Editing Coluccio Salutati (section)

==Chancellor of Florence==

In 1374 Coluccio received an appointment in Florence and the following year was appointed [[Chancellor of Florence]], the most important position in the [[bureaucracy]] of the Florentine Republic. In his position, Salutati was responsible for the widely circulated official correspondences with other states, drafting confidential instructions to ambassadors, conducting diplomacy and negotiating treaties: "in its chancellor Florence had someone truly exceptional, endowed not only with legal knowledge, political cunning and diplomatic skill, but also with psychological penetration, a gift for public relations, and unusual literary skill."<ref>[[Stephen Greenblatt]], ''The Swerve: how the world became modern'', 2011:123.</ref> His abilities as a statesman were soon tested as Florence was immediately faced with war with the papacy.<ref>Witt, Ronald. ''In the Footsteps of the Ancients: The Origins of Humanism from Lovato to Bruni''. Boston: Brill, 2000. Page 305</ref> Salutati was charged with addressing Pope [[Gregory XI]] to assure him that Florence was still a loyal member of the [[Guelf]] party.<ref>Witt, 2000:305</ref> Although he failed to prevent war with the papacy, Salutati soon became the most celebrated chancellor in all of Italy and a master of the formal letter. Florence's principal nemesis during his tenure, [[Gian Galeazzo Visconti]], [[Duke of Milan]], once remarked that one of Salutati's letters could "cause more damage than a thousand Florentine horsemen."<ref>Gundersheimer, Werner L. ''The Italian Renaissance''. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall. 1965. Page 13</ref> During his life, Florence warred twice against its powerful northern rival, [[Giangaleazzo Visconti]]. His treatise ''De tyranno'' ("On the tyrant") published in 1400, has, most likely, its model in Visconti, although in it Salutati (despite being a republican) remains a supporter of the providential universal monarch already put forward by [[Dante]].<ref name="Tanzini 103">{{cite journal|title=Il cancelliere letterato|journal=Medioevo|issue=145/146|publisher=De Agostini|first=Lorenzo|last=Tanzini|page=103}}</ref> Occasionally his letters had unintended consequences. When he wrote to the people of Ancona in 1376, inciting them, in the name of their freedom, to revolt against the governor imposed by the pope, he called to mind the evils Italy had suffered on behalf of the French. Word of his nasty tone got to the King of France, which prompted a most conciliatory letter from Salutati, assuring the King that he meant no harm and that Florence would always be a friend to France.<ref>Witt, 2000:313.</ref>

In testimony to his service as chancellor the city of Florence paid 250 florins for his funeral in 1406.<ref>Caferro, William. ''John Hawkwood''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins. 2006. Page 315</ref>