[Ledger of Medici accounts].

Format:

Book

Manuscript

Language:

Italian

Subjects (All):

Medici, House of--Archives.

Medici, House of.

Accounting--Italy--16th century.

Textile industry--Italy--Early works to 1800.

Textile industry.

Accounting.

Italy.

Genre:

codices (bound manuscripts)

accounts

credit records

ledgers (account books)

Manuscripts, Italian.

Manuscripts, Renaissance.

Archives.

Penn Provenance:

Sold by Bernard M. Rosenthal, 1961.

Physical Description:

96 leaves : paper ; 231 x 108 mm bound to 237 x 121 mm

Production:

[Italy], [1539?]

Language Note:

Italian.

Summary:

Ledger of accounts of an unidentified member of the Medici family for the year 1539. Often includes the nature of a given credit or debt and its amount, as well as listing the names of the individuals or institutions that hold the debt or credit. Among the names that appear throughout the ledger and who act as counterparts in the transactions, the most frequent are Alamanno, Ottaviano and Carlo de' Medici; Francesco, Giulietto and Girolamo Rucellai; Enzo and Alfonso Capponi; Pietro Salviati, Lapo del Tonaglia, Giovanbattista Bettini; and the Spedale di Santa Maria Novella. Transactions are sometimes related to the sale of textile products, or to payments for produce or rent, as well as small debts and credits. Most of the individuals who appear in the ledger are members of different Florentine aristocratic families who worked for the Medici as diplomats or statesmen, but who also often acted as business counterparts.

Notes:

Ms. codex.

Title supplied by cataloger.

Foliation: Paper, 96; [1], 2-43, [44-96]; contemporary foliation in ink, modern foliation in pencil, upper right recto (f. 44-96 are blank but ruled).

Layout: Written in 2 columns with vertical bounding lines in lead; the large column on the left with the name of the counterpart and a brief description of the transaction, and the smaller one on the right with the amount of the transaction. Sometimes long lines are also used.

Script: Written in a cursive script, perhaps by multiple hands.

Watermark: Similar to Briquet, Fleche 6299 (Florence, 1518-1528).

Binding: Contemporary vellum, no. 164 on spine; the heading Richordi no. 11 on upper cover; lower cover with remnants of leather ties wraps around upper cover; decorative leatherwork on spine.

Origin: Written in Italy, ca. 1539.

Forms part of: Gondi-Medici Business Records.

Cited in:

Described in Zacour, Norman P. and Hirsch, Rudolf. Catalogue of Manuscripts in the Libraries of the University of Pennsylvania to 1800 (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1965), p. 202 (Ms. Lea 277).

Cited as:

UPenn Ms. Codex 1333

OCLC:

299765555