A Sumptuary Law: Restrictions on Dress (1373)

Medieval governments, both at the local and national level, exercised broad authority over economic activity. This authority was reflected in sumptuary laws, which taxed and regulated consumption — most often of clothing and ornamentation — in ways that were seen as conducive to the general well-being of the community. For example, in an effort to reinforce distinctions of social rank and status, a sumptuary law might reserve the use of luxury fabrics and materials for members of the nobility. Here, the Commune of Florence put a sumptuary law to a different purpose: the enhancement of communal revenues. As you read the law, consider what it reveals about Florentine society.

It is well known to all that the worthy men, Benozzo di Francesco di Andrea . . . [and fifteen others] . . . have been selected to discover ways and means by which money will accrue to the Commune. . . . Considering the Commune’s need for revenue to pay current expenses . . . they have enacted . . . the following:

First, all women and girls, whether married or not, whether betrothed or not, of whatever age, rank, and condition . . . who wear — or who wear in future — any gold, silver, pearls, precious stones, bells, ribbons of gold or silver, or cloth of silk brocade on their bodies or heads . . . for the ornamentation of their bodies . . . will be required to pay each year . . . the sum of 50 florins . . . to the treasurer of the gabelle1 on contracts. . . . [The exceptions to this prohibition are] that every married woman may wear on her hand or hands as many as two rings. . . . And every married woman or girl who is betrothed may wear . . . a silver belt which does not exceed fourteen ounces in weight. . . .

So that the gabelle is not defrauded, and so that citizens — on account of clothing already made — are not forced to bear new expenditures, [the officials] have decreed that all dresses, gowns, coats, capes, and other items of clothing belonging to any women or girls above the age of ten years, which were made up to the present day and which are decorated in whatever manner, may be worn for ten years in the future without the payment of any gabelle.

From Gene Brucker, The Society of Renaissance Florence (New York: Harper & Row, 1971), pp. 46–47.