[Ledger of Concini debtors and creditors and miscellaneous accounts].
Abstract:
Ledger of debtors and creditors and miscellaneous accounts of Giovanbattista Concini for the years 1577-1583. Often includes the nature of a given credit or debt and its amount, as well as listing the names of the individuals that hold the debt or credit. Among the names that appear are Bernardo Concini, father of Giovanbattista, and Giovanbattista's wife, Margherita; daughters, Lisabetta and Lucrezia; and son Carlo. The ledger reflects the wide range of activities of the family, including their intense banking business with some of the most prestigious institutions of Florence (including the hospitals of Santa Maria del Fiore, Santa Maria Novella and Santa Maria degli Innocenti); their interest in the textile commerce (they had a strong relationship with the guilds of Calimala, textile merchants; and the lanaioli, wool workers and merchants, both repeatedly mentioned in the ledger); and large real estate investments (the Concini owned properties in Florence, including a large house in Via Fiesolana, and in Terranuova Bracciolini, Rimaggio and Quittole, prestigious country locations in Tuscany). Debts and credits with members of aristocratic Florentine families are also not uncommon and the ledger often includes the nature of such transactions and their amount, as well as listing the names of the individuals that act as counterparts, the most important being the heirs of Federigo Ricci (p.3, 5, 12); the Capponi (p.3, 18, 85, 119 and 144); the Guicciardini (p.5 and 11); the Gondi (p.86); the Antinori (p.18); the Medici (p.37); and the Acciaiuoli (p.3). Giovanbattista Concini also acted as collector for the Pope Gregory XIII (p. 21 and 29) for the decime, taxes that had to be paid to the Papal States. In addition to the accounts relative to the numerous Concini businesses, the ledger contains information on the everyday expenses of the family. They included house management-related expenses (food and wages of servants, cooks and carriage-men); purchases of furniture, jewelry and clothes for the various members of the family; decoration of the Florentine residence and purchases of accessories (including silver and ivory cutlery and china); investments in the education of the children (Carlo received music tuition and singing lessons by a musico, mentioned on p.120 and 154, and the family often made book purchases from a libraio, p.88); horse care, accessories and feed (p.81-82); and other miscellaneous expenses for the medication of Bernardo, who fell sick, and for his funereal mass, the mortorio, when he died in 1577. Alphabetical index, with 18 lettered tabs, containing names of individuals that appear in the ledger, is laid inside the upper cover of the manuscript. Flyleaves are made from a vellum fragment of a missal that contains a passage of the Benedicta sit Creatrix (Antiphon for Lauds on Trinity Sunday) and of the Benedictio et claritas (fifth Antiphon for the Vespers), in which initials are red with blue flourishes.
Layout: Written in columns with vertical bounding lines in lead; the large central column with the a brief description of the incoming or the outgoing, including the name of the counterparts involved in the transaction, and the smaller one on the right with the amount received or disbursed.; Forms part of: Concini Papers.; Title supplied by cataloger.; Pagination: Paper, i (paper) + 384 + i (paper); versos numbered 1-300, [301-384], contemporary pagination in ink, modern pagination in pencil, upper left verso; rectos numbered [i], i-ccc, [ccci-ccclxxxiii], contemporary pagination in ink, modern pagination in pencil, upper right recto (pages 206-384 are blank but ruled). Each opening has a matched Arabic numeral on the left and a Roman numeral on the right.; Origin: Written in Florence between 1577 (f.1r) and 1583 (f.186r).; Script: Written in a cursive script, by multiple hands.; Decoration: Top edge decorated with painted letter A and flower motif in red, green and blue.; Watermark: Similar to Briquet, Fleche 6292 (Florence, 1509-1510).; Binding: Contemporary blind-stamped vellum, no. 65 and Giovanni Battista Concini written on spine; gilded letter A on upper cover; lower cover wraps around upper cover with decorative stitchwork; decorative leatherwork on spine.; Ms. codex.; Italian.
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