Details

Subjects:

Medici, House of -- Archives.
Medici, House of.
Monte di pietà (Florence, Italy).
Banks and banking -- Italy -- Florence -- Early works to 1800.
Accounting -- Italy -- 17th century.
Accounting.
Banks and banking.
Italy.
Italy -- Florence.

Form/Genre:

codices (bound manuscripts)
accounts.
credit records.
ledgers (account books)
Manuscripts, Italian -- 17th century.
Manuscripts, European.
Archives.

Language:

Italian.

Summary:

Ledger of credits and debts of the Medici family with Florentine and Pisan banks for the years 1611-1616. It consists of a detailed list of debts and credits of various members of the Medici family with a wide number of counterparts, both in Florence and Pisa. The Medici bank, which was run by members of the family, was one of the most powerful banks in Italy, and it was not uncommon for them to lend and borrow large amounts of money from other banks. These banks were also run by prominent families and the counterparts in the transactions that appear in the ledger are often members of other aristocratic families from Florence, the most important being the Capponi Medici (who had influence over the Pisan territory), the Gondi, the Acciaiuoli, Francesco Bernardo Riccardi and Carlo Paganelli. Another institutional counterpart that appears very frequently is the Monte di pietà of Florence. Very large single transactions, many in groups sharing the same settlement date, appear throughout the ledger.

Notes:

Ms. codex.
Title supplied by cataloger.
Pagination: Paper, i (paper) + 50; rectos numbered [i], 1-31, [32-49], contemporary pagination in ink, modern pagination in pencil, upper right recto; versos numbered 1-31, [32-50], contemporary pagination in ink, modern pagination in pencil, upper left verso (p.32-50 are blank but ruled).
Layout: Written in 2 columns with vertical bounding lines in lead; the large column on the left with the name of the counterpart in the transaction, and the smaller one on the right with the amount of the transaction.
Script: Written in a cursive script by multiple hands.
Watermark: Similar to Briquet, Ancre 491 (Florence, 1522), but with much larger arms and flukes.
Binding: Contemporary vellum; the heading Riscontro con li banchi, no. 244 and letter E with decorative penwork on upper cover; lower cover with remnants of leather ties wraps around upper cover.
Origin: Written in Italy between 1611 (f. 1r) and 1616 (f. 31v).
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 (4), Library Chronicle 37 (1971), no. 1, p. 17 (Ms. Lea 539).

Cited as:

Ledger of Medici Debtors and Creditors (Ms. Codex 1526). Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, University of Pennsylvania.

OCLC:

355813867