Selected quad for the lemma: death_n
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A19774
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A suruey of the great dukes state of Tuscany In the yeare of our Lord 1596.
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Dallington, Robert, 1561-1637.
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1605
(1605)
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STC 6201; ESTC S109213
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56,057
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78
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Saluiati and Pazzi gouerned the State of Florence with all wisdome grauitie and moderation without respect of any particular aduancement of his house but onely of the weale publick To him had all the States and Princes of Italy recourse in all their matters of controuersie to be ended and of counsell to be guided insomuch as in his dayes Florence seemed another Delphos and he another Oracle as he would were all officers chosen all families preferred and all common actions of the State carried So that as in Genoa the Adorni and Fregosi were by the people exalted to curbe the vnbrideled insolencies of the Colore Nobile as in Siena the Petrucci were made great to restraine the disordered humours of some aspiring Citizens as in Perugia the Baglioni were aduanced to empeach the proud desseignes of the Raspanti of whose proceedings the Citty grew iealous and as in Bologna the Bentiuogli were preferred to extraordinarie honours authoritie through the hate they bore their Nobles So likewise the first raising of this familie Medici was their plausible carriage towards the meaner and baseâ— rancke of Citizens by whom they were chosen for a head against the greater and more powerfull sort And not contented with this prehemenencie their desires rested not vntill as in the person of Alexander shall appeare one of their house came to be Duke of so great a State brother to a King of France and sonne in law to an Emperour So ordinary and naturall a thing it is in the minde of man in matter of ambition and greatnesse to keepe no mediocrity that when yee giue him the authority and commaund ouer few and in small matters he cannot list his vast thoughts within the limits prescribed but is so carried beyond himselfe with a desire to rule as without consideration either of vertue by which or of friends by whom he was aduanced he is violently driuen with the streame of that his ambitious passion to oppresse aswell those by whose meanes as those for whose cause he was at first aduanced Which ambitious humour of raigning though it raigned not in this good Lorenzo who with the reputation of a great wise man and no lesse good Cittizen dyed in the yeare 1492. with whom saith Guicciardine dyed the glory and peace of Italy yet it made the way to those garboiles and troubles which his childrens greatnesse by his desert and aspiring minds by their owne corruption dâ—d afterwards cause in Florence For leauing behind him three sonnes Piero Giouanni and Guigliano the first succeeded his father but not with like moderation in that authoritie wherin his fathers vertues left him in but asserting a lordly superiority and sole gouernment and as my Author saith Con consiglio dirittamehie contrario à consigli paterni ne communicato â—o cittadini principali with a counsell quite contrary to that of his father and kept still secret from the chiefe Cittizens he sought to carry all matters after the vnbrideled sway of his owne affections so greatly to the dislike of the Citizens and to the preiudice of their liberty as â—e with his brothers were worthily banished who after many attempts to be reimpatriate yet still repulsed were notwithstanding at the last by the meanes of Ferdinando King of Aragon and Naples restored I meane the two younger brothers for Piero was now dead ripigliando quell antica grandezza de Medicima gouuernandola puâ— imperiosamente e con arbitâ—io pui assoluto di quello che'st soleua taking vpon theÌ„ againe the former greatnes of the Medici carrying it more lordly and with a more peremptory swinge then they were wont Guicciard lib. 11. car 318. This restoring of the Medici subiection of the Cittie was in the yeare 1512. after they had beene eighteene yeares banished in which lordly course of carrying theÌ„selues they continued fifteene yeares till 1527. when Clement the Pope being in dangerat Rome fled into the Castle S. Angelo the Florentines taking aduantage of the time attempted the recouering of their liberty Howbeit at the Popes instance the Emperour Charles the fift made Alexander Medices Prior perpetuall And after in 35. as hath beene before said speaking of his Stile hauing matched in the house of Austria he created him duke causing an emblematical statue to be made of Brasle in the chiefe Piazza of the towne with this inscription in the name of the Emperour Te filsi si quâ—â— Leserat vltor ero My Sonne I will reuenge thee if any dare to hurt thee as a threat to the Citty if they offered to recouer their liberty This Alexander fyrst Duke of Florence being murdered by his cosen Lorenzo and hauing no issue the gouerment fell to Cosmo son to Giouanni de Medici Maria Saluiati heire in the next line Father to this great duke that now liueth to whom by the death of his elder brother FraÌ„cesco this state is deuolued Concerning his Court it is the generall opinion that it is greater then of a Duke lesse then of a King which compared with other Dukes of Italy is true howbeit if it be considered either what number of persons are therein or what prouision there is made I thinke it may hardly compare with the houses of the Nobility of England comprehending in this nuÌ„ber none but such as liue and haue their dyet in Court whereof there be very few For this Court doth yeeld two sorts of courtiers della bocca della Casa of the mouth and of the house that is of such as feede there and of such as retaine onely Of the first sort is the great Duke himselfe the Duke Bracciano their Dutchesses their children and some few seruants besides to the number as I haue creadibly heard not aboue foure and twenty of the other sort are other officers of Court which notwithstanding liue at their owne priuate tables as Monsignior Puteo Archbishop of Pisa and thereto his Highnesse by whose counsell he is especially aduised Il Signior Piero Vsimbaldi il signior Caualliere Conciâ—o il Signior Beliario Vinta il Signior Caualliere Serguidi il signior Piero Conti his Secretaries diuers others his officers To these if we adde Don Giouanni Don Antonio both Medici the one his brother the other his Nephue illigitimate Il signior Camillo del Monte generall of the foot Il signior Conte Gherardesca Collonell of the horse Il signior Francesco Montauti generall of his gallies besides the Lâ—arant ' Otto diuers others Countes and Nobles of Florence you shall see a very honourable and noble presence The order of this discourse requireth that in this place I briefly aduertise of the order of San Stephano whereof his highnesse is grand-master which was first instituted by Cosmo his father and confirmed by Pius Quintus But because the ordinances statutes therof be very many aswell concerning the inuestiture as degradation for that there is a booke written thereof intitled della Religione di san Stephano I
boile it no longer There are not farre hence may I digresse so farre waters of such a scalding and sulphurious nature as if a Dog or such like creature be tied to a rope and throwne therein for the space of a quarter of an houre yee pull out nothing but the bare bones And true it is that the aire here abouts sometimes of the yeare is so contagious as the inhabitants abandon their homes The place being so dangerous I will dwell no longer vpon the discourse thereof but returne to the Salt-pits out of which the great Duke maketh no small benefit considering he buyeth it at one quattrini the pound and selleth it againe at twelue and in some parts of his State at fifteene which being bought at this rate commeth to two Duckets the Staio Howbeit it is said of some that it costeth him fiue quattrini the pound which I rather beleeue and so his gaine is but two third parts Sure I am that there is a Bando vpon a great penaltie that none presume to buy but of his officers onely And seeing here is mention made of the great Dukes impositions vpon Saltâ— I will also annex his gaine raised by Wheate though I must confesse their place more proper when I shall speake of his Reuenew After the Raccoltâ— haruest when wheate is at the cheapest a note is taken of euery mans particular croppe how much he hath what will seed his ground and serue his house the rest the officers will buy at the price of the Market he is not as I take it directly forced to sell it but a Bando is sent forth that no man shall buy and so by consequent because he must needs haue money with an vnwilling willingnesse he is content they shall haue it This is bought vnder pretence to haue the Citties well stored whether it is carryed into the great Dukes Granaries in which places for any accident either of dearth or of warre though for the one the countrey is well secured here is very good store to be found It was reported in the Magizini Store-houses at Pisa when I was there there was no lesse then one hundred and fiftie thousand Staia And it was likewise holden for certaine that some yeares of plentie he buieth eight or nine hundreth thousand at the rate commonly of foure or fiue Liuers the Staio a Liuer is nine-pence sterling and selleth it againe as this yeare he did for aboue ten Now by buying such an infinite Masse and selling it at such a rate the gaine is easily computed to be almost as many Duckets as were Staia bought His subiects will tell vs of a Millons gaine some yeare but that were infinite Now least when the new Corne comes into his Granaries he should not vent the old as being sustie or hauing some other fault a Bando is sent out that the Bakers shall bake no other There is another inconuenience stranger then this a case wherein a man may not serue himselfe of his owne which had it not beene tolde me by a Gentleman Sanese of good credit I should hardly haue beleeued much lesse haue aduentured to aduertise thereof If a Gentleman of Siena haue a Villa in the Territory of Mont Alcina neare by and therein good store of Wheate to serue his turne for the maintenance of his house in Siena and whether it may be with little cost brought as not being farre off and where perhaps he cannot well spare money to buy of others notwithstanding he cannot be suffered to bring of his owne to his house but must there take of the great Duke to make his prouision How hurtfull these Monopolies and ingrossings are the lawes made against them in well gouerned states doe witnesse and the people where they be practised doe feele Of their Pastures and feeding for Cattell I shall not need to speake for they be not herewith acquainted as not being able to spare one Staiora from tillage except in the Maremma and lowes of Pisa which being little and soone spoken of and not hauing whereof to be spoken but that it is little I will leaue as also all other things to be obserued in the Countrie itselfe and proceed to the gouernment The Gouernment to speake in one word and not to vse a harder terme is meerely Despoticall The Prince himselfe is of stature meane of colour by complexion browne by age grisled of body corpulent of age somewhat aboue fiftie his name Ferdinando who till his brothers death was Cardinall which dignity he hath since renounced hauing attained this Scepter whereof he had not beene capaple if he had before entered the order of Priest-hood He is of the familie Medici a noble house of Florence the first raiser whereof was Lippo not three hundred yeares since whose Father though a Colliar yet he by his vertues and his posteritie also succeeding from time to time aduanced the reputation of this name to the greatnesse wherein now it is whereof hath beene many Cardinals Archbishops Bishops and other personages of great place besides two Popes two and twenty Gonfaloniers and foure Dukes of these three haue had the title of Great as elsewhere is shewed The discent of this Prince might be deriued from Lippo but for breuities sake I will omit foure or fiue and begin at Giouanni the Father of the first Cosmo because from him come the two houses that haue had the Signiory of this State as in this table following appeareth The line Masculine of the familie Medici Giouanni Cosmo Contessina Bardi Piero Lucretia Turna buoni Lorenzo Clarice orsina Piero Alfonsa orsina Lorenzo Maddalcha di Bologna Alexandro D. di Fioe Marâ— d'Austria Caterina Regina di Francia Giouanni Leo 10. Guigliano D. di Nemors filiberta di Sauoia Hippolito Cardinale Asdruball Cauall Gierusalemme Guigliano Guiglio Clem. 7 Giouanni Gineua Alessandri Cosimino Carlo Lorenzo Gineura caualcanti Pierfrancesco Laudomia Acciaioli Lorenzo Semiramus Appiana Pierfrancisco Maria Soderini Lorenzo This is he that murdered Alexander first D. of Florence in detestation of which fact the house where it was coÌ„mitted stands ruined as in the Via Larga there appeareth Francesco graÌ„ D. Giouanni d'Austria Don Philippo PreÌ„cipe di Tuscana morto Don Antonio D. di Capistrano bastard aliue Giouanni Cardinale Don Piero morto Don Garzia morto FerdinaÌ„do gran D. Christina di Lorena Don Cosmo Prencipe di Tuscana Don Francesco Dâ—â— Guigliano Vescouo Auerardo Giouanni Caterina Zforza Giouanni Maria Saluiati Cosmo GraÌ„ duca di Tuscana Leonora di Toledo Don Piero Leonora di Toledo Don Cosmo. Don Gouantiâ— bast aliue The discent and issue of the great duke appearing in this table it remaineth that I speake of his parentage His Highnesse matched in the house of Lorraine with Madama Christina that Dukes daughter Don Caesare d' Estê base sonne to Alphonso the second the Duke of Fexrara that now is married to his Sister Don Virginio Orsinâ— Duke