Reti mercantili a servizio della migrazione del primo Rinascimento. L’insediamento dei sudditi della corona ungherese nella Firenze del Quattrocento

In the Fifteenth Century, Hungarians constituted one of the few foreign groups in the city of Florence. In spite of their restricted number and the seemingly insignificant role played in local economy, their case may shed light on various patterns, especially on the importance of merchant networks as pull fac-tors in long-distance migration. The term ungarus appearing in Italian sources shall be best thought of as a collective cathegory for describing subjects of the Hungarian crown, regardless of their ethnic back-ground. Some documents refer also to their town of origins, most commonly Buda and Zagreb. From this point of view, it is not surpirising that there are Hungarians, at least appearing as such in Florentine sources, who lived for extended period of time in the Kingdom of Hungary, but were probably born and raised in Florence. Besides commerce, typical among these Hungarian-Florentines, the most common occupational cathegories of those Hungarians who settled in Florence were connected to military activi-ty (soldiers of various ranks and sorts), to livestock (horse dealer, workers in leather) and to making clothing (taylors). Furthermore, we find also servants among them who were employed mainly by long-distance trade merchants with a business profile in Hungary. The article draws a comparison between the Hungarian migration to Florence and to Rome and based on the reading of the earliest city censuses of Florence, as of 1427, 1433, 1446, 1458, as well as on notarial protocols housed mainly in the National Archives of Florence and Rome.