Metadata: Government Acts - Trade (ancient part)
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:
- Atti di Governo – Commercio parte antica. Box 1646
- Title:
- Government Acts - Trade (ancient part)
- Title (official language):
- Atti di Governo – Commercio parte antica
- Creator/accumulator:
- Milan, Chamber Magistrate (1749-1771); Milan, Royal Ducal Chamber magistrate (1771-1786); Milan, Supreme Economic Council (1765-1771); Milan, Government Council (1786-1791); Milan, Political Chamber Magistrate (1791-1796); Milan, General Administration of Lombardy (1796-1797); Milan, Executive Directory (1797-1799); Milan, Governor (1499-1796); Milan, Grand Chancellor (1535-1753); Milan, Minister Plenipotentiary (1745-1796); Milan, Urban Trade Commission (1719-1757); Milan, Ducal Chancellery (15th-16th century)
- Date(s):
- 1477-1800
- Date note:
- Jewish-related material dates from 1784-1790
- Language:
- Italian
- Extent:
- 265 boxes
- Type of material:
- Textual material
- Physical condition:
- good
- Scope and content:
- The ancient part of the Commerce series consists of 265 boxes of documents dating from 1477 to ca. 1798. These are Provisions concerning the quality, condition and progress of trade: manufacturing fees, arts and crafts, operators, planners, machinists, banks, pawnshops, fairs and markets, chambers of commerce and manufacturing. It includes in box 6, file 6 “Project of Giuseppe Basilea, Jew from Mantua”. Giuseppe Basilea, a Jew, presents a document to the Emperor in 1784, with observations on the Mantuan government in all its aspects and on the tolerance of the Jews. In the document entitled "Wood of reflections" there is a chapter, article VII, entitled "Jewish Nation". After an introduction in praise of Joseph II who "tried to lift the Jewish nation and make it useful to society", it is noted that: the Chamber of Commerce has eight members, two of whom are Jews, but being in the minority they cannot develop their ideas. Basilea, who had asked to be admitted to the office of assistant Registrar in the Chamber of Commerce, without success, notes that the distinction signs have been eliminated, but the Jews would like a greater "association in primary orders". He points out that there are still too many formal conversions, due to practical reasons. He asks that the Jews be allowed again to have internal magistracies that oversee them. In the main document, there is a similar article on the position of the Jews in Mantua, who cannot even enter the cafes and sit in the main hall, but must sit "in dressing rooms behind the shops". Jews cannot purchase stable assets, are not admitted to any civil office and cannot devote themselves to liberal professions. He speaks of a "Casa Fano" that was ruined by one of the sons who then had himself baptised and ended up living "in a scruffy and bad way in Milan". The "Casa Bassano" had the same fate while the "Casa Sullam" was saved, by moving to Trieste. Even the abolition of Jewish “conservators” and the transition to ordinary jurisdiction is perceived as a problem, as these judges know nothing of Jewish rituals and habits (27 March 1790). A copy of the document dated Mantua 14 January 1785 contains requests from the Jews of the Mantuan ghetto: that the Jews have the same duties as the Christians with regard to the tax that the Magistrate of Health requires "for the usual licenses of carrying out blood-lettings in the ghetto"; that Jews be treated as Christians in regard to the titles and honours "within the limits of the respective condition and according to the law of heraldry"; that as Jews in Mantua are allowed to testify in court they be allowed to testify in cases between Jews but not between Jews and Christians.
- Archival history:
-
The law of 1875, included in the Regulation of 1911, established that the archives of the central magistracies of pre-unification states should form, within the individual Archives, the section of State Acts. The other fonds had to be divided into three more sections, namely Judicial Documents, Administrative Documents, Notarial Deeds. All the remaining archives should form special sections.
Until 1963 the fonds of the State Archives of Milan were then assigned to the various sections, which changed over time [among them we point out the Historical-diplomatic, the Administrative and Financial, the Judiciary, the Military, the Confidential archive; in 1919, after the management of Luigi Fumi, sections of State Acts and Administrative Acts, Judicial Proceedings, Archives of the reigns of the Visconti and Sforza, Religion fonds and collections; in 1950 the First sections (State Acts i.e. Peronian Government Acts), Second (Administrative Acts), Third (Judicial Acts), Fourth (Special Collections), Fifth (Purchases, Gifts, Transfers)].
Following the loss of a large quantity of documents, series and entire fonds during the Second World War and with the transfer of new large archives, including the Notarial Archive and the Cadastral Archive, the fonds were reorganised.
The General Guide to the State Archives describes the fonds of the AS MI in the 1980s, grouping them, where possible, according to the historical period (Ancien Régimes, Napoleonic, Restoration, Post-unitary). The Acts of Government fonds (15th-19th century) could be inserted in any of these historical periods, for its peculiar characteristics, and is considered in its own right. The Diplomatic fonds is also presented in its own right, including the Diplomatic Archive (consisting of the fonds with the oldest documentation) and the Historical Section (containing miscellaneous material and collections). The remaining fonds are identified by type or according to the creator body (Fascist archives, Notaries, Cadastres, Pious and Charitable institutions, Religious corporations; Family and individuals' archives, Different archives, Collections and miscellaneous).
In terms of order and arrangement, the archival history of the pre-unification fonds of the AS MI was characterised by the so-called Peronian system, a particular type of organisation by subject implemented in the 18th and 19th centuries by the Milanese archivists, who created the complex of fonds named Government Acts; to the latter were added the documentary aggregations carried out in the 18th and 19th centuries that produced collections and miscellaneous sections.
See also http://www.lombardiabeniculturali.it/archivi/soggetti-conservatori/MIAA00017D/
- Administrative/biographical history:
-
The hyper-fonds "Government Acts" comprises 28,000 boxes of documentation from the main magistracies and government offices of the State of Milan for a period extending from the 15th to the 19th century. The files preserved in the boxes are not the result of the normal aggregation of documents from various offices, but rather of a reorganisation "by subject" that was carried out from the end of the 18th until the second half of the 19th century.
The administrative subjects according to which the documents are classified are: Acque (Waters), Acque e strade (Waters and roads), Agricoltura (Agriculture), Albinaggio (Escheat), Annona (Supervision of food supply), Araldica (Heraldry), Censo (Census), Commercio (Commerce), Confini (Borders), Culto (Religious worship), Esenzioni (Exemptions), Feudi Camerali (Chambers' fiefs), Feudi Imperiali (Imperial fiefs), Finanza (Finance), Fondi camerali (Chamber's fonds), Giustizia civile (Civil Justice), Giustizia punitiva (Punitive Justice), Luoghi pii (Charitable Institutions), Militare (Military), Popolazione (Population), Potenze estere (Foreign Powers), Potenze sovrane (Sovereign powers), Sanità (Healthcare), Spettacoli pubblici (Public Shows), Strade (Roads), Studi (Studies), Tesoreria (Treasury), Trattati (Treaties), Uffici civici (Civic Offices), Uffici giudiziari (Judicial Offices), Uffici e tribunali regi (Royal Offices and Tribunals), Uffici vari (Various Offices). Within each subject, the documentation has been divided into an ancient part and a modern part and then sorted alphabetically by person, institution or location and then in chronological order.
With the Baden treaty of 1714 the Duchy of Milan was ceded by Spain to the Habsburgs of Austria who remained in control until the Napoleonic conquest of 1797. The numerous reforms introduced by the Austrian domination produced profound changes in the administrative apparatus of the Duchy of Milan. The creation of new offices, the abolition of many old magistracies and the overlapping of different jurisdictions had created the need for the central Austrian administration to access the documents more quickly and efficiently. As early as 1765, the archivist of the Chamber Magistrate's Archive, Gaetano Pescarenico, had received instructions from the Habsburg government to reorganise the acts of the abolished magistracies by "classes and subjects", a provision that Pescarenico had fiercely opposed. In 1778 Bartolomeo Sambrunico, Pescarenico's successor, yielded to the requests of the central government in Vienna and began the reorganisation by subject but only of the Chamber's Archive. When in 1781 emperor Joseph II established the government archives of San Fedele in Milan, with the function of a concentrated archive for all the administrative documents of the Habsburg government in Lombardy, a huge number of documents were deposited at the headquarters of the new institute. These consisted of the "governo del Castello" archive ("Castle government”), including the Sforza and Visconti archives (at least the part that had survived the destruction of legal documents in 1447, during the Ambrosian Republic), the Spanish and Habsburg chancelleries, the Secret Council, interim and provisional government councils and statute registers. At the head of the government archives was placed the former prefect Ilario Conte, assisted by second officer Luca Peroni who carried out the reorganisation of the papers, dismembering files and complex archival units and organising the papers according to the aforementioned subjects. This arrangement is known as the "Peronian order", from the name of Luca Peroni who implemented it in its most extreme form. He also compiled a "Vocabolario ossia indice alfabetico di tutte le materie le specie e i generi ed ogni altra cosa ed oggetto atti ad essere distribuiti in indice i quali concorrono a formare impinguare e corredare i ‘titoli principali’ e ‘subalterni’ componenti la diverse ‘classi’ dell’archivio" (Vocabulary or alphabetical index of all subjects, kinds and genres and every other thing and object apt to be distributed in index, which concur to form, impinge and accompany the 'main' and 'subaltern title' forming the different 'classes' of the archive). The Vocabulary was the fundamental tool for the archivists who had to implement this method and is an important aid for the consultation of the inventories. This arrangement by subject was also followed by Peroni's successors until 1895, when Ippolito Malaguzzi Valeri became director. He expressed strong criticism of the Peronian method which effectively annulled the institutional reality, sacrificing the identity of the single magistracies. (http://www.lombardiabeniculturali.it/archivi/complessi-archivistici/MIBA0022BC/)
The Commerce ancient part series consists of 265 boxes of documents datable to 1477 - ca. 1798. These are Provisions concerning the quality, condition and progress of trade: manufacturing fees, arts and crafts, operators, planners, machinists, banks, pawnshops, fairs and markets, chambers of commerce, manufacturing. The treaties and agreements relating to foreign trade are collected in the Treaties fond; the documents relating to relations with foreign states remain here. The fonds is divided into general Providences (boxes 1-32) and particular Occurrences (boxes 33-264), consisting of an alphabetical list of different manufactures, genres and articles. The particular occurrences are ordered alphabetically by municipalities, offices and subject, and arranged in 25 groups. According to the General Guide, the documents and records in this fond were produced by the State Chancelleries, the “Giunta del mercimonio”, the Chamber Magistrate, the Supreme Economic Council, the Bank Council, the Finance Council, the Government Council, the Chamber Political Magistrate, the General Administration of Lombardy and the Executive Directorate. Part of the documents from the Visconti-Sforza archive were provided with a note, and placed in the fonds, which was recreated in the 20th century. (http://www.lombardiabeniculturali.it/archivi/complessi-archivistici/MIBA002311/)
- Access points: locations:
- Mantua
- System of arrangement:
- The fonds is divided into general Providences (boxes 1-32) and particular Occurrences (boxes 33-264), consisting of an alphabetical list of different manufactures, genres and articles. The particular occurrences are ordered alphabetically by municipalities, offices and subject, and arranged in 25 groups.
- Yerusha Network member:
- Contemporary Jewish Documentation Center - Milan