first decade of the fourteenth century, and many times revised and added to in the succeeding centuries, became the substance of the Constitutions of all the other Guilds.

In documents preserved in the Florence Libraries, and among the archives of many noble families, very interesting notices are to be found, treating of the members, their duties, their charities, and of the general progress of the Guild. Among them are many directions dating from the middle of the twelfth century concerning the upkeep, decoration, etc., of the Baptistery of San Giovanni ; and records of the purchase and sales of land in 1192, 1193, and 1216, on behalf of the Hospital of Sant' Eusebio. In 1228 and 1237 many Provvisioni, or agreements, were made with respect to the ancient Church of San Miniato al Monte, which was placed under the protection of the "Calimala." In the latter year the ceremony of taking an oath by all members of the Guild was enjoined. This oath, which was registered before the Consuls, bound each member to observe for the year all the regulations and bye-laws, customs, and privileges, of the Guild.

The constitution of the first Florentine mercantile company was, in connection with, and under the auspices of the "Calimala." The Provvisione creating it bears date 1234, and it was enrolled for the sale of foreign cloth after it had been redressed and finished by the workmen connected with the Guild. One of the earliest companies was that of the Scali, which failed in 1326, after being in existence for nearly one hundred years.

In a Codex of the fourteenth century the following list is given of mercantile companies, working in correspondence with the " Calimala" Guild1-de' Canigiani, degli Spini, de' Migliori de' Guadagni, di Lapo Bounagrazia, di Buonaccorso Soldini, de' Marino Soldani, di Diotifici Filippi, di Lapo Marini, di Lapo Soldini, di Simone Giamini, and di Diotisalvi Artimisi. A parchment of the year 1300 contains twenty-one other names, including Cenchi, Bardi, Pazzi, Frescobaldi, Peruzzi, Scali, and Nerli.

1 Archivio del Stato di Firenze, Statuti dell' Arti, 1301.

It should be remembered that the "Calimala" merchants dealt with foreign-made cloth only. It was expressly prohibited for them to dress, finish, keep, or sell, cloth manufactured in Florence. This regulation was due not only to the risk of damage to the native industry in wool-weaving under the Guild of Woollen Merchants, but it was also a necessary precaution against difficulties with the operatives.

There was, as might have been expected, a constant danger of confusion and friction between the agents and the workpeople employed by the Guilds. Many Provvisioni, or regulations, were passed to minimise and to remove all clashings of interests Separate communities of Dyers, Piecers, Patchers, Cutters, Folders, and Finishers, were established in connection with the "Calimala" merchants, in order to prevent workpeople engaging themselves under the two Guilds. On no account would a “Calimala" merchant employ an operative who did not belong to a "Calimala" organisation.

There was also from time to time friction between the merchants and workpeople attached to the "Por Santa Maria"-" the Guild of Silk Manufacturers." This Guild had also dyers, carders, and other operatives, as well as agents and salesmen. In 1324 mutual arrangements were made whereby certain associations of operatives, and certain workshops and stalls for the sale of the merchandise of the two Guilds, were set apart so as to avoid the clashing of interests. The same year saw too the first official Register of " Calimala" merchants in foreign lands.

With respect to the foreign relations of the merchants of the "Calimala" there were equally precise and minute regulations as there were concerning the details of the home industry.

By the end of the thirteenth century there was not a country in Europe where Florentines were not the chief controllers of trade. The "Calimala" Consuls obtained the authorization of the Government of the Republic to establish Agencies in all the the principal wool-producing and cloth manufacturing

centres.

One of the agents of the "Calimala" Guild, who travelled far and wide, was Guido di Filippo di Ghidone dell' Antella. He was born in Florence in 1254, and has left the "Ricordanze," 1 or diary, of his journeys and experiences. In 1267 he went, he says, to Genoa on business connected with the Company of Lamberto dell' Antella, and dwelt there eighteen months. In 1270 the Company of Rinuccio Cittadini sent him to Venice, and there he remained two years. With his father he visited Ravenna in 1273 on business connected with a loan. His next employment was at home-five years in the office of Lamberto dell' Antella, and twelve years in the counting-house of the Scali Company. During the last period he was sent as representative of his house at various times to Pisa, to Naples, to St Jean d'Acre, into France, and to the Court of the Pope. Leaving the Scali, of which company he had been made a partner in 1290, he lived in France three years, working with the Franzesi. In 1296 with two partners, Neri Filippi and Lapo Ciederni, he rented a tavola, banker's table,-in the Mercato Nuovo from the banking house of Baccherelli. Two years later he threw in his lot with Giovanni de' Cerchi and his Company, but quitted them in 1301 when the quarrel between the Cerchi (Bianchi) and the Donati (Neri) began.

In every part of France,-which now became a second Fatherland to the Florentines,-the "Calimala" merchants had agencies :-in l'Île de France-Paris, and St Denis; in Champagne-Provins, Lagny, and Troyes; in Berri-Bourges; in Provence-Marseilles, Toulon, Arles, Saint Gilles, and Avignon; in Languedoc-Nîmes, Montpellier, Narbonne, Béziers, Perpignan, Carcassonne, and Toulouse.

In all these places Florentine agents and traders abounded, receiving and executing orders, and, whilst they rendered obedience to the laws of the land wherein they resided, they laboured under the same regulations as these which ruled their countrymen at home. The agency at Nîmes was established in 1296, and that

1 Archivio Storico Italiano, I. Series, vol. iv. p. 5.