JOHN NAJEMY -- Ph.D. --  Professor at Cornell University

Dear Dr. Kolkey,

Perhaps the clearest case of a war fought for factional, family, and even personal interests was Florence's attack on the subject city of Volterra in 1472. Lorenzo de' Medici wanted to punish Volterra for obstructing Medici interests in an alum mine in Volterran territory. An even stronger motivation may have been to make sure that Florentine allies of the Volterrans knew that Lorenzo would tolerate no challenges to his authority at home. And six years later, after the failed Pazzi conspiracy, the major figures behind the conspiracy, the pope and the king of Naples, launched a war against Florence, declaring that they sought to liberate the Florentines from Medici tyranny. Neither the Florence nor the Medici chose this war, but there was much fear within Medici circles that it would turn much of the city against Lorenzo.

After 1494 wars were imposed on Florence and other Italian states in a completely transformed world in which France, Spain and other ultramontane powers intervened militarily in Italy and occupied large parts of the peninsula, but even then factional and class interests often determined the direction of policy and the choice of alliances. Just one example: when the restored (post-Medici) republic of 1494 fell in 1512, it was a faction of elite families, more Medicean than the Medici, who insisted on the restoration of the Medici and were in large part responsible for bringing in a Spanish army that attacked and sacked the city of Prato as a way of frightening the republican leadership into exile and bringing back the Medici. Machiavelli says as much in the Discourses, and other chroniclers support this view of what happened in greater detail.

These are the Florentine examples that come most readily to mind from this period. There could certainly be others, including the 1406 siege of Pisa that was a milestone in the oligarchy's determination to create a regional state under Florentine control. If you wish to pursue these Florentine examples further, you might want to have a look at my book, A History of Florence, 1200-1575 (Blackwell, 2006), where you'll also find, in the notes, suggestions for more detailed analyses. If I haven't addressed the issues you're particularly interested in, you may find some of the more specialized studies helpful.

Best wishes,

John Najemy

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