The Chancellor of Florence held the most important position in the bureaucracy of the
Florentine Republic
The Republic of Florence (; Old Italian: ), known officially as the Florentine Republic, was a Italy in the Middle Ages, medieval and Italian Renaissance, early modern state that was centered on the Italian city-states, Italian city of Florence ...
. Though the chancellor was not officially a member of the Republic's elected political government, unlike the
gonfaloniere or the nine members of the
signoria, the role was roughly equivalent to the head of the civil service in some countries today, and its holder could still wield considerable political influence. Holders included some of the most famous scholars, political thinkers and humanists of the
Renaissance
The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...
.
Partial list
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Coluccio Salutati
Coluccio Salutati (16 February 1331 – 4 May 1406) was an Italian Renaissance humanist and notary, and one of the most important political and cultural leaders of Renaissance
The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history ...
(appointed 1375)
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Leonardo Bruni (appointed 1410)
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Carlo Marsuppini
Carlo Marsuppini (1399–1453), also known as Carlo Aretino and Carolus Arretinus, was an Italian Renaissance humanist and chancellor of the Florentine Republic.
Biography
Marsuppini was born in Genoa into a family from Arezzo, but grew up and ...
, known as Carlo Aretino, (1444 - 1453)
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Poggio Bracciolini
Gian Francesco Poggio Bracciolini (; 11 February 1380 – 30 October 1459), usually referred to simply as Poggio Bracciolini, was an Italian scholar and an early Renaissance humanism, Renaissance humanist. He is noted for rediscovering and recove ...
(1453-1459)
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Benedetto Accolti (appointed 1459)
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Bartolomeo Scala (1465-1497)
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Niccolò Machiavelli
Niccolò di Bernardo dei Machiavelli (3 May 1469 – 21 June 1527) was a Florentine diplomat, author, philosopher, and historian who lived during the Italian Renaissance. He is best known for his political treatise '' The Prince'' (), writte ...
(appointed 1498)
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Marcello Virgilio Adriani (February 1498)
[ Dizionario biografico universale, Volume 1, by Francesco Predari, Tipografia Guigoni, Milan (1865); page 33]
See also
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Chancellor
Chancellor () is a title of various official positions in the governments of many countries. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the (lattice work screens) of a basilica (court hall), which separa ...
References
Republic of Florence
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