Signoria
A signoria (
Italian: [siɲɲoˈriːa]) was the governing authority in many of the Italian city-states during the Medieval and Renaissance periods. The word signoria comes from signore (Italian: [siɲˈɲoːre]), or "lord", an abstract noun meaning (roughly) "government", "governing authority", de facto "sovereignty", "lordship"; pl.: signorie.History of the Signoria
During the late 13th and early 14th centuries, a significant shift occurred in the governance of Italian cities. Whereas citizens had once chosen their own leaders, they began to entrust power to a single ruler. Such authority often spiraled out of control when the citizens could not depose of rulers who had failed to govern wisely. This transition had far-reaching consequences and was met with mixed reactions at the time. In The Divine Comedy, Dante frequently depicted Italy as a land ruled by despots and condemned the rise of lordship, associating it with humanity’s most destructive impulses such as pride, which drove some individuals to assert dominance over their fellow citizens. Others defended the emergence of these rulers, believing that only a strong leader could end the internal strife that had long plagued their cities and restore stability.
Contemporary observers and modern historians see the rise of the signoria as a reaction to the failure of the comuni to maintain law-and-order and suppress party strife and civil discord. In the anarchic conditions that often prevailed in medieval Italian city-states, people looked to strong men to restore order and disarm the feuding elites.
In times of anarchy or crisis, cities sometimes offered the signoria to individuals perceived as strong enough to save the state. For example, the Tuscan state of Pisa offered the signoria to Charles VIII of France in the hope that he would protect the independence of Pisa from its long term enemy Florence. Similarly, Siena offered the signoria to Cesare Borgia.
Politics
By the beginning of the 14th century, a number of cities in northern Italy were ruled by signori: Milan by the Visconti family, Ferrara by the Este, Verona by the Della Scala, Padua by the Carrara. The earliest signori in Tuscany were the condottieri (mercenaries) Uguccione della Faggiuola at Pisa and Lucca (1313–16), and Castruccio Castracani, also at Lucca (1320–28).
Initially, some cities dismantled lordships once conflicts subsided. However, when a ruler maintained power across multiple wars, the likelihood of their continued rule increased. The hereditary transmission of power, as seen in 1264 when Azzo d'Este passed his position to his nephew Obizzo, contributed to the normalization of one-man rule. This precedent encouraged similar developments in other cities, solidifying the institutionalization of lordship in northern and central Italy.
In areas that were not under the rule of a prince, the name Signoria often refers to the ruling body of magistrates. In Florence, those who made up the signoria were often members of the most distinguished families.