Metadata: Ducal registers
Collection
- Country:
- Italy
- Holding institution:
- State Archive of Milan
- Holding institution (official language):
- Archivio di Stato di Milano
- Postal address:
- via Senato 10, 20121 Milano
- Phone number:
- +39 027742161
- Web address:
- http://www.archiviodistatomilano.beniculturali.it/
- Email:
- as-mi@beniculturali.it
- Reference number:
- Registers 51, 69, 96, 103, 105, 108, 110, 111, 113, 139, 158, 160, 172, 178, 180, 200, 211
- Title:
- Ducal registers
- Title (official language):
- Registri ducali
- Creator/accumulator:
- Ducal Chancellery
- Date(s):
- 1183-1593
- Date note:
- Jewish-related material dates from 1441-1524
- Language:
- Italian
- Extent:
- 214 registers
- Type of material:
- Textual material
- Physical condition:
- good
- Scope and content:
- In this series of 5,214 ducal registers there are just over 20 documents of Jewish interest from the community of Pavia, with particular reference to a certain Manno, who in the 15th century seems to be the most influential figure of his community, having received the status of “familare” of the Duke, with a deed of 1441, from which it appears that, previously, he had already received that of “cives” of Pavia, together with Grassino. Among the papers from Pavia there is also a list of Jewish debtors to the ducal chamber of the same city and the granting of authorisations for moneylending. A single document concerns the community of Mantua, to be found in register 51, doc. 265.
- Archival history:
- The series consists of Registers from the Visconti and Sforza periods, mixed together but distinguished in the Room Inventory. The Sforza registers present a triple signature (alphabetic letters for the oldest registers, then Arabic numerals and Roman numerals) which does not correspond to different series. The documentary types in the fond are varied: deeds relating to fiefs; investitures; oaths; powers of attorney; leagues, chapters and conventions; immunities; safe conducts, pardons, exemptions, benefits; citizenships; treaties and ratifications; peace treaties; taxes; impositions. The oldest documents, prior to the duchy, date back to 1183 (Privileges of the Duchy of Milan - Marriages and legitimisations of the princes of the ducal families); the most recent documents are related to the Spanish period. The chronological endpoints are taken from the inventory of room VS 4. The ordering of the registers was carried out under director Luigi Fumi (1908-1920) by Cesare Manaresi, who made the inventory, then integrated it with another research tool. The registers numbered 87 and 87bis (according to the old signature) were transferred to "Registri Panigarola" as nos. 5 and 6. As reported in the General Guide (II 926), some registers of the Visconti age are original, others are reconstructions, copies or summaries, created by Francesco Sforza’s order, by the first secretary Cicco Simonetta.
- Administrative/biographical history:
- The secret chancellery was the filter between the Duke’s will and the central and peripheral administrations of the Sforzas’ domain. The internal organisation of the office was regulated by Francesco Sforza when he came to power (1450). Cicco Simonetta, the Duke's first secretary, issued a series of provisions in 1453 to regulate the competences and duties of chancellors and scribes, and again in 1455 and 1456 to regulate the activity of ushers and registrars. All officials, before taking office, were required to make a solemn oath of allegiance to the person and the state of the Duke. They were entrusted with sending the ducal letters and taking care of the registers. Absolute discretion was demanded from the officers: those who revealed secrets of the office were punished with loss of the position as well as a life ban from any public office. Originally a single office, between 1450 and 1460 the Chancellery was divided into four distinct sections: the political chancellery (1450-1479), responsible for domestic and foreign political conduct; a benefit chancellery (1451), to which issues relating to the granting of ecclesiastical benefits were delegated; a judicial chancellery (1451), which dealt with criminal cases and drew up letters of grace ordered by the Duke; and finally the financial chancellery, which was in charge of controlling all the ducal revenues and expenses.
- Subject terms:
- Financial matters
- Financial matters--Moneylending
- Jewish community
- Yerusha Network member:
- Contemporary Jewish Documentation Center - Milan