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ADRIANI, Marcello Virgilio (1464-1521), chancellor of Florence. Document signed to Piero di Braccio Martelli, Florence, 7 June 1502, formally instructing him, in the name of the Priores Libertatis et Vexillifer Iustitie, as 'oratore' in Perugia to appeal to the priors of that city not to join Arezzo in revolt, nor to give assistance to the Aretines and to argue the same case 'con più efficacia e con ragioni più vive' to the condottieri Giovanpaolo and Adriano Baglioni, pointing out that because of Alexander VI and Cesare Borgia other cities might be tempted to follow the example of Arezzo and making plain to them that the Florentines were negotiating for a contingent of French troops to come from Lombardy to assist them, 2 and 1pages, 286 x 213mm, endorsed on verso (wear and small holes along folds affecting a few words, small tears at edges, reinforcement along folds and repairs to tears, holes and the excision of the impressed seal).
The threat posed by the revolt of the subject city of Arezzo was not the only one that the Florentine Republic faced in June 1502. The city was continuously at war or in the midst of preparations for war. Money still needed to be raised to pay troops in order to recover Pisa. Other Florentine cities were vulnerable to Cesare Borgia's lieutenant Vitellozzo Vitelli; in fact, before the month was out Vitelli had captured several Florentine towns including Cortona. Piero de' Medici was with his army.
From February 1498 Marcello Virgilio Adriani had been chancellor of the Republic, but this did not cause him to give up his place at the Studio fiorentino, where he taught poetry and oratory as successor to Poliziano. It was perhaps because of his continued activity as a scholar and antiquary that he managed, unlike his subordinate Machiavelli, to keep his post as chancellor after the return of the Medici in 1512.
The threat posed by the revolt of the subject city of Arezzo was not the only one that the Florentine Republic faced in June 1502. The city was continuously at war or in the midst of preparations for war. Money still needed to be raised to pay troops in order to recover Pisa. Other Florentine cities were vulnerable to Cesare Borgia's lieutenant Vitellozzo Vitelli; in fact, before the month was out Vitelli had captured several Florentine towns including Cortona. Piero de' Medici was with his army.
From February 1498 Marcello Virgilio Adriani had been chancellor of the Republic, but this did not cause him to give up his place at the Studio fiorentino, where he taught poetry and oratory as successor to Poliziano. It was perhaps because of his continued activity as a scholar and antiquary that he managed, unlike his subordinate Machiavelli, to keep his post as chancellor after the return of the Medici in 1512.