The traditions of medieval Lombardy and Normandy, and the French aristocratic influences which followed, all tended in this direction;and the Aragonese government, which was established by the middle of the fifteenth century, completed the work, and accomplished in Naples what followed a hundred years later in the rest of Italy--a social transformation in obedience to Spanish ideas, of which the chief features were the contempt for work and the passion for titles.The effect of this new influence was evident, even in the smaller towns, before the year 1500.We hear complaints from La Cava that the place had been proverbially rich, as long as it was filled with masons and weavers; whilst now, since instead of looms and trowels nothing but spurs, stirrups and gilded belts was to be seen, since everybody was trying to become Doctor of Laws or of Medicine, Notary, Officer or Knight, the most intolerable poverty prevailed.In Florence an analogous change appears to have taken place by the time of Cosimo, the first Grand Duke; he is thanked for adopting the young people, who now despise trade and commerce, as knights of his order of St.Stephen.
This goes straight in the teeth of the good old Florentine custom, by which fathers left property to their children on the condition that they should have some occupation.But a mania for titles of a curious and ludicrous sort sometimes crossed and thwarted, especially among the Florentines, the levelling influence of art and culture.This was the passion hood, which became one of the most striking follies at a time when the dignity itself had lost every significance.