s teaching: One is a copy of Geoffrey of Vinsauf ’s Poetria nova (BRF 874), datable to the third quarter of the fourteenth century, with the following ownership note (fol. 39v): Iste liber est Antonii Arnaldi morantis in scholis Magistri Spiliati. Amen.
The words ‘Arnaldi’ and ‘Spigliati’ are written over earlier words; what the former covers is illegible, but the latter is superimposed over ‘ghinensis’, suggesting that a teacher before Spigliato had come from Figline. Given that the manuscript was produced while Spigliato was active as a teacher, it is possible that the contemporaneous marginal commentary (up to fol. 26v) could have had connections with his teaching. The book was associated with school-level use, in view of its occasional simple interlinear glosses and puerile drawing of a crenellated tower (fol. 37v). The fact that the manuscript was used in Spigliato school’s illustrates the role of Poetria nova in teaching Latin stylistics at the end of the grammar syllabus (see above pp. 50–51). The other schoolbook associated with Spigliato’s teaching is a copy of Horace’s Ars poetica and Epistulae (BAV Vat. lat. 2774). The manuscript is datable to the very end of the thirteenth century,103 and it carries the following ownership notes (fol. 35v):
100
See Appendix 4. ASPrato CD 78, fol. 214v: ‘Spigliatus Cennis […] docens gramaticam Florentie die xxiii novembris 1381’. 102 See Chapter 4 below p. 267 and Appendix 3. His last known appointment was as grammar teacher in the Florentine Dominican convent of S. Maria Novella in 1390: Orlandi (1955), II, p. 22, n. 8. 103 It is written under the top ruled line; the ‘t’ is well crossed; the ‘g’ is compressed; the long nal ‘s’ alternates with 5-shaped ‘s’; uses thicker nib characteristic of gothic script: an early gothic, not a late caroline hand. 101
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chapter two Iste liber est Mariani P. Iste liber est Mariani morantis in scholis Magistri Spiliati doctoris gramatice. Amen. Amen. Amen.
Horace’s Ars and Epistulae formed a favourite combination in Italian schools during the fourteenth century,104 and so Spigliato was on the crest of the latest academic fashion when he assigned this text to advanced grammar pupils. Anonymous teachers too evidently taught the same Horatian texts in Pratese schools during the fourteenth century. One manuscript (BML Pl. 34.22) was probably a Bolognese product, to judge from annotations of an early fourteenth-century hand, including the marginal note: ‘O du[l]cis mater, hic est Bononia pate(r)’ (fol. 20v); it soon passed into Tuscany, as is suggested by interlinear vernacular glosses (fol. 1r: meçina [‘mezzina’ for ‘vaso’ is Tuscan]; see also fol. 17r: ‘e i giuochi e i bagni’), perhaps made by a Tuscan owner still writing in the fourteenth century; the possible end of an ex libris (fol. 30v: ‘glo da Prato, amen’) may indicate a connection with a Pratese school; indeed, there is extensive fourteenth-century school-type interlinear glossing, including word-order marks (fol. 2v, 6v, 8v), alphabets (fol. 22v, 30r) and copious vernacular synonyms. Ancient authors continued to be taught in Prato at the beginning of the next century. In the summer of 1403, the twenty-three-year-old Mattia Lupi da S. Gimignano, who was to become a prominent teacher and book collector, was appointed communal grammar teacher in Prato,105 and soon afterwards one of his pupils copied a schoolbook (BML Pl. 33.8), concluding with the colophon: Ego Bartholomeus Iohannis scripxi hunc librum pro me quando morabar in iscolis Magistri Mathie de Sancto Geminiano castro comitatus Florentie, electi ad legendum gramaticam Prati die duodecimo menssis novembris millesimo quadringenteximo tertio, amen, vel quarto secundum ordinem Pistoriensium.106
The text was a copy of Claudian’s De raptu Proserpinae, and Bartolomeo’s annotations are notable for the large quantity of vernacular glossing included not only between the lines but also in the margins: overall, it was a macaronic mixture of Latin and Italian, reecting Lupi’s evi-
104
Black (2001), pp. 204–206. Pampaloni (1981), pp. 196–97, n. 1. He served until 1407: ASPrato CD 81, fol. 94r, 118r–119r, 123r. 106 BML Pl. 33.8, fol. 17v. 105
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dently pragmatic teaching methods; otherwise the commentary that Bartolomeo wrote, presumably on Lupi’s dictation, was the normal simple school-type philology (paraphrase, explication, geography, mythology). Another text used in Lupi’s Pratese school was Ovid’s Metamorphoses (BML Pl. 36.4), copied by his pupil ‘Cubellus’ (fol. 150r); together they glossed the manuscript, producing a commentary consisting of the usual school-level philological marginalia (simple geography and natural philosophy, paraphrase, mythology, structure, gures, and allegory [not by Giovanni del Virgilio]) and basic lexical interlinear synonyms, besides referring to Macrobius, Graecismus, elder Pliny, Fulgentius, Seneca (the tragedian) and Boccaccio.107 Teachers in Prato continued to use classical texts throughout the fteenth century: A copy of Lucan dating from the rst half of the century (BML CS 92) was copied in Prato (fol. 156v: Expletus est iste liber per me _______ [deletum] de Prato V iunii); it was soon glossed mainly by one contemporaneous hand with the usual school mixture of interlinear vocabulary paraphrases and simple marginal philology. Another example comes from mid-century, in this case a copy of Terence (BNCF II.IX.127). Fol. 1r–23v are covered with school-type glosses; the manuscript has drawings and other probationes (fol. 60r–61r, 207r, 211v), as well as a series of rudimentary vocabulary, grammatical / philological notes relating to Terentian comedy (fol. 203v–204v). Fol. 205v–207r have a series of mainly vernacular epistolary salutations and invocations, mentioning various individuals from Prato. Teachers such as Bartolomeo Nerucci da S. Gimignano, who served in Prato in 1428,108 from 1444 to 1448109 and then again from 1456 to 1460,110 evidently took to heart the injunctions of the city fathers, who had declared that his remit would be ‘ad docendum grammaticam et legendum auctores, histriografos et poetas in terra Prati.’111 Indeed, Nerucci’s successor as principal grammar master in Prato, Maestro Filippo di Matteo da Casalumanese (near Imola), was required on holidays to teach the letters of Cicero or of Leonardo Bruni to older pupils:
chapter two Quod [. . .] etiam teneatur in diebus festivis teneatur [sic] et obligatus sit legere unam lectionem pro magnis et quod etiam leget epistolas sive Ciceronis sive Leonardi auditoribus.112
Here Maestro Filippo’s duties represented the end of the grammar curriculum, when, during the fteenth century, the letters of Cicero were offered as stylistic models: a letter by Cicero was given by the teacher in vernacular translation and then translated into Latin by the teacher or pupils; dual language copies of Cicero’s letters survive in manuscript, with the vernacular preceding the Latin translation, reecting this didactic technique, and there are similar dual-language versions of Bruni’s letters, sometimes even found together with Ciceronian letters and translations, indicating that Bruni’s epistolography was used as a stylistic model, just like Cicero’s.113 The elementary reading curriculum is highlighted at Prato in a letter from Margherita Datini to her husband Francesco, regarding the progress in reading made by their daughter Tina in 1394. Here the text was the salterium, which Tina had learned to read (in Latin);114 now she needed a book—written clearly so that she could consolidate her reading skills—of further Latin devotional texts, consisting of the seven penitential psalms and the Oftium Beatae Mariae Virginis, a widely circulated miscellaneous collection of prayers, hymns, canticles, litanies and psalms:115 La Tina àne letto il saltero; arebe di bisogno di qualche libricuolo che vi fosse suso i sette salmi e l’ufcio della Donna ch’avesse buona lettera.116
The traditional Latin initial reading texts were standard fare for Pratese boys too: in 1409 a former notary, Martino di Martino, resident in Prato’s Porta al Travaglio, ‘s’è dato ad insegnare a’ fanciugli legere la tavola, il saltero e il donatello’.117
112
ASF NA 14712, fol. 69v–70r. Black (2001), pp. 353–55. 114 Perhaps Tina read the copy of the salterium mentioned in the 1400 inventory of Francesco Datini’s library: ‘1 salterio da fanciulli vecchio e squadernato tutto’, cited by Klapisch (1984), p. 789 n. 71 from the Italian translation (1979), p. 237, of Origo (1957). 115 Grendler (1989), p. 353. 116 Datini (1974), p. 72. See Pampaloni (1981), p. 196, n. 2. 117 ASPrato CD 82, fol. 27r, previously published by Cardini (1991), p. 862 n. 42, with the wrong volume number; see above p. 57 for a similar passage about Martino’s remit in 1410. 113
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The traditional theoretical secondary grammar syllabus did not suffer neglect in Prato during the fteenth century. In 1407 Ser Piero da S. Miniato was appointed as repetitor by the commune, with the duty of repeating ‘scholaribus suis lectiones regulas et alios auctores’;118 regule here meant secondary regule grammatice of the type written by Francesco da Buti.119 There is also a school-level alphabetical orthography (BRF 2930, fol. 183r–205v), with the following colophon: fol. 205v: Explicit in anno milleximo quadracintesimo vigessimo septimo die vigesima nona mensis decembris in vigesima secunda hora per me Iacobo [sic] Nicholai in terra Prati. Amen.
The book remained in Prato, where one of the anonymous owners explicitly referred to his studies: Iste liber est mei ______ [erasum] de Prato scripto anno primo mei studi[i] de mense decembris 1436 die 29 hora septima nocturnis horis.
This was then altered to: ‘Iste liber est mei Petri Antonii Martini de Prato scripto anno de mense decembris 147’. The text itself is the usual school fare, including copious mnemonics as well as citations of Lucan, Hugutio, Priscian, Graecismus, Sallust and Doctrinale.120 Arezzo Arezzo was the seat of the rst Tuscan university, established as early as the beginning of the thirteenth century,121 and so it is not surprising to discover precocious evidence there of the school curriculum. In 1262, a Sienese grammar teacher named Tebaldo was teaching with considerable success in Arezzo, where he was receiving a substantial salary; his warm reception in Arezzo evidently excited the rivalry of his native city, which now asked for his return home: Statuimus ed ordinamus [decreed Siena’s general council] quod, cum persona magistri Tebaldi, civis Senensis, que est fons vivus gramatice facultatis, sit valde utilis et fructuosa comuni et populo, quod dictus 118
ASPrato CD 80, fol. 123r–v. See Black (2001), pp. 96 ff. 120 According to Bec (1984), p. 155, the heirs of Ser Giuliano di Ser Iacopo da Prato owned the following schoolbooks: ‘j paio di Reghole mezane [. . .] j Donadello buono in charta pechorina’. 121 Black (1996a). 119
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The subject of this communal rivalry was, in fact, the preeminent Tuscan grammarian of his day—indeed the author of one of the most widely circulated Italian thirteenth-century secondary manuals of syntax. Tebaldo’s Regule are preserved in thirteen manuscripts,123 one of which (BSCA Fondo antico 367) has the colophon: ‘Expliciunt Regule Magistri Thebaldi Senensis deo gratias amen.’ (fol. 11r) A terminus ante quem for the treatise is suggested by a manuscript (BL Add. 10093) datable to the second half of the thirteenth century;124 a terminus post quem is provided by two explicit citations in the text to Graecismus (written before 1212).125 There were two Sienese thirteenth-century grammarians with the name Tebaldo: Tebaldo di Orlandino, citizen of Siena and grammar master, active between 1241 and 1275,126 while another, Maestro Tebaldo di Iacopo, also a Sienese citizen, made his will in 1303, bequeathing several grammatical works, including ‘Alisander super Prisciano minore [. . .] Priscianum meum maiorem et minorem et unum scriptum super minorem [. . .] unum doctrinale et regulas magistri Boni.’127 Nevertheless, it is all but certain that the author of the grammatical treatise was the rst Maestro Tebaldo, namely Tebaldo di Orlandino.128 The oldest version of the text is, as has been seen, datable to the second half of the thirteenth century. The copy is corrupt and abridged at the end, both features suggesting an already signicant diffu122
Cecchini and Prunai (1942), p. 11. Black (2001), pp. 379–385. 124 This dating was conrmed by a personal inspection carried out by the late Albinia de la Mare. 125 Black (2001), p. 383. 126 Cecchini and Prunai (1942), pp. 4–20, 580. 127 Cecchini and Prunai (1942), pp. 587–588. Although all of Maestro Tebaldo di Iacopo’s books were grammatical, he was not formally identied as a grammarian in the document. 128 Nardi (1966), passim (see p. 256 for the entry in the index), assumes that the Tebaldo teaching at Siena in 1241, 1247 and 1262–64 is to be identifed with Tebaldo di Orlandino, not questioning his authorship of the grammatical works. 123
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sion of the text. The author had to be a gure already well established by mid-century, such as Tebaldo di Orlandino, rather than someone making his will at the beginning of the next century. Tebaldo da Siena’s treatise was written for children: as the author declares, ‘rudium utilitati volens intendere diligenter que artis gramatice introductoria breviter compillo’.129 The work’s central focus is Latin syntax (‘constructio’): he begins with the construction of nouns, subdivided not by case but according to nominal types (adjectives [classied as nouns by ancient and medieval grammarians], comparatives, superlatives, relatives, interrogatives and partitives); he then goes on to the six cases, each of which is further subdivided according to parts of speech. Another systematic feature is the inclusion of numbered rules in some subsections.130 It is clear that the preeminent grammar master teaching in thirteenth-century Tuscany had embraced the more secularized educational world of the thirteenth century, offering a rapid and systematic method for learning to write in Latin—one doubtless welcomed by Aretine parents and children alike, eager as they were to enter the professions of medicine and law catered for by their own university. Tebaldo’s treatise was typical of the new trend, developing in the thirteenth century, whereby grammatical method and theory were replacing the direct reading of the Latin classics: in his treatise, no ancient Roman authors are cited. Nevertheless, thirteenth-century Arezzo is one of the few Tuscan cities in which there is evidence that classical authors were still being read at the school level. The eminent jurist Roffredo da Benevento, who brought his law school with him from Bologna to Arezzo about 1215, referred to the ourishing state of Latin studies in Arezzo at the beginning of the thirteenth century: ‘Frater, cum venisti ab Aretio ubi hodie viget studium litterarum [. . .]’131 Moreover, it is known that Geri d’Arezzo, the extraordinary early humanist, one of the rst Italians to reject the medieval ars dictaminis and to attempt to write Latin prose in a deliberately classical and anti-medieval style, had studied Terence as a schoolboy in Arezzo.132 It is not surprising to learn therefore that the preeminent Aretine grammar teacher of the early fourteenth century, Goro d’Arezzo (active in Arezzo during 129 130 131 132
BML AD 467, fol. 62v. See Black (2001), pp. 96–98. Wieruszowski (1971), p. 390. Weiss (1949), p. 128.
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the 1340s),133 not only cited classical authors in his school-level Latinvernacular word list but also wrote a long commentary on Lucan,134 reecting normal school-level simple philological explication of texts. Goro, however, straddled both approaches to Latin grammar teaching current in the fourteenth century: for him, the revived teaching of the authors stood side-by-side with the systematic, pragmatic approach, as found in his Regule parve. This text is characteristic of Trecento theoretical school grammars, turning as it does to the vernacular as an aid for teaching Latin. Goro’s Regule are fragmentary, but they still show two didactic uses of the vernacular. One is the listing of Latin verbs and their principal parts together with vernacular translations to illustrate the various categories of verbal construction.135 These Latin/vernacular verb lists—clearly included to build vocabulary as well as to illustrate the different verbal constructions—became a characteristic feature of secondary level grammars in the Renaissance, including those by Guarino136 and Perotti,137 but Goro’s other use of the vernacular was peculiar to the Regule parve. This was teaching the meanings of the cases through vernacular prepositions. Thus the genitive was explained by the vernacular de, the dative by a, and the ablative by de, da, in, per, cum.138 Goro’s rules of thumb for the Latin cases by reference to the appropriate vernacular prepositions were eminently pragmatic and obviously reected his own teaching practice, but perhaps the numerous exceptions and qualications—some of which he himself detailed—made this method less attractive to his fellow grammar teachers. Goro’s pupil Domenico di Bandino (c. 1335–1418) had a long career teaching grammar and rhetoric at Bologna (1378–1381) and Florence (1376, 1381–1399) until the end of the century, when he returned to his native city as public grammar master from 1399 to 1402 and then again, after an interlude in Città di Castello from 1402 to
133 He was the grammar teacher of Domenico di Bandino (born c. 1335): see below p. 71. 134 BNCF Panciatichi 68 (Goro’s Vocabula [fol. 1r–13v] and his Regule parve [fol. 13v–20r]); Magl. VIII.1412, fol. 29v–35r (another mansucript of his word list, with citations of classical authors on fol. 30r and 35r). BL Harley 2458 (his commentary on Lucan); 6513 (another manuscript of his word list). Vienna Schottenkloster 249, formerly 222, fol. 1r–112v (another manuscript of his commentary on Lucan). The Regole parve were published by Marchesi (1910). 135 Marchesi (1910), pp. 48–49. 136 See e.g. Percival (1978), p. 243 in Percival (2004). 137 See e.g. Percival (1981), p. 250. 138 Marchesi (1910), 45–46.
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probably 1411 and a return to Bologna from then until 1413, for another year at home from 1414 to 1415.139 Like his teacher Goro, Domenico wrote a Latin theoretical textbook for the use of his own pupils, ‘ad rudium utilitatem’. This work, now found in a unique manuscript copy (BMV Lat. XIII.47 [4220]), was entitled Rosarium because rosarium est rosarum collectio et locus ubi habunda[n]t rose et ubi ponuntur; ergo merito intitolabitur liber iste propter ores rosarum id est regularum que ibi compendiose sunt locate. (fol. 3r)
In his preface Domenico provides a glowing tribute to his own teacher in Arezzo, Maestro Goro, who, he suggests, had inspired him to write a textbook himself: ideo ad rudium utilitatem, ego Dominicus de Aretio minimus trivii propinator egressus de magno stipite triviali, scilicet reverendissimo magistro meo Magistro Goro, quo tellus italica gloriabitur in eternum, de ea scientia copiose factabo volente deo.
Domenico assumed both aspects of Goro’s legacy as a teacher. On the one hand, he wrote a modern-style practical textbook in which syntax played a prominent part (fol. 48r–61v: Tractatus de constructionibus verborum; fol. 81v–82v: De constructionum spetiebus; fol. 106r–107r: De oratione congrua; fol. 107r–108r: fol. 107r–108v: De supposito et apposito) and in which attention was devoted to thematic translation of sentences from vernacular to Latin (fol. 114r–120v), besides composing a Latin-vernacular vocabulary similar to his teacher Goro’s;140 on the other, he also made direct citations of classical Latin authors (Ovid, Vergil, Terence, Juvenal, Lucan, Sallust).141 Another Aretine grammar teacher, Niccolò di Ser Duccio (d. 1416), is also known to have taught classical authors in Castelfiorentino (Lucan)142 and Florence (Ovid),143 besides adopting a more pragmatic approach in a Latin-vernacular word list (used by a pupil from Montecastello [Pontedera] probably learning under him in Florence)144
139
Gherardi (1881), pp. 346–347; Spagnesi (1979), pp. 152–53, 182, 185, 204, 219, 222, 231, 241, 248, 263, 271; Hankey (1957) and (1963); Jaitner-Hahner (1993), pp. 260–61, 289; Black (1996a), pp. 334–35, 371–77, 402, 410–20; Black (2001), pp. 31, 107–9, 114, 153 n. 651, 217, 333–4, 412 n. 107, 427 n. 2. 140 Black (1996b). 141 Fol. 5v, 15r, 27r, 29r, 32v, 44v, 46v, 49v, 50r, 56v, 57r, 62r, 72r, 84r, 106v. 142 Black (1996a), p. 354. 143 See ch. 5 below p. 155. 144 Black (1996b), pp. 108–9.
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similar to ones by Goro and Domenico di Bandino, although there is no explicit evidence of the curriculum he followed in his brief time as public grammar teacher in Arezzo during the last two years of his life (1414–1416).145 More is known about the syllabus followed by an Aretine teacher of the next generation, the priest Ser Antonio di Simone di Niccolò Burletti, who, having taught grammar in Siena from 1424 to c. 1427, returned to his native city as public grammar master from 1428 to 1431.146 A correspondent of the Sienese humanist Barnaba di Nanni di Barna, who lent him a copy of Cicero’s De senectute, as well as of Ambrogio Traversari’s, a gure whom Panormita (the Sicilian humanist Antonio Beccadelli) described as ‘nobilem grammaticum’, a scholar who lectured on Terence at the beginning of his Sienese residency,147 Antonio went further than most of his contemporaries in bringing a humanist approach to the classroom. The methods he adopted both in Siena and Arezzo are revealed by a secondary-level grammar treatise, entitled Nove regule de constructionibus, that he wrote in 1426, preserved in a single manuscript (BL Add. 22762) and signed by a pupil with an indeterminate Tuscan name (Orlandi).148 In terms of theory, structure and terminology, his treatise followed the thirteenth and fourteenth-century pragmatic Italian approach: he used the usual non-classical technical vocabulary derived from the Parisian grammarians and popularized in Italy during the thirteenth century by Alexander of Villedieu, Evrard of Béthune and Pietro da Isolella da Cremona (a parte ante, regit, suppositum, prima species, secunda speties etc., 145
Black (1996a), pp. 396–404. Black (1996a), pp. 436–439. 147 Ferraù (1979), pp. 8, 26–27, 55, 60–63, 113. The passage from BNCF II.IX.148 fol. 148r with the reference to Antonio’s teaching of Terence in Siena is only partially and incorrectly transcribed by Ferraù (1979), p. 113; a fuller transcription is: BNCF II.IX.148, fol. 148r (formerly 147r): Andreotius Petrutius senensis Bernabeo viro erudito s. p. d. Ad XV kalendas februarias [18th January] quidam prociscens ex Sena cum advesperasceret tuas ad me licteras detulit plenas cum humanita[ti]s tum etiam amoris [. . .] Quod scribis annum istum doctores actulisse quam plures cepi voluptatem. Etenim huiusmodi viris nec parum indiget nostra respublica. Insuper animadverti [ms: adnimaverti] ex tuis litteris et dedisti Terrentium ab Antonio Aretino doctissimo artis gramatice [ms: gramaticis] legi. Nec mediocri letitia affectus sum, quom [ms.: quem] accidit Terrentium nostrum, romane eloquentie decus, aliquando lectorem sic dignum offendisse. Quantopere interesse vellem vestris lectionibus! Quantopere audire vellem Antonium Aretinum auribus eruditis dignissimum! Huius rei cupiditatem, nec unquam urbis [ms.: urbs] exequerer. Et hec satis [. . .] Vale meum mel meque in primis ama. Ex Clanciano quam prope(re) q(uintum) k(a)l(endas) f(ebruarias). 148 Fol. 85r: Iste liber est mei Ieronimi de Orlandis. 146
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appositum, a parte post, ex natura cause efcientis etc.); the structure of the treatise resembled the layout of Francesco da Buti’s grammar,149 the most inuential secondary school-level treatise of the fourteenth century: Constructio activorum verborum Prima species activorum Secunda speties activorum verborum Tertia Quarta speties activorum verborum Quinta et ultima Incipiunt verba passiva De neutris [Prima speties] Secunda speties neutrorum verborum Tertia Quarta neutrorum speties Quinta speties neutrorum verborum Sexta verborum neutrorum speties sequitur Sectima speties Octava neutrorum verborum speties Nona neutrorum verborum speties Decima speties Undecima et ultima speties netrorum verborum Sequitur modo de comunibus verbis De deponentibus Possessiva deponentia Acquisitiva Deponentia transitiva Passiva Deponentia verba effectiva Absoluta Verba imperfecta [ultima speties deponentium verborum continet igitur quedam verba que imperfecta dicuntur] Ad verba pertineant Verba pertinentia ad laudem vel vituperationem Ad articium pertinentia Deceptiva Acquisitiva Superheminentia verba Subiectiva Equiperantia Desiderativa vel inquisitiva Continentia
149
Black (2001), pp. 99 ff and below pp. 88–89.
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chapter two Adhortativa Supectiva vel opinativa Pertinentia ad voluntatem Interogativa Funebria Vocativa Effectiva Hortativa Deprecativa Seperativa [sic] et discretiva De varia spetie verborum derivativorum Verba incohativa incipiunt Meditativa verba Verba frequentativa Verba desiderativa Diminuativa Verba immitativa Aparitiva Quedam alia verba derivativa Incipiunt verba impersonalia utriusque vocis Impersonalia active vocis [Prima speties] Secunda speties impersonalium active vocis Tertia speties Quarta speties impersonalium Signicatio impersonalium Secundum genus impersonalium: [passive vocis] Sequitur construtio innitorum verborum Quibus verbis adiungantur Quibus casibus construantur Quid contineant De potestate [aliorum] modorum verbi [Indicativus modus] Imperativus modus De optativo modo De subiunctivo modo Epilogus subiuntivi Usus quidam Romanorum [subiunctivi modi] De participiis Quare inventum sit participium De derivatione participiorum De vi ac potestate participii De gerundiis et supinis De consequentiis [i.e. ablative absolutes] De construtione nominis ad nomen Verbalia De comparativis
the school curriculum in florentine tuscany Quomodo at comparatio Quot sint gradus comperationis Quot termini in comperatione perfecta requirantur De construtione comperativi De superlativis De relativis De pronominum demostratione De pronominum relatione De hoc pronomine relativo ipse De is pronomine De sui relativo De relativis substantie diversitatis Relativum accidentis qualitatis Relativum accidentis quantitatis continue et indeterminate Quantitatis discrete Totus et quotus Totuplex et quotuplex Simplus et duplus De numero distributivo in pares numeros Quotennis et totennis Totenarius et quotenarius De distributivis De partitivis De hoc nomine cuius possessivo De adve[r]biis localibus De adverbio unde De qua adverbio De quo adverbio interrogativo De hoc adverbio ubi De quorsum adverbio interogativo De hoc adverbio quousque De adverbio qualiter De hoc adverbio quantum De quando De coniuctionibus Coppulativa coniunctio Coniunctio diunctiva Subdisiunctiva Adversativa coniunctio Distributiva Disertiva vel electiva coniunctio Continuativa Subcontinuativa Coniunctiones causales Causales et adiunctive simul Adiunctiva coniunctio Abnegativa
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chapter two Collectiva vel rationalis vel illativa Approbativa Dubitativa Exceptiva Expositiva Innita Completiva De guris Conceptio generum Prolensis Zeuma Sinodechen Sintesis
On the other hand, Antonio rejected many features of this medieval Italian structured and pragmatic approach, including mnemonic verses and vernacular thematic translation, both entirely absent from his treatise. Moreover, he cited a medieval grammarian only once and then merely to launch an ironic critique: De constructione vero multifaria possessiva, de qua satis habunde Alesander disseruit, longum esset hic exponere. Itaque illam libentius pretereo, ne videar omnia usurpare velle, nihil aliis reliquens. (fol. 40r)
Like his compatriot Domenico di Bandino, Antonio cited classical Latin authors too, but far more extravagantly: Vergil (152 quotations), Terence (34), Cicero (14), Lucan (12), pseudo-Cicero (8), Sallust (5), Horace Juvenal Plautus (3 each), Suetonius Ovid (2 each), Livy Persius (1 each). Antonio may also have taught Cicero’s De ofciis while in Arezzo.150
150
A prolusion to the text is found in the collection of letters (BNCF II.IX.148) written while he was teaching in Siena and Arezzo. According to Fioravanti (1991), p. 270 n. 11, the prolusion is ‘da attribuire con tutta probabilità allo stesso Antonio’. BNCF II.IX.148, fol. 146r–v: Cum sepenumero mecum hoc ipse reputarem quid potissimum in hac hominum vita esse posset quod aptissimum mortalibus videretur ad bene beateque vivendum conduceretque animos in spem summe felicitatis humane, qua bene gerendo aptissimi in celum reditus haberentur, oblati michi sunt divinissimi eloquentie patris Marci Tullii Ciceronis tres Ofciorum libri, qui de moribus inscribuntur. Ex quibus cum me ipse colligerem, sanctissimam sane mortalium vitam duci posse cognovi. Atque cum id crebro mecum agerem, commoratis presertim studiis amicorum sepe [ms.: sese] animo ad eam rem adiunctus, meque vobis presentibus [ad] legendum quicquid penitus debe(rem) ad hos me libros legendos contuli, ut et his, quorum desiderio refragari non possum, pro virili mea satisfacerem, et vobis cupientibus ac exoptantibus incredibilis sapientie eloquentissimi viri ac eruditissimi philosophi Ciceronis libros ipsos De ofciis pro mea facultate aperirem. Qui libri (quantum humano consilio, ratione, ingenio scienciaque, quis efcere posset?) miricis laudibus, summis eloquentie studiis, omnium vigilantia et industria non pro eorum dignitate celebrari possent, tantum inest enim
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There is no direct surviving evidence of the curriculum followed in Arezzo by other prominent teachers, such as the Frenchman Maestro Guglielmo di Giovanni da Bourges (working there 1440–1447, 1457–1465 and 1473–1477),151 and it is only in the mid-fteenth century that documentary evidence comes to light of the overall structure of the Aretine reading and grammar syllabus. In 1435 this was divided into three classes: the lowest for pupils not yet reading Donatus (Ianua) (but still learning the salterium and tabula / carta), the next for those reading Donatus but not yet embarked on Latin composition (non lactinantibus) and the most advanced for pupils writing in Latin and reading classical authors (lactinantibus et auctores audientibus). The teacher was allowed to charge pupils accordingly: a scolaribus nondum legentibus Donatum ultra soldos quadraginta, et a legentibus Donatum nondum lactinantibus libras tres, et a lactinantibus et auctores audientibus ultra orenum unum ad rationem anni pro quolibet eorum pro vestro salario percipere non potestis, sed usque ad dictas quantitates vobis ex nunc est licitum et concessum.152
ipsis libris philosophie, tantum dignitatis, tantum autoritatis, tantum sapientie, tantaque [ms.: tandem] illustratio divinorum humanorumque scientie a divinissimis philosophorum principibus stoycorum, presertim a Panetino stoyco gravissimo, et maxime ab hoc omnium summo et latinorum prestantissimo, Cicerone, collecta, ut potius me quem mutum reddant quam ad [ms.: se] legendum me comparent. Sed tanta de me extimatio atque benevolentia in me vestra audaciorem me fecit ac animum in hanc prontissimum mentem impulit, ut mallem inepte [ms.: inopte] id efcere quam vestris petitionibus iustissimis satisfacere recusarem. Eo igitur animo in me ut soletis estote, ut et attentione vestra ad legendum ardentior ego am, et vos ipsis procere omnino possitis. Tria principalia movent animam ad agendum, scilicet intellectus, ratio et appetitus. Omnia ista ordinantur ad aliquod bonum, per intellectum et rationem consideratur speculati[v]um et praticum per appetitum rationalem. Consideratur electio ad quam postea actus subsecuntur. Actus enim est executivus electionis. Eligibile autem est quod cadit in consultatione. Sed quoniam de virtute morali in his libris est videndum nobis, quid sit virtus, quid ofcium sit quod ea prociscatur videamus. Ex alto tamen re(m) repetere institui quo facilius ad que consequentur aditus habeatis. Cicero post Catheline expulsionem ex urbe in Clodii hodium capitale incidit. Nam contra eum cum vehementer invehisset, cum repertus inter publicas cerimonias adulterande Cesaris uxoris causa in veste muliebri [ms.: anuliebri] recognitus esset, adeo ut senatus contra eum ex eo facinore decrevisset. Cum vero tribunus factus tribunatum agere cepisset ob eam in eum Ciceronis et iniuriam, ipsum ex ofcio tribunatus in exilium ex urbe expulit. Qui, cum a negotiis urbanis in ocium abductus esset, ad scribendum sese contulit, ut ipse Ofciorum tertio manifestet. [The text breaks off here.] 151 For features of the syllabus he used in Florence, see below pp. 148–49, 157; for his career, see Jaitner-Hahner (1993), pp. 237–239, 267–270, 273–274, 292; Black (1996a), pp. 465–501, 528–546, 568–582, 584–586; Davies (1998), pp. 189–190; Black (2001), pp. 234–235, 250, 252. 152 Black (1996a), pp. 462–63.
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This division of classes was repeated in 1439153 and 1440154 and probably represented a time-honoured scholastic organization in Aretine schools. A possible schoolbook was owned by an Aretine, as revealed in the inventories of pupilli from 1471 to 1500: Figli di Leonardo di ser Bartolomeo di Messer Bonifazio d’Arezzo, casa posta in Arezzo
‘1º [. . .] libro di Boezio’155
Arezzo is one of the few Italian cities for which there is documentation on the classes into which the communal abacus school was divided. In 1446, the school was organized in two classes, with fractions as the hurdle for promotion: the rst for pupils having learned multiplication, division and fractions; the second evidently for the rule of three and commercial skills and knowledge (e.g. monetary system, interest, discount etc.): quod [Magister Benedictus Dominici de Prato] recipere et petere possit a dictis scolaribus et habere debeat pro suo labore et mercede a volentibus adiscere dictam artem et doctrinam infrascripta salaria et solutionem, videlicet: hoc modo pro bene emtrata, scilicet in principio, grossos duos argenti in principio et initio dicti scolaris, et deinde in principio secundi mensis, alios duos grossos, et ultra petere non possit donec et quousque talem discipulum non fecerit doctum et expertum in dictam artem [sic] et non fuerit saltem competenter doctus et adoctrinatus in dicta arte saltem usque ad illam partem et materiam que vulgariter dicitur la materia de’ rocti, et tunc cum talis discipulus fuerit doctus et expertus in dicta materia de’ rocti, ipse Magister Benedictus petere possit et habere et recipere debeat et possit alios quactuor grossos, ita quod in totum et usque in nem dicti anni pro toto tempore quo steterit talis scolaris ad dictas scolas et pro omnibus materiis et tota doctrina que adisci potest vel voluerit dictus scolaris et pro toto tempore in totum habere et petere possit in totum grossos octo et non ultra, nisi de pura voluntate et consensu talis scolaris vel suorum actinentium procexerit et cortesia.156
This same syllabus was summarized for the benet of another abacus teacher, Benedetto di Antonio da Figline, in 1451:
153 154 155 156
Black (1996a), p. 477. Black (1996a), pp. 479–80. Verde (1987), p. 50. Black (1996a), pp. 495–96.
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Per bene entrate nel principio, grossi due di ciaschuno scolare. Nel principio del secondo mese de’ decti scolari, grossi due per ciascuno; et non possa adimandare perinsinoché tali scolari et discepoli non saranno amaestrati per insino a la materia de’ rocti alchuno altro salario. Et di poi amaestrati nella materia de’ rotti possa avere et domandare quattro grossi per ciaschuno scolare.157
Colle Valdelsa The earliest documents revealing the overall shape of the reading and grammar curriculum in Tuscany come from Colle Valdelsa. When Bartolo del fu Bono da Prato was appointed communal schoolmaster in 1331, his school was divided into the following levels: Habeat et habere debeat a scolaribus cum eo morantibus salarium infrascriptum, videlicet a quolibet qui non audiret et addisceret gramaticam: S. quindecim D. Item a quolibet qui faceret latinum minimus: S. quindecim D. Item a quolibet qui faceret latinum mediocre: S. vigintiquinque D. Item a quolibet qui faceret latinum maius: S. triginta D.158
Pupils not yet studying grammar were those learning to read (see above pp. 44–46); the three divisions of Latin (grammar) correspond exactly to those later found in the school of Francesco da Buti (see below pp. 88–89). In May 1333 a similar outline makes no mention of nongrammatical pupils; the three levels now were latinum maius, mediocre and minus: Scholaribus facientibus latinum maius S. XXXta Scholaribus facientibus latinum mediocre: S. XXV Scholaribus facientibus latinum minus S. XX.159
In October that same year the Latin levels were the same, but now there was again mention of lower pupils (reading and not learning Latin): De De De Ab
157
scholaribus facientibus latinum maius quolibet anno S. XXX D. facientibus latinum mediocre S. XXV D. facientibus latinum minus: S. XX D. omnibus aliis cum eo [sc. magistro] morantibus S. XV D.160
Black (1996a), p. 510. ASS Colle 78, fol. 43v. 159 ASS Colle 81, fol. 31v, cited (inaccurately) by Bastianoni (1994), p. 429. 160 ASS Colle 81, fol. 115r. See ASS Colle 299, NN (28 October 1333), for another version of this same outline. 158
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In 1336, Latin was divided into four levels, with no word this time about pupils non latinantes: A A A A
scolaribus scolaribus scolaribus scolaribus
facientibus facientibus facientibus facientibus
latinum latinum latinum latinum
maius S. XXXta D. mediocre S. XXV D. minus sive minorum S. XXta D. minimum S. XV D.161
In 1352 there were three divisions for grammar pupils: latinum maius, mediocre and minus but now the syllabus for learning to read was given in detail: percipiendo salarium a scholaribus ad infrascriptam ratam in anno: a facientibus latinum maius S. XXX, mediocre S. XX, minus S. XX, a legentibus libricciolum donatum cartam tabulam vel collum S. XII.162
Collum refers possibly not to a neck in the sense of a handle for the pupil to hold but conceivably to the type of parchment used, since the necks of the skins provided the cheapest vellum.163 In 1357, there were again four levels of Latin, and it was now revealed that libricciolum was a synonym for salterium; moreover the non latinantes were here divided into two classes: donatus and salterium were indicated as distinct from carta, tabula or collum. A facientibus latinum maius vel mediocre pro quolibet et quolibet mense S. quatuor, a facientibus latinum minus vel minusculum pro quolibet et quolibet mense S. tres, a legentibus Donatum, salterum vel libricciolum, pro quolibet et quolibet mense S. duo, a legentibus cartam tabulam vel collum pro quolibet et quolibet mense S. unum et D. VI.164
Ten years later the syllabus was much the same, except that latinum minusculum was no longer mentioned as the lowest level of learning Latin: a facientibus latinum maius vel mediocre pro quolibet mense—S. quactuor; a facientibus latinum minus pro quolibet mense—S. tres; a legentibus donatum, salterium vel libricciolum pro quolibet mense— S. duos; a legentibus cartam, tabulam vel collum pro quolibet mense—S. unum D. sex.165
161
ASS Colle 84, fol. 45v–46r. ASS Colle 94, fol. lxviii recto–verso; see also fol. li recto (above p. 56) and lviii verso–lviiii recto for other versions of the same syllabus. 163 Lucchi (1978), p. 599. 164 ASS Colle 97, fol. ci recto. 165 ASS Colle 106, fol. lxxxxii verso–lxxxxiii recto. 162
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In 1381, there was a more extensive alteration to the organization of the syllabus within the communal school. The lowest level was now the carta followed by the salterium (with quaternum given as a synonym); Donatus (Ianua) was now to be read in two ways—rst testualiter (phonetically), then sensualiter (with meaning and by memory); nally all the latinantes were placed together in one level: a a a a a
legente cartam ____ S. decem in totum; legente quaternum sive salterium _____S. viginti in totum; legente donatum testualiter _______S. quadraginta in totum; legente donatum sensualiter ______S. quinquaginta in totum; latinantibus ______unum orenum auri in anno.166
For Colle, there are two well known fourteenth-century illustrations of the literary side of the school grammar syllabus. In 1382, the public grammar teacher in Colle, Maestro Nofri di Giovanni da Poggitazzi (near Terranuova Bracciolini), so it was reported, leggie Vergilio, Lucano et tucti altori, rector[ic]a et anche lo Dante, a chi volesse udirlo.167
‘All the authors’ refers possibly to the whole cycle of minor, as well as major, authors: it is likely that Nofri taught a minor text, the pseudoBoethian De disciplina scolarium, at Siena in 1416.168 Rhetoric was frequently linked to the grammar syllabus, and there are many Tuscan examples of teachers appointed to teach both subjects.169 By the late fourteenth century, Dante had reached the status of an ‘auctor’; Nofri’s lecturing on the Divine Comedy is an early examples of lectura Dantis in Tuscany, possibly here inspired by Boccaccio’s recent course of lectures on the same texts at the Florentine Studio.170
166
ASS Colle 121, fol. lxiii verso–lxiiii recto. Bacci (1895), p. 89. 168 BML Pl. 38.8, fol. 17v, 89r: see Black (2001), p. 228 and n. 277. 169 Pistoia: Zanelli (1900), pp. 31, 43, 115, 118, 121, 122, 124, 128, 132–33, 141. Volterra: Battistini (1919), pp. 10, 83, 85, 86, 88, 96; Battistini (1929), p. 87. Siena: Cecchini and Prunai (1942): pp. 24–25, 100–103, 111–112, 115; Zdekauer (1894), pp. 15–16, 27; Rossi (1898), pp. 13, 21–22; Prunai (1950), p. 49; Marletta (1940), pp. 869–87; Marletta (1942), p. 519; De Feo Corso (1940), p. 202; Bacci (1895), p. 89. Florence: Spagnesi (1979), pp. 152–53, 182, 204, 219, 222, 231, 241; Verde (1973–1995), II, pp. 492–99; ‘sub Zomeno Pistoriensi praeceptore nostro gramaticam atque rhetoricam adcuratissime novit’ (Leonardo Dati on Matteo Palmieri: Zaccagnini [1900b], p. 222). 170 Gherardi (1881), pp. 344–45. 167
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From 1393 to 1395 (see Appendix 4) and 1402 to 1403,171 another Nofri, this time Don Nofri di Angelo Coppi da S. Gimignano, was public grammar master in Colle, where a schoolbook signed by him in 1394 (Berlin Staatsbibliothek Hamilton 101), containing Persius, Geoffrey of Vinsauf ’s Poetria nova and Boethius’s Consolation, reects his classroom practices.172 He was then preparing glosses to a text of Ovid’s Metamorphoses (BML Pl. 36.16); he undertook this project in at least two phases, one completed in 1398, the other in 1403.173 The simple interlinear paraphrases, the philological marginalia (mainly paraphrase, explication) and allegories in which each transformation is narrated and interpreted in all probability related directly to Nofri di Angelo’s work in the classroom, and at least partly in Colle (in the decade between 1393 and 1403, he also taught in S. Gimignano and S. Miniato).174 Nofri copied the prose and verse mythologies composed by Giovanni del Virgilio for every transformation in the rst seven books of the text and placed them at the foot of the relevant page.175 The del Virgilian allegories provided a fecund source for schoolmasters in the fourteenth and fteenth centuries.176 The teaching of classical authors at school in Colle continued in the fteenth century, as is illustrated by the example of Benedetto di Coluccio Fetti (usually known as Benedetto Colucci), who taught grammar publicly there from 1469 to 1473.177 He began a lecture course on Vergil at Colle on 30th April 1473, delivering a prolusion (Oratio ante lectionem Vergilii) in which he argued that Vergil and Cicero represented the culmination of Roman literature and civilization. Colucci thus highlighted the position that these two authors had achieved at the very summit of the school curriculum during the fteenth century.178
171
ASS Colle 137, fol. 58r–v; 332, fol. 66r. de Angelis (1984), pp. 127–29. 173 de Angelis (1984), p. 128 n. 44. 174 Black (2001), pp. 207–208; Appendix 4 below. 175 Ghisalberti (1931), pp. 41–42; de Angelis (1984); Alessio (1981); Black (2001), p. 326. 176 Black (2001), p. 326. 177 ASS Colle 163, fol. 31r; 347, fol. 36r, 57v, 95r, 157r, 221v, 229v–232r, 322r–324r, 328v–329r. 178 Chiti (1900), pp. 90–91; Frugoni (1939), pp. 57–60; DBI vol. 27, s.v. Colucci, Benedetto, p. 496; Fioravanti (1987), p. 232 and n. 28. 172
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Volterra In Volterra, the shape of the school curriculum rst emerges in 1352. The highest level was for pupils well advanced in Latin composition ( facientes latinum); below this were those who evidently had not yet reached this standard ( facientes ab inde); the lowest level were those who were still learning to read but not yet composing in Latin (legentes): a dictis suis scolaribus sit licitum [. . .] accipere et habere [. . .] anno quolibet: ab facientibus latinum libras tres denariorum; ab facientibus ab inde, pro quolibet dictorum scolarium ab inde, solidos XL et non ultra, et [ab] legentibus ab inde in solidos quadraginta denariorum pro quolibet anno pro quolibet scolare.179
In 1364, there was a distinction only between pupils who were and were not learning to write in Latin, without suggesting the various levels of lactinare; but now it was suggested that the grammar teacher was also giving instruction in notarial studies and rhetoric: a non latinantibus in anno ussque in S. XXX pro quolibet, a latinantibus ussque in tres libras de(nariorum) quolibet in anno, ab illis vero qui vellent notariam vel rectoricham audire salarium congruens recipietis [ms.: recipientis] ut pepigeritis cum eisdem.180
In 1367, the syllabus was described in more detail: there were now three levels for pupils learning Latin composition (latinum minus, mediocre et maius), corresponding exactly to those already encountered at Colle in the 1330s (see above pp. 79–80); again, these grades were the same as those into which Francesco da Buti divided his own Latin curriculum at this time (see below pp. 88–89); once more, grammar is equated with Latin, grammar pupils being distinguished from scolaribus non latinantibus: a quibus scolaribus salaria percipere poteritis infradicta, videlicet a quolibet discente gramaticam et fatiente latinum minus S. XXV pro anno, et a quocumque latinum mediocre acceptante S. XXX pro anno, et a quolibet in latino se gerente maiori S. XL pro anno, et a cumbante in scolis quocumque tres libras den. anno quolibet et non ultra, ab omnibus autem scolaribus non latinantibus S. XX pro quolibet ipsorum anno.181
179
Battistini (1919), p. 84 (transcription corrected). Volterra Biblioteca Guarnacci Manoscritti 5706 lza 38 n. 8 (published [inaccurately] by Battistini [1919], p. 86). 181 Volterra Biblioteca Guarnacci Manoscritti 5706 lza 38 n. 14 (published [inaccurately] by Battistini [1919], p. 87). 180
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In 1369, the level ‘latinum minus’ no longer appeared: licebit [. . .] capere salaria subnotata non ultra videlicet a quolibet adiscente gramaticam et faciente latinum mediocre soldos triginta, a quolibet maius componente latinum soldos quadraginta et a quolibet dormiente in scolis soldos sexaginta; a quolibet non latinante soldos viginti in anno [. . .]182
But in 1371, the complete list of levels and fees was recorded: Ab adiscente gramaticham et faciente latinum solidos XL denariorum in anno. A faciente latinum mediocre solidos XXX in anno. A faciente latinum minus solidos XXV in anno. A quolibet alio addiscente qui non latiniççaret solidos XX in anno. Salvo quod a quolibet in scholis cu[m]bante loco salarii supratassati percipere potestis libras tres denariorum in anno.183
In 1395, the rst specic text was mentioned in an outline of the curriculum: Donatus (Ianua) was the hurdle that had to be jumped between the lowest and the middle grade. A latinantibus orenum unum pro quolibet in dicto anno; a legentibus donatum solidos quinquaginta pro quolibet in dicto anno; et a legentibus a donato infra solidos quadraginta pro quolibet in dicto anno [. . .]184
In August 1427, more school texts are mentioned: carta, salterium and donatellus (for donatus), while minus and mediocre now become latinum primum and secundum: Pro quolibet Pro quolibet Pro quolibet Pro quolibet anno.185
puero legente psalterium et cartam: S. XXX. legente donatum: S. XL. promoto ad primum et secundum latinum: S. LX. ad alia latina post secundum latinum: lib. IIII S. 0 D. 0 in
In October of the same year, reading the alphabet sheet became a separate level, while latinum tertium (evidently meaning latinum maius) was now mentioned explicitly: A scolaribus legentibus cartam: nichil. A legentibus psalterium: lib. 1, S. X, D. 0. A legentibus donatellum: lib. 2, S. 0.
182 Battistini (1919), p. 88 (corrected). Here it is claried that ‘accumbante’ means ‘dormiente’. 183 Battistini (1919), p. 91 (corrected). 184 Battistini (1919), p. 100. 185 ACV A nera 36 I, fol. 65r.
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A latinantibus in latino primo et secundo latino: L. 3, S. 0. A latinantibus in latino tertio et abinde supra: L. IIII pro quolibet.186
There is no further mention of the syllabus’s structure until 1494, when a curriculum is laid down for the teacher of younger pupils (called now preceptor minorum instead of doctor puerorum, the more common terminology before the fteenth century): quod teneatur docere tabulam, psalterium, Donatum, licteras et concordantia et non ulterius.187
Agreement of nouns (concordantiae) was the rst topic in the secondary theoretical grammar syllabus (see e.g. Francesco da Buti’s curriculum below p. 88), and it was felt that the teacher of the reading syllabus should not venture further; indeed, it was specically stated that he must give up his nine current Latin pupils: quod novem latinantes quos habet intelligantur licentiati ab eo.188
In fact, Francesco da Buti’s textbook was used in Volterra’s communal grammar school. Maestro Benaccio di Francesco da Poppi was Volterra’s grammar master from 1405 to 1411189 and then again from 1417 until his death in 1426,190 when he was then succeeded by Maestro Taddeo di Ser Niccolò da Pescia.191 Both teachers had a pupil called Giovanni di Piero da Volterra, who successively wrote his ex libris in a copy of Francesco da Buti’s secondary grammar, calling it Regule pisane: (fol. II r) Iste liber est mei Giovannes Petri in iscola Magistri Bonacci: Regule pisane. (fol. 64v) Iste liber est mei Giovanni Petri de Vulterri<s> in iscola Magistri Bonacci. (fol. III r) Iste liber est mei Iovannis de Vulterris in scola Magistri Taddei de Piscia.192
186 ACV A nera 36 III, fol. 199r–v. Published (more or less accurately by Battistini (1919), p. 35 n. 48. 187 ACV A nera 57, fol. 123r. 188 ACV A nera 57, fol. 123r. 189 ACV A nera 30, fol. 155v–156r, 201r–v. A nera 31 II, fol. 5v, 26r; III, vol. 5v, 23v; IV, fol. 3r, 33r, 70r, 95v, 110v, 139r; V fol. 11v; VI, fol. 5v; VII, fol. 3r. A nera 32 I, fol. 8v, 115v, 147r; IV, fol. 4r, 21r. See Battistini (1919), pp. 14–15, 34. 190 ACV A nera 33 III, fol. 101r, 105r; IV, fol. 18r. A nera 34 II, fol. 48v, 58v, 132v, 177r. A nera 35 II, fol. 88v. A nera 36 I, fol. 52r, 96v, 101v, 114r, 121v, 151v–152r. See Battistini (1919), pp. 15, 34. 191 ACV A nera 36 I, fol. 168r–v. See Battistini (1919), pp. 15, 34. 192 BML Mediceo Palatino 64.
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There is not only evidence of the reading and secondary theoretical grammar curriculum in Volterra; Maestro Benaccio da Poppi also taught the Latin classics in his Volterran school, as is clear from the ex libris in a manuscript of Persius’s Satires, now preserved in Volterra’s civic library: Iste liber est mei Iohannis Michaelis de civitate Vulterre manentis in schola mag. Benacci de Casentino.193
Another school text of a classical Latin text also has a possible link to Volterra. A version of Ovid’s Remedia amoris and letter from Sappho (BRF 605, fol. 48r–63r) and datable to the second half of the century, was the work of its owner, ‘Ser Ieronimi Antonii de Guernacciis plebanus [sic] Saxe’ (fol. 67r), who may possibly have worked as a teacher perhaps in Volterra, given that Sassa is a village in the diocese of Volterra and the book later passed into the possession of ‘Alesandri Benedicti de Richobaldis de Vulterris’ (fol. 67r), ‘Domini Ioanis Batiste Vulterani Contugii’ and the latter’s brother ‘Karoli de Vechiano’ (fol. 75r).194 The grammar syllabus culminated in an introduction to rhetoric, and at Volterra practice in eloquence enjoyed a special place. Manuscript BRF 974 contains six speeches dated between 1498 and 1500 and attributable to Maestro Orlando Primerani da S. Gimignano, who taught grammar in Volterra in that period,195 composed for delivery by pupils on special school holidays, particularly All Saints’ and St Catherine of Alexandria’s Day. A poem in the same manuscript is written ‘ex arce Veltraria’, and the manuscript provides the names of the boys who delivered them, four coming from prominent Volterran families (Riccobaldi, Gherarducci, Incontri and Barlettani). Orlando apparently composed these as ceremonial speeches, celebrating not only the religious occasion but also his effective teaching.196 The speeches are laced with quotations from classical authors, including Quintilian, Valerius Maximus, Cicero, Vergil and the younger Seneca;197 the inclusion of a reference to Statius’s Sylvae,198 a work discovered by Poggio and put in the scholarly limelight by Poliziano, reveals Orlando’s 193 Volterra Biblioteca Guarnacci Manoscritti 240, fol. 13v, as cited by Battistini (1919), p. 34 n. 40. 194 See Black (2001), 133, 163, 250–51, 259, 261, 418. 195 Battistini (1919), p. 21. He had also served in Volterra in the same capacity from 1482 to 1491: Battistini (1919), p. 19. 196 Hunt (1991), including an edition of the speeches, pp. 77–88. 197 Hunt (1991), pp. 77, 78, 81, 82. 198 Hunt (1991), p. 85.
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efforts to bring his school into line with the latest Florentine scholarly fashions. Pisa The chaotic and fragmentary state of Pisa’s archival material before the end of the fteenth century has meant that no documentary evidence regarding the school curriculum has survived before 1500. Nevertheless, the secondary grammar curriculum current in Pisa during the fourteenth century is revealed by the city’s most famous teacher, Francesco di Bartolo da Buti, who is documented as teaching grammar there in 1355, 1363, 1370–79, 1385, 1399 and 1405.199 Francesco’s own Regule grammaticales were written during his earlier teaching career in Pisa: they formed a trio with his Regule retorice and De epistolari dictamine, and in this last work, a model letter is addressed to Emperor Charles, indicating that all three works were written during the reign of Charles IV (1355–78).200 Francesco’s Regule continued to be used in Pisa during the fteenth century: a copy of the text, Florence Biblioteca Moreniana Palagi 240, datable to the end of the fourteenth century and originating in Siena,201 belonged to a member of the Florentine Corsi family studying in Pisa during the later fteenth century, possibly in connection with the reopened university there.202 Francesco da Buti’s Regule grammaticales was the most widely circulated203 and important secondary204 grammar manual of the fourteenth century. The textbook treats the following broad topics:
199 Silva (1918), pp. 486–491; Luzzato and Casini (1946), pp. 9–13; ASP Div. A, 38 fasc. 4, fol. 2r–v, 25r (other copies of appointment documents from 1371 and 1372). 200 Alessio (1981), p. 87 n. 68. 201 Written on reused Sienese notarial parchment from the mid-XIVc. (5r: civis Senarum notarius, 8v: civitatis Senarum, 19r: 1364, 23r: 1348, 50v: de Senis 1342). 202 Inside rear cover: Queste reghole sono pi<s>an<e> e sono di Francesco orsi in Pisa. Franceschini (2003), pp. 58, 85 writes, ‘non escluderei però che la nota, molta evanita, si riferisca piuttosto che al possessore all’autore: Queste reghole sono pisane e sono di Francescho Buity di Pisa.’ I have re-examined the manuscript closely under ultraviolet light, and I am certain that this reading is impossible. The initial letter of the third word from last is no longer legible, but there follows a certain ‘o’, an almost certain ‘r’ and a likely ‘si’; thereafter the ‘in’ seems clear. Both ‘Buyti’ and ‘di’ are forced. Moreover, the text, as proposed by Franceschini, would have a clumsy repetition: ‘pisane’ and ‘di Pisa’. 203 On the manuscripts of Francesco’s grammar, now see Franceschini (2003). 204 On Francesco’s status as a secondary grammar text for schoolboys, see Black (2001), pp. 98–99, n. 211.
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chapter two Preface Nouns: accidence and concordance Verbs: construction Nouns: irregular and heteroclyte, derivative, adjectival, governance, comparative, superlative, partitive, numerical, interrogative, relative, innitive, distributive, verbal Verbs: irregular formations, meanings, derivatives, compounds Participles: denition, formation, meaning, governance, construction Pronouns: denition, formation, accidence, construction Conjunctions: denition, classication, construction Figures: denition, classication, construction.
On the one hand, the Regule represent the culmination of Italian secondary traditions going back to the thirteenth century. Like the prose summe of the Duecento, Francesco made extensive use of mnemonic verses,205 and his grammatical terminology is thoroughly traditional, reecting the roots of the Italian tradition in the Parisian schools of the twelfth century: suppositum, a parte post, a parte ante, regere, determinari, ex natura206 is the vocabulary constantly encountered in Francesco’s textbook. On the other hand, Francesco’s work also reects the more systematic approach now characteristic of the fourteenth century: he turned away decisively from the disordered presentation typical of thirteenth-century prose summe. The principle of organization adopted by Francesco was not topical but rather educational: material was presented in what he considered to be the order of progressive difculty. This teaching structure is embodied in the sections of the text, which is divided into three overall levels (minor, middle and major), with the rst stage of latinum minus further subdivided into four forms: Latinum minus Prima banca Secunda banca Tertia banca Quarta banca Latinum mediocre
205
Accidence and concordance of nouns Verbal construction: active and passive Verbal construction: neuter and common Verbal construcion: deponent and impersonal (beginning) Verbal construction: impersonal (end) Gerunds, supines and defective verbs Nouns: irregular and heteroclyte, derivative,
E.g. BRF 674, fol. 1v, 2r, 3r, 5r, 6v, 9r, 9v, 10v–11r, 12r, 12v, 15v, 16r etc. Appositum, in contrast to the other terms, seems to have been relatively rare in Francesco’s grammatical vocabulary: for one appearance, see OBL Lat.misc.e.52, fol. 66r–v. 206
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adjectival, governance, comparative, superlative, partitive, numerical, interrogative, relative, innitive, distributive, verbal Verbs: irregular formations, meanings, derivatives, compounds Participles: denition, formation, meaning, governance, construction Pronouns: denition, formation, accidence, construction Conjunctions: denition, classication, construction Figures: denition, classication, emphasis on construction.207
Latinum maiorum
Found as it is in several manuscripts,208 this structure probably goes back to the original version of the text and apparently reects how Francesco organized his own school. Another aspect of the systematic approach taken by Trecento grammar masters is the treatment of verbal syntax found in Francesco’s Regule. The syntactical behaviour of verbs is his chosen theme: he wants to provide his pupils with a series of simple formulae for Latin construction; Francesco’s typology of verbal syntax can be exemplied in tabular form:209 post se
amo, diligo etc. emo, estimo etc. do, facio etc. agito, posco etc. vacuo, allevio etc.
Passive verbs
ablative (with a or ab) ablative (with a or ab) + genitive ablative (with a or ab) + dative ablative (with a or ab) + accusative ablative (with a or ab) + ablative
amor, diligor etc. vendor, emor etc. dicor, narror etc. agitor, poscor etc. vacuor, impleor etc.
207
Black (2001), pp. 100–101. E.g. OBL Lat.misc.e.52: (fol. 3r) Expliciunt regule nominum pertinentes ad scolares de prima. See fol. 7r, 9v, 13r, 15r, 69v. BRF 674: (fol. 14r) Expliciunt regule tertie bance. Incipiunt regule quarte bance. See fol. 16v. Florence Biblioteca Moreniana Palagi 240: (fol. 2r) Expliciunt regule nominum pertinentium ad scolares de prima bancha. See also fol. 12v, 14v. BML Antinori 99: (fol. 12r) Incipiunt regule mediocres. 209 OBL Lat.misc.e.52, fol. 4r–7r. 208
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With this tabular presentation, Trecento grammarians such as Francesco da Buti had arrived at a simple formulaic method of teaching Latin syntax: all that was required of the pupil was to nd the correct verbal class and then the construction of the verb with the appropriate oblique cases would follow a set pattern. Another new direction taken by Trecento school-level grammarians and typied by Francesco da Buti was a predominant concern with Latin construction. In Francesco’s Regule, syntax permeated every section of the work, becoming the unifying theme of the treatise as a whole. It is perhaps not surprising that Francesco da Buti’s rst stage (latinum minus) should thus be focused on construction, given that its central theme is the syntactical behaviour of verbs. But the middle level (latinum mediocre) of his secondary grammar course is for the most part concerned with exceptional noun and verb types. Here too Francesco continually introduces problems of syntax, which is thereby revealed once again as the over-arching theme of his treatise. In dealing with defective nouns, for example, his concern is to demonstrate how to take account of their missing forms in constructing sentences. This process of Latin prose composition was called ‘giving a theme’: the aspect of this exercise involving translation from the vernacular into Latin will be considered below (pp. 92–93); for the moment it is important to emphasize how many subclasses of defective nouns are treated by Francesco in terms of the syntactical problems raised.210 The remaining treatment of nouns in Latinum mediocre continues to be focused on construction. Verbal syntax had already been thoroughly covered in latinum minus and so the focus in latinum mediocre is on individual verbal forms (and particularly on irregular and defective verbs and their meanings, formation, derivatives and compounds);211 even here Francesco manages to return to his favoured theme of syntax, treating verbal governance in all cases.212 Francesco’s handling of the last two topics of latinum mediocre (participles213 and pronouns214) also reveal his preoccupation with syntax: here he was particularly concerned with problems of thematic construction, particularly arising from Latin’s
shortage of participial types (e.g. active past participle).215 Finally, in discussing pronouns Francesco da Buti’s continued interest is apparent in the syntactical direction in which he steers his treatment. Thus, when discussing the pronoun istic, which is defective in all plural forms except the neuter and accusative, Francesco offers a syntactical solution to problems of Latin composition.216 In the two topics covered in the last part of Francesco da Buti’s secondary Latin course (latinum maiorum), one encounters the usual syntactical vocabulary, such as suppositum,217 regere 218 or a parte post,219 in his discussion of conjunctions. Indeed, it is particularly revealing of the syntactical direction taken in secondary grammar by the Regule that Francesco da Buti limits his discussion to the gures of construction alone.220 It is obvious that Francesco da Buti’s highly selective, organized approach was intended to make the Latin language and especially Latin prose composition—his favoured teaching activity—accessible to a widening circle of school children. Ever greater efforts were made in the Italian Trecento Latin classroom to reach out to the growing numbers of literate pupils; teachers were no longer willing just to make Latin available but now strove to bring it down to the level of the children themselves. The most important way in which a master such as Francesco da Buti popularized Latin was to use the vernacular as a learning aid, introducing it into the teaching of grammar and prose composition. Thus secondary treatises included Latin/vernacular lists of verbs illustrating the classes of verbal constructions. Francesco da Buti used this technique in the Regule grammaticales, for example, for teaching irregular Latin nouns. He divided these into groups according to their type of irregularity, which he rst discussed in general terms and then exemplied by a list of nouns with vernacular equivalents.221 He
215
OBL Lat.misc.e.52, fol. 66r–68v. OBL Lat.misc.e.52, fol. 69r: Et quando datur thema per casus quibus carent debemus recurrere ad participium ens et adverbium istic ut, eo amo costeto homine, ego amo hominem entem [ms.: entes] istic. 217 OBL Lat.misc.e.52, fol. 70r. 218 OBL Lat.misc.e.52, fol. 70r, 70v. 219 OBL Lat.misc.e.52, fol. 70v. 220 OBL Lat.misc.e.52, fol. 74r: Nota quod gure constructionis [. . .] sunt quinque, scilicet prolemsis silemsis zeuma sintosis et antithosis, de quibus solum in isto tractatu est videndum obmissis aliis de quibus non est intentio. 221 OBL Lat.misc.e.52, fol. 15r–v. Nota quod sunt quedam nomina masculini generis que non declinantur in plurali numero, que in hiis versibus continentur, scilicet: 216
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then proceeded to give twenty-one lists of this type for other irregular nouns,222 and he adopted the same kind of presentation for irregular verbs, rst discussing the irregularity and then giving a series of nine lists with vernacular equivalents.223 Francesco’s use of the vernacular went yet further, illustrating various syntactical points by reference to vernacular sentences which were then provided with Latin translations. This reects the schoolroom practice of themata, which were vernacular passages assigned to pupils for Latin translation. The concept of the theme is rst introduced without vernacular phrases at the rst level of his school (latinum minus) when he discusses potential problems for translation raised by common verbs (i.e. those with both active and passive meanings).224 He introduces actual phrases to translate under deponent verbs, the next verbal category of latinum minus,225 giving four modes for thematic translation of deponent verbs.226 He mentions more potential problems of translation in the rest of his treatment of verbal syntax, for example when discussing neutral passives (i.e. verbs with active forms but passive meanings)227 or impersonal verbs.228 One such problem comes when explaining how to translate the past tense of certain verbs lacking a preterite.229 But the most intensive use of the vernacular in treating problems of Latin composition comes at Francesco’s second level (latinum mediocre). Here he introduces themes for the translation of nouns lacking Latin plurals230 or for other problematic vernacular nouns.231 At this level themes are brought into the discussion of superlatives,232 as well as numerals,233
Cum fumo mus cum pulvere limus Aer sal pontus cum mundus viscus et ether. Nominativo hic fumus, genitivo huius fumi lu fummo Nominativo hic mus, genitivo huius mi lo lutame Nominativo hic sanguis, huius sanguis lo sangue [. . .] 222 OBL Lat.misc.e.52, fol. 15v–24v. 223 OBL Lat.misc.e.52, fol. 54v–63v. 224 OBL Lat.misc.e.52, fol. 9r. 225 OBL Lat.misc.e.52, fol. 9v. 226 BRF 674, fol. 10r. 227 OBL Lat.misc.e.52, fol. 13v. 228 OBL Lat.misc.e.52, fol. 13v. 229 OBL Lat.misc.e.52, fol. 16r–v. 230 OBL Lat.misc.e.52, fol. 17r–v. 231 OBL Lat.misc.e.52, fol. 16r. 232 OBL Lat.misc.e.52, fol. 37v. 233 OBL Lat.misc.e.52, fol. 42v.
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verbal nouns,234 and verbs,235 but thematic translation is a particular preoccupation for comparatives236 and participles.237 By the fourteenth century it seems that introductory rhetoric had come to represent a normal complement to the secondary grammar syllabus—a pattern that is suggested by a number of manuscripts containing Francesco da Buti’s Regule grammaticales. In these copies Francesco’s secondary grammar is followed by a set of Regule rethorice,238 a work intended by Francesco for school use, as is clear from the preface, where he distinguishes between his textbook for children (rudes) and complete dictamen treatises by learned authorities.239 Francesco chose his words carefully here: when speaking in terms of compilation and omission, he was implying that he had taken this text from fuller treatises on rhetoric and dictamen, and in fact his Regule rhetorice offer almost entirely an abbreviated version of Rhetorica ad Herennium’s fourth book. Thus, Francesco states that his aim is to provide a guide to polished prose composition (exquisitum dictamen), which is achieved by three means: elegance, arrangement and appropriate ornament (elegantia, compositio, ornatus).240 Here he is summarizing the formulation in Rhetorica ad Herennium, IV.17. Francesco devotes no more than a few lines to elegance, which he denes as purity of Latin and clarity of explanation, again a repetition of Rhetorica ad Herennium, IV.17,241 and he then quickly moves through his second topic, compositio, which consists of a brief discussion of phrases, sentences, clauses and their punctuation
234
OBL Lat.misc.e.52, fol. 53v. OBL Lat.misc.e.52, fol. 58v. 236 OBL Lat.misc.e.52, fol. 30r, 35v. Thematic translation is recurrent technique in the intervening folios. 237 OBL Lat.misc.e.52, fol. 66r; see also 68r. For some textual extracts from Francesco featuring thematic translation, cf. Black (1996b), pp. 729–730. 238 Alessio (1981), 87, n. 67, lists eight mss. giving Regule rethorice as appendix to his Regule grammaticales. I read the text in BRF 874, fol. 123v–138v, and OBL Lat.misc.e. 52, fol. 82r ff. 239 OBL Lat.misc.e. 52, fol. 82r: Quoniam facultas recthorice sine arte potest difcillime edoceri, igitur ad eius doctrinam et artem penitus capescendam quedam introductoria sub breviloquio compilemus, obmissis aliis que ad erudiendum rudes minime necessaria reputamus, cum ea querentibus per documenta doctorum illustrium pateant. Cf. BRF 874, fol. 123v. 240 OBL Lat.misc.e. 52, fol. 82r: Sciendum est quod tria in omni exquisito dictamine requiruntur, scilicet elegantia, compositio et ornatus. Cf. BRF 874, fol. 123v. 241 OBL Lat.misc.e. 52, fol. 82r. Cf. BRF 874, fol. 123v–124r. 235
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as well as cadential rhythm (cursus).242 The treatment here is again summarial, and similarly cursory and conventional is Francesco’s short paragraph on stylistic faults, repeating the classic passage in Rhetorica ad Herennium (IV.18).243 The longest section of Francesco’s Regule rhetorice is his treatment of rhetorical colours,244 which, echoing Rhetorica ad Herennium, he denes in terms of style.245 Once again it is no surprise to discover that this entire section is taken from Rhetorica ad Herennium: for example, the rst colour, repetitio, is handled accordingly.246 Rhetorica ad Herennium similarly provides the source from which Francesco extracts the rest of his treatment of rhetorical colours.247 In several manuscripts, his Regule rhetorice are followed by a Tractatus epistolarum,248 a work similarly intended for school pupils, as is clear once more from the preface.249 This text offers a standard but relatively brief treatment of the parts of the letter according to the medieval doctrine of dictamen, concentrating, as was usual, primarily on the rst two sections, that is, the salutation and the exordium, and giving only a brief mention to the narration, the petition and the conclusion.250 Francesco da Buti’s treatment of rhetoric and epistolography is thus almost entirely derivative, representing compendia of existing theoretical material,
242
OBL Lat.misc.e. 52, fol. 82v–83r. Cf. OBL Lat.misc.e. 52, fol. 83v. 244 OBL Lat.misc.e. 52, fol. 83v–88r. 245 Francesco da Buti, OBL Lat.misc.e. 52, fol. 83v: dignitas est enim que orationem exornat et pulcra varietate distinguit. Hec enim in verborum et sententiarum exornationes distinguitur. Verborum exornatio est que in ipsius sermonis insignita verborum continetur perpolicione. Sententiarum exornatio est que non in verbis sed in ipsis rebus quandam habet dignitatatem. Cf. Rhetorica ad Herennium, IV.18. 246 Francesco da Buti, OBL Lat.misc.e. 52, fol. 83v: Repetitio enim est cum ab eodem verbo continenter in rebus similibus et diversis principia sumuntur hoc modo: vobis istud actribuendum est, vobis gratia est habenda, vobis res ista est honori. Cf. Rhetorica ad Herennium, IV.19. 247 Cf. OBL Lat.misc.e. 52, fol. 83v–88r and Rhetorica ad Herennium, IV.19–68. 248 OBL Lat.misc.e. 52, fol. 88r–96v; BRF 674, fol. 138v ff. (fragmentary at end). 249 OBL Lat.misc.e. 52, fol. 92r: Quoniam dictamen tripliciter dividitur, nam aliud prosaicum, aliud rictimimicum et aliud metricum, et prosaicum quatrupliter dividitur, scilicet in istorias, privilegiam, contractus et epistolas, cum hec omnia explanamenta requirent non parva temporis quantitatis, solum de epistolari dictamini presentis intentionis est utilitati rudium. Cf. BRF 674, fol. 138v. 250 E.g. Guido Fava’s treatment of the salutatio is eight times the total length of his discussion of the exordium, narratio and petitio, while the latter two are handled in a single paragraph; he does not even mention the conclusio: see Faulhaber (1978), pp. 94–98. According to Banker (1974), p. 161, commentators were most interested in Giovanni di Bonandrea’s treatment of the salutatio and exordium. 243
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mainly from Rhetorica ad Herennium. Abbreviation represents the main way in which these works have been adapted to the particular needs of school pupils, and so it is not surprising to nd that, in comparison with his widely diffused and inuential Regule grammaticales, Francesco da Buti’s rhetorical and epistolary rules enjoyed a more limited circulation.251 Although they may not be as revealing of general Italian and Tuscan practice as his grammar rules, his school-level rhetorical and epistolary treatises still provide a window onto Francesco’s practice in his Pisan school. Francesco da Buti’s three school-level treatises contain no citations of the Latin literary classics and so offer no insight into how they were taught in Pisa; it is necessary to turn to surviving manuscript schoolbooks to document the use of the minor and major authors in the Pisan classroom. With regard to the auctores minores, a copy of Prosper of Aquitaine’s Epigrams, datable to the second half of the fourteenth century (BML Pl. 91 sup. 38), includes the following vernacular prayer in the copyist’s hand, connecting its production to Pisa: (fol. 23v) Vergine madre glia del tu’ glio, guarda Pisa tua e me in buona pace, e qual si governa socto il mio artiglio, e se ci avesse alcum pensier fallace, provedi si ne l’eterno consiglio, che laude n’abia il tu’ gliuol verace.
The manuscript contains a small quantity of vernacular interlinear glossing in a contemporaneous hand, typical of classroom use; there are also childish drawings of animals (fol. 12r). As far as the major authors are concerned, a copy of Sallust (BML Ashb. 20) dating from the mid-thirteenth century is particularly interesting for its extensive vernacular interlinear lexical glosses, which not only suggest a west Tuscan provenance but also a notably modest academic level;252 the copyist, who was responsible for these interlinear annotations as well as numerous word-order marks, also left a simple philological commentary in the margins; his glossing of mare nostrum as pisani maris (fol. 24r) and nostro mari as pisano (fol. 24v) suggests a link with Pisa.
251
For manuscripts, see above n. 93. (fol. 21r) ut = siché; (23r) scelestos = scominicati, facciosios = discordiosi; (23v) factiones = per discordie; (27v) casum = avengemento; (28r) conscientia delicti = per la consacensa de peccato, lege = la lege; (29v) socordia = pigricia; (32r) descordie; (33v) usança; (34r) dissensio = departimento; (35r) sollicitudinis = rancure, probra = decorosa; (35v) villanesco, intemeroso; (36v) in alteça vel in alto; (39r) obsides = ostadici; (41v) cavallaresca battaia. 252
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A copy of the Aeneid, dating from the end of the thirteenth century (BML Pl. 39.5), which is codicologically to be linked with Pisa,253 is substantially glossed by a hand contemporaneous with that of the copyist; the copyist’s own glosses are typical school fare, including wordorder marks (e.g. fol. 14v) and simple lexical paraphrase (e.g. fol. 20v), besides simple philological marginalia, including basic secondary-level grammar (e.g. fol. 4v). Finally, a fourteenth-century fragment of the Aeneid X.163–180 (BNCF Pal. 669), which has a citation of Servius’s commentary in line 167,254 seems to be based on a school-level manuscript, to judge from the simplicity of its interlinear glossing;255 in general the commentary (simple philology, obvious paraphrase, basic grammar) looks copied from a schoolbook. The association of the manuscript with Pisa comes from the fact that the passage was copied into a chronicle of the city, dealing as it does with Pisa’s origins (v. 179: ‘Hos parere iubent Alfea ab origine Pise’). Several schoolbooks were owned by families from Pisa, as revealed in the inventories of pupilli from 1471 to 1500: Figli di Checco di Rinieri di Pietro degli Orlandi da Pisa, casa in Pisa (27.1.1475)
‘1º Donatello da fanciulli’
Figli di Antonio di Lupardo da Vecchiano da Pisa, casa di Pisa dove abitano (22.7.1475)
‘1º libro [. . .] detto Dottrinale’
Figli di Lorenzo di Gasparino di Filippo Ubaldini, speziale di Pisa, abitazione di Pisa (3.3.1480)
‘Uno Donadello da fanciugli’256
253
This is the opinion of Gabriella Pomaro. Fol. 2r: Cosa secundum Servium civitas Tuscie Cosas civitas Cusciae quae numero dicitur fuit et deberet declinari hec cosa, -e singulari Cf. Servius, Rome, ca. 1470 [IGI 8947, Hain *14704, BCNF shelf mark: B.1.7], fol. 278v. 255 E.g. fol. 2r: pandite = aperite et manifestate, manus = id est acies, rates = id est naves, una = id est simul, insignibus = id est nobilibus. 256 Verde (1987), pp. 62, 64, 93. 254
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A Pisan bookseller’s inventory, compiled on 24 October 1488,257 revealed the following numbers of schoolbooks in stock: Regole di Sepontino Salteri più carte legate insieme da salteri e Donati di papiro l’Egançuoli d’Agostino Dati un paio di regole di Sipontino legate Donati legati Regole di Guerrino legati Salteri legati Donati legati di carta bambagina legato uno di carte vechie, buone per salteri tavole da leggere per fanciugli di carte buone
no 2 no 38 no no no no no no no no
3 1 4 4 5 1 1 6
The abacus curriculum current in Pisa during the fteenth century is revealed by Cristofano di Gherardo di Dino’s syllabus, placed at the front of his abacus treatise (see above pp. 53–54), where he states: Questo è la forma e ‘l modo a insegniare l’anbaco al modo di Pisa,258
and, indeed, his curriculum differs from the Florentine syllabus of Francesco Galigai, as has been noted above (pp. 53–54), in Cristofano’s greater emphasis on the commercial applications of arithmetic skills at the end of the syllabus. Nevertheless, many abacus treatises dealt with these same business applications259 and so it is hard to know if Cristofano’s treatment represented a genuinely distinctive Pisan approach. San Gimignano The earliest reference to the curriculum of school education in S. Gimignano comes from August 1260, when a teacher called Vesconte, who was using the salterium to teach boys to read, appeared as a witness to a notarial act: Vesconte tenente ac docente pueros Salterium ad legendum.260
257 258 259 260
Published by Verde (1973–1995), III, pp. 749–751. Arrighi (1965–67), p. 120. See Van Egmond (1976), pp. 171 ff. ASF NA 956, fol. 164. I am grateful to Oretta Muzzi for this reference.
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However, extended outlines of the school curriculum begin to appear for S. Gimignano only a century later, when the elementary curriculum was divided into two levels, one for the intial reading texts (tabula and salterium), the other for reading Donatus and learning to write the letters of the alphabet: [a. 1359] pro salario [. . .] ab illis qui legent tabulam et psalterium S. duorum sp. pro quolibet eorum, et ab illis qui legent donatum vel licteras et scribere S. duorum et D. sex pro quolibet et quolibet mense.261
In 1361 the Latin (grammar) classes were divided into latinantes and non latinantes, although all the elementary pupils were now telescoped into non latinantes: Et quod [. . .] liceat [. . .] accipere a scolaribus quos docebit infrascripta salaria, videlicet a scholarius iacentibus in scholis eius pro quolibet scholare et quolibet anno orenum unum auri; a scholaribus vero latinantibus et non iacentibus in scholis eius pro quolibet scholare et quolibet an[n]o L. tres sp., ab omnibus vero aliis scholaribus non latinantibus et non iacentibus in scholis eius in quocumque gradu existentibus pro quolibet scholare et qulibet anno L. duas spic.262
In 1372, more detail was given about the Latin curriculum, divided now into maius, minus and minimum, while Donatus was mentioned as being taught by the grammar teacher, as was the rest of the elementary syllabus (abinde infra studentibus), not by a specialist elementary master: a scolaribus cum eo moraturis, videlicet a scolaribus facientibus latinum maius Fl. unum auri pro quolibet et quolibet anno; item a facientibus latinum minus soldos quinquaginta pro quolibet et quolibet anno; item a legentibus in donato vel facientibus latinum minimum soldos triginta pro quolibet eorum et quolibet anno et ab omnius aliis scolaribus abinde infra studentibus solidos viginti pro quolibet eorum et quolibet anno.263
In 1388, the entire Latin and elementary reading syllabus was detailed; the three levels of Latin (maius, mediocre and minus) correspond exactly to Francesco da Buti’s curriculum (as already noted in Colle and Volterra, above pp. 88–89), while writing (licterae) took place at the level of reading Donatus and above the lowest grade of reading the tabula and the salterium: 261
ACSG 123, fol. lxxviiii verso–lxxx recto. ACSG 125, fol. lxxiiii verso–lxxv verso; summarized by Pecori (1853), p. 618 and Castaldi (1911), pp. 10–11. 263 ACSG 131, fol. cxi verso–cxiiii verso. 262
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a scholaribus studentibus in maiori vel mediocri materia orenum unum de auro [. . .] a scolaribus studentibus in minori materia L. tres den. sp. [. . .] a legentibus donatum licteras et similiter S. triginta in anno [. . .] a legentibus salterium tabulam et similiter S. viginti quactuor in anno [. . .]264
There was even more detail in 1407: side by side with the Latin composition (divided into maior and minor latinitas) ran a course of lectures on school authors; after reading Donatus came the introduction to Regule [grammaticales] of the type written by Francesco da Buti, as well as writing [literas]; before Donatus came the usual reading of tabula and salterium: a latinantibus in maiori latinitate et autores udientibus anno quolibet et pro quolibet _____ L. tres S. decem otto_____ L. III S. XVIII; a latinantibus in minori latinitate et autores audientibus anno quolibet et pro quolibet _______ L. duas et S. II S. X; a legentibus donatum, regulas ac literas anno quolibet et pro quolibet _____L. I S. X; A legentibus tabulam et psalterium anno quolibet et pro quolibet L. unam et S. quattuor _____L. I S. IIIIo.265
A similar curriculum, but without mention of the authors, is specied later that same year (1407): Maiores latinantes dimidium orenum. Latinantes minores S. vigintiquinque. Legentes donatum et regulas S. quindecim. Legentes psalterium et tabulam S. duodecim.266
In 1409, a curriculum much the same is outlined, with the addition of a class of minores latinantes and the division of the lowest level of salterium and tabula into two grades: a latinantibus maioris materie pro quolibet orenum unum et quoque anno; a scolaribus mediocris materie S. quadraginta; a scolaribus minoris materie S. quadraginta; a legentibus donatum, regulas licteras et similia S. triginta; a legentibus salterium et similia soldos viginti quattuor, a legentibus tabulam S. duodecim quolibet anno.267
264 265 266 267
ACSG ACSG ACSG ACSG
146, 160, 160, 162,
fol. fol. fol. fol.
12v. 44r–45v; summarized by Pecori (1853), p. 618. 150v–151v. 27v–28v.
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In 1412, the same syllabus was in operation: a scolaribus latinantibus de maiori materia orenum unum auri in anno pro quolibet; a scolaribus mediocris materie soldos quinquaginta in anno pro quolibet; a scolaribus minoris materie soldos quadraginta in anno pro quolibet; a scolaribus legentibus donatum, regulas, litteras et similia soldos triginta in anno pro quolibet; a scolaribus legentibus psalterium soldos viginti quatuor in anno pro quolibet; a scolaribus legentibus tabulam soldos duodecim denar. in anno pro quolibet.268
as it was in 1417: a scolaribus latintibus de maiori materia orenum unum auri pro quolibet in anno; item a scolaribus mediocris materie soldos quinquaginta in anno pro quolibet; item a scolaribus minoris materie soldos quadraginta pro quolibet in anno; a scolaribus legentibus donatum literas et similia soldos triginta in anno pro quolibet; a scolaribus legentibus psalterium soldos viginti quatuor in anno pro quolibet; a scolaribus legentibus tabulam soldos duodecim in anno pro quolibet.269
In 1420, a similar curriculum was outlined, except that the pupils reading the psalter and the tabula were grouped together and the fees were changed (except for pupils learning the psalter): a scholaribus latinantibus de maiori materia libras tres in anno pro quolibet, a scholaribus latinantibus mediocris materie soldos quadraginta octo den. in anno pro quolibet, a scholaribus latinantibus minoris materie soldos triginta sex den. in anno pro quolibet, a scholaribus legentibus donatum literas et similia soldos triginta in anno pro quolibet, a scholaribus legentibus psalterium et ab inde infra soldos duos in mense pro quolibet.270
Classical authors were read in S. Gimignano’s communal school. A well known example is a text of of Seneca’s tragedies (BML Pl. 91 sup. 30), completed on 15 August 1385 ‘per me Iovannem Antonii [. . .] in scholis Magistri Magistri Antonii Ser Salvi de Sancto Geminiano’ (fol. 171r),271 then teaching in his native city.272 Giovanni di Antonio di Iacopo da Gambassi in the Valdelsa duly recorded the teaching which
268
ACSG 163, fol. 161r–162r. ACSG 168, fol. 14r–15r. 270 ACSG 169, fol. 209r. 271 The full colophon is published by Bandini (1774–1777), III.767, where subsequent ownership notes of Giovanni di Maestro Matteo di Ser Lori de’ Fineschi da Radda and of Domenico di Niccolò de’ Pollini on the same folio are transcribed. 272 ACSG 141, fol. 98r–v (2 October 1381), when he was appointed to teach for ve years, beginning 18 October 1381. 269
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he received from Maestro Antonio di Ser Salvi Vannini da San Gimignano in the interlinear and marginal commentary, comprising the usual school fare, including an accessus (fol. 1r)273 and simple interlinear vocabulary glosses (sometimes in the vernacular);274 his entirely philological marginalia, which consisted mainly of paraphrase and explication, included, not untypically, citations of a few other authors (Rhetorica ad Herennium, Alain of Lille, Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Isidore’s Etymologies, Boethius’s Consolation, the Aeneid and Petrarch); also typical of school reading was the fact that only some of the tragedies were glossed (Hercules furens, the end of Medea, Agamemnon, the beginning of Octavia). Maestro Antonio Vannini’s pupil, Mattia Lupi da S. Gimignano,275 who taught in his native city during the years 1407–1408, 1418–1421, 1442–1444 and 1455–1456,276 also left indications of his teaching activity there in several manuscript schoolbooks. A copy of Alexander’s Doctrinale, signed by him in 1398 (S. Gimignano Biblioteca Comunale Manoscritti 19, fol. 84v), would have been used in the classroom, although there is no explicit reference to his teaching. His didactic activity is explicit in a copy of Boethius’s Consolation of Philosophy (BML Pl. 78.20): Iste Boetius scriptus fuit a me Bartolomeo Petri de Sancto Geminiano morantis [sic] in scolis Domini Mathie plebani plebis Aioli pratensis comitatus die vigesima quinta mensis aprelis sub annis domini millesimo quadringentesimo decimo nono, cuius anima quando a corpore separabitur in paradisi gloria requiescat in secula seculorum.
The writer was Bartolomeo di Piero Nerucci, later a grammar teacher himself in S. Gimignano and elsewhere in Tuscany and known particularly as a Dante copyist and commentator. While a pupil in
273 Strictly speaking, a general introduction rather than either of the conventional types of accessus (i.e. type ‘C’ or the Aristotelian variety: Black [2001], p. 317). 274 Black (2001), pp. 275–76. 275 See the letter of appointment from Prato to Mattia Lupi, dated 2 July 1403: (ASPrato CD 69 parte 6, fol. 49r) Quapropter nos, sperantes quod dei gratia mediante et subsequenter quod ex eo, quia dicti egregii doctoris et magistri Magistri Antonii fuistis in dicta scientia discipulus honestus, obbediens et delis et de cuius vivo fonte aquam dicte scientie hausistis, et quia sepe solet discipulus similis esse magistro, quod vos omnia vobis commessa laudabiliter facietis. 276 ACSG 160, fol. 41r–v, 44r–45v, 46v–47r, 150v–151v, 163v–164r, 164v, 176r; 168, fol. 48r–v, 55r, 109v, 110v–111r, 163r–164r, 165r–v, 207v; 175, fol. 186r–v, 187v–188r, 188r–v, 196r, 196v, 197r, 209r, 218r, 258v, 387r; 176, fol. 2v; 124, fol. 222v, 228v–229v, 271v, 277v, 278v–279r, 283r, 284r–v, 285r, 285v, 287r–v, 345r, 364r, 369r–370r.
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Lupi’s school Nerucci wrote out, besides the usual interlinear vocabulary equivalents, Nicholas Trevet’s accessus, making extracts from his glosses, which he placed in margins beside the relevant passages of text; his marginal commenting while at school was limited to the rst three poems and two proses.277 Another local gure involved with teaching classical authors was Don Nofri di Angelo Coppi, whose work on Ovid’s Metamorphoses may have been associated with teaching activity not just in Colle but also in S. Gimignano, given that he was the communal grammar teacher there in 1395–96278—the decade in which he was making his allegorical glosses to the text based on Giovanni del Virgilio (see above p. 82). Classical authors continued to be read at school in S. Gimignano in the second half of the fteenth century, when a text of Juvenal’s Satires (BML Redi 103) was copied probably there, as is suggested by the colophon: (fol. 80r) Hieronimus de Marsilis de Sancto Geminiano scripsit;
from about same time comes the ex libris: (fol. IIr) Questo libro è di Mariano di Nicholo di Premerano. Hic liber est mei Mariani Nicholai de Premeranis et amicorum.
Primerano was a common name in San Gimignano,279 further substantiating local provenance; the manuscript has some typical schooltype simple vocabulary glosses and occasional elementary philological marginalia by various contemporaneous hands. Finally, the famous humanist Giovanni Valentini, known usually as Cantalicio, boasted in a letter to Lorenzo de’ Medici, soon after arriving in 1472 at S. Gimignano to work as communal grammar teacher, that he had begun teaching Juvenal, Martial, Vergil, Ovid and Suetonius: Agressus sum, quam primum, lectiones eas, quas nescio in gymnasio aliquo legi, Livii, Juvenalis, Martialis, Maronis, Ovidii, Svetonii.280
Although Martial, Livy and Suetonius were hardly read at school, even in the fteenth century, Juvenal and Ovid were authors, on the 277
Black and Pomaro (2000), pp. 6, 115–117, 202–213. ACSG 156, fol. xxviii recto–verso. 279 Vincenzio Coppi, Annali della terra di San Gimignano, in Coppi (1695), 188, and Huomini illustri da S. Gimignano, in Coppi (1695), pp. 98, 136, 150, 170, 171, 209, 210. 280 Morici (1905), p. 38. 278
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preceding evidence, who had already been given a good airing in S. Gimignano. Poggibonsi The rst outline of Poggibonsi’s school curriculum dates from 1373, when ve levels were indicated: carta, salterium, Donatus, writing (legere et scribere: see above p. 60) and grammatica (Latin): pro carta S. II pro mense; pro salterio S. tres pro mense; pro donato S. quatuor pro mense; pro gramatica S. quinque pro mense; pro hiis qui legunt et scribunt S. quatuor pro mense et non ultra pro quolibet.281
It is signicant here that writing was envisaged only after a competence had been attained in the basic reading texts (carta, salterium, Donatus) and that real Latin study ( grammatica) was introduced only after prociency in reading had been achieved. In 1379, the outline emphasized other stages of the curriculum: a legentibus alfabetum vel cartam S. tres in mense; a legentibus salterium S. quatuor in mense; a legentibus et a discentibus donatum vel gramaticam vel autores S. quinque per mensem et non ultra.282
There was no mention here of writing, but it is interesting that alphabetum is now given as a synonym for carta, conrming its identication as an alphabet sheet. The salterium is now the subject of a class to itself, while all the more advanced pupils are grouped together; these included readers of Donatus, students of Latin composition and pupils attending lectures on the authors. The mention of auctores is the only positive documention emerging from Poggibonsi for the study of Latin literature at school, but it is clear, on the evidence of similar towns, that, whenever Latin was pursued beyond the most elementary stages, it went hand in hand with the reading of the minor and major authors. In 1382 there was a similar outline, without the mention of auctores: A legentibus alfabetum vel cartam debeat recipere in mense S. III; A legentibus salterium sold. quattuor S. IIII; A legentibus et adiscentibus donatum vel gramaticham S. quinque S. V283
281 282 283
ASS Poggibonsi 81, fol. 50v. ASS Poggibonsi 89, fol. 22r. ASS Poggibonsi 93, fol. 17r.
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Finally, in 1460 there was a rare curriculum outline in the vernacular: Per la tavola abbia di salario il mese S. 2; Per lo salterio il mese S. 3; Per lo donadello per lo testo, et per le lettere S. 4; Per lo donadello per lo senno il mese S. 5; E da’ latinanti abbi il mese S. 5 D. 6.284
This description of the reading and Latin curriculum is particularly revealing: not only does it show the two divisions of Donatus (‘donadello’)— ‘per lo testo’ (phonetically) and ‘per lo senno’ (with meaning and by memory)—but it also indicates that writing (‘le lettere’) took place between the two stages of reading Ianua (‘donadello’). Poppi The thin and fragmentary archival material in Poppi offers no insight into the organization of the school curriculum there before the sixteenth century, but two manuscript schoolbooks provide precious information about the study of Latin authors in Poppi during the last quarter of the fourteenth century. Ser Santi di Biagio da Valiana was grammar teacher in Poppi for more than twenty years in this period,285 and between 1375 and 1395 he copied and annotated a manuscript of Statius’s Achilleis, Vergil’s Georgics and Terence’s comedies (BNCF II.IV.333). The text of the Achilleis (fol. 44r–60r) contains school-type philological comments, and the Georgics provide a few interlinear glosses and some philological marginalia—all appropriate classroom fare. Terence (fol. 102v–181v) receives a more elaborate treatment: the versions of the comedies, dated 1393 (fol. 102r) and 1395 (fol. 149v), are preceded by copied accessus and argumenta (fol. 99r–100v),286 and Santi’s entirely philological commentary is limited largely to fol. 102v–103r. Santi da Valiana’s teaching of the classical authors in Poppi emerges not only in this autograph but in BML Edili 185. This manuscript was completed on 4 December 1398, while the copyist was apparently in exile from Poppi, by Francesco di Ser Adamo da Farneta287 (in the Casentino near Bibbiena), who also copied the misogynistic Dissuasio
284
ASF SCS 625, fol. 165v. Billanovich (1964), pp. 307–13. 286 Villa (1983), p. 228. 287 See the colophon (correctly transcribed by Bandini [1791–1793], I col. 494–495), reusing notarial parchment from Pratovecchio and Poppi datable to the mid-fourteenth century. 285
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Valerii ad Runum (a frequent school text)288 and thirty hexameters by the grammar teacher in Poppi, Ser Santi da Valiana.289 It seems possible that this manuscript of Valerius Maximus, with its occasional contemporaneous historical or philological marginalia and interlinear lexical paraphrases, was associated with Santi’s teaching in Poppi. If so, then Santi can be seen teaching variety of classical authors (Vergil, Terence, Valerius Maximus, Statius), as well as a minor school text (Dissuasio Valerii) in Poppi’s grammar school during closing decades of the fourteenth century. Pescia The rst curriculum outline for Pescia comes from 1388, when it is noteworthy that one teacher was in charge of teaching all pupils, ranging from the most elementary reading, through Latin (grammar) up to notarial studies: Scolares quos docebit notariam solvant eidem magistro pro uno anno orenos duos auri. Scolares vero quos docebit gramatica[m] solvant ipsi magistro pro dicto tempore unius anni orenum unum auri et S. quindecim. Scolares quoque docendi ab eodem magistro psalterium et donatellum et alias p(ar)t(es) gramatice videlicet ad legendum pro dicto tempore unius anni orenum unum auri. Scolares autem qui adiscent ab eodem magistro tabulam pro dicto tempore unius anni libras tres.290
In 1393 there was the rst reference to pupils learning Latin composition (latinantes): a quolibet latinante orenum unum et dimidium auri pro toto anno; ab adiscentibus donatellum orenum auri unum pro eodem tempore; a legentibus psalterium et tabulam S. tres pro quolibet et quolibet mense.291
In 1408, the levels were the same, but interestingly a pupil now learning to read Donatus was called a donatista:
288
See Black (2001), pp. 216, 226–27, 231 and n. 288, 272, 409–10. The entire poem was published by Bandini (1791–1793), I col. 495, with slightly inadequate transcription of colophon (actually: Hos M(agister) Sancti gramatice Pupp(ii) profexor composuit ex gesti[s] indomiti cuiusdam Coraze Canonarii in palatio Pupii). 290 ASPescia Delib. 10, fol. 165r. 291 ASPescia Delib. 12, fol. 128v. 289
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In 1465 the levels were identical: pro quolibet qui leget [vel] addiscat tabulam et salterium S. duos, et a quolibet qui leget donatum S. tres, et a quolibet latinante S. quinque.293
But in 1467 there was a reference to beginning theoretical manuals of Latin composition as the stage before latinare: qui leget tabulam et salteriis [sic] pro quolibet mense soldos duos, et a quolibet legenti donatum et regulas minores soldos tres, et a quolibet latinante soldos quinque.294
In 1477 not only the name donatista (for a learner of Donatus) but also salmista (for a pupil learning the salterium) appear: a quolibet latinante pro quolibet mense solidos quinque: S. 5; a quolibet donatista et donatum adiscente solidos quatuor pro quolibet mense: S. 4; a quolibet salmista et salterium discente solidos tres pro quolibet mense: S. 3; a quolibet tabulam discente solidos duos pro quolibet mense: S. 2.295
In 1484, there is a reference to learning to write (‘litteris’) after reading Donatus: a quolibet puero legente tabulam et salterium quolibet mense solidos duos, a legente donatum et litteris [sic] solidos tres, et a quolibet latinante solidos quatuor.296
Finally, writing was again mentioned at the same point in the curriculum in 1491: a scolaribus legentibus tabulam singulo mense S. 2; ab illis legentibus salterium ut supra S. 3; a legentibus donatellum ut supra, et licteras S. 4; a latinantibus ut supra: S. 5.297
Several schoolbooks or works related to school-level study were owned by families from Pescia, as revealed in the inventories of pupilli from 1471 to 1500: Figli di Messer Antonio di Betto da Pescia, casa ‘posta in sula piaza di Pescia’ (24.3.1472)
‘1º libro sopra il chomento sopra i’ libro di Boezio di Consolazione’ [probably by Nicholas Trevet]
Figli di ser Aldobrando di ser Baldo di Piero da Pescia, casa di Pescia (23.4.1476)
‘1º Donatello da fanciulli’298
Figli di Francesco di Giorgio di ser Niccolò da Pescia, abitante a Fivizzano, beni a Pescia e a Fivizzano (20.8.1476)
‘1º libro di Reghole’ ‘1º libro di Reghole’
Pistoia The shape of the reading and grammar curriculum in Pistoia is rst documented in 1389; here it is emphasized that pupils learning the salterium or similar texts (i.e. carta or tabula) were extremely young (infantes or pueri elementarii): a quolibet latinante annuatim Fl. unum auri, et pro legente et studente in donato XL S. D., et pro quolibet discente sive studente [in] psalterio et huiusmodi volumibus XX S. et pro quolibet infante aut puero elementario aut qui legit tabulam decem S. et non ultra.299
The same outline was repeated with no signicant changes in 1397, except that the dimimuntive size of elementary reading books is highlighted by the term libellis: A quolibet latinante [. . .] orenum unum auri anno quolibet, a quolibet in donato et huiusmodi libellis studente solidos quadraginta in anno, a legentibus vero salterium et huiusmodi libellos solidos viginti in anno, ab infantibus elementariis decem solidos et non ultra aliquo modo.300
298
Verde (1987), pp. 48, 67. ASPistoia Provv. 22, fol. 55v–56r. This document was published, without the archival citation or date and with egregious errors of Latin (e.g. ‘quolibus’ [!] for ‘quolibet’) by Bottari Scarfantoni (1997), p. 161. 300 Zanelli (1900), pp. 126–27. 299
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In 1469 two types of teacher were to be appointed by the commune: one a grammar master and one or two elementary reading teachers. The former was to teach Latin and give lectures on prose and verse authors; he was forbidden to teach elementary pupils (reading texts from tabula up to donato per lo senno [by memory and with understanding]), although he was permitted to take a pupil who was memorizing Donatus (Ianua) and had begun the rst stages of Latin composition (agreement of nouns [concordantie] and the initial topics of verbal syntax [ prime materie]): Elegasi uno maestro di grammatica [. . .] che deba insegnare grammatica, legere autori in versi et prosa [. . .] Non possa insegnare in scuola né ritenere né dare ricepto ad alcuno fanciullo o altri imparasse de la tavola insino al donato per lo senno inclusive [. . .] salvo che chi imparasse el donato per lo senno et cominciasse a imparare le concordantie o prime materie possa et debalo ritenere et insegnare licitamente [. . .]301
The elementary teacher or teachers were to instruct children to read the tabula, salterium and donato per lo testo [phonetically] and per lo senno, as well as writing; he or they were forbidden to teach more advanced pupils: Item elegasi uno o dua maestri che debano insegnare a fanciulli od altri volesseno apparare la tavola, salptero, donato per lo testo et per lo senno, cioè dalla tavola insino al donato per lo senno inclusive et a legere lettere, compitare et scrivere, non potendo insegnare ad altri [. . .]302
The teaching staff had become even more specialized by 1483: a principal master was to teach grammar, rhetoric and poetry; a second, just grammar; a third, reading and writing. The duties of the principal master suggest the commune was looking to appoint a humanist teacher, since the subjects mentioned constitute three of the ve core subjects of the studia humanitatis (grammar, rhetoric, poetry, history and moral philosophy): qui erit electus pro primo et principali magistro [. . .] teneatur docere publice grammaticam, artem oratoriam et poesim. Secundus electus [. . .] teneatur tantum ad docendum grammaticam publice. Tertius vero electus intelligatur etiam conductus [. . .] ad docendum legere et scribere.303
301 302 303
Zanelli (1900), pp. 137–38. Zanelli (1900), p. 139. ASPistoia Provv. 46, fol. 36v–37r; 47, fol. 32r.
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The duties of the humanist master had been expanded since 1469 to include elementary writing (literas elementares); on holidays he was also given the opportunity to extend the humanist syllabus beyond rhetoric (in the form of the pseudo-Ciceronian Rhetorica ad Herennium) to moral philosophy (by lecturing on either Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics or Politics): teneatur [. . .] publice docere omnes ad eius ludum ire volentes literas elementares, gramaticam, rhetoricam et poesim, latinare et componere epistolas, legere auctores grammaticos, poetas ac rhetores [. . .] festivis etiam [. . .] teneatur [. . .] publice legere unam lectionem videlicet aut artis nove Ciceronis vel etice aut politice Aristotilis.304
The humanist duties of the principal grammar master went even further in 1498, when it was hoped that he would be able to teach Greek; in order to concentrate on the higher end of the syllabus, he was exempted from elementary tuition (i.e. reading and the beginning of Latin composition [discordantie]): Item acciò che gli scolari introducti [. . .] possino [. . .] imparare a fare pistole, versi, arte oratoria, ortograa, grecho e qualunque cosa o parte o tucto di gramatica speculativa305 [. . .] insegni agli scolari introducti ciò che saranno subcienti alle pistole e a versi et alle materie maggiori et non sieno tenuti insegniare tavola, saltero, donato, discordantie [. . .] et ogni altra cosa appartenente a decti scholari insegnare, così in grecho come in latino se tale principale maestro ne sarà introdocto [. . .]306
In 1499, there was yet more detail about the elementary and grammar syllabus; the latter was the remit of the grammar teacher, while the former was the responsibility of his assistant (coadiutor). The coadjutor was to teach elementary reading: Unus [. . .] magister qui sit coadiutor predicti magistri et habeat docere pueros [. . .] tabulam psalterium et donatum [. . .]307
He was also to teach the beginning of the grammar syllabus, and it is noteworthy here that the topics of this Latin course correspond to the rst stages of the traditional grammar curriculum:
304
Zanelli (1900), p. 141. Speculative grammar, in the manner of North European grammarians, was occasionally taught in Italian schools (see Rossi [1930], p. 13; Black [2001], p. 166), although it was rarely a part of the Italian grammar syllabus (see Black [2001], ch. 3). 306 Zanelli (1900), p. 145. 307 Zanelli (1900), p. 148. 305
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Pistoia 1499: Concordantias videlicet adiectivi cum sustantivo, verbi cum nominativo et relativi cum suo antecedenti ac etiam materias et regulas activorum et passivorum.308
Francesco da Buti: Latinum minus, prima banca: Accidence and concordance of nouns Verbal construction: active and passive.
The coadiutor was also required to teach the rst of the auctores minores: Legere dictis pueris Catonem et memorie mandare faciat.309
The principal grammar master was to teach the rest of Latin composition, a course again corresponding to the traditional sequence of the Latin syllabus: Pistoia 1499: Teneatur [. . .] docere grammaticam [. . .] incipiendo a materia neutrorum et prosequendo alias materias gramatice sequentes.310
Francesco da Buti: Secunda banca: Verbal construction: neuter and common.
The grammarian was also required to teach Cicero, Vergil and another poet; passages from these major authors had to be committed to memory, just as Cato had been by the elementary pupils: Legere debeat duos auctores vid[elicet] Ciceronem et opera sua et unum poetam, videlicet Virgilium vel alium poetam [. . .] Quos auctores faciat memorie mandari ab audientibus eos [. . .]311
Although the humanist inuence in this syllabus is indubitable, there was still a notable presence of a traditional medieval text, Alexander’s Doctrinale: Teneatur dictus magister legere in dictis suis scolis doctrinale et nullomodo omictere debeat [. . .]312
On holidays, the teacher was required to teach the moral philosophical element of the studia humanitatis, as represented by Cicero’s De ofciis:
308 309 310 311 312
Zanelli Zanelli Zanelli Zanelli Zanelli
(1900), (1900), (1900), (1900), (1900),
p. 148. p. 148. p. 146. pp. 146–47. p. 148.
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Debeat etiam dictus magister quolibet die fest[iv]o [. . .] omnibus audire volentibus librum Ciceronis qui intitulatur De ofciis.313
The normal cycle of school authors (auctores minores et maiores) in Pistoia can be documented in manuscript schoolbooks too. Mattia Lupi was assisting his former teacher and compatriot Maestro Antonio Vannini da S. Gimignano as grammar master in Pistoia in 1403,314 when he copied a text of Horace (S. Gimignano Biblioteca comunale Manoscritti 30), completed on 9 June 1403 while ‘grammaticam edocens Pistorii’;315 it can be assumed that this manuscript was of direct use to him in his teaching activities. At the same time he seems to have acquired a copy of Nicholas Trevet’s commentary on Boethius’s Consolation of Philosophy (BML Pl. 77.3), the copying of which was completed by a Pistoiese scribe on 25 October 1402: (fol. 60r) Explicit commentum super Boetio de consolatione philosophie deo gratias, amen. Et scriptum et exaratum per me Iohannem lium olim Thomaxii notar(ium) et script(orem) pistoriens(em) sub a(nno) d(omini) n(ostri) MCCCCº secundo die XXV octubris XI indictione.
Lupi indicated his ownership of the book by writing ‘Mathie Nuccii ens’ on the last page of the commentary (fol. 60r); he corrected the entire text, adding an entire missing passage on fol. 47. Lupi later taught Boethius’s Consolation (see above pp. 101–102) and so this copy of the Trevet’s commentary, evidently acquired while he was teaching in Pistoia, gives an indication of his activities as a teacher, both there and elsewhere; indeed, his pupil Bartolomeo Nerucci, extracted copiously from Trevet commentary in his own copy of Boethius, executed under Lupi’s tuition (see above p. 102). A famous example of a Pistoiese schoolbook was signed by the fteen-year-old Sozomeno da Pistoia (Pistoia Biblioteca Forteguerriana Manoscritti A 33),316 a pupil in Maestro Antonio di Ser Salvi Vannini’s communal school in Pistoia:
313
Zanelli (1900), p. 148. ASPrato CD, 69, parte 6, fol. 48v–49v. 315 Davies (1984), p. 3. 316 The fullest study of this manuscript is Mancini (1929), curiously not cited by de la Mare (1973) nor by Savino (1962), p. 14, where the colophon is mistranscribed and where the school texts (apart from Cato and Prudentius), identied by Mancini, are described as ‘poesie d’ignoto autore’. See also Zaccagnini (1900a), pp. 7–8; Zaccagnini (1900b), p. 212. 314
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chapter two (fol. 38r) Scriptum per me Çominum Ser Bonifatii morantem in scolis venerabilis doctoris Magistri Antonii Ser Salvi de Sancto Geminiano in anno millesimo quadringentesimo secundo in mense iunii.
This manuscript comprises a standard anthology of the minor authors (Cato’s Distichs, Prudentius’s Dittochaeon, Cartula, Theobaldus’s Physiologus and Henry of Settimello’s Elegy). Sozomeno’s study of the text constitutes the usual school fare, including simple interlinear vocabulary equivalents and marginal paraphrases (e.g. every one of Prudentius’s four-line stanzas is given a marginal paraphrase as long as the original text [fol. 6r–9v]); there is also some elementary moral philosophizing in his annotation of Cato’s Distichs, where the pupil noted beside each of the stanzas which of the four cardinal virtues the given couplet illustrated (fol. 1v–5v). An example of a classical Latin author read at school in Pistoia is Florence BML AD 76, a manuscript of Seneca’s Tragedies, the work of the well known Pistoiese scribe, Tommaso Baldinotti (d. 1511), copied in 1464 at age of 13;317 his own school-level glosses include references to Ovid’s Heroides (fol. 7v, 8r), Papias (fol. 15v) and possibly Gerald of Wales (fol. 17r); another hand, writing in more traditional Gothic style, added citations of Lucan and Statius (fol. 31r, 58r).318 Sansepolcro The shape of the reading and Latin curriculum at Sansepolcro rst emerges in 1391, when two levels were distinguished, one for pupils learning Latin composition and a lower form for those who were not (but evidently still reading): a quolibet scolare burgense latinante V soldos pro quolibet mense et a quolibet alio non latinante duos soldos VI D. mense quolibet.319
The upper form consisted of those learning to read Donatus too: a scolaribus audientibus [. . .] videlicet hiis qui fecerint latina et legant donatum ad rationem quinque soldorum D. cortonensium pro quolibet
317
On Baldinotti and this manuscript, see de la Mare (1985), I, pp. 446, 539. The manuscript continued to be owned by the Baldinotti family in the sixteenth century (see fol. IIv: Baldinoctus de Baldinoctis de Pistorio minimus iuris utriusque ex caritate posuit atque dicavit 1532), but there is no sign of school use after the midfteenth century. According to Bec (1984), p. 184, the heirs of ‘Niccholaio di Bano da Pistoia’ owned ‘j Donadello’ in 1441. 319 ACSS ser. II vol. 1, fol. 27v. See Appendix 8 below. 318
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eorum et quolibet mense, et ab aliis ad rationem duorum soldorum et VI D. pro quolibet mense.320
In 1442, the syllabus had changed little, except that pupils learning Latin composition were now divided into two forms, one for beginners and one for more advanced learners: a non latinantibus bonon(iensem) unum novum, a primis latinantibus duos, ab omnibus aliis inde supra tres bononienses novos mense singulo.321
Sansepolcro is one of the few communes in which there is some indication of the abacus curriculum; in 1394 there were two levels in the communal abacus school, one for beginners in the abacus syllabus and the other for more advanced pupils learning land measurement (artem tabulationis et mensure): docere quemlibet burgensem seu in burgo habitantem volentem adiscere abochum et accipere pro suo salario medium oreni auri sibi solvendo a quolibet volente adiscere cum inceperit docere et etiam docere quemlibet volentem adiscere artem tabulationis et mensure.322
The most interesting documents regarding the Latin curriculum in Sansepolcro date from the end of 1404 and the beginning of 1405.323 The communal schoolmaster, Maestro Benedetto di Nicolello da Gubbio, had been teaching a number of pagan authors in Sansepolcro; although this was normal fare for the upper levels of the grammar syllabus, as has been seen throughout Tuscany, nevertheless there had evidently been complaints that these texts contained doctrines contrary to the Christian faith. In answer to these charges, Maestro Benedetto declared on 8 December 1404 that, if he had diverged from Christian orthodoxy, he had done so in ignorance and not deliberately; he renounced anything he might have said that was contrary to the faith, declaring that in his school he had lectured many times on Christian authors and doctrine, and that his intention was to teach in conformity with strict orthodoxy in the future: vir prudens et scienticus Magister Benedictus Nicolelli de Eugubio gramatice et rethorice profexor et salariatus et ad salarium conductus in dicta terra burgi Sancti Sepulcri coram dictis testibus et me notario
320
ACSS ser. II vol. 1, fol. 27v–28r. See Appendix 8 below. ACSS ser. II vol. 2, unfoliated (16 August 1442). 322 ACSS ser. II vol. 1, fol. 79r. See Appendix 8 below. 323 This important series of documents was discovered and rst discussed by James Banker: see Banker (2003), pp. 70–76. 321
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chapter two infrascripto tamquam bonus, delis, christianus ac catolicus et devotus sancte matris ecclesie dixit se in terra burgi predicti in domo sue residentie publice et palam suis scolaribus hactenus legisse quamplures auctores et libros poetarum qui tempore ipsorum vite fuerunt pagani et extra dem catolicam, videlicet Luchani, Ovidii, tragediarum Senece et aliorum plur(ium) et in futurum lecturorum, in quibus libris in aliquibus partibus tangitur et tangi videbatur de de per dictos auctores, et ipse Magister Benedictus pro declaratione ipsorum auctorum in dictis partibus aliquibus et eorum declaratione multa dixit et dicet declarando ystorias dictorum auctorum secundum eorum comenta, et si ipse Magister Benedictus in legendo et exponendo seu declarando ipsos auctores erasset seu errare potuisset vel posset, dixit se ea non dixisse, legisse, exposuisse vel declarasse seu dicere, exponere, legere vel declarare causa errandi in de catolica aliquo modo, sed sorte per ygnorantiam illorum auctorum, et ideo si qua dixisset vel diceret que essent seu esse possent contra dem predictam, ea ex nunc prout ex tunc et ex tunc prout ex nunc revocavit, emendavit et correxit, et revocat, emendat et corriget, prout melius sibi potest et licet. Item dixit coram dictis testibus et me notario, quod ipse etiam Magister Benedictus multas materias et lectiones sanctorum doctorum ecclesie allegavit temporibus retrohactis in suis scolis in eadem terra burgi, tangentes aliquos passus dei catolice, quos ipse exposuit et declaravit secundum eius intellectum, et quod eius intentio semper fuit ipsa exponere, dicere et declarare pure secundum dem predictam, et si in aliquo articulo errasset circa dem, per ignorantiam fecisset et non scienter nec dolose, unde ex nunc prout ex tunc corrigendo, emendendo et declarando dixit se de eis sensisse et sentire illud quod sentit sacre [sic] mater ecclesia.324
Like many communal schoolmasters, Maestro Benedetto also taught rhetoric and epistolography, and on 10 December he extended the protestations of his orthodoxy to include all aspects of dictamen and related compositions: Sit omnibus manifestum quod cum sic sit quod eloquentissimus vir Magister Benedictus Nicolelli de Eugubio regens scolas gramatice et retorrice in terra burgi Sancti Sepulcri et legens suis scolaribus multos libros poetarum et auctorum ad dictas scientias connexorum, et componens volumina, libros, epistolas et dictamina rictima et sonictos prosaice et metrice tripudiatas, et alia multa particulariter vel generaliter dicte artis dictaminis componentia, si in aliqua parte in compositione et dictamine predictorum nunc vel in futurum seu in preteritum aliquid reperiatur seu esset vel esse posset aliquo modo vel forma, in quo vel quibus posset interpetari, inveniri, intelligi seu presunpny quicquid contra sacram dem catolicam et extra, ultra seu preter ea que tenet sancta mater ecclesia, quod ex nunc prout ex tunc et ex tunc prout ex nunc illud revocat et 324
ASF NA 7124, fol. 31v–32r.
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corrigit ac emendat, reducet et vult omnino reduci ad bonum et purum intellectum et ad ratum, modum et formam congruentem et adherentem sacre dei catolice, et prout mandat sancta mater ecclesia et ab eis omnino desistit omni modo, via, iure et forma quibus melius potuit pro de catolica conservanda.325
On 20 January 1405 Maestro Benedetto once more protested his orthodoxy, declaring that he had taught authors, including Lucan, Seneca the tragedian and Boethius, according to the doctrines of the Catholic church; whatever anagogical or tropological interpretations he had made of these texts or of allegories based on them had been and would be in the future according to strict orthodoxy; he explicitly denied that he intended any heresy through his past or future teaching of the pagan authors. vir multe probitatis et facundie Magister Benedictus Nicolelli de Eugubio artium gramatice, rethorice et auctorum ac poetarum profexor et lector in terra burgi Sancti Sepulcri et ad salarium comunis dicte terre conductus, non recedendo a iam dictis et protestatis et declaratis per eum pro exgravatione sue conscientie et pro dilucidatione sacrosancte dei catolice, set in eis persistendo et inherendo iterum dixit et protestatus fuit, quod ea que ipse legerit seu recitaret aut exponeret in auctoribus quibuscumque, scilicet Lucani, tragediarum, Boetii et reliquorum, intelligantur et intelligi debeant in omnibus et per omnia secundum quod vult et exposcit sancta mater ecclesia et des catolica, et hoc idem voluit et protestatus fuit intelligi tam in testibus iam dictorum auctorum et aliorum quorumcumque quam in allegoriis factis et aliis seu que eri possent et ent in futurum de et super auctoribus supradictis, et protestatus fuit per dictum Magistrum Benedictum sub quacumque expositione seu sensu anagogico, tropologico, quod semper verba sua debeant intelligi secundum dictum modum et rationem sancte matris ecclesie, et quod idem Magister Benedictus non intendit quod dicta sua sapiant aliquam heresim condictionis cuiuscunque, sed catolice et deliter tam in supradictis quam in omnibus aliis per ipsum proferendis.326
Finally on 8 March 1405, he once more protested his absolute orthodoxy, recanting any statement or teaching which might have been or appeared contrary to the doctrines of the Catholic church; he declared that he would submit to the correction and admonition of any prelate whomsoever:
325 326
ASF NA 7124, fol. 32r. ASF NA 7124, fol. 35v.
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chapter two Magister Benedictus Nicolelli de civitate Eugubii, trivialis eloquentie facundissimus profexor actu legens in terra burgi predicti, dixit et asseruit et solempniter protestatus fuit coram deo et hominibus quod ipse semper fuit, est et esse intendit bonus, verus et delis christicola, contendo et tenendo sanctam matrem ecclesiam, sanctam dem catolicam et ceteros eius dei articulos secundum quod sancta mater ecclesia contetur et tenet, et si contingerit eum in disserendo vel aliter qualitercunque comuniter loquendo ex levitate seu lapsu lingue aliquod verbum proferre quod aliquo modo posset dici vel allegari prolatum fore contra sanctam matrem ecclesiam, sanctam dem catolicam seu eiusdem dei sacros articulos, ex nunc prout ex tunc et ex tunc prout ex nunc revocat et haberi voluit, dixit et protestatus fuit pro non dicto et nullius valoris existere, cum ipse semper rmiter et indubitanter confessus fuerit et conteatur velut delis christianus sanctam matrem ecclesiam, sanctam dem catolicam et eius sacros articulos secundum quod romana ecclesia postulat et exposcit, et sacrorum dictant canonum instituta, ex nunc se submittens correctioni et monitioni cuiuscunque prelati.327
These fascinating documents show the important place that the classical authors had attained in Tuscan schools by the turn of the fteenth century. They were an essential part of the Latin school-level syllabus: although evidently accused of heresy for teaching pagan authors, Maestro Benedetto nevertheless did not foreswear lecturing on the classics in the future; he simply promised to ensure that his teaching would be henceforth in conformity with orthodoxy. It is unknown who made the accusations against Maestro Benedetto, but it is curious that they came at the time that Giovanni Dominici was writing and preaching against the pagan classics in the schoolroom in Florence, his denunciations appearing most famously in the Regola di cura familiare, written between 1401 and 1403.328 It must be wondered whether there is some direct link between Maestro Benedetto’s protestations and recantations, and Dominici himself; indeed, the denials of heresy on the part of Maestro Benedetto call to mind some kind of inquisitorial procedure, normally carried out by Dominici’s Dominican order. San Miniato and Fucecchio For the neighbouring towns of San Miniato al Tedesco and Fucecchio, outlines of the school curriculum appear rst in the fteenth century.
327 328
ASF NA 11195, NN. Ed. Garin (1958), p. 72. See Debby (2001), p. 118.
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At S. Miniato in 1400 there were four levels: a quolibet latinante et autores et gramaticam audiente orenum unum auri; a quolibet legente donatum quolibet anno S. quadraginta octo D.; a quolibet legente salterium et litteras quolibet anno S. triginta D.; a quolibet legente tabulam anno quolibet S. viginti quatuor.329
Here all aspects of the Latin syllabus were to be covered by the most advanced pupils: Latin composition (latinare), the study of the authors (autores audire) and theoretical grammar (grammatica). Donatus (Ianua) was, as usual, listed as a reading text, not part of the Latin syllabus. It is interesting here that, unusually, the introduction to writing (littere) followed the salterium and preceded Donatus. The lowest level, as usual, was the alphabet sheet (tabula). Curriculum outlines for Fucecchio begin to appear in 1424, when three classes were mentioned: a legente tabulam pro mense soldos III, a legente salterium soldos quatuor pro mense, et abinde supra soldos V a quolibet pro mense.330
Here the lowest class was for readers of the tabula; the next was for children learning the salterium; the top level embraced all other pupils, from Donatus (Ianua) to Latin composition and, presumably, reading the authors. In 1472, the class reading the tabula was interestingly called ta[b]ulanos: docere overo insegnare ta[b]ulanos videlicet qui legerent tabulas [overo] insegnare pro soldis tribus pro quolibet mense et non plus.331
In 1478, there were the same three classes as in 1424: exigere solidos tres pro quolibet mense a quolibet suo scholare legente tabulas et solidos quatuor a quolibet legente salterium et solidos quinque a legente donatellum et faciente latinum et quicquid alio legente.332
The bottom two were for the tabula and salterium respectively; the top class, in contrast to the outline of 1424, was now specied as including the donadello (Ianua), Latin composition ( facere latinum) and reading ‘anything whatever’ (quicquid legere) (presumably this meant any authors whomever). Finally, a fully vernacular curriculum outline was given in 1484: 329 330 331 332
chapter two per la tavola S. 2, pel saltero S. 3, per le lettere a scrivere S. 4, el donadello, latini et regole S. 5, regole maggiori S. 8.333
This is a signicant document, clarifying the meaning of ‘le lettere’ (litterae), a term frequently encountered in curriculum outlines: here there can be no doubt that ‘lettere’ meant learning to write the alphabet (le lettere a scrivere). Again initial writing came before the donadello—a stage that more usually occurred contemporaneously or immediately after reading Donatus (see above pp. 56–58). The fourth class embraced the donadello (Ianua) introductory Latin composition (latini) and the more elementary theoretical rules of Latin grammar (regole). The top class now was devoted to the more advanced rules of Latin grammar (regole maggiori). In Fucecchio, however, the rst information about the elementary curriculum occurs much earlier. Between 1311 and 1313, Signoretto, the orphaned son of notary Ser Signoretto di Perfetto Signoretti da Fucecchio, was bought two elementary schoolbooks, as recorded in the family ricordanza by his guardian Messer Simonetto di Messer Bernardo: a quaderno and subsequently a salterio, the former possibly from his teacher Maestro Giovanni da San Donato: Item diede ad maestro Giovanni da Sandonato per lo quaderno di Signiorecto s. II [. . .] Item comperò Messer Simonetto a Cerretto uno saltero compiuto per s. IIII.334
As has been seen above (pp. 44, 81), these titles normally signied miscellaneous collections of prayers and other liturgical texts, used as beginning reading manuals. It is not clear why the same type of text was bought twice; one possibility is that the quaderno had to be replaced for some unexplained reason. Other towns in Florentine Tuscany The survival of archival material before 1500 from towns in Florentine Tuscany is patchy; the main documentary evidence for the educational curriculum comes in the form of either civic deliberations—material which is lacking in many places for the medieval period.335
333 334 335
ACF 197, fol. 290v. Malvolti (1992), p. 73. A useful guide to the archival material throughout Tuscany is Bicchierai (1995).
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In Bucine in the Valdarno (near Montevarchi), there are no surviving communal deliberations before 1500, but a surviving set of statutes from 1411 refers to the ‘insegnatore di fanciulli in gramaticha o in el saltero o donadello.’336 In Cortona, the rst volume of communal deliberations runs into the 1320s, but the second in the series begins in 1479. Nevertheless, the survival of manuscript textbooks provide a window onto the grammar curriculum there. A copy of Doctrinale, which ‘scripsit et complevit frater Laurentius de Cortona ordinis Minorum’, is now manuscript 263 of the Biblioteca del Comune e dell’Accademia Etrusca in Cortona; Lorenzo accompanied the text with a prose commentary on Doctrinale’s grammar rules.337 There is also a copy of Doctrinale (BML Strozzi 140), datable to the rst half of the fteenth century and written on reused parchment from Cortona: (fol. 27r) Millesimo trecentesimo vigesimo ; 35r: Millesimo trecentesimo septuagesimo secundo quondam Nuccii de Cortona; 36v: Cortone in domo Ego Lodovicus quondam de civitate Cortone notarius
The text is lightly glossed, both interlinearly and marginally, mainly by the copyist (examples, denitions, word-order marks [e.g. fol. 12r], vocabulary differences, exceptions); there are two references to ancient authorities (fol. 14v: Priscian, Vergil), adding a dimension not present in the original, since Alexander included no classical citations.338 Castiglion-Fiorentino has communal deliberations running from only 1375 to 1384 and 1417 to 1418, but again some light on the curriculum there is shed by a version Ilias latina, a key minor school text, copied in 1467 or early 1468339 by one Angelo, working in Castiglion Fiorentino: (BNCF Magl. VII.1087, fol. 120v) Explicit liber Homeri de bello troiano amen nis. Ego Angelus explevi hunc librum nonis may in Castilione
336
Cited by Mazzi (1896), p. 186, from the Statuto volgare del Bucine dell’anno 1411, pubblicato per la prima volta da Iacopo Bicchierai per le nozze Bartolini-Martini (Florence 1886). 337 Reichling (1893), p. CLXVII; Mancini (1884), p. 88; Mancini (1922), p. 25. 338 Cortona Biblioteca del comune e dell’Accademia Etrusca ms. 82, containing Ilias latina and various other minor school-type texts, copied in 1335 by Galeazzo di Fioriomonte de’ Brognoli (see Gehl [1993], pp. 48, 244–45; Mancini [1884], p. 46), has no ostensible connection with Cortona: Brognoli is a family name from Brescia. 339 For the date, see Black (2001), p. 411. See also Galante (1902–7), pp. 355–57 for a fuller description of the manuscript, which also contains non-school elements.
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chapter two Florentino ad primam noctis horam. Qui scripsit hunc librum ducatur im paradisum. Angeli nis.
Ilias latina here receives some typical school-type glossing: fol. 112v: Pars pro toto. Ulna est pars brachii et ponitur pro brachiis totis. 117v: Nota quod tres sunt parcae sive fate, quae ita dicuntur Croco Lachesis et Antropos. Unde versus: Croco colum baiulat, Lachesis trahit, Antropos occat.340
Castelorentino has no communal deliberations surviving for the period preceding 1500, but Niccolò di Ser Duccio d’Arezzo is known to have taught Lucan to Giovanni del fu Bartolomeo di Ser Spinello da Castelorentino at the beginning of 1395.341 Moreover, there is one curious school-level grammatical composition possibly associated with the town. This is is an anonymous compendium on construction dated 1463 (Florence Biblioteca Marucelliana Manoscritti A.C.S.33).342 The author was a teacher evidently working near Florence, as is clear from the predominance of geographical references to the city;343 it is even possible that he had some particular association with Castelorentino, which is the only smaller town repeatedly mentioned in the text.344 The work’s secondary grammar context is clear from the opening reference to ‘iuvenum ingenium’, but also from the repeated examples drawn from school life.345 The compendium is divided into 4 subtractates, covering concordance, governance by case, governance by the 8 parts of speech and impediments to construction; within each section, the time-honoured format of question and answer is adopted.346
340
See Black (2001), pp. 290 ff. for this type of verse glossing. Black (1996a), p. 354. 342 Fol. 1r–68r: inc. Compendium regiminis et constructionis gramaticale ad iuvenum ingenium. expl. ob expletionem istius opusculi regularum gramaticalium, deo gratias, anno 1463. 343 Fol. 4v: orentinus; 18v: studui Florentie; civitas Florentie; 21r: studui Florentie; 22r: vado Florenti[m]; 22r–v: venio Florentia, studui Florentie; 27v: venie Florentie [sic], mansi tribus mensibus Florentia [sic]. 344 Fol. 5r: Castrum Florentini; 21v: studui Castro Florentini. 345 Fol. 4v: quot sunt pueri in studio; 5r: doceo Petrum gramaticam; 9r: scolares student, unus gramaticam alter loicam; 13v, 14r: Petrus studens; 18r: currunt scolares; 26r: iste verberatur a magistro. 346 For more details of the contents of this compendium, and its peculiar mixture of North European and Italian humanist grammatical elements, see Black (2001), pp. 165–67. 341
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The School Curriculum in City of Florence Pre-school Florentines were keen for their children to learn to read as early as possible; Matteo Palmieri, in his Della vita civile, written probably between 1432 and 1436,347 criticized the view that education should not begin until the age of seven; for him, no time was to be lost: Alcuni sono che dicono le nature esser varie et secondo quelle dovere dare varii principii; altri vogliono innanzi a sette anni nonn essere i fanciulli atti ad erudizione; questi sono detti none avere riguardo all’utilità di chi impara, ma più tosto torre la fatica e tedio di chi insegna. Per questo s’afferma esser meglio non lasciare passare alcuno tempo, in el quale non si dia almeno qualche similitudine di dottrina [. . .]348
Indeed, even while children were still being wet-nursed, they ought, according to Palmieri, to begin learning to read the alphabet. Here culinary stratagems were opportune, including making cakes and (candied?) fruits in the shape of letters; the child who learned a letter would be granted the corresponding alimentary reward: inno ne’ primi anni, i quali s’attribuiscono al governo della balia, essere utile dare a’ piccoli qualche informzaione di lettere. Non dicono però si gravino in modo che sia loro in odio quello che ancora non può dare loro diletto; ma per più utile consigliono che le piacevoleze e i sollazi s’usa dare loro, in altro si dirizono a qualche utilità di dottrina; come colui che formava le lettere in frutte, berlingozi, et altri cibi puerili; poi incitando il fanciullo, promettea dargliele s’egli lo conoscesse, dicendogli: ‘Questo torto è uno S, questo tondo uno O, il mezo tondo è uno C’ et simele delle altre lettere.349
Cookery as a technique for teaching elementary reading may have had some currency in Florence, in view of the fact that another prominent Florentine, Giovanni Rucellai, writing in the second half of the fteenth century, repeated Palmieri’s advice almost verbatim in his Zibaldone (although he assumes the child will already have left the balia when the culinary technique is administered): Et nel principio levatolo dalla balia, formate delle lettere in frutte, berlingozi, zucherini et altri cibi puerili, incitate il fanciullo con essi
347 348 349
Baron (1955), vol. 2, pp. 583 ff. Palmieri (1982), p. 24. Palmieri (1982), p. 24.
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chapter two prommetterli daglieli, s’egli li conosce, dicendoli: ‘questo torto è uno S, questo tondo è uno O, questo mezo tondo è uno C’, et simile delle altre lettere.350
One wonders whether this was the strategem employed by Alessandra Strozzi to teach reading to her grandson Alfonso at the age of fteen months.351 A technique involving eating with a fork was employed to teach the alphabet to the four-year-old Amerigo de’ Rossi, as reported in the family ricordanza by his father Tribaldo de’ Rossi in February 1495: E per Amerigho ispesi a dì 12 di febraio 1494 in 1a forchetta d’aciaio cho’ la manicha nera, perché inchominciava mangiare chon una forchetina di lengnio, e quando chol tocho de la tavola che ‘nparava l’abici_____S. 2 D. 8.352
The reading curriculum in Florence Occasionally, instruction in reading the tabula was given at home in Florence by mothers before the beginning of formal education. Thus Francesco Rinieri, son of Bernardo, was able to begin at school with the donadello [Ianua] in December 1469 because he had already learned the tabula and salterium at home from his mother, Bartolomea: Richordo chome questo dì mandai Francesco mio gliuolo alla squola a Ser Bartolo di . . . [sic] dell’Olio da Chastello, prete, stava in chasa Avevardo de l’Amanno Salviati, ché gl’insegnassi leggiere e schrivere. E comincò a ‘nsegnargli il donadello, ché in chasa avea inparato la tavola e il saltero dalla Bartolomea mie [sic] donna.353
In 1480, Giovanni, the six-year-old son of the goldsmith Piero di Guccio, ‘legie la tavola in chasa’ too,354 and, in the same year, Antonio di Girolamo di Nicola Bonciani, aged eleven, was taught reading and writing by his older brother Nicola at the family business premises in the Piazzo del Grano.355 Nevertheless, in view of the number of pupils who are recorded as actually beginning school with the tabula, early
350
Perosa (1960), p. 14. Strozzi (1877), p. 587; see Klapisch (1984), p. 786 n. 34. 352 BNCF II.ii.357, fol. 61r. See Appendix 5. 353 ASF CRSGF 95.212, fol. 163v (see Appendix 5); partly published by Klapisch (1984), p. 771. 354 Verde (1973–95), III, p. 1042. 355 Verde (1973–95), III, pp. 512, 1060. 351
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didactic achievements in the home ought perhaps to be regarded as relatively rare occurences in Florence. The earliest reference to the reading curriculum in Florence comes in a famous document of 1304, when the female teacher, ‘D(omina) Clementia doctrix puerorum’ promised to teach Andrea, the brother of Lippo di Casino, to read the ‘Psalterium’ and ‘Donatum’.356 One wonders whether Andrea already knew his ‘abc’s, since the document presupposes that teaching would begin with the salterium; in the same period, nevertheless, elementary teachers in Florence were giving the most basic instruction in their schools: a document of 1316 refers disparagingly to men who ‘pueros in alphabeto vel Salterio huiusmodi dogmaticçant’.357 References to the textbooks of elementary education multiply in the second half of the fourteenth century. In 1367, Amerigo di Borgognone del Bene was bought a ‘donadello’;358 on 4th January 1380 a copy of the ‘donadello’, paired with Cato’s Distichs (a standard duo in the elementary curriculum: see above p. 46), was bought for Francesco di Messer Palla di Messer Francesco Strozzi, while, a fortnight later, on 18th January, another ‘donadello’ was bought for his brother Giovanni; their brother Simone received his ‘donadello’ in December 1381, and the fourth Strozzi son, Iacopo, probably acquired his ‘donadello’ in February 1384.359 By the beginning of the fteenth century such references are yet more numerous: Antonio Ferantini had two copies of ‘donadello’ in rapid succession at the end of October 1411 and in late January 1412;360 Bernardo di Tommaso di Soldo di Messer Ubertino Strozzi bought a ‘saltero’ for his children in 1413;361 Piero di Ugolino di Piero Michi acquired a ‘saltero’ in February 1416, while he and his brother Benvenuto received ‘uno saltero nuovo’ at the beginning of November 1417;362 the sons of Morello di Paolo Morelli acquired a ‘donadello’ in March 1420;363 Lionardo and Stefano di Antonio di Lionardo Rustici
356
Debenedetti (1906–7), p. 333. Debenedetti (1906–7), p. 339. 358 ASF CdB 32, fol. 7r (see Appendix 5). 359 ASF CS III.277, fol. lxxxxi verso, clxvii verso, cxiiii recto, clxxxi verso, cxxii verso, clxxxiiii recto (see Appendix 5). 360 ASF CS V.6, fol. 6r, 27r, 7v, 36r (see Appendix 5). 361 ASF CS IV.346, fol. 7 destra (see Appendix 5). 362 ASF MSS 82, fol. 66r, 67v (see Appendix 5). 363 ASF AGPA 178, fol. 32v (see Appendix 5). 357
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were learning the ‘tavola’ between November 1422 and February 1423, while in 1426 their father lent the family’s ‘donadello’ to his godfather;364 in February 1425 Ilarione di Lippaccio de’ Bardi bought his son Lorenzo a ‘donadello’.365 The capacity to read the ‘donadello’ was such a basic skill in Florence, that a boy who was still learning the text in his late teens was regarded as a ‘no hoper’; at least, that is how Ser Tommaso di Ser Piero di Agnolo Cioni portrayed his brother Antonio, aged 17, in 1427: El detto Antonio è grande di persona e à pocho tenpo et non fa niente, se non che ne va alla schuola e leggie el donadello et pocha di lui si può fare stima, perché non s’aparechia a venire da molto e larghamente non merita né credo mai meriti avere gravezza sopra alla testa, se Iddio non fa miracoli.366
From mid-century references to the standard reading texts are omnipresent: Agnolo di Messer Palla Strozzi bought a ‘Donato’, presumably for his children in 1436;367 Gherardo di Bartolomeo Gherardi purchased two ‘salteri’ for his children in 1440;368 Giuliano d’Antonio di Ser Andrea Bartoli lent a ‘donadello’ to Iacopo di Salvestro di Lionardo Pucci in 1451;369 shortly before 1454 Marsilio Ficino lampooned elementary teachers (‘pedagogos’) who taught ‘Donatulos’;370 in November 1465 the children of Francesco Pecori were bought a ‘salterio’, which was then rebound in January 1470;371 Attaviano di Calvano d’Attaviano di Messer Guccio de’ Nobili was learning to read the ‘tavola’ in 1467;372 Ser Piero de’ Cunti da Genoa copied a ‘donadello’ while working as a private tutor in the household of Messer Virglio Adriani in 1473;373 between 1476 and 1481 Niccolò Machiavelli learned the
364
ASF CS II.11, fol. 32v, 45r (see Appendix 5). ASF CRSGF 79.119, fol. 94v, 97v (see Appendix 5). 366 ASF Catasto 47, fol. 688v (see Appendix 1). The ability to read the donadello had long been regarded in Florence as a skill unknown to only ignoramuses: see Franco Sacchetti’s verses (‘Così i tapini voglion profetare | e tal si vuol mostrare | Isaia, Eliseo o Daniello, | che legger non sapria il Donadello’, vv. 10–14 of his ‘Canzone sopra molte e diverse fantasie occorenti nel MCCCLXXVIII’, in Sacchetti [1957], p. 1071). 367 ASF CS IV.350, fol. 11r (see Appendix 5). 368 ASF AGPA 325, fol. 91 destra, 94 sinistra, 250r (see Appendix 5). 369 ASF Comp.RSGF 1385.5, fol. 8r (see Appendix 5). 370 Cristiani (1966), p. 217. 371 ASF DPPP 50, fol. 91 sinistra, 93 sinistra, 152 destra, 153 sinistra (see Appendix 000). 372 ASF CRSGF 102.489, fol. 82 sinistra (see Appendix 5). 373 ASF CRSGF 98.324, fol. 37r (see Appendix 5). 365
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‘donadello’ and his brother Toto the ‘tavola’ and ‘donadello’;374 Carlo and Simone di Niccolò di Carlo Strozzi had ve tavole ‘da ‘mparare a leggere’ bought for them between August and November 1477;375 Carlo di Lorenzo di Matteo Strozzi acquired a ‘donadello in charta scritto di penna’ in January 1481, a text which had to be repurchased for him in December 1482;376 Francesco di Gherardo Gherardi bought his daughter Madalena ‘uno donadello’ on 17th May 1487;377 Bernardino di Antonio di Lionardo Gondi had a ‘saltero’ bought for him in October 1488;378 the children of Tribaldo de’ Rossi (Guarieri and Amerigo) used the ‘tavola’, the ‘saltero’, the ‘donadelo’ to learn reading from 1490 to 1498;379 and Lorenzo di Recco Capponi bought a ‘saltero’, presumably for his children, in November 1491.380 The Florentine catasto of 1480 reveals several children learning the ‘tavola’ (Alberto di Clemente Torni,381 Falcone di Fruosino Calderini382 ), ‘saltero’ (Iacopo and Tommaso di Francesco di Stefano Segni,383 Pandolfo di Alessandro di Francesco di Giuliano Boscoli,384 Urbano di Cibaldo di Sano di Filippo Cibaldi385) and ‘donadello’ (Tommaso di Giovanni d’Andrea Petrini386 ). In an inventory of the possessions of Lorenzo di Francesco Strozzi dating from 1486, two printed copies of the donadello and three copies of the saltero (two printed and one handwritten) were listed,387 and in published inventories of Florentine pupilli from 1471 to 1500, there are continuous references to salteri and donadelli (see above p. 53 n. 46). There are two Florentine donadelli now surviving: BRF 3128 is a copy of the text, paired with Cato’s Distichs, written in mercantesca with some humanist elements and owned by the Florentine elite citizen Papi di Ierello da Filicaia (d. 1530), who implored future borrowers to
Black (1996c), pp. 391–92. ASF CS IV.71, fol. 98v, 102r (see Appendix 5). ASF CS V.36, pp. 64, 327 (see Appendix 5). ASF AGPA 331, fol. 36 destra (see Appendix 5). ASF CG 32, fol. 41 sinistra, 47 destra (see Appendix 5). BNCF II.II.357, fol. 53r–v, 99r, 151v (see Appendix 5). ASF CRSPLAM SPM 154, fol. 45 sinistra (see Appendix 5). Verde (1973–95), III, p. 1052. Verde (1973–95), III, p. 1138. Verde (1973–95), III, p. 1026. Verde (1973–95), III, p. 1180. Verde (1973–95), III, p. 1185. Verde (1973–95), III, p. 1043. ASF CS V.68 (see Appendix 5).
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return the book and protect it from children’s hands: ‘Quest’ libriccino è ne di Papi da Ierello da Filichaia. Chi lo achatta lo renda e guardilo da man di fancugli e d’al
e’; the manuscript was later owned by Papi’s relative Tommaso da Filicaia and by Bastiano di Agostino da S. Godenzo.388 The other Florentine donadello forms part of a school anthology (ASF CB II.179), containing Cato’s Distichs and other minor authors (see below p. 149) and secondary-level grammatical texts (see below p. 136); all the texts were copied by the same hand, probably an anonymous teacher or novitiate in the Florentine convent of S. Salvatore di Settimo, working in about 1463, when one of the texts was completed (fol. 135r).389 The secondary theoretical grammar syllabus in Florence The fourteenth century The secondary theoretical grammar curriculum is rst encountered in Florence through the work of one of the few well known and productive indigenous Florentine grammar teachers who taught in their native city:390 Maestro Filippo di Naddo di Filippo, active in the 1320s
388
Black (2001), pp. 313, 374. Black (2001), pp. 117, 131, 151, 228, 378, 390. 390 Although not the author of any grammatical work, Spigliato di Cenne da Firenze has manuscript textbooks associated with his school (see above pp. 63–64). Pietro di Domenico Domizi da Firenze, a grammar teacher who also left no grammatical works, wrote several Latin comedies that were performed by his pupils (see below p. 164). Giorgio Antonio Vespucci was not remembered as the author of a grammar in the manuscript tradition, although a particular grammatical course is perhaps to be associated with him (see below pp. 136–38). For a comparison of indigenous Florentine grammar teachers with those from Florentine Tuscany, see pp. 315–21 below. The other Florentine who was the author of grammatical works was Bene da Firenze, who, however, is known to have worked only in Bologna, where his presence is rst documented in 1218 (see DBI, v. 8 [1966], pp. 239–40 and below ch. 3 p. 183). Alessio (1983), p. xxviii, attempted to put back the beginning of Bene’s career at Bologna to the last decade of the twelfth century, on the basis of a passage in which he is associated with ‘magistro Ottone’; Alessio’s argument depends on the identication of a grammarian called Otto with a professor of canon law at Bologna between 1194 and 1223. On the basis of this chronology, he dates Bene’s Summa to c. 1194. In the absence of any documentation, I remain unconvinced by this argument, relying as it does on a coincidence of a common Christian name and the assimilation of two separate professions: canon law and grammar; it is just as likely, indeed more so, that there were two distinct Ottos, one a canon lawyer, the other a grammarian. I also suggested that Bene’s Summa seemed out of place in the 1190s, lled as it is with avant-garde Parisian grammatical terminology, which did not become fashionable in Italy until the thirteenth century. Witt (2006), pp. 28–29 has put forward a critique of what I 389
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and ‘30s, and dying on 8 September 1340.391 Filippo’s widely diffused textbook (inc. ‘Constructio est unio constructibilium’) is found in at least seven copies in Florence392 and three in Venice.393 This treatise encompasses a secondary syllabus similar in scope to that already encountered in Francesco da Buti’s Regule.394 There are minor divergences from Francesco da Buti’s pattern, and yet the overall range and order of topics is the same: verbs, nouns, conjunctions, gures. There is also a similarity in focus: like Francesco da Buti’s, this is a treatise on syntax, as is clear not only from the incipit and opening denition of construction, but also from the treatise’s ubiquitous syntactical vocabulary (e.g. suppositum, appositum, a parte ante, a parte post, ex natura) and from the list of verbs wrote. In the rst place, he states, incorrectly, that I referred to Oddone (his version of ‘Magister Otto’) as Hugo: ‘Black writes Hugo’ (p. 28, n. 28); I did not refer to anyone named Hugo in that footnote (Black [2001], p. 86, n. 142). As for the identication of a canonist with a grammarian, he points to the contemporary example Uguccione da Pisa, often identied as both a grammarian and later a canonist. However, this is by no means certain: Müller (1994), cited by Witt in the preceding note (n. 27), has cast doubt on the identication of the grammarian and the canonist. Even if canonist Uguccione and grammarian Uguccione were one in the same, that does not prove or even substantiate that the two Ottos were the same; indeed, Uguccione could be (and one cannot be sure) the proverbial exception that proves the rule. Witt then goes on to suggest that I did not take account of two grammars which contain avant-garde French grammatical material: Munich Staatsbibliothek Lat. 18908 by a certain Ogoccio, and Lucca Biblioteca Capitolare Feliniana 614. Witt here is working at second hand: he has not himself seen the manuscripts nor read the texts, relying instead on brief information supplied by two other scholars. He does not establish that these two manuscripts are Italian, nor that they contain texts written by an Italian; moreover, he provides no evidence about the dates of the manuscripts, much less of the texts that they contain. These two grammars cannot be considered as relevant until it is proved that both the texts are Italian and that they date from the later twelfth century. Prima facie, it seems more likely that Ogoccio’s grammar was the work of a Frenchman, since its author identied the Parisian master Robert as his teacher (Witt [2006], p. 28). A more reliable guide to contemporary Italian grammatical interests are the grammatical works of Paolo Camaldolese, which have been denitively dated and localized to Tuscany in the last thirty years of the twelfth century (Sivo [1990], pp. 10–11): there is no avant-garde Parisian inuence detectable there. 391 Debenedetti (1906–7), p. 341 n. 2. 392 See Black (2001), p. 117 n. 353. 393 BMV Lat. XIII.34 (3914), fol. 1r–38v; Lat. XIII.29 (4473), fol. 1r–37r; Lat. XIII.48 (4730), fol. 27r–76v. 394 BML Ashb. 243: General denition of construction. Verbs: personal verbs: active, passive, neutral substantive, neutral possessive, neutral acquisitive, neutral effective, neutral imperfect, neutral absolute, neutral passive, neutro-passive, common, deponent; impersonal verbs; innitives; gerunds; supines; participles; vocative, substantial, accidental verbs; derivative verbs: inchoative, meditative, frequentative, diminutive etc. Nouns: verbal, relative, numerical, gentile, patrial, patronymic, relatives, interrogatives, comparatives, superlatives. Conjunctions. Figures. Case governance.
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with vernacular translation under each verbal subclass, together with the usual type of mnemonic verses. There are also copious themes given in the volgare with Latin translation, and particularly revealing is Filippo di Naddo’s handling of gures. Here he rapidly passes over gures of diction and of locution, and focuses on gures of construction.395 He then gives detailed consideration to these gures of construction,396 in fact the same ones discussed by Francesco da Buti.397 In fourteenth-century Florence, secondary grammar was taught more usually by non-Florentines. One well documented example comes from the school of Domenico di Bandino d’Arezzo, who taught grammar in Florence from 1381 to 1399.398 A vocabulary list that he gave to one of his Florentine pupils in the late fourteenth century, under the title ‘Incipiunt vocabula data a Magistro Dominicho de Aretio’, is divided into sections according to subject matter, beginning with man and proceeding to parts of the body; the house, including domestic items, furniture and food; the garden and plants; woods and trees; and nally the farm. The list seems to reect the Florentine idiom of the pupil-copyist, whose orthography often did not reproduce his teacher’s probably more latinate vernacular and whose Latin was often ungrammatical. The manuscript containing this vocabulary has the following ownership note on front yleaf: ‘Iste liber est Bartulj Dominj Bellj de Mancinis morantis in scholis Magistrj Dominicj de Aretio, amen’. Bartolo (or Bartolomeo) was the son of an important Florentine political gure of late Trecento, Messer Bello di Niccolò Mancini, knighted by the Ciompi in 1378; his mother, Niccolosa di Messer Giovannini Magalotti, was from a Florentine elite family. The manuscript probably dates from the 1380s; it is less likely to derive from 1390s, because Messer Bello is not specied as dead in colophon; it must come before 1 July 1399, when Domenico di Bandino returned to teach grammar in his native city of Arezzo, never again to live in Florence.399 Bartolo Mancini’s schoolbook also contains a set of thematic translation exercises. All the topics used by Domenico di Bandino for such translations focus on problems treated theoretically in contemporary sec-
395 396 397 398 399
BML Ashb. 243, 34r–v. BML Ashb. 243, 34v–46r. See above p. 91. Hankey (1963), p. 708. For his career, see above pp. 70–71.
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ondary grammar manuals, such as Francesco da Buti’s Regule, discussed above (see pp. 92–93). Similarly, the translation exercises carried out by Bartolo Mancini under his other teacher, one Maestro Giovanni, preserved in the same manuscript, also focus on one particular problem of thematic translation. In this latter case, the task was translating the vernacular verb capere, which required rendering into Latin through the adjective capax, and Bartolo was given twenty-two exercises of varying difculty on this one point (fol. 6r–11v NN).400 Another example of a secondary grammar used in fourteenth-century Florence, found in only one manuscript (BNCF NA 398), is by ‘Magistro Guillielmo de Verrucola Bozorum’ (fol. 73v); this teacher, who taught grammar in Lucca from 1334 to 1348,401 was from the noble Bosi family, who, as lords of Fivizzano (in the neighbourhood of Lucca), held the castle of Verrucola nearby.402 The manuscript is written on paper with a Florentine watermark of 1341 (Briquet 703) and with several fourteenth and fteenth-century ownership marks suggesting Florentine provenance.403 The book may also have been used by two Aretine teachers, possibly while teaching in Florence.404 The contents of the treatise show an overall similarity to the Regule by Francesco da Buti and Filippo di Naddo.405 There are the usual mnemonic verses and categorized lists of verbs with vernacular equivalents; the syntactical focus is apparent from the omnipresent terminology (suppositum, appositum, determinatio, a parte ante, a parte post, regere) as well as from the numerous thematic translations. 1400–1450 During the rst half of the fteenth century, indications of the secondary theoretical grammar curriculum in Florence begin to appear in ricordanze and other documentary sources in addition to surviving
400 See Black (1996b), where the texts are published and discussed; see also Black (2001), pp. 107–108, 114. 401 Barsanti (1905), pp. 108–110, 140. 402 Touring Club Italiano (1974), pp. 203–204. The localization of Guglielmo in Black (2001), p. 118 was incorrect. 403 Fol. 43v, 73v (Strozzi, Rondinelli families). 404 73v: Iste liber est et adhuc moratur ad legendum et ad lactinandum [ms.: clatinadum] in scholis Magistri Gori [de Aretio?]. 74r: Magistri Nicholai de rizio. 405 Verbs: active, passive, neuter, common, deponent. Participles. Relatives. Interrogatives. Verbal construction and modi signicandi. Conjunctions. Figures. Nouns: partitives and distributives, comparatives, superlatives.
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schoolbooks. In 1428 Giuliano di Nofri Benini lent Ser Lorenzo da Cesi, the tutor of Domenico Allegri’s sons, a copy of Doctrinale, which he duly returned in November 1429.406 In April 1429, Francesco di Tommaso Sassetti’s mother Betta bought him ‘uno paio di reghole maggiori’ (an upper-level theoretical Latin textbook) from his teacher.407 In May 1431, Dietisalvi Neroni lent his brother Giovanni ‘uno volume di rechole maggiori et con altre opere da imparare gramaticha’.408 In December 1450 Maestro Taddeo da Pescia claimed a debt from Filippo di Nofri di Gimignano for teaching grammar to his son Gimignano, ‘el quale faciva latini’ (translating passages from the vernacular into Latin).409 Such occasional documentary evidence hardly yet indicates widespread Florentine interest in learning grammar during the early fteenth century, and indeed the evidence of Florentine school-level Latin study in manuscript schoolbooks during the same period remains patchy. Ser Santi del fu Domenico d’Arezzo ran a grammar school in Florence in the rst decades of the fteenth century (see ch. 5 pp. 404–407 below),410 and a record of his teaching is preserved in the manuscript BNCF LF 202, containing literary texts (see below pp. 130, 152, 156) as well as the opening two books of Doctrinale (fol. 32v–47v), followed by a series of grammatical exercises (fol. 48r–1184, 138r–144r). The manuscript was the collective work of four pupils, two of whom identied themselves: Antoniotto di Giovanni di Paolo Morelli, who left his note of possession on the inside back cover (fol. I’): ‘Iste liber est mei Antoniotti Iohannis Pauli de Morellis’; and Francesco di Francesco Ferantini, who left his ex libris on fol. 31r: ‘Iste libe est Francisci Ferantin’. The manuscript carries throughout a series of dates progressing from 1413 to 1416, usually placed in the upper margin of each page. Antoniotto Morelli, the second son of the famous diarist, Giovanni di Paolo Morelli, was born on 24 December 1398, which would make him fteen at the time that he began working on BNCF LF 202 in 1413.411 Francesco di Francesco Ferantini, the youngest member
406
ASF CRSGF, 132.484, fol. 102v (see Appendix 5). ASF CS V.1474, fol. 42 destra, 48 sinistra (see Appendix 5). 408 ASF MSS 85, fol. 99v (see Appendix 5). 409 ASF Mercanzia 1378, fol. 221r: see ch. 5 p. 420 below for the text. 410 On Ser Santi di Domenico d’Arezzo, see also Black (1996a), p. 415, and ASF Catasto 37, 1189v–1190r, his 1427 tax return (Appendix 1). 411 BNCF CP 158bis, fol. 13v–14r, indicating also that he died on 15 July 1421. In 407
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of a household of four brothers, was twenty-seven in 1427,412 making him thirteen in 1413, when he copied the extracts from Doctrinale in the same manuscript. Ser Santi is revealed as their grammar teacher by a colophon preserved within the manuscript.413 The theoretical grammar study of these boys was concentrated in the years 1414 to 1416. The rst task was reading the rst two books of Doctrinale. Here Francesco Ferantini provided the usual school-type of glossing, in the form of interlinear explications, rare appearances of the vernacular and occasional brief explicatory marginalia. Soon there began a number of thematic translations, similar to those already highlighted in Bartolo Mancini’s exercise book from the school of Domenico di Bandino in Florence some thirty years earlier (see above pp. 128–29). These constituted a series of vernacular passages, each followed by a literal Latin translation; every one was numbered in the left margin, the remaining work for 1414 consisting of 61 such themes to translate (fol. 48r–57v). These translations were also grouped according to topics, indicated as centred titles preceding the passages. The topics for 1414 focused almost entirely on verbs, and roughly corresponded to the earlier verbal topics of the secondary grammar syllabus as found, for example, in Francesco da Buti’s Regule, beginning at the end of the sections on verbs classied according to syntactical patterns (neuter, common, etc.) and moving on to impersonal verbs, innitives, participles and derivative verbs. In 1415 the work continued with further thematic translations of derivative verbs (inchoative, meditative, frequentative, desiderative), but then the focus shifted, as in secondary grammars, to types of nouns (verbals and relatives [indenite adjectives were considered to be nouns and classied as relatives]) (fol. 58r–67r). The formal succession of numbered passages to translate was soon interrupted, however, by an intervening miscellaneous section (fol. 67v–96v). This
1427 Catasto (ASF Catasto 34, fol. 656r–659v, portata of Giovanni di Pagolo Morelli), Antoniotto is not mentioned in Giovanni Morelli’s list of bocche (fol. 659r) and therefore is conrmed as dead. 412 ASF Catasto 59, fol. 107v: Bocche. Piero di Francesco Ferantini d’età d’anni 35. Giovanni Ferantini d’età d’ani. Alessandro Ferantini d’età d’anni 31. Francesco Ferantini d’età d’anni 27. The Ferantini were a moderately prosperous middle-ranking Florentine family, with total valsente in 1427 Catasto of 3930 orins, just less than half of Giovanni di Paolo Morelli’s (8557 orins). 413 (fol. 104v) Deo gratias amen. Et non fecimus ulterius quia a? sse passus fuit magisster noster qui vochabatur Ser Santes, magisster valde inteligens i losoa in loicha et in gramaticha etc.
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consisted of grammatical denitions and other theoretical material, interspersed with short thematic translations (neither numbered nor in topical order) and Latin/vernacular vocabulary lists, organized in topics like those by Goro d’Arezzo and Domenico di Bandino already encountered above. This material seems possibly to have offered revision of subjects already covered earlier in the curriculum, as well as looking forward. There then follows an entirely new section, consisting of several short ctitious vernacular letters and corresponding Latin translations (fol. 89r–91v). The numbered translations soon begin again (fol. 102 to 131). The topics now consist of types of nouns (numerals, weights, quantities, possessives, gentiles and patrials, patronymics), again corresponding roughly to the later stages of the formal secondary grammar curriculum found in Francesco da Buti et al. At this point it seems, as suggested by the colophon on fol. 104v mentioned above, that Ser Santi stopped teaching this group of boys. With Ser Santi’s departure, the numbered thematic translations ceased, but the year was completed with another miscellaneous mixture of brief thematic translations, Latin/vernacular vocabulary and grammar notes (fol. 105r–109v). The next year, 1416, continued with the same type of miscellaneous material (fol. 110r–118r), concluding with a section on homonyms, in the form of a Latin vocabulary list with vernacular equivalents, organized by grouping together identically or similarly spelled words but with different meanings (fol. 138r–144r). These Differentiae correspond to the works by pseudo-Cicero and Guarino;414 they normally seem to have come near the end of the theoretical secondary curriculum, as is suggested by the late placing of Guarino’s Carmina differentialia in the series of Florentine grammar treatises associated with Giorgio Antonio Vespucci (see below pp. 136–38).415 Another Florentine example from this period comes from the ricordanze of 1419 to 1421 by Domenico di Bono da Firenze, a ferravecchio called Valdisieve, containing ‘Vocabula nobis tributa a Magistro Antonio’416 (probably Maestro Antonio di Andreuccio da Castelnuovo della Lunigiana, who taught grammar in Florence from 1420 to 1425: see below pp. 387–88, 538), containing mnemonic verses, like Goro’s, Domenico di Bandino’s and Niccolò di Ser Duccio’s vocabularies (see above, pp. 70–72, 128).
414 415 416
Black (2001), pp. 160–61. See Black (2001), pp. 331–36. ASF MSS 83, fol. 12r.
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Theoretical grammar teaching in Florence in the earlier fteenth century is also illustrated by the humanist Sozomeno da Pistoia (1387–1458), who taught many scions of the Florentine elite in the rst half of the fteenth century.417 Much of his teaching was at the postgrammatical level, including his appointment to lecture on poetry and rhetoric at the Florentine Studio in the academic year 1431–1432;418 nevertheless, he also taught grammar in Florence: he was asked to tutor the ‘nipote’ of a cardinal during Eugenius IV’s Florentine residence,419 and he was employed as one of the public grammar teachers in Florence by the Studio ofcials in 1438–1439.420 The only surviving document of Sozomeno’s activity as a teacher of secondary theoretical grammar is OBL lat. misc. e. 110, a manuscript ‘dating from some time after 1420’.421 This manuscript, written by Sozomeno himself, does not constitute a formal grammatical treatise, like those by Francesco da Buti or Guarino, but consists of a set of notes on nearly all the usual grammatical topics covered in the secondary syllabus: although he himself refers to the manuscript once as a tractatus,422 the autograph alterations and annotations suggest a working copy rather than a formal treatise; moreover, there is no evidence that the text ever circulated, nor was it mentioned by Vespasiano da Bisticci as one of his works (unlike his Chronicon universale, which was rst copied and distributed by Vespasiano himself ).423 Nevertheless, these notes must constitute Sozomeno’s teaching materials as a grammar master. By the 1420s he was already a sophisticated humanist scholar: there is no way that he would have compiled this kind of school-level grammatical miscellany except as a teacher.424 Two further manuscripts show the traditional side of Florentine school-level theoretical grammatical study in the rst half of the fteenth century:
417 Vespasiano (1970–1976), I, pp. 560–561; Palmieri (1982), p. 37; Zaccagnini (1900b), pp. 220–22; Zaccagnini (1913), pp. 166–67. 418 Gherardi (1881) p. 414; Park (1980), p. 288. 419 Vespasiano (1970–1976), I, p. 560. 420 Park (1980), p. 296; see below p. 416 and Appendix 3. On Sozomeno’s teaching activities in general, see Cesarini Martinelli (1991), pp. 36–37. 421 According to Richard Hunt and Albinia de la Mare, as related to Keith Percival: see Percival (1981), pp. 235, 260 n. 10. 422 OBL lat.misc.e.110, fol. 104r: de primis syllabis quere in principio huius tractatus. 423 Vespasiano (1981), I, pp. 561–562. 424 For Percival’s changing views of this manuscript, see (1972), pp. 280–281; (1981), pp. 235, 260 n. 10.
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BRF 649 is a copy of Pietro da Isolella da Cremona’s Summa, rst owned in the fteenth century by Ser Battista Boccianti da Pisa,425 whose son, Bindo, sold it to Florentine, Pandolfo Pandolni, in 1433.426 BRF 809, a copy of Graecismus datable to the rst half of the century, has vernacular glosses suggesting a Venetian/Paduan provenance, but the manuscript soon travelled to Florence, passing, in the rst half of the Quattrocento, through the da Panzano family into the ownership of Michele di Taddeo da Pontassieve.427 The school context of the codex is beyond doubt, with numerous probationes,428 as well as two alphabets (fol. 79r) suggesting continued classroom use into the sixteenth century. The manuscript reveals two main types of glossing: copied marginal comment provided by the scribe(s) and more spontaneous interlinear glosses. All the glossing is normal school-type explication, beginning with a conventional accessus, which follows the normal fteenth-century Aristotelian pattern of title, part of philosophy and causes. The reading level of the copyist(s) was basic, including word order marks (fol. 1r–v), grammatical terminology,429 simple lexical synonyms,430 vernacular equivalents,431 and the missing letters of words abbreviated in the text for metrical reasons.432 A few interlinear glosses are not written by the copyist(s), but they are of an equally low level.433 The copied marginalia are often vocabulary, normally accompanied by vernacular.434 Often vocabulary lists are given for words mentioned in text, again with
425 (Fol. 61v) Messer Batista da Pisa ebbe dì 2 di dicenbre 1410 la prima peza del Digesto Vehio. 426 (Fol. 61r) Questa Soma è di Pandolfo di Giannoço d’Agniolo di Filippo Pandolni, conperata da Bindo di Ser Batista a ddì XXIII di febraio MCCCCXXXII. 427 Fol. 94v: Hic liber est mei Michaelis Taddei Simonis Dini de Ponte ad Sevem civis et notarius orentinus [sic], qui liber habetur a Domino Rainaldo Mattei da Panzano, qui dedit mihi per ca(usam) hanc etc. 428 Especially fol. 1r. 429 Fol. 7r: hec euphonia, -e, id est sonus bonus; hec tapinosis, -sis, id est perigrenatio; hec macrologia, -e, id est longus sermo. 430 Fol. 8r: parta = aquisita, constat = manifestum est, contra = id est per contrarium, inglorius = id est sine gloria. 431 Fol. 60r: vim = id est per forza; 64v: Abiurat patriam nunquam rediturus in illam = id est zurare de no’ tornare mae in la soua patria. 432 graphia dia thastica Orto. proso. dyasin. species tres gramatice sunt. (fol. 19r) 433 de parto, -tis [sic] ex quinque et centum de nascor de dico de quiesco Parsi quingenta natus dixitque quievi (fol. 15r) 434 E.g.: hic punctus, -ti dictus a pupugi id est el ponto che se fa in la pelle ovver in la carta ovver in del palpero; hoc punctum, -ti dictum a punxi id est el ponzere chi se fa con el scopelo on ver cum altra cosa. (fol. 54r)
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vernacular equivalents.435 The marginalia also often provide explanation and denition.436 One or two marginalia were not written by the scribe(s) nor were they copied from an exemplar, but again they offer normal school-type grammatical fare.437 Less traditional is a Florentine copy of the Ars de nomine et verbo by the late ancient grammarian Phocas. This work, written as a school text for his pupils in Rome probably during the early fth century, enjoyed a modest circulation and inuence in Northern Europe during the middle ages, but hardly any at all in Italy (apart from an early copy made at Montecassino in the late eighth century and the use made by Lorenzo da Montecassino, abbot of Amal [d. 1048], of Remigius of Auxerre’s commentary on the Ars de nomine et verbo). After Poggio’s recovery of the text at Fulda in 1417, it became a fashionable work in Italian humanist circles: of the forty-one fteenth-century manuscripts, almost all are Italian; a number are connected with prominent Italian patrons such as the Bembo, Montefeltro and Strozzi families; some can even be directly associated with humanists such as Poliziano, Pietro da Montagnana, Pietro Odi da Montopoli and Matteo Ronto. BML Gaddi 169, datable to the earlier or mid-fteenth century, was copied by Alessandro Arrighi, probably a Florentine;438 a school context is suggested
435
fol. 16v: hec lis, -tis id est l’atenzo hec glis, -tis id est la napola [etc.] 436 E.g. fol. 4r: Exallange est quando numerus singularis ponitur pro plurali ut naute complent naves armato millite ibi ponitur armato millite pro armatis militibus per exallanegem. Dicitur ab ex id est extra et alleos id est allienum et logos id est sermo quasi extra alienum sermonem. 437 E.g. Invenitur tamen in Tulio in colore de subiectione et est XVIII color: insuper grandi subiectione venitum est, etc. Iacet textus in 4º rhetoricorum novorum. (fol. 68r) 438 Florentine provenance is suggested by the watermark, identied by Jeudy (1974, p. 93) as a variation of Briquet 11689 (Florence, 1411–1421) and by the ownership of the Florentine Agnolo di Zanobi Gaddi as well as by reference to the ‘Cini di Firenze’ (fol. IIr). However, I have been unable to nd a convincing candidate for the copyist ‘Alexander Arigus’ (fol. 20v). If he belonged to Florentine Arrighi family, apparently three possibilities exist: (1) Alessandro di Iacopo di Francesco, n. 23 March 1394, ob. 1451, a gure of some political importance, who sat as member of the Dodici Buonuomini in 1422, of the Sedici Gonfalonieri in 1422 and of the Signoria in 1431; (2) Alessandro di Simone di Alessandro di Iacopo, n. 1466; Alessandro di Iacopo di Bernardo di Iacopo di Francesco, n. before 1477, the date of his father’s death. See BNCF CP 185, fol. 27r–v, 40r, 44r–v). The book is too early to have been copied by (2) or (3), and (1) seems too old to have copied it as a grammar pupil, if it is true that the work rst came to prominence in Italy as a result of Poggio’s discovery in 1417; he would also seem to have been too prominent politically and socially for a teacher.
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by the vernacular probationes on the front parchment yleaf or cover (fol. IIr) as well as by a vocabulary list of Greek terms transliterated into Latin which follows the text (fol. 21r–v). 1450–1470 Florentine theoretical secondary grammar activity did not become noticeably more intense in the years betwen 1450 and 1470, when there are still few relevant references in ricordanze. Giuliano di Antonio di Ser Andrea Bartoli lent a copy of ‘reghole magiore e reghole minore’ to Iacopo di Salvestro di Lionardo Pucci in 1451;439 writing shortly before 1454, Ficino referred disparagingly to teachers (‘pedagogos’) who taught ‘Regululas’;440 in 1459 Francesco di Matteo Castellani lent ‘un paio di regolette di Quirino Veronese’ to Ser Clemente, the resident private tutor of Matteo, the son of the Florence’s Captain General.441 There are a few manuscript schoolbooks too. ASF CB II.179 (seen above, p. 126, as associated with the Florentine convent of Settimo and containing a text of the donadello) also included copies of Filippo di Naddo’s treatise on syntax and Gaspare da Verona’s Regule (nished 22 October 1463: fol. 135r). The bibliophile Giorgio Antonio Vespucci (1434–1514) worked in Florence as a teacher and private tutor,442 and associated with him was a secondary theoretical grammatical course with humanist afliations, preserved in a series of seven Florentine manuscripts443 and ve others outside Florence,444 all dating from the second half of the fteenth century. The compilation seems to constitute a full school-level gram-
439
ASF Comp.RSGF 1385.5, fol. 8r; see Appendix 5. Cristiani (1966), p. 217. 441 ASF CRSGF 90.134, fol. 17r (now published in Castellani [1995], p. 63). See Appendix 5. 442 Ullman and Stadter (1972), p. 38; de la Mare (1973), p. 107 and notes 5–8; Verde (1973–1995), III, pp. 8–9, 26, 58–59, 108–111, 240, 385–86, 427, 480, 542, 568, 813, 852–53, 944; Verde (1987), p. 13. 443 BNCF Magl. I.37; BRF 675, 999, 1236; BNCF CS J.II.22 contain fuller versions of treatises. BNCF Magl. I.3 and Magl. I.38 contain shortened versions, with the same material in almost the same order but ending with the section on cases and conjugations, and omitting the Guarinian orthography, heteroclyte nouns and the Carmina differentialia. The shorter versions contain some but not all the classical quotations of longer versions. 444 CUL Plimpton 136; BL Burney 316; BL Add. 10351; BMV Lat. 4479; Warsaw Biblioteka Narodowa Cod. Boz. 35. I have not seen last two manuscripts, whose location and shelf-marks I have taken from Bursill-Hall (1981). 440
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matical syllabus, beginning with morphology of the parts of speech;445 continuing with syntax;446 going on to Guarino’s heteroclyte nouns,447 his orthography448 and his Carmina differentialia;449 and ending with a brief section on verbal conjugations.450 The course seems to have strong Florentine associations, given that seven manuscripts are now in Florence. According to Albinia de la Mare two further manuscripts are associated with Giorgio Antonio (one written mainly in his hand451 and the other corrected by him),452 a fact which strengthens this Florentine connection; his copying and annotation, of course, might indicate authorship, or, at least, use in teaching his grammar pupils. The only positive indication of date is a reference to 1465 in BNCF Magl. I.38.453 With the inclusion of three tractates by Guarino, this course shows the attraction which grammatical treatises by humanists were beginning to command in the later Quattrocento. Humanist inuence is clear too in the direct citations of classical authors, including Vergil,454 Sallust,455 Cicero,456 Terence,457 Lucan458 and Juvenal.459 This compilation probably gives an indication of the kind of grammatical training that sons of the Florentine elite were receiving in the second half of the fteenth century: despite the window-dressing provided by Guarino’s treatises, the secondary grammar course remained conservative even in later fteenth-century Florence. The morphology followed the pattern of Ianua, with the Priscianic order of the parts of speech (noun, verb, participle, pronoun, preposition, interjection, adverb, conjunction) and Ianua’s exemplary words ( poeta, amo, doceo, lego, audio, etc.); vernacular translations are included with paradigms. The overall syllabus of
the syntactical treatise is traditional.460 There are the usual invented examples, lists of verbs in subclasses with vernacular equivalents and thematic translations; there is the traditional syntactical vocabulary (ante se, post se) and the implicit concept of natural word order. Even more traditional was a text (BNCF Pal. 867 n. 18) that belonged to the Puccini family, who seem to have emigrated from Pistoia to Florence in the second half of fteenth century: the rst two sections of the manuscript were completed by the notary Bartolomeo Puccini da Pistoia on 2 May 1461, and then passed to his son Gabriele.461 Fol. 1–5 of this manuscript contain the ‘Notabilia minora Magistri Macthie de Urbe Veteri’,462 which cover not only part of the standard secondary syllabus but also have other traditional features such as vernacular translations of verbal lists, scholastic syntactical vocabulary (ante se, ex natura, post se, regere, agens, patiens), mnemonic verses and thematic translations. A nal Florentine secondary theoretical grammar from the decades between 1450 and 1470 is particularly unusual. In a miscellaneous manuscript (BML Antinori 14), compiled by the Florentine Lodovico
460 Nominal declensions. Nominal types (substantive, adjectival, proper, appellative). Concordance (substantives, relatives, verbs). Verbal syntax: Personal verbs: Active verbs: 5 unnamed species; Passive verbs: 5 unnamed species; Neutral verbs: Substantive, Possessive, Acquisitive, Transitive, Absolute, Imperfect; Neutral passive verbs; Neutropassive verbs; Common verbs; Deponent verbs: Passive, Active, Possessive, Acquisitive, Effective, Absolute, Imperfect; Vocative verbs; Impersonal verbs; Familiar verbs (constructed with volo, posso etc.); Innitives; Gerunds; Supines. Participles. Verbals. Derivative verbs. Relatives. Comparatives. Superlatives. Conjunctions. Figures. Nominal terminations. Heteroclyte nouns (Guarino). Guarino, De orthographia. Guarino, Carmina differentialia. Verbal conjugations (formation, principal parts, etc.) 461 Fol. 23v: Signum mey Bartolomey Puccinj de rio notarii etc. Hic liber est mei Bartolomey supradicti. Completus fuit 1461 die 2 Maiy. The top line was then altered to read: Signum mey Gabrielis Bartolomey de Puccinis de Florentia. The second line was also altered to: Hic liber est mei Gabrielis Bartolomey supradicti. 462 The folios now out of order; correct order written in old numbering in upper right corner: 1 = 1, 2 = 4, 3 = 3, 4 = 5. There is a missing folio/folios between 4 and 5, but the order of topics as treated here seems to be: innitives, gerunds, supines, case governance, adverbs, relatives, interrogatives. 5 does not have an old number, but if the order of material follows that found in Francesco da Buti et al., then 5, which covers deponents and impersonals, should precede all the rest. The treatise seems to be Florentine/Tuscan in origin or redaction, since orins are referred to as the standard currency, and there is a Tuscan geographical reference: (fol. 4r) Serthianum [= Sarteano] distat a Senis triginta quatuor miliaribus.
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Dof between 1455463 and 1458464 and including religious visionary tracts and medical recipes, there is also found a secondary grammar treatise.465 The scope of this textbook is entirely traditional,466 as is its grammatical terminology (a parte post, causa efciens / nalis / materialis / instrumentalis), and it includes the normal mnemonic verses too. What is unusual about this treatise is its use of the vernacular. It not only provides the normal vernacular equivalents of Latin example words and thematic translations but also gives a vernacular table of contents as well as some running headings in the volgare. What is extraordinary is that this mid-fteenth-century treatise also offers extended grammatical explanations in the vernacular, e.g. for participles, superlatives, or nominal accidence.467 The overall appearance of this treatise is macaronic; nevertheless, its quantity and particularly its use of the vernacular to explain Latin grammatical doctrines show not only the force of the volgare tradition in Florence but also point to a future time when the Italian language would provide the normal medium for Latin pedagogy and when the vernacular, not Latin, would predominate in the eld of grammar.468
463
See fol. 114r. See fol. 140v. 465 Fol. 117v–131v. 466 It touches on phonetics, nominal declensions and genders, orthography, derivative verbs, participles, gerunds, comparatives, superlatives, interrogatives, verbals, pronouns, partitives, conjunctions, gures, nominal accidence, nominal types (distributive, negative, innite), prepositions, and prosody. 467 See Black (2001), pp. 168–69 for illustrations of the vernacular here. 468 See excellent discussion of post-1500 vernacular grammars of Latin in Grendler (1989), pp. 186–188. According to Bec (1984), there are the following secondary-level theoretical grammars belonging to pupilli in Florence from 1413 to 1470: 464
p. 152: heirs of Bartolomeo di Giovanni de’ Rossi (1421). This inventory is repeated on p. 176 for 1431 and p. 177 for 1432.
‘j paio di Reghole orentine’ [= Filippo di Naddo’s textbook: see above pp. 126–28] ‘j paio di Reghole di don Niccholò’ [= Don Niccolò di Ser Guido da Castelfranco di Sopra, public grammar teacher in Florence from 1424 to 1426 (see below ch. 5 p. 388 and Appendix 3) and author of a surviving Tractatus orthographie (BRF 653). These Regule grammatice do not seem to survive.]
p. 154: heirs of Bartolino di Lorenzo (1423)
‘j paio di reghole gramatichali’
p. 155: heirs of Simone di ser Piero della Fioraia (1425)
‘j libro, Dotrinale’ ‘j libro di Reghole pisane’ [= Francesco da Buti’s Regule]
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1470–1500 Florentine interest in secondary theoretical grammar intensied in the last thirty years of the fteenth century, when references in ricordanze multiply. In March 1477 Andrea di Cresci bought a copy of Niccolò Perotti’s grammar (‘1º paio di reghole di sipuntino’) for his adopted son, Cresci di Andrea.469 In February 1477 Filippo di Matteo Strozzi bought two copies of ‘reghole supuntine’ for his ‘fanciulli’,470 while on 18 December 1482 he bought a Latin vocabulary for his son Alfonso471 and on 6 March 1482, a copy of Valla’s Elegantiae.472 Niccolò di Carlo Strozzi bought two copies of Perotti for his sons Carlo and Simone
‘ij Dottrinale [. . .] j paio di Reghole j paio di Regholuzze’
p. 165: unidentied pupilli
‘j libro detto Dotrinale’
p. 166: heirs of ‘Jachopo di Filippo Ghuidetti (1429)’
‘un Dotrinale in charta pechorina’
pp. 169–70: heirs of Giovanni di ser Pietro Ciantellini (1430)
‘Reghole di gramaticha del maestro’ ‘ja Somma di gramaticha’
p. 173: unidentied pupilli
‘j Dottrinale in charta banbagina’ ‘Reghole mezane’ ‘Reghole magiori’
pp. 181–82: Antonio di Bartolomeo Corbinelli (1446) p. 183: heirs of ‘Niccholò di Ranieri Peruzzi (1445)’
‘j libro di Reghole pisane’ [= Francesco da Buti’s Regule] ‘j libro di Donato, di Regole magiori’ [= Donatus’s Ars maior] ‘j paio di Reghole magiore’ ‘j Dotrinale’
p. 185: unidentied pupilli
‘j Dottrinale tristo’
p. 185: heirs of ‘Giovanni di Nuto di Bartolo (1453)’
‘j Dotrinale’
It may be signicant that all these grammar textbooks noted by Bec are traditional grammars and that there is no sign of humanist inuence here in the Florentine classroom up to 1470. The same pattern is largely true for other sources for secondary grammatical study in Florence: see above pp. 129–39. 469 ASF AGPA 327, fol. XXXVIIIIº destra. See Appendix 5. 470 ASF CS V.22, fol. LIII recto. See Appendix 5. 471 ASF CS V.36, p. 177. See Appendix 5. 472 ASF CS V.22, fol. LXXXV recto. See Appendix 5.
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in June 1479.473 In 1480 Niccolò’s relative, Bernardo di Mariotto di Piero di Brancazio Rucellai, aged 15 1/2, ‘studia per avere un po’ di latino’.474 On 26 March 1483, Lorenzo di Matteo Morelli bought for his children a copy of the Regole by Francesco di Giovanni da Urbino,475 the Latin teacher of Michelangelo and probably of Leonardo.476 On 12 October 1486, Antonio di Lionardo Gondi bought Perotti’s Regule (‘uno paio di righole di sepuntino) for his son Girolamo.477 In 1486 the inventory of Lionardo di Lorenzo Morelli’s possessions included two copies of Perotti (‘2 paia di reghole serpentine’), one of which came from Alessandro Capponi.478 Perotti’s grammar became so fashionable in Florence that it was even used in conventual grammar schools, for example in S. Maria del Carmine: A dì 3 [di dicembre 1476] [. . .] A Ser Pagholo [da Prato] nostro maestro di grammaticha per due paia di reghole in forma et legate di Sypontino per novitii comperate dal cartolaio [. . .] lire sei S. cinque: L. 6 S. 5.479
In 1493 Andrea di Messer Tommaso Minerbetti lent his brother-in-law, Lorenzo di Piero Bini, a collection of Latin translations of vernacular passages by Poliziano as well as some secondary grammar rules by him (no longer extant) (‘latini et reghole di M. Angelo Poliziano’).480 The thematic translations here were evidently those which Poliziano had given to his pupil Piero di Lorenzo de’ Medici, who was required to make translations from the vernacular not only into Latin but also into Greek.481 There are also numerous schoolbooks indicating enhanced Florentine interest in theoretical secondary grammar dating from the last thirty years of the century. BNCF Magl. VI.129, a text of Cicero’s De inventione (1r–97r) datable to c. 1480, contains unattributed excerpts made from Perotti’s grammar on fol. 97v–102v;482 this manuscript seems to have had 473
ASF CS IV.71, fol. 121v, 128v. See Appendix 5. Verde (1973–95), III, p. 1079. See Appendix 5. 475 ASF AGPA 139, fol. 53r. See Appendix 5. This text was also in the library of S. Marco: Ullman-Stadter (1972), p. 240 n. 980. 476 See below ch. 5 p. 401 and n. 332, as well as Appendix 5. 477 ASF CG 32, fol. 9 destra, 10 sinistra. See Appendix 5. 478 ASF CS V.68. See Appendix 5. 479 ASF CRSGF 113.87, fol. 89r. 480 BML AD 2292, fol. 10v. See Appendix 5. 481 Poliziano (1867), pp. 17–41; Picotti (1915), pp. 288, 291, 93–94. 482 Compared with Rome 1475 edition, Hain 12647. 474
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something to do with Niccolò di Ugolino Martelli (fol. 104v: Ricordo come a dì 8 di genaio dal fatore di Nicholò Martelli cioè Francesco da Pistoia suo fatore alla botegha del batiloro Fl. 6 larghi [. . .]) A copy of the grammar course associated with Giorgio Antonio Vespucci (BRF 1236) has an internal date of 12 March 1494.483 Another fragmentary secondary grammar (BNCF Magl. I.39) is interesting as evidence of the traditional curriculum taught to the scions of the Florentine patriciate at the turn of the sixteenth century, copied as it was by a member of the Soderini family,484 and used by another member of the family.485 The text’s curriculum follows the usual pattern. In the section on personal verbs, the subclasses are illustrated in the traditional way by lists of verbs with vernacular equivalents; there are mnemonic verses, as well as the usual syntactical vocabulary (suppositum, appositum, regere, ex natura, a parte ante, post se) and thematic translations. A French thirteenth-century manuscript of Doctrinale (BML CS 65) was in Florence by the late fteenth century, when an annotation was made (fol. 94r: vellese Fl. 3 1/2 al mancho per tutto agosto altro_______ [ folium secatum] venduto). Finally, the property inventories of Florentine pupilli from 1471 to 1500 contain numerous secondary grammar treatises: Figli di Francesco di Baldino Inghirami (8.11.1471)
1º libretto di Reghole
Figli di Romolo d’Andrea di Nofri battiloro (21.2.1474)
1º libro di Regole mezane 1º libretto di Regole magiore 2 libri vechi [. . .] da ‘nparare grammaticha 2 libreti [. . .] da ‘nparare gramaticha
Figli di Giovanni di messer Sallustio (lanaiuoli)
Regole
Figli di Giovanni di Meglio di Maso detto Giannino stufaiolo (23.2.1475)
1º libretto di Reghole
Figli di Francesco di maestro Piero di Francesco fuori della porta in Friano (9.12.1477)
1º libretto di Reghole
483
De Robertis and Miriello (1999), p. 24. 41v: Expliciunt regulae verborum personalium mei Pauli Luisii Ioannis de Soderinis. Incipiunt eiusdem regulae verborum impersonalium. 485 Front yleaf, recto) Iste liber est Ieronimi Soderini. 484
the school curriculum in florentine tuscany Figli di ser Manno di Giovanni della Volta (3.9.1478) Figli di Domenico di Neri Bartolini (5.11.1478)
143
1º paio di Reghole serpuntine 1º paio di Reghole di grammaticha 1º Dottrinale 2 volumi di Reghole
Figli di Zanobi di Michele Brancacci (22.8.1480)
1º paio di Regole
Figli di Antonio di Goro di Stagio Dati (24.11.1480)
1º libretto di Reghole da studiare
Figli di Gaspare di Tento di Nicolò speziale (2.9.1483)
1º paio di Reghole
Figli di Niccolò di Ghino Guicciardini (31.5.1484)
1º paio di Reghole in ‘sputine [= Perotti]
Figli di ser Mazetto di ser Andrea da Chanpi (14.2.1495)
1º paio di Reghole di maestro Filippo [di Ser Naddo da Firenze]
Figli di Gismondo di messer Agnolo della Stufa (18.9.1495)
1º libriccino [. . .] chiamato Erotimate in grecho [= Manuel Chrysoloras, Erotemata] 1º libricino titolato Erotimate greche [= Manuel Chrysoloras, Erotemata] 1º libro [. . .] chiamato le Reghole di Nicholaio Peroto 1º libro [. . .] chiamato Lorenzo Valla [Elegantiae]
Figli di Filippo d’Antonio di Scarlatto Scarlatti (9.4.1496)
1º libro di Reghole 1º libreto [. . .] di Reghole in latino 1º paio di Reghole di ghramaticha
Figli di Silvestro di Zanobi di Mariano di Giovanni cartolaio (10.5.1496)
1º paio di Reghole sepontine [= Perotti] 1º libro di Reghole 1º Dottrinale 1º paio di Reghole Ghuarine [= Guarino, Regulae] 1º paio di Reghole 1º paio di Reghole 1º Dottrinale
Figli di Daniele di Leonardo Bruni banchieri (8.5.1498)
What is striking for the years 1470 to 1500 is not only the intensied Florentine interest in secondary grammar but also the strong presence of humanist grammars, especially Perotti’s: in the years before 1470, theoretical grammar, insofar as it had been studied at the secondary level in Florence, was almost entirely traditional; now after 1470 Renaissance humanism had nally arrived in the Florentine classroom.487 The auctores minores in Florence Until the late fteenth century,488 the minor school authors provided the normal introduction to Latin literature in Florentine grammar schools. As the Florentine Dominican Giovanni Dominici wrote at the turn of the fteenth century, referring to the educational habits of previous generations (il buon tempo antico): ‘La prima cosa insegnavano era il salterio e dottrina sacra; e se gli mandavano più oltre, avevano moralità di Catone, zioni d’Esopo, dottrina di Boezio, buona scienza di Prospero [. . .]’489
487 For further discussion of humanist inuence in Florentine grammar teaching after 1470, see ch. 5 below pp. 466–68. It is important, nevertheless, not to exaggerate the extent of humanist inuence on the curriculum in Florence even after 1470. An interesting window onto Florentine school education at the end of the century is offered by the life of the future explorer and Florentine citizen, Giovanni di Lionardo di Giovanni di Niccolò da Empoli by his uncle, Girolamo da Empoli: lui venne al mondo a dì venzette d’Ottobre mille quattrocento ottantatrè [. . .] dotato di buono ingegno, docile allo imparare: ed insino dalla età de’ sette anni aveva imparato assai bene a leggere il saltero, di poi le lettere, e così di mano in mano il donadello, le regole, e a fare de’ latini e pistole; tantochè nel tempo di tredici o quattordici anni aveva imparato assai bene il latino. Erano in quel tempo maestri di scuola di gramatica, maestro Girolamo del Maestro Luca nostro orentino, gentile maestro; di poi c’era prete Guasparri Massani, cioè da Massa, dottissimo uomo in gramatica; di poi c’era Francesco da Urbino, e un altro detto Guerrino; tutti nobili maestri; e quasimente da tutti Giovanni andò a imparare, di modo imparò assai bene il latino. Ed ancora dava opera a imparare un poco di greco; e se lui avesse seguitato lo studio, si faceva dotto. (Girolamo da Empoli [1846], pp. 21–22) The accuracy of this account is conrmed by three teachers mentioned, all teaching grammar publicly in Florence in 1496 and 1497 (see below ch. 5 pp. 400–401 and Appendix 3), when Giovanni was said to have culminated his Latin education in Florence at the age of 13 or 14. The syllabus described is almost entirely traditional: salterio, writing (‘leggere [. . .] le lettere’), donadello, le regole [= secondary level syntax], ‘fare de’ latini’ [thematic translation exercises from the vernacular into Latin], ‘pistole’ [writing ctitious letters in Latin by translation from vernacular texts]; the only avant garde element evident is Greek, but this was only ‘un poco’. 488 See Black (2001), pp. 272–73. 489 Ed. Garin (1958), p. 72. See Debby (2001), p. 118.
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The fourteenth century A few surviving manuscript schoolbooks that contain the minor authors can be associated with pre-fteenth-century Florence: A manuscript dating from the very end of the Duecento and containing Physiologus and Aesop (BNCF Magl. VII.931) can be connected graphically with Florence;490 it is glossed in the school manner by two principal hands, both writing at about the same time as the copyist: the interlinear glosses consist of simple Latin paraphrase, word-order marks and vernacular equivalents; the marginalia consist of gures and grammatical explanation, and there is a short conventional accessus to Aesop (fol. 5v). A notebook (BML AD 343) containing excerpts and incipits of school authors (Henry of Settimello, Cato, Physiologus, Geta, Cartula, Facetus, Prosper, Psychomachia, Doctrina rudium, Aesop, Dittochaeon, Geoffrey of Vinsauf and Boethius’s Consolation), besides other grammatical notes, sententiae, excerpts from Iacopo della Lana’s commentary on Dante and from sermons of Remigio de’ Girolami delivered in Santa Maria Novella, possibly had some didactic association with novitiates at the monastery of Ognisanti during the fourteenth century.491 A copy of Henry of Settimello’s Elegy (ASF CS III.72), containing the usual school-level philological marginalia, had a connection with fourteenth-century Florence, in view of a probatio pennae datable to that period: (fol. 20v) ‘Priores artium et vexillifer’. Another copy of the same text (BML Pl. 77.16) can evidently be linked to Florence late in the same century, given that its scribe reused apparently Florentine documentary parchment; its copyist was responsible for most of the school-type interlinear and marginal glosses. A text of Ilias latina (BML Pl. 91 sup. 3), reusing Florentine notarial parchment (fol. 10v, 14v), reveals several glossators at work contemporaneously with the scribe and leaving the usual school mixture of interlinear paraphrase and simple philological marginalia; one of the glossators dated his intervention 1388, while the Florentine Agnolo Gaddi subsequently left an ownership note.492
490 491 492
This is the view of Gabriella Pomaro. Black and Pomaro (2000), pp. 91–92. See Bandini (1774–77), III.745 for a transcription of the latter.
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The fteenth century But the majority of surviving manuscript schoolbooks providing texts of the minor authors and disclosing a link with Florence date from the fteenth century: A miscellany (BML Pl. 91 sup. 4), containing Ilias latina, Salutati’s Elegia, Physiologus, Theodulus, Salutati’s Fabula de vulpo et cancro, Bernardo of Clairvaux’s Epistola de cura rei familiaris, Dittochaeon, Facetus, Psychomachia, Giovanni di Bonadrea’s Ars dictaminis, and Avianus’s Fabulae, was assembled by Paolo di Morello di Paolo di Bernardo Morelli (1393–1432), still evidently a schoolboy, in the rst decade of the century; his glossing lacks signicant marginalia, although there is ample school-level simple lexical paraphrase, including vernacular.493 The manuscript mentioned above (p. 130) from Ser Santi d’Arezzo’s school in Florence, dated 1413–1416 (BNCF LF 202), also contains texts of Cartula and Cato, copied by the group of schoolboys responsible for the grammatical sections. A composite manuscript (BRF 725), datable to the rst quarter of the century and containing Aesop, Physiologus, Theodulus’s Ecloga and Henry of Settimello’s Elegy, was partly copied by a pupil called Pietro di Angelo, learning in an anonymous teacher’s school; the manuscript was written on reused documentary parchment from Florence or the nearby countryside.494 A manuscript datable to c. 1425 and containing Ilias latina and Proba’s Centones virgiliani (BNCF Magl. VII.1063) is unglossed but has the ex libris of the Florentine Torrigiano Biliotti, a pupil at the school of a Maestro Zanobi: (fol. 51r) ‘Iste liber est Torrigiani Bigliotti, qui moratur scolis Magistri Zanobi p(ro)f(e)x(or)is’.
A copy of Ilias latina was probably copied under commission from the Florentine Macingo di Gioachino Macinghi in 1428 (BML Pl. 38.12); it received interlinear vocabulary glosses and word-order marks by various contemporaneous hands.495 A version of Prosper’s Epigrammata and Aesop, datable to the early fteenth century (BRF 350), was glossed in the usual school manner with
493 494 495
See Black (2001), p. 402 for a more detailed discussion. See Black (2001), pp. 233, 276, 287, 294, 296–98 and 419 for more details. See Black (2001), pp. 228, 398 n. 43.
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ample basic vocabulary equivalents, in Latin and Italian; its Florentine provenance is clear from the probationes by two different hands: (fol. 53r) Simo(n) Giovannis Tommasi Florentie Filippii [. . .] Giovanni di Tommaso trecento d’oro, pagammo per loro Giovanni di Simone di Francesco e compagni setaiuoli furono per due balle di panni di trenta Fl. l’uno; [. . .] allochamo Mo Giovanni Quaratesi in Firenze [. . .]
A manuscript of Henry’s Elegy, datable to the very end of the fourteenth century (BRF 732), came into the possession of the Vespucci family early next century; it has the following ownership notes: fol. III recto (NN): Iste liber est mei Gorgius [sic] Ser Amerigi de Vespucci<s>; fol. IIIv: Iste liber est mei Ser Amerigi Stasii de Vespuccis; fol. 19v: Iste liber est Anibaldi Ser Iohannis de Piscia. Amen. Anibaldus.496 fol. 20r: Iste liber est Anibaldi Ser Iohannis.
The signature here of Giorgio Antonio Vespucci (b. 1434), the future teacher and bibliophile, must go back to his rst years of learning to read and write: it does not correspond to any other writing style used by him; there are mistakes in Latin; the handwriting is distinctly childish; and Henry of Settimello was normally read as a schoolbook. The signatures indicate that it was owned rst by Giorgio Antonio’s father, Ser Amerigo di Stagio Vespucci (1398–1472), before coming into his own possession.497 A running commentary on Physiologus and Dittochaeon (BNCF CS C.4.2870), from the Badia di Firenze, is datable to the early fteenth century, and possibly connected in some way to early Florentine humanist circles, given the precocious elements of humanist script displayed.498 A miscellany (BRF 630) containing Cato’s Distichs, Cartula, Prudentius’s Dittochaeon, Physiologus, Theodulus’s Ecloga, Bonvesin’s Vita scolastica, Prosper’s Epigrammata and Aesop, datable to the rst half of the fteenth century and with occasional simple marginal paraphrase glosses and interlinear lexical equivalents, including the vernacular, by several
496
The handwriting of Anibaldo di Ser Giovanni da Pescia is datable to the fteenth century; his note of possession must refer to ownership before it passed to the Vespucci. 497 See Gehl (1993), pp. 264–265, who published some of these ownership notes with errors of Latin grammar and transcription; De Robertis and Miriello (1997), p. 58 (manuscript only cited); Cremaschi (1949) (manuscript R), p. 21. Not cited by de la Mare (1973) or (1985). 498 See Black (2001), p. 229 for a more detailed discussion.
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hands contemporaneous with scribe, is in all probability a Florentine production.499 A composite manuscript of Bonvesino da la Riva’s Vita scolastica and Cartula (BRF 427), datable to the rst half of the century and with interlinear simple vocabulary glosses in at least two hands, including the copyist’s and the organizer’s of the composite, has a Florentine ownership note nearly contemporaneous with copying of both sections of composite: (fol. 32r) Iste liber est Marci Hioannis Neri de Chambis cives orentinus.
A text of Prosper’s Epigrammata, Prudentius’s Dittochaeon and Cato, datable to mid-century (BRF 364), was copied by a member of the Florentine Minerbetti family and then passed to his son, remaining in the family during the sixteenth century.500 A manuscript of Prudentius’s Dittochaeon (BNCF Magl. VII.1221), datable to mid-century, was owned by a Florentine schoolboy, Benedetto di Piero Cambini, learning in the school of Ser Battista di Andrea Bisconti da Volterra, who taught grammar in Florence from 1430 to 1437:501 (fol. 6r) Iste liber est mei Benedicti Petri de Canbinis. Iste liber est mei Benedicti Petri de Kanbinis qui moratur in scolis Domini Baptiste de Vulterra. 6v: Questo libro è di Benedetto di Piero Chanbini.
A version of Ilias latina (BNCF Magl. VII.1193) came from the school of the prominent humanist teacher, Maestro Guglielmo da Bourges, while teaching in Florence between 1448 and 1450;502 one of Maestro Guglielmo’s pupils copied the text while another gave it
499
This is the view of Gabriella Pomaro. It was the work of its rst owner, Andrea di Tommaso Minerbetti; it then passed to his son, remaining in the family during the sixteenth century, coming into the possession rst of Messer Tommaso Minerbetti, then of Bernardo Minerbetti, who added Vergil’s rst eclogue. Fol. 24v: Iste liber est mei Andree Tonasi de Minebectis; 35v: Iste liber est mei Tomae? Andree? de Minerbectis; 35v: Scripsit n(omina) propria s(ua) manu D. Tomas Minerbectus eques; 39r: Scripsit manu propria Bernardectus Minerbectus. See De Robertis and Miriello (1997), pp. 62–63 and Black (2001), p. 414. 501 Park (1980), pp. 287–294. See below ch. 5 p. 389 and Appendix 3. 502 Guglielmo ceased to be Arezzo’s communal grammar teacher on 19 November 1447 (Black [1996a], pp. 499–500); he was present in Florence on 12 January 1448 to receive a dowry of 200 orins for his daughter, who was marrying a Florentine (Black [1996a], p. 501); he was teaching at Castiglion Fiorentino in October 1451 ( Jaitner-Hahner [1993], p. 273). 500
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a conventional set of school-type lexical interlinear glosses and simple philological glosses.503 An archetypal school anthology (BNCF Panciatichiano 68), containing Prosper’s Epigrammata, Aesop, Chartula, Prudentius’s Dittochaoen, Physiologus and Vitalis of Blois’s Geta, had passed into the Florentine Gherardi and Valori families by the later fteenth century: (fol. IIIr [NN]): Hic liber mei Filippi Bartholommei Filippi de Valoribus et amicorum eius; (fol. 83r) hic liber est Filippi Bartolomei Filippi de Valoribus Florentie; (fol. 83v) iste liber est nobilis Bernardi Francisci de de [sic] Gherardis civis nobilis orentinus [sic].
The grammatical miscellany (ASF CB II.179), associated with the Florentine convent of Settimo mentioned above ( pp. 126, 136) and datable to c. 1463, contains Cato’s Distichs, Prudentius’s Dittochaeon and Cartula too. An example of traditional school authors probably coming from a Florentine humanist school is BNCF Magl. VII.1088, an anthology dated 1469504 and containing Achilleis, Ilias latina, Henry of Settimello and Maximianus, besides pedagogic poetry by two famous humanist teachers, Guarino and Porcello.505 Pietro Crinito, a favoured disciple of Poliziano’s, continued to use the minor authors as a Latin teacher in Florence at the turn of the sixteenth century.506 For Crinito this activity with the auctores minores was not always a welcome task.507 He also resented the time he had to spend on Henry of Settimello’s elegy, which he apparently used in teaching too, as is suggested by his Miscellanea (BML Pl. 34.50).508 503
See Black (2001), pp. 234–35 for a more detailed discussion. Fol. 77r: Expleto hoc libro die 29 mensis marzi 1469. 505 See Black (2001), pp. 231, 236, 242–43, 283, 285–86, 293, 297–98, 411 for more details. 506 di Pierro (1910), 8: Nactus sum codicem perveterem a Cosmo Saxetto, in quo et Arator et Avianus et Prosperus et Beda [identied as BML Pl. 68.24: de la Mare (1976), p. 183] [. . .] Ego non indignum sum opinatus ex Aviano aliquid percipere, qui Aesopi fabulas in latinum convertit, ne quid instituto operi desit. Die 25 nov. 1500. 507 As he wrote after transcribing some verses from Prosper’s Epigrammata: Non libuit plura excerpere, nam bonum tempus ludicris et nugis collocavi. Ego Petrus Crinitus V Nov. 1500 (di Pierro [1910], p. 8). 508 Fol. 120r: Ex libro Henrici [. . .] Explicit Henrici liber [. . .] Perlegi Henricum, in quo opere tempus perditum, quod carmen ineptum et plane britannicum, ex libro Car[o]li Benini. For the approximate date of this excerpting, see fol. 124v: Exscripsi ego Petrus Crinitus Florentiae nonis aug. 1499 [. . .] See Bandini (1774–1777), II.172 for partial transcriptions. 504
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Nevertheless, Crinito acquired his own copies of minor authors, presumably for teaching purposes: thus he duly recorded the presence of both Bonvesin’s De vita scholastica and Ilias latina in the table of contents which he appended to BNCF Magl. VII.1087, an anthology which he personally assembled.509 Finally, the property inventories of Florentine pupilli from 1471 to 1500 reveal a number of minor authors: Figli di Francesco di Baldino Inghirami (8.11.1471)
Aesop Fabulae
Figli di Romolo d’Andrea di Nofri battiloro (21.2.1474)
Aesop Fabulae
Figli di ser Girolamo d’Antonio di Michele Pascualini (9.2.80)
Figli di Filippo d’Antonio di Scarlatto Scarlatti (9.4.1496)
Bernard of Clairvaux Epistola de cura rei familiaris, Prudentius Dittochaeon510
509
See Black (2001), p. 411 and notes 99–101. Verde (1987), pp. 45, 59, 88, 89, 150. According to Bec (1984), the following minor authors were owned by Florentine pupilli in the years between 1413 and 1470: 510
p. 152: heirs of ‘Bartolo di Schiatta Ridol (1421)’ ‘j Isopo’ (inventory repeated on p. 177) p. 152: heirs of ‘Bartolomeo di Giovanni de’ Rossi’; inventory repeated for 1431 on p. 176 and for 1432 on p. 177.
p. 174: heirs of ‘Piero d’Antonio di Naldo (1430)’
‘un Chato’
p. 179: heirs of ‘Piero d’Antonio (1433)’
‘j Chato’
p. 179: unidentied pupilli
‘j Prospero’
p. 181: unidentied pupilli
‘j libro di Prospero’
p. 185: heirs of Pellegrino Vinaccesi (1451)
‘1 libro Prospero’ ‘1 libro Prudenzio’ ‘j Isopo’ ‘j quadernino, Birria’
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Boethius in Florentine schools The most widely read author in Italian schools from 1300 to 1450 was Boethius’s Consolation of Philosophy.511 Recommended by Florentines such as Giovanni Dominici and Giovanni Morelli, the text was lampooned by Burchiello (d. 1449), who observed in the sonnet ‘Questi ch’andaron già a studiare a Atene’ that pupils were forced to shoulder the burden of ‘il Buezio’.512 Boethius’s Consolation survives in a number of copies that can be directly linked to Florentine schools during the fourteenth and fteenth century: BML Pl. 78.15, a manuscript datable to the second quarter of the fourteenth century and of undoubted Florentine origins, retains light school-type interlinear glosses by the copyist.513 BRF 552, a manuscript produced at the very end of the fourteenth century, was connected from the start with the school of two Aretine teachers working in Florence: (fol. Iv) Iste liber est mei Dominici Andre morantis in iscolis Magistri Nicholai d’Aretio in camera Ser Benincase de Santa Maria in Balneum (fol. 47r) in iscolis Magistri Dominici de
Here the two teachers were Domenico di Bandino d’Arezzo, teaching in Florence up to 1399 (see above pp. 267–68), and Niccolò di Ser Duccio, documented as teaching in Florence from 1401 (see below pp. 386, 402–403); the manuscript later passed into the hands of the Florentine Minerbetti family.514 Another Florentine Consolation (BRF 641), produced and decorated in Florence during the mid-fourteenth century, was also used in the Florentine school of Domenico di Bandino (teaching in Florence from 1381 to 1399: see above pp. 267–68): (fol. 63v) Iste liber est mei Antoni morantis in ischolis Magistri Dominici de Aretio (et) in camera Nicholai ibidem; qui constitit mihi tribus orenis et tribus grossis.515
511
Black and Pomaro (2000), pp. 3 ff; Black (2001), pp. 222–24, 236–38. Spagnesi (1979), pp. 88–89. 513 See Black and Pomaro (2000), pp. 37 n. 44, 68, 81, 84, 109–110, 196; Black (2001), pp. 224, 401. 514 See Black and Pomaro (2000), ad indicem; Black (2001), pp. 223, 389, 416. 515 See Black and Pomaro (2000), 36 n. 31, 37 n. 44, 38 n. 67, 68, 147–48, 288–89; Black (2001), pp. 223, 277, 283–84, 389, 418. 512
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Yet another Consolation manuscript (BML Pl. 25 sin. 2), datable to the mid-fourteenth century, was used in the Florentine school of Domenico’s Aretine colleague and successor, Niccolò di Ser Duccio (see below p. 386): Iste Boethius est Ludovici Duccii de Sancto Miniate quem ipse prestavit mihi Francisco Ser Biondi, moranti in scholis Magistri Nicolai de Aretio die VII. mensis februarii MCCCCI indictione . . . [= 1402]
This manuscript was soon acquired by the Florentine convent of S. Croce, where it was used in 1425 as a schoolbook by an evident novitiate, Fra Francesco Foraboschi, learning from Maestro Francesco da La Verna: Ego frater Franciscus de Foraboschis hunc librum audivi ad Magistro Franciscus [sic] de Alv(er)na anno domini MoCCCCXXV.516
BML Ashb. 892, a text datable to the rst half of the fourteenth century, was used by a pupil called Giovanni di Puccino di Ser Andrea in Ser Santi di Domenico d’Arezzo’s school in Orsanmichele: (fol. 48v) Iste Boetius est mei Giovanni Puccini Ser Andree morantis in ischolis magistri Ser Santi de [. . .] doctoris gramatice in una via que vocatur Orto Sancti Michelis. Amen.517
Ser Santi di Domenico rented a school in Orsanmichele from 1418 to 1424 and from 1426 to 1427 (see below pp. 404–407); his Florentine pupils, whose cooperative schoolbook has been mentioned above (BNCF LF 202: see pp. 130–32), also compiled a vocabulary in the same miscellany taken from Boethius’s Consolation, entitled ‘Ista sunt sunt vochabula scritta a Boetio etc.’, consisting of a running list of Latin words with vernacular translations for all of book I (fol. 92r–96v). Datable to the very end of the fourteenth century, BNCF CS J.X.21 was used in the fteenth century by a pupil called Bartolomeo, learning at a school in the Oltrarno: (fol. 62r) Iste liber est Bartolomei ultra arnum scholis Iste liber est in scholis Magistri F doctoris gramatice vel rectorice
516
See Black and Pomaro (2000), ad indicem; Black (2001), pp. 214, 223, 389, 395,
422. 517 See Black and Pomaro (2000), ad indicem; Black (2001), pp. 223, 282, 332, 389, 392, 422.
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The humanist Bartolomeo Fonzio (1446–1513), tutor to various Florentine families including the Rinieri,518 and probably the Sassetti519 as well as teacher over many years at the Florentine Studio,520 left marginal glosses in this copy of the Consolation, now belonging to the Cattani di Diacceto family.521 The annotations composed by Fonzio resemble the brief summaries of each section of the text which often appear in grammar school copies,522 a fact which suggests that they were intended for the use of his pupils from this family.523 A mid-fourteenth century manuscript of the Consolation (BRF 268) was not apparently annotated until the fteenth century, when it was glossed extensively by a Florentine pupil who left the following ex libris: (fol. 69r) Iste liber est mei Benedicti Iachopi Ser Fulchi de Florentia morantis in scholis Magistri Bon[i] M. Amen dico vobis.524
BRF 549, a manuscript of certain Florentine origin and dating from the second quarter of the fteenth century, is almost completely unglossed but preserves the normal schoolbook format.525 Two other Florentine manuscripts of the Consolation, without explicit school signatures, were, in contrast, glossed in the typical school manner: BRF 643, a local Florentine product datable to mid-century,526 and BRF 644, a text datable to the turn of the fteenth century, written over reused Florentine notarial parchment.527 There are one or two documentary references to the Consolation as a schoolbook in Florence too. In June 1375, a private tutor called Guido da Bibbiena came to live with Filippo’s dell’Antella’s family to teach his son Nanni; he stayed 11 months, and while there he sold Filippo, evidently for Nanni’s use, ‘uno suo Boetio’ for four lire.528 In 1428, Ser
518 Francesco di Bernardo Rinieri learnt Latin from Bartolomeo Fonzio in 1479: ASF CRSGF, 95.212, fol. 168v. See Appendix 5. 519 See de la Mare (1976), pp. 160–201, passim. 520 Verde (1973–1995), II, pp. 84–85. 521 Black and Pomaro (2000), pp. 266–267. 522 E.g. Black and Pomaro (2000), pp. 252–254, 295–298. 523 See Black and Pomaro (2000), ad indicem; Black (2001), pp. 223, 238, 271–72, 300–301, 319, 389, 408. 524 See Black and Pomaro (2000), ad indicem; Black (2001), pp. 223, 276, 282, 389, 414. 525 See Black and Pomaro (2000), ad indicem; Black (2001), pp. 237, 277, 416, 422. 526 See Black and Pomaro (2000), ad indicem; Black (2001), pp. 224, 418. 527 See Black and Pomaro (2000), ad indicem; Black (2001), pp. 224, 418. 528 ASF MSS 74, fol. 25r. See Appendix 5.
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Lorenzo da Cesi, who was teaching the children of Domenico Allegri, borrowed a copy of Boethius from Giuliano di Nofri Benini.529 Inventories of Florentine pupilli’s possessions from 1471 to 1500 also mention copies of Boethius’s Consolation: Figli di Francesco di Baldino Inghirami (8.11.1471)
‘1º vilume di Boezio’
Figli di Lotto di Giovanni di Messer Forese Salviati (16.12.1483)
‘Filosoa di Buezio di consolazione’
Figli di Ottaviano di Contuccio (2.1484)
‘Boetio di losoca consolatione’
Figli di Filippo d’Antonio di Scarlatto Scarlatti (9.4.1496)
‘sposizione di Buezio’ [probably by Nicholas Trevet]530
The auctores maiores in Florence Vergil and Seneca were recommended for schoolboys by Giovanni Morelli,531 as were Cicero, Livy and Sallust by Alberti;532 humanist
529
ASF CRSGF 132.484, fol. 102v. See Appendix 000. Verde (1987), pp. 42, 105, 107, 157. According to Bec (1984), there are the following copies of Boethius belonging to pupilli in Florence from 1413 to 1470: 530
p. 152: heirs of Bartolomeo di Giovanni de’ Rossi (1421), repeated for 1431 on p. 176 and for 1432 on p. 177
‘j Boezio’
p. 154: heirs of Guaspare di ser Domenicho Simoni (1422)
‘Boezio’
p. 160: unidentied pupilli
‘1 Boezio’
p. 161: heirs of Michele di Giovanni del Chiaro (1425)’
‘1 Boezio’
p. 163: heirs of Ser Jachopo di Vanuccio (1426)’
‘ij Boezii’
p. 163: unidentied pupilli
‘Buezio’
p. 178: heirs of Giovanni di Rosso (1432)
‘Boezio, di Chonsolazione’
pp. 181–82: heirs of Antonio di Bartolomeo Corbinelli (1446)’
‘j libro di Boezio’
p. 183: heirs of ‘Niccholò di Ranieri Peruzzi (1445)’ 531 Morelli (1956), p. 271. 532 Alberti (1960–73), I, p. 71.
‘j Boezio’
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teachers such as Gentile Becchi, Poliziano and Crinito boasted that they taught not only standard Roman authors to their pupils, but even recherché texts by Plautus, Tibullus,533 Justinus534 (not to mention Greek authors such as Isocrates and Homer);535 although these latter claims are sometimes difcult to verify,536 there are a number of surviving manuscripts of the standard cycle of Latin classical authors that can be explicitly linked to the Florentine schoolroom in the fteenth century: A famous Florentine schoolbook was Cosimo de’ Medici’s text of Ovid’s Heroides, read under the tuition of Maestro Niccolò di Ser Duccio d’Arezzo, teaching in Florence during the academic year 1401–1402 (see below p. 386), when Cosimo was twelve or thirteen years old: (fol. 57v) Iste liber est Cosme Iohannis de Medicis morantis ad scolas d. Magistri Nicholai de Aretio et eum emi a D. Lucha de Bondalmontibus de Florentia. Costitit uno oreno s(olidis) octu, 8 videlicet.
Cosimo’s glosses are not difcult to pick out, writing as he did with a distinctively dark ink. His interlinear annotations are typical simple lexical equivalents: e.g. (fol. 1r) Lacedemona = Grecia, deserto = relicto, querenti = petenti, spatiosam = longam, leto = morte; his marginalia are the normal basic philology: (fol. 1r) Penolope fuit lia Ycarii – Antilocus fuit lius Nestoris quem Paris interfecit. – Trilolomus fuit lius Erculis interfectus ab Ethore. – Pat(ro)colus fuit lius Meneaci interfectus ab Ethore. (fol. 1v) Resus fuit rex Traice. – epitetum (fol. 2v) Telemacus fuit lius Ulixis. (fol. 3r) Anteas erat quidam mons a quo lignis ortis naves ebant. (fol. 7r) Traicus fuit Orfeus, repertor lire. (fol. 38v) Pliasdis uxor Athamantis que habuit VII lias cum quibus omnibus concubuit Iupiter et eas mutavit in gallinella[m] signum celeste.537
The miscellany (BML Pl. 91 sup. 4) assembled by the Florentine schoolboy Paolo di Morello Morelli in the rst decade of the fteenth
533
R. Ricciardi, in DBI v. 38, p. 265 (s.v. del Riccio Baldi, Pietro). della Torre (1902), p. 383; Rochon (1963), pp. 34, 64 n. 225. 535 Picotti (1915), pp. 291–93. 536 I examined all the manuscripts of Justinus now found in Florence, obtaining negative results regarding school use. 537 See Black (2001), pp. 210–11, 249, 287–88, 294, 297–98, 389, 397, 430. 534
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century, besides the minor authors mentioned above (p. 146), also included a version of Claudian’s De raptu Proserpinae.538 The collaborative school exercise book and anthology, prepared by a group of Florentine pupils learning under Ser Santi di Domenico d’Arezzo from 1413 to 1416 (BNCF LF 202) and discussed already for its theoretical grammatical material and minor authors (pp. 130–32, 146), also contained a text of Statius’s Achilleis.539 Vergil’s Eclogues (BML Ashb. 879) were copied in 1422 by scion of Florentine elite, Andrea di Francesco Quaratesi, while learning Latin under Ser Bartolomeo Guidi da Pratovecchio, who ran the grammar school at Orsanmichele in the early 1420s (see below ch. 5 pp. 406–407): (fol. 25r) Publii Virgilii Maronis Buccholicorum liber hic explicit, deo dante, scriptus per me Andream Francisci de Quaratensibus, dum in scolis reverendi preceptoris mei, Ser Bartolomei de Pratoveteri moram trahebam nondum linquens gramatice documenta, sub anno domini ab incarnatione eiusdem MCCCCXXII et die XXVII martii, deo gratias, amen.540
A copy of Seneca’s Tragedies, dating from the end of the fourteenth century (BML Pl. 24 sin. 5), was designated for the use of Fra Francesco Foraboschi, seen above as a pupil in Santa Croce reading Boethius’s Consolation under Maestro Francesco da La Verna in 1425 (p. 152): (fol. Iv) Ad usum fuit Fratris Francisci de Foraboschis, qui pertinet armario orentini conventus Sancte Crucis ordinis minorum.541
Statius’s Achilleis was also included in the school anthology (BNCF Magl. VII.1063), mentioned above as containing texts signed by the Florentine Torrigiano Biliotti (p. 146), a pupil at the Florentine school of a Maestro Zanobi c. 1425.542 The Florentine bibliophile and notary, Ser Filippo di Ser Ugolino Pieruzzi, made a copy of Ovidian and pseudo-Ovidian texts (BNCF Magl. VII.966: Ars amatoria, Nux, Medicamina faciei, Amores [III.5], De virtutibus herbarum [De medicamine aurium], Pulex), which he perhaps found
538 539
See Black (2001), pp. 229, 239, 279, 287–88, 300, 308, 315, 317, 402. See Black (2001), pp. 114, 154, 230, 242–43, 301, 331–36, 386, 389, 409,
427. 540 541 542
See Black (2001), pp. 259, 389, 392. See Black (2001), pp. 213,14, 279, 395. See Black (2001), pp. 231, 242–43, 284, 389, 410.
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of use, when he was forced out of public life in Florence after 1444,543 in teaching grammar at the Badia a Settimo near Florence.544 He left a set of full glosses to the Ars amatoria, although he also provided accessus to all but Medicamina faciei and Pulex. His commentary follows a typical school pattern: moralising, particularly linked to material associated with the conventions of the accessus, soon gave way to philology (topography, geography, history, mythology, gures, explication, rhetorical structure) and quotation from other authors (Seneca’s tragedies, Vergil’s Aeneid).545 Persius’s Satires formed part of a school miscellany (BNCF Magl. VII.1193), mentioned above for its text of Ilias latina and used at the Florentine school of Maestro Guglielmo da Bourges between 1448 and 1450 (see above p. 148), a collection which also contained a school rarity, Ovid’s Epistulae ex Ponto: (fol. 68r) Finis. Explicit liber epistularum Ovidii de Ponto, quem legit Magister Gulielmus civis aretinus. Amen. Finis, ame[n].546
A manuscript of Ovid’s Metamorphoses (BML Pl. 36.9), completed in October 1453, was the work of two cooperating copyists, the second of whom, Gaspare da Radda in Chianti, was working as ripetitore in the household of the Florentine Canocchi family: (fol. 191r) Explicit Ovidius Metamorfoseos, deo gratias, amen, amen. Hic liber est mei Gasparis Niccholai Petri de Radda et sum domi Andreae Dominici de Canochis. Et explevi eum odie 26 die veneris mensis otobris in ora vigesima prima, 1453/1453/1453.547
Gaspare left school-level simple lexical interlinear glosses over the rst fty folios, while his fellow copyist made some school-type marginal annotations (especially on fol. 93v–95r). A copy of Sallust’s Catiline and Iugurtha (BRF 687) was explicitly prepared for schoolroom use at the Florentine Badia a Settimo in 1470: (fol. 97r) Crispi Salustii De bello Catellino et Iugurtino liber feliciter explicit. Ego Dopnus Robertus Bonrius de Suchiellis, professus in monasterio
543
Black (1985), p. 133; Vespasiano (1970–76), II, pp. 244–54. Calzolai (1976), p. 123; Ullman and Stadter (1972), p. 26; Vespasiano (1970–76), II, pp. 254, 269. 545 See Black (2001), pp. 251, 286, 288, 293–94, 298–99, 310–11, 315–17, 410, 432. 546 See Black (2001), pp. 234–35, 250–52, 389, 412. 547 See Black (2001), pp. 249, 397. 544
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chapter two Sancti Salvatoris de Septimo scripsi hoc volumen ad laudem domini et omnium sanctorum et sanctarum et ad consolationem legentium et audientium, currentibus annis MCCCCLXVIIII. Inceptum fuit die vigesimo optavo ianuarii et fuit inn illo die festivitatis Sancte Agnetis secundo. Expletum est odie, scilicet a dì XVIII februarii ad horas vigesimas in anno supra.
Only the hand of the pupil/teacher, Don Roberto Suchielli, appears in the manuscript’s glosses, which consist of the usual interlinear lexical synonyms and marginal philology (explication, denition, gures, grammar, simple rhetorical analysis), including references to Hugutio (fol. 9r), Cicero (22r, 23v) and Priscian (28r).548 Persius’s Satires (BNCF Magl. VII.1105) were copied by Giovannantonio Mazzi while attending in 1475 the private classes of the Florentine cleric, Messer Giovanni Lachi, who later taught grammar at the Florentine cathedral school from 1479 to 1482 and 1499 to 1500:549 fol. 13v: Qui tu lector scripsit crede fuisse Ioannem, quem dii conservent secundum semper in orbe [. . .] Qui tu lector scripsit Mazzum fuisse putato. Hic liber Persius scriptus et auditus fuit ab Ioanne Antonio sub Domino Ioanne Lacho orentino 1475, primo anno quo Florentiam appulit.
Giovannantonio provided a full set of interlinear/marginal glosses, appending a long free-standing commentary to Persius after the initial glossed text; the marginalia appear high-level, citing and using Greek, showing the inuence of humanist philology in late fteenth-century Florentine schools.550 The composite school manuscript, assembled by Pietro Crinito and mentioned above (p. 150) for the minor authors included (BNCF Magl. VII.1087), also contained versions of Horace’s Ars poetica and Epistles, as well as Statius’s Achilleis.551 There are also documentary references to the Latin classics used in Florence in the grammar curriculum during the fteenth century: In 1428, Ser Lorenzo da Cesi, the tutor to the children of Domenico Allegri, borrowed from Giuliano di Nofri Benini copies of
548
See Black (2001), pp. 261, 287, 290, 305, 307, 310, 323, 389, 419, 433. AOSMF VIII-1–66, fol. 15 sinistra and destra; VIII-1–67, fol. 99 sinistra and destra; VIII-1–68, fol. 14 sinistra and destra. ASF AdL 226, fol. 5r; 240, fol. 87r; 241, fol. 66r. ASF NA 7914, fol. 224r–v, 230r–v; 10086, fol. 206r, 211r; 10090, fol. 95r–96r. 550 See Black (2001), pp. 252, 389, 411, 432. 551 See Black (2001), pp. 231, 236, 242–43, 245, 411. 549
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Vergil’s Bucolics and Georgics, a commentary on eight books of Lucan’s Pharsalia and Ovid’s Metamorphoses.552 In 1431, Dietisalvi Neroni lent his brother, Giovanni, then learning grammar (Latin), a glossed copy of Vergil’s opera omnia, a volume containing Cicero’s De ofciis and De amicitia and a manuscript of Terence’s comedies.553 In 1446 the tutor to Giovanni Benci’s household bought a copy of Valerius Maximus’s Facta et dicta from Giovanni di Cambio di Tano Petrucci, who used a bookseller called Piero near the Bargello as his agent.554 On 5 September 1461, Gentile Becchi, Lorenzo di Piero de’ Medici’s tutor, wrote to his father: ‘Abbiamo molto bene inanzi l’Ovidio, et el Giustino vistone IIII libri.’555 On 9th August 1469, Girolamo, the twelve-year-old son of the Florentine lawyer and politician, Messer Otto Niccolini, wrote to his father, ‘I have now begun the Letters [Heroides] of Ovid, and they delight me greatly, and I have learnt one by heart’; he also said that he was about to be able to tackle Cicero’s Orations.556 A month later, on 13th September, he wrote again to his father: the tutor Angelo has gone to Castiglione to pay a visit to his parents [. . .] Before leaving he exhorted me very much to study, so as not to pass my time uselessly, and above all he advised me to keep myself in practice with Virgil, which I do with great care, and to read Sallustio [sic] again to myself. This will be useful to make me learn to write well and clearly [. . .] On his return he said he would make me go through Juvenal [. . .]557
On 8 July 1477 Bartolomeo Sassetti bought his son Gentile, evidently then a grammar pupil, a volume of Cicero’s Epistulae familiares.558 Bernardo, son of Antonio Gondi, was bought a copy of Terence on 26 August 1492, while on 20 October 1496 a copy of Vergil was purchased ‘per fanciulli’ of the same family.559
552
ASF CRSGF 132.484, fol. 102v. See Appendix 5. ASF MSS 85, fol. 99v. See Appendix 5. 554 ASF CS II.17, fol. 18v. See Appendix 5. 555 Rochon (1963), p. 64 n. 225. 556 Niccolini da Camugliano (1933), p. 332; presumably ‘Cicero’s Sermons’ here mean his Orations. 557 Niccolini da Camugliano (1933), p. 333. 558 ASF CS V. 1751, fol. 132r. See Appendix 5. 559 ASF CG 33, fol. 21 destra, 135 destra 139 destra. See Appendix 5. 553
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Rhetoric and stylistics were also not overlooked in Florentine schools. As has been seen above, here the basic textbook until the later fteenth century was Geoffrey of Vinsauf ’s Poetria nova, several copies of which can be explicitly linked to Florence: BRF 682, datable to the rst half of the fteenth century, is a schoolbook signed by a pupil from the Florentine parish of S. Felicita: (fol. 50v) Iste liber est populi Sancte Felicitatis ultra Arnum, morantis in scholis Magistri doctoris gramatice.
BML Strozzi 139, also datable to the rst half of the fteenth century, displays school features such as probationes (fol. 42v–43v) and Latin verses written by immature hand (fol. 42r) besides rubbed-out notes of possession (fol. 41v); it was written by two hands reusing Trecento Florentine notarial parchment. BNCF Panciatichi 69, datable to the mid-fteenth century, is a typical schoolbook, with copious probationes on the two front yleaves, alphabets written by an immature hand (fol. 34v, 35v), and Latin/vernacular vocabulary list (fol. 36r) written by the only glossator and providing usual school-type simple interlinear paraphrase and basic philological marginalia including the vernacular (fol. 27r: hoc opus/il bisogno), besides citing Vergil’s Aeneid (fol. 4v), Donatus (19v), Priscian (28r); the book reused parchment from Florentine ricordanze (fol. 1v: Ridol e compagni; 6r: Gherardi; 7v: Gianni di Bartolo di Messer Iachopo de’ Bardi; 11v: di Firenze ricordo che ; 14r: Guidotti), dating from 1330 (see fol. 6r, where the date is legible; 15v: MCCCXXX). There is also a possibly indigenous Florentine stylistic treatise. BML Ashb. 243 includes a secondary grammar by Filippo di Naddo da Firenze. After the close of Filippo’s Regule, as indicated by the phrase on fol. 46r (‘Expliciunt regule Magistri Philippi’), there follows without break a brief treatise entitled ‘De pulcritudine vel ornatu epistolarum’; it is unclear whether or not the copyist was suggesting that this epistolography was also by Filippo di Naddo, since there is no colophon or attribution at the end (fol. 50v);560 there is no doubt that the treatise is Italian in origin, given that there are repeated references to place names in Italy (e.g. Bologna, Florence, Parma, Padua). Nevertheless, this brief work is 560
Inc. De pulcritudine vel ornatu epistolarum. Nota quod prepositio potest removeri [. . .] Expl. ut duxi vostre gratie supplicandum vel consulendum.
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the kind of traditional epistolary treatise that Filippo di Naddo might have written, couched as it in the conventional terminology of ars dictaminis (e.g. dictamen, dictator, punctum, etc.) The text is divided into two sections: the rst focuses on faults to be avoided in letter writing; the second, introduced by the title ‘De regulis occurrentibus in dictamine’, concentrates on a number of miscellaneous grammatical and stylistic principles in epistolography. Most of the general points in both sections are illustrated by examples.561 Eventually, Geofrey of Vinsauf was displaced by Cicero as the stylistic exemplar in Florentine schools.562 With regard to Latin composition, as distinct from reading Latin texts (‘lactinare’ as opposed to ‘auctores audire’), it has been seen that the grammar school curriculum involved a graduated progress from the composition of short phrases or passages up to the composition of an entire letter. It seems to have been at this nal stage of the grammar curriculum that Cicero’s letters, rediscovered by Petrarch and Salutati in the fourteenth century, were used in the fteenth-century schoolroom. Their place at the end of the grammar curriculum is suggested by the series of Florentine grammatical compilations associated with the prominent local teacher Giorgio Antonio Vespucci, already discussed above with regard to secondary grammar (see pp. 136–38). In general, this compilation seems to constitute a full school-level grammatical course of study, after which it goes on to give the text of twenty-eight extremely short familiar letters of Cicero, and a couple by Pliny. The compilation closes with a series of sententiae drawn from the Bible, the church fathers and various Latin classical authors. It seems that the Ciceronian letters are placed at the end of the treatise for stylistic inspiration in episolography, which, as has been seen above, was the traditional end of the school grammar course; because of their brevity and their proximity to a mnemonic text, Guarino’s Carmina differentialia as well as to the sententiae, these Cicero letters were obviously intended for memorization by the pupil.563 Cicero had a special place too in Perotti’s Rudimenta grammatices, a textbook widely used in the Florentine classroom, as has been seen, from
561
For a more detailed discussion, see Black (2001), pp. 350–51. But Geoffrey of Vinsauf was still in use during the later fteenth century in Florence. On 13th September 1469 Girolamo di Messer Otto Niccolini, aged 12, said that his tutor was about to give him ‘the Arte Nuova’: presumably this meant Poetria nova (Niccolini da Camugliano [1933], p. 333). 563 See Black (2001), pp. 352–53 for more details. 562
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the 1470s. In his treatment of letter writing in Rudimenta grammatices,564 Niccolò Perotti singles out Cicero as the unique stylistic paradigm for teachers and pupils alike; Ciceronian vocabulary and even entire phrases should not only be imitated but indeed purloined (‘furentur’) by pupils, who should be wholly nurtured, so to speak, on his milk.565 Indeed, Perotti here was able to show Florentine pupils how to turn a simple vernacular letter into a neo-Ciceronian epistle.566 Abacus and writing in Florence Indications of the abacus curriculum are rare (in contrast to pupils learning the abacus), because pupils did not own their own abacus treatises; the abacus syllabus was imparted directly by teachers without pupil-owned textbooks (unlike the reading, grammar and literary curricula: see above pp. 152–53). In the well known ricordanze of the Florentine Tribaldo de’ Rossi, however, mention is made of two mute (levels) of the abacus curriculum, the librettine (multiplication tables), which his son Guarieri learned in the rst half of 1496,567 and the following muta, called partire, which he spent just over two months learning early the next year: E a dì 14 di febraio 1496 [1497] mandai a Giovani del Sodo per Ghuarieri L. 1a perché lo metto ne le ragione de’ partitori [. . .] E a dì 26 di aprile 1497 mandai [. . .] a Giovani del Sodo, maestro del abacho dove sta Ghuarieri, S. 20 per mutarlo di ragione de’ partitori.568
Guarieri was also bought several tablets for his abacus course: 17 marzo 1494 [. . .] compera’ gli la prima tavola de l’abacho [. . .] Chonparai a Ghuarieri a dì 20 di novembre 1495 1a altra tavola da abacho nuova [. . .] A dì 3 novembre 1496 [. . .] per una tavola d’abacho di nuovo [. . .]569
564
For this work as textbook of secondary grammar, see Black (2001), pp. 132–36. Perotti, Rudimenta, Naples 1475, NN: Quis maxime preponendus est quem studeant adolescentes imitari? Marcus Cicero. Hic in omni dicendi genere omnium optimus fuit. Hunc solum preceptores legant. Hunc discipuli imitentur, nec modo verba eius hauriant sed eciam clausulas, quin eciam partes ipsas epistolarum interdum furentur et suis inserant. Ita enim et ut, succo Ciceronis quasi lacte nutriti, veri illius imitatores evadant. 566 See Black (2001), pp. 355–59. 567 BNCF II.ii.357, fol. 99v. See Appendix 5. 568 BNCF II.ii.357, fol. 158r. See Appendix 5. 569 BNCF II.ii.357, fol. 99v, 158r. See Appendix 5. 565
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Other abacus pupils had similar equipment: Lionardo di Lorenzo Morelli’s son was bought ‘1a tavola e 1º chalamaio [inkpot] da abacho’ on 18th July 1488;570 Niccolò and Filippo, the sons of Lorenzo di Francesco Strozzi, acquired ‘2 tavole di gesso da ‘nparare l’abacho’ on 17 November 1491;571 Bernardo di Antonio Gondi was bought ‘una tavola et chalamaio per [. . .] l’abacho’.572 The inventory of the Florentine pupillo Alessandro del fu Spinello d’Alamanno di Luca Castellani, compiled on 5th March 1479, included ‘1a tavola de abacho’ too.573 These tavole d’abaco seem to have been ‘tablets divided into squares on which counters were placed’; the ‘simple instrument we think of today when we use the English word abacus with its counters arranged along rods or grooves was not actually used in Italy in the later middle ages as it was in northern Europe’, but the Italian tavole d’abaco allowed the use of similar methods. In view of the above evidence, it is perhaps a little hasty to emphasize the obsolescence of abacus tables in Florence by the fourteenth century. The request found in the Datini papers for a ‘tavoletta del gesso, ch’è buona per fare ragioni’ ought perhaps not to elicit surprise, despite ‘the growing sophistication of the merchant’s mathematical education’.574 Indications of the writing curriculum in Florence are even more scarce. In 1480 Alessandro di Francesco di Giuliano Boscoli outlined the educational activities of his four sons: the eldest was at abacus school; the youngest was learning to read the salterium; the two middle boys were evidently learning to form letters: Francesco mio gliuoli insttà all’abacho, d’anni 14. Pappi mio gliuolo impara lle lettere, d’anni 13. Lorenzo mio gliuolo impara lle lettere, d’anni 11. Pandolfo mio gliuolo impara ell saltero, d’anni 10.575
Occasionally abacus and writing were taught at home in Florence, as occurred in the case of the future explorer, Giovanni da Empoli (n. 1483):
570 571 572 573 574 575
ASF AGPA 165, fol. 58 destra. See Appendix 5. ASF CS V.69, p. 38. See Appendix 5. ASF CG 33, fol. 69 right. See Appendix 5. Verde (1987), p. 79. Goldthwaite (1972–73), pp. 419–20. Verde (1973–95), III.1, p. 1180.
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chapter two E benchè egli andasse alla scuola, come è detto, ancora il padre gl’ insegnava l’abbaco, e scrivere; e l’uno e l’altro imparò assai bene.576
Latin drama in Florence It has been seen above that Latin theoretical grammar was attracting enhanced interest in Florence during the last three decades of the fteenth century, and in fact, this revival of Latin at the school level went beyond the technicalities of language. Florence in fact became the rst venue for a performance of classical comedy in Renaissance, with the staging of Terence’s Andria early in 1476 by the pupils of Giorgio Antonio Vespucci in his school premises, in the Medici palace and in the Palazzo Vecchio. Other unidentifed Latin plays were performed in the church of Ognisanti and at the Medici palace in 1478 and 1479 by pupils of Pietro Domizi, grammar master at the cathedral school (see below ch. 5 pp. 398–99), while pupils of Luca Bernardi da S. Gimignano, a public grammar teacher employed by the Studio ofcials (see below ch. 5 pp. 397–400), performed a comedy by Plautus in 1486, and in 1488 Plautus’s Menaechmi (with a prologue by Poliziano) was staged by pupils of Paolo Comparini da Prato, then grammar teacher at the school of S. Lorenzo.577 Domizi wrote four of his own Latin comedies, on religious subjects and all performed by his pupils: Licinia (1476), Zenobius (c. 1482), Augustinus (between 1490 and 1495) and Petrus (between 1502 and 1504); Luca Bernardi wrote some dramatic scenes for his pupils on religious themes too.578 Humanism at School in Florence and Florentine Tuscany: A Comparison As has already been seen (pp. 46–52), the penetration of avant-garde humanism into the school curriculum before 1500 never constituted a ‘revolution in the classroom’: elementary reading and writing remained traditional; there was no place for humanist inuence in the entirely vernacular abacus schools; secondary grammar and Latin composition
576
Girolamo da Empoli (1846), p. 22. Cianfogni (1804), p. 280. 578 Schlebusch (1992), pp. 6–14, 195–97, who signicantly corrects Stäuble (1968), pp. 101–106, 153, 200, 211–12; Fioravanti (1987), pp. 232–233 and n. 29; Verde (1973–1995), III, p. 849; Trexler (1974), pp. 229–31; della Torre (1902), pp. 490–91. 577
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were conservative too, even as new humanist grammars by Guarino, Gaspare da Verona and Perotti—relying themselves on traditional methods—came into vogue increasingly in the later fteenth century. Avant-garde humanist inuence is most notable in the decline of the minor authors and of Boethius’s Consolation at the end of the Quattrocento; in the changing taste for particular classical authors and texts studied—especially with Vergil, Cicero, Juvenal, Terence and Persius displacing Lucan, Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Horace’s Ars poetica and Epistulae and Seneca’s Tragedies; and in the substitution of Ciceronianism, learned primarily via Agostino Dati and Perotti but also from direct study of Cicero’s letters, for Geoffrey of Vinsauf ’s abstract stylistics. Fifteenthcentury humanists, however, built on foundations laid in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries: the revival of the Latin classics began in the Duecento and grew apace over the following century. It is therefore possible to see early humanist inuence in the Tuscan classroom beginning in the later thirteenth century, continuing during the Trecento and culminating in the Quattrocento. What is interesting to learn is that this revival of the classics in the schoolroom did not occur uniformly throughout Florentine Tuscany: during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, it was the area outside the city of Florence which took the lead; Florence itself, surprisingly, remained a backwater in classical studies at the school level before 1400. In the rst half of the fteenth century, Florence began to catch up, and during the second half the teaching of the classics in the city nally matched what was occurring among Florentine subject towns. In pre-fteenth-century Florence, only two teachers can be linked explicitly to the study of classical authors: Spigliato di Cenne da Firenze, who taught grammar in his native city up to 1382 and then again from 1388 to 1389, used Horace’s Ars poetica and Epistulae in his school (see above pp. 63–64); and Domenico di Bandino d’Arezzo, who worked as a grammarian in Florence from 1381 to 1399 (see above pp. 70–71), frequently cited classical Latin authors in his teaching of secondary grammar, as embodied in his textbook, the Rosarium (see above p. 71). Before 1400, on the other hand, classical authors were abundantly used in the grammar schoolrooms of what would become Florentine Tuscany. For Pisa, there is a school-level copy of Sallust (BML Ashb. 20), dating from the mid-thirteenth century (see above p. 95), besides two school versions of the Aeneid, one a full text datable to the end of the Duecento (BML Pl. 39.5: see above p. 96), the other a fragment dating
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from the following century (BNCF Pal. 669: see above p. 96). For Arezzo, there is the Geri d’Arezzo’s evidence that he read Terence at school in the thirteenth century (see above p. 69); in the earlier Trecento, Goro d’Arezzo, documented as teaching grammar in his native city during the 1340s, used Lucan in the classroom, while referring to other classical authors in his teaching of secondary grammar (see above p. 70); his pupil, Domenico di Bandino, who taught in Arezzo at the end of the 1390s if not earlier, has been seen to have brought the Latin classics into his teaching of secondary Latin grammar (see above p. 71). At Prato, not only did Spigliato di Cenne, who taught in the town from 1359 to 1365 and again from 1382 to 1384, make use of Horace’s Ars and Epistulae in the classroom (see above pp. 63–64), but there is also a school-level copy of the same texts (BML Pl. 34.22) explicitly linked to the town (see above p. 64); moreover, Antonio di Ser Salvi Vannini da S. Gimignano, who is known to have used Seneca’s Tragedies in his schoolroom (see above pp. 100–101), taught at Prato in the later 1380s (see Appendix 4). At Colle Valdelsa not only did Nofri di Giovanni da Poggitazzi teach Vergil and Lucan during his decade’s service there from 1381 to 1391 (see above p. 81 and Appendix 4), but Nofri di Angelo Coppi, who served as communal grammarian there from 1393 to 1395, used Persius and Ovid’s Metamorphoses in his classroom (see above p. 82); moreover, Benaccio di Francesco da Poppi, documented as teaching Persius in Volterra (see above p. 82), taught grammar at S. Miniato in 1398–99 (see Appendix 4). Nofri Coppi also served in his native city of S. Gimignano from 1395 to 1396 (see Appendix 4), as did Antonio di Ser Salvi Vannini, who is documented as teaching Seneca’s Tragedies in 1385 (see above pp. 100–101) there, working from 1377 to 1386, 1392 to 1395 and 1398 to 1400 (see Appendix 4); Nofri da Poggitazzi, seen above as a teacher of Vergil and Lucan at Colle, as well as of Statius’s Achilleis later at Siena,579 also taught in S. Gimignano from 1388 to 1390 (see Appendix 4). In Poppi, Santi di Biagio da Valiana taught Statius’s Achilleis, Vergil’s Georgics, Terence and Valerius Maximus during the last quarter of the century (see above pp. 104–105). At Castelorentino, Niccolò di Ser Duccio d’Arezzo taught Lucan in 1395 (see above p. 120). At Volterra, Antonio Vannini, who has been seen to have used Seneca’s Tragedies in his classroom, taught from 1395 to 1398 (see Appendix 4). 579 Black (2001), p. 228. Peter Denley has kindly conrmed that Nofri da Poggitazzi taught in Siena during the 1410s.
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In the earlier fteenth century, the Latin classics began a gradual revival in the Florentine schoolroom. Niccolò d’Arezzo taught Ovid’s Heroides to Cosimo de’ Medici in 1401–2 (see above p. 155). Sozomeno da Pistoia referred to classical Latin authors such as Vergil, Lucan, Ovid, Statius, Juvenal, Ennius and Horace when teaching the secondary grammar syllabus in Florence after 1420.580 Paolo di Morello Morelli learned Claudian’s De raptu Prosperinae at school in Florence during the rst decade of the century (see above p. 146). Santi di Domenico d’Arezzo taught Statius’s Achilleis to his Florentine grammar pupils in the mid-1410s (see above p. 156). Bartolomeo Guidi da Pratovecchio taught Vergil’s Eclogues to Andrea di Francesco Quaratesi in 1422 (see above p. 156). Francesco Foraboschi read Seneca’s Tragedies under Francesco da La Verna as a novitiate at S. Croce in 1425 (see above p. 156). The Florentine Torrigiano Biliotti read Statius’s Achilleis at Maestro Zanobi’s school c. 1425 (see above p. 156). In 1428 Lorenzo da Cesi, tutor to Domenico Allegri’s children, may have used Vergil’s Bucolics and Georgics, Lucan’s Pharsalia and Ovid’s Metamorphoses in his teaching (see above p. 159). In 1431 Giovanni, brother of Dietisalvi Neroni, possibly read Vergil, Cicero’s De ofciis and De amicitia and Terence as a grammar pupil (see above p. 159). The family names of some pupils here—Medici, Quaratesi, Biliotti, Neroni, Morelli—may suggest the beginnings of revived interest in the classics on the part of the upper classes in the earlier fteenth century, possibly to be linked with the contemporaneous rise of amateur humanism among the Florentine elite.581 Nevertheless, this activity with classical Latin texts in the Florentine schoolroom in the earlier fteenth century was still equalled or surpassed by the teaching of the Roman authors in the towns of Florentine Tuscany during the same period. Niccolò d’Arezzo, seen to have used Ovid and Lucan in the classroom, taught in Pistoia from 1412 to 1414582 and in his native city from 1413 to 1416.583 Domenico di Bandino, seen already as a teacher of the classical authors, worked in Arezzo from 1399 to 1402 and in 1414.584 Antonio Vannini, known to have used Seneca’s Tragedies in the classroom, taught at Pistoia from
580 581 582 583 584
See above p. 133 and Black (2001), p. 130. Martines (1963), pp. 105–44, 147–91, 306–50; Black (2004), pp. 29 ff. Black (1996a), p. 399; ASPistoia Provv. 30, fol. 151r, 189r–v. Black (1996a), pp. 306–404. Black (1996a), pp. 371–77, 399, 402, 416–20.
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1400 to 1411.585 Santi d’Arezzo, documented as using Statius’s Achilleis at the school level, taught in Volterra from 1415 to 1417.586 Benaccio da Poppi, known to have taught Persius at Volterra, worked in that city from 1405 to 1411 and from 1417 to 1426 (see above p. 85). Mattia Lupi, Antonio Vannini’s pupil and protégé, documented as teaching Horace at Pistoia in 1403, also taught Claudian and Ovid at Prato, where he worked from 1403 to 1407 (see above p. 64); he presumably followed a similar syllabus when teaching in his native city of S. Gimignano from 1407 to 1408 and from 1418 to 1420 (see above pp. 101–102). Nofri di Giovanni da Poggitazzi, famed for his teaching of classical authors at Colle in the 1380s as well as later in Siena, taught at S. Miniato from 1401 to 1403.587 Nofri di Angelo Coppi, teacher of Persius and Ovid’s Metamorphoses, worked as communal grammarian at Colle from 1402 to 1403,588 at Prato from 1412 to 1416589 and at S. Gimignano from 1421 to 1422 and 1433 to 1435.590 Benedetto di Nicolello da Gubbio was teaching Lucan, Ovid and Seneca at Sansepolcro in 1405 (see above pp. 113–16). Antonio Burletti d’Arezzo, documented as teaching Terence at Siena in 1424 and probably Cicero’s De ofciis too, cited almost the entire range of classical Latin authors in the secondary grammar course which he doubtless followed when teaching in his native city from 1428 to 1431 (see above pp. 72, 76). There is also a school-type copy of Lucan (BML CS 92) associated with Prato and dating from the earlier fteenth century (see p. 65 above). By the mid-fteenth century, however, Florence was catching up with its subject towns in terms of the teaching of the Latin classics at the school level.591 After 1444, in virtual exile at the Badia a Settimo near the city, Filippo di Ser Ugolino Pieruzzi taught a variety of Ovidian
585 Zanelli (1900), pp. 27–32, 43, 125–130, 157; Zaccagnini (1900a), pp. 11–12. ASPistoia Provv. 27, fol. 166r; 29, fol. 72r; 30, fol. 30v–31r. 586 Battistini (1919), p. 15. 587 ACSM Delib. 2314, fol. 40v. 588 ASS Colle 332, fol. 66r. 589 ASPrato CD 83, fol. 98r–v, 100r; 87, fol. 21r–24v. 590 ACSG 169, fol. 208v–209v, 231r, 282r–v; 170, fol. 7r, 88r; 171, fol. 18r; 173, fol. 726r, 731r–v, 733v–734r, 761v. 591 A concrete indication of enhanced Florentine interest in the classics at the school level, at least among the ruling elite in mid-century is evident in the high salaries paid to public grammar teachers in the city during the 1450s: see chapter 5 below, pp. 392–94. The letter of appointment to Taddeo da Pescia and Simone da Comano in 1452 directly connects grammar teaching with the studia humanitatis: see below ch. 5 p. 391 n. 276 for the text of the letter.
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and pseudo-Ovidian texts to his conventual grammar pupils, also citing other classical texts such as Seneca’s Tragedies and Vergil’s Aeneid (see above pp. 156–57). The tutor to Giovanni Benci’s children may have used Valerius Maximus in 1446 (see above p. 159). Guglielmo da Bourges, who used Persius’s Satires and Ovid’s Epistulae ex Ponto as school texts for his Florentine pupils between 1448 and 1450 (see above p. 157), taught again in Florence from 1466 to 1473 (see below pp. 393–94). Luca Bernardi da S. Gimignano, who taught in Florence from 1451 to 1454 (see below p. 410), is later known to have organised a performance in Latin translation of a dialogue by Lucian in which a schoolboy took part, as well as of a Latin comedy by Plautus.592 Gaspare di Niccolò da Radda in Chianti seems to have used Ovid’s Metamorphoses as a teaching text for his pupils while working as a ripetitore for the Florentine Canocchi family in 1453 (see above p. 157). Filippo di Matteo da Casalumanese, seen as teaching Cicero’s letters in Prato (see above pp. 65–66), also taught in Florence from 1457 to 1460 (see below pp. 392–93). Gentile Becchi was teaching the twelve-year-old Lorenzo de’ Medici Ovid and Justinus in 1461.593 Giorgio Antonio Vespucci seems to have used a selection of Cicero’s brief letters as stylistic models in teaching his grammar pupils as early as 1465 (see above p. 161). In the mid-fteenth century, the Florentine subject towns continued to employ teachers who used the Roman classics in the schoolroom. Mattia Lupi, who used Horace, Claudian and Ovid in the classroom, taught for two nal stints in his native S. Gimignano in 1442–1444 and 1455–1456 (see above pp. 101–102). Guglielmo da Bourges, seen above as teaching Persius and Ovid in Florence between 1448 and 1450, served in Arezzo as well from 1440 to 1447, 1457 to 1465 and 1473 to 1477 (see above p. 77); he also taught in Castiglion Fiorentino in 1451594 and Sansepolcro in 1457.595 Filippo da Casalumanese was required to teach the letters of Cicero to older pupils at Prato (see above pp. 392–93), where he served from 1460 to 1465;596 he went
592
Fioravanti (1987), pp. 232–233 and n. 29; see above p. 164. della Torre (1902), p. 383. 594 Jaitner-Hahner (1993), p. 273. 595 Black (1996a), pp. 532–33. 596 ASPrato CD 99, fol. 17v, 18r; 101, fol. 83v, 84r, 93r–94r, 99v–100r, 122r. CV 212, fol. 41r; 227, fol. 273r, 309r. CN 230, 253 destra, 351 sinistra-destra, 363 sinistradestra, 384 sinistra-destra, 389 sinistra. 593
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on to teach in S. Miniato from 1465 to 1466597 and in Pistoia from 1466 to 1469.598 Luca Bernardi, who used Lucian and Plautus in his teaching, served at Colle from 1454 to 1458,599 Volterra from 1458 to 1460,600 Colle again from 1460 to 1464601 and S. Gimignano from 1464 to 1468.602 Benedetto Colucci, who later taught Vergil at Colle Valdelsa, served in Pistoia from 1462 to 1465.603 A mid-century school copy of Terence (BNCF II.IX.127) is also associated with Prato (see above p. 65). In the last three decades of the Quattrocento, the city of Florence nally seems equalled its subject towns in the teaching of classical authors at the school level. Poliziano claimed to be teaching Cicero, Livy, Vergil’s Aeneid and Statius’s Achilleis (not to mention Homer and Isocrates) to an eight-year-old Piero de’ Medici in 1480.604 Pietro Crinito, who used Horace’s Ars poetica and Epistulae as well as Statius’s Achilleis as schoolbooks (see above p. 158), was teaching Plautus and Tibullus to his private pupils in 1498.605 Sallust’s Catiline and Iugurtha were being taught to grammar pupils at the Florentine Badia a Settimo in 1470 (see above pp. 157–58). Persius was taught privately at Florence in 1475 by Giovanni Lachi, later a grammar teacher at the Florentine Cathedral school from 1479 to 1483 and from 1499 to 1500 (see above p. 158). Benedetto Colucci, seen to have taught Vergil at Volterra (see above p. 82), was grammar master in Florence from 1473 to 1481 (see below p. 397). Luca Bernardi, who used Lucian and Plautus in his lessons, nished his teaching career at Florence from 1481 to 1500 (see pp. 397–400 below). Bartolomeo Sassetti’s son Gentile used Cicero’s familiar letters as a schoolbook at the end of the 1470s (see above p. 159), while Terence and Vergil were read in the domestic schoolroom by Antonio Gondi’s children in the 1490s (see above p. 159).
ASS Colle 156, fol. 63v, 65r, 70r–v, 106r–v, 109r, 185r–v; 157, fol. 41v, 49r; 159, fol. 42v; 160, fol. 80r. 600 ACV A nera 45 IV, fol. 34r, 95v; Battistini (1919), pp. 17–18. 601 ACV A nera 45 IV, fol. 95v. ASS Colle 161, fol. 4v, 5v, 6v–7r, 7v, 11v–12r; 345, fol. 9v–10v, 16rv, 18r–v, 131v, 156v, 157v. 602 ACSG 399, fol. 174r, 237r; 181, fol. 201v, 202r–v, 291v, 292r; 182, fol. 25r, 137r; 183, fol. 34v. 603 Zanelli (1900), pp. 54–55, 157. AS Pistoia Provv. 41, fol. 241r; 42, fol. 14v–15r, 112r. 604 Picotti (1915), pp. 93–94. 605 Ricciardi, s.v. in DBI, vol. 38, p. 265.
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Nevertheless, the classics still maintained a strong presence at school in the Florentine subject towns during at the end of the century. Cantalicio claimed to be teaching Juvenal, Martial, Vergil, Ovid and Suetonius at S. Gimignano in 1472 (see above p. 102) and indeed a school-level copy of Juvenal, dating from the later fteenth century and associated with S. Gimignano (BML Redi 103), is still extant (see above p. 102). At Colle Valdelsa, where he taught from 1469 to 1473, Benedetto Colucci delivered a lecture course on Vergil during his nal year (see above p. 82). Filippo da Casalumanese, who used the letters of Cicero in his teaching, served as schoolmaster in Volterra from 1477 to 1482606 and then again in Pistoia from 1484 to 1489.607 Luca Bernardi, who made schoolroom use of Lucian and Plautus, taught at Volterra from 1469 to 1475608 and at Colle from 1476 to 1479.609 There is a later fteenth-century school-level copy of Ovid (BRF 605) associated with Volterra (see above p. 86), where the school-room theatrical efforts of the grammar teacher, Orlando Primerani, were laced with references to Quintilian, Valerius Maximus, Cicero, Vergil, the younger Seneca and to Statius’s Sylvae (see above p. 86). The thirteen-year-old Tommaso Baldinotti prepared a school-level copy of Seneca’s Tragedies at Pistoia in 1464 (see above p. 112), and, indeed, Pistoia offers the most detailed picture of classical studies at the school level in Florentine Tuscany outside the city of Florence in the later fteenth century. In 1483 at the upper levels of the grammar school, pupils were to begin to study rhetoric using the Ad Herennium and moral philosophy on the basis of Aristotle’s Ethics and Politics, while in 1499 they were to read not only Vergil but also Cicero’s De ofciis (see above pp. 109–111). The slow progress of Latin study at the school-level in Florence, as compared to its precocious development in the subject towns of Florentine Tuscany, reects differing educational and cultural preferences and preoccupations. School education in the city of Florence, beginning in the late thirteenth century and then over the next 150 years, was dominated by abacus teaching, which developed to an extent unparalleled
606
Battistini (1919), p. 19. Zanelli (1900), pp. 141–42, 158. ASPistoia Provv. 46, fol. 69r–v, 181r; 47, fol. 71v, 102v, 103v, 204r; 48, fol. 60r, 139r–v, 168r, 172v; 49, fol. 3r, 4v. 608 Battistini (1919), p. 18. ACV A nera 47 III, fol. 133v–134r; IV, fol. 3r, 5v, 39v, 65r, 103r; A nera 48 I, fol. 8v, 12v, 79r, 110v; II, fol. 15r–16r; III, fol. 27v, 36v, 46r, 51v, 56r, 71r; IV, fol. 56v, 57v; V, fol. 4r, 18r, 32r, 41v, 59v; A nera 49, I, fol. 10v, 16v, 27v, 44v, 53r, 77v, 98v; II, fol. 12v, 69v, 70r–v. 609 ASS Colle 349, fol. 43v, 44v, 57v–60r, 144v. 607
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throughout Tuscany and indeed Italy. These vernacular, commercially orientated institutions upstaged traditional latinate grammar schools at the secondary level. It was only with the increasing penetration of humanism within the Florentine elite during the Quattrocento and particularly during the last thirty years of the century that Latin schools and classical education began effectively to compete with the abacus at the secondary level in the city of Florence. In the subject towns of Florentine Tuscany, abacus teaching was patchy and never supplanted grammar schools as the principal form of secondary education (see below pp. 274–78 and vol. 2). Classical studies developed precociously in Tuscany outside the city of Florence at the school level beginning in the later thirteenth century and then throughout the Trecento. This powerful Latin and classical tradition would prevail in Florentine Tuscany, maintaining the predominance of the subject towns as the hub of classical school education until the later Quattrocento. It is indeed extraordinary that Florence, the region’s capital city, so to speak, did not emerge as the pacemaker in Latin school education in Tuscany before the late fteenth century.
CHAPTER THREE
THE DECLINE OF CHURCH EDUCATION AND THE RISE OF LAY SCHOOLS IN TUSCANY Church Schools Before 1200 Recent scholarship has found no evidence for the continuity of autonomous lay schools in Italy after the sixth century; with the collapse of antique educational institutions, the teaching of the laity passed into the hands of the church, which became the unique provider of education for all sections of society.1 The development of the curriculum in the early middle ages reected growing ecclesiastical ascendancy in education, not least in Italy. In the Dark Ages, the dominance of the church is clear from the rapid substitution of a Christian syllabus for the traditional secular Roman curriculum: for example, the rst steps in learning words and phrases in late Roman antiquity had been taken by reading and learning from memory the collection of aphorisms known as Cato’s Distichs, a text going back to perhaps the third century A.D.2 In the early middle ages, on the other hand, a signicant change of curriculum occurred: the Disticha Catonis were replaced as the rst reading text by the Psalter.3 With the coming of the Carolingian Renaissance, secular texts and studies were restored to the syllabus, but ongoing ecclesiastical prevalence is reected in the traditional Latin curriculum that emerged in the early middle ages. The acquisition of latinity, it was assumed, would be a slow, lengthy and arduous process: the parts of speech were studied in vast detail, with frequent reference to literary texts; syntax was learned without simplied rules or methods by total immersion in the classics. 1
For recent assessments, see Riché (1989), pp. 5–6; Petti Balbi (1990), p. 23 n. 3; Sasse Tateo (1992), p. 24 and n. 13. The councils of Toledo (527) and Vaison (529) stipulated that the laity were to be admitted to episcopal and parochial schools: Frova (1973), pp. 44–45, citing the relevant canons. Monastic schools were forbidden to accept children not destined for the cloister by the synod of 817, but this led to the formation of external schools for non-oblates; the Lateran councils of 1179 and 1215 revoked these restrictions: Frova (1973), pp. 37–38; see also Hildebrand (1992). 2 Marrou (1964), p. 364. 3 Riché (1953), pp. 253–256; Riché (1976), p. 464.
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This was not the age of rapid results, such as would be demanded with the emergence of secular education in the later middle ages. The aim was to educate the clergy; the lay elite tagged along, accepting the parameters of ecclesiastical education. Future clerks did not have to concern themselves or their families with earning a living: once children were intended for a life in the church, they could spend many years (so the curriculum assumed) acquiring the latinity needed for liturgical purposes and further education (normally in theology). Up to the twelfth century, there is no evidence of disquiet on the part of the lay elite with the literary and, indeed, classical emphasis of this clerically orientated education system. Indeed, foreigners such as Otto of Freising were impressed with the extent to which Italians in general retained ‘the elegance of the Latin language’4—a product of their literary and classical education. Lay society in Italy—and particularly its upper echelons—received formal instruction, according to the testimony of Wipo, the Swabian priest and chaplain to Emperor Henry III, famously noting in 1041 the Italian laity’s penchant for education: Tunc fac edictum per terram Teutonicorum, Quilibet ut dives sibi natos instruat omnes Litterulis, legemque suam persuadeat illis, Ut cum principibus placitandi venerit usus, Quisque suis libris exemplum proferat illis. Moribus his dudum vivebat Roma decenter, His studiis tantos potuit vincire tyrannos; Hoc servant Itali post prima crepundia cuncti Et sudare scholis mandatur tota juventus; Solis Teutonicis vacuum vel turpe videtur Ut doceant aliquem, nisi clericum accipiatur. Sed, rex docte, iube cunctos per regna doceri [. . .]5
Rich Germans should ensure their children are literate (‘quilibet ut dives sibi natos instruat omnes litterulis’), so that they can understand their own laws and plead their own cases in court (‘cum principibus placitandi venerit usus’), using their own written documents (‘suis libris’); this is what [rich] Italians do, sending not just potential clerks but all their children to school. There is obvious hyperbole here, as Wipo is
4 5
Ross and McLaughlin (1977), p. 281. Wipo (1915), pp. 75–86.
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carried away by the force of his own argument to exaggerate the contrast between the educated Italian laity and their ignorant counterparts among his fellow German countrymen, but his evidence should not therefore be dismissed out of hand. Indeed, Tuscany conrms this general picture: references to schools and pupils are rare before 1200, and indications of the context in which education occurred are even rarer, but when the ambience of teaching or learning is specied, it is nearly always ecclesiastical; there is no evidence of lay schools in Tuscany before the thirteenth century. Arezzo offers some of the earliest evidence of education in medieval Tuscany. On 20 June 715, the bishop of Fiesole, Teodaldo, declared that he had been educated in the school of Arezzo’s cathedral, S. Donato a Pionta in the city’s suburbs, where the episcopal seat had been transferred after the Lombard conquest at the turn of the seventh century: Teodoald episcopus de Fesula dixit: ‘Per annos pluris in ecclesia sancti Donati notritus et litteras edoctus sum’.6
Bishop Teodaldo has been identied with ‘Teudaldus legum peritissimus’, who participated in the Council of Pavia (695/698), so that he would have been learning in Arezzo during his youth, c. 677/678.7 Three canons of the Aretine cathedral are mentioned as grammar teachers in the mid-tenth century: Pietro ‘sapiens grammaticus’, a monk, priest and sacristan (936); Suaverico, primicerius and sapiens gramaticus (961 and 963); and Stratario, maiorscole (963).8 In 996 the archdeacon Guglielmo was named as a master of the cathedral school: ‘sub magisterio et regimine Willehelmi archidiaconi’.9 The reforming bishop of Arezzo, Elempert (986–1010), personally testied in 1009 to his didactic endeavours at the cathedral school: Huius quoque decus aecclesiae [. . .] in suis alumnis diversis artibus erudiendis, prout attentius potui, continuo labore adauxi.10
Elempert’s legacy as an educator was recalled in 1015 by his successor, Adalberto (1014–1021): 6 7 8 9 10
Pasqui (1899–1937), I, p. 14. Santini (1973), pp. 404–405. Pasqui (1899–1937), I, pp. 85, 95, 98. Pasqui (1899–1937), I, p. 117. Pasqui (1899–1937), I, p. 129.
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chapter three Renovata igitur sua a fundamento basilica et mansione constructa, clericos ibidem ordinavit [. . .] quos idem sanctissimus presul Elempertus per se et per alios in disciplina liberalium artium et canonice regule diligenter [i]nstruxit.11
Particularly important were the tithes that Elempert earmarked to fund the cathedral school: Quibus [. . .] successoribus [. . .] concessit omnem decimationem ex illa terra, que ad usus canonicorum [. . .] preceptaria institutione [. . .] est ad[tribu]ta.12
The principal gure at the cathedral school in the second quarter of the eleventh century was Sigizone, maior scole from 1025 to 1044.13 In 1036, the great musician Guido d’Arezzo paid special homage to the Aretine cathedral school under the leadership of the bishop Teodaldo: Non quod vestrae desint excellentiae multi et maximi spiritales viri, et virtutum effectibus abundantissime roborati et sapientiae studiis plenissime adornati, qui et commissam plebem una vobiscum competenter erudiant [. . .]14
Guido’s reference to the education of the populace under Teodaldo’s charge is an important conrmation that medieval Tuscan cathedral schools taught not only the clergy but also the local laity. ‘Wido clericus, cantor et maior scole’ appeared in 107815 and 1080,16 a year in which ‘Raginerius lius Widoni clericus et maior scole’ was also mentioned.17 Masters such as Guido and Raginerio probably taught the Aretine Iohannes grammaticus, who was noted near Anghiari in 1104.18 The long controversy between the bishops of Arezzo and Siena over diocesan boundaries gave rise to an important series of depositions, recorded between 1177 and 1180 but referring to a period about half a century earlier; one of the witnesses, Bono da Marcena (a village near Arezzo), referred to his education in the Aretine cathedral school, evidently in the mid-1120s:
11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
Pasqui (1899–1937), I, pp. 146–47. Pasqui (1899–1937), I, pp. 146–47. Pasqui (1899–1937), I, pp. 172, 178, 182, 194, 239. Guido Monaco (1955), pp. 81–84. Nicolaj Petronio (1977–78), p. 147 n. 98; Moretti (1933–35), p. 305. Pasqui (1899–1937), I, p. 329. Pasqui (1899–1937), I, p. 343. Regesto di Camaldoli (1907–1928), II, pp. 15–16.
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Existens annorum quasi XIV et scolaris presbiteri Ubaldi de Assiari canonici huius S. Donati [. . .]19
Another witness at the same proceedings recorded that his teacher, Maestro Alberto, often came to Arezzo, possibly for purposes of education: Magister meus, presbiter Albertus, capellanus de Villa Radicata. Ipse sepe enim veniebat Aretium.20
An Aretine grammaticus, Ildebrandino, was noted in 1145, as was an Aretine scholasticus, Guido di Nicola, in 1147.21 These individuals were again probable products of the Aretine cathedral school, but it is conceivable that they issued from another ecclesiastical institution, now also functioning in Arezzo. This was the school of the so-called Pieve di Santa Maria, a church in the citycentre particularly linked to the nascent Aretine commune; in 1138 the canons of the Pieve were obliged to educate the brother of a donor, Guglielmino di Tederico: quod canonici soprascripte ecclesie [sc. Plebis S. Marie] debent litteris erudire fratrem suprascripti Guilielmini [. . .]22
The Pieve was therefore also providing education to the Aretine laity: Guglielmino’s brother was not in orders, as is clear not only from the fact that he is not referred to as a ‘clericus’ but also because a form of payment was being received for his education; throughout the middle ages it was a principle that ecclesiastical schools were not meant to receive payment from clerical pupils or the poor laity.23 Meanwhile the cathedral school was also providing for lay education: in 1178 Rolandino di Guglielmino and his wife Tranquilla offered to endow the cathedral chapter, on condition that their son was educated in the cathedral school; he could, if he wished, become a clerk of the cathedral, but if not, he would remain a layman: Et si lius noster ad aetatem pervenerit ut legere possit, eum docebitis et ecclesie clericum facitis. Sin autem clericus esse noluerit, vester sit laicus.24 19
Pasqui (1899–1937), I, pp. 548–49. Pasqui (1899–1937), I, p. 544. 21 Regesto di Camaldoli (1907–1928), II, pp. 173, 181. 22 Pasqui (1899–1937), I, p. 469. 23 Possibly rst articulated at the Council of Meaux in 845: Manacorda (1914), I, p. 87. 24 Pasqui (1899–1937), I, p. 518. 20
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Grammar teaching is also encountered in the area surrounding Arezzo—the so-called Aretino—in the years before 1200. In 1008, ‘Teuzus grammaticus’ is recorded in the Casentino,25 while Teodaldo, bishop of Arezzo, endowed ‘Petrum, venerabilem heremitam, tamquam delem ministrum et preceptorem’ with the church of S. Salvatore a Camaldoli in 1027;26 in the early twelfth century, too, there is a reference to ‘clericis et scolaribus’ of the parish church of S. Maria a Casona (near Pienza in the diocese of Arezzo).27 There are numerous references to education before 1200 elsewhere in Tuscany. Ecclesiastical schools are documented in Lucca almost as early as in Arezzo. In 748, a donation to the Lucchese church of S. Regolo was witnessed by Deusdede, priest and schoolmaster: Signum (crucis) manus Deusdede presb. magistro schole testis.28
In 767 there was mention of the school located near the colonnade of the cathedral of S. Martino in a bequest, made by two deacons, Osperto and Osprando, acting as executors of the will of a priest, Auderado, whereby they donated the latter’s house to the cathedral: Per hanc cartulam offerimus Deo, et tibi Ecclesie Beati S. Martini, ubi est domus Episcoporum casam ipsius presbyteri, que est prope porticalem ejusdem basilice ubi est schola.29
A commemorative inscription of 1167 gave Enrico, parish priest of the Lucchese church of SS. Vincenzo e Anastasio, the title grammaticus, declaring that he oversaw a parish school there.30 Guglielmo, bishop of Lucca (d. 1194), had been a canon and head of the cathedral school before rising to the episcopate.31 There is evidence of early schools in Fiesole too: in 829, the Irish bishop of city, Donatus, gave instruction in grammar and poetry,32 while in 1019, another ecclesiastical teacher can be found there too:
25
Pasqui (1899–1937), I, p. 127. Pasqui (1899–1937), I, p. 181. 27 Tabacco (1962), p. 253. 28 Gambassi (1997), p. 43 and n. 150. See Salvioli (1879), p. 66; Barsanti (1905), p. 44. 29 Gambassi (1997), p. 43. See Schiaparelli (1929), II, p. 222; Salvioli (1879), p. 66, who quotes a mistranscription of the text; Barsanti (1905), p. 44. 30 Barsanti (1905), p. 44. 31 Ward (1995), pp. 124–25. 32 Battistini (1919), p. 7; Davidsohn (1896–1927), I, p. 807. 26
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‘Theuzus grammaticus Fesulanae ecclesiae primicerius’.33 At Rignano sull’Arno (across the river from Pontassieve), a notary noted one ‘Martinum clericum grematicum et jurnis [sic] divinum’ in 1156.34 There are indications of schools at Vallombrosa before 1200 as well: the founder of the monastery there, Giovanni Gualberti (d. 1073), also acted as a teacher to novices at the convent, as is recorded by one of his biographers: Contigit enim me in infantia pueritiaque sancti viri Johannis abbatis Vallisymbrosae disciplina diligenter erudiri [. . .]35
The Consuetudo Vallymbrosane congregationis, approved in 1144, laid down that children and adolescents there were allowed to speak only in the presence of their masters.36 Volterra too offers evidence of early education: Ugo dei Saladini, bishop of the city from 1173 to 1184, founded a cathedral school from his own resources.37 But it is in Siena that a particularly impressive series of ecclesiastical teachers before 1200 can be found. On 10 April 1056, ‘Rolandus clericus et prior scole’ is mentioned,38 while, on 4 November 1081, the same individual is referred to simply as ‘Rollandus prior scolae’;39 it is possible that by 1121 he had taken up residence in Benevento: Ego Rollandus grammaticus, ortus in nibus Tuscie in civitate Sena ac sum Petri Fastelli et modo maneo in Beneventana civitate.40
After Rolando, the master in the Sienese cathedral was Oderico, a close associate of the bishop of Siena, Gualfredo (d. 1127), as is recounted by his pupil and Sienese citizen, Montone, referring to events between 1123 and 1127 as part of his testimony in the dispute between the bishops of Siena and Arezzo:
33 Davidsohn (1896–1927), p. 807; Salvioli (1879), p. 66, corrected from his text ‘Theuzus grammaticae Fesulanae ecclesiae primicerus’. 34 Davidsohn (1896–1927), I, p. 807. 35 Davidsohn (1896–1908), I, p. 55. 36 Davidsohn (1965), VII, p. 226. 37 Battistini (1919), p. 8. 38 Zdekauer (1893), pp. 10, 27 n. 3; Cecchini and Prunai (1942), p. 577; Nardi (1996), p. 21. 39 Nardi (1996), p. 23. 40 Nardi (1996), p. 28.
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chapter three Montone civis senensis iuratus dixit: Ut extimo quindennis eram et ultra, et scolaris magistri Oderici, cum vidi episcopum senensem Gual(fredum) moventem ab ecclesia ista, quatenus, ut dicebatur, iret Romam ad dominum papam qui tunc erat, et vidi magistrum meum Odericum tunc movere secum, ut secum esset coram domino papa Rome et ut ei foret advocatus in causa quam super ecclesiis illis, unde modo lis est, tunc habebat adversus aretinam ecclesiam.41
In January 1140, the teacher in the cathedral school was ‘cantor et maior scolariorum Uggerius’.42 In the third quarter of the twelfth century, Ugolino del fu Arrigolo was teaching near the Sienese church of S. Vincenzo, possibly at an external monastic school subject to the Sienese Badia di Passignano, as is suggested in a statement made by him in 1176: Ugolinus q. Arrigoli jurat. dicit, quia quando legebat apud S. Vincentium videbat sepe venire ibi monacos et abbatem de Pasignano.43
There are documents mentioning him as maior scole at the Sienese cathedral in 1182, 1185, 1189, 1193 and 1196 before his death on 26 July 1202.44 Florence was proposed as a centre for education in 825, when in the famous capitulary of Corteolona (near Pavia) Emperor Lothair I designated various cities of the Regnum Italicum (North and Central Italy) as seats of regional schools: Pavia, Ivrea, Turin, Cremona, Verona, Vicenza, Forlì and Florence, which was to be the hub of Tuscan education. The document deplores the neglect of education by some bishops, and only one bishop (of Ivrea) is specically charged with supervising the new regional schools. It is unclear who exactly was meant to run these institutions; it has been assumed that they were to be under the direction of the secular authorities, but the only specic headmaster mentioned was the Irish monk Dungal, who was to preside over the school at Pavia.45 The capitulary deprecates the inattention of bishops, and so it would seem that its purpose was to revivify ecclesiastical schools.46 As far as Florence is concerned, there is no sign that Lothair’s
41
Pasqui (1899–1937), I, pp. 568–69; see Nardi (1996), p. 29. Cecchini and Prunai (1942), p. 578; Nardi (1996), p. 31; see Zdekauer (1893), p. 27 n. 4. 43 Nardi (1996), p. 37. 44 Nardi (1996), p. 43; Cecchini and Prunai (1942), p. 580. 45 See Ferrari (1972). 46 For the text of the capitulary, see Monumenta Germaniae historica. Leges 2. Capitularia 42
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mandate had concrete results. In contrast to Arezzo, Lucca and Siena, there is no indication of a cathedral school in Florence until 1186, when on 7th May a legal act was completed at the school of St John the Baptist: ‘Breve . . . nitionis, quod factum est in Florentia in Scola S. Johannis’.47 Boncompagno da Signa (c. 1165–c. 1240) boasted of having learnt the rudiments of Latin with a doctor at Florence in the remarkably short space of sixteen months: Certico, quod inter oride civitatis Florentie ubera primitie scientie lac suscepi, set totum studendi spatium sub doctore sexdecim mensium terminum non excessit.48
Presumably this instruction took place in the 1170s, but it is unclear what or what kind of school he attended. The Decline of Ecclesiastical Education in Tuscany During the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries References to ecclesiastical education continue to surface in the thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries, but they are fewer than before 1200. In Arezzo, for example, there is a ‘Gratia scolaris Aretini episcopatus’ in 1237 mentioned in an unpublished episcopal document.49 There are references to ‘scholares’ of the Cathedral (in the city-centre) and of the Duomo Vecchio (at Pionta) in 1263, and in 1276 ‘scholares Canonice Aretine’ are mentioned.50 There is no indication of didactic or educational activity in connection with these ‘scolares’; their functions and duties in the documents are liturgical and administrative. Thus in the document dated 28 October 1276 it was ordered quod mansionarii et capellani et scolares canonice aretine, qui modo sunt vel im posterum erunt in ecclesia aretina, supra prebendas et salaria eorum, habeant de bonis et redditibus ecclesiae aretine candelas, panes et denarios quos recipiunt pro penitentiis et pueris batipzandis et inrmis
regum Francorum (1897), vol. 2, pp. 248–50. There is an Italian translation and brief commentary in Frova (1973), pp. 27–28. 47 Davidsohn (1896–1927), I, p. 805. See Davidsohn (1956–68), VII, p. 227, evidently overlooking, discounting or rejecting the instance of ‘Guidone elevato alla sedia vescovile [sc. di Firenze] nel 1002, il cui epitafo ricorda come egli professasse lettere nelle scuole ed aggiunge: “Flere magistrum tuscia discat.” ’ (Salvioli [1879], p. 65) 48 Davidsohn (1896–1927), I, p. 805; Davis (1965), p. 416. 49 ACA Canonica, n. 588: see Nicolaj Petronio (1977–78), p. 156. 50 Pasqui (1899–1937), II, pp. 367–68.
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chapter three ungendis et vigiliis mortuorum et exequiis et funeribus defunctorum qui eis dantur causa cumulandi, cum ad ecclesiam deferuntur, et quos recipiunt pro comendatione animarum, pro dicendis evangeliis de catholica et pro comunicandis inrmis. De ceteris autem obblationibus et testimentis que ipsis et eidem ecclesie deferuntur vel reliquuntur, nichil accipiant vel defraudent, nec aliquid dicant vel tractent cum aliquibus, cum ad inrmos vocantur super eorum relictis, id est, quod eis aliquid relinquatur antequam at relictum vel donatio aretine ecclesie pro peccatorum remedio decedentis; et tunc bona de sine fraude tenantur inducere inrmos ut vel alios ad quos spectare[n]t ut aretine relinquant ecclesie de suis bonis in suorum remedio peccatorum. Predicta autem servare teneantur bona de sine fraude; insuper tenea[n]tur bona de sine fraude diligentiam habere et non tollere et non fraudare bona, oblationes et thesauriam aretine ecclesie [. . .] Presbiter Benvenutus, Presbiter Iohannes mansionarii, Iacobus et Cursius scolares canonice aretine [. . .] proprio iuramento rmaverunt et servare promiserunt.51
The text suggests that the ‘scolares’ here are beneced clergy of the cathedral, like the mansionaries, performing liturgical and ecclesiastical duties in return for their prebends, and allowed to keep specied gifts (candles, bread, coins) over and above what they receive from their livings; the difference between the scholars and the mansionaries or chaplains is not, according to the document, that the former are still students, but rather that they are not yet ordained priests. In Siena throughout the years between 1202 and 1357—a period treated with admirable detail in the Chartularium Studii Senensis—there are only two ecclesiastical grammar teachers mentioned: Fra Guidotto da Bologna (d. 1282), who taught there in 1278,52 and the cleric, Maestro Scabello del fu Chiavello Chiavelli da Siena, who taught grammar and rhetoric there between 1309 and 1314.53 In Prato, a teacher ambiguously identied in 1285 as ‘Magister Cione qui vocatus Frater Francischus’54 may have been a cleric, although it is possible that the name ‘Frater Francischus’ was a sobriquet; Ser Giovannino di Cambio, a canon of the parish of S. Stefano di Prato, was also named as a grammar teacher in 1297.55 51 ACA Canonica, n. 700, fol. XLXIIII[V]. The document is entitled: Hoc est statutum mansionariorum et scolarium canonice aretine per aretinum capitulum ordinatum et stabilitum. See also Pasqui (1899–1937), II, pp. 367–68; Moretti (1933–35), p. 306; Wieuszowski (1971), p. 395 n. 1. 52 Cecchini and Prunai (1942), pp. 24–25; Fioravanti (1991), pp. 258, 260; Nardi (1996), pp. 74–76; Denley (1990), p. 96. 53 Cecchini and Prunai (1942), pp. 100–103, 111–112, 115; Nardi (1996), p. 107. 54 ASPrato CD 57 parte e, fol. 5v. 55 Giani (1927), p. 16.
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At Pisa it was still envisaged that a cleric could be a grammar master in 1314, when only those paying communal gabelle, whether laymen or clerks, were allowed to teach: Quod nullus magister gramatice sive clericus sive laicus possit in civitate Pis(ana) et burgis tenere scholares ad docendum gramaticam nisi ille talis magister cabellam ordinatam comuni Pis(ano) solveret.56
In S. Gimignano, a canon of the Pieve, Maestro Michele, was identied as a teacher in 1340.57 Only Florence, where there was a dearth of evidence before 1200, shows comparatively more signs of vitality in its ecclesiastical schools during the thirteenth century. The cleric Bene da Firenze, assuming a teaching post at the University of Bologna in 1218, swore the usual oath that he would teach only in Bologna but reserved the right to teach clerical pupils (clericos) in Florence, if he were accorded an ecclesiastical ofce there; presumably, this hypothetical teaching would have occurred at the Florentine cathedral school.58 This chapter school evidently had a physical existence in the thirteenth century: in 1285, during a dispute between the cathedral and the baptistry, there was mention of a wall at the foot of the school (‘de quodam muro posito et hedicato ad pedes scole’).59 The mendicant orders also established schools in Florence during the thirteenth century. In 1231 a will was made in the Dominican convent of S. Maria Novella (‘in scolis S. Marie Novelle’),60 a school still operating in 1285 (‘Florentie iuxta scholas fratrum predicatorum’).61 In 1274 the Augustinian hermits were operating a school at their convent in S. Spirito (‘Florentie ad locum fratrum ecc. S. Spiritus de Casellino scolis ipsorum fratrum’).62 At the Badia a Settimo (about ve miles west of Florence on the left bank of the Arno), a school was functioning in 1319 (‘Actum in scholis monasterii Salvatoris de Septimo’).63 In the Florentine contado, at the Vallombrosan Badia a Passignano (about six miles northeast of Barberino Valdelsa), a ‘mastro degli scolari’ was 56
ASPisa, Comune Divisione A n. 85, fol. 47 r. ACSG 117, II, fol. 6r. It is not specied whether he was an elementary or a grammar teacher: ‘Magistro Michaeli canonico [. . .] qui debet docere scolares dicte terre’. See Castaldi (1911), p. 9; Imberciadori (1976), p. 76. 58 Davidsohn (1896–1927), I, p. 805; Davidsohn (1956–68), VII, p. 227. 59 Davidsohn (1896–1908), IV, p. 509; Davidsohn (1956–68), VII, p. 227. 60 Davidsohn (1896–1908), IV, p. 466; Davidsohn (1956–68), VII, p. 230. 61 Davidsohn (1896–1908), IV, p. 480; Davidsohn (1956–68), VII, p. 230. 62 Davidsohn (1896–1908), IV, p. 492; Davidsohn (1956–68), VII, p. 227. 63 Davidsohn (1956–68), VII, pp. 226–27. 57
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mentioned in 1316.64 There was thus some endeavour on the part of the Florentine mendicants to involve themselves in educational activities during the thirteenth century, perhaps in response to the lame educational efforts arising from the Florentine episcopate and cathedral chapter (at least in comparison with Arezzo and Siena). Nevertheless Florentine friars were unable to rouse the bishop and canons of Florence to a more positive scholastic commitment: by 1301, the premises of the Florentine cathedral school had been demolished.65 There are also a few references to clerics working privately as teachers in Florence in the years before 1400: in 1305 Benetendi di Lipo del Fede del Sega had a teacher called ‘Frate Bene prete’,66 while Ser Lapo Nuti, chaplain to the Florentine Cathedral, is documented as an elementary teacher (doctor puerorum) between 1323 and 1325.67 Contributing to the decline of ecclesiastical education were the effects of conciliar legislation. Although it had been a principle throughout the middle ages that education provided by the church should be free,68 there had nevertheless been widespread circumvention of earlier conciliar and synodal measures stipulating ecclesiastical teaching without payment;69 as has been seen above, for example, the Aretine Pieve di S. Maria in 1138 and Cathedral in 1178 both received donations in exchange for teaching the children of laymen. The response of the church establishment was to tighten the regulations. The Third Lateran Council of 1179 legislated that all cathedral schools were to provide free teaching to clerics and poor laity; in recompense, ecclesiastical teachers were to be assigned adequate beneces, and livings to support teaching were to be restored in churches and monasteries if they had been previously established: Ne pauperibus, qui parentum opibus iuvari non possunt, legendi et prociendi opportunitas subtrahatur, per unamquamque ecclesiam cathedralem magistro, qui clericos eiusdem ecclesiae et scholares pauperes gratis doceat, competens aliquod benecium asisgnetur, quo docentis necessitas sublevetur et discentibus via pateat ad doctrinam. In aliis quoque restituatur ecclesiis sive monasteriis, si retroactis temporibus aliquid in eis ad hoc fuerit deputatum.70
64 65 66 67 68 69 70
Davidsohn (1956–68), VII, p. 226. Davidsohn (1956–68), VII, pp. 227–28. ASF MSS 75, fol. VII recto; see Appendix 5. Debenedetti (1906–7), pp. 338, 347; Davidsohn (1956–68), VII, p. 226. Manacorda (1914), I, pp. 87–89; Frova (1979), pp. 135–36 and n. 33. Manacorda (1914), I, pp. 87 ff. Bellone (1975), p. 53.
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Less than forty years later, it was declared at the Fourth Lateran Council of 1215 that many churches were hardly observing the provisions of the previous council; in order to reinforce earlier legislation, it was therefore decreed that, not only in all cathedral churches but in all other churches with adequate revenue, a master was to be appointed to teach grammar: Quia nonnullis propter inopiam et legendi studium et opportunitas prociendi subtrahitur, in Lateranensi concilio pia fuit institutione provisum ut per unamquamque cathedralem ecclesiam magistro, qui clericos eiusdem ecclesiae aliosque scholares pauperes gratis instrueret, aliquod competens benecium praeberetur, quo et docentis relevaretur necessitas et via pateret discentibus ad doctrinam. Verum quoniam in multis eccelesiis id minime observatur, nos praedictum roborantes statutum, adiicimus ut non solum in qualibet cathedrali ecclesia sed etiam in aliis, quarum sufcere poterunt facultates, constituatur magister idoneus a praelato, cum capitulo seu maiori ac saniori parte capituli eligendus, qui clericos ecclesiarum ipsarum et aliarum gratis in grammaticae facultate ac aliis instruat iuxta posse.71
The results of this legislation were, however, the opposite of what was intended: payment—the greatest incentive for the provision of teaching—declined in the ecclesiastical sector; moreover, all cathedrals and other adequately endowed churches were now burdened with an obligation (avoided as far as possible in practice) to provide teachers out of their own resources. The legislation, rather than a solution to the problem, is a testimony ‘dell’esistenza di una crisi generalizzata, fra secolo XII e secolo XIII, delle vecchie scuole cattedrali e, al tempo stesso, della difcoltà e, direi, impossibilità di porvi riparo per mezzo delle strutture esistenti’.72 A further factor contributing to the demise of ecclesiastical schools was the waning of communal life within chapters: the practice of dividing the patrimony of the cathedral among the capitular members enabled individual canons to live independently—a tendency reinforced by dispensations authorized by Pope Honorius III (1216–1226) enabling bishops to send cathedral clergy to attend universities outside their own city without losing income from beneces; with the contraction of resident chapter membership came an inevitable draining of the pool of available masters to staff cathedral schools.73
71 72 73
Bellone (1975), p. 60. Arnaldi (1976), p. 351. Grendler (1985), pp. 193–94; Gambassi (1997), p. 29.
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The effect of conciliar and papal legislation was to remove the funding base for church schools; the provisos proferred by theologians and canonists—that ecclesiastical teachers could not request but could accept payments freely offered, or that they could receive fees from non-indigent pupils, or that they could charge external pupils for tuition, or that they could accept recompense not for teaching but for expenses74—provided at best a shaky foundation for continued ecclesiastical education. The upshot was a rapid decline of church schools and clerical teaching after 1200. The pressures militating against ecclesiastical education in the thirteenth century are vividly illustrated by an episode that occurred at the Vallombrosan monastery of Fucecchio, in or just before 1257: Quod Dopnus Ierominus monachus predicti monasteri moretur extra claustro [sic] in quodam hospitio die et nocte causa docendi pueros gramaticam. [Dicitur quod] monachus ipsius monasterii qui est sacerdos stet extra monasterium et tenet scolares in gramatica et docet scolares et iacet extra monasterium de nocte cum scolaribus suis [. . .]75
Don Girolamo was thus a monk who found it protable to live outside the monastery in order to teach boys grammar; in the monastery, he was evidently not able to have private pupils, presumably because of the restrictions imposed by the monastic rule and also owing to the canonical prohibition against charging for teaching by clergy. The slur against Don Girolamo for sleeping with his pupils needs to be discounted or at least viewed sceptically; the breaking of his monastic vows to work as a private grammar teacher obviously excited the hostility of the religious authorities: a more sober interpretation is that he was running a boarding school. Signicant here are not Don Girolamo’s possible sexual proclivities but rather the fact that he was teaching as though he were a secular master, no longer able or willing to work under the restrictions imposed by monastic and ecclesiastical life. Church schools had become so attenuated by the early fourteenth century that it became necessary to pay for external teaching.76 For example, the Florentine monastery of S. Maria del Carmine engaged
74
Manacorda (1914), I, pp. 87–89. AAL Dipl. pergamena AF19, X. I am grateful to Prof. A. Malvolti for this reference. The document is to be dated not later than 1257 and probably to 1257 itself, referring as it does to the immediately preceding period. 76 This was a general phenomenon throughout Italy: see D’Alatri (1978), p. 60. 75
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a series of masters in the 1330s and early 1340s to live at the convent and teach grammar; these included one Maestro Cionellino and one Maestro Donato, as well as Maestro Bartolo [di Bono] da Prato (a grammar teacher in Colle Valdelsa from 1331 to 1335 and in Prato from 1345 to 1348: see Appendix 4): [fol. 4r] Anno domini MCCCXXXIIII. Magister Cionellinus lovavit se nobiscum in kalendis settembris anno ut supra ad docendum gramaticam pro salario pro anno. [fol. 11r] Magister Cionellinus debet docere pueros nostros uno ano incipiente in kalendis decembris anno domini 1333 et debet recipere pro suo salario unius anni: L. XXIIII. [fol. 28v] MCCCXXXVII Magister Donatus gramaticalis locavit se nobiscum anno supradicto die prima ottobris ad docendum gramaticam pro salario in anno Fl. novem aureos. Habuit supradictus Magister Donatus a Priore Fratre Angelo [de Pulcis] die XXVIII ottobris L. II. Habuit quidam alius magister gramaticalis qui stetit nobiscum eodem anno supradicto: S. XXX. Item habuit idem magister postea die XIIII februarii: S. X. [fol. 36v] Anno domini MCCCXXXIX. Magister Cionellinus locavit se nobiscum ad docendum gramaticam in kalendis settembris anno ut supra, debet recipere pro suo salario pro anno: orenos octo aureos. [fol. 175r] MCCCXLII. Magister Bartholus de Prato locavit se nobiscum in kalendis novembris anno ut supra ad docendum gramaticam usque ad kalend. madii proximi futuri pro quinque orenis.77
Canonically, these teachers could not have been paid by the convent if they had been members of the order or, indeed, clerks; the monastery was bringing in resident lay teachers for payment in order to instruct its own novices. Education remained in secular hands at the Carmine in the second half of the fourteenth century too. Thus in 1359 an anonymous grammar teacher was paid eight orins: MCCCLVIIII [. . .] Habuit predictus provincialis quos dedimus pro eo magistro gramatice qui docuerat in conventu orentino anno prioratus Fratris Petri magistri orenos otto auri: Fl. otto auri.78
77 ASF CRSGF 113.16. Payments to Maestro Cionello from 11 October 1339 to 10 June 1342 follow after fol. 36v. 78 ASF CRSGF 113.16, fol. 101r.
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Similar one Ser Nuto magister gramaticalium was paid 3 orins for his teaching on 17 February 1366 and thereafter until May 1367.79 It was not only at the Carmine that secular teachers were brought in to teach grammar. At the Vallombrosan convent of S. Trinita there were a series of lay masters recorded in the 1360s, beginning with a teacher who had a family: [fol. 76r] [23 novembre 1362] La sera per XVI uova per [. . .] e pel maestro de la gramaticha et pe’ la famigla—S. IIIIº D. VIII.80
It turns out that this teacher was called Maestro Antonio, who was paid two orins for his salary on 1 December 1362: [fol. 76v] Dedi orini due d’oro al Maestro Antonio di gramaticha per suo salario [. . .] Fl. II d’oro.81
Soon after there was another lay grammar teacher working at the convent, one who lived in a house rented by the monks from the Spini family and was distinguished from the members of the order, identied as the abbot and brothers, ‘nostri monaci’: [fol. 77r] [11 dicembre 1362] [. . .] rendei ad Messer l’abate di Sancta Trinita orini due d’oro, i quali diede al Maestro Piero de la gramaticha da Forlì pe’ la pigione de la casa che tolse dagli Spini, i quali messer l’abate promise quando visitivano Dom Symone de’ Giangliaççi et Frate Piero et Frate Biagio nostri monaci contanti—Fl. II d’oro.82
Maestro Antonio was given his nal payment at the beginning of the next year: [fol. 78v] [4 gennaio 1363] Diedi al Maestro Antonio di gramaticha per compimento del salario suo [. . .]—L. 1 S. XV.83
A repetitor was brought in at the same time; he was to live in the room of the young monks (chierici) but, as a layman, he was distinguished from the members of the orders by receiving a salary and by not bearing a title:
[fol. 79r] [11 gennaio 1363] Pagai Matheo legnaiuolo per fare una nestra nuova di legname a la cameretta de’ cherici, ché vi dee venire a stare Paolo ripetitore di gramaticha [. . .]—S. XVII. [fol. 84r] [12 maggio 1363] [. . .] Diedi orini tre d’oro a Pagolo di Iacopo ripetitore di gramaticha per suo salario. Portò Bartolomeo suo fratello [. . .] Fl. III d’oro. [fol. 85v] [9 giugno 1363] [. . .] Diedi orini due d’oro a Pagholo di Iachopo ripetitore di gramaticha per suo salario [. . .] Fl. II d’oro.84
The possibility of secular grammar masters in Dominican convents was recognised in 1361 by the order’s general chapter, assembled at Rouen in 1361: pro noviciis ordinetur aliquis magister frater vel secularis, qui predictos in ofcio divino dicendo pariter et cantando necnon eciam in grammaticalibus et aliis primitis diligenter instruat et informet.85
Despite the presence in S. Maria Novella of a prominent grammarian such as Guido da Raggiolo (Bibbiena),86 who taught grammar in 1385 and 1392, and the occasional appearance of other clerical masters such as one Fra Rinaldo (1382), most grammar teaching in the convent was carried out by lay masters: Messer Buonaventura (1386); Iacopo di Angiolo da Roma (1388); Maestro Spigliato di Cenne da Firenze (1390); Maestro Francesco da Montecatini (1392).87 84
ASF CRSGF 89.45. Cited by Orlandi (1955), II, p. 22, n. 8. 86 ‘Maximus gramaticus et orator seu rethor perfectissimus’: ‘Necrologio di S. M. N.’, in Orlandi (1955), I, p. 139. 87 Orlandi (1955), II, p. 22, n. 8: ‘Nella scuola di grammatica di S. Maria Novella per lo più insegnarono Maestri secolari’. See also II, p. 10. The claim in the ‘Necrologio’ that Guido da Raggiolo ‘semper gramaticam cum maxima caritate in conventu docuit quo ad vixit’ (Orlandi [1955], I, p. 140) must be an hyperbole typical of funeral oratory: otherwise, it would not have been necessary to employ secular masters at a cost of 12 orins a year while Guido resided in the convent (from c. 1370/75 until his death on 25 March 1394: Orlandi [1955], I, p. 139; II, p. 23). The claims made for Guido da Raggiolo’s teaching by his later biographer and fellow Dominican, Giovanni Caroli, in his biography (1478–79) need to be approached with similar scepticism (for the date see Camporeale [1981], p. 167). Guido was said by Caroli to have relied on the Christian and moral minor authors, rejecting the immorality of the pagan authors, unlike Caroli’s own age, when these traditional texts were being rejected in favour of the corrupting Latin classics (see Camporeale [1981], p. 167). This picture of the substitution of the major for the minor authors in the fteenth century is contradicted by abundant manuscript evidence, testifying to the longue durée of the minor authors in the fteenth century (see Black [2001], pp. 225–36). Caroli’s portrait is so close to the famous account of his Dominican predecessor (also resident 85
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By the fourteenth century, the clergy had become discredited as providers of school-level education: not only were they considered less than competent, but they were often regarded with suspicion as potential paedophiles. These attitudes emerge clearly from the Florentine preacher, Giovanni Dominici, who, writing at the turn of the fteenth century, warned against letting ecclesiastics teach male children; clerics had once been good teachers but now they had become corrupted: a’ maschi senza fallo si vorrà fare insegnare a leggere più onestamente si potrà. E stando il mondo come sta, il porrai a gran pericolo se il mandi ad imparare con religiosi o cherici; son tali e quali, e poco v’imparerà. Anticamente con questi crescevano i buoni gliuoli, e facevansi i buoni uomini; ora ogni cosa è terra, e fa eno da cavagli e fuoco, e altro.88
The Rise of Lay Teachers and Schools in Tuscany The thirteenth century witnessed a veritable revolution in the provision of instruction. Two examples from the late twelfth century point the way of the future for Tuscan schools. At Lucignano (in the Val di Chiana between Monte S. Savino and Foiano di Chiana), the notary Rainerio d’Arezzo was mentioned as ‘gramatice professor’ in 1179.89 The notariate was one of the principal lay professions along with medicine and law in earlier medieval Italy90 (except in Venice, with its Byzantine legacy of ecclesiastical notaries91); as a notary, Rainerio would have been a layman. The other comes from Siena: Ugolino del fu Arrigolo, mentioned above as a teacher possibly at the external school of a Sienese monastery in 1176 and then as maior scole at the Sienese cathedral school between 1182 and 1202, had a son, also mentioned
in S. M. Novella), Giovanni Dominici (ed. Garin [1958], p. 72; see above ch. 2 p. 149) that there can be little doubt that Caroli based his version of Guido’s traditionalist teaching a priori on Dominici’s picture of il buon tempo antico. Just as suspect is Caroli’s vision of noble youths from Florence and beyond ocking to Guido’s grammar classes at S. M. Novella. This recalls the kind of reception, familiar to Caroli, accorded to charismatic priest-teachers such as Ficino in his own day; it is unlikely that doors of S. M. Novella’s school would have been opened, necessarily gratis, to Florentine and non-Florentine pupils alike, when the convent was probably having to pay for its own novitiates to be taught grammar by external laymen (see above p. 189). 88 Dominici (1860), p. 133. See Debby (2001), p. 117. 89 AAC S. Maria in Gradi, n. 78. I am grateful to Pierluigi Licciardello for this reference. 90 See Haskins (1927), p. 24; Jones (1997), p. 455. 91 Jones (1997), p. 433; Ascheri (2000), p. 62.
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in episcopal documents of 1182, 1193 and 1196: Ugolino too would have been a layman.92 In the course of the thirteenth century, the laity replaced the clergy as the principal providers of education in Tuscany; by the earlier fourteenth century, an ecclesiastical teacher or school had become a rarity. Notaries Many teachers emerged from the notariate. Although notaries and other legal professionals (apart from canon lawyers) had traditionally been recruited from the laity, it became uncanonical for the legal (and medical) professions to be staffed by the clergy in the course of the twelfth and earlier thirteenth century. This was a provision rst introduced for monks and canons regular at the Second Lateran Council of 1139;93 its provisions were generalized for both secular and regular clergy by various councils in the earlier thirteenth century,94 with the result that it became impossible (or at least uncanonical) simultaneously to be a notary and a cleric.95 By the thirteenth century teachers who were also notaries can without hesitation be identied as laymen.96 Prato offers an early example in the thirteenth century of a notary working as a private reading teacher: Bernardus notarius lius quondam Benvenuti Piaciti, who has been seen above (p. 61) making a contract with Giustamonte del fu Messer Torigno to teach the latter’s brother, Bandeluccio, to read and write in 1248. The aims of this contract were overridingly practical: after the pupil had mastered reading through the use of the standard techniques and textbooks (salterium and Donatum), he was to gain an understanding of public notarial documents (cartas publicas) and to comprehend the dating system (calendarium, annos domini); he was then to learn to write and handle private contracts (scribere et componere pactiones bene). There is no mention of reading authors (whether minor or major, medieval or classical) or even of composing letters here: the education envisaged
92
Nardi (1996), p. 43: ‘un laico’. Bellone (1975), pp. 50–51. 94 Bellone (1975), p. 38. 95 In the early fourteenth century, clerics were forbidden from matriculating in the Florentine guild of lawyers and notaries: Debenedetti (1906–7), p. 339. 96 Witt (2006), pp. 23–24 n. 8, argues persuasively, mainly on the basis of more than 2000 names in Bologna’s guild of notaries, that it is safe to assume that notaries were laymen. 93
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was geared to prepare the boy for the lay world of business and public affairs. The traditional literary curriculum of the ecclesiastical schools (see above pp. 173–74) has been abruptly put to one side in favour of the world of commerce and of the lay commune. Moreover, the distaste for direct payment—characteristic of ecclesiastical educators and recently reinforced by the church establishment in the Third and Fourth Lateran Councils—plays no role at all in this entirely secular contract; the money changing hands is specied in blunt detail: 12 Pisan soldi, half to be paid in cash (contantis) when the teaching begins and the balance at the end of the course. A fully secular educational world was already evident in Prato before 1250. An example of a more famous thirteenth-century notary working as a grammar teacher is Mino da Colle, who had an important career teaching grammar and rhetoric in Tuscany (Arezzo, S. Miniato, Volterra, Pisa), not to mention Bologna (where he made his will in 1287), but who began his career working as a notary in his native city and in Figline before 1266.97 Another notarial grammar master was Accorsino del fu Sanguineo da S. Fiora (near Arcidosso), who taught in S. Gimignano more or less continuously from 1291 to 1311,98 having previously been a teacher in Bologna and in the Romagnol towns of Forlì and Cesena;99 97
Laganà (1990), pp. 89–90. For an up-to-date indication of the large bibliography on Mino, see this article as well as Laganà (2001), where several of Mino’s signatures as ‘notarius’ are cited on pp. 342 and 349; although he is best known as a teacher of rhetoric and practitioner of the ars dictaminis, he was specically appointed to teach grammar as well (see Zaccagnini [1923], pp. 528–29) and personally described the end of his grammar course (Laganà [2001], pp. 350–52). 98 The following documents are not in Davidsohn [1899–1908], II, pp. 313–14: ASF SG 183 fol. 43r (October 1291: Solvit Magistro Bonacorso XV libras magistro gramatice pro suo salario unius anni in quo stare debet in Sancto Geminiano et publice retinere scolas gramatice etc. secundum formam statuti); 194 fol. 52r (November 1293: Item libras XV Magistro Acursino rectori in Sancto Geminiano in gramatica quos denarios habere debet a comuni secundum formam statuti); 207 fol. 14r (30 October 1297: Item IIIIor libras Magistro Accursino magistro gramatice pro aiutorio pensionis domus sue cum sit utile quod ipse moretur in Sancto Geminiano ad docendum scolares dummodo dictus magister moretur in Sancto Geminiano pro anno); 239 fol. 19v (25 October 1305: Item XX S. Magistro Acurso doctori gramatice); ACSG 78, fol. 38v–39r (13 October 1298: Accorsino’s petition to become a citizen of S. Gimignano was accepted; 88, fol. 38v–39r (27 September 1311: Payment authorized to Accorsino). See Davidsohn [1899–1908], II, pp. 313–14, for other documents regarding appointments from 1293 to 1310. 99 ASF SG 191, fol. 54r (25 May 1294): Magister Cursus de Sancta Flora doctor gramatice expertus et consuetus docere gramaticam pluribus annis videlicet Bononie et in Romandiola Forlivii et Cesene (see Davidsohn [1899–1908], II, p. 314).
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in September, October and November 1303 he served as notary of the ‘armarii comunis’ or ‘notarius defensionum’100 but on 9 November he requested a substitute, ‘cum ipse Magister Accursus multis negotiis impeditus ad dictum oftium faciendum non possit intendere nec ipsum exercere’.101 On 18 June 1298 ‘Ser Bindus notarius de Montecastello professor et doctor gramatice’ in Volterra gave notice that he had received full payment of his fee of 12 Pisan lire for teaching grammar to Puccio del fu Getto da Volterra.102 Another long-serving notarial grammar teacher in Tuscany was Maestro Malusino da Lucca (d. 1348), who taught on and off in Fucecchio from 1315 to 1347.103 It turns out that this individual was a notary, known too as Ser Bartolomeo da Lucca, who had compiled many notarial acts for the citizens of Fucecchio, as was stated in the commune’s council on 8 August 1348, following his death, evidently from plague: Ser Bartholomeus vocatus Magister Malusinus de Lucha et tunc habitator terre Ficecchi deposuit [. . .] cartas, imbreviatura et protocolla pertinentes plurimis personis et per multos petitur reduci in publicam formam.104
Another master-cum-notary whose service in Fucecchio overlapped with Malusino’s was Ser Iacopo di Ser Guido Spinelli da Cevoli da S. Miniato, who taught in Fucecchio from 1330 to 1331 and 1339–40;105 during his earlier year of service he was given permission to assist the communal notary:
100
ASF SG 231, fol. 33r, 62r–v; 232, fol. 12r. ASF SG 231, fol. 62r–v. He was paid for this notarial service on 25 March 1304: 232, fol. 12r (Item X S. Ser Curso Sangiugni magistro gramatice pro suo salario mensis septembris, optubris et novembris, in quibus fuit notarius defensionum). 102 Battistini (1919), p. 79. Bindo was also mentioned on 1 September 1300 in Volterra: Item stantiantum et rmatum est per suprascriptos in concordia quod imposita facta Ser Bindo magistro gramatice et Ser Margarito notario de corettis habendis sit cassa et irrita et vana et nullius valoris, et quod potestas et capitaneus non cogat eos habere loricas predictas etc. (ACV A nera 2, fol. 32v) 103 ACF 17 (NN): 10, 12 December 1315; 33 (NN): 7 February 1320; 50 (NN): 13, 15 September 1327; 99 (NN): 23 January, 13 June 1318; 100 (NN): 31 August 1320; 102 (NN), 21 February, 31 May, 31 July, 30 September 1321; 103 (NN), 1322; 107 (NN), 1324; 111 (NN), 1328; 120 (NN), 28–29 September 1328; 149, II, fol. 34r (19 January 1349). 104 ACF 149, fol. 8v–9r; see 149, II, fol. 34r (19 January 1349): cum Ser Malusinus mortuus sit qui docebat pueros dicte terre Ficecchi’. See Appendix 4. 105 ACF 122, fol. 63v. See Appendix 4. 101
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chapter three quod Ser Iacobus Ser Guidonis de Sancto Miniato notarius possit et ei liceat scribere et actitare acta comunis Ficecchi et reformare et omnia facere que facere potest Ranuccius notarius comunis suprascriptus et valeat per omnia.106
At about the same time,107 Prato appointed as its grammar master the famous Ser Convenevole del fu Ser Acconcio da Prato, who had practised as a notary in his native city before going as an exile in 1306 to Provence, where he had had a school whose pupils included Petrarch.108 In 1341, a reading and writing teacher, Ser Franco di Neri di Lunardo da Lamporecchio, was not allowed to serve as notary to the anziani and gonfalonier of Pistoia for twenty years.109 Three generations of the same Florentine family, were grammar teachers and notaries between 1277 and 1299: Borghese di Gherardo, Gherardo di Borghese and again Borghese di Gherardo.110 In Florence, reference was made to ‘ser Sandro q. Andree notario et magistro puerorum’ in 1325.111 Four years earlier, a Florentine, ‘Ser Masus magister puerorum pop. S. Felicitatis’, was mentioned in a notarial document; it is not known whether he was actually a notary, but he was a layman, since he was made the mondualdo (legal guardian empowered to act in a secular capacity) of a widow, Bilia, the late wife of Nello di Puccio, from the parish of S. Iacopo Oltrarno.112
106
ACF 122, fol. 74v. From 1336 to at least 1338: Giani (1913), p. 83. 108 The documents for Convenevole’s appointment in Prato in 1336 are published by Giani (1913), pp. 77–78, 80; for Convenevole’s notarial career in Prato before 1306 and his teaching activities in Provence, see the article s.v. in DBI, vol. 28; Davidsohn (1956–68), VII p. 223; as well as Witt (1995), p. 90 and n. 25, who states that Convenevole’s colleague as grammar teacher from 1336 was ‘another notary, ser Cuccio di Amadori’. I checked all Giani’s transcriptions here, and the original documents (ASPrato CD 63 parte 3 fol. XX verso, and 77, fol. 11r) name the latter as ‘Ser Duccius Amadoris’, which should be rendered in Italian as Duccio di Amadore. He is not identied explicitly as a notary; the title ‘Ser’ usually meant a notary, but it could signify a cleric as well, and even just a teacher. 109 Scarfantoni (1997), p. 163. 110 Witt (1995), p. 90. 111 Debenedetti (1906–7), p. 335. 112 Debenedetti (1906–7), p. 335. 107
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Family men A number of lay teachers working in Tuscany after 1200 can be documented as having wives and families.113 On 1 February 1268, a teacher identied as ‘magister gramatice s(cilicet) Magister Bonastrina’ was working in S. Gimignano.114 There was reference to him again in 1276, now called ‘Magistro Strene doctori gramatice’.115 His son, Puccio, turned up as a grammar teacher at Pisa in 1295.116 Three generations of the same Florentine family, were grammar teachers between 1277 and 1299: Borghese di Gherardo, Gherardo di Borghese and again Borghese di Gherardo.117 Ciuccio del fu Monaldo da Perugia, documented as a doctor puerorum at Florence in 1295, had a wife called Ghita, daughter of Incontro from the parish of S. Giorgio,118 while Ser Bino di Ser Accarigio, another doctor puerorum in Florence recorded in 1300, had a wife named Presentata.119 Teachers formed family businesses in Florence during the early fourteenth century: rst Giovanni Mazzuoli da Strada, who taught grammar to Boccaccio, and then his sons Zanobi (the future poet-laureate) and his brother Eugenio120, who took over after their father’s death:121 Il padre [wrote Matteo Villani of Giovanni and Zanobi da Strada] insegnò grammatica a’ giovani di Firenze e a questo suo gliuolo, il quale fu di tanto virtuoso ingegno che, morto il padre, e rimaso egli in età di vent’ anni, ritenne in suo capo la scuola del padre.122
113 Although it was theoretically possible for the lower clergy to have families, extremely few entered the notarial profession: Witt (2006), p. 23 n. 8 has found only 6 notaries who were sons of priests (out of more than 2000 matriculated) in Bologna’s guild of notaries during the thirteenth century; by analogy, it was just as unlikely that married priests worked as schoolmasters. Witt writes, ‘I have assumed that all teachers married and/or having children are lay’ (p. 24 n. 8). 114 ASF SG 103, fol. 31v: not in Davidsohn (1899–1908), II, pp. 312–14. 115 Davidsohn (1899–1908), II, p. 313, whose transcription is inaccurate; the text actually reads: (ASF SG 121, fol. 56r) Item X libras Magistro Strene doctori gramatice in Sancto Geminiano qui stare et facere debet in Sancto Geminiano per unum annum ad docendum gramaticam in Sancto Geminiano omnibus volentibus ipsum audire secundum formam capituli consilii. The variation in nomenclature—Bonastrina/Bonastrena/ Strena—is not unusual in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries: Accursino da S. Fiora, mentioned above, was also called Bonacorso, Corso, Corsino, Accorso, etc. 116 Silva (1918), p. 481. 117 Witt (1995), p. 90. 118 Debenedetti (1906–7), pp. 330–31. 119 Debenedetti (1906–7), pp. 331–32. 120 Witt (1995), p. 110, incorrectly cites his name as ‘Eusebius’. 121 Davidsohn (1956–68), VII, p. 221. 122 Villani (1995), IV.xxvi.
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At Florence ‘Margherita l. q. magistri Michaelis doctoris puerorum’ was noted in 1316.123 In 1328, Maestro Latino di Andrea Berlingueri, a Florentine grammar teacher, was betrothed to Costanza, daughter of the late Banco di Coppo, their marriage solemnized the following year; their son was mentioned in 1333.124 In 1334 Ser Niccolò del fu Ser Duccio da Prato, doctor puerorum in the Florentine parish of S. Lorenzo, arranged the marriage of his daughter Telda.125 Maestro Filippo di Naddo di Filippo, author of the widely circulated treatise on syntax and an active grammar teacher in Florence, had a wife, Giovanna, who died in 1358, surviving him by eighteen years.126 At Pistoia in 1332, there was mention of a teacher and his descendants: ‘Magister Petrus [Ser Baldi de Montali] et eius descendentes’,127 while in 1341 it was stated that an elementary reading and writing teacher, Ser Franco di Neri di Lunardo da Lamporecchio, had lived with his family in Pistoia for more than eight years previously (‘ipse ser Franchus stetit et habitavit continue cum sua familia in civitate Pistorii iam sunt viij anni et ultra’).128 Maestro Angelo del fu Buoso d’Arezzo worked on and off as a grammar teacher in Colle Valdelsa between 1318 and 1348, when he died intestate of plague on 21 June; on 28 June the following year, his wife Bartolomea petitioned the commune for payment to her of the salary that he was owed up to the day of his death: Coram vobis dominis prioribus [. . .] terre Collis Domina Bartholomea uxor olim Magistri Angeli de Aretio olim magistri gramatice in terra Collis pro comuni reverenter exponit et dicit quod dictus Magister Angelus vir suus mortuus est et decessit de anno proxime preterito die XXI iunii et quod ipse debebat nomine sui salarii recipere a comuni de Colle usque ad diem sue mortis certam quantitatem pecunie de summa temporis pro quo conductus fuit per comune in magistrum gramatice. Et quod dictus Magister Angelus mortuus est nullo condito testamento. Quare vobis humiliter supplicat quod vobis placeat in consilio generali dicte terre propositam facere [. . .] quod dicta Domina Bartholomea nomine dicti Magistri Angeli et suorum heredum [. . .] possit recipere residuum
123 124 125 126 127 128
Debenedetti (1906–7), p. 333. Debendetti (1906–7), pp. 347–48. Debenedetti (1906–7), p. 336. Debendetti (1906–7), p. 341. Zanelli (1900), p. 115. Scarfantoni (1997), p. 162.
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solutionis salarii dicti quondam Magistri Angeli videlicet totius eius quod habet recipere a dicto coumni ex dicta causa usque ad die[m] predictam sue mortis [. . .]129
Maestro Tebaldo di Orlandino da Siena worked as a grammar teacher in his native city intermittently between 1241 and 1275, as well as at Arezzo in 1264;130 there are documents referring to his sons Baldo (1275)131 and Maestro Alessandro, also a grammar teacher in Siena between 1280 and 1282.132 One of the longest serving grammar teachers in Siena was Maestro Pietro di Maestro Nuto d’Arezzo, who worked there continuously from 1317 to 1357,133 dying in 1360.134 Pietro had two childen who died in the plague of 1348, buried in S. Domenico there on 27 and 29 May. Hericus, l[i]us magistri Petri gramatici, sepultus est die XXVII madii [1348]. Filia magistri Petri, magistri gramatice, sepulta est die XXVIIII madii [1348].135
Citizens A number of teachers participated as active lay citizens in Tuscan communes in the years after 1200. An early example is Maestro Samuele, a grammar teacher who was exiled from S. Gimignano for
129
ASS Colle 91, fol. xli verso. Zdekauer (1893), pp. 15, 28–30; Cecchini and Prunai (1942), pp. 4–7, 10–14, 19–20, 580. 131 Cecchini and Prunai (1942), pp. 19–20. 132 Cecchini and Prunai (1942), pp. 26–27, 29–30. 133 Zdekauer (1894) pp. 136–137; Cecchini and Prunai (1942), pp. 120–122, 124, 126–127, 163, 202, 206, 224, 227, 245, 277, 302, 304, 313, 315, 321–322, 329, 359, 362–363, 381–382, 386, 390, 393, 395–397, 399, 401, 403, 406, 409, 413, 419, 421–422, 424, 427–428, 435–436, 438, 441–442, 468, 470, 473, 476, 484–485, 488, 490, 492, 495, 497–505, 507, 510, 512–514, 516–518, 520, 523, 529–537, 541–542, 547, 556, 592–593; Prunai (1950), pp. 29, 48; Nardi (1996), pp. 106–107, 128, 185, 190, 192, 200, 205. 134 BCIS ms. C.III.2, fol. 13r (originally published but misinterpreted by Zdekauer [1894], pp. 15–16: see below p. 311): [1360] Magister Petrus doctor gramatice summus sepultus est die xvi Augusti. He was probably referred to here as ‘doctor gramatice summus’ because of his long service in Siena. Alessio (1981), p. 70 n. 26, speculated (correctly) that ‘Si tratterebbe allora, assai probabilmente, di Pietro del maestro Nuto d’Arezzo’ but he was unable to resolve the chronological problems, stating, ‘S’impone dunque un supplemento d’indagine’. For the solution of this long-standing question, based on a re-examination of the original manuscript of this necrology, see below ch. 4 p. 311. 135 Cecchini and Prunai (1942), pp. 592–93. 130
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political reasons under the Ghibelline regime between 1261 and 1266; in 1275, under the Guelfs, he was readmitted to full civic rights and his personal security was guaranteed: Die XXVII septembris [1275]. Dominus Nese iudex comunis et nunc vicarius Domini Gerardi de Montaione potestatis dicti comunis proposuit in consilio dicti comunis congregato more solito ad sonum campane in palatio Mantellinorum, in quo dicta potestas et iudex morantur, et ab ipsis consilium petiit ut dicant et consulant si volunt et eis placet quod Magister Samuel doctor gramatice, qui fuit exbannitus in libras L den. tempore potestatis Domini Neri de Ubertis olim potestatis Sancti Geminiani et per ipsum potestatem in totidem condempnatus occasione accuse et denumptiationis facte de eo per Dominum Ranerium olim Domini Ranerii de Montegrossolo, ut per acta apparet, rebannatur in dicto comuni et cassetur bannum et condempnatio de ipsa facta [. . . .] Die XXX septembris anno domini milleducento septuagesimo quinto indictione quarta Iacobus preco comunis predicti, pressente Ser Ranuccio notario, mandato dicti vicarii publice et alta voce in Sancto Geminiano in platea ante plebem dicti comunis rebanisse dictum Magistrum Samuelem in omnibus et per omnia secundum stanziamentum prefatum, et quod ex nunc dictus Magister Samuellus sit (salvus) et securus in avere et persona in Sancto Geminiano et curte occasione predicta.136
An elementary teacher in Florence participated in one of Florence’s civic councils on 7 November 1278.137 Maestro Accursino da S. Fiora, grammar teacher in S. Gimignano beginning in 1291, was considered for citizenship of the town in October 1298: Ser Bandus Cambii unus ex dictis consiliariis [. . .] consuluit super quinta et ultima proposita magistri gramatice et super petitione per eum porrecta quod ipse magister recipiatur in castellanum dicti comunis et sibi conceda[n]tur benetia et immunitates ut aliis castellanis secundum formam sue petitionis [. . .] Dominus Amadore quod dixit Bonaccursi [. . .] quod idem Magister Acorsinus recipiatur in castellanum comunis Sancti Geminiani ad omnia benetia et immunitates dicti comunis secundum formam sue petitionis.
These proposals were approved by 63 votes to 16, and the business of accepting Accursino as a citizen was concluded on 13 October
136 ASF SG 105, fol. 18r. See Davidsohn (1896–1908), II, p. 313, where an incorrect volume number (119) is given. 137 Davidsohn (1956–68), VII, p. 214. Ecclesiastics had no direct political role in the civic government of Tuscan communes.
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1298.138 Accursino thereafter participated in the life of S. Gimignano, for example speaking as a layman in the town council on 29 January 1305: Magister Bonacursus doctor gramatice unus ex dictis consiliariis surgens in dicto consilio aringando dixit et consuluit super dicta proposita [. . .]139
Later that year he housed soldiers from S. Miniato serving on behalf of the commune of S. Gimignano in the Castello di Monte Staffoli (about 5 miles northwest of S. Croce sull’Arno) in a house rented by him: Die lune XXV octubris [1305]. Item XX S. Magistro Acurso doctori gramatice, eo quod mandato domini potestatis et capitaneorum partis mutuavit famulis de Sancto Miniate qui iverunt pro custodia terre quandam domum quam ipse tenet ad pensionem posite super podio de Monte Staffoli per unum mensem VI dies, in qua dicti famuli pro comuni dicto tempore stabant.140
Similarly Maestro Pietro di Ser Baldo, grammar teacher in Pistoia, was admitted to citizenship of the town in 1332,141 while in 1341 the same privilege was accorded there to the reading and writing teacher, Ser Franco di Neri di Lunardo da Lamporecchio.142 Military service The aparatus of civic defence, including militia service and guard duty, was the responsibility of the lay citizenry of communes, including teachers. Thus in 1249, Guido, resident of the Terzo di S. Martino in Siena, supervised the street watchmen in his district, a service for which he was paid 25 soldi a semester: Item XXV. sol. Guidoni, qui docet pueros legere de dicta contrata.143
In Siena, it was provided between 1286 and 1310 that grammar and elementary masters who had taught continuously for a year were exempted from military service as well as from serving in the night
138 139 140 141 142 143
ACSG 78, fol. 39v–41v. ACSG 81, fol. 3v. ASF SG 239, fol. 19v. Zanelli (1900), pp. 115–16. Scarfantoni (1997), pp. 162–63. Lisini (1903), p. 82.
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watch;144 the implication was that such teaching was normally carried out by laymen. Likewise at Pescia in 1339, it was ordered that grammar or elementary teachers were exempted from serving on the communal night watch: Et nullus magister gramatice, magister qui doceat pueros, medici tam sici quam cerusici et scholares in studio existentes tenantur facere custodiam notturnam seu in Comune Piscie.145
Similarly, the Lucchese statutes of 1342 exempted grammar teachers from military service if they had more than twenty pupils.146 Untitled teachers Clerics were accorded titles in medieval Italy, and so it can be assumed that teachers without the designations ‘Ser’ or ‘Magister’ were laymen (most lay teachers were given these titles as well). At San Gimignano on 24 January 1270, for example, a teacher called Muzzino di Ildebrandino di Chiaradonna was continually referred to without a title in the course of a long judicial enquiry regarding a group of his pupils who helped themselves to logs and timber belonging to the commune to burn as fuel in his school: Muççinus Ildabrandini Chiaradonne iuravit [. . .], interrogatus si ipse scit quod aliquis auferret vel portaret ad aliquem locum de gratis vel palis comunis, dixit quod quidam scolares qui morantur cumm [sic] eo, videlicet Tome lius Pesche, Guiduccius lius Magistri Amati medici, Fredi lius Guccii Bonacurse et Cursus lius Tei, portaverunt ad scolas ipsius Muççii unam gratem. Nescit tamen unde neque si [ms.: sit] fuit comunis et VI palos sed nescit unde portaverunt neque si fuerunt comunis et dixit quod dicti grates et pali fuerunt combuste in scolis suis. Pro dicto Muççio deiussit Ceffus in omnem causam. Eadem die Dinus Affricantis iuravit ut supra, interrogatus super predictis, dixit quod vidit quosdam pueros scolares dicti Muççii portare grates et palos ad scolas dicti Muççi; nescivit tamen si fuerunt de illis comunis et dixit quod non recordatur nominis dictorum puerorum. Die predicta. Fredi lius Guccii iuravit ut supra, interrogatus si ipse abstulit de palis vel gratis comunis dixit quod ipse et predicti Tome, Guiduccius et Cursus portaverunt unam gratem de illis comunis tantum. Palos autem vel aliud non abstulerunt, et ipsam portaverunt ad scolas dicti Muççi et ibi 144
Cecchini and Prunai (1942), pp. 42, 45, 47, 50, 64, 66, 68, 70, 73, 74, 76, 103,
105. 145 146
Onori (2000), p. 179. Barsanti (1905), p. 108.
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combusta fuit et hoc fuerit die predicto, et dixit quod predicta fecerunt de mandato Succii Aviti, quem constituerant eorum dominum. Interrogatus si dictus Muççius scivit de predictis aliquid dixit quod non. Guiduccius Magistri Amati iuravit ut supra interrogatus dixit ut predicti. Tone Pesche iuravit et interrogatus dixit idem quod predicti, excepto quod dixit quod dictus Muççius scivit predicta prout credit. Pro quo Tone deiussit Cursus de in omnem causam. Cursus lius Tei iuravit et interrogatus dixit idem quod predicti Fredi et Guiduccius. Succius Iviti iuravit ut supra interrogatus si ipse fuit illis [ms.: ellis] dominus a predictis dixit quod sic. Interrogatus si precepit eis quod ipsi iverunt et abstulerunt [ms.: erent et abstulerent] de lignis gratis sive palis comunis dixit quod non. Tantum precepit eis quod quilibet portaret ligna pro igne faciendo [sic pro facienda]. Ipsi vero portaverunt unam gratem ad scolas dicti Muççii et ibi combusta fuit. Nescit tamen si fuit de illis comunis. Aliud non portaverunt quod ipse sciat. Interrogatus si dictus Muççius scivit aliquid de predictis, dixit non quod ipse sciat. Pro predictis Fredi, Guccio et Curso et quolibet eorum in solidum deiuserunt Bartholus Domini Bonacursi et Teus Boni et quilibet eorum in solidum in omnem causam. Pro dicto Guicuccio deiussit Bartholus Bonacursi in omnem causam.147
In Fucecchio, an individual called Bettuccio di Guiduccio was identied on 31 October 1318 as a reading, writing and grammar teacher without a title: Item stantiaverunt et ordinaverunt quod camerarius comunis Ficecchii de pecunia et avere dicti comunis possit teneatur et debeat dare et solvere Bettuccio Guiduccii libras duodecim den. parvorum in hunc modum, videlicet: quod dictus Bettuccius teneatur et debeat retinere scholares ad docendum et instruendum in docendo legere et scribere et gramaticam pueros et scholares comunis Ficecchii in terra Ficecchii uno anno.148
Similarly, on 19 and 20 April 1319 a reading and writing teacher in Fucecchio called Totto di Alessandro da Lucca was repeatedly mentioned without a title: Item deliberaverunt et providerunt quod ponatur et poni possit ad consilium quod Toctus Alexandri de Lucha qui moratur in terra Ficechii ad docendum pueros scribendum et legendum et stetit a die kalendarum ianuarii presentis anni citra, quod camerarius possit solvere de avere et peccunia dicti comunis sine preiudicio vel gravamine S. XV pro quolibet
147 ASF SG 106 (NN, 23 January 1270). I am grateful to Oretta Muzzi for referring me to this document. 148 ACF 25 (NN).
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chapter three mense pro pensione domus in qua moratur ad docendum pueros [. . .] Coram vobis dominis ançianis comunis Ficechii exponit et dicit Toctus Alexandri de Lucha quod ipse moratur in terra Ficechii ad docendum pueros ad legendum et scribendum et stetit a die kalendarum ianuarii presentis anni citra et sibi provisum fuit per consilium comunis solvere pensionem domus sue habitationis. Quare cum camerarius comunis nolit sibi solvere pensionem que est S. XV pro quolibet mense placeat vobis providere quod ponatur ad consilium dicti comunis quod camerarius comunis de pecunia dicti comunis solvere possit dicto Totto tam pro tempore preterito quam venturo pro rata temporis quantitatem predictam secundum quod dicto consilio placuerit ordinare. Item propositum fuit per dictum Dominum Francischum [Domini Orlandi] coram dictis consiliariis et in dicto consilio quod eis videtur et placet providere et stantiare et ordinare quod Totus Alexandri de Lucha qui docet pueros ad scribendum et legendum solvatur a camerario comunis S. XV pro pensione domus in qua habitat pro quolibet mense prout in sua petitione continetur [. . .] Ser Chellus Pardi unus ex dictis consiliariis surgens in dicto consilio arengando dixit et consuluit quod sibi videtur et placet quod camerarius comunis possit teneatur et debeat dare et solvere de avere et pecunia dicti comunis S. XV pro quolibet mense et pro rata temporis predicto Totto a die kalendarum ianuarii presentis anni citra pro pensione domus in qua habitat et tam de preterito quam de futuro prout et sicut in sua petitione continetur sine suo preiudicio vel gravamine [. . .] Item deliberaverunt et approbaverunt supracriptum stantiamentum factum in foverem [sic pro favorem] Totti Alexandri de Lucha quod camerarius comunis possit dare ei S. XV pro quolibet mense pro pensione domus in qua habitat ad docendum pueros in terra Ficechii ut suprastanciatum est per consilium generale dici comunis Ficechii predicta die, facto et misso partito per me Gioctum notarium et obtento per omnes nulla in contrarium.149
Many Florentine teachers were laymen, identied without titles. In 1277 ‘Romanus doctor puerorum pop. S. Martini Episcopi’ was noted,150 while in 1295 ‘Ciuccius, doctor puerorum l. q. Monaldi de Perugio, qui moratur Flor. in pop. S. Georgii’ was recorded.151 In 1313, a Florentine reading and writing teacher, ‘Bettus q. Feduccii’, entered into a contract to teach reading and writing to Giovanni, son of Salimbene di Salto.152 In 1317 a magister puerorum, ‘Tedaldus q. Cian pop. S. Lucie de Mangnolis’, appeared as guarantor for another elementary teacher.153
Women The occasional women who taught in Tuscany up to 1400 were also, of course, from the laity. An arresting example is Necchia, a reading teacher in Siena, who was ned the large sum of 50 lire in 1307 ‘per cagione che battè el gliuolo di sere Feio Gionte’. The ne was reduced by the General Council to 5 lire.154 The most often cited woman teacher in Tuscany was ‘d. Clementia doctrix puerorum, ux. Marchesis q. Bencii pop. S. Marie Maioris’, who taught reading and writing to Andrea, brother of Lippo di Casino of the Florentine parish of S. Lorenzo in 1304.155 In 1345, the sister of Maestro Latino [di Andrea Berlingueri] taught the orphan Tommasa Delli, living in the household of Niccolò and Giovanni Niccolini, to read for three months: A la serochia del maestro Latino per tre mesi che la Masa stette cho lei a legere s. V pic.156
Francesco Datini’s illegitimate daughter lived in Florence, where she was educated at the schools of Monna Mattea near S. Maria Novella in 1399 and of Monna Orsina in 1400.157 Schools, teachers and lay institutions: universities and guilds During the rst half of the thirteenth century in Tuscan cities such as Arezzo and Siena, as the weight of grammar teaching was passing rapidly into secular hands, nascent university institutions were emerging; by mid-century, it is evident that grammar instruction was under the supervision of the civic university in Arezzo. A fully developed and mature institution existed there by 1255, when a set of Ordinamenta were promulgated by the all the masters in Arezzo,158 a highly signicant document in itself for the history of medieval universities as a whole, and, according to Rashdall, ‘one of the earliest Italian codes of university statutes which have come down to us’.159 154
Lisini (1903), p. 83. Debendetti (1906–7), p. 333. Witt (1995), p. 94, incorrectly cites the date of this document as ‘1301’ and gives Clementia’s occupation as ‘dominatrix puerorum’, the latter repeated on p. 101. 156 Niccolini (1924), p. 185. 157 Mazzei (1880), vol. I, p. xlv. 158 Ed. Pasqui (1899–1937), II, pp. 291–93; Black (1996a), pp. 184–85, where a list of previous editions is indicated. An edition with a useful commentary was prepared by Fabbrini (1990). 159 Rashdall (1936), II, p. 8. 155
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In these statutes, the eight professors perpetuated their association as a self-governing body. Having elected a rector, they regulated relations between masters and their schools, obliging masters to respect one another and requiring that students of one master should not be permitted to attend another’s classes. They laid down rules for the collection of fees for the schools, masters and beadles.160 Masters were to hold regular meetings and to desist from teaching if so required by the rector; the use of ripetitori was restricted. Particularly signicant is the article forbidding anyone from teaching ordinary courses in grammar, dialectic or medicine unless properly examined, approved and licensed by a studium.161 This was the kind of central control over teaching exercised only in university cities such as Bologna, and, together with references to the rector and beadle and possible evidence of a universitas scolarium, it shows the sophistication reached by Aretine university institutions by the mid-thirteenth century.162 Like other medieval universities, the Aretine Studio was an institution of higher education; its professors primarily taught law and medicine—subjects beyond the ordinary secondary school curriculum, which concentrated on grammar. Nevertheless, the 1255 statutes show an interest in maintaining the quality of secondary education, including grammar masters among those requiring a degree in order to teach in Arezzo. The university staff included two grammar teachers, who, like the other professors, were to receive fees for tuition; they were evidently lay masters no longer working under ecclesiastical prohibitions against taking fees from pupils. Grammar teaching had ceased to be the concern of the Cathedral or the Pieve in Arezzo: all the
160 Black (1996a), p. 184: Item teneatur quilibet magister facere ad minus tres collectas, unam pro scolis, aliam pro doctrina et tertiam pro bedello ante navitatem domini [. . .] Item ordinaverunt quod Bonavere [notarius et bedellus scolarium] possit generaliter recipere a quolibet scolare existente in gramatica duos denarios et a quolibet repetitore sex denarios. 161 Black (1996a), p. 185: Item nullus audeat legere ordinarie in civitate Aritii nec in grammatica, nec in diale[c]tica nec in medicina, nisi sit legittime et publice et in generali conventu examinatus et approbatus et licentiatus quod possit in sua scientia ubique legere [ms.: regere]. 162 Wieruszowski (1971), pp. 404–408; Moretti (1933–35), pp. 112–23; Mor (1973–75), pp. 30–38, who accepts the existence of the universitas scolarium (pp. 32–33) in the thirteenth-century Aretine university, although this has recently been questioned by Frova (1997–99), p. 322 n. 22, on the grounds that only a beadle and notary of the students, not a rector, is mentioned in the statutes; she points out that the rst explicit reference to a ‘rector universitatis scolarium’ is in 1338 (Black [1996a], p. 191).
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masters then in Arezzo—an exclusively lay group163—conrmed and approved the statutes; none—including the two grammarians—was an ecclesiastical maiorscole. The university was a lay institution: it was controlled by its entirely lay teaching staff; its statutes were approved by the judge and assessor who assisted the secular authority’s highest magistrate, the podestà. The role of the cathedral clergy was limited to witnessing the document in the person of the priest and episcopal chaplain Rainerio.164 With the removal of grammar from the auspices of ecclesiastical institutions and the assumption of direct control over secondary schools by the university, it is clear that, by the mid-thirteenth century in Arezzo, not only higher but also secondary education had passed into the hands of the laity. Florence had no university to supervise its grammar teachers, but it did have—albeit eetingly—a guild; indeed, it was the only Tuscan town to have such a corporation (they were found in other large cities such as Genoa and Milan).165 In 1316, an ‘Ars magistrorum gramatice, et abaci, et docentium legere et scribere pueros’ was listed, while in 1321 there was an ‘Ars magistrorum gramatice et abachi’.166 These associations did not last, but their brief existence demonstrates that, in Florence, elementary and secondary teaching had become an overwhelmingly lay profession by the early fourteenth century: guilds worked to achieve a monopoly in a trade or occupation; the fact that Florentine teachers formed themselves into such an association meant that they envisaged closing their profession to all outsiders, including ecclesiastics.
163 The eight masters involved in promulgating the statutes were four lawyers and two physicians (all laymen according conciliar legislation: see above p. 191), and two grammarians who taught for fees (also laymen according to conciliar legislation: see above pp. 177, 184). 164 Niccolaj Petronio (1992), p. 21 and n. 74, has suggested that the degrees of the early Aretine university would have been issued on the authority of the bishop, on the grounds that a later degree in 1373 (Black [1996a], pp. 194–95) was granted under episcopal auspices, adding that the notary who attested the document was an episcopal scribe and that the statutes are preserved in a manuscript volume entirely composed of episcopal and capitular documents. Nevertheless, there is no doubt this was a civic and secular institution, with an entirely lay teaching staff in control and operating under the legal auspices, not of the bishop, but of the communal podestà. 165 Manacorda (1914), I, p. 151. 166 Davidsohn (1896–1908), III, p. 251; Debenedetti (1906–7), p. 339.
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It was teachers working privately for payment who displaced ecclesiastical schools and masters throughout Tuscany in the course of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. Prato offers an early example with the contract, already cited (see p. 61), between the notary Bernardo del fu Benvenuto di Piacito and Giustamonte del fu Messer Torigno to teach the latter’s brother, Bandeluccio to read and write in 1247. Another possible private teacher there was Maestro Ricomano da Firenze, who submitted a petition which the podestà ordered to be placed before the commune’s general council in November 1280: Cum Dominus Richardus potestas Prati habeat facere hodie consilium generale super quadam petitione quam dedit Magister Richomanus de Florentia professor artis gramatice et de legenda ratione camere comunis huius mensis optubris, et etiam de imposita facienda per eum ut, obmissa per eum vel eius iudicem de hoc mense, presit in proximo venienti mense novembris facere complere [. . .] statutum et ordinatum creatum atque rmatum est quod predicta possint poni ad consilium generale per ipsum dictum potestatem et super ipsis stabiliri quod placebit consilio [. . .]167
In Siena an early private teacher was Guido, the elementary teacher mentioned above (see p. 199), who supervised the street watchmen in 1249, as was Necchia, who was ned for striking a pupil in 1307 (see p. 203). In San Gimignano two private teachers encountered above were Maestro Samuele, the grammar master exiled in the early 1260s (see pp. 197–98), and Muzzino di Ildebrandino, who was investigated with regard to the theft of communal rewood in 1270 (see pp. 200–201). In 1298 at Volterra, ‘Ser Bindus notarius de Montecastello professor et doctor gramatice’, mentioned above (p. 193), was probably teaching grammar privately to Puccio del fu Getto da Volterra. Between 1310 and 1313, the orphan Signoretto del fu Ser Signoretto Signoretti da Fucecchio possibly had two private teachers: Ser Iacopo di Ser Miniato da San Miniato, with whom he lived for just over ve months between September 1310 and February 1311,168 and Maestro Giovanni da San Donato (possibly S. Donato all’Isola, between
167 ASPrato CD 57 parte C, fol. 55r (referred to but not published by Giani [1927], p. 15). 168 Malvolti (1992), p. 66.
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Fucecchio and S. Miniato), who was possibly his reading teacher.169 In 1320 a witness to the will of Count Guido Novello at his castello of Battifolle was a former schoolmaster at Poppi: ‘Ugolinus f. Petri de Bononia qui tenebat scolas Puppii’.170 Private teaching took place in smaller towns too. A private contract was agreed at Montevarchi in 1297 between Ser Giovanni del fu Bentinegna da Capannole, then living in the neighbouring village of Pogi (both a few miles southeast of Montevarchi), and Maestro Bartolo del fu Biagio da Arezzo, at the time resident in Montevarchi, for the latter to teach grammar to the former’s son Chele for the fee of 36 Florentine soldi: Anno dominice incarnationis millesimo ducentesimo nonagesimo sexto, indictione decima, die decimo mensis ianuarii. Certum est quod ser Iohannes notarius olim Bentinenge de Capanale districtus Ariçii qui nunc moratur ad Poci locavit et posuit Chelem eius lium cum magistro Bartolo lio olim Biagi de Ariçio ad adiscendam artem gramatice, qui magister Bartolus nunc moratur Montevarchi, hinc ad kalendas augusti proxime venturas, quare predictus ser Iohannes notarius promisit et convenit eidem magistro Bartolo pro se suisque heredibus stipendium dare et solvere eidem magistro Bartolo vel suis heredibus cuive jus suum concesserit hinc ad kalendas maii proxime venturas pro pretio et nomine pretii edocendi dictum Chelem lium suum in dicta arte gramatice soldos triginta sex bonorum denariorum orentinorum in Montevarchi vel alibi ubicumque eum invenerit et solutionem petierit ab eodem etc.171
A class of fteen pupils in Laterina (near Arezzo) certied that they had been properly taught grammar for a year by Maestro Bartolo between August 1301 and September 1302; it is possible, although not certain, that this is the same teacher noted above ( p. 207) working then in the nearby town of Montevarchi: Infrascripti scolares de Laterino qui inferius nominabuntur confessi fuerunt et etiam afrmavernt quod magister Bartalus, magister gramatice, bene et legaliter incepit eos docere de mense settembris preteriti annis currentibus millesimo trecentesimo primo et bene studiose et legaliter docuit eos per totum illud tempus usque ad festum sancte Marie mensis agusti et omnia et singula fecerat et observaverat, que dictis scolaribus promiserat circha studium predictum et quicquit continetur in istrumento promissionis scripto manu ser Gratie notarii et oftialis dicti Comunis,
169 170 171
Malvolti (1992), p. 73: see above ch. 2, p. 118. Davidsohn (1956–68), VII, p. 222. Papaleoni (1894), p. 150.
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chapter three dixerunt et confessi fuerunt [. . .] ipsum magistrum bene eos docuisse et istruxisse usque ad dictum festum sancte Marie dicti mensis agusti, et bene eis satisfactum esse de predicto studio et ipsum magistrum Bartalum ibidem presentem et recipientem liberaverunt et absolverunt et recedendi licentiam concesserunt. Scolares sunti isti: Tucçi Raballe Angelus Pari Vannes Renaldi Cintius ser Petri Putius Venturini Mutius Bonutii Ricchutius Bennutii Naldus magistri Cennis Angelus magistri Nuti Naldus Berardi Baccius Casini Cecchus Finutii Vannes de Lasoro Masius Gratie Ser Gorus Canbii. Actum in domo Ubertinorum, ubi redditur ius pro dicto Comuni de Laterino, die mercurii XXVI mensis agusti [. . .] sub annis Domini a nativitate eiusdem millesimo trecentesimo secundo [. . .]172
This document is particularly interesting, showing as it does how a cleric, Ser Goro di Cambio,173 was now attending a private lay school, and so further substantiating the decline of ecclesiastical teaching at the turn of the fourteenth century; the situation of the earlier middle ages had now been reversed: instead of ecclesiastical institutions educating the laity, it was now lay structures educating the clergy.
172 Papaleoni (1894), pp. 150–51. This document was mentioned by Gehl (1993), pp. 212–13, who cited the original archival reference (provided by Franek Sznura), evidently without realizing it had been published by Papaleoni; Gehl incorrectly states that Maestro Bartolo was a Florentine, and he misread Davidsohn, who, according to him, ‘says this same master had taught in a similar school at Montevarchi in 1297’, whereas in fact Davidsohn (1956–68), VII, p. 222, had stated there were two different teachers: ‘Troviamo nel 1297 un maestro che regge una scuola di latino a Montevarchi, e qualche anno appresso un altro a Laterina’. 173 Papaleoni (1894), p. 149, incorrectly wrote that among these pupils ‘è notevole di trovare un notaio, ser Goro Cambi’, but this is impossible, as he would have been learning Latin after he became a notary, whereas it was standard practice (and of course necessary: see e.g. Martines [1968], p. 34) to know Latin before becoming a notary. At Pisa in 1328, notarial candidates veried that they had attended grammar school for at least four years, and sometimes for 6: Mancini (1897), p. 168. On 11 December 1339, one Marabottino di Tancredi di Tuccio da Prato petitioned the commune of Prato, asking to be admitted to the Pratese college of notaries, on the grounds that he was sufciently well instructed in grammar and notarial science: (ASPrato CD 77, fol. 81v) Maraboctinus lius Tancredi Tuccii porte Sancti Iohannis de Prato dicit et exponit quod ipse est sufcienter instructus in gramaticalibus et in arte notarie et quod ipse desiderat esse in collegio et matricola notariorum terre Prati et ipsam artem exercere in dicta terra et eius territorio et districtu [. . .]
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On 30 October 1362, Ser Francesco di Ugarello da Castello (Città di Castello) made a will, leaving 13 florins that he had earned teaching grammar in Foiano della Chiana174 (c. 20 km. south of Arezzo, midway between Monte S. Savino and Cortona), probably as a private teacher. Private teachers were found in abundance at Pisa: two are documented in 1295 (Puccio di Bonastrenna) and 1298 (Ugolino),175 and such was the competition between private masters that, in order to keep up their fees, they began to form cartels in the early fourteenth century. The communal authorities took action in 1303, forbidding grammar teachers from joining together in companies,176 a rubric repeated in the statutes of 1313: De magistris scolarium, ne conspirationem faciant. Nullus magister artis gramatice audeat vel presummat facere societatem cum aliquo alio magistro in civitate pisana super docendo scolares, et exigendo salaria certo modo. In quibus agendis plures ex eis reperiuntur fuisse culpabiles, in dampnum et detrimentum civium rexam et conspirationem facientes [. . .] Et quod nullus ex eis audeat vel presumat recipere pro salario ab aliquo scolari, vel alia persona pro eo, ultra soldos quadraginta denariorum pisanorum per annum, et soldos quinque denariorum pro dono [. . .]177
In 1328, candidates for the notariate in Pisa attended ten different grammar schools, of which most, if not all, would have been private.178 Arezzo offers many examples of private grammar teachers in the thirteenth and earlier fourteenth centuries. In 1241 the grammarian Maestro Benrecevuto rented premises in the centre of Arezzo, near the church of S. Piero Piccolo, from the abbot of the monastery of S. Flora e Lucilla, apparently for teaching purposes.179 Benrecevuto and another grammar teacher, Maestro Orlando, were two of the eight masters who laid down the statutes of the university of Arezzo in 1255.180 In 1269 ‘Magister Bandinus gramaticus’ was a member of Arezzo’s Council of Twenty-four.181 In 1326 Masio del fu Ristoro
174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181
Mancini (1897), p. 168. Silva (1918), p. 481. Silva (1918), p. 482. Bonaini (1870), II, pp. 287–88. Mancini (1897), p. 168. Black (1996a), pp. 181–82. Black (1996a), pp. 184–85. Pasqui (1899–1937), II, p. 417 n. 1; Nardi (1996), pp. 88–89.
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Lambardi, doctor gramatice, was mentioned as a legal claimant in an Aretine notarial document,182 while in 1327 Maestro Caroncio di Ser Iacopo Caronci, doctor gramatice, promised, together with his brother Maffeo, to repay a loan to their brother Ghezzo.183 In the same year, Maestro Caroncio settled a disputed inheritance with his brothers,184 while letting some property185 and acting as a guarantor in a commercial transaction.186 Maestro Caroncio made his will in 1329,187 while in 1332 and 1333 he let some further property188; in 1333 he participated together with his brother Maffeo in settling the latter’s daughter’s dowry,189 and in 1338 he purchased some property.190 In 1331 and 1332 the other active Aretine grammarian of the period, Maestro Masio di Ristoro Lambardi, appeared in various commercial transacations,191 while in 1333 he rented premises normally used as the grammar school in Arezzo near the church of S. Piero Piccolo from the abbot of S. Flora e Lucilla for three years at an annual rental of 16 Pisan lire.192 These same premises, now specied as having ve rooms, were let in 1341 to another Aretine grammar teacher, Tuccio del fu Maestro Tommaso da Arezzo for two years, at the reduced annual rental of 12 lire.193 Aretine grammarians also worked outside their native city, possibly as private teachers: in 1347 Maestro Sasso di Grazia del fu Sasso d’Arezzo made his will in the grammar school at Montepulciano.194 Private Teachers in Florence During the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries Florence was the Tuscan city in which private teaching developed most extensively during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. As the most
pp. 305–307. p. 307. pp. 308–16. p. 314. p. 315. pp. 318–19. pp. 321–22. pp. 323–24. pp. 325–26. p. 320. p. 325. p. 326. pp. 326–27.
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successful practioners of free enterprise in later medieval Tuscany, Florentines showed no inclination to restrain schoolmasters at any level from exploiting their entrepreneurial inclinations; in Florence, schools and teaching became businesses to an extent unmatched elsewhere in Tuscany. It was especially in Florence that the ecclesiastical educational traditions were most fully replaced by laissez-faire practices characteristic of the lay and secular commercial world. Elementary teachers of reading and/or writing Numerous private doctores puerorum are known to have been teaching in Florence, beginning in the last quarter of the thirteenth century. Fantinus magister puerorum lius olim Salvi appeared as a witness to a loan in a notarial document dated 23 August 1275.195 In a judicial document dated 11 September 1277, Romanus doctor puerorum from the parish of S. Martino del Vescovo was recorded.196 Perotto del fu Paghino Ammannati was being taught writing by a Ser Neri in September 1290, and then by a Maestro Benno in early 1291.197 On 10 November 1292, a future elementary teacher, Ser Donato del fu Guido from the parish of S. Trinita, was recorded as the purchaser of some rural property, while on 6 November 1295 he was identied as ‘Ser Donatus magister puerorum’;198 on 27 April 1301, now identied as doctor puerorum from the parish of S. Lorenzo, he witnessed a notarial document, while on 7 December 1302, with the titles doctor et magister puerorum, he was mentioned as a householder in the latter parish.199 On 16 September 1295, Ciuccio del fu Monaldo da Perugia, doctor puerorum, then living in the Florentine parish of San Giorgio sulla Costa, borrowed three orins from Lippa, the widow of a tailor called Bruno.200 On 17 May 1297, Ser Albertino del fu Giunta delle Corti, doctor puerorum, from the parish of S. Niccolò sopr’Arno, acted as guarantor for a shoemaker borrowing 5 orins, a loan which was mentioned again on 8 May 1298; on 17 December 1297 he himself borrowed 26 soldi
195
Davidsohn (1956–68), VII, p. 214. Debenedetti (1906–7), p. 330. 197 Castellani (1952), II, pp. 564, 566; see also Sapori (1940), pp. 83–86. Witt (1995), p. 85, mistakenly cites the latter teacher as ‘Berno’. It is unlikely that these were specialist writing teachers, as is possibly suggested by De Blasi (1993), p. 386; specialist writing teachers were rare: see above ch. 2 p. 59. 198 Davidsohn (1956–68), VII, p. 214. 199 Debenedetti (1906–7), p. 330. 200 Debenedetti (1906–7), pp. 330–31. 196
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from the notary Ser Giunta di Duccio.201 In September and October 1300, Maestro Bino di Ser Accarigio, doctor puerorum from the Florentine parish of S. Felicita, rented a shop and a house in the same parish; he also acted as guarantor for another rental there.202 On 20 and 22 June 1308, Ser Andrea del fu Andrea, doctor puerorum from the Florentine parish of S. Maria Maggiore, witnessed a notarial act, as did Ser Cambino di Bonafede, doctor puerorum, on 27 July 1316, while on 4 July of the same year, Margherita, daughter of the late Maestro Michele doctor puerorum, was mentioned.203 On 9 February 1317, Ser Bonsi del fu Ser Reddita from the Florentine parish of S. Lucia di Ognisanti, appeared in a notarial document, while on 15 August 1338, now resident in the parish of S. Lorenzo, he purchased some rural property.204 On 21 December 1317 three magistri puerorum appeared in the same notarial act: Ser Guido del fu Bruno from the Florentine parish of S. Lucia de’ Magnoli, who rented a farm from the monastery of S. Miniato al Monte, and Tedaldo del fu Cianfo, from the same parish and Ser Nolfo di Nuccio, from the parish of S. Niccolò sopr’Arno, both magistri puerorum, who acted as his guarantors.205 On 12 January 1320, Ser Rodolfo di Nuto, doctor puerorum from the parish of S. Niccolò sopr’Arno, ended a rental agreement he had had with the monastery of S. Miniato al Monte for a shop in the same parish.206 On 3 November 1321 Ser Maso, magister puerorum from the Florentine parish of S. Felicita, agreed to act as a mondualdo, while on 10 January 1325 and 3 April 1327 Ser Sandro del fu Andrea, notary and magister puerorum and Ser Viene di Cione, doctor puerorum from the parish of S. Pier Maggiore, appeared respectively as witnesses to notarial acts.207 In 1331 and 1333, Antonio di Bonaventura, doctor puerorum, and Ser Piero di Ser Gherardo, also doctor puerorum, are mentioned,208 while on 31 March 1334 Ser Niccolò del fu Ser Duccio da Prato, doctor puerorum from the parish of S. Lorenzo, arranged the marriage of his daughter Telda.209 In 1339 and 1343,
201
Debenedetti (1906–7), p. 331; see now De Angelis, Gigli and Sznura (1978–86), vol. 1 fasc. 4, pp. 46–47. 202 Debenedetti (1906–7), pp. 331–32. 203 Debenedetti (1906–7), p. 333. 204 Debenedetti (1906–7), pp. 333–34. 205 Debenedetti (1906–7), p. 334. 206 Debenedetti (1906–7), pp. 334–35. 207 Debenedetti (1906–7), p. 335. 208 Debenedetti (1906–7), pp. 335–36. 209 Debenedetti (1906–7), p. 336.
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Andrea and Simone, two brothers of Francesco di Giovanni di Durante, were sent to learn to read respectively with one Ser Francesco and with one Ser Migliore, the latter of whom lived on Via Ghibellina.210 In 1350 Ser Angelo di Donato taught reading to boys in the Florentine parish of S. Pancrazio.211 In March 1352 there were several magistri puerorum listed in the Florentine Estimo (direct tax): Ser Francesco da Montecatini living in the gonfalone of Leon d’oro (Quarter of S. Giovanni);212 Ser Francesco from the parish of S. Pier Maggiore;213 and Ser Mafo di Lapo from the gonfalone of Chiavi (quarter of S. Giovanni).214 One Ser Vieri was probably the elementary teacher of Bernardo, a member of the del Sega family, in April 1355.215 In 1365 and 1366 ‘Maestro Ventura che tiene i fanciulli a lleggiere’ rented premises in a palace belonging to the del Bene family in the quarter of S. Spirito.216 At the time of the Ciompi revolt and subsequent popular regime (1378–1382), Guaspare di Ricco was the proprietor of an elementary school in Via Ghibellina.217 In March 1380, the orphaned children of Messer Palla di Messer Francesco Strozzi had a private elementary teacher called Salvato.218 In 1395 Francesco di Francesco Leoni was operating a reading school, attended by Paolo di Ser Iacopo di Lardo de’ Lardi da Prato, aged ve.219 Private teaching had become so much a lay institution in Florence, that elementary teachers even formed legal partnerships, on the model of commercial companies. Although such business associations were banned in Pisa, as has been seen above (p. 209), in Florence they ourished. An early example is the company formed between Giannino del fu Cenno di Pannate from the parish of S. Lorenzo, magister puerorum, and Guido del fu Bernardo di Fiore da Parma, magister in eadem [arte], which was amicably dissolved on 4 October 1301.220 In a similarly commercial spirit, contracts between elementary teachers and parents were entered into, as for example in 1313 between Betto del
210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220
Debenedetti (1906–7), pp. 336–37; Sapori (1955), I, p. 67. Witt (1995), p. 114 and n. 105. ASF Estimo 306, fol. 141v. ASF Estimo 306, fol. 163r. ASF Estimo 306, fol. 172r. ASF MSS 75, fol. CCLXV verso; see Appendix 5. ASF Carte del Bene 26, fol. 57r; see Appendix 5. Davidsohn (1956–68), VII, p. 215. ASF CS III.277, fol. LXXXXVI verso and CLXVIII recto; see Appendix 5. BNCF Palatino 1129, fol. 51r; see Appendix 5. Debenedetti (1906–7), p. 332.
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fu Feduccio from the Florentine parish of S. Donnino and Salimbene di Salto from the parish of S. Mauro, whereby the former would teach the latter’s son Giovanni to read and write. The completely secular context of this contract is apparent from the skills Giovanni was to acquire: he was meant to be able to read and to write written material and accounts (legere et scribere omnes licteras et rationes), so that he would be equipped to work in an artisan’s shop (quod [. . .] sit sufciens ad standum in apotecis articis).221 By the early fourteenth century in Florence, the goals of education had become entirely secularized. Private grammar teachers There were similar companies formed from the end of the thirteenth century among private grammar teachers in Florence too. The earliest documented example was entered into for a year on 19 September 1298222 between Maestro Borghese del fu Maestro Gherardo from the Florentine parish of S. Maria Maggiore and Ser Berlingheri del fu Braccio from the same parish. The latter would work as repetitor in the former’s school, receiving one third of the pupils’ payments, except for the customary gratuities offered for example at Christmas and any nes imposed, apparently on the pupils; all expenses would be shared in the same proportion. This partnership was directly modelled on a commercial company: the notarial document referred explicitly to the wish of contracting parties to ‘quasi sotietatem simul facere’—‘as if to form together a business company’.223 Another partnership existed in 1324 between the Florentine grammarian Filippo di Naddo di Filippo, author of the treatise on syntax, and Latino di Andrea Berlingueri, also a doctor gramatice.224 Yet another such company was formed between Maestro Filippo di Naddo and Maestro Francesco, son of Fra Manno di Ugolino da Pratovecchio (in the Casentino) for the period of twelve years; the contract stipulated that, should one of the partners withdraw from the school, the remaining partner would pay him 7 orins a year for three years. In 1337 Maestro Francesco left the school, but Maestro Filippo
221
Debenedetti (1906–7), p. 346. Debenedetti (1906–7), p. 340, seems mistakenly to have written 19 September 1299, which is impossible, since he records the same individual as dead by 5 September 1299 on p. 341; Witt (1995), p. 110, corrects the earlier date to 1298. 223 Debenedetti (1906–7), pp. 340–41. 224 Debenedetti (1906–7), p. 341. 222
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failed to pay the agreed annual amount before dying in 1340. Now on 26 April 1341, a legal action was brought before the Florentine court of the Mercanzia by Francesco’s procurators against Filippo’s heirs for recovery of the money due: Coram vobis Domino Thomasio iudice et oftiale universitatis mercatorum et Mercantie civitatis Florentie Frater Mannus Ugolini de Pratoveteri de Casentino ut pater et coiunta persona Magistri Francisci sui lii et Magister Guido dicti Fratris Manni procurator dicti Magistri Francisci, pro quo de rato promiserunt dicto nomine, dicunt [et] exponunt quod dictus Magister Franciscus contraxit sotietatem cum Magistro Filippo Nalli populi Sancti Laurentii de dicta civitate ad scolas gramaticales regendas et gramaticam docendam pro tempore XII annorum, prout de sotietate constat publico instrumento manu Ser Bartoli Gallocçi de dicta civitate, in quo instrumento inter alia continetur quod alter ipsorum magistrorum recedens et scolas dimictens infra dictum terminum sotietatis predicte, recipere debere et habere a reliquo magistro remanente et scolas regente quolibet trium annorum orenos auri septem; et quod dictus Magister Francischus a sotietate disscessit et se absentavit, scolas dimittens dicto Magistro Filippo regendas, quas ipse Magister Filippus propterea retinuit et rexit per tres annos et ultra post separationem et absentiam dicti sui sotii suo proprio et privato nomine; et quod dictus Magister Filippus mortuus est et decessit iam sunt sex menses et ultra, ex quo remaxerunt duo lii, scilicet Thomas et Filippus, qui sunt heredes ipsius Magistri Filippi; et quod dictus Magister Filippus tempore sue vite et hodie heredes sui cessaverunt et cessant solvere et pagare dictos viginti unum orenos pro dictis tribus annis proxime elapsis prout de iure solvere tenentur et debent; quare petunt dicti Frater Mannus et Magister Guido dicto nomine dictum Filippum et Thomasium lios et heredes dicti Magistri Filippi vel quemcumque alium qui diceret se heredem vel tutorem dictorum pupillorum et heredum tutorio nomine pro eis per vos et vestrum oftium cogi et compelli ad dandum sibi vel alteri ipsorum dictam pecunie quantitatem; et ipsis heredibus et pupillis non comparentibus et solventibus dictam pecunie quantitatem predictis Fratri Manno et Guidoni nomine quo supra petunt sibi dari et pronumptiari tenutam in bonis et super bonis dicti quondam Magistri Philippi et que ipsius quondam Magistri Philippi hereditatis remanserunt, usque ad concurrentem quantitatem predictam et expensas in causa factas [. . .] Ad petitionem Fratris Manni Ugolini de Casentino et Magistri Guidonis eius lii procuratorem et coniuntaram [sic] prefati Magistri Francissci dicti Fratris Manni, Cechus Arrighi numtius dicte curtis de mandato et licentia dicti iudicis etc. [dixit] se hodie citasse [. . .] ad domum solite habitationis [. . .] Filippum et Thomasium [. . .]225
225
ASF Mercanzia 1073, fol. 30v–31v; I am grateful for this reference to Antonella
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Another partnership was formed between Maestro Tommaso del fu Maestro Duccio da Prato, magister et professor gramatice, resident in the Florentine parish of S. Trinita, and Ser Giovanni di Pagno dal Casentino, presbiter residing in the Florentine parish of S. Remigio, on 28 July 1376 for a period of three years and sixteen days, effective from the previous 15 July. They agreed that the principal teaching would be carried out in the morning by Maestro Tommaso, consisting of passages for translation (latina), texts to be read and commented upon (libros), writing exercises (licteras) and syntax (constructiones); in the afternoon, Ser Giovanni would give further instruction on whatever topics they mutually agreed. In the morning Maestro Tommaso would give his instruction ex cathedra, while in a separate room, as repetitor, Ser Giovanni would go over the same material ensuring the pupils were fully satised. Ser Giovanni had just taken a house from Vieri di Cambio de’ Medici as premises for the school over ve years, at an annual rent of 20 orins plus a goose. They agreed fully to share all risks with regard to the rental of the school premises. The prots from the partnership were to be shared equally, except that, if either of the partners went out to teach at night, those additional earnings would remain outside the company’s remit and would be retained by the partner actually teaching: Anno millesimo trecentesimo septuagesimo sexto, indictione quarta decima, die vigesima ottava mensis iulii, actum Florentie in palatio sive residentia palatii dominorum priorum et vex. iustitie populi et comunis Florentie, presentibus testibus ad hec vocatis, rogatis, habitis et requisitis, videlicet Francischo Batini magistro populi Sancti Pauli de Florentia, Iacobo Iohannis populi Sancti Ambrosii de Florentia et Ser Baldo Bettini de Romena habitante in populo Sancti Proculi de Florentia. Pateat evidenter omnibus etc. quod Magister Tommasus olim Magistri Duccii de Prato habitans in populo S. Trinitatis de Florentia magister et professor gramatice ex una parte et Ser Iohannes Pagni de Casentino presbiter habitans in populo Sancti Remigii de Florentia ex altera parte, omni modo, via etc. veram et legiptimam sotietatem ad legendum et docendum gramaticam ad invicem fecerunt et contraxerunt hoc modo et infrascriptis modis, pactis, condictionibus, promissionibus et formis: videlicet quod uterque et quilibet ipsorum contrahentium teneatur et debeat instruere
Astorri, who also referred me to an act in the same volume (fol. 18v–19r, 20v–21r) whereby on the previous day the same procurators sought restitution of three books, including ‘unum librum gramaticale’ from a deceased Florentine bookseller, Bartolo di Giovanni from the parish of S. Stefano della Badia.
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et docere discipulos et scolares quoscumque et quemcumque hoc modo et forma: videlicet quod dictus Magister Tommasus teneatur et debeat in mane usque ad horam prandii discipulos et scolares tam latina quam libros, lecteras et ceteras constructiones instruere et docere; et dictus Ser Iohannes teneatur et debeat de sero hoc est post prandium usque ad horam qua solitum est scolares discedere in sero docere et legere omnia et singula que inter ipsos proposuerint, ordinaverint et in concordia fuerint seu erunt; et quod tempore quo dictus Magister Tommasus docebit et in catedra manebit causa docendi, dictus Ser Iohannes teneatur manere in quadam camera quam inter ipsos deputaverint et ibidem tamquam repetitor docere, repetere et legere libros, lecteras et latina ad hoc ut magis scolaribus satisant. Et quod si contingerit quod quilibet vel alter ipsorum contrahentium doceret in nocte et noctis tempore illud lucrum quod exinde perceperint seu perceperit non teneantur sive non teneatur ad invicem sive cum altero ipsorum dividere sive comunicare, sed tale lucrum dicto tali dicte noctis tempore docenti totaliter sine aliqua comunicatione vel divisione cum altero sotio integre acquiratur et ipsius sit. Et quia dictus Ser Iohannes, prout dixerunt, conduxit a Verio Cambii de Medicis causa docendi gramaticam quandam domum ipsius Verii positam Florentie in populo pro tempore et termino quinque annorum inceptorum inmediate presentis mensis iulii, et promisit dare et solvere et pagare eidem Verio prout dixit pro pensione et nomine pensionis dicte domus supracontente et connate viginti orenos auri boni etc. et unam anserem sive ocham quolibet et pro quolibet anno dictorum quinque annorum, promiserunt et convenerunt sibi ad invicem et vicissim et unus alteri et alter uni et e contrario dicti contrahentes stipulatione solempni et quilibet eorum comunicare, participare, solvere et substinere pro equalibus portionibus omne commodum et incommodum quod ex conductione predicta vel occaxione dicte domus quomodolibet resultaret, promictentes et convenientes stipulatione solempni dicti contrahentes et quilibet ipsorum sibi ad invicem et vicissim et unus alteri et alter uni et e contrario pro equalibus portionibus portare, substinere, sentire, participare et comunicare omnes et singulas expensas et sumptus et omnia et singula lucra, dampna et commoda et incommoda, quod, que et quas dicti contrahentes et quilibet vel alter ipsorum in dicta sotietate seu occasione vel pretextu dicte sotietatis et dicte domus conducte de qua supra t mentio [. . .] Et voluerunt dicti contrahentes et quilibet ipsorum hanc presentem sotietatem durare et robur habere per tres annos et sedecim dies proxime venturos inceptos et initiatos in quintadecima die presentis mensis iulii et non ultra; hoc tamen actum per pactum solempnem et solempni stipulatione vallatum et roboratum inter dictum Magistrum Tommasum et Ser Iohannem contrahentes predictos, quod si contingerit vel eveniret, quod absit, alter dictorum sotiorum et contrahentium predictorum infra dictum tempus trium annorum et XVI dierum premori altero superesi[s]tenti, supervivens teneatur et obligatus sit principaliter et in solidum ad solutionem pensionis dicte domus supracontente et connate et cuiuscumque alterius domus quam conducerent seu conduxissent dicti sotii causa docendi gramaticam
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chapter three a die mortis dicti premortui ultra, et talis supervivens et remanens post dictum premortuum sentiat, habeat, substineat et percipiat et ad ipsum spectet omne et quodlibet honus, lucrum, commodum et incommodum quod post mortem et a morte ultra dicti premortui ex dicta conductione iam facta et enda et dicta sotietate vel occasione seu pretextu vel causa dicte conductionis facte et ende et dicte sotietatis postea resultaret, contingeret vel eveniret, ita quod heredes et successores dicti premortui teneantur et obligati sint pro dimidia solummodo ad illam pensionem et mercedem que veniret solvendam secundum ratam temporis usque ad diem et a die retro mortis dicti talis premortui, et similiter ad illud commodum et incommodum quod resultasset seu resultaret usque ad diem et a die retro mortis dicti talis premortui. Et quod post dictum tempus trium annorum et sedicim dierum et nita dicta sotietate, in casu quo dicti sotii contrahentes predicti et quilibet ipsorum erunt vivi, teneantur et obligati sint, ipsi Magister Tomasus et Ser Iohannes sotii et contrahentes prefati et quilibet ipsorum remictere et compromictere generaliter omnes et singulas lites etc., et de eis generaliter compromissum facere in duos bonos viros, quorum quilibet ipsorum sotiorum et contrahentium possit unum prout sibi placuerit eligere tamquam arbitrum etc., et quod dicti duo arbitri et arbitratores possint de comuni concordia alium quemcumque voluerint pro tertio et in tertium eligere, assumere, nominare et vocare etc. Insuper etc. promiserunt et convenerunt dictus Magister Tommasus et Ser Iohannes sotii et contrahentes predicti stipulatione solempni sibi ad invicem et vicissim et unus alteri et alter uni et e contrario nita dicta sotietate vel ante si concordes fuerint ad invicem facere rationem de omnibus et singulis que ad dictos sotios et quemlibet vel alterum eorum ex dicta sotietate seu occasione, causa vel pretextu dicte presentis sotietatis pervenerint seu pervenissent, et lucra et proctus ad invicem et vicissim inter ipsos pro equalibus portionibus dividere, partire, comunicare et participare, salvo quod lucrum, commodum et proctus quod et quem alter dictorum sotiorum et contrahentium predictorum faceret, perciperet vel haberet seu fecerit, perceperit vel habuerit ex doctrina vel occasione doctrine quam faceret seu fecerit de nocte et noctis tempore, quod lucrum et commodum et proctum totum et integrum sit dicti talis docentis seu qui docuerit vel docebit tempore nocturno prout superius dictum est.226
It is interesting that a priest, Ser Giovanni, entered into this kind of commercialized teaching partnership: by the fourteenth century, the lay and secularized educational world in Florence had even engulfed the clergy. Commercialized employment associations resembling apprenticeships were typical of Florentine fourteenth-century schools. For example, Maestro Zanobi Ferri, a grammar teacher, employed one Dato 226
ASF NA 13622, fol. 51v–53r. I am grateful to Elisabetta Ulivi for this reference.
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di Giovanni dal Casentino, evidently as a repetitor to teach in his Florentine school, beginning on 28 October 1345, so long as he lodged with Messer Giovanni Gherardini, promising not to go to another school. Dato signed an undertaking to this effect, and, a year and a half later on 9 March 1347, his employer, Maestro Zanobi, went to the court of the Mercanzia to enforce this agreement: Die viiii martii. Comparuit coram dicto oftiali et eius curia [sc. domini Matthei domini Bartolini de Ugiano sive de Becchadellis de Bononia iudicis et oftialis Mercatorum et Mercantie civitatis Florentie] magister Çenobius olim Ferri, populi S. Lucie Omnium Sanctorum de Florentia, in causa et questione [. . .] per eum mota coram dicto oftiali contra dictum Datum Iohannis de Casentino, et [. . .] produxit coram dicto oftiali et eius curia scriptam factam et scriptam manu propia dicti Dati, cuius scripture tenor hic est videlicet: Sia manifesto a tutti ch’io Dato di Giovanni di Casentino prometto di venire et di stare a la scuola del maestro Çanobio Ferri, maestro di grammatica, mentre ch’io dimoro con messer Giovanni Gherardini et no’ ne in altra scuola di Firenze per insegnare alchuna doctrina, ma obligomi di stare ne la sua scuola, a pena di diece orini d’oro, si contra ciò facessi et ricognoscome potere obligare acciò che questo scrivo di mia mano a dì xxviiii d’ottobre mille trecento quaranta cinque. Et petiit predictum ofcialem dictum Datum cogi et compelli ad recognescendum dictam scriptam. Qui ofcialis dictam scriptam suprascripte continentie et tenoris hostendit dicto Dato et eidem iuramentum detulit utrum dicta scripta sit facta et scripta manu propia ipsius Dati. Qui Datus coram dicto oftiali constitutus iuravit ad sancta Dei evangelia corporaliter tactis scripturis respondere et dicere veritatem super dicta interrogatione per dictum oftialem facta sibi, et visa dicta scriptura, presente dicto magistro Çenobio, dixit et recognovit et confessus fuit ipsam scriptam fuisse et esse scriptam et factam manu propria ipsius Dati. Dictus oftialis, visis et auditis predictis, precepit personaliter dicto Dato presenti et intelligenti quatenus contenta in dicta scripta observet et observari debeat secundum ipsius continentiam et tenorem [. . .]227
In fourteenth-century Florence, private grammar teachers worked as individuals too. In 1277 Maestro Borghese della Grammatica was noted, as was his son Maestro Gherardo in 1294.228 On 15 July 1294,
227
Gherardi (1881), pp. 282–83; Papaleoni (1894), pp. 151–52. Witt (1995), pp. 90 and 110, citing Davis (1984), p. 141 (now ASF NA 17563, fol. 54r [26 April 1277]: Magister Borghese de gramatica); Witt’s ‘Burgensis’ is an error. In fact, Maestro Gherardo is not recorded by Davis or Witt as a grammarian, although, given his title and his father’s and son’s profession as grammar teachers, he was evidently a grammar master too. 228
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Egidio di Ghino di Guido de’ Cantori, doctor gramatice, was recorded in a notarial protocol as resident at the Mercato Vecchio,229 while on 1 July 1299 Magister Baldensis doctor gramatice lius olim Ser Pieri notarii populi Sancti Pauli was noted and on 14 October 1298 mention was made of Magistro Gilio doctore gramatice.230 On 13 June 1312 Bartolo di Bongia from the Florentine parish of S. Simone, doctor gramatice, was recorded in a diploma; another contemporary grammarian was Donato di Venturo from the Florentine parish of S. Pietro Celoro (quarter of S. Giovanni).231 In 1327 the grammarian Maestro Duccio del fu Ciuffa da Vico Fiorentino was noted, as was Ser Piero del fu Profeta, magister gramatice from the Florentine parish of S. Pier Maggiore.232 In the rst half of the fourteenth century, a grammarian Maestro Zono de Romeo da Magnale (near Rignano sull’Arno) was noted in Florence,233 while, in the Estimo of 1352, ‘Magister Pierus magister in grammatice’ was assessed in the gonfalone of Carro (quarter of S. Croce).234 In October 1363, the nine-year-old Bartolomeo di Niccolò di Taldo Valori (b. 8 May 1354) began learning grammar from one Maestro Manovello, remaining in his school until 31 May 1367.235 Before 1370/75, when he professed as a Dominican at S. Maria Novella, Guido da Raggiolo ran a grammar school at or near the church of Ogni Santi: Hic cum esset in seculo maximus gramaticus et orator seu rethor perfectissimus apud ecclesiam omnium sanctorum ubi scolas regebat.236
At the end of 1367 and the beginning of 1368, Maestro Bartolomeo della Grammatica taught Amerigo di Borgognone del Bene for ve months.237 On 29 April 1378, Maestro Giovanni del fu Iacopo da Monticchiello in the Val d’Orcia, doctor gramatice, brought a peti229 Novati (1885), p. 189 n. 1, cited by Witt (1995), pp. 110–11; Davidsohn (1956–68), VII, pp. 220–21. 230 ASF NA 19164, fol. 69r and 64v respectively, originally referred to by Davis (1984), p. 141. The citation by Witt (1995), pp. 10–11 (‘magister Gilius doctor gramatice de q. magistri Baldensis d. g.’) is erroneously derived from Davis. 231 Davidsohn (1956–68), VII, pp. 220–21. 232 Witt (1995), citing Novati (1885), p. 189 n. 1. 233 Witt (1995), citing Novati (1908). 234 ASF Estimo 306, fol. 61r. 235 BNCF Panciatichi 134, fol. 1r: see Appendix 5. Gehl (1993), p. 85 n. 9 incorrectly cites this teacher’s name as ‘Manoello’. Earlier in Gehl (1989), p. 391, the name had been correctly transcribed as ‘Manouello’. 236 Orlandi (1955), I, p. 139. 237 ASF CdB 32, fol. 7v: see Appendix 5.
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tion before the Florentine government, stating that he had for many years been a resident in Florence, where he intended to remain in the future, operating a grammar school; he now requested that he should be allowed to buy property in Florentine territory with the prots of his teaching, so that he should be able to look after his pupils with greater care: Pro parte magistri Iohannis quondam Iacobi de Monteochiello comitatus Senarum doctoris Gramatice, reverenter exponitur vobis [. . .] prioribus [. . .] vexillifero [. . .] Quod ipse magister Iohannes stetit et moram traxit in civitate Florentie iam sunt plures et plures anni, et ita intendit morari continuo in futurum; et in ipsa civitate Florentina et tenet scolas in arte Gramatice, instruens audire volentes, deliter et diligenter, ut in similibus eri solet. Et quod, ut predicta possit cum maiori liberalitate prosequi, affectat illud modicum quod superlucratur convertere in emptionem prediorum, ut ex eorum fructibus sue necessitati subveniendo possit cum scolaribus curialius se habere. Quare placeat Dominationi vestre opportune providere et facere solempniter reformari: Quod ipse magister Iohannes possit sibique liceat de quibuscumque possessionibus seu prediis existentibus in civitate, comitatu vel districtu Florentie, emere et quocumque titulo sibi acquirere licite et impune [. . .]238
Private tutors In the fourteenth century, sons of well-to-do Florentines (so-called uomini dabbene) were normally sent out of the parental home to school. Typical was the mid-fourteenth century education of Paolo di Bartolomeo Morelli, father of the famous diarist Paolo: ‘Dovea avere Pagolo dieci o docici anni . . . e’ si puose da se medesimo a bottega per imparare a leggere e scrivere’.239 Bottega (shop) here is normal Florentine parlance for a small private school. Similar was the vocabulary describing the education of the brothers, Andrea and Simone di Giovanni di Durante during the 1330s and 1340s (‘si puose Andrea a legiere con ser Francesco’; ‘si puose Andrea alla schuola d’abacho’; ‘si puose a stare a legiere Simone [. . .] con ser Milgiore che sta ne la via Ghibelina’),240 as was that employed by Bartolomeo di Niccolo di Taldo Valori (‘E l’anno MCCCLXIII [. . .] io Bartolomeo mi puosi a imparare gramaticha a la schuola del Maestro Manovello [. . .] e poi [. . .] mi
238 Published by Gherardi (1881), p. 348. The current reference is ASF Provvisioni registri 66, fol. 28r. 239 Morelli (1956), pp. 145–46. 240 Sapori (1955), I, p. 67, citing BNCF II.III.280.
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puosi a imparare albacho per sapere fare di ragione con ‘l maestro Tomaso di Davizzo de’ Corbizzi’),241 by Donato Velluti, writing of his son Lamberto’s education in mid-century (‘Venne crescendo, puosilo ala squola [. . .] Puosilo a l’abaco [. . .] Poi ne llevai’),242 and by Iacopo di Lardo de’ Lardi, as recorded in his diary in 1395, ‘Puosi Pauolo mio gliuolo a leggere alla bottega di Francescho di Francescho Leoni’).243 Vocabulary such as ‘puosilo’ or ‘ne llevai’ suggests that children are being sent out of the home to school; in fact, Donato Velluti uses the same expression ‘puosi’ to describe being sent out to school and sent out to work (‘il puosi alla cassa’).244 Giovanni Morelli speaks of a boy’s leisure time ‘la sera uscito di scuola’,245 and indeed, Giovanni Villani’s famous picture of Florentine education in the years preceding 1340 portrays a society where children were sent to school. ‘Troviamo ch’e’ fanciulli e fanciulle, che stanno a leggere [. . .] I fanciulli che stanno ad imparare l’abbaco e algorismo in sei scuole [. . .] E quegli che stanno ad apprendere la grammatica e loica in quattro grandi scuole [. . .]’246 During the fourteenth century, nevertheless, teachers began sometimes to join lay households, the equivalents of paid servants or employees. Education was no longer the prerogative of a clerical establishment removed from the secular world, such had been characteristic of the earlier middle ages, when the Italian elite removed their children, at least temporarily, from the secular environment of the lay household in order to send them to schools on monastic, episcopal or parochial premises; now teachers were physically brought into the midst of the secular and lay ambience of aristocratic or elite households. An early example of such a resident tutor was the reading and grammar teacher, Maestro Francesco Luchini da Prato, who resided with the household of Rosso di Messer Giovanni de’ Giangliazzi da Firenze for six months in late 1345 and early 1346, teaching Rosso’s son and nephews; he remained part of the family’s establishment even when they took up residence in the country. When Francesco had difculty in obtaining payment from Rosso, he took him to the court of
241 242 243 244 245 246
BNCF Panciatichi 134, fol. 1r: see Appendix 5. Velluti (1914), p. 311; see Sapori (1955), I, p. 71. BNCF Palatino 1129, fol. 51r. See Appendix 5. Velluti (1914), p. 311. Morelli (1956), p. 271. Villani (1991) 12.94, vol. III, p. 198.
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the Mercanzia, producing two local notaries as witnesses; in the end, before nal judgement was given, Rosso (and his mother) settled the account with Francesco: Die XXVIIII maii. Coram vobis Domino Matheo iudice et ofciali predicto Magister Franciscus de Prato magister gramatice agit adversus et contra Rossum Domini Iohannis de Giangliaciis de Florentia, a quo petit sibi dari et solvi orenos auri duo de maiore summa pro tempore et termino sex mensium proxime preteritorum quibus dictus Magister Franciscus tenuit lios et nepotes dicti Rosi et eis docuit legere [et] gramaticam ad racionem et pro sallario otto orenorum auri pro anno, quas quantitates orenorum auri dictus Rosus eidem Magistro Francesco dare et solvere promisit, dicto termino iam quod facere cesat, et petit expensas cause factas et protestatur de endis. Ad petitionem dicti Magistri Francisci, Iacopus Iohannis nunctius dicti ofcialis retulit se, mandato dicti ofcialis, citasse et requisisse predictum Rosum quod compareat coram dicto ofciali et eius curia ad respondendum dicte petitioni et ad satisdandum et promictendum super ea, secundum formam statuti dicti ofciallis; alias procederet contra eum et super dictam petitionem procedet prout sibi videbitur procedendum esse, eius absentia non obstante. [Die XXX di magio] Constituto in iudicio dinançi al dito uciale, il decto Rosso di Messer Giovanni per cagione de la peticione contra lui data per lo ditto Ser Francesco e protestante inançi la infrascripta risposta ogni sue exceptioni le quali il decto uciale li riserbò, negò essere vere quele che ne la decta petitione si contiene e fare doversi, e ricovegnendo il decto Ser Francesco adomanda le spese facte e che si faranno nel piato, a le quali parti presente et intendente il decto uciale diè termine tre dì prosimi a provare ciò che voglono di loro ragione ne la decta questione. Ditto dì XXX di magio. Coram vobis Domino Matheo iudice et ofciali predicto Magister Francischus Luchini de Prato in causa et questione quam habeat coram dicto ofciali cum Rosso Domini Iohannis de Ghangliaciis de Florentia, intendens probare et nobis dem facere capitula infrascripta dicens et protestans, videlicet: Imprimis quod dictus Magister Franciscus posuit et se locavit cum dicto Rosso ad docendum certos lios et nepotes dicti Rossi legere et gramaticam pro salario et mercede sui salarii otto orenorum auri pro anno, quod salarium dictus Rossus promixit et convenit dare et solvere dicto Magistro Francisco ad rationem cuiuslibet mensis prout tangeret pro rata. Item quod dictus Magister Franciscus docuit dictos lios et nepotes dicti Rosi legere et gramaticam in domo habitationis dicti Rossi Florentie et etiam rure per tempus et terminum sex mensium proxime preteritorum, et hoc est publicum et notorium inter vicinos contrate dicti Rossi. Item quod de predictis omnibus et singulis est publica vos [sic pro vox] et fama. Dita die XXX di magio.
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chapter three Ad petitionem dicti Magistri Francisci, Macus Iunte nunctius dicti ofcialis retulit se mandato dicti ofciallis personaliter cytasse et requisisse predictum Rosum quod hodie ante vesperas compareat coram dicto ofciali et eius curia ad acipiendum copiam dicte intentionis et ad videndum iurare testes inducendos super dicta petitione, causa et processu pro parte dicti Magistri Francisci et ad elligendum notarium pro parte sua, si vult allias a dicto termino in antea et postea quandocumque dicti testes iurabunt et notarium eligunt, eius absentia non obstante. Item retulit dictus nunctius se cytasse personaliter infrascriptos testes quod infra dictum terminum compareant coram dicto ofcialli ad iurandum et testimonium veritate ferendum super dicta intentione, causa et processu sub pena dicti ofcialis arbitrio auferenda. Nomina coram [sic pro eorum] testium sunt hec, videlicet: I. Ser Laurentius quondam Ser Cecchi populi Sancti Michaellis in Polocheto de Florentia, I. Ser Iacobus Spineli populi Sancte Reparate. Qui testes signati per ‘I’ consituti coram dicto ofciali et curia iuraverunt ad Sancta Dei evangelia corporaliter tactis scripturis [. . .] Die secundo iunii. Constitutus coram dicto officiali et eius curia Magister Franciscus de Prato predictus occaxione questionis quam habuit cum dicto Rosso Domini Iohannis de Cangliaciis de Florentia, et dixit et confessus fuit sibi esse a dicto Rosso integre satisfactum de omni suo salario quod recipere debebat usque in presentem diem a dicto Rosso occaxione certorum liorum et nepotum dicti Rossi quos docuit legere et gramaticam, de quibus vocavit se bene pagatum, tacitum et contentum, et Dominus Rossus dixit quod erat contentus de omnibus denariis quos dictus Magister Franciscus habuit et recepit usque in presentem diem a dicto Rosso et a matre dicti Rosi et familiare dicti Rosi et de eis fecit sibi Magistro Francisco nem, refutationem et pattum de ulterius non petendo.247
Another example of a private tutor living with a Florentine household in the fourteenth century was Guido da Bibbiena, who began teaching Nanni di Filippo dell’Antella on 7 June 1375, at the rate of 12 orins a year. He remained eleven months until 8 July 1376, having taken two months’ leave of absence in Florence and in the Casentino. He received payment in cash and in kind (e.g. cloth for a gown with a hood [cioppa], stockings, a doublet, a sword, shoes); he also sold the family a copy of Boethius’s Consolation and a notarial manual.248 An orphan, Andrea di Giovanni di Niccolò Corsini, had a ripetitore called Ser Nastagio, who received a payment of 9 orins on Andrea’s behalf 247 ASF Mercanzia 1097 (NN). I am grateful to Elisabetta Ulivi for this reference. Francesco Luchini worked in the 1350s and 1360s as a grammar and elementary teacher in his native town of Prato: see Appendix 4 below. 248 ASF MSS 74, fol. 25r. See Appendix 5.
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from his uncle, Matteo di Niccolò Corsini, in 1380.249 From 1381 there was a resident tutor in the Morelli household, Giovanni di Paolo Morelli recording ‘il maestro in casa, e di dì e di notte suggetto alla sua correzione, la quale, come che utile, ma dispiacevol’ è alla libertà puerile’.250 An unnamed private tutor lived with Nofri di Palla Strozzi, teaching elementary reading to the orphaned children of Messer Palla di Messer Francesco Strozzi from November 1380 to February 1386.251 Another unnamed private tutor lived with the family of Giovacchino Pinciardi, receiving items such as shoes and a cash payment of 2 orins.252 The orphaned son of Ugo di Domenico Vecchietti was provided with a private tutor, Ser Giuntino di Ser Lorenzo, ‘notarius et magister et repetitor’, at an annual salary of 16 orins from 1389 to 1391.253 Two renowned individuals who worked as private tutors (ripetitori) while studying in Florence during the late fourteenth century were Leonardo Bruni and Poggio Bracciolini, as recounted by Vespasiano da Bisticci: Meser Lionardo [. . .] venne a Firenze a studiare, et istette per ripetitore [. . .]254 Meser Poggio [. . .] il padre lo mandò a stare a Firenze per potere istudiare, e non avendo modo de stare a le sue ispese s’acconciò per ripetitore [. . .]255
The high salaries needed to pay resident tutors (8 Fl. p.a. paid by the Giangliazzi in the 1340s, 16 Fl. p.a. paid by the Vecchietti estate: see above pp. 223–25) meant that few Florentines kept their children at home for a private education. Such expense may have been justied mainly for an orphan such as Giovanni Morelli who lacked paternal instruction and example.256 Indeed, it was specically stated by the Ufciali dei Pupilli in the case of Ugo Vecchietti’s son ‘quod bonum et utile est dicto pupillo habere ipsum repetitorem et magistrum multis de causis et maxime pro docendo et studendo ipsum pupillum bonis et honestis moribus’.257
249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257
Petrucci (1965), p. 61. Morelli (1956), p. 496. ASF CS III. 277: see Appendix 5. ASF CRSGF 168.131, fol. 21v: see Appendix 5. ASF Pupilli, 6, fol. 22v. Vespasiano (1970–76), I, p. 463. Vespasiano (1970–76), I, p. 539. Morelli (1956), pp. 267 ff. ASF Pupilli, 6, fol. 22v.
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chapter three Private abacus teachers and schools in Florence during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries 258
The rst abachisti encountered in Florence are documented as land surveyors for the commune on 4 April 1277: Rainerius abbachista, magister et mensurator communis Florentie; Gianninus Rinucci, magister et mensurator communis Florentie; and Panzinus Bonaiuti, magister et mensurator communis Florentie; Chirus Michi, magister et mensurator communis Florentie.259 Other abacists working in Florence at the end of the thirteenth century included: Maestro Iacopo dell’Abaco, who appeared as a witness to a communal document in 1283,260 possibly identical with Iacopus abbachista (6 April 1284);261 Puccius abbachista lius olim Dictaiuncti de Prato (6 April 1284);262 Maestro Neri (Ranieri) dell’abaco, son of Maestro Chiaro, living in the Florentine parish of S. Pier Maggiore (3 September 1294263 and 17 May 1298264); and Morus abbachista, mensurator terrarum.265 None of these gures is explicitly documented as giving instruction in the abacus syllabus, although it is likely that some of them worked as private teachers, in view of the fact that an abacus master was already employed in S. Gimignano as a teacher by the autumn of 1279.266 The rst Florentine documented as an actual abacus teacher was Maestro 258 The best recent general accounts are by Ulivi (1998), Ulivi (2000) pp. 91 ff, Ulivi (2002b), pp. 133 ff. The following account is mainly based on Ulivi (2002b), with additions as noted. 259 ASF Dipl. SS. Annunziata, cited by Witt (1995), p. 111. 260 BRF 2305, fol. 83r, cited by Ulivi (1998), p. 45 and (2000), p. 91. 261 ASF Dipl. SS. Annunziata 6 April 1284, cited by Witt (1995), p. 111. 262 ASF Dipl. SS. Annunziata 6 April 1284, cited by Witt (1995), p. 111. 263 ASF NA 11250, fol. 158r, cited by Ulivi (1998), p. 45 and (2000), pp. 91–92. 264 ASF Dipl. S. Piero Maggiore 17 May 1298, cited by Witt, p. 111. 265 BNCF II.IV.374, AA, p. 20, cited by Witt, p. 111. 266 The information was rst referred to by Pecori (1853), p. 326 and then published by Davidsohn (1896–1908), III, p. 313: ‘1279. Okt. 6. (S. Gim.) Im Rath beschlossen, einem magister albachi (sic: abbaci) die Miethe des hospitium zu zahlen in quo moretur ad ducendum (!) pueros)’. It was Castaldi (1911), p. 6, who rst introduced the mistake that teacher was named ‘Michele’, an error repeated by Imberciadori (1980), p. 75, despite the fact that this last-named author also published the text of deliberation, correcting Davidsohn’s inaccurate date of 6 October to the correct date of 17 October. This anonymous teacher in fact was paid at the rate of 3 lire per year, as is revealed by an earlier document in Florence, dated 30 September 1279, not seen by Pecori, Davidsohn, Castaldi or Imberciadori: ASF SG 139, fol. 12r: Item III libras pro solvenda pensioni unius domus in qua magister albachi moratur in Sancto Geminiano ad docendum pueros pro tempore unius anni, que pensio solvi debet de mense in mense quantum dictus magister stabit usque ad unum annum, ut tangit pro rata dictarum trium librarum pro anno.
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Lotto da Firenze, who was appointed in 1284 as public abacus master in Verona at an annual salary of 50 lire with a house provided by the commune.267 The rst prominent Florentine abacist was Maestro Iacopo, noted above as documented in 1283, who was possibly the author of the Tractatus algorismi, dated 1307 at Montpellier.268 Particularly active at the turn of the fourteenth century were the sons of Maestro Chiaro, Neri or Ranieri (. 1294–1304) and Gherardo (1285–1327), who also taught at Siena (1312, 1314–16)269; Ranieri’s son Lapo taught in Siena between 1330 and his death on 1 February 1339.270 Another early Florentine family of abacists consisted of Maestro Moro (1294), followed by his son Berto (1305–1311/13),271 grandson Francesco (1310–1322/60)272 and great grandson, Bartolomeo (1371). Particularly famous is Paolo dell’Abaco (. 1329273–ob. 1367274), himself the son of an abacist, Maestro Piero (possibly di Franco, . 1334–ob. 1338/42).275 He lived in the Oltrarno in the parish of S. Frediano on Via Mafa (the road bordering the convent of S. Spirito on the west, parallel to Via Serragli) and was the pupil of Maestro Biagio ‘il vecchio’ (ob. c. 1340); his own pupils included Iacopo di 267
Garibotto (1923), p. 1. Karpinski (1929), who cites two manuscripts: BAV [Vat. lat.] 4826 and BRF 2236. Van Egmond (1976), p. 383, accepts ‘only one of these manuscripts as genuine [BRF 2236] [. . .] The Vatican text used by Karpinski, though borrowing heavily from the Riccardiana, is a fteenth-century manuscript and contains elements that cannot be considered genuine.’ A transcription and an analysis of the latter manuscript are now published by Simi (1995). Witt (1995) p. 111 n. 87 incorrectly criticizes Van Egmond for identifying ‘Mons Pesulanum’ with ‘Fiesole, as Van Egmond has it [1976] [. . .] p. 382’: Van Egmond makes no such identication on that page, simply stating that the work was ‘compilatus a Magistro Jacobo de Florentia apud montem pesulanum, anno domini millesimo trecentesimo septimo in mense Septembris’ (p. 382). 269 Cecchini and Prunai (1942), pp. 112–115, 120, 123; Nardi (1996), p. 108; Davidsohn (1956–68), VII, pp. 217–18; Van Egmond (1976), pp. 372–73; Witt (1995), p. 112 and n. 92, where the date of the document cited (ASF Dipl. S. Matteo Arcertri 1 December 1311) does not correspond with the date given in the list (‘1318’). 270 Zdekauer (1894) p. 137; Cecchini and Prunai (1942), pp. 387, 389–390, 393, 395, 398–400, 402, 404, 407, 410, 413, 419–425, 427–428, 436–438, 441–442, 468, 471, 477; Prunai (1950), p. 29; Moscadelli (1991), p. 208; Nardi (1996), pp. 190, 201. 271 Witt (1995), p. 111, citing ASF Dipl. S. Matteo Arcetri 20 April 1311. 272 Witt (1995), p. 112, citing ASF Dipl. S. Matteo Arcetri 20 April 1311. 273 Ulivi (2004a), p. 47. 274 Fundamental is Van Egmond (1977), whose research has been signicantly added to by Ulivi (2004a), pp. 44–50; see also Arrighi (2004), pp. 256–57. 275 Ulivi (2002a), p. 197 but most probably in 1338: Ulivi (2004a), p. 45 and n. 7. On the possibility of his patronymic ‘di Franco’, possible residence near S. Frediano and burial in S. Spirito, see Ulivi (2004a), p. 45. 268
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Dante Alighieri, who referred to him as ‘mio caro maestro’, and the future renowned abacist Antonio di Giusto Mazzinghi; he was eulogized by Giovanni and Filippo Villani, Boccaccio and Salutati, particularly as an astrologer,276 and he was interested in medicine too. He served as one of the Florentine priors in 1363 and was buried in the church of S. Trinita, where he endowed two chapels; his entire estate has been valued at c. 1000 orins,277 a not insubstantial sum in the fourteenth century. He was the author of nine vernacular verse compositions,278 but his major work was the Trattato di tutta l’arte dell’abacho (c. 1340). Although a number of other abacus books survive from earlier in the fourteenth century, most are fairly short, random collections of mathematical problems. Paolo’s treatise is the rst attempt at a comprehensive, organized treatment of practical mathematics. It was the longest work of the fourteenth century and is the rst abacus book to survive in multiple copies (a rare phenomenon among the abaci), testifying to the wide regard it must have enjoyed in its day. The Trattato also breaks away from some of the rigid patterns and phrases of the earlier treatises, showing Paolo’s command of his subject and his originality. In keeping with his interest in astrology and medicine, the manuscript also contains brief sections on these topics.279
A small extract from the treatise, known as the Regoluzze, circulated independently in manuscript280 and has been frequently published.281 Maestro Antonio Mazzinghi282 (n. 1350/55–ob. 1385/86) was chosen by a special commission, including Michele di Gianni, to receive Paolo d’Abaco’s library and astrological instruments, contained in a locked chest.283 This bequest was described by the prominent abacist of the following century, Benedetto d’Antonio da Firenze, in this way:
276
Van Egmond (1977), p. 4. Van Egmond (1977), pp. 8–10. 278 Van Egmond (1977), pp. 18–19, lists the manuscripts and editions. 279 Van Egmond (1977), pp. 15–16, who publishes a list of manuscripts on p. 19. 280 Van Egmond (1977), p. 19, publishes a list of manuscripts. 281 See Van Egmond (1977), p. 19; the most recent edition is Paolo d’abaco (1966). See Ulivi (2004a), p. 50 n. 32 for recent editions and literature on these treatises. 282 See now Ulivi (1996), updated in Ulivi (2004a), pp. 54–56. See also Van Egmond (1976), pp. 354–58. 283 Van Egmond (1977), p. 12; Ulivi (2001), p. 303; Ulivi (2004a), p. 56. See Ulivi (1996), pp. 126–27 for a new document showing that Mazzinghi actually received this bequest. 277
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e’ fu di tanta scienza ch’ e’ libri essere più dotto in Firenze quellj avesse, e dopo molto tenpo disputatosi, gli furono mandati cholle tronbe circha a 800 vilumj a chasa sua.284
He began teaching the abacus as a young man or even adolescent in October 1370.285 He was important particularly for his contributions to algebra, displayed particularly in his Trattato di oretti,286 where he ‘made the rst use of two unknowns in the solution of a problem, demonstrating a remarkable competence in the use of substitutions and simultaneous equations’287; this work was described by a nearcontemporary (Benedetto d’Antonio da Firenze, on whom see below pp. 362–82 passim) thus: E nota che questo è il più bello et il più sottile trattato che, già è gran tempo, vedessi et de’ gran sottigleçe ci sono.288
According to the same source, Antonio non solamente in arismetricha et geometria, ma in astrologia, musicha anchora, in edichare, in prospettiva, in tutte arte di gran intelletto fu dotto e fece molti archimi.289
Mazzinghi was also interested in and practised alchemy.290 The Mazzinghi were arrivistes from Peretola during Antonio’s lifetime, when they began to establish themselves in Florentine society and politics, rst enjoying the priorate in 1377;291 Antonio, himself the son of a prosperous grain dealer, lived in the quarter of S. Maria Novella.292
284
Cited by Arrighi (1966), p. 293. Ulivi (2004a), p. 55. 286 Mazzinghi (1967). 287 Van Egmond (1986), p. 63. See Franci (1988), pp. 240–49. 288 Cited by Arrighi (2004), p. 258. 289 Cited by Ulivi (2002b), p. 135. See Ulivi (1996), pp. 124–26 for new evidence of Mazzinghi’s astrological activities. 290 Ulivi (1996), p. 126. 291 Najemy (1982), p. 351. 292 Boncompagni (1854), pp. 153–59, identied Mazzinghi as a poet and correspondent of the novellista Franco Sacchetti, named as ‘Maestro Antonio Arismetra, e Astrologo’, a view accepted by Van Egmond (1976), pp. 356, 358. However, Arrighi (1965), p. 374, argued that the correspondent was Maestro Antonio da Ferrara, to whom Sachetti dedicated his 121st novella and whom he mentioned in his 229th, where he also cited some of his verse. Ulivi (1996), p. 127, points out that Antonio da Ferrara (Antonio Beccari or del Beccaio) is known only as a poet, not as a mathematician or astrologer, concluding that the identication of ‘Antonio Arismetra e Astrologo’ with Mazzinghi is dubious; one must agree that there is no conclusive evidence linking Mazzinghi with Sacchetti’s correspondent, although the question must remain open, owing to the ambiguity of the evidence. 285
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The third family of abacists to emerge in Florence during the fourteenth century were the Corbizzi, who lived in the Florentine parish of S. Pier Maggiore. First came Maestro Davizzo (. 1309–1331, ob. ante 1337), who also worked as a communal surveyor in 1323.293 His sons, Maestro Tommaso (ante 1337–ob. 1374/75) and Maestro Giovanni (ante 1337–1344) were both abacus teachers in Arezzo in the period between 1327 and 1337, serving there as communal land surveyors too.294 In 1331 Maestro Tommaso worked as a private abacus teacher in S. Gimignano;295 he also served as communal abacus master in Siena from 1339 to 1341 and again in 1365.296 In 1352 he was recorded as living in the Via di S. Ambrogio in the gonfalone of Chiave,297 where he had been living the previous year as well.298 In 1369 he was recorded as a debtor of the Florentine Company of the Bigallo for the sum of 5 orins (conceivably for teaching premises rented).299 Giovanni di Davizzo Corbizzi was the author of an Algiebra, dated 1339.300 Tommaso di Davizzo had two sons who worked as abacists: Maestro Bernardo (. 1365–ob. 1374/96) and Maestro Cristofano (. 1374–1389).301
293
See Van Egmond (1976), pp. 365–66. Ulivi (2002b), p. 135, gives 1339 as the rst date of their activity, but the document dating from 1337 published in Black (1996a), pp. 316–17 demonstrates that they were already working as abacus teachers by 1337. She also states that ‘Giovanni di Davizzo’ was ‘forse fratello di Tommaso’, but this document states that they were ‘fratres et lii olim Magistri Davezi de civitate Florentie’, showing moreover that Maestro Davizzo was dead by 1337. 295 ACSG 108, fol. 57v: [13 August 1331] Exponitur coram vobis dominis novem gubernatoribus et defensoribus comunis et proprie terre S. Geminiani pro pa(r)te Ser Thomasii de Florentia magistri ambaci: intendit morari et docere ambacum in dicta terra, quare petit per vos ut morari et receptari possit in ea impune hinc ad sex menses futuros. (Passed by 78 votes to 3) This document was overlooked by Davidsohn. 296 Zdekauer (1894), pp. 14, 57, 137; Cecchini and Prunai (1942), pp. 456–457, 473, 477, 484–485, 487, 490, 492, 494; Prunai (1950), p. 28; Moscadelli (1991), p. 208; Nardi (1996), p. 201. 297 ASF Estimo 306, fol. 171v: [6 March 1352] Tommasius Davizi dell’abacho—lib. septem sol. decem. 298 ASF Estimo 41, fol. 71r: [29 October 1351] Tommas Davizi de abbacho clavarum a carta 144 pro denariis quinque solvit libram unam solidos quinque denarios quinque—L. 1 S. V D. V. 299 ASF Bigallo 724, fol. 59r: Maestro Tomaso di Davizo de l’Abacho de’ dare a libro sengniato N a c. IIII Fl. cinque. The Bigallo rented teaching premises to abacus teachers in the fteenth century: see Ulivi (2002a), pp. 41–43; below ch. 5 p. 410. 300 BAV Vat. lat. 10488, fol. 29v–39v, cited by Van Egmond (1976), p. 378. 301 ASF NA 21424, fol. 226r: Magister Christofanus Magistri Tommasi dell’Abacho populi Sancti Georgii de Florentia condidit testamentum die 17 iulii 1383. 294
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Another prominent Florentine abacist in the fourteenth century was Biagio di Giovanni302 (1354–ob. 1397), also known as Biagio del Guelfo, who lived in Borgo Ognisanti near the Ponte alla Carraia, in the parish of S. Lucia di Ognisanti. His rst wife belonged to the Fighi family, while his second came from the Agli, who were magnates. Biagio was active not only as an abacus teacher but also as an estimator for the Mercanzia and as a minor communal ofcial. He made at least four wills,303 one in 1385.304 He worked as a surveyor in the building of the Florentine cathedral in 1394.305 Maestro Giovanni di Bartolo306 (b. 1364–d. 1440) was a pupil of Antonio Mazzinghi’s, who left him his books when he died prematurely, as was recounted by Benedetto da Firenze: Maestro Giovannj [. . .] succiedette a Maestro Antonio e a lluj rimasono e’ libri di Maestro Antonio.307
The son of a humble builder, he always lived unmarried in the family house in the working-class district of S. Frediano in the Oltrarno on the Via S. Salvadore (now Via della Chiesa). He was particularly active as a surveyor, beginning his teaching career c. 1383 probably as assistant to Antonio Mazzinghi.308 He was regarded as a teacher ‘singhularissimo infra gli altri’.309 Maestro Michele di Gianni310 (1351–ob. 1413) lived in the vicinity of Borgo SS. Apostoli in the quarter of S. M. Novella and inherited the use of all the mathematical books and equipment that Paolo dell’Abaco left behind in the school where he had taught at the end of his life. In 1372 Michele handed over to Antonio Mazzinghi the chest of books and astrological equipment left to the latter in Paolo dell’Abaco’s will.311
302
Ulivi (1993). Ulivi (2000), p. 93. 304 ASF NA 21449, fol. 33r: Magister Biagius abachista Iohannis Fini alias Biagio dal Guelfo populi S. Marie da Peretola. Testamentum 1385. Dominam Gemmam uxorem suam liam Lenzi Fighi. Reliquit societati S. Marie de Peretulis unum petium terre laborativum in dicto populo. Reliquit L. 1. 305 Ulivi (2000), p. 96. 306 Ulivi (2004a), pp. 57–60; Van Egmond (1976), pp. 374–77. 307 Cited by Arrighi (1966), p. 293. 308 Ulivi (2004a), p. 70. 309 BNCF Pal. 573, fol. 76r, cited by Ulivi (2000), p. 94. 310 See Ulivi (2001), pp. 303–7; Ulivi (2004a), pp. 51–53; Van Egmond (1976), p. 393. 311 Ulivi (2001), p. 303. Michele di Gianni worked as a surveyor for the Sassetti family in 1385: (ASF CS II.4, fol. 91r) Richordanza che a dì 28 di settenbre anno 303
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He is also recorded as having participated in the construction of the Ospedale di San Matteo312 in Piazza San Marco (now the seat of the Accademia delle Belle Arti), founded in 1385, having left an extended report on his measurements for the project, carried out between 1387 and 1390.313 His son Maestro Mariano di Michele (n. c. 1387–ob. 1458) became one of the most famous abacists of the fteenth century (see below ch. 5 pp. 367–68). Maestro Luca di Matteo314 (n. 1356–ob. 1433/36), who lived in the parish of S. Felice in Piazza in Oltrarno, was a pupil of Biagio di Giovanni. His activity as an abacus teacher is documented from 1390, at rst working probably as an assistant to Biagio di Giovanni. He was eulogized as a man ‘di grandissimo ingegno e di grandissima praticha e al suo tempo scrisse molti libri atti a merchantia e anchora di chose sottile’.315 His son Giovanni (n. 1395–ob. 1436), also an abacist, was the author of a Libro sopra arismetricha. His daughter Ceccha married Piero di Mariano Calandri, giving birth to Maestro Calandro, who inherited all Maestro Luca’s books and was the progenitor of a renowned dynasty of abacists in the fteenth and early sixteenth centuries (see ch. 5 below pp. 366–67). Maestro Luca was the author of an Arte d’abacho (BML Pl. 30.25; CUL Plimpton 196).316 Giovanni Villani, writing at the end of the 1330s, said there were then six abacus schools operating in Florence (see above p. 1), and it has been possible to locate ve such schools during the fourteenth century.317 The quarter of S. Maria Novella housed three abacus schools before 1400. The most famous was the so-called Bottega di Santa Trinita,318 the premises of which, in the fourteenth century, belonged to the Soldanieri family. In 1370 it was located in the Piazza di S. Trinita, 1385 si misurò i’ luogho con case e con orto de’ gliuoli rimasono di Federigho Sassetti, posto nella pieve di Santo Stefano in Pane, luogho detto Macina, per le mani di Michele di Gianni chiamato di Monna Giera, maestro d’abacho, e trovòssi per lle sue mani [. . .] This passage was published by Bec (1967), p. 389, with the incorrect date of 8 September. 312 Ulivi (2002b), p. 135. 313 Ulivi (2004a), p. 53. 314 See Ulivi (1993), pp. 3 ff; Van Egmond (1976), pp. 387–88; Toti Rigatelli (1986), pp. 7–11. 315 Ulivi (1993), p. 3, citing BNCF Palatino 573, fol. 454r. 316 Ulivi (2002b), p. 137; Van Egmond (1976), p. 388. 317 Detailed, precise and accurate knowledge of these schools is almost entirely due to the research of Elisabetta Ulivi. 318 See now Ulivi (2004a), and especially pp. 63–72 for the school in the fourteenth century.
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between Via Porta Rossa and Via delle Terme. It is presumed, but not documented, that Paolo dell’Abaco and Michele di Gianni managed this school, perhaps taking over from Paolo’s teacher, Biagio ‘il vecchio’. From 1368 to the end of the century, teachers here included the Camaldolese monk Don Agostino di Vanni (. 1363–ob. 1372/73),319 Antonio Mazzinghi and Giovanni di Bartolo. On the Lungarno (today known as Lungarno Corsini), between the Ponti S. Trinita and alla Carraia and next to the church of S. Trinita, was another important abacus school, usually now called the Scuola del Lungarno, the premises of which orignally belonged to the Spini family, who later divided its possession with the nuns of the Convent of S. Orsola (later S. Agata). It is possible that at rst this school numbered among its teachers Paolo dell’Abaco and Antonio Mazzinghi, but beginning in 1367/68 it was managed by two partners, Biagio di Giovanni and Michele di Gianni, and then from 1389 by Biagio and his pupil Luca di Matteo. The Lungarno school offers an example of a formal partnership formed between teachers, similar to those found among elementary and grammar teachers in Florence. The agreement was between Michele di Gianni and Biagio di Giovanni, formed a number years before 1374. Michele had bought all the benches and equipment for the school, and in order to repay him Biagio di Giovanni agreed to pay 30 orins over ve years. Eventually the partnership was dissolved at the initiative of Michele di Gianni; in consequence, an arbitrator decided on 26 October 1374 that the partners had no further mutual obligations: Imprimis, cum inveniamus dictos magistros Michelem et Biagium insimul, retroactis temporibus, sotietatem contraxisse in arte sive magisterio aghorissmi, et dictum Magistrum Michele Iannis suis propriis sumptibus emisse omnes panchas et masseritias ad dictam artem expedientes et opportunas, et inveniamus dictum Magistrum Biagium pro medietate dictarum pancharum et masseritiarum tangentium eidem Magistro Biagio ad solvendum dicto Magistro Michele pro eius parte, et pro omni adviamento quod dictus Magister Blaxius in compositione et rmatione dicte sotietatis consecutus et adeptus fuit et habuit, promisse dicto Magistro Micheli dare et solvere, deinde ad quinque annos tunc proxime futuros, orenos auri triginta. Ac etiam reperiamus dictum Magistrum Biagium dicto Magistro Micheli re vera occasionibus suprascriptis dedisse et solvisse ex dicta summa orenorum auri triginta, orentos auri vigintiquattuor et
319
Ulivi (2004a), pp. 50–51.
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chapter three hoc nobis constet et sit manifestum propter confessionem dicti Magistri Michelis coram nobis sponte fatta. Ac etiam ipsum Magistrum Blaxium ipsi Magistro Micheli satisfecisse integre ex residuo et de dicto residuo [. . .] videlicet de orenis sex auri [. . .] Item, cum reperiamus dictum Magistrum Michelem discessisse a dicto Magistro Blaxio et dictam sotietatem sui ipsius Magistri Michelis defectu rumpisse [. . .] laudamus, sententiamus et arbitramur [. . .] quod [. . .] dictus Magister Blaxius a dicto Magistro Michele [. . .] vel dictus Magister Michael a dicto Magistro Blaxio [. . .] aliquid dicere, petere, exigere seu requirere non possint nec debeant quoquo modo [. . .]320
In fourteenth-century Florence, free enterprise reigned as much among abacus teachers as it did in the world of elementary and grammar education. The third school in S. M. Novella, now normally called the Scuola di Santi Apostoli, was located on the Lungarno (today called Acciaiuoli) at the intersection with the Chiasso degli Altoviti (then called the Chiasso della Vergine Maria). The school was founded c. 1375 by Michele di Gianni, who also owned the premises and taught there in partnership with Orlando di Piero (. 1389) and probably also with Luca di Matteo. In the quarter of S. Croce there was at least one abacus school, albeit of brief duration, known now as the Scuola di Piazza Peruzzi, where in 1334 the teacher was one Maestro Iacopo, perhaps the same Maestro Iacopo who was documented in 1283 and who wrote the abacus treatise dated 1307 in Montpellier (see above p. 227). The nal abacus school documented in the fourteenth century was in the quarter of S. Giovanni, in the parish of S. Margherita de’ Ricci, near the present-day Via del Corso and Via Margherita, known to have operated briey from 1370 to 1376. Here the teachers were Maestro Tommaso di Davizzo Corbizzi and his son Bernardo, possibly assisted by his other son Cristofano (. 1374–1389);321 for about a year from 1370 to 1371, the young Antonio Mazzinghi taught there too. Other Florentine abacus teachers active in the fourteenth century included:322
320 321 322
Ulivi (2004a), p. 67. Ulivi (2002a), p. 197. This list is based on Ulivi (2002a), pp. 196–97, except where otherwise indicated.
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name
period of activity
Diedi di Vanni Ser Salvi di Amadore da Firenze Peruzzo di Cino Piero di Franco Tommaso di Cino Paolo G(h)erardi da Firenze Iacopo di Duccio abbachista populi S. Petri maioris Alesso Peruzzio ?Giovanni di Piero Maestro Manno Boccucci da Firenze Iacopo da Firenze Coscio da Firenze Giovanni
323 He worked as abacus teacher in Colle Valdelsa in 1312, 1319–1320, 1331–1333, 1334–1338: see Appendix 4. 324 Ser Tommaso dell’Abaco rented a palco from the del Bene family in the ‘palagio da Santo Spirito’ from 1322 to 1329: see Sapori (1940), p. 405. Sapori (1940), pp. 371–408, does not publish the actual text of these rent payments, nor the passage documenting that Tommaso practised his craft as a surveyor (frequently combined with working as an abacus teacher) on behalf of the del Bene family, so eventually earning a discount on his rent: (ASF CdB 32, fol. 26r) Ser Tomaso dell’abacho n’à dato dì XX di febraio ‘328 per pigione d’uno palcho che tiene da nnoi cioè da ka. di novenbre ‘328 insino a ka. di maggio ‘329 lib. IIII S. X piccioli. I detti danari dovea avere da noi per misuratura dal luogho che comperammo da Manno del Chiaro [fol. 28v] La moglie che fu di Ser Tomaso n’à dato dì XVIII di maggio ‘330 per pigione d’uno palcho che tiene da noi cioè da ka. di novembre ‘329 insino a ka. di maggio ‘330. Diedene lib. IIII S. X. Le lib. III diede contanti e S. XXX si scontarono per uno dì che Ser Tomaso andò in villa con Iacopo a misurare nostre terre. It is unclear what this ‘palco’ consisted of or whether it had anything to do with an abacus school; it was under the roof, and Sapori calls it a ‘soppalco’, although in the documents it is called a ‘panco’, ‘palchon’ or ‘palcho’, never a ‘soppalco’. See Appendix 5 for the entire text of the rent payments. See Van Egmond (1976), p. 409. 325 The rst abacist to treat algebra, in his Libro di ragione, composed at Montpellier in 1328. See Van Egmond (1976), p. 403; Van Egmond (1978); Van Egmond (1986), p. 62. 326 ASF Dipl. S. M. Novella 1 November 1334, cited by Witt (1995), p. 112. 327 BNCF II.III.280, cited by Sapori (1955), I, p. 67. 328 ASF Dipl. Carta pecora adespote 14 July 1338, cited by Witt (1995), p. 112. 329 The brother of Paolo dell’Abaco, and possibly himself an abacist: see Ulivi (2004a), pp. 45–46. 330 Cecchini and Prunai (1942), pp. 511–512, 515–516, 521, 524, 529–532; Moscardelli (1991), p. 214 n. 32. 331 Taught in Lucca: Barsanti (1905), p. 239. 332 Taught in Lucca: Barsanti (1905), p. 239.
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name
period of activity
Nello Specchielli da Firenze Matteo di Giusto Bonagio Piero di Lapo Foraboschi da Firenze Verozzo di Giovanni Giraldi da Firenze Antonio di Bonino Biliotti da Firenze Raimondino Galvani da Firenze Giovanni d’Andrea da Firenze Fra Grazia de’ Castellani
1353–55333 n. c. 1360–ob. 1433/36 1367–75 1373–1395334 1375–1387335 1384–1407336 1389–91337 1391–1412338 1392–ob. 1401339
Compared with any other city in Tuscany, or indeed in Italy, Florence has by far the greatest number of known abacus teachers active before the fteenth century (in Siena, for example there are only fourteen up to 1400, in comparison with at least 50 for Florence), and so Villani’s estimate of 1000 to 1200 pupils attending such institutions is hardly implausible; indeed, independent sources reveal that in 1386/87 the Scuola del Lungarno numbered c. 200 pupils, and a similar number attended the Scuola dei Santi Apostoli managed by Maestro Niccolò Micceri in the rst three decades of the sixteenth century.340 It is unfortunately impossible to identify more than a minute handful of the vast numbers of Florentine boys who attended abacus schools before 1400. Indeed, the prodigious quantity of abacus pupils in fourteenth-century Florence is highlighted by the poet Ser Giovanni da Firenze (Malizia Barattone) in his eulogy of Paolo dell’Abaco: Sonetto pel maestro Paolo dell’Abaco I’ fu’ lo spechio della Istrologia, Pagol chiamato, e nnon trovai ma’ pari, ché fe’ già diecimilïa scolari ottimi: e questi in geometria.341
333
Taught in Lucca: Barsanti (1905), p. 239. Taught at Venice in 1383 (Bertanza and Dalla Santa [1907), pp. 125–28); at Lucca in 1386 (Barsanti [1905], pp. 55, 239; at Genoa in 1394 (Petti Balbi [1979], p. 67). 335 Taught at Lucca, 1382–83 (Barsanti [1905], pp. 55, 239). 336 Taught at Bologna between these years: Ulivi (2002b), p. 125. 337 Taught in Lucca: Barsanti (1905), p. 239. 338 Taught in Lucca: Barsanti (1905), p. 239. 339 See Van Egmond (1976), pp. 380–81; Toti Rigatelli (1986), pp. 12–19. 340 Ulivi (2002b), p. 151. 341 Lanza (1991), p. 183. For this poet’s life and works, see pp. 81–85. 334
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Nevertheless, the names of a few pupils have emerged. Between 1334 and 1339 Francesco di Giovanni di Durante wrote in his Ricordanze: a dì 5 di novembre anno 1334 mi puosi a l’abacho con ser Iachopo da casa Peruzzi [. . .] a die 24 d’aghosto anno 1338 si puose Lionardo mio fratello a l’abacho chon Alesso [. . .] A die 1 di setembre anno 1339 si puose Andrea alla schuola d’abacho [. . .]342
Gino di Neri Capponi (c. 1350–1420) not only gave the approximate date of his leaving abacus school, but also implied that this form of education was a matter of course in Florence in his youth: quando uscivo dall’abbaco, circa MCCCLXIII, gridarsi pe’ fanciugli dello abbaco, quando uscivano: ‘Vivano le berrette!’343
Donato Velluti (1313–1370) wrote in his Cronica domestica with regard to his son Lamberto: Puosilo a l’abacho, e diventò in pochissimo tempo buono abachista.344
Michele di Gianni possibly taught abacus to the sons of Corrado di Paolo Strozzi in 1364.345 On 2 September 1366, Paolo dell’Abaco was paid for teaching Lorenzo di Bartolo di Neri Camerini from the parish of S. Maria Novella: Magistro Paulo de l’abacho, qui docebat Laurentium—L. 1 s. 9.346
Bartolomeo di Taldo Valori wrote in his Ricordi: In kalendi giugno anno detto [1367] mi puosi a imparare albacho per sapere fare di ragione con ‘l Maestro Tomaso di Davizzo de’ Corbizzi e stettivi inno a febraio anno 1367 [sc. 1368].347
Filippo Scolari, the future renowned mercenary (n. 1369), went to abacus school as a child in Florence: 342
Sapori (1955), I, p. 67, citing BNCF II.III.280. Folena (1962). 344 Velluti (1914), p. 311; see Sapori (1955), I, p. 71. 345 Ulivi (2004a), p. 52 n. 44, has found that Michele di Gianni repeatedly appears as ‘homo Curradi de Strozzis’ in the prestanze of that year, and it is possible that this means he acted as the family’s resident tutor, although this would be a unique case of an abacist in that capacity. On the other hand, he may have had some kind of other kind of relationship (homage?) with Corrado Strozzi. 346 Ulivi (2004a), p. 47, citing a notarial document from 1370. 347 BNCF Panciatichi 134, fol. 1r. See Appendix 5. 343
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In the later 1380s two advanced abacus pupils of Michele di Gianni and/ or Luca di Matteo were Tommaso Cavalcanti and Iacopo Bordoni.349 On 23 November 1386, Francesco del fu Corso Bonfantini was bought two sets of multiplication tables (librettine) for his abacus lessons: A Francesco gliuolo fue di Corso Bonfantini dì decto [23 novembre 1386], per uno paio di zoccholi s. quattro e per uno paio di librettine s. due.350
Ser Lapo Mazzei wrote to Francesco Datini in 1398, recommending that the former’s son, although already working in a Florentine business, should not discontinue his abacus training: Se ora si leva dall’abaco, non ci va mese che tutto arà dimenticato; perché è in quella materia, che se non vi si assoda su, perde tutto [. . .] almmeno dopo nona gli verrebbe andare all’abbaco, e scrivere un poco. E son certo che, pensando farmi bene, areste per male glen’ avvenisse meno che bene, cioè che fosse ignorante.351
Giovanni di Bartolo was possibly the teacher of a member of the del Bene family, in whose account books he appears as a debtor/creditor in 1392.352 Such was the concentration of abacus schools in fourteenth-century Florence and such was the social and economic pressure on masters and pupils, that there arose erce competition and, at times, extreme envy and rivalry among the various schools and teachers. A striking illustration occurred after the death of Antonio Mazzinghi about 1385–91. The headship of Mazzinghi’s Bottega di S. Trinita passed on his demise to the young Giovanni di Bartolo: Maestro Giovanni di Bartolo inchominciò a insegnare circa 1380 e, chosì chome il suo maestro morì giovane, anchora lui govane chominciò in questo modo. Morto il suo Maestro Antonio, persuaso et aiutato da certi amici di Maestro Antonio et anchora da’ suoi, benché di dican-
348
Anonymous (1843), p. 152. See below p. 239. 350 ASF Ospedale di Santa Maria Nuova 4440, fol. 92v, cited by Ulivi (2000), p. 107 n. 78. 351 Mazzei (1880), I, p. 216, cited by Bec (1967), p. 388; see also Ulivi (2000), pp. 106–7. 352 Ulivi (2004a), p. 58. 349
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nove anni fusse, gli feciono aprire la medesimo schuola et favoregiandolo quant’era possibile. E per sua govaneça pocho dagli altri che ‘nsegnavano conosciuto.
The abacists of the neighbouring Florentine schools—Michele di Gianni from the Bottega of S. Aposoli and Biagio di Giovanni and Luca di Matteo from the Bottega del Lungarno—regarded Giovanni as an upstart, and to show him up, they sent their best pupils to Giovanni’s lessons, priming them with difcult problems that they expected would cause embarrassment and humiliation. But things did not turn out as the older teachers had wished. E benché dottissimo et chopioso di libri fusse, ché gli erono rimasti quegli del detto Maestro Antonio, la invidia che negli arteci d’un’arte regnia et massime in fra quelli che insegnono al presente, in fra lloro examinato in che modo si potesse levarlo di quella voluntà, presono questa via. Chonciosiachosaché per la sua età non fusse possibile che egli potesse sapere, ragunorono, ciaschuno nella loro schuola, alchuni buoni ragionieri; e fu nella schuola di Maestro Michele circa a 25 di varie materie, et nella schuola di Maestro Lucha circa altretanto, benché Maestro Luca pocho o niente facesse, ma Maestro Biagio suo maestro, sechondoché da Maestro Lorenzo ò inteso, et chiamato ciaschuno a ssè dissono: A noi è stato detto che uno chancullotto discepolo di Maestro Antonio à riaperto la schuola ch’egli teneva quando era in vita; e accioché credo che fra voi sarebbe chi meglio di lui la terrebbe, io vi fo comandamento che ogi, quando venite alla schuola, vo’ n’andiate là e pigliate le mute vostre da llui et quando vi fate insegnare mostrategli cho’ vostri arghomenti che sapete che vadi a ffare altro. A’ quali ubidendo, e’ detti discepoli andarono. Era in fra quelli uno Tomaso Chavalchanti che era molto intendente et uno Iachopo Bordoni; et fecionsi chapo, et gunto dopo desinare a llui et fatogli la reverentia che ssi richiede, dissono: Maestro inteso che voi volete ritenere la memoria di Maestro Antonio, noi vi vogliamo chon ogni aiuto favoregiare in quanto ci volete mostrare et noi vi saremo obedienti scholari. Et profeteço inperoché chosì fu. Maestro Giovanni, maravigliatosi di tanti et quali e di diversi et di diverse materie, subito stimò quel ch’era. Nientedimeno, a uno a uno chiamatogli, la materia loro che volevano mostrò. E poi, tutti insieme ragunati, chominciandosi a uno di loro dal principio per insino a quanto durò il tempo, mostrò e’ dubi e chiarì loro in modo che stupefatti, certi che v’erano, si ricordarono di Maestro Antonio. E parve loro, in quel pocho di spatio, avere più inparato che ‘l resto del tenpo agli altri; onde seguitando, pervennono in modo che molti di loro furon per lo’ propia voluntà sopinti a dire a fare villania a’ loro maestri primi, solamente avendo chonpreso la intensa invidia che gli portavano.353
353
The source of this anecdote, Maestro Benedetto di Antonio’s short history of
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The competitive and commercial atmosphere of abacus schools in Florence during the fourteenth century is summed up in a dispute between two renowned abacus teachers, Tommaso di Davizzo Corbizzi and Antonio Mazzinghi, in 1371. They had formed a company to run an abacus school in the parish of S. Margherita de’ Ricci, together with Tommaso’s son Bernardo, on 2 October 1370, agreeing to share equally all prots and expenses. However, just a year later Antonio Mazzinghi left the partnership and went to another school, taking with him a great number of the pupils from the Bottega di S. Margherita. This action outraged Tommaso Corbizzi, who launched a suit for damages against Mazzinghi in the Mercanzia court, claiming that Antonio had disloyally broken his word and that he had seduced and lured pupils away from their joint school, resulting in a loss of more than 100 orins. As a result, Tommaso now sought initial damages of 20 lire, without prejudice to further claims against Antonio. Evident here is the cut-throat competition which prevailed among abacus teachers and schools in fourteenth-century Florence; long-gone indeed were the days when education was regarded as a sacred duty, to be kept remote from the market place: A dì V de novembre [1371] [. . .] dinamci a voi Messer Corado Iudice e Ofale predecto expone e Tomaso Daviczo, Puopolo San Piero Magiore che nel MIIIcLXX a dì II d’otobre il decto Tomaso e Bernardo suo gluolo e Antonio di Giusto Pupolo San Brancacio, feciono e contrasseno compagnia in fare una schuola d’abbacho in una botegha posta nel Puopolo di Santa Margherita di Firenze e in ogni altro luogo dove più piacesse loro d’andare cum questi pacti e condicioni, cioè che ogni guadagno che ss’aquistasse di scolari o di qualunque materia che s’apartiene alla decta schuola si dovesse dividere e comunicare intra detti compagni per terza parte, cioè per uguale parte, e che il detto Tomaso non fosse tenuto di stare alla decta botega se non come a lui piacesse e i detti Bernardo e Anthonio dovevano la decta schuola solicitare come è usanza di buoni maestri, e ogni spesa che ssi facesse si dovesse comunicare per iguale parte.
abacus teachers (Siena Biblioteca Comunale L.IV.21, fol. 431v, published by Arrighi [1965], pp. 397–98 and cited here from Arrighi [1966], pp. 289–90), written about 70 years after the event, was confused about the exact chronology. According to him, Giovanni di Bartolo was 19 years old at the time, so that the episode would have taken place in 1383, when Antonio Mazzinghi was still alive. Ulivi ([2004a], pp. 70–71) suggests that it actually took place c. 1390/91, by when Mazzinghi was dead and the Bottega di S. Trinita had lapsed for a period, so incurring the resentment and fears of his older colleagues.
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La quale compagnia doveva durare se anni allora proximi che venissono come si conviene per iscritta fatta di mano del decto Antonio e soscritta di mano de’ detti Tomaso e Bernardo, e che il decto Antonio la fede e lealtà per lui promessa non seguendo, e mancando già e uno mese e più, contra volontà del decto Tomaso s’è partito e non fa né observa quello che promise, ma, che pegio è, ha fatta un’altra compagnia con altrui e fa un’altra scuola in dampno e preiudicio del decto Tomaso. E ancora ha lusingati e sedotti alla decta seconda schuola gran parte degli scolari della prima schuola in dampno e preiudicio del decto Tomaso. E per le predecte cose il detto Tomaso è dampnegiato in orini cento d’oro e più. E però il fatto cossì sposto, adomanda il detto Tomaso che costregnate e per vostra sentencia condempniate il decto Antonio a observare al decto Tomas la decta compagnia e lle cose a lui promesse, o a dare e pagare al presente al decto Tomaso libre venti di piccioli per parte de’ detti orini cento d’oro, per le quali libre venti al presento è pagato il diritto. Reservato a lui ragione di domandare il rimanente [. . .]354
Conclusion Before the thirteenth century, medieval Italian school education was dominated by the church: the curriculum was latinate, tailored to turn out a literate clergy after a lengthy period of study; the Italian lay aristocracy often achieved a notable degree of literacy, acquired, however, under ecclesiastical auspices. Skills provided by formal school instruction for earning a living did not the preoccupy the educated classes—either the clergy or the nobility. The principal towns of Tuscany—Arezzo, Siena, Lucca, Florence—conform to this pattern. The clerical monopoly over school education waned rapidly in the thirteenth century. The triumph of the communes brought in its wake the dominance of lay society with its civic and commercial aims and values. Latin remained the principal language of business and public affairs throughout the Duecento, but parents were no longer willing to put up with the long and slow approach to latinity offered by ecclesiastical schools. Pupils now had to be prepared for entry into the professional and business worlds. Rapid results were increasingly delivered by private lay teachers, who would displace clerical masters by the end of the thirteenth century; in the Trecento, ecclesiastical schools and teachers were a rarity—in Tuscany no less than in the
354
Ulivi (1996), pp. 117–18.
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rest of Italy. Tuscan lay teachers can be identied not only as notaries, active communal citizens, family men and, occasionally, women, but lay structures such as universities and guilds arose to exercise control over school education in towns such as Arezzo or Florence. From the late thirteenth century, the scope of education extended to the language itself of the laity—the vernacular—especially in the abacus schools, themselves geared to furnish future businessmen with the arithmetic skills necessary for the sphere of commerce and industry. By the Trecento the world of clerical education had been denitively superseded. In the earlier middle ages, instruction had been a sacred duty, precluding remuneration. After 1300, teachers expected payment for lessons. A competitive ethos now entered the classroom. Masters formed companies to sell education; they even attempted to form cartels to keep up the level of fees. Quasi-apprentices, in the guise of ripetitori, were taken on. Contracts to educate children were signed between parents and teachers. Masters who did not receive payments due took defaulting parents to court. Teachers attempted to undermine competitors, sometimes using less than professional methods. As far as school education is concerned, so weak had the eccesiastical sector become that some Tuscan convents actually brought in lay teachers to teach their novices, paying them just like the private teachers of the laity. Moreover, young clerks can be documented in Tuscany as learning under private lay masters. Priests even entered into legal partnerships to run schools as companies. The educational world of the earlier middle ages had now been turn on its head: instead of the church instructing the laity, it was now laymen educating clerks. Teachers also entered lay households as private tutors: school instruction had descended from the lofty heights of a holy ofce to the humble status of domestic service. Education was no longer removed from the secular world, as in the earlier middle ages, when the Italian elite took their children, at least temporarily, out of the secular environment of the lay household, placing them in schools on monastic, episcopal or parochial premises; now teachers were physically brought into the midst of the lay ambience of aristocratic or elite households. Florentine schools were called botteghe (shops); teaching was a trade, indistinguishable from the myriad other crafts practised by the populace; children were sent out to school, as they would later be sent out to work in artisan shops. By the fourteenth century, the proto-capitalistic and laissez-faire world of the communes had recast school education throughout Tuscany in its own image.
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This was especially true in Florence, where abacus schools—with their thoroughly commercial and secularized ambience—prevailed in secondary education to an extent unmatched anywhere else in Tuscany or, indeed, Italy.
CHAPTER FOUR
THE RISE OF COMMUNAL SCHOOLS IN FLORENTINE TUSCANY: 1262 TO 1400 The earliest known public subsidy for a schoolmaster in Tuscany dates from 1262, when the Aretines were paying the lay grammar teacher Maestro Tebaldo di Orlandino da Siena a large annual salary in order to keep him in Arezzo.1 Lay teaching itself gave rise to communal schools: if teachers were now to be paid, then they could sell their services to the highest bidder. In order to retain or attract a teacher, it was, from the earliest days of lay education, not always enough to enable or allow him to collect fees from pupils. Teachers could and did ask for subsidies in addition to their private fee income as an inducement to work in a particular locality; the lay teaching profession was, from the start, highly mobile: if a teacher was not satised by one commune, there was little to stop him moving elsewhere. This is what happened with Maestro Tebaldo in 1262: in the view of his fellow Sienese citizens, it was a scandal that such a prominent and capable teacher should be working away from his native city; they proceeded to offer him a complete tax exemption if he were to return to teach in Siena, where his presence, they declared, would enhance the quality of civic life.2 Communal Subsidies for Rent San Gimignano The earliest subsidies prevalent in Tuscany tended to be in the form of provision for housing: communes would give teachers monetary payments to subsidize the rent of their personal lodgings and/or teaching premises, or provide a house for the same purposes at public expense. The rst subsidy in Florentine Tuscany recorded in a town’s own
1 2
Cecchini and Prunai (1942), p. 11. See above ch. 2 pp. 67–68 for the text.
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communal deliberations, offered in 1266 to one Maestro Signorino, then working in S. Gimignano involved provision of a house, although this teacher was expected to pay a reasonable rent himself: XXVI sectembris [1266] [. . .] Item quod [consiliarii] dicant et consulant si eis placeat quod Giunta Peruçi cogatur a comuni ad dandum sub pensione Magistro Signorino doctori gramatice domum que olim fuit Manni de Pulicciano solvenda pensione a dicto magistro compete[n]te [. . .] Item signatum et decretum est in reformatione dicti consilii quod Giunta Peruzi cogatur ad dandum domum supra in proposita contentam ut demum est in proposita.3
The rst instance of an actual monetary subsidy in S. Gimignano came in 1268 when a grammar teacher called Maestro Bonastrina (later to teach again in S. Gimignano [see below p. 247] and whose son later later taught in Pisa [see above pp. 95, 209]) was promised 6 lire for the rent of his house; the payment was discussed on 1 February in the town council, where the proposal to honour the commitment, tabled by the vicar of the podestà, was supported by two councillors: Dominus Bencivenni [de Aretio] vicarius potestatis proposuit [. . .] si volunt quod magister gramatice scilicet Magister Bonastrina habeat illas VI libras que sibi fuerint promisse pro pensione hospitii a comuni hoc anno [. . .] Forciose Pellai consuluit [. . .] item quod solvantur illi magistro VI libre sicut stantiatum fuerit [. . .] Conte Ricardinni consuluit [. . .] item quod VIII qui presint stantient illas VI libras ut dentur illi magistro gramatice.4
In 1270 a grammar teacher from Arezzo called Maestro Giovanni, declaring that he wanted to come to San Gimignano, asked if the commune were willing to offer a subsidy: Petitum est per quendam magistrum gramatice, scilicet Magistrum Iohannem de Aretio, qui morari vellet in Sancto Geminiano et petit quod sibi de comune provideatur in aliquo.5
The presiding town magistracy of the day, the Eight, were authorized to offer him rent for lodgings and to pay other unspecied costs:
3 ASF SG 100, fol. 79v–80r, overlooked by Davidsohn (1896–1908), II, pp. 312–14. 4 ASF SG 103, fol. 31v–32r, overlooked by Davidsohn (1896–1908), II, pp. 312–14. 5 ASF SG 92, fol. 78r, summarized by Davidsohn (1896–1908), II, p. 312 without transcription.
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rmatum est item quod Octo Sancti Geminiani provideant suprascripto Magistro Iohanni de hospitio vel aliis rebus ut eis videbitur et placebit.6
In the end, Maestro Giovanni was given 10 lire for a house (hospitium) in which he could teach his pupils grammar.7 In September of the following year (1271), Maestro Giovanni, who still wished to remain in S. Gimignano, was given the same subsidy for a further year.8 By November 1274 a new teacher was living and teaching in S. Gimignano, Maestro Bartolomeo, who was given the same annual subsidy of 10 lire for the rent of premises in which to teach grammar and dialectic.9 In 1276 Maestro Bonastrina (now called Strena [see above p. 246]), was back in S. Gimignano, again receiving a subsidy of 10 lire for his rent,10 and the next year the grammar teacher subsidized was one Messer Federigo, who received half the usual subsidy of 10 lire on 31 January 1278, with the balance evidently to be paid later: Item s(olidos) C. Domino Frederigo magistro gramatice de summa decem librarum quas habere debet secundum formam capituli constituti.11
The annual subsidy for the grammar teacher’s rent had risen to 15 lire by 1289, when it was paid to Maestro Filippo del fu Manetto della Grammatica da Firenze, whose subvention continued at the same level until 1291.12 That year, a teacher called Maestro Bonaccorso was appointed in October to teach grammar with the same subsidy of 15 lire for rent:
6 ASF SG 92, fol. 78r, summarized by Davidsohn (1896–1908), II, p. 312 without transcription. 7 Davidsohn (1896–1908), II, p. 312. 8 Davidsohn (1896–1908), II, p. 312, now ASF SG 107, fol. 68v–69v. 9 Davidsohn (1896–1908), II, p. 312, who evidently could not fully transcribe ‘in quo moratur et morari debet’, putting three dots in place of the words indicated here in italics, now ASF SG 116, fol. 90r. Dialectic was still occasionally linked in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries to grammar as a subject taught at the school level, a remnant of the traditional trivium (grammar, rhetoric, dialectic), which was being supplanted by a more specialized curriculum in which logic (dialectic) was taught by specialist philosophers: see e.g. Black (1996a), pp. 252–56, 264, 291, 295–96, 300, 302. 10 ASF SG 121, fol. 56r: Item X libras Magistro Strene doctori gramatice in Sancto Geminiano qui stare et facere debet in Sancto Geminiano per unum annum ad docendum gramaticam in Sancto Geminiano omnibus volentibus ipsum audire secundum formam capituli consilii. Davidsohn’s partial transcription here, (1896–1908) II, p. 313, is not completely accurate. 11 ASF SG 128, fol. 10v, overlooked by Davidsohn (1896–1908), II, pp. 312–14. 12 Davidsohn (1896–1908), II, p. 313, now fol. 29v of ASF SG 178.
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chapter four Solvit Magistro Bonacorso XV libras magistro gramatice pro suo salario unius anni in quo stare debet in Sancto Geminiano et publice retinere scolas gramatice etc. secundum formam statuti.13
Maestro Bonaccorso continued to teach in S. Gimignano the following academic year (1292–93), although it is unknown whether he still received a communal subsidy for rent.14 In July 1293, two rival petitions were presented simultaneously to the town council. One was from the current teacher Maestro Bonaccorso, now identied as from S. Luca (and later said to be from S. Fiora near Arcidosso [see below p. 250]), who, declaring that he was willing to remain in S. Gimignano, asked for the usual nancial subsidy: dicit et exponit Magister Bonaccursus de Sancto Luce doctor grammatice qui nunc regit in scholis in Sancto Geminiano, quod ipse, si vobis videtur et placet, vult iterum stare et morari in Sancto Geminiano pro anno venturo et in scholis regere et hospitium conducere et scholares docere et omnia et singula facere que tenetur et debet ex forma capituli constituti dicti comunis. Quare suplicat vobis et petit quatenus velitis retinere consilium et in eo impositionem facere, si videtur et placet vobis et dicto consilio, quod predicta ant et executioni mandentur, cum ipse sit paratus prestare ydoneam cauptionem dicto comuni de predictis omnibus observandis et faciendis, prout in dicto constituti capitulo per omnia continetur.15
An alternative petition was presented to the town council by Maestro Filippo da Firenze’s grandson, Cino del fu Bruno, who introduced his request by saying that his grandfather had been a teacher in S. Gimignano ‘in past times, namely, over three years’, but it is unclear whether Maestro Filippo had been teaching there for the past three years or for three years in the past. Cino, speaking as his relative and pupil, asked for Maestro Filippo to be reappointed for a further year with the same subsidy, guaranteeing that he would personally ensure his grandfather’s full compliance: Cinus olim Bruni scholaris, nepos carnalis Magistri Philippi olim Mainecti de Florentia doctoris experti gramatice precipue in Sancto Geminiano
13
ASF SG 183, fol. 43r, overlooked by Davidsohn (1896–1908), II, pp. 312–14. ACSG 75, fol. 11r: (28 July 1293) Magister Bonaccursus de Sancto Luce doctor grammatice qui nunc regit in scholis in Sancto Geminiano (not mentioned specically by Davidsohn [1896–1908], II, pp. 312–14). 15 ACSG 75, fol. 11v. 14
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preteritis temporibus s(cilicet) tribus annis, tamquam persona coniunta ut dictum est, proponit et dicit quod dictus doctor Magister Philippus vult esse et morari et habitare in Sancto Geminiano et ibidem regere in scolis et docere gramaticam scolares pro anno futuro et scolares conducere et omnia facere que ex forma capituli constituti comunis Sancti Geminiani tenetur et debet. Quare petit pro dicto doctore tamquam persona coniunta, ut teneatis in consilium generale et in eodem reformari faciatis, si dictis consiliaribus videtur et placet, quod dictus doctor stet, habitet et moretur et scolas conducat et scolares doceat gramaticam, secundum formam capituli constituti scripti pro anno futuro et quod ipse doctor conseguatur et habeat benetium scripti capituli constituti s(cilicet) XV libras in dicto capitulo contentas pro adiutorio salarii hospitii, offerens idem Cinus pro dicto doctore [. . .] prestare vobis pro dicto comuni ydoneam cauptionem et hospitium conducere pro dicto doctore incontinenti in Sancto Geminiano post ipsam reformationem consilii generalis et dictum doctorem facere personaliter comparere, et etiam promictere et facere omnia que ex forma dicti capituli tenetur et debet, et etiam provisum sit per Octo expensarum qui habent intelligere et providere in valoribus comunis Sancti Geminiani.16
These two proposals were then discussed by the councillors. After Berto di Messer Uguccionello advised that the better of the two teachers should be appointed, Dino di Guccio counselled that Maestro Filippo was superior and more learned and expert than the other teacher, and two other councillors, Ser Vanni di Forziore and Messer Tieri, both supported Dino’s judgement; accordingly Filippo was selected: Bertus Domini Uguccionelli unus ex dictis consiliariis [dixit] quod eligatur unus ex dictis magistris gramatice quem cogno[s]cunt meliorem. Dinus Guccii unus ex dictis consiliariis consuluit quod Magister Phylippus suprascriptus, quia melior et magis peritus et expertus est alio suprascripto magistro, sit et esse debeat magister gramatice. Ser Vanni Forzioris unus ex dictis consiliariis super prima et secunda proposita de facto magistrorum gramatice et concordavit cum dicto Dino. Dominus Tieri [. . .] concordavit super dictis petitionibus omnibus cum dicto Dino [. . .] In reformatione et summa cuius consilii, facto et misso solepniter partito per dictum dominum potestatem ad bussulas et palloctas secundum formam statuti, super prima et secunda proposita suprascripta de facto magistrorum gramatice, rmatum sive optemptum, stabilitum atque decretum ad dictum et secundum dictum dicti Dini per LX palloctas
16 ACSG 75, fol. 12r. Davidsohn (1896–1908), II, p. 313, summarizes this debate, without identifying Bonaccorso as the teacher competing with Filippo and omitting the role of his grandson.
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chapter four missas et receptas in bussulo albo de sic, non obstantibus XVII palloctas missas et repertas in bussulo nigro de non.
In the end, however, Filippo apparently did not take up the appointment, and so on the following 1st October (1293) Maestro Bonaccorso (now called Accorsino da S. Fiora) submitted a new petition. Perhaps mindful that, the previous July, he had been considered less qualied than his rival Filippo, he pointed out that he himself was an ‘expert grammar teacher’, with experience in Bologna and the Romagnol cities of Forlì and Cesena: Magister Accursinus de Sancta Flore, expertus doctor gramatice pluribus annis, scilicet Bononie et in partibus Romandiole, videlicet Forlivii et Cesene, dicit et exponit quod ipse vult stare, habitare, scholas conducere et scholares docere gramaticam in dicta terra pro anno proximo futuro, et omnia facere que ex forma capituli constituti Sancti Geminiani loquentis de hac materia, tenetur. Quare vobis supplicat dictus Magister Accursinus ut super predicta petitione vobis placeat propositam in dicto consilio facere et in eo reformari, si ipsis consiliariis placet, quod dictus Magister Accursinus moretur in Sancto Geminiano et omnia faciat ut supra continetur. Ad hoc ut sequatur benetium [. . .] capitulo contentum, scilicet XV libarum denariorum pro adiutorio hospitii scholarium, offerens se paratum omnia facere, promictere et observare et dem dare, secundum formam statuti dicti capituli, lecta ipsa petitione in dicto consilio.
In the ensuing discussion, a lawyer, Messer Primerano [di Messer Guicciardo], agreed, with the proviso that Maestro Accorsino should himself nd a house (‘dummodo aquirat hospitium’); similarly, the notary Ser Baldo di Messer Ranerio, advised that he should be permitted to take premises wherever he wished (‘liceat sibi hospitium acquirere ubicumque voluerit’), and in the end the petition was approved by a majority of 60 to 26.17 On 25 May the following year (1294), now identied as Maestro Corso or Maestro Corsino da S. Fiora, Accorsino submitted a similar petition asking to be granted the same subsidy of 15 lire for rent, adding that he was not merely expert and experienced in the Romagna but also had been tested in S. Gimignano during the current year (‘consuetus docere gramaticam pluribus annis videlicet Bononie et in Romandiola Forlivii et Cesene et in castro Sanctio Geminiani presenti anno’). Two councillors, Messer Primerano di Messer Guicciardo and Messer Ciardo di Tadino, supported his request, but a third, Falchino 17 ACSG 75, fol. 36v–37r, again summarized by Davidsohn (1896–1908), II, p. 313, omitting Accorsino’s experience in the Romagna.
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di Messer Bonaccorso, counselled that the petition should be suspended for the entire term of the serving podestà of S. Gimignano—a proposal which was carried by a majority of 43 to 36.18 It is not known whether Maestro Accorsino was eventually subsidized during the period 1294 to 1296, but by 1297 he was receiving a subvention for rent again, with a partial payment of 4 lire authorized on 30 October, provided that he remain the entire year in S. Gimignano.19 The following year he was reappointed with a reduced annual subsidy of 10 lire beginning on 1 January 1299.20 The next year (1300), on 2 May, he was again considered for reappointment, rst at the old annual subvention of 15 lire, which was rejected in favour of an unspecied sum as indicated in the new communal statutes.21 Nothing is known about subsidized grammar teaching in S. Gimignano for the next decade, but in 1310 Maestro Accorsino was still teaching there, recommended on 25 July to receive a subsidy for September and for the entire year (ending on 24 March 1311).22 The following year (1311), on 27 September, Maestro Accorsino, now identied with his patronymic del fu Sanguineo, submitted a petition to the town council, pointing out an error in the previous provision, which implied that he was to be paid for the whole month of September 1310, whereas it should have stated that he would be paid annually from the month of September; this emendataion was accepted by a majority of 57 to 19, and he was appointed for the next year beginning from September: Magister Achursius olim Sanguinei dottor gramatice dicit et exponit quod cum ipse Magister Accursius [. . .] electus et deputatus fuerit ad docendum gramaticam in Sancto Geminiano per novem expensarum et secundum reformationem consilii generalis [. . .] in qua reformatione inveniatur error solutionis salarii dicti magistri, videlicet ut dicit quod solucio at dicto Magistro Acchursio per camerarium comunis de dicto salario per totum mensem septembris proxime futurum, petit quod dicatur quod dictum salarium solvatur dicto magistro annuatim de mense septembris,
18 ASF SG 191, fol. 54r–56v, summarized inaccurately by Davidsohn (1896–1908), p. 314, who erroneously suggests that the petition was carried, not suspended, by a majority of 43 to 36: ‘mit 43 gegen 36 Kugeln’. 19 ASF SG 205, fol. 31v, summarized by Davidsohn (1896–1908), II, p. 314. 20 ACSG 78, fol. 38v–41r, omitted by Davidsohn (1896–1908), II, pp. 312–14. For the reasons for the reduced subsidy, see below p. 283. 21 ASF SG 213, fol. 25r, summarized by Davidsohn (1896–1908), II, p. 314, without indicating that the original proposed 15 lire was crossed out on the sheet containing the original petition attached between fol. 24 and 25. 22 ACSG 87, fol. 30r–v, summarized by Davidsohn (1896–1908), II, p. 314.
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chapter four et predicto modo intelligatur esse interpretatum et declaratum dictum statutum. Et quod predicta reformentur inter vos et quod per dominum potestatem at proposita in generali consilio ad hoc, ut in dicto consilio stantietur et reformetur quicquid propterea dicto consilio videbitur faciendum, cum ipse Magister Accursius iam acceptaverit stare et morari et scolares gramaticam docere bona de sine fraude hoc anno proximo venturo de mense septembris incohando in Sancto Geminiano.23
After this date, no more is heard of Accorsino, and the next grammar teacher to receive a subvention for housing is Maestro Michele di Giunta, who on 19 March 1320 was authorized to receive 10 lire towards payment of rent for teaching premises as well as to subsidize a ripetitore whom he retained to help his pupils: Item decem libras Magistro Michaheli Iunte in aiutorio pensionis domus conducte per eum in qua morantur ad docendum scolares gramaticam et repetitoris quem in utilitatem dictorum scolarium retinet.24
The payment had not yet been made by 21 March, when the authorization was repeated,25 nor by 13 April, when it was renewed once more.26 Maestro Michele may have continued to teach in the years 1321–1323, since a hope was expressed that he would return to teach in S. Gimignano by 1 August 1323 (‘si Magister Michele Iuntte hinc ad kalendas agusti futuri proxime [sc. 1323] rediret ad Sanctum Geminianum et docebit gramaticam et tenebit scolas gramatice’).27 In any case, the commune took no chances, appointing Maestro Lucchese di Ghermondo da S. Gimignano at an annual subsidy of 15 lire, but with the proviso that, if Maestro Michele returned by 1 August (as noted above), the offer to Maestro Luchese would be nullied: Cum pro comuni utilitate dicte terre sit providendum quod habet(ur) quidam magister gramatice qui doceat gramaticam scolares volentes discere gramaticam, ponitur ad presens consilium si placet consilio quod
23
ACSG 88, fol. 38v–40r, omitted by Davidsohn (1896–1908), II, pp. 312–14. ASF SG 261, fol. 16r, summarized by Davidsohn (1896–1908), p. 314, with the wrong date of 11 February. 25 ASF SG 261, fol. 18r: Item decem libras Magistro Michaheli Iunte (omitted by Davidsohn [1896–1908], II, pp. 312–14). 26 ASF SG 261, fol. 25v: Item decem libras Magistro Micaheli Iunte in aiutorium pensionis domus conducte in qua moratur ad docendum scolares gramaticam et in aiutorium repetitoris quem retinet in utilitate dictorum scolarium (omitted by Davidsohn [1896–1908], II, pp. 312–14). 27 ACSG 97, fol. 38v, omitted by Davidsohn (1896–1908), II, pp. 312–14. 24
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Magister Lucchese Ghermondi de Sancto Miniato magister gramatice sit et eligatur per presens consilium et electus intelligatur moraturus in terra Sancti Geminiani ad docendum gramaticam, cum salario consequendo a comuni predicto libr. quindecim per annum a die qua veniet ad standum et scolas tenebit in Sancto Geminiano, hoc tamen salvo et intellecto quod si Magister Michele Iuntte hinc ad kalendas agusti futuri proxime rediret ad Sanctum Geminianum et docebit gramaticam et tenebit scolas gramatice, quod hec reformatio non procedat nec serviret et habetur pro non facta et quod hec proposita habetur per non reformata, et nullum ius inde consequatur ipsi Magistro Lucchesi vel comune intelligatur in aliquo obligatum.28
It was not only grammar teachers who received subsidies for rent in the early days of communal schools in S. Gimignano: in 1279 an anonymous abacus teacher was given a subvention of 3 lire for rent, so becoming the rst recorded maestro di abaco in Tuscany: Die ultima septembris [. . .] Item III libras pro solvenda pensioni unius domus in qua magister albachi moratur in Sancto Geminiano ad docendum pueros pro tempore unius anni, que pensio solvi debet de mense in mense quantum dictus magister stabit usque ad unum annum, ut tangit pro rata dictarum trium librarum pro anno.29 Die XVII octobris [. . .] Item de providendo magistro albachi de pensione cuiusdam hospitii in quo moretur ad docendum pueros in Sancto Geminiano, cum stantiatum sit per Octo quod potestas teneat consilium super hoc. Item super secundo art(iculo) consuluit quod magistro albachi provideatur a comuni de pensione unius hospitii qui videbitur Octo expensarum pro eo tempore quo steterit in Sancto Geminiano ad docendum pueros et quod placeat Octo stantiare dictam pensionem.30
Fucecchio The earliest teacher in Fucecchio subsidized for rent was Ser Cambio di Ammanato, who in November 1306, following authorization given previously on 6 June, was given eight lire for the rent of school premises: Ser Cambio Ammanati pro pensione domus sive hospitii in quo docet scolares in terra Ficecchii, dedit et solvit idem camerarius ex forma statuti dicti comunis et ex forma consilii dicti comunis, detento die VI iunii;
28
ACSG 97, fol. 38v, omitted by Davidsohn (1896–1908), II, pp. 312–14. ASF SG 139, fol. 12r, omitted by Davidsohn (1896–1908), II, pp. 312–14. 30 ACSG 63, fol. 18v, summarized by Davidsohn (1896–1908), II, p. 313 with the wrong date of 6 October; see above p. 226 for further discussion of these documents. 29
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chapter four dedit et solvit idem camerarius libras otto. Qui Ser Cambius promisit et con(venit) eidem camerario retinere scolas et scolare[s] docere in terra Ficechii secundum formam statuti dicti comunis tertii libri capitulo LXI, posito sub rubrica “De pensione domus solvenda Ser Cambio etc.”, quod incipit ‘Statuimus quod camerarius dicti comunis etc.’, sub pena librarum L etc. Andreas Bonchristiani ad hoc, precibus et mandato dicti Ser Cambii, fedeiussit, promittens etc. de mense novembris.31
The next teacher in Fucecchio to receive a subsidy for rent was Totto di Alessandro, who had been teaching reading and writing there since 1 January 1319, and who was having to pay 15 soldi a month to rent a house in which to live and teach his pupils. The town’s camerlingo did not want to reimburse him, and so on 19 April he petitioned the council, one of whose members, Ser Chello di Pardo, spoke in favour of a subsidy, which was then approved by a majority of 39 to 2; the following day a payment of 15 soldi was agreed.32 The same year (1319), another teacher from Lucca, Maestro Malusino, took over as communal schoolmaster. He received an unspecied subsidy that year, and then on 7 February 1320 he petitioned the council for a renewal to cover his annual expenses from 1 January 1320. His petition was supported by one of the councillors, Franco di Messer Orlando, proposing that he should have an annual subsidy of 7 lire for the rent of his school premises—a measure which was carried by a majority of 29 to 4; payment was then duly authorized and made: Item propositum fuit in dicto consilio [. . .] quid dictis consiliariis videtur et placet stantiare ordinare et providere super petitione Magistri Malusini, cuius petitionis tenor talis est: Coram vobis dominis antianis comunis Ficiecchi Magister Malusinus doctor scolarium supplicat vobis quatenus dingnemini ponere ad consilium et in ipso consilio facere reformari quod camerarius comunis solvat eidem pro pensione unius anni incoati die kalendarum ianuarii proxime preteriti et niendi in kalendis iunii [sic pro ianuarii] proximi subsequenter tantam pecunie quantitatem quantam dictum comune seu camerarius dicti comunis Ficiecchi solvebat in anno proxime preterito, solvendo eidem pro rata temporis, ad hoc ut possit pueros et scolares docere, super quibus generaliter dicant et consulant. Franchius Domini Orlandi, unus ex dictis consiliariis, surgens in dicto consilio [. . .] consuluit super dicta proposita et petitione quod sibi videtur et placet pro meliori quod Magister Malusinus supradictus habeat et habere debeat pro pensione domus in qua moratur ad docendum scolares
31 32
ACF 95, NN. ACF 30, NN; for the text see above pp. 201–202.
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pro anno presenti incipto et incoati [sic] in kalendis iannuarii proxime preteriti et niendi in kalendis iannuarii proximi susequentis libras septem den. or. par. et expendendas solvendas eidem pro rata temporis, et quod Cangnaccius camerarius comunis possit teneatur et debeat solvere dicto Magistro Malusino dictas libras VII pro rata temporis de avere et pecunia dicti comunis [. . .] Satisfactum est per Cangnaccium camerarium dicti comunis: [. . .] Sex super expensarum prepositis adprobandis [. . .] stantiaverunt et adprobaverunt aliud stantiamentum factum per dictum consilium generale scriptum die VII februarii super solvendo Magistro Malusino doctori scolarium pro pensione domus in qua moratur libras septem d. par., ut in ipso stantiamento plenius continetur, pro meliori comunis esse factum et dictos suntus [sic pro sumptus] esse utiles pro comuni et quod Cangnaccius camerarius dicti comunis possit et teneatur solvere dicto Magistro Malusino dictam rationem [et] dictas libras septem pro rata temporis de avere dicti comunis sine suo preiudicio [. . .]33
On 30 June 1326, yet another teacher from Lucca, Ser Meliore di Compagno, declared that he intended to teach reading and writing in Fucecchio, petitioning the council to have his rent subsidized; one of the councillors, Coluccio di Maestro Arrigo, suggested that he receive 20 soldi per month for his rent, and this proposal was approved by a majority of 20 to 6: Pro Ser Melliore Conpangni qui tenet pueros ad legendum [. . .] super infrascripta petitione cuius talis est tenor: coram vobis Fornario de Rossis de Florentia honorabili potestate comunis Ficecchii vel vestro vicario et dominis ançianis dicti comunis Meliore Compangni olim de Luca, qui presentialiter intendit et vult docere singulos pueros volentes cum eo morari tam legere quam scribere secundum cognitionem sui in terra Ficecchii, humiliter dicit et exponit quod placeat vobis ponere ad generale consilium comunis Ficechii et ipso consilio reformari facere, si complacet, quod eidem Ser Melliori at aliquod aiutorium, videlicet quod per camerarium dicti comunis Ficechii solvatur pensio domus in qua moratur vel in qua moraretur ad docendum dictos pueros illam pecunie quantitatem que ipsi consilio videtur convenire, ita quod ad honorem comunis Ficecchii et utilitatem illorum discerni [sic] volentium. Coluccius Magistri Arrigi unus ex hominibus dicti consilii [. . .] dixit quod sibi placet et videtur quod camerarius dicti comunis de avere et pecunia dicti comunis et pro ipso comuni det et solvat et dare et solvere posset suprascripto Ser Melliori quolibet mense pro pensione domus quam tenet vel tenebit ad docendum dictos pueros S. viginti D. et pro eo tempore quo dictos pueros tenebit dicta de causa [. . .]34
33 34
ACF 33, NN. ACF 48, NN.
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In July of the same year (1326) another teacher appeared in Fucecchio, this time an exiled notary from Pistoia, Maestro Giovanni, who was a grammar and abacus teacher. In his petition to the town council, submitted on 26 July and asking for a subsidy to teach abacus, reading and writing, he stressed that he was a Guelf and wanted to live in a Guelf town such as Fucecchio; one of the councillors, Maestro Giovanni di Maestro Arrigo, supported his request, recommending that he should be paid 20 soldi for housing every month that he remained in Fucecchio; this proposal was carried by a majority of 18 to 5: Coram vobis nobili viro Nepo de Bardis de Florentia honorabili potestate comunis Fucecchi necnon dominis anzianis, consilio et comuni Fucecchi pro parte Ser Iohannis notarii et magistri artis metice sive albaci, exiliati civitatis Pistorii et partis Guelfe, exponitur quod ipse paratus est manere Fucecchii tamquam terr(igin)a guelfa et docere pueros et quoscumque volentes predictam scientiam [sc. abaci] adiscere et doctrinam scribendi et legendi, tamquam delis et devotus vester tam ratione sanguinitatis quam amore partis prefate, que, domini, vigeat in onore dei; suplicat vobis humiliter ac etiam reverenter quatenus vobis placeat et velitis tenere consilium et in eo facere solempniter reformari quod camerarius comunis de pecunia et avere comunis possit et debeat dare et solvere pro pensione domus quam habitaverit illam pecunie quantitatem que ipso conpsilio videbitur et placuerit, pro docendo et instruendo pueros et alios quoscumque de scientia prelibata et relevare ipsum ab honeribus qualibet [sic]. Magister Iohannes [Magistri Arrigi] consuluit quod camerarius possit solvere S. XXti pro quolibet mense pro pensione domus pro eo tempore quo stat ad docendum, et relevetur ab omnibus honeribus. Obtentum per XVIII non obstantibus V.35
Subsequently he was duly paid by the town’s camerlinghi: pro Magistro Iohanne magistro gramatice et ambaci, satisfatto per Ammanatum Dati cam. L. III S. IIII D. VI; item satisfatto per Ursum Baldi cam. L. II S. XV D. VI.36
Pistoia, San Miniato, Castiglion Fiorentino, Castelfranco di Sotto, Arezzo A few towns in Florentine Tuscany offer occasional further examples of subsidizing rent only to teachers. In 1332 Maestro Piero di Ser Baldo da Montale came to Pistoia with the aim of teaching grammar, logic and dictamen; on 1 September, he petitioned the town council
35 36
ACF 49, NN. ACF 49, NN.
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for housing at communal expense to be used personally as well as for his school. One of the councillors, Ser Bartolomeo di Ser Mazzeo, proposed that a house over ve years should be furnished for him and his pupils, provided that the annual rent did not exceed XV lire; the measure was carried by a majority of 63 votes to 13.37 At San Miniato a new grammar teacher, Ser Naccio di Paolo da Terranuova, arrived to teach on 6 September 1379;38 accordingly he was provided with a house at communal expense for an annual rent of 5 1/2 orins. The authorization for the payment of the rent to the house’s owner, Benedetto di Messer Bartolomeo, was approved on 10 September, and the payment was made on 12 November by the communal camerlingo: Benedicto Domini Bartholomey pro pensione cuiusdam sue domus conducte pro comuni pro habitatione novi magistri gramatice et scholarum pro uno anno pensionis secundum conventionem cum eo facto: orenos quinque cum dimidio auri nectos de gabella. Anno domini millesimo trecentesimo septuagesimo nono indictione III die XII mensis novembris. Cassum per me Francischum notarium camere ex eo quia sibi solutum fuit per Iacopum Guidacci camerarium dicti comunis de orenis quinque cum dimidio prout est confessus [. . .]39
At Castiglion Fiorentino, the schoolmaster, Antonio di Giovanni, was paid 120 soldi for four months’ rent of school premises on 28 May 1384: [. . .] Antonio Iohannis magistro scolarum pro pensione cuiusdam soli in quo tenet scolares pro IIII mensibus: S. XL.40
In Castelfranco di Sotto, apparently the same Maestro Antonio di Giovanni, now identied as da Perugia, was authorized on 26 August 1386 by a majority of 26 to 2 to receive a subsidy of 6 lire to pay his rent for the previous year: Niccolaus Iohannis Moducci [consuluit . . .] quod presens camerarius generalis dicti comunis vel qui pro tempore fuerit possit et sibi liceat sine suo preiudicio et dampno de pecunia et avere dicti comunis dare et solvere Magistro Antonio [. . .] pro pensione domus anni preteriti quam pensionem dicto Magistro Antonio solvere consuevit [. . .] ad rationem
37 ASPistoia Provv. 4, fol. 7v–r, published by Zanelli (1900), pp. 115–16, with inaccurate voting gures, p. 116 (‘Fu approvato con 68 voti contro 131’). 38 ACM Delib. 2300, fol. 31r. 39 ACM Delib. 2299, NN. 40 ACCF 225, fol. 13r.
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On 29 August 1388 a similar subsidy was authorized, but this time reduced to 5 lire: Magistro Antonio Iohannis de Perusio pro pensione domus in quam exercet artem pro complemento sui salarii dicte pensionis libras quinque: L. 5.42
In Arezzo, Donato di Giovanni di Dante d’Arezzo, appointed to teach abacus for a year from 1 April 1394 to 31 March 1395, was authorized to receive a payment of 5 orins for the rent of the house in which he lived in order to teach arithmetic.43 Communal Salaries Grammar teachers Nevertheless, subsidies for rent were not sufcient to attract and retain teachers in the communes of Florentine Tuscany. It has already been seen that Arezzo was paying a large salary to Maestro Tebaldo da Siena in 1262, and by the turn of the fourteenth century the practice of providing communal teachers with regular salaries was becoming widespread. Grammar masters were the rst to be consistently salaried in Florentine Tuscany, where the rst teacher whose actual salary is known came from Prato; he was one Maestro Filippo, whom, on 15 August 1288, the Captain of the People and his eight counsellors decided to pay for a year ‘quo stare deberet in Terra Prati ad docendum ipsam artem gramatice [. . .] lb. Xm or. parv., silicet medietatem hinc ad sex menses proxime venturos et reliquam medietatem in ne dicti termini unius anni’. He duly swore before the communal notary that he would instruct in grammar ‘unumquemque volentem studere et discere cum eo’, receiving from each pupil an appropriate fee (‘salarium competens’).44 A similar payment of 10 lire was made to him on
41
ACCS 1459, NN. ACCS 1459, fol. 129r. 43 Published by Black (1996a), p. 357. 44 Giani (1927), pp. 15–16. Unfortunately, I was unable to locate the original document in ASPrato, as Giani used the old shelf marks and did not provide a folio or fascicle reference. 42
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3 December 1292, indicating that he had taught grammar publicly probably in the academic year 1291–92: [3 December 1292] Magistro doctori gramatice in terra Prati eo quod servavit omnia promissa et conventa comuni prout aperti [sic] vidimus: libras decem.45
From the early fourteenth century, other communes in Florentine Tuscany begin to offer similar examples of salaried grammar teachers. The rst documented grammar master in Fucecchio is found in 1315, when, on 10 December, Maestro Malusino da Lucca was recommended for immediate appointment at an annual salary of 12 lire by unanimous decision of the Six Supervisors of Expenditure (Sex super impositis consiliorum expendendis) and conrmed by a majority of 21 to 2 in the town council, on the advice of Posarello di Messer Forese; he was paid accordingly over the next three years: [10 December 1315] [. . .] Sex super impositis consiliorum expend(end)is comunis Ficechii [. . .] deliberaverunt [. . .] Malusino professoris [sic] gramatice facultatis ut moretur in terra Ficechii ad docendum gramaticham dummodo moretur, id quod dicto consilio videtur et placebit [. . .] [12 December 1315] [. . .] Item propositum et dictum fuit per dictos consules et preceptores inter dictos consilarios [. . .] quod camerarius dicti comunis presens et futurus [. . .] solvere [. . .] debeat de pecunia dicti comunis Malusino de Luca professoris [sic] gramatice facultatis ut stet et moretur in terra Ficecchii ad tenendum scholas et docendum gramaticam audire volentes ut provisum fuit per VI impositarum dicti comunis die X stantis mensis decembris illam quantitatem pecunie quam [sic] sibi consilio videtur [. . .] utilius pro comuni. Posarellus Domini Forensis unus ex dictis consiliariis [. . .] consuluit quod sibi placet quod camerarius dicti comunis presens et futurus [. . .] solvere [. . .] debeat Malusino de Luca professoris [sic] gramatice fachultatis omni sive quolibet mense quo stabit in terra Ficecchi ad retinendum scolas et docendum gramaticham in dicta terra S. viginti D. S., quod ordinamentum duret et durare debeat ad voluntatem consilii generalis dicti comunis etc. Item solutum est et fuit per Pucciannum camerarium pro IIIIor mensibus Malusini. ¶Satisfactum est dicto Malusino pro mense ianuarii presentis anni MCCCXVII per Puctierinam Bartholomey camerarium de S. XX ut in libro sui exitus continetur die XVI febrarii. ¶Solutum est ei per Camgruattium camerarium pro VII mensibus nitis in kalendis mai MCCCoXVIII [1317] indictione prima.46
45 ASPrato CD 57, fasc. L, fol. 16v. The transcription by Giani (1927), p. 16 is inaccurate. 46 ACF 17, NN.
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The rst known salary of a grammar teacher in Colle Valdelsa was for Maestro Angelo del fu Buoso d’Arezzo. At the end of February 1318 the commune had wanted to appoint one of its citizens, Maestro Simone del fu Corsino da Colle, then teaching in Fabriano (near Ancona); while a reply from him was awaited, Maestro Angelo del fu Buoso da Arezzo, who had been teaching in Siena the previous year (1317),47 came to Colle and began teaching, receiving an interim payment of 50 soldi: [Die XXIIII februarii] Cum scriptum fuerit ex parte comunis de Colle Magistro Simoni olim Cursini de Colle magistro gramatice Fabriani existenti ut venire deberit ad standum Colle ibi gramaticam et aliam suam scientiam docturus, de cuius adventu potest aliqualiter dubitare, [. . .] et ad manus dictorum dominorum XII pervenerit quidam bonus et sapiens doctor gramatice nomine Magister Agnolus de Aretio [. . .] valde excellens in ipsa scientia et aliis, si dicto consilio videtur et placet providere et facere, quod, si dictus Ser Simone scriberet hinc ad XII dies comuni de Colle nolle vel non posset venire ad docendum ipsam scientiam, quod dictus Magister Agnolus conducatur pro comune de Colle et conductus esse intelligatur pro uno anno proxime venturo, incipiendo in medio mense marcii proxime venturi, qui Magister Agnolus stare debeat continue Colle dicto anno ad docendum gramaticam volentes adiscere et pro suo salario pro dicto anno habet a comuni libras quadraginta D., quod salarium camerarius dicti comunis de Colle de avere et pecunia dicti comunis eidem Magistro Agnolo solvere teneatur in IIII paghis, videlicet in quibuslibet tribus mensibus dicti anni det eidem quantitatem pro tempore dicti salarii, dum tamen ipse Magister Agnolus comuni de Colle ydonee satisdet de stando continue dicto anno ad docendum ipsam scientiam gramatice. Si vero hinc ad XII dies Magister Simon scriberet se velle venire ad standum Colle, omnia presenti provisione contenta sint nullius valoris. Die XXVI februarii. Cum Magister Agnolus doctor gramatice de Aretio ad petitionem dominorum XII stet Colle, donec habet responsio a Ser Simone de Colle Fabriani existenti utrum velit venire Colle nec ne, et conveniens sit ipsum non suis expensis sed comunis moram facere, quod camerarius comunis de Colle de avere et pecunia dicti comunis det et solvere teneatur dicto Magistro Agnolo pro expensis faciendis: S. quinquaginta D. Expense. Approbata in consilio die XXVII februarii.48
47 48
Cecchini and Prunai (1942), pp. 120–121, 123–125; Nardi (1996), pp. 106–107. ASS Colle 389, fol. 79r–v, 82v.
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On 27 February 1318, his appointment was conrmed by the town council at the salary of 40 lire.49 The rst known salary to be paid to a grammar teacher in Poggibonsi was 24 lire, authorized on 16 September 1319 in the town council by majorities of 29 to 5 and 34 to 2, following the advice of Ser Rinaldi di Tello, to Maestro Bonagrazia da Firenze for a year’s service: [. . .] quod [. . .] placet [. . .] reformare super infrascripta petitione [. . .] per partem Magistri Bonagratie magistri gramatice [. . .] Coram vobis dominis capitaneis et sex bonis viris deputatis ad negotia comunis Podiiboniçii [. . .] dicitur pro bono et utilitate dicti comunis quod vobis placeat inter vos stançiare et postmodum poni facere ad consilium generale dicti comunis quod liceat Magistro Bonagratie lio de Florentia magistro in scientia gramaticali venire ad standum ad terram Podiiboniçii ad docendum in dicta scientia studere volentibus in eadem scientia ad terram Podiboniçii et habere debeat a die sui aventus [. . .] pro suo salario et mercede de avere [. . .] dicti comunis [. . .] Super [. . .] petitione Magistri Bonagratie magistri gramatice Ser Ranaldus Telli [. . .] dixit quod sibi videtur [. . .] quod ipse veniat ad docendum in dicta terra volentibus ab eo adiscere et teneatur [. . .] stare et maneri [sic] continue in dicta terra uno anno et dictam suam artem docere et dare dicto comuni seu camere dicti comunis pro ipso comuni recipienti ydoneam cautionem de manendo in dicta terra uno anno continue et suam artem docere [sic pro docendo] [. . .] quod ad hoc ut habeat materiam manendi et bene et solliciter studere et studium suis scolaribus reddere [sic], quod ipse Magister Bonagratia habeat [. . .] a comuni Podiiboniçii a die sui adventus ad unum annum proxime subsequentem tantum et non ultra de pecunia et avere comunis quolibet mense S. quadraginta D. S. P. [. . .] in quantum dictam cautionem prestiterit et steterit ut dictum est, alias nichil habeat a comuni.50
In Volterra the rst teacher whose salary is known was Maestro Rainuccio di Ser Guido da Cigoli (near S. Miniato), who was authorized on 5 September 1326 to receive an annual salary of 50 lire for teaching grammar: Item simili modo et forma stantiatum et rmatum est [. . .] quod eligi debeat unus magister doctor gramatice qui non sit habitator civitatis Vulterrarum pro uno anno proxime futuro, incipiendo die VI mensis novembris proxime futuri, ad salarium librarum quinquaginta den. solvendum per camerarium comunis Vulterrarum quolibet mense pro rata temporis, qui magister doctor gramatice teneatur et debeat dicto anno continue stare in dicta civitate et docere scholaribus volentibus
49 50
ASS Colle 389, fol. 84v–85r. ASS Poggibonsi 5, fol. 146v, 148r, 149v.
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chapter four addiscere dictam scientiam et dare ydoneas cautiones [et] predicta facere et observare [. . .] Magister Raynuccius Ser Guidonis de Sancto Miniate dottor gramatice per decem ex dictis XI dictorum XII ad bux. et pall. secundum formam statuti approbatus et electus magister et doctor ad dictam scientiam docendum pro dicto tempore et ad suprascriptum salarium secundum formam suprascripti stantiamenti et statuti loquentis de dicta materia.51
In Pistoia the rst public grammar teacher whose salary is known was Maestro Piero di Ser Baldo da Montale, who, following the advice of Lapo di Baldo, was appointed on 12 October 1333, by majorities of 60 to 11 and 75 to 10, for three further years at an annual salary of 25 lire: Lapus Baldi alius ex consiliariis dicti consilii in dicto surgens consilio ad arenghariam dixit et consuluit aringando et consulendo super proposita et petitione dicti Magistri Pieri, primo iuratus secundum formam statuti, quod dictus Magister Pierus habeat hinc ad tres annos quolibet anno a camerario comunis Pistorii de pecunia dicti comunis libras vigintiquinque denariorum orentinorum parvorum quos camerarius predictus eidem solvat sine alia reformatione propterea facienda pro labore et mercede laboris quem sustineverit in legendo et docendo scolares civitatis Pistorii, computatis in dicti vigintiquinque libris quindecim sive quatordecim libris eidem magistro per presens consilium alias ordinatis vel stantiatis [. . .]52
In San Gimignano, the rst grammar teacher to receive an annual salary (and not just a subsidy for rent) was Maestro Michele da S. Croce sull’Arno, who was authorized to receive an annual salary of 50 lire for the following three years on 25 July 1337: Die XXV mensis iulii [. . .] Cum etiam sit congruum quod Magistro Michaeli de Sancta Cruce doctori gramatice suum salarium anni presentis incepti in festo Sancti Luce proxime preterito [integre] persolvatur, ponitur ad dictum consilium reformari quod camerarius dicti comunis presens vel futurus possit, teneatur et debeat de pecunia dicti comunis dare et solvere dicto magistro pro suo salario dicti anni: libras quinquaginta den.53
In the academic year 1346–47, the rst grammar teacher known to receive a public salary in Castiglion Fiorentino (then still called Castliglion Aretino) was Maestro Bandino d’Arezzo, who was paid 51 ACV A nera 8, fol. 46v–47r. The transcription by Battistini (1919), p. 80, is neither complete nor entirely accurate. In the left margin of fol. 47r are found his payments from 13 March 1327 to November 1327 for twelve months. 52 ASPistoia Provv. 4, fol. 84v–85r, omitted by Zanelli (1900). 53 ACSG 115, fol. 64v, overlooked by Davidsohn (1896–1908), II, pp. 312–14 and Castaldi (1911).
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a series of installments amounting to an annual remuneration of 10 lire: [Spese novembre 1346:] Lire VI S. XVI D. VIII dati al Maiestro Bandino d’Arezo, el quale legge a Chastilone gramaticha per lo suo salario de doi mesi encomencando a die VIII d’otobre et fenendo die VIII de dicembre.54 [Spese febbraio 1347:] L. VI S. XVI D. VIII dati a Maiestro Bandino gramaticho per suo salario per lo mese di genaio e ne a dì VIIII di febraio, secondo che mostrò che fo pagato da Muciarino camarlengho per lo detto mese secondo la poliza di Ser Fino [cancelliere del comune].55 [Spese giugno 1347:] L. X in doi orini d’oro e mezzo dati a Maiestro Bandino d’Arezzo maiestro de la gramaticha salariato per lo comuno per lo salario de tre mesi da dì VIII de febraio et ne a dì VIII di maggio secondo i patti datti da lui al comuno di Castiglione secondo la poliza di Ser Simone cancellieri.56 [Spese luglio 1347:] L. X dati a Maiestro Bandino d’Arezzo maiestro de la gramaticha [. . .] la quale elli à operata secondo i patti fatti fra el comuno et lui, secondo la poliza di Ser Simone cancellieri.57
In Pisa the rst grammar teacher whose public salary is known was Maestro Pupo del fu Spezzalaste de’ Marti, who on 6 July 1349 was authorized to receive half his annual salary of 30 lire: Magistro Pupo doctori Gramatice condam Spessalaste de Marti libras triginta den. pis. pro suo salario et mercede ulteriorum sex mensium presentis anni niendorum de mense octubris [1349] in festo Sancti Luce proxime venturi ad rationem librarum sexaginta den. pis. in anno pro magistratu Gramatice quem tenet et docet in civitate pisana.58
In Buggiano, the rst grammar teacher whose salary is known was the priest, Giovanni di Marchesino da Buttrio in the contado of Bologna, the chaplain of the Abbey of Buggiano’s baptismal font, who on 28 July 1367 was elected by the Six Defenders and Six Captains of the Guelf Party (with the notable absence of Coluccio Salutati, himself a citizen of Buggiano) at an annual salary of 25 lire beginning on 1 August 1367; the appointment was accepted immediately by Giovanni di Marchesino:
chapter four Ofciales Sex Defensorum et Ofciales Sex Capitaneorum Partis Guelfe comunis Buggiani sono campane et nunptii requisiti in palatio dicti comunis more solito convocati et congregati in numero opportuno, absente tamen Tomeo Balducci de Burgo et Ser Coluccio Pieri de Stignano de ofcio capitaneorum predictorum, de mandato dicti domini potestatis et dato inter eos solito partito et secreto scruptineo ad lupinos nigros et albas [. . .] elegerunt et nominaverunt Presbiterum Iohannem Marchesini de Butrio comitatus civitatis Bononie, qui moratur in Buggiano pro cappellano fontium baptissmalium existentium in Abbatia Buggiani, in doctorem et magistrum ad docendum pueros et scolares dicti comunis qui secum stare voluerint ad addiscendum scientiam licteralem sive gramatica(m) pro eo tempore quo ad dictum benetium steterit et pueros qui secum addiscendum stare voluerint docuerit, cum salario librarum vigintiquinque den. f. p. quolibet anno, incipiendo in kalendis augusti proxime venturi et provisione sibi debenda ut consuetum est a pueris et scolaribus antedictis. Qui Presbiter Iohannes dictam electionem suscepit et acceptavit et eam bene et iuridice facere et sequiri promixit mihi Luce notario infrascripto [quondam Gratie de Serravalle] recipienti ut publice persone vice et nomine omnium quorum interest vel intererit seu interesse possit.59
In San Miniato the rst grammar teacher known to receive a salary from the commune was Maestro Rolfo di Frenuccio da S. Miniato, who was authorized on 19 October 1371 by a majority of 54 to 9 to receive 50 lire as the balance due to him for teaching grammar; it is unclear whether this was his entire annual salary or a partial payment, but he received the money on 28 October: Rolfo Frenuccii magistro gramatice pro residuo eius salarii quod restitit habere a comuni pro eius salario tempore expulsionis sue et aliorum de Sancto Miniato secundum formam eius electionis in summa: Libras quinquaginta D. Die XXVIII octubris cassum est dictum stantiamentum per me Simonem Ser Ranuccii notarium camere quia solutum fuit sibi per Lupum camerarium comunis.60
In Pescia the rst grammar teacher whose salary is known was Maestro Pietro di Bartalo da Bucine, whose appointment on 17 March 1373 at an annual salary of 50 lire was accepted personally the following day (his salary being paid quarterly thereafter): Item simili modo et forma supradicti priores, capitanei Partis Guelfe et sex super expensis ad collegium convocati ut supra, habentes bayliam
59 60
ACB 6, fol. 55v. ACM Delib. 2294, NN.
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providendi super electione magistri gramatice et eius salario per formam statuti comunis Piscie, posit. in tertio libro sub rubrica “De salario magistri gramatice” capitolo XIIIIo, [. . .] volentes [a] quodam bono et ydoneo magistro eorum puer[os] in gramatichalibus istrui et regi pro evidenti utiliate comunis Piscie et singularum personarum comunis Piscie, providerunt, ordinaverunt et deliberaverunt quod eligatur unus sufciens magister gramatice qui pueros et iuvenes terre Piscie et alios in terra Piscie bona de ipsam scientiam instruat pro uno anno proxime futuro, initiando die prima mensis aprilis proxime futuro cum salario librarum quinquaginta den. f. p. sibi per camerarium generalem comunis Piscie [. . .] persolvendo [. . .] [eligerunt] providum et sapientem virum Magistrum Pietrum Bartali de Bucino comitatus Florentie, qui magister constitutus personaliter coram ofcio dominorum [. . .] die XVIIII aprilis dictam electionem dei nomine aceptavit [. . .] Solvit sibi Magistro Piero Lentius camerarius L. XII S. X.61
In Arezzo, the rst grammar teacher whose salary is known was Maestro Francesco di Ser Feo di Nigi da Arezzo, who began teaching grammar for three years at an annual salary of 50 orins on 2 May 1389.62 In Sansepolcro, Maestro Bartolo di Iacopo da Pieve S. Stefano was the rst communal grammar teacher whose salary is known, appointed as he was for two years on 15 November 1391 at an annual salary of 42 orins.63 In Castelfranco di Sotto, the rst grammar teacher whose salary is known was the priest, Don Bartolomeo del fu Neri da Firenze, who, on 23 September 1394, was elected as communal grammar master for one year at an annual salary of 8 orins: Die XXIII setembris [1394]. Honorabili ofcio dominorum otto expensarum dicti comunis convocato et cohaduinato in numero sufcienti in domo dicti comunis ut moris est pro ipsorum ofcio exercendo, mandato providi viri Pucciori Vannis honorabilis prepositi dicti oftii, actendentes circha electionem et nominationem unius magistri gramatice qui doceat pueros in dicta terra pro uno anno proxime venturo incipiendo hac presenti die et ut sequitur niendo, dato inter ipsos solepni et diligenti partito et secreto celebrato scruptineo ad pissides et fabas nigras et albas [. . .] per omnes ipsorum in concordantia [. . .] eligerunt et nominaverunt in magistrum et pro magistro gramatice in dicta terra ad docendum pueros pro uno anno proxime venturo dei nomine incipiendo dicta die XXIII
61 62 63
ASPescia Delib. 7, fol. 53r. Black (1996a), pp. 334–38. ACSS ser. II vol. 1, fol. 27v. See Appendix 8 for the text.
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chapter four dicti mensis setembris et ut sequitur feliciter niendo cum salario et mercede orenorum octo auri pro dicto anno sibi per generalem camerarium dicti comunis persolvendo sine aliquo alio stantiamento [. . .] religiosum et honestum virum Presbiterum Bartolomeum quondam Nerii de Florentia presbiterum et rectorem ecclesie Sancti Bartolomei de Castro Francho. Dicta die XXIII setembris transmissa fuit electio predicto Dompno Bartolomeo electo et eidem presentata fuit per me Paulum notarium comunis. Qui incontinenti actenus respondit quod ipsam gratanter acep(t)abat cum illis pactis, modis et condictionibus in ea insertis.64
In Montaione, the rst grammar teacher with a known salary was Maestro Giovanni de Sancto Terdonio (= Tortona?), who was appointed communal grammar teacher on 29 September 1396 at an annual salary of 8 orins: Genarius Mani et Bartolomeus Ser Simonis, operarii comunis Montaionis, videntes utilitatem puerorum liorum hominum comunis Montaionis et scientes probitatem circumspecti ac prudentis viri Magistri Iohannis de Sancto Terdonio, necnon virtute auctoritatis ac baylie circa electionem magistri gramatice eis concessarum per statuta comunis Montaionis, ipsorum nemine discordante, nominaverunt et eligerunt pro uno anno incipiendo die prima octobris proxime venturi dictum Magistrum Iohannem in magistrum gramatice in comuni Montaionis cum salario octo orenorum sibi solvendorum quolibet mense pro rata, et deliberaverunt vigore dicti statuti camerarium solvere posse de pecunia comunis posse solvere [sic] sine suo preiudicio vel dampno.65
In most towns of Florentine Tuscany, these rst appointments inaugurated a long and continuous series of communally salaried grammar teachers (see Appendix 4),66 but in the city of Florence itself, a contrasting pattern emerged. In 1320, the famous grammarian and rhetorician, Maestro Guizzardo del fu Messer Bondo del Frignano da Bologna, was appointed to teach publicly grammar, logic and philosophy.67 Guizzardo had worked as a private teacher in Bologna from about 1290 to the turn of the fourteenth century. He then moved to Siena, where he taught grammar publicly from 1306 to 1311
64
ACCS 1460, fol. 91v. ACM 24, fol. 133r. Angelelli (1875), p. LXIII. 66 A grammar teacher was envisaged for the commune of Montopoli according to its statutes of 1360 at an annual salary of 12 lire, which was raised later to 40 lire: Casini (1968), pp. 109–10, 337–38. No particular appointments have emerged. 67 Gherardi (1881), pp. 277–278; DBI, vol. 61, p. 555. 65
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and again from 1314 to 1315.68 It is possible that he he may also have worked in Florence as a private teacher in 1312, as well as in Padua (c. 1315). He wrote a commentary on the Ecerinis by Albertino Mussato, with whom he was in correspondence and who lent him a copy of Vergil. He also composed an important commentary on Geoffrey of Vinsauf ’s Poetria nova.69 Guizzardo served in Florence from 1320 to 1323, receiving an annual salary of 100 lire, in addition to an annual subsidy of 30 orins for rent.70 Nevertheless, the tenure of a gure such as Guizzardo did not establish the practice of publicly salaried communal grammar teachers in Florence. It was only at the end of the century that other grammar teachers in Florence are known to have received ofcial subsidies: Maestro Domenico di Bandino d’Arezzo was appointed to teach grammar and rhetoric for ten years from October 1382.71 He was joined by Maestro Matteo di Ser Loro da Radda in Chianti, who served from 1388 to 1389 at an annual salary of 30 orins;72 they had two further colleagues, Maestro Spigliato di Cenne da Firenze73 and Ser Benincasa di Bentivegna da S. Maria in Bagno, both of whom shared a joint public salary of
68 Cecchini and Prunai (1942), pp. 85–86, 88–91, 94, 99, 108–109, 111–112, 115–116; Nardi (1991), pp. 13, 23 n. 27; Fioravanti (1991), p. 256; Nardi (1996), pp. 103–105, 107. 69 Gherardi (1881), pp. 277–279; Woods (1986); Witt (2000), pp. 130 n. 39, 134, 196, 224; Black (2001), pp. 203, 342 n. 47; DBI, vol. 61, pp. 555–556. 70 Gherardi (1881), pp. 277–278; DBI, vol. 61, p. 555. 71 Davies (1998), pp. 14–15. 72 Abbondanza (1959), pp. 85, 106–107; Spagnesi (1979), p. 16. 73 Spigliato’s daughter was still living in Florence in the mid-fteenth century: (14 July 1455) Actum in populo Sancti Laurentii de Florentia [. . .] Domina Caterina vidua lia olim Magistri Spigliati Cennis magistri gramatice et uxor olim Francisci Michaelis cimatoris dicti populi S. Laurentii de Florentia constituta etc. petiit a mme notario infrascripto sibi dari etc. in suum mundualdum etc. Andream olim Iohannis Cennis Donati populi S. Laurentii de Florentia ibidem presentem etc. quem dedi [. . .] Item postea ibidem [. . .] prefata Domina Caterina [. . .] vendidit [. . .] Bartolomeo olim Iohannis Giani civi orentino et de populo S. Marie del Fiore de Florentia [. . .] unam domum cum apotheca ad usum stovigliarii cum palco cam(era) sal(is) et cella de vino curia et puteo et subpalco positam in dicto populo S. Laurentii loco dicto la Piazza di Madonna, cuius domus et bona [sic] a primo via a secundo bona monasterii S. Baldassaris [. . .] a tertio Bastiani Iacobi de Guasconibus ex parte retro dicte domus a quarto Bartoli quondam Iohannis Bandidi spetiarii [. . .] pro pretio [. . .] orenorum nonaginta auri [. . .] Insuper Domina Checha lia olim Francisci Michaelis cimatoris et dicte Domine Caterine cum consensu dicti Andree sui viri et legiptimi mundualdi ibidem presentis etc. dicte vendictioni consensit etc. et renuntiavit omnia iura sibi competentia in dictis bonis supra venditis occaxione dotium suarum [. . .] (ASF NA 15420, pp. 158–159).
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20 orins.74 The three remaining public grammar teachers in Florence during the fourteenth century were Maestro Matteo di Ser Loro da Radda (1391–96), Ser Paolo di Bartolomeo da Bologna75 (1391–96) and Maestro Domenico di Bandino d’Arezzo (1392–96), but their salaries from the commune are unknown.76 Elementary teachers The rst commune in Florentine Tuscany known to have paid a salary to an elementary teacher was Volterra, where the notary Ser Francesco di Turino da Siena had been teaching elementary reading and writing, introductory grammar and abacus privately since 1327. At the beginning of 1330, it was proposed to pay him an annual salary of 10 lire, but this submission was rejected by the joint councils of twelve and fteen; it was then resubmitted, and after disagreement among the councillors, it was eventually passed by the general council with a majority of 69 to 18: Item quod cum [per] dominos XII populi defensores sit stanziatum quod camerarius comunis Vulterrarum det et solvat et dare et solvere debeat et teneatur Ser Francisco Turini qui docet pueros abbacum et eos introducit in gramaticalibus libras decem, et missum sit ad consilium dominorum XII et XV et non fuit obtentum, si placet dicto consilio providere et stanziare quod tot viribus mictatur ad dictum consilium XV quod obtineatur [. . .] Super [. . .] proposita salarii dicti Ser Francisci Turini [Ser Cianus Orlandini . . .] dixit et consuluit arengando quod ant et observentur omnia que in dicta proposita continentur, et plenam obtinuit roboris rmitatem. Chianuccius Iohannis bannitor surgens in dicto consilio dixit et contradixit dicto et consilio dicti Ser Ciani consultoris secundum formam statuti et ord. dicti comunis.77
74
Abbondanza (1959), pp. 85, 109; Spagnesi (1979), p. 16. See ASF NA 802, fol. xliiiir [29 May 1396]: Actum Florentie [. . .] in domo habitationis Magistri Mattei de Radda sita in populo Sancti Romuli de Florentia presentibus testibus Dompno Tomaso Averani de Peruçis ordinis Vallis Umbrose et Christoforo Pieri de Bibbiema habitatore Florentie [. . .] Ser Paulus Bartholomei magister gramatice populi Sancte Reparate de Florentia [. . .] locavit [. . .] Sandro Iacobi populi Santi Marci de Florentia [. . .] unam domum sitam in populo Santi Marci predicti in via del Cocomero cum volta curia orto puteo et logia [. . .] pro tempore [. . .] unius anni incepti in kalendis novembris proxime preteriti [. . .] et dare eidem Ser Paulo pro pensione dicti anni orenos duodecim auri [. . .] 76 Spagnesi (1979), p. 271. 77 ACV A nera 9 VIII, fol. 4v–5v. 75
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The following 30 December (1330), Ser Francesco again petitioned the commune for a renewal of his salary, declaring that there was a severe grain shortage (carestia) and that he could not manage on the meagre fees he was receiving from his pupils; this proposal was passed by the general council with a majority of 53 to 18: Coram vobis sapientibus et discretis viris dominis XII defensoribus populi Vulterrani Francischus notarius Turini de Senis et nunc habitator Vulterris in contrata Burgi Sancti Marie dicit et exponit quod ipse est intentus stare et morari in civitate Vulterrarum ad docendos pueros et scolares volentes addiscere ad scribendum et legendum, ad introducendum eos ad principia gramatice discipline ac etiam abacum volentes adiscere prout huc usque stetit ad vestrum servitium et honorem, set quia isto tempore est maxima karestia et non potest ex salario illo parvo quod percipit a scolaribus sumptibus et expensis sibi necessariis respondere, vobis supplicat reverenter quatenus vestro honore ac etiam intuitu misericordie et ad hoc ut possit stare et esse ad predictum servitium faciendum, vobis placeat et velitis sibi aliquale salarium statuere, prout vestre dominiationi videbitur convenire, et quod non teneatur comunis facere factiones ad hoc ut possit scolares et pueros vestros assidue edocere, paratus semper prout possibilitas sibi adest vestris mandatis in omnibus obedire. [Ser Matteus Ser Berti] [. . .] consuluit quod dicta petitio sit et remaneat in provisionem dictorum dominorum priorum et quicquid fecerint et proviserint sibi de avere comunis quod valeat et teneat ac si factum esset [ per] presens consilium et plenam habeat roboris rmitatem.78
On 28 March 1331, he again petitioned the council, this time for payment of his salary of 10 lire from the past year, which had ended the previous February, a proposal which was carried in the council by a majority of 59 to 11: Anno domini millesimo CCC XXXI, indictione XIIII die XXVIII mensis marzii, convocato et coadunato generali et universali consilio comunis [. . .] quod place[a]t dicto consilio providere et deliberare, stantiare et reformare super petitione Ser Francisci Magistri Ture predicti lecta et vulgari sermone exposita per me Gualterium notarium predictum in presenti consilio [. . .] Coram vobis dominis duodecim dominis suis defensoribus et gubernatoribus comunis et populi civitatis Vulterrarum, Francischus notarius lius Magistri Ture de Senis, nunc commorans Vulterris in contrata Burgi Sancte Marie, reverenter exponit quod ipse Francischus iam sunt IIII
78 ACV A nera 9 XI, fol. 21v–23r, partly and inaccurately published by Battistini (1919), p. 80, and inaccurately cited on p. 46.
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chapter four anni et ultra ad honorem civium dicte civitatis stetit et moram traxit in ipsa civitate docendo pueros volentes addiscere ad legendum et ad scribendum et in albacum, et sic intendit in futuro tempore in ipsa civitate persistere, et quod de anno proxime preterito nito de mense februarii proxime preterito fuit sibi Francischo pro aliquali salario et aiutorio expensarum salarium stabilitum librarum decem den., et cum nitum sit dictum tempus, vobis humiliter supplicat quatenus placeat vobis per vos et consilia opportuna eidem de anno proxime venturo ordinare et ordinari facere consimile salarium vel aliud, prout vestre dominationi et dictis opportunis consiliis placuerit.79
In Fucecchio, the rst doctor puerorum whose salary is known was one Maestro Matteo, appointed to teach on 9 February 1335 at an annual salary of 40 lire: Magistro Matheo magistro ad docendum pueros electo [. . .] vigore reformationis [. . .] die XXV ianuarii [. . .] et vigore de eleptione de ipso facta [. . .] die VIIII februarii [. . .] pro parte sui salarii pro duobus mensibus: libras sex solidos tredecim D. octo.80
In San Gimignano, the rst elementary teacher whose salary is known was Ser Cino di Taviano da Volterra, who was appointed on 17 December 1344 to teach for three years, beginning on 1 January 1345, at an annual salary of 35 lire: Die XVII mensis decembris [. . .] Ser Cino Taviani de Vulterris magistro conducto et rmo per consilium dicti comunis per tres annos incipiendos in kalendis ianuarii proxime venturi ad docendum pueros in Sancto Geminiano pro suo salario quolibet anno dictorum trium annorum: trigintaquinque libras den.81
In Pistoia the rst elementary master whose salary is known was Ser Francesco Luchini da Prato, who was teaching privately at Pistoia in 1351 but who found that prices had risen (evidently after the Black Death) and that the citizens of the city were not paying their teachers as he believed they ought; as a result it was decided by a majority of 53 to 21 to pay him an annual salary of 50 lire for the next three years:
79
ACV A nera 11 I, fol. 15r–16r. ACF 662, fol. 21r. 81 ASF SG 289, fol. 6v, overlooked by Davidsohn (1896–1908), II, pp. 312–14, Castaldi (1911) and Imberciadori (1976). 80
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Exponitur pro parte Ser Francisci de Prato doctoris puerorum quod idem Ser Franciscus moratur in civitate Pistorii et docet pueros dicte civitatis cum omni sollicitudine et diligentia qua potest et ad predicta facienda in dicta civitate stare intendit et ad predicta vigilanter attendere [ms.: intendere] ad servitia singulorum de civitate predicta, sed considerato per victualia et res omnis sane plus solito carefacte et comuniter Pistorienses non solvunt magistris ut decet, humiliter supplicatur quatenus dignemini proponere in generali consilio populi dicte civitatis et in eadem facere provideri [. . .] quod eidem Ser Francisco provideatur per dictum comune et de pecunia ipsius comunis de aliquali salario sicut vobis in dicto consilio videbitur convenire ut vitam suam possit comode pertransire.82
In Poggibonsi, the rst doctor puerorum whose salary is known was Alessandro di Tissoco da Milano, who, although not qualied as a magister grammatice, was nevertheless appointed on 13 May 1354 as communal doctor puerorum at an annual salary of 36 lire, payable every month that he remained as a teacher in Poggibonsi: Item statuerunt et ordinarunt quod Alessander Tisochi de Mediolano, qui non est magisster gramatice, debeat habere et habeat ab camerario terre Podiibonitii pro quolibet mense quo stabit a[d] docendum pueros in terra Podibonitii, et camerarii tam presen(te)s quam futuri pro singolo mense tenea[n]tur ei dare libras tres denariorum orentinorum de pecunia et avere dicti comunis sine eorum preiudicio et gravamine, et quod Iohannes Francisschi Locti presens camerarius possit, teneatur et debeat dare et solvere dicto magisstro sine suo preiudicio et gravamine de avere et pecunia dicti comunis pro mense may proxime incipiendo summam librarum sex orentinorum denariorum et pro quolibet alio mense libras tres, prout sibi da(tum) est, statuto aliquo non obstante in contrarium.83
In Prato, the rst communal reading and writing teacher whose salary is known was Ser Francesco Luchini da Prato, who was paid an annual salary of 36 lire on 24 January 1357;84 the second year of this appointment began on 1 October 1358, and when a monthly payment was authorized to him on 28 June 1358, he was described as a pedagogus (a standard term for an elementary teacher) who taught reading and writing:
82 83 84
ASPistoia Provv. 10, fol. 90r. ASS Poggibonsi 58, fol. 75r–v. ASPrato Comune 883 parte 5, fol. 2v; see Giani (1927), p. 17.
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chapter four Ser Francischo Luchini pedagogo et qui docet pueros scribere et legere in terra Prati electo pro uno anno incepto in kalendis octubris proxime preteriti ut de sua electione patet manu Ser Bonaccursi Torelli pro suo salario presentis mensis iunii noni mensis dicti sui anni.85
In Colle Valdelsa, the rst elementary teacher whose salary is known was Maestro Giovanni di Lapo da Colle, who on 25 March 1359 was rst elected, by a majority of 21 to 9, to begin instructing ‘small boys’ in reading and writing on 1 April 1359 for a year at a salary of 25 lire: cum ad docendum et instruendum pueros terre Collis doctrina [et] moribus indigeat providere de quodam magistro qui pueros parvulos instruat legere et scribere, et provisum sit per oftium priorum terre Collis quod Ser Iohannes Lapi de Colle conducatur et eligatur in magistrum [. . .] dicti comunis ad docendum et instruendum dictos pueros.86
In San Miniato, the rst communal elementary teacher whose salary is known was Iacopo di Pucciorino vocato Paletta da S. Miniato, who, on 26 May 1371, was elected by a majority of 18 to 3 to teach reading and writing for a year at an annual salary of 25 lire beginning the following 1 June: [. . .] priores populi et comunis Sancti Miniato orentini et capitanei partis guelfe dicti comunis et novem boni viri comunis predicti necnon consiliarii consilii populi dicte terre videlicet priores capitanei partis novem boni viri comunis et consiliarii consilii populi terçerii Forisporte dicte terre [. . .] trahentes se in partem ab aliis prioribus capitaneis et novem bonis viris et consiliariis aliorum terçeriorum dicte terre [. . .] vigore balie eis in hac parte concesse per statutum dicti comunis posite in libro primo voluminis statutorum novorum dicte terre sub rubrica de electione magistorum ad docendum pueros capitulo XVII [. . .] elegerunt prudentem virum Iacobum Pucciorini vocatum Paletta de Sancto Miniato in magistrum ad docendum pueros legere et scribere et illos bonis moribus erudire in dicto terçerio pro uno anno incipiendo in kalendis iunii proxime venturis et niendo ut sequitur cum salario dicti statuti videlicet librarum vigintiquinque D. S. secundum formam dicti statuti [. . .]87
In Pescia, the rst doctor puerorum whose salary is known was Maestro Luca di Maestro Baldanza, who, on 17 February 1372, was elected
85 86 87
ASPrato Comune 883 parte 7, fol. 3r, partly published by Giani (1927), p. 17. ASS Colle 101, fol. xli verso–xlii verso. ACSM Delib. 2293, fol. 81r.
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by a majority of 28 to 8 as communal elementary teacher for a year beginning on the following 1 March at an annual salary of 20 lire: Item dixit et proposuit dictus dominus potestas quod dicto consilio videtur et placet sta(n)tiari et reformare ut Magistro Luce Magistri Baldanze at aliquod salarium de novo ut Piscie stet ad docendum pueros de Piscia, generaliter consulatur. Ser Lodovichus Ser Baronis unus ex consiliaribus dicti consilii consultatus super dicta proposita dixit et consuluit et arengavit quod sibi videtur et placet quod dictus Magister Lucas ex nunc intelligatur esse et sit magister ad docendum pueros in terra Piscie pro uno anno proximo futuro initiando die prima martii proxime futuro, cum salario librarum viginti in anno denariorum orentinorum parvorum, quod salarium camerarius generalis comunis Piscie eidem solvere teneatur de mense in mense et pro rata contigerit de pecunia dicti comunis sine suo dan[p]no et preiudicio, et quod dicto tempore dictus Magister Lucas de terra Piscie et eius districtu sine litteris priorum terre Piscie absentare non possit ad penam salarii dierum quibus absens steterit.88
In Castelfranco di Sotto, the rst public doctor puerorum whose salary is known was the notary Maestro Bandino di Ser Niccolò da Bologna, who, on 11 July 1389, was appointed to teach for a year at an annual salary of 12 orins beginning the following day, when Maestro Bandino formally accepted the post: Ofcio Dominorum Otto Expensarum comunis Chastri Franchi Vallis Arni Inferioris numero sufcienti convocato et adunato in sala palatii dicti comunis et habitatione domini potestatis pro factis dicti comunis procurandis et ordinandis, dato facto et misso partito solempni inter eos in secreto scruptineo ad pissides et fabas nigras et albas secundum formam statutorum dicti comunis [. . .] eligerunt et nominaverunt in magistrum ad docendum pueros in Chastro Francho pro tempore et termino unius anni proxime futuro initiando die duodecimo mensis iulii presentis et niendo ut sequitur, cum salario orenorum duodecim dicto magistro concesso per formam statutorum dicti comunis [. . .] providum et discretum virum Magistrum Bandinum Ser Niccholai de Bononia notarium. Die XII iulii: qui Magister Bandinus iuravit suum ofcium et aceptavit de bene et legaliter exercendo.89
In Sansepolcro, the rst communal elementary teacher whose salary is known was a grammarian called Alo, who had previously been in 88
ASPescia Delib. 6, fol. 98v. ACCS 1459, fol. 212r, where the following is also recorded: MCCCLXXXVIIII ind. XIII die X mensis settenbris Niccholaus Pieri solvit Magistro Bandino pro suo salario duorum mensium orenos duos auri. 89
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the service of Ser Mucciolo, castellan of the town’s gate of S. Niccolò; he now wished to come and live in S. Sepolcro itself, earning his living as an elementary teacher, and so on 9 December 1398 it was agreed, by a majority of 16 to 1, that Alo should be appointed forthwith as elementary teacher in Sansepolcro at an annual salary of 4 orins.90 In Buggiano, the rst public elementary teacher was Ser Giovanni Pasqueti da Monte San Savino, who, on 15 July 1399, was retrospectively appointed to teach at an annual salary of 25 lire to be paid from the previous 1 May: Domini Sex Defensores comunis Bugiani, in numero sufcienti congregati et cohadunati in sala magna palatii comunis ut moris est, actendentes utilitatem et honorem dicti comunis et considerantes dictum comune carere magistro qui doceat pueros, vigore eorum auctoritatis potestatis et balie eis concesse et atribute per formam statuti dicti comunis de dicta electione loquentis, providerunt ordinaverunt et deliberaverunt quod in dicto comune eligatur unus magister qui doceat pueros et sic eligerunt et nominaverunt cum salario librarum vigintiquinque pro uno anno proxime futuro incepto die prima mensis may proxime preteriti [. . .] Ser Iohannem Pasquetii de Monte Santi Savini, qui dicta die aceptavit et iuravit bene et diligenter docere et alia facere.91
Abacus teachers Over the course of the fourteenth century, communally funded grammar and elementary masters became the norm throughout Florentine Tuscany. The same was not true for abacus teachers. During the fourteenth century, public provision for abacus schools did occur throughout Florentine Tuscany (although never in the city of Florence, where abacus teaching was always private), but everywhere communal abacus appointments were sporadic and occasional. Although abacus schools were omnipresent in the city of Florence and abacus teachers were highly sought after in Florentine society, it is hard not to conclude
90
ACSS ser. II vol. 1, fol. 190r, not mentioned in Banker (2003). See Appendix 8 for the text. 91 ACB 10, fol. 319r. The appointment of a teacher of reading and writing at an annual salary of 36 lire was envisaged by the communal statues of Figline in 1392, but no particular appointment has emerged: Berti and Mantovani (1985), pp. 41–42. Similarly an elementary teacher was envisaged at Castelfranco di Sopra at an annual salary of 25 lire according to the communal statutes, but no particular appointment has been found: Camerani Matti (1963), p. 58.
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that abacus schools remained a much lower priority in the rest of Florentine Tuscany throughout the fourteenth century. Indeed, a number of towns employing elementary and grammar teachers had no communal abacus teachers at all in the fourteenth century: not just smaller communities such as Castelfranco di Sotto, Montaione, or even Buggiano but larger communes including San Miniato, Castiglion Fiorentino and Poggibonsi and even a substantial town such as Pescia showed no sign of appointing a communally funded abacus teacher in the fourteenth century. The lower priority accorded to abacus, in comparison with grammar teaching in fourteenth-century Tuscany is summed up in a rubric of the communal statutes at Montepulciano in 1337; the government was obliged to nd a grammarian, but the appointment of an abacist was optional: Statutum est quod domini Quinque, qui pro tempore fuerint, teneantur et debeant saltem de mense iunii eligere unum bonum magistrum in gramatica, et alium possint in doctrina abbaci expertum, qui sit et esse debeat in terra Montispoliçiani saltem in kalendis octubris.92
In Florentine Tuscany, the rst commune whose salary to an abacus teacher is known was Colle Valdelsa. On 24 July 1312, the Twelve Signori decided, by a majority of 10 to 2, to pay the abacus master Ser Salvi di Amadore da Firenze a monthly salary for the next six months at an annual rate of 12 lire, provided he remained as schoolmaster in Colle: Convocato et adunato ofcio dominorum duodecim comunis et terre Collis ad sonum campane more solito super loggia hospitalis ad instantiam Neri Naldi et Lapi Raneri eorum priorum, primo facto et misso inter eos partito per dictos eorum priores ad pissides et palloctas secundum formam statuti, stantiavit, providit et ordinavit dictum ofcium, per X palloctas missas et receptas in pisside alba de sic non obstantibus duobus palloctis missis et receptis in pisside rubea de non, quod camerarius comunis de Colle de avere et pecunia dicti comunis det et solvat et dare et solvere possit et debeat Magistro Salvi abbachiste et magistro abbachi hinc ad sex menses pro quolibet mense solidos viginti denariorum pro docendo pueros volentes discere abbacum et in sustentationem expensarum, dummodo maneat ad retinendum scolas in Castro Veteri, que solutio at ei quolibet mense sicut pro rata temporis tangit.93
92 93
Morandi (1966), p. 51. ASS Colle 286, fol. 41r.
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Between 1331 and 1337 two abacus masters were appointed to teach publicly in Arezzo at an annual salary of 50 lire: the brothers Maestro Tommaso and Maestro Giovanni, sons of the late Maestro Davizzo de’ Corbizzi da Firenze. It is unknown how long they served in Arezzo, or whether they returned to teach again before 1342.94 It has been seen that, in Volterra, Ser Francesco di Turino da Siena was teaching reading, writing and abacus from 1327 at an annual salary of 10 lire (see above pp. 268–70), but the rst teacher there of abacus alone (although some hope was expressed in the election document that he might be able offer instruction in other subjects) whose salary is known was Maestro Iacopo di Benedetto, who was appointed on 31 January 1334 to teach for a year from 28 February 1334 to 1 March 1335 at an annual salary of 15 lire: Discreto viro Magistro Iacobo Benedicti magistro albachi pro uno anno quo stare debet in civitate Vult. ad docendum dictam artem albachi et aliam, si quam habet vel scit, volentibus adiscere in servitium comunis Vult., incipiendo [pri]die kal. februarii proxime futuri et niendo in kalendis marzii non proxime futuro sed aliis tunc proxime subsequentibus, solvendum eidem per camerarium comunis pro rata temporis pro quolibet mense dicti anni pro eius merito, det et solvat dictus cam. modo dicto: L. XV den.95
In Prato, the rst abacus master whose salary is known was Ser Carmignano del fu Maestro Puccio, who was teaching at an annual salary of 25 lire from January 1334;96 from 1 November 1337 his duties were to include auditing Prato’s communal accounts without any additional payment: [19 October 1336] Ser Carmingniano Magistri Puccii pro suo salario unius anni incipiendo die primo novembris proxime venturi, qui teneatur et debeat stare continue in terra Prati dicto tempore et docere doctrinam albici et revidere omnes rationes camere et camerarii comunis et precipue quolibet mense secundum fformam statuti vel ordinis super eis
94 For the documents, see Black (1996a), pp. 316–18. According to Ulivi (2002a), p. 196, their father, Maestro Davizzo, was still alive in 1331, and so the dates given in Black (1996a), pp. 316–17 (1327–1337), based on the various versions of the communal statutes, need to be shortened accordingly. The statutes, with this passage, were copied until 1342, so possibly indicating a continuation or a resumption of their employment. 95 ACV A nera 10 XI, fol. 16v. 96 ASPrato Comune 878 parte 13, fol. 26v.
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editi et omnes et singulas alias rationes comunis Prati prout tenere[n]tur vel ei imponerentur a dominis octo et vexillfero iustitie dicte terre sine alio salario pretio vel mercede propterea petendo habendo vel recipiendo, solvendo sibi quibuslibet sex mensibus dicti anni prout pro rata contingerit in totum libras vigintiquinque D. S.97
San Gimignano appointed communal abacus teachers as early as 1279 (see above p. 253 and Appendix 4 below), and paid them salaries during the decade 1322 to 1331, but the rst abacus master whose salary is actually known was one Maestro Iacopo, abacist and surgeon, who, on 11 August 1335, was elected, by a majority of 87 to 42, for three years at an annual salary of 25 lire: [. . .] super petitionem Magistri Iacobi magistri abachi et cerusie, inter cetera continentem quod, si provideatur per consilia oportuna, quod ipse habe[a]t a comuni, ad hoc ut ipse stare possit in terra Sancti Geminiani pro tribus annis, quolibet anno XXV libras et domum in qua possit docere abbacum.98
In Sansepolcro, the only abacus teacher known to have been publicly appointed either in the fourteenth or fteenth centuries was Maestro Giovanni da Perugia. In a meeting of the communal council on 22 May 1394, it was declared that a communal surveyor would be useful, that one Maestro Giovanni da Perugia with the appropriate qualications had come to town and that it would be desirable to induce him to remain by means of a public appointment. Messer Barnabò di Niccolò da Sansepolcro advised that a committee of four should be named to appoint him as town surveyor, adding that he should also serve as public abacus teacher; this proposal, supported by the notary Ser Matteo di Ser Angelo da Sansepolcro, as well as by Nanni di Bartolo di Uguccio da Sansepolcro, who added that he should not be appointed for longer than a year, was passed by a majority of 22 to 11. Two days later, on 24 May, the committee was accordingly elected. Immediately thereafter the electors appointed Giovanni da Perugia for one year beginning on 1 June next at an annual salary of 15 orins, specifying not only the fees he was to charge his pupils but also charges he could make for measuring. On 31 May Giovanni duly accepted the appointment.99
97
ASPrato CD 63 parte 3, fol. xlv recto. ACSG 112, fol. 27r–v. See Pecori (1853), p. 326; Castaldi (1911), p. 6; Imberciadori (1976), pp. 60, 76. 99 ACSS ser. II, vol. 1, fol. 78r–79r; see Appendix 8 for the texts, and Banker (2003), pp. 86–87 for partial summaries of the documents. 98
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Other towns in Florentine Tuscany appointed abacus teachers during the fourteenth century, including Fucecchio (1327: see above p. 256), Pisa (1363, 1386, 1399: see Appendix 4) and Pistoia (1354–1358, 1382–1388: see Appendix 4), but their salaries are for the most part unknown.100 Shortage of Teachers Outside Florence Throughout the fourteenth century, the demand for teachers in Florentine Tuscany exceeded the supply: without public provision for education, there could be no schools for a town’s children. The shortage of teachers without communal support was particularly acute in the case of grammar and elementary masters. At Volterra in November 1317, it was declared that ‘nullus magister sit modo in dicta civitate Vulterrarum qui gramaticam doceat’,101 while in 1331 it was lamented that, owing to the absence of teachers caused by turbulent conditions, knowledge of Latin could not but be lost: ut licteralis scientia in civitate Vulterrarum volentibus discere doceatur et ob defectu[m] et absentia[m] magistrorum non possit ipsa scientia in civitate iam dicta modo aliquo [non] demoliri vel paci(s) defectu vel iactura.102
At Colle Valdelsa in April 1319 a grammar teacher was appointed because the ‘terra [. . .] male sine magistro gramatice stet’103—a circumstance justifying the same teacher’s renewal in April 1320.104 In January 1324, it was stated that ‘in terra de Colle magnus defectus sit magisterii ad docendum audire et discere volentibus gramaticam et alias scientias’.105 In July 1372 it was stressed how much the community would suffer without a grammar teacher: ‘manere sine gramatice professore esset absurdum quo tota comunitas posset immense multi-
100
Apart from Pisa in 1399, when Maestro Filippo de’ Folli and Maestro Iacopo di Maestro Tommaso dell’Abaco [Fibonacci] were given annual salaries of 105 and 70 lire respectively: see Antoni (1973), pp. 334–35. 101 ACV A nera 7 III, fol. 60r, published with errors by Battistini (1919), p. 79; see also p. 46. 102 ACV A nera 10 V, fol. 30v, published with errors by Battistini (1919), p. 81. 103 ASS Colle 76, fol. 16r. 104 ASS Colle 77, fol. 91v. 105 ASS Colle 77, fol. 111v.
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mode ledi’.106 In October 1375, the appointment of a grammar teacher was approved, ‘cum in terra Collis non sit aliquis magister gramatice facultatis.’107 In April 1393, it was observed that ‘in terra Collis non sit magister gramatice’108 and by September, the lack of a grammar teacher seemed all the more urgent as the beginning of the of the school year approached: ‘cum tempus studii modo sit prope et in terra Collis non sit magister gramatice’.109 At Fucecchio in October 1330, it was noted that inconvenience would result if the town were to remain without a grammar teacher: ‘terra Ficecchii absque magistro et doctore gramatice inconcinne moretur’.110 Similarly in April 1333 it was declared that ‘nullus magister Ficecchi existat’,111 while again, in January 1349, it was stated that ‘nullus sit in dicta terra qui docere possit dictos pueros’.112 At Poggibonsi in September 1335 a search for a public school teacher was set in motion ‘propter defectum magistrorum’,113 while in June 1349 it was observed that ‘ad presens non sit in terra Podiiboniti magister gramatice qui doceat pueros dicti comunis Podiiboniti’.114 At Prato in September 1334 it was noted that in the ‘terra [. . .] ad presens non sit studium in gramaticalibus’—a situation that recurred the following September: ‘in terra Prati non sint magistri qui sufciant ad docendum gramaticham pueros pratenses.’115 Similarly in November 1381 it was declared that ‘ad presens in terra Prati non sit aliquis magister gramatice’.116 At San Gimignano in December 1338 it was stated that the town could not remain without a schoolmaster: ‘sine magistro qui doceat pueros dicte terre, stari non possit’.117 This sentiment was repeated in May 1361, in particular reference to the elementary teacher, with the addition that there were many boys in town then learning to read and write:
106
ASS Colle 115, fol. 11v. ASS Colle 119, fol. 17v–18r. 108 ASS Colle 132, fol. vi recto. 109 ASS Colle 132, fol. xxxi recto. 110 ACF 122, fol. 63r. 111 ACF 130, fol. 12v. 112 ACF 149, fasc. II fol. 34r. 113 ASS Poggibonsi 11, fol. 36v. 114 ASS Poggibonsi 50, fol. 57r. 115 ASPrato CD 76, fol. 78r, 106r. 116 ASPrato CD 78, fol. 211r. 117 Accurately published by Davidsohn (1896–1908), II, p. 314; cf. ASF SG 288, fol. 24r. 107
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chapter four cum otium Ser Doris Ser Iohannis de Sancto Geminiano magistri dicti comunis [. . .] ad docendum pueros et quoslibet volentes discere legere et scribere veniat spirandum de XVII mensis iunii presentis futuri et sine magistro qui predicta doceat dictum comune non bene moraretur cum in terra predicta multi pueri sint qui presentialiter discunt et audiunt a dicto magistro.118
In June 1361, there were many pupils who wanted to learn Latin but no communal master to teach them, so that they were unable to learn: ‘cum ad presens non sit in terra Sancti Geminiani aliquis magister gramatice salariatus a comuni predicto qui gramaticam doceat in terra predicta et sit in terra predicta magnus numerus volentium audire et discere gramaticam [. . .] et spectantia ad eam et eam ob dictam causam discere et audire non possunt’.119 In January 1372, a commission to search for a grammar teacher was given to two citizens, who, however, were unsuccessful, with the result that the city and its population were suffering damage and disgrace: Cum providi viri Micchael Laurentii et Taddeus Bactaccii pridie electi fuerint [. . .] ad investigandum et perquirendum de uno sufcienti et experto magistro gramatice [. . .] cumque ipsi Micheal et Taddeus referant se nullum magistrum invenire potuisse et in dicti comunis cedat non modicum dedecus et dampnum et hominum et personarum eiusdem non habere et esse continuo in dicta terra Sancti Geminiani aliquem sufcientem magistrum gramatice qui dictam scientiam doceat omnes addiscere volentes.120
After the premature departure of a grammar teacher in December 1390, it was feared that pupils would remain bereft of teaching,121 and the same anxiety recurred in May 1395 in view of the imminent departure of the current Latin master.122 At Pistoia in March 1367 it was lamented that ‘nunc in civitate Pistorii non sit copia magistrorum gramatice’.123 In June 1389, there was no grammar teacher, resulting in harm to potential pupils: ‘Cum in presenti pro comuni Pistorii nullus profexor aut magister [. . .] gramaticalium sit in civitate Pistorii, quod pueris et aliis discere volentibus cedit in damnum maximum et in iacturam’.124 In November 1397, it 118 119 120 121 122 123 124
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was again regretted that ‘in civitate Pistorii ad presens non sit aliquis magister valens in gramaticalibus et recthorica qui pueros et iuvenes instruat’125—a situation which continued throughout the autumn and winter of 1398–99.126 At Arezzo in September 1388, it was declared that there was no qualied and competent grammar teacher in the city—a circumstance which resulted in damage and inconvenience for the commune and its citizens: ‘quod ad presens in civitate aretina non est aliquis magister sufciens et ydoneus qui gramaticam doceat, quod non parvi danni et incommodi comuni et civibus redundat.’127 At Pescia in September 1388, it was declared that ‘in terra Piscie nullus magister adsit qui erudiat et doceat pueros ad legendum vel gramaticam’,128 while in March 1391, it was believed ‘dictam terram et comunitatem eiusdem male esse sine uno magistro qui doceat pueros gramaticam vel saltim erudiat eos et instruat legere et scribere.129 In 1396 three citizens were commissioned to nd a master to run the grammar school, but it was found ‘ab eis quod pro salario per ipsum statutum ordinatum nullum possunt magistrum invenire qui veniat ad regendum scolas gramatice in dicta terra Piscie’.130 At Sansepolcro in November 1392, it was considered necessary to have a grammar teacher to provide boys with instruction but none was currently available: ‘Cum in dicto burgo sit necesse habere quemdam magistrum gramatice qui pueros instruat et nullus presentialiter existat’.131 The following December (1392), it was reiterated that ‘ad presens nullus magister gramatice actu legens adsit’.132 Again in June 1395 it was emphasized that ‘in dicta terra burgi sit maxima indigentia magistri gramatice moraturi in dicta terra qui pueros instruat.’133 At Castelfranco di Sotto in April 1396, it was noticed ‘quod magna necessitas est in comuni predicto quod sit quidam magister qui doceat pueros’.134
125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134
ASPistoia Provv. 26, fol. 80r. Zanelli (1900), pp. 27–28. Black (1996a), p. 334. ASPescia Delib. 10, fol. 163r. ASPescia Delib. 11, fol. 171v. ASPescia Delib. 12, fol. 128v. ACSS ser. II, vol. 1, fol. 39r. See Appendix 8. ACSS ser. II, vol. 1, fol. 70v. See Appendix 8. ACSS ser. II, vol. 1, fol. 96v. See Appendix 8. ACCS 1460, fol. 190v.
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At San Miniato in March 1399, the priors and gonfalonier of justice considered ‘ad presens nullum pre manibus habere magistrum qui instruat et doceat scolares in Sancto Miniate gramaticam.’ The shortage of teachers in the fourteenth century outside Florence135 extended beyond grammar and elementary reading and writing to the abacus, but concern over lack of abacus teaching was voiced less frequently than in the case of elementary and grammar education—a reection of the lesser status of abacus masters outside than inside the city of Florence. Nevertheless, occasional voices were raised in Florentine Tuscany lamenting the absence of abacus teachers. At Colle Valdelsa in May 1349, it was declared that not only did the town need a public grammar master but a communal abacus teacher too: ‘terra Collis necessario indigeat pro eruditione puerorum dicte terre magistro gramatice et abachi qui doceant pueros dicte terre’.136 At Pistoia in November 1381 it was declared that ‘in civitate Pistorii non est aliquis magister abichi’137—a situation that recurred in February 1388, to the detriment, it was felt, of the city and its citizens: ‘Cum in civitate Pistorii nullus magister abici inveniatur neque sit qui doceat artem abici, quod est incommodum et dannum civitatis Pistorii et civium ipsius’.138 Monetary Inducements for Teachers Outside Florence Given the teaching shortage outside Florence from the beginning of the fourteenth century, masters were often in a strong bargaining position vis-à-vis local authorities: they were able to demand salaries in addition to their private-fee income, making it clear that their commencement and/or continuance as local teachers depended on nancial support from communes. At San Gimignano in 1294, Maestro Corso da S. Fiora declared that he would not remain there as a grammar teacher unless he were granted a subsidy of 15 lire to rent his teaching premises:
135 The dearth of teachers extended beyond what would become Florentine Tuscany: see the document of 14 August 1348 published by Barsanti (1905), pp. 50, 195: ‘ne ipsi pueri hinc inde vagabundi ambulent, et ne ex diutina magistrorum vacatione ignari literarum efciantur’. 136 ASS Colle 91, fol. xxxi verso. 137 ASPistoia Provv. 19, fol. 239r. 138 ASPistoia Provv. 22, fol. 19r–v.
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Magister Cursus de Sancta Flora doctor gramatice [. . .] exponit et dicit quod ipse vult stare, habitare, scolas conducere et scolares docere in gramatica in dicto castro Sancti Geminiani pro anno proximo futuro et omnia facere que ex forma capituli castri Sancti Geminiani loquentis de materia tenetur, quatenus vobis suplicat dictus Magister Cursus ut (de) supradicta petitione vobis placeat propositam in consilio facere et in eo reformari si ipsis consiliariis placet, quod dictus Magister Cursus moretur in dicto castro et omnia faciat ut supra contentum, ad hec ut consequatur et habeat benetium in supradicto capitulo contentum s(cilicet) XV libras denariorum parvorum pro aducendo hospitio scolarium, offerens se paratum omnia facere, promictere et observare et dem dare secundum formam capituli dicti castri.139
This petition was rejected (see above pp. 250–51), and it is unknown if Maestro Corso remained for the time being in S. Gimignano (he received a partial subvention for rent in 1297: see above p. 251). Accorsino renewed his request for a subsidy on 13 October 1298, declaring that there were fewer indigenous pupils than usual while there were no non-local pupils, with resulting loss of earnings: cum in castro predicto scholares studentes sint ad presens pauciores solito, nec ulli forenses adveniant, unde lucrum doctoris gramatice est et comoditas diminuta, dominationi vestre supplicat reverenter quatenus, ut ipse magister tuatur et possit utilitati scolastice ferventius superesse, ordinetur sicut placet vobis, quod occasione dicte doctrine et artis gramatice docende in dicto castro ut dictum est, sibi magistro provideatur et detur quolibet anno certa quantitas pecunie, ut videbitis convenire, saltim salarium consuetum pro dicta arte docenda a dicto comuni Sancti Geminiani.140
In the end he was granted a reduced subsidy of 10 lire per annum, instead of the usual 15.141 In May 1300, Accorsino again requested a subsidy to remain in S. Gimignano: Magister Bonacursus de Sancta Luce doctor gramatice exponit et dicit quod ipse paratus est stare in Sancto Geminiano et legere et docere in arte gramatice omnes audire volentes dictam scientiam dummodo sibi provideatur de pecunia et avere comunis pro anno ut continetur in novo statuto, quare placeat vobis predicta poni facere ad consilium generale.142
This petition for payment according to the terms of the town’s new statutes was approved (see above p. 251), and it seems that the unspecied subsidy stipulated therein sufced to keep teachers in S. Gimignano for the next two decades. However, by 1320 the grammar master, Michele di Giunta, was again complaining that the statutory 10 lire were insufcient for him to pay his ripetitore and his rent: Coram vobis dominis novem expensarum comunis Sancti Geminiani Magister Michael scolaribus dictam nunc gramatice scientiam administrans humiliter supplicat et devote, quia, cum salarii munus ex ordine in statuto sibi sancitum, ad salarium repetitoris quem pro utilitate studentium tenere curavit atque pensionem domus conducte, nequaquam sufciat, placeat vestre prudentie providere sibi ultra dicti salarii quantitatem X L. vel illud quod sit honestati consonum et iustitia persuadet faciendi de hoc propositam in consilio generali.143
It is unknown whether and to what extent Michele di Giunta was able to have his subsidy increased during the 1320s, but by the late 1330s grammar teachers in S. Gimignano had managed to exploit the general shortage of teachers to demand and receive far higher communal salaries; thus the grammarian Maestro Niccolò da Bologna requested (and received) an annual salary of 50 lire on 11 December 1339, using the veiled threat that he would leave town otherwise: Cum Magister Nicholaus de Bononia doctor gramatice conductus per dictum comune pro uno anno niendo in festo Sancti Luce de mense octobris proxime venturo velit pro suo salario dicti anni libras quinquaginta denariorum, et sine magistro qui doceat pueros dicte terre stari non possit.144
At Fucecchio in December 1315, the grammar teacher, Maestro Malusino da Lucca, made it clear that he would not remain there without a communal salary: Sex super impositis consiliorum expend(end)is comunis Ficechii [. . .] deliberaverunt [. . .] Malusino professoris [sic] gramatice facultatis ut moretur in terra Ficechii ad docendum gramaticham [. . .] Item propositum et dictum fuit per dictos consules et preceptores inter dictos consiliarios [. . .] quod camerarius dicti comunis presens et futurus [. . .] solvere [. . .] debeat
143
ASF SG 266, fol. 22v. ASF SG 288, fol. 24r. The petition was approved by majorities of 104 to 13 and 97 to 24 on the same day: fol. 26r–26v. 144
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de pecunia dicti comunis Malusino de Luca professoris [sic] gramatice facultatis ut stet et moretur in terra Ficecchii ad tenendum scholas et docendum gramaticam audire volentes.145
At Volterra in November 1317, the grammarian Maestro Rainuccio di Ser Guido da Cigoli (San Miniato) said he would live in Volterra for the next year and teach grammar, provided he received the salary as stipulated in the communal statutes: Magister Raynuccius Ser Guidonis de Sancto Miniate doctor gramatice stet et moretur et stare et morari possit in civitate Vulterrarum ad docendum gramaticam hinc ad unum annum proximum ad salarium in statuto comunis contentum, quod salarium camerarius comunis eidem det et solvat secundum formam statuti.146
At Colle Valdelsa in August 1319, Angelo del fu Buoso d’Arezzo, the communal grammar teacher, evidently complained that, although his salary for three previous months had been approved, he had yet to be paid; he made it clear that he could not afford to live in Colle without his communal salary: Item a dicto consilio consilium postulavit quod, cum Magistro Agnolo doctori gramatice stantiate fuerunt die XV mensis aprilis proxime preteriti libre quinquaginta D. pro uno anno incepto die XV mensis martii, quo tenere et regere debet scolas gramatice in terra Collis, et ipsos denarios de tribus in tribus mensibus habere debeat secundum formam reformationis predicte, quos habere non potest, cum principales primo stantiate solute non sint, et ipse comode non habeat unde vivere nisi de dicto salario, si dicto consilio et consiliariis dicti consilii videtur et placet providere et ordinare, quod derogetur statutum loquens [et] quod camerarius comunis de Colle expensas stantiatas et approbatas [. . .] solvat.147
At Pistoia, Maestro Piero di Ser Baldo da Montale petitioned the commune on 12 October 1333, declaring that, impoverished as he was, he would have to accept a higher salary at Pescia, if he were not adequately subsidized in Pistoia; it was urged by citizens and pupils alike that Piero should not be allowed to leave Pescia for want of a salary: Coram vobis dominis anzianis et vexillifero iustitie civitatis Pistorii exponitur et narratur quod, cum Magister Pierus, pauper et egenus de
145
ACF 17 not foliated (10, 12 December 1316, corso di Fucecchio = 1315). ACV A nera 7 III, fol. 60r, published inaccurately and incompletely by Battistini (1919), p. 79. 147 ASS Colle 76, fol. 49v–50r. 146
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chapter four lucro quod habet a scholaribus gramatice, non valeat pertranxire, et invenerit et necessitate choactus aceptaverit magnum salarium in terra Pescie, sicut est multis bonis hominibus manifestum, et vobis nec domino conservatori et aliis probis viris civitatis Pistorii non placeat quod predictus magister a civitate Pistorii discedat predictum salarium suscepturus, humiliter supplicatur vobis dominis antedictis ex parte multorum bonorum hominum dicte civitatis et ex parte dicti Magistri Petri et suorum scolarium, quatenus vobis placeat ponere et poni facere ad oportuna consilia et in eis facere reformari quod predicto Magistro Petro intendenti docere studere volentibus in gramaticha et in summa notarie, provideatur in eo salario et pro eo tempore pro quo dominationi vestre videbitur quod valeat congrue petranxire pro dictis artibus instruendis [. . .]148
In 1344, Maestro Consiglio del fu Vanni, a native Pistoiese grammar teacher from the parish of S. Giovanni fuorcivitas, declared that he had been teaching in Montecatini with a communal salary and had been reappointed, but that at the behest of his compatriots he had returned to Pistoia, where, however, the fees he was receiving from from pupils were insufcient to meet his expenses; therefore he petitioned for an additional communal salary, which was approved at the level of 25 lire annually by majorities of 158 to 34 and 162 to 30: Coram vobis dominis antianis et vexillifero iustitie populi civitatis Pistorii exponit et dicit Magister Consiglius quondam Vannis magister gramatice cappelle Sancti Iohannis Forcivitas, quod ipse docebat gramaticam in Monte Catino, et quod ipse propterea a comuni Montis Catini recipiebat pro suo salario quolibet anno quo docebat, et quod ipsum comune etiam volebat et requirebat eundem, quod ipse Magister Consillius cum dicto salario in dicto castro ad docendum dictam scientiam moraretur, et quod ipse Magister Consiglius ad partes multorum civium civitatis Pistorii discessit a castro prefato et rediit Pistorii [sic] et scholas tenet et docet scientiam prelibatam, et quod de salario quod percipit a scolaribus suis non posset expensas opportunas sibi aliqualiter substinere, nisi ei per comune Pistorii manus suffragii porrigatur. [Iohannes Muccii] [. . .] consuluit [. . .] quod ipse Magister Consiglius teneatur et debeat docere gramaticham in civitate Pistorii uno anno, et quod camerarius comunis Pistorii pro suo salario dicti anni solvat et det eidem de pecunia comunis predicti libras vigintiquinque bonis denariis orentinis parvis.149
In November 1345, a grammar teacher called Lucchese di Tura da Serravalle Pistoiese (between Pistoia and Montecatini) declared that he had been teaching grammar, notariate, dictamen and writing in 148 149
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Pistoia for the past seven years at an annual salary 25 lire; he was paying 12 orins a year for rent, and he was now employing a ripetitore at an annual salary of 6 orins in order better to serve the needs of his pupils. In view of these expenses, he said he could not remain in Pistoia without provision by the commune; accordingly, the same annual salary was approved by majorities of 129 to 23 and 124 to 28: Coram vobis dominis anzianis et vexifellero iustitie civitatis Pistorii Lucchese Ture de Serravalle exponit et dicit quod iam sunt septem anni elapsi per dominos anzianos tunc temporis existentes et alia consilia opportuna conductus extitit ad regendum in dicta civitate studium gramatice, notarie, dictaminis et scripture cum salario vigintiquinque librarum in anno, et sic postea extitit continue conrmatus et quod dictum studium rexit et regit et intendit regere in quolibet membro sui, et quod ipse solvit pro pensione in domibus olim Domini Vannis Rambocti quolibet anno orenos duodecim auri, et quod tenet et tenturus est [. . .] unum repetitorem cui daturus est salarium orenorum sex auri, ut dicto studio melius possit actendere et ut scolares melius studeant. Et quod considerato onere tam dicte pensionis quam dicti salarii repetitoris et parvo lucro quod percipitur ex studio prelibato, esse in dicta civitate non posset, nisi per vos ordinetur sibi in aliquo provideri.150
In January 1348, Luccchese renewed his request, adding that, with his rent of 11 orins a year and his modest earnings from pupils, he was unable to meet his expenses; accordingly his same salary was renewed by the commune with majorities of 147 to 30 and 145 to 32 for two years: Lucchese Ture de Serravalle exponit et dicit quod extitit retrohactis temporibus pluries conductus per opportuna [consilia] ad regendum in dicta civitate studium gramatice dictaminis et scripture cum salario librarum vigintiquinque den. f. p. in anno, et quod ipse solvit in anno pro pensione domus orenos undecim auri, et quod considerato onere dicte pensionis et modico lucro quod percipitur ex studio prelibato, idem Lucchese sumptibus respondere nequiret nisi per vos sibi in aliquo provideretur.151
In March of the same year (1348), another grammar teacher, Caleffo del fu Bonaccorso da Firenze, petitioned the Pistoiese town council, declaring that he and his ripetitor had come to Pistoia at the request of the citizens, on the understanding that he would receive a house and an appropriate salary, as had been customarily provided for other
teachers there in the past; he added that he could not remain in Pistoia spending his own money unless he were subsidized by the commune. Accordingly he was voted by majorities of 110 to 43 and 111 to 42 an annual salary of 25 lire for the next two years from the beginning of the same month (March): reverenter exponit Chaleffus olim Bonacursi de Florentia, inter alios magistros gramatice minimus magister, quod ipse una cum Ser Bartholomeo Simonis eius repetitore, prece multorum civium dicte civitatis, domum conduxit ad pensionem non modicam in dicta civitate Pistorii et in ea stetit et docuit dictam scientiam unacum dicto suo repetitore omnibus volentibus adiscere et audire ab uno anno citra continue, et stat et docet ad mandata dictorum civium, ut publicum et notorium est in dicta civitate, sub de sibi data et spe tota quod comune Pistorii provideret eidem de domo et salario competenti, ut consuevit temporibus retroactis providere omnibus aliis magistris cuiuscumque scientie stantibus et habitantibus et docentibus in dicta civitate, et quod, nisi comune eidem de sua impenderit pecunia, non posset comode morari et dictam scientiam docere in dicta civitate, quod liberissime faceret ipse magister, si aliquo salario si facultas adesset.152
On 11 September 1353, the grammar teacher in Pistoia, Maestro Pietro di Ser Baldo, declared that, given his own poverty, the high price of food and his own inability to earn a living except by teaching, he could not continue to teach without a communal subsidy: ipse, non intendens ad aliud quam ad scolas, non possit comode sine comunis auxilio pertansire, tam per inopiam qua gravatur quam propter victualium carestiam.153
At Pescia on 23 May 1394, the current grammar teacher, Maestro Luca da Verrucola, refused to accept a renewal of his contract unless he were granted higher fees from the pupils and more advantageous conditions of payment from them: quod Magister Luchas de Verrucola Luinisane ad presens rector scolarum gramatice in terra Piscie noluit acceptare electionem de se pridie factam et sibi presentatam pro futuro anno, eaque volebat cum comuni alia pacta ulterius solita [. . .] quod, ubi in prima electione eiusdem magistri videlicet primi anni dicitur quod latinantes teneantur sibi solvere in principio cuiuslibet semestris dimidiam salarii dicto magistro, idem intelligatur at et observetur in omnibus aliis scolaribus quos continget doceri ab eo, hoc tamen addito, quod, ubi in dicta electione dicitur quod dictus magister
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posset accipere de salario a legentibus psalterium soldos quadragintaocto orentinos parvos pro toto anno, de cetero in isto anno huius nove electionis valeat tollere pro salario a dictis legentibus psalterium soldos quinquagintaduos, et ab adiscentibus et legentibus tabulam, ubi dicebatur quod posset colligere soldos trigintasex, in presenti electione liceat sibi accipere soldos quadraginta pro toto anno, hoc etiam addito, quod, sicut studentes in gramatica pariter et alii omnes scolares teneantur et cogi possint ad solvendum dimidiam salarii in principio cuiuslibet semestris huius nove electionis dicto magistro in predictis, non obstante statuto dicti comunis aliter disponente quoquo modo, cui, quo ad hec, intelligatur et sit durante presenti electioni suspensum et spetialiter derogatum, hoc etiam expresso et declarato in presenti electione, quod quilibet scolaris qui inerit ad dictas scolas teneatur et cogi valeat, si steterit uno mense, solvere pro toto semestri, in primo vel secundo semestri, quod, casus occurat talem scolarem nolle, se non posse ulterius scolas dicti magistri frequentare. Quam electionem dictus magister cum dictis pactis acceptavit eodem die supradicto.154
It was not only grammar and elementary teachers who had difculty surviving without communal salaries. On 10 December 1330 the Sienese notary Francesco di Turino, then resident in Volterra in the contrada of Borgo S. Maria, declared that he had been teaching elementary Latin and also abacus in the town, but that, given the severe grain shortage, he could no longer manage on the meagre fees received from pupils; he therefore requested a communal salary as well: Francischus notarius Turini de Senis et nunc habitator Vulterrarum in contrata Burgi Sancti Marie dicit et exponit [. . .] ad introducendum eos ad principia gramatice discipline ac etiam abacum volentes adiscere, prout huc usque stetit ad vestrum servitium et honorem, set quia isto tempore est maxima karestia, et non potest ex salario illo parvo quod percipit a scolaribus sumptibus et expensis sibi necessariis repondere, vobis supplicat reverenter, quatenus vestro honore ac etiam intuitu misericordie, et ad hoc ut possit stare et esse ad predictum servitium faciendum, vobis placeat et velitis sibi aliquale salarium statuere.155
Rising Communal Salaries for Grammar Teachers The continuing demand for teachers resulted not only in the intervention of communal authorities with subsidies into the educational
154
ASPescia Delib.13, fol. 20v–21r. ACV A nera 9 XI, fol. 21v–22r (published inaccurately and incompletely by Battistini [1919], p. 80), approved by a majority of 53 to 18 (fol. 23r). 155
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sector but also in rising public salaries, at least until the last decade or decades of the fourteenth century. Abundant data for salary levels in Florentine Tuscany survive only in the case of grammar teachers and only for seven towns. In Colle Valdelsa, annual salaries for grammar teachers rose from less than 40 lire before 1320 to just under 150 lire in 1380 and to a peak of more than 250 lire in the 1380s: Colle Valdelsa: salaries, grammar teachers 300
Salary (in lire)
250 200 150 100 50 0 1310
1320
1330
1340
1350
1360 Year
1370
1380
1390
1400
1410
In Fucecchio, annual subsidies for grammar teachers began at less than 10 lire in the rst decade of the century, rising to salaries of about 40 lire mid-century, and then levelling off between about 50 and 60 lire between c. 1370 and c. 1390: Fucecchio: salaries, grammar teachers 120
Salary (in lire)
100 80 60 40 20 0 1300
1320
1340
1360 Year
1380
1400
1420
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In Pistoia, annual subsidies for grammar teachers began at about 25 lire in the 1330s and 1340s, with annual salaries rising to between 50 and 75 lire in the 1350s, to more than 150 lire in the 1370s, and nally reaching a zenith of 250 lire c. 1380 and in the 1390s: Pistoia: salaries, grammar teachers 300
Salary (in lire)
250 200 150 100 50 0 1320
1330
1340
1350
1360
1370 Year
1380
1390
1400
1410
In Poggibonsi, annual salaries of grammar teachers began at slightly more than 20 lire in the 1320s, rising to about 35 lire between 1350 and 1370, then eventually increasing to 60 lire in the 1380s and to 70 lire in 1390: Poggibonsi: salaries, grammar teachers 80 70
Salary (in lire)
60 50 40 30 20 10 0 1320
1330
1340
1350
1360
1370 Year
1380
1390
1400
1410
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In Prato, there was a steady rise in annual subsidies and salaries for grammar teachers from about 10 lire before 1300 to about 25 lire c. 1320 to more than 80 lire c. 1340; from the 1340s to the 1380s, there was frequent uctuation from about 50 lire to about 125 lire, with a mean value of about 100 lire: Prato: salaries, grammar teachers 180 160 Salary (in lire)
140 120 100 80 60 40 20 0 1280
1300
1320
1340
1360
1380
1400
1420
Year
In San Gimignano, annual subsidies for grammar teachers remained at about 10 lire from c. 1270 to c. 1320, with salaries then rising to about 50 lire by c. 1360, 70 lire by c. 1370 and nally to a mean value of about 150 lire during the last three decades of the century: San Gimignano: salaries, grammar teachers 300
Salary (in lire)
250 200 150 100 50 0 1260
1280
1300
1320
1340 Year
1360
1380
1400
1420
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In Volterra, annual salaries for grammar teachers began at about 50 lire in the 1320s, rising to a mean value of about 150 lire after the mid-1350s: Volterra: salaries, grammar teachers 400 350 Salary (in lire)
300 250 200 150 100 50 0 1320
1330
1340
1350
1360
1370
1380
1390
1400
1410
Year
In all seven towns, salaries stagnated or rose slowly during the rst four decades of the Trecento, but then began a more rapid increase in mid-century, c. 1340 to c. 1370.156 This pattern might suggest that it was the various demographic and economic crises of the mid-Trecento (most famously the Black Death) which led to higher prices and inability and unwillingness of teachers to work for lower salaries or on the basis primarily of fee income directly from pupils. The plague initially caused disruption to schools: in Colle Valdelsa, on 19 April 1349 the grammar teacher Maestro Piero da Siena referred to the ill effects on education occasioned by the plague and to his withdrawal from teaching because pupils were not coming to school: ‘obstante impedimento mortalitatis non tenuerit scholas quia scholares non ibant.’157 Similarly on 7 October 1359, a grammar teacher, Maestro Lamberto da Pistoia, asked to be released from his appointment in Colle Valdelsa because he had no pupils: ‘nec habeat scolares’.158
156 The sudden fall in salaries during the 1390s evident in several of these towns was due to the nancial crisis in Florence, with direct repercussions on local towns in Florentine Tuscany (see Molho [1971] for the crisis); the crisis continued throughout the period of the Milanese wars, and so its effects on communal teaching provision will be considered as a whole in vol. 2. 157 ASS Colle 91, fol. 24r. 158 ASS Colle 312, fol. 42r.
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However, this dearth of pupils apparently had the effect of putting pressure on salaries. At Pistoia on 17 November 1348, it was complained that few pupils had survived the plague, with the result that the grammar teacher, Lucchese di Tura da Serravalle, was not able to take in sufcient fee income to carry out his duties; an adequate communal salary was requested so that he could continue in post: Lucchese Ture de Serravalle exponit et dicit quod retroactis temporibus pluries conductus extitit ad regendum in dicta civitate studium notarie, gramatice, dictaminis et scripture cum salario librarum vigintiquinque den. pro quolibet anno, et quod, considerata mortalitate que fuit hoc presenti anno, adeo pauci scolares supervixerunt, quod pro dicto salario regere nequiret studium prelibatum; quare dominationi vestre cum reverentia supplicatur quod dignemini ponere ad opportuna consilia et in ipsis facere reformari quod dictus Lucchese reconducatur et reconductus esse intelligatur ad regendum in dicta civitate studium antedictum pro eo tempore et termino que vobis et predictis consiliariis videbitur [sic] et cum salario quo mediante in civitate prefata perseverare valeat in studio pretaxato.159
The inationary pressures after the plague meant that teachers demanded higher salaries, not only because they themselves could not make ends meet, but also because parents’ incomes were so stretched that they could not properly pay teachers themselves. From c. 1334 to c. 1341, an elementary teacher, Ser Franco di Neri di Lunardo da Lamporecchio had happily worked in Pistoia without communal subsidy: ‘numquam petiit nec petere intendit de predictis salarium aliquod a comuni Pistorii pro documento scolarium predictorum’.160 But a new elementary teacher, Ser Francesco Luchini da Prato, teaching in Pistoia by 1351, requested a substantial salary, in view of the higher prices of food and other goods and because the citizens of Pistoia were not forthcoming with fees: Exponitur pro parte Ser Francisci de Prato doctoris puerorum quod idem Ser Franciscus moratur in civitate Pistorii et docet pueros dicte civitatis cum omni sollicitudine et diligentia qua potest, et ad predicta facienda in dicta civitate stare intendit et ad predicta vigilanter attendere [ms.: intendere] ad servitia singulorum de civitate predicta, sed considerato per victualia et res omnes sunt plus solito carefacte et comuniter Pistorienses non solvunt magistris ut decet, humiliter supplicatur quatenus dignemini proponere in generali consilio populi dicte civitatis et in eodem facere provideri.161 159 160 161
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The council immediately passed legislation, by majorities of 74 to 21 and 71 to 24, authorizing an annual salary for him of 50 lire for the next three years.162 It should be pointed out that 50 lire was double the salary that grammar teachers had received in Pistoia before 1348.163 After the plague, in November 1348, the Pistoiese grammar teacher’s annual salary rose to 70 lire,164 and then in 1353 was raised to the unprecedented level 80 lire, on the grounds not only of his poverty and but also because of shortage (and implicitly high prices) of food: quod eidem Magistro Petro [Ser Baldi de Montale] provideatur [. . .] pro docendo pueros et adolescentes legere et scribere gramaticam et dictamen et auctores utiles et amenos, maxime cum harum doctrinarum t necessitas in civitate Pistorii, et ipse, non intendens ad aliud quam ad scolas, non possit comode sine comunis auxilio pertansire, tam propter inopiam qua gravatur quam propter victualium carestiam.165
Aims of Communal Education The dearth of teachers in Florentine Tuscany during the fourteenth century, together with inationary pressures evident after the Black Death, encouraged communes to articulate why they were subsidizing school education. City governments and councils had to justify expenditure on education to the wider public and to themselves. The justications for communally subsidized education in fourteenthcentury Florentine Tuscany reected a range of not only cultural and intellectual aspirations but also a variety of behavioural, practical and civic concerns. Literacy enabled youth to enter an economy in which it was increasingly necessary to read and write in order to function in the world of industry, business and commerce. Teaching was also provided to keep up municipal appearances; to ensure boys conducted themselves with a proper public demeanour and did not embarrass their families and fellow citizens; to provide communes with an educated professional elite; and to single out the future leaders of towns. All these concerns are found in communal legislation appointing and authorizing payment to schoolmasters in the fourteenth century. Among all the justications
162 163 164 165
ASPistoia Provv. 10, fol. 90r. See p. 291 above and Appendix 4 below. ASPistoia Provv. 9, fol. 171v–172r. ASPistoia Provv. 11, fol. 17r.
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for communal expenditure, however, the most frequently articulated was literacy and grammar as the gateway to further and higher study: this priority reected the high status of Latin-based education as the necessary prelude to professional careers in Tuscany outside the city of Florence. The Florentine subject territories were the breeding ground for the literate professions both inside and outside the city of Florence. A basic aim of education in fourteenth-century Florentine Tuscany was to ensure an overall literate population. Thus at Volterra on 12 September 1331, literacy (‘licteralis scientia’) was singled out as a fundamental reason for employing teachers in the city: ad hoc ut licteralis scientia in civitate Vulterrarum volentibus discere doceatur et ob defectu[m] et absentia[m] magistrorum non possit ipsa scientia in civitate iam dicta modo aliquo [non] demoliri.166
At Fucecchio on 1 July 1339, an elementary and reading teacher was to be appointed to ensure that local boys were literate: Prudentes et discreti viri domini anziani comunis Fuciechi [. . .] videntes quantum sit utile, immo necessarium, habere in dicta terra Fuciechi unum magistrum qui doceat pueros licteras et gramaticam ad hoc ut in dicta terra veniant pueri licterati.167
At Colle Valdelsa on 7 September 1387, anxiety was voiced lest adolescent pupils remain illiterate: ne scolares et adolescentes doctrina literarum remameant destituti.168
Ignorance among the male population was widely deplored. Thus at Pistoia on 17 August 1352, a large group of citizens complained to the government that the city’s youth were loitering about, in need of elementary literacy, not to mention Latin and good behaviour: Coram vobis magnicis viris dominis antianis et vexilliferi iustitie populi civitatis Pistorii reverenter exponitur pro parte plurium civium quod pueri et scolares dicte civitatis sunt vagantes et ignorantes et indigent doceri licteris et gramatica, moribus et doctrina.169
166
ACV A nera 10 V, fol. 30v–31r, published inaccurately by Battistini (1919),
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In order that the youth of Montevarchi should gain distinction in learning and cast aside ignorance, a rubric was inserted in the communal statutes of 1375, requiring the regular appointment of a grammar teacher: [ut] ad claritatem scientie perveniant et ingnorantiam repellant, provisum et ordinatum est quod defensores una cum oftialibus expensarum pro tempore existentes possint, quandocumque casus occurrectur quod magister gramatice non esset in dicto comuni [. . .], teneantur et debeant eligere unum bonum et sufcientem magistrum gramatice.170
Supervision of young people at home, under the parental and communal eye, was valued. If a teacher were not appointed locally, it was feared that boys, learning away from home, would abandon their studies altogether. As was declared at Fucecchio on 10 April 1334, cum plures et multi pueri de Ficechio studerent in gramaticalibus, si doctor vel magister aliquis esset Ficecchi qui eos doceret, et quia nullus magister Ficecchi existat, vadant ad alias terras pro discendo et quod plures deviant a studio.171
A view was current that education had to be attended to in youth, since knowledge was priceless. As was declared at Pistoia on 28 March 1386: cum [. . .] scientia nullo sit precio numario comparanda, et utile et multum necesarium sit providere quod constituti in annis teneris et iuvenilibus instruantur scientia et moribus.172
Moral improvement was a time-honoured educational topos, omnipresent in every epoch since antiquity. It is a misunderstanding to read the innumerable moral justications of education at face value: teachers were repeatedly appointed to provide instruction in good morals, but this did not mean that they gave formal tuition in moral philosophy, ethics or the like. The real indication of what actually went on in the medieval and Renaissance classroom is offered by the glosses to schoolbooks, and these show that a veritable sea of philological minutiae drowned sparse moral comments and lessons. It was taken for granted that all education was morally uplifting—an assumption which enabled teachers to focus on the genuine business of elementary and grammar education: reading,
writing and Latinity.173 Nevertheless, the moral aims of education were not simply empty words in medieval and Renaissance Italy. Even though teachers did not give formal instruction in ethics or morals, the entire educational process had important moral spinoffs, which must not be overlooked. The school experience kept boys off the streets and out of trouble; it subjected them to discipline and order outside the home; it kept them from wasting their time; it limited their opportunity to pick up bad habits; it prevented them from engaging in morally damaging practices (at least while at school and under the supervision of the teacher). These were undeniable moral benets of attending school, more than justifying, in the eyes of parents and civic authorities, considerable communal expenditure. The moral advantages of education were incessantly reiterated in communal legislation authorizing teaching appointments and payments. At Prato on 14 September 1334, it was proposed to appoint a grammar teacher lest the youth of the town go astray (‘devient’): proponitur quod, cum in terra Prati ad presens non sit studium in gramaticalibus et ob hoc iuvenes pratenses devient [. . .] per comune Prati conducatur unus sufciens magister qui in terra Prati legat et doceat gramaticham.174
At Fucecchio on 31 October 1351, there was similar anxiety lest the town’s youth should stray from the straight and narrow, so to speak: cum comune Ficecchi egeat uno magistro gramatice [. . .] propter quod pueri et lii hominum et personarum dicti comunis deviantur.175
At Colle Valdelsa on 21 April 1364, it was observed that local boys were being led astray and learning nothing: cum pueri de Colle devientur et nichil discant.176
Similarly on 18 October 1382, a contrast was drawn between pupils and boys, corrupted and off the right track without a grammar teacher, and those who through learning would adopt good habits of behaviour:
173 174 175 176
Black (2001), pp. 24–33, 275–330. ASPrato CD 76, fol. 78r. ACF 153, fol. 22r. ASS Colle 105, fol. xlv verso.
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Ne scolares et pueri terre Collis magistro gramatice destituti devient incorrepti sed in studio literarum et bonis moribus perseverare valeant bene doctim.177
At Pescia on 16 April 1385, it was proposed to appoint a grammar teacher to impress good morals into boys’ minds, so that they should be directed towards probity, learning to avoid depravity and to esteem rectitude: quod pro honore et evidenti utilitate dicti comunis Piscie in dicta terra eligatur et sit unus probus et valens homo magister gramatice qui pueros eiusdem terre dictam scientiam instruat et bonos mores ipsorum mentibus imprimat ita quod eius mediante doctrina dirigantur ad virtutes, noscantque prava evitare et virtuosa diligere.178
On 9 March 1389, another appointment was justed, lest the boys of Pescia stray from the path of learning and suffer moral degeneration: ne [. . .] pueri de Piscia deviarent a doctrina et declinarent ad vitia, ut in ipsa terra instructio morum et doctrine reperiatur.179
On 25 March 1391, the commune authorized a teaching appointment in order that the town’s boys, having cast away proigacy, should turn to righteousness: ut pueri dicte terre mediante doctrina magistri, depositis vitiis, perveniant ad virtutes.180
At Pistoia on 16 November 1397, it was stressed that, if fear of a teacher were absent, it was easy to descend to lewd behaviour and that, unless boys were imbued with learning and wisdom by a teacher, they would lead worthless lives: Certum est singulis, ubi magistralis timor abest iuvenibus, facile eorum audaciam ad lassiviam prosilire, et ubi non sunt qui magistrando pueros imbuant sapientia et doctrina, ignavam vitam eis futuram.181
On 6 September 1398, it was stressed that, unless youth were driven to pursue their studies, they would be numbed by sloth and vice:
chapter four ne iuvenes acti ad capessendam scientiam segnitie torpescant et vitiis.182
Schools and teachers performed a not insignicant social function in medieval and Renaissance Italy: they kept unruly youths off the streets. At Colle Valdelsa on 12 March 1319 a grammar teacher was reappointed because he would keep boys in school and stop them from wandering about and getting into trouble: ‘qui eos ad scolas retineat ad hoc ut non vadant deviando’.183 At Poggibonsi on 15 September 1325 it was considered necessary to nd a teacher or teachers because many boys of the town, without a school, were wandering about like vagabonds: ‘cum multi pueri de Podioboniçio propter defectum magistrorum vagabundando vadant per Podiumboniçium.’184 At Pescia on 20 September 1388, the problem was articulated more forcefully: without a teacher boys were running about like vagabonds, paying no attention to the standards of good behaviour and picking up innumerable bad habits. Imprimis cum in terra Piscie nullus magister adsit qui erudiat et doceat pueros ad legendum vel gramaticam, ob quam causam pueri prefati cotidie discurrunt vagatu et deviant a virtutibus, vitiis inherentes quam plurimis quibus est succurrendum.185
Similarly in Castelfranco di Sotto on 24 April 1396, it was felt necessary to have a teacher to provide instruction in proper behaviour to prevent boys from loitering like vagabonds and from acting like idiots: magna necessitas est in comuni predicto quod sit quidam magister qui doceat pueros et ipsos instruat bonis moribus, ut vagando non vadant et alia inepta non faciant.186
Teachers were necessary to stop boys from wasting their time (on the streets), as was stated in Colle Valdelsa on 8 April 1393: ‘cum in terra Collis non sit magister gramatice et pueri de ipsa terra tempus admictant’.187 It was, in short, damaging for the youth of a town not to have a school and a teacher, as was stated, again at Colle but much earlier in the century on 24 February 1318:
182 183 184 185 186 187
Zanelli (1900), p. 28. ASS Colle 292, foliation lost through water damage. ASS Poggibonsi 11, fol. 36v. ASPescia Delib. 10, fol. 163r. ACCS 1460, fol. 190v. ASS Colle 132, fol. vi recto.
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non esse Colle aliquem magistrum qui gramaticam doceat esse valde dampnosum pueris et aliis volentibus scientiam adhipiscere.188
Communal education had an important civic dimension too. It was a matter of pride to ensure an abundance of cultured citizens: as was stated in Colle Valdelsa on 10 October 1373, a teacher had to be found to ll the town with virtuous and learned men: ut terra Collis deo dante virtuosis hominibus et scienticis augmentetur;189
or in Pistoia on 2 September 1377, when a teaching appointment was approved because the city could then number only a few educated men within its population: ad hoc ut dicta civitas repleretur hominibus scienticis cum pauci reperiantur in ea ad presens.190
Citizens wanted to follow in the footsteps of their ancestors, who had provided liberally for education, as was stated in San Gimigano on 3 July 1360: per sapientes antecessores nostros fuerit plenarie effectualiter observatum et utilissimum videatur maiorum sequi vestigia.191
Public damage and shame would ensue if there were not regular provision for education, as was stated in San Gimignano on 26 January 1372: in dicti comunis [sic] cedat non modicum dedecus et dampnum et hominum et personarum eiusdem non habere et esse continuo in dicta terra Sancti Geminiani aliquem sufcientem magistrum gramatice qui dictam scientiam doceat omnes addiscere volentes.192
Material well-being was linked to education in the minds of civic authorities. In San Gimignano on 17 June 1359 a teaching appointment was seen as leading to an abundance of learned men, so resulting in communal prosperity:
188 189 190 191 192
ASS Colle 289, fol. 79r–v. ASS Colle 116, fol. 38v. ASPistoia Provv. 16, fol. 167v. ACSG NN 72, fol. lxxviii recto. ACSG NN 78, fol. lxiii verso–lxvi recto.
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chapter four cum ad presens non sit in terra Sancti Geminiani aliquis magister gramatice qui pro dicto comuni in terra predicta teneatur docere gramaticam ad hoc ut dicta terra Sancti Geminiani bonis viris et scientia doctis continue impleatur et ut ex talibus doctis viris et scientiatis prosperetur pro utilitate dicti comunis et singularium personarum eiusdem.193
Similarly it was declared on 3 July 1360 that the acquisition of educational qualications enabled towns to enhance their prosperity, but where these were absent, owing to lack of learning, they went into decline: omnes liberales artes ex quibus homines decorantur et facultates acquirunt et queque terre in bonum multiplicant et ubi virtutes predicte deciunt ob insipientiam desolantur.194
This sentiment was repeated on 18 June 1361, with particular reference to grammar: quelibet bone terre bonicentur et comuniter terre ubi gramatica et scientia non habentur deciunt.195
Likewise in Pistoia on 12 February 1375, it was proposed to appoint a grammar teacher, because cities went from strength to strength and gained in prosperity through the contribution of their learned and capable citizens: cum civitas Pistorii indigeat uno bono et ydoneo magistro gramatice forensi ut pueri dicte civitatis possint scientia decorari, unde ex viris scienticis et virtuosis civitates verisimiliter augentur et de bono in melius prosperantur et diriguntur.196
In Prato on 7 November 1381 material prot was explicitly mentioned with refence to the appointment of a grammar teacher: cum ad presens in terra Prati non sit aliquis magister gramatice et multi sint iuvenes et pueri adiscere volentes ut possint ad alias scientias pertransire et quia propter scientiam comunia et homines honorantur et lucra etiam consecuntur,197
and these same sentiments and, indeed, words were repeated there on 18 September 1382 and 21 August 1384.198 In Arezzo on 11 September 193 194 195 196 197 198
ACSG NN 71, fol. lxxvi recto. ACSG NN 72, fol. lxxviii recto. ACSG NN 73, fol. xxxvi recto–xli recto. ASPistoia Provv. 17, fol. 6v, partly published by Zanelli (1900), p. 21. ASPrato CD 78, fol. 211r. ASPrato CD 79, fol. 264r and 490v.
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1388 it was declared that learning was necessary and useful for a good quality of life in every city, a benet that applied especially to grammar: ‘cum necessarium et opportunum sit scientia ad bene vivendum in qualibet civitate, et maxime gramatica’.199 Education also provided non-material adornment for towns; without schools and teachers public damage and shame would result for posterity, as was declared in Poggibonsi on 11 October 1340: quod in terra de Podiobonizio non sit aliquis magister [a] quo scholares erudiri possint in scientia et moribus et doctrina, quod maximum dapnum ac dedecus hominibus et personis dicte terre redundat et redundare possit in posterum, bonum esset providere ut publicum indecus non crescat.200
In Pistoia on 28 March 1386, it was stated that teaching was needed because every community, whether a kingdom or a town, was adorned by men of learning and accomplishment: ‘cum per virtuosos et scienticos omne regnum et omnis civitas decore[n]tur’.201 Good communal governance was felt to be a by-product of education, not least because a civic elite could thereby be singled out and trained. In Prato on 20 April 1336, it was stated that well educated men were necessary to govern the state—an end unobtainable without school instruction in Latin: Cum expediat unicuique terre pro bono et gubernatione rei publice scientiatos habere et hoc eri non possit sine [. . .] gramatica.202
In Pisa on 10 September 1363 the benets for public governance were spelled out more explicitly. The city needed to provide education for the new generation lest it should be polluted by ignorance and depravity; the young needed to learn prudence and other virtues, so that when future leaders came to power they could meet challenges effectively: pro honore pisani comunis et utilitate reipublice civitatis pisane cuius interest venienti etati salubriter providere ne ignorantia et vitiis polluatur, sed potius prudentia ceterisque virtutibus sit decorata, et cum ad regimen et gubernationem dicte civitatis pervenerit valeat eam prudenti consilio gubernare et occurrentibus periculis salubriter providere.203
199 200 201 202 203
Black (1996a), p. 334. ASS Poggibonsi 34, fol. lxvii recto. ASPistoia Provv. 21, fol. 45r–v. ASPrato CD 77, fol. 10r, not fully transcribed by Giani (1913), pp. 77–79. Silva (1918), p. 488.
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Similarly in Pistoia on 22 March 1367, it was declared that nothing was more precious or necessary than the education of youth, especially for the future governance and welfare of the state: cum im presenti vita mundana nil sit carius et magis necessarium quam lios istruere et stirpes in scientiis et bonis moribus informare et maxime propter gubernationem et curam rey publice ad quam unusquisque nascitur.204
A claim for school education articulated with particular insistence in fourteenth-century Florentine Tuscany was the need for Latin as a foundation for further and higher study. All professions in medieval and Renaissance Italy were based on Latin: university courses in law, medicine, philosophy and theology were conducted entirely in Latin; professional manuals, treatises and commentaries were similarly in Latin. For citizens to aspire to professional careers both at home and elsewhere, a knowledge of Latin was indispensible, and so the constant refrain found in communal legislation that Latin was the gateway to further learning was no empty platitude. Whatever the economic and political vicissitudes of the Florentine subject territories in the fourteenth century (and the prospects for such communities were not happy, with loss of political independence, declining population and economic decay emerging as unmistakable facts of life in many or most parts of the Florentine territorial state), there was always the possibility of professional training and qualication as an escape from local stagnation and poverty. And so in Prato on 20 April 1336 it was declared that grammar was foundation of all subjects: ‘principium omnium scientiarum, videlicet gramatica’.205 On 7 November 1381, a grammar teacher was regarded as necessary for the town’s youth to be able to advance to other subjects.206 In Volterra in October 1364 this sentiment was elaborated (not without mixed metaphors). Grammar was the bosom from which the town’s youth drank in order to progress up the ladder of higher learning; responding to parental wishes, the communal authorities intended to imitate the careful farmer who, distrusting new varieties of seed, sowed only what he had already found to be useful: Ab ubere gramatice matris lactari desiderans Vulterrana iuventus ut ad gradus liberalium artium sibi facilis prebeatur accessus prout posstula-
204 205 206
ASPistoia Provv. 13, fol. 20r–v. ASPrato CD 77, fol. 10r. ASPrato CD 78, fol. 211r. See above n. 197 for the text.
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tionibus exoravit, ut nos qui publicis utilitatibus ac singulorum commodis tenemur intendere dum datum est nobis tam civitati quam civibus presidere, vigilanti studio curaremus pro futuro anno de magistro gramatice, rectorice et notarie salubriter providere, quorum petitionibus paternis affectibus annuentes ac prudenptis agricole volentes vesstigias imitari, qui, in novo genere seminum spem non ponens, suis campis experta seminat que utilia iam probaverunt.207
It was again stated in Volterra on 27 July 1367, albeit less elaborately, that boys wanted to learn grammar in order to rise to the level of further study: ut pueri volentes adiscere possint in hiis ut cupiunt experiri et inde ad alterius scientie gradum extolli.208
In Pistoia on 16 February 1377, it was said that grammar was the foundation, leading to the possibility of higher study: pro utilitate civium dicte civitate fundamentum dicte scientie habere cupientium et deinde nobiliorem scientiam asumere.209
In San Gimignano on 3 July 1360 it was declared that grammar was the foundation and introduction to all learned disciplines: gramatica sit origo et fundamentum et introductorium ad omnes liberales artes.210
On 21 May 1361, it was reiterated that the teaching of grammar was the introduction to all disciplines and professions: dictum magisterium sit intoductorium ad quaslibet artes et magisteria facienda,211
—a view elaborated on 6 June of the same year: ipsa gramatica sit origo fundamentum et introductorium ad quaslibet bonas artes.212
On 13 June 1371 it was also stated that, without grammar, progress in education was impossible:
207 Volterra Biblioteca Guarnacci Manoscritti 5706 lza 38 n. 8, published with errors by Battistini (1919), pp. 85–86. 208 ACV A nera 18 V, fol. 3r. 209 ASPistoia Provv. 18, fol. 119r. 210 ACSG 124, fol. lxxviii recto. 211 ACSG 125, fol. xvii recto–19 verso. 212 ACSG 125, fol. xxxvi recto–xli recto.
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chapter four cum scientia gramatice est origo et fundamentum omnium liberalium artium et ad aliquam scientiam sine gramatica nemo valeat pervenire.213
Finally in Arezzo on 11 September 1388, it was similarly stated that grammar was the source and foundation of all other disciplines.214 Quality Assurance and Control in Communal Teaching Elementary education to ensure basic literacy, and grammar teaching to provide a basic grounding in Latin, were highly valued in the communities of Florentine Tuscany beyond the city of Florence during the fourteenth century. Not only was there a tendency to raise municipal salaries sharply—two, three, ve-fold or more—over during the course of the century, but communes articulated with clarity and force the urgent need for an educated society. Given the priority placed on education in Florentine Tuscany, it comes as no surprise to learn that quality control and assurance with regard to teaching often preoccupied local communities. There was concern, for example, that teachers should remain in post for a signicant period of their terms of appointment. At San Gimignano in 1293, it was agreed to pay the civic grammar teacher a salary, but only provided that he remained in town teaching local boys for at least ten months; otherwise, the municipal camerlingo was not obliged to pay his salary: quod dictus magister teneatur satisdare camerario pro comuni standi et morandi in Sancto Geminiano et docendi pueros per X menses ad minus, et aliter dictus camerarius teneatur non dare dicto magistro vel alteri pro eo quantitatem predictam.215
Important centres of learning were delegated to appoint local teachers. Thus the Pistoiese government approached the commune of Bologna to nd and appoint a grammar teacher on 4 June 1389: quod [. . .] antiani [. . .] teneantur [. . .] transmittere per unum ex famulis eorum infra quatuor dies proxime venturos litteras electorias pro uno magistro gramaticalium comuni Bononie aut presidibus dicti comunis Bononie, qui presides infra tres dies tunc proxime secuturos a die dictarum literarum presentatarum computandos debeant elegisse unum magistrum 213 ACSG 130, fol. xxxi verso–xxxiiii recto, repeated on 13 November 1371: 131, fol. xi verso. 214 Black (1996a), p. 334. 215 ASF SG 180, fol. 3r, partly published by Davidsohn (1896–1908), II, p. 313.
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gramatice pro duobus annis proxime venturis incipiendis die kalendarum augusti proxime venturi aut ante si ante ad dictam civitatem ipsum magistrum venire contigerit. Qui magiaster habeat et percipere possit a comuni Pistorii pro suo salario anno quolibet et pro habitatione sua libras ducentas quinquaginta D. absque retentione alicuius gabelle [. . .]216
The Bolognese government replied that they had found a suitable teacher but that he would have to be paid 80 ducats per annum, as well as provided with a house for his residence and his school: respondemus quod libenter secutari fecimus et perquiri ut aliquis iusta formam dicte vestre electionis ydoneus haberetur sed quia [. . .] nullus ad hoc se obtulit nobis gratus maxime pro salario quod forma electionis ipsius pollicetur, magnicientie vestre [. . .] nos rationabiliter excusamus, signicantes quod bene unum comperimus sufcientem et scientiatum qui pro octuaginta ducatis in anno sine detractione quacumque et cum provisione libera unius domus apte pro scolis et habitatione sua foret venire paratus, quem, si sic libeat acceptare, nobis rescribere potestis.217
The Pistoiese government did not demure but agreed immediately to this higher salary and additional perquisites: quod pro salario dicti domini bononienses possint dicto magistro promittere usque in quantitatem octoginta Fl. auri sine detratione alicuius gabelle et habitationem congruam pro scolis retinendis.218
Competition was encouraged, and comparisons made, among teachers. At San Gimignano on 28 July 1293, Maestro Bonaccorso (Cursino, Corso) da S. Luca (Arcidosso) presented himself to the commune as a potential grammar teacher. At the same time a previous grammar teacher there, Maestro Filippo del fu Manetto da Firenze also emerged as a candidate; in the end, Maestro Filippo was judged the better teacher and was appointed (although ultimately Maestro Bonaccorso actually took up the post).219 A rubric envisaging a competition to choose a grammar teacher was written into San Gimignano’s communal statutes in 1314: Hoc addito quod in terra Sancti Geminiani non possit esse nisi unus magister qui doceat gramaticam et, si plurium magistrorum castellanorum
216 217 218 219
ASPistoia Provv. 22, fol. 55v–56r. ASPistoia Provv. 22, fol. 56v. ASPistoia Provv. 22, fol. 56v. See above pp. 248–50.
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chapter four tantum vel castellanorum et forensium volentium regere et docere gramaticam eodem tempore simul et semel et etiam divisim esset concursus, solummodo ille qui esset sufcientior et magis idoneus ex castellanis tantum debeat regere et docere.220
Again at San Gimignano on 30 March 1323 Maestro Lucchese di Ghermondo da San Miniato was appointed as communal grammar teacher, but only provided that the current grammar teacher, Maestro Michele di Giunta did not return to teach by 1 August.221 Similarly in Volterra on 8 March 1395, the incumbent grammar teacher Maestro Iacopo di Piero da Todi was reappointed until the following 1 July, but with the proviso that, whenever the newly elected grammarian Maestro Antonio Vannini da San Gimignano took up his appointment, the term of Maestro Iacopo would immediately lapse: Magnici domini priores populi et comunis Vulterrarum et VIIII numero ex eorum colegiis et coadunati, existentes in solita audientia palatii residentie [. . .] elegerunt et rermaverunt Magistrum Iachobum Petri de Tuderto in magistrum gramatice comunis Vulterrarum ad legendum et docendum gramaticam et alias scientias quas noscit in civitate Vulterrarum volenttibus audire usque ad kalendas iulii, hoc adiu[n]cto quod, quacumque die venerit Magister Antonius de Sancto Geminiano noviter electus ad predictam lecturam gramatice, hec presens electio et rermatio usque ad kalendas iulii de Magistro Iachobo facta nulla esse intelligatur [. . .]222
In Arezzo on 18 September 1388, not just two but three teachers entered into consideration: rst Maestro Domenico di Bandino da Arezzo, then teaching in Florence, was to be offered the post of communal grammarian; if he declined, then Maestro Francesco di Ser Feo di Nigi da Arezzo, then public teacher in Pistoia, was to be elected; and if he too turned down the appointment, then Ser Santi di Biagio da Valiana, currently communal grammar master in Poppi, was to be selected.223 Such approaches to incumbent teachers in other towns implied competition not only among teachers but also among communes themselves, and a particularly arresting example occurred in 1381. Florence wanted to appoint Maestro Antonio Vannini da San Gimignano
220 221 222 223
Brogi (1995), p. 252. See above pp. 252–53. ACV A nera 25 V, fol. 21v, overlooked by Battistini (1919). Black (1996), pp. 334–35.
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as public grammar teacher and wrote accordingly to his native town on 14 August: Nobili viro Laurentio Iohannis Attavantis Potesta Sancti Geminiani civi nostro dilecto priores artium et vexillier iustitie populi et comunis Florentie. Altra volta ti scrivemmo che il Maestro Anthonio che è costà era suto electo per li scolari di qua a leggere gramatica in Firenze e che ordinassi che cotesto comune il licentiasse a venire. Non pare n’abbia facto niente. Di che forte ti reprendiamo et pertanto vogliamo et comandianti che di subito dia ordine con effecto che costà si proveggha che’l detto maestro sia conservato senza dampno della sua venuta, se hai bontà che’l comune vi possa tanto. Et dove presentamente non facci di subito, vi proviederemo noi. Datum Florentie die XIIII augusti IIIIe indictionis MCCClXXXI.224
On 16 August San Gimignano proceeded to appoint ambassadors to Florence with a commission to secure permission for Maestro Antonio to continue teaching in his native town; otherwise Maestro Antonio was to be allowed to terminate his employment in San Gimignano and go to Florence: quando erunt [sc. ambasciatores] coram dominis prioribus [. . .] et vexillifero [. . .] civitatis Florentie procurent quod dictus Magister Anthonius stet et moretur in terra Sancti Geminiani ad docendum gramaticam, prout dicto comuni [. . .] obligatus est; et si predicta facere non posset seu operari, quod tunc ipse magister habeat licentiam et parabolam a dicto comuni Sancti Geminiani pro eo tempore pro quo dicto comuni tenetur servire ad legendum et docendum gramaticam [. . .]225
In the end, however, San Gimignano was able to continue the tenure of Maestro Antonio Vannini, who was elected on 2 October 1381, immediately accepting the appointment.226 The wishes of San Gimignano’s citizenry to retain their chosen teacher prevailed, on this occasion, over the importunities of their Florentine rulers. Quality control had a negative dimension too. On 13 October 1359 Maestro Lamberto da Pistoia, the incumbent grammarian at Colle Valdelsa, was unhappy with his terms of service; moreover, his continued tenure was thought to be damaging for the commune, since he had
224 ACSG 141, fol. 70v. Published by Castaldi (1911), p. 11, not without inaccuracies, and without archival references. 225 ACSG 141, fol. 71r–72r. 226 ACSG 141, fol. 98r–v.
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no pupils. He declared himself willing to resign if he were given suitable compensation: Cum Magister Lambertus magister gramatice de Pistorio qui moratur in Colle in ofcio magistratus [. . .] non sit contentus reformationis pridie facte nec eidem adsentiat et eius mora videatur dampnosa pro comuni, [quia] non habet scolares et, dum sibi at provisio congrua, recederet cum voluntate comunis dicti Colle.227
Accordingly he was given four months’ salary over and above the contracted sum and allowed to leave town.228 There were sackings too. On 15 July 1356 the communal grammar teacher in Volterra, Maestro Bartolo da San Gimignano, was dismissed for not charging pupils the agreed fees and for other unspecied inappropriate practices: quod in consilio dominorum priorum suprascriptorum cassetur Magister Bartolus de Sancto Geminiano ad presens magister gramatice dicte civitatis et pro casso habeatur de kalendis octobris proxime futuri in antea, et quod camerarius dicti comunis Vulterrarum non possit nec debeat modo aliquo solvere sibi de uno salario a dictis kalendis octubris in antea, et hoc quia dictus Magister Bartolus non observavit nec observet ea que promisit comuni Vulterrarum in accipiendo salarias [sic] a scholaribus que accipere non debet, secundum quod per dictum Magistrum Bartolum promissum fuit vigore sue electionis, et alia illicita faciat que iuxta [sic] que iusta non sunt.229
At Colle Valdelsa on 31 March 1367, after Maestro Piero da Citerna (Città di Castello), a lay grammar teacher, was appointed, the commune sacked the currently serving ecclesiastical teacher, Don Bartolomeo, rector of S. Caterina di Colle: quod magister gramatice qui modo est in terra Collis videlicet ille monachus qui docet in Sancta Caterina intelligatur esse et sit revocatus ab oftio magistratus dicte terre.230
Extensive searches were made for teachers. In 1377, when Piero di Guglielmo da Forlì was ultimately appointed communal grammarian in Pistoia, it was ordered ‘investigari per omnes civitates et terras circus-
227 228 229 230
ASS Colle 100, fol. 103v. ASS Colle 100, fol. ciiii recto. ACV A nera 4 V, NN; overlooked by Battistini (1919). ASS Colle 101, fol. lxxxxii verso–lxxxxiii recto.
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tantes pro dicto magistro conducendo et habendo’.231 The most famous of all such searches was launched from Pistoia after the end of Piero da Forlì’s term in 1382.232 The report submitted to the Pistoiese government shows that their emissary, Ser Giovanni di Ser Francesco, travelled to San
231
Zanelli (1900), p. 121. The document recording the search, carried out the Pistoiese ambassador Ser Giovanni di Ser Francesco, was published by Bacci (1895); the text he published was rst referred to by Zdekauer (1894), pp. 15–16. The correct date of this famous document is 1382, not 1360 as maintained by Bacci. He assumed that the document could not be later than 1360, the supposed year of death of Maestro Piero da Ovile da Siena, mentioned there as teaching grammar in Siena. Bacci took this information from Zdekauer (1894), pp. 15–16, who cited the necrology of San Domenico di Siena (BCIS ms. C.111.2, fol. 13[r]) where Maestro Piero, called ‘doctor grammatice summus’, was recorded as having died on 16 August 1360. I checked the original necrology in Siena, only to nd that there were in fact two grammarians named Piero, one dying on 16 August 1360, the other on 18 August 1383: BCIS C.III.2: 1r: [. . .] Anno domini MºCCCºXXXVI. Incepimus scribere in isto libro omnes defunctos quorum corpora sepulta sunt in loco fratrum predicatorum de Senis [. . .] 13r: [1360] Magister Petrus doctor gramatice summus sepultus est die XVI augusti. (For his identication as Maestro Pietro di Nuto d’Arezzo, see ch. 3 p. 197 n. 134 above, and Appendix 4 below.) 32r: MºCCCLXXXIII. Magister Petrus magister gramatice sepultus est die XVIII augusti in claustro in sepulcro suo cum habitu ordinis. (For his identication as Maestro Pietro di Maestro Chele [Cheloccio] da Ovile, see Appendix 4 below.) Bacci’s document was compiled by ‘Giovanni Ser Franceschi’, Pistoiese ambassador sent to nd a grammar teacher for his native city. In fact, there is a document dated 1 October 1382 in ASPistoia, appointing Maestro Nofri, one of the list’s teachers, as grammarian in Pistoia, with the following note regarding the acceptance of the appointment: (ASPistoia Provv. 19, fol. 310r–v) [. . .] placeat [. . .] electionem prefatam acceptare de cuius acceptatione vel renumptatione, quod absit, nobis placeat infra triduum a die presentationis presentium computandum per publicum instrumentum vel per proprias licteras exibendas per Ser Iohannem Ser Francisci ambaxiadorem nostrum in hac parte ad vos propterea destinato [sic] redere certiores [sic]. (This mention of Ser Giovanni di Ser Francesco was overlooked by Zanelli [1900], pp. 23–24.) This information accords with the date of 1382 suggested by Zanelli (1900), p. 23, for the beginning of Nofri’s teaching in Pistoia. These new documents prove not only that Bacci’s document is datable to 1382 and not to 1360, but also that Maestro Pietro da Ovile died in 1383, not in 1360. Moreover, in Bacci’s document Francesco da Buti is referred to as ‘Maestro Francesco vecchio, poeta e doctore e ora canciellieri di Pisa’, a description which hardly agrees with Francesco da Buti’s date of birth (‘intorno al 1324’: Bausi [1997], p. 708) but which accords with 1382, when Francesco da Buti was approaching sixty. Other teachers mentioned in the text can be conrmed as teaching in the appropriate city in 1382: Ser Naccio di Paolo da Terranuova, then teaching in San Miniato; Maestro Antonio di Ser Salvi Vannini da San Gimignano, then teaching in his native city; Maestro Nofri di Giovanni da Poggitazzi, then teaching in Colle Valdelsa; Maestro Benintendi di Ser Arrigo da Prato, then teaching in Volterra. See Appendix 4. 232
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Miniato, San Gimignano, Colle Valdelsa, Siena, Volterra and Lucca, and beyond Tuscany possibly to Todi. Among the teachers interviewed, Maestro Antonio Vannini da San Gimignano was regarded as ‘molto sofciente’; Maestro Nofri di Giovanni da Poggitazzi, lo più sofciente e di miglliore conditione che altro. E parmi lo più sofciente fosse mai a Pistoia.
Maestro Piero di Maestro Chele da Ovile da Siena received the highest praise: poeta e doctorato in tre scientie, grammatica losoa e rectorica, con quale parlai [. . .] Elli è lo miglliore maestro sia in Toscana e leggierà ongni libro. E anche insegnerà rectoricha.
Francesco da Buti, then chancellor of Pisa, said he would not go to Pistoia for 1000 orins, but in his view the two best teachers in Tuscany then were Maestro Piero da Ovile da Siena and Maestro Nofri da Poggitazzi. The Pistoiese envoy also observed that ‘Maestro Francesco giovane, da Pisa, à una grande scuola’, that in Lucca ‘Maestro [Gabriele] da Venegia [. . .] e sofciente maestro’ and that in Todi ‘Maestro Cataluccio [. . . è] buono maestro’. In the end, Maestro Nofri di Giovanni da Poggitazzi was appointed,233 but he chose to remain in Colle Valdelsa and so Maestro Francesco di Feo di Ser Nigi da Arezzo (who was not mentioned in the document published by Bacci) was selected and came to Pistoia.234 In Poggibonsi a formal examination system for prospective teachers was in operation during the mid-fourrteenth century. On 11 October 1340 it was laid down that grammar teachers would have to be examined by the local Franciscan and Augustinian friars before appointment: quod domini capitaneus et sex possint et debeant ac teneantur scruptari et scruptari facere pro quodam bono et sufcienti magistro qui sit ad examinandum lectores fratrum minorum et augustinensium, et dicta examinatione per eos facta habeat et [ h]abere debeat a dicto comuni pro suo salario soldos quadraginta per quolibet mense quo steterit et stare voluerit in dicta terra causa docendi illos scholares qui ab eo doceri vellint, quos XL soldos camerarius qui pro tempore fuerit, possit, teneatur et debeat dare de avere et pecunia dicti comunis sine eius preiudicio et gravamine.235
233 ASPistoia Provv. 19, fol. 310r–v; on his correct nomenclature and provenance, see Black (2001), p. 200 n. 159. 234 ASPistoia Provv. 19, fol. 311v. 235 ASS Poggibonsi 34, fol. lxviii recto.
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This examination system was then put into practice to appoint Maestro Giovanni de Morella da Calabria on 26 June 1341: Dicti domini capitaneus et sex defensores existentes super loggia palatii domini potestatis nova, et presenti nobili Domicello Caleffo de Gherardinis potestate dicti comunis, auctoritate eis concessa per formam statuti dicti comunis, cupientes quod in dicta terra sit et stet unus bonus magister in gramatica qui doceat scolares in dicta terra, et intellecto quod probus vir Magister Iohannes de Morella de Calabria est sufciens et bonus in gramatica, et visa tunc ibidem examinatione facta de eo in dicta scientia per lectores fratrum minorum et fratrum S. Augustini tunc ibidem existentium et docentium, ipsum magistrum esse bonum et sufcientem ad gramaticalem scientiam docendum, voluerunt eidem et rmaverunt omni via et modo quibus melius potuerunt quod ipse Magister Iohannes, presens ibidem volens et acceptans, stet in dicta terra cum salario, pactis et condictionibus in statutis dicti comunis contentis.236
Maestro Iacopo da Parma was similarly appointed by examination on 4 August 1342: quod camerarius comunis qui nunc est et qui pro tempore fuerit possit, teneatur et debeat dare et solvere de avere et pecunia comunis predicti absque aliquo eius dampno, preiudicio vel gravamine magistro gramatice qui nunc est in terra de Podiobonici quolibet mense quo stare voluerit in hac terra ad docendum pueros et scholares, incipiendo hodierna die pro quolibet mense, soldos triginta orentinos parvos, facta prius de ipso magistro solempni examinatione per lectores fratrum heremitarum et fratrum minorum et per eos approbato, quod dictus magister sit bonus et sufciens et expertus in arte gramatice, qui magister vocatur Magister Iacobus de Parma.237
The same procedure was used to appoint Don Ambrosio di Gionta de Certina (contado di Siena) on 2 December 1365: [. . .] Item predicti domini capitanei [partis Guelfe] et sex [defensores], eorum nemine discordante, habita prima inter eos matura deliberatione super infrascripta electione, et primo per eos et per me una cum eis recepta digna de a Fratre Paolo de Senis ordinis fratrum minorum et nunc custode conventus Sancti Luchesis et Fratre Cipriano de Florentia ordinis fratrum heremitarum et nunc priore conventus Sancti Laurentii de Podiobonitio dicti ordinis, qui ea de dixerunt ambo simul et in concordia se examinasse infrascriptum Dopnum Ambroxium Ioncte de Certina comitatus Senarum in gramaticalibus et ipsum invenisse decentem gramaticum et posse et esse actum ad docendum pueros et satisfacere
236 237
ASS Poggibonsi 34, fol. 112v–113r. ASS Poggibonsi 37, fol. 22v–23r.
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The most bizarre form of quality assurance encountered in the fourteenth century comes from Pistoia in the years 1398 to 1399. A teacher from Monte Santo del Ducato (near Spoleto) called Maestro Neri entered into lengthy negotiations with the commune, but, after numerous postponements and broken promises, he failed to appear. The result was that the infuriated Pistoiesi had his efgy ignominiously painted in the Palazzo del Comune evidently as a warning to future liars and fraudsters: un maestro di grammatica che havea nome M.ro Neri da Monte Santo del Ducato, che haveva ingannato questo comune e era dipinto nel palazzo del Sindaco come falsario e bugiardo con la mitria in capo a modo di chi fa simili inganni e falsità e haveva scritto a piedi questi versi, cioè Io son da Monte Santo M.r Neri d’arte grammaticale Bugiardo, mentitore e disleale [. . .]239
Florence and Florentine Tuscany in the Fourteenth Century: an Educational Comparison By the fourteenth century, signicant local differences were emerging in the pattern of education throughout the region comprising the city of Florence and Florentine Tuscany. Teaching in Florence itself—whether elementary, abacus or grammar—was almost exclusively private, whereas communal education had prevailed in Florentine Tuscany, where it is difcult to nd private teachers by the end of the century. The city of Florence was distinguished by its famous abacus masters and by its renowned abacus schools (see ch. 3 pp. 226–41 above), whereas abacus teachers were sporadic throughout Florentine Tuscany. Indeed, there was only one prominent abacus teacher240 not from the city of Florence and working in Florentine Tuscany: Gilio di Cecco, detto
238
ASS Poggibonsi 69, fol. 49r. Zanelli (1900), pp. 28–29. 240 Prominent here is dened as a teacher who wrote a surviving abacus, mathematical, geometrical, astronomical or astrological treatise or work. 239
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Gilio di Crescenzio, da Montepulciano,241 who taught in Pistoia from 1382 to 1388 (see Appendix 4 below). On the other hand, the city of Florence produced few notable grammarians in the fourteenth century. Of prominent grammar teachers242 working in this region, only two were native Florentiones, in contrast with eleven from Florentine Tuscany: From Florentine Tuscany outside the city of Florence
From the city of Florence
Francesco di Ser Feo di Nigi d’Arezzo
Filippo di Naddo da Firenze
Domenico di Bandino da Arezzo
Spigliato di Cenne da Firenze
Santi di Biagio da Valiana Nofri di Giovanni da Poggitazzi Don Nofri di Angelo Coppi da S. Gimignano Benaccio di Francesco de Ghaleada da Poppi Francesco di Bartolo da Buti Convenevole di Ser Acconcio da Prato Antonio di Ser Salvi Vannini da S. Gimignano Goro d’Arezzo Niccolò di Ser Duccio da Arezzo
The contrast is even more striking if an analysis is made of grammar teachers working in Florentine Tuscany and in the city of Florence during the fourteenth century; 102 came from Tuscany, whereas only eighteen came from the city of Florence:
241 He had taught in Siena, 1377–78. He also taught in Lucca in 1381 (Barsanti [1905], pp. 55–56, 239). See also Moscadelli (1991), p. 214 n. 34; Franci (1985), pp. 319–24. In Pistoiese documents, he is called Magister Egidius Magistri Cecchi de Senis (ASPistoia Provv. 19, fol. 255v–256r) and Magister Gilius Veglionis de Senis (ASPistoia Provv. 20, fol. 71r–v). 242 Prominent here is dened as a teacher who wrote a surviving grammar treatise, whose name appears in a surviving schoolbook or who had a series of famous pupils.
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From Tuscany (outside Florence)
From the city of Florence
Accorsino del fu Sanguineo da S. Fiora (Arcidosso)
Albizo di Niccoletto da Firenze
Agevole di Bartolomeo da Vinci
Bartolo di Bongia da Firenze
Alao di Ugone d’Arezzo
Bartolo di Giovanni da Firenze
Don Ambrosio di Gionta de Certina, contado di Siena
Don Bartolomeo di Donato da Firenze, abbot of Buggiano
Andrea da Monte di Croce
Don Bartolomeo del fu Neri da Firenze
Andrea di Lupacchio da Montecarlo (Pescia)
Don Bartolomeo di Silvestro da Firenze
Angelo del fu Buoso da Arezzo
Bonagrazia da Firenze
Antonio di Ser Salvi Vannini da S. Gimignano
Caleffo del fu Bonaccorso da Firenze
Antonio di Michele da Volterra
Donato di Venturo da Firenze
Balduccio del fu Manente da Arezzo
Filippo di Naddo di Filippo da Firenze
Bandino d’Arezzo
Francesco da Firenze
Bandino di Lupo da S. Matteo
Giovanni di Andrea da S. Felice in Piazza di Firenze
Bartolo da S. Gimignano
Giovanni di Betto da Firenze
Bartolo di Bono da Prato
Latino di Andrea Berlingueri
Bartolo di Giovanni da S. Gimignano
Don Lorenzo da Firenze
Bartolo di Iacopo da Pieve S. Stefano
Piero del fu Profeta da Firenze
Benaccio di Francesco de Ghaleada da Poppi
Spigliato di Cenne da Firenze
Benincasa di Bentivegna da S. Maria in Bagno
Zanobi Ferri da Firenze
Benintendi di Ser Arrigo da Prato Bernardo di Meglio da Arezzo Bindo da Montecastello
the rise of communal schools in florentine tuscany From Tuscany (outside Florence) Bono di Ser Luca de Corsignano, abitante in Siena Caroncio di Ser Iacopo Caronci d’Arezzo Cecco di Orlando da Prato Collo di Bindo di Geppo da Pisa Consiglio del fu Vanni da Pistoia Convenevole di Ser Acconcio da Prato Dato di Giovanni dal Casentino Domenico di Bandino da Arezzo Domenico di Rimbaldo da Siena Dore di Ser Giovanni da S. Gimignano Duccio di Amadore da Prato Duccio del fu Ciuffa da Vico Fiorentino Eugenio di Giovanni Mazzuoli da Strada (Impruneta) Filippo di Dato da Prato Francesco di Bartolo da Buti Francesco di Ser Feo di Nigi da Arezzo Francesco di Giunta da Tizzana Francesco Luchini da Prato Francesco di Fra Manno di Ugolino da Pratovecchio Francesco di Maestro Martino da San Miniato Francesco di Orlanduccio da Prato Francesco di Turino da Siena Giovanni di Maestro Benvegnata da Bibbiena Giovanni da Bibbiena Giovanni da Pistoia Giovanni da S. Miniato
From the city of Florence
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From Tuscany (outside Florence) Giovanni da S. Donato (all’Isola) Giovanni di Maestro Arrigo da Pistoia Giovanni di Francesco da Siena Giovanni di Gherardo da Arezzo Giovanni del fu Iacopo da Monticchiello (Val d’Orcia) Giovanni di Lapo [da Colle] Giovanni di Leone da Poggibonsi Giovanni di Pagno dal Casentino Giovanni di Pasqueti da Monte San Savino Giovanni Mazzuoli da Strada (Impruneta) Goro d’Arezzo Guido da Arezzo Guido da Bibbiena Guido da Raggiolo Guido di Gianni di Andrea da Lucca Giusto di Uguccio da Volterra Iacopo di Ser Guido Spinelli da Cevoli (S. Miniato) Iacopo di Ser Miniato da S. Miniato Lamberto di Ambrogio da Pistoia Lionardo del fu Sano da Asciano, cittadino senese e abitante ad Empoli Luca da Verrucola Lucchese di Ghermondo da S. Miniato Lucchese di Maestro Tura da Serravalle Malusino (Ser Bartolomeo) da Lucca Masio di Ristoro Lambardi d’Arezzo Matteo di Ser Loro da Radda in Chianti
From the city of Florence
the rise of communal schools in florentine tuscany From Tuscany (outside Florence) Matteo del fu Ser Pino da Siena, priest Don Matteo di Palmiero da Castelfranco Meliore di Compagno da Lucca Michele da S. Croce sull’Arno Naccio di Paolo da Terranuova Niccolò di Domenico da Diecimo (contado di Lucca) Niccolò di Ser Duccio da Arezzo Nofri di Giovanni da Poggitazzi Don Nofri di Angelo Coppi da S. Gimignano Paolo di Maestro Iacopo da Sansepolcro Piero di Ser Gianni da Siena Don Piero di Ser Giovanni da Siena Piero di Giunta da Prato Pietro di Ser Baldo da Montale (Pistoia) Pietro di Bartalo da Bucine Maestro Rainerio di Restoro de Uguctione dal contado di Arezzo Maestro Rainuccio del fu Guido da Cigoli (San Gimignano/S. Miniato) Santi di Biagio da Valiana Rolfo (Redolfo) di Frenuccio da S. Miniato Sasso di Grazia di Sasso d’Arezzo Tommaso di Ser Duccio da Prato Tommaso di Ilario di Ticcione da S. Gimignano Tone del fu Ardovino dal Casentino Totto di Alessandro da Lucca Tuccio del fu Maestro Tommaso d’Arezzo
From the city of Florence
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From Tuscany (outside Florence)
From the city of Florence
Tuto di Ser Nuccio da Montespertoli Ugone da Volterra Zanobi di Giovanni Mazzuoli da Strada (Impruneta) Zono de Romeo da Magnale (Rignano sull’Arno)
There is little doubt that grammar had become weak as a school discipline imparted by Florentines themselves; the grammar teachers working in the city of Florence and in Florentine Tuscany during the fourteenth century were overwhelmingly non-Florentines, predominantly from the rest of Tuscany (and particularly from Florentine Tuscany). A similar picture emerges if an examination is made of surviving manuscript schoolbooks in Florentine libraries produced or restored in the fourteenth century and signed by or associated with the name of a teacher in an ownership note written by a pupil. Ten such schoolbooks have emerged, and none reveals the name of a Florentine teacher; the teachers whose names are disclosed are from Pisa, San Gimignano, Poggitazzi, Figline and particularly from Arezzo: BML Pl. 36.5, Ovid Metamorphoses signed Maestro Peregrino da Pisa243 BML Pl. 91 sup. 30, Seneca Tragedies, written by a pupil in the school of Maestro Antonio Vannini da S. Gimignano244 BML Pl. 37.3, Seneca Tragedies, copied by Maestro Nofri di Giovanni da Poggitazzi and annotated in his school245 BML Ashb. 892, Boethius Consolation, signed in the school of Ser Santi di Domenico d’Arezzo246 BML CS 521, Boethius Consolation, signed in the school of Maestro Piero da Figline247
243 244 245 246 247
Black Black Black Black Black
(2001), p. 204. (2001), p. 202. (2001), pp. 202–3. and Pomaro (2000), p. 223. and Pomaro (2000), p. 93.
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BML Pl. 25 sin. 2, Boethius Consolation, signed in the school of Maestro Niccolò di Ser Duccio d’Arezzo248 BRF 552, Boethius Consolation, signed in the schools of Maestro Niccolò di Ser Duccio d’Arezzo and Maestro Domenico di Bandino d’Arezzo249 BRF 641, Boethius Consolation, signed in the school of Maestro Domenico di Bandino d’Arezzo250 ASF S. Matteo 56, grammar exercises and vocabularies, written in the schools of Maestro Domenico di Bandino d’Arezzo and Maestro Niccolò di Ser Duccio d’Arezzo BNCF NA 398, grammatical treatises by Maestro Guglielmo de’ Buosi da Verrucola, written in the schools of Maestro Goro d’Arezzo and Maestro Niccolò d’Arezzo251
Given the paucity of native Florentine grammarians in the fourteenth century, it is not surprising that the famous search carried out on behalf of Pistoia by Ser Giovanni di Francesco in 1382 included no Florentine teachers; Ser Giovanni considered teachers working in San Miniato, San Gimignano, Colle Valdelsa, Siena, Volterra, Pisa, Lucca and Todi, but he did not bother with the city of Florence.252 By the end of the century, it seems that grammar was becoming a marginalised school subject within Florentine walls, and, indeed, Florentine ricordanze conrm the tenuous position of grammar there. Down-to-earth was the education which the father of the famous diarist, Paolo di Bartolomeo Morelli, received in mid-fourteenth-century Florence: ‘Dovea avere Pagolo dieci o dodici anni [. . .] e’ si puose da se medesimo a bottega per imparare a leggere e scrivere [. . .] egli apparò di leggere e scrivere e abaco [. . .] E venuto coll’aiuto di Dio in legittima e perfetta età d’anni diciotto o di più, e’ volle che’ suoi fratelli gli assegnassono la parte sua. Innanzi che venisse a questo, egli era istato
248 249 250 251 252
Black Black Black Black Bacci
and Pomaro (2000), pp. 126–28. and Pomaro (2000), pp. 145–46. and Pomaro (2000), pp. 147–48. (2001), p. 118. (1895).
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con loro nel fondaco del guado a salaro alcuno anno.’253 Here there is no mention of Latin or grammatical study; instead the emphasis is on learning useful for the Florentine merchant: reading, writing and abacus. Other ricordanze conrm this pattern. The ricordi of Francesco di Giovani di Durante recount the education of the author and three of his brothers between 1334 and 1343. Francesco himself, born in 1323, went to abacus school at the age of eleven in 1334; his brother, Lionardo, born in 1327, also enrolled as an abacus pupil at the age of eleven in 1338; the third brother, Andrea, born in 1328, was at a reading school in January 1339, moving to an abacus teacher in September of the same year; the fourth brother, Simone, began reading lessons at the age of six.254 Similarly, the education of the three orphaned sons of Messer Palla di Messer Francesco Strozzi between 1379 and 1384 was conned to reading. Books used in the elementary reading course, such as the donadello were repeatedly bought for three of the boys, Francesco, Giovanni and Simone; a series of maestri di fanciulli (the vernacular term commonly used to render doctores puerorum or reading teachers) were engaged, including ‘Salvato maestro de’ fanculli’ and ‘Maestro Paolo maestro de’ fanciulli’.255 Similarly, reading was the only fare mentioned in the ricordanza of Ser Iacopo di Lardo de’ Lardi, who wrote on 4 October 1395, ‘Puosi Pauolo mio gliuolo a leggere alla bottega di Francescho di Francescho Leoni.’256 Nor do abacus teachers and schools go unmentioned in fourteenth-century ricordanze (see above ch. 3 pp. 237–38). A few upper-class Florentines did take literary study further than Morelli’s own father had done. Maestro Bartolomeo della Gramaticha was paid one lira for teaching Amerigo di Borghognione di Iacopo del Bene in 1367,257 while a fuller account of his own education from the age of nine is given by Bartolomeo di Niccolò di Taldo Valori: ‘E l’anno MCCCLXIII [. . .] io Bartolomeo mi puosi a imparare gramaticha a la schuola del Maestro Manovello e stetivi sino al anno MCCCLXVII per tutto il mese di maggio e poi in kalendi giungno anno detto mi puosi a imparare albacho per sapere fare di ragione con ‘l Maestro Tomaso di Davizzo de’ Corbizzi e stettivi inno a
253 254 255 256 257
Morelli (1956), pp. 145–147. Sapori (1955), p. 67. ASF CS III.277. See Appendix 5. BNCF Palatino 1129, fol. 51r. See Appendix 5. ASF CdB, 32, fol. 7r–v. See Appendix 5.
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febraio anno 1367 e detto dì mi puosi ala tavola di Bernardo di Cino Bartolini banchiere in merchato nuovo.’258 Not dissimilar was record of the education of his son Lamberto provided by the proud father, Donato Velluti: ‘Venne crescendo, puosilo ala squola: avendo apparato a leggere e avendo bonissimo ingegno, memoria e intelletto, e buono e saldo parlare, che facea ciasceduno maravigliare, apparava e apprendeva bene; di ché, in poco tempo fu buono gramatico. Puosilo a l’abaco, e diventò in pochissimo tempo buono abachista. Poi ne llevai, e avendogli fatta una bottega d’arte di lana [. . .] il puosi alla cassa’.259 However, one should not exaggerate the profundity of this Florentine mercantile Latin education in the Trecento, if the experiences of young Giovanni Boccaccio, as narrated by Filippo Villani, are anything to judge by: ‘El quale, fanciullo, sotto maestro Giovanni, padre di Zanobio poeta, non pienamente avendo imparato grammatica, volendolo e costringendolo el padre, per cagione di guadagno lo costrinse ad attendere all’abbaco [. . .]’260 At this point it is worth recalling Giovanni Villani’s famous picture of Florentine schooling in the years preceding 1340.261 Villani was saying that by far the largest sector of Florentine education was the reading school; smaller was the abacus school; smaller still was the grammar school. This pattern, in fact, is largely conrmed by the surviving archival evidence from the fourteenth century. The overall number of references in ricordanze to different reading teachers in Florence before 1400 is signicantly greater than references to either abacus or grammar teachers.262 Possibly similar is the picture given by the Estimo della Sega, of 6 March 1352, particularly useful because professions are usually indicated alongside names in the list of liabilities for taxation. Here there are four magistri puerorum, two abacus teachers and only one grammar master.263 This picture, as has been seen above (pp. 321–22), is conrmed by the surviving ricordanze from the fourteenth century, although even so the impression there is skewed in favour of grammar, since these ricordi come mainly from elite families: del Bene, Valori, Strozzi, Sassetti, Velluti are the principal names here. It has been seen 258
BNCF Panciatichi 147, fol. 1r. See Appendix 5. Cited by Sapori (1955), p. 71. 260 Solerti (1907), p. 672. Boccaccio himself conrmed his father’s hostility to Latin study: ‘imo obsistente patre et studium tale damnante’ (Boccaccio [1951], p. 777). 261 See ch. 1 p. 1 above. 262 See Appendix 5 below. 263 ASF Estimi 306, fol. 42r, 61r, 141v, 163r, 171v, 172r. 259
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that a few elite boys from these families, according to the ricordanze, received some grammatical education, including Bartolomeo Valori, Amerigo del Bene and Lamberto Velluti. Some elite sons were taught Latin in order to enter the professions; one for whom greater things were intended was Amerigo di Borgognone del Bene, seen above reading the donadello in 1367: in 1376 9 orins and 24 soldi were spent by his widowed mother, Bindela, for a ‘ghonella, farsetto, mantello e chapucci per Amerigho quando andò a Bologna.’264 Of course, most artisans and even many members of the elite could hardly have contemplated the kind of expenditure involved in a university education at Bologna. Indeed, frequently Latin schooling in Florence was for more modest and less costly practical ends: in 1304 Andrea, the brother of Lippo di Casino in the parish of San Lorenzo, was sent to school to learn to ‘legere et scribere, ita quod convenienter sciat legere Psalterium, Donatum et instrumenta et scribere’.265 Here there is not much difference from Giovanni Morelli’s ‘apparare di legere e scrivere e tanta grammatica ch’egli intenda secondo la lettera i dottori o carte di notaio o altro iscritto; e simile sappi parlare per lettera e scrivere una lettera in grammatica’.266 Indeed, this kind of basic Latin education for the elite must have differed not all that much from the practical training in reading and writing given to an artisan such as Giovanni, the son of Salimbene di Salto from the parish of San Mauro, who in 1313 was to be taught ‘legere et scribere, ita et taliter quod [. . .] sciat [. . .] legere et scribere omnes licteras et rationes, et quod [. . .] sit sufciens ad standum in apotecis articis’.267 Conclusion Communally funded schools—with teachers receiving salaries and subsidies for rent—became the norm in Florentine Tuscany during the fourteenth centuries. Public education was an inevitable outgrowth of lay teaching: with the demise of education provided without payment by ecclesiastical institutions, there was nothing to stop secular teachers from taking fees. School education now became subject to market forces:
264 265 266 267
ASF CdB, 32, fol. 8r. See Appendix 5. Debendetti (1906–7), p. 333. Morelli (1956), p. 270. Debenedetti (1906–7), p. 346.
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teachers worked wherever they could earn the most, and so inevitably communes had to begin to offer subsidies and salaries to retain teachers. This practice soon extended beyond grammar (Latin) to elementary reading and writing, and even to the abacus. A further result of the emerging educational marketplace was the steady rise in salaries during the fourteenth century—a development encouraged by the various economic and demographic crises, especially the Black Death and its consequent inationary spiral, putting teachers at a further premium. In the end, communal subsidies and the teacher shortage brought about the waning of private schools: teachers were increasingly unwilling to work without communal salaries, and it became impossible to rely on private payment to ensure continuity in school education throughout Florentine Tuscany. The shortage of teachers in Florentine Tuscany during the fourteenth century encouraged the communes to articulate why they were subsidizing school education. City governments and councils had to justify expenditure on education to the wider public and to themselves. There was a concern for literacy, recognised as essential to function in the business world. Educated children were thought to be better behaved; schools kept adolescent boys off the streets. Education provided communes with a professional elite, preparing and singling out future civic leaders. Particularly strong was the emphasis on grammar as the essential step to further study and higher education. The Florentine subject territories were emerging as the fount of the learned professions—medicine, law, the notariate—and so communal schools had become an essential part of the local economies. Even in the fourteenth century, a contrast was developing between the city of Florence and its subject territories as far as school education was concerned. The Florentines themselves placed a high value on literacy and commercial education: the city was lled with elementary and abacus teachers and schools, and the demand was so great that it was never necessary to provide subsidies for education at these levels. The vast majority of elementary and abacus teachers were native Florentines: these were buoyant occupations, encouraging recruitment from the ranks of the Florentine citizenry themselves. It was a different matter with grammar (Latin). Native Florentine grammar masters were rare in the city and throughout the subject territories. Grammar teaching was a profession evidently hard to sustain in the city itself: teachers had to be drawn from the subject territories and beyond. Grammar was increasingly becoming a marginal subject in the city itself: it sustained itself mainly by providing training for the professions—themselves in
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decline in the city of Florence by the later fourteenth century (see chapter 5 below p. 456). The hard-headed Florentine elite and populace, preoccupied with money and business, were reluctant to pursue Latin either for its own sake or for higher moral and civic goals: hence the unwillingness of the Florentines to provide regularly for public grammar teaching during the fourteenth century. The contrast between abacus and grammar schools in Florence and its subject territories sums up the story: in Florentine Tuscany, public grammar schools were omnipresent but abacus schools were sporadic; in the city of Florence, the opposite situation prevailed, with abacus teaching thriving but with grammar education in decline. It is little wonder that Petrarch vilied the city as a mere mercantile and textile hub, inimical to Latin culture: ‘mercatrix et lanica nostra.’268
268 Petrarca (1933–1942), epistola XVIII.9.2. Petrarch’s well known letter, dated 1 April 1352 (Petrarca [1933–42], XII.3), to Zanobi Mazzuoli da Strada, urging him not to waste his entire life as a teacher, not only expresses his own poor opinion of grammar teaching as a profession, but also arguably reects the particularly low status of school grammarians in Florence, where Zanobi, his father and his brother had run an important school in the earlier fourteenth century (see above ch. 3 p. 195).
CHAPTER FIVE
TEACHERS, SCHOOLS AND PUPILS IN FLORENCE DURING THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY Elementary Teachers and Schools of Reading (and Writing) The largest sector of pre-university education in the city of Florence during the fteenth century was elementary teaching, consisting mainly of instruction in reading, although some maestri di fanciulli or maestri di scuola (as the doctores or magistri puerorum of the thirteenth and fourteenth century were now often called) taught writing too. This initial phase of education remained entirely private in Florence: the larger towns of Florentine Tuscany, such as Colle Valdelsa, Pescia, Pistoia, Prato, San Gimignano or San Miniato, sometimes appointed elementary teachers alongside secondary grammar teachers (see above pp. 268 ff ), but in Florence elementary teachers either ran their own schools, or worked as private tutors residing in the households of prosperous families. The most comprehensive prole of the Florentine populace as a whole was the Catasto of 1427, according to which (as will be seen below p. 447) the largest group of children in education were attending elementary schools of reading (and sometimes writing). The Catasto of 1427, as has already been seen (ch. 1 above), provided a wide-ranging portrait of the assets and activities of the Florentine population, including a signicant, albeit sporadic, window onto their educational habits; subsequent Catasti in mid-century (for example in 14581) are less revealing about education. But a new Catasto, compiled in 1480, although not so rich a source with regard to family wealth and other demographic, economic and social data, provides more comprehensive evidence regarding children’s education than even the Catasto of 1427. The ofcials in 1480 ordered Florentine residents to provide full information about male family members, declaring what trade or profession they were pursuing, and what their salary was: Et essendo maschi, dicha che exercitio o arte fanno et se stessi con altri, con chi et a che exercitio o arte et quanto ànno di salario l’anno.2
1 2
See Appendix 2. Verde (1973–1995), III, p. 1007.
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This instruction was interpreted by heads of households to include children at school, with the result that, out of the 803 boys recorded as engaged in some kind of formal education, again the largest group consisted of pupils learning to read (see below pp. 462–63). Despite the clear evidence that more Florentine children received elementary education than any other form of instruction, less is known about Florence’s reading (and writing) schools than about the two types of secondary education—abacus and grammar schools. There are a number of reasons for this anomaly. The main grammar teachers in Florence during the fteenth were salaried by the commune, so that public records of their appointments and payments have normally survived. Grammar teachers often worked in partnership and sometimes employed assistants (ripetitori ) as well, so that contracts for business associations have occasionally been preserved too. Grammar teachers sometimes handed on their premises to their successors: a physical grammar school is actually known to have existed in Florence for most of the fteenth century, a location that a succession of teachers rented either individually or collectively. This school was situated on the rst oor above a warehouse ( fondaco) in the square known as Orsanmichele, opposite the famous oratory. It was let by the charitable magistracy known as the Bigallo, and so records survive of the rental agreements, including the names of teachers (see pp. 402 ff below). Florentine abacus masters, like elementary teachers, were entirely private in the fteenth century, but they too, like grammarians, often worked together in partnerships, so that contracts of business associations have similarly sometimes survived. Moreover, abacus teachers tended to work in established premises or schools, and so rental agreements and property purchases have often survived, facilitating the process of identication (see pp. 362 ff below). Elementary education, on the other hand, was a much less organized and formal operation than either grammar or abacus schools. Almost all elementary reading (and/or writing) teachers worked individually, so that there are few surviving partnership agreements. Unlike abacus or grammar teachers, there is little indication that they worked in long established schools, handing on premises from one generation to the next. A number (for example perhaps the three women known to have taught reading in the fteenth century) possibly took boys (and/or) girls into their own houses to teach reading, so that no records of rental for teaching premises have survived. Grammar teachers were usually laymen, and almost all known abacus
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teachers were from the laity; in contrast, the ranks of reading teachers were swelled by impecunious or unbeneced clergymen, who were not normally obliged to submit individual reports to the Catasto in 1427. In Florence, elementary education, although ubiquitous, was relatively informal and so has remained more elusive that secondary abacus and grammar teaching. Elementary teachers before 1427 Before the 1427 Catasto, six elementary teachers have been identied in fteenth-century Florence. On 1 February 1423, a maestro de’ fanciulli called Ser Altomano di Nanni da Volterra was mentioned in the ricordanze of the Corsini family, reappearing again on 15 June 1426 and 21 April 1430.3 Ser Gherardo, a priest in the Badia, taught the rst steps in reading (la tavola) to Antonio Rustici’s two sons, Lionardo and Stefano, from February to 1 August 1423: posigli [sc. ‘Lionardo e Stefano mia ghioli’] a llegiere la detta tavola chon Ser Gherardo prete nella Badia di Firenze a dì di febraio 1422, e anchora di poi ne gli levai da detto Ser Gherardo a dì 1o d’aghosto 1423.4
Another reading teacher was Ser Romano di Ser Neri, dead by 1427, when the husband of his daughter, then aged 43, declared that she was now in possession of the property of her rst husband: Sustanza e beni di Bastiano di Ghetto Pagholi e di Mona Chaterina sua donna. Istano a pigione inn una chasa di Sandra di Vieri Alltoviti in Borgho Santo Apostollo, Gofalone Vipera [. . .] Tutti quessti beni sono di Mona Chaterina, gluola fu di Ser Romano di Ser Neri, teneva i fanci[u]lli a legiere, la quale è ogi mia donna.5
A fourth reading teacher, also dead by 1427, was one Maestro Giovanni, whose impoverished widow, Bartolomea, aged 64, had to eke out a living as a linen weaver; her only assets were 30 orins, deposited with a banker, a little furniture and a linen loom: Monna Bartolomea vedova, donna fu di Maestro Giovanni, insegniava a fanciuilli legiere. Tesse panno lino, è d’età di LXIIIIo anni, è povera
3 4 5
Petrucci (1965), p. 139. ASF CS II.11, fol. 32v. See Appendix 5. ASF Catasto 38, fol. 127r–v. See Appendix 1.
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chapter five persona, à di sustanza Fl. trenta, che gli à dipositati a biancho [i.e. banco] di Salvestro di Maestro Benvenuto a sua discrezione. Non à altro se nonn è un pocho di masserizia e uno telaio da pano lino.6
The fth pre-1427 reading teacher was called Bernardo Zoppo (‘the lame’) by Antonio Rustici, who had placed his two sons, Lionardo (aged 5) and Stefano (aged 4), in his school for three months on 4 November 1422 in order to learn the rudiments of reading using the tavola (before removing them and enrolling them in the above-mentioned school of Ser Gherardo, priest in the Badia); Bernardo’s school was located at San Iacopo tra i Fossi (today Via de’ Benci) in the quarter of S. Croce: Ricordanza questo dì 4 di novembre 1422 ch’io ne mandai Lionardo e Stefano mia ghioli alla botteghuça a ‘nparare la tavola cho’ nome di dio, cioè alla bottegha di Bernardo Zoppo. Ista da Sa’ Iachpo tra lle Fosse. Di poi ne gli levai.7
The sixth elementary teacher was Bartolo di Domenico, who had a reading school in the parish of S. Pancrazio. In 1426 he was the recipient of a legacy of 40 orins from a French tailor: [5 ianuario 1426] Ugolinus Tommasii sartor civis Francie et olim habitator ut dissit in civitate Florentie in [anno] MCCCCXXV [. . .] die quinto mensis ianuarii suum condidit testamentum [. . .] in quo [. . .] Magistro Bartulo Dominici de Florentia magistro scholarum reliquit orenos quadraginta auri [. . .] sui testamenti executores [. . .] voluit [. . .] Iohannem Adovardi de Portinaris de Florentia et Magistrum Bartolum Dominici de Florentia [. . .]8 [8 februario 1426] Actum in populo Sancte Marie in Campo de Florentia presentibus testibus etc. Allexandro olim Antonii Pauli dicti populi et Ser Ugolino Peruççi notario et cive orentino [. . .] Magister Bartolus Dominici sive Laurentii de Florentia rector sive magister scholarum populi Sancti Pancratii de Florentia fuit confessus etc. habuisse etc. a Hospitali Sancte Marie Nove de Florentia et pro hospitali a bancho sive tabula Cosmi et Laurentii de Medicis de Florentia pro executione testamenti Ugolini Tommasii sartoris de Francia soliti morari Florentie vigore legati dicto Magistro Bartulo facti per dictum Ugolinum in dicto eius testamento orenos quadraginta auri [. . .]9
6 7 8 9
ASF ASF ASF ASF
Catasto 56, fol. 592r. See Appendix 1. CS II.11, fol. 32v. See Appendix 5. Ospedale di S. M. Nuova 70, fol. 140r. NA 19343, fol. 42r.
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Elementary teachers in the 1427 Catasto Bernardo ‘Zoppo’ was, in fact, Bernardo d’Antonio Falconi, who described his inrmity for the information (and sympathy) of the Catasto ofcials in 1427: Anchora vi signicho chome io Bernardo sopradetto sono a ttratto della mano, e del piede mancho, e non n’ò mai auto nulla né di prestanza né di prestanzone, perché chi à ‘vuto a porre à veduto e chognosciuto la mia infermità e possibilità, e però mi vi rachomando per l’amore di dio.
Bernardo, then a bachelor aged 40 (‘Io Bernardo sopradetto sono d’età d’anni 40’), had a reading school near the Peruzzi palaces, all in or close to S. Iacopo tra i Fossi: Anchora ò un pocho d’aviamento d’una bottegha ch’io tengho da chasa e Peruzzi d’insegnare leggere a fanciulli.
For this bottega, rented from the Tertiaries of S. Francesco at three orins a year, Bernardo owed four years’ rent in 1427: In prima ò a dare al Chapitolo delle Pinzochere del Terzo Ordine di Sancto Francesco Fl. dodici per la pigione della bottegha dove io sto a ‘nsegnare a fanciulli, che nne do l’anno Fl. tre di pigione l’anno. Fl. 12.10
According to the Catasto, Bernardo Falconi had eight colleagues in 1427. Girolamo di Bartolo (detto Taccino) had a reading school in the Piazza de’ Mozzi in the Quarter of S. Spirito, just over the Ponte alle Grazie from the Quarter of S. Croce: Girolamo di Bartolo chiamato Taccino, che ‘nsegno leggiere a fanciugli alla Piaza de’ Mozi.
Born in April 1363, he was 64 in 1427, declaring to the Catasto ofcials that he was old, ill and had suffered from a urinary complaint for 36 years: Taccino naqui nel ‘63 d’aprile. Ò anni 64. Sono infermo già è degli ani 36 di renella e d’altra infermità più trista.
He was owed 30 lire or more from countless persons whose children he had taught; liable for tiny sums, these were bad debtors evading or incapable of payment:
10
ASF Catasto 15, fol. 406r. See Appendix 1.
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chapter five Ho a rischuotere da migliaia di persona circha di lire 30 o più, che sono perduti per fanciugli a chui ò insegnato. So’ pichole some. No’ gli vorebono trovar per darmegli.
In 1427 he was a widower, but his daughter, Francesca, was 11, having been born in June 1416.11 In 1427, another reading teacher also worked in the quarter of S. Spirito, but on the other side of the Ponte Vecchio, well along the Arno in the parish of San Frediano. Domenico d’Antonio d’Arrigo was a bachelor aged 45 or thereabouts in 1427; he seems to have once been in business, having mounted up a long list of creditors to whom he owed a total of 130 orins, 2 lire. He was then paying an annual collective settlement of 8 orins, via one of his principal creditors, the bank run by Piero Borromei. He declared himself to be a cripple, so that his bankruptcy may have been precipitated by inrmity. By 1427, he seems to have established a thriving school, where he taught reading to numerous children: ‘nsegnio legiere a parechi fanciulli del popolo di San Friano di Firenze quartiera di Sancto Spirito ghonfalone del Drago.
His earnings were reasonable, amounting 18 to 20 orins a year: guadagnio l’ano a sengniare a fanciugli Fl. 18 o 20;12
this represented an annual income about two thirds of what was earned by Florence’s principal grammar teacher in 1427 (Ser Santi di Domenico d’Arezzo: see below p. 422). Another elementary teacher appearing in the 1427 Catasto was Bartolo di Lorenzo, who lived in Borgo San Iacopo, also in the Quarter of S. Spirito; unlike Falconi or Taccino, he declared that he taught writing as well as reading: Bartolo di Lorenzo maestro d’insegniare leggere e scrivere a fancugli nel quartiere di Santo Ispirito, ghonfalone del Nichio, abita in Borgho Sa’ Iacopo.
Aged 45 in 1427, he was a family man with a wife, Domenica, aged 36, and two adolescent sons, Lorenzo and Miniato, aged 17 and 15 respectively; neither followed his father’s occupation, working instead in leather shops; he also had two daughters, Alessandra and Cassandra, 11 12
ASF Catasto 15, fol. 901r–v. See Appendix 1. ASF Catasto 24, fol. 751r. See Appendix 1.
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aged three and 11 months. In 1427 Bartolo was owed 4 lire by Pagolo di Vanni Rucellai for teaching his son Antonio to read and write: Pagholo di Vanni Rucellai de’ dare per resto d’insengnare legere e scrivere Antonio suo gliuolo al quaderno a c. 25—L. 4 S. D.
He was owed much more by a linen merchant, Iacopo di Bucherello, for having taught his seven children to read and write: Iachopo di Bucherello linaiuolo de’ dare per insegniare legere e scrivere a sette suoi gliuoli al quaderno a c. 72—Fl. 14 L. S.
He had also acted as administrator (attore) for the estate of an orphan, Lionardo di Luca Malici, a line of work possibly related to or deriving from his teaching activities: Lionardo di Lucha Malici de’ dare chom’apare a libro suo dell’atori; per anni quatro ò fatto la sua attoria. Quello istanzierano gli Uciali de’ Pupilli quartieri di Sancto Ispirito e Sancta Crocie—Fl. 14.13
Bartolo di Lorenzo was still teaching reading in 1453, when he was mentioned as a litigant in the court of the Mercanzia on 29 February 1453: Maestro Bartolo de Lorenzo che insegna legere a fanciulli [. . . per] Lorenzo suo per adrieto padre [. . .]14
In 1458, Bartolo di Lorenzo had not yet foresaken his occupation: the Catasto of that year reveals that his school was now on the Lungarno in the parish of S. Trinita, not far from Borgo S. Iacopo, where he had previously taught. Aged 76 in 1458, Bartolo then disclosed his surname too: Bartolo di Lorenzo Gerini che insengnia legere a fancugli lungharno, nel populo di Santa Trinita [. . .] Bartolo di Lorenzo sopradetto è d’età d’anni setanzei 76.15
Another reading teacher also lived in the Oltrarno in 1427: Giovanni di Ser Niccolò, then aged 60 and inrm, as was his wife Caterina, aged 58; his son, Chimente, also reported as unwell, worked in Rhodes as a goldsmith, with a wife, Mattea, and a daughter, Pera, aged 4. Giovanni’s owned his own house (valued at 100 orins) near 13 14 15
the road then called Sitorno (now Via della Chiesa), behind Piazza S. Spirito. His school, however, was located on the other side of the river over the Ponte alla Carraia, probably near the church of S. Maria Maggiore, from whose prior it was rented: Anchora colla pigione della bottega ch’io tengo dal Priore di Santa Maria Magiore et più altri debiti circha di lire 25.16
A non-Florentine who taught reading in Via Larga (now Via Cavour) was Maestro Guglielmo di Messer Vecchio da Bologna, or as he wrote in his Bolognese dialect: Guielmo de Mesere Vechio forstieri del contato e de la citade de Firenze, che insigna fanciuli lezere in la dita cità di Firenze in su el canto de Via Larga.
Aged 50 or more, he declared to the Catasto ofcials that he had had a grave illness for three years; his wife, aged 40, was suffering from fever, and had to nurse her son of fourteen months herself, so that the child himself was feverish too; one other son, aged twelve and a half, was also reported as unwell; the only t member of the household, according to Guglielmo, was another son, aged nine and a half. Although he taught in the quarter of S. Giovanni, Guglielmo and his family lived on Via de’ Fossi in Santa Maria Novella. They shared a house, owned by the hospital of S. Iacopo di Altopascio. The other tenants were three unmarried women who wound bobbins ( lano a rocca). It was apparently this work that brought these individuals together under the same roof: Guglielmo’s wife was also a bobbin-winder. The other tenants were a married couple, of whom the husband was a labourer (manovale) and the wife, a bread porter ( porta il pane al forno). This shared accommodation caused some confusion for the purposes of the 1427 Catasto. The other tenants of the house submitted a joint return, written by an anonymous scribe because they were evidently illiterate. This informant included Guglielmo and his family as well, writing up their details in Florentine dialect, evidently unaware that Guglielmo had himself submitted a return, written in his own hand and in Bolognese dialect. The Catasto ofcials cancelled Guglielmo’s entry in the collective return, but it does contain information not found in his own portata, including his wife’s occupation and name (Agnesa), and the names of his three sons
16
ASF Catasto 20, fol. 1103r. See Appendix 1.
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(G[i]osue, Venturino and Carlo), although there are some discrepancies regarding his and his family’s ages.17 The last reading teacher to submit his own return to the 1427 Catasto was Maestro Piero di Lorenzo Malamamma, who worked in the parish of San Lorenzo: Questa è la portata di Maestro Piero di Lorenço Malamamma insegnia a fanciulli leggiere populo di Sancto Lorenço.
A widower aged 68 or 69, he had a young family, consisting of a daughter aged nearly 14 (Margherita), another aged 10 (Checca), a third aged 2 (Giovanna) and a son aged 6 (Lorenzo). His house in Via S. Gallo was worth 100 orins, and he retained use of his wife Domenica d’Antonio di Rota’s dowry, consisting of a house and land in the country.18 The schools operated by these seven elementary teachers were spread throughout the city, catering particularly well for the most heavily populated quarter of San Giovanni (three teachers: S. M. Maggiore, S. Lorenzo, Via Larga). The populous area of S. Ambrogio in the Quarter of S. Croce seems to have been served by another teacher, a priest connected with S. Pier Maggiore, whose neighbour, Iacopo di Giovanni, a riveditore, rented a house from that convent: Sto in una chasa delle donne di San Piero Magore; chonna dal lato chon uno prete che ‘nsengna legere a fanculli ed è la chasa delle dette monache, e dall’altro lato sta uno ch’à nome Nicholaio peliciaio ed è la sua chasa delle dette donne, e drieto chonno cho’ lle dette monache [. . .]19
This teacher was possibly Ser Anselmo, chaplain of S. Piero Maggiore, who acted as scribe for various illiterates in the vicinity: Io Ser Anselmo prete e capellano in Sancto Piero Maggiore ò scritto questa scritta a preghiera del detto Antonio.20 Mona Andrea gliuola fu di Nicolo di Boninsegna Marmorai [scritto da Ser Anselmo prete].21
chapter five Io Ser Anselmo prete et cappellano in Sancto Piero Maggio(re) ò scritto di mia propia mano a preghiera della sopradetta Mona Mea.22
Bernardo Falconi, a fellow reading teacher (see above p. 331), was, in fact, the most active Catasto scribe in Florence during the summer of 1427, writing portate on behalf of numerous illiterates and semi-literates in his quarter of residence (S. Spirito) and teaching (S. Croce),23 like Ser Anselmo (in San Giovanni, where S. Pier Maggiore was located, and in S. Croce, where this teacher presumably taught in the parish of S. Ambrogio). The only female teacher recorded in the 1427 Catasto lived in the parish of S. Piero in Gatolino, near a house belonging to the parish priest, in the quarter of S. Spirito, as reported by Lorenzo di Fabiano, a wool comber: Nel popolo di San Piero Ghatolini. Isto in una chasa di Ser Giovanni prete di San Piero Ghatolino chonni a prima via, sechondo la mona tiene fanciugli a legiere.24
The other elementary teachers in S. Spirito taught nearer the river (Piazza de’ Mozzi, S. Frediano), and so presumably this anonymous
22
ASF Catasto 58, fol. 383r. ASF Catasto 15, fol. 65r: Io Bernardo d’Antonio Falchoni ò fatto la presente scritta a preghiera del sopradecto Antonio oggi questo dì di sopra [10 July 1427, for Antonio di Fruosino, maestro di murare]; 533r: Io Bernardo d’Antonio Falchoni ò fatto la decta scritta a preghiera del sopradecto Domenicho di Lorenzo malischalcho oggi questo dì decto di sopra [8 July 1427]; 642r: Io Bernardo d’Antonio Falchoni ò fatto la presente scritta a preghiera del sopradecto Francescoo oggi questo dì decto di sopra [Francescho di Sandro becchaio, 11 July 1427]; 16, fol. 149v: Io Bernardo d’Antonio Falchoni ò fatta la presente scritta a preghiera del decto Lodovicho oggi questo dì decto di sopra [10 July 1427, for Lodovicho di Domenicho malischalcho]; 26, fol. 1135r: Io Bernardo d’Antonio Falchoni ò scritto la presente a preghiera del decto Iachopo [di Pagholo Marini]; 31, fol. 257r: Io Bernardo d’Antonio Falchoni ò fatto la presente scritta a preghiera del sopradecto Francesco [di Fruosino spedalingho della compagnia di S. Maria del Tenpio]; 193v: Io Bernardo d’Antonio Falchoni ò fatto questa scritta a preghiera del decto Merlino [Merlino di Vanni dalla Badia del Polese del distretto della città di Vinegia]; fol. 304r: Io Bernardo d’Antonio Falchoni ò fatto la presente iscritta a preghiera del decto Niccholò da Soci [di Giovanni Soci oggi oste in Vinegia (a Firenze)]; 34, fol. 80v: Io Bernardo d’Antonio Falchoni ò fatto la presente scritta a preghiera del decto Aveduto [d’Agnolo malischalcho]; fol. 124r: Io Bernardo d’Antonio Falchoni ò fatto la presente scritta a preghiera del sopradecto Agnolo [d’Andrea da Perugia, pizichagnolo]; fol. 361r: Io Bernardo d’Antonio Falchoni ò fatto la presente scritta a preghiera della decta Mona Betrice [fu di Rondello, treccha in Vinegia (Firenze)]; fol. 486r, 593v, 681r; 35, fol. 972v, 982r, 1014r, 1050r, 1132r, 1213v, 1250v; 36, fol. 351v, 363r, 619v, 847v. 24 ASF Catasto 22, fol. 7r. See Appendix 1. 23
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woman teacher catered for children between Piazza S. Spirito and Porta Romana. These nine teachers, as disclosed by the 1427 Catasto, covered most of the city of Florence; the only populous district in which an elementary school has not been identied was the area centring on the church of Ogni Santi and extending to Porta al Prato. Therefore, it is clear that, in 1427, Florence had at least ten elementary schools in which reading (and writing) were being taught. These schools were distributed throughout the city, each being at a signicant distance from the others. The obvious inference is that these were neighbourhood schools, each with a particular catchment area. The custom in Florence was apparently that small children went to their local elementary school to learn reading. Secondary abacus schools did not have this relatively even distribution throughout the city; indeed, the three most famous and most successful abacus schools in fourteenth-century Florence were close together, concentrated in district round Piazza S. Trinita (see pp. 372 ff below). Florentine parents chose their preferred abacus schools; in contrast, they sent their children not to a specially selected elementary school, but rather to the school serving the area in which they lived. Unlike abacus schools, elementary schools in Florence were not in direct competition with one another.25
25 A necessary departure from the habit of neighbourhood elementary education occurred when Florentine families left the city. Many middle and upper-class Florentines lived part of the year in their country properties. This could mean an interruption to elementary education, as occurred, for example, in the case of the Pecori family in the summer of 1469: [. . .] S. sei [. . .] al maestro che insengna a Dino Francesco per insino a ogi, e ogi n’andò in villa (ASF DPPP 50, fol. 142 destra; see Appendix 5). Sometimes, however, Florentines could draw on local resources, sending their children to a nearby country priest for reading lessons, as occurred with the Michi family in 1416: Al prete da Chareggo che insegniò loro legiere mentre che stettono in villo [sic]: S.16 D.6. (ASF MSS 82, fol. 66v; see Appendix 5). Similar provision was made by a more famous family. In 1478, Lodovico Buonarotti sent his son Lionardo (born 16 November 1473)—the elder brother of Michelangelo—to Don Mauro, a priest in Settignano, where the family had a country property, for reading lessons: Richordo questo dì 17 d’aprile [1478] chome mandai Lionardo mio a chominciare a imparare a lleggiere de Don Maruo prete a Sancta Maria a Settignano. (Florence Archivio Buonarroti, XXIV, Quadernuccio di spese di Ludovico, fol. 9: I am grateful to Michael Hirst for this reference.)
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Elementary teachers at or near Orsanmichele in the earlier fteenth century Florence’s principal grammar school in Orsanmichele (noted above p. 328 and to be discussed in detail below pp. 402 ff ) also occasionally provided elementary instruction in reading, carried out not by the grammar masters but by their assistants (ripetitori ). It was there that Antonio Rustici sent his sons Stefano (aged 8) and Marabottino (aged 5) for reading lessons in November 1426 with a ripetitore called Francesco; the following May they were joined by their brother Rinieri (aged 5): Richordanza che insino del mese di novenbre 1426 io ne mandai a llegiere alla schuola d’Orzamichele Stefano e Marabottino e diegli a 1o ripetitore che insegniasse loro. Ha nome Francescho, il quale ista in detta schuola e di poi del mese di magio 1427 vi mandai a llegiere Rinieri.26
On 11 March 1427 Francesco was paid 6 silver grossi for his salary, at the rate of 5 1/2 soldi per grosso: Ànne auto il detto Francescho a dì 11 di marzo 1426 [ab inc.] da mme chontanti e porta’ gliele alla schuola Go VI d’ariento per suo salario. Fl _____L. 1a S. 13 D._____27
Later that year Francesco left Orsanmichele and Antonio placed his sons under a new ripetitore there called Sandro from 1 November 1427: Di poi del detto anno il detto Franchesco si partì da dectta ishuola e rimaso’ mi i detti mia fancuili, che di poi a dì 1o di novembre 1427 gli ridiedi in dectta schuola a 1o maestro ch’à nome Sandro che insegniasse loro.28
However, their father was dissatised with Sandro’s teaching, removing his sons from Orsanmichele on 1 November 1428: Richordanza che insino a dì 1o di novenbre 1427 ch’io ne mandai a inparare a llegiere Stefano e Marbottino e Rinieri alla scuola d’Orzamichele, e posigli chon u’ ripetitore ch’à nome Sandro, il quale sta in detta schuola che insegniasse loro. Di poi a dì 1o di novembre 1428 ne gli levai perché non ne insegnava loro bene.29
Near Orsanmichele, but evidently not in the main school premises, worked Ser Niccolò di Antonio da Pratovecchio, who was a
26 27 28 29
ASF ASF ASF ASF
CS CS CS CS
II.11, II.11, II.11, II.11,
fol. fol. fol. fol.
48v. 48v. 48v. 49v.
See See See See
Appendix Appendix Appendix Appendix
5. 5. 5. 5.
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salaried grammar teacher for the commune in the later 1430s (see below p. 389), but his lessons to the Rustici boys, who came to him after leaving Sandro’s tuition, consisted only of reading. His school was rst in the Chiasso di Ferro, near the Mercato Nuovo and the Mercato Vecchio (now Piazza della Repubblica); later it was said to be in the Chiassolino del Mangaro at Orsanmichele. The Rustici boys remained with Ser Niccolò for three and a half years, beginning on 1 November 1428 and leaving on 18 May 1432: riposigli a llegiere chon Ser Nicholò, sta in Chiasso di Ferro30 [. . .] Richordanza questo dì 1o di novembre 1428 ch’io riposi a llegiere Stefano e Marabottino e Rinieri in Chiasso di Ferro chon un maestro ch’à nome Ser Nicholò da Pratovechio31 [. . .] Richordanza che insino a dì 15 di magio 1431 ne mandai di nuovo a llegiere Stefano, Marabottino e Rinieri alla schuola di Ser Nicholò da Pratovechio, che sta nel Chiassolino del Manghano d’Uorzanmichele [. . .] A dì 18 di magio 1432 ne levai e detti fanciulli dalla dectta schuola.32
During this period, Antonio made various payments of fees to Ser Niccolò.33 Elementary teachers in the mid-fteenth century In 1440 a teacher called Maestro Andrea was giving reading lessons to Francesco, son of Veneziana, the widow of Bertino Turadini. It seems that this teacher was operating a school, rather than acting as a private tutor, since the level of fees was comparable to those paid by Antonio Rustici in the 1420s and 1430s: E deono dare a dì 12 di maggio [1440] L. 1a S. 2. Ebbe Mona Veniziana per dare al maestro per insengnare leggiere a Francesco.34 A dì 15 detto [aprile 1441] S. 22 a Maestro Andrea, maestro di Francesco _____L. 1a S. II.35
In 1458 Francesco di Bartolo di Matteo, a lapsed clergyman aged 42, was teaching reading; he had not previously appeared in any
30 31 32 33 34 35
ASF ASF ASF ASF ASF ASF
CS II.11, fol. 49v. See Appendix 5. CS II.11, fol. 53r. See Appendix 5. CS II.11, fol. 61v. See Appendix 5. CS II.11, fol. 49v, 53r, 61v. See Appendix 5 for the texts. Comp.RSPL 1026.201, fol. 24 sinistra. See Appendix 5. Comp.RSPL 1026.201, fol. 31 destra. See Appendix 5.
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Catasto because he had been in ecclesiastical habit and hence exempt from submitting a portata: Francesco di Bartolo di Matteo che insengia leggere. Non n’è stato in alchuna distributione perché non n’è stato sopra di se et anchora perché è stato in abito eclesiasticho.
In 1458 he had a wife, Lisabetta, aged 26 and a son, Girolamo, aged 1; the family lived at the ‘Canto del Frilla’ in a house rented for six orins a year from Messer Bernardo di Giovanni, prior of S. Benedetto in the diocese of Arezzo. He was owed 30 lire from various parents for teaching: Ò avere da più persone circha di lire trenta d’insengniatura L. 30,
as well as about 15 lire from Marco Fei, a silk merchant, for teaching his children: Ò avere da Marcho Fei setaiuolo per insengniatura de’ sua gluoli circha di L. 15.36
Ser Francesco di Bartolo di Matteo was still active as a teacher in the 1470s and 80s. Living in the parish of S. M. Novella, he witnessed a notarial act on 24 January 1473 in the parish of S. Maria Maggiore, possibly suggesting that he was a successor in the elementary school operated there in 1427 by Giovanni di Ser Niccolò (see above pp. 333–34): Item postea dicto anno [ms.: Antonio] indictione VI et die 24 ianuarii [1473], actum Florentie in populo Sancte Marie Maioris, presentibus testibus ad hoc vocatis habitis et rogatis Ser Francischo Bartolo Mathei magistro scholarum populi S. Marie Novelle de Florentia et Clemente Iohannis del Voglia lanino populi Sancti Marci de Florentia.37
In 1467 he was teaching the son of Calvano di Attaviano di Messer Guccio de’ Nobili, born on 28 September 1462;38 up to November he had been teaching him the tavola: E a dì XXVI di novenbre S. XIII D. IIIIo dati a Ser Francesco, che’nsegna legere a tTaviano. À gli insegnata la tavola insino a questo dì.39
36 37 38 39
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Catasto 818, fol. 933r. See Appendix 2. NA 1562, fol. 410v. CRSGF 102.489, fol. 14 sinistra. See Appendix 5. CRSGF 102.489, fol. 92 sinistra. See Appendix 5.
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and he continued teaching Attaviano until at least September 1469: a dì 23 di dicembre 1467 [. . .] Ser Francesco che ‘nsegne legere a tTaviano S. 2 per mancia.40 E a dì 24 di marzo S. dieci dati a Ser Francesco, che ‘nsegna legere. Portò Attaviano.41 E a dì detto [27 ottobre 1468] S. II dati a Ser Francesco per mancia. Portò Attaviano.42 E a dì 28 di febraio [1469] lira una dati a Ser Francesco, che ‘nsigna.43 E a dì detto [27 settembre 1469] lira una dati a Ser Francesco, che ‘nsegna legere.44
In 1480 he was again teaching childen of the same family, but evidently no longer Attaviano (then aged 17) but probably one or both of his younger brothers, Francesco (born 3 October 146645) and / or Rinieri (born 6 May 1468):46 E a dì 23 detto [maggio 1470] lira una dati a Ser Francesco, che ‘nsegna legere.47
The Nobili family were evidently satised with Ser Francesco’s teaching, but the same could not be said of Ser Angelo Bandini, who placed his illegitimate son Bastiano in his school on 5 August 1469. His aims were modest: reading and writing, in order that he could keep his own accounts: Ricordo come a dì 5 d’agosto 1469 rimasi con Ser Francesco, che insegnna a leggiere, che insegnasse a Bastiano mio gliolo e bastardo a legiere e scrivere in modo sappia leggiere le lettere e scrivere acciò posse tenere suo conto, e debbe avere d’achordo quando gli arà insegnato e ‘gli sappi e tra mancie e tutto: L. quattro piccioli.48
However, he removed him later that month, paying only a quarter of the contracted amount, because, according to him, the boy had learnt nothing and was not attending:
139 sinistra. See Appendix 5. 82 sinistra. See Appendix 5. 101 destra. See Appendix 5. 103 destra. See Appendix 5. 105 sinistra. See Appendix 5. 14 sinistra. See Appendix 5. 17 sinistra. See Appendix 5. 116 destra. See Appendix 5. 9r. See Appendix 5.
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chapter five Ànne avuto a dì . . . [sic] d’agosto L. uno contanti. Portay io detto. Leva’ ne lo detto mese perché non inparava nulla e non v’andò e però se cancella.49
Ser Francesco also provided reading lessons to Dino Francesco Pecori at the beginning of 1473, so becoming his fourth documented reading teacher (see Appendix 1): [4 febbraio 1473] A Ser Francesco per lla macia della chandellaia.50 [1o febbraio 1473] S. 5 a Ser Francesco, insegna a Dino per lla mancia della chandellaia.51 [10 febbraio 1473] S. dieci [. . .] a Ser Francesco che insengna a Dino Francesco legiere e vertù.52 [10 febbraio 1473] S. dieci [. . .] a Ser Francesco, che insengna legiere a Dino Francesco popillo.53
but it is unkown what success he achieved with this demanding pupil. In 1463 Ser Stefano, a priest and chaplain of the church of S. Frediano in the Oltrarno, was running a reading school in Piazza S. Frediano, where the painter Neri di Bicci send his six-year-old son beginning on 14 April: Richordo ch’el detto dì posi Bicci mio gliuolo a llegere alla boteghuza a Ser iStefano prete e chapellano di San Friano di Firenze, istà alla piaza di San Firano.54
In 1463 a mender from the parish of San Martino del Vescovo (today on Via Dante Alighieri between Via de’ Cerchi and Via de’ Magazzini) called Andrea di Giuntarello was running a reading school. On 19 July of that year, he was accused of sodomy and denounced secretly to the magistracy charged with maintaining public morals at night, the Ufciali di Notte: 19 iulii 1463, tamburatio contra [. . .] Andream Giuntarelli rimendatorem in Sancto Martino qui retinet scolas puerorum pro commictendo vitium soddomie.55
According to surviving records, he was not prosecuted.
49 50 51 52 53 54 55
ASF CRSGF 102.421, fol. 9r. See Appendix 5. ASF DPPP 50, fol. 189 destra. See Appendix 5. ASF DPPP 50, fol. 191 destra. See Appendix 5. ASF DPPP 50, fol. 191 destra. See Appendix 5. ASF DPPP 50, fol. 192 destra. See Appendix 5. Neri di Bicci (1976), p. 200. ASF UdN 9, fol. 10v.
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A reading teaching active in Florence for more than twenty years was Ser Verdiano di Ser Cristofano. Tommaso, the elder orphaned son of Francesco Pecori, born on 25 January 1456,56 was his pupil on 7 November 1465, when he was paid one lira for reading lessons and one soldo for rewood: [. . .] soldi venti [. . .] dati a Ser Verdiano di Ser Cristofano, che insegna legiere a Tommaxo popillo e S. uno per le legna.57
On the following 29 November, a new elementary reading textbook, the salterio, was purchased from the bookseller, Bartolomeo d’Antonio, and a gratuity (vanto) was paid to Ser Verdiano: Pagho a Bartolomeo d’Antonio chartolaio per 1o salterio nuovo per Tommaxo popillo, [. . .] per dare il vanto al maestro gl’insegna. L. una S. XVIII [. . .] a Bartolomeo d’Antonio chartolaio per 1o salterio per Tomaxo popillo e S. 2 per dare il vanto al maestro gl’isengna.58
The following 22 April, Ser Verdiano was paid a further 10 soldi for Tommaso’s reading lessons: A dì XXII d’aprile 1466 S. dieci [. . .] dati a Ser Verdiano, che’sengna a Tommaxo.59
On 15 January next, Ser Verdiano was paid another 10 soldi, not only for reading lessons but for one of the customary annual gratuities, the so-called vanto della candellaia: S. dieci [. . .] paghati a Ser Verdiano percheché [sic] insengnia legiere a Tommaxo e per llo vanto della candellaia [. . .] a venire.60
Later that month, Tommaso’s younger brother Dino Francesco, born in July 146261 and not yet ve years old, began to be equipped for reading lessons. The most elementary reading text, the tavola, was prepared for him (and a couple of toys were also purchased for him and his brother Tommaso): S. nove D. IIIIo [. . .] per una tavola e farvi suso et versi e per due paia di iocholi.
56 57 58 59 60 61
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DPPP DPPP DPPP DPPP DPPP DPPP
50, 50, 50, 50, 50, 50,
fol. fol. fol. fol. fol. fol.
2 sinistra. 90 destra, 91 destra. See Appendix 5. 91 sinistra, 93 sinistra. See Appendix 5. 98 sinistra, 99 sinistra. See Appendix 5. 110 destra, 111 sinistra. See Appendix 5. 2 sinistra.
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chapter five [. . .] S. nove D. IIIIo [. . .] per 1a tavola et per due paia di iocholi per Tommaxo et per Francieschino.62
By the following 21 April, a new tavola had to be prepared for Dino Francesco, who enjoyed compensation, perhaps together with his siblings, in the form of some sweets: S. 10 per zuchero e chonfetto et fare scrivere versi alla tavola da legiere per Dino Francesco popillo.63
At this early age, it seems that the tiny Dino Francesco may have been taught at home, possibly by his mother, the widowed Caterina, because the payments to Ser Verdiano mentioned reading lessons for his older brother Tommaso alone for the next six months or so: A dì VI detto [6 maggio 1467] S. dieci posto a spese [. . .] a Ser Verdiano, che insengna legiere a Tommaxo popillo. A dì XXXI detto [agosto 1467…] S. dieci [. . .] a Ser Verdiano, che insegnna a Tommaxo per llo tepo passato. E a dì detto [31 agosto 1467] S. dieci [. . .] paghati a Ser Verdiano, insengnia a legiere a Tommaxo popillo per insino a ogi et di nuovo richominc[i]a. [16 dicembre 1467. . .] S. 2 a Tommaxo per llo vanto dice al maestro suo gl’isegna.64
But by 15 January of the next year, Ser Verdiano was giving reading lessons to both Tommaso and Dino Francesco: A dì XV di gienaio [1468 . . .] a’ fanculli per lla candela al maestro loro. A dì XV detto [gennaio 1468 . . .] a Tommaxo et Francesco popilli per dare al maestro per lla chandellaia.65
Possibly these initial lessons outside the home for Dino Francesco, then aged only 5 1/2, were not entirely successful, since payments to Ser Verdiano in February were for Tommaso alone: A dì XII di febraio 1467 [. . .] S. dieci [. . .] dati a Ser Verdiano, che insengna a Tommaxo popillo a legiere.66
By the next month, Dino Francesco was again with Ser Verdiano, who continued to give the two brothers reading lessons until the following summer: [5 marzo 1468] S. 4 a Ser Verdiano, insegnia loro. [2 aprile 1468] S. dieci [. . .] dati a Ser Verdiano, insegna a legiere a Tommaxo et a Francesco per llo mese di marzo et per le macie della Pasqua. [2 aprile 1468] S. dieci [. . .] a Ser Verdiano per llo salaro di marzo e per llo vanto della Pasqua. [4 maggio 1468] S. sei [. . .] dati a Ser Verdiano, insegnia a Tommaxo et a Dino Francesco [. . .] salaro d’aprile passato. [28 maggio 1468] fogli per Tommaxo. [1o luglio 1468] S. sei [. . .] a Ser Verdiano, insengna legiere a Tommaxo et Dino Francesco popilli.67
Thereafter Ser Verdiano continued to teach Tommaso alone: [20 febbraio 1469] S. IIIIo dati a Tommaxo per dare al maestro gl’isengnia tutto per llui. [14 marzo 1469] S. 4 portò Tommaxo [. . .] al maestro gl’isengnia.68
But it seems that Dino Francesco did not get on so well with this master, since, on March 1469, payments are mentioned for his teacher alone, and then on the following 28 April, a different reading teacher is mentioned for each of the brothers: [26 marzo 1469] per llo vanto al maestro di Franceschino. [28 aprile 1469] S. 5 dati al maestro insengnia a Tommaxo et S. 8 al maestro che insengna a Francesco.69
This new teacher was paid for lessons up to the following 11 July, when Dino Francesco was taken to the country; on the same day, Tommaso, evidently remaining behind in Florence, was removed from Ser Verdiano and placed with his brother’s teacher: [11 luglio 1469] S. sei [. . .] al maestro che insengna a Dino Francesco per insino a ogi, e ogi n’andò in villa, e Tommaxo popillo puosi a ‘nsengnare a detto maestro.70
Ser Verdiano’s tenure with the Pecori pupilli thus lasted nearly four years, from November 1465 to July 1469, but he was still working as a reading teacher more than seventeen years later, when he bought a pair of kids from the shoemaker, Maestro Agnolo di Maestro Giovanni: Ser Verdiano, isegnya legiere, de’ dare a di 3 di gienaio 1486 [ab inc.] per uno paio di chaprete [. . .] L. S. 12.71
The replacement for Ser Verdiano found by the Pecori family was one Ser Marco, who taught both Tommaso and Dino Francesco at least until October 1469: [10 ottobre 1469] S. 6 dati a Ser Marcho, ch’aveva insengnato al detto Dino Francesco. [10 novembre 1469] al maestro che’nsengnia a Francesco.72
However, by the following December, it seems that they had two separate teachers again: [14 dicembre 1469] S. 13 portò Tommaxo al maestro suo per vanto et salaro per tutto dicembre, e S. sei al maestro insegna a Francesco per tutto questo mese et per llo vanto della Pasqua.73
Ser Marco continued to teach Tommaso: [30 gennaio 1470] S. cinque [. . .] dati a Tommaxo popilli [sic] per dare a Ser Marcho, gli’sengnia legiere.74
and Dino Francesco, under his new master, had progressed to the salterio: [30 gennaio 1469] S. sei [. . .] dati a Stefano chartolaio, che rileghò 1o saltero e fecie l’asse di nuovo di Francesco.75
Dino Francesco’s teacher remained anonymous throughout the winter and early spring of 1470, although presumably the more equable and tractable Tommaso remained with Ser Marco: [28 febbraio 1470] S. dieci [. . .] che S. V al maestro isengnia a Tommaxo et S. V al maestro che insegna a Franceschino.
71 72 73 74 75
ASF ASF ASF ASF ASF
CRSGF 102.472, fol. 70v. See Appendix 5. DPPP 50, fol. 142 sinistra, 147 destra. See Appendix 5. DPPP 50, fol. 151 destra. See Appendix 5. DPPP 50, fol. 152 destra. See Appendix 5. DPPP 50, fol. 152 destra, 153 sinisstra. See Appendix 5.
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[27 aprile 1470] S. cinque [. . .] dati a Francischino, ch’egli portò al maestro gl’isengnia.76
Tommaso remained in reading school until at least 14 August 1470, by which date he had reached the age of fourteen and a half: [14 agosto 1470] S. dodici [. . .] dati a Tommaxo popillo. Portò al maestro gl’isengna legiere per mesi passati.77
This Ser Marco is to be identied with a priest, Ser Marco di Baldo, who had a school in Piazza Padella in the parish of S. Michele Berteldi in the quarter of S. Giovanni, mentioned in the Catasto of 1469 as rented from the abacus teacher Benedetto di Antonio: Una chasa posta nel Popolo di Sancto Michele Berteldi, luogho detto Piaza Padella, che da primo via, a secondo detta piaza, a 3o l’eredi di Filippo di Ser Brunellescho, da 4o Tomaso nipote di Pierganni [. . .] La quale chasa una parte ne tiene a pigione Guglelmo che sta per marruno chon Messer Govanozo Pitti, e abianne f. undici l’anno, e un’altra parte tiene Ser Marcho prete e gliuolo di Baldo fabro, per pregio di f. 2 2/3, che vi tiene schuola di fanciulli.78
Dino Francesco’s third reading teacher, who remained in charge of the mercurial pupil throughout the rest of that spring, was nally named on 16 June 1470: [16 giugno 1470] S. VI diè a Bernardo di Lorenzo chericho, che insengna legiere a Francesco cioè per magio et per giugno.79
The designation chierico means that Bernardo di Lorenzo was himself a student, training for the priesthood, and he was paid again on 24 June 1470: S. 7 dati al maestro che insegna a Francesco per magio e per giugno.80
It is unclear whether Ser Verdiano or Ser Marco were clergymen, but, like Bernardo di Lorenzo, there is no doubt about Ser Bartolo di Biagio dell’Olio da Città di Castello, who, while living in the house of Averardo di Alamanno Salviati, also ran a reading school. Identied as a priest, he began to give Francesco, son of Bernardo di
76 77 78 79 80
ASF DPPP 50, fol. 152 destra, 153 destra, 153 sinistra. See Appendix 5. ASF DPPP 50, fol. 156 sinistra, 157 destra. See Appendix 5. Cited from Ulivi (2002a), pp. 72–73. ASF DPPP 50, fol. 156 sinistra. See Appendix 5. ASF DPPP 50, fol. 157 destra. See Appendix 5.
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Stoldo Rinieri, reading and writing lessons on Monday 4 December 1469: Richordo [sc. Bernardo di Stoldo Rinieri] chome questo dì mandai Francesco mio gliuolo alla squola a Ser Bartolo di . . . [sic] dell’Olio da Chastello prete; stava in chasa Averardo de l’Amanno Salviati, ché gl’insegnassi leggiere e schrivere.
Francesco had already learned the basics of reading at home, where his mother Bartolomea had taught him the tavola and the salterio (see above p. 122), and so Ser Bartolo was able to start his lessons with the donadello; theirs was an ad hoc agreement, without any formal contract: E comincò a ‘nsegnargli il donadello, ché in chasa avea inparato la tavola e il saltero dalla Bartolomea mie donna, e non fu chon lui patto alchuno.81
Bernardo Rinieri retained a connection with Ser Bartolo, after the latter became rector of S. Lorenzo a Vicchio (near Bagno a Ripoli). On 18 January 1487, he handed over a small holding with a farmhouse and a worker’s cottage to Ser Bartolo for just under six years, having spent 200 orins on the property; although Ser Bartolo was obliged to meet Bernardo’s investment annually from the yield of the farm, there was no mention of repayment of the principal nor of prot for Bernardo, and so it seems this may have been some sort of pension provided to a teacher who had taught his son: una casetta da hoste et una da lavoratore con staiora 17 di terra posta nel popolo di Santo Michele a Castello detto la Querciuola per L. 40 in l’anno, et m’obrighai a spendervi Fl. 200 larghi et fu nne rogato Ser Giovanni Calandrini no a 2 di marzo 1485. La quale concede’ in mio luogo no a 20 di novembre 1492 a Ser Bartolo di Biagio de l’Olio, rectore di Santo Lorenzo a Vicchio, perché mi rende quanto v’havevo speso et ha nne scritta di mia mano e vi tiene drento Bartolomeo Traballesi di detto popolo, come da lui intenderete. ____Fl. 7.19.6.82
Elementary teachers in the later fteenth century Another elementary teacher who operated a school in the parish of S. Piero Buonconsiglio in the quarter of S. M. Novella was a priest called
81 82
ASF CRSGF 95.212, fol. 163v. See Appendix 5. ASF CRSGF 95.222 NN. See Appendix 5.
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Ser Michele, who in 1473 was accused of sodomizing one Bernardo da Volterra, and of plying him with presents such as an indoor coat (‘catelanum paghonazum’) and other clothing; Bernardo lived and possibly worked in the house of a physician from his hometown called Maestro Lamberto: Die XVII marzii 1472. Ser Michael presbiter qui tenet schuolam in Sancto Petro Buonchonsiglio sodomitat Bernardum . . . [sic] de Vulterris et vestit et tulit unum catelanum paghonazum et tornat in domo Magistri Lamberti medici vulterrani.83
In the end, however, the Ufciali di Notte absolved Ser Michele of the charge: absolutus in hoc a c. 84r.84
Another reading teacher accused of sodomy was one Ser Francesco, either a priest or a clerk in the Florentine cathedral, who had a reading school at the Canto di Monteloro (the corner of Via de’ Pilastri and Borgo Pinti). He was accused of the offence by Filippo di Ser Francesco da Pratovecchio, a pupil aged fteen living in the nearby parish of S. Pier Maggiore, but it seems that the alleged crime took place some years before, because Filippo mentioned other teachers in the same accusation, including Piero Domizi, his grammar teacher in the cathedral school (see below pp. 398–99): Die martis XXI iunii 1474. Filippus Ser Francisci de Pratoveteri pop. S. Petri Maioris de Florentia studens et puer etatis XV annorum [. . .] fuit soddomitatus [. . .] ab Ser Francisco . . . [sic] presbitero seu clericho in ecclesia Sancte Reparate iam per quatuor annos vel circha tempore quo docebat legiere dicto Filippo pluries et pluries de die in una apoteca sita al canto a Monteloro in qua docebat pueris legiere et nil dedit.85
However, the Ufciali di Notte declared that the case was not in their jurisdiction: ‘non habuit cognitionem’.86 Nothing is known about an elementary teacher called Maestro Bartolomeo di Giovanni, except that he was brought before the Mercanzia court on 5 July 1474 as a debtor to the shoemaker, Filippo
83 84 85 86
ASF UdN 16, fol. 55v. ASF UdN 16, fol. 55v. ASF Ufciali di note 17, fol. 46v–47r. See Rocke (1996), p. 161 and p. 299 n. 125. ASF Ufciali di note 17, fol. 47r.
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di Zanobi; on that occasion, he was ordered to pay him 3 lire, in addition to costs of 18 soldi.87 An elementary teacher with a famous pupil was Ser Battista di Filippo da Poppi, who ran a school at the church of S. Benedetto ai Bonizzi, in the tiny square at the corner of Via dello Studio and Via dell’Oche. Known in the fteenth century as S. Benedetto dello Studio, it was here that Ser Battista taught Niccolò di Messer Bernardo Machiavelli up to 5 March 1477. Machiavelli, then aged 7 (his birthday was 3 May 1469), was at the end of the reading syllabus, learning the elementary treatise on the parts of speech now called Ianua; in particular, he was said to have been reading the ‘donadello per lo insenno a mente’.88 This meant that he had already learned to read the text phonetically and was now reading and memorizing with meaning, that is, he was being taught what the actual parts of speech and their morphology meant, while at the same time committing the entire text to memory in order that he could use the verbal and nominal paradigms contained in the text to progress ultimately to actual Latin prose composition.89 It is possible that his teacher, Ser Battista, was also a chaplain of the Florentine baptistery.90 The second-known female reading teacher working in Florence during the fteenth century was one Mona Cosa, who taught reading to Agnolo di Tommaso di Giacchi in 1480: Agnolo di Tommaso, va a leggere cho’ mona Chosa; d’età d’anni 5.91
The family lived in the Oltrarno in the parish of S. Felicita, just beyond the Ponte Vecchio,92 and so it is likely that Mona Cosa taught reading in a school or in her own home nearby, and certainly in the Oltrarno. His older brothers attended the school of Ser Matteo dalla Rocca, the publicly appointed grammar teacher at the time; one was aged 7 and was still learning to read, while the other, aged 12, may have been learning Latin (see below p. 361). Another reading teacher in the Oltrarno during the 1480s was Maestro Piero, who taught reading to boys in the parish of S. Frediano; he 87
ASF Mercanzia 7236, fol. 244r. Black (1996c), p. 392, replacing the erroneous reading of the passage by Cesare Olschki in Machiavelli (1954), p. 45. 89 Black (2001), pp. 58–63. 90 Machiavelli (1954), p. 70. 91 Verde (1973–1995), III, p. 1027. 92 Verde (1973–1995), III, p. 1026. 88
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was dead by 1486 when his daughter Fiammetta married Iacopo del fu Bartolomeo di Michele, a damask weaver from the the parish of S. Felice in Piazza, who received from her a dowry worth 30 orins. [4o die mensis iulii 1486] Actum Florentie in populo Sancti Fridiani [. . .] Domina Fiammetta lia olim Pieri qui docebat legere pueros populi Sancti Fridiani predicti et Iacobus olim Bartholomei Michaelis textor domaschinorum populi Sancti Felicis in Piaza per verba de presenti et anuli delationem et receptionem inter eos invicem et vicissim matrimonium [. . .] contraxerunt [. . .] Item postea [. . .] prefatus Iacobus [. . .] fuit publice confessus se habuisse et recepisse [. . .] a Braccio Ser Silvani Iohannis populi Sancti Petri Scheradii de Florentia dante et solvente pro dote [. . .] dicte Fiamette uxoris dicti Iacobi inter orenos sex auri largos de auro et pannos et vestimenta et etiam unum lectum inter eos comuni concordia aestimatos in totum orenos triginta de sigilllo [. . .]93
A reading teacher working in Florence near S. Felicita in 1490 was a priest, Ser Iacopo. He been priest in the church of S. Felicita up to late 1489, when he had become a cantor in the Florentine cathedral; nevertheless he continued to teach at S. Felicita, where, on 21 January 1489, he undertook to teach the Guarieri, son of Tribaldo de’ Rossi: Richordo questo dì 21 di gienaio 1489 chom’io [sc. Tribaldo] achonciai a legiere Ghuarieri nostro gliuolo chon Sere Iachopo di ____ [sic] prete in Santa Maria del Fiore, ucia ed è chantore, quivi prima di pochi mesi era prete in Santa Filicita, e tutti e denari dì per dì che arà da me, iscriverò qui da piè di tutto el tempo lo terà a ‘nsegniargli.94
But by the following April there were problems: Ser Iacopo had many young clerks to teach, and so was no longer attending to his reading school (‘bottega’). Tribaldo had not yet paid him because Guarieri could not yet read the tavola, and he had complained repeatedly; in the end Tribaldo and his wife Nanina had decided to stop sending Guarieri to Ser Iacopo’s school: A dì 20 d’aprile 1490 diliberamo, la Nanina ed io e ttutti noi, che Ghuarieri sopradetto no’ ne andassi più a Ser Iachopo a ‘nparare, perché non poteva attendere a ciò perché à molti cherici insengniare chantare, e no’ ne istava a bottegha. Salario in detto tenpo non si li dette, perché non sapeva anchora la tavola legiere. Mandòsi li più volte cierte chortesie.
93 94
ASF NA 7529, fol. 181r. BNCF II.ii.357, fol. 53r. See Appendix 5.
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But after Ser Iacopo had been given notice, he became frantic and swore he would be a rst-class teacher, and so Guarieri was returned to his school: A dì 26 d’aprile 1490 l’aviamo ridato al sopradetto Ser Iachopo a ‘nparare a legiere detto Ghuarieri, perché facieva pazie di rivolerlo e che li insengnierebe benisimo.
The results were initially good: by the summer Guarieri had learned to read phonetically, that is sound out (compitare), the entire salterio. However, on 20 August Ser Iacopo said that his affairs no longer permitted him to teach Guarieri; he declined payment, but Tribaldo sent him 3 grossoni, which Ser Iacopo returned, saying he had never wanted any money: A dì 20 d’aghosto 1490 Ser Iachopo detto per sua chasi avenutoli non potete insengniare a detto Ghuarieri più là, e rendecielo. Non vole denari. Manda’ li 3 grosoni. Rimandò me li. Non vole mai danaio, e aveva insengniatoli già el saltero a chonpitare; tutto lo sapeva a chonpitarlo.95
Ser Iacopo’s place was taken, not only for the Rossi family but possibly for the neighbourhood too, by Don Mariotto, a monk in the Camaldolese convent of S. Felice in Piazza, just beyond Piazza Pitti at the corner of Via Maggio, Via Romana and Via Mazzetta. He ran a school behind S. Felice next to a butcher’s shop. Don Mariotto had initially been engaged by Tribaldo Rossi, immediately after Guarieri had rst been removed from Ser Iacopo’s school: Richardo chome a dì 22 d’aprile 1490 diliberamo, la Nanina ed io, d’achonciare Ghuaieri a bottegha a legiere chon Do’ Maniotto, monacho di San Filicie e tiene iscuola drieto a San Filicie a lato al bechaio, e chosì rimasi d’achordo cho’ lui mandargliele e darli molto bene el suo salario.
After the summer, Guarieri started reading lessons again with Don Mariotto beginning on 21 October. Don Mariotto had asked 5 soldi a month to teach Guarieri the salterio, but Tribaldo, as an act of generosity, so he himself declared, offered 6 soldi, provided he taught his son well and ensured that he memorized every prayer in the book; teacher and parent came to an agreement accordingly: Do’ Mariotto, monacho di San Filicie, de’ avere da me, da ogi chominciando, ongni mese S. 6 per insengniare a Ghuarieri el saltero, che l’aviano
95
BNCF II.ii.357, fol. 53r. See Appendix 5.
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riposto a ‘nparare a lui questo dì 21 d’ottobre 1490. Dove toglie del saltero S. 5 el mese e io, di mia chortesia, ho oferto S. 6 perché l’insengni bene, e questo ed ongni orazione l’insengnia a mente. D’achordo ho oferto darli S. 2 cioè li ò a dare S. 6 di tutto el tenpo per a [sic] anparare el saltero ongni mese S. sei.
There followed the usual payments and gratuities to Don Mariotto, whose teaching of the salterio to Guarieri continued uninterrupted for the next six months, except for a month’s vacation to honour the death of Amerigo de’ Rossi, Tribaldo’s father and Guarieri’s grandfather, during the spring; Don Mariotto received an extra payment for having taught Guarieri the opening of the ordinary of the mass, ‘introibo ad altare deum’: A dì 29 d’ottobre detto portò a Do’ Mariotto S. 3 di mancia per l’ongni santi. A dì 21 di novenbre 1490 mandai a Do’ Mariotto detto pel primo mese S. 6. Portòglielo Ghuarieri. A dì 20 di dicienbre 1490 portò Ghuarieri a Do’ Mariotto la mancia per la Paschua di ciepo, che se l’à inanzi questi pochi dì, che ci’è S. 3. A dì 21 di dicienbre 1490 mandai per Guarieri a Do’ Mariotto S. 6 pel mese sechondo. A dì 21 di gienaio 1490 mandai a Do’ Mariotto per Ghuarieri S. 6 pel mese e S. 2 pe’ lo ‘ntroibo. Li à ‘nsegniato chome li promisi di mia volontà. A dì primo di dicenbre vole la candela Do’ Marioto per Santa Maria Chandelaia, ch’era l’altro dì vengniente. Portòli S. 1o D. 4 in quel rischanbio. A dì 21 di febraio 1490 mandai a Do’ Mariotto per Ghuarieri S. 6 del mese. A dì 21 di marzo 1490 mandai a Do’ Mariotto per Ghuarieri S. 6 del mese doia [sic]. A dì 16 di maggio 1491 detti a Ghuarieri porta’ si a Do’ Marioto 1o grosone. Era istato 1o mese. Inanzi a questo non è iito a bottegha per amore de la morte d’Amerigho mio padre, suo avolo, che morì, idio li faccia pacie, a dì 8 d’aprile pasato 1491. A dì 21 di giungnio 1491 mandai a Do’ Marioto per Ghuarieri S. 7.96 A dì 21 di luglio 1491 detti a Ghuarieri S. 6. Li portò a Do’ Marioto suo maestro.97
96 97
BNCF II.ii.357, fol. 53r. See Appendix 5. BNCF II.ii.357, fol. 53v. See Appendix 5.
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After the summer, Guarieri was ill, so that he recommenced his reading lessons with Don Mariotto on 21 December 1491, bringing along a copy of the donadello. The new monthly fee for this more advanced text was one grossone (7 soldi ); there also ensued, once again, the customary gratuities: Detto Ghuarieri auto male [. . .] Chominciòne andare a bottegha a Do’ Marioto chol donadelo 11 di dicienbre 1491, e a dì 12 di detto mese deti li 1o grosone lo porta’ si a Do’ Marioto, pel fuocho per questo verno, ch’ò liele dette. A dì 11 di gienaio 1491 mandai a Do’ Marioto pel mese ne già stato Ghuaieri chol donadelo S. 7. Portò gliele lui. A dì 11 di febraio 1491 mandai per Ghuarieri a Do’ Marioto 1o grosone. A dì 11 di marzo 1491 mandai per Ghuarieri a Do’ Marioto 1o grosone. A dì 11 di aprile 1492 mandai a Do’ Mariato per Ghuarieri 1o grosone. A dì 11 di maggio 1492 mandai a Do’ Marioto per Ghuarieri 1o grosone. A dì 11 di giungnio 1492 mandai a Do’ Marioto per Ghuerieri 1o grosone. A dì 11 di luglio 1492 detti io a Do’ Mariotto per Ghuarieri 1o grosone. A dì 11 d’aghosto 1492 mandai a Do’ Marioto per Ghuarieri uno grosone del mese. A dì 11 di settenbre 1492 mandai a Do’ Marioto per Ghuarieri S. 7 pel mese. A dì 11 d’ottobre 1492 mandai per Ghuarieri a Do’ Marioto 1o grosone del mese. Per la mancia la vilia d’ongni santi a dì 31 d’ottobre 1492 S. 2 D. 8 e 1o grosone per fuocho per questo verno. A dì 11 di novenbre 1492 mandai a Do’ Marioto el grosone del mese. A dì 11 sopradetti di dicenbre 1492 mandai a Do’ Marioto S. 7.98
During this period, Guarieri spoiled his copy of the donadello, and so his father had to buy him another unbound version: A dì 21 di giugnio 1492 chomperai 1o altro donadelo isciolto, perché l’aveva istraciatto. Costò S. 3 D. 8.99
In the summer of 1492, Tribaldo made an additional payment to Don Mariotto for having taught Guarieri to memorize two further parts of the mass, the credo and the te deum: A dì 6 d’aghosto 1492 detti a Do’ Marioto 1o grosone del credo grande e del te deo, ansengniato a mente a Ghuarieri. ____ Portòlo a lui Ghuarieri.100
98 99 100
BNCF II.ii.357, fol. 53v. See Appendix 5. BNCF II.ii.357, fol. 53v. See Appendix 5. BNCF II.ii.357, fol. 53v. See Appendix 5.
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On 2 January 1493, Tribaldo decided to end Guarieri’s lessons with Don Mariotto, possibly because he had found a teacher closer to home,101 or perhaps owing to Guarieri’s slow progress with the donadello. Tribaldo had instructed this new teacher to abandon the donadello and begin to teach Guarieri to write (impararsi le lettere e scrivere, leggere le lettere) (see above ch. 2 pp. 59–60 and below p. 357); he now placed Guarieri again with Don Mariotto, with a brief to teach him to write (leggere le lettere): A Do’ Marioto lo riposto di nuovo detto dì. Richordo questo dì 12 di aghosto 1493 chom’io riposi a legiere Ghuarieri le lettere chon Do’ Marioto, frate di San Filicie.
New conditions of service were now negotiated. Guarieri’s slow progress was a concern, and so Tribaldo and Don Mariotto agreed that, whenever the latter went out, either on a working day or on a holiday, he would take Guarieri with him, as though he were the Rossi’s resident private tutor (ripetitore); they negotiated a higher monthly payment (rimesso el mercato el mese): now 9 soldi instead on the former 7. Guarieri was accordingly bought the requisite writing equipment ( pennaiuolo and calamaio); the usual gratuities were paid, and deductions were made for periods of absence: che lui propio l’insengniasi, e quando va fuori, dì di lavorare, dì di festa, lo meni secho, chome se fusi nostro ripetitore e suo, e à rimeso el merchato detto Do’ Marioto i’ me quelo li debo dare el mese a’nsengniarli legiere e scrivere, nel nome di dio senpre. A dì 12 di settenbre 1493 mandai a Do’ Marioto detto S. 9 per u’ mese acioché l’insengni bene. Li do più non si li viene. A dì 14 di settenbre 1493 choperai 1o penaiuolo e’l chalamaio a Ghuarieri, el primo per chominciare a’nparare a scrivere. Chostò S. 4. D. 4 A dì 12 di ottobre 1493 li mandai per Ghuarieri pel mese ____L. ____ S. 9 D. A dì 31 d’ottobre 1493 mandai la mancia a Do’ Mariotto per Ghuarieri: S. 2. A dì 4 di novenbre 1493 mandai a el grosone del fuocho a Do’ Marioto per Ghuarieri. A dì 12 di novenbre 1493 mandai a Do’ Marioto el grosone del mese per Ghuarieri.
101 The new master, Ser Alessandro, was a priest at S. Felicita, the Rossi’s neighbourhood church where Guarieri’s rst reading teacher, Ser Iacopo, had ofciated and taught: see below p. 357.
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chapter five A dì 12 di dicenbre 1493 mandai per Ghuarieri pel mese S. 9 a Do’ Marioto. A dì 23 di dicienbre 1493 mandai per Ghuarieri la mancia sua a Do’ Marioto. A dì 12 di gienaio 1493 mandai a Do’ Mariotio per Ghuarieri e denari del mese: S. 9. A dì 12 di febraio 1493 mandai a Do’ Marioto 1o grosone pel mese. Era istato pocho a botegha que[sto]. A dì 12 di marzo 1493 mandai S. 10 a Do’ Marioto tra per la mancia e pel mese. A dì 17 di aprile 1494 mandai S. 8 pel mese a Do’ Marioto. Meto questo dì perch’è stato da 10 dì non è ito a botegha. A dì 17 di maggio 1494 mandai pel mese a Do’ Marioto S. 8. A dì 17 di giungnio 1494 mandai S. 8 a Do’ Marioto pel mese. A Do’ Marioto mandai a dì 17 di luglio 1494 S. 8 pel mese di Ghuarieri e per le lettere per innparare a legiere S. 2.102
The Rossi family’s relationship with Don Mariotto ended when, after the summer, Tribaldo kept Guarieri at home for his reading lessons: Da dì 21 settenbre 1494 insino a ogi a dì 16 di dicienbre 1494 detto l’ò tenuto in chasa a legiere.103
A former reading teacher, one Maestro Martino, was accused on 26 October 1491 of having sodomized a boy called Apollonio di Iacopo da Bologna, a cap maker, in the baths of S. Lorenzo, without payment; however, Maestro Martino was exonerated by the Ufciali di Notte: Die XXVI eiusdem [octobris 1491] Confessio di Apollonius Iacobi bononiensis birectarius puer: [. . .] Magister Martinus [absolutus et liberatus], qui olim docebat legere pueros, eum sogdomitavit semel modo in thermis S. Laurentii a parte posteriori et quod propterea ei nihil dedit et quod fuit die iovis preterito de nocte in lecto dictarum thermarum.104
A teacher who appeared in 1492 as running an elementary school was Girolamo Guasconi, who taught Lattanzio, son of the late Lorenzo di Francesco Strozzi. In July and August of that year, he was paid a monthly fee of 5 soldi for teaching the boy reading and writing: E a dì 3 di luglio S. V piccioli paghati a Girolamo Ghuaschoni, maestro di Latanzio, per averli insegniato uno mese leggere e scrivere.
102 103 104
BNCF II.ii.357, fol. 99r. See Appendix 5. BNCF II.ii.357, fol. 99r. See Appendix 5. ASF UdN 26, fol. 33r.
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S. V piccioli paghti a Girolamo Ghuaschoni, maest[r]o di Latanzio, per a averli insegnato uno mese leggere e scrivere.105
An elementary teacher who worked intermittently for Tribaldo de’ Rossi was Ser Alessandro, a priest at S. Felicita. Having recently moved from operating a school in S. Frediano, he took on Tribaldo’s son Guarieri after arriving in his new parish at the beginning of 1493. He undertook teaching this slow learner the donadello for the same monthly fee of 7 soldi that his previous teacher, Don Mariotto from S. Felice, had asked, receiving the usual gratuities as well: Richordo questo dì 2 di gienaio 1492 chom’i’ò levato Ghuarieri mio gliuolo da Do’ Marioto, che l’insegniava el donadelo [. . .] E ò lo posto medesimamente a’nparare el donadelo chon Ser Alesandro, prete di Santa Filicita, e quivi tiene schuola. Dicie che 1o mese pasato soleva tenere ischuola a San Friano, e darò gli medesimamente 1o grosone el mese. A dì 19 di gienaio 1492 vole el maestro detto pel fuocho per Ghuarieri qualche danaio. Manda’ li per lui per questo resto del verno S. 3 D. 4. A dì 2 di febraio 1492 portò Ghuarieri a Ser Alesandro S. 7 del primo mese v’è stato. A dì 2 di marzo 1492 portò Ghuarieri a Ser Alesandro 1o grosone pel mese. A dì 6 d’aprile 1493 mandai la mancia al maestro per Ghuarieri S. 2 D. 8, sabato santo.
On 17 April, however, Tribaldo decided that Guarieri could read well enough, having got as far as donadello a veduta (Ianua phonetically); he therefore instructed Ser Alessandro to begin teaching him to write: A dì 17 d’aprile 1493 fe’ lasciare el donadelo a Ghuarieri. Aveva lo imparato a veduta. Voli inparasi le lettere e schrivere; però lo fe’ abandonare el donadelo e detto chominciò a legier le lettere, nel nome di dio.
Tribaldo made agreed payments to Ser Alessandro for the next four months: A dì 2 di maggio 1493 mandai a Ser Alesandro per Ghuarieri el grosone del mese. A dì 2 di giungnio 1493 mandai per Ghuarieri a Ser Alesandro suo maestro L.____S. 7 D.____ A dì 2 di lungnio [sic] 1493 mandai a Ser Alesandro per Ghuarieri el grosone del mese.
During the summer, however, Tribaldo sacked Ser Alessandro, claiming his teaching was below standard:
105
ASF CS V.69, fol. 43v. See Appendix 5.
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chapter five Da Ser Alesandro prete di Santa Felicita gli levai Ghuarieri a dì 9 d’aghosto 1493 perché l’insengniava male.106
However, the problem may have been more with the pupil than with the teacher. In February 1497 Tribaldo had the condence to place his tiny younger son Amerigo with Ser Alessandro, but then could not continue with the lessons because the boy was too small: Amerigho a legiere a Sere Alesandro prete di Santa Filicita: Richordo chom’io achoncio a legiere la tavola e ‘l saltero Amerigho nostro gliuolo a Sere Alesandro, prete di Santa Filicita, a dì 10 di febraio 1496, nel nome di dio sempre, e salario e mancie iscriverò qui da piè dì per dì; di poi non seghuì d’andare a bottegha perché era tropo picholo.107
Yet another reading teacher connected with the Rossi’s neighbourhood church of S. Felicita was a priest called Ser Andrea. After nearly ve years of trying to have his evidently challenged son Guarieri learn to read and write, Tribaldo de’ Rossi had reached the end of his tether in the autumn of 1494. Having withdrawn Guarieri from Don Mariotto’s school at the end of September, the father rst tried teaching him at home himself for the next three months, buying three vernacular devotional texts to provide reading practice: A dì 21 di settenbre 1494 chonperai per Ghuerieri perché ‘npara’ si a legiere e salmi penitenziali e el vespero de la dona e un altro libricino che v’è su da 12 salmi. S. 2 D. 8 chostorono. Da dì 21 settenbre 1494 insino a ogi a dì 16 di dicienbre 1494 detto l’ò tenuto in chasa a legiere.
This approach did not yield the desired results, especially with regard to writing, and so Tribaldo sent Guarieri again to school: A scrivere di nuovo mando Ghuerieri.
The choice of teacher was the above-mentioned Ser Andrea, but the frustrated father was not altogether complimentary about the prospective clerical teacher, calling him a ‘gliuolo del canaglia’, which can be roughly translated as ‘bastard’ or, more literally, ‘son of a bitch’: Al gliuolo del chanaglia lo rimando anchora a la schuola a ‘nparare a legiere e scrivere, che à nome Ser Andrea prete detto maestro, a dì 17 di dicienbre 1494 detto S. 3 li mando pel fuocho.108
106 107 108
BNCF II.ii.357, fol. 99r. See Appendix 5. BNCF II.ii.357, fol. 151v. See Appendix 5. BNCF II.ii.357, fol. 99r. See Appendix 5.
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Guarieri remained with Ser Andrea up to the following March, again referring to him with the same expletive: A dì 17 di gienaio 1494 mandai al maestro di Ghuarieri S. 7 pel mese. Insino a dì 17 di marzo 1494 Ghuarieri andò a scrivere e legiere al gliuolo del chanaglia prete chiamato . . . [sic]
Guarieri’s career in elementary education education ended on 17 March 1495, his father sending him to abacus school on that day (see below p. 383), but the family’s association with Ser Andrea was not yet over. In 1497, Tribaldo sent his younger son Amerigo to his school to learn to read the salterio and nish off lessons on the tavola. Now Ser Andrea was referred to more calmly as ‘priest and organist of S. Felicita’: Anchora di nuovo i’ò riposto a bottegha a Ser Andrea, prete di Santa Filicita overo maestro d’orghani, Amerigho nostro lgliuolo a ‘nparare a legiere el saltero e parte anchora de la tavola. Ista detto Ser Andrea nel Chiaso a la Chaia a fare botegha. Fu a dì 2 di dicenbre 1497.
However, Amerigo seems to have had no more aptitude for formal education than his brother; on 15 December 1498, his father lamented that he had been with Ser Andrea month after month but had learned nothing: E stetevi mesi e mesi, e mai non vole inparare nula pertanto che insino a dì 15 di dicienbre 1498.109
On that day Tribaldo de’ Rossi despaired of neighbourhood education as well as of Ser Andrea, transfering Amerigo to the school of an anonymous priest connected with the Florentine cathedral: E di poi a dì 15 detto di dicienbre 1498 lo mandamo a legiere el saltero a la schuola del cherichato di Sa Maria del Fiore chol chericho di Sere Iachopone.110
A specialist reading teacher working in Florence during the 1490s was Ser Domenico di Piero Donati, who was then a clerk training to be a priest (clericus) and who, on 23 May 1494, rented for three years half of a house belonging to the grammar teacher Maestro Guarino in the parish of S. Pancrazio in the quarter of S. M. Novella as premises for his reading school. For this part of the property, the annual rent was 12 lire, payable monthly, but if a previous tenant, Messer Iacopo
109 110
BNCF II.ii.357, fol. 151v. See Appendix 5. BNCF II.ii.357, fol. 151v. See Appendix 5.
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da Portogallo (possibly a law student working as a teacher) removed his possessions, Ser Domenico could have the rst room ( primam salam) in the house for an additional 20 lire a year: Honorabilis vir Dominus Guerrinus olim Iacobi de Camerino magister gramatice civitatis Florentine [. . .] locavit ad pensionem venerabili viro Ser Dominico Pieri de Donatis clerico Florentine diocesis ibidem presenti a triennio medianum domus cuiusdam posite in populo Sancti Pancratii Florentie ubi dictus Ser Dominicus doceret discipulos suos legere pro pretio librarum duodecim sp. solvendarum de mense in mesem pro rata, et similiter locavit eidem primam salam cum dicte domus, casu quo statim cum Dominus Iacobus de Borzighella dimiteret bona que intendit? ibi? suprascripta, pro pretio librarum viginti unius sp. solvendarum similiter de mense in mensem.111
A possible specialist writing teacher working in Florence during the 1490s was one Ser Michele, whose school was located near the Via de’ Benci in the parish of S. Iacopo at the Canto degli Alberti; there he taught writing to Tommaso di Lorenzo di Francesco Strozzi: E a dì 17 decto [gennaio 1498] per fare insegnare scrivere a Tommaxo Fl. uno d’oro inn oro, Ser Michele, suo maestro, che hucia in Sa’ Iachopo dal Canto agli Alberti.112
A third-known female reading teacher in fteenth-century Florence was Lisabetta, who taught the alphabet sheet (tavola) to Giovanni di Lorenzo Ruspoli in November 1496 at her premises at Parione Vechio (today known as Via del Parione, off Piazza S. Trinita) in S. Maria Novella: Richordo chome hogi questo dì 21 di novebre 1496 io posi a botega a parare a legiere Giovanni mio gliuolo cho’ Monna Lisabetta, ista in Parione Vechio, andò cho’ la tavola.113
It is conceivable that this Lisabetta was the widow of the reading teacher Francesco di Bartolo di Matteo, who also had lived in S. Maria Novella (see above p. 340); aged 26 in 1458, Lisabetta would have been 64 in 1496. Although elementary education in fteenth-century Florence was normally entrusted to specialist teachers, occasionally grammar masters,
111 112 113
ASF NA 9993, fol. 23r. ASF CS V.69, fol. LIIII verso. See Appendix 5. ASF CRSGF 106.220, fol. 63v. See Appendix 5 and Ulivi (2004b), p. 170.
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while usually working at the secondary level, can be found accepting reading (and writing) pupils in their schools as well. One was Ser Matteo del fu Francesco da Rocca San Casciano, who was a grammar teacher in Florence as early as 1460 (see below p. 441) and who held a public appointment as grammar master there from 1464 to 1480 (see below p. 393). He was one reading teacher (among many) to Dino Francesco Pecori, with payments beginning on 13 June 1472 and continuing up to 12 November 1473: S. 5 a Ser Matteo, che ‘nsengna a Dino Francesco.114 [27 settembre 1473] Fl. due larghi [. . .] pagho a Ser Matteo di Francesco dalla Rocha [. . .] precettore. [12 novembre 1473] Fl. due larghi posto Dino Francesco di Francesco Pechori [. . .] per llui gli riebe da Ser Matteo di Francesco dalla Rocha.115
A more famous elementary pupil of Matteo’s was Niccolò Machiavelli, whom he taught to read ‘il donatello per lo insenno’ at his school at the foot of the Ponte S. Trinita for 5 soldi a month, plus the usual gratuities, beginning on 6 May 1476, when the pupil was seven years old.116 Matteo also taught reading to Filippo di Martino di Giachi, aged 7 in 1480.117 Another public grammar teacher (see below p. 398) who taught reading was the priest, Ser Paolo di Antonio da Ronciglione, who, while teaching Niccolò Machiavelli the rudiments of Latin composition ( fa de’ latini ),118 also taught his younger brother Toto ‘il donatello per lo insenno’. The lessons began on 5 November 1481, and Ser Paolo was given the usual re money (in this case 9 soldi 8 denari ), although the fees for Toto’s reading lessons were not specied.119 The only known example of an elementary schoolmaster in formal partnership with other teachers in fteenth-century Florence comes from the years 1493–94. On 14 May 1493 a partnership was formed among three teachers: Ser Raffaello di Bernardo di Ser Giovanni
114
ASF DPPP 50, fol. 186 destra. See Appendix 000. ASF DPPP 51, fol. 22 destra, 28 destra, 33 sinistra, 22 destra, 19 sinistra, 33 destra. See Appendix 5. 116 Black (1996c), p. 391; Machiavelli (1954), pp. 31, 34; Verde (1973–1995), II, p. 536. 117 Verde (1973–1995), III, p. 1027. 118 See Black (1996c), pp. 397–98. 119 Black (1996c), p. 392; Machiavelli (1954), p. 138; Verde (1973–1995), II, p. 536. 115
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Martini, clerk and chaplain at the Florentine Ospedale degli Innocenti, who was to teach reading and writing, and the abacus masters Raffaello Canacci and Marco Grassini (see below pp. 371, 382 for the latter two individuals). The partnership was to run for eighteen months from the previous 1 May until then end of October 1494. The premises of the school were to be at the convent of S. Martino in a house located at the Canto de’ Ricci (the present-day Canto di Croce Rossa on the Via del Corso). The contract signed on 14 May stipulated that Ser Raffaello was to receive two-fths of the prots, while the two abacus teachers were to divide between them the remaining three-fths; the rent was to be shared in the same proportions. On the following 1 July, the two abacists entered into a further agreement, whereby Raffaello Canacci, the senior teacher then aged 37, was to receive 13/20 from the abacists’ share of the prots, while the remaining 7/20 were to go to Marco Grassini, the junior master then aged about 18; the liability for rent was to be divided according to the same formula. At the expiry of the agreement, Raffaello Canacci left the partnership to teach the abacus elsewhere in Florence (see below p. 383); nothing further is known about Ser Raffaello Martini’s activities as an elementary teacher, but Marco Grassini continued to work in the school at the Canto de’ Ricci together with his father Iacopo Grassini, himself a noted abacist (see below p. 382), from 1495.120 This partnership between elementary and abacus teachers is the only one of its kind known from the period before 1500, although a number of individual teachers had taught reading, writing and abacus during the fourteenth century, particularly outside the city of Florence (see above p. 54 and Appendix IV). Abacus Teachers and Schools As a discipline and a teaching profession, the abacus reached its apogee in Florence during the fteenth century. A renowned Florentine dynasty of abacus teachers emerged, the Calandri, descended from the prominent Luca dell’Abaco (Luca di Matteo pelacane), and including the famous Calandro di Piero Calandri and his sons Pier Maria and Filippo Maria. Other eminent and productive Florentine fteenthcentury abacists were Benedetto di Antonio da Firenze, Bettino di Ser
120
Ulivi (2004b), pp. 164–67.
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Antonio da Romena, Giovanni del Sodo, Lorenzo di Biagio da Campi, Iacopo di Antonio Grassini and Raffaello di Giovanni Canacci. Fifteen abacus schools have been identied as operating in Florence during the fteenth century, and, writing in mid-century, one leading Florentine abacist, Benedetto da Firenze, paid tribute to Florence’s distinctive status as a font of distinguished abachisti: ‘E al presente di più assai chopia la terra nostra n’è dovitiosa’.121 Another Florentine abacist, Filippo Maria Calandri, went even further, declaring that, in this educational sector, Florence reigned supreme: ‘Considerato [. . .] quanto sia utile: anzi necessaria la scientia arimethrica al comertio humano: et maxime a quegli che exercitano la mercatura: di che la ciptà Fiorentina sanza controversa fra l’altre tiene il principato’.122 A Florentine subject town such as Arezzo recognized Florence’s preeminence here: ‘Cum scientia arismetrice multum sit utilis et necessaria in qualibet republica, ut experientia docet in nostris magnicis dominis orentinis, qui dicta scientia mediante ceteros antecellunt.’123 A leading Florentine citizen such as Giovanni Rucellai highlighted the importance of the abacus in his native city: ‘Anchora si loda molto l’aresmetrica, cioè l’abaco in detta età.’124 Three important abacists, already established during the fourteenth century (see chapter 3 above pp. 231–32), remained active in the earlier Quattrocento. Michele di Gianni, who continued to manage the Scuola di Santi Apostoli until his death in 1413,125 bequeathed only one indication of his mathematical expertise to posterity: the algebraic solution to a problem reported in a Sienese manuscript.126 Giovanni di Bartolo, who operated the Scuola di S. Trinita until his death in 1440, continued to work actively as a surveyor in the city, being employed by the Ospedale di S. Maria Nuova and by the Convent of S. Maria degli Angeli. His most important surveying project was to advise on the construction of the dome of the Florentine cathedral,
121
Cited by Arrighi (1966), p. 292. Calandri (1969), p. XV. 123 Black (1996a), p. 508. 124 Perosa (1960), p. 14. 125 Maestro Michele had an anonymous lodger in 1405: (ASF MSS 74, fol. 56r; see Appendix 5) Ricordanza che a dì 25 di giugno 1405 io Amerigho di Filippo dell’Antella come procuratore di Monna Nera mia madre attai a [sic] di Valdarno che stava in casa [d]el Maestro Michele de l’Abaco e doveva tornare a Pruneto nel podere dove stava [. . .] 126 Pancati (1982), pp. 298–99. 122
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where he intervened in 1417, 1420 and 1425.127 He was also appointed to teach astrology at the University of Florence in 1401–3, 1422–23, 1424–27 and 1431–32.128 However, when he submitted his portata to the Catasto of 1427, he complained of delays on the part of the Florentine Studio ofcials in paying his salary: E debo avere Fl. 22 de’ danari dello Studio per resto del mio salario dell’anno passato, i quagli danari non posso avere di qui a magio nel ‘28 o più oltre sicondo la volta degli Uciali del Monte. E debo avere Fl. 72 per mio salario dell’anno presente 1427 s’e signiori me gli stanzieranno, ché non ò anchora lo stanziamento e avendo lo stanziamento arei la quarta parte, cioè Fl. 18 o circa di magio nel ‘29 e l’altra quarta di magio nel ‘30 e l’altra nel ‘31, il resto nel ‘32.129
His pupils included luminaries such as Giannozzo Manetti130 and Paolo Toscanelli.131 At his death his library numbered some 500 books, including about 150 on arithmetic, geometry and astrology.132 He left no complete mathematical works but only a few problems preserved in various abacus manuscripts.133 He was commemorated by a subsequent Florentine abacist, Benedetto d’Antonio: E chiaramente Maestro Giovannij fece il suo tenpo alchuni scholarj che di gran lungha avançorono chi ‘nsegnava. Benchè senpre avesse il salare dal Chomune per le letioni straordinarie. E visse insino circa al 144 . . . [sic pro 1440] Fu il padre muratore et piutosto di povero stato che di Chomune guadagniò al suo tenpo grandissima quantità di tesoro. E fecie in molte facultà belle opere et massime nella praticha che n’ò viste molte, delle quali chavo e’ chasi che voglio scrivere. E benchè non sieno chasi d’alta inmaginatione, nientedimeno gli piglio perché sono sopra e’ chasi del nono chapitolo trovati, et ànno alchuna parte di doceça. Adunque notato il suo dire, ne piglieraj qualche frutto. Fu di statura meçana e quasi in
127
Guasti (1857), pp. 19, 26–27, 33, 39. Gherardi (1881), pp. 376–77, 402, 405–6, 414, reprinted by Arrighi (1982), pp. 113–15. 129 ASF Catasto 24, fol. 1174r–v. See Appendix 1. 130 Vespasiano da Bisticci (1970–76), II, p. 521; his fellow abacus pupil under Giovanni di Bartolo was Benedetto di Pieraccione Strozzi: II, pp. 423–24. 131 Uzielli (1894), p. 20. 132 Their value seems to have been underestimated in his 1427 portata: Ed ò tanti libretti d’astrologia che vagliono nel torno di 10 orini (ASF Catasto 24, fol. 1174r–v; see Appendix 1). 133 The best treatment of Giovanni di Bartolo is Ulivi (2004a), pp. 57–59 and passim. For fragments by him, see Arrighi (1967), pp. 11–24; Arrighi (2004), p. 255. 128
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viso pieno, benché a’ mio tenpo non avessi chognitione enperochè in quel tenpo che io mi posi a ‘nparare egli era morto, overo morisse.134
The same Benedetto di Antonio declared that Giovanni di Bartolo was one of the three greatest abacists of all time, the other two being Paolo dell’Abaco and Antonio Mazzinghi: Le dispute sono state grande et diverse proponendo qualj sieno stati di più eccellentia di sapere: o Maestro Pagholo, overo Maestro Antonio, overo Maestro Giovanni. E certamente di chi à insegnato, questi 3 di gran lungha gli ànno avançati [. . .]135
Luca di Matteo dell’Abaco, who in 1400 was recorded as ‘stimatore’ of the Florentine mercantile court (the Mercanzia),136 managed the Scuola di Lungarno Corsini until at least 1427, when he was aged 70; indeed, he still appeared in full charge of the school and his household when compiling his portata for the Catasto of 1427: Queste sono le sustanzie del Maestro Lucha di Matteo de l’Abacho e di Sandro mio gliuolo e di Simone mio nipote: In prima ò in sulla bottegha di Mattio gliuolo Fl. dugento [. . .] Una chasa posta in Via Santa Maria dalle Chonvertite, la quale tiene a pigione Bartolomeo di Taddeo da granaiuolo; dane l’ano Fl. sei di pigione. La chasa che abita il maestro e Giovanni e Sandro suoi gliuoli fu lasciata da Neri di Sandro Orlandini a Mona Simona sirochia del detto Neri e donna fu del detto maestro, a vita della donna e de’ suoi gliuoli, pel quale lascio si pagha ogni ano a’ frati degli Agnioli di Firenze Fl. sette per due rinnovali vi faciamo [. . .] Incharichi in sulle dette sustanzie. Sono io d’età d’anni setanta e Mona Sandra mia donna d’età d’anni 50. E Sandro mio gliuolo d’età d’anni venti. E sta cho’ Mattio suo fratello a l’arte della seta e dàgli l’ano Fl. venticinque. E Simone, mio nipote d’età d’anni undici, impara l’abacho. Non à padre né madre.
134 Benedetto di Antonio da Firenze, writing in Siena Biblioteca degli Intronati L.IV.21, as cited by Arrighi (1966), p. 290. 135 Arrighi (1966), p. 291. See also Arrighi (2004), p. 258. 136 Ulivi (1998), p. 49 and (2000), pp. 96–97. The following are some household payments made by Luca di Matteo dell’Abaco in 1406: (ASF AGPA 163, fol. 67v) Maestro Lucha de l’Abacho de’ dare a dì 1o di novenbre [1406] orini quatro d’oro, i quali mi promisse per Ruberto Spini per barili quatro di vino gli vendè [. . .] Àne dato a dì 30 d’ottobre Fl. quatro d’oro. Ebi io Morello in grossi [. . .] See Appendix 5.
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chapter five À si a trarne delle dette sustanzie Fl. dugento cinquanta, e quali arò a rendere a Simone mio nipote per la dota della madre sua. Pagho l’anno di pigione della schuola Fl. ventuno cioè Fl. 14 alle donne di Sant’Orsa [di Cafaggio di San Lorenzo]137 e Fl. sette ad Armordio d’Amari degli Spini. Pagho a’ frati degli Agnioli ogni anno per due uci Fl. sete. Matteo e Giovanni miei gliuoli manciepai più tempo fa, charta per mano di Ser Domenicho di Tomaso Moschardi. Mattio abita nel ghonfalone del Charro e Giovanni abita mecho in chasa. Sono aprestanziato io e tutti e miei gliuoli nel ghonfalone della Ferza e abiamo di prestanzone Fl. sette e fumo isgravati Fl. uno S. sei D. uno a oro.138
He was blind by January 1431,139 the management of his school passing to his son Giovanni, who died in September 1437,140 and then to his grandson, Calandro di Piero Calandri;141 he himself died between 1433 and 1436.142 The Calandri dynasty143 issued from Luca di Matteo, whose daughter Checca was the mother of Calandro di Piero Calandri (1419–1468), one of the most active Florentine mid-century abacists. Perhaps his best known activity was to participate in the construction of the Chapel of the Cardinal of Portugal in the church of S. Miniato al Monte. Bendetto d’Antonio, writing in mid-century, said that Calandro was the greatest abacist of his generation: quello che al tempo presente excede gli altrj, cioè Maestro Chalandro di Piero Chalandrj huomo di gentil sangue et di chostumi et buone usançe chopioso.144
137
Ulivi (1993), p. 7. ASF Catasto 21, fol. 96r. See Appendix 1. 139 Ulivi (1993), p. 8 and n. 40. 140 See ASF NA 4372, fol. 142r–145v: (26 February 1438) Actum Florentie in populo Sancte Lucie omnium sanctorum [. . .] Domina Katerina vidua lia olim Singnorini Manni Singniorini populi Sancte Lucie omnium sanctorum de Florentia et uxor olim Iohannis Magistri Luce dell’Abacho [. . .] exposuit quod dictus Iohannes olim eius vir mortuus est et decessit de mense septembris proximi preteriti nullo per eum condito testamento [. . .] supervivente Çanobio eius lio maschulo legiptimo [. . .] ex dicto olim Iohanne et Domina Katerina [. . .] infante etatis annorum trium ac etiam relictis Antonio et Tita etiam infantibus et liis legiptimis [. . .] ex dicto Iohanne et Domina Katerina et non proviso de tutore [. . .] dictorum suorum liorum [. . .] Caterina now became their guardian, assisted by her brother Andrea. There follows an inventory of the possessions of the three children: no books, but three ‘lçe de paternostri’. 141 Ulivi (1993), pp. 8–9. 142 Ulivi (2002b), pp. 137, 141. 143 On the Calandri, see Ulivi (2002b), p. 137. 144 Cited by Arrighi (1966), p. 292. 138
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His activity as an abacist was continued by his sons, Pier Maria (1457–ob. 1533/1536), and Filippo Maria (1467–1512), who wrote one of the rst arithmetical treatises to be printed, De arimetricha opusculum, dedicated to Giuliano de’ Medici and published at Florence in 1492; he also composed an elaborately decorated manuscript c. 1485, now preserved at the Biblioteca Riccardiana in Florence.145 Another Florentine abacus family were the Micceri, originally from Figline. Maestro Antonio di Salvestro (n. 1413–1417) died young in 1445, but his brother Maestro Taddeo (n. 1419–22) lived a long life, succumbing in 1492.146 Of Taddeo, Benedetto da Firenze wrote: in verità sarebbe pervenuto perfecto ragionere overe da essere nominato buono ragioniere.147
The Micceri were related by marriage to the family of Luca dell’Abaco, the latter’s son Giovanni’s daughter Leonarda being the wife of Maestro Antonio di Salvestro. Maestro Taddeo Micceri was the father of yet another abacist, Maestro Niccolò (n. 1453, ob. 1527–32).148 One of the most notable abacists of the fteenth century was the son of Michele di Gianni, Maestro Mariano (1387–1458),149 who was particularly famous for his collaboration with Brunelleschi in the construction of the Ospedale degli Innocenti between 1422 and 1426. For this project, patronised by the Florentine silk guild, Mariano was commissioned to make measurements on ve different occasions, besides presenting a written report.150 The diarist Luca Landucci listed ‘maestro Mariano ch’ ‘nsegnava l’abaco’ among the most ‘valenti uomini’ then living in Florence.151 An anonymous fellow abacist referred to Mariano shortly after his death as ‘di grande praticha’.152 Mariano’s fame for acuity lived on after his death: in Cecchi’s play La Maiana, performed in 1556, one of the protagonists, while complaining of his interlocutor’s incomprehensibility, expostulated: ‘E’ non t’intedere’
145 Published in facscimile by Arrighi (1969). On Pier Maria and Filippo Maria, see also Ulivi (2002a), pp. 48–49. 146 Ulivi (2002b), p. 137; Ulivi (2004a), pp. 62–63 provides the fullest account of this family hitherto. For Taddeo’s portata to the 1458 Catasto, see Appendix 2. 147 Cited by Arrighi (1966), p. 292. 148 Ulivi (2002b), p. 137. 149 The denitive study is Ulivi (2001). 150 Ulivi (2001), pp. 308–309. 151 Landucci (1883), pp. 2–3. 152 BNCF Palatino 573, fol. 478v, cited by Ulivi (2001), p. 316.
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Marian dell’Abbaco’.153 Similarly in 1585, the Florentine explorer Filippo Sassetti, when pondering the variable performance of a magnet according to altitude, said that ‘non l’intenderebbe Mariano’.154 Mariano’s prowess as a calculator was celebrated in the Bucchereide by Lorenzo Bellini (d. 1704): Tanto si strabiliron le persone Di tante gemme, e tanta immensità Che a Mariano il numero, e ‘l valore Venne di calcolarne pizzicore.155
Perhaps the most interesting abacist of the fteenth century was Benedetto di Antonio da Firenze (1429–79), a pupil of Calandro Calandri,156 although he was rst introduced to mathematics through the writings of the theologian and mathematician, Grazia de’ Castellani (d. 1401), an Augustinian monk and teacher at the Florentine studio:157 fu Maestro Gratia frate di Sancto Aghostino gran teologho de’ Chastellani, fu al tempo di Maestro Giovanni [di Bartolo] anchora quello per lo quale et dal quale io ò avuto un pocho di chognitione delli chasi sottili, benché il mio maestro fusse quello che al tenpo presente excede gli altri, cioè Maestro Chalandro di Piero Chalandri [. . .]158
The son of a weaver and cloth dealer, he collaborated with leading sculptors of the day, including Giuliano and Benedetto da Maiano, in renovating the Palazzo Vecchio between 1472 and his death in 1479; in the course of these activities, documents mention him as ‘in re bene peritum’, that is, in his capacity as surveyor and estimator.159 He was the author of a Trattato d’abacho (datable to c. 1465), preserved in at least
153
Cecchi (1856), vol. II, p. 364, cited by Ulivi (2001), p. 317. Sassetti (1970), pp. 459–460, cited by Ulivi (2001), p. 317. 155 Bellini (1863), pp. 95–96, cited by Ulivi (2001), p. 317. A document to be added to the impressive collection in Ulivi (2001) is the creation of his niece Pippa as his universal heir by 1458: (ASF Catasto 788, fol. 128r) Maestro Mariano del Maestro Michele di Giovanni dell’Abacho, gonfalone Vipera, fece testamento a dì primo di febraio presente e lasciò sua herede universale la detta Mona Pippa di Iacopo di Domenicho biadaiuolo altrimenti di Iacopo del Biondo sua nipote coè gliuola della sirocchia roghato per Ser Simone Graçini di Staggia notaio orentino, nella quale redita trouva e rapporta Maestro Mariano. See Appendix 2. 156 Ulivi (2002a), p. 17. See also Ulivi (2006b). 157 Ulivi (2002a), p. 38 n. 139. 158 Cited by Ulivi (2002a), p. 38. 159 Ulivi (2002a), pp. 7, 36. 154
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eighteen manuscript copies,160 a work notable for its coherent structure and for its contribution to arithmetic pedagogy. He also composed a monumental Praticha d’arismetrica, containing a biographical narrative of abacus teachers up to his own day (BCIS L.IV.21).161 There is reason to believe that he too162 was responsible for the anonymous arithmetical and geometrical works contained in BNCF Palatino 573 and 577 as well as BAV Ottobon. Lat. 3307. Benedetto declared himself to be completly committed to his teaching profession in Florence: [. . .] essere totalmente obrighato al servigio della orentina goventù [. . .]163
He was celebrated by the Florentine poet, Ugolino Verino: Quisquis Arithmeticae rationem discere, et artem Vult, Benedicte, tuos libros, chartasque revolvat, Possit ut exiguis numeris comprendere arenam Littoris, et uctus omnes numerare marinos.164
A subsequent famous Florentine abacist, Francesco di Leonardo Galigai, in his Summa de arithmetica (1521), declared that ‘Benedetto [. . .] fu grand’huomo in Aritmetica’.165
160
Ulivi (2002a), p. 13. Ulivi (2002b), p. 138. 162 Ulivi (2002a), pp. 54–60. 163 Cited by Ulivi (2002a), p. 40. 164 Cited by Ulivi (2002a), p. 7. Benedetto was denounced for sodomy to the UdN in 1453 and 1468, but on the second occasion he was exonerated: Ulivi (2002a), p. 32. 165 Cited by Ulivi (2002a), p. 51. The following documents on Benedetto d’Antonio are to be added to the impressive collection compiled by Ulivi (2002a): (23 July 1456) Actum Florentie in claustro ecclesie S. Antonii prope et intus portam que vocatur la porta a Faenza dicte civitatis Florentie, Laurentio Pieri fornario populi S. Laurentii de Florentia, Benedicto Antonii Christoforii magistro abbachi populi S. Micaelis Berteldi de Florentia et Fancesco Cini Luce Cini civi orentino testibus [. . .] (ASF NA 3305, fol. 56r). See now Ulivi (2006b), p. 120. (23 September 1474) Bartolomeus Francisci de Cambionibus pro se et vice nomine suorum sociorum campsorum ex una et Laurentius Bartolomei Laurentii ex alia occaxione lite vertentis in dicta curia inter dictas partes eligerunt [. . .] in eorum rationerios ad videndum [. . .] iura [. . .] rationem inter dictas partes existentium referenda dicto domino ofciali [. . .] videlicet Benedictum olim . . . [sic] dell’Abacho et Banchum olim [. . .] magistrum aritmetrice [. . .] (ASF Mercanzia 314, fol. 70v). (14 May 1477) Noi Benedetto d’Antonio dell’abacho arbitro [. . .] eletto [. . .] dagli eredi di Maestro Salvestro da Colle da una parte et da Giovanni di Guido da Colle dall’altra parte [. . .] veduto uno lodo per noi dato dell’anno prossimo passato MCCCCoLXXVI et del mese di dicebre proximo passato [. . .] Fatto detto lodo per me Benedetto d’Antonio dell’Abacho a dì 14 di maggio 1477 [. . .] nella * bottegha di Domenicho di Stefano ceraiuolo che da primo via [. . .] da quarto Bartolomeo de’ 161
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Lorenzo di Biagio da Campi (n. 1414, ob. 1472–1480) was bequeathed his teacher and colleague Giovanni di Bartolo’s library166 (itself the legacy of Paolo d’Abaco and Antonio Mazzinghi). Although Giovanni di Bartolo’s will does not survive, other sources indicate that Lorenzo di Biagio was his universal heir.167 He himself was from Santo Stefano a Campi, on the outskirts of Florence, and on arrival in Florence, he presumably learned the abacus from Giovanni di Bartolo, becoming a teacher himself probably some years before his master’s death in 1440. He was a close professional associate and personal friend of Mariano di Maestro Michele and of Bettino di Ser Antonio da Romena (n. 1416–1421, ob. 5 April 1484).168 It is unpleasant to report that these three individuals, albeit distinguished and successful abacus teachers, seem to have formed a paedophiliac circle, together with Benedetto da Firenze, which was the object of denunciations to the magistracy charged with public morality, the Ufciali di Notte: Die XXVI octobris. 1445 Marianus Magistri Michaelis dell’Abacho soddomitavit et retinuit Nerium Belli.169 9 aprilis 1453 [. . .] Marianus [Magistri Michaelis] dell’Abacho quia soddomitavit Tommasium Antonii chorregiarium et Gerozum Nicolai tessitorem et Andream Donati Michelozi [. . .]170 Tamburatio Bettini dell’Abacho; non erat vera.171 Magister Laurentius Mag. Iohannis sodd[omitavit . . .]172 3 decembris 1453, Benedictus Antonii docet abbacum cum Mariano sodomitavit.173
Cerchi popolo di Sancto Michele Bisdomini nella via de’ Servi [. . .] [* the following is crossed out here: mia habitatione cioè nella chasa dove io abito posta nel popolo di Sancto Michele Bisdomini nella via de’ Servi che a primo via secondo terzo beni del munistero degli Agnoli a quarto Giovanni da Ghaiuole] (ASF NA 2876, fol. 56r–v). See now Ulivi (2006b), pp. 109–14. 166 According to Benedetto d’Antonio, as cited by Arrighi (1966), p. 293. Although Giovanni di Bartolo’s will has not survived, other sources indicate that Lorenzo di Biagio was universal heir to his property, including his library. On Lorenzo, see Ulivi (2002a), p. 42 n. 157. 167 Ulivi (2004a), pp. 59–60. 168 On Bettino, see now Ulivi (2006), as well as Ulivi (2001), pp. 315–16, 344; Ulivi (2002a), pp. 33, 42. Bettino’s age was given variously in Florentine Catasto portate, but possibly the most accurate was the earliest in 1427, according to which he was then aged 11: see Ulivi (2000), p. 92; for his date of death, see p. 70. 169 ASF UdN 2, unfoliated. 170 ASF UdN 3, fol. 3r. 171 ASF UdN 3, fol. 3r. 172 ASF UdN 3, fol. 3v. 173 ASF UdN 3, fol. 7v.
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Secundo ottobris 1453. Laurentius Blaxii docet abbacum soddomitavit [. . .]174 Die VII martii 1467. Benedictus [. . .] magister arismeticus.175
Of the three, Mariano di Michele was accused most often.176 Other leading fteenth-century abacus teachers in Florence included Fra Mariotto di Ser Giovanni Guiducci, a pupil of Antonio Micceri, who has left a Libro d’aristricha (BNCF CS I.10.36, a copy datable to c. 1465),177 Giovanni del Sodo (n. 1419–23, ob. 1500–18),178 who, as reported by Tribaldo de’ Rossi, ‘in detti tempi [1496] era tenuto el migliore maestro d’abacho in Firenza’,179 Iacopo di Antonio Grassini (n. 1437–41, ob. 1508/10), whose Opera alla merchatantia from 1492, as well as his Libretto d’abacho from 1497, are extant,180 and Raffaello di Giovanni Canacci (n. 1456, ob. 1504/5), known for his Ragionamenti d’algebra (c. 1495), one of the few treatises from the fourteenth or fteenth centuries entirely devoted to algebra.181 Raffaello Canacci was the Florentine abacus teacher most extensively involved in paedophilic activities during the fteenth century. In order to avoid punishment, he confessed on 8 April 1483 to having sodomized ve boys repeatedly (‘pluries’). Two days later, on 10 April, he was
174 175 176
ASF UdN 3, fol. 7r. ASF UdN 12, fol. 25v. ASF UdN 3, fol. 4v, 7r, 7v, 8r, 9v, 15v, 16r, 64v. See also Ulivi (2004a), p. 60
n. 95. 177 Ulivi (2002a), p. 14. He was the son of the Florentine notary, Ser Giovanni di Guiduccio di Riccio Guiducci, who would become second chancellor under Leonardo Bruni and Carlo Marsuppini from 1437 until his death in January 1453 (on whom see Black [1985], pp. 99, 119–20, 139, 153, 166, as well as for further bibliography); Mariotto became a Franciscan, having learned the abacus under Antonio di Salvestro dei Micceri: see Ulivi (2002a), p. 14; Van Egmond (1976), p. 392; Van Egmond (1980). He is mentioned as a notable Florentine fteenth-century abacist by Benedetto d’Antonio: Ulivi (2002a), p. 53. 178 On Giovanni, see Ulivi (2002a), pp. 50–51. 179 BNCF II.ii.357, fol. 99v, cited in part with a slightly different reading by Ulivi (2002a), p. 51. 180 Ulivi (2004b), pp. 125–26; see also Ulivi (2002b), p. 138. His son, Antonio di Iacopo di Antonio Grassini (n. 1460/61, ob. 1484–1508), seems to have been teaching in Florence when he wrote his Operetta d’abacho in 1479/80; he left Florence in 1480, eventually to serve as a communal abacus teacher in Perugia (1483) and possibly in Volterra (1484): Ulivi (2004b), pp. 161–62. 181 Ulivi (2004b), p. 125. He was the author of a Vilume de l’algibra, similar in many places to the Ragionamenti. He also wrote three more standard abacus treatises: Trattato d’arismetricha (c. 1485), Fioretto dell’abacho (1490) and Alchuna ragione (1496): Ulivi (2004b), p. 125. See also Ulivi (2002b), p. 138.
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accused by Lodovico Buonarotti of having sodomized his son Lionardo, the nine-year-old elder brother of Michelangelo, in his abacus school. He proceeded to admit that he had ‘pluries et pluries’ committed the ‘vitium soddomie ex parte posteriori cum Leonardo eiusdem Ludovici lio’; on 16 April he was condemned to pay a ne of 20 orins and to a year’s imprisonment, the latter penalty remitted evidently owing to his confession. On 15 April 1486, he was absolved of committing sodomy with an unamed person, and on 18 June 1486 he confessed to having sodomized a boy called ‘Animuccia, lius Bonasii cimatoris’ in his school.182 It has been pointed out that ve abacus schools in Florence have been identied as operating during the fourteenth century (see ch. 3 above pp. 232 ff ), and in the fteenth,183 three of these continued to function. Most famously, the Bottega di S. Trinita, opposite the eponymous church between Via Porta Rossa and Via delle Terme, continued under the management of Giovanni di Bartolo, Lorenzo di Biagio da Campi and nally Mariano di Maestro Michele, almost certainly in partnership with Taddeo dei Micceri. Mariano’s pupils at the Bottega di S. Trinita included the sons of Antonio di Lionardo Rustici, Stefano, Marabottino and Rinieri for a year from May 1432.184 Other pupils there were Lopo di Lupu and Lopo Chonsalvi, both Portugese, documented from October 1446 to February 1447.185 By 1451, however, this site had ceased to house an abacus school, the shop having been rented to a joiner. The so-called Bottega di Lungarno Corsini, in operation since 1367, continued into the fteenth century under the management of Luca di Matteo dell’Abaco, who worked actively until at least 1427. After he went blind, he was helped and then replaced by his son Giovanni, after whose early death the school passed to Luca’s grandson, Calandro di Piero Calandri, who numbered among his pupils the future renowned abacist, Benedetto d’Antonio da Firenze. Calandro remained in charge until sometime between 1442 and 1445, after which time the site passed to other uses, eventually becoming a hotel. The longest-lived Florentine abacus school in the Renaissance period was the Bottega di Santi Apostoli, located on the current Lungarno
182
Ulivi (2004b), pp. 162–63, 181–82. The following account of fteenth-century Florentine abacus schools is based on the excellent summary by Ulivi (2002b), pp. 133–47. 184 Ulivi (2001), pp. 315, 338; Ulivi (2004a), p. 62. 185 Ulivi (2001), pp. 315, 343. 183
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Acciaiuoli at the corner of the present-day Chiasso degli Altoviti, which connects the Lungarno with Borgo Santi Apostoli. The school was owned and operated by Maestro Michele di Gianni, passing after his death in 1413 to his son Mariano, who had already been assisting his father. Maestro Mariano, whose pupils there included Pier Giovanni di Piero Giani and the eleven-year-old Filippo di Ugolino di Niccolò Martelli (both in 1450),186 ran the school until his own death in 1458,187 collaborating with Benedetto d’Antonio da Firenze and Banco di Piero Banchi,188 who inherited the management from Mariano.189 At the end of 1461 and in early 1462 Banco was teaching Niccolò, the illegitimate son of Francesco di Matteo Castellani, who had transferred
186
Ulivi (2001), pp. 315, 344. One of his pupils there was the painter Neri di Bicci’s eldest son Lorenzo: Richordo che a detto dì 20 d’otobre 1455 posi al’abacho Lolorenzo [sic] mio primo gliuolo cho maestro Mariano che sta lungharno tra ‘l Ponte Vechio e ‘l Ponte a Santa Trinita di là d’Arno [. . .] (Neri di Bicci [1976], p. 38) 188 Banco and Benedetto continued to colaborate in the 1470s. See ASF Mercanzia 314, fol. 70v: (23 September 1474) Bartolomeus Francisci de Cambionibus pro se et vice nomine suorum sociorum campsorum ex una et Laurentius Bartolomei Laurentii ex alia occaxione lite vertentis in dicta curia inter dictas partes eligerunt [. . .] in eorum rationerios ad videndum [. . .] iura [. . .] rationem inter dictas partes existentium referenda dicto domino ofciali [. . .] videlicet Benedictum olim . . . [sic] dell’Abacho et Banchum olim [. . .] magistrum aritmetrice [. . .] The following are further documents regarding Banco dating from the 1470s: ASF NA 10085, fol. 77r: (1 March 1476) Actum Florentine in populo Sancti Laurentii [. . .] Pateat etc. qualiter Domina Maria lia olim Silvestri Fei et uxor olim Giunte Tugii orciolarii vidua orentina ad presens dicti populi Sancti Laurentii de Florentia, constituta personaliter [. . .] petiit [. . .] sibi dari in suum mundualdum Andream Michaelis Brunelli populi et plebis Sancti Stefani in Pane extra muros orentinos, quem presentem et esse volentem eidem domine presenti et petenti dedi [sc. Paulus Amerigi Bartoli Grassi notarius orentinus] in mundualdum. Item postea [. . .] suprascripta Domina Maria cum consensu sui [. . .] mundualdi suprascripti [. . .] fecit in suos procuratores Ser Mathiam Cennis Aiuti notarium et civem orentinum et Banchum Pieri Andree magistrum abbachi civem orentinum [. . .] fol. 214v: (11 January 1479) Laurentius olim Pieri Martini pictor populi Sancti Felici in Platea de Florentia, ut ex promissione Eufruosini Pieri Iohannis pictoris se principaliter obligando, promisit Bancho Piero Andree magistro abbaci populi Sancte Marie Nepotumcose de Florentia et ibidem presenti et consentienti, dare et solvere orenos septem largos et libram unam S. duos D. quatuor sp., in quibus dictus Eufrosinus est debitor dicti Banchi pro pensione cuiusdam domus dicti Banchi, quam quantitatem Fl. VII largorum librae unius et soldorum II D. IIIIor sp. promisit et dare et solvere hinc ad menses decem et octo proximos futuros ab hodie videlicet quolibet semestri tertiam partem dicte quantitatis sine aliqua exceptione [. . .] 189 Maestro Mariano left his school premises to his universal heir Pippa del fu Iacopo di Domenico, stipulating that Banco di Piero should enjoy their use rent free for two years, and then pay an annual rent of 16 orins for the next ve years: ASF Catasto 788, fol. 119v (see Appendix 2); Ulivi (2001), p. 328. 187
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to the Bottega del Lungarno from Calandro Calandri’s abacus school near the Mercato Nuovo (see below p. 378): E a dì 22 di dicembre Go 1 per dare a Bancho maestro d’albacho fra Lungharno. E a dì 13 d’aprile 1462 per ‘l vanto della Pascua.—Fl. L. S. 5 D. 6.190
In 1471 he was teaching Piero di Francesco di Duccio Betti191 and Buoninsegna, the orphaned son of Niccolò di Domenico Buoninsegni: [16 maggio 1471] A Bancho di Piero dell’Abacho Fl. uno largo [. . .] il quale si gli paghò per salario di Boninsegnia, perché gli insegniassi l’abacho a detto Boninsegnia.192
Banco managed the school until 1479, perhaps assisted for a time by a great-nephew of Mariano’s, Niccolò di Lorenzo (n. c. 1443, ob. 1475–80).193 There followed Maestro Taddeo di Salvestro dei Micceri (d. 1492) and his son Niccolò, who continued well into the sixteenth century. In 1480, Taddeo’s pupils included Bernardo di Tommaso di Filippo di Giacchi, aged 12, and Agostino di Anibale di Domenico di Tano Petrucci, aged 18.194 Among Niccolò’s pupils in this school were Niccolò, Filippo, Tommaso and Lattanzio, orphaned sons of Lorenzo di Francesco Strozzi, whom he taught between 1491 and 1495:195 190 ASF CRSGF 90.134, fol. 42v, now published by Ciappelli in Castellani (1995), pp. 129. See Ciappelli (1995), p. 176 and Appendix 5 below. 191 Ulivi (1998), p. 47. 192 ASF CRSGF 102.336, fol. 35 left. Banco di Piero also had commercial dealings with Giovanni di Niccolò Buoninsegni: (ASF CRSGF 102.356, fol. 15 destra, 4 settembre 1470) [. . .] a Bancho insegnia l’abacho [. . .] Fl. 11 L. (fol. 17 sinistra) Fl. due S. XII D. IIII a oro [. . .] da Bancho di Piero de l’abacho per Fl. 11 di monte. See Appendix 5. 193 There is the following unpublished document regarding Niccolò di Lorenzo: (18 July 1472) Actum Florentie in populo Sancti Andree de Florentia presentibus testibus ad hec omnia interea vocatis etc. videlicet Andrea olim Mattei de Benivienis populi Sancti Simonis et Bastiano Ser Laurentii Nusi aromatario populi Sancte Lucie Omnium Sanctorum de Florentia. Certum est quod Nicholaus olim Laurentii Nicholai magister abachi populi Sancti Apostoli de Florentia sub die XXX aprilis 1472 vel alio veriori tempore conduxit unam domum ad pensionem pro tempore et termino quinque annorum initiatorum die primo maii 1472 pro pensione quolibet anno Fl. otto largorum cum dimidio alterius oreni largi a Carulo olim Rossi Chochi aromatario ut procuratore [. . .] Domine Nanne eius uxoris [. . .] Unde hodie hac presenti suprascripta die ipse Nicolaus renuptiavit dicte conductioni et eam nire voluit die ultima mensis augusti 1472 presente dicto Carulo et recipiente ut procuratore predicto et contente se bene solutum fore et esse pro dicta pensione et per totum dictum tempus [. . .] (ASF NA 19086, fol. 81v). 194 Verde (1973–1995), pp. 1027, 1076. 195 ASF CS V.69. See Appendix 5.
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[fol. 38 sinistra] A dì 17 detto [novembre 1491] S. X piccioli. Sono per 2 tavole di gesso da ‘nparare l’abacho per Nicholò e per Filippo. A dì detto [17 novembre 1491] S. XII D. VII piccioli. Sono per 2 dozine ne di stringhe e uno chalamaio per Nicholò. A dì 21 detto [novembre 1491] S. VIo piccioli. Sono per uno chalamaio e uno pennaiuolo per Nicholò. A dì 22 detto [novembre 1491] Fl. uno largo d’oro in oro dato a Nicholò dell’Abacho per parte di suo salario di Nicholò e di Filippo. A dì 25 detto [novembre 1491] soldi VII piccioli, che S. 6 si paghò a Nicholò de l’Abacho acioché e fanciugli se potessino schadare, e S. uno piccioli per raconcature di una scharsella. A dì 9 detto [dicembre 1491] S. XIIIIo piccioli, che tanti si pagò a Nicholò de l’Abacho per vanto di Nicholò e Filippo di questa Pasqua. A dì 14 detto [gennaio 1492] soldi XIIIIo piccioli paghato a Nicholò dell’Abacho per la manca di Santa Maria Chandelaia. [fol. XXXVIII destra] A dì 6 detto [febbraio] per uno chalamaio e uno pennaiuolo per Tommaso [. . .] S. 5. E a dì detto [6 febbraio 1492] L. una S. VIII piccioli. Sono per 2 libretti bianchi, uno per Nicholò e uno per Filippo, per scrivervi su pistole e altro. E a dì 9 detto [febbraio 1492] L. tre S. III piccioli paghati a Nicholò de l’Abacho per la metà del suo salari per insegniare a Tomaso. E a dì 27 detto [marzo 1492] lira una soldo uno piccioli paghati al maestro dell’abacho per il vanto. [fol. XLIII verso] E a dì 17 detto [agosto 1492] Fl. uno largo d’oro in oro paghato a Nicholò dell’Abacho per resto del salario di Nicholò e di Filippo per insegniare l’abacho. E a dì detto [17 agosto 1492] per 2 quinterni di fogli [. . .] S. 6. E a dì detto [17 agosto 1492] per una tavola da abacho per Nicholò [. . .] S. 7. [fol. XLIIIIo recto] E a dì detto [21 novembre 1492] per dare al maestro de l’abacho per charboni per Filippo e Tomaxo [. . .] S. 6. E a dì 5 di dicenbre [1492] portò Filippo a Nicholò dell’Abacho per il vanto di Santa Maria Chandellaia di lui e di Tomaso a Nicholò dell’Abacho [. . .] S. 14. [fol. XLV verso] A dì 14 di gennaio [1493] S. XIIIIo piccioli. Portò Filippo Strozzi contanti per il vanto della chandellaia al maestro dell’abacho di lui e Tomaxo. E a dì detto [31 gennaio 1493] per una tavola da abacho per Latanzio [. . .] S. 7. [fol. XLVI recto] E a dì detto [11 marzo 1493] L. tre S. V piccioli paghati al detto Nicholò per la metà del salario di Lattanzio nostro. E a ddì 2 detto [aprile 1493] S. VII piccioli a Nicholò dell’Abacho per la manca di Lattanzio.
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chapter five [fol. XLVII recto] E a ddì 10 detto [dicembre 1493] a Nicholò dell’Abacho per la mancia di Lattanzio [. . .] S. 7. [fol. XLVII verso] E a ddì detto [16 gennaio 1494] a Nicholò dell’Abacho per la mancia di Lattanzio [. . .] S. 7. E a ddì detto [16 febbraio 1494] per una tavola da da [sic] abacho per Lattantio [. . .] S. 3.8. E a ddì 21 detto [marzo 1494] a Niccholò dell’Abacho per la mancia di Lattanzio [. . .] S. 7. E a dì detto [22 aprile 1494] L. tre S. III piccioli paghati a Nicholò dell’Abacho per resto del salario di Lattanzio. [fol. XLVIII recto] E a dì XXX detto [giugno 1494] per una tavola per Lattantio da abacho [. . .] S. 5.4. [fol. XLVIIIIo recto] E a ddì detto [17 dicembre 1494] portò Lattanzio per la mancia di Nicholò dell’Abacho [. . .] S. 7. [fol. XLVIIII verso] E a ddì detto [29 gennaio 1495] a Nicholò dell’Abacho per la mancia di Lattanzio [. . .] S. 7. A ddì 27 detto [marzo 1495] per dare la mancia al maestro dell’abacho per Lactanctio et per Tomaxo [. . .] S. 14. [fol. LI recto] E a ddì detto [28 gennaio 1496] S. 7 piccioli portò Lattanzio a Nicholò dell’Abacho per la mancia.
Several important new abacus schools were founded in the fteenth century. One was located in the parish of S. Lucia d’Ognissanti, opposite the then Ospedale della Scala, itself at the intersection of the presentday Via della Scala and Via degli Orti Oricellari. Here Benedetto d’Antonio taught, certainly in 1468 and possibly between 1458 and 1469. The site was close to and perhaps ultimately formed part of the renowned Orti Oricellari, the famous gardens hosting discussions in the early sixteenth century among Niccolò Machiavelli and his friends. Calandro Calandri, having closed the Bottega del Lungarno, established a new abacus school near Via Pellicceria. After 1447 and until 1461–1463, this school was located in the parish of S. Maria sopra Porta, in the no longer existing Piazza dei Pilli. Among the pupils taught there by Calandro was the future diarist, Luca Landucci, in 1450,196 and Giovanni di Taddeo di Agnolo in the autumn of 1452:
196
Ulivi (2002b), pp. 144, 150.
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Qui apresso farò richordo di tutti e denari che Benedetto à spesi per Giovanni di Taddeo d’Angnolo. E a dì 13 d’ottobre S. cinque D. VI chontanti. Disse per dare al maestro pel vanto. E a dì detto [17 ottobre] L. quattro al Chalandro maestro dell’abacho. E a dì 9 detto [dicembre] S. cinque D. VI pel vanto. E a dì 29 detto [dicembre] S. cinque D. VI per dare a Chalandro.197
Another of his pupils was Bernardo di Benedetto di Marco Strozzi, who went to Calandro’s bottega in Piazza dei Pilli during 1454, buying an abacus tavola and a pen as well as learning aids: Ricordo chome questo dì 13 [sic] 1454 Bernardo di Benedecto degli Strozzi minciò andare all’abacho di Chalandro. Bernardo di Benedetto degli Strozzi de’ dare a dì VIII di magio 1454 S. cinque. Sono per una tavola d’abacho e per 1o penaiuolo e 1o chalamaio [. . .] S. 13. E de’ dare a dì 29 di luglio 1454 Fl. uno largo a llui conttanti per dare a Chalandro suo maestro d’abacho per suo salario d’insenia’ gli l’abacho.198
Between 1459 and 1463, Calandro acquired another house, in the same Piazza but now in the parish of S. Miniato tra le Torri, where he transfered his school until his death in 1468.199 It was evidently here that Calandro taught the brothers Marco and Paolo, the orphaned sons of Carlo di Marco Strozzi at the end of 1459 and early in 1460: (fol. 18r [13 dicembre 1459]) A Marcho Strozzi S. V D. VI piccioli. Portò e’ detto. Disse per dare il vanto a Chalandro. A Pagholo Strozzi S. V D. VI. Portò e’ decto per dare il vanto a Chalandro. (fol. 19r [1o febbraio 1460]) A Marcho di Charlo Strozzi S. V D. VI. Portò contanti per dare il vanto a Chalandro. A Pagholo Strozzi S. V D. VI. Portò contanti per dare il vanto a Chalandro. (fol. 19v [17 aprile 1460]) A Marcho Strozzi S. V D. VI. Portò contanti. Disse per dare il vanto a Chalandro.
197
ASF CRSPL 1024.196, NN. See Appendix 5. ASF CS IV.58, fol. 1r–2r. See Appendix 5. 199 He taught the painter Neri di Bicci’s son Bicci at this location: Richordo ch’el sopradetto dì [4 novembe 1466] posi all’abacho Bicci mio gliuolo chon Chalandro che tiene la botegha alla piazuola de’ Pilli e per parte di salario gli dètti grosoni otto d’ariento [. . .] (Neri di Bicci [1976], p. 285) 198
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chapter five A Paolo Strozzi S. V. D. VI. Portò contanti. Disse per dare il vanto a Chalandro. (fol. 58v) Marcho di Charlo Strozzi [. . .] a dì XIIII di dicembre [1459] S. V. D. VI. Portò e’ detto in un grosso di mento. Disse per dare il vanto a Chalandro. E a dì po di febraio [1460] S. V D. VI. Portò e’ detto. Disse per dare il vanto a Chalandro. E a dì XVII d’aprile 1460 S. V D. VI. Portò contanti. Disse per dare il vanto a Chalandro. Pagholo di Charlo Strozzi [. . .] a dì XIII di dicembre [1459] S. V D. VI. Portò e detto in grossi uno d’ariento. Disse per dare il vanto a Chalandro. E a dì po di febraio [1460] S. V D. VI. Portò contanti. Disse per dare il vanto a Chalandro. E a dì XVII d’aprile 1460 S. V D. VI. Portò contanti. Disse per dare il vanto a Chalandro [. . .]200
Another pupil of Calandro’s was Niccolò, the illegitimate son of Francesco di Matteo Castellani, whom he taught in 1460–61. Here Callandro’s school is identied as situated in Via della Calimala in an alley behind the Mercato Nuovo, a location possibly to be identied with the Corticina dell’Abaco later occupied by his sons: A Chalandro maestro d’albacho a dì 13 di decto [novembre 1460] Fl. uno largo per Nicholò mio. Gli mandai alla scola decto dì. Mandai in nome di dio a dì 13 di novembre [1460] Nicholò mio glolo naturale alla scola d’albacho di Calandro in Calimala dal Chiassolino dretro a Mercato Novo. E manda’ li Fl. uno largo. Portò Luigi Pulci. E racomandò decto fanciullo, ché gl’è amicissimo decto maestro. E a dì 15 di dicembre per ’l vanto della Pascua Go 1. E a dì [sic] di marzo 1461 Go 1 gli diè la Lena. E a dì 31 d’ottobre Go 1. Gli diè ella decta per la mancia d’Ognisanti.201
In this school Antonio di Maestro Taddeo de’ Micceri seems to have been teaching in 1475:
200
ASF CS IV.67. See Appendix 5. ASF CRSGF 90.134, fol. 42r–v, now published by Ciappelli in Castellani (1995), pp. 128–29. See Appendix 5. 201
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Antonio di Taddeo, che ‘segnia l’abbacho a fanciugli, setaiuolo di minuto a llato a Donatuzo banchiere in sul Chanto di Chalimala, de’ avere per inno a dì IIo di marzo 1474 L. una S. XVIIIo.202
Between 1469 and 1479, however, Calandro’s principal successor in this school was Benedetto da Firenze, whose pupils here included Dino Francesco Pecori in late 1473 and early 1474: (fol. 33 destra [12 novembre 1473]) A [. . .] Dino Francesco per 1a tavola da abacho chon lle bulette. (fol. 45 destra [4 gennaio 1474]) L. due S. 1 [. . .] che soldi 40 dati a Bendetto maestro d’abacho, che insegnia Dino Francesco e S. 1 al detto popillo per pene. (fol. 45 destra [27 gennaio 1474]) S. cinque [. . .] dati a Dino Francesco per dare il vanto al maestro dell’abacho per lla chandellaia. (fol. 72 destra [27 aprile 1476]) [. . .] per 1a tavola da abacho. Ebe Francesco—S. 5.203
After his death the business passed to Calandro’s son Pier Maria, assisted later by his brother Filippo Maria. Beginning on 3 January 1480, Pier Maria began teaching the abacus to Niccolò Machiavelli,204 and in 1487 Pier Maria taught Girolamo and Piero, the orphaned sons of Antonio di Lionardo Gondi: a dì V di novenbre [1487] Fl. dua larghi inn oro dettono [. . .] a Piermaria, maestro de l’abacho. Sono per insegniare a Girolamo et Piero.205
In 1494 and 1495 the Calandri brothers were sharing the abacus tuition of two younger orphans of Antonio Gondi, Bernardo and Antonio: (fol. LXVIIIIo destra [2 giugno 1494]) Fl. uno largo in oro et S. X piccioli [. . .] dette a Filippo Chalandri et S. X piccioli per una tavola et chalamaio per insegniare l’abacho a Bernardo nostro. (fol. 97 sinistra [11 aprile 1495]) Fl. uno largo in oro portò Giovanmaria, insegnia l’abacho, per sua faticha, cioè per parte dello ‘nsengniare a Bernardo et Antonio nostri fratelli in chasa.206
By 1495 there was an eponymous Via or Corticina dell’Abaco, before the site was sold to the Capitani di Parte Guelfa in 1507.
202
ASF CRSGF 102.356, fol. 62 destra. See Appendix 5. ASF DPPP 51. See Appendix 5. 204 Black (1996c), p. 392; Machiavelli (1954), p. 103; Verde (1973–1995), II, p. 536. 205 ASF CG 32, fol. 25 sinistra. See Appendix 5. 206 ASF CG 33. See Appendix 5. 203
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Another abacus school was established on the Via dei Ferravecchi, as the present-day Via Strozzi was then known, at the intersection with Via Sassetti. Here Giovanni del Sodo ran his bottega from 1493 to 1500,207 when his pupils included the challenged learner and troubled adolescent, Guarieri di Tribaldo de’ Rossi: 1496 posi a l’abacho Ghuarieri chon Giovani del Sodo, maestro d’abacho, che sta tra feravechi. Detto Ghuerieri sapeva apreso che le librettine di già. Deti gli detto dì L. 1a S. 1 chontanti. Detto Giovani del Sodo in detti tempi era tenuto el migliore maestro d’abacho da Firenze. A dì 24 di ottobre 1496 detti a Ghuarieri porta’ si al maestro per fuocho.208 A dì 3 novenbre 1496 detti a Giovany suo maestro per la muta de le librettine S. 20 e per la mancia de l’ongni santi tre dì fa. Fu S. 6. El chonto vechio è drieto in questo a 99, e per una tavola d’abacho di nuovo detto dì S. 4. E per Ghuarieri mandai a Giovani del Sodo suo maestro la mancia de la Paschua di Natale S. 6 D. 8 a dì 24 di dicienbre 1496. E a dì 12 di febraio 1496 mandai la mancia per Ghuarieri a Giovani del Sodo per Santa Maria Chandelaia. Manda’ gli ____L.____S. 6 D. 4. E a dì 14 di febraio 1496 mandai a Giovani del Sodo per Ghuarieri L. 1a perché lo mette ne le ragione de’ partitori. Mando gli a chiedere per suo salario per meterlo in dette ragione. E a dì 14 di marzo 1496 ispesi per Ghuarieri in una tavola nuova da abacho S. 4. D. 8. E a dì 25 di marzo sabato santo fu, mandai la mancia a Giovani del Sodo S. 6 D. 8. Fugìsi da bottegha Ghuarieri a dì 4 di aprile 1497 e non tornò a desinare. Di poi tornò a dì 6 di aprile 1497. Andòsi trastulando et dì per Firenze. Fu perché 1o fanciulo de’ Bizini gli tolse la beretta, perché gli aveva a dare S. 7 di ghuocho di pala, dicieva lui. E a dì 26 di aprile 1497 mandai per la Lisabetta e Ghuarieri a Giovani del Sodo, maestro de l’abacho dove sta Ghuarieri, S. 20 per mutarlo di ragione de’ partitori. E a dì 5 di giungno 1497 mandai a Giovani del Sodo maestro di Ghuarieri S. 20, perché gli dava a fare nuove ragione.209 Ghuarieri nostro gliuolo rimandiamo nel nome di dio a l’abacho a Giovani del Sodo a dì 27 di novenbre 1497, e detto dì mi fe’ fare Giovani del Sodo detto 1o libro di 54 charte perché Ghuarieri vi scrivesi su ongni matina le ragione ch’el dì à imparate, à choverta di charta pechorina usata.
207 Giovanni del Sodo also taught the abacus to Bartolomeo Masi, the son of a calderaio, in 1489–1490: Masi (1906), pp. 14–15. 208 BNCF III.ii.357, fol. 99v. See Appendix 5. 209 BNCF III.ii.357, fol. 158r. See Appendix 5.
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A dì 27 di novenbre 1497 sopradetto detti a Giovani del Sodo, maestro di detto Ghuarieri, L. 1 di denari chontanti. E a dì 24 di dicenbre 1497, la vilia de la Paschua, detti la mancia a Giovani del Sodo per Ghuarieri. E a dì 29 di gienaio 1497 mandai per Ghuarieri a Giovani del Sodo suo maestro S. 20 perché lu muti inn altra ragione. E a dì 11 di aprile 1498 ispesi per Ghuareri ne la mancia mandai a Giovani del Sodo per la Paschua, fu mercholedì santo [. . .] S. 7. E a dì 11 d’aghosto 1498 detti a Giovanni del Sodo S. 18 chontanti per metere Ghuarieri ne la terza de’ partitori. E a dì 31 di ottobre 1498 mandai per Ghuarieri a detto Giovani del Sodo la mancia S. 7 e S. 5 pel fuocho. E a dì 22 di dicienbre mandai a Giovani del Sodo per mancia de la Paschua di Natale S. 7. Portò Ghuarieri. E a dì 31 di gienaio 1498 per la mancia di Santa Maria Chandelaia mandai a detto Giovani S. 7. E a dì 17 di aprile 1499 mandai per Ghuarieri a Giovani del Sodo per salario S. 10, che ne voleva venti. E a dì 18 di maggio 1499 per salario e per mutare Ghuarieri mandai a Giovani del Sodo S.10 per detto Ghuarieri. Richordo questo dì 1o di luglio 1499 levamo Ghuarieri da l’abacho che l’aveva fornito d’inparare da Giovani del Sodo. Di nuovo aviano riposto Ghuarieri a rischotere l’abacho a Giovani del Sodo a dì 19 di marzo 1499, perché l’aveva 1/2 dimentichato.210 Richordo questo dì po di aprile 1500 chome chomisi a Ghuarieri nostro che andasi a dire 1a inbasciata a Giovani del Sodo, che lo lasciasi andare a Ser Franciescho Buonachorsi a fare larghi, e non n’andò.211
Giovanni’s school had closed by 1502. The Compagnia del Bigallo rented a property in Piazza Orsanmichele which, as has been already indicated (see p. 328 above), housed Florence’s principal grammar school in the fteenth century, probably at the intersection of Via Lamberti and Via Calimala, but for three years, from 1448 to 1451, the premises were let as an abacus school. It was there that the young Benedetto da Firenze gained his rst experience as a teacher, collaborating with the more practised Bettino da Romena.212 While managing this school, Bettino taught orphans from the del Bria family in June 1450.213
210 211 212 213
BNCF III.ii.357, fol. 158v. See Appendix 5. BNCF III.ii.357, fol. 159r. See Appendix 5. Ulivi (2006), pp. 72–75. Ulivi (2001), pp. 315–16, 344; Ulivi (2006), p. 74.
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Near the Piazza del Grano, near the intersection of the present-day Via della Ninna and Via dei Neri, there was a little square called Piazza del Vino, where in the fteenth-century barrels of wine were inspected. It was here that an eponymous abacus school was run c. 1475 by Niccolò di Taddeo Micceri. Between 1452 and 1456, on Via S. Martino (today known as Via Dante Alighieri) adjoining the Badia Fiorentina, was an abacus school managed by Bettino da Romena in partnership with Lorenzo di Biagio da Campi.214 At this school in 1453, two of Bettino’s pupils were Bernardo, the grandson of the blacksmith, Andrea di Giovanni, and two sons of Antonio di Niccolò da Colle: Bettino di Ser Antonio da Romena maestro d’abacho nostro pigionale [i.e. della Badia Fiorentina] de’ ‘vere a dì VIo d’aprile 1453 L. quatro S. XVIII pli. e quali gli diamo per Andrea di Giovanni fabro posto debi dare in questo 284 per salaro di Bernardo suo nipote impara abbacho [. . .] E a dì XVII di gennaio 1453 L. tre pli. per lui da Antonio di Niccholò da Cchole posto debi dare in questo 56 e quali disse Antonio gli dessimo per parte di salaro di dua sua gluoli imparono.215
At the Canto de’ Ricci (the present-day Canto di Croce Rossa on the Via del Corso) was an abacus school let in 1495 by Guido dei Ricci to Iacopo di Antonio Grassini,216 who was probably assisted there by his son Marco, (n. c. 1475, ob. 1514/23).217 Over the previous two years (1493–1494), Marco had taught there too, along with Raffaello di Giovanni Canacci (1493–1494), in partnership with the reading teacher Ser Raffaello Martini218 (see above pp. 361–62). Another abacus school was in Piazza Padella towards the Chiasso dei Buoi (the present-day Via Teatina). Here the Benedetto da Firenze’s father Antonio had acquired a property in 1428, and probably between 1452 and 1464 Benedetto himself probably ran an abacus school at this location, before renting some of the premises as a school to the elementary teacher, Ser Marco di Baldo in 1469 (see above p. 347).
214
Ulivi (2006a), pp. 75–80. ASF CRSGF 78.78, fol. 136r. See Ulivi (2006), p. 77. 216 Iacopo Grassini taught the abacus to Francesco di Carlo di Francesco di Neri Pitti, aged 11, in 1480 (Verde [1973–1995], III, p. 1024), but it is unknown where his school was then located. 217 Ulivi (2004b), p. 167. 218 Ulivi (2004b), pp. 164–67; Ulivi (2002a), pp. 198, 208. 215
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In the Oltrarno, three abacus schools have been identied during the fteenth century. In Via S. Salvatore (a stretch of the present-day Via della Chiesa), Lorenzo di Biagio da Campi lived in a house inherited from Giovanni di Bartolo; it appears that Lorenzo taught the abacus at this location at least from 1458 to 1469. The second Oltrarno abacus school was in Borgo S. Iacopo, where, in 1495 at least, Raffaello di Giovanni Canacci ran a bottega.219 Finally in Via de’ Bardi, a priest called Ser Filippo ran an abacus school from 1495 to 1499. There he taught Guarieri di Tribaldo de’ Rossi in 1495 and for the rst half of 1496: A l’abacho chomincio a mandare a ‘nparare Ghuarieri mio gliuolo a dì 17 di marzo 1494 a Ser Filipo di . . . [sic] prete, tiene ischuola ne la Via de’ Bardi pocho di là a Santa Maria sopr’Arno. Chonopera’ gli la prima tavola de l’abacho ieri. Chostò S. 4. Questo dì 17 sopradetto mando a Ser Filipo per Ghuarieri 3 grosoni per parte di paghamento, ché vole 1o Fl. a ‘nsengniargli l’abacho e 4 mancie l’ano di 1o grosone per volta. A dì 6 di luglio 1495 mandai a Ser Filipo maestro d’abacho che ‘nsengnia a Ghuarieri S. 14 in una lettera. La tavola nuova e quando riva a botegha a l’abacho: chonperai a Ghuarieri a dì 20 di novenbre 1493 1a altra tavola da abacho nuova, che chostò S. 5, e a dì 18 di novenbre detto richoninciò andare a l’abacho Ghuarieri, ché più di 4 mesi era istato tra in vila e che per la moria le schuole non tenevono, ora sono chominciate a ritenere, e riva a Ser Filippo medesimo sopradetto. A dì 23 di novenbre 1495 detti a Ghuari [sic] S. 7 per mandare a Ser Chimenti pel fuocho per potersi ischaldare. A dì 24 di dicienbre 1495 mandai a Do’ Mariotto, cioè a Ser Filipo avevo a dire, per parte di suo salario, gli mandai per Ghuarieri S. 22 [sic] ____ L. S. 2. A dì 24 detto, che fu la vilia de la Paschua di Natale, gli mandai per mancia S. 6 per detto Ghuarieri. Levamo da bottegha Ghuarieri per Santa Maria Chandelaia per timore de la moria da Ser Filipo. E no’ ne andò a l’abacho insino a dì 8 di giungnio. 1496 tenemolo in chasa, e le librettine forni d’inparare in chasa. Quasi à fatto di già le sapeva. Sendo quasi restato la moria, diliberai di rimandarlo a fornire d’inparare l’abacho a detto Ser Filippo, e andò vi, cioè Ghuarieri nostro gliuolo, lo rimandiano a fornire d’inparare l’abacho nel nome di dio a Ser Filipo, chome disopra dicho, e andò ne a dì 9 di giungnio 1496 a ora di merenda, sonato vespero.220
219 220
Ulivi (2004b), p. 166. BNCF III.ii.357, fol. 99v. See Appendix 5.
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Ser Filippo also taught Cristofano di Piero Nacchianti from March 1498 to December 1499.221 An abacus teacher who taught a boy working for Biliotto di Andriano Biliotti in or before 1427 was Zanobi Belfredegli, about whom nothing else is known: [ Portata di Biliotto d’Andriano Bilioti] Zanobi Belfredegli avere da me intorno di Fl. sei d’uno mio gharzone istete co’ lui per impar[ar]e l’abaco. Non ò fata ragone—Fl. 6 [. . .]222
An abacus teacher who possibly worked in Florence was Maestro Antonio di Giovanni da Città di Castello, whose widow was living there in 1427, when she submitted a return to the Catasto: [ Portata di] Mona Antonia donna che fu del Maestro Antonio dell’Abacho da Cità di Chastello. Abita in chasa di Nicholò di Bartolomeo; ista al chorazaio, suo fratello nella via d’Alpino [. . .] È la detta Mona Antonia d’età d’anni trentasei. E la Bartolomea sua gliuola d’età d’anni nove. E Iachopo suo gliuolo d’età d’anni sette. E Lionardo suo gliuolo d’età d’anni quatro. E più pagha l’anno di pigione d’una terza chasa tiene da Marchione del Biondo lire dieci.223
However, most of Maestro Antonio’s recent professional activity had taken place in Prato, where he been the communally appointed abacus teacher from 1404 to 1409 and then again from 1412224 until his death in service before 17 December 1423: Cum Magister Antonius de Civitate Chastelli magister abbaci et seu aigorismi decessit et deo omnipotenti salvatori nostro reddiddit spiritum secundum cursum naturalem et in presenti Pratenses non habent magistrum abbaci seu algarisimi [. . .]225
221
Ulivi (1998), p. 48; Ulivi (2002b), pp. 147, 149. ASF Catasto 18, fol. 1380r. See Appendix 1. It may be coincidence, but manuscript BNCF Magl. VII.1063, datable to c. 1425, containing a series of school texts (Statius’s Achilleis, Ilias latina, Proba’s Centones virgiliani), was copied by Torrigiano Biliotti, a pupil at the school of Maestro Zanobi: (fol. 51r) Iste liber est Torrigiani Biliotti, qui moratur scolis Magistri Zanobi p(ro)f(e)x(or)is. Was Zanobi Belfradelli a reading / grammar teacher, who taught a little abacus as well? 223 ASF Catasto 56, fol. 363r. See Appendix 1. 224 ASPrato CD 81, fol. 68r, 71r, 112v, 113r–v; 83, fol. 107r–v; 85, fol. 25r–v, 113v–114v; 86 fol. 5v, 204v–205r, 208r; 87, fol. 135v; 88, fol. 55v, 59r–60r; 89, fol. 79v, 83v, 89v, 90v–91r; 90, fol. 45v, 48r, 92r. 225 ASPrato CD 90, fol. 20r (17 December 1423). 222
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Between 1409 and 1412, he had been teaching in Perugia: Laudabili viro utique theorico et experto Magistro Antonio Iohannis de Civitate Castelli Peruxiam incolenti amico nostro carissimo226
but there seems to be no record of his having taught in his native town of Città di Castello.227 Other Florentine abacists in the fteenth century included Niccolò di Stefano (n. c. 1435, d. 1522),228 Niccolò di Lorenzo (n. c. 1443, ob. 1475–1480), who was a great nephew of Mariano di Michele and who worked in partnership with Banco di Piero Banchi in the school of Santi Apostoli,229 Piero di Domenico (. 1449, ob. ante 1478),230 Santi di Paolo,231 Taddeo di Francesco232 and Piero di Zanobi (n. 1478, ob. 1525), who worked in the Scuola dei Santi Apostoli from 1519 to 1525 in partnership with Niccolò di Taddeo dei Micceri.233 Grammar (Latin) Teachers and Schools Public grammar teachers By the fteenth century, the core of grammar teaching in Florence, as in other Tuscan towns, was subsidized by the civic authorities. This public secondary grammar education was provided normally under the auspices of the Florentine Studio, as in other university towns, such as Siena, Bologna, Padua or Perugia (see vol. 2, and below Appendix 4 for Siena).
226
ASPrato CD 82, fol. 107r–v (4 January 1412). He is unmentioned in Jaitner-Hahner (1993). 228 Ulivi (2002a), p. 198. 229 Ulivi (2002a), pp. 45, 198, 200, 205. 230 Ulivi (2002a), p. 198. 231 Ulivi (2002a), p. 198. 232 Ulivi (2002a), p. 198. 233 Ulivi (2002a), pp. 45, 51, 198, 205. Nothing seems to be known about the following abacist, whose name I have been unable to nd in the relevant literature: (20 April 1474) Actum Florentie in populo Sancti Petri Maioris de Florentia [. . .] Antonius olim Iohannis Magistri Antonii arismetra et doctor arismetrice populi Sancti Frediani de Florentia [. . .] vendidit [. . .] Francisco olim Iohannis Pieri pizichagnolo [. . .] unum petium terre vineate starorum trium et parat. quatuor vel circa [. . .] positum in populo Sancte Marie de Peretolis [. . .] pro pretio Fl. viginti de sugello [. . .] His sister, ‘Domina Nanna vidua lia olim Iohannis Magistri Antonii et uxor olim Iohannis Francisci Martini populi Sancti Petri Maioris,’ through her mundualdo, agreed to the sale. (ASF NA 1845, fol. 114r–v) 227
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The rst fteenth-century appointments made by the Ufciali dello Studio were for three grammar teachers simultaneously to serve for the academic year 1401–2. Maestro Matteo di Ser Loro da Radda had already taught with a public subsidy at Florence in 1388–89 and from 1391 to 1396.234 Although he had been given a communal salary of 30 orins in 1388–89, this was now reduced to 15 orins.235 One of his colleagues was equally experienced: Ser Francesco di Ser Feo di Nigi da Arezzo had already enjoyed communal appointments in Pistoia from 1382 to 1389, in Arezzo from 1389 to 1399 and in San Miniato in 1399–1400.236 Nevertheless, like Matteo da Radda, his annual salary in Florence was 15 orins.237 The third grammarian, Maestro Niccolò di Ser Duccio was also from Arezzo, with possible experience in Castelorentino during 1395 (see ch. 2 above p. 120), and he was similarly paid 15 orins for a year’s salary.238 Further documentation of public appointments in Florence does not come to light until 1415, when two of the same teachers were reappointed: Francesco di Ser Feo and Matteo da Radda. Francesco remained on the commune’s payroll until 1417, whereas no reappointment for Matteo appears after 1415; both received annual salaries of 25 orins.239 A possible colleague for Francesco di Ser Feo in the academic year 1416–1417 was Maestro Tomma (Tommo, Tommaso) Sello da Suessa Aurunca, who served as rector of the Studio that 234
See ch. 3 above pp. 267–68 and Appendix 3. Gherardi (1881), p. 376. The following document, revealing that Maestro Matteo’s parish of residence in Florence was S. Maria degl’Alberighi in the quarter of S. Giovanni, dates from shortly after this appointment: (ASF Pupilli 13 fol. 9r, 15 September 1403) Donatus olim alterius Donati populi Sancti Remigii de Florentia actor [. . .] Giorgii lii olim Ricciardii Georgii de Riccis de Florentia heredis Domine Antonie matris sue et olim uxoris dicti Ricciardi Georgii de Riciis [. . .] locavit ad pensionem [. . .] Ser Matteo notar[i]o sive Magistro Matteo olim Ser Loris de Radda magistro gramatice populi Sancte Marie Alberigi de Florentia unam domum cum volta subter terram [. . .] positam in civitate Florentie in populo Sancte Marie Alberigi predicto, loco dicto in sulla Piazuola de’ Ricci, cum a io et iio via a iiio Ruggerius Domini Ioannis de Riccis a iiiio chiassus dicti Roggierii, pro tempore et termino quinque annorum proxime futurorum incoandorum die prima mensis novembris proxime futuri etc.; promittens dictus attor dicto nomine predictam locationem rmam habere etc. et hoc fecit dictus actor, quia predictus Ser Matheus conductus per se et suos heredes promisit [. . .] dicto Donato attori pro dictis oftialibus [pupillorum] et Georgyo tenere et possidere etc. et dare et solvere nomine pensionis dicte domus quolibet anno dictorum quinque annorum orenos quindecim auri in civitate Florentie etc. 236 See Appendix 4 below. 237 Gherardi (1881), p. 376. 238 Gherardi (1881), p. 376. 239 Park (1980), pp. 274–75. 235
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year, and who is known to have taught a standard grammatical text, Boethius’s Consolation, to a pupil from his native town in the nearby city of Teano;240 his slightly higher annual salary of 30 orins may have been due to his ofcial duties as university rector.241 The next two ofcial appointments come in the 1420s. Maestro Antonio di Andreuccio da Castelnuovo della Lunigiana served from 1420 to 1425, beginning in 1420–21 with an annual salary of 60 orins, which was progressively reduced to 50 orins in 1421–22, 40 in 1422–23,242 30 in 1423–24243 and 20 in 1424–25.244 By the time he came to Florence, Antonio della Lunigiana was an experienced teacher in high demand throughout Florentine Tuscany, having taught in San Miniato from 1411 to 1415245 and in Pistoia from 1415 to 1420,246 besides having declined an appointment at Prato in 1412.247 It is possible that he died while serving in 1425, since he received only one payment of 13 orins that year.248 He was dead by 1427, when his widow led a return for the Catasto of 1427: Questa è la rechata la qual fa Monna Giovanna vedova di Lunigiana fuori del contado e distrecto di Firenze e donna che fu del Maestro Antonio di Lunigiana, che fu maestro di scuola di gramatica. E non obstante ch’ella sia poverissima e forestiera, non di meno vuole obedire la Signoria. La decta Mona Giovana si è d’età di settanta anni o circa, habitante in Firenze nel quartier di Santa Croce nel confalone del Lion Nero in casa delle rede del Maestro Tomaso del Maestro Donato, e dà di pigione della decta casa al decto herede orini septe e mezo. Cominciò la decta pigione per Ogni Sancti proximo passato e nisce la decta pigione per Ogni Sancti proxime che debba venire—Fl. 7 1/2. Maestro Giovanni primo gliuolo della decta Mona Giovanna studiante in medicina d’età d’anni XXVIIII o circa. Mona Luscia di Giovanni da Padova fuori del contado e distrecto di Firenze donna del decto Maestro Giovanni è d’età d’anni ventidua o circa. Maria gliuola del decto Maestro Giovanni e della decta Mona Luscia ch’è d’età d’anni quatro o circa.
240
Black and Pomaro (2000), pp. 14, 121–22, 176 n. 89. Park (1980), p. 275; Davies (1998), p. 23 n. 98. 242 Park (1980), pp. 279–81. 243 Gherardi (1881), p. 403. 244 Park (1980), p. 282. 245 ACSM Delib. 2317, fol. 4r–v, 7r, 12v–13r, 128r; 2318, fol. 145v–146r, 246 ASPistoia Provv. 30, fol. 273r–274v; 31 fol. 100v, 286r; 32, fol. 113v–114r. See Zanelli (1900), p. 43, n. 1. 247 ASPrato CD 83, fol. 99r–100r. 248 Park (1980), p. 282, n. 2. 241
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chapter five Serano gliuolo del decto Maestro Giovanni e della decta Mona Luscia d’età d’anni due o circa. Antonio gliuolo del decto Maestro Giovanni e Mona Luscia d’età d’anni uno e mezo. Martino secondo gliuolo della sopradecta Mona Giovanna studiante in notaria d’età d’anni ventuno o circa. Lorenzo terzo gliuolo della decta Mona Giovanna va alla scuola della gramatica d’età d’anni quatordisci. Bionda nipote de’ sopradetti tre fratelli cioè Maestro Giovanni, Ser Martino e Lorenzo, e non à altri parenti che loro, è d’età d’anni venti e non è maritata per povertà grande e non à nulla. À a dare la decta Mona Giovanna a Ser Iacho’ del Maestro Tomasino L. dicesepta, e quali mette per perdutti come appare nel libro suo di Ser Iacop’ decto. Item à a dare fuori del contado e distrecto di Firenze orini XXV e altri denari a Serzana.249
Maestro Giovanni, aged 28 and the eldest son of Antonio, is recorded as a medical student in this portata; he had possibly been studying in Padua, where he may have acquired his Paduan wife, Luscia di Giovanni da Padova. By 1425, however, he had returned to Florence, teaching logic in the Florentine Studio for the academic year 1425–26 at a salary of 25 orins.250 Maestro Antonio della Lunigiana had had two colleagues also teaching grammar publicly in Florence at the end of his tenure. One was Don Niccolò di Ser Guido da Castelfranco di Sopra, a Benedictine and an experienced teacher, who had been public grammarian in Prato from 1417 to 1423.251 Like Maestro Antonio’s, his annual salary was 20 orins, as was that of the third communal grammar master serving in Florence in 1424–25: Ser Santi di Domenico da Arezzo, who was also an experienced grammar teacher in demand throughout Florentine Tuscany, having taught publicly in Volterra from 1415 to 1417252 and declined appointments at Prato in 1417253 and Arezzo in 1418.254 Both Ser Santi and Don Niccolò continued to serve publicly in Florence after Maestro Antonio della Lunigiana’s probable death in
249
ASF Catasto 35, fol. 789r–v. See Appendix 1. Park (1980), p. 283. 251 ASPrato CD 86, fol. 328v–329r, 330r–331v; 88, fol. 19v–20r, 23r–24r, 30v–31r, 31v–32r; CN 430, fol. 174r; CN 243, fol. 73v. 252 Battistini (1919), p. 15. 253 ASPrato CD 86, fol. 323r. 254 Black (1996a), p. 415. 250
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1425, being reappointed for the academic year 1425–26 at the same salary of 20 orins each (see Appendix 3 below). In the next decade, Ser Battista di Andrea Bisconti da Volterra served as Florence’s public grammar teacher from 1430 to 1437. For the rst three years his annual salary was 25 orins, but in 1434–35 it was raised to 30 orins. In 1435–36 his salary was divided, unusually, with 12 orins for grammar and 30 orins for authors, but the following year it was reduced overall to 20 orins.255 Not surprisingly, Ser Battista then left Florence to teach in his native Volterra, where he received an annual salary of 80 orins, remaining there happily for the next nine years (1437–1446).256 He nished his Tuscan teaching career, insofar as it is known, in Colle Valdelsa, where he taught for the next two years (1446–1448) at the same salary he had received in Volterra.257 In 1434–35, Ser Battista Bisconti was joined by a fellow citizen of Volterra, Maestro Sozzo di Giovanni Gualfredi da Volterra, who was appointed at an annual salary of 20 orins.258 Sozzo was an experienced teacher, having taught in Colle from 1417–1419,259 relocating to San Miniato from 1422–23;260 he returned to Colle from 1423 to 1430,261 when he moved to Prato from 1430 to 1433.262 During the 1430s, however, Maestro Sozzo’s tenure as public grammarian in Florence was limited to one year, and, after the appointment of Ser Battista Bisconti from 1430 to 1437, the principal public grammar master in Florence became Ser Niccolò di Antonio da Pratovecchio, who served from 1436 to 1444. He began at an annual salary of 15 orins between 1436 and 1438, but in 1438–39 it was increased to 25 orins, then reduced to 20 orins in 1439–40 but increased to 40 orins in 1441–42 and 60 orins between 1442 and 1444.263 The prominent 255 Park (1980), pp. 287–94. One Battista Bisconti’s pupils in Florence was Benedetto di Piero Cambini, whose copy of Prudentius’s Dittochaeon, signed in Battista’s school, is BNCF Magl. VII.1221: see Black (2001), p. 232 n. 290, and ch. 2 above p. 148. 256 Battistini (1919), pp. 16–17, 35–36 nn. 57 59, 106–109. 257 ASS Colle 154, fol. 69r–70r. 258 Park (1980), p. 292. While in Florence that year, Sozzo lived near the church of S. Apollinare: (ASF Bigallo 739, fol. 80v) sta a sSan Pulinari. 259 ASS Colle 145, fol. l verso–lii verso, lxi recto–lxii recto. 260 ACSM Delib. 2320, 239r–v. 261 ASS Colle 146, fol. 23v, 59r–v, 61r, 93v–94r, 95r–96r, 133r–v, 134r–v; 147, fol. 145r–147r, 223v, 283v, 290r, 312r, 314r, 317v–320v, 323v; 148, fol. 73r–74r, 80r, 1119r–v, 231v–232r. 262 ASPrato CD 92, fol. 43r–v, 96v, 119v, 128v, 141v, 169r, 1770r, 184r, 187v; 94, fol. 34v, 73r, 79r, 83r, 98r, 108r–v, 111r–v, 121v, 161v. 263 Park (1980), pp. 294–301; Gherardi (1881), p. 445.
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humanist Sozomeno da Pistoia taught grammar publicly alongside Ser Niccolò da Pratovecchio in 1438–1439 at a higher annual salary of 45 orins,264 but the latter’s next colleague, the priest Gregorio da Spoleto, evidently enjoyed lesser status, receiving an annual salary of only 20 orins for 1439–40.265 Sozzo Gualfredi da Volterra returned to Florence as Niccolò da Pratovecchio’s junior colleague, receiving the lower salary of 40 orins a year from 1442 to 1444.266 Maestro Taddeo di Ser Niccolò da Pescia replaced Niccolò da Pratovecchio as Florence’s senior public grammarian in 1444, arriving as an experienced teacher. He had begun his teaching career in his native town for a few months in 1413,267 after which date his next teaching appointment in Tuscany was at Volterra in 1426–1427 and then again from 1434 to 1437;268 his most recent Tuscan teaching post before coming to Florence had been again in his native Pescia from 1442 to 1444.269 When he arrived at Florence in 1444, his annual salary was 90 orins, but it was reduced to 60 orins in 1445 and then raised to 70 orins in 1447; overall he served continuously from 1444 to 1448.270 In 1450–51 Taddeo da Pescia was again the principal grammarian, receiving an annual salary of 60 orins.271 His junior colleague for 1450–51 was Ser Comando di Simone Comandi da Pieve S. Stefano, who received an annual salary of 40 orins.272 Ficino’s teacher, Luca di Antonio Bernardi da San Gimignano was, at a minimal salary of 35 orins,273 Florence’s only public grammarian in 1451–52, when Taddeo da Pescia moved to San Miniato to serve as the town’s public grammar teacher,274 but on 17 June 1452, the latter was reap-
264
Park (1980), p. 296. Gherardi (1881), p. 445. 266 Park (1980), pp. 300–301. 267 ASPescia Delib. 16, fol. 173r–174r, 209v. 268 Battistini (1919), pp. 15–16, 34 n. 47, 35 n. 54. 269 ASPescia Delib. 24, fol. 234r, 249v. 270 Park (1980), pp. 301–309; Davies (1998), p. 199. He did not have a public appointment in 1449–50. 271 Gherardi (1881), pp. 459–63; Davies (1998), p. 199. 272 Gherardi (1881), pp. 459–63; Davies (1998), p. 199. Comando had taught privately in Florence since 1430, according to a letter written on his behalf in 1475: Maestro Comando ha tenuta scuola in Firençe anni 45 (della Torre [1902], p. 494). He was born in 1410: ASF Catasto 798, fol. 615v (see Appendix 2). 273 Davies (1998), p. 191. A payment to Luca Bernardi of 11 2/3 orins, constituting a third of his year’s salary, was made on 28 February 1452: della Torre (1902), p. 491. 274 ACSM Delib. 2333, fol. 161v [25 February 1452]: A. Antonio detto camerario, 265
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pointed to teach in Florence from the following October for two years, now at the unprecedented annual salary of 100 orins.275 Taddeo was appointed together with a new colleague of equal standing, Maestro Simone di Francesco da Comano nella Lunigiana, who was to receive the same annual salary of 100 orins too.276 Simone da Comano was, like Taddeo da Pescia, an experienced grammar teacher: his rst known Tuscan appointment was at Colle Valdelsa from 1433 to 1435,277 afterwards serving in Pistoia from 1441 to 1448.278 Both teachers were reappointed for a further three years from 1454 to 1457, each at the same high salary.279 Between 1454 and 1455 they were again assisted
i quali pagò per achoncare la schuola del Maestro Taddeo per pianelle auti, opre et calcina lire dodici piccoli et soldi XIIII: L. XII S. 14; Battistini (1929), pp. 90–93. 275 Gherardi (1881), pp. 464–65; Battistini (1929), pp. 88–91. 276 Gherardi (1881), pp. 464–65. The following letter of appointment, not published in Gherardi (1881), was sent to Taddeo and Simone on 17 June 1452: (Florence Biblioteca Moreniana Bigazzi 193, fol. 59r) Magistro Tadeo de Piscia et } grammaMagistro Simoni de Comano } ticis Priores artium etcetera. Quanto ornamento sint populis et civitatibus studia humanitatis facile quivis vel mediocriter eruditus iudicare potest. Hec tamen omnia labant, sublata grammatica tanquam fundamento, sine qua caetera studia manca quodamodo esse videntur. In primisque optandum ut pueri honestissimis moribus sint imbuti, quibus ornati cum adoleverint, et sibi ornamento et patrie usui esse possint. Nos igitur, cum nostrorum liberorum probitati et doctrine prospicere vellemus, fama omnium commoti ad utranque rem idoneum iudicavimus. Quapropter cum nostro honorabili collegio pro duobus annis die XVIII octubris proxime futuri incipiendis cum salario centum aurerorum singulis annis ad id munus, id est ad grammaticam docendam moresque nostrorum liberorum excolendos, vos elegimus. Hac conditione, ut intra decem dies postquam hae littere vobis reddite fuerint respondere debeatis, hanc electionem ratam aut secus habere velitis. Nam nisi intra id tempus decem dierum per vestras vester animus super hac re nostro magistratui apertus fuerit, illa ellectio irrita haberetur, quod nobis molestissimum foret. Datum Florentie die XVII iunii MCCCCLII. 277 ASS Colle 150, fol. 62r–v. 278 ASPistoia Provv. 38, fol. 28v–29v; 40, fol. 33v–34r. Zanelli (1900), pp. 47, 157. 279 Gherardi (1881), pp. 466–67. Besides the payments listed in Davies (1998), pp. 198–199, the following further payments are documented: ASF NA 6139, NN (18 July 1454): [In the margin: Pro salariis magistrorum] Item modo et forma predictis deliberaverunt [sc. ofciales montis] quod Magister Taddeus et Magister Simon, magistri scholarum, habeant eorum salario quatuor mensium et pro quolibet eorum: Fl. 33 1/3; in totum Fl. 66 2/3. ASF NA 6140, NN (19 October 1454): [In the margin: Pro studio Fl. 20] Item modo et forma predictis deliberaverunt [sc. ofciales montis] quod [. . .] chasserius predictus det et solvat Magistro Taddeo Ser Nicholai de Piscia Fl. viginti—Fl. 20 [. . .] quas quantitates solvat ut supra predictis de pagis lucratis et creditis studii orentini. ASF NA 6141, fol. 14r: (6 November 1455) [In the margin: Pro magistris scholarum] Item modo et forma predictis deliberaverunt [sc. ofciales montis] quod Magister Taddeus Ser Nicholai de Piscia magister scholarum habeat eius ultimam terzeriam presentis anni. ASF NA 6141, fol. 14r: Item modo et forma predictis deliberaverunt [sc. officiales montis] quod [. . .] Magister Simon . . . [sic]
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by Comando Comandi, who received an annual salary of 40 orins,280 but beginning in 1456 his annual salary was also raised to 100 orins,281 so that for the year 1456–57, the Florentines were paying an unprecedented 300 orins for their public grammar teachers. Such a high level of funding was only temporary: after 1457, Simone da Comano and Taddeo da Pescia left Florentine public employment, and Comando Comandi was now joined by Maestro Filippo di Maestro Matteo da Casalumanese, who also received an annual salary of 100 orins, so that the annual Florentine grammar budget was reduced to 200 orins. Filippo da Casalumanese had previously been a teacher in Imola,282 and evidently his experience led to a three-year appointment, together with Comando Comandi, in Florence from 1457 to 1460.283
magister scholarum habeat eius ultimam 1/3. ASF NA 6139, NN (18 July 1454): [In the margin: Pro salariis magistrorum] Item modo et forma predictis deliberaverunt [sc. ofciales montis] quod Magister Taddeus et Magister Simon, magistri scholarum, habeant eorum salaria quatuor mensium et pro quolibet eorum: Fl. 33 1/3; in totum Fl. 66 2/3. ASF NA 15031, fol. 15v (27 March 1455): the Monte Ofcials ‘pro pagis studii [. . .] deliberaverunt quod Magister Taddeus Ser Nicholai de Piscia magister scholarum pro eius prima terzeria primi anni Fl. 33 1/3. Magister Simon Francisci magister scholarum habet ut supra pro eius prima terzeria Fl. 33 1/3’. ASF NA 6142, fol. 43r: (4 August 1456) [ In the margin: Pro magistris scholarum Fl. 33 1/3] Item modo et forma predictis deliberaverunt [sc. ofciales montis] ut [. . .] chasserius ut supra solvet Magistro Simoni Francisci de Lunisana electo ad docendum in gramatichalibus pro eius secunda terzeria secundi anni Fl. 33 1/3. ASF NA 6143, NN: (28 January 1457) [ In the margin: Pro studio Fl. 33 1/3] Oftiales supradicti [sc. montis] [. . .] deliberaverunt quod chassierus montis det et solvat oftialibus studii et pro eis Magistro Simoni magistro scholarum Fl. 33 1/3 pro eius salario. 280 ASF NA 6139, NN (13 August 1454): [ In the margin: Fl. . . . (sic)] Magister Comandus magister scholarum habeat ut supra [no salary or time period indicated]. ASF NA 6140, NN (19 October 1454) [ In the margin: Pro studio [. . .] Fl. 13 1/3] Item modo et forma predictis deliberaverunt [sc. ofciales montis] quod [. . .] chasserius predictus det et solvat [. . .] Magistro Comando Simonis Comandi de Plebe Sancti Stefani Fl. 13 1/3, quas quantitates solvat ut supra predictis de pagis lucratis et creditis studii orentini. See Davies (1998), p. 178. 281 ASF NA 6142, fol. 22r (1456): [ In the margin: Pro studio Fl. 33 1/3] Item modo et forma predictis deliberaverunt [sc. ofciales montis] quod Ser Comandus Simones de Plebe magister scholarum habeat Fl. 33 1/3 pro eius salario. Fol. 43r: (4 August 1456) [ In the margin: Pro magistris scholarum Fl. 33 1/3] Item modo et forma predictis deliberaverunt [sc. ofciales montis] ut [. . .] chasserius ut supra solvet [sc. ofciales montis] Ser Comando Simonis de Plebe Sancti Stefani pro secunda terzeria secundi anni ut supra Fl. 33 1/3. 282 Through his procurator on 17 December 1460, ‘Maestro Filippo vocato Maestro Lippo di Martino da Casali maestro di gramatica per la drieto habitatore di Imolla et oggi habitatore in Prato’ obtained the sequestration of assets in Florence of various citizens of Imola, in order to repay a debt of 400 lire owed to him by the city of Imola. (ASF Mercanzia 4441, fol. 58r–v) For the confusion over his patronymic (Matteo or Martino), see vol. 2. 283 Gherardi (1881), pp. 468–70; Davies (1998), pp. 179, 185.
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In the earlier 1460s, the grammar budget in Florence continued to be scaled down. In 1460–61 Comando Comandi’s annual salary was reduced to 50 orins.284 Maestro Filippo da Casalumanese was replaced in 1460–61 by Ser Santi di Lorenzo da Dicomano, who, although evidently without previous experience as a public grammar master, was appointed at the same annual salary of 50 orins as Comando Comandi, both remaining at the same reduced level until 1467–68.285 These two remained Florence’s only two public grammarians until September 1463, when they were joined by one Maestro Piero, who taught for four months at an annual salary of 50 orins, being paid on 20 January 1464;286 on 1 January, he was replaced by Ser Matteo di Francesco da Rocca S. Casciano, who received the same annual salary of 50 orins.287 Florence now had three public grammarians, all receiving the modest salary of 50 orins a year until 1467–68, when Comando Comandi, Santi da Dicomano and Matteo dalla Rocca each were given an annual rise of 25 orins, continuing at this level of 75 orins a year into the early 1470s.288 The later 1460s signalled a reinvigoration of public grammar teaching in Florence: notable were not only the enhanced annual salaries of 75 orins to Comando, Santi and Matteo, but also the appointment of a fourth grammarian, Maestro Guglielmo di Giovanni da Bourges di Francia. He was a teacher who had rst appeared in Tuscany as public grammar master at Arezzo from 1440, recommended by the prominent Aretine humanist Carlo Marsuppini. Marsuppini was, of course, a close friend and associate of Cosimo de’ Medici, and it is clear that Guglielmo and his family eventually passed into the Medicean patronage network, probably through his connection with Marsuppini. Guglielmo continued to serve in Arezzo until 1447, when he moved to work as a private teacher in Florence from 1448 to 1450. He went to Castiglion Fiorentino in 1451, remaining there until he relocated himself at Città di Castello from 1452 to 1456 and at Sansepolcro in 1457, nally returning to Arezzo from 1458 to 1465. On 22 November 1465, the Florentine Signoria wrote to the Aretine commune, instructing the town to release Guglielmo from his current appointment in Arezzo
284
Davies (1998), p. 179. Davies (1998), pp. 179–80, 196–97. 286 Davies (1998), p. 195. He was possibly the same individual as the reading teacher working in S. Frediano before 1486: see above pp. 350–51. 287 Davies (1998), p. 192. 288 Davies (1998), pp. 180–81, 192–93, 197–98. 285
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in order to take up a post as public grammarian in Florence from 1 January 1466. The Aretines duly complied, so that Guglielmo was able to begin teaching in Florence at the unprecedented annual salary of 200 orins. Such an enormous salary was previously unknown in Florence (or indeed Tuscany) for a public grammarian; the next year the Florentines thought better of their extravagance, reducing his annual salary to 150 orins, a level at which it remained until Guglielmo returned to Arezzo to teach on 1 March 1473. Such a remuneration could only mean that Guglielmo was favoured by an extraordinary manifestation of Medici patronage; indeed, the intimate connection between Guglielmo and the Medici was conrmed by the appointment of the former’s son, Giovannantonio, as Lorenzo de’ Medici’s private secretary from the mid-1470s.289 The 1470s initially developed as a leaner period for public grammar in Florence. Santi da Dicomano continued at his previous annual salary of 75 orins throughout the decade,290 but Matteo dalla Rocca’s was reduced in 1473–74 to 40 orins, remaining at that lower level until 1477–8, when he was given a rise to 50 orins a year, which he retained until dying while in Florentine public employment on 29 August 1480.291 Comando Comandi lost his post in 1473, despite intercessions on his behalf from his ex-pupil, Marsilio Ficino, and his nephew, Ser
289 Black (1996a), pp. 465–501, 528–546, 568–582, 584–586; Davies (1998), pp. 189–190; Black (2001), pp. 234–235, 250, 252; Jaitner-Hahner (1993), pp. 237–239, 267–270, 273–274, 292; Black (1996d), pp. 223–24, 226–28. The signature of Simone d’Antonio di Piero Alamanni in BNCF Magl. VII.1193, a school anthology containing Ovid’s Epistulae ex Ponto, Persius and Ilias latina with a colophon referring to Guglielmo’s teaching, would seem to date from 1448 to 1450, when Guglielmo is known to have been present in Florence, marrying his daughter into the Florentine Bellacci family (see Black [1996a], pp. 497, 501): see Black (2001), pp. 234–35. See also above ch. 2 pp. 148, 157. 290 Verde (1973–1995), II, pp. 588–89. 291 della Torre (1902), pp. 494–95. Verde (1973–1995), II, pp. 488–89. Maestro Matteo had a grammar pupil in Florence called Iacopo di Bartolomeo di Ser Francesco da Portico, a letter from whom to a fellow pupil of Matteo’s, Bartolomeo Dei is published by Verde (1973–95), III, pp. 411–12. Verde transcribes his name as ‘Iacopus lius [Bartho]lomei ser Francisci de Portico Mon[asteri] in scholis ser Matei’ (p. 412). However, this attribution of Iacopo to the monastery of Portico, presumably at Galluzzo, makes little sense, because the monastery there was a female convent (see Repetti [1833–45], III, p. 391). A more likely transcription would be ‘Iacopus lius [Bartho]lomei Ser Francisci de Portico Mon[tonis]’, so that Iacopo would have come from Portico (di Romagna) in the Valle del Montone (see Repetti [1833–45], IV, p. 588). Incidentally, the letter is an interesting sample of the not-so-high standard of Latin encountered in Florentine grammar schools of the later fteenth century.
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Filippo di Cristoforo da Val Savignone, a former chancellor to Piero de’ Medici.292 These salaries may have been reduced to make way for
292
Verde (1973–1995), II, pp. 164–65; della Torre (1902), pp. 494–95. In 1475 Comando was still seeking back salary from the commune: (6 September 1475) Actum Florentine in populo Sancti Ambroxii de Florentia [. . .] Ser Comandus olim Simonis Comandi notarius et civis orentinus preceptor grammatice [. . .] fecit [. . .] suos procuratores [. . .] Ser Santem Laurentii Bartoli de Dechomano preceptorem gramatice et Pandolfum Iohannis de Oricellariis [. . .] ad exigendum [. . .] a comuni orentino [. . .] omnes [. . .] quantitates denariorum [. . .] eidem [. . .] debitas a dicto comuni orentino occaxione conducte de eo facte ad docendum etc. et doctrine per eum prestite in dicta civitate Florentie [. . .] (ASF NA 1845, fol. 225r) After his retirement from public grammar teaching at the age of 63 in 1473, Comando taught grammar privately in his own house: (22 January 1474) [. . .] Actum in populo Sancti Petri Scharadii de Florentia [. . .] Cum hoc sit quod Ser Comandus olim Simonis Comandi preceptor gramatice de hoc anno presenti et die 12 mensis novembris proxime preteriti inceperat retinere in domo sue habitationis suis sumptibus et expensis victus et inceperat docere grammaticam Paulum Magistri Antonii Mazarini de Pratiegli [= Pratieghi] comitatus comunitatis de Montedolio animo lucrandi prout consuetus est facere cum aliis scholaribus, et cum hoc sit quod idem Paulus intendat stare continuo cum dicto Ser Comando usque in unum annum proxime futurum initiatum dicta die 12 novembris proxime preteriti et eidem Ser Comando dare et solvere pro eius labore et mercede dicte doctrine et expensarum id totum et quicquid fuerint concordes insimul [. . .] et remanserint in concordia insimul quod idem Paulus debeat dare et solvere dicto Ser Comando pro dictis mercede et expensis L. 96 p. pro dicto anno [. . .] hinc est quod dictus Ser Comandus Simonis Comandi preceptor predictus promisit dicto Paulo ibidem presenti et pro se et suis heredibus [. . .] ipsum Paulum tenere in domo sue habitationis una secum suis suptibus et expensis [et dare] victus toto residuo dicti anni [. . .] et ipsum Paulum docere gramaticam prout fuit et est consuetus facere aliis scholaribus. Et [. . .] dictus Paulus asserens se esse maiorem etatis annorum 20 completorum [ms: completerum] promisit [. . .] dicto Ser Comando [. . .] ibidem presenti [. . .] stare continuo toto dicto tempore dicti anni ut supra incepti [. . .] et eidem Ser Comando dare et solvere pro eius mercede et salario dicte doctrine et expensarum libras nonagenta sex sp. hoc modo videlicet medietatem per totum mensem iunii proxime futuri 1474 et residuum per totum mensem octobris proxime futuri 1474 [. . .] (ASF NA 1845, fol. 94v–95r) Given the large sum of money involved (96 lire was more than 20 orins), the advanced age of this pupil and his father’s probable medical profession (Maestro Antonio Mazarini), it seems that this was a case of intensive coaching preliminary to university study, rather than a simple boarding-school arrangement. Pratieghi, Paolo di Maestro Antonio Mazarini’s place of origin, was near Pieve S. Stefano, Comando’s native town. Other unpublished documents on Comando are: (17 August 1469) ‘Ser Comandus olim Simonis Comandi notarius et civis orentinus et preceptor artis grammatice’ sells ‘unum petium terre laborativum et ulivatum star. unius vel circha’ in the curia of San Leolino di Valdisieve and in the parish of S. Silvestro a Varena in the Florentine contado for 8 orini di suggello. (ASF NA 16368, fol. 10r) (7 November 1472) Ser Comando Comandi marries ‘D. Benedicta vidua lia olim Niccholai de Squarcialupis et uxor olim et primo Magistri Laurentii medici de Piombino et uxor postea et secundo Berti Bonachursi de Corsellinis’, with Manfredus de Squarcialupis acting as her mundualdo. Terms of the marriage agreement: Ser Comando transfers to her possession for her life alone a farm if she outlives him; he receives from her a dowry of 400 orins. (ASF NA 1845, fol. 9v)
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new blood, at least in Florence: Maestro Marcantonio di Ser Luca de’ Montigiani da S. Gimignano had served as public grammarian in Volterra from 1457 to 1458293 and in his native town from 1463 to 1464;294 he was appointed to teach in Florence in 1473 at the high salary of 100 orins, but he could not assume the post until 1475, because of
(23 December 1473) Memorandum of the rental by Ser Comando Comandi from ‘Berto et Piero fratribus et liis olim Angeli Berti Rochi de Castellanis’ of a house in Florence ‘loco dicto tra lla volta de’ Castellani’ on 23 November 1462 at an annual rental of 20 orins a year; ‘virtute dicte locationis tenuit et habitavit dictam domum per tres annos’. After that they came to an agreement whereby the rent would be reduced to 17 orins, as a consequence of which Ser Comando ‘stetit et habitavit in dicta domo’ [document breaks off here]. (ASF NA 1845, fol. 86v) (31 July 1474) Ser Comando Comandi and ‘Gerius olim Ubertini de Risalitis civis orentinus’ appoint as arbiters in an unspecied dispute ‘Ginum Francisci de Ginoris et Schebrium Gentilis de S. Maria’. (ASF NA 1845, fol. 135v) (9 September 1474) Ser Comando Comandi rents from ‘Landinus olim Pieri Mini populi Sancti Iusti anteporti comitatus orentini’ a house and ve pieces of lands for three years from the previous 1 August at a rent of 3 lire a year. Landino can continue to live in the house. (15 February 1476) Landino renounces the right to live in the house. (ASF NA 1845, fol. 140v–141r) (27 October 1474) Resolution of a property dispute in the popolo of ‘S. Iusti ad Agnani’ involving Ser Comando Comandi. (ASF NA 1845, fol. 150r) (23 December 1474) Ser Comando Comandi, acting for his wife Benedicta, accepts restitution of her dowry from a previous marriage to Berto del fu Bonaccorso de’ Corsellini of the popolo of S. Lucia ‘de Magnolis’. (ASF NA 1845, fol. 165v–166r) (6 March 1475) Ser Comando Comandi rents more rural property in the popolo of ‘S. Iusti ad Agnani’. (ASF NA 1845, fol. 181r–v) (15 July 1475) Business transaction involving Ser Comando Comandi in which he is owed 86 orins. (ASF NA 1845, fol. 217r–v) (11 September 1475) Actum ut supra [i.e. Florentie in populo Sancti Ambroxii] Ser Comandus olim Simonis Comandi notarius et civis orentine preceptor grammatice in civitate Florentie [. . .] fecit [. . .] suum procuratorem [. . .] Ser Niccholaum Christofori Simonis Comandi de Val Savignone [near Pieve S. Stefano in Val Tiberiana] [. . .] (ASF NA 1845, fol. 225r) (12 September 1475) Actum Florentie in populo Sancti Ambroxii [. . .] Ser Comandus olim Simonis Comandi notarius et civis orentinus [. . .] proprio [. . .] nomine necnon ut procurator [. . .] Bartholomei Christofori Simonis Comandi nepotis dicti Ser Comandi [. . .] ex parte una et Pierus olim Angeli Berti Cecchi de Castellanis [. . .] proprio [. . .] nomine necnon pro [. . .] nomine Berti sui fratris carnalis et lii olim dicti Angeli Berti Cecchi de Castellanis [. . .] ex parte alia fecerunt [. . .] pactum perpetuum de ulterius aliud non petendo [. . .] exceptis quam de or. quindecim auri de sigello de quibus dictus Bertus et Pierus [. . .] tenebantur et tenentur dare Ser Comando et seu dicto Bartholomeo eius principali et exceptis de or. vigintisex auri larghis de quibus dictus Ser Comandus tenetur dare Piero et Berto et seu dicto Piero et exceptis de barilibus otto cum dimidio alterius barilis vini de una parte que sibi Piero tenetur dare in civitate Florentie et exceptis certis massaritiis [. . .] quas massaritias idem Ser Comandus habet in domo dicti Pieri [. . .] (ASF NA 1845, fol. 225r–v) 293 Battistini (1919), pp. 17, 36 n. 68; ACV A nera 45 I, fol. 4r, 34r, 48r; II, fol. 37r, 105r; III, fol. 18r, 56r, 85r, 141v, 157v. 294 ACSG 181, fol. 38r–v, 40v.
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teaching commitments in Siena. Marcantonio remained in Florence for three years until October 1478,295 leaving three years sooner than the other appointee of 1473: the well known minor humanist, Benedetto di Coluccio Fetti da Pistoia. Benedetto Colucci was an experienced public grammar teacher, having taught in Pistoia from 1462 to 1465,296 Empoli from 1467297 and Colle Valdelsa from 1469 to 1473.298 He was appointed in Florence probably on the recommendation of Lorenzo de’ Medici, whom he beseeched in 1473 to rescue him from Colle, where he described his situation as ‘miserrima’;299 he rapidly joined Medicean literary circles and, in particular, Ficino’s ‘Academy’, some meetings of which he described in his famous Declamations.300 It is not surprising, on the basis of such a network, that he was appointed, like Marcantonio Montigiani, at an salary of 100 orins, which he retained for the rest of the decade.301 During the fteenth century, the 1470s were the last years in which there was any indication of generous support in Florence for public grammar teaching; a sign of the new harsher climate for grammarians came with the reduction of Benedetto Colucci’s salary to 60 orins in 1480–81.302 Not surprisingly, on 17 May 1482, he resigned his post, having found an appointment to teach grammar publicly in Bologna.303 Santi da Dicomano continued in communal employment throughout the decade, initially at his former annual salary of 75 orins, which was then reduced to 60 orins in 1486–87, and then further lowered to 50 orins from 1487 until his death on 20 April 1491.304 Luca Bernardi returned to Florence in 1481 as a highly experienced teacher. Having taught
295
Verde (1973–1995), II, pp. 478–79. ASPistoia Provv. 41, fol. 241r; 42, fol. 14v–15r, 112r. He is rst known to have worked, aged about 20, in the household of Mariotto Bartolini as a private tutor in 1458, teaching grammar to his four sons: ASF Catasto 826, fol. 3v; see Appendix 2. R. Ristori (DBI, vol. 27, s.v., p. 495), who seems not to have known this document, exaggerated his social position, stating that Colucci ‘era ospite di Mariotto Bartolini—forse legato alla sua famiglia’. 297 R. Ristori in DBI, vol. 27, s.v., p. 495. 298 ASS Colle 163, fol. 31r; 347, fol. 36r, 57r, 95r, 157r, 221v, 322r–324r, 328v–329r. There is further useful information on Colucci’s teaching career in Medici (1977–2004), I, pp. 296–97. 299 Fioravanti (1987), p. 219. 300 Frugoni (1939). 301 Verde (1973–95), II, pp. 120–21. 302 Verde (1973–95), II, pp. 120–21. 303 R. Ristori in DBI, vol. 27, s.v., p. 497. 304 Verde (1973–95), II, pp. 588–89. 296
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grammar in Colle Valdelsa from 1454 to 1458,305 he was appointed to teach in Volterra from 1458 to 1460,306 returning to Colle from 1460 to 1464.307 His next appointment was in his native city from 1464 to 1468.308 In 1469 he was again appointed to serve in Volterra, remaining in post there until 1475.309 While in Volterra, he lost all his possessions during the siege of 1472; subsequently his former pupil Ficino wrote to the Captain of Volterra, Matteo Palmieri, lamenting his one-time teacher’s indigence. Returning to Florence in 1475, he was promised an appointment to teach there by Lorenzo de’ Medici, but instead he had to return to Colle in 1476, remaining there at least until 1479.310 Regardless of his long experience, however, he was given, after arriving in Florence, an annual salary of only 40 orins from 1481–1486, which was raised to 60 orins in 1486–1487, and lowered again to 50 orins from 1487 until 1494.311 Another modestly paid public grammar teacher in the 1480s was Ser Paolo di Antonio da Ronciglione, Machiavelli’s grammar teacher, who was given an annual salary of 50 orins from 1480 to 1483.312 Maestro Piero di Domenico Domizi was more experienced than Ser Paolo da Ronciglione, having taught in Pistoia in 1472–73313 and then at the Florentine Cathedral School
305 ASS Colle 156, fol. 63v, 65r, 70r–v, 106r–v, 109r, 185r–v; 157, fol. 41v, 49r; 160, fol. 80r, 81r, 93r. 306 Battistini (1919), pp. 17–18, 36 n. 70. ACV A nera 45 IV, fol. 34r, 95r; V, fol. 19v, 96v, 116v. 307 ASS Colle 161, fol. 4v, 5v, 6v–7v, 11v–12r; 345, fol. 9v–10v, 18r–v, 156v, 157v, 103r, 308 ACSG 181, fol. 201v, 202r–v, 291v; 182, fol. 25r, 90v–91r, 99r, 137r; 183, fol. 34v. 309 Battistini (1919), pp. 18–19, 37–38 nn. 84–86. ACV A nera 47 III, fol. 133v, 134r; IV, fol. 3r, 5v, 39v, 65r; A nera 48 I, fol. 8v, 12v, 79r, 110v; II, fol. 15r–16v; III, fol. 27v, 36v, 51v, 55v–56r, 71r; IV, fol. 56v; V, fol. 4r, 18r, 32r, 41v, 59v; A nera 49 I, fol. 10v, 16v, 27v, 44v, 53v, 77v, 98v. 310 ASS Colle 349, fol. 43v, 57v–60r, 144v. See Pecori (1853), p. 483; Battistini (1919), pp. 17–19, 36 nn. 69–72, 38 nn. 85–86, 110–111; Fioravanti (1979), p. 138, citing a letter to him at Colle Valdelsa from 1458, as well as p. 147 for his return to Colle in 1478; Fioravanti (1987), pp. 218–219, and particularly p. 219, n. 3, citing BML 90 sup. 2, where Bernardi expresses dissatisfaction at his career as a provincial schoolmaster [‘Nos in pulvere ducimus/sulcos, nos tenui versamur in agro/nos littus sterili nummo/ durum versamus ausi ferulam dare/campo difficili quoque/per subsellia victum male quaerimus’], and p. 219 n. 5, citing his complaints to Lorenzo de’ Medici for not keeping his promise to appoint him to the Florentine Studio in BML Pl. 90 sup. 2. 311 Verde (1973–95), II, pp. 456–59. 312 Verde (1973–95), II, pp. 534–35. 313 Schlebusch (1992), pp. 193–95.
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(see vol. 2) from 1473 to late 1479 or early 1480;314 nevertheless, he too received the modest salary as public grammarian in Florence of only 60 orins when teaching there from 1482 to the end of 1486.315 Domizi enjoyed the patronage of Lorenzo de’ Medici,316 as did another public grammarian in Florence during the 1480s, the poet Naldo Naldi, who taught for a modest annual salary of 50 orins from 1483 to 1488, raised to 70 orins in 1488–89;317 both, however, were notorious pederasts, Lorenzo de’ Medici obtaining a teaching post for Naldi at Prato between 1480 and 1482 in the teeth of local resistance,318 and Domizi being dismissed as public grammarian in Florence at the end of 1486 by the Ufciali dello Studio, ‘advertentes ad mores [eius]’;319 such notoriety could not have enhanced their favour among the Florentine population. Similarly modest sums were paid annually for public grammar teaching to Ser Giovanni Domenico di Antonio di Francesco: 41 orins for 10 months in 1483, 50 orins from 1484 to 1486, 60 orins for 1486–1487, and 50 orins from 1487 to 1492.320 The 1490s were a similarily parsimonious decade for public grammar teachers in Florence. Maestro Giorgio di Niccolò di Alberto Riesti da Firenze had served as principal civic grammarian in S. Gimigano from 1483 to 1491,321 and yet when he came to Florence in 1491 he was paid an annual salary of only 50 orins from 1491 to 1495; he was given a rise to 65 orins in 1495–96, which was then reduced to 60 orins for the rest of the ‘90s in 1496.322 Luca Bernardi began the decade earning only 50 orins a year, but his salary was increased to 65 orins between 1494 and 1496; it was reduced to 40 orins from 1496 to 1498 and then raised again to 60 orins between 1498 and
314
Schlebusch (1992), pp. 2 n. 8, 197. Verde (1973–95), II, pp. 546–57. 316 Schlebusch (1992), passim. 317 Verde (1973–95), II, pp. 492–93. 318 Verde (1973–95), II, pp. 494–99; Medici, Lorenzo de’ (1977–2004), V, pp. 17–20. ASPrato CD 104, fol. 383r, 385r, 388r; 105, fol. 38r. 319 Verde (1973–95), II, p. 548; Schlebusch (1992), pp. 3, 201–2. ASF UdN 17, fol. 47v: (21 June 1474) A Ser Petro del Comandatore presbitero in Sancta Reparata et qui Ser Petrus docet clericos Sancte Reparate et alios, pluries et pluries iam per duos annos vel circha, et quando dictus Ser Petrus docebat gramaticam dicto Filippo in ecclesia Sancti Remigii de Florentia a pluribus aliis pueris in una certa camera terrena in qua docebat, quando ex parte ante et quando ex parte posteriori; fol. 75v: absolutus Ser Petrus del Comandatore, docet pueros Sancte Reparate. 320 Verde (1973–95), II, pp. 390–91. 321 ACSG 187, fol. 289r, 295v; 188, fol. 29r, 59v, 72r, 114r; 135, fol. 29v. 322 Verde (1973–95), II, pp. 286–87. 315
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1500. After 1497 he was allowed to substitute his son Girolamo,323 who himself received an annual salary of 60 orins from 1497.324 Between 1492 and 1496 there were two further public grammarians in Florence, Maestro Iacopo di Bartolomeo Bosi dalla Garfagnana and Maestro Guarino di Iacopo da Camerino,325 each of whom earned identical modest salaries: 50 orins from 1492 to 1495, 65 orins in 1495–96, and 60 orins in 1496.326 One wonders whether, in fact, these salaries were joint rather than individual, since Maestro Iacopo and Maestro Guarino327 were replaced in 1496–97 by two teachers who explicitly shared the salary of 60 orins for 1496–97: Maestro Gaspare di Antonio di Piero de’ Mariscotti da Marradi, who had worked as a conventual grammar teacher at the Vallombrosan convent of S. Salvi (beyond the Porta della Giustizia, today Piazza Piave) in the early 1490s,328 and Ser Giovanni di Bartolomeo de’ 323 Verde (1973–95), II, pp. 456–59; for another son, who studied to become a physician, see Verde (1973–95), III, p. 725. One of Girolamo’s pupils was the future explorer, Giovanni da Empoli (n. 1483): see ch. 2 p. 144 n. 487 above. Girolamo received a commission to sell lands in S. Gimignano on 1 March 1488 from ‘Domina Violante uxor ad presens Ser Luce Antonii Iohannis Bernardi de Sancto Geminiano et de Cholle Vallis Else comitatus Florentie magistri artis grammatice ad presens commorantis in civitate Florentie’: ASF NA 19460 NN. 324 Verde (1973–95), I, pp. 366–83 passim. 325 One of his pupils was the future explorer, Giovanni da Empoli (n. 1483): see ch. 2 p. 144 n. 487 above. 326 Verde (1973–95), II, pp. 292–93, 304–05. 327 Guarino da Camerino settled the division of his family property with his brothers and mother, evidently still in Camerino, on 1 September 1494: Spectabilis vir Magister Guerinus Iacobi Ser Nicolai de Camerino docens gramaticam in civitate Florentie et publice conductus, non revocando propterea aliquem vel aliquos suos procuratores hactenus per eum constitutos [. . .] ordinavit suam veram [. . .] procuratricem [. . .] honestam mulierem Dominam Alexandram viduam matrem dicti constituentis et uxorem olim dicti Iacobi patris dicti constituentis licet absentem sed tamquam presentem [. . .] ad accipendum [. . .] corporalem possessionem omnium et quorumcumque bonorum mobilium vel immobilium [. . .] eidem domino [sic pro magistro] consituenti in portione et divisione cum fratribus dicti constituentis [. . .] ipsaque omnia bona retinendum et possidendum ipsisque bonis omnibus [. . .] usufructandum [. . .] prout eidem procuratrici videbitur et placebit [. . .] Item ad vendendum, tradendum et alienandum [. . .] in alium [. . .] omnia et singula bona tam mobilia quam immobilia [. . .] pro illo pretio et pretiis de quibus et prout et sicut dicte procuratrici videbitur et placebit [. . .] [fol. 76r] cum omnibus et singulis pactis promissionibus obligationibus [. . .] et cautelis [. . .] usitatis [. . .] civitatis Camerini vel alterius cuiuscumque loci [. . .] (ASF NA 9993, fol. 75r) 328 ASF CRSGF 88.67, fol. 30r: Ricordo chome oggi questo dì primo di novembre 1491 io Don Gregorio di Lorenzo rettore di San Salvi, chon voluntà di Messere Ieronimo abbate, ò tolto per maestro d’insegnare chramaticha Guasparre d’Antonio di Piero Mariscotti da Marriadi, el quale ebbe leggiere quelle chose che gli sarranno dette da messere l’abbate, e lui debbe avere per suo salario et faticha Fl. 12 larghi d’oro puro
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Marelli dalla Lunigiana.329 Maestro Gaspare Mariscotti went on to enjoy an individual appointment for the rest for the decade at an annual salary of 60 orins,330 the same remuneration received by Maestro Francesco di Giovanni da Urbino,331 the little known grammar teacher of Michelangelo Buonarotti and Leonardo da Vinci.332 Private grammar teachers Throughout Tuscany, grammar teaching had become overwhelmingly a public institution by the fteenth century: grammarians were appointed (and occasionally dismissed) like communal employees; they would (or could) provide teaching only if salaried by the local commune; in most towns, they would eventually cease to take fees for pupils from tax-paying families (see vol. 2); often their teaching premises were provided and
et lle spese ma la charnne l’à rimessa nella abbatia, et ànne et lla chamera fornita di tutto. E detto Messere Ieronimo volle avessi più L. 19 S. 10 lla charne oltre a Fl. 12 a l’anno, Fl. 15 larghi, che chominciò a dì primo di novembre 1492. 329 Verde (1973–95), II, pp. 366–67. 330 Verde (1973–95), I, pp. 363–83 passim; II, pp. 366–67. 331 Verde (1973–95), II, pp. 264–65; see also p. 612. One of his pupils was the future explorer, Giovanni da Empoli (n. 1483): see ch. 2 p. 144 n. 487 above. 332 Leonardo da Vinci had in his 1503 list of books, made in Florence: ‘Libro di regole latine di Francesco da Urbino’ (see Vecce [1998], p. 236). Neither this author nor this grammar has ever been identied. In fact, Francesco da Urbino was a grammar teacher active in Florence probably from 1483 to 1503 (for the latter date, see Verde [1973–95], II, pp. 264–65), his Regole latine circulating among Florentine schoolboys, as is clear from the following documents published below in Appendix 5: ASF AGPA 139 (Ricordi di Lorenzo di Matteo Morelli) fol. 53 destra (26 March 1483); ASF MSS 822 (Ricordi di Piero di Zanobi di Ser Martino Martini), fol. 16v (7 July 1492), fol. 26r (23 October 1499); ASF CS V.54, fol. 164 sinistra (9 February 1499), CLXIIII destra (25 October 1499), 170 sinistra 170 (25 October 1499). Although the text of this grammar manual has never been found, it was probably a secondary grammar schoolbook, similar in type to those by Guarino and Perotti. See Black (2001), ch. 3. The fact that in 1503 Leonardo owned what must have been a recently written Latin grammar testies to his efforts to learn Latin as an adult. Other such indications are lists of Latin vocabulary and exercises in Latin grammar in his notebooks. See Pedretti (1977), vol. I p. 383, II p. 312. The earliest document in reference to Francesco da Urbino dates from 1483. Although it is not an explicit reference to his teaching, nevertheless because it mentions his grammar Regole’s being prepared for some Morelli children’s school instruction, it is likely that Francesco was actually teaching these children in that year, especially since his Regole did not become a widely circulated grammar manual and have not apparently survived. The signicance for Michelangelo here is obvious: if Francesco was in Florence teaching the Morelli children in 1483, then Condivi’s statement that his father sent him to Francesco’s grammar school becomes credible: see Michelangelo (1987), p. 9.
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maintained by the communes. The exception was Florence: although the core of teaching was subsidized by the civic authorities, nevertheless there always remained a signicant element of private teaching as well.333 Moreover, Florence’s publicly funded teachers always collected fees from their indigenous Florentine pupils (as well as from non-Florentine residents or citizens); grammar teaching was never free of charge for Florentine taxpayers. The public grammar teachers in Florence were, in essence, private teachers receiving communal subsidies: they rented and maintained their own school premises; they hired their own assistants (ripetitori ) without communal approval; they formed private partnerships with other teachers; they disposed of their teaching equipment by private sale or contract. Florence’s grammar teachers were exactly like the city’s elementary and abacus teachers, except that, unlike the latter, they often received communal nancial support. The hub of grammar teaching in Florence was the square surrounding Orsanmichele. It was here that the city’s principal grammar school was located, on the rst oor above a warehouse ( fondaco) of second-hand clothes dealers (ritagaliatori ). The premises were rented by successive teachers from the communal charitable association, the Compagnia del Bigallo. The rst known tenant was Maestro Niccolò di Ser Duccio d’Arezzo, who took the premises for a year beginning 8 January 1407 at an annual rent of 24 orins: 333 Most of the private grammar teachers in Florence whom I have encountered turned up, at one time or other, on the communal payroll. The situation in Florence seems to have been a limited pool of grammar teachers running private schools, who went in and out of public employment. Numerous clerks taught grammar in the Florentine convents during the fteenth century (see vol. 2 for the revival of ecclesiastical teaching in Quattrocento Florence), a few of whom have not yet emerged from the surviving suppressed conventual records in the Archivio di Stato. Such was possibly the priest Gaspare del fu Giovanni di Roberto da Massa, who turned up in 1486 and 1490: [1486] die XIIIa mensis iulii actum in populo Sancti Stefani abbatie Florentine [. . .] Venerabilis vir Presbiter Gaspar olim Iohannis Roberti Massamus preceptor artis grammatice in urbe Florentie [creates procurators.] (ASF NA 2912, fasc. 1, n. 4, NN) 1490 [. . .] die 9 mensis maii actum in populo Sancti Stefani abbatie Florentine [. . .] venerabilis vir Presbiter Gaspar olim Roberti Iohannis Massanus [makes his testament, including various small legacies to the Opera and Sacristy of S. Maria del Fiore.] (ASF NA 2912, fasc. 1, n. 90, NN). One of his pupils in Florence was the future explorer, Giovanni da Empoli (n. 1483): see ch. 2, p. 144, n. 487 above. Similarly there is a reference to ‘Domino Iampetro Magistri Antonii Brocardo de Venetiis magistro gramatice habitatore in [. . .] conventu Sancte Marie del Carmine [civitatis Florentie]’, who appeared as a witness on 31 January 1470 (ASF NA 13469, fol. 175v).
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Maestro Niccholò di Duccio d’Arezzo de’ dare per pigione della schuola sopra Chalimala per pigione d’un anno chominciato a dì 8 di giennaio 1406 et nendo a dì 8 di gienaio 1407 orini ventiquatro.334
Niccolò took the premises for three more years from 8 January 1408 at the same annual rent: Maestro Nicholò di Duccio d’Areço de’ dare per pigione della nostra chasa d’Orto Sanmichele per anni tre chominciati a dì 8 di gennaio 1407 e nendo dì 7 di gennaio 1410 per orini ventiquattro l’anno.335
Although an explicit rental agreement for the three years from 1411 to 1414 does not survive, it is clear that Niccolò di Ser Duccio continued to rent the premises or sublet them for other teachers, because he renewed the contract for two further years in 1414: Maestro Niccholò di Duccio d’Arezzo maestro di gramaticha de’ dare ché chondusse una chasa chon palchi e pozzo nella quale si suole tenere schuola la qual’è posta in Orto Santo Michele sopra il fondacho che ttiene Francesco di Giovanni di Ser Signia et compagni, cho’ suoi veri chonni per tempo di due anni chominciando a dì 8 di gienaio 1413 et nendo a dì sette di giennaio 1415 per orini XXIIIIo d’oro l’anno.336
While away from Florence as communal grammarian rst in Pistoia and then in Arezzo, Maestro Niccolò d’Arezzo retained nominal tenancy of the grammar school in Orsanmichele until early in 1415: Maestro Nicholò di Duccio d’Arezo dee dare Fl. venticinque L. III S. VII p.; sono per una sua ragione levata in questo c. 17 per insino a dì 7 di gienaio 1414.337
On 23 February 1415, he nally handed over formal tenancy to his two partners, Maestro Francesco di Ser Feo di Nigi d’Arezzo and
334
ASF Bigallo 731, fol. 18r. ASF Bigallo 731, fol. 28r. 336 ASF Bigallo 731, fol. 94r. Between 1412 and his death in 1416, Maestro Niccolò was teaching rst in Pistoia and then in Arezzo: see above p. 167. Following ASF Bigallo 731, fol. 28r, there is a no longer legible set of accounts until April 1414, apparently regarding this rental. The same tenancy agreement was repeated in ASF Bigallo 725, fol. 17v: Maestro Nicholò di Duccio d’Arezzo de’ dare Fl. XXIIIIo d’oro ogni anno perché chondusse una nostra chasa posta in Orto San Michele dove si tiene schuola di gramaticha e chondussela per due anni chominciati a dì otto di gienaio 1413, niendo a dì 7 di gienaio 1415. 337 ASF Bigallo 725, fol. 22r. 335
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Maestro Matteo di Ser Loro da Radda, who assumed responsibility for paying the remaining rent to the Bigallo: Delibararono i chapitani [del Bigallo] a dì 23 di febraio 1414 che il Maestro Francescho di Feo d’Arezo e Maestro Matteo di Ser Lore da Radda dovessono paghare tucto i’ resto de’ detti denari, che sono Fl. XXXVI d’oro L. una S. VIII p., e sopradetto Maestro Francescho e Maestro Macteo sono chontenti alla detta diliberazione et simile il Maestro Nicholò.338
At the beginning of 1416, Maestro Francesco and Maestro Matteo, now identied formally as business partners, took on the school at Orsanmichele for a further two years at the same annual rent of 24 orins: Maestro Francescho di Ser Feo et Maestro Macteo di Ser Lore da Radda chompagni a tenere ischuola di gramaticha deono dare a dì 5 di febraio Fl. quarantotto d’oro; sono per pigione d’una nostra chasa [. . .] tolsono per ani due chominciati a dì 8 di gienaio 1415 a ragione di Fl. XXIIIIo l’ano.339
}
At the end of March 1418, the two partners running the grammar school at Orsanmichele were still Maestro Francesco and Maestro Matteo: Maestro Francesco di Ser Feo d’Arezzo e Maestro Matteo di Ser Lore da Radda deono avere a dì 26 di marzo lire cinquantadue [. . .] Fl. 12 L. 340
They continued to pay rent until at least 13 July 1418,341 but Maestro Matteo suddenly left the partnership within a week after his last recorded payment to the Bigallo, possibly suggesting that he had died; on 19 July his place was taken by Maestro Santi di Domenico d’Arezzo and Ser Piero di Bernaba da Orvieto, who now joined Maestro Francesco di Ser Feo d’Arezzo in a three-teacher partnership, taking the school premises in Orsanmichele for a further two years at a slightly reduced annual rent of 23 orins:
338
ASF Bigallo 725, fol. 22r. ASF Bigallo 725, fol. 23v. This rental agreement was repeated in ASF Bigallo 725, fol. 44v: Maestro Francescho di Ser Feo et Maestro Mateo di Ser Lore et chonpagni a tenere schuola di gramaticha deono dare per pigione d’una nostra chasa posta in Orto Santo Michele nella quale si tiene schuola di gramaticha, la qual chasa tolsono per ani due inchomincati a dì 8 di gienaio 1415 a ragione di Fl. 24 l’ano. 340 ASF Bigallo 732, fol. 26r. 341 ASF Bigallo 732, fol. 26r, 29v–30r. 339
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Maestro Francesco di Ser Feo d’Arezzo e Maestro Santi di Domenicho d’Arezzo e Ser Piero di Bernaba da Orvieto maestri di gramaticha deon’ dare a dì 16 di luglio 1418 Fl. quarantasei d’oro per pigione d’una nostra chasa posta in Orto Samichele, la quale chondussono per anni due prossimo che verranno chominciando a dì 20 di lulglo anno detto di sopra [1418] e nendo a dì 19 di luglio 1420 a ragione di Fl. ventitre per ongni anno.342
On 24 November 1419, however, Maestro Francesco formally left the partnership, having returned to teach grammar in his native Arezzo; the two remaining partners, Maestro Santi d’Arezzo and Maestro Piero da Orvieto, now assumed responsibility for the second year of the current lease: Maestro Francesco di Ser Feo d’Arezzo e Maestro Santi di Domenicho d’Arezzo e Maestro Piero di Bernaba d’Orvieto maestri di gramaticha deono dare per resto d’una alloghazione a lloro fatta [. . .] Fl. 35. A dì 24 di novembre anno detto rimasono d’achordo e sopradetti maestri della schuola che Maestro Francesco di Ser Feo fosse libero della detta pigione del sechondo anno; questa chonchordia feciono quivi in questo luogho; fecela Iachopo di Maestro Francesco chome procharatore di Maestro Francesco suo padre, e questo feciono perché Maestro Francesco se n’è andato a tenere schuola ad Arezo; rimane a li altri due la chasa libera.
Maestro Francesco still had outstanding rent arrears owed to the Bigallo in 1420, together with his two former partners, Maestro Santi d’Arezzo and Ser Piero da Orvieto: [1420] Maestro Francesco di Ser Feo d’Arezzo e Maestro Santi di Domenicho d’Arezo e Ser Piero di Bernaba da Orvieto maestri di gramaticha deono dare per resto d’un’alloghazione a lloro fatta della nostra chasa posta in Orto Samichele dove si tiene la schuola della gramaticha Fl. undici e lire tre S. sette e D. otto.343
These were paid beginning in December 1420 and throughout the following year;344 after 1421 Maestro Francesco di Ser Feo had no further dealings with the Bigallo. In July 1420 Maestro Santi d’Arezzo and Maestro Piero da Orvieto, disclosing their mutual business partnership, took the school premises for a further year at the annual rent of 23 orins:
chapter five Maestro Santi di Domenicho d’Arezo e Maestro Piero di Bernaba da Orvieto maestri di gramaticha deono dare a dì 12 di lulglo 1420 Fl. ventitre d’oro per pigione d’una nostra chasa posta inn Orto Samichele cho’ suoi chonni, la quale chondussono oggi questo dì a pigione per uno anno che chomincia a dì 20 di lulglo cioè del presente mese per Fl. ventitre l’anno, e promise l’uno pell’altro e ongniuno è ubrighato.345
From July 1421, however, the school passed under the sole management of Maestro Santi di Domenico d’Arezzo, Maestro Piero di Bernaba da Orvieto having left the partnership: Maestro Santi di Domenicho d’Arezzo maestro di gramaticha de’ dare Fl. ventitre d’oro; sono per pigione d’una nostra chasa posta in Orto Samichele sopr’al fondacho che ttiene a pigione da nnoi Mariotto di Francesco di Giovanni di Ser Sengna e chonpagni ritaglatori, la quale questo dì 20 di lulglo anno detto chondusse a pigione per un anno chominciando detto dì e nendo a dì 19 di lulglo 1422 per pregio di Fl. ventitre.346
From 1422 to 1424 Maestro Santi d’Arezzo continued as sole proprietor of the school: Maestro Santi di Domenicho d’Arezzo maestro di gramaticha [. . .] E de’ dare Fl. ventitre D. per pigione d’un anno della detta chasa chominciato a dì 20 di luglio 1423 e niscie a dì 19 di lulglo 1424.347
In January 1424 Maestro Santi gave notice that he no longer wanted to rent the premises after the expiry of his current lease, and on 14 July he handed over the keys to the Bigallo: A dì 15 di giennaio anno detto riutò la detta chasa, ché no’ lla voleva più nito l’anno. E a dì 14 di lulglo anno 1424 ci rendè la chiave.348
The house was then let for two years to the notary, Ser Bartolomeo di Ser Guido Guidi da Pratovecchio: although a notable gure in the Florentine chancery from the later 1450s,349 Ser Bartolomeo da
345
ASF Bigallo 732, fol. 51v. ASF Bigallo 733, fol. 16v, where Maestro Santi is still listed as owing rent from his previous tenancy with Maestro Francesco and Maestro Piero di Bernaba, who had discharged their debts: de’ dare per una ragione al detto libro c. 58 che dicie in Maestro Franciesco di Ser Feo d’Arezzo e in Maestro Santi e in Ser Piero di Bernaba Fl. quatro e S. tredici e D. otto p.; ponghone debitore Maestro Santi perché gli altri due ànno paghato. 347 ASF Bigallo 733, fol. 36v. 348 ASF Bigallo 733, fol. 36v. 349 ASF Bigallo 733, fol. 36v; 735, fol. 30r. See Black (1985), pp. 91, 93–4, 97, 101, 107, 135, 173, 332, 339. 346
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Pratovecchio taught Vergil’s Bucolics to Andrea di Francesco Quaratesi in 1422, indicating that he spent his early days as a grammar teacher;350 he also taught Giovanni di Cambio Petrucci in his school at Orsanmichele in the spring of 1423: Ser Bartolomeo di Ser Ghuido da Pratovechio tiene ischuola in Orzamichele. Ebe da me questo dì 6 di magio [1423] pel salario. Gli do per Giovanni grosi quatordici per me d’Antonio di Tano e chonpagni. Portò Giovanni di Chanbio.351
In 1426, however, the premises passed once more to the proprietorship of Ser Santi, now in partnership with Ser Bartolomeo di Buono de’ Tracorti da Porciano (near Stia in the Casentino). This partnership continued in force until 9 August 1427, when Ser Bartolomeo notied the Bigallo that Ser Santi had died: La sopradetta schuola à condotta questo dì VIIII d’aghosto 1427 nei medesimi modi e tempi Ser Bartolomeo di Buono da’ Trachorti di Casentino, e questo per ragione che’l detto Ser Santi è morto e ‘l detto Ser Bartolomeo era suo conpagno.352
Ser Bartolomeo Tracorti continued to run the school until 1 November 1428, paying the last installment of the rent due two days later: Ser Santi di Domenicho d’Arezzo de’ avere a dì III di novembre 1428 Fl. nove, L. una, S. XI, D. IIIIo piccioli, per noi a Cosimo de’ Medici camerlingho [. . .] e per lui gli paghò Ser Bartolomeo di Buono da’ Tracorti da Casentino, el quale tolse dipoi detta scuola.353
On 1 November 1428 the school passed into the proprietorship of Ser Giovanni di Piero and Ser Battista di Giovanni da Sansepolcro, who took the premises for a year at the much reduced annual rent of 14 orins: Ser Giovanni di Piero e Ser Batista di Giovanni dal Borgho maestri di scuola deono dare Fl. quatordici [. . .] Sono per pigione della nostra casa dove si tiene scuola in Orto Samichele per uno anno che cominciò a dì primo di novembre 1428 per pregio di . 14 l’anno.354
350
Black (2001), p. 257. See Ch. 2 p. 156 above. ASF CS II.10, fol. 81v (24 April 1423). See Appendix 5. 352 ASF Bigallo 735, fol. 176v. Ser Santi was alive in July 1427 when he personally wrote his portata for the 1427 Catasto: ASF Catasto 37, fol. 1189v–1190r. See Appendix 1. 353 ASF Bigallo 735, fol. 177r; see also 736, fol. 332v. 354 ASF Bigallo 736, fol. 190v. 351
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These two teachers gave up the tenancy after a year, the premises passing for two years to the physician and teacher at the Florentine Studio, Maestro Antonio di Messer Giovanni Roselli d’Arezzo.355 The grammar school at Orsanmichele was reestablished from 1 November 1431, when the tenancy of Batista d’Andrea Bisconti da Volterra began, at the further reduced annual rent of 12 orins: Ser Batista d’Andrea da Volterra maestro di schuola a dì 3 di settebre 1431 condusse a pigione una nostra casa posta in su la piaza d’Orto San Michele sopra il fondaco teghono quegli di Ser Sengna atta a uso di schuola per due anni comincianti a dì primo di novenbre 1431 e nendo come seghue per Fl. dodici l’anno.356
However, Ser Battista Bisconti gave up the premises on 2 December 1432, when there was a re in the fondaco and in the school above: a dì 4 di giugno 1433 deliberorono i chapitani [del Bigallo] che ‘l detto Ser Batista paghasse la pigione della detta chasa per insino al dì che arsse il fondacho e lla schola, che fu a dì II di dicenbre 1432, da indi qua fusse libero e soluto della pigione.357
For the next year and a half, the premises in Orsanmichele were vacant, but from 1 May 1434 the school was reopened by two new schoolmasters, Maestro Iacopo di Simone da Pesaro and Maestro Perello di Maestro Perello da Cigoli (near S. Miniato) with a year’s lease at same annual rent of 12 orins: Maestro Iachopo di Simone da Pesero e Maestro Perello ligiano del Maestro Perrello da Cigholi, amendua compagni e maestri di schuola, deono dare insino a dì 29 d’aprile per una chondotta feciono [. . .] d’una nostra chasa atta a schuola posta in Orto Samichele per uno anno cominiciato a dì primo di maggio 1434 e nito a dì ultimo d’aprile 1435 a ragione di Fl. dodici l’anno.358
These two teachers had some connection with the well established grammarian, Ser Sozzo di Giovanni da Volterra, who was employed as Florence’s public grammar teacher in the academic year 1434–35 (see above p. 389) and who swore surety for them to the Bigallo, besides
355 356 357 358
ASF ASF ASF ASF
Bigallo Bigallo Bigallo Bigallo
736, 736, 737, 738,
fol. fol. fol. fol.
192v; see Park (1980), pp. 279, 285, 287–89. 208v. 122v. 113v; see also 739, fol. 80v and 740, fol. 52v.
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making rent payments on their behalf.359 From June 1436, the tenancy of the school passed again to Ser Battista Bisconti da Volterra, who occupied the premises for two years at an annual rent of 12 orins: Ser Batista d’Andrea da Volterra maestro di gramaticha de’ dare per pigione d’una chasa atta a schuola posta inn Orto Sammichele sopra al fondacho nostro, il quale à ttenuto di mese in mese uno anno, nirà a dì 8 di giugno 1437 [. . .] Richondusse detta chasa et schuola per uno anno prossimo che incominicia a dì 8 di giugno 1437 per Fl. 12 l’anno.360
From 1 November 1438 the school passed into the hands of Maestro Sinibaldo, the son of Maestro Sozzo Gualfredi da Volterra, who took the house for two years for himself and his father at an annual rent of 16 orins: Maestro Sinibaldo del Maestro Sozo da Volterra maestro di schuola de’ dare per pigione d’una nostra chasa atta a schuola posta in Orto San Michele sopra il fondacho nostro di Calimala per pregio di Fl. sedici d’oro l’anno [. . .] comincia la pigione dì primo di novembre prossimo, e tolsela per se e per Maestro Sozo suo padre per anni due.361
They were possibly assisted by a priest, Gregorio da Spoleto, who ‘tenet scolas in Orto Sancti Michaelis’362 when he was appointed to teach grammar publicly in Florence in 1439. The premises passed out of school use from the end of 1440 until 1 November 1444,363 when they were taken by Ser Pelegrino di Giovanni da Rimini for two years at an annual rent of 60 lire: Una chasa atta a schuola posta inn Ortto Santto Michele posta sopra el nostro fondacho di chalimala chon suo’ vochabuli e chonni [. . .] tiella a pigione Ser Peleghrino di Giovanni da Rimino per L. sesantta p. l’anno chominciando el tenppo a dì primo di novenbre 1444 e per due anni.364
On 1 November 1446 the school passed from Ser Pellegrino da Rimini to Maestro Niccolò di Giovanni da Catalonia and Maestro Iacopo di Simone da Terni, who paid the same annual rent of 60
359 360 361 362 363 364
ASF Bigallo 738, fol. 113v, 114r; 739, fol. 80v, 81r. ASF Bigallo 739, fol. 143v; see also 740, fol. 66v. ASF Bigallo 740, fol. 80v. Gherardi (1881), p. 445. See ASF Bigallo 740, fol. 80v; 744, fol. 7v, 8v, 10v, 21v. ASF Bigallo 745, fol. 18v; see also 744, fol. 26v and 746, fol. 14v.
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lire, of which 8 lire was paid by a spinner who shared a staircase with the school: Una chasa atta a squola posta in Orzamichele sopra il nostro fondacho di Chalimala con suo’ conni; tenevala a pigione [. . .] Ser Piligrino di Giovanni da Rimino per tutto ottobre 1446, e di nuovo s’è aloghata a Maestro Niccholò di Giovanni di Catalongnia e} Maestro Iacopo di Simone da Ternny } per uno anno cominciando a dì primo di novenbre 1446 a lire 60 p. l’anno, con questo che lire 8 p. si trae l’anno da Bartolomeo d’Andrea Larciano latoiaio d’una entrata di scala ad operare di detta squola sì atorno.365
These two teachers remained for two years, and then from 1 November 1448 the school was let to a prominent abacus teacher, Maestro Benedetto d’Antonio (see above p. 381), who used it as his abacus school for the next three years.366 On 1 November 1451 the premises once more became a grammar school under the proprietorship of Maestro Luca Bernardi da S. Gimignano, who paid an annual rent of 52 lire: Una chasa atta a uso di schuola posta inn Orto San Michele cho’ suoi chonni; tiella a pigione Ser Lucha d’Antonio da San Gimignano maestro di schuola di gramaticha per lire cinquantadua di p. l’anno per tre anni che chominciano a dì primo di novenbre 1451, la quale chasa teneva per l’adrieto Maestro Benedetto d’Antonio di Cristofano maestro d’abacho.367
From 1 November 1454, the premises passed to Maestro Simone di Francesco da Comano, whose grammar school was housed there for the next three years at the same annual rent of 52 lire: Una chasa atta a squola posta inn Orzamichele [. . .] tiella a pigione Maestro Simone di Francesco maestro di gramaticha per L. cinquantadue l’anno [. . .] Ricondussela per anni tre cominciati a dì primo di novenbre 1454.368
The records of the Bigallo are silent about the teacher succeeding Maestro Simone da Comano, who ceased to work, at least as Florence’s public grammarian, in 1457 (see above p. 392). However, there is a ref-
365 ASF Bigallo 746, fol. 19v; see also fol. 14v and 747, fol. 21v: perché à l’entrata per la nostra schala. 366 Ulivi (2002a), pp. 41–42, 181–85. 367 ASF Bigallo 749, fol. 31v; see also fol. 21v. 368 ASF Bigallo 750, fol. 26v; see also 751, fol. 24v.
teachers, schools and pupils in florence
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erence in a Bigallo account book covering 1465 to 1468 to an old debt for 6 lire 17 soldi369 owed by Maestro Filippo di Matteo da Bologna; this was Maestro Filippo di Matteo da Casalumanese, appointed to succeed Maestro Simone da Comano as public grammarian at Florence in 1457 (see above p. 392). In 1460 Maestro Filippo was appointed to teach grammar in Prato, with two years still of his Florentine contract to run.370 He therefore assigned his school together with his equipment and furniture to his successor as Florence’s public grammarian, Ser Santi di Lorenzo da Dicomano. The crucial proviso in the deed of transfer was that the Bigallo would agree to transfer the rental of Maestro Filippo’s school premises to Ser Santi and his teaching partner, Ser Matteo di Francesco da Rocca S. Casciano: [15 November 1460] Actum Florentie [. . .] Cum hoc sit quod spectabilis vir Magister Philippus lius quondam Matthei de Casali Fluminensi de Bononia ad presens magister scolarum in civitate Florentie, electus in dictum magistrum scolarum per habentes auctoritatem pro annis quinque [. . .] et quod de dictis quinque annis adhuc restant anni duo; et cum ipse Magister Philippus asserens se [. . .] non posse amplius stare in dicta electione pro dictis duobus annis inceptis die XVIIIo mensis octobris proxime preteriti 1460. Unde hodie [. . .] dictus Magister Philippus [. . .] posuit substituit et subrogavit cum infrascriptis pactis modis et conditionibus in locum suum infrascriptos Ser Sanctem et Ser Matteum et renumptiavit [. . .] dictam electionem et substituit videlicet Ser Sanctem olim Laurentii de Decomano et Ser Matteum Francisci de Roccha Sancti Cassiani comitatus Florentie [. . .] Cum pacto quod dictus Magister Philippus teneatur et debeat facere et curare [. . .] quod Bernardus exactor societatis Sante Marie Bigalli civitatis Florentie locavit eisdem Ser Sancti et Ser Matteo domum in qua ad presens habitat dictus magister et in qua retinet ad presens scolas etc. per annos duos inceptos die prima presentis mensis novembris [. . .] alias non volunt teneri eidem magistro in aliquo etc. Hoc tamen addito quod si non haberent dictam domum ut supra describitur etc. teneantur ad emendationem suprascriptarum masseritiarum etc.371
The fact that the tenancy from the Bigallo was to begin on 1 November 1460 makes it certain that the premises were the same as the school let by the Bigallo in Orsanmichele, where the rental had run from 1 November for many years past (see above pp. 407 ff ). Therefore the tenants who succeeded Maestro Filippo da Casalumanese in
369 370 371
ASF Bigallo 752, fol. 106v. ASF NA 14712, fol. 69r–70r, 71v–72r. ASF NA 14712, fol. 70r–71r.
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1460 were Ser Santi da Dicomano and Ser Matteo da Rocca S. Casciano. Ser Santi da Dicomano was still the occupant of the Bigallo’s school premises at Orsanmichele in 1463–64, when the annual rent was still 52 lire, now expressed as 13 orins: Çenobius Iohannis Leonardi Iacobi civis orentinus necnon provisor misercordie predicte [. . .] locavit ad pensionem [. . .] Ser Sanchi Laurentii de Decomano magistro scolarum conducente pro se et suis heredibus unam domum aptam et usitatam ad faciendas scolas pro docendo gramaticam scolaribus cum cameris et salis et aliis super se positam Florentie et in Orto Sancti Michaelis cum suis connis etc. pro tempore et termino unius anni proxime futuri initiati die po mensis novembris [. . .] 1463 ad rationem orenorum tredecim de sigillo pro dicto anno et ad rationem anni solvendo de sex mensibus in sex menses.372
Ser Santi da Dicomano renewed his lease for two more years from 1464 to 1466: Bernardus Valoris provisor et sindacus [. . .] locavit ad pensionem Ser Sancti Laurentii de Decomano magistro scolarum conducenti per se et suos heredes unam domum actam et usitatam ad faciendas scolas pro docendo scholaribus cum cameris et aliis positam Florentie et in Orto Santi Micaelis cum suis connibus etc. pro tempore duorum annorum futurorum initiandorum die po mensis novembris futuro 1464 ad rationem orenorum tredecim sigilli nettorum pro quolibet anno et ad rationem anni solvendorum de sex mensibus in sex menses.373 Una chasa atta a schuola inn Orzamichele sopra il nostro fondacho di chalimala orentina cho’ sua chonni apigionata [. . .] Ser Santi di Lorenzo da Dechomano maestro di schuola per Fl. XIII d’oro l’ano.374
Ser Santi’s tenancy under these terms continued until October 1468,375 when he renewed his lease for another ve years, with the added annual obligation to the Bigallo of two pounds of wax: Una chasa a uso di squola sopra al nostro fondacho dirinpetto a Orzanmichele popolo di San Biagio chon sua vochaboli e chonni apigionata a Ser Santi di Lorenzo maestro di fanciugli allo chanto per anni cinque, chomincati a dì primo di novenbre 1468 et nirà chome seghue per Fl. XIII e libre II di cera l’anno.376
372 373 374 375 376
ASF ASF ASF ASF ASF
Bigallo Bigallo Bigallo Bigallo Bigallo
8, lza II, fol. 23r (15 November 1463). 8, lza II, fol. 31v (25 October 1464). 752, fol. 21 sinistra. 752, fol. 21r. 753, fol. 10v.
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Ser Santi da Dicomano renewed his tenancy for another ve years in 1473, now for 11 3/4 orini larghi and 2 1/2 pounds of cera lavorata: Rapigionata per lo ‘ncanto de dì 14 di maggio 1473 a Ser Santi di Lorenzo maestro di squola per anni 5 che debbono inchominciare a dì primo di novenbre 1473 e nire chome seguirano per Fl. 11 3/4 larghi e lib. 2 1/2 di cera lavorata.377
After 1476, the Bigallo premises were at Orsanmichele were never again used for a grammar school,378 although Santi da Dicomano’s school was still located at Orsanmichele at least until 1480.379
377
ASF Bigallo 753, fol. 10v; see also 754, fol. 11v. ASF Bigallo 754, fol. 11v, 13v; 755, fol. 7r. In 1504–1505, a priest, Ser Simone, used the premises to teach reading, writing and abacus: Ulivi (2006a), p. 75. 379 (Catasto 1480, Portata di Bartolomeo di Giovanni di Federigo Peruzzi) Bartolomeo sopradetto d’età d’anni 50 [. . .] Stiamo in villa e quando io vengo a Firenze torno in Or San Michele con Ser Santi che tiene schuola di gramaticha e qui sarò trovato. (ASF Catasto 1023, fol. 183v) (25 October 1480) Exponitur reverenter [. . .] pro parte Ser Santis Laurentii Bartoli magistri grammaticae in urbe Florentie quod ipse longo tempore docuit grammaticam in hac urbe, et nunc etiam docet in Orto Sancti Michaelis, et cuperet, cum hic consenuerit, in solatium senectutis suae censeri in civitatis censu et describi in onere civium modo infrascripto; et sperans hoc impetrare a consiliis, sicut multi hactenus impetraverunt. Ideo ad excelsam dominationem vestram humiliter recurrere statuit [. . .] petere et petit, quod, etiam sine aliqua de vel probatione de superius narratis vel aliquo ipsorum facienda, seu etiam aliter requisita vel alia solemnitate servanda, presentes ofcialies novi oneris possint ac etiam teneantur et debeant intra unum mensem post nalem conclusionem presentis provisionis describere dictum Ser Santem in onere civitatis et ei imponere illam quantitatem sexti et decime et displicentis, quam convenire iudicabunt et seu existimabunt; et per eorum notarium facere describi talem postam in registris prestantiarum in vexillo in quo et pro quo scriptum suae substantie dederit eis, et pro quo censeri petierit; et secundum talem postam et quantitatem sexti et decimae sibi impositam, postquam imposita fuerit, teneatur et debeat dictus Ser Santes solvere omnia et singula onera sexti et decime post dictam descriptionem decursura[m] secundum impositiones factas et faciendas. In onere vero quod incameraturi sunt secundum legem auctoritatis eorum, teneantur dicti ofciales tractare dictum Ser Santem secundum regulam et ad similitudinem civium orentinorum in eorum auctoritate comprehensorum, et eorum auctoritati et impositioni subiectorum; et inter alios et simul cum aliis civibus orentinis censeant et describi faciant et incamerent dictum Ser Sanctem omni exceptione remota, et in posterum nullo unquam tempore describi aut censeri possit vel debeat in alio onere quam civitatis, et quicquid aliter eret non valeat et sit ipso iure nullum. In compensationem vero dicti benecii civilitatis, teneatur dictus Ser Santes ultra omne aliud onus ordinarium, etiam solvere viginti annis quolibet anno libras vicenas monti comunis Florentie, faciendo solutionem de sex mensibius in sex menses pro rata, et incipiant primi sex menses kalendis novenbris proxime futuri, et ad sic solvendum dicto monti taxatus intelligatur auctoritate presentis, et cogi possit omnibus remediis oportunis, quando debito tempore non solveret, et insuper incurrat penam quarti pluris pro toto eo quod debitis temporibus non solveret. Passed in the Council of the People by 152 votes to 37, in the Council of the Commune by 120 votes to 25 and in the Council of the Cento by 94 to 17. (ASF Provvisioni Registri 171, fol. 86r–87v) 378
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The teachers at Orsanmichele frequently coincided with public grammarians in Florence: Orsanmichele
Public grammar teachers
Maestro Niccolò di Ser Duccio d’Arezzo Maestro Francesco di Ser Feo di Nigi d’Arezzo Maestro Matteo di Ser Loro da Radda Maestro Santi di Domenico d’Arezzo Ser Piero di Bernaba da Orvieto Ser Bartolomeo di Ser Guido Guidi da Pratovecchio Ser Bartolomeo di Buono de’ Tracorti da Porciano Ser Giovanni di Piero Ser Battista di Giovanni da Sansepolcro Ser Battista d’Andrea Bisconti da Volterra
1407–1415
Maestro Iacopo di Simone da Pesaro Maestro Perello di Maestro Perello da Cigoli Maestro Sinibaldo di Maestro Sozzo Gualfredi da Volterra Maestro Sozzo Gualfredi da Volterra Ser Pellegrino di Giovanni da Rimini Maestro Niccolò di Giovanni da Catalonia
1434–1435
1415–1419
1415–1418 1418–1424, 1426–1427 1418–1421
Maestro Niccolò di Ser Duccio d’Arezzo Maestro Francesco di Ser Feo di Nigi d’Arezzo
1401–1402
Maestro Matteo di Ser Loro da Radda Maestro Santi di Domenico d’Arezzo
1415–1416
1401–1402, 1415–1417
1424–1426
1424–1426
1426–1428
1428–1429 1428–1429
1431–1432, 1436–1438
Ser Battista d’Andrea Bisconti da Volterra
1430–1437
Maestro Sozzo Gualfredi da Volterra
1434–1435, 1442–1444
1434–1435
1438–1440
1438–1440
1444–1446 1446–1448
teachers, schools and pupils in florence Orsanmichele Maestro Iacopo di Simone da Terni Maestro Luca Bernardi da San Gimignano Maestro Simone di Francesco da Comano Maestro Filippo di Matteo da Casalumanese Ser Santi di Lorenzo da Dicomano Ser Matteo da Rocca S. Casciano
415
Public grammar teachers 1446–1448 1451–1454
1454–1457
1457–1460
1460–1476 1460–1462?
Maestro Luca Bernardi da San Gimignano Maestro Simone di Francesco da Comano Maestro Filippo di Matteo da Casalumanese Ser Santi di Lorenzo da Dicomano Ser Matteo da Rocca S. Casciano
1451–1452
1452–1457
1457–1460
1460–1491
1464–1480
During the years from 1407 to 1476, when the premises rented from the Bigallo were in use as a grammar school, there were also a few grammar teachers in Florence with evidently ephemeral schools, unconnected to the school at Orsanmichele: Ser Santi di Domenico d’Arezzo, who ran a private grammar school in Florence, teaching boys from the Florentine Morelli, Ferantini and Caccini family from 1413 to 1415,380 when he left Florence to serve for two years as public grammarian in Volterra;381 Maestro Antonio di Andreuccio da Castelnuovo della Lunigiana, who taught grammar publicly in Florence from 1420 to 1425; Maestro Niccolò di Guido da Castelfranco di Sopra, who was the Florentine public grammarian from 1423 to 1424; Maestro Taddeo di Ser Niccolò da Pescia, who was the civic grammar teacher in Florence from 1444 to 1448, 1450 to 1451 and 1452 to 1457; Ser Comando di Simone Comandi da Pieve S. Stefano, who shared a school with Maestro Taddeo da Pescia up to September 1456,382 and who continued
380
Black (2001), pp. 332–35. See above pp. 130 ff. Battistini (1919), p. 15. 382 ASF NA 10181, fol. 66v–67r: (7 September 1456) Actum Florentie in populo Sancti Stephani abbatie orentine [. . .] Antonius lius Magistri Taddei Ser Niccholai de Piscia procurator [. . .] dicti Magistri Taddei eius patris ut de eius mandato sufcienti ad infrascripta constare vidi ego Simon [Graçini Iacobi de Stagia] notarius infrascriptus publico instrumento rogato per Ser Bartolomeum Benedicti Francisci de Rassellinis de Pistorio notarium publicum sub die trigesimo primo mensis decembris [1454] [. . .] ex una et Ser Comandus Simonis notarius orentinus et ad presens magister scholarum 381
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as a public teacher in Florence until 1473; Ser Matteo dalla Rocca, who in 1469 had school premises at the Canto di Via Maggio beside the Loggia de’ Frescobaldi just beyond the Ponte S. Trinita, rented for 8 orins a year from Stoldo Frescobaldi.383 But it is clear that, for much of the fteenth century, the grammar school at Orsanmichele constituted the core of secondary Latin teaching in Florence. During the fteenth century, there were almost no grammar teachers with their own schools in Florence who did not either teach at Orsanmichele or who did not hold a public teaching appointment: Orsanmichele and the civic teachers appointed by the Ufciali dello Studio accounted for the bulk of Florentine grammar teaching in the fteenth century.384 At most, there seem to have been two concurrent grammar schools in the city, and, for most years, when Orsanmichele and public teaching coincided, there was only one Florentine grammar school.385
grammatice conductus a comuni Florentie ex alia, omni modo etc. fecerunt sibi invicem [. . .] nem [. . .] et pactum perpetuum de ulterius aliquid non petendo unum ab altero de omni et toto eo etc. Et hoc ideo quia fuerunt confessi etc. videlicet dictus Antonius dicto nomine fuit confessus et contentus se habuisse et recepisse a dicto Ser Comando omnes et singulas masseritias libros et panno[s] quos et quas dictus Magister Taddeus habebat in domo Angeli Berti de Castellanis conducta per dictum Ser Comandum a dicto Angelo; et omnes et quascunque alias res quas in dicta domo habebat apud dictum Ser Comandum. Et e converso dictus Ser Comandus fuit confessus et contentus se habuisse et recepisse a dicto Magistro Taddeo omne id totum et quicquid sibi Ser Comando debebatur a dicto Magistro Taddeo occasione pensionis dicte domus ut supra conducte et occasione ulterius cuiuscunque cause etc. Quam quidem nem et omnia et singula suprascripta promiserunt dicte partes sibi invicem et vicissim solemni stipulatione hinc inde interveniente actendere et observare [. . .] 383 ASF Catasto 916 parte 2, fol. 251. Matteo dalla Rocca rented a house at Por’ S. Piero in 1462, when his joint tenancy of the school from the Bigallo in Orsanmichele was coming to an end, but it is uncertain if these premises were being used as a school: (30 July 1462) ‘Appollonius quondam Leonardi Silvestry Lapi civis orentinus [. . .] locavit [. . .] Ser Matteo quondam Francisci de Rocha Sancti Cassiani de partibus Romandiole preceptori licterarum gramaticalium et artis oratorie [. . .] unam domum cum suis heditiis dicti Appollonii sitam in via Porte Sancti Petri civitatis Florentie super angulum Vici Bertucciarum [. . .]’ for an annual rent of 9 orins, the tenancy having begun on 9 July 1462 (ASF NA 3536, fol. 15v). 384 In April 1450, when public grammar appointments had lapsed, the lack of grammar teachers in the city was noted: cum deciant in civitate tales magistri [sc. gramatice], presertim quia nullus conductus est nec conduci potest (Gherardi [1881], p. 259). 385 The teaching of young Florentine aristocrats undertaken by luminaries such as Sozomeno (see Palmieri [1982], p. 37; Vespasiano [1970–76], I, pp. 559–61; Zaccagnini [1900b], pp. 220–22; Zaccagnini [1913], pp. 166– 67), Bernardo Nuti (Verde [1973–95], III, pp. 146, 280), or Giorgio Antonio Vespucci (Verde [1973–1995], III,
teachers, schools and pupils in florence
417
Grammar teaching in Florence was run as a business. When Filippo da Casalumanese left Florence in 1460 to teach in Prato, he transferred the goodwill of his school to his successors, despite the fact that he had been publicly appointed, as was his replacement, Ser Santi da Dicomano. If Santi or his partner Matteo da Rocca S. Casciano retained the public appointment, then they were to pay Filippo 20 orins; if not (an eventuality that did not, in fact, occur), they were to pay 4 orins for the goodwill: [15 November 1460] Actum Florentie [. . .] Cum hoc sit quod spectabilis vir Magister Philippus lius quondam Matthei de Casali Fluminensi de Bononia ad presens magister scolarum in civitate Florentie, electus in dictum magistrum scolarum per habentes auctoritatem pro annis quinque [. . .] et quod de dictis quinque annis adhuc restant anni duo; et cum ipse Magister Philippus asserens se [. . .] non posse amplius stare in dicta electione pro dictis duobus annis inceptis die XVIIIo mensis octobris proxime preteriti 1460. Unde hodie [. . .] dictus Magister Philippus [. . .] posuit substituit et subrogavit cum infrascriptis pactis modis et conditionibus in locum suum infrascriptos Ser Sanctem et Ser Matteum et renumptiavit [. . .] dictam electionem et substituit videlicet Ser Sanctem olim Laurentii de Decomano et Ser Matteum Francisci de Roccha Sancti Cassiani comitatus Florentie [. . .] Cum pacto [. . .] apposito [. . .] quod in casu quo ipsi Ser Santes et Ser Matteus et quilibet alter eorum [. . .] haberent salarium a comuni Florentie sicuti in preterito habuit ipse magister, ex tunc voluerint et promixerunt ipsi Ser Santes et Ser Matteus et quilibet eorum [. . .] dare et solvere eidem magistro [. . .] Fl. auri viginti de sigillo [. . .] Et in casu quo non succederent dicto Magistro Philippo et non haberent dictum salarium Fl. L pro quolibet annorum dictorum duorum annorum sicuti habuit ipse Magister Philippus, tunc et eo casu promixerunt se ipsos et quemlibet eorum [. . .] esse debitores dicti magistri in quantitate Fl. auri IIIIor largorum [. . .] Quod intelligatur non obstantibus suprascriptis dictum Magistrum Philippum debere recipere et habere mercedem et salarium unius mensis cum dimidio de dicto salario unius anni per eosdem Ser Santem et Ser Matteum et quemlibet vel alterum eorum [. . .] recipiendum et exigendum [. . .] dumtaxat si exigerentur et non aliter vel alio modo
pp. 58–59, 240, 427, 480, 569, 813, 852) seems to have been normally at a postschool, post-grammatical level, and therefore falls outside the scope of this book. A typical recipient of this type of instruction was the future renowned explorer, Amerigo Vespucci, who refers to lessons with his uncle, Giorgio Antonio, in 1476, at the age of 21 (Verde [1973–1995], III, p. 58); Fonzio (b. 1446) attended Nuti’s ‘school’ aged 18 to 22 (Verde [1973–1995], III, p. 146); Ricciardo Becchi and Giovan Vettorio Soderini were described as discipuli by Giorgio Antonio Vespucci in 1477 when they were, respectively, 19 and 17 (Verde [1973–95], III, p. 852).
418
chapter five videlicet orenos auri sex [. . .] cum habeant primam pagam vulgariter nuncupatam prima terçeria etc. [. . .]386
Santi and Matteo not only assumed the goodwill of Filippo’s school, but also all his teaching equipment, for which they promised to pay him 70 lire: Item [. . .] suprascripti Ser Santes Laurentii de Decomano et Ser Matteus Francisci de Roccha Sancti Cassiani et quilibet eorum [. . .] volentes agnoscere bonam dem [. . .] ex causa renditionis infrascriptarum masseritiarum eisdem [. . .] renditarum per dictum et suprascriptum Magistrum Philippum etc. fuerunt confessi et contenti et recognoverunt eidem Magistro Philippo [. . .] esse veri debitores dicti magistri in summa et quantitate librarum septuaginta spicciolarum propter panchas et unam chattedram et unam lettieram et unam capsapancham cum duobus seramentis et unum lettucinum una cum capsollinis que omnes masseritie ascendunt ad dictam summam librarum septuaginta [. . .]387
If Maestro Filippo returned to Florence within two years of the transfer of the business, then Ser Santi and Ser Matteo agreed to return the teaching equipment, as well as to restore the business premises: Cum hoc sit quod de anno [. . .] millesimo CCCCo sexagesimo mense novembris dicti anni [. . .] inter Magistrum Phylippum olim Mactei de Casali Fluminensi de Bononia ex parte una et Ser Sanctem olim Laurentii de Decomano ex parte alia fuerit facta quedam conventus et pactus [. . .] quod in casu quo dictus Magister Phylippus infra duos annos vellet redire ad habitandum in civitate Florentie quod tunc et eo casu quod [sic] ipse Ser Santes una cum Ser Macteo Francisci de Rocha Sancti Cassiani tenerentur et obligati essent redidere et restituire eidem Magistro Phylippo quasdam masseritias et bona acta ad retinendum scolas pro docendo pueros et dimictere eidem domum in qua ad presens ipse Ser Santes et Ser Mactus retinent dictas scolas [. . .]388
386
ASF NA 14712, fol. 70r–v. ASF NA 14712, fol. 71r. 388 ASF NA 14712, fol. 159r. Two years later, on 21 November 1462, Maestro Filippo, not having returned to Florence, duly renounced any claim on Ser Santi: (ASF NA 14712, fol. 159r–v, 21 November 1462) (In the margin: Promissio Magistri Philippi Mactei de Casali et nis inter eum et Ser Sanctem de Decomano) Actum Florentie in populo Sancti Simonis [. . .] Unde hodie hac presenti suprascripta die prefatus Magister Phylippus per se et suos heredes et successores [. . .] renuntiavit de eius terminatione dictorum duorum annorum et dictum Ser Sanctem posuit in locum suum, adeo quod deinceps ipse Ser Santes libere uti posse et frui possit et ei liceat dictis bonis et rebus et ad eum pertineant et spectent, et promixit idem Magister Philippus ullo unquam tempore non molestare dictum Ser Sanctem et ab eo non petere dictas masseritias et bona [. . .] et ex nunc ambo dicte partes videlicet dictus Magister Phylippus ex parte 387
teachers, schools and pupils in florence
419
Only one of the two partners, Ser Santi, was appointed to succeed Maestro Filippo at the end of November 1460, when he alone began to receive payments from the Florentine authorities.389 Nevertheless, both partners agreed to share all earnings, whether from pupils or from the Florentine commune; theirs was much more a business venture than the public service of detached bureaucrats: Item [. . .] suprascripti Ser Sanctes et Ser Matteus et quilibet eorum etc. constituti personaliter [. . .] promixerunt et [. . .] convenerunt etc. stare simul in dicta electione de qua supra etc. et simul docere scolaribus euntibus ad eorum scolas etc. et in dicta domo quamvis electio de eis enda diceret vel in nomen ipsius Ser Santis et [. . .] in nomen ipsius Ser Mattei etc. Et simul videlicet unus quisque pro dimidia recipere salarium tam a scolaribus quam a comune Florentie etc. solventibus producentibus etc. et simul comunicare omnia eorum lucra que faciunt per dictam eorum societatem etc. [. . .] hoc tamen addito inter eos etc. quod in casu quo aliquis dictorum Ser Santis et Ser Mattei vellent et eis necesse esset se separare ab altro, non possint et non debeant nisi habeant licentiam manu illius qui supersteterit in dictas scolas [. . .]390
Business associations could result in legal disputes among partners, as occurred between the two Aretines who ran the Bigallo school in Orsanmichele in 1418–19. An action was brought by Maestro Francesco di Ser Feo against his former partner Ser Santi di Domenico in 1420 or early 1421, possibly with regard to the payment of rent for the teaching premises, for which Maestro Francesco was still liable in 1420 (see above p. 405), although he had left Florence to teach in Arezzo in early 1419.391 Judgement was given in favour of Maestro Francesco, and Ser Santi accordingly led an appeal: [1421] die vigesimo secundo mensis iunii actum in palatio residentie domini capitanei civitatis Florentie post vesperos presentibus Ser Niccholao Pieri Blaxii et Ser Filippo Niccholai Arrighi notariis orentinis testibus etc. Ser Santes Dominici magister gramatice habitator Florentie [. . .] appelavit [. . .] a quadam sententia contra eum lata per iudicem collateralem Q. S. Spiritus et S. Crucis presentis domini potestatis civitatis Florentie et
una et dictus Ser Santes ex parte alia sibi invicem et vicissim fecerunt nem generalem de omne et quacumque re que usque in presentem diem inter se gessissent etc. [. . .] 389 Santi da Dicomano began to be paid by the Ufciali dello Studio through the Monte on 20 November 1460: Davies (1998), p. 196. 390 ASF NA 14712, fol. 71v. 391 Black (1996a), pp. 415 ff.
420
chapter five in favorem Magistri Francisci Ser Fei de Aretio seu eius procuratoris et appelans petit etc. rogans etc.392
The original verdict was upheld on 31 January 1422.393 Grammar teachers in Florence also had business debts from their customers. Taddeo da Pescia had been operating his grammar school privately in Florence, evidently between public appointments up to 1448 and beginning again in 1450 (see above pp. 390–91). Most of the parents paid his fees, but not Filippo di Nofri di Gimignano, whose son Gimignano had been learning Latin prose composition with Taddeo at a charge of 4 grossi a month; he now owed Maestro Taddeo for three and a half months’ instruction. After repeated attempts to recover payment, Taddeo brought an action before the court of the Mercanzia in December 1450: Dinanzi a voie miser. ufciale et vostra corte spone et dice con reverentia Maiestro Tadeo donico [sic] da Pescia maiestro di gramatica, che Filippo di Nofri de Gimigneano fu et è suo vero et legittimo debitori in lire tre et soldo seie per resto di salario de mese tre ad ragione de grossi quattro el mese, che così se convennono et così se davano per li altri, perché decto Maestro Tadeo non era conducto dal comune de Fiorenza per insegneare a Gimigniano suo gluolo, el quale faciva latini, et così decti altri pagavano a decta ragione, che di sua volenctà andava a la scola de decto Maiestro Tadeo, et lui domandava come le predecte cose apparo al libro de li scolari de decto Maiestro Tadeo, al quale se referisce et quello produce usa et allega et depone apresso a Ser Iohanne Migliorelli. Et più volte rechiesto sempre à cessato pagare contro al dovere, et pertanto decto Maiestro Tadeo domanda che per voie miser. ufciale et vostra corte per vostra sententia se condapni decto Filippo a darli et pagarli la decta quantità [. . .] et le spese facte et che farà, le quale domanda et ragione et iustitia. Ad petitione de decto Maiestro Tadeo, Gratia messo de decta corte, raportò avere rechiesto im persona decto Filippo per questo dì et ora a vedere la decta petitione et domanda [. . .]394
Maestro Matteo da Rocca S. Casciano, who taught for a time in the Bigallo school at Orsanmichele (see above pp. 411–12) and who also was a publicly salaried grammarian in Florence during the 1460s and 70s (see above pp. 393–94), brought an action against two parents in the court of the Mercanzia on 2 September 1471. One was a mother, Monna Zanobia, widow of Tommaso Panichi, by whom he was owed 4 lire for teaching her son Francesco; the other was Francesco Binozzo, 392 393 394
ASF NA 11696, fol. 96v. Black (1996a), p. 425. ASF Mercanzia 1378, fol. 221r.
teachers, schools and pupils in florence
421
who was his debtor for 6 lire for lessons given to his brothers Niccolò and Cristofano, payment having been requested from the latter relative numerous times without result: Dinanzi a voi Messer ufciali [. . .] expone et dice reverentamente Maestro Matheo di Francesco maestro di gramaticha che Monna Zanobia vedova et donna fu di Tomaxo Panichi prima nozza fu et è sua [sic] debitore di L. quattro per insegnat. che à facto ad Francesco suo glio come tuto appare ad libro d’esso Maestro Mattheo 20; et più che Francesco Binozzo di [spazio] fu et è suo vero et legitimo debitore di L. sei p. per insegnat. che à facto più tempo ad Niccolò et di Cristofano suoi fratelli come anchora appare al detto libro 22 et più volte richiesto paghi à sopra cessato pagare al dovere et pertanto dicto Maestro Mattheo domandò la sententia di dicta quantità contra ciascuno [. . .]395
Maestro Matteo dalla Rocca also took in boarding pupils, one of whom, a native of Rimini, ran up a large debt by 4 September 1471: Dinanzi a voi messer ufciali et corte expone et dice Maestro Matheo di Francesco dalla Roccha che Salvonetto di Lionardo da Arimino fu et è suo vero et legitimo debitore di orini venti larghi et L. 32 S. 7 p. per vitto et spese [di] insegnature che esso maestro à facte et richesto paghi [. . .] et pertanto dicto Maestro Matheo domanda la summa [di] dicta quantità [. . .]396
These pupils were not specically named as learning Latin ( grammatica) with Maestro Matteo, but Simone di Sandro di Lino was cited in the Mercanzia on 24 April 1472 for debts incurred from Matteo, who had been his son’s grammar master: Ad petitione [de] dicto Maestro Matteo di Francesco dalla Rocha maestro de gramaticha Tirimfallo messo de dicta corte rapportò havere richesto dicto Simone de Sandro de Lino cavalaro et chiese per questo dì et hora [. . .] audir sententia et [. . .] rapportò havere fatto in questo corte a dì 20 d’aprile 1472. Al nome di dio amen. Noi Anselmo de Dilalevi da Mantua giudice [. . .] insino a dì 17 decembre 1471 [. . .] domando che dicto Simone gli fusse per sententia condempnato a dare et pagare L. 5 S. 5 p. per insignatura a uno suo glio gramaticha come disse apparere al libro S a 27 [. . .] Pronuntiamo sententiamo et dechiaramo [. . .] per questa nostra presente sententia condempnare dicto Simone a dare et pagare al dicto Matheo la suprascripta quantità de L. 5 pli. per sorte et più L. 1 S. 4 per le spexe le quale a Simone tassiamo.397
Similarly Iacopo di Tommaso degli Agli and Domenico di Nardo di Manardo vocato Marzalino were cited on 10 June 1472 as defaulting debtors for grammar lessons from Maestro Matteo: Dinanzi a voi messer ufciali di corte Ser Mattheo di Francesco dalla Rocha notaio et maestro di schola in Fiorenze [dice] che gli infrascritti di sotto furono et sono suoi veri et legitimi debitori delle infrascitte quantità per le ragioni e cagioni infrascritte cioè: Iacopo di Thomaso degli Agli di L. cinque p. per insignare gramaticha et altro ad Thomaso suo glio come appare a libro di dritti quaderno segnato a 30. Domenico di Nardo de Manardo vocato Marzalino di L. 3 p. per insegnare gramaticha a dicto libro segnato a 33. Al quale libro detto actore si riferisce et diponelo adpresso ad Ser Piero di Ser Barnaba notaio in dicta corte et che più volte richesti paghino, ànno sempre cessato et pertanto domanda che per nostra sententia si condampnino et domanda le spese et ragione et giustitia. Et produsse il dritto pagato a libro de’ dritti 110 et tucti statuti et ordini. El quale ufciale commise etc. a uno de’ messi di decta corte la richiesta de’ detti rei et ciaschuno di loro in forma et secondo gli ordini etc. [. . .] Ad petitione di detto Ser Mattheo [. . .] messo di dicta corte rapportò havere richiesta oggi dicto Iacopo ad vedere dicta petitione et domanda et sua continentia [. . .]398
Another teacher who instigated legal action for unpaid school fees in Florence was Comando Comandi, as emerged on 13 June 1472: [Ufciales mercantie] congregati, servatis servandis, approbaverunt librum sive quadernum segnato ‘Ricordanze di scholari’ ‘S’ Ser Comandi Simonis magistri gramatice [. . .] a c. 95 contra Bartholomeum Benedicti Ser Michaelis de Sancto Gaudentio et Malagigium Benedicti eius fratrem pro libris 33 et S. 4 p.399
The earnings of Florentine grammar teachers were modest. From 1424 to 1426 Ser Santi di Domenico d’Arezzo was a publicly appointed grammarian in Florence, receiving an annual salary of 20 orins. In addition, he took an additional 2 1/2 orins a month from pupils’ fees, earning 70 orins over two years and four months, as he declared in his 1427 Catasto portata: Trovo io ò riscosso de l’esercitio della schuola da duo anni e quatro mesi inn qua orini circa settanta.400
His overall earnings, therefore, were 50 orins a year, between public salary and pupils’ fees. This was an irregular and unreliable income. The fees came in dribs and drabs or not at all: quando a cinque soldi, quando a venti, quando a uno orini. Òne forse avere alchuni denari, e quali, perché sono incerti, no’ ne fo computo.401
Earnings from the commune were equally uncertain: in 1427 he was owed back pay, and his contract was not renewed for 1426–27: Rimango ad avere dal comune per una eletione mi fu fatta in gramatica Fl. VI S. XX. Hora non sono né fui più electo.402
It is little wonder that a grammar teacher of the next generation working in Florence, Ser Comando di Simone Comandi da Pieve S. Stefano, wrote in 1458 that his was an occupation both low in status and badly paid: L’arte mia è d’innsegnare gramatica, vile arte oggi e picolo guadagno.403
Private Tutors in Fifteenth-Century Florence The following is a list of mainly resident private tutors (ripetitori ) known to have worked in Florence during the fteenth century: Tutor’s name
ASF Catasto 37, fol. 1190r. See Appendix 1. ASF Catasto 37, fol. 1190r. See Appendix 1. 403 ASF Catasto 798, fol. 615v. This quotation was translated (incompletely) by Brucker (1993), p. 22, who did not provide the original text: ‘My profession is teaching Latin grammar, from which today one earns very little.’ 402
424
chapter five
Tutor’s name
Dates of teaching activity
Employing family
Name of pupil(s)
Subject(s) Annual taught Salary
Messer Giovanni Lamola
c. 1420s
Strozzi
gli di Messer Palla di Nofri Strozzi
Vespasiano (1970 –76), II, pp. 143–44, 475
Tommaso Parentucelli (later Pope Nicholas V)
c. 1420s
Albizzi
gli di Messer Rinaldo degli Albizzi
Vespasiano (1970 –76), I, p. 38; II, p. 145
Tommaso Parentucelli (later Pope Nicholas V)
c. 1420s
Strozzi
gli di Messer Palla di Nofri Strozzi
Vespasiano (1970 –76), I, p. 38; II, p. 145
Girolamo da S. Miniato
1423
Rustici
Lionardo e Stefano di Antonio di Lionardo Rustici
[reading]
Dionigi di Messer Feo da Castiglionorentino (or Monte S. Savino)
1423
Strozzi
gli di Messer Palla di Nofri Strozzi
Ser Niccolò di Coluccio da S. Vettorio della Marca
teachers, schools and pupils in florence Tutor’s name
Dates of teaching activity
Employing family
Name of pupil(s)
Ser Carlo 1427 di Francesco da Brucianesi (Signa)
Ridol
gli del fu Bartolo di Schiatta Ridol
Ser Carluccio da Città di Castello
1427
Deti (Guido)
ASF Catasto 21, fol. 150v
Giovanni di Francesco
1427
Baroncelli (Francesco di Cionaccio)
ASF Catasto 27, fol. 452r
Girolamo di Marco di Bartolomeo da S. Miniato
1427
Medici (Averardo di Francesco)
ASF Catasto 94, fol. 181r
[Maestro Iacopo di Martino da Spoleto]404
1427
Castellani
Marco di Ser Guaspare di Giunta da Pieve S. Stefano
1427
Cambini (Bartolomeo)
ASF Catasto 222, fol. 2v
Ser Santi di Ser Guaspare di Giunta da Pieve S. Stefano
1427
Guasconi (Iacopo di Messer Niccolò)
ASF Catasto 222, fol. 2v
Francesco di Messer Matteo Castellani
Subject(s) Annual taught Salary
425 Source(s)
ASF Catasto 56, fol. 693r
ASF Catasto 28, fol. 60r, 148v; see Ciappelli (1995), p. 68 n. 20
404 Maestro Iacopo was a physician aged 57 (see ASF Catasto 28, fol. 60r for his portata; Park [1985], pp. 186, 251; Ciappelli [1995], p. 177 n. 78, for other references and the probable date of his death [1433]). Ciappelli dismisses the possibility that he was the ‘maestro del fanciullo’ (p. 177 n. 78), but the correct transcription of the sentence from Matteo leaves some possibility: E in casa fermi tra maestro del fancullo e Mo Iachopo e famigli maschi e fanti femine, boche—X (ASF Catasto 28, fol. 148v). The phrase ‘e Mo Iachopo’ is omitted by Ciappelli. If it is read as above, there is no necessary implication that Maestro Iacopo was the resident tutor, although Ciappelli does not explain why he is a member of the Castellani household, evidently receiving the same level of support as the male and female servants. However, if the sentence is read ‘tra maestro del fancullo, è Mo Iacopo, e famigli maschi e fanti femine’, then his position as maestro di casa becomes clear.
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chapter five
Tutor’s name
Dates of teaching activity
Employing family
Name of pupil(s)
Subject(s) Annual taught Salary
Ser Tomme di Marco di Tomme dall’Isola di Valdelsa di contado Firenze
1427
Brancacci (Lipaccio)
ASF Catasto 62, fol. 233r
Ser Lorenzo da Cesi
1428
Allegri
ASF CRSGF 132.484, fol. 102v
Ser Giovanni di Cincio di Giovanni
1428–29
Albizzi
Benedetto di Niccolaio di Cecco da Volterra
1429
Ser Francesco prete
1429
Figli di Giusaffa degli Albizzi
Source(s)
ASF Catasto 63, fol. 643r
ASF Catasto 239, fol. 122r Sassetti
Francesco di Tommaso Sassetti
grammar
ASF CRSGF V.1747, fol. 61 destra
Ser Lorenzo 1429–31 di Vittorio da S. Miniato
Castellani
Francesco di Messer Matteo Castellani
Ghirigoro di Checco da Poppi
1429–31
Chellini da S. Miniato
Cosimo e Tommaso di Maestro Giovanni Chellini da S. Miniato
Ser Niccolò da S. Gimignano
1431
Castellani
Francesco di Messer Matteo Castellani
grammar
Ciappelli (1995), p. 178
Do[menico?]
1430
Pazzi?
Piero di Messer Andrea de’ Pazzi?
grammar
Black (2001), p. 245; BML Rinuccini 14, fol. 108v
Enoch d’Ascoli
c. 1430s
Bardi
Fl. 18
Ciappelli (1995), pp. 177–78 Chellini (1984), pp. 86, 88, 97
Vespasiano (1970 –76), II, p. 51
teachers, schools and pupils in florence Tutor’s name
Dates of Employing teaching family activity
Name of pupil(s)
Tommaso Pontano da Perugia
1431– ?37
Pazzi
Piero di Messer Andrea de’ Pazzi
Ser Giovanni d’Attaviano Cafferecci da Volterra
1430s
Medici
Giovanni di Cosimo de’ Medici
Zippel (1912), pp. pp. 476–79
Maestro Bartolomeo d’Arezzo
1439
gli di Papi della Volta ferrovecchio
Chellini (1984), p. 157
Ser Biagio di Domenico da S. Gimignano
1439
Iacopo Ammannati da Lucca
c. 1441– Acciaiuoli; c. 1448 Guidetti, Rinuccini, Rucellai
Lorenzo di Messer Agnolo di Iacopo Acciaiuoli (e altri suoi gli); Piero e Donato di Neri Acciaiuoli
Vespasiano (1970 –76), II, pp. 10, 18, 21, 24, 300; della Torre (1902), pp. 330–32
Battista di Ser Guaspare da Cortona
1446
Altoviti
gli di Simone di Giovanni Altoviti
Chellini (1984), p. 168
1446
Benci
gli di Giovanni Benci
ASF CS II.17, fol. 18v
Giovanni (Francesco di Tommaso)
Subject(s) taught
427
Annual Salary
Source(s)
100 orins
Vespasiano (1970 –76), II, pp. 236, 310; Sabbadini (1891), p. 226; Manzoni (1898), pp. 139–41; Zanelli (1899), pp. 347–49; Pirri (1913), pp. 13–18
ASF CS II.16, fol. 18v
428
chapter five
Tutor’s name
Dates of Employing Name of teaching family pupil(s) activity
Ser Domenico da Prato
1447
Luca Bernardi da S. Gimignano
Martelli
Subject(s) Annual Source(s) taught Salary
gli di Ugolino di Niccolò Martelli
Martelli (1989), p. 241
late Albizzi 1440s– c.1451405
gli di Luca di Messer Maso degli Albizzi
della Torre (1902), p. 492
Marsilio Ficino
1451
Pazzi
gli di Piero di Messer Andrea de’Pazzi
Chellini (1984), p. 183
Gaspare di Niccolò di Pietro da Radda
1453
Canocchi (Andrea di Domenico)
Francesco da Bibbiena
1453
Lenzi
Lorenzo, Piero, Antonio e Dianora di Anfrione di Lorenzo Lenzi
Gentile Becchi
1454– 1470
Medici
Lorenzo e Giuliano di Piero de’ Medici
Black (2001), p. 249; BML Pl. 36.9, fol. 191r ASF Pupilli 171, fol. 236r
reading, writing, grammar
Ady (1955), pp. 24–25; Rochon (1963), pp. 31–35, 60–65; Tornabuoni (1993), pp. 5, 67
405 In a letter dated 11 April 1474, Niccolò Corbizzi wrote of Luca Bernardi: Meas has literas [. . .] deferet Lucas antonii de santo Geminiano [. . .] qui jam pridem mihi notus fuit. Nam quibus liis lucae domini Masii de albiçis prima rudimenta tradidit (della Torre [1902], p. 492, on the basis of which the latter wrote wrote that Bernardi ‘fu di nuovo a Firenze poco prima del sacco di Volterra [18 Giugno 1472] ma però come istitutore privato, presso Luca di Maso degli Albizzi’). However, Luca di Messer Maso degli Albizzi (1382–1458) was long dead by then. della Torre did not take the meaning of ‘iam pridem’ (a long time ago). Bernardi can be documented in Florence from 1451–54 (see above p. 410 and Appendix 3). He began teaching in various Tuscan towns in 1454, and did not return to Florence until 1475 (see above p. 398). It is difcult to say, on the basis of the passage in Corbizzi’s letter, whether Bernardi taught the children of Luca Albizzi as a resident tutor or in his school at Orsanmichele. Given the high social and political status Luca Albizzi, it seems more likely that he worked as a private tutor in the Albizzi household before his apppointment as a public grammar teacher in 1451. The fact that he was said to have taught the Albizzi children the ‘prima rudimenta’ suggests that he was working as an elementary tutor rather than as a fully edged grammar teacher.
teachers, schools and pupils in florence Tutor’s name
Dates of teaching activity
Employing family
Name of pupil(s)
1455
Strozzi
Matteo di Filippo di Matteo Strozzi
Michele di Giovanni da Perugia
1455
Bono banchiere
Antonio de’ Rossi
1457
Neroni
gli di Dietisalvi di Nigi Neroni
Milan Archivio di stato Potenze estere Sforza 269, n. 17 (28.9. 1457)406
Antonio di Bartolomeo da Volterra
1458
Capponi
Piero e grammar Tommaso di Gino di Neri Capponi
ASF Catasto 788, fol. 96r; see Appendix 2.
Ser Benedetto 1458 di Coluccio Fetti (Colucci) da Pistoia
Bartolini
gli di Mariotto di Bartolo Bartolini
ASF Catasto 826, fol. 3v; see Appendix 2.
Ser Clemente
1459
Cafferecci
Matteo di grammar Ser Giovanni Cafferecci da Volterra
ASF CRSGF 90.134, fol. 17r; Ciappelli (1995), pp. 166–67
Passage published in Black (1985), p. 170 n. 165, referring to Rossi’s residence at Dietisalvi’s country house in the Val di Serchio near Lucca. In Florence in the mid-1450s, Rossi taught privately at home: ‘Alii Antonium Rufum doctum hominem aptum ad docendum praedicabant, dicebantque eius domum cunctae civitati quasi ludum quemdam semper patuisse, atque ofcinam dicendi’. Donato Acciaiuoli, in a letter dated 1 January 1456 to Rossi, referred to ‘caterve discipulorum suorum’ [sc. Rossi’s]. See della Torre (1902), p. 376.
430
chapter five
Tutor’s name
Dates of teaching activity
Employing family
Name of pupil(s)
Ser Nerotto
1460s
Vespucci
Antonio e Amerigo di Ser Nastagio di Ser Amerigo Vespucci
Giovanni
1461
Piero da Gagliano
Iacopo di Francesco da Soci di Casentino
1462–63 Sassetti
Subject(s) Annual taught Salary
Source(s)
Verde (1973–95), III, p. 109
ASF UdN 8, NN Priore e Gentile di Bartolomeo Sassetti
reading and writing
ASF CS V.1750, fol. CLXXXXo IIIIo verso
Antonio da S. 1463 Gimignano
Matteo di Giorgio di Maestro Cristofano
ASF UdN 9, fol. 8v
Giusto di 1463 Giovanni da S. Gimignano
Rinieri (Filippo di Stoldo)
ASF UdN 9, fol. 8v
Callisto
1463
Baldovini (Francesco)
ASF UdN 9, fol. 8v
Ser Ieronimo
1468
Alessandri
Alberto
1468
Sassetti (Bartolomeo)
Tommaso di Ser Curradino
1469– 1470
Adriani) (Berti
gli di Iacopo Alessandri
Rochon (1963), p. 116 n. 208 ASF CS V.1750, fol. CXXoVIo verso
gli di Messer Virgilio
18 lire
ASF CRSGF 98.324, fol. 29v407
407 Comparing Messer Virgilio Adriani, father of the future Florentine chancellor, Marcello Adriani, with Messer Bernardo Machiavelli, father of Niccolò Machiavelli, also a Florentine chancellor, Peter Godman has written: ‘To literature and learning Messer Virgilio paid no attention. Of books, in his ricordanze, there is never a word. There lay one signicant difference between the fathers of the First and Second Chancellors of the Florentine Republic [. . .] his [i.e. Bernardo Machiavelli’s] Libro di ricordi reects intellectual interests [. . .] he obtained [. . .] Le deche tutte di Livio [. . .] He borrowed, or bought, Macrobius, Priscian, Ptolemy, Donato Acciaiuoli on Aristotle’s Ethics, works by Cicero and by Flavio Biondo, and legal texts. While it is an exaggeration to describe Bernardo as a humanist, it is not too much to attribute to Machiavelli’s father a cul-
teachers, schools and pupils in florence Tutor’s name
Dates of Employing Name of teaching family pupil(s) activity
Parentucelli da Sarzana Bartolomeo da Pratovecchio
Subject(s) Annual taught Salary
431 Source(s)
d’Andrea di Berto degli Adriani 1470 or before
Capponi
gli di Messer Guglielmo Capponi
1470
Niccolini
Lodovico e Iacopo di Messer Otto di Lapo Niccolini
reading
Niccolini di Camugliano (1933), pp. 330–32
Agnolo da Castiglione
1469–70 Niccolini
Girolamo di Messer Otto di Lapo Niccolini
grammar
Niccolini di Camugliano (1933), pp. 331–33
Stefano di Ser Niccolò da Bagnone in val di Magro, pievano di S. Giovanni Battista a Montemurlo
c. 1470
Caterina di Iacopo de’ Pazzi
reading/ grammar (‘litteras’)
Verde (1973– 1995), III, p. 223
Piero di Ser Bramante
1470, 1474
Filippo di Ser Francesco da Pratovecchio
ASF UdN 15, fol. 31v; Rocke (1996), p. 299 n. 125
Martino della Comedia
1470s, Tornapossibly buoni also earlier
Antonio e Lorenzo di Giovanni Tornabuoni
Verde (1973–95), III, p. 575; Poliziano (1867), pp. 72–73
Pazzi
ASF MAP XXVII.349
tural curiosity that Messer Virgilio did not possess.’ (Godman [1998], pp. 144–45) This statement serves a cautionary lesson against over-hasty scholarship and argument ex silentio. Godman based his erroneous comment on a knowledge of ASF CS II.21, but Virgilio Adriani wrote another book of ricordanze, ASF CRSGF 98.324, which gives a different picture (although a more careful reading of CS II. 21 would have shown some interest in books too: see fol. 51v [works of Bartolus], 57v [monastic breviary], 60r [another breviary]). These second ricordanze show Virgilio as an avid bibliophile, lending out Cicero, Vergil, Servius, Plutarch and Boethius besides a variety of legal and religious texts: see Appendix 5.
432
chapter five
Tutor’s name
Dates of Employing teaching family activity
Name of pupil(s)
Subject(s) Annual taught Salary
Source(s)
Francesco da Anghiari
1472
Baroncelli (Carlo di Iacopo)
ASF UdN 16, fol. 31v
Girolamo di Biagio da Ghiacceto
1474
Brancacci (Zanobi)
ASF UdN 17, fol. 42r
Antonio di Giovanni da Anghiari
1474
Giangliazzi
Angelo Poliziano
1475–79, Medici408 1480–81, mid1480s
gli di reading Messer Bongianni di Bongianni di Giovanni Giangliazzi
ASF NA 21063, inserto n. 4
Lucrezia, reading, Piero, grammar, Giovanni Greek (e Giuliano) di Lorenzo de’ Medici409
Poliziano (1867), pp. xviii–xix, 17–41, 59–61; Picotti (1915); Picotti (1927), 7–15; Verde (1973–1995), III, pp. 473–74, 703, 799– 781; Perosa (1967); Perosa (1955), pp. 150, 160
408 Poliziano’s pupils in the Medici household may also have included Piero di Francesco Dovizi da Bibbiena, later Piero de’ Medici’s secretary (see Verde [1973–95], III, pp. 792–93) and his brother, Bernardo di Francesco Dovizi da Bibbiena, later a famous cardinal (see Verde [1973–95], III, pp. 182–83). 409 ASF Mediceo del Principato 380 fol. 162: (2 August 1547, from Lucrezia di Lorenzo de’ Medici, wife of Iacopo di Giovanni Salviati, n. 1470) La Ex.a V. [sc. Cosimo I ] si può ricordare di havere sentito dire chi fusse M(aestro) Angelo Policiano, il quale fu uno delli più valenti homini d’Italia nelle lettere et un grande homo da bene, insegnò leggere a tutti li miei fratratelli, insegnò leggere a me ancora et per dirla ogni principio et esaltatione hebbe dalla casa de’ Medici [. . .] This text adds to Poliziano’s pupils in the Medici household Giuliano (n. 1479) and Lucrezia herself. I am grateful to Niccolò Capponi for this reference.
teachers, schools and pupils in florence
433
Tutor’s name
Dates of Employing teaching family activity
Name of pupil(s)
Bernardo di Iacopo Gennai da Pesaro
1475– 1478
gli di Messer Virgilio d’Andrea di Berto degli Adriani
ASF CRSGF 98.324, fol. 37r
Luca Bernardi da S. Gimignano
c. 1475– Soderini 1476
Giovanvettorio grammar di Messer Tommaso Soderini
Verde (1973–1995), III, pp. 540–42
Maestro Morse
1476– 1477
Strozzi
Carlo e reading Simone di Niccolò di Carlo Strozzi
ASF CS IV.71, fol. 87v
Maestro Filippo
1477
Cresci
Cresci d’Andrea Cresci
grammar
ASF AGPA 327, fol. XXXVIIIIo destra
Maestro Panezio
1477
Cresci
Cresci d’Andrea Cresci
grammar
ASF AGPA 327, fol. XXXVIIIIo destra
Bartolomeo Fonzio
1478
Sassetti
Cosimo e Federigo di Francesco di Tommaso Sassetti
Martino della Comedia
1479
Medici
Piero e Giovanni di Lorenzo de’ Medici410
Adriani (Berti)
Subject(s) Annual Source(s) taught Salary
Verde (1973– 1995), III, pp. 230, 256 reading, grammar, Greek
Picotti (1915); Picotti (1927), pp. 11–12; Verde (1973– 1995), III, pp. 473–74, 575
410 Martino della Comedia’s pupils in the Medici household may also have included Piero di Francesco Dovizi da Bibbiena, later Piero de’ Medici’s secretary (see Verde [1973–95], III, pp. 792–93) and his brother, Bernardo di Francesco Dovizi da Bibbiena, later a famous cardinal (see Verde [1973–95], III, pp. 182–83).
434
chapter five
Tutor’s name
Dates of teaching activity
Employing family
Name of pupil(s)
Subject(s) Annual taught Salary
Source(s)
Bartolomeo Fonzio
1479
Rinieri Francesco di (Cattani da Bernardo Diacceto) Rinieri
grammar
Black (2001), pp. 238, 271–2, 300, 319; ASF CRSGF 95.212, fol. CoLXVIII verso411
Messer Piero di Domenico di Maestro Antonio Domizi
1479
Buongirolami
Giovanni di Bernardo Buongirolami (and sibling[s])
Schlebusch (1992), pp. 2, 179; Verde (1973–95), III, pp. 440–41
Maestro Salvestro
1479
Strozzi
Carlo e grammar Simone di Niccolò di Carlo Strozzi
ASF CS IV.71, fol. 124v
Lorenzo da Brescia
1479
Pazzi (Guglielmo di Antonio di Messer Andrea de’ Pazzi)
Ser Francesco di Ser Barone del Cerna
before 1480
Salviati
Iacopo di Giovanni Salviati
Verde (1973– 1975) III, pp. 280–81
Ser Giovanni
1480
Rucellai
Cosimo di Bernardo di Giovanni Rucellai
Del Piazzo (1956), pp. 116, 149, 155
ASF CRSGF 98.324, fol. 42r
411 In November 1480 Fonzio was described as ‘literarii ludi magister’ (de la Mare [1976], p. 197 n. 90), which usually meant a grammar teacher: see Black (1996a), pp. 600, 693, 706.
teachers, schools and pupils in florence Tutor’s name
Dates of teaching activity
Employing family
Name of pupil(s)
Carlo Valgulio da Brescia
1480
Minerbetti
Andrea e Francesco di Tommaso Minerbetti
Ser Francesco 1480 di Piero Bambini da Firenze, prete
Ginori (Francesco di Piero)
Ser Niccolò di Michele d’Antontio Zef
1480
Barducci
Giovanni, Alessandro e Giorgio di Roncognano di Giovanni Barducci
1480
Serristori
Antonio, Roberto, Giovan Francesco e Benedetto di Ristoro Serristori
Scala
Nanna, Batista, Francesca e Alessandra di Messer Bartolomeo Scala
Ser 1480 Clemente possibly the same as the author to the Cafferecci: see above p. 429)
Ser Iacopo di Gino da S. Casciano
Subject(s) Annual taught Salary
435 Source(s)
Fl. 30 Verde (or more) (1973–95), III, pp. 67–68, 1077 Verde (1973– 1995), III, p. 272
1480
Cosimo, reading Giovanni, Francesco, Raffaello e Lionardo di Bartolomeo di Ser Bartolomeo del Maestro Antonio da S. Miniato
1480
Luigi e reading Girolama gli del fu Ser Girolamo di Ser Giovanni
Verde (1973– 1995), III, pp. 743, 1015; Grendler (1985), p. 198 Fl. 12
Verde (1973–95), III, p. 1121
Verde (1973–95), III, p. 1141
48 lire
Verde (1973–95), III, pp. 1172–73
Verde (1973–95), III, p. 414
436 Tutor’s name
chapter five Dates of Employing Name of teaching family pupil(s) activity
Subject(s) Annual taught Salary
Source(s)
di Ser Taddeo di Ser Biagio Benedetto di Ambrogio di Ser Guccio d’Ugolino Gucci
1480
Verde (1973–95), III, p. 170
Bernardo Michelozzi
1480s
Medici
Giovanni di Lorenzo de’ Medici
Ser Giovanni di Lorenzo Chelli
1480 – 1481
Strozzi
Alfonso di Filippo Strozzi
Bartolomeo da Galeata (Foligno)
1480–81
Verde (1973–1995), III, pp. 147–51
Bartolomeo Dei
1480–81
Verde (1973–1995), III, pp. 147–51
Girolamo di Stefano di Cino (n. 1460)
1481– 1489
Strozzi
gli del fu Lorenzo di Matteo Strozzi; ripetitore in casa Filippo Strozzi
Ady (1955), p. 101; Roscoe (1853), p. 16; Picotti (1927), pp. 12 ff grammar
Messer Piero di Domenico di Maestro Antonio Domizi
1493
Ser Michelangelo di Giovanni da S. Maria Impruneta
1493– 1498
Strozzi
Filippo (alias Giovambattista) di Filippo di Matteo Strozzi
Fl. 21 1/3
ASF CS V.54, pp. 164 sinistra, 170 sinistra
Ser Alessandro Accolti d’Arezzo
1496– 1498
Strozzi
Lorenzo e grammar Fl. 24 Filippo (alias Giovambattista) di Filippo di Matteo Strozzi
ASF CS V.54, fol. 137 sinistra
Ser Alessandro da Cacciano
1498
Strozzi
Figli di Filippo di Matteo Strozzi
ASF CS V.54, fol. 137 sinistra
Maestro Francesco da Urbino
1499
Strozzi
Lorenzo di Filippo di Matteo Strozzi
[gli di Lorenzo di Matteo Morelli]
Source(s)
Verde (1973– 1995), II, p. 325; III, p. 322 Sandro di Mariotto di Giunta
Schlebusch (1992) p. 200
Fl. 24 larghi
ASF CS V.54, pp. 164 sinistra, CLXIIII destra, 170 destra
440
chapter five
Resident private tutors had been relatively rare in Florence during the fourteenth century but they are encountered with increasing frequency in the Quattrocento.412 It has been seen that the yearly cost of private tutoring in the fourteenth century ranged from 8 to 16 orins (see above pp. 222 ff ), and during the Quattrocento annual salaries ranged normally from 12 to more than 30 orins.413 The pervasive diffusion of this extravagant practice was a sign of emerging elitism in Florentine education. An early indication of this attitude was Giovanni Dominici’s well known statement: Se il mandi alla comune scuola dove si raguna moltitudine di sfrenati, tristi, labili al male ed al bene contrario difcili, temo non perda infra un anno la fatica di sette.414
The preponderance of elite families in the above list of Florentine private tutors (Cavalcanti, Strozzi, Albizzi, Bardi, Ridol, Castellani, Arnol, Deti, Guidotti, Baroncelli, Medici, Guasconi, Brancacci, Martelli, Sassetti, Giangliazzi, Pazzi, Acciaiuoli, Altoviti, Benci, Lenzi, Capponi, Neroni, Bartolini, Salviati, Alessandri, Niccolini, Tornabuoni, Valori, Soderini, Pandolni, Rucellai,415 Minerbetti, Ginori, Lanfredini, Serristori, Gondi, Giugni, Morelli, Guicciardini) demonstrates that a
412 An argument central to the debate about the transfer of the Florentine studio outside the city in 1460 was the effect on the available pool of private tutors. Both opposition and support for a transfer recognized that resident tutors had become an established, indeed essential, feature of Florentine society. Thus Giovannozzo Pitti, who opposed the transfer, observed that live-in pedagogi would not want to remain in Florence without the possibility of attending university-level lectures themselves: ‘Accedit preterea et alia incommoditas, quoniam ad hoc ut pueri primas discant letteras opus est pedagogis et magistris, quos cives qui aliquid possint in domo cum liis tenere consueverunt. Hi vero nullo modo Florentie habitarent nisi haberent commoditatem audiendi doctissimos homines et discendi liberales artes, sed alio contenderent et sic cives nec pedagogum aliquem nec magistrum liis suis reperirent cum incommoditate maxima.’ (Brucker [1981], p. 529) On the other hand, Giovanni Bartoli, who supported the transfer, was condent that there would always be a sufciency of distinguished humanists in Florence to maintain a buoyant number of private tutors: ‘Cum ergo Florentie futuri sint docti homines qui grammaticam et rhetoricam doceant, semper in urbe plurimi erunt his vacantes rebus qui lios civium erudient.’ (Brucker [1981], p. 531) For English translations of these passages, see Davies (1998), pp. 116–17. 413 The salary of 100 orins paid to Tommaso Pontano by Messer Andrea de’ Pazzi reported by Vespasiano (see above p. 427) must be either a mistaken recollection or a rhetorical hyperbole, emphasizing that Pontano was paid far more than the usual private tutor. 414 Dominici (1860), p. 134. See Debby (2001), p. 117. 415 In 1473, Giovanni Rucellai said his household included ‘uno maestro per insegnare a’ fancugli’ (Rucellai [1960], p. 121), whom he does not identify.
teachers, schools and pupils in florence
441
resident ripetitore or maestro had become a sign of high social status for Quattrocento Florentines. It was far from easy to work as a private tutor in fteenth-century Florence, as emerges vividly in a text that offers a scathing indictment of the resident ripetitore and his way of life. Marsilio Ficino himself worked as a tutor in the Pazzi household during the early 1450s (see above p. 428), and his Invectiva ad Ghuardavillam Volateranum, written apparently before 1454,416 was obviously based on less than happy personal experiences. Private tutors in Florence, according to Ficino’s account, tended to be either advanced grammar pupils or law students: Omnis namque pedagogorum disputatio aut est in minimis gramatice aut, si gramaticam egrediantur, legum civilium feces, conmentariola et glosule eorum disputationum dicuntur.417
They had little inclination for humanist-style study of ancient texts, as composed, for example, by ancient lawyers: elegantium vero textuum illorum iuris civilis, qui summa et singulari diligentia ab antiquis iurisconsultis lucubrati sunt, nullos impensos magis inimicos inveni quam pedagogos.418
nor for the higher ‘divine’ subjects (i.e. philosophy and theology): ab illis quoque studiis, que quicquam altum, magnicum ac divinum perspiciunt abhorrere non dubitant.419
Ficino conceded that some tutors were above reproach: Siquid vero in pedagogos miseros mali dixi, [. . .] non [dixi] in eos preceptores, qui bonis cum patronis quietam vitam et virtuosam trahunt.420
Overall, however, he painted a far from attering picture of these pedagogues. The butt of his abuse were the ignorant mass of ripetitori. They made a ridiculous spectacle, often to be seen throughout the city encumbered by piles of books:
416 417 418 419 420
Cristiani Cristiani Cristiani Cristiani Cristiani
(1966), (1966), (1966), (1966), (1966),
pp. 211–12. p. 216. p. 216. p. 216. p. 222.
442
chapter five Ridiculum est videre miseros pedagogos istos libris multis per totam urbem oneratos, cumque libellos eorum per viam et plaeas pannis involutos, cantarum appello suffarcinatam.421
Endowed with weak memories, books for them were like crutches to be carried about; if they were ever called upon to hold forth on trivial questions, they had to rely on their ngers to nd the relevant passages in books, not on their dull intellects or their clumsy tongues: Credo equidem libellos ferunt ob eorum memorie labilitatem ut, si umquam ad questiunculuas ad invicem deveniant, libellis ipsis digitis laborando disputent, non eorum ingenio grasso, non inepta lingua.422
Ripetitori basked in the reected glory of their employers. Amongst themselves, they disputed whose patron was the richest, the kindest or the most politically powerful, who had the most friends or provided the best food: Opere pretium est videre miseros hostes pedagogos circuluos adinvicem factitantes; statim enim in solitam controversiam deveniunt, cuius eorum vita et servitus turpi turpitudine magis careat. Surgit illico miser ille pedagogus in medio circulo dicens: ‘patronus meus vestris est dictior, in re publica plus potest’. Respondet alter: ‘meus vero nobilior progenie natus quam plurimos habet amicos, melius pascit’. Nec non alter inquit: ‘at meus nonne dives? excedit quoque vestros humanitate, benignior et alacrior existit’.423
Their morals were far from impeccable. They could act as pimps for their pupils: Hi [sc. pedagogi] enim [. . .] scolares suos, cum sint adulti, ad alienas mulieres aut ad scorta ducunt.424
With their younger charges, they indulged in paedophilic practices such as they would not have dared to undertake even with experienced prostitutes: ab ipsis cunabulis et teneris unghuiculis in omne pessimum facinus precipitare compellunt. Statim enim cum ideoni eorum pueri videntur in femellas eos convertunt, neque eos pudet talia cum ipsis pueris et scolaribus exercere, que quidem cum ipsis veteratis scortis non exercerent.425
421 422 423 424 425
Cristiani Cristiani Cristiani Cristiani Cristiani
(1966), (1966), (1966), (1966), (1966),
p. p. p. p. p.
217. 217. 218. 220. 220.
teachers, schools and pupils in florence
443
They also acted as go-betweens for their pupils, introducing them to depraved youths and to members of the lower social orders in return for payment: ob pretium participandum plebi atque inhonestis iuvenibus scolares ipsos, ut ita dicam, turpiter et impudenter vendunt.426
They compensated for poor pay and intollerable working conditions by stufng themselves with their employers’ food: illum quem ferunt domus et puerorum intollerabilem laborem commessando et potando restaurent, et quoniam patroni non solvunt nec aliquid tribuunt nisi cibum, tantum eius cibi pedagogi miseri captare volunt, ut commedendo salarium non datum excedant.427
They also sneaked off with their employers’ provisions in order to amuse themselves with other ripetitori: Nec enim sufcit pedagogis domi rem domini consummere, verum etiam extra portant. Convivia inter eos et baccanalia unt. Domini vero inscii et ingnorantes solvunt, cum res eorum clam ab istis famellicis lupis auferuntur. Novi semper boli et nova pocula queritantur.428
Such behaviour was a response to the excessive demands made on ripetitori. Their tasks were endless: to ensure the academic progress of their pupils, however unintelligent; to supervise their behaviour, scrutinizing every gesture, movement and glance; to protect them from any possible danger: Continuo namque motu et exercitio pedagogum esse opportet. In primis quidem ut pueri bene diligenterque discant, quamvis grasso ingenio, ut mores in omni gestu, nutu, visuque servent, ut pedantis ductu atque custodia ad eorum sollactia tendant, ut ab omni sibi periculo caveant.429
Pedagogi were rarely appreciated; blame was their normal fare. If a boy was thirsty, the ripetitore was summoned; if the tutor did not hasten to attend a feverish pupil, reprimands, curses and threats ensued. Sometimes harsh words were accompanied by beatings. The tutor was abused by his pupils, both boys and girls; he was cruelly handled by his employers; tales were told against him even by the household servants:
426 427 428 429
Cristiani Cristiani Cristiani Cristiani
(1966), (1966), (1966), (1966),
p. p. p. p.
220. 219. 220. 221.
444
chapter five Sitit puer, magister illico clamitatur; exurit alter, non venit magister, execrationes, mine, obiurgiaque non absunt, et, quid peius est, interdum etiam verbera verbis insunt; maledicit puer, obiurgat odiosa femella, verberat crudelis ille patronus, servi etiam exclamant: ‘hem, ille magister pueros non custodit’.430
If boys went missing, the tutor was blamed; if a daughter misbehaved, the tutor was held to account: Absunt pueri, magister appellandus; iurgia et contumelie unt: ‘ubi ubi magister? Adest cura puerorum! Ubinamque sunt?’ Surgit quoque molesta femella: ‘hem miser ubinam tota die fuisti?’431
Ripetitori were racked by constant anxiety: Nam que vita misera magis atque calamitosa arte pedagoga reperitur? Nulla, inquam, si ansietates sollicitudinesque pedagogi considerabimus. Quid enim de horum timore dicam? Quid de continua sollicitudine atque molestia?432
They particularly feared losing their places to rival tutors; they were tormented by envy of their colleagues: ob inmensam eorum invidiam nocendi mille artes investigant, ut emulos eiusdem artis sotios patronis quidem suspectos efciant; nihil est quod magis miserum pedagogum urat quam cum alterum pedagogum bonum habere patronum videt; surgit statim innita invidia illa, que semper eius animum torquet, mentem urit, corpus exagitat et in pernitiem hominum sollicitum facit.433
Theirs was a far-from-secure existence; as soon as the children were away from home, the tutor was sent packing: Pueri vero absunt, statim magister e domo eiciendus est.434
Particularly revealing was Ficino’s portrait of resident tutors as no better than household servants: Quid enim interest inter servum et pedagogum?
They had responsibility for every kind of domestic concern, for horses, food, clothing, child-care, for entertaining the women of the household; 430 431 432 433 434
Cristiani Cristiani Cristiani Cristiani Cristiani
(1966), (1966), (1966), (1966), (1966),
pp. 215–16. p. 222. p. 221. p. 219. p. 222.
teachers, schools and pupils in florence
445
they had to serve at table; they had to accompany the family to the country; they even had to wait on other servants; there was no domestic task outside their remit: domus totius cura, equi provision, servorum odiosa servatio, victus quoque familie, vita, vestitus, commestio, meatus, sermones quoque femellarum etiam et infantium custodia; hec omnia ad hunc miserum pedagogum pertinent. Servus etiam conviviorum et domini totius mense pedagogus est appellandus. Rus vero sepius eundum. Denique nulla cura aut sollicitudo nec domi nec foris pedagogum istum desertum ac derelictum preterit.435
They were at the behest not just of their male employers, but also of women and children: Interdum vero servi non adeo vituperandi sunt si legiptimo domino et preclaro serviant, sed qui servorum imperio tenentur hi nullo modo ferendi sunt, ut vos miseri pedagogi estis, qui, mulierum et puerorum etiam infantium dominio subiecti, miseram ducitis et erumpnosam vitam.436 [. . .] Servire pueris miseri pedagogi nis appellari potest [. . .] nis miseri pedagogi primus est servire pueris.437
Ficino’s portait of Florentine ripetitori was exaggerated, as betted the hyperbolic style of an invective. Still thin-skinned with regard to his own academic pedigree, he wanted to distance himself from a lowly occupation out of which he himself had only recently emerged: converts (in Ficino’s case to humanism and philosophy) can become the keenest critics (even persecutors) of their former colleagues. And yet some features of his description can be conrmed. It has already been seen that a number of ripetitori were accused to the Ufciali di Notte for immoral behaviour.438 Florentines could summarily dispense with the services of ripetitori, as occurred in the household of Francesco di Tommaso Giovanni in 1439; he took on a private tutor when he had to assume a rectorship outside the city, but dismissed him as soon as he returned to Florence: Ricordo che a dì 20 di giugno 1439 Ser Biagio di Domenicho da San Gimignano venne a stare con noi per ripetitore per insegnare a miei fanciulli. Ancora debbe venire meco in montagna in luogo di notaio et
435 436 437 438
Cristiani (1966), p. 221. Cristiani (1966), p. 215. Cristiani (1966), p. 217. See pp. 429–32 above.
446
chapter five per questo debbo usarli qualche discretione, come aparerà a Ser Matteo da San Ghuentino, per chui mezo se aconciò meco. Stette meco in montagna tucto l’ucio, poi alla tornata si partì.439
Indeed, some ripetitori were formally taken on as domestic servants, as emerges explicitly in the household of Messer Virgilio Adriani: Ricordo chome oggi questo dì 24 di giugno anno decto [1469] io Virgilio d’Andrea di Berto doctore di ragione civile spradecto ò tolto per familglio e che a me serva a ongni mio servigio e di mia familglia, in che isia, e dove bisongna, e per insengnare a miei fanciulli per uno anno a ragione di soldi trenta piccoli per ogni mese, Tomaso di Ser Churadino Parentucielli da Sarzano di Lunigiana, distrecto di Firenze.440
Despite their normally humble status, ripetitori in Florence could nevertheless occasionally take advantage of their intimate position in the household to transcend their role as domestic servants or even as teachers. A conspicuous example was Girolamo di Stefano di Cino, who, having entered the service of Lorenzo di Matteo Strozzi’s heirs early in 1480, had become the household’s major-domo by the end of the decade, even taking charge of the family’s nances.441 Patterns of Education in Fifteenth-Century Florence The earlier fteenth century It has been seen above (ch. 4, p. 321) that, by the later fourteenth century, grammar (Latin) had become a minority school subject as compared with elementary reading and abacus in the city of Florence—a pattern of education that continued in the earlier fteenth century. The education of children as revealed by the Catasto of 1427 suggests that relatively few Florentines sent their children to grammar schools; the largest sector of education was the elementary school, and, if parents decided on further learning for their sons, they normally sent them to abacus schools. Grammar (Latin) was less favoured, primarily pursued by pupils training for the church (‘chierici’) or embarking on other professional training or education (notariate, law, medicine):
439 440 441
ASF CS II.16, fol. 18v. See Appendix 5. ASF CRSGF 98.324, fol. 29v. See Appendix 5. See above p. 436 and Appendix 5 s.v. ASF CS V.36, V.41, V.44.
447
teachers, schools and pupils in florence Age
–6
‘A scuola’
6
7
2
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
3
1
3
3
2
2
1
3
6
6
1
2
2
1
1
2
1
1
29
1
2
5
6
6
7
‘A scrivere’ ‘A leggere’
1
4
5
‘All’abaco’ ‘In grammatica’
1
6
5
10
9
9
9
11
17443
22442
3
1
31
1
2
10
2
6
‘studia’ 1
2
2
‘cherico’
Total
16–18 total
1
1
3
3
8
6444
2
9
8
102
442 The generic phrase ‘a scuola’ is problematic to interpret. For children aged about 10 and below, it meant elementary reading, so that the actual numbers in the table at elementary school were at least 38, making that the largest sector of education in 1427. However, twelve-year olds were also probably at elementary school, suggesting 41 in that category. Some of the children listed ‘a scuola’ aged thirteen and over would also have been learning to read and write, as is suggested by the more abundant numbers at those ages and in that category for the 1480 catasto (see below pp. 461–62; Cherubini [1996], pp. 236–40). Even if the 10 in 1427 said to be ‘a scuola’ were all at grammar school (an improbable hypothesis), the total numbers for grammar pupils would be 12, little more than a third of those at abacus school. Florentines sometimes used the phrase ‘a scuola’ as a synonym for ‘a leggere’; in the same household, when older brothers were learning the abacus and younger siblings were going to reading school, the latter activity was indicated interchangeably as ‘a leggere’ or a ‘a scuola’. Thus, on the one hand, ASF Catasto 49 fol. 443r: Girolamo di Giovani Ciapelli d’ani X a l’abacho, Romolo di Giovani Ciapeli sta legere d’ani 6; 50, fol. 133v: Giovanni mio gliuolo sta all’abacho d’età d’anni 12, Iachopo mio gliuolo sta a l’abacho d’età d’anni 10, Filipo mio gliuolo sta a legiere il saltero d’anni 7 in 8; 58, fol. 183r: 1o fanciullo maschio ch’à nome Marcho d’età d’anni 11, sta all’abacho, 1o fanciullo maschio ch’à nome Taddeo d’età d’anni 9, sta all’abacho, 1o fanciullo maschio ch’à nome Filippo d’età d’anni 7, sta a llegere. On the other hand, ASF Catasto 62, fol. 145r: Luigi d’anni 13 sta al abacho, Charllo d’anni 8, Giuliano d’anni 6, stano alla squola. (See Appendix 1.) This linguistic usage and pattern is found in the 1480 Catasto: see Cherubini (1996), pp. 239–40, n. 90. In 1480 there were cases where older brothers were said to be learning grammar or Latin, while their younger brothers were ‘a scuola’: see Cherubini (1996), p. 240 n. 90. Moreover, in the 1427 Catasto, the phrase ‘scuola’ is used several times to indicate elementary reading and writing: Domenicho d’età d’anni nove e ista a la schuola a legiere (ASF Catasto 16, fol. 182r); el detto Antonio è grande di persona e à pocho tenpo et non fa niente se non che ne va alla schuola e leggie el donadello (ASF Catasto 47, fol. 688v); Dalno gluolo di detto Ser Iacopo d’età d’anni 9, che sta apparare a leggiere alla schuola (ASF Catasto 51, fol. 553r). See Appendix 1. 443 The same pupil was indicated as learning to read and write: see Appendix 1, p. 519. 444 The same pupil was indicated as learning to read and write: see Appendix 1, p. 519.
448
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The commitment to elementary education was so pervasive in Florence that even working-class families with no income other than wages sent their children to learn to read. In 1427, for example, a household with ten members was headed by Giovanni di Michele, a joiner aged 40 who did casual jobs for Florentine citizens and shopkeepers for payment by the day, and who had an annual income of 40 lire. His wife, Monna Antonia, wove linen at home, helped by a daughter, Nana, aged 9; another daughter, Benedetta, aged 13, was about to be married. The family’s portata was written by a son Andrea, who worked for a grain-merchant, earning about 25 lire; another son, Domenico, aged 23, earned 14 lire a year, possibly minding animals; a third worked for a butcher, earning 33 lire a year. Giovanni di Michele paid 25 lire a year for rent and had debts of 32 lire, and yet he still found the means to send his two youngest sons, Giuliano, aged 6, and Mariotto, aged 4, to reading school.445 Another example is Luca d’Antonio di Filippo, aged 22, who worked for a saddle-maker, earning 23 orins a year; with this income he had to support himself and his nine-year-old brother, Domenico, whom he nevertheless sent to reading school.446 Antonio di Domenico, a tailoring worker aged 50, had no assets at all; he had numerous debts, incurred not only on behalf of his wife but also in his own right, with various money-lenders as well as with a priest, to whom he owed 20 orins; nevertheless, one of his creditors was the schoolmaster Ser Santi di Domenico d’Arezzo, to whom he owed about 6 lire (23 grossi ), presumably for teaching his fteen-year-old son.447 Michele di Maso, a dyeing worker aged 36 with a mother aged 66, had responsibility for the children of his dead brother, one aged 16 who worked the land, and the other aged 10, whom he sent to reading school.448 Bartolomeo di Ser Albizo, a wool-beater aged 62, with a son aged 17 who had left Florence to serve as a soldier, with another aged 16 who worked for a locksmith earning 12 orins a year and with a third aged 10 who assisted a doublet-maker for 6 orins a year, had a fourth son, Baldassare, aged 7, who attended reading school.449
445
ASF Catasto 46, fol. 873r: see Appendix 1 for the text. ASF Catasto 16, fol. 182r: see Appendix 1 for the text. 447 ASF Catasto 30, fol. 11r: see Appendix 1 for the text. 448 ASF Catasto 58, fol. 375r: see Appendix 1 for the text. 449 ASF Catasto 61, fol. 515r: see Appendix 1 for the text. Revealing too of the commitment to elementary literacy throughout Florence is the practice of providing teaching in reading and writing for orphans. Thus, the Ospedale degli Innocenti employed an elementary teacher, ‘Ser Giovanni di Biagio prette ch’è istatto nello 446
449
teachers, schools and pupils in florence
The same level of interest in education on the part of the Florentine population did not extend to grammar. The lesser Florentine commitment to Latin education in the earlier fteenth century is conrmed by an analysis of the pattern of learning in the Florentine ricordanze for the years 1400 to 1450 now preserved in the Archivio di Stato di Firenze. There are 25 ricordanze with educational material from this period,450 giving the following breakdown of school-level activity: Ricordanze: patterns of education, 1400–1450 Year
number of households with evidence of learning to read (and write)
1402
1
1411
1
1412
1
1413
1
1416
1
1417
1
1418
1
1419
1
1420
2
1422
1
1423
1
1426
2
1427
1
1428
1
1429
1
1430
number of households with evidence of learning the abacus
number of households with evidence of learning grammar (Latin)
2
1 1
Ispedale messi otto o circha per rensegniare a fanciulli’, in 1454–55. It was standard practice for a guardian about to adopt a boy to promise to ‘allevare detto fanciullo [. . .] et insegniali legere e scrivere’. Occasionally such undertakings also extended to the abacus and grammar. See Takahashi (2003), pp. 128, 131, 132 and 135. 450 For the texts, see Appendix 5 below.
450 Year
chapter five number of households with evidence of learning to read (and write)
number of households with evidence of learning the abacus
1430 1432
number of households with evidence of learning grammar (Latin)
1 1
2
1433
1
1434
1
1436
1
1439
1
1440
2
1441 total
1 23
3
6451
The most important sector here was elementary reading (and writing), while grammar education managed only a weak third place. A similar pattern—demonstrating the dominant position in the educational hierarchy of elementary reading as opposed to grammar—is evident from the inventories of the possessions of Florentine orphans ( pupilli ): Inventories of pupilli: patterns of education, 1400–1450 (based on Bec [1984], pp. 149–85) Year
Number of households owning reading textbooks
1415
2
1418
1
1420
2
Numbers of households owning grammar (Latin) textbooks
451 Abacus training is under-represented in this table as well as in those corresponding that follow. One of the main pieces of evidence for elementary and grammar education is the purchase of reading (salteri, donadelli ) and grammar textbooks among household expenses. However, the abacus was not taught on the basis of pupil-owned textbooks (libri di abaco were not used directly by pupils: see ch. 2 above, pp. 52–53), and so the ricordanze minimize the actual numbers of pupils learning the abacus.
451
teachers, schools and pupils in florence Year
Number of households owning reading textbooks
Numbers of households owning grammar (Latin) textbooks
1421
3
1
1422
3
1
1423
2
1
1425
7
3
1426
2
2
1427
1
1428
1
1429
2
1
1430
4
1
1431
4
3
1432
1
1
1433
1
1434
1
1439
1
1440
1
1441
1
1445
1
1446
1
1450
1
total
41
1
17
Here again, pupilli tended to own reading, in preference to grammar, textbooks. Narrative evidence tends to conrm these patterns. In the earlier fteenth century, most Florentine ottimati, according to their ricordanze, continued the normal pattern of the Trecento, providing their sons with simple reading and writing instruction, followed by abacus training, as a preparation for entry into the world of commerce and industry—the bottega. Typical was the early life of Luca di Matteo di Messer Luca de’ Firidol da Panzano, as narrated in his ricordi: ‘tornandomi a stare già
452
chapter five
era più ani per adietro cho’ Mona Mattea mia madre e gliuola che ffu d’Andrea del Benino in chasa di Lucha di Ser Filippo Charnesecchi suo secondo marito et ivi stetti dal 1402 per insino di giennaio 1420, cioè anni 18, tanto aparai a leggiere e schrivere e schrivere e l’abacho. E del mese di maggio 1405 Mona Mattea mia madre mi mandò a stare sanza salare al bancho di Bartolomeo di Verano Peruççi.’452 Similar was the education from 1422 to 1433 of the sons of Antonio di Lionardo Rustici, a parent not easy to please, as a host of Florentine teachers were to discover. First the boys were sent to learn to read the tavola with Bernardo Falconi; four months later their father removed them from that school, placing them, still reading the tavola, with ‘Ser Gherardo, prete nella Badia di Firenze’, who lasted six months. Then he hired a resident tutor, Girolamo da San Miniato al Tedesco, who begged off after less than two months, saying that he wanted to go to Pisa to study. No more is heard about education in the Rustici household for three years, and when the story resumes in November 1426 Antonio had his sons at reading school in Orsanmichele under a ripetitore called Francesco, who left before a year was out; as a result, Antonio kept his sons at home until the following November, when he sent them again to read with a new ripetitore in Orsanmichele called Sandro. He lasted for a year, and then Antonio placed his sons to read with Ser Niccolò da Pratovecchio in November 1428. Finally, this parent had found a reading teacher who met his evidently high expectations (or who was able to cope with his possibly less than tractable sons), Ser Niccolò staying the course for four years. In 1432 the sons of Antonio Rustici at last nished reading school, and were enrolled to learn the abacus with Maestro Mariano di Maestro Michele for a year. In May 1433 Antonio took his sons to the country, and when he returned to Florence, so he declared, ‘no’ gli rimandai più all’abacho perché gli posi i’ botteghe’.453 It is clear that for families such as the Rustici or the Firidol the aims of education were utilitarian: reading prepared for abacus school, which in turn led to the bottega. Indeed, this was explicitly stated in the case of two Florentine orphans, Piero and Benvenuto di Ugolino Michi, who were raised by their mother Betta and whose educational history is recorded from 1415 to 1420. Reading and writing were their educational
452 453
ASF RPALA 111. See Appendix 5. ASF CS II.11. See Appendix 5.
teachers, schools and pupils in florence
453
fare: reading texts such as the saltero, which had to be bought, bought again, as well as rebound and provided with a case (una tascha) for protection; pens, ink, writing tablets; seasonal presents for the teachers; reading lessons even when they were in their country house at Careggi from the local priest. All this was provided simply so that Piero and Benvenuto, as was stated in the family ricordi, could ‘leggere et scrivere a socenza d’andare all’abacho’.454 A similarly utilitarian education was provided for other Florentine elite boys in the early fteenth century, including Ilarione de’ Bardi, whose son Lorenzo read the donadello with Ser Battista da Norcia in the mid 1420s;455 Francesco, the orphaned son of Bertino Turadini, whose mother, Monna Veniziana, engaged a master to read the saltero with him in 1439 and 1440;456 and the sons of Gherardo di Bartolomeo Gherardi, who bought them a pair of salteri in 1440.457 Antipathy to useless Latin learning was not an uncommon attitude in Florence during the early Quattrocento. What was desired was enough literacy and numeracy to carry on the family business, to maintain and improve the family patrimony: for them, in Alberti’s words, ‘[. . .] basta sapere iscrivere il nome tuo, e sapere asommare quanto a te resti di ritrarre’.458 It was along these lines that one Florentine, Bernardo Manetti, provided for the education of his son: ‘Ebbe il padre nome Bernardo; di pochi anni, lo mandò secondo la consuetudine della città, a imparare a leggere et scrivere, et conseguito in breve tempo di sapere quanto s’apartiene a uno che abbia essere mercante, e levatolo di quivi, lo pose all’abaco, et in pochi mesi venne di quella scientia docto tanto, quanto s’aparteneva a uno simile exercitio. In età d’anni dieci andò al banco [. . .]’459 Another Florentine, a member of an ancient Florentine family of illustrious feudal descent, Messer Andrea de’ Pazzi, gave his son Piero little encouragement to pursue his education: ‘Sendo gliuolo di meser Andrea, et essendo giovane di bellissimo aspetto et dato molto a’ diletti et piaceri del mondo, alle lettere non pensava, sì perché il padre era mercatante, et come fanno quegli che non hanno notitia nolle istimano, né pensava che il gliuolo vi dessi opera.’460 454 455 456 457 458 459 460
ASF MSS 82. See Appendix 5. ASF CRSGF 79.119. See Appendix 5. ASF Comp.RSPL 1026.201. See Appendix 5. ASF AGPA 325. See Appendix 5. Alberti (1960–73), I, p. 68. Vespasiano (1970–76), II, p. 519. Vespasiano (1970–76), II, p. 309.
454
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Indeed, Bernardo Manetti, a man ‘ch’era più volto al guadagno che alle lettere, rispetto alla consuetudine della città’, absolutely refused to sanction his son’s classical studies, which could begin only at the age of twenty-ve.461 The disinterested study of Latin was a rare occurence in early fteenth-century Florence: ‘very few men in that period took up Latin—or were made to take it up’, wrote Antonio Manetti in his Life of Brunelleschi, ‘unless they expected to become a doctor, notary or priest.’462 Such was the education of Filippo di Simone Strozzi’s relative, Antonio di Niccolò Ferantini, who went for grammar lessons to Don Niccolò (probably di Ser Guido da Castelfranco di Sopra) in 1412, shortly before taking orders, becoming a canon and holding various beneces.463 Here again the elite and the lower orders followed a similar educational pattern. A number of Florentines are mentioned as university students in the 1427 Catasto. All these had previously studied Latin and were intending to make professional careers as physicians, lawyers, notaries or clerks. Some were of course sons of the elite, such as Nofri di Bernardo Niccoli, a theology student at Padua;464 or Giuliano di Giovanni Lanfredini, a law student at Perugia;465 or Antonio di Ridolfo di Bonifazio Peruzzi,
461 Vespasiano (1970–76), II, p. 519. It is true that, writing in the early fteenth century, Giovanni di Paolo Morelli set out an ideal education for a son of the Florentine elite: ‘E’ debba [. . .] apparare di leggere e scrivere e tanta grammatica ch’egli intenda secondo la lettera i dottori o carte di notaio o altro iscritto; e simile sappi parlare per lettere e scrivere una lettera in grammatica e bene composta. E di continovo, e nelle scuole e di fuori, vogliti ritrovare, usare e praticare co’ giovanetti tuoi pari, che istudino come tu e sieno persone da bene, costumati e vertudiosi; e con loro sia ardito e coraggioso al parlare, a scherzare, all’azzuffare, ma non da male animo, per adattarsi al fare degli altri giuochi appertenenti a simile età. E questi ispassi, o altri più vertudiosi, come nelle scuole della musica o dello ischermire o d’altri ispassi dilettevoli, si vogliono usare a tempi non si istudi, come di meriggio a tempo di state, la sera uscito di scuola, il dì delle feste. A tutti altri tempi istudia: prendilo con diletto, sievi sollecito, vinci te medesimo, isforzati quanto puoi d’apparare. E di poi hai apparato, fa che ogni in dì, un ora il meno, tu istudi Verigilio, Boezio, Senaca o altri autori, come si legge in iscuola.’ (Morelli [1956], pp. 270–71) However, the ideal pattern of education outlined here seems removed from the reality of early fteenth-century Florence. Morelli does not mention abacus schools; he places strong emphasis on Latin learning, which indeed in his view is ideally meant to be carried on with continued vigour after leaving school; he even recommends gentlemanly renements such as schools of fencing and music (educational activities hardly found in ricordanze during his lifetime). 462 Manetti (1970), p. 38. 463 ASF CS V.6. See Appendix 5. 464 ASF Catasto 17, fol. 270r. See Appendix 1. 465 ASF Catasto 24, fol. 1040r. See Appendix 1.
teachers, schools and pupils in florence
455
a student of 24 who was said to cost his father 100 orins a year;466 or Orlando di Giovanni Bonarli, the future archbishop of Florence, then a law student at Bologna;467 or Benedetto di Bartolomeo d’Antonio Ubaldini, a law student at the Sapienza in Siena.468 Others were sons or relatives of professionals themselves, such as Lorenzo son of the notary Ser Michele d’Antonio da Montemuro in Chianti;469 or Bardo, son of the late Ser Gherardino da Montelupo, who wanted ‘istudiare d’essere notaio come il padre’;470 or Bindo, a notarial student and nephew of Ser Bonaguida di Bartolomeo, ‘notaio orentino’;471 or Giovanni and Martino, sons of the late grammar teacher Maestro Antonio di Lunigiana, who were medical and notarial students respectively;472 or Bartolomeo, a notarial student and son of Ser Simone Berti;473 or Iacopo, a student at the Florentine studio and the son of Ser Gherardo di Giovanni da Bachereto;474 or Benedetto Calcagni, a student and son of the notary Ser Piero Calcagni;475 or Bartolomeo, son of the late Ser Giorgio di Ser Caciotto, and a student at Padua.476 Nevertheless, it is noteworthy that, when a career and a solid living were the ends in view, Latin education could descend down the social scale. Thus, sons from the artisan class had sometimes been taught Latin to prepare for university and professional careers, such as Tommaso di Tommaso caraiuolo, whose son Antonio was a student at Padua;477 or Lionardo di Gherardo barbiere, whose son Gherardo was studying to be a notary at the University of Florence;478 or Benedetto di Girolamo sarto, whose son Antonio was a student, ‘el quale io tengho a Bologna in istudio chon grande ispesa’.479 Antonio Manetti, writing in the later Quattrocento, was thus probably accurate when he suggested that, in previous generations, a particular curriculum hardly yet distinguished the elite from the wider populace:
1356r. See Appendix 1. 1052r. See Appendix 1. 634v. See Appendix 1. 255r. See Appendix 1. 254v. See Appendix 1. 230v. See Appendix 1. 789r–v. See Appendix 1. 661r. See Appendix 1. 107r. See Appendix 1. 77v. See Appendix 1. 636v. See Appendix 1. 369v. See Appendix 1. 111v. See Appendix 1. 390r. See Appendix 1.
456
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‘leggiere et [. . .] scrivere et l’abaco [. . .] s’usa per gli huomini da bene e per la magiore parte fare a Firenze’.480 The decline of indigenous Florentine grammatical study between 1350 and 1450 may seem paradoxical. It may be wondered how Florentines, with little Latin, coped with the demands of everyday business. The answer is simple: since the early fourteenth century, such affairs had been conducted by Florentines mainly in the vernacular. This was the role of ubiquitous vernacular ricordanze, so numerous in Florence from the turn of the Trecento, but virtually absent in Italian cities outside Tuscany. In Florence and Tuscany, there was a notable decline in Latin business contracts as formalized by notaries, whose records were increasingly dominated by property transactions, marriage contracts and wills. It must be wondered too how Florence could have thrived as a highly-developed urban community without a large, native, Latin-trained professional force of notaries, physicians and lawyers. It is of course obvious that some Florentines always entered the professions and hence had had to learn Latin. This was the irreducible minimum of Latin education which is to be found in every Italian city. What is historically signicant is whether there was much additional Latin study extending beyond this minimum. Indeed, there is evidence that Florence was producing an insufcient number of native-born professionals in the early fteenth century. ‘The question arises of how to explain the presence of so many outsiders among the lawyers in the guild [. . .] the gures at hand indicate that there was a shortage of lawyers in Florence during the second half of the fourteenth and up to about the 1430s [. . .]’481 A similar pattern holds true for physicians: ‘the decades after 1348 saw the virtual collapse of the native Florentine medical profession [. . .] their places were lled by immigrant doctors from the countryside and other, smaller towns [. . .]’482 An identical development was probably occurring for the clergy, given the emergence of the two large church schools in the mid-fteenth century at San Lorenzo and in the Cathedral, explicitly founded to augment the number of clerks competent in Latin (see vol. 2).
480 481 482
Manetti (1970), p. 39. Martines (1968), p. 73. Park (1985), pp. 7, 42–46, 76–82.
teachers, schools and pupils in florence
457
The mid-fteenth century A precious insight into educational patterns among Florentine youth in the mid-fteenth century is provided by the matriculation records of the Company of the Purication, Florence’s premier confraternity specically catering for adolescent boys: ‘membership in the confraternity was restricted to youths between the ages of 12 and 18’.483 The social composition of the confraternity represented all levels of Florentine society, ranging from members of the elite (Davanzati, da Filicaia, Medici, Guiccardini, Accaiuoli, Buondelmonti, Spinelli, Morelli, Gaddi, Niccolini) to sons of professionals (Piero di Ser Matteo Mazetti, Francesco di Ser Andrea, Nardo di Ser Antonio Pugi, Giovanni di Ser Luigi) and to children of artisans without surnames (Torello d’Antonio, Francesco di Mafo, Andrea di Camuccio);484 many of the matriculates were employed in a variety of humble trades (in the shops of tailors, spinners, trimmers, menders, blanket makers, scourers, carders, shoemakers, hosiers, barbers, painters, blacksmiths, coopers, joiners and gardeners).485 At enrollment, the occupations of a signicant number of these boys were recorded: between 1434 and 1439, 417 members matriculated, and 309 members are accompanied by information regarding trade, profession or education.486 Between 1434 and 1458, when the practice of recording occupations at matriculation ended, the following numbers of educational activities were recorded: ‘all’abaco’ 117
‘alla isquola’ 45
‘studia’ 24
These gures conrm, in the rst place, that abacus remained the dominant form of secondary education in Florence during the mid-fteenth century. The forty-ve youths ‘alla isquola’ would have included a signicant number attending elementary reading (and writing) schools. In the 1427 Catasto, the word ‘scuola’ often indicated elementary reading and writing.487 Four of the twenty-nine children in the 1427 Catasto 483 484 485 486 487
Polizzotto (2004), p. 29. See Appendix 6 below. Polizzotto (2004), pp. 41–42. Polizzotto (2004), pp. 40–41. See above p. 447 n. 442.
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indicated as learning to read were aged twelve or more (see above p. 487), while in the 1480 Catasto the gures were 66 ‘a leggere’ out of 174 boys for this age group (see below p. 462). Therefore many of the schoolboys in the Puricazione were at elementary, not grammar, schools. The twenty-four boys who were ‘studying’ (‘studia’) would have been enrolled in professional courses or apprenticeships to become notaries or clerks, or would have been attending university courses in medicine or law; in the 1427 Catasto the terms ‘studia’ / ‘studiante’ normally meant post-school education (see Appendix 1 below). These twenty-four would all have learned Latin either by attending a grammar school or under the tutelage of a private ripetitore. However the gures are interpreted, it is clear that, for the majority of Florentine adolescents in the mid-fteenth century, the normal form of secondary education was the abacus school; grammar (Latin) schools were attended by a minority, most of whom were intending to pursue a profession (notariate, law, medicine or the church). The continued lesser Florentine commitment to grammar education in the mid-fteenth century is conrmed by an analysis of the pattern of education in the Florentine ricordanze for the years 1451 to 1470 now preserved in the Archivio di Stato di Firenze. There are 18 ricordanze with educational material from this period,488 giving the following breakdown of school-level activity: Ricordanze: patterns of education, 1451–1470 Year
number of households with evidence of learning to read (and write)
1452
number of households with evidence of learning the abacus 1
1453 1454
1
1455 1456
1
1457 1458
488
For the texts, see Appendix 5 below.
number of households with evidence of learning grammar (Latin)
459
teachers, schools and pupils in florence Year
number of households with evidence of learning to read (and write)
number of households with evidence of learning the abacus
1459
1
1460
2
1461
2
1462
1
1463
1
number of households with evidence of learning grammar (Latin) 1
1
1464 1465
1
1
1466
1
1467
2
1468
2
1469
5
1470
2
1
total
16
10
1
2
The most important sector here remained elementary reading (and writing), while grammar education was still running a weak third. Narrative evidence again conrms these patterns. Florentines continued to provide the traditional education for their sons—reading and writing, followed by abacus—as preparation for an early entry into the bottega. An example is the household of the heirs of Francesco Pecori, who died in 1462 and who left two sons to educate, Tommaso, born in 1456 and Dino Francesco, born in 1462; their educational history can be traced in detail from 1465 in the family ricordanze. For the rst ve years, the fare was reading, rst under Ser Verdiano di Ser Cristofano from 1465 to 1469, then under Ser Marco di Baldo followed by Bernardo di Lorenzo ‘cherico’ from 1469 to 1470; the usual seasonal presents were given to the teachers and the boys were supplied with the normal salteri and tavole.489 The traditional utilitarian aims of Florentine
489
ASF DPPP 50 and 51. See Appendix 5.
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education were reiterated yet again by Ser Agnolo Bandini in 1469: ‘Ricordo come a dì 5 d’agosto 1469 rimasi con Ser Francesco, che insegnna a leggiere, che insegnasse a Bastiano mio gliolo e bastardo a legiere e scrivere in modo sappia leggiere le lettere e scrivere acciò posse tenere suo conto’; later that month Ser Agnolo, who clearly wanted value for money, wrote, ‘Leva’ ne lo detto mese perché non inparava nulla e non v’andò’.490 Other Florentine households where ricordanze record only reading lessons in this period include Bartolomeo Sassetti’s (1455, 1462–63)491 and Calvano d’Attaviano di Messer Guccio de’ Nobili’s (1467–69).492 Similarly the abacus maintained its place as the most popular form of secondary education in Florence during the same period, and abacus teaching is recorded as the only type of post-elementary instruction in the ricordanze of Marco di Benedetto di Marco Strozzi (1454),493 Niccolò di Carlo di Marco Strozzi (1459–60),494 the heirs of Michele di Consiglio de’ Cerchi (1461),495 Messer Nofri Ceccherini (1465)496 and the heirs of Niccolò di Domenico di Lionardo Buoninsegni (1470–71).497 In these circumstances, it is not surprising to nd a number of contemporaries who evinced dismay at the state of grammar in midfteenth-century Florence. Ficino, who has himself been seen at work as a private tutor in Florence in the early 1450s (see above p. 428), disparaged the miserable condition and lowly position of his fellow ripetitori, with obvious refence to their particularly poor standing in Florence. In one of his earliest writings, the Invectiva Marsilii Figlinensis ad suum Ghuardavillam Volateranum (see above pp. 441 ff ), he described these ripetitori as a ‘tetrum ac detestandum non hominum dico sed inmum belluarum genus’ and pointed to the ‘miserrima exercitatio pedagoga’.498 In his maturity, Ficino continued to lament the status of grammar teachers and private tutors, declaring to Lorenzo de’ Medici in 1475 that they were regarded as lower than a ‘tavolaccino’,499 while 490
ASF CRSGF 102.421. See Appendix 5. ASF CS V.1750. See Appendix 5. 492 ASF CRSGF 102.489. See Appendix 5. 493 ASF CS IV.58. See Appendix 5. 494 ASF CS IV.67. See Appendix 5. 495 ASF AC 313. See Appendix 5. 496 ASF CRSPLAM SPM 166. See Appendix 5. 497 ASF CRSGF 102, n. 336 and 356. See Appendix 5. 498 Cristiani (1966), p. 214. For the date, see pp. 211–12. 499 This letter was rst published by della Torre (1902), pp. 494–95, with the wrong reference (ASF MAP LXXIII.320 instead of 292). It was republished by Kristeller (1937), II, p. 182. Fubini (1970), p. 227, cites the letter again from the archival source, 491
teachers, schools and pupils in florence
461
Alamanno Rinuccini complained a year before how difcult it was to organize classes for the study of Latin literature.500 Even more germane were Vespasiano da Bisticci’s imprecations to parents to move beyond the traditional commercially orientated school curriculum and provide an education for their children which transcended the abacus school: ‘Imparate, voi cittadini orentini, che come i gliuoli vostri sono nati, gli mandate all’abbaco; queste altre virtù non le stimate, perché non le conoscete.’501 Here Vespasiano was referring to grammar education, such as Giannozzo Manetti had provided for himself: ‘Imparino i padri che hanno gliuoli a fargli imparare altro che l’abaco, vegano quanto onore è a una città et a una casa un simile cittadino [sc. Manetti].’502 Florentine attitudes were similarly regretted by the lawyer Otto Niccolini at a meeting of 1460 convened to discuss the future of Florence’s university: This city, indeed from its very origins, has been dedicated to commerce and manufacturing, to which it has always devoted all its energies and efforts. Florentines believe that these activities are entirely responsible for sustaining and enhancing their republic, for ensuring the prosperity and the notable enrichment of private citizens, convinced that wealth has led to the growth of its reputation and authority. Putting other occupations to one side, they have always dedicated themselves especially to business, and the result has been that the pursuit of learning has been less prized, nor have scholars and students commanded the same respect in Florence as elsewhere. Indeed, they are held in contempt by Florentines, who shun their company and show them little regard; understanding the situation here and aware of how different things are elsewhere, men of learning are unwilling to come to Florence or, if by some chance they happen to arrive here, they are desperate to get away.503
Dismay over the parlous condition of Florentine Latin culture was, in fact, a constant theme throughout the fteenth century. Leonardo Bruni’s famous Dialogues, written at the beginning of the fteenth century, reected the reality of Florentine culture: Niccolò Niccoli’s antipathy to vernacular culture voiced genuine distress at the weakness of Florentine latinity.504 The Florentine suspicion of Latin-based learning continued
without reference to either earlier publication. The inexact reference was corrected in Archivio di stato di Firenze (1957), p. 206. 500 Fubini (1970), p. 227. 501 Vespasiano (1970–76), II, p. 507. 502 Vespasiano (1970–76), II, p. 543. 503 Translated from Brucker, (1981), pp. 531–32. 504 Bruni (1994).
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to be lamented later in the century; thus Antonio di Iacopo Lanfredini wrote to his uncle Giovanni in 1484: Io mi sto ne’ mia studii, non perché non conoschi che alle facultà vostre et alla età mia altro non si convenisse, maxime in questa città dove sempre m’è parso le lettere [sc. latine] habbino pichola o nessuna conditione.505
The late fteenth century For the later Quattocento, the educational activities of Florentine boys aged under eighteen506 are particularly well documented by the Catasto of 1480:507 age ‘A scuola’
–6
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
6
14
36
21
46
46
44
48
20
14
2
2
2
4
5
18
13
20
29
21
19
20
11
‘A scrivere’ ‘A leggere’
505
1
15 16 +16 5
2
10
4
total
4
306508
2
176509
1
8
Verde (1973–1995), III, p. 90. Verde (1973–1995), III, pp. 1003–1202 excludes all male family members aged 18 or older, regardless of their educational activity; a number of Florentine males aged 18 or older were said to be ‘a scuola’, ‘a leggere’, ‘all’abaco’, ‘a grammatica’, ‘cherico’, ‘studia’ etc. See Verde (1973–1995), III, pp. 88, 131, 135, 158, 160, 163, 179, 221, 243, 267, 268, 275, 287, 298, 299, 311, 371, 372, 278, 436, 446, 466, 512, 517, 520, 531, 545, 562, 564, 579, 580, 603, 630, 772, 794, 859, 893, 953. 507 I follow the summary here, based on Verde (1973–1995), III, pp. 1003–1202, compiled by Cherubini (1996), p. 237, rather than that by Grendler (1989), p. 75, who is justiably criticized by Cherubini (1996), p. 237 n. 77: ‘desta perplessità soprattutto il fatto che lo studioso americano abbia potuto inserire in fasce denite d’età ben 1031 scolari (quasi la totalità) menzionati dal Verde, di molti dei quali essa non è precisata, mancano inoltre completamente gli studenti che vanno ‘a scrivere’, calcolati nelle categoria di quelli che vanno ‘a leggere’ con un procedimento arbitrario e fondamentalmente errato’. It also needs to be pointed out that Grendler includes pupils from Verde’s transcriptions who are not listed as participating in any educational activity (see Verde [1973–1995], III, pp. 1101, 1106, 1107, 1113, 1118, 1132, 1141, 1165, 1168, 1169, 1170, 1172, 1173, 1183, 1186–87, 1193). 508 This number includes two boys mentioned ‘a scuola’ (pp. 205, 519) in the transcriptions of the 1480 Catasto included in the alphabetical list of students (Verde [1973–1995], III, pp. 3–955) but not repeated in his transcriptions of households with boys in education in 1480 (Verde [1973–1995], III, pp. 1003–1202). 509 This number includes two boys mentioned ‘a leggere’ (pp. 221, 304) in the transcriptions of the 1480 Catasto included in the alphabetical list of students (Verde [1973–1995], III, pp. 3–955) but not repeated in his transcriptions of households with boys in education in 1480 (Verde [1973–1995], III, pp. 1003–1202). 506
463
teachers, schools and pupils in florence age
–6
‘All’abaco
6
7
1
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15 16 +16
total
2
3
13
38
51
58
41
28
9
5
249510
3
4
2
5
1
2
18511
3
6
10
3
7
9
46513
91 107 126 110
80
51 24
22
‘In grammatica’
1
‘cherico’512 total
10
20
54
1
2
37
71
1
4
803
Again, these gures demonstrate the overriding preponderance of reading (‘a leggere’ [176] + ‘a scuola’, aged 12 or less [261] = 437) at the elementary level and abacus (249) at the secondary level. The small numbers at grammar school (18) need to be supplemented by boys training to enter the church (‘cherici’) (46). Nevertheless, even if all the 45 boys ‘a scuola’ aged 13 or more were at grammar school (an improbable hypothesis), the total learning Latin would be 109. In 1480, grammar was still running third in the Florentine school-level educational stakes, well behind reading and abacus. Legislation governing the administration of orphans’ estates, of course, extended to the whole Florentine population, and so it is not surprising that the inventories of pupilli’s property for the later fteenth century show a roughly similar education pattern as the 1480 Catasto, with reading books predominating over grammar manuals:
510 This number includes two boys mentioned ‘all’abaco’ (pp. 83, 519) in the transcriptions of the 1480 Catasto included in the alphabetical list of students (Verde [1973–1995], III, pp. 3–955) but not repeated in his transcriptions of households with boys in education in 1480 (Verde [1973–1995], III, pp. 1003–1202). 511 This number includes one boy mentioned as learning grammar (p. 518) in the transcriptions of the 1480 Catasto included in the alphabetical list of students (Verde [1973–1995], III, pp. 3–955) but not repeated in his transcriptions of households with boys in education in 1480 (Verde [1973–1995], III, pp. 1003–1202). 512 Young trainee-clerks are not included by Cherubini (1996), p. 237; Grendler gives the slightly higher gure of 52: (1989), p. 75. 513 This number includes ve boys mentioned as studying for the priesthood (pp. 173, 189, 190, 287, 653) in the transcriptions of the 1480 Catasto included in the alphabetical list of students (Verde [1973–1995], III, pp. 3–955) but not repeated in his transcriptions of households with boys in education in 1480 (Verde [1973–1995], III, pp. 1003–1202).
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Inventories of pupilli: patterns of education, 1471–1500 (based on Verde [1987], pp. 40–180) Year
Number of housholds owning reading textbooks
Numbers of households owning grammar (Latin) textbooks
1471
1
1
1474
2
1475
4
1
1476
1
1477
2
1
1478
2
2
1479
3
1480
2
1483
1
1489
1
1
1494
1
1495
1
1496
3
1498
1
total
21
2 12
Like matriculation gures for the Confraternity of the Purication and the pupilli records, the Catasto provides an educational prole for the Florentine populace as a whole; the ricordanze, on the other hand, are more of a window onto the provision for learning of the Florentine upper classes, emanating as they predominantly do from families such as the del Bene, Valori, dell’Antella, Strozzi, Sassetti, Firidol, Morelli, Spini, Bardi, Neroni, Castellani, Cerchi, Pecori, Nobili, Gherardi, Gondi, Rossi and Capponi. Until the late fteenth century, there is little to differentiate the educational habits revealed by the ricordanze and those disclosed by the Catasto, the pupilli inventories or the Purication Confraternity. However, if attention turns to the last thirty years of the century, the ricordanze begin to offer a different picture; there are 37 ricordanze in the Archivio di Stato di Firenze and the Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale with educational material for this period, and they offer the follow picture of educational preferences:
465
teachers, schools and pupils in florence Ricordanze: patterns of education, 1471–1500 Year
Number of households with evidence of learning to read (and write)
1471
Number of households with evidence of learning the abacus 2
1472
1
1
1473
2
1
1474
2
1476 1477
Number of households with evidence of learning grammar (Latin)
1 1
1
1479
2 1
1480
1
1481
2
1482
2
1
1483
1
1486
2
2
1487
2
2
1488
1
1489
1
1490
1
1
1491
3
1
1492
2
2
1493
1
2
1494
1
2
1495
2
3
1496
1
1
2
1497
2
1
1
1498
1
1
1
1499
1
1
1
1500 total
2
1
2
1 30
25
18
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What is immediately striking here is the considerably enhanced interest in grammar education revealed by the ricordanze, as compared with earlier in the century: grammar is still in third place, but the gap between grammar and abacus has noticeably narrowed. It has been seen above (ch. 2, pp. 167–68) that there was perhaps a revived interest in the Latin classics at the school level from upper-class families in the earlier fteenth century, possibly to be be connected with the rise of amateur humanism among the Florentine elite. Nevertheless, these rst glimmerings of humanism in the Florentine elite classroom are dim in comparison with the last thirty years of the Quattrocento. In this later period, not only did grammar learning in the ricordanze nearly equal that of the abacus, but numerous individual grammar pupils can for the rst time be identied abundantly in these private aristocratic diaries, including Francesco di Bernardo Rinieri, who learnt Latin from Bartolomeo Fonzio in 1479,514 Gentile di Bartolomeo Sassetti in 1476,515 Cresci di Andrea Cresci in 1477,516 Alfonso di Filippo Strozzi,517 Carlo di Niccolò Strozzi in 1479,518 Iacopantonio di Lorenzo Morelli in 1483,519 Girolamo di Antonio Gondi in 1486,520 the heirs of Lorenzo di Francesco Strozzi in 1486,521 Lorenzo and Filippo di Filippo di Matteo Strozzi in 1496,522 and Bernardo and Antonio di Antonio Gondi in 1492 and 1496.523 Besides this upsurge in numbers, there is unambiguous evidence of humanist inuence on the grammar curriculum. Before 1475, grammar manuals mentioned in the ricordanze were entirely traditional. However, on 8 July 1477 Bartolomeo Sassetti entered in his diary, ‘per costo di uno libro dell’epistole di Tulio familiari comperai per Gentile, Fl. 1 S. 3’. Cicero’s familiar letters had never formed part of the traditional medieval grammar syllabus but they were used in the later fteenth century as stylistic models by some humanist teachers, becoming widely diffused in the Florentine classroom by the end of the century. More-
514 515 516 517 518 519 520 521 522 523
ASF ASF ASF ASF ASF ASF ASF ASF ASF ASF
CRSGF 95.212. See Appendix 5. CS V.1751. See Appendix 5. ACGA 327. See Appendix 5. CS V.22. See Appendix 5. CS IV.71. See Appendix 5. ACGPA 139. See Appendix 5. CG 32. See Appendix 5. CS V.68. See Appendix 5. CS V.54. See Appendix 5. CG 33. See Appendix 5.
teachers, schools and pupils in florence
467
over, on 2 August 1477, less than a month later, Bartolomeo spent one orin for a copy of ‘uno libro che si chiama Le Eleganzia di Lorenzo Valla’.524 Valla’s Elegantiae were usually rather too advanced for the schoolroom, humanist teachers normally preferring Agostino Dati’s Elegantiolae; however, Bartolomeo Sassetti’s intention was clear, and it was an attitude now shared by a number of other elite fathers. The most concrete sign of this new fashion for humanist textbooks in the Florentine schoolroom at the end of the fteenth century is the fortune there of Niccolò Perotti’s Rudimenta grammatices. Written in 1468 and rst printed only in the early 1470s, Perotti’s grammar became a best seller in Florentine grammar schools. Called ‘reghole supuntine pe’ fanciulli’, ‘regole sepontine’, ‘regole sepontie’, ‘rigole di Sepuntino’ or ‘reghole di Sepontino’ or ‘reghole serpentine’, this book found its way into the hands of pupils from the households of Filippo Strozzi,525 Niccolò Strozzi,526 Antonio Gondi,527 and Alessandro Capponi528 between 1476 and 1486.529 With the new penchant for Latin (grammar) among the Florentine elite in the last quarter of the fteenth century, it is clear that the gulf between the educational pattern of elite and non-elite boys had signicantly widened; in the earlier fteenth century it had been primarily the private tutor who distinguished the education of the Florentine elite (see above pp. 423 ff ), but now there was a difference in curriculum too. The populace clung to the traditional reading and abacus schools, as is clear from the Catasto of 1480, whereas the elite developed a new interest in grammar, and humanist-style grammar at that. The fashion for resident tutors became ever more compelling at the end of the fteenth century, so that a large number of elite boys were now being educated by private tutors at home: their families read like a Florentine social register (see above p. 440). The Florentines now had some reason to feel that they fullled the new denition of a gentleman as laid down by humanists such as Alberti: ‘E chi non sa la prima cosa ne’ fanciugli utile debbono essere le lettere? Ed è in tanto la prima, che per gentiluomo che sia, sanza lettere sarà mai se non rustico riputato.
524 525 526 527 528 529
ASF CS V.1751. See Appendix 5. ASF CS V.22. See Appendix 5. ASF CS IV.71. See Appendix 5. ASF CG 32. See Appendix 5. ASF CS V.68. See Appendix 5. For further discussion of these trends, see above ch. 2, pp. 140–44.
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E vorrei io vedere e’ giovani nobili più spesso col libro in mano che collo sparviere [. . .] Se cosa alcuna si truova qual stia bellissimo colla gentilezza, o che alla vita degli uomini sia grandissimo ornamento, o che alla famiglia dia grazia, autorità e nome, certo le lettere sono quelle, senza le quali si può riputare in niuno essere vera gentilezza.’530 What is particularly signicant is that a private classical education had thus become a status symbol in Florence, one further sign—like wealth, ancient lineage, public ofce, marriage—of a family’s exclusive social position. This type of education now provided upper-class Florentines with a particularly effective means of distinguishing themselves and their sons from the more common elements of society.
530
Alberti (1960–73), I, p. 70.
APPENDIX ONE
EDUCATION IN THE FLORENTINE CATASTO, 1427 Florence Archivio di Stato, Catasto, 1427 Vol. 15, Santo Spirito, Scala fol. 130r–v Filuoli e rede di Piero di Ser Antonio del Maestro Piero della Gramaticha fol. 174r: [Portata di Maestro Antonio di Cecho mugnaio, 52] con tre gluoli. El primo àne nome Checho d’anni diciotto. El secondo àne nome Bernaba. Àne anni quatordici. El terço àne nome Marcho. Àne anni undici e sta per chericho. fol. 358r: [Portata di Bartolo di Simone del Grasello] Sono d’ettà d’anni sesattasei ed ò la mia dona d’ettà d’anni quarattadue ed ò V gliuoli, 4 maschi e una femina. Il primo è d’anni 16, à nome Lorenzo. Lorenzo sta a l’atte della lanna, à anni sedicci. Antonio è il sechodo. Ista a l’a[r]te della lanna, à anni tredicci. E Giovanni è l’altro, sta a l’abacho, è d’ettà d’anni dodicci. E una fanciulla, à nome Lisa, è d’ettà d’anni tre. Simone è fanciullino. È a balia in Mugiello ed è di messi nove. fol. 406r: A di XII di luglio 1427 Questa è la sustanzia de’ beni mobili di me Bernardo d’Antonio Falchoni ghonfalone della Schala. In prima ò da Giovanni e Lorenzo di Ser Falchone ogni anno a mia vita st. quindici di grano e due chogna di vino e a mia ghabella è nett(o). E questo ò per uno lodo che diè tra loro e me Niccholò di Feduccio Falchoni, del quale fu roghato Ser Antonio Fazi. Anchora ò un pocho d’aviamento d’una bottegha ch’io tengho da chasa e Peruzzi d’insegnare leggere a fanciulli.
470
appendix one
Altro non n’ò in questo mondo, e chosì troverete che questa è la propia verità e niente di meno se altro vi fusse porto in segreto o in palese sono chontento entri in chomune. Questa è la gravezza ch’io Bernardo sopradecto ò nella sopradetta sustanza e beni immobili: In prima ò a dare al Chapitolo delle Pinzochere del Terzo Ordine di Sancto Francesco Fl. dodici per la pigione della bottegha dove io sto a ‘nsegnare a fanciulli, che nne do l’anno Fl. tre di pigione l’anno. Fl. 12 Anchora ò a dare al fondacho d’Antonio di Segna Fl. sette, e quali [ms.: e quadi] gli promissi per Riccho di Giovanni Chastellani, el quale se n’è ito a Roma. Fl. 7 Anchora ò a dare ad Antonio di Niccholò di Benozzo dov’io torno in chasa per le spese ogni anno Fl. diciotto. Fl. 18 Anchora vi signicho chome io Bernardo sopradetto sono a ttratto della mano e del piede mancho, e non n’ò mai auto nulla né di prestanza né di prestanzone, perché chi a ‘vuto a porre à veduto e chognosciuto la mia infermità e possibilità e però mi vi rachomando per l’amore di dio. Io Bernardo sopradetto sono d’età d’anni 40 e ò fatto la presente scritta di mia propia mano oggi questo dì decto di sopra. fol. 670r: [Portata di Francesco di Michele pianellaio (63)] Item ò tanti libri che vagliono circa di dodici orini Fl. XII in su quali studia Ser Lorenço mio gluolo. fol. 670v: Monna Antonia sua donna d’età d’anni quaranta quattro: anni XLIIIIo Ser Lorenzo loro gluolo d’età d’anni ventidue: anni XXII. fol. 876v [Portata di Giovanni di Ser Monte laniuolo (70 e più)] Monte suo gluolo d’anni dicianove atende a studiare e riparasi alla boctega di Ser Iachopo Salvestri. fol. 901r–v: Quartiere Sancto Spirito gonfalone della Scala popolo Sancta Lucia de’ Magnoli Dinanzi a voi signori uciali del chatasto, io Girolamo di Bartolo chiamato Taccino, che ‘nsegno leggiere a fanciugli alla Piaza de’ Mozi, qui a piè scriverò tutti mie’ beni mobili et imobili, cioè: Una chasetta dov’io abito, da primo via, a II e 3 Richardo di Tommaso de’ Mozi, a 4 Bocchocio di Tomaso Alamanni. Costòmi orini 60.
education in the florentine catasto, 1427
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È nel popolo di Sancta Lucia decta. Dice la charta nella fanciulla mia. 1a chasetta posta ne la Via di San Christofano, popolo di San Piero Magiore, che da primo via, da II Ser Piero rectore di Sa’ Martino a Terrezano Bartolomeo di ____[spazio], a 4 un chiasso che non à uscita. Costòmi orini 30. Òne di pigione lire X. Stàvi Neri potatore a saponaio a Sancta Marcherita. 1o pezo di bosco posto nel pivere di Sa’ lLazaro popolo di Sa’ Martino a li Foli, logo detto a Buo’ Morto. No’ n’è frutto. Non so e conni. 1o pezo di vigna soda, stata gia è 15 ani. No’ ne chavo frutto niuno. In tutti conni Ser Simone Berti popolo di Sancta Margherita a Sciano e uno chasolare co’ detti conni. 1o podere posto nel piviere di Rubiana popolo Sancto Bartolomeo a Musignano. È di Franciesco di Michele detto Bacoco. Hòne charta che debo avere da lui orini 50 d’oro e più debo avere da llui de’ pachati per lui orini 12 o circha che non ò né charta né scritta se non è s’à testimonianza dove gli ò pagati. Lavoralo Francesco detto. Da primo Peraccino di Lucha, da II Neri di Bartolo e Romolo di Piero e ‘n parte via, da 3 rede di Pieruzo di Benciveni e fosato, da 4 Ventura di Bartolo e Peraccino di Lucha e re[de] di Moccholetto, con parechi pezuoli di terra boscata apartenenti al detto luogo che non so i conni. Ònne di rendita sei in sette orini l’anno. Danari ho a dare altrui: Alle rede di Giovani di Ligi Quaratesi orini 7 overo 8, non so apunto, che mi prestorono qua[n]do comperai la casa dov’io abito. A Monna Nicholosa donna fu d’Agnolo di Nese da Pugiboni overo a Benedetto suo gliuolo, ed è barbiere, ché a lui gli promisi orini X. Sono per resto della chasa dove sta Neri. Ebi termine du’ anni de’ detti denari. Ho a dare a più persone circha di L. 4. Danari ò ‘vere: Ho a rischuotere da migliaia di persona circha di lire 30 o più, che sono perduti per fanciugli a chui ò insegnato. So’ pichole some. No’ gli vorebono trovar per darmegli. Sono prestaziato nella novina in S. 6 D. 8. La Francesca mie [sic] gliuola à’nni XI, naque nel ‘16 di giugno. Taccino naqui nel ‘63 d’aprile. Ò anni 64. Sono infermo già è degli ani 36 di renella e d’altra infermità più trista. Faròvene chiari se volete. Sono povero e vechio. Christo vi guardi e facci salve l’anime vostre, amen.
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fol. 182r: [Portata di] Lucha d’Antonio di Filippo [bastiere] Anchora io Lucha òne anni ventidue e non ò né padre né madre né frategli altro ch’uno, cioè Domenicho d’età d’anni nove e ista a la schuola a legiere. E io Lucha isto chon Christafano di Michele bastiere del popolo di Santa Lucia de’ Magnyoli e dàme l’anno orini ventitre ne per mio salario. E a mie ispese e ònne a vivere io e detto Domenicho. fol. 210r: Incharichi e beni di Matteo di Gusto dell’Abacho da Firenze, dimora in Pesero, à ne circha d’anni trentasei, no’ ci stette mai. fol. 210v: A dì 17 d’ottobre, Matteo di Giusto dell’Abacho, dimora in Pesero, Scala, acchatastato per Fl. 300 di soprabondante computata la sua persona. fol. 255r [Portata di Ser Michele d’Antonio dalla Badia di Montemuro di Chianti, notaio et citadino orentino (65)] Ser Michele d’Antonio d’età d’anni LXV Monna Vaggia sua donna d’età d’ani XL Tina sua gluola d’età d’ani XII Christofano di Ser Michele lavorante a drappi, d’ani XXV Monna Mattea sua donna d’età d’ani XX Lorenzo di Ser Michele studia, d’ani XVIII Bartholomeo di Ser Michele d’ani due fol. 279r: [Portata delle rede di Iacopo di Beninchasa fu tintore] Michele gluolo del detto Iacopo d’età d’anni dicanove, il quale si ripara al setaiuolo sanza salario però ch’egli studiò per insino a ora per essere notaio, hora non vuole essere. fol. 534v: [Portata di Piero di Giorgio Dati] Sono in casa io d’età d’anni 73 compiuti e la donna mia d’età d’anni 53 o circha e 4 gluoli, 1a femina e 3 maschi cioè [. . .] 1o d’età d’anni 18 in 19 c’à nome Lionardo, il quale studia per essere notaio, che nonn è picola spesa e per ancora nonn è matricollatto notaio e non si può essercitare per ancora a mio guadagno [. . .] E più à Lionardo mio gluolo che studia libri per suo uso che lli stimo Fl. 25 in 30.
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fol. 552r [Portata di Ridolfo di Taddeo de’ Bardi] Io Ridolfo d’età d’anni LXXXXo infermo a morte Paghola mia donna d’età d’anni LXXX Lucha mio gluolo d’età d’anni XLII. Mentachatto. Non sa legiere né anumerare. Lionardo mio gluolo d’età d’anni XXXII Iachopo gluolo di Lionardo mio gluolo d’età d’anni II Ghostanza gluola di Lionardo d’età d’anni III. fol. 746v: [Portata di Zanobi di Salvi Benitendi (49) lanaiuolo in Via Magio] Il primo mio gliuolo à nome Alberto d’ettà d’ani 12. Il sechondo à nome Salvi d’ettà d’ani 10. Istano a l’abacho. Il terço à nome Antonio d’età d’ani tre e meço: 3 1/2. Una fanciula femena d’ettà d’ani 8. À nome Margherita: ani 8. Una fanciulla d’ettà d’ani 2 1/2. À nome Alesandra, d’ettà ani 2 1/2. Vol. 17, Santo Spirito, Nicchio fol. 254v [Portata di Bardo di Ser Gherardino da Montelupo] Lo detto Bardo è entrato ne’ quatordici anni. Ista quando può stare in città e alla schuola per volere istudiare d’essere notaio, come il padre. Le fatiche del chomuno [sic] lo fanno stare il più tenpo in contado. Monna Ghostanza donna che ffu di Ser Gherardino madre del ditto Bardo, d’età d’anni quaranta otto. fol. 270r [Portata di] Bernardo di Bartolomeo Niccoli detto è d’età d’anni LIIIIo passati con quatro gluoli, III maschi e 1a femina. Nofri il primo è d’età d’anni XXVI ed è frate del carmino [sic] e al presente è già e tre anni è allo studio a Padova e costami di vestire e di spese che della mia povertà l’aiuto di quello m’è possibile. Antonio il secondo è d’età d’anni XXIII e non volle mai stare a bottegha e consumami in più modi. Lodovicho il terzo è mecho in bottegha ed è d’età d’anni XX. Maria il quarto è la fanciulla femina d’età d’anni XIII.
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fol. 341r: Dinanzi a voi singnori uciali del chatassto della chomunità di Firenze si fa raporto per me Bartolo di Lorenzo maestro d’insegniare leggere e scrivere a fancugli nel quartiere di Santo Ispirito, ghonfalone del Nichio, abita in Borgho Sa’ Iacopo. Sustanzie in beni: Bartolo sopradetto è d’età d’anni quarantacinque. Mona Domenicha sua donna è d’età d’anni trentasei. Lorenzo suo gliuolo è d’età d’anni diciasette. Ista al coiaio. Miniato suo gliuolo è d’età d’anni quindici, entra ne’ sedici. Ista al coiaio. Antonia sua gliuola d’età d’anni tre. Chassandra sua gliuola è d’età di mesi undici. Bartolo di Lorenzo sopradetto abita nella chasa di Francesco de’ Nerli in Borgho Sa’ Iachopo populo di Sancta Felicita. Chonna da primo via, da sechondo le rede di Piero Magli, terzo chiasolino o via istreta, chon altri veri chonni. Paghone di pigione Fl. diciotto e mezo l’ano. Ònne apigionata la metà della sopradetta chasa a Zanobi vochata Baiardino ed òne Fl. nove di pigione l’ano, e Berto di Zanobi suo chognato è obrighato chol detto Barardino alla detta pigione. Bartolo sopradetto à una chasa a vita nel populo di San Piero Magiore tra ‘l chanto alla Brigha al chanto al Zanperino, chonnata dal primo via, sechondo munistero di Cestello, terzo Romolo di Nicholò di Geri, quarto Marcho righatiere, quinto Mona Simona di Berto, o altri chonni veri. Rimane la detta chasa dopo la morte di deto Bartolo a San Piero Magiore. Ista a pigione nella deta chasa Guliano di Zanobi vochato Sanella. Dànne di pigione Fl. quatro l’ano a L. quatro il orino. Bartolo sopradetto gli fu donata da Mon’Antonia donna che fu di Filicie di Ser Franciescho la dota sua, che sono Fl. settanta in su una chasa nella via di Pinti populo San Piero Magiore di Firenze, chonnato dal primo via, sechondo lo spedale di Pinti, terzo Monna Nana donna fu di Nicholò di Piero Gerini dipintore e dona di Lore di [spazio]; al presente sianne apiato c[i]oè alle pitizioni chol priore di Peretola e chon Dino di Guardi ispeziale, che à ‘vere Fl. 275 e à preso il valsente di Fl. 80 o non so chom’io me ne capiterò. Èvi da paghare se torto non mi fosse fatto. [fol. 341v:] Questi sono i debitori di sopradeto Bartolo che àno a dare: Lionardo di Lucha Malici de’ dare, chom’apare a libro suo dell’atori, per anni quatro ò fatto la sua attoria. Quello istanzierano gli uciali de’ pupilli quartieri di Sancto Ispirito e Sancta Crocie—Fl. 14.
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Alessandro Arrighi e chompagni lanaiuoli deon’ dare per due mesi e mezo di salaro. Soprastete Piero del Maestro Bartolo chon eso loro a l’arte della lana, chom’apare a libro di botegha loro del tempo e a libro di Salvestro Ceni che sarebono Fl. 3 L. 1—Fl. 3 L. 1 S. 10 D. Pagholo di Vanni Rucellai de’ dare per resto d’insengnare legere e scrivere Antonio suo gliuolo al quaderno a c. 25— L. 4 S. D. Benedetto di [spazio] sarto de’ dare per resto d’una sua ragione al quaderno a c. 61—Fl. 3 L. 1 S. 5 D. Nicholò di Geri riveditore de’ dare per resto, chompare al quadernucio a c. 62—Fl. L. 4 S. D. Matteo del Maza chorazaio de’ dare per resto al quaderno a c. 63 Fl. L. 2 S. 15. Lucha di Nofri mugnaio de’ dare com’apare al quaderno a c. 82 Fl. L. 2 S. Giuliano di Zanobi vochato Sanela de’ dare al quaderno a c. 84 Fl. 7. Iachopo di Bucherello linaiuolo de’ dare per insegniare legere e scrivere a sette suoi gliuoli al quaderno a c. 72— Fl. 14 L. S. Il prete chalzolaio de’ dare chom’apare al quaderno a c. 75 Fl. 1 L. S. Morello di Papi Boni setaiuolo de’ dare per resto di sua ragione, apare al quaderno a c. 80—Fl. L. 11 S. Matteo di Bartolo Boni setaiuolo de’ dare per resto di sua ragione, apare al quaderno a c. 80—Fl. L. 16 S. Papi di Nicholò di Bochaccio de’ dare per resto di sua ragione, apare al quaderno a c. 88—Fl. L. 3 S. Ò avere in sul quadernucio dell’entrata mia di resti d’insengnare legere e scrivere da c. 1 per inno a c. 35 da Fl. in g[i]ù Fl. 30—Fl. 30. L. S. Çanobi vochato Baiardino e Berto suo cogniato de’ dare per pigone Fl. 7 L. S. [fol. 342r:] Questi da pie sono i debiti ch’i’ò cholle persone ch’ànno avere: Alessandro Arrighi e compangni lanaiuoli deono avere per resto di pano levai da llui Fl. 3 L. 2, i quali à schonto Piero mio gliuolo e no’ ne siano d’achordo, apare nella facia da lato cho’ mio avere Fl. 3 S. 10—Fl. 3 L. 2
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Chardinale di Piero Rucellai de’ avere. Non abiano fato saldo. Parmi resti avere Fl. cinque—Fl. 5. Piero di Franciesco degli Asini de’ avere per libro suo a a [sic] carta 142 segnato A—Fl. 13. Domenicho di Tano e chompagni linaiuoli a libro loro. Non n’ò saldo ragione cho’ loro perché ò avere da Michele suo compagnio e vogliamo biscontare insieme—Fl. 3. Andrea Randelli e chompagni linaiuoli a libro loro—Fl. 4. Mariano di Vanni lengniaiuolo de’ avere per resto, non n’abiamo fato saldo insieme—Fl. 7. Piero Ferrantini de’ avere per resto d’una iscrita ch’egli à di mia mano d’una promesa—Fl. 1 L. 2. Lorenzo Adimari e chompagni ritagliatori deono avere Fl. 16 L. 2. Ruberto Salviati e chompagni ritagliatori deono avere Fl. 12. Luigi di Marcho di Tomaso Bartolo e chompagni deono avere Fl. 10 L. 2. Bartolomeo di Mateo ritagliatore de’ avere Fl. 4. Çanobi Belfradegli non n’abiano fato saldo insieme, de’ avere Fl. 6— Fl. 6 L. Franciescho de’ Nerli per pigione de’ avere per inno a Ogni Santi— Fl. 24. Meo farinaiuolo e chompagni di Piaza deono avere per resto chom’apare per libri loro—Fl. L. 7 S. 6. Questo [sic] è la portata di me Bartolo di Lorenzo ogi questo dì 11 di luglio 1427. Vol. 18, Santo Spirito, Nicchio fol. 930r: [Portata di] Guasparri e di Baldassarri glioli di Spinello [Aretino] dipentore [. . .] Uno peçço di terra posta in la corte di Petrogniano [. . .] Uno peçço di tera posta la detta chorte luogho detto Le Viottole con suoi chonni: Paulino di Messer Nicholò e Maestro Franciescho maestro di schola [. . .] fol. 1055v [Portata di Tommaso et Loteringho di Lucha d’Antonio Loteringhi (i.e. della Stufa)] Tommaso d’età d’anni 13 sta’l’abacho. Loteringho d’età d’anni 12 sta’l’abacho. Monna Chaterina nostra madre anni 35.
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fol. 1380r: [Portata di Biliotto d’Andriano Bilioti, abitatore a Santa Crosce del Valdarno] Zanobi Belfredegli à ‘vere da me intorno di Fl. sei d’uno mio gharzone istete co’ lui per impar[ar]e l’abaco. Non ò fata ragone—Fl. 6 [. . .] [fol. 1380v] Io Bilioto sono d’età d’ani setanta e no’ fo nula. Mona Biaga di Christofano Quaratesi mia dona d’età d’ani quaranta o più. Luigi mio gliuolo d’età d’ani quindici e non fa nula. Tengho uno fante, dògli l’ano Fl. diesci [. . .] fol. 1497r [Portata di] Stefano di Dario pianellaio [. . .] Io Stefano detto d’età d’anni 60. Antonia sua mogle d’età d’anni 40. Mona Nencia sua suocera d’età d’anni 70. Dario suo gliuolo d’anni 24. Sta co’ Niccholò Barbadori a l’arte della lana. Nencio suo gliolo sta con Braccio a l’arte della lana, d’ettà di 19 anni. Domenicho suo gliuolo d’età d’anni 10 sta alla schuola. Giovanni suo gliuolo d’anni 6. Bernaba suo gliuolo di anni 4. fol. 1540r [Portata di Tommaso di Bartolomeo Chorbinelli] Tommaso sopradetto d’età d’anni 70 sanza alchuno aviamento. La Ginevra donna di detto Tommaso gliuola fu di Vieri Guadangni. Filippo gliuolo di detto Tommaso d’età d’anni 15 non n’à aviamento. Bernardo gliuolo di detto Tommaso d’età d’anni 11 1/2 sta a l’abacho. Chorbinello gliuolo di detto Tommaso d’età d’anni 9. Bartolomeo gliuolo di detto Tommaso d’età d’anni 8. Albizo gliuolo di detto Tommaso d’età d’anni 6. Vieri gliuolo di detto Tommaso d’età d’anni 4. Maria gliuola di detto Tommaso d’età d’anni 3. Rugieri gliuolo di detto Tommaso d’età d’anni—mesi 2 1/2.
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fol. 159v: A voi magnici uciali del chatasto. Nel ghonfalone de la Ferça nel popolo di San Felicie in Paça in Via Chiara di rinpeto a le chonvertite, Albiço di Ciecho vergchegiatore di tenpo anni sesanta quatro e Mon’ Amante sua donna di te[m]po anni cinquanta chon tre gluoli, el primo à nome Cecho di tenp[o] trentadua, è vergchegiatore, sechondo Mechero di tenpo anni ventiquatro, divetta, terço Piero d’anni otto, ista a legere. Chon dua chasette, l’una abito e l’altra apigiono. Ònne l’anno orini quatro. Èvi drento Guido di Franciescho. Ò avere da lui orini quattro. Chonni da via, sechondo una chasa di Mona Antonia vedova, fu mogle di Tomaso tavernaio, el terço una chasa de lo ispedale de’ Ridol, qua[r]to di direto da la chorte Domencho di Guliano. Ò dep[os]ito chol chomune orini dodici, chome potrete vede’ llo ne’ libri del chomune. Ò di pestançone orini uno e soldi dua e danari uno.1 Vol. 20, Santo Spirito, Ferza fol. 832r [Portata di Domenicho di Francesco orafo, fra i debitori:] Mattio de Maestro Lucha dell’Abacho L. 1 S.1 fol. 1103r [Portata di] Giovanni di Ser Niccholò maestro di fanciulli d’età d’anni 60 valichi. Monna Chaterina sua donna d’ettà 58 valichi. Chimento nostro gliuolo d’età d’anni 26 valichi, el quale habita oggi a Rodi, ed è orafo, cioè lavorante. Monna Mattea sua donna d’età d’anni 22. Ànno una fanciulla che à intrata ne’ 4 anni. À nome Perla. Abbiamo una chasa di valuta di orini cento per la nostra habitatione posta nella Via della Marmaruche di sotto a Sitorno, la quale è connata da primo via, da secondo Giovanni di Piero Landi stanpino, da terço Monna Vectoria vedova, da quarto Simo di Givoanni vaiaio. Abbiamo debito al fondacho di Francesco degli S[t]roççi per panni levati in più volte circha di orini 7. Anchora abbiamo debito chol presto dalla Vaccha lire 6. Anchora colla pigione della bottega ch’io tengo dal Priore di Santa Maria Magiore et più altri debiti circha di lire 25.
1
Published in translation and without the original text in Brucker (1993), p. 17.
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Vol. 21 Santo Spirito, Ferza fol. 96r Queste sono le sustanzie del Maestro Lucha di Matteo de l’Abacho e di Sandro mio gliuolo e di Simone mio nipote. In prima ò in sulla bottegha di Mattio gliuolo Fl. dugento [. . .] Una chasa posta in Via Santa Maria dalle Chonvertite, la quale tiene a pigione Bartolomeo di Taddeo da granaiuolo; dàne l’ano Fl. sei di pigione. La chasa che abita il maestro e Giovanni e Sandro suoi gliuoli fu lasciata da Neri di Sandro Orlandini a Mona Simona sirochia del detto Neri e donna fu del detto maestro, a vita della donna e de’ suoi gliuoli, pel quale lascio si pagha ogni ano a’ frati degli Agnioli di Firenze Fl. sette per due rinnovali vi faciamo [. . .] Incharichi in sulle dette sustanzie: Sono io d’età d’anni setanta e Mona Sandra mia donna d’età d’anni 50. E Sandro mio gliuolo d’età d’anni venti. E sta cho’ Mattio suo fratello a l’arte della seta e dàgli l’ano Fl. venticinque. E Simone, mio nipote d’eta d’anni undici, impara l’abacho. Non à padre né madre. Àsi a trarne delle dette sustanzie Fl. dugento cinquanta, e quali arò a rendere a Simone mio nipote per la dota della madre sua. Pagho l’anno di pigione della schuola Fl. ventuno cioè Fl. 14 alle donne di Sant’Orsa e Fl. sette ad Armordio d’Amari degli Sprai [?]. Pagho a’ frati degli Agnioli ogni anno per due uci Fl. sete. Matteo e Giovanni miei gliuoli manciepai più tempo fa, charta per mano di Ser Domenicho di Tomaso Moschardi. Mattio abita nel ghonfalone del Charro e Giovanni abita mecho in chasa. Sono aprestanziato io e tutti e miei gliuoli nel ghonfalone della Ferza e abiamo di prestanzone Fl. sette e fumo isgravati Fl. uno S. sei D. uno a oro. fol. 150v: [Portata di Lapino di Michele barbiere] E più ò a dare a Sere Charluco da Cità di Chastelo lire dodici, ista chon Gudo Deti. fol. 267r [Portata di Lionardo di Lucha Baroncelli, fra i debitori del quale è:] Matteo di I[a]chopo isegnia chantare Fl. 1.
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fol. 7r: [Portata di Lorenço di Fabiano, pettinatore di lana] Nel popolo di San Piero Ghatolini isto in una chasa di Ser Giovanni prete di San Piero Ghatolino chonni a prima via, sechondo la mona tiene fanciugli a legiere, terço Piero di Giovanni chiamato Secha, quarto chonni el munistero di Ciertosa e do di pigione L. nove l’anno. fol. 57r: [Portata di Nofri di Simone, lavora al tiratoio] 1a chasa chon maserizie per mio [sic] abitazione di pregio di Fl. ciento chon suo conni: a primo via, sechondo Mona Piera donna di Zanobi di Chovero, a terzo Chalvano di Cristofano dipintore, a quarto Maestro Lucha de l’abacho, quinto le rede di Piero di Iachopo Bini. fol. 229r: [Portata di] Piero di Bartolo Randelli [. . .] el quale Piero issta chon Bernardo Giugni ed è di fuori. E Bernardo suo fratello di detto Piero issta a l’abacho e ttornasi in cha[sa] Salvi di sStefano Randelli suo çio. E chosì detto Piero quando ci’è fa ridotto in chasa detto Salvi. E ànno una sirochia che ssi issta cho’ la madre [. . .] El detto Piero di Bartolo Randelli è d’età d’ani 23. E Bernardo suo fratello è d’età d’anni 8. E la Fiora loro sirocchia è d’età d’anni 17. fol. 369v [Portata di Tomaso di Tomaso, che fu charaiuolo] Tomaso di Tomaso [58] Antonio mio gluolo d’età d’anni XXVI, il qual’è a Padova e studia. fol. 432v [Portata dei fratelli e gliuoli di Ser Michele del Canpana da Santo Godenzo2]
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Vicho d’età d’anni 30 frategli et gluoly Matteo d’età d’anni 25 di Ser Michele del Mariotto d’età d’anni 22 Canpana da San Betto d’età d’ani 16 Ghodenzo Angelo 12 Monna Iasabetta nostra madre d’età d’anni 54 2
[. . .]
Fol. 431r: Una chasa posta a San Ghodenzo colle maseritie per loro habitare
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Mariotto dicto studia. Dà l’anno di spese alla chasa orini venti. Solo delle spese sanza l’altre spese che gli bisogna che sta a Firenze. Vol. 23, Santo Spirito, Drago fol. 581r: [Portata di Cristiano d’Arrigho tessitore di panni lani] A dare altrui questi danari [. . .] Maiestro Giovani dell’Abacho de’ avere Fl. nove. Vol. 24, Santo Spirito, Drago fol. 751r: [Portata di] Domenicho d’Antonio d’Arrigho, che ‘nsegnio legiere a parechi fanciulli del popolo di San Friano di Firenze quartiera di Sancto Spirito ghonfalone del Drago. 1a maserizia in chasa di valuta di Fl. 25 o circha. La chasa dov’io abito nella via di Sancto Aghostino si è di Vanozo di Giovanni Serragli cho suo’ choni, da primo via, secondo terzo e quarto il sopradetto Vanozo Serragli. Paghone l’anno di pigione al detto Vannozo Fl. 6. Io Domenicho d’Antonio sopradetto sono d’età d’anni 45 o circha. E sono a ttratto e chagionevole per modo ch’io non posso andare dall’uscio a richagniolo. Guadagnio l’ano a ‘sengniare a fanciugli Fl. 18 o 20. La donna d’età d’anni 30 o circha. 1a fanciulla d’età di mesi 3 o chircha ch’à nome Filippa. Qui iscriverò il debito ch’io Domenicho sopradetto ò e chon chi ò a dare: A dare a Filippo di Salvestro bigliaio in tutto Fl. 3 L. 2. A dare a Bernardo d’Anselmo lanaiuolo in tutto Fl. 2 L. 2. A dare a Filippo di Ser Lapo lanaiuolo in tutto Fl. 9 L. 1. A dare a Giano di Bernardo Busini e chonpangni tintori Fl. 16. A dare a Giovanni di Iachopo di Piero lanaiuolo in Via Magio Fl. 12 L. 3. A dare a lLotto di Iachopo richattiere in tutto Fl. 6 L. 9. A dare a Nichollò d’Antonio Manovelli in tutto Fl. 14 L. 9. A dare a Piero Buoromei e chonpangni banchieri in tutto Fl. 20 L. 9. A dare a Manno del Pace farsettaio Fl. 20 L. 9. A dare a Meo d’Antonio chalzaiolo in tutto Fl. 3 L. 3.
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A dare a Giovanni di Ser Lucha Franceschi Fl. 10 L. 9. A dare a ‘ntonio di Francescho farsettaio in tutto Fl. 4 L. 2. A dare a Bartolo di Giovani zaponi in tucto Fl. 19 L. A dare a Piero di Mariano in tutto Fl. 6 L. Soma in tutto Fl. 130 L. 2. Pagho a’ sopradetti creditori ongni ano al bancho de’ Buorromei per parte di paghamento Fl. 8.3 fol. 1040r [Portata di Giovanni di Filippo Lanfredini] [Giovanni Lanfredini 65] [Margherita sua donna 39] Messer Giuliano mio gliuolo che studia legie a Perugia. Di marzo pasato ebe anni XVI. Bancho mio gliuolo va l’abocho. Ebe di marzo pasato ani 13. fol. 1174r–v [Portata di] Maestro Giovanni di Bartolo dell’Abacho del quartiere di Santo Spirito gonfalone del Dragho popolo di Santo Friano. Una chasa con orto nella quale io abito posta in su tereno della badia de’ Camaldoli, della quale pago l’anno d’avillare S. 7 D. 6 di piccioli [. . .] Uno pezo di vignia vechia e guasta di staiora 4 c’à ‘lcuno panoro e tengola a mie mani ché non ve truovo lavoratore perché guasta e trista. Fecemi l’anno passato barili 3 di vino e l’anno dinanzi barili 1 1/2 ed è nel popolo di Sancto Piero a Sulicciano [. . .] e costami l’anno tra canne per palare et legature et lavoratura L. 4 in L. 5. E debo avere da Cristiano d’Arighe tedescho tesetore di panni lani Fl. 9 1/2 per pigione d’una chasa che tenne da me, la quale io tenea a pigione da Stefano di Ser Piero setaiuolo. I quagli danari sono come perduti però ché d’agosto che passò e’ fu preso per molti debiti et io il feci stagire nelle stinche e ivi infermò et per pietà e misericordia sanza essere pagato ne lo chavai ed è sì povero ch’i’ò fatti perduti. E debo avere Fl. 22 de’ danari dello Studio per resto del mio salario dell’anno passato, i quagli danari non posso avere di qui a magio nel ‘28 o più oltre sicondo la volta degli uciali del monte. 3 This is apparently a settlement of his debts by his creditors; he evidently was in business before becoming a teacher.
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E debo avere Fl. 72 per mio salario dell’anno presente 1427 s’e signiori me gli stanzieranno ché non ò anchora lo stanziamento e avendo lo stanziamento arei la quarta parte cioè Fl. 18 o circa di magio nel ‘29 e l’altra quarta di magio nel ‘30 e l’altra nel ‘31, il resto nel ‘32. Ed ò Fl. 48 i qualgli mi vi segniano al presente per panni lani e lini per mio dosso e per in chasa e di ciò vi farò chiari. Tengho a pigione la bottegha dell’abocho a Santa Trinita della quale pagho l’anno Fl. 17 e una ocha in questo modo che i cinque ottavi sono di Iachopo di Piero Deti et i tre ottavi sono di Gabriello di Pinzano Soldanieri, et ciptadino d’Udine in Frigoli, siché Iachopo di Piero Deti à l’anno Fl. 10 S. 50 di piccioli e Gabriello à l’anno Fl. 6 et soldi 30 di piccioli. Ed ò tanti libretti d’astrologia che vagliono nel torno di 10 orini. Signori uciali, io sono vechio d’età d’anni 63 e sono istato infermo ogimai 9 anni che io cadi e disovolai l’oso della coscia e ma’ non ò potuto guarire e in questo tempo ò logoro ogni mia sustanzia. È isviata la schuola perché no’ ll’ò potuto esercitare perché stetti lungho tenpo nel lecto fasciato e lenzato. Chome la schuola mia sia, inputo mandatelo a vedere. Io non posso andare né andrò mai più se non è a grucie con grande faticha. E sono da uno anno in qua molto pegorato e così ragenevolmente penso pegiore più l’uno dì che l’altro per la vechia e per la grande infermità. Et conviemi al presente tore una fante che mi governi ch’io no’ mi posso ogimai più aiutare. La lettura dello studio la quale mi fu data a dì 28 di giugno nel 1424 per 3 anni è nita in questo anno 1427 siché non arò più quello susidio dal chomune. Christo v’alumini del vero lume e menivi per la via della verità. Vol. 25, Santo Spirito, Drago fol. 516r [Portata di Niccholò di Biagio, batte stagno] Io Niccholò di Biagio sopradetto sono d’età anni 56 mesi 9. La donna mia, à nome Monna Antonia, d’età d’anni 46. Abiamo uno glolo, à nome Biagio, d’età d’anni undici. Sta all’abacho.
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fol. 578r [Portata di] Niccholò di Ser Fiescho Borghi d’età d’anni LXIIIIo sanza inviamento. Monna Chaterina mia donna d’età d’anni XXXVI inferma, stata dal 1415 in qua. Giustino mio gluolo d’età d’anni XXVI che va al soldo e ora è in cittadella di Pisa provigionato a Palmesa. Neri mio gluolo, d’età d’anni XVI, sta a l’abacho e al bancho si ripara. Nanna mia gluola d’età d’anni XII. Fiescho mio gluolo, d’età d’anni XI, sta a Roma con Mazetto de’ Mazetti e compagni. Giovanni mio gluolo, d’età d’anni X, sta a l’abacho. fol. 815r: [Portata dellà redità di Giovanni di Niccolò Nelli] Creditori [. . .]: Maestro Giovanni d’Ugholino de l’Abacho Fl. L. 2 S. 11 fol. 870v: [Portata di Soderino di Domenicho Soderini] Una chasetta a vita posto i’ nel popolo di Santa Trinita chon questi chonny: da primo via, da sechondo Ruberto Gangliazi, da terzo le redi di Piero d’Amary Ganglazi, da quarto la chorte de l’abacho del Maestro Lucha. Ène degli Spiny, do’ io abito. fol. 951r [Portata di Ser Stefano di Pagolo di Stefano notaio orentino] Uno donadello per falciullo Fl. uno [. . .] Sono cholla donna e tre gluoli maschi, l’uno maggiore d’età d’anni otto, il secondo d’anni due e mesi otto, il minore mesi quatordici. Uno fanciullo aspetto per di qui a otto dì overo una fanciulla. Vol. 27, Santa Croce, Carro fol. 230r [Portata di] Ser Bonaguida di Bartolomeo di Bindo notaio orentino et Bindo di Niccolò di Bartolomeo Bindi suo nipote fol. 230v Siamo in famiglia: Monna Nanna donna fu di Niccolò mio fratello, madre del detto Bindo d’età d’anni cinquantacinque o circa. Ser Bonaguida predetto d’età d’anni quaranta o circa.
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Bindo predetto, d’età d’anni ventiquactro o circa, studia in noteria. Non guadagnò mai un soldo. Costa mi assai. fol. 244r [Portata di] Barttolomeo di Iacho[po] e Salvi suo frattello [. . .] orini 54 ch’à Mattio del Maestro Lucha dell’Abacho [. . .] fol. 452r: Dinanzi a voi signori uciali del catasto del popolo e comune di Firenze. Sustanze di me Giovanni di Francesscho, che sto in casa di Francesscho di Cionaccio Baroncelli4 nel (quartiere) di Sancta Croce nel ghonfalone del Carro d’età d’anni venti, non prestanziato. In danari contanti Fl. 3. Un libro di pregio di L. 6. Un libro di pregio di L. 3. Debbo dare a sSer Bartolomeo di Buono da Porciano Fl. 2. Vol. 28, Santa Croce, Carro fol. 60r: Portata facta a voi signori uciali del catasto per me Maestro Iacopo di Martino da Spoleto, che sto in casa di Messer Matheo Castellani de tucte mie substançie ch’io ò in questa patria. In prima debbo avere da Messer Mattheo Castellani che li detti in serbança già sonno passati dodici anni sança provisione Fl. cento o più, secondo dice sua portata—Fl. 100. Item debbo avere da Monna Chaterina gliola di Giovanni di Michele Castellani et donna fu di Papi di Geri di Bardi sança alchuna provisione Fl. tettanta [sic]. Li pretai [sic] già sono sette anni—Fl. 70. Item debbo avere da Checcho di Çanobi da San Miniato che al presente sta in Terranuova Fl. quattro. Li prestai già sono sette anni—Fl. 4. Item debbo avere tucto el tempo di mia vita la rendita di Fl. cento di monte commune, i quali me lasciò Angolo di Tomaso Corbinelli nel suo testamento. Et sonno scripti al decto Angolo. Et le suo [sic] redi overo loro procuratore pigliano le paghe et dànnole a me. Et dopo mia vita sonno del commune di Firençe—Fl. 100 di monte. Item io ò tanti libri che non credo se nne trovasse Fl. trenta. Item uno scriptoio di legname bello et niuna altra masseritia o altra substantia ò in questa patria. Et in altra patria ò pocho.
4
Evidently as a ripetitore.
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Sono già d’età d’anni 57 et già sono più anni me cadde la gocciola. Et ò speso et spendo per guarire siché pocho m’è rimaso. Et se non fusse Messer Mattheo, non potrei vivere. fol. 99v [Portata di Lodovicho di Simone Bertini (. . .) abitante in Terranuova nel Valdarno di sopra] Siamo in casa in prima io Lodovicho vechio d’età d’anni LXXIII [. . .] E più ò in chasa un fanciullo d’età d’anni 9. À nome Mariotto di Iachopo da Bussetto di quello d’Arezzo, ché ssi fuggì il padre cholla mogle e con quatro fanciulli e àne perduto ciò ch’egli avea che gle l’ tolsono e nimici. Dicemmi questo per l’amore di dio di dicembre 1425 e per l’amore di dio lo tengho e fògli insegnare leggere e per l’amore il voglo crescere e allevare. fol. 102r [Portata di] Lodovicho et Piero di Charoso di Bartolo di Ser Segna e di Mona Taddea vedova gluola di Zanobi di Neri et donna che fu del detto Charoso [. . .] Teste: Monna Taddea vedova d’età d’anni L—anni 50. Lodovicho di Charoso di Bartolo d’età d’anni XVIII 1/2—anni 18 1/2. Piero di Charoso di Bartolo d’età d’anni XI—anni 11. Io detto Lodovicho si ripara al Palagio del Podestà sanza salario siché guadagna pocho o quasi nulla. Il detto Piero sta a lleggere. fol. 111v [Portata di] Lionardo di Gherardo barbiere Lionardo detto d’anni cinquanta o circha. Monna Chaterina d’anni quaranta due mia donna. Ser Gherardo mio gliuolo d’anni dicotto. Vàne allo studio et riparasi alla botegha di Ser Baptista da Pisa et non guadagnia niente. Stàvi per inparare [. . .] fol. 148v [Portata di] Messer Matteo Castellani Messer Matteo Castellani d’anni 60. Monna Nanna sua donna d’anni 32. Francescho suo gluolo d’anni 10. Margherita sua gluola d’anni 6. E in casa fermi tra maestro del fancullo, è Mº Iachopo, e famigli maschi e fanti femine, boche—X.
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fol. 168r Questa è la portata di substanzie e beni di Mactio del Maestro Luca dell’Abboco setaiuolo, habitatore nel gonfalone di Carro prestanziato col padre nel gonfalone della Ferza [. . .] In prima à a dare al maestro dell’abbaco suo padre—Fl. 200 d’oro [. . .] Mactio decto d’età d’anni—XXXIIIIº. fol. 352r Portata delle rede di Baldasare di Bartolomeo Foraboschi, che siamo in chasa quatro boche, prima Messer Bartolomeo d’anni 32, Ormanno d’anni 30, Bonsigniore d’anni 27 e Mona Giemma nostra madre d’anni 60 [. . .] fol. 357r Messer Giovanni rettore da Bolongna de’ avere da Messer Bartolomeo nostro fratello che gliele à ne prestati tra più volte per chagione dello isstudio e a più altri scholari di Bolognia orini ciento cinquanta cioè Fl. 150. fol. 391r [Portata di] Simone e Lucha di Filippo stano allo speziale [. . .] Simone di Filippo sta con Bartolomeo di Toro a ssalaro. Lucha di Filippo sta con Giuliano di Lorenzo Borsi a ssalaro. Lorenzo nostro fratello anni VIIIIº va a legiere. fol. 399v [Portata di Sandro di Giovani Baroncielli] Sandro di Giovani Baroncelli d’età d’ani 64. Monna Lema mia dona d’età d’ani 45. Bartolomeo mio gliuolo d’età d’ani 26. Giovanni mio gliuolo d’età d’ani 14 E detti fanciulli istano Salvadore mio gliuolo d’età d’ani 13 alla schuola.
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Vol. 29, Santa Croce, Bue fol. 459v [Portata di Michele di Sitii horafo] Incharichi di me Michele di Siççi in prima: Michele di Siçii d’anni 40 1/2. Monna Sandra mia donna d’anni 27. Fra Mariotto mio gluolo d’anni 13. Òllo a vestire et quando à male l’ò a casa e perché studia gli ò a comperare libri et quello gli bisognia.
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Lorenço mio gluolo d’anni 2 mesi XI. Iacopo mio gluolo di mesi 5 1/2. Vol. 30, Santa Croce, Bue fol. 11r: Dinanzi a voi signori uciali del chatasto. Io Antonio di Dominicho, che lavoro di sarto, el quale abito nel quartiere di Santa Croce nel ghonfalone del Bue Nero in chasa di Mona Madalena ne la via de’ Maci, raporto una fanciulla d’età d’anni quatordici et una altra di sete et ò uno gharzone d’anni quindici et ò quatro fanciugli et sono d’età d’anni cinchuanta et la mia dona d’anni quaranta et Giuliano di Benozo à da me pegno due choltrici et una matarasa et à una teleta di sciughatoi ni et altre chose perché Antonio sopradeto et ubrighato a Giuliano di Benozo per gli danari che egli dicie avere avere da Mona Madalena sopradeta. Et ò al presto de’ Lioni orini quindici di pegnora. Et ò a la Vacha al presto orini due di pegni. Et ò debito chon Ser Andrea di Giovanni prete orini venti. Et ò a dare alle rede d’Ugho degli Alesandri orini due per resto di panno che levai dal fondachelo loro. Et ò a dare a Ser Sante di Domenicho maestro di squola grossi ventitre d’ariento.5 fol. 115r [Portata di Baldassare di Iohanni di Lodovico da Montevarchi] Baldassare di Iohanni di Lodovico predetto, d’età d’anni sedici, sta all’abboco_______anni XVI. Non ò altri beni né sustantie. fol. 494r [Portata di Iachopo di Ser Nofri di Ser Piero delle Riformagioni] Io Iacopo sopradetto sono de età d’anni XLIIIº cioè anni 43 sança niuno aviamento. Checcha mia donna de età d’anni XXXVIIIº. Nofri mio gliuolo de età X, e sta alla schuola. Piera mia gliuola de età d’anni VIIIº.
5 Evidently a debt for teaching his children, mentioned generically below in Ser Santi’s portata (p. 496).
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Vol. 31, Santa Croce, Bue fol. 12r–14r: [Portata di Ser Giovanni del fu Maestro Matteo (di Ser Loro) da Radda, maestro di grammatica, e de’ frategli] fol. 13r: Aviamo libri di più ragioni di stima di Fl. trenta: Fl. 30. fol. 13v: Ser Giovanni del Maestro Matteo da Radda d’età anni 38. Maestro Guasparre suo fratello d’età anni 34. Ser Bartolomeo suo fratello d’età anni 32. Mariotto suo fratello d’età anni 27. Monna Felicie loro madre d’età anni 75. Monna Giana donna del Maestro Guasparre et è gravida d’età anni 19. [. . .] Aviamo anchora a dare per lascio facto per testamento di nostro padre per l’amor di dio Fl. venticinque e più aviamo a fare anchora anni 5 ogni anno uno ufcio. fol. 173r: [Portata di Monna Michelina gliuola di Ser Carsino da San Miniato al Tedescho] Item la testa sua d’anni quaranta quatro. Item la Giovanna sua gliuola d’anni dicianove. Il marito della detta Giovanna s’è ito con dio per debito e no’ gli à lasciato nulla e conviemi dargli le spese. E più è rimasa grossa di mesi sette. Item Giovanni gliuolo della detta Mona Michelina d’anni dieci. Item a dare al maest[r]o che insegna al detto fanciullo L. 10. fol. 475v [Portata di Stefano di Domenicho lavorante di tinta di ghuado] Siamo in chasa in prima: Stefano detto sono d’ettà d’anni 40 e isto per lavorante a la tinta del guado. Lena mia donna d’età d’anni 32. Domenicho mio gliolo, d’anni 9, ista a la squola. fol. 530r [. . .] Questa è lla scritta della sustanzia di Messer Orlando di Giovanni Bonarli e di Milgliore suo fratello abitante Messer Orlando in istudio a Bolongnia e Milgliore Vinegia, i quali né l’uno né ll’altro non è stato in Firenze m’ànno penso tornare alla patria il più presto che potranno. Quello ch’elgli ànno di sustanza libri e masserizie per circha
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Fl. dugiento d’oro di Messer Orlando, Migliore in Vinegia di sue cessette, maserizie e vestire per Fl. sessanta d’oro. Non sono in gravezza in Firenze né ebono mai. Vogliono essere nel gonfalone del Bue Nero. Trovasi di gravezza Messer Orlando d’età d’anni XXVIII in Bolongna, Milgliore d’anni XX in Vinegia senza niuna cosa se non quello è detto di sopra. E più dichono si truovano debito sopra la persona più di Fl. C. Sono inviati a ffare bene. Messer Orlando viene uno valente huomo e Milgliore come detto in Vinegia, anche con isperanza d’avanzare e a tenpo tornare alla patria. Vol. 34, Santa Croce, Leon Nero fol. 99r [Portata di] Andrea di Simone di Lorenzo fornaio [. . .] debbo dare a Maestro Benedetto di Stadino maestro di schermire Fl. 30. fol. 126r–v: Sustantie d’Antonio di Ser Pagnio di Marchionne del popolo di Sa’ Iacopo tra lle fosse da Firenze gonfalone dello Leone Nero quartieri di Sancta Croce et Sancto Spirito, il quale al presente sta per ripetitore con Batista di Doffo Arnol e nonn è prestanziato né istimato in luogo niuno. Due case contigue per suo habitare et per la sua famiglia poste in San Miniato nelle contrade di Pancoli, ch’è da prima via, a IIo Ser Donato di Ser Marcho da Sa’ Miniato, a IIIo Iohanni di Iacopo di Moccio, a IIIIo carbonaie di comune. Item masseritie apartenenti alla detta casa per suo uso et per la sua famiglia. Uno pezzo di terra vignata soda et in parte bosschata posto nelle pendie di Sa’ Miniato in luogo decto alle Petaccia. Fàlla a sua mano, ch’è da primo via, a IIo Gherardo di Ser Nicholò Federighi, a IIIo e IIIIo Ser Lodovico di Ser Duccio. Rende l’uno anno per l’altro barili dieci di vino. Una sedicina di mulino posto nella corte di Sa’ Miniato in sul ume d’Elsa in luogo detto il Mulino di Chiavaccio, a Io via, a IIo e IIIo il ume d’Elsa. Rende l’uno anno per l’altro, isbattutene la spesa, v’è su grano st. 6. Uno pezzo di terra campia et ulivata posto a llato alla porta a Gargozzi di Sa’ Miniato, ch’è da primo via, a IIo beni della chiesa di
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Santo Stefano da Sa’ Miniato, a IIIo beni dello altare di San Leonardo da San Miniato, a IIIIo e beni che furono di Pagolo di Ceccho chiamato Marmasso da Sa’ Miniato. Lavorala Pao di Lorenzo frenaio da Sa’ Miniato. Rende l’uno anno per l’altro olio orcia due e mezzo. Sommano tucte l’entrate e rendite de’ detti beni: vino barili X, grano staia VI, olio orcia II e mezzo. Debbe avere dalle infrascritte persone le infrascritte quantità di denari cioè: Da Pippo di Macteo mugniaio da Monte Lupo per resto d’una casa Fl. XVIIII L. 1 S. XIIII. Item in un’altro lato Fl. 0 L. XV. S. XI D. XI. Da Dino d’Antonio da Puntormo habitatore a Sa’ Miniato et da Michele suo genero Fl. VIII. Son’ in tucto Fl. 27 L. 17 S. 5. D. 11. Bocche del detto Antonio: Antonio di Ser Pagnio d’età d’anni 17. Monna Marherita sua madre d’età d’anni 45. Bartolomea sirocchia del decto Antonio d’età d’anni 13. Benedetta sirocchia del decto Antonio d’età d’anni 12. fol. 691v (644v) [Portata di] Francesco di Zanobi Chaferelli Sono io Francescho Chaferelli d’età d’anni 75 sanza asercizio e Borgho mio gliolo sanza asercizio d’anni 17. Zanobi mio gliolo, sanza aserzizio, sta a l’abacho d’anni 13. Vol. 35, Santa Croce, Leon Nero fol. 789r–v Questa è la rechata la qual fa Monna Giovanna vedova di Lunigiana fuori del contado e distrecto di Firenze e donna che fu del Maestro Antonio di Lunigiana, che fu maestro di scuola di gramatica. E non obstante ch’ella sia poverissima e forestiera, non di meno vuole obedire la Signoria. La decta Mona Giovana si è d’età di settanta anni o circa, habitante in Firenze nel quartier di Santa Croce nel confalone del Lion Nero in casa delle rede del Maestro Tomaso del Maestro Donato, e dà di pigione della decta casa al decto herede orini septe e mezo. Cominciò la decta pigione per Ogni Sancti proximo passato e nisce la decta pigione per Ogni Sancti proxime che debba venire—Fl. 7 1/2. Maestro Giovanni primo gliuolo della decta Mona
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Giovanna studiante in medicina d’età d’anni XXVIIII o circa. Mona Luscia di Giovanni da Padova fuori del contado e distrecto di Firenze donna del decto Maestro Giovanni è d’età d’anni ventidua o circa. Maria gliuola del decto Maestro Giovanni e della decta Mona Luscia ch’è d’età d’anni quatro o circa. Serano gliuolo del decto Maestro Giovanni e della decta Mona Luscia d’età d’anni due o circa. Antonio gliuolo del decto Maestro Giovanni e Mona Luscia d’età d’anni uno e mezo. Martino secondo gliuolo della sopradecta Mona Giovanna studiante in notaria d’età d’anni ventuno o circa. Lorenzo terzo gliuolo della decta Mona Giovanna va alla scuola della gramatica d’età d’anni quatordisci. Bionda, nipote de’ soptradetti tre fratelli cioè Maestro Giovanni, Ser Martino e Lorenzo, e non à altri parenti che loro, è d’età d’anni venti e non è maritata per povertà grande e non à nulla. *À a dare la decta Mona Giovanna a Ser Iacho’ del Maestro Tomasino L. dicesepta, e quali mette per perdutti come appare nel libro suo di Ser Iacop’ decto. Item à a dare fuori del contado e distrecto di Firenze orini XXV e altri denari a Serzana.*6 fol. 954v [Portata di Luigi di Bartolo d’Alinari] Luigi di Bartolo d’Alinari d’età d’ani 43. Monna Checha donna del detto Luigi d’età d’ani 38. Bartolo di Luigi d’età d’anni 17. Iacopo di Luigi, d’età d’ani 16, sta a l’abacho. Antonia di Luigi d’età d’ani 12. Giovanna di Luigi d’età d’ani 4. Piero di Luigi d’età d’anni—mesi X. fol. 1356r [Portata di Ridolfo di Bonifazio Peruzzi] Per le boche mie e di mia famigla siamo io e la dona mia, io d’anni 57, lei di 44, Bonifatio mio gliuolo ani 27, Messer Antonio 24, Piero 21, Giovanni 20, Francescho 10, Luigi 17, Albertano 16, Nicholosa 13,
6
What was written here between the asterisks was added by a different hand.
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Lazero 12 e Bartolomeo 11: in tuto boche 12. Chostami in istudio Messer Antonio Fl. Co l’anno. Vol. 36, Santa Croce, Ruote fol. 47r [Portata di Messer Antonio Roselli] E più tengho in casa a mia spesa et di vestire et di calzare et d’ogni suo bisognio Rosello di Giovanni mio nipote, che studia. Costami l’anno circha di Fl. XL. fol. 58v [Portata di Ser Andrea di Ser Bartolomeo notaio dal Bucine e cittadino orentino] Mariotto mio gliuolo d’età d’anni XVI. Ista a Firenze et va alla schuola et ispende sença alchuno guadagnio. fol. 338v: [Portata di Monna Dada donna fu di Messer Rosso d’Andreozo e de’ gliuoli] Monna Dada d’età d’anni LII. Antonio di Messer Rosso d’anni XXVIII e al presente nonn n’ista a bottegha. Bernardo di Messer Rosso, d’an[i] XXII, ista alla chassa chon Cor[so] Soderini e conpagni. Franncescho di Messer Rosso, d’anni XI, ista all’abocho. E più abbiano libri, furono di Messer Rosso, che gli abiamo chon ‘ncharichi che, se messer l’abate della Badia di Firenze ne volessi niuno, siamo tenuti ada[r]gliele [sic]. Istimia’ lli chosì come sono Fl. cientocinquanta. fol. 443r: [Portata di Francesco gliuolo che fu di Ser Cetto di Ser Agnolo da Loro] Ancora ò la mia matrigna ch’à di dota orini—Fl. 400, et stàssi in casa perché io non ò modo a poter reggiere, che ssi rimariterebbe, ma vede. S’ella si rimaritassi, i gliuoli sarebbono abandonati, però ch’io non ò modo a potere reggiere e per questo sta. Mona Cosa donna fu di Ser Cetto et mia matrigna d’anni 36. Bernardo suo gliuolo, sta all’abaco, d’anni 13. Betta sua gliuola d’anni 4. Papera gliuola di Ser Cetto et gliastra della detta Mona Cosa d’età d’anni 17.
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Io Francesco d’età d’ani ventuno. Non ci posso stare et vo stentando pel mondo. Mi ve rachomando per amore di dio. Non ò casa in Firençe et sto a pigione. Vol. 37, Santa Croce, Ruote fol. 671r [Portata di] Giovanni di Nicholò da Chostaza tesitore di panni lanni [. . .] El detto Giovanni è d’ettà d’anni 50. E Mona Chostanza sta chol detto Giovanni e dàli l’anno per suo salaro Fl. 8. E àne in cassa uno fanciullo per insegniare l’arte per le spesse; è d’ettà d’anni 11. fol. 1145v [Compagnia di Duccio Adimari e Ruberto di Marco Salviati ritagliatori, debitori:] Maestro Bartolo di Lorenzo insengnia legiere [. . .] Fl. 12 S. 9. fol. 1189v–1190r Al nome di dio amen. Dinançi da voi signori uciali del catasto electi per lo comune di Firenze io Ser Santi di Domenicho d’Areço che tengo schuola habitante i’ nel in nel [sic] popolo di ‘l San Piero Magiore del gonfalone delle Ruote ispongo quegli pochi beni che io possego mobili et immobili colle graveçe che vi concorgono, primo: Una casa amasariçiata dove io habito in nel detto popolo di San Piero Magiore presso al canto della Badessa, conni: via da le duo latora, da l’altro una casa della compagnia de l’Arte di Chalimala, da l’altra parte una casa. Una casa posta al canto a la Carina, conni: Monna Antonia di Bruno, da l’altro lato l’ospedale di Sam Paolo, da l’altra parte e frati del Paradiso, dal quarto la via. Àsene di pigione Fl. 4—Fl. quatro. A Roveçano duo peçi di terra, sono in tutto staiora otto a corda, conni: via strada comune, da l’altra Narduccio di Nardo, da l’altra parte Calonacci di Santa Liperata, da l’altra Giugliano di Thomaso di Guccio. Àsene lire diciotto di cto. Una peça di terra posta al Mulinaccio in nel cotado di Pistoia, luogo decto Piubica, è nove istaiora, conne: l’agora, da l’altra parte Messer Iacopo Paganucci, da l’altra parte el veschovado di Pistoia, da l’altra parte Ser Giovanni de la Vaccha. Ònne avuto di tto già è tre anni passati ogni anno staia otto di grano di tto. Questo altro anno fuor di questo credo averne staia dodici di tto.
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In quello d’Areço in luogo detto Milisciano òne alcuni peçuoli di terra che in tutto sono staiora otto a corda, le cui conni penso vi saranno thediosi si voi legiarete, ma perché io non manchi a la chiareça io gli scriverò per ubedire, primo: Una peça in piano di Vena a lato a le rede di Marcho et di sotto Martino da Milisciano. Una peça a lato di Marcho medessimo e Martino di Muccino da le duo parti. Una peça di terra in piano di Vena a lato a Martino et le rede di Ser Agnolo di Ser Caldo d’Areço. Una peça di terra in Piano di Vena a lato a le terre della Badia in Capoloni et a lato Agnolo di Casino. Una peça di terra posta a luogo di Corpo Vechio a lato a le rede d’Agnolo di Casino da le duo parti et a la via del comune. Una peça di terra luogo decto Fosso a llato al fossato a le rede di Ser Dino a lato a le rede d’Agnolo di Ser Luço. Una peça di terra posta in Ghiesana a lato a la via et le rede di Ser Agnolo et Maso da Vito (et) el fossato, a lato a la via, le rede di Ser Agnolo et Maso da Vito et el fossato a lato a la via della corte della pieve di San Giovanni al Pogiuolo di Calcinata da le duo parti. Duo peçe di terra per meço la via di rimpetto l’una a l’altra. Una peça di terra detto luogo Pagniuolo a lato a Martino di Muccino et a llato a le rede di Perato et Agnolo di Casino. Una peça di terra anche in Pogiuola a lato la via et a lato Agnolo di Casino et Martino di Muccino di Benci. Una peça di terra decto luogo Melecaglora a lato Guccio di Benci et a llato al fossato. Una peça di terra posta a l’isola a lato a le terre della chiesa e al fossato. Una peça di terra posta in nelle Valli a llato al fossato et a lato a l’erede di Muccio di Nuto et a lato Guccio di Ventura. Una peça di terra posta luogo decto Burroni a lato a le rede di Chele et a llato a le rede di Pollo. Di tutte queste terre, con dodici orini i’ò presto a llavoratore per uno bue, òne di tto avuto tredici staia di grano. Ò ad avere da da [sic] Bartholo di Fruosino dal Bagniano—L. 12. Item da Bartolomeo di Iacopo chiamato Starnino lavoratore a Roveçano che gli prestai—Fl. III. Rimango ad avere dal comune per una eletione mi fu fatta in gramatica Fl. VI S. XX. Hora non sono né fui più electo. Àmi a dare Giusto di Lucha cardaiuolo Fl. 4; non se ne può aver denaio a sedici anni io gli ebbi ad avere, né penso poter mai averne nulla—Fl. 4.
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Trovo io ò riscosso de l’esercitio della schuola da duo anni e quatro mesi inn qua orini circa settanta, quando a cinque soldi, quando a venti, quando a uno orini. Òne forse avere alchuni denari, e quali, perché sono incerti, no’ ne fo computo e io, perché sono vecho et parte infermo, di questo guadagno rimango incerto. Siamo in casa duo fanciulli l’uno d’undici, l’altro d’otto anni, la donna di cinquanta. Io Santi non pago prestança. Sono stato amesso per miserabile. Ò anni sesantasei. Ò debito duo Fl. 1/2 di pigione a ragione di sedici Fl. l’anno. Hora a questi muto casa. Costami Fl. dicianove l’anno. fol. 1190v Ser Santi di Domenicho maestro di schola S. 6 D. 8.7 Vol. 38, Santa Maria Novella, Vipera fol. 72r: [Portata di Arrigo di Messer Coluccio Salutati] Debbo avere da Nicholaio Nicholi per quanto mi toccha de’ libri ch’egli à nelle mani di nostro padre, e quali sono bisognevoli a miei gluoli per studiare, de’ quali libri non ò potuto vedere chonto con detto Nicholaio; credo sieno di valuta di Fl. cento salvo la ragone, debbemsi metter per masserizie però ché utile niuno mi fanno se non che in su essi studieranno e miei gluoli. fol. 74r: Abiamo cinque gluoli, i quali scriverò qui a ppiè: 1. Coluccio nostro gluolo è d’età d’anni dieci—anni 10. 2. Marsilio nostro gluolo è d’età d’anni sette—anni 7. 3. Aurelia nostra gluola è d’età d’anni sei—anni 6. 4. Piera nostra gluola è d’età d’anni quatro—anni 4. 5. Bonifazio nostro gluolo è d’età d’anni due—anni 2. Detto Bonifazio è a balia a Vinci. fol. 127r–v: Sustanza e beni di Bastiano di Ghetto Pagholi e di Mona Chaterina sua donna. Istano a pigione inn una chasa di Sandra di Vieri Alltoviti in Borgho Santo Apostollo, Gofalone Vipera, connata da Io II da III via dal IIIIo Sandro di Vieri detto. Paghone di pigione l’anno
7
This last line is in the hand of an ofcial.
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Fl. V. Aprestanziato nell detto gofalone in S. 9 D. 5 a oro. Àno gl’ifrascitti beni, cioè: 1a casa da lavoratore chon terre intorno lavoratia ulivata praghale [sic] e soda, possta nel chomune di Bacheretto, luogho detto a Doccia, chonnata [. . .] rende l’anno staia 8 di grano, barilli 8 di vino, mezzo orcio d’olio per mia parte. 1o pezzo di terra lavoratoia e ulivata possta nell detto chomune di Bacheretto, luogho detto a Pescina, chonnata [. . .] Lavoralla Cione di Iachopo, detto luogo; dàme di tto staia VI di grano l’anno. II pezi di tera lato l’uno a l’alltro, poste [sic] nell chomune di Tizana, dicie in Bacheretana, luogho detto all fosso, chonnati [. . .] Lavoralli Antonio di Lappo chiamato Tenpo da Tizana. Dàme di tto l’anno in tuto staia 8 di grano: Grano staia 22 di granno Vino barilli 8 di vino per ci[a]schuno anno i detti di sopra. olio 1/2 orcio 1/2 1o paio di vacche a soccio. Tielle Antonio di Lapo da Tizana per Fl. 20. 1 paio di vacche a soccio. Tielle Pipo d’Antonio da Tizano [sic] per Fl. 14. À in sul mo[n]te Fl. 66 di mo[n]te chomune Sono di Mona E più sul mo[n]te Fl. 27 di mo[n]te di Pisa. Chaterina. E più detto monte Fl. 14 di m[on]te di Pi[s]a insc[ri]tti in Ghuido di Filippo ghalighaio, quartiere Santa Croce, gonfalone Charo. Predita [sic] sono di Mona Chaterina. Tutti quessti beni sono di Mona Chaterina, gluola fu di Ser Romano di Ser Neri, teneva i fanci[u]lli a legiere, la quale è ogi mia donna. Rimasele di redità di Giovanni di Pupo suo gliollo di primo marito. Basstiano di Ghetto d’ettà anni 60. Mona Chatgerina mia dona anni 43. Marherita gliola di suo chugino di Mona Chaterina, è morto, anni 8. Debitori: All chomune di prestanze Fl. 6. A più persone Fl. sei—Fl. 6.
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fol. 439r: Sustanze e beni e incharichi di me Mariano del Maestro Michele di l’abacho del ghonfalone della Vipera: À di prestanzone il detto Mariano Fl. uno S. nove D. sei a oro.
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Una chasa dove abito chon maserizie a mio uso chonnnata da primo la via di Lungharno, da sechondo il chiasso della Vigna Maria, dal terzo un chiasso da quartto Anttonio di Ghuglielmo da tTore di Valdipesa. Un podere posstto all’Antella nel popolo di Santta Maria detta la pieve [. . .] Lavora il detto podere Donato di Chiecho del Bonella. Ò ad avere dal detto Donato mio lavoratore Fl. quindici o circha. Rendemi il detto luogho in mia partte, il batendone il seme, circha di 24 staia di grano e circha di 4 staia di biada tra orzo, fave e spelda. Rendemi in partte mia barili 3 di vino o circha. Tengho in sul detto luogho un bue di valuta di Fl. dieci o circha e un asino di Fl. tre. Ò avere da poche persone pochi danari e ò a dare altrui pochi danari e però non ne fo menzione. Io Mariano detto sono d’età d’anni 40. Io Mariano detto ò una mia sirochia charnale d’ettà d’anni 42, la quale non ebbe mai marito e stta mecho in chasa. Io Mariano sopradetto ò fatto questto iscritto di mia propia mano, rechata a dì 9 di luglio 1427. Istimo la botegha dove tenngho gli scholari Fl. otto.8 fol. 629r [Portata di] Ser Simone Berti [. . .] d’anni 75. Ser Bartolomeo suo gluolo studia in notaria—anni 24 o più. Vol. 40, Santa Maria Novella, Unicorno fol. 59v: [Portata di Arnaldo d’Adimari degli Spini, 54] Truovomi anchora adosso Simone d’Ugho degli Spini, il quale si è mio sechondo chugino. Non à dove tornare e io cho’ mio honore et chonscenzia non posso chacia’ llo et nonn à nulla. A me chonviene da’ gli le spese, chalza’ llo et vesti’ llo. È d’età d’anni XVIII. Sta all’abacho.
8 He appears again in the 1431 Catasto (ASF Catasto 39, fol. 344r): ò una chasa dove io abito cho’ mie maserizie per mio abitare et dove fo il mio mestiero di ll’abacho postta lungharno.
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fol. 166r: [Portata di Antonio di Bartolomeo familglio de’ Singnori, 50] Una chasa a pigione di Nepo di Bartolomeo Spini posta lungharno nel popolo Santa Trinnita chonnata a primo via di lungharno, a IIo Lorenzo di Messer Iacopo Giangliazzi, a IIIo l’abacho dove sta il Maestro Lucha, a IIIIo detto abacho. Paghone Fl. quattro di pigione l’anno. fol. 188v [Portata di Antonio di Tommaso sarto] Io Antonio sopradetto d’anni 62 e non tengho più botegha perché l’età del tenpo m’à tolto il ghuadangnio. Monna Checha mia donna d’anni 46. Piero mio gluolo d’anni 15. Ista cho’ Lucha di Cino choregiaio e dàgli in tre anni Fl. 17, che posso far buone spese. Giusto mio gluolo d’anni 11 che l’ò levato da l’abacho. Non so anchora a che m’el pore, ben è vero che l’ò dato a ‘ndrea di Geri banchiere in Merchato Vechio che me lo ischorga, ben mi dice ch’io glielo lasci due anni c’arà gl’ dodici: Fl. 12. Vol. 41, Santa Maria Novella, Unicorno fol. 222r: [Portata di] Monna Margherita dona fu di Sandro di Dato da Palaia e di Giuliano mio gliuolo [. . .] E pagha l’anno di pigione della chasa ch’io tengho dal detto Nepo iSpini Fl. cinque, ed è la detta chasa a lato a l’abacho del Maestro Luca. Vol. 42, Santa Maria Novella, Lion Rosso fol. 4r [Portata degli eredi di Antonio di Iacopo del Vignia] Messer Bartolomeo gliuolo del detto Antonio sta a studiare a Siena in ragione chanonicha ed à libri che possono valere Fl. 60. fol. 4v: [. . .] Iachopo gliuolo del detto Antonio d’anni 40 [. . .] Bartolomeo gliuolo del detto Antonio d’ani 27 [. . .] A provedere di mandare a Siena per resto de le spese fatte questo anno Bartolomeo, suo fratello che sta là in istudio, circha Fl. 30 sieno. fol. 183r: [Portata di] Antonio et Salvestro gliuoli et rede di Salamone di Franciescho chalzolaio [. . .] sStiamo a pigione in chasa Manno di Giovanni di Tenperano di
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Manno posta nel popolo di San Branchatio nella Via degli Stamaiuoli [. . .] Diamo di pigione a detto Manno orini quattro d’oro e abiamo la nostra masseritiuola. Ser Thommaso di Domenicho Chai ci de’ dare orini trenta d’oro per resto di orini cinquanta d’oro ebbe del nostro quando morì Salamone nostro padre in serbanza. Àcciene dato l’anno per discretione staia dodici di grano perché siamo molto bisognosi. Antonio di Salamone detto sta alla schuola d’età d’anni sedici. Salvestro di Salamone sta al pianellaio con Pazzino, d’età d’anni tredici. Mona Nencia loro madre et sirochia del detto Ser Tommaso, d’età d’anni quaranta, à avere la dota sua, che sono orini centoventi. Non ci’è da pagharla. [. . .] E siamo molto bisongnosi. Io Antonio di Salamone detto ò scripta questa scripta. fol. 381r: [Portata di] Baldassarri di Ser Piero Çosi d’anni XIII prestanciato nel Lione Rosso insieme con Guasspari suo fratello morto ne la mortalità proxima passata [. . .] À l’infrascripti beni loro asignati nella mancieppazione di loro facta da dicto Ser Piero loro padre. Va a la schuola. fol. 535v [Portata di Monna Chaterinna vedova dona che fu di Beninchasa tintore] [. . .] d’anni 44 o circha [. . .] Berinchasa, suo gliolo d’anni 8, ista a ‘perare a legiere. Vol. 43, Santa Maria Novella, Lion Rosso fol. 879r–v Questi sono e beni di Gano di Ducio di Ser Galdo da Firenze abitatore in Bologna da trentasette anni [. . .] pagha le graveze a Bologna per quello che à sechondo gli altri cittadini [. . .] Gano detto d’età d’anni 52. Monna Appollonia sua donna anni 32. Ducio suo gluolo istudiante anni 20. Govanni suo gluolo istudiante anni 18.
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Ghostanza sua gluola—anni 14. Danmiana sua gluola anni 12. Francha sua gluola mesi 4. Govanni che porta e libri a’ detti istudianti à di salaro l’anno L. dicotto di Bologna et lle ispese. fol. 1023r: Comparisce dinançi a voy nobilli e valenti meseri oftiali del catasto del comune de Firenze Guielmo de Mesere Vechio forstieri del contato e de la citade de Firenze che insigna fanciuli lezere in la dita cità di Firenze in su el canto de Via Larga, el quale habita in Firenze cum la soua dona e cum i oli poverisimamente in el quartieri de Santa Maria Novela in el comfalone de Lione Rosse.9 Ed à per scrito dinanci da voy le infrascripti [sic] boche e persone ed à i suoy panni de luy e de la soua dona e dei suoi fanciuli; infuora altri benni no’ i può dare perché ello no’ i ay. In prima la persona de quelo Guielmo ch’è de etate de anni L o più e per una inrmitate grande che i è bastato tri anni e venuto in grande povertate. Item à la soua dona ch’è de etate de anni XL ch’è uno anno e più che l’à la febre.10 Item à uno fanciulo di mexi XIIIIor e per non potere darlo a baylia popa e’ late de la madre, febricoxo et è infermo el dito fanciulo.11 Item à uno fanciulo de etate de anni XII e mexi VI che non è bem sano.12 Item à uno altro fanciulo ch’è de etate de anni novi e mexi VI.13 Io Guielmo de Mesere Vechio ò scrita questa propria scritura de mia propria manno e perciò de mia propria mano qui me sonno subscrito.14
9
In the left margin here: de’ Frati d’Alto Pascio per dio. In the left margin here: Angnesa. 11 In the left margin here: Charllo. 12 In the left margin here: Iosue. 13 In the left margin here: Venturino. 14 Added by an ofcial of the catasto: Ghuglielmo di Messer Vechio da Bolognia, insegnia leggiere a fanciulli, nulla. 10
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fol. 4v: [Portata di Iachopo d’Antonio di Lapaccio Rinbertini] Ò u’ mio fratello frate di Santa Maria Novella, il quale studia et va atorno per gli studii et continuamente piglia de’ gradi per venire al magisterro. Anchora compra de’ libri, alle quali spese bisognia a me tutte suplere et anchora alla vita d’esso et vestirllo quando bisognia. Della quale spesa non escho l’anno per Fl. 30 et più di qui a due anni, se piacierà a dio, si farà maestro, la quale spesa di nicistà costa Fl. Co o più. La vostra discrezione giudichi se questo è incharicho o no. Terrerò minore spesa avere tre boche in chasa—Fl. 30. Siamo in chasa due boche, cioè la Lisa gliuola fu di Fraciescho Chanigiani mia donna d’età d’anni 17 et io d’età d’anni 23. Vol. 45, Santa Maria Novella, Lion Rosso fol. 578r: [Portata di] Papero di Piero e fratelli [. . .] Io Papero di Piero sta allo speziale; sono d’età d’anni 30. Stefano di Piero mio fratello d’età d’anni 16. Giovanni di Piero mio fratello d’età d’anni 6. El detto Stefano studia e à di valsetta circha a Fl. V di libri per suo studiare. fol. 607r [Portata di Piero di Giovanni di Ristoro da Monterchio sarto] Queste sono le boche mie di chasa prima: Io Piero di Giovanni sarto ò anni sesantatre, valchi. La donna mia à nome Checha di Simone, à anni 50. Ò tre gliuoli maschi, due picholi: 1º charzone Domenicho à anni 19, sta a l’orafo, à Fl. 14 l’anno; sechondo à nome Maso, à anni 12, a l’abacho; ò l’atro, à anni 5. fol. 691r [Portata di] Monna Roxa d’Ulivieri da Bechona, la a latoio, è sola e abita a pigione una mezza chasa nella via di Fossi in popolo di Santa Lucia d’Ongni e Santi; è dello spedale di Santo Iachopo d’Altopasccio; pagha l’anno Fl. 2 d’oro. A primo via de’ Fossi, a IIº di detto spedale, a IIIo redi di Ghalvano di Messer Ghuccio e IIIIº deto spedale. Mona Roxa d’ani LVI.
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Monna Nora di Christofano di Giovanni di Mugello, latore a rocha; è sola; abita a pigione nella sopradetta chasa ne l’altra meza chasa e pagha l’anno di pigione al detto spedale nel tereno di detta chasa Fl. 2 d’oro. Mona Nora d’anni LIIIIo. Mona Lixa di Giovanni del Buono vedova d’età d’anni LXXXIIIIo. Abita a pigione nel tereno d’una mezza chasa per l’amore di iddio nel tereno a lato a lo [sic] sopradetta chasa, latore a rocha. Benedetto di Iachopo di Mugello e lla Tanceia sua donna; abitano nell’altra meza chasa ancho per l’amore di iddio; Benedetto è manovale di tempo d’anni L. La donna porta il pane al forno, è di tempo d’anni XXXIIIIo. *Maestro Guiglielmo di Messer Vechio da Bolongnia insengnia legere a fanculli d’ani LV. Mona Agniexa sua donna d’anni XLII la a rocha. Gosue suo gliuolo d’anni—XII. Venturino suo gliuolo d’anni VII. Charllo suo gliuolo d’ani—1 e 1/2. Abitano tuta una chasa per l’amore di iddio presso a le sopradette: a primo via de’ Fossi, a IIo detto spedale, a IIIo redi di Ghalvano di Messer Ghuccio, a IIIIo detto spedale d’Altopasceio.*15 fol. 775v [Portata di] Ser Tomaso di Domenicho [Carondini notaio orentino] detto d’età d’anni LVI e n’è vechio et non può più la faticha se nnon è chogli ochiali et male; non guadagna più però ché non può durare faticha. Monna Fiore sua madre vechia e inferma d’età d’anni 76. La Berta sua donna anche non sana d’età d’anni 30. Domenicho suo gliuolo, d’età d’anni 16, sta alla scuola, e n’è di grande spesa però ché llo fo studiare, se n(n)o’ ‘ra [= se non ora]. Vol. 46, Santa Maria Novella, Lion Bianco fol. 273r [Portata di Benedetto e Giovanni di Iacopo del Papa ispeziali] Antonia nostra sirochia [. . .] d’anni 76. Benedetto [. . .] d’anni 70. 15 The passage between asterisks was crossed out because Maestro Guiglielmo submitted an individual portata in his own hand: see above p. 501.
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Mona Zanobia mia donna [cioè di Benedetto] d’età d’anni 70. Giovanni di Iacopo d’età d’anni 46. Iacopo di Zanobi del Papa mio nipote d’anni 32. Lorenzo suo fratello et mio nipote che sta ora per cherico per fa’ llo istudiare in prete d’anni 27. fol. 388r [Portata di] Monna Chiara donna fu di Iacopo di Francesco fabro da Prato e ora abitante nel ghonfalone del Lione Biancho [. . .] Monna Chiara detta è d’età d’anni XLV o cir[c]a. Domenicho suo gliuolo il magiore che à chominciato a fare le chiavi chome si dicie di sopra [in una bottegha di Niccholò Pollini posta in Firenze]. Francescho suo glio sta a leggiere d’anni XIII o circha. fol. 391r–392r [Portata di] Mona Checha donna fu di Francescho di Ser Arighetto da Prato e Piero suo gliuolo [. . .] Una casetta della propria habitagione di deta Mona Checha posta in Porta Tieçi di Prato [. . .] Mona Checha [. . .] d’anni 55. Piero suo gliuolo d’anni 18 e sta alla schuola e spende. fol. 466r: Sustançe e beni e ‘ncharichi di Duccio di Fino bidello. Ebbi di prestançone orini uno. Fu sgravato tanto ch’i’ ò soldi undici et danari dieci. Ò avere dal chomune orini tre e meço per lo salaro mio del bidellato. Non sono più bidello. Non ò nulla altro che la maseriçia di chasa. Ò a dare al chomune da vennti prestançoni in su; non n’ò potuto pagchare [sic] più, ché non guadagno tanto che possa paghare né vivere. Ò uno mio gluolo ch’à a dare a Simone di Friano choregiaio Fl. cinque e meço. Abiamo al prestatore due mantella per Fl. quatro e mezo. Io Duccio di Fino sono d’età d’anni sessantasette. Antonio mio gluolo d’età d’anni trenta. La donna sua d’età d’anni dicenove. À un suo gluolo d’età d’undici mesi. À nome Bartolomeo. Isto in gualfonda nel ghofalone de Lion Biancho dove abito. La chasa è della donna di Bartolomeo di Francescho da Crinçano che à nome Monna Checcha, che tiene la stufa a Santo Lorenzo. Da primo via, da sechondo Lapaccio di Pagholo, da terço Bartolomeo di Simone, da quarto terreno dello spedale de’ preti. Paghone di pigione orini sette e meço. Io Duccio sto in bottegha di Piero di Dino chartolaio per quello ch’io lavoro. fol. 467v: Duccio di Fino bidello dello studio. S. 11 D. 10.16 16
This folio was written by a Catasto ofcial.
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fol. 662r [Portata di rede di Lorenzo del Toso linaiuolo] Monna Sara [donna fu di Lorenzo del Toso] veghia d’anni 58 et inferma per gran necessità. Giovanni, d’anni XVI, sta a botegha la metà del te[m]po per paura di messi, à debito col maestro—Fl. VI. À l’anno Fl. 10 de salario. Sta co’ Bartolomeo di Tomaso Bartoli in Via Magio. Lorenzo, d’anni XII, sta a schuola et male la solcita perché ognun dì è presso per le prestanze. fol. 808r [Portata di Giovani d’Arigho di Nicholò d’Arigho ritagliatore] Giovani [. . .] sopradetto d’ettà d’ani quaratoto. Monna Alesandra sua donna d’ettà d’ani trenta. U’ gliuolo maschio, ch’à nome Nicholò, insta a l’abacho d’ettà d’ani dodici. U’ fancuula ch’à nome Agnnioleta d’ettà d’anni diecci. U’ gliuolo macho ch’à nome Amerigho d’età d’anni nove. U’ gliuolo macho ch’à nome Michele d’età d’anni sette. U’ gliuolo macho ch’à nome Bernardo d’ettà d’anni sei. U’ gliuolo ch’à nome Piero d’ettà d’ani due. Una fanciula ch’à nome Ghostanza d’anni cinque. fol. 873r: [Portata di Giovanni di Michele lengniaiolo] Dinançi da voi singniori uciali del chatasto popolo chomune di Firençe chome i’ Andrea di Giovanni isto a biadaiolo a la Piaça de Grano e no’ pagho prestaçe. Isto ne’ quatiere di Sa[n]ta Maria Novela e chosì vi dirò la verità. Abiate di noi buona iformaçione chome de tenpo pasato, per l’amo’ de dio, e qui scriverò tuti noi femine e maschi e ciò ch’i’ò al mondo e questo Giovanni di Michele lengnaiolo lavora in qua e là per le botteghe e per le chase de voi cittadini, a cho[n]ta[n]to e’ dì. À testè ne soldi 14. Ista Mon’A[n]tonia sua donna, tesse pano lino, cho[n]cia le tele line. Una fanculla gra[n]de d’anni 13, à nome Benedetta sua gliola. Una fanculla d’anni nove 9, à nome Nana sua gliola. Aiuta le teser<e>. Una fanculla d’anni 3, à nome Angliuola, anni 3. U’ gha[r]çone ch’à nome Domenicho suo gliolo, anni 23, ista , à di salare L. 14 l’ano e <sua vach[a] sta ?> di ripeto a la logia <de’ Lanichitri ?>.
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U’ gha[r]çone che à nome Pagho[lo] suo glioli [sic], ista a becahio, à l’ano di sa[lare] L. 33 da la bottegha di Betto tave[r]naio in Me[r]chato Vecchio, anni 20. U’ ghaçone ch’à nome Andrea suo gliogli [sic], ista in una bottegha. Tochami, e qua[n]t’ò a trare, tochami lire quaranta; qua[n]do fusino rischosi tuti boni e chattivi, ch’è Çanobi di Bartolo biadaiolo, tochami l’ano L. 25. U’ faculo ch’à nome Guliano, ista a legiere, anni sei, su[o] glioli. U’ facullo ch’à nome Marioto, ista a legiere, anni 4, suo glioli. Mio padre quadangnia l’ano L. 40, anni 40. Mi[a] madre anni 43. Isto a pi[gi]one in una chasa di Mona Pipa vedova, chonne cho’ Rust di Giovanni di Ser Nigi e cho’ la cha[sa] della chapitani [sic] di Sa[n]ta Maria Novela, e paghane l’ano di pigione lire 25 di picioli. E più ò debito lire tre[n]tadue tra la pigione e a[l]tre tre persone. E più ò avere lire se’ da uno ch’è lengnioiolo [sic] cho’ la sentiençia. E quest’è propia la verita. Pe[n]sate le spese, che siamo dieci in chasa, una fa da marito ogn. Vol. 47, Santa Maria Novella, Lion Bianco fol. 463r: [Portata di Piero di Battolomeo di Lucchino chalçaiuolo] Piero di Battolomeo chalçaiuolo, òne anni quarantaquattro} 44. Mona cCheccha è mia madre ed àne anni 72. Mona Mecchera è mia donna ed àne anni 30. Òne dua giuoli che stanno, l’uno a l’abocho, à nome Meo di Piero, à ne anni 12. Òne l’attro suo frattelo, che à nome Domenicho di Piero, àne anni 6. fol. 532r [Portata di rede di Giovanni di Nanni Nucci speziale] I nomi de’ popili: Abramo di Govanni Nuci, d’anni 14 o circha, ista chon uno abate. Cipriano, d’ettà d’anni 12, ista a legere. Francescho, d’età d’anni 8, ista a legere. fol. 688v [Portata di Ser Tommaso e Antonio di Ser Piero d’Angniolo Cioni]
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El detto Ser Tommaso è d’età d’anni 30. El detto Antonio è d’età d’anni 17. Monna Piffa loro madre d’anni 60. Monna Chaterina donna di Ser Tommaso d’anni 24. Nonnina gliuola di Ser Tomaso di mesi 34. Lisabetta gliuola di Ser Tommaso di mesi 18. Ginevra gliuola di Ser Tommaso di mesi 9. El sopradetto Ser Tommaso sta a bottegha alla prochureria e à a nutrichare tutte le dette bocche coll’altre gravezze. Pensate come sta a ghadangni che sono oggi! El detto Antonio è grande di persona e à pocho tenpo et non fa niente se non che ne va alla schuola e leggie el donadello et pocha di lui si può fare stima, perché non s’aparechia a venire da molto e larghamente non merita né credo mai meriti avere gravezza sopra alla testa, se iddio non fa miracoli. Vol. 48, San Giovanni, Lion D’oro fol. 486r [Portata di Uberto di Giovanni fu già richatiere] Sei gliuoli: El magiore à nome Giovanni; ista chon Ser Giovanni del Grigia al merciaio. E’ sechondo à nome Çanobi; va al soldo; à anni diciesete. El terzo a mone [sic] Bartolomeo; ista al me[r]ciaio; à l’ano Fl. cinque; à quindici anni. E’ quarto à nome Chosimo ed à anni sei. Ista a legiere. El quinto à nome Nicholò ed à anni due e meço. E sesta à nome Simona ed à anni cinque e meço. La dona grosa à nome Marcherita d’ani quaranta. Oberto sono d’ani sesantatre. fol. 488v Bertachino di Giovani Zana fu righatiere S. 16 D. 3.17 fol. 506r [Portata di Bernardo di Bartolo pettinatore] Una chasa in via di San Ghallo suoi chonni da primo Paperello di Poggino e Maestro Piero che ‘nsegnia legiere, ch’è lla detta chasa vi stiamo dentro.
17
This folio was written by a catasto ofcial.
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fol. 532r [Portata di] Maestro Bartolomeo di Canbio medico [. . .] Item òne libri di medicina di prego di orini sesanta. fol. 533v [. . .] Questi sono gl’incarichi. Io mi truovo d’anni cinquantatre et ò la donna d’anni trenta et ò due gliuoli maschi, l’uno d’anni nove, l’altro d’anni tre, et ò tenuto anni sette a mie spese et ma[n]tenere uno mio nipote d’anni quatordici che appara a leggere. fol. 638r [Portata di Biagio d’Agniolo] Biagio d’Angniolo di Lippo ista a Bolongnia col padre, che fa le nestre del vetro. Detto Biagio è d’età d’anni XXI. fol. 639r Biagio d’Agniolo studia.18 fol. 662v [Portata di Cinezo di Giovanni, che fu speziale] Io Cinezo di Giovanni, ch’ò fatta questa iscritta di mia propia mano, sono d’anni 65 e senza inviamento [. . .] Io ò la donna d’anni 45 pocha sana. Io ò ne cinque gluoli. Il magiore à nome Simone e studia i’ medicina d’ani 24. Il secondo à nome Antonio d’anni 18 e studia i’ notaria. Il terzo à nome Bartolomeo d’anni XVI e sta chon Donato d’Ugholino di Bonsi ed àne l’anno Fl. 12. Il quarto à nome Angnolo ed àne anni 9. El quinto àne anni 8. E stanno a legiere. Vol. 49, San Giovanni, Lion D’oro fol. 61r Io Domenicho del Migliore, per adrietto righatiere, ora sono chasiere alle porti. Sono d’ettà d’anni 43. Et Monna Pipa mia donna d’ettà d’anni 37. Abiamo 6 cluoli [sic], i quali sarani [sic] iscritti da piè: Lorenço ista chon Antonio de Tano d’ettà d’anni 19 1/2. Antonio ista chon Guliano otonaio d’ettà d’anni 13. Guliano ista chon Tomaso di Bartolo righatiere d’ettà anni 10. Giovanni Ghualberto ista a legere, d’ettà d’anni 7. Benedetto d’ettà d’anni 3 1/2. Francesco picino che popa d’ettà di mesi undici—11.
18
This folio was written by a Catasto ofcial.
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fol. 85r [Portata di] Domenicho di Francescho detto del Ghuagnia [. . .] Io Domenicho di Francesco sopradetto farò richordo qui da piè di tutti choloro che ànno avere da me e che quantità: [. . .] Do’ Nicholo che tiene la schuola in Ortto Sa’ Michele19— L. 13 [. . .] Tutti questi danari sono di paglia e biada quando solevo fare l’arte [. . .] fol. 124r Incharichi delle rede di Benedetto di Lippo di Bonaventura overo Schalandroni. Del detto Benedetto rimase 1º gliuolo; à nome Francesco d’età d’anni undici o ccircha. Sta all’abacho. fol. 155r Francescho di Guccio studiante, habitatore nella città di Firençe d’età d’anni XV. À di valuta Fl. dieci di libri—Fl. X. fol. 156v Ser Francescho di Guccio fol. 217r [Portata di Falchone di Maestro Lapo] Tengho una chasa in Bibiena da Giovanni del Maestro Agnolo da Firenze. Dònne l’ano Fl. tre gravi di pigione [. . .] La famigla: Falchone del Maestro Lapo sopradetto d’età d’anni 35. Antonio mio gluolo d’età tredici anni—13. Giorgio fratello di detto Falchone d’età d’anni 38. Francescho suo gluolo d’età d’anni otto 8. Giorgio del Maestro Lapo mio fratello è stato anni 8 o circha a mie spese e a miei vestamenti chon Francescho suo gluolo. Il mando alla schuola. À il detto Giorgio una vigna ghasta a Bibiena [. . .] Anchora à uno chasolare posto in Bibiena [. . .] Non à niente di frutto. o fol. 217v Falchone di M Lapo ista a Bibiena.20 fol. 256r [Portata di] Franciescho di Pagholo merciaio [. . .] Ci scriverò ciò ch’i’ò ne: in prima io sono io, la donna, uno fanciulino àne sette anni, ista a legiere [. . .] fol. 257r: Io Franciescho di Pagholo sono di tenpo d’anni 60. La donna à nome Tita d’anni 45 e no’ tropo sana. I’ fanculo à nome Açino anni VII 1/2.
19 Don Niccolò di Ser Guido da Castelfranco di Sopra, a Benedictine who had taught in Florence in 1417 and in Prato from 1417 to 1423, and who returned to Florence as public grammar master from 1424 to 1426: see Chapter 5 above p. 388. 20 This folio was written by a Catasto ofcial.
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fol. 443r [Portata di Giovanni di Domenicho Ciapelli] Giovanni di Domenicho Cianpelli d’ettà d’anni 66 [. . .] Monna Checha [. . .] sua donna [. . .] d’età d’anni XL. Monna Chaterina [. . .] dona di Christofano me glollo d’età d’anni XVIII. Christofano me glollo d’età d’anni 28 Non sstanno Piero di Giovanni Cianpelli d’anni 24 a Mateo di Govani Ciapelli d’ani 21 botega. Girolamo di Giovani Ciapelli d’ani X a l’abacho. Romolo di Giovani Ciapeli sta legere d’ani 6. Checha d’età d’ani XIII fePiera d’età d’anni IIII mine Domenicho di Christofano Cianpelli a ballia a L. 6 i’ messe.
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fol. 709r [Portata di] Giovanni d’Andrea linaiuolo, il quale abita a Vinegia cholla sua famiglia [. . .] E il ditto Giovanni d’età d’anni 58. E à la dona sua d’età d’anni 45; à nome Monna Dianora. Ed ò 1º gliolo d’età d’anni 22; ista mecho i’ botegha; à nome Andrea. E il sechondo à nome Domenicho d’età d’anni 20. Ista chon altrui; à salaro a l’anno ducati 25. E il 1/3 si è d’età d’anni XII; ista alla schuola. E il 1/4 à nome Chanbio d’età d’anni 5. Vol. 50, San Giovanni, Lion D’oro fol. 107r [Portata di Iachopo et Nicholao gliuoli che furono di Ser Gherardo di Giovanni da Bachareto] Iachopo d’età d’anni 18. Nicholao di Ser Gherardo d’anni 14. Monna Margherita sta con esso noi d’anni 70. Io Iacopo di Ser Gherardo sto qui a Firenze [. . .] et vònne allo studio et spendo et per me non si guadagna nulla. fol. 133v Io Lorenzo di Giovanni Benci sono d’età d’anni 53 e non bene sano e con corta vista sola cho’ gli ochiali. Maddalena mia donna d’età d’anni circha 32. Giovanni mio gliuolo sta all’abacho d’età d’anni 12.
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Iachopo mio gliuolo sta a l’abacho d’età d’anni 10. Filipo mio gliuolo sta a legiere il saltero d’anni 7 in 8. Tommaxo mio gliuolo è a balia d’età di 19 in 20 mesi. L’Aangniosa mia gliuola è a balia d’età di circha 3 mesi. fol. 265v [Portata di Lorenzo di Giovanni di Cenni famiglio della ghabella del vino] Lorenzo di Giovanni di Cenni dell’età d’anni 40. Mon’Antonia mia donna dell’età d’anni 38. Cenni mio gliuolo isstato senpre infermiccio ed è chericho a San Lorenzo d’ettà d’anni 11. Angniola mia gliuola de l’età d’anni 8. Giovanni mio gliuolo dell’età d’anni 4 1/2. Io Lorenzo sopradetto si ò di salare el mese L. 6 S. 10. E la donna mia si la a roccha e quando a latoio. fol. 389r: [Portata di Matteo di Ghoro di Niccolò di Ghoro] Qui a ppiè scriverrò tutti i miei debitori del bancho: [. . .] Mattio di Iacopo maestro di chantare Fl. trentacinque e mezzo [. . .] fol. 459r [Portata di] Marchione di Lando [. . .] Io Marchione d’età òne anni 65 con la donna c’à nome Mona Antonia d’età 50 e inferma è stata 14 anni ed òne uno fanciullo che sta chon uno prete d’età d’ani 13 ed ò a [sic] nome Lando ed ò una fanciula inferma d’età d’anni 10 [. . .] Vol. 51, San Giovanni, Lion D’oro fol. 64r A dì VIII di giugnio 1427 Dinançi a voi signiori uciali del chatasto del chomune di Firençe quartiere de’ Lione ad Oro: Questa è la portata di Maestro Piero di Lorenço Malamamma, insegnia a fanciulli leggiere populo di Sancto Lorenço. Una chasa in Via di San Ghallo dirinpetto agli Schalçi. Mi chostò orini cinquanta da Monna Margherita di Piero la metà, l’altra metà da Cenni di Tuccione. Al primo Antonio di Nuccio fornaio in sulla Piaçça di Sancto Lorenço. Al sechondo Bernardo di Giovanni pettinatore—Fl. L.
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La dota della donna mia Monna Domenicha d’Antonio di Rota una chasa, le due parti per non divisa, è sua, l’altra parte d’uno suo çio, vi sta entro, à nome Nincio d’Antonio di Rota, luogho detto a Vicho Firaldi, piviere Sancto Stagio d’Achone. E chola detta chasa ebbe per dota due peççe di terra chon due vignivole e fue istmata per Piero di Bocchio et Stefano di Grangi dal Ponte a Sieve orini cinquanta cho’ due terçi della chasa—Fl. L. Tiene et lavora le dette terre et vigne a tto Antonio di Tendi da Vicho Firaldi chon sei orini ch’io gli prestai et dàcene d’ongni chosa di tto sedici istaia di grano per tre anni niti 1428—staia XVI. Òne una fanciulla, a nome Margherita, a settembre anni XIIIIº. La sechonda fanciulla a nome Checcha, àne anni X. La terça fanciulla àne nome Giovanna, anni II. Uno fanciullo maschio, à nome Lorenzo, anni VI. Io Piero di Lorenço òne anni LXVIIII o sesantanove—LXVIIII. Sono i debiti miei tra pigione et altri danari in più luoghi bene lire trentadue L. XXXII—L. XXXII. Òne ad avere tra felatorai ed altre persone bene lire ventidue—L. XXII. Io Piero di Lorenço ò fatto questa scripta di mia propia mano. fol. 163v [Portata delle erede di Ser Pagolo di Pietro Bartolomei] Monna Bartolomea donna fu di Ser Pagolo di Piero Bartolomei e madre degl’infrascriti suoi gliuoli cioè: Piero di Ser Pagolo, d’età d’anni 22 o circha, non ista a botega e va si trastulando. iIacopo di Ser Pagolo d’età d’anni 20 o circha, è inn Ungeria cioè a Varadino. Zanobi di Ser Pagolo sta alla isquola d’ectà d’anni 18 o più. fol. 243v: [Portata di Sandro di Francesco Telducci] Sandro d’età d’anni 65. Monna Nanna sua donna d’età d’anni 60. Ser Telduccio loro gliuolo d’età d’anni 36. Franciescho di Zanobi suo nipote 20. Margherita di Zanobi sua nipote da marito 18.
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Caterina di Zanobi suo [sic] nipote d’anni 14. Fàlla imparare per farla monacha et non si piace. fol. 266r: [Bilancio della compagnia di Bolongnia (di Stefano, Vettorio e Nello di Nello di Ser Bartolomeo di Ser Nello), debitori:] Messer Iohanni di Dino di Borgogna de’ dare Fl. 25 S. 5 a oro. Costui era scholare. Andòssene e dove sia non sappiamo. Sono tristi denari. fol. 553r [Portata di Vespasiano di Ser Iacopo di Vanuccio Arrighi e fratelli] Vespasiano detto d’età d’anni XXVI sanza aviamento che, perché si riducha al bancho, niente à di salaro. La donna sua gravida che s’aspetta dì in dì di fare il fanciullo. Monna Lionarda nostra madre d’età d’anni 44 o circha. Daniello di Ser Iacopo d’età d’anni XXII che pel chattivo temporale non si lavora nell’arte della seta e non ne sta a bottegha siché niente ghuadagna. Vannozzo di Ser Iacopo detto d’età d’anni XXI che sta al medesimo modo che Daniello detto. Dalno gluolo di detto Ser Iacopo d’età d’anni 9, che sta a ‘pparare a leggiere alla schuola. Una fanculla femmina gliuola di detto Ser Iacopo, che à nome Lisa, che oggi mai è da marito. fol. 586v–587r [Portata di Vettorio di Francesco di Giovanni Rota] Vettorio d’età d’anni 63. Monna Aghata sua donna anni 29 e à 6 gluoli e 4 della dona mo[r]t(a) e 2 di questa. El primo di questi vivono à nnome Angnolo e d’anni 16. Sta al fondacho chon piccholo salario. Chaterina è da marito d’età d’anni 15. La Tomasa grande come llei è d’anni 14. Anselmo sta a llegiere d’età anni 6. Piera è di questa Monna Aghata ch’è ora sua donna, anni 2. Que’ di sopra sono de l’altra. Andrea d’età di mesi quattro.
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fol. 15r [Portata di Antonio di Filippo di Lorino] Io Antonio non fo nulla. Sono de la ettà che voi mi vedette e non sono atto a essere con altr[u]i, però sono di troppo tempo; sono in su l’anni LX. Giovani mio luoglo insta a la inschuolla ed è d’ani XV. Agnola mia dona non è meccho, d’anni XXXVI. Margheritta mia lioglla è d’ani IIIIo. fol. 372r [Portata di Brunato di Ghuido Brunato, al presente nella cità di Bologna] [Debitori:] Messer Amerigho da Ferara studiante de’ dare L. 215 S. 5. fol. 390r [Portata di Benedetto di Girolamo sarto, abitante in Firenze] Io Bendetto sopradetto d’età d’anni cinquanta. Ebi una mia donna. Àne nome Mona Chattarina, de la quale ò quatro gliuoli. Il primo mio gluolo è d’ettà d’anni 15, el quale io tengho a Bologna in istudio chon grande ispesa. À nome Antonio. Sechondo à nome Marcho d’età d’anni 13. El terzo à nome Israelo d’età 9. El quarto è una fancula femina; à nome Osanna d’età d’anni 7 e ogi al presente ò una altra donna; à nome Mona Bartolomea d’età d’anni 18, gluola fu di Domenicho d’Andrea lanaiuolo ocho.21 Vol. 53, San Giovanni, Drago fol. 55v: [Portata di Checcho et Giovanni di Bilincione de’ Chiari e Monna Dianora lor madre et Monna Piero loro avola] Anchora tegnamo una chasa a pigione di Fl. 12 nella quale si schotta Fl. più di 150 et nostra madre per la boccha sua ne schonta 200. Imperoché lla magior parte di quello ch’abiamo et [= è] suo, sicché
21 Benedetto provided an autograph signature (fol. 391v) in Bolognese dialect: Io Benedeto de Gerolimo sarto nel quartere de San Givane nel gonfalone de Derago Verde nel populo de San Marco ò de perestanzone urini dui e soldi sei e dinari nove. He recorded his debtors himself, also in Bolognese dialect: (fol. 392r–393r) Chanisani, Rocelai, Pala da Nizi, Pero de Misser Loise. This was evidently why he sent his son to university in Bologna.
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sono in tutto Fl. 350 et la valuta di ciò che abiano nonn è 300 Fl. Rimanci altre bocchche [sic] cio[è] Checcho d’età d’anni 25 o circha. Non sta a Firenze ma sta chon altrui e non guadagna nulla se nnon le spese et il vestitto; et [= è] male. Uno altro nome Giovanni d’anni circa 18 à animo d’essere chiricho. Sta con Ser Tomoso da San Nicholò a ‘nparare; non guadagna nulla, anzi logora. Son’ vi altri due de’ quali l’uno è frate, l’altro è chericho, de’ quali l’uno à nome Antonio, l’altro Frate Piero, e quali non si mettono. E più ànno una loro avola vecchia nome Monna Piera, la quale è d’anni 75 o più; costa assai sicché, chavatone e chirici, sono in tutto IIIIo bocche, cioè Dianora lor madre, Checcho, Giovanni et Mona Piera loro avola, cholla chasa a pigione. fol. 195v: [Portata di Francesco e Tomaso di Tomaso Pecori] Franciescho di Tomaso è d’ettà d’anni 11. tTomaso di Tomaso è d’ettà d’anni 9. Antonino di Tomaso è d’ettà d’anni 15; non è ligitimo. Istano detti faciugli chon uno ripetitore in chassa cho’ Piero Pechori per le ispese e dano l’ano a Piero Fl. 60 per loro vivere. Àno di spesa l’ano agl’ uciagli de’ popili tra l’atore e tasa e ragionieri Fl. 20. Àno di spesa l’ano tra vestire e cha[l]zare Fl. 30. Àno a dare a Monna Nana dona di Domenicho Businni Fl. 1100 per la dotta de la madre sua; fu dona di Tomaso Pechori [. . .]22 fol. 213r: [Portata delle rede di Lionardo di Zanobi ispeziale] Queste rede sono III faculi, cioè ii maschi ch’è l’uno anni X e l’altro ani 7 e 1a femina anni 8 ed àno di spesa pe’ loro alimentti Fl. sesanta l’ano e vestire e altre ispese et la schuola istimate siano Fl. trenta [. . .] fol. 382v [Portata di Maestro Giovanni di Maestro Antonio (Chellini) da Saminiato] Siamo in casa, senza la fante, famiglio e repetitore, Io Maestro Giovanni, La Nanna mia dona,
22
They were rich, paying a prestanza of Fl. 22 S. 16 D. 3 (fol. 200v).
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Cosmo mio gliuolo d’anni circa 8, Tommaso mio gliuolo d’anni circa 6 1/2. Vol. 54, San Giovanni, Drago fol. 280v [Portata di Migliore di Tomaso Ghuidotti] Migliore et [= è] d’ani—49. Monna Lisa mia dona et d’anni—27. Antonio mio gliuolo et d’anni—21. Tomaso mio gliuolo et d’anni—8. Alesandra mia gliuola et d’anni—6. Nanna mia gliuola et d’anni—3. Giovani mio gliuolo è d’anni—1. La donna et grosa et d’à a [= ed à a] partorire d’ottobre. Truovomi chol maestro in chasa che ‘segnnia a tuti mia gliuoli, che di niuno chavo utile ma grande spesa, non per lo studio.23 Vol. 55, San Giovanni, Drago fol. 19r [Portata di] Nanni di Bardo dalla Scarperia [. . .] Io Nanni di Bardo d’età d’anni LVI. Monna Antonia mia doma d’età d’anni XXXV. Òne uno fancullo d’età d’anni VIIII, va a legiere. Io Nanni di Bardo sto a l’arte della lana, sto a divettare, òne S. VI 1/2 il dì. fol. 77v [Portata di Ser Piero di Francescho Calcagni] Sono io Ser Piero d’età d’anni 65 e molto infermo siché poco posso exercitare e spendo assai in curarmi—anni 65. Monna Checca mia donna, che non sta meco, d’età d’anni 50.24 Ò cinque gliuoli che solo 2 minori stanno a bottega a salario.
23 This means that the maestro di casa taught the girls too, since there was only one boy of school age. They were a rich family: their portata went from fol. 279r to 306r with many different companies owned by the family. Migliore’s prestanza was Fl. 20 S. 7 D. 1 (fol. 278r). 24 Fol. 77v: Ò uno incaricho di Monna Checca mia mogle che non sta meco per suo difetto. Per lodo le do ogni anno per alimenti Fl. sedici.
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Simone d’età d’anni 33 vàssi collo sparviere con spesa. Bernardo, d’età d’anni 28, è al presente ito in galea. Ser Benedetto, d’età d’anni 22, studia. Giovanni, d’età d’anni 19, sta al setaiuolo. Lorenzo, d’età d’anni 19, sta all’orafo. fol. 244r [Portata di] Richuomo di Barone Balduci [. . .] Un podere posto nel popolo di San Piero a Sulicano pivieri di Setimo: [. . .] un pezo di terra di staiora nove: da primo via, da sechondo la badia di Firenze, el terzo è’l Maestro Giovanni de l’abacho e quarto la badia. Vol. 56, San Giovanni, Chiavi fol. 9r [Portata di Antonio di Tedicie degli Albizi] Antonio di Tedicie d’età d’anni cinquantasei. Mona Chosa molglie del detto Antonio d’età d’anni quarantanove. Tedicie d’Antonio d’età d’anni venticinque e più. Franciescho d’Antonio d’età d’anni ventiquatro e più. Iachopo d’Antonio d’età d’anni undici e più. [. . .] Uno maestro per Iachopo d’Antonio ch’à nnome Giorgio da Montevarchi. fol. 27r [Portata di Alesso d’Iacopo d’Alesso degli Alberti] Alesso è d’età d’anni 13 e sta a l’abacho. fol. 363r [Portata di] Mona Antonia donna che fu del Maestro Antonio dell’Abacho da Cità di Chastello. Abita in chasa di Nicholò di Bartolomeo; ista al chorazaio, suo fratello nella via d’Alpino [. . .] E la detta Mona Antonia d’età d’anni trentasei. E la Bartolomea sua gliuola d’età d’anni nove. E Iachopo suo gliuolo d’età d’anni sette. E Lionardo suo gliuolo d’età d’anni quatro. E più pagha l’anno di pigione d’una terza chasa tiene da Marchione del Biondo lire dieci. fol. 592r Monna Bartolomea vedova, donna fu di Maestro Giovanni insegniava a fanciuilli legiere. Tesse panno lino, è o d’età di LXIIII anni, è povera persona, à di sustanza Fl. trenta, che gli à dipositati a biancho di Salvestro di Maestro Benvenuto a sua
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discrezione. Non à altro se nonn è un pocho di masserizia e uno telaio da pano lino. Io Dono di Lippo Doni ò fatta questa scritta di volontà della detta Monna Bartolomea a dì 9 di luglio 1427. fol. 634v [Portata di Bartolomeo d’Antonio Ubaldini sensale degli ispeziali] El mio garzone che istudia àne a Siena tanti libri di legie che mi chostono in Firenze, cho[m]perati da più persone, chome per me vi poso mostrare, che mi vengono L. 386 al suo uso [. . .] Io Bartolomeo d’Antonio sensale d’ani sesantaquatro. Mona Margherita d’ani cinquatoto mia dona. Messer Benedetto ischolare nella Sapienza di Siena, ani ventisei. Òne a dare a Giovani e a Ruberto d’Antonio da Gagliano per cho[m]perare e libri e i miei bisogni orini cinquanta, chome ‘pare a libro suo e al mio: Fl. 50. fol. 636v [Portata di gliuoli che furono di Ser Giorgio di Ser Chaciotto] Tuduta di Ser Giorgio d’ettà d’anni 35; va al soldo. Ubertino di Ser Giorgio d’ettà d’anni 34; è istato in prigione anni 3 e messi 2. Uscìne a dì 28 di giugno 1427. Bartolomeo di Ser Giorgio d’età d’anni 33 e a Padova allo studio. fol. 693r [Portata di] Ser Charlo di Francescho da Brucianesi d’età d’anni diciotto—anni 18 À gl’infrascritti beni, cioè tanti libri che vagliono orini dieci—Fl. 10. Habita in casa delle rede di Bartolo di Schiatta Ridol per ripetitore nel popolo di Sa’ Iacopo sopra Arno. Ista a bbotegha con Ser Batista da Pisa.25 Guadagnia pocho o niente.
25 ASF Catasto 60, fol. 365r–372r (Ser Battista Boccianti da Pisa, a leading notary and book dealer: see below pp. 522–23).
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fol. 715r [Portata di Chiarissimo di Bernardo di Chiarissimo de’ Mazi] Io Chiarissimo di Bernardo di Chiarissimo de’ Mazi detto sono d’ettà d’anni cinquantauno, infermo e ghottoso chome ognionio da Firenze sa. Anchora à una sua donna d’età d’anni più di quaranta e abiano sette glioli, quatro maschi e tre femmine, chome partitamente dirò. Il primo à nome Giovanni, valicha, anni venticinque. Ista chon Filippo di Migliorino Ghuidotti tavoliere. Una fanciulla, à nome Lorenza. Àne anni dicianove. Òlla amaritata [. . .] E più ò un fanciullo d’ettà d’anni quatordici, il quale apara a leggiere e iscrivere, il quale à nome Francesco. E più ò un fanciullo d’ettà d’anni tredici che ‘mpara a leggiere e iscrivere, à nome Diamante. E più ò una fanciulla femina, à nome Lavaggia, d’ettà d’anni nove. E più ò una fanciulla femina, à nome Tita, d’ettà d’anni otto. E più ò un fanciullo maschio d’età d’anni quatro, à nome Bernardo [. . .] E più ò huno gliolo no’ ligittimo a Pisa, ista chon altrui, d’ettà d’anni dicianove, à nome Nofri. Vol. 57, San Giovanni, Vaio fol. 135r [Portata di Francesco di Piero Gherucci] Io Francesco di Piero sono d’età d’anni XXX [. . .] La donna mia d’età d’anni XVIII; à nome Sandra. Una mia gliuola d’età d’anni IIIIº; à nome Mea. La donna che fu di Piero mio padre d’età d’anni L; à nome Monna Mea. [. . .] Uno fanciuletto d’età d’anni VIII, il quale tengho per una limosine. Mandòmelo 1o charo mio amicho e disemi che per suo amore io lo dovesi tenere per l’amore di dio perché chol padre istentava. Mandolo a leggiere [. . .] El fanciullo à nome Domenicho.
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fol. 22v: [Portata di] Iachopo di Giovanni riveditore [. . .] Sto in una chasa delle donne di San Piero Magore; chonna dal lato chon uno prete che ‘nsengna legere a fanculli26 ed è la chasa delle dette monache, e dall’altro lato sta uno ch’à nome Nicholaio peliciaio ed è la sua chasa delle dette donne, e drieto chonno cho’ lle dette monache [. . .] fol. 183r: [Portata di] Lodovicho di Filippo pizichangniolo [. . .] Io Lodovicho di Filippo pizichangniolo d’età d’anni 54. La donna ch’à nome Antonia d’età d’anni 40. Òne dieci gliuoli tra masschi et femine et donne due maritate et però no’ lle nomino. I’ nomino gli altri: 1a fanciulla ch’à nome Maria d’età danni 16. 1a fanciulla ch’à nome Dionigia d’età d’anni 14. 1 o fanciullo maschio ch’à nome Niccholò d’età danni 13. Ista chon Andrea di Berto linaiuolo et dàgli Fl. 9 ½ in due anni per suo salaro. 1o fanciullo maschio ch’à nome Marcho d’età d’anni 11; sta all’abacho. 1o fanciullo maschio ch’à nome Taddeo d’età d’anni 9; sta all’abacho. 1o fanciullo maschio ch’à nome Filippo d’età d’anni 7; sta a llegere. 1a fanciulla ch’à nome Margherita d’età d’anni 6. 1a fanciulla cho’ nome Chonchordia d’età d’anni 3. fol. 375r: [Portata di] Michele di Maso lavorante di tinta [. . .] Monna Zanobia mia madre d’età d’anni LXVI. Michele di Maso, lavoro a la tinta, d’età d’ani XXXVI. Maso mio nipote, lavora la tera, d’età d’ani XVI. Benedeto mio nipote, ista a legere, d’età d’ani X.
26 This was possibly Ser Anselmo, chaplain of S. Piero Maggiore. See above pp. 335–36.
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Chaterina mia nipota d’età d’anni VI. Sono tuti gliuoli di mio fratelo morto. fol. 423r: Michele d’Angniolo di Brutto tesso drappi d’età d’anni 27. Piero d’Angniolo mio fratello, non fa nulla, d’età d’anni 25. Monna Grigia nostra madre inferma d’età d’anni 60. Matteo d’Iacopo nostro nipote, ista a legere, d’età d’anni 12. Vol. 59, San Giovanni, Chiavi 39r: Io Neri di Cola portatore [di sapone] da Norcia scriverò com’io sto. Abito a pigone in 1a chasa e nella vi’ di San Christofano popolo detto [Sancto Piero Maggiore]. Pago di pigione lire X. La cha’ è di Taccino di Bartolo, che ‘nsegna leggere a fanciugli alla piaza de’ Mozi. Del mio non si truova nula se non è 1o asinucio con ch’io porto el sapone, che lavoro a Sancta Marcherita con quello saponaio; costò l’asino orini 3. I conni de la chasa sono questi: da primo via, da 2 Ser Piero prete di Sa’ Martino a Terrenzano, da 3 Bartolomeo di Lorenzo, da 4 un chiasso che non à uscita. Non ò avere da persona né a dare. Non credo la maserizia vagli orini 6. Neri d’età anni 63. Monna Lorenza mie [sic] dona anni 52; la a latoio. Antonio mie gliolo anni XII e non è sano. La Stella mie gliuola anni X. La Madalena mie gliuola anni VIII. fol. 61r [Portata di Neri di Ser Segna Guiglelmi]27 [. . .] Una casa dove io habito co’ mie masseritie et famiglia posta nel popolo di Santo Ambruogo in sul canto di Via Borg’Allegri [. . .] Uno podere posto nel popolo di Sancto Michele a Tegolaia, luogo detto al ponte a Grassina [. . .]
27 Fol. 61r of this portata is written by Mariotto di Neri Guiglielmi, his son, who writes in a good humanist italic cursive (using for example the ampersand) and who is devoting himself evidently to the studia humanitatis. There are additions on fol. 61v written probably by Neri himself in a normal notarial-type cursive. Neri’s prestanza was Fl. 1 S. 3 D. 7 (fol. 62v).
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Sono d’età d’anni 62 [. . .] Deo dare alla compagnia et heredi di Giovanni del Chiaro Fl. 2 1/2, i quali gli promè per Mariotto mio gluolo. Ò 1o gluo coè il sopradetto Mariotto, studia, non fa ancora mestiero, è d’età d’anni 30 [. . .] Ò 4 libri 1o Virgilio i quali io studio: 1 Virgilio di pregio di Fl. 2, 1o Luchano L. 6, Tuschulane di Tulio Fl. 3, Tullio De amicitia Fl. 1. fol. 172v: [Portata di Piero di Filippo malischalcho] Bartolomeo [14] chericho in San Piero Maggiore. fol. 300r [Portata di Ser Piero di Ser Tommaso di Ser Francesco di Firenze] Ser Piero di Ser Tommaso di Ser Francescho pocho sano anni 68. Monna Niccholaia sua donna pocho sana—anni 53. Iohanni loro gluolo sança guadagno o bottegha—anni 24. Salvi loro gluolo sta al setaiuolo; à salaro pocho—anni 23. Antonio loro gluolo sta a linaiuolo; à Fl. 5 l’anno—anni 16. Tommaso Barletto loro gluolo sta alla schuola—anni 12. Vol. 60, San Giovanni, Vaio fol. 368r [Portata di Ser Baptista di Giovanni Bocciante da Pisa, notaio orentino] Libri tra di gramaticha, di noteria et di legge et altre fachultà in tutto di stima di orini dugento cinquanta—Fl. 250 L. fol. 368v: Item da Messer Pagolo del Chastro per prezzo di libri orini undici—Fl. undici, L. Item da Messer Guiglielmino Tanagli per prezzo di libri orini sette— Fl. 7, L. Item da Messer Charlo Federighi per prezzo di libri orini quatro— Fl. 4, L. Item debbo avere dal comune di Firenze per resto del salaro per legere noteria de l’anno passato orini otto cioè—Fl. 8, L. Item per llo salaro del presente anno orini trenta cioè—Fl. 30 L.
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fol. 370v Ser Baptista decto d’età d’anni cinquanta et più. Monna Tora sua donna d’età d’anni quarantacinque et più. Monna Iachopa sua gliuola, la quale è maritata a Ser Piero di Ser Bartholomeo da Sancto Chasciano et diedi di dota et donora et coredi orini secentodieci. Bindo, loro gliuolo d’età d’anni venti, torna alla bottegha di Piero di Bettuccio chartolaio a imparare decta arte et èvvi stato meno d’uno anno et per anchora non leva salario. Agnesa loro gliuolo [sic] d’età d’anni quatordici e oggi mai da marito. Matteo loro gliuolo et vanno Andrea d’età otto alla scuola per Niccholaio d’età d’anni sei loro gliuoli inparare.
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Vol. 61, San Giovanni, Vaio fol. 515r: [Portata di] Bartolomeo di Ser Albizo divettino d’ani 62. Monna Margherita sua dona d’ani 42. Sinibaldo, vàne al soldo, ani 17. Christofano ista al ciavaiolo con Sandro della Barba; àne Fl. dodici l’anno, anni 16. Cecha anni 14. Daniello istàne al farsettaio co’ Antonio di Domenicho; àne l’anno Fl. 6, anni 10. Baldassare, istàne a legere, anni 7. Pipa anni 4. Lucha anni 1o. fol. 971r: [Portata di] Ser Ghuido del Maestro Pagholo da Dichomano [. . .] non n’abita in Firenze. Non ci’à chasa né pigione [. . .] Solea stare nella via degli Agnoli nella chasa de’ Romiti degli Agnoli. fol. 972r: Ser Ghuido del Maestro Pagholo da Dichomano d’età d’anni 64. Mona Giana suo [sic] donna d’età d’anni 52. Antonio, suo gliuolo d’età d’anni 27, non fa nulla. À debito. Suole andare al soldo. Àmi disfatto.
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Iachopo, gliuolo di Ser Ghuido, d’età d’anni 22; non fa nulla ed è quatro anni non fe’ nulla. Vede pocho lume, ch’à du’ maglie in su l’ochi. Soleva andare alla schuola. L’Alina donna del detto Antonio d’età d’anni 20. Giovanni del detto Antonio à sei mesi. Vol. 62, San Giovanni, Vaio fol. 145r Io Lucha di Nicholò d’Arabatta al presente abitante in Pisa [. . .] Lucha di Nicholò d’Arabatta d’anni XL e non so fare nullo mestiere. Chaterina mia donna d’anni XL. V gliuoli a nutrichare cioè: Ciliagio d’anni 16. Questo impara per essere prete. Luigi d’anni 13 sta al abacho. Charllo d’anni 8 Stano alla Giuliano d’anni 6 squola.
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fol. 231r–232r: [Portata di Matteo et Mariano di Nichola da Cieperello] fol. 231v: Matteo di Nicholò d’anni de 32. Mona Nanna mia donna d’età d’anni de 20. Giovanni mio gliuolo d’anni di 3. La Chaterina mia gliuola d’età de 2. Charlo mio gliuolo d’ani de 1. Mariano mio fratello d’ani. Sta all’abacho.28 de 10. fol. 233r [Portata di] Ser Macteo et Ser Thome di Marcho di Tomme da l’Isola di Valdelsa contado di Firenze [. . .] Vedrete il bisogno et necessità loro singulare et lo stato loro legieri e debole quanto dir si può per la presura fatta in Romagna dalle genti del ducha di detto Ser Matteo, per la quale presura stette XVI mesi in prigione et rischossesi quasi tutte loro sustantie [. . .] Cinque libri d’inbreviature furono di Ser Giovanni di Ceccho Tempi da Vinci cittadino et notaio orentino [. . .]
28
The words ‘Sta all’abacho’ constitute an afterthought inserted later by Matteo.
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Ser Matteo d’età d’anni trenta cinque—35. Ser Tomme d’età d’anni trenta due 32, il quale si ripara in chasa Lippaccio Branchacci al presente.29 fol. 301r–v [Portata di] Monna Mea dona che fu de Ghuido di Salvi righatiere [. . .] Non ò altro i’ questo mondo se no’ che ò 4 gliuoli maschi e 1a a maritare e due maritate overo apogiate: Il primo si à nome Salvi ed è d’età 24; ista a Roma ed è sanza aviamento. Il sechondo si à nome Mariotto ed è d’età d’ani 16; ista achora a Roma a righatie[re]. Il terzo si à nome Michele d’età d’anni 9; ista al’abacho. Il quarto si à nome Francesco d’età d’anni 8; ista a legiere. Il quinto si à nome Chaterina d’anni 7; ista mecho in villa. fol. 367v [Portata di Nello di Giuliano Martini doctore di legge] Ò tra a mio uso et quelli che ò deputati a uso di Giuliano, mio gliuolo che studia in ragione civile, tanti libri di ragione civile et canonicha et altre scientie che mi costano circa Fl. mille e così gli varrebbeno a buon tempo. Sono volumi in tucto tra grandi et piccoli cento X—Fl. M [. . .] fol. 368r La famiglia mia, che sono d’età d’anni LIIII. L’Albina mia donna d’età d’anni 30. Iuliano mio gliuolo che studia d’età d’anni 24. Giovanni mio gliuolo che si da buon tempo d’anni 21. La Ghostança mia gliuola di mesi octo. fol. 404r: [Portata di] Nanni di Tomaso di Gherardo Nanni di Tomaso detto è d’età d’anni XLV. Istàssi a San Cresci a Valchava co’ la sua famiglia per povertà. Monna Mea sua donna d’età d’anni XXXV. Tomaso suo gliuolo d’età d’anni XIII. Òllo posto per chericho col prete di San Cresci. Cresci suo gliuolo d’età d’anni VII. Lisa sua gliuola d’età d’anni II.
29
Evidently as a ripetitore.
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Vol. 63, Aggiunta a tutti i quartieri dell’anno 1428 e 1429 fol. 117r: Dinanzi a voi signiori ufciali del catasto della città, contado et distrecto di Firenze, si fa la rechata di tutte le substantie et beni di Bartolo di Benghi da Gambassi, il quale è stato già dieci anni o circa nella città di Firenze et al presente habita nel popolo di Sancta Felicita di Firenze nel gonfalone del Nichio con Ser Nicolaio suo fratello, et va allo studio. Il quale Bartolo è di tempo et d’età d’anni diciotto o circa et à di substantia et beni tra in denari et masseritie a uso di casa di Fl. cinquanta, a llui dati et consegnati per Benghi suo padre, et non à altro. Il perché adomanda essere descripto nel catasto della città di Firenze come persona nuovamente venuta. À—Fl. 50. fol. 286r: [Aggiunta alla portata di Nino di Giovanni di Nino da Bibbiena, notaio orentino] E più vi fo noto chome Francesco di Niccolò chalzolaio del Lion Rosso ebbe da me in prestanza certi libri di leggie per lo gliuolo che istudia et egli prestò a me Fl. 20 d’oro a opera’ si i libri e io idem, e perché sono suo debitore del danaio non vi fa [sic] ricordo nell’altra mia portata di detti libri né anche del detto debito. Ora ve ne fo ricordo per fuggire ogni dubbio, posto ch’e detti libri non vagliono molto più che quello io gli ò a dare, e così troverrete per la sua scritta. fol. 392r: [Portata di] Maestro Giovani del Maestro Filipo da Piperno istudiante in medicina [. . .] El detto Meser [sic] Giovani è d’ettà d’ani 30. fol. 393v: Scripta di beni di Maestro Giovanni del Maestro Filippo da Piperno, sta in Prato. fol. 643r: Ser Iohanni di Cinccio di Giovani, quartiere di San Giovanni gonfalone delle Chiavi, in chasa di Giusaffa degli Albizi,30 il quale non à nulla. È d’età d’anni ventotto.
30
Evidently as a ripetitore.
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fol. 748r: [Portata di Angnolo di Franciescho da Stia] Io Angnolo d’età d’anni 38—38. Papera mia donna d’anni 36—36. Piero mio gliuolo sta qui a Firenze alla schuola d’età d’anni—14. Domenico mio gliuolo d’età d’anni undici et non è sano ed è stato infermo ani sei—11. Bartolomea mia gliuola d’anni otto—8. Lena mia gliuola d’anni sei—6. Lucia mia gliuola d’anni quatro—4. Iacomo mio gliuo d’anni uno—1.
APPENDIX TWO
EDUCATION IN THE FLORENTINE CATASTO, 1458 Vol. 785, Santo Spirito, Scala fol. 539v [Portata di Giovanni di Piero di Bartolomeo schodelliere] Lorenzo mio gliuolo sta all’abacho, d’anni 13 1/2. Andrea mio gliuolo sta a legiere, d’ani 7. Vol. 786, Santo Spirito, Scala fol. 588v [Portata di Batista e Sandro di Bartolo dal Ghallo, richatti in Pisa] Iachopo di Sandro studia i’ farsi prete 13. Vol. 788, Santo Spirito, Nicchio fol. 96r [Portata di Gino di Neri Capponi] Piero di Gino di Neri Capponi d’età d’anni X Tommaso [. . .] d’anni 9 Neri [. . .] d’anni 6 Capone [. . .] d’anni 3 1/2 [. . .] Antonio di Bartolomeo da Voltera maestro de’ mia fanciulli, insegnia loro gramaticha. fol. 128r [Portata di Niccholò et Francescho di Lorenço di Niccholò cardaiuolo e di Mona Pippa loro madre, gliuola fu di Iacopo di Domenicho, biadaiuolo] Beni acquistati da dì VI gennaio passato in qua: Maestro Mariano del Maestro Michele di Giovanni dell’Abacho, gonfalone Vipera, fece testamento a dì primo di febraio presente e lasciò sua herede universale la detta Mona Pippa di Iacopo di Domenicho biadaiuolo altrimenti di Iacopo del Biondo sua nipote coè gliuola della sirocchia roghato per Ser Simone Graçini di Staggia notaio orentino, nella quale redità trouva e rapporta Maestro Mariano [. . .]
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fol. 128v: Una chasa dove teneva l’abbacho detto Maestro Mariano posta nel popolo di Sancto Appostolo che a pº via di Lungharno, a II chiasso della Vergine Maria, a III chiasso, a IIII Ghuglielmo da Torri o altri se fossono più veri conni. La detta casa à lasciata per testamento per due anni a ghodere sença pigio’ a Bancho di Piero d’Andrea maestro d’abbacho, gonfalone Carro, come vedrete per la sua scripta et di poi per cinque anni vuole paghi l’anno Fl. XVI di pigione. Non so altrimenti quello se ne paghi di pigione [. . .] Et più rapporto ogni altro credito di monte o paghe sostenute o ordinarie in nome di decto Maestro Mariano. Non so quanto né che paghe si sieno perché Antonio mio fratello ha tolti e avuti i libri e non posso vedere lo stato e la redità di detto Maestro Mariano che mi toccha. Quando avrò detti libri et scripture vi rapporterò tucto inanzi [. . .] fol. 129r: Et più si rapporta masserizie, libri e scripture che rimasono della redità del Maestro Mariano. Non so quello si sieno. Tie’ lle e occhupa male per força Antonio di Iacopo del Biondo mio fratello, che dice avere avere da Maestro Mariano. Àmmi serrato l’uscio et tie’ llo per forza [. . .] Debbo avere d’Antonio di Iacopo del Biondo mio fratello Fl. LX come debitore di detto Maestro Mariano. Furono per rischuotere la casa dove habitava Maestro Marianno. Oggi l’abita Antonio detto. Vol. 793, Santo Spirito, Ferza fol. 301r–302r [Portata di Biancho di Ghinozo Cancellieri] [. . .] truovami ad avere [. . .] da Maestro Bartolo insegnia legiere Fl. 7 S. 1. Vol. 794, Santo Spirito, Drago fol. 45r [Portata di Mona Piera gliuola fu di Rufolo e donna fu di Pacino di Bonbello] Monna Piera d’ettà d’anni sesantaquatro.
education in the florentine catasto, 1458 Pacino d’anni dieci suo nipote Piero suo nipote d’anni sette
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gluoli di Bonbello gluolo di detta Monna Piera. Vanno a legiere.1 E Stefano d’anni 5 gluoli d’Antonio gluolo di E Lorenzo d’anni 2 detta Monna Piera. Piera gluola di Bonnbello d’anni 3.
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Vol. 795, Santo Spirito, Drago fol. 103v [Portata di Giuliano di Niccolò Fulini di Fulignio] Bocche: Monna Letta donna fu di Nicholò di Fulignio mia madre. Piero di Nicholò va a la squola a leggere.2 Giuliano detto. Monna Tessa mia donna. Nicholò mio gliuolo. Taddea mia gluola Vol. 798, Santa Croce, Carro fol. 613r [Portata di Ser Comando di Ser Simone Comandi] fol. 615r Io mi trovo una casa d’Agnalo di Berto Cecchi a pigione per mio habitare e per la bottega della scuola a salario e pigione di orini venti l’anno rogato per mano di Ser Domenico di Ser Santi notaio orentino, popolo di San Piero Scharaggio [. . .] E battesi la metà di decta pigione perché ne fa bottega.3
1 Another copy of this information is found in ASF Catasto 797, fol. 119r: Pace suo nipote d’anni deci, Piero d’anni sette, gluoli di Bonbello gluolo di detta Monna Piera, vanno alla squola a ‘nparare a legiere. 2 Another copy of this information is found in ASF Catasto 796, fol. 167v: Piero mio fratello va a legere. 3 This line is written in the margin by an ofcial.
532
appendix two
fol. 615v Bocche: Ser Comando di Simone di Comando d’età d’anni quarantasette. L’arte mia è d’innsegnare gramatica, vile arte oggi e picolo guadagno. Monna Mattea mia donna d’età d’anni trenta. Vangelista mia gluola aquistata d’una si chiama Anna d’età d’anni dieci. Phylippo d’età danni sedici.4 Vol. 813, Santa Maria Novella, Unicorno fol. 95r [Portata di Monna Maddalena donna fu d’Andrea di Domenico Davizi] Bocche: Monna Maddalena decta d’età d’anni 50_____Fl. 200. [. . .] Et più debbo dare a Bese Ardinghelli mio genero al quale io maritai la Piera mia gluola insino dell’anno 1448, gli debbo dare per dota Fl. 600 d’oro. I quali non glielo mai dati ma sono tenuta et obligata ad dare le spese et a llui et a’ suoi gluoli et tuctavia dal dì che io gli detti la detta mia gliuola no a questo dì lui s’è tornato mecho a vivere del mio et così torna, et i suoi gliuoli ò fatti nutrire et allactare alle mie spese et non avendo altri gluoli da me quelli stimo essere miei et a lloro et a llui do le spese, ché piccola cosa ànno da llui perché è impotente. I quali sono tre gliuoli maschi et per scrittura et obbligo sono tenuta ad dare et a llui et a llor come di sopra si dice le spese mentre vivo_____Fl. 200. Non ò casa in Firenze et per lo passato ò tenuta casa ad pigione per Fl. 14, ma nendo la pigione et per rispetto della moria n’ò avuta pocha cura et massime perché forse un’anno fa ne toglemmo 1a la quale è una casellina piccolina et disutile posta nel chiassolino di Mariano dell’Abacho, che la toglemo da Antonio di Biagio choiaio gonfalone Vipera, della quale si pagha Fl. 6 et quella si tolse per avere in Firenze, quando Bese venia a Fireze, uno ricetto. Vore’ ne 1a di Fl. 14 o circha secondo lo stato
4
Fol. 613r: Phylippo di Christofano di Simone di Commando mio nipote.
education in the florentine catasto, 1458
533
nostro, che per non chapere in quella, mi sono stata et sto in villa co’ fanciulli, che, venendo a Firenze, farei loro insegnare leggere. fol. 100v [Portata di Bese di Giovanni di Bernardo Ardinghelli] Bocche: Bese [. . .] anni 48. Andrea [. . .] anni 8. Giovanfrancesco [. . .] anni 7. Baldassare [. . .] anni 5. Vol. 818, Santa Maria Novella, Lion Bianco fol. 303v [Portata di Simone e Taddeo di Salvestro Micceri e Salvestro d’Antonio Micceri loro nipote] Boche coè incharichi: Simone di Salvestro d’ettà d’anni 36. Taddeo di Salvestro d’ettà d’anni 35. La Cilia donna di Taddeo di Salvestro, fu gliuola di Piero di Mariano Chalandri d’ettà d’anni 26. La Dianora di Taddeo d’ettà d’ani 11. Antonio di Taddeo d’ettà d’anni 9. Nicholò di Taddeo d’ettà d’anni 5. Salvestro figliuolo d’Antonio di Salvestro che insengniava l’abacho d’ettà d’anni 11. L’Alessandra gliuola del sopradetto Antonio d’ettà d’anni 14. fol. 933r [Portata di] Francesco di Bartolo di Matteo che insengia leggere. Non n’è stato in alchuna distributione perché non n’è stato sopra di se et anchora perché è stato in abito eclesiasticho. Tengho una chasa a ppigione della quale pagho l’anno orini sei, la qual chasa è di Messer Bernardo di Giovanni priore di San Benedetto diocesi d’Areçço [. . .] [Dònne l’anno di pigione] Fl. 6. La qual chasa è posta al Chanto del Feilla [Frilla] da Santa Maria Novella. Bocche: Francesco sopradetto d’età d’anni 42. Lisabetta sua donna d’età d’anni 26. Girolamo suo gluolo d’età d’anni 1º.
534
appendix two
Creditori: Ò avere da Biagio di Mechatto dall’Uccigiellatoio già sono più anni de’ danari prestati L. 20. Ò avere da Marcho Fei setaiuolo per insengniatura de’ sua gluoli circha di L. 15. Ò avere da più persone circha di lire trenta d’insengniatura L. 30. Debiti: A Messer Bernardo di Giovanni per pigione della chasa dove sto— Fl. 6. A più persone circha di L. Fl. L. 25. Vol. 826, San Giovanni, Drago fol. 3v [Portata di Mariotto di Bartolo Bartolini] E più tengho in chasa rmamente un maestro che insegna a’ mia fanciulli, il quale à nome Ser Benedetto di Cholucio da Pistoia [. . .] Brancha mio gliuolo d’anni 18. Giorgio mio gliuolo d’anni 16. Giovanni mio gliuolo d’anni 15. Bernardo mio gliuolo d’anni 9. fol. 383v [Portata di Cambino di Francesco Cambini] Luigi di Canbino no’ ligitimo, il quale è stato e sta in istudio a Perugia. Costami ducati 3 il mese. Ebilo d’una mia serva che à nome Barbera, maritala a Nicholò di Chastrone famiglio de’ gliuoli. È vedova e va guardando le donne. È [cioè Luigi] d’età d’anni 25. Vol. 828, San Giovanni, Chiavi fol. 131r–v Bartolo di Lorenzo Gerini che insengnia legere a fancugli lungharno, nel populo di Santa Trinita [. . .] Bartolo di Lorenzo sopradetto è d’età d’anni setanzei 76. Monna Domenicha sua donna è d’età d’anni 60. fol. 222r [Portata di Messer Benedetto di Bartolomeo Ubaldini]
education in the florentine catasto, 1458
535
fol. 225r Messer Benedetto d’età d’anni sexanta. Mona Ginevra d’età d’anni trentaotto. Katerina d’età d’anni XX e più sanza dota di monte o altro danaio se dio non provede di tutto, ché nulla ò. Antonio d’età d’anni dodici e va pe’ tredici; va alla schuola. Mariotto d’età d’anni sette e va per li otto; va a lleggere. Matteo d’età d’anni quattro; va per li cinque. Margherita d’età di mesi dicianove. Bartolomea d’età di mesi quatro. Vol. 829, S. Giovanni, Chiavi fol. 442r: [Portata di] Antonio di Nicolò fornaio, pupillo. Mio padre mai non ebbe graveza e morì già anni tre circa [. . .] fol. 442v: Bocche: Io Antonio di Nicolò sopradicto sto per cherico di San Giovanni in Sancto Apostolo di Firenze ed ò le spesi di maggiare solamente et niente guadagno. Sono d’età d’anni 15. fol. 443r: Eugenia mia sirocchia d’età d’anni undici o cicirca [sic] sta in casa con una nostra zia.
APPENDIX THREE
COMMUNAL SCHOOLTEACHERS IN FLORENCE UP TO 1500
Teacher
Years of service
Subject(s) taught
Annual salary
Maestro Guizzardo del fu Messer Bondo del Frignano da Bologna
1320–23 Grammar, logic and philosophy
Maestro Francesco
1376
Maestro Domenico di Bandino d’Arezzo
1382–92 Grammar and rhetoric
Maestro Matteo di Ser Loro da Radda
1388–89 Grammar
30 orins
Abbondanza (1959), pp. 85, 106–7; Spagnesi (1979), p. 16
Maestro Spigliato di Cenne da Firenze
1388–89 Grammar
20 orins (to be shared with Benincasa)
Abbondanza (1959), pp. 85, 109; Spagnesi (1979), p. 16
Ser Benincasa di Bentivegna da S. Maria in Bagno
1388–89 Grammar
20 orins (to be shared with Spigliato)
Abbondanza (1959), pp. 85, 109
Maestro Matteo di Ser Loro da Radda
1391–96 Grammar
Spagnesi (1979), p. 271
Ser Paolo di Bartolomeo 1391–96 Grammar da Bologna
Spagnesi (1979), p. 271
Maestro Domenico di Bandino da Arezzo
Spagnesi (1979), p. 271
30 orins Gherardi (rent), 100 (1881), pp. lire (salary) 277–78; DBI, v. 61, p. 555
Grammar
1392–96 Grammar and rhetoric
Source(s)
Gherardi (1881), p. 346 Davies (1998), pp. 14–15
538
appendix three
Teacher
Years of service
Subject(s) taught
Annual salary
Source(s)
Maestro Matteo di Ser Loro da Radda
1401–2
Grammar
15 orins
Gherardi (1881), p. 376
Maestro Francesco di 1401–2 Ser Feo di Nigi da Arezzo
Grammar
15 orins
Gherardi (1881), p. 376
Maestro Niccolò 1401–2 di Ser Duccio da Arezzo
Grammar
15 orins
Gherardi (1881), p. 376
Maestro Francesco di Ser Feo da Arezzo
1415–17 Grammar
25 orins
Park (1980), pp. 274–75
Maestro Matteo di Ser Loro da Radda
1415–16 Grammar
25 orins
Park (1980), p. 274
Maestro Tomma[so] 1416–17 [Grammar] 30 orins Sello da Suessa Aurunca
Park (1980), p. 275; Davies (1998), p. 23 n. 98
Maestro Antonio di Andreuccio da Castelnuovo della Lunigiana
50 orins Verde (1973– (1483–88), 95), II, pp. 70 orins 492–99 (1488–89)
1483–89 Grammar, rhetoric and poetry
Maestro Giorgio di 1491– Niccolò di Alberto Riesti 1503 da Firenze
Grammar
50 orins Verde (1973– (1491–95), 95), II, pp. 65 orins 286–87 (1495–96), 60 orins (1496– 1502), 65 orins (1502–3)
Maestro Iacopo di Bartolomeo Bosi dalla Garfagnana
1492–96 Grammar
50 orins Verde (1973– (1492–95), 95), II, pp. 65 orins 304–5 (1495–96), 60 orins (1496)
Maestro Guarino di Iacopo da Camerino
1492–96 Grammar
50 orins Verde (1973– (1492–95), 95), II, pp. 65 orins 292–93 (1495–96), 60 orins (1496)
1 His dismissal was carried on 8 December 1486; he was notied ofcially by the bidello on 8 January 1487: Schlebusch (1992), pp. 201–202.
communal schoolteachers in florence up to 1500
543
Teacher
Years of service
Subject(s) taught
Annual salary
Source(s)
Maestro Gaspare di Antonio di Piero de’ Mariscotti da Marradi
1496– 1503
Grammar
60 orins Verde (1496–97: (1973–95), I, to be shared pp. 363–83 with Ser passim; II, Giovanni pp. 366–67 de’ Marelli), 60 orins (1497– 1502), 65 orins (1502–3)
Ser Giovanni di Bartolomeo de’ Marelli dalla Lunigiana, priest
1496–97 Grammar
60 orins Verde (1973– (1496–97: 95), II, pp. to be 366–67 shared with Maestro Gaspare de’ Mariscotti)
Maestro Francesco di Giovanni da Urbino
1497– 1503
Grammar
60 orins (1497– 1502), 65 orins 1502–3
Verde (1973– 95), II, pp. 264–65
Maestro Girolamo di Maestro Luca Bernardi da S. Gimignano
1497– Grammar 1503 (from 1497 to 1499, he shared the appointment with his father; from 1499 to 1503, he served alone)
60 orins (1497– 1502), 65 orins (1502–3)
Verde (1973–95), I, pp. 366–83 passim
APPENDIX FOUR
COMMUNAL SCHOOLTEACHERS IN FLORENTINE TUSCANY (AND SIENA) UP TO 1400 Arezzo Name
Subject(s) taught
Year(s) of service
Annual salary
Source(s)
Maestro Tommaso Abacus del fu Davizzo de’ Corbizzi e suo fratello Maestro Giovanni
1331–37
50 lire
Black (1996a), pp. 316–18
Ser Bernardo di Meglio da Arezzo, notaio
Reading
1387–96
Exemption from communal taxation
Black (1996a), pp. 333–34; ASA Provv. 3, fol. 105r– 106r (see Appendix 7 below)
Maestro Francesco di Ser Feo di Nigi da Arezzo1
Grammar
1389–99
50 Fl. + 10 Fl. (rent)
Black (1996a), pp. 335–72
Donato di Giovanni di Dante da Arezzo
Abacus
1394–95
5 Fl. (rent)
Black (1996a), p. 357
Maestro Domenico di Grammar Bandino da Arezzo
1399–1402 70 Fl.
Black (1996a), pp. 371–77
1 Francesco di Ser Feo was the second choice, after Domenico di Bandino but before Santi di Biagio da Valiana: Black (1996a), pp. 334–35.
546
appendix four Buggiano
Name
Subject(s) taught
Year(s) of service
Annual salary
Source(s)
Presbitero Giovanni Reading di Marchesino de Butrio, contado di Bologna
1367–80
25 lire
ACB 6, fol. 55v; Witt (1983), p. 31 n. 13; ASF SCS 101, fol. 14v, 119v
Maestro Gabriele di Giovanni da Milano
Grammar
1386–87
24 Fl.
ACB 9, fol. 236r
Don Bartolomeo di Donato da Firenze, abate di Buggiano
Grammar
1387–89
50 lire
ACB 9, fol. 274v–75r, 331r
Ser Giovanni di Pasqueti da Monte San Savino
Reading
1399–1401 25 lire
ACB 10, fol. 319r, 345r
Carmignano Name
Subject(s) taught
Year(s) of service
Maestro Francesco di Giunta da Tizzana
Grammar
1309
Annual salary
Source(s) Debenedetti (1906), pp. 104–105
Castelfiorentino Name
Subject(s) taught
Year(s) of service
Maestro Giusto di Uguccio da Volterra
Grammar
1398
Annual salary
Source(s) Battistini (1919), pp. 14, 33 n. 36; Battistini (1922), pp. 52–53
communal schoolteachers in florentine tuscany
547
Castelfranco di Sotto Name
Subject(s) taught
Maestro Antonio di Giovanni da Perugia
Year(s) of service
Annual salary
Source(s)
1385–88
6 lire (rent: 1385–86), 5 lire (rent: 1387–88)
ACCS 1459, NN and fol. 129r
Maestro Bandino di Ser Niccolò da Bologna, notaio
[Grammar]
1388–89
12 Fl. + 1 Fl. (rent)
ACCS 1459, fol. 212r, 213r
Don Bartolomeo del fu Neri da Firenze, prete
Grammar
1394–96
8 Fl.
ACCS 1460, fol. 91v, 145r
Don Matteo di Palmiero da Castelfranco
Grammar
1396–1401 8 Fl.
ACCS 1460, fol. 190v
Castiglion Fiorentino Name
Subject(s) taught
Year(s) of service
Annual salary
Source(s)
Maestro Bandino d’Arezzo
Grammar
1346–47
10 Fl.
ACCF 221, fol. 12v; 223, fol. 1v, 29r, 39r
Maestro Piero di Paolo
Grammar
1376–77
36 Fl.
ACCF 28, fol. 6v
Maestro Iacopo [di Piero] da Todi
Grammar
1383
50 Fl.
ACCF 30, fol. 12r; 225, fol. 2v
Antonio di Giovanni [da Perugia]
Magister scolarum
1384
120 soldi (rent)
ACCF 225, fol. 13r
Ser Giovanni di Vanni del Castello della Badia di San Salvadore
ASS Colle 300, fol. 138v; 82, fol. 65r–66r; 83 fasc. II, fol. 106v, 108r; 84, fol. 139v; 85 fol. 30v
Abacus
2 Maestro Simone del fu Corsino da Colle, then teaching grammar in Fabriano, was elected but did not come, and so Angelo da Arezzo, who had been teaching in Siena until 1317 (see below p. 593), was appointed instead: ASS Colle 289, fol. 79r–v, 82v. The efforts to secure the services of Simone were long-standing: on 26 January 1314 he was offered an appointment for ve years at an annual salary of 25 lire if he were to return to teach in Colle (Ninci [1999], I, pp. 137–38). 3 He was allowed an extra 10 lire p.a. if he had a ripetitore, but in the end he taught alone.
ASS Colle 97, fol. xxiv verso–xxv verso; 98, fol. 29r–30v
4 Maestro Cecco di Orlando da Prato was elected as grammar teacher for a year beginning on 15 September at a salary of 175 lire 13 S. 14 D., besides a house at communal expense, but he evidently did not take up the appointment: ASS Colle 93, fol. lviii verso–lx verso.
550
appendix four
Name
Subject(s) taught
Year(s) of service
Annual salary
Source(s)
Maestro Lamberto di Ambrogio da Pistoia
Grammar
1357–59
150 lire + house
ASS Colle 100, fol. ci recto–verso; 312, fol. 42r–v
Maestro Giovanni di Lapo da Colle
Reading, writing
1359–60
25 lire
ASS Colle 101, fol. xli verso, xlii recto, xlii recto–verso, ciii verso–ciiii verso
Maestro Giovanni del fu Naldo dell’Abaco da Colle6
Reading, writing, abacus
1370–71
40 lire
ASS Colle 111, fol. 81v– 82v; 113, fol. 103r–v
Ser Collo di Bindo di Geppo da Pisa
Grammar
1372–73
40 Fl. + house
ASS Colle 115, fol. 12v–13r
Maestro Amerigo de Diano in Puglia
Grammar
13737–75
36 Fl. + house
ASS Colle 112, fol. 54v– 55v; 116, fol. 60v–61v
5 Maestro Piero da Citerna (Città di Castello) was appointed grammar teacher for two years from 15 May 1367 at a salary of 200 lire p. a. besides a house at communal expense, but he did not take up the appointment: ASS Colle 107, fol. lxxxxii verso– lxxxxxiii verso. 6 He died in August 1371: ASS Colle 113, fol. 103r. 7 Maestro Francesco, the former ripetitore in the school of Maestro Piero da Ovile
552
appendix four
Name
Subject(s) taught
Year(s) of service
Annual salary
Source(s)
Maestro Francesco di Maestro Martino da San Miniato
in Siena was appointed to serve for a year on 11 July 1373 at an annual salary of 50 Fl. besides a house at communal expense, but he refused the appointment: ASS Colle 115, fol. 7v–8r. On the same day, Maestro Antonio da Montepulciano was elected communal abacus teacher for a year from 1 October 1373 at an annual salary of 30 Fl., but he died before coming: ASS Colle 115, fol. 7v–8r. On 10 October 1373, Maestro Antonio di Ser Salvi Vannini da S. Gimignano was elected communal grammar teacher for a year at an annual salary of up to 50 Fl. besides a house at communal expense but he did not accept the appointment: ASS Colle 115, fol. 39v–40r. 8 On 9 June 1375, Maestro Tommaso di Maestro Duccio da Prato, who was then serving in Volterra (see below p. 609), was appointed grammar teacher for 16 months at a salary of 50 Fl. besides a house at communal expense, but he did not accept the appointment: ASS Colle 118, fol. 24r–v. 9 Nofri da Poggitazzi accepted a reappointment on 2 October 1391 (ASS Colle 130, fol. lxxii recto), but during his term he went to Siena, as is noted in the margin next to this acceptance: Cassa quia solutus est dicto Magistro Honofrio pro tempore quo
communal schoolteachers in florentine tuscany Name
serviat et ulterius non serviet quia ivit Senas ad retinendum scolas durante tempore quo servire debebat. This occurred in 1392, when Peter Denley has indicated that he was hired to teach in Siena. 10 On 28 April 1393, an anonymous master from Prato was appointed at an annual salary of 50 Fl., but he did not accept the appointment: ASS Colle 132, fol. vi verso– vii verso. 11 Maestro Nofri di Giovanni da Poggitazzi, who had been ‘castellanus de Colle’ since 1394, and ‘terragena terre Collis’ since 1398, was appointed to teach grammar for a year in Colle at a salary of 50 orins, but he seems not to have taken up the appointment. See ASS Colle 133, fol. xiii verso–xiiii recto; 134, fol. xxxvi recto; 135, fol. xxviii verso–xxviiii recto. 12 In 1325, the statutory compensation for a grammar teacher in Cortona was 25 lire and a house: (ASF SCS 279, fol. 21v) De habendo in Cortona unum bonum et sufcientem magistrum gramatice. Ruprica. Statuimus et ordinamus quod pro publica utilitate hominum comunis et populi de Cortona procuretur per dictum comune ita et taliter quod omni anno sit et esse debeat in civitate Cortone unus bonus et sufciens
554
appendix four Fucecchio
Name
Subject(s) taught
Year(s) of service
Annual salary
Source(s)
Ser Cambio di Ammanato
‘docet scolares’
1306
8 lire (rent)
ACF 95 NN
Malusino (Ser Grammar Bartolomeo) da Lucca
1315–18
12 lire
ACF 17 NN
Bettuccio di Guiduccio
Reading, writing, grammar
1318–19
12 lire
ACF 25 NN
Totto di Alessandro da Lucca
Reading, writing
1319
9 lire (rent)
ACF 30 NN
Malusino (Ser Grammar Bartolomeo) da Lucca
1319–22, 1323–24
7 lire (rent, 1319–20), 12 lire (1320–24)
ACF 33 NN, 99 NN, 100 NN, 102 NN, 103 NN, 107 NN
Ser Meliore di Compagno da Lucca
Doctor puerorum
1326–27
12 lire (rent)
ACF 48 NN, 109 NN
Ser Giovanni da Pistoia, notary
Grammar, abacus
1327
12 lire (rent)
ACF 50 NN, 111 NN
Malusino (Ser Grammar Bartolomeo) da Lucca
1327–30
20 lire
ACF 50 NN, 111 NN, 120 NN
Ser Iacopo di Ser Guido Spinelli da Cevoli (S. Miniato), notaio
Grammar
1330–31
25 lire
ACF 122, fol. 63v, 74v–75r, 652 NN
Ser Lucchese di Maestro Tura da Serravalle
Grammar
1331–33
30 lire
ACF 654 NN
Maestro Piero di Ser Gianni da Siena
Grammar
1334–35
36 lire
ACF 130, fol. 15v
magister gramatice qui magister habet a comuni pro suo salario pro uno anno XXV. libras den. minutorum Cortone et domum, qui annus incipiat in festo Beati Luce evangeliste’. Maestro Rainerio was appointed on 28 May 1323 ‘pro uno anno proxime venturo incepto in festo Beati Luce de mense septembris proxime veniente cum salario, pactis et conditionibus in supradicto capitolo statutorum comunis Cortone’: ACC Deliberazioni del consiglio, 1, fol. 90r.
communal schoolteachers in florentine tuscany
555
Name
Subject(s) taught
Year(s) of service
Annual salary
Source(s)
Maestro Matteo
[Grammar]
1335–36
40 lire
ACF 662, fol. 21r, 41r
Maestro Giovanni Celloli da Perugia
Grammar
1336–37
50 lire
ACF 664 NN
Ser Iacopo di Ser Guido Spinelli da Cevoli (S. Miniato)
Maestro Grimaldo del fu Angelo degli Aleri da Ancona
Grammar
1373–74
50 lire
ACF 183 fol. 97r, 142v
Maestro Domenico di Rimbaldo da Siena
[Grammar]
1375–76
50 lire
ACF 183, fol. 142v; 90 NN
Maestro Niccolò di Gherardo da Ferrara
[Grammar]
1376
50 lire
ACF 90 NN
Maestro Puccino da Sarzana
Grammar
1377–79
50 lire
ACF 184 fol. 104r–v
Il pievano di Fucecchio
Grammar
1379
Maestro Giovanni di Maestro Benvegnata da Bibbiena
Grammar
1379–80
50 lire
ACF 184 fol. 214r
Ser Guido di Gianni di Andrea da Lucca
Grammar
1380–83
50 lire + 10 lire (rent)
ACF 184 fol. 243r; 186 NN
1383–84
50 lire
ACF 186 NN
Giovanni di Gherardo [Grammar] da Arezzo
Annual salary
Source(s)
ACF 184 fol. 214r
13 At the end of August 1370, Maestro Giovanni di Ser Andrea da Firenze was elected communal grammar teacher at an annual salary of 50 lire plus 10 lire for rent; an ambassador was sent to Florence at the beginning of September, bringing back a letter of acceptance (ACF 179 fol. 49r, 53r–v, 61v–62r). However, Maestro Giovanni apparently did not come to Fucecchio, since Maestro Filippo di Dato da Prato was elected on 24 October 1370, accepting the appointment in person and subsequently receiving stanziamenti (ACF 179, fol. 74v, 158 ff ). Maestro Giovanni di Ser Andrea da Firenze was evidently identical with Maestro Giovanni di Andrea da S. Felice in Piazza da Firenze, who taught in Poggibonsi from 1375 to 1378 and 1382 to 1391: see below pp. 566–67.
communal schoolteachers in florentine tuscany Name
15 He had been teaching privately in 1374, and was given a one-off payment of 5 lire on 14 May 1374. 16 Magister Nicholaus Vedellerii de Prusia was elected communal grammar teacher on 1 January 1373 for a year at a salary of 50 lire but he did not serve: ASPescia Delib. 7, fol. 22r; see Böninger (2006), p. 287 n. 167.
communal schoolteachers in florentine tuscany
559
Pisa Name
Subject(s) taught
Year(s) of service
Annual salary
Source(s)
Puccio di Bonastrenna Grammar
1295
Silva (1918), p. 481
Ugolino
Grammar
1295
Silva (1918), p. 481
Maestro Pupo del fu Spezzalaste de Marti
Grammar
1348–50
60 lire
Silva (1918), p. 484
Maestro Marco di Andrea da Fagiano della cappella di S. Paolo all’Orto
Grammar
1352–53
50 lire
Silva (1918), pp. 484–485
Maestro Francesco da Cremona
Grammar, logic, philosophy
1353–54
150 lire
Silva (1918), p. 485
Maestro Francesco del Grammar fu Bartalo da Buti
1355
50 lire
Silva (1918), p. 486; Luzzato and Casini (1946), nn. XIX, XXV
Maestro Francesco da Cremona
1362–63
150 lire
Silva (1918), p. 485
Maestro Francesco del Grammar fu Bartalo da Buti
136
private (except for tax exemption)
Silva (1918), pp. 487–489; Luzzato and Casini (1946), nn. XIX, XXV
Maestro Francesco del Grammar fu Bartalo da Buti
1366
200 lire
Silva (1918), p. 489
Tommaso del fu Miniato dell’Abaco dei Fibonacci
1363, 1386
Grammar, logic and philosophy
Abacus
Silva (1918), pp. 488–489; Luzzato and Casini (1946), n. XXIII
560
appendix four
Name
Subject(s) taught
Year(s) of service
Annual salary
Source(s)
Maestro Francesco del Grammar fu Bartalo da Buti
1370–79, 1385, 1399, 1404– 1405
40 Fl., rising to 44 Fl. by 1379 and then to 200 lire by 1399
Silva (1918), pp. 489–491; Luzzato and Casini (1946), nn. XIX, XXV; ASPisa, Div. A, 38, fasc. 4, fol. 2r, 25r
Maestro Francesco de’ Abacus Folli
1399
105 lire
Antoni (1973), pp. 334–35
Maestro Iacopo di Maestro Tommaso dell’Abaco dei Fibonacci
1399
70 lire
Antoni (1973), pp. 334–35
Annual salary
Source(s)
Abacus
Pistoia Name
Subject(s) taught
Year(s) of service
Maestro Niccolò
Grammar
1304
Zanelli (1900), p. 1017
Consiglio del fu Vanni
Grammar
ca. 1315– 25 lire 50 (inter– (1344–49) mittently: teaching in years before 1344)
Maestro Benintendi (Semintendo) di Ser Arrigo da Prato
Grammar
1375–77
200 lire
Zanelli (1900), pp. 119–121, 157; Bacci (1895), p. 93; Salutati (1891–1911) I, p. 148; ASPistoia Provv. 17, fol. 11r–v; 18, fol. 119r–v
Don Giovanni di Cino, Grammar monaco vallombrosano
1377–78
200 lire
ASPistoia Provv. 18, fol. 176v–77r
Maestro Piero di Guglielmo da Forlì18
Grammar, 1378–82 rhetoric, logic
80 ducats + Zanelli house (1900), pp. 22–23, 121– 125, 157; Battistini (1919), pp. 11, 32 n. 18; ASPistoia Provv. 18, fol. 173r–74r, 175v; 19, fol. 153r–v, 303r–v; Cam. 6, fol. 166r–167v
Ser Lamberto di Ser Ambrogio da Pistoia
Grammar, rhetoric
100 lire
1380–82
ASPistoia Cam. 6, fol. 166r–167v
18 Battistini (1919), pp. 10–11, 32 n. 18, confuses this Maestro Piero (di Guglielmo da Forlì) with Maestro Piero (di Francesco da Citerna), both of whom taught in Volterra in the 1370s: see below pp. 608–609.
19 The rst choice had been Maestro Nofri di Giovanni da Poggitazzi, who was then teaching in Colle and had indicated a willingness to come to Pistoia at a salary of 60 Fl. (Bacci [1895], p. 89). The offer was duly made by Pistoia via their ambassador Ser Giovanni di Francesco on 1 October 1382 (ASPistoia Provv. 19, fol. 310r–v). Nofri, however, apparently used Pistoia’s offer to gain a renewal from Colle on 18 October 1382 (ASS Colle 123, fol. 52v–53r). 20 He had taught in Siena, 1377–78. He also taught in Lucca in 1381 (Barsanti [1905], pp. 55–56, 239). See also Moscadelli (1991), p. 214 n. 34; Franci (1985), pp. 319–324. In the Pistoiese documents, he is called Magister Egidius Magistri Cecchi de Senis (ASPistoia Provv. 19, fol. 255v–256r) and Magister Gilius Veglionis de Senis (ASPistoia Provv. 20, fol. 71r–v).
communal schoolteachers in florentine tuscany
565
Name
Subject(s) taught
Year(s) of service
Annual salary
Source(s)
Maestro Antonio di Ser Salvi Vannini da S. Gimignano
Giani (1927), p. 15; Cardini (1991), p. 827; ASPrato CD 57 parte c fol. 55v
Maestro Cione vocato Fra Francesco
1285–86
Prato Name
Subject(s) taught
Grammar
Giani (1927), p. 15; ASPrato CD 57 fasc. e fol. 5v
568
appendix four
Name
Subject(s) taught
Year(s) of Annual service salary
Source(s)
Maestro Filippo
Grammar
1288–89, 1292–93
10 lire
Giani (1927), pp. 15–16; ASPrato CD 57 fasc. L fol. 16v
Ser Giovannino di Grammar Cambino, canonico della Pieve di S. Stefano di Prato
1297–98
25 lire
Giani (1927), p. 16
Francesco da Firenze
Grammar
1313–14
20 lire
ASPrato CD 71, fol. 447v, 448v
Ser Francesco di Orlanduccio da Prato
Grammar, notariate
1314–15
25 lire
ASPrato CD 71, fol. 518v–19r
Ser Carmignano di Maestro Puccio
Abacus
1334–37
25 lire
Giani (1913), p. 81; ASPrato CD 63, parte 3, fol. xlv recto, 46r–v; C 878 parte 13 fol. 26v; parte 18 fol. 3v, 20r–v, 22r; C 880, parte 1 fol. 7r, 12r, 20v, 24r; parte 2 fol. 6r
Ser Cecco di Orlando da Prato
Grammar
1334–36
50 lire (1334), 20 lire (1335–36)
Giani (1913), p. 76; Cardini (1991), p. 827; ASPrato CD 76, fol. 106r– v; C 875, fol. 276r
Ser Giovanni da Bibbiena
Grammar
1335–36
45 lire + house
Giani (1913), p. 76; ASPrato CD 56 fasc. h parte 4 fol. 54v; 76 fol. 106v
communal schoolteachers in florentine tuscany Name
Subject(s) taught
Year(s) of service
Annual salary
569
Source(s)
Ser Convenevole di Grammar, Ser Acconcio da Prato rhetoric
1336–3821 100 lire
Giani (1913), pp. 77–78; Cardini (1991), p. 827; ASPrato CD 63 parte 3 fol. XX verso, XXI verso, 22v; 77 fol. 11r; C 880 parte 1 fol. 29v; parte 2 fol. 27v
Ser Duccio di Amadore
Grammar
1336–40, 1343
25 Fl. (1336–40), 50 lire (1343)
Giani (1913), pp. 77–78; Cardini (1991), p. 827; ASPrato CD 63, parte 3 fol. XX verso, XXI verso, 22v; 77 fol. 11r; C 875 fol. 426r; 880 parte 1, fol. 29v; parte 2, fol. 27v
Ser Cecco di Orlando
Grammar
1343
50 lire
ASPrato C 875, fol. 426r
Dando di Cicogna
Abacus
1345–46
25 lire
ASPrato C 875, fol. 458r
Ser Bartolo di Bono da Prato
Grammar
1345–48
62 lire Giani 10 s. (1927), p. 17; [= 20 Fl.] ASPrato CD 64 parte 1, fol. 139r; C 875, fol. 502v
21 Appointed till 1340 but possibly died at the beginning of 1338: Giani (1913), p. 83.
570
appendix four
Name
Subject(s) taught
Year(s) of Annual service salary
Source(s)
Ser Cecco di Orlando
Grammar
1345–46
50 lire
ASPrato C 875, fol. 474r
Ser Ricco di Ser Vanni Abacus
1351–53
50 lire
ASPrato C 883 parte 1 fol. 35v, 45r, 48r
Francesco di Leone
Abacus
1350–52
37 lire 10 s.
ASPrato C 883 parte 1 fol. 35v, 47v
Ser Cecco di Orlando
Grammar
1353
50 lire 22
ASPrato C 883 parte 3 fol. 13r
Ser Francesco Luchini da Prato
Grammar
1353–54
50 lire
Giani (1927), p. 17; Cardini (1991), p. 828; ASPrato C 883 parte 3 fol. 17r
Giani (1927), pp. 17–18; ASPrato CD 64 parte 8 fol. 3v, 5r, 6v, 11r–v; C 883 parte 5 fol. 3r, 10v, 12r, 17v, 20v; parte 7 fol. 3r, 6r, 10r, 12v, 16r; parte 8 fol. 2r, 3r
22 Ser Cecco di Orlando was elected to teach grammar for one year at a salary of 60 lire but the date was not specied: ASPrato C 873 parte VI fol. 15v.
communal schoolteachers in florentine tuscany Year(s) of Annual service salary
571
Name
Subject(s) taught
Source(s)
Ser Francesco Luchini da Prato
Reading, writing, grammar
1356–61
36 lire
Giani (1927), pp. 17–19; ASPrato CD 64 parte 8 fol. 3v, 5r, 32r; C 883 parte 5, fol. 2v, 11v, 12r, 17v, 20v; parte 7 fol. 3r, 8v, 16r; parte 8 fol. 1r; parte 9 fol. 14r; parte 10 fol. 18v; 884 fol. 2v, 6v
Maestro Spigliato di Cenne da Firenze
Grammar
1359–62
40 Fl.
Giani (1927), p. 19; ASPrato CD 65 parte 2 fol. 31r, 32v, 33v
Ser Francesco Luchini da Prato
Reading, writing
1362–63
Francesco di Leone della Porta di S. Trinita da Prato
Giani (1927), p. 19; ASPrato CD 65 parte 4 fol. 3v, 6r, 7v; parte 6 fol. 14v, 15v, 20r; parte 7 fol. 40r, 42v, 44v– 45r; parte 10 fol. 4v, 6r, 8v; CD 66 parte 1 fol. 25r, 32r; parte 2 fol. 10r, 11v, 13r; parte 4 fol.
572 Name
appendix four Subject(s) taught
Year(s) of service
Annual salary
Source(s) 3v; parte 6 fol. 19v 25v, 28v; parte 7 fol. 7r, 31r, 42v; parte 8 fol. 39r; parte 10 fol. 67v, 69r, 70r; C 884 fol. 3v, 7r, 8r, 14v;
Maestro Spigliato di Cenne da Firenze
Grammar
1362–64
24 Fl. (1362–63), 100 lire (1363–64)
ASPrato CD 65 parte 4 fol. 3r, 6r, 7v; parte 6 fol. 14r, 15v, 20r, 30v
Maestro Tommaso di Ser Duccio da Prato
Grammar
1364–67
100 lire
Pampaloni (1981), p. 197, n. 5; Cardini (1991), p. 827; ASPrato CD 56 fasc. f parte 8 inserto 1, fol. 15r; 65 parte 7 fol. 39v, 42v, 44v–45r; parte 8 fol. 52r; parte 10 fol. 4v, 6r, 8v; CD 66 parte 1 fol. 2v, 11r, 20r, 28r, 32r; parte 2 fol. 4v, 6r, 7r; parte 4 fol. 10v, 23r; C 884 fol. 14v
communal schoolteachers in florentine tuscany Name
Subject(s) taught
573
Year(s) of service
Annual salary
Source(s)
Maestro Rolfo Grammar Frenucci da S. Miniato
1367–69
40 Fl. (1367–68), 60 lire (1368–69)
ASPrato CD 66 parte 6 fol. 15r, 17r, 18v; parte 7 fol. 5r, 17r, 22r, 35v, 38v, 41r; parte 10 fol. 67v, 69r, 70v
Maestro Simintendo (Benintendi) di Ser Arrigo da Prato
Grammar
1368–73
60 lire (1368–69), 10 Fl. (1371–73)
ASPrato CD 66 parte 8 fol. 39r; parte 10 fol. 67r, 69r, 70r; parte 12 fol. 10r, 13r, 16r; parte 13 fol. 9v, 11v, 13r
Maestro Piero di Bartolo da Bucine
Grammar
1372
16 Fl.
ASPrato CD 67 parte 13 fol. 6r, 8v–9r
Ser Piero di Giunta da Reading, Prato writing, grammar
1372–73
50 lire
ASPrato CD 67 parte 13 fol. 26r, 28r, 30r
Francesco di Leone da Reading, Prato writing, abacus
1371–82
25 lire
ASPrato CD 56 fasc. a, fol. 8r 11r; CD 67 parte 13 fol. 6r, 26r, 28r, 30v; parte 11 fol. 6v, 7v, 9v, 12r, 22r; parte 9 fol. 12r, 15r, 17r, 20v; parte 8 fol. 17v; parte 7 fol. 11v, 12v, 13v; parte 5 fol. 14v, 16v,
574 Name
appendix four Subject(s) taught
Year(s) of service
Annual salary
Source(s) 18r; parte 2 fol. 2r; parte 1 fol. 28r; 68 parte 1 fol. 27v; parte 2 fol. 5v, 9r, 12r, 35v; C 886 parte 3 fol. 6v; parte 4 fol. 6v; parte 5 fol. 4r; parte 8 fol. 11r; parte 9 fol. 13v; parte 11 fol. 8r; parte 12 fol. 8r; C 887 parte 2 fol. 6v; parte 3 fol. 12v
Ser Naccio di Paolo da Grammar, Terranuova reading, writing
1373–79
40 Fl.
ASPrato CD 67 parte 11, fol. 6r, 9v, 11v; parte 9 fol. 12r, 15r, 17r; parte 7 fol. 4r, 5r, 6v; parte 5 fol. 31r, 33v, 35v; parte 3 fol. 38r, 39v, 40v; C 886 parte 4 fol. 9v; parte 5 fol. 6r; parte 8 fol. 4r; parte 9 fol. 3v, 12v; parte 11 fol. 7r; parte 12 fol. 7v, 8r; parte 13 fol. 2v, 5v
communal schoolteachers in florentine tuscany
575
Name
Subject(s) taught
Year(s) of Annual service salary
Source(s)
Maestro Simintendo (Benintendi) di Ser Arrigo da Prato
Grammar
1377–81
40 lire (1377–78), 60 lire (1378–80)
ASPrato 67 parte 5 fol. 31r, 33v, 35v; parte 4 fol. 26r, 28v, 31r; parte 1 fol. 4v, 6v, 8v; C 886 parte 12 fol. 7r; parte 13 fol. 2r, 7v; 887 parte 2 fol. 6v; parte 3 fol. 5r
Maestro Spigliato di Cenne da Firenze
Grammar
1381–85
50 Fl.
ASPrato CD 68 parte 1 fol. 33r, 34v, 36r; parte 4 fol. 4r, 6v, 8v; parte 5 fol. 15v 16v, 19v; 78 fol. 211r, 212r–v, 213r, 214v, 220r 220v– 221r; 79 fol. 264r–v, 409v, 410v; C 887 parte 6 fol. 11r
Maestro Simintendo (Benintendi) di Ser Arrigo da Prato
Reading, writing23
1383–84
50 lire
ASPrato CD 79 fol. 311v– 12r, 330r
23
In his petition for appointment, Maestro Simintendo declared himself qualied to teach grammar, rhetoric and authors, as well as reading and writing, but his low salary of 50 lire, as well as the simultaneous appointment of Maestro Spigliato as grammarian at a higher salary of 50 orins, indicates that the former was merely an elementary teacher of reading and writing. ASPrato CD 79 fol. 311v–312r: Symintendus Ser Herigi de Prato gramaticalium eruditor exponit et narrat quod, cum ipse legerit ac cotidie legat et legere intendat dottrinam gramatice in predicta terra Prati ac etiam rettorice dogmata et auctores poeticos et morales, et cum pie et antiquie consuetudinis sit magistros huiusmodi pro utilitate rei publice providere, cum non aliter possint inopem
576
appendix four
Name
Subject(s) taught
Year(s) of service
Annual salary
Source(s)
Maestro Antonio di Ser Salvi Vannini da S. Gimignano
Grammar
1386–8724
ASPrato CD 69, fol. 49r
Ser Muccio di Vita
Grammar
1389–90
ASPrato CD 68 parte 11 fol. 39v
Maestro Andrea da Monte di Croce
Grammar
1391–93
50 Fl.
ASPrato CD 69 part 1 fol. 13r, 40v
Maestro Andrea da Monte di Croce
Grammar
1397–99
30 Fl.
ASPrato CD 69 parte 4 fol. 50r; parte 5 fol. 55v
Maestro Andrea di Giovanni da Prato
Doctor puerorum
1397–98
30 lire
ASPrato CD 69 parte 4 fol. 50r
defendere vitam et dottrine satisfacere et cotidiano labori, petit vestrum ofcium super hoc prudentissimo more solito providere et sibi salarium ydoneum gradi et per vestras collegas et consiliaros deliberari celeriter, ut possit dottrine predicte vacare, necnon inopes et pauperes per dictam dottrina instruere deliter ac etiam legere et scribere absque aliquo salario vel mercede. 24 Maestro Antonio Vannini served as grammar teacher in S. Gimignano from at least 1377 to 1386 (see below p. 584). Peter Denley has kindly informed me that he was appointed in 1387 to teach grammar in Siena, his term extended for one year in 1390 and for four further years in 1392. However, he had returned to teach in S. Gimignano by 1394 (see below p. 584). In 1395 he moved to Volterra, where he remained until 1398 (see below p. 611), when he returned again to S. Gimignano until 1400 (see below p. 585), when he moved to Pistoia, remaining there until his death in 1411 (see above pp. 167–68). The commune of Prato referred in July 1403 to his earlier service as a teacher there: (ASPrato CD 69 fol. 49r) egregius et super omnes merito comendandus magister et doctor dicte gramaticalis scientie Magister Antonius de Santo Geminiano olim magister dicte scientie in dicta nostra terra. Prato had had no vacancies in grammar throughout the 1360s and 1370s, but there was no known grammarian there between 1385 and 1389; the above details about his career movements suggest that the only period he could have served in Prato was between 1386 and 1387, on the assumption that, although appointed in 1387 at Siena, he might not have begun teaching there until 1388.
communal schoolteachers in florentine tuscany
577
San Gimignano Name
Subject(s) taught
Year(s) of service
Annual salary
Source(s)
Vesconte
Reading
1260
private teacher
ASF NA 956, fol. 16425
Samuele
Grammar
1261–66
private teacher
ASF SG 105 IV fol. 18r; Davidsohn (1896–1908), II, p. 113
Maestro Signorino
Grammar
1266
rent for house
ASF SG 100 I, fol. 79v
Maestro Bonastrina (Strena)
Grammar
1268
6 lire (rent)
ASF SG 103 fol. 31v–32r
Muzzino di Ildebrandino di Chiaradonna
[Schoolteacher]26
1270
private teacher
ASF SG 106 NN
Maestro Giovanni d’Arezzo
Grammar
1270–72
10 lire (rent)
Davidsohn (1896–1908), II, p. 312; Castaldi (1911), p. 5; Imbeciadori (1980), pp. 60–61, 75; ASF SG 92 fol. 78r; 107 fol. 68v, 69r–v; 108 III, fol. 14v; 110 fol. 34r
Maestro Bartolomeo
Grammar, dialectic
1274–75
10 lire (rent)
Davidsohn (1896–1908), II, p. 312; Castaldi (1911), pp. 5–6; Imberciadori (1980), p. 75; ASF SG 116 fol. 90r
25 26
I am grateful to Oretta Muzi for this reference. No subject(s) or level(s) are indicated in the document: see ch. 3 above pp. 200–201.
578
appendix four
Name
Subject(s) taught
Year(s) of Annual service salary
Source(s)
Samuele
Grammar
1275
private teacher
Davidsohn (1896–1908), II, p. 313; Castaldi (1911), p. 6; ASF SG 105 IV fol. 18r
Maestro Strena (Bonastrena)
Grammar
1276–77
10 lire
Davidsohn (1896–1908), II, 313; Castaldi (1911), p. 6; ASF SG 121, fol. 56r
Messer Federigo
Grammar
[1277]–8
10 lire
ASF SG 128, fol. 10v
Abacus27
1279
3 lire (rent)
Pecori (1853), p. 326; Davidsohn (1896–1908), II, p. 313; Castaldi (1911), p. 6; Imberciadori (1980), pp. 60, 75; ASF SG 139, fol. 12r; ACSG 63 fol. 18v
1289–92
15 lire (rent)
Davidsohn (1896–1908), II, p. 313; Castaldi (1911), p. 7; Imberciadori (1980), p. 61; ASF SG 169, fol. 67r; 178, fol. 29v
Maestro Filippo del fu Grammar Manetto da Firenze della Grammatica
27 The teacher here is unnamed; for erroneous identications by Castaldi and Imberciadori, see above ch. 3 p. 226 n. 266.
communal schoolteachers in florentine tuscany Name
Subject(s) taught
579
Year(s) of Annual service salary
Source(s)
Maestro Bonaccorso Grammar (Maestro Accorsino da S. Fiora)
1291
15 lire (rent)
ASF SG 183, fol. 43r
Maestro Accorsino da S. Fiora
Grammar
1293–94
15 lire (rent)
Davidsohn (1896–1908), II, pp. 313– 314; Castaldi (1911), p. 7; ACSG 75, fol. 11v–12r, 13r– 15r, 36v–37r; ASF SG 191, fol. 54r, 55r, 56r–v; 194, fol. 52r
Maestro Accorsino (Corso, Cursino) da S. Fiora (Arcidosso)
Grammar
1297–99
10 lire Pecori (1853), (1298–99) p. 327; Davidsohn (1896–1908), II, p. 314; Castaldi (1911), pp. 7–8; Imberciadori (1980), pp. 61, 75; ACSG 78, fol. 38v–41v; ASF SG 205, fol. 31v; 207, fol. 14r
Maestro Bonaccorso di S. Luca (Accorsino da S. Fiora)
Grammar
1300
Davidsohn (1896–1908), II, p. 314; Castaldi (1911), p. 8; Imberciadori (1980), p. 61; ASF SG 213, fol. 25r
Maestro Accorsino del fu Sanguineo (Accorso) di S. Fiora
Grammar
1310–12
Davidsohn (1896–1908), II, p. 314; ACSG 87, fol. 30r–v, 38v–39r
580
appendix four
Name
Subject(s) taught
Year(s) of service
Annual salary
Source(s)
Maestro Michele di Giunta
Grammar
1320–26
10 lire (rent + ripetitore)
Davidsohn (1896–1908), II, p. 314; Castaldi (1911), p. 8; Imberciadori (1980), p. 76; ASF SG 261, fol. 16r, 18r, 25v; 266, fol. 22v; ACSG 97 fol. 38v; 100, fol. 17v
[Giovanni Pucci da Siena
Abacus
1322
Ser Lucchese di Ghermondo da S. Miniato
Grammar
1323
Castaldi (1911), p. 6; Imberciadori (1980), pp. 60, 76]28 15 lire
Castaldi (1911), p. 8; ACSG 97, fol. 38v
Simone di Michele da Abacus Pistoia
1327
ACSG 102, fol. 61v
Ser Tommaso [Corbizzi] da Firenze
Abacus
1331
ACSG 108, fol. 57v
Ser Michele [di Giunta]
Grammar
1331–32
ACSG 108, fol. 69v
28 Davidsohn (1899–1908), II, pp. 312–14, did not nd a document relating to Giovanni Pucci da Siena, as reported by Castaldi, who did not cite an archival reference for the following information: ‘nel quale anno [sc. 1322] Giovanni Pucci di Siena si offre d’insegnare detta arte (di Abbaco) e ciò che le spetta, a chiunque lo brami; ma perché dubita d’avere scolari in copia da ritrarne le spese, chiede gli venga corrisposto un salario, come in fatti fu accordato. Quale questo si fosse non si sa’. Lorenz Böninger and I have been unable to locate the original document. However, it is probably not a phantom (like Castaldi’s invention of the name ‘Michele’ for the abacus teacher in 1279 [see above p. 266]), since there was a Sienese abacus teacher, Maestro Giovanni di Puccio Pucci, who began teaching in his native city in 1328 (see below p. 597). Imberciadori (1980) simply repeats Castaldi’s information, without any archival support of his / her own, just as he / she had for ‘Michele’.
communal schoolteachers in florentine tuscany
581
Name
Subject(s) taught
Year(s) of Annual service salary
Source(s)
Iacopo
Abacus, surgery (cerusia)
1335–38 (?)
10 lire
Pecori (1853), p. 326; Castaldi (1911), p. 6; Imberciadori (1980), pp. 60, 76; ACSG 112, fol. 27r
Michele da S. Croce
Grammar
1337–38
50 lire
Castaldi (1911), p. 8; Imberciadori (1980), p. 76; ACSG 115, fol. 64v, 65v–66v; 116, fol. 4r
Niccolò da Bologna29
Grammar
1338–39
20 lire
Davidsohn (1896–1908), II, p. 314; Castaldi (1911), p. 8; Imberciadori (1980), p. 76; ASF SG 288, fol. 24r, 26r
Michele canonico della Pieve [di S. Gimignano]
Grammar
1340
50 lire
Castaldi (1911), p. 9; Imberciadori (1980), p. 76; ACSG 117 II fol. 6r, 7v
29 ASF SG 288, fol. 24v (11 December 1338), speaks of two elementary teachers (‘pro magistris puerorum’) who would teach small children in S. Gimignano (‘cum etiam pro utilitate comunitatis hominum sit providendum quod in una ex plateis comunis simul vel divisim morentur duo magistri qui erudiant puerolos dicte terre’); the proposal was passed in the town council by 97 votes to 24 (fol. 26v), but there is no further indication in the records who these elementary teachers were.
582
appendix four
Name
Subject(s) taught
Year(s) of Annual service salary
Source(s)
Ser Cino di Taviano da Volterra
Doctor puerorum
1345–48
35 lire
ASF SG 289 fol. 6v
Michele da S. Croce
Grammar
1345–48
50 lire
Castaldi (1911), p. 9; ACSG 393, fol. 104v
Lippo di Cremontese da S. Gimignano (ob. June 1363)
Grammar
1346–52
25 lire; 50 lire (1350– 51); 80 lire (1351– 52)
Imberciadori (1980), pp. 61, 76;30 Battistini (1918), pp. 99–102; ASF SG 290, fol. 39v
Ser Dore di Ser Giovanni da San Gimignano, prete31
Reading, writing
1359–63
40 lire
Castaldi (1911), p. 10; ACSG 123, fol. lxxvi recto, lxxviiii verso– lxxx recto; 125, fol. xvi recto, xvii recto–19v
30 This information is based on the following document: (ASF SG 290 [Entrata e usciata gennaio-febbraio 1349], fol. 39v) Item libras vigintiquinque Ser Lippo Giramontesis de summa C librarum quas recipere et habere debebat a dicto comuni vigore cuiusdam reformationis facte per consilium populi dicti comunis in subsidium sui studii ut in libro veteri debiti kabelle apparet fol. LXI, quas XXV libras habuit pro tertia paga et tertio anno dictorum quactuorum annorum in dicta reformatione contentorum. The document was misread by Battistini (1932), p. 75, cited by Imberciadori (1976), p. 61 n. 11: ‘Dice infatti il Battistini (p. 75) che Lippo sarebbe stato maestro di grammatica, nelle publiche scuole del Comune, l’anno 1350, con riconferma per l’anno successivo’; Imberciadori also states that his salary was ‘100 lire l’anno’, again citing Battistini (1932), p. 75, whereas the document actually states that it was 100 lire for four years, ending in 1350. Imberciadori (1976), pp. 326–27, n. 11, does show that 1363 was the date that Lippo made his will, not a year of further service as a teacher, as stated by Castaldi (p. 11). 31 Another communal elementary teacher at about this time was one Maestro Lorenzo, mentioned together with Ser Dore in a document dated 16 October 1363: (ACSG 127, fol. lxxii verso–lxxiii recto) aliquis puer iret in dicto tempore ad adis-
communal schoolteachers in florentine tuscany
583
Name
Subject(s) taught
Year(s) of Annual service salary
Source(s)
Maestro Alao di Ugone d’Arezzo
Grammar
1361–63
50 lire
Castaldi (1911), p. 10; Imberciadore (1980), p. 77; ACSG 125, fol. lxxiiii verso–lxxv verso, cxlviiii recto–verso, clviii recto
cendum legere ad suas scholas [sc. Magistri Ursini de Verona] tabulam salterium et huiusmodi teneatur acccipere salaria in electione olim Magistri Laurentii vel Ser Doris pedagogis [sic].
584
appendix four
Name
Subject(s) taught
Year(s) of Annual service salary
Source(s)
Maestro Antonio di Ser Salvi Vannini da San Gimignano
Grammar
1377 (74)32–86
50 Fl. + 4 Fl. (rent)
Castaldi (1911), pp. 11–12; Imberciadori (1980), pp. 62–63;33 ACSG 136, fol. 34v–36r; 141, fol. 70v, 71r–72r, 98r–v; 142, fol. 20v
Maestro Giovanni di Grammar Micuccio da Recanati
1386–88
40 Fl. + 4 Fl. (rent)
Castaldi (1911), p. 12; Imberciadori (1980), p. 77; ACSG 394, fol. 87r, 109r, 154r, 187v, 208v; 146, fol. 5r, 6r–v
Maestro Nofri di Giovanni da Castel San Giovanni (Poggitazzi)
32 He possibly began teaching at S. Gimignano in 1374, since there is no other documented grammarian there from 1374 to 1378, and since he is known to have left Siena in 1374 (see below p. 603). 33 The document published by Bacci (1895) gives the following information about Antonio Vannini’s appointment in S. Gimignano, based on the Pistoian envoy, Ser
communal schoolteachers in florentine tuscany
585
Name
Subject(s) taught
Year(s) of Annual service salary
Source(s)
Maestro Nofri di Angelo Coppi da San Gimignano
Grammar
1395–96
Castaldi (1911), p. 13; ACSG 156, fol. xxviii recto–verso
Maestro Antonio di Ser Salvi Vannini da S. Gimignano
Grammar
1398–1400
ACSG 395, fol. 47v–48r
Ser Benvenuto di Ser Bartolomeo
Grammar
1400–1403
ACSG 395, fol. 47v–48r, 93v–94r, 143v
40 Fl.
San Miniato Name
Subject(s) taught
Year(s) of service
Maestro Iacopino (Mino) da Colle
Grammar, rhetoric
1270s
Iacopo di Pucciorino vocato Paletta da S. Miniato
Reading, writing
1371–72
Rolfo di Frenuccio da S. Miniato
Grammar
1371
Lorenzo di Francuccio Reading, da Carmignano, prete writing
1378–80
Annual salary
Source(s) Zaccagnini (1923), pp. 518, 528–29; Laganà (1990), p. 90
25 lire
ACSM Delib. 2293, fol. 81r ACSM Delib. 2294 NN
25 lire
ACSM Delib. 2298, fol. 16r; 2300, fol. 46r
Giovanni di Ser Francesco’s report: ‘In Sangimignano Maestro Antonio, del dicto luogo, è di età di XXXV anni e più, molto sofciente; no poterebbe venire però che è conducto per lo comune di Sangimignano per X anni a orini LX per anno’. However, the ofcial appointment document in S. Gimignano states that his annual salary was 50 orins and that his contract was for 5 years from 18 October 1381 (ACSG 141, fol. 98r–v). Either the envoy was mistaken about the details, or Antonio deliberately exaggerated the terms of his employment.
Maestro Benaccio di Francesco de Ghaleada da Poppi
Grammar
1398–99
Maestro Francesco di Ser Feo di Nigi da Arezzo
Grammar
1399–1400
ACSM Delib. 2312, fol. 3r, 4r
Ser Guccio di Nardo da S. Miniato
[Reading, writing]
1400–1401
ACSM Delib. 2313, fol. 124v
5 Fl. (rent)
50 Fl.
ACSM Delib. 2311, fol. 3r, 61r–v
Sansepolcro Name
Subject(s) taught
Year(s) of service
Annual salary
Source(s)
Maestro Iacopo
Grammar
1361
Banker (2003), p. 6534
Ser Francesco di Bartolo di Baldo
Doctor parvulorum
1388–1400 12 Fl.
Banker (2003), p. 64; ACSS II. vol. 1, fol. 70v–72r, 74v35
34 Banker (2003), p. 65 states that ‘Master Jacopo [. . .] had taught in San Sepolcro in 1361’ without referring to a source. 35 The information about the length of Ser Francesco’s tenure in Sansepolcro emerges from a debate in the town council on 22 December 1393, occasioned by the absence
communal schoolteachers in florentine tuscany Annual salary
587
Name
Subject(s) taught
Year(s) of service
Source(s)
Maestro Bartolo di Iacopo da Pieve S. Stefano
Grammar
1392–9336 42 Fl.
Banker (2003), p. 64; ACSS ser. II vol. 1, fol. 27v, 28r, 71r–v
Maestro Niccolò da Cesena
Grammar
1392–93?
Banker (2003), p. 64; ACSS ser. II vol. 1, fol. 39r; ASF NA 7116 fol. 3196r (ad diem 22 martii 1393)
Maestro Giovanni da Perugia
Abacus
1393–94
15 Fl.
Maestro Onofrio de Piro
Grammar
1394–95
71 Fl. Banker (2003), (includ- p. 64; ACSS ing rent) ser. II vol. 1, fol. 79r–80r; ASF NA 11187 (ad diem 27 iunii 1394)
Banker (2003) pp. 86–87; ACSS ser. II vol. 1, fol. 78r, 79r
of any grammar master then teaching in Sansepolcro. Ser Francesco petitioned the council, evidently complaining that, although he had been appointed for a six-year term to end on 1 March 1394 at an annual salary of 12 orins, he had not yet been fully paid; it appears that he had therefore stopped teaching. There were various proposals tabled in response, including that Maestro Francesco di Bartolo should be reappointed at his present annual salary, which was carried. See Appendix 8. 36 On 19 November 1391, in order to lessen the expenses of the Malatesta rulers of Borgo, Maestro Niccolò da Cesena, a grammar master, and Ser Bonaccorso di Ugone da Sansepolcro, agreed to teach without communal salaries until the following October; a week later, however they abrogated this agreement. See Appendix 8.
588
appendix four
Name
Subject(s) taught
Year(s) of service
Annual salary
Maestro Paolo di Maestro Iacopo da Sansepolcro
Grammar
1396–1400 52 Fl. (1396– 98), 25 Fl. 1398– 1400
Banker (2003), pp. 64–71; ACSS ser. II vol. 1, fol. 116v–117v, 132r–v, 152r–53r; ASF NA 11190 (ad diem 17 iulii 1398)
Alo grammatico
[Reading, writing]
1399
ACSS ser. II vol. 1, fol. 190r
4 Fl.
Source(s)
Siena Name
Subject(s) taught
Year(s) of service
Maestro Tebaldo di Orlandino da Siena
Grammar
1241, 1247–49
Annual salary
Source(s) Zdekauer (1893), pp. 15, 28–30; Cecchini and Prunai (1942), pp. 4–7, 580; Nardi (1991), p. 10; Fioravanti (1991), pp. 256–58, 270 n. 4; Nardi (1996), pp. 52–53,37 60, 63, 217
37 Nardi (1996), passim (cf. p. 256, index entry), assumes that Tebaldo teaching in Siena in 1241, 1247, 1262–1274, is to be identied with Tebaldo di Orlando and he does not dispute that the grammatical works are to be attributed to him. Similarly Fioravanti (1991), p. 270 n. 4: ‘con tutta probabilità si tratta però della stessa persona.’
communal schoolteachers in florentine tuscany Annual salary
589
Name
Subject(s) taught
Year(s) of service
Source(s)
Maestro Ventura
Grammar
1247
Nardi (1996), p. 63
Maestro Guido
Doctor puerorum
1259
Cecchini and Prunai (1942), p. 10; Nardi (1996), p. 74
Maestro Tebaldo da Siena
Grammar
1262, 1264, 1267–69, 1274
5 lire (rent, 1267–68), 15 lire (1268–69)
Maestro Fantino (Infantino)
Grammar
1275–76, 1281
100 lire Cecchini and (1274–76) Prunai (1942), pp. 15, 20–21, 28; Fioravanti (1991), p. 256; Nardi (1996), p. 73; Denley (1990), p. 96
Maestro Tebaldo del fu Orlandino
Grammar
1275
Fra Guidotto da Bologna, maestro (ob. 1282)
Grammar, rhetoric
1278
Zdekauer (1893), pp. 28–29; Cecchini and Prunai (1942), pp. 10–14; Nardi (1996), pp. 67–68, 70; Denley (1990), p. 96; Nardi (1991), p. 10
Zdekauer (1893), p. 29; Cecchini and Prunai (1942), pp. 19–20 25 lire + 25 lire (rent)
Cecchini and Prunai (1942), pp. 24–25; Fioravanti (1991), pp. 258, 260; Nardi (1996), pp. 74–76; Denley (1990), p. 96
Cecchini and Prunai (1942), pp. 26, 28–29, 52, 58–61, 66, 70, 73–74, 76, 105; Moscadelli (1991), pp. 208, 213 n. 25; Nardi (1996), p. 108
Zdekauer (1893), p. 29; Cecchini and Prunai (1942), pp. 44–45, 49, 55–57, 61–64, 67, 71, 74–75, 77, 79, 82–84, 89–91, 103; Nardi (1991), pp. 13, 23 n. 24; Fioravanti (1991), p. 256; Nardi (1996), pp. 88–91, 97, 105–106
communal schoolteachers in florentine tuscany Name
Subject(s) taught
591
Year(s) of Annual service salary
Source(s)
Maestro Viscontino da Grammar Lucca
1293
Cecchini and Prunai (1942), p. 62; Nardi (1996), p. 89
Maestro Ventura del Grammar fu Tebaldo de Cerrechio
1295
Maestro Manetto da Colle
Grammar
1295–96
25 lire
Cecchini and Prunai (1942), pp. 64, 67; Nardi (1996), p. 90
Maestro Giovanni da Inghilterra
Grammar
1298–99
10 lire
Cecchini and Prunai (1942), pp. 70–71; Nardi (1996), p. 92
Maestro Tebaldo del fu Iacopo, della pieve di S. Gilio [di Siena]38
24 lire
Cecchini and Prunai (1942), p. 63; Nardi (1996), p. 90
1302
Cecchini and Prunai (1942), pp. 587–88
Maestro Paolo del fu Saliti (Assaliti) da Orvieto
Grammar, dialectic
1302–1303 25 lire
Cecchini and Prunai (1942), pp. 77–78, 81–82; Nardi (1996), p. 97
Maestro Paolo del fu Saliti (Assaliti) da Orvieto
Grammar
1303–1305, 25 lire 1307, 1309–11
Cecchini and Prunai (1942), pp. 81–82, 90–91, 98– 100, 110–11; Nardi (1996), pp. 97–98, 106
38 On this master, see above ch. 2 p. 68. It is uncertain that he actually taught grammar, although he is identied as a ‘magister’ and he bequeathed only grammatical works in his will.
Cecchini and Prunai (1942), pp. 84–85, 90– 91, 100–101, 111, 115–16, 120; Fioravanti (1991), p. 256; Nardi (1996), pp. 98, 106–107
Maestro Guicciardo del fu Messer Bondo del Frignano da Bologna
Grammar
1306–11, 1314–15
100 lire, 40 orins (1314–15)
Cecchini and Prunai (1942), pp. 85–86, 88–90, 94, 99, 108–109, 111– 12, 115–16; Nardi (1991), pp. 13, 23 n. 27; Fioravanti (1991), p. 256; Nardi (1996), pp. 103–105, 107
Maestro Giovanni da Tortona (Cortona?)
Grammar
1309–11, 1314–16
25 lire
Cecchini and Prunai (1942), pp. 99–100, 110, 112, 115– 16, 120, 123; Nardi (1996), pp. 106, 128, 185
Maestro Scabello del fu Chiavello Chiavelli da Siena, chierico
Grammar, rhetoric
1309–11, 1314
25 lire
Cecchini and Prunai (1942), pp. 100–103, 111–12, 115; Nardi (1996), p. 107
communal schoolteachers in florentine tuscany
593
Name
Subject(s) taught
Year(s) of Annual service salary
Source(s)
Maestro Giovanni (Vanni) di Maestro Bandino di Raniero d’Arezzo
39 BCIS C.III.2, fol. 13r (originally published but misinterpreted by Zdekauer [1894], pp. 15–16). For the text and its interpretation, see above ch. 3 p. 197 n. 134 and ch. 4 p. 311 n. 232.
communal schoolteachers in florentine tuscany Name
Subject(s) taught
595
Year(s) of Annual service salary
Source(s)
Maestro Gano (Ghino) Grammar di Giunta (ob. 1321)
1317–21
30 lire
Cecchini and Prunai (1942), pp. 124–27, 163, 206
Maestro Paolo del fu Saliti da Orvieto
Grammar
1319, 1321–23
25 lire
Cecchini and Prunai (1942), pp. 126–27, 163, 201, 205, 225, 228, 245, 277; Fioravanti (1991), p. 256; Nardi (1996), pp. 128, 185, 190
Maestro Giannino dell’Abbaco
Abacus
1319, 1321
Maestro Giovanni (Gianino) del fu Muzzo (Muccio) Mucci da Volterra40
40 Fioravanti (1991), p. 256: ‘Notabilia in gramatica di Giovanni da Volterra contenuti nel ms. Harl. 2615 della British Library. L’autore vanta infatti una permanenza di insegnamento a Siena ragguardevole [. . .] La nota di possesso del codice (“Questo libro appartiene al Convento di Selva al Lago”) riconduce sicuramente lo scritto ad un ambiente senese’.
596 Name
appendix four Subject(s) taught
Year(s) of Annual service salary
Source(s) 435–37, 441– 42, 463–64, 467–68, 470, 473, 476, 484– 85, 488–89, 491; Prunai (1950), p. 29; Fioravanti (1991), pp. 256, 258, 260, 270 n. 7;41 Nardi (1996), pp. 185, 190, 192, 200, 205
Maestro Francesco (Cecco) di Maestro Bandino Bandini da Monticchiello
Grammar
1327–40
20 lire (1327–29), 30 lire (1329–40)
Zdekauer (1894) pp. 136–37; Cecchini and Prunai (1942), pp. 362, 365, 375, 383, 386, 391–92, 395, 398–99, 401, 404, 406, 410, 413, 419, 421–22, 424, 427–28, 436– 38, 441–42, 468, 470–71, 473, 477, 485, 489; Prunai (1950), p. 29; Nardi (1996), pp. 190, 192, 200, 205
41 Fioravanti (1991), p. 260 and p. 270 n. 7: BNCF Magl. VIII.1412 contains a lament by the Sienese rhetoric master Giovan Battista Odonetti for the death of the grammar master Giovanni da Volterra and his colleague at Siena.
communal schoolteachers in florentine tuscany
597
Name
Subject(s) taught
Year(s) of service
Annual salary
Source(s)
Maestro Giovanni di Puccio Pucci (Mochi) chiamato Moroccho (cognato di Maestro Lapo Rinieri)
Abacus
1328–42
25 lire
Zdekauer (1894), pp. 137– 138; Cecchini and Prunai (1942), pp. 375, 376, 381– 82, 386, 393, 395, 398–99, 402, 404, 407, 410, 413, 419–22, 425, 428–29, 436– 38, 441–42, 464, 468, 471, 473, 477–78, 483, 485, 489– 90, 492, 494, 497–98, 500, 503; Prunai (1950), p. 29; Moscadelli (1991), p. 208; Nardi (1996), pp. 190, 201
Cecchini and Prunai (1942), pp. 492, 495, 497–98, 500, 502, 504–505, 507, 510, 512, 514–17, 521, 524, 529–32; Nardi (1996), p. 205
43 Prunai (1950), p. 29 gives ‘Paolo d’Orvieto’ as teaching grammar in 1339, but this is not conrmed by the Cecchini and Prunai (1942). 44 Active in Arezzo from 1326 to 1333: Black (1996a), pp. 305–7, 320, 325.
600
appendix four
Name
Subject(s) taught
Year(s) of service
Annual salary
Source(s)
Maestro Iacopo (Iacomo) da Parma
Grammar
1343–44
25 lire
Cecchini and Prunai (1942), pp. 506, 508– 509; Nardi (1996), p. 205
Cecchini and Prunai (1942), pp. 533–34, 536–37, 541– 42, 545, 567
Maestro Pietro di Parutino (Parutono) Parutini da Montepulciano, cittadino senese
Abacus
1349–51, 1362, 136545
25 lire
Cecchini and Prunai (1942), pp. 533, 536; Prunai (1950), 50; Minnucci (1989), pp. 128, 306; Moscadelli (1991), p. 208
Maestro Pietro da Parma
Abacus
1350
50 lire
Cecchini and Prunai (1942), p. 534
Maestro Lonardo dell’Abbaco
Abacus
135446
45 46
Cecchini and Prunai (1942), p. 540; Moscadelli, p. 214 n. 32
Peter Denley: abacus activity from 1362 to 1377. Peter Denley: Lunardo del Bianco, abacus activity from 1363 to 1400.
602
appendix four
Name
Subject(s) taught
Year(s) of service
Maestro Pietro di Ser Tuccio (Callocci)
Grammar
1357–59
Cecchini and Prunai (1942), p. 566; Prunai (1950), p. 48
Maestro Albertino di Dinuccio di Credi da Monte Laterone (Bertino di Nucci da Siena)47
Grammar48
1360, 1365–7149
Prunai (1950), pp. 48–49
Maestro Pietro di Maestro Chele50 da Ovile, ob. 18 August 138351
Grammar, rhetoric
1361–[83]
Zdekauer (1894), pp. 15–16; Prunai (1950), p. 49; Black (2001), p. 201 n. 160
Maestro Tommaso di Maestro Davizzo Corbizzi da Firenze
Abacus
1365
Prunai (1950), p. 50
47
Annual salary
Source(s)
Prunai (1950), p. 49: buried in S. Domenico, citing Ugurgieri (1649), I, 549. Prunai (1950), p. 49: ‘humanas licteras’, citing Ugurgieri (1649), I, 549. 49 Dead by December 1371: Peter Denley. 50 According to Zdekauer (1894), p. 16 n. 1, Maestro Pietro da Ovile’s son was named Maestro Chelloccio, a famous physician, who died on 4 June 1400 (citing BCIS C.111.2, fol. 41, the same necrology in which Pietro da Ovile’s death in 1383 appears). 51 For the notice of his death from the necrology of S. Domenico in Siena, see above ch. 4, p. 311 n. 232. According to Fioravanti (1991), p. 270 n. 9, Pietro di Chelloccio (Chele) ‘non può comunque aver insegnato oltre il 1379; nel 1380, infatti, suo glio Chelloccio è chiamato “quondam magistri Petri de Senis”’, citing Piana (1976), p. 272 n. 118 (Bologna Archivio di Stato, Rogiti di Azo de Buvalellis, notaio, 118– 1380, 7 sett. [. . .] locavit ad Pensionem mag. Ioanni q. mag. Blasii de Cortonio et mag. Chelocio q. mag. Petri de Senis, ambobus scholaribus studentibus Bononiae in medicina, praesentibus, unam domum balchionatam). This would indicate that this grammarian Maestro Pietro was not identical with the Maestro Pietro da Ovile who died in 1383 and who was mentioned in the Pistoiese search document of 1382. However, since the Pistoiese document states that he was teaching publicly in Siena and would require the permission of the Sienese Signori to go to Pistoia, Maestro Pietro di Maestro Chele must be the same as Maestro Pietro da Ovile. So the only possible solution is that the Bolognese notary was unfamiliar with this student (and his father) and mistakenly repeated ‘quondam’ from the name of the previous student. This conclusion is veried by information from Peter Denley, who reports the reappointment on 10 September 1381 of ‘Petrus Magistri Chelli ad lecturam et doctrinam gramatice hordinarie et rectorice extraordinarie’; he also writes of regular notices of payments and renewals of contract from 1360 to 1385. The reported activity after his death in 1383 may concern appointments due to expire after that date. 48
communal schoolteachers in florentine tuscany Name
Subject(s) taught
Year(s) of service
Maestro Bandino Tommasi
Grammar52
1370
Prunai (1950), p. 49
Maestro Giovanni Chelocci
Grammar
1372–73?
Prunai (1950), p. 4953
Maestro Antonio di Ser Salvi Vannini da S. Gimignano
Grammar, rhetoric
1373 [1371–74]54
Prunai (1950), p. 49; Fioravanti (1991), p. 260, 270 n. 9
Maestro Francesco di Piero del popolo di S. Stefano di Siena
Grammar
1374–81
Prunai (1950), p. 49
[Bertino di Pietro]
[Grammar]
[1375]
Maestro Simone di Niccolò di Tofano Tofani da Siena
Abacus
1377–80
Annual salary
603
Source(s)
[Peter Denley] 55
Prunai (1950), p. 50; Moscadelli (1991), p. 208
Gilio di Cecco, detto Abacus Gilio di Crescenzio, da Montepulciano56
1377–7857 50 orins Prunai [1388– (from (1950), p. 50; 1405]58 1388)59 Moscadelli (1991), pp. 208, 214 n. 34
Leonardo del Bianco (Branco)60
1380–84
52
Abacus
Prunai (1950), p. 50; Moscadelli (1991), p. 208
Prunai (1950), p. 49: ‘humanità’, citing Ugurgieri (1649), I, 549. Prunai (1950), p. 49, n. 4, gives references to Bicch. 270 and 271, which date from 1384 and 1385; this is out of sequence in the text: did he mean Bicch. 250 and 251 (1372–1373)? Peter Denley notes grammar activity ‘1365 . . . 73?’ 54 Peter Denley: he was rst hired to replace Albertino da Monte Latrone on the latter’s death in December 1371, with payments in 1372 and 1374. 55 Peter Denley reports teaching activity from 1376 to 1393. 56 He also taught in Lucca in 1381: Barsanti, cited by Moscadelli, p. 214 n. 34, who also cites Franci (1985), pp. 319–324. 57 Peter Denley: contracts/payments for 1376–80. 58 Peter Denley: regular contracts/payments from 1388 to 1405. 59 Peter Denley. 60 Peter Denley: Lunardo del Bianco, abacus activity from 1363 to 1400. 53
604
appendix four
Name
Subject(s) taught
Year(s) of service
Maestro G. Battista Malavolti
Rhetoric (grammar)61
c. 1380
Prunai (1950), p. 49
Maestro Niccolò di Gilio da Città di Castello
Grammar
1384–8562
Prunai (1950), p. 49
Maestro Pietro di Magio
Grammar
1384–85
Prunai (1950), p. 49
[Pietro Orsi da Siena] [Grammar]
[1386]
[Peter Denley]
[Gabriello da Venezia] [Grammar]
[1387]
[Peter Denley]
Maestro Antonio di Ser Salvi Vannini da S. Gimignano
Grammar
[Antonio di Ser Pietro [Grammar] da Lucignano di Val di Chiana]
61
1388 [1387– 92]63
1390–92
Annual salary
[50 orins]
Source(s)
Denley (1990), p. 96; Fioravanti (1991), pp. 260, 270 n. 9 [Peter Denley]
Prunai (1950), p. 49, citing Ugurgieri (1649), I, p. 18. Peter Denley: active 1384–7. 63 Peter Denley: he was appointed in 1387 at an salary of 50 orins, with at least one renewal in 1390; his contract was renewed for another four years from 1392, but in fact he returned to S. Gimignano: ACSG (fol. lxxviii) (11 March 1392) Dominicus Petri [. . .] consuluit quod Magister Antonius Ser Salvi eligatur [. . .] magister gramatice et ad docendum pueros et scolares etc pro termino trium annorum et pro tribus annis futuris cum salario octuaginta orenorum pro quolibet anno [. . .] et quod domini priores populi et vexillifer iustitie una cum capitaneis partis guelfe dicte terre possint et debeant eligere duos prudentes viros ad componendum cum dicto Magistro Antonio de mercede quam accipere possit et debeat a scholaribus pro doctrina [. . .] (fol. lxxviii verso) (12 March 1392) Magister Antonius Ser Salvi constitutus in suprascripto loco in presentia ofciorum dominorum priorum populi et vexilliferi iustitie ac capitaneorum partis guelfe dicte terre, audita electione de eo facta in magistrum gramatice et ad docendum etc. ut supra in reformatione consilii dicte terre heri solemniter celebrata continetur, dei nomine invocato, verbatim relatis gratiis, ofciis suprascriptis pro impenso honore et benecio acceptavit et iuravit etc. The reappointment in 1395 (Peter Denley) did not take place, because he went to Volterra (see below p. 611). Another offer in 1396 was declined because ‘impeditus venire non possit’: Peter Denley. 62
communal schoolteachers in florentine tuscany Name
Subject(s) taught
Year(s) of service
Maestro Nofri di Grammar Giovanni da Poggitazzi
1392 [–1396],64 1405– 140865
Annual salary
605
Source(s) ASS Colle 129 fol. lxxii recto; Minnucci (1989), p. 157, 263; Rossi (1898), p. 20; Prunai (1950), p. 49
64 Peter Denley: he was hired in 1392, with payments to 1396. His most famous pupil in this period was the future S. Bernardino da Siena: (van Ortroy [1902], pp. 60–61) ‘Ecce enim lium genuerunt, qui in lucem prodiit et natus est octava die septembris [. . .] a nativitate domini nostri Iesu Christi MCCCLXXX., cui impositum est nomen Bernardinus [. . .] Et licet tamquam puer quedam pueriliter ageret, attamen omnes alios in multis excellebat. Nam ita litteris et grammaticis instructionibus prociebat, quod e longe alios coetaneos suos superabat [. . .] Cum autem esset annorum XI et in grammaticalibus provectus [. . .] advocatus est Senas patriam suam, sub cura tamen et custodia Christofori venerabilisque matrone uxoris sue, Pia vocate nomine et re. Que, cum lius ei nullus esset, Bernardinum puerum plus quam lium dilexit et moribus instruxit. Scholas trivialis doctrine sub Honofrio preceptore continuavit mirabiliterque ultra omnes coetaneos suos doctior ebat [. . .]. 65 Prunai and Minnucci have conated Nofri da Poggitazzi (Siena) with Giovanni da Spoleto for the years 1405–1408. Minnucci (1989), p. 157: 106. [26 giugno 1408] Il maestro Onofrio del fu Giovanni, professore di grammatica, nomina suo procuratore Matteo di Giovenale da Narni. Anno Mccccviii, indit. prima, die xxvi mensis iun. Actum Senis, in apoteca Universitatis notariorum—. Mag. Honofrius olim Iohannis gramatice professor—constituit suum procuratorem ser Matteum Iuvenalis de Narni—. (ASS Notarile antecosimiano, 275, 8r). Minnucci (1989), p. 263 says ‘Honofrius olim Iohannis gramatice professor, III-106. Si tratta del maestro di grammatica Onofrio da Spoleto che insegna a Siena nel 1405 (cf. Prunai [1950], 49). Prunai (1950), p. 49: ‘Nel 1405 lessero grammatica Onofrio da Spoleto . . .’ There is no mention here of ‘di Giovanni’ as patronymic. Prunai (1950), p. 49, cites Conc. 235, cc. 46–47 for 1405, which corresponds to Document IV published by Rossi (1898), p. 20: 1405, 27 febbraio. (Deliberazioni del Concistoro, ad annum, c. 46). Qui ofciales super studio elegerunt infrascriptos et conduxerunt pro tempore cum salario et cum conditionibus infrascriptis et pactis rermaverunt [. . .] Magistrum Nofrium Johannis de Senis magistrum gramatice, in gramaticam et autores, duorum annorum proxime venturorum intiandorum in festo sancti Luce venturi, ita tamen quod ante dictam diem sit in civitate Sen. per unum mensem, cum salario centum or. auri nitidorum de cabello pro quolibet anno . . . Magistrum Johannem Ser Bucci de Spoleto ad lecturam rectorice et autorum cum salario centum or. auri pro anno nitidorum et pro duobus annis in Sancto Luca incipiendis MCCCCV [. . .]
606
appendix four
Name
Subject(s) taught
Year(s) of service
Annual salary
Maestro Giovanni di Buccio da Spoleto
Grammar, rhetoric, Dante66
1396–9967 100 [1396– orins 1448]68
Source(s) Zdekauer (1894), p. 27; Prunai (1950), p. 49; Rossi (1898), pp. 18–20
Volterra Name
Subject(s) taught
Year(s) of service
Maestro Francesco di Bandino Bandini da Monticchiello
Grammar
1317
Annual salary
Source(s) Battistini (1919), pp. 46, 79; ACV A nera 7 III fol. 60r
Maestro Rainuccio Grammar (Ranuccio) del fu Guido da Cigoli (San Gimignano/San Miniato)
1317–18, 1326–27
50 lire (1326–27)
Battistini (1919), pp. 46, 79–80; ACV A nera 5 V, fol. 30v, 46v; 7 III fol. 60r; 8 VII fol. 47r
Ser Francesco di Introductory Turino (Tura) da Siena grammar,69 abacus
1327–31
10 lire
Battistini (1919), pp. 46, 81; ACV A nera 9 VIII, fol. 4v; XI fol. 21v–22r; 11 I fol. 15r–16r
66
Prunai (1950), p. 49, citing Rossi (1898). Rossi (1898), pp. 14–15: contemporary sources testify that Bernardino of Siena and Aeneas Sylvius were his pupils. 68 Peter Denley. 69 ACV A nera 9 VIII fol. 4v: Ser Francisco Turini, qui docet pueros abbacum et eos introducit in gramaticalibus. 67
communal schoolteachers in florentine tuscany
607
Name
Subject(s) taught
Year(s) of service
Annual salary
Source(s)
Maestro Albizo di Niccoletto da Firenze
Grammar
1331–32
45 lire
Battistini (1919), pp. 46, 81; ACV A nera 10 V, fol. 30v–31r
Maestro Iacopo di Benedetto
Abacus
1334–35
15 lire
ACV A nero 10 XI, fol. 16v
Maestro Giovanni di Terino da Castelorentino
Doctor puerorum
1336
5 lire (served one month only)70
Battistini (1919), pp. 46–47, 81–82; ACV A nera 11 X fol. 7v
Maestro Giovanni di Piero dal Casentino
Doctor puerorum
1336–37
60 lire
Battistini (1919), pp. 46–47, 82; ACV A nera 11 X fol. 8v
Battistini (1919), pp. 47, 82; ACV A nera 13 I, fol. 9r, 21v
Maestro Ugone da Volterra
Grammar
1340–43
Battistini (1919), pp. 9, 47, 82–83; ACV A nera 13 I, fol. 8v; 15 NN
70
ACV A nera 11 X fol. 7v: (27 June 1336) Magistro Iohanni Terini de Castro Florentino pro uno anno proxime futuro quo stare debet in civitate Vulterre ad docendum pueros in servitium comunis Vulterre pro eius merito det et solvat dictus camerarius solvendo mense quolibet pro rata dicti temporis: libras quinque den. [Left margin:] Anno domini MCCCXXXVI indict. IIII die XXVI mensis iulii suprascriptus Magister Iohannes renunptiavit suprascripto scruptineo eidem facto, dans mihi notario Andree suprascripto licentiam cassandi et irritandi in totum. 71 In 1340–41, he taught ‘loycam et rectoricam et aliam scientiam’ without explicit mention of grammar: Volterra Biblioteca Guarnacci, A nera 13, I, fol. 8v–9r.
608
appendix four
Name
Subject(s) taught
Year(s) of service
Annual salary
Source(s)
Maestro Bartolo di Giovanni da Firenze (o da S. Gimignano)
Grammar, rhetoric, logic
1346–48, 1356
79 lire 17 S.
Battistini (1919), pp. 9–10, 31 nn. 12, 83; ACV A nera 4 V NN; 13 V fol. 24r–25v
Ser Rainerio di Maestro Accarigo
Doctor puerorum
1348–52
Maestro Matteo del fu Ser Pino da Siena, prete
Grammar
1352–53
40 Fl.
Battistini (1919), pp. 10, 83–84; ACV A nera 13 V, fol. 25r–v; 16 NN; 17 V, fol. 3v
Maestro Pietro del fu Maestro Francesco da Citerna (Città di Castello), cittadino volterrano72
Grammar, rhetoric, notariate
1357–59, 1360– 1361, 1363–65, 1367–68, 1369–71
70 Fl. (1357– 59), 60 Fl. (1364– 70) to include
Battistini (1919), pp. 10, 84–89; BGV ms. 5706, lza 38 n. 8, 14;
Battistini (1919), pp. 10, 31–32 n. 13; ACV A nera 13 V, fol. 6v; 14 X, fol. 8v; 17 I fol. 9v; 19 XII, fol. 130r
72 He died possibly shortly before 18 December 1381, when his heirs sought payment of salary arrears from his teaching service in Volterra: Battistini (1919), p. 32 n. 18, 93–94.
communal schoolteachers in florentine tuscany Name
Subject(s) taught
Year(s) of service
609
Annual salary
Source(s)
salary of ripetitore, 50 Fl. (1370– 71)
ACV A nera 4 V; 17 X, fol. 25v; 18 I, fol. 41r; II, fol. 17r; III, fol. 143; V fol. 3r, 90r; 19 III, fol. 17r–v; XII, fol. 25v, 51v, 156v; 23 I, fol. 31r–32r; 24, fol. 25r–v
Michele Lenzi da Volterra
‘Maestro di scuola’
1362
Battistini (1919), p. 32 n. 15
Maestro Piero de Pinsterna
Grammar
1370–71
40 orins
ACV A nera 21 IV, fol. 27v
Maestro Tommaso di Maestro Duccio da Prato
Grammar
1371–75
50 Fl. + house
Battistini (1919), pp. 10, 90–91; BGV 5706, lza 38 n. 18
Maestro Pietro di Guglielmo da Forlì
[Grammar]
137573–78
Battistini (1919), pp. 10–11, 32 n. 17 and 18; Zanelli (1900), pp. 122–23
73 In July 1375, Maestro Niccolò di Egidio da Città di Castello, then teaching in Narni (Terni, Umbria), was appointed grammar teacher in Volterra, but evidently terms could not be agreed: see Battistini (1919), pp. 92–93.
610
appendix four
Name
Subject(s) taught
Year(s) of service
Annual salary
Source(s)
Maestro Benintendi (Symitendo) di Ser Herucio (Arrigo) da Prato
Grammar
1381–82
Maestro Giovanni di Francesco da Siena (ob. Sept. 1383)
Grammar, rhetoric
1382–83
60 Fl.
Battistini (1919), pp. 11–12, 94– 95; ACV 22 II, fol. 58r, 63v; 23 III, fol. 44v
Maestro Catulucio di Cecchino da Todi
Grammar, rhetoric
1384
70 Fl.
Battistini (1919), pp. 12, 96–98; ACV 23 III, fol. 74r, 76r, 107r, 119r, 134v, 141v
Maestro Iacopo di Pietro da Todi (ob. end of 1394)
Grammar
1384–94
64 Fl. + house (1384–88), 50 Fl. + house (1390–91), 40 Fl. + house (1394)
Battistini (1916), p. 51; Battistini (1919), pp. 12, 32–33 nn. 26, 98; ACV A nera 23 IV, fol. 32v, 62v, 72v, 88r, 100v, 144r, 155r, 196v; 25 I fol. 12v, 76v; II, fol. 8v, 32r, 40r, 45r, 72r, 88v,
Battistini (1919), pp. 11, 94–95;74 ACV A nera 22 II fol. 21v, 55v
74 Battistini (1919), p. 11, dates the beginning of his term in Volterra to 1380, but he was working in Prato until 1381, and so could not have begun teaching in Volterra until that year.
communal schoolteachers in florentine tuscany Name
Battistini (1919), pp. 12, 33 n. 27; Battistini (1922), pp. 52–53; ACV A nera 24, fol. 271v, 272v
Maestro Antonio di Ser Salvi Vannini da S. Gimignano
Grammar
1395–98
Maestro Giusto di Uguccio da Volterra
Grammar
1398–1400 60 lire
100 Fl. + 12 Fl. (rent) from 1396
Battistini (1916), pp. 51–52; Battistini (1919), pp. 12–13, 99– 102; ACV A nera 24, fol. 369r, 370r; 25, III, fol. 110r, 113r; V, fol. 21v; 28 I, fol. 10r–11r Battistini (1919), pp. 14, 103; ACV A nera 24, fol. 428v–29r; 28 I, fol. 131v, 132v; II, fol. 88r; III, fol. 118v–119r; IV, fol. 26v; 29, fol. 6v, 56v
APPENDIX FIVE
EDUCATION IN UNPUBLISHED FLORENTINE RICORDANZE (UP TO 1507) ASF MSS 75 [Ricordanze di Lippo del Fede del Sega: 1305–55] fol. VII recto [1305] Frate Bene prete di Benetendi maestro mi de’ dare a dì XXV di genaio trecento cique. Rimaseglemi a dare d’una ragione ch’avea adietro cho’ Meglorino d’otto o’ d’oro. L. I S. XIII D. III Àne dato Meglorino per Frate Bene VIII di febraio. L. 5 S. D fol. CCLXV verso [1355] Portò Bernardo mercholedì XXII d’aprile detto al maestro suo cioè a Ser Vieri S. II piccioli. Non so se ‘l mese era chonpiuto anchora. S. II Portò Bernardo la vilia festa idio III di giugno S. 2 piccioli per lo maestro. S. II ASF CdB 261 [1314–1367] fol. 17r Ser Tomaso di [sic] de’ dare per pigione del panco ch’è a llato al tetto della casa dalla parte della piazza della quale sta di sotto Cione di Cieo per uno anno lib. VIIII netti di gabella. Comincia il termine per ka. novenbre prosimo anni ‘322. De’ pagare la metà della pigione a mezzo l’anno e l’altra metà compiuto l’anno. Il decto Ser Tomaso à
1 Front cover: a rent book for the botteghe and palchi in the del Bene palace in Santo Spirito.
614
appendix five
lasciata la detta casa per ka. novembre anni ‘323 e ralegata per l’anno che de’ venire. Ser Tommaso soprascritto n’à dato per la pigione di sei mesi passati cioè da ka. novenbre che passò ‘322 a ka. maggio prosimo ‘323. Recon’ Cione di Cieo dì X di gennaio ‘323 contanti _______lib. IIII S. X. fol. 18r Ser Tomaso dell’Abaco nostro oste a Santo Spirito n’à dato per parte della pigione che de’ dare di sei mesi passati da ka. magio prosimo passato a ka. novenbre presente anni ‘323. Recon’ Cione di Cie[c]o lib. IIII dì XXXI d’octobre anni detti. fol. 20r Ser Tomaso dell’Abacho nostro oste nel palchon di sopra al Cione n’à dato per pigione di sei mesi passati da ka. novenbre prosimo ‘324 a ka. maggio ‘325. Recon’ Cione dì VIII di maggio lib. IIII sol X. À pagato per li detti sei mesi. fol. 21r Ser Tomaso dell’Abacho n’à dato per pigione di sei mesi passati da ka. maggio ‘325 a ka. novenbre presente annti detti. Recon’ Donna Margherita dì XVIII di novenbre predetto contanti lib. IIII sol. X. À pagato per li detti sei mesi del palchon che tiene sopra Cione. fol. 21v Ser Tomaso dall’Abaco n’à dato per la pigione di sei mesi passati da ka. novenbre ‘325 a ka. maggio ‘326 lib. IIII S. X. À pagato. Recon’ dì XXV d’aprile ‘326. fol. 22v Ser Tomaso dell’Abacho de’ dare per pigione di sei mesi cioè da ka. di maggio ‘326 insino a ka. novenbre ‘326 lib. IIII S_____[sic]. Ànne dato il detto Ser Tomaso dì X di novenbre ‘326. Ebe Amerigho contanti lib. IIIIº S. X piccioli. fol. 23r Ser Tomaso dell’Abacho de’ dare per pigione di sei mesi d’uno palcho che tiene da noi, cioè da kl. di novembre ‘326 insino a ka. di maggio ‘327 _____ lib. IIIIº S. X piccioli. Ànne dato dì d’aprile ‘327, i
education in unpublished florentine RICORDANZE
615
quali pagò per raconciare la fossa di Salvuccio lib. II S. XIIIIº. Ànne dato dì V di giugnio ‘327. Rechò egli medesimo contanti lib. 1 S. XVI piccioli. À pagato. fol. 24v Ser Tomaso dell’Abacho n’à dato dì XXVIII di novembre ‘327 per pigione d’uno palcho che tiene da nnoi, cioè da ka. di maggio ‘327 insino a ka. di novembre ‘327, i quali si misono nella spesa del tetto del palagio quando si raconciò. Lib. IIII S. X. fol. 25r Ser Tomaso dell’Abacho n’à dato dì XXX d’aprile anno ‘328 per pigione d’uno palcho che tiene da nnoi, cioè da ka. di novembre ‘327 insino a ka. di maggio ‘328, contanti lib. IIIIº S. X. fol. 25v Ser Tomaso dell’Abacho n’à dato dì VI di novembre ‘328 per pigione d’uno palcho che tiene da nnoi, cioè da ka. di maggio ‘328 insino a ka. di novembre ‘328. Ebbe Iacopo lib. IIIIº S. X piccioli. fol. 26r Ser Tomaso dell’Abacho n’à dato dì XX di febraio ‘328 per pigione d’uno palcho che tiene da nnoi, cioè da ka. di novembre ‘328 insino a ka. di maggio ‘329 lib. IIII S. X piccioli. I detti danari dovea avere da noi per misuratura del luogho che comperammo da Manno del Chiaro. fol. 27r Ser Tomaso dell’Abacho n’à dato dì VII di novenbre ‘329 per pigione d’uno palcho che tiene da nnoi, cioè da ka. di maggio ‘329 insino a ka. di novembre ‘329 lib. IIII S. X piccioli. fol. 28v La moglie che fu di Ser Tomaso n’à dato dì XVIII di maggio ‘330 per pigione d’uno palcho che tiene da nnoi, cioè da ka. di novembre ‘329 insino a ka. di maggio ‘330. Diedene lib. IIII S. X. Le lib. III diede contanti e S. XXX si scontarono per uno dì che Ser Tomaso andò in villa con Iacopo a misurare nostre terre.
616
appendix five
fol. 29v La moglie che fu di Ser Tomaso n’à dato dì 1 di novenbre ‘330 per pigione di sei mesi del palcho che tiene da nnoi, cioè da ka. di maggio ‘330 insino a ka. di novembre ‘330 contanti lib. IIII S. X piccioli. fol. 57r Maestro Ventura che tiene i fanciulli a lleggiere de’ dare per pigione d’uno anno del palagio che tiene da noi a Sancto Spirito. Comminciò dì primo di novembre 1365 et niscie dì ultimo d’ottobre 1366 [. . .] Àne dato in più partite inno a dì XIII di novenbre 1366 [. . .] Ànne dato il decto dì contanti per saldamento della ragione del decto anno lib. VIII S. X. Ebbe la metà Iacopo, l’altra Giovanni [. . .] Maestro Ventura che tiene i fanciulli a lleggiere à dato dì XIIIIº di giennaio 1366 per pigione del messe di novembre e di diciembre del decto anno 1366 lib. XVII. Ebbe la metà Iacopo, l’altra Giovani. E diede dì XXIII di genaio ‘366 per pigione di due mesi, cioè gienaio e febraio lib. XVII. Ebbe la metà Iachopo, l’altra Giovanni. BNCF Panciatichi 134 [Ricordi di Bartolomeo di Niccolò di Taldo Valori: 1354–1368] fol. 1r Memoria che secondo apariscie per scritto di mano del mio padre che io Bartolomeo naqui l’anno MCCCLIIIIº dì VII di maggio un mercholedì notte [. . .] E l’anno MCCCLXIII d’ottobre ristata la mortalità io Bartolomeo mi puosi a imparare gramaticha a la schuola del Maestro Manovello e stetivi sino a l’anno MCCCLXVII per tutto il mese di maggio, e poi in kalendi giungno anno detto mi puosi a imparare albacho per sapere fare di ragione con ‘l Maestro Tomaso di Davizzo de’ Corbizzi e stettivi inno a febraio anno 1367, e detto dì mi puosi a la tavola di Bernardo di Cino Bartolini banchiere in Merchato Nuovo. ASF CdB 32 [Ricordanze di Francesco di Iacopo di Francesco del Bene: 1367–76] fol. 7r Amerigho di Borghognione dì XIIII di febraio ‘367 per uno donadello per se: L. 1 S. 15.
education in unpublished florentine RICORDANZE
617
fol. 7v Al Maestro Bartolomeo de la Gramaticha dì XXII di marzo 1367 per cinque mesi che ‘nsengnio Amerigho di Borghognione: L. I. fol. 8r A Cipriano degli Alberti dì IIII d’aprile 1376 per braccia XII dimischio dodinardo per L. IIII S. X canna per ghonella, farsetto, mantello e chapucci per Amerigho quando andò a Bolongnia: Fl. VIIII d’oro S. XXIIIIº. ASF CS II.4 [Ricordanze di Paolo di Alessandro Sassetti: 1369–85] fol. 25v [1369] Ricchordanza che Raghonese da Pisa mi lasciò più tenpo fa du’ libri di leggie, cioè un Chodicho e Digesto Vecchio. Abia’ gli prestati a que’ ch’apresso diremo: Leonardo di Messer Gioanni degli Strozi il Chodicho; Messer Nicchola Lapi il Digesto Vecchio. ollene dare Lionardo del Codicho orini XXV d’oro. Vollene dar Messer Nicchola del Disesto orini XIIII d’oro. enderonsi i detti libri, cioè: Messer Nicchola Lapi il Dixesto orini XVIII d’oro. Lionardo di Messer Giovanni iStrozi il Codicho—orini XXVII d’oro. fol. 61r Mandamo a Monpulieri per le mani di Giovanni di Stefano del Migliore fattore di Michele di Vanni di Ser Lotto e compagni dì [sic] di luglio anno MCCCLXXXI l’enfrascritte cose, cioè: 1 leghato di quadernucci d’orazioni in bambagia 1 quaderno in quatro pezi di disengni e biscanto 1 libro di ‘strologia in franciesco in pergamena 1 libro di pistole d’Ovidio con coverte di pechora verde 1 libro di ‘strologia in perghamena coverto d’asse 1 libro chiamato Corbacchio in banbagia coverto d’asse 1 libro di reghole in gramaticha in pergamena coverto d’assi 1 quaderno in perghamena di Cieccho d’Ascoli con alchuno foglio in bambagia iscritto di chose romane.
618
appendix five
E anchora mandamo al detto dì e per la detta persona avute da la Sandra nostra serocchia, cioè: 1 libriccuolo con quatro di perlle fornito d’ariento. fol. 69v–70r Ricordanza che maritamo la Lena gliuola che fu di Bernardo nostro fratello [. . .] Demmo a di 28 di maggio anno 1384 [. . .] 1 libriccuolo dell’ucio della donna; costò Fl. 4. fol. 91r Richordanza che a dì 28 di settenbre anno 1385 si misurò i’ luogho con case e con orto de’ gliuoli rimasono di Federigho Sassetti, posto nella pieve di Santo Stefano in Pane, luogho detto Macina, per le mani di Michele di Gianni chiamato di Monna Giera, maestro d’abacho, e trovòssi per lle sue mani [. . .]2 ASF MSS 74 [Ricordanze di Filippo dell’Antella e di Amerigo suo figlio: 1375–1405] fol. 25r: MCCCLXXV dì 7 di giugno Guido da Bibienna venne a stare con noi per insegnare a Nanni dì 7 di giugno anno detto. Dee avere l’anno da nnoi Fl. 12. Ànne avuto dì 26 di settembre Fl. 1 d’oro e L. 2. Ànne avuto dì 28 d’ottobre alla s(era)—L. 2. Ànne avuto dì 13 di novembre ‘375 Fl. 2 d’oro. Ànne avuto, paghai per brac[cia] 6 di panno cilestino per lui per 1 cioppa—Fl. 4 d’oro S. 53 D. 10. Ànne avuto per le sue calze—S. 10. Ànne avuto, dielli contanti in Firenze S. 5. Ànne avuto, dielli contanti con Giovanni Giugni S. 20. Ànne avuto per uno farsetto—L. 7 S. 6. Ànne avuto dì 10 di marzo ‘375 [ab inc.] Fl. 2 d’oro. Ànne avuto a giucho in villa—L. 1. Ànne avuto, dielli per la spada d’Alesso L.—S. 10. Ànne avuto dì 22 di magio a salla L.—S. 10.
2
Cited in Bec (1967), p. 389.
education in unpublished florentine RICORDANZE
619
Ànne avuto dì 2 di luglo. Dielli a ssala a giuocho con Alberto—L. 4 S. Somma Fl. 9 d’oro e L. 21 S. 15. Partìssi da noi dì 8 di luglo ‘376. Stette per suoi bisogni tra in Chasentino e in Firenze nel detto tempo due mesi o circha. Resta che è stato con noi mesi XI. Montano a ragione di Fl. 12 l’ano—Fl. 11 d’oro. Resta a dare Fl. 0 L. 21 S. 1. E de’ dare, dieli il dì che si partì per comperare uno paio di scharpette—S. 12. Somma quello resta a dare L. 15 S. 2. Ànne dato, ebbi d’uno suo Boetio vendè L. 4. Ànne dato, ebbi de libro della noteria Fl. 1 d’oro. Resta a dare abbatucto il dare per l’avere L. 7 S. 10. E chancillata questa ragione perché gli donai le dette L. 7 S. 10.3 fol. 56r Ricordanza che a dì 25 di giugno 1405 io Amerigho di Filippo dell’Antella come procuratore di Monna Nera mia madre attai a [sic] di Valdarno che stava in casa [d]el Maestro Michele de l’Abaco e doveva tornare a Pruneto nel podere dove stava [. . .] ASF CS III.277 [Ricordanze di Francesco, Giovanni, Simone e Iacopo del fu Messer Palla di Messer Francesco Strozzi: 1377–86] fol. I recto Questo libro si è di Franciescho e Giovanni e Simone e Iacopo chiamato Palla, fratelli e gliuoli che rimasono del nobile chavaliere Messer Palla di Messer Franciescho delgli Stroçi loro padre, il quale ciessò di questa vita a dì XVIIII d’ottobre anno MCCCLXXVII [. . .] e in questo libro commincierà a scrivere Duccio di Ser Cione di sua mano di volere di Messer Pazzino di Messer Franchesco e Nofrio di Palla delgli Stroçi tutori e ghovernatore de’ dette pupilli [. . .]
3 He owed Filippo L. 7 S. 10, and Filippo made him a present of it, having accepted his copy of Boethius and a notarial manual in partial payment.
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fol. LXXXXI verso E deono dare dì III di gennaio 1379 [. . .] Sono per uno donadello et Catto che si comperò per Checcho. Paghò Nicholo detto [. . .] _____L. I S. II D. V E deono dare dì XVIII di genaio 1379 L. tre et S. tre [. . .] Sono per uno donadello per Checcho overo per Nanni [. . .] ______L. I S. IIII D. VII fol. CLXVII verso Messer Pazzino di Messer Franciescho delgli Strozzi de’ avere a dì III di gennaio 1379 [. . .] Sono per uno donadello che ssi conperò a Checcho di Messer Palla [. . .] _____L. I S. II D. V E de’ avere dì XVIII di gennaio 1379 [. . .] per conperare uno donadello per Nanni di Misser Palla [. . .] ______L. I S. IIII D. VII fol. LXXXXVI verso Le rede di Messer Palla di Messer Franciesco delgli Strozzi deono dare dì XII di marzo anno detto orino uno d’oro [. . .] Ebe Salvato maestro de’ fanculli per suo salario [. . .] L. I S. VIIII______ fol. CLXVIII E de’ avere dì XII di marzo 1379 orino uno d’oro [. . .] Ebe Salvato maestro de’ fanculli [. . .] L. I S. VIIII fol. CIII verso E deono dare dì XX di novembre 1380 orini quatro d’oro [. . .] Diedonsi al maestro che insegna a’ fanculli, il quale ista in casa Nofri di Palla [. . .] _______L. V S. XVI____ fol. CLXXIII verso E de’ avere dì XX di novenbre 1380 orini quatro d’oro [. . .] Diedonse al maestro che ‘nsengna a’ fanciulli di Misser Palla [. . .] _____L. V S. XVI
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fol. CXIIII recto E deono dare di XVIIII di novenbre 1381 orini quatro d’oro [. . .] demmo a Nofri di Palla per lo salario del maestro de’ fanculli per uno anno nito in calendi novenbri 1381 [. . .] _______L. V S. XVI fol. CLXXXI verso E de’ avere dì XVIIII di novenbre 1381 orini quatro d’oro [. . .] Demmo a Nofrio di Palla per lo salario del maestro de’ fanculli per uno anno nito in calendi novenbre 1381 [. . .] _____L. V S. XVI_____ fol. CXIIII recto E deono dare detto dì [4 dicembre 1381] [. . .] Sono per uno donadello che ssi conperò per Simone [. . .] _____L. I S. II D. II fol. CLXXXI verso E de’ avere detto di [4 dicembre 1381] [. . .] Sono per uno donadello per Simone di Misser Palla [. . .] _____L. I S. II D. II fol. CXVI verso E deono dare detto dì [9 maggio 1382] [. . .] Diedonsi a ripetitore de’ fanciulli di Messer Palla, che stette con Nofrio di Palla [. . .] ____L. I S. XVIII D. VIII____ fol. CLXXXIII verso E de’ avere detto dì [9 maggio 1382] [. . .] Demmo a ripetitore de’ lgluoli di Misser Pallo per resto di suo salario. Portò Piero famiglio [. . .] _____L. I S. XVIII D. VIII fol. CXXII verso E deono dare dì VII di febraio [1383] [. . .] Demmo per conperare uno donadello [. . .] L. I S. I D. VI______
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fol. CLXXXIIII recto E de’ avere dì VII di febraio [1383] [. . .] Sono per conperare uno donadello per Simone [. . .] L. I S. I D. VI________ fol. CXXV recto Le rede di Messer Palla delgli Strozzi deono dare dì XXII di maggio 1383 [. . .] Demmo al maestro de’ fanculli. Portò Piero familglo [. . .] ______L. I S. XI D. III fol. CLXXXXI recto Messer Pazzino delgli Strozzi de’ avere dì XXII di giugnio [1383] [. . .] Demmo al maestro de’ fanculli. Portò Pierro [. . .] _____L. I S. XI D. III____ fol. CXXVIIII recto Le rede di Messer Palla di Messer Franciescho delgli Strozzi deono dare dì II di gennaio [1384] [. . .] Demmo contanti al Maestro Paolo maestro de’ fanciulli [. . .] ________L. II S. XVIII fol. CLXXXXV recto Messer Pazzino delgli Strozzi de’ avere dì II di gennaio 1383 [ab inc.] [. . .] Demmo al maestro che ‘nsengnia a’ fanculli [. . .] L. II S. XVIII fol. CXXXIV verso E deono dare dì IIII di febraio [1385] [. . .] Demmo al maestro de’ fanculli di Misser Palla. Portò Simone [. . .] ______L. I S. VIIII___ fol. CLXXXXVIIII verso E de’ avere dì IIII di febraio [1385] [. . .] Demmo al maestro de fanciulli. Portò Nanni di Messer Palla [. . .] ______L. I S. VIIII___
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ASF CRSGF 168.131 [Ricordanze di Giovacchino di Gucciarello Pinciardi: 1379] fol. 21v [Spese per il glio Guido] [. . .] E de’ dare per iscarpette etc. dato al maesstro che ll’insegnia; di tutto salda dì 1 di maggio 1379 in tutto Fl. due dienanti de Pasque. Fl. II [. . .] E de’ dare per iscarpette goccholi etc. dati al maesstro che ll’isengnia [. . .] ASF CdB 19 [Ricordanze della famiglia del Bene] fol. 81r [1392] Maestro Giovanni de l’Abacho de’ avere [. . .] BNCF Palatino 1129 [Ricordanze di Ser Iacopo di Lardo de’ Lardi, notaio da Prato: 1395] fol. 51r A dì IIII d’ottobre [1395] Puosi Pauolo mio gliuolo4 a leggere alla bottega di Francescho di Francescho Leoni. ASF CdB 38 [Ricordanze di Riccardo di Francesco del Bene: 1398] fol. 3v Per dare al maestro d’Allesandro dì 28 d’aprile [1398] orino uno. ASF Ricasoli Parte antica Libri di amministrazione 111 [Ricordanze Luca di Matteo di Messer Luca de’ Firidolfi: 1402–20] fol. 167v Richordo [viz. Luca di Matteo di Messer Luca de’ Firidol da Panzano] che insino a dì 9 d’aghosto 1406 tornandomi a stare già era più ani
4
Born 24 September 1390: fol. 48r.
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per adietro cho’ Mona Mattea mia madre e gliuola che ffu d’Andrea del Benino in chasa di Lucha di Ser Filippo Charnesecchi suo secondo marito et ivi stetti dal 1402 per insino di giennaio 1420, cioè anni 18, tanto aparai a leggiere e schrivere e schrivere e l’abacho. E del mese di maggio 1405 Mona Mattea mia madre mi mandò a stare sanza salare al bancho di Bartolomeo di Verano Peruççi e d’Andrea di Pieroçço Chetti e di Giovanni di Niccholaio Niccholini, ch’era Andrea Ghetti nostro parente. E a dì VIIIIº d’aghosto 1406 Monna Mattea mia madre mi levò dalla tavola et posemi a stare con Bartolomeo et Nicholò d’Andrea del Benino suoi frategli et co’ chonpagni setaiuoli perché avessi salaro per potermi vestire, e lei mi dava le spese di suo perché avea 1º gluolo del secondo marito ch’era nel ghoverno degl’uciali de’ popilli e avea tanto per suo alimento e del gluolo di detto Lucha suo marito, siché, quello loghoravo, loghoravo di quello di mia madre. ASF AGPA 163 [Ricordanze di Morello di Pagolo Morelli: 1406] fol. 67v Maestro Lucha de l’Abacho de’ dare a dì 1º di novenbre [1406] orini quatro d’oro, i quali mi promisse per Ruberto Spini per barili quatro di vino gli vendè. _______Fl. IIIIº d’oro_____ Àne dato a dì 30 d’ottobre Fl. quatro d’oro. Ebi io Morello in grossi. _______Fl. IIIIº d’oro ASF CS III.281 [Libro di debitori e creditori di Nofri di Palla Strozzi: 1410] fol. LXXXVII destra Le rede de Rosso di Messer Scholaro Chavalchanti deono avere [. . .] a dì VIIIIº di dicembre 1410 Fl. trentasey d’oro [. . .] Rechò il maestro loro [. . .] fol. CIIIIº sinistra E debbo dare a dì VIIIIº di diciebre 1410 Fl. trentasei d’oro. Ebono dalle rede de Rosso Cavalcanti. Recò il maestro loro [. . .]
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ASF CS V.6 [Ricordanze di Simone di Filippo Strozzi: 1411–1418] fol. 1r Questo libro è de Simone di Filippo degli Strozi [. . .] e di Messer Antonio di Niccholò Ferantini e delle loro sirocchie [. . .] fol. 6r [30 ottobre 1411] A Meser Antonio Ferrantini lire una soldi X piccioli. Paghai al maestro gli ‘segniava il donadello a Pisa a suo conto [. . .] _____L. 1 S. 10 fol. 27r Antonio di Niccholò Ferantini [. . .] de’ dare L. una S. dieci piccioli. Paghai per llui al maestro gli ‘segniava il donadello a pPisa [. . .] L. 1 S. 10 fol. 7v [28 gennaio 1412] A lui detto [i.e. Antonio Ferrantini …] lire due soldi 5 piccioli, i quali paghai per uno donadello compero a suo conto [. . .] _____L. 2 S. 5. fol. 36r E a dì XXVIII di gienaio [1411] L. due S. cinque piccioli. Paghai per un donadello compero [. . .] _____L. 2 S. 5 fol. 8r [24 marzo 1412] A Messer Antonio Ferrantini a dì XXIIIIº di marzo [1412] soldi XI piccioli per dare di vanto al maestro gli insegnava gramaticha a suo conto. fol. 41r Messer Antonio Ferantini de’ dare [. . .] a dì XXIIIIº di marzo S. undici piccioli. Volle per dare di vanto al maestro della gramaticha [. . .] L._____S. 11
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fol. 8v [29 aprile 1412] A Messer Antonio Ferrantini dì detto Fl. uno d’oro. Ebe contanti per dare a Do’ Nicholò suo maestro a suo conto. fol. 41r Messer Antonio Ferantini de’ dare [. . .] a dì XXVIIIIº d’aprile Fl. uno. Ebe per dare a Don Niccholò suo maestro di gramaticha [. . .] Fl. 1 L.____ fol. 12r [23 maggio 1418] A Messer Antonio per lle spese dello tempo è stato mecho in casa. Sono anni II mesi 5 1/2 e per Antonio suo ripetitore. Stette con lui mesi otto. In tutto monta Fl. sessantacinque [. . .] _____Fl. 65 fol. 44r [23 maggio 1418] E de’ dare Fl. sesantacinque per le spese del tempo è istato mecho in chasa. Sono anni due mesi cinque e mezo, et per Antonio suo ripetitore. Stete mesi otto o circha e per Ser Paulo, che stete circha di mesi due. In tuto [. . .] Fl. 65 _______ ASF CS V.5 [Ricordanze di Simone di Filippo di Messer Lionardo Strozzi: 1412] fol. 48 sinistra [1412] Bartolomeo di Ser Santi banchiere de’ avere per altrettanti [. . .] e deono aver a dì [. . .] XXX di giugno Fl. uno. Ebe Matteo per dare al maestro della gramaticha. _____Fl. 1 S_____ fol. 24 sinistra [. . .] Rechò Matteo mio [. . .] [. . .] Rechò Matteo di Simone [. . .]
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ASF CS IV.346 [Ricordanze di Bernardo di Tommaso di Soldo di Messer Ubertino degli Strozzi: 1413–17] fol. 7 destra Andrea di Mafeo choltricaio de’ avere [. . .] a dì X d’aprile 1413 L. 2 S. 4 a piccioli. Mi prestò per chonperare uno saltero. ______L. 2 S. 4 fol. 86 sinistra Trovomi ogi insino a dì primo di marzo 1412 5 gluoli, tra’ quagli v’ènne 3 femine e due maschi. Àno nome lo primo Soldo e la sechonda Sandra e l’ terza à nome Lisa, la quarta à nomme Salvagia, lo quintto à nome Lionardo [. . .] e menai donna a dì 3 di magio 1401 e in chapo di deci mesi ebi Soldo. Morì la Lisa dì 25 d’aghosto 1417. Morì la Sandra a dì 23 di setembre 1417. Morì Lionardo a dì 5 d’otobre 1417 [. . .] E a dì XXV di setenbre 1417 morì la donna mia coè l’Antonia. ASF MSS 82 [Ricordanze degli eredi del fu Ugolino di Piero Michi:5 1415–20] fol. 8r [Nell’inventario del patrimonio:] 1 libro di regole in gramaticha fol. 65v A dì 15 di setenbre [1415] paghai al maestro che insegnia a’ fanculli in Santo Michele in palchetto: S. 5 D. 6. fol. 65v A dì 20 d’ottobre [1415 …] in fanciulli per lo maestro S. due per mancia. fol. 65v A dì 28 di ottobre [1415] al maestro insignia loro: S. 5 D. 6. fol. 65v A dì 29 di novembre [1415] portai al detto maestro: S. 5.
5
Died 3 November 1414: fol. 1r.
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fol. 66r A Bartolo chartolaio a dì 19 di febraio [1416] per un saltero per Piero: L. 2. fol. 66v [ottobre 1416] Al prete da Chareggo che insegniò loro legiere mentre che stettono in villo [sic]: S. 16 D. 6. Paghai per loro a Vanni di Benedetto linaiuolo per guarnello et vallestro per coprire uno messale insino a dì 17 d’ottobre: S. 16 D. 6. fol. 66v Al maestro che insegnia legere a’ fanciulli a Poggio a San Sisti a dì 12 di novembre 1416 lire quatro. Porta’ gli contanti. Apare di sua mano avergli ricevuti al mio libro ricordanze segnato C a c. 135. Furono per parte di paghamento di lire nove gli debo dare quando aia insegnato a Piero et Benvenuto leggere et scrivere a socenza d’andare all’abacho: L. IIIIº. fol. 67r [dicembre 1416] A Piero et Benvenuto d’Ugolino soprascritto. Portarono al maestro insegna loro per vanto della Pasqua di Natale: S. IIIIº. fol. 67r [5 aprile 1417] A Piero6 et Benvenuto a dì 5 d’aprile S. cinque D. sei [. . .] per portare per vanto al maestro: S. V D. VI. fol. 67v A un chartolaio a dì 5 di novenbre [1417] per uno saltero nuovo: L. 1 S. XV. fol. 67v [5 novembre 1417] A Lucha di Martino pianellaio per un paio di pianelle rosse [. . .] per chonperargli una tascha per lo salterio. Per tutto: S. XII.
6
Died 19 August 1417: fol. 52v.
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fol. 67v A Benvenuto a dì 22 di dicembre [1417] per dare per vanto al maestro gl’insegna leggere S. due: S. II. fol. 67v A Benvenuto d’Ugholino Michi a dì 10 di março 1417 S. cinque D. sei [. . .] Disse per portare per vanto. Dieglile e dissi, dessi a Monna Betta e che dicessi gli mandassi al maestro [. . .] S. V D. VI fol. 68v A Duccio bidello dello Studio insino a dì_____ [sic] di luglio [1418] S. due. Diegli per raconciatura il saltero di Benvenuto [. . .] S. II fol. 68v A Benvenuto insino a dì 19 d’ottobre [1418] S. cinque. Disse per portare al maestro gl’insegnia per lo vanto: S. V. fol. 68v A llui detto [sc. Benvenuto] a dì 17 di dicenbre [1418] S. cinque. Volle per portare il vanto della pasqua di Natale: S. V. fol. 69r A Benvenuto d’Ugholino Michi a dì 4 d’aprile 1419 S. cinque. Disse per portare al maestro per lo vanto: S. V. fol. 69r A Benvenuto a dì 13 di maggio 1419 per uno righolo gli comprai e per quatro penne e per inchiostro e per una anpolla e per pece e per uno usolure rosso. Per tutto S. due D. otto e per la tavola da scrivere D. sei: S. III D. IIIIº. fol. 82r E de’ dare a dì XXVI d’ottobre [1419]. Ebe Benvenuto detto per dare al maestro gl’insegna leggere per llo vantto: S. tre____ S. IIIº. fol. 82r E de’ dare a dì VI febraio [1420] S. quatro e Bevenutto diss’ egli deve al maestro gl’insegna leggiere e schrivere per un mese: S. IIII.
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fol. 82r E de’ dare a di Vº d’aprile [1420] S. due. De’ a Benvenuto detto. Diss’ egli dia al maestro gl’insegna leggere e schrivere per llo salaro di due mesi e per llo vanto della pasqua [. . .] Paghato per tutto il mese di marzo 1420: S. X. ASF CS IV.366 [Ricordanze degli eredi di Paliano di Falco Paliani: 1417–22] fol. 161v Alle rede7 dette dì VII d’aprile [1417] orino uno d’oro [. . .] Monna Giana donna fu di Paliano di Falcho disse per dare alla maestra ch’insegnnia leggiere a la Toncina di Paliano [. . .] ______Fl. 1º fol. 171r [24 maggio 1420] [. . .] L. XI S. XIII piccioli [. . .] a Mattio di Filippo miniatore per uno libriciuolo di nostra donna per la Catterina di Paliamo [. . .] Fl. II S. XXVII D. IIIIº fol. 172r [28 gennaio 1421] [. . .] a Gherardino di Gherardo, giovane che insengnia danzare a la Chaterina e Chostanza di Paliano per confare di Monna Giana loro madre [. . .] Fl. II_____ fol. 175r [23 giugno 1422] [. . .] a Michele di Giovanni dipintore per uno libriciuolo di donna che Monna Giana coperò per la Cacterina di Paliano [. . .] Fl. V S. VI D.____
7 ASF CS IV.365, fol. 18 sinistra: Niccolosa di Paliano born 13 May 1403; Margherita di Paliano born 14 April 1404; Chaterina di Paliano born 17 May 1407; Costanza di Paliano born 4 January 1411.
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fol. 176r [17 giugno 1422] [. . .] a Michele di Giovanni cartolaio per miniatore d’uno libricino di nostra donna fatto fare per la Caterina di Paliano [. . .] Fl. III S._____ ASF CS II.13 [Ricordanze di Doffo di Nepo degli Spini: 1418–28] fol. 31r [1418] Mattia di Iacopo da Firenze maestro di canto che ‘nsengna cantare a la mia gliuola Sveva de’ dare a dì XV di marzo Fl. quattro d’oro nuovi. Ebbe da me contanti per parte di suo salario et a scontare secondo parrà a llui gli si vengha. _____Fl. IIIIº nº8 E de’ dare a dì 24 di maggio 1419 Fl. dieci d’oro. Ebbe per me dal bancho posto. Debbano avere a libro biancho mio a c. 36: Fl. X, perch’io non vo’ mi che per caso di morte o d’altro a Mattia se ne domandassono questi denari e debbe avere per insengnare alla Sveva mia gliuola cantare Fl. uno il mese e cominciò dì pº di marzo 1418. Il detto Mattia insengnò cantare alla Sveva mia gliuola tanto tempo che secondo i patti ò col lui. La ragione si debbe chancellare et per detta chagione la cancello che‘bbia dato. Fl.______XIIIIº nº ASF AGPA 178 (Ricordanze dell’eredità di Morello di Paolo Morelli: 1418–20) fol. 15v [31 ottobre 1418] E dicono dare S. 5 D. 6 [. . .] per dare il vanto al maestro suo a dì detto. _______L.______S. 5 D. 6 fol. 32v [20 marzo 1420] E dicono dare Fl. uno. Sono per un donadello conperai di marzo 1419. Fl. 1 L.____S._____D._____ 8
This entry is published (inaccurately) by Bec (1967), p. 286.
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fol. 32v Ricordanza questo dì 4 di novembre1422 ch’io ne mandai Lionardo10 e Stefano11 mia ghioli alla botteghuça a ‘nparare la tavola cho’ nome di dio, cioè alla bottegha di Bernardo Zoppo. Ista da Sa’ Iachpo tra lle Fosse. Di poi ne gli levai e posigli a llegiere la detta tavola chon Ser Gherardo prete nella Badia di Firenze a dì [sic] di febraio 1422, e anchora di poi ne gli levai da detto Ser Gherardo a dì 1º d’aghosto 1423 e teni loro u’ maestro in chasa, il quale maestro à nome Girolamo da Sa’ Miniato de Tedescho, chom’ apare in questo inanzi a c. 34. fol. 34v Richordanza questo dì 21 d’aghosto 1423 che cho’ nome di dio venne a stare mecho in chasa per ripetitore de’ mia fanculli Girolamo di . . . [sic] da Sa’ Miniato de Tedescho, al quale non debbo dare niente di salario né chalzare né vestire, ma solo gli debbo dare le spese e chosì fumo d’achordo. Di poi a dì [sic] di settembre 1423 si partì da mme i’ detto Girolamo, che disse voleva andare a Pisa a studiare, d’achordo. fol. 45r Richordanza questo dì 12 di novembre 1426 ch’io prestai ad Allesandro di Nicholò barbiere mio chonpare 1º donadello nostro. Portò Papi suo gluolo. _______1º donadello Riebbelo a dì 4 di dicenbre 1426. fol. 48v Richordanza che insino del mese di novenbre 1426 io ne mandai a llegiere alla schuola d’Orzamichele Stefano e Marabottino12 e diegli a 1º ripetitore che insegniasse loro. Ha nome Francescho, il quale ista
9 10 11 12
A few entries published (not always accurately) by Bec (1967), pp. 384, 387–88. Born 6 March 1417: fol. XI recto. Born 24 January 1418: fol. XIIII recto. Born 2 February 1421: fol. 27r.
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in detta schuola e di poi del mese di magio 1427 vi mandai a llegiere Rinieri.13 Ànne auto il detto Francescho a dì 11 di marzo 1426 [ab inc.] da mme chontanti e porta’ gliele alla schuola Gº VI d’ariento per suo salario. Fl. _____L. 1ª S. 13 D._____ Di poi del detto anno il detto Franchesco si partì da dectta ishuola e rimaso’ mi i detti mia fancuili, che di poi a dì 1º di novembre 1427 gli ridiedi in dectta schuola a 1º maestro ch’à nome Sandro che insegniasse loro, e però la chancello questo dì 1º di novenbre 1427. fol. 49v Richordanza che insino a dì 1º di novenbre 1427 ch’io ne mandai a inparare a llegiere Stefano e Marbottino e Rinieri alla squola d’Orzamichele e posigli chon u’ ripetitore ch’à nome Sandro, il quale sta in detta schuola che insegniasse loro. Di poi a dì 1º di novembre 1428 ne gli levai perché non ne insegnava loro bene e riposigli a llegiere chon Ser Nicholò, sta in chiasso di Ferro. Ànne auto a dì 20 di febraio 1427 chontanti da mme Fl._____L. 1ª S. 7 D. 6. Ànne auto a dì 26 d’aprile 1428 chontanti da mme Fl.______L. 1ª S. 10 D. ___ Ànne auto a dì 6 d’aghosto 1428 chontanti Fl._____L. 1ª S. 7 [D.] 6. fol. 53r Richordanza questo dì 1º di novembre 1428 ch’io riposi a llegiere Stefano e Marabottino e Rinieri in chiasso di Ferro chon un maestro ch’à nome Ser Nicholò da Pratovechio. Ànne auto a dì 1º di marzo 1428 Gº VIII d’ariento. Portò Stefano chontanti. ______L. 2 S. 4 D.______ Ànne auto a dì 9 di novembre 1429 Gº XII d’ariento, i quagli portai chontanti alla schuola. ______L. 3 S. 6 D.______ Ànne auto a dì 3 di giennaio 1429 Gº VII d’ariento chontanti da mme ed è paghato per insino a dì 1º di novenbre passato 1429 d’achordo. L. 1ª S. 18 D. 6______
13
Born 2 April 1422: fol. 31v.
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Ànne auto a dì 13 di magio 1430 Gº XII d’ariento. Portai a llui chontanti alla squola. L. 3 S. 6 D.______ fol. 61v Richordanza che insino a dì 15 di magio 1431 ne mandai di nuovo a llegiere Stefano, Marabottino e Rinieri alla schuola di Ser Nicholò da Pratovechio, che sta nel Chiassolino del Manghano d’Uorzanmichele. A dì 18 di magio 1432 ne levai e detti fanciulli dalla dectta schuola e riposi gli all’abacho di Mariano, chom’ apare in questo inanzi a c. 63, e diedi al dectto Ser Nicholò per suo paghamento grossi XV d’ariento d’achordo. fol. 63v Richordança questo dì 15 di magio 1432 ch’io ne mandai all’abacho di Maestro Mariano del Maestro Michele Stefano, Marabottino e Rinieri perché insegnasse loro l’abacho. Di poi di magio 1433 ne menai in villa e detti fancullii e no’ gli rimandai più all’abacho perché gli posi i’ botteghe. Ànne auto a dì 15 di febraio 1433 Gº XIIIº d’ariento. Portai chontanti a Mariano. L. 3 S. 17 D.______ ASF CS IV.363 [Ricordanze di Lorenzo di Messer Palla Strozzi e Orsino Lanfredini: 1423] fol. XXIIIIº recto [4 febbraio 1423] Lorenzo di Messer Palla e Orsino Landredini e compagni deono dare [. . .] a dì 4 di febraio Fl. nove d’oro. Dieron per me a Dionigi di Messer Feo maestro de’ fanciulli per dare a Monna Maria gliula fu di Notri di Palla. _____Fl. VIIIIº S._____ fol. XXVI recto [9 marzo 1423] Lorenzo di Misser Palla e Orsino Lanfredini e compagni [. . .] dì 9 detto L. venti piccioli. Dieron per me a Ser Nicholò di Choluccio da San Vettorio della Marcha maestro de’ fanciugli per dare al Maestro
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Alberto da Chamerino per Sano d’Angniolo malischalcho per resto d’uno chavallo compero da llui. ______Fl. IIIIº S. XXVIII D. IIIIº ASF CS II.10 [Ricordanze di Cambio di Tano Petrucci: 1423] fol. 81v Ser Bartolomeo di Ser Ghuido da Pratovechio tiene ischuola in Orzamichele. Ebe da me questo dì 6 di magio [1423] pel salario. Gli do per Giovanni grosi quatordici per me d’Antonio di Tano e chonpagni. Portò Giovanni di Chanbio. ASF CS IV.343 [Ricordanze di Palla di Nofri Strozzi: 1423–24] fol. 173r Dionigi di Messer Feo dal Montte a San Sovino de’ avere a dì 31 di magio 1423 lire dicienove S. XVI per lui dal Maestro Alberto da Chamerino e per lui da Lorenzzo di Meser Palla proprio. fol. 172v Dionigi di Messer Feo dirimpetto de’ dare L. 19 S. 16. Ebe contanti [. . .] L. 19 S. 16 fol. 199v [1424] Ser Dionigi di Messer Feo da Chastiglione Aretino fa maestro de’ gliuoli di Messer Palla. De’ dare Fl. sei d’oro nuovi levamo da [. . .] + è mortto a Prato. fol. 240v Inventario di maserizie abiano di Dionigi, e questo dì 31 d’aghosto 1423 l’abiamo chonsegniate a Nanni di Ser Ghuido dal Monte a San Sovino zio del detto Dionigi: [. . .] III libri grandi chon chopertta d’assi; IIIIº libretti picholi in 1º leghato; IIº leghati di scriture; Iª chanterella chon iscriture [. . .]
636
appendix five ASF CRSGF 79.119 [Ricordanze di Ilarione di Lippaccio de’ Bardi: 1426–27]
fol. 94v E dì XXI [febraio 1426 . . .] per 1º donadello comperai. _____Fl. 1 fol. 97v E dì detto [20 febraio 1426] Fl. uno [. . .] per uno donnadello conperai per Lorenzo mio gliolo. ____Fl. 1 fol. 101r E dì 12 [marzo 1427] [. . .] L. 4 S. 8 [. . .] Ebe Ser Batista di Nurcia da Lorenzo mio gliolo. fol. 110v E dì X detto [novembre 1427] Fl. uno S. XXVII D. III [. . .] a Ser Batista ch’isegna a Lorenzo. Fl. 1 S. 27 D. 3 fol. 111v E dì X [novembre 1427] Fl. uno S. 27 D. 3 [. . .] a Ser Batista maestro di Lorenzo mio glolo. fol. 109r E dì 22 [novembre 1427] Fl. tre S. VI [. . .] per dare al Maestro Bartolomeo quando ebe male Lorenzo. fol. 115r E dì detto [22 novembre 1427] Fl. tre S. VI [. . .] quando ebe male Lorenzo per darli a Maestro Bartolomeo medicho. fol. 115r E dì detto [22 novembre 1427] Fl. tre S. tre [. . .] per dare a Maestro Bartolomeo che medichò il fanciulo [. . .]
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ASF CRSGF 132.484 [Memorie di Messer Giuliano di Nofri Benini, Comandatore di Santo Iacopo: 1429–30] fol. 102v [1429] Ricordo che insino più dì fa prestai a Ser Lorenzo di Ser [sic] da Cesi che insegna a’ gliuoli di Domenicho Allegri l’infrascripti libri di gramaticha. Ònne una scripta di sua mano. Debameli rendere a ogni mia richiesta. In prima: Una arte vechia e nuova di Tulio di lettera anticha in pergameno con coverte d’assi. Manchale uno colore retoricho nel ne. Uno Doctrinale di lettera bastarda in pergameno quasi nuovo con choverte d’assi et chuoio biancho con bulete con l’arte de’ versi et cetera de’ preceti. Una Bucholicha et Gorgicha di Vergilio in uno volume lungho di lettera anticha in pergameno et assi con meza coverte. Uno scripto grande sopra il primo libro de l’arte nuova di Tulio in pergameno in fogli reali, quaderni VIII in tutto. Item lo scripto sopra libri VIII di Luchano di fogli banbagini reali e buona lettera leghati in coverta di pechora. Item lo scripto di Boetio in banbagia con coverta di pechora. Item lo scripto di Grat(iano) Iddio sopra Porrio et predichamenti et chose d’Aristotile in loicha in bambagia. Item lo scripto d’Ovidio maggiore in pergameno in quaderni III. Rendè Doctrinale et lo scripto de l’arte nuova et di Boetio et di Grat(iano) di dio et d’Ovidio magiore a dì [sic] di novembre 1429. A dì XXI di febraio 1429 il sopradetto Ser Lorenzo rechò tre libri. Gli restavano i quali sono lanciati di sopra con uno O, coè un’arte vechia di Tulio coverta d’asse, una Bucholicha e Giorgicha di Vergilio, lo scritto di Luchano in fogli bambagini. Reposili con altri suo’ libri di Messer Giuliano e IIº de’ detti gli ò a mandare a Roma. ASF CS V.1747 [Ricordanze di Bartolomeo e Francesco di Tommaso di Federigo Sassetti: 1429–32] fol. 42 destra Monna Betta donna fu di Tomaxo Sassetti nostra attrice de’ avere [. . .] a dì 7 d’aprile 1429 L. tre S. XI D. 6 piccioli, i quali [. . .] a
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Francesco di Tommaso Sassetti14 per conperare uno paio di reghole maggiori per lui da leggere [. . .] ______S. 25 D. 1 fol. 48 sinistra [. . .] Deono dare a dì 7 d’aprile 1429 Gº tredici, i quali ebbe Francesco di Tommaso per chonperare uno paio di reghole maggiori per lui dal suo maestro. Paghò Monna Betta [. . .] _______S. 25 D. 1 fol. 61 destra Monna Betta donna fu di Tommaso Sassetti de’ avere [. . .] a dì VIIIº di novembre 1429 Gº dodici, i quali diè a Ser Francesco prete, maestro di Francesco. Portòglele Francesco nostro [. . .] _____S. 23 D. 1 fol. 64 sinistra Spese si faranno di libri e al maestro per Francesco nostro. Deono dare a dì VII di novenbre 1429 L. tre S. VI piccioli, i quali si dierono a Ser Francesco prete suo maestro. Portòglele Francesco detto. Paghò Mona Beta [. . .] ______S. 23 D. 1 fol. 78 sinistra [1430] Spese [. . .] deono dare S. XXIII D. 1 [. . .] i quali si dierono più tempo fa al maestro di Francesco nostro [. . .] _______S. 23 D. 1 fol. 95 sinistra [aprile 1431] A dì XXIII detto Gº quindici ebe Nanni del Maestro Lucha dell’Abbacho quando vi ponemo Francesco. Paghò Bartolomeo [. . .] Fl. 1_____D. 4 fol. 98 destra Bartolomeo di Tommaso Sassetti [. . .] de’ avere Gº quindici. Ebe
14
Aged 9: fol. 1r.
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Giovanni del Mestro Lucha dell’Abacho a dì 23 d’aprile 1431, ché detto dì puosi Francesco nostro all’abacho. ______Fl. 1 S______D. 4 fol. 136 sinistra Monna Tita donna fu d’Amerigho de’ Medici de’ dare a dì 10 di febraio 1432 Fl. uno. Paghamo per lei a Nanni del Maestro Lucha dell’Abacho contantti in oro pel salaro di Marco d’Antonio d’Amerigho. Paghò Bartolomeo di Tommaso [. . .] ______Fl. 1 S. 2 ASF MSS 85 [Ricordanze di Dietisaslvi di Nerone di Nigi Dietisalvi Neroni: 1431–39] fol. 99v Richordanza a chome insino a dì XX di maggio 1431 prestai a Giovanni mio fratello uno volume di rechole maggiori et con altre opere da imparare gramaticha di pregio di Fl. [sic]. E più a dì XXIII di genio [sic] 1432 prestai al sopradetto Giovanni uno Virgilio anticho con alcuna chiosa con tutte le sue opere di pregio di Fl. [sic]. E più ebbe uno libro in volgare di charta di pechora in sul quale si tratta la natura di molte cose et paesi di stima di Fl. [sic]. E più ebbe uno Dottrinale non chiosato con asse choperte di chuoio biancho di stima di Fl. [sic]. E più ebbe uno paio di rechole maggiori di stima di Fl. [sic]. Riebbilo. E più ebbe uno volume d’opere di Tulio De ofciis, De amicitia et molte altre di stima di Fl. [sic]. E più ebbe uno Terenzio bello con choverte di cuoio rosso stampato. fol. 100r MCCCCºXXXIII Richordo farò qui a piè partitamente di tutti i volumi di libri mi truovo oggi questo dì XXIIIIº di novembre [. . .] 1º Prisciano maggiore con ghoverte d’asse; 1º Prisciano minore con asse; [. . .] 1º paio di reghole da gramaticha minori; [. . .] 1º libricciuolo da principii di gramaticha con ghoverta rossa; 1º libricciuolo da principii di gramaticha cioè uno scritto di Prisciano con ghoverta biancha; [. . .]
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fol. 100v 1º paio di reghole maggiori con altre opere da gramaticha; [. . .] 1º Dottrinale con asse ghoverto di cuoio biancho [. . .] ASF CS IV.350 [Libro di debitori e creditori d’Agnolo di Messer Palla Strozzi: 1436] fol. 11r [1436] Ser Ugholino di Ser Giovanni di Cole [. . .] a dì XXIIIIº d’ottobre [1436 …] per un donato comprai da lui [. . .] L. II S. X D.______ ASF Comp.RSPL 1026.201 [Ricordanze di Giovanni di Niccolò Manzuoli, procuratore per Mona Veniziana donna fu di Bertino Turadini: 1439–41] fol. 13 sinistra E a dì detto [23 febraio 1439] S. 3 D. 4 per charte feci radere perché Benedetto fe’ fare 1º saltero. [. . .] S. III D. IIIIº fol. 24 sinistra E deono dare a dì 12 di maggio [1440] L. 1ª S. 2. Ebbe Mona Veniziana per dare al maestro per insengnare leggiere a Francesco. ______L. 1 S. II fol. 31 destra A dì 15 detto [aprile 1441] S. 22 a Maestro Andrea, maestro di Francesco _____L. 1ª S. II. ASF CS II.16 [Ricordanze di Francesco di Tommaso Giovanni: 1439–40] fol. 18r Ricordo che a dì [sic] di giugno 1439 Mariotto di Piero di Casentino s’aconciò meco per ragaço per venire in montagna et stare in casa. Debbo calçarlo et vestirlo et fargli insegnare legiere et scrivere. Partìssi di mia voluntà a dì 18 d’agosto 1440 et andònne in Casentino col padre [. . .]
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fol. 18v Ricordo che a dì 20 di giugno 1439 Ser Biagio di Domenicho da San Gimignano venne a stare con noi per ripetitore per insegnare a miei fanciulli. Ancora debbe venire meco in montagna in luogo di notaio et per questo debbo usarli qualche discretione, come parrà a Ser Matteo da San Ghuentino, per chui meço se aconciò meco. Stette meco in montagna tucto l’ucio, poi alla tornata si partì. Dona’ gli 1º mio mantello, capo usato; ragionolo L. . . . [sic] ASF AGPA 325 [Ricordanze di Gherardo di Bartolomeo Gherardi: 1440] fol. LXXXXºIº destra [1440] Piero de’ Pechori e compagni per lo libro debitori [. . .] deono avere S. XLVI. Paghoro a Agnolo d’Antonio Tucci chartolaio per II salteri per miei fanciulli. [. . .] S. XVI_____ fol. LXXXXºIIIIº sinistra [1º luglio 1440] Gherardo di Bartolomeo Gherardi [. . .] de’ dare S. XLVI piccioli. Paghò Piero de’ Pechori e compagni [. . .] a Agnolo d’Antonio chartolaio per II salteri per miei fanciulli. ___S. XVI fol. CCL destra [. . .] S. 46 piccioli per II salteri per miei fanciulli. ______S. 16 ASF CS II.15 [Libro di dare e avere e ricordi di Cambio di Tano Petrucci: 1441] fol. 101r [25 agosto 1441] Ricchordo chome ogi questo dì dicotto di sopra Benedetto di Giovanni da Lamole vene a stare in chasa cho’ noi in questo modo, cioè che noi lo dobiamo mandare a legiere e fa’ gli insegniare e Giovanni suo padre ci promete a darci ogni ano quelo che si viene de le spese e de l’altre chose l’ano.
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appendix five ASF CS II.17 [Ricordanze di Cambio di Cambio di Tano Petrucci: 1447]
fol. 18v Ànne dato a dì [sic] di gienaio 1446 Fl. undici e mezzo, e qua’ danari sono per uno libro si vende chiamasi Valerio. Vendèlo Piero chartolaio dirinpeto a ppalagio del podestà e lui lo vendè Fl. 12 a uno maestro di Giovani Benci. Òne una iscrita di mano di Frate Aghostino, ch’è chontento gli venda; 1/2 Fl. vole ghuadagniare. Fl. XI S. X a oro ASF Comp. RSGF 1385.5 [Ricordanze di Giuliano d’Antonio di Ser Andrea Bartoli: 1451–54] fol. 8r [1451] Richordo chome io Giuliano d’Antonio Bartoli prestai uno libero a Iacopo di Salvestro di Lionardo di Puccio, il quale libero ve n’è suso donadello, reghole maggiore e reghole minore, e quando me lo renderà lo chancelerò [. . .] E più ebbe due chuadernucci di charta pechora iscritti di gramaticha. fol. 33r [1454] Richordo chome a dì 23 d’aghosto io Giuliano d’Antonio Bartoli vende’ a Iachopo di Salvestro Pucci u’ libero di gramaticha per pregio di orini due di sugello. ____Fl. 2 di suggello ASF CS III.138 [Ricordi di arco di Matteo di Giovanni di Marco Strozzi: 1454–77]
fol. 46v–47r [. . .] Dominus Thommas Laurentii Domini Thomme de Soderinis, motus pietate, Dadam Spadini Geri de Spadinis, parentibus orbatam, afnitate sibi coniunctam, cum Antonio fratre carnali in pupillari etate, ad se recepit, illamque educavit una cum liabus suis sub gubernatione Domine Dianore de Tornabuonis uxoris sue [. . .] Et quando deo placuit,
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Dadam ipsam coniugio iunxit Matteo Iohannis Marci de Strozis circa annum 1452. Et post Iohannem et Franciscum lios premortuos, generaverunt me Marcum natum die XXX iulii 1454, dicto domino Thomma patre existente una ex quattuor vicibus vexillifero iustitie populi Florentini, et semper curam habuit dicte Dade et quinque liorum suorum. Quorum ego primus circa septimum annum patre orbati fuimus de anno 1461, et remansimus sub dicta protectione D. Thomme et liorum generosi patris [. . .] et sub gubernatione matris nostre Domine Dade, per quinquaginta quinque annos in viduitate permanentis. Et circa XIIII annum, post inrmitatem extraordinariam vix a meis, optinui ut religiosus efcerer, et sic acce[s]si ad scolam fundatam et ordinatam pro servitio cathedralis ecclesie Florentine pro eruditione triginta trium puerorum clericorum cum salario triginta sex librarum quolibet anno, in qua servivi sub duobus magistris per septem annos (erectio [sic] magistri gramatice et cantus in cathedrali ecclesia Florentina per Eugenium 4 Venetum ponticem maximum [. . .]) Et cum anno 1474 disponerem accedere ad renovatum Studium Pisanum in die assumptionis Beate Marie Virginis, patroni parrochialis eccelesie S. Miniatis inter turres de Florentia presentaverunt ad eam coram vicario R. Archiepiscopi Florentini me Marchum consanguinem eorum, et post litigium coram ordinario tandem dispensatus ad curatum in XXI etatis anno obtinui possessionem pacicam et ordinatis rebus meis et ordinatus ad subdiaconatum et diaconatus ordinem, et dispensatus per septennium ratione studii, studium Pisanum petii. In quo inveni dictum D. Franciscum Domini Tomasi de Sodernis, qui anno precedenti studuerat in civitate Pisarum et prius in Studio Bononiensi, a quo dicesserat, urgente obedientia dominorum. Cum quo conversatus fui ut afnis et servitor, et paulo post, mutata sententia, decretum fuit a patre et L[aurentio de Medicis] et aliis suis, ut ad servitium dei in ecclesia sua militaret. Et anno 1477 circa septuagesinam cum ipso Florentiam accessi, et in die cinerum pro quibusdam negociis remisit me Pisas, precipue ut alias vices suas in legendo persolveret, quibus peractis redii Florentiam [. . .]
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ASF Comp. RSPL 1024.196 [Ricordanze di e carte sciolte spettanti a Piero d’Antonio Manzuoli, Niccolò di Giovanni Manzuoli, Giovanni di Niccolò Manzuoli e Monna Ovetta Bonsi, moglie di Giovanni di Niccolò Manzuoli: 1452–69?] NN [1452] Qui apresso farò richordo di tutti e denari che Benedetto à spesi per Giovanni di Taddeo d’Angnolo [. . .] E a dì 13 d’ottobre S. cinque D. VI chontanti. Disse per dare al maestro pel vanto [. . .] E a dì detto [17 ottobre] L. quattro al Chalandro maestro dell’abacho [. . .] E a dì 9 detto [dicembre] S. cinque D. VI pel vanto [. . .] E a dì 29 detto [dicembre] S. cinque D. VI per dare a Chalandro [. . .] [Portata al Catasto del (1469?)] [S. M. Novella Unicorno] Bocche: Giovanni [di Nicholò Manzuoli] [. . .] d’anni 65 amalato. Monna Oretta mia donna d’età d’anni 38. Ughulino mio gluolo ligittino d’anni 10 Stanno a leggiere. Lucha mio ghuolo ligittimo d’anni 6 Ginevra mia gluola ligittima d’anni 3 sanza dota. Benedetto mio gluolo ligittino di mmesi 4. Mea mia nipote gluola di mio gluolo ligittima sanza dota e sanza padre e sanza madre d’età d’anni 18.
}
ASF CS II.9 [Ricordanze di Luca di Matteo Da Panzano: 1454–55]15 fol. 162v Richordo che, questo dì 6 di marzo 1453 [ab inc.] col nome di dio et dovere, io Lucha da Panzano per mezzo de la Ghostanza mia gluola16
15
Previously published in part by Carnesecchi (1889), pp. 160–61. His eldest surviving daughter, born 6 December 1428: fol. 28v. His wife had died on 5 November 1445: fol. 122r. 16
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metto nel munistero di Santo Baldasarre di piano di San Salvi solo per alimentarlle perché ànno le dote et vo’ le maritare, coè La Mattea et Alessandra mie gluole e debbono avere per ciaschuni anni che vi staranno Fl. XX, coè Fl. X per una ongn’anno che sonno (in anni 4 Fl. 40 e più), perché lle dette fanciulle ànno 2 maestre che l’ànno a insegnare. Siamo d’achordo dare ongn’ano a dette due maestre Fl. 2, cioè uno Fl. per uno l’anno. E debono avere solo da noi 2 lenzuole per gli letti loro [. . .] Arebbono avere dette monache, standovi ferme dette mie due fanciulle, in anni quatro cominciati a dì 6 di marzo 1453 e niti a dì 6 di marzo 1457 Fl. ottanta per gli alimenti del vivere come di sopra, e Fl. due per anno le maestre come in IIIIº anni le maestre l’asengnano Fl. otto. In tutto [. . .] Fl. LXXXVIII Istetero in deto munistero tute a due messi undici e poi ne le chavamo [. . .]
}
ASF CS IV.58 [Ricordanze di Marco di Benedetto di Marcho Strozzi: 1454] fol. 1r Ricordo chome questo dì 13 [sic] 1454 Bernardo di Benedecto degli Strozzi minciò andare all’abacho di Chalandro. fol. 2r Bernardo di Benedetto degli Strozzi de’ dare a dì VIII di magio 1454 S. cinque. Sono per una tavola d’abacho e per 1º penaiuolo e 1º chalamaio. L._____S. 13_____D. E de’ dare a dì 29 di luglio 1454 Fl. uno largo a llui conttanti per dare a Chalandro suo maestro d’abacho per suo salario d’insenia’ gli l’abacho. L. 5 S._____D.
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appendix five ASF CS V.1750 [Ricordi di Bartolomeo di Tommaso di Federigo Sassetti: 1455–69]
fol. III verso Mª Betta donna di Francesco di Bartolo da Castellofranco, balia di Priore mio gluolo de’ dare [. . .] a dì 10 di marzo 1455 S. III. Ebe Matteo suo gluolo per dare al maestro che gl’insengna leggiere. _____L._____S. 3 fol. CLXXXXºIIIIº verso Ricordo come a dì 6 di dicenbre 1462 venne a stare con noi in casa Iacopo di Francesco da Soci di Casentino per insegnare a Priore e Gentile miei gluoli, coè per insegnare loro legere et scrivere. A dì 2 di luglo 1463 si partì, ché li diedi licenza. fol. CXXºVIº verso Monna Caterina donna di Nencino del Baldassa di Polverosa balia della Marietta nostra gluola de’ dare a dì 5 d’ottobre [1468] L. 6. Ebbe Nencino suo marito in Firenze. Portòglile Alberto maestro de’ suoi fanciulli. In Fl. 1 largo S. 6 _______L. 6______ E a dì______ [agosto 1469] detto Fl. uno largo. Le portò il maestro in oro. L. 5.14 _____ ASF CS V.15 [Ricordanze di Alessandra Macinghi, vedova di Matteo di Simone Strozzi: 1455] fol. XXVII recto Filippo di Matteo Strozi, è mio glio [. . .] de’ avere a dì 20 di giungno 1455 per valuta di Fl. 5 di camera fatti buoni per me a Matteo mio gluo. Lo disse per dare al maestro quando studiava. _____Fl. 6_____
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ASF CS 90.134 [Ricordi di Francesco di Matteo Castellani: 1459–62]17 fol. 10r Prestai ad Andrea di Bochacino Alamanni a dì 18 di settembre [1459] le mie pistole familiari di Tullio i’ volume grande di chapretti lettera antica formata miniato tutto d’oro coll’arme mia nella prima facia e coperto di coio rosso stampato e messe d’oro le carte per tutto d’atorno. Di pregio di Fl. 25 larghi; portòlle el cherico sta in chasa con loro. Riebbi soprascripte pistole a dì a dì 23 [sic] d’ottobre 1460. Recò Giovam Picino mio famiglo. fol. 17r Prestai a Ser Clemente maestro in chasa di Matteo del capitano de’ fanti a dì detto [3 dicembre 1459] el mio Giustino e Svetonio in uno volume in charta membrana coperto d’assi. Portò e’ detto e Matheo con lui. E a dì 4 di decto prestai a Matteo detto un paio di regolette di Quirino Veronese in carta pecorina coperte di carta grossa pecorina, volume di 1/4 foglo lettera antica corsiva. Portò Gianozo al capitano a palazo. Rimandòmi Ser Clemente el sopradecto Iuxtino a dì 2 di magio 1460. Rechò Matheo del capitano de’ fanti. fol. 19v A Luigi di Iacopo de’ Pulci, habita nella via de’ Bardi, prestai a dì 2 di genaio [1460] el mio Virgilio in volume anticho in charta di chapretti scripto di lettera moderna, Bucholicha, Georgica et l’Eneide con uno quinterno novo spichato dinanzi in parte scripto della vita di Virgilio e coperto di coio rosso novo stampato, el quale libro mi chiese per andare a udire da Messer Bartolomeo da Colle. Torna in casa di Pierfrancesco de’ Medici e debbemelo restituire salvo. E a dì 21 di maggio 1460 prestai a llui decto el mio Dottrinale volume di 1/4 foglo in pipiro coperto di coio bianco vechio. Chiesemelo per studiare l’arte metrica. Riebbi el Virgilio sopradecto che n’aveva cavato e quinterno della vita di Virgilio, siché gli resta questo e ‘l Doctrinale a dì 21 di dicembre 1462.
17
here.
Now published in Castellani (1995); a few minor variant readings are given
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fol. 42r A Chalandro maestro d’albacho a dì 13 di decto [novembre 1460] Fl. uno largo per Nicholò mio. Gli mandai alla scola decto dì. _____L. 5 S. 8 D. fol. 42v Mandai in nome di dio a dì 13 di novembre [1460] Nicholò mio figlolo naturale alla scola d’albacho di Calandro in Calimala dal chiassolino dretro a Mercato Novo. E manda’ li Fl. uno largo. Portò Luigi Pulci. E racomandò decto fanciullo, ché gl’è amicissimo decto maestro. Fl. 1 largo E a dì 15 di dicembre per ‘l vanto della Pascua Gº 1. Fl. L. S. 5 D. 6 E a dì [sic] di marzo 1461 Gº 1 gli diè la Lena. Fl. L. S. 5 D. 6 E a dì 31 d’ottobre Gº 1. Gli diè ella decta per la mancia d’Ognisanti. Fl. L. S. 5 D. 6 E a dì 22 di dicembre Gº 1 per dare a Bancho maestro d’albacho fra lungharno. Fl. L. S. 5 D. 6 E a dì 13 d’aprile 1462 per ‘l vanto della Pascua. Fl. L. S. 5 D. 6 ASF CS IV.67 1459–75 [Libro di entrata e uscita di Niccolò di Carlo di Marcho Strozzi e fratelli: 1459–60] fol. 18r [13 dicembre 1459] A Marcho Strozzi S. V D. VI piccioli. Portò e’ detto. Disse per dare il vanto a Chalandro [. . .] A Pagholo Strozzi S. V D. VI. Portò e’ decto per dare il vanto a Chalandro [. . .] fol. 18v [5 gennaio 1460] A Niccolò di Charlo Strozzi soldi XI e per lui a Zanobi cartolaio. Portò contanti. Disse per leghatura d’una loichetta di Maestro Paulo [. . .]
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fol. 19r [1º febbraio 1460] A Marcho di Charlo Strozzi S. V D. VI. Portò contanti per dare il vanto a Chalandro [. . .] A Pagholo Strozzi S. V D. VI. Portò contanti per dare il vanto a Chalandro. fol. 19v [17 aprile 1460] A Marcho Strozzi S. V D. VI. Portò contanti. Disse per dare il vanto a Chalandro [. . .] A Paolo Strozzi S. V. D. VI. Portò contanti. Disse per dare il vanto a Chalandro [. . .] fol. 58v Marcho di Charlo Strozzi [. . .] a dì XIIII di dicembre [1459] S. V. D. VI. Portò e’ detto in un grosso di mento. Disse per dare il vanto a Chalandro [. . .] E a dì pº di febraio [1460] S. V D. VI. Portò e’ detto. Disse per dare il vanto a Chalandro [. . .] E a di XVII d’aprile 1460 S. V D. VI. Portò contanti. Disse per dare il vanto a Chalandro [. . .] Pagholo di Charlo Strozzi [. . .] a dì XIII di dicembre [1459] S. V D. VI. Portò e detto in grossi uno d’ariento. Disse per dare il vanto a Chalandro [. . .] E a dì pº di febraio [1460] S. V D. VI. Portò contanti. Disse per dare il vanto a Chalandro [. . .] E a dì XVII d’aprile 1460 S. V D. VI. Portò contanti. Disse per dare il vanto a Chalandro [. . .] ASF AC 313 [Ricordanze di Bindaccio di Michele de’ Cerchi: 1461] [Foglio di guardia] Questo libro è di Bindacco di Michele di Chonsilglio di Michele di Bindaccio di Messer Chonsilgho di Cerchio de’ Cerchi, e fu del chonto della redità di Michele mio padre, quando fu ne pupillo, tenuto per Tomaso de Rosso da Volongnano, e di poi per Bartolomeo di Miniato Lapini, fu gà orafo, sta in Via Santa Maria. Tutti a due furono mia
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attori di detta eredità, e Tomaso de Rosso detto ne fu rimosso perché non governava chon protto della eredità, e oggi questo dì XI di febraio è morto 1474. Iddio gli abbia ditto perdonato [. . .] Michele di Consiglio mio padre naque nel MCCCCºXXIº. Bindacco di Michele lgluolo di questo di sopra naque nel MCCCCºLª 1/218 a dì XXIIIIº d’ottobre. fol. 2r [Rede di Michele] deono dare a dì 10 di luglio 1461 L. tre S. X piccioli [. . .] Si dettono al maestro [. . .] Dette al popillo: in tuto L. 3 S. 10 [. . .] ____L. 3 S. 10 fol. 3r [Tomaso di Rosso (…) de’ avere] a dì 3 di luglio [sic pro 10 luglio] [. . .] L. tre S. X piccioli per dare al maestro che ‘segnia al popillo l’abaccho e altro cose intorno a ciò [. . .] ______L. 3 S. 10 ASF DPPP 50 [Ricordanze degli eredi di Francesco di Tommaso di Iacopo Pecori: 1462–73] fol. 4 destra [Inventorio del patrimonio di Francesco Pecori, 18 dicembre 1462] 1º libro carta banbagina coverta di pechora di pistole d’Ovidio fol. 85 sinistra [12 luglio 1465. Inventario della vendita fatta dal Magistrato de’ Pupilli:] 2 libri da legiere, cioè 1º di pistole d’Ovidio, 1º è di richoltura fol. 90 destra [7 novembre 1465] Pagho a Ser Verdiano di Ser Cristofano, che insengna legiere a Tommaxo19 popillo. [. . .] L. 1 S. 1º
18 19
This seems to mean that he was born in the second half of 1450. Born 25 January 1456: fol. 2 sinistra.
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fol. 91 destra [7 novembre 1465] [. . .] soldi venti [. . .] dati a Ser Verdiano di Ser Cristofano, che insegna legiere a Tommaxo popillo e S. uno per le legna. [. . .] L. 1 S. 1 fol. 91 sinistra [29 novembre 1465] Pagho a Bartolomeo d’Antonio chartolaio per 1º salterio nuovo per Tommaxo popillo, [. . .] per dare il vanto al maestro gl’insegna. fol. 93 sinistra [29 novembre 1465] L. una S. XVIII [. . .] a Bartolomeo d’Antonio chartolaio per 1º salterio per Tomaxo popillo e S. 2 per dare il vanto al maestro gli ‘sengna. [. . .] L. 1 S. 18 fol. 98 sinistra [22 aprile 1466] A dì XXII d’aprile 1466 S. dieci [. . .] dati a Ser Verdiano, che ‘sengna a Tommaxo. _____S. 10____ fol. 99 sinistra [22 aprile 1466] [. . .] S. dieci [. . .] pagho a Ser Verdiano, che insengnia legiere a Tommaxo popillo. ______S. 10____ fol. 110 destra [15 gennaio 1467] [. . .] S. dieci [. . .] paghati a Ser Verdiano percheché [sic] insengnia legiere a Tommaxo e per llo vanto della candellaia [. . .] a venire. ______S. 10 fol. 111 sinistra [15 gennaio 1467] [. . .] S. dieci [. . .] pagho a Ser Verdiano, che insena a legiere a Tommaxo col vanto della cadellaia. _____S. 10
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fol. 110 sinistra [25 gennaio 1467] [. . .] S. nove D. IIIIº [. . .] per una tavola e farvi suso et versi e per due paia di iocholi. _____S. 9 D. 4 fol. 111 sinistra [25 gennaio 1467] [. . .] S. nove D. IIIIº [. . .] per 1ª tavola et per due paia di iocholi per Tommaxo et per Francieschino.20 fol. 112 destra [21 aprile 1467] [. . .] S. 10 per zuchero e chonfetto et fare scrivere versi alla tavola da legiere per Dino Francesco popillo [. . .] fol. 112 sinistra A dì VI detto [6 maggio 1467] S. dieci posto a spese [. . .] a Ser Verdiano, che insengna legiere a Tommaxo popillo. _____S. 10_____ fol. 113 sinistra A dì VI detto [6 maggio 1467] S. dieci posto Bartolomeo detto [di Miniato] [. . .] Paghò a Ser Verdiano, che insengnia legiere a Tommaxo. _________S. 10_______ fol. 113 destra A dì XXXI [agosto 1467] [. . .] per dare al maestro ch’esena [. . .] fol. 120 sinistra A dì XXXI detto [agosto 1467 . . .] S. dieci [. . .] a Ser Verdiano, che insegnna a Tommaxo per llo tepo passato. _____S. 10 fol. 119 destra E a dì detto [31 agosto 1467] S. dieci [. . .] paghati a Ser Verdiano,
20
Born July 1462: fol. 2 sinistra.
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insengnia a legiere a Tommaxo popillo per insino a ogi et di nuovo richominc[i]a. _______S. 10______ fol. 125 sinistra [16 dicembre 1467 . . .] per llo vanto del maestro di Tommaxo [. . .] fol. 126 destra [16 dicembre 1467 . . .] S. 2 a Tommaxo per llo vanto dice al maestro suo gli ‘segna. fol. 125 destra A dì XV di gienaio [1468 . . .] a’ fanculli per lla candela al maestro loro [. . .] fol. 126 destra A dì XV detto [gennaio 1468 . . .] a Tommaxo et Francesco popilli per dare al maestro per lla chandellaia [. . .] fol. 125 destra [12 febbraio 1468 …] S. dieci [. . .] pagho a Ser Verdiano, insengna legiere a Tommaxo popillo. ______S. 10 fol. 126 sinistra A dì XII di febraio 1467 [. . .] S. dieci [. . .] dati a Ser Verdiano, che insengna a Tommaxo popillo a legiere. _____S. 10_____ fol. 127 destra [5 marzo 1468] [. . .] S. 4 a Ser Verdiano, insegnia loro [. . .] fol. 127 destra [2 aprile 1468] [. . .] S. dieci [. . .] dati a Ser Verdiano, insegna a legiere a Tommaxo et a Francesco per llo mese di marzo et per le macie della Pasqua. _______S. 10______
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fol. 128 sinistra [2 aprile 1468] [. . .] S. dieci [. . .] a Ser Verdiano per llo salaro di marzo e per llo vanto della Pasqua. _______S. 10______ fol. 127 destra [4 maggio 1468] S. sei [. . .] dati a Ser Verdiano, insegnia a Tommaxo et a Dino Francesco [. . .] salaro d’aprile passato. ________S. 6 fol. 129 sinistra [4 maggio 1468] S. sei [. . .] a Ser Verdiano, isegna a legiere a’ popilli per salaro d’aprile passato. _____S. 6 fol. 129 destra [28 maggio 1468] [. . .] fogli per Tommaxo [. . .] fol. 131 destra [28 maggio 1468] [. . .] fogli per Tommaxo [. . .] fol. 129 destra [1º luglio 1468] [. . .] S. sei [. . .] a Ser Verdiano, insengna legiere a Tommaxo et Dino Francesco popilli. _____S. 6 fol. 131 destra [1º luglio 1468] [. . .] S sei [. . .] a Ser Verdiano, insegna a legiere a Tommaxo et a Francesco popilli. _____S. 6
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fol. 139 destra [20 febbraio 1469] [. . .] S. IIIIº dati a Tommaxo per dare al maestro gli ‘segna tutto per llui._____ fol. 140 sinistra [20 febbraio 1469] [. . .] S IIIIº a llui [Tommaso], dice a maestro gli ‘segna. fol. 139 destra [14 marzo 1469] [. . .] S. 4 portò Tommaxo [. . .] al maestro gli ‘segna [. . .] fol. 140 sinistra [14 marzo 1469] [. . .] per dare al maestro isegna [. . .] fol. 139 sinistra [26 marzo 1469] [. . .] per llo vanto al maestro di Franceschino [. . .] fol. 140 sinistra [26 marzo 1469] [. . .] per llo vanto di Franceschino [. . .] fol. 139 sinistra [28 aprile 1469] [. . .] S. 5 dati al maestro insengnia a Tommaxo et S. 8 al maestro che insengna a Francesco [. . .] fol. 140 sinistra [28 aprile 1469] [. . .] dati a’ maestri insegnano a’ popilli come si dicie [. . .] fol. 140 destra [11 luglio 1469] [. . .] S. sey [. . .] dati al maestro che ‘sengna legiere a Dino Francesco. [. . .] S. 6_____
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fol. 142 destra [11 luglio 1469] [. . .] S. sei [. . .] al maestro che insengna a Dino Francesco per insino a ogi, e ogi n’andò in villa, e Tommaxo popillo puosi a ‘nsengnare a detto maestro. ______S. 6 fol. 142 sinistra [10 ottobre 1469] [. . .] S. 6 dati a Ser Marcho, ch’aveva insengnato al detto Dino Francesco [. . .] fol. 147 destra [10 novembre 1469] [. . .] al maestro che ‘nsengnia a Francesco [. . .] fol. 151 destra [14 dicembre 1469] [. . .] S. 13 portò Tommaxo al maestro suo per vanto et salaro per tutto dicembre, e S. sei al maestro insegna a Francesco per tutto questo mese et per llo vanto della Pasqua. ____S. 19 fol. 152 destra [30 gennaio 1470] [. . .] S. cinque [. . .] dati a Tommaxo popilli [sic] per dare a Ser Marcho, gli ‘sengnia legiere. _____S. 5 fol. 152 destra [20 gennaio 1470] [. . .] S. sei [. . .] dati a Stefano chartolaio, che rileghò 1º saltero e fecie l’asse di nuovo di Francesco. _____S. 6 fol. 153 sinistra [20 gennaio 1470] [. . .] S. sei [. . .] pagho a Stefano chartolaio, rileghò 1º saltero. [. . .] S. 6_____
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fol. 152 destra [28 febbraio 1470] [. . .] S. dieci [. . .] che S. V al maestro isengnia a Tommaxo et S. V al maestro che insegna a Franceschino. ______S. 10_____ fol. 153 sinistra [28 febbraio 1470] [. . .] S. X [. . .] che S. V dati al maestro insegnia a Tommaxo e S. V al maestro insegna a Franceschino. ______S. 10_____ fol. 153 destra [27 aprile 1470] [. . .] S. cinque [. . .] dati a Francischino, ch’egli portò al maestro gl’isengnia [. . .] _______S. 5_____ fol. 156 sinistra [16 giugno 1470] [. . .] S. VI diè a Bernardo di Lorenzo chericho, che insengna legiere a Francesco cioè per magio et per giugno [. . .] fol. 156 sinistra [24 giugno 1470] [. . .] al maestro che insengna [. . .] fol. 157 destra [24 giugno 1470] S. 7 dati al maestro che insegna a Francesco per magio e per giugno [. . .] fol. 156 sinistra [14 agosto 1470] [. . .] S. dodici [. . .] dati a mMaxo, ch’egli portò al maestro gli ‘segna legiere. _______S. 12______
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fol. 157 destra [14 agosto 1470] [. . .] S. dodici [. . .] dati a Tommaxo popillo. Portò al maestro gli ‘sengna legiere per mesi passati. fol. 169 sinistra [28 gennaio 1471] [. . .] S. 40 al maestro de l’abacho e S. 3 per 1ª tavola, ché detto dì pusi Tommaxo a l’abacho. fol. 170 destra [28 gennaio 1471] [. . .] S. 40 dati al maestro dell’abacho, ché detto dì v’andò S. 3 per 1ª tavola da l’abacho, cioè puosi a l’abacho Tommaxo popillo. fol. 175 destra [29 ottobre 1471] [. . .] dati a Tomaxo. Disse per llo vanto al maestro de l’abacho [. . .] fol. 177 sinistra [29 ottobre 1471] [. . .] dati a Tommaxo Pechori per dare il vanto al maestro [. . .] fol. 179 destra [24 dicembre 1471] [. . .] a mMaxo popillo per dare il vanto al maestro de l’abacho [. . .] fol. 177 sinistra [8 gennaio 1472] [. . .] L. una S. XIII [. . .] dati al maestro dell’abacho che insengna a Tommaxo popillo. ______L. 1 S. 13 fol. 179 destra [8 gennaio 1472] [. . .] L. una S. XIII [. . .] dati al maestro dell’abacho che insengna a Tommaxo popillo. _____L. 1 S. 13
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_____S. 3 fol. 179 destra [30 gennaio 1472] [. . .] S. tre [. . .] dati a Tommaxo popillo. Portò al suo maestro de l’abacho per lla chandellaia. _________S. 3 fol. 180 destra [13 marzo 1472] [. . .] A Tommaxo popillo per dare il vanto al maestro de l’abacho [. . .] fol. 181 sinistra [13 marzo 1472] [. . .] a Tommaxo per llo vanto [. . .] fol. 181 sinistra [13 giugno 1472] [. . .] per 1ª tavola d’abacho et al maestro isegna a Dino [. . .] fol. 186 destra [13 giugno 1472] [. . .] S. 5 dati a Tommaxo per una tavola da abacho. S. 5 a Ser Matteo, che ‘nsengna a Dino Francesco [. . .] fol. 189 destra [19 dicembre 1472] [. . .] S. 5 per dare al maestro dell’abacho. fol. 191 destra [19 dicembre 1472] [. . .] S. 5 per dare il vanto al maestro dell’abacho gli ‘sengnia [. . .] fol. 189 destra [4 febbraio 1473] [. . .] A Ser Francesco per lla macia della chandellaia [. . .]
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fol. 191 destra [1º febbraio 1473] S. 5 a Ser Francesco, insegna a Dino per lla mancia della chandellaia. fol. 191 destra [10 febbraio 1473] S. dieci [. . .] a Ser Francesco che insengna a Dino Francesco legiere e vertù. ________S. 10 fol. 192 sinistra [10 febbraio 1473] [. . .] S. dieci [. . .] a Ser Francesco, che insengna legiere a Dino Francesco popillo. _____S. 10 ASF CRSPLAM SPM 166 [Ricordanze di Guglielmo Ceccherini: 1465] fol. 36v Ruberto di Messer Nofrio de’ dare dì detto [5 novembre 1465] per una tavola d’abacho e uno chalimaio S. VII. L._____S. 7 [. . .] E de’ dare a dì XX di novembre [1465] Fl. uno largo. Portò Ruberto chontanti. Disse per dare a Bancho maestro dell’abacho per suo salario. L. 5 S. 12 E de’ dare a dì XXVI di detto S. IIIIº per uno paio di librettine in charta di pechora. L._____S. 4 ASF CRSGF 98.324 [Ricordanze di Messer Virgilio di Andrea di Berto di Andrea di Berto Adriani, dottore di ragione civile da Firenze: 1464–79] fol. 2v [1464] Mº Iachopo di Filippo medicho vocato il Bisticcio ebbe in prestança più dì fa sino a questo dì 2 di março anno decto uno libro chiamato
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il quarto di Virgilio in volghare con chiose, e tucto storyato di gure perfecte con molte istorye e’ pistole in volghare, in charta di chapretto bello. Gliel’ò in prestança. [1464] Milgliore di Manetto di Masino notaio ebbe in prestança più dì fa una lectura di Bartolo sopra alla pryma parte del Rinforçato buona e bella per exemplo che lla faceva scrivere, ché disse gliene manchava, perché i quinterni d’una n’aveva che non era scryta. Riavuta decta lectura di Bartolo e però chancello. fol. 3v [1464] Messer Batista Panciatichi chanonicho di Sancta Maria del Fiore de’ dare, ché ebbe in prestança una lectura sopra la Instituta buona, di stima di Fl. 3 larghi. Disse la voleva, ché la leggeva l’Instituta in chasa a alchuni suoi parenti. Debemela rendere [. . .] più tempo fa. Riavuta decta lectura sopra la Instituta a dì 30 di lulglio 1465. fol. 8v [1465] Ser Piero di Charllo del Viva notaio de’ dare, ché ebe in prestanza una Instituta sança chiose, sança che non ll’aveva, e ne aveva ne’ parechi benché poche, per uno suo fratelo in Siena, che, disse, voleva incominciare istudiare questo dì 15 d’ottobre anno decto. Era buona Instituta cioè di buona lectera. Riavuta decta Instituta a dì 16 di novenbre 1469 e però chancello. fol. 10r [1465] Frati, chapitolo e convento di San Salvadore della Badia di Septimo dell’ordine di Cestello, maxime Don Aleso di Ubertino degli Strozi, deono dare, ché ebono in prestança uno Boetio in charte di chavretto con chiose in folgli meçani di chavretto di stima di Fl. 3 larghi choverto di cuoio biancho chon u’ serane imballetato con 5 bullette per assi driento, nella asse dinançi un tondo per meterevi uno spechio. Portò Andrea di Patino dall’Antella loro converso di loro licentia a dì 4 di febraio anno decto. Chiesemelo Don Simone Nicholini per loro. Riavuto a dì 23 di giugno 1467 e però chancello.
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fol. 11r [1466] Ser Francesco di Ser Piero di Betto da Filichaia notaio de’ dare a dì 22 di março, ché ebe in prestança una lectura di Bartolo sopra alla seconda parte del Rinforzato molto perfecta. Disse per fare fornire la sua a llo scriptore che lla voleva per esemplo, ché ne aveva a fare scrivere parechi quinterni. Riavuta decta lectura di Bartolo a dì 12 di settembre 1466. Però chancello. fol. 11r [1466] Piero del Maestrino de’ dare per insino a questo dì 2 di março, ché ebe in prestança una lectura di Bartolomeo da Navarra sopra a la Instituta di buona lectera per vedere la Instituta con decta lectura. Debamela rendere a ongni mia volontà. Riavuta a dì 15 d’ottobre 1466, però e’ decto [. . .] fol. 15r [1466] Ser Milgliore di Nicolecto Masini de’ dare, ché ebbe in prestança a dì 10 d’octobre anno decto una lectura di Bartolo sopra alla seconda parte del Rinforçato di stima di Fl. 9 per fare scrivere certi quinterni. Dice gli restono a fare scrivere una sua lectura per parechi dì. Riavuta decta lectura di Bartolo a dì 3 di março 1466 [ab inc.]. [1466] Messer Michele di Piero degli Strozi de’ dare a dì 18 d’ottobre anno decto, ché ebbe in prestança un Chodicho buono con chiose assai frescho. Disse per prestare a’ scholari che legge ragione civile. Àne dato che in luogo di quello ebbi uno volumetto, ché mai non pote’ riavere il Chodicho mio. fol. 16r [1466] Messer Andrecino della Porta da Novara, vichario dello arciveschovo di Firençe, de’ dare a dì 11 di novembre, ché decto dì ebbe in prestança uno paio di Decretali buoni con lle chiose, di stima di Fl. 6 larghi. Portò un suo famiglio che a llui disse le desse quando me le chiese. Ravuto e però chancello.
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fol. 22r Giovanni di Çanobi di Ser Piero de’ dare a dì 21 di novembre anno decto [1467], ché decto dì ebbe in prestança un libro in su che era Tulio De amicitia e De senectute e De paradossis. Disse l’achattava per uno de’ lgluoli di Maso di Pagholo righattiere. Rendè decto libro a dì 5 di marzo. fol. 23v [1467] Don Antonio di Lucha di Salvi monacho nero di San Benedecto a San Giovanni tra l’archora fuori della porta a Faença ebe a vedere per comprare un breviaario [sic] overo diurnio monasticho portabile in forma pichola di stima di Fl. 3 larghi per comprare a dì 12 di febraio anno decto. E de’ dare a dì 13 di decto, ché decto dì ebe a vedere uno altro breviario overo diurno monasticho portabile per comprare da me di stima di Fl. 6 larghi per torna’ di poi quello più gli piaceva di decti 2 breviari overo diurni. Rendè decti due diurni. Riavuto e’ decto a dì 5 di marzo l’uno e l’altro a dì 7 di decto e però chancello. fol. 25r [1468] Meser Antonio di Marcho di Bartolomeo de’ dare, ché ebbe in prestança a dì 12 d’aprile anno decto uno Chodicho di stima di Fl. 5 larghi. Disse, perché n’aveva bisongno per richopiare chiose d’uno altro chodico, aveva a richopiare che erono circha. Disse me lo renderebe per tutto dì 22 di decembre. Riavuto a dì 30 di marzo 1470 decto chodicho. fol. 26r [1468] Iachopo di Bartolomeo Lori chartolaio e chompangni chartolai deon dare, ché ebono a vedere a dì 21 di giugno anno decto due libri, cioè 1º diurno monasticho choperto di rosso di stima di Fl. 4 1/2 larghi, e uno breviario secondo la chorte chon una choverta di panno lino con 2 serani d’ariento di stima di Fl. 13 larghi. Portò Iachopo decto. Disse gli voleva mmonstrare a’ suoi amici per farme gli vendere. Legato decto breviario in assi e chovertato di quoio e di poi decta choverta di panno lino. Riavuto il breviario. Riavuto il diurno e però chancello.
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fol. 29v [1469] Ricordo chome oggi questo dì 24 di giugno anno decto io Virgilio d’Andrea di Berto doctore di ragione civile sopradecto ò tolto per familglio e che a me serva a ongni mio servigio e di mia familglia, in che isia, e dove bisongna, e per insengnare a miei fanciulli21 per uno anno a ragione di soldi trenta piccioli per ogni mese, Tomaso di Ser Churadino Parentucielli da Sarçana di Lunigiana, distrecto di Firençe. E per chiareça di ciò il decto Tomaso di Ser Churradino Parentucielli si soscriva qui da piè di sua propria mano. Monta il suo salario per insino a questo dì 13 d’ottobre 1469 lire cinque S. otto piccioli d’acordo con llui. _____L. 5 S. 8 Io Tomaxo di Ser Curadino son contento a quanti di sopra si contiene, e per chiareza di ziò mi son scripto mea propria mano, ano e mese e dì sopradecto. E de’ avere per insino a questo dì 13 d’ottobre 1469 L. cinquantasette piccioli, cioè L. 57. Richordo e’ decto conto, ché gli furon mandati da chasa sua dalla madre più dì fa. Ricordo glien’à il tedeschino, stava con Messer Lodovicho da Champofregoso da Sareçana. _____L. 57 S.______ Àne avuto a dì 9 d’aghosto anno decto S. sei. Portò e’ decto contanti per suoi bisongni. _____L.___S. 6 Àne avuto a dì 5 di setembre anno decto in due volte S. tredici contanti. Portò e’ decto. ____L._____S. 13 Àne avuto per insino a dì 13 d’ottobre 1469 in più volte L. cinquantasette piccioli per comprarssi panni per farsi un mantello nuovo nero per federe di ghonvellino e [. . .] per chalçe 2 paia, per 2 farsetti, 1º di chamoscio rosso e l’altro nero. E fàle in suoi bisongni dì per dì da dì d’agosto per insino a questo dì 13 d’ottobre 1469. _______L. 57 S._______ E più io Tomaxo sopradecto ho ricevuto ______L. 33 D. 4 contanti oltra al sopradecto _____L. 57 S. 19 d’acordo con decto Messer Virgilio.
21 Adriano, born 5 September 1462: see ASF CS II.21, fol. 7v; Marcello, the future humanist and chancellor, born 1 June 1464: fol. 8r; Andrea, born 22 March 1466: fol. 34r.
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fol. 30r Tomaso di Ser Curradino da Sarçana de’ avere per una sua ragione [. . .] Partìssi questo dì 4 di março 1469 la mattina per tempo. Àne avuto a dì 21 d’ottobre 1469 S. dieci contanti. ______L._____S. 10 Àne avuto a dì 27 d’ottobre S. sei D. 4 in 2 volte. Portò e’ decto contanti. _____L. S. 6 D. 4 Àne avuto a dì 31 dì d’ottobre S. due contanti. Portò e’ decto. ______L. S. 2 D._____ Àne avuto a dì 7 di novenbre anno decto S. quattro, e portò e’ decto contanti. ______L._____S. 4 D.______ Àne avuto a dì decto S. quatordici. Portò e’ decto contanti. Disse per fare uno paio di scharpette. ______L.______S. 14 D._______ Àne avuto a dì 10 di decenbre S. sette. Portò e’ decto contanti. Disse per fare raconciare il farsetto suo. L._____S. 7 D._____ Àne avuto a dì 15 di dicenbre S. trentadue. Porto e’ decto contanti per uno paio di chalçe, nesuna vechia. L. 1 S. 12 D.____ Àne avuto a dì 18 di decenbre S. tre contanti. _____L.____S. 3 D.______ Àne avuto a dì 23 di decenbre S. due D. 8 contanti. ______L._____S. 2 D. 8 Io Tomaxo hòne havuto a dì 20 del mese di febraio 20. _______L. 5 S. 14 D._____ Io Tomaxo sopradicto ebbe a dì 22 del dicto mese. ______L. 1 S. 6 D.______ Io Tomaxo sopradicto ho ricevuto per resto del mio salario per sine a questo dì 7, et prometto al decto Messer Virgilio rendere se avesse a ppagare [. . .] fol. 30v [1469] Frati, capitolo e convento della Observantia di San Francesco di San Miniato di Firençe di fuori della porta a San Miniato deon dare, ch’era dì 12 di março anno decto, ebono in prestançe un volume di libro in
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sul quale erano 3 opere di Tulio, cioè De amicitia, senectute e paradosse in charta di cavaretto. Portò Frate Archangelo d’Elusono di Lunigiana insieme con Frathe Rubino da Lucha per loro uso per 2 mesi. Riavuto a dì 26 d’aprile 1470, però chancello. fol. 36r [1473] Io Ser Piero de’ Cunti de Ianua ho ricevuto a dì XII d’agosto anno decto a soldi trenta per salario de uno mese da nire per dì XV d’agosto decto. Il decto Ser Piero di quanto stette mecho fu pagato della scriptura d’uno donadello per tutto agosto. fol. 37r [1475] Richordo chome questo dì primo d’aprile 1475 chol nome d’iddio a dì decto Bernardo di _____[sic] Gennai da Pesaro venne a stare mecho per maestro de’ miei fanciulli et per insengnare loro ad uso di buono maestro e, quando binsongnasse, per servire me e a mia familiglia per quello bisongnasse. Partìssi ché d’acordo fummo chosì per suo commodo a dì pº di novembre 1478, ché venne a stare mecho ani tre e mesi sette, e da me ebbe più vestini, più calçari e di secondo richiedeva, e più volte ebbe male in decto tempo. E alla mia spesa lo feci sempre curare. Andò a stare con Maestro Lodovicho del Monastero. Iddio gli dia buona ventura. fol. 40v [1478] Ricordo chome per insino a dì 26 d’aprile dopo disinare, per llo chaso in decti dì occhorso nella terra e il gran pericholo in che stette la terra, io Virgilio d’Andrea di Berto doctore sopradecto, essendo la Alexandra mia lgluola a chaso in Fulingno con suora Piera, lgluola fu di Bertino di Tommaso Stroçi e donna fu d’Alexandro d’Antonio del Vingname, congnata e çia della decta Alexandra mia lgluola, per torre via ongni dubio di schandalo da lei, e per più sicurtà di lei, la mandai nel munistero di San Giuliano apresso a Fulingno decto, e apresso a Sacto Antonio dietro in Firençe in serbança, per decto caso del no’ moreggiare la terra. E di poi veduto io non avere donna più né ella madre, la lasciai me la serbanssino et insengnassi’ lle tutto quello si apertiene di sapere alle fanciulle di chucire, talgliare, lare e leggere molto bene, et da achustumarlla molto bene, e dissono di volere, cioè
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la priora e Suora Giuliana, sì ppriora e ghovernatrice di decto munistero disson di volere, per victo di decta Alexandra e insengnatura di decte chose, lare, chucire, talgliare, leggere et achostmatura, l’anno Fl. quatordici, et io venni a Fl. tredici in tutto, siché di tutto ò voluto fare ricordo per lume del vero. Et in ciò tutti e suoi panni lani e lini e molte chose che s’à apartenente alla fanciulla et ma bene una brochotta per testa di valuta di Fl. venticinque larghi, cioè Fl. 25 larghi, e uno libriccino bello e buono con tutti gl’ufci, e un paio di lençuoli, uno lecto di 5 braccio 1/2 a 4 teli nuove. Ritornò a chasa a dì 26 di settembre anno decto, e prima era istata più dì, e che si vennevi a stare mese 4 e dì 17 d’acordo con loro, e riavemmo le chose nostre. Ànone avuto a dì 30 di maggio 1478 Fl. uno largo. Portò Mª Lucretia, ista mecho; portòllo al decto monastero. Disse l’à dato alla priora. Fl. 1 largo Ànone avuto a dì 24 di giugno 1478 Fl. uno largo. Portò Marcello mio gluolo.22 Dettelo alla priora. Fl. 1 largo Ànone avuto a dì 18 d’agosto anno decto Fl. uno largo. Portò Mª Lucretia, ista mecho, insieme con Andrea mio glolo. Dettelo alla dicta priora. Fl. 1 largo Àne avuto a dì 10 di decembre 1478 Fl. due larghi; benché tanto non avessino avere, pure fui contento. Portò Monna Lucretia. Dette contanti. Fl. 2 larghi Venne la Alesxandra detta la mattina di San Giovanni di buona hora a chasa, ché mandai per llei, ché fummo a dì 24 di giugno 1478, e stette mecho in chasa per insino a dì 6 di lulglio 1478, che vengono a essere dì 13, ché si partì la sera e andò là, siché abbi’ si avertentia indi fare questo difalcho di questi 13 dì. fol. 42r [1479] Ser Pulinario di Benedecto di Vicho da Monte Merrano, rectore di Sancta Margherita di Poggitaçio, ebbe in prestança la metà di Servio, cioè sopra la Bocholicha e Georgicha et tutto il sexto delle Heneidos e una parte di Virgilio sopra le Heneidos, per fuggire la moria a dì 25 di giugno
22
I.e. Marcello Virgilio Adriani, the future humanist and chancellor.
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1479, insieme con Bernardo di Iachopo Genaio da Pesaro, le quali tutte chose prometton ciaschun di loro rendere et restituire a me Virgilio doctore sopradecto e a miei lglioli, etiam non heredibus mies [sic]. Riavute. fol. 42r [1479] Ser Giovanni di Churrado notaio et cittadino orentino de’ dare insino a dì decto [25 giugno 1479], ché più tempo fa ebbe in prestança una lectura sopra la Instituta che si chiama Bartolomeo da Navarra per uno suo lgluolo. Riavuta. fol. 42r [1479] Lorenzo di _____[sic] da Brescia de’ dare, ché ebbe in prestança, più dì e tempo fa, un libro delle vite di Plutarcho in forma legato e chovertate di chuoio rosso tutto in folgli grandi, e più ebbe in prestança uno Forçerotto grande da soma più tempo fa. E il decto Lorenço ista con Guglielmo di Antonio di Messer Andrea de’ Pazzi. Riavute. ASF CRSGF 102.489 [Ricordanze di Calvano d’Attaviano di Messer Guccio de’ Nobili: 1467–69]
fol. 92 sinistra [1467] E a dì XXVI di novenbre S. XIII D. IIIIº dati a Ser Francesco, che ‘nsegna legere a tTaviano.23 Àgli insegnata la tavola insino a questo dì. ______L._____S. 13 D.______ [1468] E a dì 24 di marzo S. dieci dati a Ser Francesco, che ‘nsegna legere. Portò Attaviano. ______L._______S. 10 D.______
23
Born 28 September 1462: fol. 14 sinistra.
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fol. 101 destra E a dì detto [27 ottobre 1468] S. II dati a Ser Francesco per mancia. Portò Attaviano. L._____S. 2 D.______ fol. 103 destra E a dì 28 di febraio [1469] lira una dati a Ser Francesco, che ‘nsigna. L. 1 S._____ fol. 105 sinistra E a dì detto [27 settembre 1469] lira una dati a Ser Francesco, che ‘nsegna legere. ______L. 1 S._____ fol. 116 destra E a dì 23 detto [maggio 1470] lira una dati a Ser Francesco, che ‘nsegna legere. ______L. 1 S._____ fol. 139 sinistra a dì 23 di dicembre 1467 [. . .] Ser Francesco che ‘nsegna legere a tTaviano S. 2 per mancia. Fl._________L. ______S. 2 ______ Ser Francesco a dì 24 marzo [1468] S. X piccioli. Fl. _____L._____S. 10 D._____ ASF CRSGF 95.212 [Ricordanze di Bernardo di Stoldo Rinieri: 1469–80] fol. 164 sinistra MCCCCºLXVIIIIº Lunedì a dì IIIIº di dicembre Richordo chome questo dì mandai Francesco24 mio gliuolo alla squola a Ser Bartolo di . . . [sic] dell’Olio da Chastello prete, stava in chasa Averardo de l’Amanno Salviati, ché gl’insegnassi leggiere e schrivere.
24
Born 7 December 1463: fol. 159r.
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E comincò a ‘nsegnargli il donadello, ché in chasa avea inparato la tavola e il saltero dalla Bartolomea mie [sic] donna, e non fu chon lui patto alchuno. fol. CºLXVIII verso [1480] a dì 31 d’ottobre Richordo chome no a dì VI di giugno 1479 Francesco mio gliuolo andò a stare a Vernia e tornòsi cho’ Ser Bartolomeo Fonzio suo maestro di gramaticha, che quivi era fugito la moria, e io e tutta l’altra brighata ci rinanemo a Chastello, e quivi stemo fermamente tanto quanto si potè tornare a Firenze, e senpre sani, grazia di dio. ASF CRSGF 102.421 [Ricordanze di Ser Angelo del fu Giovanni Bandini: 1469] fol. 9r Ricordo come a dì 5 d’agosto 1469 rimasi con Ser Francesco, che insegnna a leggiere, che insegnasse a Bastiano mio gliolo e bastardo a legiere e scrivere in modo sappia leggiere le lettere e scrivere acciò posse tenere suo conto, e debbe avere d’achordo quando gli arà insegnato e ‘gli sappi e tra mancie e tutto: L. quattro piccioli_______L. 4 p. _______ Ànne avuto a dì . . . [sic] d’agosto L. una contanti. Portay io detto. Leva’ nelo detto mese perché non inparava nulla e non v’andò e però si cancella. ASF CRSGF 102.356 [Ricordanze di Giovanni di Niccolò di Domenico Buoninsegni: 1470–75] [4 settembre 1470] fol. 15 destra [. . .] a Bancho insegnia l’abacho. [. . .] Fl. 11 L._____ fol. 17 sinistra [. . .] Fl. due S. XII D. IIII a oro [. . .] da Bancho di Piero de l’abacho per Fl. 11 di monte [. . .] _____Fl. 2 L._____S. 12 D. 4
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fol. 62 destra [. . .] Antonio di Taddeo, che ‘segnia l’abbacho a fanciugli, setaiuolo di minuto a llato a Donatuzo banchiere in sul Chanto di Chalimala, de’ avere per inno a dì IIº di marzo 1474 L. una S. XVIIIº.25 ASF CRSGF 102.336 [Ricordanze degli eredi di Niccolò di Domenico di Lionardo Buoninsegni: 1471] fol. 35 sinistra [16 maggio 1471] A Bancho di Piero dell’Abacho Fl. uno largo [. . .] il quale si gli paghò per salario di Boninsegnia, perché gli insegniassi l’abacho a detto Boninsegnia. Fl. 1____L._____S. 19 D. 10 ASF CS V.1751 [Ricordanze di Bartolomeo di Tommaso Sassetti: 1472–79] fol. 18v Francesca gluola di Piero di Luigi d’Alinari e gluola della Cosa mia donna de’ dare [. . .] a dì 19 di febraio 1471 [ab inc.] S. X. Ebe Monna Cosa sua madre per dare alla maestra che le insegna leggere. _______ Fl._____S. 10 fol. 43v [1473] Copia delle partite diedi a Girolamo d’Adovardo Giachinotti di quanto ò auto a ffare per la Francesca gluola di Piero di Luigi d’Alinari e gluola della Cosa mia donna per insino a questo dì 27 d’aprile 1473: [. . .] E a dì 19 di febraio S. X a oro. Ebe Monna Cosa. Disse per dare alla maestra che insegna leggere alla Francesca. ______Fl. ______[S.]10______
25
For various cloth purchases.
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fol. 165v [1473] Richordo come a dì 21 di novenbre 1473 mandai la Fiametta26 mia gluola in serbanza al monistero di San Martino fuor della Porta al Prato, e debbo dare loro Fl. 1º largo il mese d’accordo con la badessa. Portòvi le infrascritte cose cioè: [. . .] 1 libricino di nostra donna con la federa [. . .] Tornò la Fiameta a dì 21 di giugno 1474, e le monache ebbono Fl. 7 larghi com’apare in questo a c. 60. fol. 173r Ricordo come questo dì 8 di febraio 1474 [ab inc.] prestai a Chimenti d’Ipolito fornaio, che sta nella via de’ Ferravechi, 1º mio libro chiamato Euclide in carta di pecora in gramatica di carte 26, il quale disse volere mandare a Pisa a 1º suo gluolo studiante. Fecemene 1ª poliza di sua mano promettendo a ridarmelo a mia posta. Riebi lo a dì 12 di settembre 1475. fol. 115r [20 marzo 1476] Messer Alberto di Guliano da Colle studiante in Pisa [. . .] fol. 126v [ottobre 1476] Spese fatte per l’Alessandra donna di Priore mio lgluolo deono dare [. . .] a dì 29 detto Fl. uno largo. Portò Priore per dare al Fede, che insegna ballare a ‘lessandra. _______Fl. 1 fol. 127r E a dì 26 detto [novembre 1476] Fl. uno largo. Portò Priore. Disse per dare al Fede, che insegna ballare all’Alessandra. ______Fl. 1 fol. 132r E a dì 8 di luglo 1477 L. VI 1/2 per costo d’uno libro delle pistole di Tulio familiari. Comperai per Gentile [. . .] _____Fl. 1 S. 3
26
Aged 9.
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[. . .] E a dì 2 d’agosto 1477 Fl. uno largo. Portò Gentile per costo d’uno libro che si chiama le Eleganzia di Lorenzo Valla. ______Fl. 1 fol. 134v [24 dicembre 1476] E a dì detto Fl. uno largo. Portò Priore per dare all’Alessandra per darlo al maestro che la ‘nsegna ballare. ______Fl. 1 fol. 138r [. . .] e deono dare a dì 27 d’aprile 1477 grossoni XV d’ariento. Diedi a Francesco di Maestro Antonio degl’Organi contanti per parte di sua fatica che l’ensegna sonare gl’organi all’Alesandra. Fl.______S. 18_____ [. . .] E a dì 3 di gugno 1477 grossini XV d’ariento ebe l’Alessandra per dare a Francesco, che le ‘nsegna sonare li organi. ______Fl._____S. 18 ASF AGPA 327 [Ricordanze di Andrea di Cresci: 1472–78] fol. XXXI destra Benedetto di Giovanni e compagnia chartolai deono avere a dì 19 di settenbre 1472 per una sua ragione [. . .] et 2 scritti et per miniature et 1 crocisso con Santo Girolamo sopra Mª Madelena et leghatura di 1º salterino di Santo Girolamo et per leghatura di 1º Terentyo [. . .] Fl. 3 larghi fol. XXXVIIIIº destra [Spese fatte in Cresci d’Andrea mio ghuolo addotivo et aroghoto, nato 29 febbraio 1460] [. . .] de’ dare a dì 2 d’aprile 1474 Fl. uno d’oro largo. Portò e’ detto contanti per dare a Mº Giorgio, gli insegnia ballare. ______Fl. 1 [. . .] E a dì 24 di marzo 1476 L. quatro dati a Benedetto chartolaio [. . .] sono per 1º paio di reghole di sipunttino perché se udì gli manchavano. _____Fl.______L. 4____
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E a dì 19 di luglio 1477 L. due S. X dati a Mº Filippo, fu suo maestro. Portò conttanti per quello restava avere gl’insengniò. E a dì 12 d’aghosto Fl. uno d’oro largo dato a Mº Panezio, gl’insengnia et sta in chasa con noi. ______Fl.______L.______ E a dì 4 d’ottobre 1477 Fl. uno d’oro largo dato a Panezio detto. ______Fl.______L.______ [. . .] E dì 10 di febraio 1477 Fl. uno d’oro. Portò Piero di Lorenzo detto a Panezio suo maestro. fol. 54 sinistra Anttonio di Puccio Pucci de’ dare a dì primo di novenbre 1473 Fl. sei d’oro larghi. Portò chonttanti, ché voleva mandare Lorenzo suo gluolo a Pisa a studio, che dio gli dia ben a fare. _____Fl. 6___ ASF DPPP 51 [Ricordi degli eredi di Francesco di Tommaxo di Iacopo Pecori: 1473–76] fol. 22 destra [27 settembre 1473] [. . .] Fl. due larghi [. . .] pagho a Ser Matteo di Francesco dalla Rocha [. . .] Fl. 2 larghi fol. 28 destra [27 settembre 1473] [. . .] Fl. due larghi posto Dino Francesco Pecori [. . .] per llui a Ser Matteo di Francesco dalla Rocha precettore. _____Fl. 2 larghi______ fol. 19 sinistra [12 novembre 1473] [. . .] Per 1ª tavola da abacho per Dino Francesco [. . .] fol. 33 destra [12 novembre 1473] [. . .] a [. . .] Dino Francesco per 1ª tavola da abacho chon lle bulette [. . .]
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fol. 33 sinistra [12 novembre 1473] [. . .] Fl. due larghi posto Dino Francesco di Francesco Pechori [. . .] per llui gli riebe da Ser Matteo di Francesco dalla Rocha. fol. 22 destra [12 novembre 1473] [. . .] Fl. due larghi [. . .] riebe da Ser Matteo dalla Rocha [. . .] fol. 19 sinistra [12 novembre 1473] [. . .] S. sedici [. . .] pagho a Ser Antonio Ciechi notaio a’ popilli per llo stanziamento di Fl. 18 larghi a Ser Matteo della Rocha. _____S. 16______ fol. 33 destra [12 novembre 1473] [. . .] S. sedici [. . .] paghati a Ser Antonio Ciechi notaio a’ popilli per llo stanziamento di Fl. diciotto larghi a Ser Matteo dalla Rocha. _____S. 16 fol. 43 sinistra [4 gennaio 1474] [. . .] L. 2 S. 1 [. . .] che soldi 40 a Benedetto, insegnia l’abacho a Dino Francesco et S. 1 per pene. _____L. 2 S. 1 fol. 45 destra [4 gennaio 1474] [. . .] L. due S. 1 [. . .] che soldi 40 dati a Bendetto maestro d’abacho, che insegni’a Dino Francesco e S. 1 al detto popillo per pene. ______L. II S. 1 fol. 43 sinistra [27 gennaio 1474] [. . .] S. cinque [. . .] dati a Dino Francesco per llo vanto della chandellaia. [. . .] S. 5
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fol. 45 destra [27 gennaio 1474] [. . .] S. cinque [. . .] dati a Dino Francesco per dare il vanto al maestro dell’abacho per lla chandellaia. ______S. V fol. 72 destra [27 aprile 1476] [. . .] per 1ª tavola da abacho. Ebe Francesco. ______S. 5 ASF CS V.22 [Ricordanze di Filippo di Matteo di Simone Strozzi: 1476–82] fol. LII recto [1476] E a dì XVII di febraio [. . .] 4 teste di dona disengniare in carta pecorina [. . .] fol. LII verso E a dì XVII di febraio [. . .] uno Virgilio in pecorina, uno di oretti di San Giovanni Grexostimo in banbagina, 1º dei salmi, 1º del Chorbacio [. . .] e 4 teste di dona disengniare in carta pecora. fol. LIII recto [giugno 1476] E a dì XXV detto [. . .] per 2 paia di reghole supuntine pe’ fanciulli et per 1º libro d’Evangeli e pistole in voghare. fol. CLXXV recto [1481] E a dì XVIII detto [marzo . . .] a Ser Giovanni di Lorenzo Chelli per suo salario di 9 mesi niti questo dì, à insegniato a Alfonxo27 [. . .] Fl. 25______ E a dì detto [. . .] per ispexe di vita del sudetto Giovanni di mesi 8 tornato in chasa. Fl. 22 27
Born 11 December 1467: fol. LXXXX recto.
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fol. CLXXX recto E a dì XVIII detto [marzo 1481 …] a Ser Giovanni di Lorenzo Chelli per suo salario di 9 mesi stato in chasa a insengniare a Alfonso a spese mie [. . .] _____Fl. 25 E a dì detto [. . .] per ispexa di vita del sopradetto Ser Giovanni di mesi 8, tornato in chasa. ______Fl. 22 fol. CLXXXIV verso [24 dicembre 1481] E a dì detto dare a Maestro Gorgio e al Fede balerini per insengniare a’ fanciulli [. . .] _____Fl. 1 S.11 D. 1 fol. LXXXV recto E a dì VI detto [6 marzo 1482] per leghaturo d’uno libro e miniatura di Lorenzo Valla per Alfonso e 1º di salmi auti da Monte di Giovanni chartolai. [. . .] Fl. 1 S. 11 D. 4 ASF Archivio Guiccardini-Corsi Salviati Libri di Amministrazione 1020 [Ricordanze di Filippo di Messer Poggio Bracciolini: 1476] fol. 8v [1476] L’Alessandra gluola di Feline di Deo del Beccuto mia donna de’ dare [. . .] a ddì XXIII [marzo] detto Fl. uno largo, detti a lo spagnuolo che insengna a ballare. Fl. 1______ [. . .] e de’ dare a ddì II d’aprile Fl. uno largo, detti per lei allo spagnuolo. Fl. 1_____
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appendix five ASF CS IV.71 [Ricordanze di Niccolò di Carlo Strozzi: 1476–80]
fol. 87v Spese di Simone28 insino a dì XV [dicembre 1476] Fl. uno e per loro a Maestro Morse. fol. 98v [23 agosto 1477] A spese di Charlo soldi X per un paio di scarpette e una tavola da ‘mparare a leggere [. . .] A spese di Simone soldi II per una tavola da ‘mparare a leggere [. . .] A spese d’Orlando mio nipote S. II per una tavola da ‘mparare a leggiere. 29
fol. 102r [8 novembre 1477] A spese di Niccolò soldi VI per loro a Zanobi cartolaio per tre tavole da ‘mparare a leggiere [. . .] fol. 121v [12 giugno 1479] A spese di Charlo mio gliuolo L. tre per loro ad Antonio di Filippo cartolaio. Porto contanti. Sono per uno volume di regole sepontine legate e miniate comprai per lui. fol. 124v [24 settembre 1479] A spese di Simone S. II per un IIIIº di braccha. Bisgniò a Maestro Salvestro per il suo unguento. fol. 128v [19 gennaio 1480] A spese di Simone lire dua per costo e legatura d’un volume di regole sepontine per lui.
28 29
Born 31 August 1472, died 29 June 1484: fol. 30v. Born 14 August 1471: fol. 23r.
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ASF CRSGF 79.122 [Ricordi del procuratore di Sant’Ambrogio: 1480] fol. 15r La Bartolomea, lgliuola fu di Giovanni fornaio del populo di Santo Piero Maggiore e lgliuola di Mona Bennoça dona che fu di detto Giovanni, venne nel nostro munistero [. . .] a ddì 17 d’aprile 1480 [. . .] e chonsengniò tutte sue chose, le quali s’apartenevono a llei, come apparisce per testamento fatto per Chancino chartolaio suo çio per mano di Ser Girolano di Riccho, p[r]ete al presente in Santo Anbruogio, le qua’ chose sono queste, cioè: [. . .] 3 deche di Livio su papiro su forma. 9 Quinti Churçii. Uno libro chiamato superiale. Uno Ovidio leghato su asse; fu volghare. Uno libro chamato Demostine. [. . .] 2 salteriççi sciolti [. . .] Otto libri della 4ª posiçione di Persio. 2 libri di Lorenço Lippi, fu troduçione Oppiani. 8 quaderni della confesione di Frate Antonio. Dodici quaderni d’amore. 22 libriciuoli di donna. Uno Tulio D’amiciçia. 3 tavole da righare [. . .] fol. 15v Uno libro d’Antonio di Budo sopra Decretali. ASF AGPA 328 [Ricordanze degli eredi di Bartolomeo Gherardi: 1480–83] fol. XVI destra [Eredi di Bartolomeo Gherardi] deono dare [. . .] a ddì XXVIIII di marzo 1480 grossoni 8. Portò Bernardo chontanti per dare a maestro suo. ______L. 2 S. 13 [D.] 4
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fol. 37 sinistra [. . .] Deono dare a ddì XXIIIIº detto [dicembre 1481] S. XIII e D. 4 [. . .] Portò Bernardo e la Chammilla chontanti per dare al maestro, insegna loro leggiere. ______S. 13.4 [. . .] e a ddì XXX detto [gennaio 1482] S. 13 D. 4. Portò la Chamilla e Bernardo chontanti per dare la mancia alla maestra, loro insegnia leggiere. ______S. 13.4 fol. 41 sinistra E a ddì XV di marzo [1483] L. tre portò Monna Lessandra chontanti. Disse per paghare la maestra della Chammilla e altre spese. _______L. 3_____ ASF CS V.36 [Libro di debitori e creditori di Filippo di Matteo di Simone Strozzi: 1480–83] fol. 46 sinistra [23 dicembre 1480, spese di vita] Paghamo a Monna Selvagia donna del nostro magnico Filippo. Ebbe conttanti per dare per mancia in questa Pasqua di Natale alla nostra famiglia di casa, cioè grossoni VIII al maestro che insegnia legiere a’ fanciugli di chasa. fol. 64 sinistra [10 gennaio1481] S. XII D. VII a’oro larghi per valuta di L. III 1/2 piccioli paghamo per loro [sc. eredi di Lorenzo di Matteo Strozzi] a Zanobi di Giovanni [. . .] chartolaio. Ebbe conttanti. Portò Girolamo di Stefano nostro ripititore. Sono per uno donadello in charta scritto di penna choperto di quoio giallo chomprato da llui per Charlo gliuolo di detto Lorenzo Strozzi. fol. 91 sinistra [23 giugno 1481, spese di vita] Fl. 1º largo a Maestro Giorgio e al Fede, che insegniano ballare a’ fanciuigli di chasa. fol. 18 sinistra [Spese] [5 maggio 1480] Fl. 3 S. 6 larghi: ‘maestro di casa’ [1º luglio 1480] Fl. 5 S. 10 D. 6 larghi: ‘nostro maestro’ [1º agosto 1480] L. 8 S. 15 D. 8 larghi: ‘ripititore di casa’
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fol. 46 sinistra [Spese] [31 agosto 1480] Fl. 6 S. 13 D. 6 larghi: ‘ripititore di casa’ [1º ottobre 1480] Fl. 6 S. 9 larghi: ‘nostro ripititore’ [31 ottobre 1480] Fl. 5 S. 13 D. 10 larghi: ‘ripititore di casa’ [1º dicembre 1480] Fl. 8 S. 15 D. 8 larghi: ‘nostro maestro di casa’ fol. 68 sinistra [Spese] [1º gennaio 1481] Fl. 9 S. 2 D. 5 larghi: ‘maestro di casa’ [31 gennaio 1481] Fl. 6 S. 18 D. 10 larghi: ‘nostro maestro di casa’ [28 febbraio 1481] Fl. 8 S. 16 D. 6 larghi: ‘maestro di casa’ fol. 86 sinistra [Spese] [24 marzo 1481] Fl. 4 S. 10 D. 6 larghi: ‘ripititore’ fol. 91 sinistra [Spese] [30 aprile 1481] Fl. 7 S. 18 D. 6 larghi: ‘ripititore’ [29 maggio 1481] Fl. 9 S. 1 D. 6 larghi: ‘nostro maestro’ fol. 132 sinistra [Spese di Filippo di Matteo Strozzi] [1º dicembre 1481] Fl. uno D. X a oro larghi [. . .] Ebbe conttanti. Portò Alfonso suo gliuolo. Disse per dare al maestro dell’abacho, insegnia al detto Alfonso. fol. 133 sinistra [6 novembre 1481, spese degli eredi di Lorenzo di Matteo Strozzi] Fl. 4 d’oro larghi [. . .] paghamo per loro a Monna Antonia donna fu di detto Lorenzo. Ebbe contanti. Portò Girolamo di Stefano ripititore. Disse per ispendere per lor bisogni. [15 novembre 1481] ‘Girolamo nostro ripititore’. [24 dicembre 1481] Fl. 10 S. 3 a oro larghi [. . .] Paghamo per loro a Monna Antonia donna fu di detto Lorenzo. Ebbe conttanti. Portò Girolamo di Stefano loro ripititore. Disse e Fl. VI larghi per ispesa di vita e Fl. 4 larghi per ispendere pe’ bisogni de’ suo’ fanciuigli [. . .] [24 dicembre 1481] Fl. uno S. XI D. II [. . .] Paghamo per loro al Fede e Maestro Giorgio, che insegniano ballare. Ebbono contanti. Portorano lor detti perché insegniano ballare a’ gliuoli di detto Lorenzo [. . .]
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fol. 149 sinistra [24 dicembre 1481, spese di Filippo di Matteo Strozzi] Fl. uno S. XI D. II a oro larghi [. . .] Paghamo per lui al Fede e Maestro Giorgio, che insegniano baldare [sic]. Ebbono contanti. Portorano lor detti per mancia e perché insegniano ballare a’ gliuoli di detto Filippo [. . .] fol. 154 sinistra [7 gennaio 1482, spese degli eredi di Lorenzo di Matteo Strozzi] Girolamo loro ripititore [. . .] [15 gennaio 1482] Fl. dieci S. XIIIIº D. VIIIIº [. . .] a Girolamo di Stefano ripititore [. . .] per suo salario di mesi XVIIII serviti e gliuoli di detto Lorenzo. fol. 176 sinistra [13 aprile 1482, spese degli eredi di Lorenzo di Matteo Strozzi] Fl. 4 S. 4 [. . .] paghamo per loro a Monna Antonia donna fu di detto Lorenzo. Ebbe conttanti. Portò Girolamo ripititore di dette rede per ispendere a minuto per lor bisogni [. . .] fol. 177 sinistra [18 dicembre 1481, spese di Filippo di Matteo Strozzi] Fl. trentacinque S. 3 a oro larghi [. . .] che L. 188 sono per miniatura e lighatura d’un Plinio in volghare e in charta di chavretto e L. 4 S. 10 per lighatura d’un vochabolista per Alfonxo suo gliuolo e L. VIII per legatura e lavoratura d’una choverta d’uno suo libro da Messer Catanti e il resto per lighatura d’uno libraccio di donna [. . .] fol. 185 sinistra [14 giugno1482, spese degli eredi di Lorenzo di Matteo Strozzi] Fl. quatro d’oro larghi [. . .] paghamo per loro a Monna Antonia donna fu di detto Lorenzo. Ebbe conttanti. Portò Girolamo di Stefano loro ripititore. Disse per ispendere pe’ fanciugli [. . .] [5 ottobre 1482] Paghamo per loro a Girolamo di Stefano loro ripititore. Ebbe contanti [. . .] Disse per paghare a Mariotto di Marcho e compagni speziali [. . .] fol. 190 sinistra [5 aprile 1483] A Girolamo di Stefano loro ripititore [. . .] per loro massarixie di casa.
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[5 aprile 1483] Fl. cientoottantasei S. VI a oro larghi [. . .] per loro a Girolamo di Stefano loro ripititore [. . .] per ispese di vita e de’ fanciugli. fol. 205 sinistra [25 ottobre 1482] Fl. diciotto S. XVI D. VI [. . .] Ci scrissono da Pisa Neri Chapponi e compagnia e per lor lettera di chome 23 di questo avere paghato a Messer Dominicho dell’Anghillara studiante, al quale gli faciemo paghare per noi e per dar aiuto da’ detti nostri e per nome di Giovanni Agniolo suo padre [. . .] fol. 237 sinistra [1482, spese degli eredi di Lorenzo di Matteo Strozzi] [14 dicembre] Fl. cinque larghi [. . .] pachamo per loro a Monna Antonia donna fu di detto Lorenzo. Ebbe contanti. Portò Girolamo di Stefano ripititore di dette rede. Disse per ispendere a minuto per bisogni di fanciugli. [18 dicembre] S. XIII D. X a oro larghi [. . .] per loro a Monte di Giovanni e compagnia chartolai [. . .] per uno donadello di charta di chavretto in penna avuto da lloro [. . .] per Charlo di Lorenzo Strozi [. . .] [11 maggio 1483] Fl. sei S. II D. V. a oro larghi [. . .] Portò Girolamo di Stefano ripititore di dette rede. Disse per ispendere pe’ bisogni de’ fanciugli. [8 agosto 1483] Portò Girolamo di Stefano ripititore di dette rede. [7 ottobre 1483] Portò Girolamo di Stefano loro ripititore. fol. 260 sinistra [2 maggio 1482] Fl. trentahuno S. IIII D. VIII a oro larghi [. . .] Paghamo per lui a Ser Nicholò di Matteo da Fruilli ripititore d’Alfonxo suo gliuolo. Ebbe contanti. Portò lui detto sino a dì primo di questo. fol. 316 sinistra [10 dicembre 1483] Girolamo di Stefano ripititore dell’erede di Lorenzo Strozzi de’ dare [. . .] Fl. dua S. uno D. III a oro larghi [. . .] Ebbe contanti. Portò lui detto. Disse per dare al maestro dell’abacho che insegnia a Carlo e Matteo di Lorenzo Strozzi [. . .]
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fol. 53 destra Bartolmeo Tucci e chompagnia chartolai deon avere a dì XXVI di marzo 1483 L. nove S. XVIIII piccioli, che L. 5 S. 14 sono per un libro di vangeli in forma miniato e leghato tutto choperto di chuoio pachanozo stampato, e L. 3 per 1º libro detto le Reghole di Francesco da Urbino per lo studio de’ mia fancugli, e S. 25 per rileghatura di 1º libriccino vechio di mia madre: per tutto [. . .] L. 9 S. 19. fol. 72 sinistra Ser Iachopantonio di Ser Borgho di Romagna repetitore di chasa de’ dare a dì 13 di dicembre 1484 L. 4 S. 10 piccioli [. . .] per un palandriano avuto da Nicholò Botticello [. . .] E de’ dare a dì XII di febraio 1489 [ab inc.] Fl. dieci S. X [. . .] Sono per bracchia dieci e mezo di panno monachino auto per noi da Piero Soderini e chompagi lanaiuoli [. . .] fol. 72 destra Ser Iachopantonio di Ser Borgho di Romagna di chontro, fu maestro di chasa, de’ avere Fl. quattro [. . .] per paghare parte di panno gli facemo dare da Piero Soderini e compagni lanaiuoli. ______Fl. 4 E a dì 22 di maggio 1490 Fl. 1 [. . .] Rechò e’ detto. Disse da chasa sua di Romagna. ______Fl. 1.1.8 E de’ avere a dì [sic] di settenbre L. 3 S. 10 piccioli spese in una opera del Vescovo Antonio e nella vita di San Zanobi e in fare leghare un santuario. Dice paghò a Filippo chartolaio. [. . .] E de’ avere per un Orazio leghato usato L. 4 piccioli e per 1º libro d’orazione di Cicerone sciolto usato L. 3 piccioli, valuta in tutto: ________Fl. 1.3.4. fol. 126 destra Ser Domenicho d’Iachopo da Borgho alla Chollina, suto ripeitore di chasa, de’ avere a dì VIII di novenbre 1492 Fl. sette [. . .] Rechò Ser Baccio, prete, suo fratello [. . .] per matricholarsi. Sono forestieri.
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fol. 133 sinistra Spese del mortoro de la Lena mia gluola. Deon dare a dì 2 d’aghosto [1493 …] Portò Ser Domenicho maestro di chasa [. . .] Portò Ser Domenicho detto [. . .] fol. 165v Ricordo questo dì 6 d’aghosto [1483] e ci venne a stare per ripetitore de’ mia fancugli Iachopantonio di Ser Borgo dalla Rocha di Romagna e sanza alchuno salare. A ddio piaccia che bene me gli chustodischa. ASF CRSGF 102.472 [Ricordanze di Maestro Agnolo di Maestro Giovanni di Michele, calzolaio: 1483–87] fol. 2r [1483] Franciescho d’Antonio Giugni de’ dare [. . .] a dì 15 di giugno per uno paio di scharpete per lui a ripititore suo [. . .] L. S. 15 fol. 2v Franciescho di_____[sic] Giugni de’ dare [. . .] a dì 5 di luglio per uno paio di scharpete per Alesandro ripititore [. . .] L. S. 16 E a dì 4 d’aghosto per uno paio di scharpete per Alesandro ripetitore. [. . .] L.____S. 16 fol. 3r Franciesco Gugni de’ dare [. . .] a dì 29 di magio per uno paio di scharpete grose per Alesandro. _____L. S. 8______ A dì 18 di giugno per uno paio di scharpete per Alesandro. ____L. S. 8 fol. 26r Franciescho d’Antonio Gugni de’ dare [. . .] a dì 22 di setenbre 1484 [. . .] per uno paio di scharpete per maestro di chassa. _____L._____S. 15 E a dì 17 d’ottobre per 3 paia di scharpete per Ruberto, per Bernardo, per Alesandro. _____L. 1 S. 4
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E a dì 30 d’otobre per uno paio di scharpete per maestro. L._____S. 16 fol. 44v Maestro Pagholo de la Barbara medicho de’ dare [. . .] a dì 21 di luglio per uno paio di scharpete per lui a suo ripititore. _____S. 15 fol. 45r Maestro Pagholo medicho [. . .] de’ dare per una solatura di chalze per maestro e uno paio di charprete ripititore suo. [. . .] L. 1 S. 5_____ fol. 70v Ser Verdiano, isegnya legiere, de’ dare a di 3 di gienaio 1486 [ab inc.] per uno paio di chaprete. [. . .] L. S. 12 ASF CS V.41 [Ricordanze di Filippo di Matteo di Simone Strozzi: 1484–88] fol. 22 sinistra [1484] Nicholò da Frulli maestro d’Alfonso de’ dare a dì XXV di marzo Fl. XXXI S. 4 D. 8 a’oro larghi [. . .] Fl. 31 S. 4 D. 8 E a dì XXV di gungnio [. . .] Fl. 26_______ E a dì XX di febraio [1485] Fl. XV S. XII a oro larghi [. . .] auti per me sino a dì 28 di giugno per richontro di libri da studio donò a Alfonso. [. . .] Fl. 15 S. 12_____ fol. XXII destra Nicholò da Friulli chontrascrito de’ avere Fl. LXXII S. XVI D. VIII a oro larghi [. . .] ciò per salario del tenpo insegniato a Alfonxo e per libri donatili. _______Fl. 72 S. 16 D. 8
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fol. 29 sinistra E a dì XVII di magio [1484] per una di Fl. 4 larghi d’oro in horo pagata a Suora Pacicha gliuola dell’Alexandra mia sorella monacha a le Murate per conperare uno saltero. [. . .] Fl. 4 S. 3 D. 6 fol. 35 sinistra E a dì XXXI di dicienbre 1486 [. . .] Ser Girolamo di Stefano ripetitore. fol. XXXV recto A dì XXVIII [gennaio 1486 …] Girolamo ripetitore delle rede. fol. LXXV recto [8 luglio 1488] Ser Girolamo ripetitore de’ gliuoli di Lorenzo. ASF AGPA 331 [Ricordanze di Francesco di Gherardo Gherardi: 1486–90] fol. 30 sinistra Francesco di Gherardo Gherardi proprio de’ dare [. . .] a dì XV detto [giugno 1486] L. due S.VIIII [. . .] Ne paghai a Bernardo Ghaiani per fatti d’un farsetto pel maestro de’ fanculli. Fl._____L. 2 S. 9 fol. 30 destra E a dì II di luglo [1486] G. 8 d’ariento dati alla Madalena per dare al maestro che lle ‘segna ballare. Fl.____L. 2 S. 16 E a dì XVII detto [1486] grossi 8 detti alla Madalena per dare alla [sic] ballatore. Fl.______L. 2 S. 16_____ fol. 31 sinistra Francesco di Gherardo Gherardi proprio de’ dare a dì III d’agosto [1486] L. cinque S. XVIIII [. . .] Ne paghai a Francesco cioè al maestro che ‘segn’ ai fanculli. Fl._____L. 5 S. 19
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E a dì detto L. due S. XVI in G. 8 dati alla Madalena mia gliola per dare al maestro che ‘segna balare. Fl.____L. 2 S. 16 fol. 31 destra E al dì detto [11 ottobre 1486] S. VII al Ser Simone maestro de’ fanculli. Fl.______S. 7 fol. 32 sinistra E a dì XV detto [ottobre 1486] L. quatro [. . .] dati al maestro per conperare 1º Petrarcha chomentato. Fl.______L. 4____ fol. 34 sinistra E a dì XXV di novenbre [1486] L. una S. X dati al maestro de’ fanciulli. Fl.______L. 1 S. 10 fol. 34 destra E al detto [12 gennaio 1487] L. tre [. . .] dati al maestro per chonperare uno Virgilio. Fl.______L. 3 [. . .] E a dì 11 di febraio [1487] Fl. uno d’oro dati a Ser Simone maestro de’ fanculli [. . .] disse per 1º paio di chalze. Fl. 1_____ fol. 36 destra E a dì XVII detto [maggio 1487] L. una S. VIII per uno donadello [. . .] _____L. 1 S. 8 fol. 40 sinistra Ser Simone, sta cho’ noi, partì, de’ dare a dì II d’aghosto [1487] L. cinquantotto S. VIII [. . .] ne li prestai. [. . .] L. 58 S. 8 fol. 40 destra Ser Simone avere a dì XI dicembre [1487] L. cinquantotto S. VIII. [. . .] L. 58 S. 8
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fol. 40 destra E a dì XXII detto [novembre 1487] L. due S. II dati alla Madalena per dare al maestro del balare. Fl.____L. 2 S. 2 fol. 43 sinistra E a dì detto [26 gennaio 1488] L. tre S. III dati a Luigi per dare al maestro per chonperare 1º libro per lui. Fl._____L. 3 S. 3 fol. 45 destra E a dì detto [23 aprile 1488] L. una S. VIII. Portò Luigi mio per dare al maestro. Fl.____L. 1 S. 8 fol. 56 destra E a dì VIII d’aprile [1490] L. una S. XVI dati a’ fanciulli per mancia per la pasqua per dare al maestro et per di pomaracie. Fl._____L. 1 S. 16 fol. 59 sinistra E a dì VI detto [luglio 1490] L. quatro S. IIII dati a’ fanculli per dare all maestro che isengna l’abacho. Fl._____L. 4 S. 4 ASF CG 32 [Ricordanze degli eredi di Antonio di Lionardo Gondi: 1486–91] [1486] fol. 2 sinistra Maestro Giovanni, che insegnia legiere a Girolano et Piero nostri, de’ dare a dì XIII d’ottobre [1486] L. sesantaotto S. 1º [. . .] ____Fl. XIII S. XIº D. IIIIº E a dì XXIII di maggio [1487] Fl. tre larghi inn oro et L. II S. III piccioli. Li portò chontanti Girolamo nostro [. . .] _____Fl. III S. VIIIIº D. IIIIº E a dì detto L. dodici S.VIII piccioli [. . .] ____Fl. II S. II D._____
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fol. 2 destra Mº Giovanni, che ‘segnia leggiere [. . .] de’ avere a dì XXIº di dicembre [1486] L. dodici S.VIII piccioli [. . .] ____Fl. II S. II D._____ E de’ avere a di XVIº di giugnio [1487] L. novantanove piccioli [. . .] N’aveva avere di suo salario per l’avere insegniato leggiere et scrivere a Girolamo et Piero nostri fratelli [. . .] ______Fl. XVII S._____D. VIII fol. 9 destra [12 ottobre 1486] Dettono per noi al nostro Girolamo per uno paio di reghole di Sepuntino. fol. 10 sinistra [12 ottobre 1486] A Girolamo nostro per chonperare uno paio di reghole di Sepontino. fol. 12 destra [12 ottobre 1486] Fl. due larghi inn oro [. . .] a Maestro Giovanni, che ‘nsegni legiere al nostro Girolamo et Piero [. . .] Fl. II S. II D._____ fol. 23 destra [23 maggio 1486] Fl. tre larghi inn oro et L. due S. IIIIº piccioli dettono [. . .] a Maestro Giovanni, insegnia leggiere a Girolamo et Piero [. . .] _____Fl. III S. VIIIIº D. IIIIº fol. 25 sinistra [. . .] a dì V di novenbre [1487] Fl. dua larghi inn oro dettono [. . .] a Piermaria, maestro de l’abacho. Sono per insegniare a Girolamo et Piero [. . .] ______Fl. II S. II D. V fol. 27 sinistra [. . .] a dì V di novenbre [1487] Fl. dua larghi inn oro a Pier Maria, che ‘nsegnia l’abacho. Sono per insegnaire l’abacho a Girolamo et Piero nostri fratelli [. . .] _______Fl. II S. II. D. V
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fol. 24 destra [25 dicembre 1487] [. . .] spesi in dare le mancia al maestro di Girolamo [. . .] fol. 24 destra [25 dicembre 1487] [. . .] L. 1 S. 15 per uno libro detto Iuvenale per Girolamo, et S. 10 per inchiostro per iscrivere [. . .] S. VII D. VIIIIº fol. 27 sinistra [25 dicembre 1487] [. . .] L. dua S. V. piccioli [. . .] per uno libro chonpero per Girolamo detto Iuvenale, et per più inchiostro per iscrivere. Fl.______S. VII D. VIIIIº fol. 41 sinistra [20 ottobre 1488] [. . .] L. una S. XV piccioli [. . .] per chomperare uno saltero per Bernardino nostro fratello. ______Fl.___S. VIº D. II fol. 47 destra [20 ottobre 1488] [. . .] L. una S. XV piccioli [. . .] per chonperare 1º saltero a Bernardino [. . .] _____S. VIº D. II fol. 47 destra [24 novembre 1488] [. . .] L. undici piccioli dettono per noi a Bartolo chartolaio per iscriptura d’uno libro d’abacho. [. . .] Fl. 1º S. XVII D. V fol. 3 sinistra 1488 e a dì XXI di dicembre [. . .] L. dodici S. VIII [. . .] a Maestro Giovanni. [. . .] Fl. II S. II fol. 38 sinistra E a dì XXIIIIº d’aprile 1489 Fl. uno largo inn oro a Ser Antonio preti [. . .] Sono per insegniare leggiere a Bernardino et alla Margherita [. . .] _____Fl. 1º S. 1º D. III
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fol. 51 destra [24 aprile 1489] Fl. uno largo inn oro [. . .] a Ser Antonio preti per insegniare legiere a Bernardino. [. . .] Fl. 1º S. 1º D. III fol. 38 sinistra [27 giugno 1489] [. . .] Fl. uno largo inn oro [. . .] Sono [. . .] dati a Piero nostro per farsi insegniare scrivere da Maestro Iacopo. _______Fl. 1º S. 1º D. V fol. 51 sinistra [27 giugno 1489] [. . .] Fl. uno largo inn oro dettono [. . .] a Piero nostro. Disse per dare a Maestro Iachopo per farssi insegniare schrivere [. . .] ________Fl. 1º S. 1º D. V fol. 38 destra [16 giugno 1491] [. . .] L. novantanove piccioli [. . .] a Maestro Giovanni, insegnia leggiere [. . .] Sono per tanti n’ebbe d’Antonio nostro padre per insegniare leggiere et scrivere a Girolamo et Piero nostro fratelli più temppo fa. __________Fl. XVII S._______D. VIII ASF CS V.68 [Libro della eredità di Lorenzo di Francesco Strozzi, scritto da Battista di Francesco Strozzi: 1486–87] fol. 2r Inventario di maserizia fatto per Monna Chamilla donna fu di Lorenzo di Francesco Strozzi e per Tomaxo di Federigho Sassetti no a dì 4 di marzo 1485, le quali restanno in guardia di detta Monna Chamilla chome appare per una nota fatta per detto Tomaxo Sassetti e se ne fa qui nota per me Batista Strozzi attore fatto questo dì 13 marzo 1486 [. . .] fol. 5r 2 paia di reghole serpentine, uno viene d’Alexandro Chaponi 2 donadegli in forma 2 salteri 1º in forma e 1º in penna.
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ASF CRSGF 95.222 [Memorie di Bernardo di Stoldo Rinieri:30 1487] NN [18 gennaio 1487] [. . .] una casetta da hoste et una da lavoratore con staiora 17 di terra posta nel popolo di Santo Michele a Castello detto la Querciuola per L. 40 in l’anno, et m’obrighai a spendervi Fl. 200 larghi et fùnne rogato Ser Giovanni Calandrini no a 2 di marzo 1485. La quale concede’ in mio luogo no a 20 di novembre 1492 a Ser Bartolo di Biagio de l’Olio, rectore di Santo Lorenzo a Vicchio, perché mi rende quanto v’havevo speso et hànne scritta di mia mano e vi tiene drento Bartolomeo Traballesi di detto popolo, come da lui intenderete. _________Fl. 7.19.6 ASF CS V.45 [Ricordanze di Filippo di Matteo Strozzi: 1487–88] fol. 124r Mandamo questo dì 26 di dicenbre [1487] a Napoli per via di Roma le sottoscritte chose d’Alfonso Strozzi [. . .] uno libro grande di gramaticha uno libro piccolo [. . .] fol. 131v [1488] Apresso sarà nota di chose portate a Napoli Alfonso [. . .] 1º libro grande di gramaticha 1º libro picholo. ASF AGPA 165 [Ricordanze di Lionardo di Lorenzo di Matteo Morelli: 1488–94] fol. 58 destra A dì XVIII detto [luglio 1488] S. 7 piccioli. Portò Marcho Ricchardi per 1ª tavola e 1º chalamaio da abacho. Fl._______[S.] 1.2
30
An eighteenth-century copy.
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fol. 116 sinistra A dì 17 detto [dicembre1492] Fl. 1 L. 1 d’oro in oro [. . .] a Domenicho d’Iachopo maestro in chasa. L. 6. 10 fol. 116 sinistra E a dì 19 detto [dicembre 1492] S. 7 piccioli. Portò lo soprascritto maestro pel suo chappuccio. L._____7_____ fol. 116 sinistra E a dì 20 detto [dicembre 1492] Fl. 1 L. 1 d’oro in oro [. . .] a Domenicho d’Iachopo maestro in chasa. L. 6.10_____ fol. 119 sinistra E a dì detto [8 marzo 1494] Fl. 1 L. 1 d’oro in oro per lui a Lucha da Panzano e di che l’achattò Filipo Pandolni e dettelo a Ser Domenicho maestro di chasa sino a di . . . [sic] Fl. 1.1.10 ASF CS V.44 [Ricordi di Filippo di Matteo di Simone Strozzi: 1489] fol. CCXXV recto Ser Girolamo di Stefano ripititore delle rede di Lorenzo Strozzi [. . .] de’ avere a dì VII d’aprile 1489 Fl. venti S. VIII D. VI a oro larghi [. . .] per suo salario d’uno anno nito a dì 24 di marzo paxato, servitoli per ripititore a ragione di L. 120 piccioli l’anno.31
31 Fol. V sinistra: Ser Girolamo di Stefano handled all the household’s nancial business from at least 31 December 1487 to 31 December 1489 (fol. CCLXXXVIII destra). Fol. XVII sinistra: he kept their books beginning on 25 March 1485; 23 April 1487: he received two years’ salary at 120 lire a year for two years ending 24 March 1486: Fl. 40 S. 1 D. 6. Monna Antonia, widow of Lorenzo di Matteo Strozzi, was still alive.
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BNCF II.ii.357 [Ricordanze di Tribaldo di Amerigo de’ Rossi: 1489–1504] fol. 53r Quando achonciai Ghuarieri a legiere chon Ser Iachopo: Richordo questo dì 21 di gienaio 1489 chom’io achonciai a legiere Ghuarieri nostro gliuolo chon Sere Iachopo di ________ [sic] prete in Santa Maria del Fiore, ucia ed è chantore, quivi prima di pochi mesi era prete in Santa Filicita, e tutti e denari dì per dì che arà da me, iscriverò qui da piè di tutto el tempo lo terà a ‘nsegniargli. A dì 20 d’aprile 1490 diliberamo, la Nanina ed io e ttutti noi, che Ghuarieri sopradetto no’ ne andassi più a Ser Iachopo a ‘nparare, perché non poteva attendere a ciò perché à molti cherici insengniare chantare, e no’ ne istava a bottegha. Salario in detto tenpo non si li dette, perché non sapeva anchora la tavola legiere. Mandòsili più volte cierte chortesie. Quando anchonciai Ghuarieri a la schuola di nuovo: Richordo chome a dì 22 d’aprile 1490 diliberamo, la Nanina ed io, d’achonciare Ghuaieri a bottegha a legiere chon Do’ Mariotto, monacho di San Filicie e tiene iscuola drieto a San Filicie a lato al bechaio, e chosi rimasi d’achordo cho’ lui mandargliele e darli molto bene el suo salario. A dì 26 d’aprile 1490 l’aviamo ridato al sopradetto Ser Iachopo a ‘nparare a legiere detto Ghuarieri, perché facieva pazie di rivolerlo e che li insengnierebe benisimo. A dì 20 d’aghosto 1490 Ser Iachopo detto per sua chasi avenutoli non potete insengniare a detto Ghuarieri più là, e rendècielo. Non vole denari. Manda’ li 3 grosoni. Rimandòmeli. Non vole mai danaio, e aveva insengniatoli già el saltero a chonpitare; tutto lo sapeva a chonpitarlo. Quando riachonciai Ghuarieri chon Do’ Marioto a legiere el saltero: Do’ Mariotto, monacho di San Filicie, de’ avere da me, da ogi chominciando, ongni mese S. 6 per insengniare a Ghuarieri el saltero, che l’aviano riposto a ‘nparare a lui questo dì 21 d’ottobre 1490. Dove toglie del saltero S. 5 el mese e io, di mia chortesia, ho oferto S. 6 perché l’insengni bene, e questo ed ongni orazione l’insengnia a mente. D’achordo ho oferto darli S. 2 cioè li ò a dare S. 6 di tutto el tenpo per a [sic] anparare el saltero ongni mese S. sei. A dì 29 d’ottobre detto portò a Do’ Mariotto S. 3 di mancia per l’Ongni Santi. L.____S. 3 D.______
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A dì 21 di novenbre 1490 mandai a Do’ Mariotto detto pel primo mese S. 6. Portòglielo Ghuarieri. ____ L.____ S. 6 D._______ A dì 20 di dicienbre 1490 portò Ghuarieri a Do’ Mariotto la mancia per la Paschua di ciepo, che se l’à inanzi questi pochi dì, che ci’è S. 3. ______L._______S. 3 D.______ A dì 21 di dicienbre 1490 mandai per Guarieri a Do’ Mariotto S. 6 pel mese sechondo. ______L._______S. 6 D.______ A dì 21 di gienaio 1490 mandai a Do’ Mariotto per Ghuarieri S. 6 pel mese e S. 2 pe’ lo ‘ntroibo. Li à ‘nsegniato chome li promisi di mia volontà. L.______ S. 6 D.______ L.______ S. 2 D.______ A dì primo di dicenbre vole la candela Do’ Marioto per Santa Maria Chandelaia, ch’era l’altro dì vengniente. Portòli S. 1º D. 4 in quel rischanbio. ________L.______S. 1 D. 4 A dì 21 di febraio 1490 mandai a Do’ Mariotto per Ghuarieri S. 6 del mese. _______L._____S. 6 D.______ A dì 21 di marzo 1490 mandai a Do’ Mariotto per Ghuarieri S. 6 del mese doia [sic]. _______L._____S. 6 D.______ A dì 16 di maggio 1491 detti a Ghuarieri porta’ si a Do’ Marioto 1º grosone. Era istato 1º mese. Inanzi a questo non è iito a bottegha per amore de la morte d’Amerigho mio padre, suo avolo, che morì, idio li faccia pacie, a dì 8 d’aprile pasato 1491. _______L._____S. 6 D.______ A dì 21 di giungnio 1491 mandai a Do’ Marioto per Ghuarieri S. 7. _______L._____S. 7 D.______ fol. 53v Chomincia el donadelo a dì 11 di dicienbre 1491: A dì 21 di luglio 1491 detti a Ghuarieri S. 6. Li portò a Do’ Marioto suo maestro. ______L. _____S. 6 D.______
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Detto Ghuarieri auto male [. . .] Chominciòne andare a bottegha a Do’ Marioto chol donadelo 11 di dicienbre 1491, e a dì 12 di detto mese detili 1º grosone lo porta’ si a Do’ Marioto, pel fuocho per questo verno, ch’ò liele dette. _____L._____S. 7 fuocho A dì 11 di gienaio 1491 mandai a Do’ Marioto pel mese ne già stato Ghuaieri chol donadelo S. 7. Portògliele lui. _____L.______S. 7 D.______ A dì 11 di febraio 1491 mandai per Ghuarieri a Do’ Marioto 1º grosone. _____L.______S. 7 D.______ A dì 11 di marzo 1491 mandai per Ghuarieri a Do’ Marioto 1º grosone. _____L.______S. 7 D.______ A dì 11 di aprile 1492 mandai a Do’ Mariato per Ghuarieri 1º grosone. _____L.______S. 7 D.______ A dì 11 di maggio 1492 mandai a Do’ Marioto per Ghuarieri 1º grosone. _____L.______S. 7 D.______ A dì 11 di giungnio 1492 mandai a Do’ Marioto per Ghuerieri 1º grosone. _____L.______S. 7 D.______ A dì 21 di giugnio 1492 chomperai 1º altro donadelo isciolto, perché l’aveva istraciatto. Costò S. 3 D. 8. _____L._____S. 3 D. 8 A dì 11 di luglio 1492 detti io a Do’ Mariotto per Ghuarieri 1º grosone. _____L.______S. 7 D.______ A dì 6 d’aghosto 1492 detti a Do’ Marioto 1º grosone del credo grande e del te deo, ansengniato a mente a Ghuarieri. _____ Portòlo a lui Ghuarieri. ______L.______S. 7 D._____ A dì 11 d’aghosto 1492 mandai a Do’ Marioto per Ghuarieri uno grosone del mese. ______L.______S. 7 D._____ A dì 11 di settenbre 1492 mandai a Do’ Marioto per Ghuarieri S. 7 pel mese. ______L.______S. 7 D._____
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A dì 11 d’ottobre 1492 mandai per Ghuarieri a Do’ Marioto 1º grosone del mese. _____L._____S. 7 D.______ Per la mancia la vilia d’ongni santi a dì 31 d’ottobre 1492 S. 2 D. 8 e 1º grosone per fuocho per questo verno. _____L._____S. 9 D. 8 A dì 11 di novenbre 1492 mandai a Do’ Marioto el grosone del mese. _____L._____S. 7 D. A dì 11 sopradetti di dicenbre 1492 mandai a Do’ Marioto S. 7. ______L.______S. 7 Posto inanzi in questo a c. 99. fol. 99r Ghuarieri a legiere el donadelo: Richordo questo dì 2 di gienaio 1492 chom’i’ò levato Ghuarieri mio gliuolo da Do’ Marioto, che l’insegniava el donadelo, monacho di San Filicie, e drieto a San Filicie tene la scuola. E òlo posto medesimamente a ‘nparare el donadelo chon Ser Alesandro, prete di Santa Filicita, e quivi tiene schuola. Dicie che 1º mese pasato soleva tenere ischuola a San Friano, e darògli medesimamente 1º grosone el mese. El tempo è stato chon Do’ Marioto in questo adrieto si vede a c. 53. A dì 19 di gienaio 1492 vole el maestro detto pel fuocho per Ghuarieri qualche danaio. Manda’ li per lui per questo resto del verno S. 3 D. 4. _____L._____S. 3 D. 4 A dì 2 di febraio 1492 portò Ghuarieri a Ser Alesandro S. 7 del primo mese v’è stato. _____L._____S. 7 D._____ A dì 2 di marzo 1492 portò Ghuarieri a Ser Alesandro 1º grosone pel mese. _____L._____S. 7 D._____ A dì 6 d’aprile 1493 mandai la mancia al maestro per Ghuarieri S. 2 D. 8, sabato santo. _____L.______S. 2 D. 8 A dì 17 d’aprile 1493 fe’ lasciare el donadelo a Ghuarieri. Avevalo imparato a veduta. Voli inpara’ si le lettere e schrivere; però lo fe’ abandonare el donadelo e detto chominciò a legier le lettere, nel nome di dio. A dì 2 di maggio 1493 mandai a Ser Alesandro per Ghuarieri el grosone del mese. _____L._____S. 7 D.____
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A dì 2 di giungnio 1493 mandai per Ghuarieri a Ser Alesandro suo maestro. ______L._____S. 7 D.____ A dì 2 di lungnio [sic] 1493 mandai a Ser Alesandro per Ghuarieri el grosone del mese. _____L. _____S. 7 D._____ Da Ser Alesandro prete di Santa Felicita gli levai Ghuarieri a dì 9 d’aghosto 1493 perché l’insengniava male. A Do’ Marioto lo riposto di nuovo detto dì: Richordo questo dì 12 di aghosto 1493 chom’io riposi a legiere Ghuarieri le lettere chon Do’ Marioto, frate di San Filicie, che lui propio l’insengniasi, e quando va fuori, dì di lavorare, dì di festa, lo meni secho, chome se fusi nostro ripetitore e suo, e à rimeso el merchato detto Do’ Marioto i’ me quelo li debo dare el mese a ‘nsengniarli legiere e scrivere, nel nome di dio senpre. A dì 12 di settenbre 1493 mandai a Do’ Marioto detto S. 9 per u’ mese acioché l’insengni bene. Li do più non si li viene. _____L.______S. 9 D._____ A dì 14 di settenbre 1493 choperai 1º penaiuolo e’l chalamaio a Ghuarieri, el primo per chominciare a ‘nparare a scrivere. Chostò S. 4. D. 4 _____L.____S. 4 D. 4 A dì 12 di ottobre 1493 li mandai per Ghuarieri pel mese_____L. ____S. 9 D. A dì 31 d’ottobre 1493 mandai la mancia a Do’ Mariotto per Ghuarieri: S. 2. _____L.______S. 2 D._____ A dì 4 di novenbre 1493 mandai a el grosone del fuocho a Do’ Marioto per Ghuarieri. L.______S. 7 D._____ A dì 12 di novenbre 1493 mandai a Do’ Marioto el grosone del mese per Ghuarieri. L.______S. 7 D._____ A dì 12 di dicenbre 1493 mandai per Ghuarieri pel mese S. 9 a Do’ Marioto. _____L.______S. 9 D._____ A dì 23 di dicienbre 1493 mandai per Ghuarieri la mancia sua a Do’ Marioto. _____L.______S. 2 D._____
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A dì 12 di gienaio 1493 mandai a Do’ Marioto per Ghuarieri e denari del mese: S. 9. _____L._____S. 9 D.______ A dì 12 di febraio 1493 mandai a Do’ Marioto 1º grosone pel mese. Era istato pocho a botegha que[sto]. _____L._____S. 7 D.______ A dì 12 di marzo 1493 mandai S. 10 a Do’ Marioto tra per la mancia e pel mese. _____L._____S. 10 D._____ A dì 17 di aprile 1494 mandai S. 8 pel mese a Do’ Marioto. Meto questo dì perch’è stato da 10 dì non è ito a botegha. Metti l’atro mese in questo qui quando denari li dai. _______L.______S. 8 D._____ A dì 17 di maggio 1494 mandai pel mese a Do’ Marioto S. 8. ______L._____S. 8 D.______ A dì 17 di giungnio 1494 mandai S. 8 a Do’ Marioto pel mese. _____L.______S. 8_____D._____ A Do’ Marioto mandai a dì 17 di luglio 1494 S. 8 pel mese di Ghuarieri e per le lettere per innparare a legiere S. 2. ______L._____S. 2 D.______ A dì 21 di settenbre 1494 chonperai per Ghuerieri perché ‘nparasi a legiere e salmi penitenziali e el vespero de la dona e un altro libricino che v’è su da 12 salmi. S. 2 D. 8 chostorono. ______L._____S. 2 D. 8 Da dì 21 settenbre 1494 insino a ogi a dì 16 di dicienbre 1494 detto l’ò tenuto in chasa a legiere. A scrivere di nuovo mando Ghuerieri: Al gliuolo del chanaglia lo rimando anchora a la schuola a ‘nparare a legiere e scrivere, che à nome Ser Andrea prete detto maestro, a dì 17 di dicienbre 1494 detto S. 3 li mando pel fuocho. _____L.______S. 3 D.______ fol. 99v A l’abacho: A dì 17 di gienaio 1494 mandai al maestro di Ghuarieri S. 7 pel mese. ______L._____S. 7 D._____ Insino a dì 17 di marzo 1494 Ghuarieri andò a scrivere e legiere al gliuolo del chanaglia prete chiamato . . . [sic]
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A l’abacho chomincio a mandare a ‘nparare Ghuarieri mio gliuolo a dì 17 di marzo 1494 a Ser Filipo di . . . [sic] prete, tiene ischuola ne la via de’ Bardi pocho di là a Santa Maria sopr’Arno. Chonopera’ gli la prima tavola de l’abacho ieri. Chostò S. 4. ______L._____S. 4 la tavola Questo dì 17 sopradetto mando a Ser Filipo per Ghuarieri 3 grosoni per parte di paghamento, ché vole 1º Fl. a ‘nsengniargli l’abacho e 4 mancie l’ano di 1º grosone per volta. _____L.1 S. 1 D._____ Nel nome di dio en buon punto questo dì sopradetto chomincia l’abacho detto Ghuarieri nostro gliuolo. A dì 6 di luglio 1495 mandai a Ser Filipo maestro d’abacho che ‘nsengnia a Ghuarieri S. 14 in una lettera. _____L.______S. 14 D._____ La tavola nuova e quando riva a botegha a l’abacho: Chonperai a Ghuarieri a dì 20 di novenbre 1493 1ª altra tavola da abacho nuova, che chostò S. 5, e a dì 18 di novenbre detto richoninciò andare a l’abacho Ghuarieri, ché più di 4 mesi era istato tra in vila e che per la moria le schuole non tenevono, ora sono chominciate a ritenere, e riva a Ser Filippo medesimo sopradetto. _____L._____S. 5 la tavola di nuovo A dì 23 di novenbre 1495 detti a Ghuari S. 7 per mandare a Ser Chimenti pel fuocho per potersi ischaldare. _____L._____S. 7 per fuocho A dì 24 di dicienbre 1495 mandai a Do’ Mariotto, cioè a Ser Filipo avevo a dire, per parte di suo salario, gli mandai per Ghuarieri S. 22. _____ L.1 S. 2 D._____ S. 6: A dì 24 detto, che fu la vilia de la Paschua di Natale, gli mandai per mancia S. 6 per detto Ghuarieri. _____L._____S._____D._____ Levamo da bottegha Ghuarieri per Santa Maria Chandelaia per timore de la moria da Ser Filipo. E no’ ne andò a l’abacho insino a dì 8 di giungnio. 1496 tenemolo in chasa, e le librettine fornì d’inparare in chasa. Quasi à fatto di già le sapeva. Sendo quasi restato la moria, diliberai di rimandarlo a fornire d’inparare l’abacho a detto Ser Filippo, e andòvi, cioè Ghuarieri nostro gliuolo, lo rimandiano a fornire
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d’inparare l’abacho nel nome di dio a Ser Filipo, chome di sopra dicho, e andò ne a dì 9 di giungnio 1496 a ora di merenda, sonato vespero. Del mese di luglio 1496 richominciò la moria di nuovo a Firenze e le schuole non tenevono per bando de li Otto. E di nuovo a l’entrata d’aghosto 1496 la moria alenò, chominciorono le schuole a ritenere. Di nuovo riposi ogi a dì 9 d’aghosto: 1496 posi a l’abacho Ghuarieri chon Giovani del Sodo, maestro d’abacho, che sta tra feravechi. Detto Ghuerieri sapeva apreso che le librettine di già. Detigli detto dì L. 1ª S. 1 chontanti. Detto Giovani del Sodo in detti tempi era tenuto el migliore maestro d’abacho da Firenze. L. 1 S. 1 D._____ A dì 24 di ottobre 1496 detti a Ghuarieri porta’ si al maestro per fuocho. ______L._____S. 7 D._______ Posto inanzi a c. 158. fol. 158r Ghuarieri a l’abacho a Giovani del Sodo: Ispese di Ghuarieri de lo stare a l’abacho chon Giovani del Sodo. A dì 3 novenbre 1496 detti a Giovany suo maestro per la muta de le librettine S. 20 e per la mancia de l’ongni santi tre dì fa. Fu S. 6. ______L. 1 S. 6 D._____ El chonto vechio è drieto in questo a c. 99, e per una tavola d’abacho di nuovo detto dì S. 4. ______L._____S. 4 D._______ E per Ghuarieri mandai a Giovani del Sodo suo maestro la mancia de la Paschua di Natale S. 6 D. 8 a dì 24 di dicienbre 1496. _____L._____S. 6 D. 8 E a dì 12 di febraio 1496 mandai la mancia per Ghuarieri a Giovani del Sodo per Santa Maria Chandelaia. Manda’ gli _____L._____S. 6 D. 4. E a dì 14 di febraio 1496 mandai a Giovani del Sodo per Ghuarieri L. 1ª perché lo mette ne le ragione de’ partitori. Mandogli a chiedere per suo salario per meterlo in dette ragione. ______L. 1 S.______D.______ E a dì 14 di marzo 1496 ispesi per Ghuarieri in una tavola nuova da abacho S. 4. D. 8. _____L.______S. 4 D. 8
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E a dì 25 di marzo sabato santo fu, mandai la mancia a Giovani del Sodo S. 6 D. 8. ______L.______S. 6 D. 8 Fugìsi da bottegha Ghuarieri a dì 4 di aprile 1497 e non tornò a desinare. Di poi tornò a dì 6 di aprile 1497. Andòsi trastulando et dì per Firenze. Fu perché 1º fanciulo de’ Bizini gli tolse la beretta, perché gli aveva a dare S. 7 di ghuocho di pala, dicieva lui. E io tornai di vila a dì 7 di aprile 1497, ché v’andai a dì 4 di aprile a pore la panchata da bacio a la tore. E quando tornai, no’ mi voleva venire a far motto per la sua tristizia. Fe’ lo venire a me in chucina e dettigliene per un tratto e chacia’ lo via acioché si satolasi del fugirsi da bottegha, ché pareva che fusi tornato l’asino suo, e, quela stima ne facieva, non n’ebi pazienza. Però gli detti e chacia’ lo via. E a dì 8 di aprile la Lucrezia di Domenicho Paschuini, mia chongniata, lo ritiene a chasa sua e vene a pregharmi ch’io lo lasciasi tornare. Chosì feci acioché non chapitasi male. E a dì 26 di aprile 1497 mandai per la Lisabetta e Ghuarieri a Giovani del Sodo, maestro de l’abacho dove sta Ghuarieri, S. 20 per mutarlo di ragione de’ partitori. _____L. 1 S._____D.______ E a dì 5 di giungno 1497 mandai a Giovani del Sodo maestro di Ghuarieri S. 20, perché gli dava a fare nuove ragione. L. 1 S._____D._______ E a sino a dì 5 sopradetto in questo a c. 53 e c. 99 e c. 158 qui ò speso insino a ogi, levato el chonto a dirieto chon questo di sopra, ò speso a ‘n fare insengniare legiere, iscrivere e l’abacho e mancie, e fuocho e tavole d’abacho, sono in tutto: L. 26 S. 14 D. 4. Voli vedere quel era chosto insino a ogi detto dì 5. Andamo in vila a dì 24 di luglio 1497, ché fugimo la moria, e tornamo, cioè la Nanina e fanciugli, 3 dì dopo Ongni Santi. fol. 158v Ghuarieri nostro gliuolo rimandiamo nel nome di dio a l’abacho a Giovani del Sodo a dì 27 di novenbre 1497, e detto dì mi fe’ fare Giovani del Sodo detto 1º libro di 54 charte perché Ghuarieri vi scrivesi su ongni matina le ragione ch’el dì à imparate, à choverta di charta pechorina usata. A dì 27 di novenbre 1497 sopradetto detti a Giovani del Sodo, maestro di detto Ghuarieri, L. 1 di denari chontanti. _____L. 1 S._____D. _____
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E a dì 24 di dicenbre 1497, la vilia de la Paschua, detti la mancia a Giovani del Sodo per Ghuarieri. _____L.______S. 7 D._____ E a dì 29 di gienaio 1497 mandai per Ghuarieri a Giovani del Sodo suo maestro S. 20 perché lu muti inn altra ragione. _____L. 1 S. _____D._____ E a dì 11 di aprile 1498 ispesi per Ghuareri ne la mancia mandai a Giovani del Sodo per la Paschua, fu mercholedì santo. ______L.____S. 7 D._____ E a dì 11 d’aghosto 1498 detti a Giovanni del Sodo S. 18 chontanti per metere Ghuaieri ne la terza de’ partitori. ______L._____S. 18 D.______ E a dì 31 di ottobre 1498 mandai per Ghuarieri a detto Giovani del Sodo la mancia S. 7 e S. 5 pel fuocho, fu la vilia d’ongni santi, che era tornato di vila la Nanina e lui e Amerigho e la Tita insino a dì 27 di questo, che n’era istato 1º mese in vila. ____L._____S. 12 D._____ E a dì 22 di dicienbre mandai a Giovani del Sodo per mancia de la Paschua di Natale S. 7. Portò Ghuarieri. ____L._____S. 7 D.______ E a dì 31 di gienaio 1498 per la mancia di Santa Maria Chandelaia mandai a detto Giovani S. 7. _____L.______S. 7 D.______ E a dì 17 di aprile 1499 mandai per Ghuarieri a Giovani del Sodo per salario S. 10, che ne voleva venti. ______L.______S. 10 D.______ E a dì 18 di maggio 1499 per salario e per mutare Ghuarieri mandai a Giovani del Sodo S. 10 per detto Ghuarieri. ______L.______S. 10 D.______ Ghuarieri posto al bancho di Fruosino da Panzano: Richordo questo dì 1º di luglio 1499 levamo Ghuarieri da l’abacho che l’aveva fornito d’inparare da Giovani del Sodo, e posilo al bancho chon Fruosino da Panzano in sul Chanto di Vacherecia over di Por Zanta Maria nel nome di dio; fu in lune di matina. Forcheta d’ariento achatò e no’ le voleva rendere, ebene e famigli de li Oto, al bancho: Richordo questo dì 24 di febraio 1499 chome Ghuarieri, sendo al bancho chon Fruosino da Panzano, 1º giovanino tavolacino, nipote de
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l’apuntatore, lo mandò a fa’ richiedere agli Oto 2 volte per 1ª forcheta overo 1ª chotela achatò da lui 3 setimane fa e rende’ gli infra pochi dì la choltela e 1ª forcheta d’ariento, ché v’era Ghuarieri l’inpegniò a Giovanbatista de’ Cierchi, banchiere al Ponte Vechio, per 6 grosoni, e però lo facieva richiedere agli Oto, ché non gli el voleva rendere. Ebine mile noie e debila a rischuotere io di mia denari 6 grosoni. _____L. 2 S. 2 D.______ Di nuovo aviano riposto Ghuarieri a rischotere l’abacho a Giovani del Sodo a dì 19 di marzo 1499, perché l’aveva 1/2 dimentichato ed ebe in chalendi marzo 1499 la chacia di Fruosino da Panzano per le sua trestizie e per non ubidire né lui né ‘l padre né la madre. fol. 159r Ghuarieri fugitosi di chasa: Richordo questo dì pº di aprile 1500 chome chomisi a Ghuarieri nostro che andasi a dire 1ª inbasciata a Giovani del Sodo, che lo lasciasi andare a Ser Franciescho Buonachorsi a fare larghi, e non n’andò, e la sera non tornò né l’altra matina né la sera seghuente, e stete chon un Francesco de l’Arena, che stava de le istinche, ch’era lanino istato, e detto Franciescho mi viene a trovare ch’io fusi chontento no’ gli dare e di riacietarlo, e desinò chon eso noi, e rimenòlo a chasa, e fu de le sua pasate levaldine sanza niuna chagione né buse che avesi auto, che tornò per le mani di chostui a dì 3 di aprile 1500. E posto Ghuarieri a l’arte de la lana: E detto dì l’andai a pore a botegha di Giovachino Ghuaschoni e Giovani Neli, lanaiuoli in Santo Martino, e che loro lo tenesino insino a tanto che per loro mezo l’achonciasino chon qualche buona persona a botegha a detta arte di lana, cioè a dì 3 di aprile 1500, perché non voleva istare più a l’abacho; dicieva che quasi tutto lo sapeva. Posto a botegha a salario cho’ Nereti lanaiuoli: E a dì 29 di aprile 1500 Giovani Neli fu chausa di pore questo dì Ghuarieri chon . . . [sic] Neretti lanaiuoli di gharbo in su la piaza di Re e tolso’ lo a salario a lor discrezione, benché pocha fede aviano tutti noi che facia bene, perché non vediamo in lui buon ordine, ché, ciò che e’ fa, fa per forza d’esere istimolato da tutti noi. Idio e la Vergine Maria che facia siché s’apichi a qualche buona ventura. Richordo questo dì 6 di maggio 1500 chome Ghuarieri, sendo pe’ maestri sua a tendere lana, n’andò preso da 1º famiglio d’otto per li
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uciali di notte, e stete tutto dì sostenuto, e cho’ Nicholò Machiavegli feci rimediare che n’uscisi detta sera, e isaminoro’ lo li uciali, e chonfesò di parechi, e questo mi rifeci Piero Pieri setaiuolo, ch’era di quegli uciali, che è nostro parente, chongniato di Pierangniolo Salutati, e gran verghongnia gli fu per tutto Firenze a lui e tutti noi, e ‘l maestro suo più volte di poi l’à voluto mandar via per amore de le baie da fanciugli, e Bacio Anbruogi, che sta in quella botegha, à fatto tanto chol maestro che vi stia qualche mese sanza salario. fol. 159v Restai chontento perché pigliasi piè a tale arte e perché lui non si isbighotise. Quando Ghuarieri ebe la chacia dal maestro e che di poi si fugì di chasa: E per la grazia di dio o ventura o disaventura, el maestro suo dispose dargli la chacia, che fu a dì 23 di maggio 1500 in sabato sera, e per tuto el tenpo v’era istato, gli dette per sua faticha 3 grosoni d’ariento, sendo quel dì dopo desinare ito in vila [. . .] Tornai e’ lunedì seghuente di vila, che fu a dì 24 di magio detto, e la matina non tornò a desinare, dicie tuta la brighata di chasa, e partìsi per isdengnio de l’aver perduto la botegha, perché più volte tutti noi gli avano detto, se tu perdi questa botegha, mai più a Firenze non ti rapichi, solo a le chagione de la baia che ‘ai per tua dapochagine e trestizia. E pare ch’andasi verso Chastelo verso Charegi cho’ non so che chonpangnio, e di lui non si risa nula se non per parole di Bacio Anbruogi, che ci vene a dire a dì 26 di magio che non voleva tornare per paura e verghongnia, e ch’era la sera venuto a chasa sua in Firenze. E di poi Bacio Anbruogi per suo mezo lo rimenò a chasa, che s’andava tristegiando qui e qua; rimenòlo a dì 30 di maggio 1500 in sabato dopo desinare e, perché non avese la baia fuori, si sta in chasa.32 fol. 61r E per Amerigho33 ispesi a dì 12 di febraio 1494 in 1ª forchetta d’aciaio cho’ la manicha nera, perché inchominciava mangiare chon
32 Front cover verso: Richordo chome a dì 15 di gugno 1504 morì Ghuerieri di Tribaldo d’Amerigo de’ Rossi. 33 Born 23 May 1490: fol. 59r.
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una forchetina di lengnio, e quando chol tocho de la tavola che ‘nparava l’abici_____S. 2 D. 8______ ______L.______S. 2 D. 8 fol. 151v Amerigho a legiere a Sere Alesandro prete di Santa Filicita: Richordo chom’io achoncio a legiere la tavola e ‘l saltero Amerigho nostro gliuolo a Sere Alesandro, prete di Santa Filicita, a dì 10 di febraio 1496, nel nome di dio sempre, e salario e mancie iscriverò qui da piè dì per dì; di poi non seghuì d’andare a bottegha perché era tropo picholo. Anchora di nuovo i’ò riposto a bottegha a Ser Andrea, prete di Santa Filicita overo maestro d’orghani, Amerigho nostro lgliuolo a ‘nparare a legiere el saltero e parte anchora de la tavola. Ista detto Ser Andrea nel chiaso a la Chaia a fare botegha. Fu a dì 2 di dicenbre 1497. E stetevi mesi e mesi, e mai non vole inparare nula pertanto che insino a dì 15 di dicienbre 1498. E di poi a dì 15 detto di dicienbre 1498 lo mandamo a legiere el saltero a la schuola del cherichato di Sª Maria del Fiore chol chericho di Sere Iachopone. Portò S. 3 pel fuocho. _____L.______S. 3 D.______ A dì 22 di dicienbre 1498 portò la mancia a detta ischuola: S. 3 D. 4. _____L.______S. 3 D. 4 Mancia: A dì 12 di aprile 1499 mandai al maestro d’Amerigho, cioè al chericho di Ser Iachopo grande in Chelonicha, la mancia. Mada’ gli S. 5 ______ché ‘npara el saltero. ______ L._______S. 5 D.______ E di po’ l’avian posto a legiere a dì 15 di gienaio 1500 al maestro de’ clerici di Santa Maria del Fiore, Ser Batista Machiavegli, che à auto que’ luogho di nuovo. ASF CS V.51 [Ricordanze degli eredi di Filippo di Matteo Strozzi: 1491] fol. 191 sinistra [22 dicembre 1491] [. . .] per dua mantegli per Ser Girolamo prete e per Michele maestro di casa, a’ quali si donò il panno e così 1º per Charlo di Lorenzo Strozzi [. . .]
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fol. 45 sinistra E da dare a dì XVI di novenbre [1491] L. una S. X. Sono per uno saltero. Fl._________L. 1.10 ASF CS V.69 [Ricordanze degli eredi di Lorenzo di Francesco Strozzi: 1491–98] fol. 35 sinistra A ddì 11 detto [settembre 1493] per una Stituta per Nicholò nostro chol chomento. L. 2 S. 14 fol. XXXV destra E a ddì 7 detto [marzo 1495] Fl. uno largo d’oro in oro. Portò Nicholò Strozzi contanti. Disse per una Bibbia di quarto di foglio per Frate Filippo nostro. L. 6 S. 12 E a ddì 9 di marzo [1495] paghati a Viviano di Nofri legnaiuolo per uno armario auto da lui d’albero, lungho 6 braccia e largho uno, da tenere e libri di Nicholò nostro, el quale armario si tiene nello scriptoio a 1/2 schala ed e’ à 3 palchetti. L. 25 S. 8 fol. 37 sinistra Mona Chamilla nostra madre de’ dare [. . .] a dì 25 di detto [gennaio 1492] Fl. dua largi d’oro in oro. Ebbe da Rafaello Strozzi [. . .] contanti. Disse per dare a Ser Cristofano nostro maestro. Portò Rafaello [. . .] Fl. 2 fol. 38 sinistra A dì 17 detto [novembre 1491] S. X piccioli. Sono per 2 tavole di gesso da ‘nparare l’abacho per Nicholò e per Filippo. L._____S. 10 A dì detto [17 novembre 1491] S. XII D. VII piccioli. Sono per 2 dozine ne di stringhe e uno chalamaio per Nicholò. L.______S. 12.8
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[. . .] A dì 21 detto [novembre 1491] S. VIº piccioli. Sono per uno chalamaio e uno pennaiuolo per Nicholò. L.______S. 6 A dì 22 detto [novembre 1491] Fl. uno largo d’oro in oro dato a Nicholò dell’Abacho per parte di suo salario di Nicholò e di Filippo. L. 6 S. 10 A dì 25 detto [novembre 1491] soldi VII piccioli, che S. 6 si paghò a Nicholò de l’Abacho acioché e fanciugli se potessino schadare, e S. uno piccioli per raconcature di una scharsella. L.______S. 7 [. . .] A dì 9 detto [dicembre 1491] S. XIIIIº piccioli, che tanti si pagò a Nicholò de l’Abacho per vanto di Nicholò e Filippo di questa Pasqua. L._____S. 14 A dì 14 detto [gennaio 1492] soldi XIIIIº piccioli paghato a Nicholò dell’Abacho per la manca di Santa Maria Chandelaia. L.______S. 14 fol. XXXVIII destra A dì 6 detto [febbraio 1492] per uno chalamaio e uno pennaiuolo per Tommaso. L.______S. 5 E a dì detto [6 febbraio 1492] L. una S. VIII piccioli. Sono per 2 libretti bianchi, uno per Nicholò e uno per Filippo, per scrivervi su pistole e altro. L. 1 S. 8 A dì 8 detto [febbraio 1492] per quoio, tane e fattura di uno scharsella per Latanzio. L.______S. 11 E a dì 9 detto [febbraio 1492] L. tre S. III piccioli paghati a Nicholò de l’Abacho per la metà del suo salari per insegniare a Tomaso. L. 3 S. 3 [. . .] E a dì 27 detto [marzo 1492] L. una S. uno piccioli paghati al maestro dell’abacho per il vanto. L. 1 S. 1 fol. XL destra E a dì 25 detto [gennaio 1492] Fl. dua largi d’oro in oro. Rechò Ruberto Strozzi contanti per dare a Mona Chamila [. . .] Disse per dare a Ser Cristofano nostro maestro. Fl. 2
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fol. XL verso Ser Cristofano nostro maestro de’ dare a dì X di dicembre [1491] Fl. uno largo d’oro in oro. Ebbe contanti da Mona Chamilla [. . .] Disse per spendere per suoi bisogni. L. 6 S. 10 E de’ dare no a dì [sic] di novenbre [1491] L. nove S. XV piccioli. Sono per uno palandrano di frigo nuovo. Ebbe da Pisa da Federigho Strozzi, che lire 9 chostò il frigo e soldi 15 la fattura, che n’è debitore a Pisa le redi di Lorenzo Strozzi. L. 9 S. 15 E a dì 25 di genaio [1492] Fl. dua largi d’oro in oro. Ebbe contanti da Mona Chamilla [. . .] per resto di suo salario. L. 13 El sopradetto Ser Cristofano chominciò avere el salario a dì 20 di febraio nel 1490 [ab inc.]. Apare al memoriale a c. 35, dove si mostra ebbe Fl. uno largo d’oro oltra a’ danari di sopra. fol. XLI recto Ser Cristofano da Sarzana nostro ripetitore di contro de’ avere L. VIIII S. XV piccioli [. . .] È debitore di contro per uno calandrano [. . .] L. 9 S. 15 fol. XLIII verso E a dì 19 di giugnio 1492 per inchiostro. L._____S. 1 E a dì detto [19 giugno 1492] per penne da scrivere. L._____S. 2 [. . .] E a dì 26 dì detto [1492] per uno quinterno di fogli. L._____S. 3 [. . .] E a dì 3 di luglio S. V piccioli paghati a Girolamo Ghuaschoni, maestro di Latanzio, per averli insegniato uno mese leggere e scrivere. L.______S. 5 E a dì detto [7 luglio 1492] per 2 libri cioè uno Oratio e uno altro libro scritto per giornale e richordanze. Oratio costò L. 4 e l’altro L. 3 S. 14. L. 7 S. 14 [. . .] E a dì detto [9 agosto 1492] S. V piccioli paghati a Girolamo Ghuaschoni, maestro di Latanzio, per averli insegnato uno mese leggere e scrivere. L._______S. 5
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[. . .] E a dì 17 detto [agosto 1492] Fl. uno largo d’oro in oro paghato a Nicholò dell’Abacho per resto del salario di Nicholò e di Filippo per insegniare l’abacho. L. 6 S. 10 E a dì detto [17 agosto 1492] per 2 quinterni di fogli. L._____S. 6 E a dì detto [17 agosto 1492] per una tavola da abacho per Nicholò. L._____S. 7 fol. XLIIIIº recto E a dì 5 d’ottobre [1492] per uno quinterno di fogli. L._____S. 3 [. . .] E a dì detto [5 novembre 1492] per rachoncatura di una scharsella di Nicholò e una di Filippo. L._____S. 6.4 [. . .] E a dì detto [21 novembre 1492] per dare al maestro de l’abacho per charboni per Filippo e Tomaxo. L._____S. 6 [. . .] E a dì 5 di dicenbre [1492] portò Filippo a Nicholò dell’Abacho per il vanto di Santa Maria Chandellaia di lui e di Tomaso a Nicholò dell’Abacho. L._____S. 14 fol. XLV verso E a dì detto [5 dicembre 1492] per rachoncatura di uno ferro per una scharsella per Tommaxo. L._____S. 12 E a dì detto [5 dicembre 1492] per uno coltellino per Nicholò. L._____S. 9 E a dì detto [5 dicembre 1492] per uno libriccino di salmi. L._____S. 14 A dì 14 di gennaio [1493] S. XIIIIº piccioli. Portò Filippo Strozzi contanti per il vanto della chandellaia al maestro dell’abacho di lui e Tomaxo. L._______S. 14 [. . .] E a dì detto [26 gennaio 1493] al maestro che insegna leggere a lLatanzio. L._____S. 5 [. . .] E a dì 28 detto [gennaio 1493] per uno quinterno di fogli. L._____S. 3
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[. . .] E sino a dì 30 di dicenbre [1492] S. XVIº piccioli paghati a Ser Alexandro de’ Borsi, notaio in veschovado di Firenze, per avere la fede del vichario dell’archiveschovo al veschovo di Fiexole, che gli dava licenzia potessi dare gli ordini minori a Nicholò Strozzi nostro. L.______S. 16 E a dì 31 di gennaio [1493] per uno libriccuolo chiamato Innamorarsi di Iesu Christo e leghatura d’altri libretti. L._____S. 16 E a dì detto [31 gennaio 1493] per una tavola da abacho per Latanzio. L._____S. 7 fol. XLVI recto E a dì 11 di marzo [1493] L. 3 S. V piccioli paghati a Nicholò dell’Abacho per resto del salario di Tomaxo nostro. L. 3 S. 5 E a dì detto [11 marzo 1493] L. tre S. V piccioli paghati al detto Nicholò per la metà del salario di Lattanzio nostro. L. 3 S. 5 [. . .] E a ddì 2 detto [aprile 1493] S. VII piccioli a Nicholò dell’Abacho per la manca di Lattanzio. L.______S. 7 [. . .] E a dì detto [24 aprile 1493] per inchiostro. L._____S. 2 fol. XLVI verso E a ddì 6 d’aghosto per un quinterno di fogli. L._____S. 3 fol. XLVII recto E a ddì 4 detto [novembre 1493] per uno quinterno di fogli. L._____S. 3 [. . .] E a ddì detto [16 novembre 1493] per inchiostro. L._____S. 1 [. . .] E a ddì 5 di dicembre [1493] per una chiave per lo schanello dello scrittoio. L._____S. 4.8 E a ddì 10 detto [dicembre 1493] a Nicholò dell’Abacho per la mancia di Lattanzio. L._____S. 7
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E a ddì 18 detto [dicembre 1493] per una federa di chamoscio per libriccino di Mona Chamilla e fattura. L._____S. 14 [. . .] E a ddì detto [18 dicembre 1493] rechonciatura di una scharsella di Nicholò. L._____S. 7 fol. XLVII verso E a ddì detto [16 gennaio 1494] a Nicholò dell’Abacho per la mancia di Lattanzio. L._____S. 7 [. . .] E a ddì detto [16 febbraio 1494] per una tavola da da [sic] abacho per Lattantio. L._____S. 3.8 [. . .] E a ddì 21 detto [marzo 1494] a Niccholò dell’Abacho per la mancia di Lattanzio. L._____S. 7 [. . .] E a dì detto [22 aprile 1494] L. tre S. III piccioli paghati a Nicholò dell’Abacho per resto del salario di Lattanzio. L. 3 S. 3 fol. XLVIII recto E a dì 19 detto [giugno 1494] per uno quinterno di fogli. L._____S. 3 [. . .] E a dì XXX detto [giugno 1494] per una tavola per Lattantio da abacho. L._____S. 5.4 fol. XLVIII verso E a dì 23 detto [agosto 1494] per 2 toppe con 2 chiave per gli armarii da tenere e libri che sono nello scriptoio. L._____S. 18 E a dì 23 [settembre 1494] per inchiostro. L._____S. 1 fol. XLVIIIIº recto E a dì detto [25 ottobre 1494] per inchiostro. L._____S. 1 [. . .] E a dì 7 detto [dicembre 1494] per uno chalamaio e uno pennaiolo. L._____S. 13
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[. . .] E a ddì detto [17 dicembre 1494] portò Lattanzio per la mancia di Nicholò dell’Abacho. L._____S. 7 fol. XLVIIII verso E a ddì detto [29 gennaio 1495] a Nicholò dell’Abacho per la mancia di Lattanzio. L._____S. 7 A ddì 27 detto [marzo 1495] per dare la mancia al maestro dell’abacho per Lactanctio et per Tomaxo. L._____S. 14 E a dì detto [27 marzo 1495] per inchiostro. L._____S. 1 [. . .] E a dì decto [8 aprile 1495] per fare fare una coverta a una Bibbia di Fra Filippo nostro. L._____S. 14 fol. L recto E a dì 23 detto [maggio 1495] per uno quinterno di fogli. L._____S. 3 E a dì 29 detto [maggio 1495] per inchiostro. L._____S. 8 [. . .] E a dì 4 detto [giugno 1495] per 6 chode di martore per appannare libri et altre chose. L._____S. 10 E a dì 6 detto [giugno 1495] per uno libriccino di donna per Tommaso. L._____S. 14 [. . .] E a dì 27 detto [giugno 1495] per uno quaderno di fogli. L._____S. 3 D. 4 [. . .] E a dì 6 detto [luglio 1495] per inchiostro e spaghetto. L._____S. 2.8 [. . .] E a dì detto [25 luglio 1495] per inchiostro. L._____S. 1.4 [. . .] E a dì 6 detto [settembre 1495] per uno quaderno di fogli. L._____S. 3 [. . .] E a dì 11 detto [settembre 1495] per una Revelatione composta da Frate Hieronimo. L._____S. 7
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[. . .] E a dì 28 detto [settembre 1495] per uno libretto de’ Dieci Comandamenti composto da Fra Girolamo. L._____S. 4 fol. LI recto E a ddì 24 detto [gennaio 1496] L. una S. 8 piccioli. Portò Tommaxo nostro contanti alla Chompagnia di San Giorgio per l’entrata sua e di Lattanzio. L. 1 S. 8 E a ddì 28 detto [gennaio 1496] arotò a parechi scharsellaccie e una nuova per Tommaxo. L._____S. 9 E a ddì detto [28 gennaio 1496] S. 7 piccioli portò Lattanzio a Nicholò dell’Abacho per la mancia. L._____S. 7 [. . .] E a ddì detto [13 febbraio 1496] per 2 quaderni di fogli. L._____S. 6.4 E a ddì 23 di marzo [1496] per la mancia al maestro dell’abacho per Lattanzio. L._____S. 7 fol. LIII recto E a ddì 17 di magio [1496] per achonciaturo di uno libricino. L._____S. 10.4 E a ddì 20 decto [maggio 1496] per uno libricino. L._____S. 1.17 E a ddì decto [20 maggio] per una epistola in forma. L._____S. 1.4 fol. LIIIIº recto E a dì decto [1º agosto 1497] per uno chalamaio e uno pennaiuolo. L. 1 S. 2 E a dì decto [3 agosto 1497] per tucte le opere di Fra Girolamo da fFerrara facte insino a questo dì e tucte le sua prediche, le quale sono gictate in formo e uno libro di laulde composte da ppiù persone. L 7 S. 10 [. . .] E a dì decto [12 agosto 1497] per inchiostro. L._____S. 2.8
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fol. LIIII verso E a dì decto [15 dicembre1497] per uno chalamaio. L._____S. 5 [. . .] E a dì 17 decto [gennaio 1498] per fare insegnare scrivere a Tommaxo Fl. uno d’oro inn oro, Ser Michele, suo maestro, che hucia in Sa’ Iachopo dal Canto agli Alberti. L. 6 S. 14 E in sino a dì 24 di dicenbre [1497] Fl. dua d’oro inn oro per dare le mancie al maestro e gli altri di chasa. L. 13 S. 8 [. . .] E a dì decto [15 febbraio 1498] per 16 fogli reali e uno libro di Fra Girolamo per mandare a lLione e uno quadernucio di fogli. L. 2 S. 5 E per uno libro chiamato el Triofo della Fede e uno libriccino donna in forma. L. 25 S. 4 fol. LXXIII verso E a ddì detto [26 dicembre 1495] per 3 asse d’albero [. . .] per fare una ruota da tenere libri per Nicholò [. . .] E a di 19 febraio [1496] L. una S. 15 piccioli. Portò Niccolò Strozzi contanti per uno libro di Vangieli storiacto e leghato. E a dì 13 detto [aprile 1496] L. dua S. uno piccioli. Portò Niccolò Strozzi per uno salterio grande. L. 2 S. 1 fol. LXXIIIIº recto E a ddì 30 di giugno 1496 L. 7 piccioli. Portò Tommaso Strozzi contanti a Fra Niccolò Strozzi a San Marcho per una Bibbia per detto Fra Nicholò. L. 7 ASF MSS 822 [Ricordanze di Piero di Zanobi di Ser Martino Martini: 1492–99] fol. 16v A Maestro Francesco da Urbino in prestanza a dì 7 di luglio [1492] uno Valerio Massimo in forma choperto in gallo. Riavuta.
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fol. 19v A Maestro Lucha [Bernardi] da Cholle in prestanza a dì primo di dicenbre [1496] 1º Oratio choperto di gallo. Portò Piero suo gluolo. Riavuta. fol. 26r A Maestro Francesco di Urbino a dì 23 di ottobre [1499] in prestanza Valerio Masimo in forma choperto di gallo. Portò Chrallo [sic] suo gluolo. Riavuta. ASF CS II.2334 [Ricordanze di Messer Giovanni di Messer Bernardo Buongirolami: 1493–94] fol. 33v Andrea [. . .] [di Michele Falarini, oste a San Donato] de’ dare a dì 18 di dicembre 1493 S. 7 piccioli, dati contanti a Iacopo suo gliuolo per dare al maestro suo. [. . .] S. 7 D._____ [. . .] E a dì 23 di febraio 1493 [ab inc.] L. 2. S. 2 [. . .] dati per lui a Maestro Gianiacopo maestro di Iacopo suo. [. . .] L. 2.2 D ASF CG 33 [Ricordanze degli eredi di Antonio di Lionardo Gondi: 1493–96] fol. XXIº destra [. . .] a dì XXVIº di giennaio [1493] L. dua S. II piccioli portò Bartolo chartolaio per 1º Terenzio per Bernardo. [. . .] S. VII D. V fol. LXVIIIIº destra [2 giugno 1494] [. . .] Fl. uno largo in oro et S. X piccioli [. . .] dette a Filippo Chalandri et S. X piccioli per una tavola et chalamaio per insegniare l’abacho a Bernardo nostro. [. . .] Fl. 1º S. IIIIº_____
34 Largely published by Verde (1973–95), II, pp. 324–46, who did not include the passages transcribed here.
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fol. 83 sinistra [25 dicembre 1494] [. . .] per dare la mancia [. . .] al maestro de’ fanciulli [. . .] fol. 97 sinistra [11 aprile 1495] [. . .] Fl. uno largo in oro portò Giovanmaria, insegnia l’abacho, per sua faticha, cioè per parte dello ‘nsengniare a Bernardo et Antonio nostri fratelli in chasa. [. . .] Fl. 1º S. II D.______ fol. 124 sinistra [28 luglio 1496] [. . .] Fl. quattro larghi per braccia 5 1/3 di panno bibio per una chabanella per il maestro di chasa avuta per noi da’ lanaiuoli. [. . .] Fl. IIIIº______ fol. CXLI destra [27 agosto 1496] Fl. quattro larghi sono per bracchia 5 1/3 di panno bigio avuto da lloro per fare una chabanella al maestro de’ fanciuli. Fl. IIIIº_____ fol. CXXXV destra [20 ottobre 1496] L. cinque piccioli per loro a Bartolo chartolaio per un Vergilo per fanciulli. [. . .] Fl.____S. XVIº D. VIII fol. CXXXVIIII destra [26 ottobre 1496] [. . .] L. 5 piccioli per un Vergilo per fanciulli [. . .] Fl.______S. XVIº D. VIII ASF AGPA 179 [Ricordanze di Lionardo di Lorenzo Morelli: 1493] NN Spese straordinarie di Lionardo Moregli [. . .] 1493: A Ser Domenico maestro di chasa donate per sua bisogni. ______L. 5.12
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BML AD 2292 [Ricordanze di Andrea di Messer Tommaso Minerbetti: 1493]
fol. 10v Ricordo come per insino d’aghosto 1493 prestai a Lorenzo di Piero Bini mio chognato le infrascritte cose, cioè: [. . .] 1º libro in carta pechora coperto di quoio rosso ivvi De amicitia et De senectute 1º libro di mia mano ivvi più pistole e latini et reghole di Messer Ang(e)lo P(olizia)no legato in cavretto. ASF CRSGF 102.341 [Ricordanze di Domenico di Piero Buoninsegni: 1495] fol. 4v [9 febbraio 1495] S. VIII piccioli sono per un quinterno di fogli messani chonperati più fa per scrivere uno libro di giiometria [sic] [. . .] [S.] 8______ ASF CRSGF 106.220 [Ricordanze di Lorenzo di Giovanni uspoli: 1496–1507]35 fol. 63v Richordo chome hogi questo dì 21 di novenbre 1496 io posi a botega a ‘parare a legiere Giovanni mio gliuolo cho’ Monna Lisabetta, ista in Parione Vechio, andò cho’ la tavola. fol. 129r Richordo chome insino a dì 13 di marzo 1502 Bartolomeo mio gliuolo andò a ‘parare a legiere in Santa Maria Novella al maestro che ensegnia a’ fraticini di detta chiesa, andò chol saltero a ’nparare per S. . . . [sic] 35 Discovered and rst transcribed by Ulivi (2004b), pp. 170–72; transcription revised in a few places.
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fol. 141r Ser Simone di . . . [sic] maestro che ‘segna legiere e scrivere e l’abacho diripetto a Horzamichele, mandai a ‘nparare a dì 7 di novenbre 1504: Giovanni di Lorenzo Ruspoli mio gliuolo iscrivere letere merchatile e letere formate e l’abacho a rischore perché e’ venissi buono iscritore e ‘hossì buono maestro d’abacho, e a dio piaccia che chosì sia. Bartolomeo di Lorenzo Ruspoli mio sichondo gliuolo a parare a legiere, andò chol saltero questo dì detto di sopra. Ànne auto a dì 14 di novebre 1504 L. III S. X, portò Giovanni Ruspoli per parte di ‘seglia’ gli iscrivere. L. 3.10 E a dì [sic] di dicenbre 1504 S. 5, portò Bartolome’ per 1º mese chol saltero. L. _____ [S.] 5 E a dì 20 di febraio 1504 S. VII, portò Bartolomeo Ruspoli. L. _____ [S.] 7 E a dì 9 d’aprille 1505 L. una S. uno, portò Giovanni per i’ chonto di ‘parare l’abocho. L. 1 [S.] 1 fol. 169r Maestro Marcho di Maestro Iacopo Grasini, maestro d’isegniare abacho, de’ avere a dì 6 di novenbre 1507 Fl. uno largo d’oro d’achordo, e quali gli do perché egl’ insengni l’abacho a Bartolomeo mio gliuolo, e al presente gli do un mezo duchato e resto quando egli enterà ne’ ragionieri e àgli a fare e di ‘segnare tuto l’abacho e fa’ lo un buono ragioniere, ed ògli a dare anchoro tute le mancie. L. Ànne auto a dì 6 di novenbre 1507 L. III S. X, portò e’ detto contanti. L. 3.10 E a dì 18 detto S. VII piccioli, portò Bartolomeo Ruspoli per danari del fuocho. L.
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ASF CS V.54 [Ricordanze degli eredi di Filippo de Matteo Strozzi: 1498–1499] fol. 137 sinistra E a ddì 28 di novenbre [1498] Fl. trentuno S. VII D. II [. . .] sono per valuta di Fl. XXVIII d’oro in oro larghi per loro a Ser Alesandro Acholti d’Arezo. Sono per salario di suo servitoci a in[se]gniare gramaticha a Lorenzo e Filippo sopradetti, ciò per mesi quatordici niti ad dì primo di marzo 1497 [ab inc.], e per noi gli pagorono Mateo Strozzi e chompagni [. . .] fol. CLVI destra E a ddì XXVIII di detto [novembre 1498] Fl. trentuno S. VII D. II a oro larghi d’oro per noi a Ser Alesandro Acholti aretino. Sono per salario di suo servitoci a insengniare a Lorenzo e Filippo Strozzi, cioè di mesi XIIII niti a dì pº di marzo 1497 [ab inc.]. Portò Lorenzo e Filippo detti [. . .] Fl. 31.7.2 fol. 137 sinistra [18 dicembre 1498 …] e braccia dieci di panno monachino per un mantello si donò a Ser Alessandro da Chaciano maestro loro [. . .] fol. 164 sinistra Ser Michelangelo di Giovanni da Santa Maria Inpruneta [prete di Lucholena …] de’ dare a ddì XXV d’ottobre [1498] Fl. centotredici soldi XVIIII D. 1 d’oro larghi d’oro. Facia’ lli buoni per salario di suo servitoci d’anni cinque mesi quatro niti a dì primo di novenbre 1498 per maestro a insegnare a Filippo36 [. . .] fol. 170 sinistra E deono dare a ddì detto Fl. centotredici S. XVIIII D. 1 a oro larghi d’oro [. . .] a Ser Michelangniolo di Giovanni da Santa Maria Inpruneta. Sono per salario di suo servitoci per maestro a insengniare a Filippo d’anni cinque e mesi 4 niti a ddì secondo di novenbre 1498 [. . .] Fl. 113 19.1
36
Born in 1489: fol. 2 sinistra.
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fol. 164 sinistra Maestro Franciescho di Giovanni da Urbino al presente maestro di Lorenzo di Filippo Strozzi de’ dare a ddì VIIII di febraio [1499] Fl. Fl. [sic] sei e S. sei a oro larghi d’oro. Sono per valuta di L. XXXVII S. XVI di piccioli. Ebbe di chontanti. Sino a ddì XXVIII di magio prosimo pasato [. . .] fol. CLXIIII destra Maestro Francesco di Giovanni da Urbino di contro de’ avere a ddì XXV d’ottobre 1499 Fl. sei larghi d’oro. Sono che tanti si li fanno buoni per suo servito di circha a mesi tre istette al Santricco a insengnare a Lorenzo. Doverono fugito um poco di moria. fol. 170 sinistra E a dì detto [25 ottobre 1499] Fl. sei S. VI a oro larghi d’oro faciam buoni per loro a Maestro Francesco da Urbini per suo servito di circha a mesi tre stette a insegnare a Lorenzo al Santricco [. . .] Fl. 6.6 ASF CS V.66 [Ricordanze degli eredi di Filippo di Matteo Strozzi: 1502–1503] fol. 124 destra [24 dicembre 1502] [. . .] a la m(aestra) che insegnia ballar et a Monna Francesca mazoccheria per mancia per cauxa de la Chaterina [. . .] ______Fl. 1.17.4 fol. 126 destra [8 luglio 1503] [. . .] L. 42 a Guliano Bochardi miniatore per miniatura d’1º libricino di donna per la detta Chaterina [. . .]
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ASF CS V.67 [Libro degli eredi di Filippo di Matteo Strozzi: 1502] fol. CXV destra [1502] L. 11 S. 4 paghò la nostra Monna Selvaggia a Lanzo, che ‘segnia ballare, e a Monna Francesa, mazocchia, per mancia per avere servito la deta Chaterina [. . .] Fl. 1 S. XVII D. IIIIº fol. 124 destra [1502] E dare per tanti paghati sino a dì 31 detto [dicembre] a Lanzo, che insegnia ballare e a Monna Francesca mazzocchiesa per mancia per cauxa de la Caterina nostra [. . .] L. 11.4 Fl. 1 S. XVII D. IIIIº ASF DPPP 52 [Ricordanze di Francesco di Francesco Pecori: 1503–1504] fol. 62 sinistra [6 giugno 1503] Maestro Gorgo [Riesti], maestro di gramaticha, de’ avere orini cetto sey, e quali mi dette per dieci i staiora di tereno gli vende’ a Pogibonizzi per prezo di orini undici lo staioro a grano [. . .] Fl. 106 fol. 62 destra [6 giugno 1503] Maestro Gorgo, maestro di gramaticha, de’ dare orini cento dieci, e qua’ danari sono per i’ tereno che llui chonperò da me a di 6 dì gugnio 1503 [. . .] Fl. 110 E a dì 26 di agosto mi dette Maestro Gorgo orini dua d’oro in oro per mio resto di mia ragione [. . .] Fl. 2
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fol. 72 sinistra Maestro Gogo, maestro di di gramaticha, chericho salariatto da chomume, de’ dare orinni udici d’oro, e qualli danari sono per uno istaioro di tereno ebe da me [. . .] sotto dì 24 di dicembre 1504. ______Fl. 11 fol. 73 destra Maestro Gogo di chotro de’ avere orini udici d’oro in oro, e qualli furano per i’ tereno [. . .] a Pogibonzii, e detti danari ebi a dì 24 di dicembre 1504. ______Fl. 11 ASF CRSGF 95.220 [Ricordanze di Cristofano di Bernardo Rinieri: 1504] fol. 3v Richordo chome no a dì XVI di dicembre 1504 Andrea di Francesco Rinieri mio nipote chominciò andare a leggiere la tavola in chasa Girolamo Puccatti.
APPENDIX SIX
EDUCATION IN THE MATRICULATION RECORDS OF THE FLORENTINE COMPANY OF THE PURIFICATION ASF Comp.RSPL 1654 Fascicolo II: Questo libro è della Scuola della Purichatione di Nostra Donna, divoti del glorioso pastore Messer Santo Zenobi, cominciato questo dì uno di settenbre nel MCCCCºXXXIIIIº; chiameràssi el libro de’ sagrestani, coè chamarlinghi, segniato B [. . .] fol. 2r [1º novembre 1434] Torello d’Antonio, sta all’abaco [S. 10]1 fol. 3r [30 gennaio 1435] Nicholaio di Messer Giuliano Davanzati2 [S. 10] fol. 3v [27 marzo 1435] Francescho di Mafo, ista a l’abacho [S. 10] [3 aprile 1434] Gherardo di Franciescho d’Ugholino, ista a l’abacho [S. 10] fol. 3bis r [3 aprile 1434] Giovanni di Pagholo Gherucci, ista a la schuola [S. 10] fol. 4r [15 maggio 1435] Andrea di Camuccio, ista all’abacho [S. 10] fol. 4v [25 maggio 1435] Giovanni di Ser Francesco Bartoli, ista all’abacho [S. 10]
1 The sum of 10 soldi is the normal matriculation fee; other matriculation fees recorded in the register will be noted when appropriate. 2 Fol. 102v: ista a l’abacho.
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[25 maggio 1435] Bernardo di [Ser] Francesco Bartoli, ista a la isquola [S. 10] fol. 4v [12 giugno] Maso di Ser Piero da Ficalichaia3 [S. 10] fol. 5r [19 giugno 1435] Ridolfo di Iachopo Benizi, ista a la isquola [S. 10] [26 giugno 1435] Mariotto di Giovanni di Fruosino, ista alla isquola [S. 10] [10 agosto 1435] Matteo d’Andrea di Borghi4 [S. 10] fol. 5v [19 agosto 1435] Bartolomeo di Tommaso, ista all’abacho [S. 10] [21 agosto 1435] Mariano di Giorgio di Nicholò di Dante, ista all’abacho [S. 10] [24 agosto 1435] Alamanno di Bernardo de’ Medici, ista all’abacho [S. 10] [24 agosto 1435] Piero d’Andrea, ista all’abacho [S. 10] [2 ottobre 1435] Nicholò di Mateo Gherardini, sta a l’abacho [S. 10] fol. 6r [2 ottobre 1435] Dilichato di Domenicho, ista all’abacho [S. 10] [29 ottobre 1435] Antonio di Romolo, ista a l’abacho [S. 10] [5 novembre 1435] Rubino di Filippo di Franciescho, ista all’abacho [S. 10] [26 novembre 1435] Matteo di Bracio, ista all’abacho5 [S. 10] [26 dicembre 1435] Giovanni di Cristofano, ista alla ‘quola [S. 10] fol. 8r [9 aprile 1436] Giuliano di Bernardo di Giovanni di Ser Matteo, sta a l’abacho [S. 10] fol. 9r [20 maggio 1436] Alberto di Ciardo di Dino, sta alla scuola [S. 10]
education and matriculation in the purification company 727 fol. 11r [27 gennaio 1437] Tomaxo d’Aiolfo di Messer Tomaxo, sta alla schuola [S. 10] [24 febbraio 1437] Istefano di Fruosino Cherucci, sta a la schuola [S. 10] [17 marzo 1437] Piero di Ser Matteo Mazetti, sta all’abaco [S. 10] fol. 11v [24 marzo] Francescho di Michele, sta alla schuola [S. 10] fol. 12v [12 maggio 1437] Ulivo di Giorgio d’Ulivo, ista a l’abacho [S. 10] [2 giugno 1437] Ghabriello di Messer Giovanni Guiciardini, ista a l’abacho [S. 10] [2 giugno 1437] Domenicho d’Antonio, studia [S. 10] [16 giugno 1437] Matteo di Giorgio, s’è a l’abacho [S. 10] fol. 18v [5 aprile 1439] Giovanni di Bernardo Ghudetti, ista all’abacho [S. 10] [6 aprile 1439] Piero d’Antonio di Lapozzo, sta all’abbacho [S. 10] [6 aprile 1439] Charlo di Niccholò Charducci, sta all’abacho [S. 10] [6 aprile 1439] Giovanni di Giovencho di Giovencho, ista all’abacho [S. 10] [6 aprile 1439] Marcho di Chortonese, ista alla schuola [S. 10] [6 aprile 1439] Tommaso di Ser Piero da fFilchaia, ista all’abbacho [S. 10] fol. 20r [14 giugno 1439] Acciaiuolo di Simone Acciauoli, ista all’abacho [S. 10] [14 giugno 1439] Lorenzo di Francesco Berandi, ista all’abacho [S. 10] [14 giugno 1439] Giovanni d’Antonio Tazi, ista all’abacho [S. 10] fol. 20v [21 giugno 1439] Francesco di Lorenzo Buondelmontti, ista alla schuola [S. 10] [21 giugno 1439] Giovanni di Filippo d’Arecci, ista all’abacho [S. 10] [24 giugno 1439] Piero di Matteo di Simone, ista alla ischuola [S. 10]
728
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fol. 21r [24 giugno 1439] Bernardo d’Antonio, alla ischuola [S. 10] [28 giugno 1439] Francesco di Benedetto, ista alla schuola [S. 10] [28 giugno 1439] Battolomeo di Piero, ista all’abacho [S. 10] [29 giugno 1439] Nicholò di Battolomeo Spineli, sta all’abacho [S. 10] fol. 21v [29 giugno 1439] Lorenzo di Rinieri Spinegli, sta all’abacho [S. 10] [19 luglio 1439] Francesco di Pagholo di Ser Giovanni, ista all’abacho [S. 10] [19 luglio 1439] Giovanni di Pagholo di Ser Giovanni, ista all’abacho [S. 10] fol. 22r [19 luglio 1439] Girolamo di Matteo Morelli, ista all’abacho [S. 10] [19 luglio 1439] Papi di Lorenzo Ispinelli, ista all’abacho [S. 10] [19 luglio 1439] Cherubino di Francesco Ghaluzi, ista all’abacho [S. 10] [19 luglio 1439] Francesco di Ser Andrea, sta all’arte della lana6 [S. 20] [19 luglio 1439] Baldassare de rRosso Buondelmonti, all’abacho [S. 10] [2 agosto 1439] Giovanni di Ser Battolomeo, sta all’abacho [S. 10] fol. 22v [9 agosto 1439] Rinieri d’Antonio di Messer Rinieri, sta alla ‘chuola [S. 10] fol. 23r [16 agosto 1439] Pier Francescho di Ser Anttonio, sta alla schuola [S. 10] [16 agosto 1439] Nardo di Ser Anttonio Pugi, sta all’abacho [S. 10] fol. 23v [23 agosto 1439] Piero di Bertto di Lionardo, sta all’abacho [S. 10] [29 agosto 1439] Domenicho di Barttolo, sta all’abacho [S. 10] [29 agosto 1439] Piero d’Ilarione de’ Bardi, istudia [S. 10] [29 agosto 1439] Giovanni di Piliagio, sta all’abacho [S. 10]
6
Fol. 119r: ista all’abacho.
education and matriculation in the purification company 729 fol. 24r [27 settembre 1439] Nicholò di Benedeto, ista a l’abacho [S. 10] [29 settembre 1439] Falcho di Filippo di Falcho, ista a l’abacho [S. 10] [29 settembre 1439] Barttolomeo di Domenicho di Bartolomeo, istudia [S. 10] [11 ottobre 1439] Bartolomeo di Franciescho Ciuci, ista a l’abacho [S. 10] fol. 25r [8 novembre 1439] Piero di Domenicho, ista all’abacho [S. 10] [15 novembre 1439] Ghero di Pappi, ista a l’abacho [S. 10] [17 gennaio 1440], Matteo di Michele, sta all’abacho [S. 10] fol. 25v [7 febbraio 1440] Francesco di Charlo, sta a l’abacho [S. 10] [7 febbraio 1440] Piero di Charlo, sta alla squola [S. 10] [25 febbraio 1440] Benedetto di Ser Nicchola, sta alla squola [S. 10] [28 febbraio 1440] Salvestro di Benedetto, sta a l’abacho [S. 10] fol. 26r [20 marzo 1440] Palese di Mariano, sta all’abacho [S. 10] [20 marzo 1440] Tommaso di Piero Davanzati, sta all’abacho [S. 10] [20 marzo 1440] Iachopo di Giovanni, sta all’abacho [S. 10] fol. 26v [29 marzo 1440] Antonio di Piero, sta all’abacho [S. 10] fol. 27r [10 aprile 1440] Alessandro di Piero del Rosso, sta alla squola [S. 10] [10 aprile 1440] Lucha d’Antonio, sta all’abacho [S. 10] fol. 27v [17 aprile 1440] Antonio di Giermia, sta all’abacho [S. 10] [17 aprile 1440] Lorenzo di Ghuido, sta all’abacho [S. 10] [17 aprile 1440] Antonio di Domenicho, sta all’abacho [S. 10] fol. 28r [5 maggio 1440] Nicholò di Ser Antonio, istudia [S. 10] [8 maggio 1440] Giovanni Fracescho, ista a l’abacho [S. 10]
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fol. 29r [12 giugno 1440] Nicholò di Lodovicho, ista a l’abacho [S. 10] [12 giugno 1440] Mateo di Barto, ista a l’abacho [S. 10] fol. 29v [26 giugno 1440] Giovanni di Checho, ista a la ischola [S. 10] [29 giugno 1440] Lorenzo di Piero d’Angiolino, ista a l’abacho [S. 10] fol. 30r [3 luglio 1440] Tomaso di Nicholò, ista a l’abacho [S. 10] [2 luglio 1440] Lorenzo d’Antonio di Ser Antonio, ista a l’abacho [S. 10] fol. 30v [8 settembre 1440] Mino di Domenicho di Ser Mino, ista all’abacho [S. 10] fol. 31r [17 ottobre 1440] Lorenzo di Lucha, istudia [S. 10] fol. 33r [22 gennaio 1441], Sandro di Papi, ista all’abocho [S. 10] [29 gennaio 1441] Bencivenni di Filippo, ista alla schuola [S. 10] fol. 33v [19 febbraio 1441] Miniato di Banccho, ista all’abocho [S. 10] [19 febbraio 1441] Giovanni di Banccho, ista all’aboccho [S. 10] fol. 34r [24 febbraio 1441] Salvestro di Sanno, ista alla schuolla [S. 10], entrò per l’amore di dio [26 febbraio 1441], Bandino di Fulino, ista alla schuola [S. 10] fol. 34v [25 marzo 1441] Antonio di Marcho, sta alla schuola [S. 10] [2 aprile 1441] Bernaba di Bernaba di Baldovino, sta all’aboccho [S. 10] fol. 35r [2 aprile 1441] Francesco d’Antonio di Giovanni, studia [S. 10] [2 aprile 1441] Francesco di Iacopo, sta all’abaco [S. 10]
education and matriculation in the purification company 731 fol. 35v [17 aprile 1441] Bartolomeo di Bernardo, sta alla scuolla [S. 10] [18 aprile 1441] Francesco di Nicholò, sta a l’abacho [S. 10] fol. 36r [25 aprile 1441] Benedetto d’Uberto, sta all’abaccho [S. 10] fol. 36v [7 maggio 1441] Antonio di Benedetto, ista a l’abacho [S. 10] fol. 37r [28 maggio 1441] Lorenzo di Mateo, studia [S. 10] fol. 37v [15 giugno 1441] Barttolomeo d’Antonio, ista a l’abacho [S. 10] [9 luglio 1441] Bastaiano d’Antonio di Zanobi, istudia [S. 10] [9 luglio 1441] Charlo di Nicholò Chanbinni, ista a l’abacho [S. 10] [23 luglio 1441] Govanni di Ser Antonio, studia [S. 10] fol. 38r [6 agosto 1441] Michele di Lionardo, asta [sic] a la schuola [S. 10] fol. 38v [17 settembre 1441] Piero di Matteo, istudia [S. 10] fol. 39v [1º gennaio 1442] Francescho di Charlo, ista a l’abacho [S. 10] fol. 40r [6 gennaio 1442] Giovanni di Domenicho, ista all’abacho [S. 10] [6 gennaio 1442] Giovanni di Ser Luigi, ista all’abacho [S. 10] fol. 41v [13 maggio 1442] Piero di Bartolomeo, sta all’abacho [S. 10] fol. 42v [10 giugno 1442] Piero di Vettorio, ista a l’abacho [S. 10] fol. 44r [18 novembre 1442] Bartolomeo di Salvestro, ista alla squola [S. 10]
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fol. 44v [20 gennaio 1443] Ottavante di Lorenzo Barducci, sta all’abacho [S. 10] [3 febbraio 1443] Giovanni di Francesco, ista all’abbacho [S. 10] [10 febbraio 1443] Andrea di Niccholò, sta alla schuola [S. 10] fol. 45r [10 febbraio 1443] Piero di Ghuido, sta alla schuola [S. 10] [10 febbraio 1443] Rosso di Zanobi, ista all’abacho [S. 10] [10 febbraio 1443] Ghuglielmo d’Andrea, ista alla schuola [S. 10] [10 febbraio 1443] Abran di Niccholò, ista all’abacho [S. 10] [24 marzo 1443] Tento d’Antonio, ista alla schuola [S. 10] [24 marzo 1443] Michele di Filippo, sta alla schuola [S. 10] fol. 45v [28 marzo 1445] Ugienio di Papi, sta all’abagho7 [S. 10] fol. 47v [14 luglio 1443] Piero di Chosimo, ista alla schuola [S. 10] [28 luglio 1443] Piero d’Antonio Dini, studia [S. 10] [1º agosto 1443] Girolamo d’Angnolo Ghaddi, sta all’abacho [S. 10] fol. 48r [4 agosto 1443] Giovanni di Iachopo, stàne all’abacho [S. 10] [11 agosto 1443] Salvi di Nicholò, stàne all’abacho [S. 10] fol. 49r [12 gennaio 1444] Tadeo di Lucha8 [S. 10] [26 gennaio 1444] Tommaso di Nicholò, istudia [S. 10] fol. 49v [9 febbraio 1444] Istagio di Deo, ista a l’abacho [S. 10] fol. 50r [22 marzo 1444] Giuliano di Gucio, istudia [S. 10]
7 Cancelled: al chorezaio [31 marzo 1443]; corrected: [28 marzo 1445] sta all’ abagho. 8 Fol. 131v: istudia.
education and matriculation in the purification company 733 fol. 50v [15 aprile 1444] Bonsignore di Giovanni, ista a la schuola [S. 10] fol. 51r [15 aprile 1444] Giovanni di Ser Antonio, istudia [S. 10] [15 aprile 1444] Brancha di Pagholo, ista a la schuola [S. 10] fol. 52r [15 aprile 1444] Agostino d’Andrea, istudia [S. 10] [19 aprile 1444] Ghodenço d’Antonio, ista a l’abacho [S. 10] fol. 53r [25 aprile 1444] Giovanbatista di Simone, ista a l’abacho [S. 10] fol. 71v–72r [15–29 giugno1439] Ghualtieri di Giovanni, istudia [. . .] per una vesta fol. 105r [c. 30 dicembre 1435] Da Giuliano di Giovanni di Nicholaio Davanzati, ista alla isquola, soldi undici [. . .] Fascicolo III fol. 2r [17 gennaio 1445] Da Giovanni di Ser Rinaldo, ista all’abacho [S. 10] [19 gennaio 1445] Da Andrea di Papi, ista a la schuola [S. 8 D. 3] fol. 3r [25 aprile 1445] Da Francesco di Matteo, sta a l’abacho [S. 5 D. 6] [25 aprile 1445] Da Bernardo di Bernardo d’Ambruogio, ista a l’abacho [S. 5] fol. 4v [4 settembre 1445] Da Chosimo di Biagio, sta a l’abacho [S. 5] fol. 5r [19 dicembre 1445] Da Franciescho di Bartolomeo, ista all’abacho [S. 10] fol. 6r [10 aprile 1446] Da Piero di Govanni, sta all’abacho [S. 10]
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fol. 6v [19 aprile 1446] Da Francesco del Richo, ista all’abacho [S. 10] fol. 7r [7 giugno 1446] D’Albertaccio di Bocchaccio, ista alla schuola [S. 10] fol. 8r [19 settembre 1446] Da lLucha di Ser Govani Martini, ista alla schuola [S. 10] fol. 9v [2 aprile 1447] Da Iachopo di Domenicho, ista a la schuola [S. 10] fol. 10r [16 aprile 1447] Da Giovanni di Melino, ista a l’abacho [S. 5] [23 aprile 1447] Da Iachopo di Bartolomeo, a l’abacho [S. 10] [23 aprile 1447] Da Mateo di Stefano, istudia [S. 5] fol. 11r [19 maggio 1447] Da Matteo di Frosino, ista a l’abacho [S. 9 D. 8] [28 maggio 1447] Da Dionigi di Domenicho, ista all’abacho [S. 10] [18 giugno 1447] Da Giovanni del Maestro tTadeo, istudia [S. 8 D. 6] fol. 13r [25 dicembre 1448] D’Antonio di Giorgio, sta all’abacho [S. 10] fol. 13v [23 febbraio 1449] Da gGiovanni di Bartolino, istudia [S. 10] fol. 14r [27 aprile 1449] Da Matteo d’Antonio del rRosso, ista all’abbacho [S. 10] [27 aprile 1449] Da cChimenti d’Antonio del rorRosso [sic], ista all’abacho [S. 10] fol. 14v [maggio 1449] Da Gululemo di Cata, ista a l’abocho [S. 5 D. 6] fol. 18r [c. gennaio 1451] Da Ligi di Dodo, ista a l’abacho [S. 5]
education and matriculation in the purification company 735 fol. 18v [19 maggio 1451] Da Riunigi di Giovanni, sta alla schuola [S. 5] [3 giugno 1451] Da Barttolomeo di Bernardo, ista a l’abacho [S. 5] fol. 19r [29 settembre 1451] Da Gilio di Bernardo, studia [S. 10] fol. 21v [19 giugno 1452] Da Domenicho di Bartolomeo, sta all’abacho [S. 11] [19 giugno 1452] Da Giovanni di Bartolomeo, sta all’abacho [S. 11] [agosto 1452] Da Dino di Ser Antonio, sta all’abacho [S. 6] fol. 23r [24 febbraio 1454] Da Michele di Francesco, ista a l’abacho [S. 10] [24 marzo 1454] Da Mateo di Bartollo, insta a la squolla [S. 10] [28 aprile 1454] Da Luigi di Bernardo di Lapo Nicholini, insta a la squola [S. 10] fol. 24r [20 ottobre 1454] Da Bartolomeo di Michele, ista a l’abacho [S. 10] fol. 26v [29 marzo 1456] Da Giovanni di Francesco, studia [S. 10] [29 marzo 1456] Da Giovanni di Ser Matteo, studia [S.10] fol. 28r [7 maggio 1458] Da Giovanni di Nicholò, ista legiere [S. 5]9 fol. 52r [23 febbraio 1472] Da Ser Piero di Francesco di Piero da Pratovecchio10 [. . .] [S.10] avemmo da maestro de’ novitii per la sua entrata
9 In the total gures on p. 457 above, this individual is placed among the school entries. 10 In the total gures on p. 457 above, this individual is placed among the student entries.
APPENDIX SEVEN
ADDITIONAL DOCUMENTS ON EDUCATION IN AREZZO DISCOVERED SINCE 19961 28 January 1396. Ser Bernardo di Meglio, an Aretine citizen, offers to teach without payment from the commune of Arezzo, provided he receives a full tax exemption; his petition is approved. Ser Bernardi Megli Cum videatur et sit utile ac necessarium habere in civitate Aretii unum magistrum qui instruat pueros in primis litteris ac etiam doceat Donatum et Catonem et alios libros antequam inttroducantur ad gramaticam; et Ser Bernardus Megli civis aretinus obtulerit hiis diebus dominis prioribus se hoc velle facere sine ullo salario a comuni Aretii propterea percipiendo vel habendo, salvo quod vult esse immunis et exemptus ab omni custodia reali et personali seu mixta et ab omnibus aliis expensis ac factionibus et oneribus quibuscumque dicti comunis Aretii tam pro tempore preterito quam presenti, ac etiam futuro, videlicet quo tenebit in civitate Aretii scolas ad docendum et instruendum pueros ut supra dicitur [. . .] fuit ordinatum [. . .] quod at [. . .] sicut supra [. . .]2 8 October 1396. Ser Bernardo di Meglio, notary and elementary teacher in Arezzo, was condemned on 13 March 1396 by the Florentine podestà in Arezzo for copying and authenticating a false testament. Evidently unable to pay the ne of 500 lire (besides a further penalty for non-payment), he has been imprisoned since the day of his condemnation. He now petitions for the cancellation of the nes and for immediate release, both of which are granted. Ser Bernardus Megli [. . .] Super petitione Ser Bernardi Megli de Aretio, cuius tenor talis est, videlicet [. . .] pro parte [. . .] Ser Bernardi olim Megli de Aretio, Porte Fori et Contrate Montsteni, carcerati et in carceribus mancipati iam diu atque pauperimi, exponitur [. . .] quod ipse Ser Bernardus de anno presenti et die XIII mensis martii proxime preteriti [. . .] per [. . .] Leonardum Antonii de Antilla olim potestatem civitatis Aretii pro
1 2
The publication date of Black (1996a). ASA Provv. 3, fol. 105r–106r. Passed by 36 votes to 9.
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magnico comuni Florentie pro ipso comuni in libris quingentis sp. dandis et solvendis camerario comunis Florentie pro ipso comuni infra decem dies, tunc proxime sub pena quarti pluris extitit sententialiter condepnatus, eo quia dicitur in dicta condepnatione, quod dictus Ser Bernardus, de anno MºCCCLXXXXIIIII et mense settembris dicti anni, in domo dicti Ser Bernardi in inquisitione posita et connata, in quadam carta pecudina copiavit quoddam testamentum conditum, ut dicebatur, per Christofanum Christofani de Castro Plebis Sancti Stephani, scriptum false et fraudolenter per Ser Pierum Caroli de Verona habitatorem dicti Castri Plebis sub nomine Ser Blaxii Ser Benedicti de Castro Ambre et ipsam copiam su[m]psit [. . .] et sic per dictum modum materiam, spetiem seu causam falsitatis faciendi et fabricandi dedit et fecit et commisit ipse Ser Bernardus, mentione aliqua non facta quod ipsa copia esset exemplum ipsius testatamenti subscripti dicti Ser Blaxii, quia, post subscriptionem predictam quam ipse Ser Bernardus copiavit, per spatium duorum digitorum, ut dixit ipse Ser Bernardus, posuit ista verba videlicet hoc est exemplum etc. Post que, dictus Ser Bernardus prefatis Ser Piero et Ser Leonardo restituit dictam scriptam, factam sub nomine dicti Ser Blaxii, et copiam predictam confecerat, recepta ab eis promissione de XV S. pro uno pari [. . .] eidem solvendo, prout in dicta condempnatione plene patet. Exponitur etiam pro parte Ser Bernardi quod, licet in dicta condepnatione contineatur predictam copiam per ipsum sumptam et ipsum Ser Bernardum fuisse causam falsitatis et falsitatem eri faciendi et fabricandi, quod ipse ex illa causa ipsam copiam non sumpsit sed pure et deliter et sine aliqua fraude vel malitia ipsam copiam delissime su[m]psit, credens predictum testamentum fuisse verum et manu dicti Ser Blaxii scriptum, et exinde nullam utilitatem expectabat, nisi quod sibi facta fuit promissio de XV S. ut supra dicitur. Quod si verum esset, quod aliqua scientia dicti negotii fuisset in dictum Ser, non debet cadere in animo sapientum quod pro XV S. [. . .] ipse Ser Bernardus ipsam copiam fraudolenter suprasunps[er]et. Exponitur etiam pro parte dicti Ser Bernardi, quod, occasione dicte condempnationis, ipse fuit et est carceratus et in carceribus stetit a die dicte late condepnationionis usque in presentem, in eisque propterea permansurus, nisi per vestram dominationem sibi pia misericordia provideatur. Quare pro parte eiusdem humiliter supplicatur, quatenus, intuitu pietatis et misericordie, et ne dictus Ser Bernardus in dictis carceribus propterea permaneat, et diem suum claudat extremum, placeat solempniter deliberare et reformare, quod dictus Ser Bernardus sit plenarie a dicta condepnatione et quarto pluri liberatus et absolutus, et
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a dictis carceribus veraciter liberetur et relapsetur [. . .] [Fuit ordinatum] quod sit [. . .] reformatum quod dictus Ser Bernardus sit et esse intelligatur liber et absolutus a dicta sua condepnatione [. . .]3 16 January 1399. Antonio di Guiduccio di Martino da Lorenzano, a grammar schoolboy then learning in Arezzo, petitions for Aretine citizenship, which is granted. Civilitas Antonii Guiduci de Lorenzano Audita et intellecta petitione Antonii Guiducii Martini de Lorenzano et vulgariter lecta per [. . .] cancellarium [. . .] cuius quidem tenor talis est, videlicet: Misericordie piis patribus et dominis dominis prioribus perpetuis, dominis capitaneis partis guelfe et consilio generali civitatis Aretii suis dominis reverendis, supplicatur cum omni debita reverentia pro parte Antonii Guiducii Martini de Lorençano comitatus Aretii, pueri in gramaticalibus Aretii presentialiter studentis, vere guel et vestri delissimi servitoris, cupientis et desiderantis sub umbra et protectione alarum vestrarum in civitate Aretii vivere et mori, et vobiscum ad expensas occurentes secundum et iuxta eius facultatem conferre et contribuere, quatenus dignemini, intuitu iuris et speciali gratia et amore, habito respectu ad bonam et perfectam intentionem dicti Antonii, providere, ordinare et solempniter reformare, quod dictus Antonius de cetero cum suis liis et descendentibus ex eo in perpetuum sit civis civitatis Aretii et pro vero et originario cive et guelfo dicte civitatis Aretii habeatur et reputetur [. . .] et quod eidem faciatis secundum sui facultatem libram competentem et talem quod pro ea possit et valeat onera supportare [. . .] Fuit reformatum quod ex nunc [. . .] at in omnibus [. . .] prout [. . .] in dicta [. . .] petitione plenius [. . .] continetur [. . .]4 22 January 1399. Antonio da Lorenzano’s lira is set at 5 soldi. Antonii de Lorenzano allibratio Priores [. . .] una cum capitaneis partis guelfe [. . .] allibraverunt Antonium Guiducii Martini de Lorençano civem aretinum noviter creatum [. . .] in S. quinque de Porta Fori et Contrata La Streghy [. . .]5
Between 1 and 8 August 1403. The vintners of Arezzo complain that one surveyor is insufcent to meet the needs of the community for weighing and measuring; moreover, he does not serve as an abacus teacher. They therefore request that Agnolo di Giovanni da Bibbiena should be appointed as communal abacus teacher, so that the city will have two surveyors available. Angelo da Bibbiena is therefore appointed communal abacus teacher for one year at a salary of 15 orins. Audita et intellecta petitione producta pro parte tabernariorum sive vinacteriorum [. . .] cuius quidem petitionis tenor et forma talis est, videlicet: Magnici signori, pro parte de’ vinactieri d’Areço si racorda a la signoria vostra, che qui non è se non è uno taulatore, dal quale, perché solo, li citadini ne sono male serviti, et non s’insegna l’abecho a’ giovani che voglino imparare. Et venendo quello taulatore che c’è infermità o altro desasgio, non se poteria fare taulare una bocte né uno peço de terra. E però accioché i citadini sieno bene serviti, supplicano a la signoria vostra che, colli vostri collegii et consigli oportuni, conduciate Agnolo da Bibbiena, buono taulatore, el quale insegnarà a’ fanciugli che vorano imparare l’abecho, et essendo doi taulatori, farà bene, l’uno per l’altro, cum quella provisione che pare a la vostra discreptione per uno anno solo [. . .] [Fuit reformatum] quod dictus Angelus, in petitione nominatus, auctoritate presentis consilii, sit et esse intelligatur electus agrimessor a presenti comuni Aretii pro uno anno proxime venturo, ad tabulandum, mensurandum et docendum puerulos et alios adiscere cupientes, et alia faciendo, prout ex debito sue artis tenetur, cum provisione orenorum quindecim auri pro dicto unico anno, et die qua scolas inceperit retinere, incipiat eius salarium; et quod eidem solvatur pro rata temporis dicte summe, et ad stantiamentum dominorum priorum et capitaneorum, camerarius comunis Aretii eidem solvere teneatur, cum solita gabella D. XII pro L. qualibet, dummodo veniat et incipiat suam artem exercere per totum presentem mensem settembris proxime futurum.6 8 August 1403. A letter of appointment is accordingly sent to Agnolo di Giovanni da Bibbiena, who immediately accepts his election in person. Amice care salutem et omne bonum. Dignum arbitramur et congruum illos ad oftiorum nostrorum honores et comoda promovere qui, de, puritate ac legalitate, virtute moniti, ad comune nostrum ex spetiali que[m]dam reportant affectum. Sane considerantes, fame iure laudabili
6
ASA Provv. 4, fol. 10v–11r. Passed by 35 votes to 9.
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nomine, et quanta comune nostrum mentis affectione diligitis, in nostrorum mentium perspicacitatem intuentes, dum de futura electione unius magistri in arte arismetrice edocti per oportuna consiliorum nostrorum solempnia tranctaretur, ad personam vestram gratanter diressimus iure considerationis intuitum, vos cum pactis, modis et condictionibus infrascriptis unanimiter eligentes. Debetis namque scholas retinere in civitate Aretii, et artem vestram docere adiscere cupientes, et etiam ad mensurandum, recepto salario condecenti, et artem vestram exercere in civitate prefata, ut hactenus est consuetum, dummodo veniatis et scholas retineatis per totum presentem mensem settembris proxime secuturum (alias electio evanescit) pro uno anno proxime futuro, incipiendo die qua scolas inceperitis retinere, cum provisione orenorum quindecim auri pro dicto anno, pro qualibet libra solvendo D. XII cum retentione gabelle, de duobus mensibus in duos menses pro rata sume a camerario nostri comunis. Quare sincerititatem vestram rogamus adtente, quatenus, non ispecta modica salarii quantitate sed animorum nostrorum motus [sic], electionem per presentem aceptare vellitis infra tres dies a die harum presentationum, et de aceptatione vel renumptatione, que utinam non contingat, nobis per latorem presentium respondentes. Datum Aretii die ottava mensis augusti, indictione XI MºCCCCIIIº. Priores populi et civitatis Aretii. Prudenti et circumpspecto viro Angelo Iohannis de Bibiena agrimessori amicho nostro carissimo. Dicta die VIII augusti, dictus Angelus, sponte etcetera, dictam electionem de eo factam dei nomine aceptavit, rogans me notarium ut de predictis publice concerem documentum.7 4 December 1403. Ser Vettore di Arrigo, an Aretine citizen who has been running a school and teaching reading, writing and grammar for more than two years in Arezzo, requests an full tax exemption, while he continues to teach, for himself and for the property in which he lives. His petition is approved. Ser Victorii exemptio Audita et intellecta petitione talis continentie et tenoris, videlicet: Coram vobis magnicis viris dominis prioribus populi civitatis Aretii, capitaneis partis ghelfe et toto consilio dicte civitatis Aretii, pro parte delissimi servitoris vestri Ser Victorii Arigi vestri civis, humiliter exponitur et narratur, quod ipse Ser Victorius retinuit scolas in vestra civitate
7
ASA Provv. 4, fol. 12r.
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iam sunt duo anni et ultra, docens scolares ad legendum, scribendum, gramaticam et auctores, offerens se, toto cordis affectu, bona de et sollicite predicta omnia et singula facere et exercere, et civibus aretinis in predictis omnibus complacere. Quare, cum ipse Ser Victorius sit impotens et quasi nil possideat in bonis in civitate et comitatu Aretii, supplicat humiliter et devote dominationi vestre, quatenus placeat, dignemini et velitis, de speciali gratia et amore, reformare et reformari facere in vestris opportunis consiliis, quod ipse Ser Victorius, merito predictorum, habeat et habere debeat a comune Aretii quod, interim quousque dictas scolas in dicta vestra civitate retinuerit, sit immunis et exemptus ab omnibus et singulis expensis occurrendis in comuni Aretii realibus et personalibus mediis et sive mistis, sub suo nomine et sub nomine heredum Maçoli molendinarii, in qua domo ipse cum sua matre habitat, prout alii magistri scolarum et similia facientes hactenus fuerunt, ut, mediantibus predictis, ipse possit se, matrem et uxorem et liam gubernare et alere, rogans altissimo toto corde, ut civitatem vestram [sic] in prospero et felici statu conservet, manuteneat et augeat et de bono in melius acreschat. Fuit per dictum generale consilium solempniter provisum, statutum, ordinatum, sancitum, obtentum et solempniter reformatum, quod in omnibus et per omnia sit, at, observetur et executioni mandetur, prout, sicut et quemadmodum in dicta petitione sua plenius et latius continetur [. . .]8 20 August 1404. The appointment of the communal abacus teacher and surveyor, Agnolo da Bibbiena, is due to expire on 25 August; therefore, he is reappointed for three further years with the same salary and conditions of service. Cum conducta Angeli de Bibiena agrimensoris niat die XXV presentis mensis augusti, et necesse sit providere ut reconducatur vel alius agrimensor loco sui eligatur, fuit provisum [. . .] quod dictus Angelus ex nunc intelligatur esse reconductus pro tribus annis incipiendis die prima post dictam eius conductam, cum salario, pactis et condictionibus alias inter eum et comune Aretii factis et habitis.9
8 9
ASA Provv. 4, fol. 20r. ASA Provv. 4, fol. 38v.
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15 April 1405. A subsidy of 5 orins is provided for the convent of S. Domenico in Arezzo, in order to restore their library, from which the books were removed a few days earlier owing to a re. Fratrum Sancti Dominici Item fuit [. . .] reformatum [. . .] quod [. . .] priores et capitanei partis guelfe valeant stantiare fratribus Sancti Dominici de Aretio orenos quinque auri, qui debeant expendi in reactione et remissione librorum studii dicti loci, qui libri de dicto studio fuerunt stracti propter ignem, qui fuit de proximis diebus ibidem accensus, in subsidio dicti conventi [. . .]10 28 December 1407. Since it is necessary to have more than one surveyor in Arezzo, Taddeo di Vanuccio da Montepulciano is appointed to act as communal surveyor and abacus teacher for three years at an annual salary of 15 orins and with the same further conditions that applied to the appointment of the previous abacus teacher and surveyor, Angelo da Bibbiena. Taddeo accepts the appointment on the same day. Taddey Vanuci de Monte Pulitiano conducta Cum summe necessarium dignoscitur pro evidenti commodo et utilitate civium civitatis Aretii et ibidem habitantium, quod in civitate Aretii [stet] non solus unus agrimensor sed plures; et cum modico dispendio [h]aberi possit Taddeus Vannucii, agrimensor de Monte Policiano, homo bone condictionis et fame; [. . .] fuit [. . .] reformatum, quod dictus Taddeus Vanutii de Monte Politiano ex nunc sit et esse intelligatur conductus in tabulatorem et agrimensorem comunis Aretii pro tribus annis proximis cum [h]ac condictione, quod ipse retineat scholas abachi et residentiam faciat in civitate Aretii per dictum tempus, et det duos deiussores de servando predicta et infrascripta, et de civitate Aretii et de eius districtu non secedere, nisi cum licentia dominorum priorum civitatis Aretii, e[t] solum bis in anno ad plus et pro quindicem diebus tantum vice qualibet concedi possit, et teneatur noticare prioribus pro tempore existentibus, si noluerit plus permanere ad servitia comunis Aretii duobus mensibus ante nem dicte sue conducte, et quod ipse [h]abeat et habere debeat quolibet anno dictorum trium annorum a dicto comuni Aretii orenos quindicem auri, eo modo et forma quibus solvebantur Angelo tabulatori de Bibiena, olim comunis Aretii agrimensori, et quod ipse sit inmunis et exemtum [sic] tempore predicto a fationibus realibus et personalibus per dictum comune Aretii quomodolibet indicendis et inponendis [. . .]
10
ASA Provv. 4, fol. 61v.
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Taddei tabulatoris acceptatio Dicta die comparuit personaliter coram dictis dominis prioribus Taddeus Vannucii agrimensor de Monte Politiano, et audita et intellecta conductione et electione de eo facta, sponte accettavit etcetera promisit etcetera. 13 January 1408. Taddeo da Montepulciano and the Aretine government agree that his appointment shall be deemed to have begun on 1 January 1408 and Taddeo accordingly produces two Aretine citizens to swear on his behalf. Promissio et satissdatio Taddey tabulatoris Die tertiadecima mensis ianuarii. Constitutus coram dictis dominis prioribus civitatis Aretii [. . .] Taddeus Vannucii de Monte Politiano, agrimensor conductus in tabulatorem comunis Aretii, et audita et intellecta conducta de eo facta [. . .] et pactis in ea positis et discriptis [. . .] promisit [. . .] actendere et observare omnia et singula in dicta sua conducta [. . .] sub ipoteca et obligatione sui et omnium suorum bonorum presentium et fucturorum, et in concordia fuerunt dicti domini priores et Taddeus prefati, quod dicta eius conducta inceperit et incepta fuerit in calendis presentis mensis ianuarii; pro quo Taddeo, et eius precibus et mandatis, deiussores extiterunt infrascripti ambo simul et quilibet eorum in solidum, videlicet: Stefanus vocato Saccho quondam Neri aurifex et Bertinus Marchi Bertini calçolarius
}
cives aretini promictentes etc. [. . .]11
18 August 1409. As a result of the insupportable nancial demands to which Arezzo has been subjected, it is decided to economize; therefore, the annual salary of 50 orins payable to the grammar teacher Ser Francesco di Ser Feo di Nigi d’Arezzo is forthwith cancelled.12 Proposita de elevatione exspensarum Cum hutile sit pro dicto comuni quod, consideratis incomportabilibus expensis obcursis, et que cotidie exper[i]antur obcurrere in dicto comuni Aretii pro tempore fucturo ob multas causas; et bonum et hutile sit pro dicto comuni parsimonniçare, ut multe expense, quas
11
ASA Provv. 4, fol. 130v–31r. As a result of this suspension of his salary, Francesco di Ser Feo brought a successful legal action for breach of contract against the commune, and his salary and appointment were restored: see Black (1996a), pp. 389–91. 12
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dictum comune ad presens habet, eleventur et cessentur, et maxime de salario magistri scolarum conducto et salariato a dicto comuni Aretii [. . .] [fuit deliberatum] quod omnes esspense et salaria alicui concessa per comune seu consilium generale concessa hactenus in dicta civitate Aretii Magistri Francesci Ser Fei Nisgii de Aretio, magistri scolarum conducti per comune Adretii ad docendum puero[s] gramaticam et legendum auctore[s] in dicta civitate Aretii ad rationem Fl. quinqueginta, ut dicitur, in anno, ex nunc, auctoritate presentis deliberationis et consilii, intelligantur et sint remota et anullata; et dictus non possit nec valeat deinceps aliquid habere a dicto comune occaxione dicte sue conducte, que anullata esse intelligatur conducta predicta, donec per consilium generale civitatis Aretii aliter providebitur.13 8 July 1409. Taddeo da Montepulciano, the communal abacist, has left town and has not fullled his duties, as stipulated in his appointment, for several months. He is therefore dismissed from his position. Advertentes et considerantes quod Taddeus ________ [spatium] de Monte Pulitiano, conducto [sic] in arismetricum et agrimessorem comunis Aretii pro tempore in eius conducta contento, recesit et se per plurium mensium spatium a dicta civitate Aretii et non fecit nec facit ea que ipse promiserat et obligatus est facere dicto comuni Aretii, in dampnum et preiudicium dicti comunis Aretii; deliberaverunt, ordinaverunt, decreverunt et reformaverunt quod dictus Taddeus intelligatur ex nunc [. . .] cassus et pro casso a conductione ut supra de eo facta sit et esse debeat, et nullum possit vel debeat habere salarium a die sue absentie ulterius [. . .]14 13 March 1412. Surveying and measuring are essential for communal life; moreover, abacus teaching is also useful. Since there is only one surveyor in Arezzo, it is proposed to select a committee of eight citizens to appoint, together with the usual communal magistrates, a suitably qualied abacist. Considerato quanto ministerium tabulandi et mensurandi tam agros, vineas, silvas, pascua et alia loca quam vegites in civitate et cortinis Aretii sepius frequentatur, itaque nedum solus unus tabulator et agrimenssor
13 ASA Provv. 4, fol. 165v, 169r. The provision suspending Francesco’s salary was passed by a majority of 31 to 9. 14 ASA Provv. 4, fol. 166v.
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sed etiam duo essent non ad sufcientiam; et etiam aliud comodum et utilitas sequi posset si esset qui artem arismi et abachum doceret in civitate Aretii adiscere volentibus; et considerato quod in civitate aretina predicta non est nisi unus tabulator vel agrimensor [. . .] [fuit deliberatum] quod domini priores populi, capitanei partis guelfe civitatis Aretii et otto cives [. . .] debeant eligere [. . .] unum bonum et sufcientem tabulatorem et [a]grimensorem, unuscumque fuerit, qui habeat dictum ofcium tabulandi facere et exercere in civitate Aretii, [. . .] et ubicumque per cives civitatis Aretii fuerit requisitus, cum salario consueto et, per dictos dominos priores, capitaneos et cives ut supra, declarando, et pro eo tempore [. . .] et cum illis pactis, modis, formis et condictionibus, quibus dictis dominis prioribus capitaneis et otto civibus [. . .] videbitur et placebit [. . .]15 28 April 1412. A commission was constituted to nd and appoint a communal surveyor and abacus teacher at an annual salary not exceeding 20 orins; however, none could be found for less than 24 orins. Therefore, Iacopo di Francesco da Cortona is appointed communal abacist for one year at a salary of 24 orins. Cum fuerit attributa auctoritas et balia presentibus dominis prioribus, capitaneis partis guelfe et otto civibus presentis consilii per ipsos electos [. . .] providendi, eligendi et ducendi in hac civitate aretina unum bonum et ydoneum tabulatorem, agrimensorem et magistrum abachi cum salario usitato; quod salarium usitatum non reperitur adscendisse numerum viginti orenorum pro quolibet anno; cum, facta diligenti inquisitione, non reperiatur per eos aliquis tabulator qui aceptare velit pro dicto pauco salario; et unus solus reperiatur, nomine Iacobus Francisci de Cortona, qui est sufcientissimus et idoneus ad dictam artem; et pro suo salario pro uno anno tantum velit orenos viginti quattuor auri nettos, et offert se bene servire comuni nostro [. . .] cum Vicus Bindi pro dicta de dicta causa [sic] ex commissione dominorum priorum iverit Cortunuam, et inter eundo, stando et redeundo steterit duobus diebus [. . .] [Fuit deliberatum,] audita [. . .] proposita de tabulatore [. . .] quod domini priores [. . .] et capitanei [. . .] eligere possint et valeant Iacobum Francisci de Cortona, in proposita nominatum, pro tempore unius anni proxime venturi, incipiendi ea die qua se presentabit coram dictis dominis prioribus pro continua residentia facienda, dummodo hoc faciat infra tempus per dictos dominos priores declarandum, in tabulatorem,
15
ASA Provv. 5, fol. 60v–61r. Passed by a majority of 38 to 10.
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agrimensorem et ad docendum et abachum et artem tabulandi et mensurandi adiscere volentes, recepta debita mercede; cum salario orenorum viginti quactor auri nectorum sibi solvendorum de mense in mensem, prout tangit pro rata [. . .] et vel cum salario orenorum XXti auri, et cum assignatione eidem Iacobo unius domus sibi congrue pro sua habitatione, prout idem domini priores capitanei viderint utilius expedire; cum illis pactis, modis, condictionibus, obligationibus et ordinamentis ac modicationibus, quibus dictis dominis prioribus capitaneis [. . .] videatur expedire [. . .] et [. . .] quod dictus Vicus Bindi habeat pro suo salario duorum dierum, quibus stetit inter eundo, stando et redeundo pro dicta de causa [sic], L. tres sp. sine aliqua retentione gabelle [. . .] Electio Iacobi de Cortona in tabulatorem comunis Aretii [. . .] Priores [. . .] et capitanei [. . .] eligerunt et nominaverunt ac deputaverunt providum virum Iacobum Francisci de Cortona, licet absentem, in tabulatorem, agrimenssorem civitatis Aretii et ad docendum abachum et artem tabulandi in dicta civitate Aretii adiscere volentibus bene, solicite et bona de, debitam tamen mercedem recipiendo, pro tempore [. . .] unius anni proxime venturi, incipiendo ea die qua se in civitate Aretii et coram dominis prioribus qui pro tempore erunt presentabit, pro continua residentia et pro dicto ministerio faciendo; cum salario orenorum viginta quattuor auri nettorum sine aliqua retentione gabelle sibi persolvendorum [. . .] de mense in mense [. . .] Cum hoc quod dictus Iacobus teneatur et debeat ad requisitionem cuiuslibet operam sui ministerii prestare et abacum docere, et similiter artem tabulandi bene et diligenter et sine aliqua fraude, et sic iurare teneatur in manibus cancellarii comunis Aretii, recipiendo tamen ut predicitur debitam mercedem. Et non possit dictus Iacobus se absentare a civitate Aretii pernoctando sine expressa licentia dominorum priorum [. . .] civitatis Aretii qui pro tempore erunt, qui [. . .] potestatem habeant licentiam concedendi, prout eis videbitur [. . .]16 4 May 1412. Iacopo da Cortona presents himself, accepts the appointment and swears accordingly. Iuramentum dicti tabulatoris Die quarto mensis may mercurii. Constitutus personaliter coram dominis prioribus [. . .] dictus Iacobus, et audita electione de se suprafacta, invocata spiritus sancti gratia, dictam electionem aceptavit, et
16
ASA Prov. 5, fol. 62r–63r. Passed by a majority of 39 to 9.
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promisit et promictendo iuravit ad sancta dey evangelia corporaliter manibus tactando dictam suam artem bene, soliciter et sine fraude aliqua in dicta civitate Aretii facere et exercere, remotis hodio, amore, timore [. . .] offerens se venturum ad civitatem Aretii pro continua residentia facienda per totum presentem mensem may.17 17 May 1412. Iacopo da Cortona begins his residence as communal abacist. Inceptio anni sue conducte Die decimo settimo mensis may predicti. Dictus Iacobus se rapresentavit coram dictis dominis prioribus predictis pro continua residentia facienda.18 26 April 1413. The communal treasurer is authorized to pay the salary of the communal abacist, Maestro Iacopo da Cortona. Pro salario magistri de l’abico [. . .] Quid videtur deliberare super salario Magistri Iacobi de l’Abacho [. . .] [fuit deliberatum] quod [. . .] camerarius comunis aretini [. . .] debeat solvere [. . .] pro salario Magistri Iacobi [. . .]19 4 May 1413. The communal treasurer is authorized to pay Maestro Iacopo da Cortona four months’ salary. [Fuit deliberatum] quod camerarius comunis Aretii teneatur [. . .] solvere [. . .] salarium suum Magistro Iacobo _______ [spatium] agrimensori de Cortona quatuor mensium inceptorum die ________ [spatium] videlicet orenos __________ [spatium] ad rationem orenorum _______ [spatium] in anno vigore sue conductionis.20 21 May 1413. A month’s salary is approved for Maestro Iacopo da Cortona, the communal abacist. Fuit provisum [. . .] quod Magister Iacobus ______ [spatium] de Cortona magister abbechi conductus per comune Aretii ad docendum abbachum et agrimensolariam adiscere volentibus in civitate Aretii habeat eius salarium unius ultimi mensis sue conducte incepti die XVI aprilis et niti die XVI mai MCCCCXIII orenos duos auri ad rationem orenorum viginti quatuor in anno. Que quidem provisio approbata et
17 18 19 20
ASA ASA ASA ASA
Provv. Provv. Provv. Provv.
5, 5, 5, 5,
fol. fol. fol. fol.
63r. 63r. 91r–92r. Approved by a majority of 35 to 7. 92r.
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raticata fuit die XX maii per consilium 84 civium aretinorum habentium auctoritatem super expensis extraordinariis comunis Aretii.21 4 January 1414. Arezzo lacks communal grammar teaching, which in the past has considerably proted the city. The outgoing civic priors allowed Maestro Niccolò di Ser Duccio d’Arezzo, the grammarian-elect now residing in Pistoia, a six-month delay in assuming his duties. The new government believes this situation is damaging, and so it is decided to write to Maestro Niccolò, informing him that his appointment will be cancelled unless he begins teaching by the forthcoming 8 February. [. . .] Priores una cum capitaneis partis guelfe civitatis Aretii [. . .] volentes utilitati comunis Aretii quantum in eis est salubriter providere, advertentes quod in civitate Aretii non est aliquis magister gramatice qui qui [sic] erudire et docere possit pueros in civitate Aretii gramaticalem scientiam, que temporibus retrohactis multum profuit civibus aretinis, et gradus est ad aliarum scientiarum [sic]; et visa quadam electione facta de Magistro Nicolao Ser Ducii de Aretio per dominos priores et capitaneos partis guelfe civitatis Aretii; et visis modis et condictionibus quibus fuit electus [. . .] necnon viso susequenter termino sibi assignato per solos dominos priores ad veniendum [. . .] et continue ad docendum gramaticam in civitate Aretii, qui terminus longniquitate sua magnam confert incomoditatem civitati et civibus aretinis;22 et volentes dictum Magistrum Nicolaum excitare ad veniendum quam citius potest, et, eo absente elapso termino sibi statuendo, de alio magistro gramatice providere [. . .] deliberaverunt quod dicti domini priores scribant unam licteram dicto Magistro Nicolao, qui moram trahit Pistorium [sic], quatenus compareat et per totum presentem mensis ianuarii comparere debeat in civitate Aretii ad continue scholas retinendum et gramaticam et auctores docendum et legendum; alias, elapso dicto termino, intelligatur esse amotus a dicta sua electione, et de alio magistro providebitur [. . .]23 20 January 1414. The priors write accordingly to Maestro Niccolò di Ser Duccio, the grammar teacher-elect. Amice karissime. Invenimus precessores nostros elegisse ac conduxisse prudentiam vestram in magistrum gramatice in civitate Aretii modis et forma et condictionibus in electione contentis, de qua constat manu 21 22 23
ASA Provv. 5, fol. 93r. This was six months, authorized on 30 December 1413: Black (1996a), p. 399. ASA Provv. 5, fol. 112v. See Black (1996a), pp. 396–401.
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Ser Iacobi Ser Iohannis tunc cancellari comunis Aretii. Ea propter, visa electione predicta et volentes indemnitati nostri comunis et singularium personarum eiusdem attendere, et vacationi diutine vestre providere, deliberamus una cum nostris capitaneis partis guelfe vobis scribere, et tenore presentium vobis intimare, quatenus hinc ad per totum diem ottavum mensis februarii proxime venturi presentare personaliter vos debeatis in civitate Aretii ad retinendum scholas et docendum gramaticam et ad alia secundum formam vestre electionis; alias vestra electio predicta evaneschat et evanescere volumus, elasso dicto termino de alio provisuri magistro. Datum Aretii die XX ianuarii MCCCCXIII. Priores populi civitatis Aretii. A tergo: Egregio viro Magistro Nicolao Ser Ducii magistro gramatice carissimo civi nostro Pistorii.24 18 September 1414. A proposal in favour of Maestro Domenico di Bandino, then temporarily teaching grammar in Arezzo during the absence of Maestro Niccolò di Ser Duccio, is unsuccessful. Quarto cum egregius doctor etcetera. (Non fuit obtentum.) [. . .] Item consuluit super quarta proposita de electione Magistri Dominici. (Non fuit obtentum.)25 4 October 1416. Proposals for the payment of salary arrears to two former communal grammar teachers, the late Niccolò di Ser Duccio, and Francesco di Ser Feo di Nigi, are considered in the Aretine general council. Cum dictum comune Aretii sit oneratum variis debitis infrascriptis civibus videlicet [. . .] Magistro Nicolao Ser Duccii sive eius heredibus pro salario dicti olim Magistri Nicolai duorum mensium vel circa in orenis XXII cum dimidio [. . .] Item Magistro Francischo Ser Fei Nisii in Fl. decem, prout alias deliberatum fuit in presenti consilio quod ipse dictam quantitatem haberet [. . .]26 3 October 1417. A dazio is approved to pay the salary of the communal grammar teacher, Ser Giovanni di Ercolano da Montepulciano. Cum Ser Iohannes Arculani de Montepolitiano fuerit conductus per comune Aretii ad docendum pueros, et debet habere a comuni Aretii
24 25 26
ASA Provv. 5, fol. 112v. ASA Provv. 5, fol. 127r, 128r. See Black (1996a), pp. 399–401. ASA Provv. 5, fol. 192r.
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pro suo salario unius anni L. quadraginta D. sp., et licentia sit in comuni quod provideatur de suo salario L. XL [. . .] [fuit deliberatum] quod [. . .] priores [. . .] et capitanei partis guelfe possint imponere datium pro solvendo dicto Ser Iohanni [. . .] ad stantiamentum dominorum priorum et capitaneorum partis guelfe.27 14 December 1418. A committee of four citizens is selected in order to assist in the appointment of Ser Santi di Domenico d’Arezzo as communal grammar teacher. Nominatio facta per priores de quattuor civibus vigore predicte commissionis eis facte Item postea dicta die quattuordecima mensis decembris. Supradicti domini priores populi civitatis Aretii omnes simul ad collegium existentes in salecta eorum solite audientie, advertentes ad quamdam seu quasdam remissiones eisdem et eorum ofcio factas per generale consilium comunis et civitatis Aretii ut supra de eligendo et nominando quattuor cives civitatis Aretii de dicto consilio, qui una cum dictis dominis prioribus et capitaneis partis guelfe civitatis predicte habeant auctoritatem [. . .] providendi de magistro gramatice ydoneo, videlicet de Ser Sante quondam Dominici de Aretio et ipsum eligendi et conducendi [. . .] nominaverunt in dictos et pro dictis quattuor civibus [. . .] providos viros Testam Bartholomei de Testis, Tucciarellum Cecchi, Ser Lucham Ser Laurentii et Antonium Nannis Berardini de Camaianis, omnes cives honorabiles aretinos et de dicto generali consilio existentes etc.28 12 January 1429. The committee of eight citizens, chosen to draw up new statutes and particularly to prevent useless expenditure, is also charged with nding a communal abacus teacher for an annual salary up to 25 orins. Item cum alias provisum fuerit et ordinatum quod in civitate Aretii esset unus magister abaci seu arismetrice, et fuerit data auctoritas duobus civibus aretinis de conducendo unum magistrum pro dicta arte docenda, quod supradicti ofciales et statutarii habeant auctoritatem practicandi pro uno magistro dicte artis, et referre preterea prioribus et capitaneis partis, et qui fuerit per eos electus, intelligatur esse et sit conductus cum salario deputando per dictos priores et capitaneos partis usque in quantitatem orenorum XXV auri et abinde infra quolibet anno.29
27 28 29
ASA Provv. 5, fol. 217r–v. Passed by a majority of 32 to 10. ASA Provv. 5, fol. 250v. See Black (1996a), p. 415. ASA Provv. 6, fol. 27v.
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16 January 1430. A letter attesting to the good service of the fencing master, Maestro Bartolomeo di Bartolomeo da Mantova, is approved. Lictera benserviti et comendationis Magistri Bartolomey de Mantova [. . .] Priores [. . .] mandaverunt quod [. . .] scribatur [. . .] unam licteram [sic] in servitium, laudem et comendationem Magistri Bartolomey olim alterius Bartolomey de Mantua, magistri ensi[s] ludii sive scheremagle, per quam at des universis et singulis ad quos advenerit, qualiter ipse Magister Bartolomeus se bene habuit et valde gessit et exercuit dictam artem et denique recexit gratia et amore civium et gloriam meruit reportare [. . .]30 26 June 1430. The communal grammar teacher, Maestro Antonio di Niccolò di Simone Burletti d’Arezzo, has obtained in Rome the removal of an ancient excommunication from city of Arezzo. He is to be reimbursed for expenses of 2 orins. Cum Magister Antonius lius Nicolai Simonis presbiter de Aretio, caritate motus, Romam pergens, audito et intellecto maxime a Fratre Alberto ordinis Sancti Francisci quod comunitas Aretii antiquis temporibus excomunicata fuit, naliter ipso Magistro Antonio mediante et suis optimis operibus, a summo pontice obtenta fuit rebenedictionis gratia, et in predictis de sua propria peccunia duos expendidit orenos qui numquam restituti sibi fuerunt [. . .] Fuit [. . .] de expensis factis in gratia rebenedictionis [. . .] obtentum [. . .] quod [. . .] priores [. . .] stantiare possint [. . .] circa solutionem duorum orenorum [. . .] per Magistrum Antonium Nicolai occasione dicte gratie expensorum [. . .]31 18 May 1432. A dazio is authorized to pay the salary of the communal grammar teacher, Maestro Marco di Giovanni di Simo Scamisci d’Arezzo. [. . .] Fuit [. . .] reformatum quod, pro solutione salarii Magistri Marci Iohannis Simi, electi in magistrum gramatice et auctorum in civitate Aretii, et ut debito tempore de dicto suo salario persolvatur, quod, durante tempore conducte dicti Magistri Marci, quolibet bimestri per dominos priores in ofcio existentes addetur et addi debeat et possit datio salarii domini capitanei et custodum civitatis Aretii S. unum et ratam [sic] dicti datii solvatur dicto Magistro Marco omni modo etc.32
25 April 1433. Provision is made through the levying of dazii for funds to pay the salary of the communal grammar teacher, Maestro Marco di Giovanni Scamisci. Pro Magistro Marcho magistro gramatice [. . .] Intellecta petitione Magistri Marci Iohannis magistri gramatice et auctorum in civitate Aretii, continente in effectu quod provideatur quod sibi solvatur de suo salario, fuit et est [. . .] reformatum, quod super primo datio extraordinario imponendo, et quod imponetur in comuni Aretii superimponatur et addatur et ex nunc prout ex tunc superimpositus et additus [. . .] unus soldus et ad rationem unius soldi pro libra ultra quantitatem pro dicto datio imponendo et indicendam, et sic eri et solvi debeat per omnes dictum datium solvere debentes, et sic successive at et observetur et eri et observari possit et debeat in et super quolibet datio extraordinario in futurum quandocumque imponendo vel indicendo in comuni Aretii pro solvendo dicto Magistro Marcho de suo salario sibi debito vigore sue conducte a comuni Aretii, et quicquid ex dicto soldo uno pro libra ut supra imponendo et addendo, exigetur, convertatur et converti debeat in solutionem et pro solutione dicti salarii [. . .]33 12 June 1433. The priors and captains of the Guelf party are authorized to pay Maestro Marco di Giovanni Scamisci, the communal grammarian, his salary. Pro salario Magistri Marci Iohannis Audita petitione Magistri Marci Iohannis de Aretio magistri gramatice et auctorum in civitate Aretii, qua in effectu petitur provideri per dictum consilium generale, quod eidem Ser Marcho solvatur de suo salario sibi promisso et debito per comune Aretii, tam pro tempore preterito quam pro futuro, cum alias non fuerit provisum de et super predictis ad sufcientiam. Idcirco considerantes quod dignus est mercennarius mercede sua, provisum, deliberatum et reformatum ut supra fuit et est, quod priores et capitanei partis civitatis Aretii ex nunc auctoritate presentis consilii habeant et habere intelligantur illam et tantam auctoritatem, potestatem et baliam, quantam et quam habet presens consilium, providendi, deliberandi et ordinandi eo modo, quo et prout et sicut eis videbitur et placebit de et super solutione dicti salarii dicti Magistri Marci, et unde et quomodo sibi solvatur de dicto suo salario de quo et prout in petitione sua continetur, et dictum eius salarium possint et valeant stantiare, et camerarius comunis Aretii ad
33
ASA Provv. 6, fol. 150v.
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eorum stantiamentum eidem Magistro Marco solvere licite et impune, et quicquid in predictis et circa predicta per prefatos dominos priores et capitaneos partis factum fuerit, valeat et teneat et possit et debeat exequi et executioni mandari et plenum sortiatur effectum, ac si factum esset per dictum generale consilium seu per comune Aretii.34 15 June 1433. The priors and the captains of the Guelf party authorize appropriate taxation to raise the salary of Maestro Marco di Giovanni Scamisci, the communal grammar teacher. Pro Magistro Marcho Iohannis et eius salario Die quintodecimo mensis iunii. Supradicti domini priores populi civitatis Aretii et capitanei partis guelfe civitatis eiusdem [. . .] deliberaverunt quod pro nunc pro solvendo salarium Magistri Marci Iohannis de Aretio magistri gramatice et auctorum in civitate Aretii primo datio extraordinario imponendo et indiciendo in comuni et seu per comune Aretii vel ab eo auctoritatem habentes superimponantur et addantur et superimpositi et additi ex nunc sint et esse intelligantur soldi sex pro libra ultra quantitatem pro dicto datio extraordinario imponendam, et sic et ad dictam rationem dictorum S. VI pro libra ultra dictam aliam quantitatem pro dicto datio imponendo solvi et exigi possit et debeat a debentibus dictum datium solvere [. . .] pro solvendo et satisfaciendo dicto Magistro Marco de dicto suo salario seu eius parte.35 9 July 1434. Maestro Marco di Giovanni Scamisci, the communal grammar teacher, requests payment of 132 lire due to him for his salary; the priors and captains of the Guelf party are authorized to make payment, if necessary, through further taxation. Pro petitione Magistri Marchi Iohannis Super petitione Magistri Marchi Iohannis, cuius tenor talis est, videlicet: Denançi da voi, magnici signori e venerabili capitani de parte guelfa e prudentissimi conseglieri, dice e expone reverentemente Maestro Marcho de Giovanni vostro minimo citadino, che, conciosiacosaché sse resti essere pagato del tempo suo servito per mesi octo, che sono circa L. 132, supplica a la vostra signoria che vi piaccia provedere che sia pagato [. . .] [Fuit deliberatum] quod domini priores et capitanei videant et perquirant utrum peccunia sit in comuni Aretii causa solvendi
34 35
ASA Provv. 6, fol. 152v. ASA Provv. 6, fol. 153r.
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Magistro Marcho. Et si est, solvatur eidem de dicta pecunia. Si vero non esset, possint indicere unum datium cum dicto datio festivitatis Sancti Donati ad rationem aliorum quattuor soldorum pro libra, de cuius datii peccunia eri debeat solutio dicti debiti.36 13 July 1434. A further dazio is ordered to raise the appropriate funds. Deliberatio datii S. IIIIor pro libra [Priores et capitanei partis guelfe] deliberaverunt quod datium quatuor S. pro libra deliberatum in consilio sub dicta die bampniatur et exigatur simul cum alio datio ordinato pro festivitate et branio Sancti Donati [. . .]37 13 July 1434. A committee of four citizens is chosen to nd a communal grammar teacher. Electio civium causa inveniendi unum magistrum gramatice Priores [. . .] nemine discerpante eligerunt infrascriptos cives causa inveniendi unum magistrum gramatice et pro pratica super predictis habenda, videlicet: Francischum Baccii Ser Presentinum Francisci
DOCUMENTS ON EDUCATION IN SANSEPOLCRO UP TO 1400 6 August 1391. Advice is sought from the town council whether to continue the appointment of the present communal grammar teacher or to appoint another teacher. One councillor advises the creation of a nominating committee, while another proposes that the selection of a teacher should be left to the town’s presiding magistrate (the vicar of the Malatesta rulers). In view of the disagreement, the vicar himself proposes that he and the town’s chancellor should select the nominating committee. This nal proposal is successful, and so they choose the nominating committee, whose names are then listed. Primo de et super electione unius magistri gramatice pro tempore futuro, qui stet in dicto burgo ad docendum gramaticam, et de rermatione seu cassatione presentis magistri gramatice, et quid qualiter et quommodo debeat eri ut pro tempore futuro habeatur magister gramatice in dicto burgo [. . .] Dominus locumtenens [Bexacio comes de Plagnano] petiit sibi sanum consilium exiberi. Iohannes olim Petri Lamparelli de dicto burgo, unus ex dictis consiliariis dicti consilii, surgens dixit et consuluit [. . .] quod eligantur quatuor homines de dicto burgo boni et ydonei, qui possint magistrum gramatice de novo conducere, pro tempore quod eis videbitur, et cum salario consueto, et in predictis omnia facere que possit totum comune dicti burgi, et nominavit et elegit ydoneos ad predicta fore infrascriptos, videlicet: Ser Nardum Ser Fey Ser Mateum Ser Angeli Iohannem Bartoli Uguri et Nicolaum Maffei
}
de dicto burgo.
[. . .] Petrus olim Iob de Gratianis alius ex dictis consiliariis dixit et consuluit super prima proposita, quod per dictum dominum locumtenentem eligantur quatuor boni viri ad exequendum contenta in dicta proposita [. . .] In reformatione [. . .] auditis predictis consiliis discordantibus adinvicem per dictum dominum locumtenentem, ipse dominus locumtenens
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suum fecit, et posuit partitum inter dictos consiliarios in hunc modum: videlicet quod quibus placet per ipsum dominum locumtenentem et [Ser Benvenutum de Ripoli de Bononia] cancellarium eligantur quatuor boni homines ad conducendum magistrum gramatice moraturum in dicto burgo, pro tempore quod eis videbitur, et cum salario ordinato, seu ad readrmandum presentem magistrum qui presentialiter moratur in dicto burgo [. . .]1 Postquam, suprascripti dominus locumtenens et Ser Bevenutus, volentes eis commisssa deliter exequi [. . .] eligerunt et nominaverunt, comuni concordia, ad conducendum magistrum gramatice, et ad alia faciendum que in dicta proposita continentur, infrascriptos videlicet: Ser Nardum Ser Fey Ser Mateum Ser Angeli Meum Nerii Pichi et Mateum Cisci Horlandi
}
de dicto burgo.2
15 November 1391. The above-mentioned nominating committee appoints Maestro Bartolo di Iacopo da Pieve Santo Stefano as communal grammar teacher for two years beginning on 1 January 1392 at an annual salary of 42 orins. He is allowed to accept, from pupils indigenous to Sansepolcro, a monthly fee of 5 soldi for those learning Latin and half as much for those not yet learning Latin; no limits are placed on fees for pupils from outside Sansepolcro. He is required to come to Sansepolcro a month before the beginning of his term. Electio Magistri Bartoli Acta fuerunt infrascripta in apoteca abbatie dicti burgi et residentia mei notarii infrascripti [. . .] Prudentes viri Ser Mateus Ser Angeli notarius, Meus Nerii Pichi et Mateus Cisci Horlandi de dicto burgo, positi et electi pro comune dicti burgi una cum Ser Nardo Ser Fei notario eorum collega, ad conducendum magistrum gramatice moraturum in dicta terra burgi, et eidem salarium constituendum, et pacta et conventiones cum eo faciendum [. . .] eorum nominibus et vice et nomine dicti Ser Nardi eorum college, volentes et cupientes que eis commissa sunt executioni celeriter [. . .] exequi [. . .] pro bono et utilitati [sic] comunitatis dicti burgi, sponte, deliberate et concorditer ex eis, nemine discordante [. . .] eligerunt [. . .] in magistrum gramatice moraturum in dicto burgo, et ad legendum 1 2
This last proposal was carried by a majority of 25 to 3. ACSS Ser. II, vol. 1, fol. 25r–v. See Banker (2003), p. 63 and n. 16.
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et docendum gramaticam adiscere volentes, et pueros instruendos, et circa predicta vacandum, virum providum et in gramaticalibus disertum ac lymphis pieridum irrigatum Magistrum Bartolum Iacobi de Plebe Sancti Stephani pro duobus annis proxime futuris incipiendis die prima mensis ianuarii proxime futuri [. . .] cum salario quadraginta duorum orenorum auri anno quolibet, solvendo eidem per depositarium magnici et excelsi Domini Karoli de Malatestis, generalis domini dicti burgi in dicta terra, more solito, cum retentione duodecim denariorum pro libra [. . .] ut moris est; et quod ipse Magister Batolus [sic] teneatur et possit accipere ultra predicta pro suo salario a [ms: qui] quolibet scolare burgense latinante V soldos pro quolibet mense, et a quolibet alio non latinante duos soldos VI D. mense quolibet, et a scolaribus forensibus venientibus de extra burgum et eius districtum, possit accipere pro eius salario mense quolibet illud quod sibi placuerit; et quod teneatur accedere ad dictam terram burgi uno mense ante inceptionem dicti temporis [. . .]3 19 November 1391. In view of the high level of war expenses that the Malatesta rulers of Sansepolcro are currently facing, the vicar and the chancellor come to an agreement with the grammarian Maestro Niccolò da Cesena and Ser Bonaccorso di Ugone da Sansepolcro, that the latter two will teach grammar in Sansepolcro without communal salary until the middle of October 1392. They are allowed to charge pupils who are learning Latin or reading Donatus 5 soldi cortonenses a month and half as much to those not yet having reached that level; for their part, the vicar and the chancellor agree not to appoint any other grammar teachers during this period. Actum in dicto burgo in sala palatii comunis dicti burgi [. . .] Magnicus vir Beaciones, comes et locumtenens suprascriptus, et Ser Bevenutus de Ripoli cancellarius, considerantes quod in dicto burgo expedit habere magistrum gramatice qui doceat pueros dicti burgi et grammaticam legat; et adtendentes quod magnicus et excelsus Domini Karolus et fratres de Malatestis domini dicti burgi, propter guerrarum discrimina, amplius solito expensis innumeris fatigantur; et volentes quantum possint eos ab expensis relevare et eis subvenire; dictis nominibus, ex una parte, et Magister Nicolaus de Cesena artis gramatice magister et Ser Bonacursus Ugonis de dicto burgo, ambo similiter ex parte altera, de et super predictis et infrascriptis ad infrascripta pacta, compositiones, concordias et convenctiones concorditer devenerunt,
3
ACSS Ser. II, vol. 1, fol. 27v.
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videlicet: Quia dicti Magister Nicolaus et Ser Bonacursus promiserunt et convenerunt dictis domino locumtenenti et Ser Benvenuto, presentibus et legitime stipulantibus, legere gramaticam et auctores, et docere et instruere pueros ab eis volentes audire, et predictis vacare continue legendo, hinc ad festum Sancti Luce de mense octubris proxime futuri, gratis et absque aliquo salario eis solvendo pro dictis magnicis dominis seu comune dicti burgi, salvo quod pro eorum salario possint accipere a scolaribus audientibus ab eis, videlicet hiis qui fecerint latina et legant donatum ad rationem quinque soldorum D. cortonensium pro quolibet eorum et quolibet mense, et ab aliis ad rationem duorum soldorum et VI. D. pro quolibet mense; et continue vacare predictis, uno tamen eorum circa predicta vacante et legente, altero liberaturo. Et predicti promiserunt ipsi Magister Nicolaus et Ser Bonacursus adtendere et servire dictis domino locumtenenti et Ser Bevenuto legitime, stipulata pena XL orenorum auri aplicanda camere dictorum magnicorum dominorum, vice qualibet qua extiterit contrafact(um). Et ex adverso dicti dominus locutenens et Ser Bevenutus promiserunt et convenerunt dictis Magistro Nicolao et Ser Bonacurso, ligitime stipulantes sic et taliter facere et curare, quod, durante dicto tempore, non conducetur aliquis alius magister in gramaticalibus in dicto burgo cum salario, et si quis conductus esset, ipsum non admictere et salarium ei [ms: eis] non solvere etc. [. . .]4 26 November 1391. The above-mentioned agreement is rescinded. Die XXVI dicti mensis novembris. Actum in dicto palatio supra voltam [. . .] predicti dominus locumtenens et Ser Bevenutus ex una parte, et dicti Magister Nicolaus et Ser Bonacursus ex alia parte, comuni concordia, cassaverunt, anullaverunt et irritaverunt dictum contractum et pactum convenctum, et promisserunt in eo contenta et eum et eos et ea voluerunt esse nullius valoris efcacie vel effectus [. . .]5 12 December 1391. The nominating committee, rst constituted on 6 August 1391, together with the vicar and the chancellor, formally offer the appointment as communal grammarian for two years beginning on 1 January 1392 to Maestro Bartolo di Iacopo da Pieve S. Stefano, who accepts the post in person. Die XII mensis decembris anni predicti. Providi viri Ser Mateus Ser Angeli, Meus olim Nerii Pichi et Mateus Casci Horlandi de dicto
4 5
ACSS Ser. II, vol. 1, fol. 28r. ACSS Ser. II, vol. 1, fol. 27v.
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burgo, positi et electi per comune dicti burgi, una cum Ser Nardo Ser Fei, notario de dicto burgo, eorum collega ad conducendum magistrum gramatice moraturum in dicta terra burgi [. . .] constituti coram suprascriptis magnico viro Bexanono comite de Plagnano locumtenenti suprascripto et Ser Bevenuto de Ripoli cancellario [. . .] presentaverunt provido viro Magistro Bartolo Iacobi de Plebe Sancti Stefani, per eos electo in magistrum gramatice moraturum in dicto burgo ad legendum et docendum gramaticam adiscere volentibus, pro duobus annis futuris incipientibus die prima mensis ianuarii proximi futuri [. . .] electionem per eos factam de dicto Magistro Bartolo [. . .] rogantes eum, qualiter electionem predictam de se factam aceptare dignetur, et eidem electioni et omnibus in ea contentis suum prestare consensum pariter et ad sensum. Qui Magister Bartolus electus, constitutus coram dictis domino locumtenenti et Ser Bevenuto et dictis electoribus [. . .] ipsam electionem et pacta et convenctiones in ea descripta aceptavit [. . .]6 10 November 1392. Since there is no communal grammar teacher now in Sansepolcro, a proposal is accepted to appoint two citizens to nd such a teacher. Meanwhile, Maestro Niccolò da Cesena, who is currently teaching in Sansepolcro, should have the usual salary as long as he remains in town for that purpose.7 Pro habendo magistrum gramatice Cum in dicto burgo sit necesse habere quemdam magistrum gramatice, qui pueros instruat, et nullus presentialiter existat, quid hominibus dicti consilii videtur ordinare super electione et nominatione dicti magistri gramatice moraturi in dicto burgo, et quid facere debeat ut magistrum predictum [sic] habeatur [. . .] Ser Mateus Ser Angeli de dicto burgo, unus ex hominbus dicti consilii, in eo surgens [. . .] consuluit [. . .] quod, per dictum dominum locumtenentem, eligantur duo homines dicti burgi qui habeant providere et ordinare ut magister gramatice habeatur in dicto burgo moraturus ad docendum et instruendum pueros et in gramaticalibus vacandum, et eum conducant pro tempore quo[d] voluerint et cum salario consueto, et quod [ms.: isto] interim quousque ipse magister gramatice per dictos viros eligendos conductus extiterit, Magister Nicolaus de Cesena gramaticus, qui actualiter legit in dicto
6
ACSS Ser. II, vol. 1, fol. 28r. It is unclear why the document states that there was no teacher in Sansepolcro and yet goes on to say that Maestro Niccolò da Cesena was then teaching (‘legit’) in Sansepolcro. 7
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burgo, habeat salarium consuetum, quousque morabitur in dicto burgo vacando circa predicta.8 [. . .] Post que, dictus dominus [. . .] locumtenens [. . .] elegit ad predicta infrascriptos duos bonos viros videlicet: Dominum Barnabu[m] Nicole iudicem Iohannem Iuliani Docti
} de dicto burgo.
9
22 March 1393. Maestro Niccoluccio da Cesena, grammar master, appears as a witness in a notarial document. [ Renunptiatio pro Matheo Ser Lelli] Suprascriptis anno, indictione [prima] et ponticatu, die XXII mensis martii, actum in burgo Sancti Sepulcri in palatio comunis dicti burgi ubi ius redditur, presentibus Luzzio Petri Ghighi de burgo et Magistro Nicolucio [. . .] magistro gramatice de Cesena et Iohanne Cischi de Terranova habitatoribus dicti burgi testibus rogatis.10 22 December 1393. There is currently no grammarian teaching in Sansepolcro. Hitherto Ser Francesco di Bartolo di Baldo da Sansepolcro has been working as communal elementary teacher, but his appointment expires on 1 March 1394. A series of proposals follows: that the salary of the grammar teacher appointed could be raised by 20 orins a year (unless Bartolo da Pieve S. Stefano were reappointed); that the search could be extended to Perugia and other neighbouring towns; that communal taxes could be increased to meet rising costs; that an annual salary of up to 40 orins could be offered; that Maestro Paolo di Maestro Iacopo di Cisco da Sansepolcro could be immediately appointed at an annual salary of 40 orins; that Maestro Francesco di Bartolo di Baldo should be reappointed for six further years as communal elementary teacher at the same annual salary of 12 orins. The proposal to appoint Maestro Bartolo da Pieve S. Stefano at an increased salary is defeated. The Malatesta vicar then proposes that two citizens should be authorized to appoint a grammar teacher at an annual salary with an increment of 40 orins above the normal stipend. This proposal is accepted, as is the recommendation that the elementary teacher, Ser Francesco di Bartolo, should be appointed for a further six years. Ut habeatur magister grammatice Primo [. . .] ut habeatur in dicto burgo quidam magister gramatice ad docendum et instruendum pueros dicti burgi adiscere volentes, cum ad presens nullus magister gramatice actu legens adsit [. . .]
8 9 10
This proposal was passed by a majority of 13 to 1. ACSS Ser. II, vol. 1, fol. 39r. See Banker (2003), p. 64 and n. 17. ASF NA 7116, fol. 3196r. See Banker (2003), p. 64 n. 19.
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Pro Ser Francisco Secundo de et super petitione facta in dicto consilio per Ser Franciscum Bartoli Baldi de dicto burgo qui docet et instruit pueros in gramaticalibus, qua petiit reformari, cum tempus pro quo alias fuit conductus sit nitum et elapsum, et alias conductus fuerit pro tempore sex annorum niendorum die prima mensis martii proxime futuri cum salario XII orenorum anno solvendorum eidem, videlicet in quantitatem VII orenorum auri expensis dicti comunis burgi et de pecunia ipsius comunis, et residuum quinque orenorum auri per [ms: quod] depositarium magnici Domini Karoli domini dicti burgi; et quid eri et servari debeat in predictis ad hoc ut conducatur pro tempore futuro et quomodo et qualiter provideri debeat super predictis [. . .] Super quibus propositis et qualibet earum et contentis in eis, dictus dominus vicarius petiit sibi pro dicto comuni sanum et utile consilium exiberi, et quo super eis in dei nomine consulatur. Magister Piermasius Magistri Matei sicus de dicto burgo, unus ex hominibus dicti consilii [. . .] consuluit [. . .] quod, vigore et auctoritate presentis consilii, Dominus Barnabo Nicole iudex et Iohannes Iuliani de dicto burgo, alias electi per comune dicti burgi ad conducendum et eligendum magistrum gramatice moraturum in dicto burgo ad instruendum pueros, debeant et possint providere super dicto magistro ydoneo habendo; et in quantum possit inveniri ydoneus et sufciens, quod predicti Dominus Barnabo et Iohannes, ultra salarium solitum et ordinarium, possint eidem promictere et dictum solitum salarium augere usque in quantitatem viginti orenorum auri pro quolibet anno, ut eisdem melius videbitur convenire, hoc declarato quod, in quantum Magister Bartolus de Plebe Sancti Stephani, qui alias stetit ad salarium in dicto burgo, per eos conduceretur, non possit ullo modo eidem dictum solitum salarium augeri etc. Ser Mateus Ser Angeli, notarius de dicto burgo, alius ex dictis consiliariis [. . .] consuluit [. . .] super prima proposita, quod dictus Barnabo et Iohannes superius nominati debeant inquirere et investigare in civitate Perusii et in aliis terris et locis circumsitis, ut habeant unum magistrum gramatice ydoneum, ut eis videbitur, et quod predicta debeant ad effectum perducere infra duos menses proxime futuros tantum. Ser Bartolomeus Ser Petri de dicto burgo, alius ex dictis consiliariis [. . .] consuluit super dicta proposita, quod, auctoritate presentis consilii, Dominus Barnabo et Iohannes supra nominati possint et debeant conducere magistrum gramatice, ut eis videbitur, et pro tempore quod eis visum fuerit, et quod, ultra salarium ordinatum, habeant auctoritatem et potestatem ac arbitrium imponendi expensas et gravamina usque in quantitatem unius bononiensis pro capite hominis.
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Gregorius Pauli Lugli de dicto burgo, alius ex dictis consiliariis [. . .] consuluit super dicta proposita, quod supradicti Dominus Barnabo et Iohannes alias electi possint et debeant conducere magistrum gramatice ydoneum et sufcientem moraturum in dicto burgo, et quod, ultra salarium ordinatum, possint expendere et expensas imponere per datium, et non aliter usque in quantitatem quadraginta orenorum auri quolibet anno. Pierlione olim Salvestri de dicto burgo, alius ex dictis consiliariis [. . .] consuluit [. . .] quod, ex nunc auctoritate presentis consilii, magister gramatice in dicto burgo moraturus eligatur, et ex nunc electus sit et pro electo habeatur Magister Paulus Magistri Iacobi Cisci de dicto burgo, cum salario consueto et ordinato, et ultra habeat et habere debeat quolibet anno de bonis dicti comunis usque in quantitatem quadriginta orenorum auri. Martinus Magistri Berardini de dicto burgo [. . .] consuluit [. . .] super dicta prima poposita, in omnibus et per omnia prout supra dixit et consuluit dictus Perlionus, hoc addito et declarato, quod, si dictus Magister Paulus haberi non possit, Dominus Barnabo et Iohannes superius nominati [. . .] possint conducere alium quem voluerint et, eidem sic conducendo, possint dare quolibet anno ultra salarium ordinatum de bonis dicti comunis quadraginta orenos auri. Iohannes Iuliani Docti de dicto burgo, alius ex hominibus dicti consilii [. . .] consuluit super dicta secunda proposita, videlicet quod, vigore et auctoritate presentis consilii, Magister Franciscus in dicta proposita nominatus sit et intelligatur esse conductus in magistrum gramatice ad instruendum et docendum parvulos, ad salarium ut hactenus extitit consuetum, pro tempore VI annorum proxime futurorum, incipiendorum die prima mensis martii proxime futuri, cum salario XII orenorum auri quolibet anno durante locatione predicta, solvendo eidem quolibet anno hoc modo videlicet: quod per comune dicti burgi et expensis dicti comunis et de bonis comunis predicti solvantur eidem annuatim et quolibet anno septem oreni auri, et residuum quinque orenorum auri solvatur sibi annuatim et quolibet anno per depositarium sive cancellarium magnici Domini Karoli de Malatestis, domini dicti burgi, et cum pactis, modis, condictionibus et exemptionibus, libertatibus, immunitatibus ac limitationibus contentis et declaratis in conducta alias facta per dictum comune burgi de dicto Ser Francisco, qua patet manu suprascripti Matei Ser Angeli notarii de dicto burgo, et prout et sicut ac eo modo et forma ut patet manu dicti Ser Matei [. . .]
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In reformatione [. . .] super dicta prima proposita, ipse dominus vicarius tale posuit et fecit partitum inter homines dicti consilii, videlicet quod quibus placet quod Magister Bartolus de Plebe Sancti Stephani conduceretur in magistrum gramatice moraturum in dicto burgo cum salario solito ordinato solvendo per depositarium dominorum dicti burgi, et ultra dictum salarium cum salario addendo et dando eidem quolibet anno expensis dicti comunis burgi prout dicent et declarabunt dictus Barnabo Nicole et Iohannes Iuliani et ut eis videbitur [. . .]11 Item dictus dominus vicarius, auditis consiliis et dictis suprascriptorum omnium, et deinde partito misso super dicta prima proposita, tale posuit et fecit partitum inter homines dicti consilii, videlicet quod quibus placet, quod Dominus Barnabo Nicole et Iohannes Iuliani suprascripti possint conducere unum magistrum gramatice moraturum in dicto burgo cum salario solito et ordinato solvendo per depositarium dictum, et ultra dictum salarium possint dicto magistro conducendo dare et promictere de bonis dicti comunis annuatim et quolibet anno ut voluerint durante eius conducta quadraginta orenos auri iusti ponderis et libre pro tempore quo[d] voluerint, et dicta occasione possint imponere expensas et gravamina per datium seu extimum ut eis videbitur, et im predictis et circa predicta possint facere, promictere, ordinare et reformare ut voluerint, et quod per eos in predictis factum fuerit sive et, valeat, teneat et sit rmum ac executioni mandetur [. . .]12 Item in reformatione et summa dicti consilii [. . .] super dicta secunda proposita secundum consilium super ea redditum per Iohannem Iulianum de dicto burgo placuit ipsum consilium [. . .]13 22 March 1394. The communal elementary teacher, Maestro Francesco di Bartolo di Baldo, is owed 11 orins for past teaching. A proposal is accepted to levy additional taxation for his payment. Secundo unde et quomodo habeatur in comuni pecunia ex qua solvi et satiseri possit Magistro Francisco Bartoli Baldi pro eius salario temporis preteriti, videlicet undecim oreni auri [. . .] Laurentius Nicolai Cioni de dicto burgo alius ex dictis hominibus [. . .] consuluit super dicta secunda proposita, quod dicta quantitas XI orenorum auri dicto Magistro Francisco debiter eidem solvatur de 11
This proposal is defeated by 27 votes to 12. This proposal was accepted by a majority of 35 to 4. 13 ACSS Ser. II, vol. 1, fol. 70v–72r. The last proposal was passed by a majority of 30 to 9. See Banker (2003), p. 64 and n. 19. 12
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pecunia dicti comunis, et, pro habendo eam, ponatur et computetur in datio imponendo per ipsum Laurentium et Iacobum Ricovari de dicto burgo [. . .]14 22 May 1394. A communal surveyor is needed in Sansepolcro, and a certain Giovanni da Perugia has arrived in town with appropriate qualications. A proposal is accepted to choose a committee of citizens for his appointment, with duties including abacus teaching, offering him no more 15 orins for no longer than one year. Pro tabulatore Cum homines et comune dicti burgi indigeant quodam magistro experto in arte tabulandi et mensurandi et agrimensorie, et hiis diebus appulerit ad dictam terram burgi et in ea nunc sit quidam Iohannes de Perusio in predictis ydoneus et expertus, cuius habitatio et residentia foret comunitati et hominibus dicti burgi utilis, expediens et necessaria nimis, si dicto consilio videtur et placet ipsum Iohannem conducere ad morandum et habitandum in dicto burgo et pro quo tempore et quo salario et quid qualiter et quomodo eri et observari debeat in predictis [. . .] Dominus Barnabo Nicole de dicto burgo [. . .] consuluit [. . .] quod, pro bono et utili comunis dicti burgi [. . .] per dictum dominum vicarium et Ser Bevenutum cancellarium eligantur duo vel quatuor boni homines dicti burgi, qui possint et debeant dictum Magistrum Iohannem de Perusio agrimensorem, tabulatorem et mensuratorem conducere, et eidem salarium constituere usque in quantitatem XV orenorum auri pro quolibet anno, dummodo ipse traheretur moraret et staret in dicto burgo et servire omnibus de ministerio sue artis, et quoscumque volentes adiscere docere abocum et artem mensurandi et tabulandi, pro salario declarando per dictos homines eligendos, et cum pactis, modis et condictionibus quibus ipsis videbitur, et per predictos possint imponeri expense, honera et gravamina etiam per datium prout videbitur eisdem. Ser Mateus Ser Angeli notarius de dicto burgo [. . .] consuluit [. . .] in omnibus et per omnia prout dixit et consuluit dictus Dominus Barnabo.
14 ACSS Ser. II, vol. 1, fol. 74v–75r. Passed by 18 votes to 4. On 13 April 1394 a dazio of 5 denari per lira was imposed on the citizens of the commune, partly in order to pay this debt to Maestro Francesco di Bartolo di Baldo: ACSS Ser. II, vol. 1, fol. 75r–v.
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Nannes Bartoli Ugucii de dicto burgo [. . .] consuluit [. . .] in omnibus et per omnia prout [. . .] consuluit dictus Dominus Barnabo, hoc addito quod ipse Magister Iohannes non possit conduci pro maiori tempore unius anni. In reformatione [. . .] secundum consilium [. . .] redditum per dictum Dominum Barnabo [sic] et dictos Ser Mateum et Nannem consultores [. . .]15 24 May 1394. The appointing committee offers the post of communal surveyor to Giovanni da Perugia, beginning on 1 June 1394 at a salary of 15 orins for one year. He is allowed to charge 3 soldi cortonenses for each set of measurements, 1/2 orin for each abacus pupil and 4 orins for training as a surveyor. Appropriate nancial arrangements are made. Electio Suprascripti Dominus Ugolinus vicarius et Ser Bevenutus cancellarius [. . .] eligerunt [. . .] in dictos quatuor ad exequendum contenta in dicta proposita infrascriptos, quorum he[c] sunt nomina, videlicet: Dominus Barnabo Nicole iudex Ser Mateus Ser Angeli notarius Nannes Bartoli Ugucii Mateus Cisci Horlandi
}
de dicto burgo ad conducendum agrimensorem et tabulatorem ut supra continetur.
Electio tabulatoris Postquam suprascripti quatuor boni viri superius electi et nominati invicem congregati et coadunati [. . .] volentes dicti comunis utilia pertractare [. . .] eligerunt [. . .] Iohannem . . . [sic] de Perusio, tabulatorem, agrimensorem et mensuratorem expertum et praticum, ad morandum, standum et habitandum in dicto burgo ad serviendum omnibus eum requirentibus de exercitio et ministerio sue artis, et ad docendum et instruendum omnes dictam artem et etiam abochum adiscere volentes, pro uno anno proximo futuro incipiendo die prima mensis iunii proxime futuri cum ssalario XV orenorum auri, solvendo sibi de pecunia dicti comunis quolibet mense pro ratione. Hoc semper declarato expresse, quod ipse Iohannes teneatur dicto anno morare in dicto burgo, et servire omnibus de exercitio et ministerio sue artis, et accipere possit et debeat pro suo salario ultra salarium predictum pro tabulatu et mensuratione cuiuslibet vegetis tres soldos D. cortoniensium, et teneatur
15
ACSS Ser. II, vol. 1, fol. 78r. Passed by 22 to 11.
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docere quemlibet burgensem seu in burgo habitantem volentem adiscere abochum, et accipere pro suo salario medium oreni auri sibi solvendo a quolibet volente adiscere cum inceperit docere, et etiam docere quemlibet volentem adiscere artem tabulationis et mensure, et accipere possit a quolibet volente adiscere pro suo salario quatuor orenos auri iusti ponderis [. . .] Et ut predicta per eos [. . .] ordinata debiturum soriantur effectum, pro dicta quantitate XV orenorum auri solvenda dicto Iohanni secundum formam suprascripte conductionis [. . .] ex nunc imposuerunt in dicto comuni burgi unum datium ad rationem unius D. pro qualibet libra [. . .]16 31 May 1394. Giovanni da Perugia accepts the appointment as communal surveyor and abacist. Aceptatio Die XXXI dicti mensis may. Existens coram suprascriptis Domino Barnabo, Ser Mateo, Nanne et Mateo, et me notario, suprascriptus Iohannes agrimensor de Perusio electus ut supra patet [. . .] volens votis predictorum et comunis dicti burgi annuere [. . .] ipsam electionem de se factam pro tempore et cum salario, pactis, modis et condictionibus in ea descriptis, ut melius potuit, aceptavit [. . .]17 11 June 1394. The appointing committee selects Maestro Nofri de Piro, formerly resident in Perugia and now living in Sansepolcro, as communal grammar and rhetoric teacher at a salary of 71 1/2 orins for one year. 42 orins are to be paid by the Malatesta treasurer in Sansepolco, the rest by the commune. With regard to residents of Sansepolcro, he may charge 3 silver bolognini a month to pupils learning Latin; to younger pupils not yet learning Latin, 1 silver bolognino a month, with an extra bolognino for learning to write. To pupils learning rhetoric or notariate, he may charge 1 orin, over and above these fees. Individual arrangements are to be made for foreign pupils. Electio Magistri Honofrii gramatici [. . .] Sapientes et circumspecti viri, Dominus Barnabo Nicole iudex et Iohannes Iuliani de Doctis de dicto burgo, electi [. . .] ad eligendum [. . .] unum bonum ydoneum expertum magistrum in gramaticali scientia et in rectorica et notaria edoctum, moraturum in dicta terra burgi ad instructionem puerorum et adiscere volentium, cum salario et pro
16 17
ACSS Ser. II, vol. 1, fol. 79r. See Banker (2003), pp. 86–87. ACSS Ser. II, vol. 1, fol. 79r.
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tempore et sub pactis modis et condictionibus quibus eisdem videtur [. . .] volentes eis commissa [. . .] executioni mandare; audientes, ut plurimum fama etiam referente a longe que cito volatu circuit orbem totum, virum sapientie et probitatis eximie Magistrum Honofrium de Piro, dudum habitatorem in civitatem Perusii et nunc in dicta terra burgi moram aliqualiter pertrahentem, in ipsa grammaticali scientia ac moribus multiplicibusque virtutibus pre ceteris de circumsitis provinciis effectualiter habundare, adeo quod ad ipsam scientiam edocendam reputetur alter ab omnibus Priscianus, annexus etiam Annei Lucei [Senece] disciplinas; quod approbat relatio cunctorum ipsum cognoscentium vicinorum, ita quod pueros omnis dicte terre et alios ipsa scientia imbui affectantes sciet, ut expedit, laudabiliter edocere, servando etiam in moribus debitam disciplinam, sine quibus omnis scientia laudabili ne et fructu caret. Quapropter, unanimi voluntate et deliberatione concorda comunis et populi dicti burgi utilia pertractantes, pro utilitate publica dicti burgi, ex omni eorum arbitrio et auctoritate et omni via, iure, forma et modo quibus melius potuerint, tenore presentium, dictum Magistrum Honofrium, virum disertum et morum gravitate maturum, limphis pieridum irrigatum, eligerunt et conduxerunt in gramaticalem magistrum et doctorem ad ipsam scientiam edocendam publice in dicto burgo, pro tempore et termino unius anni proxime futuri, initiandi feliciter die qua presentem electionem duxerit aceptandam, cum honore, salario et mercede pro dicto uno anno septuaginta unius orenorum et dimidii auri iusti ponderis et lige, computata pensione domus pro habitatione sua et scolis ipsius. De quo quidem salario recipere debet et sibi solvi a depositario magnicorum Dominorum Karoli et fratrum de Malatestis, dominorum dicte terre, quadraginta duos orenos auri, de quibus solvere tenetur eidem depositario duodecim denarios cortonienses pro qualibet libra pro gabella et caposoldos; residuum vero dicti salarii videlicet XXVIIII oreni18 et dimidium auri recipere tenetur et debet et sibi solvi a comuni dicti burgi, de quibus solvere tenetur et debeat dicto comuni burgi pro gabella pro qualibet libra dictam quanttitatem quatuor denariorum cum dimidio. Quod salarium et partem dicti salarii recipere et habere tenetur et debeat quolibet mense pro rata in ne cuiuslibet mensis,
18 The manuscript here reads ‘XXXVIIII’, which would make a total salary of 81 1/2 orins, contradicted by the sum written out in words. It seems the notary’s addition was faulty.
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dummodo de parte dicti salarii tangente dictum comune burgi solvi debeat pensio domus pro scolis. Et ultra hoc, ipse Magister Honofrius accipere possit et sibi liceat a quolibet scolari [sic] latinante, habitanti familiariter in dicto burgo, tres bononenos de argento mense quolibet; et a minoribus non latinantibus unum bononenum de argento quolibet mense; et a volente adiscere scribere etiam unum bononenum pro quolibet et quolibet mense. Ab audientibus vero rethoricam sive notariam, si qui audientes extiterint, ultra predicta accipere possit et sibi liceat unum orenum auri pro quolibet eorum. A forensibus vero recipere et habere possit et valeat secundum quod convenerit et pactus extiterit cum eisdem. Pro quo quidem salario toto dicti temporis unius anni debeat in dicta terra burgi continaum trahere moram, artem sive scientiam grammatice cum moribus virtuosis omnes adiscere volentes tam dicti burgi quam ibi habitantes et habitare volentes, die noctuque congruis horis et modis publice publice [sic] instruere et docere; et de dicto burgo et eius districtu non secedere vel absentare absque licentia dicti vicarii qui nunc est vel pro tempore fuerit, et oftii viginti dicte terre. Et omnia et singula ad eius artem sive scientiam et magisterium pertinentia bona de facere ac debite et honeste et plenarie exercere ac instruere et docere, et omnia agere que ad eius oftium et doctrinam pertinere noscuntur. Rogante me notario [. . .] Acta fuerunt omnia et singula suprascripta in dicto burgo in apoteca abbatie dicti burgi et residentie mei notarii infrascripti [. . .]19 11 June 1394. The above appointment is presented to Maestro Nofri. Presentatio Quam quidem electionem sic celebratam suprascripti Dominus Barnabo et Iohannes, vigore dictorum oftii et omni modo et via quo et qua melius potuerunt, presentaverunt et exibuerunt suprascripto Magistro Honofrio presenti et intelligenti, rogantes eundum cum instantia quatenus electionem predictam aceptare dignetur [. . .]20 11 June 1394. Maestro Nofri accepts the appointment. Aceptatio Qui Magister Honofrius, sic electus ut predicitur, coram suprascriptis Domino Barnabo et Iohanne et me notario infrascripto, visa dicta
19 20
ACSS Ser. II, vol. 1, fol. 79r–v. See Banker (2003), p. 64 and n. 20. ACSS Ser. II, vol. 1, fol. 79v.
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electione et contentis in ea eaque diligenter inspecta, volens et cupiens votis predictorum et comunis dicti burgi annuere [. . .] ipsam electionem [. . .] aceptavit [. . .]21 11 June 1394. An appropriate dazio is levied to pay Maestro Nofri’s salary. Impositio datii. Pos[t]quam, suprascripti Dominus Barnabo et Iohannes electores predicti, volentes ut predicta per eos [. . .] ordinata debitum sortiantur 22 orenorum auri cum dimidio effectum, pro dicta quantitate XXVIIII17 tangente comune dicti burgi de dicta summa dicti salarii solvenda eidem Magistro Honofrio [. . .] ex nunc imposuerunt in dicto comuni burgi unum datium ad rationem duorum denarioum cortiniensium pro libra vendendum et incantandum per eos, ut moris est.23 27 June 1394. Maestro Nofri de Piro, the communal grammar teacher, receives a salary payment from Vico di Uguccio di Dotto da Sansepolcro, the tax-farmer. Die dicta, actum in dicto burgo in apoteca abbatie dicti burgi et residentie mei notarii infrascripti, presentibus [. . .] Magister Honofrius de Piro, magister gramatice salariatus in dicto burgo, sponte fuit confexus et contentus se habuisse et recepisse et habuit [et] recepit a Vico Ugucii Docti de dicto burgo, solvente de denariis datii empti per eum a dicto comuni burgi, octo orenos et dimidium auri iusti ponderis et lige auri in dicto burgo, de summa salarii sibi debiti a dicto comuni burgi. Et propterea dictus Magister Honofrius pro se et eius heredibus absolvit et liberavit dictum Vicum presentem et recipientem pro dicto comuni burgi [. . .]24 18 April 1395. An appointing committee is constituted to select a new communal grammar teacher at an annual salary up to 10 orins higher than previously and for no more than two years. Pro magistro gramatice Primo de electione et conductione enda de quodam magistro gramatice moraturo in dicta terra burgi pro tempore futuro ad instructionem 21
ACSS Ser. II, vol. 1, fol. 79v–80r. The manuscript here reads ‘XXXVIIII’, which would make a total salary of 81 1/2 orins, contradicted by the sum written out in words. It seems the notary’s addition was faulty. 23 ACSS Ser. II, vol. 1, fol. 80r. More details about how the dazio for the grammar teacher is to be levied and collected are found on fol. 80v under the date 22 June 1394. 24 ASF NA 11187 NN. See Banker (2003), p. 64 n. 19. 22
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et eruditionem puerorum et aliorum adiscere volentium, et de salario eidem constituendo [. . .] Gregorius Pauli Lugli de dicto burgo, unus ex consiliariis dicti consilii [. . .] consuluit super dicta proposita prima, quod [. . .] Meus Nerii de Pichis et Vichus Ugucii Docti sint electores, et possint et debeant eligere et conducere magistrum gramatice moraturum in dicto burgo, et possint eidem conducendo constituere salarium expensis dicti comunis ultra salarium dictum ordinatum usque in quantitatem decem orenorum auri, et quod non possint aliquem conducere ultra quam pro tempore duorum annorum futurorum [. . .]25 9 May 1395. The appointing committee, in disagreement, is to be compelled to elect a grammar teacher. Pro habendo magistrum gramatice Super electione magistri gramatice moraturi in dicta terra burgi pro tempore futuro, cum Meus olim Nerii de Pichis et Vicus Ugucii Docti de dicto burgo electi ad conducendum magistrum gramatice non sint concordes ad ipsum eligendum, et quid eri et servari debeat in predictis [. . .] ipse dominus vicarius tale posuit et fecit partitum inter homines dicti consilii, videlicet, quod quibus placet videtur quod predicti Meus et Vichus electores cogantur personaliter ad eligendum et conducendum magistrum gramatice [. . .]26 20 June 1395. Since the present appointing committee is in disagreement, four further members are to be added in order to select a new communal grammar teacher. Dominus vicarius proposuit quod, cum in dicta terra burgi sit maxima indigentia magistri gramatice moraturi in dicta terra, qui pueros instruat, et electi fuerunt ad conducendum magstrum gramatice Meus Nerii de Pichhis et Vicus Ugucii Docti de dicto burgo, ut supra continetur, et cum dicti Meus et Vicus non habeant concordiam dictum magistrum eligendi, petiit super dictis provideri et remedium adhiberi. Madalaus Maffei Cisci de dicto burgo [. . .] consuluit [. . .] quod bonum est providere ut habeatur magister gramatice in dicto burgo, et cum dicti Meus et Vicus sint in discordia eligendi, dixit et consuluit quod eis adiungantur aliqui boni viri dicti burgi eligendi per ipsum dominum vicarium, qui eligendi, una cum eis, possint providere de habendo magistrum gramatice.
25 26
ACSS Ser. II, vol. 1, fol. 95r. Carried by 25 votes to 4. ACSS Ser. II, vol. 1, fol. 95v. Carried by 29 votes to 2.
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Qui dominus vicarius [. . .] fecit partitum inter homines dicti consilii super predictis, videlicet quod quibus placet quod infrascripti quatuor boni viri [. . .] [videlicet Martinus Magistri Berardini, Nicolaus Francisci Ducii, Madalaus Maffei Cisci et Franciscus Ser Iohannis de dicto burgo] adiungantur et assotientur dictis Meo et Vico, et una cum eis possint eligere et conducere magistrum gramatice et ad predicta personaliter cogi [. . .]27 9 June 1396. The appointing committee selects Maestro Paolo del fu Maestro Iacopo da Sansepolcro as communal grammar teacher for two years at an annual salary of 52 orins, 42 orins of which is to be paid by the treasurer of the Malatesta rulers of Sansepolcro, with the remaining 10 orins falling to the commune. Maestro Paolo may make the following charges to residents in Sansepolcro: 36 bolognini a year from pupils learning Latin; 20 bolognini a year from younger pupils not yet learning Latin. He is allowed to make individual arrangements for fees from foreign pupils. Prudentes viri Vichus Ugucii Docti, Martinus Magistri Berardini, Meus Nerii Pichi, Nicolaus Francisci Ducii et Franciscus Ser Iohannis Macthei de dicto burgo, electi [. . .] una cum Magdalao Maffei Cisci de dicto burgo eorum collega nunc absente [. . .] ad eligendum [. . .] unum bonum ydoneum et expertum magistrum in gramaticali scientia eruditum moraturum in dicta terra burgi ad instructionem puerorum et adiscere volentium, cum salario et pro tempore ac sub pactis, modis et condictionibus in reformatione factis in comuni dicti burgi [. . .] suprascriptis et contentis; volentes que eis commissa sunt deliter executioni mandare, comuni concordia et unanimi voluntatate, comunis et populi dicti burgi utilia pertractantes [. . .] eligerunt [. . .] Magistrum Paulum olim Magistri Iacobi de dicta terra burgi in gramaticalem magistrum et doctorem et ad ipsam scientiam edocendum publice in dicto burgo, pro tempore duorum annorum proxime futurorum, intiandorum feliciter die qua presentem electionem duxerit aceptandam, cum salario et mercede quolibet anno dictorum duorum annorum quinquaginta duorum orenorum auri [. . .] De quo quidem salario recipere debet et sibi solui a depositario magnici et excelsi Domini Galeocti de Malatestis generalis domini dicti burgi quadraginta duos orenorum, de quibus solvere tenetur eidem depositario XIII denariorum cortoniensium pro qualibet libra nomine gabelle et pro capitibus sollidorum; residuum vero
27
ACSS Ser. II, vol. 1, fol. 96v. Carried by 20 votes to 3.
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dicti salarii, videlicet decem orenos auri, recipere teneatur et debet et sibi solvi a comuni dicti burgi; de quibus solvere teneatur et habere teneatur et debeat in ne quorumlibet quatuor mensium cuiuslibet anni pro rata, videlicet tertiam partem dicti salari; et ultra hoc ipse Magister Paulus accipere possit et sibi liceat a quolibet scolari latinanti habitanti familiariter in dicto burgo sive eius districtu XXXVI bononenos pro quolibet anno videlicet quolibet mense pro rata; et a minoribus non latinantibus viginti bononenos quolibet anno videlicet quolibet mense pro rata. A forensibus vero recipere et habere possit et valeat, secundum quod convenerit et pactus extiterit cum eisdem. Pro quo quidem salario toto dicti temporis duorum annorum debeat in dicta terra burgi continuam trahere moram. Artem sive scientiam gramatice cum moribus virtuosis omnes volentes tam dicti burgi quam ibi habitantes et habitare volentes die noctuque congruis diebus et horis et modis publice instruere et docere; et de dicta terra burgi non se absentare absque licentia domini vicarii, qui nunc est vel pro tempore fuerit sive oftii viginti dicte terre burgi. Et omnia et singula ad eius artem et scientiam ac magisterium pertinentia bona de facere ac debite et honeste exercere que ad eius oftium et doctrinam pertinere noscuntur. Rogante [. . .]28 18 June 1396. Maestro Paolo accepts the appointment as set out above. Die XVIII mensis iunii predicti. Actum in dicto burgo [. . .] Suprascriptus Magister Paulus ut supra dicitur electus, constitutus coram suprascriptis Meo, Martino, Nicolao et Francisco electionariis predictis, visa dicta electione [. . .] volens votis predictorum electionariorum annuere [. . .] ipsam electionem de se factam [. . .] aceptavit [. . .]29 22 October 1396. When Maestro Paolo del fu Maestro Iacopo di Cisco da Sansepolcro was appointed grammar teacher, he was promised a full tax exemption. He is now being plagued by tax demands, and so his tax exemption is conrmed. Cum per homines dicti burgi [. . .] fuerit electus Magister Paulus olim Magistri Iacobi Cisci de dicto burgo in magistrum gramatice ad docendum et instruendum pueros dicti burgi, et eidem Magistro Paulo fuerit promissum et convenctum, quod ipse haberet et consequetur exemptionem realium [. . .] factionum; et nunc ipse Magister Paulus
28 29
ACSS Ser. II, vol. 1, fol. 116v–117r. See Banker (2003), p. 65 and n. 21. ACSS Ser. II, vol. 1, fol. 117r–v.
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molestetur et inquietetur pro datiis et aliis gravaminibus impositis in dicto comuni burgi [. . .] Martinus olim Magistri Berardini de dicto burgo, unus ex consiliariis dicti consilii [. . .] consuluit [. . .] quod [. . .] Magister Paulus in dicta proposita nominatus, pro toto tempore quo morabitur in dicto burgo et quousque steterit et habitaverit in dicto burgo ad docendum et instruendum pueros et gramaticam legendum, sit et esse debeat immunis liber et exemptus a quibuscumque factionibus et honeribus realibus [. . .] imponendis [. . .] in dicta terra burgi [. . .] Guido Nerii Pichi [. . .] consuluit [. . .] prout [. . .] dictus Martinus. Idem dixit et consuluit Gregorius Pauli Lughi de dicto burgo [. . .]30 4 November 1397. Maestro Paolo di Maestro Iacopo and Maestro Francesco di Bartolo, respectively the communal grammar and elementary teachers, request that arrangements should be made, both for the present and the future, for their salaries to be paid. It is provided that a committee should be appointed for that purpose. [. . .] Super petitionibus sive suplicationibus [. . .] magnico domino nostro Galeocto de Malatestis generali domino dicte terre, pro parte Magistri Pauli Magistri Iacobi gramatici, Magistri Francisci Bartoli pedagogi [. . .] petentium [. . .] ut dignetur facere quod comune burgi salaria eis debita et promissa pro tempore preterito et futuro integre satisfaciat [. . .] et etiam de modo providendi super habendo magistro gramatice pro tempore futuro [. . .] Ser Nardus Ser Fey de dicto burgo [. . .] consuluit [. . .] quod [. . .] dominus vicarius eligat quatuor vel sex aut plures bonos homines dicti burgi ut eidem videbuntur qui eligendi possint et valeant [. . .] providere [. . .] et pro predictis [. . .] expensas et alia gravamina imponere vendere et incantare [. . .] Iohannes Iuliani Docti de dicto Burgo [. . .] consuluit [. . .] prout [. . .] dictus Ser Nardus. Idem [. . .] consuluerunt [. . .] Gergorius Pauli Ughi et Magdalaus Maffei Cisci [. . .]31
30
ACSS Ser. II, vol. 1, fol. 132r–v. Carried by 35 votes to 2. ACSS Ser. II, vol. 1, fol. 152r. The proposal was carried. See Banker (2003), p. 65 and n. 21. 31
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4 November 1397. A committee for the above purpose is chosen. Qui dominus vicarius [. . .] elegit [. . .] infrascriptos bonos viros dicti burgi ad exequenda contenta in dictis propositis secundum consulta super eis, quorum bonorum virorum hec sunt nomina, videlicet: Iohannes Iuliani Docti Gregorius Pauli Lugli Martinus Magistri Berardini Nicolaus Francisci Ducii Pierlione Silvestri Magdalaus Maffei Cisci Iohannes Cantis Ser Nardus Sesr Fey Vicus Ugucii Docti Neus Nerii Pichi Franciscus Bartolomei Besis Franciscus Ser Iohannis Marchi.32 4 November 1397. The above committee appoints Maestro Paolo del fu Maestro Iacopo da Sansepolcro as communal grammar teacher for two years beginning on 19 June 1398 at an annual salary of 25 orins and with the same fees payable by pupils as were laid out in his previous appointment. Maestro Paolo must accept the election within 10 days. Item suprascripti boni viri [. . .] volentes providere pro tempore futuro de magistro gramatice moraturo in dicta terra burgi ad instructionem puerorum, eligerunt et conduxerunt in magistrum gramatice et ad ipsam artem docendum et legendum in dicta terra burgi pro tempore duorum annorum proxime futurorum, incipiendorum die XVIIII mensis iunii proxime futuro, probum et disertum virum Magistrum Paulum olim Magistri Iacobi de dicta terra burgi, cum salario viginti quinque orenorum auri anno quolibet dictorum duorum annorum, solvendo medieter in medio anni et reliquam medieter in ne cuiuslibet anni; et ultra cum salario percipiendo a scolaribus audientibus ab eo secundum quod continetur et apparet distincte in alia electione et conducta facta de eo ut apparet manu mei [. . .] Et hoc semper declarato expresse quod ipse Magister Paulus teneatur et debeat presentem electionem aceptare et eidem consentire infra terminum decem dierum proxime
32
ACSS Ser. II, vol. 1, fol. 152v.
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futurorum vel infra dictum terminum eidem renump-tiare, quod si infra dictum terminum non aceptaverit, eo elapso presens electio evanescat et nullius valoris existat [. . .]33 17 July 1398. The tax-farmer, Niccolò di Benedetto di Ciuccio Monalducci da Sansepolcro, agrees to pay the salary due to Maestro Paolo di Maestro Iacopo, the communal grammar teacher. Die dicta, actum in dicto burgo in apoteca abbatie dicti burgi et residentie mei notarii infrascripti, presentibus Ugucio Bartoli Ugucii, Niccolao Gabrielli Segne de dicto burgo testibus ad hec vocatis, adhibitis et rogatis. Nicolaus Benedicti Ciucii Monalducii de dicto burgo, emptor unius datii impositi in dicto comune burgi ad rationem XII den. pro libra, et emptor malpagorum alterius datii impositi in dicto comuni ad rationem XII den. pro libra, de voluntate et mandato Martini Magistri Berardini, Mei Nerii Pichi, Gregorii Pauli Lugli et Nicolai Francisci Ducii, de dicto burgo oftialium dicti comunis super hiis et debitis comunis dicti burgi persolvendis, sponte et ex certa scientia, per se et eius heredes et sucessores, promisit et convenit Magistro Paulo Magistri Iacobi, gramatice profexori, dare et solvere eidem de denariis dicti datii viginti orenos auri iusti ponderis et lige curr(entis) in dicto burgo huiusmodi, videlicet medietatem dicte quantitatis hinc ad XII diem mensis septembris proxime futuri, et aliam medietatem hinc ad XII diem mensis novembris proxime futuri, pro eius salario duorum annorum proxime elapsorum, docendo gramaticam et instruendo pueros in dicta terra, ad rationem X orenorum auri pro quolibet anno, vigore electionis facte de eo per comune dicti burgi et conditionis de eo facte mandatu mei.34 9 December 1398. A grammarian named Alo is appointed as elementary teacher in Sansepolcro at a salary of four orins for a year. Cum quidam nomine Alo gramaticus, qui morari consuevit cum Ser Mucciolo castellano porte Sancti Nicolai dicti burgi ad stipendium, querat a dicto stipendio removeri, et moram trahere in dicta terra burgi, et ad servitium comunitatis dicte terre instruere pueros et eos edocere, dummodo aliquod parvum salarium habeat a comuni dicti burgi [. . .]
33
ACSS Ser. II, vol. 1, fol. 153r. Following this is Maestro Paolo’s declaration that he has been paid for the past two years. See Banker (2003), p. 65 and n. 21. 34 ASF NA 11190 NN. See Banker (2003), p. 65 n. 21.
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Iohannes Iuliani Docti de dicto burgo [. . .] consuluit [. . .] quod suo videre [sic] bonum et utile erit comunitati dicti burgi, ut Alo gramaticus residentiam faciat in dicto burgo ad eruditionem parvulorum, et ad hoc ut ipse Alo predicta habilius facere possit, dixit quod ipse ex nunc sit conductus ad predicta pro uno anno proxime futuro, et pro eius salario habeat et habere debeat a comuni dicti burgi pro dicto uno anno quatuor orenos auri, in quantum vacaverit ad predicta [. . .]35
35
ACSS Ser. II, vol. 1, fol. 190r. Carried by 16 votes to 1.
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INDEX OF NAMES1 Abran di Niccolò, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 732 Acciaiuoli, Florentine family 427, 440, 457 Acciaiuoli, Acciaiuolo di Simone, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 727 Acciaiuoli, Messer Agnolo di Iacopo, children of, Florentine pupils (15th c.) 427 Acciaiuoli, Donato di Neri, Florentine humanist, statesman and pupil (15th c.) 427, 429 Commentary on Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics 430 Acciaiuoli, Lorenzo di Messer Agnolo di Iacopo, Florentine pupil (15th c.) 427 Acciaiuoli, Piero di Neri, Florentine pupil (15th c.) 427 Acciari, Michele, da Uzzano, Ser, priest and private tutor in Florence (15th c.) 438 Accolti, Alessandro, d’Arezzo, Ser, private tutor in Florence (15th c.) 439, 721 Accorsino (Corso, Bonaccorso) del fu Sanguineo da S. Fiora (Arcidosso), grammar teacher and notary in S. Gimignano (13th–14th c.) 192–93, 198–99, 247–48, 250–52, 282–83, 307, 316, 579 Adalberto, bishop of Arezzo (11th c.) 175 Adriani (Berti), Florentine family 430, 433, 446 Adriani, Adriano di Messer Virgilio, Florentine pupil (15th c.) 664 Adriani, Alessandra di Messer Virgilio, Florentine girl in serbanza and reading pupil (15th c.) 666–67
Adriani, Andrea di Messer Virgilio, Florentine pupil (15th c.) 664, 667 Adriani, Marcello di Messer Virgilio, Florentine pupil, humanist and chancellor (15th c.) 430, 664, 667 Adriani, Virgilio d’Andrea, Messer, Florentine lawyer, bibliophile and parent (15th c.) 124, 430–31, 660–68 Adriani, Virgilio d’Andrea, Messer, children of, Florentine pupils (15th c.) 430, 433, 664 Aesop Fabulae 144–47, 149–50 Agevole di Bartolomeo da Vinci, Maestro, grammar teacher in Fucecchio and Montaione (14th c.) 316, 557 Agli, Iacopo di Tommaso degli, Florentine parent (15th c.) 422 Agli, Tommaso di Iacopo di Tommaso, Florentine grammar pupil (15th c.) 422 Agnolo da Castiglione, private tutor in Florence (15th c.) 159, 431 Agnolo di Cinezo di Giovanni, Florentine reading pupil (15th c.) 508 Agnolo di Francesco da Stia, parent in Florence (15th c.) 527 Agnolo di Giovanni da Bibbiena, abacus teacher in Arezzo (15th c.) 740–42 Agnolo di Tommaso di Giacchi, elementary pupil in Florence (15th c.) 350 Agostino di Andrea, Florentine student (15th c.) 733 Agostino di Vanni, Don, Florentine abacist and Benedictine monk (14th c.) 233
1 This index principally includes persons related to the education process (teachers, pupils, parents, relatives, guardians, patrons); other individuals are listed only if they have achieved some note in a context besides their occurrence in a document relevant to this book. Identication as a parent, relative or guardian means that an individual had, or had charge of, children involved in education. In alphabetizing entries, account has been taken of proper nouns only; titles have been disregarded. Pupil here indicates pre-university education, whereas student, university-level study.
792
index of names
Alain of Lille 101 Alamanni, Simone d’Antonio di Piero, grammar pupil in Florence (15th c.) 394 Alao di Ugone d’Arezzo, Maestro, grammar teacher in S. Gimignano (14th c.) 316, 583 Albertaccio di Boccaccio, Florentine schoolboy (15th c.) 734 Alberti, Alesso di Iacopo di Alesso, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 517 Alberti, Leon Battista 154, 453, 467–68 De pictura 60 Albertino (Bertino) di Dinuccio (Nucci) di Credi da Monte Latrone (Siena), Maestro, grammar teacher in Siena (14th c.) 602–3 Alberto, Maestro, schoolmaster and chaplain of Villa Radicata (12th c.) 177 Alberto, private tutor in Florence (15th c.) 430, 646 Alberto di Ciardo di Dino, Florentine schoolboy (15th c.) 726 Alberto di Giuliano da Colle, Messer, student in Pisa (15th c.) 672 Albizo di Cecco, vergatore, Florentine parent (15th c.) =478 Albizo di Niccoletto da Firenze, grammar teacher in Volterra (14th c.) 316, 607 Albizzi, Florentine family 424, 426, 428, 440 Albizzi, Antonio di Tedice, Florentine parent (15th c.) 517 Albizzi, Giusaffa, Florentine parent (15th c.) 426, 526 Albizzi, Iacopo di Antonio di Tedice, Florentine pupil (15th c.) 424, 517 Albizzi, Luca di Maso, Florentine statesman and parent (15th c.) 428 Albizzi, Luca di Maso, children of, Florentine pupils (15th c.) 428 Albizzi, Rinaldo di Maso, Messer, children of, Florentine pupils (15th c.) 424 Aldobrando di Ser Baldo di Piero da Pescia, Ser, children of, book owners (15th c.) 107 Alessandri, Florentine family 430, 440 Alessandri, Iacopo, children of, Florentine pupils (15th c.) 430 Alessandro, Ser, priest and elementary teacher in Florence (15th c.) 355, 357–58, 698–99, 707
Alessandro, private tutor in Florence (15th c.) 437, 685 Alessandro da Cacciano, Ser, private tutor in Florence (15th c.) 439, 721 Alessandro di Ser Niccolò, Florentine grammar pupil (15th c.) 160 Alessandro di Niccolò barbiere, Florentine parent (15th c.) 632 Alessandro di Piero del Rosso, Florentine schoolboy (15th c.) 729 Alessandro di Maestro Tebaldo di Orlandino da Siena, Maestro, Sienese grammar teacher (13th–14th c.) 197, 590 Alessandro di Tissoco da Milano, elementary teacher in Poggibonsi (14th c.) 271 Alesso, Florentine abacist (14th c.) 235, 237 Alexander of Villedieu 72 Doctrinale 47, 50, 67, 76, 96, 101, 110, 119, 130, 139, 143, 637, 639–40, 647 Aleri, Grimaldo del fu Angelo, da Ancona, Maestro, grammar teacher in Fucecchio (14th c.) 556 Alighieri, Dante: see Dante Alighieri Alighieri, Iacopo di Dante, Florentine abacus pupil (14th c.) 227–28 Allegri, Florentine family 426, 637 Allegri, Domenico, Florentine parent (15th c.) 130, 154, 158, 167, 637 Alo, elementary teacher in Sansepolcro (14th c.) 273–74, 588, 777–78 Altomano di Nanni da Volterra, Ser, elementary teacher in Florence (15th c.) 329 Altoviti, Florentine family 427, 440 Altoviti, Simone di Giovanni, children of, Florentine pupils (15th c.) 427 Ambrogini, Angelo: see Poliziano, Angelo Ambrosio di Gionta de Certina (contado di Siena), Maestro, grammar teacher in Poggibonsi (14th c.) 313–14, 316, 566 Amerigo de Diano (Puglia), Maestro, grammar teacher in Colle Valdelsa (14th c.) 551 Amerigo da Ferrara, Messer, student in Bologna (15th c.) 514 Ammannati, Iacopo, da Lucca, humanist and private tutor in Florence (15th c.) 427
index of names Ammannati, Perotto del fu Paghino, writing pupil in Florence (14th c.) 11 Andrea, Maestro, elementary teacher in Florence (15th c.) 339, 640 Andrea, Ser, priest and elementary teacher in Florence (15th c.) 358–59, 700, 707 Andrea del fu Andrea, Ser, elementary teacher in Florence (14th c.) 212 Andrea di Ser Bartolomeo da Bucine, Ser, Florentine notary and parent (15th c.) Andrea di Camuccio, abacus pupil in Florence (15th c.) 457, 725 Andrea di Casino, Florentine elementary pupil (14th c.) 123, 203, 324 Andrea di Giovanni di Durante, elementary and abacus pupil in Florence (14th c.) 213, 221, 237, 322 Andrea di Giovanni di Piero di Bartolomeo (scodelliere), Florentine reading pupil (15th c.) 529 Andrea di Giovanni da Prato, Maestro, elementary teacher in Prato (14th c.) 576 Andrea di Giuntarello, elementary teacher in Florence (15th c.) 342 Andrea di Guido, Maestro, grammar teacher in Fucecchio (14th c.) 555 Andrea di Lupacchio da Montecarlo (Pescia), grammar teacher in Pescia (14th c.) 316, 558 Andrea da Monte di Croce, grammar teacher in Prato (14th c.) 316, 576 Andrea di Niccolò, Florentine schoolboy (15th c.) 732 Andrea di Papi, Florentine schoolboy (15th c.) 733 Angelo, copyist in Castiglion Fiorentino (15th c.) 119–20 Angelo del fu Buoso d’Arezzo, grammar teacher in Colle Valdelsa and Siena (14th c.) 196–97, 260–61, 285, 316, 548–49, 593 Angelo di Donato, Ser, elementary teacher in Florence (14th c.) 213 Angelo di Maestro Nuto, grammar pupil in Laterina (14th c.) 208 Angelo di Paro, grammar pupil in Laterina (14th c.) 208 Anibaldo di Ser Giovanni da Pescia, book owner (15th c.) 147
793
Anselmo, Ser, priest, chaplain and possible elementary teacher in Florence (15th c.) 26, 335–36, 520 Antonio, grammar pupil and book owner (14th c.) 151 Antonio, Maestro, grammar teacher in Florence (14th c.) 188 Antonio, Ser, priest and private tutor in Florence (15th c.) 438, 691–92 Antonio, private tutor in Florence (15th c.) 423, 626 Antonio di Andreuccio da Castelnuovo della Lunigiana, Maestro, grammar teacher (early 15th c.) 132, 387–88, 415, 491–92, 538 Antonio da Castiglione di Lunigiana, priest, elementary and grammar teacher in Pistoia (late 15th c.) 58 Antonio di Arnaldo, grammar pupil (14th c.) 63 Antonio di Bartolomeo da Volterra, private tutor in Florence (15th c.) 429, 529 Antonio di Benedetto, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 731 Antonio di Benedetto di Girolamo, student in Bologna (15th c.) 455, 514 Antonio di Betto da Pescia, Messer, children of, book owners (15th c.) 107 Antonio di Bonaventura, elementary teacher in Florence (14th c.) 212 Antonio da Budrio, canonist (14th–15th c.) 679 Antonio di Cecco, Maestro, mugnaio, Florentine parent (15th c.) 469 Antonio di Cinezo di Giovanni, Florentine notarial student (15th c.) 508 Antonio di Domenico, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 729 Antonio di Domenico, Florentine parent (15th c.) 448, 488 Antonio da Ferrara, Maestro, poet (14th c.) 229 Antonio di Filippo di Lorino, Florentine parent (15th c.) 514 Antonio da Garbo, Maestro, grammar teacher (15th c.) 160 Antonio di Giermia, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 729 Antonio da S. Gimignano, private tutor in Florence (15th c.) 430 Antonio di Giorgio, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 734 Antonio di Giovanni da Anghiari, private tutor in Florence (15th c.) 432
794
index of names
Antonio di Giovanni di Maestro Antonio, Florentine abacist (15th c.) 385 Antonio di Giovanni da Città di Castello, abacist (15th c.) 384–85, 517 Antonio di Giovanni da Perugia, teacher in Castelfranco di Sotto and Castiglion Fiorentino (14th c.) 257–58, 547 Antonio di Guiduccio di Martino da Lorenzano, grammar school pupil in Arezzo (14th c.) 739 Antonio di Iacopo del Vigna, Florentine parent (15th c.) 499 Antonio di Lupardo da Vecchiano da Pisa, children of, book owners (15th c.) 96 Antonio di Marco, Florentine schoolboy (15th c.) 730 Antonio di Michele di Cialdino, elementary teacher and notary in Pescia (14th c.) 59 Antonio di Michele da Volterra, grammar teacher in Colle Valdelsa (14th c.) 316, 549 Antonio da Montepulciano, Maestro, abacus teacher (14th c.) 552 Antonio di Niccolò da Colle, parent in Florence (15th c.) 382 Antonio di Niccolò (fornaio), Florentine chierico (15th c.) 535 Antonio d’Orso, bishop of Florence (1301–21) 684 Antonio da Padova, saint 679 Antonio di Ser Pagno di Marchionne, private tutor in Florence (15th c.) 424, 490–91 Antonio di Piero, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 729 Antonio di Ser Pietro da Lucignano di Val di Chiana, grammar teacher in Siena (14th c.) 604 Antonio di Romolo, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 726 Antonio del fu Salamone di Francesco calzolaio, Florentine schoolboy (15th c.) 499–500 Antonio di Tommaso, sarto, Florentine parent (15th c.) 499 Antonio di Tommaso di Tommaso, Florentine student in Padua (15th c.) 455, 480 Arator 149 Ardinghelli, Andrea di Bese, Florentine reading pupil (15th c.) 533
Ardinghelli, Baldassare di Bese, Florentine reading pupil (15th c.) 533 Ardinghelli, Bese di Giovnani di Bernardo, Florentine parent (15th c.) 533 Ardinghelli, Giovanfrancesco, Florentine reading pupil (15th c.) 533 Aristotle 637 Nicomachean Ethics 109, 171 Politics 109, 171 Arnol, Florentine family 424, 440 Arnol, Battista di Doffo, Florentine parent (15th c.) 424, 490 Arrighi, Alessandro, Florentine copyist (15th c.) 135 Arrighi, Dalno di Ser Iacopo di Vanuccio, Florentine elementary pupil (15th c.) 447, 513 Arrighi, Vespasiano di Ser Iacopo di Vanuccio, brother of Florentine pupil (15th c.) 513 Avianus Fabulae 146, 149 Azzino di Francesco di Pagolo (merciaio), Florentine reading pupil (15th c.) 509 Baccio di Casino, grammar pupil in Laterina (14th c.) 208 Baldassare di Bartolomeo di Ser Albizo, Florentine reading pupil (15th c.) 448, 523 Baldassare di Giovanni di Lodovico da Montevarchi, abacus pupil in Florence (15th c.) 488 Baldense del fu Ser Piero, Maestro, Florentine grammar teacher (13th c.) 220 Baldinotti, Tommaso, da Pistoia, scribe and grammar pupil (15th c.) 112, 171 Baldovini, Florentine family 430 Baldovini, Francesco, Florentine parent (15th c.) 430 Balduccio del fu Manente d’Arezzo, grammar teacher in Colle Valdelsa (14th c.) 316, 549 Bambini, Ser Francesco di Piero, da Firenze, priest and private tutor in Florence (15th c.) 435 Banchi, Banco di Piero di Andrea, Florentine abacist (15th c.) 373, 385, 530, 648, 660, 670–71 Bandeluccio del fu Messer Torigno da Prato, Pratese pupil (13th c.) 61, 191, 206
index of names Bandini, Angelo del fu Giovanni, Ser, Florentine parent (15th c.) 341–42, 460, 670 Bandini, Bastiano di Ser Angelo, illegitimate son and Florentine elementary pupil (15th c.) 341–42, 460, 670 Bandini, Francesco (Cecco) di Maestro Bandino, da Monticchiello (Val d’Orcia), Maestro, grammar teacher in Siena and Volterra (14th c.) 596, 606 Bandino, Maestro, grammarian in Arezzo and Siena (13th–14th c.) 209, 590 Bandino d’Arezzo, Maestro, grammar teacher in Castiglion Fiorentino (14th c.) 262–63, 316, 547 Bandino di Fulino, Florentine schoolboy (15th c.) 730 Bandino di Lupo da S. Matteo, grammar teacher in Fucecchio (14th c.) 316, 555 Bandino di Ser Niccolò da Bologna, Maestro, elementary teacher in Castelfranco di Sotto (14th c.) 273, 547 Bardi, Florentine family 424, 426, 440, 464 Bardi, Ilarione di Lippaccio de’, Florentine parent (15th c.) 124, 453, 636 Bardi, Lorenzo di Ilarione di Lippaccio de’, Florentine elementary pupil (15th c.) 124, 424, 453, 636 Bardi, Piero di Ilarione, Florentine student (15th c.) 728 Bardo del fu Ser Gherardino da Montelupo, grammar pupil in Florence (15th c.) 455, 472 Barducci, Florentine family 435 Barducci, Alessandro di Roncognano di Giovanni, Florentine pupil (15th c.) 435 Barducci, Giorgio di Roncognano di Giovanni, Florentine pupil (15th c.) 435 Barducci, Giovanni di Roncognano di Giovanni, Florentine pupil (15th c.) 435 Barducci, Ottavante di Lorenzo, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 732 Barlettani, family from Volterra 86
795
Barnaba di Nanni di Barna da Siena, humanist (15th c.) 72 Baroncelli, Florentine family 425, 432, 440 Baroncelli, Carlo di Iacopo, Florentine parent (15th c.) 432 Baroncelli, Francesco di Cionaccio, Florentine parent (15th c.) 425, 485 Baroncelli, Giovanni di Sandro di Giovanni, Florentine schoolboy (15th c.) 487 Baroncelli, Salvadore di Sandro di Giovanni, Florentine schoolboy (15th c.) 487 Baroncelli, Sandro di Giovanni, Florentine parent (15th c.) 487 Bartoli, Bernardo di Ser Francesco, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 726 Bartoli, Giovanni, Florentine statesman (15th c.) 440 Bartoli, Giovanni di Ser Francesco, Florentine schoolboy (15th c.) 725 Bartoli, Giuliano d’Antonio di Ser Andrea, Florentine book owner (15th c.) 124, 136, 642 Bartolini, Florentine family 429, 440 Bartolini, Bernardo di Mariotto di Bartolo, Florentine pupil (15th c.) 534 Bartolini, Branca di Mariotto di Bartolo, Florentine pupil (15th c.) 534 Bartolini, Domenico di Neri, children of, Florentine book owners (15th c.) 143 Bartolini, Giorgio di Mariotto di Bartolo, Florentine pupil (15th c.) 534 Bartolini, Giovanni di Mariotto di Bartolo, Florentine pupil (15th c.) 534 Bartolini, Mariotto di Bartolo, Florentine parent (15th c.) 397, 534 Bartolini, Mariotto di Bartolo, children of, Florentine pupils (15th c.) 429, 397 Bartolino di Lorenzo, children of, Florentine book owners (15th c.) 139 Bartolo di Benghi da Gambassi, university student in Florence (15th c.) 526 Bartolo del fu Biagio da Arezzo, grammar teacher possibly in Laterina (13th c.) 207–208 Bartolo di Biagio dell’Olio da Città di Castello, Ser, priest and elementary
796
index of names
teacher in Florence (15th c.) 122, 347–48, 669–70, 693 Bartolo di Bongia da Firenze, grammar teacher (14th c.) 220, 316 Bartolo di Bono da Prato, Maestro, grammar teacher in Colle Valdelsa and Florence (14th c.) 79, 187, 316, 548, 569 Bartolo di Domenico, elementary teacher in Florence (15th c.) 330 Bartolo di Giovanni, Florentine bookseller (14th c.) 216 Bartolo di Giovanni da S. Gimignano (Firenze), grammar, rhetoric and logic teacher in Volterra (14th c.) 316, 608 Bartolo di Iacopo da Pieve S. Stefano, Maestro, grammar teacher in Sansepolcro (14th c.) 265, 316, 587, 758–59, 762–63, 765 Bartolo di Lorenzo, elementary teacher in Florence: see Gerini, Bartolo di Lorenzo Bartolo da S. Gimignano, Maestro, grammar teacher in Volterra (14th c.) 316, 310 Bartolo di Simone del Grasello, Florentine parent (15th c.) 469 Bartolomei, Bartolomea (widow Ser Pagolo di Pietro Bartolomei), Florentine parent (15th c.) 512 Bartolomei, Zanobi del fu Ser Pagolo di Pietro, Florentine schoolboy (15th c.) 512 Bartolomeo, Don, priest and grammar teacher in Colle Valdelsa (14th c.) 310, 551 Bartolomeo, Florentine grammar pupil in the Oltrarno (14th–15th c.) 152 Bartolomeo, Maestro, grammar and dialectic teacher in S. Gimignano (13th c.) 247, 577 Bartolomeo di Ser Albizo, Florentine parent (15th c.) 448, 523 Bartolomeo di Antonio, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 731 Bartolomeo di Antonio di Iacopo del Vigna, Messer, Florentine canon law student at Siena (15th c.) 499 Bartolomeo d’Arezzo, Maestro, private tutor in Florence (15th c.) 427 Bartolomeo di Bartolomeo da Mantova, Maestro, fencing teacher in Arezzo (15th c.) 752
Bartolomeo di Benedetto di Ser Matteo da S. Gaudenzio, brother of grammar pupil in Florence and / or grammar pupil in Florence (15th c.) 422 Bartolomeo di Bernardo, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 735 Bartolomeo di Cambio, Maestro, Florentine physician and uncle of reading pupil (15th c.) 508 Bartolomeo di Domenico di Bartolomeo, Florentine student (15th c.) 729 Bartolomeo di Donato da Firenze, Don, abbot and grammar teacher in Buggiano (14th c.) 316, 546 Bartolomeo di Francesco di Berto di Maestro Moro, Florentine abacist (14th c.) 227 Bartolomeo da Galeata (Foligno), private tutor in Florence (15th c.) 436 Bartolomeo del fu Ser Giorgio di Ser Caciotto, student in Padua (15th c.) 455, 518 Bartolomeo di Giovanni, grammar pupil in Prato (14th c.) 64 Bartolomeo di Giovanni, Maestro, elementary teacher in Florence (15th c.) 349–50 Bartolomeo della Grammatica, Maestro, grammar teacher in Florence (14th c.) 220, 322 Bartolomeo di Iacopo da Pieve S. Stefano, grammar teacher in Sansepolcro (14th c.) 760–61 Bartolomeo di Michele, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 735 Bartolomeo del fu Neri da Firenze, Don, grammar teacher in Castelfranco di Sotto (14th c.) 265, 316, 547 Bartolomeo di Piero, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 728 Bartolomeo di Piero di Filippo (maniscalco), Florentine chierico 522 Bartolomeo da Pratovecchio, Maestro, grammar teacher (earlier 15th c.): see Guidi, Bartolomeo Bartolomeo da Pratovecchio, private tutor in Florence (later 15th c.) 431 Bartolomeo di Salvestro, Florentine schoolboy (15th c.) 731 Bartolomeo di Silvestro da Firenze, Don, grammar teacher in Fucecchio (14th c.) 316, 557 Bartolomeo di Simone, Ser, ripetitore in Pistoia (14th c.) 288, 561
index of names Bartolomeo di Tommaso, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 726 Bartolomeus de Novaria, jurist 662, 668 Bartolus of Sassoferrato 431, 661–62 Bastiano di Agostino da S. Godenzo, book owner (16th c.) 126 Bastiano di Antonio di Zanobi, Florentine student (15th c.) 731 Battista di Filippo da Poppi, Ser, elementary teacher in Florence (15th c.) 350 Battista di Giovanni da Sansepolcro, grammar teacher in Florence (15th c.) 407–408, 414 Battista di Ser Guaspare da Cortona, private tutor in Florence (15th c.) 427 Battista da Norcia, Ser, private tutor in Florence (15th c.) 424, 453, 636 Battista da Pisa, Messer/Ser: see Boccianti, Ser Battista Beccadelli, Antonio: see Panormita Becchi, Gentile, humanist, grammar teacher, private tutor in Florence (15th c.) and bishop of Arezzo (15th c.) 155, 159, 169, 428 Becchi, Ricciardo, Florentine diplomat and grammar student (15th c.) 417 Bede 149 Belfredegli, Zanobi, Florentine abacus teacher (15th c.) 384, 476–77 Bellini, Lorenzo 368 Bucchereide 368 Beltramo del fu Morizo da Fermo, Maestro, grammar teacher in Siena (13th c.) 590 Bembo, Venetian family 135 Benaccio di Francesco de Ghaleada da Poppi, Maestro, grammar teacher (14th–15th c.) 85–86, 166, 168, 315–16, 553, 586 Benci, Florentine family 427, 440 Benci, Filippo di Lorenzo di Giovanni, Florentine reading pupil (15th c.) 447, 510 Benci, Giovanni, Florentine parent (15th c.) 159, 169, 642 Benci, Giovanni di Lorenzo di Giovanni, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 447, 510 Benci, Giovanni di Lorenzo, children of, Florentine pupils (15th c.) 427 Benci, Iacopo di Lorenzo di Giovanni, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 447, 510
797
Benci, Lorenzo di Giovanni, Florentine parent (15th c.) 510 Bencivenni di Filippo, Florentine schoolboy (15th c.) 730 Bene, Frate, priest and teacher 613 Bene da Firenze, Maestro, grammarian and rhetorician in Bologna (13th c.) 126, 183 Summa grammatice 68, 126 Benedetto di Antonio da Figline, abacus teacher (15th c.) 678 Benedetto di Antonio da Firenze, Florentine abacist (15th c.) 228–29, 239–40, 362–73, 376, 379, 381–82, 410, 675 Praticha d’arismetrica 369 Trattato d’abacho 368 Benedetto di Domenico da Prato, abacus teacher in Arezzo (15th c.) 78 Benedetto di Giovanni da Lamole, elementary pupil in Florence (15th c.) 641 Benedetto di Girolamo, sarto, Florentine parent (15th c.) 455, 514 Benedetto di Iacopo di Ser Folco da Firenze, Florentine grammar pupil (15th c.) 153 Benedetto di Michele di Maso, Florentine reading pupil (15th c.) 520 Benedetto di Ser Nicola, Florentine schoolboy (15th c.) 729 Benedetto di Niccolaio di Cecco da Volterra, private tutor in Florence (15th c.) 426 Benedetto di Nicolello da Gubbio, Maestro, grammar teacher in Sansepolcro (15th c.) 113–16, 168 Benedetto di Stadino, fencing master in Florence (15th c.) 490 Benedetto di Uberto, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 731 Benincasa del fu Benincasa (tintore), Florentine reading pupil (15th c.) 500 Benincasa di Bentivegna da S. Maria in Bagno, Ser, grammar teacher in Florence (14th c.) 267, 316, 537 Benini, Carlo, Florentine book owner 149 Benini, Giuliano di Nofri, Florentine book owner (15th c.) 130, 154, 158 Benintendi, Alberto di Zanobi di Salvi, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 473 Benintendi, Salvi di Zanobi di Salvi, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 473
798
index of names
Benintendi, Zanobi di Salvi, lanaiuolo, Florentine parent (15th c.) 473 Benintendi (Simintendi, Symitendo, Semintendo) di Ser Arrigo (Herucio) da Prato, grammar teacher (14th c.) 311, 316, 558, 563–64, 573, 575, 583, 610 Benino, del, Mattea del fu Andrea, widow of Matteo di Messer Luca de’ Firidol and wife of Luca di Ser Filippo Carnesecchi, Florentine parent (15th c.) 452, 624 Benizi, Ridolfo di Iacopo, Florentine schoolboy (15th c.) 726 Benno, Maestro, elementary teacher in Florence (13th c.) 211 Benrecevuto, Maestro, grammar teacher in Arezzo (13th c.) 209 Benvenuto di Ser Bartolomeo, Ser, grammar teacher in S. Gimignano (14th c.) 585 Berandi, Lorenzo di Francesco, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 727 Berlingueri del fu Braccio, Ser, Florentine grammar teacher (13th c.) 214 Berlingueri, Latino di Andrea, Maestro, Florentine grammar teacher (14th c.) 196, 203, 214, 316 Bernaba di Bernaba di Baldovino, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 730 Bernard of Clairvaux Epistola de cura rei familiaris 146, 150 Bernardi, Girolamo di Maestro Luca, da S. Gimigano, Maestro, grammar teacher (15th–16th c.) 144, 400, 543 Bernardi, Luca di Antonio, da S. Gimignano, Maestro, private tutor in Florence and grammar teacher (15th c.) 164, 169–71, 390, 397–400, 410, 415, 428, 433, 540–41, 717 Bernardino da Siena, San 605–6 Bernardo, grandson of the blacksmith Andrea di Giovanni, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 382 Bernardo di Antonio, Florentine schoolboy (15th c.) 728 Bernardo del fu Benvenuto di Piacito, Pratese notary and elementary teacher (13th c.) 61, 191, 206 Bernardo di Bernardo di Ambrogio, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 733
Bernardo del fu Ser Cetto di Ser Agnolo da Loro, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 493 Bernardo di Lorenzo, chierico and elementary teacher in Florence (15th c.) 347, 459, 657 Bernardo di Meglio d’Arezzo, Ser, Aretine notary, and elementary and grammar teacher (14th c.) 316, 545, 737–39 Bernardo di Tommaso di Filippo di Giacchi, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 374 Bernardo da Volterra, possible elementary pupil in Florence (15th c.) Berti, Bartolomeo di Ser Simone, notarial student (15th c.) 455, 498 Berti, Simone, Ser, Florentine notary and parent (15th c.) 455, 498 Bertini, Lodovico di Simone, guardian (15th c.) 486 Bertino di Piero, grammar teacher in Siena (14th c.) 603 Berto di Maestro Moro, Florentine abacist (14th c.) 227 Betti, Piero di Francesco di Duccio, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 374 Bettino di Ser Antonio da Romena, Florentine abacist (15th c.) 362–63, 370, 381–82 Betto del fu Feduccio, Florentine elementary teacher (14th c.) 56, 202, 213–14 Bettuccio di Guiducccio, elementary and grammar teacher in Fucecchio (14th c.) 201, 554 Biagio d’Agnolo, Florentine student (15th c.) 13, 508 Biagio di Domenico da S. Gimignano, private tutor in Florence (15th c.) 427, 445–46, 641 Biagio di Giovanni (Biagio del Guelfo), Florentine abacist (14th c.) 231–34, 239 Biagio di Niccolò di Biagio, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 483 Biagio il Vecchio, Florentine abacist (14th c.) 227, 233 Bible 161, 708, 714 Gospels 676, 684, 716 Bicci di Neri di Bicci, Florentine elementary pupil (15th c.) 342, 377 Biliotti, Florentine family 167
index of names Biliotti, Antonio di Bonino, Florentine abacist (14th–15th c.) 236 Biliotti, Biliotto di Andriano, employer of Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 384 Biliotti, Torrigiano, Florentine grammar pupil (15th c.) 146, 156, 167, 384 Bindi, Bindo di Niccolò di Bartolomeo, notarial student in Florence (15th c.) 455, 484–85 Bindi, Bonaguida di Bartolomeo di Bindo, Ser, Florentine notary and uncle of notarial student (15th c.) 484–85 Bindo di Messer Battista da Pisa, book owner (15th c.): see Boccianti, Bindo Bindo da Montecastello, notary and grammar teacher in Volterra (13th c.) 193, 206, 316 Bini, Lorenzo di Piero, Florentine book owner (15th c.) 141 Bino di Ser Accarigio, Ser, elementary teacher in Florence (14th c.) 195, 212 Binozzo, Cristofano di Niccolò, Florentine grammar pupil (15th c.) 421 Binozzo, Francesco, Florentine brother of grammar pupils (15th c.) 420–21 Binozzo, Niccolò di Francesco, Florentine grammar pupil (15th c.) 421 Biondo, Flavio 430 Bisconti, Battista di Andrea, Ser, da Volterra, grammar teacher (15th c.) 148, 389, 408–409, 414, 538 Bisticci, Vespasiano da: see Vespasiano da Bisticci Boccaccio, Giovanni 65, 81, 228, 323 Corbaccio 617, 676 Boccianti, Andrea di Ser Battista, schoolboy in Florence (15th c.) 523 Boccianti, Ser Battista di Giovanni, da Pisa, notary and book dealer in Florence (15th c.) 134, 486, 518, 522–23 Boccianti, Bindo di Ser Battista, da Pisa, Florentine book owner 134 Boccianti, Matteo di Ser Battista, schoolboy in Florence (15th c.) 523 Boccianti, Niccolaio di Ser Battista, schoolboy in Florence (15th c.) 523 Boccucci, Manno, Maestro, Florentine abacist (14th c.) 235, 600 Boethius 78, 431, 454
799
Consolatio philosophiae 48, 50, 82, 101, 111, 115, 144–45, 151–54, 156, 165, 387, 637, 661 Boethius (pseudo) De disciplina scolarium 81 Bonaccorso di Ugone da Sansepolcro, Ser, grammar teacher in Sansepolcro (14th c.) 759–60 Bonagio, Florentine abacist (14th c.) 236 Bonagrazia da Firenze, Maestro, grammar teacher in Poggibonsi (14th c.) 261, 316, 565 Bonarli, Orlando di Giovanni, Messer, archbishop of Florence and law student at Bologna (15th c.) 455, 489–90 Bonastrina (Bonastrena, Strena), Maestro, grammar teacher in S. Gimignano (13th c.) 195, 246–47, 577–78 Bonavere, notary and beadle of Aretine university (13th c.) 204 Bonciani, Antonio di Girolamo di Niccolò, Florentine elementary pupil (15th c.) 122 Bonciani, Giovanni Battista di Girolamo di Niccolò, private tutor in Florence (15th c.) 437 Bonciani, Nicola di Girolamo di Niccolò, teacher of reading to his brother, Antonio (15th c.) 122 Boncompagno da Signa 181 Bonfantini, Francesco del fu Corso, Florentine abacus pupil (14th c.) 238 Bono (banchiere), Florentine parent (15th c.) 429 Bono, teacher in Florence (15th c.) 153 Bono di Ser Luca de Corsignano, Maestro, grammar teacher in Poggibonsi (14th c.) 317, 566 Bono da Marcena, grammar pupil (12th c.) 176 Bonsi del fu Ser Reddita, Ser, elementary teacher in Florence (14th c.) 212 Bonvesin da la Riva Vita scolastica 147–48, 150 Bordoni, Iacopo, Florentine abacus pupil (14th c.) 233–39 Borghese del fu Donato da Sansepolcro, Maestro, grammar teacher in Cortona 553
800
index of names
Borghese di Gherardo, Maestro, Florentine grammar teacher (13th c.) 194–95, 214, 219 Borghese di Gherardo di Borghese di Gherardo, Florentine grammar teacher (13th c.) 193–94 Borghi, Giovanni di Niccolò di Ser Fiesco, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 484 Borghi, Neri di Niccolò di Ser Fiesco, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 484 Borghi, Niccolò di Ser Fiesco, Florentine parent (15th c.) 484 Boscoli, Alessandro di Francesco di Giuliano, Florentine parent (15th c.) 163 Boscoli, Francesco di Alessandro di Francesco di Giuliano, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 163 Boscoli, Lorenzo di Alessandro di Francesco di Giuliano, Florentine writing pupil (15th c.) 163 Boscoli, Pandolfo di Alessandro di Francesco di Giuliano, Florentine reading pupil (15th c.) 125, 163 Boscoli, Pappi di Alessandro di Francesco di Giuliano, Florentine writing pupil (15th c.) 163 Bosi, Guglielmo de’, da Verrucola, Maestro, grammar teacher in Lucca (14th c.) 129 Bosi, Iacopo di Bartolomeo, dalla Garfagnana (Verrucola), Maestro, grammar teacher in Florence (15th c.) 400, 542 Bracciolini, Alessandra, wife of Filippo di Messer Poggio Bracciolini and daughter of Feline di Deo del Beccuto, dancing pupil in Florence (15th c.) 677 Bracciolini, Poggio 86, 135, 225 Bracciolini, Filippo di Messer Poggio, husband of dancing pupil (15th c.) 677 Branca di Pagolo, Florentine schoolboy (15th c.) 733 Brancacci, Florentine family 426, 432, 440 Brancacci, Lippaccio, Florentine parent (15th c.) 426, 525 Brancacci, Zanobi di Michele, children of, Florentine pupils and book owners (15th c.) 143, 432
Brigida, wife of Giovanni da Firenze and sister of Bartolomeo Fonzio, Florentine parent (15th c.) 437 Brocardi, Gianpietro di Maestro Antonio, da Venezia, Messer, grammar teacher in Florence (15th c.) 402 Brognoli, Brescian family 119 Brognoli, Galeazzo di Fioriomonte, copyist (14th c.) 119 Brunelleschi, Filippo 367 Bruni, Daniele di Leonardo di Donato di Messer Leonardo, children of, Florentine book owners (15th c.) 143 Bruni, Leonardo 65–66, 225, 371, 461 Dialogi ad Petrum Paulum Histrum 461 Buonarotti, Lionardo di Lodovico, Florentine elementary pupil (15th c.) 337, 372 Buonarotti, Lodovico, Florentine parent (15th c.) 337, 372 Buonarotti, Michelangelo di Lodovico, artist and Florentine grammar pupil (15th c.) 141, 337, 372, 401 Buonaventura, Messer, grammar teacher in Florence (14th c.) 189 Buondelmonti, Florentine family 457 Buondelmonti, Baldassare di Rosso, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 728 Buondelmonti, Francesco di Lorenzo, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 727 Buondelmonti, Messer Luca, Florentine book owner (15th c.) 155 Buongirolami, Florentine family 434 Buongirolami, Bernardo, children of, Florentine pupils (15th c.) 434 Buongirolami, Giovanni di Bernardo, Florentine pupil (15th c.) 434 Buoninsegni, Buoninsegna del fu Niccolò di Domenico, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 374, 671 Buoninsegni, Giovanni di Niccolò di Domenico, Florentine parent (15th c.) 670 Buoninsegni, Niccolò di Domenico, children of, Florentine pupils (15th c.) 460 Buonsignore di Giovanni, Florentine schoolboy (15th c.) 733 Burchiello 151 Burletti, Antonio di Simone di Niccolò d’Arezzo, Ser, grammar teacher and priest (15th c.) 72–77, 752 Nove regule de constructionibus 72–77
index of names Caccini, Florentine family 415 Caesar, Julius 77 Cafferecci, family from Volterra 429 Cafferecci, Giovanni d’Attaviano, Ser, notary and private tutor in Florence (15th c.) 427 Cafferecci, Matteo di Ser Giovanni, da Volterra, grammar pupil in Florence (15th c.) 429 Cafferelli, Francesco di Zanobi, Florentine parent (15th c.) 491 Cafferelli, Zanobi di Francesco di Zanobi, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 491 Calandri, Florentine family of abacists 366 Calandri, Calandro di Piero di Mariano, Florentine abacist (15th c.) 232, 362, 366–68, 372, 376–79, 644–45, 648–49 Calandri, Filippo Maria di Calandro, Florentine abacist (15th c.) 362–63, 367, 379, 717–18 De arimetricha opusculum 367 Calandri, Pier Maria di Calandro, Florentine abacist (15th c.) 362, 367, 379, 690 Calcagni, Benedetto di Ser Piero, Ser, Florentine student (15th c.) 455, 517 Calcagni, Piero di Francesco, Ser, notary and Florentine parent (15th c.) 455, 516–17 Calderini, Falcone di Fruosino, Florentine elementary pupil (15th c.) 125 Caleffo del fu Bonaccorso da Firenze, grammar teacher in Pistoia (14th c.) 287–88, 316, 561 Callisto, private tutor in Florence (15th c.) 430 Cambi, Marco di Giovanni, Florentine book owner (15th c.) 148 Cambini, Florentine family 425 Cambini, Bartolomeo, children of (15th c.) 425 Cambini, Benedetto di Piero, Florentine grammar pupil (15th c.) 148, 389 Cambini, Cambino di Francesco, Florentine parent (15th c.) 534 Cambini, Carlo di Niccolò, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 731 Cambini, Luigi di Cambino di Francesco, student in Perugia (15th c.) 534
801
Cambino di Bonafede, Ser, elementary teacher in Florence (14th c.) 212 Cambio di Ammanato, Ser, grammar teacher in Fucecchio (14th c.) 253–54, 554 Camerini, Lorenzo di Bartolo di Neri, Florentine abacus pupil (14th c.) 237 Canacci, Raffaello di Giovanni, Florentine abacist (15th c.) 362–63, 371–72, 382–83 Alchuna ragione 371 Fioretto dell’abacho 371 Ragionamenti d’algebra 371 Trattato d’arismetricha 371 Canocchi, Florentine family 157, 169, 428 Canocchi, Andrea di Domenico, Florentine parent (15th c.) 157, 428 Cantalicio (Giovanni Valentini) 102, 171 Cantori, Egidio di Ghino di Guido, grammar teacher in Florence (13th c.) 220 Capponi, Florentine family 429, 431, 440, 464 Capponi, Alessandro, Florentine book owner (15th c.) 141, 467, 692 Capponi, Cappone di Gino di Neri, Florentine pupil (15th c.) 529 Capponi, Gino di Neri, Florentine abacus pupil and statesman (14th c.) 237 Capponi, Gino di Neri, Florentine parent (15th c.) 529 Capponi, Guglielmo, Messer, children of, Florentine pupils (15th c.) 431 Capponi, Lorenzo di Recco, Florentine parent (15th c.) 125 Capponi, Neri di Gino di Neri, Florentine pupil (15th c.) 529 Capponi, Piero di Gino di Neri, Florentine grammar pupil (15th c.) 429, 529 Capponi, Tommaso di Gino di Neri, Florentine grammar pupil (15th c.) 429, 529 Carducci, Carlo di Niccolò, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 727 Carlo di Francesco da Brucianesi (Signa), private tutor in Florence (15th c.) 425, 518 Carlo di Luca di Niccolò d’Arabatta, Florentine elementary pupil (15th c.) 447, 524
802
index of names
Carluccio da Città di Castello, Ser, private tutor in Florence (15th c.) 425, 479 Carmignano del fu Maestro Puccio, Ser, abacus teacher in Prato (14th c.) 276–77, 568 Carnesecchi, Mattea, wife of Luca di Ser Filippo Carnesecchi and widow of Matteo di Messer Luca de’ Firidol da Panzano, Florentine parent (15th c.) 452, 624 Caroli, Giovanni, Florentine Dominican and humanist (15th c.) 189–90 Caronci, Caroncio di Ser Iacopo, grammar teacher in Arezzo (14th c.) 210, 317 Carondini, Domenico di Ser Tommaso di Domenico, notary, Florentine parent (15th c.) 503 Cartula 112, 145–50 Castagnoli, Iacopo, da Bologna, Maestro, grammar and rhetoric teacher in Pistoia (14th c.) 564 Castellani, Florentine family 425–26, 440, 464 Castellani, Alessandro del fu Spinello d’Alamanno di Luca, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 163 Castellani, Francesco di Matteo, Florentine pupil, book owner and parent (15th c.) 136, 373–74, 378, 425–26 Castellani, Grazia, Fra, Florentine abacist (14th–15th c.) 236, 368 Castellani, Matteo, Messer, Florentine statesman and parent (15th c.) 485–86 Castellani, Niccolò di Francesco di Matteo, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 373–74, 378, 648 Cataline 77 Catalucio di Cecchino da Todi, Maestro, grammar and rhetoric teacher in Volterra and Todi (14th c.) 312, 610 Caterina, widow of Benincasa tintore, Florentine parent (15th c.) 500 Cattani di Diacceto, Florentine family 153, 434 Cavalcanti, Florentine family 423, 440 Cavalcanti, Rosso di Messer Scolaro, children of, Florentine pupils (15th c.) 423, 624 Cavalcanti, Tommaso, Florentine abacus pupil (14th c.) 238–39
Ceccherini, Nofri, Messer, Florentine parent (15th c.) 460, 660 Ceccherini, Ruberto di Messer Nofri, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 660 Cecchi, Giammaria 367 La Maiana 367 Cecco d’Ascoli 617 Cecco di Finuzio, grammar pupil in Laterina (14th c.) 208 Cecco di Orlando da Prato, Ser, grammar teacher in Prato (14th c.) 317, 549, 568–70 Cenni di Lorenzo di Giovanni di Cenni, Florentine chierico (15th c.) 511 Cerchi, Florentine family 464 Cerchi, Bindaccio del fu Michele di Consiglio, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 649–50 Cerchi, Michele di Consiglio, children of, Florentine pupils (15th c.) 460 Charles IV, Emperor 87 Checca, widow of Francesco di Ser Arighetto da Prato, parent (15th c.) 504 Chele di Ser Giovanni del fu Bentinegna da Capannole, grammar pupil (13th c.) 207 Chelli, Ser Giovanni di Lorenzo, private tutor in Florence (15th c.) 436, 676–77 Chellini, family from S. Miniato 426 Chellini, Cosimo di Maestro Giovanni, da S. Miniato, pupil in Florence (15th c.) 426, 516 Chellini, Giovanni di Maestro Antonio, da S. Miniato, Maestro, Florentine physician and parent (15th c.) 515–16 Chellini, Tommaso di Maestro Giovanni, da S. Miniato, pupil in Florence (15th c.) 426, 516 Chelocci, Giovanni, Maestro, grammar teacher in Siena (14th c.) 603 Cherucci, Stefano di Fruosino, Florentine schoolboy (15th c.) 727 Chiara, widow of Iacopo di Francesco fabbro da Prato e abitante a Firenze, Florentine parent (15th c.) 504 Chiari, Dianora, widow of Bilincione de’ Chiari, Florentine parent (15th c.) 514–15 Chiari, Giovanni di Bilincione, Florentine chierico (15th c.) 514–15
index of names Chiavelli, Scabello del fu Chiavello, da Siena, Maestro, clerk and grammar teacher in Siena (14th c.) 182, 592 Chimenti di Antonio del Rosso, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 734 Chiro di Mico, Florentine abacist (13th c.) 226 Chrysoloras, Manuel Erotemata 143 Chrysostom, John, Saint 676 Chonsalvi, Lopo, Portugese abacus pupil in Florence (15th c.) 372 Ciantellini, Giovanni di Ser Pietro, children of, Florentine book owners (15th c.) 140 Ciappelli, Giovanni di Domenico, Florentine parent (15th c.) 510 Ciappelli, Girolamo di Giovanni, abacus pupil in Florence (15th c.) 447, 510 Ciappelli, Romolo di Giovanni, reading pupil in Florence (15th c.) 447, 510 Cibaldi, Urbano di Cibaldo di Sano di Filippo, Florentine reading pupil (15th c.) 125 Cicero 48–49, 76, 82, 86, 110, 137, 154, 158, 161–62, 165, 170–71, 430–31, 684 De amicitia 49, 159, 167, 522, 639, 663, 666, 679, 719 De inventione 141, 637 De ofciis 49, 76–77, 110–11, 159, 167–68, 171, 639 De senectute 49, 72, 663, 666, 719 Disputationes tusculanae 522 Epistulae 161, 165, 169, 171 Epistulae familiares 65–66, 159, 161, 170, 647, 672 Orationes 159 Paradoxa stoicorum 49, 663, 666 Somnium Scipionis 49 Cicero (pseudo) 76 Differentiae 132 Rhetorica ad Herennium 62, 93–94, 101, 109, 171, 637 Ciliagio di Luca di Niccolò d’Arabatta, chierico (15th c.) 524 Cinezo di Giovanni, Florentine parent (15th c.) 508 Cino del fu Bruno di Maestro Filippo di Manetto da Firenze, grammar pupil in S. Gimignano (13th c.) 248 Cino di Taviano da Volterra, elementary teacher in S. Gimignano (14th c.) 270, 582
803
Cino da Varna (Certaldo), Maestro, grammar teacher in Poggibonsi (14th c.) 565 Cinzio di Ser Pietro, grammar pupil in Laterina (14th c.) 208 Cione, Maestro (vocato Fra Francesco), grammar teacher in Prato (13th c.) 182, 567 Cionellino, Maestro, grammar teacher in Florence (14th c.) 187 Cioni, Antonio di Ser Piero di Agnolo, Florentine elementary pupil (15th c.) 124, 447, 506–7 Cioni, Tommaso di Ser Piero di Agnolo, Ser, brother of Florentine elementary pupil (15th c.) 124, 506–7 Ciuci, Bartolomeo di Francesco, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 729 Ciuccio del fu Monaldo da Perugia, elementary teacher in Florence (13th c.) 195, 202, 211 Claudian 168–69 De raptu Proserpinae 64, 156, 167–69 Clemente (Chimente), Ser, private tutor in Florence (15th c.) 136, 429, 435, 647, 701 Clementia, wife of Marchese del fu Bencio, Florentine elementary teacher (14th c.) 123, 203 Clodius, Roman politician (1st c. B.C.) 77 Collo di Bindo di Geppo da Pisa, Ser, grammar teacher in Colle Valdelsa (14th c.) 317, 551 Colucci, Benedetto, grammar teacher, humanist and private tutor in Florence (15th c.) 82, 170–71, 397, 429, 534, 541 Declamationes 397 Oratio ante lectionem Vergilii 82 Comandi, Comando di Simone, Ser, da Pieve S. Stefano, grammar teacher in Florence (15th c.) 390, 392–96, 415–416, 422–23, 531–32, 540 Comparini, Paolo, Maestro, da Prato, grammar teacher in Florence (15th c.) 164 Condivi, Ascanio, biographer of Michelangelo 401 Consiglio del fu Vanni, Maestro, grammar teacher in Pistoia (14th c.) 286, 317, 560 Contugi, Carlo, da Volterra, book owner (15th c.) 86
804
index of names
Contugi, Giovanni Battista, da Volterra, Messer, book owner (15th c.) 86 Convenevole del fu Ser Acconcio da Prato, Maestro, notary and teacher of grammar and rhetoric in Prato (14th c.) 62, 194, 315, 317, 569 Coppi, Nofri di Angelo, Don, da S. Gimignano, Maestro, grammar teacher and Benedictine monk (14th–15th c.) 82, 101, 166, 168, 315, 319, 553, 585 Coraza Canonarius 105 Corbinelli, Antonio di Bartolomeo, children of, Florentine book owners (15th c.) 154 Corbinelli, Bernardo di Tommaso di Bartolomeo, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 477 Corbinelli, Tommaso di Bartolomeo, Florentine parent (15th c.) 477 Corbizzi, Florentine family of abacists 230 Corbizzi, Bernardo di Tommaso di Davizzo, Florentine abacist (14th c.) 230, 234, 240–41 Corbizzi, Cristofano di Tommaso di Davizzo, Florentine abacist (14th c.) 230, 234 Corbizzi, Davizzo, Maestro, Florentine abacist (14th c.) 230, 276 Corbizzi, Giovanni di Davizzo, Maestro, Florentine abacist (14th c.) 230, 276, 545 Algiebra 230 Corbizzi, Tommaso di Davizzo, Maestro, Florentine abacus teacher (14th c.) 222, 230, 234, 237, 240–41, 276, 322, 545, 580, 599, 602, 616 Cornelio di Giovanni da Firenze, pupil in Florence (15th c.) 437 Corsi, Florentine family 87 Corsi, Francesco, Florentine book owner in Pisa (15th c.) 87 Corsini, Florentine family 329 Corsini, Andrea di Giovanni di Niccolò, Florentine pupil (14th c.) 224–25 Corsini, Matteo di Niccolò, Florentine guardian (14th c.) 225 Corso di Teo, pupil in S. Gimignano (13th c.) 200–201 Cosa, elementary teacher in Florence (15th c.) 350 Coscio, Florentine abacist (14th c.) 235
Cosimo di Bartolomeo di Ser Bartolomeo del Maestro Antonio da S. Miniato, Florentine pupil (15th c.) 435 Cosimo di Biagio, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 733 Cresci, Florentine family 433 Cresci, Andrea di Cresci, Florentine parent (15th c.) 140, 673–74 Cresci, Cresci di Andrea di Cresci, Florentine grammar and dancing pupil (15th c.) 140, 433, 466, 673–74 Crinito, Pietro, Florentine humanist and grammar teacher 149–50, 155, 158, 170 Cristofano di Gherardo di Dino, Pisan abacus teacher (15th c.) 53, 97 Libro d’anbaco 53 Cristofano da Sarzana, Ser, private tutor in Florence (15th c.) 438, 708–10 Cubello, grammar pupil in Prato (15th c.) 65 Cunti, Ser Piero de’, da Genova, private tutor in Florence (15th c.) 124, 666 Cursio, scolaris of the Aretine cathedral (13th c.) 182 da Bisticci, Vespasiano: see Vespasiano da Bisticci Dada, widow of Messer Rosso d’Andreozzo, Florentine parent (15th c.) 493 da Filicaia, Florentine family 457 da Filicaia, Maso di Ser Piero, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 726–27 da Filicaia, Papi di Ierello, Florentine book owner (15th–16th c.) 125–26 da Filicaia, Tommaso, Florentine book owner (16th c.) 126 d’Alinari, Francesca del fu Piero di Luigi, Florentine reading pupil (15th c.) 671 d’Alinari, Iacopo di Luigi di Bartolo, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 492 d’Alinari, Luigi di Bartolo, Florentine parent (15th c.) 492 da Maiano, Benedetto 368 da Maiano, Giuliano 368 Dando di Cicogna, abacus teacher in Prato (14th c.) 569 Dante Alighieri 81
index of names Divina commedia 81 da Panzano: see Panzano, da Dati, Agostino 51–52, 165 Elegantiolae (Isagogicus libellus) 51, 97, 467 Dati, Antonio di Goro di Stagio, children of, Florentine book owners (15th c.) 143 Dati, Leonardo, Florentine humanist, bishop and notarial student (15th c.) 81, 472 Dati, Piero di Giorgio, Florentine parent (15th c.) 472 Datini, Pratese family 163 Datini, Francesco, merchant and parent in Prato and Florence (14th–15th c.) 66, 203, 238 Datini, Margherita, wife of Francesco Datini and parent in Prato (14th c.) 66 Datini, Tina, daughter of Francesco and elementary pupil in Prato (14th c.) 66 Dato di Giovanni dal Casentino, grammar ripetitore in Florence (14th c.) 219, 317 Davanzati, Florentine family 457 Davanzati, Giuliano di Giovanni di Niccolaio, Florentine schoolboy (15th c.) 733 Davanzati, Nicolaio di Messer Giuliano, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 725 Davanzati, Tommaso di Piero, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 729 Davizi, Maddalena (widow of Andrea di Domenico Davizi), grandmother to Florentine reading pupils 532–33 Decretals 662 Dei, Bartolomeo, private tutor in Florence (15th c.) 436 del Bene, Florentine family 238, 323, 464, 613–16, 623 del Bene, Alessandro di Riccardo di Francesco, Florentine pupil (14th c.) 623 del Bene, Amerigo di Borgognone, Florentine elementary and grammar pupil (14th c.) 123, 220, 322, 324, 616–17 del Bene, Bindela, Florentine parent (14th c.) 324 del Bene, Riccardo di Francesco, Florentine parent (14th c.) 623
805
del Bria, Florentine family (15th c.) 381 del Chiaro, Michele di Giovanni, children of, book owners (15th c.) 154 dell’Anguillara, Domenico di Giovanni Agnolo, Maestro, student at Pisa (15th c.) 683 dell’Anguillara, Giovanni Agnolo Florentine parent (15th c.) 683 dell’Antella, Florentine family 464 dell’Antella, Filippo, Florentine parent (14th c.) 153, 618–19 dell’Antella, Nanni di Filippo, Florentine pupil (14th c.) 153, 618 della Fioraia, Simone di Ser Piero, children of, Florentine book owners (15th c.) 139 della Stufa, Florentine family: see also Loteringhi della Stufa, Gismondo di Messer Agnolo, children of, Florentine book owners (15th c.) 143 delle Corti, Albertino del fu Giunta, Ser, elementary teacher in Florence (13th c.) 211–12 Delli, Tommasa, Florentine elementary pupil (14th c.) 203 del Sega, Benetendi di Lipo del Fede, Florentine pupil (14th c.) 184, 613 del Sega, Bernardo, elementary pupil in Florence (14th c.) 213, 613 del Sega, Lippo del Fede, Florentine parent (14th c.) 613 del Sodo, Giovanni, Florentine abacus teacher (15th c.) 162, 363, 371, 380–81, 702–5 Demosthenes 679 Deti, Florentine family 425, 439–40 Deti, Guido, Florentine parent (15th c.) 425, 479 Deti, Ormannozzo di Messser Tommaso di Guido, Messer, Florentine parent (15th c.) 439 Deusdede, priest and teacher in Lucca (8th c.) 178 Diedi di Vanni, Florentine abacist (14th c.) 235 Dilicato di Domenico, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 726 Dini, Piero di Antonio, Florentine student (15th c.) 732 Dino di Ser Antonio, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 735
806
index of names
Dionigi di Domenico, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 734 Dionigi di Messer Feo da Castiglion Fiorentino (or Monte S. Savino), private tutor in Florence (15th c.) 424, 634–35 Dissuasio Valerii ad Runum 104–105 Disticha Catonis 46, 48, 110–12, 123, 125–26, 144–50, 173 Doctrinale: see Alexander of Villedieu Doctrina rudium 145 Dof, Lodovico, Florentine grammatical compiler (15th c.) 138–39 Domenico, orphan and reading pupil in care of Francesco di Piero Gherucci (15th c.) 519 D(omenico), private tutor in Florence (earlier 15th c.) 426 Domenico di Andrea, grammar pupil and book owner (14th–15th c.) 151 Domenico di Antonio, Florentine student (15th c.) 727 Domenico di Antonio di Arrigo, elementary teacher in Florence (15th c.) 332, 481–82 Domenico di Antonio di Filippo, Florentine elementary pupil (15th c.) 447–48, 472 Domenico di Bandino d’Arezzo, Maestro, teacher of grammar and rhetoric (14th–15th c.) 70–72, 76, 128, 131–32, 151–52, 165–67, 267–68, 308, 315, 317, 321, 537, 545, 750 Rosarium 71, 165 Domenico di Bartolo, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 728 Domenico di Bartolomeo, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 735 Domenico di Bono da Firenze, called Valdisieve, Florentine parent (15th c.) 132 Domenico di Iacopo da Borgo alla Collina, Ser, private tutor in Florence (15th c.) 439, 684–85, 694, 718 Domenico del Migliore, cassiere alle porti di Firenze, Florentine parent (15th c.) 508 Domenico di Nardo di Manardo vocato Marzalino, Florentine parent (15th c.) 422 Domenico da Prato, Ser, private tutor in Florence (15th c.) 428 Domenico di Rimbaldo da Siena, Maestro, grammar teacher in Fucecchio (14th c.) 317, 556
Domenico di Stefano di Dario (pianellaio), Florentine pupil (15th c.) 477 Domenico di Stefano di Domenico (lavorante di tinta), Florentine schoolboy (15th c.) 489 Dominici, Giovanni 116, 144, 151, 190, 440 Regola di cura familiare 116 Domizi, Pietro di Domenico, Maestro, Florentine priest, grammar teacher and private tutor in Florence (15th–16th c.) 126, 164, 349, 398–99, 434, 439, 542 Augustinus 164 Licinia 164 Petrus 164 Zenobius 164 Donatello (Donato di Niccolò) 16 Donati, Domenico di Piero, Ser, chierico and elementary teacher in Florence (15th c.) 359–60 Donato, bishop of Fiesole (9th c.) 178 Donato, Maestro, grammar teacher in Florence 187 Donato di Giovanni di Dante d’Arezzo, abacus teacher in Arezzo (14th c.) 258, 545 Donato del fu Guido, Ser, elementary teacher in Florence (13th c.) 211 Donato di Venturo, Florentine grammar teacher (14th c.) 220, 316 Donatus, Aelius 160 Ars minor 44 Dore di Giovanni da S. Gimignano, Ser, priest and elementary teacher in S. Gimignano (14th c.) 57, 317, 582–83 Dovizi, Bernardo di Francesco, da Bibbiena, cardinal and pupil in Florence (15th c.) 432–33 Dovizi, Piero di Francesco, da Bibbiena, secretary to Piero di Lorenzo de’ Medici and pupil in Florence (15th c.) 432–33 Duccio di Amadore da Prato, Ser, grammar teacher in Prato (14th c.) 62, 194, 317, 569 Duccio del fu Ciuffa da Vico Fiorentino, grammar teacher in Florence (14th c.) 220, 317 Duccio di Fino, bidello dello Studio Fiorentino (15th c. ) 504 Duccio di Gano di Duccio di Ser Galdo da Firenze, student in Bologna (15th c.) 500
index of names Dungal, monk and headmaster in Pavia (9th c.) 180 Elempert, bishop of Arezzo (10th–11th c.) 175–76 Ennius 167 Enoch d’Ascoli, humanist and private tutor in Florence (15th c.) 426 Enrico, priest and grammarian in Lucca (12th c.) 178 Euclid 672 Eugenius IV xix, 133 Evrard of Béthune 72 Graecismus 47, 65, 67, 134 Facetus 145–46 Falarini, Andrea di Michele, parent (15th c.) 717 Falarini, Iacopo di Andrea di Michele, pupil (15th c.) 717 Falco di Filippo di Falco, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 729 Falcone di Maestro Lapo, parent (15th c.) 509 Falconi, Bernardo d’Antonio (Bernardo Zoppo), Florentine elementary teacher (15th c.) 10, 17, 26, 330–31, 336, 452, 469–70, 632 Fantino del fu Salvi, elementary teacher in Florence (13th c.) 211 Fantino (Infantino), Maestro, grammar teacher in Siena (13th c.) 589 Fava, Guido 94 Fede, dancing master in Florence (15th c.) 672, 677, 680, 682 Federigo, Messer, grammar teacher in S. Gimignano (13th c.) 247, 578 Federigo di Giovanni da Francia, Ser, abacus teacher in Pistoia (15th c.) 54 Fei, Marco, Florentine parent (15th c.) 340, 534 Ferantini, Florentine family 131, 415, 423 Ferantini, Antonio di Niccolò, Florentine elementary and grammar pupil (15th c.) 123, 423, 454, 625 Ferantini, Francesco di Francesco, Florentine grammar pupil (15th c.) 130–32 Ferri, Zanobi, Maestro, grammar teacher in Florence (14th c.) 219, 316 Fetti, Benedetto di Coluccio, da Pistoia, Maestro, grammar teacher: see Colucci, Benedetto
807
Fibonacci, Iacopo di Maestro Tommaso dell’Abaco, Maestro, abacus teacher in Pisa (14th c.) 560 Fibonacci, Tommaso del fu Miniato dell’Abaco, Maestro, abacus teacher in Pisa (14th c.) 559 Ficino, Marsilio, philosopher and private tutor in Florence 124, 136, 394, 397–98, 428, 441–45, 460 Invectiva ad Ghardavillam Volateranum 441–45, 460 Filippo, Maestro, grammar teacher in Prato (13th c.) 258–59, 568 Filippo, Ser, priest and abacus teacher in Florence (15th c.) 383–84, 701–2 Filippo, Maestro, private tutor in Florence (15th c.) 433, 674 Filippo di Cristoforo da Val Savignone, Ser, chancellor to Piero di Cosimo de’ Medici 394–95 Filippo di Dato da Prato, Maestro, grammar teacher (14th c.) 317, 556 Filippo di Ser Francesco da Pratovecchio, grammar pupil in Florence (15th c.) 349, 431 Filippo di Lodovico di Filippo, Florentine reading pupil (15th c.) 447, 520 Filippo del fu Manetto da Firenze, Maestro, grammar teacher in S. Gimignano (13th c.) 247–50, 307, 578 Filippo di Matteo da Casalumanese, Maestro, grammar teacher (15th c.) 65–66, 169–71, 392–93, 411, 415, 417–19, 540 Filippo di Messer Moluccio da S. Giusto (Fermo), Ser, grammar teacher in Colle Valdelsa (14th c.) 551 Filippo di Naddo di Filippo da Firenze, Maestro, Florentine grammar teacher (14th c.) 126–29, 139, 143, 160–61, 196, 214–15, 315–16 De constructione 126–29, 136, 139, 143, 160 Filippo di Nofri di Gimignano, Florentine parent (15th c.) 130, 420 Fineschi, Giovanni di Maestro Matteo di Ser Lori de’, da Radda, book owner (15th c.) 100 Firidol: see Panzano, da, Firidol Folli, Francesco, Maestro, abacus teacher in Pisa (14th c.) 560 Fonzio, Bartolomeo, Florentine humanist, teacher and private tutor in Florence (15th c.) 153, 417, 433–34, 437, 466, 670
808
index of names
Foraboschi, Bartolomeo di Baldassare, Messer, law student in Bologna (15th c.) 487 Foraboschi, Francesco, Fra, Franciscan novitiate and grammar pupil (15th c.) 152, 156, 167 Foraboschi, Piero di Lapo, Florentine abacist (14th c.) 236 Francesco, elementary ripetitore in Florence (15th c.) 338, 452, 632–33 Francesco, Ser, elementary teacher in Florence (14th c.) 213, 221 Francesco, Ser, elementary teacher in Florence (later 15th c.) 349, 460, 659–60, 668–70 Francesco, Maestro, grammar teacher in Florence (14th c.) 537 Francesco, Maestro, ripetitore in Siena (14th c.) 551–52 Francesco, Ser, priest and private tutor in Florence (earlier 15th c.) 426, 638 Francesco di Ser Adamo da Farneta, copyist (14th c.) 104 Francesco di Ser Andrea, abacus pupil in Florence (15th c.) 457, 728 Francesco da Anghiari, private tutor in Florence (15th c.) 432 Francesco di Antonio di Giovanni, Florentine student (15th c.) 730 Francesco di Maestro Antonio degli Organi, organ teacher in Florence (15th c.) 673 Francesco di Ser Barone dal Cerna, Ser, secretary and private tutor in Florence (15th c.) 434 Francesco di Bartolo di Baldo, Ser, elementary teacher in Sansepolcro (14th–15th c.) 586–87, 762–66, 775 Francesco di Bartolo da Buti, Maestro, Pisan grammar teacher, notary and chancellor (14th–15th c.) 62, 67, 79, 83, 85, 87–95, 98–99, 110, 127–29, 131–33, 138–40, 311–12, 315, 317, 559–60 De epistolari dictamine (Tractatus epistolarum) 87 Regule grammaticales 73, 87–93, 127–28 Regule rhetorice 87, 93–94 Francesco di Bartolo di Matteo, lapsed clergyman and elementary teacher in Florence (15th c.) 339–42, 360, 533–34 Francesco di Bartolomeo, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 733
Francesco di Bartolomeo di Ser Bartolomeo del Maestro Antonio da S. Miniato, Florentine pupil (15th c.) 435 Francesco di Benedetto, Florentine schoolboy (15th c.) 728 Francesco di Berto di Maestro Moro, Florentine abacist (14th c.) 227 Francesco da Bibbiena, private tutor in Florence (15th c.) 428 Francesco di Ser Biondo, grammar pupil in Florence (15th c.) 152 Francesco di Carlo, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 729, 731 Francesco da Cremona, Maestro, grammar teacher in Pisa (14th c.) 559 Francesco di Falcone di Maestro Lapo, schoolboy (15th c.) 509 Francesco di Ser Feo di Nigi da Arezzo, Maestro, grammar teacher (14th–15th c.) 265, 308, 312, 315, 317, 386, 403–406, 414, 419–20, 476, 538, 545, 564, 586, 744–45 Francesco da Firenze, grammar teacher in Prato (14th c.) 316, 568 Francesco di Giorgio di Ser Niccolò da Pescia, children of, bookowners (15th c.) 107 Francesco il giovane, Maestro, grammar teacher in Pisa (14th c.) 312 Francesco di Giovanni di Durante, brother of Florentine elementary pupils and Florentine abacus pupil (14th c.) 213, 237, 322 Francesco di Giovanni da Urbino, Maestro, private tutor in Florence and grammar teacher (15th–16th c.) 141, 144, 401, 543, 716–17, 722, 439 Regule 141, 401, 684 Francesco di Giunta da Tizzana, grammar teacher in Carmignano (14th c.) 317, 546 Francesco di Guccio, student in Florence (15th c.) 509 Francesco del fu Guido di Salvi, Florentine reading pupil (15th c.) 525 Francesco di Iacopo, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 730 Francesco del fu Iacopo di Francesco (fabbro da Prato e abitante a Firenze), reading pupil in Florence (15th c.) 504 Francesco da La Verna, Maestro, grammar teacher (15th c.) 152, 156, 167
index of names Francesco di Leone, elementary and abacus teacher in Prato (14th c.) 570, 571, 573 Francesco di Mafo, abacus pupil in Florence (15th c.) 457, 725 Francesco di Fra Manno di Ugolino da Pratovecchio, grammar teacher in Florence (14th c.) 214–15, 317 Francesco di Maestro Martino da S. Miniato, grammar teacher in Colle Valdelsa and S. Miniato (14th c.) 317, 552, 586 Francesco di Matteo, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 733 Francesco di Michele, Florentine schoolboy (15th c.) 727 Francesco di Michele, pianellaio, Florentine parent (15th c.) 470 Francesco da Montecatini, Maestro, elementary and grammar teacher in Florence (14th c.) 189, 213 Francesco di Niccolò, calzolaio, Florentine parent (15th c.) 526 Francesco di Niccolò, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 731 Francesco di Orlanduccio da Prato, grammar and rhetoric teacher in Prato (14th c.) 317, 568 Francesco di Pagolo, merciaio, Florentine parent (15th c.) 509 Francesco di Pagolo di Ser Giovanni, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 728 Francesco di Maestro Piero di Francesco, children of, Florentine book owners (15th c.) 142 Francesco di Piero da Siena, Maestro, grammar teacher in Siena (14th c.) 603 Francesco di Ricco, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 734 Francesco di Rinaldo da Villa Magna, Messer, private tutor in Florence (15th c.) 439 Francesco di Messer Rosso d’Andreozzo, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 493 Francesco di Turino (Tura) da Siena, Ser, elementary and abacus teacher in Volterra (14th c.) 268–70, 276, 289, 317, 606 Francesco di Ugarello da Città di Castello, Ser, grammar teacher in Foiano della Chiana (14th c.) 209 Francesco de Villafranca, Maestro, grammar teacher in Pescia (15th c.) 58
809
Francesco di Maestro Vincenzo da Verona, Maestro, grammar teacher in Poggibonsi (14th c.) 565 Franco di Neri di Lunardo da Lamporecchio, Ser, notary and elementary teacher in Pistoia (14th c.) 194, 196, 199, 294, 561 Fredi di Guccio di Bonaccorso, pupil in S. Gimignano (13th c.) 200–201 Fulgentius 65 Fulini, Giuliano di Niccolò, da Foligno, parent in Florence (15th c.) 531 Fulini, Piero di Niccolò, da Foligno, reading pupil in Florence (15th c.) 531 Gabriele di Giovanni da Milano, Maestro, grammar teacher in Buggiano (14th c.) 546 Gabriele da Venezia, Maestro, grammar teacher in Lucca and Siena (14th c.) 312, 604 Gaddi (Florentine family) 457 Gaddi, Agnolo di Zanobi, Florentine book owner (15th c.) 135, 145 Gaddi, Girolamo di Agnolo, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 732 Galigai, Francesco, Florentine abacus teacher (16th c.) 50, 97, 368 Summa de arithmetica 369 Galuzzi, Cherubino di Francesco, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 728 Galvani, Raimondino, Florentine abacist (14th c.) 236 Gano di Duccio di Ser Galdo da Firenze, resident in Bologna and parent (15th c.) 500 Gano (Ghino) di Giunta, Maestro, grammar teacher in Siena (14th c.) 595 Gaspare del fu Giovanni di Roberto da Massa, priest and grammar teacher in Florence (15th c.) 144, 402 Gaspare di Niccolò di Pietro da Radda in Chianti, private tutor in Florence (15th c.) 157, 169, 428 Gaspare di Tento di Niccolò, children of, book owners (15th c.) 143 Gaspare da Verona, grammar teacher 165 Regule grammaticales 136 Gennai, Bernardo di Iacopo, da Pesaro, private tutor in Florence (15th c.) 433, 666
810
index of names
Geoffrey of Vinsauf 50–51, 160–61, 165 Poetria nova 50–51, 63, 82, 145, 160–61 Gerald of Wales 112 Geri di Ser Federigo d’Arezzo, lawyer and humanist (13th–14th c.) 69, 166 Gerini, Bartolo di Lorenzo, elementary teacher in Florence (15th c.) 10, 12, 15, 26, 332–33, 474–76, 494, 530, 534 Gherardi, Florentine family 149, 438, 464 Gherardi, Alessandra, widow of Bartolomeo Gherardi, Florentine parent (15th c.) 680 Gherardi, Bernardo del fu Bartolomeo, Florentine reading pupil (15th c.) 679–80 Gherardi, Bernardo di Francesco, Florentine book owner (15th–16th c.) 149 Gherardi, Camilla del fu Bartolomeo, Florentine reading pupil (15th c.) 680 Gherardi, Francesco di Gherardo, Florentine parent (15th c.) 125, 687–89 Gherardi, Francesco di Gherardo, children of, pupils in Florence (15th c.) 438, 687 Gherardi, Gherardo di Bartolomeo, Florentine parent (15th c.) 124, 453, 641 Gherardi, Luigi di Francesco di Gherardi, Florentine pupil (15th c.) 689 Gherardi, Madalena di Francesco di Gherardo, Florentine elementary and dancing pupil (15th c.) 125, 687–89 Gherardi, Paolo, Florentine abacist (14th c.) 235 Libro di ragione 235 Gherardini, Niccolò di Matteo, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 726 Gherardino di Gherardo, Florentine dancing teacher (15th c.) 630 Gherardo, Ser, priest and elementary teacher in Florence (15th c.) 329, 452, 632 Gherardo di Borghese di Gherardo, Florentine grammar teacher (13th c.) 194–95, 219 Gherardo di Maestro Chiaro, Florentine abacist (13th–14th c.) 227, 593
Gherardo di Francesco d’Ugolino, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 725 Gherardo di Lionardo di Gherardo, notarial student at the Florentine Studio (15th c.) 455, 486 Gherarducci, family from Volterra 86 Ghero di Papi, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 729 Gherucci, Francesco di Piero, Florentine guardian (15th c.) 519 Gherucci, Giovanni di Pagolo, Florentine schoolboy (15th c.) 725 Ghirigoro di Checco da Poppi, private tutor in Florence (15th c.) 426 Giangliazzi, Florentine family 225, 432, 440 Giangliazzi, Bongianni di Bongianni di Giovanni, Messer, children of, Florentine elementary pupils (15th c.) 432 Giangliazzi, Rosso di Messer Giovanni, Florentine parent (14th c.) 222–24 Giani, Pier Giovanni di Piero, Florentine abacus pupils (15th c.) 373 Gianiacopo, Maestro, schoolmaster (15th c.) 717 Giannino del fu Cenno di Pannate, Florentine elementary teacher (14th c.) 213 Giannino di Rinuccio, Maestro, Florentine abacist (13th–14th c.) 226, 590, 595 Gilio, Maestro, grammar teacher in Florence (13th c.) 220 Gilio di Bernardo, Florentine student (15th c.) 735 Gilio di Cecco (Gilio di Crescenzio) da Montepulciano, Maestro, abacus teacher (14th–15th c.) 314–15, 564, 603 Gimignano di Filippo di Nofri di Gimignano, Florentine grammar pupil (15th c.) 130, 420 Ginori, Florentine family 435, 440 Ginori, Francesco di Piero, Florentine parent (15th c.) 435 Giorgio, Maestro, dancing teacher in Florence (15th c.) 673, 677, 680, 682 Giorgio da Montevarchi, Florentine resident tutor (earlier 15th c.) 424, 517 Giovacchino di Giovanni d’altro Giovanni: see Riß, Joachim aus Rothenburg
index of names Giovacchinus de Gigantibus de Rotenburga: see Riß, Joachim aus Rothenburg Giovambattista di Simone, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 733 Giovanlippo di Maestro Simone, Maestro, grammar teacher in Pistoia (15th c.) 58 Giovanna, widow of Maestro Antonio di Andreuccio dalla Lunigiana, Florentine parent (15th c.) 491–92 Giovannantonio di Maestro Guglielmo di Giovanni da Bourges, Ser, secretary to Lorenzo de’ Medici and grammar teacher in Arezzo (15th c.) 394 Giovanni, Florentine abacist (14th c.) 235 Giovanni, Florentine family 427 Giovanni, Francesco di Tommaso, Florentine parent (15th c.) 427, 445–46 Giovanni, Maestro, elementary teacher in Florence (earlier 15th c.) 329, 517 Giovanni, Maestro, grammar teacher of Bartolo di Bello Mancini in Florence (14th c.) 129 Giovanni, private tutor in Florence (15th c.) 430 Giovanni, Ser (Maestro), private tutor in Florence (later 15th c.) 434, 438, 689–92 Giovanni, Messer, rector of the University of Bologna (earlier 15th c.) 487 Giovanni, son of Michelina di Ser Carsino da S. Miniato, schoolboy (15th c.) 489 Giovanni di Andrea, Florentine abacist (14th c.) 236 Giovanni di Andrea, linaiuolo, Florentine parent (15th c.) 510 Giovanni di Andrea de Filattena da Parma, Ser, grammar teacher in Fucecchio (14th c.) 555 Giovanni di Andrea da Firenze (S. Felice in Piazza), Maestro, grammar teacher (14th c.) 316, 556, 566–67 Giovanni di Ser Antonio, Florentine student (15th c.) 731 Giovanni di Ser Antonio, Florentine student (15th c.) 733 Giovanni di Maestro Antonio di Andreuccio da Castiglione di Lunigiana, Maestro, physician and medical student (15th c.) 387–88, 455, 491–92
811
Giovanni di Antonio d’Arezzo, Ser, private tutor in Florence (15th c.) 429 Giovanni di Antonio di Iacopo da Gambassi, grammar pupil in S. Gimignano (14th c.) 100 Giovanni d’Arezzo, grammarian (12th c.) 176 Giovanni d’Arezzo, Maestro, grammar teacher in S. Gimignano (13th c.) 246–47, 577 Giovanni d’Arrigo di Niccolò d’Arrigo, ritagliatore, Florentine parent (15th c.) 505 Giovanni di Maestro Arrigo da Pistoia, grammar teacher (14th c.) 318 Giovanni di Banco, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 730 Giovanni (Vanni) di Maestro Bandino di Raniero d’Arezzo, grammar teacher in Siena (14th c.) 593 Giovanni di Bartolino, Florentine student (15th c.) 734 Giovanni di Bartolo, Maestro, Florentine abacist (14th–15th c.) 231–33, 238–40, 363–65, 368, 370, 372, 383, 482–83, 623 Giovanni di Bartolo di Simone del Grasello, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 469 Giovanni di Bartolomeo, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 735 Giovanni di Ser Bartolomeo, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 728 Giovanni di Bartolomeo di Ser Bartolomeo del Maestro Antonio da S. Miniato, Florentine pupil (15th c.) 435 Giovanni del fu Bartolomeo di Ser Spinello da Castelorentino, grammar pupil (14th c.) 120 Giovanni del fu Bentinegna da Capannole, Ser, parent (13th c.) 207 Giovanni di Maestro Benvegnata da Bibbiena, Maestro, grammar teacher in Fucecchio (14th c.) 317, 556 Giovanni di Betto da Firenze, Ser, grammar teacher in Fucecchio (14th c.) 555 Giovanni di Biagio, Ser, priest and elementary teacher in Florence (15th c.) 448 Giovanni da Bibbiena, Ser, grammar teacher in Prato (14th c.) 317, 568
812
index of names
Giovanni da Bologna, Maestro, grammar teacher in Fucecchio (14th c.) 555 Giovanni di Bonandrea 94 Ars dictaminis 146 Giovanni di Buccio da Spoleto, Maestro, grammar teacher in Siena (14th c.) 606 Giovanni Celloli da Perugia, Maestro, grammar teacher in Fucecchio (14th c.) 555 Giovanni di Checco, Florentine schoolboy (15th c.) 739 Giovanni di Cincio di Giovanni, Ser, private tutor in Florence (earlier 15th c.) 426, 526 Giovanni di Cino, Don, Vallombrosan monk and grammar teacher in Pistoia (14th c.) 563 Giovanni di Cristofano, Florentine schoolboy (15th c.) 726 Giovanni di Dino da Borgogna, Messer, student in Bologna (15th c.) 513 Giovanni di Domenico, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 731 Giovanni Domenico di Antonio di Francesco, Ser, grammar teacher in Florence (15th c.) 399, 542 Giovanni da S. Donato (all’Isola), Maestro, elementary teacher in Fucecchio (14th c.) 118, 206–207, 318 Giovanni da Empoli, Florentine explorer and grammar pupil (15th–16th c.) 144, 163–64, 400–401 Giovanni di Ercolano da Montepulciano, Ser, grammar teacher in Arezzo (15th c.) 750–51 Giovanni di Filippo d’Arecci, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 727 Giovanni di Filippo di Lorino, Florentine schoolboy (15th c.) 514 Giovanni di Filippo da Piperno, medical student (15th c.) 526 Giovanni Francesco, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 729 Giovanni di Francesco, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 732 Giovanni di Francesco, Florentine student (15th c.) 735 Giovanni di Francesco, private tutor in Florence (earlier 15th c.) 425, 485 Giovanni di Francesco di Lando della Castellina in Chianti, private tutor in Florence (15th c.) 438
Giovanni di Francesco da Siena, Maestro, grammar and rhetoric teacher in Volterra (14th c.) 318, 610 Giovanni di Gano di Duccio di Ser Galdo da Firenze, student in Bologna (15th c.) 500 Giovanni di Messer Gherardino da Bologna, Messer, grammar teacher in Siena (14th c.) 601 Giovanni di Gherardo da Arezzo, grammar teacher in Fucecchio (14th c.) 318, 556 Giovanni di Giovenco di Giovenco, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 727 Giovanni Gualberto di Domenico del Migliore, Florentine reading pupil (15th c.) 508 Giovanni di Iacopo, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 732 Giovanni del fu Iacopo da Monticchiello (Val d’Orcia), Maestro, grammar teacher in Florence (14th c.) 220–21, 318 Giovanni da Inghilterra, Maestro, grammar teacher in Siena (13th c.) 591 Giovanni di Lapo da Colle, Maestro, priest, elementary and grammar teacher in Colle Valdelsa (14th c.) 272, 318, 550–51 Giovanni di Leone da Poggibonsi, grammar teacher in Poggibonsi (14th c.) 318, 566 Giovanni (Nanni) di Maestro Luca di Matteo, Florentine abacist (15th c.) 232, 366–67, 372, 481, 517, 638–39 Libro sopra arismetricha 232 Giovanni di Ser Luigi, abacus pupil in Florence (15th c.) 457, 731 Giovanni di Marchesino da Buttrio, priest, grammar teacher in Buggiano (14th c.) 263–64, 546 Giovanni di Ser Matteo, Florentine student (15th c.) 735 Giovanni di Meglio di Maso detto Giannino, children of, book owners (15th c.) 142 Giovanni di Melino, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 734 Giovanni di Michele, legnaiuolo, Florentine parent (15th c.) 448, 505–6
index of names Giovanni di Michele da Volterra, grammar pupil in Volterra (15th c.) 86 Giovanni di Micuccio da Recanati, Maestro, grammar teacher in S. Gimignano (14th c.) 584 Giovanni da S. Miniato, grammar teacher (14th c.) 317 Giovanni di Ser Monte, lanaiuolo, Florentine parent (15th c.) 470 Giovanni de Morella da Calabria, Maestro, grammar teacher in Poggibonsi (14th c.) 313, 565 Giovanni di Naldo dell’Abaco da Colle Valdelsa (14th c.), elementary and abacus teacher in Colle Valdelsa 54, 549–51 Giovanni di Niccolò, Florentine reading pupil (15th c.) 735 Giovanni di Ser Niccolò, elementary teacher in Florence (15th c.) 333–34, 340, 478 Giovanni di Nuto di Bartolo, children of, Florentine book owners (15th c.) 140 Giovanni di Pagno dal Casentino, Ser, priest and grammar ripetitore in Florence (14th c.) 216–18, 318 Giovanni di Pagolo di Ser Giovanni, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 728 Giovanni di Pasqueti da Monte S. Savino, Ser, elementary teacher in Buggiano (14th c.) 274, 318, 546 Giovanni da Perugia, Maestro, abacus teacher in Sansepolcro (14th c.) 277, 587, 766–68 Giovanni di Piero, Florentine abacist (14th c.) 235 Giovanni di Piero, Ser, grammar teacher in Florence (15th c.) 407–408, 414 Giovanni di Piero di Bartolomeo, Florentine parent (15th c.) 529 Giovanni di Piero dal Casentino, Maestro, elementary teacher in Volterra (14th c.) 607 Giovanni di Piero di Guccio, Florentine reading pupil (15th c.) 122 Giovanni di Piero da Volterra, grammar pupil in Volterra (15th c.) 85 Giovanni di Piliagio, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 728 Giovanni da Pistoia, Ser, abacus teacher in Fucecchio and notary (14th c.) 59, 256, 554
813
Giovanni da Pistoia, grammar teacher (14th c.) 317 Giovanni di Puccino di Ser Andrea, Florentine grammar pupil (15th c.) 152 Giovanni di Ser Rinaldo, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 733 Giovanni di Rosso, children of, book owners (15th c.) 154 Giovanni di Salimbene di Salto, Florentine elementary pupil (14th c.) 56, 202, 214, 324 Giovanni di Messer Sallustio, children of, book owners (15th c.) 142 Giovanni di Maestro Taddeo, Florentine student (15th c.) 734 Giovanni di Taddeo di Agnolo, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 376–77 Giovanni de Sancto Terdonio (Tortona?), grammar teacher in Montaione (14th c.) 266, 557 Giovanni di Terino da Castelorentino, Maestro, elementary teacher in Volterra (14th c.) 607 Giovanni da Tortona (Cortona?), Maestro, grammar teacher in Siena (14th c.) 592 Giovanni di Ugolino dell’Abaco, Maestro 484 Giovanni di Vanni del Castello della Badia di S. Salvadore, Ser, teacher in Castiglion Fiorentino (14th c.) 547 Giovanni del Virgilio, grammar teacher in Bologna (14th c.) 65, 82, 101 Giovannino di Cambio, Ser, canon and grammar teacher in Prato (13th c.) 182, 568 Giraldi, Verozzo di Giovanni, Florentine abacist (14th c.) 236 Girolami, Remigio de’ 145 Girolama del fu Ser Girolamo di Ser Giovanni di Ser Taddeo di Ser Biagio, reading pupil in Florence (15th c.) 435–36 Girolamo, Don, Vallombrosan monk and teacher in Fucecchio (13th c.) 186 Girolamo di Biagio da Ghiacceto, private tutor in Florence (15th c.) 432 Girolamo di Bartolo (detto Taccino), elementary teacher in Florence (15th c.) 331–32, 470–71, 521 Girolamo di Marco di Bartolomeo da S. Miniato, private tutor in Florence (15th c.) 425
814
index of names
Girolamo da S. Miniato, private tutor in Florence (15th c.) 424, 452, 632 Girolamo di Stefano di Cino, private tutor in Florence (15th c.) 436, 446, 680–83, 687, 694–95 Giugni, Florentine family 437, 440 Giugni, Antonio, Florentine parent (15th c.) 685 Giugni, Bernardo di Francesco d’Antonio, Florentine pupil (15th c.) 437, 685 Giugni, Filippo di Antonio, children of, pupils in Florence (15th c.) 437 Giugni, Francesco d’Antonio, Florentine pupil (15th c.) 685 Giugni, Ruberto di Francesco d’Antonio, Florentine pupil (15th c.) 437, 685 Giuliano di Bernardo di Giovanni di Ser Matteo, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 726 Giuliano di Buonaguida, Florentine abacus teacher (16th c.) 53 Giuliano di Giovanni di Michele (legnaiuolo), Florentine reading pupil (15th c.) 448, 506 Giuliano di Guccio, Florentine student (15th c.) 732 Giuliano di Ser Iacopo da Prato, Ser, heirs of, book owners (15th c.) 67 Giuliano di Luca di Niccolò d’Arabatta, Florentine elementary pupil (15th c.) 447, 524 Giuliano di Piero dal Pregaio, contado di Perugia, grammar teacher in Poggibonsi (14th c.) 567 Giuntino di Ser Lorenzo, Ser, notary and private tutor in Florence (14th c.) 225 Giustamonte del fu Messer Torigno, brother of Pratese pupil (13th c.) 61, 191, 206 Giusto di Antonio di Tommaso, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 499 Giusto di Giovanni da S. Gimignano, private tutor in Florence (15th c.) 430 Giusto di Uguccio da Volterra, Maestro, elementary and grammar teacher (14th c.) 318, 546, 611 Godenzo di Antonio, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 733 Gondi, Florentine family 438, 440, 464 Gondi, Antonio di Antonio di Lionardo, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 379, 466, 718 Gondi, Antonio di Lionardo, Florentine parent (15th c.) 141, 170, 467
Gondi, Bernardino (Bernardo) di Antonio di Lionardo, Florentine elementary, abacus and grammar pupil (15th c.) 125, 159, 163, 379, 438, 466, 717 Gondi, Girolamo di Antonio di Lionardo, Florentine elementary, abacus and grammar pupil (15th c.) 141, 379, 438, 466, 689–92 Gondi, Margherita di Antonio di Lionardo, Florentine reading pupil (15th c.) 438, 691 Gondi, Piero di Antonio di Lionardo, Florentine elementary, abacus and grammar pupil (15th c.) 379, 438, 689–92 Goro d’Arezzo, Maestro, grammar teacher (14th c.) 129, 132, 166, 315, 318, 321 Regule parve Goro di Cambio, Ser, clerk and grammar pupil in Laterina (14th c.) 208 Graecismus: see Evrard of Béthune Grassini, Antonio di Iacopo di Antonio, Florentine abacist (15th–16th c.) 371 Operetta d’abacho 371 Grassini, Iacopo di Antonio, Florentine abacist (15th c.) 363, 371, 382 Opera alla merchatantia 371 Libretto d’abacho 371 Grassini, Marco di Iacopo di Antonio, Florentine abacist (15th–16th c.) 362, 382, 720 Gratian 637 Grazia, scolaris at the Aretine cathedral (13th c.) 181 Gregorio di Andrea di Angelo da Spoleto, Messer, private tutor in Florence (later 15th c.) 438 Gregorio da Spoleto, priest and grammar teacher in Florence (earlier 15th c.) 390, 409, 539 Gualberti, Giovanni, founder of Vallombrosa order (11th c.) 179 Gualfredi, Sinibaldo di Maestro Sozzo, da Volterra, Maestro, grammar teacher in Florence (15th c.) 409, 414 Gualfredi, Sozzo di Giovanni, Maestro, grammar teacher (15th c.) 389–90, 408–409, 414, 539 Gualfredo, bishop of Siena (12th c.) 179–80 Gualtieri di Giovanni, Florentine student (15th c.) 733
index of names Guarini, Guarino, da Verona 133, 137–38, 149, 165 Carmina differentialia 132, 137–38, 161 De orthographia 137–38 Regule grammaticales 70, 97, 133, 136, 143, 401, 647 Guarino di Iacopo da Camerino, Maestro, grammar teacher (15th c.) 144, 359–60, 400, 542 Guasconi, Florentine family 425, 440 Guasconi, Girolamo, elementary teacher in Florence (15th c.) 356–57, 710 Guasconi, Iacopo di Messer Niccolò, children of (15th c.) 425 Guaspare di Ricco, elementary teacher in Florence (14th c.) 213 Gucci, Benedetto di Ambrogio di Ser Guccio d’Ugolino, private tutor in Florence (15th c.) 436 Guccio di Nardo da S. Miniato, Ser, elementary teacher in S. Miniato (14th c.) 586 Guernacci, Geronimo di Antonio, Ser, priest and copyist (15th c.) 86 Guglielmi, Mariotto di Neri di Ser Segna, Florentine student humanist 522 Guglielmino di Tederico, brother of Aretine pupil (12th c.) 177 Guglielmo, archdeacon and schoolmaster in Arezzo (10th c.) 175 Guglielmo, bishop of Lucca (12th c.) 178 Guglielmo di Andrea, Florentine schoolboy (15th c.) 732 Guglielmo di Cata, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 734 Guglielmo di Giovanni da Bourges, Maestro, grammar teacher (15th c.) 77, 148, 157, 169, 393–94, 541 Guglielmo Lombardo, Maestro, grammar teacher in Poggibonsi (14th c.) 565 Guglielmo di Messer Vecchio da Bologna, elementary teacher in Florence (15th c.) 334–35, 501, 503 Guicciardini, Florentine family 438, 440, 457 Guicciardini, Francesco di Piero 438 Guicciardini, Gabriello di Messer Giovanni, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 727 Guicciardini, Niccolò di Ghino, children of, Florentine book owners (15th c.) 143
815
Guicciardini, Piero, children of, Florentine pupils (15th c.) 438 Guidetti, Florentine family 427 Guidetti, Giovanni di Bernardo, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 727 Guidetti, Iacopo di Filippo, children of, Florentine book owners (15th c.) Guidi, Bartolomeo di Ser Guido, Ser, notary and grammar teacher in Florence (15th c.) 156, 167, 406–407, 414, 635 Guido, bishop of Florence and schoolmaster (12th c.) 181 Guido (Wido), schoolmaster in Arezzo (later 11th c.) 176 Guido, Maestro, elementary teacher in Siena (13th c.) 199, 206, 589 Guido d’Arezzo, Maestro, grammar teacher in Colle Valdelsa (14th c.) 318, 548 Guido d’Arezzo, musician and teacher (earlier 11th c.) 176 Guido del fu Bernardo di Fiore da Parma, elementary teacher in Florence (14th c.) 213 Guido da Bibbiena, private tutor (of grammar) in Florence (14th c.) 153, 224, 318, 618–19 Guido del fu Bruno, Ser, elementary teacher in Florence (14th c.) 212 Guido di Gianni di Andrea da Lucca, Ser, grammar teacher in Fucecchio (14th c.) 318, 556 Guido di Nicola, Aretine pupil (12th c.) 177 Guido Novello, Count 207 Guido di Maestro Pagolo da Dicomano, Ser, Florentine notary and parent (15th c.) 523–24 Guido da Raggiolo, Dominican friar and grammar teacher (14th c.) 189–90, 220, 318 Guidotti, Florentine family 424, 440 Guidotti, Alessandra di Migliore di Tommaso, Florentine pupil (15th c.) 424, 516 Guidotti, Migliore di Tommaso, Florentine parent (15th c.) 516 Guidotti, Nanna di Migliore di Tommaso, Florentine pupil (15th c.) 424, 516 Guidotti, Tommaso di Migliore di Tommaso, Florentine pupil (15th c.) 424, 516 Guidotto da Bologna, Fra, grammar teacher in Siena (13th c.) 182, 589
816
index of names
Guiducci, Giovanni di Guiduccio di Riccio, Ser, Florentine notary and chancellor (15th c.) 371 Guiducci, Mariotto di Ser Giovanni, Fra, Florentine abacist (15th c.) 371 Libro d’aristricha 371 Guiduccio di Maestro Amato, pupil in S. Gimignano (13th c.) 200–201 Guizzardo (Guicciardo) del fu Messer Bondo del Frignano da Bologna, teacher of grammar, rhetoric and logic (13th–14th c.) 266–67, 537, 592 Henry III, Emperor 174 Henry of Settimello 48 Elegia 112, 145–47, 149 Homer 155, 170 Honorius III 185 Horace 48–49, 76, 111, 167–69, 684, 710, 717 Ars poetica 49, 63–64, 158, 165–66, 170 Epistulae 63–64, 158, 165–66, 170 Hugutio Pisanus: see Uguccione da Pisa Iacopantonio di Ser Borgo dalla Rocca di Romagna, Ser, private tutor in Florence (15th c.) 437, 684–85 Iacopo, Maestro, abacist and surgeon in S. Gimignano (14th c.) 235, 277, 581 Iacopo, Maestro, grammar teacher in S. Sepolcro (14th c.) 586 Iacopo, Maestro, private tutor in Florence (15th c.) 692 Iacopo, scolaris of the Aretine cathedral (13th c.) 182 Iacopo, Ser, priest and elementary teacher in Florence (15th c.) 351–52, 695 Iacopo dell’Abaco, Florentine abacist (13th–14th c.) 226–27, 234, 237 Tractatus algorismi 227 Iacopo di Angiolo da Roma, grammar teacher in Florence (14th c.) 189 Iacopo di Bartolomeo, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 734 Iacopo di Bartolomeo di Ser Francesco da Portico, grammar pupil in Florence (15th c.) 394 Iacopo di Benedetto, Maestro, abacus teacher in Volterra (14th c.) 276, 607
Iacopo di Bucherello, Florentine parent (15th c.) 333, 475 Iacopo di Domenico, Florentine schoolboy (15th c.) 734 Iacopo di Duccio, Florentine abacist (14th c.) 235 Iacopo da Firenze, abacist in Lucca (14th c.) 235 Iacopo di Francesco da Cortona, abacus teacher in Arezzo (15th c.) 746–49 Iacopo di Francesco da Soci (Casentino), private tutor in Florence (15th c.) 430, 646 Iacopo del fu Ser Gherardo di Giovanni da Bacareto, university student in Florence (15th c.) 455, 510 Iacopo di Gino da S. Cascino, Ser, private tutor in Florence (15th c.) 435 Iacopo di Giovanni, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 729 Iacopo di Ser Guido di Maestro Pagolo da Dicomano, Florentine schoolboy (15th c.) 524 Iacopo di Martino da Spoleto, Maestro, physician and private tutor in Florence (15th c.) 425, 485 Iacopo di Ser Miniato da S. Miniato, Ser, elementary teacher in Fucecchio (14th c.) 206, 318 Iacopo di Niccolò, copyist in Prato (15th c.) 67 Iacopo di Ser Nofri di Ser Piero delle Riformagioni, Florentine parent (15th c.) 488 Iacopo da Parma, Maestro, grammar teacher in Poggibonsi and Siena (14th c.) 313, 566, 600 Iacopo di Piero da Todi, Maestro, grammar teacher in Castiglion Fiorentino and Volterra (14th c.) 308, 547, 610 Iacopo di Pucciorino vocato Paletta da S. Miniato, elementary teacher in S. Miniato (14th c.) 272, 585 Iacopo di Sandro di Bartolo dal Gallo, chierico (15th c.) 529 Iacopo di Simone da Pesaro, Maestro, grammar teacher in Florence (15th c.) 408–409, 414 Iacopo di Simone da Terni, Maestro, grammar teacher in Florence (15th c.) 409–410, 415 Iacopo di Vanuccio, children of, book owners (15th c.) 154
index of names Iacopo di Zanobi del Papa, Florentine chierico (15th c.) 504 Ieronimo, Ser, private tutor in Florence (15th c.) 430 Ildebrandino, Aretine grammarian (12th c.) 177 Ilias latina 119–20, 145–46, 149–50, 157, 384, 394 Incontri, family from Volterra 86 Inghirami, Francesco di Baldino, children of, book owners (15th c.) 142, 154, 150 Isidore of Seville Etymologiae 101 Isocrates 155, 170 Jerome, Saint 673 Justinian Codex 617, 662–63 Digestum 617 Infortiatum 661–62 Institutiones 661–62, 668, 708 Justinus 155, 159, 169, 647 Juvenal 49, 71, 76, 102, 137, 159, 165, 167, 171, 691 Saturae 102 Lachi, Giovanni, Messer, Florentine grammar teacher and priest (15th c.) 158, 170 Lambardi, Masio del fu Ristoro, Maestro, grammar teacher in Arezzo and Siena (14th c.) 209–10, 318, 599 Lamberto di Ambrogio da Pistoia, Maestro, grammar teacher in Colle Valdelsa, Fucecchio and Pistoia (14th c.) 293, 309–10, 318, 550, 555, 562–63 Lamola, Giovanni, Messer, humanist and private tutor in Florence (15th c.) 424 Lana, della, Iacopo Commentary on Dante, Divina commedia 145 Lando di Marchionne di Lando, Florentine chierico 511 Landucci, Luca, Florentine diarist and abacus pupil (15th c.) 367, 376 Lanfredini, Florentine family 437, 440 Lanfredini, Antonio di Iacopo, Florentine student (15th c.) 462 Lanfredini, Banco di Giovanni di Filippo, abacus pupil (15th c.) 482
817
Lanfredini, Giovanni di Orsino, children of, pupils in Florence (15th c.) 437 Lanfredini, Giuliano di Giovanni, law student in Perugia (15th c.) 454, 482 Lanfredini, Lucrezia di Giovanni di Orsino, Florentine elementary pupil (15th c.) 437 Lanfredini, Orsino di Giovanni di Orsino, Florentine elementary and grammar pupil (15th c.) 437 Lanzo, dancing master in Florence (16th c.) 723 Lapo di Ranieri (Neri) di Maestro Chiaro, Florentine abacist in Siena (14th c.) 227, 598 Lardi, Ser Iacopo di Lardo de’, parent (14th c.) 222, 322, 623 Lardi, Paolo di Ser Iacopo di Lardo de’, elementary pupil (14th c.) 222, 322, 623 Lenzi, Florentine family 428, 440 Lenzi, Antonio di Anfrione di Lorenzo, Florentine pupil (15th c.) 428 Lenzi, Dianora di Anfrione di Lorenzo, Florentine pupil (15th c.) 428 Lenzi, Lorenzo di Anfrione di Lorenzo, Florentine pupil (15th c.) 428 Lenzi, Michele, da Volterra, elementary teacher in Volterra (14th c.) 609 Lenzi, Piero di Anfrione di Lorenzo, Florentine pupil (15th c.) 428 Leonardo di Ser Bartolomeo di Messer Bonifazio d’Arezzo, children of, book owners (15th c.) 78 Leonardo da Vinci, artist and grammar student 141, 401 Leoni, Francesco di Francesco, elementary teacher (14th c.) 222, 322, 623 Ligi di Dodo, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 734 Lionardo di Bartolomeo di Ser Bartolomeo del Maestro Antonio da S. Miniato, Florentine pupil (15th c.) 435 Lionardo di Gherardo, barbiere, Florentine parent (15th c.) 455, 486 Lionardo di Giovanni di Durante, Florentine abacus pupil (14th c.) 237, 322 Lionardo del fu Sano da Asciano, grammar teacher in Fucecchio (14th c.) 318, 555 Lippi, Lorenzo 679
818
index of names
Lippo di Casino, brother of Florentine pupil (14th c.) 123, 324 Lippo di Cremontese da S. Gimignano, grammar teacher in S. Gimignano (14th c.) 582 Lisabetta, wife of elementary teacher, Francesco di Bartolo di Matteo, and elementary teacher in Florence (15th c.) 360, 719 Livy 76, 102, 154, 170 Decades 430, 679 Lodovico di Filippo, pizzicagnolo, Florentine parent (15th c.) 520 Lodovico da Rimini, Maestro, grammar and logic teacher in Siena (14th c.) 601 Lonardo del Bianco dell’Abaco, Maestro, abacus teacher in Siena (14th c.) 601, 603 Lopo di Lupu, Portugese abacus pupil in Florence (15th c.) 372 Lorenzo, Maestro, elementary teacher in S. Gimignano (14th c.) 582–83 Lorenzo di Antonio di Ser Antonio, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 730 Lorenzo di Maestro Antonio di Andreuccio dalla Lunigiana, grammar pupil in Florence (15th c.) 388 Lorenzo di Biagio da Campi, Florentine abacist (15th c.) 363, 370–72, 382–83 Lorenzo da Brescia, private tutor in Florence (15th c.) 434, 668 Lorenzo da Cesi, Ser, private tutor in Florence (15th c.) 130, 153–54, 158, 167, 426, 637 Lorenzo da Cortona, Frate, Franciscan friar and book owner (14th c.) 119 Lorenzo di Filippo, Florentine reading pupil (15th c.) 487 Lorenzo da Firenze, Don, grammar teacher in Colle Valdelsa (14th c.) 316, 549 Lorenzo di Francesco di Michele (pianellaio), Ser, Florentine student (15th c.) 470 Lorenzo di Francuccio da Carmignano, priest and elementary teacher in S. Miniato (14th c.) 585 Lorenzo di Giovanni di Cenni, famiglio, Florentine parent (15th c.) 511 Lorenzo di Giovanni di Piero di Bartolomeo (scodelliere), Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 529
Lorenzo di Guido, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 729 Lorenzo del fu Lorenzo del Toso (linaiuolo), Florentine schoolboy (15th c.) 505 Lorenzo di Luca, Florentine student (15th c.) 730 Lorenzo di Matteo, Florentine student (15th c.) 730 Lorenzo di Ser Michele di Antonio della Badia di Montemuro di Chianti, Florentine student (15th c.) 455, 472 Lorenzo da Montecassino, abbot of Amal and copyist (11th c.) 135 Lorenzo di Neri di Bicci, Florentine abacus pupils (15th c.) 373 Lorenzo di Piero di Angiolino, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 730 Lorenzo di Vittorio da S. Miniato, Ser, private tutor in Florence (15th c.) 426 Loteringhi, Loteringo di Luca di Antonio, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 476 Loteringhi, Tommaso di Luca di Antonio, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 476 Lothair I, Emperor 180 Lotto da Firenze, Maestro, abacist in Verona (13th c.) 226–27 Luca di Antonio, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 729 Luca di Antonio di Filippo, brother of Florentine reading pupil (15th c.) 448, 472 Luca di Antonio da Verrucola, Maestro, grammar teacher in Pescia (14th c.) 288–89, 318, 558 Luca di Maestro Baldanza, Maestro, elementary teacher in Pescia (14th c.) 272–73, 558 Luca di Filippo, brother of Florentine reading pupil (15th c.) 487 Luca di Matteo pelecane, Maestro, Florentine abacist (14th–15th c.) 232–33, 238–39, 362, 365–66, 372, 478–80, 484–87, 499, 624 Arte d’abacho 232 Luca di Niccolò d’Arabatta, parent (15th c.) 524 Lucan 48–49, 65, 67, 71, 76, 112, 114–15, 120, 137, 165–68 Pharsalia 70, 159, 167, 522, 637 Lucchese di Ghermondo da S. Gimignano, grammar teacher in
index of names S. Gimignano (14th c.) 252–53, 308, 318, 580 Lucchese di Tura da Serravalle Pistoiese, chaplain, grammar teacher in Fucecchio and Pistoia (14th c.) 286–87, 294, 318, 554, 561–62, 564 Luchini, Francesco, Ser, da Prato, private tutor in Florence, elementary and grammar teacher in Pistoia and Prato (14th c.) 222–24, 270–72, 317, 294–95, 561, 570–71 Lucian 169–71 Ludovico da Cortona, notary and book owner (15th c.) 119 Ludovico di Duccio da S. Miniato, book owner (15th c.) 152 Luigi di Maestro Francesco da Bologna, Maestro, grammar teacher in Poggibonsi (14th c.) 566 Luigi del fu Ser Girolamo di Ser Giovanni di Ser Taddeo di Ser Biagio, reading pupil in Florence (15th c.) 435–36 Luigi di Guglielmo de Guaxio da Reggio, Maestro, grammar teacher in Poggibonsi (14th c.) 567 Luigi di Luca di Niccolò d’Arabatta, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 447, 524 Lupi, Mattia, da S. Gimignano, Maestro, grammar teacher and priest (14th–15th c.) 64–65, 101–102, 111, 168–69 Machiavelli, Battista, Ser, priest, Florentine elementary and grammar teacher (16th c.) 707 Machiavelli, Bernardo, Messer, Florentine lawyer and bibliophile (15th c.) 430 Libro di ricordi 430 Machiavelli, Niccolò di Messer Bernardo 44, 124–25, 350, 361, 376, 379, 706 Machiavelli, Toto di Messer Bernardo 125, 361 Macinghi, Macingo di Gioachino, Florentine book owner (15th c.) 146 Macrobius 65, 430 Mafo di Lapo, Ser, elementary teacher in Florence (14th c.) 213 Magalotti, Niccolosa di Messer Giovanni, wife of Messer Bello Mancini, Florentine parent (14th c.) 128
819
Malagigio di Benedetto di Ser Michele da S. Gaudenzio, grammar pupil in Florence (15th c.) 422 Malamamma, Piero di Lorenzo, Maestro, elementary teacher in Florence (15th c.) 335, 511–12 Malatesta, ruling family in Sansepolcro 757, 769, 773 Malatesta, Carlo 764, 769 Malatesta, Galeotto 773 Malavolti, Giovan Battista, Maestro, rhetoric and grammar teacher in Siena (14th c.) 604 Malizia Barattone (Ser Giovanni da Firenze), Florentine poet 236 Sonetto pel Maestro Paolo dell’Abaco 236 Malusino da Lucca (Ser Bartolomeo), Maestro, grammar teacher in Fucecchio (14th c.) 193, 254–55, 259, 284–85, 318, 554–55 Mancini, Bartolo di Messer Bello, Florentine grammar pupil (14th c.) 128–29, 131 Mancini, Bello di Niccolò, Messer, Florentine knight and parent (14th c.) 128 Manetti, Antonio, Florentine biographer (15th c.) 454–56 Life of Brunelleschi 454 Manetti, Bernardo, Florentine parent (15th c.) 453–54 Manetti, Giannozzo di Bernardo 364, 453–54, 461 Manetto da Colle, Maestro, grammar teacher in Siena (13th c.) 591 Manovello, Maestro, grammar teacher in Florence (14th c.) 220–21, 322, 616 Manzuoli, Giovanni di Niccolò, Florentine parent (15th c.) 644 Manzuoli, Giovanni di Taddeo d’Agnolo, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 644 Manzuoli, Luca di Niccolò, Florentine reading pupil (15th c.) 644 Manzuoli, Ugolino di Niccolò, Florentine reading pupil (15th c.) 644 Marabottino di Tancredi di Tuccio da Prato, former grammar pupil (14th c.) 208 Marchionne di Lando, Florentine parent (15th c.) 511 Marco di Andrea da Fagiano, Maestro, chaplain and grammar teacher in Pisa (14th c.) 559
820
index of names
Marco di Maestro Antonio di Cecco (mugnaio), Florentine chierico (15th c.) 469 Marco di Baldo, Ser, elementary teacher in Florence (15th c.) 345–47, 382, 459, 656 Marco di Cortonese, Florentine schoolboy (15th c.) 727 Marco di Ser Guaspare di Giunta da Pieve S. Stefano, private tutor in Florence (15th c.) 425 Marco di Lodovico di Filippo, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 447, 520 Marelli, Giovanni di Bartolomeo de’, Ser, grammar teacher in Florence (15th c.) 400–401, 543 Mariano di Giorgio di Niccolò di Dante, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 726 Mariano di Maestro Michele di Gianni, Florentine abacist (15th c.) 232, 238–39, 363, 367–68, 370–73, 385, 452, 497–98, 529–30, 532, 634 Mariano , grammar pupil (14th c.) 64 Mariano di Nicola da Ceperello, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 524 Mariotto, Don, Camaldolese monk and elementary teacher in Florence (15th c.) 352–58, 383, 695–700 Mariotto di Ser Andrea di Ser Bartolomeo da Bucine, Florentine schoolboy (15th c.) 493 Mariotto di Giovanni di Fruosino, Florentine schoolboy (15th c.) 726 Mariotto di Giovanni di Michele (legnaiuolo), Florentine elementary pupil (15th c.) 448, 506 Mariotto di Iacopo da Bussetto (Arezzo), reading pupil (15th c.) 486 Mariotto di Ser Michele del Campana da S. Godenzo, student in Florence (15th c.) 480 Mariotto di Michele di Sizzi (orafo), Fra, Florentine novitiate (15th c.) 487 Mariotto di Piero di Casentino, elementary pupil (15th c.) 640 Mariscotti, Gaspare di Antonio di Piero da Marradi, Maestro, priest and grammar teacher (15th c.) 400–401, 543 Marsili, Geronimo, copyist and probable schoolboy in S. Gimignano (15th c.) 102
Marsuppini, Carlo 371, 393 Martelli, Florentine family 428, 440 Martelli, Filippo di Ugolino di Niccolò, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 373 Martelli, Niccolò di Ugolino, Florentine merchant (15th c.) 142 Martelli, Ugolino di Niccolò, children of, Florentine pupils (15th c.) 428 Marti, Pupo del fu Spezzalaste de’, grammar teacher in Pisa (14th c.) 263, 559 Martial 102, 171 Martini, Giuliano di Nello, da S. Gimignano, law student (15th c.) 525 Martini, Luca di Ser Giovanni, Florentine schoolboy (15th c.) 734 Martini, Nello di Giuliano, da S. Gimignano, Messer, lawyer and parent in Florence (15th c.) 525 Martini, Raffaello di Bernardo di Ser Giovanni, Ser, cleric and elementary teacher in Florence (15th c.) 361–62, 382 Martino, grammarian and clerk at Rignano sull’Arno (12th c.) 179 Martino, Maestro, elementary teacher in Florence (15th c.) 356 Martino del fu Maestro Antonio di Lunigiana, notarial student (15th c.) 388, 455, 492 Martino della Comedia, private tutor in Florence (15th c.) 431, 433 Martino di Martino, Ser, elementary teacher and notary in Prato (15th c.) 66 Masi, Bartolomeo, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 380 Masio di Grazia, grammar pupil in Laterina (15th c.) 208 Maso, Ser, Florentine elementary teacher (14th c.) 194, 212 Maso di Piero di Giovanni di Ristoro da Monterchio (sarto), Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 502 Mattea, elementary teacher in Florence (14th c.) 203 Mattei, Giovanni di Matteo, da Forlì, Maestro 601 Matteo, Maestro, elementary teacher in Fucecchio (14th c.) 270, 554 Matteo, son of Florentine Captain General, grammar pupil (15th c.) 136, 647
index of names Matteo d’Andrea di Borghi, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 725 Matteo di Antonio del Rosso, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 734 Matteo di Barto, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 730 Matteo di Bartolo, Florentine schoolboy (15th c.) 735 Matteo di Bartolo da Castelfranco, reading pupil in Florence (15th c.) 646 Matteo di Braccio, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 726 Matteo del fu Francesco da Rocca S. Casciano, Maestro, grammar teacher in Florence (15th c.) 350, 361, 393–94, 411–12, 415–22, 541, 674–75 Matteo di Frosino, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 734 Matteo di Giorgio, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 727 Matteo di Giorgio di Maestro Cristofano, parent (15th c.) 430 Matteo di Giusto, Florentine abacist (14th–15th c.) 236, 472 Matteo di Iacopo di Agnolo di Brutto, Florentine pupil (15th c.) 521 Matteo di Iacopo da Firenze, Florentine singing teacher (15th c.) 479, 511, 631 Matteo di Ser Loro da Radda in Chianti, Maestro, grammar teacher in Florence (15th c.) 267–68, 318, 386, 404, 414, 489, 537–38 Matteo di Michele, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 729 Matteo di Nicola da Ceperello, brother of Florentine pupil (15th c.) 524 Matteo di Palmiero da Castelfranco, Don, Benedictine monk and grammar teacher in Castelfranco di Sotto (14th c.) 319, 547 Matteo del fu Ser Pino da Siena, Maestro, priest and grammar teacher in Volterra (14th c.) 319, 608 Matteo di Stefano, Florentine student (15th c.) 734 Mattia da Cittavecchia, Maestro, grammar teacher 138 Notabilia minora 138 Mauro, Don, priest and reading teacher in Settignano (15th c.) 337 Maximianus 149 Mazarini, Antonio, Maestro, parent (15th c.) 395
821
Mazarini, Paolo di Maestro Antonio, da Pratieghi, grammar pupil in Florence (15th c.) 395 Mazetti, Piero di Ser Matteo, abacus pupil in Florence (15th c.) 457, 727 Mazetto di Ser Andrea da Campi, children of, book owners (15th c.) 143 Mazzei, Lapo, Ser 238 Mazzi, Chiarissimo di Bernardo di Chiarissimo, Florentine parent (15th c.) 518 Mazzi, Diamante di Chiarissimo di Bernardo di Chiarissimo, Florentine elementary pupil (15th c.) 519 Mazzi, Francesco di Chiarissimo di Bernardo di Chiarissimo, Florentine elementary pupil (15th c.) 519 Mazzi, Giovannantonio, grammar pupil in Florence (15th c.) 158 Mazzinghi, family from Peretola 229 Mazzinghi, Antonio di Giusto, Maestro, Florentine abacist (14th c.) 228–29, 231, 233–34, 238–41, 365, 370 Trattato di oretti 229 Mazzuoli, Eugenio di Giovanni, da Strada, grammar teacher in Florence (14th c.) 195, 317 Mazzuoli, Giovanni, da Strada, grammar teacher in Florence (14th c.) 195, 318, 323 Mazzuoli, Zanobi di Giovanni, da Strada, grammar teacher in Florence (14th c.) 195, 320, 323, 326 Mea, widow of Guido di Salvi, Florentine parent (15th c.) 525 Medici, Florentine family xix, 167, 393–94, 397, 425, 427–28, 432–33, 436–38, 440, 457 Medici, Alamanno di Bernardo, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 726 Medici, Averardo di Francesco, children of (15th c.) 425 Medici, Cosimo di Giovanni di Bicci xix, 155, 167, 407 Medici, Cosimo I, duke of Florence 432 Medici, Giovanni di Cosimo, Florentine statesman and pupil (15th c.) 427 Medici, Giovanni di Lorenzo di Piero, cardinal, pope (Leo X) and Florentine elementary, grammar and Greek pupil (15th c.) 432–33, 436–38 Medici, Giuliano di Lorenzo di Piero, Florentine statesman and reading pupil (15th c.) 432
822
index of names
Medici, Giuliano di Piero di Cosimo, Florentine pupil (15th c.) 367, 428 Medici, Lorenzo di Piero di Cosimo, Florentine statesman and pupil (15th c.) xiii, 159, 169, 394, 398–99, 428, 460 Medici, Lucrezia di Lorenzo di Piero, wife of Iacopo di Giovanni Salviati, Florentine reading pupil (15th c.) 432 Medici, Nannina di Piero, Florentine pupil (15th c.) 434 Medici, Piero di Lorenzo di Piero, Florentine statesman and reading, grammar and Greek pupil (15th c.) 141, 170, 432–33 Medici, Pierfrancesco di Lorenzo 647 Meliore di Compagno, elementary teacher in Fucecchio (14th c.) 255, 319, 554 Meo di Piero di Bartolomeo di Lucchino (calzaiuolo), Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 506 Micceri, Florentine family of abacists 367 Micceri, Antonio di Taddeo, Florentine abacist (15th c.) 378–79, 671 Micceri, Antonio di Salvestro, Maestro, Florentine abacist (15th c.) 367, 371, 533 Micceri, Niccolò di Taddeo, Maestro, Florentine abacist (15th–16th c.) 236, 367, 374–76, 382, 385, 533, 709, 711–15 Micceri, Taddeo di Salvestro, Florentine abacist (15th c.) 367, 372, 374, 533 Michelangelo, private tutor in Florence (15th c.) 437 Michelangelo di Giovanni da S. Maria Impruneta, Ser, private tutor in Florence (15th c.) 439, 721 Michele, Maestro, canon and grammar teacher in S. Gimignano (14th c.) 183, 581 Michele, Ser, priest and elementary teacher in Florence (S. Maria Novella) (1470s) 349 Michele, Maestro, elementary teacher in Florence (c. 1300) 196, 212 Michele, Ser, elementary teacher in Florence (S. Croce) (1490s) 360, 716 Michele, private tutor in Florence (15th c.) 438, 707 Michele di Agnolo di Brutto, tessitore, uncle of Florentine reading pupil 521
Michele di Antonio della Badia di Montemuro di Chianti, Florentine parent (15th c.) 455, 472 Michele da S. Croce sull’Arno, grammar teacher in S. Gimignano (14th c.) 262, 318, 581–82 Michele di Filippo, Florentine schoolboy (15th c.) 732 Michele di Francesco, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 735 Michele di Gianni, Maestro, Florentine abacist (14th–15th c.) 228, 231–34, 237–39, 373, 618–19 Michele di Giovanni da Perugia, private tutor in Florence (15th c.) 429 Michele di Giunta, grammar teacher in S. Gimignano (14th c.) 252–53, 284, 308, 580 Michele del fu Guido di Salvi, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 525 Michele di Iacopo di Benincasa, former Florentine student (15th c.) 472 Michele di Lionardo, Florentine schoolboy (15th c.) 731 Michele di Maso, Florentine parent (15th c.) 448, 520 Michele di Taddeo di Dino da Pontassieve, book owner (15th c.) 134 Michelina di Ser Carsino da S. Miniato, Florentine parent (15th c.) 489 Michelozzi, Bernardo, private tutor in Florence (15th c.) 436 Michelozzi, Michelozzo di Bartolomeo 16 Michelozzo di Bartolomeo: see Michelozzi, Michelozzo di Bartolomeo Michi, Florentine family 337 Michi, Benvenuto del fu Ugolino di Piero, Florentine elementary pupil (15th c.) 123, 452–53, 627–30 Michi, Betta, widow of Ugolino di Piero Michi, Florentine parent (15th c.) 452, 629 Michi, Piero del fu Ugolino di Piero, Florentine elementary pupil (15th c.) 123, 452–53, 627–30 Migliore, Ser, elementary teacher in Florence (14th c.) 213, 221 Minerbetti, Florentine family 148, 435, 440 Minerbetti, Andrea di Messer Tommaso, Florentine copyist, book owner and pupil (15th c.) 148, 435 Minerbetti, Bernardo, Florentine copyist and book owner (16th c.) 148
index of names Minerbetti, Francesco di Tommaso, Florentine pupil (15th c.) 435 Minerbetti, Tommaso, Messer, Florentine book owner (16th c.) 148 Miniato di Banco, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 730 Mino (Iacopino) da Colle, teacher of rhetoric and grammar (13th c.) 192, 585 Mino di Domenico di Ser Mino, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 730 Mocchi (Pucci), Bartolo di Maestro Giovanni di Puccio, abacus teacher in Siena (14th c.) 600 Monte de Abregata da Reggio, Messer, teacher of grammar and notariate in Pistoia (14th c.) 562 Monte di Giovanni di Ser Monte (lanaiuolo), Florentine notarial student (15th c.) 470 Montefeltro, ruling family of Urbino 135 Montigiani, Marcantonio di Ser Luca de’, Maestro, grammar teacher (15th c.) 396–97, 541 Montone, Sienese pupil (12th c.) 179–80 Morelli, Florentine family 167, 323, 415, 437–38, 440, 457, 464 Morelli, Antoniotto di Giovanni di Paolo, Florentine grammar pupil (15th c.) 130–32 Morelli, Giovanni di Paolo, Florentine diarist and parent (14th–15th c.) 130–31, 151, 154, 221–22, 225, 324, 454 Morelli, Girolamo di Matteo, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 728 Morelli, Iacopantonio di Lorenzo, Florentine grammar pupil (15th c.) 466 Morelli, Lionardo di Lorenzo, Florentine book owner and parent (15th c.) 141, 163, 693–94, 718 Morelli, Lorenzo di Matteo di Morello, Florentine parent (15th c.) 141, 401, 684–85 Morelli, Lorenzo di Matteo, children of, pupils in Florence (15th c.) 401, 437–38, 684–85 Morelli, Morello di Paolo, Florentine parent (15th c.) 365, 624, 631 Morelli, Morello di Paolo, children of, Florentine elementary pupils (15th c.) 123
823
Morelli, Paolo di Bartolomeo, Florentine pupil (14th c.) 155, 221, 321–22 Morelli, Paolo di Morello di Paolo di Bernardo, Florentine grammar pupil (15th c.) 146, 167 Moro, Florentine abacist (13th c.) 226–27 Morse, Maestro, private tutor in Florence (15th c.) 433, 678 Mucci, Giovanni del fu Muccio, da Volterra, Maestro, grammar teacher in Siena (14th c.) 595–96 Muccio di Vita, Ser, grammar teacher in Prato (14th c.) 576 Muzio di Bonuzzio, grammar pupil in Laterina (14th c.) 208 Muzzino di Ildebrandino di Chiaradonna, teacher in S. Gimignano (13th c.) 200–201, 206, 577 Nacchianti, Cristofano di Piero, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 384 Naccio di Paolo da Terranuova, Ser, grammar teacher (14th c.) 257, 311, 318, 550–51, 574, 586 Naldi, Naldo, poet and grammar teacher (15th c.) 399, 542 Naldo di Berardo, grammar pupil in Laterina (14th c.) 208 Naldo di Maestro Cenne, grammar pupil in Laterina (14th c.) 208 Nanni di Bardo da Scarperia, divettino, parent in Florence (15th c.) 516 Nanni di Tommaso di Gherardo, Florentine parent (15th c.) 525 Nastagio, Ser, private tutor in Florence (14th c.) 224 Necchia, elementary teacher in Siena (14th c.) 203, 206 Neri, Ser, elementary teacher in Florence (13th c.) 211 Neri di Bicci, Florentine painter and parent (15th c.) 342, 377 Neri (Ranieri) di Maestro Chiaro, Florentine abacist (13th–14th c.) 226–27 Neri da Monte Santo del Ducato (Spoleto), Maestro, grammar teacher (14th c.) 314 Neroni, Florentine family 167, 429, 440, 464 Neroni, Dietisalvi di Nerone di Nigi, Florentine statesman and book owner (15th c.) 130, 159, 167
824
index of names
Neroni, Dietisalvi di Nerone di Nigi, children of, Florentine pupils (15th c.) 429 Neroni, Giovanni di Nerone di Nigi, Florentine grammar pupil (15th c.) 130, 159, 167, 639 Nerotto, Ser, private tutor in Florence (15th c.) 430 Nerucci, Bartolomeo di Piero, da S. Gimignano, Maestro, grammar teacher (15th c.) 65, 101–102, 111 Nicholaus Vedellerii de Prusia, Magister, grammar teacher (15th c.) 558 Niccoli, Bernardo di Bartolomeo, Florentine parent (15th c.) 473 Niccoli, Niccolò 461, 496 Niccoli, Nofri di Bernardo, theology student at Padua (15th c.) 454, 473 Niccolini, Florentine family 431, 440, 457 Niccolini, Giovanni, Florentine guardian (14th c.) 203 Niccolini, Girolamo di Messer Otto, Florentine grammar pupil (15th c.) 159, 161, 431 Niccolini, Iacopo di Messer Otto, Florentine elementary pupil (15th c.) 431 Niccolini, Lodovico di Messer Otto, Florentine elementary pupil (15th c.) 431 Niccolini, Luigi di Bernardo di Lapo, Florentine schoolboy (15th c.) 735 Niccolini, Niccolò, Florentine guardian (14th c.) 203 Niccolini, Otto, Messer, Florentine lawyer, statesman and parent (15th c.) 159, 461 Niccolò, Maestro, grammar teacher in Pistoia (14th c.) 560 Niccolò di Ser Antonio, Florentine student (15th c.) 729 Niccolò di Antonio da Pratovecchio, Ser, elementary and grammar teacher in Florence (15th c.) 389, 452, 539, 633–34 Niccolò di Bano da Pistoia, children of, book owners (15th c.) 112 Niccolò di Bartolino da Bologna, Maestro, grammar and logic teacher in Colle Valdelsa (14th c.) 549 Niccolò di Benedetto, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 729 Niccolò di Biagio, Florentine parent (15th c.) 483
Niccolò da Bologna, Maestro, grammar teacher in S. Gimignano (14th c.) 284, 581 Niccolò da Cesena, Maestro, grammar teacher in Sansepolcro (14th c.) 587, 759–62 Niccolò di Coluccio da S. Vettorio della Marca, Ser, private tutor in Florence (15th c.) 424, 634 Niccolò di Domenico da Diecimo, contado di Lucca, Maestro, elementary and grammar teacher in Pescia (14th c.) 57, 319, 558 Niccolò di Ser Duccio d’Arezzo, Maestro, grammar teacher (14th–15th c.) 71–72, 120, 132, 151–52, 155, 166–67, 315, 319, 321, 386, 402–404, 414, 538, 749–50 Niccolò del fu Ser Duccio da Prato, Ser, elementary teacher in Florence (14th c.) 196, 212 Niccolò di Egidio da Città di Castello, Maestro, grammar teacher in Narni (Terni in Umbria) (14th c.) 609 Niccolò di Gherardo da Ferrara, Maestro, grammar teacher in Fucecchio (14th c.) 556 Niccolò di Gilio da Città di Castello, Maestro, grammar teacher in Siena (14th c.) 604 Niccolò da S. Gimignano, Ser, private tutor in Florence (15th c.) 426 Niccolò di Giovanni d’Arrigo di Niccolò di Arrigo (ritagliatore), Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 505 Niccolò di Giovanni da Catalonia, Maestro, grammar teacher in Florence (15th c.) 409–410, 414 Niccolò di Ser Guido da Castelfranco di Sopra, Don, grammar teacher (15th c.) 139, 388–89, 415, 454, 509, 538, 626 Tractatus orthographie 139 Niccolò di Lodovico, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 730 Niccolò di Lorenzo, Florentine abacist (15th c.) 374, 385 Niccolò di Matteo da Friuli, Ser, private tutor in Florence (15th c.) 437, 683, 686 Niccolò di Stefano, Florentine abacist (15th–16th c.) 385 Niccolò di Ser Vanni dell’Abaco, Maestro, abacus teacher in Siena (14th c.) 600
index of names Nicholas V, pope, humanist and private tutor in Florence 424 Nobili, Florentine family 341, 464 Nobili, Attaviano di Calvano d’Attaviano di Messer Guccio, Florentine elementary pupil (15th c.) 124, 340–41, 668–69 Nobili, Calvano d’Attaviano di Messer Guccio, Florentine parent (15th c.) 460 Nobili, Francesco di Calvano d’Attaviano di Messer Guccio, Florentine elementary pupil (15th c.) 341 Nobili, Rinieri di Calvano d’Attaviano di Messer Guccio, Florentine elementary pupil (15th c.) 341 Nofri di Giovanni da Poggitazzi, Maestro, grammar teacher (14th–15th c.) 81, 166, 168, 311–12, 315, 319–20, 552–53, 564, 584, 605 Nofri di Iacopo di Ser Nofri di Ser Piero delle Riformagioni, Florentine schoolboy (15th c.) 488 Nofri da Piro, grammar teacher in Sansepolcro (14th c.) 57, 768–71 Nolfo di Nuccio, Ser, elementary teacher in Florence (14th c.) 212 Nucci, Cipriano del fu Giovanni di Nanni, Florentine reading pupil (15th c.) 506 Nucci, Francesco del fu Giovanni di Nanni, Florentine reading pupil (15th c.) 506 Nuti, Bernardo, Florentine teacher xiii, 417 Nuti, Lapo, Ser, chaplain and Florentine elementary teacher (14th c.) 184 Nuto, Ser, grammar teacher in Florence (14th c.) 188 Oderico, schoolmaster in Siena (12th c.) 179–80 Odi, Pietro, da Montopoli, humanist (15th c.) 135 Odonetti, Giovan Battista, Sienese rhetoric master (14th c.) 596 Oftium Beatae Mariae Virginis 66 Ogoccio, grammarian in Paris, pupil there of Magister Robertus 127 Onofrio di Piro, Maestro, grammar teacher in Sansepolcro (14th c.) 587 Oppian 679 Orlandi, Checco di Rinieri di Pietro, children of, book owners (15th c.) 96
825
Orlandini, Geronimo, book owner (15th c.) 72 Orlando, Maestro, grammar teacher in Arezzo (13th c.) 209 Orlando di Piero, Florentine abacist (14th c.) 234 Orsi, Pietro, grammar teacher in Siena (14th c.) 604 Orsina, elementary teacher in Florence (14th–15th c.) 203 Ottaviano di Contuccio, children of, book owners (15th c.) 154 Otto, Maestro, canonist and/or grammarian at Bologna (12th c.) 126 Otto of Freising 174 Ovid 48–49, 71, 76, 102, 114, 159, 168–69, 171, 679 Amores 156 Ars amatoria 156–57 Epistula Sapphonis 86 Epistulae ex Ponto 157, 169, 394 Heroides 112, 155, 159, 167, 617, 650 Metamorphoses 65, 82, 101–102, 157, 159, 165–69, 637 Remedia amoris 86 Ovid (pseudo) 169 De virtutibus herbarum (De medicamine aurium) 156 Medicamina faciei 156–57 Nux 156 Pulex 156–57 Pacino di Bombello di Pacino di Bombello, Florentine reading pupil (15th c.) 531 Pagolo da Prato, Ser, grammar teacher (15th c.) 141 Palese di Mariano, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 729 Paliani, Caterina del fu Paliano di Falco, Florentine dancing pupil (15th c.) 630 Paliani, Costanza del fu Paliano di Falco, Florentine dancing pupil (15th c.) 630 Paliani, Giana, widow of Paliano di Falco Paliani, Florentine parent (15th c.) 630 Paliani, Toncina del fu Paliano di Falco, Florentine elementary pupil (15th c.) 630 Palmieri, Matteo di Marco, Florentine statesman and humanist (15th c.) 81, 121
826
index of names
Della vita civile 121 Panaetius, Greek stoic (1st c. B.C.) 77 Pandolni, Florentine family 437, 440 Pandolni, Francesco di Pierlippo di Messer Giannozzo, Florentine pupil (15th c.) 437 Pandolni, Pandolfo di Giannozzo di Agnolo di Filippo, Florentine book owner (15th c.) 134 Panezio, Maestro, private tutor in Florence (15th c.) 674 Panichi, Francesco di Tommaso, Florentine grammar pupil (15th c.) 420–21 Panichi, Zanobia, widow of Tommaso Panichi, Florentine parent (15th c.) 420–21 Panormita (Antonio Beccadelli) 72 Panzano, da, Firidol, Florentine family 134, 452, 464 Panzano, da, Alessandra di Luca di Matteo de’ Firidol, Florentine girl in serbanza (15th c.) 645 Panzano, da, Luca di Matteo de’ Firidol, Florentine elementary and abacus pupil as well as parent (15th c.) 451–52, 623–24, 644–45 Panzano, da, Matteo di Luca di Matteo de’ Firidol, Florentine girl in serbanza (15th c.) 645 Panzano, da, Messer Rinaldo di Matteo, Florentine book owner (15th c.) 134 Panzino di Bonaiuto, Florentine abacist (13th c.) 226 Paolo, Maestro, private tutor in Florence (14th c.) 322, 622 Paolo, Ser, private tutor in Florence (15th c.) 423, 626 Paolo dell’Abaco (Paolo di Maestro Piero), Maestro, Florentine abacist (14th c.) 227–29, 231, 233, 236–37, 365, 370 Trattato di tutta l’arte dell’abacho 228 Regoluzze 228 Paolo di Antonio da Ronciglione, Ser, grammar teacher in Florence (15th c.) 361, 398, 541 Paolo di Bartolomeo da Bologna, Ser, grammar teacher in Florence (14th c.) 268, 537 Paolo Camaldolese, Tuscan grammarian (12th c.) 127 Paolo di Iacopo, grammar ripetitore in Florence (14th c.) 189
Paolo di Maestro Iacopo di Cisco da Sansepolcro, grammar teacher in Sansepolcro (14th c.) 319, 588, 762, 764, 773–77 Paolo del fu Saliti (Assaliti) da Orvieto, Maestro, grammar teacher in Siena (14th c.) 591, 595, 599 Papi di Alessandro di Niccolò (barbiere), Florentine elementary pupil (15th c.) 632 Papero di Piero, speziale, brother of Florentine student (15th c.) 502 Papias 112 Pardi, Niccolò, Ser, Florentine notary and chancery ofcial (15th c.) 25 Parentucelli, Tommaso: see Nicholas V Parentucelli, Tommaso di Ser Curradino Parentucelli da Sarzana, private tutor in Florence (later 15th c.) 430–31, 446, 664–65 Parutini, Pietro di Parutino, da Montepulciano, Maestro, abacus teacher in Siena (14th c.) 601 Pasqualini, Ser Girolamo d’Antonio di Michele, children of, book owners (15th c.) 150 Paul of Venice Logica 648 Pazzi, Florentine family 426–28, 431, 434, 440–41 Pazzi, Andrea, Messer, Florentine parent (15th c.) 440, 453 Pazzi, Caterina di Iacopo, Florentine elementary and grammar pupil (15th c.) 431 Pazzi, Guglielmo di Antonio di Messer Andrea, Florentine parent (15th c.) 434, 668 Pazzi, Piero di Messer Andrea, Florentine pupil (15th c.) 426–27, 453 Pazzi, Piero di Messer Andrea, children of, Florentine pupils (15th c.) 428 Pecori, Florentine family 337, 464 Pecori, Caterina, Florentine parent (15th c.) 344 Pecori, Dino Francesco (Franceschino) del fu Francesco, Florentine elementary and abacus pupil (15th c.) 337, 342–47, 361, 379, 459, 652–57, 659–60, 674–76 Pecori, Francesco, Florentine parent (15th c.) 124, 459
index of names Pecori, Tommaso del fu Francesco, Florentine elementary pupil (15th c.) 343–47, 459, 650–59 Pelegrino di Giovanni da Rimini, Ser, grammar teacher in Florence (15th c.) 409, 414 Peregrino da Pisa, Maestro, grammar teacher (14th c.) 320 Perello ‘ligiano’ di Maestro Perello da Cigoli, Maestro, grammar teacher in Florence (15th c.) 408–410, 414 Pero Pumoso de Zoane (Piero Pumoso da Genoa), pupil (14th c.) 55 Perotti, Niccolò 51–52, 161–62, 165 Rudimenta grammatices 51, 70, 97, 140–41, 143–44, 161–62, 401, 467, 673, 676, 678, 690, 692 Persius 49, 76, 82, 86, 165–66, 168–70, 394 Saturae 157–58, 169, 679 Peruzzi, Antonio di Ridolfo di Bonifazio, university student (15th c.) 454–55, 492–93 Peruzzi, Niccolò di Ranieri, children of, Florentine book owners (15th c.) 154 Peruzzi, Ridolfo di Bonifazio, Florentine parent (15th c.) 492–93 Peruzzio, Florentine abacist (14th c.) 235 Peruzzo di Cino, Florentine abacist (14th c.) 235 Petrarch, Francesco 101, 161, 326, 688 Triumph of Fame 716 Petrini, Tommaso di Giovanni d’Andrea, Florentine reading pupil (15th c.) 125 Petrucci, Agostino di Anibale di Domenico di Tano, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 374 Petrucci, Andreotto da Siena (15th c.) 72 Petrucci, Cambio di Tano, Florentine parent (15th c.) 635 Petrucci, Giovanni di Cambio di Tano, Florentine grammar pupil and book owner (15th c.) 159, 407, 635 Phocas 135 De arte nomine et verbo 135 Piccolomini, Aeneas Sylvius: see Pius II Piera del fu Rudolfo, widow of Pacino di Bombello, grandmother to Florentine reading pupils (15th c.) 531 Pierfrancesco di Ser Antonio, Florentine schoolboy (15th c.) 728
827
Pierfrancesco di Ser Machello da Firenze, private tutor in Florence (15th c.) 439 Piero, Ser, priest and grammar teacher in S. Miniato (14th c.) 586 Piero, Maestro, grammar teacher in Florence (14th c.) 220 Piero, Maestro, elementary and grammar teacher in Florence (15th c.) 350, 393, 507, 541 Piero di Agnolo di Francesco da Stia, schoolboy in Florence (15th c.) 527 Piero di Albizo di Cecco (vergatore), Florentine reading pupil (15th c.) 478 Piero di Andrea, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 726 Piero di Antonio di Lapozzo, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 727 Piero di Antonio di Naldo, children of, book owners (15th c.) 150 Piero di Antonio di Martino da Prato, book owner 67 Piero di Ser Baldo da Montale, Maestro, grammar teacher in Pistoia (14th c.) 196, 199, 256–57, 262, 285, 288, 295, 319, 561 Piero di Bartolomeo, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 731 Piero di Bartolomeo di Lucchino, calzaiuolo, Florentine parent (15th c.) 506 Piero di Bernaba da Orvieto, Ser, grammar teacher in Florence (15th c.) 404–406, 414 Piero di Berto di Lionardo, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 728 Piero di Bombello di Pacino di Bombello, Florentine reading pupil (15th c.) 531 Piero di Ser Bramante, private tutor in Florence (15th c.) 431 Piero di Carlo, Florentine schoolboy (15th c.) 729 Piero di Caroso di Bartolo di Ser Segna, Florentine reading pupil (15th c.) 486 Piero da Citerna (Città di Castello), Maestro, grammar teacher in Colle Valdelsa (14th c.) 310, 551, 563, 608 Piero di Cosimo, Florentine schoolboy (15th c.) 732 Piero di Domenico, Florentine abacus pupil and abacist (15th c.) 385, 729
828
index of names
Piero da Figline, Maestro, grammar teacher (14th c.) 320 Piero di Filippo, maniscalco, Florentine parent (15th c.) 522 Piero del fu Francesco di Ser Arrighetto da Prato, schoolboy (15th c.) 504 Piero del fu Francesco de Cludia (contado di Venezia), grammar teacher in Fucecchio (15th c.) 557 Piero di Francesco di Piero da Pratovecchio, Ser, Florentine novitiate (15th c.) 735 Piero di Franco, Florentine abacist (14th c.) 227, 235 Piero da Gagliano, parent (15th c.) 430 Piero di Ser Gherardo, Ser, elementary teacher in Florence (14th c.) 212 Piero di Ser Gianni da Siena, grammar teacher in Fucecchio (14th c.) 319, 554 Piero di Giovanni, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 733 Piero di Giovanni di Ristoro da Monterchio, sarto, parent in Florence (15th c.) 502 Piero di Ser Giovanni da Siena, grammar teacher in Poggibonsi (14th c.) 319, 567 Piero di Ser Giunta da Prato, grammar teacher in Prato (14th c.) 319, 573 Piero della Grammatica 469 Piero di Guccio, Florentine parent (15th c.) 122 Piero di Guglielmo da Forlì, Maestro, grammar teacher (14th c.) 188, 310–11, 563, 570, 609 Piero di Guido, Florentine schoolboy (15th c.) 732 Piero di Matteo, Florentine student (15th c.) 731 Piero di Matteo di Simone, Florentine schoolboy (15th c.) 727 Piero da S. Miniato, Ser, ripetitore in Prato (15th c.) 67 Piero di Paolo, Maestro, grammar teacher in Castligion Fiorentino (14th c.) 547 Piero de Pinsterna, Maestro, grammar teacher in Volterra (14th c.) 609 Piero del fu Profeta, Florentine grammar teacher (14th c.) 220, 316 Piero da Siena, Maestro, grammar teacher in Colle Valdelsa (14th c.) 293, 549
Piero di Ser Tommaso di Ser Francesco, Ser, Florentine notary and parent (15th c.) 522 Piero di Vettorio, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 731 Piero di Zanobi, Florentine abacist (15th–16th c.) 385 Pieruzzi, Filippo di Ser Ugolino, Florentine notary and grammar teacher (15th c.) 156–57, 168 Pietri, Ugo di Piero, da Volterra, Maestro, grammar teacher in Siena (14th c.) 600 Pietro, monk and grammarian in Arezzo (10th c.) 175 Pietro, priest and teacher in Camaldoli (11th c.) 178 Pietro di Angelo, Florentine grammar pupil (15th c.) 146 Pietro di Bartalo da Bucine, Maestro, grammar teacher in Pescia and Prato (14th c.) 264–65, 319, 559, 573 Pietro di Maestro Chele (Cheloccio) da Ovile, Maestro, grammar teacher in Siena (14th c.) 311–12, 551, 601–2 Pietro del Comandatore, Maestro: see Domizi, Pietro Pietro da Isolella da Cremona 72 Summa 47, 134 Pietro di Magio, Maestro, grammar teacher in Siena (14th c.) 604 Pietro da Montagnana, Paduan grammar teacher and humanist (15th c.) 135 Pietro di Maestro Nuto d’Arezzo, Maestro, grammar teacher in Siena (14th c.) 197, 311, 594 Pietro da Parma, Maestro, abacus teacher in Siena (14th c.) 601 Pietro di Ser Tuccio (Callocci), abacus teacher in Siena (14th c.) 601 Pinciardi, Giovacchino di Gucciarello, parent in Florence (14th c.) 225, 623 Pinciardi, Guido di Giovacchino, pupil in Florence (14th c.) 623 Pitti, Giovannozzo, Florentine statesman (15th c.) 440 Pitti, Francesco di Carlo di Francesco di Neri, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 382 Pius II xix, 606 Plautus 76, 155, 169–71 Menaechmi 164 Pliny the Elder 65, 682
index of names Pliny the Younger Epistulae 161 Plutarch 431, 668 Poggio: see Bracciolini, Poggio Poliziano, Angelo, humanist and private tutor in Florence (15th c.) xiii, 86, 135, 141, 149, 155, 170, 432, 719 Pollini, Domenico di Niccolò de’, book owner (15th c.) 100 Pontano, Tommaso, da Perugia, humanist and private tutor in Florence (15th c.) 427, 440 Porcello, Giannantonio, humanist 149 Primeriani, Marino di Niccolò, book owner and schoolboy in S. Gimignano (15th c.) 102 Primerani, Orlando, da S. Gimignano, Maestro, grammar teacher (15th–16th c.) 86, 171 Priscian 67, 119, 137, 158, 160, 430, 769 Institutiones grammaticae 639 Priscianus maior (Institutiones grammaticae I–XVI) 68, 639 Priscianus minor (Institutiones grammaticae XVII–XVIII) 68, 639 Proba Centones virgiliani 146, 384 Prosper of Aquitaine Epigrammata 95, 144–50 Prudentius 48, 111–12 Dittochaeon 111–12, 145–50, 389 Psychomachia 145–46 Ptolemy 430 Pucci, Antonio di Puccio, Florentine parent (15th c.) 674 Pucci, Giovanni, da Siena, abacus teacher in S. Gimignano and Siena (14th c.) 580, 597 Pucci, Iacopo di Salvestro Lionardo, Florentine book borrower and owner (15th c.) 124, 136, 642 Pucci, Lorenzo di Antonio di Puccio, Florentine student at Pisa (15th c.) 674 Puccini, Pistoiese family 138 Puccini, Bartolomeo, Ser, da Pistoia, notary, copyist (15th c.) 138 Puccini, Gabriele di Ser Bartolomeo, da Pistoia, book owner 138 Puccino da Sarzana, Maestro, grammar teacher in Fucecchio (14th c.) 556 Puccio del fu Dittaiunti da Prato, abacist in Florence (13th c.) 226
829
Puccio del fu Getto da Volterra, grammar pupil in Volterra (13th c.) 193, 206 Puccio di Maestro Strena (Bonastrenna), grammar teacher in Pisa (13th c.) 195, 209, 246, 559 Pugi, Nardo di Ser Antonio, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 457, 728 Pulci, Luigi 378, 647–48 Puzio di Venturino, grammar pupil in Laterina (14th c.) 208 Quaratesi, Florentine family 167 Quaratesi, Andrea di Francesco, Florentine grammar pupil (15th c.) 156, 167, 407 Quinque claves sapientiae: see Doctrina rudium Quintilian 86, 171 Raffaello di Bartolomeo di Ser Bartolomeo del Maestro Antonio da S. Miniato, Florentine pupil (15th c.) 435 Raginerio, schoolmaster in Arezzo (11th c.) 176 Rainieri di Ser Fuore di Voglia Fuordivoglia da Poggibonsi, Maestro, grammar teacher in Siena (14th c.) 599 Rainerio, Florentine abacist (13th c.) 226 Rainerio di Maestro Accarigo, Ser, elementary teacher in Volterra (14th c.) 608 Rainerio d’Arezzo, notary and grammar teacher (12th c.) 190 Rainerio di Restoro de Uguctione dal contado di Arezzo, Maestro, grammar teacher in Cortona (14th c.) 319, 553–54 Rainuccio di Ser Guido da Cigoli, Maestro, grammar teacher in Volterra (14th c.) 261–62, 285, 319, 606 Randelli, Bernardo di Bartolo, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 480 Randelli, Salvi di Stefano, Florentine guardian (15th c.) 480 Ranerio, Maestro, grammar teacher in Fucecchio (14th c.) 555 Remigius of Auxerre Commentary on Phocas’s Ars de nomine et verbo 135
830
index of names
Riccardo di Anichino, Florentine parent (15th c.) 439 Ricco di Ser Vanni da Prato, Ser, abacus teacher in Pistoia (14th c.) 562, 570 Riccobaldi, family from Volterra 86 Riccobaldi, Alessandro di Benedetto, da Volterra, book owner (15th c.) 86 Riccuzio di Bennuzio, grammar pupil in Laterina (14th c.) 208 Ricomano da Firenze, teacher in Prato (13th c.) 206, 567 Ridol, Florentine family 425, 440 Ridol, Bartolo di Schiatta, children of, Florentine book owners and pupils (15th c.) 150, 425, 518 Riesti, Giorgio di Niccolò di Alberto, da Firenze, Maestro, grammar teacher (15th c.) 399, 542, 723–24 Rinaldo, Fra, grammar teacher in Florence (14th c.) 189 Rinbertini, Iacopo di Antonio di Lapaccio, brother of Florentine Dominican student (15th c.) 502 Rinieri, Florentine family 153, 430, 434 Rinieri, Andrea di Francesco di Cristofano di Bernardo, Florentine reading pupil (16th c.) 724 Rinieri, Bartolomea, wife of Bernardo Rinieri, mother and reading teacher of her son (15th c.) 122, 348, 670 Rinieri, Bernardo di Stoldo, Florentine parent (15th c.) 122, 347–48, 669 Rinieri, Filippo di Stoldo, Florentine parent (15th c.) 430 Rinieri, Francesco di Bernardo, Florentine elementary and grammar pupil (15th c.) 122, 347–48, 434, 466, 669–70 Rinieri di Antonio di Messer Rinieri, Florentine schoolboy (15th c.) 728 Rinuccini, Florentine family 427 Rinuccini, Alamanno, Florentine humanist (15th c.) 461 Riß, Joachim aus Rothenburg, illuminator and writing master (15th c.) 59, 539–40 Riunigi di Giovanni, Florentine schoolboy (15th c.) 735 Robertus, Magister, Parisian grammarian (12th c.) 127 Rodolfo di Nuto, Ser, elementary teacher in Florence (14th c.) 212
Roffredo da Benevento, jurist (13th c.) 69 Rolandino di Guglielmino, Aretine parent 177 Rolando di Piero di Fastello, clerk and schoolmaster in Siena and Benevento (11th–12th c.) 179 Rolfo (Redolfo) di Frenuccio da S. Miniato, Maestro, grammar teacher (14th c.) 264, 319, 562, 573, 585 Romano, Florentine elementary teacher (13th c.) 202, 211 Romano di Ser Neri, Ser, elementary teacher in Florence (15th c.) 329, 497 Romolo d’Andrea di Nofri, children of, book owners (15th c.) 150 Rondinelli, Florentine family 129 Ronto, Matteo, humanist (15th c.) 135 Roselli, Antonio, Messer, canon lawyer and guardian (15th c.) 493 Roselli, Antonio di Messer Giovanni, Maestro, physician and teacher at the Florentine Studio (15th c.) 408 Roselli, Rosello di Giovanni, university student, lawyer and vernacular poet (15th c.) 493 Rossi, Florentine family 355, 464 Rossi, Amerigo di Tribaldo, Florentine elementary pupil (15th–16th c.) 122, 125, 162, 358–59, 704, 706–7 Rossi, Antonio, grammar teacher and private tutor in Florence (15th c.) 429 Rossi, Bartolomeo di Giovanni, children of, book owners (15th c.) 139, 150, 154 Rossi, Giovanni, private tutor in Florence (15th c.) 437 Rossi, Guarieri di Tribaldo, Florentine pupil (15th–16th c.) 44, 60, 125, 162, 351–59, 380–81, 383, 695–706 Rossi, Nanina, wife of Tribaldo di Amerigo and Florentine parent (15th c.) 351–52, 695, 703–4 Rossi, Tribaldo di Amerigo, Florentine parent (15th–16th c.) 59–60, 122, 351–59, 371, 380–81, 383, 695–707 Rosso di Zanobi, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 732 Rota, Anselmo di Vettorio di Francesco di Giovanni, Florentine reading pupil (15th c.) 513 Rota, Vettorio di Francesco di Giovanni, Florentine parent (15th c.) 513
index of names Rubino di Filippo di Francesco, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 726 Rucellai, Florentine family 427, 434, 440 Rucellai, Antonio di Pagolo di Giovanni, Florentine pupil (15th c.) Rucellai, Bernardo di Mariotto di Piero di Brancazio, Florentine grammar pupil (15th c.) 141 Rucellai, Cosimo di Bernardo di Giovanni, Florentine pupil (15th c.) 434 Rucellai, Giovanni 121, 363, 440 Zibaldone 121–22 Rucellai, Pagolo di Giovanni, Florentine parent (15th c.) 333, 475 Ruspoli, Bartolomeo di Lorenzo di Giovanni, Florentine reading pupil (16th c.) 719 Ruspoli, Giovanni di Lorenzo di Giovanni, Florentine elementary and abacus pupil (15th–16th c.) 360, 719–20 Ruspoli, Lorenzo di Giovanni, Florentine parent (15th–16th c.) 360 Rustici, Florentine family 424, 452 Rustici, Antonio di Lionardo, Florentine parent (15th c.) 44, 123, 329–30, 338–39, 372, 452, 632–34 Rustici, Lionardo di Antonio di Lionardo, Florentine elementary pupil (15th c.) 123, 329–30, 424, 632 Rustici, Marabottino di Antonio, Florentine elementary pupil (15th c.) 338–39, 372, 632–34 Rustici, Rinieri di Antonio, Florentine elementary pupil (15th c.) 338–39, 372, 633–34 Rustici, Stefano di Antonio di Lionardo, Florentine elementary pupil (15th c.) 123, 329–30, 338–39, 372, 424, 632–34 Sabino, Giuliano, private tutor in Florence (15th c.) 437 Sacchetti, Franco 124, 229 Saladini, Ugo dei, bishop of Volterra (12th c.) 179 Sallust 48, 67, 71, 76, 95, 137, 154, 159, 165 Bellum Catalinae 157, 170 Bellum Iugurthinum 157, 170 Salimbene di Salto, Florentine parent (14th c.) 56, 202, 214, 324 Salutati, Arrigo di Messer Coluccio, Florentine parent (15th c.) 496
831
Salutati, Coluccio 161, 228, 263 Elegia 146 Fabula de vulpo et cancro 146 Salvato, private teacher/tutor in Florence (14th c.) 213, 322, 620 Salvestro, Maestro, private tutor in Florence (15th c.) 434 Salvestro di Benedetto, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 729 Salvestro di Sano, Florentine schoolboy (15th c.) 730 Salvi di Amadore da Firenze, Ser, Florentine abacist (14th c.) 235, 275, 548 Salvi di Niccolò, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 732 Salviati, Florentine family 434, 440 Salviati, Averardo di Alamanno, Florentine parent (15th c.) 122, 669 Salviati, Iacopo di Giovanni, Florentine pupil (15th c.) 432, 434 Salviati, Lotto di Giovanni di Messer Forese, children of, Florentine book owners (15th c.) 154 Salvonetto di Lionardo da Rimini, parent or grammar pupil in Florence (15th c.) 421 Samuele, grammar teacher in S. Gimignano (14th c.) 197–98, 206, 577–78 Sandro, elementary ripetitore in Florence (15th c.) 338, 452, 633 Sandro del fu Andrea, Ser, notary and elementary teacher in Florence (14th c.) 194, 212 Sandro di Bartolo dal Gallo, Florentine parent (15th c.) 529 Sandro di Mariotto di Giunta, Florentine pupil (15th c.) 439 Sandro di Papi, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 730 Santi di Biagio da Valiana, grammar teacher (14th c.) 104–105, 166, 308, 315, 319 Santi di Domenico d’Arezzo, Maestro, grammar teacher (15th c.) 130–32, 146, 152, 156, 167–68, 320, 332, 388–89, 404–407, 414–15, 419–20, 422–23, 448, 488, 494–96, 538, 751 Santi di Ser Guaspare di Giunta da Pieve S. Stefano, private tutor in Florence (15th c.) 425 Santi di Lorenzo da Dicomano, Ser, grammar teacher in Florence (15th c.)
832
index of names
393–95, 397, 411–413, 415, 417–19, 540 Santi di Paolo, Florentine abacist (15th c.) 385 Sara, widow of Lorenzo del Toso linaiuolo, Florentine parent (15th c.) 505 Sassetti, Florentine family 153, 323, 426, 430, 433, 440, 464 Sassetti, Alessandra, wife of Priore di Bartolomeo di Tommaso Sassetti, dancing and organ pupil (15th c.) 672–73 Sassetti, Bartolomeo di Tommaso di Federigo, Florentine parent (15th c.) 159, 170, 430, 460, 466–67, 646, 671–73 Sassetti, Betta, widow of of Tommaso di Federigo Sassetti, Florentine parent (15th c.) 130, 637–38 Sassetti, Cosa, wife of Bartolomeo di Tommaso Sassetti, Florentine parent (15th c.) 671 Sassetti, Cosimo, Florentine book owner (15th c.) 149 Sassetti, Cosimo di Francesco di Tommaso, Florentine pupil (15th c.) 433 Sassetti, Federigo di Francesco di Tommaso, Florentine pupil (15th c.) 433 Sassetti, Fiametta di Bartolomeo di Tommaso, Florentine girl in serbanza (15th c.) 672 Sassetti, Filippo, Florentine explorer (16th c.) 368 Sassetti, Francesco di Tommaso, Florentine grammar pupil (15th c.) 130, 426, 637–38 Sassetti, Gentile di Bartolomeo, Florentine elementary and grammar pupil (15th c.) 170, 430, 466, 646, 672–73 Sassetti, Priore di Bartolomeo, Florentine elementary pupil (15th c.) 430, 646 Sasso di Grazia del fu Sasso d’Arezzo, grammar teacher in Montepulciano (14th c.) 210, 319 Savonarola, Girolamo, Fra 716 Compendio di rivelazioni 714 Prediche 715 Sopra e dieci comandamenti 715 Scala, family from Colle Valdelsa 435 Scala, Alessandra di Messer Bartolomeo, Florentine pupil (15th c.) 435
Scala, Bartolomeo, Messer 647 Scala, Battista di Messer Bartolomeo, Florentine pupil (15th c.) 435 Scala, Francesca di Messer Bartolomeo, Florentine pupil (15th c.) 435 Scala, Nanna di Messer Bartolomeo, Florentine pupil (15th c.) 435 Scalandroni, Francesco del fu Benedetto di Lippo di Bonaventura, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 509 Scamisci, Marco di Giovanni di Simo d’Arezzo, Maestro, grammar teacher in Arezzo 752–55 Scarlatti, Filippo d’Antonio di Scarlatto, children of, Florentine book owners (15th c.) 143, 150, 154 Scelti, Cecco, Maestro, grammar teacher in Siena (14th c.) 598 Scolari, Filippo, mercenary and Florentine abacus pupil (14th c.) 237–38 Segni, Iacopo di Francesco di Stefano, Florentine reading pupil (15th c.) 125 Segni, Tommaso di Francesco di Stefano, Florentine reading pupil (15th c.) 125 Sello, Tomma (Tommo, Tommaso), da Suessa Aurunca, Maestro, grammar teacher in Florence and Teano (15th c.) 386–87, 538 Seneca 86, 154, 168, 171, 454, 769 Agamemnon 101 Hercules furens 101 Medea 101 Octavia 101 Tragoediae 49, 65, 100, 112, 114–15, 156–57, 165–67, 169, 171 Serristori, Florentine family 435, 440 Serristori, Antonio di Ristoro, Florentine pupil (15th c.) 435 Serristori, Benedetto di Ristoro, Florentine pupil (15th c.) 435 Serristori, Giovan Francesco di Ristoro, Florentine pupil (15th c.) 435 Serristori, Roberto di Ristoro, Florentine pupil (15th c.) 435 Servius 431 Commentary on the Aeneid 96, 667 Commentary on the Bucolics 667 Commentary on the Georgics 667 Sigizone, schoolmaster in Arezzo (11th c.) 176 Signoretti, Signoretto del fu Ser Signoretto di Perfetto, da Fucecchio,
index of names pupil in Fucecchio (14th c.) 118, 206 Signoretti, Simonetto di Messer Bernardo, guardian in Fucecchio (14th c.) 118 Signorino, Maestro, grammar teacher in S. Gimignano (13th c.) 246, 577 Silvestro di Zanobi di Mariano di Giovanni, children of, book owners (15th c.) 143 Simone, nipote of Maestro Luca di Matteo dell’Abaco, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 365, 479 Simone, Ser, elementary and abacus teacher in Florence (16th c.) 413, 720 Simone, Ser, private tutor in Florence (15th c.) 438, 688 Simone di Cinezo di Giovanni, Florentine medical student (15th c.) 508 Simone del fu Corsino da Colle, Maestro, grammar teacher in Fabriano (14th c.) 260, 548 Simone di Filippo, brother of Florentine reading pupil (15th c.) 487 Simone di Francesco da Comano nella Lunigiana, Maestro, grammar teacher in Florence (15th c.) 168, 391–92, 410–11, 415, 540 Simone di Giovanni di Durante, elementary pupil in Florence (14th c.) 213, 221, 322 Simone di Michele da Pistoia, abacus teacher in S. Gimignano (14th c.) 580 Simone di Sandro di Lino, Florentine parent (15th c.) 421 Simoni, Guaspare di Ser Domenico, children of, book owners (15th c.) 154 Soderini, Florentine family 142, 429, 433, 440 Soderini, Francesco di Messer Tommaso, cleric, university student at Bologna and Pisa, lecturer at Pisa (15th c.) 643 Soderini, Giovan Vettorio, Messer, Florentine lawyer, statesman and grammar student (15th c.) 417, 433 Soderini, Girolamo, Florentine book owner (16th c.) 142 Soderini, Luigi, Florentine parent (15th c.) 429
833
Soderini, Paolo di Luigi di Giovanni, Florentine copyist (16th c.) 142 Sozomeno di Ser Bonifazio da Pistoia, Messer xiii, 81, 111–12, 133, 167, 390, 416, 539 Chronicon universale 133 Spadini, Dada di Spadino di Geri, Florentine parent (15th c.) 642–43 Specchielli, Nello, Florentine abacist (14th c.) 236 Spigliato di Cenne da Firenze, Maestro, grammar teacher (14th c.) 63–64, 126, 165–66, 189, 267, 315–16, 537, 571–72, 575 Spinelli, Florentine family 457 Spinelli, Iacopo di Ser Guido, Ser, da Cevoli da S. Miniato, grammar teacher in Fucecchio (14th c.) 193, 318, 554–55 Spinelli, Lorenzo di Rinieri, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 728 Spinelli, Niccolò di Bartolomeo, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 728 Spinelli, Papi di Lorenzo, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 728 Spini, Florentine family 464 Spini, Arnaldo d’Adimari, Florentine guardian (15th c.) 498 Spini, Doffo di Nepo, Florentine parent (15th c.) 631 Spini, Simone d’Ugo, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 498 Spini, Sveva di Doffo di Nepo, Florentine parent (15th c.) 631 Stagio di Deo, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 732 Statius 105, 112, 167 Achilleis 104, 149, 156, 158, 166–68, 170, 384 Sylvae 86, 171 Stefano, Ser, priest and elementary teacher in Florence (15th c.) 342 Stefano di Dario, pianellaio, Florentine parent (15th c.) 477 Stefano di Domenico, lavorante di tinta, Florentine parent (15th c.) 489 Stefano di Ser Niccolò da Bagnone in Val di Magro, private tutor in Florence (15th c.) 431 Stefano di Pagolo di Stefano, Ser, Florentine notary and parent (15th c.) 484 Stefano di Piero, Florentine student (15th c.) 502
834
index of names
Stratario, teacher and grammarian in Arezzo (10th c.) 175 Strozzi, Florentine family 129, 135, 323, 424, 429, 433–34, 436–40, 464 Strozzi, Agnolo di Messer Palla, Florentine parent (15th c.) 124 Strozzi, Alessandra Macinghi, Florentine parent and grandparent 41, 59, 122 Strozzi, Alfonso di Filippo di Matteo, Florentine elementary, abacus and grammar pupil (15th c.) 122, 140, 436–37, 466, 676–77, 681–82, 686, 693 Strozzi, Antonia, widow of Lorenzo di Matteo Strozzi, Florentine parent (15th c.) 681–83, 694 Strozzi, Antonio 59 Strozzi, Bernardo di Benedetto di Marco, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 377, 645 Strozzi, Bernardo di Tommaso di Soldo di Messer Ubertino, Florentine parent (15th c.) 123 Strozzi, Camilla, widow of Lorenzo di Francesco Strozzi, Florentine parent (15th c.) 708–10, 12 Strozzi, Carlo di Lorenzo di Matteo, Florentine elementary and abacus pupil (15th c.) 125, 680, 683, 707 Strozzi, Carlo di Niccolò di Carlo, Florentine elementary and grammar pupil (15th c.) 125, 140, 433–34, 466, 678 Strozzi, Caterina di Filippo di Matteo, Florentine dancing pupil (16th c.) 722–23 Strozzi, Corrado di Paolo, Florentine parent (14th c.) 237 Strozzi, Filippo (alias Giovambattista) di Filippo di Matteo, Florentine grammar pupil (15th c.) 439, 466, 721 Strozzi, Filippo di Lorenzo di Francesco, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 163, 374–75, 708–9, 711 Strozzi, Filippo di Matteo, son of Alessandra Macinghi Strozzi and Florentine pupil and parent (15th c.) 59, 140, 467, 646, 676–77, 686–87, 693 Strozzi, Filippo di Matteo, children of, pupils in Florence (15th c.) 436, 438–39 Strozzi, Francesco (Cecco) di Messer Palla di Messer Francesco, Florentine
elementary pupil (14th c.) 123, 322, 619–20 Strozzi, Giovanni (Nanni) di Messer Palla di Messer Francesco, Florentine elementary pupil (14th c.) 123, 322, 619–20, 622 Strozzi, Iacopo di Messer Palla di Messer Francesco, Florentine elementary pupil (14th c.) 123, 356–57 Strozzi, Lattanzio del fu Lorenzo di Francesco, elementary and abacus pupil in Florence (15th c.) 374–76, 709–15 Strozzi, Lorenzo di Filippo di Matteo, Florentine grammar pupil (15th c.) 439, 466, 721–22 Strozzi, Lorenzo di Francesco, Florentine parent (15th c.) 125, 163 Strozzi, Lorenzo di Francesco, children of, pupils in Florence (15th c.) 438, 466 Strozzi, Lorenzo di Matteo, children of, reading pupils in Florence (15th c.) 436, 446, 687 Strozzi, Lorenzo di Messer Palla, children of (15th c.) 424 Strozzi, Marco di Benedetto, brother of Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 454 Strozzi, Marco di Carlo di Marco, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 377–78, 648–49 Strozzi, Matteo di Matteo, Florentine elementary and abacus pupil (15th c.) 59 Strozzi, Matteo di Filippo di Matteo, Florentine pupil (15th c.) 429 Strozzi, Matteo di Lorenzo di Matteo, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 683 Strozzi, Marco di Matteo di Giovanni di Marco, ecclesiastic, Florentine grammar pupil and university student at Pisa, temporary lecturer at Pisa (15th c.) 642–43 Strozzi, Matteo di Simone di Filippo di Messer Lionardo, Florentine pupil (15th c.) 626 Strozzi, Niccolò di Carlo di Marco, Florentine parent (15th c.) 140, 460, 467, 648, 678 Strozzi, Niccolò di Lorenzo di Francesco, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 163, 374–75, 708–12, 716
index of names Strozzi, Nofri di Palla, Florentine guardian (14th c.) 225, 619, 621 Strozzi, Orlando, nipote of Niccolò di Carlo Strozzi, Florentine reading pupil (15th c.) 678 Strozzi, Palla di Messer Francesco, Messer, Florentine parent, children of (14th c.) 213, 225, 322, 424 Strozzi, Palla di Nofri, Messer, children of, Florentine pupils (15th c.) 225, 619 Strozzi, Paolo di Carlo di Marco, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 377–78, 648–49 Strozzi, Pazzino di Messer Francesco, Messer, Florentine guardian 619–20, 622 Strozzi, Selvagia, wife of Filippo di Matteo di Simone Strozzi, Florentine parent (15th c.) 680, 723 Strozzi, Simone di Filippo di Messer Lionardo, Florentine parent (15th c.) 626 Strozzi, Simone di Niccolò di Carlo, Florentine elementary and grammar pupil (15th c.) 125, 140, 433–34, 678 Strozzi, Simone di Messer Palla di Messer Francesco, Florentine elementary pupil (14th c.) 123, 322, 619, 621–22 Strozzi, Soldo di Bernardo di Tommaso di Soldo di Messer Ubertino, Florentine pupil (15th c.) 627 Strozzi, Tommaso di Lorenzo di Francesco, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 360, 374–75, 709, 711–12, 714–16 Suaverico, teacher and grammarian in Arezzo (10th c.) 175 Succio di Avito (Ivito), pupil in S. Gimignano (13th c.) 201 Suchielli, Roberto Bonrio, Don, grammar student (15th c.) 157–58 Suetonius 76, 102, 171, 647 Taddea, widow of Caroso di Bartolo di Ser Segna and Florentine parent (15th c.) 486 Taddeo di Francesco, Florentine abacist (15th c.) 385 Taddeo di Lodovico di Filippo, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 447, 520 Taddeo di Luca, Florentine student (15th c.) 732
835
Taddeo di Ser Niccolò da Pescia, Maestro, grammar teacher (15th c.) 85, 130, 168, 390–92, 415–16, 420, 539 Taddeo di Vanuccio da Montepulciano, abacus teacher in Arezzo (15th c.) 743–45 Tancredi di Maestro Orlando da Arezzo, Maestro, grammar and dialectic teacher in Siena (14th c.) 592, 597 Tazi, Giovanni di Antonio, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 727 Tebaldo di Iacopo da Siena, Maestro, grammarian (13th–14th c.) 68, 591 Tebaldo di Orlandino da Siena, Maestro, grammar teacher Siena and Arezzo (13th c.) 67–69, 197, 245, 258, 588–89 Regule 68–69 Tedaldo del fu Cianfo, Florentine elementary teacher (14th c.) 202, 212 Telducci, Caterina di Zanobi, Florentine trainee nun 513 Telducci, Sandro di Francesco, Florentine parent (15th c.) 511–12 Tento di Antonio, Florentine schoolboy (15th c.) 732 Teodaldo, bishop of Arezzo (11th c.) 178 Teodaldo, bishop of Fiesole (7th–8th c.) 175 Terence 49, 65, 69, 71–72, 76, 104–105, 137, 159, 165–68, 170, 639, 673, 717 Andria 164 Teuzo, grammarian in the Casentino (11th c.) 178 Teuzo, grammarian in Fiesole (11th c.) 179 Theobaldus Physiologus 112, 145–47, 149–50 Theodulus 48 Ecloga 146–47 Tibullus 155, 170 Tisochia, Alessandro, da Milano, grammar teacher in Poggibonsi (14th c.) 566 Tofani, Simone di Niccolò di Tofano, da Siena, Maestro, grammar teacher in Siena (14th c.) 603 Tome di Pesca, pupil in S. Gimignano (13th c.) 200–201 Tommasi, Bandino, Maestro, grammar teacher in Siena (14th c.) 603 Tommaso dell’Abaco, Ser, Florentine abacist (14th c.) 613–16
836
index of names
Tommaso di Aiolfo di Messer Tommaso, Florentine schoolboy (15th c.) 727 Tommaso Barletto di Ser Piero di Ser Tommaso di Ser Francesco da Firenze, Florentine schoolboy (15th c.) 522 Tommaso di Cino, Florentine abacist (14th c.) 235 Tommaso del fu Maestro (Ser) Duccio da Prato, Maestro, grammar teacher (14th c.) 216–18, 319, 552, 572, 609 Tommaso di Ilario di Ticcione da S. Gimignano, grammar teacher in Pescia (14th c.) 319, 558 Tommaso di Nanni di Tommaso di Gherardo, Florentine chierico (15th c.) 525 Tommaso di Niccolò, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 730 Tommaso di Niccolò, Florentine student (15th c.) 732 Tommaso di Tommaso, caraiuolo, Florentine parent (15th c.) 455, 480 Tomme di Marco di Tomme dall’Isola di Valdelsa (contado di Firenze), private tutor in Florence (15th c.) 426, 524 Torello di Antonio, abacus pupil in Florence (15th c.) 457, 725 Tornabuoni, Florentine family 431, 440 Tornabuoni, Antonio di Giovanni, Florentine pupil (15th c.) 431 Tornabuoni, Lorenzo di Giovanni, Florentine pupil (15th c.) 431 Tone del fu Ardovino dal Casentino, grammar teacher in Poggibonsi (14th c.) 319, 566 Torni, Alberto di Clemente, Florentine elementary pupil (15th c.) 125 Toscanelli, Paolo 364 Totto di Alessandro da Lucca, elementary teacher in Fucecchio (14th c.) 201–202, 254, 319, 554 Tracorti, Bartolomeo di Buono de’, da Porciano (Castentino), Ser, grammar teacher in Florence (15th c.) 407, 414, 485 Tranquilla, wife of Rolandino di Guglielmo, Aretine parent (12th c.) 177 Traversari, Ambrogio 72 Trevet, Nicholas 102 Exposicio in Boetium 111
Tuccio del fu Maestro Tommaso d’Arezzo, Maestro, grammar teacher in Arezzo (14th c.) 210, 319 Turadini, Francesco del fu Bertino, Florentine elementary pupil (15th c.) 339, 453, 640 Turadini, Veneziana, widow of Bertino Turadini and Florentine parent (15th c.) 339, 453, 640 Tuto di Ser Nuccio da Montespertoli, Ser, grammar teacher in Poggibonsi (14th c.) 320, 566 Tuzzo di Raballa, grammar pupil in Laterina (14th c.) 208 Ubaldini, Antonio di Messer Benedetto, Florentine schoolboy (15th c.) 535 Ubaldini, Bartolomeo d’Antonio, sensale, Florentine parent (15th c.) 518 Ubaldini, Benedetto di Bartolomeo di Antonio, Messer, law student at Siena, lawyer and Florentine parent (15th c.) 455, 518, 534–35 Ubaldini, Lorenzo di Gasparino di Filippo da Pisa, children of, book owners (15th c.) 96 Ubaldini, Mariotto di Messer Benedetto, Florentine reading pupil (15th c.) 535 Ubaldo de Assiari, schoolmaster in Arezzo and priest (12th c.) 177 Ugenio di Papi, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 732 Uggerio, schoolmaster in Siena (12th c.) 180 Ugolino, grammar teacher in Pisa (13th c.) 209, 559 Ugolino del fu Arrigolo, schoolmaster in Siena (12th–13th c.) 180, 190–91 Ugolino di Piero da Bologna, teacher in Poppi (14th c.) 207 Ugone da Volterra, Maestro, grammar teacher in Volterra (14th c.) 320, 607 Uguccione da Pisa 67, 158, 127 Ulivo di Giorgio di Ulivo, Florentine abacus pupil (15th c.) 727 Ursino di Iacopo da Verona, Maestro, grammar teacher in S. Gimignano (14th c.) 583
837
index of names Valentini, Giovanni, see Cantalicio Valerius Maximus Facta et dicta 49, 86, 105, 159, 169, 171, 642, 716–17 Valgulio, Carlo, da Brescia, private tutor in Florence (15th c.) 435 Valla, Lorenzo 677 Elegantiae linguae latinae 140, 143, 467, 673 Valori, Florentine family 149, 323, 438, 440, 464 Valori, Bartolomeo di Filippo, Florentine grammar and rhetoric pupil (15th c.) 438 Valori, Bartolomeo di Niccolò di Taldo, Florentine grammar and abacus pupil (14th c.) 44, 221–22, 237, 322, 324, 616 Valori, Filippo di Bartolomeo di Filippo, Florentine book owner (15th–16th c.) 149 Vanni de Lasoro, grammar pupil in Laterina (14th c.) 208 Vanni di Rinaldo, grammar pupil in Laterina (14th c.) 208 Vannini, Antonio di Ser Salvi, da S. Gimignano, Maestro, grammar teacher (14th–15th c.) 100–101, 111–12, 166–67, 308–309, 311–12, 315–6, 320, 552, 565, 576, 584–85, 603–4, 611 Vecchietti, Florentine family 225 Vecchietti, Ugo di Domenico, Florentine parent (14th c.) 225 Velluti, Florentine family 323 Velluti, Donato, Florentine chronicler and parent (14th c.) 44, 222, 237, 323 Cronica domestica 237 Velluti, Lamberto di Donato, Florentine elementary, grammar and abacus pupil (14th c.) 44, 222, 237, 323–24 Ventura, Maestro, elementary teacher in Florence (14th c.) 213, 616 Ventura, Maestro, grammar teacher in Siena (13th c.) 589 Ventura, del fu Tebaldo de Cerrechio, Maestro, grammar teacher in Siena (13th c.) 591 Verdiano di Ser Cristofano, Ser, elementary teacher in Florence (15th c.) 343–47, 459, 650–54, 686 Vergil 48–49, 71, 76, 82, 86, 102, 105, 110, 119, 137, 154, 159, 165–67,
170–71, 431, 454, 522, 639, 661, 668, 676, 688, 718 Aeneid 96, 101, 157, 160, 165, 169–70, 647, 667 Eclogues 148, 156, 159, 167, 406, 637, 647, 667 Georgics 104, 159, 166–67, 637, 647, 667 Verino, Ugolino 369 Veronese, Guarino: see Guarini, Guarino Vesconte, elementary teacher in S. Gimignano (13th c.) 577 Vespasiano da Bisticci 133, 440, 461 Vespucci, Florentine family 430 Vespucci, Amerigo 417 Vespucci, Ser Amerigo di Ser Stagio di Ser Amerigo, Florentine pupil and book owner (15th c.) 147, 430 Vespucci, Antonio di Ser Stagio di Ser Amerigo, Florentine pupil (15th c.) 430 Vespucci, Giorgio Antonio, Florentine grammar teacher and bibliophile xiii, 126, 132, 136–38, 142, 147, 161, 164, 169, 416–17 Vettore di Arrigo da Arezzo, Ser, elementary and grammar teacher in Arezzo (15th c.) 741–42 Viene di Cione, Ser, elementary teacher in Florence (14th c.) 212 Vieri, Ser, elementary teacher in Florence (14th c.) 213, 613 Villani, Filippo 228, 323 Villani, Giovanni xiv, 1, 35, 42, 222, 228, 232, 323 Villani, Matteo 195 Vinaccesi, Pellegrino, children of, book owners (15th c.) 150 Viscontino da Lucca, Maestro, grammar teacher in Siena (13th c.) 591 Vitalis of Blois Geta 145, 149–50 Volta, della, Ser Manno di Giovanni, children of, book owners (15th c.) 143 Volta, della, Papi, children of, Florentine pupils (15th c.) 427 Wipo of Swabia (11th c.)
174–75
Zana, Cosimo di Uberto di Giovanni, Florentine reading pupil (15th c.) 507
838
index of names
Zana, Uberto di Giovanni, Florentine parent (15th c.) 507 Zanobi, Maestro, grammar teacher in Florence (15th c.) 146, 156, 167, 384 Zanobi, San 684 Zanobi da Strada, Maestro, see Mazzuoli, Zanobi di Giovanni Zeffi, Ser Niccolò di Michele d’Antonio,
private tutor in Florence (15th c.) 435 Zono de Romeo da Magnale, Maestro, grammar teacher in Florence (14th c.) 220, 320 Zosi, Baldassare di Ser Piero, Florentine schoolboy (15th c.) 500 Zosi, Piero, Ser, Florentine notary and parent (15th c.) 500
Education & Society in the Middle Ages & Renaissance ISSN 0926-6070
1. M.M. Hildebrandt.The External School in Carolingian Society. 1992. ISBN 90 04 09449 0 2. B. Lawn. The Rise and Decline of the Scholastic ‘Quæstio Disputata’. With Special Emphasis on its Use in the Teachings of Medicine and Science. 1993. ISBN 90 04 09740 6 3. A. Maierù. University Training in Medieval Europe. Translated and Edited by D.N. Pryds. 1994. ISBN 90 04 09823 2 4. T. Sullivan, o.s.b. Benedictine Monks at the University of Paris., A.D. 12291500. 1995. ISBN 90 04 10099 7 5. C. Fuchs. Dives, Pauper, Nobilis, Magister, Frater, Clericus. Sozialge-schichtliche Untersuchungen über Heidelberger Universitätsbesucher des Spätmittelalters (1386-1450). 1995. ISBN 90 04 10147 0 6. M.J.F.M. Hoenen, J.H.J. Schneider & G. Wieland (eds.). Philosophy and Learning. Universities in the Middle Ages. 1995. ISBN 90 04 10212 4 7. J. Verger. Les universités françaises au Moyen Age. 1995. ISBN 90 04 10312 0 8. J. Davies. Florence and its University during the Early Renaissance. 1998. ISBN 90 04 11003 8 9. C. O’Boyle. The Art of Medicine. Medical Teaching at the University of Paris, 1250-1400. 1998. ISBN 90 04 11124 7 10. W. J. Courtenay & J. Miethke (eds.). Universities and Schooling in Medieval Society. With the Assistance of D.B. Priest. 2000. ISBN 90 04 11351 7 11. B. Roest. A History of Franciscan Education (c. 1210-1517). 2000. ISBN 90 04 11739 3 12. N.G. Siraisi. Medicine and the Italian Universities, 1250-1600. 2001. ISBN 90 04 11942 6 13. D.A. Lines. Aristotle’s Ethics in the Italian Renaissance (ca. 1300-1650). The Universities and the Problem of Moral Education. 2002. ISBN 90 04 12085 8 14. W.J. Courtenay. Rotuli Parisienses. Supplications to the Pope from the University of Paris. Volume I: 1316-1349. 2002. ISBN 90 04 12563 9 15. W.J. Courtenay & E.D. Goddard (eds.). Rotuli Parisienses. Supplications to the Pope from the University of Paris. Volume II: 1352-1378. 2004. ISBN 90 04 13189 2 16. D.A. Bullough. Alcuin. Achievement and Reputation. 2004. ISBN 90 04 12865 4 17. R. Gramsch. Erfurter Juristen im Spätmittelalter. Die Karrieremuster und Tätigkeitsfelder einer gelehrten Elite des 14. und 15. Jahrhunderts. 2003. ISBN 90 04 13178 7 18. T. Sullivan. Parisian Licentiates in Theology, A.D. 1373–1500. A Biographical Register. Vol. I. The Religious Orders. 2004. ISBN 90 04 13586 3
19. J. Miethke. Studieren an Mittelalterlichen Universitäten. Chancen und Risiken. Gesammelte Aufsätze. 2004. ISBN 90 04 13833 1 20. F.P. Knapp, J. Miethke & M. Niesner (eds.). Schriften im Umkreis mitteleuropäischer Universitäten um 1400. Lateinische und volkssprachige Texte aus Prag, Wien und Heidelberg: Unterschiede, Gemein-samkeiten, Wechselbeziehungen. 2004. ISBN 90 04 14053 0 21. A. Tervoort. The iter italicum and the Northern Netherlands. Dutch Students at Italian Universities and Their Role in the Netherlands’ Society (1426-1575). 2005. ISBN 90 04 14134 0 22. Th. Kouamé. Le collège de Dormans-Beauvais à la fin du Moyen Âge. Stratégies politiques et parcours individuels à l’Université de Paris (13701458). 2005. ISBN 90 04 14135 9 23. K. Wriedt. Schule und Universität. Bildungsverhältnisse in norddeutschen Städten des Spätmittelalters: Gesammelte Aufsätze. 2005. ISBN 90 04 14687 3 24. L. Roy. L’université de Caen aux XV e et XVI e siècles. Identité et représentation. 2006. ISBN 90 04 14943 0 25. J.K. Farge. Students and Teachers at the University of Paris. The Generation of 1500. A Critical Edition of Bibliothèque de l’Université de Paris (Sorbonne), Archives, Registres 89 and 90. 2006. ISBN-10: 90 04 15162 1, ISBN-13: 978 90 04 15162 8 26. A. Sottili†. Humanismus und Universitätsbesuch – Renaissance Humanism und University Studies. Die Wirkung italienischer Universitäten auf die Studia Humanitatis nördlich der Alpen – Italian Universities and their Influence on the Studia Humanitatis in Northern Europe. 2006. ISBN-10: 90 04 15334 9, ISBN-13: 978 90 04 15334 9 27. K.M. Comerford. Reforming Priests and Parishes. Tuscan Dioceses in the First Century of Seminary Education. 2006. ISBN-10: 90 04 15357 8, ISBN-13: 978 90 04 15357 8 28. F. ’mahel. Die Prager Universität im Mittelalter – The Charles University in the Middle Ages. Gesammelte Aufsätze – Selected Studies. 2007. ISBN-10: 90 04 15488 4, ISBN-13: 978 90 04 15488 9 29. R. Black. Education and Society in Florentine Tuscany. Teachers, Pupils and Schools, c. 1250-1500. 2007. ISBN 978 90 04 15853 5 30. P. Gilli, J. Verger & D. Le Blévec. Les universités et la ville au Moyen Âge. Cohabitation et tension. 2007. ISBN 978 90 04 15876 4
