The Eight of Santa Maria Novella were a radical group involved in the Ciompi Revolt in Florence

Florence

Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....

 in 1378.

Formation

In 1378, revolt broke out in Florence. After the ciompi (wool carders

Carding

Carding is a mechanical process that breaks up locks and unorganised clumps of fibre and then aligns the individual fibres so that they are more or less parallel with each other. The word is derived from the Latin carduus meaning teasel, as dried vegetable teasels were first used to comb the raw wool...

) had taken the Palace of the Signoria

Palazzo Vecchio

The Palazzo Vecchio is the town hall of Florence, Italy. This massive, Romanesque, crenellated fortress-palace is among the most impressive town halls of Tuscany...

, a new group of priors took control of the city, led by Michele di Lando

Michele di Lando

Michele di Lando was the first leader of the Ciompi Revolt in Florence that started in 1378.-Background:Michele di Lando was the son of a woman named Simona who was a vegetable seller in Florence. Michele himself was a wool carder....

. Although this leadership did carry out a number of radical reforms including the formation of three new guilds to represent the poorer workers, many of the aristocracy and the wool workers remained dissatisfied, particularly those from south of the Arno

Arno

The Arno is a river in the Tuscany region of Italy. It is the most important river of central Italy after the Tiber.- Source and route :The river originates on Mount Falterona in the Casentino area of the Apennines, and initially takes a southward curve...

. They therefore went to the Palace of the Signoria once again to challenge the new government. The protesters were told to leave and give up their weapons and in return, the priors would legislate to meet their demands. The protesters left but afterwards, they feared that they had been tricked so they gathered in large numbers and selected the Eight of Santa Maria Novella to hold the priors accountable. The Eight were drawn from the lowest tiers of society and set up their base in a Dominican

Dominican Order

The Order of Preachers , after the 15th century more commonly known as the Dominican Order or Dominicans, is a Catholic religious order founded by Saint Dominic and approved by Pope Honorius III on 22 December 1216 in France...

priory.

Actions

The Eight partially took control of the government of Florence and began making the decisions of state. Their power grew as they had a lot of popular support and gained recognition from both the workers and some of the elites. To consolidate their power, the Eight sent a group of messengers to the priors to demand that they recognise their decrees. Whilst some of the priors were willing to do so, Michele di Lando, the standard bearer of justice, refused to do so and attacked the messengers. Street fighting followed and the priors and guildsmen were able to defeat the followers of the Eight.

Aftermath

Having routed the followers of the Eight, the priors disbanded one of the three new guilds that represented the lowest workers and the apprentices. Further, a couple of the priors who were drawn from the lowest tiers of society were removed and replaced. The other new guilds remained in place. However in 1382, aristocratic power was restored in Florence and the power of the new guilds went into decline.