[Copies of documents relating to water rights in Milan].

Format:

Book

Manuscript

Contributor:

Schoenberg, Lawrence J., former owner.

Lawrence J. Schoenberg Collection (University of Pennsylvania)

Language:

Latin

Subjects (All):

Water rights--Italy--History.

Water rights.

History.

Milan (Italy)--History--14th century.

Milan (Italy)--History--15th century.

Italy.

Genre:

codices (bound manuscripts)

legal documents

notarial documents

decrees

annotations

Manuscripts, Latin.

Manuscripts, Renaissance.

Penn Provenance:

Sold at auction at Christie's, 29 Nov. 1999, lot 8, to Lawrence J. Schoenberg.

Gift of Lawrence J. Schoenberg and Barbara Brizdle, 2011.

Physical Description:

43 leaves : parchment ; 186 x 138 (125 x 84) mm bound to 189 x 153 mm (including strap)

Production:

[Milan], [after 1444]

Language Note:

Latin.

Summary:

Copies of 9 documents relating to the illicit use of water and diversion of waterways in the territory of Milan, presumably to compile evidence of the legal status of these assets. The first 8, copies of documents originally written in 1382 to 1386, are from the correspondence of Blanche of Savoy, widow of Galeazzo II Visconti, and their son Giangaleazzo Visconti, Duke of Milan, first requesting that the Vicarius of Milan forbid the diversion of water and sue those having diverted water from the Rugia Sancti Columbani (San Colombano) and its tributary the Modio, and then recounting the proceedings of the ensuing lawsuits. The seventh and eighth documents have copies of notarial signets (f. 37v, 39r). The last document (f. 39v-43r) is a decree of Duke Filippo Maria Visconti dated 18 April 1444 prohibiting diversion of rivers and canals without permission. It begins with a note explaining that it was found at the Officium statutorum (f. 39v). The copies appear all to have been written at roughly the same time. Contemporary annotations, as well as annotations in 16th- and 17th-century hands, appear in the margins.

Notes:

Ms. codex.

Title supplied by cataloger.

Collation: Parchment, i + 43 + i; 1-2²⁰ 3⁴ (-4); 1-43; contemporary or near-contemporary foliation in ink, upper right recto. Link to collation model at end of record.

Layout: Written in 27 long lines; vertical bounding lines ruled in lead, horizontal lines in text block ruled in faint ink on some leaves.

Script: Written in cursive humanistic script.

Decoration: Some manicules in margins.

Binding: Contemporary leather wallet binding with restored strap but lacking buckle; inside of flap marked Carta 123 (or 193).

Origin: Written in Milan, after 1444.

Local Notes:

Lawrence J. Schoenberg & Barbara Brizdle Manuscript Initiative.

Cited in:

Described in Transformation of knowledge: early manuscripts from the collection of Lawrence J. Schoenberg (London: Paul Holberton, 2006), p. 149 (LJS 342).

Cited as:

UPenn LJS 342

Contains:

Blanche, of Savoy, consort of Galeazzo II Visconti, signore di Milano.

Giangaleazzo Visconti, Duke of Milan, 1351-1402.

Filippo Maria Visconti, Duke of Milan, 1392-1447.

OCLC:

706710356

Online:

The Lawrence J. Schoenberg and Barbara Brizdle Manuscript Initiative Fund Home Page

Collation model