1704 Assize of Florencia

The Assize of Florencia, commenced from 24.V.1704 AN and continued until 24.XI.1704 AN, marked the arrival of Lors Bakker-Kalirion to take possession of the Circuit of Jadid Khaz Modan in accordance with the Peace of Lapano. The assize consisted of a round of feasting, appointments, executions, and the carrying out of a census upon the natives of the island of Florencia.

First Assize: taking possession of Capitolia

Review of the fleet & surrender of the city

The review of the fleet assembled in the Bay of Capitolia and the act of taking possession of the city occupied the first day of the assize.

The previous commissioner of the Circuit of Jadid Khaz Modan, the Ahmst Bræþstranin Heinz Raeder, surrendered the keys, chain, and mace of office to Lors Bakker-Kalirion, upon the occasion of his coming ashore at the quayside in Capitolia. The Aldermen of the bailiwicks of the island, accompanied by their retinues, thrice cried their acclamation of the new commissioner. After rendering homage to his replacement and presenting a gift of 1,500 Benacian sovereigns collected from amongst the notables of the island, Heinz Raeder was granted a commissioning scroll promoting him to the rank of Frainan Uihmanzis in the Benacian Union Defence Force and appointing him as Governor for Florencia.

Wedding feast of Lors Bakker-Kalirion & Avina Mira Avon-El

The wedding, carried on in the Babkhan fashion, was conducted over the course of eight days. The wedding party consisted of a little over 1,600 guests, including family members, civic representatives, and hostages.

Judgement upon the Municipal Corporation of Capitolia

Upon review of all available documentation, and the receipt of testimony from witnesses pressed under the supervision of magistrates, the Worshipful Municipal Corporation of the Aldermen of the Bailiwick of Capitolia, Guarantors of its Ancient Liberties, was found to be improperly constituted. The President of the Worshipful Municipal Corporation of Aldermen of the Bailiwick and the Masters of the Chapters of the Guilds present within the bailiwick were duly arrested and taken to the Palazzo Predåusa under a contingent of cudgellers from the local regiment of the State Guard. The prisoners were confined in isolation, fed exclusively on bread and water, and pressed for forty days under the supervision of the magister-carnifex for the bailiwick. At the end of this period the penitents gave freely their confessions which were recorded by the notary of the bailiwick and read into the record in the presence of the Commissioner for the Circuit. A period of ten days followed where those impious souls who attempted to recant their truthful confessions were once more pressed until they confirmed the rightness of their testimony.

On the fifty-first day, the Commissioner had the prisoners brought from the Palazzo Predåusa to the Piazza d'Flores where their confessions and the testimony of denouncers were once more read against them. The Commissioner judged them to be condemned by the accounts given as heretics and traitors to the Union Covenant, and ordered a tribunal formed of the Governor of the Island, the magister-carnifex, and the bailiff for the bailiwick, to pass sentence. Sentences were carried out with immediate effect by the magister-carnifex and his retinue upon a raised platform and a series of enclosures around the piazza. The fates of the condemned were recorded as follows:

• Vitalico Siravo, 51, President of the Worshipful Municipal Corporation of Aldermen of the Bailiwick, cast into a pit where he was pressed into and covered by a fresh pouring of cement;
• Lodovica Renna, 40, Mistress of the Chapter of the Guild of the Lotus, tied to a chair and garrotted;
• Cupido Gebbia, 52, Master of the Chapter of the Guild of Dunporters, taken from the piazza and hunted through the streets by youths from the Humanist Vanguard cadre in the city until he was caught and subsequently lynched;
• Rolando Cataldo, 67, Master of the Chapter of the Guild of Artisans, executed by sawing in half, to the revulsion and consternation of those who witnessed it;
• Gerasimo Schettini, 79, Master of the Chapter of the Guild of Artificers, placed under a board and trampled to death;
• Gerino Chiumento, 76, Master of the Chapter of the Guild of Factors, hung from scaffolding and electrocuted by direct connection to the mains supply;
• Moreno Caruana, 75, Master of the Chapter of the Guild of Thanes, also placed under a board and crushed by the application of iron weights;
• Remigio Buzzeo, 72, Alderman and banker, another one stamped to death by youths from the Humanist Vanguard;
• Evidio Pellegrino, 50, Nazarene presbyter, thrown into a pit containing vipers.

Additionally Elisea Montanaro, 24, was taken from the crowd and hung, drawn, and quartered, on order of the magister-carnifex after being denounced for claiming that Remigio Buzzeo had only been included amongst the condemned for refusing a loan to the deputy-resident of the Honourable Company in the city. This action caused a tumult amongst the crowd, obliging the state guard and the retinue of the magister-carnifex to fire upon the populace, resulting in ninety-seven deaths and causing three-hundred and twenty-nine to be severely wounded as the spectators dispersed in panic.

Fines and penalties laid upon the guild chapters and the municipal corporation of the city amounted to 10,000 Benacian sovereigns.