Metadata: Gonzaga Archive, Legislation and Governmental Structure, Letters from Mantua and the Villages of the State
Collection
- Country:
- Italy
- Holding institution:
- Mantua State Archive
- Holding institution (official language):
- Archivio di Stato di Mantova
- Postal address:
- via Roberto Ardigò 11, 46100 Mantova
- Phone number:
- +39 376324441
- Web address:
- http://www.asmantova.beniculturali.it
- Email:
- as-mn@beniculturali.it
- Reference number:
- Inventario Luzio e Torelli, F.II.8
- Title:
- Gonzaga Archive, Legislation and Governmental Structure, Letters from Mantua and the Villages of the State
- Title (official language):
- Archivio Gonzaga. Legislazione e sistemazione del governo, Lettere ai Gonzaga da Mantova e dai paesi dello Stato
- Creator/accumulator:
- Gonzaga family
- Date(s):
- 1366-1783
- Language:
- Italian
- Latin
- German
- Extent:
- 314 boxes
- Type of material:
- Textual material
- Physical condition:
- good
- Scope and content:
- The fonds contains letters written by the authorities of the city of Mantua under the direct control of the Gonzaga family (suchs “podestà”, “massaro”, “savi”), but also of private individuals asking for special favours or pleading for any kind of request. References to Jews can be found throughout, but there is a very interesting case in folder no. 2680, relating to the history of Judith Franchetta, “the only Jew ever to be executed as a witch in the Italian peninsula” (see Tamar Herzig, The Hazards of Conversion: Nuns, Jews, and Demons in Late Renaissance Italy, in “Church History”, 85, 3, 2016, pp. 468-501). In this volume, there is a notarial act drafted on 19 March 1600 mentioning three Jews imprisoned (Judith, her daughter Ricca and another man implicated in the case, Jacob Fano) and a letter written on 17 April 1600 by Ascanio Rasi to Vincenzo Gonzaga, discussing Jacob Fano and another Jew involved in the same case, Josef Finzi. Beside this, there are many references to Salomone de Rossi and his sister Europa Rossi, both musicians working at the Gonzaga court, and to the Jewish theatre in general, which was also active at the Gonzaga court.
- Administrative/biographical history:
-
The Gonzaga Family ruled Mantua and the province of Mantua from 1328 to 1708. The "Archivio Gonzaga" is the old, so called "secret" Archive of the Marchesato (Marquisate, 1433-1587), later Ducato (Duchy, 1531-1708) of the Gonzaga Family in Mantua. It includes papers dated before the coming to power of the family in 1328 and later than the date of their fall in 1708. Important sections of the archive were destroyed during two fires in 1413 and 1448.
In 1785 the entire archive of the Gonzagas was concentrated in the lower rooms of the castle of San Giorgio, where it took the name of "Archivio governativo" (Archive of Government). In 1865 the Archivio governativo was delivered to the Municipality of Mantua and in 1883 it was moved to the Palazzo degli Studi - now State Archive of Mantua - where it is currently located.
The "Archivio Gonzaga" is one of the seven archives included in the macro-area named "Antichi Regimi - Periodo Gonzaga" (Ancient regimes - Gonzaga Period) into which the State Archive of Mantua is organised. It also includes Archivio del Monferrato (1155-1605); Magistrato ducale (1573-1736), Gridario del magistrato ducale (1578-1787); Archivio degli instrumenti (1345-1770); Magistrature di sanità (1555-1817).
A detailed description of this archive was supplied by Pietro Torelli in 1920. This inventory is still the only available complete finding aid. The "Guida generale degli Archivi di Stato", published in Rome in 1966-1969 - now also available online (http://www.guidageneralearchivistato.beniculturali.it/) - provides information about the Gonzaga Archive, the inventory edited by Pietro Torelli and bibliographic information. For historical information about the holding institution, the State Archive of Mantua, see http://guidagenerale.maas.ccr.it/document.aspx?uri=/istituticonservatori/IC0460022101
- Access points: locations:
- Mantua
- Access points: persons/families:
- Fano, Jakob
- Rossi, Salamone
- Subject terms:
- Crime
- Legal records
- Music
- Theatre
- Finding aids:
- Guida Generale degli Archivi di Stato. Archivio di Stato di Mantova. See also the website http://www.capitalespettacolo.it/, searching for the word "ebrei" (Jews), for the indication of further details and sources.
- Yerusha Network member:
- Contemporary Jewish Documentation Center - Milan
- Author of the description:
- Samuela Marconcini; Centro di documentazione ebraica contemporanea; 2018