Collection ID: 0002 | Metadata type: TEI | TEI XML | Data

Title

Ledger of Medici debtors and creditors

Call number

Ms. Codex 1312
(Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania, Rare Book & Manuscript Library)

Alternate identifiers

• bibid: 9944351873503681
• http://hdl.library.upenn.edu/1017/d/medren/4435187

Publisher

The University of Pennsylvania Libraries

Language

Italian

Origin

Date

1605-1633

Place

Italy

Summary

Ledger of debtors and creditors of the brothers Andrea and Vincenzo de' Medici, sons of Carlo de' Medici, for the years 1605-1633. Often includes the nature of a given credit or debt and its amount, as well as listing the names of the individuals that hold the debt or credit, the most important being the Salviati and the Albizzi, aristocratic Florentine families, and the Medici Capponi, an aristocratic family of Pisa that had a strong and established business relationship with the Florentine Medici in spite of having fought against them in the late 15th century. The memoranda include detailed descriptions of the events which led to a credit or a debt between the Medici brothers and the counterparts, and, at the end of each memorandum, said counterpart stated that they agreed to pay back the debt in due time and signed their names as proof of their agreement. In spite of the fact that the Medici banking power had already started its decline in the 17th century, very large single transactions appear in this ledger.

Notes

• Ms. codex.
   
• Title supplied by cataloger.
   
• Forms part of: Gondi-Medici Business Records.
   

Watermark

Similar to Briquet, Agneau pascal 48 (Florence, 1498); Sirene 13894 (Pisa, 1597); Homme 7629 (Rome, 1566); and unidentified watermark containing a lion (?) and a crown.

Extent

273 leaves : 332 x 235 mm. bound to 345 x 237 mm

Foliation

Paper, i (paper) + 273 + i (paper); each folio has the same number on both recto and verso; rectos numbered [1], 2-224, [225-228], 229-259, [260-273], contemporary numeration in ink, modern numeration in pencil, upper right verso; versos numbered 1-224, [225-228], 229-259, [260-273], contemporary numeration in ink, modern numeration in pencil, upper left verso (leaves 194-201, 227-228, 260-273 are blank but ruled).

Support

Paper

Binding

Contemporary vellum, no. 67 on spine; the heading Giornale e ricordi, letter C with decorative penwork on upper cover; lower cover with remnants of leather ties wraps around upper cover; decorative leatherwork on spine.

Layout

Written in 3 columns with vertical bounding lines in lead; the smaller column on the left with the number of the debt or credit, the large central column with a brief description of the debt or credit, including the name of the counterparts, and the smaller one on the right with the amount of the debt or credit in arabic numerals. In certain cases the large central column contains itemized accounts of a transaction within one entry. Memoranda written in long lines.

Script

Written in a cursive script, perhaps by multiple hands, including some of the counterparts, who signed their names at the end of the memoranda.

Provenance

• Sold by Bernard M. Rosenthal, 1961.
   

Subjects topical

• Accounting--Italy--17th century

Genres

• Codices
• Accounts
• Credit records
• Ledgers (account books)
• Manuscripts, Italian--17th century
• Manuscripts, European

Licenses

• Text

  These images and the content of Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Ms. Codex 1312: Ledger of Medici debtors and creditors are free of known copyright restrictions and in the public domain. See the Creative Commons Public Domain Mark page for usage details, http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/.

  URL

  http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

• Text

  Metadata is ©2018 University of Pennsylvania Books & Manuscripts and licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License version 4.0 (CC-BY-4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode. For a description of the terms of use see the Creative Commons Deed https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

  URL

  https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode