The Wars of Religion in Europe by Adolphus Ward & Martin Hume

Author:Adolphus Ward & Martin Hume
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Perennial Press

A prince, said Cosimo, should be strong alike by sea and land. At Pisa he built docks, and he made Porto Ferraio a fine naval harbor. The immediate difficulty was the total lack of a national marine. The Republic of 1494-1512 had not owned a single galley, and could only blockade Pisa by hiring Genoese pirates. To remedy this, Cosimo introduced a seafaring element, especially into Elba, from Greece, Sicily, and the Levant. Very successful also was his new naval Order of St Stephen, whose members were pledged to war against the infidel. This Order was confined to the nobility, and intended to interest them in State service, to attach them to the dynasty, to wean them away from faction and the pursuit of wealth. The Knights were endowed with Commanderies founded by the State or by wealthy private families. They won distinction at Penon de Velez in 1564, and at Lepanto in 1571. But the little fleet never reached its intended number of twenty galleys, and could scarcely keep the sea when the Barbaresques appeared in force. On the other hand it paid its way, for Cosimo used it for his private commerce; while his successor extended its functions to piracy, which brought him into trouble with Venice.

In no department was Cosimo’s absolutism more conspicuous than in finance. The long Sienese war entailed expenditure that few Princes could have borne. To meet it he added new sources of revenue to old. Import and export duties kept rising; the standing property-tax was supplemented by a general income-tax of seven per cent. Among other expedients were a grist tax, a meat tax, and State lotteries. Forced gifts and loans had been exacted under all forms of government; and by such the war was largely financed. The gifts, which were not repayable, were widely spread; but the loans were levied only from the rich and were not unpopular, because they bore good interest, and the capital, contrary to former experience, proved to be secure. So also Cosimo faithfully paid the arrears of the salaries of State officials, which he had suspended at an anxious crisis. He knew the advantage of good credit; he could borrow in the European markets at a far cheaper rate than the Emperor or the Kings of France and Spain. Heavy as were the burdens, they were, perhaps, more tolerable than of yore. The taxes were not now used as daggers wherewith to stab political opponents: income rather than partisanship was the basis of assessment. The revenue was no longer farmed, but collected by ducal officials, rigorously supervised and audited. Cosimo told Fedeli that prevention of robbery had been his only difficult task; he believed, however, that now no minister could steal a farthing.

Pisa and Leghorn (1537-64)

Cosimo was no mere fiscalist; he not only tapped but filled the reservoirs of revenue. He revived the decaying silk and woollen trades, and could boast of an unprecedented production of cloth. The smaller towns and villages, to which Florence had jealously forbidden manufacture, now plied their looms.

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