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

Title

Ledger of Medici debtors and creditors

Call number

Ms. Codex 1314
(Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania, Rare Book & Manuscript Library)

Alternate identifiers

• bibid: 4435727
• http://hdl.library.upenn.edu/1017/d/medren/4435727

Publisher

The University of Pennsylvania Libraries

Language

Italian

Origin

Date

1609-1611

Place

Italy

Summary

Ledger of credits and debts of the Medici family with Italian and French banks for the years 1609-1611. It consists of a detailed list of debts and credits that various members of the Medici family had with a wide number of counterparts, both in Italy and France: the Medici bank, which was run by members of the family, was one of the most powerful banks in Europe, 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 also had influence over the Pisan territory), the Acciauoli, the Landi and the Salviati. Also, the names of Francesco, Lorenzo, and Vincenzo de' Medici appear on numerous occasions, and they are presented as both creditors and debtors. From a slip laid in as a supplement to the credits and debts for 1610 it appears that the following branches were also involved: Venice, Rome, Naples, Palermo, Messina, Lyons, Bologna and Ancona. Very large single transactions, many in groups sharing the same settlement date, appear throughout the ledger.

Notes

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

Watermark

Similar to Briquet, Agneau pascal 48 (Florence, 1498).

Extent

50 leaves : 294 x 208 mm. bound to 296 x 216 mm. +

Foliation

Paper, i (paper) + 50 + i (paper); [1-50], modern foliation in pencil, irregular contemporary foliation and pagination in ink, upper outer corners.

Support

Paper

Binding

Contemporary vellum, unreadable number on spine; the heading Riscontro con li banchi, no. 259 and letter D with decorative penwork on upper cover; lower cover with remnants of leather ties wraps around upper cover.

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, perhaps by multiple hands.

Provenance

• Sold by Bernard M. Rosenthal, 1961.
   

Subjects topical

• Accounting--Italy--17th century
• Banks and banking--Italy--Florence--Early works to 1800

Genres

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

Licenses

• Text

  This description is ©2016 University of Pennsylvania Libraries. It is 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

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

• Text

  All referenced images and their content 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/