Giorgio Gucci (before 1350-1392, esp. 1383-1392)

by Caroline Stone (See Chinese translation)

Giorgio Gucci (alternative names) was born in Florence, some time before 1350. He was probably the eldest of the eight children of Guccio di Dino and his wife Francesca. Little is known of his early life. The family, which was relatively modest, lived in the Santa Maria Novella quarter. Gucci, like other members of the family, belonged to the Wool Workers Guild – the Arte della Lana – and seems to have been involved in high quality cloth production. The name of his wife is not known, but he had at least four children.

Gucci took part in the political life of Florence, a fact first recorded in 1379, when he held office as a Prior. One had to be at least 30 to hold this office, hence we know his age. It was an extremely tense time, when there was a revolt by the Ciompi, or unrepresented labourers and craftsmen, who were demanding a say in government in compensation for the heavy taxes imposed on them by an increasingly patrician oligarchy.

The result of the insurrection was a government composed of wool workers and other disenfranchised craftsmen, which lasted until 1392. Gucci’s father may have been one of the “Eight Saints”, a temporary council set up to carry out diplomatic and other negotiations during the hostilities, and Gucci himself played an active role in government.

In 1383, he was sent on the first of several embassies, mainly to Pisa, in order to check the expansionism of the Visconti family, which was threatening Florence. Gucci held a number of important positions in the period 1387-92 and was clearly perceived as a reliable and moderate man of good sense. Among other things, he pleaded for the cessation of hostilities, which were ruining Florence economically, a fairer contribution from wealthy tax-evaders and a check on wasteful public spending.

One of the most important events of his life was his pilgrimage to the Holy Land, undertaken between August 1384 and late May 1385. It is likely that the idea of the journey was born at the Augustinian monastery of S. Spirito among a group accustomed to meet there, of which Lionardo Frescobaldi was one of the leaders.

Lionardo Frescobaldi, Giorgio Gucci and Andrea Rinuccini set out together from Florence on 10 August, 1384, each with a servant. In Gucci’s case, this was one Pietro Tedesco. At Venice, they waited for other members of their party, which finally numbered 13, of whom only ten returned.

They set out from Venice for Alexandria on 4 September, arriving on the 27th, and stayed there until 5 October. Frescobaldi remarks on the size and commerce of the city, larger than Florence. They then departed for Cairo on a boat up the Nile. On 19 October they went to the Monastery of St Catherine and to Sinai, staying there until the 2 November. After that they visited Gaza and Bethlehem, reaching Jerusalem on 22 November. They stayed there only four days, before departing for the River Jordan, Ain Karem and Galilee, arriving in Damascus on 9 December, where several of the party fell ill and two died. They left for Beirut on 29 January 1385 and rested there until 10 April, returning to Venice on 21 May.

Travelling as a group, they held their funds in common, and Gucci was in charge of the purse. It is therefore not surprising that, as well as recording the religious aspects of his journey, he gives us detailed information on the cost of living -- the Florentines found it relatively inexpensive -- the goods available and their prices, weights and measures, as well as other subjects of interest to a merchant.

His information is useful both in showing how such a journey was organized and funded – with the intention of providing guidance for future travellers – and because Christian pilgrimage was of great financial importance to the local Muslims, so much so that there was a school of thought that disapproved of it precisely because it fed Muslim prosperity. Under Sultan Barquq, who had recently seized power, the region was relatively safe for travellers, but everything had to be paid for and the impecunious were severely discouraged.

As with other pilgrims, Gucci gives a long list of indulgences to be obtained at different points along the way, without adding much in the way of comment. This list would have been of great importance to future travellers, since acquiring indulgences was one of the main reasons for undertaking a pilgrimage.

Gucci’s account, while not especially elegant stylistically, is full of such practical details, given as precisely as possible. It also repeatedly bears witness to his efforts to understand the events and the possible reasons behind them, something which did not much concern Frescobaldi. Although Gucci does not describe the churches and monasteries he visited in as glowing terms as some of the pilgrims, he identifies them as best he can and the account is of great use in clarifying the position of the Christian communities, now very much in the minority. Fr. Bagatti’s edition provides a very useful and comprehensive table of all the churches mentioned by various travellers, including Gucci.

Some years after his return, Giorgio Gucci was murdered on the night of the 19th-20th October 1392 while returning from the Palazzo della Signoria in Florence. The whole event is murky, but the murder was apparently carried out on the orders of his brother, Tommaso, who was in prison for debt and resentful of the family's failure to free him.

Multiple Accounts of the Journey

In the excellent introduction to the English translation, edited by Fr. Bagatti, it is suggested on internal evidence that Frescobaldi was the first to write an account of the journey, followed by Gucci, and that the last was Sigoli, who finished his book on 4 October 1390, five years after their return.