La diplomazia fiorentina e il finanziamento della guerra anti-ottomana da Sigismondo di Lussemburgo a Mattia Corvino By Kati (Katalin) Prajda

https://www.academia.edu/100844876/La_diplomazia_fiorentina_e_il_finanziamento_della_guerra_anti_ottomana_da_Sigismondo_di_Lussemburgo_a_Mattia_Corvino?email_work_card=title The Florentine Diplomacy and the Financing of the Crusades from Sigismund of Luxembourg to Matthias Corvinus The advancement of the Ottomans naturally frightened merchant networks operating in the Adriatic and in the Ottoman border zones. Thus, they were ready to support the corresponding authorities in the anti-Ottoman campaigns which saw the involvement of many Florentines, and Ragusan businessmen as financiers and military captains. It was in their interest to keep their trade networks in the region, which included salt, precious metals, and slaves, and many other items of high commercial value. By the first decade of the fifteenth century, the Florentine Pippo Scolari had become the chief anti-Ottoman captain. Florentines dominance in Hungarian warfare lasted only until 1426, when Scolari died. Following 1426, Ragusan business networks, led by Matko Talovac and his brothers, started replacing the Florentine ones in financing Sigismund’s wars. Another reason was that the Ottomans’ expansion had a clear effect on the redistribution of Italian economic spheres in the region. Because of the amicable relations between Lorenzo de’ Medici and the Porta, Florentines had no more interest in being directly involved in the crusades. Similarly, when in 1442 Ragusa placed itself under the Ottoman protectorate, which gave them an excellent opportunity to expand their trade networks, they likely withdraw their financing from the crown. These were the times, when starting with Eugene IV, popes developed into leaders of the crusades, wherein they invested a considerable amount of money, deriving from the revenues of the Apostolic Chamber and mediated to the Kingdom by the Medici Bank. Besides these issues, the paper aims to analyze the hitherto unknown activity of the Florentine intelligence in the royal court and in territories controlled by the royal army. ...