reckon the great plague of
1348 among the causes which produced the anarchy of 1378. Rising in a
mass to claim their privileges, the artisans ejected the Signory from
the Public Palace, and for awhile Florence was at the mercy of the
mob. It is worthy of notice that the Medici, whose name is scarcely
known before this epoch, now came for one moment to the front.
Salvestro de' Medici was Gonfalonier of Justice at the time when the
tumult first broke out. He followed the faction of the handicraftsmen,
and became the hero of the day. I cannot discover that he did more
than extend a sort of passive protection to their cause. Yet there is
no doubt that the attachment of the working classes to the House of
Medici dates from this period. The rebellion of 1378 is known in
Florentine history as the Tumult of the Ciompi. The name Ciompi
strictly means the Wool-Carders. One set of operatives in the city,
and that the largest, gave its title to the whole body of the
labourers. For some months these craftsmen governed the republic,
appointing their own Signory and passing laws in their own interest;
but, as is usual, the proletariate found itself incapable of sustained
government. The ambition and discontent of the Ciompi foamed
themselves away, and industrious working men began to see that trade
was languishing and credit on the wane. By their own act at last they
restored the government to the Priors of the Greater Arti. Still the
movement had not been without grave consequences. It completed the
levelling of classes, which had been steadily advancing from the first
in Florence. After the Ciompi riot there was no longer not only any
distinction between noble and burgher, but the distinction between
greater and lesser guilds was practically swept away. The classes,
parties, and degrees in the republic were so broken up, ground down,
and mingled, that thenceforth the true source of power in the State
was wealth combined with personal ability. In other words, the proper
political conditions had been formed for unscrupulous adventurers.
Florence had become a democracy without social organisation, which
might fall a prey to oligarchs or despots. What remained of deeply
rooted feuds or factions--animosities against the Grandi, hatred for
the Ghibellines, jealousy of labour and capital--offered so many
points of leverage for stirring the passions of the people and for
covering personal ambition with a cloak of public zeal. The time was