[Ledger of Medici accounts and memoranda].

Format:

Book

Manuscript

Language:

Italian

Subjects (All):

Medici, House of--Archives.

Medici, House of.

Accounting--Italy--15th century.

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:

110 leaves : paper ; 283 x 218 mm bound to 288 x 220 mm

Place of Publication:

[Italy], 1456-1495.

Language Note:

Italian.

Summary:

Ledger of accounts of the Medici estate for the years 1456-1495, written in the first person by an unnamed author. The list of the Medici properties mentioned in the ledger includes a main house in Florence; the magione di San Piero, in San Piero a Sieve, north of Florence; the podere La Pergola (?), in Palaia, between Pisa and Florence; and the Valdinievole farm and its stalls, right outside Florence. For every property there is a short list of expenses (related to household management and to the payment of wages of workers), revenues (related to small sales of produce, wine and oil), and a brief description of the property itself (stalls, houses and land). Memoranda include short descriptions of the circumstances that lead to an expense or a revenue and, sometimes, a longer description of the property.

Notes:

Ms. codex.

Title supplied by cataloger.

Foliation: Paper, 110; 2-15, 20-55, 58-68, 72-73, 77-85, 92-93, 103-107, 114-125, 127-134, 136-144, contemporary foliation in ink, upper right recto (f.102 torn; f.126 severed; and f.5-9, 20-23, 33-37, 40-47, 50, 55, 58-63 and 72 blank but ruled).

Layout: Written in 2 columns with vertical bounding lines in lead; the small column on the left with the date of the transaction and the large one on the right with a description of the transaction. Memoranda written in long lines.

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

Watermark: Similar to Briquet, Fleur 6340 (Lucca, 1456), but with a longer stalk.

Binding: Contemporary vellum, no. 22 on spine; the heading Ricordanze di beni et immobili di casa Medici, letter A with decorative penwork and no. 242 on upper cover; lower cover wraps around upper cover with remnants of leather ties; decorative leatherwork on spine.

Origin: Written in Italy between 1456 (f. 2r) and 1495 (f. 32v).

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. 191 (Ms. Lea 212).

Cited as:

UPenn Ms. Codex 1435

OCLC:

311866307