Metadata: Ancient Chamber Magistrate. Ducal Magistrate
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:
- 126 quater
- Title:
- Ancient Chamber Magistrate. Ducal Magistrate
- Title (official language):
- Magistrato Camerale Antico. Magistrato Ducale
- Date(s):
- 1410-1784
- Date note:
- Jewish-related material dates from 1579-1627
- Language:
- Italian
- Extent:
- 131 boxes
- Type of material:
- Textual material
- Physical condition:
- good
- Scope and content:
- This fonds contains documents related to the activity of the Ducal Magistrate in Mantua, first established in 1573, regarding mainly economic issues, such as tax collection. The folder entitled “Q-X (1502-1685)” includes some files related to Jews. The first one concerns “Lending banks” and contains several orders, such as the taxes that the sons of Salamon Levi should pay to the Ducal Magistrate; the way of paying the rent for the houses of the ghetto; allowance for Samuele Finzi and Daniele Norsa to open only one bank into the ghetto, and the like. In the folder entitled “Jew’s Tolerance” there are not only documents related to the Tolerance charter given to the Jews, but also various other documents, such as the exemption from the yellow sign for Moisè da Praga and details of the amount of wine that the “Innkeeper of the Jew” is allowed to sell each month without paying a duty on tap. Even in the folder “Mount of Piety” some references to Jews might be found, insofar as it concerns taxes that Jewish bankers have to pay to this institution. See also folder no. B.1.9 (“Corte d’Ostiglia, 1651-1747”): because of extraordinary expenses made for military purposes, in 1747 the Austrian Government was compelled to sell the two Chamber Courts of Ostiglia and Sermide to a company, named “Provveditori di Campagna”, owned by several people (Mellerio, Buonanome, Finzi Vida and Vitale), of whom many were Jews, such as Leone Norsa, who was also involved in the buying and selling (9 October 1747).
- Archival history:
- For historical information about the holding institution, the State Archive of Mantua, see http://guidagenerale.maas.ccr.it/document.aspx?uri=/istituticonservatori/IC0460022101
- Administrative/biographical history:
-
The Magistrato Ducale was established by the Duke of Mantua, Guglielmo Gonzaga, in 1573. It brought together in a single office the former financial magistratures carried out by the massaro generale (the officer in charge of collecting taxes), the maestro delle entrate (officer in charge of managing the ducal incomes), and the fattore generale (the officer in charge of administering the personal assets of the lord). The Magistrato Ducale remained in office even under the Habsburg rule until 1737 when a general management of finance was established in its place, reporting directly to Milan.
The archive of the Magistrato Ducale comprises documents concerning mainly economic issues related to the Gonzaga period as well as documents dated before and after the establishment of this Magistrature itself.
- Finding aids:
- Guida Generale degli Archivi di Stato. Archivio di Stato di Mantova
- Yerusha Network member:
- Contemporary Jewish Documentation Center - Milan
- Author of the description:
- Samuela Marconcini; Centro di documentazione ebraica contemporanea; 2017
