Now comes the translation of "1398: Firenze – Primi naibi nei Libri del Giglio," dated Aug. 26, 2015, online at https://naibi.net/A/416-GIGLIO300-Z.pdf. It is one in a series of notes on "naibi in the Books of the Lily, of which the others are:
4/20. 1401-1425: Firenze - Condanne per i naibi nei Libri del Giglio. (24.09.2015)
4/22. 1426-1499: Firenze - Condanne per giochi di carte nei Libri del Giglio. (01.10.2015), translated at http://pratesitranslations.blogspot.com/2016/11/nov-26-2016-1426-1440-florence.html.
4/24. 1440-1450: Firenze - Condanne per giochi di carte nei Libri del Giglio. (12.10.2015), translated at http://pratesitranslations.blogspot.com/2016/11/nov-26-2016-1426-1440-florence.html. In this last are also found some arrests for playing trionfi.
Comments in brackets are mine, in consultation with Franco, for clarification purposes.
1398: Florence – First naibi in the Books of the Lily
Introduction
The inspiration for this investigation came from rereading an article
published a quarter of a century ago and now forgotten by everyone. [note 1] In that article, the Books of the Lily [Libri del Giglio,
where the Giglio was a specially designed fleur-de-lys serving as an
emblem of Florence] were indicated as among the useful sources for
reconstructing the early history of playing cards in Florence, and it is
precisely these books that have now been re-examined. For the moment,
this series of books has been restudied only for the fourteenth century.
The Series Books of the Lily
The Books of the Lily can be introduced in the same way as they were in the article cited.
Among the documents of the Chamber of the Commune [probably a room, with its employees, in the office building of the Florentine Commune, i.e. the Republic of Florence] in relation to changes in the account registers, the Books of the Lily represent a homogeneous set of 73 volumes that go from 1374 to 1511; 66 volumes for the whole 15th century, often one volume per year. They are all large-format paper volumes bound in parchment and usually have, drawn in red on the cover, the Giglio [Lily] of Florence inscribed in a circle, in accordance with the name of the series. The books record the convictions and then the payment made, for some particular “crimes.” The books begin with the three convictions already seen: for gambling, for going out at night and for carrying weapons. These convictions are listed in chronological order in long lists separated according to whether they were imposed by the “family” of the Podestà, the Captain of the People, or the Executor of the Ordinances of Justice. Other lists of convicted persons follow, such as those found absent from the guard shifts at the gates or the various Councils. These last lists become prevalent over time.
The series is part of the important books of the Chamber of the Commune,
the most official and complete one could wish to find preserved. They
are usually books not only of large format, but also that use paper of a
thickness above average; they are compiled
________________
1. F. Pratesi, The Playing-Card, 19 No. 1 (1990) 7-17. [Translated here at the beginning of this thread, viewtopic.php?p=26635#p26635.]
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carefully and bound in parchment. Of all the series of books of the
Chamber of the Commune, that under examination is the most suitable for
our studies, since only the cases of convictions by foreign rectors and a
few other officials are recorded. In other words, we find here all the
convictions for going out at night, for carrying prohibited weapons, and
- precisely those of our specific interest - for gambling. The same
convictions could be recorded in the corresponding books, either by the
Podestà [chief magistrate], by the Captain of the People, by the
Executor of the ordinances of justice, or by the few other officials who
also carried out certain police functions in the city; but the most
useful thing is that they are all found here together and without the
many records of other kinds that are found in the books of the foreign
rectors mentioned.
For our type of research, we could not ask for anything better. However,
knowing that perfection is not of this world, we are not surprised if
here, too, we encounter gaps. Two appear to be the most serious: the
beginning of the series at a time already advanced for our purposes and
the lack of the necessary detail on the type of gambling involved. As a
rule, we can assume that it was the game of zara [a dice game], the
great favorite of the most avid gamblers of that time, even if by the
end of the fourteenth century, it was already declining in popularity
and participation. [note 2]
Of this series, there is an old Inventory [note 3] in
the ASFi [State Archives of Florence] which remains valid for the
registration of the archival units and for a first general overview; in
particular for its dates, the following list of the archival units of
interest can be obtained.
Chamber of the Commune, Provveditori, then Massai [titles of officials involved], Books of the Lily
No.----Years
1-------1374-80
2-------1397
3-------1398
4-------1399
_________________
2. G. Ortalli, Barattieri. Bologna 2012.
3. ASFi, Inventario V/500
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No. 1 of the series presents itself as the most important book of all
for finding the very first attestations of naibi among gambling
convictions, as the period covered goes from 1374 to 1380, coinciding
precisely with the first testimonies of naibi in Florence.
Unfortunately, this first archival unit is missing from the ASFI. Even
the data of the relatively long interval between 1380 and 1396 do not
appear to have been recorded in books of this type, or if they were, the
corresponding books have not been preserved. In conclusion, the
fourteenth century is documented here only from 1397, and in only three
books. On the other hand, the fifteenth century is documented from the
beginning and often with one book per semester.
The registration begins in January, for example of 1396 in No. 2,
corresponding, however, to 1397, according to our system of counting the
years from the first of January, and not from the 25th of March as in
Florence at the time. The dates of the first months will therefore be
transcribed in our notation, and by doing so we obtain the result that
the books end up corresponding not only, as they already are, to a
single year, but also to a year that for us is indicated with the same
number, from January to December.
We can also note a gap that exists for 1400, which ends up simplifying
our task: the intention was to limit this study to the fourteenth
century and when we get to the year 1400 we encounter the usual
hesitations as to whether to attribute it to the fourteenth century, as
mathematically correct, or to the fifteenth century, as comes naturally
to do. Well, in our case the problem does not arise: when, in book No.
5, we read that it begins in the first months of 1400, it is actually
our 1401, and therefore we are sure that it no longer belongs to the
fourteenth century in any case. It also happens that the book that was
probably compiled between No. 4 and No. 5 does not exist in our series,
and therefore we can only study the years 1397-99.
A typical Book of the Lily
The books in this series are very similar to each other. Let's take a
look at one in particular, No. 3, so as to gain information that could
be extended with minimal variations to all the others. The
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structure of the book is summarized in the following table.
Section---------------------Initial page------Final page
Podestà-------------------------2r----------------15r
Captain------------------------41r----------------53v
Executor-----------------------80r----------------88r
Officer of the Grascia------110r --------------114v
Bargello----------------------120r---------------121r
Official at the gates--------128r---------------142r
It is immediately evident that the notary who records the individual
entries takes care to prepare the book by writing even before starting
to insert the relative entries day after day. In fact, the book is
divided into sections dedicated to the various officials, with an index
at the beginning that immediately refers to the page where the section
searched begins. It can be immediately noted that the same number of
pages are not prepared for the various sections; it is believed that
more convictions will be inserted in some than in others. In the end,
this initial structuring will prove to be sufficiently valid, although
the number of pages that remain blank between one section and the next
is quite different from case to case.
The magistracies involved
The other books in the series are also structured in successive
sections, separated by a variable number of blank pages. The order in
which the various sections are distributed appears particularly
significant, clearly corresponding to roles of decreasing importance. A
brief recap of the rectors involved in enforcing the laws within the
city may be useful; we will not follow the order of the book taken as an
example, but we will see the official of the Grascia after the
Bargello, as in other books.
The Podestà was the most important of all: he held the office of the
oldest institution, which in smaller municipalities was the only office
existing for the administration of justice (the term of office was
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six months). As a rule, the Podestà was a nobleman coming from another
city or from one of its countryside fiefdoms, who moved from city to
city with his “family” [entourage] of notaries, judges, and various
agents.
The Captain of the People had lost the military function that had
characterized him since the mid-thirteenth century, and also as
“defender of the arts [i.e. trades]” he was losing much of the political
power that he had had throughout the fourteenth century. As
administrator of justice he still had a certain importance in civil
matters, and above all in the police functions in which he supported the
other magistracies, starting with the Podestà.
The Executor of the Ordinances of Justice was established with the
specific function of defending the Florentine people from the arrogance
of the magnates [nobles], whose power was strongly hindered in the city,
so much so that they were excluded from the main public offices. What
we see in the Books of the Lily derives,
however, exclusively from the police activity of the Executor's
“family,” which therefore supported the two previously indicated.
The Bargello was a figure of the head of another city police “family”
that had joined the previous ones. Only in later times did this position
become stable: it can be recalled that the Palazzo del Bargello in
Florence was born and had been known as the Palazzo del Capitano del
Popolo. Unlike the others, a collection of the books of the Bargello has
not been preserved, also due to the intermittent nature of the
position, active only for short periods.
If we examine the four different magistracies encountered so far, we can
see that they were all equally involved in the modest sector of our
specific interest, the control of gambling. It is not even immediate to
establish a sort of ranking in their respective activities of contrast,
especially because a notable variation already existed within a single
magistracy, with the “families” involved that could be more or less
active, one independently of the other, depending on the rector who was
in office at the time. Therefore, the hypothetical ranking with the
Podestà as more active than the Captain, and so on down for the Executor
and Bargello, is only valid as a first approximation, as a general rule
that presented several exceptions.
If we move on to the last sections of the Books of the Lily, these are of much less interest for our purpose. The official of the
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Grascia [word meaning “food supply,” which was these officials’ main
concern] in the books examined in practice almost exclusively sentenced
two categories of women: servants who wore dresses with sleeves wider
than those permitted by the sumptuary laws, prostitutes who went around
the city without wearing gloves or bells, obligatory signs of
distinction. The officials at the gates, in turn, ensured that the guard
shifts were duly respected, sentencing citizens absent from service.
The most frequent annotations in this regard are whether the absence had
occurred once or more times, with the related sentence varying
accordingly.
Review of the books examined
It may be useful to examine the three books studied one by one and
highlight their particularities. First, some common characteristics can
be noted, starting with the format of the sheets which presents minimal
dimensional variations around what would correspond to our A3 [297 mm x
420 mm]. These large sheets of paper are also quite thick, with a final
thickness of each book of 4-6 cm, including the parchment binding.
No. 2 – First book preserved, already with separate sections for the
various officers. This first book preserved is not even complete.
Probably some pages are also missing after f. 117, the last present;
however, the absence of the first 65 pages is certain, probably
containing the sections reserved for the Podestà and the Captain. As
regards gambling, only per giuocho
[literally, for game] is usually written, and the corresponding sentence
is 10L [lire]. In some cases, the sum is not paid, or is not paid
within the terms of the law, for which reason one often finds marginal
notes indicating seizures or “baptisms” [immersions in the Arno or a
cold shower]. Rather rarely, but a little more often towards the end of
the year, one finds it specified that the game in question was dice or
zara.
No. 3 − Book of 144 folios, with the typical lily painted within a
shield on the cover, which in this case is very faded. In addition to
the usual term per giuocho, the addition of zara is often found, or a zara [at zara], rarely azzara. A couple of sentences of the Podestà are moved among those of the Captain at the request of the captured. On 10 February,
7
a sentence of 5L for sassi [throwing
stones] is found. In several cases, money found on the board is recorded
(for example, 32s. [soldi] on f. 50r) and there are cases of sentences
ending with “baptism” [when the fine was not paid in due course]. Among
the sentences of the Captain and the Executioner, there are some for
naibi, described below. There is also a section reserved for the
Bargello, but in this case, only those sentences for going out at night
are found, with rare exceptions.
No. 4 – Book with the evident red lily, of 95 ff. [folios]. Sometimes it
is specified that the game of condemnation is that of zara. Among the
captures for the game carried out by the Executor there are two unusual
cases in San Pietro a Montebuoni: a player captured in the house of his
residence and another in his own house.
The amount of the penalties
The information that can be obtained from the numerous gambling convictions that appear in the first four sections of the Book of the Lily
considered above is not very detailed. Usually, one encounters a
recurring phrase of the type: taken for gambling on said day by said
family, in which “said family” will be that of the Podestà, the Captain,
the Executor, or the Bargello, depending on the section in which it is
recorded. There is, however, one piece of information that is inevitably
always present, precisely because of the accounting documentation
nature of this collection: the amount of the penalty. So we can add this
important piece of information, which we were missing after studying
the books of foreign rectors. In those, sometimes greater detail was
found, but the amount of the corresponding penalties was never reported.
Here, we can see that the typical penalties paid for going out at night
were 3L, and those for gambling were 10L; for weapons, different values
are found, but the most frequent is a sentence of 50L. Naturally, if the
players caught playing were more than one, each had to pay 10L,
including those who had not provided their personal details; for those
who had escaped, the captured companions usually paid.
On the other hand, one finds in the books many different figures,
smaller than usual, for the money obtained from the resale of various
objects left on the spot. It seems likely that in these cases, the money
transfers involved more people, to the advantage of those who dealt
with the
8
sale, perhaps the cops themselves, and in any case, a loss certainly smaller for the player.
Convictions for the game of naibi
If the convictions for gambling [per gioco]
correspond to a considerable part of all the convictions recorded, in
the particular case of the game of naibi, or with naibi, these are real
exceptions. This leaves us uncertain in the interpretation of the data.
In particular, the hypothesis arises that among the players convicted
for zardum (or
a similar name, for a game nominally associated with zara) there were
also some who instead of dice were using playing cards; this becomes
even more logical to imagine once it is ascertained that the penalty for
the game of naibi was in these years exactly the same as that for dice
games. Ultimately, we do not know how exhaustive the examination of the
particular cases in which naibi are explicitly named can really be; in
any case, it seems useful to briefly review all these cases, few but
certain, in which in the o the capture is explicitly indicated as due to the game of naibi.
January 9, 1398 (Book No. 3 f. 41r – among the Captain's sentences): Meo di Nanni da Siena fu trovato giuchare anaibj. pagho adj 18 di giennaio L.10
[Meo di Nanni da Siena was found playing at naibi. paid [pagho=pagò] on
day 18 January L.10]. This is the only catch of that day, and not just
the only player caught with naibi.
September 21, 1398 (Book No. 3 f. 84v among the Executor's sentences): Per Giuliano di Checho popolo S.ta Lucia dognissanti preso per giuocho anaibj. pagho adj 19 dottobre L.10
[By Giuliano di Checho, parish of S.ta Lucia of Ognissanti, taken for
game at naibi. paid on day 19 October L.10]. This corresponds to the
only naibi player convicted that day, together with eight other
convictions for gambling, for six of which zara is explicitly indicated.
1398 (Book No. 3 f. 86r among the Executor's sentences): Antonio di Francecoleso(?) popolo San Friano preso a giucho di naibj. pagho L.10 questo(?) di 29 di marzo 1399
[Antonio di Francecoleso(?), parish of San Friano, taken at game of
naibi. paid L.10 this(?) day of March 29, 1399]. On that day, naibi are
indicated only in this case; the two following entries concern two
players of other games, who were later “baptized.”
Conclusion
The series of the Libri del Giglio represents a precious source for research on gambling [giochi:
also = games] because it records together the sentences of all the
various “families” of policemen who systematically patrolled the city in
search of violators of the legislative provisions on nighttime outings,
the carrying of prohibited weapons, and, in fact, gambling, which is
our focus, especially with regard to the game of naibi, recently
introduced in Florence. Unfortunately, the first volume of the series is
missing and the second only begins with the year 1397, so only three of
the last years of the fourteenth century can be studied in the three
books preserved for the period. The most important data that can be
obtained is the amount of the penalty: going out at night was usually
punished with 3L, gambling with 10L, and carrying weapons with 50L. The
game of naibi appears mentioned very rarely, only for the year 1398, and
the corresponding penalty is the same 10L as imposed for dice games.
The extension of the study to the more richly documented early fifteenth
century is planned
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