circumcision, and the Christian feast of the Circumcision179present in Rome in 1272. In 1301–02 he received pay-
ments at PISAfor the mosaic of Saint John in the cathe-
dral apse and a Maestà at the hospital of Santa Chiara. He
probably died soon after with a reputation for arrogance
but blessed with great talent.
His work elaborated Byzantine modes, without
wholly breaking with them. In his wooden CRUCIFIXES,he
created a new sense of space and volume in his influential
FRESCOin the basilica of San Francesco at ASSISI.
Among his other important works were the fresco in
the lower church of the Assisi basilica, the image of Saint
FRANCISpainted for Santa Maria de degli Angeli at FLO-
RENCE, an image of the Virgin Mary in majesty at
Bologna and in the church of San Francesco at Pisa. The
Francis at Florence influenced GIOTTO, whom legend
has he discovered.
Further reading:Eve Borsook, The Mural Painters of
Tuscany: From Cimabue to Andrea del Sarto,2d ed. (Oxford:
Clarendon Press, 1980); Monica Chiellini, Cimabue,trans.
Lisa Pelletti (Florence: Scala Books, 1988); Robert Gibbs,
“Cimabue,” Dictionary of Art,7.314–319; Alfred Nichol-
son, Cimabue: A Critical Study(1932; reprint, Port Wash-
ington, N.Y.: Kennikat Press, 1972).
Ciompi revolt Often considered the best known of the
urban revolts of the late Middle Ages, it took place in Flo-
rence in the summer of 1378. The uprising was named
after its main protagonists, the Ciompi or wool carders,
who were among the poorest-paid workers in the impor-
tant Florentine cloth industry. The catalysts and circum-
stances of the revolt were divisions among the GUELFand
merchant ruling oligarchy, a difficult war with the pope,
great differences in the distribution of wealth, an unfair
tax system, the harshness of working conditions arising
from exploitative guild regulations, and the widespread
hideous living conditions of the working population.THE REVOLT
The revolt of the textile workers and the artisans of the
lesser corporations broke out in June 1378. It quickly
became a rebellion against the dominance of the cloth
merchants so influential in the regime then ruling the
city. In July, this expanded into violence in the streets and
attacks on government buildings. The rebels succeeded in
imposing a regime friendly to their complaints presided
over by a carder, Michele di Lando, and in creating a
guild or union of wool carders, dyers, and doublet or
jacket makers. These people formed the core workforce
of the lucrative cloth industry. This “revolutionary”
experiment lasted six weeks. The hardship resulting from
the owners’ shutting down the cloth industry and depriv-
ing people of income, and the further radicalization of
their demands, weakened solidarity among the rebels.
Some became even more radical; others were cowed into
passivity. At the end of August there was another insur-
rection by the unsatisfied cloth workers, but it was put
down by other groups of wool workers, the butchers, and
the tavern keepers. Executions and expulsions followed.
Most of their gains, especially the creation of a guild of
wool carders, were quickly annulled, and another regime
of merchant oligarchs soon returned to power.
See alsoLABOR.
Further reading:Gene A. Brucker, ed., The Society of
Renaissance Florence: A Documentary Study(New York:
Harper & Row, 1971); Gene A. Brucker, Florentine Politics
and Society, 1343–1378(Princeton, N.J.: Princeton Uni-
versity Press, 1962); Samuel Kline Cohn, Jr., The Laboring
Classes in Renaissance Florence (New York: Academic
Press, 1980); Michel Mollat and Philippe Wolff, The Pop-
ular Revolutions of the Late Middle Ages,trans. A. L. Lyt-
ton-Sells (London: Allen and Unwin, 1973); Richard C.
Trexler, The Spiritual Power: Republican Florence under
Interdict(Leiden: Brill, 1974).circumcision, and the Christian feast of the
Circumcision
Circumcision (in Hebrew, berit milah), the removal of
the male foreskin, has been a ritual practice among the
Jews, traditionally since the time of Abraham. It signifiedCimabue, The Crucifixion,Church of San Domenico, Arezzo,
Italy (Scala / Art Resource)