Metadata: Government Acts - Escheat (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 - Albinaggio (parte antica). Boxes 2159-2161
- Title:
- Government Acts - Escheat (ancient part)
- Title (official language):
- Atti di Governo - Albinaggio (parte antica)
- Creator/accumulator:
- Extraordinary magistrate (1541-1749); Chamber Magistrate (1749-1771); Royal ducal magistrate chamber (1771-1786); Chamber political magistrate (1791-1796); Government Council (1786-1791); General Administration of Lombardy (1796-1797); Executive Directory (1797-1799); Cis-alpine Republic (1797-1802); Ministry of General Police (1797-1799); Governor (1499-1796); Grand Chancellor (1535-1753); Plenipotentiary Minister of Milan (1745-1796); Ducal Chancellery (15th-16th century)
- Date(s):
- 1500-1799
- Date note:
- 16th-18th century
- Language:
- Italian
- Extent:
- 29 boxes
- Physical condition:
- good
- Scope and content:
-
The subject collection "Escheat - ancient part" comprises documents concerning the "rights of retaliation", that is the exemptions from the Provincial Statutes, which excluded foreigners from any kind of possession, purchase, sale, inheritance and benefit, and likewise the situation of citizens abroad. There are also deeds of citizenship, naturalisation and domicile. Each file, in most cases, includes: the application made by the foreigner who asks for citizenship, due to having been resident in the State for a long time, or to enjoy the same civil and political rights as the natural citizens of that State; documents proving the rights and reasons of the foreigner; the decree or the deed with its outcome. Most often the request for citizenship were made to perform legal acts related to movable and immovable property located in the foreign State; sometimes citizenships were accorded ad honorem or by merit, as evidenced by the numerous deeds of citizenship of the Cis-alpine Republic. According to the General Guide, the documents were created by the State Chancelleries, the Extraordinary Magistrate, the Chamber Magistrate, the Governing Council, the Political Chamber Magistrate, the General Administration of Lombardy, the Legislative Council (which, on the basis of the chronological scope, actually belong to Escheat - Modern Part), the Executive Directory, the Ministry of Police, the Ministry of Justice (High Police Commission).
Envelope 3 of the Escheat series contains general provisions concerning Jews’ citizenship, in this case meaning the right of the Jews to live in the Duchy of Milan. They include documents relating to some major issues:
1. Renewal of the “condotte”, i.e. those sovereign documents of authorisation to reside in the duchy with all the obligations and limitations imposed on the Jews. In this case, in folder 3, there is the condotta (lasting eight years) granted by Francesco II Sforza in 1533, with Charles V’s Royal Assent on 20 March 1538, ratified by the Senate of Milan on 28 March 1541. On 12 June 1549 (approved by the Senate on 1 July 1549), don Ferrante Gonzaga renewed the condotta of the Jews, but this document attests to the inclusion of some changes to the rules imposed by Francesco II Sforza in 1533. With the 1549 condotta a reduction was introduced in the maximum interest rate at which the Jews could lend money; moreover it was forbidden for conservators to increase the amount of the annual income due to them by the Jews for their stay in the state and finally it was established that only the Jews already resident in the Duchy were granted the right to exercise the loan on pledge. In 1557, Philip II, through his governor, granted a new condotta for 12 years, a particularly long duration, which included among other things the clause that the Jews were not required to wear any signs. In folder 3 the Senate that, in the face of the pressing demands of the church and of the cities of Pavia (document dated 1565) and Cremona to proceed with the removal of the Jews, advised the Sovereign that, by force of the condotta, the Jews "eijci de jure non possunt", but that the loan could be forbidden and the obligation to wear a sign could have been imposed. Philip II renewed the condotta in 1569.
2. Appointment of the conservator of the Jews, the two magistrates charged with collecting from the communities the taxes required by the condotta. Folder 3 includes the decree of 22 June 1555, approved by the Senate with a decree dated 22 November 1567, which names Clemente Pietra, son of Countess Bianca Stampa of Lodrone, former widow of Count Francesco Brunoro Pietra, conservator of the Jews (see also the record of the series "Worship - ancient part"). In the same year 1567 Giacomo Rizzo (who died in 1566) was succeeded by Giacomo Nizzola from Trezzo, sculptor of Philip II in Madrid and conservator of the Jews from 1 January 1567 to September 1589, through his representatives. In folder 3 there is also a letter dated 3 February 1575 by King Philip II informing the governor of Milan of Giacomo Trezzo's decision to replace Ottaviano Ferraro with Hieronimo Tavola. Count Clemente Pietra died in 1573 and Leonardo Herrera was appointed in his place. In folder 3 we find the act of 26 April 1574 with which King Philip II officially assigned the post of conservator to Leonardo Herrera and approved the appointment made by Herrera of Guido Visconte (one of the ordinary masters of the revenue) as his lieutenant, an act also ratified by the governor of Milan on 4 June 1574. On this occasion the judges who had to deal with the lawsuits of the various communities were also appointed: the notary Bernardino Lodi for Cremona, Bartolomeo Corrado for Lodi and Paolo Emilio Petra for Pavia.
In addition to the conservator, the Jews of the duchy were placed under the jurisdiction of a specially designated judge who in turn appointed judges for each location. Folder 3 contains the appointment of 15 January 1567, by the Countess Bianca Stampa, of Paolo Emilio Pietra to judge the Jews of Pavia; in the document of 3 September 1572 Giovanni Mendoza, judge of the Jews of Milan, informs Count Clemente Petra, conservator of the Jews of the State of Milan, of the names of the judges who will have to deal with the lawsuits of the Jews: Paolo Emilio Reggio for Cremona; Bartolomeo Corrado for Lodi; Ludovico Faloni for Alessandria; Paolo Emilio Petra for Pavia. Since there was no community in Milan, Giovanni Mendoza was to be the judge of the Jews of the Duchy. The documents relating to the dispute between Simone Levi and the Basevi brothers (all Jews of Cremona) date from the same year 1572, but from the period October-November. To settle the dispute, Simone Levi came to Milan and took up temporary residence at the home of Giovanni Battista Marliani, at Porta Vercellina, in the parish of San Pietro Linti, addressing "the judge of the Jews of Milan, Giovanni Mendoza". Other similar documents in the file testify to the activity of Giovanni Mendoza.
According to the condotta, the Jews were required to pay conservators an annual fee. Folder 3 includes a letter dated 15 May 1567 with which the conservator Giacomo Trezzo reconfirms the terms of payment of the census, established on 12 June 1556: the tax had to be paid by community representatives every 6 months, on 1 May and 1 November and a letter from the governor of Milan, don Carlo of Aragon, Duke of Terranova, dated 31 March 1584, which reiterates that Trezzo must be paid 250 scudi a year; as well as various receipts issued to the community representatives for the payment of the annual fee.
4. Significant documents relating to the expulsion of the Jews of 1597, including: a report by the Senate of Milan of 25 June 1566, in the person of its president Gabrio Casati, which argues that - on the basis of the available documentation - the Jews cannot be expelled from Pavia until 1569 (year of expiry of the condotta); a document dated 1569 in which the Senate asks the King that - since the condotta of the Jews has expired – the restrictions on the sign and on the loan were kept, but that the Jews were not expelled before a decision by the sovereign; a collection of documents ordered by Philip II on the occasion of the request to expel the Jews from Cremona, on the condition of the Jews of some centres (report of the Pavia referendary on the situation of the Jews of the city with list of family heads, 26 January 1590; report of the referendary of Lodi on the situation of the number of Jewish families in the city, 27 January 1590. Report of the Alessandria referendary on the situation of the Jews of the city with list of family heads and number of residents; 29 January 1590; report of the Cremona referendary on the situation of the Jews of the city)
- 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 creators of the papers that could be identified are the following: Extraordinary magistrate (1541-1749); Chamber Magistrate (1749-1771); Royal ducal magistrate chamber (1771-1786); Chamber political magistrate (1791-1796); Government Council (1786-1791); General Administration of Lombardy (1796-1797); Executive Directory (1797-1799); Cis-alpine Republic (1797-1802); Ministry of General Police (1797-1799); Governor (1499-1796); Grand Chancellor (1535-1753); Plenipotentiary Minister of Milan (1745-1796); Ducal Chancellery (15th century-16th century). http://www.lombardiabeniculturali.it/archivi/complessi-archivistici/MIBA0022C8/
- Access points: locations:
- Alessandria
- Cremona
- Milan
- Pavia
- Yerusha Network member:
- Contemporary Jewish Documentation Center - Milan
- Author of the description:
- Rori Mancino; Centro di documentazione ebraica contemporanea; 2018