Details

Subjects:

Medici, House of -- Archives.
Medici, Vincenzo de'.
Medici, House of.
Accounting -- Italy -- 17th century.
Textile industry -- Italy -- Early works to 1800.
Textile industry.
Accounting.
Italy.

Form/Genre:

Codices.
Accounts.
Ledgers (account books)
Manuscripts, Italian.
Manuscripts, European.
Archives.

Language:

Italian.

Summary:

Ledger of forward contracts between Vincenzo de' Medici, son of Carlo de' Medici, and members of other aristocratic families of Florence and the Spanish royal family, as well as smaller private investors, for the years 1609-1611. Often includes the nature of a given transaction and its amount, as well as listing the names of the individuals that act as counterparts in the transaction. Most transactions are related to the textile business, which was of crucial importance for the Medici family. More precisely, the ledger contains detailed summaries of contracts to sell a standardized quantity of a textile product of standardized quality (agreed between the counterparts) at a certain date in the future, at a price determined at the time of writing of the contract. In certain cases a discounted price is offered to a counterpart. The future date in which the transaction is to be settled is also noted.

Notes:

Ms. codex.
Title supplied by cataloger.
Foliation: Paper, i (paper) + 144; each folio has the same number on both recto and verso; rectos numbered [1], 2-62, 64-127, [128], 129-146 contemporary numeration in ink, modern numeration in pencil, upper right recto; versos numbered 1-61, 63-128, 130, 131-146, contemporary numeration in ink, modern numeration in pencil, upper left verso.
Layout: Written in 3 columns with vertical bounding lines in lead; the smaller column on the left with the transaction number, the large central column with the transaction, a brief description of it, including the name of the counterparts and the settlement date, and the smaller one on the right with the amount of the settlement. In certain cases the large central column contains itemized accounts of a transaction within one entry.
Script: Written in a cursive script, perhaps by multiple hands.
Watermark: Similar to Briquet, Couronne 4835 (Lucca, 1565-1566).
Binding: Contemporary vellum, no. 98 (?) on spine; the heading Giornale e ricordanze, no. 264 and letter D with decorative penwork on upper cover; lower cover with remnants of leather ties wraps around upper cover; decorative leatherwork on spine.
Origin: Written in Italy between 1609 (f. 1v) and 1611 (f. 137v).
Forms part of: Gondi-Medici Business Records.

Penn Provenance:

Sold by Bernard M. Rosenthal, 1961.

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. 200 (Ms. Lea 263).

Cited as:

UPenn Ms. Codex 1317

OCLC:

298882807