Teetering Florence On the Edge: November 4-5, 1494

The night of November 4, 1494 in Florence was one of tumult and disagreements. The town criers had all been sent out to announce again and again that anyone removing chalk off one's doorway would be subject to a 500 florin fine. All the previous day French billeters had been going up and down the streets marking off houses they thought appropriate to house the coming French soldiers. Were the french honored guests or would they be an occupying army? This was the issue that had arrested Florentine attentions. Their property and their city was at stake. What were the leaders doing?

They had been arguing, since spring. French messengers had arrived in June asking whether Florence would be with the French invasion set on retaking Naples, or would Florence oppose the advance. Piero de'Medici head of his clan and its affairs had put off, dithered and then deferred decision. There was his close advisors, his friends, the older advisors of his father Lorenzo as well as the city as a whole to think about. There were his in-laws the Orsini to consider, there was his neighbors like the Duke at Milan, and the Senate in Venice. The pope had sent reassurances. Piero himself had been spending a lot of time with the heir to Naples watching the preparations there and working negotiations with Milan. Meanwhile pro-Republic graffiti against the de'Medici began appearing.

By October, Piero began secret talks with French emissaries as the army advanced southward. Around October 26, he was meeting with them outside the city and agreeing to their heady demands. For now, Piero accepted that the French could control the Florence-run prize of Pisa, the crucial port city of Livorno and the two well stocked fortresses at Sarzana and Pietrasanta, and 200,000 ducats. Pietro thought he was saving the city from direct invasion.

When the leaders back in Florence heard this they were furious. The Orsini family mercenaries had mustered outside the walls but many de'Medici loyalists within were changing sides. By the end of the week the Signoria had chosen six men, including friar Girolamo Savonarola, to go and talk to the French king and try to get them to find some other accomodation and route southward. Piero had lost the formerly stellar reputation of his name and his prominent place as defender of the city. Within days he would be exiled for the rest of his life and his family and their adherents would be shut out of Florence for nearly twenty years.