Details

Subjects:

Medici, House of -- Archives.
Medici, Francesca de'.
Medici, Lucrezia de', 1545-1561.
Marie de Médicis, Queen, consort of Henry IV, King of France, 1573-1642.
Medici, Angela de'.
Medici, Maria Maddalena de'.
Medici, Caterina de, 1573-1617.
Medici, Vincenzo de'.
Medici, Ottavia Altoviti de'.
Medici, Andrea.
Medici, House of.
Trials -- Italy -- Early works to 1800.
Civil law -- Italy.
Civil law.
Banks and banking.
Trials.
Italy.
Inheritance and succession -- Italy.
Inheritance and succession.
Banks and banking -- Italy -- Florence -- Early works to 1800.
Italy -- Florence.

Form/Genre:

Codices.
Legal documents.
Notarial documents.
Contracts.
Inventories.
Manuscripts, Italian.
Manuscripts, European.
Archives.

Language:

Italian and Latin.

Summary:

Miscellany of copies of trial proceedings and other legal and notarial documents, covering the years 1592-1664, concerning legal matters of the estate of Lucrezia Guadagni de' Medici and her son Vincenzo di Andrea de' Medici. Lucrezia Guadagni married Andrea de' Medici in 1592, and the couple had three children, Ottavia, Francesco and Vincenzo. Andrea died in 1625, leaving his sons a considerable estate, but also some debts. Lucrezia's dowry was returned to her, as was customary, but Andrea's estate went entirely to Francesco and Vincenzo, who were to support their mother and their sister Ottavia. However, in 1625-1650, Francesco and Vincenzo contracted large debts with the Monte di pietà, a Florentine money lending institution which often applied very high interest rates. In 1650, Francesco died, and Vincenzo was unable to repay his debts, which resulted in the Monte di pietà starting the first legal process to repossess Vincenzo and Francesco's assets which, however, did not reach a resolution. Lucrezia Guadagni died in 1652, leaving Vincenzo as sole beneficiary of her estate, which included large credits but also substantial debts. Moreover, in 1656, Vincenzo, who was living in Naples at the time, also died, with no male heirs. The Monte di pietà took advantage of the situation and, with a second legal proceeding, succeeded in repossessing all of Vincenzo's assets. The surviving parties were the six daughters of Vincenzo (Francesca, Lucrezia, Caterina, Maria, Maria Maddalena, and Angela), as well as their mother, Ottavia Altoviti, wife of Vincenzo. Dissatisfied with the actions of the Monte di pietà, they sued the lending institution, asking the refund of the dowry of Lucrezia Guadagni de' Medici, which, according to the local law, was considered a protected asset with a special fiscal status, and not usually subject to repossession. Moreover, they demanded that their own credits with Vincenzo be paid by the officers of the Monte di pietà who, according to the offended parties, had repossessed a sum much larger than the debts and relative interest Vincenzo had failed to pay. The trial, which probably started shortly after the death of Vincenzo in 1656, continued until 1664. According the documents contained in the manuscript, the crucial years of the process were 1657-1664, when some of the most important documents were written, including some of the court proceedings, letters and petitions from the six daughters to Ferdinando II, Grand-duke of Tuscany asking for help, and various other legal documents drafted by a large number of lawyers and court clerks (among which, the ones that appear more frequently are Giovanni Pellegrini, Matteo Caterini, Michele Bonarrini, Francesco Maria Salvini, Antonio Corsi, Francesco Bernardi, Lionardo Martellini, and Paolo Signorini) and legal correspondence and documents issued by the Monte di pietà on the same matter. The Monte di pietà was represented in count by Bartolomeo Bologna, who worked together with Michele Bonarrini, head of the legal counsel. The already intricate trial, however, became increasingly complex as the investigation into the assets, wills, accounts and repossession process uncovered a much larger number of debts and credits and counterparts involved. The daughters of Vincenzo and his wife and the Monte di pietà were no longer the sole contenders, but a large number of individuals who were either debtors or creditors of Vincenzo (or Francesco, or Lucrezia) also joined the legal dispute. The trial ceased to be a case of alleged embezzlement by the Monte di pietà, and became an open conflict between dozens of counterparts, the lending institution and the heirs. Although the manuscript does not contain copies of the individual petitions of the claimants that entered the trial after the initial investigative phase, their names appear in the final judgment and in its relative proceedings. The court ruled that the estate be probated, with debts and taxes paid before the beneficiaries could receive their share of the inheritance, and a ranking of creditors be made, to ease the process and prevent further litigations. Itemized inventories of the assets of Vincenzo are also made, and they are included in the manuscript. The documents related to the aforementioned events are collected in a semi-chronological order, with the ones concerning the pre-trial motions and the earlier stages of the trial located at the beginning of the volume, the ones concerning the verdict at the end of it, and those produced during the trial itself, including letters and documents, grouped together without following a specific sequence. However, the volume contains a very detailed table of contents, located in its initial pages.

Notes:

Ms. codex.
Title from cover.
Foliation: Paper, 311; [viii], 1-297, [298-303], contemporary foliation in ink, modern foliation in pencil, upper right recto.
Script: Written in a cursive script, by multiple hands.
Decoration: Genealogical tables illustrating the relationships between the members of the Medici, Guadagni and Altoviti families which were involved in the trial (f.1r and f.33r).
Binding: Contemporary parchment; the heading Processo delle signorine Lucrezia et le altre sorelle figliole del quondam signor Vincenzio de' Medici con il Monte di pietà et altri and Numero quarto on upper cover; upper cover and lower cover are tied with leather strings.
Origin: Written in Italy around 1664 (date of latest entries, f. 258r).
Forms part of: Gondi-Medici Business Records.

Penn Provenance:

Sold by Bernard M. Rosenthal, 1963.

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 (3), Library Chronicle 36 (1970), no. 2 p. 103-104 (Ms. Lea 508).

Cited as:

UPenn Ms. Codex 1517

Contributor:

Ferdinando II, Grand-Duke of Tuscany, 1610-1670, addressee.
Pellegrini, Giovanni, 1969-
Bonarrini, Michele.
Caterini, Matteo.
Salvini, Francesco Maria.
Corsi, Antonio.
Franceschi, Bernardo.
Martellini, Lionardo.
Signorini, Paolo.
Bologna, Bartolomeo.
Monte di pietà (Florence, Italy)

OCLC:

320841978