Orsanmichele: A Medieval Grain Market and Confraternity (Medieval Mediterranean: Peoples, Economies and Cultures, 400-1500, 131)

This volume presents a new history of Orsanmichele, covering the centuries before the Renaissance. It explores the Florentine grain market, the piazza of Orsanmichele and its loggias, and Orsanmichele’s important confraternity and Madonnas during the thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries. Contents 6 Abbreviations and Conventions 10 Illustrations 16 Acknowledgements 18 Introduction 20 1 Orsanmichele: An Overview of the Volume 23 Part 1 The Market of Orsanmichele and Its Context 28 Chapter 1 Background 30 1 Demographic Changes and a Transforming City 30 2 Political Changes and Challenges 43 3 A Florentine Culture of Grain: Private Transactions Outside of Orsanmichele with Grain as a Traditional “Currency” of Business 57 4 Florentine Consumption of Grain 66 5 Chapter Conclusion: A Growing Population and Transitioning City in Need of Grain 73 Chapter 2 The Florentine Grain Market at Orsanmichele 75 1 Context for a Large Market: The Angevin Kingdom of Naples as a New Source of Florentine Wheat 76 2 The Market’s Origins and Context 82 3 Orsanmichele: Basic Market Features 85 4 Products and Measurements 99 5 Trading, Prices, Settlements 119 6 Traders, Fair Dealing, and Supporting Features: An Overview 133 7 Chapter Conclusion: A Complex Market Served Its Populace 144 Chapter 3 Market Agents and Regulation 146 1 Market Participants: International, Regional, and Contado Dealers 146 2 Communal-Level Regulation: “Abundancia,” Export Bans, Sei della Biada, and Traders Serving in the Priorate 153 3 Senior Guilds: The Calimala and Cambio in Relation to the Grain Business 164 4 A Lesser Guild of the Grain Business: Oliandoli e Pizzicagnoli 168 5 Apprenticeships for the Grain Trade and a Grain Dealer’s Profile 170 6 Chapter Conclusion: Vigorous Market Participants and Oversight 172 Chapter 4 Market Character: Lenzi’s Orsanmichele, and the Mercato Vecchio in Context 174 1 Domenico Lenzi: A Mid-level Grain Trader 174 2 Orsanmichele and the Mercato Vecchio Compared 194 3 Chapter Conclusion: A Multilayered Trading and Regulatory Structure; A Focused Orsanmichele and a Varied Mercato Vecchio 209 Chapter 5 Supplying the Market at Orsanmichele 211 1 A Bounty from the South via Florentine Public–Private Trading: A Detailed Consideration 211 2 A Florentine Mediterranean Grain Network, and Mechanics of Grain Transportation from the Southern Peninsula and Sicily to Florence 229 3 Supplemental Acquisitions from Sicily and via Genoa 248 4 Regional and Contado Markets 254 5 Roads Supporting the Market, and Communal Engagement 266 6 Chapter Conclusion: A Complex Supply System Sustained the Grain Market 276 Part 2 The Madonna and Confraternity of Orsanmichele 278 Chapter 6 The Loggias and Madonna of Orsanmichele 280 1 The Virgin Protects a Politically Vulnerable Market 280 2 The Three Loggias of Orsanmichele, and the Virgin Wards off Heresy 285 3 The First Loggia: The Saints and First Madonna, and St. Michael Yields to the Virgin 297 4 The Virgin of the First and Second Loggias: Fresco as Opposed to Panel and Settings 305 5 Portrayals of the Madonna of the Second Loggia 324 6 Veiling, Location, and Context 333 7 Chapter Conclusion: Reflections on the Madonna 338 Chapter 7 The Madonna and Her Confraternity 340 1 Founding, Miracles, and Growth of the Confraternity 341 2 A Formula for Long-Term Success: The Structure of the Confraternity 347 3 Prayer, Alms, a Communal Alliance, and Serving the Florentine Populace 356 4 Market Time and Confraternity Time: Sharing Space in Sequence 367 5 Political Struggles and a Setback: The Fallen Piazza and Its Restoration 378 6 Chapter Conclusion: Reflections on the Confraternity 389 Part 3 A Florentine Dearth at Orsanmichele 392 Chapter 8 A Year of Dearth, 1329–1330 394 1 A Popular and a Market Perspective 394 2 The Crisis of April 1329: A Popular Cry for Wheat, and the Market and the Commune’s Reaction 404 3 Communal Measures to Control the Market: June 1329 into 1330 416 4 The Commune, Market, and Confraternity United for the Greater Good 432 5 Chapter Conclusion: A Creative Commune Works to End the Crisis 434 Chapter 9 Famine as Opposed to Dearth, Stress Points, and the Market Preserved 436 1 A Famine or a Dearth? 436 2 A Critical Stress Point: Consumers from the Contado and Distant Locations 443 3 Preservation of the Market as an Institution 447 4 Chapter Conclusion: The Commune’s Success and a Resilient Market 450 Part 4 The End of the Grain Market at Orsanmichele and Conclusion 452 Chapter 10 A Parting of Ways: The Confraternity Renounces Its Life-Giving Market 454 1 A Physically Compromised Second Loggia 454 2 The Flood of 1333 455 3 Actions toward a New Loggia 457 4 The End of the Grain Market at Orsanmichele 459 Conclusion Vibrant Centuries before the Renaissance Loggia 462 Appendix 1 Selected Private Account Wheat and Grain Transactions Indicating the Price per Staio outside of the Market 466 Appendix 2 Selected Florentine Grain Exports from the Southern Peninsula and Sicily, 1276–1329 480 Appendix 3 Selected Grain Qualities at Orsanmichele 497 Appendix 4 Wheat and Grain Sales at the Market of Orsanmichele, 1329–1330 501 Appendix 5 Confraternity of Orsanmichele Officials, Communal Leadership, Traders 577 Appendix 6 Dearths and Other Events, Twelfth to Early Fourteenth Centuries 689 Appendix 7 Wheat and Grain Prices (Charts) 697 Appendix 8 Selections from Domenico Lenzi’s Account, Spring 1329 701 Appendix 9 Markets, Exchanges, and Orsanmichele’s Grain Market: Modern Market Traits and Basic Bibliography 709 Bibliography 732 Index 766 This work provides a new narrative for Orsanmichele in the era before the Renaissance. It examines Orsanmichele from the mid-thirteenth century, as the piazza transformed into the city's grain market. It considers the market's tandem confraternity, with its stunning Madonnas over three successive loggias. It examines the grain market and confraternity from a social, economic, political, and artistic perspective. It provides extensive data on the Florentine grain trade, sales at the market, and the nexus between traders, political leaders, and the confraternity. The work suggests that developments at Orsanmichele during the medieval period formed the basis for the Renaissance structure.