Details

Subjects:

Medici, House of -- Archives.
Medici, Camillo de'.
Detti, Giammaria.
Medici, House of.
Arte della lana (Guild : Florence, Italy).
Accounting -- Italy -- 16th century.
Textile industry -- Italy -- Early works to 1800.
Dyes and dyeing -- Italy -- Early works to 1800.
Woolen and worsted manufacture -- Italy -- History.
Wool industry -- History -- Italy.
Wool industry.
History.
Woolen and worsted manufacture.
Dyes and dyeing.
Textile industry.
Accounting.
Italy.

Form/Genre:

Codices.
Accounts.
Credit records.
Ledgers (account books)
Manuscripts, Italian.
Manuscripts, Renaissance.
Archives.

Language:

Italian.

Summary:

Ledger of debtors and creditors of Camillo di Carlo de' Medici and Giammaria Detti for the years 1559-1566. Camillo de' Medici and Giammaria Detti were both members of the guild of the lanaioli, merchants who dealt in woolen cloth and cooperated with the other corporations of bankers and merchants in the comune of Florence. The lanaioli saw all the processes from the raw baled wool through the final cloth, woven at numerous looms scattered in domiciles throughout the city. The ledger reflects their various activities and mentions transactions with many different workers (including weavers, spinners and dyers) who were paid for their services. When recording these transactions, information about the various phases of wool manufacturing is also present, often described in great detail. Debts and credits with members of aristocratic Florentine families are also not uncommon and the ledger often includes the nature of such transactions and their amount, as well as listing the names of the individuals that act as counterparts, the most important being Stefano, Taddeo, Francesco and Antonio Falzoni; Marcello, Piero and Carlo de' Medici; Giuliano Salviati; Jacopo Doni; and Bartolomeo and Romano Martelli. Memoranda contain detailed descriptions of the circumstances that lead to the creation of a debt or credit; in certain cases, the counterpart in the described transaction writes a short commentary as well, signing their name and stating that the description of the events is accurate. Flyleaves are made from a vellum fragment of 13th-century manuscript of a liturgical book, with text written in two columns with red and blue initials in a Gothic script.

Notes:

Ms. codex.
Title supplied by cataloger.
Foliation: Paper, 351; [1], 2-175, 175-188, 190-209, 209-348, [349-351]; contemporary foliation in ink, modern foliation in pencil, upper left verso.
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. Memoranda written in long lines.
Script: Written in a cursive script by multiple hands, including those of some of the counterparts involved in the transactions.
Watermark: Similar to Briquet, Couronne 4835 (Lucca, 1565-1566).
Binding: Contemporary vellum, no. 114 on spine; the heading Quadernuccio, no. 186, signet D and letter C with decorative penwork on upper cover; lower cover with remnants wraps around upper cover with leather straps; decorative leatherwork on spine.
Origin: Written in Italy between 1559 (f. 1v) and 1566 (f. 329r).
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. 210 (Ms. Lea 330).

Cited as:

UPenn Ms. Codex 1403

OCLC:

310375161