Francesco Guicciardini - Guicciardini and The Florentine Republic 1527-1530

Guicciardini and The Florentine Republic 1527-1530

Like many Florentine aristocrats of his day, Guicciardini believed in a mixed republican government based on the model of the Venetian constitution; and despite working so often and closely with the Medici he viewed their rule as tyrannical. Guicciardini was able to reconcile his republican ideals and his support of the Medici, writing: "The equality of men under a popular government is by no means contradicted if one citizen enjoys greater reputation than another, provided it proceed from the love and reverence of all, and can be witheld by the people at their pleasure. Indeed, without such supports, republics can hardly last."

Shortly after the Sack of Rome Guicciardini returned to Florence, but by 1527 the Medici had been expelled from the city and a republic re-established by the extreme anti-Medici Arrabiati faction. Because of his close ties to the Medici, Guicciardini was held suspect in his native city. In March 1530 as a result of his service to the Medici, Guicciardini was declared a rebel and had his property confiscated.

This final Florentine Republic did not last long, however, and after enduring the Siege of Florence by Imperial troops for nine months, in 1530 the city capitulated. Under the command of Pope Clement VII, Guicciardini was assigned the task of punishing the Florentine citizens for their resistance to the Medici, dealing out justice mercilessly to those who had opposed the will of the Pope. Benedetto Varchi claimed that in carrying out his task, "Messer Francesco Guicciardini was more cruel and more ferocious than the others."