The guilds of Florence were secular corporations that controlled the arts and trades in Florence from the twelfth into the sixteenth century. These Arti included seven major guilds (collectively known as the arti maggiori), five middle guilds (arti mediane) and nine minor guilds (arti minori). Their rigorous quality control and the political role in the commune that the Art Maggiori assumed were formative influences in the history of Florence, which became one of the richest cities of late Medieval Europe.

The Minuto Popolo— skilled and unskilled workers including weavers, spinners, dyers, boatmen, labourers, peddlers and others—despite constituting a majority of the population, were barred from forming guilds.

Formation of the "arti"

The guilds were the medieval institution within which were organized every aspect of a city's economic life, forming a social network that complemented and in part compensated for family ties, although in Florence the welfare side of the guilds' activities was less than in many cities. The first of the guilds of Florence of which there is notice is the Arte di Calimala, the cloth-merchants' guild, mentioned in a document of about 1150. By 1193 there existed seven such corporate bodies, which each elected a council whose members bore the Roman-sounding designation consoli. A single capo was elected to manage all the business of the guild.

Entrance to the Arti was highly structured from the first records; it was necessary to be the legitimate son of a member, to give proofs of competence in the craft involved, and to pay an entrance tax. Masters of the guilds, who possessed the means of production, took on apprentices and garzoni, the "boys" or journeymen who might work through a long career without ever becoming a master.

Each of the Arti was ruled according to its statutes, which had the force of law, and might pass judgement in controversies among its members and with their workers. In the fourteenth century the guilds established the market tribunal called the Mercatanzia to hear causes that involved more than one of the Arti. The Palazzo del Tribunale della Mercatanzia (illustration, right) still occupies a prominent place in the piazza della Signoria, befitting the controlling role of the Arti in governing Florence.

As elsewhere, the guilds of Florence protected its members from competition within the city by strangers and Florentine outsiders, guaranteed the quality of work through strict supervision of the workshops (botteghe), stipulated work hours, established markets and feast days, and provided public services to its members, and their wives, widows and children. During the fifteenth century city watchmen were organized by the Arti to protect closed workshops and warehouses.

From the beginning, not all arti were equal: to the original seven Arti Maggiori were added fourteen Arti Minori as the guild system spread.

Role in government

Six of the nine Priori of the Signoria of Florence were selected from the major guilds, and two were selected by the minor guilds. The "Seven Greater Guilds" are first mentioned distinctly (separating the Calimala from "Wool") in 1197. The first State enactment appertaining to Guilds was not issued until 1228.

The first scheduled list of Guilds, including twenty-one, appared in 1236. The second scheduled list of Guilds, differentiating seven "Greater" and fourteen "Lesser" Guilds, appeared in 1266. That same year the consuls of the seven "Greater" Guilds became the "Supreme Magistrate of the State". The first five of the "Lesser Guilds" were designated "Intermediate Guilds" (Arte Mediane) in 1280, when the Signoria first assumed office, and their consults were admitted to the conferences of the consuls of the seven "Greater" Guilds.

In 1282, three "Priors of the Guilds" were elected, with powers only inferior to the Chief-Magistrate of the State. The third scheduled list of guilds, finalizing their order of precedence appeared the following year. The nine lowest guilds were allotted banners and coats-of-arms in 1291.

A General Code, "Il Statuto", for the guilds was promulgated in 1296 with the founding of the Corte della Mercanzia. The Statues of all the guilds underwent a complete revision between 1301 and 1307, and the "New Code" was first adopted by the Calimala; the statutes were again revised in 1386.

Three new operative guilds were formed in 1378 after the Ciompi revolt. The fourth scheduled list of guilds, appearing in 1415, however, still included only twenty-one guilds. The Grandi attempted in 1427 to reduce the "Lesser" guilds to only seven. Indeed, in 1534, the fourteen "Lesser" guilds were arranged in four Universities, and saw many of their privileges curtailed.

Arti maggiori

Major Guild	Symbol	Patronage	Founding	Notes
Arte di Calimala		Workers in wool, cloth merchants	Circa 1190	Suppressed in 1770 by Pietro Leopoldo, Grand Duke of Tuscany
Arte della Lana		Wool merchants	Pre-1192	Took charge of Santa Maria del Fiore in 1282
Arte dei Giudici e Notai		Judges, lawyers, and notaries	1197	Listed first among the "Twelve Greater Guilds" on a 1282 list currently at the British Museum; Abolished in 1597, the same year a "College of Judges and Notaries" was incorporated.
Arte del Cambio		Bankers	Pre-1197
Arte della Seta		Silk weavers	Pre-1192	Included bronze sculptors
Arte dei Medici e Speziali		Physicians and pharmacists	1197	Included painters from 1314, and as an independent branch from 1378; also included shopkeepers who sold spices, dyes, and medicines
Arte dei Vaiai e Pellicciai		Furriers	1197

Arti mediane

Middle Guild	Symbol	Patronage	Founding	Notes
Arte de' Beccai		Graziers	Circa 1236	First of the five intermediate guilds
Arte dei Calzolai		Shoemakers	Pre-1236
Arte dei Fabbri		Iron workers	Pre-1236
Arte dei Maestri di Pietra e Legname		Workers in stone and wood	Pre-1236	Included sculptors
Arte dei Linaioli e Rigattieri		Workers of flax, tailors	1266

Arti minori

Minor Guild	Symbol	Patronage	Founding	Notes
Arti dei Vinattieri		Wine	1266
Arti degli Albergatori		Innkeepers	1282	Cleaved from the Vinattieri in 1282
Arti dei Oliandoli e Pizzicagnoli		Millworkers	Pre-1236	Arte de' Galigai renamed Arte degli Oliandoli in 1415; missing in the 1282 and 1295 lists of guilds, replaced by the "Arti dei Venditori del Sale".
Arti dei Cuoiai e Galigai		Leather workers	1282
Arti dei Corazzai e Spadai		Armourers	Pre-1236
Arti dei Correggiai		Military leather workers (e.g. Saddlers)	Pre-1236
Arti dei Legnaioli		Wood	Pre-1236
Arti dei Chiavaioli		Keymakers
Arti dei Fornai		Bakers	Pre-1236	Regarded as the seventh of fourteen lesser guilds in 1236; lowest in the order of precedence since 1282

Artists

In Florence a separate Guild of Saint Luke for artists did not exist. Painters belonged to the guild of the Doctors and Apothecaries ("Arte dei Medici e Speziali") as they bought their pigments from the apothecaries, while sculptors were members of the Masters of Stone and Wood ("Maestri di Pietri e Legname), or the metalworkers if working in that medium. They were also frequently members in the confraternity of St. Luke (Compagnia di San Luca)—which had been founded as early as 1349—although it was a separate entity from the guild system. In the sixteenth century, the Compagnia di San Luca began to meet at SS. Annunziata, and sculptors, who had previously been members of a confraternity dedicated to St. Paul (Compagnia di San Paolo), also joined. This form of the compagnia developed into the Florentine Accademia del Disegno in 1563, which was then formally incorporated into the city's guild system in 1572.

The guilds were important patrons of the arts. The statues of the Orsanmichele were a lavish joint, and highly competitive, effort, the Calimala were responsible for the Baptistry and paid for Ghiberti's famous doors, while the Lana were responsible for the cathedral itself, and paid for the cupola, the altar frontal and other works, and the Seta built and ran the Ospedale degli Innocenti

See also

• Ciompi, guild-less wool carders who revolted in 1378

Notes

References

• Hughes, Anthony."'An Academy for Doing'. I: The Accademia del Disegno, the Guilds and the Principate in Sixteenth-Century Florence." Oxford Art Journal, vol. 9, no. 1. (1986), pp. 3-10.
• Jack, Mary Ann. "The Accademia del Disegno in Late Renaissance Florence." In: Sixteenth Century Journal, vol. 7, no. 2. (Oct., 1976), pp. 3-20.
• Mather, Rufus Graves. "Documents Mostly New Relating to Florentine Painters and Sculptors of the Fifteenth Century." In: The Art Bulletin, vol. 30, no. 1. (Mar., 1948), pp. 20-65.
• Staley, John Edgcumbe. 1906. The Guilds of Florence. Methuen & Co.