Synopses & Reviews
In his application of statistical methods to history. Mr. Molho offers a new approach to the study of Florentine politics.
Scholars have long recognized that Florence's deficit-financing of its wars of independence against the Visconti of Milan had far-reaching economic, political, and social effects, but this is the first document-based history to provide concrete support for that general knowledge.
Focusing on the governmental and fiscal agencies of Florence as well as a number of memoirs and account hooks written by Florentine citizens, Mr. Molho has gathered and statistically reconstructed much archival material on Florentine taxation, public income, and expenses.
He concludes that between 1423 and 1433 Florence underwent a prolonged and vast fiscal crisis that affected both the fiscal structure of the city and its constitutional and institutional framework. His work thus sheds new light on Cosimo de' Medici's rise to power in 1434.
Synopsis
Focusing on the governmental and fiscal agencies of Florence as well as a number of memoirs and account books written by Florentine citizens, Mr. Molho has gathered and statistically reconstructed much archival material on Florentine taxation, public income, and expenses. He concludes that between 1423 and 1433 Florence underwent a prolonged and vast fiscal structure of the city and its constitutional and institutional framework. His work thus sheds new light on Cosimo de' Medici's rise to power in 1434.
About the Author
Anthony Molho is Associate Professor of History, Brown University.
Table of Contents
Abbreviations and Monetary Equivalences
Introduction
Communal Expenditures: Mercenaries and the Public Debt
Communal Income: Taxes on the Contado and the Gabelles
Forced Loans
Administrative and Economic Effects of Heavy Taxation
The Fiscal Crisis, 1431-1433
Conclusion
Appendices
A. The Records of the Camera del Comune--Provveditori--Entrata e Uscita
B. Folio References in the PCUB for Principal Items of Income and Expenditure, 1402-1433
C. General Expenditures in the Budget of 1401
D. Rate of Fiorino di Suggello in Moneta di Piccoli (Silver Sous and Deniers), 1389-1432
E. Creditors of the Ufficiali del Banco, November 27, 1427 to June 14, 1434
F. The Ufficiali del Banco, 1427-1433