The
Gonfaloniere was a highly prestigious communal post in medieval and
RenaissanceThe Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Florence in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe...
ItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia. Italy shares its northern, Alpine boundary with France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia...
, notably in
FlorenceFlorence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence...
and the
Papal StatesThe Papal States, State of the Church or Pontifical States were one of the major historical states of Italy from roughly the 6th century until the Italian peninsula was unified in 1861 by the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia .The Papal States comprised territories under...
. The name derives from
gonfaloneThe gonfalon or gonfalone , is a long flag or banner, often pointed, swallow-tailed, or with several streamers, and suspended from a crossbar. It was first adopted by Italian medieval communes, and, later, by local Guilds, Corporations and Districts.It can be designed with a badge or coat of arms,...
, the term used for the banners of such communes.
In Florence the post was known as
Gonfaloniere of JusticeGonfaloniere of Justice was a post in the government of medieval and early Renaissance Florence. Like Florence's Podestà and Priori, it was introduced in 1293 when Giano Della Bella's Ordinamenti di Giustizia came into force....
, being held by one of the nine citizens selected by drawing lots every two months, who formed the government, or
SignoriaThe Signoria was the government of medieval and renaissance Florence. Its nine members, the Priori, were chosen from the ranks of the guilds of the city: six of them from the major guilds, and two from the minor guilds...
. In the papal states it was known as Gonfaloniere of the Church or Papal Gonfaloniere.
Discussion
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The
Gonfaloniere was a highly prestigious communal post in medieval and
RenaissanceThe Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Florence in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe...
ItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia. Italy shares its northern, Alpine boundary with France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia...
, notably in
FlorenceFlorence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence...
and the
Papal StatesThe Papal States, State of the Church or Pontifical States were one of the major historical states of Italy from roughly the 6th century until the Italian peninsula was unified in 1861 by the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia .The Papal States comprised territories under...
. The name derives from
gonfaloneThe gonfalon or gonfalone , is a long flag or banner, often pointed, swallow-tailed, or with several streamers, and suspended from a crossbar. It was first adopted by Italian medieval communes, and, later, by local Guilds, Corporations and Districts.It can be designed with a badge or coat of arms,...
, the term used for the banners of such communes.
In Florence the post was known as
Gonfaloniere of JusticeGonfaloniere of Justice was a post in the government of medieval and early Renaissance Florence. Like Florence's Podestà and Priori, it was introduced in 1293 when Giano Della Bella's Ordinamenti di Giustizia came into force....
, being held by one of the nine citizens selected by drawing lots every two months, who formed the government, or
SignoriaThe Signoria was the government of medieval and renaissance Florence. Its nine members, the Priori, were chosen from the ranks of the guilds of the city: six of them from the major guilds, and two from the minor guilds...
. In the papal states it was known as Gonfaloniere of the Church or Papal Gonfaloniere. Other central and northern Italian communes, from
SpoletoSpoleto is an ancient city in the Italian province of Perugia in east central Umbria on a foothill of the Apennines. It is 20 km S. of Trevi, 29 km N...
to Piemonte, elected or appointed
gonfalonieri. The
Bentivoglio familyBentivoglio was an Italian family of princely rank, long supreme in Bologna and responsible for giving the city its political autonomy during the Renaissance.-History:...
of
BolognaBologna is the capital city of Emilia-Romagna, in the Po Valley of northern Italy...
aspired to this office during the sixteenth century. A century later, however, when
Artemisia GentileschiArtemisia Gentileschi was an Italian Early Baroque painter, today considered one of the most accomplished painters in the generation influenced by Caravaggio...
painted a portrait of Pietro Gentile as a gonfaloniere of
BolognaBologna is the capital city of Emilia-Romagna, in the Po Valley of northern Italy...
in 1622, with the
gonfalone in the background, the office had merely symbolic value.
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