Details

Subjects:

Medici, House of -- Archives.
Medici, Vincenzo de'.
Medici, Alessandro de', 1510-1537.
Giraldi, Ludovico.
Detti, Giovanbattista.
Medici, House of.
Arte della lana (Guild : Florence, Italy).
Accounting -- Italy -- 16th century.
Textile industry -- Italy -- Early works to 1800.
Woolen and worsted manufacture -- Italy -- History.
Wool industry -- History -- Italy.
Wool industry.
History.
Woolen and worsted manufacture.
Textile industry.
Accounting.
Italy.

Form/Genre:

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

Language:

Italian.

Summary:

Ledger of accounts of Ludovico Giraldi and Vincenzo de' Medici for the years 1563-1569. Ludovico and Vincenzo 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. Like other lanaioli, they saw all the processes from the raw baled wool through the final cloth, and the present manuscript reflects their various activities. Most of the counterparts were other textile merchants, dyers, tailors, or members of the guild. Thus, the transactions recorded in the ledger are, for the most part debts, credits or expenses related to the purchase of wool, cloth or semi-finished textile goods, as well as salary payments made to various members of the guild. The business counterparts of Vincenzo and Ludovico that appear in the ledger include members of the most prestigious Florentine families, such as Guglielmo degli Albizzi, Filippo Salviati, Giovanbattista Detti, Alessandro de' Medici, Federigo de' Ricci, and Pancrazio Rucellai. Among the names of the workers that appear in the ledger, the ones that recur more frequently are those of Piero Baldocci; Filippo Marinuggi; Francesco and Lorenzo Corsini; Luca Salvucci; and Giovanni Buontalenti. A very small number of transactions with other artisans such as shoe- and hat-makers, whose activities were only marginally related to those of the lanaioli, are also present.

Notes:

Ms. codex.
Title supplied by cataloger.
Foliation: Paper, 48; [1], 2-19, xx, 21-46, [47-48], contemporary foliation in ink, modern foliation in ink, upper right recto (f. 47-48 are blank).
Layout: Written in 2 columns with vertical bounding lines in lead; the large central column with a brief description of the debt, credit or expense, including the name of the counterparts involved in the transaction, and the smaller one on the right with the amount received or disbursed.
Script: Written in a cursive script by multiple hands.
Decoration: Signet L V in ink (f. 1r).
Watermark: Similar to Briquet, Arbre 773 (Livorno, 1512), but with a small star on top.
Binding: Contemporary vellum, no. 124 on spine; the heading Quadernaccio, signet LV, no. 134 and letter B 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 1563 (f. 1r) and 1569 (f. 46r).
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. 99 (Ms. Lea 496).

Cited as:

UPenn Ms. Codex 1539

OCLC:

379425231