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Republic of Florence

The Republic of Florence (Repubblica di Firenze), known officially as the Florentine Republic (Repubblica Fiorentina, ), was a medieval and early modern state that was centered on the Italian city of Florence in Tuscany, Italy. The republic originated in 1115, when the Florentine people rebelled against the Margraviate of Tuscany upon the death of Matilda of Tuscany, who controlled vast territories that included Florence. The Florentines formed a commune in her successors' place. The republic was ruled by a council known as the Signoria of Florence. The signoria was chosen by the gonfaloniere (titular ruler of the city), who was elected every two months by Florentine guild members.

During the Republic's history, Florence was an important cultural, economic, political and artistic force in Europe. Its coin, the florin, was the dominant trade coin of Western Europe for large scale transactions and became widely imitated throughout the continent. During the Republican period, Florence was also the birthplace of the Renaissance, which is considered a fervent period of European cultural, artistic, political and economic "rebirth".

The republic had a checkered history of coups and countercoups against various factions. The Medici faction gained governance of the city in 1434 under Cosimo de' Medici. The Medici kept control of Florence until 1494. Giovanni de' Medici, who later became Pope Leo X, reconquered the republic in 1512.

Florence repudiated Medici authority for a second time in 1527, during the War of the League of Cognac. The Medici reassumed their rule in 1531 after an 11-month siege of the city, aided by Emperor Charles V. Pope Clement VII, himself a Medici, appointed his relative Alessandro de' Medici as the first "Duke of the Florentine Republic", thereby transforming the Republic into a hereditary monarchy.

The second duke, Cosimo I, established a strong Florentine navy and expanded his territory, conquering Siena. In 1569, the pope declared Cosimo the first grand duke of Tuscany. The Medici ruled the Grand Duchy of Tuscany until 1737.

Background

The city of Florence was established in 59 BC by Julius Caesar. Since 846 AD, the city had been part of the Marquisate of Tuscany. After Margravine Matilda of Tuscany died in 1115, the city did not submit readily to her successor, Rabodo (r. 1116–1119), who was killed in a dispute with the city.

It is not known precisely when Florence formed its own republican/oligarchical government independent of the marquisate, although the death of Rabodo in 1119 should be a turning point. The first official mention of the Florentine republic was in 1138, when several cities around Tuscany formed a league against the then-margrave of Tuscany, Duke Henry X of Bavaria. The country was nominally part of the Holy Roman Empire.

According to a study carried out by Enrico Faini of the University of Florence, there were about fifteen old aristocratic families who moved to Florence between 1000 and 1100: Amidei; Ardinghi; Brunelleschi; Buondelmonti; Caponsacchi; Donati; Fifanti; Gherardini of Montagliari; Guidi; Nerli; Porcelli; Sacchetti; Scolari; Uberti; and Visdomini.

12th century
The newly independent Florence prospered in the 12th century through extensive trade with foreign countries. This, in turn, provided a platform for the demographic growth of the city, which mirrored the rate of construction of churches and palazzi. This prosperity was shattered when Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa invaded the Italian peninsula in 1185. As a result, the margraves of Tuscany reacquired Florence and its townlands. The Florentines reasserted their independence when Emperor Henry VI died in 1197.

13th century
Florence's population continued to grow into the 13th century, reaching 30,000 inhabitants. As has been said, the extra inhabitants supported the city's trade and vice versa. Several new bridges and churches were built, most prominently the cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, begun in 1294. The buildings from this era serve as Florence's best examples of Gothic Architecture. Politically, Florence was barely able to maintain peace between its competing factions. The precarious peace that existed at the beginning of the century was destroyed in 1216 when two factions, known as the Guelphs and the Ghibellines, began to war. The Ghibellines were supporters of the noble rulers of Florence, whereas the Guelphs were populists.

The Ghibellines, who had ruled the city under Frederick of Antioch since 1244, were deposed in 1250 by the Guelphs. The Guelphs led Florence to prosper further. Their primarily mercantile orientation soon became evident in one of their earliest achievements: the introduction of a new coin, the florin, in 1252. It was widely used beyond Florence's borders due to its reliable, fixed gold content and soon became one of the common currencies of Europe and the Near East. The same year saw the creation of the Palazzo del Popolo. The Guelphs lost the reins of power after Florence suffered a catastrophic defeat at the Battle of Montaperti against Siena in 1260. The Ghibellines resumed power and undid many of the advances of the Guelphs, for example the demolition of hundreds of towers, homes, and palaces. The fragility of their rule caused the Ghibellines to seek out an arbitrator in the form of Pope Clement IV, who openly favoured the Guelphs, and restored them to power.

The Florentine economy reached a zenith in the latter half of the 13th century, and its success was reflected by the building of the famed Palazzo della Signoria, designed by Arnolfo di Cambio. The Florentine townlands were divided into administrative districts in 1292. In 1293, the Ordinances of Justice were enacted, which effectively became the constitution of the republic of Florence throughout the Italian Renaissance. The city's numerous luxurious palazzi were becoming surrounded by townhouses built by the ever prospering merchant class. In 1298, the Bonsignori family of Siena, one of the leading banking families of Europe, went bankrupt, and the city of Siena lost its status as the most prominent banking center of Europe to Florence.

14th century
In 1304, the war between the Ghibellines and the Guelphs led to a great fire that destroyed much of the city. Napier gives the following account:

The golden florin of the Republic of Florence was the first European gold coin struck in sufficient quantities to play a significant commercial role since the 7th century. As many Florentine banks were international companies with branches across Europe, the florin quickly became the dominant trade coin of Western Europe for large scale transactions, replacing silver bars in multiples of the mark.

In fact, with the collapse of the Bonsignori family, several new banking families sprang up in Florence: the Bardis, Peruzzis and the Acciaioli. The friction between the Guelphs and the Ghibellines did not cease, authority still passed between the two frequently.

Florence's reign as the foremost banking city of Europe did not last long; the aforesaid families were bankrupt in 1340, not because of Edward III of England's refusal to pay his debts, as is often stated (the debt was just £13,000) but because of a Europe-wide economic recession. While the banks perished, Florentine literature flourished, and Florence was home to some of the greatest writers in Italian history: Dante, Petrarch, and Boccaccio. They were Europe's first vernacular writers, choosing the Tuscan dialect of Italian (which, as a result, evolved into the standard Italian language) over Latin.

Florence was hit hard by the Black Death. Having originated in the Orient, the plague arrived in Messina in 1347. The plague devastated Europe, robbing it of an estimated one-third of its population. This, combined with the economic downturn, took its toll on the city-state. The ensuing collapse of the feudal system changed the social composition of Europe forever; it was one of the first steps out of the Middle Ages.

The war with Avignon papacy strained the regime. In 1378 discontented wool workers revolted. The Ciompi revolt, as it is known, established a revolutionary commune. In 1382 the wealthier classes crushed the seeds of rebellion.

The famous Medici bank was established by Giovanni di Bicci de' Medici in October 1397. The bank continued to exist (albeit in an extremely diminished form) until the time of Ferdinando II de'Medici in the 17th century. But, for now, Giovanni's bank flourished.

Beginning in 1389, Gian Galeazzo Visconti of Milan expanded his dominion into the Veneto, Piedmont, Emilia and Tuscany. During this period Florence, under the leadership of Maso degli Albizzi and Niccolò da Uzzano was involved in three wars with Milan (1390–92, 1397–98, 1400–02). The Florentine army, commanded by John Hawkwood, contained the Milanese during the first war. The second war started in March 1397. Milanese troops devastated the Florentine contado, but were checked in August of that year.

The war expenses exceeded one million florins and necessitated tax raises and forced loans. A peace agreement in May 1398 was brokered by Venice, but left the struggle unresolved. Over the next two years Florentine control of Tuscany and Umbria collapsed. Pisa and Siena as well as a number of smaller cities submitted to Gian Galeazzo, while Lucca withdrew from the anti-Visconti league, with Bologna remaining the only major ally. In November 1400 a conspiracy involving both exiles and internal opponents was uncovered. Two Ricci were implicated as leaders of a plot to eliminate the regime's inner circle and open the gates to the Milanese. Confessions indicated that the plan had wide support among the elites, including a Medici and several of the Alberti.

The republic bankrolled the emperor-elect Rupert. However, he was defeated by the Milanese in the fall of 1401. Visconti then turned to Bologna. On 26 June 1402, combined Bolognese-Florentine forces were routed at Casalecchio, near Bologna, which was taken on the 30th. The road to Tuscany was open. However, Florence was saved after an outbreak of plague had spread from Tuscany to Emilia and Lombardy: Gian Galeazzo died from it on 3 September 1402.

15th century

The Visconti domains were divided between three heirs. Gabriele Maria Visconti sold Pisa to the Republic of Florence for 200,000 florins. Since the Pisans did not intend to voluntarily submit to their long-time rivals, the army under Maso degli Albizzi took Pisa on 9 October 1406 after a long siege, that was accompanied by numerous atrocities.

The state authorities had been approached by the Duchy of Milan in 1422, with a treaty, that prohibited Florence's interference with Milan's impending war with the Republic of Genoa. Florence obliged, but Milan disregarded its own treaty and occupied a Florentine border town. The conservative government wanted war, while the people bemoaned such a stance as they would be subject to enormous tax increases. The republic went to war with Milan, and won, upon the Republic of Venice's entry on their side. The war was concluded in 1427, and the Visconti of Milan were forced to sign an unfavourable treaty.

The debt incurred during the war was gargantuan, approximately 4,200,000 florins. To pay, the state had to change the tax system. The current estimo system was replaced with the catasto. The catasto was based on a citizen's entire wealth, while the estimo was simply a form of income tax. Apart from war, Filippo Brunelleschi created the renowned dome of the Santa Maria del Fiore, which astounded contemporaries and modern observers alike.

Medicis' rule
The son of Giovanni di Bicci de' Medici, Cosimo de' Medici succeeded his father as the head of the Medici Bank. He played a prominent role in the government of Florence until his exile in 1433, after a disastrous war with Tuscany's neighbour, the Republic of Lucca. Cosimo's exile in Venice lasted for less than a year, when the people of Florence overturned Cosimo's exile in a democratic vote. Cosimo returned to the acclaim of his people and the banishment of the Albizzi family, who had exiled him.

Cosimo de' Medici
The Renaissance began during Cosimo's de facto rule of Florence, the seeds of which had arguably been laid before the Black Death tore through Europe. Niccolò Niccoli was the leading Florence humanist scholar of the time. He appointed the first Professor of Greek, Manuel Chrysoloras (the founder of Hellenic studies in Italy), at the University of Florence in 1397. Niccoli was a keen collector of ancient manuscripts, which he bequeathed to Cosimo upon his death in 1437. Poggio Bracciolini succeeded Niccoli as the principal humanist of Florence. Bracciolini was born Arezzo in 1380. He toured Europe, searching for more ancient Greco-Roman manuscripts for Niccoli. Unlike his employer, Bracciolini also authored his own works. He was made the Chancellor of Florence shortly before his death, by Cosimo, who was his best friend.

Florence hosted the Great Ecumenical Council in 1439; this council was launched in an attempt to reconcile the Byzantine Eastern Orthodox Church with Roman Catholicism. Pope Eugenius IV convened it in reply to a cry for assistance from the Emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire (also known as the Byzantine Empire) John VIII Palaiologos. John VIII's empire was slowly being devoured by the Ottoman Turks.The council was a huge boost to Florence's international prestige. The council deliberated until July 1439. Both parties had reached a compromise, and the Pope agreed to militarily aid the Byzantine Emperor. However, upon John VIII's homecoming to Constantinople, the Greeks rejected the compromise, leading to riots throughout what remained of the Byzantine Empire. John VIII was forced to repudiate the agreement with the Roman church to appease the rioters. As a result, no Western aid was forthcoming and the Byzantine Empire's fate was sealed. Fourteen years later in 1453, Constantinople fell to the Ottomans.

Cosimo's fervent patronage transformed Florence into the epitome of a Renaissance city. He employed Donatello, Brunelleschi, and Michelozzo. All these artistic commissions cost Cosimo over 600,000 florins.

Foreign relations, both as a backdrop to Cosimo's rise to power and during first twenty years of his rule, were dominated by the Wars in Lombardy. This series of conflicts between the Venetian Republic and the Duchy of Milan for hegemony in Northern Italy lasted from 1423 to 1454 and involved a number of Italian states, that occasionally switched sides according to their changing interests. Filippo Maria Visconti of Milan invaded Florence twice in the 1430s, and again in 1440, but his army was finally defeated in the battle of Anghiari. The Milanese invasions were largely instigated by the exiled Albizzi family. Death of Filippo Maria in 1447 led to a major change in the alliances. In 1450 Cosimo's current ally Francesco Sforza established himself as the Duke of Milan. Florentine trade interests made her support Sforza's Milan in the war against Venice, while the fall of Constantinople in 1453 dealt a blow to Venetian finances. Eventually, the Peace of Lodi recognized Venetian and Florentine territorial gains and the legitimacy of the Sforza rule in Milan. The Milan-Florence alliance played a major role in stabilizing the peninsula for the next 40 years.

The political crisis of 1458 was the first serious challenge to the Medici rule. The cost of wars had been borne by the great families of Florence, and disproportionately so by Medici's opponents. A number of them (Serragli, Baroncelli, Mancini, Vespucci, Gianni) were practically ruined and had to sell their properties, and those were acquired by Medici's partisans at bargain prices. The opposition used partial relaxation of Medici control of the republic institutions to demand political reforms, freedom of speech in the councils and a greater share in the decision-making. Medici's party response was to use threats of force from private armies and Milanese troops and arranging a popular assembly dominated by Cosimo's supporters. It exiled the opponents of the regime and introduced the open vote in councils, "in order to unmask the anti-Medician rebels".

From 1458 Cosimo withdrew from any official public role, but his control of Florence was greater than ever. In the spring of 1459 he entertained the new pope Pius II, who stopped in Florence on his way to the Council of Mantua to declare a crusade against the Ottomans, and Galeazzo Maria Sforza, Francesco's son, who was to escort the pope from Florence to Mantua. In his memoirs, Pius said that Cosimo "was considered the arbiter of war and peace, the regulator of law; less a citizen than master of his city. Political councils were held in his home; the magistrates he chose were elected; he was king in all but name and legal status…. Some asserted that his tyranny was intolerable."

Piero de' Medici
Piero the Gouty was the eldest son of Cosimo. Piero, as his sobriquet the gouty implies, suffered from gout and did not enjoy good health. Lorenzo the Magnificent was Piero's eldest son by his wife Lucrezia Tornabuoni. Piero's reign furthered the always fractious political divisions of Florence when he had called up huge debts owed to the Medici Bank. These debts were owed primarily by a Florentine nobleman, Luca Pitti. Lucca called for an armed insurrection against Piero, but a co-conspirator rebutted this. Duke Francesco Sforza of Milan died in 1466, and his son Galeazzo Maria Sforza became the new Milanese duke. With the death of Francesco Sforza, Florence lost a valuable ally among the other Italian states.

In August 1466, the conspirators acted. They received support from the Duke of Ferrara, who marched troops into the Florentine countryside with the intent of deposing Piero. The coup failed. The Florentines were not willing to support it, and soon after their arrival, Ferrara's troops left the city. The conspirators were exiled for life. While the internal problems were fixed, Venice took the opportunity to invade Florentine territory in 1467. Piero appointed Federigo da Montefeltro, Lord of Urbino, to command his mercenaries. An inconclusive battle ensued, with the Venetians forces retreating. In the winter of 1469 Piero died.

Lorenzo de' Medici
Lorenzo succeeded his father, Piero. Lorenzo, as heir, was accordingly groomed by his father to rule over Florence.

Lorenzo was the greatest artistic patron of the Renaissance. He patronised Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo and Botticelli, among others. During Lorenzo's reign, the Renaissance truly descended on Florence. Lorenzo commissioned a multitude of amazing pieces of art and also enjoyed collecting fine gems. Lorenzo had many children with his wife Clarice Orsini, including the future Pope Leo X and his eventual successor in Florence, Piero the Unfortunate.

Lorenzo's brother Giuliano was killed before his own eyes in the Pazzi conspiracy of 1478. This plot was instigated by the Pazzi family. The coup was unsuccessful, and the conspirators were executed in a very violent manner. The scheme was supported by the Archbishop of Pisa, Francesco Salviati, who was also executed in his ceremonial robes. News of this sacrilege reached Pope Sixtus IV (who had also supported the conspiracy against the Medicis). Sixtus IV was "outraged" and excommunicated everyone in Florence. Sixtus sent a papal delegation to Florence to arrest Lorenzo. The people of Florence were obviously enraged by the Pope's actions, and the local clergy too. The populace refused to resign Lorenzo to the papal delegation. A war followed, which lasted for two years until Lorenzo tactfully went about diplomatically securing a peace. Lorenzo died in 1492 and was succeeded by his son Piero.

Piero 'the Unfortunate'
Piero ruled Florence for a mere two years. Charles VIII of France invaded Italy in September 1494. He demanded passage through Florence to Naples, where he intended to secure the throne for himself. Piero met Charles at the fringes of Florence to try and negotiate. Piero capitulated to all Charles' demands, and upon arriving back in the city in November, he was branded as a traitor. He was forced to flee the republic with his family.

Savonarola
After the fall of the Medici, Girolamo Savonarola ruled the state. Savonarola was a priest from Ferrara. He came to Florence in the 1480s. By proclaiming predictions and through vigorous preaching, he won the people to his cause. Savonarola's new government ushered in democratic reforms. It allowed many exiles back into Florence, who were banished by the Medici. Savonarola's ulterior goal, however, was to transform Florence into a "city of God". Florentines stopped wearing garish colours, and many women took oaths to become nuns. Savonarola became most famous for his "Bonfire of the Vanities", where he ordered all "vanities" to be gathered and burned. These included wigs, perfume, paintings, and ancient pagan manuscripts. Savonarola's rule collapsed a year later. He was excommunicated by Pope Alexander VI in late 1497. In the same year, Florence embarked on a war with Pisa, which had been de facto independent since Charles VIII's invasion three years before. The endeavour failed miserably, and this led to food shortages. That, in turn, led to a few isolated cases of the plague. The people blamed Savonarola for their woes, and he was tortured and executed in the Piazza della Signoria by being burned at the stake by Florentine authorities, in May 1498.

Piero Soderini
In 1502, the Florentines chose Piero Soderini as their first ruler for life. Soderini succeeded where Savonarola had failed, when the Secretary of War, Niccolò Machiavelli, recaptured Pisa in 1509. It was at this time that Machiavelli introduced a standing army in Florence, replacing the traditional use of hired mercenaries.

Giovanni de' Medici
Soderini was repudiated in September 1512, when Cardinal Giovanni de' Medici captured Florence with Papal troops during the War of the League of Cambrai. The Medici rule of Florence was thus restored.

Soon after retaking Florence, Cardinal Giovanni de' Medici was recalled to Rome. Pope Julius II had just died, and he needed to be present for the ensuing Papal conclave. Giovanni was elected Pope, taking the name Leo X. This effectively brought the Papal States and Florence into a political union. Leo X ruled Florence by proxy, first appointing his brother Giuliano de' Medici to rule in his stead, and then in 1513, replacing Giuliano with his cousin, Lorenzo II de' Medici.

Lorenzo II's government proved unpopular in Florence. According to U.S. President and historian John Adams, "at this time the citizens of the state of Florence were in secret very discontented, because the Duke Lorenzo, desiring to reduce the government to the form of a principality, appeared to disdain to consult any longer with the magistrates and his fellow-citizens as he used to do, and gave audiences very seldom, and with much impatience; he attended less to the business of the city, and caused all public affairs to be managed by Messer Goro da Pistoia, his secretary." In 1519, Lorenzo died from syphilis, shortly before his wife gave birth to Catherine de' Medici, the future Queen of France.

Giulio de' Medici
Following the death of Lorenzo II, Cardinal Giulio de' Medici governed Florence until 1523, when he was elected Pope Clement VII. U.S. President John Adams later characterized his administration of Florence as "very successful and frugal." Adams chronicles Cardinal Giulio as having "reduced the business of the magistrates, elections, customs of office, and the mode of expenditure of public money, in such a manner that it produced a great and universal joy among the citizens."

On the death of Pope Leo X in 1521, Adams writes there was a "ready inclination in all of the principal citizens [of Florence], and a universal desire among the people, to maintain the state in the hands of the Cardinal de' Medici; and all this felicity arose from his good government, which since the death of the Duke Lorenzo, had been universally agreeable."

When Cardinal Giulio was elected Pope Clement VII, he appointed Ippolito de' Medici and Alessandro de' Medici to rule Florence, under the guardianship of Cardinal Passerini. Ippolito was the son of Giuliano de' Medici, while Alessandro was allegedly the son of Clement VII. Cardinal Passerini's regency government proved highly unpopular.

In May 1527, Rome was sacked by the Holy Roman Empire. The city was destroyed, and Pope Clement VII was imprisoned. During the tumult, a faction of Republicans drove out the Medici from Florence. A new wave of Puritanism swept through the city. Many new restricting fundamentalist laws were passed.

In 1529, Clement VII signed the Treaty of Barcelona with Charles V, under which Charles would, in exchange for the Pope's blessing, invade Florence and restore the Medici. They were restored after a protracted siege.

"Dukes of the Republic of Florence"
Following the Republic's surrender in the Siege of Florence, Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor issued a proclamation explicitly stating that he and he alone could determine the government of Florence. On 12 August 1530, the Emperor created the Medici hereditary rulers (capo) of the Republic of Florence. The title "Duke of the Florentine Republic" was chosen because it would bolster Medici power in the region.

Alessandro de' Medici
Pope Clement VII intended his relative Alessandro de' Medici to be the ruler of Florence, but also wanted to give the impression that the Florentines had democratically chosen Alessandro as their ruler. Even after Alessandro's accession in 1530 (he reigned as Duke of the Florentine Republic from 1532 on), Imperial troops remained stationed in Florence. In 1535, several prominent Florentine families, including the Pazzi (who attempted to kill Lorenzo de' Medici in the Pazzi Conspiracy) dispatched a delegation under Ippolito de' Medici, asking Charles V to depose Alessandro. Much to their dismay, the Emperor rejected their appeal. Charles had no intention of deposing Alessandro, who was married to Charles' daughter Margaret of Parma.

Alessandro continued to rule Florence for another two years until he was murdered on 1 January 1537 by his distant relative Lorenzino de' Medici.

Cosimo I de' Medici
As Alessandro left no legitimate issue, the question of succession was open. Florentine authorities selected Cosimo I in 1537. At the news of this, the exiled Strozzi family invaded and tried to depose Cosimo, but were defeated at Montemurlo. Cosimo completely overhauled the bureaucracy and administration of Florence. In 1542, the Imperial troops stationed in Florence by Charles V were withdrawn.

In 1548, Cosimo was given a part of the Island of Elba by Charles V, and based his new developing navy there. Cosimo founded the port city of Livorno and allowed the city's inhabitants to enjoy freedom of religion. In alliance with Spain and the Holy Roman Empire, Cosimo defeated the Republic of Siena, which was allied with France, in the Battle of Marciano on 2 August 1554. On 17 April 1555, Florence and Spain occupied the territory of Siena, which, in July 1557 Philip II of Spain bestowed on Cosimo as a hereditary fiefdom. The ducal family moved into the Palazzo Pitti in 1560. Cosimo commissioned the architect Vasari to build the Uffizi, as offices for the Medici bank, continuing the Medici tradition of patronage of the arts.

End of the Republic
In 1569, Cosimo was elevated to the rank of the Grand Duke of Tuscany by Pope Pius V. This marks the end of the Florence Republic, and the beginning of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany.

Medici rule continued into the Grand Duchy of Tuscany until the family became extinct in 1737.

Administrations of the Republic
Florence was governed by a council called the signoria, which consisted of nine men. The head of the signoria was the gonfaloniere, who was chosen every two months in a lottery, as was his signoria. To be eligible, one had to have sound finances, no arrears or bankruptcies, he had to be older than thirty, had to be a member of Florence's seven main guilds (merchant traders, bankers, two clothe guilds, and judges). The lottery was often pre-determined, and the results were usually favourable to influential families. The roster of names in the lottery were replaced every five years.

The main organs of government were known as the tre maggiori. They were: the twelve good men, the standard bearers of the gonfaloniere, and the signoria. The first two debated and ratified proposed legislation, but could not introduce it. The gonfaloniere's initial two month-term in office was expanded upon the fall of Savonarola in 1498, to life, much like that of the Venetian doge. The signoria held meetings each day in the Palazzo della Signoria. Various committees controlled particular aspects of government, e.g. the Committee of War. For administrative purposes, Florence was divided into four districts, which were divided into four sub-districts. The main purpose of these counties was to ease the gathering of local militias.

To hold an elective office, one had to be of a family that had previously held office. The Medici family effectively ruled Florence on a hereditary basis, from 1434 to 1494, and 1512–1527.

After Alessandro de' Medici was installed as the "Duke of the Florentine Republic" in 1530, in April 1532, Pope Clement VII convinced the Balía, Florence's ruling commission, to draw up a new constitution, which formally created a hereditary monarchy. It abolished the age-old signoria (elective government) and the office of gonfaloniere (titular head-of-state elected for a two-month term) and replaced it with three institutions:

 * the consigliere, a four-man council elected for a three-month term, headed by the "Duke of the Florentine Republic".
 * the Senate, composed of forty-eight men, chosen by the Balía, was vested with the prerogative of determining Florence's financial, security, and foreign policies. Additionally, the senate appointed the commissions of war and public security, and the governors of Pisa, Arezzio, Prato, Voltera and Cortona and ambassadors.
 * the Council of Two Hundred was a petitions court; membership was for life.

title: Republic of Florence


text: User:Drbug

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: User:Drbug


text:
Talk:Vector

Doubt that "vector" means "memory location"; alternatives
(I can't draw parentheses big enuf to encompass the next couple dozen lines.) (Start of Jerzy's virtual parentheses)

This page has been returned to service as the talk page for the article Vector by removing a redirect directive that was its only line.

It's unclear how it got to the situation it was in, especially since it was redirected to
 * Talk:Vector_(classical_mechanics)

which redirects to
 * Talk:Three-vector

which redirects to
 * Talk:Vector_(spatial)

The last page's last 6 edits were on 3 consecutive days in early Aug, 2003, and one of them was commented "(I've been following the wacky page moves of the last two days with bemusement -- could someone step in and restore sanity please?)".

I arrive late on the scene, but i assume that only the most specialized and obscure points relating to the disamb. page Vector would be fruitful to take up there.

The links above will assist anyone who wants to visit any of those pages. --Jerzy 04:18, 11 Oct 2003 (UTC) (End of Jerzy's virtual parentheses)

But my comment is more prosaic:

The article says in part
 * Vector can mean: ... In computer science[:] ... In operating systems, a memory location

I am surprised at the idea of "vector" meaning "a memory location" in an operating system. In contrast, i would consider quite plausible either of two uses where discussion of operating system design, or trouble-shooting informed by awareness of OS internals, could refer via the term vector, to much more specific ways of using main-memory space, and refering to it by address:

 * 1) A 1-D array containing one address per array element can be called a "fault vector" on the following logic: the Nth element of the array contains the address of an error handling routine suitable to the occurence of an error of the category designated as "fault type" N. The array is a tuple of addresses, and a tuple in linear algebra is called a vector, so the array is a vector whose job is the handling of faults by the routines currently in effect for doing so.
 * 2) A single address-sized memory element could contain the address currently in effect for handling the error or errors of interest. This single memory element is a vector in the sense that vectors have direction, and this element points to the start of the error routine, so the single element is a "fault vector". --Jerzy 04:18, 11 Oct 2003 (UTC)

True disambiguation page
I'd like to move the definitions and discussions on Vector to their individual pages so it can be a true disambiguation page without incoming links. Skeetch —Preceding undated comment added 19:40, 10 November 2003

 * Yes, by all means fix the bad links. But creating a page which just says that a vector is an element of a vector space is not a useful thing to do. Mathematical articles need to link to vector (geometry), which already has that definition, and much more besides. (The disambiguation page does need improving, however. Column vectors and row vectors should be mentioned somewhere on vector (geometry), not on the disambiguation page. And we need to make it clearer that the mathematical information is to be found on vector (geometry) and Vector space.) --Zundark 21:19, 10 Nov 2003 (UTC)

 * Be careful: the point of vector (geometry) is to describe a very specific kind of vector space used in physics and engineering, not e.g. generic row/column vectors (which need not have anything to do with spatial directions). Steven G. Johnson —Preceding undated comment added 03:58, 11 November 2003

 * That's true, but vector (geometry) already gives the general definition of a vector, so I'm not sure it's inappropriate to mention row and column vectors there, especially as they are commonly used for the type of vector that the article is mainly concerned with. Or perhaps they should be mentioned in Vector space. But I don't really care if they stay on the disambiguation page, if that's where other people think they belong. --Zundark 09:56, 11 Nov 2003 (UTC)

 * I would prefer to put examples of kinds of vector spaces under Vector space. vector (geometry) should mention the generalization, but only to explain how it relates. Steven G. Johnson 19:40, 11 Nov 2003 (UTC)

 * I'd prefer to make Vector a true disambiguation page by moving its article content to appropriate destination pages. By moving the generic vector concept material to something like Vector (mathematics), the Generalization paragraph in vector (geometry) could also point there.  Currently many of the links pointing to vector (geometry) are using that paragraph as a proxy for the similar information in the disambiguation page.  The problem, as Zundark has pointed out, is the generic vector information currently only consists of 3-4 sentences.  Is that enough material to support further development on a separate page and allow Vector be pure disambiguation?  Skeetch 17:56, Nov 11, 2003 (UTC)

 * What is the point of having a "pure disambiguation page" as opposed to the current Vector page? Steven G. Johnson —Preceding undated comment added 19:40, 11 November 2003

 * The point of a pure disambiguation page is clarity and ease of use for the reader. Because Vector has a significant number of substantial and distinct meanings, any information content will be irrelevant to a large number of readers directed here.  We can avoid this by putting the actual content in appropriate destination pages and relocating all incoming links.  Those links can go directly to the appropriate content and avoid a manual selection step here.  A reader coming directly to Vector will still be able to choose from the list of available alternatives.  Skeetch 19:51, Nov 12, 2003 (UTC)

 * I agree that things shouldn't link to vector (geometry) when what they want is a more general concept, but if people want to link to what you call "generic" vectors, they can link to Vector space (which should probably have an expanded introduction to make it more accessible). I don't see anything especially wrong with the current disambiguation page per se.  —Steven G. Johnson —Preceding undated comment added 04:08, 13 November 2003

Vector Linux
There is a Linux distribution called vector Linux as well, I think that it is worthy of a mentioning. As, people call Debian GNU Linux as just Debian and Gentoo Linux as just Gentoo so it think that it is a good idea to add it onto this page. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 20:39, 7 September 2005 (talk • contribs) 84.92.106.157

Lisp
In Lisp (I believe, I'm just learning Lisp) a vector is not a dynamic array, but is fixed size. If this is correct, it'd be nice to see it mentioned next to the dynamic array link under computer science. 141.151.181.162 05:00, 25 October 2006 (UTC)

Vector qua ordered set
For an example of “vector” defined simply as ordered set, see Discrete Mathematical Structures by Kolman, Busby, and Ross. —SlamDiego←T 22:26, 26 March 2008 (UTC)

 * If you'll add that info and cite that source in some appropriate article, then you can make a proper disambig entry for it; see WP:MOSDAB. Dicklyon (talk) 03:06, 27 March 2008 (UTC)

 * I find the claim rather doubtful. I know of no notable cases in which the term "vector" is defined to be a linearly ordered set.  Looking in the Springer EOM, none of the articles on vectors mention the possibility that vector may mean an ordered set.  Conversely, the article on ordered sets does not mention vectors.  A bit of Googling, and checking the print books I have around also fails to turn up anything.  I would like to see a quote from the source.  I find it much more likely that a vector has been defined as an "ordered list" of components (probably numbers, although not necessarily).  More formally, I'm sure a vector has been defined as a function from an ordinal to another set (e.g., of numbers).  This is, however, completely different from being an ordered set.   silly rabbit  (  talk  ) 03:32, 27 March 2008 (UTC)

 * Here it is. It's about a computer data structure, not a mathematical use of the term, so you are correct, it can be better described as a mapping from an index set to some objects.  Poor choice of terms on their part. Dicklyon (talk) 03:47, 27 March 2008 (UTC)

 * You are citing a different work! Nowhere do Kolman &alii define this as a term of computer science or otherwise limit it thereto. —SlamDiego←T 03:59, 27 March 2008 (UTC)

 * Oh, sorry, I found a different book with similar title, and didn't check authors. What do your guys say? Dicklyon (talk) 04:03, 27 March 2008 (UTC)

 * Just that it is an ordered set, with “set” being given an ordinary mathematical definition. (My reaction at the time was, in effect, “Oh, Chr_st! Another definition!”) BTW, Ross is a gal, not a guy. —SlamDiego←T 04:15, 27 March 2008 (UTC)

 * (e/c) Yes, it is clear that this reference doesn't mean that a vector is the same thing as a linearly ordered set. I suppose an "ordered set" in computer science must have some other meaning than in mathematics.  But linking to linearly ordered set is obviously incorrect.  Anyway, rather than try to put too fine a point on it, I do feel that there is a gap in Wikipedia's coverage of "component vectors".  For instance, when the finance guys talk about "state price vectors", they mean a vector as a list of components (the prices).  I know we already have an article on "coordinate vectors", but even this seems too geometrical.  The point of view that a vector is nothing more than a list of numbers should be brought up somewhere more prominently.  silly rabbit  (  talk  ) 04:05, 27 March 2008 (UTC)

 * You have ignored the point that Dicklyon cited a different work.
 * The mark-up isn't “ linearly ordered set ”; it is “ linearly ordered set ”.
 * And whatever definition of “ordered set” might be most common in computer science, Kolman &alii produced a book of mathematics.
 * —SlamDiego←T 04:15, 27 March 2008 (UTC)

 * I agree that your guys got it "wrong" or "badly expressed", and that what we lack is a good generic description of a set of things put into correspondence with an index set, or "ordered". The vector [2, 1, 2], for example, is perfectly sensible, but there's no way it can be considered to be an "ordered set", since there's no relation that will put 2 both before and after 1.  So tell us more about what your source says if you want anyone to help interpret that snippet of words.  And please pay attention to WP:MOSDAB, since your funny linkage makes no sense as a disambig item. Dicklyon (talk) 04:21, 27 March 2008 (UTC)

 * No, that's simply not true. While indeed it might at best be confusing to claim that $$[2,1,2]$$ were an ordering of $$\{1,2\}$$, the claim that $$[2,1,2]$$ is an ordering of a set is not the claim that it is an ordering of the set $$\{1,2\}$$.  You're confusing orderings of representations and representations of orderings. —SlamDiego←T 16:16, 27 March 2008 (UTC)

 * All I'm pointing out is that the notion of an "ordered set", which you linked to, is about a set of items with an ordering relationship between them. That's not the same thing as the vector; my example was meant to show the difference.  There is no ordering relationship on the set 1,2,2 that can put it into the order of the vector.  It's a different notion of ordering than the notion implied by "ordered set". Dicklyon (talk) 16:19, 27 March 2008 (UTC)

 * No. You're fine until the last sentence.  We obviously don't want to say that $$[2,1,2]$$ was a linear ordering to $$\{1,2,2\}$$ (which is just $$\{1,2\}$$ written non-canonically), but the definition is question made no such claim. —SlamDiego←T 17:05, 27 March 2008 (UTC)

 * Indeed, just look at the definition of linearly ordered set (or linearly ordered set, or however you want to parse the link). None of these has anything to do with a vector.  For instance the sets {1,2,3} and {3,2,1}, with the linear order defined by the relation ≤ are in fact the same set.  But the vectors [1,2,3] and [3,2,1] are different.  The two mathematical concepts are simply not the same.  Without providing better context for the "disambiguation", it doesn't belong here.   silly rabbit  (  talk  ) 16:27, 27 March 2008 (UTC)

 * If you want to object that the link is misleading, then you may be correct. But, so far, you've been objecting that a vector is not a linearly ordered set, and that is mistaken.  You should be able to see this from my remarks above to Dicklyon, but we can labor the isomorphisms if you need. (The original reason that I was concerned to refer to a vector as a linearly ordered set is that the underlying ordering of elements is not merely partial.  I have no objection to instead referring to the set as indexed, though there may then be an eruption because the indices are typically not explicit.) —SlamDiego←T 17:05, 27 March 2008 (UTC)

 * Please see my suggestion way up in the thread about introducing "component vectors" — for lack of a better term — to denote this other sort of vectors. I don't have any personal feeling about whether the index set needs to be explicit.  But something needs to be made mathematically explicit, and I think perhaps a new article could be called for.   Linearly ordered set isn't just misleading.  It is wrong, at least in the sense employed by the linear order article (and the vast majority of the mathematics community).    silly rabbit  (  talk  ) 17:15, 27 March 2008 (UTC)

 * A disambig page is basically not even the right place to be having this discussion. The content needs to be in an article first, then the disambig page can link to it.  The content pointed to was not about vectors, which is why the added item was not a disambig item, which is why I took it out.  Get the content written up, sourced, and debated, in an article, and then link it here.  But be careful since as silly rabbit and I have pointed out, it is easy to take a few words and twist them to the wrong meaning. Dicklyon (talk) 17:35, 27 March 2008 (UTC)

 * No. There is no policy that an article must exist for each entry on a disambiguation page, and users would certainly not be best served by such a policy.
 * The content to which the definition point was indeed not itself about vectors, which is why (as noted before) the mark-up wasn't “ linearly ordered set ”.
 * Neither you nor silly rabbit  pointed out that it were easy to take a few words and twist them to the wrong meaning; I pointed out that the two of you were doing this.
 * (You need to indent your replies addessed to me as such, rather than as replies to silly rabbit .) —SlamDiego←T 17:48, 27 March 2008 (UTC)

 * I saw your earlier remarks. As written, they temselves neither seemed to embrace nor to reject a need to recognize the concept in general or as something belonging in the mathematical category.
 * I have no position on whether a new article might be warranted.
 * Again, a vector corresponds to a set which has a linear (rather than partial) ordering. The fact that “linearly ordered set” might typically call the wrong conception to mind doesn't change that fact, and thus doesn't change the fact that “linearly ordered set” is literally correct.  I have no objection to attempts to describe these sets such that people will be less likely to go off the rails.  I object first-and-foremost to a legitimate definition being simply deleted, and secondarily to an erroneous inferential leap from the description being confused with an error in the description itself. —SlamDiego←T 17:48, 27 March 2008 (UTC)

Alternate expression
Okay, so here's the idea inefficiently expressed:

We're probably all familiar with the idea of a vector as “an ordered set of numbers”. That's a pretty sloppy expression because, for example, it doesn't rule-out things such as putting the numbers into something isomorphic to a figure-eight, but that's not what the expression is intended to describe. So bear in mind what it is intended to describe, and generalize that notion to one in which the elements might not be numbers. That is the notion underlying the controversy here.

So, I'm open to an unambiguous and unconfusing expression that is very different from “linearly ordered set”. But, however expressed, the definition should be included in the page. —SlamDiego←T 19:17, 27 March 2008 (UTC)

 * But “an ordered set of numbers” is a phrase that embodies that linguistic ambiguity that we are arguing about. It can either mean in numerical order (that is, a set that has an order relationship, so that whatever is in the set can be put in order), or it can mean an indexed sequence, that is, at first number, a second number, etc., up to an Nth number, for some finite N.  That ambiguity is why we don't like the expression, and probably why it is rarely stated that way.  So find a better way to say what you mean, write it up, reference this way of describing it as well, and then put in a disambig item to that writeup.  No big deal. Dicklyon (talk) 22:51, 27 March 2008 (UTC)

 * You need to look again at the comment to which you are replying. I am requesting better wording, and you're replying to that by telling me that the wording ought to be better! —SlamDiego←T 23:03, 27 March 2008 (UTC)

 * Some places to look:   . Dicklyon (talk) 22:56, 27 March 2008 (UTC)

 * Okay, but, in the meantime, do you have some specific ideas about how to express the idea? —SlamDiego←T 23:03, 27 March 2008 (UTC)

 * I'm just saying to see how some of those books express it. If the word "ordered" is used, perhaps it doesn't just get paired with "set"?  It's sometimes called an "indexed collection"; possibly a "homogeneous indexed collection" if all the objects are of a uniform type.  These are data structure terms used in various computer languages that mean what your book meant by ordered set, I think.  Dicklyon (talk) 05:07, 28 March 2008 (UTC)

Ahem... "An ordered list of numbers: a tuple."

...qed... silly rabbit (  talk  ) 21:28, 22 April 2008 (UTC)

Terms "Space-vector", "Spatial vector"?
Are there an abundance of reliable sources that call an element of a vector space a "space-vector" or "spatial vector", as opposed to "vector"? If so, what are these sources? Why isn't either term mentioned on the vector space page? In the meantime, I took out those terms. --Steve (talk) 20:10, 3 September 2008 (UTC)

Merge disambiguation pages
There is another (possibly accidental) dab page that probably should be merged to this page. Please comment at Talk:Vector (biology). Johnuniq (talk) 02:28, 19 July 2009 (UTC)

The Unifying Factor?
This page would be much better if it included the etymology of the word and how it connects mathematical vectors to biological vectors, etc. JKeck (talk) 13:37, 24 June 2011 (UTC)

Inadequate
Hi, rookie - apologies, but this page/concept_definition seemed to be dramatically inadequate, suggest mal-think/action. Surely this concept deserves better than that :) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Jjalexand (talk • contribs) 14:05, 27 May 2012

Why is there nothing in the vector page related to the physics term "Vector"
As a physics student, i am very much aware that there is a term, "vector", which refers to units (such as velocity and displacement) which have both direction and magnitude. Why didn't this definition of vector have a spot in this page? Is it simply because no one thought to add it, or is it an error that needs correcting?

Many thanks to any replies, just wondering. :) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Katehall101 (talk • contribs) 07:25, 30 January 2013 (UTC)

 * Have a look to the top of the list. There is a section related to mathematics and physics with a link guiding to Vector %28mathematics and physics%29 --JuergenKlueser (talk) 14:51, 31 January 2013 (UTC)

Vector (skin) listed at Redirects for discussion
An editor has asked for a discussion to address the redirect Vector (skin). Please participate in the redirect discussion if you wish to do so. — Preceding unsigned comment added by MJL (talk • contribs) 18:11, 5 June 2019 (UTC)

"The Vector" listed at Redirects for discussion
An editor has identified a potential problem with the redirect The Vector and has thus listed it for discussion. This discussion will occur at Redirects for discussion/Log/2022 February 21 until a consensus is reached, and readers of this page are welcome to contribute to the discussion. casualdejekyll 01:50, 21 February 2022 (UTC)

"Abstract vector" listed at Redirects for discussion
The redirect [//en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Abstract_vector&redirect=no Abstract vector] has been listed at redirects for discussion to determine whether its use and function meets the redirect guidelines. Readers of this page are welcome to comment on this redirect at  until a consensus is reached. Hildeoc (talk) 00:57, 24 June 2023 (UTC)

title: Talk:Vector