Suchergebnisse

The paper aims to assess the financial impact of the rapid assimilation of the French-style artillery into Italian warfare. The focus will be on the policy adopted by the Florentine Republic to improve the efficiency of its logistic system during the War of Pisa (1494-1509): through the analysis of public records, the research will highlight the significant transformations occurred in late medieval military industry, reevaluating the importance of the trade in strategic materials for the early modern economy and demonstrating the concerted effort made by the rising renaissance state to establish a monopoly on the manufacture of arms and «munitions».

According to contemporary historiography, the military offices of Renaissance Florence were backward and disorganized, unaware of the current Italian innovations, and suspicious of their own soldiers. This literature, however, seems to be based more on the Machiavellian prejudice against mercenary companies, than on thorough and systematic archival research. The aim of this article, hence, is an examination of the whole documentary production of the two military institutions of the Florentine Republic, the Dieci di Balìa and the Otto di Pratica, in order to try to re-evaluate the management of war, the relationships between rulers and captains, and the processes of enlistment, equipment, and inspection. The accounts, the resolutions, the daily registrations of treasurers, secretaries, and commissioners, then, illustrate the practices and the organization of both of these magistracies during the last quarter of the fifteenth century. The results of this study demonstrate that, long before the admission of Niccolò Machiavelli to its chancery, the Republic had the men, the knowledge, and the money for operating warfare efficiently and effectively.

Il saggio si propone di indagare le trasformazioni tecniche e gli scambi culturali operati dai «maestri di getto» italiani durante il quindicesimo secolo, in un contesto contraddistinto da un forte interesse per le sperimentazioni in ambito bellico, dettate tanto dalla creazione di istituzioni militari permanenti quanto dall'espansione del mercato degli armamenti. Bilanci statali, carteggi di ufficiali e «ricordanze» dei fonditori costituiranno la base documentaria dello studio, permettendo di ricostruire i viaggi degli artefici attraverso le corti della Penisola, la formazione del loro multiforme sapere empirico, ed i loro rapporti con le autorità. Attraverso l'analisi di collaborazioni e di confronti, le conclusioni della ricerca sottolineeranno il ruolo avuto dagli artefici nell'introduzione di pratiche originali e di prodotti innovativi, non mancando però di evidenziare il continuo, significativo impulso dato dai vari potentati alla diffusione di nuove manifatture e di nuove tecnologie.