Details

Subjects:

History.
Politics and government.
Naples (Kingdom) -- Politics and government -- Early works to 1800.
Naples (Kingdom) -- Economic conditions.
Naples (Kingdom).
Economic conditions.
Naples (Kingdom) -- History -- Early works to 1800.

Form/Genre:

Codices.
Manuscripts, Italian.
Manuscripts, European.

Language:

Italian, with short passages in Latin and Spanish.

Summary:

A bound collection of copies of letters written by Neapolitan magistrates to the king of Spain, Ferdinand IV (who later became king of the Two Sicilies under the name Ferdinand I). The magistrates, referred to in the text as eletti or deputati di San Lorenzo or de' capitoli, were civil officers and representatives of the different areas, or rioni, of Naples. Although they were in charge of representing the citizens as a community, regardless of social status, they were in fact members of the local aristocracy with judicial, political and administrative power who managed the interests of the upper class. The letters written by the eletti to the king express their concern for the state of the economy in the city after the increased fiscal load imposed by the Spanish crown to the Neapolitan aristocracy, and beg for substantial reductions of taxation. There are a few denunciations of the discontent of the working class and its indigent status, but these are very rare.

Notes:

Ms. codex.
Title from title page (p. iii).
Pagination: Paper, i (paper) + 88 leaves + i (paper); [vi], 1-168, [169-170], contemporary pagination in ink, modern pagination in pencil, top center.
Layout: Written in 25 long lines.
Script: Written in a cursive script.
Watermark: Unidentified watermark containing a decorated coat of arms; unidentified watermark containing a crown and three circles, one containing a chili pepper, another containing the letter M and the last the letter R.
Binding: Contemporary parchment, no.2 on spine.
Origin: Written in Naples in 1765 (p. iii).

Cited in:

Described in Zacour, Norman P. and Hirsch, Rudolf. Catalogue of Manuscripts in the Libraries of the University of Pennsylvania to 1800: Supplement A (2), The Library Catalogue 36, (1970), no. 1, p. 25 (Ms. Lea 433).

Cited as:

UPenn Ms. Codex 1474

Contributor:

Ferdinand I, King of the Two Sicilies, 1751-1825, addressee.

OCLC:

318120268