New Guide of Florence [antikvár]

Historical note on the city of Florence Already a flourishing Román town in the Ist century B.C., Florence later acquired a preeminent position among the cities of Tuscany, especially frorn the III century A.D., as the seat of the «Corrector Italiae». The city survived through the time of the Carolingian empérors, becoming one of the most im-portant centres of the peninsula, alsó from a cultural point of view. First a feudal possession of the Marquesses of Tuscany, among whom may be mentioned Ugo and Matilda, from the XI century onwards Florence acquired an increasing autonomy; in 115, at the end of the struggle against the simoniacal clergy and the feudal lords of the neighbourhood, the Commune of Florence was virtually constituted. Ten years later the new state conquered its rival Fiesole. Soon afterwards inside the city, which was by now surrounded by new vtalls, the first signs could be seen of a struggle between the city-dwelling feudal lords and the artisan classes, organised into the Arti or trade corporations. First the struggle took its name from the Ghibel-lines, the imperial party, and their adversaries the Guelphs. party, the Whites and the Blacks. In 1303 the latter, with the help of the Popé, exiled the Whites from the city. Dante was among those exiled. Meanwhile Florence increased external power fighting against her rival cities (Pistoia, Arezzo, Volterra, Siena) and increasing her territory. Between the end of the 13th and the early years of the 14th centuries Florence was alsó becoming one of most important economic and cultural centres of Italy. This was the age of Dante, of great companies of bankers and merchants, of great wool and silk industries. In the first decades of the 14 century Florence went through various poli-tical and economic adventures; first in the struggle against the