Giovanni and Lusanna: Love and Marriage in Renaissance Florence

Giovanni is a member of the della Casas, a prominent and aristocratic family with connections to the most elite members of Florentine society, including the Medicis. Though Giovanni’s father is a notary, Giovanni joins his older brothers in working in “international trade and banking” (10). He forms a banking company with his brother Jacopo that helps him become one of the wealthiest citizens in his neighborhood. Though Giovanni is an eligible bachelor for many aristocratic families seeking wealthy husbands for their teenage daughters, Giovanni remains unmarried for many years. In the early 1440s, he begins to pursue Lusanna, though she is from a lower class and married, and they likely begin an adulterous affair. After Lusanna’s first husband dies, Giovanni agrees to secretly marry Lusanna, Brucker suspects, because he did not think the Catholic Church would consider a secret wedding legitimate.

At the bigamy trial, Giovanni openly admits to having an adulterous affair with Lusanna. Such affairs between aristocratic men and lower-class women are tacitly accepted in Florentine society. When the trial does not end in his favor, Giovanni uses his considerable connections in the Roman Catholic Church to reverse the decision. Afterwards, Giovanni falls into debt and is eventually excommunicated from the Catholic Church. 

Archbishop Antoninus is the most powerful religious figure in Florence. Before his appointment as archbishop, Antoninus worked for several years in the Roman Catholic Church under Pope Eugenius IV where he learned a lot about “ecclesiastical government” (12). As an archbishop, he gains a reputation for being a reformer who is committed to fairness and justice. Though Florence’s upper class frequently tries to influence the Catholic Church, Antoninus refuses to be bribed, believing he is the “father of poor and miserable persons” (74). Antoninus authors a book called Summa Theologica, which outlines his thoughts about proper protocol for priests. The book also includes his theory about how to judge trials in an ecclesiastical court. 

In 1455, Antoninus receives a papal order to investigate Lusanna’s claims that Giovanni has committed bigamy. Despite the lack of clear evidence for either party’s version of events, Antoninus ultimately concludes that upper-class Giovanni lawfully married lower-class Lusanna, and he nullifies Giovanni’s second marriage. Brucker conjectures that Antoninus’ dedication to protecting the city’s poorer classes influences his decision. The Pope later reverses the decision on appeal.

Ser Filippo Mazzei is a notary in Archbishop Antoninus’s archiepiscopal court. As a notary, Ser Filippo’s duties are to record every event that occurs in the court. Throughout the investigation of Lusanna’s case against Giovanni, Ser Filippo takes exhaustive notes, drafting a portrait of a “slow and laborious” legal process (40).